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new microchip that can quickly separate white blood cells from samples of whole blood, eliminating any preliminary processing steps — which can be difficult to integrate into point-of-care medical devices. The hope, the researchers say, is to integrate the microchip into a portable diagnostic device that may be used to directly analyze patient blood samples for signs of inflammatory disease such as sepsis — particularly in regions of developing countries where diagnostic lab equipment is not readily available.
In their experiments, the scientists pumped tiny volumes of blood through the microchip and recovered a highly pure stream of white blood cells, virtually devoid of other blood components such as platelets and red blood cells. What’s more, the team found that the sorted cells were undamaged and functional, potentially enabling clinicians not only to obtain a white blood cell count, but also to use the cells to perform further genetic or clinical tests.
Rohit Karnik, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, says the key to recovering such pure, functional cells lies in the microchip’s adaption of the body’s natural process of cell rolling.
“We believe that because we’re using a very biomimetic process, the cells are happier,” Karnik says. “It’s a more gentle process, and the cells are functionally viable.”
Karnik and MIT graduate student Suman Bose, along with Jeffrey Karp at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and five other colleagues, published their results in the journal Scientific Reports.
Getting a picture of cell rolling
Normally, the body’s protective white blood cells circulate through the bloodstream, patrolling for signs of pathogens. When one region of the body becomes infected or inflamed, cells lining the blood vessels in that region present certain sticky molecules that gently grab white blood cells from the bloodstream, “rolling” the cells along the vessel wall until they reach the afflicted area.
The sticky molecules act as cell traffickers, directing particular cells to areas of the body where they’re needed. One of the more common cell traffickers is P-selectin, a molecule that lightly binds the white blood cells called neutrophils.
In their 2012 study, the researchers first etched the chip with a pattern of ridges and troughs, and lined the ridges with P-selectin. As they pumped a cell culture through the chip, the sticky ridges pulled leukemia cells out of solution, flipping them into trenches that flowed into a separate receptacle. Although they recovered the target cells at high throughput, suitable for laboratory cell separations, the researchers observed that the pattern of grooves caused unwanted mixing of fluid, making it unsuitable for processing blood.
For blood samples, Karnik and Bose worked in parallel on a different microchip design. Instead of grooves, the team etched a pattern of microscopically thin gold stripes, diagonal to the flow of fluid through the chip. The researchers then attached molecules of P-selectin along each gold stripe.
Before flowing blood through the chip, the team first tested the design with a culture of two types of leukemia cells. Through video imaging, they observed that one cell type was drawn out of the stream, attaching and rolling briefly along a sticky gold stripe before jumping to a neighboring line. Eventually, after a series of jumps and rolls, the cells rolled the rest of the way along a stripe, then into a separate gutter, or channel, where they flowed into a collector.
Neutrophils, a type of white blood cell, follow patterns of weak adhesive molecules (dark lines) and are separated from a stream of blood flowing in a microfluidic channel. Video: Suman Bose and Rohit Karnik
Karnik and Bose measured the interactions between target cells and the chip’s pattern of stripes, and developed a mathematical model to describe the optimal pattern of cell rolling, depending on several factors such as the angle and length of each stripe.
“We are able to get a good picture of the separation process, and this should be useful in guiding future devices of this type,” Karnik says.
At the patient’s bedside
Using the model, the group optimized the chip’s pattern of stripes, then flowed tiny volumes of blood through an inlet. They found they were able to continuously recover a stream of white blood cells with more than 99 percent purity — a significant result, as there are normally 1,000 red blood cells for every white blood cell circulating in the bloodstream.
In tests of viability, Karnik and Bose found the recovered white blood cells were able to successfully eat up bacteria, signaling that the cells were indeed functional.
Going a step further, the group tested a potential clinical application: diagnosing sepsis, a condition in which infection spreads through the bloodstream, causing widespread infection and eventual organ failure. The condition is difficult to quickly diagnose, especially in resource-limited settings.
To mimic conditions of sepsis in blood, the group added cytokines and bacterial membrane components — inflammatory agents typically present during sepsis — to whole blood. It is known that in the presence of such agents, white blood cells lose their ability to bind with P-selectin during sepsis.
Just as they expected, when the researchers flowed only a few microliters of sepsis-mimicking blood through the microchip, they observed a sharp decline in the number of recovered white blood cells. The result, Bose says, is a promising step toward future diagnostics for inflammatory conditions like sepsis, particularly for babies.
“It’s more difficult for babies, because for them you can’t get more blood samples because they have so little blood,” Bose says. “This is just a teaser into a new direction of care, and where the work can go in terms of diagnosis of inflammation right at the patient’s bedside.”
Xuonhong Cheng, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Lehigh University, says the purity of samples separated by the group’s device is comparable to that of conventional cell-sorting techniques, “but with much less manual handling and contamination of red blood cell debris.”
Cheng, who was not involved in the research, says the cell-rolling technique “is a very promising approach to automate blood sample preparation in clinical applications [such as] infection and inflammation assays at point-of-need environments.”HONG KONG — The start to the day was hardly unusual for a senior Chinese leader in a country grappling with an economic slowdown. On the morning of July 24, Zhou Benshun attended a meeting to promote one of President Xi Jinping’s signature projects, a plan to boost growth by building a “supercity” that would integrate Beijing with the region around it.
But by 6:10 p.m. that day, Mr. Zhou’s career was over, and he faced years in prison.
The Communist Party’s anticorruption agency announced it was investigating him on “suspicion of serious violations of party discipline and the law,” signaling his ouster as the party chief of Hebei Province, one of the nation’s most populous.
Mr. Zhou’s sudden downfall — he is the first sitting provincial party chief to be purged by Mr. Xi — underscores the uncertainty that permeates the Communist elite as they contend with two unnerving developments beyond their control: an economic slowdown that appears to be worse than officials had anticipated and that could mark the end of China’s era of fast growth, and a campaign against official corruption that has continued longer and reached higher than most had expected.
Driving decisions on both issues is Mr. Xi, who took the party’s helm nearly three years ago and has pursued an ambitious agenda fraught with political risk. Now, weeks before a summit meeting in Washington with President Obama, those risks appear to be growing, and there are signs that Mr. Xi and his strong-willed leadership style face increasingly bold resistance inside the party that could limit his ability to pursue his goals.For Cole Konrad, there is no living in the past. The Bellator heavyweight championship belt that he once won and proudly wore now sits collecting dust on a bookshelf in his basement. It is one of few remaining reminders of his past life, including only one single photo of him from his fighting days. In it, he stands alongside friend and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and coach Erik Paulson. At the time, both Konrad and Lesnar were on top of their respective promotions, and the duo had just finished a practice that ended with them putting on their belts and horsing around. It is still Konrad's favorite memory from his days as a pro fighter, which ended last fall.
Konrad's retirement came as a surprise to the sport's observers and his promotion. When he called it quits, he was just 28 years old, had an undefeated record and a world of potential in front of him. Yet he swapped it not for some other glamorous role, but to trade agricultural commodities.
With the heavyweight division arguably the weakest in MMA, Konrad's potential value if he reached free agency unbeaten was enormous. To see that, all he had to do was look at his friend Lesnar, who made eight figures during his seven-fight run in the UFC from 2008-'11. While Lesnar's cultural crossover from pro wrestling stardom to MMA made him a special case, no one disputes that heavyweight stars are among the best-paid talents in MMA. For evidence, just look at the recent guaranteed paydays of Junior dos Santos ($400,000) and Alistair Overeem ($285,714.29). Add in the pay-per-view cut received by several big men, and it's clear that seven-figure paydays are quite possible for heavyweights of the highest order.
At 9-0, and in Bellator, which has never produced a pay-per-view, Konrad was far from reaching millionaire status, but on the other hand, at the time of his decision, the promotion was about to re-launch under a massive marketing blitz from Spike that would bring the widest exposure yet for the brand and its fighters.
Despite surveying the landscape before him, Konrad could only see uncertainty. Fights were slow in coming, with only one bout in 2011 and another single fight in 2012, with each one earning him around $30,000, he said. So after being repeatedly approached about a full-time job in trading, he weighed the pros and cons of continuing on, and in the end, he says he could only see fighting as a "pretty dead-end job."
"I always knew it in the back of my mind," he told MMA Fighting in his first interview since retiring. "I did it because I was having fun. I think when it changed was when I got married. Perspective changed. We wanted to start a family and my job is to provide for them the best I can. I just reevaluated things and fighting wasn't my best opportunity to take care of them to the best of my ability."
While the sportsman in him had no questions about his talent and ability, the businessman in him innately understood something that is of almost no concern in the rest of the pro sports world, that his paunchy physique and quiet personality would hold him back from the giant paydays seen by others.
That an athlete would even have to make such considerations about surface characteristics is an unspoken reality of MMA. As many top fighters have discovered, it's always not enough to train hard and out-compete the opposition. Careers are often made and fizzle out based on perception.
"I'm a realist," Konrad said. "I see some fighters that probably aren't at the same talent level as some other fighters, but because they talk like a jackass in interviews and have some tattoos, and have a look, they seem to draw people in and draw checks. I guess it should to an extent. If you draw interest and get people to watch you, you should be rewarded."
Yet there were certain things Konrad was not willing or able to do. His big body had always been what it was, despite a grueling training schedule that made him a four-time collegiate All-American wrestler at the University of Minnesota. It was, he acknowledged, an important part of the presentation, and in his words, "wasn't exactly what was being sought for a high-profile fighter."
His personality was not up for negotiation, either. Konrad said no dollar amount could have changed the way he presented himself, and even if it did, his father would have reined him back in quickly.
"There's great money there for top guys, but I don't look like Brock and I don't have that same personality," he said. "I'm not outspoken. My interviews are usually clean cut. My personality isn’t the type that would necessarily warrant that big paycheck. In my mind, I think that's just as important as being a good fighter, and I've seen it time and time again. I knew in the back of my mind, that's not me. I don't look that way, I don't act that way. I have two of the three [factors for success] holding me back. No excuses. In fighting, I eventually could have worked my way up there and done well but it wasn't going to be an overnight thing, that's for sure."
In a strange irony, it was Lesnar's example which paved the way for Konrad's exit. Just a few years earlier, it had been Lesnar serving the opposite role, sitting Konrad down and advising him to concentrate on fighting ahead of chasing his international wrestling aspirations.
For most of their careers, Lesnar and Konrad were regular training partners at Lesnar's DeathClutch gym in Minnesota. That association allowed him to leave the sport without any questions regarding his ability.
Lesnar, after all, makes for a pretty useful measuring stick when attempting to figure where exactly you fall in the divisional pecking order. A few fighters who trained at the DeathClutch gym with Lesnars and Konrad are on the record as saying that Konrad was the superior talent. One, UFC's Pat Barry, called him "Cain Velasquez at 300 pounds" and said that once Konrad gained complete confidence in his striking he would be the heavyweight champion of the world "in any organization."
Konrad also competed against many of the MMA world's best heavyweights during his wrestling days, including UFC champ Velasquez, who he beat in four of five matches. Because of all of those experiences, he feels that the questions he personally had have been answered.
"I know it’s totally different and people say, 'Yeah that was wrestling and this is fighting,' but the mentality and approach doesn't change," he said. "I would have continued to work and develop. I'm not saying that I would have been better than everyone because if I didn't fight them, I don't know. But in the back of my mind, I don't really question myself. I've had success at everything I've truly set my mind to. I’m completely content on how things shook out. I feel confident that had I gone on, I would have continued to develop. I won't look back with any regret. I don't have any regrets from wrestling, and I don't have any from fighting."
These days, Konrad lives in Minnesota with his wife, Carlissa. He says he's watched only a couple of fights since retiring, and only occasionally has the itch to compete in something. He says that urge is adequately addressed in his current job. By design, his firm recruits high-level athletes, with three other All-American wrestlers, several former Division I basketball and hockey players, and even a former NHL player on the payroll. Competition is in the company's DNA.
In the end, that's the thing that made Konrad successful in fighting, and it's also the thing that led him to leave when the competition was slow in coming.
"I didn't like the spotlight but liked the burden of having the win and loss determined strictly by my own performance," he said. "I wasn’t doing it so people were focusing in on me. I liked that type of combat. I liked the one on one. I liked that when it’s all said and done, I beat that guy, head's up, no excuses, no B.S. Just me vs. him, and I kicked his ass."AFP/Getty Trump: My tax plan is 'going to cost me a fortune' The billionaire businessman promises to close loopholes on the rich, lower overall rates, and free half of Americans from income tax.
NEW YORK — Billionaire businessman Donald Trump took to the lobby of his famed Trump Tower on Monday morning and pledged to slap himself with a huge tax hike.
"It’s going to cost me a fortune, which is actually true," the Republican presidential front-runner candidate told reporters, as he unveiled a bold — and fairly detailed — tax plan, under which half of Americans would pay no federal income tax and the rich would face closed loopholes and slashed deductions.
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The audacious statement, like many of Trump's proclamations, was hard to fact check. While it's true that the plan would knock out cherished tax breaks, such as the carried interest provision dear to some Wall Street money managers, he didn't specify many of the other deductions that the super rich would no longer enjoy under a Trump presidency. And many of the lost tax breaks will be offset by a pretty sizeable overall rate reduction.
Also knocking some wind out of the idea that Trump is going to stick it to the one percenters, Grover Norquist, the famed anti-tax advocate, gave the tax plan a wink. "Trump's plan is certainly consistent with the Taxpayer Protection Pledge," he said. "Trump has said he opposes net tax hikes and has made clear that the real problem is spending. This plan is a reform, not a tax hike."
Still, the rollout of the tax plan gave Trump an opportunity to underscore his reincarnation as a more serious presidential candidate, one who has now rolled out three policy platforms — an extreme take on immigration reform and a relatively tame position paper on gun rights, in additional to his tax proposal.
Trump presented his latest policy plan with flair. He was flanked by supporters, a Ross Perot-style chart of the plan and, further back, the entrance to Niketown in the building’s lobby.
Off to the side, the shop attendants at a Trump Store kiosk, selling a Trump’s male fragrance “success” and his book “How to Get Rich,” stood dutifully at attention.
The plan, which Trump said he formulated “with some of the leading scholars and economists and tax experts in this country,” would decrease the number of tax rates from the current seven to four, at 0, 10, 20 and 25 percent.
Under the proposal, individuals making less than $25,000 and married couples making less than $50,000 will not have to pay taxes. While 36 percent of American households do not pay income tax currently, that share would jump to 50 percent. The current highest income-tax rate—39.6 percent—would drop to 25 percent.
“It will be simple. It will be easy. It will be fair,” Trump declared. There would be no revenue shortfall because the economy will “grow rapidly” and “we’ll have something very special,” he said.
The plan would also eliminate the marriage penalty tax and the estate tax, which opponents label a “death tax.”
“A lot of families go through hell over the death tax,” Trump said. In recent years, the tax has only applied to estates worth more than $5 million, a fraction of a percent of the richest American estates.
Trump said his plan would lower businesses' tax rate to 15 percent, and would incentivize American corporations who have stashed cash overseas to repatriate it to the United States. He said that while some experts estimate the amount of cash held offshore is as much as $2.5 trillion, he suspects that the figure is even higher.
“Boy if it is we have hit pay dirt,” he said.
The plan would also bring jobs back to the United States that are currently going to China, Japan and Brazil, he said.
“These countries are all taking our jobs like we’re a bunch of babies.”
Trump went on to pan the public posture of other wealthy politicians, like Mitt Romney, towards their own taxes.
“I’m the only who’s honest,” he said. “I fight like hell to pay as little as possible. Can I say that? I’m not a politician.”
Asked if he would continue his habit of contesting bills he receives from vendors in office, Trump said he would, estimating that he could cut 20 percent or more from the federal budget.
“You can’t spend $2 million doing something you could for thousands,” said Trump of his spendthrift philosophy.
He then criticized plans to spend millions of dollars building a soccer field for inmates at Guantanamo Bay. “Why are they playing soccer is my question,” he said.
Asked to respond to the latest barb from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio that his campaign is a "freak show," Trump remarked that his Republican rival is a "lightweight" who "wouldn't know a trade deal from any other deal."
At one point, after Trump cited his lead in polls on the attribute of leadership, parts of the lobby erupted in applause and cheers, prompting Trump to comment, “Some of the press is actually clapping.”
POLITICO did not observe members of the press clapping, though several of the stern-looking men in dark suits with white “Trump” buttons on their lapels did applaud at the line, along with gathered Trump supporters.
One man in the press section did applaud Trump when he declared, “Putin is a nicer person than I am.”
After the press conference, the man identified himself as Alexander Van Breemen, 52, a Dutch tourist, who had wandered into the area reserved for reporters. “It’s a free country, no?” said Van Breeman. He described Trump’s campaign as “an interesting, how do you say, movement.”
Brian Faler contributed to this report.Don’t let your data escape from your database
and cause unintended performance mistakes.
Keep your data in the database, not for security reasons but to avoid performance mistakes. Often the best way to speed up your application is to let your database server do what it was designed to do: operate on data.
Most modern programming languages and frameworks hide databases behind an elegant, beautiful layer of abstraction. Developers today don’t need to write or even understand Structured Query Language (SQL), the native language of database servers. We view SQL as a low-level, technical relic of 1970s Computer Science, best left behind in academic journals and college classrooms.
However, not learning and thoroughly understanding SQL would be a tremendous mistake. In fact, many data related performance problems are a result of using a high level language, such as Ruby or Python, to work with data instead of SQL. Keep your data where it belongs… in the database. Use your database server to operate on your data in place, and then fetch the result your application actually needs.
Let me show you what I mean with a simple example.
Posts and Comments
Suppose I have data in a one-many relationship: one post has many comments. Using ActiveRecord, the popular Ruby ORM, I implement a one-many association by writing:
class Post < ActiveRecord :: Base has_many :comments end class Comment < ActiveRecord :: Base belongs_to :post end
Ruby’s powerful dynamic behavior allows me to query the comments for a given post in a very natural, human way:
post = Post.find( 1 ) post.comments
But remember ActiveRecord isn’t a magic framework. It doesn’t have a secret connection to the tables in my database. It has to speak to the database server like everyone else, using the server’s language: SQL. Reading my log file, I can see how ActiveRecord translates post.comments into SQL:
select comments.* from comments where comments.post_id = 1
After executing this SQL statement, ActiveRecord converts the result set into an array of Ruby objects which I can then use in my code. For example, if I want the latest comment for a post I can write:
class Post def latest_comment comments.max {|a, b| a.updated_at <=> b.updated_at } end end
Here I ask Ruby to sort the comment objects and return the latest one, the comment with the maximum updated_at value. Now I can find the person who wrote the latest comment for a post just by writing:
post.latest_comment.author
Where Is My Data?
The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t scale. Suppose this post has hundreds or even thousands of comments; in this case, ActiveRecord will convert them all into Ruby objects just so I can iterate through them in the latest_comment method.
My mistake was to let my data out of the database. Instead, I should have asked the database do the work for me.
Let’s take a closer look at how latest_comment works:
On the right, I start with all of the comments in the database, tens of thousands of them let’s say. Next, I need to search for the comments associated with my post, filtering on the post_id column. This yields a subset, hundreds of comments for example. Finally, I sort these filtered comments and take the last one, yielding the latest one on the left.
The problem with my Ruby solution is that I perform the filtering in the database, but the sorting in Ruby. In between, the entire subset of comments for a post have to be transmitted from the database server to my Ruby application server:
To transmit all of these records, the database needs to serialize them to some binary format, which my Ruby code (or my DB driver actually) later needs to unpack. Finally, ActiveRecord has to convert this binary data into Ruby objects.
This process takes time; in particular, creating hundreds or thousands of Ruby objects involves allocating a series of memory structures and placing them into a large array. Using a process called “garbage collection,” Ruby might even have to find and recycle older unused Ruby objects to hold the comments, which would take even more time.
Databases Are Faster Than You Are
The solution is obvious: perform the search inside the database and only return the latest comment. But how do I ask my database server to search for the latest comment? By using ActiveRecord methods such as where, order and first to describe what I want, instead of writing my own code in Ruby. This line will do the trick:
post.comments.order( updated_at : :desc ).first
ActiveRecord translates this into SQL code as follows:
select comments.* from comments where comments.post_id = 1 order by comments.updated_at desc limit 1
This will run much faster than my previous solution, because my database only transmits one comment record over the network to my Ruby server: the latest one. And Ruby only creates one Ruby object, for the latest comment:
Now highly optimized C code, running on the same server that holds the comments table data, filters the comments by post, and sorts the matches by timestamp. This code has been used and tested by millions of developers around the world for years; don’t try to reinvent the wheel by rewriting the sort yourself using Ruby.
Caching the Latest Comment
Suppose in my user interface I always show the author of the latest comment next to each post. Now to display my page, I need to perform this comment search over and over again for every post. One way to avoid the comment query altogether would be to cache the latest comment’s author right inside the posts table. That way I’ll get the latest comment’s author automatically when I load the posts. No need for repeated searches, or any queries on the comments table at all!
In practice, if I’ve remembered to create indexes on the post_id and updated_at columns, the comment search SQL above will run very quickly, even if I execute it many times. I could even load the latest comments for all the posts using single SQL query, but for the sake of argument today, let’s explore a caching solution anyway.
Again ActiveRecord makes this easy. All I need to do is write a migration like this:
class AddLatestCommentAuthorToPosts < ActiveRecord :: Migration def change add_column :posts, :latest_comment_author, :string end end
Now I just need to be sure to update the post each time a user writes a new comment:
post.update_attribute( :latest_comment_author, " user name " )
Data Migration Using Ruby
Of course, I forgot something important. Using update_attribute I save the author for any new comments, but what about all of the existing comments? How do I set this column’s initial value for all the comments already in my database?
Simple enough: I just add a method to my migration that calls update_attribute. Here’s how to do it:
class AddLatestCommentAuthorToPosts < ActiveRecord :: Migration def change add_column :posts, :latest_comment_author, :string populate_latest_comment_authors end def populate_latest_comment_authors Post.all.each do |post| latest_author = post.comments.order( updated_at : :desc ).first.author post.update_attribute( :latest_comment_author, latest_author) end end end
Because you write migrations in Ruby, ActiveRecord makes it simple to perform complex transformations in a simple, elegant way. Using Ruby I get all the posts, iterate over each one, lookup the latest comment for that post, and update the latest comment author field.
But I’ve made the same performance mistake as before! Looking at my Rails log after running this migration, I find a series of repeated SQL statements:
SELECT "comments".* FROM "comments" WHERE "comments"."post_id" = $1 ORDER BY "comments"."updated_at" DESC LIMIT 1 [["post_id", 2]] UPDATE "posts" SET "latest_comment_author" = $1, "updated_at" = $2 WHERE "posts"."id" = 2 [["latest_comment_author", "Harry"], ["updated_at", "2015-06-17 13:58:42.512160"]] SELECT "comments".* FROM "comments" WHERE "comments"."post_id" = $1 ORDER BY "comments"."updated_at" DESC LIMIT 1 [["post_id", 3]] UPDATE "posts" SET "latest_comment_author" = $1, "updated_at" = $2 WHERE "posts"."id" = 3 [["latest_comment_author", "Harry"], ["updated_at", "2015-06-17 13:58:42.514676"]] SELECT "comments".* FROM "comments" WHERE "comments"."post_id" = $1 ORDER BY "comments"."updated_at" DESC LIMIT 1 [["post_id", 1]] UPDATE "posts" SET "latest_comment_author" = $1, "updated_at" = $2 WHERE "posts"."id" = 1 [["latest_comment_author", "Harry"], ["updated_at", "2015-06-17 13:58:42.516071"]]
Again, I’ve let my data out of the database. By loading all of the posts using Post.all, and iterating over them using each, I’ve triggered this series of repeated SQL commands. Now I’m transmitting all of the post data, and then more data back and forth for each post between my database and my Ruby application:
Just like my previous code, this migration will perform poorly. If I have just a few posts it probably doesn’t matter. But imagine if there are thousands or even 100,000s of post records: This migration might take minutes or even hours to complete! My database server and Ruby need to serialize, transmit and deserialize data for each one of these SQL commands.
There must be a better way.
Data Migration Using SQL
The solution is the same as before: Don’t let your data out of the database. Instead of writing Ruby code to update each post record, ask the database server to do it. My database server already has all my post data in an optimized format, likely loaded into memory. It can iterate over the posts and update them very quickly.
But how? How do I ask the database server to update all the posts? I need to speak the database’s language: SQL. By writing SQL directly, I can be sure the database is doing exactly what I want, that it’s using the most efficient algorithm possible. I can be sure my database and I understand each other.
Here’s one way to update all the posts using SQL:
update posts set latest_comment_author = ( select author from comments where comments.post_id = posts.id order by comments.updated_at desc limit 1 )
This tiny SQL program actually uses SQL commands similar to the what I found repeated in my log file. But there’s an important difference: This SQL code doesn’t refer to hard coded post id values, such as 1 or 2. Here I’ve updated all of the posts with a single command!
How does this work? Let’s take a look:
Using a SQL migration, my Ruby code sends a single SQL command to the database server, which is transmitted over the network to the database. Then, on the right, my database server performs the same iteration over the posts table, selecting the latest comment for each one.
This looks similar, but there’s a crucial difference: The iteration happens entirely inside the database server. No data needs to be packed, transmitted to the Ruby server and unpacked again. In fact, the C code performing the repeated SELECT statements has been compiled to native machine language and will run very quickly. Once it fetches the latest comment, it can directly update each post because the posts table is stored nearby on the same server’s hard drive, or even in memory.
Why Does the SQL Code Iterate?
You might wonder why I drew an iteration inside the database server above. After all, I sent the database a simple command containing 1 UPDATE statement and 1 SELECT statement. Why does my database need to execute the select over and over again?
The reason why is that my SQL code uses a correlated subquery, because the inner SELECT uses a value from the outer query. Here’s the SQL again:
Notice the inner SELECT statement refers to posts.id, a value from the surrounding UPDATE statement. This requires the database server to iterate over all of the posts, executing the inner select for each row. I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to rewrite this using an UPDATE-FROM statement, a JOIN or even Postgres window functions, which would avoid the repeated SELECTs.
However, remember if there are indexes on the columns in the comments table, the iteration selecting the latest comment for each post will be very fast. It will certainly be thousands of times faster than sending repeated SELECT and UPDATE SQL statements from your Ruby server over the network.
Do You Need to Learn SQL?
In reality I could have written this data migration using Ruby code. ActiveRecord provides a rich set of methods, even allowing for sophisticated queries employing subselects. And in the rare case when ActiveRecord can’t generate the SQL I need, I can always resort to using the underlying Arel Ruby library. In practice, it’s rare that you will actually need to write SQL code inside a Rails application.
Then why learn SQL? You should learn SQL because it will give you tremendous insight into how database servers actually work. You’ll learn what database servers can really do, and what they can’t. You won’t try to reinvent the wheel when you already have a server that uses algorithms more powerful and sophisticated that any you could write.
Use the database server for what it was designed to do: to solve your data problems. Whether you write SQL directly or use a tool like ActiveRecord to generate SQL automatically, perform the search, sort, or calculation you need right inside the database.
Don’t let your data out of the database until you need to… until you have just the values your application really needs.Magic Bullet Records confirms the signing of New Jersey-based instrumental/progressive hardcore collective, NEW YORK IN 64 — the act uniting past and current members of You and I, The Assistant, Capacities, East of the Wall, Postman Syndrome, Argonauts, El Drugstore, This Ship Will Sink, Black Kites and others — as the band has confirmed studio time in early November to record their debut album for the label.
After taking a fifteen-year hiatus from writing music together, Justin Hock and Thomas Schlatter — both part of the writing team behind ‘90s screamo band, You And I — began laying down the framework to collaborate once again. To flesh out the outfit Schlatter and Hock recruited New Jersey musical veterans Chris Alfano and Seth Rheam, best known for their work in the progressive powerhouse East of the Wall, among many other acts, completing the lineup for NEW YORK IN 64. Completely void of vocals, the raw energy of 90’s hardcore supplied by Hock and Schlatter, mixed with the refined technical aspects of progressive metal Alfano and Rheam deliver, were like two worlds colliding, however, resulted into something that seamlessly blended the two contrary styles. While injecting the energy and enthusiasm of a basement show into a more refined musical composition, NEW YORK IN 64 attempts to harness two sides of many coins; youth and age, rawness and precision, joy and hostility.
Having already begun performing live together, NEW YORK IN 64 will enter Backroom Studios in Rockaway, New Jersey the second week of November to lay down their debut album for Magic Bullet, after which it will be set for release in early 2015. Stand by for additional postings on live actions following the trip into the studio, and watch for more info on the band’s debut recordings at the turn of the year.
For now, recent visual evidence of NEW YORK IN 64 breaking out their new jams at a very recent, energetic New Brunswick basement show has surfaced; check out a full nearly half-hour live set below.
NEW YORK IN 64:
Justin Hock – guitars
Thomas Schlatter – bass
Chris Alfano – guitars
Seth Rheam – drums
http://www.magicbulletrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/magicbulletrecords
https://twitter.com/magicbulletrecsLeeds United fans are braced for a prolonged period of uncertainty over the club’s future after an Italian court found prospective owner Massimo Cellino guilty of tax evasion.
The 57-year-old has been waiting for the Football League to approve his takeover of the Whites since his company Eleonora Sports agreed a £25million deal to buy 75 per cent of the club’s shares at the beginning of February.
But the Italian’s bid to take control at Elland Road appears to have been scuppered after he was fined 600,000 euros by Judge Sandra Lepore in a Cagliari court for failing to pay more than 400,000 euros in import tax on his luxury yacht, Nelie, which he bought in 2010 and has now been confiscated.
Cellino’s lawyer Giovanni Cocco immediately announced the Miami-based businessman planned to appeal against the court’s ruling.
The Football League has been in protracted negotiations with Cellino’s legal representatives in England and was understood to be waiting for the outcome of the court hearing before making a decision on the ownership of Leeds.
A Football League statement read: “The Football League has noted the outcome of the court hearing earlier (on Tuesday) regarding Massimo Cellino.
“We are engaged in an ongoing dialogue with his legal representatives in this country and cannot comment further at this time.”
The governing body’s ‘owners and directors’ test, prevents anyone with an unspent conviction for dishonesty offences from being a director, a 30 per cent owner, or from exercising control over one of its clubs.
Leeds supporters can now expect further delays and more legal wrangling between Cellino and the League as the uncertainty over their club continues.
Leeds managing director David Haigh insisted last week that there is “no chance” of the club going into administration, as it is Cellino’s money which has been keeping
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opponent is himself
Donald Trump need only find a mirror to battle his current political opponent before he gets to Hillary Clinton, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday.
The former Republican presidential candidate said Trump needs to focus on Clinton’s weaknesses instead of causing trouble with the Republican leadership.
Story Continued Below
Graham’s comments come after Trump declined to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arizona Sen. John McCain in their respective primaries, as well New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
“From what I can tell, they don't have a strategy to effectively exploit Hillary Clinton's weaknesses,” Graham said Thursday on CNN. "If you really focused on Hillary Clinton's weaknesses and the Obama economy's weaknesses, you would change these numbers. That means you have to focus on your opponent and your opponent is not John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, Paul Ryan. Your opponent right now, Mr. Trump, is yourself.”
Graham, who reiterated that he isn't voting for Trump or Clinton in November, remarked Trump needs to prove to the American people that he has the judgment and temperament to serve as commander in chief. He expressed serious concerns about Trump’s foreign policy remarks, saying he does not believe Trump understands “who our enemies are and who our friends are and he doesn't understand the Mideast for the complexity that it is.”WASHINGTON — President Obama expressed confidence on Monday that he was right to defy House Republicans’ demands as the hours ticked away toward a government shutdown. Yet offsetting the bravado at the White House was fear of what October’s unfolding events could mean for the economy.
A day before uninsured Americans could begin signing up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the law that is the white-hot center of the political conflagration, Mr. Obama appeared self-assured but was nonetheless powerless to influence scores of uncompromising Republicans — many of them elected since he took office — who have bucked both their own party leaders and traditionally influential business groups. As he acknowledged, five years of work to prevent a second Depression and then spur a slow recovery was at risk of being undone, depending on how the month plays out.
Hope for a short-term deal to fund the domestic and military operations of government slipped away as a new fiscal year began Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., and a fight is inevitable as the president and Congressional Republicans seek agreement for a full-year budget. The biggest, most economically threatening showdown still threatens: By Oct. 17, Congress must raise the nation’s debt limit to pay for bills already incurred or provoke a globe-shaking default.RARITAN TWP. -- Adele Dunlap, who turned 114 in December, died on Sunday at Hunterdon Medical Center.
She was the oldest person living in America, a distinction that now passes to Delphine Gibson, 113, of Huntingdon County, Pa., a rural area west of Harrisburg, said Robert D. Young, director of the Gerontology Research Group.
Marie-Josephine Gaudette, 114, who currently lives in Italy, is the oldest living American, Young said.
Dunlap, who was born in Newark on Dec. 12, 1902, had become the oldest person living in America in July. She is survived by two sons, six grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
Two years ago she had no explanation for her longevity, and at the time her son Earl urged her, "Just keep going for the record."
Oldest living American celebrates birthday
A birthday celebration was held in December at Country Arch Care Center in Union Township in Hunterdon County, where she was living. She assumed the title of oldest American resident when Goldie Michelson of Massachusetts died on July 8. Dunlap said earlier this year she stopped counting her age when she turned 104.
A Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday at Immaculate Conception Church, 316 Old Allerton Road, Annandale, according to her obituary. She will be buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover.
Dunlap, who has lived at Country Arch Care Center since she was 99, was also among the top 10 oldest people in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which validates living supercentenarians, or people older than 110. She was among seven centenarians living at Country Arch.
In August, U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance and state Assemblyman Erik Peterson visited her at the center.
Born in the Clinton Hill section of Newark on Dec. 12, 1902, she was the youngest of four children, with three older brothers. After graduating from Southside High School in Newark, she entered Newark State Normal School to prepare for a teaching career.
She taught third grade for five years, during which time she met her husband, Earl "Lynn" Dunlap, with whom she had three children, two boys and a girl.
After her marriage she became a housewife, raising her family and tending to her home. "My mother didn't believe in marriage for teachers," she told NJ Advance Media during an interview when she turned 112.
Dunlap lived in Clinton with her son and his wife, Earl and Barbara Dunlap, for 12 years before moving to Country Arch Care Center.
Craig Turpin may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @NJeditor. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Is your Sims dining experience a bit ordinary? Is it so humdrum that it feels like they just disappear entirely when they go out to eat? In that case it’s time to spice things up by heading out to the Business as Usual Bistro for the crème del le crème of opulent dining experiences! Premium Content Included /productDetail.html?productId=OFB-SIM3:67572 It's Business Time Industrial Oven Do you want to start your own business and make gobs of Simoleons? How about spending a nigh... See More Details › 1 of 15 items are included in this set: (click on thumbnails for a quick view of the item) Expand to show all included items ( ) Collapse to show less items 1,710 SimPoints Download! Buy Now! Item has Additional Gameplay Added to Cart Added to Wishlist You own this item. Please make sure you have the latest FREE game update to guarantee that this content is fully functional. Game UpdatesIn 2014 Bill Whittle produced an excellent video about the way Democrats were ‘Gaslighting’ conservatives. Whittle explained that no matter what insane things Democrats did they were able to somehow manipulate people into believing that we–and not they–were the crazy ones.
Well folks, almost the moment news broke about James T. Hodgkinson, the Democrat/Socialist who went to a baseball field to assassinate Republicans, the mind games began.
CBS talking head Scott Pelley led the fight in deflecting attention away from the actual criminal.
In his calm, very “nightly news” way, Pelley said, “It’s time to ask whether the attack on the United States congress yesterday was self-inflicted. Too many leaders, and political commentators, who set an example for us to follow have led us into an abyss of violent rhetoric which, it should be no surprise, has led to violence.”
Pelley’s words were much like a rapist claiming, “She asked for it!”
Of course in these strange, schitzo political days, leftists and old-school Republicans are united in their hatred for President Trump and they, too, are trying to gaslight us.
GOP Congressman Mark Sanford went purebred crazy when he recently told MSNBC President Trump is “partially to blame for demons that have been unleashed.”
Demons? Really?
Parroting Democrat talking points, Rep. Sanford continued, “The fact is you’ve got the top guy saying ‘Well I wish I could hit you in the face and if not, why don’t you and I’ll pay your legal fees,’ that’s bizarre. We ought to call it as such.”
Again, Sanford was blaming President Trump for “causing” a seemingly normal man to go on a killing rampage. It wasn’t the normal man’s fault–it was Donald Trump’s for once talking about HITTING SOMEONE. Lord help this country if more of these “normal people” watch a boxing match, or an action movie, or any Humphrey Bogart movie…
The good news is that there are many voices of reason out there trying to break through this nonsense. On my personal Facebook page I posted an article written by conservative CBS radio host Chris Stigall entitled, “On the Contrary, Hate Has a Home”. Stigall very succinctly wrote,
The man who attempted to assassinate scores of Republicans this week was not garden-variety mentally ill. He was politically active and mentally ill. He was a Bernie Sanders supporter who recently, passionately engaged in political campaigns and issues both in person and online. He cared deeply about politics just as I do, and I suppose you do if you’re reading this. But it’s time to be clear, fair, and honest about what’s going on rhetorically in this country. There’s a woman named Michelle Carter currently on trial in Massachusetts accused of encouraging her suicidal boyfriend Conrad Roy, via text, to follow through with his plans to kill himself. “You need to do it, Conrad. You’re ready and prepared. All you have to do is turn the generator on and you will be free and happy,” she reportedly wrote. “No more pushing it off. No more waiting.” Roy did tragically take his life the night of that text exchange. If a jury finds Carter guilty of pushing her boyfriend to kill himself, she faces 20 years in prison. For texting. See where I’m going here, Democrats? If we’re going to have a discussion about tone and our rhetoric, OK, let’s have it, but it’s not going to be one-sided anymore.
Of course the article released the Krakens on my Facebook page with inane comments and memes like the following (I’m not including their last names but if you go to my page you can find them there):
Dan P: It’s kind of hypocritical when extreme right wingers call for Second Amendment solutions to liberals only to bitch and complain when a left wing nut does exactly that to one of their own.
Kathy M: No one pushes people more toward violence than trump. He is the one to blame, and also those that want no gun restrictions.
My response to Kathy (pardon the CAPS): “So Kathy, do President Trump’s WORDS make you want to resort to violence? Do you believe his WORDS justify people saying they want to KILL him? Do you believe his WORDS justify someone trying to KILL all Republicans on a baseball field? If you answer yes to any of those questions, YOU are the problem, not President Trump.”
These people (and many more) are deeply insinuating that “rhetoric” from President Trump–and all Republicans–are to blame if they get blacklisted from speaking at colleges, or punched in the face by ANTIFA, or even shot at on a baseball field.
The latest version of gaslighting: When did this start?
Remember James Otis? He’s the guy who took a sledge hammer and smashed then-candidate Donald Trump’s star on Hollywood Boulevard all to smithereens. Later Otis, looking very “normal” and more than a little smug, unapologetically held a press conference right there on the boulevard. His publicity stunt was covered by all the LA news stations, with Otis calmly explaining the reason he did his smashing was because Donald Trump promotes violence.
In other words, much like the ANTIFA movement has proved they are fascists, Otis substantiated his anti-violence stance by being violent.
James Otis began the precedence that violence against Donald Trump, even via destroying his star on a sidewalk, was “normal”. Mainstream. Acceptable.
When called out on their gaslighting tactics, leftists and left-leaning Republicans either denigrate Pres. Trump or they screech, ‘You did the same to Obama!’ Well, yes and no. It’s true that most of us on the right completely disagreed with almost every policy Obama enacted. We grew to distrust, disrespect, and yes, dislike him immensely as a politician. But out of the hundreds of events and rallies I personally attended through the 8 years of his administration, I never heard anyone–ever–talk about wanting to kill the president. I never personally saw a burning effigy of him, never saw a rap video about killing Obama, never saw actors on television or in plays pretending to kill him, hiding behind that now-sacred word “art”. Nothing. Nada.
And yet people in media and elsewhere are basically justifying the actions of a man who tried to assassinate a field full of Republicans by claiming President Trump once talked about punching someone in the face and said he ‘hates the media’.
Apparently that’s all it takes these days to drive people to murder.
Lord help us. Literally.
Be safe out there, friends; it’s a mad, mad world.Jenson Button has called on the FIA to increase the minimum weight limit for next year’s cars after claiming that taller, heavier drivers are being unfairly discriminated against.
With heavy showers expected on Sunday – the latest forecasts still have Typhoon Fitow just missing the Korean Peninsula and heading west towards China instead – a storm of a different kind was brewing in Korea on Thursday as the notoriously thorny issue of driver weight reared its head.
The Grand Prix Drivers Association is expected to discuss the issue during its meeting on Friday night.
The issue has been put firmly back on the agenda in recent weeks with speculation that Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, widely regarded as one of the sport’s most promising talents, may miss out on a drive next year because he weighs 11st 9lb (74kg).
It was rumoured in Germany this week that Hülkenberg may have missed out on a race seat at McLaren because of his weight. He has also been overlooked by Ferrari and is vying with the much lighter Felipe Massa for a race seat at Lotus.
Force India’s Paul di Resta, who weighs in at 11st 9lb, is another driver uncertain about his future.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber responded to the speculation by tweeting his sympathy for heavier drivers, claiming that he has been starving himself for years and adding that the perfect driver weight was now between 9st 6lb and 10st 3lb (60-65kg).
The Australian, 6ft tall, weighs around 11st 11lb compared with his team-mate Sebastian Vettel who is 5ft 9in and weighs 10st. “Haven’t eaten for last 5 years!” Webber wrote. “Min weight been to [sic] low since for ages. Perfect driver now weight 60/65kg.”
The issue of driver weight is a long-standing one in Formula One, as it is with jockeys in horse racing.
David Coulthard admitted to suffering from bulimia as a teenager as he struggled to make his way in the sport. While Button said he was in no danger of developing an eating disorder, he admitted that he fasts before each race and “never” eats carbohydrates.
The 2009 world champion said that it was high time drivers put self-interest aside to create “a level playing field” ahead of next year’s step-change in the regulations.
The introduction in 2014 of new turbocharged engines allied to heavier, more powerful energy recovery systems has already seen the governing body increase the minimum weight limit of the cars plus drivers to 642kg to 690kg.
However, the extra 48kg will almost certainly be taken up by the new power units, meaning even less leeway for drivers than at present. Lighter drivers currently have the luxury of being able to move ballast around the car in order to bring it up to the minimum weight.
Button, one of the leanest drivers on the grid, claimed that he was already “on the limit” in his McLaren at just 11st and had sometimes stepped over it. “I have about six per cent body fat and I am on the limit in our car,” he said. “I couldn’t be heavier than I am so I fast before the race.
"I don’t eat carbohydrates at all. I eat limited amounts of food and it is always high in protein and no carbs. And this is all of the time — all year.”
Asked whether bulimia or anorexia might be an issue, Button added: “No chance for me because I love food. I would rather eat than become ill.
“The problem is that it will stop people looking at taller drivers in the future. You could have a very talented driver who could be missed for his height and weight even if he is the fittest and skinniest driver ever to be in a racing car. If he is over the weight by five kilos that is 0.2 secs-a-lap and it is the end of your career basically.
“It needs to change now. To be fair, we [the drivers] should have pushed harder on that. I think the drivers would rather have a level playing field. It is not a safety issue and it should be an easy thing to change: just put [the minimum weight] up five or 10kg.”
Button conceded that some drivers and teams would not be as keen as others. “Some teams might not want to change the weight because they have light drivers and know they can make a light car and engine package,” he said. “That might be us [McLaren] but we should all agree to be fair and raise the weights. I would love to be able to eat again.
“In the past three years, I have probably had four races where I have lost half-a-tenth or a tenth of a second because I have been overweight. It sounds small but in qualifying that could be a position or two and in the race it could be five or six seconds.
“It is a big deal and something that goes unnoticed.”
Lewis Hamilton produced an amusing aside to the issue by suggesting only drastic action could enable him to reach Webber’s ideal driver weight.
He said: “I weigh about 71kg [11st 2lb]. I was never 65kg [10st 3lb]. I was 68kg [10st 10lb] last year but I have put on three kilos since then. The guys have not told me to do that [lose weight].
"I actually want to put on another kilo of muscle! I think Michael [Schumacher] was 78kg [12st 4lb] with all his kit and Adrian Sutil was 82kg [12st 12lb]. I am not going to be 65kg unless I cut my nuts off.”
Size matters - where Formula One drivers stand on the scales
Lightweights
Sebastian Vettel 64kg (10st), 176cm (5ft 9in)
Nico Rosberg 66kg (10st 5lb), 178cm (5ft 10in)
Middleweights
Jenson Button 70kg (11st), 183cm (6ft)
Lewis Hamilton 71kg (11st 2lb), 174cm (5ft 8 1/2in)
Heavyweights
Nico Hülkenberg 74kg (11st 9lb), 184cm (6ft)
Paul di Resta 74kg (11st 9lb), 185cm (6ft 1in)
Mark Webber 75kg (11st 11lb), 184cm (6ft)The Minnesota Timberwolves have traded the 18th pick in the 2012 NBA draft to the Houston Rockets for Chase Budinger and the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu.
The Houston Chronicle earlier reported the trade agreement.
The Rockets have been discussing deals with several teams in the top 10 about moving up in the draft. Adding the 18th pick should give them even more ammunition.
Although sources stressed that no deal is imminent, the Rockets have had substantive discussions about sending their other two first-round picks (Nos. 14 and 16) to the Sacramento Kings for the No. 5 pick. The Rockets also have been exploring moving point guard Kyle Lowry to a team in the top 10 to acquire another pick.
Sources say the Rockets are hoping to acquire enough assets to entice the Magic to trade Dwight Howard to them.
The Rockets' willingness to trade for Howard -- even without the All-Star center's signature on a contract extension -- is an open secret around the league. But it's believed that two top-10 picks, assuming Houston managed to complete trades with Sacramento and another team, would seriously pique the interest of new Magic general manager Rob Hennigan, who then could quickly start to follow the same sort of roster-building blueprint relied on by his previous employer in Oklahoma City.
Acquiring those early lottery picks, though, represents only half of Houston's challenge if Howard is indeed the Rockets' target.
The other hurdle is convincing Hennigan, who hasn't even been on the job for a week, to part with Howard so quickly. As much as the GM has been schooled in building through the draft while working alongside Thunder GM Sam Presti, Hennigan could opt to take a more measured approach, making one more run at convincing Howard to sign an extension before entering the final year of his contract, and then trading him later in the summer if those efforts go nowhere.
Although several rival teams now believe the Rockets are determined to stockpile a fistful of first-round draft picks to offer Orlando for Howard, sources say there are other established players they're interested in acquiring. One of them, sources say, is Atlanta Hawks swingman Josh Smith, who happens to be one of Howard's closest friends.
The Timberwolves see themselves as a team on the rise behind coach Rick Adelman, point guard Ricky Rubio and power forward Kevin Love. The Wolves faded late last season after Rubio went down with a knee injury, exposing the roster as one with too many point guards, power forwards and centers and not enough playmakers and shooters on the wings.
Michael Beasley struggled with injuries and inconsistency, Wes Johnson couldn't find his shooting stroke and Martell Webster never got fully into the groove after preseason back surgery.
Budinger should help. He averaged 9.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and shot 40.2 percent from 3-point range in his third season with the Rockets. The former second-round pick out of Arizona played his first two seasons under Adelman in Houston, so he has familiarity in the coach's corner offense and has demonstrated the ability to knock down open jump shots.
"Chase knows Rick Adelman's system well after playing for him in Houston, and he will be a good fit on our team," Timberwolves president David Kahn said in a statement issued by the team.
The 6-foot-7 Budinger, who has participated in the slam dunk contest during All-Star Weekend, also has the athleticism to get to the basket and a knack for moving without the ball.
"Chase was an integral part of our team in Houston my last two years as coach there," Adelman said. "He will help our perimeter game with his athleticism and shooting ability. Chase's game has improved in each of his first three seasons in the NBA and we look forward to that continuing here in Minnesota."
The trade also helps Minnesota from a financial perspective. Budinger is due to make $942,000 next season and could become a free agent after next season.
"It's part of the business," Budinger told KRIV-TV in Houston. "The Rockets want to do something and they have got to pay for it."
The modest salary gives the Wolves more salary cap room than a guaranteed three-year deal for a first-round draft pick, which could open up their options for other moves in free agency, which begins July 1, or through trades.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.The Mascot
Pick a team with an intimidating, ridiculous, or just plain silly mascot. Lions, Tigers and Bears!
Team Colors
The teams you pick may not be winning teams, but at least they will look good losing.
Your Current School or Alma Mater
If you are currently attending or graduated from a school that has made it into the tournament, you better pick them. Show your team spirit!
The Underdog
Who doesn’t love an underdog? Choose a team who barely qualified, they might end up being the Cinderella story of the whole tournament
Your Hometown
You may have gone out of state for college, but you can always be nostalgic and cheer for the teams where you grew up. Chances are you know someone who attended that school. If they win, you are guaranteed to have an awesome victory celebration.Canadian subscribers are set to pick and pay only for TV services they want, sending jittery broadcasters online and worldwide for new business opportunities.
It's been called Canada's Great Cable Unbundling.
Plans to allow cable customers to shop a la carte — picking, and paying, only for the channels they want piped into their homes — has triggered a seismic shift in the industry here and could in 2016 see local Canadian operations make bids to become global players.
Blue Ant Media is the latest Canadian broadcaster to make the leap.
"Blue Ant is becoming an international company," Raja Khanna, CEO of television digital at Blue Ant told The Hollywood Reporter after his company pacted with U.S.-based Smithsonian Networks to launch a 4K wildlife production and distribution joint venture, based in the U.K.
"Earlier, we launched an international distribution division. Now we're announcing this joint venture in London. We also have our Los Angeles-based YouTube and online video network. So we are absolutely focused on building Blue Ant's business globally," Khanna added.
Closer to home, Blue Ant has also been rebranding channels and investing in content and marketing to ensure its channels appeal to consumers in a coming a la carte cable packaging world. That included Blue Ant rebranding its male-skewing comedy channel Bite as a female-focused crafting Makeful network.
Blue Ant isn't alone. To see the possible future of pay TV's financial model in the U.S. and elsewhere, look to Canada in 2016 as expensive, pre-packaged cable bundles start to unravel.
Bell Media signed new long-term licensing deal with HBO and Showtime that makes the broadcaster the new exclusive home of series from both popular U.S. premium channels. And the Canadian broadcaster and HBO inked an original series co-production partnership to jointly produce made-in-Canada series for the international market.
Elsewhere, Canadian broadcaster DHX Media decided not to renew its licensing deal for its Family Channel network with The Walt Disney Co. DHX Media instead signed a new TV series licensing deal with AwesomenessTV, which is majority-owned by DreamWorks, with whom the Canadian broadcaster will co-produce 130 half-hours of original cartoon fare for worldwide distribution.
Joe Tedesco, senior vp and general manager at DHX Television, said the Awesomeness TV shows should appeal to pay TV subscribers here as his company looks to lessen the potential impact of cable package unbundling. "We wouldn't have embarked on this strategy if we didn't have the confidence that the content that we're going to commission is going to be strong, in fact we think it will be stronger," he insisted.
What does the Canadian unbundling precedent portend for the U.S. market? Kaan Yigit, an analyst at Solutions Research Group in Toronto, said U.S. channels will be nervous over Canadian cable unbundling because the same consumer forces are in play on both sides of the border.
"The ability of the TV provider to demand more is quite diminished as the consumer is more value conscious and wants to pay for what they watch, and not for things they don't," he told THR.
U.S. cable channels during CRTC hearings earlier this year warned they may say no to Canadian cable carriers adopting pick-and-pay because of any precedent that may spill over into the U.S. market.
But Yigit predicted no American players will ultimately withdraw from the Canadian market if CNN and AMC are no longer bundled with MSNBC and BET on high-penetration tiers. "I doubt anyone can afford to leave any money on the table anymore. The big ones like Discovery, A&E Networks and Scipps don't have much to worry about as those channels are on most households''must keep' list," he said.
That said, Yigit insisted the negotiating power of channel owners is eroding, especially for those without a major network or live TV sports rights. "Sooner or later, a carrier might simply stop carrying all their channels, because their customer-value is less than what it was five to seven years ago," he said.
Mario Mota, an analyst with Ottawa-based Boon Dog Professional Services, said less popular U.S. channels on Canadian cable and satellite TV schedules will see a loss of subscribers in a coming pick-and-pay world. But he adds U.S. channels operating here will remain profitable as their main market is south of the border.
The same can't be said for local Canadian channels. "Pick and pay in Canada will not likely break a U.S. channel, but it could (break) some Canadian channels," Mota said.
Meanwhile, Canadian broadcasters are readying their game plans for the coming cable unbundling with varying strategies. Corus Entertainment secured the Canadian licensing rights to the Disney Channel and launched the popular U.S. brand in the Canadian kids TV market as part of a deal with the Disney/ABC Television Group.
The recent Canadian TV market gyrations are a prelude to broadcasters in 2016 finding out just how many subscribers will keep their current TV package when skinny basic and pick and pay options become available in March 2016. Starting then, customers will be able to pick and pay for cable and satellite TV channels after purchasing a basic package capped at $25 a month.
Broadcasters and cable carriers will then see whether, with the price per channel possibly to rise for pick-and-pay and small build-your-own-bundle options, consumers stick with their current cable bundles. After purchasing a slimmed-down basic cable package, Canadians will be able to add one or more Canadian, American or any other foreign channel on a stand-alone basis, or go for bundled channel packages that they assemble.
Canada's cable-unraveling scenario in 2016 will see popular U.S. channels like FX and AMC become available for purchase on their own, leaving American suppliers of popular U.S. primetime series to fend it alone for the first time since cable bundling was introduced in Canadian in the 1970s.
Canadian carriers reluctantly wading into the competitive fray, gearing up to battle for the attention — and dollars — of subscribers. Local broadcasters have already lost eyeballs to Netflix Canada and other online programming alternatives, but media giants like Bell Media, Rogers Media and Shaw Media could see Internet service divisions grow as broadband revenues increase as more Canadians supplement their cable with over-the-top digital services.
The networks have already seen much blood-letting as vertically-integrated media giants cut jobs and costs before March 2016, when the new a la carte regulations come into force. Hamilton, Ontario-based local TV station CHCH on Dec. 11 cut 71 full-time jobs and sharply chopped its local programming output as it filed for bankruptcy protection amid a declining national advertising market.
There's been similar job culls at larger broadcast players Bell, Shaw and Rogers. The cross-industry cost cutting is the latest sign of a broadcast sector feeling the strain of a soft advertising market and cord-cutting as audiences and advertisers increasingly go online to view TV shows, especially on Netflix Canada.
The continuing ad slump for free, over-the-air broadcasters has hit hard as networks here have long depended on U.S. network shows for audiences and ad dollars.PHILADELPHIA — Two people interrupted a moment of silence meant to honor slain police officers at Democrats’ convention Thursday, shouting “black lives matter” as the rest of the thousands assembled were quiet.
Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, whose city was the scene of the ambush that left five police officers dead and seven wounded earlier this month, asked for the moment of silence.
After things quieted down, a man interrupted with the “black lives matter” shout, and a woman then interjected herself.
After the moment of silence, family members of officers recently slain took to the stage to recount their relatives’ lives and sacrifices.
The relatives received a standing ovation from the delegates.
Recent mass shootings have pushed law and order to the top of the political debate — but Republicans and Democrats approach it very differently. The GOP paid homage to the police shot in two ambushes by anti-cop assailants, while Democrats spent the first three days of their convention focusing on victims who died at the hands of police.
Later, as dozens of generals, admirals and young veterans took to the stage to endorse Mrs. Clinton, followed by an Army captain who received the Medal of Honor, Sanders supporters chanted “No more war” and held up their hands in peace signs.
Clinton delegates shouted back at them, and some of the confrontations became tense.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.FAIRHOPE, Alabama — A judge set bond at $20,000 Friday for a man accused of using a 20-gauge shotgun with bird shots in it to shoot a teenager in the back as the teen was running away from him.
William Moss, 56, was arrested Thursday on a second-degree assault charge and put in the Baldwin County Corrections Center under no bond. He had a bond hearing Friday morning before Baldwin County District Court Judge Scott Taylor.
Moss' arrest stems from a shooting that happened on his property in the 9500 block of County Road 11 in the Barnwell community on Tuesday.
Christian Valenti, 19, of Fairhope, suffered 20 to 30 pellet wounds in his back, legs and feet, the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office said.
"The evidence shows that he was running from away from the location, away from the dwelling," Sheriff's Office Sgt. Daniel Stillman testified.
Baldwin County Assistant District Attorney Michaelyn Gober asked Taylor to set Moss' bond at $100,000. She said Moss is a danger to the community.
"Through the investigation, there has been information that has come to law enforcement that... this is not the first time he has fired a firearm at someone, and unfortunately, this time someone was injured," Gober said.
Gober also cited Moss' prior convictions for DUI and driving while license revoked as others reasons to set Moss' bond at $100,000.
She said the convictions suggest Moss "is going to do what he wants to do and is not going to adhere to what the law says he is supposed to do."
Defense attorney Clark Stankoski asked the judge to set Moss' bond at $15,000. He said the Gober's request was unreasonable.
"The top of the murder range is $75,000," he said. "We are talking about bird shots. When Mr. Moss pulled that shotgun to go down and see who was trespassing on his property, he knew he had bird shot in there."
Stankoski said Moss had been drinking the day of the shooting, but what's important is that Moss was on his own property, and he had a right to investigate what was going on outside his home.
After the hearing, Stankoski said it's too early in the case for him to discuss the allegation that Moss shot Valenti as he was running away.
"You know it's so early in this case that all we have is hearsay on hearsay," he said. "It wouldn't do me any good to comment on that. Just because they are saying it doesn't mean it's true. I'm not saying they are making something up."
In addition to setting Moss' bond, the judge set conditions that Moss must follow if he is able to get out of jail, including not contacting Valenti or his family.
If Moss is able to post bond, he can not possess or be around any guns. Taylor ordered that all guns in Moss' home must be removed before he returns home.
"They can be stored at other family members' homes, but there are not to be any firearms on the property until this matter is otherwise resolved or this order is modified at some later time," Taylor said.
Moss will be under house arrest and will have to wear a GPS monitor if released.
The judge said Moss cannot to drink or be around alcohol. Taylor also said Moss will have to wear an alcohol monitor when he gets out of jail.
The Baldwin County Sheriff's office said it was called to Moss' home after it was reported that he had fired a warning shot at Valenti.
The Sheriff's Office said Valenti had been to a house party where underage drinking had been going on, and he was trying to get away from Fairhope police.
As Valenti was going across Moss' yard, Moss confronted Valenti at gunpoint and hit Valenti in the mouth with the barrel of the shotgun, the Sheriff's Office said.
The Sheriff's Office said Valenti ran, and Moss fired two rounds from the gun.
"This is a 19 year-old kid who had been drinking at a party and was running from police," Gober said. "He had no intention at all of harming anyone on this property. I understand there may be an argument there from the defense trying to say that this is self-defense, but there is no suggestion whatsoever that Mr. Valenti posed any risk to Mr. Moss."The terrorist clock is counting down and only Sam Fisher can stop it in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist for Xbox 360
The latest thrilling chapter in the classic espionage series sees Sam Fisher in command of the new 4th Echelon and tasked with saving the world by any means necessary. Skills, weapons and gameplay all get an upgrade as Fisher and his team hunt down the terrorists while there's still time!
The Blacklist. An ultimatum issued by a group of terrorists tired of the American military presence all over the globe. A deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on U.S. interests.
With the Third Echelon winding down its operations following a Presidential Order, President Patricia Cornwell forms the 4th Echelon, a new elite force made up of operatives from different agencies who report directly to the President herself. And the man in charge of the 4th Echelon is none other than legendary agent Sam Fisher. Their mission: track down the terrorists responsible for the Blacklist Threat before the clock counts down to zero - by any means necessary.
The Sam Fisher of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a return to the roots of character, seeing him once again slip into the shadows as easily as he slips into his trademark panther suit and goggles. But this is also a new Sam Fisher, one who is older and wiser and now has the authority to act above the law to get the job done. Your mission will take you to locales all over the world, and you can use any methods you deem necessary to find those responsible.
This means you can operate without restrictions. Choose to take the traditional stealthy path by hiding and ghosting in the shadows until it's time to strike. Or use your newly upgraded agility for a
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Now, being the trusting sort, I figured that the government would want to quickly dispel any rumors so we could get on with the chore of kicking Osama/Sadaam’s butt (weren’t these originally two different people?). It seemed simple to me...produce the names of all the bodies identified by the AFIP and compare it with the publicized list of passengers. So, I sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the AFIP and asked for an expedited response, because we were getting ready to send our boys to war on the pretext that Osama/Saddam had done the deed. Fourteen months later, a few US soldiers dead, many Iraqi civilians pushing up daisies, and I finally get the list. Believe me that they weren’t a bit happy to give it up, and I really have no idea why they choose now to release it.
No Arabs wound up on the morgue slab; however, three ADDITIONAL people not listed by American Airlines sneaked in. I have seen no explanation for these extras. I did American the opportunity to “revise” their original list, but they have not responded. The new names are: Robert Ploger, Zandra Ploger, and Sandra Teague. The AFIP claims that the only “passenger” body that they were not able to identify is the toddler, Dana Falkenberg, whose parents and young sister are on the list of those identified. The satanic masterminds behind this caper may be feeling pretty smug about the perfect crime, but they have left a raft of clues tying these unfortunates together.
The Passengers
In the foregoing, I presented evidence from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), that there were no Arabs on American Airlines Flight 77. This doesn’t really jibe with the official story, so someone isn’t telling the truth. This list itself is suspect because there is a special group of “bone guys” that are called in whenever the government needs an “adjustment” to their story.
About “bone guys”: No, we’re not talking folks that hang around secret Ivy League fraternities. On May 31, 2002, the Washington Post had this to say about ‘bone guys’:
“…When remains of the Waco dead or 9/11 Pentagon victims or Desert Storm casualties — or most recently Chandra Levy — need to be studied, the bone guys at the Smithsonian are called in. The bone guys read skeletons like intricate topological maps. Sometimes they can make identification from a skull fragment the size of a quarter. They can read race in the teeth and gender in the brow. They can tell you who had an asymmetric nose. They can tell you who may have been a factory worker, because bones grow more pronounced to accommodate certain muscles, and who may have been a weaver or a tailor, based on grooves in the teeth where thread was held….”
In other words, these were the fellows who helped tidy up the government’s story at Waco and are “studying” the Sept 11th remains as well.
By now you have probably heard that many of the “hijackers” named by the FBI are alive and well. The Information Times, an on-line publication, reported that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told the Arabic Press after meeting with President George W. Bush on Sept. 20: “It was proved that five of the names included in the FBI list had nothing to do with what happened.”
According to The Orlando Sentinel, the Saudi Arabian embassy confirmed that four of the five mentioned by Al-Faisal – Saeed Alghamdi, Mohand Alshehri, Abdulaziz Alomari and Salem Alhazmi- are not dead and had nothing to do with the heinous terror attacks in New York and Washington. (source: Christopher J. Petherick – American Free Press)
From photos of all of those that perished on that flight, it is clear that none are even “Arab looking.” This seems to rule out Arabs sneaking aboard under assumed names.
If you are familiar with Operation Northwoods (see Body of Secrets by James Bamford or thumbnail description here) then you know that the National Security Agency (NSA) has both the will and ability to orchestrate an “operation” such as Sept 11th if they decided it was for the “greater good.” Not saying that they choose to conduct September 11 attack, but they clearly have the ability. According to Bamford, “Operation Northwoods” was not planned by any “rogue element” but proposed by General Lemnitzer, himself, and then thankfully spiked by President Kennedy. Think also of FDR’s foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor as exposed by Robert Stinnett in his book Day of Deceit. Stinnett actually agrees with FDR’s decision to allow it to happen.
Brush up on the Lusitania hoax, the USS Liberty cover-up, the Gulf of Tonkin fiction, and the Gulf War I falsified satellite photos, etc. if you are not convinced that government officials are capable of stretching the truth (for our own good, of course). It is very hard to keep a secret of this gravity. One possible way to cut down chatter is to eliminate as many witnesses as possible, preferably during the crime itself.
Critics of “conspiracy theorists” have tried to nullify talk of remote controlled planes as being the talk of lunatics. Global Hawk (Raytheon) is a large military aircraft that has flown 7000 miles without a pilot as discussed in this Air Force public affairs article, and is being widely used in the current Iraq war.
They also make large commercial planes for FedEx that fly by remote control as reported by the Associated Press. The “success” of this operation depended on the planes reaching their destination. Would the planners (be they Arab or otherwise) trust poorly trained “pilots” when this technology was at their disposal?
Reported only in a Portuguese newspaper, The Portugal News Weekend Edition (May 8, 2002), a group of US pilots deliberated nonstop for 72 hours in an independent analysis of the 911 story. The inquiry stated, “The so-called terrorist attack was in fact a superbly executed military operation carried out against the USA, requiring the utmost professional military skill in command, communications, and control.” Captain Kent Hill USAF Ret, a friend of Chuck Burlingame (the pilot of Flight 77), confirmed the ability of flying aircraft from the ground. An ex Vietnam fighter pilot said, “Those birds either had a crack fighter pilot in the left seat, or they were being maneuvered by remote control.”
The following list of passengers was gathered from many sources posted on the Internet:
http://physics911.net/olmsted
Wayne Madsen Report: Barack Obama’s post-graduate CIA employment
I can’t say I was particularly close to Barack – he was reserved and distant towards all of his co-workers – but I was probably as close to him as anyone. I certainly know what he did there, and it bears only a loose resemblance to what he wrote in his book.
fta
Dan Armstrong by the way…
“Obama’s Account of New York Years Often Differs From What Others Say
Some say he has taken some literary license in the telling of his story. Dan Armstrong, who worked with Mr. Obama at Business International Corporation in New York in 1984 and has deconstructed Mr. Obama’s account of the job on his blog, analyzethis.net, wrote: “All of Barack’s embellishment serves a larger narrative purpose: to retell the story of the Christ’s temptation. The young, idealistic, would-be community organizer gets a nice suit, joins a consulting house, starts hanging out with investment bankers, and barely escapes moving into the big mansion with the white folks.””
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=1
Were the September 11th attacks an FBI/Raytheon Joint Sting Operation gone ‘jammed’ by a third party signal (Israel?), which sabatoged the remote landings of the jets at the airports and pending arrests which would have offered proof to the American people that war with Afghanistan was needed?
•Look up 9/11 commission ‘minders’ on google.
•Look up 9/11 and raytheon.
•Look up FBI investigation into put options (you won’t find it, just a ‘closed case’ like the anthrax attacks case, with a 2 minute explanation at a press conference.
•Look up ‘hijacker remains’, the results of this investigation has not been released to the public.
•Look up the two pieces of evidence that the government uses to blame al qaeda for 9/11 (2004 bin laden video released on the eve of the 2004 us election and the 9/11 commission, both easily discredited by common sense.) There is no definitive proof that 19 hijackers from germany, saudi arabia and the UAE caused 9/11.
•Look up the attempted ‘gold robbery’ on 9/11.
•Look up “we still don’t know to this day why Norad told us what they told us”, direct quote from the 9/11 head commissioner.
On its face you could easily disgard 9/11 as something not to at least look into, but if you do look into the things above, you will have a better understanding that there were more elements at work here, especially at the airports where the planes left from.
Also, if you apply the same devices that intelligence agents apply during interogations to figure out if someone is lying to comments the Bush Administration made about 9/11, they are obviously lying.
Good luck.
Remember, Bush said “no one could have envisioned this happening… no one in our government anyway”, that means he knew about someone in another government envisioning it before it happened, but did not heed the warnings. As far as anything past that, its classified.
It is obvious that the FBI tries to catch people in the act to get convictions, 9/11 may have been a sting operation to try to catch the terrorists in the act, while using raytheon remote technology to land the planes at the aiports and make the arrests, after the terrorists attempted the hijackings.
They could then use that as proof to the American people that a war was needed, but specific jamming devices could have damanged the Raytheon remotes and caused the planes to crash. Where the jamming devices came from (urban moving systems, mousaad, C130 planes) we’ll never know, if this is the case.
But the Sting Op theory is the best theory out there.
Discussion of 9/11 commission letter to Norad regarding the C130 “literally following the plane that hit the pentagon”, talks about a missle and the plane arriving around the same time (or just before to make a dent in the wall for the plane, which would explain the lightpoles and the witnesses).
Original 9/11 commission letter to Norad: “The C130 encountered flight 77 west of the Pentagon and literally followed it as it crashed into the pentagon. This is the first we learned of this aircraft (Norad did not mention it at the hearing). It raises a number of questions…”
I think the word “literally” means a little more here. I’ve heard on videos (of course I will search for the link and evidence so give me a second) that two planes flew over the pentagon. Maybe literally means that it “literally” followed it in its flight path.
http://www.sheilacasey.com/2009/04/new-research-contradicts-pentagon-911-story.html
This could be why the flight path’s are in dispute… because there were two flight paths, two planes flew over the pentagon and i’m hearing speculation that one of them fired missles into it. Speculation though at this point.
One scenerio could be that the airliner flew in and the cargo plane shot some missles into it to finish the job. Wow, this is fucked up.
“Incredibly, once Ranke explained that 13 witnesses had all placed the jet at the north side of the Citgo station, on a trajectory that could not have knocked down the five light poles, England changed his story and declared that he was not where all the photographs show him to be, but actually well north of Columbia Pike – where no light poles were knocked down.
Ranke showed England numerous photos of himself, his damaged cab and the downed light pole on the bridge over Columbia Pike. Even faced with incontrovertible evidence of his exact location, England resolutely maintained that pictures don’t always tell the truth and that the accident with the light pole had taken place much further north.”
Could it have been a missle fired by the cargo plane to land in the pentagon at the SAME time as the airliner hit, to soften the blow of the airliner so it would penetrate the walls (and leave no evidence).
Imagine the flight hitting the pentagon at the same time a missile did. (or near the same time). People would see the airliner, but would miss the missile, it happened at once?
Holy shit.
Original 9/11 commission letter to Norad: “The C130 encountered flight 77 west of the Pentagon and literally followed it as it crashed into the pentagon. This is the first we learned of this aircraft (Norad did not mention it at the hearing). It raises a number of questions…”
Which could account for there being no video of the plane hitting the pentagon, because the pilot may have parachuted out of it.
FTA –
“Real people have known addresses. But the current whereabouts of Eddie Shalev is unknown. As reported by David Griffin, a 2007 search of the national telephone directory, plus Google searches by research librarian Elizabeth Woodworth, turned up no trace of him. A LexisNexis search by Matthew Everett also came up dry.[35] Recent searches by Woodworth and myself indicate that an “Eddy Shalev” resided in Rockville, Maryland as recently as 2007. However, the associated phone number is no longer in service. The 9/11 memorandum raises the possibility that Shalev may have returned to Israel.”
Ed Shalev wasn’t the only Israeli to escape to israel. Urban moving systems did also.
“PLYMOUTH — Two men whom police described as Middle Eastern were detained in the township by federal imigration authorities after being found with detailed footage of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Plymouth Police encountered the men after an officer responded to Pizzeria Uno on the 1000 block of West Ridge Pike at 2:40 p.m. Thursday for a report of illegal dumping, according to reports. A manager there advised the police officer that a tractor-trailer was observed backed up to the dumpster at the rear of the restaurant. The manager noticed a freshly dumped pile of furniture adjacent to the dumpster, according to police. The manager confronted the vehicle’s operator, a Middle Eastern man, police said. The man, who later identified himself as Moshe Elmakias, 30, denied that he did anything and fled the scene, heading west on West Ridge Pike, according to police.
The manager was able to provide township police with the Florida registration number of the tractor-trailer and said that a sign posted on the side of the vehicle read “Moving Systems Incorporated” and included a phone number, police said.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/sears.html
“Five Israelis are arrested for “puzzling behavior” related to the WTC attacks. Shortly after an FBI lookout bulletin was issued for a van with the words “Urban Moving Systems” written on the side, officers with the East Rutherford Police Department in New Jersey stop the van after matching the license plate number with the one given in the bulletin. According to the police report, Officer Scott DeCarlo and Sgt. Dennis Rivelli approach the van and demand the driver exit the vehicle. The driver, Sivan Kurzberg, does not obey after being asked several more times, so the police physically remove Kurzberg and four other men from the van and handcuff them. They have not been told the reasons for their arrest, but Kurzberg tells them, “We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem.” Again before the police have made any mention of the 9/11 attacks, another one of the arrested men says, “[W]e were on the West Side Highway in New York City during the incident.” In fact, it will later be determined they were on the roof of a building at Liberty State Park, watching and videotaping the first crash into the WTC (see Shortly After 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Bergen Record, 9/12/2001; Ha’aretz, 9/17/2001; CounterPunch, 2/7/2007]”
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=urban_moving_systems
Bush’s Government Kooks intimidated the 9/11 Ommission with agents called “minders” who sat in and minded commission interviews and sometimes even answered questions for those being interviewed. Nice investigation, no really…
“As a result, witnesses have not responded to our questions.” It doesn’t matter how many times Fox News plays the Hannity 9/11 commission is truth, 9/11 families special… the commission was intimidated by the Bush Administration and did not get the truth.
‘One minder “acted as a participant,” “responded to inquiries” and “consulted with” the interviewee. She took verbatim notes in all three interviews she attended, doing so while sitting next to the interviewees in two of them. In addition, in one interview she “sighed heavily repeatedly.”’
“9/11 has been investigated but the conspiracy theories haven’t stopped. They will never stop until the truthers see an investigation that agrees with their theories.” Ok, so ‘minders’ sat in on the interviews and there was an agreement on its ‘scope’ between Bush and the Commission, that’s cool?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13279605/911-Commission-Memo-Executive-Branch-Minders-Intimidation-of-Witnesses
Ok, maybe this is your first time on the internet or something, but my other comment in this thread contained this link. Bush had people at the interviews intimidating them, called ‘minders’… that completely invalidates “The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States”. It also says there that the commission and the executive branch “agreed on the scope of the investigation”. Those are the 9/11 commissions words, not mine.
Learn a thing or two.
“You don’t know it yet and it’s likely that the information will ever filter through your psychosis.”
Once again, what you need people to ‘know’ and what the truth is are two different things. To force people to ‘believe’ something without having the facts behind it or having a sham investigation behind it is the actual psychosis. Only a mentally challenged person would believe the 9/11 commission, as you call it, was not a joke… that is based on the 9/11 commissions words against ‘minders’, not my opinion.
Have an independent investigation, or are you afraid to? To big of a area of coverage for the independent investigation, isn’t that right? No bush and cheney there to save you anymore so you take to the internet to save yourselves. The truth wins in the end, don’t ever forget that.
No where have I mentioned opinions about anything that happened on 9/11, i have criticized the investigation in the post. that’s it. If you want to make it obvious that you wish for the conversation to go into the muddy waters of opinion you are doing a great job. But on its face, the investigation was a joke, and we don’t have a legitmate one to this day. What will it reveal? Not sure, but it might be worth investigating 9/11 for real at least once… without minders there to babysit.
You have no idea what everyone else believes about anything, you are one person at a computer.
If that is not the final word on the matter, where is the second word? 9/11 is under the rug. As soon as NIST needed to revise their report, their credibility was out the window and showed they didn’t include all the facts or get it right. I could have done a report too, but if someone says its wrong and i’m affiliated with the government who is in question, i have no credibility. You have to be dumb to not understand that.
A independent of government investigation has not been done.
Having the ‘scope of the investigation’ agreed upon by zeilkow and bush is a joke. Once again, dumb to believe it was thorough or even had the balls behind it to look into it on that high level.
And I beg to differ, the truth will win when a independent investigation without government minders there reveals all the facts from witnesses that may have been intimidated the first time by those ‘minders’.
Seek help growing a spine.
You also can’t bring yourself to type the word ‘minders’ or acknowledge their existence. I win.
Memo shows proof that the Bush Administration had people (minders) sit in on the interviews conducted by the 9/11 commission to intimidate and, in some cases, answer questions for the witnesses directly. Nice investigation.
(n) minder (someone (usually in totalitarian countries) who is assigned to watch over foreign visitors) “I turned around and there, a few hundred feet away, was our government minder, Li Wong Su.”
“TRIPOD had originally been scheduled to take place on September 12th, 2001, at Pier 92.” The Office for Domestic Preparedness was assigned to Dick Cheney by George W. Bush on May 8, 2001 and had a role in this bioterror drill turned 9/11 command center in NYC a day earlier.
So whenever these people got there, monday or tuesday (some may have arrived before that) it is either evidence of pre-planning by cheney or a sheer coincedence that FEMA had teams on the ground ready to go by ‘chance’.
According to a May 22, 2002 Press Release from the NYC Office of Emergency Management, the TRIPOD, or ‘Point-of-Dispensing’ drill, was successfully held that day. The Press Release states:
“TRIPOD had originally been scheduled to take place on September 12th, 2001, at Pier 92 – which ironically had served as the temporary home of OEM shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9/11.”
The release also mentions that the TRIPOD exercise is supported by “The Office of Justice Programs, through the Office for Domestic Preparedness”. The Office for Domestic Preparedness was the effort assigned to Dick Cheney by George W. Bush on May 8, 2001. Although reports indicate that Cheney never convened any meetings of this Task Force prior to September 2001, it seems that there must have been some sort of planning involved with the organization and scheduling of Operation TRIPOD for September 12, 2001. With all of the unpleasant news of 9/11, it must have pleased Cheney that the scheduling of this drill made the pre-assembled emergency team immediately available to New York City. Who would have thought?
Major questions exist as to why FEMA would deny being in New York City prior to 9/11 without mentioning the 9/12 bioterror drill. These questions must now be addressed as the initial suspicions of those who learned of the Tom Kenney statement have been clearly validated. The coincidental presence of a large FEMA team in NYC at the location, Pier 92, which became the Command Center for the entire emergency operation is disturbing. An alert press and a legitimate 9-11 Commission should have raised this issue long ago.
September 11 was going to be a busy day at the OEM. Staff members arrived early to prepare for Operation Tripod, an exercise that would test the plan to distribute antibiotics to the entire city population during a bioterrorism attack.
July 25, 2001 – “Yesterday was also the beginning of a 90-day transition period in which control will move from the Port Authority to the partnership of Silverstein Properties and Westfield America.” So lots of things moving in and out of the buildings?
http://books.google.com/books?id=E-AFhs0RrKIC&pg=RA1-PA279#v=onepage&q=&f=false
‘In January 1998, Mafia member Ralph Guarino, who had gained maintenance access to the World Trade Center, arranged a three-man crew for a heist which netted over $2 million from a Brink’s delivery to the eleventh floor of the World Trade Center.[86]’
So the Mafia while the port authority was there, managed to get passed security, but trained intelligence/military/al qaeda couldn’t have gotten passed during the transition period between the PA and silverstein properties? That is exactly when they would try it
See this transition? Then look at the transition effect of NORAD drills on 9/11… things moving around… things go more unnoticed… hey where does this box go… who are those workers over there moving things around… old security out, new security in…. this is all unrelated to the towers falling? The sale of the twin towers is completely unrelated to 9/11? Completely? C’mon, any rational person can see what was happening here.
Madoff 2? Silverstein, Jew, says ‘he was referring to’the firefighters’ when he said “pull it” in regards to building 7… Problem: Firefighters were already out of the building.
Passport survives Crash and Collapse, found by FBI a few blocks away. Significant piece of evidence. Wait, how would they know it was evidence though, the 9/11 attacks happened a few days before and the 9/11 report was years later.
The 9/11 hijackers obtained 13 driver’s licenses (two of which were duplicates) and 21 USA or state-issued identification cards. So why would they have their passport on their person during a domestic flight, easily available for the FBI to find on the street after the planes entered the WTC?
The “Arab looking hijackers” the 9/11 phone calls describe could have been agents from Israel impersonating Arab men, with fake passports. Unless someone here can verify the remains of the hijackers. Oh wait, you can’t do that because the FBI won’t let you.
If someone had gained access to which Muslim’s were being monitored by the FBI at the time, could the 19 hijackers on September 11th have used fake passports with these names?
“Chertoff is “as tough on terrorists as he was on the Democrats in the Whitewater investigation,” oh, except for when he let Urban Moving Systems flee the country…
“‘To the best of my knowledge, my client Urban Moving Systems and Dominik Suter are not targets,’ said attorney Jay Hamill of Jersey City. ‘This is an informational situation. We’re cooperating completely and have objected to nothing they’ve requested.'”
“Dominick Suter, closed his business days after the Sept. attacks and returned to Israel. He was in such a hurry that some of Urban Moving System’s customers were left with their furniture stranded in storage facilities.”
Urban Moving Systems was run by Mossad out of New Jersey in 2001, the Anthrax letters were mailed from New Jersey, the Recent Corruption arrests were Rabbis in New Jersey, put two and two together on why the investigation is a mess, its a cover up, we know who it would lead to.
I’ll bet Michael and Benjamin Chertoff know a good reason why the wikipedia page for Urban Moving Systems is so undetailed
“What authorities have not elaborated on is the connection between the confiscated Sears Tower video that was found in Pennsylvania and the antics of Urban Moving System’s employees.”
Times Online in November 2001 regarding the gold under the WTC – “At first police believed the terrorist attack was an attempted gold robbery.”
“The sources said the gold was found in a delivery tunnel under 5 World Trade Center.”… oh ok … wait… why was it in the delivery tunnel on September 11th?
AdvertisementsT he most significant conclusion we can draw from news that a grand jury has been impaneled by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is that the so-called Russia investigation, officially, is a criminal investigation.
The purpose of a grand jury is to investigate a factual transaction or series of transactions to determine whether criminal charges should be filed. That makes it categorically different from a counterintelligence investigation. The latter, we have noted many times, is an information-gathering exercise geared toward understanding and thwarting the intentions and actions of foreign powers.
There is no need for a grand jury in a counterintelligence probe.
All that said, the fact that there is a criminal investigation does not mean charges are imminent, or indeed that they will ever be filed. There are virtually no limits on the investigative powers of the grand jury. Under our law, a grand jury may conduct a probe simply to satisfy itself that no crimes have been committed. That is to say, there is no evidentiary threshold that must be crossed before a grand jury can begin investigating. Contrast that with, for example, a search warrant or an eavesdropping warrant; those investigative techniques may not be used unless a court has first been satisfied that there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.
It is frequently observed that grand-jury proceedings are secret. That is not quite accurate. The obligation of secrecy applies to the grand jurors and government personnel who examine witnesses and collect evidence through subpoenas. But subjects of the investigation, witnesses, and their lawyers are under no duty to remain silent — even though it is usually a good idea to do so, since statements can be used as evidence. Of course, there are often government leaks. Putting that inevitability aside, though, it is worth noting who is permitted to speak and who is not. Media coverage of an investigation tends to rely on the people most at liberty to discuss it. That means coverage skews in favor of lawyers for the subjects, who obviously have a motive to minimize the prosecution’s proof.
The principal advantage of the grand jury for prosecutors is the ability to issue subpoenas to compel testimony and the production of documentary or other physical evidence. No investigation of any complexity can be advanced without this capacity. When I say “advanced,” I do not mean a progression toward the filing of criminal charges — at least not necessarily. An investigation should be a search for the truth, which means getting to the bottom of what happened, regardless of whether crimes can be proven.
Thus, the fact that we now have a grand jury does not mean a crime has been committed, much less that the filing of charges must be imminent. Still, the impaneling of a grand jury is a highly significant development. Prosecutors do not seek the assistance of the grand jury’s subpoena power, and do not contemplate presenting evidence to a grand jury, unless they see a realistic possibility of filing criminal charges.
On that score, we should be mindful, and certainly Special Counsel Mueller should be mindful, that this is no ordinary criminal investigation.
Having spent many years in law enforcement, most of them as a prosecutor, I can attest that criminal investigators are presumptuous. Because of the premium our society places on the rule of law, prosecutors tend to think that nothing could be more important than their investigations and prosecutions. It was not until I worked on national-security investigations — many years into my career as a prosecutor — when it dawned on me that some things (e.g., protecting life-saving intelligence methods and sources) might be more vital to the public interest than my cases.
The ability of the president to carry out his awesome responsibilities is critical to our governance and security. Prosecutors need to be sensitive to this. That does not mean a president should be cut any breaks if serious violations of law have occurred. But it does mean the president should not be under a cloud unless there is a good reason for it. Moreover, the public should be informed about whether the president is under investigation.
Prosecutors never want to give out information about their investigations. The less that is publicly known, the easier it is to interview witnesses, determine whether they are being truthful (rather than mimicking what they’ve heard in the press), and bring the investigation to an efficient conclusion. So the desire for secrecy is understandable, and in most instances it is desirable. Nevertheless, I believe it is secondary — decidedly so — in this case.
As we’ve many times noted, Mueller was appointed special counsel in an irregular manner. The regulations that require a description of the basis for a criminal investigation were not followed. The Justice Department told the public that this was a counterintelligence investigation; thus, neither the American people nor the people implicated in the investigation were given notice that crimes were suspected, much less what particular crimes and who the suspects are.
President Trump and the American people should be told whether he is suspected of criminal wrongdoing.
That is intolerable now that we are formally in a criminal-investigation mode.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that the special counsel should be barred from investigating any crimes he reasonably suspects at this point. Nor do I mean to imply that the president is entitled to more favorable legal standards than any other American would be. But in the higher interest of his capacity to function as president and our capacity to hold our political representatives accountable, President Trump and the American people should be told whether he is suspected of criminal wrongdoing and, if so, what wrongdoing.193 SHARES Share Tweet
Luis Severino, Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees are headed back to Cleveland for a decisive Game 5 — thanks to plenty of help from the Indians.
Severino rebounded from his playoff debacle, Judge delivered a big hit and the Yankees took advantage of shoddy defense by Cleveland to beat the Indians 7-3 Monday night and even their AL Division Series at two games apiece.
“We’ve got a shot now,” said New York manager Joe Girardi, harshly criticized for his Game 2 decisions. “So it’s a totally different feeling than it was the other day, and these guys have picked me up.”
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Gary Sanchez homered and a slumping Judge laced an early two-run double for his only hit of the series to go with 12 strikeouts in 15 at-bats.
Opposite field tater from Gary Sanchez: pic.twitter.com/xpS4TRytDI — Today in the MLB (@TodayintheMLB) October 10, 2017
Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer struggled on three days’ rest and was chased in the second inning. But it was on the wet Yankee Stadium field where the Indians really flopped, committing a season-high four errors that marked a franchise record for a postseason game and led to six unearned runs.
The defending AL champions made only 76 errors all season, the lowest total in the league.
“The whole night, we made it hard on ourselves to win,” manager Terry Francona said.
After preventing a three-game sweep with a 1-0 win Sunday night, the wild-card Yankees will start CC Sabathia against his original team in Game 5 on Wednesday. Indians ace Corey Kluber gets the ball in a rematch from Game 2, when he was hit hard by New York.
“It’s hard to imagine giving it to somebody better,” Francona said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
The winner faces Houston in the AL Championship Series after the Astros finished off Boston in four games Monday to win their ALDS.
“We’ve got a young team and they’re hungry,” Severino said.
Simply taking two in a row to send the series back to Cleveland was no small feat for the Yankees. The last time the Indians lost consecutive games was Aug. 22-23 at home against Boston, just before starting their AL-record 22-game winning streak. From that point on, Cleveland had gone 35-4 before arriving in the Bronx for Game 3 of the ALDS.
Minus injured slugger Edwin Encarnacion, the Indians have scored three runs in two games since.
Severino got only one out in the wild-card game against Minnesota last Tuesday, but was bailed out by his teammates as New York advanced with an 8-4 victory. This time, the 23-year-old ace was determined to come through, and he did.
“I think he was able to relax a lot more. He was able to control his adrenaline,” Girardi said. “He was able to channel things down and make his pitch, as opposed to just trying to power his way through it.”
Handed an early 5-0 lead and showing lots of emotion on the mound, the fired-up righty struck out nine in seven innings. With the crowd of 47,316 chanting his name, Severino threw 113 pitches and gave up four hits — including Carlos Santana’s two-run homer and Roberto Perez’s solo shot.
“I told him after the game, he grew up a lot today,” Girardi said.
Tommy Kahnle relieved a wild Dellin Betances in the eighth and got six straight outs — five on strikeouts — for his first save of the season as New York improved to 3-0 when facing playoff elimination this year.
“There’s a lot of confidence in that room,” Girardi said.
Sanchez hit his second home run of the series off Bryan Shaw in the sixth to make it 7-3.
A rainy day in the Big Apple prevented both teams from taking batting practice on the field. But the tarp was pulled and play started right on time, with fans in hooded ponchos bunched below the overhangs seeking cover from a heavy drizzle.
Showers dissipated in the bottom of the first, though a few puddles remained on the slick warning track all night.
The first of two costly errors by normally sure-handed third baseman Giovanny Urshela, a.224 hitter in the lineup for his defense, was a painful one. Starlin Castro’s sinking line drive in the second struck him just above the left ankle and caromed away.
Shaken up, Urshela was checked by a trainer but stayed in the game.
With two outs, Todd Frazier pulled a 78 mph curve to deep left and it landed smack on the foul line for an RBI double. A frustrated Bauer gestured with his hand when he didn’t get a strike-three call on a checked swing by Aaron Hicks, who soon singled home a run.
Brett Gardner singled and, after a mound visit from Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway, Judge had a gritty at-bat. The rookie slugger was 0 for 11 with nine strikeouts in the series before fighting back from 0-2 to a full count and lining a two-run double to the left-field wall on one hop.
“Just had to grind it out,” Judge said.
After pulling in at second base, he clapped and pointed to the Yankees dugout.
Bauer managed only five outs after tossing two-hit ball with eight strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings during a
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of the website or its owners.Dozens of Jaysh Al-Fateh fighters were killed in the group’s latest offensive against Army posts in southern outskirts of Idlib province.
The attack, launched on Saturday night, aimed to capture the government’s last strongholds in the province. However, it seems the Syrian Arab Army had a different narrative.
Local sources told Al-Masdar that hundreds of fighters launched a wide-scale offensive on Tal Khattab where Army troops retreated for a few miles only to pound the militant’s gatherings with different types of missiles leaving most of the infiltrators dead.
In Zayzoun dam, tens of Islamic fighters were ambushed by the Army as they were attempting to break into the area. Most of the attackers were killed, the rest fled wounded. “The lake turned red as militants were shot dead”, the sources said.
The offensive was orchestrated by Emir of Ajnad Kavkas Abdul Hakim Al-Shishani. Since the outset of Syrian crisis on March 2011, thousands of extremist fighters from the Caucasus travelled to Syria to join the fight alongside terror groups against President Bashar Assad and establish a de facto “Islamic Emirate” in the area.
Jaysh Al-Fateh (Army of Conquest) is an alliance of forces formed on last March, made up primarily of al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhet Al-Nusra, along
with numerous Islamist rebel factions mainly active in Idlib, Hama andLattakia. The alliance managed to establish control over large areas including Jisr Al-Shughour and Al-Qarmeed Camp.
AdvertisementsNew data from Europe’s Planck satellite challenges our understanding of the Universe, suggesting that Universe may be different on scales larger than those we can directly observe.
Planck refines our knowledge of the Universe’s composition and evolution
New maps provide excellent evidence for our standard model of cosmology
Planck dates Universe at 13.82 billion years old
Anomalies suggest that Universe may be different on scales larger than those we can directly observe
Most accurate values yet for the ingredients of the Universe, with normal matter contributing just 4.9% of the mass/energy density of the Universe and dark matter making up 26.8% – nearly a fifth more than the previous estimate.
Europe’s Planck satellite – a flagship mission for the UK Space Agency – has compiled the most detailed map ever created of the cosmic microwave background (the relic radiation from the Big Bang). The new map refines our understanding of the Universe’s composition and evolution, and unveils new features that could challenge the foundations of our current understanding of its evolution.
The image is based on the initial 15.5 months of data from Planck and is the mission’s first all-sky picture of the oldest light in our Universe, imprinted on the sky when it was just 380,000 years old. This cosmic microwave background (CMB) shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities at very early times, representing the seeds of all future structure: the stars and galaxies of today.
Overall, the information extracted from Planck’s new map provides an excellent confirmation of the standard model of cosmology at an unprecedented accuracy, setting a new benchmark for our knowledge of the contents of the Universe.
Dr Chris Castelli, Acting Director of Science, Technology and Exploration at the UK Space Agency, said, “We’re immensely proud to be playing a key role in this amazing discovery. With its ability to make such detailed and accurate observations, Planck is helping us to place the vital pieces of a jigsaw that could give us a full picture of the evolution of our Universe, rewriting the textbooks along the way.”
“The CMB temperature fluctuations detected by Planck confirm once more that the relatively simple picture provided by the standard model is an amazingly good description of the Universe,” explains George Efstathiou of the University of Cambridge, UK.
The properties of the hot and cold regions of the map provide information about the composition and evolution of the Universe. Normal matter that makes up stars and galaxies contributes just 4.9% of the mass/energy density of the Universe. Dark matter, which has thus far only been detected indirectly by its gravitational influence, makes up 26.8%, nearly a fifth more than the previous estimate. Conversely, dark energy, a mysterious force thought to be responsible for accelerating the expansion of the Universe, accounts for slightly less than previously thought, at around 69%.
The Planck data also set a new value for the rate at which the Universe is expanding today, known as the Hubble constant. At 67.3 km/s/Mpc, this is significantly different from the value measured from relatively nearby galaxies. This somewhat slower expansion implies that the Universe is also a little older than previously thought, at 13.8 billion years.
The analysis also gives strong support for theories of “inflation”, a very brief but crucial early phase during the first tiny fraction of a second of the Universe’s existence. As well as explaining many properties of the Universe as a whole, this initial expansion caused the ripples in the CMB that we see today.
Although this primordial epoch can’t be observed directly, the theory predicts a set of very subtle imprints on the CMB map. Previous experiments have not been able to confidently detect these subtle imprints, but the high resolution of Planck’s map confirms that the tiny variations in the density of the early Universe match those predicted by inflation.
When compared to the best fit of observations to the standard model of cosmology, Planck’s high-precision capabilities reveal that the fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background at large scales are not as strong as expected. The graphic shows a map derived from the difference between the two, which is representative of what the anomalies could look like. Copyright: ESA and the Planck Collaboration
“The sizes of these tiny ripples hold the key to what happened in that first trillionth of a trillionth of a second. Planck has given us striking new evidence that indicates they were created during this incredibly fast expansion, just after the Big Bang”, explained Joanna Dunkley of the University of Oxford.
But because the precision of Planck’s map is so high, it also reveals some peculiar unexplained features that may well require new physics to be understood. Amongst the most surprising findings are that the fluctuations in the CMB over large scales do not match those predicted by the standard model. This anomaly adds to those observed by previous experiments, and confirmed by Planck, including an asymmetry in the average temperatures on opposite hemispheres of the sky, and a cold spot that extends over a patch of sky that is much larger than expected.
One way to explain the anomalies is to propose that the Universe is in fact not the same in all directions on a larger scale than we can observe. In this scenario, the light rays from the CMB may have taken a more complicated route through the Universe than previously understood, resulting in some of the unusual patterns observed today.
“Our ultimate goal would be to construct a new model that predicts the anomalies and links them together. But these are early days; so far, we don’t know whether this is possible and what type of new physics might be needed. And that’s exciting,” says Professor Efstathiou.
Professor John Womersley, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), said, “Planck has given us an amazing picture of the very earliest moments of the Universe. These results are the culmination of many years of work by UK scientists and engineers supported by STFC. This kind of project can sometimes seem expensive but the payoff in science and technology more than justifies the investment we’ve made.”
More Information:
Further information on the science results are available here.
A series of scientific papers describing the new results have been submitted to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. The preprints can be accessed here.
Background information to the topics discussed in this release – the Cosmic Microwave Background and the history of structure formation in the Universe – is available here.
The new data from Planck and the cosmological results based on them have been presented at a media briefing organised by the European Space Agency at Headquarters in Paris, on 21 March 2013, 10:00-12:00 CET. A reply of the briefing is available here. Further results were discussed at a science briefing on 21 March 2013, 14:00-15:45 CET.
Images: ESA, Planck CollaborationThe C++ typedef keyword is indispensable in many situations, especially for writing portable low-level code. However, in some circumstances it can cause trouble, particularly when it comes to function overloading. Consider the following C++ template class:
template < typename T >
struct foobar
{
foobar ( const T foo ) : foo_ ( foo ) { }
T foo_ ;
} ;
One might want to write a simple stream output operator to format the template class’ member values, e.g. for debugging purposes:
template < typename T >
ostream & operator << ( ostream & s, const foobar < T > & fb )
{
return s << "foo: " << fb. foo_ ;
}
This seems reasonable. Now, let’s assume that this template is going to be used in a context where T will be one of several fixed-width integer types. These are usually typedefs from a header like stdint.h (for those that don’t mind including a C header) or boost/cstdint.hpp (to be a C++ purist). They are commonly named int64_t, int32_t, int16_t, and int8_t, where the X in intX_t specifies the number of bits used to represent the integer. There are also unsigned variants, but we’ll ignore those for this discussion.
Let’s now explore what happens when we initialize a foobar<intX_t> instance with its foo_ member set to a small integer and print it to standard output via our custom stream output operator:
cout << foobar < int64_t > ( 42 ) << endl ;
cout << foobar < int32_t > ( 42 ) << endl ;
cout << foobar < int16_t > ( 42 ) << endl ;
Each of these statements prints “foo: 42″, as expected. Great, everything works! But wait, there was one type that we didn’t test:
cout << foobar < int8_t > ( 42 ) << endl ;
This prints “foo: *” instead of “foo: 42″. This is probably not the expected result of printing the value of an int8_t. After all, it looks and feels just like all of the other intX_t types! What causes it to be printed differently from the other types? Let’s look at how the integer types might be defined for an x86 machine:
typedef long int int64_t ;
typedef int int32_t ;
typedef short int16_t ;
typedef char int8_t ;
The problem is that the only way to represent an integer with exactly 8 bits (and no more) is with a char (at least on the x86 architecture). While a char is an integer, it is also a… character. So, this trouble is caused by the fact that the char type is trying to be two things at once.
A simple (but incorrect) approach to work around this is to overload the stream output operator for the int8_t type, and force it to be printed as a number:
// This is incorrect:
ostream & operator << ( ostream & s, const int8_t i )
{
return s << static_cast < int > ( i ) ;
}
The problem with this approach is that the int8_t typedef does not represent a unique type. The typedef keyword is named poorly; it does not introduce new types. Rather, it creates aliases for existing types. By overloading the stream output operator for the int8_t type, the char type’s operator is being overloaded as well. Since the standard library already defines a stream output operator for the char type, the above definition would violate the One Definition Rule and result in a compiler error. Even if it did compile, the results of redefining the way characters are printed would probably not be desirable.
An alternative (working) solution to the problem is to overload the output stream operator for the foobar<int8_t> type:
ostream & operator << ( ostream & s, const foobar < int8_t > & fb )
{
return s << "foo: " << static_cast < int > ( fb. foo_ ) ;
}
This definition does not clash with any existing overloads from the standard library, and it effectively causes the int8_t to be printed as an integer. The downside is that it will cause unexpected behavior when a foobar<char> is printed, if the programmer intends char to represent a character. The only way to avoid this would be to define int8_t as a class instead of making it a typedef, and providing a well-behaved stream output operator for that class. The class’ arithmetic operators could be overloaded to make it look almost exactly like a POD integer, and it wouldn’t necessarily take up any extra memory. However, this solution is still not ideal, because classes behave differently than POD types in subtle ways (e.g. POD types are not initialized by default, but classes are).
If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s that the C++ char type is an odd beast to watch out for. Also, the name of the typedef operator could use some improvement…One analyst said he thought the offer would be well received by creditors.
“The package takes a very substantial step in the right direction, and it should move us closer to a deal,” said Mujtaba Rahman, the Europe director for the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, shortly after reading one version of the Greek offer translated into English.
“The question now is whether the Greeks are actually going to implement some of the measures over the course of the weekend by putting them before their Parliament as German officials seems to be demanding,” he added.
Prospects for a deal improved through the day as a procession of European leaders came around to Mr. Tsipras’s conviction that pure austerity measures were insufficient in their own right and had to be accompanied by a commitment to reduce the burden of Greece’s stupendous debt.
Greece received vital political support and technical assistance from France, help that highlighted the contrasting approaches being taken by the two leading powers in the European Union. Germany has played the bad cop, standing firm against concessions to Greece and, in Mr. Schäuble’s case, openly doubting that the country really belonged in the eurozone. France has thrown itself into the task of finding a deal.
The French assistance appeared to be an effort to make sure the Greek proposal, submitted just before a midnight deadline, would be as thorough and salable as possible to Greece’s creditors and would smooth the way for a compromise on a new bailout package to keep Greece afloat financially and inside the euro.
“There is a group of people who have been sent to help the Greeks, to try to transform words into action,” said a French government official with knowledge of the effort.
France has been the most steadfast major nation in Europe supporting Greece ever since Mr. Tsipras was ushered in to power in January on a mandate to repudiate austerity. Paris has been particularly outspoken in recent days about the need for a compromise that would help Greece and hold the eurozone together.Around about now, had David Cameron and George Osborne not been saved from themselves, a lot of people were going to have a Fright Christmas. An unfestive greeting from Downing Street was scheduled to thump through the letter boxes of millions of voters with the miserable tidings that the government was about to make them very much worse off because of cuts to tax credits.
If that had occurred, this would also be happening. Agitated Tory MPs would be all over the airwaves howling to interviewers that their constituency surgeries were filling up with distressed and angry voters. The news bulletins would be leading with the stories of the cuts’ distraught victims, some tearfully telling reporters that they had been forced to tell their children that Santa Claus would not be visiting them this year. Opinionators of left, right and centre would be belabouring the prime minister for perpetrating a dreadful political blunder while predicting that the chancellor had ruined his chances of getting to Number 10. The cartoons would have been vicious. The least of it would have been portrayals of George Osborne as an unredeemed Scrooge. Even the Labour party might have taken a break from its existential crisis to exploit the avalanche of protest that would be crashing down on the government’s head.
There is a reason Fright Christmas did not happen. It is called the House of Lords. When peers were asked to sanctify the tax credit cuts, you will recall that the second chamber told the government to go away and have another think. After much hollow bluster, the government did have another think and concluded that the second chamber was right. In his financial statement last month, the chancellor suddenly found a stash of money down the back of the Treasury’s sofas and announced that he was abandoning the cuts to tax credits. He gave himself a slap on the back for being wise enough to listen to the representations against his own policy. Relieved Tory MPs cheered him to the echo. The rebellious peers had done everyone a great favour. They saved millions of low earners from a bleak midwinter, they saved the government from a bad decision and they saved George Osborne from making a potentially career-wrecking mistake.
By way of thanks, the very least he might do is send a bottle of champagne to each of the peers who gave him the chance to think again. Yet instead of expressing gratitude, he and the prime minister are bent on exacting their revenge against the upper chamber. The government announcements rushed out on the last day before parliament’s Christmas break included the publication of a “review” of the powers of the second chamber by Lord Strathclyde, a former Tory leader of the upper house and a hereditary peer. Tom Strathclyde is a jovial cove with a good sense of humour. So I am sure he will not mind if we all have a belly laugh at the wonderful risibility of a man who inherited his seat in parliament opining on the legitimate role of the second chamber in a democracy. His conclusion? Since this “review” was commissioned by the prime minister in a fit of pique with the peers, it is no surprise to find that Lord Strathclyde effectively recommends that the Lords be denuded of their ability to challenge secondary legislation – precisely the mechanism used in the case of tax credits.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lord Strathclyde, charged with a review of Lords reform. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian
The Lords is decades overdue for reform. This weird amalgam of appointees and hereditaries is the world’s most bizarre legislature. Distinguished worthies and alpha minds in their fields of expertise sit with retired MPs, prime ministerial cronies and party donors. I was going to say that the ermine-clad chamber is wholly unrepresentative of society, but that would not be entirely just. For it does contain a reasonable proportion of crooks. The upper house has become absurdly bloated as successive tenants of Number 10 have packed the red benches with their supporters. The Lords is now the second largest legislative assembly on the planet after the National People’s Congress of China. That body at least makes a show of being democratic. The Lords can’t even pretend to be that.
That is the real scandal about the second chamber of our parliament and it is one David Cameron has no interest in addressing. He went along with an attempt to reform the Lords during the coalition because the Lib Dems insisted upon it, but he didn’t fight all that hard to prevent it from being sabotaged by Tory MPs and peers. His election manifesto dismissed Lords reform as “not a priority”.
Far from being “too big for its boots”, as the government would have it, the fundamental problem with the Lords is that it is not a terribly effective check on executives when they do wild, silly or sinister things. Peers have no power over anything budgetary. They were only able to act over tax credits because the government tried to be sneaky and slip the cut through as a statutory instrument rather than primary legislation. Peers do not challenge policy for which a government has a mandate from its election manifesto. And if there is ever a serious confrontation between the two chambers, the government can always wield the sledgehammer of the 1949 Parliament Act that compels the Lords to bow to the will of the Commons.
In practice, it is rarely used because the Lords lacks democratic legitimacy, peers know it, and so they usually back down when faced with a government determined to have its own way. Peers have a veto over nothing. All they have is a brake. By obliging ministers to pause, the Lords can stiffen the spine of the Commons and make governments reconsider a policy, which is what happened over tax credits. That is the modest restraint on the executive the Strathclyde gambit would undermine. The government’s reasons for doing so are nakedly partisan. During the many decades when the Tories enjoyed a built-in majority in the Lords, they were entirely comfortable with the powers of peers, especially when they were used to frustrate Labour governments. During the Blair and Brown years, the second chamber inflicted more than 500 defeats on ministers. I am struggling to remember David Cameron and George Osborne calling that a constitutional outrage. It is only because we are in the novel situation of having a Conservative government without a majority in the Lords that they have decided that peers have become too uppity.
Our unwritten constitution imposes only feeble curbs on the executive as it is. An American president would kill for the powers enjoyed by a British prime minister in possession of a Commons majority. It would be bad enough if the attack on the peers were just an example of a government messing with the rules in a hissy fit. More disturbing is that it fits with a trend of moves all designed to advantage the government at the expense of accountability, scrutiny and the opposition.
Shortly after the election, I first alerted you to how the Conservatives planned to reshape the electoral landscape to their benefit. There is the direct attack on Labour’s funding base from the trade unions that is now to be accompanied by an assault on the financing of all the opposition parties by depriving them of a substantial slice of the “Short money” that supports their activities in parliament. The redrawing of constituency boundaries will be worth a sackful of extra seats to the Tories at the next election. At the same time, the introduction of individual electoral registration will very likely reduce the number of non-Tories on the electoral roll while an extension of the franchise to longstanding expats will very likely boost the numbers of Conservative voters.
In each individual case, you can muster an argument for why the change is not unreasonable. Individual voter registration is supposed to make it harder to commit electoral fraud. Constituency boundaries are overdue for a review. Party funding needs an overhaul. It is the cumulative effect that reveals their strategic intent. As does the blatant bias of “reforming” Labour funding without addressing any of the issues about the way the Tories are bankrolled by hedge funds and corporates. Each change favours the Conservatives or makes it harder to hold the executive to account.
The “review” of the operation of Freedom of Information Act is yet another example. No one thinks that has been set up to conclude that there should be more transparency in Whitehall decision-making. Absent a written constitution, the ancient tapestry of our democracy is woven from precedents, conventions and understandings. The most important of those is that the government does not exploit its power to grossly advantage itself over the opposition, if only for fear of what might happen when their positions are reversed.
The Tory lord chancellor Lord Hailsham observed that the possession of a Commons majority allows a British government to aim to be “an elective dictatorship”. It is one of the hallmarks of dictatorship that it is unable to see that government needs checks and balances on its behaviour, both to protect us from an overbearing executive and to save our rulers from themselves.Why Do So Many Africans Drown?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Dietmar Temps, Cologne/Getty Images Dietmar Temps, Cologne/Getty Images
Peter Ssali makes his living on Lake Victoria. Most days he fishes on Africa's largest lake. Sometimes he ferries cargo to the lake's islands or gives tours to sightseers on the small boat he leases for around $5 a day.
The 34-year-old Ugandan with a scruffy beard and shaved head has been on the lake pretty much every day for the last 12 years.
But he can't swim.
He's also distrustful of the life jacket in the corner of his small wooden boat. He calls it "fake" and "cheap" and says it wouldn't help if he capsized. Better models exist, he says, but at more than $100 each they're far too expensive for him to afford.
Many people in and around the East and Central Africa's Great Lakes region can't swim, even those who make their living on the water. Their wooden vessels are often shoddy and overloaded with sacks of produce or other goods. And few of them can afford life jackets or other flotation devices. Among those who can, some say the life jackets are uncomfortable so they don't wear them.
They're part of what the World Health Organization calls "a public health challenge" with an "intolerable death toll." WHO lists Africa as the region with the highest rate of drowning in the world, with about 8 drownings for every 100,000 people. By comparison, just 1.5 people drown to death for every 100,000 Americans. In Germany it's 0.6.
One of the most dangerous spots is Lake Victoria, the world's second largest body of fresh water with a shoreline stretching across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. There's a lack of good data, but the regional Lake Victoria Basin Commission estimates that 5,000 people perish below its waters every year. In an article published earlier this year, a team of regional academics claimed that Victoria is "arguably the most dangerous stretch of water in the world in terms of fatalities per square kilometer."
When the weather is bad, from roughly June to August, Uganda's marine police get reports of drowning at least once a week, says Julius Ceasar Eumu, a water safety trainer for the Ugandan police. That doesn't include the people who are unable to call for help or who distrust the police so much that they won't call even in an emergency or to search for a missing loved one. Many fishermen work off the books and don't pay taxes on their income. They worry police will harass them and demand a bribe.
"Most of the drowning cases are not reported or communicated even," Eumu said.
Sometimes even the police who patrol the lake don't know how to swim.
Compared to poverty, war and disease, preventing people from drowning seems like it should be relatively easy to fix. Shouldn't it?
Part of the problem is cultural. East Africans have long viewed lakes and rivers as dangerous areas that flood during heavy seasonal rains and are home to crocodiles, malaria-infested mosquitoes and other dangers. Few people grow up learning to swim, and children don't learn basic water safety.
"We really can't stand the water" said Olive Kobusingye, an epidemiologist at Makerere University in Uganda who has studied the impact of drowning on fishing communities around Lake Victoria. "Even when you live close to the water you don't teach your child how to survive the water; you teach your child how to stay away from the water, aware that the child might now need to be on the water, but as long as you can help it the child is going to stay away from the water. That means they're going to not swim."
Elite private schools offer swimming lessons to their students, but the few pools in large towns charge at least a couple of dollars for entry, making them out of reach for many poor Ugandans.
On the lake, fishermen rarely get updated weather forecasts and usually aren't prepared when the winds turn and waters get choppy.
For some lakeside communities, a sort of fatalism has taken hold that deceases the odds they will take safety precautions. Between the risks of drowning and malaria, early death can seem inevitable.
"You have a very deadly mixture of things that will kill you eventually, so why use a condom? Why bother with mosquito nets? Why bother with lifejackets?" said Mattias Wengelin, managing director of the Safe Waters Foundation and a guest professor at the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden, who has worked in East Africa. "If it's not the one it's the other."
That attitude is one of several factors leading to a high prevalence of HIV among fishing communities along Lake Victoria, according to public health experts. In Uganda, rates of HIV around the lake are three or four times higher than the rest of the country.
But when it comes to concerns about drowning, a life preserver may finally be on the way.
Last October, the African Development Bank approved a $25 million loan for the three countries bordering Lake Victoria. The money will go to provide regular weather reports and alerts to people on the lake (via text message and radio broadcasts), expand cellphone coverage and build a network of 22 rescue centers along the shore. There are also plans to create a 911-type number to report emergencies.
"You can call that number, the signal will go straight to the main rescue coordination center, the signal will identify where you are and then send it to the nearest search and rescue center," said Telly Eugene Muramira, a deputy executive secretary at the Lake Victoria Basin Commission. "Then they can come to rescue you."
The loan has been in the works for more than a decade, and is part of a four-year, $36 million project that the Lake Victoria Basin Commission predicts will double mobile phone coverage and reduce the number of deaths on the lake by 80 percent by 2020.
Improving safety, the thinking goes, will encourage more and bigger companies to use the lake for transportation and shipping cargo. The goal is to put 2,000 more licensed vessels on the lake, the African Development Bank predicts, and boost economic development.
And that would be good news for Ssali and the other fishermen, who worry that small-time fishing is a dead-end job — and a dangerous one as well.
Julian Hattem is a freelance journalist based in Uganda. Reach him @jmhattem.It’s official—almost.
Actress Ashley Judd, who has reportedly been exploring a Senate run since last December, will announce her candidacy in the spring, msnbc’s Howard Fineman reported Sunday. Her candidacy would pit her against Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.
The 44-year-old star of “Double Jeopardy” also has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University and has been a women’s rights activist for years. She had met with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to talk about women running for office more than a year ago, Fineman reported.
In a statement to The Huffington Post, Judd denied that she was planning on making announcements any time soon.
“I am not sure who is saying this stuff, but it is not I!” Judd said to the website. “I’d prefer as a fan of your journalism that you stay accurate and credible. We told everyone who called us yesterday these stories are fabrications.”
Even if Judd remains coy about the reports, Republicans have taken her potential run seriously. Karl Rove’s super PAC launched an attack ad against Judd in February, characterizing her as out of step with the culture in Kentucky, ending with the ominous note: “Ashley Judd: An Obama-following, radical Hollywood liberal, who’s right at home in Tennessee—I mean Kentucky.”
Judd, who was born in California but grew up and went to school in Kentucky, was part of the Democratic delegation from Tennessee at the 2012 DNC. Judd has also lobbied against coal mountain-top removal, a major industry in the state that employs thousands of residents.
Analysts said Judd’s background will make it easy for McConnell to paint her as a carpetbagging elite. However, with budget battles ahead and low poll numbers in Kentucky, McConnell is still vulnerable, said A.B. Stoddard, associate editor at The Hill.
“If she gets into this primary, she is going clear the field. I don’t know another Democrat in all of Kentucky who would step up to an Ashley Judd and be able to have that kind of fundraising prowess,” said msnbc contributor Goldie Taylor.
As for Judd herself, she didn’t seem fazed by the flurry of speculation about her future plans. On Twitter, at least, she seemed more preoccupied with her dog.
“My beautiful hound, enjoying March’s refreshing wind,” she wrote.Parviz Sabeti (born March 25, 1936 Sangesar) is an Iranian lawyer, former SAVAK deputy under the regime of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Born in Sangesar, Semnan province, in north-central Iran, to a Bahá'í family, Sabeti received a law degree from the University of Tehran and joined the SAVAK, Iran's intelligence agency in Shah's regime, in 1957, and quickly rose to become the acting director of the SAVAK's so-called third division—its political directorate—and later its director.[1]
Biography [ edit ]
He has been called one of the most powerful men in the last two decades of Pahlavi regime.[1] Historian Abbas Milani describes him as "like a character from a le Carre novel" and says that "As his fame and reputation grew, his name and face disappeared from the public domain."[1] Sabeti and his family fled Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 [2] Pardis Sabeti, a Harvard biology professor, is his daughter.[3]
Mr. Parviz Sabeti graduated from the Law School of the University of Tehran. He was initially hired as a Judge in the Ministry of Justice. Having shown a keen interest in public policy and politics he was recruited into the SAVAK, which was part of the Prime Minister's office, in 1959. This was a time when a new policy of introducing civilians into an organization staffed by primarily ex-military rank and file was introduce. Initially he worked as a political analyst in the department of internal security and very soon became the head of political analysis where he was in charge of preparing and writing daily, periodical and special reports which went ultimately via the chain of command to the Shah of Iran.[4]
Although Mr. Sabeti was philosophically against Marxism and radical Islam, he believed that arresting and prosecuting members of such groups should not be the only course of action. The cycle of actions and reactions of dissent, revolt, then crackdown would continue until the government, through substantial reforms, attempted to remove the roots of dissatisfactions and create more room for the participation of people in the political system.[4]
Impressions by the Shah towards Parviz Sabeti had changed by the late 1970 when Sabeti, as the de facto security advisor to the Prime Minister and spokesman for the government, provided a long and impressive TV interview exposing the plots by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein against Iran, with the collusion of internal enemies of the Shah. He continued to provide two more such interviews exposing the tactics of two major opposition groups, one Communist and one Islamic-Marxist.[4]
None of this undid however the fact that he was the only civilian leader to have reached a leadership position at SAVAK, with the inevitable friction with the more hard-line, one dimensional attitude of those with a military background. One example being his differences with General Nassiri who was chief of SAVAK and deputy Prime Minister for 14 years. Nassiri who was a loyal soldier for the Shah, very often had clashes with Sabeti.[4]Twitter is an excellent medium for world leaders to keep the people informed on their thoughts and actions, but it can also lead to awkward situations. Yesterday evening the Turkish President Abdullah Gül tweeted that he enjoyed watching the Oscar nominated movie 'The King's Speech' at home with his wife. An interesting status update, since the film has not premiered in Turkish theaters yet, nor is it available on DVD anywhere else.
Abdullah Gül is a political heavyweight. He previously served as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Turkey, and in 2007 he was elected as the 11th Turkish President.
As President he met with all the major world leaders but Gül also likes to keep in touch with the public, for which he started to use Twitter a while ago. Gül, who has a verified account on Twitter, occasionally tweets his thoughts about national and international politics, and also shares more personal stuff from time to time.
One tweet in particular caught the attention of many of his 185,000+ followers yesterday. Before wishing everyone a good weekend, Gül mentioned how he enjoyed watching “The King’s Speech” at home with his wife the other day.
“Watched The King’s Speech at home with my wife the other day. Really a very beautiful movie,’ he tweeted.
The Turkish President is not the only one who enjoyed the film of course. With twelve Oscar nominations it is considered to be one of the best movies of 2010 by many people.
However, the tweet nevertheless resulted in a small uproar among his followers. The big question is how he could have possibly watched the film at home, without breaking copyright law.
The King’s Speech is not available on DVD anywhere in the world, and the film has not even premiered in Turkish movie theaters yet. There is, however, a good copy of the film available on BitTorrent, Usenet and various other file-sharing platforms (and on the streets).
This led many of his Twitter followers to conclude that their President is in fact a movie pirate. How else would it be possible for him to watch the movie at his home in Turkey?
In a response to the tweet many people asked Gül where he downloaded the movie, and whether he prefers Usenet or BitTorrent. Thus far, the President has not replied to the inquiries, but if he does we will add the response here.
Perhaps Gül can do something about the Turkish Pirate Bay block now? I assume many of his followers would also like to grab a copy of The King’s Speech following this shining presidential endorsement.
Update: Without going into detail Gül said in a response “an illegal film would not be given to me.” Perhaps his staff managed to get a super-exclusive deal to show a private screening to the President? We’d love to hear more about it.Step into Hank Dietle's Tavern in Rockville, Maryland, and you walk back in time.
At Hank Dietle’s, in Rockville, the sign out front, the decor and the drink selections are nothing special, but patrons say the people are. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Step into Hank Dietle's Tavern in Rockville, Maryland, and you walk back in time.
WASHINGTON — Loads of new bars and restaurants open in the region every year, so here’s a toast to a bar in a building that’s been open for a whole century.
Walk up the front steps at Hank Dietle’s Tavern in Rockville, Maryland, and you walk back in time.
It used to be a country store with a hitching post out front.
A sign above the door reads “Established 1916,” and
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after because on one side, a carefree life is simple and easy to do. You never have to worry about failing and your life is pretty much set on blueprint. However, the back of your mind will always have that need for excelling and making a real difference in the world.
So what is the source of motivation
Though motivation can come to you during adulthood (such as finding income to feed your family or deciding to go back to school), what predetermines your level of motivation comes from your childhood. If you had parents who constantly praised and rewarded you for your success, you tend to do better in school and later on in life.
However, such as the counterpart, if your parents continuously neglected you without acknowledging your achievements, the average child tends to lose the will of motivation. Our childhood usually manipulates our future and creates our personalities. If we associate positive feelings with success, we work harder to continue receiving those emotions.
However, without the experience of knowing how it feels to be successful, people don’t find it that fulfilling. It’ll almost be like telling someone how amazing ice cream taste when they never had it before.
How can I get motivated if I have no interest in anything?
As complex as that sounds, it does pop inside our heads. We want to be successful like the people we see around us. The only problem is lacking the motivation to get there. We struggle cultivating our thinking pattern to work harder and achieve more. Based on our psychological needs, the two biggest factors that pushes us towards motivation are:
Intrinsic Motivation:
This is motivating yourself for the sake of improving your abilities with interest, enjoyment, or challenging yourself. You’re not entirely concerned with rewards or consequences. You’re only doing this for yourself and nothing more. An example would be trying a new hobby due to curiosity, reading subjects you’re interested in, or motivating yourself to exercise.
and
Extrinsic Motivation:
This is when we motivate ourselves to seek after external rewards or to avoid punishments. For example, their motivation might be to get more money, obtaining a prize of some sorts, or avoiding a prison sentence. Rather than doing something for yourself, you work towards an external goal.
To motivate ourselves to do anything productive, recall your recent experiences with it. We all had moments where we used both types of motivations to get something done. So remember the type of motivation you feel most comfortable with. Remember the time you were motivated to get something done and was amazing at doing so.
Maybe you felt pressured to complete a homework assignment before it was due the next day to avoid getting a bad grade. Or maybe you decided to workout and lose that extra twenty pounds you picked up last summer. Most people are usually motivated to work harder at work to receive a promotion and get more money. These types of motivations are known as being extrinsically motivated.
When we’re intrinsically motivated, we thrive at bettering ourselves not for a reward, but for our own needs instead. For example, someone might become interested in programming because they want to create their own software. I get motivated reading psychology and self- help books because I have a general interest in them. Rather than seeking an external reward, intrinsically motivation fulfills your desires to feel competent.
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
To determine which type of motivation is best for us, start by being honest with yourself. Naturally, we want to receive more money, recognition, or power. However, we also want to get there in a fun and relaxing manner. (Who wants to work super hard at something they clearly don’t enjoy?) It’ll be like working as a famous butcher even though you’re a devoted vegan. The promise of rewards, money, and power could only motivate you for so long before your productivity starts to diminish.
What I discovered was that rather than solely using intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, it’s best to use them both simultaneously. (Shocking, right?) Some would argue that this approach is conflicting in itself because it’s impossible to work out of pure interest while thriving to achieve a reward as a result.
But let’s think about a sport athlete lifestyle. People who play football or basketball started playing it because they originally enjoyed it. Then, over the years as they built their skills to become good at it, they got drafted to play as professionals.
From there, they generally play the sport because they love it, but now get paid for it. A basketball player can’t discipline himself to be the best if all he’s aiming for is to become rich.
Combining both types of motivations is doing something you enjoy that has the potential of producing a promising income. And in today’s time, it’s possible to do something we’re interested in and making an income from it.
Unless it’s complaining. I don’t know if there’s a career in only complaining to people. But if people are making a living by doing pranks, eating weird foods from across the world, or showing people how to put on makeup, your interest is very possible.
Now that we have a better understanding about motivation, let’s pinpoint how to apply it into your life.
Step 1: Discover your Interest
Think of a general topic you’re interested in. And don’t be specific about it. Let’s say one of your goals is to write a book. Don’t list the topic, ‘writing a book.’ Instead, put down ‘writing‘ or ‘sharing your thoughts with the world.’ You could narrow your goals later, but for now, settle for the main areas you’re interested in. Maybe you like reading.
List that down (I’ll explain later). Or maybe you like to cook, do karate, study science, or learn programming. The interest you pick will be the seed you need to plant. Here’s a few examples of interests you could use if you’re still searching for ideas:
Collecting random things
Studying Space
Dancing
Cooking
Hiking
Exercising
Music
Sports
Designing
If you still want more career options, lifehackers provides an interesting article.
Step 2: Dig deeper into that interest
Once you have a list of general interests, dig deep in each of them. Determine what naturally attracts you the most. It’ll be like playing The Bachelor, but instead of choosing between beautiful women, you’ll be choosing your interests.
If you like reading, maybe you’d like to become an editor or book reviewer. Or if drawing was on your list, you can choose comic book artist, tattoo artist, or designer. If you like exercising, perhaps you’ll enjoy being a personal trainer. And don’t choose only 1 interest either. You should have several choices because we all have multiple interests.
Step 3: Combine those interests into something bigger (Let’s use Science!)
Start experimenting like a scientist. Combine your interests together and create a career. Maybe you like reading and writing. Combine them together and a good career choice is writing novels or book reviews. Or maybe you like writing and cooking. This opens the path to write a best selling recipe book.
If you’re only interested in video games, watching movies, and eating junk foods, maybe it’s time to pickup a camera and record your opinions. Chances are if you’re interested in something, there’s over 100,000 other people who like it as well (whether they openly admit it or not.)
As awesome as it is to be a master over one thing, I’d rather be a jack of all trades because I love combining them into something amazing. I don’t need to know the complete guide to programming software. All I need to know is the basics on how to get from point A to point B. If necessary, I’ll study more topics about it to reach a goal, but until then, I’ll build my skills in other areas such as design or another language.
Step 4: Attend to your Motives
This is normally the part we struggle with after finding something we’re interested in. When we’re approached with challenges and obstacles, it’s tempting to back away from them. So to fix this repetitive pattern, create a motive and attend to it. (Like a sweet little puppy someone randomly gave you one day for no apparent reason.) But everyone’s a little different and see motivation in a different light.
If you value your accomplishments, you need to challenge yourself. Writing my book gave me a proud feeling after completing every chapter. Each chapter was an open exhibit of what I accomplished and could brag about to myself. But that feeling only lasted for so long before it became old news.
So I pushed myself to write more and more chapters to continue my bragging rights. This is how people spend all day playing video games, whether it’s on a console or mobile. Humans love viewing their own achievements in all shapes and forms.
However, if you’re more interested in recognition, start sharing your achievements with others. We sometimes need that external boost of motivation to keep us going. So whenever you learn something new or made improvements, tell someone about it. Let them marvel at your developments.
The look of amazement on their face should trigger a positive response from within you. This is how the coaching program works. Rather than working hard at something alone, you have other people acknowledging your progress and encouraging you to continue on.
Step 5: Set Specific (But challenging) goals
Give yourself a goal that isn’t too easy, or else you’ll lose interest. But don’t give yourself an impossible goal that’ll make you want to throw it in the trash. Set reasonable goals that’ll let you grow as a person.
A problem I faced before I started running was wishing I could run several miles like my friends. So instead of going by my natural pace and building up from there, I exhausted myself by attempting to run 3 miles on my first attempt. That didn’t end so well, and discouraged me until I realized I had to discipline myself before reaching that level.
Occasionally think of the end result, but don’t concentrate on it daily. It’ll only tire your mind after reaching the realization that you’re nowhere near it. Focus on short and attainable goals that’ll build the empire you want. You will reach your dreams with a balance of patience and motivation.
In final thoughts…
The way we find our motivation is up to us, but the same rules apply to whatever you choose. Rather than seeking after a reward or solely doing something for yourself, combine a list of interests to create a masterpiece.This story has been updated: Cedar Point's former Mean Streak coaster gets taller, wilder; new name to come (photos)
SANDUSKY, Ohio - Finally, some answers from Cedar Point about what, exactly, is going on with Mean Streak.
Then again, maybe not.
The park is hosting a hard-hat tour Tuesday for members of the media "to get up close to Cedar Point's yet-to-be-announced attraction in FrontierTown."
That's code for Mean Streak for those of you who haven't been paying attention to this ongoing coaster drama.
To get you up to speed:
* Last September, Cedar Point announced it was shuttering Mean Streak, its behemoth wooden coaster, built in 1991, which had fallen out of favor in recent years because of its rough ride.
* Not long after, crews from Rocky Mountain Construction showed up on the scene. The company is well-known in the amusement park industry for its masterful remakes of old, wooden coasters into wood-steel hybrids. Work continued through the winter, spring and is ongoing this summer.
* Park officials have steadfastly refused to talk about the Mean Streak transformation - even though it's on display for thousands of parkgoers every day.
* In recent months, Cedar Point has tweeted a handful of teasers about the ride, sending the coaster fan community into a frenzy of speculation about when it will open, how high it will be, what it will be called, etc.
The latest Tweet came two weeks ago:
Tuesday's hard-hat event represents the park's first official acknowledgement that something big is happening at the back of the park. Exactly how big?
Well, we may have to wait to find out.
The invitation to the media reads: "Reporters will have the opportunity to get inside the construction site to capture photos, video and interviews with park representatives."
And continues: "Although no specific information will be revealed at the time of the tour, future access to this area will be extremely limited."
No specific information? Well, we'll see about that. Check back tomorrow for a full report, with lots of photos and as much information as we're able to squeeze out of park officials.MUMBAI: In April this year, as a Mumbai-based employee of a firm responsible for trading on behalf of a Foreign Portfolio investor ( FPI ) walked out of the office building to a nearby tea stall, he barely noticed the two unknown faces smoking near the nondescript shop.As he always did, the employee borrowed the hand-phone of the tea-stall owner and dialed a New Delhi number. For the two unknown faces— working with a corporate forensic team of a multinational-- it had taken almost a month to figure out whether and how someone was front-running stock market orders placed by the FPI.“We had checked the cell-phone records of all employees but couldn’t find anything. Just before he (the accused) would punch in a huge buy or sell order of the FPI, he would call his stock broker in New Delhi, who would take decisions accordingly,” said a forensic investigator involved in the inquiry. FPIs that were only concerned about taxation in India until about a few months ago have now woken up to front-running by their employees, or employees of brokers they engage. Many FPIs have been hiring forensic investigators to discover whether their employees or brokers are front-running or manipulating stock markets in any way.“Although always cognizant of the risks of market manipulation and abuse, many FPIs are now roping in forensic experts to have their trading frameworks and structures reviewed to identify any fraud risks,” said Samir Paranjpe, partner, Grant Thornton. At least four FPIs have roped in investigators to conduct "forensic health check-ups" of their employees in last few months.Often, the guilty employees indulge in front running—basically buying or selling shares just in time before the FPI or the bank did so. They do make handsome profits, since share prices may be affected due to a bulk buy or sell order by the institutional investor. Industry trackers say that some of the Indian private banks too have been roping in investigators for the same purpose.In February this year, one of the top Indian private banks that had roped in an investigator discovered that one of their employees may have been involved in wrong doing. “While the employee didn’t even have a demat account, his mother-in-law seemed to be an active trader. The data analysis showed that there were strong correlations between the stock market positions of the bank’s treasury department and the stock buying pattern of the employee’s mother-in-law,” said another investigator involved in the probe."In our experience, front-running is a concern not limited to just FPIs but extends to even banks and brokerage houses. Today, financial institutions want to manage this risk proactively and have approached us to apply data analytics to identify ‘red flags’ and in many instances, we have used big data or forensic analytics to check if there have been spikes in particular small trades before the FPI, bank or brokerage house buys or sells shares,” said KV Karthik, Partner - Forensic, Financial Advisory, Deloitte India.FPIs, banks and brokerage houses have been roping in forensic investigators from Grant Thornton, Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG in last couple of months, say industry trackers. Basic rules such as not using cell phones inside the trading room, disclosing investments, and only using company phones have been in place for a while, but some employees found a way around them, say investigators. Apart from using big data tools, investigators are also scrutinising the family details of the employees.To best view the content on this page, please rotate your device to the Landscape (horizontal) position. ✖
Image: WE GET TO reclaim all hours of our experience as holy hours when we pass these simple beads through our hands.
THE RECENT RESURGENCE in the rosary’s popularity has made it much more than the fashion accessory singer Madonna inaugurated a few years ago. From kitsch to cool to contemplative tool again, in a single generation! not bad for a devotion that’s been kicking around the church in various forms for almost a millennium.
Catholicism was “Marian” a generation ago—or at least, the church gave Protestants plenty of reasons to see it that way. While other Christians adhered to Jesus and the Bible, Catholics prayed to Mary and the saints. That was a false dichotomy, of course, based mostly on externals: Some older Catholic churches were miniature museums of sacred art, with varying degrees of good taste on display. Thoughtful Catholics always understood that they didn’t worship Mary, because worship is reserved to God alone. It is veneration of Mary that honors her crucial role in the story of Jesus and the life of the church.
“Call your Mother!”
When the Second Vatican Council swept the halls of Catholicism with broad reforms in the late 1960s, the way Catholics expressed their identity on the street changed, too. The church was moving toward a deepened engagement with the modern world. Catholics were all invited to move with it, surrendering a bit of the otherworldly focus that made them seem separate and their witness perhaps too hidden.
For some that movement into the marketplace made scripture and social justice teaching of more practical use than rosaries and statues. When Catholics turned their attention to the modern world in teaching and testimony, many left relics of the otherworldly—the incense and devotions— behind.
Rosary resources ONLINE ROSARIES
www.comepraytherosary.org/
www.virtualrosary.org/ READING
Second Vatican Council, The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), nos. 52-69 Pope Paul VI, Marialis Cultus (1974) Pope John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae (2002) These documents are available on the Vatican website, www.vatican.va/.
In driving terms, that’s called an overcorrection. And it often lands you in a ditch. It rarely helps to replace one dichotomy with another. Minimizing Mary’s role in Catholic identity devalues the critical human response to God’s initiative that she embodies so beautifully. At the same time, to correct maximizing Mary to the diminishment of Jesus it was perhaps necessary to move a few statues from the center of our worship space, not to mention our mental space. Yet renewed interest in traditional prayer forms today makes the rosary T-shirt logo sound like wisdom: “Call your Mother. She hasn’t heard from you in decades.”
Reclaiming the rosary goes hand in hand with a restoration of Mary’s rightful role in Catholic consciousness. What we say about Mary is also necessarily a statement about the church. She is what we must become. Mary models our Christian vocation and shows us how discipleship is done. All teaching about Mary relates to her primary relationship to Jesus. Or as a priest I know likes to say, “We’d never have heard of Mary at all if her son hadn’t turned out so well.”
Our veneration of Mary is not a cult of personality. She’s not a celestial celebrity; she’s better than that: She’s the one who assures us that saying yes to God, fully and completely, is possible.
Pray, reflect, repeat
So how does the rosary assist us in becoming more like Mary, that is, “full of grace”? It offers a unique view of the Christian story through the heart of the woman from Nazareth. Mary was the first to ponder the greatest events of salvation history. Through Mary’s eyes we reflect on these moments of joy, light, sorrow, and glory and can appreciate the rhythms of life in their sacred dimensions. Birth and death, joy and grief, expectation and loss are not only details of our humanity but mysteries connected to sin and grace. We get to reclaim all the hours of our experience as holy hours when we pass these simple beads through our hands.
How to pray the rosary There are 20 mysteries divided into the following four sets to be meditated upon each week: JOYFUL MYSTERIES (Mondays and Saturdays; Sundays during the Christmas season) The Annunciation to Mary
The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth
The Birth of Jesus
The Presentation of Jesus
The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple SORROWFUL MYSTERIES (Tuesdays and Fridays; Sundays during Lent) The Agony of Jesus in the Garden
Jesus is Scourged
Jesus is Crowned with Thorns
Jesus Carries the Cross to Calvary
The Crucifixion of Jesus GLORIOUS MYSTERIES (Wednesdays and Sundays) The Glorious Resurrection of Jesus
The Ascension of Jesus
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
The Coronation of Mary as Queen LUMINOUS MYSTERIES (Thursdays) The Baptism of Jesus
The Wedding at Cana
The Proclamation of the Kingdom
The Transfiguration of Jesus
The Last Supper To begin: 1. Make the Sign of the Cross and say the Apostles’ Creed. 2. Say the Our Father. 3. Say three Hail Marys. 4. Say the Glory Be to the Father. 5. Announce the first mystery, then say the Our Father. 6. Say 10 Hail Marys while meditating on the mystery. 7. Say the Glory Be to the Father. 8. Announce the second mystery; then say the Our Father. Repeat 6 and 7 and continue with the third, fourth, and fifth mysteries in the same way. 9. Conclude with the Hail, Holy Queen prayer and the verse “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God” and response “that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”
One objection onlookers have to the rosary is that it appears to be a magical device. Although a rosary may be blessed, Catholics attribute no magical power to its beads. The repetitions of prayers may sound like an incantation, but repetition is a feature, not a formula. So why do we say the same prayers over and over? Does saying something 10 times, or 50 times, make it more sincere?
Ask Saint Peter, who after the resurrection was asked three times: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). Peter needed to repeat his answer more than Jesus needed to hear it—he’d recently denied his friend and teacher that same number of times. If you’re quite sure you haven’t turned from grace 50 times, I’m sure one Hail Mary will suffice. Many of us would more likely go another time around those beads.
Repetition is also liberating: It frees the mind to widen into the unconscious. Don’t you often think better when you’re doing some task you know by heart? Apart from the mechanics of it the rosary offers us a multiplication of ways to pray. It’s scripture meditation, petition, song of praise, and instruction on the faith all at once. Pope Pius XII called it a “compendium of the entire gospel,” tracing beliefs about the Incarnation, Epiphany, kingdom of God, Eucharist, Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection in jewel-like cameos. Cardinal John Henry Newman declared that the rosary provides us with a way of “holding in our hands all that we believe”—and it’s a whole lot easier to put a rosary in your pocket than, say, The Catechism of the Catholic Church!
The most-repeated prayer of the rosary is the Hail Mary, which is part scripture—Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb (Luke 1:28, 42)—and part supplication—Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Pope Paul VI emphasized how the Hail Mary hinges on the fatefully placed name of Jesus at its center of gravity. He compared the rosary to weaving cloth on a loom, identifying the Hail Mary as the warp upon which the mysteries of our faith are woven.
Along with these mysteries we also weave our intentions, thoughts, imagination, emotions, and desire for union with Christ. That’s a tall order, which is why the rosary benefits from a lingering pace. Silence and vocal prayer are its alternating energies. If we race through it we miss the graced encounter that lurks between the beads. When teaching scripture, rabbis have noted, God speaks in the white space around each letter as much as in the words themselves. White space, or silence, is often where God offers a fresh response to our prayer.
The test of time
Perhaps the most convincing evidence of the rosary’s success is its longevity in practice. In the Middle Ages a rosarium was the term for a collection of devotional readings, but praying on knotted strings had been a poor person’s devotion 300 years earlier. At a time when few were literate but many wanted to share in the prayer of the monasteries that loomed above town, reciting 150 paternosters (Our Fathers) was as good as chanting 150 psalms as the monks did.
Starting in the 13th century religious orders such as the Franciscans, Servites, Cistercians, and Dominicans promoted and expanded the rosary. Its form remained fairly constant until the 20th century, when Father George Preca of Malta, recently canonized, offered a new set of mysteries on the public ministry of Jesus, including the Beatitudes. Admiring the innovation, Pope John Paul II chose to focus on five moments of “epiphany” in which Jesus revealed his divine origins and added the Proclamation of the Kingdom to Preca’s reflections to create the Luminous Mysteries.
The rosary’s thoughtful and deliberate history demonstrates that this practice is hardly a theological sideshow in the life of the church. It incorporates the highlights of Christian scripture, doctrine, and liturgy in an entirely accessible prayer form that the humblest person can learn. Even a Doctor of the Church can benefit from its wisdom, as Saint Teresa of Avila did. Toward the end of her life, after the great revelations and ecstasies abandoned her, she focused on the spiritual benefits of one simple prayer: the Hail Mary.
A prayer for everyone
Pope John Paul II suggested that the rosary, while composed of simple parts, is hardly simplistic. Contained in each drama of its decades is a contradiction: The joy of finding a child also implies the terror of losing one. Presenting a child to God means also surrendering him to his destiny. Christian joy, the pope wrote, is not uncomplicated nor does it imply freedom from care. Adopting the practice of the rosary prepares us for Christian life as a whole, in which mysteries of joy, light, sorrow, and glory often exchange places in short order.
The rosary is a traditional prayer, yet its evolution suggests that it also contains much room to breathe in modern times. It can be prayed alone or with others. It is appropriate as family prayer, in preparation for Mass, or to console mourners at a wake service.
Pope John Paul recommended it as a prayer for peace, based on the mystery of Christ who is our peace. A “rosary personality,” he suggested, is a witness against violence, injustice, arrogance, and intolerance in any form. “In turning our eyes to Jesus and Mary, we might regain the ability to look one another in the eye,” the pope said (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 41). In which case praying the rosary isn’t only what traditional Catholics do. It’s what all Catholics might want to do more.Juvenile inmates cut through metal windows, gates to escape prison in Bihar's Munger. (Representational)
Scores of juvenile inmates, including killers and rapists, staged a mass breakout from a detention centre in Bihar after cutting through metal windows and gates, police said Monday.34 out of 86 inmates broke out of the facility in Munger district of Bihar on Sunday, an officer said. 12 returned in the hours after the daring escape."The inmates broke the iron grills and the metal gate and fled in an overnight escape," Ashish Bharti, Munger police chief, told news agency AFP.Many of the escapees have either been convicted or are awaiting trial for serious offences such as murder, rape and theft, the officer added.Police are investigating the breakout and a manhunt is underway for the escapees.Nearly 100 inmates fled a similar facility in Bihar in 2015 after tying bedsheets and scaling walls.About 31,000 offenders below the age of 18 are kept in juvenile homes intended for reforming the delinquents, according to official statistics. The homes have no armed guards and inmates often sleep in dormitories instead of individual cells.It was said to be down to two, and now it sounds like the choice has been made. Manny Pacquiao has reportedly chosen to face Timothy Bradley in a rematch on April 12, 2014, rather than take on a fresh opponent in WBO junior welterweight titlist Ruslan Provoodnikov.
Pacquiao controversially lost a split decision to Bradley in June 2012. The fight's judging was so universally loathed and disregarded that a contractual rematch clause Pacquiao held was disregarded in order to make his next fight, a convincing loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012.
But now, with Bradley (31-0, 12 KO) on a strong two-fight win streak, beating Provodnikov and then Marquez, looks like he's fought his way back into a rematch that at one point, many simply didn't care to see at all.
It also should be said that at the moment, Top Rank's opponent choices are very limited and with these the two candidates, I think there's no question that Manny (55-5-2, 38 KO) has made the biggest possible fight if this is indeed the choice.Getty Images/Ker Robertson So on Thursday I published an article about why the Clinton-era budget surpluses helped fuel the credit boom that (ultimately) led to the crunch and the recession that followed. It's fair to say not everyone agreed. In fact, some people really didn't agree at all.
Here's Bloomberg columnist and CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management Barry Ritholtz's take:
In the (good natured) discussion that followed, it emerged that Ritholtz and I have a fundamentally different take in our narratives of the crisis. We both agree that mortgage originators were not forced to provide loans to people with no credit history, nor were financial firms forced to package those loans up, have ratings agencies stamp the resulting securities with an 'A' rating and flog them to credulous institutions around the world.
However, he followed that up by saying "had the bad loans not been made, there never would have been a problem".
I couldn't disagree more. Indeed I think the most important lessons of the last few years is that the emergence of the subprime crisis was a symptom, not cause, of the global financial crisis.
To understand why, you first need to think about the role that housing plays in the economy. When a bank issues a mortgage it simultaneously creates an asset — the mortgage contract — and a liability — the capital that is then used to complete the transaction. In effect, it brings forward the future earnings of the buyer in order to provide a lump sum to the seller.
The buyer then takes possession of the house with the mortgage obligation, while the seller takes the capital and deposits it in the bank (for the sake of this example). The seller can then use that money to fund current purchases — for example, buying a TV or a car etc. In other words, the housing market can be viewed as the main transmission mechanism for bank-created money into the real economy (your and my pockets in other words).
How does this apply to the Clinton surpluses?
Well, the authors of the new paper that spurred my previous post claim that "following the Asian crisis in the late 1990s, a "glut" of global savings flowed towards US safe assets, finding its way into the mortgage market through the purchase of MBS [mortgage-backed securities]". This is based on the work done by former Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke in his seminal 2011 paper on the savings glut, in which he asserts that "international capital flows likely played a significant role in helping to finance the housing bubble and thus set the stage for its subsequent bust".
The theory, in essence, is that following the shock of the Asian crisis, emerging markets started to channel their savings into the US. In particular this money flowed into perceived "safe assets" such as US Treasury securities (Treasuries) and Agency debt (Agencies). This capital inflow showed up as a substantial US current account deficit which increased from $120.2 billion in 1996 to $530.7 billion by 2003.
Simultaneously, the US government of the day under President Bill Clinton elected to begin running budget surpluses. This had the effect of reducing the stock of US government-issued "safe assets" as the state began to pay down its debt. This created an incentive — though not the obligation — for the private sector to meet this demand for "safe assets" by creating some of its own. Thus we come back to mortgage securities.
The authors' of the latest paper write that "the boom in securitisation contributed to channel into mortgages a large pool of savings that had previously been directed towards other safe assets, such as government bonds". As Frances Coppola points out, this misstates what was actually going on. The inflow of capital was not "channelled" into the US mortgage market but, rather, it created the secondary market that gave banks a reason to continue extending mortgage loans into the system.
And here's where the story gets really interesting. The more credit the banks provided through the mortgage market, the more money consumers had available to pay for goods and services (including, for example, clothes and toys produced in China). This spending then fed the current account surpluses in emerging markets, which flooded back into the US in search of safe assets that would provide a steady stream of income.
So the credit market created what looked like a self-fulfilling cycle where banks issued mortgages, that money was spent on goods and services in the US, which provided the cash for emerging economies to buy the mortgage-backed securities that were then created. Glad that's clear.
And this is what happened — real home prices increasing by roughly 40% to 70% between 2000 and 2006:
NBER
Critically, this system concentrated risk in the US housing market but because demand for the resulting securities was so high nobody foresaw any problems. But there was a big problem. There is a limit to the amount of future earnings that can be brought forward because people actually have to be able to pay off the debt that they take on.
This poses two related risks — first, once you have a society where as many people who can afford to are already indebted you run out of your source of new assets to sell and; second, if people's expected income in the future fails to materialise then they may fail to be able to service their debt which could wipe out the value of their mortgages.
The key point that Ritholtz misses is that these risks exist even with non-subprime mortgage lending.
So what happened?
Here we have to hypothesise a little. But the majority of subprime mortgages were issued well after the housing market boom was underway at a time when, as the paper puts it, the Great Moderation had led "financial intermediaries to an (ex-post) overoptimistic assessment of the risks faced by their portfolios".
One theory is that when mortgage originators started running out of high-quality borrowers to lend to, they went in search of a new market — subprime. There was nothing necessary about this, it was greed pure and simple. But the fact that the subprime market became an ever larger share of total lending towards the end of the housing boom suggests that the lack of high-quality borrowers was a genuine constraint.
The foolish decision to chase the last pennies of the boom, however, was ultimately to prove the trigger for the collapse. In that way it was a sufficient cause of the crash. But there have been plenty of house price crashes before, not all of which can be simply attributed to the quality of the borrowers at the time the lending took place.
My contention is that the scale of the housing boom had already increased the system's vulnerabilities, and had been exacerbated by the Clinton administration's decision to run budget surplus. In the end as borrowers were maxing themselves out, a hit to future incomes was almost inevitable and with it a correction in the housing market.
And due to the packaging up and re-sale of those mortgage assets to "safe asset" seekers across the world the crash was almost guaranteed to send ripples through global financial markets.Earthquake Shakes Oklahoma Oil Storage Hub
Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake shook central Oklahoma on Sunday evening, damaging several buildings. Multiple aftershocks also hit the area, the U.S. Geological Survey says.
The quake epicenter was about a mile west of the town of Cushing, the largest commercial crude oil storage center in North America and the southern terminus of the Keystone pipeline.
On Monday, public schools in Cushing were closed to assess damage, and the school district said in a statement on Facebook that two schools had ceiling tiles down and other "cosmetic damage."
No one was taken to the hospital with injuries from the quake, according to local television station News9, and Cushing city officials said gas leaks caused by the shaking were contained.
A spokesperson for Magellan Midstream Partners, which operates pipelines and oil storage facilities in and around Cushing, said the company had shut down its operations there to "check the integrity of our assets."
"We did not encounter any damage associated with [the earthquake]," he wrote in an email, saying the company expects to resume normal operations on Tuesday.
This is not the first significant earthquake to damage central Oklahoma. The governor declared a state of emergency in September after a magnitude 5.3 temblor.
As we have reported, the USGS announced earlier this year that pumping wastewater underground during oil and gas production has caused parts of Oklahoma and Texas to be as seismically active as parts of California.
As NPR reported last year, the earthquakes could damage oil storage tanks and pipelines:
"This little patch of prairie in northwestern Oklahoma is one of the most important places in the U.S. energy market.... "The massive hub in Cushing, where domestic crude oil enters the energy market, is dotted with hundreds of airplane hangar-size tanks that hold an estimated 54 million barrels of oil. "No earthquake damage has been reported — yet. But the possibility is a matter of national security
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’s my culture, too. Do I not have a say? And when we’re talking about culture, which era? 1200s? 1600s? Because things change all the time—women giving birth is no longer a secret rite of passage. Why is this the only thing that is so protected in our culture?”
Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
He believes it’s because the ritual has to do with masculinity and the film addresses homosexuality. “As a queer person, I am [seen as] a virus anyway in this culture. Unless I’m entertaining you and I’m funny.”
Contralesa, one of the groups calling for a ban, has a history of homophobia: It’s called for LGBT rights to be stricken from the South African Constitution.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
Trengove is and gay—and white. The Wound was inspired by Thando Mgqolozana’s novel A Man Who is Not a Man—and Trengove wrote the script with Mgqolozana and another Xhosa writer, Malusi Bengu. But in many people’s eyes it’s still an outsider sharing secrets that aren’t his to share. (Nelson Mandela detailed the ritual in Long Walk to Freedom and faced little criticism.)
Will The Wound make the Xhosa look backwards or inspire legislation to ban Ulwaluko? Ultimately, Touré believes, The Wound doesn’t make a moral judgment about the initiation.
“I think some foreign press felt that we were critiquing the culture, [but] the film’s not a critique at all,” he says. “Never have I been more Xhosa in my spirituality than after this film. Now I [pray] every day to my ancestors.”Both Sen. Bernard Sanders and Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson teed off Thursday on Donald Trump at a gathering of Hispanic political leaders in Washington, D.C., as organizers lamented the absences of both Mr. Trump and likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton from the conference.
“I firmly believe that Donald Trump will not become president of the United States for a number of reasons, but at the top of the reasons is the fact that the American people in 2016 are not going to vote for a candidate who insults Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women and African-Americans,” Mr. Sanders said at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference.
Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent, has not formally conceded to Mrs. Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, but has indicated he will do whatever he can to stop Mr. Trump from winning the White House.
Mr. Johnson, meanwhile, told the crowd that immigration is a “wonderful thing,” saying it should be easy for someone who wants come into the country and work to get work a visa.
“I absolutely reject the notion that we should deport 11 million undocumented workers,” said Mr. Johnson, a former New Mexico governor. “That is just incendiary. That is a misunderstanding of this issue in a really big way. And building a fence across the border is misunderstanding this issue in a really big way.”
Mr. Trump repeatedly has touted a proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that he says Mexico will pay for.
SEE ALSO: With one speech, Trump changes the campaign narrative
Breaking precedent from the past two presidential election cycles, both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton declined invitations to speak at the conference. Both major-party nominees addressed the conference in 2008 and 2012, and Mrs. Clinton herself spoke there in 2008.
“The absence of the Democratic and Republican presumptive nominees has created great consternation among the bipartisan NALEO membership,” the group said in announcing part of the schedule for the conference, which runs until Saturday.
Mr. Trump was preparing for an overseas trip to Scotland for an event at one of his golf courses. The Clinton campaign said the candidate is indeed focused on winning over Latino voters in the election, and said the campaign will continue to ramp up efforts to engage the Latino community as the general election contest moves forward.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign on Thursday also pointed out that she will be addressing members of the League of United Latin American Citizens at the group’s convention next month in Washington.
Thursday’s proceedings took place amid the backdrop of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 4-4 decision on a case involving Mr. Obama’s deportation amnesty, which left in place a lower court’s ruling that blocked the implementation of the president’s executive action.
Mr. Sanders addressed the conference before the ruling came down, but issued a subsequent call for Senate Republicans to confirm a ninth justice to the court, which has one vacancy as a result of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
After his address to the group, Mr. Johnson said he agrees with Mr. Obama’s executive actions on immigration, but that he probably would want to reduce deportations even more as president.
Mrs. Clinton called the Supreme Court’s decision “unacceptable,” while Mr. Trump said it blocked “one of the most unconstitutional actions ever undertaken by a president.”
Despite Mrs. Clinton’s absence, Democrats are banking on Mr. Trump’s rhetoric about Latinos and immigration moving Hispanics toward the Democrats in the general election.
A super PAC supporting Mrs. Clinton’s campaign quickly sprang into action after the ruling, teaming up with the Latino Victory Fund to release a digital ad that quotes Mr. Trump as saying he would “immediately terminate” Mr. Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, said Mrs. Clinton’s immigration policies would hurt poor African-American and Hispanic workers “by giving away their jobs and federal resources to illegal immigrant labor.”
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.(APN) ATLANTA — The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, the largest homeless shelter in the U.S. Southeast, and an overflow shelter serving thousands of homeless men each year, is set to close, if a settlement offer is accepted by Fulton County Superior Court, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.
The settlement involves a payment of 9.7 million dollars to the Task Force and the Task Force turning over the Peachtree Street property by abandoning its legal claims of quiet title, according to several sources.
The property would no longer be used as a shelter, and would likely be used or sold for development.
It is APN’s understanding that the settlement has already been signed by the parties.
APN previously reported that a settlement was close late last year; however, the parties were not able to reach an agreement at that time and, in particular, because one of the defendants was holding it up.
http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2016/09/13/homeless-task-force-case-heads-to-trial-october-17-as-settlement-status-unclear/
The case was supposed to head to trial, but the settlement talks have continued since that time.
As previously reported by APN, several persons and entities including Central Atlanta Progress, Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, Manny Fialkow, the City of Atlanta, Emory University, and others conspired to sabotage the shelter over a period of several years. The City was dismissed as a party because of sovereign immunity.
The Task Force has been in court, with legal assistance from the Baker Donelson law firm, for several years, and the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the Task Force had valid legal arguments and sufficient evidence to take to a jury trial.
http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/11/23/task-force-for-the-homeless-wins-favorable-georgia-supreme-court-ruling/
The Task Force–which once received and disbursed federal funds to the Atlanta continuum of care–is now a shadow of its former self.
Anita Beaty, who founded and headed the organization, and kept it running with no staff and for no salary for years, retired as Executive Director at the beginning of January 2017.
Most of the Task Force’s Board Members, including Joe Beasley, Jim Beaty, and former Councilwoman Myrtle Davis, have resigned.
The remaining Board includes Executive Director Carl Hartrampf, Prof. Chuck Steffen, and Jerry Farber.
Due to Atlanta’s current zoning restrictions, the Task Force has argued for years there is nowhere else it could operate a shelter within the City of Atlanta.
After paying the attorneys, the Task Force would have little left over from the settlement to operate a shelter or even a drop-in community center, even if it could find a location to operate in Atlanta or elsewhere.
The City of Atlanta has identified no plan to house the current residents of the Task Force and does not appear to have caused new resources to materialize that would provide new shelter beds to replace the ones that would be lost.
DEVELOPING…
(END/2017)This article is over 4 years old
Tony Abbott and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reportedly helped draft spy deal, in which Australia pledges not to harm Indonesia
Australia and Indonesia agree on code of conduct to patch up spying rift
The Australian and Indonesian governments will sign a joint code of conduct, after months of negotiations, which will include a promise by Australia not to use its spy agencies to harm its neighbour.
Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, will travel to Indonesia to sign the agreement with her counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, in the presence of the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and Indonesia’s departing president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to multiple reports.
“We have reached agreement on the joint understanding and we are currently arranging a time to sign it,” Bishop told the ABC.
It’s understood Abbott was involved in the drafting of the agreement, and Yudhoyono reviewed it, according to the Australian.
Relations have been tense between the two countries for months, after it was revealed by Guardian Australia and the ABC that Australian spy agency Defence Signals Directorate – now called the Australian Signals Directorate – tapped the phone of the Indonesian president, his wife, and several key advisers.
In response Indonesia broke off military cooperation, including with Australia’s operations against people-smuggling, and withdrew its ambassador, but Nadjib Riphat Kesoema quietly returned earlier this year.
The code of conduct to be signed will settle the dispute between the two countries and lead to the resumption of cooperation, the Australian reported on Tuesday.
In March Bishop confirmed that the code – which Australia originally wanted to be a vaguer “joint understanding” – would cover the spying controversy.
“I made it quite clear that Australia would not use its resources – our intelligence resources – to the detriment of our friends and neighbours and that includes Indonesia,” she said. “That will be part of the agreement, yes.”
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) said the government “looks forward to signing the instrument at a mutually convenient time in the near future”.
“The joint understanding contains a commitment that Australia and Indonesia will not use their intelligence resources to harm each other’s interests.
“The joint understanding will enhance intelligence cooperation between Australia and Indonesia as we work together to respond to security challenges facing the region, including the threat of home grown extremists returning from conflicts in the Middle East.”
Dfat did not confirm whether the the promise not to use spy agencies to harm Indonesia was volunteered by Australia or requested by Indonesia.WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann spoke with WWE Magazine for the most recent issue about leaving his practice to work for the company and more. Check out the highlights:
On leaving his practice for WWE: “Quite honestly, I wasn’t looking to leave the medical practice I’d built up pretty strong back in Chicago, Illinois. But I had the opportunity to send WWE my résumé, and I did. A couple of weeks later, I went out for an interview at a TV taping in Albany, New York. I got a chance to see what went on behind the scenes and speak with the staff, learn the requirements. I was intrigued about having the chance to develop their sports-medicine program not to mention the job sounded like a bunch of fun. So I left my practice to join up with WWE.”
On who injures a lot of opponents: “I can’t single out one Superstar. But, and this is sort of funny, there was a period of time when the joke backstage was, ‘If you’re having a match with Kofi, you were going to end up with me.’ So I was seeing his opponents one after the other at one point! Then there are Superstars such as John Cena, who barely frequent the training room. But when a medical issue does come up, he’s good about letting us know.”Co-founder of popular Carrabba’s arrested
Carrabba's founders Johnny Carrabba, left, and his uncle Damian Mandola are shown in 2002. Carrabba's founders Johnny Carrabba, left, and his uncle Damian Mandola are shown in 2002. Photo: Chronicle File Photo: Chronicle File Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Co-founder of popular Carrabba’s arrested 1 / 4 Back to Gallery
Noted restaurateur Damian Mandola was free on bail Friday after his arrest in Hays County on burglary charges.
Mandola, co-founder of the Carrabba's Italian restaurant chain, was taken into custody Thursday and released the next day after posting $5,000 bail, according to court records.
Hays County sheriff's officials would not confirm details about the case other than to confirm the charge was burglary of a building.
They referred questions to the Hays County District Attorney's Office, who could not be reached for comment later Friday.
However, the Houston Press reported on Friday that Mandola, 61, was charged with burglary at a winery near one of his eateries, Trattoria Lisina, in the Hays County town of Driftwood, southwest of Austin.
Although the Carrabba's chain was started in Houston, Mandola lives in Driftwood.
Mandola and his nephew Johnny Carrabba opened the first Carrabba's, on Kirby, in 1986. The chain includes restaurants in Houston, Florida and North Carolina.
Chron.com's Dana Thompson contributed to this report.Photo
LOS ANGELES — Evidence is accumulating that food allergies in children might be prevented by feeding peanuts and other allergenic food to infants in their first year of life, researchers reported here Friday.
That finding would challenge the recommendation of the World Health Organization that babies be fed exclusively breast milk for the first six months of life.
“At least as far as peanut is concerned, I would recommend parting from that,” Dr. Gideon Lack, professor of pediatric allergy at King’s College London, said in an interview.
Dr. Lack was the senior author of a study last year that found feeding peanuts to young children starting when they are 4 to 11 months old sharply reduced the risk of their developing peanut allergies.
That upended the conventional wisdom that it is best to avoid introducing peanuts until children are older.
On Friday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped pay for that study, issued proposed new guidelines recommending that children at risk of peanut allergies be fed peanuts starting at 4 to 6 months of age, though they should be tested first to make sure they do not already have an allergy.
But that initial study also left several unanswered questions. Some of those questions were answered by two additional studies that were set to be published online in The New England Journal of Medicine and were presented here at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology on Friday.
One question was whether children who consume peanuts from an early age will still remain free of allergies if they stop consuming them. The researchers followed the children from the original study for another year, from the time they turned 5 until they turned 6. For that year, they were not supposed to eat peanuts at all. The results found no big increase in allergies. “It tells you the protective effect is stable,” Dr. Lack said.
Another question was whether the early feeding technique could be applied to other types of foods and to children at normal risk of allergies. (The original study involved children deemed to have a high risk of peanut allergy.)
The researchers conducted a second study at King’s College London involving 1,300 infants who were 3 months old and being fed only breast milk. Half were randomly assigned to continue on only breast milk until 6 months of age, which is the recommended practice in Britain by the United Kingdom Department of Health.The other half were to be regularly fed small amounts of peanut butter and five other allergenic foods: eggs, yogurt, sesame, white fish and wheat. The children were assessed for allergies when they turned 3.
Over all, 5.6 percent of the infants who were fed the allergenic foods early on developed an allergy to at least one of the six foods, a modest improvement from the 7.1 percent in the breast-milk-only group. However, the difference was not statistically significant, meaning it could have occurred by chance.
One problem was that fewer than half of the parents in the early-introduction group actually fed their children the required six foods on a regular basis. But when researchers looked only at those children whose parents adhered to the feeding regimen, there was a statistically significant reduction in allergies. Only 2.4 percent of those children developed a food allergy, compared with 7.3 percent of those whose parents faithfully stuck to only breast milk for six months. There were also significant reductions in peanut and egg allergies alone.
One conclusion could be that feeding allergenic foods to infants early really does work to prevent allergies, providing that parents consistently follow the feeding regimen.
But researchers cautioned that there could be another explanation. One reason parents stopped feeding the foods is that they thought their children were having a possible allergic reaction to them. In that case, looking only at the children who were actually fed the food would overstate the effectiveness of the technique.
Dr. Lack said he did not think that was an explanation because the children in the early-introduction group whose parents did not adhere to the feeding protocol did not have an unusually high rate of allergies at age 3.
Dr. James R. Baker Jr., chief executive of Food Allergy Research & Education, a patient advocacy group, said that even if the benefits of early introduction were not totally clear for all the foods, there appeared to be little harm from that practice.
“I think for a very long time here we’ve vilified these foods,’’ he said at a news conference here. “There’s no reason not to do this. There’s no harm that comes from early introduction.’’
In a commentary in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Gary W.K. Wong, a pediatrician at Chinese University of Hong Kong, cautioned against unproven conclusions. He said the fact that so many parents did not stick to the regimen suggested that it was too demanding to be practical and that less-burdensome ways must be found to introduce allergenic foods early.
“In the meantime,” he said, “evidence is building that early consumption rather than delayed introduction of foods is likely to be more beneficial as a strategy for the primary prevention of food allergy.”PRELUDE: The Metro acado_gt Nov 29th, 2015 ( edited ) 385 Never 385Never
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 4.74 KB APRIL 3RD, 1989 Ugh... What day is it..? I rose from my filthy, small bed. Sometimes I wonder how I don't realize how much of a shithole my place is. I take a passing glance at the calendar. April the 3rd, 1989. Hmm, a new message on my answering machine... "Hi, this is Tim at the bakery. The cookies that you ordered should be delivered by now... A list of ingredients are included... Make sure that you read them carefully!" Click. Sounds like a misplaced call of some sort... I step outside my dingy apartment and notice a package on the floor. Odd, I haven't been expecting anything... A rooster mask? And there's two notes attached. The first one just says "RICHARD" in scrawly handwriting, and it's attached to the mask. Guess whatever weirdo that sent me this named the damn thing "Richard"... The other one is next to the mask, and it reads "The target is a briefcase. Discretion is of essence. Leave target at point F-32, inside the dumpster. Failure is not an option. We'll be watching you." I did join some strange nationalist group calling themselves "50 Blessings" a little while ago... maybe it's from them? I look at the map of Miami I have on my table, with a few newspapers and the pamphlet from these weirdos. Point F-32 is the alleyway near Brickell Metro Station. Guess I'm headed there then... I go outside, step into my DeLorean, and drive off.... I'm here. I decide to put on the mask. Maybe this is what they meant by being discreet? I walk right into the place. SHIT, I knocked someone down with the door. A Russian mobster? These FUCKS. I pick up his weapon. A baseball bat. This'll come in handy, I was a baseball star back in my high school days. I still have my old varsity jacket from those days. I step above the knocked-out mafioso and ki̧̗̞l͎̠͔̣͔̺͟ļ ̸̤h̨̯̫̺͍̘̙̼im̖̦̺̺̀ ̻̣̮͓͓̤͕͡l̰̀i͎̝k̸̲͈͈͈̰̻e͍͓͚̝͜ ̖́t̮̖h͈͉͇̩͔͘e͔ ͚̟̺̬ͅS̫̣̮̞̲̰ ͜C̺̬̻͜ ̡̟̠U̝̳̪̙̱͞ M̱̳̘ ̙͜h͉̮e̡̤̦̟̼̫ ̷̙̘į͕̠͍̥͖̳s͙͍͇̰̱̝͝. W-what...? Oh, shit. I just killed a man... My first real kill... I've gotten into several fights before, and served in the military for a few years, but never any kills outside that... Bloodlust is in the air. I strangely desire more... After all, these fucks deserve it for what they've done to Miami, and the rest of America. I sense another in the bathroom. I run in and smash the fucker's head with the bat, sending brains everywhere. I'd hate to be the janitor of this place. The body unceremoniously lands head (or rather, what's left of his head) first into the urinal. Guess I caught the poor bastard at a bad time. I move on to the next floor. A Ruskie is patrolling by the stairs, holding a golf club. Wait for it......... I run behind him and whack him with the bat. Daaaamn, I broke the guy's neck? He flops to the floor and I hope dearly that didn't alert the others.... Guess not. Uh-oh, another one's coming OHSHITOHSHITDIEDIEDIE I knock him down with a one-two punch. Here we go again... I step over the body and hit him three times with the bat. It starts with a WHACK, then with a CRUNCH, then a SPLAT. Eurgh, I sent a few wet bone shards flying. Shit, two more in the next room. I quickly duck behind the wall and wait... I rush in and whack both of them with one swing. Skulls were cracked, to say the least... A knife drops to the ground. This will do nicely. I step over to the entrance of the other room. The two Russians standing there rush me. I slice both of them up. One drops to the ground clutching his throat. The other one slumps over slowly. I stabbed him in the gut. Jeez, that's gotta hurt. I throw the knife at the last guy, holding the mentioned briefcase. Wham, blade-first. A strange feeling of dread fills the air. Did I really just do this? No matter, time to finish this. I walk down to the first floor. Oh no. THE TRAIN'S ARRIVING. Oh good, it's just two mobsters. I whack them both with the briefcase. It only incapacitates them for a bit. No surprise there. I decide to finish them off by whacking them with it. Hopefully 50B won't penalize me for getting brains on the goods. I step into my DMC-12 and drive off to the alleyway. It looked closer on the map. I drop the case off in the dumpster. Suddenly, a distant voice, right around the corner... "Who's there? I can hear you! I know you're there!" FUCK. A hobo with a bat. Gotta think fast... I knock him down with a right hook. I know what I have to do... I take the bat and kill him. Can't risk being found out... Oh god, did I just kill an innocent bystande- I remove my mask, fall to my knees, and vomit. I couldn't help it. I felt terrible. I step into the DeLo and drive off, back to home.
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APRIL 3RD, 1989 Ugh... What day is it..? I rose from my filthy, small bed. Sometimes I wonder how I don't realize how much of a shithole my place is. I take a passing glance at the calendar. April the 3rd, 1989. Hmm, a new message on my answering machine... "Hi, this is Tim at the bakery. The cookies that you ordered should be delivered by now... A list of ingredients are included... Make sure that you read them carefully!" Click. Sounds like a misplaced call of some sort... I step outside my dingy apartment and notice a package on the floor. Odd, I haven't been expecting anything... A rooster mask? And there's two notes attached. The first one just says "RICHARD" in scrawly handwriting, and it's attached to the mask. Guess whatever weirdo that sent me this named the damn thing "Richard"... The other one is next to the mask, and it reads "The target is a briefcase. Discretion is of essence. Leave target at point F-32, inside the dumpster. Failure is not an option. We'll be watching you." I did join some strange nationalist group calling themselves "50 Blessings" a little while ago... maybe it's from them? I look at the map of Miami I have on my table, with a few newspapers and the pamphlet from these weirdos. Point F-32 is the alleyway near Brickell Metro Station. Guess I'm headed there then... I go outside, step into my DeLorean, and drive off.... I'm here. I decide to put on the mask. Maybe this is what they meant by being discreet? I walk right into the place. SHIT, I knocked someone down with the door. A Russian mobster? These FUCKS. I pick up his weapon. A baseball bat. This'll come in handy, I was a baseball star back in my high school days. I still have my old varsity jacket from those days. I step above the knocked-out mafioso and ki̧̗̞l͎̠͔̣͔̺͟ļ ̸̤h̨̯̫̺͍̘̙̼im̖̦̺̺̀ ̻̣̮͓͓̤͕͡l̰̀i͎̝k̸̲͈͈͈̰̻e͍͓͚̝͜ ̖́t̮̖h͈͉͇̩͔͘e͔ ͚̟̺̬ͅS̫̣̮̞̲̰ ͜C̺̬̻͜ ̡̟̠U̝̳̪̙̱͞ M̱̳̘ ̙͜h͉̮e̡̤̦̟̼̫ ̷̙̘į͕̠͍̥͖̳s͙͍͇̰̱̝͝. W-what...? Oh, shit. I just killed a man... My first real kill... I've gotten into several fights before, and served in the military for a few years, but never any kills outside that... Bloodlust is in the air. I strangely desire more... After all, these fucks deserve it for what they've done to Miami, and the rest of America. I sense another in the bathroom. I run in and smash the fucker's head with the bat, sending brains everywhere. I'd hate to be the janitor of this place. The body unceremoniously lands head (or rather, what's left of his head) first into the urinal. Guess I caught the poor bastard at a bad time. I move on to the next floor. A Ruskie is patrolling by the stairs, holding a golf club. Wait for it......... I run behind him and whack him with the bat. Daaaamn, I broke the guy's neck? He flops to the floor and I hope dearly that didn't alert the others.... Guess not. Uh-oh, another one's coming OHSHITOHSHITDIEDIEDIE I knock him down with a one-two punch. Here we go again... I step over the body and hit him three times with the bat. It starts with a WHACK, then with a CRUNCH, then a SPLAT. Eurgh, I sent a few wet bone shards flying. Shit, two more in the next room. I quickly duck behind the wall and wait... I rush in and whack both of them with one swing. Skulls were cracked, to say the least... A knife drops to the ground. This will do nicely. I step over to the entrance of the other room. The two Russians standing there rush me. I slice both of them up. One drops to the ground clutching his throat. The other one slumps over slowly. I stabbed him in the gut. Jeez, that's gotta hurt. I throw the knife at the last guy, holding the mentioned briefcase. Wham, blade-first. A strange feeling of dread fills the air. Did I really just do this? No matter, time to finish this. I walk down to the first floor. Oh no. THE TRAIN'S ARRIVING. Oh good, it's just two mobsters. I whack them both with the briefcase. It only incapacitates them for a bit. No surprise there. I decide to finish them off by whacking them with it. Hopefully 50B won't penalize me for getting brains on the goods. I step into my DMC-12 and drive off to the alleyway. It looked closer on the map. I drop the case off in the dumpster. Suddenly, a distant voice, right around the corner... "Who's there? I can hear you! I know you're there!" FUCK. A hobo with a bat. Gotta think fast... I knock him down with a right hook. I know what I have to do... I take the bat and kill him. Can't risk being found out... Oh god, did I just kill an innocent bystande- I remove my mask, fall to my knees, and vomit. I couldn't help it. I felt terrible. I step into the DeLo and drive off, back to home.Hey folks,
As someone who’s paying a lot of attention to champion archetypes as of late, I wanted to give you a look into our thoughts and plans for the future.
What our goals are for champion thematics:
Our goal is simple – to provide a variety of compelling modern fantasy archetypes that appeal to different League of Legends players. While this is a simple goal, its execution is, as you can imagine, pretty complex. What this means is we need not only a diverse array of character types, but they need to still appeal to people who play League and have some sort of sensible cohesion.
Variety? Awesome – that means you should go make everything possible!
This is an area to be careful with – some things are not cohesive for our IP, or are simply things that almost no one likes. A candy clown that shoots rainbows isn’t a thematic match for our game because it walks a different line of serious/epic and humor/witty. What we can do, though, is have a wide berth exploring these archetypes. Our game has a pretty big potential variety, especially when you compare ends of the spectrum (Cho’Gath vs Lulu, Annie vs. Garen) and that gives us a lot of creative liberty.
This applies, though, to any creative endeavor. Think of great worlds and IP’s: I bet it’s cohesive. Whether it’s the crushing depression and heaviness of Warhammer 40K, the more modern and larger-than-life World of Warcraft, the clever humor and wit of Team Fortress 2, or the realism of Ghost Recon, these things all have unifying, cohesive themes. To create something that’s actually cool, this is important.
Your variety is lackluster and you only make beefy dudes with weapons.
While this is false, the perception is something we understand and are fixing.
This feeling arises from the proximity of releases. If you look over 12 months, Darius, Draven and Jayce aren’t a a problem – 3 of 26 yearly champions in this theme are fine, especially since their archetypes and gameplay are well-differentiated. When released in tandem, however, it can cause fatigue due to lack of short-term variety. The good news is that we’re fixing this!
The mistake I’ve been making here is look at a 6-12 month plan and not looking closely enough at the 1-3 month release schedule. Additionally, there are a lot of moving parts in regards to champions – they’re typically in development for anywhere from 3 to 6 months before they’re released. That range varies wildly because there’s a lot to a champion’s design (from gameplay to aesthetic to personality), and we’re always aiming higher. And then there are unpredictable complications like engineering hurdles and other scheduling concerns can impact this. In this case, we had to do shuffling based on some of these hurdles, and ended up with these being released closer together than we’d have liked.
This is something you’ll see really come together as we continue into this year, so we provide archetype variety in the short, mid and long-term. While I’m pretty happy with our releases this year, the timing hasn’t been great. We can solve that – your feedback has really pointed out how important this is to you all.
What about monsters and crazier creatures? You said you hate those!
To clarify, this is very untrue. In fact, we think monsters are ****ing rad! This is in line with the previous problem where not only are monsters a bit tougher to do, but need to look a little more short-term to solve some stuff like this. In fact, we have at least one really epic monstrous champion this year, and a few more on the non-human front. I’m actually really stoked about him, because it’s been awhile since we've seen a true monster. As a fan of that archetype, this should have no trouble delivering
Humans are all the same, and making humans is a bad idea.
In this case, I disagree fully. Humans have a massive range of archetypes available – Draven, Garen and Vladimir are completely different, even if they’re humans. I think looking only at species is a bit of a shallow analysis – there’s a lot more to variety than species (though species is also an axis). And a lot of data we’ve gathered shows that when done well, humans are also really compelling.
Simply, we should do both humans and creatures.
We have some smart plans to improve this and bring greater variety, especially on the species front, and have some other big plans for our world that will make this level-up big time. What you see, the gameplay, what you read, hear and experience all has to come together to make a notable and specific experience. Fans of Lulu, Zyra and Draven should be very different League players. That’s intentional! We all have strong, specific creative preferences – and many times those differ from other players’. The key to making this work is to provide variety – few players should like every champion, but all players should find champions that they are like “that one is for me!”GUY Verhofstadt, Brexit co-ordinator for the European Parliament, has caused outrage online over his response to the Catalan elections.
Catalonia went to the polls yesterday and, against all odds, elected a pro-independence majority in their parliament, winning 70 seats in the 135 seat assembly.
However, despite the election result, Verhofstadt took to Twitter to congratulate pro-union Ciudadanos for being the single largest party, before calling for a common way to "heal the Catalan society".
Congratulations to @InesArrimadas and @CiudadanosCs who became the biggest party in #Catalonia. The hardest challenge remains: finding a common way to heal the Catalan society. Generosity from everyone has to prevail now. pic.twitter.com/eie6vmcaHc — Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) December 21, 2017
As several Catalan political leaders are currently either in jail or exile under Mariano Rajoy's regime, this response caused many to react in anger and disblief. The EU previously came under fire for its mild response to the brutal crackdown under Rajoy during the Catalan independence referendum itself.
READ MORE: Catalan elections: Pro-indy parties win majority against all odds
Many were quick to condemn Verhofstadt's position online, particularly as the party he congratulated only has 37 seats, and 68 are necessary for a majority.
Former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament Tricia Marwick tweeted: "You have already ruled out helping the situation so please stop making it worse by denying the pro Independence majority. Why not demand that Rajoy frees the political prisoners and restore democracy and powers to the Catalan Parliament."
SNP MP Pete Wish
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sent to campuses.
“This conclusion is based on the fact that it intentionally interfered with our audit process, which hindered our ability in addressing certain aspects of our audit objectives,” the report reads. “Specifically, we administered two surveys to the campuses seeking their perspectives on issues such as the quality of the Office of the President’s services and programs. However, correspondence between the Office of the President and the campuses shows that the Office of the President inappropriately reviewed the campuses’ survey responses and that campuses subsequently made changes before submitting them to us.”
UC President Janet Napolitano responded to claims of budget mismanagement in a letter included in the report.
“The report falsely claims that UCOP failed to disclose ‘tens of millions in surplus funds’ and that UCOP’s’ budget practices are misleading,” Napolitano said in her letter. “In fact, UCOP’s budget and financial approaches reflect strategic, deliberate, and transparent spending and investment in UC and State priorities.”
Napolitano, in her letter, corrects the state auditor, claiming that the correct budgetary figure should be $170 million. Napolitano continues by further explaining the allocation of the funds, including a list of the use or planned use of the funding for each category.
“Of that $170 million, $83 million are restricted funds and $87 million are unrestricted funds,” the letter reads. “The $83 million in restricted funds supports a range of programs and initiatives, many of which are related to the systemwide and Presidential initiatives.”
Lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom, a UC regent, condemned UCOP and requested in a press release that the recent tuition increase come back before the regents for another vote.
“While respecting the constitutional autonomy of the University of California, I support the spirit and intent of the State Auditor’s prescriptive solutions and in particular, the recommendation for a third-party corrective action plan,” Newsom wrote. “Finally, it is outrageous and unjust to force tuition hikes on students while the U.C. hides secret funds, and I call for the tuition decision to come back before the Board of Regents for reconsideration and reversal.”
ASUCD President Josh Dalavai expressed his thoughts regarding the audit report.
“I am upset but not shocked by the findings from the audit,” Dalavai said via email. “I applaud State Auditor Elaine Howle for her efforts in exposing UCOP as a detriment to student well being instead of the perpetual help which that office should be.”
Written by: Kenton Goldsby — [email protected], Turkmenistan, Sept. 28
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
Among the leading oil and gas powers, Turkmenistan has first become a major strategic partner of China in natural fuel provision, the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources of Turkmenistan said.
"The Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline is a model of equal and effective cooperation of four countries covered by this energy-main," the statement said.
"More than 125 billion cubic meters of gas have been transported through the pipeline since its commissioning in late 2009 till August 2015," the ministry said. "This is more than 35 percent of the total volumes of natural gas purchased by China. This shows the importance of the Trans-Asian gas line in ensuring energy security of China."
Currently, Turkmengaz State Concern and China's CNPC supply the largest volumes of natural gas via the pipeline to China. CNPC develops the fields of the Bagtyyarlyk contract area on the right bank of the Amu Darya in a production sharing agreement.
It is also reported that at present, the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline system consists of three branches with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters a year.
Reportedly, six compressor stations and 10 compressor units operate along the pipeline's route.
The volume of natural gas supply significantly increased after commissioning the third branch of the pipeline in 2014.
"Moreover, it was noted that the operation of the pipeline system is stable and no emergency situation was recorded there in 2015," said the message. "All the sides timely carry out the repair work and technical maintenance on the route."
It is planned to supply gas in this direction in 2015-2016. The supply volume will comply with the contract obligations of the Chinese side.
Ashgabat has recently hosted the 13th meeting of the Coordination Committee on operation of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China pipeline. The meeting participants discussed current issues related to the transportation of natural gas and operation of the Trans-Asia pipeline system in 2015-2016.
Edited by CN
Follow Trend on Telegram. Only most interesting and important newsThe 49ers continue their losing streak off the field as well as on, with the self-proclaimed soccer moms who have been taking a hard line with the team over Levi’s Stadium retaining control of the City Council.
“It was quite an interesting election,” Mayor Lisa Gillmor said after returns showed that all three of her fellow stadium spending critics — Debi Davis, Teresa O’Neill and Kathy Watanabe — were re-elected by healthy margins.
The councilwomen have called for an audit on how much city money is being spent on police, fire and other services at the stadium.
They had been the target of what Gillmor and community activists called a “dark money” campaign by a San Francisco group seeking to install council members who would be more friendly toward the team. The 49ers did not comment on the accusations, and also declined to comment on the election results.
After an initial wave of good feelings, the 49ers kicked over a hornet’s nest last year when they sought to take over youth soccer fields adjacent to Levi’s Stadium for parking. The result was a series of packed City Council meetings with soccer kids in uniforms talking about what it would mean to lose their fields.
Interesting to note that in Tuesday’s election, Santa Clara voters also overwhelmingly approved a measure requiring that any sale or development of the soccer fields be approved by a two-thirds vote of the people.
All this comes as the 49ers are seeking to renegotiate their rent deal with the city.
Should make for an interesting season.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email [email protected]. Twitter: @matierandrossCamera traps can help illuminate the world’s most elusive animals. When a cougar, elephant or other creature triggers the device’s motion sensor, it snaps a picture.
“Most animals are hiding, you actually never get to see them and you might be led to believe there’s nothing out there,” said Roland Kays, a zoologist at North Carolina State University and author of the forthcoming book “Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature.”
Wildlife photographers have used remote-controlled cameras for more than a century, but in recent years scientists have begun using the tool with more frequency, Dr. Kays said. The images may be used to help researchers track the whereabouts of rare species or figure out what creatures inhabit a certain area.
The images below, from Dr. Kays and two other camera trap projects, offer some intimate glimpses into the secretive lives of wildlife, including lions roaming the wetlands of Namibia and coyotes dwelling in the forests of North Carolina.The site of Project Ngari [Photo: Agencies] The China Institute of High-Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the official launch of Project Ngari on Dec. 13. The project team plans to build the Ngari 1 telescope and begin scientific observation within five years. Once constructed, it will be the first observatory for primordial gravitational wave detection in the northern hemisphere. In fact, since the existence of gravitational waves was first predicted by Albert Einstein, no trace was captured in scientific research until Feb. 11, 2016, when the LIGO experimental group and U.S. National Science Foundation jointly declared that they had detected gravitational wave produced by the merging of two black holes 1.3 billion years ago. After humans first detected a trace of gravitational waves, exploration of primordial gravitational waves, produced as early as the universe came into being, became the next scientific target. Against this backdrop, the project for detection of primordial gravitational waves was finally implemented in China. Zhang Xinmin, chief scientist for the project, disclosed that its aim is to establish an unprecedentedly sensitive experiment on primordial gravitational waves, and that the experiment may also make breakthroughs in other large scientific questions such as the evolution of the universe, dark matter and dark energy. Sitting 5,000 meters above sea level in Tibet, the Ngari observatory will possess distinctive geographical, observational and infrastructural advantages, according to Guo Zhaolin, the senior consultant of the project. With the construction of the Ngari observatory, China will obtain the most accurate observation data in the study of primordial gravitational waves. However, due to China’s limited experience and technical capabilities in detecting the waves, Chinese scientists will cooperate closely with top American research universities and scientific institutes.A couple of days after former teammate Marcus Allen said he thinks the Raiders should move back to Los Angeles, Jim Plunkett said the fans are better in Oakland.
“Oakland was a very crazy place to play a football game,” the former quarterback said on an ESPN Outside the Lines panel on Monday. “The fans came out in droves and filled the stadium. Everyone’s heard about the Raider Nation and it’s really that way. It’s a small community, somewhat similar to Green Bay where everybody turned out, supported the team no matter what.”
“L.A. was a much different story,” Plunkett continued.
“It was almost kind of a fair-weather situation,” he said. “When we initially got there, we won right off the bat. We had 88, 92 thousand people. We filled that stadium at times. But when things turned kind of sour, (and) we weren’t winning that many games later on, it was very difficult to get fans into the stadium. As was mentioned, there are so many other things to do in Los Angeles.
“You almost have to produce a winner right away to entice these people.”
Plunkett’s comments came a couple of days after Allen — who lives in Los Angeles — said not only should the team move back but he’s heard whispers from NFL owners that they like some of the potential stadium locations in Southern California.
“I know people in Oakland won’t like this,” Allen told NBC at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe. “I think it’s a viable option.
“We can’t have them back at the (Los Angeles Memorial) Coliseum; the Coliseum is now USC’s home. But there’s some locations there that I know I’ve talked to a few owners (about) and I know that they’ve liked. I can’t divulge my sources, though.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the NFL is not only looking at several sites in Los Angeles for a possible stadium but might even finance a new stadium itself rather than having an owner pay for it.
Allen, who was drafted by the “Oakland” Raiders in 1982 but never played a home game in Northern California, says the time is now for another move south.
“I just think it’s ripe right now, being the second-largest market and being the entertainment capital of the world, it’s almost necessary to have a team there,” Allen said. “And I think with the corporate support and the (Raiders) brand that has already been there, that’s been established, that has a huge following, I think it’s be a no-brainer.”Jeff Bezos’s annual shareholder letters for the period between 1997 and 2012 are an invaluable educational resource for entrepreneurs and business owners. During those fifteen years, Amazon grew from a promising face in the crowd to one of the four largest players in the Internet marketplace – mostly due to consistent application of strategic principles outlined in the very first of those annual letters.
Perhaps the most consistent principle throughout these letters is the elevation of long-term strategy over immediate profit. To some, this seems impractically vague at first glance, even somewhat idealistic, but it grows from iterating two concrete operational steps:
Select the right metrics against which to judge success
Identify and execute new tactics which improve those metrics
There’s much, much more to be learned about business strategy from Amazon’s lifetime performance and Bezos’s refreshingly direct letters – one could write a book about the Kindle, itself, which you could purchase, read, and review on your Kindle – but we’ll focus on these two points for now.
Amazon vs the Cult of Shareholder Value
One of the key points of Bezos’s first letter to shareholders, written in 1997, is that the company will not allow immediate reactions from Wall Street, or short-term profits, to guide its investment decisions. Or, as he put it in 2012:
As I write this, our recent stock performance has been positive, but we constantly remind ourselves of an important point – as I frequently quote famed investor Benjamin Graham in our employee all-hands meetings – “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” We don’t celebrate a 10% increase in the stock price like we celebrate excellent customer experience. We aren’t 10% smarter when that happens and conversely aren’t 10% dumber when the stock goes the other way. We want to be weighed, and we’re always working to build a heavier company.
Much ink has been spilled over the ways a myopic focus on shareholder value as the key metric of success can destroy a business. (For an overview, see this Washington Post piece; the Post, which Bezos recently acquired, is further offered into evidence.) Bezos, intimately familiar with Wall Street and hedge fund architecture, made a very deliberate decision not to iterate those business models at Amazon. Instead of per-transaction profit or earnings per share, Bezos chose free cash flow as a key performance metric, as that gave a much more accurate read of a business’s real health and long-term viability.
“I know of a couple who rented out their house, and the family who moved in nailed their Christmas tree to the hardwood floors instead of using a tree stand,” Bezos wrote, in his 2003 letter to Amazon shareholders. “Expedient, I suppose, and admittedly these were particularly bad tenants, but no owner would be so short-sighted. Similarly, many investors are effectively short-term tenants, turning their portfolios so quickly they are really just renting the stocks that they temporarily ‘own.’”
Decisions which raise the stock price of a company in the short term can undermine its actual value in the long term, making it a poor metric for success. Instead, Amazon structured itself to capture greater cash flow by increasing its customer base.
Amateurs Study Tactics, Professionals Study Logistics
When confronted with a tactical decision, it’s a common mistake to focus on targets which yield short term benefit while inadvertently undermining your long term strategic goals. In Amazon’s case, this meant – partly – eschewing traditional means of increasing short-term profit, while aggressively pursuing refinements and innovation in areas which increased their value to the marketplace.
Many contemporary businesses regard personalized customer experience – in terms of outreach, communication, and purchase price – as preferred targets for cost cutting. Witness, for example, the declining quality of sales and support staff in many of Amazon’s contemporaries, or the seemingly illogically high price points for many common goods and services. If service can be outsourced to a call center, it typically is, while prices remain essentially fixed regardless of supply-side cost reductions.
Instead, Amazon focused on delivering innovations which enabled consumer price reductions, while positioning the company to deliver more a consistent, quality customer experience. For example:
Reviews and recommendations personalize the experience of every unique customer
Opening Amazon.com as a marketplace and platform to third parties increases selection
Logistics improvements reduce unit costs while decreasing turnaround time
No traditional company could afford to sell at Amazon’s prices, especially not while hiring a trained salesperson – one familiar with the entire purchasing history of not only the specific customer, but of all others who share their tastes – to guide each visitor through their retail inventory. Nor would a retail store offer shelf space to its competitors, for customers to compare price and quality. Amazon does exactly that, however, with incredible results.
From Bezos’s 2002 shareholder letter:
With customer experience costs largely fixed (more like a publishing model than a retailing model), our costs as a percentage of sales can shrink rapidly as we grow our business. Moreover, customer experience costs that remain variable—such as the variable portion of fulfillment costs—improve in our model as we reduce defects. Eliminating defects improves costs and leads to better customer experience.
Amazon’s leadership recognized that logistics and fulfillment costs could increase with growth, whereas customer experience costs remained relatively flat by comparison. As such, targeted logistics improvements – such as randomizing the warehouse location of goods, to increase the odds of any two items in an order being physically proximate – would yield increasing returns, and any fulfillment process defects they eliminated would deliver immense savings over time.
Whereas another company may have pocketed the difference, Amazon pursued a strategy of cutting consumer prices in response to logistics improvements.
The result? Instead of short term profit, Amazon’s strategic policy of valuing long-term advantage over short-term profit – in this case, slashing prices in response to reduced operating costs, while improving selection and customer experience – lead to remarkable growth. Their customer base and product offerings expanded into nearly all sectors of the online marketplace.
In short, Amazon chose to drive for ubiquity over profit, and was rewarded with both.Wilco's show at the Chicago Theatre on Wednesday could've easily been cause for feel-good celebration. In addition to marking the local band's debut at the famed venue, it signified the group's first hometown reserved-seat theater performance in five years and kicked off the start of a sold-out four-night stand.
But Wilco wasn't in the mood to party. This winter residency would be different, at least to start, than similar runs staged in the city in 2008 and 2014. Rowdy, crowd-favorite anthems such as "Kingpin" were saved for another day. The sextet instead devoted a majority of its two-hour set to turbulent material steeped in disconnect and anxiety. Even leader Jeff Tweedy, prone to drifting off course with goofy banter, looked uneasier than normal.
Wearing a denim jacket and sporting a few braids, the singer/guitarist made several political remarks, at one point declaring, "we're going to persist and we're going to resist." Tweedy's statement captured the on-edge tenor of the songs, whose tension and discomfort mirrored the divides in America's sociopolitical climate. For a band that not long ago appeared on its way to settling into a safe comfort zone, Wilco sounded defiant, bold and, at times, menacing.
MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR
Struggles over communication, revelations regarding doubt, concerns surrounding irreversible decisions — Wilco's narratives brimmed with restlessness and relevance. Pale stage lighting underlined the tone while jarring, off-balance rhythms indicated the turmoil at hand. The band largely eschewed belabored arrangements or delicate interplay, choosing hit-and-run approaches designed for immediate impact. Excesses got trimmed. Raw, foreboding passages and concise, experimental-leaning turns took priority.
Songs chafed, swerved and rumbled. Music from Wilco's most recent album, "Schmilco," and 2002's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" prominently figured in the mix. "Cry All Day" began innocuously yet soon emerged as a tussle between conflicting emotions, its steadily increased noisiness and pace doubling as unspoken threats. "We Aren't the World (Safety Girl)" mentioned Armageddon and buried a pop melody beneath a dragging groove. The roughed-up undertow of "Locator" built to a fever pitch indicative of the tune's surveillance-minded paranoia. Even deceivingly mild, folk-based fare such as the haunting "If I Ever Was a Child" conveyed the sensation of walking barefoot over a path strewn with sharp pebbles.
Whenever serenity or order seemed within reach, they often proved illusive. The calm, floating waves of "Via Chicago" gave way to a seiche triggered by Nels Cline's frenzied, distorted guitar outbursts. "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" straddled rural tranquility and urban cacophony, ultimately surrendering to the latter. A stripped-down, resigned "Misunderstood" faded into the black. "Heavy Metal Drummer" adopted sunny, bubblegum hooks but pined for lost innocence.
For all the sonic wizardry provided by Cline, as well as the no-frills steadiness of bassist John Stirratt, percussionist Glenn Kotche remains Wilco's sonic nucleus. His subtle adjustments — altering the angle of his wrists, changing handheld instruments mid-song, varying the force with which he hit the drums — yielded a medley of dynamics and power, swing and elegance usually associated with jazz. Kotche afforded Wilco a range that spanned beautifully fragile on "Reservations" to frighteningly aggressive on "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" and practically everything in between no matter the circumstances.
"This can't be undone," Tweedy murmured on the murderous noir tale "Bull Black Nova," shivering as he sang. He needn't have fretted. On this night, no outcome deserved to be reversed.
Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.
[email protected]
Twitter @chitribent
RELATED STORIES:
Wilco's Jeff Tweedy pens open letter after Women's March photo draws ire
Wilco to play Chicago Theatre in 2017
Wilco brings sonic violence and whispers to Millennium Park
Wilco gets quieter, but not safer on 'Schmilco'
Check out the latest movie reviews from Michael Phillips and the Chicago Tribune.There is something very strange about the national political reaction to the protests in Ferguson, Mo., (and nationally) over Michael Brown’s shooting. The protesters are angry, and they’re not aimlessly angry. They have a specific set of policy grievances about policing and criminal justice that are shared by a large slice of the electorate, particularly the Democratic primary electorate.
Yet no national Democratic politician, nobody of the sort who is likely to mount a presidential run anytime soon, has risen to give voice to the anger we’re seeing in Ferguson. Nobody seems eager to make police abuses or racial injustice a key issue in a national campaign, even though an awful lot of Democratic voters could be activated on those issues.
Why not? African-Americans are a hugely important Democratic Party constituency. Gallup data suggests 22 percent of self-identified Democrats are black. Exit polls showed black voters made up one-third of North Carolina primary voters in 2008 and a majority in South Carolina. If there were an incident of similar salience to a group that made up such a large share of the Republican base, you can bet a number of Republican politicians would be lining up to associate themselves with the protesters.
There are answers to the “why not?” question, but I don’t think they make the quiet on this issue sustainable.There has long been a debate in libertarian circles between thin libertarianism and thick libertarianism. Thin libertarianism is a philosophical position on what constitutes the acceptable use of force, saying that initiating the use of force is never acceptable and using force to defend against a force initiator is always acceptable. Thick libertarianism says that this is insufficient and views conservative or reactionary views on social issues as threats to liberty. This is not news to anyone who is well acquainted with libertarian discourse, but there is a particular manifestation of thick libertarianism which is both quickly growing and extremely troubling.
There are people who enter into libertarianism not because they seek to advance peaceful societal organization, voluntary provision of necessary services, or the protection of rights against infringement, although they may do this to the extent that it benefits them personally. Nor do they enter because they seek to form homogeneous communities, dissociate from people they dislike, or put their prejudices into practice on a larger scale, although they may do this to some extent with those who share their particular behaviors. These people come into libertarian circles simply because they seek a safe space for the practice of their vices, whatever they may be. Leftist elements within libertarianism provide them with this safe space because doing so is an easier way to grow the movement than authentic proselytization, then attack those who criticize this practice as bigots, reactionaries, and generally ignorant people.
While the toleration of vices is required by the non-aggression principle as long as said vices do not lead to assaults upon people or destruction of their property, there is a difference between tolerance and encouragement. A successful libertarian civilization must have a well-functioning market economy and be capable of both stopping common criminality and repelling external invasions. Those who abuse drugs, engage in sexual promiscuity, gamble excessively, and so forth may not be directly harming anyone other than themselves, but these behaviors practiced frequently on a large scale not only fail to make a successful libertarian civilization, but endanger its continued existence and flourishing by weakening its members and attracting people who will fake being a libertarian for their own selfish ends while undermining the community.
Read the entire article at ZerothPosition.com(ESPN) -- Stallone says he's getting old and is offically retiring Hollywood... But many people think he's still got it! At 70 years old, Sylvester Stallone looks buffer than ever! Ever since the announcement of his retirement, fans from around the world have been trying to discover his secret: Is it steroids, supplements, or just good ol' calisthenics?
After months of poking around the story and keeping our ears open, we can reveal the exclusive scoop detailing what he was staying silent about, or trying to, at least! Read on to find out.
During an exclusive interview with ESPN, Sylvester Stallone was pressed to explain his ridiculously beefed up body at 70 years old. We asked Stallone, "Now that your retired from show biz and have no liabilities, tell us how you managed to keep your body in perfect shape for so long throughout your career." Stallone's response shocked us all: "We are in a new era guys, back then it was different.. there was no help & if there was, it was not safe to use. But these days the whole industry including me are getting major help with supplements like DSN Pre-Workout & DSN Post-Workout. I'm not naming any fellow Actors' of course but just saying it's today's safe alternative & recommended by all celebrity trainers."
Ever since Stallone's interview, ESPN has received thousands of emails from our readers asking about DSN Pre-Workout and DSN Post-Workout. In an attempt to answer our reader's questions and to discover just how much DSN Pre-Workout with DSN Post-Workout has benefited Sylvester Stallone, we decided to test it ourselves in an exclusive ESPN case study!
This wouldn't be the first muscle building system we put to the test. Over the years ESPN has evaluated numerous celebrity workout programs and diets but all too frequent the results are just shy of being painfully disappointing or require dramatic changes in both a person's lifestyle and diet to see any real changes. As we began researching DSN Pre-Workout and DSN Post-Workout we were shocked to discover countless success stories reported by real individuals from all over the world. It gets even better, there was even a clinical case study performed on both DSN Pre-Workout and DSN Post-Workout that proved the following:
DSN Pre-Workout has been clinically proven to:
Boost testosterone production by over 65% Boost Energy Levels and Endurance by 52% Reduce Muscle repair time by over 40%
DSN Post-Workout has been clinically proven to:
Increase the speed of Metabolism by 70% Tone Muscle Appearance without jeopardizing Muscle Mass Surpress the Appetite, while providing nutrion to muscles Provides a Thermogenic like effect that burns body fat
PUTTING THE METHOD TO THE TEST
For the ESPN Test, a free sample bottle of DSN Pre-Workout DSN Post-Workout were delivered in a few days and only charged us for shipping (see bottom for links). DSN Pre-Workout is one of the most concentrated and purest products on the market. It was our shared opinion that this would give me the most accurate results for my test. Below you can see my results and testimonial.
My Results - I put on 16lbs of muscle in just one month using the DSN Pre-Workout and DSN Post-Workout combo - Ryan (ESPN)
WEEK ONE
It's Day 7 of taking DSN Pre-Workout and DSN Post-Workout. I feel physically stronger, I actually did 65 push-ups today before bed and I still feel as if I could do another 100. I actually feel like I've lost weight instead of muscle so far, but it's hard to say. I'll wait a bit more before I come to my conclusion.
WEEK two
It's Day 14 and I think I see some muscle growth, but it's hard to tell. After looking in the mirror I was positive I had lost weight, but when I checked the scale I had actually gained 5lbs. Interesting enough, I'm starting to see abs for the first time in years. I remember being told abs are made in the kitchen, but I haven't exactly been eating healthy.
WEEK THREE
Its Day 21 and I've gained over 10 pounds, it might be more, it's hard to tell because I'm losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, it's CRAZY! I also feel a lot stronger than I ever have. In ten days my experiment will be over I can't wait for the final results..
WEEK FOUR
It's day 31 and my experiment is over. After 31 days of using DSN Pre-Workout and DSN Post-Workout, I've gained 16 pounds of muscle and it shows. Even girls are starting to notice! My confidence has skyrocketed! A few days ago I bumped into a friend I hadn't seen in years; he asked me if I've been working out. He was shocked when I told him I wasn't! I've definitely put on muscle mass while burning fat at the same time. I feel and look like a new person!
CONCLUSION
We had our doubts in the beginning, but this case study has surely turned us into believers.. This stuff actually works! The question is how long has Stallone been keeping this a secret? To conduct your own study order your free sample bottle, brought to you by the suppliers for our readers. Follow the links we have provided and know that you are getting a quality product that works; no strings attached!
Ryan Hasman
Update: LIMITED RISK FREE TRIALS AVAILABLE: As of Wednesday, November 2, 2016 Risk Free Trials Still Remain!A pair of experimental atomic clocks based on ytterbium atoms at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has set a new record for stability. The clocks act like 21st-century pendulums or metronomes that could swing back and forth with perfect timing for a period comparable to the age of the universe.
NIST physicists report in the Aug. 22 issue of Science Express that the ytterbium clocks' tick is more stable than any other atomic clock.* Stability can be thought of as how precisely the duration of each tick matches every other tick. The ytterbium clock ticks are stable to within less than two parts in 1 quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeros), roughly 10 times better than the previous best published results for other atomic clocks.
This dramatic breakthrough has the potential for significant impacts not only on timekeeping, but also on a broad range of sensors measuring quantities that have tiny effects on the ticking rate of atomic clocks, including gravity, magnetic fields, and temperature. And it is a major step in the evolution of next-generation atomic clocks under development worldwide, including at NIST and at JILA, the joint research institute operated by NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder.
"The stability of the ytterbium lattice clocks opens the door to a number of exciting practical applications of high-performance timekeeping," NIST physicist and co-author Andrew Ludlow says.
Each of NIST's ytterbium clocks relies on about 10,000 rare-earth atoms cooled to 10 microkelvin (10 millionths of a degree above absolute zero) and trapped in an optical lattice—a series of pancake-shaped wells made of laser light. Another laser that "ticks" 518 trillion times per second provokes a transition between two energy levels in the atoms. The large number of atoms is key to the clocks' high stability.
The ticks of any atomic clock must be averaged for some period to provide the best results. One key benefit of the very high stability of the ytterbium clocks is that precise results can be achieved very quickly. For example, the current U.S. civilian time standard, the NIST-F1 cesium fountain clock, must be averaged for about 400,000 seconds (about five days) to achieve its best performance. The new ytterbium clocks achieve that same result in about one second of averaging time.
Given this high level of stability the ytterbium clocks can make measurements extremely rapidly—in real time in many cases—which could be important in rapidly changing application settings, such as the factory floor and the natural environment.
A key advance enabling the milestone performance of the ytterbium clocks was the recent construction of a second version of the clock to measure and improve the performance of the original, developed since 2003. Along the way, NIST scientists have made several improvements to both clocks, including the development of an ultra-low-noise laser used to excite the atoms, and the discovery of a method to cancel disruptive effects caused by collisions between atoms.
The ytterbium clocks' stability record is different from the performance levels previously publicized for NIST-F1, which is traceable to the international system of units, and NIST experimental optical clocks based on single ions, such as the aluminum quantum logic clock or the mercury ion clock.** NIST-F1 and the ion clocks were evaluated based on systematic uncertainty, another important metric for standard atomic clocks. NIST-F1's performance is described in terms of accuracy, which refers to how closely the clock realizes the cesium atom's known frequency, or natural vibration rate. Accuracy is crucial for time measurements that must be traced to a primary standard.
NIST scientists plan to measure the accuracy of the ytterbium clocks in the near future, and the accuracy of other high performance optical atomic clocks is under study at NIST and JILA. The research is funded in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
*N. Hinkley, J.A. Sherman, N.B. Phillips, M. Schioppo, N.D. Lemke, K. Beloy, M. Pizzocaro, C.W. Oates, A.D. Ludlow. An atomic clock with 10-18 instability. Science Express, Aug. 22, 2013.
**See 2010 NIST press release, "NIST's Second 'Quantum Logic Clock' Based on Aluminum Ion is Now World's Most Precise Clock."TO GO WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY FRANCOIS FEUILLEUX: 'LA CATHEDRALE DE CHARTRES VA RETROUVER SON ECLAT ET SON DECOR ARCHITECTURAL DU XIIIe SIECLE'- A man prays, on August 26, 2009, in one of the restored chapels of the Cathedral of Chartres, 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Paris. The cathedral which was built from 1194 to 1225, is one of the finest exemple of France Gothic church architecture. Renovation works started a few months ago to restore the interior of the monument financed by the French government, the French region Centre and the European Union as local associations are also raising funds for the restoration of the stained glass. AFP PHOTO ALAIN JOCARD (Photo credit should read ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images)
Even though some politicians claim America is a "Christian nation," the share of the population that identifies as Christian has declined significantly in recent years.
New statistics from the Pew Research Center show that between 2007 and 2014, the number of Americans who identify as Christian dropped by nearly eight percentage points, from 78.4 percent to 70.6 percent.
At the same time, Pew’s 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study found that the number of people who are religiously unaffiliated -- either atheist, agnostic or simply “nothing in particular” -- has grown by more than six percentage points, from 16.1 percent in 2007 to 22.8 percent in 2014.
There are now approximately 56 million religiously unaffiliated adults living in America, according to the study, which is a follow-up to a similar study conducted in 2007. The "nones," as they are known, are more numerous than either Catholics or mainline Protestants, and second only to evangelical Protestants.
Millennials have played a significant role in the extraordinary growth of unaffiliated Americans, a phenomenon called “generational replacement.”
“As the Millennial generation enters adulthood, its members display much lower levels of religious affiliation, including less connection with Christian churches, than older generations,” Pew reports.
There's also little indication that these unaffiliated young people will become more religious as they get older.
“It’s not that they start unaffiliated and become religious,” Alan Cooperman, the director of religion research at the Pew Research Center, told The New York Times. “In fact, it’s the opposite.”
Older Americans are also exiting from organized religion. Nearly 25 percent of Generation Xers surveyed in Pew's study identified as unaffiliated in 2014, a four-point increase from 2007.
It’s also becoming increasingly common for Americans to leave the faith in which they were raised. If all Protestants are considered a single religious group, 34 percent of American adults identify with a faith different from their childhood faith -- up from just 28 percent in 2007. Today, former Christians represent about 19.2 percent of U.S. adults overall, the study finds.
Interestingly, Hindus, Muslims and Jews are the three religious groups with the largest retention rates. About 80 percent of Hindus, 77 percent of Muslims and 75 percent of Jews still identify with their childhood faiths.
The number of Americans who belong to non-Christian faiths has slid up from 4.7 percent in 2007 to 5.9 percent in 2014, with significant growth among
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■ Area Overview
The “Remnant Wasteland” is an area where enemies lurking ruined buildings and bounty players aim to kill other players from the shadows. It is the first area players will head down to after obtaining an ArFA-sys.
Although it is the game’s opening area, the Remnant Wasteland is not to be taken lightly. Make sure your equipment, skills, and gadgets are properly prepared, and work together with your party members to move forward.
—A bounty player! Don’t let him get the better of you!
—If you are only focused on the front lines, you may get sniped from a distance.
—A powerful Named Enemy. Whether or not you challenge it is up to you.
■ Weapons Overview
Handgun
Recommended range: middle distance.
A gun with standard power, range, rapid-fire speed, and so on. It is the first gun the protagonist equips, and the first weapon he / she becomes familiar with.
—Mid-Fire
—Optics
Sniper Rifle
Recommended range: long distance.
The sniper rifle has extremely long range and high power. Since it can only load a few bullets at a time and cannot fire at rapid speed, it is difficult to demonstrate its true value unless distanced from the enemy.
—Mid-Fire
—Optics
Sword
Recommended range: short distance.
The sword has a short range, meaning you can only hit the enemy by approaching them. However, by fighting while making skillful use of the UFG, the sword’s close range blow can deal tremendous damage.Greetings Citizens
First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We returned to offices last week to resume the process of bringing Star Citizen and Squadron 42 to life, with stories of holiday cheer and more than a few personal adventures. With every New Year comes the inevitable resolutions, and this year the Community Team aims to continue improving the content we release to you each and every week.
What this means right off the bat is an evolution of the “Community Manager’s Log and Schedule” that went up at the beginning of the week into a front-page post, “This Week in Star Citizen.” As always, it’ll be a chance to give you some of the highlights to look out for in the week ahead, but we’ll also use it to highlight specific content you may have missed out on in the past, as well as bring a much deserved spotlight to the work our Citizens do to enhance the overall Star Citizen experience.
In addition to the change in our Monday posts, we’ll be pushing the continuing evolution in our video content as we move through 2017, including popular hits like Around the Verse, Bugsmashers and Loremaker’s Guide to the Galaxy, as well as debuting some new additions to those stalwarts. We’ll discuss one of those additions farther down below, but be certain you come back here in the coming weeks to find out more.
Each Tuesday, the Lore Team releases another installment in one of their many continuing series. These lore posts have been a tradition since Star Citizen was first announced, and if you haven’t checked out some of the older series, like Cassandra’s Tears, you can find all the previous entries here.
On Wednesdays, we alternate between the death and destruction of bugs everywhere with episodes of our edutainment series, Bugsmashers! and The Loremaker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where members of the CIG Lore Team explore the design, story and science of one of Star Citizen’s planetary systems. For this week, it’s Associate Writer Adam Wieser with a story of exploration and expansion with the Ark Starmap as his guide.
If you haven’t seen the Ark Starmap in action, you can check it out for yourself here.
Around the Verse, our flagship weekly program comes to us every Thursday, and this week we return from hiatus with more behind-the-scenes goodness. If you’re looking for all the latest development news on Star Citizen, you don’t want to miss out on Around the Verse, every week on our YouTube channel.
EDIT 2017.01.10 – This week’s ATV will be a “special edition” featurette.
We will return to your regularly scheduled Around the Verses next week.
That brings us to Friday. The end of the traditional work week, and if you’re anything like me, you like to kick back and relax a bit playing some video games, and that’s just what we’re gonna do, only we’re gonna Star Citizen with YOU. Join Community Managers Jared Huckaby and Tyler Witkin on Happy Hour Friday as they play Star Citizen with the fans LIVE on Twitch with a special guest streamer from the community, and get your chance to win a free Star Citizen game package and ship! But you have to be watching to claim your prize. Tune in at 12pm PST, 8pm UTC at twitch.tv/starcitizen and don’t miss out!
EDIT 2017.01.11 – The time for Happy Hour Friday has been changed to 12pm PST, 8pm UTC.
With that, I hope we’ll see you on Friday!
Jared Huckaby
“Disco Lando”
Community ManagerWASHINGTON -- A top Obama administration official on Thursday questioned the scope of the state and federal investigations into alleged mortgage abuses and "illegal" foreclosures perpetrated by the nation's largest mortgage companies, marking the first time a senior White House official publicly broke ranks with the administration over the issue and raising fresh questions about the wisdom of the government's rush to settle with the firms.
Elizabeth Warren, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, told a congressional panel that government agencies may not have sufficiently investigated claims that borrowers' homes were illegally seized by banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial.
"I think there's a real question about whether there's been adequate investigation," said Warren, the temporary custodian of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, a new federal agency charged with protecting borrowers from abusive lenders. Her statement came in response to questions from Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor who asked Warren why her agency needed to oversee such abuses when the U.S. Department of Justice is already probing such matters.
Warren, a passionate consumer advocate, has long questioned whether the state and federal probes have been comprehensive, according to people familiar with her views. The investigations were launched last year amid news reports that the lenders were at times improperly repossessing borrowers' homes and breaking state laws and federal rules in the process.
But she had not publicly shared that view, which is widelyspread among individuals with direct knowledge of the probes, until the Thursday appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
She's the first senior administration official to publicly question the thoroughness of the investigations led by the Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Treasury Department, Federal Trade Commission, all 50 state attorneys general and more than 30 state bank regulators.
The nation's five largest mortgage firms have saved more than $20 billion since the housing crisis began in 2007 by taking shortcuts in processing troubled borrowers' home loans, according to a confidential presentation prepared for state attorneys general by Warren's agency. That estimate suggests large banks have reaped tremendous benefits from under-serving distressed homeowners, a complaint frequent enough among borrowers that federal regulators have acknowledged the industry has fundamental shortcomings, including a penchant to abuse borrowers, and is in need of reform.
Warren's claim lends further credence to the view that the various government agencies are being reckless by negotiating an agreement with the five banks -- the largest mortgage servicers in the country -- that would settle accusations they abused homeowners and broke various laws in exchange for penalties and mortgage relief for struggling borrowers that could reach up to $30 billion.
State and federal prosecutors are pressing to complete a proposed settlement with the five companies even though they've only initiated a limited investigation that hasn't examined the full extent of the alleged wrongdoing, The Huffington Post reported Monday, citing interviews with more than two dozen officials and others familiar with the state and federal probes.
Representatives of Justice, HUD and Treasury all declined to comment.
Some officials, as well as others with experience sitting across the negotiating table with major banks, say the government is making a critical mistake that jeopardizes the public interest by seeking a deal before amassing a credible threat of successful prosecution by way of a comprehensive probe: In essence, they say, the government would give servicers a blanket pass for widespread alleged acts of fraud and extract too little in return, all while operating from a relative position of weakness.
Though those working towards a quick settlement say the eventual agreement with the banks will only cover mortgage servicing deficiencies that harmed borrowers and foreclosure abuses like so-called "robo-signing," many fear that the fines will be extracted in return for a broad release from mortgage-related liability.
The banks are willing to pay higher fines in return for a comprehensive release from such claims, people involved in the talks said.
"It’s got to be done right. We’re not going to do it and be subject to double and triple jeopardy," said Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, about a proposed settlement agreement with state attorneys general during a conference call Thursday with analysts. "We’d rather litigate it."
Eric Schneiderman, New York's attorney general, is probing whether mortgages bundled into securities were done in accordance with state laws, people familiar with the probe said. He's also pursuing a variety of investigations to determine whether Wall Street firms cheated investors when selling them these securities, sources said.
Schneiderman doesn't want a proposed settlement agreement to interfere with his ongoing investigations, people familiar with his views said.
People involved in the talks said they're aware of his probes and would not construct a settlement agreement that would constrain his investigations.
The government's desire to settle rather than conduct comprehensive probes is due to a variety of factors, people with direct knowledge of the ongoing talks said.
For one, the state legal officers are hindered by federal laws that restrict their ability to investigate national banks. Of the five companies being targeted, all but Ally are national banks.
These institutions are overseen by federal bank regulators, particularly the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The two bank watchdogs issued their own reports earlier this year, castigating the companies' faulty mortgage practices, but have said they can't share specifics for individual firms, supervisory reports or any underlying documentation that formed the basis of their findings, citing federal rules prohibiting their disclosure.
The federal bank regulators' review examined just 2,800 loan files, or 0.1 percent of the nearly 2.9 million homes that received a foreclosure filing last year, according to calculations made using data from the OCC and RealtyTrac, a data provider. Only about 200 loans each were examined at banking behemoths JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi and Wells, Julie L. Williams, the No. 2 official at the OCC and the agency's chief counsel, told a House panel last week. Those four firms collectively service $5.7 trillion in home loans, or more than half of all outstanding residential mortgages, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.
Some regulators have criticized their review. With near-exclusive oversight authority, the Fed and OCC have access to the most sensitive bank documents, but they said they were prevented from sharing them.
Meanwhile, the state officials, who are charged with protecting their constituents, could push for expanded investigative powers, but they would likely face a hard slog in court.
A 2009 U.S. Supreme Court case, Cuomo v. Clearing House, restricts state attorneys general from subpoenaing documents from national banks until they've filed lawsuits.
The process of requesting documents prior to such action, known as pre-trial discovery, typically yields valuable information that can strengthen a prosecutor's case.
But thanks to that Supreme Court's decision and another from 2007 -- Watters v. Wachovia, which determined that state officials lack the authority to regulate subsidiaries of national banks, based on a policy known as preemption -- the state prosecutors as a group are reluctant to pick a fight in court with the banks.
It's unclear whether they'd succeed. Also, their request for documentation would probably draw opposition from the OCC, people involved in the talks said. The OCC has intervened in several lawsuits launched by state officials in recent years on behalf of the banks it oversees.
Other factors include the state of the housing market and the states' financial resources.
A thorough probe would likely take more than a year. Meanwhile, the housing market remains depressed as foreclosures continue to pile up, borrowers are falling behind at elevated rates and the so-called "shadow inventory" of distressed homes being kept off the market grows.
If the state and federal officials wish to use the settlement talks as a vehicle to prevent foreclosures by using levies on banks to reduce monthly mortgage payments for troubled borrowers, time is slipping, people familiar with the matter said. Home prices are sliding and won't begin to improve until next year, forecasts show.
In addition, state officials are hobbled by their budgets.
States had a cumulative budget deficit of nearly $84 billion in the 2011 fiscal year, according to an April report by the National Conference of State Legislatures. That gap is expected to swell to $86 billion for the 2012 fiscal year.
Kamala Harris, California's attorney general, recently announced that her office would be forced to curtail its housing-related probes due to budget cutbacks.
Despite those headwinds, government officials are poised to extract as much as $30 billion from the five mortgage companies for their alleged abuses.
Warren's admission, which came in response to questions asking why her agency initially advised state and federal officials on mortgage issues, was overshadowed by an otherwise partisan and combative congressional hearing during which Republicans attacked the consumer advocate and longtime Harvard Law professor for trying to protect consumers from unscrupulous lenders.
Separately, Democrats and Republicans on the committee agreed to request documents from major mortgage firms regarding improper foreclosures of borrowers in the military. The requests weren't subpoenas, though.
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Obviously had taken quite a lot of pictures but was quick to put on the mega-frown as his choice of expression, which I promptly copied. Obviously had taken quite a lot of pictures but was quick to put on the mega-frown as his choice of expression, which I promptly copied. http://imgur.com/xFC37
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Was quick to "give the tongue" which I gave back (but away from his tongue as I didn't want to make the pic too sexy). As a side note, Bryce was easily one of the friendliest pros I met this weekend; he seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me (and some other fans I saw him interacting with). Was quick to "give the tongue" which I gave back (but away from his tongue as I didn't want to make the pic too sexy). As a side note, Bryce was easily one of the friendliest pros I met this weekend; he seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me (and some other fans I saw him interacting with). http://imgur.com/xuoux
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I'm not entirely sure MarineKing knew what I meant when I told him to make any face he wanted. Maybe he thought I meant "don't smile" which is what he did. But still, I kind of just want to pinch his cheeks. I'm not entirely sure MarineKing knew what I meant when I told him to make any face he wanted. Maybe he thought I meant "don't smile" which is what he did. But still, I kind of just want to pinch his cheeks. http://imgur.com/fX0fB
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It's no surprise that Sheth didn't hesitate in making up a face -- he was one of the quickest to bust something out with the "I think I'm choking on my own tongue" look. He was also one of the few people who actually wanted to see how their silly picture turned out. I showed him, and he nodded. I think he was pleased. It's no surprise that Sheth didn't hesitate in making up a face -- he was one of the quickest to bust something out with the "I think I'm choking on my own tongue" look. He was also one of the few people who actually wanted to see how their silly picture turned out. I showed him, and he nodded. I think he was pleased. http://imgur.com/vVWTN
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Like Sheth, asking Thorzain to make a face of his choice yielded quick results. I'm imagining that this face is the same one he made when he was younger after getting hit with a Nerf arrow. That said, I couldn't match his awesome "teeth face", like, at all. Like Sheth, asking Thorzain to make a face of his choice yielded quick results. I'm imagining that this face is the same one he made when he was younger after getting hit with a Nerf arrow. That said, I couldn't match his awesome "teeth face", like, at all. http://imgur.com/sAKIn
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Anna's technically not a pro player, but I had a feeling she'd have a pretty good face at the ready. She did. On the other hand, I look like I ate too much Mexican food. Sorry, Anna! Anna's technically not a pro player, but I had a feeling she'd have a pretty good face at the ready. She did. On the other hand, I look like I ate too much Mexican food. Sorry, Anna! http://imgur.com/2AG8D
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This one was one of the more memorable interactions I had. "Make a face -- anything you want. See if you can show up iNcontroL" were the instructions I gave Tyler. After a long, awkward silence where he was visibly trying to think of something to do with his face he just looked and me and said "no, I don't want to do that." I'll give him the benefizzy of the dizzy and say he was probably just worn out and had never experienced such a brilliant picture request, but this one was a clear win for Geoff. This one was one of the more memorable interactions I had. "Make a face -- anything you want. See if you can show up iNcontroL" were the instructions I gave Tyler. After a long, awkward silence where he was visibly trying to think of something to do with his face he just looked and me and said "no, I don't want to do that." I'll give him the benefizzy of the dizzy and say he was probably just worn out and had never experienced such a brilliant picture request, but this one was a clear win for Geoff. http://imgur.com/Ds5RC
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Ben was quick to make a face of his choosing when asked. I feel like this is how he would look while watching Paranormal Activity, am I right?
Ben was quick to make a face of his choosing when asked. I feel like this is how he would look while watching Paranormal Activity, am I right? http://imgur.com/Jwdxe
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I caught them both at the same time and both were super friendly and I had a short conversation with both. I told Jake I thought he should rage more on his stream and talked strategy with Nick. Nick's random face was typical Axslav "calm and cool", and Jake's was pretty understated. Jake said he was doing something out of Top Gun or some other movie -- sorry I can't remember, Jake! I caught them both at the same time and both were super friendly and I had a short conversation with both. I told Jake I thought he should rage more on his stream and talked strategy with Nick. Nick's random face was typical Axslav "calm and cool", and Jake's was pretty understated. Jake said he was doing something out of Top Gun or some other movie -- sorry I can't remember, Jake! http://imgur.com/xgdz6
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The picture with Bling was the only one not taken during the actual event, but Bling was still quick to make this rocker face and was still outgoing even though I think I caught him at a less than ideal time. The picture with Bling was the only one not taken during the actual event, but Bling was still quick to make this rocker face and was still outgoing even though I think I caught him at a less than ideal time. http://imgur.com/ectS9
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Stephano was pretty elusive for most of the event as every time he left the player area he was swarmed with fans, but I managed to grab a quick picture with him. Our photographer missed the first shot so this second shot didn't have the same level of expression, but we still get to see Stephano executing a sick new "sidesmile" strategy... Stephano was pretty elusive for most of the event as every time he left the player area he was swarmed with fans, but I managed to grab a quick picture with him. Our photographer missed the first shot so this second shot didn't have the same level of expression, but we still get to see Stephano executing a sick new "sidesmile" strategy... http://imgur.com/Ub2GU
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A funny face from the typically pretty reserved Select. I believe it was his manager standing next to him who wanted to see the picture. When I showed it to him, he seemed impressed and asked me to send a copy to their team email. I guess that means this is a rare look for Select! A funny face from the typically pretty reserved Select. I believe it was his manager standing next to him who wanted to see the picture. When I showed it to him, he seemed impressed and asked me to send a copy to their team email. I guess that means this is a rare look for Select! http://imgur.com/RJYJs
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After I took this picture with Grubby, he wanted to see it and assured me that if it didn't turn out good I'd be hearing from his lawyer. It turned out pretty darn good though; his expression reminds me of a ninja turtle from back in the day! After I took this picture with Grubby, he wanted to see it and assured me that if it didn't turn out good I'd be hearing from his lawyer. It turned out pretty darn good though; his expression reminds me of a ninja turtle from back in the day! http://imgur.com/8wlpB
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I think Chris was confused because he threw up his standard Huk hand gesture, but them "BOOM!" -- big side-tongue action. I responded with some side-tongue of my own. Or wait, maybe his hand gesture was an "I'm gonna cut off your tongue with my hand-scissors" thing? I think Chris was confused because he threw up his standard Huk hand gesture, but them "BOOM!" -- big side-tongue action. I responded with some side-tongue of my own. Or wait, maybe his hand gesture was an "I'm gonna cut off your tongue with my hand-scissors" thing? http://imgur.com/2xaJJ
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Like Nony, Gretorp hesitated when I told him to "make any face he wanted". "It's your picture man, you tell me!" "I want whatever comes to your mind, dude." "Well I've been picking people up..." "Seriously? Ok let's do this..." And then boom, I was in the air. I thought he was going to dump me over on my head, and was getting a lot of strange looks during this one. Andre definitely wins for creativity here, as he made ME feel awkward. Nice job, dude. Like Nony, Gretorp hesitated when I told him to "make any face he wanted". "It's your picture man, you tell me!" "I want whatever comes to your mind, dude." "Well I've been picking people up..." "Seriously? Ok let's do this..." And then boom, I was in the air. I thought he was going to dump me over on my head, and was getting a lot of strange looks during this one. Andre definitely wins for creativity here, as he made ME feel awkward. Nice job, dude. http://imgur.com/mDQTS
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No description needed. No description needed. http://imgur.com/s2sRd
I decided to go to MLG mostly because I thought it'd be fun to see/meet all of these Starcraft personalities in person. I've spent hundreds of hours watching them stream or play in tournaments, so it made sense to take a couple days away to go say hello.When I arrived, one of the things I noticed was that everyone was going crazy getting things autographed: t-shirts, mousepads, parts of cases, SC2 boxes, etc. First I thought about picking up a mouse pad to get everyone to sign, then I realized that having a bunch of random signatures is actually pretty static and doesn't give me as tangible a memory of the event and all the personalities I met.On the other hand, getting pictures with these guys, in my mind, is a better way of preserving the memories. The problem with pictures, though, is that these pros take picture after picture with hundreds of people over the course of each event and some are visibly tired of busting out generic smiles. And I understand; I hate when people tell me to smile before taking a picture. If I wasn't already smiling, then the picture isn't really capturing the moment.My solution, then, was to ask each of the pros I took a picture with to "make any face they wanted, funny or otherwise." My thought is that this would give them an opportunity to break up the monotony of "SMILE!" pictures while also injecting some of their own personality into the picture, which I thought would also make a much better memory than an autograph or a "standard" picture.Also, I tried not to wait in line to get any of these pictures, because I figured after having a whole bunch of pictures in a row, it might be a bit wearing for them to do something creative. So I basically just grabbed a pro whenever I saw them standing alone or whenever it seemed like they weren't rushing off to something. This seemed like a good time to get them to do a fresh pose, but in their defense it's very possible they just didn't want to be bothered right then (and a few of these guys did kind of give the vibe that they didn't want to be bothered -- sorry!).So without further ado, here's what I (and the pros) came up with (brief description with each picture for fun):IncontrolMachineMKPShethThorzainAnna Prosser (uncontrollable)NonyDemuslimAxslav and LzgamerBlingStephanoSelectGrubbyHukGretorpIdraNote that unless you are MLG, please send me a PM before using any part of these pictures somewhere else; I may be able to send you a higher-resolution or un-cropped version as well.*Edit: Added imgur links for international folks or folks having trouble viewing the originals.*Edit 2: Wow! Thanks everyone for the positive feedback. I was sure I'd have to put on my flame suit for quite a few comments but the response has been overwhelmingly positive! A few thoughts: First, I like the idea of doing this again at other events (I'm pretty sure someone else will now), but it won't ever be the same in my opinion. Many of these pros will get used to being asked to "make a face" and suddenly these pics could become like the new "Smile!". So I'd definitely challenge anyone to innovate in terms of memory-making at future events. Second, for the Idra picture, I gave him the same instructions as everyone else. I don't think he consciously thought the face he made would be funny, it's just who he is.Paris: Wealth accumulated by the richest one percent will exceed that of the other 99 percent in 2016, the Oxfam charity said on Monday, ahead of the annual meeting of the world`s most powerful at Davos, Switzerland.
"The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast," Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said.
The richest one percent`s share of global wealth increased from 44 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2014, the British charity said in a report, adding that it will be more that 50 percent in 2016.
The average wealth per adult in this group is $2.7 million (2.3 million euros), Oxfam said.
Of the remaining 52 percent, almost all -- 46 percent -- is owned by the rest of the richest fifth of the world`s population, leaving the other 80 percent to share just 5.5 percent with an average wealth of $3,851 (3,330 euros) per adult, the report says.
Byanyima, who is to co-chair at the Davos World Economic Forum taking place Wednesday through Friday, urged leaders to take on "vested interests that stand in the way of a fairer and more prosperous world."
Oxfam called upon states to tackle tax evasion, improve public services, tax capital rather than labour, and introduce living minimum wages, among other measures, in a bid to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth.
The 45th World Economic Forum that runs from Wednesday to Saturday will draw a record number of participants this year with more than 300 heads of state and government attending.
Rising inequality will be competing with other global crises including terrorist threats in Europe, the worst post-Cold War stand-off between Russia and the West and renewed fears of financial turmoil.
France`s Francois Hollande, Germany`s Angela Merkel and China`s Li Keqiang will be among world leaders seeking to chart a path away from fundamentalism towards solidarity.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US Secretary of State John Kerry are also expected.
Beyond geopolitical crises, hot-button issues like the Ebola epidemic, the challenges posed by plunging oil prices and the future of technology will also be addressed at the posh Swiss ski resort.What the Hell Happened to Me? is the second studio album by Adam Sandler.[1] It contains the official recording of "The Chanukah Song" (recorded live at UCSB), which has become a holiday staple and one of the best-known works by Sandler. The song hit #80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #25 on the US Modern Rock charts. The album spent 57 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and peaked at #18.[2] The album also has been certified double-platinum, and as of 2011, has sold over 2,124,000 copies in the US. That makes it the best-selling comedy album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.[3] The "Excited Southerner" skits on the album are early versions of what would end up being his character 'Bobby Boucher' in 1998's The Waterboy.
Sandler went on a 21-day US tour to support the album,[4] complete with a live backing band. The live performance from June 29, 1996 was aired as an hour long special on HBO.[5]
Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic linkImage copyright AP
US President Barack Obama says he has advised his successor Donald Trump not to attempt to run the White House "the way you would manage a family business".
In an interview with ABC News, Mr Obama said that Mr Trump must "respect" US institutions.
"After you have been sworn in," he said, "you are now in charge of the largest organisation on Earth".
He warned that there was a difference between governing and campaigning.
"There are world capitals and financial markets and people all around the world who take really seriously what he [Mr Trump] says," Mr Obama said.
Read more
Mr Obama also talked about the US intelligence agency's report into alleged cyber-attacks by Russia and the attempt to influence the 2016 US presidential campaign.
He said that he had "underestimated" the impact of such attacks.
"I think that I underestimated the degree to which, in this new information age, it is possible for misinformation... and so forth to have an impact on our open societies."
He said that a conversation had taken place with Mr Trump in which he had discussed the importance of having faith in the intelligence community.
"There are going to be times where the only way you can make a good decision is if you have confidence that the process is working," he said.
Last week Mr Trump said he was a "big fan" of intelligence agencies, after months of casting doubt on the Russian link to the security breach. But he later raised questions over how the Democratic Party had responded to the cyber-attacks.
"How and why are they so sure about hacking if they never even requested an examination of the computer servers? What is going on?" Mr Trump asked in a tweet.
Mr Trump will be inaugurated on 20 January.JOHAN RUIJSINK, the authoritative Dutchman who led the European side undefeated through seven Mosconi Cups, makes a return to the competition after a two year absence as he takes the reins of Team USA in an attempt to revive America’s flagging fortunes in the transatlantic team event.
Ruijsink last captained the European side at Blackpool in 2014 when they ran out comfortable 11-5 winners over the USA. He promptly announced his retirement from an event that he had come to over-shadow after turning Europe from regular losers into the dominant Mosconi Cup force.
Following three barren years with Mark Wilson at the helm, it was felt that the Dutchman’s fantastic experience and his progressive methods in producing winners were ideally suited to get America competitive again.
Commented Ruijsink, “The reason to take on the job is quite obvious; I am an authentic lover of the game and especially of the Mosconi Cup. In 25 years of coaching, the Mosconi has proven to be by far the most exciting event in the world of pool.
“When Europe was in trouble I thought that was unnecessary – one win in ten years – as I now feel it is not correct that the US is in trouble. Both sides have great players and the MC should bring this greatness out of every player competing.
“As a coach in pool, there is no higher goal then working in the “home of pool”, the USA. Although the number of players is not as big as when I started, there is still a huge number of players and lovers of the game in the US.
“My entire coaching career has been founded on seeing the American players compete at the World Championship in Bergheim, Germany in 1990. There I saw Earl, Varner, Davenport, Mizerak, Mataya, Lebron and a young Johnny Archer and they made me love the game even more. It also ignited the wish to understand why and how they played at this incredible level, so from that time onwards I have been chasing for my players to perfect their performance.
“Now, 25 years later, it hurts to see these great players having trouble to show their high standard in the MC and it is a great honour to be given the opportunity to help them in doing just that.
“I sincerely hope that people will see me neither as an intruder (from the US side) nor a traitor (from the European side) and I hope the pool scene will understand that as a coach, there is no bigger challenge today and as a pool lover it is my greatest wish to see a competitive US squad at the Mosconi Cup. The players, audience and the pool world deserve just that,” he concluded.
Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn said, “It was a big decision to make in appointing a non-American to guide Team USA. However, in this day and age sport and success is an international business and there are plenty of precedents. For example, the USA men’s and ladies’ soccer teams both achieved great accomplishments managed by a German and a Swede respectively.
“Johan is passionate about pool and about creating winning mindsets for players. He leaves no stone unturned and I know he will be giving it everything he’s got between now and the evening of the 7th December when the outcome of the 24th annual Mosconi Cup is determined.
“Make no mistake, this is one tough job. The Americans have won just once in the past 11 years and there is plenty of work to be done, but I believe that if anyone can get the USA competitive again, Johan can.”
2017 MOSCONI CUP is sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supply the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue of the event and Ultimate Team Gear provide all Mosconi Cup apparel.If you’re stuck in traffic along the I-5 near San Diego International Airport, and your attention wanders from the brake lights in front of you, your eyes might land on a low-slung leviathan of a building, a third of a mile long, resembling the upper deck of a buried cruise ship peeking above ground. Keep your gaze there long enough, and you will notice that the geometric black-and-white pattern on the northeast side of the structure keeps changing.
Marty Graham is a freelance reporter based in San Diego. ——— Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
What you’re seeing is simply a gargantuan rental car center. But as of September, it’s also a massive e-ink display—and even a sort of time-travel portal. The project by artist Nik Hafermaas deploys thousands of e-paper panels to turn the side of the garage into a sort of outsize mutant Kindle screen, cycling through 15 different designs. Its mesmerizing show offers a flashback to a World War I-era camouflage technique known as Dazzle. That’s where your trip back in time begins.
During World War I, artists protected massive warships by hand-painting them with eye-popping monochrome shapes that fooled enemies aboard German U-boat submarines. The distracting patterns made it hard for periscope-peering targeters to be sure which part of the ship they were looking at, or where it was heading.
Hafermaas is not the first artist to be dazzled by Dazzle. Pablo Picasso is said to have claimed that Dazzle artists drew inspirations from his Cubist paintings. More recently, William Gibson’s science fiction novel Zero History drew inspiration from the disruptive patterns. But Hafermaas, who chairs the graphic design department at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, has actually brought Dazzle back to hypnotic life, in the largest display of the camouflage style in many decades. For the San Diego airport project, Hafermaas and his team at the Ueberall International studio commissioned 2,100 e-ink panels—each of which, solar-powered and wirelessly connected, becomes a pixel in a shifting array.
Hafer
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and the university's Work Plan.
A way forward
After much back and forth, Lawson told trustees it was time to decide how to move forward.
“I feel we are at an impasse,” he said.
At that stage, trustees became more pointed in their remarks.
“Let’s be honest with ourselves,” said Trustee Robert Woody, who rated Mangum poorly. “This is not working. We need to make a decision and move on.”
Trustee David Lawrence talked about the importance of trust between Mangum and trustees and how it was evidently missing.
A university, he said, needs leadership in the state and outside the state. A leader needs to build relationships with the Legislature, the governor, and “people you don’t like.”
“I don’t think you can succeed without building trust,” Lawrence advised.
Contract status
The contentious discussion about Mangum's evaluation occurred against a backdrop of her lame-duck contract status. Since the BOT took no action on her contract in June, Trustee Thomas Dortch said trustees couldn’t let the uncertainty continue.
“This board has to come to grips with what role we play here,” said Dortch, who unsuccessfully sought a vote to renew Mangum's contract. “My concern is, what’s next? There are a lot of decisions this board must decide for the benefit of Florida A&M University.”
Later, Trustee Harold Mills proposed a one-year contract extension beyond 2017 under which Mangum would work with an executive coach. The motion was seconded by Trustee Jaylen Smith, the acting SGA President who gave Mangum the most favorable evaluation.
Smith later said the contract extension was one way to address the long-term question of Mangum’s tenure.
Buy Photo FAMU Board of Trustee Chairman Kelvin Lawson speaks during a meeting on campus Wednesday morning. (Photo: Alvin McBean/Democrat)
“We definitely don’t want to have FAMU in limbo with this situation but we have created a space for just that,” he said. “I urge my fellow trustees to consider the students, the true stakeholders.”
Lawson said such a move made no sense.
“We are about to take a vote on an extension with a president who refused to negotiate with us,” Lawson said before the 7-5 vote to defeat the proposal.
Lawson was referring to the June meeting. At the time, he wanted Mangum to give trustees a 45-day extension to decide on her contract, saying it would give new trustees time to familiarize themselves with last year’s evaluation and to give trustees time to suggest amendments to her current contract.
End game
Later Trustee Carter proposed then withdrew a plan to begin deciding how trustees want to find Mangum's successor. Since selecting a president could take a year, Carter said, trustees couldn’t afford to wait until Mangum’s contract expires in April.
Finally, with the BOT members seemingly pulled in different directions, Dortch offered a consensus way forward. Lawson would select a task force that would meet with Mangum to work out a plan. It passed unanimously.
“I think there were a lot of concerns about our future but the trustees were not able to rally around a more immediate direction for the president,” Lawson said following the meeting.
Contract senior writer Byron Dobson at [email protected] or on Twitter @byrondobson.
Here is a breakdown on the 7 to 5 vote against granting Mangum a one-year extension on her contract:
For:
David Lawrence
Harold Mills
Craig Reed
Nicole Washington
Jaylen Smith
Against:
Bettye Grable
Matthew Carter II
Thomas Dortch
Kelvin Lawson
Kimberly Moore
Robert Woody
Belvin Perry Jr.
Trustee Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Gary McCoy was absent.
Related coverage:
Read or Share this story: http://on.tdo.com/2bWesrcTwo weeks ago, we ran an image based on an original by Coelasquid, that had been updated and improved by denizens of 4chan/co, showing a variety of superheroes posing in the manner of Wonder Woman on the David Finch cover to Justice League #1 from DC Comics. It became the most popular post of last week. And this week.
We launched a competition encouraging people to pose for real, although we accepted drawn versions as well.
The winner is Noah O’Toole as Wonder Guy. And yes, that is his real name.
With an admirable runner up from Schedel;
And some other valuable entrants from Jason Quest, Zlatan Maric, Mad_Man_Moon (front and back) and I decided to throw in a Rorschach of my own…
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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None foundOn THURSDAY, MARCH 22ND the NOH8 Campaign will set up our mobile studio in ESKENAZI HALL at the HERRON SCHOOL OF ART & DESIGN in INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA!
The photo shoot on THURSDAY at the HERRON SCHOOL is scheduled to begin at 5:00PM and end at 8:00PM. The NOH8 Campaign would like to thank INDY PRIDE in helping to sponsor and coordinate our first photo shoot in INDIANAPOLIS! Parking is available in the Sports Complex Garage just west of Herron. Guests should park in the visitor side of the garage. Parking in the surface lot next to Herron School of Art and Design requires a valid IUPUI parking permit at all times.
You do not need to make reservations; it's first come, first served - and we move quickly! When you arrive, you will receive a numbered model release to fill out, followed by receiving your NOH8 tattoo. We will call numbers throughout the day, and your corresponding release number will signal your time to line up to have your photo taken. The costs of posing for an official NOH8 portrait break down as follows:
SOLO PORTRAITS.......... $40.00 COUPLE & GROUP PORTRAITS........... $25.00 per person The NOH8 Campaign accepts cash, most major credit cards, and checks made out to 'NOH8Campaign'. Fees cover services & processing for one retouched digital print only (made available through www.NOH8Campaign.com) and do not include physical prints. The lines moves quickly, so don't let the RSVP's intimidate you! We always do our best to make sure that everyone in line by 8:00PM has a chance to pose for their photo - and up to this point, we haven't ever had to turn anyone away! Anyone that would like to join the NOH8 Campaign is asked to wear a plain white shirt to match the look of the signature NOH8 photos. Celebrity Photographer & NOH8 Co-Founder Adam Bouska will be working around the clock to photograph 5-10 frames for each person that comes through. The final selection he chooses will be retouched and made available to you in about 8 weeks through the website:
www.NOH8Campaign.com
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?
ARRIVE BETWEEN 5:00PM AND 8:00PM @
HERRON SCHOOL OF ART & DESIGN ESKENAZI HALL 735 WEST NEW YORK STREET
INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46202
* COME CAMERA READY *
* WEAR WHITE *
* POSE & MAKE A STATEMENT! *
Once you arrive, the NOH8 Campaign will apply the NOH8 temporary tattoo to your face, and we will also supply you with the silver duct tape for the photo. INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? E-mail [email protected] with your contact information and make sure to note which shoot you'd like to volunteer for!
Funds raised by the NOH8 Campaign will be used to continue promoting and raising awareness for marriage equality and anti-discrimination through NOH8’s interactive media campaign. This includes bringing the campaign to other cities around the country, as well as compiling the images for a large-scale media campaign. Under consideration is the expansion of our campaign to other media, including television and radio broadcast, billboards, and magazines. Contributions are also used to cover the daily operations and maintenance necessary to run this rapidly growing campaign.
The NOH8 Campaign is an approved 501(c)(3), donations will be tax-deductible up to the amount allowable by law.OTTAWA (The News Desk) — A new law passed by the Conservative government just days before the beginning of the federal election will soon encourage new Canadians to wear boot-cut jeans at citizenship ceremonies.
The law strongly suggests that the jeans clearly fit on the outside of boots or boot-like footwear, though it contains no provisions for the precise dimensions of the leg openings.
“This is not about politics; this is about style,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking with reporters.
“There is a certain lower-body silhouette that Canadians have traditionally embraced: the un-tapered, slightly flared shape of the boot-cut jean pant leg.”
Harper went on to state that while some cultures are comfortable wearing their jeans on the inside of their footwear, with pant legs that contour more closely to the calf and ankle, such fits were not “compatible with Canadian culture.”
“Let me be perfectly clear: whether it’s flared or slim-fit, jeans that do not fall straight from the knee and cover at least half of your footwear do not reflect Canadian values.”
Minister for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney said that the new law stopped short of prescribing what type of footwear must be worn at citizenship ceremonies, as footwear comfort and choice is highly personal and an inalienable human right.
“But if people are going to come to this country, they should be sensitive to the things that make us Canadian, like the boot-cut jean, for which we are known throughout the world,” Kenney added.
“That means people taking the public oath of citizenship should do so wearing boot-cut jeans.” ♦
Via Pahz
If you liked this, like our Facebook page!How Japan Prepares to Recognize Bitcoin as Method of Payment on April 1
In February, Bitcoin.com reported that the first Japanese bill containing digital currencies, recognizing Bitcoin as a method of payment, was expected to enter into force sometime in April. Last week, the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) officially announced that the exact date for this bill to become law is April 1.
Also read: Countdown: Bitcoin Will Be a Legal Method of Payment in Japan in Two Months
Bitcoin Officially a Method of Payment
The bill recognizes Bitcoin as a method of payment but not currency. It has “asset-like values”, explains the largest bitcoin exchange by volume, Bitflyer. They are “usable as payment to indefinite parties for the cost of purchase or rent of items or receipt of services and which can be transferred by means of electronic data processing systems”, the exchange describes, adding that:
The new law defines Bitcoin and other virtual currency as a form of payment method, not a legally-recognized currency. Bitcoin will continue to be treated as an asset unless there are future revisions or directives to Japanese tax law.
Burden on Exchanges and their Customers
Along with making Bitcoin an officially recognized method of payment, the bill also imposes a number of requirements on bitcoin exchanges. They will be required to register with the Prime Minister and must meet a number of requirements.
For example, they must have a minimum capital of 10 million yen as well as a sufficient IT system for theft and loss prevention. They must also establish several systems and processes, such as employee training, internal rules, governance, and guidance for outsourcing.
The bill that will go into effect on April 1 also revises ‘the Act on Preventing of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds’. Bitcoin.com recently reported on how this affects bitcoin exchanges as well as their customers. To comply with the rules set forth in the bill, exchanges are introducing stricter know your customer (KYC) procedures.
Accounting Uncertainties
Nikkei Asian Review reported on Wednesday that the bill “poses an accounting dilemma” for Japan’s early Bitcoin adopters. The current Japanese accounting standards do not address digital currencies so there is no guidance on how to report them properly for tax purposes.
Therefore, many people and companies simply leave their digital currency holdings off their books. Those who report them often mark their bitcoin holdings as “inventory” on their balance sheets. Issuers usually report them as a “liability”. However, the lack of standards means, “there is a risk that companies that hold virtual currency could turn out to have distorted valuations or that huge losses surface suddenly”, said Chikako Suzuki, a partner at Pricewaterhousecoopers Aarata. Nikkei Asian Review wrote:
The Accounting Standards Board of Japan decided Tuesday to begin consideration, expected to take six months, of a framework for treatment of virtual currency.
What do you think of the new Japanese bill to recognize Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock
Why not keep track of the price with one of Bitcoin.com’s widget services.The ramblings of Elaine Tipping, or TriaElf9 (or Tria) ^_^ Queer non-binary webcomic creator(she or they is fine)
Ongoing projects: Pathways: Chronicles of Tuvana /Peter Pan / Tales of a Gaijin / Artist for @ododongames / Support my comics on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/TriaElf9
Completed Projects: Princess Retribution / Bellanaris: A Dragon Age Fancomic / Artist for: Licensed Heroes / Dubious Company
Living in Aichi prefecture, Japan
Available for freelance work, check the commission link below for contact information
Requests: Permanently closed
Commissions: Open, but limited (there is a wait list, check on the page here: triaelf9.tumblr.com/commissions ) This blog will have my art and comics, and lots of fandom things (currently a lot of Dragon Age and Sailor Moon, and more recently Critical Role) but mostly whatever strikes my fancy. Game OCs are all characters from my various comics.
My ask box is always open, so feel free to write in with comments, questions, etc ^_^ If I didn't answer, Tumblr probably ate it, so feel free to write in again ^_^CARLISLE - An Upper Allen Township woman is looking at up to 12 years in state prison for sex acts with a 12-year-old boy.
Following a plea agreement, Paden A. Tennant, 23, was sentenced Tuesday by Cumberland County Judge Thomas Placey to 4 to 12 years in state prison followed by 2 years of probation on one count of rape of a child.
Tennant, police say, engaged in sex acts with the boy over a three-year period starting when she was 19 and he was 12.
Records state the rape charge came about because the victim was under the age of 13 when the acts started.
Investigators say they learned of the sexual abuse in July 2015 with the last act occurring the month prior.
Tennant's attorney, Richard Maffett Jr., told the court she is remorseful and has been attending sex-offender counseling.
She is to be a lifelong Megan's Law registrant.Chamberlain's return to the UK after Munich Neville Chamberlain speaks to the crowd upon arrival at Heston Aerodrome, 30 September 1938. Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Peace for our time" was a declaration made by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Neville Chamberlain in his 30 September 1938 speech concerning the Munich Agreement and the Anglo-German Declaration.[1] The phrase echoed Benjamin Disraeli, who, upon returning from the Congress of Berlin in 1878, stated, "I have returned from Germany with peace for our time". It is primarily remembered for its ironic value: less than a year after the agreement, continued pressure for return of the Polish corridor by Hitler, and subsequently the invasion of Poland was followed by declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.
It is often misquoted as "peace in our time", which had appeared long before in the Book of Common Prayer as "Give peace in our time, O Lord", probably based on the 7th-century hymn "Da pacem Domine! in diebus nostris, Alleluja".[2] It is unknown how deliberate Chamberlain's use of such a similar term was.
Speeches [ edit ]
Chamberlain's aeroplane landed at the Heston Aerodrome on 30 September 1938, and he spoke to the crowds there:
The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you: "... We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again."[3]
Later that day he stood outside 10 Downing Street and again read from the document and concluded:
My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.[3]
Chamberlain's return was not universally well-received. 15,000 people protested against the Munich agreement the same day in Trafalgar Square, three times more than welcomed him at 10 Downing Street. Due to Chamberlain's ongoing manipulation of the BBC, this news was largely suppressed at the time.[4] Labour spokesman Hugh Dalton publicly suggested that the piece of paper which Chamberlain was waving was "torn from the pages of Mein Kampf." [5] Disbelieving Chamberlain, Isaac Asimov published in July 1939 "Trends", which mentions a World War in 1940; he later wrote "I was too conservative".[6]
Cultural references [ edit ]
Peace In Our Time is the title of a 1947 stage play by Noël Coward. Set in an alternative 1940, the Battle of Britain has been lost, the Germans have supremacy in the air and the United Kingdom is under Nazi occupation. Inspired to write this play in 1946 after seeing the effects of the occupation of France, the patriotic Coward wrote: "I began to suspect the physical effect of four years' intermittent bombing is far less damaging to the intrinsic character of a nation than the spiritual effect of four years of enemy occupation".[citation needed]
"Peace in Our Time" is a 1984 satirical song by Elvis Costello which references Chamberlain. It is featured on the album Goodbye Cruel World.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy alluded to the speech in his 1963 American University commencement address in which he sought "not merely peace in our time, but peace in all time."[7]
See also [ edit ]Ok as I said in last post the improvements to small sizes should be less visible, still as you can see in the side image they are real....Its all about Elegance (yesterday I could not remember the blasted word,sorry Gamaral), elegance is accomplished in the details, we are still very far away from a truly elegant icon set but we are getting closer :).As you can see its really small details that make the difference, but then again it is in those small details that may reside the differentiation of what we do and what every one else is doing...There is one problem though, this is a lot of work, and by alot I want to say something like 2-8 hours each day for the past month or so and I'm still in the middle of it... Have I mentioned that there is about 1200 icons still to do?Had that to all of the other KDE works, and I have a problem....I need help :)I'm completely aware that learning to do icons, specially, doing good icons is a trade that takes some time to master, and if I want some help I must be willing to spend some time teaching new people on how to do it....So with that in mind I would like to invite you (well not you, just the "you" that are eligible to enter the Google Code-in 2010 :) ) to accept the initial challenge I propose that is to do or update 3, just 3 icons in one week of work, I will mentor you, the only thing i request is that you have some basic skills with a vector drawing tool such as inkscape karbon or illustrator... if you successfully finish this task i will create new ones with increasing difficulty...So have fun!You can find out the open tasks at http://www.google-melange.com/gci/program/list_tasks/google/gci2010 and the dot story at the dot, :), any doubts about how this works ask Lydia, she has more details hereMass Network to Offer Bitcoin-Based Solution to Online Advertising
A recent press release reveals that a group of cryptography experts, advertisers and industry executives have formed what they call “The Mass Network.” This project aims to provide a blockchain-based solution to the problems of online advertising, such as pop-ups and exploitative practices.
Also read: ‘Bitcoin Browser’ Brave Raises $4.5M, Readies for 1.0 Launch
Mass Network Aims to End the Advertising Industry’s Exploitative Practices
Created by a “Bitcoin Super Team,” the Mass Network focuses on restoring the balance of power between the advertising industry and users. Data tracking and invasive advertisements have become a way of life while surfing the Internet, and the organization wants to put an end to those practices.
The Mass Network team is composed of leading innovators from businesses such as Colu, Mycelium, Evernote, BitFury Capital, Deutsche Bank and IBM. According to the press release, two more large Bitcoin firms are in talks about collaborating with the project.
During the launch, Mass Network developers say they will create a method of exchange. Colu will provide an asset protocol, while Mycelium provides a wallet interface. Users of the Mass Network will be paid in Mass Coin for browsing sites using the network and for watching advertisements.
Dmitry “Rassah” Murashchik of Mycelium states that Mass Coin will live on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and provide the same “transparency, fluidity, and security of Bitcoin without the dramatic price volatility.”
The Mass platform is a similar project to AdBlock Plus or the Brave Platform, as evidenced by the goals listed on its website:
Mass is software for consumers, webmasters, advertisers, and data management platforms. The founding goal is to create a convenient marketplace for all. This platform incorporates a frictionless, secure, and verifiable payment system based on the blockchain. Mass makes every internet user an interested party in these relations and improves consumer attitudes towards ads and publishers. This will make advertising much more efficient to the benefit of all parties involved.
Mass looks to bring monetization to Internet browsing, with the goal of creating a better bond between consumers, brands and publishers, says Rassah.
The team believes its blockchain-based platform will be an efficient solution to data harvesting and exploits, which pop up nearly every day. The organization says the creation of Mass is part of the trend “towards true democratization of the internet.”
Platforms like AdBlock Plus and others have paved the way for a better online user experience, but the Mass Network claims it will provide a more sustainable model than its predecessors. Ad-blocking software, a native currency, and user compensation will replace irrelevant ads and invasive data harvesting, developers say.
Mass believes its service will differ from both AdBlock Plus and Brave’s recent ad-blocking model by adhering to the principle of “everybody makes fair money and no data abuse.”
‘The Blockchain Is Bitcoin’
The Mass Network believes using the Bitcoin blockchain is the only logical decision for the platform as they prepare to launch the project. The prospectus explains its choice compared to other blockchains:
Strictly speaking, there are no other fully functioning blockchains apart from Bitcoin; therefore, the Blockchain is Bitcoin. The only alternative to Bitcoin worth mentioning is Ethereum, and it is many orders of magnitude less secure yet, so it is mentioned here only anecdotally. ‘Smart contracts’ – the idea Ethereum boasts adding to the blockchain world – are not “legally binding contracts” in any part of the world, and will probably not be before long.
The Mass Network has also unveiled its ICO prospectus, where people can participate in funding the project. The initial offering will allow the purchase of Mass Coin, a once-issued virtual currency that uses the blockchain as transport.
What do you think about the Mass Network? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of the Mass Network.
Do you like to discuss, debate or talk about Bitcoin? If so you should check out our forum for a wide range of conversations about Bitcoin, blockchain and decentralized technologies.Our friend and fellow troll lover Alf Seegert is set to release his second board game through Z-Man Games. Trollhalla will be released this October and will be available for $40.
You and your hideous troll-friends have decided that it’s time for a career change. You are tired of guarding bridges and shaking down weary travelers all for the sake of a few clinking coins! Tolls are down, bandits are up, and besides, living under your bridge is damp and uncomfortable-—and breathing all that crumbling bridge mortar is taking a toll on your lungs…
It’s time to venture forth and find some fresh sea air! In Trollhalla, you join forces with your fellow trolls to sail the seas in search of islands filled with pillage and plunder. Crunchy livestock, nervous monks, panicked princesses, piles of gold, and casks of grog await you! But watch out for Billy Goats–if you’re not careful they will knock parts of your precious stolen cargo out of your boat!
With so many goodies lying about on these islands, it feels like you’ve died and gone to troll heaven, or perhaps someplace even better — Trollhalla!
Object
Players take turns placing trolls on the board. Trolls emerge from below each ship’s deck ready to plunder and scout the seas of Trollhalla! Trolls placed on ships claim plunder from nearby islands when a ship sails. Trolls placed in the sea will scout for destinations and determine where these ships sail, and also award players cards that perform special actions. The player who uses his trolls to fill his private boat with the most valuable collection of plunder wins the game!
Trollhalla takes place in the same game world as Bridge Troll and also features the same artist, Ryan Laukat which is a great thing! Trollhalla is based on Alf’s 3rd place Hippodice winner, TEMBO! We’ll have more on Trollhalla when the release date gets closer. You can also watch for updates on Board Game Geek and Board Game News.
[tags]board games, troll, trollhalla, bridge troll[/tags]The Department of Energy will spend $452 million—with a match from industry—over the next five years to guide two small modular reactor designs through the nuclear regulatory process by 2022. But cheap natural gas could freeze even small nuclear plants out of the energy market well beyond that date.
DOE accepted bids through Monday for companies to participate in the Small Modular Reactor program. A number of reactor manufacturers submitted bids, including NuScale Power and a collaboration that includes Westinghouse and General Dynamic.
"This would allow SMR technology to overcome the hurdle of NRC certification – the 'gold standard' of the international nuclear industry, and would help in the proper development of the NRC’s regulatory framework to deal with SMRs," according to Paul Genoa, Senior Director of Policy Development at the Nuclear Energy Institute.
Genoa's comments are recorded in a summary released today of a briefing given to Senate staff earlier this month on prospects for small modular reactors, which have been championed by the Obama Administration.
DOE defines reactors as SMRs if they generate less than 300 megawatts of power, sometimes as little as 25 MW, compared to conventional reactors which may produce more than 1,000 MW. Small modular reactors can be constructed in factories and installed underground, which improves containment and security but may hinder emergency access.
The same summary records doubt that SMRs can compete in a market increasingly dominated by cheap natural gas. Nuclear Consultant Philip Moor told Senate staff that SMRs can compete if natural gas costs $7 to $8 per million BTU—gas currently costs only $2 per MBTU—or if carbon taxes are implemented, a scenario political experts deem unlikely.
"Like Mr. Moor, Mr. Genoa also sees the economic feasibility of SMRs as the final challenge. With inexpensive natural gas prices and no carbon tax, the economics don’t work in the favor of SMRs," according to the summary.
The SMRs most likely to succeed are designs that use the same fuels and water cooling systems as the large reactors in operation in the U.S. today, according to Gail Marcus, an independent consultant in nuclear technology and policy and a former deputy director of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, simply because the NRC is accustomed to regulating those reactors.
"Those SMR designs that use light water cooling have a major advantage in licensing and development [and] those new designs based on existing larger reactor designs, like Westinghouse’s scaled‐down 200 MW version of the AP‐1000 reactor, would have particular advantage."
This is bad news for some innovative reactor designs such as thorium reactors that rely on different, some say safer, fuels and cooling systems.
Senate staff also heard criticism of the Administration's hopes for SMRs from Edwin Lyman, Senior Scientist in the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists:Fatima Bhutto, scion of the political dynasty, talks about her first novel, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, and 'the ghosts of history'
The author Fatima Bhutto has had a lifetime of being asked about her surname. She comes from the "cursed" political dynasty in Pakistan: her grandfather, the former president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed in 1979, three years before Fatima was born; her father, the radical politician Murtaza Bhutto, was shot dead by police in 1996; and her aunt, the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was killed in a bombing in 2007.
Not surprisingly, Fatima has no desire to enter the political arena. "No," she says, "I always wanted to be a writer. I was very lucky to have a father who was a feminist and as a child I was always told I could do what I wanted to do and I loved to write. I'm doing my dream job! There's no way I'd surrender it."
At 31, Bhutto has just published her first novel. The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is set over the course of one morning in a small town in Pakistan's tribal regions, close to the border with Afghanistan. It follows the story of three brothers who are forced to make difficult choices against a backdrop of continuous war. But the heart of the novel, for Bhutto, lies in the female characters.
"In my mind, it was this story of three brothers and then these women took over, just like Pakistani women do," she laughs. "There is such a singular view of Pakistani women and it's such a shallow and very unfair view. There's an impression of how differently we do things, how downtrodden we are. Millions of women suffer but they [also] struggle, they resist and fight. It's a harsh country, an unfair country, but it also produces women with extraordinary spirit."
In fact, it produces women such as Bhutto herself, who lost her father when she was 14. She was convinced that her aunt, who had fallen out with Murtaza and was prime minister at the time, was responsible. Bhutto wrote about Pakistani state-sanctioned violence in her memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword, which was published in 2010 and became a bestseller in her home country.
When I ask how she feels about her aunt's legacy now, she politely declines to expand. "The nice thing about doing fiction is that I don't feel I have to answer all these heavy political questions."
Could Benazir have done more to empower ordinary women when she was in power? "The only safety that women have in this country is with each other," Bhutto replies. "They've never had it from power."
At one point in her novel, Bhutto writes of a character feeling trapped by "the ghosts of history". Does she feel the same? "I don't think it's just me," she says. "This is a very young country – only 67 years old. With any country negotiating the future against a very turbulent past, you can't escape your heritage. Those ghosts of history are everywhere."“About Ray”
Tumblr is having an absolute shit fit over this movie. Why? Because the actor portraying the trans male lead is a cis woman.
You know what? I don’t give a shit. It isn’t perfect. I’ll fucking taking it though. It doesn’t end with his death, he isn’t cornered into submission about his identity at all what so ever (he’s a strong character), and most of all: he’s a fucking trans guy.
I have only known one trans male character. Adam Torres.
You know what happened to him? Well, he’s fucking dead. I suppose it isn’t a coincidence that he was also played by a cis woman, Jordan Todosey. Despite this discrepancy, he was my favorite character. This character introduced me to the possibility of, you know, being trans. Even though the actor was a cis woman, I still related tremendously. It was almost like the actor’s actual gender did not effect her ability to act and do the role some justice.
I can almost appreciate the fact that Adam died only because it was meant to send a message: this kind of fatality (texting & driving) can happen to anyone. No one is immune. But as far as I know, this was their first and only trans character… so it was kind of a cheap shot. Maybe they were just too tired of Adam being happy.
I have never, ever seen a movie or show with a trans male character that was important or visible. I would love it if trans actors got to play trans characters in the future. I have no problem with that, I hope that this is the stepping stone to make that a reality.
Boycotting the movie sends the entirely wrong message. It doesn’t say “I have serious criticisms of this film; these problems must be worked on for future productions.” it says, “Don’t ever make a movie about a trans male character or your ship will sink at box office.”
It says, “Your movie failed because it had a trans character.”
Boycotting the movie doesn’t tell anyone in Hollywood anything about the movie, or what could have been done to make it better. It’s just, “People are not willing to invest money to see trans male characters, let’s not do this again.”
And about the whole “[x] is a [x] born in [x] body”/’[x] trapped in [x] body” being transphobic: most trans people relate to that narrative. Those phrases have nuances for each trans person that finds themselves fitting into that narrative. It is obviously transphobic for cis people to describe us this way because it shows a disregard for our safety (since it will undoubtedly trigger dysphoria), but if the main character who’s a fucking trans person is written so they relate to that there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not necessarily inaccurate.
If you boycott this movie, this is where it ends. We will be stuck with “Boys Don’t Cry” and “About Ray” for the rest of our lives. I don’t know about you, but I will see this movie no matter what any asshole on tumblr says because I can see myself on the big screen for the very first time in my life. I will drag my family to see it, I will take my friends for a second screening, I will buy a copy for myself to watch whenever I feel like I’d be better off dead instead of being trans. This is a fucking nitpick, that is something we haven’t earned the right to do yet.Sam Raimi’s final Spider-Man film was kind of a mess, all told—but the movie it aimed to be would have been great.
Here’s a true story I think about sometimes. A couple of years ago, I was interviewing Sam Raimi for the launch of Ash vs. Evil Dead. We started talking about Spider-Man, and I told him I liked Spider-Man 3. He looked down at the ground, sighed a heavy sigh, and said, "Yeah. You and my mother."
Well, Sam, it’s still true. I do like Spider-Man 3—and 10 years after its original release, I'm still happy to mount a defense of it. As hot takes go, this one is closer to lukewarm. I’m not making the case that Spider-Man 3 is the best superhero movie of all time, or even that it’s the best Spider-Man movie. It's pretty clearly the worst of the ones Raimi made. But I still think Spider-Man 3 has been unfairly overlooked, and criticized for all the wrong reasons. (Honestly, that dancing-in-the-street sequence is a blast.) Much of the movie is good, and the parts that are bad are still interesting. At the very least, I’ll take a compelling mess like Spider-Man 3 over a by-the-numbers retread like the Amazing Spider-Man franchise any day.
EDITOR’S PICK
Spider-Man 3 begins with an opening credits montage summarizing the plots of the first two movies. It’s a needless gesture—the first two Spider-Man movies grossed an eye-popping $1.5 billion worldwide, so it’s safe to assume most moviegoers were familiar with them—but it does highlight how much Raimi insisted on treating all three of his Spider-Man movies as a single continuous story. This is more unusual that it might sound. The Marvel Cinematic Universe prides itself on being one massive, interconnected story, but it’s still pretty easy to break the movies into discrete parts. (Think about, say, the broader impact the events of Iron Man 2 had on the MCU—if you can even remember the events of Iron Man 2—and you’ll see what I mean.)
Raimi’s densely interwoven approach to Spider-Man also comes with some problems. One of Spider-Man 3’s biggest missteps comes early, when Harry Osborn—who discovered that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and thus the sort-of killer of his father, in the last movie—briefly develops amnesia and forgets Peter is Spider-Man again. It’s the laziest possible solution to the problem, and a transparent effort to delay the big
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or not), defending the people against the man, all the way to anarchy. The only commonality that we have is that we are both opposed to the bailouts of Wall Street - and that is it.
Their motivations, their behavior and their disrespect for the principles that made this country great could not stand in starker contrast to ours. We stand for free market capitalism, individual responsibility, self reliance, individual liberties, and a limited federal government.
This is important that we stand up to these comparisons and stand up for our principles. Click here to contribute!
Congratulations, Occupiers. You’ve made it.In the case of automated watermarking with randomly picked fonts within a Perl script, it is quite annoying to stumble on fonts missing many non-basic unicode characters (accents, etc). In French, you’ll likely miss the ê or ü or even é or à. In Polish, while the ł is often provided, you’ll like miss ź.
The Perl module Font::FreeType is quite convenient in this regard. The sample code here will try to find a font, within the @fonts list, able to render the $string. It will pick the fonts randomly, one by one, and check every character of the string against the characters provided by the font. It will stop to pick the first one that actually can fully render the string:
use Font::FreeType; use utf8; # must occur before any string definition! use strict; my @image_tags = "~ł ajàüd&é)=ù\$;«~źmn"; my @fonts = ("/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera/Vera.ttf", "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/zeppelin.ttf", "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/Barrio-Regular.ttf"); my %fonts_characters; my $watermark_font; # we want a random font: but we also want a font that can print every character # (not obvious with utf8) # loop until we find a suitable one (all chars are valid, so the chars counter reached 0) or, # worse case scenario, until we checked them all (means more suitable fonts should be added) my $chars_to_check = length("#".@image_tags[0]); my $fonts_to_check = scalar(@fonts); my %fonts_checked; while ($chars_to_check > 0 and $fonts_to_check > 0) { # pick a random font srand(); $watermark_font = $fonts[rand @fonts]; # if this font was already probed, pick another one next if $fonts_checked{$watermark_font}; $fonts_checked{$watermark_font} = 1; # always reset the chars counter each time we try a font $chars_to_check = length("#".@image_tags[0]); print "Selected font $watermark_font (to check: $fonts_to_check)
"; # if not yet already, build list of available chars with this font unless ($fonts_characters{$watermark_font}) { Font::FreeType->new->face($watermark_font)->foreach_char( sub { my $char_chr = chr($_->char_code); my $char_code = $_->char_code; $fonts_characters{$watermark_font}{$char_chr} = $char_code; }); print "Slurped $watermark_font chars
"; } # then check if every available character of the watermark exists in this font for (split //, "#".@image_tags[0]) { print "Check $_
"; # breaks out if missing char last unless $fonts_characters{$watermark_font}{$_}; # otherwise decrement counter of chars to check: if we reach 0, they are all valid # and we should get out of the font picking loop $chars_to_check--; print "Chars still to check $chars_to_check
"; } # we also record there is one less font to check $fonts_to_check--; } print "FONT PICKED $watermark_font
";
This code is actually included in my post-image-to-tumblr.pl script (hence the variables name).
Obviously, if no font is suitable, it’ll take the last one tested. It won’t go as far as comparing which one is the most suitable, since in the context of this script, if no fonts can fully render a tag, the only sensible course is to add more (unicode capable) fonts to the fonts/ directory.
AdvertisementsParenting can be a joy, but it's also pretty hard — so hard that you sometimes end up parking your kid in front of the TV or an iPad just so you can catch a break. But technology can be more than a distraction for your kid. There are a lot of products out that fall under this mysterious "baby tech" category, and they're aimed at helping you, the parent, relieve some of the stresses of parenthood.
self-warming baby bottles, high-tech baby monitors, and "smart" onesies
Self-warming baby bottles, high-tech baby monitors, and "smart" onesies are all designed to meet your parenting needs. But do they actually help? To find out more about baby tech, we enlisted the help of Cool Mom Tech's Liz Gumbinner, MoMath president Glen Whitney, and The Verge's own Ben Popper. Oh and we asked Ben Popper's kids to help us test some of these products out.
By the way, Top Shelf is back! This is the second episode in a four-part series that will explore how technology is changing our lives. You can check out the first episode of this season right here; it's about digital comics!From biology class to “C.S.I.,” we are told again and again that our genome is at the heart of our identity. Read the sequences in the chromosomes of a single cell, and learn everything about a person’s genetic information — or, as 23andme, a prominent genetic testing company, says on its Web site, “The more you know about your DNA, the more you know about yourself.”
But scientists are discovering that — to a surprising degree — we contain genetic multitudes. Not long ago, researchers had thought it was rare for the cells in a single healthy person to differ genetically in a significant way. But scientists are finding that it’s quite common for an individual to have multiple genomes. Some people, for example, have groups of cells with mutations that are not found in the rest of the body. Some have genomes that came from other people.
“There have been whispers in the matrix about this for years, even decades, but only in a very hypothetical sense,” said Alexander Urban, a geneticist at Stanford University. Even three years ago, suggesting that there was widespread genetic variation in a single body would have been met with skepticism, he said. “You would have just run against the wall.”
But a series of recent papers by Dr. Urban and others has demonstrated that those whispers were not just hypothetical. The variation in the genomes found in a single person is too large to be ignored. “We now know it’s there,” Dr. Urban said. “Now we’re mapping this new continent.”This weekend I had the chance to sit down with my six and nine year old daughters and play through a few games of Rio Grande Games’ Loch Ness.
Quick Look
Loch Ness is a Euro game published by Rio Grande Games and created by Ronald Wettering. It’s designed for 2-5 players, ages 8 plus and takes about 30 minutes to play.
In Loch Ness the players take the roll of one of five photographers working to obtain pictures of old Nessie. There’s a bit of luck and a bit of skill mixed in to allow players to grab their photographic evidence and ratchet up their score before Nessie sinks once again into the depths of the Loch. With quick game play and several variants of play included in the rules Loch Ness has a good replay value although it may grow slightly tedious for adults. Kids on the other hand, at least my kids, love it.
From the Rio Grande Games site:
For decades reporters from the around the world have been on the hunt for the Loch Ness monster. But lately reports of sightings of Nessie have been increasing. Such reports naturally have drawn such reporters as the attractive Belinda Viewing from New York, the half-Belgian Claude McMirror, the clever Filosa Sharp, as well as her Londoner competitor Jack Nesstee, and even Nils the Blitzen from Denmark to the Loch. Equipped with the most modern equipment and techniques, these daring reporters have traveled to Scotland, in order to capture the elusive Nessie on film for their newspapers.
But the 5 will experience some surprises…
Opening the box
Anyone familiar with Rio Grande Games will know that many of their games come loaded with wooden meeples, cardboard punch sheets, interesting game boards and lots of cards. Loch Ness is very much like these games, but scaled down a bit. The box itself is very well designed and allows for easy storage of all the parts. There is a selection of colored wooden meeples and cards, but this game is decidedly lacking in cardboard punch-out pieces, which for a game suitable for kids is a wise choice.
The board itself is well constructed, with eye-catching artwork. The layout is done very well and while the game is rated ages 8+, my 6 year old was easily able to grasp the basic concepts and play competitively, if not always logically. The mechanics, while not terribly complex, do allow for a bit of strategic thinking and educated guesswork with some randomness built in but also mechanics which can allow for more strategy based game play if used correctly.
There are two decks of cards – one representing photographic evidence of Nessie and the other representing the movement points available to all players (used to move Nessie) as well as a common pool of moves. Each player also has two colored meeples for themselves. There’s a larger, black meeple to represent the player who will take action first in the current round, and two Nessie meeples.
Rules, game play and scoring
The rules are straightforward. Each player has (in the base game) three cameras, worth 3, 4 and 7 points. At the start of the first round Nessie is placed on any of the water spaces on the board. Players then draw a movement card from their deck each of which will cause Nessie to move between 1 and 5 spaces. After these movement cards are drawn each player then begins selecting spaces for their cameras. The first player for this round puts down one of their three cameras and placement goes around the game table in order until all cameras are placed. Once all of the cameras are placed the move cards are revealed. Nessie then moves a number of spaces equal to the total of all players move cards. In our three player game it’s not uncommon to reveal a 1 move card, a 3 move card and a 5 move card, for a total of 9.
Nessie would then move 9 spaces around the board and also gain 9 points on the score tracker which travels around the outside of the game board. In the image above you can see several spots where players can place their round wooden camera tokens (worth 3,4 and 7 points). Players are only allowed to place these tokens in the two spots closest to the loch – the third spot is reserved for a special circumstance we’ll get in to in just a bit.
Depending on where Nessie lands players score points with their cameras if they can see Nessie and are able to obtain actual photographs of the lake monster if they’re adjacent to the large Nessie meeple. If their camera worth 3 points is the one which scores they receive 3 points and their meeple progresses around the outside score track. If you’re lucky enough to acquire a photo you get to choose from one of three bits of photographic evidence (or try your luck randomly drawing one from the deck). Each photograph is worth an extra point at the end of the game. Or assemble two in a series for 5 points at the end game. If you have all three of the series, score 10 points at the end of the game.
In the first turn of the game, it’s simple movement and camera token placement. Starting with the second turn however, progressing through to the end of the game, you can place your second meeple on one of six (or seven, depending on what variant you’re playing) spaces which give you a special action for that turn. Now, being the player to go first each round has an added significance. Rather than just placing your camera token first, you get to decide which extra action you’ll have for the round. Only one action per person, and only one person per action. The actions are:
Bagpipes: +1 move for Nessie, if it would move the creature to a space to benefit you.
Pub: Get an extra camera, worth 5 points.
Photoshop: Your 3 point camera is now worth 9 points for this turn.
Castle: Move one of your cameras after all cameras have been placed, and may take the back row.
Distillery: Use the “neutral” move deck rather than your own for a turn. Moves include a 0 and 7, in addition to the standard 1-5 move cards.
Church: You may look at on of the player’s face down move cards before you place your cameras.
Hotel: Take all of your move cards back into your hand immediately.
As the game progresses, Nessie moves around the score board. The turn that Nessie moves past 65 on the scoreboard signifies the end of the game. At that point, each player adds their cards to their total score and the player with the highest score wins.
There are several game variants included in the rules to change up your game play a bit. We didn’t delve into these however and I won’t be covering them in this review. You can look at them right now if you’d like – Rio Grande Games have thoughtfully published the rule book online as a PDF.
The bottom line
My play test group for this game consisted of my wife, my 9 year old daughter, my 6 year old daughter and myself. Also in attendance were several cats, but they had no opinions on game play, preferring instead to bat around and then attempt to eat one of the meeples.
The bottom line is that this game is a great game for the family. My wife and I found this a welcome relief from endless requests to play Sorry or Pet Shop Monopoly, two games I’ve come to dread. My 6 year old immediately fell in love with the game. She’s not old enough to really grasp the strategy behind figuring out where Nessie will most likely end up, but she’s got an uncanny sense of movement and ends up scoring points more often than not.
My 9 year old initially did not enjoy this game. I attribute this to two factors. First, she was losing, a condition she doesn’t like. Second, I sat down with the kids to figure this game out and me reading the rules is a process she finds thoroughly boring. On our second play, she opted to do something else, but was soon back at the table offering advice and generally wishing she had taken part. In the end she did tell me she enjoyed the game and is more than willing to play again.
My wife who is not a hard core gamer like myself also found this game enjoyable. Its quick play, neat game pieces and relatively simple game play make it an attractive choice for family game night for all of us.
If you have kids who enjoy games, or are looking for a quick to play Euro-style game, I’d recommend giving Loch Ness a look. It’s a fun game that can be played quickly and offers all of the satisfaction of a fully featured board game without the frustrations that come with complex play and lengthy rules. The game is well made, the box (as with all Rio Grande Games I’ve encountered) is nifty and compartmentalized for easy storage and the artwork is friendly and attractive. I say, have at it!Preceding posts: Day 3 and Days 1 & 2. This summarizes Day 4, October 29, 2008.
I’ll take a slightly different approach in this post for several reasons. First, I’m short of time and sleep. Second, much of the day was given over to cross examination of the middle school principal by Kelly Hamilton, Freshwater’s attorney, and Hamilton’s approach to cross examination does not lend itself to any sort of narrative flow. Therefore I’ll summarize the main themes of the testimony with some examples of Q&A rather than attempting to reproduce the exact sequence of questions through hours.
The bulk of the testimony today was from Bill White, Principal of the Mt. Vernon Middle School. Another student, a former student of Freshwater who is currently a senior at Mt. Vernon High School, also testified.
More below the fold.
Stylistic note: Throughout this account where I use a sentence form like “He was first notified of the Tesla coil incident on Dec 10,” read it as “He testified that he was first notified …”.
White direct examination
Conducted by David Millstone, the Board of Education’s attorney.
White started in the job of Middle School Principal in the Fall of 2007, just in time for the hoorah. He was first notified of the Tesla coil incident the morning of Dec 10 by Steve Short, Superintendent of Schools, who called White to his office. Short described the parents’ allegation and showed White the pictures taken by Jenifer Dennis, the student Zachary’s mother. White identified two pictures entered as exhibits in the hearing yesterday as those Short had shown him. Short instructed White to ascertain what he could about the allegation.
That afternoon White and Mr. Ritchie, the middle school assistant principal, met with Freshwater. According to White, when asked about it Freshwater initially said that nothing had occurred, but as the conversation proceeded admitted that there was a class exercise with shocks.
White instructed Freshwater to sequester the Tesla coil (I think the phrase used was “lock up” but I’m not sure). He subsequently instructed Bill Oxenford, chairman of the middle school science department, to retrieve all the Tesla coils in the department and turn them in to White. Oxenford returned three devices to White. Note that yesterday Freshwater testified that he retained the device he had used in class. White was not aware that there was a coil outstanding, and did not authorize Freshwater to remove one from the school.
Moving on to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), White testified that he met with Freshwater and Ritchie early in the 2007-2008 school year to pass to Freshwater an FCA manual outlining the duties of FCA faculty monitors. Sections of the manual had been specifically highlighted by Superintendent Short.
White testified that he had multiple problems/complaints regarding Freshwater’s activities through the 2007-2008 school year. This is a summary of White’s testimony:
The complaints/issues included the use (or lack thereof) of parent permission forms for FCA. Under White’s new administration of the middle school, parental permission forms are required whenever a student is not in his or her scheduled place during the school day. Since FCA meets during lunch time, the new policy was applicable to FCA, and White testified that Freshwater was laggard in getting them. Each such activity is also required to submit a report of an attendance count, and White testified that on a number of occasions the number of students reported to be attending FCA meetings exceeded the number of permission slips turned in. White said that the permission slip problem persisted longer with Freshwater than the other FCA monitors (6th and 7th grade), and that he doesn’t know if Freshwater ever fully complied with the policy.
White said that some of the topics discussed at FCA were reported to be inappropriate. One such allegedly inappropriate topic was discussing students going to anti-abortion rallies. Freshwater is a participant in Dave Daubenmire’s Minutemen United, which is a fundamentalist Christian activist organization that (among other things) protests at abortion clinics and takes pictures of vehicle license plates of patrons of a topless joint in Newcastle, Ohio, a hamlet out in Amish country. (Careful about those mental images you’re generating!). Daubenmire was a coach at Mt. Vernon high school years ago. He moved to London, Ohio, where the ACLU brought suit against the district to prohibit Daubenmire from leading prayers with his football team. The district settled out of court. Daubenmire then left public education and founded Pass the Salt Ministries. He was one of Freshwater’s most vocal and mililtant supporters early on in this brouhaha, but has been frozen out over the last three or four months.
Note that it is OK for a public school teacher to protest at abortion clinics on his/her own time. The question here was whether Freshwater initiated that discussion with students while acting as a school employee. White testified that he couldn’t substantiate the allegation that Freshwater initiated that discussion at FCA, and that Freshwater apparently discouraged students’ participation at this time due to unspecified conditions.
Freshwater was alleged to have participated in a healing ceremony or healing prayer for a visiting speaker at an FCA meeting. White testified that he determined that Freshwater had indeed participated in a prayer for healing/good health for a guest speaker. White testified that Freshwater told him he probably had prayed in that situation.
White testified that there was an allegation that Freshwater had initiated contact with at least some guest speakers rather than students, as is required. FCA is supposed to be a student-led and operated organization, with the faculty member a monitor rather than leader/participant. While FCA is not a school sponsored organization, the requirement for a faculty monitor derives from the fact that FCA meets during the school day (at lunch time) when the school bears responsibility for the students. White testified that inquiries were made to several outside speakers (by whom it was not clear), and that Freshwater had indeed initiated the contact with a couple of them.
White testified that Freshwater had religious materials displayed in his classroom, and at a meeting in early April 2008 White instructed Freshwater to remove those displayed materials. They included a collage featuring the 10 Commandments; stickers on cupboard doors with inspirational sayings and Bible verses; a poster of Colin Powell and George Bush praying with a Bible verse on it; a poster advertising a Will Graham evangelical event; a couple of boxes of FCA New Testaments in the room; and Freshwater’s Bible on his desk. With respect to the latter, Freshwater was instructed that he could read it during non-class ‘off’ time, but that it had to be out of sight when students were in the room.
White had pictures taken of aspects of the religious displays, and several of those photos were entered into evidence at the hearing.
White testified that Freshwater did not promptly comply with the instructions to remove the religious materials, so in mid-April White wrote Freshwater a letter giving him a deadline for the removal. White said that Freshwater asked him if he didn’t comply would that be insubordination. White replied in the affirmative. Sometime during that week Freshwater added a Bible checked out from the middle school library and a book titled “Jesus of Nazareth,” also from the middle school library, to the science table in his room.
White testified that Freshwater left his Bible on his desk at the end of the school year.
White cross examination
Conducted by Kelly Hamilton, Freshwater’s attorney. Once again, Hamilton’s cross examination style is scattershot, with questions skipping from topic to topic and back again. Hamilton was once a Columbus, Ohio, police sergeant, and his cross examination style resembles a good cop’s interrogation style. So I’ll here try to impose some narrative structure that was not in the actual sequence of questions and answers. White’s cross examination was suspended late in the afternoon so the student mentioned above could testify, and will resume tomorrow.
First, Hamilton established that White had not reviewed the testimony from Days 1 and 2 of this hearing, had not reviewed the independent investigator’s report before it was submitted several months ago, and had no input to that report beyond the questioning of White by the investigators in the course of their investigation.
There were two main themes that I saw in the cross examination questioning. One was the degree and appropriateness of the supervision provided to Freshwater. The second was whether Freshwater was treated differently from other teachers through the last year in these kinds of matters. Some subsidiary themes popped up now and then. For example, the strange interpretation of the 1st Amendment Establishment Clause, to the effect that if someone doesn’t know that a Bible is a religious book, would it be promoting religion to have a Bible on one’s desk? That is almost exactly what Hamilton asked White in one question sometime during the afternoon.
Supervision Theme
The supervision theme emerged in several lines of questioning. For example, in one line of questioning Hamilton established that White had talks with several other teachers about religious material displayed in their rooms subsequent to the public eruption of the Freshwater affair. White testified that in answer to a question from one of them, he told those teachers that if they objected to removing the materials their best course was to remove the materials and then file a grievance as provided in the master contract with the collective bargaining unit. Hamilton wondered why White had not given the same grievance advice to Freshwater. White replied that Freshwater hadn’t asked about it, and that every teacher is (or should be) aware of the opportunity to file grievances through the process specified in the master contract. When asked by Hamilton, White didn’t know if Freshwater is a member of the bargaining unit, a chapter of the Ohio Education Association. (In fact Freshwater is not a member of the bargaining unit, but nevertheless the provisions of the master contract apply to him.)
Further questions in this theme focused on the boundaries of acceptable behavior by teachers concerning religious matters. For example, Hamilton asked if a student raised a question about, say, Easter, could a teacher entertain a brief discussion of it. White replied that if it was not in the standards-based curriculum, discussion would be inappropriate. Asked what the teacher should do, White replied that speaking as an ex-elementary teacher, he would advise the student to take that question to his/her parents.
Hamilton asked whether there was a written policy specifically regarding teaching to the standards. White replied that teachers were expected to teach to the standards. Asked whether teachers could go beyond the material specified in the standards, White replied that they could if they had covered the material in the standards.
There was a series of questions to attempt to establish that Freshwater didn’t/couldn’t know that his use of the Tesla coil to shock students was inappropriate. For example, Hamilton pursued the notion of on-the-job training, asking whether having been trained in the use of the Tesla coil by a now-retired teacher (Jeff George), and given that there had been no prior complaints or administrative communication regarding that use, could Freshwater rely on those to conclude that his use was appropriate? White’s answer was inconclusive.
Hamilton displayed (but did not enter into evidence) a poster showing a U.S. flag and the mottoes “In God We Trust” and “With God Everything is Possible.” The former is the U.S. motto, the latter the State of Ohio motto. Hamilton asked if there were such posters in the school. White replied that there is a fair number of them in classrooms and other areas, that they had been donated by an organization in Steubenville, and that the school was legally required to display them if they were donated to the school. (I know nothing about that – any Ohio legal scholars out there?)
Hamilton asked a series of questions about whether the administrators, and White in particular, had a mandatory duty to report the incident to Children’s Services and why it wasn’t reported to the police if Freshwater had held the boy’s hand down, as the boy had testified. White replied that he had too little information at the time to initiate a report – he knew only that one anonymous student of more than a thousand had possibly been injured, and that he reported what he found from Freshwater back to Superintendent White. Pressed further, White said that if the same sort of situation occurred again he would report it.
Hamilton asked White if he had observed any tests of the use of the Tesla coil on humans. White replied that he had seen one, when the President of the Board of Education, Ian Watson, had asked White to shock him. White declined on the ground that he (White) has an electronic implant and doesn’t fool around with things like that. White called Elle Button, another middle school science teacher, to his office and asked her to shock Watson. She declined on the ground that she thought it was inappropriate use of the device. Watson finally shocked himself on the arm. White could recall no details of the mark, if any, since he was keeping his distance on account of his implant. White reported that Watson said it hurt.
White was later reminded by Hamilton’s referring to the investigator’s report that White had also been present when an investigator shocked himself with a Tesla coil. White conceded that he had been present, but once again had kept his distance from the procedure on account of his implant.
(Parenthetically, writing as an ex-Navy missile technician who was trained to work around RF sources, I am flabbergasted at how casually these people wander around zorching themselves and each other with RF (500 KHz) generating devices. A few weeks ago I had a lively sidewalk discussion with a Kenyon physicist about a couple of his colleagues in that department who got peripherally involved early in the Freshwater affair by zapping themselves with a Tesla coil and going on to the newspaper about how it didn’t seem to cause tissue damage. I passed on some suggestions about skin effects of RF – basically, it’s mainly conducted on or very near the surface of metallic conductors – and how in human bodies the RF “skin” depth is up in double-digit centimeters, meaning that RF readily passes into deeper tissue and into the nervous and circulatory systems. There are anecdotal accounts of subdermal tissue damage with relatively minor visible manifestations due specifically to devices like those in the middle school. It puts me in mind of 17th century alchemists who tested compounds for their poisonous effects by dosing themselves with strange and wondrous concoctions. We do not seem to have come far in some respects. The only sensible people in this respect that I’ve seen mentioned in this affair are Elle Button and Bill White.)
Discrimination theme
In several lines of questions Hamilton attempted to show that Freshwater was systematically treated differently than other teachers in similar circumstances. For example, Hamilton asked White if other teachers had Bibles on their desks and/or religious displays in their rooms. White replied that several teachers had had such displays, but took them down on instructions from him. White was aware of only Lori Miller, another middle school science teacher, with a Bible on her desk currently. Asked why Miller was allowed to keep her Bible on her desk while Freshwater was not, White replied that Miller’s was not there in the context of a larger display of religious materials, whereas at the time the instruction to conceal his Bible was given to Freshwater his was a part of a larger set of religious displays in his classroom.
Some subsidiary themes
As mentioned above, Hamilton returned to his bizarre notion of the effect prong of the Lemon test described in my earlier post linked at the top.
One line of questioning established that the Dennis family was the original source of several of the allegations that are included in the independent investigator’s report. White conceded that is true. (One task of the Board’s attorney is to provide independent corroboration of those allegations, and that’s under way – see James Hoeffgen’s testimony below for the beginning of that corroboration.)
Another set of questions dealt with the pictures of Zachary’s arm. White was asked if he thought someone could have altered the injury to make it look more like a cross. I didn’t catch White’s response. He was asked if he thought the pictures were fabricated. He did not.
Another line of questions focused on Zach Dennis’ honesty. White was asked if he knew whether Zach had ever been dishonest. White replied that he was once, that on one occasion Zach had apparently told his parents that he himself had contacted a potential FCA speaker, but that Freshwater had actually made the contact.
There were repeated questions scattered through the cross about documentation – did White keep notes of conversations and events (sometimes), where were they (in his office), and so on.
Another set of questions focused on the fact that Freshwater’s daughter was a member of FCA, and on the potential conflicts that might involve. White was asked if he thought there was a potential conflict between his role as parent and his role as FCA monitor. White agreed there was. Asked if he’d advised Freshwater of that potential conflict, White replied that he had not.
White’s cross examination was suspended so James Hoeffgen could testify.
James Hoeffgen direct examination
James is a Mt. Vernon High School student who had Freshwater as his teacher in 8th grade science in 2004-2005.
James testified that Freshwater spent a lot of time on evolution in his class. Under questioning, he said that Freshwater used a creationist video by Kent Hovind, who Freshwater introduced as “a renowned scientist.” James said that Freshwater told his class that carbon dating is unreliable, that the earth might only be a few thousand years old, and that dinosaurs may have lived at the same time as cave men.
James testified that Freshwater used creationist-related material in his teaching of science. For example, James said Freshwater used two handouts, one called Survival of the Fakest, a 2001 American Spectator article by Jonathan Wells, and the other a handout concerning Haeckel’s embryos asserting they were fake but are still used in biology textbooks. While the handouts were supposed to be returned at the end of the class period, James took his home. He said his parents were disturbed that Freshwater was using it and explained to him that it was in error.
Note that this was in 2004-2005. Freshwater had testified that he ceased using the “Survival of the Fakest” handout in 2003 after his “Objective Origins Policy” had been rejected by the Board of Education. According to James’ testimony Freshwater continued using obvious creationist materials well after that.
Asked if Freshwater taught about “intelligent design,” James replied he did not, but hinted at a creator.
James was asked if he was uncomfortable with the religious overtones of Freshwater’s teaching and room. James replied that he was, that at that time he considered himself to be Jewish and that the displays of Christian materials in the room made him uncomfortable. He said he told his parents that, but he didn’t know if they did anything further about it with the school.
James Hoeffgen cross examination
Hamilton asked if James knows the Dennis family. He does not. He was asked how many times he’d met with David Millstone, the Board’s attorney. Once, last summer. Hamilton asked how James came to be involved in this hearing. James replied that a friend, Ron Griggs, knew of the pending hearing and knew James had been Freshwater’s student, and suggested he contact the relevant people.
In the cross examination James reported that Freshwater had used the Hovind video once, and that it lasted one or two class periods. He said he reported that to his parents, and that they contacted the middle school principal at the time about it.
James confirmed that Freshwater did not use the words “intelligent design,” “ID,” or “creationism in class.
Referring to a discussion of abortion in class, James could not remember whether Freshwater brought it up or a student did.
Hamilton showed James some of the pictures of religious items in Freshwater’s room taken in the 2007-2008 school year. James identified the 10 Commandments poster as having been in the room in 2004-2005.
James Hoeffgen redirect examination
Millstone asked James if he reached any conclusion, then or later, about what Freshwater was doing in his teaching of evolution. James replied that his parents were upset about Freshwater’s use of Survival of the Fakest, about Freshwater’s claims of the inaccuracy of carbon dating, about the Hovind video, and about the notion that dinosaurs and humans were on earth together.
Millstone asked James what he concluded from Freshwater’s teaching. James replied with an anecdote. He said his sister had found a rock and was going to take it to a teacher to see if she could find out how old it is. James said he told his sister to not bother, “Science can’t be trusted. Science can’t teach us anything.”
That’s a direct quote, immediately checked with an attorney who was also taking notes.
And it says it all.
The hearing was recessed until 9:00 tomorrow (well, today, actually, in about 5 hours!)Crime
While one 'baba' claimed to change the gender of the unborn child, another passed off stones as diamonds.
The Hyderabad police arrested yet another 'baba' on Wednesday, for allegedly repeatedly raping a 26-year-old woman in Meeraj Colony.
The Humanyun Nagar police said that the 'baba', identified as 30-year-old Abdul Manan, claimed to have supernatural powers, and constantly abused the victim, in the pretext that this was the 'cure' to her problems.
However, this isn't the first such arrest in recent times.
According to reports, there are gangs of such fake babas on the prowl in Hyderabad's Old City area, which has seen the most number of such cases being reported. The police said that most of them were unemployed and poorly educated, but had educated followers. A few of the babas had people working in MNCs and IT industries as supporters.
1. Earlier this month, the Asif Nagar police in Hyderabad arrested 30-year-old Syed Akhot Ghori, after he allegedly duped a family of Rs 70 lakh, to 'cast away evil spirits'.
“The accused used to be a baba in Karnataka and practiced black magic. When the victim approached him, the accused told the complainant that the family need to get rid of evil spirit and would perform black magic and the accused collected Rs 70 lakh," the police had said.
2. In the last week of September, a 44-year-old self-styled 'Godman', who made frequent TV appearances as an astrologer, was arrested by the Hyderabad police for allegedly sexually exploiting several women.
The accused, identified as Narasimha Charyulu, claimed that he would solve marital problems of couples and then trap women, the police said.
The Meerpet Special Operation Team, which arrested the accused, said that the self-claimed 'baba' was a Class 10 pass out and had made astrology the bait. He became popular after appearing on TV, claiming to provide astrological solutions to health, wealth and marital problems.
3. In August, the Hyderabad police arrested Shaik Abdul Raheem, alias 'Bhai Miya' after he allegedly molested a woman.
The baba, made his followers believe that he had the ability to transform a female foetus into a male foetus, by influencing the DNA of the unborn child, at a cost of Rs 20,000.
The activities of the babas are not
|
The Aug. 9 shooting inflamed tensions in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb of Ferguson that was patrolled by an overwhelmingly white police force.
Distrust of law enforcement has continued since, and now within the Latino community. Police say they believe Latinos are afraid the Trump administration is pressing state and local law enforcement officials to assist U.S. immigration agents to deport them.
In March, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at an event in East Los Angeles that Latinos were reporting fewer crimes committed against them, according to reporters there. He said reports of sexual assault have dropped 25 percent among them since the beginning of 2017 compared with the same period last year.
“While there is no direct evidence that the decline is related to concerns within the Hispanic community regarding immigration, the department believes deportation fears may be preventing Hispanic members of the community from reporting when they are victimized,” the LAPD said in a statement to news organizations in March.
But the regional Crime Stoppers tip lines have seen an increase. The number of tips provided in the first quarter this year doubled from 2015, or 53 percent more.
What people don’t know is that Crime Stoppers offers rewards of up to $1,000 if an arrest is made, through a code system, Salazar noted.
“What we hope is we don’t have to pay people to do the right thing,” Salazar said, but the money is there.
People who witness a non-emergency crime can call the 24 hour/7 day a week tip line at 1-800-222-8477, or go to www.lacrimestoppers.org or text a tip to a mobile app: P3 Tips. Tips should include detailed information about the suspect, such as his or her address, the vehicle, and the crime. The information is sent to a second party command center in Texas. All information, except for the tip itself, is encrypted. The tipster does not give his or her name, address, or any other information, but is provided with a code number to use to claim a reward.
Reward amounts are based on the severity of the crime and if an arrest is made. Unlike rewards offered through city and county law enforcement agencies, Crime Stoppers rewards are not based on convictions and the tipster does not have to appear in court. Also, the tipster can’t be a victim of a crime.
To find out if an arrest has been made, the anonymous tipster contacts Crime Stoppers and provides the code number. If an arrest has been made, another code number will be assigned to claim the reward. The code can be taken to any Nix neighborhood lending business to redeem for cash.
The nonprofit Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers is funded by private donations and annual fundraisers. Since it was launched in 2009, there have been 68,360 tips to the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers. Those tips have led to 2,325 arrests and more than $30 million in illegal drugs seized in the Los Angeles area, according to officials. Authorities confiscated 169 weapons.
Since 2009 until April of this year, there were 125 rewards approved totalling $32,835. Of those, only 10 were claimed resulting in $3,500 in cash.
Crime Stoppers began in Albuquerque in 1976 and has spawned chapters worldwide. Glendale has had the program since 1994 and the Los Angeles Police Department since 2008 but the regional effort now includes more than four dozen different law enforcement agencies in 88 cities across Los Angeles County. The FBI and U.S. Marshals have joined in as well.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Williams, who oversees the operations unit at the Compton station, said detectives find the tips helpful.
“The majority of what they receive are narcotic tips,” Williams said. “However, one of our detectives received a tip on a shooting incident and there was an arrest.”
Salazar called Crime Stoppers a solution for those who want to help law enforcement, without getting involved in the criminal justice system, but who still want to be good citizens.
“This is a tool for the community,” she added.MONTREAL — After it was initially reported last week, the Montreal Alouettes have officially acquired CFL All-Star and international offensive tackle Jovan Olafioye from the BC Lions.
The Alouettes also get future considerations from BC in return for the rights to national offensive tackle David Foucault, as well as international offensive tackle Vincent Brown.
Both teams confirmed the deal on Monday.
Olafioye, 6-foot-6, 325 pounds, possesses an impressive résumé in the CFL, although he is only 29-years-old, as he was named a CFL All-Star the past six seasons. The seven-year veteran was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 2012, after helping the Lions win the Grey Cup in 2011, while he was protecting quarterback Travis Lulay, who was elected the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player that same season.
“It’s not everyday that you have the opportunity to acquire a player of Jovan’s caliber, one who has performed at such a high level day in and day out, without ever missing a start,” declared Alouettes General Manager Kavis Reed. “With this transaction we are addressing a pressing need that we had on the offensive line.
“Unfortunately, we had to trade away a player that we were looking forward to see in an Alouettes uniform to do so. We are very excited to welcome Jovan in the nest and are anxious to see him out on the field to protect a veteran quarterback such as Darian Durant, all while creating holes for running back Tyrell Sutton.”
From the Lions’ perspective, the trade changes the ratio along the O-line, where Antonio Johnson is the only international now slated to start.
“Acquiring David allows us to possibly develop a plan to play four Canadians along the offensive line and perhaps more importantly, it ensures there is a depth of talent backing up each position,” said GM and Head Coach Wally Buono. “He’s a former first-round draft choice with two years of NFL development, so we expect him to come in and compete at a very high level.”
“Jovan was a big part of our team,” added Buono. “He has been a true professional throughout his time with us and during this entire process. We wish him the very best as a member of the Alouettes.”
In addition to Foucault, the Lions pick up international Vincent Brown, a 6-foot-6, 350-pound tackle who was originally signed by Montreal in 2015 during the CFL’s annual practice roster expansion period. The Florida native who spent his collegiate days at Southern Mississippi and Pittsburg State, saw action in the Als’ season finale that year and also attended training camp with the club in 2016.
“As we close in on training camp, we are determined to create the highest level of competition at every position on the field,” said Buono. “Vincent is a young lineman and he’s going to come in here and fight for a roster spot.”
Olafioye brings even more star power to the Alouettes during what’s been a busy off-season. The Detroit, Mich. native, played his first CFL-game on July 4, 2010 and has not missed a single game since then, making 126 consecutive starts.
During that time, he helped the Lions’ offensive line finish atop the CFL for least sacks allowed in 2011 and 2012. He was also selected the West Division’s Most Outstanding Lineman on three separate occasions (2011, 2012 and 2015).
Last season, Olafioye was moved to the left tackle position and helped protect quarterback Jonathon Jennings, who threw for more than 5,000 yards, all while allowing the Lions offence to amass over 2,000 rushing-yards.
Foucault was the team’s first round (fifth overall) draft pick in the 2014 CFL Canadian Draft. The 28-year-old then spent the following two seasons with the Carolina Panthers in the NFL, playing five games with the team in 2014, including one start. Brown was a member of the Alouettes’ practice squad in 2015.Earlier today, Alberto Randazzo, a former sergeant with the New York City Police Department, was sentenced to 28 years in prison, eight years of supervised release and sex offender registration for sexual exploitation and receipt of child pornography. Today’s sentencing took place before United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York.
The sentence was announced by Bridget M. Rohde, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York, and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD).
“Alberto Randazzo lived a double life, publicly serving as an NYPD police officer while privately engaging in conduct to exploit the most vulnerable members of the community – our children,” stated Acting United States Attorney Rohde. “Together with our law enforcement partners we will continue to strive to protect the most vulnerable among us.”
“Randazzo held a position with the sole purpose to serve and protect the people of this city. Instead, he targeted certain women, persuaded them to sexually abuse their children and had them send him pictures and videos of the acts,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Melendez. “His behavior is no less than deplorable. It is with continued joint law enforcement efforts that we can target these types of offenders and ensure that they are punished for their heinous deeds.”
“Alberto Randazzo’s exploitation of innocent children is unconscionable. I am grateful to our detectives in Internal Affairs, Homeland Security, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York for their work in bringing Randazzo to justice for these horrific crimes,” said Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill.
On July 12, 2016, the defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to sexually exploit a child and one count of receipt of child pornography. According to court filings, from as early as 2010 through 2013, Randazzo targeted women through websites such as Ashley Madison and Match.com and persuaded them to sexually abuse children to whom they had access, so he could watch the abuse. Randazzo was caught in February 2013, when a witness found disturbing text messages on Randazzo’s phone and uncovered emails from women sending Randazzo pictures of them molesting their children. When the witness confronted him, Randazzo admitted his sexual interest in mothers having sex with their children.
Based on the information obtained from the witness and the photographs, the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) of the NYPD obtained a search warrant for Randazzo’s apartment and found numerous images and videos of child pornography, including a number of videos of child pornography that were created by Randazzo himself. Randazzo was arrested and charged in Queens Criminal Court. At the time of his arrest, Randazzo had been a member of the NYPD for 15 years. While on bail in connection with that case, Randazzo was discovered by Special Agents of HSI to be downloading child pornography, which led to the federal investigation and federal charges being filed.
At sentencing the government presented evidence that at least five women complied with Randazzo’s solicitations and sexually abused children in order to satisfy his sexual desires. Randazzo’s victims ranged in age from a few months to eight years old, and he traveled out of state to watch two of them be molested in person. Randazzo arranged to have the eight-year-old victim drugged so that he would not remember the abuse.
Three of the women Randazzo solicited have also been charged in the Eastern District of New York. Two have pleaded guilty, one of whom was sentenced to five years imprisonment, one of whom is awaiting sentencing, and another is awaiting trial.
Ms. Rohde thanked HSI and the NYPD for their joint efforts in bringing Randazzo to justice and thanked the Queens District Attorney’s Office for their continuing assistance.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tyler Smith and Moira Kim Penza.
The Defendant :
ALBERTO RANDAZZO
Age: 40
Astoria, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 14-CR-189 (PKC)To say that Europeans will welcome President George Bush on his farewell visit to Europe next week would invite a charge of verb-abuse. Welcome is hardly the word. But they will be glad to see the back of him. His two terms have been a bad time for relations between Europe and the United States. The question now is how much better those relations will get under a President Barack Obama or John McCain. My guess is: with Obama, it will be very different and an exciting ride, but still not easy; with McCain, a little better than with Bush at the outset, but could rapidly get stormy again.
What we're asking here is actually a deeper question: how much does the individual matter in history? Answer: a lot. If the winner of the 2000 presidential election had been Al Gore (ie the winner of the 2000 election) the story of transatlantic relations over the past few years could have been very different. The 9/11 attacks might have provoked a trans-atlantic crisis anyway, because America then felt itself to be at war while Europe didn't. But so much of the subsequent bust-up had to do with Bush himself: his unilateralism, his obsession with Iraq, his cowboy style, his incompetence.
There has been some improvement in transatlantic relations during his second term. The Spenglerian doom-and-gloom prophecies of five years ago, at the height of the Iraq crisis, look a bit comical now. The coming "clash of civilisations", predicted one American foreign policy expert, would not be between the west and Islam but between Europe and America. "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus," wrote the American neoconservative Robert Kagan. It turns out we're from and on the same planet, after all. As European cities like Madrid and London have been hit by takfiri jihadist terrorism, as even conservative Americans have recognised that you can't win your "war on terror" like a conventional war, so there has been some convergence on what this long struggle involves.
Yet a few big, awkward facts remain. During the cold war, the transatlantic west was held together by a common enemy. No longer. For all that transatlantic convergence on the threat of international terrorism, it doesn't pull us together like the Soviet threat did. ("If only we had Brezhnev back," sighed a former British foreign secretary at the height of the Iraq crisis.) A recent comparison of British and American counter-terrorist strategies in the New York Review of Books makes the point that for Britain - and much of Europe - terrorism is an enemy within, like cancer, whereas for most Americans it's still an enemy without. What's more, analysts in Washington regard Europe itself as a threat to the national security of the United States, because the old continent is now home to potential jihadist terrorists.
In the bipolar world of the cold war, western Europe and America were condemned to work together. In today's multipolar world, there are more possible permutations. The US has a burgeoning love affair with India. It may prefer such large, friendly non-western democracies to our carping little old European ones. Europe's energy dependency on Russia, and its growing economic dependency on China, may tempt European countries to cuddle up to those authoritarian giants more than Washington would like. In this brave new world, there's nothing inevitable about the transatlantic alliance.
Because the structural ties that bind are weaker, the personalities, visions and strategies of leaders on both sides of the pond are more important than ever. I'll leave Obama for another week, and concentrate on the more difficult case. McCain's youthful biography commands respect, like that of the older Bush and unlike that of the younger Bush. But he is an old man now and he holds none of Obama's fascination for Europeans. If "soft power" means "the power to attract", then Obama is the personification of American soft power. McCain is not. Moreover, he has a famously volcanic temper - not necessarily an asset when dealing with time-consuming and self-important European leaders.
Quips about "McBush" and "McSame" may be too simple. McCain does send some welcome new messages: renounce torture, close Guantánamo, practise "international good citizenship" on climate change. But he also has a lot of foreign policy ground in common with his predecessor. In a speech in Los Angeles earlier this year, he made a big point of how his personal experience of combat has led him to "detest war", but the fact is that he operates, at least as much as Bush, within the paradigm or metaphor of "the nation at war". What many people see and like in him is precisely the image of the warrior chief. He's the guy who said America could still win in Iraq, when all about him were giving up.
"Defeating radical Islamist extremists is the national security challenge of our time," he wrote in Foreign Affairs last year. "Iraq is this war's central front, according to our commander there, and according to our enemies, including al-Qaida's leadership." And according to George Bush. But not according to most of America's military, security and intelligence experts, friends around the world and European allies, all of whom would reply: (a) that there is no "central front"; and (b) that in this struggle Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the Muslim communities of Europe are at least as important as Iraq.
He has talked of "rogue-state roll-back" and speaks a language of confrontation with Iran. Since Iran is pressing ahead with building up its uranium enrichment capacity at an alarming rate, sometime in the next four years he could face the decision whether to bomb its nuclear facilities. For relations between the US and Europe, Iran could then become another Iraq - only worse.
Describing himself as "a realistic idealist", McCain takes counsel both from the neocons who gained the upper hand after 9/11 in the administration of the younger Bush and the foreign policy realists who prevailed both before and after Europe's 9/11 (November 9 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall) in that of the older Bush. On the neocon idealist side, he takes from Robert Kagan the idea of a league of democracies. He even suggests that Russia should be kicked out of the G8 to make room for Brazil and India. And McCain, like Bush in his second term, endorses a strategy of democracy promotion in the wider Middle East.
We Europeans - and Canadians, Australians, Indians and other small "d" democrats around the word - should not be scared by any of this, but we should be prepared. Kagan rightly points out that the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen (spoken of as a possible president of the European council) has himself suggested an "alliance of democracies". We need to have our answers ready, by November, to the proposals likely to come lobbing over the Atlantic: here's where we agree, this is how we'd do things differently. We need our own post-Bush to-do list for a revived transatlantic partnership. And we can not count on Obama winning. After the rough ride with Bush, prepare for a rough ride.
timothygartonash.comThe Build
When you build a Hackintosh (or any custom PC) you need to actually build the machine, which means getting a ton of boxes delivered to your door from Amazon, taking every one out of the package, and then assembling the computer from scratch. Before this build, I had only assembled one other computer, and that was back in the early 2000s as part of a college networking class. Things have definitely changed: some things are much easier, some things are more complex. Fortunately, there is now a website called YouTube where people walkthrough how to build a computer, and you can watch them do it and learn how to do it yourself. Incredible, right?
I watched a number of videos of people putting a Hackintosh together, from boxes to finished build, and I think that’s basically the best way to learn how to do it and to feel confident in what you can accomplish. Here are my favorites.
Building a Hackintosh is basically a 2-step process. The first step is going from boxes of parts to a completely built computer that can turn on. If you don’t have any computer hardware knowledge, or have never been elbow-deep inside a computer case before, building your Hackintosh and getting it to turn on will be challenging unless you read instruction guides, follow manuals and watch YouTube videos. I had to install and uninstall case fans multiple times, unplug and re-plug motherboard wires because other wires were in the way, so it definitely wasn’t a 30-minute process for me to get the computer to turn on.
The Setup
After I finally got my system to turn on (remember my power supply was bad, and I didn’t realize it until exhausting all other possibilities for what was going on) it was time to turn this PC into a Hackintosh, which means making it boot Mac OS X.
Something to note about running a Hackintosh: system software updates can break your configuration and stop your computer from working without some tweaks. Right now the latest non-beta version of Mac OS X is 10.11.5, so my goal was to build a Hackintosh that can run 10.11.5, which is also the minimum OS requirement for Xcode 8, needed to build apps against iOS 10. When 10.11.6 makes it out of beta, I won’t be immediately upgrading my system to it like I would have in the past with a real Mac. Instead, I’ll be keeping a keen eye on the TonyMacx86 forums and blog to make sure it’s safe and others have been successful.
To get my machine running Mac OS X, I primarily followed this TonyMacx86 step-by-step guide which walks you through the entire process. The 9to5Mac article and video linked above also has an excellent guide. In general, you need to:
Already own a Mac, download El Capitan from the App Store Have a USB stick with at least 16GB of storage Reformat the USB stick so you can boot from it Use an application called UniBeast to make the USB stick bootable Once you’ve booted from the USB stick, update some BIOS settings Install Mac OS X onto your computer’s hard drive Use an application called MultiBeast to tweak various system and driver parameters once you’ve booted into Mac OS X Download the right graphics drivers for your video card and install them onto your new Mac. Important: I had to make sure to download the right NVIDIA driver for my OS X version (10.11.5) because if you download the wrong driver, nothing works. Boot up with the nvda_drv=1 option set so your Hackintosh will use those downloaded graphics drivers. Be joyful that you have a working Hackintosh!
Not everything is rosy in Hackintosh land though, so here’s a call-out to some issues I encountered:
My audio doesn’t work. There are simple guides to make your audio work, but I haven’t followed them yet, mostly because I have a USB DAC I use, so I don’t need to use the headphone jack.
Continuity and Handoff don’t work. After a lot of research and reading, the core reason why they don’t work on most Hackintosh systems is because the chip that runs the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth needs to be a Broadcom chip which is what Apple uses for all their computers. This is the PCI-E card you need to purchase if you need Continuity and Handoff to work. I believe there are some software hacks you can use as well if you don’t want to buy that card.
iMessage on my Mac doesn’t work. Getting iMessage to work on a Hackintosh is basically the holy grail of the Hackintosh community, because its functionality is tied to your computer’s serial number and other settings, and spoofing/setting this to make iMessage work is tricky. Search for “Hackintosh iMessage El Capitan” on Google or YouTube to read more about this issue. Here’s one tutorial, but it seems a little shady.
AirDrop between this Mac and other Macs works, but I have to choose “Search for Older Macs” from AirDrop to get my Hackintosh to be discoverable. Not too annoying, but if you rely on AirDrop, keep this in mind. I’ve read that you can solve this issue by using a Broadcom Wi-Fi chip like the PCI-E card I linked above.
I had a hell of a time getting my Hackintosh to recognize and use the graphics card drivers that I downloaded. I had the right drivers, they were installed, but when I connected my monitor to my graphics card and rebooted with the nvda_drv=1 flag set (forcing my Hackintosh to use NVIDIA drivers I downloaded) the screen would go blank. After a lot of research and reading, it appears that if Mac OS X thinks your system is an iMac (you can choose what system you want to appear to be as you setup your Hackintosh, I selected a 27" iMac as it’s supposed to be a pretty compatible system definition) there’s a chance it won’t recognize a graphics card in a PCI-E slot because iMacs don’t use that slot. I found this incredible page on the TonyMacx86 forum, downloaded the AGDPFix script at the bottom of it, ran it, and now my Hackintosh works great and the graphics card is recognized. You can probably avoid this issue by choosing a Mac Pro system definition when you’re configuring MultiBeast.
Performance
People used to build Hackintoshes because they were a good bit cheaper than an equivalent Mac you could buy from Apple. Now though, since the Mac Pro hasn’t been updated in 3 years (and the components on the board were already about a year old) people are building Hackintoshes because you can build a Mac that is faster than the fastest computer Apple can sell you and, oh yeah, it costs $1,000+ less than even the base Mac Pro model. If you’re a professional photographer, programmer or video editor that currently owns a Mac Pro, Apple has forsaken you. Maybe it’s time to look into building a Hackintosh.
Here’s a comparison of my Hackintosh’s Geekbench runs compared to all other Macs. The multi-core score isn’t surprising considering my CPU only has 4 cores in it, but it does almost beat a 6-core Mac Pro. And the single core test shows my system is faster in day-to-day usage than any Mac that Apple makes.CCS offers a Screening service to determine whether your comic book is a suitable candidate for pressing, restoration or restoration removal. The screening fee is 1% of the fair market value ($10 minimum) of the comic at the time of screening.
For comic books submitted through the WalkThru tier (valued over $3,000), the 1% screening fee will be waived if a service is performed. If no service is deemed suitable for the comic, the maximum fee charged will be $50. If service is deemed suitable but you decide not to have the work done, the full screening fee will be charged.
Raw books, CGC-certified books and non CGC-certified books may be evaluated by CCS. The CCS Screening service determines whether pressing should be performed. If CCS believes that pressing would not benefit the comic, you will pay only the screening fee. If CGC-certified books submitted for screening are rejected, CCS will return the book in the CGC holder. Non CGC-certified books will be assessed through the holder, and if they are rejected they will be returned in the same holder.
If multiple comics are submitted for screening but only a portion are deemed suitable press candidates, those not receiving service will be held until pressing is complete. This allows the entire order to be transferred to CGC together.
At no time will CCS assess any grade to a comic, nor will CGC graders be made aware that CCS has pressed the comic (except in instances where restoration or removal has also been performed). The pressing of a comic by CCS may have no impact on the grade subsequently assessed by any comic book certification company or individual.
Restoration Check
A restoration check is included with each screening. If restoration is detected, it will be assessed for removal. If removal cannot be performed, the book will be rejected for service. If restoration is present and is missed during screening, and the restoration is removable, CCS will remove it for free and the book will be re-graded by CGC at no additional charge. If the restoration is not removable, all CCS and CGC fees will be refunded and the book returned raw.
Restoration Removal (Screening required)
Screening is required for books submitted for the Restoration Removal service, CCS will determine the feasibility of restoration removal and evaluate whether a comic is an appropriate candidate for restoration removal. If CCS believes that restoration removal will not benefit the comic, you will pay only the screening fee.
Certified comics will be evaluated in the holder, and if rejected for removal, will be returned in the same holder. In rare instances a certified book slated for removal may be rejected after the book is removed from the holder. If the book is CGC-certified, it will be reholdered at no cost. If the book is not CGC-certified in this case, it will be returned raw.
Restoration (Screening required)
Screening is required for books submitted for Restoration. The screening service will determine the feasibility of restoration, the extent of restoration that would be appropriate, the fee and the approximate turnaround time. If CCS believes that it should not perform restoration, you will pay only the screening fee. CGC-certified books that are rejected for restoration will be returned in the CGC holder.
Downgrades, Missed Restoration and Damage
No matter the service that may be applied, CCS does not guarantee that a comic will receive a certain grade from CGC. While rare, it is possible that a comic can receive a lower grade from CGC after pressing. Additionally, it is possible that pressing will not lead to any grade change no matter how successful the service might have been. Furthermore, because of the nature of restoration and restoration removal, CCS cannot guarantee a particular outcome. For more information, please review the CCS Services Terms and Conditions.
Because of the interactive nature of pressing, there is always a possibility of damage occurring to the comic book. This generally only happens if a comic book is in fragile condition, including books that are tanned or brittle, spines exhibiting splits, loose paper on the staples, or pieces that are barely attached. To mitigate the possibility of damage, it is recommended that each book is examined for these defects prior to submission. When in doubt, the CCS screening service should be utilized to assess safety.
Because it is impossible to ensure that damage will not occur, CCS will not be held liable for split spines, covers or pages detached from staples, or detached pieces.Five Liverpool fixtures at the outset of the new season have today been rescheduled for television coverage and Europa League commitments.
The Reds will now begin their campaign at Stoke City on Sunday August 9, with the game at the Britannia Stadium kicking off at 4pm BST.
The opening Anfield match of 2015-16, against AFC Bournemouth, has been moved to Monday August 17 at 8pm.
Exactly a week later, on Monday August 24, Brendan Rodgers' side will travel to Arsenal for an evening encounter at the Emirates Stadium.
Liverpool's trip to Manchester United, meanwhile, will now take place at 5.30pm on Saturday September 12.
All four of those matches will be broadcast by Sky Sports.
The Reds' Anfield clash with Norwich City has also been switched to Sunday September 20, kicking off at 4pm, due to the team's participation in the Europa League.
Click here for an updated 2015-16 fixture list.Retired Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Frank Barbaro wants a white man he convicted in 1999 of killing a black man to be freed — claiming Wednesday he based the verdict on his own reverse racism. The 86-year-old former jurist convicted Donald Kagan, now 39, of fatally shooting Wavell Wint, 22, during a struggle over Kagan’s chain outside an East New York movie theater in 1998.
But Barbaro told a court that, because of his viewpoint as a civil-rights activist, he didn’t consider a justification defense by Kagan in the nonjury trial.
“Mr. Kagan had no intent to kill that man... I believe now that I was seeing this young white fellow as a bigot, as someone who assassinated an African-American,” Barbaro, a former longshoreman who also served 23 years in the state Assembly, told Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice ShawnDya Simpson.
Barbaro said he contacted Kagan’s attorneys after some deep soul-searching led him to realize he had denied Kagan a fair trial.
“I never took it out of my mind. I started reading in the papers that lots of defendants were sent to death or life in prison but were subsequently exonerated. Reading those stories began to affect me,” Barbaro said.
“I was prejudiced during the trial. I realized I made a terrible mistake and there was a man in jail because of my mistake.”
Barbaro contacted defense attorney Jeff Adler, who filed a motion in 2011 to overturn Kagan’s conviction.
Brooklyn DA Homicide Bureau chief Kenneth Taub did not contest putting the case back on the calendar.
Simpson will decide how to proceed — with an outright acquittal looming as one possibility.
Other options are a retrial or a plea deal for time served – or the judge could reject Adler’s motion and leave Kagan in prison.
Barbaro said his work during the civil-rights movement fed into his bias in the trial.
“The question of discrimination against African-American people became part of my fiber — my very fiber,” he told Simpson.
Wint’s family was disgusted as they listened to Barbaro’s backtracking.
“I shouldn’t be back here reliving the past. I thought everything was over with,” said Wavell Wint Jr., who was 4 when Kagan killed his dad.
“He should be ashamed of himself as a judge,” said Wint Jr.’s mom, Carmen De Jesus.Fans are invited to pick their Least Favorite Character from Arrow Season 4.
Now that we’re on the summer break, it’s time again for this year’s GreenArrowTV Awards – honoring the best and not-so-best of the recent Arrow season.
If Twitter or the GATV comments section are to be believed Season 4 was controversial, to say the least. Some people loved it. Some people didn’t. Here’s your chance, though, to recognize the things you did (or didn’t) like.
Some housekeeping notes about the Awards can be found HERE, to prevent any confusion.
The current category now is Least Favorite Character. Names are listed in random order, so be sure to look for the one you liked the most. In the event that your least favorite Arrow Season 4 character is not listed, there’s a write-in section. Come back in a few days for another category, and if you’re really in a voting mood, the KryptonSite Awards for Supergirl have begun this year too! You can also still vote in past GATV Awards categories if you haven’t already.
See last year’s results here – Pre-order Arrow: The Complete Fourth Season on Blu-ray!? Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed sweeping anti-abortion legislation Friday, giving his state a new law to block tax breaks for abortion providers, ban sex-selection abortions and declare that life begins “at fertilization.”
Many provisions take effect in July, though the tax changes will be effective for 2014. The measure cleared the Republican-dominated Legislature by wide margins earlier this month.
The GOP governor is a strong abortion opponent who urged lawmakers to create “a culture of life” after taking office in January 2011.
“All human life is sacred. It’s beautiful,” Brownback said just before signing the measure, flanked by abortion opponents. “With this, we continue to build this culture of life in our state.”
An Associated Press photo taken before the signing shows a page of notes about the bill on Brownback’s desk that included a handwritten message at the top: “JESUS + Mary.” Further down the page were typewritten notes spelling out Brownback’s belief that the bill would create “a culture of life.”
Brownback’s communications staff was in a meeting Friday afternoon and did not immediately return messages seeking more information about the notes.
Supporters of the new law contend it will lessen taxpayers’ entanglement with abortion and declare the state’s intent to protect life at all stages. The measure is not as restrictive as laws enacted this year in North Dakota and Arkansas to ban abortions even early in pregnancy, but abortion rights supporters still believe it will significantly restrict access to abortion services.
The bill also prohibits abortion providers from being involved in public school sex education classes and spells out in more detail what information doctors must provide to patients seeking abortions.
The new law’s language that life begins “at fertilization” worries some abortion rights supporters, who believe it could be used to legally harass providers with lawsuits.
Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which performs abortions at its Overland Park clinic, called the new law “extreme.”
“Politicians should not be involved in a woman’s personal medical decisions about her pregnancy,” he said in a statement. “Let’s let real physicians practice medicine — not the ‘pretend doctors’ in the Statehouse.”
But abortion opponents call the fertilization language a statement of principle and not an outright ban on terminating pregnancies. The new law specifically notes that any rights suggested by the language are limited by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court protecting access to abortion.
In contrast, a new North Dakota law bans abortions as early as the sixth week of pregnancy and a new Arkansas law prohibits most abortions after the 12th week.
Kansans for Life, the most influential anti-abortion group at the Statehouse, has argued against pursuing such proposals in favor of less dramatic changes that are more likely to hold up in court.
The provisions in the new Kansas law dealing with tax breaks are designed to prevent the state from subsidizing abortions, even indirectly. For example, health care providers don’t have to pay the state sales tax on items they purchase, but the bill would deny that tax break to abortion providers. Also, a woman could not include abortion costs if she deducts medical expenses on her income taxes.
Lawmakers moved to ban abortions that are prompted by the baby’s gender without any solid data on how many sex-selection procedures are performed in Kansas. A 2008 study by two Columbia University economists suggested the practice of aborting female fetuses — widespread in some nations where parents traditionally prefer sons — is performed in the U.S. on a limited basis.
But legislators on both sides of the issue said the practice should be banned, regardless of how frequently it occurs.
The bill also would require physicians to give women information that addresses breast cancer as
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to endorse but as a meeting to engage in dialogue”, and that he would not be attending.
Hezekiah Walker, of the Brooklyn megachurch Love Fellowship Tabernacle, posted on Instagram: “I never had any intentions on endorsing Mr Donald Trump neither would I have never been persuaded to.”
When news of the “endorsement” meeting circulated, it prompted expressions of outrage from a host of other prominent African Americans.
'All lives matter' is and always was racist – the weekend's campaign rally proved it | Dave Bry Read more
A hundred black pastors and academics published a joint letter in Ebony magazine accusing Trump of routinely using “divisive and racist language on the campaign trail”.
The group particularly objected to the candidate’s remarks, after a Black Lives Matter activist was punched and kicked at one of his rallies, that “maybe he should have been roughed up”.
Trump also caused uproar when he tweeted an image containing crime statistics that were demonstrably wrong. For instance, they claimed that 81% of white homicide victims were killed by black people, when the FBI statistic puts that figure at 15%.A diagram reveals the origins of cerebellum, or rhombic lip, and MGE in the brains of jawless fish, including hagfish and lampreys. Photo by RIKEN/Nature
TOKYO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The complexities of the vertebrate were thought to be closely linked with the development of the jaw. Until now, researchers believed jawless fish brains lacked distinct brain components.
A re-examination of hagfish and lamprey brains suggests they are more like complex vertebrate brains than scientists previously thought.
The brain of modern humans are considerably more complex than the brains found inside the skulls of Earth's earliest vertebrates, but the basic blueprint has remained largely the same for millions of years.
Evolutionary biologists believed the brain's developmental plan was cemented in jawed vertebrates during the Paleozoic era. Two specific design components are central to this development plan -- the cerebellum and the medial ganglionic eminence, or MGE.
In vertebrates, the expression of Nkx2.1 and Hedgehog genes triggers the formation of MGE from from a forward section of the neural tube. Genes called Pax6 trigger the development of the cerebellum.
Researchers found similar but not identical gene expression, as well as cerebellum and MGE formation in hagfish. The cerebellum-like region in jawless fish is called a rhombic lip. Scientists also found the expression of Nkx2.1 and Pax6 in lampreys, but no Hedgehog genes.
Patterns of cerebellum and MGE formation in hagfish brains were more vertebrate-like than expression and formation patterns in lamprey brains.
"We found that jawed-vertebrate patterning was more similar to the hagfish than to lampreys," lead researcher Shigeru Kuratani, of Japan's RIKEN University, said in a news release, "and the evidence indicates that this is likely due to secondary evolutionary changes in lamprey evolution, rather than changes unique to jawed vertebrates."
"This firmly places the development of these genoarchitectural patterns back to a common ancestor shared by jawless and jawed vertebrates," Kuratani said.
The new research was published in the journal Nature.If you enjoy Google Play Music’s recommendations based on what you listen to, you can thank researcher Douglas Eck. The former University of Montreal computer science professor used machine learning principles on that project, and is now experimenting with it to see if he can teach computers to make art and music on their own.
Eck, along with a handful of Google Brain team members, is gearing up to launch Magenta on June 1. The project will involve the use of Google’s open-source AI platform TensorFlow to create algorithms that can generate music.
Of course, the idea is more complex than that. Eck explained:
I’m primarily looking at how to use so-called “generative” machine learning models to create engaging media. Additionally, I’m working on how to bring other aspects of the creative process into play. For example, art and music is not just about generating new pieces. It’s also about drawing one’s attention, being surprising, telling an interesting story, knowing what’s interesting in a scene, and so on.
Speaking at the recent Moogfest event in Durham, North Carolina, Eck added that the plan is to eventually move on from music, to video and other visual arts.
Using TensorFlow, which Google made available to the public last November, the team behind Magenta hopes to attract other creatives to experiment with the technology and apply it to their own work.
There’s also a plan to launch an app to showcase music and visual art borne out of the Magenta project, and gauge people’s opinion of creative work from machines.
'Magenta' is Google's new project to make art with artificial intelligence on Popular Science
Read next: Indiegogo might be better than Kickstarter for crowdfunding your next hardware projectHalloween can be fun but do not rile up people’s feelings. — AFP pic
PETALING JAYA, Nov 3 — The callous and insensitive act of some individuals dressing up as crew members and pilots from the still missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 for Halloween has caused anger and condemnation from various parties.
The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) president Ismail Nasaruddin said the union condemned the cheap publicity and deemed them as being insensitive considering the tragedy was a painful one to accept.
“Such jokes or innuendos should be refrained strongly because it may hurt the feelings of those who have lost their loved ones,” he said.
“Having a Halloween party depicting the MH370 or MH17 does not give a positive message because those are international tragedies involving many nations.”
Ismail said the individuals who were responsible should remove such photos from Facebook and Instagram before family members take legal action.
“Do not add salt to the wound as the families have suffered enough.”
The photographs, that appeared to be taken overseas, showed people in various costumes including as pilots looking dishevelled and carrying a model airplane with a sign saying they had found MH370.
There was also three women who dressed up as flight attendants with red paint on their faces. They all used hashtags like #mh370 and #malaysiaairline.
Maira Elizabeth Nari, 18, daughter of MH370 chief steward Andrew Nari said she did not really pay attention when she saw the postings but became angry when she realised what it was.
“When I paid attention and noticed the costumes, the only thing that came through my mind was ‘I found a place for them and it would be hell’. Those people think it’s really funny but it is not,” she said.
“The ill-fated flight wasn’t a joking matter and if they think this is a joke, they are sick. It is like Malaysians making fun of the World Trade Centre tragedy.”
Maira was not planning to take any legal action against them but they should know “what is right and what is wrong”.
Facebook users also went on a rampage to defend fellow grieving Malaysians.
Charles Everett on Facebook said: “These people don’t know the meaning of respect! Shame on them!”The video will start in 8 Cancel
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Many couples long for a fairytale wedding - but some want one in a galaxy far, far away.
Kevin Birch, 44, and Leanne Fagan, 34, decided to tie the knot with a Star Wars theme at Liverpool town hall.
An R2-D2 robot led the way as the bride entered the small ballroom for the ceremony, beeping, swirling and even clapping its robotic arms.
Two armed stormtroopers then flanked the bride as she made her way up the aisle, with the Star Wars’ epic soundtrack filling the room.
Guests sat watching with blue, red and green lightsabers beside their chairs, and several carried Star Wars tissue packets.
The registrar even put on a furry hat that briefly transformed her into an Ewok, while another council staff member had her hair in Princess Leia-style buns.
The Stormtroopers turned threateningly towards the audience with guns at the ready when the registrar asked if anyone had any reason why the pair should not be wed.
The Birkenhead couple, who met through work at a supermarket, then said their vows and were pronounced man and wife with Stormtroopers, a black-clad Imperial Guard and R2-D2 at their side.
The groom told the ECHO before the service: “We’re having a small nod to Star Wars, because we’re both kind of geeky and wanted a little flavour of it. Leanne’s not having bridesmaids - she’s having stormtroopers and R2-D2.”
One friend, Joanne, said afterwards: “It was true Kevin style - Kev to a tee. We knew there would be some surprises. I’m expecting some later - Marvel probably.
“They’re massive Star Wars fans. Kev can probably tell you chapter and verse of every episode.”Recently ousted FBI director James Comey has been invited to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee next Tuesday, ranking member Sen. Mark Warner Mark Robert WarnerHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid Addressing repair backlog at national parks can give Congress a big win MORE's (D-Va.) office confirmed Wednesday.
It will be a closed session, meaning the public is not invited, according to a spokesperson for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
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Comey was the face of the FBI throughout the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and alleged coordination with President Trump's campaign. He was fired by Trump on Tuesday, sparking fierce criticism from Democrats and a few Republicans.
“He was not doing a good job,” Trump said Wednesday when asked why he fired Comey. “Very simply, he was not doing a good job.”
If he appears next week, Comey is likely to face questions from the committee about both the Russia probe and the timing of his unexpected removal from the office.
Comey's successor, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, was added to the witness list for a Thursday hearing in front of the same Senate committee.
Updated: 2:18 p.m.Celebrated neurosurgeon Ben Carson has officially announced his intention to run for president.
“I’m willing to be part of the equation and therefore, I’m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States of America," Carson told Ohio's WKRC.
USA Today reports Carson also told WPEC in Florida that he will be a part of the 2016 race. Carson is expected to speak on his presidential run at an event in Detroit on Monday.
A darling of the conservative movement, Carson enters a crowded Republican field vying for a position ahead of what is expected to be a very competitive primary. He maintains a large following with grass-roots conservatives, which is likely to put him on a collision course with other potential rivals who are popular on the right, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Carson previously called being president a "horrible, stressful situation." In an interview with The Weekly Standard last year, Carson described the outpouring of support that convinced him to run, including a woman who "just kept clinging to my hand and said, 'You have to run. You have to run.'" He continued, "And so many people tell me that, and so I think I'm starting to hear something."
A December 2014 CNN poll found Carson topping his potential rivals for the GOP presidential nomination, coming in second only to 2012 presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Shortly before the poll, speculation about a potential run for Carson spiked after he shared plans to air a 40-minute introductory ad intended to give the public more insight into his background and ambitions. The announcement prompted Fox News, where Carson regularly appeared as a contributor, to sever ties with the candidate.
Carson's tea party roots and outlandish positions often draw sharp criticism from Democrats. He made headlines last year for calling Obamacare the worst thing to happen to the country "since slavery." He refused to walk back those comments, as well as ones that compared the U.S. to Nazi Germany. Carson also caused an uproar after he compared gay marriage to bestiality and pedophilia.
Most recently, Carson apologized for plagiarizing parts of his book, America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great, after a BuzzFeed report noted that several passages were lifted from other sources, including Socialismsucks.net.
Carson was born and raised in Detroit. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in psychology and later received his medical degree from the University of Michigan. He went on to teach pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded Carson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.My name is Piper Harron, and I consider myself a product of a color-blind, sexism-blind environment. Let me tell you, it sucked.
I don’t mean to say that I was aware at every step how unhappy I was with a society that centered white cis men, just that it took a lot of sacrifice, and left me feeling less than fully human.
It was a journey coming out of that. A journey that led to my PhD thesis and this blog. A journey that I describe in a talk I’ve given in various universities around the country. In my thesis, here in my personal blog, and in my talk, I give voice to all those thoughts and feelings I was never allowed to express. When you’re marginalized and someone hurts your feelings, it’s very possible that they A) didn’t mean to B) had no idea it was hurtful C) have been taught explicitly that it is okay and D) will get offended if you tell them otherwise.
In all of my non-math writings (and some of my math writings), my goal is to express myself and in doing that, to give voice to all of those people who are not saying what they feel or are not feeling what they actually feel because there is so much pressure not to.
But I don’t speak for everyone, or really anyone. I speak only for myself. My life has been unique. Yet when I talk about my own pain, I am always surprised by how much it resonates across boundaries.
The talk that I give about my journey to “liberation” is always well-received and always produces a lot of conversation afterwards. People thank me for saying out loud things they thought only they went through. People open up about situations they’ve been in and where they’ve been let down by academia. It’s really quite wonderful. And then someone will ask me, “What can white men do to make things better?” And I will look at this person who seems genuinely interested, but ultimately human, and I wonder what can this person do? I am not a solutions person. I am a naming of the unnamed person. But I feel obligated to say something useful, so I will search my mind for some kind of practical advice, and then I’ll open it up to other suggestions from the audience. This always works well, but is ultimately unsatisfying for me, because practical things that white people can do will not set me free. White supremacy is pretty adaptable; taking easy and practical steps to increase diversity is not in itself dismantling privilege, and often privilege will find a way to prevail. As important as progress and practical solutions are, what I want to talk about is ending oppression. What I want to do is upset the status quo.
So one day I sat down and thought, what is my real, completely impractical, unfeasible, non-starter answer to what white men can do? It’s they can get out the way; they can quit. Not just increase the number of seats I have at the table, but actually leave the table all together.
Why bother advising the impossible? To get people to think. I expected people to understand I offered no practical solutions, but to challenge themselves to reevaluate their current practices.
On a more plausible and yet ultimately unrealistic level, I also suggested we stop hiring white cis men, and I asked people evaluate their knee-jerk negative reaction to such a call. Why? Because if you’re comfortable with only hiring men (as long as they’re “the best”) but you can’t fathom hiring only women, that is a problem.
Who is my audience anyway? Generally speaking, when I write it is for and about myself. By extension, I am writing for and about all those people who feel the way I do. These people are disproportionately marginalized and othered members or affiliates of academia, but it’s definitely not only marginalized people and it’s definitely not all marginalized people. When I am writing something “thought-provoking” I am aiming at academics who consider themselves to be advocates for marginalized people. I expected people to understand that I am just saying my opinions on the internet with no power, and to understand I don’t speak for the AMS.
Since it needs to be said, I will say it. Yes, I want all of us to consider whether we are entitled to what we have (probably not) — that includes myself and my husband. No, I don’t want us all to be jobless. We are all people with needs, but we all need to be vigilant against an oppressive dominant culture.
Since it needs to be said, I will say it. I do not represent anyone but myself. I have the opportunity to blog for the AMS because I give voice to things that aren’t said in academia regarding inclusion and exclusion, which was one of the goals of the blog.
Anyone interested in practical initiatives should subscribe to the AMS blog “inclusion/exclusion,” which covers a wide variety of topics related to marginalized and underrepresented groups in mathematics.The science of antediluvian plushies November 18, 2012 08:21 MST
One creationist claim that's commonly laughed at is this idea that 8 people could build a great big boat, big enough to hold all the 'kinds' of animals, and that those same 8 people were an adequate work force to maintain all those beasts for a year in a confined space on a storm-tossed ark. So the creationists have created a whole pseudoscientific field called baraminology which tries to survey all of taxonomy and throw 99% of it out, so they can reduce the necessary number of animals packed into the boat. Literally, that's all it's really about: inventing new taxonomies with the specific goal of lumping as many as possible, in order to minimize the load on their fantasy boat.
In the past, I've seen them argue that a biblical 'kind' is equivalent to a genus; others have claimed it's the Linnaean family. Now, Dr Jean K. Lightner, Independent Scholar (i.e. retired veterinarian), has taken the next step: a kind is equivalent to an order, roughly. Well, she does kind of chicken out at the Rodentia, the largest and most diverse group of mammals, and decides that those ought to be sorted into families, because otherwise she's reducing the number of animals on the ark too much.
Given the characteristics that unite this order and the controversy in suborder classification, one could argue that the obvious cognitum is at the level of the order. Given my personal observations of squirrels and rats, which usually are placed in different suborders (except on the dual suborder scheme where they are both in Sciurognathi), I find this suggestion appealing. However, for the purposes of this project the order is too high for such a diverse group without considerably more evidence. For this reason the level of the kind will be considered to be at the level of the family.
She needs "more evidence" to be able to squish all of the rodents down to one common ancestor 4,000 years ago! You know, there's no evidence given anywhere in the paper: it's just a series of abbreviated descriptions of each order (or, for the rodents, family). She made this determination by looking at photos on the web. That's it. She comes to the conclusion that only 137 kinds of mammals had to be on Noah's Ark (350, if you count extinct species, which of course she should -- Ken Ham is adamant that all kinds were on the ark).
In this paper 137 kinds have been tentatively identified. If the fossil record is taken into consideration, this number could easily double. Beech (2012) listed terrestrial vertebrate families represented in the fossil record. In the list of mammals 210 to 218 families are not recognized here. This suggests that closer to 350 mammal kinds were on the Ark. The large number of extinct families may be partially from a tendency for paleontologists to be splitters. However, much of it reflects the fact that a large amount of the diversity previously found in mammals has been lost. In this serious attempt to quantify the kinds represented on the Ark, the numbers which resulted are lower than many had anticipated. Previous work had estimated the genus as the level of the kind, knowing this would significantly overestimate the number, in order to emphasize that the Ark had sufficient room for its intended purpose (Woodmorappe 1996). In discussing the results of this study with other creationists, many are surprised at how incredibly spacious the accommodations on the Ark would have been. In any case, this work is a reminder we have a Creator who cares for His creation and, even in judgment, He provides a way of salvation to those who will trust in Him.
Ah, that spacious ark. "Only" 350 mammals had to be cared for by those 8 custodians, and she hasn't considered the birds and reptiles and amphibians yet. Of course, that's still a lot of poop to shovel…except she seems to have solved that problem, too.
Here's the quality of her scholarship: this is one of her kinds, the greater gliding posum. Look carefully at that photo. Notice anything odd about it?
Maybe you'd like a closer look to be really sure. RationalWiki noticed this peculiarity.
Hmmm. It reminds me of the time we found that Harun Yahya was using photos of fishing lures to illustrate modern insects. What great science!
But it does solve a lot of problems if the ark were stuffed full of plushies! It's also a phenomenal marketing opportunity — the museum will be the gift shop!Media Release: March 29, 2016
Andrew Weaver calls for a moratorium on horizontal fracking in B.C.
For Immediate Release
Victoria B.C. – Andrew Weaver, Leader of the B.C. Green Party and MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, says that a new report linking hydraulic fracturing and increased seismic activity highlights an immediate need for the province to adopt a moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing until there is a better understanding of its risks.
“I am calling on both the government and the official opposition to join me in supporting a moratorium on horizontal fracking in British Columbia,” says Weaver. “Other jurisdictions, like Quebec, New York, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, have already suspended the practice and B.C. should follow suit.”
The study, set to be published in the journal of Seismological Society of America, surveyed seismic activity in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin over the last 25 years and found a direct link between induced earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing in BC and Alberta.
“I am calling for a moratorium on horizontal fracturing in B.C. until we establish scientific certainty on the risks it poses,” says Weaver. “Earthquakes, groundwater contamination, fresh water use, sour gas leaks, environmental degradation and terrain modification, are all concerning side effects of fracking and they warrant comprehensive and cumulative scientific review.”
In the last decade drilling in B.C.’s Northeast has increased dramatically. Every year there are hundreds of new natural gas wells drilled in the province.
“Last year we saw a 4.6 quake caused by fracking in the Fort St. John area,” says Weaver. “Now we have the scientific evidence showing a clear link between fracking and earthquakes, but we really have no idea what the risks of this increased seismic activity amount to. We are flying blind.”
“The BC Green Party has consistently called for a moratorium on fracking in our province. To continue to allow horizontal fracking in B.C. is irresponsible in light of mounting evidence.”
– 30 –
Media Contact
Mat Wright – Press Secretary Andrew Weaver MLA
1 250 216 3382
[email protected]
Reference:
Atkinson, G.M., D.W. Eaton, H. Ghofrani, D. Walker, B. Cheadle, R. Schultze, R. Shcherbakov, K. Tiampo, J. Gu, R. M. Harrington, Y. Liu, M. van der Baan, and H. Kao, 2016: Hydraulic Fracturing and Seismicity in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin Seismological Research Letters, 87(3), doi: 10.1785/0220150263.Hi, I was wondering what would happen to school in a "collapse" of the economy. Based on your experiences, would kids still be needing to go to school? Would I still need to worry about getting kids to school? And if they do need to go after a collapse, is it something you would recommend taking them to school? Or is it safer to keep them home?
Thanks!
-J
Thank you for bringing up an interesting and very relevant topic that isn’t brought up often. Other than the time spent in our homes, our work place is the one were most adults spent most of their time. When it comes to children though, that place will be the school they attend.An economic collapse such as the one that took place in Argentina directly impacts schools. Public schools and many private ones depend on government money to support themselves. To some degree, this reality affected the education on most countries around the world after the global economic crisis of 2008. While some private schools can keep up their standards by increasing the fees, other private schools may not be able to do so because parents have a more limited income. These schools only offer standards that are marginally better than public ones. This creates one of the most noticeable and more enduring levels of inequality which will stick with the child for the rest of his life. In the case of Argentina, parents have two main priorities: Pay for medical health cover and pay for a good enough school for their kids. Other than a handful of exceptional cases, public schools simply aren’t an option if you expect your child to have any kind of future.With less funds, teachers are less motivated. They make less and as time goes by becoming a teacher becomes less of a career option given the low wages and overall depressing experience of having to teach in a much more challenging environment. As the society becomes poorer, the infrastructure and supplies suffer as well. Maintenance is rarely kept up to date, even the kids clothes or school uniforms start showing their age. If this all sounds a bit depressing, its because that’s exactly how it feels.School meals suffer as well. The quality of food is worse, there’s even LESS food in the children’s plate, and I’m not talking about Argentina here, I’m talking about reports of school meals in United Kingdom in the last couple years. Both in Argentina and UK, school personal would downright lie about how much a child has been eating or how many servings they’ve had. Many parents have reported being surprised by how hungry their supposedly well fed children were after class hours.One of the most concerning aspects of post-collapse schools is safety. In the case of Argentina, pupils that went to some of the more exclusive (and more expensive) private schools were told to stop using the school uniform given that many had been kidnaped for ransom. A kid walking down the street with a uniform of a 500 USd a month school was a dead giveaway.Violence within school themselves was and still is a problem. Stress affects not only parents but children as well and the entire society becomes more violent. School fights become much worse, more brutal. In some of the worst public schools it is common for kids to beaten one another almost to death, stabbings occur practically every day and a good number of pupils attend classrooms armed with firearms. In many cases, they even do so for self-defense rather than looking for trouble. The economic polarization quickly becomes a social one as well. Since kids with money don’t attend schools where poor people go, others things to hate about one another are quickly found. Among girls, its been years now that reports of one girl being targeted, not just bullied but severely beaten or even disfigured or killed “because she was pretty”. Last week a boy almost beaten to death “because he was white”. In the case of Argentina, “being white” may be having a slightly clear colored skin compared to the group average rather than being a clear ethnic difference.If all this sounds chaotic and dangerous, its because it is so. Even in some of the more exclusive private schools the level of violence is considerably higher than in most other developed countries, simply because it has become a more violent society. No one bats an eye because of some Facebook bullying. Getting bullied in that context means getting physically beaten not just once but recurrently.Do you send your kids to school? Of course you do, its important to do so and I’ll give you several reasons. Not only does your child need to have an education, he needs to learn to handle other peers as well. Regarding education you could argue that homeschooling is just as good or even better. I’m not trying to start a debate here but I do know some very well educated home schooled children but I probably know even more children that are home schooled that simply don’t have the education level found is good students attending good schools. It really depends on the parents, how well educated they are themselves and how much time they have to spend with their children. Not everyone is capable of objective self-criticism when it comes to these two.But even more important than education, is the ability to get along and learn how to interact, even succeed and compete with others socially. If a child can’t handle other children like him, he wont be able to do so as an adult either, and believe me this will be more challenging in a post-collapse society.What you should do is find a good, safe school for your children to attend. The best one you can provide. Sometimes its about paying for it, sometimes its moving to places where you have them. It takes a bit of work but in most developed countries parents cant find a good school for their children.Besides sending your child to a good school, you need to give them the tools to defend themselves, both verbally and physically if needed. The right attitude, the right amount of self-confidence will go a long way in avoiding being targeted by bullies in the first place. When it comes to physical self-defense, I recommend teaching your child basic self-defense techniques. I specifically recommend Brazilian jiu-jitsu over all other martial arts for children. It’s one of the safest martial arts to practice for kids given the lack of punches, it focuses more on technique rather than strength (good for girls!), it is highly effective in the real-world (too much mumbo jumbo in the martial arts world) and it can be used without leaving visible wounds. Maybe your son is more than capable of putting a well-deserved beating on anyone that deserves it, but even if that’s the case he can get into trouble none the less. In places like Argentina there’ little tolerance for such nonsense and few school principals would bother a parent of a child that was clearly defending himself but in other countries this may not be the case and a “twisted arm” will get your child in a lot less trouble than a “broken nose” or even a simple bloody lip.Schools have changed quite a bit in the last few years. I’m not yet forty and I remember a very different school environment. I would have the monthly Guns & Ammo magazine which I openly read in the classroom during breaks and by the time I was fifteen years old teachers knew that if they needed to cut something I was the kid to ask for help because I always had a folding knife with me… in the classroom.Different times? My classroom was right next to the school’s air rifle shooting range. We had one in the school’s courtyard. You first learned to shoot air rifles in school, then you’d go to the Federal Shooting Club (TFLZ) and shoot 22LR and finally you learned to shoot a Mauser 1909 in 7,65 Argentino as part of the school’s curriculum.Different times indeed.Aiming with a Mauser 1909 Modelo ArgentinoFerFALPowerColor releases the first teaser of its upcoming Red Devil graphics card.
PowerColor Red Devil reborn?
It’s unclear if we are looking at RX 580 or Vega, but since RX 500 series are expected soon… this could be the new RX 580 Red Devil.
The new card received some minor changes compared to its predecessor. We are looking at a dual-fan design, similar to RX 470 Red Devil, except fans are now bigger. The teaser does not show any power connectors, but of course, it doesn’t mean it won’t have any.
On the side, we can also see a new Red Devil logo, which appears to be LED illuminated.
When it comes to display connectors, backplate, clock speeds or the price, I suppose we need a little bit longer for confirmation.
AMD Radeon RX 500 series are currently expected to launch on April 18th.
PowerColor did not comment on this story.
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Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Premier Kathleen Wynne’s minority Liberals are poised to lose two key byelections in Thornhill and Niagara Falls next week, new polls suggest. With voters casting ballots on Feb. 13, the Forum Research surveys found the governing Grits in tough in both ridings.
Progressive Conservative candidate Gila Martow, campaigning with party leader Tim Hudak in the riding of Thornhill on Jan. 21, leads the Liberal candidate by 10 percentage points in the latest poll by Forum Research. ( Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo )
In Thornhill, which had been held by retired Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman, Tory candidate Gila Martow was at 47 per cent to 37 per cent for Liberal Sandra Yeung Racco. The NDP’s Cindy Hackelberg and Green Party’s Teresa Pun were tied with 6 per cent apiece. In Niagara Falls — formerly represented by Liberal MPP Kim Craitor — the NDP’s Wayne Gates was at 38 per cent, one-time MPP Tory Bart Maves had 36 per cent, Liberal Joyce Morocco had 19 per cent, and the Greens’ Clarke Bitter 3 per cent.
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On Thursday, Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said Liberal hopes of winning Thornhill are dimming thanks in part to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent trip to Israel, which was well received in a riding where 40 per cent of residents are Jewish. “As much as there’s a done deal in politics, this is a done deal for the Tories,” said Bozinoff, noting even if the Liberals have a superior get-out-the-vote operation next Thursday it will be difficult to close the gap. Three weeks ago, Martow was at 44 per cent to 36 per cent for Yeung Racco. In that earlier poll, the Greens were at 10 per cent and the NDP at 7 per cent. But a PC victory in Thornhill could be tempered by a stinging defeat in Niagara Falls to the New Democrats. Tory Leader Tim Hudak, whose seat is now Niagara West—Glanbrook MPP, represented parts of the riding before redistribution and it includes his hometown of Fort Erie.
Bozinoff noted the Tories were at 36 per cent to 28 per cent apiece for the NDP and Liberals in Forum’s Jan. 15 Niagara Falls poll. The Greens were at 5 per cent. “There’s big movement by the NDP. They’ve got the ‘big mo’ in that riding and their get-out-the-vote (operation) could mean that we are underreporting their actual vote on election day,” he said, pointing to the NDP’s strong showing in byelections in London West last year and Kitchener—Waterloo in 2012.
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Perhaps wary of the NDP surge in Niagara, Hudak on Thursday tried to play down his party’s controversial “right-to-work” pledge that has galvanized unionists and divided Conservatives. But Bozinoff cautioned against extrapolating too much from next week’s byelection results. “It’s entirely possible that parties could be giving back these seats in a general election,” he said of a vote expected as early as May. “I think this will embolden the NDP and the NDP will conclude that, ‘Yeah, we can do this in every riding.’ I’m not sure that’s really the lesson from this.” Forum polled 576 people in Niagara Falls on Wednesday and results are considered accurate to within four percentage points, 19 times out of 20. In Thornhill, the pollster surveyed 527 people with the same margin of error of four percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Like most polling firms, Forum uses a proprietary weighting formula, which has been shared with the Star, to more accurately reflect the broader electorate. Raw data from this poll will be housed in the Political Science Data Library at the University of Toronto. In the 107-member minority legislature, the Liberals have 49 seats, including Speaker Dave Levac, the Tories have 36, and the NDP has 20. With files from Richard J. Brennan
Read more about:blood and bone and fuzzy widdle tails
The Prodigal Bun
Coming soon from Woot studios
Fist of Furry: Wǔshù Flopsy's ready to hang up the nunchuks for good, but wait! He's pulled into a world of organized crime and depravity to prevent a cabbage robbery. Ends in a frenzy of bullets and leafy greens.
The Karate Kitten: Ralph Meowcchio perfects his martial arts training under an ancient and grouchy Scottish Fold. Will he defeat Johnny Pawrence, win some sort of tournament, and also get the girl? WHO CAN SAY?? Classic underdog story, except the dog is actually the antagonist, so you won’t ultimately wanna root for him. We shouldn’t have chosen that phrase. We just made it confusing.
Krill Bill: A tiny crustacean seeks revenge against several ruthless phytoplankton that attempted to assassinate her (and her 3,000 unborn children). Incredibly violent. You don’t even wanna know about the molting.
Broodsport: Four baby eagles train to enforce justice across the
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and respect their feelings, to become comfortable and accepting of their feelings, and learn healthy strategies for responding to the demands of their feelings in order to create a happier life for themselves. Drugs hinder this progress a great deal. While they may make one’s life bearable in the short-term, only self-knowledge and self-esteem will produce lasting, long-term results by enabling you to function as your own therapist throughout the rest of your life.
The best person to evaluate whether or not a therapist is good for you is yourself. You need to understand that you are a paying customer and should expect value for the money you pay to a therapist. If you are not paying for a therapist yourself, because the government or someone else is covering the cost, you need to keep in mind how the people paying for your therapist would feel if you were to waste their money on a service that is not actually helping you, not to mention wasting your own time and delaying your own progress. By exercising discretion in your choice of therapist, you will help to weed out the bad therapists, and in turn, help to promote the good therapists, thereby improving the quality of mental health services for yourself and everyone else.
Further Reading
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199707/why-shrinks-have-problems
http://www.whatispsychology.biz/major-psychological-schools-thought
http://www.pacfa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/PACFA-Supportive-Counselling-literature-review-May-2014-Final.pdf
http://counsellingresource.com/therapy/types/effectiveness/The filing period for candidates seeking elected office in Nevada begins Monday.
The filing period begins March 7 and runs until 5 p.m. on March 18. Anyone wanting to run for any elected office in Nevada must file for candidacy as well as meet several other requirements.
Candidates must meet several requirements before they are eligible to run for office. They must be residents of Nevada of the district they wish to represent for at least 30 days before the deadline. They must also be a registered member of the party they are claiming to represent. Individuals vying for nonpartisan offices are not required to be registered with a political party.
Districts encompassing portions of more than one county must file with the secretary of state's office. Districts within a single county must file with the county clerk or registrar of voters. Candidates filing for city elections must do so with the city clerk.
A filing fee is also required unless the position is unpaid, such as for the university board of regents. The fees are as follows:
U.S. Senate - $500
U.S. House of Representatives - $300
State board of education - $200
County office - $100
State senate or assembly - $100
District office other than district judge - $30
Anyone wanting more information can call the secretary of state’s office election division at 775-684-5705 or visit the secretary of state’s website at nvsos.gov.
Read or Share this story: http://on.rgj.com/1oZZvqNEuropean politicians are rushing to deal with the refugee crisis after the human cost was tragically underlined by the heart-breaking image of Aylan Kurdi’s body being carried from a Turkish beach.
How can countries help the refugees? Here are the solutions currently being proposed.
Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, is working on plans to redistribute 160,000 refugees who arrive in Italy, Greece and Hungary, forcing countries to take in migrants, even if they do not agree. An EU source told The Times : “The politics have changed - there is opposition but it is a minority now. Binding quotas are needed.”
• How many Syrians have applied for asylum in Europe?
Germany, France and Italy support the idea, although a bloc of countries unhappy with quotas - including Bulgaria, Romania and Spain - face being outvoted over the proposals at an emergency meeting of EU interior ministers on September 14. Britain, Denmark and Ireland will not have to take any refugees under EU treaty opt-outs.
It is Mr Juncker’s second attempt to convince national governments that they need to spread the burden of refugees more evenly across the bloc. He previously suggested EU countries take a share of 40,000 migrants and refugees.
2. Buy an island to house the refugees
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has put forward his own proposal - buying a Mediterranean island to allow refugees a temporary shelter until a longer-term solution is found. Mr Sawiris, who is considering approaching the governments of Greece and Italy, admitted on Twitter that his idea was "crazy", but later insisted it was "feasible".
Greece or Italy sell me an island,ill call its independence and host the migrants and provide jobs for them building their new country — Naguib Sawiris (@NaguibSawiris) September 1, 2015
Crazy idea.. Maybe but at least temporary until they can return to their countries??!! — Naguib Sawiris (@NaguibSawiris) September 1, 2015
"You have dozens of islands which are deserted and could accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees...[as] temporary shelters to house the people, then you start employing the people to build housing, schools, universities, hospitals," he told AFP News.
Mr Sawiris will find easy support from Israeli property billionaire Jason Buzi, who recently floated his idea for a "Refugee Nation". "Many solutions are being sought for crises, both man-made and natural, it is shocking to find how few permanent solutions are being proposed," he wrote in the Telegraph. "We have a humanitarian and moral duty to try to alleviate the tremendous suffering of refugees."
Others have been suggested similar ideas, like professor David Laitin, who wrote in the New York Times that refugees could settle in Detroit and revive the ailing city.
3. The Australian solution
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott's hardline "stop the boats" policy has proven controversial, with naval gunboats being sent out to turn back asylum seekers before they reach the country. Australia bans asylum seekers from settling in the country, and instead holds them in offshore centres, where they are given the option of being resettled in Cambodia.
Mr Abbott has urged Europe to follow his example, saying in April that it was the only way to stop migrants and refugees drowning at sea. "That's why it is so urgent that the countries of Europe adopt very strong policies that will end the people-smuggling trade across the Mediterranean," he added.
The idea has attracted support, with Ukip leader Nigel Farage giving it his backing. However, the proposal garnered particular notoriety when Katie Hopkins called for "gunships" to halt boats from crossing the Mediterranean just a day after hundreds of migrants were killed off the Sicilian coast.
4. Give more
Stephen O'Brien, the United Nations' aid chief, has urged wealthy countries to increase how much they give in international aid so that refugees are not forced to seek safety in Europe.
"To that end, Britain spends more than the rest of Europe put together," The Telegraph pointed out in its leader.
5. Be like Germany and help more people
Germany has opened its doors, with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, saying all Syrian asylum seekers are welcome to remain in Germany. This has seen the number of asylum applications received by Germany from soar. In 2011, when the Syrian civil war broke out, Germany received 2,634 applications, more than Britain has received so far this year (2,475).
Compared: Syrian asylum applications to UK and Germany
UK Germany 2011 186 2634 2015 2475 44,417
Home Office/Federal Ministry of the Interior
The number of applications received by Germany this year has rocketed up to 44,417. The country had 41,100 applications from Syrians in 2014, giving asylum to 31,565 of them, at an approval rate of 76.8 per cent. Germany has given asylum to 38,180 Syrians between 2011 and 2014, vastly more than the number given asylum by Britain since 2011 (5,102).
6. Fly them over here to stop them risking their lives
Under the Geneva Convention, Europe is duty-bound to protect any "person owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion".
And so one idea is to fly them over as temporary refugees so their cases can be examined, and they won't need to risk their lives on boats.
"A flight would be less expensive and infinitely less risky," François Dufour writes in the Telegraph. "The common sense solution is to grant them refugee or protected person status in situ."
7. The Mitchell method
Photo: Getty
Andrew Mitchell, the former minister for international development, has floated the idea of putting British troops on the ground in Syria to protect "safe havens".
"We need a massive international diplomatic effort to set up safe enclaves," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme. "Ideally Britain would not be involved in putting troops on the ground, but we should be willing to consider that, bearing in mind that this is not the offensive programme by troops that people in Britain sometimes recoil from, it is a defensive action. It would need to be done under the United Nations charter, probably with a chapter 7 mandate which would enable them to defend themselves.
"We're talking about an international body, hopefully composed of troops from Jordan, Egypt and other countries in the region willing to shoulder the burden but it would need to have massive capacity to defend itself and those in the enclave, were they to be attacked, but it would not attack anyone, it would defend the people in the enclave."i-League Season 3 announced with a $300,000 prize pool
ImbaTV has announced the third iteration of i-league. i-League season three will feature a 2,000,000 RMB (~$300,000) prize pool which will be fought over by eight teams from around the world. Notable teams in the tournament are Old Boys and LGD Gaming.
The event will consist of five Chinese teams and a team from the SEA, NA and European team. Only one team received a direct invite to the tournament, they are defending champions LGD Gaming. The other seven teams will be required to play through a qualifier. The LAN finals is scheduled for May 19-24.
There will be two formats for the qualifiers, one for the Chinese qualifiers and one for the other regions. The format for the non-Chinese qualifiers are a single elimination best of three bracket where the winner receives the invite, for the EU/NA qualifiers EG's manager confirmed on Twitter that EG has rejected their qualifier participation. Qualifiers for Europe and North America as well as South East Asian qualifiers will be held from April 6 to April 19, after that the Chinese qualifiers will commence.
The Chinese qualifiers will be split into two stages, an open qualifier and an invitation based qualifier. The first stage, the open qualifier will see teams who signed up split into two group; in the groups, the teams will battle it out in a single elimination best of one format until the last one standing. The winners of their groups will then proceed to the invitation based qualifier where they will be split into two groups of six where they will play out a best of two round robin; top two of their group gets a direct invite. It is worth noting that OldBoys, a team consisting of retired legends of the Dota2 scene such as Cen 'YYF' Jiang and Zuo '820' Yi Tian will be participating in stage one of the Chinese qualifiers.
i-League is a tournament who has a history of facing multiple issues, problems from previous events include ambiguous prize pool and multiple teams pulling out, in i-League season two, they got into a spat over the banning of Cloud9 from participating in the tournament due to their last minute and 'unreasonable' pull out.
Source: ImbaTv, Charlie Yang's Twitter
Headline image by StarLadder
More content on GosuGamers10:00 AM. Open. The employees were jogging around the restaurant, making quick fixes to anything that needed so before the customers came crashing in. Chairs were lined up neatly by the tables, party hats for every kid lay on top of each plastic seat. William was hiding away in the backroom, overlooking the papers one too many times, being sure to remember his plan. He set down the dusty papers, once again snapping out of distraction, and began to pace towards the two suits in the back, their clean yellow fur sticking to whatever touched it. The sounds of laughing children erupted from outside, flooding the dining room's every corner. Not yet. Don't do it to them now. Be patient. Will sighed and began to reach toward one of the suits. It was a bunny, sporting a violet bowtie and buttons all down its chest. William picked the creature up and flipped it around to the back, revealing a shiny steel crank, half-connected to every mechanism in the ornate workings of the suit. Release and tighten the locks, Will. You've done this for years, he thought to himself. It shouldn't be that freaking hard. Turning the handle around and around, the innards of the suit clicked and compressed, sliding crudely to the edges of the costume. Springs snapped, holding the robotic parts of the suit.. somewhat secure. Sliding the suit over his body, William no longer had to be the slouchy, grouchy person he usually was. He could control the character, something he enjoyed most about working here. It made everything okay. He was not William Afton, but Spring Bonnie in this costume. It was.. gratifying. Will burst out of the backroom, bowing and dancing for the children while singing through the wide gape of the costume's mouth. For hours, he held back the locks while running across the pizzeria, all the while waiting for his chance.... Finally. The clock struck three. The parents of all the little children were already tiring, but the kiddos were still slapping their sticky pizza-covered hands all over the glitched arcade games. Will began to creep closer to the arcades, looking for just the right children to pluck. As children circled around him in excitement, Will found just the right idea. Speaking in the silly, cartoonish voice of Spring Bonnie, William shouted to the children. "Heeeey kids! Who wants a big surprise from Spring Bonnieeee?" Kids began to yell and shout "ME!" and "Me, pleaseee!" all around. Beneath the sweaty golden bunny mask, William smirked. You have no idea, he thought. No idea at all. Thinking carelessly, he randomly picked four of the children in the enormous crowd. The chosen ones all squealed in glee, and the ones left behind groaned and sobbed, slouching in disappointment. Spring Bonnie and the kids began skipping along to the backroom, oblivious to what was to come to them. As Spring Bonnie waved the ecstatic kiddos into the dark, musty room, they all carved looks of confusion on their faces. Slamming the door shut, William faced the kids in the dark once more. Cackling louder than a pack of hyenas on high, Will snagged a rusted screwdriver from the table in the pitch-black room. The young children began to cry and shriek, but that only gave a way for the masked maniac to hunt them down. One by one, he clutched the children and drove the old screwdriver straight through their hearts, blood the color of red velvet dribbling down their shirts and dresses as they coughed and cried. After all of them were dead as doorknobs, the killer rested in the backroom until hours past closing, thinking about how far he'd come today. He was about to blow the world's minds with this theory, this path to creating life in something lifeless. If it worked, he'd have riches, awards, everything... but if it didn't, he'd still be a man without family. A man without home. A man without.. anything. A man without hope. This project was his turning point in life. My chance. Even past the pure brutality of his experiment, he thought to himself as he left the back room and began to carry the heavy animatronic beasts from the shining stage into the room he stayed in. One by one, he took the corpses of children and carefully placed them inside the near-hollow bodies of the robo-performers, completing the procedure he had studied for so long. As he left the restaurant in the dark of the night, rabbit suit still on, he pondered to himself once more.
Curiosity is natural, naturally twisted. Is there really any exception?21 February 2016 (programming language java)
I've been spending a couple weeks now on getting Időrégész to Android in the best possible way. Időrégész is the Hungarian text adventure game from the '80s that I reverse-engineered and then re-implemented in Inform. My original plan was to just implement a Glulx interpreter; however, initial experiments with a Clojure implementation weren't too promising on the performance front.
I decided to turn to compilation instead of interpretation, then: take the Inform-emitted Glulx image, and compile that directly to the JVM. Of course, that approach would have its own problems with self-modifying code, but my goal is just to get it working well enough that I can compile Időrégész, which is very vanilla as far as Inform programs go.
Most instructions of Glulx map to JVM instructions in a relatively straightforward manner; some unsigned integer operations are implemented by hand in Java and then called via invokestatic. The rather baroque string compression is currently handled at compile time, by just emitting a single Java function that looks like this:
public String resolveString(int ptr) { switch (ptr) { case 32851 : return "Class" ; case 32857 : return "Object" ; case 32863 : return "Routine" ; // and so on... }
However, there is one aspect of Glulx that makes the compilation trickier than a straightforward mapping of procedures to procedures and calls to calls: some Glulx opcodes provide fairly detailed access to the runtime state. For example, save must be able to serialize enough of the state that it can later load that back and continue with the next instruction.
In an interpreter, this is a trival matter, since things like the VM's memory and the stack are already reified data structures. However, if it's compiled to JVM, the state of the Glulx program and the state of the JVM is one and the same; so how do you then save it — from the inside?
The solution is to not use the JVM's stack as the Glulx stack; rather, function calls are compiled to areturn instructions that return a small Java object describing which function to call and where to jump back once its result is available. Returns are also compiled to areturn instructions, but this time returning an object describing the result value. Function-local variables and the per-function stack are passed to the generated JVM code as function arguments:
Each Glulx function is compiled into a class that extends the Glulx.Fun class, defined in Kotlin as:
package Glulx abstract class Fun { abstract class Cont { class Return(val value : Int) : Cont() class Call(val args: IntArray, val nextFun : Fun, val contPC : Short) : Cont() } class Result(val value : Int, val contPC : Short) abstract fun enter(stub: Stack.CallStub?, args: IntArray): Stack.CallFrame abstract fun exec(result: Result?, localVars: IntArray): Cont }
Since the JVM doesn't support computed jumps, the continuation address contPC is handled by starting the exec of each Fun with a big tableswitch. Here's an example of a recursively defined factorial function (using the Krakatau JVM assembler's syntax):
.method public exec : (LGlulx/Fun$Result;[I)LGlulx/Fun$Cont;.code stack 10 locals 10 aload_1 ifnull LSTART aload_1 invokevirtual Method Glulx/Fun$Result getContPC ()S tableswitch 0 LCONT0 default: LSTART LSTART: ;; if V0=0, jump to base case aload_2 ldc 0 iaload ifeq L0 ;; START call FACT(V0-1) ldc 1 newarray int dup ldc 0 aload_2 ldc 0 iaload ldc 1 isub iastore new Glulx/Fun$Cont$Call swap dup2 getstatic Field Glulx/Image/FACT fun LGlulx/Fun; ldc 0 invokespecial Method Glulx/Fun$Cont$Call <init> ([ILGlulx/Fun;S)V pop areturn LCONT0: aload_1 invokevirtual Method Glulx/Fun$Result getValue ()I ;; END call FACT(V0-1) ;; Note the code generated for the call spans an areturn! ;; Multiply result by V0 aload_2 ldc 0 iaload imul ;; Return result -- this is the "real" return new Glulx/Fun$Cont$Return swap dup2 invokespecial Method Glulx/Fun$Cont$Return <init> (I)V pop areturn L0: ;; For the base case, we just return 1 new Glulx/Fun$Cont$Return dup ldc 1 invokespecial Method Glulx/Fun$Cont$Return <init> (I)V areturn.end code.end method
Running these functions then becomes a matter of mere stack juggling, implemented again in Kotlin:
package Glulx class Stack { class CallFrame(val parent: CallStub?, val localVars: IntArray) { constructor(parent: CallStub?, localVarCount: Int): this(parent, IntArray(localVarCount)) fun storeArgs(args: IntArray) { for(i in args.zip(localVars).indices) localVars[i] = args[i] } } class CallStub(val parent: CallFrame, val parentFun: Fun, val parentPC : Short) } fun run(startFun: Fun) { var frame = startFun.enter(null, IntArray(0)) var fn = startFun var result : Fun.Result? = null while (true) { val cont = fn.exec(result, frame.localVars) when (cont) { is Fun.Cont.Return -> { val stub = frame.parent if (stub == null) return frame = stub.parent fn = stub.parentFun result = Fun.Result(cont.value, stub.parentPC) } is Fun.Cont.Call -> { val stub = Stack.CallStub(frame, fn, cont.contPC) fn = cont.nextFun frame = fn.enter(stub, cont.args) result = null } } } }
In the real implementation, there's slightly more state to pass around: Fun.exec also gets as argument an instance of a generic Environment class which it can use to e.g. access the main Glulx memory, or to issue Glk calls; and there are some boring details about handling both 32-, 16- and 8-bit local variables.UPDATE: A representative for Nintendo provided the following statement to IGN about Scott Moffitt's exit from Nintendo:
Scott Moffitt, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, has decided to leave Nintendo of America. In order to ensure a smooth transition, Scott will continue to work through the end of July. Nintendo has a strong group of seasoned leaders in place who will step in to assume the full responsibilities of the role on a permanent basis, with the objective of driving more collaboration and greater efficiencies across these groups and among the respective leaders. We thank Scott for his years of service and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Original story follows:
Sources at Nintendo have told IGN that executive VP of sales and marketing Scott Mofitt will leave the company later this summer.
The split between Moffitt and Nintendo was described by sources as "amicable." Moffit will remain with company until an unspecified date later this summer. Nintendo has decided to permanently dissolve the position of executive VP of sales and marketing. The responsibilities of this role will be split among members of the company's existing staff.
Moffitt joined Nintendo in 2011 after a five year run at Henkel Consumer Goods, where he served as a senior vice-president and oversaw personal care brands like Dial, Right Guard, and Tone. Moffitt's extensive experience in marketing includes a seven year stint at PepsiCo.
Nintendo's Scott Moffitt SpotPass your Nintendo 3DS.
Nintendo’s executive VP of sales and marketing position was previously held Peter Main, who retired in 2001, and later by current NoA president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime in 2003. Cammie Dunway filled the role until she left the company in 2010.
Jose Otero is an Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. You can follow him on Twitter.There is a predominant attitude in both urban and rural communities that the perfect yard is the one that looks like a golf course. Green grass without dandelions or any other weeds, all trimmed to the same height, is perceived by most as perfection regardless of the chemicals needed to achieve the look. Even during times of extreme drought it is normal for some to do anything including trucking water to keep it green. Given this predominate cultural norm it is considered extreme and even radical to support rewilding but none-the-less the movement is growing.
Rewilding does not have to be radical or abnormal. It is simply giving back spaces to allow Nature to thrive and may include reintroducing species.
The Rewilding Institute of North America, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, states its mission is:
“To develop and promote the ideas and strategies to advance continental-scale conservation in North America, particularly the need for large carnivores and a permeable landscape for their movement, and to offer a bold, scientifically-credible, practically achievable, and hopeful vision for the future of wild Nature and human civilization in North America.”
/riˈwīld/ verb to reverse the process of domestication. to return to a more wild or self-willed state.
Source: Rewild.com
At Rewild.com home it is stated:
Rewilding means restoring ancestral ways of living that create greater health and well-being for humans and the ecosystems that we belong to. Many things lead people to rewilding — concern over ecological collapse or economic uncertainty, health problems, a nagging sense of something missing in life, or a desire to “save the world” — but from those starting points we come together in a desire to rewild our homes, our communities, and ourselves. Rewilding learns from the examples of indigenous people past and present provided by anthropology, archaeology, and ethnobiology. It means returning to our senses, returning to ourselves, and coming home to the world we never stopped belonging to.
My Mother was the first one who educated me on what it meant to rewild your own back yard. In sharp contrast to her sister who lived next door and had highly structured and cultivated gardens, Mom decided she would include brush piles, a stinky Lotus Pond in her yard architecture. She allowed overgrowth in certain areas in order to nurture wildlife. She learned about the National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Habitat certification program and maintained her own certification proudly in a frame in her office for all to see. She constantly faced criticism and challenges from her sister who would actually sneak over with her big bottle of Roundup to kill off what she thought were unsightly weed piles. It was a never ending battle for Mom who lived in a very rural area. But what I learned from her I brought home to the city and hope to share with others.
One of the most important elements for rewilding any environment is water. Most creatures need water. In a rural setting it’s not unusual for farms to have ponds or creeks but in an urban center it’s much more difficult for wild creatures including birds and insects to find water. Ecosystems need species diversity to really thrive so having water is critical. It is popular to put out bird feeders but less so for water feeders yet there are many options such as normal birdbaths, hanging bird waterers or birdbaths, or other yard water ornaments and features. It can be a wonderful feeling to see lots of different creatures sharing a water source.
Creatures need shelter and food as well. There is the myth that you should not feed animals because it attracts them and all their kin. The truth is that the animals are already there. If they are desperate enough they will search in places you may not prefer they invade. If you start to provide and then abruptly leave off giving water and food they may temporarily search but will eventually move on to try and satisfy their needs. These creatures deserve to live in these spaces as much as we do. That may be considered a radical notion but we are all members of the same tree of life. We all have a name in the animal kingdom. The brutal truth is we developed land which should be shared by all of us. Is it not our moral responsibility to give back?
Animals are not all that there is to rewilding. The importance of flora to all of us cannot be understated. It’s time to plant more in our yards including precious weeds, for example Milkweed which is critical to monarch butterflies. But it is trees we need more of so instead of cutting down that tree, plant more. If you must cut down a tree, replant one in it’s place. Don’t just cut down a tree because it blocks your view or you worry about it hurting your home.
I had a disturbing experience when I discovered a neighbor had cut down a tree in the back corner of my yard while I had temporarily been living elsewhere and the tenant in my house did not notice or realize what had happened. When I returned the neighbor came to visit and asked to cut down another tree so she could get some sun on the garden she’d chosen to put in that back corner of her yard. She had numerous other options for her garden but wanted it in that particular place. I pointed out that with the changing movement of the Sun over the course of the season there would never be adequate sunlight for full sun plants to grow in that particular location. She disagreed and walked away quite unhappy with my decision to not allow the tree be cut down. She also seemed completely unaware of the irony of her making her request on Earth Day.
My neighbor on the other side was also insisting I cut down some of my trees. She claimed that the squirrels were using it to get on her roof and into her attic. Seriously. It’s time to think about what is being cut down and for what reason. Not just at home but by cities and other officials. It’s time to cultivate, reuse, and rewild for all our sake. It’s time to educate and share why such notions are invalid. For this particular neighbor I pointed out she had many trees of her own which a squirrel could easily use to gain access to the roof and perhaps she could get some help appropriately sealing up her attic.
There are those who believe we need to rewild ourselves. From March 27, 2015 Huffington Post:
“ReWilding is — in its essence — a celebration of our natural selves,” Vitalis told The Huffington Post. “It is about living a life aligned with our biology and experiencing the sheer pleasure of fulfilling our biological drives.” Put more simply, ReWilding is about getting in touch with our “caveman” sides: hunting and gathering, spending time in the sun, drinking water from from natural streams and bathing in hot springs, to name a few ReWilding options. So, who’s trying ReWilding? Vitalis tells HuffPost that the ReWilding movement has about 100,000 followers. Although the majority of Vitalis’ followers are between 18 and 34 years old, some are over 70. Actress Shailene Woodley has spoken about the ReWilding lifestyle, and writer Eliza Krigman wrote a story about her month of ReWilding for the January issue of Marie Claire.
This sort of rewilding would be very good for all of the Earth’s ecosystems. Unfortunately you will most likely put your health at risk if you “drink water from a natural stream” in most places in this day and age. But the notion of rewilding ourselves is a healthy one and helps to combat the growing fear of Nature that is being seen in children in the USA. And not just children but also their parents and others who have completely lost touch with the natural world and only see it as a threat. When did we become so saturated with fear for all things? Please consider rewilding your spaces. There are thousands of ideas and approaches. Just check out some videos on the topic on YouTube. And remember, it isn’t just about changing your space, it’s changing attitudes; yours, your friends and family, your neighbors, and our culture in general. It is vital for the health and well being of all of us and it is the one thing we could all have in common, the one thing that could unite us in these very challenging times.I’m liking a number of things about the LDS Church’s new #LighttheWorld campaign, which officially kicks off today with a “Worldwide Day of Service” and runs through Christmas.
First, let me explain what it is: for the 25 days between now and Christmas, people (who may or may not be Mormon) are encouraged to do one act of service a day to bring Christ’s light into the world. That’s it. Just one small thing.
As Elder David Bednar explains it, the intent is not “to overwhelm people” by adding more to-do items to an already busy season. “These are very basic, simple things from the life of Christ.”
As you can see from the calendar, each day has a simple theme based on something Jesus did—Jesus healed the blind and so can you, Jesus forgave others and so can you—and a few options for service related to that theme. (Download the daily calendar as a PDF: english-25-days-calendar.)
I’m a fan of this for several reasons.
This is pretty low-key.
Apart from today, the “Worldwide Day of Service” in which we’re all encouraged to get out in our communities and do something for charity, many of the suggestions are things you can implement in your life as it’s already constituted. The campaign just encourages you to be a little more aware of the specific needs of the people who are around you, and to follow through with some small act of kindness.
It doesn’t have that smarmy “Look at the Mormons! We are so awesome!” flavor.
This doesn’t feel like missionary work dressed up as community service, which I think has too often been the case. Some of the church’s previous efforts seemed to me like thinly disguised attempts to get people in our pews and garner positive media attention for our activities. It was all about us.
Here, the LDS Church’s presence behind the campaign is more muted. Apart from a gentle suggestion on the first Sunday of the month to “attend a church service in your area—you’re always invited to one of ours,” there’s no mention of the campaign’s sponsoring religion except in its logo and listed website.
It gets Mormons out of their silos.
While anyone can do this and I’m sure the Church hopes that lots of non-Mormons will participate, I’d guess that the vast majority of folks who take up this call will already be LDS.
Even so, the way the effort is worded and structured helps to get those Mormons out of their bubbles. This is not “Find someone in the ward who needs a visit,” but “Find someone in your wider community who needs a visit without necessarily imposing your beliefs.”
Mormons can be fairly insular people. The advantage of this is that we have tight-knit congregations, but the drawback is that we tend to expend most of our service efforts on our own ward family. Hopefully, Mormons will listen up that this is called #LighttheWorld and not #LighttheWard.
It gets us back to basics and reminds us that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
Christmas is supposed to be about Christ’s advent into the world, bringing light into the darkness. Sometimes it’s easy for me to forget that, either because of happy reasons (cookies! presents!) or dark ones (election!).
The #lighttheworld campaign helps me remember Christ by doing, which I find is the best way for me to learn. As Elder Bednar said, “What we hope people will do is not simply think about the Savior during this Christmas season, or even just learn more about him. What we hope is that they will come to know him by doing what he did.”
So, yeah. I will be part of this effort. Knowing me, I am not going to remember every day of December, but I can start today. I’m heading off to give blood this afternoon. And tomorrow (a day set aside for honoring parents) I’m going to go through a couple of my mom’s boxes in the basement, remember her intelligence and humor and love, and pray for her.
These are very small things, but in the aggregate—with thousands of people trying to #LighttheWorld—I have to believe they make a difference.A major topic in cognitive science is how what goes on inside us tracks what is happening around us. How do processes inside us, connected in one way or another to our neural states, 'tell us' that some object has been encountered before? How do our brains mark the difference between an object's moving towards us and our moving towards it? And so on. We can all agree that these are important questions in cognitive science, but how do they connect with the questions that dominate much recent work in the philosophy of mind and language?
One way to forge the connection is via a causal theory of reference set within RTM -- the representational theory of mind most especially associated with the first-named co-author of this book. Thoughts are mental representations that, as a matter of fact, are or are realized in neural states. They express propositions. They are compositional in somewhat (somewhat) the way sentences that express propositions are, and some of their parts express concepts. These parts will have various causal connections with happenings around us, and some of these causal connections will, the causal theory of reference tells us, be what makes it the case that these parts refer to this, that or the other thing. On this way of forging the connection, the heavy lifting is being handed over to the notion of reference understood in a broadly causal way. But now we have an obvious question to address. Don't we need, in the philosophy of mind and language, a notion of sense or meaning in addition to a notion of reference, and the distinction between intension and extension?
Jerry Fodor and Zenon Pylyshyn's guiding idea is that we had better be able to manage with reference alone, for reference, understood in causal terms, is the only naturalistically respectable weapon at our disposal. As they put it, "we think that PRS [purely referential semantics] is the only available candidate for a naturalistic science of cognition" (p. 147). Well it isn't quite that simple (of course). We can give ourselves more than reference alone, but what we
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the skies, trying to push the limits of our Earthly boundaries. With all the new discoveries it’s just a matter of time before we take to the stars ourselves.
NASA’s Kepler mission (named for the space telescope) has discovered Kepler-10b, its first rocky planet outside our solar system. Its surface is thought to be more than 2500 degrees Fahrenheit (hotter than lava flows on Earth), so I doubt we’ll be moving there anytime soon, but hey, at least they’re looking.
Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone, the region in a planetary system where liquid water can exist on the planet's surface. However, since it orbits once every 0.84 days, Kepler-10b is more than 20 times closer to its star than Mercury is to our sun and not in the habitable zone.
"All of Kepler's best capabilities have converged to yield the first solid evidence of a rocky planet orbiting a star other than our sun," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler's deputy science team lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and primary author of a paper on the discovery accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. "The Kepler team made a commitment in 2010 about finding the telltale signatures of small planets in the data, and it's beginning to pay off."
"The discovery of Kepler 10-b, a bona-fide rocky world, is a significant milestone in the search for planets similar to our own," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Although this planet is not in the habitable zone, the exciting find showcases the kinds of discoveries made possible by the mission and the promise of many more to come," he said.
You can see other Kepler related videos here.
(Source Nasa.gov)MAYKOP/GVARDEYSKOYE, Russia (Reuters) - In the video, a man in an orange jump suit kneels beside a lake in Syria and confesses in Russian to spying on Islamic State militants. Another Russian speaker, this one in camouflage fatigues, then uses a hunting knife to hack off the kneeling man’s head.
(L-R) Minkail Temiev, Viktor Zyzin and Magomed Khasiev, pose for a picture in a park in the southern city of Maykop, Russia in this handout photo provided to Reuters by Viktor Zyzin. REUTERS/Viktor Zyzin/Handout via Reuters
When Islamic State posted this footage online on Dec. 2, it brought the distant Syria conflict home to ordinary Russians. Here, in high-definition video, appeared to be one young Russian killing another for reasons few people could understand.
It also opened up another mystery.
The prisoner and alleged spy in the video said his name was Magomed Khasiev, that he was from Russia’s mainly Muslim region of Chechnya, and that he worked for Russian intelligence.
Pro-Kremlin Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov quickly denied Khasiev was a spy.
But interviews with more than a dozen people who knew Khasiev in Russia suggest the 23-year-old man had connections to both Muslim groups and Russian security and seemed to live a double life.
An ethnic Russian born to a non-Muslim family in Russia’s industrial heartland, Khasiev spent his teenage years among Chechens who knew him as a devout Muslim and a fluent Chechen speaker. Some of his Chechen friends went off to fight for Islamist militants in the Middle East, and encouraged him to join them.
In his other life he associated with non-Muslims, had a friend in the police, and had a license from the Interior Ministry to work as a security guard, according to a former teacher, a friend, and staff of several security companies. For some purposes, including his work, Khasiev used the name he was given at birth: Yevgeny Yudin.
If his testimony on the video is to be believed, Khasiev ended up caught in the murky world between official Russian involvement in the conflict in Syria and the jihad that several thousand citizens of Russia and other former Soviet republics have joined.
Neither Russia’s Federal Security Service – the intelligence agency Khasiev claimed he was working for – or Russia’s Interior Ministry responded to requests for comment on the case.
ORPHANAGE
According to his file at an orphanage in Chechnya, Khasiev was raised for the first decade of his life by his mother, an ethnic Russian. When he was 10, she handed him to the orphanage for reasons the file does not make clear. Soon after, the documents show, his mother died of tuberculosis.
In the orphanage, Khasiev, or Yudin at that time, learned Chechen, gave himself the Muslim first name Magomed and converted to Islam.
The former head of the orphanage, Ruslan Yusupov, remembers Khasiev playing with his own children and grandchildren. “He was soft as a kitten. He loved attention and care so much.”
After three years, Khasiev was adopted by a Chechen family and took the last name of his adoptive mother Markha Khasieva. But she returned him to the orphanage a year later because of tensions between her and other relatives. Khasieva told Reuters she had nevertheless stayed in touch with the boy and cared for him.
In 2008, Russia’s then Interior Minister, Rashid Nurgaliev, visited the orphanage to talk to potential new recruits for the Suvorov academy, an new elite military school.
According to orphanage staff, Khasiev, then 16, was keen to enroll but was rejected as too old. His best friend at the orphanage, Minkail Temiev, did qualify.
TRUE CHECHEN?
Khasiev was sent to a college in Maykop, capital of the predominantly Muslim Russian region of Adygeya, some 500 km (310 miles) from the Chechen capital Grozny.
There, according to friends and family, Khasiev moved in two sets of social circles.
In one, he maintained his Chechen identity and stayed in touch with his adoptive family and old friends, including Temiev. According to orphanage staff, Temiev in fact followed Khasiev to Maykop.
At college, Khasiev was registered by his Russian name. But he told teachers he wanted to be called Magomed. “At first, he corrected his teachers,” his supervisor Tatiana Maystrevskaya recalled. “I told him: Once you change your documents, I will call you Magomed. He didn’t object to that.”
Acquaintances outside college, many of them Chechens, always knew him as Magomed. “He wasn’t any different from us, he spoke pure Chechen. Many people didn’t even know he was Russian,” said one of Khasiev’s Chechen friends.
Khasiev eventually changed his name officially to Magomed Khasiev by applying for a new passport, according to Viktor Zyzin, a close friend and an ethnic Russian.
But despite his insistence on using a Muslim name, Khasiev did not appear to be a Chechen nationalist or radical, Zyzin said. A 2011 posting on Khasiev’s account on Vkontakte, the Russian version of Facebook, shows him posing next to a poster of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov. The Chechen leader helped the Kremlin defeat a Muslim insurgency in the North Caucasus and is considered by Muslim militants to be an infidel.
And Khasiev had plenty of non-Muslim friends, including Zyzin and an ethnic Armenian called Grant.
In the video of his beheading, Khasiev describes Grant as an old acquaintance and the conduit to Russian special services through which he passed the intelligence he collected on Islamic State militants.
A Chechen friend of Khasiev told Reuters Grant served in the police. Two other people who knew Khasiev, including Zyzin, said they had met Grant but did not know where he worked.
Reuters has not been able to establish Grant’s family name or other details about him. Officers in the regional police department of Adygea and the city police of Maykop said nobody of that name worked for them. The Interior Ministry in Moscow did not reply to a request for comment.
RADICAL FRIEND?
At the end of 2013, Khasiev was hired by Sherif M, a security company in Maykop. According to Anzor Takhumov, head of a local security guard school, Khasiev had applied for an Interior Ministry license to work as a guard a few years earlier using the name Yudin. That was also the name he used to get his job.
Just a few months after he began working, Zyzin said, Khasiev sold an apartment he had bought under a Russian government scheme designed to help orphans.
It is not clear how he ended up in Islamic State territory in Syria, but members of Khasiev’s adoptive family in Chechnya suspect his old friend Temiev may have played a role.
They believe Temiev had become radicalized. Markha Khasieva said her adoptive son had told her that Temiev had tried to recruit him to join Islamist fighters, but that Khasiev had rejected the offer. She remembers Temiev showing up at a funeral wearing a long beard, a style often associated with followers of hardline Islam. Family members joked that he looked like Karl Marx.
According to people who knew him, Khasiev enjoyed drinking and dating girls and showed no sign of Islamist sympathies. “He did not have any extremist views,” said Ruslan, Markha Khasieva’s nephew.
Nevertheless, Khasiev left Russia at some point last year. His adoptive family in Chechnya had little idea where he had gone. “We thought he was off working somewhere,” said Malika Khasieva, his adoptive aunt.
Khasiev did keep in touch with his Russian friend Viktor Zyzin, sending him messages from the outskirts of Kobani, a Syrian town near the border with Turkey that was the center of a battle between Islamic State and Kurdish forces.
Zyzin said he believed his friend went there to follow Temiev. But he quickly discovered that Temiev had been killed, Zyzin said, citing messages Khasiev had sent him.
A prisoner who identified himself as Magomed Khasiev, a Russian national who grew up in the Chechnya region, speaks in this still image taken from an undated video in an unknown location. REUTERS/Social media via Reuters TV
In his messages, Khasiev referred to his fellow fighters as “brothers” and started using common Islamic expressions more and more often. Zyzin said his friend told him “he simply collected dead bodies... He told me he was tired of picking up pieces.”
The last message from Khasiev was in February. Zyzin had asked his friend to come home.
“He said that he may come to visit. But at the end he wrote that he got tired. He sent voice messages. Back then I realized already, that he would not come back. There is simply no way back from there.”"The Islamic Republic of Iran congratulates the Muslim people of Libya whose firm stand in recent months portrayed another symbol of popular movements in the region," a foreign ministry statement carried by the official IRNA news agency said.
"The popular uprising in Libya once again showed that submitting to the legitimate demands of the people and respecting their opinions is an undeniable necessity," the statement said.
"As always, the Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to share its experiences on the path to realising freedom, justice,... and development... with the brother nation of Libya."
Relations between Shiite majority Iran and Moamer Kadhafi's regime were soured by the disappearance in Libya in 1978 of the Iranian-born Imam Moussa Sadr, who is considered a spiritual leader of Lebanon's Shiites.
Imam Sadr campaigned in the 1970s to improve conditions for Shiites, who were largely under-represented in Lebanon's political life but vanished without trace on a visit to Libya.
Since the Libyan uprising erupted in mid-February, Iran has adopted a dual approach -- criticising the Kadhafi regime for its violent assaults on the rebels while at the same time condemning NATO's military intervention.
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in March condemned NATO's involvement, saying it was aimed at "getting their hands on Libya's oil" as he offered support to the rebels.
"They (NATO) claim they want to defend the people by carrying out military operations or by entering Libya... You did not come to defend the people, you've come after Libya's oil," said Khamenei, who has the final say on Iran's national issues.
Short link:Proverbs 17:22 – A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
I like humor, I like jokes, I like elaborate stand up lines, I like simple but catchy one-liners… As of late I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts on my way to work; The Liturgists Podcast / RobCast / Drunk Ex-Pastors, and as of this week I will be adding You Make It Weird with Pete Holmes. I’m adding the latter because a friend suggested it and hearing Pete Holmes on The Liturgists Podcast and RobCast, I am liking his stuff more and more, plus he seems like a pretty cool human being.
The thing is, humor finds a way in to the parts of that make us laugh hardest and deepest, it also on another level it seems to let the oh-we-can’t-talk-about-that have a space that might offend us but at the same time it might make it palpable and more human. I think that when humor offends us we shouldn’t ignore it, but rather explore the reasons why; is it in poor taste? Does it hit home? Is it too personal? Is the subject matter culturally / religiously / etc taboo?
Personally I kinda like my humor to be smart but a bit profane; Eddy Izzard, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin are my favorites for leaving no stone unturned and there are no sacred cows left unbarbequed. I used to like to keep it under wraps, “bad” humor that is, but it is so freeing to not hide that part of me provided I have an audience can handle it. If some individuals don’t appreciate it I don’t dish it out, but if you can you’ll get that side of me.
I also like that humor dispels tension and stress so much of the time. Ever have a good laugh? One of those laughs that comes from the gut and you’re left laughing and laughing and it kinda hurts but at the same time doesn’t? Those kinds of laughs are my favorite, they kind of feel like a mini ab workout.
Humor is a good thing, it’s also a God thing, if you don’t believe me start with the platypus and move into other animals and make your way into human beings. There’s a lot to laugh about, just don’t at the expensive of others (unless they want to be roasted) laugh at others.
So with all that being said, humor was my keyword on this 25th day of Ramadan. Thanks be to God who has made a funny world; from human beings to platypuses (platypi?) to you and me to us to we. May we be thankful and offer up healthy laughter to God and onto each other.
Salaam alaikum be yours now and always,
Nathanael
AdvertisementsIn his sixth report on the costs of European heads of state, Herman Matthijs, professor of administrative science and public finances at Ghent University, notes the Royal Family had cut spending.
Queen Elizabeth II's cost to the taxpayer has fallen as result of austerity measures which have been deeper and faster than reductions to the Dutch monarchy's annual bill at a time when belt-tightening is affecting all of Europe's royal families.
Prof Matthijs's research found that the cost of British monarchy, praised as one of the most open about its finances, had been reduced by 16 per cent, falling from £35.5 million to £29.7m over the last year.
The £30.7 million Dutch bill for Queen Beatrix and her children, including £14m in personal allowances, is four times the cost of keeping the Spanish royal family, a country that is at heart of the eurozone's debt crisis.
Moreover, the burden to taxpayers of the Dutch royal family, Europe's most expensive, is proportionately heavier because the population of the Netherlands is almost a third of the size of Spain's and a mere quarter of Britain's.
In contrast to King Juan Carlos of Spain, Queen Beatrix on Wednesday announced that she saw "no reason" to reduce the £647,000 annual allowance she receives for carrying out her duties, a salary over the three times the size of that pocketed by the Spanish monarch.
King Juan Carlos announced on Wednesday that he had cut his own salary, as well as that of his son and heir Prince Felipe, by about 7 per cent
The research by Prof Matthijs is based on comparisons of civil lists and parliamentary reports on national accounts and do not include the cost of security for European royals, or compare their incomes from private wealth.
But Europe's most expensive head of state is not a King or a Queen but the president of a republic.
The study found that the most expensive head of state is Francois Hollande, the president of the French Republic, with the annual cost of the Elysée Palace running to £87.2 million – almost three times the bill for the Dutch royals.The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a Grand Theft Auto clone action-adventure video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games, for GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. It is based on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and is the twenty-second installment in the Simpsons series. It was released on September 16, 2003.
The game follows the Simpson family and their friend Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, who witness many strange incidents that occur in Springfield; security cameras, mysterious vans, crop circles, and a "new and improved" flavor of the popular soft drink Buzz Cola, which causes insanity. Taking matters into their own hands, they discover numerous shocking secrets, and soon realize these incidents are part of a larger alien conspiracy, caused by Kang and Kodos. Gameplay largely focuses on exploration and missions; players often race enemies and interact with supporting characters on timed quests. The game also features many elements found in role-playing games, such as a branching storyline and side tasks.
Announced in early 2002, the development of The Simpsons: Hit & Run was extensive. The team sought to differentiate the game from The Simpsons: Road Rage, deeming their new entry into the franchise required a different direction. The game was heavily inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, and the development team re-purposed the open-world design and nuanced character development for the game. This encouraged collaboration with the show's writers and cast, who helped craft the story and dialogue.
Upon release, it received generally favorable reviews from video game critics, with praise particularly focused on the interpretation of The Simpsons television series as a video game, its parodical take on Grand Theft Auto III, and graphics, while criticism mostly surrounded some aspects of gameplay, such as bugs and glitches. The game was also a commercial success, with recorded sales of over 3 million worldwide. It received the award for Fave Video Game at the 2004 Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards, and is widely considered the best game in the series.[3]
Gameplay [ edit ]
Hit & Run (top) and Grand Theft Auto III (bottom). Hit & Run, inspired by the Grand Theft Auto series, shares some similarities with the games, including the radar, and a strong focus on their driving aspect. (top) and(bottom)., inspired by theseries, shares some similarities with the games, including the radar, and a strong focus on their driving aspect.
Hit & Run has seven levels, each with missions and a sub-plot.[4] The player can control one specific character in each level. The game's playable characters are Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, and Apu,[5] with Homer and Bart being playable twice each. When travelling on foot, the player character can walk, run, and perform three types of melee attacks: a normal kick, a jumping kick, and a smashing move.[5] To drive, the player can either commandeer one of the many civilian vehicles that drive endlessly around town, or use a phone booth to select a car.[4] Several hidden vehicles are present in each level and can also be used by the player if found. The game's driving missions are also similar to those of Grand Theft Auto III. In both games, the player races against other characters, collects items before a timer runs out, and wrecks other cars.[4][6]
The game has a sandbox-style format that emphasizes driving, and the player controls their character from a third-person view. The character can perform certain acts of violence, such as attacking pedestrians, blowing up vehicles, and destroying the environment.[5] The Simpsons: Hit & Run has a warning meter that indicates when the police will retaliate for bad behaviour. Located in the bottom-right corner of the screen, the circular "hit and run" meter fills up when the character runs people over or destroys objects, and decreases when they cease doing so. When full, several police cars chase the character for the duration of the hit and run.[4] In Level 7, instead of standard police cars, zombie police hearses chase the character.
Each level contains items the player can collect, such as coins, which can be gathered by either smashing Buzz Cola vending machines, Buzz Cola boxes or wasp cameras, the latter of which become more elusive as the game progresses. The coins can be used to buy new cars and player outfits, some of which are required to progress through the game.[5] The player can also collect Itchy and Scratchy cards. By collecting all 49 of them, seven in each level, the player unlocks a special The Itchy & Scratchy Show video.[4] Several events cause the player to lose coins; because the character cannot die, injuries cause the player to lose coins.[5] If the player is apprehended during a hit and run, they will be fined 50 coins.[5]
Plot [ edit ]
Mysterious happenings are occurring in Springfield, including wasp-shaped security cameras, mysterious black surveillance vans, crop circles, and a "new and improved" flavor of the popular soft drink Buzz Cola. A horde of these wasps descend upon the city at the beginning of the game. One enters the Simpsons' home and is smashed by Homer, emitting coins. Homer picks up one of the coins, and watches a commercial for the new Buzz Cola on TV, hosted by Krusty the Clown, noticing the logo on the coin resembles that of Buzz Cola. Homer decides he must go out and try some Buzz Cola.
Homer at first goes to the Kwik-E-Mart and purchases Buzz Cola, then gets into more routine tasks, such as giving Lisa her science project or going to work. At the end of the day, Homer is sent home from work and watches a news report on TV, which informs him that the mysterious cameras and black vans are being spotted all across town. He notices one of the vans spying on him outside the house, and decides to pursue it, leading him to Mr. Burns' mansion. Homer concludes that Mr. Burns is responsible for the wasps, and goes to confront him. However, Burns reveals that the black vans are simply pizza delivery vans, and proceeds to fire and release his guard dogs on Homer.
The next day, Bart skips school in search of the new game, Bonestorm II. After evading Principal Skinner, he does tasks for certain people who give him a lead onto finding the game. The trail leads him to Professor Frink who, in turn for a few errands, lets Bart see the new Truckasaurus, a giant mechanical dinosaur. Bart is nearly attacked by it, but escapes before disappearing in a tractor beam.
Lisa attempts to find her brother by exploring the Squidport area for clues. She learns from Grampa that black sedans that have been appearing around town are connected to Bart's disappearance, she also learns from Chief Wiggum that government-style agents have been appearing across the Squidport area. Lisa destroys the sedans, but finds them to be empty. After completing a task for the Sea Captain, she destroys a black limo but discovers Bart got out of it and boarded a ship. She finds Bart on the ship; he appears to have memory loss and is mumbling unintelligibly, as well as soiling his pants, while occasionally mentioning the sedans and Buzz Cola.
Marge sets out to learn what has affected Bart. As she investigates a crop circle that recently appeared in Cletus Spuckler's crop field, Grampa tells her that the crop circle resembles the Buzz Cola logo. Marge gives a can of the cola to Bart, which snaps him out of his gibberish state of mind. Bart reveals that the new Buzz Cola is an alien mind-control agent, which he was given while abducted. Marge decides to purge Springfield of cola trucks, but in spite of her efforts, the drink still maintains its popularity with consumers.[7]
Inspired by Marge's efforts, Apu sets out to discover the source of Buzz Cola, remorseful for selling it in the first place. After some unsuccessful leads, he finally comes across Snake Jailbird, who tells him that the cola trucks are registered to the Springfield Museum of Natural History. Apu and Bart get to the museum, where they find a meteor as the source of the cola. They eavesdrop on a conversation between aliens Kang and Kodos, who are the masterminds behind the new cola and the wasp cameras. Apu and Bart learn that the wasp cameras are filming the antics of Springfield for an intergalactic reality show, Foolish Earthlings. With the show's ratings hitting an all-time low, the aliens are using the cola to make people insane; the next stage of their plot is to distribute laser guns among the populace to drive the town to a violent massacre sure to draw many viewers.[7]
Terrified by Kang and Kodos' plan, Apu refuses to help any further and feigns insanity, so Bart takes it upon himself to foil the aliens' plan. He asks Krusty for help, but Krusty informs Bart that he has already helped the Duff Brewery set up free laser gun stands around Springfield. Bart then goes to his father, Homer, for help, and the duo quickly pursue Kang and Kodos to the brewery. However, the aliens escape, and before departing, they reveal that they have already released Buzz Cola throughout Springfield's water supply. As the cola seeps into the ground, it releases the undead from the Springfield Cemetery, who invade Springfield.
On Halloween, when Homer collects supplies to protect his family and home from the marauding zombies, he decides to pursue a black sports car—which is a probe for the aliens' ship—to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. There, he finds Professor Frink, who has discovered the aliens' weakness: nuclear waste. He plans to use the alien ship's tractor beam to suck up cars that are loaded with barrels of nuclear waste. After successfully loading Frink's car, along with three more, into the aliens' tractor beam, the ship explodes. The following day, Springfield is returned to normal, and Homer is seen as a celebrity among the alien viewers of Foolish Earthlings. Kang and Kodos, who were killed in the explosion and are now in Heaven; are questioning about the fact they died on earth and went to "Earth Heaven".[7]
Development [ edit ]
The developer, Radical Entertainment, received the rights to create games for The Simpsons franchise when they demonstrated a playable prototype. Radical released its first The Simpsons game in 2001, called The Simpsons: Road Rage. After Road Rage was released, the development team for Hit & Run decided not to create a direct sequel to Road Rage (although there are files in the game's core that refers to it as "The Simpsons: Road Rage 2"); instead, Radical wanted to steer the franchise's video game series in a different direction by giving the game engine a complete overhaul. The developers felt that everything else needed a new approach, while only the driving portion of Road Rage was worth keeping;[8] in Hit & Run, enhanced traffic artificial intelligence is introduced, which makes computer-controlled vehicles react better to the player's driving.[9] They also decided to add an exploration element to the game to make players get out of the car and navigate the area on foot, so that the game offered a better experience of Springfield.[8] The internal development name for "The Simpsons: Hit & Run" was simply "Simpsons", as referenced by the executable file of the game.
When developing the graphics, the team decided to include landmarks from Springfield. The player is able to enter some of them, including the Kwik-E-Mart, Moe's Tavern, Springfield Elementary School, and The Android's Dungeon and Baseball Card Shop. During Hit & Run's development, 20th Century Fox, Gracie Films and Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, played important roles in bringing The Simpsons universe into a 3D environment. All character voices were supplied by the actual cast, and the series' writers wrote the entire story for the game, including dialogue.[8] Tim Ramage, the associate producer of the game's publisher, Vivendi Universal Games, considered it a blessing to have the opportunity of working with The Simpsons cast, along with the writers, whom Ramage called "the best there is [sic]".[8]
Critical reception [ edit ]
Hit & Run received "generally favorable" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic,[34][35][36][37] and many consider it to be the best Simpsons game to date.[38][39][40][3] Praise focused on the move from the Simpsons television series to the video game format, while criticism targeted some aspects of gameplay. Hit & Run won the award for Fave Video Game at the 2004 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.[41] Over one million copies of the game were sold as of June 2004,[42] and three million as of July 2007.[43] The game's PlayStation 2 version received a "Diamond" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[44] indicating sales of at least 1 million copies in the United Kingdom.[45]
A number of reviews complimented the transposition of the Simpsons television series to a video game. Game Informer and GameSpot commented on how well the game depicted the fictional city of Springfield from the television series, and called it the most accurate representation of Springfield ever put into a game.[14][19] Official Xbox Magazine said that the game did the show justice,[1] and Play felt that it was "essentially the show in real time", summing up its review by calling the game a "truly great cross-over product".[46] GameSpot thought that the humor that the game offered included many excellent self-referential jokes,[19] and TeamXbox concluded its review by predicting that the game would be extremely appealing to gamers, especially hardcore Simpsons fans.[47] Entertainment magazine Variety surmised that Hit & Run was the first Simpsons game to include humor comparable to what was in the television series.[48]
Hit & Run's parodical take on the Grand Theft Auto III video game was praised by several reviewers. It was considered to "deftly satirize Grand Theft Auto while being almost as entertaining" in a review by GameSpy, which suggested that Hit & Run improved several gameplay aspects that it borrowed from Grand Theft Auto, including instant mission restarts, a superior guidance system, and an easily accessible collection of vehicles.[22] Official Xbox Magazine agreed that Hit & Run was an excellent game in its own right, and found the game to be a "brilliant" clone of Grand Theft Auto.[1] The combination of the Simpsons universe with the gameplay of the Grand Theft Auto series was also praised by IGN as "pure brilliance".[17][27]
Positive reviews of Hit & Run focused on its graphics and gameplay. Play appreciated the virtual world that the game offered, describing it as "grandiose in its expanse and artistic rendering".[46] GameSpot found the gameplay to be very engaging.[19] The game was found to be "very fun and very funny" by Zach Meston of GameSpy,[22] and Game Informer called it "nothing short of astonishing".[14] Despite positive reactions, the game also had serious issues that were brought up in several reviews, which focused on the game's bugs and glitches. Both TeamXbox and Game Revolution pointed out that Hit & Run had a few gameplay issues and graphical shortcomings that included strange artificial intelligence behaviour and a broken camera system, which they felt hindered the overall experience of the game.[17][47]
Non-video game publications gave positive reception on the game as well. The Village Voice gave the Xbox version a score of nine out of ten and stated, "This delightful, deep, and detailed (but unfortunately not cartoon-style cel-shaded) rip on the Grand Theft Auto series critiques itself better than any untenured academic could."[49] The Cincinnati Enquirer gave the game four stars out of five and said that "What it lacks in originality it more than makes up for with its fun and easy-to-pick-up game play that will appeal to fans of the long-running comedy."[32] Entertainment Weekly gave it a B and said, "If some of the missions seem repetitive, others stand out, like the one that has you confiscating copies of a particularly violent videogame (wink, wink) corrupting Springfield's youth."[33] In Japan, Famitsu gave the Xbox version a score of two eights, one seven, and one eight, for a total of 31 out of 40.[13]. In 2018, Watchmojo.com ranked the game #1 "Best" on their "Top 10 Best and Worst Simpsons Video Games" list.[3]
References [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s factory inflation cooled in December as manufacturers expanded more slowly after a strong run in growth, lessening the need for the country’s central bank to tighten monetary policy too far.
The sun rises as a labourer installs scaffolding at a high-speed railway viaduct construction site in Hefei, Anhui province December 29, 2010. China plans to build 13,000 km (8,078 miles) of high-speed railway by 2012, more than the rest of the world combined. REUTERS/Stringer
The official Chinese purchasing managers’ index (PMI) edged down to 53.9 in December from November’s 55.2, falling short of a median forecast of 55.5 in a Reuters poll of 12 economists.
The results of the survey of 820 firms will likely be welcomed by China’s central bank by showing the world’s second-largest economy was still growing solidly despite the slight pull-back in activity.
More importantly, they held out hope that China’s inflation, running at their highest in over two years, may be peaking soon.
That should calm investors who are worried that accelerating inflation will lead China to aggressively tighten policy and hurt growth in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
“Growth is not overheated, (and) the chance for inflation to be out of control is low,” said Ting Lu, an economist at the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong.
“Policy will be tightened, but don’t expect excessive measures.”
The input cost sub-index in the official index fell to 66.7 in December from 73.5 the previous month. Although that is still well above the 50-point level that demarcates expansion from contraction, it showed prices were rising at a slower pace.
Hitherto accelerating inflation and record house prices have led China’s central bank to signal time and again in recent months that the country needs “prudent” monetary policy to curb price pressures and prevent asset bubbles.
To match its tough rhetoric with deeds, the central bank raised interest rates on December 25 for the second time in just over two months. Market consensus is that it will increase rates twice more in the first half of 2011.
For some, that China can tighten policy at a time when the U.S. economy is still battling near-10 percent unemployment is a sign of the Chinese economy’s strength.
Zhang Liqun, a government researcher at the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, which compiles the PMI index on behalf of the National Bureau of Statistics, said as much.
“The growth of industrial output for November increased a little from the previous month, while export and investment rose strongly. So from this, it is not apparent that the economy is in a downward trend,” Zhang said.
POLICY UNCERTAINTY
Inflation in China raced to a 28-month high of 5.1 percent in November and that has stirred discontent among its populace.
Anxiety over China's policy outlook in the face of rising prices have unsettled some investors and taken a toll on Shanghai's share index.SSEC. It lost 14 percent in 2010, ranking it one of the worst performers in the world for the year.
For China’s top leaders, accelerating inflation is a headache. High prices can threaten their political leadership by causing social unrest, as they had in the past.
That has led the Chinese government to signal repeatedly in recent weeks that the task of reining in prices is among its top priorities for 2011.
China’s central bank, which has no autonomy over monetary policy and needs approval from the highest echelons of power within the government on any rate move, has fallen in line with the policy goal.
Recent public commentary from the bank suggested it is ready to use a range of tools to curb prices and excess cash, seen as the main driver of inflation.
Measures the central bank said could be taken include further increasing reserve requirements on a differentiated scale, depending on the size of the bank, as well as lifting deposit rates to drain excess cash from the system.
Some investors have also speculated that it may allow the yuan to rise at a faster clip to rein in imported inflation.Looks like Sega is going the extra mile with their upcoming remake of Yakuza, the first game which launched one of their biggest franchises today. Sega have gone on the record to admit that they were none too pleased with how the original game turned out in hindsight, and it looks like they are taking the chance that this remake is providing them to make the game that they may have wanted to make all along.
And so we have this new gameplay footage- all 40 minutes of it. Unlike the multitude of lazy, cash grab re-releases, ‘remasters,’ and ‘remakes’ that we get all too often these days, Yakuza Kiwami looks incredible. It looks like a reimagining of
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northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane. Both moons are closer to Cassini than the rings are. Pandora is slightly closer to Cassini than Epimetheus here. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 23, 2009. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (808,000 miles) from Pandora and Epimetheus. Image scale is 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel.
For more great images from Cassini (which I contend is actually an artist and not a magician!) go to the CICLOPS website and NASA’s Cassini website.Giraffe researchers discover four different species of world's tallest land mammal
Updated
Genetic research on the world's tallest land animal has found there are four distinct species of giraffe, not just one as long believed, with two of them at alarmingly low population levels.
Scientists unveiled a comprehensive genetic analysis of giraffes using DNA from 190 of the towering herbivores from across their range in Africa.
The genetic data showed four separate species of giraffes that do not interbreed in the wild inhabit various parts of the continent.
"We were extremely surprised," conservationist Julian Fennessy, co-director of the Namibia-based Giraffe Conservation Foundation, said.
Beyond genetics, the researchers identified differences among the four species including body shape, coloration and coat patterns.
Genetic differences among the four species were comparable to those between polar bears and brown bears, said geneticist Axel Janke of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Goethe University in Germany.
Until now, scientists had recognised a single species, with the scientific name Giraffa camelopardalis.
The study identified the four separate species as:
Southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa), with a population of 52,000
Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi), with 32,500
Reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata), with 8,700
Northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), with 4,750
"The conservation implications are immense and our findings will hopefully help put giraffe conservation on the map," Dr Fennessy said.
Giraffe population dramatically declining
The giraffe is currently not listed as endangered, although its population has declined dramatically over the past three decades from more than 150,000 to fewer than 100,000, the researchers said.
But the low population levels of the northern giraffe and reticulated giraffe make them some of the world's most endangered large mammals and of high conservation importance, Dr Fennessy said.
Giraffes stand up to about 5.5 metres tall, with long necks and legs, a sloped back and two to five short knobs called ossicones atop the head.
They have a tan, white or yellowish coat blotched with brownish patches.
They roam the savannas of central, eastern and southern Africa, as far north as Chad, south to South Africa, east to Somalia and west to Niger.
Dr Fennessy said the biggest threats to the giraffe included habitat destruction due to human population growth as well as poaching for bush meat, their tail hair and "medicinal" parts.
Their closest relative is the long-necked African mammal called the okapi.
The research was published in the journal Current Biology.
Reuters
Topics: science-and-technology, animal-science, dna, mammals, namibia
First postedXinjiang's Uighur population are culturally more Turkic than Chinese [Reuters]
While reports of unrest in prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"? Tibet frequently grab headlines around the world, little attention is given to what several human rights groups have dubbed China's "other Tibet ".
prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?
China's frontier to Central Asia, the vast western region of Xinjiang has in recent years seen escalating ethnic tensions and the imposition of a heavy military presence to suppress what Beijing says is a growing terrorist threat.
Covering an area more than three times the size of France, Xinjiang has long been an important crossroads of trade and culture.
For centuries its oasis towns were essential stopping points along the legendary Silk Road – a history that has left Xinjiang with a unique cultural legacy.
The region's indigenous population are the Uighurs - Muslims who are ethnically, linguistically and culturally Turkic, and worlds apart from their Han rulers, the ethnicity which dominates the rest of China.
" Before, looking for work was easy, but now they all want Han people, they don't want us " Hislat, Uighur resident of Urumqi After a chequered history with the Chinese Empire, Xinjiang's present incarnation as an officially "autonomous region" within the People's Republic of China began in 1949.
From Beijing's point of view, Xinjiang has always been a part of China.
But while the region has a history of domination at the hands of the Chinese, Beijing's claim overlooks long gaps where the region merged with Central Asian and Turkic states.
To this day, most Uighurs feel more culturally aligned with the Turkic peoples to the west, rather than Beijing to the east.
Conversely, and almost without exception, Han Chinese feel China's control of the region is perfectly legitimate.
'Chinese' Xinjiang
"I've talked to a lot of people in China about it and they just don't question it," says Michael Dillon, author of Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest.
"It's always presented as Zhongguo Xinjiang [Chinese Xinjiang] like Tibet is Zhongguo Xizang [Chinese Tibet] and so the assumption is that it's always been part of China."
Xinjiang's culture is rooted in its history as a
key junction on the Silk Road [GALLO/GETTY] The region is of value to China due to "a very complicated mixture of political, economic and psychological reasons," says Dillon.
Among these, he says, are Xinjiang's bountiful natural resources and raw materials, and its strategic position buffering China from Russia.
But he adds, there is also the idea that "if Beijing doesn’t retain Xinjiang, it's a question of losing face, because Xinjiang is part of the motherland."
On top of that, Xinjiang also boasts something clearly lacking in the rest of China - space.
Accounting for one sixth of China's total area, Xinjiang not only produces 30 per cent of China ’s cotton, but between the 1960s and mid-1990s it was also used as the test site for China's nuclear weapons.
Perhaps most unpopular with the Uighurs though is the use of their land to resettle huge numbers of Han from the overpopulated east of China.
Settlers rising
The numbers of ethnic Han settlers in Xinjiang has risen from well under half a million in 1953 to 7.5 million by 2000, and is rising fast.
According to the latest available figures, Han settlers make up around 42 per cent of Xinjiang's total population of 18 million, dictating a life that is culturally alien to the native Uighurs.
"There are more and more Han arriving here all the time," explains Tursuntay, a 45-year old Uighur man from the Xiniang border city of Ily.
"When I was young there were very few – this place belonged to us."
Critics say few Uighurs are benefiting from
Xinjiang's development [GALLO/GETTY] Hislat, a 22-year old Uighur woman from Urumqi, the Han-dominated capital of Xinjiang, is also feeling the squeeze.
"Before, looking for work was easy, but now they all want Han people, they don't want us," she says.
"It's really difficult, but there's nothing we can do about it."
Arienne Dwyer, Assistant Professor of Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Kansas believes the situation in Xinjiang has got worse over the last decade.
"In the eighties and early nineties we saw quite a lot of Uighurs, particularly intellectuals and those in the northern area, who felt that the Chinese project in Xinjiang, though very far from perfect, was OK," she says.
"One thing that people of any ethnic group in Xinjiang would agree on with the central government is that economic development is a good thing. This is one change that has continued and has been a positive force all around."
However, what has followed says Dwyer are increasingly Han-focused policies where cultural activities are more tightly constrained and there is a stronger effort to bring ethnic minorities, particularly on the periphery such as Xinjiang, "into the Chinese fold".
This cultural tightening accelerated rapidly after the late 1990s and was characterised by increased police action, suppression of unrest and changes in language policy, increasing the use of Mandarin in schools at the expense of the Uighur language.
"From the point of view of the government, this is because Uighur pupils and university students don't have the adequate Chinese language skills to be competitive in the market economy," says Dwyer.
"But from the point of view of the Uighurs, this is a bold-faced attempt to be assimilated and it has not been viewed favourably."
Disillusioned
This is causing many Uighurs to feel disillusioned, angry and afraid of losing their distinctive culture says Dwyer, and as a result many, especially Uighur youths, are becoming more religious than their parents and there is a growing trend to study Arabic.
Dwyer does not believe claims from some Chinese officials that there is any connection with a radical Islamist movement.
Instead she sees such moves as "a statement of Uighur identity, to say 'we are fundamentally different from the Han Chinese'".
For Urumqi resident Hislat, religion is the root of her dissimilarities with the Han.
"We are very different from Han people," she says.
"They don't believe in anything, they have no religion. We only eat Halal foods, but they don't worry about that, they can eat anything. Also they don't pray, they don't know how. They don't believe."
Xinjiang's indigenous Muslims face tight
controls on their culture [GALLO/GETTY] Although assertive about their identities as Uighurs and as Muslims, Hislat says she and her peers are in no fear of being radicalised.
Their culture and traditions are important to them, but they are living in a Han-dominated city and their lifestyles are accordingly secular.
They love American pop-stars, playing on the internet, going to discos and are prepared to be pragmatic with prayers in order to fit in with their work or study schedules.
But in the border cities Kashgar, Aksu and Ily, the atmosphere is different, with a much stronger military presence and more attempts by the government to control political activity and the Imams in the mosques.
Beijing says the security presence is needed to meet the challenge of separatist movements and conflicts which have plagued Xinjiang since its annexation.
These activities peaked in the 1990s, the time that the Soviet Union was breaking up.
At the time "the old Muslim states of Central Asia, like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were all becoming independent states," says author Michael Dillon, "and there was a strong feeling among certain parts of the Uighur population that they ought to have their own Uighuristan or Eastern Turkistan.’
More recently that sentiment in Xinjiang has subsided - or been suppressed.
Whether that is as a result of government measures, or a lack of reporting in the Chinese media is difficult to tell.
According to Dillon, it is a result of China's clever use of economic and diplomatic measures to dissuade its Central Asian neighbours from helping Xinjiang gain independence.In 1963 Betty Friedan started “second wave feminism” by identifying the woes of women as “The problem with no name.” The reason it had no name is because it wasn’t really a problem. Well, okay, it’s a problem for people who don’t have actual problems.
Twenty years earlier, Abraham Maslow developed his Hierarchy of Needs theory which provided a ranking system placing types of human development on a pyramidal scale. The base of the pyramid consists of survival or physiological needs which must be met before the next level, safety, can be sought and so on up through the progressive levels that follow; love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization, and self-transcendence at the apex.
Betty had a degree in psychology but it seems she missed the lectures on Maslow. Either that, or she was unable to grasp the concepts because he avoided “crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens” like her when he chose subjects to construct his theory.
Here is a graphic of Maslow’s hierarchy to explain what sorts of problems normal humans face.
This chart is not an escalator that only moves in one direction. A person might find themselves, as we do, thinking they have achieved love and belonging only to find themselves looking for food and shelter the next day… because their wife “left” them by making them move out, and filed for child support and alimony where possible.
A person might be about to realize their life’s ambition then find themselves suddenly driven off the road in a random car accident, trapped in a car under water and struggling in the red zone. They might be about to get a promotion at work then suddenly find themselves in jail on a trumped up accusation of a felony just praying they can prove their innocence. Shit happens to all of us and we can only choose what path we take get back on the ladder. The chart is a handy way to assess where we are at and try to focus on reaching the next level up.
In The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan’s problem is that, after providing her with the first four levels in the pyramid, men hadn’t given her the fifth.
Second wave feminism was kick-started on the premise that housewives who had safety, security, resources, family, health, sexual intimacy (if they wanted it), confidence in their bundt cake baking skills and interior decorating choices, and peer respect from the PTA committee, were horrendously lacking that top tier on the hierarchy of needs called “Self Actualization.” Betty proposed this callous lack of concern for women’s self-expression meant oppression from the evil patriarchy. She was incapable of concerning herself with the fact that most men function below her purple world because they are busy paving the way for her to sit back and worry about such fuckery.
The aching need for self-actualization, for that guru moment in which you come to terms with your own battle between ego and the world around you, of being recognized as a person of worth and significance in a world of meaning, of feeling capable of dealing with a spilled cappuccino that ruined your designer dress because when you tweeted it all your facebook friends simultaneously told you that you still look stunning in brown… doesn’t mean you are oppressed. It means you’re spoiled.
This is not to say I don’t feel Betty’s pain, it’s just to say “fuck your pain, you narcissistic twat!”
And I’m not just talking to Betty, may she finally rest in peace.
Feminists, when entering a discussion or debate, need to look at the level of need their opponent might be addressing. For Friedan, she was bemoaning a lack of fulfilment while her husband was busy paying her bills. For Friedan, she was mourning the psychology degree that she didn’t make use of while writing for most of the major women’s magazines that existed at the time and pursuing her political goals under her maiden name.1 While Betty’s self-expression was used to decry her lack of self-expression she never stopped to ask what more her husband was getting out of his day. They got divorced.
So that’s a summary of the fraud of Betty Friedan. But it doesn’t mean that the women she purported to speak for were also living a wild, and wonderful life of free expression, it only explains that the woman credited with initiating the second wave of feminism was a complete cunt.
A lot of feminists feel the same way about Betty. One of the feminist criticisms of The Feminine Mystique is that it only dealt with the problems of middle class white women. It’s true. That being said, they still use it as a staple text in Women’s Studies. Choose your degrees carefully.
While regular people worry about banking fraud, global economic collapse, the military industrial complex, over population, and the privatization of prisons, feminists are campaigning to get Jane Austen on a ten pound British note, bikini models off page three of the newspaper, and worrying about how to re-brand feminism so more women will like them again.
A twitter trend called #solidarityisforwhitewomen opened up a potential dialogue with mainstream feminism recently that doesn’t take the issue far enough. It’s time for feminists to stop comparing just women’s “problems” with other women’s problems and start comparing them with the problems of men. The next hashtag should be #allfeministsareentitledbitches
While feminists declare sexism against women by men makes the female life miserable, studies show that sexism is subjective. It’s only bad when it doesn’t feed a woman’s sense of entitlement. In a study called The Allure of Sexism: Psychological Entitlement Fosters Women’s Endorsement of Benevolent Sexism Over Time, 2 it was found that women themselves are quite content to cultivate a narcissistic environment which treats women as superior and caters to their needs.
Betty Friedan set the bar for entitlement and third wave feminism has not sought to reconcile the disparity in the hierarchical need concerns of women vs men. Betty was right about one thing: there are a lot of bored housewives who didn’t decide how to fix their own toilet, learn how to drywall the addition they want, or write a best selling romance novel based on all their repressed desires. It’s indisputable that many women wish to have a fulfilling career but what women really want is to know that their career is optional. It’s so much more fun when you choose to do something instead of doing it because you have to meet a need at the bottom of the triangle.
While some women are homeless, men make up 75-80% of that demographic. If you want to know which gender has a “problem with no name” ask which gender is killing themselves. That’s a good indication of who is lower on the pyramid of needs. Answer: It’s not women.
You can use Maslow’s hierarchy to understand many arguments in life that pass your way and leave you thinking “what the fuck just happened?” In a personal relationship, check to make sure your partner is meeting you on the same level of need.
If you are asking how to pay the bills this month and your partner is more concerned with why s/he doesn’t feel loved you’ve got a Maslow problem. If you are asking how you are going to drive to work without falling asleep at the wheel and your partner is complaining that s/he feels unappreciated, you’ve got a Maslow problem. If you’re working every day at a job that is slowly killing your body, mind, and soul and your partner is complaining that they want a new sofa, you’ve got a Maslow problem.
I’m all for self-actualization. If you can do it: great. I’m happy for those that have the time and comfort to indulge their inner wish fulfilment. What I won’t do is feel sorry for pansy ass feminists and fuel a system that funds their narcissistic agendas while the rest of us go about wearing the work boots that put them in a position to fret about the meaning of life.
The modern world seems doomed to pander to self-indulgent cretins but it doesn’t have to be that way. There is a growing sense of social unrest and a lot of self-interest groups are busy pointing at each other. Oppression can continue for a long time but it runs afoul when those who support it have nothing left to lose by fighting. That’s where the majority of men are at.
Tyranny requires the co-operation of the masses. Don’t co-operate.
1. http://www.amazon.ca/Betty-Friedan-Making-Feminine-Mystique/dp/1558492763
2. For more info see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2470085/Women-fine-sexism-long-benefits-scientists-reveal.html and http://gynocentrism.com/2013/10/23/the-allure-of-chivalry/Newman flags land sales for facilities
Posted
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says he is happy to negotiate with councils about selling State-owned land assets to fund local projects.
Mr Newman says such revenue could be used to help fund a new super stadium and convention centre in the Townsville CBD.
He says councils are welcome to pinpoint land that is not being utilised.
"If they want to identify it, talk to myself and my minister and then go through a process where they engage with the local community and get people on board in terms of summary rezoning," he said.
"Then we can sell that land, we can take the proceeds and as I did with the tablelands council, I'm committed to seeing it ploughed back in."
Topics: local-government, privatisation-and-deregulation, liberal-national-party, public-sector, urban-development-and-planning, qld(CBS News) One day after one surrogate to President Obama said people arethan they were four years ago, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had a different take. He said the country is indeed better off than it was when Mr. Obama took office.
"We are better off," Villaraigosa said on "CBS This Morning," noting that President Obama reversed job loss and turned them into job gains. "We've had 29 consecutive months of growth - 4 1/2 million jobs. In fact, more jobs in that time than the 8 years under [President] Bush."
"If you look at how we got here, how we got into this deficit, we got into two wars we didn't pay for, [and] the Bush tax cuts took us here in great part," he argued.
Villaraigosa admitted that individuals, especially the unemployed, are not better off, but "as a nation we are better off."
"Yes, we are better off, but we got to keep on working harder," he added.
The Los Angeles mayor, who is also the chair of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte (set to begin Tuesday), said that "there are two clear choices ahead" in this election. He said Republican nominee Mitt Romney's plan would "continue the Bush policies" by cutting $5 trillion in tax revenue.
"I believe that the choice with President Obama, that invests in working people, invests in the middle class - that moves us forward."
What will the DNC's message be to voters?
CBS News' political director John Dickerson said Monday on "CBS This Morning" that the key question of this election is if voters are better off than they were four years ago. He added that it puts the Obama campaign in a challenging spot.
"It's tricky, if you say things are better off, you're in conflict with the majority of the country who don't think things are better off and who don't think President Obama's policies have made things better, and that's the tension that will be throughout this convention," he said.
Asked about the Republicans' enthusiasm advantage, Villaraigosa said the Democratic convention will excite voters.
"Our job is to get that enthusiasm up and that's what that convention is all about," he said. "It's going to frame the election [and] it's going to crystallize the choices before us."
"When they realize what's at stake here, they're going to get excited."
Dickerson, however, said a "wet blanket" is awaiting the president. The morning after he gives his major speech Thursday night, the jobs report comes out, where unemployment is expected to remain at 8.3 percent.Methoxetamine powder (apparently). Image: GreenZeb/Wikimedia
On Wednesday, a man was sentenced for selling drugs on the dark web. But he wasn't selling the usual street drug suspects like cocaine or ecstasy.
Alex Middleton, 20, was charged with possession of "4-MEC, methoxetamine and alprazolam," an NCA spokesperson told Motherboard, with intent to supply. He was sentenced to two years four months jail time. Alprazolam is the generic name for prescription drug Xanax. But methoxetamine, commonly known as MXE and with similar effects to ketamine, was until recently legal to buy and sell: it's what's known as a "new psychoactive substance" or "legal high" (though it was made a Class B controlled substance in 2013).
The vendor's arrest highlights the continued presence of these drugs on deep web marketplaces as other outlets diminish.
For years, regular clear web sites have existed where customers can purchase a cornucopia of different psychoactive substances usually from factories in India and China marketed as "legal highs"—chemicals often specifically manufactured to mimic the effects of more traditional drugs, but that aren't subject to the same criminal penalties for possession or sale. Brick-and-mortar shops have also been able to sell them with no problems.
"It's an obvious choice for dark net vendors who have supply access."
But as governments crack down on specific psychoactive substances, and in some cases introduce blanket legislation on these kind of drugs, they can still be found on the dark web.
"It seems inevitable," Judith Aldridge, a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester who has researched the dark web drug trade, told Motherboard in an email. "Where legal
psychoactives have been available on the clearweb and demand develops, it's an obvious choice for dark net vendors who have supply access to offer these substances for sale."
MXE, which Middleton was arrested for, is typically used as an alternative to ketamine—a drug that the UK has had a notoriously low supply of in recent years.
Many of the dark web listings for new psychoactive substances are for vast quantities, with plenty offering 500g or one kilo of each drug, according to Grams, a search engine for the dark web markets.
It happened in the analogue drug trade, and it's now happening in its digital counterpart
Benzofury, which first attracted the attention of UK legislators in 2013, is for sale on a number of different marketplaces. Ethylphenidate suffered a similar fate from the UK government in April of this year, but dozens of listings for the drug are available. Lisdexamphetamine, a medicinal product sometimes used as a study aid, and was banned in 2014, is also to be found.
Perhaps the most well-known formerly-legal high, mephedrone, which was a hugely popular drug that entered the UK club scene around 2009 and was met with a ban after much media hype is, naturally, also available.
Clearly, when something is made illegal, the demand for that product does not necessarily disappear, though the trade is likely to go more underground. It happened in the analogue drug trade, and it's now happening in its digital counterpart.
Tim Bingham, an independent drugs researcher who has covered the dark web, suggested there could be other attractions to the dark web market. "It's actually probably safer purchasing from these sites as opposed to the street as at least there is some user feedback," he said in an email.After a chippy loss to Montreal on Monday, Bruins coach Claude Julien came out firing in his postgame press conference, accusing the Canadiens of diving and flopping all over the place. Some of his comments:
"The frustrating thing is that we get 17 minutes into the penalty box when we should have been on the power play. It's as simple as that," said Julien. "It's frustrating because tonight – as everybody saw – there's a lot of embellishment. This is embarrassing for our game: the embellishing. Right now they've got over 100 power plays [this season] and it's pretty obvious why. "We're trying to clean that out of our game, and its got to be done soon. It's not about [Sunday]. It's about the game and the embellishment embarrasses our game. We need to be better than that. It's pretty obvious when P.K. [Subban] gets hit and throws himself into the glass and holds his head. You know what? If we start calling those penalties for embellishment, maybe teams stop doing it. But until we take charge of that it's going to be an issue."
There's more! (This is building to the video above, so I hope you didn't click play yet.)
"You definitely would like to see a lot less embellishment," [Milan] Lucic said. "I know the way that we are as a team, and how we play and the type of people that we are, we don't accept that type of play here in this room. We definitely don't like that. "
OK, now click play. Youtube user MAKAVELI719696 (a Canucks fan, who presumably has no love lost for Boston or Montreal) has edited together this wonderful retort, splicing Julien's comments with footage of the Bruins diving, and setting it all to sweeping music for maximum emotional impact.
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(The true genius comes at the 1:45 mark, with the audio of Jack Edwards ranting at Montreal's Roman Hamrlik two years ago being repurposed just for Shawn Thornton.)
Look, every team has players that go down at the drop of the hat. Some more than others. They're infuriating to play against, and invaluable when they draw power plays for your team. Boston and Montreal have a history of dirty play, so diving is extra valuable in games between the two where officials keep their whistles at the ready. Claude Julien's not being a hypocrite, he's just calling attention to it in the hopes his team gets more of the calls next time. Montreal and Boston face each other twice more, and are 1-2 in the Northeast.A judge in Loudoun County sentenced a 44-year-old Sterling mother to one year in prison after an investigation revealed that she had her two young children take nude photos of her for online prostitution ads.
Nataliya Davis was charged with two counts of child neglect, authorities said, after an investigation that started last year revealed there was possible prostitution activity at her home.
While she was in jail, Davis made numerous phone calls in which “she confirmed that she had directed her two children to take nude photographs of her for online advertisements for prostitution,” prosecutors said.
The investigation of her began in early February 2014, when Loudoun County sheriff’s deputies responded to Davis’s home in Sterling, on two separate occasions, in response to complaints of loud noise, disorderly conduct, and assaultive behavior.
Sheriff’s deputies again went to the home later that month to conduct a welfare check on two children living there. When authorities arrived, one of the children was sitting on the lap of a man who was not a relative. Officials said the house temperature was 51 degrees, and there were roaches and bugs in several rooms at the home.
Nataliya Davis of Sterling was sentenced for two counts of child neglect. (Courtesy of Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office)
Authorities said they contacted Child Protective Services (CPS).
Other welfare check visits to the home by sheriff’s deputies found it in similar conditions.
During a June visit, a tenant in Davis’s home told authorities that he had observed several men coming in and out of the home to meet with Davis for brief periods of time, prosecutors said. The tenant also said the children were often left unattended during these times.
Officials conducted an investigation of possible prostitution activity. Davis’s ads showed various photos of her and her home address in Sterling, officials said. Surveillance showed Davis in “various stages of undress escorting men in and out of her home,” prosecutors at the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
After authorities searched her home, they found numerous photos and videos of Davis nude or partially nude. In some of the photos, Davis’s two children — ages 8 and 9 — could be seen in the background, prosecutors said.
Davis was arrested and put in jail. While incarcerated, Davis made phone calls where she discussed how she had directed her two children to take nude photographs of her for online prostitution ads, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday, Judge Thomas D. Horne of the Circuit Court of Loudoun County sentenced Davis to one year on each count of child neglect. The jail time is to be served concurrently.
Davis could have contact with her children only as permitted by the Department of Family Services, according to the judge.
Davis was also charged and convicted last year of prostitution. She pleaded not guilty but was found guilty. A judge in that case imposed a $500 fine and 179 days in jail. All the jail time was suspended, according to prosecutors.BT Sport has claimed a stunning victory in the battle for Champions League football after blowing BSkyB and ITV out of the water by paying almost £900 million to show the world's biggest club competition.
Uefa confirmed the new broadcaster had won the exclusive UK live rights for both the Champions League and Europa League for three years from 2015, signalling an end to decades of terrestrial coverage of European club football.
But taking out ITV was nothing compared to toppling the might of BSkyB, which is thought not to have come close to its bitter rival's £299m per season offer. It was said to have bid around £500m in total, with ITV offering £220m to retain its Champions League and Europa League packages. The current contract cost Sky £240m and ITV £155m.
Saturday's announcement will send shockwaves through English football and represents the biggest shake-up in the established order in sports broadcasting in Britain for years.
Sky had ridiculed its new rival for branding its capture of Premier League football as a "game changer" and a source close to BT described its biggest success to date as "the real game changer".
BT chief executive Gavin Patterson said: "I am thrilled that BT Sport will be the only place where fans can enjoy all the live action from the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League. Both tournaments are world class and firm favourites with many. The live rights will give a major boost to BT Sport and give people yet another reason to take our terrific service."
Guy-Laurent Epstein, Uefa Events SA Marketing Director, added: "Uefa is delighted to welcome newcomer BT Sport to the family of Uefa Champions League rights holders. Since its launch in the summer, BT Sport has been Uefa's partner for the Uefa Europa League and has demonstrated its ability to deliver premium sports coverage. We look forward to working with BT Sport on both competitions in the 2015-18 rights cycle."
As revealed by Telegraph Sport, BT Sport committed to making certain matches available free-to-air across both the Champions League and Europa League - including both finals - a tactic it has already employed with its Premier League coverage.
Being available to every household with a television in the UK had been ITV's trump card, in a relationship with Uefa that has seen it broadcast the Champions League ever since the competition's inception in 1992.
That had been an extremely attractive prospect for sponsors, who do not enjoy the same reach on Sky Sports and would have even less exposure on BT Sport if all matches remained behind a paywall.
Most will, with BT Sport committing only to showing each British club free-to-air once per season.
BT Sport consumer chief John Petter also admitted other matches would be "need to be chargeable", a departure from its policy of offering its channels free to existing broadband subscribers.
ITV surrendering the Europa League, the rights for which it currently holds along with BT Sport, leaves it with no live club football from 2015, with the BBC and BT Sport having won the rights to the FA Cup after this season.
How Telegraph Sport broke the story
It was expected to hold on to a share of the highlights package along with BT Sport, but that will be of scant consolation, with its only remaining live football rights being England's home and away matches, which it recently tied up until 2018.
BT Sport securing Champions League football also represents arguably the biggest defeat ever suffered by Sky, who it is understood bid for the exclusive rights to the competition it has shared with ITV since 2008.
So determined were Sky to prevent BT Sport adding the world's biggest annual sports tournament to its roster, it is thought there was even the prospect of it breaking the bank and sub-letting some matches to ITV to satisfy Uefa's desire for some level of free-to-air coverage.
Sky and BT have been at war ever since the latter moved into sports broadcasting in a bid to stop its rival poaching its broadband customers with the offer of a combined telephone, broadband and television service, so-called ‘triple play'.
BT Sport became a serious player when it paid £738 million over three years to show Premier League football alongside Sky, who still retained the lion's share of live matches and most of the best ones as well.
Nevertheless, BT Sport's 38 games per-season, along with its other football and rugby union rights boosted its number of subscribers to two million.
Exclusive Champions League rights could massively increase that total, even if some high-profile matches are shown free-to-air.
But it will also raise questions over whether BT has overpaid and whether its offer of free sport for its broadband customers is sustainable if it is to recoup the near £2bn it is set to pay out in sports rights over the coming years.
It insisted on Saturday its Champions League bid would not change its current financial outlook.
Sky said in a statement: "We bid with a clear view of what the rights are worth to us. It seems BT chose to pay far in excess of our valuation.
"There are many ways in which we can invest in our service for customers. We take a disciplined approach and there is always a level at which we will choose to focus on something else. If we thought it was worth more, we'd have paid more.
"Nothing changes until 2015 and we look forward to 18 more months of live Champions League on Sky Sports. We will now re-deploy resources and continue to bring customers the best choice of TV across our offering."
Who has the rights?
Premier League - Sky Sports and BT Sport until 2016
Champions League - Sky Sports and ITV until 2015
FA Cup - ITV and BT Sport until 2014. BBC and BT Sport 2014-18
Football League - Sky Sports until 2018
Football Conference - BT Sport until 2015
England Internationals - ITV until 2018This case has been going on for years, so let's get some background details out of the way. Amy Howe, formerly a reporter and editor for SCOTUSblog
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SCOTLAND LAGGING BEHIND REST OF UK IN REDUCING EMISSIONS
Scotland is lagging behind the rest of the UK in reducing CO2 emissions, figures have shown.
The most recent statistics show Scotland had the second lowest decrease in CO2 emissions of any region of the UK, with just a 2 per cent between 2014 and 2015.
Analysis of local authority emissions show the Highlands had the largest increase in emissions of any council area in the entire UK, at 28 per cent from 2014 to 2015.
The SNP government has cut the environmental departmental budget by 2.3 per cent in real terms in the last five years.
It has also cut the agriculture budget from £10.3m in 2017/18 to £5.6m for 2018/19 despite agriculture being a heavy greenhouse gas emitter.
Labour said the figures show that the Scottish Government is not taking enough action to tackle climate change, and called on the government to drop plans for an air departure tax cut altogether.
Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Climate Change, Claudia Beamish said:
“These are very poor figures on minimising CO2 emissions in Scotland.
“Nicola Sturgeon has previously said she wants Scotland to show global leadership on climate change, yet these figures reveal a disappointing lack of progress on even leadership within the UK on reducing emissions.
“The truth is we are not going to be able to tackle climate change while the SNP is slashing the environment budget and refusing to drop plans to give a tax cut to frequent flyers.
“Labour would cancel this unnecessary tax cut for the airlines and will continue to push the SNP government to set ambitious climate change targets in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Region Industrial & commercial Domestic Transport LULUCF Total Change from previous year UK 162.4 107.3 125.8 -9.0 386.5 -4% Wales 15.6 5.3 6.3 -0.3 26.9 -6% Scotland 14.2 9.9 10.6 -2.0 32.7 -2% N. Ireland 5.4 3.6 4.1 0.5 13.6 -5% England 120.7 88.0 104.8 -5.3 308.2 -4% North East 13.3 4.5 4.4 -4.3 18.0 -10% North West 15.6 12.2 13.7 -0.7 40.7 -4% Yorkshire and the Humber 18.9 9.0 10.8 0.0 38.6 0% East Midlands 12.9 8.0 10.4 0.1 31.4 -3% West Midlands 11.9 9.0 12.4 0.1 33.5 -4% East of England 11.1 9.9 13.8 -0.1 34.6 -2% Greater London 13.2 12.1 8.0 0.0 33.3 -7% South East 14.2 14.8 19.7 -0.5 48.3 -2% South West 9.7 8.5 11.6 0.1 29.8 -5%
Table 2: Local authorities that had the largest changes in missions, 2014-15.
Local authority Percentage change Sub-sector most responsible for decreases and increases Carlisle 38% decrease Industry and Commercial Electricity West Somerset 28% decrease Industry and Commercial Electricity and Gas Redcar and Cleveland 25% decrease Large Industrial Installations Stockton-on-Tees 22% increase Large Industrial Installations Highland 28% increase Industry and Commercial Electricity
£ Million £ Change % Change £ one year Change % one year Change 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 14-15 to 18-19 14-15 to 18-19 17-18 to 18-19 17-18 to 18-19 Marine Scotland 50.6 49.7 46.9 52.3 51.2 0.6 1% -1.1 -2% Research, Analysis, other Services 76.5 76.6 67.5 64.3 64.1 -12.5 -16% -0.2 0% Environmental & Rural Services 146.5 150.1 149.7 146.1 150.4 3.9 3% 4.3 3% Climate Change 20.3 20.1 19.7 19.8 21.5 1.2 6% 1.7 8% Scottish Water 21.4 -15.1 -96.9 24.5 111.8 90.4 422% 87.3 357% Total ECCLR 315.3 281.6 187.0 307.0 399.0 83.7 27% 92.0 30% Total ECCLR, excluding Scottish Water 293.9 296.6 283.9 282.5 287.2 -6.7 -2.3% 4.7 1.6%
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/623015/2005_to_2015_UK_local_and_regional_CO2_emissions_statistical_release.pdf
EMBARGO: 00.01 6 JANUARY 2017
MATHESON MISSING FOR MINERS
SNP Justice Secretary Michael Matheson has not responded to appeals for an inquiry into the miners’ strike for over a year, Scottish Labour can reveal.
In December 2016, Labour MSP Neil Findlay, alongside Nicky Wilson, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers, Wullie Doolan from the Scottish National Union of Mineworkers and representatives from Thompsons’ solicitors met with Mr Matheson to call for an inquiry into the 1984-85 strike on December 15 2016.
The SNP Justice Secretary pledged to look into the issue – but has not responded more than a year later.
Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay has called for a Hillsbrough-style inquiry into police behaviour during miners’ strike, including the convictions of almost 500 miners.
Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay said:
“Michael Matheson is treating former miners with contempt. It is an absolute disgrace.
“We need a Hillsbrough-style inquiry into police actions during the 1984-85 miners’ strike.
“Almost 500 Scottish striking miners were convicted – a higher proportion than in England and Wales.
“The SNP government should be taking the lead to seek justice for the communities affected by the strike – not ignore them.”
ENDS
EMBARGO: 00.01 6 January 2017
LABOUR CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION ON TEACHER PAY IN THE NEW YEAR
SCHOOLS FACE A YEAR OF DISRUPTION
Pupils face a year of disruption in 2018 unless the SNP reverses ten years of neglect of the teaching profession and delivers significant improvements to teachers’ pay and workload, Labour has warned.
The party said action on teachers’ pay could no longer be put on the backburner by Education Secretary John Swinney.
The Scottish Educational Journal, the in-house magazine for the teachers’ union the EIS, warned this month that ‘industrial action, including the prospect of strike action, may be necessary’ to deliver a better deal for teachers.
Labour’s warnings follow a report from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) showing that teacher pay in Scotland has fallen in real terms.
The report, Education at a Glance 2017, said that Scottish salaries are below that of England, and fell despite a general trend across OECD countries of rising teacher salaries in real terms.
The report also showed that Scottish teachers have one of the highest teaching workloads in the developed world.
The report followed research carried out by academics at Bath Spa University which said that the working conditions of Scotland’s teachers are ‘extremely poor’.
The Bath Spa University study found that teachers in Scotland face high levels of workload demand, leading to greater stress and reduced job satisfaction.
The research also found that over 40 per cent of teachers surveyed plan to leave their post within the next 18 months.
Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education, Iain Gray said:
“Scottish pupils face a year of chaos and disruption unless the SNP government deliver improved teacher pay and workload this year.
“Under the Nationalists a teacher is £6,000 worse off, with pay squeezed as workloads continue to increase. Ten years of SNP government has seen our teachers go from being some of the best paid in the world, to amongst the worst.
“Workload and class sizes are also amongst the biggest in the developed world. This is why John Swinney is presiding over a teacher recruitment crisis.
“What our schools really need are enough teachers with enough time, support and resources to do their job; with a career structure to properly recognise their efforts.
“That means a significant improvement in pay, career structure and workload, properly funded by government to re-establish the Scottish profession as world leading.
“Failure to act will see SNP ministers reap what they have sown over ten years of incompetence in education and neglect of teachers. But it is pupils who will pay the price.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
From the leader of the December 2017 issue of the Scottish Educational Journal:
‘Industrial action, including the prospect of strike action, may be necessary to support our campaign for a fair pay increase.’
Source: http://www.eis.org.uk/public.asp?dbase=2&id=3839
Education at a Glance 2017 – http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm
40 per cent of Scottish teachers consider leaving their jobs in next 18 months – https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/40-cent-scottish-teachers-consider-leaving-their-jobs-next-18-months
EMBARGO: 00.01 7 JANAURY 2018
MORE THAN 1,000 DELAYED DISCHARGE DEATHS SINCE 2015
More than 1,000 patients have died while on a delayed discharge waiting list since the SNP government pledged to abolish the practice.
Freedom of information requests from Scottish Labour reveal that at least 1152 patients in Scotland have died while waiting to be discharged from hospital from March 2015 until November 2017.
In February 2015, SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison promised to eradicate delayed discharge from the NHS completely by the end of that year.
A delayed discharge is identified as a hospital inpatient judged clinically ready to leave hospital, who continues to occupy a bed beyond the ‘ready for discharge’ date.
These patients are clinically ready to move on to a more appropriate care setting – but often can’t because a care package isn’t available to them.
Labour said the figures showed the need to stop the cuts to local authorities and deliver more sustainable investment in social care.
The figure is expected to be higher as NHS Grampian failed to respond to the FOI request.
ISD Scotland estimate that in 2015/16 the cost of delayed discharges in NHSScotland was £132 million.
Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health, Anas Sarwar said:
“In 2015 the SNP promised to scrap delayed discharge in our hospital. Instead thousands of patients have died in hospital waiting to go home.
“Our NHS staff are undervalued and overstretched, and they should be supported by a proper system to help patients out of hospital as soon as they are fit to leave.
“Further cuts to local councils which provide social care will only add to this, and it shows the complete mismanagement of our health and care services under the SNP.
“Fixing delayed discharge will begin to relieve the pressure on our hospitals and NHS staff, allowing for better patient care for everyone – but we can only do that if we invest properly in local services. That means doing more than tinkering around the edges on tax, it means real and radical change.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Analysis of freedom of information responses to Scottish Labour shows:
Number of deaths while patient was a delayed discharge Board 2015 (From March) 2016 2017 Total NHS Ayrshire & Arran 5 5 3 13 NHS Borders* <5 <5 <5 0 NHS Dumfries & Galloway** 10 13 7 30 NHS Fife* 21 5 5 31 NHS Forth Valley 16 19 25 60 NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 27 31 32 90 NHS Grampian FAILED TO RESPOND TO FOI REQUEST NHS Highland** 46 40 27 113 NHS Lanarkshire 67 87 88 242 NHS Lothian 180 214 159 553 NHS Orkney* <5 <5 <5 0 NHS Shetland* 6 <5 <5 6 NHS Tayside* 5 9 <5 14 NHS Western Isles* <5 <5 <5 0 Scotland 383 423 346 1152 * response provided include monthly numbers of “<5” to prevent patient identification meaning annual total is likely to be higher ** response provided only annual total
EMBARGO:00.01 8 JANUARY 2018
MORE THAN ONE IN TEN SCOTTISH CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES ‘ON THE FINANCIAL EDGE’.
More than one in ten Scottish children are from families on a financial cliff edge, new research from Scottish Labour reveals.
Fourteen per cent of children in Scotland are living in material deprivation but don’t come from families classed as “low income”.
The figure is as high as 22 per cent in South Lanarkshire and nearly 24 per cent in Dumfries and Galloway.
These children are living without basic necessities but are slipping through the net because their families are not classed as low income. Instead these families have seen their living standards squeezed due to rising costs, low pay and insecure work.
Labour said its plan to top up Child Benefit by £240 a year would help these families and their children, and others who unexpectedly find themselves living on the edge.
Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Monica Lennon said:
“Thousands of families across Scotland are one unexpected bill away from being in real trouble.
“These are families on a financial cliff edge – victims of a broken economy that doesn’t work for the many but instead for a privileged few at the top.
“The SNP and the Tories have both failed to make the economy work for these families. Labour has a plan to get more money in their pockets, including increasing Child Benefit by £240 a year.
“That’s the kind of radical action we need to make Scotland work for everyone, not the tinkering around the edges we are seeing from the SNP.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
% of children who in non-low income families in material deprivation Aberdeen City 6.3% Aberdeenshire 16.0% Angus 13.1% Argyll & Bute 17.6% City of Edinburgh 7.3% Clackmannanshire 11.5% Dumfries & Galloway 23.8% Dundee City 27.7% East Ayrshire 12.3% East Dunbartonshire 5.5% East Lothian 11.5% East Renfrewshire 8.3% Falkirk 12.0% Fife 9.7% Glasgow City 12.6% Highland 11.8% Inverclyde 13.6% Midlothian 16.1% Moray 15.9% Na h-Eileanan an Iar 14.5% North Ayrshire 16.0% North Lanarkshire 19.5% Orkney Islands 6.0% Perth & Kinross 8.2% Renfrewshire 7.2% Scottish Borders 13.3% Shetland Islands 9.0% South Ayrshire 11.7% South Lanarkshire 22.4% Stirling 13.7% West Dunbartonshire 19.8% West Lothian 18.5% Scotland 13.7%
Source: Labour analysis of data available at http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00528469.xlsx
byWeehawken 16-year-old Justin Casquejo pulled a fast one on the guards at One World Trade Center on Sunday, reaching the spire of the 1,776-foot-tall tower around 4AM and hanging out for at least two hours. Some people's rebellious teenage phases are just cooler than others.
According to the New York Post, the whole thing went down in a hilariously banal fashion: After coming into the city from New Jersey, Justin Casquejo crawled through a hole in the WTC security fence ("he's a skinny kid who got through a skinny hole," a source tells the Post). There, he asked an elevator operator to take him up to the 88th floor. The operator, it seems, was more than happy to do the bidding of an ID-less minor demanding a ride in a union elevator in the middle of the night. So far so good!
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Casquejo's real pièce de résistance took place at the top floor—104—which he climbed up to after getting off the elevator at floor 88. There, he snuck past a slumbering guard and made it out onto the roof of the WTC, where he hung out for two hours, presumably until the rising sun woke the snoozing guard (who has since been fired, which, aw).
According to sources, he "ran hog wild" up there taking photos, which probably make his Russian counterparts look pathetic. But sadly, this single tweet was his only internet-bound response to the adventure. [NYPost]
AdvertisementOn the left, the view that Republicans allowed the conservative grassroots to turn their party into a political action committee for white ressentiment has evolved over the years from an argument into a creed. Since at least 2012, liberals have been warning (at times mockingly, but never disingenuously) that by indulging and at times fanning the hostilities and procedural extremism of this part of their coalition, Republicans were letting expediency get the better of them.
When large swaths of the conservative movement resisted the notion that the GOP needed to widen its appeal to minorities, and could win by appealing to a broader base of whites, it was liberals who warned that these voters would drag the party into a racial abyss.
Trump is the fulfillment of that prophecy. Better than any Republican candidate in recent memory, he intuits the mood of the disaffected Republican electorate. Or rather, because he’s almost entirely uninterested in straddling party factions, he gives voice to their paranoia and racism without massaging it the way the pretenders to his lead do. It’s possible to imagine a more traditional politician, like Ted Cruz, taking up Trump’s mantle without ever making Reince Priebus or House Speaker Paul Ryan angry, but their platforms would look practically identical.
This is the main reason GOP protestations, five months after Trump reached the top of the polls, ring so hollow. Republicans behave as if Trump is both a self-contained phenomenon and a singular mouthpiece for the most important segment of their electorate. An unmetastasized malignancy and a vital organ, simultaneously. The former view serves to reassure the rest of the public (and GOP donors among them) that Trump is merely a passing fad—an unlovely figurehead for a perfectly lovely segment of the voting base. That once he’s gone, everything will return to normal.
But the former view is also facially incompatible with the latter. It’s why their condemnations of Trump are either half-hearted, or paired with some alternate, less overtly discrediting appeal to his fans. The modus operandi of second-tier candidates has been to tiptoe around Trump’s controversies, rather than create contrast with them. Even Ryan, who denounced Trump’s Monday comments in the most unambiguous terms, still pledged to support him should he win the Republican nomination.Economists predict that the US Federal Reserve could lose half a trillion dollars in just three years thanks to policies enacted by the central bank under Chairman Ben Bernanke.
A study conducted by investment analysts at New York City’s MSCI Inc. suggests that Mr. Bernanke’s efforts to keep the floundering economy in tact on the heels of a recession have proven to be futile and will continue to collapse.
According to Bloomberg News, who contracted MSCI to conduct the study, the potential losses the Fed could see during the next three years are “unprecedented.” MSCI says the market values of Fed holdings are likely to shrink by $547 billion during that span.
The group says they concluded as much after using stress-test scenarios designed by the central bank to examine how the value of securities held in the Fed’s portfolio at the end of 2012 will stand up during the next few years. In a situation involving economic contraction and rising inflation, MSCI expects the Fed’s holdings to drop drastically by more than half of a trillion dollars.
Should conditions improve, however, losses may not amount to that substantial of a figure. If the economy performs “in line with consensus forecasts of gradually rising growth, inflation and interest rates,” reports Bloomberg, the mark-to-market loss during the next few years could amount to ‘only’ $216 billion. Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, tells Bloomberg that either way she expects a hostile response from Washington.
“Even if there’s a perfectly logical explanation and the normalization of the balance sheet is a good thing in the long term, the headlines will probably generate congressional scrutiny,” she says. “That’s never a good thing from the Fed’s perspective.”
So far, though, the central bank has stayed optimistic. Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee that the Fed “remains confident that it has the tools necessary to tighten monetary policy when the time comes to do so.” At least one lawmaker, though — Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) — is skeptical. Hours after Bernanke’s address, he sent a letter to the chairman asking, “Do we have a serious policy problem brewing here, or is this simply an optics problem about which we should not be concerned?”
Others have reacted positively to Bernanke’s remarks and have said his confidence could be a good think. His comments did not affect the price of oil on Wednesday morning, and the Sucden Financial Research said that the chairman’s statement may have had something to do with keeping the cost of crude from rising.
"It seems that the optimistic comments from Bernanke overshadowed the political uncertainty of the Eurozone and raised hopes about a possible rebound in the oil demand for the rest of 2013,” the report reads.
Whether Bernanke’s predictions prove to be correct is another story, though. According to the MSCI report, the chairman’s policies are on track to cause the Fed to lose a substantial loss in a short amount of time. Bernanke says his policy of “credit easing,” or buying back debt from the Treasury and federal housing agencies, as well as mortgage-backed securities, is key to improving the economy. As interest rates ride, however, returns from the Fed’s holdings are sharply shrinking.
“The political backlash could be particularly acute given that a good portion of the funds that would otherwise be remitted to the Treasury would be transferred to large financial institutions in the form of interest paid on reserves,” Laurence Meyer, a former Fed governor and co-founder of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis, adds to Bloomberg. “This could present a significant communication challenge for the Fed and adversely impact its reputation.”
Bernanke’s second four-year term as Federal Reserve chairman expires next year and he has not announced his plans for the future. Speaking to the Senate, however, Bernanke did say that he thinks the Fed should continue with its current policies, regardless of how some economists think it will work.
“To this point we do not see the potential costs of the increased risk-taking in some financial markets as outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more rapid job creation,” Bernanke said.
Should the “unprecedented losses” predicted by MSCI occur, though, the bank might start to see those risks. The New York Times reports that losses in the hundreds of billions could mean the Fed would be unable to move profits to the US Treasury Department for the first time since the 1930s.If I’m playing in a Superflex or 2QB league, I usually elect to go by what has been deemed the “Studs and Streaming” style in a startup draft.
In the first two rounds I’ll grab a premiere wide receiver or running back and follow it up with one of the top quarterback options in the second round. From there I’ll load up on skill position players, while my opponents take their second and third quarterbacks and wait until much later to grab my other quarterbacks.
In one of my favorite superflex leagues from last year, I took Aaron Rodgers in the second round at QB4, then waited until the 11th/12th round turn to select Sam Bradford (QB27) and Blaine Gabbert (QB29). This rag-tag trio provided me consistent points from the quarterback position and led to me to scoring the second-most points out of the 480 teams in 2016’s Scott Fish Bowl.
While I have found success in this manner, it often leaves me without players like Matthew Stafford. The Studs and Streaming approach leaves these low QB1 and high QB2 types out of contention for your roster and it led me desiring to find what kind of range of outcomes we can expect for Stafford in 2017.
If you haven’t dug too far into Stafford’s splits this offseason quite yet, it’s hard to believe he’s entering his ninth season in the league and will be just 29 years old. Over the last year and a half — since offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter took over play calling responsibilities — Stafford has turned into a remarkable fantasy quarterback.
The Jim Bob Cooter Era
Under Jim Bob Cooter’s tutelage, Stafford has drastically increased his completion percentage, decreased his interception rate, and improved his overall efficiency as measured by Quarterback Rating and Adjusted Yards per Attempt. Stafford has retained a near-50 percent hit rate on top-12 quarterback weeks, but he’s drastically reduced his “floor” weeks that finished outside the top-24.
Essentially, the biggest takeaway here is that under the JBC era, Stafford has developed into a more accurate, less turnover-prone quarterback that has fewer bust weeks.
A major reason for this is likely due to the play calling of Cooter, who emphasized short, high-percentage completions and relied on his receivers to do most of the work after the catch.
Stafford’s low Average Depth of Target (aDOT) of just 7.9 yards ranked 30th out of the 36 qualifying quarterbacks tracked by ProFootballFocus last year. He had the tenth-lowest Air Yards per Attempt (3.53) among last year’s starters. However, Stafford had the third-highest percentage of his passing yards coming from his receiver’s YAC (51.5%), trailing only Alex Smith (54.9%) and Sam Bradford (52.5%).
Short crossing routes to Anquan Boldin and Golden Tate kept the ball moving and the offense on schedule for first downs. Eric Ebron set a career-high with 60.7 percent of his receptions going for a first down or touchdown. Detroit had the tenth-most targets going to their running backs last year. Besides peppering in a few deep shots to Marvin Jones down the sideline, a large majority of Stafford’s success relied on his receivers being able to pick up additional yardage after the catch.
That YAC was huge for a team like Detroit. The Lions ranked third in pass play percentage (64.6%), as they essentially utilized a short passing game as an extension of the run. I found it interesting that the Lions led the league in the amount of time they were tied with their opponent in a game. They didn’t face particularly negative game scripts (ninth-lowest), nor were they leading a ton (14th-most). That leads me to believe that JBC intends to keep the passing attack a priority in this offense once again heading into 2017.
Stafford’s Strong Supporting Cast
Part of what makes Stafford such an appealing fantasy quarterback is his strong supporting cast.
Golden Tate has picked up 90+ receptions in each of his first three seasons with Detroit. In games where Stafford and Tate are able to hook up regularly, the two have combined for some quality fantasy goodness:
Last year’s free agent acquisition of Marvin Jones started off hot, but faced some inconsistency down the stretch of the season. He still finished with 55 receptions, 930 yards, and four touchdowns en route to a WR43 finish, right above Jordan Matthews. Perhaps with another full offseason to work together, Jones and Stafford can develop their rapport even further. Jones finished with one of the highest Air Yards per Target in the league, at 14.1. While the connection needed work, the intended yards were there for Jones (and Stafford) to flourish.
If the team elects to move on from Anquan Boldin (67/584/8), we could potentially see Eric Ebron split out wide more often. Ebron led all tight ends in routes run per game and has a strong chance to gain those targets Boldin was seeing last year. Boldin’s absence opens up 23 Red Zone targets and Ebron has the size (6′-4″, 245 pounds) to capitalize and turn in a breakout performance. Detroit signed Darren Fells last week as an inline blocking tight end, which should allow Ebron to run free as a matchup nightmare.
Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick are two backs with plus receiving skills. They make for great checkdown and screen options with the quickness to evade most linebackers. Both running backs graded out among PFF’s top-24 pass blocking running backs last year, another plus for Stafford.
This past week the Lions also added two massive pieces for their offensive line. Right guard T.J. Lang not only provides some much needed help in the interior, but also weakens their divisional rival, the Green Bay Packers, in the process. Right tackle Ricky Wagner will also provide some much needed help outside. Both Lang and Wagner ranked in the top-10 in pass protection grades by PFF at their respective positions. That should go a long way to keeping Stafford upright and allowing plenty of time for him to make his progressions and reads.
The additions of Lang and Wagner form a solid mixture of veterans and youth across the offensive line. It certainly appears on paper to be an upgrade over last year’s unit and should help the passing game tremendously. Stafford has a terrific blend of proven veterans and potential breakout players to make this offense in Detroit one of the most fantasy-friendly units heading into 2017.
Matthew Stafford in 2017 and Beyond
Stafford is currently going as the QB14 in MFL10s and is the consensus QB10 according to DynastyLeagueFootball‘s rankings. Both of these rankings make perfect sense in my mind.
Stafford is a capable starter in redraft with the ability to garner top-six and top-12 weeks as a stable fantasy producer. In our recent polls at TwoQBs, Stafford’s ranking fell right between Dak Prescott and Philip Rivers, finishing QB15 in the polls:
You’ll notice that I personally voted for Rivers in this situation. Joshua Lake penned how he believes Rivers is a terrific quarterback value in 2017 and I’m inclined to agree. However, after performing this study, I’ve reassessed my belief that I’d be quite comfortable with starting either one of them and will likely just take whoever of the two falls further. Josh Hornsby‘s recent MFL10 ADP tracker suggests that opportunity will present itself often:
Stafford’s high floor — remember, he has fallen outside of the top-24 just four percent of the time under the JBC era — makes him a dependable fantasy asset that you can rely on weekly. His high completion percentage in an offense that favors the pass has turned him into a target for redraft leagues and someone worth inquiring about in dynasty.
Stafford is just 29 years old and considering he’s often jumbled in the dynasty rankings of elder signal callers like Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, and Eli Manning, he could make for a solid upgrade at the QB2 position if you went “Studs and Streaming” in a startup. He makes for a great target in a package trade to slide up and grab a consistent quarterback in your QB2/superflex position.
Stafford has youth, a strong mentor in Jim Bob Cooter, and dependability on his side. He hasn’t missed a game in six years and we’ve seen him improve remarkably under JBC’s tutelage. Given his QB14/QB15 price tag, he makes for an outstanding buy in 2017 leagues and one worth inquiring about in dynasty. His range of outcomes could quite easily find him fall right around the QB1 cusp at a QB2 price.Nova Scotia is introducing legislation to protect Sable Island and help make it Canada's 43rd national park.
Energy Minister Charlie Parker says the legislation mirrors what the federal government tabled in the Senate in February.
Amendments to the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act would prohibit oil and gas drilling from the surface of Sable Island and out to one nautical mile from shore.
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The 42-kilometre-long island, about 300 kilometres southeast of Nova Scotia, is home to 400 wild horses, several bird species and a breeding population of grey seals.
Nova Scotia and Ottawa agreed in October, 2011, to make the island the country's newest national park.
Parker says it's hoped the process can be completed some time this year with the passage of the provincial and federal legislation.November 2, 2016
USADA announced today that Tim Root, of Boise, Idaho, an athlete in the sport of cycling, has received a four-year sanction for refusing to provide a urine sample to a doping control officer. Root was selected to submit a sample as a result of being among the top finishers in his event at the 2016 Anderson Banducci Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho.
Root was subject to testing because the event was sanctioned by USA Cycling, which maintains the RaceClean Program that works to fight doping at the amateur level of cycling. The goal of the RaceClean Program is to increase testing and education at the amateur level to provide greater doping deterrence, and this USA Cycling program is executed through member funding, donations, and local association partnerships.
Root, 49, refused to provide a sample upon being selected by a doping control officer during an in-competition test on July 16, 2016. Evading sample collection, or refusing or failing to submit to sample collection, without compelling justification is an anti-doping rule violation under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the United States Olympic Committee National Anti-Doping Policies, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code.
Root’s four-year period of ineligibility began on November 2, 2016, the date on which his sanction was imposed. In addition, Root has been disqualified from all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to July 16, 2016, the date he refused to submit a sample, including forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes.
In an effort to aid athletes, as well as all support team members such as parents and coaches, in understanding the rules applicable to them, USADA provides comprehensive instruction on its website on the testing process and prohibited substances, how to obtain permission to use a necessary medication, and the risks and dangers of taking supplements as well as performance-enhancing and recreational drugs. In addition, the agency manages a drug reference hotline, Drug Reference Online (www.GlobalDRO.com), conducts educational sessions with National Governing Bodies and their athletes, and proactively distributes a multitude of educational materials, such as the Prohibited List, easy-reference wallet cards, periodic newsletters, and protocol and policy reference documentation.
USADA is responsible for the testing and results management process for athletes in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement, and is equally dedicated to preserving the integrity of sport through research initiatives and educational programs.My goal for writing content on here was once a week. Unfortunately, having a family makes things a little unpredictable at times and I’m a little behind schedule. I did want to pop back in and say a few things about the recent Bungie summit for Destiny 2. I will say I have taken a significant break from the game itself. I do try to hop on once a week for about two hours to stay fresh, but that’s nothing compared to my time spent in the first few weeks of the game or throughout the three years of Destiny 1.
I spent some time over the last few days browsing thoughts and impressions of the Summit from some of the notable community members and it really seems like there is some optimism there, albeit somewhat skeptical optimism. It was good to see that Bungie took note of the public outcry related to the state of the game as well as the pretty evident diminishing player counts and took action by inviting players out for a conference to discuss the game.
It seems that a healthy diversity was represented at the event. From someone that enjoys both PVP and PVE and read the grimoire in order to obtain backstory of the game, I was fairly happy that the three segments were represented well. That being the PVP, PVE, and Lore community. Obviously the entire event is shrouded in secrecy and there aren’t very many details, but the biggest takeaway is that the individuals that attended really felt their thoughts and opinions were taken seriously. As someone that watched countless vidoes expressing ways to make the game better, or in most cases, revert it back to the way it was in the first game, I know these individuals had a lot of good ideas.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about how Bungie plans to make the game better, however, I continue to remain pessimistic about how long that will take. The new DLC will be out soon. Since I bought the season pass, I’ll obviously be checking it out, but the question will be how long that holds my attention before I stop playing again. If it’s anything like the first DLC, the answer will be not very long. All in all though, here’s to hoping for some action from the Summit. As we’ve done for the past 6 months or so, we’ll continue to wait I suppose…Revolution Academy product Mitchell Taintor is among 59 NCAA division 1 players on the initial list of invite
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as an “unconference" for developers, technologists, policy-makers, students, academics and journalists to share ideas on improving governmentDonald Trump hinted Wednesday that he plans to announce something new or different regarding his immigration policies over the next two weeks.
In an interview with West Palm Beach CBS affiliate WPEC, the GOP presidential nominee was asked to share details about the idea that he plans to soften his proposals.
“Well, I’m going to announce something over the next two weeks, but it’s going to be a very firm policy,” Trump told WPEC.
“We’re very, very firm on immigration,” he added. “We’re going to build a wall, it’s got to be a very powerful wall. But we want people to come into our country, but we want them to come in legally, but we’re going to be very, very strong on immigration.”
During a town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Trump suggested that he might be open to letting some of the undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. stay.
“There could certainly be a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people,” Trump said. “We have some great people in this country. We have some great, great people in this country but we’re going to follow the laws of this country and what people don’t realize--we have very, very strong laws.”
In an interview with CBS’ Major Garrett on Tuesday, Trump’s vice presidential nominee Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was asked what “tough and fair” means when it comes to deportations.
“I think those are issues that will continue to be worked out in the days ahead,” Pence said.
Their remarks signal a major shift from Trump’s previous position of supporting a policy that would lead to the deportation of roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and only allowing them to re-enter through the legal avenues.
The forthcoming announcement will come not long after the shake-up within his presidential campaign that resulted in the promotion of Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager, the hiring of former Breitbart chief Steve Bannon to be Trump’s CEO and the resignation of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
CBS News’ Sopan Deb contributed to this report.Smart homes are here.
You can use motion sensors to trigger smart light switches. You can program smart thermostats to warm only the rooms that people are actually using. You can even control smart power outlets with your mobile phone, setting appliances to turn on and off at certain times of day.
The problem is that all this gear is pretty expensive. And generally, you're forced to install each system by hand—or hire someone to do it, which makes things even more expensive. And if you're renting? Forget about it. These devices are almost completely out of reach you're not allowed to retrofit your home.
All those barriers make it particularly difficult for young people to embrace what we now call the Internet of Things—and they're typically the ones who are most interested in experimenting with new technologies. Sce Pike, the co-founder of the Portland, Oregon-based startup IOTAS, points out that only 36 percent of people under the age of 35 own their own homes, according to the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.
But Pike and IOTAS aim to solve this problem. The company works with real estate developers to build Internet-of-Things tech into apartment buildings, so that renters get access to it without having to pay upfront costs. The idea is to bring the smart home to everyone, to finally push it into the mainstream.
Starting Simple
IOTAS is starting simple, with motion sensors, light switches, and power outlets. Using the company's mobile app, you can create custom rules for your apartment. You could have IOTAS turn off all your apartment's lights when you go into your bedroom after 10pm. Or maybe even tell it to blink your kitchen lights when you get a text message from your boss.
The system operates via a central online service. This could be included with your rent, or offered for an additional fee, like a utility. If you opt-out of the service, all the lights and outlets would still work just as they do in a normal apartment. And if your internet connection goes down—or if the cloud service can't be reached—existing rules will still work. You just won't be able to create new ones or use the app as a remote control.
That may seem limiting, but the cloud service does offer some intriguing possibilities. If you move houses, your rules and settings could follow you from apartment to apartment. And eventually, if IOTAS can expand far and wide enough, your profile could follow you to hotels and Airbnbs as well. Users will also be able to share custom rule sets, so that if someone comes up with something really clever, everyone else will be able take advantage of that ideas well.
The Old and the New
IOTAS hardware is wireless and designed to plug right into standard light switch and power outlet fittings, so that there's no need for construction contractors to receive special training to install and maintain the gear. It's already installed in 100 units of the Grant Park Village apartment building in Portland, Oregon, where the service is being offered to residents as a free trial for now.
Chris Nelson, the principal of Capstone Partners, which developed the property, says the installation process was very simple. "It was just a matter of taking out the old outlets and switches out and putting the new ones in," he says.
Grant Park Village is a new building, completed just last year, but Pike hopes to help retrofit existing properties as well. "That's a much bigger market," she says. According to Nelson, there aren't many other companies trying to woo real estate developers into installing smart home technologies—at least not in the Portland area. But IOTAS is a start.
And it hopes to take these efforts even further. Eventually, Pike says, the company wants to offer integrations with other smart home products, such as smart locks, Google' Nest thermostat, or wearables such as the Pebble smart watch, so that IOTAS can become a central hub for the connected devices in your home. So many other companies are making the same pitch—including Google—but that's what the Internet of Things needs: Many companies pushing the market forward, in many different ways.As one who runs a website about weird news, it's been a crazy start to the year. A number of hoaxes proliferating around the media the first week of this year. They are passed on almost with the same respect as actual news. If you resolve to do anything this year, resolve to doubt the news when it sounds too outrageous or too weird to be true. Because it's probably not.
There are too many urban legends and popular rumors going around to follow at any one time, but let's take a quick look at some of the major hoaxes that recently created hype in the media.
Made for TV hoaxes
Not counting the Punk'd and Candid Camera-type practical joke setups that are humorous (if rather mean), several television programs aim their hoaxes at the public, making them realistic, and keeping the background a secret as the bizarre video goes viral across the web.
In July, in Whitstable, Kent, U.K, a video from a medicine shop's closed circuit television showed a man surprised by a falling box. But before the fall, the camera captures the box defying gravity, levitating off the shelf, hanging there for a moment, then dropping. Was this paranormal activity? (There were obvious signs that it was not.) It was such a fun video that it was passed around extensively. Finally, in December, it was revealed as a hoax for a TV show. The reveal happened on a broadcast that did not get good ratings. Most people may still assume the video was actual evidence for paranormal activity.
The case of the glowing squid-like mystery creature in Bristol harbor, also in the U.K., didn't hang on quite as long. People in the harbor sounded amazed to see and film a bright, pulsating animal that did not look like a machine. It looked like something out of this world! The prank was released on YouTube as part of a marketing stunt by UKTV's entertainment channel, Watch, to launch the show "The Happenings". I really wanted that bioluminescent beastie to be real.
Other viral marketing campaigns have occurred for movies and TV shows in the past. A photo showing a Civil War era crew with a prehistoric flying reptile was long ago revealed to be a hoax from the show Freaky Links. The photo still circulates around websites and forum. I've even seen it used in a presentation at a paranormal conference with no mention it was not genuine. It's used as "evidence" that these extinct animals may be still alive in the U.S. -- a fun idea but complete fantasy.
Paranormal investigators, UFO researchers and Bigfoot searchers have to deal with this problem. A considerable portion of the media coverage of their pet subject areas is about deliberate faking. Serious researchers get pretty angry about it. But, let's face it, if hoaxes are probably the 2nd most likely conclusion behind mistaken identification, you have some serious credibility issues to overcome. The obvious hoaxers gain more attention than those attempting to remain respectable.
There's an app for that
Unfortunately, hoaxes are easier and easier to pull off but harder to kill. Local media has a habit of falling for sensational stories. Submitters generate quick and dirty hoaxes with cell phone apps that add "ghosts" or "UFOs". These apps are widely available and often free. You snap a pic of the surroundings and insert various UFOs, spirits, Jesus, or the Virgin Mary in them and amaze your friends. Or, take the local news for a ride. An Ohio station featured the story of a man who said he captured a UFO in a picture he took with his tablet while vacationing in California.
A picture captured on a cell phone of UFO formation over the house or ghosts in the living room can be passed on to an unsuspecting friend or relative who doesn't know you used software to create it. Local news will report the story without doing much due diligence to sniff out fakery even when it's ridiculously obvious. People love this stuff so critical assessment of the claims is practically non-existent.
2012 was the year when the world went wild for sky noises that sounded like trumpets announcing coming Mayan Apocalypse. While some recordings were genuine local industrial noises, many were deliberately hoaxed to make it seem like the same eerie musical tones were heard around the world. These noises are still discussed on mystery mongering websites; people STILL don't know how many of these were hoaxed.
Look! What is that thing?
It could be a remote controlled UFOs or a nifty LED contraption constructed just to pull a prank. It happens all the time. See this example from Connecticut. A Vancouver science center promoted a UFO video to drum up interest in their exhibits.
People do this just to see how many hits they can get on YouTube or a website. It gets posted on Reddit and viewed by millions of people, some of whom believe it's real. Some UFO videos are done by professionals with computer graphic imagery to make them look VERY impressive. They are so impressive, in fact, that this is a hint they are hoaxed. More than one person will notice a football-field sized floating craft in the air.
Even if you can't make heads or tails out of photo manipulation software, you can still fool your community with social media tricks. Because of the ability to pass photos around the world in an instant, a commonly used ploy these days is to use real photos in manufactured situations. Last year, a photograph of a "black panther" (a melanistic leopard) circulated around Facebook multiple times. The claim was that the big cat was caught on a game camera in Texas, then Louisiana, then Oklahoma. However, with the internet also comes some powerful tool for debunking images. Online image search tools allow you to find where else the photo has been used. Typically you can trace the picture to its original source or at least far enough to know the current claim is NOT accurate. In the case of the big black cat photo, it was taken in Africa -- right where he belonged. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife had to tell people to knock off passing the story around. Hoaxes waste their time as well as making people fearful over nothing.
Bogus Bigfoot
The Bigfoot world suffers markedly right now from hoaxing. From terrible pictures to staged videos, fake DNA, and elaborate stories, it's fair to say you should not believe ANY claim of Bigfoot evidence as the majority of it is bogus on purpose.
Rick Dyer claims to have the body of a Bigfoot he shot quite a while ago. I can not fathom why the press gave Rick Dyer any space to tell his story. They should be embarrassed they did. Dyer has previous hoaxing experience, being part of the crew who faked the famous Bigfoot in a Freezer scam of 2008 in Georgia. They even got a press conference out of that with media reps in attendance. So, if you believe that his latest "body", which looks more like a sideshow gaff, is the real deal, you need to take what I'm saying here to heart. It's more likely to be a hoax than Bigfoot.
The hoax-driven life
Hoaxes can be constructed for advertising a product. Exhibit A: the Salinas crop circle to promote a new computer processor.
Or they can be constructed for propaganda purposes. Major media circulated the story that North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un executed his uncle by feeding him to a hungry pack of dogs. They had no evidence and couldn't easily check the source. This seemed like something the North Korean ruler might do. It sounded like plausible drama...for about 10 minutes.
Thanks to the Internet, anyone, anywhere, has the opportunity to pull a media stunt with a hoax to gain some attention, web hits, ad revenue or even additional cash opportunities. It's happening every day. It would be absurd to say hoaxing is rare or difficult. It's common and easy. It's naïve to assume that people won't pull egregious tricks, even highly elaborate plans, for just a laugh or 15 minutes of fame.
Hoaxes must always be a consideration. The odds that someone is deliberately pulling your leg are FAR greater than the alternative - that they gathered solid evidence of something paranormal.Omar Rodriguez-Lopez also speaks to NME about the band's reasons for reuniting
At The Drive-In, The Maccabees and Bat For Lashes have been added to the bill for this summer’s Benicassim festival.
The new additions join headliners The Stone Roses and Florence And The Machine, as well as New Order, Crystal Castles, The Vaccines, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Miles Kane and Bombay Bicycle Club, who have all been previously confirmed for the festival, which runs from July 12-15 next summer.
The show will be At The Drive-In‘s first European appearance in over a decade and their guitarist Omar Rogriguez-Lopez told NME that the band’s decision to reunite was partly a financial one.
He said:
We’re not getting any younger and there’s been an offer of money every year. You can’t avoid that. You’d be a fool and a politician to pretend that wasn’t part of it.
The guitarist also spoke about how he was feeling about the prospect of a reunion and admitted things “were going to be weird”.
He said of this: “Obviously it’s going to be weird. It’s like getting back with your ex-wife, only in this case there are four ex-wives!”
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Also added to the bill are Dave Clarke, Little Dragon, Lisa Hannigan and Ham Sandwich and a host of others.
Four day tickets for Benicassim, which are priced at €165, are available from Fiberfib.com.
The line-up for Benicassim festival so far is as follows:
The Stone Roses
Florence And The Machine
Crystal Castles
The Vaccines
Katy B
Spector
Example
The Horrors
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Miles Kane
Bombay Bicycle Club
New Order
Howler
Dizzee Rascal
At The Drive In
The Maccabees
Bat For Lashes
Kurt Vile And The Violators
Disappears
Maverick Sabre
Todd Terje
Cooper
Deparment S
Thee Brandy Hips
Los Tiki Phantoms
Dave Clarke
Little Dragon
Yuksek
SebastiAn
Delorentos
Lisa Hannigan
Arp Attack
Sons Phonetic
Ham Sandwich
Pony Bravo
Klaus & Kinski
The Secret Society
Juanita y los FeosAwesome Free Horse Stuff!
2018 Horse Halloween Costume Contest
Enter our most popular contest of the year! Dress up your horse--or dress up with your horse--to win. The top prize is a 3-month subscription to Giddy-Up Gift Boxes! Runner-up prizes, and prizes for commenters.
Enter here
Competition Winners
Horse Paradise Starter Pack
We had many lucky winners for a starter pack from Horse Paradise...an awesome new horse game! Winners will be notified through the game.
Saddle Box subscription box
Congrats to Linn on winning this Saddle Box subscription box!
Pony Xpress Club subscription box
Congrats to Skylar on winning a Pony Xpress Club subscription box...and congrats to Ananda our special runner up!
Betty's Strip Hair grooming kit
Congrats to Lynn, who won a Betty's Strip Hair grooming kit for her entry -- Pyro the Scarecrow - in our 2017 Horse Halloween Costume Contest!
Tonics Paddock Boots
Congrats to Janine for winning these gorgeous paddock boots for her entry - Safari Fun - in our 2017 Horse Halloween Costume Contest!
Shockemoehle Breeches
Drea won these stunning riding breeches for her entry - Zombie Super Heroes Gone Bad - in our 2017 Horse Halloween Costume contest.
Rows of Throws super soft horse-themed blanket
The winners of our Rows of Throws contest are Shelly from Texas and Jesse from Indiana! Congrats!
Halloween Horse Costume Contest 2016 Winners
Winners of our Halloween Horse Costume Contest 2016 are: Lynn/Wizard of Oz (first place), Courtney/5 Seconds of Summer's Cal-Pal and Mike-ro-wave (second place), and Katherine/Alien Attack on An Astronaut (3rd place)! Congratulations!
Ariel: The First Guardian Winners
Congrats to Justin, Skylar and one other winner who wants to remain anonymous. I hope you enjoy reading Ariel!
Horse Quest Online Game Winners
Winners of our Horse Quest Online contest are: Sydney (IL), Aylon (TX), Ilona (Poland), Nicole (UK), Isadora (Brazil), Crystal (Portugal), Dakota (MS), Hayli (CT), Hailey (TX) and Tina (TX)! Many thanks to Dineth and Maya at Horse Quest Online and congratulations riders!
Troxel Rebel Giveaway Winner
Winner of Troxel Helmets Rebel helmet giveaway is... Heather from New York. Congrats Heather & many, many thanks to Troxel! You are awesome!
Troxel Liberty Giveaway Winner
The winner of our Horse Halloween Costume Contest 2015 is "Catch of the Day!" Thank you Troxel Helmets for donating the awesome prize - a Troxel all-purpose Liberty helmet!
Troxel ES Giveaway Winner
The winner of the Troxel ES helmet is Lindsay from Florida. Congratulations!
Fantasy Stables Giveaway Winner
Congratulations to Elyssa from California for winning a copy of the awesome Fantasy Stables horse game!
Summer Horse Book Contest Winners
Alisha, Tania, & Caylee (from Canada and South Africa) won copies of The Perfect Distance by Kim Ablon Whitney.
Morgan S from Wisconsin USA is the winner of the Heartland book series.
Megan from Arizona is the winner of the book Chase by Sydney Scrogham.
Congratulations to Chloe in Oklahoma for winning an autographed copy of Lucy’s Chance, the first book in the Red Rock Ranch series by Brittney Joy.
Congratulations readers!
Platinum Performance Equine Contest
Congratulations to Heather for winning a one-month supply of Platinum Performance Equine!
2014 Horse Halloween Contest
Sadly her horse passed away several days after the competition but we are so happy he went out in style - and as a winner! He'll always be on our hall of fame.
Social Media Contest
The social media competition is over and we are notifying the winners by email: Jesse W., Natalie D., Ashley B. and Anna M. Congratulations and thank you to all of you who participated!
Awesome Horse Treats And A Horse Game Contest
Congratulations to Grace from California for winning awesome horse treats and a horse game!
Halloween Horse Costume Competition 2013
Our first place winner in the 2013 Halloween Horse Costume Contest was: Bella & Khate!
Halloween Horse Costume Competition 2012
The first place winner in our Halloween Horse Costume Competition 2012 was Jessi and Dexter!
Horse Whispers Figurine
Marina from France won a beautiful Horse Whispers figurine!
Previous Book Contest
Erin from Missouri, USA, won a copy of The Girl Who Remembered Horses.
The book The Perfect Distance went to Stefanie from Blair Nebraska USA, Monique from Tallangatta, Victoria, Australia; Celine from Canada and PaintedGoatLady.
Grace won the first book giveaway for the books Dark Fire and Desert Song.
Sisters Makayla, Sophia and Arabella won the second book, Samphire Song.
Taylor from Australia won the first Horse Diaries book. Lucinda won Justin Morgan Had a Horse.
Emma won the fifth book giveaway for the book Puddleby.
Rachel won a copy of Wild Girl.
Yvette won the first two books in the Timber Ridge Series by Maggie Dana: Keeping Secrets and Racing Into Trouble.
Congratulations!
Horse Halloween Costume Contest 2011
The winners of this competition were:
First Place: Batman Halloween
Leke's friends laughed at her but we think they were wrong. What do you think? Batman halloween costume
Second Place: Dressing Up as a Horse
Mackenzi's grandma made this costume so she can dress up as a horse. Isn't is adorable? My horse costume
Third Place: Time for Some Fun With Disney
This costume is super cute and love the fact that she used her riding helmet as part of the costume! (Always be safe.) Disney horse costume
Even though this contest is over, you are still welcome to share your Halloween horse costume ideas and photos for fun!
Share Your Horse Halloween Costume Idea Here
Best Horse Themed Party Ideas
The first place winner of this competition was Madison:
Wild Western Horse Party
Second place goes to Anna:
Hold Your Horses You're Invited!
Third place is a tie between Anna from England and Carrigan (from Canada):
My Amazing Horse Birthday Party
Horsey Birthday Party on a Budget
Free Games - Planet Horse and Ride! Equestrian Simulation
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Return to Top of Page: Free Horse StuffLand transport authorities have revealed nearly half of double-decker buses have failed basic safety tests, as major transport operators are torn over a plan to ban the vehicles.
Double-decker buses are a common sight and a popular ride - until something like Monday's crash that killed at least 30 people in Tak province.
Caretaker Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt said Wednesday many double-decker buses on the roads were unsafe and he wanted operators to order their drivers to take more precautions on dangerous routes.
"Of the buses subject to a slope test, about 45% did not pass," Mr Chadchart said, citing ministry figures. It was not clear when the figures were compiled, or what happens to the buses which fail. "The vehicles can overturn if they negotiate a curve at high speed."
COMMENTARY: Bus carnage should spur safety rethink
A standard double-decker bus weighs about 18 tonnes and is 4.5 metres high. It can carry up to 50 passengers, while a single-decker bus weighs 15 tonnes, is about 3.8 four metres high and carries up to 40 passengers. The minister said it may be difficult to control a double-decker bus in an emergency situation given the added height and weight.
Mr Chadchart plans to limit the height of all passenger buses to four metres in the future. At present, there are about 6,200 double-decker buses registered nationwide. Of them, about 1,700 are scheduled buses while the rest are charter vehicles.
The plan comes in the wake of an accident involving a double-decker bus which killed 29 people and injured 23 others in Tak on Monday.
Mr Chadchart also pointed to seven highways which he said are unsafe for double-decker buses to operate on. They are the Tak-Mae Sot, the Phitsanulok-Phetchabun, the Kabin Buri-Pak Thong Chai, the Ang Thong-Sing Buri-Chai Nat section of the Asian Highway, the Rangsit-Saraburi, the Krabi-Phangnga and the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son routes.
Thailand Development Research Institute researcher Sumet Ongkittikul said bus operators preferred double-decker buses because they can carry more passengers. But he said research has found they are not suitable for long-haul routes as the vehicles can become dangerously unstable driving up or down steep slopes.
He also pointed out that the UN Economic Commission for Europe introduced 150 safety criteria for operating the vehicles, but the Department of Land Transport implemented only four of them in regulating passenger buses.
Mr Sumet said operators apply to register about 800 double-decker buses annually, but about 20-30% fail safety tests. He added that a standard double-decker bus costs about 7-8 million baht, but most double-decker buses driven in Thailand are locally assembled and cost 3-4 million baht each.
Sujinda Cherdchai, president of the Thai Bus Operators Association and owner of Cherdchai Tour Co, opposes a ban on double-decker buses on danger-prone routes.
She said most bus operators, including her own company, had spent a lot of money to acquire the double-decker buses. A ban on the vehicles would be unfair to the companies, she said, adding that most accidents are the fault of drivers, not the vehicles.
Sathaporn Wongbenjarat, president of Nakhonchai Air, said his company avoided using double-deckers because tall buses handled poorly and were unsuitable for driving at high speeds.WASHINGTON: Indian-American Mary Thomas, a government attorney in Florida, has said that she will run for the US Congressional elections in November 2016.If elected, Thomas, whose parents arrived in American from India in 1972, would be the first woman Indian-American lawmaker to be a member of the US House of Representatives.Born in Charleston, South Carolina, 37-year-old Thomas is a Republican. She is pitted against incumbent Gwen Graham of the Democratic Party, who wrested the Second Congressional District of Florida from Republican Steve Southerland in 2014.Thomas, a personal friend of Florida governor Rick Scott, told local media that she is hoping to create history by becoming the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the US Congress. So far only three Indian-Americans elected to the US Congress are Dalip Singh Saundh, Bobby Jindal and Ami Bera. From California, Bera is the only Indian American in the current Congress.“I’m a conservative Republican, a Christian, a wife, mother, and a lawyer. If elected, I would be the first Indian-American woman ever elected to Congress. This would truly be a historic event,” Thomas said during her campaign announcement in Florida last week.Thomas’s parents, Tom and Annie Thomas are physicians who immigrated from India in 1972.You sow your crops in order that he may ravage them, you install and furnish your homes to give him goods to pillage; you rear your daughters that he may gratify his lust; you bring up your children in order that he may confer upon them the greatest privilege he knows---to be led into his battles, to be delivered to butchery, to be made the servants of his greed and the instruments of his vengeance; you yield your bodies unto hard labor in order that he may indulge in his delights and wallow in his filthy pleasures; you weaken yourselves in order to make him the stronger and the mightier to hold you in check. From all these indignities, such as the very beasts of the field would not endure, you can deliver yourselves if you try, not by taking action, but merely by willing to be free. Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces?
All this havoc, this misfortune, this ruin, descends upon you not from alien foes, but from the one enemy whom you yourselves render as powerfulWhere has he acquired enough eyes to spy upon you, if you do not provide them yourselves? How can he have so many arms to beat you with, if he does not borrow them from you? The feet that trample down your cities, where does he get them if they are not your own? How does he have any power over you except through you? How would he dare assail you if he had no cooperation from you? What could he do to you if you yourselves did not connive with the thief who plunders you, if you were not accomplices of the murderer who kills you, if you were not traitors to yourselves?
Poor, wretched, and stupid peoples, nations determined on your own misfortune and blind to your own good! You let yourselves be deprived before your own eyes of the best part of your revenues; your fields are plundered, your homes robbed, your family heirlooms taken away. You live in such a way that you cannot claim a single thing as your own; and it would seem that you consider yourselves lucky to be loaned your property, your families, and your very lives. All this havoc, this misfortune, this ruin, descends upon you not from alien foes, but from the one enemy whom you yourselves render as powerful as he is, for whom you go bravely to war, for whose greatness you do not refuse to offer your own bodies unto death. He who thus domineers over you has only two eyes, only two hands, only one body, no more than is possessed by the least man among the infinite numbers dwelling in your cities; he has indeed nothing more than the power that you confer upon him to destroy you.
To achieve the good that they desire, the bold do not fear danger; the intelligent do not refuse to undergo suffering. It is the stupid and cowardly who are neither able to endure hardship nor to vindicate their rights; they stop at merely longing for them, and lose through timidity the valor roused by the effort to claim their rights, although the desire to enjoy them still remains as part of their nature. A longing common to both the wise and the foolish, to brave men and to cowards, is this longing for all those things which, when acquired, would make them happy and contented. Yet one element appears to be lacking. I do not know how it happens that nature fails to place within the hearts of men a burning desire for liberty, a blessing so great and so desirable that when it is lost all evils follow thereafter, and even the blessings that remain lose taste and savor because of their corruption by servitude. Liberty is the only joy upon which men do not seem to insist; for surely if they really wanted it they would receive it. Apparently they refuse this wonderful privilege because it is so easily acquired.
A people enslaves itself, cuts its own throat, when, having a choice between being vassals and being free men, it deserts its liberties and takes on the yokeEveryone knows that the fire from a little spark will increase and blaze ever higher as long as it finds wood to burn; yet without being quenched by water, but merely by finding no more fuel to feed on, it consumes itself, dies down, and is no longer a flame. Similarly, the more tyrants pillage, the more they crave, the more they ruin and destroy; the more one yields to them, and obeys them, by that much do they become mightier and more formidable, the readier to annihilate and destroy. But if not one thing is yielded to them, if, without any violence they are simply not obeyed, they become naked and undone and as nothing, just as, when the root receives no nourishment, the branch withers and dies.
A people enslaves itself, cuts its own throat, when, having a choice between being vassals and being free men, it deserts its liberties and takes on the yoke, gives consent to its own misery, or, rather, apparently welcomes it. If it cost the people anything to recover its freedom, I should not urge action to this end, although there is nothing a human should hold more dear than the restoration of his own natural right, to change himself from a beast of burden back to a man, so to speak. I do not demand of him so much boldness; let him prefer the doubtful security of living wretchedly to the uncertain hope of living as he pleases. What then? If in order to have liberty nothing more is needed than to long for it, if only a simple act of the will is necessary, is there any nation in the world that considers a single wish too high a price to pay in order to recover rights which it ought to be ready to redeem at the cost of its blood, rights such that their loss must bring all men of honor to the point of feeling life to be unendurable and death itself a deliverance?
Obviously there is no need of fighting to overcome this single tyrant, for he is automatically defeated if the country refuses consent to its own enslavement: it is not necessary to deprive him of anything, but simply to give him nothing; there is no need that the country make an effort to do anything for itself provided it does nothing against itself. It is therefore the inhabitants themselves who permit, or, rather, bring about, their own subjection, since by ceasing to submit they would put an end to their servitude.
Obviously there is no need of fighting to overcome this single tyrant, for he is automatically defeated if the country refuses consent to its own enslavementIt amazes us to hear accounts of the valor that liberty arouses in the hearts of those who defend it; but who could believe reports of what goes on every day among the inhabitants of some countries, who could really believe that one man alone may mistreat a hundred thousand and deprive them of their liberty? Who would credit such a report if he merely heard it, without being present to witness the event? And if this condition occurred only in distant lands and were reported to us, which one among us would not assume the tale to be imagined or invented, and not really true?
Place on one side fifty thousand armed men, and on the other the same number; let them join in battle, one side fighting to retain its liberty, the other to take it away; to which would you, at a guess, promise victory? Which men do you think would march more gallantly to combat---those who anticipate as a reward for their suffering the maintenance of their freedom, or those who cannot expect any other prize for the blows exchanged than the enslavement of others? One side will have before its eyes the blessings of the past and the hope of similar joy in the future; their thoughts will dwell less on the comparatively brief pain of battle than on what they may have to endure forever, they, their children, and all their posterity. The other side has nothing to inspire it with courage except the weak urge of greed, which fades before danger and which can never be so keen, it seems to me, that it will not be dismayed by the least drop of blood from wounds. Consider the justly famous battles of Miltiades, Leonidas, Themistocles, still fresh today in recorded history and in the minds of men as if they had occurred but yesterday, battles fought in Greece for the welfare of the Greeks and as an example to the world. What power do you think gave to such a mere handful of men not the strength but the courage to withstand the attack of a fleet so vast that even the seas were burdened, and to defeat the armies of so many nations, armies so immense that their officers alone outnumbered the entire Greek force? What was it but the fact that in those glorious days this struggle represented not so much a fight of Greeks against Persians as a victory of liberty over domination, of freedom over greed?
When not a hundred, not a thousand men, but a hundred provinces, a thousand cities, a million men, refuse to assail a single man from whom the kindest treatment received is the infliction of serfdom and slavery, what shall we call that? Is it cowardice? Of course there is in every vice inevitably some limit beyond which one cannot go. Two, possibly ten, may fear one; but when a thousand, a million men, a thousand cities, fail to protect themselves against the domination of one man, this cannot be called cowardly, for cowardice does not sink to such a depth, any more than valor can be termed the effort of one individual to scale a fortress, to attack an army, or to conquer a kingdom. What monstrous vice, then, is this which does not even deserve to be called cowardice, a vice for which no term can be found vile enough, which nature herself disavows and our tongues refuse to name?
Shall we call subjection to such a leader cowardice? Shall we say that those who serve him are cowardly and faint-hearted? But O good Lord! What strange phenomenon is this? What name shall we give it? What is the nature of this misfortune? What vice is it, or, rather, what degradation? To see an endless multitude of people not merely obeying, but driven to servility? Not ruled, but tyrannized over? These wretches have no wealth, no kin, nor wife nor children, not even life itself that they can call their own. They suffer plundering, wantonness, cruelty, not from an army, not from a barbarian hor
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the peasantry. But as the 1980s progressed, Renamo gained first acquiescence and then some local support, so that when Renamo entered an area, local people often did not resist. Renamo reinstated the local chiefs and told people in villages to go back to their traditional land. While Renamo’s rule was often brutal, many reinstated chiefs backed Renamo. Most people fled to the towns but some stayed and accepted the Renamo occupation. Renamo became the party of people opposed to modernisation—those who supported traditional leaders and wanted to continue traditional ceremonies, and those who had been harmed by the errors of economic modernisation policies.
Thus, it is possible to use social contract and greed-grievance models of the roots of civil war to explain the war.[30] The greed-grievance debate started around 2000 when Paul Collier asserted that ‘rebellion does not seem to be the rage of the poor’ and that most civil wars are due to the greed of opportunistic leaders.[31] His position was challenged by Natziger and Auvien who argued ‘that objective grievances or poverty and inequality contribute to war’.[32] From this perspective, the failure of the Frelimo economic modernisation strategy and the deterioration of the rural economy generated popular grievances that could be mobilised against government.
This line of argument is consistent with the contemporary theory according to which the risk of a civil war rises when the implicit social contract between a government and its citizens breaks down. This occurs most often in societies characterised by high inequality.[33] Taking the Natziger and Auvinen line, inequality and a failure to promote development led to grievances, which became part of a breakdown in the social contract. While on its own the breakdown was not serious enough to cause or trigger a civil war in the case of Mozambique, it led poor rural people to tolerate the invasion of Renamo forces.
Post-war: elections, aid and adjustment
Since the end of the war in 1992, Frelimo has convincingly won all six multi-party elections (national in 1994, 1999 and 2004 and local in 1998, 2003 and 2008).[34] Three quarters of all voting age adults participated in the first ever multi-party elections in 1994. Existing president and Frelimo party head Joaquim Chissano was convincingly re-elected with 53 per cent of the vote, compared to 34 per cent for Renamo head Afonso Dhlakama. In part, the vote for Renamo was to bring it into politics and ensure an end to the war and, in part, it was a vote against Frelimo which was blamed for growing economic difficulties.
The election won high praise from international observers. Frelimo was the single liberation movement and then the party of the one-party state, so it had an established network reaching all levels of society. With the advent of multi-party elections, Frelimo converted that structure into something similar to party machines in developed countries. The war ended without Renamo having built a strong local base, but it did attract a number of competent and ambitious people who had fallen out with Frelimo. Despite advice from a wide range of conservative parties and foundations, party president Afonso Dhlakama refused to turn Renamo into a conventional political party; he continued to run it personally, treat it as a centralised guerrilla movement and to expel anyone perceived as a threat. As a result, Renamo lacked sufficient cadres for its organisation and it failed to push its supporters to vote.
Numerous small parties have emerged but none has made an impact. The multi-party system was introduced at the same time as capitalism; people expected to be paid for everything and voluntary work was seen as part of the bad old socialist system. Thus small parties and NGOs have been formed mainly to secure an income. Only Frelimo has been able to build a party machine based on a mix of voluntary work and patronage. One result is that Frelimo has faced no effective opposition and has increasingly become the predominant party—the natural party of government. But in early 2009 a significant third party coalesced around Daviz Simango, the popular and effective mayor of Beira who was expelled from Renamo in 2008.
Meanwhile, turnout has been falling. Registration has consistently been over 80 per cent of voting age adults, but turnout of registered voters dropped from 88 per cent in 1994 to 74 per cent in 1999 and only 43 per cent in 2004.[35] Most of the 2004 abstainers appear to be people who had voted against Frelimo in 1999, and decided it was not worth voting in 2004. Three explanations have been given: voters no longer opposed Frelimo (which had a new presidential candidate), they no longer saw Renamo as a credible opposition, or they felt that democracy and electoral politics would not resolve their worsening poverty.
Donors, turning to the West and adjustment
Mozambique’s relations with its donors have been complex. Frelimo has a long history of maintaining a wide range of support. In the 1960s during the liberation war, Frelimo was unusual in receiving aid from both China and the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, it joined both the British Commonwealth and the Portuguese CPLP (Comunidade dos Paýses de Lýngua Portuguesa). During the 1981–92 destabilisation war, Mozambique was kept alive by a mix of aid from the Eastern bloc—the Soviet Union and other communist countries including East Germany—as well as traditional Western European allies—Nordics, Netherlands and Italy—who were not prepared to confront the US directly over its proxy war but who were willing to bandage Mozambique’s wounds. As the Cold War and South African destabilisation intensified Mozambique tried to reach an accommodation with the US to end the war.[36] In response, the US demanded ‘a turn toward the West’.
Mozambique joined the IMF and World Bank (the Bretton Woods Institutions, or BWI) in 1984 and agreed to allow US non-government organisations to work in Mozambique. The economy was badly battered by the war, with production falling and inflation rising rapidly, to a point where the Mozambican currency (the Metical) was almost valueless.
The Bretton Woods Institutions wanted shock therapy (as was later applied unsuccessfully to Russia). Even Mozambique’s friends pushed it to try to settle with the US, and in the 1980s, donors twice withheld food aid and allowed Mozambicans to starve—in 1983 to force it to join the Bretton Woods institutions, and in 1986 to pressure it to agree to a first structural adjustment programme.[37] Again, Mozambique successfully judged the balance of support, and in 1986 it introduced its own compromise programme with devaluation, deregulation, privatisation, health charges and less price control.
In contrast to the Bretton Woods Institutions' prescriptions there was also an increase in wages and producer prices, support for moving consumer goods into rural areas to stimulate the economy and assistance for local industry. Donors approved and aid tripled, from US$300 million in 1985 to US$920 million in 1988. GDP grew, inflation fell and the metical was again worth something so that people no longer demanded dollars or rand. Economic growth happened despite the intensification of the war. But the IMF was not satisfied, and from 1990 it imposed harsh adjustment policies, including savage cuts in government spending, limits on credit to the economy and sharp cuts in real wages—nurses and teachers fell below the poverty line in 1992, below the abject poverty line (then US$50 per month) in 1993 and below US$40 per month in 1996.
Where the government policy led to rising GDP and falling inflation from 1987 through to 1991, the IMF policy led to falling GDP and rising inflation, even after the war ended in 1992. There was no peace dividend and little post-war reconstruction. In the early 1990s, the unquestioned victory of ‘savage capitalism’ and the policy dominance of the Bretton Woods Institutions were largely accepted by Mozambique’s remaining donors. Nearly all donors made aid conditional on the recipient having programmes with the IMF and World Bank, which gave those agencies dictatorial power to impose the harshest adjustment.
But two problems arose. First, the IMF also imposed a cap on aid, saying that spending aid on post-war reconstruction would be inflationary, while the donors wanted to spend more money on what was already becoming a donor darling. Under IMF pressure the minimum wage had fallen from US$40 per month in 1991 to US$15 per month in 1995. But in 1995 the newly elected government raised the minimum wage to US$20. The head of an IMF delegation in Maputo in September 1995 condemned the increase and warned that the IMF would suspend its programme and declare Mozambique ‘off track’. Because donors all required Bretton Woods Institution programmes before they dispensed aid, the IMF would have suddenly ended all aid.
A group of donors concerned about the lack of peace dividend, the cap on their own aid and the threat of a further squeeze by the IMF issued an unprecedented public statement backing the government and criticising the IMF. It worked. The IMF backed off, loosening its controls on the economy, allowing more aid spending and permitting the increase in the minimum wage. GDP began to grow and inflation fell. The government was able to rebuild schools and health posts. The second problem related to what became a donor obsession in the late 1980s and early 1990s: accelerating Mozambique’s transition to capitalism and its acceptance of free market policies, and quickly turning the Frelimo ‘socialist’ leadership into capitalists.
The World Bank took the lead by pushing loans to Frelimo leaders who were involved in privatised businesses, knowing that the loans would not be repaid.[38] World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn in 1996 took the view that there was little the bank could do about corruption in developing countries because it ‘cannot intervene in the political affairs of our member countries’,[39] and it moved slowly to address issues of corruption. USAID said openly that it was trying to ‘erode’ the capacity of the state in order to make it easier for private interests and non-government organisations to take over.[40] In the first years of independence, Mozambique had been a paragon of integrity and honesty but by the early 1990s, corruption was endemic.
In an earlier article, once rejected out of hand but now grudgingly accepted, I argued that in the mid-1990s the donors had made an implicit deal with the governing elite—in exchange for faultlessly implementing donors’ demands on the economy, corruption would be allowed.[41]
Twenty-first century—subservience and MDGs
After the turn of the century, concern began to grow about the failures of the adjustment programme and that IMF limits on social spending would prevent Mozambique meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Caps were eased. Then another, more quiet, donor confrontation forced the IMF in 2006 to further lift caps on aid spending in health and education. By the early 2000s increasing numbers of donors were providing direct budget support, and the Budget Support Group became the main donor policy forum. By 2007 there were 19 members and they signed an annual contract with the government covering all policy areas, with donor representatives at the heart of decision making processes within government.[42]
Mozambique truly is a ‘donor darling’ receiving US$65 per person per year in aid, compared to Tanzania and Uganda (which have almost the same GDP per capita as Mozambique and are often grouped with Mozambique as IFI showcases of ‘success’[43]) and Malawi (which is much poorer than Mozambique), which each receive only US$42 per person per year.
A joint donor–government study in early 2007 said ‘Mozambique is generally considered an aid success story’,[44] but that there is ‘a widespread perception that government leadership and ownership of the aid agenda has left donors in the driver seat’.[45] A 2004 study said ‘high aid dependence means that the budget process essentially involves only two actors, the executive and foreign donors. Accountability to donors is much stronger than it is to Mozambican society’.[46]
An ironically titled 2005 report, Perfect Partners, said that the Mozambique government apparently believes ‘that its undoubted reliance on foreign assistance means that it is not in a position to insist on its own priorities. [... ] We would like to stress that aid dependency does not have to entail subservience’.[47]
But one of the authors went on to argue that Mozambique’s decision to apparently give up ownership is, in fact, a choice—to maximise aid flows—and thus a form of ownership.[48] Mozambique needs the money and the donors are desperate for an African success story.
‘It’s the economy, stupid’[49]
Seventeen years after the end of the war, travelling through rural Mozambique, one still sees destroyed shops and government buildings. The Cold War may now be a dim memory in the US and Western Europe, but its results are still a very real presence in Mozambique. Two decades of structural adjustment and 17 years of peace have not brought prosperity. There was real economic growth after the war, as peasants reopened abandoned fields and the rebuilding of roads and bridges increased rural trade. Aid remained capped, as did the government salary bill, but the caps were looser.
The most severe constraint was that the IMF forced a steady decrease in credit to the economy. An important policy shift was that under Bretton Woods Institutions pressure the grain marketing board was closed, ending storage facilities and guaranteed prices, and shifting all of the risk onto peasants still recovering from war. In the colonial era and before the war, rural shops bought crops and sold inputs, but most shops were destroyed in the war and never reopened. There are many more petty traders on foot or bicycle; they sell small items but do not buy crops. Agricultural technology and productivity levels remain low, and there is little rural credit.[50]
The central problem appears to be that too little money is going into the rural economy and this is hindering economic development. Total useable post-war aid[51] has been US$12 billion—just over half the cost of the 1981–92 Cold War proxy war. So the former ‘West’ has not even given Mozambique enough to repair the damage it caused. In addition to a simple lack of money, the Bretton Woods Institution policy now adopted by Mozambique is that the role of donors and the state is to create human capital (through health and education) and build infrastructure (roads and electricity), and on that basis, the private sector will invest, develop Mozambique and end poverty.
The government can create the conditions, but then, ‘it must be left to the market,’ explained Aiuba Cuereneia, Mozambique’s Planning and Development Minister.[52] ‘Our policy is to attract investors who bring know-how, access to markets and capital, and who do not need Mozambican banks’, explained Roberto Albino, the head of the government agency to promote commercial agriculture (CEPAGRI, Centro da Promoc¸ao da Agricultura).[53] Mozambique has few experienced business people and they lack capital, which means, Cuereneia admits, that for the next few years, ‘unfortunately, most investment will be foreign’.
This vision of development is popular with donors. Speaking for the 19 budget support donors, Norway’s ambassador Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether on 21 September 2007 praised the government ‘particularly for its macro-economic management’. Although some donors such as Britain have been arguing that neo-liberalism and the Washington Consensus are dead,[54] the budget support group in Maputo made clear that those policies are alive and well in Maputo.
But foreign business people are not rushing in to invest in poverty reducing or labour intensive production, so jobs are not being created. Most foreign investment has been in mega-projects in the mineral-energy sector—a US$ 1.5 billion aluminium smelter, a gas pipeline for export to South Africa and titanium and coal mines. UNDP’s International Poverty Centre (IPC) issued a report on Mozambique in September 2007 which argues that these mega-projects have created few jobs and, because of tax exemptions, contribute little to public revenue.[55]
Furthermore, ‘the concentration of private and public investment in large capital intensive projects with little impact on poverty has drained financing from other, potentially more poverty-reducing projects’. The report concludes that the donor/IFI-promoted ‘mega-project based development strategy relying on market opening has lost more jobs than it has created’ and that ‘its overall impact has arguably been to increase poverty’. Only two areas of foreign investment are creating jobs—sugar investors were given tariff protection over the sharp objections of the IMF and have created tens of thousands of jobs, while international tobacco companies have done more than any others to raise peasant incomes in some areas.
But there has been very little domestic investment or job creation. There is no credit for the rural economy, little agricultural extension, few business extension services and little agriculture and other research.[56] Despite every study pointing to the importance of agriculture, donor and government spending on agriculture has been falling for over a decade. The IPC study says that post-war agricultural growth ‘represents a “bounce-back” from the catastrophic war years’ and came entirely from the expansion of area under cultivation and higher labour input; 90 per cent of farmers still prepare their land by hoe, and food crops yields have not changed over the past decade. It stresses that ‘investment in agriculture remains extremely low’.
Increasing class differentiation and deepening poverty
GDP has grown at six to seven per cent per year for a decade. Government claims that the number of people living below the poverty line decreased dramatically from 69 per cent in 1997 to 54 per cent in 2003.[57] These headline figures of high growth combined with a dramatic fall in poverty are quoted by donors and government as a mark of Mozambique’s post-war success. But UNICEF points out that children have poor nutrition in the overwhelming majority of Mozambican households, and the rate of chronic child malnutrition is actually rising.[58] For both UNICEF and the World Bank this is a ‘paradox’.[59] In fact, it is not paradoxical at all, for two reasons.
First, the decline in poverty has been exaggerated, and is based on an effective change in the poverty line. If the line is not moved, the government admits, poverty still falls, but only to 63 per cent.[60] Because of population increases, the number of people in poverty has increased from 11.2 million to 11.7 million. The government contested my view that this second figure is more accurate,[61] but the African Peer Review Mechanism self-evaluation report confirms that ‘the most credible indicators show an increase in absolute terms in the number of people below the minimum subsistence line’.[62]
No other study shows a big fall in poverty. For example, the UNDP Mozambique Human Development Report 2005[63] estimated that between 2000 and 2004 ‘real GDP per capita’ fell everywhere.[64] Second, it is increasingly accepted that the gap between rich and poor is widening with the poor becoming steadily poorer and unable to properly feed their children. A series of rural income surveys in 1995–96, 2001–02 and 2004–05 provide a much more detailed picture.[65] Officially, 70 per cent of the population is classified as rural, so this also includes people in smaller towns.
These show a huge increase in differentiation. There was a general increase in income between the first two surveys, but of the total increase in rural income, 73 per cent went to the 20 per cent of households with the highest incomes and less than 3 per cent went to the poorest 20 per cent.[66] For the next period, differentiation accelerated, with the non-poor becoming better off, but the poorer becoming poorer. The poorest half of the rural population actually saw their incomes fall, while the top 20 per cent made another large gain. The widening gap between better off and very poor is also shown by the fact that between 2002 and 2005 mean income rose 18 per cent but median income fell by 3 per cent.[67]
Finally, the surveys show that the position of people near the poverty line is very precarious. Nationally, half of the rural families considered ‘not poor’ in 2001–02 had fallen back into poverty by 2004–05. In 2002, 30 per cent of rural families nationally were not poor, but by 2005 half of them had fallen back into poverty, while 18 per cent of the population had been able to rise above poverty. The total change is small, just 3 per cent, but that hides a very large movement up and down.[68]
For the 70 per cent of the population covered by the surveys, and thus for the country as a whole, the differences between better off and poor are widening noticeably, with the income of the poor majority actually falling between 2002 and 2005. And people near the poverty line are particularly insecure and struggling. Meanwhile, the capital Maputo displays the symbols of growth—major new construction and traffic jams of expensive cars. But even the government’s own figures show that poverty worsened in Maputo city between 1997 and 2003.[69]
The poorest 1/5 of households have only 3% of rural income and received only 3% of the gains between 1996 and 2002 (Hanlon and Smart, Do Bicycles Equal Development, based on Broughton et al., ‘Changes in Rural Household Income’). Visitors, the large aid industry contingent and writers of IMF and World Bank reports rarely see the poor urban neighbourhoods, small towns and rural areas where most Mozambicans live. Various studies show that the fruits of Mozambique’s ‘blistering pace of economic growth’ have gone almost entirely to the better off and, in the past few years, the poor have become poorer.
Interviews in rural areas frequently draw the response: ‘The war ended 17 years ago, but we are still poor.’ The main conflict in Mozambique is between classes, between the better off and worse off, competing for the same resources. UNDP’s International Poverty Centre issued a damning report on Mozambique in September 2007.[70] It said that ‘recent economic growth in Mozambique cannot be considered pro-poor’, and that instead benefits of economic growth are going to ‘a sharp rise in the consumption growth of the richest households in the midst of a large impoverished population’. Therefore, it called for ‘a significant shift in the country’s development strategy’.
Violence and the rage of the poor
Mozambique is much less violent than neighbouring South Africa, but there have been outbreaks of violence. In this section it is shown that these are usually linked to hunger and poor people under stress. There was a period of violence around 2000–02. In the worst incident of its kind since the end of the war, an armed group linked to Renamo attacked official buildings inMontepuez on 9 November 2000; seven police and three attackers were killed. There was a wave of arrests, and 100 arrested people suffocated to death in an overcrowded jail cell on 22 November. Montepuez is socially and politically divided, but the main problem was the closure of a cotton company which created substantial local unemployment.[71]
The same period saw outbreaks of xenophobia and of rumours that children were being kidnapped or killed to steal their organs. An ongoing issue has been around cholera, which is endemic in Mozambique. In coastal areas of Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces, in northern Mozambique, there have been repeated incidents in which people putting chlorine in wells were accused of poisoning the wells with cholera. One period of violence has been particularly well studied by a team led by Carlos Serra of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane.[72] In 2001 and 2002 in coastal Nampula, houses were burned and officials were attacked for allegedly putting cholera in wells. In December 2001 angry mobs in Nacala-a-Velha and neighbouring Memba district attacked anticholera teams, non-government organisation workers with bicycles and motorcycles, and police.
Particularly notable was that they attacked traditional leaders (re´gulos, mape´we´) and local government officials. More than 100 houses were destroyed and at least one person killed. The study found that local people felt the rapid post-war changes were making their lives worse, and they blamed outsiders and in particular the state for this. Second, and most importantly, they strongly believed that the rich and powerful (which included government officials, NGO workers and even traditional chiefs) wanted to kill the poor; fearing for their lives, their believed officials were poisoning their water. The validity of these fears is not important, although if one accepts Johan Galtung’s concept of ‘structural violence’, the poor are suffering indirect violence at the hands of the rich.[73] And it is necessary to understand that the rural poor see their living standards deteriorating, fear for their lives and will resort to violence to protect themselves.
And the rich and powerful have shown their willingness to resort to violence. In 2000 and 2001 investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso and central bank head of banking supervision Siba-Siba Macuacua were both publicly assassinated as they tried to investigate high level involvement in bank fraud. Although the extreme violence of Montepuez and the assassinations were not repeated, tensions and social violence continued as the decade progressed. Other chlorine/cholera incidents were reported. And as unemployed and minimally educated youth moved to towns and cities and struggled to survive, there were increasing complaints of crime.
Inequality ‘may jeopardise stability’
‘Rising poverty and inequality in Maputo... may jeopardise political stability’, warned the Chr Michaelsen Institute (CMI) in a study for the British Department for International Development (DfID) in January 2008.[74] ‘In the bairros of Maputo, unemployment, crime and high costs of food, housing and land inhibit the poor from converting progress in education and health into increased income and consumption... The large number of educated but unemployed and frustrated young men and women in the bairros, who cannot manage to live up to ideals of urban modern life, may jeopardise the current political stability’.
It was a prescient comment: demonstrations in Maputo on 5 February and then four other towns against the high cost of living shocked Mozambique. At least five people were killed and more than 100 injured, many shot by the police. Hundreds of young people, mainly unemployed or scraping a living from the informal sector, co-ordinated by mobile telephone text messages and blocked all the roads into Maputo and many streets inside the city, quickly closing the capital.[75]
Frelimo dismissed the rioters as marginals and vandals. But it became clear that the young demonstrators had the tacit support of their elders, and the government-owned daily newspaper Noticias published a series of more thoughtful articles. Editor-in-chief Rogerio Sitoe led the way with a column arguing that the root cause was ‘the religious way we applaud and accept the prescriptions of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’, when these are really ‘poison prescriptions’. They have destroyed jobs and failed to promote agricultural development, which has ‘contributed greatly to the impoverishment of the countryside and forced a migration to the cities, particularly of the youth’. The government needs its own development policy and needs to stop treating World Bank and IMF statements as if they were ‘bible verses’. A subsequent letter to the editor was published saying the demonstrations were not vandalism, but a strike by the people demanding their rights.[76]
Even donors have begun to express concern. ‘Although the tendency for poverty reduction continues, there are also perceptions and clear indications of an ever growing gulf between the privileged and the poorest’, Norwegian Ambassador Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether, outgoing head of the G19 donor budget support group, said on 30 April 2008. He added that various factors, notably the lack of jobs, meant that ‘the least favoured members of society have not benefited from the country’s economic growth’. The riots in Maputo on 5 February ‘remind us of the need to create greater equity in society’.
The incoming G19 chair, Irish Ambassador Frank Sheridan, said ‘many of the poorest are struggling just to maintain their present standard of living, or are even falling back, while the most prosperous are benefiting disproportionately’. He warned that failure to deal with problems of inequality could lead to ‘social tension and subsequent political failure’.
‘Mozambique’s present development model, based on free individual initiative and the principles of a economic liberalism’, is seen as creating unemployment and leaving many families with not even enough to survive, especially in urban areas, said the self-evaluation for the African Peer Review in February 2009.[77] The principal beneficiaries of growth have been a tiny group. This is polarising society, and creating ‘serious risks’ of conflict.
Lynchings, cholera, and rain
In poor urban areas, people live in flimsy houses with no electricity or street lighting, and complain of increasing night-time crime, including housebreaking, mugging, rape and thefts of food from gardens, often by people armed with knives or machetes. They claim that if they turn criminals in to the police, they are quickly released in exchange for a small bribe, so they have taken to dispensing justice with their own hands. In 2008 at least 50 people were killed in lynching, but in early 2009 the rate had doubled to two a week.[78] Rural violence also increased in early 2009.[79] In Nicoadala district in Zambezia province, local people accused the state of locking up the rain and only giving it to better off farmers.
In mid-February three people were killed and six injured, accused of diverting the rain. And cholera violence returned, in ways that precisely matched Carlos Serra’s earlier study. On 6 January 2009 an angry mob burned down three cholera treatment tents that had been set up on the beach in Pemba, Cabo Delgado. The mob also attacked the houses of the neighbourhood secretary and his deputy, who were forced to flee to the police station. On 18 January in Mecufi, on the coast south of Pemba, an eight-person anti-cholera brigade was attacked and beaten—again accused of spreading the disease.
In Quinga, on the coast of Mogincual district in Nampula, on 25 February 2009 two Red Cross volunteers who were part of a brigade publicising anti-cholera messages, which include putting chlorine in wells, were beaten to death, accused of poisoning the wells with cholera. The Mozambican Red Cross (CVM) said that in Quinga people attacked volunteers riding bicycles and wearing Red Cross T-shirts ‘because they suspected they had money’. Three days later, in Angoche district (just south of Mogincual) protestors attacked health workers accused of spreading cholera.
They were already being protected by the police so the mob attacked the police with knives and spears, disembowelling and killing a police sergeant and seriously injuring two other policemen. Houses of 13 Red Cross volunteers were destroyed. On the same day in Moma district (south of Angoche) a mob attacked a community leader accused of putting cholera in the wells; two policemen protecting him were hospitalised. In addition, bicycles used by the volunteers were stolen or destroyed.
Protests continued. In Quinga, three people were arrested but the crowd blocked the road to prevent them being taken out of the village; 37 Red Cross volunteers fled. On 18 March police arrested a number of people in Quinga accused of killing a shopkeeper and trying to bury alive a Red Cross worker, and took them to Liupo, the Mogincual district capital. Liupo has no court, so they had to be held until they could be taken to Angoche to be charged and tried. The police were clearly frightened by what had been done to their colleagues in Moma and Angoche, so they pushed 48 people into the tiny three metre by four metre single cell in Liupo police station. Thirteen people died of suffocation over night.
Fear and hunger are driving forces. In March 2009 the government announced it had a surplus of 75,000 tonnes of maize, but admitted that marketing failures meant it did not reach areas of hunger. The forced abolition of the grain marketing board means only private traders distribute food; the poor do not have money to buy food, so private traders are not interested in going to remote areas.[80] Coastal Nampula province is one of the poorest areas of Mozambique. Mogincual was the centre of an outbreak of konzo (tropical ataxic neuropathy), an irreversible paralysis of the legs, in 1992–93, and cases have been reported regularly since then.[81]
Cassava roots contain cyanide which can cause paralysis if eaten in quantity when the roots are not adequately processed; this occurs only in periods of severe hunger when there is little other food. In early 2009 it was reported that hunger was again sweeping the district due to a poor harvest caused by draught and cyclone Jokwe in 2008. The Mogincual district director of health said the return of konzo was ‘inevitable’.[82]
In a time of hunger when people see no hope of improvement in their lives, perhaps the violent resistance to putting chlorine in local water supplies and confrontations with police and state officials should be seen as local people making a desperate attempt to regain some power: as a disempowered group finally taking a stand to defend its very lives.
Conclusion
The excellent Conducting Conflict Assessments: Guidance Notes by Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) stresses the importance of economic and social factors as well as political ones as roots of violent conflict.[83] It says that any analysis must look at the ways aid may have fuelled greed and grievance, such as ‘privatisation programmes which serve elite interests and generate conflict’. It specifically warns about aid going ‘on economic adjustment and liberalisation’ instead of targeting ‘poverty reduction or peace-building’. And it calls for the defining of new policies to create economic opportunities for marginalised groups and for development ‘which connects remote areas to the market and increases access to state services’.
It also calls for policies ‘supporting stronger focus on the needs of disaffected youth’. Finally, it highlights the need ‘to influence development actors such as the IMF, the EU and World Bank’ who are failing to take into account these violent conflict related issues.
There are two reasons to quote this at length. First, the Guidance Notes correctly point to the possible sources of violent conflict in Mozambique. Second, the response to these notes is symptomatic of the wilful blindness of the donor herd. When DfID actually commissioned a conflict assessment of Mozambique, it allowed only two weeks. The brief tasked the consultants to look primarily at the traditional political issues and, because of pressures of time, did not have them look at the social and economic issues which the Guidance Notes themselves highlight.
The final report notes that ‘Mozambique is becoming another example of the problem of chronic unemployment among educated youth—a phenomenon associated with rising crime and potential for conflict’.[84] But the report does not go into detail on how one might respond, for lack of time and because it was outside the brief.
It is easy to take DfID to task because it ignored its own guidelines, but the problem is more general. Donors need to believe in the Mozambique success story, so they do not look at anything which would challenge their comfortable picture and would force them to rethink their consensus development policy. But inequalities are growing and are now the major area of conflict in Mozambique. As some prosper, allegedly because of party or other connections, the lack of jobs and agricultural support for the majority are becoming sources of grievance. The poor feel under threat and fear for their lives; they implicitly understand that they are subject to structural violence.
Few people who suffered in the wars would voluntarily return to war. But half of Mozambique’s population is too young to remember them. Their experiences and expectations are very different from those of their parents. Increasingly people in their late teens and 20s at least have some primary education and speak the national language, Portuguese. They see themselves as better educated and more ‘modern’ than their parents, and have more contact with a wider world through mobile telephones, videos and more travel (even if only to the nearest market town, with electricity and discos). Many young people do not see themselves as hoe farmers like their parents.
Meanwhile, both the traditional and the modern party system do not allow youth a voice. Both Frelimo and Renamo are tightly hierarchical and ruled by party elders. The ‘free market’ does not provide jobs and the economy is dominated by older people who seem to gain advantage through party links. There is much discussion of youth, but no one actually listens to them. Thus there is a pool of increasingly alienated young people who do not see a better future for themselves.
What would happen if, as in West Africa, there were charismatic leaders who called on the youth to rise up against their greedy elders? Preventing violent conflict requires giving the young and poor a future and a stake in society—not a trickle down free market that might, some day, perhaps, solve their problems, but active intervention to tackle grievances and create jobs and agricultural markets. Is the donor herd so mesmerised by a few good statistics that they cannot see the growing poverty outside the capital? Preventing violent conflict requires Mozambique to become an activist, developmental state which intervenes in the economy, and gives all Mozambicans a stake in the future.
[Dr Joseph Hanlon is senior lecturer in development and conflict resolution at the International Development Centre of the Open University. Milton Keynes, is a visiting fellow at the Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics and the editor of the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin. This article first appeared at Pambazuka News via AfricaFiles. It posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal for educational purposes. This paper is to be published in the March issue of the academic journal, Conflict, Security & Development 10:1 March 2010.]
Endnotes
1. Forum Nacional do MARP, Relato´rio de Auto-availac¸ao do Paý´s. 64;Noticias, 14 February and Q12 23March 2009. This is an establishment body of 58 people, including three provincial governors, the governor of the Bank of Mozambique, university rectors and representatives eight parliamentary commissions, civil society and the private sector.
2. Instituto de Promoc¸ao de Paz (ProPaz), see http://www.propaz.org.mz; Dia´rio Independente, 23 March 2009.
3. World Bank, Beating the Odds, iii.
4. IMF
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going to guess you’ve been stopped to sign an autograph or two during an average day.
“I don’t get around campus too much. I just go to class, leave class.”
That’s cool. Bill Parcells had not being a celebrity quarterback as one of his 11 quarterback commandments. Which, actually, you seem to abide by just about all 11 of them based on the early sample of your play on the Forty Acres.
Good on you for that.
There’s a lot you do well. There’s a lot you’ll need to keep doing well in order for this team to not stumble on the road.
The first three true road games last year were bad. Your teammates who were there will tell you they were unfocused and ill-prepared to play, resulting in losses to Notre Dame, TCU and Iowa State by a combined score of 112-10.
This team has to win on the road if it’s going to build off of this positive start and make it mean something significant. For that to happen you’ve got to keep that calm demeanor you’ve brought to the table through the first two games.
Charlie Strong said he digs that about you. Coach Gilbert said you guys talk about composure and confidence in the quarterback room, but he said being cool, calm and collected comes natural to you.
Isn’t that right, Sterlin?
“We talk about never too high, never too low, always in the middle, but it’s really part of his personality. He’s pretty natural with it.”
Shane? Any response to that?
“I’ve been taught from a young age to not get too big in the moment. Just be comfortable in your situation and if you’re comfortable in what you do you’ll remain calm and it’ll be a fun game for you.”
Sounds good. Scoring 91 points and piling up 933 yards of total offense in two games sounds like a blast.
Back to Cal specifically for a moment. I hope I didn’t pump this game up too much because y’all have a great chance to win. I say that because Cal’s defense is bad.
Cal is allowing >290/yds per game on ground, >30 yds worse than TXTech def #Longhorns faced on Thanksgiving.Foreman & Warren should run wild — Drew Lieberman (@DrewLieberman) September 13, 2016
Seriously, that Mansfield defense you had to move the ball against in the Class 6A playoffs last year was probably more fundamentally sound than the one you’ll see in Berkeley on Saturday night.
I can say that about your opponent when they enter this one ranked 125th nationally in run defense, 107th in total defense and return only two starters from a unit that allowed 650 yards in Austin last season. One of the guys you’ll be throwing passes to, Jerrod Heard, broke Vince Young’s single-game total offense record (527 yards) against a better version — on paper anyway — of the defense you’ll face this weekend.
They’re probably going to throw some crazy looks at you. Likely some stuff you’ve never seen before to try and confuse you because they've got to take some chances.
What do you think about that?
“If they do we just have to be ready for it. It’s just being able to react, seeing what’s going on on the back end and being able to get rid of the ball."
You know want to know something? Your poise, pocket presence, beautiful deep ball, toughness and the way you’ve looked the part and then some has a lot of people excited about you and your future. I’ll be honest, you look like the answer everyone who follows the program has been waiting to see emerge since the guy you worked out with over the summer took his last snap against Alabama in 2010.
Sterlin, is there a flaw here? I don’t see a whole lot wrong with this kid.
“By no means do we have a veteran quarterback. He’s got a lot of room for growth and improvement and he’s really honed in on it.”
Alright, I get that. But he’s already pretty good.
He’s eighth in the country in pass efficiency (188.3), tied for 11th in touchdown passes, 29th in total offense (295.5 yards per game) and he’s got as many 200-yard passing games this season (two) as the offense had all of last year. He completed 81.5 percent of his passes against UTEP (22-of-27) and didn’t commit a single turnover.
That’s gotta count for something, doesn’t it?
“Being able to come up with those kind of numbers at any time means you’re making some good decisions. With him it’s about getting better and continuing to see things, see pictures and knowing where to take the ball.”
Shane, I’m done with the questions.
You should be feeling pretty good. It looks like you’ve got a good handle on this thing.
Just keep doing what you’re doing and you should be fine.
Want free VIP access to Horns247? Click here and take advantage of this offer!What a month! 3.24 is out, the revamped newcomers guide is out and I’m still trying to catch my breath here. This blog post will go a bit behind the scenes of the 3.24 release video.
First, here’s a closer look at the process of making a release video. These videos are a big effort from me but they are made possible thanks to many others. Of course this is just an approximate visualization of the time spent and how the processes are laid out. In reality much of it intertwine a lot more, as the video and its assets are created in several iterations.
The process
Time spent on the release video.
Visualization of the release video creation process
First, highlights from the new changes to applications and developer tools are chosen in the draft release notes. From this a manuscript draft is created and sent to the engagement list. Once the structure is approximately in place we can start recording footage. Much of the footage of the applications was this time provided by developers and application contributors. This meant I could spend extra time working on the animations themselves and I really enjoyed that part! A large majority of the time I was livestreaming my work on my twitch channel. Recording footage might sound like something trivial to do, but this actually normally takes up a large amount of time for me because:
The recordings require the latest unstable application version. This can be either super easy or very time consuming if the application doesn’t build, doesn’t run or isn’t up to date in flatpak, rawhide, JHBuild.
The application needs to be in a state which exposes what needs to be recorded. There are typically a few cool features which require special hardware (fx touchscreen, drawing tablets), need to be populated with some sample data (content applications).
So to all the developers and maintainers helping me with the special cases, thank you very much! I hope you don’t mind if I ask of your assistance again sometime in the future.
Once the manuscript is in good shape, it’s ready to be sent to Karen and Mike who help with the final revision and voice-over. On the sideline I have been working with Simon (@TheBaronHimself) who has produced the music for the video. This has been going on since the manuscript was still being written and having music produced from scratch for the video really upped the quality! The music is designed to work together with the content in the video, take for example how the music is timed to sound different when we talk about new developer features.
Mid-march Simon sent a draft of the music and I had a draft of the video which we then synchronized. This marks the editing freeze, which freezes the timing of Karen’s voice, this time 7 days before the release of GNOME 3.24. This is a new constraint that I put on the editing process in order to give translators a chance to translate the release video so as many translations of the subtitles are available as possible at release.
We managed to release the video a day after the release of GNOME 3.24. The slight delay was partly because timing the music proved quite difficult due to the editing freeze, but me and Simon now have some experience dealing with this, so we will come up with a better approach for the next video.
Source files
The manuscript is available here. I have also uploaded blender source files to this public git repository.
I’ll end this blog post with showcasing a few animations, some of which gave some new learning opportunities and some which were of the fun things I worked in this video:
a lock object with a constraint copying the rotation and noise from an empty with animated influence.
an array and bend modifier with f-curve offset.
many smaller animations, that I had fun with making to represent our teams in GNOME.
Thanks to translation team, design team, engagement team, all the developers helping me recording footage, karen and mike for the voice-over and Simon for producing the music. These videos could not be possible without help from all these people in the GNOME community. :)
This video was made using Blender, GIMP and Inkscape. It is satisfying to know that I can produce all of this using a free software pipeline.Robert Richard Brice Kohler (Facebook)
A gay man in Washington, D.C. is recovering after four men wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and citing “Trump’s America” allegedly attacked him last week, ABC 7 News reports.
According to the report, four white men in their 20s approached Robert Richard Brice Kohler last Wednesday around 7 p.m and began taunting him.
“Victim 1 was walking his dog near the listed location when he became aware of the presence of Suspect 1 through Suspect 4,” the police report reads. “Victim 1 heard Suspect 1 state, “Hey Snowflake! This is what a Trump America looks like, f****t!”
After hitting Kohler “countless times in the face and head,” and attacking his dog Pepper, the suspects fled the scene. The victim sought immediate treatment, but his concussion reportedly flared up, sending him back to the hospital.
The victim told ABC 7 News he’s “not okay” after the accident, adding the assailants “took his life” from him. In a Facebook post about the incident, Kohler argued what happened to him isn’t an isolated incident.
“I share this with you because I have grown so tired of hearing just how perfect and great Trump supporters are and have been,” he wrote. “That they are above anything like what happened to us.”
“They aren’t,” he added.Dish Ordered to Pay Record $280 Million for Unwanted Robocalls
A few years ago, we noted how the FTC had found Dish Networks guilty of violating the federal Do Not Call registry repeatedly. According to the original FTC notice, Dish ignored consumer opt out preferences around 55 million times via an auto-mated robo call system. Initially, it looked like Dish would be looking at $24 million in fines from the DOJ and four states for the violations, after shelling out $5.99 million to 46 states for the offense back in 2009.
Now, a Judge has declared that Dish will have to pay-- as in $280 million.
US District Judge Sue Myerscough this week ordered Dish Network Corp to pay $280 million to settle the eight-year legal battle over Dish's behavior. In what's believed to be the largest robocall-related settlement of its kind, the Judge ordered Dish to pay $168 million to the US government and $112 million to North Carolina, California, Ohio and Illinois for what the judge declared were "millions and millions" of unwanted calls.
Myerscough said the settlement represents just one-fifth of Dish's 2016 after-tax profits. The Judge further declared that the settlement was "not onerous" and rejected "pleas of poverty and lack of cash" made by Dish attorneys.
In a statement, Dish said the company "respectfully disagrees with today’s decision by the Court," and promised to appeal the ruling. The company added that the $280 million settlement "radically and unjustly exceed, by orders of magnitude, those found in the settlements in similar actions."
Dish went on to add that "the court is holding Dish responsible for telemarketing activities conducted by independent third-parties, including in circumstances where such third-parties intentionally hid their telemarketing efforts from Dish."
In this instance the wheels of justice moved rather slow. The offenses occurred between 2006-2008, and it wasn't until 2015 that the FTC and states of Illinois, California, North Carolina and Ohio accused Dish of violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.On Thursday, while speaking in Manchester, New Hampshire, First Lady Michelle Obama forcefully slammed Donald Trump. Taking the stage, she both praised Hillary Clinton, but the main focus seemed to be decisively tackling Trump — and the message his presidential campaign was sending to the children of America. "Last week we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexual assaulting women," Obama said. "I can't believe I'm saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women.
Obama went on to skewer the Republican presidential nominee and was quick to zone in on the comments that Trump made in the 2005 hot mic video, uncovered last week, in which he bragged about grabbing women without their consent. "This was not just a lewd conversation. This wasn’t locker room banter," Obama said. "If we have a president who routinely degrades women... how can we maintain our moral authority in the world?"
"It doesn't matter what party you belong to, no woman deserves to be treated this way," Obama said. She also said, "This isn't an isolated incident. It's one of countless examples of how he's treated women in his entire life." Perhaps one of the most cutting was her line:
Strong men — men who are truly role models — don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful.
Obama warned that if Trump is elected president, "We're telling all our kids that bullying and bigotry is perfectly acceptable in the leader of our country." By framing Trump's potential Election Day win as more than a political loss for the Democrats but a dire, dangerous message to the boys and girls of America she stressed how incredibly high the stakes were. "Not just as women, but as parents trying to protect our children and raise them to be caring, respectful adults. And as citizens who think our nation's leaders should meet basic standards of human decency.”
Hillary Clinton on YouTube
Obama played up the moral issues at stake this presidential election to explicitly discourage Americans from casting "protest votes." Obama also included in her speech her now oft-repeated line, "When they go low, we go high." She concluded by encouraging Americans to not only vote for Clinton but to hit the streets and actively campaign for the former secretary of state. "We need someone who will heal the wounds that divide us,” Obama said. "Someone who truly cares about us and our children."ST. PETERSBURG — Mayor Rick Kriseman wants Pinellas County to shift another $14 million toward helping St. Petersburg finish the increasingly expensive Pier District.
The city has not yet made a formal request to the county, which last year dedicated another $20 million to the then-$46 million project, bringing the current budget to $66 million. Kriseman wants to spend up to $80 million to perfect the Pier, and the mayor has been talking to Pinellas County commissioners and St. Petersburg City Council members about his idea. But some are already pushing back against it.
Kriseman said the $14 million figure would be his maximum request, and it would come from money that was earmarked to build an intermodal transportation center for light rail and buses. But that project is no longer needed. It was part of the failed Greenlight Pinellas referendum that was voted down in 2014.
The budget boost would not pay for cost overruns or add more amenities. Instead, the mayor said, it would make the Pier even better.
"I'm looking at, if we invest some more money, we can have a world class Pier," Kriseman said. "It's more taking the elements that would exist in the current budget and taking them up another notch."
An example, he said, would be the splash pad, which right now is less impressive because of budget constraints. Spending more money would create "something that is super-cool," the mayor said. "I think that's a great example of what we could potentially do." And it would be done using "existing money that is just being reprogrammed."
Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long said Kriseman has called her twice in recent weeks to discuss the idea.
"I am open to the discussion," she said. "The city has to make a decision on what they want to do. It's their money, at the end of the day."
The money would come from tax increment financing, or TIF funds. The Pier sits in the Intown Community Redevelopment Area and is one of several downtown projects that have benefited from the special taxing district. The city and county originally agreed to allot $50 million in TIF funding to replace the old inverted pyramid Pier. But the first, failed attempt to build a new Pier left the city with $46 million for the project.
In 2015, the County Commission approved Kriseman's request to steer higher-than-anticipated tax revenues in the Intown CRA, adding $20 million to pay for the newly proposed Pier approach, an enhanced entryway to the waterfront Pier itself.
Pinellas County Commissioner Dave Eggers said he wasn't aware that the transportation money was even available. Had he known, he would have raised the issue last year, when he voted against the additional $20 million that Kriseman requested and received.
Eggers said he has talked to several people in St. Petersburg who question the cost of the project.
"There are so many things that need funding in their community," he said, specifically mentioning the sewer system and adding that he is "not likely" to support "shifting of the money." That was a reference to the 200 million gallons of sewage the city's overwhelmed sewer system has released since 2015.
City Council Member Karl Nurse is tepid to the idea of increasing the Pier budget. He did not change his mind after meeting with Kriseman on Tuesday.
"His argument is that he doesn't want to do it on the cheap and construction costs have gone up," Nurse said. "I told him I wasn't convinced."
Nurse said he had heard from two commissioners who also are unenthusiastic about the mayor's pending request. Instead, he said, they asked: "Why don't you fix the sewers downtown?"
City Council member Steve Kornell was also concerned about putting more money toward the Pier.
"The solution to every problem is not that there are millions of dollars added that are not in the budget," he said. "There are other needs downtown and there are infrastructure needs downtown.
"I am very skeptical. I am very disappointed that we are being asked to go so far over budget... somebody needs to be the adult in the room and say, 'Enough is enough.'"
But City Council member Darden Rice said she's not against the idea, at least not yet.
"I think it is important to keep an open mind as we hear an update about the Pier," she said referring to the architects' update on the project which is scheduled to take place at 8 a.m. Thursday at City Hall.
Responding to suggestions that the money go to other infrastructure needs, Kriseman said the city is limited on how it can use TIF dollars. He also said St. Petersburg's critical infrastructure needs are not within the Intown district.
County Commissioner Ken Welch noted that it's simply a reallocation of funds.
"It's using the money for a different project," Welch said. "He has my support for that."Jerry Reese's enduring run with the New York Giants is over.
On the same day the team fired embattled coach Ben McAdoo, the Giants are waving farewell to the club's longtime general manager.
NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala broke the news Monday morning, one day after New York fell to a woeful 2-10 on the year with a 24-17 loss to the Raiders on the West Coast. Kinkhabwala reported that assistant general manager Kevin Abrams will take over the interim-GM role for the rest of the campaign. Owner John Mara later confirmed the changes.
"I met with Jerry Reese at approximately 10:30 this morning, and that's as difficult a meeting that I've ever had," Mara told reporters Monday. "Jerry has been here since 1994. He's homegrown, started as a part-time scout and rose all the way through the ranks to become our general manager and to become the general manager for two Super Bowl teams. I thanked him on behalf of Steve and myself for everything he's done for this organization. I told him I have no doubt he would get another shot with another franchise and that at some point in time Iâm going to be answering questions about why I got rid of him in the first place."
Reese was no more secure than McAdoo on the heels of a radioactive decision to bench ironman quarterback Eli Manning after 210 consecutive starts in favor of former Jets washout Geno Smith. The move was met with utter vitriol by a Giants fan base tired of McAdoo's broken-down offense, a unit not helped by Reese's inability to piece together an adequate offensive line for years on end.
Unlike McAdoo, though, Reese leaves the team with a more compelling legacy, having helped author a pair of Super Bowl wins and six winning seasons since assuming the role in 2007.
With just one postseason appearance over the past half-decade, though, Reese's team-building prowess fell under increasing fire despite a playoff appearance in 2016. He exits with a 90-82 regular-season mark to go with an 8-2 playoff record and the two Lombardis.
Speaking on NFL Network, Charley Casserly outlined potential candidates to replace Reese for the Giants.
"At general manager, do the look [at] Kevin Abrams. He's obviously in the building," Casserly said. "Then you got Dave Gettleman who almost got the job when Jerry Reese was hired. He was like 1A. [He] did a good job in Carolina.... Do they reach back there? Martin Mayhew was in the building for a year.... [Vikings assistant GM] George Patton in Minnesota and [Packers director of football ops] Elliott Wolf in Green Bay are names that have been interviewed before and are out there."
Mara told reporters Monday that former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi will serve as consultant in the searches for head coach and general manager.
The Giants operate uniquely, measuring their decisions carefully and rarely making such a staggering move in season. This year is different, however, with Big Blue unfurling its worst string of games in decades and facing the daunting task of rebuilding under center.
Chalk up Monday for what it represents in New York: A full-on, massive housecleaning that will provide the next general manager with a sky-high, first-round draft pick and a chance to rebuild what Reese could not.The Italian Coast Guard fined cruise ship MS Prinsendam for air pollution in Naples after burning fuel with high sulfur content. The inspectors monitored the air in the cruise terminal and found higher content of sulfur, estimating that the air pollution comes from the cruise ship. They made a further inspections and investigation, confirming the concerns that the cruise ship emitted higher sulfur gasses than allowed. The inspectors from the Italian Coast Guard imposed a record fine of 30,000 EUR to the Master of cruise ship Prinsendam. The vessel extended the stay in Naples and later resumed cruise to Barcelona, Spain.
The compliance with emission regulations is always among the most important priorities of the Neapolitan Coast Guard, which last year issued, together with the Port Authority, a special ordinance with stricter rules than those laid down by national legislation, emphasizing the particular sensitivity to environmental protection.
The vessel MS Prinsendam (IMO: 8700280) is a cruise ship for Holland America Line, built in 1988 by Wartsila Marine Perno Shipyard in Turku, Finland. The ship has overall length of 205.50 m, moulded beam of 28.00 m and maximum draft of 7.20 m. The deadweight of the vessel is 6,150 DWT and the gross tonnage is 38,848 GRT. The cruise ship MS Prinsendam has 9 decks and capacity for 740 passengers and 460 crew.The numbers don't lie.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) kicked off its 2014 fight campaign with a pair of numbered pay-per-view (PPV) events taking place within three weeks of one another. UFC 169, headlined by a championship doubleheader featuring Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber (bantamweight) and Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas (featherweight).
The estimated PPV buy rate was around 230,000.
UFC 170, by contrast, garnered 340,000 PPV buys with a main event pitting Ronda Rousey against Sara McMann, a 135-pound title fight that saw "Rowdy" drop and stop her fellow Olympian inside the first round. The co-main event featured Daniel Cormier's shellacking of Patrick Cummins.
Dave Meltzer provides context:
That's down from Rousey's first main event, one year earlier, with Liz Carmouche. But the drop is hardly unexpected. The promotion of the Carmouche fight, the first women's fight ever in the UFC, was among the best in company history. There was both among the most media coverage leading to a UFC fight in history, combined with a stirring Prime Time shows focusing on the two women leading to the fight. The McMann fight did have a hook, the first time two Olympic medal winners had ever faced off in a UFC fight. And it took place the week of the Olympics. But that didn't get anywhere near the kind of media attention the fight a year earlier got. A lot had to do with Carmouche, who promoted the fight much harder than McMann. In the arena for both fights, Carmouche was clearly a far bigger "B side" star in the fight, regardless of McMann's wrestling credentials and undefeated status coming in.
UFC 157: "Rousey vs. Carmouche" topped the 400,000 mark.
It will be interesting to see how the UFC 171 event -- featuring Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler for the vacant 170-pound title -- factors into this equation. What we do know is that UFC President Dana White wasn't exaggerating when he said Rousey was a star.
Which is all the more reason why she may not stick around.Excerpt: "Why is the war in Afghanistan failing? How was the 2009 troop surge sabotaged by White House and military infighting and incompetence?"
Why is US policy failing in Afghanistan? (photo: Reuters)
6 Ways the US Failed in Afghanistan
By The Daily Beast | Editorial
hen Washington Post senior correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran went to Afghanistan to report on the troop surge ordered by President Obama in 2009, he found vicious bickering in the leadership that sabotaged a peace deal, generals who dispatched troops to the wrong places, and rogue commanders who killed civilians and cost soldiers their lives. The result is Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan. The author of the National Book Award finalist Imperial Life in the Emerald City gives another nightmarish account of a failed war and squandered opportunities. Here are the most devastating revelations.
Helmand, The War’s Biggest Waste of Time
When Gen. Stanley McChrystal took command in Afghanistan in 2009, he wondered why nearly 11,000 U.S. soldiers in that year’s troop surge had been sent to a sparsely populated province called Helmand, and only 4,000 were headed to Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city. Hundreds of U.S. troops were killed or injured defending ghost towns in Helmand, for no good reason.
Blame Canada (and Britain)
In 2005 President George W. Bush decided to reduce American forces in Afghanistan and deploy them in Iraq. NATO was asked to help stabilize the region. The Canadians got Kandahar and the British got Helmand.
The British had 9,000 troops in Helmand by 2009. Canada, on the other hand, had deployed only 2,830 soldiers to Kandahar province. Most of them were at headquarters or in support roles, while fewer than 600 were on patrol.
When Andrew Exum of the counterinsurgency advisory group Center for a New American Security asked U.S. Maj. Gen. Michael Tucker why more Canadians had not been sent into Kandahar, Tucker said he did not want to tell the Canadians what to do. Exum wrote in his notebook, “This guy is a jackass.”
‘Nobody Bothered to Ask’
Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged then President-elect Barack Obama to rush the approval of a 17,000-troop increase in 2009—before the new White House could finish a review. The British had asked for as much U.S. assistance in Helmand as possible, but the Canadians had not, and U.S. generals did not want to force the Canadians to cede their territory. So more than half of the forces were about to head to Helmand in the first major military deployment of Obama’s presidency. “Nobody bothered to ask, ‘Tell us how many troops you’re sending here and there,’” Chandrasekaran writes, quoting a senior White House official.
When McChrystal asked for 40,000 more troops later in 2009 and presented his request to Obama in the White House Situation Room, the 14-member War Cabinet also never asked why so many Marines were headed to Helmand.
The Rogue Commander
Col. Harry Tunnell commanded a brigade that included the 1–17 battalion, which patrolled Arghandab in central Kandahar province. He disagreed with Gen. David Petraeus’s counterinsurgency theory, compiled as the COIN manual. Tunnell didn’t believe in protecting villages and winning over residents through reconstruction; he only wanted to kill the bad guys. He called his unit the “Destroyer Brigade,” and his vehicles were painted with the motto “Search and Destroy.” Most egregiously, the 1–17 battalion was using the new eight-wheeled armored vehicle, called a Stryker, in places where soldiers should have been walking. They hit roadside bombs, and in one incident seven soldiers and an interpreter were killed. By the end of the 1–17’s deployment in Arghandab, 21 soldiers had been killed, the highest death toll of any U.S. Army battalion in Afghanistan.
Tunnell also sent a battalion to far western Kandahar province, and they were subsequently charged with “murdering unarmed Afghans for sport and keeping their fingers as trophies.” An investigation absolved Tunnell of any direct blame, but by then Tunnell had relinquished command of the brigade.
Infighting: McChrystal and Eikenberry
In the fall of 2009, Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, sent a cable to the White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling into question McChrystal’s rationale for the troop surge. McChrystal was livid and thought that Eikenberry should have sent the cable to him first. When Obama decided to impose a deadline on the surge, McChrystal was very critical. Then came the Rolling Stone article that quoted him and his aides calling National Security adviser Jim Jones a “clown,” special representative Richard Holbrooke “a wounded animal,” and Vice President Joe Biden “bite me.” McChrystal resigned the next day.
Infighting: Holbrooke and LuteOriginal: (LanM’s blog, posts agglomerated on SGamer)
Dotaland note: Written by LanM himself, this is a look back at his roots, his journey, and his reflections. A great read. This is part 1 and part 2 of a 9-part series. Stay tuned for parts 4-9 in the next few days!
Note that, if you read the entire thing, it is possible to figure out which teams and competitions he is talking about, to give yourself an even deeper view into the progamer side of it all. He covers the time between roughly 2010 to 2013, and mentions teams and competitions, along with how they affected him… For further background reading, directly related, see his response last year from the ACE/EHOME controversy.
The Chronicles of LanM: “Stories of Yesteryear” [Part 1-3]
by LanM
Preface
As someone with a relatively lower level of education and no inherent talent in writing, composing stuff like this isn’t necessarily an easy thing for me. My goal is to faithfully reproduce and represent the livelihood and lifestyle of a professional gamer’s place in the real world and society. The hope being that not only will this bring more mainstream recognition and acceptance to the profession, but also to serve as a record of those trailblazers in esports that once led the charge from the forefront, fighting for their families, their dreams, and their love of the game.
1. A Youth Without Energy
In the fog of a mild headache, perched stomach-first on the edge of the bed to hit the power button on the computer case, I finally took the majority of my blankets to block out the rays of light sreaming in from outside, and shut my eyes again. About an hour later, as the sound of the fans in the computer case rotated ever more resoundingly, I finally got up and out of bed. With only one foot clad in a slipper, after hopping over to the computer chair and sitting down, I started up QQ, and clicked on the notification, represented by an avatar of a pretty girl.
“I’m up, let’s play.”
“Wait, almost done, already took a set of rax,” the response came a few minutes later.
“Fuck, still not done, I thought you’d broken a lane already,” my impatience shortly afterwards.
“Damn it, these dumbshits won’t push the rest of the base, all they do is fountain dive, I can’t even stop them.”
“Hurry up, if you can’t then just Alt-QQ.”
“Fuck off, those are my ladder points.”
This was Li Haigui. On the VS ladder, he was the one that snatched the renowned ‘SKY’ ID. I, in the hopes of making friends with a hero of Chinese gamers, had originally added this ID thinking that it would get me closer to that goal. After realizing eventually that it was not the real SKY behind the ID, I came to find that, in reality, this fun-loving character behind the ID was in fact just another passionate, fiery gamer, with a side of youthful naivete.
“How’s it going between you and the girl in your avatar, Sea Turtle? (Haigui is the same sound as the phrase for sea turtle, thus a joke is born)”
“Don’t ask, I’ve been all over her QQ space, and haven’t even successfully gotten a friend add.”
“You should just give it up. I’m gonna go brush my teeth.”
This kind of lifestyle, these kinds of mornings, were the norm for me from the time I finished high school all the way up to age 20. My father, after losing everything gambling, had left, leaving my mother to float around to this day. Since then, my father had long since re-established himself with another family. As for myself, living at my grandmother’s house, whenever relatives and family visit, I’d always lock myself in my room, to avoid all their lectures and advice. Sometimes, even from inside, I could hear my aunts and uncles and their words of pity and sympathy for me. Perhaps it was because over time I’d heard too much of this, and perhaps because of my naturally rebellious nature, from then on I gradually became more and more invested in building and realizing my own value and dreams. Sometimes, one of my closer uncles would knock on the door and come in, and tell me, “Get out there and look around, don’t always just stay at home. Even waiting tables can get you 800RMB a month.” And even though somewhere inside I thought, “Only 800?”, I still understood that 800 was money anyway, and it’s not like my parents had good conditions or anything. My proud mother would never ask my dad for a single cent of money or help, and so I relied on my grandparents’ 1500 RMB monthly pension to finish middle school.
In high school, in the face of many ‘fail’ marks, I rode an uncle’s connections into a specialized high school art program. As someone who had never had any interest in art, plus coveting more time to play, I gave up on school and dropped out on an impulse, rationalizing it by noting the program’s high fees and costs. Because my parents weren’t nearby, and my grandparents couldn’t really stop me, over time it became accepted in the family. After soaking in the internet cafe for a month, mom feared me falling in with the wrong people and influences, and so she borrowed money to buy me a computer, knowing that I’d always loved playing games. From that day on, I officially began my recluse lifestyle (otaku-style). It was precisely this kind of quiet, low-key entertainment, that accompanied me through what should be a person’s most vibrant, energetic years in life.
2. Dreams I
Even though dreams are made of the stuff of our desires, they also hold within them our passions, responsibilities, as well as the purest of our original intentions. Joy is nothing more than fulfilling our dreams, and sorrow is nothing more than having to give them up.
Our elementary school teacher asked everyone in the class what they’d like to be when they grow up.
“Like mother, a doctor…” the responses came one by one, in all forms, undoubtedly emulating their parents, relatives, or a hero of theirs.
Watching others say that they’d like to be like their parents, I always felt very out of place. During that period of time, I lived at my teacher’s house, only going back home over the weekends to my parents’ house. All I remembered was that every time back home, once evening came, the space would be filled with all kinds of people, the atmosphere filled with their smoke. Father loved gambling, and oftentimes after a session there’d be huge arguments, escalating occasionally to violence. In summary, I really hated being at home then, and especially hated the nights, because at least in the daytime I had schoolmates and friends to play with. At night, sleeping by myself in my room, I was afraid of the dark and the monsters that might
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simple and basic.’ So very often we’ll throw a whole bunch of different stuff at them, but we’re going to run a basic day-one installation play. Something we’ve run thousands of times. Something very, very simple. But for the defense, it looks very complicated. So we want to present these illusions, then run a regular play that we just want to execute right.’’
Shaw was happy to run some heavy-protection packages but still score out of them. Out of the power I with Hogan under center, Stanford sent only two receivers out on one play. Both backs simply acted as extra protection for Hogan, and, with eight kept in to block, the fleet Ty Montgomery beat double-coverage and caught a 46-yard touchdown pass in stride. Same thing later, with a little more illusion. Keeping seven in to block with Hogan in the pistol, Stanford had wideout Kelsey Young motion in from the right and follow running back Tyler Gaffney out of the backfield in a double-wheel-route concept up the left sideline. Army, confused, covered only one of them, and Gaffney caught an easy 23-yard touchdown.
On this day, the Cardinal ran 56 plays, and you never looked out on the field and said, “I’ve never seen that before.” (Well, the double-wheel thing maybe; that was unusual.) The formations and movement were offputting at times. But the plays, no. Watch the Eagles, under new coach Chip Kelly. Lots of misdirection and quarterback movement and some of the strangest formations you’ve seen, but watch the plays themselves. “This is not a difficult offense,’’ Mike Vick said in training camp.
“That’s why I love Chip Kelly,’’ Shaw said. “He knows that I love him. He used to say it all the time and no one would believe him. He would just laugh, one of those smirk laughs that he has, and he would always tell people, ‘What we’re doing is not hard. We’re doing it faster, and we’re doing it with big kids who are smart kids.’ We’re like that—changing formations, making our players communicate, communicate, and the ball is getting snapped and they’re running something very simple. Now, with Chip, he gets the ball to DeSean Jackson in space, he gets LeSean McCoy in space, he’s created the same thing. So it’s not just schemes, it’s the combination of schemes and personnel. If you’ve got the guys to do it, to get guys in space, you can make big plays.’’
(Jon Gruden) would say it every single day. ‘What you want to do on offense is present the illusion of sophistication, but all in all remain very simple and basic.’
Diversity is so important in offensive football—always has been. Illusion is too. In Week 1 against Green Bay, San Francisco offensive coordinator Greg Roman moved his physical wideout, Anquan Boldin, everywhere—in the two slots and two wide sides at least 10 times apiece. He ran him out of bunch formations. He set sort-of legal picks for him. And Boldin caught the ball 13 times for 208 yards. On Sunday night, with the Seahawks determined to beat Boldin up and nullify him at Seattle, the noise and defense conspired to take Boldin out of the game, and Colin Kaepernick could never find another weapon to replace him.
In Philadelphia, it’s going to be interesting to see if Kelly can keep Michaek Vick healthy. He’s on pace to run 120 times and to be sacked another 32 times, and it’s unlikely he’ll make it through the season taking that kind of punishment at 218 pounds. Running an uptempo offense, with a quarterback getting hit a lot, could require a second and maybe third quarterback to play this year, and though Nick Foles is, I’m told, very much a Kelly favorite, who knows how that offense changes with a quarterback who will stay home more.
Stanford has a stay-at-home big quarterback like Foles. Hogan is smart, like Foles. I don’t know how Foles would change what the Eagles do, but I do know a smart and accurate passer, without wheels, can still run it well. But with Vick or Foles, the Kelly offense will still be malleable. “There’s some really smart NFL guys that are going to sit on their hands and say let’s see what happens,’’ said Shaw. “Are they going to wear themselves out? This is a tempo and pace these guys are not used to. That’s the only question that I have. I love what they do; we’ve copied some of the things they do. But I believe every NFL player has a certain number of plays. And every time they run a play, you peel back. It’s like peeling back a day in the calendar. We’ll see.’’
Maybe the difference between Shaw and Kelly is that Shaw puts more of a premium on shielding his quarterback. It certainly appeared that way against Army—though, certainly, Hogan is not going to get the kind of pressure from a weak team like Army that he’ll get from Arizona State and Oregon. But the moral of the story from Shaw is the same as it is with the other smart young offensive minds infiltrating the NFL game: If you don’t like change in offensive football, you’re going to love irrelevance.
And now, for your mail...
MOVING TOO FAST. Is it not odd that in an era where player safety seems to be the buzz phrase zipping around, the league welcomes a coach who’s essentially turning up the speed of the game beyond what any player is used to? Grizzled vets who’ve known one speed since pee-wee ball are gulping air at the quarter’s end, thinking it’s halftime. Exhaustion erases form, thereby making mistakes both more likely and more frequent. Poor form on a tackle can lead to paralysis.
I like Chip Kelly’s style. I like seeing well-paid pros push the envelope. It’s part and parcel of the ways sport can inspire and improve us all. Just seems odd that the NFL, while touting safety on one hand, embraces what one would think is clearly increased risk with the other.
—Dave
How do you legislate the speed of the game? If a coach wants his QB to snap the ball with 18 seconds left on the play clock, do you propose to make that illegal? Do you propose to say that you can only run a certain number of snaps every game? Coaches are going to do what wins. If playing fast wins games for the Eagles, Kelly will keep doing it, the same way New England does it with Brady running a lot of no-huddle. Regarding safety, I just don’t know. It stands to reason that running more plays does increase the risk of injury. But I simply don’t think that you can legislate that a team should play at a certain pace.
On Coach Kill. I am a longtime reader of MMQB and have never written before, but your question about the University of Minnesota allowing Jerry Kill to coach football was insensitive. People in the workplace who have epilepsy are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a parent with a child who has epilepsy, I know the concerns about my son having seizures at work—he is a high school teacher and wrestling coach. Plain and simple, it is discrimination if his employer was to limit his ability to earn a living doing what he loves. The ADA requires his employer to make accommodations so that he can “enjoy equal employment opportunities.” As long as his doctor clears him for his duties, his employers would be in violation if they tried to remove him from his position for having seizures.
—Tim, Ocala, Fla.
I’m simply asking the question about how practical it is to have a college football coach on the sideline or in a locker room, going down more than once a year, on average, with a seizure—in full view of a television audience and a stadium full of fans. I’m not trying to be insensitive. I’m trying to be practical. It just seems the wrong job for that. Am I wrong? Probably. Am I being insensitive? Maybe I am.
Greg Schiano took the ball out of Josh Freeman's hands at a key time in Sunday's loss to New Orleans. Greg Schiano took the ball out of Josh Freeman's hands at a key time in Sunday's loss to New Orleans.
SCHIANO’S CALL. In analyzing Greg Schiano's decision late in the game against the Saints [up 14-13, with 4th-and-3 at the Saints' 29], you left out perhaps his best option—going for the first down. If Tampa Bay makes it, the game is over. If Tampa Bay doesn't make it, Brees still gets the ball back, but with slightly more yards to go to win the game than with the missed field goal. Still, the field goal was Schiano's worst option. Even if Lindell (a shaky kicker in big moments—go back to Buffalo's 2004 finale against Pittsburgh) makes the field goal, I'm not sure I bet against Brees going the length of the field for a touchdown in a minute.
—Josh, Buffalo
Schiano obviously has zero faith in Josh Freeman to convert on fourth down there. My feeling is simple. It’s going to be pretty easy for Drew Brees to travel 35 yards with no timeouts and 60 seconds to get in field goal range. Now traveling 60 yards with no timeouts? That’s at least more of a challenge. But, I would agree that the best solution would be to have a quarterback you trust to convert on fourth down there. The Bucs don’t have that.
HOW LOUD IS TOO LOUD? Regarding the crowd noise in Seattle, I've served as the compliance officer for several companies in a couple of different industries. If the noise level reached 136.6 decibels or if sustained periods over 85 decibels were recorded in the workplace, the ownership of a company is required to have a hearing protection program that includes monitoring of employees who are exposed to such noise levels, implementation of engineering controls to reduce the noise exposure, provision of hearing protection if the engineering controls do not work, and training in hearing conservation for all employees. (OSHA's Standards for Occupational Noise Exposure, 29 CFR 1910.95). We would also cover our backsides by providing hearing protection to all visitors to the workplace (e.g. the fans in Seattle). The only industry exempt from the standard is oil and gas. Any idea how major sports avoid this requirement?
—Michael
Well, that extremely high noise level in Seattle is the peak; it doesn’t happen for a very sustained period. But I do understand your thought about the risk of extended exposure to loud noise. I guess what I would say is that what the fans in Seattle were subjected to is no louder than what kids are subjected to in, say, a metal concert. So I doubt you’re going to get a watchdog group to be very worried about fans being exposed to a loud stadium.
FINE FIFTEEN MATH. A week ago, Green Bay lost a very close game at San Francisco. You ranked San Fran No. 2 and Green Bay No. 6. This week Seattle took San Fran to the woodshed, and Green Bay blew out Washington. You dropped San Fran to No. 3 (behind Seattle) and Green Bay to No. 12. Now of course, I'm oversimplifying these games, but can you please explain how Green Bay dropped six places after blowing out Washington? If you believe home-field advantage is so important in Seattle, shouldn’t it carry at least some meaning in the San Francisco/Green Bay game that Packers came pretty close to winning that won on the Niners’ turf?
—Nate
Each week I judge teams based on where I think they would rank if they were playing each other at a neutral field. I have very little respect for Washington right now. I don’t consider blowing out Washington much of an accomplishment. Their secondary stinks. So what has Green Bay accomplished so far? They lost a game to a really good team. They beat what could be a really bad team. I hardly think that for a team that still has major questions about its defense, which Green Bay certainly does, it’s outrageous to have them outside the top five or six teams. Plus, many other teams that have played well and proven something in the first two weeks—San Diego and Miami for instance—made big jumps in my eyes. I wouldn’t take it too seriously. If the Packers play great and straighten out their defense, they’ll be in the top five.
THANKS, MIKE. I wanted to follow up on my chance meeting with you this past Saturday while you were at the Army-Stanford game. I walked up to you while you were strolling along the reservoir in Black Knight Alley. I love your column. I am currently stationed at West Point, but during my previous assignment I deployed to Afghanistan multiple times. During football season, would spend late Monday nights reading your column. It at least helped me get through three to four months of the trip. Great Work! Go Army
—Mike, U.S. Army
Talk Back Got a question for Peter? Send it to [email protected] and it may be included in next Tuesday's mailbag. I so appreciate you checking in with me and introducing yourself. You, and so many people like you, are the reason I have this great job. So I should thank you.
A.J. OVER JOHNNY. Despite the fact that I don’t regularly agree with your views, I do enjoy your column. What picked my noodle this weekend was your blatant disregard for the true MVP of the Alabama-Texas A&M game: ’Bama quarterback A.J. McCarron. I don’t get it. On one side you have Johnny Football, a guy everyone hypes as the second coming. I saw him make bad throws and get rescued more often than not by his HUGE receivers, who were a clear mismatch for ‘Bama’s small corners. On the other side I saw a guy who tossed four TDs, drove the ball downfield when it counted, didn’t make mistakes and stayed calm in a pretty hostile environment. Not to mention that he actually won the game! But there’s no mention of A.J. McCarron in your column. Seriously Peter? Nothing?
—Danny
— —Illustration by Claudio Munoz
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YOU open a window on your computer's screen. You type in the name of a cheesy song from the 1980s. A list of results appears. You double-click on one of them, and within a few seconds the song is playing. This is what it was like to use Napster a decade ago; and it is also how Spotify, another free online-music service, works today. The difference? Napster was an illegal file-sharing service that was shut down by the courts. Spotify, by contrast, is an entirely legal, free service supported by advertising. This shows how much things have changed in the world of online music in the past decade. It also explains why online music piracy may at last be in decline.
For most of the past decade the music industry focused on litigation to try to prevent piracy. Over the years the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has accused 18,000 internet users of engaging in illegal file-sharing. Most of them settled, though two cases went to court this year. In both cases the defendants (a single mother and a student) lost and were ordered to pay damages (of $1.92m and $675,000 respectively). But the industry has realised that such cases encourage the publication of embarrassing headlines more than they discourage piracy, for as each network was shut down, another would sprout in its place.
Yet as piracy flourished on illegal networks, legal alternatives also started to appear. Apple launched its iTunes Music Store, offering downloads at $0.99 per track, in 2003. Many others have followed, including a new, above-board version of Napster. And in the past two years new music sites and services have proliferated. Spotify offers free, advertising-supported streams; paying customers are spared the ads and can use the service on smart-phones. Nokia's Comes With Music scheme includes a year's unlimited downloads in the price of some mobile phones. TDC, a Danish telecoms operator, bundles access to a music service with its broadband packages.
All of these different, legal music services offer the “celestial jukebox”—whatever you want, right away, from the internet—that made Napster so compelling when it appeared on the scene. True, revenue from these services will be less than from CD sales, but it is much better than nothing. The recorded-music industry will get smaller—but it will not disappear.
That is because there is growing evidence that this plethora of new services adds up to an attractive alternative to piracy for many (see article). In June a poll of Swedish users of file-sharing software found that 60% had cut back or stopped using it; of those, half had switched to advertising-supported streaming services like Spotify. In Denmark, over 40% of subscribers to TDC's broadband-plus-music package also said they were making fewer illegal downloads as a result. In a British poll published in July, 17% of consumers said they used file-sharing services, down from 22% in December 2007. Music executives reckon people are moving from file-sharing networks to Spotify, though they may continue to download some music illegally.
To be sure, the carrots of more attractive legal services are being accompanied by innovative forms of stick. In particular, a new approach called “graduated response” is gaining momentum. As its name indicates, it involves ratcheting up the pressure on users of file-sharing software by sending them warnings by e-mail and letter and then cutting off or throttling their internet access if they fail to respond after three requests. Graduated-response laws were introduced earlier this year in Taiwan and South Korea, and were enacted in France last month. Other countries are expected to follow suit.
Yet in Britain music file-sharing seems to be in decline even though a graduated-response law has yet to be introduced. The country also boasts one of the broadest selections of legal music services: Spotify and Comes With Music were both launched there before most other countries, and two of Britain's biggest internet-service providers have borrowed TDC's bundled-music model. This suggests that when it comes to discouraging music piracy, carrots may in fact be more important than sticks.
All of this offers a lesson for other types of media, such as films and video games. Piracy thrives because it satisfies an unmet demand. The best way to discourage it is to offer a diverse range of attractive, legal alternatives. The music industry has taken a decade to work this out, but it has now done so. Other industries should benefit from its experience—and follow its example.What a fighter! U.S. star overcomes years of sexual abuse at hands of her ex-coach to win America's first EVER judo gold medal
Defeats British fighter Gemma Gibbons, who took the silver medal
Says 'this is my purpose' after winning gold medal
Harrison, 22, endured years of sexual abuse by former coach, Daniel Doyle
Revealed her abuse ordeal in wake of Penn State sex scandal
Kayla Harrison stunned the world with a gold medal in judo - a first for the U.S. - in an incredible show of strength for a champion who suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of her childhood coach.
Miss Harrison became the first American in the sport to earn the Olympics' highest honour with a dramatic win over Great Britain's Gemma Gibbons.
The gold medal caps as extraordinary journey for the 22-year-old who hails from Middletown, Ohio, and who in 2007 put her former coach behind bars for sexually abusing her as a teen.
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Golden girl: Kayla Harrison became the first ever American to win a gold medal in judo at the London Olympics today. She beat Great Britain's Gemma Gibbons by two yukos
Fighter: Harrison, right, became the first American to take the title in the sport with the dramatic win over Great Britain's Gemma Gibbons, left
With the gold medal around her neck today, Miss Harrison's tumultuous journey turned into triumph.
She said: 'I was kind of reflecting back on my life and everything that it's taken to get here and everything I've gone through and everything that everyone in my family has sacrificed.'
Miss Harrison, world No. 4 and a former world champion, was in top form, dispatching many of her opponents with a match-ending ippon move, one in less than a minute.
She said she was focused on the gold, telling the Associated Press: 'This is my purpose.'
Respect: Miss Harrison holds up and Miss Gibbons' arm after their match
She added: 'It's not every four years. It's every day. I'm just so honored to be America's first gold medalist, and so happy to realize my dream.
'I'm America's first gold medalist in judo - and always will be.'
Her medal is the U.S.' second in judo this week: Teammate Marti Malloy won a bronze in the women's 57-kilogram division.
The bronze medals were won by Audrey Tcheumeo of France and Mayra Aguiar of Brazil.
Earlier this year, she spoke out after noticing that sports fans were siding with Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
Honour: Kayla Harrison bites on her gold medal after winning the competition in London
Hopes: Miss Harrison was aiming for gold at the London Olympics, an achievement that no American had won before
On the mat: Miss Harrison and Miss Gibbons fall to the floor during their match
'I was almost disheartened by my country, to hear that kids at Penn State were protesting for [Paterno] but not for the victims,' she told Fox Sports.
'What kind of world do I live in? Are students really doing that? When that happened, when the victim was that far away [from people's minds], I was in shock.'
Harrison was abused between the ages of 14 and 16 by her childhood coach, Daniel Doyle, whose father owned the judo school in Ohio where she first learned the sport.
Doyle, who was 16 years her senior, formed close relationships with her family, joining them on vacations and chaperoning Harrison on tournaments that took her to Venezuela, Estonia and Russia to compete.
Her secret: Harrison suffered years of sexual abuse as a teen at the hands of her former coach Daniel Doyle, who was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 10 years in prison
All smiles: Miss Harrison beams as she defeats Gemma Gibbons, left, and on the Olympic podium after receiving the gold medal, right
Win: She won gold at the World Championships in Tokyo in 2010, the first U.S. woman to do so in 26 years
Harrison said she felt 'brainwashed' and wanted to please her coach, so they started a sexual relationship. She told Fox Sports that she believed she would marry Doyle when she turned 18.
She confided her secret in a judo friend, who told her mother, who immediately contacted police. Glory: The gold medal win capped a long and arduous journey for the 22-year-old He pleaded guilty to having a sex with Miss Harrison and admitted that on one occasion he videotaped a sexual encounter. 'I can't describe how I felt,' she told the Los Angeles Times. 'I think I cried pretty much every night.'
She testified against him and he is now serving the maximum 10-year prison sentence. When released, Doyle will have to register as a sex offender.
'Going through that, I felt so guilty,' Harrison said.'This is the man that I thought I loved. And I just told on him and I put him in jail.' But she turned the tragedy to triumph when her mother sent her to Wakefield, Massachusetts to train with Jimmy Pedro Jr., who won Olympic bronze medals in 1996 and 2004, and his father, Big Jim. She moved into a house with 10 other athletes but struggled with the transition. 'She was an emotional wreck,' Pedro Jr told the Boston Herald. 'She truly believed that this guy loved her, so she had been brainwashed to think that was the case.'
Together, the Pedros helped rebuild her confidence and she got past bouts of suicidal thoughts, and, in spite of her lowest points, she dragged herself to training every day. Pedro Jr, who has spent a lifetime chasing Olympic gold himself, gave Harrison the same pep talk over and over again today before the match. 'All day long, I was telling her: "There's one girl in front of you. That's all we worry about is that one girl. Are you better than her? Are you stronger than her? Are you tougher than her? Yeah? Well, then, go beat her - because she's in your way to be an Olympic champion." 'She heard that about 150 times today,' he said. 'As melodramatic as it sounds, it's true. The Pedros saved my life and they changed my life,' she told the Times. 'I don't even want to think about what would have happened to me if I had stayed there.' Incredibly superstitious, Miss Harrison revealed that she wore the lucky socks that her grandmother gave her six years ago and played her lucky playlist prior to the match.
Hard fought: Miss Harrison is bitten by Gemma Gibbons during the judo final Support system: After Doyle was convicted, Harrison (center) trained with Jimmy Pedro Jr. (right), who has won two Olympic bronze medals
See below for video
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;A href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?videoid=89a4ae1f-22aa-46b0-a9e1-a60260d8a2e7&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;src=v5:embed:syndication:&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;from=shareembed-syndication&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;Story_MP2_JUDO&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;" target="_new" title="On the Record: Kayla Harrison"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Video: On the Record: Kayla Harrison&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/A&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Zan will soon be saying goodbye to triple j and hello to Double J, but not before doing the biggest Take 5 of her career: Sir Paul McCartney.
Subscribe to the Take 5 podcast.
One of the greatest songwriters of all time sat down to open his songbook, and dive deep into the making of five of his greatest. Sir Paul McCartney has provided the soundtrack to billions of lives. His legacy in song in unparalleled; starting with The Beatles, who changed the game forever, he rolled on with his own solo career while building a new band in Wings and collaborating with everyone from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder and Kanye West. (You can read further about his experiences working with Yeezy and re-inventing himself after The Beatles over on Music News).
From Zan: "It’s been 25 years since Macca toured Australia, so his visit here is special. We chased him for months, and in news that was music to my ears, we got word he was keen to Take 5. I hope you love this conversation as much as I did. From a man who's songcraft has changed the game, and whose endless curiosity has shaped modern music. This is Paul McCartney Taking 5."
The Beatles – ‘Blackbird’
"I wrote it when I was up in Scotland and I just heard about the Civil Rights movement going on in America, in Little Rock. That was contemporary then, it’s that long ago. I think a lot of people were shocked to see the black students not being allowed into the school and loads of white people jeering and spitting at them. We didn’t have that kind of prejudice in Liverpool, there’s quite a black population [there]. I had mates, particularly in music, who were black. It didn’t occur to us, so when we all saw it we were all pretty shocked. I wanted to write a song that would somehow give the people going through the struggles maybe just a little bit of hope.
"...So, I was writing this song called 'Blackbird', which I thought could have the double meaning of black woman and blackbird and this idea of broken wings but you learn to arise was kind of symbolic of the struggles people were going through. So, that was my Civil Rights song, really."
Skip spotify embed FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame. SPOTIFY: Spotify: The Beatles - Blackbird
Paul McCartney and Wings – ‘Band on the Run’
“The thing is, you kind of go with fashions sometimes. You can’t help it because it’s in the air, it’s what people do and what people are thinking, so you get affected. At that time there was a lot of records about desperados, renegades, that king of thing. Particularly coming out of California, there was a lot of that stuff about.
"I thought yeah, it’d be quite nice to write a song about a prison break because it’d be quite dramatic and, again, you could use it as symbolism - talking about breaking out of your boring life... It was an American thing, really, that I got caught up in."
Paul McCartney – ‘Temporary Secretary’
"[Recording by yourself is] like a hobby, it’s like you’re just doing it as a bit of fun, so you don't worry about it quite so much. If you’re recording something you think ‘Oh, I’m going into the studio next week, there’s going to be engineers and this better be good.’ It just gives you a certain kind of freedom. That album [McCartney II] I was into experimentation, so there were electronic sequences you put in a little program and you could loop it. So, I played around and eventually got that ‘Temporary Secretary’ loop that I liked. I started off with that, put some drums on it and stuff, and wrote the song over that. It was a nice way to write."
"...It’s nice when something like that is ahead of its time. At the time, it’s too ahead of its time and a lot of people don’t like it but you think, it's got something. It came and went at the time but then years later someone said ‘Oh, there’s a DJ in Brighton and he’s playing the hell out of this song of yours.’ I said, ‘What is it?’ and they said ‘Temporary Secretary'. Because, you know, it works in a club. It’s a good beat and the riff sounded very modern, so yeah, we revived it based on that."
Paul McCartney and Wings – ‘Jet’
"Yeah it was [named after a puppy]. There’s no telling where you’ll get ideas from and we happened to name this little black puppy Jet. Again I was noodling around, looking for an idea and thought that’s a good word ‘Jet’. So, I wrote the song about that. Not about the puppy, just using the name. And now it’s transformed into a sort of girl.
"It was kind of — a little bit about the experiences I'd had in marrying Linda. Her dad was a little old fashioned and I thought I was a little bit intimidated, as a lot of young guys can be meeting the father figure. And if the dad’s really easy-going, it makes it easy. It wasn’t bad but I was a bit intimidated, probably my fault as much as his. Anyway, the song starts to be about the sergeant major and it was basically my experience, roughly translated.
"I never do a song with the actual words that actually happen, because then that’s like a news story. Oh Linda, I was going to see your dad and he was intimidating. A bit boring. So, I mask it and mould it into a song, something you can sing reasonably."
The Beatles - 'Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End'
“They were separate. That’s one of the things we did on [Abbey Road], we put together separate ideas and this one — I was very lucky — it fitted together very neatly. As you say, I didn’t think of ['The End'] as the end of The Beatles. I think of it mainly as the end of an album. But I just had that little couplet: ‘And in the end / The love you take / Is equal to the love you make’. I liked that as a sentiment and I liked it as a mini poem. That came on the end of the album and that song, quite luckily.
"It is good, as you say, everyone got to do their bit. I don’t analyse my stuff but if I was to, that’d be a good one to analyse. You’ve got John, George, Ringo — that’s sewing it all up."An 18-year-old Dalit man committed suicide in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district, allegedly after being boycotted by fellow villagers for killing a calf.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Ramu, who worked as a labourer, killed himself by jumping in front of a train on Saturday.
"He [the deceased] had come to know that villagers had decided to socially boycott him for killing his pet calf," Ved Prakash Srivastava, a police officer at the Itiyathok police station, told IE.
Ramu's pet calf died three days ago after he thrashed it.
"Three days ago, Ramu hit his pet calf with a hammer while taking the animal to the field for grazing," Village Pradhan Usha Devi's husband, Balram Tiwari was quoted as saying. "Ramu tied animal in the field and returned home. Around two hours later, Ramu came to know through locals that calf had died because of the thrashing."
Tiwari also said that in the Gopalpur Barandi village, anyone who kills a cow or a calf has to stay alone outside the village for a year and cook for himself. After the incident, the villagers had decided to socially boycott Raju until the panchayat took a final decision.
Meanwhile, many state governments are planning to enact harsher laws on cow protection. In Gujarat, the state Assembly has passed a law making cow slaughter punishable with life imprisonment. With the amendment of the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act of 1954 on Friday, Gujarat now has the toughest law against cow slaughter in India.
Also on HuffPost India:ESPN has released text messages between SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross and a former female colleague who has accused him of inappropriate behavior in a bid to undermine the allegations.
Veteran broadcaster Buccigross, 51, and fantasy sports expert Matthew Berry, 47, are just some of the men accused of misconduct in the Boston Globe's exposé, which was published on Thursday.
Adrienne Lawrence, who joined the network in 2015 as part of a fellowship to promote racial diversity, claimed Buccigross sent her unsolicited shirtless photos of himself in 2016.
He also allegedly called her 'dollface', 'dreamgirl' and 'longlegs' in messages seen by the paper.
Lawrence, who filed a complaint against the network this summer, told the paper she tried to remain friendly in the messages but at one point responded: 'You need to wear clothes, sir'.
In response, ESPN said Lawrence's claims were 'entirely without merit' and released the messages between the pair to show they had a 'consensual relationship' and a 'personal friendship that spanned months'.
It shows them discussing dinner, sharing smiling emojis and joking about music tastes. The released exchange did not include the alleged shirtless pictures.
Adrienne Lawrence (above), who joined the network in 2015 as part of a fellowship to promote racial diversity, claimed John Buccigross sent her unsolicited shirtless photos of himself in 2016
Buccigorss (above) also allegedly called her 'dollface', 'dreamgirl' and 'longlegs' in messages
ESPN released the text exchange between Lawrence (in blue) and Buccigross (in white) and said there was 'no merit' to her allegations. They show the pair arranging to meet for dinner near the ESPN campus in Connecticut. In one message he says: 'Hey dollface'
They then arrange a second dinner after Lawrence said she had a 'great time'. At one point he sends her a message simply saying #longlegs
Katrina Arnold, a spokeswoman for ESPN said: 'We conducted a thorough investigation and found these claims to be entirely without merit.
Lawrence, who filed a complaint against the network this summer, told the paper she tried to remain friendly in the messages but at one point responded: 'You need to wear clothes, sir'
'Lawrence was hired into a two-year talent development program and was told that her contract would not be renewed at the conclusion of the training program.
'At that same time, ESPN also told 100 other talent with substantially more experience, that their contracts would not be renewed.
'The company will vigorously defend its position and we are confident we will prevail in court.'
Arnold added: 'We work hard to maintain a respectful and inclusive culture at ESPN.
'It is always a work in progress, but we’re proud of the significant progress we’ve made in developing and placing women in key roles at the company in the board room, in leadership positions throughout ESPN and on air.'
Buccigross says he wish Lawrence had attended a concert with him and said he would 'throw oil on' himself 'like the flag bearer from Tonga' on a trip water rafting
Lawrence responds by telling Buccigross that he needs to wear clothes. She then responds asking if he is around at the weekend
Lawrence thanked her supporters and the Boston Globe after the story was published. She also slammed ESPN for releasing the text messages, saying the allegations also included photos
Lawrence released a statement after the text messages were released.
The report also contained allegations from former Jets sideline reporter Jenn Sterger, who allegedly received X-rated photos and messages from then-quarterback Brett Favre in 2008
She said: 'As for ESPN’s recent behavior, its decisions to (i) single me out, (ii) ignore my key allegations, which ESPN knows are far broader than text messages and photos, and then (iii) release select, self-serving text messages, only further evidences the culture of
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are no contemporaneous notes of the call, no memoranda about it?
Perhaps, but I’m having a hard time swallowing that. What I certainly could believe, though, is that the same Trump brain trust to whom it hadn’t occurred that there might be a recording of Flynn’s conversation, may also have miscalculated that the best course was to keep denying that the conversation involved sanctions — even though the sanctions talk was brief and benign.
So they continued denying it. And as a result, their “deep state” political rivals knew they had Team Trump just where they wanted them.
On Sunday January 15, Mike Pence, five days away from being sworn in as vice president, was the scheduled headliner on CBS’s Face the Nation. If you were an Obama operative, you could have bet the ranch on what would happen: Pence was grilled about Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador, and Pence vigorously defended the incoming national-security adviser: He had personally discussed the matter with Flynn and was satisfied that Flynn and Kislyak “did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.”
Close your eyes and imagine the IC — ripped by Trump during and after the campaign — in full salivation mode.
According to the Washington Post, Pence’s denials prompted a meeting of top intelligence-community and law-enforcement officials from the Obama administration: CIA Director John Brennan, National Intelligence Director James Clapper, acting Attorney General Sally Yates, and FBI Director James Comey. The question was whether it was time to inform the Trump administration, which would be taking over the following day. Brennan and Clapper, who were leaving the minute Trump was sworn in, are said to have favored briefing their successors. Yates, however, reportedly sided with Comey, who favored delay.
You know what they say: When your opponent is busy destroying himself, best to stay out of the way and let him have at it.
Enter Sean Spicer. At his first Monday briefing as Trump’s press secretary, he boldly proclaimed that he had spoken with Flynn “again last night” and could assure everyone that there had been only “one call” between Flynn and Kislyak, and that it did not involve sanctions.
Boom.
At that point, it was a certainty that the administration, from its first hours, would be saddled with a debilitating scandal that combined the vaporous “Russia hacked the election” narrative and the administration’s self-inflicted wounds — serial, easily disprovable misstatements, coming directly from the mouths of unnamed top advisers, the vice president, and the president’s own spokesman.
The damage done, Yates — an Obama ideologue who knew she was a short-timer — prevailed upon Comey that the time had come to inform the new administration that it had a disaster on its hands. Yates and an unidentified “senior career national security official” briefed Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn on Flynn’s communications with Kislyak — recorded for posterity under FISA and amplified by FBI reports. (Only days later, Yates would be dismissed for quite publicly and insubordinately defying President Trump by refusing to enforce his executive order banning alien entries into the U.S.)
The other million-dollar question: What on earth did the Trump administration do with the information from Yates? The White House counsel reportedly knew on January 23 about Flynn’s discussion with Kislyak. Yet, more than two weeks later, in a February 8 interview with the Washington Post, Flynn was still “categorically denying” that his talks with the Russian ambassador had involved Obama’s punitive measures against Russia. Only the next day, February 9, did a spokesman for Flynn walk that back, burbling that Flynn could no longer “be certain that the topic never came up.”
The contents of the conversation are going to be public at some point anyway, so now is the time to be transparent rather than guilty-looking.
By then, with several Trump officials having made public statements that were false, and several others potentially in the know, the administration settled on the only story that had a chance to fly: Flynn had either lied to everyone to cover up something he didn’t think was misconduct, or he is such a scatter-brain — this man chosen by Obama to lead DIA and by Trump to be national-security adviser — that he’d left out the part about Russia’s concerns over Obama’s punitive measures when briefing administration officials about their communications
Really?
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If I were the Trump White House, I’d get that recording out in public — today. Don’t wait for detractors to make it look like they’re prying it from you in “a congressional investigation of Trump administration collusion with the Putin regime.” Put it out yourselves.
What have you got to lose? If it corroborates Flynn’s version of events, the public will understand that nothing of consequence happened in the conversation. If Flynn is misreporting it, it will support the White House story that the general is an unreliable source of information who was unsuited to a top advisory post. But the contents of the conversation are going to be public at some point anyway, so now is the time to be transparent rather than guilty-looking.
Next, somebody needs to figure out what Flynn’s practice for memorializing communications with foreign counterparts was, how (if at all) the Kislyak conversation was memorialized, and who was briefed on it both before and after Ignatius’s January 12 column. Furthermore, why was Flynn still making contradictory statements about the Kislyak conversation on February 8? After all, by January 23, the administration knew that (a) there was a recording, (b) Kislyak and Flynn had discussed — however briefly and inconsequentially — the Obama sanctions, and (c) its prior inaccurate statements had already become a big problem.
A last bit of unsolicited advice. There’s a good opportunity to beat back the “Russia hacked the election” story because close examination suggests there’s no there there. But the assertion that the administration has misinformed the public is undeniable, and it could get worse — ruinously worse — if the bleeding is not stopped immediately. Maybe what we’re being told is correct; maybe Flynn really is the sole culprit. But if it turns out that he provided accurate information and the administration nevertheless put out false information, that is going to become known at some point — probably soon.
You can get out in front of this today. Or you can get trampled by it tomorrow.Three against one and Elizabeth May. Such is the dynamic expected to unfold during Thursday's French-language election debate as New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair is forced to deflect charges of saying one thing in Quebec and its opposite in English Canada, while the Green Party Leader tries to prove to indifferent Quebeckers that she deserves the time of day.
After abandoning the Bloc Québécois, their political home for almost two decades until 2011, a strong plurality of Quebeckers seems poised to stick with the NDP. It's not a love affair by any means. It's more a function of the Bloc's anachronistic raison d'être, a soft spot for the NDP's untainted (in Quebec) history and the tantalizingly real possibility of ending Conservative rule.
NDP support in Quebec has proved astonishingly resilient amid accusations that the party is a bicephalous beast with distinct personalities, and policies, in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It's not that Mr. Mulcair contradicts himself – he's usually equally evasive in both solitudes. It's that he seems to lead voters to different destinations depending on his own physical location.
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In Quebec, Mr. Mulcair suggests an NDP government would set the environmental bar on approval of the Energy East pipeline unattainably high. Elsewhere, he suggests that a more rigorous environmental assessment process would actually work in Energy East's favour by reassuring Canadians that the pipeline meets the highest safety standards.
On the Clarity Act, the NDP Leader tells English media that he is in no rush to enact his party's promise to repeal the federal law that sets the terms – a clear majority, on a clear question – for recognizing a future referendum on Quebec sovereignty. But it took all of poor Peter Mansbridge's steely insistence to get Mr. Mulcair, Clintonesque in his parsing, to concede that he supports a 50-per-cent-plus-one majority as the threshold for a recognizing a Yes victory. Or sort of.
In English Canada, Mr. Mulcair says a lower threshold would discourage soft nationalists, many of whom voted Yes in 1995, from doing so again, since most don't really want to trigger separation. Yet, at its origin, the NDP's embrace of the 50-plus-one margin aimed to woo harder nationalists away from the Bloc by promising an NDP government would not arbitrarily bar the way to independence.
Earlier this week, Mr. Mulcair repeatedly refused to say whether he personally supports the right of Muslim women to cover their faces when they take the oath as Canadian citizens. "The courts take care of that," he insisted. Opposition to the niqab is higher in Quebec than anywhere else. On Wednesday, Mr. Mulcair course corrected by saying that women who wear the niqab should uncover their face to identify themselves, but that they can do so before taking the oath of citizenship.
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, who opposed the former Parti Québécois government's attempt to prohibit public employees from wearing conspicuous religious symbols, has seized on the niqab debate in a sad effort to revive what so far has been a failed comeback. An animated Bloc ad showing oil spewing from a conduit morphing into a black Muslim face covering warns that, if Mr. Mulcair is elected, "there's also a mighty big pipeline coming" as well as niqabs at citizenship ceremonies.
"The National Front has just joined the campaign," NDP spokesman Karl Bélanger tweeted, comparing the Bloc tactics to those of France's far right anti-immigrant party.
Thursday's debate, the first of two French-language encounters, may be Mr. Duceppe's last chance to kick-start his campaign. He has a track record as a dangerous debater, with a mother tongue advantage over his rivals, so he also faces high expectations. Both the Bloc and NDP leaders are pugilists by nature, but Mr. Duceppe comes off as more down to earth and authentic.
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Mr. Mulcair's past odes to Margaret Thatcher, and prickly relations with his former provincial Liberal colleagues have been trotted out to discredit his social democratic bona fides and painted-on smile, so far to no end. Quebeckers seem not to care, or at least not enough to consider returning to the Bloc or abandoning the chance of sending Stephen Harper packing.
The Conservative Leader has perhaps the least at stake in the debate. His path to victory does not depend on gaining seats in Quebec, even if he'd clearly like to win some. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau does need to pick up seats in the province. He will hammer on the Clarity Act to win back English Montrealers from the NDP and woo francophones with promises of more money for Radio-Canada and the arts.
But that will all be secondary to the title bout.“We can figure out the message that works best for this group,” said David Simas, deputy senior advisor for communications and strategy, of young adults. (Lance Rosenfield/Prime)
Deep inside the White House, in a bare room that the chief of staff uses for meetings, David Simas is still thinking about turnout.
Turnout has been Simas’s job for years now. As director of public-opinion research and polling for President Obama’s reelection campaign, Simas was at the center of the effort to find and persuade young and minority voters to go to the polls like they did in 2008.
Many doubted the Obama campaign’s contention that it could recapture the 2008 electorate. Simas’s data, however, convinced the campaign that was possible. And when the smoke cleared, young voters and minorities did show up to the polls, and Obama won.
Now Simas, a sad-eyed Massachusetts native with a facility for PowerPoints, needs to reach those same groups again — with a much harder ask. This time, he doesn’t just need them to vote. He needs them to buy health insurance, and, in some cases, spend hundreds of dollars a month for it. If they don’t, the new insurance marketplaces -- the absolute core of Obamacare -- will be filled with older, sicker people, and premiums will skyrocket. And if that happens, the law will fail.
The debate over Obamacare often focuses on the law’s complexity. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has taken to pushing around a seven-foot stack of paper showing the tens of thousands of pages of regulations it has spawned. Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has warned that implementing such an intricate statute could be a “train wreck.”
But to the White House, the difference between success and failure is straightforward: They need to entice a sufficient number of young and healthy adults into the new insurance marketplaces that open Oct. 1.
How many younger people are needed each year to hold down premiums depends on how many people sign up for the marketplaces. If the total this year is 7 million people, then about 2.7 million need to be in the 18-to-35 set.
This, then, is the crux of Obamacare’s challenge: Can the federal government persuade young, healthy people to buy health insurance?
Simas is focusing his formidable analytical resources on understanding this group. He begins clicking through a Powerpoint that holds reams of data on these young adults. “What do we know about them?” he says. “They’re overwhelmingly male.” Click. “They’re majority nonwhite.” Click. “One out of every three lives in California, Florida or Texas.” Click. “We have census maps breaking this down into the smallest geographic units.”
A couple more clicks and Simas is showing which television channels they like to watch (Spike TV, among others), which social-media platforms they use (Twitter, Facebook) and who they listen to (“No surprise. It’s mom.”). “We can figure out the message that works best for this group,” Simas says.
The focus on young, minority voters. The heavy reliance on microtargeting. The enthusiasm about nontraditional communications channels. The analytics-rich modeling. It sounds like the Obama campaign. And administration officials don’t shy away from the comparison.
“When I hear the conventional wisdom about Obamacare,” said Jeanne Lambrew, deputy assistant to the president for health policy, “this is the difference between the Karl Roves who put their fingers to the wind and the Nate Silvers of the world who looked at the numbers.”
But the effort will have to go far beyond engineering turnout among key demographics. The administration needs to build more insurance marketplaces than they ever expected, and create an unprecedented IT infrastructure that lets the federal government’s computers seamlessly talk to the (often ancient) systems used in state Medicaid offices. They need to fend off repeal efforts from congressional Republicans — like Wednesday’s vote to delay the individual mandate — and somehow work with red-state bureaucracies that want to see Obamacare fail. And they can’t escape the fact that the law, three years after passage, remains stubbornly unpopular.
Amid these challenges, critics say the administration is simply defining success down. “Their job in 2013 is to declare victory in any way possible,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative American Action Forum. “They’ll keep moving goal posts until they can declare victory.” Holtz-Eakin noted that the administration has recently delayed significant parts of the bill, like the employer mandate. “It’s an admission that the whole thing can’t be implemented,” he said.
Over the course of three months and in dozens of interviews for this article — with Obama administration officials, state-level implementers, outside experts, steadfast critics and others — two distinct and contradictory views emerged: One, of confident Obama administration officials focused on building its marketplaces and ignoring the naysayers in Washington, who they believe simply don’t understand the law. Another, of Obamacare’s increasingly confident critics, who believe the law is collapsing under its own weight and feel themselves more vindicated by the day.
Caught between those two sides are the state-level bureaucrats and technology consultants who have 76 days left to set up the biggest health-coverage expansion in decades.
“In 2011, there was this ‘we’re going to save the world’ mentality,” said Rebecca Pearce, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. “In 2013, it focuses more on 'How do we deliver on the requirements of the law?'”
'Advocates on the ground are really struggling'
It wasn’t supposed to be easy. But expanding coverage to millions of Americans wasn’t supposed to be this hard.
When Obama signed the law in March 2010, legislators envisioned the health-care overhaul as a partnership between state and federal governments. States had served as the primary regulators of insurance markets for decades, so there was widespread expectation they would want to operate the new insurance exchanges, too.
One internal White House memo, drafted by two health policy advisors a few months before the Affordable Care Act, detailed the major hurdles in implementation. It fretted over the law’s tight timelines — which have indeed forced mulitple delays — and the possibility that insurers would hike prices before new regulations took effect. It never mentioned political opposition or widespread state resistance.
The White House never predicted that only 16 states and the District of Columbia would run their own health insurance exchanges, leaving the federal government to set up the majority of marketplaces.
Nor did it foresee the Supreme Court decision allowing states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion, a provision of the Affordable Care Act designed to extend coverage to 17 million Americans, fully half the total number of uninsured expected to be covered by the law. Fewer than half the states have decided to pursue the Medicaid expansion.
The White House figures that the rest of the states will come around soon enough, especially if the law is a success — and the administration expects that the marketplaces will drive that judgment. And so officials obsess over their construction — and anything that might stand in their way.
In recent months, White House has begun delaying high-profile parts of the law that officials believe will interfere with their ability to set up the marketplaces. They put off enforcing a requirement that all large employers provide coverage to full-time workers, and, on the Friday following the Fourth of July, quietly released a 606-page regulation that delayed requirements for the marketplaces to verify workers’ incomes and employment status.
Even the most tuned-in health-care consultants have trouble predicting whether the federal government can get the law off the ground.
“It’s pretty much a black box,” Deloitte’s Cheryl Smith said of the technology that powers the health law. “They tell us, ‘It’s freakishly on schedule.’ They use those exact words. But only the people who work in this can tell you if it's actually running on time.”
In states that refuse the Medicaid expansion, residents whose incomes are above the poverty line ($11,490 for an individual) will still have access to tax credits for purchasing private insurance on the exchanges. Those below the poverty line, however, will not receive help obtaining coverage. That lessens the law’s reach, and creates an unexpected messaging problem: How does the White House tell certain citizens that they earn too little to qualify for any help?
“How do you explain this in a way that seems fair and reasonable, that the higher-income people get help but you don’t?” said Mike Perry, a founding partner at polling firm PerryUndem Research. “Advocates on the ground are really struggling with that group. They want to have a positive message but don’t know what to say.”
Perry and his co-founder, Tresa Undem, have arguably conducted the most extensive research on encouraging insurance enrollment under the law; in April, Undem conducted a briefing for administration officials on how best to reach young Americans.
They have found, overwhelmingly, that Americans are uninformed about the health law — and are deeply skeptical when they learn about it.
When they asked in a recent survey whether a $210 premium was affordable, only 29 percent of likely marketplace enrollees said yes. Then, Undem and Perry phrased the question a bit differently. They told the focus group participants that, with their tax credits, they would save “$1,908 a year compared to what you would pay on your own.”
All of a sudden, 48 percent of the participants thought that insurance was affordable. But 48 percent is still less than half.
'He knows how to get people out'
Aaron Smith runs the Young Invincibles, a group dedicated to enrolling young adults into health insurance coverage. (D.A. Peterson for The Washington Post)
The Obama administration believes it has four ways to pull people -- both young and old -- into the market. There are the subsidies. There’s the individual mandate. There’s the hoped-for ease and transparency of the new marketplaces. And then there’s the fact that people want health insurance.
Aaron Smith is a 31-year-old who runs the the group Young Invincibles, which advocates for the health-care interests of younger adults. The name is taken from the insurance industry term for young adults who don’t purchase insurance because they’re confident nothing will happen to them. “That term was really insulting to us,” he said.
Polling shows that young adults overwhelmingly want health insurance, and their behavior backs that up. When they’re offered health coverage through their jobs, studies show more than 60 percent take it -- which is similar to the take-up rate among older adults. But young adults are less likely to have jobs that offer affordable insurance. “I think people just dramatically underestimate how hard it is for someone who doesn’t get health insurance at their job to get health insurance,” Smith said.
The result is slightly paradoxical: Young adults are the cheapest group to insure but the group most likely to go without insurance. The reason, put simply, is that young adults are likelier than any other group to be poor. Smith calculates that 19 million young adults between 18 and 34 lack health insurance. Under Obamacare, 8 million of them will qualify for free insurance through Medicaid. An additional 9 million will qualify for subsidized insurance in the exchanges.
In fact, the vast majority of the young adults expected to be in the marketplaces are expected to qualify for subsidies. Linda Blumberg, a health-policy analyst at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, has done extensive work modeling who is likely to sign up for insurance on the exchanges. She estimates that 96 percent of 21- to 27-year-olds will get some income subsidies.
Some young adults won’t find Obamacare a good deal, however. Because the program ends discrimination against the sick, limits it against the old and puts certain quality requirements on insurance, some healthy, young, not-that-poor people in the exchanges will find their premiums rising -- a phenomenon known as “rate shock” in health-policy circles.
That’s why Congress added the individual mandate. Beginning in 2014, anyone who can afford insurance -- which is defined as having access to health coverage that costs less than 8 percent of income -- but chooses to go without it has to pay a fine. The penalty is far less than the cost of insurance: It starts at $95 in 2014, then ramps up to $695 in 2016, or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater. That raises the possibility that some might choose to pay the penalty and then simply sign up for insurance at some later date when they get sick.
But the experience in Massachusetts, which structured its overhaul in a similar way, suggests few will choose to pay the penalty. There, rates of uninsurance for young adults have fallen to the low single digits. “The idea of paying a penalty and getting nothing is more distasteful than paying more to get insurance,” said Gary Claxton, director of the Health Care Marketplace project at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The question is whether Massachusetts offers much of a guide. The state is relatively rich, fairly liberal, and Republicans, Democrats and the business community all worked together to implement the health-care exchanges. There were even ads featuring members of the Boston Red Sox — and nothing like the organized opposition facing Obamacare.
“The zeitgeist was very different,” said Kevin Counihan, who ran Massachusetts’ health law marketing in 2006. “We’re in an environment [now] where 40 percent are against it, 35 percent are for it and neither side knows what’s actually in it.”
That opposition is a wild card to the researchers trying to predict whether the exchanges will succeed. Blumberg and Claxton have both tried to model enrollment in the marketplace and found the exchanges should be relatively successful, lowering average premiums and attracting a diverse group of insurance buyers. But they’re cautious, as they worry that the controversy around Obamacare may make past consumer behavior a poor guide to the law’s future.
“What’s not in the modeling is the institutions,” Claxton said. “How hard does the insurance department or Medicaid department in a red state make it to implement this?”
This is where Obama officials say their campaign experience -- and their candidate -- gives them an advantage. The profile of the people they’re trying to entice into the exchanges almost perfectly matches the profile of Obama voters. And they are confident they know how to talk to those voters.
“If we were having this debate last year, the pundits would be saying that ‘it’s not clear Obama will get young people out to the polls again, it’s not clear if African Americans will turn out to vote’,” said Nancy-Ann DeParle, the former head of the White House Office of Health Reform and deputy chief of staff to Obama. “Well, guess what? As Barack Obama has repeatedly shown, he knows how to get people out. And I think they will turn out to enroll in health plans just as they did to vote last November.”
'I know it’s hard'
Jeanne Lambrew, special assistant to the president on health policy, has worked on the Affordable Care Act for years. (Lance Rosenfield/Prime)
On paper, the marketplace looks like a smooth glidepath to insurance coverage. In practice though, building the technology to power these massive data systems is the health law task where outside observers could most easily see the administration failing.
“Everybody is having sleepless nights given the magnitude of the effort and the short amount of time,” said Kevin Walsh, a senior executive at Xerox working with multiple states on health plan implementation. “It’s like building a bridge from both ends and hoping, in the end, they connect.”
When Walsh wants to explain the administration’s massive challenge, he uses a one-page flowchart that outlines eight steps, six government agencies and the back-end technology involved in getting someone enrolled.
There are three rows of boxes highlighting crucial actions: Information the federal government needs to verify, or a step a consumer must take. The chart is meant to simplify, but it has so many arrows -- pointing up, down, left and right -- it hurts just to look at it.
Behind all those boxes sits perhaps the most difficult and technical task of health reform: The construction of the federal government’s massive data hub, an unprecedented trove of income, citizenship and personal information about millions of Americans. This is the engine that will power federal decisions about who qualifies for which health law programs. If it doesn’t work, neither does the rest of the health care law.
The administration has recently scaled back the hub’s workload for the first year. It won’t help states verify applicants’ claims that they do not receive employer- sponsored insurance, for instance. When a consumer claims to have an income wildly different from what the federal data hub suggests, the marketplace, in most cases, will take the consumer’s word for it.
“I read that as an admission that not all of the components of the hub are working,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a health-policy researcher at George Washington University who supports the law.
Over the course of the year, states across the country have put off parts of the law that they hoped would be ready by October. The inspector general’s office at the Internal Revenue Service warned in mid-July that the federal government may still be testing the system when it opens enrollment, creating “significant delays” in processing applications.
State bureaucrats often lay blame at the federal government for repeatedly changing the requirements.
“Some of the guidance from the federal government is still coming,” Mila Kofman, director of the DC HealthLink, said. “That means we can’t get to our wishlist.”
Hundreds of federal workers are racing to ensure that the hub is ready by Oct. 1. In May, Obama called these employees to congratulate them on work accomplished so far--but also to commiserate.
“I know it’s hard, it’s a lot of work,” he told them. “It’s very rare in the annals of American history where we have to set up something this quick. And let’s face it, it’s not as if the political environment has always been friendly in terms of getting this stuff done.”
'The train is doing a little better'
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) stands next to a printed version of Obamacare during a news conference on May 16. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Obama has already predicted that mistakes will be made in setting up the health law.
“Even if we do everything perfectly, there will still be glitches and bumps,” he said at an April press conference. “That’s pretty much true of every government program that’s ever been set up.”
It was certainly true of the federal government’s last major health- insurance expansion, Medicare Part D.
Months before it launched in 2006, Medicare Part D was less popular than today’s Affordable Care Act — 21 percent of the public viewed it favorably while 66 percent did not understand how it would work.
The rollout was a disaster. Some seniors who earned too much to qualify for subsidies received them anyway. Some low-income enrollees who should have received financial aid didn’t. On "Fox News Sunday," then-House Minority Leader John Boehner didn’t mince words. “The implementation of the Medicare plan has been horrendous,” he said.
Today, Medicare Part D has more than 50 million beneficiaries and is extremely popular. In an October survey, over 90 percent of enrollees described themselves as satisfied. “The temporary issues were just that, temporary,” said Mark McClellan, who led Medicare during the rollout. “The memories didn’t last that long. In the end, it comes down to how good the insurance coverage is.”
The administration contends its signature legislative accomplishment is on a similar trajectory. In fact, officials say, it’s already working better than expected. A recent study by Avalere Health found that the premium bids in the marketplaces were coming in below the Congressional Budget Office’s early estimates.
But Medicare Part D didn’t face the kind of sustained political opposition that Obamacare faces. In 2006, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on the then-flailing program. Rather than calling for repeal, Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, then the top Democrat on the panel, said it was important “to put aside any partisan thoughts to work together to get this program running.”
Obamacare doesn’t have that luxury. McConnell has already promised to make it “the biggest issue” of the 2014 midterm elections. There is little chance the Obama administration will be able to tweak or change the legislation if problems emerge. Rather, if the law stumbles, Republicans will use its troubles to gain seats in Congress and chip away at its core provisions.
Even so, Democrats are feeling calmer as the administration clarifies its plans.
“I think the train is doing a little better,” Baucus said. “There’s been no crash. I don’t think it’s derailed. We’re still chugging along here.”
Of course, Baucus doesn’t have to worry about the political fallout: Shortly after his “train wreck” comments, the six-term senator announced his plans to retire in 2014.You’re Not Going to Like What the State Legislature Just Did to Our Judicial Elections
Jeff Jackson Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 6, 2017
I get that your top priority in life isn’t keeping up with judicial legislation, but you need to know what just happened.
Yesterday — during a two-day special session — we were asked to vote on a bill that had a brand new section. It hadn’t been heard by any senate committee. Came out of nowhere.
It cancels all judicial primary elections next year.
Here’s the language:
Think about that. Primaries exist to winnow the field. Now that we won’t have any, you might have 20 people on the ballot running for Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. Good luck making an informed decision.
What’s worse, the winner could end up getting only 15–20% of the vote. Needless to say, it doesn’t exactly build faith in our judicial system when we have judges winning elections despite the vast majority of people voting for someone else.
And, of course, this confusion will make re-election easier for incumbent judges, who are more likely to have bigger warchests and higher name ID.
Well, it just so happens that an incumbent Republican Supreme Court Justice is running for re-election next year.
Maybe this is a coincidence. So we asked, on the senate floor, why they would cancel the primaries. We heard two responses:
1) Republicans are considering redistricting all District and Superior Court judicial districts in January (during another special session) and they want time to do that.
The small problem with that explanation is that there’s no reason why redistricting in January wouldn’t allow for primaries in August/September.
The BIG problem is that they can’t redistrict our Court of Appeals and Supreme Court — those are statewide elections. So that can’t be the real reason.
2) We also heard that in January the majority party might propose putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot (when the judicial primaries would otherwise be held…) that would eliminate judicial elections entirely and transfer the power to select judges to… any guesses?… the majority party in the legislature.
The small problem with that explanation is there’s no reason why we need to preemptively cancel all our judicial primaries now on the basis of a decision that might be made in January. We could just wait until January.
The BIG problem is simpler: What if the public shoots down the constitutional amendment? Why would we decide today to cancel all the primaries before we know the outcome of a vote that might be held next year? (And how likely is the public to hand over its power to elect judges to the legislature, anyway? We only have a 29% approval rating.)
Let’s recap: We’ve cancelled the primaries for all of our judicial elections and no one can give us a good reason why. For the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, no one can even come close to giving a good reason. It came out of nowhere — during a special session — and wasn’t allowed a committee hearing in the senate.
This is the type of thing you should have on your radar because it looks like the majority party is attempting to draw a net around the judicial branch. We could see judicial redistricting designed to favor Republicans, and/or a judicial selection process controlled by Republicans, and/or a deliberately chaotic general election process that would favor the re-election of a Republican Supreme Court Justice.
Head’s up.The Huffington Post writer who called a black Republican senator a "prop" for President Trump has apologized.
Andy Ostroy tweeted out his critique after watching Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., stand next to Trump during the GOP's celebration of passing legislation cutting taxes.
"What a shocker... there's ONE black person there and sure enough they have him standing right next to the mic like a manipulated prop," Ostroy said on Twitter. "Way to go @SenatorTimScott. #trump #taxscambill."
Scott wrote back on Twitter that he played a key role in passing the bill, and was not a token black supporter being used by Trump.
"Uh probably because I helped write the bill for the past year, have multiple provisions included, got multiple Senators on board over the last week and have worked on tax reform my entire time in Congress," Scott wrote. "But if you'd rather just see my skin color, pls feel free."
Late Wednesday, Ostroy removed his initial tweet and apologized.
"@SenatorTimScott, earlier I tweeted something that I now agree was unfair," he wrote. "Senator, I regret that tweet & apologize for it. There were many other ways I should've and could've made my point."Giving your photos meaningful names makes it significantly easier to keep tabs on them. Of course, renaming each and every photo by hand is not particularly practical, especially if you take dozens or even hundreds of photos each day. This is when digiKam’s Rename feature can come in rather handy. You can use it to define rather advanced renaming rules and apply them to multiple photos in one fell swoop.
To put the Rename tool to practical use, select the photos you want to rename and press the Rename button in the main toolbar (you can also choose Image | Rename or press F2). The Rename dialog window offers a vast range of renaming options which allow you to create complex renaming rules. But you might want to start with a simple rule that renames photos using the date and time data. To do this, press the Date & Time button and select Image from the Source drop-down list. This will pull the date and time info from the photo’s metadata.
Next, you have to specify a date/time format by selecting the appropriate item from the Format drop-down list. If none of the available formatting options satisfy you, select the Custom item, which lets you construct the formatting string manually. For example, the yyyyMMdd-hhmmss formatting string produces file names like 20100531-173501 and 20100701-110111, while the MMM-dd-yyyy-dddd string generates names like May-31-2010-Monday and June-01-2010-Tuesday. The clever part is that you can immediately see the result of the renaming string right below the Format field. For a full list of available formatting options, check the official Qt documentation.
Besides date and time, the Rename dialog window offers a few other useful options. The Camera button, for example, allows you to add the camera model to the file name. This can be useful if you are using several cameras and you want to quickly identify photos taken with a specific camera. The Metadata button gives you access to EXIF and other photo metadata you can use in renaming rules.
Next to the field where you enter the renaming rule, there is a button that lets you specify so-called modifiers or actions that will be applied to the file names during the renaming operation. For example, using the Change Case modifiers, you can convert all file names to lower or uppercase, or capitalize the first letter. Here is a quick overview of other useful modifiers:
Trimmed – Removes leading, trailing, and extra spaces.
Unique – Adds unique numerical values to identical file names.
Replace – Performs search and replace. The modifier supports regular expressions.
Range – Lets you specify a specific fragment of the file name for the renaming rule. For example, the {5-} modifier in the [file]{5-} rule removes the first four characters of the file name, so IMAG0113.jpg, IMAG0351.jpg, and IMAG0573.jpg are renamed to
|
or the sea but from the air,” says Krister Knapp, who teaches Cold War history at Washington University. “U.S. military planners thought that a large aircraft attack would come across the North Pole from the Soviet Union and would be directed against Midwestern industrial centers with large civilian populations -- Chicago being first and foremost but St. Louis also ranking high on that list.’’
Worries deepened after the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb in September 1949. By the mid-1950s, the U.S. was constructing a national network of air defense installations -- a mix of antiaircraft guns and missile bases.
Initally, St. Louis defenses were limited to 90mm antiaircraft guns, but city officials pressed for Nikes. In May 1958 -- the year construction began on the local missile bases -- the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported on a mock air attack that would have killed nearly 150,000 St. Louisans.
Not surprisingly, the plan to build missile bases worried some area residents. The Army held a series of public meetings in July 1957 to assure its new neighbors that the St. Louis missile stations would not be “hot targets.”
Meeting with several hundred residents from Edwardsville and Grafton, Col. James H. Farren of the Air Defense Command insisted that the sites would be “as safe as a gas station.” According to newspaper accounts, Farren also promised that the missiles would never be fired unless there was an enemy attack.
The Army also produced a series of promotional films to sell Americans on the idea. In “The Nike-Hercules Story” (1960), the opening scene of carefree children playing with a toy plane triggers thoughts of Hiroshima for the commander of a local Nike base. The narrator gravely describes the “thin shadow of dread” that hangs over Elm Street -- and the nation. The film, which includes footage of Nike base operations, concludes, “Nike-Hercules is our assurance that what might happen will not happen here.’’
By contrast, this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the classic film “Dr. Strangelove,” which satirized the theory of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) as a deterrent to nuclear war and the thriller “Fail Safe,” which promised to have moviegoers “sitting on the brink of eternity.”
Both films were released in 1964 -- when Nike bases were still watching the nation’s skies.
But Would They Have Worked?
In the end, the nation’s Nike stations, including SL-40, never fired a missile before the Army declared them obsolete and began shutting them down.
The feared Soviet bombers had never come. And by the late 1960s, the Army said Hercules missiles were no match for the latest missile technology: intercontinental ballistic missiles. The arms race had moved on.
Mark Morgan, a civilian historian at Scott Air Force Base, says Hercules missiles performed well in government testing. He believes they would have done their job in a conventional air attack -- but the nuclear fallout would have been devastating,
“For what it was designed against -- which was formations of Soviet bombers -- it would have worked very well -- but at great expense,’’ he says.
Morgan has made it his personal mission to visit old missile bases. He and Mark Berhow of Peoria co-authored “Rings of Supersonic Steel,” a guide to U.S. missile bases. They planned to visit the Hecker site one last time before the auction.
“It is the most intact former Nike site of the four that formerly defended St. Louis,’’ Morgan says. “Except for the lack of radar towers and equipment everything is still there. Generally, that’s hard to find.”
Morgan says the Army operated 234 Nike sites in the U.S. and Greenland, plus additional sites located around the world.
“Most people are still not aware of the extent of these missile systems,’’ he says. “They were literally missiles in our backyard.’’
As it turns out, the Soviets didn't have the capability of delivering conventional nuclear weapons to the extent that was feared, particularly in the early years of the Cold War, according to historians.
But the missile bases were good PR for the U.S. government, which needed to be viewed as doing something to prepare for a worst-case scenario, says Knapp.
“That’s just basic government responsibility for national security,’’ he says. “And that started in the 1920s before WWII -- this idea that we have to protect civilians, as population centers have grown.’’
The U.S. economy was rolling, and the government had a large defense budget.
“From 1945 to 1973, nearly a 30-year period, this is the longest period of sustained economic growth in the history of the United States -- a period we’re not likely to ever see again at least not for some time, given recent financial problems and economic woes,’’ Knapp says. “The money was available, and it was a cash cow like most defense contracting. This was good for both national federal government employees but also for creating local jobs.’’
“Duck and cover” wouldn’t have shielded Americans from harm during a nuclear attack, but the civil defense posters and jingles – and “backyard” missile bases -- were a daily reminder that the nation was at war. Meanwhile, the “hot” battles between the two superpowers played out far from U.S. soil in places like Vietnam and Korea, Knapp says.
The engagement of civilians in the post-9/11 era has been far different, even though the U.S. faces continued threats of terrorism, he points out.
“Outside of airport security there are not many signs of what is, in fact, a raging and highly sophisticated war on terror,’’ Knapp says.If you use the Google Moon application to find 27°34’26.35″N 19°36’4.75″W you’ll come across what appears to be a shadowy figure on the moon.
Though NASA has yet to respond to inquiries about what the figure might be, UFO researchers suggest it could be some sort of alien creature.
Wowforreel said he started investigating the shadow after receiving an online tip from another web user named Jasenko. ‘An irregularly shaped dark spot he noticed on Google Moon looks like it could be a cast shadow from a massive standing object, or figure,’ Wowforreeel told UFO Sighting Daily. ‘At first I thought maybe it was something drawn into the picture but after going to Google Moon, whatever it is or isn’t…uh, is there.’ Source: Daily Mail
Here’s a close up of the image:
This isn’t the only photo of something mysterious on the moon. Researchers have found all sorts of objects on Earth’s natural satellite, but the following one might also raise some eyebrows as it purports to show what could potentially be a moon base or some sort of unidentified craft.
‘Is it just a weird looking crater? or is it something else?,’ he asked. ‘It is really there, not faked and I have no clue what it is. I found nothing else like it in any of the other craters.’ According to website Tech and Gadget News: ‘The gigantic shape actually looks like the leading edge of an immense, triangular space ship, similar to, so far, super secret stealth aircraft technology, but is much larger than any airplane ever built on Earth. ‘The regularly spaced, circular promontory shapes which make up the seven points on the perfectly formed triangle wedge seem to be intelligently designed. Source: Huff Post
Here’s a picture of the supposed base or craft:
What’s most interesting about the above photo is that the triangular light structure has an uncanny resemblance to the Phoenix Lights phenomenon witnessed by thousands of people on March 13, 1997:
And in Texas in 2008:
Could the latest ‘Shadow Man’ snapshot captured on the moon be an inhabitant of the Phoenix Lights craft?
Or, is the Shadow Man just an odd shaped rock that so happened to be photographed at just the right time so as to make it resemble a humanoid shaped figure?
Or, is it possible that this is no alien or rock, but rather, a secret Space Program that has left not just advanced crafts on the moon, but people to operate them?
Could be something. Could be nothing. We’ll leave it to you to decide.
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Mac Slavo is co-creator of The Daily Sheeple, an alternative media venue for breaking news, opinion, commentary and information. Mac is also the founder of the popular SHTFplan.com community oriented website which aims to help individuals understand and prepare for troubling times. Wake the Flock Up!At least 80 people, mostly Afghan civilians, have been killed by a massive bomb blast in Kabul, and more than 300 people were wounded.
The explosion struck at the heart of the Afghan capital's diplomatic area, with scenes of carnage, panic and sorrow quickly emerging.
Journalists said the windows of their offices shook, while people ran from the epicentre of the blast with bloody faces.
Aziz Nawin, an IT engineer with the Afghan TOLO news outlet, was one of the first victims to be named.
Mohammed Nazir, a driver with the BBC, the British public broadcaster, was also killed, the outlet confirmed.
READ MORE: World leaders condemn deadly attack in Kabul
The blast came just two days into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
At the time of publication, the top worldwide trends on Twitter were #covefefe, a possible typo included in a tweet by US President Donald Trump as he railed against "constant negative press", and #MasterChefBR, which collected tweets regarding a cooking contest in Brazil.
#Kabul was third.
This is how the event, one of the biggest attacks to have hit Kabul, is playing out on social media:
Windows shattered. Felt so close. Kabul blast. Wazir Akbar Khan. — Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) May 31, 2017
Heartbreaking! We lost a colleague, Aziz Nawin, 22, an IT engineer, in today's barbaric attack in Kabul. RIP! pic.twitter.com/HHnmAKvppC BBC statement: pic.twitter.com/FBl4IRi16E — BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) May 31, 2017 — Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) May 31, 2017
Massive explosion just shattered all the windows and glass in our bureau #Kabul — Jessica Donati (@jessdonati) May 31, 2017
Would people sit up and take notice of #Afghanistan if we called the explosion in #Kabul a MOAB? — Eric Jones (@Intrigue_Jones) May 31, 2017
By God's grace, Indian Embassy staff are safe in the massive #Kabul blast. — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 31, 2017
More than the "German embassy," the blast took place in a high-trafficked area of Kabul where school, hospital, restaurant, hotel etc are https://t.co/LZocK6ajs3 — Ali M Latifi (@alibomaye) May 31, 2017
we were jolted way badly in about 2 km distance. Horrific it was. — Roohul Amin Munqaad (@RMunqaad) May 31, 2017
when first switched on my laptop, the office building shocked, thought its an earthquake. — Ezatullah ADIB (@EzatullahAdib) May 31, 2017
I'd like to think Trump went to situation room to deal w Kabul explosion, but we all know that wouldn't keep him from finishing a tweet — Mikkel Stern-Peltz (@msternpeltz) May 31, 2017
We want peace but, those who kill us in the holy month of Ramadan don't worth a call for peace, they most be destroyed and uprooted. 2/2 — Dr. Abdullah (@afgexecutive) May 31, 2017
The car bombing in Kabul is tragic. However, from the reporting I kind of feel we only care because it's near European embassies.
Not. On.
😤 — Kiz Doodoopoopooface (@kizletwiggle) May 31, 2017
Hope this evokes the same anger, disgust as an attack in Manchester. A bloody Ramzan for Kabul. Thoughts and prayers https://t.co/nV7s7h9OcF — Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 31, 2017How much water does it take to grow a hamburger? What is the water content of things? Water is needed to not only grow everything we eat but also to produce almost all the products we use every day. This water is supplied by nature as precipitation or added by people during the growing and production process. You can't tell by the size of a product or the appearance of a food how much water was actually used to produce the item. Use the form below to enter your guess about how much water is used to produce some common foods and products. Please realize this exercise is meant to give you an estimate of how much water is needed to produce these items. It is very difficult to come up with accurate water-use numbers, and the large variety of food-growing and production techniques used worldwide means that the amount of water needed can vary a huge amount, depending on how and where the food is grown. Yet another consideration is how far back to go in the chain of production to estimate water use. For beef, some estimates only consider drinking water for cattle, whereas other sources may consider the water needed to grow the food that the cow eats. The data here were taken from two sources: The Water Footprint Network
Water Content of Things: The World's Water 2008-2009, Peter Gleick, The Pacific Institute Choose how much water it takes to make/grow: Bread
(1 pound/.45 kilogram (kg) loaf):
20 gallon 75 gallons 200 gallons 400 gallons Chicken:
1 pound (.45 kilogram (kg))
10 gallons 50 gallons 100 gallons 300 gallons 500 gallons Coffee
(1 cup):
2 gallons 5 gallons 15 gallons 35 gallons 90 gallons Corn
(1 pound):
50 gallons 110 gallons 300 gallons 550 gallons Eggs
(1 egg):
20 gallons 50 gallons 100 gallons 200 gallons 400 gallons Hamburger
1/4 pounder (113 grams):
50 gallons 150 gallons 400-500 gallons 800-1,000 gallons 6,000 gallons An orange:
1 gallon 6 gallons 13 gallons 21 gallons 36 gallons Paper
(1 sheet):
3 gallons 10 gallons 18 gallons 30 gallons 45 gallons Potato
(1 pound):
5 gallons 10-30 gallons 45-75 gallons 60-180 gallons 200-350 gallons Cotton shirt
250 grams:
100 gallons 250 gallons 650 gallons 1,000 gallons 2,200 gallons Steel
(1 pound):
4 gallons 18 gallons gallons 90 gallons 250 gallons Wheat
(1 pound)
60-100 gallons 110-250 gallons 220-280 gallons 400 gallons 500-600 gallonsFans on three sides of Anfield will also help to display a giant mosaic before the start of the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United © Getty Images Enlarge
Liverpool and Manchester United are to release 96 red balloons at Anfield on Sunday as part of a pre-match tribute to the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
The opposing captains, expected to be Steven Gerrard and Nemanja Vidic, will make the gesture to honour the memory of the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the 1989 tragedy.
Fans on three sides of Anfield will also help to display a giant mosaic before the start of the Premier League match between the two teams.
And the match will be attended by representatives of three support groups: the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Hillsborough Justice Campaign and Hope for Hillsborough.
Details of the tribute were revealed as Liverpool prepare for their first home game since the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report into the tragedy, which cleared fans of any blame and found damning evidence of a cover-up by the police and ambulance services.
As the players of Liverpool and Manchester United walk on to the pitch, The Kop will form a mosaic displaying the words 'The Truth'.
The Anfield Road End opposite will show the No. 96, while the Centenary Stand, which faces the players' tunnel, will reveal the word 'Justice'.
Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre and United chief executive David Gill have liaised directly to oversee Sunday's tribute. Talks are continuing, with United still to reveal full details of how they will respect the occasion.
Ayre said: "It is the first opportunity we have had as a football club to pay tribute at Anfield for what everyone has done - the families, the fans and various other people like Andy Burnham MP. It is a chance for everybody to show their respects."
Burnham was instrumental in the setting up of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and the full public disclosure of previously unseen files relating to the disaster.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Judge asks: Why is this terrorist living here? Bomber kicked out by the French spends 11 years in UK
Astonished: Lord Justice Ward has questioned how an Algerian terrorist who was removed from France can now be living in the UK
A senior judge expressed his astonishment yesterday that a terrorist thrown out by the French is now living in Britain.
The Algerian was convicted of a bomb attack in his home country but fled to France before he could face trial.
A French court imposed a prison sentence and deportation order for another terror charge but when he was freed he headed straight to Britain.
Yesterday the 11-year-old case reached the Court of Appeal, where Lord Justice Ward questioned how the man could be here after being kicked out of France.
‘It may seem astonishing to many that the French courts were able to seek to exclude this appellant, but that the United Kingdom may be obliged to tolerate his presence in our midst,’ said the judge.
‘How could that come about?’
Andrew Percy, Tory MP for Brigg and Goole, also expressed his shock.
‘This just goes to show what many of us say about the immigration system in this country,’ he said. ‘We follow the rules while other countries just ignore them.
‘Why have we taken this man when he has been kicked out by France, and why can we not send him back? In this case it looks like we could learn something from the French.’
The 49-year-old migrant – named only as AH because of fears for his safety – faces the death penalty in his homeland for his involvement in a bomb attack on Algiers airport in August 1992.
He moved to France that October and was convicted in absentia.
The Royal Courts of Justice, City of London, where Lord Ward demanded to know how a terrorist could be living in Britain
He applied to the French authorities for asylum but was arrested for possessing a bogus passport and for membership of a terror group.
Although cleared of the terror charge at his first trial, he was later convicted and jailed for two years.
The French court also ruled he must leave the country at the end of his sentence. It is not clear how he entered Britain where he lodged an asylum claim in October 2001.
The following month the Algerian authorities launched extradition proceedings.
But the Home Secretary ruled there was not enough evidence against AH and he was released from custody and entered the asylum system.
Officials rejected his application under a section of the Refugee Convention that allows states to deny asylum to those convicted of a ‘serious’ crime. That decision was confirmed in February 2006 and again in January 2010 by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
AH denies any involvement in terrorist activities and says he merely ‘had a nebulous connection with others who may have been involved’ in them.
But the tribunal found his offences were serious enough to deny him refugee status. Yesterday Lord Justice Ward, Lord Justice Rix and Lord Justice Sullivan allowed his appeal because the tribunal had made an error in applying the law over what constitutes a ‘serious crime’.
The case will now be sent back to the tribunal for more consideration, further prolonging AH’s stay in the country.
In the ruling, Lord Justice Ward said: ‘Although an ordinary word, “serious” has shades of meaning and the appropriate colour is given by the context in which the word is used. What may be serious for one purpose may not be serious for another.
‘The context here is that the crime which the refugee has committed must be serious enough to justify the withholding of the protection he would otherwise enjoy as a person having a well-founded fear of persecution and [who], owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the country of his nationality or to return to the country of his former habitual residence.’
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: ‘We are deeply disappointed with the court’s decision and will consider our options carefully.Microsoft’s Satya Nadella has confirmed that the next version of Windows, probably Windows 9, will unify the Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox operating systems into “one single converged operating system.” Microsoft had previously made some moves towards unification with Universal Windows Apps that run across all three platforms, but this new version of Windows will go a lot further: “This means [we’ll have] one operating system that covers all screen sizes.” The question now, of course, is whether this will be the one-Windows-to-rule-them-all (and in the darkness bind them) that Microsoft desperately needs in order to stay relevant in a rapidly shifting personal computing environment, or whether it’ll just be a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none flop — a bit like Windows 8.
Way back in June 2012 I called for the unification of Microsoft’s operating systems as an answer to most of the company’s woes. Even though Windows 8 hadn’t even been released yet, Windows Phone 7 and its Metro interface had already lead ballooned, and a lot of angry words had been spilt over the death of the Start menu and the introduction of Metro in Windows 8. A single operating system that leveraged Microsoft’s biggest advantage — its huge Windows developer ecosystem — while at the same time building a unified user experience across all platforms and screen sizes seemed like a surefire way of ensuring the success of both Windows Phone and Xbox, and the continued survival of Windows. Microsoft might have actually stood a chance against Android and Apple smartphones and tablets — but instead it frittered away much of its user base and positive mind share through the fracturing and alienation of its different platforms.
Over the last year — probably since Windows chief Steve Sinofsky was forced out of the company — Microsoft has been gradually dropping hints that, yes, it dropped the ball, and that convergence was once again on the cards. The first step was to combine the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 app stores, and after that the plan was to create Universal Windows Apps — apps that developers could write once, and then run on any Microsoft platform (Windows desktops and tablets, Windows Phone smartphones and phablets, and on Xbox One in the living room). Just last week, Microsoft merged the Windows and Windows Phone developer portals.
And now, during Microsoft’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella has confirmed that “We will streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes.” Presumably he is talking about Windows 9, which is due in spring 2015 — but I think that would be a very aggressive timeline (unless Microsoft has already been working on this convergence for a while). Another option is that it’ll be Windows 8.2 in spring 2015 with the return of the Start menu, and then the unified Windows 9 coming later in 2015 or 2016.
The big question now is whether one big Windows operating system across all platforms and screen sizes is actually a good thing. Assuming that Microsoft can deliver some amazing developer tooling to allow for slick, cross-platform apps, then I can definitely see this as a good thing for the Windows Metro, Windows Phone, and Xbox One ecosystems. If an indie developer can make one game that works well across desktops, tablets, smartphones, and consoles, then that can only be a good thing. Likewise, this would go a long way towards making Windows Phone a primary target for developers (there are still many top-tier apps missing from the store).
Beyond unifying the apps, developer tools, and app stores, I’m honestly not sure what form this “converged operating system” will actually take. All three of Microsoft’s major operating systems already make use of the same Windows NT kernel, along with some other low-level libraries. How much further can Microsoft actually take things? Given how a variation of the Metro interface is already used on Windows Phone, Windows 8, and the Xbox One dashboard, maybe this convergence will finally standardize the Metro Start screen across all three platforms, with the same settings and options for all devices and screen sizes? We certainly won’t see the classic Windows Desktop rolled out across Windows Phone and Xbox One, that’s for sure.
On the same earnings call, Nadella said there’ll still be segmentation by SKU; you’re not going to buy a single copy of Windows that you can install on your laptop, smartphone, and game console. Puzzlingly, he also mentioned that “converged Windows” more refers to the fact that there’s going to be just one engineering team, and that they’re going to “approach Windows as one ecosystem.” There is clearly some confusion about just how converged Microsoft’s operating systems are going to become.
In any case, no matter how the engineers actually go about achieving convergence, the main thing is that Microsoft must provide a compelling user experience and bountiful app ecosystem across all platforms and screen sizes. I’m not convinced that unification is necessarily the best way to do it (Apple still manages to do it with iOS and OS X, despite keeping the OSes fairly separate). But, faced with almost zero mobile market share, no obvious route towards regaining consumer market share, and the need to do something dramatic following Nadella’s proclamation of a new vision and direction for Microsoft, it seems convergence is the risky path that will be taken. Stay tuned: If you thought the introduction of the Metro Start screen in 2011 was contentious, I think the next few months, as Microsoft unveils the unified Windows 9, will be even more dramatic.Donald Trump has been accused of remarking on the breasts of a star of the American version of Dragons' Den, in the latest of a string of sexual misconduct allegations made against the Republican presidential candidate.
Barbara Corcoran, a real estate expert, claimed in an interview with CNN that Mr Trump compared her breast size to his then-pregnant wife during a business meeting. She did not say when the alleged comments were made.
"I was pregnant and he compared my breast size to his wife by putting his hands in the air," Ms Corcoran told CNN's Erin Burnett. "I was in a business meeting. I was shocked."
Shark Tank is a franchise of Dragons' Den, a reality show in which contestants pitch to a panel of investors, or "sharks", including Ms Corcoran.Mitt Romney’s campaign fundraising significantly outpaced President Obama’s effort for the first time last month, increasing the likelihood that the Republican presidential candidate and his allies will far outspend their Democratic opponents by November.
Romney and the Republican National Committee said Thursday that they raised a combined $76.8 million in May, which is nearly as much as the presumed nominee brought in during the GOP primary season. Obama and the Democratic National Committee amassed $60 million in what was their best month so far, campaign officials said.
Romney’s monthly haul serves to undercut Obama’s reputation as the nation’s preeminent political fundraiser and signals a growing confidence among Republicans that the former Massachusetts governor has a strong chance of defeating the incumbent. The money woes add to the worries facing Obama, who is struggling with a wheezing economy and precarious approval ratings.
The fundraising arms race has become one of the central features of the 2012 campaign, as each candidate crisscrosses the country for donor events on an almost daily basis. The presidential contest alone could spur well more than $2 billion in spending by campaigns, parties and interest groups, with a likely advantage for Republicans.
“This is clearly an alarm,” said Clinton administration veteran Paul Begala, who advises a pro-Obama super PAC that has struggled to raise money from liberal donors. “I sure hope my Dems don’t hit the snooze button. I have been saying for some time that this thing is far from in the bag. It’s not even in the shopping cart.”
Brian Ballard, who chairs Romney’s fundraising operation in Florida, said that “there’s just this awakening that we have to turn the country around and that Mitt actually could win. There’s an expectation and belief in victory.”
Obama campaign aides said they had expected Romney to post strong fundraising numbers after clinching the Republican nomination in mid-April, and they maintain that the major financial threat to the president will come from super PACs and other conservative groups that can raise unlimited amounts of money.
Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, sent a fundraising e-mail to supporters Thursday afternoon with the subject line “We got beat.”
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt told reporters that “we knew this day would come,” noting that John F. Kerry outraised President George W. Bush by 2 to 1 after becoming the Democratic nominee in 2004.
“We anticipated that they would beat us this month,” LaBolt said. “We’re focusing on continuing to grow our donor base.”
Even with his strong May fundraising, Romney could still have difficulty catching up to Obama, who has been stockpiling cash for more than a year and building campaign offices nationwide.
The Romney team and the RNC said they had $107 million in cash on hand at the end of May. The Democrats, who did not release a May cash estimate, had nearly $140 million on hand at the end of April between Obama and the DNC. Official disclosure reports are not due until June 20.
Romney raised more than Obama in May, the first full month of joint fundraising between the presumptive GOP nominee and the RNC. (The Washington Post/Source: The campaigns)
Romney also continues to lag behind Obama in the proportion of donors who give small amounts, and many of Romney’s supporters will be unable to give any more under federal campaign limits. About 15 percent of Romney’s May total was donations of $200 or less; Obama has raised about 40 percent of his money from the smallest donations.
Asked by reporters about his fundraising haul following a speech in Missouri on Thursday afternoon, Romney said only: “Long way to go.”
Since securing the GOP nomination, Romney has devoted himself to raising money. Nearly every day, his schedule has been a whirl of hotel ballrooms and private mansions, of chicken skewers and cheap wine in plastic cups.
Obama’s pace has been less frenetic, though not much: He held his 150th fundraiser of the 2012 cycle with a gay-focused event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, followed by an event with African American donors on Thursday.
“I am confident that everyone in that room will do whatever they can to make sure he has the resources needed to win in November,” said California lawyer Dana Perlman, a top Obama bundler.
But Romney fundraisers have become equally confident, and they say Romney’s success in vanquishing Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and other GOP opponents has breathed new life into a fundraising effort that often struggled during the primaries.
“Do we have a good fundraising organization? Yes. Do we have a fine candidate who will make a fine president? Absolutely,” said Fred Malek, who has been raising money for Republicans since the Richard M. Nixon era. “But beyond that, there is great alarm about the present direction of the country that puts all of the above in bold type and underlined. That’s what’s happening.”
Casino moguls Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn have mobilized their networks in recent weeks on Romney’s behalf, while a few prominent supporters of Obama’s in 2008 — including New York publisher Mort Zuckerman and Chicago businesswoman Susan Crown — have gone all out to raise money for Romney since the primaries ended.
Romney’s fundraisers acknowledge that Romney has reached for relatively low-hanging fruit during his May-to-June fundraising sprint and must now push to keep up the pace. Romney’s top 100 bundlers — “Team 100” — are heading to a private retreat in Utah on June 22-24 to plot out how to replicate the May success in the months ahead. Unlike Obama, Romney has not publicly identified most of his top campaign bundlers.
“We thought we were going to outraise Obama, but to outraise him by $17 million is really quite something,” said Bobbie Kilberg, a key Romney fundraiser in Virginia. “You really can feel something happening here, and I think absolutely we will catch up with him overall.”
Rucker reported from Missouri. Staff writers Aaron Blake in Washington and Amy Gardner in Los Angeles contributed to this report.6. New York Jets @ 3. Indianapolis Colts They met in the A.F.C. championship game last year, but not much is the same. The Jets’ defense isn’t as dominant as it was, and neither is the Colts’ offense. Indianapolis has found a run defense, and in recent weeks Mark Sanchez has shown flashes of a passing game. Still, this game will come down to the same thing it always does with the Colts: can the opponent score as many points as they can? Even in a season when most of his favorite receivers were hurt, Peyton Manning still has his team ranked fourth in points scored. In previous years, Indianapolis wouldn’t have struggled to beat the Titans, as it did Sunday, but this is still a team that rides on Manning’s shoulders, and there are a lot worse places to be. The Jets are far less predictable. The final preseason-like game against the Bills aside, it’s difficult to forecast which team will show up: the one that struggled to score points against the Packers, the Patriots and the Dolphins, or the one that put up 22 on the Steelers and 34 on the Bears. Only two of the Jets’ victories came against playoff teams — their early-season win over the Patriots and their late-season one against the Steelers. But if the Jets’ secondary can intercept Manning and if their running backs can get traction, they may be able to avoid a shootout. Players to Watch: Manning will be Manning, but he will be throwing to a largely untested group of receivers. Jacob Tamme and Blair White will be playing in the biggest game of their careers, and how they react under stress could determine if the Colts advance. 5. Baltimore Ravens @ 4. Kansas City Chiefs Are there two teams feeling worse as they enter the playoffs? The Chiefs were demolished at home by Oakland on Sunday and the Ravens were lifeless in a win over Cincinnati. These are strikingly similar teams: run intensive, reliant on defense, sporadic with offensive explosions. As bad as the Chiefs’ loss to the Raiders was, the Ravens might have suffered more: offensive tackle Michael Oher, cornerback Josh Wilson and safety Ed Reed were injured, problematic because their secondary is already shaky. Both teams will try to run; the Chiefs have been a bit vulnerable up the middle, so watch for Ray Rice to go there. Both teams will play bruising defense. Points will be at a premium and so will big plays. But if they happen, they will probably come from the Ravens’ side. The Ravens hoped to be a top-five offense this season and instead are 20th, but Joe Flacco has better receivers than Matt Cassel does. The Chiefs’ offense entered the final week of the season with the top-ranked running game but the 28th-ranked passing game. That makes this a difficult matchup against the league’s fourth-ranked run defense. Kansas City is not built to come from behind. If the Ravens put up points early, as they did against the Patriots in the wild-card round last year, the Chiefs could be in trouble. Players to Watch: If the Ravens bottle up running back Jamaal Charles, it will fall to Cassel to attack Baltimore’s cornerbacks. Cassel had a superb season (27 touchdowns, 5 interceptions) until Sunday, when he had no touchdown passes and threw two interceptions. First-Round Byes New England Patriots: Still thinking about last year, when the Patriots lost at home to the Ravens in the first round of the playoffs? Forget it. The Patriots are the best team in the N.F.L. right now, and the competition is not terribly close. Their defense makes big plays; their offense is frighteningly efficient. They lead the league in scoring and turnover differential. They are relatively healthy and have won eight in a row. The bye will let running back Danny Woodhead heal from the hit to the head he took Sunday and will allow a host of players who got Sunday off to get ready. Then, watch out, A.F.C. New England beat four of the other five playoff teams this season. Only Kansas City escaped, and its turn could be coming. Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers may have hastened Eric Mangini’s departure from Cleveland on Sunday, but their more immediate reward is the most-needed bye week of any playoff team. Safety Troy Polamalu played Sunday — he had an interception — but his Achilles’ needs more rest. (Remember, the Jets beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh when Polamalu was out two weeks ago). Ben Roethlisberger has been battered behind an injury-riddled offensive line. Still, the only team to make the Steelers look bad this season was the Patriots, who scored 39 points in Pittsburgh. The rematch would be for the A.F.C. championship.
6. Green Bay Packers @ 3. Philadelphia Eagles These teams opened against each other, with the Packers winning in Philadelphia, 27-20. Ah, but what a difference 16 weeks make. That was the game that gave the N.F.L. an inkling of what was to come with Michael Vick, who threw for 175 yards and ran for 104 in relief of the injured Kevin Kolb. Green Bay had 132 yards rushing in that game, but since then the Packers have abandoned the run so completely that they did not even try to punch it in from third and short against the Bears on Sunday. The Packers are relying on defense to win games. Really. The onus will be on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers because it is clear that the Packers have no confidence in a rushing offense that was ranked 22nd in the league entering the final weekend. Their passing game was ranked fifth, though, and even though they were not on their game Sunday, Rodgers completed just enough deep passes to keep his team upright. If the Packers’ defense can’t contain Vick, expect pinball numbers on the scoreboard. The book on Vick is to hit him, and to get
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-up MRIs to check the remaining tumor which could not be removed. I will have my next MRI in three months. And I do have to begin research on radiation and chemotherapy since those treatments are being recommended for me to consider.But right now, I feel GREAT, and I will not be doing any medical treatments other than monitoring what's left of my tumor. I will be taking one day at a time!And I will be looking forward to continuing to take photographs since that is what I am - a photographer/sports shooter!(Mickey can be reached via email at: [email protected].)
Contents copyright 2019, SportsShooter.com. Do not republish without permission.
Contents copyright 2019, SportsShooter.com. Do not republish without permission.AutoPacific announces the results of its latest vehicle satisfaction award.
Purchase a new car and vehicle satisfaction should come with the territory. Unfortunately, disappointments abound and some models simply do not measure up.
New Vehicle Satisfaction Survey
AutoPacific conducts a New Vehicle Satisfaction Survey annually to identify the top performing vehicles. Relying strictly on owner input, this particular award provides perhaps the most accurate measurement of how consumers feel about their purchase decisions.
Unlike other surveys which measure reliability or quality to the exclusion of owner satisfaction, the AutoPacific survey has owners rating 50 attributes for importance in the purchase decision and satisfaction after purchase.
23 Vehicle Categories Surveyed
Twenty three vehicle categories are surveyed, representing 10 passenger car segments and 13 light truck segments.
The 2016 Top Overall Vehicle and President’s Award winner is the Cadillac Escalade. The 2016 Highest Satisfaction Overall and Premium Brand is Tesla. The 2016 Highest Satisfaction for a Popular Brand is Kia. Notably, Tesla finished on top overall for the second consecutive year.
The following passenger cars finished on top in their respective categories: Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Nissan Maxima, Volvo S60/V60, Hyundai Azera, Kia Optima, Mercedes-Benz CLA, Kia Soul, Honda Fit, Chevrolet Corvette, and the Chevrolet Camaro.
Top Aspirational Luxury Car
The Volvo S60/V60 finished on top in the Aspirational Luxury Car segment for the second consecutive year. The Kia Soul was best in class among compact cars for the third consecutive year. Other repeat winners include the Honda Fit in the economy car segment (two years) and the Chevrolet Corvette as the top sports car for a fifth consecutive year.
Among light trucks were the following winners: GMC Sierra 1500, GMC Sierra HD, Nissan Frontier, Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban, Toyota 4Runner, Mercedes-Benz GLE, Lexus RX, GMC Acadia, Nissan Murano, Nissan Rogue, Hyundai Tucson, and the Kia Sedona.
Two repeat winners were recognized this year. In the large crossover SUV category the GMC Acadia won for the third consecutive year. In the premium midsize crossover SUV segment, the Nissan Murano won for the second consecutive year.
Tesla, Kia Soul & Cadillac Escalade
Tesla Motors garnering the top prize is based on sales for only two models: a Model S sedan and the Model X crossover utility vehicle. The Model S has been on the market for five years, while the Model X only began selling in small numbers last fall.
The Kia Soul is now in its second generation; the current model has been on the market since 2014. The compact hatchback defies easy categorization, but has won a strong fan following. As most people know, a team of anthropomorphic hamsters helps market the popular Soul.
Needing no introduction is the Cadillac Escalade, a full-bodied luxury SUV and one that advances all things ostentatious. Introduced in 1999, the Cadillac Escalade is now its fourth generation. The beefy Cadillac shares its underpinnings with various Chevrolet and GMC models, but its style and interior design sets this model apart from the pack.
AutoPacific Survey Says
Other surveys worth considering include the J.D. Power US Vehicle Dependability Study as well as the New & Used Car Reviews & Ratings from Consumer Reports.
The J.D. Power survey examines issues reported by original owners of 3-year-old vehicles, particularly over the past 12 months. It presents a good measurement of vehicle quality during a timeframe when initial problems begin to first appear.
Consumer Reports survey includes road test results and safety information as well as reliability and owner satisfaction. CR’s ratings are based on surveys of millions of their subscribers. CR is owned by the non-profit Consumers Union, an organization that rates more than 5,000 consumer products each year, including household items.
Tesla and Kia photos courtesy the respective manufacturer. Cadillac Escalade photo copyright Auto Trends Magazine.For the last 14 months we’ve been developing an application to replace 90000 lines of PHP code. Rewriting the application from scratch to support I18N and many of the enhancements it needed was deemed to be a better long term solution.
When that project was first started, I spent a month with Django and a month with Turbogears writing the same test application so that I could compare the development cycle. Both have matured and I needed to do a rapid turnaround on another project. I decided to give Django another look since it had hit version 1.0 and had added quite a few features that were missing in my preliminary evaluation. What follows is a discussion of the major points from both of the frameworks.
Turbogears has excellent form handling. Except for the Forms Wizard in Django, working with forms is much easier in Turbogears. Validation of the form and the resulting database update methods are much cleaner in Turbogears. Django, while slightly more complex in handling form input, does handle things with a single function which might enhance readability in a large project.
Database handling through SQL Alchemy in Turbogears is much better than the database methods in Django. Yes, you can use SQL Alchemy in Django now, but, their default ORM has plenty of room for improvement.
Turbogears is true MVC. Their terminology and methods are true to the paradigm set forth by Smalltalk. Django is MVC, but they call it MTV, Model, Template, View. The differences are slight and the developers of both have made good decisions. Adapting to either project’s methods is quick and not a hindrance.
Django’s definitely wins with Authentication/Authorization. Methods to handle registration, user creation, login and forgotten passwords are built in and wrapped with very nice templates that can be overridden. For Turbogears, repoze.who and repoze.what have been pulled from Plone and put into place. While Turbogears works with repoze, the decisions made and the lack of full support behind it make it difficult to implement.
Django feels faster. Comparing 14 months of development in Turbogears on an application to an application written in Django this week, the template engine, database access and pageload time seemed faster. Django is a lighter weight framework and you are closer to the data. Turbogears puts a little more insulation in which makes some coding easier at the expense of performance.
Maintainability of code would have to go to Turbogears. IBM once stated that the maximum number of bugfree lines of code that could be written was 23. With Turbogears, much of the heavy lifting is handled by widgets and decorators and your model resulting in a smaller codebase. Django requires more code to do the same task unless you utilize some of the snippets. Turbogears makes certain assumptions and has wrapped many of the libraries that make development easy in the default installation. Django’s default installation lacks those decisions, but, you are not prevented from establishing your own middleware. If you were developing a number of Django projects, you would pick and choose snippets that would replicate the decisions that Turbogears has already made.
URL Mapping is much easier to implement with Django. While routes support in Turbogears is present, Django’s regexp mapping is much easier to manipulate.
Community, hands down, Django wins. With a much larger installed base, bugs are found and fixed much more quickly. While Turbogears was founded on loftier principles, execution and follow through are lacking. Development is done when it is needed by a client project in the core group of developers. There is a definite air of condescension when the project developers handle questions from potential developers. With Django, there are people of all experience levels willing to help on groups.google, IRC, and thorough documentation that far exceeds most of the open source documentation out there.
Documentation, again, Django. Well organized, well thought out and well documented examples on Django’s part show dedication to having a framework that is well understood and well used. Turbogears recently moved to Sphinx, but, documentation generated from poorly documented code still means poor documentation. The tutorials and examples have been improving, but, they have a long way to go.
Genshi and Mako are supported fairly well with Turbogears and are both very good engines. Jinja is also supported which is a bit faster than Genshi and is powerful and very easy to work with. Django’s template language is also very flexible, powerful and easy to work with. Django had some definite advantages with a simpler language, but, neither Django or Turbogears stood out as a clear winner.
If you were looking to write an extremely heavy database or form involved site, I think Turbogears would be a good solution. If you choose Turbogears, be prepared to delve into the code when you are faced with problems. Bugs are not dealt with very promptly even though upgrades are pushed out. Be prepared to patch upgraded packages or hold certain packages once you move into production.
On the other hand, if you are writing a less complicated application, Django would be a good choice.
All told, the application developed this week in Django took about 12 hours and had I been working with Django for the last 14 months, I would estimate the project to have taken roughly 8 hours. Developed in Turbogears, I probably could have written it in 6 hours. PHP, to mimic all of the functionality would have taken 14-16 hours even using one of the numerous frameworks.
There is a definite advantage to using a framework and Python frameworks do appear to offer Rapid Application Development even over most of the PHP frameworks. For me, new development will probably be done in Django unless there is a strong case to use Turbogears.
* Turbogears 2.0
* Django
* Django Snippets
Tags: django, php, Python, RAD, rapid application development, turbogearsAdapted from Ed Bunker’s cult novel, Schrader’s thriller about three ex-cons is his best work in years – though he should probably have avoided casting himself
In 1992, Quentin Tarantino revealed his love for cult crime author Edward Bunker by casting him as Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs; the former San Quentin prison inmate and reformed armed robber whose hardboiled genre fiction was unrivalled in its authenticity. Three years later, and benefitting from a colossal career-boost, Bunker published a new novel entitled Dog Eat Dog, a nod to Tarantino’s debut. Paul Schrader has now filmed it, shifting the scene from Los Angeles to Cleveland, and working from an adaptation by screenwriter Matthew Wilder.
It’s the right director for the right project and the result is Schrader’s best for years: a lairy, nasty, tasty crime thriller built on black-comic chaos. Dog Eat Dog isn’t perfect: the opening scene could have been cut, the guys’ “party” montage could worryingly have come from a 90s Brit geezer film, and Schrader should have resisted the temptation to award himself a cameo as a mob boss. Or else he should have hired himself a dialogue coach. But it’s terrifically watchable, a high-octane automobile of a film with dodgy steering, but exciting in a world of dull and prissy hybrids.
The heroes are a trio of ex-cons who, in the traditional manner, are looking for a big score so they can retire to Hawaii. Troy (played by Nicolas Cage, with no sudden shouting) is the de facto leader, Mad Dog (Willem Dafoe) is his talkative, mercurial and violent buddy, and the massively built Diesel (Christopher Matthew Cook). Schrader shows how these guys are entirely institutionalised: they hated prison but are scared and baffled by life on the outside and have no way of relating to anyone who hasn’t been in the joint, and relating to each other is all but impossible too.
Troy tells them about the big job he has planned: kidnapping a mobster’s baby. The three know in their hearts that getting away with it is not feasible, even for people who know what they are doing. Their eventual grisly failure is written in the stars.
Willem Dafoe: five best moments Read more
Willem Dafoe is absolutely tremendous as Mad Dog (although, as I say above, his opening scene would have looked better on the cutting room floor). He is fanatically loquacious, horribly dumb, poignantly aware of the fact. He has a great scene in a hotel bar where he can’t help taking his shoes and socks off and running his bare feet across the luxurious carpet: remembering the horrible concrete floor in prison, with all its nameless pools of liquid. When he and Diesel have to dump a body, Mad Dog keeps up a stream of needy, neurotic verbiage even as they are overtaken with disaster.
Stylistically, Dog Eat Dog is eclectic, with scenes in various manners jumbling up together. They have dialogue scenes which go nowhere, hotel room encounters which go the same way. Plot strands are left dangling; but Schrader carries it off. He still has flair.December 28, 2008Reading the Jewish World Review today, Christians better wake-up as Hamas is bringing back the “ crucifixion ” of Christians, Jews and anyone else who does not conform to their ideology. Hamas wants to kill them by nailing them to crosses and they call Jesus Christ the “slave of Allah”.
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com
ByBoth Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seemed to have noticed. On Tuesday Hamas legislators marked the
Hamas’s endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time as it renewed its jihad. Here too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn’t neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday Hamas lobbed a mortar at Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas.
While Hamas joyously renewed its jihad against Jews and Christians, its overlords in Iran also basked in jihadist triumphalism. The source of Iran’s sense of ascendancy this week was Britain’s state-owned Channel 4 network’s decision to request that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad give a special Christmas Day address to the British people. Ahmadinejad’s speech was supposed to be a response to Queen Elizabeth II’s traditional Christmas Day address to her subjects. That is, Channel 4 presented his message as a reasonable counterpoint to the Christmas greetings of the head of the Church of England.
Channel 4 justified its move by proclaiming that it was providing a public service. As a Channel 4 spokesman told the Jerusalem Post, “We’re offering [Ahmadinejad] the chance to speak for himself, which people in the West don’t often get the chance to see.”
CONTINUE TO FULL ARTICLEPat Martin is concerned about clause 441 of the budget bill.
One of the measures is so sneaky, says NDP MP Pat Martin, nobody seemed to notice the line buried deep in the 452-page Bill C-38 that simply states, “The Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act is repealed,” giving no explanation. With those 10 words, Ottawa intends to wipe out a 1985 law compelling contractors bidding on federal contracts to pay “fair wages” and overtime.
“I would have missed it and I’m from that industry. It was number 68 of 70 bills that they changed,” said Martin, a former journeyman carpenter and construction worker. Martin notes that unlike most measures in the budget bill, there was no prior discussion of the measure or even a signal such a change was contemplated. “It’s a solution without a problem. The only conclusion I can come up with is that it’s a war on labour and the left. It’s what the Americans did with the right-to-work states and the end result is $8 or $9 an hour is now the average wage in places like North Carolina.”Fashion seems to embrace two opposite goals--fitting in with the crowd and standing out from it. Now new research reveals that the choice to fit in or stand out depends on who exactly the crowd is - and the size of their high heels. That is, women adjust their fashion to look similar to the rich but different from the poor.
Kurt Gray, a co-author at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his colleagues investigated thousands of shoe purchases made by women who move to different cities, showing that women adopt the local trends when moving to wealthier cities but ignore them when moving to lower socioeconomic (SES) cities.
"In other words, women want to look like the rich girls, and different from the poor girls," said Gray, an assistant professor of psychology in UNC College of Arts and Sciences.
To examine trends of conformity and individuality, Gray and his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University teamed up with a large-online fashion retailer. They examined five years of shoe purchases--16,236 in total--of 2007 women who moved between one of 180 U.S. cities. Because fashion choices are hard to quantify, they used a straightforward number: the size of high heels.
Their analyses revealed that heel sizes changed when women moved, but not uniformly. When women moved to higher SES zip codes such as New York City or Los Angeles, the heel size closely matched the heel size that other women in that zip code had bought--showing a desire for conformity. But when women moved to lower SES zip codes, the heel size closely matched the heel size of their own past purchase--showing a desire to keep their individuality.
The team of researchers, who included Jeff Galak, Nina Strohminger, Igor Elbert and Gray, label this phenomenon "trickle down conformity," because fashion preferences trickle down from the top but seldom up from the bottom. As Gray explained, "Walmart watches the styles on the runways in Milan, but Milan never watches the styles at Walmart."
The explanation for this lopsided conformity is the deep human urge for status. "From the beginning of time, people have thirsted for respect and social standing, and have aligned themselves with the powerful and distanced themselves from the powerless," said Gray. "So it makes sense that they do the same with heel sizes."
There is also reason to believe that this "aspirational fashion" is getting more prevalent. Inequality is increasing in America, and research reveals that the bigger the gap between rich and poor, the more people want to look rich. Such aspirations fuel the fortunes of fashion sites that provide high-status goods for low prices.
This study examined only women, but there is no reason to believe it applies only to them. "Men do the same thing when they purchase clothes, electronics or cars," said Gray, "When you move from Wichita to LA, you look around and sell your Chevy for a BMW, but when you move from Los Angeles to Wichita, Kansas, you look around, and then just keep the BMW."
This research builds off the past work of Gray and Strohminger, which examined what color combinations make outfits the most fashionable. "We often think of fashion as something frivolous, but it's an industry worth $1.7 trillion annually, and clothing often helps define ourselves," said Gray.
With their current study, Gray and colleagues reveal that fashion industry isn't only about making money, but letting people look like they belong with money.
###Good news, Dominique Strauss-Kahn: after a brief half-day in the spotlight, you’re no longer this week’s most visible lech. Radar Online, the toothless Web iteration of the thrice-failed pop-culture monthly, published an anthology of Facebook messages allegedly sent by Anthony Weiner to an unnamed woman. According to this woman, the Democratic congressman composed about 200 “sexually explicit messages.” In one of the excerpted missives, Weiner brags of his “ridiculous bulge.” (We’ll dutifully add that to our list of genitalia euphemisms.) In another, he told her, “You will surely make noise when I take you (censored). I will tell you (censored).” In Weiner’s defense, the redacted message could actually have been quite innocent.You will surely make noise when I take you seriously. I will tell you, “Thanks.”
You will surely make noise when I take you to Yankee Stadium. I will tell you, “Go Yanks!”
You will surely make noise when I take you up on that offer to play Words With Friends. I will tell you “weirdlier” isn’t a word.
On the heels of the Radar story, digital provocateur Andrew Breitbart published a shirtless self-portrait of a man who bears a striking resemblance to Weiner. (Breitbart’s Web site, Big Government, is extremely slow right now, presumably due to a traffic overload.) The entirely unsexy, bizarrely self-serious photo “was allegedly sent to [a] young woman on Friday, May 20, 2011 via a Yahoo! email address that she claims was an alternate alias for Rep. Weiner.” Breitbart concluded his post on a prescient note: “Later that same day, apparently after receiving several images from the young woman, Rep. Weiner allegedly sent another photograph to her from the same Yahoo! email address. That photograph (attached to the email as ‘ready.JPG’) is extremely graphic, and leaves nothing to the imagination.”
Weiner will give a press conference today at four p.m. at the Sheraton on 53rd Street. The number of Midtown hotels unassociated with recent sex scandals shrinks a little bit every day.Polls shows mass opposition to net neutrality repeal
By Kevin Reed
21 December 2017
In the week since the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to overturn net neutrality—against overwhelming public opposition—the political motivation for the deregulation of broadband internet service providers (ISPs) is becoming clearer.
An opinion poll conducted by the University of Maryland on the eve of the FCC decision showed that 83 percent of Americans opposed repealing net neutrality. Poll respondents rejected the arguments of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and, according to the director of the school’s Program for Public Consultation Steve Kull, American public opinion is “blowing in the opposite direction” from government policy.
The Maryland poll results showed an increase in support for net neutrality over the past several months, with surveys over the summer and fall showing opposition to the repeal plan at around 75 percent. In a Mozilla-sponsored poll last May, for example, three-quarters of the population expressed no confidence that either the Trump administration or Congress would defend their right to internet access.
Net neutrality is the principle that the owners of the cable and wireless infrastructure of the internet must treat all information and data equally and deliver it to the public without regard to content or source. In 2015, the FCC voted to formalize net neutrality and block the ISPs from implementing paid prioritization, “throttling” download speeds and alternately restricting or promoting web sites that their customers access.
The strength of public support for a genuinely free and open internet was illustrated in a New York Times article titled “In Protests of Net Neutrality Repeal, Teenage Voices Stood Out.” The Times reported that protests were organized by young people in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Keene, New Hampshire, and a group of students drove from Centerville, Maryland to Washington, DC to protest the end of net neutrality.
The Times also cited an Associated Press study that showed 94 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds use social media and 98 percent of children through age eight access a mobile device at home, up from 52 percent in 2011.
As with the present “Tax Cut and Jobs Act” about to be signed into law by President Trump, the repeal of net neutrality was accompanied by an unprecedented level of hypocrisy and lying. As is apparent to everyone, the end of net neutrality—which goes officially into effect within several weeks—was implemented to further the interests of the giant telecom corporations in blatant disregard for the public interest.
That the telecoms are moving to capitalize on the net neutrality overthrow was revealed in a query by the Associated Press of the top seven ISPs. Among those asked—Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Charter, Cox, Sprint and T-Mobile—none of them were willing to rule out the possibility of paid prioritization or the creation of internet “fast lanes.” Paid prioritization is a practice whereby content providers such as YouTube and Netflix must pay the ISPs to make faster access available to consumers.
The response of the US Congress to the FCC decision has shed further light on the political impulse and deception behind ending the 2015 regulations. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn), chair of the House Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and outspoken advocate of FCC Chairman Pai, stepped forward on Tuesday with a bill called the “Open Internet Preservation Act” that will prevent efforts by state and local governments to defend net neutrality. Blackburn’s bill officially legalizes the creation of internet “fast lanes.”
One year ago, Blackburn—who has accepted major campaign contributions from the telecom industry—distinguished herself by calling on the ISPs to censor internet content. During a CNN interview to discuss the 2016 elections, Blackburn said, “If anyone is putting fake news out there, the ISPs have the obligation to, in some way, get that off the web. And maybe it’s time for these information systems to look to have some type of news editor doing some vetting on that.”
Meanwhile, a group of congressional Democrats headed by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) have announced a “pledge” to introduce legislation to invalidate the FCC’s net neutrality decision under the terms of the Congressional Review Act. According to the rules of the act, Congress has 60 days to block the agency’s decision. No one is taking this charade seriously, since it requires all Democrats and some Republicans to move it forward.
The dismantling of net neutrality is an attack on the basic democratic rights of the working class. No confidence can be placed in Congress or the US courts to defend the right to free and open access to online news and information. Genuine freedom of expression on the internet can be guaranteed only through public ownership of the hardware and software of the internet—as a critical part, like electicity, gas and water, of the infrastructure of society. The struggle to defend the most basic democratic rights is thus inseparably bound up with the fight for socialism.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Story highlights France picks its new president Sunday. Emmanuel Macron, of the newly formed En Marche party, faces off with Marine Le Pen of the National Front
Polling in France has proved much more accurate than in the British referendum or the US presidential election
Immigration and terrorism have been put center stage by the far right and have, as result, been central
Macron represents all that Donald Trump is not
(CNN) France picks its new president Sunday. Emmanuel Macron, of the newly formed En Marche party, faces off with Marine Le Pen of the National Front. Macron, who led narrowly in the first vote on April 23, has been endorsed by former President Barack Obama. President Donald Trump has praised Le Pen's populism and views on immigration but has not endorsed her. I reached out to CNN Paris correspondent Melissa Bell for her perspective on today's vote and what it means for France -- and the United States. Our conversation, conducted via email and lightly edited for flow, is below.
Cillizza: Polling suggests this is Macron's to lose. Is there any sense he might? And if he does, why is that?
Bell: A word on polls, first of all. The polling in France has proved much more accurate than the polling in either the British referendum or the US presidential election. French pollsters had explained to me in the run-up to the first round of voting that they did not believe they were likely to get caught out in the same way. They explained that France has long had a far right and a far left vote and that they are far more used to weighting their results than Anglo-Saxon pollsters.
The "vote that dare not speak its name" is something that they are better equipped to hear because they are more used to factoring it in. And so it proved. In the first round of voting on April 23, the pollsters were very close to the final result. There is no reason to think that this won't also be true in the second.
The concern has been that some external factor might come and disrupt the process ahead of the run-off. France's two-round system gives the French the luxury of voting with their hearts in the first round and their minds in the second. Or, as the French sometimes put it, of voting in favor of someone in the first and then against someone in the second. Which means that there has been little doubt in the minds of many people that even though Le Pen got through the first round, she would be less likely to get past the second.
Read MoreBy Alex Moss
23 MAY 2017 • 8:25PM
Peter Wright has revealed he plans to take two sets of darts with him on stage for his clash with Dave Chisnall in the Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters quarter-finals tomorrow.
The world number three came agonisingly close to winning the Betway Premier League last week, missing six match darts to beat eventual champion Michael van Gerwen in the final at The O2.
Wright changed sets of darts in-between his semi-final win against Phil Taylor and the final with van Gerwen, and the Scot has been notorious for tinkering with his darts over the years.
But ahead of facing the unique open-air setting in Dubai this week, Wright says he plans to be more than prepared for what ever conditions are thrown at him.
“You’re not sure how the darts are going to fly up there so I’m going to take two sets of darts with me on stage,” Wright said.
“If one doesn’t go, and the others don’t go, then I’m in trouble.”
Wright has been in excellent form so far in 2017, winning his maiden TV title at the UK Open in March as well as claiming seven other tournament victories on the PDC circuit this season, the latest of those coming on Saturday in Players Championship 11.
The 47-year-old went all the way to the final in his debut year in the Dubai Darts Masters in 2014, but since then has suffered quarter-final exits to Taylor and van Gerwen in the last two years.
2017 Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters
Draw Bracket
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Raymond van Barneveld
James Wade (4) v Gerwyn Price
Gary Anderson (2) v Phil Taylor
Peter Wright (3) v Dave Chisnall
Schedule of Play
Wednesday May 24 (8pm)
Quarter-Finals
James Wade v Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright v Dave Chisnall
Gary Anderson v Phil Taylor
Michael van Gerwen v Raymond van Barneveld
Best of 19 legs
Thursday May 25 (8pm)
Semi-Finals
Best of 21 legs
Final
Best of 21 legs
Follow @lovethedartsmag
AdvertisementsIn what’s beginning to feel like a weekly occurrence, news of a fighter testing positive for a banned substance came to light today. This time it was UFC welterweight Hector Lombard.
Lombard (35-4-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC), who earned his third consecutive UFC victory when he defeated Josh Burkman (27-11 MMA, 5-6 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 182, tested positive for the designer steroid desoxymethyltestosterone following the Jan. 3 event in Las Vegas.
The Bellator MMA champion’s test results forced him out of a scheduled UFC 186 bout with Rory MacDonald and come on the heels of positive tests for various substances by other major names in the sport such as Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Nick Diaz and Jon Fitch.
Check below for the top Twitter reactions related to Lombard’s failed drug test from fighters, fans and other personalities in the MMA community.
* * * *
I still respect @HectorLombard as a man and as a Martial Artist. I am never surprised when pro athletes get caught w PED's. — Joshua Burkman (@JoshBurkman) February 10, 2015
Dana Whit and the Fertitta's have been very good to me post fight. @FightDiscussion @lorenzofertitta @danawhite — Joshua Burkman (@JoshBurkman) February 10, 2015
Tough business, hard on body. He was coming off injuries, needed 2 stay healthy 2 make money 2 live @newfoundmass @davidbix @HectorLombard — Joshua Burkman (@JoshBurkman) February 10, 2015
BREAKING: **Insert Fighters Name Here** tests positive for drugs at UFC **Insert Number** #ufc #mma — James B. McDaniel (@peppermintfatty) February 10, 2015
Fitch and Anderson were expected but c'mon, now I am supposed to believe Lombard is on PEDs? — Tom Lawlor (@FilthyTomLawlor) February 10, 2015
Lombard, when Palhares tested positive in 2013: "I think the sport needs to be cleaned up from people like him." Okay. — Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) February 10, 2015
My applause goes out to NAC 6wks into 2015 and the sport of MMA is turned on it's head. It's great news, it is. I'm excited — Big Ben Rothwell (@RothwellFighter) February 10, 2015
https://twitter.com/ekc/status/565236472395997184
Starting my list now: Guys UFC can cancel a fight on: Hector Lombard Guys UFC can't cancel a fight on: Jon Jones, Anderson Silva — RJ Clifford (@RJcliffordMMA) February 10, 2015
apparently its ok to use steroids/PED's and other drugs if you're a star/big name in mma. but if you aren't you better kiss your ass goodbye — Jesse Ronson (@Ronsoff) February 7, 2015
Wtf!!! Another fighter failing a drug test, all you fighters are making us clean fighters look back, fans gonna think we are druggies!!! — John Alessio (@johnalessio79) February 10, 2015
https://twitter.com/VinnyMMA/status/565238403701407744
Of course Hector Lombard failed a drug test. You thought the MMA gods would stop before we learned our lesson? This is how we live now. — Ben Fowlkes (@benfowlkesMMA) February 10, 2015
Damn wow — ike vallie-flagg (@IKEVF) February 10, 2015
Makes you wonder what all the top guys are on — ike vallie-flagg (@IKEVF) February 10, 2015
Lots of failed drug tests lately… I wonder who will go down as the first UFC Strawweight to get popped for PED's. — Angela Hill (@AngieOverkill) February 11, 2015
MMA's PED plague — call it what it is — makes it difficult to care about upcoming fights, among other things. Ruining the sport, people. — Josh Gross (@yay_yee) February 10, 2015
What if we are supposed to be using PEDs the whole time to ensure longevity fair fights, but we've been doing it wrong the whole time? — DaMarques Johnson (@DaMarques_UFC) February 10, 2015
cheaters will always be ahead of the system but the more fighters caught the better #sayNOtoDRUGS @sherdogdotcom… http://t.co/gJK74jiYK8 — Nam Phan (@NamPhanMMA) February 10, 2015
I hope we will find a better system for drug testing, and keeping fighters clean. #moretesting please 😃 — Beneil Dariush (@beneildariush_) February 10, 2015
NSAC is fast becoming one of the most corrupt and incompetent entities in the U.S. UFC actively trying to hide its PED problem is also sad. — Robert Sargent (@MMARising) February 11, 2015
These failed drug tests are outta control. I'll do random testing anytime. I wonder if my opponents would agree to that…? #DoTheRightThing — Patrick Cummins (@OfficialDurkin) February 11, 2015
The shitty thing is, all these PED users are making it harder to appreciate the craft, the work, and the time, fighters put in. — Aljamain Sterling (@FunkMaster_UFC) February 11, 2015
Its starting to seem like less than 25% of the UFC roster, not including other orgs, are true form-Raw and untainted with outside substances — Aljamain Sterling (@FunkMaster_UFC) February 11, 2015
Lack of confidence within your own skin, to compete with other people born with the same likeness. What other logical reason cud they have?? — Aljamain Sterling (@FunkMaster_UFC) February 11, 2015
Stop doing banned drugs, a-holes. — Dann Stupp (@DannStupp) February 10, 2015
You wanted more serious tests. THATS IT!!! Fans you should be happy. Time to clean the sport!!! — patrick cote (@patrick_cote) February 10, 2015
Hector Lombard failed a drug test. I CAN NOT believe that! Just in case you didn't know, I'm being sarcastic! WOW. — Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) February 10, 2015
All the times we've heard how greedy promotions will destroy MMA? Nope. Not true. It's the fighters that will bring this crashing down. — Matt Erickson (@MMAjunkieMatt) February 10, 2015
Yessssss more drug testing, more! Weed them all out and let's see who's left. — Josh Samman (@JoshSamman) February 10, 2015
Lomb
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I love yoga and I love zombie movies. I’ve been waiting for this!’ It was the chocolate and the peanut butter thing for all these people.”
While the crew had a make-up artist on set, many of the yoga practitioners showed up in their zombie get-ups, ready to go. Mr. Wishnow was impressed by his extras, saying: “Everyone took zombiedom very seriously. There was a lot of groaning and discomfort of their decomposing bodies as they would attempt yoga maneuvers.”
Want to do the corpse pose yourself? Here’s how.Now that a judge has approved BP's $20 billion settlement over the 2010 gulf oil spill, it is appropriate to look at the overall societal costs, as well as the bottom line to BP. And at tax time, people understandably think about their own taxes, too. The government struck a $20 billion settlement with BP, which is a big number. Yet BP should be able to deduct the vast majority, a whopping $15.3 billion, on its U.S. tax return. That means American taxpayers are contributing quite a lot to this settlement, whether they know it or not.
BP can write off the natural resource damages payments, restoration, and reimbursement of government costs. Only $5.5 billion is labeled as a non-tax-deductible Clean Water Act penalty. One big critic of the deal is U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which often rails against tax deductions by corporate wrongdoers. U.S. Public Interest Research Group has asked the Justice Department to deny tax deductions for BP and other corporate defendants. U.S. PIRG’s has a research report on settling for a lack of accountability that details the tax deductions corporations can claim for legal settlement.
However, a change to the tax code may be the only way to get there. The proposed Truth in Settlements Act (S. 1898) would require agencies to report after-tax settlement values. Another bill, S. 1654, would restrict tax deductibility and require agencies to spell out the tax status of settlements. The present tax code allows businesses to deduct damages, even punitive damages. Restitution and other remedial payments are also fully deductible.
Only certain fines or penalties are nondeductible. Even then, the rules are murky, and companies routinely deduct payments unless it is completely clear that they cannot. U.S. PIRG released a statement in response to the finalized BP oil spill settlement that allows the $15.3 billion tax deduction:
Though we are glad that the protracted settlement to address BP’s actions in relation to the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill has finally concluded, and injured parties can begin to be made whole again, we are disappointed that BP will yet again be able to claim its settlement payments as ordinary cost of doing business tax deductions. $15.3 billion of the settlement qualifies as a tax deduction, earning the oil giant a tax windfall for what amounts to gross negligence. Despite thousands of comments from ordinary Americans calling on the Department of Justice to deny these tax write offs, BP will still be able to claim the settlement as business as usual. This not only shifts the burden of the deal onto ordinary taxpayers, but it also sends the wrong message. The Department of Justice had an opportunity to set a precedent in this case, and we are disappointed that the agency chose to instead continue subsidizing BP’s wrongdoing.”
Explicit provisions in settlement agreements that say $___ cannot be deducted can clear up the inherent ambiguity in legal settlements. That is one reason the Justice Department is often seeing taxes raised. Sometimes, the defendant is able to finesse the issue. For example, Bank of America’s legal settlement over soured mortgage securities was a historic $17 billion, but it steered around DOJ's policy regarding explicitly denying tax deductions.
Some lawmakers and consumer advocates say the Justice Department and federal regulators need to take taxes into account in settlements. Even touting settlement figures in announcements should be more clear, so people do not think a business is paying it all, if the after tax cost is less. For businesses, most legal expenses and most payments to resolve litigation are deductible.
However, fines and penalties paid to the government are often not deductible. Section 162(f) of the tax code prohibits deducting ‘‘any fine or similar penalty paid to a government for the violation of any law.’’ Despite punitive sounding names, though, some fines and penalties are considered remedial and deductible. That allows some flexibility. As a result, some defendants insist that their settlement agreement confirms that the payments are not penalties and are remedial.
Explicit provisions about taxes in settlement agreements are becoming more common. For example, the DOJ expressly prohibited Credit Suisse from deducting its $2.6 billion settlement for helping Americans evade taxes. The BNPP terror settlement also states that BNPP will not claim a tax deduction. By contrast, BP has done well, and not just over this $20 billion.
BP wrote off the cost of its $32 billion cleanup effort after the spill, costing American taxpayers roughly $10 billion. However, the Justice Department reached a $4 billion criminal settlement with BP over its role in the deaths of 11 workers on the oil rig when it exploded. That $4 billion was explicitly made nondeductible.
For alerts to future tax articles, email me at [email protected]. This discussion is not legal advice.Hey guys! Just under a year ago there was a player organized event where all EU players fought all the US players.
It was tons of fun even though we(US) got out numbered and destroyed.... Here's a video of that event:
Even though that was about a year ago I am still SALTY about that loss!!! So I decided that I will Host this years EU vs. US Event!!
I will do everything I can to make sure US wins this time!
Date and Time: Saturday, October 3 at 2pm EST/ 7pm GMT
This is a pretty centralized time that is not too early for US and not too late for EU
Server and Meeting Spots:
The Server will be US Public 3 (The US needs advantage this year since EU destroyed them last year)
EU: Will be meeting at the south entrance to Al Hasa (Same as last year)
US: Will be meeting in the plains between Camp Azara and Eillom (Same as last year)
Lets make this a bigger fight than last year!!
Show support for this event and your Region by commenting your IGN and either #US or #EU below!!Thandie Newton and Angela Sarafyan in Westworld. John P. Johnson/HBO
There is a robot corollary to Chekhov’s adage about guns: If a humanlike machine is introduced alongside promises that it is really not human, it soon will be. So it is in HBO’s new drama, Westworld, loosely based on the 1973 film of the same name, created by Michael Crichton, in which robots at a Western-themed amusement park, and specifically a Yul Brynner robot, gain sentience and start killing visitors. Four episodes into Westworld, all that was sent to critics, none of the guests are dead yet but not for lack of deserving it. The new Westworld, created by married couple Jonah and Lisa Joy Nolan and the result of a long, bumpy development process, is a canny big swing for HBO: simultaneously the vast, thematically rich, plot-drenched drama full of sex and violence the network so desperately needs in the fast-approaching post–Game of Thrones era and a kind of apologia for the creepy sexual violence that has long powered the network and prestige dramas more generally. The show is promising with an asterisk, starting strong before casting about for distractions—hocus-pocus backstory, a quest, an unnecessary mythology—from its morally disturbing premise.
Westworld is set in a futuristic theme park of the same name that lets its very wealthy guests travel back to the past. For $40,000 a trip, guests in bespoke cowboy duds are deposited in a vast Western theme park. The park, situated on a real piece of desert, is a choose-your-own-adventure: Guests are given no instructions but plunked into a frontier town, where they can head to the bar cum bordello—or let one of the park’s 2,000 “hosts,” extremely lifelike mechanical beings who are capable of improvising and bleeding, entice them into escapades. Guests can ride a horse, play cards, admire the scenery, head out of town to catch an outlaw, have sex with a whore, stab, murder, or rape. The hosts can be temporarily killed, both by each other and by the guests, but they cannot harm the guests or even a fly. (One saunters across a host’s eyeball, unslapped, in the series’ opening sequence.) The bullet-ridden, shotgun-blasted, flayed, and otherwise beaten-down hosts are regularly scurried out of Westworld at nightfall, fixed up, and then returned, like wind-up toys with dreams, trapped in a torture chamber.
Guests are under no compulsion to misbehave, but the logic of the world is similar to that of a perfectly realized first-person shooter game: There is plenty of incentive to do your worst. Why else are you there? The guests may be human, but they are reliably inhumane and, in the monotony of their casual brutality, dull. Some hosts are programmed to encourage this, enticing guests into sex and violence. The host Maeve (Thandie Newton), for example, the madam at the saloon in town, pimps out herself and her charges, soothing nervous guests with assurance that here they can do anything they want. She is nonetheless regularly a victim of the cataclysms of violence that turn the bar into a crime scene. The host Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), on the other hand, is a fresh-faced farm girl whose innocence is her appeal. Her regular storyline has her witnessing the murder of her parents and then being sexually assaulted by, depending on the day, a group of outlaws that includes guests and hosts or sometimes the Man in Black (Ed Harris), a regular guest and vicious sociopath.
All of the action in Westworld is programmed and overseen by a group of professionals using technology seemingly borrowed from Jurassic Park. Dozens of employees sit in a command center around a digital projection of the park, closely monitoring everything and yet somehow, one presumes, missing their charges’, be they raptors or robots, newfangled ability to hunt people. Westworld’s creator is the eerie Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), who has been with the project from the start and insists the hosts are inhuman, while vastly preferring their company. Most of Ford’s day-to-day responsibilities have been delegated to the gentle-seeming Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), who is in charge of programming and has sad reasons to countenance the possibility of real A.I. Safety, finance, and damage control are the domain of the rigid Theresa, played by Borgen’s Sidse Babett Knudsen, slightly miscast here as tough.
As the show begins, Ford has accidentally introduced—or at least Ford claims it was accidental—a line of code that causes a glitch in the hosts. A small number of them begin behaving strangely, hearing voices and having unprogrammed impulses and ideas, an adaptive mistake that turns out to be contagious. (For a show about the high tech, Westworld is mercifully uninterested in the details: The hosts seem to be made by a super glue gun and then dipped into white chocolate, emerging like a Vitruvian Man popsicle that can pass the Turing test.) The mistake allows the hosts’ access to their past experiences, essentially giving them memories, which, without exception, are full of trauma, tragedy, brutality, and, if the host is female, endless rape. The hosts have been protected from the horror done to them only by their ability to forget, which has kept them inhuman but content. But now Westworld is populated by 2,000 abuse victims and survivors, finally waking up.
Vitruvian Man popsicle maker, in action. John P. Johnson/HBO
Westworld is a kind of grim scrim on television itself, where the storylines demanded by guests are not so different from storylines demanded by an audience, who always wants action. Westworld employs a man whose job it is to come up with future storylines, who is always playing to the lowest common denominator, with copious sex and ultra-violence. Westworld itself does not feature very much graphic sex. There is an occasional glimpse of sex—the rapes are generally unfilmed—but the whole setup is so deeply icky it can’t be fun: How can one consent, when one is programmed? If the guests are not all rapists, it’s only because they think they are doing it with a lifelike doll. Ironically, it seems that the gratuitous nudity of real actresses is only too distasteful to be belabored when these actresses are playing robots. But what the show lacks in sex, it makes up for in violence. The hosts can’t die, which means no matter what is done to them, they are better off than humans. But because they can’t kill guests (yet, anyway), the action sequences all have predictable outcomes, if unpredictable executions. As Harris’ Man in Black goes on killing sprees, the results are never in doubt, and so not nearly as exciting as the show seems to want them to be.
Westworld’s first episode is very strong, and its second nearly as good. It swiftly builds a world built on a deeply disturbing power dynamic that could make a decent metaphor for just about anything you choose. And then it backs away. Starting in the third episode, it’s as if Westworld’s writers lost faith that a theme park run by ethically twisted tech visionaries and full of A.I. with PTSD and humans who checked their morality at home is enough to power a TV show. Having achieved nuclear fusion, they abandon it for a backup generator, focusing on a needless mythology and quest narratives swiped from Lost’s discarded ideas board.
We suddenly learn about Arnold, Ford’s long-forgotten co-creator (a character almost surely created after the first episode had been written, if not filmed), who wanted to make fully sentient life but eventually died inside the park and whose code may be responsible for the glitches. Ed Harris’ Man in Black becomes fixated on a “maze,” a game within the game, that has something to do with Arnold and has a variety of other characters who were previously engaged in more interesting storylines hallucinating a maze straight out of the funny pages. All of this is much less uncomfortable than almost everything else happening in Westworld, but it is also far less original and gripping. Like the creators of Westworld, the creators of Westworld seem hesitant to fully grapple with the ethical hornets’ nest they have created. It would be worth the sting.Hockey is one of the most physical games on the planet, as a result you are bound to see physical contacts between players. Whether it is with a thunderous hip check or a shattering body check, certain players know how to knock skaters on the ice a la Scott Stevens.
Consequently, when these players are on the ice, you better keep your head up or you’re going to fall flat on your back. Besides a great goal, there is nothing a hockey fan loves more than a nice clean and hard hit.
Below you will find a power ranking of the 10 best hardest bruisers in the NHL right now.
Please remember that quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality!
10. Zac Rinaldo, Phildelphia Flyers, 280 hits in 82 games since the 2011-12 season
Despite his rather small frame at 5’11”, 180-lbs, the pesky Rinaldo is not afraid to lay a big hit and punish his opponents when they are not careful on the ice.
9. Cal Clutterbuck, Minnesota Wild, 337 hits in 90 games since the 2011-12 season
The league-leader in hits in 2011 (336), 2010 (318) et 2009 (356), Clutterbuck is a hitting machine despite his somewhat smaller body at 5’10”, 210-lb.
8. Luke Schenn, Philadelphia Flyers, 339 hits in 99 games since the 2011-12 season
The young Flyers defenseman is a pure hitter and his all-around game has been a pleasant surprise this season.
7. Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings, 338 hits in 98 games since the 2011-12 season
You can count on the Kings’ captain to always be among the league-leaders every year. Brown, and his 6’0”, 200-lb frame, likes to hit his opponents as well as score goals.
6. Steve Ott, Buffalo Sabres, 360 hits in 93 games since the 2011-12 season
The Sabres acquired Ott from the Sabres for his physical edge and two-way play. So far he hasn’t disappointed as he currently leads the NHL in hits with 82.
5. Chris Neil, Ottawa Senators, 335 hits in 81 games since the 2011-12 season
On of the most efficient super pests in the NHL, Neil can fight, hit and score some goals. The 6’1”, 215-lb, winger can lay the body and get under his opponents’ skin.
4. Milan Lucic, Boston Bruins, 259 hits in 95 games since the 2011-12 season
The typical power forward, Lucic, 6’4”, 220-lb, doesn’t hit as much as the other players included in this list, but his hits are devastating, just ask Ryan Miller.
3. Alexei Emelin, Montreal Canadiens, 296 hits in 85 games since the 2011-12 season
The Russian sophomore has been a pleasant surprise on the Canadiens’ blue line, steadily improving his all-around play after coming to North America. The 6’2”, 233-lb, who is the only physical Habs’ rearguard, likes to hurt opposing players.
2. Matt Martin, New York Islanders, 452 hits in 99 games since the 2011-12 season
Among the league leaders in hits the past two seasons, Martin can certainly give devastating hits thanks to his 6’3”, 210-lb frame.
1. Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings, 150 hits in 101 games since the 2011-12 season
The most punishing hitter in the NHL these days, Kronwall is the master of the hip check and he can also play hockey as shown by his 16 points in 19 games this season.
Notable mentions:
Alex Edler, Ryan Callahan, Douglas Murray, Dion Phaneuf, Anton Volchenkov, Brooks Orpik, Mark Fistric, Troy Brouwer, Matt Greene, David Backes, Zdeno Chara, Johnny Boychuk, Scott Hartnell, Jordin Tootoo, Marc Methot, Leo Komarov
Who do you think is the hardest hitter in the NHL this season?
Follow me on Twitter for more updates on the National Hockey League and hockey in general.ALBANY – When the effort to legalize ride-hailing services upstate died at the end of this year’s legislative session, Uber and Lyft’s political campaign appeared to take a pause.
It was just running more quietly. Until recently.
Over the summer, the two San Francisco-based companies spearheaded an intense, behind-the-scenes effort to prepare for another round in Albany.
They went to church leaders, law enforcement officials, elected officials, chambers of commerce, college students, and owners of breweries and apartment complexes.
Their targets: reluctant members of the Assembly, where the bill was killed in June.
“They were contacting people to contact their legislators. They did a pretty effective job of that,’’ said Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Buffalo Democrat and consistent supporter of ride-sharing for upstate.
Uber and Lyft intensified their effort in recent weeks as speculation increased that lawmakers might return for a special session to consider outstanding matters, like a pay raise and perhaps ride-hailing.
Even Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared in a new, $1 million Uber-funded, holiday-themed TV ad campaign.
“Join Governor Cuomo in bringing Uber to New York,’’ the ad states.
Meanwhile, the most obvious opponent to ride-sharing, a group that has about 30 livery companies as members, countered with its own ad: a low-cost production running only selectively on the internet.
“Can we afford to take that ad and run it on TV? No,’’ said John Tomassi, president of the Upstate Transportation Association.
The group continues to warn that ride-hailing services do not adequately vet drivers’ backgrounds and that insurance liability is lacking.
But the pro-ride-hailing campaign has been much louder.
Steady outreach
Uber delivered free ice cream to some upstate residents in July and sent a nurse to deliver free flu shots in October.
In November, Uber said it would give $100 in Uber credits to 10 students with their “best Uber ride” when they return home for Thanksgiving to communities where ride-hailing is allowed.
More recently, Buffalo Bills and Sabres co-owner Kim Pegula on Wednesday joined in the campaign, saying there was an “urgent” need to pass the ride-hailing service in order to attract sporting events to Buffalo.
The next day, area brewers gathered at Labatt USA’s headquarters in Buffalo to promote the ride-hailing legalization.
“This holiday season ride-sharing tops upstate New York’s Christmas list,’’ said the advisory, mimicking the narrator of the $1 million ad campaign that Uber has been waging across upstate for the past week or so.
And then on Friday, Uber announced it would partner with 43North, a startup competition Cuomo has funded with taxpayer money out of the Buffalo Billion program. Uber is offering the Buffalo group money, use of its Manhattan office space for gatherings and a to-be-announced effort to help startup entrepreneurs make their pitches to potential investors.
Coordinated campaign
While the ride-hailing campaign might appear grass roots, it is highly coordinated. Uber and Lyft executives spent months gathering a broad range of supporters.
A half-dozen ride-hailing advocates last week participated in a phone conference call with reporters as part of an effort by New Yorkers for Ridesharing, a coalition funded by a trade group whose members include Uber and Lyft.
Among those on the line was an environmentalist from Long Island, a Hudson Valley technology advocate, a Buffalo real estate developer and a University at Buffalo student. Each gave a reason why upstate needs ride-hailing.
“They actually reached out to me,’’ said Nicole Caine, the UB student who participated in the event. She is president of the College Democrats club at the university.
“They contacted me, asking if I’d be willing to talk about my opinion and why it would be a good idea,’’ she said of a person who does work for Lyft.
Caine enthusiastically lent her help to the Lyft effort, saying she has long backed the idea of ride-hailing for upstate because it would benefit college students getting to classes, social outings and to downtown internships.
“It is grass-roots,’’ Caine said of the push for Uber and Lyft.
The ride-hailing consultants, though, made no effort to reach out to the head of UB’s College Republicans club, Reed Tighe. Had he been asked, Tighe said, he would have lent his support, too.
Kale Kaposhilin, an Ulster County entrepreneur, organized the phone briefing.
When contacted and asked whether ride-hailing drivers should undergo fingerprint background checks, as is required in New York City, Kaposhilin said he thought anyone wanting to drive for Uber or Lyft should have “no problem with that.’’
The ride-hailing industry, though, is vehemently against the fingerprinting requirement. It says background checks by Uber and Lyft are more comprehensive than what taxi drivers must complete.
An hour or so later, Kaposhilin emailed a reporter, saying he wanted to be “crystal clear” that he does not support a fingerprinting mandate, which he called a “red herring” in the debate.
Disclosure reports
Both Uber and Lyft declined to discuss the specifics of their publicity and political campaign to legalize ride-sharing upstate. But in state lobbying disclosures, they reported lobbying expenses associated with the legislation that died in Albany last June. The next report will be released in January.
In that first six-month period, Uber reported spending $487,000 with eight different lobbying firms and its own in-house team. Uber also spent another $266,000 on a politically wired consulting firm for mailings and other outreach efforts. During the same period, Lyft reported spending $190,000 in lobbying expenses with five firms.
The opposition, the Upstate Transportation Association representing the cab companies, reported spending $5,000 from January to June.
“We’re the small guy,’’ said Tomassi, its president.I don’t know about you all, but as a big Symmetra fan, I have been loving the new patch. It took a few days for me to lose a ranked game once the game finished updating and even that was a capture point map where a teammate left. I was up 250 rating points before I finally lost a match where I played Symmetra. I have been fairly confident that she will have a place in the tournament meta-game and MLG Vegas was set to feature a few teams who have been known to use her in her previous state. The power level of her shield generator rivals many support ultimates and really compensates for the fact that you are using a support character who is completely unable to heal herself, let alone the team. 450 HP gets added to your team for as long as you can protect the generator and in my experience so far, it makes a world of difference on defense.
This past weekend we were lucky enough to get to watch the MLG Vegas LAN Tournament, even if we were relegated to YouTube. Seriously. Why any tournament would forfeit the thousands of viewers who stayed on twitch and DIDN’T watch this event, I will never understand, but I digress. Production value was great here as usual and apart from Taimou’s visa problem, everything went off without a hitch.
So lets take a look at the pick rates from the tournament and try to do some analysis on these numbers and predict what we may see going forward:
The problem
Clearly, the three and four tank meta-game of patches past is here to stay. There was very little deviation from the strategy throughout the event and it begs the question that I have been ignoring for the most part: how does it get fixed? It is hard to imagine Blizzard is happy about all of their beautifully designed DPS characters getting almost zero play in the competitive scene and while some are likely not going to be fixable anytime soon (sorry, Junkrat players). However, there are some options that could be explored.
Alternatives Seeing Play
Not every team in the pro scene is playing heavy tanks. Notably, the old Misfits roster as well as Complexity have been known to shun the heavy tank meta and play their own strategy. Misfits was part of a trade that shook up their roster so let’s focus on the Complexity strategy first:
Sombra is key to this strategy and they use her better than anyone else I have seen try it. They use Sombra’s hack on a large health pack that their team has easy access to. This makes the pack respawn incredibly fast and when it is used by a teammate, the Sombra gets a pretty sizable chunk of ult charge. By abusing this, Sombra can generate her ultimate FAR faster than any other hero in the game. It’s not even close. Hack and EMP are then used to disable the shields on opposing tanks and open the door to initiate fights. With no Reinhardt shield or Zarya bubble available, they are easily able to get a pick and move in on the point. And if you didn’t know, characters like Zarya and Zenyatta loses all of their “shield” (blue portion of the health bar) from an EMP, too. Translocate allows the Sombra to move into the middle of the team for the EMP and it’s a thing of beauty to watch, when properly executed:
Misfits on the other hand won Dreamhack by shunning Ana for Zenyatta and playing a ton of Tracer to harass the back line supports of the opponent. As a second DPS, they also used a combination of Mei, Genji, Soldier:76 and even Widowmaker. They were very vocal about not liking the three tank meta and simply refused to play it, proving it is possible to win without it. Here are their pick rates from Dreamhack:
Lastly, I want to look at the Hollywood defense that Cloud 9 debuted in Vegas:
This is a thing of beauty to those of us who have wanted to see variety… sort of. I’ve mentioned being a big Symmetra fan, so of course I am biased. (I’m a big Aardvark fan, too.) I’ve played this composition on this map before the event and it clearly works. It takes some set up so if you face a well executed dive comp, you may be in trouble. However, after you repel the initial push, your Symmetra should have a shield generator active and Torbjorn will have a fair share of armor packs to spread around. Your entire team suddenly each has a tank worth of hit points and even though you are solo healing, there is little pressure on the healer because of it. Cloud9 is also using this comp WITH three tanks, but the added HP almost makes this choice redundant to me. To each their own, I suppose.
Why You Shouldn’t Play So Many Tanks
I feel like this strategy is so successful due in large part to how forgiving it is. Without squishy DPS to get picked by a Roadhog hook or stray Helix Rocket, you aren’t punished with a death and forced to retreat nearly as often. This leaves me to wonder if teams are simply taking the easy way out. If your DPS stay vigilant and keep good positioning, they have to be more effective than the extra tanks…right?
To me, the best reason to run something else for these pro teams is simply that you can feel very confident your opponent WILL. If you don’t know me from the podcast, I am a former Magic: The Gathering player. In Magic, there is almost always an established meta-game and I almost NEVER operated from within it. The meta-game was instead my blueprint; it told me what I had to beat so I would do my best to devise a strategy to succeed in that environment. I don’t see any reason this philosophy wouldn’t be viable in Overwatch. I believe that many teams are reluctantly playing these tank comps to mirror the opponent, so it comes down to individual player skill as opposed to strategy.
Pro teams understand how to win or lose on that basis and can come to terms with it more easily than a strategy problem. The thing is, only one team can be the best mechanically in a match. So the technically worse team is making a tactical mistake by surrendering their ability to gain an advantage in other ways, like team composition. It’s just a matter of recognizing your strengths and weaknesses in a match up and deciding to “throw a hail mary”. It’s hard to fault teams for not wanting to admit they are less skilled mechanically than another team, but they should at least be trying it when they are facing elimination. Swapping Soldier:76 to McCree isn’t different enough to turn the tide often enough.
Blizzard Please.
Being willing to try off-the-wall strategies is only half of it; It then has to work. The reason EVERYONE is moving into the heavy tank lineups, is simply because they can’t find anything reliable to beat it. And if it takes a different strategy for every map, that spreads your practice time pretty thin. So in preparation, it does make sense to focus your time on what is known to work on every map. I believe that Blizzard really should step in and take the strategy down a peg. The popular consensus on how to fix it is to target Ana with the nerf bat. I’ve never been great at coming up with ideas about how to appropriately nerf characters, but maybe they could try to mirror Discord Orb’s behavior with Biotic Grenade. If Discord Orb increases Zen’s damage more than the rest of the team, why not try making the grenade increase HER healing on affected allies less than it helps healing effects from Ana’s teammates? I could be wrong, but I feel as though it would make it a little less beneficial to have so many deep health pools and a lower damage output.
Hopefully we see a shift sooner rather than later to help keep the esports scene exciting, but Blizzard seems intent on letting this go for a while, to see if it will fix itself. That may sound lazy, but it is possible that the answer is out there and simply hasn’t been discovered yet. I am less optimistic with each passing event, but I am personally not nearly as opposed to four tanks as I was to double orb comp from beta or twinston, twocio & tray-tray from back when there was no hero limit.
Let me know how you would fix the tank problem in the comments!
Until Next Time,
DeathBlow
About The Author
Many of you will know me from the podcast, but my name is Jim. You can call me DeathBlow. I have been a host of the High Noon Podcast for over a year now. On the show, we talk primarily about the eSports scene and I wanted to expand some of my thoughts via the blog on our website.Story highlights John Avlon says some conservatives are starting to give Jon Huntsman another look
He says Huntsman a modern anomaly: a cool conservative with campaign of civility, ideas
He says White House worries about him; as GOP candidates fall, his prospects are rising
Avlon: GOP is wary of Huntsman's style, but should consider electability, substance
The "conservagencia" is starting to give Jon Huntsman a second look. He deserves it. But the stirrings of respect may be too little, too late. Too bad, because he might stand the best chance of beating President Barack Obama.
RINO hunting has become a reflexive sport inside the Republican Party. And so when Jon Huntsman entered the presidential race, the impulse was to smack him on style points as a Republican in Name Only. It made some sense on the surface -- after all, he was the former Obama ambassador to China, in addition to being the conservative former governor of Utah. At a time when tea party enthusiasm tended toward the hot, Huntsman was cool, promising a campaign of civility and ideas.
He seemed to be courting independents and centrists at the outset of the GOP primary, openly dissing the anti-intellectualism of conservative populist candidates such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. In one infamous tweet, he pined: "I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy."
All this was very out of step with the partisan tone of the times. And so his actual record as governor and his policy plans as candidate were overlooked. Forget the record of cutting taxes, reforming government, improving the business climate and balancing the budget. Forget that he was the one candidate with real-world foreign policy experience. He was an apostate in a cult-like atmosphere where any dissent is seen as disloyalty.
No one was happier than the White House, which was apparently most worried about running against Huntsman ("I think our guys were worried about Huntsman. I think he was the one who people were most worried about" recounted one Obama aide in Politico writer Mike Allen's and author Evan Thomas' new e-book, "The Right Fights Back").
So Huntsman had the buzz but no support -- he seemed stuck in the low single digits and even would-be supporters shrugged their shoulders.
JUST WATCHED Huntsman touts 'Citizen Legislature Act' Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Huntsman touts 'Citizen Legislature Act' 01:01
JUST WATCHED Huntsman gaining ground Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Huntsman gaining ground 01:55
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It seemed to say more about the current makeup of the Republican Party than it did about Jon Huntsman.
After all, he was the first candidate to embrace U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan's plan for deficit reduction. His jobs plan was touted by The Wall Street Journal in uncommon terms: "Mr. Huntsman's proposal is as impressive as any to date in the GOP Presidential field, and certainly better than what we've seen from the front-runners." He even had the guts to proclaim a determination to end the collusion and market distortion of "Too Big to Fail"-- a cause that could unite Tea Partiers and Occupy protesters.
But even though 70% of Republican primary voters say that economic issues are their primary focus, Huntsman's conservative substance could not seem to override the centrist style: He would not pander or throw radioactive red meat.
Even the statistical analysis by the fivethirtyeight blog at The New York Times, which found Huntsman would have the best chance of actually beating Obama in the 2012 general election, did not seem to change hearts and minds.
But as the revolving door of not-Romneys spun faster and faster, spitting out candidates from Bachmann and Perry to Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, a desperate search for an electable conservative alternative to Romney commenced.
And now, all of a sudden, the Utah governor has started to get some respect.
CNN contributor Will Cain was an early advocate of Huntsman's substantive record as a conservative, in contrast to the style he evinced at the start of his campaign.
"In this Republican primary, a candidate's conservativeness seems to be measured by his venom toward Barack Obama," Cain wrote in The Blaze. "And I'm afraid we've elevated style to such a degree that it's clouding our view of what is conservative."
RedState.org editor and CNN contributor Erik Erickson is another unexpected voice lately arguing that Huntsman might just be the real conservative in the race: "His record as a governor is more conservative than Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney combined. He is more pro-life than either of them. He is more economically wedded to the free market than either of them. He has better foreign policy experience than either of them. Huntsman should be a conservative hero in this race."
Conservative wise man George Will even seems to be making the case in comments delivered on the "Laura Ingraham Show," saying: "I think if you look at Jon Huntsman's record, what he's laid out, his proposals for taxes and the economy, his opposition to No Child Left Behind, you could make a case that he deserves a searching second look from conservatives. Huntsman's position on foreign policy is the most conservative. That is, it is the most modest in assessing the need and ability of the United States to control distant events."
Jon Huntsman is putting all his chips on New Hampshire, where he's been inching forward in the polls. Unlike the Iowa caucus, it's
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libbed, by beating the crap out of Qaddafi’s people. They suffered along the way; their towns were blasted, a few thousand were massacred on schedule—but they dug in, held on, and then, out of nowhere, broke through Qaddafi’s lines and right into Tripoli.
Where of course they were welcomed by “cheering crowds.” Lemme tell ya about those cheering crowds, by the way: Don’t put too much stock in them. When the enemy breaks through into the center of town, cheering is just common sense. I’d probably cheer if it was the Khmer Rouge barreling into my subdivision. In fact I’d cheer even harder if it was them. If it was, say, the UN blue helmet, you could probably get away with shrugging, even spitting in the street, but when it’s serious people, you better borrow their flag and cheer til you sound like Rod Stewart after overdoing the crack pipe all night.
The same cheering crowds that make network photo ops will be throwing rocks the first time the price of gas goes up. Maybe a lot of people in Tripoli were glad to see the Berber roll in, maybe not. We shall see, as the atheist said to the firing squad.
More important: How’d they do it? I repeat, Berbers are less than 10% of the population; they were pushed out of the army, never trusted; how’d they smash into the capital?
As far as I can tell, there were a few big reasons, starting with geography. They were close to Tripoli to start with. It’s a long drive along the Med from Benghazi to Tripoli, and a lot longer when you’re being shelled. Zawiya is a close to Tripoli, which is bad when Qaddafi sends his SP artillery over there but suddenly becomes a huge advantage when your guys dig in, hold on, use that NATO air support and start picking off his rocket batteries. Once you’ve done that, neutralized his advantage in heavy armor, it’s infantry on infantry and I haven’t seen one single sign that any of Qaddafi’s units had any stomach for close-in fighting. And that includes the “elite” Khamis Brigade, under the command of Son #29 or whatever. “Elite”! I think in terms of Qaddafi’s army, that means they showed up at roll call more often than not. Supposedly Qaddafi was using his Sahel mercs, the only real fighters in his forces, as MPs: They had orders to shoot anybody running from the front. That works, as long as you can keep the troops in their trenches, but bad troops can never fight once the line is breached, and they’ll run through fire to get away—they’ll be braver running away than they’d ever be attacking. One of the longterm weirdnesses of military history.
But that skips the big question: How exactly did they neutralize that heavy artillery? My guess is: hand-held laser designators. See, one of the scary questions involved in helping the rebels is what happens to the stuff you give them once the war’s over. It’s not even a matter of “Islamic militants,” it’s a matter of profit. Somebody gives you a Milan antitank weapon—well, maybe it never gets unpacked, sitting in a crate. Kind of a shame. Say Qaddafi’s tanks never showed up on your section of the front. It’s going to cross your mind that there are people out there who want that kind of merchandise. Maybe you’ve got an uncle of a cousin in Algiers who knows somebody in Beirut who’ll hand over some serious cash for that. Shame to let it go to waste. (God, with the rent coming due here I’m drooling over the possibilities myself.)
Flat-Hat using laser designator to Disagree with Taliban
So how do you give the insurgents effective weaponry without putting them into the business of selling weapons on ebay? My guess, just a guess, is: laser designators. Very effective, when used with first-world air power, but best of all, totally useless when the air cover’s withdrawn. You may remember I did an article spitting on that phony USN “laser weapon” that set an Evinrude on fire after only five minutes—but I never denied that as target designators and rangefinders, lasers are lethal. So I’m betting we had an alliance between Leading Edge and stone-age village going, between the Berbs and the ‘Burbs, har har, going here.
Laser designators are just versions (OK, very very expensive versions) of your Community College prof’s laser pencils. Good for blinding pedestrians, highlighting powerpoint presentations…and also good for putting the little red dot of death on a Grad launcher or SP artillery. I’m guessing, just guessing, that those things were handed out like Kinko’s copycards all along the Western front. Tell your Berber friends to point them at a tank, hold the dot on the tank, and wait for the magic F-16 to make it go away. I can just imagine the instructional session after they handed those suckers out, some career noncom from Arkansas twanging away in a Nafusa Mountain camp: “This designator is capable of illuminating targets up to—Hey! You! What’s yer name, son? Well, Usem, what you just did is a good lesson in how NOT to use this designator! This is not a toy! Do NOT point the designator at your friend in the Toyota unless you want the Toyota to disappear! No, it is NOT funny! Translate that for me, wouldja Tacfin? And don’t take it easy on’em, this is something they better figure out real quick.”
And the best thing about those designators is that once the planes go back to Ramstein, these turn into laser toys, about as dangerous as a paintball gun. You’d like to get them back, because they run about $250,000 each for the top models, but look, if you want to save money just don’t have a war. You can’t pinch pennies in a war, it ruins the whole feel of the thing.
Although I’m not sure the instructor would have an Arkansas twang. Not this time. Just as likely, he’d have whatever kind of accent French dudes from the sticks have, because this was a Frog pond all the way.
The French aren’t getting much credit—they never do in the US—but they’re the ones who showed guts this time. Americans sort of assume we’re the ones who have to go in and knock heads because the Euros are still going through Stalingrad PTSS. Not this time. Obama did what he usually does: Waiting around for somebody to make a move. And it was the French who made it first, pushing for NATO air support and going ahead with arms shipments to the Libyan rebels. The French take Africa dead serious, and there are a lot of voters in the scuzzy French suburbs (they put their welfare losers in giant suburban highrises over there) who hail from the Maghrib. Sarkozy had been a little too cozy with the ex-dictator of Tunisia, and he took a lot of heat for it. So when he had this chance to snuggle up to the new powers in Libya, look good for those high-birthrate Maghrib voters, and play the hero all at once, he didn’t have to think too hard about it.
And the British—well, I have to give them credit: They’re just up for it, anywhere, anytime. A Russian reader wrote me an email about his people’s attitude which I copied down because it fits the Brits even better than the Russians: “Nam nuzhna voynooshka,” which he says means “We need a little war now and then.” (If that actually means, “You suck, Brecher,” or something on those lines, I’m going to be pissed off. That’s why I can’t believe these guys who get tattoos in some language they don’t know; how’d you know the tattooist wasn’t in a funny mood that day and just inked “Kick me here” on your elbow?)
The Russians actually didn’t want a little war this time around, not in Libya. They were tight with the Big Q (or “The Big Gh”; I’ve seen Qaddafi’s name spelled more ways than those cutesy made-up girl names like “Siara”) and it’s bad news for Russia now that Q moved on to R, as in “rebels.” They’re already talking about cutting Russia out of the new oil deals in Libya.
The other party who didn’t want any fuss in Libya was us. If you can still call the USA “us.” I’m not so sure any more, not since I lost my three-month no-benefit job. I take that kind of thing personally. Just funny that way.
The US didn’t want another Arab mess. It’s that simple. Obama owes the job to a simple equation: Bush = Iraq. Well, that and his excellent dental hygiene, and the fact that bastard seems to get by on about 10 calories a day. You can’t be too thin and too rich if you want to be president.
So the last thing he wanted was a new equation: Obama = Libya + Iraq + Afgh. We were the squeamish Euros in this one, and the French were the hawks. Even the suckers out in the flyover states tend to notice when you start a war. You can do just about anything else to them and they’ll just change the channel, but a war—that gets the Skraelings’ attention for a few seconds. And not in the way that our JC Penney’s model of a prez wanted. (He does look like a Penney’s catalogue model—admit it! Selling that suit, that’s his strong point. Downhill from there.)
And he had serious people to worry about too, not just the dummies in Kansas. Like the Israelis. They didn’t officially like Qaddafi; he was always one-upping the other Arab mouthpieces about chopping the Jews up into little teeny pieces, way teenier than those other wimps wanted! But look, after 40 years of all quiet on the Libyan front, the Israelis kind of noticed that his woof-to-weight ratio was even lower than the Arab-dictator average. Just pick up a rock and this mutt would dodge, then come back on his belly every time.
So Obama had to deal with people like Daniel Pipes, a classic old-line Likudnik and Muslim-baiter. For these guys, and there are a lot of them, there is only one time zone on the planet and that is Jerusalem time. And Jerusalem as the capital of Yeretz Israel, too, and don’t you forget it. Libyans, Egyptians, Tunisians—none of those people are real to them until they get rid of their dictators. That might energize them, and that means nothing but trouble down the line for Judea and Samaria, which means trouble for DC too.
So Pipes was screeching that dislodging Qaddafi might free up “radical Islam” in Libya. And it might. That’s what happens when people wake up; they get ideas. Deal with it. Personally, I dunno, but if Islam is so damn radical and there’s 1.5 billion of’em and they control damn near all the oil—personally, seems to me we’d be in a lot more trouble than we are. Personally, seems to me I’m not suffering from Islam as much as from the fact that they sent all the jobs away—mostly to Muzzie countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia, thanks very much—then used to profits to keep us suckers scared of some dingbat imam. But that’s just me, I’m not very trusting. Unemployment does that to you.
And since all those boring old liars are sounding the alarm that this’ll be the end of the world…well, look, you can’t go wrong betting against the people who brought you that monster hit, “The Baghdad Cakewalk.” There’s that saying that even a broken clock is right twice a day, but if the neocons were a Rolex, somehow they’d manage not to do it even once. I don’t know how, but they would.
So I’m gonna say here: Just maybe, the whole thing ended pretty well. Not that expensive, money or lives; gotta be better for the Libyans if anybody actually cares about them; can’t see any risk for the big picture—only 6 million Libyans to start with, for God’s sake, and I don’t see the Berber going on a global jihad any time soon. Jeez, what a thought: What if it turned out good?
Would you like to know more? Gary Brecher is the author of the War Nerd. Send your comments to gary dot brecher at gmail dot com. Read Gary Brecher’s first ever War Nerd column by clicking here.
Click the cover, buy the book!In late August 2012, an imam by the name of Salem bin Ali Jaber travelled with his family from Mukalla to the town of Khashamir in Yemen’s eastern Hadhramout governorate to attend a relative’s wedding. Known for his eloquent sermons and anti-extremist sentiments, Salem was invited to lead prayers at the town’s mosque.
Suspected local al-Qaeda affiliates quickly got word of his sermon denouncing their ideology and, within a few days, three men were dispatched to search for him - twice at his father’s house and finally at the mosque.
Once Salem was aware that these men were looking for him and afraid of what they wanted, Salem asked that his nephew, a local policeman named Waleed bin Ali Jaber, accompany him to meet them.
The group of five gathered outside and Salem sat down with two of the men under a palm tree. Shortly thereafter, members of the Jaber family “heard the buzzing of the drone, and then heard and saw the orange and yellow flash of a tremendous explosion”. The first two strikes killed Salem, Waleed, and two of the three men. Two more strikes were deployed, killing the remaining man.
An unneccesary attack
Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed a case brought forth by Salem’s brother-in-law and Waleed’s uncle, Faisal bin Ali Jaber. Faisal charges that the US government mistakenly killed the two noncombatants in a “signature strike”, in which an unidentified target is pinpointed based on metadata that detects patterns of suspicious behavior.
According to charges put forth by Faisal and two other plaintiffs, the strike constituted a violation of international laws governing the use of force, the Torture Victim Protection Act, and the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreign citizens to bring cases of human rights violations committed outside the United States to American courts.
Faisal bin Ali Jaber speaks at the National Press Club in Washington in November 2013 (AFP)
The plaintiffs allege that the attack was unnecessary, as there was “no urgent military purpose or other emergency” to justify the drone strike and that killing the alleged targets was not necessary to defend against an imminent threat to the United States or its allies.
They also argue that the risk to nearby civilians was excessive in comparison to the military objective since there was no evidence indicating that the three men were legitimate military targets, and “there were no US or Yemeni forces or military objectives in the vicinity that were in need of protection against three young Yemeni men.”
According to their claim, the drone operator appeared to have waited until Salem and Waleed joined the men to strike, indicating a violation of international law since there was “ample opportunity to strike when the men were (1) alone in the Yemeni countryside where they could be targeted without fear of civilian casualties or (2) in locations where Yemeni officials could easily take them into custody."
Dismissed cases
The opinion dismissing these charges (which can be read in full here) states that federal courts cannot make determinations on actions carried out by the executive branch of the government, thereby dismissing all of the charges brought forth by Faisal.
'Plaintiffs will no doubt find this result unjust, but it stems from constitutional and pragmatic constraints on the Judiciary' - Court's ruling on Faisal bin Ali Jaber's case
“Plaintiffs will no doubt find this result unjust,” the opinion reads, “but it stems from constitutional and pragmatic constraints on the Judiciary. In matters of political and military strategy, courts lack the competence necessary to determine whether the use of force was justified.
“The complex, subtle, and professional decisions as to the... control of a military force are essentially professional military judgments, subject always to civilian control of the legislative and executive branches. The ultimate responsibility for these decisions is appropriately vested in branches of the government which are periodically subject to electoral accountability.
“…It is the Executive, and not a panel of the DC Circuit, who commands our armed forces and determines our nation’s foreign policy…Courts are not constitutionally permitted to encroach upon executive powers, even when doing so may be logistically, if not constitutionally, manageable.”
Sudanese schoolgirls pass by the ruins of al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum in August 1999, a year after a US missile attack destroyed it (AFP)
The opinion of the three circuit court judges cites a previous case where the US struck a factory in Sudan in 1998 that it believed produced chemical weapons.The factory’s owner, however, claimed that the facility manufactured medicine and he brought a suit against the American government for wrongfully targeting the plant, resulting in considerable financial losses.
The DC circuit court dismissed his case as well, on the grounds that, “the courts cannot assess the merits of the president’s decision to launch an attack on a foreign target”.
Seeking an apology, not money
On the evening of Salem and Waleed’s death, according to testimonies in court, a Yemeni official spoke by telephone with several members of the bin Ali Jaber family, including Faisal, to “convey personal condolences for the wrongful deaths of Salem and Waleed,” but did not officially acknowledge the strike.
'If judges will not check this outsized power, then who will?' - Judge Janice Rogers Brown
Faisal first lobbied the Yemeni government to publicly acknowledge the wrongful death of Salem and Waleed. The government instead handed out $55,000 as a condolence payment to the families of those killed, according to testimony. This was followed by $100,000 in cash bound with rubber bands and offered to a relative of Salem by a member of Yemen’s National Security Bureau who stated that the money was from the US government.
But Faisal is not seeking monetary compensation. He wants an apology from the US government and a public acknowledgement of his relatives’ wrongful deaths.
Brandon Bryant, Cian Westmoreland, and Lisa Ling, Air Force and Air National Guard technicians who have previously worked on drones and military intelligence equipment, endorsed Faisal’s lawsuit and shared their knowledge of the drone programme with the court.
In their 17-page filing, they describe the case of Salem and Waleed as one among many where top-secret drone strikes mistakenly led to the deaths of unknown victims who are subsequently labelled “enemy kills”.
A Yemeni boy walks past a mural depicting a US drone that reads, 'Why did you kill my family?' (AFP)
Included under the court’s official decision is a supplementary opinion by Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who offers critiques of the balance between executive and judicial powers. According to her: “This begs the question: if judges will not check this outsized power, then who will?”
She acknowledges that Congress alone cannot be relied on to manage the drone programme, adding, “…congressional oversight is a joke, and a bad one at that.”
“Democracy is broken,” she added.
Human rights group Reprieve, which helped Faisal file the case, says it is “weighing its options” to help the plaintiffs with an appeal through the Supreme Court that could override the legal precedents preventing federal courts from overseeing decisions made by the executive branch.
Failing civilians
Since the deaths of Salem and Waleed bin Ali Jaber, the US has ramped up targeted strikes in Yemen. Although the drone programme was a favoured military strategy by former president Barack Obama, it has gained even more traction under the Trump administration.
Local sources reported on the night of 1 July that American-operated drones targeted and killed two alleged al-Qaeda members riding a motorcycle in Yemen’s Abyan province. Details about the strike, or its acknowledgement by the Department of Defense, have yet to be released.
As long as the US military continues to use drones in targeted attacks, then we must also ensure that innocent civilians, who will inevitably fall victim to remote strikes, have a way to seek recourse through the American justice system.
If we fail to provide families like the bin Ali Jabers with a simple apology that is clearly owed to them, then how can we expect to build trusted alliances with local communities that are so crucial in the fight against extremism?
- Hannah Porter is an independent researcher and journalist focused on Yemen and the Gulf. She is also a Master's student at the University of Chicago's Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Photo: Yemenis gather around a burnt car after it was targeted by a drone strike killing three people - which reports have suggested were two suspected militants and a child - on 26 January 2015 between the Marib and Chabwa provinces, a desert area east of Sanaa. (AFP)By ANI
LUCKNOW: Former MLA and president of the Peace Party Dr. Mohamed Ayub was arrested on charges of rape in Lucknow yesterday.
According to reports, he was apprehended last evening near Aliganj thane in Lucknow on charges of allegedly raping a 22-year-old nursing course student.
The girl, whose liver and kidneys were damaged, was undergoing treatment at the trauma centre of King George Medical University in Lucknow and died on February 24.
The victim’s brother had lodged a complaint with Madiaon police alleging that Ayub prescribed his sister wrong medicines which led to her death, besides accusing Dr Ayub of sexually harassing her.
A case has been registered under section 376(2)(F), 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Ayub.
The first information report (FIR) was registered with Madiaon police station in Lucknow on February 25.The NFL officially set the salary cap for the 2015 League Year at $143.28 million per team, the largest figure in the history of the NFL. What lies ahead is a very busy week. Teams can begin negotiating with agents on March 7 and on March 10 free agency officially begins at 4 p.m. Between now and then teams will make a last ditch effort to re-sign their own free agents and countless players will be asked to reduce their salary or be released to help teams with their budgets for free agency.
Though the cap is always very fluid this time of the year, here is a glimpse of how teams are lining up for free agency.
IYER: Who made right, wrong franchise tag moves | Free agent RBs | Pay scale for pass rushers
The Big Spenders
Seven teams currently have at least $39 million or more to spend on free agents in 2015 and 17 teams have more than $20 million.
The team with the most is the Jaguars, with an estimated $69 million in cap space. The Jaguars cap room is a byproduct of limited spending over the last few years, leaving them with over $20 million in carryover money and a low payroll.
Traditionally they have not been big spenders in free agency, though last year they did make an attempt to sign Alex Mack. If there is a year for the team to begin spending, it will likely be this one.
The Raiders are second in the NFL with just over $56 million in cap room with more space to come when they make official the releases of LaMarr Woodley and Tyvon Branch.
Last year Oakland mainly spent on lower-cost, aging players on short-term contracts, but things will be different in 2015. If they don’t sign at least two premier free agents, it will be a disappointment in Oakland. This should be one of the first phone calls every big name free agent makes.
The Jets have about $53 million in cap room and stand to gain another $10 million if they decide to release receiver Percy Harvin. The Jets have not been very active in free agency since 2011, but they need talent and are looking to change the perception of the last two years that they won’t spend money to improve the roster. They should sign at least one big-name free agent and numerous second-tier players.
The Colts have been clearing out salary cap space and currently stand at $41 million in cap room, sixth in the NFL. Indianapolis has been aggressive in free agency the last two years and is becoming known as a destination that will overpay for any player they target. This makes them a very lucrative possibility for free agents and one of the teams that should be in the mix for Adrian Peterson, if released, as well as other big-name players.
In our next salary cap tier, there are 10 teams that project to have between $20 million-$35 million in cap room. Many of these teams will be big spenders depending on their roster construction and future needs.
Tampa Bay and Atlanta both have over $30 million in room and have been very aggressive on the free agent front the last two years. Atlanta is similar to the Colts by often throwing above-market contracts at players just to make sure they get them in the fold. Neither team views their situations as rebuilding, despite the high draft picks, and Atlanta specifically will be a major player in free agency.
Both the Bills ($31M) and Bears ($28M) are veteran-laden teams that will likely attempt to improve significantly in free agency. Both should be aggressive, with the Bills focusing on offense while the Bears focus on rebuilding the defense.
Philadelphia has been working its way through the roster and is up to about $30M in cap room, with more to possibly come. There is no doubt that the Eagles will be looking to improve their team in March. Nobody can ever discount Washington ($26M) from becoming a big spender, though they may have some big extensions to consider down the line.
A team that is flying under the radar that can become a big spender is Minnesota. The Vikings have around $20 million in cap room now, but that number includes the contracts of Peterson, Greg Jennings and Chad Greenway. If those players are released, they will have well over $30 million in cap space. They may consider it too early to make a free agent splash, but they may be a darkhorse team in the frenzy.
The Creative Spenders
There are a few teams that won’t find it easy to match numbers with the big players unless they get creative with the salary cap. The two teams that best fit this description are the Lions ($18M) and Cardinals ($13.4M). They will maneuver money in the contracts to make the numbers work in 2015 and deal with the consequences down the line.
The Salary Cap Offenders
Three teams are currently over the projected cap, which means they need to rework existing contracts or release more players just to be ready for the league year. The biggest offender is New Orleans, which is currently $22 million over the salary cap. The Saints have eight players with cap charges in excess of $9 million and will need to either release or defer cap costs for some of them.
The Patriots are $11 million over the cap, but will pick up $20 million of cap space if they do not exercise the option on Darrelle Revis’ contract. Other players in danger in New England include Vince Wilfork and Danny Amendola.
The Chiefs are about $5 million over the salary cap following the use of the franchise tag on Justin Houston. The Chiefs have other free agents they would like to keep so they have some major roster trimming to do, likely starting with receiver Dwayne Bowe who will either be released or asked to take a massive pay cut.
Jason Fitzgerald is an NFL salary expert and contributor for Sporting News. Read more of his writing at OverTheCap.com and follow him on Twitter: @Jason_OTC.People take their whacks at Politico for basing dishy stories on anonymous quotes. Praise be unto Jonathan Allen, whose dishy story about the “purge” of House conservatives from powerful committees is based on the quote of the day/week. It’s one of two stories with this quote.
In a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Study Committee on Wednesday, Amash and Huelskamp argued that they had been unfairly targeted for their conservative voting records, complaining that the leadership used a “secret scorecard” to rate their loyalty.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a conservative who is close to party leaders, told them that the “asshole factor” came into play in the Steering decision.
“He said that it had nothing to do with their voting record, a scorecard, or their actions across the street [meaning fundraising],” Westmoreland spokeswoman Leslie Shedd told POLITICO. “It had to do with their inability to work with other members, which some people might refer to as the asshole factor.”
A little bit of background is probably useful here. Last Monday, Amash and Huelskamp learned that the House steering committee had kicked them off of the powerful Budget committee. Both of them had voted against the 2013 versions of the Ryan budget, which was embarrassing, but both had generally given the leadership votes when they needed them. According to my sources and some other folks’ reporting, the steering committee used lists of the Amash/Huelskamp voting records to make their decisions. The purged duo wants to know what votes, exactly, were on that – which votes were considered important?
They have not been subtle about asking. The day after the “purge” they cooperated with a ton of reporters and gave public remarks at the Heritage Foundation. Amash has burned up Twitter with questions about the vote list. He’s modeled his career after that of Rep. Ron Paul, but his tactic here is very un-Paul like – he’s shaming Republicans for denying him an influential role in policymaking, unsatisfied with working outside.
The leadership’s response? Stay outside, asshole.EGON SPENGLER medic with great detail!
Note. I have recently been accused of stealing said skin. I want to assure anyone involved in making previous Ghostbuster skins, that I don't steal work. I'm not an immature child who goes around taking credit for peoples content. I created this from scratch like my other work. And want to assure to these people, that though I'm sorry you feel that way, that I have nothing to gain from doing what you accuse me of. Thank you. Benjamuffin When in a skinning mood, I sit and look at the picture showing all the classes and try and imagine them as other things. When it came to the medic I immediately thought; "GHOSTBUSTERS!". I also noticed more specifically that the medic looks a lot like Egon Spengler. So he has received this tag on his outfit. Now I have since learnt that this seems to be obvious to other skin makers also, as after making my skins, I noticed a few others. Not to try and sound egontisical (good joke eh?), but I'd like to think more time and effort have been put into mine to make them seem as accurate as possible without modeling anything. I'm hoping to at some point update this version to remove the cape section of the coat! I managed to remove the cape part and guess what... The medic has no ass... So the cape stays. xD! Comes with hands and a feel good proton pack skin too! - Detailed skin with video game logo! - No bright shiny logos or logos on backpack! - Accurate colors and blue has been used in publicty shots and such. Not too dark as some skins have done! NOTE: I did put together a sound pack but the default medic sounds are extremely similar to the Ghostbusters ones after hearing both together. So I didn't include it due to quality aspects with the audio file. However if I manage to get hold of better sounds I will work on this. UPDATES: SOUND PACK NOW INCLUDED!!! PROTON PACK STRAPS ARE NOW THE CORRECT GREEN COLOR!!! (As seen in the new fourth screenshot) -UPDATE: 14th JAN 2010- PROTON PACK NOW COMES WITH NORMALS MAPS ALSO ADDED ARM PADS WITH NORMALS MAPS TOO! (See newly added picture)Remaster of the Imperial heavy armor, for both genders.
Some of the changes are:
IF you want your armor to look like this, download the following mod.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50281/?
Thanks to all the people that endorsed my mod:
sjdrae2. silentlurker. jewelednight
Sthaagg. underdrive. Unnecessary22
pnut. Eferas. angel1313
Scubberer. Warthog444. 5CY7H3
Berserk2604. alduin78
HadesArtorias. kaldaar
thristi. heajine. perelka72. shadytinh
Loganbacca. laphungtienmc2. piyomame
marktoneth. endoko2. PutinVodkaBalalayka
daggergirl. similar. Thierry5821
caerendil. Sir Lauren. ArmoredTroll
and10m. machola500. nortonn
ogrote. Grausam
This is the final version! Please download and leave feedback, screenshots are welcome.Thanks to all the people that endorsed my mod: sjdrae2. silentlurker. jewelednightSthaagg. underdrive. Unnecessary22pnut. Eferas. angel1313Scubberer. Warthog444. 5CY7H3Berserk2604. alduin78HadesArtorias. kaldaarthristi. heajine. perelka72. shadytinhLoganbacca. laphungtienmc2. piyomamemarktoneth. endoko2. PutinVodkaBalalaykadaggergirl. similar. Thierry5821caerendil. Sir Lauren. ArmoredTrolland10m. machola500. nortonnogrote. Grausam
There are two reasons I did this:1. The original Textures are extremely unpolished, with texture seams, missing some details, and are overall low quality.2. I wanted a simple retexture that would fit themod (which most armors are way darker than the Vanilla sets).Cleaned the texture, you can actually see things clearly now (By that I mean armor pieces).Made it darker (to fit the book of silence from).Changed the color of it a bit (It's more of a dark orange).Gave the armor a matte finish.Added new textures to it and changed some things in the Armour such as the chain mail, the clothes that go under the armor, the neck piece that had a huge neck seam, etc.Fixed the eye wholes in the heavy helmet, which were a disgrace to be honest.The female armor had the same treatment, it's a much cleaner texture now, the original texture had a seam in the mid section of the armor and under the arms (visible when performing combat animations) that was very prominent.The SportsNation crew react to Texans DE J.J. Watt unveiling his new logo on Instgram. (0:51)
Three-time NFL defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt unveiled a new logo on Sunday.
The logo, which will be used for Watt's Reebok campaign, looks like "JJ" or a "W," but if it's turned upside down, it looks like "99," Watt's jersey number.
My logo. My vision. My goals. #HuntGreatness A photo posted by JJ Watt (@justinjames99) on May 22, 2016 at 6:28pm PDT
The logo is designed to look like rising buildings, built from the bottom up, a metaphor for work ethic of Watt, who was a walk-on before he received a scholarship at the University of Wisconsin.
Reebok signed Watt in April 2015 and has used him in several spots with the tagline "Hunt greatness."
"I have always dreamed of being able to use my experience to create something truly great, something that I believed would legitimately improve people's performance and training," Watt told ESPN.com. "I wanted the ability to put my own personal stamp of approval on tools that I thought would help people perform better. And that is what this logo has allowed me to do. When you see this logo, you will know that I personally had my hand in the product's creation and that it has my own personal stamp of approval."
Editor's Picks Watt reveals shoe deal with 5-foot box jump Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt has signed a shoe and apparel endorsement deal with Reebok. Terms were not disclosed.
Reebok hasn't sold much Watt-branded gear since signing him, save for some limited apparel, but word is that a signature training shoe might be in the offing. Because the brand does not have a deal with the NFL, Watt can't wear Reebok's logo on the field.
Watt joins Cam Newton and Tom Brady as NFL players who have their own logos.
Watt has emerged as one of the most marketable players in the league. Besides Reebok, he has deals with Bose, Gatorade, Ford, Verizon, HEB, Papa John's and American Family Insurance, plus an equity piece in clothing brand Mizzen + Main.Rents are soaring. Longtime tenants are being forced to look for a new home. And house prices are approaching record levels.
It's a story long familiar to residents of the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City – and increasingly, it's an issue in the Portland region.
About 175 people attended a lecture and discussion at the Metro Regional Center on Friday as the Portland region looks to address affordable housing, and avoid the fate of other cities.
The poster child for unaffordable housing is the Bay Area, where job growth has far outpaced housing construction, and the gap between housing haves and have-nots has become a wedge dividing the region.
Journalist Kim-Mai Cutler, who has written about the Bay Area's housing crunch, laid out a vision the Portland region undoubtedly wants to avoid: Protective suburbs that won't build multifamily housing, forcing all the growth to far-flung exurbs or super-expensive cities.
Presentation video Watch a video of Cutler's presentation:
"That growth goes somewhere else. It ends up on the urban core, and the exurban periphery," Cutler said."Residents are concerned about schools. They don't want more kids in the schools. Cupertino has some of the best-performing high schools in the country," Cutler said
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removed, and the visual style of the logo was not to be copied and used by another group. Currently, in the prevailing discourse of the open source movement, programs distributed for free with the respective source code published can be copied and modified. However, this is not the case in the cracking scene. Rules concerning the authorship of any ingenious code and design were recognized.30
Adolescents who spread their games among school peers started establishing more remote contacts with the help of telephone numbers given in crack intros. The games were distributed via local personal networks and correspondence. Software was distributed on a non-profit basis; however, the receiver was supposed to send other pirate software to the sender.31 The most important cultural value of this activity, besides acquiring games, was its supposed illegality. Yet, some crackers claimed ideological motivations: ‘People think you are a murderer, robber or another criminal element, but what are you really? You copy games for all those poor guys whho [sic] just can’t afford to buy fuckin’ expensive original games, eh? And you crack to copy the games.’32
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In spite of such claims, the practice of cracking should rather be perceived as a form of building adolescent masculinity through supposedly illegal acts and the distribution of highly desired commodities among peers.33 It was a complex set of different reasons that made cracking attractive for adolescent males. Media moral panic about hackers made such figures widely recognized and highly esteemed by young computer users due to their supposed hacking skills. Only with some knowledge of programming could one modify computer games and commit a supposedly criminal act. In public discourse, the figure of a hacker is seen as a lonely geek who lacks social skills and interactions. But being a cracker actually required advanced social skills to establish and hold a position in a peer group.
This social aspect of cracking is one of the reasons why this subculture became so prominent primarily in Northwestern Europe. Home computers, with the biggest market hit – the Commodore 64 – were affordable for middle class households. This is why computer users were easily able to find other owners of the same computer model and could exchange software. The fact that crackers belonged to the middle class can be deduced from their everyday lives as described in the available testimonies. For instance, they lived in suburbia in relative welfare and financial security, and had high educational aspirations. However, the scene materials contain no clear statements on crackers’ social background; it was probably a form of taboo. Thornton analyzes this phenomenon in depth in the case of club cultures, where any references to the social status outside of the club life were a strict taboo.34
The dissemination of the cracking scene practices in other geographical regions was very limited. According to The C-64 Scene Database (CSDB), the scene became somewhat popular in South and Eastern Europe as well as Australia.35 The American scene, very different from the European, will be briefly discussed below. In regions with a much lower income level, home computers were luxury commodities and did not become popular enough to lead to the emergence of cracking groups. In Central Europe, a cracking scene developed only in Poland and Hungary in the early 1990s, when the introduction of the free market economy resulted in the quick rise of salaries and a decrease of computer prices.36 Another reason that the scene was geographically limited was the fact that in other regions, different hardware platforms were common, for instance clones of ZX Spectrum, Atari XE/XL or Sharp instead of the more expensive C-64. Fewer games were released for such platforms and their users did not develop sophisticated software exchange networks.
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2. Inside the Computer Underground
The rise of the cracking scene was greatly influenced by the huge success of Commodore 64 computers introduced in 1982; only the C-64 reached international popularity. Thus, C-64 users were eager to look for contacts with peers from abroad to acquire games that were domestically unavailable. Exchange networks for pirate software grew in Western Europe and the United States, where easily affordable home computers were popular among adolescents. However, the differences between distribution systems on both sides of the Atlantic were substantial. In the US, where modems were widely popular, the computer underground appropriated the Bulletin Board System (BBS). Games were uploaded and downloaded from password protected underground BBSes. In Europe, where modems were rather scarce and international calls expensive, the whole distribution of pirate games was based largely on snail mail, and BBSes spread only in the late 1980s.
Crackers not only removed copy protections. They also tried to modify and improve original games. The aim of such modifications was the removal of all noticed errors and glitches in the original code, since the cracked game was meant to be superior to the original in every possible way. Another popular practice was the compression of game files. This was important for practical reasons: it was easier to send a compressed game on one floppy disk than the original two-disk version.
As games from the 1980s were far more difficult than comparable products are today, there was another popular form of modification. There was no ‘Save’ option, hence one needed to spend an enormous amount of time finishing difficult arcade games. Crackers helped gamesters with the introduction of so called trainers, a modification of the code responsible for losing lives or energy in the game. A decent cracker could add a simple question in his crack screen: ‘Do you want unlimited lives? Y/N.’ By pressing one of those keys, the player could choose the modified or the original game version.37 Aside from modifying games, crackers also made graphics and music that was used in crack screens, or distributed independently.
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Virtually from the beginning, everyone in the computer underground used pseudonyms, or handles, instead of their real names. This custom was already introduced when the police did not yet have any interest in computer piracy. It was a cultural trait, typical for subcultures, rather than a way of concealing one’s true identity from law enforcement agencies. The basic social structure of this subculture was the scene group, which mostly encompassed a few members. It was customary to write a personal handle along with the name of the group divided by a slash.
The scene group’s function was similar to that of a graffiti crew, as discussed by Macdonald: ‘A crew is a group of likeminded writers who band together under a single name to form a union. Crews can be small or large, illegal or legal, local or even international. But they all share a common purpose – support.’38 Aside from the support offered by the group, it was easier for a team than for a single person to distribute games. One member was responsible for copy protection removal, another one made graphics and music for crack intros, and yet another member was responsible for the distribution of games.
To become involved in this subculture, one had to get in touch with current members. Writing to the address published in one of crack intros was one option, but members could also be found in the local area. ‘Weasel’ describes how his direct contact with the scene began when he noticed a teenager with a collection of diskettes while hanging around in a local skate park: ‘I started talking to that guy and asked him what disks that are and what would be on them. He was very nice and started to talk to me as well and told me about him being a musician with the handle HAVOK in a computer group called FRONTLINE on the C-64. […] he invited me to come with him to a weekly meeting of his group. […] At the following weekend I met with Havok and drove to the meeting place – a Burger King restaurant […]. I was pretty shy at the beginning so that I was only just watching all of them person by person to get some impressions about those “illegal” guys. […] When that meeting was over I held a game called IKARI WARRIORS in my hands which I had to crack till the next meeting to prove that I could really crack and to get accepted to join Frontline. Those guys let me know that the game had a pretty hard protection on it and that they doubt that I’d be able to do the crack anyway […].’ It is important to emphasize how the subcultural rite of passage was constructed through proficiency in technology use. After successful copy protection removal, ‘Weasel’ went with the copied game to the next meeting to attend a ceremony of joining the group: ‘DEEJAY was the only cracker in that group and he was also the one who had to “examine” my work if it was good or whatever. […] he said after looking into my work for a pretty long while: “Well, the crack isn’t bad at all! […] My decision is: Let him join!” That was the beginning of my long and still lasting scene-career as a cracker.’39
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This testimony shows clearly that technology-oriented subculture did not exist in a social vacuum. Hackers were not lone geeks for whom computers as the second self were a substitute for social relations. The episode is also an example of hacker jargon. Instead of the word hacker, the names illegal guys and sceners are used. Along with cracker, these terms were the most popular self-descriptions of computer underground members.
Another interview with a scener from Austria shows a typical pattern of evolution from computer end-user and gamester to cracker through participation in exchange networks of pirate programs: ‘First, I bought warez from local lamers […] then I decided to swap [i.e. exchange games] with local dudes, schoolmates etc. Some people I simply met at libraries, some at computer stores, that stuff. Finally I stumbled across local coders […] that gave me the kick to hunt for more decent people. This way, I stumbled over some TSK members, chatted them up, showed them what I can do and eventually became member… the rest is history…’40
The interviewee mentions a practice of copying games for money for schoolmates. This was very popular among adolescent computer users who wanted to earn money in addition to the pocket money from their parents. Those who copied games for money are described here as lamers, a derogative term adopted from the urban slang term lame – in opposition to cool. According to an insider, this term was adopted specifically from skateboard slang.41
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The lamers were those who tried to exist in the computer scene but did not uphold the appropriate etiquette and cultural values. The quoted interviewee describes his schoolmates as lamers because they broke the rule that cracked games should be distributed on a non-profit basis, which was one of the crucial distinctions between the commercial and the cracked software distribution systems.42 A lamer was also someone who tried to exist within the subculture, not just the ordinary gamester who merely copied pirate games. According to computer underground values, three categories of computer users exist: real sceners, often called elite, lamers, described with derogative terms, and gamesters, mostly presented as neutral. This distinction is similar to the social structure of clubbers. Thornton describes a strict distinction between hips, hipsters and squares.43 Hip means someone who is capable of upholding the whole value system established by a specific subculture, or even introduces an innovation; a hipster is someone who is trying to dress and behave like a hip, but lacks skills to be accepted by the hip community. A square is an outsider without affection toward the subculture.
The distribution of pirate games was closely linked to the creation of amateur graphics and music. In an interview, the two founders of the Genesis Project, a well-known German group established in Aachen, describe such activities: ‘i got a c-64 around 1984 and used to play a lot of those funny 1982-games […]. half a year later i […] started to draw pictures with that brandnew “koalapainter” [graphics editing tool]! then i got bored of doing everything on my own. so i asked my best friends “the nasty ounk” (tno) and catman if they would like to make a little group of computer-artists.’44
‘They were classmates of mine. Ounk was a great artist, while Catman knew a lot of guys who always got the latest games in our city. Soon everyone at our school was talking about “those cool G*P disks”, which always contained the latest games and awesome graffiti-like artwork by Ounk on the disk-covers. After a while our disks were passed on to kids at other schools. And soon every C64 user in the city of Aachen, Germany had heard of Genesis*Project. A lot of kids wanted to join G*P, but I wanted to keep the group as small as possible. I only wanted people in the group who had a special skill or genuine talent.’45 Adding high-quality and well-designed logos and graphics was highly regarded among this community. These memories show that members of the scene saw themselves as computer artists who were not only distributing computer games but also sharing their pieces of ingenious graphics and design included in modified games and on paper covers of 5,25” disks.46
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It is important to focus on the handles as well as on group names and zine titles. Frequently, such names referred to the illegality of the cracking scene. For instance, two of the most popular early zines were named Illegal: Raubkopierer Magazin and Sex’n’Crime. However, names that parodied the computer industry, such as German Cracking Service or International Cracking Company, were also popular.47 Another favored feature of chosen names was references to youth culture. The editor of Illegal had the handle Jeff Smart, the hero of the popular comic series Clever & Smart. References to Star Wars and The Lord of The Rings as well as other favorite TV series and movies of the 1980s were also frequent among sceners.48 Some references were quite obscure, and their understanding required extended knowledge of the context of the youth culture of the era. For instance, the popular group Fairlight had the name of the synthesizer used by Depeche Mode and Jean Michel Jarre – favorite musicians of the group’s founders.49
References to popular culture were frequently present in the graphics and music created by amateur computer artists. Quite often, their compositions were covers of popular electronic music of the 1980s, which were composed by programming the C-64 sound chip. With 57 covers, the most popular music theme among them was definitely Harold Faltermeyer’s Axel F – Beverly Hills Cop music theme. Jan Hammer’s Crockett’s Theme from the Miami Vice soundtrack was also popular (22 covers), and music themes from Terminator (20), Star Wars (16) and Blade Runner (9) were also covered. Popular culture topics were common themes in computer graphics. The most frequent were computer versions of Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta’s fantasy paintings full of dragons and half-naked sorceresses repainted manually pixel by pixel. Pictures of favorite series and movie heroes were also popular, for instance the original logo and lead actors of Miami Vice.
Moreover, contemporary scene zines are sources that provide knowledge on the lifestyles and interests of German, Dutch or Swedish adolescents.
– what are your favourites?
+ good videos, applejuice, nice demos, girls, music from ‘mike oldfield’ and ‘sisters of mercy’. and soon: riding in my very own ‘golf gti’!!
[…]
– what kind of a person are you?
+ i’m neither a popper nor a punk. i wear a normal outfit, but i think black! i love new wave and acid. […]
– what do you do the rest of your life?
+ […] maybe iam going to study on the university in aachen. or i’ll become a computer-specialist on tv […]. i am also reading a lot of books. my fave author is ‘stephen king’.50
In a zine interview, another German shared his taste in the 1980s action movies: ‘ALIENS, PLATOON, RAMBO 1, RAMBO 2, RAMBO 3, RAMBO 4, RAMBO 5.’51
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Numerous popular culture references pointed out in this chapter show how adolescent computer users were impacted by the media culture of the era. In literature on the subcultures of the 1980s, authors focus on the formation of masculinity through rituals of independence from mainstream society, for instance by listening to indie rock.52 The case of the cracking scene shows a different and more complex picture of youth. A cracker could be interested in doing something supposedly illegal while at the same time shaping his identity with a nick from Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings; and his creative activity, besides cracking games, would encompass covering the Miami Vice soundtrack. Moreover, crackers openly admitted their interest in the practices of consumption such as going to parties, buying expensive consumer electronics or driving a Golf GTI, one of the most iconic cars of youth car culture. Teenagers also mixed different forms of culture, for instance listening to Sisters of Mercy while being interested in acid and rave scenes. Those two music genres are traditionally discussed as significant for completely different subcultures, in this case goths and clubbers.
Similar testimonies, in which crackers claim their cultural interests, can be found in sources concerning the cracking scene in most Northwestern European countries. The testimonies of crackers from various countries are strikingly similar, especially those concerning their lifestyles and social activities. On the one hand, it is possible that adolescents from West Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands of the 1980s actually had a similar lifestyle. As scene maga-zines were written in English for audiences from other countries, on the other hand it is possible that crackers simply wanted to present themselves as Europeans by referring to cultural practices and icons which could be recognized abroad while intentionally not discussing their national cultures.
3. The Rise and Fall of the International Illegal Scene
According to a narrative popular among insiders of the European computer underground, the whole subculture was started in 1983 by a few young hobby programmers from West Germany. These young crackers founded two groups: JEDI and German Cracking Service. It is difficult to estimate the actual impact of these two groups on the growth of the whole subculture. The computer underground linked with C-64 is documented by The C-64 Scene Database (CSDB) – an online software archive platform and forum with a sophisticated search engine. According to data retrieved from CSDB, in 1983-84 the scene grew rapidly and simultaneously in several countries, not only in West Germany. The growth of the scene continued throughout 1985 to reach its peak in 1988, when it slowly began to decline. Visualizations of the statistical data from online databases by Markku Reunanen show the growth and further decline of the C-64 scene.53 In the second half of the 1980s, the computer underground was to be found in most Northwestern European countries. During that time, a well-organized transnational system of distributing pirate software and zines was established in West Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.54
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At the beginning, groups encompassed peers from mostly the same city. It was primarily a reproduction of pre-existing social networks within the framework of computer culture. Later, groups started to grow in terms of numbers of members and evolved into remoter structures which communicated via telephone calls and correspondence. Most of the groups encompassed members from the same country; however, during the peak of the scene, some international groups were established.
Aside from spreading pirate software, computer underground created probably the biggest homogenous zine culture in Europe. The phenomenon of zines – homemade magazines distributed through personal networks and mailing lists – has its roots in American science-fiction fan culture and counterculture of the 1960s.55 At the beginning, members of the computer scene published paper magazines and distributed them in a small number of photocopies among friends and correspondence contacts. Typical computer underground zines included some news from the scene, interviews with respected crackers, discussions of current scene topics, lists of top ten games based on readers’ votes, reports from parties and game reviews. Articles on programming were scarce since due to constant competition, sceners were not eager to share their technical knowledge. Topics not related to computers, such as reviews of popular movies and music records, were also included. The first paper zines were the German Illegal (1986-89) and the British Iguana (1988-89). Paper zines were subsequently replaced by digital zines, so called diskmags – executable files on disks that included essays presented in graphic layout and with music. The first digital zine, Sex’n’Crime (1989-90), was published in Germany.56
The zines aimed to create a common media platform for sceners on which they could express their opinions and find information about the activities of other groups. Authors emphasized the fact that computer zine culture distributed information alternative to available commercial computer magazines, such as the English Computer and Video Games, ZZap64! or the German 64’er, which were accused of being dependent on the software industry. Game reviews and top ten games lists in zines were presented as content written by independent gamesters and crackers.57
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Members of the scene were eager to meet other sceners in person. One of the possibilities was to attend computer fairs, such as ‘Personal Computer World’ in London. It was customary for crackers to hang around together at the venue, to look at available software novelties that were to be cracked soon and to make pranks. The second possibility of meeting others was a so-called copy party. It was a weekend event organized by a scene group in a rented school or culture center. Participants traveled to copy parties with hardware that was plugged in to copy new software as well as to play games together. During the party, numerous contests were held, for instance for best graphics, music and the results of live cracking. These gatherings were attended exclusively by adolescent males and commonly featured heavy drinking, pranks and vandalism.
Information about such parties could only be attained through personal contacts, thus only people from a specific circle attended.58 One of the first copy parties was the ‘Plutonium Party’ organized in West Berlin in the summer of 1984 by the Plutonium Crackers.59 A reminiscence of this party shows an atmosphere of secretiveness, a common feature of the early copy parties that were supposed to be illegal: ‘The exact meeting place was not announced beforehand, not because of illegality issues, but just because it was cool, James Bond style. Cracking didn’t have that illegal touch of today, it was rather a Robin-Hood-esque elegant tricking of the system.’60
During the early period of the scene, parties took place without any police interference. However, during the late 1980s the police started to raid parties in West Germany and confiscated all pirate software – and also hardware. Due to the constant danger of police raids, the most popular and biggest copy party was held in the Netherlands where, according to sceners, software piracy was not prosecuted yet. This party, named ‘Venlo Meeting’, was organized in the small Dutch town of Venlo and took place every few months from December 1987 until April 1994 (58 editions). At the peak of its popularity there were more than one thousand attendees. Such big copy parties, of course, could not be held in secrecy anymore.
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The rise of the international cracking scene in the second half of the 1980s was also the beginning of its end. Mass software piracy was increasingly condemned in computer magazines as well as in mainstream media. Not only hackers who broke into computer networks, but also small-scale software pirates started to be perceived as an issue of media moral panic. For example, the German lawyer Günter von Gravenreuth started a private crusade against crackers and became the symbol of anti-piracy campaigns of the era. Aside from publicizing the threat software pirates posed, he directly provoked crackers by forging numerous copies of an alleged letter from Tanja, a young girl who was interested in the exchange of software. He sent these letters to crackers, whose addresses were easy to find in pirate software. However, the result of this action is not clear.61 The issue of piracy became one of the hot spots in debates of computerization in West Germany. In December 1988, Highscore, a computer game program on WDR television, organized and broadcasted a discussion between Gravenreuth and well-known German crackers.62 Highscore also presented a report from a RadWar copy party as well as material on crackers with alleged live cracking.63
Around the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, with increasing frequency the police in West Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France organized raids on private homes of alleged crackers, confiscated all hardware and imposed fines. As a result, crackers changed their tactics. Software was now distributed only among trusted friends and crack intros no longer featured private addresses and telephone numbers.64 Further changes in the international pirate scene were linked to the introduction of the Internet. In the late 1990s, members of the Internet warez scene used password-protected File Transfer Protocol servers and later peer to peer protocols to distribute pirate software.
Some crackers now focused on adding visual and audio effects instead of cracking games. They started to produce demos, a jargon name for demonstration programs. Instead of cracking software, members of this subculture were interested in making multimedia presentations that explored the boundaries of hardware capabilities as well as presenting the artistic talents of programmers.65 In the early 1990s, the demoscene, also called legal scene, replaced the cracking scene as the most popular computer-oriented subculture. This subculture, which later adopted PC platforms, still exists. There are numerous demoscene gatherings; the biggest of them is the ‘Breakpoint’, organized annually in Germany.
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In the early 1990s, adolescents who had shaped the beginning of the computer underground had simply grown older. From the memories and testimonies written by retired crackers, one can conclude how easily they used their subcultural capital in subsequent job careers. Frequently, crackers attended polytechnic universities – primarily, to no surprise, computer sciences. After entering the job market they usually found decent jobs as programmers and IT consultants. In the early 1990s, due to their expert knowledge on modifying structures of computer games as well as creating innovative digital graphics and music, computer game companies welcomed crackers. Their specific approach to computer aesthetics significantly influenced computer games for the Commodore Amiga, the successor of the C-64 and dominant home computer platform in that era. Some innovative European game companies such as Team 17 (Worms) and Core Design (Tomb Raider) were even masterminded by former crackers. Those experienced in computer graphics and music were later frequently employed in the cultural industries in general, thus significantly impacting digital graphics and electronic music of the 1990s and 2000s.
4. Conclusion
The aim of my article was to discuss the features and dynamics of the first mass computer-oriented subculture, which was established by home computer users long before the introduction of the Internet. The establishment of computer underground was a side effect of the enormous popularity of home computers, which became one of the symbols of the 1980s along with hair-spray hairstyles, New Romantic music and graphic violence movies. The development of this subculture was linked to growing numbers of adolescent users who evolved from gamesters to crackers. Being an illegal guy who cracked and distributed recently released computer games was certainly an attractive identity for a male adolescent growing up in Europe during the 1980s. However, the rapid growth of the subculture decreased its attractiveness, and being a cracker in the 1990s no longer meant that one belonged to an elite computer avant-garde. On the other hand, this cultural phenomenon turned into an issue of media moral panic in the second half of the 1980s, which sparked the interest of law enforcement agencies in young software pirates. Paradoxically, in the early 1990s being a cracker became too dangerous and at the same time less attractive than a few years earlier.
Some aspects of computer underground have already been discussed in literature. However, the fact that this specific culture was significantly influenced not only by contemporary technology, but by the social and cultural contexts of the era, is not yet adequately recognized. Young hackers were teenagers interested in the outside world, not only in computer monitors, as Levy and Turkle argued. What is more, the activities of the illegal scene were a part of the male youth’s struggle for masculinity similar to an interest in heavy metal music or cars.66 Male adolescents adopted the C-64 as an artifact that could be used in creating social prestige within the peer group and masculinity based on technical expertise. The course of computer use was far different from the visions of computer education programs promoted by the prophets of the information society. Only a few years later, however, with their expert knowledge these adolescents contributed to the development of computer industries in Europe as programmers and IT consultants.
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In the current discourse of hacktivism (i.e. socially engaged hacking), all historical practices of computer undergrounds are interpreted as an intentional engagement aiming for social change. The case discussed here clearly shows that the cultural practices of the first mass computer-oriented subculture had nothing to do with political and social engagement. The development of milieus of computer hackers interested in social change had rather different trajectories; it began with actions by the American group Cult of the Dead Cow and with the editors of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly in the mid-1980s.67 Those circles played a significant role as advocates of consumer electronics by publicizing information about the practices of powerful American telecommunication companies as well as hardware and software manufacturers. The case of the cracking scene also shows the huge difference between the practices of cracking and the open source movement. A cracked computer game was a commodity used in a gift economy system shared by computer users. No one was eager to share their know-how on cracking with other groups, which were actually competitors. When studying contemporary trends such as the free software movement we have to be careful: instead of accepting the claims of social actors such as the famous slogan ‘information wants to be free’, we should rather learn more about the struggle for prestige and social capital in the high-tech world.
I have also discussed a few similarities with the graffiti scene and club culture to show how the growth of computer underground fits into the general history of youth culture. I focused on showing how adolescent crackers referred to the material world in which they lived. Aside from sitting in front of computer monitors, they also dreamed of owning a Golf GTI, hung around in local skate parks or met at fast food restaurants. On the other hand, youth hackers lived in popular culture fantasies. If we want to study the history of the information society, besides such figures as Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak and, in the case of Germany, Heinz Nixdorf, we need to include such prominent figures as John Rambo, Axel Foley and Sonny Crockett. Home computers, VCR and cable TV are currently recognized primarily as symbols of 1980s nostalgia. Future academic studies on the side effects of the domestication of these media technologies can contribute to our understanding of the social and cultural dynamics of the 1980s and 1990s – decades that are only recently being discovered by historians.
Notes:
1 Frank Webster, Theories of Information Society, London 2006.
2 Educational software for children became popular in the 1980s. See: Mizuko Ito, Engineering Play. A Cultural History of Children’s Software, Cambridge 2009.
3 Jane Wheelock, Personal Computing, Gender and an Institutional Model of the Household, in: Roger Silverstone/Eric Hirsch (eds), Consuming Technologies. Media and Information in Domestic Spaces, London 1992, Reprint 2005, pp. 89-103, here pp. 94-95. See also James Sumner’s contribution to this issue.
4 One of the most interesting, though rather overlooked monographs on the dangers of information technologies is: Theodore Roszak, The Cult of Information, Berkeley 1986. The most popular book on hackers, which also played a significant role in the dissemination of hacker culture, is: Steven Levy, Hackers. Heroes of the Computer Revolution, Garden City 1984. See also: Douglas Thomas, Hacker Culture, Minneapolis 2003.
5 Kenneth Thompson, Moral Panics, London 1998. For moral panic about youth and subcultures, see: Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, London 1980.
6 Levy’s book (fn. 4) not only had great impact on the popularization of the American hacker culture. It also influenced the popular picture of the lone computer geek, who is unable to interact with other people, especially women.
7 Sherry Turkle, The Second Self. Computers and the Human Spirit, Cambridge 2005.
8 David Bell, An Introduction to Cybercultures, London 2002; Steven G. Jones (ed.), Virtual Culture. Identity and Communication in Cybersociety, London 2002; Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community, London 2000.
9 The BBS technology, portrayed in the movie War Games, was widely spread in the US since the early 1980s. Despite its huge popularity, it is remembered exclusively by insiders, see: http://www.textfiles.com.
10 I have discussed the comparison between European and American computer users in a conference presentation: Patryk Wasiak, Hacking across the Atlantic: How Young Hackers ‘Phreaked’ Transatlantic Telephone Cables. Part of the Soft-EU Panel: Geographies of Computing. Straddling the Divide between the Global and the Local. Society for the History of Technology, Annual Meeting, Cleveland, 4 November 2011.
11 E.g. Martin Klimke/Joachim Scharloth (eds), 1968 in Europe. A History of Protest and Activism, 1956–1977, New York 2008.
12 Stuart Hall/Tony Jefferson (eds), Resistance Through Rituals. Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, London 2003; Dick Hebdige, Subculture. The Meaning of Style, London 1979.
13 Ken Gelder/Sarah Thornton (eds), The Subcultures Reader, London 1997; David Muggleton/Rupert Weinzierl (eds), The Post-Subcultures Reader, Oxford 2003; Ken Gelder, Subcultures. Cultural Histories and Social Practice, London 2007.
14 Leslie Haddon, Explaining ICT Consumption. The Case of the Home Computer, in: Silverstone/Hirsch, Consuming Technologies (fn. 3), pp. 75-88, here p. 82.
15 ‘Newscopy’ (pseudonym), SCENETOWN. A Crash Course in Scene-Evolution, URL: http://www.atlantis-prophecy.org/recollection/?load=online_issues&issue=0&sub=article&id=2.
16 Sherry Turkle, The Second Self (fn. 7).
17 David Muggleton, Inside Subculture. The Postmodern Meaning of Style, Oxford 2000.
18 Due to the lack of specific regulations and police interest, computer piracy was not fought by the police in Western Europe and the US until the very late 1980s.
19 The introduction of copy protection systems in the software company Sierra On Line was described by Levy, Hackers (fn. 4), pp. 389-406.
20 Nancy Macdonald, The Graffiti Subculture. Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York, Houndmills 2002. The American graffiti scene was documented well by Martha Cooper/Henry Chalfant, Subway Art, London 1984.
21 Sarah Thornton, Club Cultures. Music, Media and Subcultural Capital, Cambridge 2010.
22 Levy, Hackers (fn. 4), p. 391.
23 Graham Murdock/Paul Hartmann/Peggy Gray, Contextualizing Home Computing, in: Silverstone/Hirsch, Consuming Technologies (fn. 3), pp. 136-151, here p. 144.
24 A huge collection of often amusing and naïve news on the hacker peril was gathered by computer science experts in ‘The Risks Digest’ newsletter (since 1985): http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks.
25 The social impact of War Games was analyzed by Thomas, Hacker Culture (fn. 4).
26 Haddon, Explaining ICT Consumption (fn. 14), p. 80.
27 Levy, Hackers (fn. 4), pp. 389-401.
28 Such signatures were already included in pirate Apple II games, see: http://www.textfiles.com/artscene/intros/APPLEII/. Sometimes the word cracked was intentionally misspelled as kracked. This was the characteristic hacker lingo adopted by computer-oriented communities, see: The Jargon File, URL: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/index.html.
29 ‘Weasel’, the good ol’ dayz, in: Brainfart. The pARTy-zine 12 (1996), p. 7, URL: ftp://ftp.padua.org/pub/c64/Magazines/mags.c64.org/mags/B/brainfart06.zip.
30 This system was described in depth by Jukka Vuorinen, Ethical Codes in the Digital World. Comparisons of the Proprietary, the Open/Free and the Cracker System, in: Ethics and Information Technology 9 (2007), pp. 27-38.
31 Such an informal pirate media distribution system existed earlier among audio- and videophiles. Tape cassettes with bootleg concert records and video movies were exchanged on a non-profit basis with the help of classified advertisements. See: Joshua M. Greenberg, From BetaMax to Blockbuster. Video Stores and the Invention of Movies on Video, London 2008.
32 ‘Jeff Smart’, THE STATE OF BEING A CRACKER, in: Illegal 26 (1988), URL: http://www.triad.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/illeg26.txt.
33 For a general discussion on contemporary practices of shaping masculinity, see e.g.: Maurice Berger/Brian Wallis/Simon Watson (eds), Constructing Masculinity, London 1995. The historical junction between modern technology use and masculinity is discussed in: Ruth Oldenziel, Making Technology Masculine. Men, Women, and Modern Machines in America, 1870–1945, Amsterdam 2004.
34 Thornton, Club Cultures (fn. 21).
35 http://noname.c64.org/csdb/.
36 The emergence of the Polish cracking scene is discussed in: Patryk Wasiak, Playing and Copying: Social Practices of Home Computer Users in Poland during the 1980s, in: Gerard Alberts/Ruth Oldenziel (eds), European Hacker Cultures, Amsterdam 2012 (forthcoming); Patryk Wasiak, The East is Coming! The Demoscene in Eastern Europe, in: Rhizome, 21 May 2010, URL: http://rhizome.org/editorial/2010/may/21/the-east-is-coming-the-demoscene-in-eastern-europe.
37 An anecdote shows how cheating linked gamesters and hackers. ‘Someone went to a hacker in a [computer]
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, would certainly violate the clause. And even though the clause isn't taken very seriously nowadays by those whose views matter the most (Justices of the Supreme Court), the plaintiffs may conceivably be able to prove a violation when the case is tried on the merits. No one argues that the ordinance is not a "law" for purposes of the contract clause or that a lease is not a contract, and no one could doubt that the ordinance impairs the contractual obligations of the tenants: abrogating an obligation impairs the obligation. One might suppose, by analogy to the just-compensation clause, that the hardest cases under the contract clause would be those where the state, without actually abrogating a contract in whole or part, did something that made a person's contractual rights much less valuable. See Northwestern Fertilizing Co. v. Village of Hyde Park, 97 U.S. (7 Otto) 659, 24 L.Ed. 1036 (1878); cf. Agins v. Tiburon, 447 U.S. 255, 262, 100 S.Ct. 2138, 2142, 65 L.Ed.2d 106 (1980). This is not such a case. The ordinance transfers contractual entitlements from the party on one side of the contract to the party on the other side.
42 The Supreme Court, however, has rewritten the contract clause, by inserting the word "unreasonably" before "impairing" and by adopting a radically undemanding definition of "reasonableness." The first step is neither an uncommon nor an unwarranted interpretive response to a provision absolute in terms. Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1, outlaws contracts that restrain trade, but the Supreme Court has sensibly interpreted the statute as if "unreasonably" appeared before "restrain." See, e.g., National Soc'y of Professional Engineers v. United States, 435 U.S. 679, 687-88, 98 S.Ct. 1355, 1363-64, 55 L.Ed.2d 637 (1978). A similar job of reparative surgery on the contract clause would raise few eyebrows if, for example, a state passed a statute outlawing contracts--existing as well as new ones--to commit criminal acts or, a slightly more difficult case, a statute criminalizing conduct required by existing contracts. See Manigault v. Springs, 199 U.S. 473, 480, 26 S.Ct. 127, 130, 50 L.Ed. 274 (1905) (dictum). These examples can be generalized: the state should be permitted to abrogate contracts if there is a strong need to do so, notwithstanding the apparently absolute character of the contract clause. This principle is illustrated by Marcus Brown Holding Co. v. Feldman, 256 U.S. 170, 198-99, 41 S.Ct. 465, 466, 65 L.Ed. 877 (1921) (Holmes, J.). As an emergency measure during New York City's acute World War I housing shortage, the State of New York passed a statute forbidding landlords in the city to evict tenants after the expiration of their lease, unless the tenant wasn't paying his rent or was otherwise objectionable. The Supreme Court held that the statute did not violate the contract clause. See also Edgar A. Levy Leasing Co. v. Siegel, 258 U.S. 242, 42 S.Ct. 289, 66 L.Ed. 595 (1922).
43 Chief Justice Hughes' extensive reexamination of the contract clause in Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell, 290 U.S. 398, 438, 54 S.Ct. 231, 240, 78 L.Ed. 413 (1934), led him to suggest a broader principle: legislation impairing the obligation of contracts is constitutional if "the legislation is addressed to a legitimate end and the measures taken are reasonable and appropriate to that end." But he also emphasized the emergency character of the challenged legislation--legislation imposing, in the trough of the Great Depression, a moratorium on the foreclosure of mortgages. See id. at 439-40, 444-45, 54 S.Ct. at 240-41, 242-43; cf. id. at 441-42, 54 S.Ct. at 241-42. There is no emergency in the present case. Chicago would not collapse if the ordinance weren't allowed to go into effect until existing leases, most of which are for only one year, expired. Chicago would be better off if the ordinance never went into effect.
44 But if Blaisdell might be read narrowly, to require that an impairment of contractual obligation, if it is to survive challenge under the contract clause, be justified by the existence of an emergency, later cases, illustrated by Veix v. Sixth Ward Bldg. & Loan Ass'n, 310 U.S. 32, 39-40, 60 S.Ct. 792, 795-96, 84 L.Ed. 1061 (1940), so fictionalized the concept of an "emergency" that by 1978 the Court found it necessary to remind bench and bar that the contract clause was "not a dead letter." Allied Structural Steel Co. v. Spannaus, 438 U.S. 234, 241, 98 S.Ct. 2716, 2720, 57 L.Ed.2d 727 (1978). The test used in Spannaus, however, and adhered to since, see, e.g., Keystone Bituminous Coal Ass'n v. DeBenedictis, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1232, 1251-53, 94 L.Ed.2d 472 (1987), is a broad, loose, and forgiving standard of reasonableness, see 438 U.S. at 242-51, 98 S.Ct. at 2721-26. It stresses the importance of whether the contracting parties are operating in an already regulated field and can therefore anticipate the possibility of new regulation that will alter the obligations imposed by the contract. See id. at 242 n. 13, 250, 98 S.Ct. at 2721 n. 13, 2725; Energy Reserves Group, Inc. v. Kansas Power & Light Co., 459 U.S. 400, 411, 413-16, 103 S.Ct. 697, 704, 705-07, 74 L.Ed.2d 569 (1983). So the more the state regulates, the more it can regulate without violating the Constitution--a bootstrapping approach if ever there was one. And when the state is not a party to the contract, its judgment regarding both ends and means is to be given great deference. See, e.g., id. at 412-13, 103 S.Ct. at 705; Troy Ltd. v. Renna, 727 F.2d 287, 294-96 (3d Cir.1984).
45 By exploiting the unfortunate ambiguities that surround the word "reasonable," the Supreme Court has defanged the contract clause. Admittedly, the seeds of this development were planted by a number of nineteenth-century cases, well discussed in Wright, The Contract Clause of the Constitution, ch. 8 (1938), which held that the state could use its "police power" to override contracts. But the "police power" as then conceived was the power to carry out the essential functions of minimum government; it was not a comprehensive welfare power. Otherwise the decisions that struck down under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment state statutes that infringed freedom of contract would be unintelligible, as would be the decisions that struck down state action challenged under the contract clause itself. See Wright, supra, ch. 4. And otherwise the states would have plenary power to impair the obligation of contracts, and the contract clause would mean nothing. It means little more than that today.
46 Imagine what freedom of speech would have come to mean if the Court had interpreted the First Amendment--which is no more absolute in its language or clearcut in its history than the contract clause--as loosely as it now interprets the contract clause. The different fates of these two similarly worded provisions exemplify the contemporary dualism in constitutional law. (On the larger dualism in social thought which this difference reflects see Director, The Parity of the Economic Market Place, 7 J. Law & Econ. 1 (1964).) Constitutional provisions that protect rights which are "preferred," though preferred for reasons that cannot be referred to the text or history of the Constitution, are read broadly; provisions that protect rights which are not preferred are read narrowly. The dissenting Justices in Spannaus suggested that virtually no impairment of contractual obligations that satisfies due process will violate the contract clause. See 438 U.S. at 251, 98 S.Ct. at 2725. Whatever its merits as a proposal--as a proposal in effect to delete the contract clause from the Constitution as excess baggage now that "due process" means anything a court wants it to mean--this is a pretty accurate description of what the Supreme Court has been doing in recent years. One is troubled, however, by an approach to constitutional interpretation that by watering down a strongly worded clause of the Constitution (the contract clause) and thickening a watery clause (the due process clause) homogenizes a diverse text.
47 At all events it is clear that the plaintiffs in this case have an extremely uphill battle against the ordinance on contract clause grounds, cf. Troy Ltd. v. Renna, supra, 727 F.2d at 297-99, a battle they cannot possibly win on the basis of the evidence they presented in seeking a preliminary injunction. An even stronger conclusion is possible with regard to their challenge on the ground of "substantive due process." The due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid government to deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and if due process is accorded, it is very hard to see how the person can complain about the substance of the government's action. So the text is inhospitable to the concept of "substantive due process"; nor does the history of the Constitution support it. Moreover,
48 substantive due process has been the foundation of some of the most unsuccessful inventions in constitutional law.... The Supreme Court regularly buries the doctrine, but it just as resolutely refuses to stay dead.... Substantive due process once was used to invalidate legislation affecting prices, wages, and hours, legislation the Court thought struck at the heart of freedom of contract. When enthusiasm for freedom of contract waned, the Court resurrected the same doctrine--with the same lack of textual and historical support--to protect a new constellation of values, this one having to do with family, procreation, and privacy. What unites the many lives of substantive due process is any action "deeply repulsive to the feelings of Supreme Court Justices."... Substantive due process is a shorthand for a judicial privilege to condemn things the judges do not like or cannot understand. The Constitution does not give such power to judges.
49 Gumz v. Morrisette, 772 F.2d 1395, 1405-06 (7th Cir.1985) (concurring opinion) (citations omitted).
50 The plaintiffs have brought their case in the wrong era. Chicago's new ordinance indeed strikes at the heart of freedom of contract, but the Supreme Court's current conception of substantive due process does not embrace freedom of contract; a provision once questionably interpreted to guarantee economic freedom is now questionably interpreted to guarantee sexual and reproductive freedom instead. The Court is not about to cut the welfare state down to size by invalidating unreasonable economic regulation such as the ordinance under attack in this case. See, e.g., Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co., 428 U.S. 1, 15-16, 96 S.Ct. 2882, 2892-93, 49 L.Ed.2d 752 (1976). Thus it is clear that the Chicago ordinance does not deny "substantive due process," though not because it is a reasonable ordinance, which it is not.
51 Clearly, if reasonableness means the same thing in applying the contract clause as in applying the due process clause, the plaintiffs' claim of impairment of contract is also doomed, no matter what evidence they put in at the trial on the merits. Maybe, though, as the outcome in Spannaus suggests, it is a somewhat more demanding requirement in the former than in the latter setting. Spannaus invalidated a statute apparently aimed at a single company which had closed its plant in the state. Under the company's contract with its employees, the closure of the plant prevented certain pension rights from vesting. The statute required the company to vest those rights anyway. The opinion is narrowly written but may provide a slim ray of hope for the plaintiffs in this case, for it is inconceivable that such a statute would have been invalidated under currently reigning conceptions of substantive due process.Peter B. Lewis, a retired insurance company executive, has donated $209,005 to the campaign to pass Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure on California's Nov. 2 ballot.
The contributions -- to the main campaign committee as well as an independent one -- make Lewis the biggest contributor to the effort after Richard Lee, the Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur who sponsored the measure and has spent more than $1.5 million.
“I’m supporting the campaign because I support common-sense reform of the nation’s drug laws,” Lewis said Saturday in a statement. “I admire the effort, energy and commitment of the people involved in the campaign, and want to help them get their message out to the voters.”
The campaign began attracting some larger donations in the last two weeks after a Public Policy Institute of California poll of 1,104 likely voters showed the initiative with 52% support.
Sean Parker, a Facebook billionaire, donated $100,000 at the beginning of the month. And David Bronner, the president of Escondido-based Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, joined with the owners of a hemp clothing store to pledge $100,000 to get college students to vote for the initiative.VILNIUS, Lithuania — Fake news in Europe does not mean what it means in the White House. It means Russia and it means a clear-and- present danger.
That was the message loud and clear at the annual congress of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) in the country’s capital last week. The rubric of “fake news” covers a parcel of Russian subversion, from phony news to staged events with surrogate players and stunts, such as sending in Russians posing as skinheads to imply the presence of fascists when none are there.
To Europe – especially to those countries near or bordering Russia — the threat is most keenly felt. At the AEJ congress, speaker after speaker spoke of it not in abstract terms, but as part of a continuing struggle.
Russia is waging its war with Europe, using new tools, like social media, but with old KGB tactics, according to Marius Laurinavicius, senior expert at the Vilnius Institute of Policy Analysis. “We are at war with Russia. It’s a different war: There are no tanks or fighters. It’s their perception, not mine,” he said.
The three Baltic nations — Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia — are under relentless attack by Russian disinformation and dirty tricks.
Whereas much of the world is indifferent to Russia’s seizing of Crimea, the insurgency in eastern Ukraine, and Russian troops in Georgia, to the Baltics, those acts are a scenario for their re-occupation.
When the Baltics were part of the Soviet Union, they suffered in ways not fully comprehended elsewhere. In Vilnius, for example, the former KGB headquarters is a museum of horror, open to the public. Here are the torture chambers and the execution cell. Those who were not killed in this building, right in the center of town, were shipped to Siberia — an incredible 300,000 Lithuanians out of a population of just under 3 million.
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is entitled to come to the aid of any Russian-speaking minority which is being maltreated: his rationale for invading Crimea. All three Baltic states have Russian-speaking minority populations listening to and watching Russian radio and television broadcasting ceaselessly fake news to stir them up and denigrate their host countries.
At the AEJ congress there were tales of Russian subversion across Europe, from the French and German elections to the attempted Catalonian secession in Spain. Russia has a huge apparatus for fomenting trouble in the democracies, according to Brian Whitmore of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Thousands of people working on fake news in dozens of languages, factories of lies.
Why does Russia do it? One reason is that Russia is deeply unhappy at having NATO on its borders, fanning an old Russian paranoia about the countries to its west. Another, according to Whitmore, is that “Russia is doing to the West what it believes the West is doing to it: It believes the West is trying to undermine it.”
At the AEJ congress a year ago, in Kilkenny, Ireland, the buzz was all about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his likely impact in Europe. This year in Vilnius, less so. The big issue is Russia and how the media can deal with the Russian propaganda onslaught, sorting out the real from the fake. It is a daily challenge for Europe’s journalists: Is it a scoop or a state-sponsored lie?
Delegates heard from Laurinavicius that the Putin administration in Moscow is a kind of c-suite of corruption, built around the old KGB (where Putin was No. 2 in East Germany), mixed with the Russian Mafia and collaborating oligarchs. Taken together a potency of evil, seeking to make mischief and possibly to conquer weak and unprepared democracies by lies and fakery.
Photo: A newspaper kiosk on Savanoriu Avenue in Vilnius Credit: Umnik. Creative Commons License.Alexandra Kirk reported this story on Thursday, October 18, 2012 18:14:00
BRENDAN TREMBATH: The Federal Government is unfreezing hundreds of millions of dollars of medical research grants after being warned that it could permanently damage Australia's scientific effort.
The Commonwealth imposed the freeze almost two months ago as it searched for spending cuts.
Australian Nobel Laureate, astrophysicist Professor Brian Schmidt, described it as damaging, crazy and counterproductive.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) will announce tomorrow more than 1,000 grants.
PM understands some Australian Research Council (ARC) grants are also being unfrozen.
Professor Bob Williamson from the Australian Academy of Science told Alexandra Kirk that common sense has prevailed.
BOB WILLIAMSON: The Academy of Science and many other people told the Government that we would lose scientists because about 2,000 jobs were at risk if they put a freeze on those particular grants.
There are still dangers, there are still things that we hope will be given, but the single most important set of grants - the grants that keep people in jobs, the grants that keep people going, the grants that lead to some of the most exciting research results in Australia - those, we gather, will be announced over the next day or two.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: And what effect, then, do you think that will have?
BOB WILLIAMSON: I think that many people who have been extremely worried about whether they would have a job or not will be reassured that at least their support will continue.
But having said that, we want to see a little more certainty in the system. We want to see grants go for five years, seven years, 10 years, because it's the consistent support of research that leads to really important discoveries.
If you look at Australian science, the fields that we're really good in - fields like immunology, fields like astrophysics - these are fields that have been supported consistently for 10, 20, 30 years by the Government.
Someone like Brian Schmidt would not have come to Australia if he didn't feel there was pretty much a certainty that as long as the research continued to do well, he would be supported. And the young scientists I'm talking to today do not have that feeling of certainty.
And certainly, some of the younger people I've been talking to are beginning to look quite seriously at going to the States or Europe, or even to China or India, where there's now, in many ways, more generous support and more security of support.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: Do you think the Government had any other option than to put this freeze on research grants?
BOB WILLIAMSON: The Government felt that it had to meet its commitment to balance the budget and was looking at all forms of expenditure.
I'm very pleased that good sense prevailed and they agreed that the rounds of research grants that are provided by ARC and NHMRC are going to be announced, and hopefully are going to be funded without any more delay.
There are about 2,000 or 3,000 people whose jobs are on the line, and these people I know are very nervous today while they're waiting for the grants to be announced.
I think the best thing that can be done is to make sure that the very best of these people - because it is only the very best who get the grants - the very best people find out the results and get on with their research, because we're doing a lot of very valuable research.
Valuable research in medicine, valuable research in science, valuable research in engineering, and if we don't get the grants out there, people will leave.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: Has the Government, do you think, now avoided any permanent damage to Australia's research effort?
BOB WILLIAMSON: I hope that the announcements over the next month will be announcements that avoid permanent damage. I think that the single most serious problems have been avoided and I am very pleased at that.
You know, when the mining boom is over, we have to have strong science, strong engineering, strong medicine. That's what's going to keep our country going. And I think in the interests of Australia we want to guarantee that our research effort is not undermined and is generously supported in future.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: Is there a lesson here for the Government to learn about the way that it's handled this freeze on research grants?
BOB WILLIAMSON: I hope that in future they recognise that this particular sector, young people who are coming up and doing the most exciting work, is a particularly precious group of people who must be supported if we're going to have a future scientific research community in our country.
BRENDAN TREMBATH: Professor Bob Williamson from the Australian Academy of Science with Alexandra Kirk.There is nothing better than free, right? Well, August 20 – 21, 2011 you can enjoy eleven local museums for one low price of zero. Yes, that means they are all FREE.
WLRN Public Radio and Television and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council will host the first annual Key West Museum
Weekend on August 20th and 21st. The event provides a free cultural pass for South Florida residents and visitors to experience the rich history of Key West by offering free admission to eleven participating museums.
This is really a good deal. While the Eco-Discovery Center is always free (and closed on Sunday, so go check it out on August 20th), the Hemingway House is usually $12/person. That can add up fast.
What’s the catch, you may be asking? There isn’t one. The only thing you need to do is go to the WLRN Public Radio and Television website and print out your pass.
Follow the link, print out your pass and let me know which was you favorite free museum.Analysis
Prince Ibeh was easily the most impressive physical specimen at this year's PIT on paper. Measured at 6'11 in shoes with a 261-pound frame and a 7'5.5 wingspan, Ibeh's numbers are almost identical to those of Texas centerwas easily the most impressive physical specimen at this year's PIT on paper. Measured at 6'11 in shoes with a 261-pound frame and a 7'5.5 wingspan, Ibeh's numbers are almost identical to those of Festus Ezeli who stood 6'11.5 in shoes with a 264-pound frame with a 7'5.75 wingspan coming out of Vanderbilt. It isn't hard to guess what made Ibeh one of the top per-minute shot blockers and offensive rebounders in the country this season. He wasn't particularly productive at Portsmouth, scoring 10 points and hauling in 13 rebounds in 68 minutes on 3/11 shooting, through 3 games in Virginia, but has freakish tools for an NBA center, which gives him a great chance to get drafted.
Shevon Thompson, like Ibeh, struggled to finish inside at times this week (37% 2P%), but posted terrific measurements standing 6'11 in shoes with a 7'5 wingspan while tipping the scales at 241 pounds. -Jamaican big man, like Ibeh, struggled to finish inside at times this week (37% 2P%), but posted terrific measurements standing 6'11 in shoes with a 7'5 wingspan while tipping the scales at 241 pounds.
Tonye Jekiri who shot just 31% from the field, but has impressive size nonetheless at 6'11 in shoes with a 239-pound frame and a 7'2 wingspan. The same can be said of Nigeria nativewho shot just 31% from the field, but has impressive size nonetheless at 6'11 in shoes with a 239-pound frame and a 7'2 wingspan.
Mike Tobey had an impressive showing in competitive action, averaging 12 points (68% 2P%) and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes. Measured at 7'0.5 in shoes with a 252-pound frame, Toby has nice size for a center at any level, but his 7'0 wingspan leaving something to be desired. -Among centers,had an impressive showing in competitive action, averaging 12 points (68% 2P%) and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes. Measured at 7'0.5 in shoes with a 252-pound frame, Toby has nice size for a center at any level, but his 7'0 wingspan leaving something to be desired.
Dorian Finney-Smith confirmed the many measurements we have on him dating back to 2010, measuring 6'7.5 in shoes with a 215-pound frame. While not exceptionally tall or bulky for a combo forward, he compensates with a strong near-7-foot wingspan. The Portsmouth native had an outstanding week playing in front of family and friends, showing he's a cut above anyone in attendance, and likely helping his NBA stock significantly in the process. -Florida standoutconfirmed the many measurements we have on him dating back to 2010, measuring 6'7.5 in shoes with a 215-pound frame. While not exceptionally tall or bulky for a combo forward, he compensates with a strong near-7-foot wingspan. The Portsmouth native had an outstanding week playing in front of family and friends, showing he's a cut above anyone in attendance, and likely helping his NBA stock significantly in the process.
-Oregon wing Elgin Cook has decent height for the wing at 6'5 without shoes, but his strong 212 pound frame and 6'10 ½ wingspan indicates he has multi-positional potential defensively considering how athletic and aggressive he is. Cook did a little bit of everything at the PIT, averaging 14 points in 25 minutes, while nabbing 2.3 steals and shooting 62% for 2. The biggest key for Cook in the draft process will be his ability to convince NBA teams he has better potential as a shooter than he displayed at Oregon (career 29% 3P%). He shot just 2/8 for 3 in Virginia.
-South Carolina forward Michael Carrera measured just 6'5 in shoes, but his 7'1.5 wingspan is absolutely sensational for his size, indicating why he was able to spend minutes at the center position in the SEC the past few years despite weighing just 215 pounds. Carrera led the PIT in PER, averaging 15.3 points and 8 rebounds per game while shooting over 50% from beyond the arc. Even if NBA teams don't come calling, the Venezuelan likely made himself money with the many international teams that were in attendance this week.
Isaiah Cousins had a strong showing at the PIT, and measured an impressive 6'5.5 in shoes with a 6'6.5 wingspan and a 8'9 standing reach. This could very well be a typo, though, as it is significantly taller and longer than what he measured just a few months ago with USA Basketball, and much taller than what Oklahoma listed him at (6'3 as a freshman, 6'4 since). Nevertheless, he appears to have solid size and length for a player that ran the point extensively this season. had a strong showing at the PIT, and measured an impressive 6'5.5 in shoes with a 6'6.5 wingspan and a 8'9 standing reach. This could very well be a typo, though, as it is significantly taller and longer than what he measured just a few months ago with USA Basketball, and much taller than what Oklahoma listed him at (6'3 as a freshman, 6'4 since). Nevertheless, he appears to have solid size and length for a player that ran the point extensively this season.
Ryan Anderson led the PIT in rebounding at 12 per game in 31 minutes, not that different than what he did in the Pac-12 with Arizona. Anderson has always had just average tools for a big man, measuring 6'8.5 in shoes with a 6'9 wingspan, something we've seen across numerous measurements we've come across in our database since 2010. Anderson's ability to compensate for his lack of size on the boards really stands out. He took a massive step forward in that regard as a senior. led the PIT in rebounding at 12 per game in 31 minutes, not that different than what he did in the Pac-12 with Arizona. Anderson has always had just average tools for a big man, measuring 6'8.5 in shoes with a 6'9 wingspan, something we've seen across numerous measurements we've come across in our database since 2010. Anderson's ability to compensate for his lack of size on the boards really stands out. He took a massive step forward in that regard as a senior.
Matt Costello was the second best rebounder at the PIT at 11.7 per game, and measured a solid 6'10, 245 pounds with a 7'1.5 wingspan. Costello didn't get quite the same buzz as some of the upperclassmen around him at Michigan State, but will be highly sought after in every league outside of the NBA given his size and ability to make an impact with his mobility and toughness inside. was the second best rebounder at the PIT at 11.7 per game, and measured a solid 6'10, 245 pounds with a 7'1.5 wingspan. Costello didn't get quite the same buzz as some of the upperclassmen around him at Michigan State, but will be highly sought after in every league outside of the NBA given his size and ability to make an impact with his mobility and toughness inside.
Bryn Forbes measured 6'3 with a 190-pound frame and a 6'5 wingspan. He lacks a degree of size and length for a shooting guard, but led the PIT in per-minute scoring doing what he does best, shooting the 3 (4.3 makes over 10 attempts per game, 43% 3P%). Few players in the country have been as deadly from the perimeter as Forbes in recent seasons, and though he has limited experience running an offense, it will be interesting to see how teams value his sensational shooting ability (48% 3P% as a senior) in the draft process given the direction the league is headed. -Speaking of Michigan State upperclassmen,measured 6'3 with a 190-pound frame and a 6'5 wingspan. He lacks a degree of size and length for a shooting guard, but led the PIT in per-minute scoring doing what he does best, shooting the 3 (4.3 makes over 10 attempts per game, 43% 3P%). Few players in the country have been as deadly from the perimeter as Forbes in recent seasons, and though he has limited experience running an offense, it will be interesting to see how teams value his sensational shooting ability (48% 3P% as a senior) in the draft process given the direction the league is headed.
A.J. English measured 6'3.5 in shoes with an impressive 6'9 wingspan. The 23 year old scoring guard lacks a strength for a soon-to-be 24 year old, weighing only 180-pound at the moment, but his length certainly helps his cause. -PIT Most Valuable playermeasured 6'3.5 in shoes with an impressive 6'9 wingspan. The 23 year old scoring guard lacks a strength for a soon-to-be 24 year old, weighing only 180-pound at the moment, but his length certainly helps his cause.
Kyle Collinsworth has been one of the most productive players in the country in recent seasons outside of the scoring column. Standing 6'5.5 without shoes with a 6'6.5 wingspan and a strong 211-pound frame, Collinsworth's lack of length makes him productivity as a rebounder and in the passing lanes that much more impressive. has been one of the most productive players in the country in recent seasons outside of the scoring column. Standing 6'5.5 without shoes with a 6'6.5 wingspan and a strong 211-pound frame, Collinsworth's lack of length makes him productivity as a rebounder and in the passing lanes that much more impressive.
The same can be said for Alex Caruso from a defensive perspective as he measured 6'4.5 in shoes with a 6'5.5 wingspan.
Nathan Boothe shot the ball well from 3 in Portsmouth, but wasn't overly effective otherwise. At 6'9 in shoes with an average 7'0.5 wingspan and a 246-pound frame, Boothe has unique measurements for a stretch four, and will probably need to slim down to make the transition. shot the ball well from 3 in Portsmouth, but wasn't overly effective otherwise. At 6'9 in shoes with an average 7'0.5 wingspan and a 246-pound frame, Boothe has unique measurements for a stretch four, and will probably need to slim down to make the transition.
David Walker struggled in the PIT and measured 6'6.5 in shoes with an unimpressive 6'7 wingspan. One of the top shooters in the college game last season, Walker ran cold over the course of his 3 games here. -Northeastern'sstruggled in the PIT and measured 6'6.5 in shoes with an unimpressive 6'7 wingspan. One of the top shooters in the college game last season, Walker ran cold over the course of his 3 games here.
Jameel McKay isn't the tallest or bulkiest big man you'll find at just 6'8 without shoes and 210 pounds, but his 7'3 ½ wingspan and 9'1 ½ standing reach are both outstanding. That should allow him to comfortably continue to play the center position for whichever team he ends up with next, provided he can add some strength. isn't the tallest or bulkiest big man you'll find at just 6'8 without shoes and 210 pounds, but his 7'3 ½ wingspan and 9'1 ½ standing reach are both outstanding. That should allow him to comfortably continue to play the center position for whichever team he ends up with next, provided he can add some strength.
Octavius Ellis, who measured just 6'8 without shoes and 226 pounds, but has an outstanding 7'3 wingspan and 9'0 ½ standing reach. -Similar things can be said about Cincinnati big man, who measured just 6'8 without shoes and 226 pounds, but has an outstanding 7'3 wingspan and 9'0 ½ standing reach.
The official measurements of the participants of the 2016 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament have been released. You can view them, and all the measurements in our extensive database, here didn't shoot the ball well at the PIT, but made his presence felt on the glass and moving the ball in the half court. Standing 6'7 in shoes with a 6'10 wingspan, Garino has very nice size for a wing at the international level and figures to factor prominently into the plans of the Argentine National Team in the coming years.Eggs should keep a consistent and low temperature. This is best achieved by placing their carton in the center of your fridge. The eggs should also remain in their original packaging to avoid the absorption of strong odors. It is wise to follow the “best by” date to determine overall freshness, but eggs can be tested by simply dropping them into a bowl of water. Older eggs will float while fresh eggs will sink. This is due to the size of their air cells, which gradually increase over time. Cooked eggs have a refrigerator shelf life of no more than four days, while hard-boiled eggs, peeled or unpeeled, are safe to consume up to one week after they’re prepared.
Tip How to Cook Eggs
The beauty of an egg is its versatility. Eggs can be cooked in a variety of ways. Here are some tips in accomplishing the four most common preparations.
Scrambled: Whip your eggs in a bowl. The consistency of your scrambled eggs is a personal preference, though it seems like the majority of breakfast connoisseurs enjoy a more runny and fluffy option. In this case, add about ¼ cup of milk for every four eggs. This will help to thin the mix. Feel free to also season with salt and pepper (or stir in cream cheese for added decadence). Grease a skillet with butter over medium heat and pour in the egg mixture. As the eggs begin to cook, begin to pull and fold the eggs with a spatula until it
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he said. “And essentially that’s what they did: they caved to the governor and really more liberal-minded interests rather than their core constituency.”
The outcry against the Republicans had an awkward side effect — although conservatives contributed significantly to their fates, two of the three are being replaced by Democrats who support same-sex marriage.
But Michael R. Long, the chairman of the state’s Conservative Party said the races should amount to a wake-up call for Republicans.
“Principles matter,” Mr. Long said. “These guys were institutions. And I think their voters were upset and were tired of being taken advantage of.”
Gay-rights advocates on Thursday played down the significance of the election results, suggesting that, as with any local races, the outcomes were the result of a blend of factors.
For example, the senator who decided not to seek re-election, James S. Alesi of Monroe County, had caused controversy over an issue that had nothing to do with politics: he broke his leg while exploring a house that was under construction, and then filed a lawsuit against the homeowners. And the senator who lost his primary, Roy J. McDonald of Saratoga County, emboldened his critics by saying that anyone upset with his position on the issue could “take the job and shove it.”
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(The lone senator to win re-election, Mark J. Grisanti of Buffalo, had his own baggage: he took part in a bar brawl at an American Indian casino. He sailed to an easy victory in a four-way race.)
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Mr. Alesi, in an interview Thursday, said that Mr. Saland and Mr. McDonald “endured the wrath and the venomous vengeance of a small handful of people for being courageous heroes.”
“I can’t think of too many senators or members of the Assembly that have ever done anything historic,” he said. “ So when you look at the four of us, whether we’re survivors of the political process or not, we did something that was so historic that it overshadows how you feel about somebody’s win or loss.”
The last of the senators to fall was Stephen M. Saland of Poughkeepsie, who had served in the Legislature for more than three decades. He lost the support of the Conservative Party because of his vote, and he barely won the Republican primary in September. The challenger who nearly beat him, Neil A. Di Carlo, stayed in the race as the candidate of the Conservative Party, and ended up winning more than 14 percent of the vote. Mr. Di Carlo on Thursday said Mr. Saland had been defeated despite receiving financial support from Mr. Bloomberg “and other radical homosexualists.”
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The difference in votes between Mr. Saland and his Democratic opponent, Terry W. Gipson, was close enough that the race was not called on election night, and the candidates fought for weeks over which paper ballots to count. But last weekend, Mr. Saland concluded he had little chance of winning, and told his lawyers to ease up; on Thursday, officials in Dutchess County finished tallying the paper ballots, and Mr. Saland conceded defeat to Mr. Gipson. Election officials said he won by about 2,100 votes.
Mr. Bloomberg, who donated money and helped raise money for the Republican senators, was obviously disappointed, saying in a statement Thursday, “Senator Saland is everything you look for in a public servant — a principled leader who stands up for what is right irrespective of partisan politics.”
And Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who had personally persuaded Mr. Saland and the three other Republicans to risk their careers by voting for same-sex marriage, was similarly rueful.
“Steve is a public servant of remarkable character, integrity, and courage and serves as a model for our collective aspirations of how our elected officials should perform,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that an elected official who stood so strong for equality, as Steve did, was not able to survive in today’s political environment.”Christopher J. Scarver (born July 6, 1969) is an American convicted murderer who is best known for murdering the serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer at Columbia Correctional Institution, Portage, Wisconsin, in 1994. Scarver used a 20-inch (51 cm) metal bar, which he had removed from a piece of exercise equipment in the prison weight room, to beat Dahmer and another convicted murderer, Jesse Anderson. Both Dahmer and Anderson died later from their injuries. Scarver was sentenced to two further life sentences for the killings.
Early life [ edit ]
Scarver is the second of five children and was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[3] He attended James Madison High School before dropping out in the eleventh grade.[3] Eventually his mother forced him to leave the house because of his increasing alcoholism.
Scarver was hired as a trainee carpenter in a Wisconsin Conservation Corps job program.[3] He said that he had been promised by Edward Patts, a supervisor, that upon completion of this program he would be hired full-time, but Patts was dismissed and, as a result, Scarver's full-time position never materialized.[3]
Murder conviction [ edit ]
On June 1, 1990, Scarver went to the Wisconsin Conservation Corps training program office and found Steve Lohman, the supervisor who had replaced Edward Patts. Scarver demanded money from Lohman. When Scarver received only $15 from Lohman, Scarver shot Lohman in the head. At the same time, he demanded money from site manager John Feyen. According to authorities, Scarver said, "Do you think I'm kidding? I need more money." Scarver shot Lohman twice more before Feyen was able to run away after giving a $3,000 check to Scarver.[3][4]
Scarver was convicted and sentenced to life in prison[5] and sent to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, in 1992.[6] While imprisoned, he complained of experiencing messianic delusions, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Conduct in prison [ edit ]
On the morning of November 28, 1994, Scarver was assigned to a work detail with two other inmates, Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer, that included cleaning the prison gymnasium toilet. When corrections officers left the three unsupervised, Scarver beat the other two men with a 20-inch (51 cm) metal bar that he had removed from a piece of exercise equipment in the prison weight room. When he returned to his cell early, an officer asked him why he was not still working. During that time two officers found Dahmer and Anderson.[7][8] Scarver said that Dahmer had taunted other inmates by constructing "severed limbs" out of food and ketchup.[9]
Dahmer was pronounced dead while on the way to the hospital, while Anderson died two days later. After being found competent to stand trial,[10] Scarver received two more life sentences for these murders.[9]
In 2005, Scarver brought a federal civil rights suit against officials of the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility[11] in which he argued that he had been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, contrary to his constitutional rights.[12] Scarver stated that he spent 16 months in solitary confinement as a result of the Dahmer killing.[13] A district court judge dismissed the suit against several of the defendants and ruled that the actions of the remaining officials could not be considered unlawful. Scarver unsuccessfully appealed the decision in 2006.[11] Later, federal district court judge Barbara Crabb ordered that Scarver and about three dozen other seriously mentally ill inmates be relocated from the Wisconsin facility. Scarver was eventually relocated to the Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado.[14]
In 2012, an agent representing Scarver announced that Scarver was willing to write a tell-all book about the killing of Dahmer.[15][16][17][18]
In 2015, Jamie Schram of the New York Post reported that Scarver had believed that Dahmer was unrepentant for his crimes. Schram reported that Dahmer would taunt fellow inmates by shaping his prison food into severed limbs and drizzling packets of ketchup on them to simulate blood. It also reported that, although Scarver had not interacted with Dahmer before killing him, he knew that Dahmer was very unpopular with fellow inmates and had seen him get into several altercations with other prisoners. Scarver was reported to have said that he was revolted by Dahmer's crimes and that he carried in his pocket a news article detailing the atrocities. Immediately before murdering Dahmer, Scarver allegedly presented the newspaper clipping to him and asked him whether the account was true. Scarver was reported to have said that prison staff left him alone with Dahmer because they wanted Dahmer dead and they knew that Scarver hated him.[19] In a 2015 blog post, Scarver disputed some of these statements.[20]Maneesh Sethi, a developer and blogger who rose to fame after hiring a woman to slap him whenever he wasted time on Facebook, has unveiled a wearable device designed to administer electric shocks to users.
The “Pavlok”, as the device is named, “uses instantaneous triggers, like vibration, beeping, and even electric shock (up to 300V) to get your attention and form triggers that the body assimilates to form habits.”
The idea seems to be that you program your Pavlok to give you a jolt if you fail to meet your goals. If, for example, you set a 7.00am alarm and decide to lie in for a bit, Pavlok will progress from gentle buzzes through to less pleasant reminders that it is time to get up.
Sethi is hiring a developer, project manager and embedded systems engineer. The latter role requires someone familiar with the BlueGiga TICC2541 wireless module, so it seems the device's design is reasonably advanced.
The Pavlok gives you a jolt when you slack off
Crowdfunding is expected to get the Pavlok over the line and on sale by early 2015, with $250 as the target price.
Let's hope they beat that schedule so the Pavlok becomes a Christmas present possibility. We're sure you can think of just the person who deserves it. ®
Slapnote
Sethi writes about how his day of being slapped in the face for slacking off went on his blog. El Reg notes that he hired his slapper from Craigslist.The dramatic turning point in the career of Will McAvoy, the once inoffensive network anchor in the new hit drama The Newsroom, comes when he's asked to explain why America is the best country in the world.
McAvoy tries to dodge the question. But when pushed he sheds his milquetoast persona to deliver a tirade.
"There is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world," he yells at a stunned audience. "We're seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality [and] third in median household income … When you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about – Yosemite?"
In melancholic tones McAvoy then opines: "We sure used to be," before going on to mourn the loss of the nation's moral purpose, innovative prowess and consensual possibilities.
The reverence for a lost, idyllic American past merely mixes mythology with amnesia. America has had many great achievements in its short lifetime. But while it may be returning to a gilded age it cannot claim a golden one.
"The essential characteristic of a nation is that all its individuals must have many things in common," wrote the 19th-century French philosopher Ernest Renan. "And must have forgotten many things as well." In just the postwar period, you'd have to forget McCarthy, segregation, Nixon, several assassinations, Vietnam and Iraq – to name but a few.
Nonetheless, the notion that America is in decline has gained a firm foothold in the national psyche over the last decade or so. A plurality (45%) believes the country's best days are in the past; almost as many (42%) think China will overtake the US as a world power. Bookshelves and newsstands are filled with explanations. In 2001 60% said economic globalisation was a positive development; two years later it was 42%; last year it was down to 36%.
This angst is found on both sides of the aisle. In 2004, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry wrote the preface to a collection of Langston Hughes poems entitled: "Let America be America Again". Republican candidate Mitt Romney insists he'll return the nation to a day when "each of us could walk a little taller and stand a little straighter".
But while liberals are more likely to see the roots of this crisis as domestic – growing economic inequalities, religious zealotry, corporatisation of media and politics – conservatives are increasingly keen to perceive the primary threat as external: immigrants, Islam, foreigners and foreign trade.
The most marked slump in support for economic globalisation over the last decade has been among Republicans, as has the sharpest increase in anti-immigrant sentiment and fear of the threat of "radical Islam".
It is in this light that Romney's gaffes in London, the constant questioning of Obama's American identity and the attacks on Romney's record as a venture capitalist must be understood.
For among a core group of Republicans "foreign" has become an epithet – a slur wilfully blurring the distinction between non-American, un-American, liberal, non-Christian and non-white.
Paradoxically, those most likely to insist the US is the leader of the free world are simultaneously those most likely to both fear and disparage the very world they insist on leading – whether it's free or not. To these people America's best days were when Americans did not care what the rest of the world thought of them and the rest of the world loved them for it.
This trend is most obvious in a popular line of attack on Obama that implicitly – and increasingly explicitly – challenges his claim to be American.
Last week one of Romney's top surrogates, John Sununu, said he wished "this president would learn how to be an American". Romney himself claimed the president espoused a philosophy that was "in some respects foreign to the American experience".
This is of course a proxy for race made popular by the birthers, who, despite all the evidence, insist Obama was born in Kenya. In a world where direct racial attacks are out of bounds, "foreign" becomes a useful metaphor. This man, it says, is essentially not like us or even from us.
Branding him Muslim, as though this too were in itself an insult, has the same function. A recent poll revealed the proportion of Republicans who believe Obama is Muslim has doubled since 2008 and now stands at almost a third. The trouble with these dog whistles is now that everyone can hear them they are scarcely worthy of the name.
Romney had barely landed in London before an adviser explained the reason he appreciates the "special relationship" more than Obama is because Romney is "part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage".
But race is not all these attacks are about. For the continent they're most likely to tar Obama with is not Africa but Europe – ostensibly a region of economically failed states pampered by overly generous welfare that also happen to be allies. "This president takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe," said Romney. "We look to the cities and small towns of America."
It's with this mindset that Romney undertook his disastrous trip to Britain, described in his book as a small island that "with few exceptions doesn't make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy". It's for this reason that accusations of outsourcing at Bain Capital, where he was once CEO, and ads about his offshore bank accounts have made him vulnerable.
For the party most likely to champion patriotism and leverage parochialism is also the party most likely to be bankrolled by multinationals and champion free trade. A significant portion of the Republican base – white working-class men – have seen their livelihoods threatened by the very neoliberal globalisation that their party seeks to extend. Profit has no intrinsic interest in patriotism, and capital, increasingly, is unfettered by the nation state. The capitalism they vote for and the capitalism they actually experience couldn't be more different.
But in the absence of any real opposition to that trend – Democrats support it too – many Republicans reach for the comfort blankets of hyper patriotism and xenophobia and the more accessible targets of immigrants, foreigners and Muslims.
Open borders for capital and closed minds for culture; classically liberal economics and classically illiberal politics.
Twitter: @garyyoungeThis article is from the archive of our partner.
Occupy Wall Street got its confiscated generators back on Tuesday after its legal team pressed the Fire Department of New York to release them.
The machines were picked up from the New York City Fire Academy at Randall's Island by the Wikileaks truck, which has been stationed next to Zuccotti Park since the protest's inception. The vehicle with the generator on board made its way back to Zuccotti Park hours before a planned concert by Graham Nash and David Crosby.
Yetta Kurland, a lawyer representing the protesters, said the generators did not violate any FDNY code.
The protesters have been without machine-generated power since Oct. 28, when police and firefighters seized their gas and biodeisel generators on the grounds that they were a fire hazard. Protesters have been using bicycle-powered generators to charge batteries in the park, but they were without steady power as a freak snowstorm hit on Oct. 29.
Lawyers for the protesters sent the FDNY a letter on Oct. 29 demanding the return of their equipment. Last week the fire department gave in. "I believe they gave the generators back because they had no basis to confiscate them," Kurland said. "When there’s a fire inspection, the normal procedure is for the FDNY to give corrective feedback... That didn’t happen here. Rather than saying do this or that or taking corrective steps, they simply confiscated the generators and didn’t even list on the confiscation order what the specific violations were."Share The Latest News
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When it comes to social media, Facebook is king. And they look to implement some of that ideology into Oculus Rift Core 2.0 Beta update. First announced at OC4, this is a complete overhaul and redesign to their existing platform which will improve and focus their attention on the wants and needs of Rift users today.
What Rift Core 2.0 features
The Rift Core 2.0 will feature immense changes to the platform including a new Dash and Home.
Dash
Dash is a redesigned interface that’ll serve as the command center for the Rift. On the Dash, you’ll be able to multitask across your favorite PC desktop apps, VR library, and more with a wave of your hand using the Touch interface.
Dash runs as an overlay inside your current VR experience, so you’ll be able to quickly switch from one app to the next, open your library, connect with friends, and even use the rest of your PC without any extra steps. This allows for easy multitasking while inside the Rift.
Users will be able to run multiple apps and windows while maintaining full graphic fidelity and performance. You’ll also be able to peel off individual windows and place them anywhere. They are resizable inside your infinite workspace. For Developers, you’ll even be able to debug VR apps while inside them using applications such as Unity and Unreal Engine.
Home
A great feature that comes along with the Rift Core 2.0 beta update is the newly designed Home. This is a space within VR where you have the ability customize your own virtual pad.
Users will be able to add and remove virtual items and even furnish the place with cool decorations. The Home will also serve as a trophy wall where you can hang the different achievements you’ve accomplished throughout the virtual games you’ve played.
Friends will be able to visit your digital pad and you’ll be able to visit other Homes as well. This is one of the key features of socializing in the virtual world that we truly enjoy.
How to sign up and access the Oculus Rift Core 2.0 Beta
The open beta for Rift Core 2.0 is now available on Oculus. To sign up and access the Core 2.0 Beta you must do the following:
To enroll, you’ll need to opt-in for beta access via the Public Test Channel:
Make sure you’re opted-in for the beta access via the Public Test Channel
To enroll in the Public Test Channel you must:
Open the Oculus app on your PC
Click on the “Gear” icon and then select Settings
Then click Beta in the left menu
Next to Public Test Channel, click enroll
You have the option to leave the Beta at any time by returning to this section and clicking next to Public Test Channel
Requirements
There are requirements in fully running the Rift Core 2.0 Beta. First, you must be running Windows 10. There’s no way around that. If you are running Windows 7 or 8 you won’t be able to use features like Oculus Desktop virtual computing. Also, Dash will not be able to run as an overlay on top of your running VR experience or app.
You must update your GPU Driver. Oculus has teamed up with Nvidia and AMD to integrate Dash support at their driver level so you will need the latest driver.
Users will also require the Oculus Touch to fully run the Rift Core 2.0 Beta. Without it, you won’t have access to certain things such as customizing your Home.
If you follow the guideline, you should be good to go in signing up and accessing the Oculus Rift Core 2.0 Beta program. Make sure to share your thoughts about the new design and layouts.And we’re back! SXSW 2018 is five months away, and today’s announcement reveals the first wave of over 200 Showcasing Artists who will be performing at the SXSW Music Festival, March 12–18, 2018. Discovery is the standard at SXSW, and with acts from 32 countries set to perform in an array of musical styles you can expect to find artists and genres that you don’t even know you love yet.
Showcasing Artists include 88Rising artists Higher Brothers from Chengdu, China and Indonesian rapper Rich Chigga, new Matador Records signee Snail Mail, and recent additions to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, Jay Park and Farina. Moses Boyd returns with the jazz/grime/electronic-infused Moses Boyd – Solo X one-man performance, while Albert Hammond Jr-produced Japanese indie-rockers DYGL, UK and New Zealand singer/songwriters Lucy Rose and Marlon Williams, and iconic UK indie pop legends The Wedding Present also join the 2018 lineup. View the full list of Showcasing Artists below.
Digging into a list of this magnitude is always a treat, but can also be time-consuming. Allow us to lend you a helping hand in the process of discovery:
In case you missed it, the SXSW Conference made a Keynote & Featured Speakers Announcement yesterday, including additions to the Music Tracks. Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Keith Urban will speak at the conference as part of Music Culture & Stories, and Spotify’s Chief Content Officer Stefan Blom will have a conversation with Josh Constine, the Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch, in Sync, Stream & License.
Lock in your spot in the audience for these performances and conference sessions by registering to attend. Act quickly, as registering before the October 20 deadline will save you 30% on a Music Badge. The Music Badge provides primary access to all showcases, Music and Convergence tracks at the SXSW Conference and more, plus secondary access to Interactive and Film content. Review this chart to learn more about what the Music Badge can do for you.
Artists, if this announcement has served as a reminder that you have not yet submitted your Showcase Application, don’t panic. There’s still time to apply before the final deadline on October 20. Read these tips from the Music Festival team for a primer on how to make your best effort in the application process, and watch this helpful How-To video if you need help with the nuts and bolts.
2018 SXSW Showcasing Artists
Everything subject to change.
Altre di B (Bologna ITALY)
Antytila (Kyiv UKRAINE)
Automelodi (Montreal CANADA)
Avatar Darko (Seattle WA)
Bad Moves (Washington DC)
Bad Pony (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Alice Bag (Los Angeles CA)
Lee Bains III + The Glory Fires (Birmingham AL)
Bajaga and Instruktori (Belgrade SERBIA)
Baywaves (Madrid SPAIN)
Benin City (London UK-ENGLAND)
Dan Bettridge (Bridgend UK-WALES)
The Bishops (Austin TX)
Blackberries (Solingen GERMANY)
Boogat (Montreal CANADA)
Moses Boyd – Solo X (London UK-ENGLAND)
Brightness (Newcastle AUSTRALIA)
The Britanys (New York NY)
Buddy (Compton CA)
C-Kan (Guadalajara MEXICO)
Dylan Cameron (Austin TX)
Fabrizio Cammarata (Palermo ITALY)
Cape Francis (Brooklyn NY)
ChihiroYamazaki+ROUTE14band (Tokyo JAPAN)
CIFIKA (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Cilantro Boombox (Austin TX)
Cirkus Funk (Cali COLOMBIA)
C.Macleod (Stornoway UK-SCOTLAND)
Kelvyn Colt (Bingen GERMANY)
Coma Pony (Chihuahua MEXICO)
Crumb (Brooklyn NY)
Cursed Earth (Perth AUSTRALIA)
Curved Light (Austin TX)
Cut Worms (Brooklyn NY)
Mikaela Davis (Rochester NY)
Jarv Dee (Seattle WA)
Helena Deland (Montreal CANADA)
Deluxe (Aix-en-Provence FRANCE)
Dirgahayu (Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA)
Stella Donnelly (Fremantle AUSTRALIA)
Joey Dosik (Los Angeles CA)
Draper (London UK-ENGLAND)
DYGL (Shibuya JAPAN)
El Otro Borges (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)
El Otro Grupo (Santa Marta COLOMBIA)
Farina (Medellin COLOMBIA)
Fatai (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
FAVX (Madrid SPAIN)
Charlie Faye & The Fayettes (Austin TX)
Ruby Fields (Cronulla AUSTRALIA)
The Fish Police (London UK-ENGLAND)
Flyte (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Foreign Resort (Copenhagen DENMARK)
Forever (Montreal CANADA)
FOXTRAX (New York NY)
Francobollo (London UK-ENGLAND)
Fuglar (Santiago CHILE)
GANGES (Madrid SPAIN)
Gang of Youths (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Nubya Garcia (London UK-ENGLAND)
Samantha Glass (Madison WI)
William Harries Graham (Austin TX)
Grand Analog (Toronto CANADA)
Grandchildren (Philadelphia PA)
Greenbeard (Austin TX)
Grim Streaker (Brooklyn NY)
Gulfer (Montreal CANADA)
Hatchie (Brisbane AUSTRALIA)
Hater (Malmo SWEDEN)
Ashley Henry Trio (London UK-ENGLAND)
Higher Brothers (Chengdu CHINA)
The Homesick (Dokkum NETHERLANDS)
Honduras (Brooklyn NY)
Huxlee (Los Angeles CA)
Izzy True (Trumansburg NY)
Jade Imagine (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Joji (Tokyo JAPAN)
Keith Ape (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Sarah Klang (Gothenburg SWEDEN)
La Banda Morisca (Andalucía SPAIN)
Leather Girls (Austin TX)
Luna Lee (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Benji Lewis (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Dean Lewis (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
LNG/SHT (Cancun MEXICO)
Los Wilds (Madrid SPAIN)
Lolo Lovina (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Luneta Mágica (Manaus BRAZIL)
The Magnettes (Pajala SWEDEN)
Manatee Commune (Seattle WA)
Mannequin Pussy (Philadelphia PA)
Anna McClellan (Brooklyn NY)
Melo Makes Music (Chicago IL)
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her husband’s. Hereditary monarchies were the primary route to the top, from the Biblical Queen of Sheba to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. The pattern of inherited power went on well into the twentieth century.
In the nineteen-seventies, Isabel Perón, of Argentina, became the world’s first female president, assuming power after her husband died. The pattern of wives and daughters acquiring power continued even when hereditary monarchies were replaced. The notables include Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who succeeded her husband, Nestor, in Argentina, and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose father was a leading figure in achieving the independence of modern Myanmar.
The pattern began to shift in the late nineteen-sixties, coinciding with the women’s-liberation movement. In 1969, Golda Meir, a Russian immigrant who grew up in Milwaukee, became Prime Minister of Israel. Her late husband, Morris Meyerson, had been a sign painter. Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s Prime Minister in the eighties; her husband was a businessman.
The nineties witnessed the first real spurt of women acquiring power in their own right. Both of Canada’s two major parties were headed by women. Ireland had two female Presidents, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark were both Prime Ministers in New Zealand. Hanna Cuchocka was the first woman to head a Polish government since Queen Jadwiga, in the fourteenth century. Édith Cresson was France’s Prime Minister. The economist Tansu Çiller was Turkey’s first female Prime Minister. In an unprecedented move that still seems radical, her husband took her surname.
In many countries, the transformative factor has been quotas—either through legislation or party bylaws. India has a long history of practices that oppress women, from gender-selection abortion and female infanticide to bride-burning, when a family fails to pay a dowry. Violence against women, including acid attacks and rape, is still “common,” the latest State Department Human Rights Report warns.
Yet India also carried out history’s single biggest act of female empowerment. In 1993, a constitutional amendment set aside a third of all seats in local councils for women. Nearly a million women suddenly entered politics. A pending constitutional amendment—the so-called Women’s Reservation Bill—would allocate a third of all seats to women in the lower house of Parliament, and in state assemblies.
“More than half of the countries in the world have implemented some type of political quota,” Rohini Pande and Deanna Ford, of Harvard’s Kennedy School, write. “They have led to a dramatic increase in female leaders across the globe.” Norway’s Socialist Left Party started the trend, in 1975, with a rule that forty per cent of its candidates should be female. In 1990, the U.N. Economic and Social Council set a goal of thirty per cent female representation in decision-making bodies.
“The United States is a notable exception among Western countries,” Pande and Ford note. Mexico has legislated quotas for both its parliament and local political office. In 2014, Mexico passed a constitutional amendment that requires parties to develop “rules to ensure gender parity in the nomination of candidates in federal and local congressional elections.” By law, all parties must also allocate funds (albeit small) to train, develop, and promote female leaders. As a result, women account for forty-two per cent of seats in the lower house and a third of the Senate seats. In the United States, women hold only about twenty per cent in both the House and the Senate.
Worldwide, quotas have enabled tens of thousands of women to enter politics. Hillary Clinton has clearly earned her nomination, from years as a community organizer, as a senator, and as Secretary of State. President Obama said no candidate has ever been as qualified to hold the office. Yet, paradoxically, she is still an example of the traditional path to power for women. She emerged on the national stage as a First Lady—as a wife.Terry Crews, seriously, all allies should aspire to be as excellent as you.
Speaking with Dame Magazine, Crews spoke eloquently about gender and how we represent ourselves when talking about how much of himself he brings to his character on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. “Every man and every woman has both sexes in them […] We have to embrace the duality that we are,” said Crews. “I’m an artist – I love painting and drawing, and I play the flute, and people go, ‘Man, that’s feminine!’ But why is that feminine? That’s just human. If you feel that is feminine, you’re judging yourself based on what other people’s reactions might be.”
The former NFL player, who is now married with five children (four of whom are girls) and one granddaughter, said that he has had to do some “serious thinking” about the world in which he’s raising his children, and that’s part of what made him want to actively speak out about feminism and the fight for equality. “When I see the world and the way people are treated, I see so many domination and control issues,” said Crews. “The truth is, everyone is equal and valuable, and everyone is necessary, but there tends to be a dismissal of certain groups.”
But, Crews clarifies, he’s not trying to speak for women, but rather to be the best ally he can. “Women are more than capable of handling themselves, and have been doing so wonderfully for years,” explained Crews. “What I am saying is, as one man to another man, examine your own mind-set. Examine what makes you tick. Because if you feel that you are more valuable than your wife and kids, that’s a problem.” In his book Manhood, Crews cites male pride as something that stops men from changing their outlook on how they treat women.
Crews also spoke at length about rape culture and its prevalence in the world of sports and football, noting that he’s known many men who believed women were responsible for their own sexual assaults because of how they were dressed. “Once I realized that I was part of that culture, I knew that I had to change it,” Crews said, citing 50 Shades of Grey as an example of pop culture projecting abuse as romance, and said that it’s simple in our society for men to use lies, guilt, and shame to control women – something he’s seen at length in his work with the Polaris Project to stop human trafficking.
“We’re not talking Game of Thrones stuff,” added Crews. “we’re talking very subtle mind games that change cultures, and change how people live. We’ve got to address these mindsets that say that’s cool. A reaction I get from certain people is, ‘Hey man, chill, it’s not that deep.’ Everything’s that deep. Don’t wash your hands, and serve food at a restaurant, and you’ll find out how deep things get real quick. It starts with one small thing, and you can cause a whole chain reaction.”
If you want to check out the whole interview – and I think you should, because this dude is awesome – head over to Dame Magazine.
Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?CHAPEL HILL—Justin Jackson, a rising junior and two-year starter on the University of North Carolina men's basketball team, is withdrawing from the 2016 NBA Draft and will return to school to play for the Tar Heels in 2016-17.
The Tomball, Texas, native has scored 895 points in his first two seasons. He's started 75 of 78 games, averaging 11.5 points per contest with 50 games in double figures. Last year as a sophomore, Jackson averaged 12.2 points as Carolina won the ACC regular-season and Tournament titles and the NCAA East Regional and advanced to the national championship game. Jackson scored in double figures 28 times, registered four games with at least 20 points, and had 113 assists. He was the Most Valuable Player of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
“I'm glad I had the chance to enter the Draft and attend the Combine where I was able to meet with a number of NBA executives and test my game against some of the top players in the country, but after discussing it with my parents and coaches and praying over this decision, the best choice for my basketball future is to return to school and play for the Tar Heels next season,” says Jackson. “My dream certainly is to play in the NBA and going through the draft process this year was another step toward reaching that goal, but I've loved my first two years at Carolina and am excited about the upcoming season. It's going to be a fun year, I will be another year closer to earning my degree and can continue to develop as a person and a player.”
“Justin certainly did the right thing in entering the Draft because it helped him and his family make the decision with the most complete information possible,” says UNC head coach Roy Williams. “Justin is a terrific player and an even finer young man and he's going to be a big part of our basketball team next year.”For most users who have discussed the multitude of peripherals on offer for PC users, Logitech is a name that features almost every time. I remember my G7 wireless mouse and G15 keyboard combination back in 2005-2006 when I was clan gaming, but Logitech’s history goes back way beyond this to some of the first early iterations of mouse design. As a result, Logitech is always on the periphery of discussions when it comes to building systems. In recent years however, Logitech’s focus has not always been obvious due to their splitting out into other segments such as audio and touch screen remote controls. That lack of focus has been examined internally and repurposed into targeting their core demographic. Now armed with their Logitech G brand for gaming for a number of quarters, Logitech invited influential media to their Daniel Borel Innovation Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, to get a taste of the company and their efforts moving forward.
Whenever the media are invited to a tech day like this, it is usually derived from the need to tell a story (and promote products). Logitech has many angles for a story, but the one they want to promote is the ‘Win with Science’ ethos. As someone with background in scientific research, it makes complete sense to me to take this approach, although it does not tell the whole story when developing a product. But Logitech is perhaps in a better position than most on this front.
Logitech is highly integrated with EPFL, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, a top-20 university worldwide with a focus on engineering. This gives several distinct advantages. Firstly, access to engineers and professors to collaborate on research. This means, in part, cooperating with professors with research grant funding to analyze various concepts of human interaction or developing better ways for that interaction. Secondly, it gives them access to students who have grown up with Logitech, offering a different perspective having grown up with the company in their gaming life as well as new ideas. With these in hand, when new inventions are made, it allows Logitech to invest in cross-licensing deals with the patent holders and to work closely with them for new technology. Part of this is benefited from Logitech’s testing facilities, which became part of the tour.
This mini-article from the event will cover two main topics – the tour, and the products.
The Tour
Maxime Marini, the Senior Director of Engineering, Gaming and Retail Pointing Devices at Logitech, started the day recalling Logitech’s history and work ethic. We recorded the video here, where Mr. Marini described that the company was founded in a town called Apples, and this was one of their first mice designed in 1980/81:
As mentioned earlier, part of the design process for Logitech involves bringing in students and gamers (see later) to discuss and help design the products. Insert obligatory ‘brainstorming’ interpretation:
As part of the involvement with the EPFL, Logitech sponsor a biannual LAN event as an additional source of feedback on new designs and concepts. Part of what makes a company successful is the experience and design, hence Logitech’s goal of the day to talk to the media. Mr Marini also touched upon Logitech’s manufacturing, indicating that they own their own factory in China rather than outsource to existing companies. Mr Marini was based in Asia for 10 years with Logitech, spending time at the factory actually being hands on assembling the components and talking to line operators about process optimizations and product control. We were told that the factory in Suzhou produces 3 million products a week, shipping to over a hundred countries. I can imagine at a future date that Logitech might invite media to the factory itself in order to get an even closer look into this side of the business.
Logitech G
The focus of the day was more towards Logitech G, the gaming arm of Logitech. In a presentation by Vincent Tucker, the director of Research and Development at Logitech, he took us through the thought process behind the G range. Despite Logitech always being associated with a gaming range, over recent years they have moved into many different peripheral areas.
Some of these are areas hotly contested by bulk production companies in China, such as tablet folios and Bluetooth keyboards, but some require significant research such as audio and focused peripherals. The G branding is a refocus towards the gaming crowd, with the discussion of the day around mice and keyboards more so than audio. With this comes Logitech sponsoring professional gaming teams such as Cloud 9 and other LOL/Hearthstone players, which they had invited to the Tech Day for some Q&A and gaming later in the day.
One of Logitech’s focuses is towards MOBA gaming (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, or what we used to call Real Time Strategy but now controlling a single character rather than a god-view [thanks to Murloc for the context]) such as League of Legends (LoL) and Dota 2, as well as regular FPS and other genres. Mr Tucker described some of the processes that go towards designing a MOBA mouse, such as the G302 Daedalus Prime:
This includes analyzing where players need extra buttons, hand placement, grip type (claw vs. finger-tip) and the level of consistency in the clicking performance across a game. We were shown diagrams of where parts of the hand exhibit more tension for different designs as an example of the type of research Logitech performs. For wired mice it also extends to the flexibility of the cable as well. One might argue that what is good for professional gamers might not necessarily be good for general users. When this question was presented to Logitech, they answered with reference to the wired cable - where professionals prefer something simple and flexible, whereas home gamers might prefer a braided design for longevity.
Without trying to turn this into a slide fest, ultimately Logitech’s own images put it better than my phone could capture. Something such as click response over the range sounds simple enough when mentioned, although I remember devices such as my G5 having a differing click response over the range. Even my current non-Logitech mouse has an irregular click force profile over the range, though as a writer that does not affect me much, but I can understand the importance.
With the pro-gamers, we were told of the iterative design process, such as what is here above. This includes the arch position, the size of the device and even the materials used. Some gamers prefer a soft grip on the sides and hold onto their mouse tightly, whereas others keep a loose grip.
Along with function, in order for Logitech to produce a marketable product, there has to be an element of style to the device as a whole:
As part of the tour it was explained how even the presentation of the LEDs through parts of the device are modeled via ray tracing so the position of the LED can be optimized to give the glow desired.
As part of this R&D Talk, we were also introduced to the G910 Orion Spark keyboard. This keyboard was a major part of our tour, due to the new Romer G mechanical switches, but also due to the elements of design needed for it.
This means orientation of the keys (particularly WASD), wrist positions depending on the type of activity, and what looks like a lot of thermal imaging to see where the stresses of long-term gaming using the device can be reduced.
The shape of the keys on the G910 were also subject to research, whereby the angled design above allows gamers to slot their fingers into position easier, especially when they need to reach over for other keys away from their normal resting place. We were told that here is another point where professional gamers and regular users differ in preference – the regular users wanted a shallower dip into the key, whereas the professional gamers were happy either way.
The Romer G switch is new for the G910 as well, being a mechanical switch similar to MX Browns but of Logitech’s own design, featuring a shorter actuation time due to the shallower actuation depth. The profile is almost identical to the Browns, requiring the same force, but narrower in terms of distance.
Aside from the force profile and the key shape, the Romer G key features a double redundancy for connection to the motherboard, a PMMA based lens for shining the LED and a Logitech designed cap. Similar to the mice, the Logitech key was designed via ray tracing to find the optimal placement for the LED and lens for full brightness coverage. This ends up being important for keyboards that have multiple characters per key but require an even brightness throughout. Overall these new keys are designed for 70 million presses each, and the fact that Logitech is the sole producer of these keys allows them to bin for accuracy and performance rather than buying batches from Cherry and binning those separately with no guarantee.
As part of the discussion we were also joined by Ujesh Desai, a veteral of marketing formerly from NVIDIA who recently took on a role at Logitech involving management, marketing and brand direction of the whole Logitech G ecosystem.
I spent a good while speaking with Mr Desai about the direction of Logitech and the importance of gaming. Despite only being in the job for a few weeks, he said that the interesting work dynamic between his old company and Logitech, and despite moving from inside the PC case to the outside there was still a focus towards the user and he is able to bring ideas to the table immediately.Demands: Simon Cowell has asked ITV for more money to stage the X Factor before agreeing to return to the channel
Simon Cowell plunged the future of The X Factor into crisis last night after revealing he had yet to sign a deal with ITV to bring the show back next year.
The music mogul has demanded increased investment from the broadcaster of up to £500,000 an episode.
The hit show has enjoyed record viewing figures in excess of 14 million.
This weekend’s final is expected to attract 20 million, featuring performances from Robbie Williams, Michael Buble and George Michael.
The 2009 X Factor has been the most lavish series yet with the live shows costing between £1.5 -1.7 million to screen every week.
But Cowell, 50, is understood to want ITV to push the budget up to as much as £2 million an episode next year.
His own £20 million three year deal expires at the end of this month.
Speaking yesterday, the multi-millionaire - whose personal fortune stands at £130 million - said: ‘The way things stand next year we have no deal in place for The X Factor.
‘Part of the reason the show has been so successful and I credit ITV for this, is they invest money in the programme to make it better.
‘When we do a negotiation with the network it is not about salaries for the people on it. The issue is how much money are you going to invest over a period of time.
‘There are a lot of other things like what show are you going to be following, what time of night, all those sorts of things.
‘Until we resolve that, it is difficult to say [if it will return]. We have to make sure if we do bring it back, it is better than this year.’
Cowell is now expected meet with producers and ITV to finalise terms of his own deal and the future of his top-rated shows on the network in the new year.
Lavish: Production of The X-Factor costs £1.7million to put on each weekend
He added: ‘We will make the decision when we have had a break from the show. It is a long show. We will take a break, then we will sit down and talk about what we want to do [in the New Year].’
The move puts the ailing broadcaster in a difficult position as it will not want to lose one of its most popular stars and its best performing series - but it may struggle to find the extra funding.
The broadcaster has slashed more than a third of its 5,500 workforce to cut costs because of financial constraint and the budget for shows has been cut by £135million for the next two years.
Cowell’s decision to publicly raise his concerns will pile pressure on the broadcaster to find a solution to ensure it returns The X Factor next year but it is expected the two sides will secure a deal.
He is currently negotiating a pay rise for appearing on American Idol from £22 million a series to around £30 million, but he is also in talks to secure a larger fee – perhaps as much as £35-40 million by taking The X Factor there.
Cowell, joined by his fellow judges, Cheryl Cole, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogues, also criticised rival talent show, the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing claiming ‘no one was watching it’ and asking “who has won it?” – even though it has not finished yet.
The BBC1 show, which has its semi-finals this weekend, pulls in audiences of 8-9 million, but has been beaten by The X Factor when the shows have gone head to head.
Cowell also said some of the shows on the public service broadcaster were ‘indulgent’ and ‘boring’.
Meanwhile Cowell branded an internet campaign to try and stop the X Factor winner scoring the Christmas number one as'stupid'.
The X Factor creator and judge said the Facebook campaign, which he saw as a personal vendetta against him, was 'cynical' and 'dismissive' of the show's viewers.
Scroll down to watch a MailOnline video report
Rage Against Reality TV: The Facebook page calling on members to prevent the X Factor winner becoming this year's Christmas number one
The Facebook group, which currently has 548,000 members, is calling for a mass purchase of Rage Against The Machine's 1992 single Killing In The Name in an attempt to make it this year's UK Christmas number one. The page was set up by two music fans, Tracy and Jon Morter, who said they would 'love to see a Christmas No.1 containing the word "f***".' It asks members to start buying the song as a download from this Sunday, the day the X Factor winner is announced. But speaking at a press conference today, Simon Cowell said: 'If there's a campaign, and I think the campaign's aimed directly at me, it's stupid. Me having a number one record at Christmas is not going to change my life particularly.'
The final three: (L-R) Olly Murs, Stacey Solomon and Joe McElderry said they are looking forward to this weekend's grand final Accompanied by his fellow judges, Dannii Minogue, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh, and the remaining three finalists, Stacey Solomon, Joe McElderry and Olly Murs, he added: 'It does however change these guys' lives and we put this opportunity there so that the winner of the X Factor gets the chance of having a big hit record. 'I think it's quite a cynical campaign geared at me which is actually going to spoil the party for these three. 'I also think it's incredibly dismissive of the people who watch and enjoy the show... to treat our audiences as if they're stupid and I don't like that.' The three X Factor 2009 finalists...
Geordie duo: Cheryl Cole is keeping her fingers crossed for her act this weekend
Girl power: Stacey Solomon will be giving her all for mentor Dannii Minogue
Here come the boys: Simon Cowell stands proudly next to his act Olly Murs
Speaking ahead of the impending final, Stacey said: 'I feel like this is the best week ever for pressure because we're in the final three. First, second, third. We're going to get a medal. I feel like I've come right to the end..... and the pressure's nice. I feel really relaxed and really happy.'
Joe said: 'I just hyperventilate before I go on and just put all the nerves into the performance.'
And Olly added that he was looking forward to the final, in which one act will be leaving at the end of Saturday night's show, and the final two will battle it out on Sunday.
He said: 'I'm just going to go out there and enjoy it, have fun, have a really good night.'
Cowell said apart from the winner, he had not yet made any plans in regard to who he might sign to his record label
But he praised the final three competitors and said: 'What I like about these three singers is they're the guy and girl who live next door. They haven't come from ghastly stage school backgrounds, they haven't had an awful lot of experience.
'These three people, who under normal circumstances would find it really hard to get a recording contract, suddenly have got a shot.'
And he also said no decision had been made about the next series, because a deal had yet to be finalised.
Cheryl was asked whether she would return to the show if her act Joe won the competition and how much Cowell would have to pay to keep her.
She said: 'I would actually take a few months to have a good think about it... he is (Simon) on his best behaviour... nothing to do with money.'Sturdy Loctek Tablet Stand
First things first, I received a sample of this product free for the purpose of review. I’m hoping that my observations and impressions will prove helpful to you in your decision making. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them based on my experience with the product.What you’re getting with this order is a Universal Tablet stand. The order includes a heavy base plate, one solid section of tubing, one flexible section of tubing and the tablet mount. Also included in a sealed plastic bag is an Allen wrench, one bolt, one washer, and one wingnut. No other tools or hardware are needed for installation or use. A complete set of instructions accompanies the order and features large illustrations for each step. First, let’s talk assembly. The item arrives in essentially 4 pieces. Following the included instructions, you should be able to complete the assembly process in under 5 minutes. I did have one issue that might have been confusing to some in that the hole in the center of the base plate was completely blocked by a black metal. All I had to do was pull the white cover up (very easy) to see that it was a large washer that had slid over the hole during transport. I moved the washer to uncover the hole, then slid the cover back on, and I was in business. Assembly requires just 3 steps. Attaching the solid tubing to the base plate with the one included bolt, and tightening that bolt with the included Allen wrench. Next, threading the flexible tubing onto the solid tubing and then threading the provided wing nut into a hole to hold to prevent the two pieces from uncoupling with use. Finally, you attach the tablet mount to the flexible tubing (a matter of un-screwing a plastic bolt, popping the mount onto the ball end of the flexible tubing and then re-threading the bolt. That’s it! I wish all projects were so easy. To place your tablet in the mount, you simply press the only button on the back of the mount to release the jaws and then adjust for your tablet’s size.Now, when you’re using something to hold an expensive device you want to trust that it won’t fall over or drop your device. So, I paid close attention to the quality of the stand at the base, and at the two upper joints (tubing/tubing joint and tubing/mount joint). The joint at the base plate is strong, but needs to be fully tightened. I suggest tightening it as much as you can, finishing the assembly, moving it around to where you’re first planning to use it, and then checking that joint again to see if it can be tightened any further. The tubing/tubing joint threads down very tightly and once the wing nut is installed, that joint doesn’t move. The tubing/mount joint is of course supposed to move, but I wanted to ensure that this ball joint held tightly and it does. After thorough inspection, I have absolutely no fear that this will fall over or drop my tablet. I would recommend occasional checks of that base plate bolt to see if it needs re-tightening as heavy use might back it out of its threading little by little.The mount holds tablets ranging in size from 7-12”. I use it for our iPad and the fit and hold are perfect. The ball joint allows you to place the tablet at any angle you desire and the flexible tubing allows you to raise or lower it. Both the tubing and the ball joint hold tight at their chosen angles.I want to talk a bit about durability. The base plate and the tubing are basically indestructible. The parts susceptible to wear and tear are the plastic wing nut, the plastic ball joint and nut lock, and the plastic of the mount itself. I say they are susceptible because they are plastic versus the steel of the tubing. The good news is that none of these require frequent or repetitive use, so the item should have a long life.This tablet stand is excellent for placing your tablet in a desired position of function. My family loves to use it while sitting at the couch. They place the tablet at chest height and operate from there. It’s also great for the side or the foot of the bed for movie watching.Bottom line: This is a sturdy tablet stand that provides a safe and solid hold for basically any tablet between 7” and 12”. Assembly is incredibly easy and there are clear instructions with large illustrations for anyone who is worried about their abilities in this area. While there are a few plastic parts, they are not getting heavy or repetitive use and so I predict that durability will be good, but I haven’t owned it long enough to say this with certainty. Again, feel free to fire any questions at me in the comments section. I really like this stand and am happy to own and to recommend it. Enjoy!Angry at the Westminster consensus on cuts, Mhairi Black joined the SNP. Soon she could be the UK’s youngest MP
A self-confessed political “geek” and football obsessive, Mhairi Black – like any university student – is happier in jeans than in the smart business suits she is having to get used to wearing.
“My mum insisted,” said the 20-year-old. “We went shopping the minute I was selected.”
Nicola Sturgeon offers new deal to help Ed Miliband into No 10 Read more
In the concrete car park directly across from the ancient abbey of Paisley – resting place of the royal house of Stuart and a place where 19th-century radicals once plotted an overthrow of the government – Black’s supporters are more warmly dressed in Puffa jackets and scarves. The evening sunshine is giving way to drizzle and a chilly wind. Black must be freezing as she takes out her Scottish National party rosette and pins it to her lapel, but beams warmly. “Right, at least its drier than last night. So where are we going?”
If the pollsters are accurate, Black could be going all the way to Westminster. According to a February poll by Lord Ashcroft, Black is 8% ahead of her rival. Victory would be a remarkable feat and make the SNP candidate for Paisley and Renfrewshire South the youngest ever MP, as well as overturn the 16,610 majority of one of Labour’s biggest hitters in Scotland, shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander.
Referring to its radical traditions, Benjamin Disraeli once said: “Keep your eye on Paisley.” Students of political upsets would do well to heed the advice on 7 May.
As Black canvasses round an estate of modern terraced houses in central Paisley, a town some seven miles west of Glasgow, everyone who answers their door has an opinion. “You’re kind of young to be taking on a big gun,” said Joseph Findlay, a lifelong Labour voter. But he’s prepared to listen and takes the literature he’s offered. “I think the SNP will win round here,” he said. “As long as David Cameron is put out, that’s the main thing.” Findlay is the only one who mentions her age, but everyone has something to say – about welfare, the NHS, dirty pavements, tax, even euthanasia.
Though slightly startled by her own trajectory, Black is not remotely surprised by the SNP surge. “People have been battered by a system that doesn’t care about them and they’ve had enough of austerity,” she said. “You can feel the frustration that people have, that the principles have been abandoned by Labour. My dad is a lifelong Labour voter: my family was all proper Clydeside-shipyards Labour. But my grandfather would turn in his grave if he heard how Labour were behaving now: the bitterness in them. The intellect of the party has fallen, the principles of the party have fallen. They started taking people for granted. My dad and I joined the SNP on the same day. Labour have never had to campaign here, so I wanted to stand to force Douglas Alexander to do just that.”
Alexander, in charge of Labour’s national election strategy, knows he is in a battle now. The membership of the SNP has tripled in the past six months to more than 106,000 – the party claims 1,200 people signed up during Thursday’s television leadership debate in which its leader, Nicola Sturgeon, starred. It has become the third largest party by membership in Britain.
For Black, the legacy of Scotland’s in/out referendum is a renewed political energy and determination, and a growing self-confidence among those who want Scotland to shape its own destiny. “It took a day or two to lick my wounds, and then I just thought: right, what can I do now? And a lot of people were like that. People had a confidence, that capability. You knew that you could be a painter and decorator and know more about what needs to be done in this society than anyone in a suit in Westminster. Because you know what it is to be skint and to live with the anxieties of that in your life. That’s what the Labour party used to stand for. We don’t need to be millionaires, we just want to be making a decent living and having our views listened to.
“It’s about making a noise, whether writing to your MP or going on a march. I’ve got a lot of friends who live in England who are really jealous of what’s happening in Scotland, who would love to be part of something like this.”
My grandfather would turn in his grave if he heard how Labour were behaving now: the bitterness in them Mhairi Black
Black tackled the selection process in the way she is tackling the election: singlemindedly. The first girl in her primary school to be selected for the football team, she clearly has determination and drive.
But it was just a day after her selection that the first hard political knock came. In what seems an oversight by the SNP PR machine, Black’s Twitter account still held tweets from when she was a teenager. During an especially tense match between her beloved Partick Thistle and rivals Celtic, she had tweeted: “I’ve only just realised – I really f***** hate Celtic” and “Celtic, yer a joke! #scum.”
“Yes, making the front page was a surprise,” she said ruefully. “My brother came through and said: ‘Have you seen this?’ But then he said: ‘You got a bit heated during a football match. Tony Blair started a war. Let’s put it in perspective.’
“So it was a shock to the system, but you have to think about what your political opponents are doing, trawling through to find old messages written by a teenager and holding them relevant in a country where 100,000 children are living below the poverty line. Maybe their priorities are a bit skewed.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, outside Paisley Abbey. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
That wasn’t the end of the controversy. At a post-referendum rally, Black described being at the count and walking past “all these fatcat Labour councillors goading us, clapping sarcastically, saying ‘better luck next time’ or ‘hard lines’. It took everything, every fibre in my being, not to put the nut in one of them.” Unfortunately for her, the cameras were rolling.
“Of course, I regret that turn of phrase,” she says now. “That day, after two years of work, of course it was emotional. And no, I wasn’t about to headbutt anyone.”
On his doorstep, Paisley voter Joseph Findlay is impressed with Black. He’s never before voted SNP, but he’s now considering it, disillusioned with Labour. “I think they judged it wrong, they scared people and that’s not right. There’s a lot regretting it now.
“I voted Labour all my life, my wife voted no in the referendum, and I voted yes. She’s riddled with guilt now she sees that nothing has changed. We’re both not decided yet for the general election but I think the SNP are going to win around here.
“Us oldyins haven’t done much to put up a fight, so now the younger ones are getting out and doing it for themselves.”
He peers round his doorframe at the departing figure of Black, off to “chap” his neighbour’s door. “Very good luck to the lassie.”
If the directness of the voters around here is anything to go by, there is no tolerance for the status quo. Alexander may yet pull back some of his party’s deserters before the vote, but there is a new wave of post-referendum politicised Scots who won’t make it easy.
Black refuses to even think about losing. “I’m fighting this election day by day, talking to as many people as I possibly can. I want to change things, that’s what people are demanding. You can feel it bubbling – the frustration and the anger.”ROME — Italy has given Europe many things, but rarely leadership.
Among member states of the European Union, Italy is important but not always influential, partly because of the decades-old dysfunction of its politics. France and Germany traditionally set the European agenda, while Italy is often a junior partner, if sometimes a comic sideshow.
But with the European Union fragmenting politically and hit by crises
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the tournaments would be amazing. "The tournament league" or some such idea. I'm curious to see if you have any ideas about how a points system would work? Would it be based on the prize pool of the tournament? More money=more points? Or would it be based on # of participants, quality of participants....I could see it being hard to get so many tournaments on board when it's hard to objectively judge the various tournaments.... It would probably be heavily subjective to start, but I'm really curious to hear the specifics.
Cheers,
Ramone Living the dream
Torte de Lini Profile Blog Joined September 2010 Germany 30667 Posts Last Edited: 2012-12-10 21:01:11 #12 On December 11 2012 05:42 StarStruck wrote:
I read practically everything on the forums and it is a shame that your viewership on these forums for these articles is close to non-existent when your content is of high quality.
It's really not that complicated when it comes to packaging it altogether. It really isn't.
You want some examples of extremely cheap labor? Hold contests for freelancers/community because when I look at their work compared to the work I see the other production teams come up with. The community does come up with good stuff from time to time.
There are several guys I know who are fantastic at making hype videos and post frequently on these forums.
Contests are a great way to get the community involved and they can help with the hype. The same way TSL cheerfuls help generate hype:
Compliments of Rus_Brain and I think it's fitting considering HerO just smashed Violet. It's really not that complicated when it comes to packaging it altogether. It really isn't.You want some examples of extremely cheap labor? Hold contests for freelancers/community because when I look at their work compared to the work I see the other production teams come up with. The community does come up with good stuff from time to time.There are several guys I know who are fantastic at making hype videos and post frequently on these forums.Contests are a great way to get the community involved and they can help with the hype. The same way TSL cheerfuls help generate hype:Compliments of Rus_Brain and I think it's fitting considering HerO just smashed Violet.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=379416
Already wrote a topic about this. I use it as an excuse to why I don't get much public chatter ): (Though Heyoka has been insightful about this many times). So if you want to be ironic, post in there haha!
Yes I didn't even think about contests and freelancers! Great idea!
Already wrote a topic about this. I use it as an excuse to why I don't get much public chatter ): (Though Heyoka has been insightful about this many times). So if you want to be ironic, post in there haha!Yes I didn't even think about contests and freelancers! Great idea! On December 11 2012 05:56 Ramone wrote:
I definitely like where your head is at. Streamlining the tournaments would be amazing. "The tournament league" or some such idea. I'm curious to see if you have any ideas about how a points system would work? Would it be based on the prize pool of the tournament? More money=more points? Or would it be based on # of participants, quality of participants....I could see it being hard to get so many tournaments on board when it's hard to objectively judge the various tournaments.... It would probably be heavily subjective to start, but I'm really curious to hear the specifics.
Cheers,
Ramone
I actually just thought up of a small idea for Blizzard about utilizing the ladder to create small 16-man tounraments to help brand the regional champions as well as establish a foundation for my next idea!
EVO uses a point system I believe for their qualifiers and tournaments. Another tournament also did that for SC2, but they've fallen off the map recently.
I actually just thought up of a small idea for Blizzard about utilizing the ladder to create small 16-man tounraments to help brand the regional champions as well as establish a foundation for my next idea!EVO uses a point system I believe for their qualifiers and tournaments. Another tournament also did that for SC2, but they've fallen off the map recently. https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
StarStruck Profile Joined April 2010 24047 Posts #13 On December 11 2012 05:59 Torte de Lini wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 11 2012 05:42 StarStruck wrote:
I read practically everything on the forums and it is a shame that your viewership on these forums for these articles is close to non-existent when your content is of high quality.
It's really not that complicated when it comes to packaging it altogether. It really isn't.
You want some examples of extremely cheap labor? Hold contests for freelancers/community because when I look at their work compared to the work I see the other production teams come up with. The community does come up with good stuff from time to time.
There are several guys I know who are fantastic at making hype videos and post frequently on these forums.
Contests are a great way to get the community involved and they can help with the hype. The same way TSL cheerfuls help generate hype:
Compliments of Rus_Brain and I think it's fitting considering HerO just smashed Violet. It's really not that complicated when it comes to packaging it altogether. It really isn't.You want some examples of extremely cheap labor? Hold contests for freelancers/community because when I look at their work compared to the work I see the other production teams come up with. The community does come up with good stuff from time to time.There are several guys I know who are fantastic at making hype videos and post frequently on these forums.Contests are a great way to get the community involved and they can help with the hype. The same way TSL cheerfuls help generate hype:Compliments of Rus_Brain and I think it's fitting considering HerO just smashed Violet.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=379416
Already wrote a topic about this. I use it as an excuse to why I don't get much public chatter ): (Though Heyoka has been insightful about this many times). So if you want to be ironic, post in there haha!
Yes I didn't even think about contests and freelancers! Great idea!
Show nested quote +
On December 11 2012 05:56 Ramone wrote:
I definitely like where your head is at. Streamlining the tournaments would be amazing. "The tournament league" or some such idea. I'm curious to see if you have any ideas about how a points system would work? Would it be based on the prize pool of the tournament? More money=more points? Or would it be based on # of participants, quality of participants....I could see it being hard to get so many tournaments on board when it's hard to objectively judge the various tournaments.... It would probably be heavily subjective to start, but I'm really curious to hear the specifics.
Cheers,
Ramone
I actually just thought up of a small idea for Blizzard about utilizing the ladder to create small 16-man tounraments to help brand the regional champions as well as establish a foundation for my next idea!
EVO uses a point system I believe for their qualifiers and tournaments. Another tournament also did that for SC2, but they've fallen off the map recently.
Already wrote a topic about this. I use it as an excuse to why I don't get much public chatter ): (Though Heyoka has been insightful about this many times). So if you want to be ironic, post in there haha!Yes I didn't even think about contests and freelancers! Great idea!I actually just thought up of a small idea for Blizzard about utilizing the ladder to create small 16-man tounraments to help brand the regional champions as well as establish a foundation for my next idea!EVO uses a point system I believe for their qualifiers and tournaments. Another tournament also did that for SC2, but they've fallen off the map recently.
I already wrote you a response to that one as well!
On November 04 2012 15:08 StarStruck wrote:
Torte this is almost ironic. O_O
The amount of views your new column is generating is underwhelming! ;o
Anyway, I'm glad you used JOJO as an example. He's one of the few guys I've been giving advice because I think he did a good job from what I've seen.
Now with regards to your JP's; your Husky's; your Day[9]'s; your Totalbiscuit's etc. Definitely agree.
It's always best to jump in right away; but, this doesn't mean you cannot excel if you're slow out of the gate.
I'll leave this message here. If anyone wants to build new content try to think outside of the box and find your niche; don't use the same molds.
There's way too much imitation out there when it comes to casting, podcasts and the whole shebang.
Look at JP for instance. Remember SC Center with Chobopean & JP? Well, I got word that he was doing a similar project but by himself and the views were lousy from what I saw from Youtube. Concept was too similar and there's just too much of it. Good thing it was only a test.
It's a tricky business but it doesn't mean new guys cannot enter the market and still pull their weight like the
Torte this is almost ironic. O_OThe amount of views your new column is generating is underwhelming! ;oAnyway, I'm glad you used JOJO as an example. He's one of the few guys I've been giving advice because I think he did a good job from what I've seen.Now with regards to your JP's; your Husky's; your Day[9]'s; your Totalbiscuit's etc. Definitely agree.It's always best to jump in right away; but, this doesn't mean you cannot excel if you're slow out of the gate.I'll leave this message here. If anyone wants to build new content try to think outside of the box and find your niche; don't use the same molds.There's way too much imitation out there when it comes to casting, podcasts and the whole shebang.Look at JP for instance. Remember SC Center with Chobopean & JP? Well, I got word that he was doing a similar project but by himself and the views were lousy from what I saw from Youtube. Concept was too similar and there's just too much of it. Good thing it was only a test.It's a tricky business but it doesn't mean new guys cannot enter the market and still pull their weight like the CarbotAnimations youtube channel.
I already wrote you a response to that one as well!
Torte de Lini Profile Blog Joined September 2010 Germany 30667 Posts #14 Yeah I know, won't bother me to see it back on the top of the forums ;D bwahahaha https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Raygun Profile Joined August 2010 348 Posts #15 I stopped caring about most SC2 tournaments because I don't feel any hype, personally. Big money prizes don't even make me flinch anymore. That $25k tournament that was mentioned means nothing to me and I wouldn't bother to watch it if it was $50k or more. Why? There is no fucking hype at all. It's not really about the tournament, but the players. That leads into the point you make about rivalries and how little they matter in SC2 to me. If some random zerg and terran like SortOf and Lucifron played for $50k, I still wouldn't care. The purse doesn't matter to me, only the players.
I've been following SC2 since the beta and I still can't really name one guy that I truly want to win. If I had to pick it would be Mvp. Take that pick and I really don't even know who I would say Mvps rival is. Does he even have one? In any case, rivalries in SC2 are so incredibly mild, be it with team v. team or player v. player.
This is in stark contrast to another genre I love in fighting games. Rivalries are intense between players and tournaments don't really have to do shit to promote it. Hell, even stupid "show matches" (as rare as they are) garner intense interest when the right people are playing.
Maybe they don't have to promote as much, like boxing or MMA. People seem to love their favorite fighting game player much more than SC2 guys love their player. Also, they don't have tournament after tournament conflicting with other tournaments.
Whatever though. Maybe I'm not the demographic that SC2 teams, players, and sponsors want to grab. Then again, maybe I am.
ELA Profile Joined April 2010 Denmark 4573 Posts #16 Many have tried to do similar content as Teamliquid, previews hypeups etc. through different media, but I think the average viewer cannot be bothered to go anywhere else; if it's worth watching, you read about it on Teamliquid. So basicly, it's a situation where tournaments and teams want better exposure, there are people who are prepared to provide that exposure but it's extremely hard for them to find traction in the community. The amount of eyeballs on the scene are most probably enough to saturate more outlets, but we have become so comfortable with Teamliquid being the go-to place that we really have no real reason to go to this new site that you made for covering tournaments.
In regards to your point about tournaments providing this content themselves, Im not sure I agree. Surely, the time and effort they would spend on creating this content (which is alot more demanding than most people think!) is better spent on improving their core product, which is their tournament?
For the most part, normal sports tournaments/teams do not provide this sort of content, do they? Apart from press releases and a few oppinion pieces that are really just intended for other media to interpret - Am I wrong in that understanding? The first link of chain forged, the first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.
Torte de Lini Profile Blog Joined September 2010 Germany 30667 Posts #17 On December 11 2012 06:41 ELA wrote:
Many have tried to do similar content as Teamliquid, previews hypeups etc. through different media, but I think the average viewer cannot be bothered to go anywhere else; if it's worth watching, you read about it on Teamliquid. So basicly, it's a situation where tournaments and teams want better exposure, there are people who are prepared to provide that exposure but it's extremely hard for them to find traction in the community. The amount of eyeballs on the scene are most probably enough to saturate more outlets, but we have become so comfortable with Teamliquid being the go-to place that we really have no real reason to go to this new site that you made for covering tournaments.
In regards to your point about tournaments providing this content themselves, Im not sure I agree. Surely, the time and effort they would spend on creating this content (which is alot more demanding than most people think!) is better spent on improving their core product, which is their tournament?
For the most part, normal sports tournaments/teams do not provide this sort of content, do they? Apart from press releases and a few oppinion pieces that are really just intended for other media to interpret - Am I wrong in that understanding?
This is a traditional method that will fail in the long-run as more and more organizations and events prop up (and as we saw in our last article, more events are taking up the year, meaning more clotting of prestige).
This is a traditional method that will fail in the long-run as more and more organizations and events prop up (and as we saw in our last article, more events are taking up the year, meaning more clotting of prestige). there are people who are prepared to provide that exposure but it's extremely hard for them to find traction in the community.
There two areas where the masses are grouped to read content: Team Liquid and Reddit and they both prove to give a lot of hits and viewability regardless of the length of the viewer's ability to do more. If you name the namesake of a tournament as well as finesse in their marketing and production, you get more than you skeptically believe. I'm not doubting the difficulty, but you are dismissing a lot of what MLG, GSL and DH behold.
There two areas where the masses are grouped to read content: Team Liquid and Reddit and they both prove to give a lot of hits and viewability regardless of the length of the viewer's ability to do more. If you name the namesake of a tournament as well as finesse in their marketing and production, you get more than you skeptically believe. I'm not doubting the difficulty, but you are dismissing a lot of what MLG, GSL and DH behold. Surely, the time and effort they would spend on creating this content (which is alot more demanding than most people think!) is better spent on improving their core product, which is their tournament?
This is not how companies work and improving the core product needs to be publicized in advance before you can truly take advantage of it. In addition, it's not a numbers games. People working on the core product are employed for simply that, you can hire additional names by contract or commission to spearhead another department. This is not how companies work and improving the core product needs to be publicized in advance before you can truly take advantage of it. In addition, it's not a numbers games. People working on the core product are employed for simply that, you can hire additional names by contract or commission to spearhead another department. https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
ELA Profile Joined April 2010 Denmark 4573 Posts #18 On December 11 2012 07:04 Torte de Lini wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 11 2012 06:41 ELA wrote:
Many have tried to do similar content as Teamliquid, previews hypeups etc. through different media, but I think the average viewer cannot be bothered to go anywhere else; if it's worth watching, you read about it on Teamliquid. So basicly, it's a situation where tournaments and teams want better exposure, there are people who are prepared to provide that exposure but it's extremely hard for them to find traction in the community. The amount of eyeballs on the scene are most probably enough to saturate more outlets, but we have become so comfortable with Teamliquid being the go-to place that we really have no real reason to go to this new site that you made for covering tournaments.
In regards to your point about tournaments providing this content themselves, Im not sure I agree. Surely, the time and effort they would spend on creating this content (which is alot more demanding than most people think!) is better spent on improving their core product, which is their tournament?
For the most part, normal sports tournaments/teams do not provide this sort of content, do they? Apart from press releases and a few oppinion pieces that are really just intended for other media to interpret - Am I wrong in that understanding?
This is a traditional method that will fail in the long-run as more and more organizations and events prop up (and as we saw in our last article, more events are taking up the year, meaning more clotting of prestige).
Show nested quote +
there are people who are prepared to provide that exposure but it's extremely hard for them to find traction in the community.
There two areas where the masses are grouped to read content: Team Liquid and Reddit and they both prove to give a lot of hits and viewability regardless of the length of the viewer's ability to do more. If you name the namesake of a tournament as well as finesse in their marketing and production, you get more than you skeptically believe. I'm not doubting the difficulty, but you are dismissing a lot of what MLG, GSL and DH behold.
Show nested quote +
Surely, the time and effort they would spend on creating this content (which is alot more demanding than most people think!) is better spent on improving their core product, which is their tournament?
This is not how companies work and improving the core product needs to be publicized in advance before you can truly take advantage of it. In addition, it's not a numbers games. People working on the core product are employed for simply that, you can hire additional names by contract or commission to spearhead another department. This is a traditional method that will fail in the long-run as more and more organizations and events prop up (and as we saw in our last article, more events are taking up the year, meaning more clotting of prestige).There two areas where the masses are grouped to read content: Team Liquid and Reddit and they both prove to give a lot of hits and viewability regardless of the length of the viewer's ability to do more. If you name the namesake of a tournament as well as finesse in their marketing and production, you get more than you skeptically believe. I'm not doubting the difficulty, but you are dismissing a lot of what MLG, GSL and DH behold.This is not how companies work and improving the core product needs to be publicized in advance before you can truly take advantage of it. In addition, it's not a numbers games. People working on the core product are employed for simply that, you can hire additional names by contract or commission to spearhead another department.
Do you think that the way forward, is the organizer creating and publishing their stories? If so, on what platform? Their own website, or? If that's the case, surely the viewers best interests are not represented.
I know this is a tired old analogy, but to bring up sports again; can you think of any organizers of sports events that makes content like this? Im not talking about free boomsticks and banners here, but quality articles previewing their own events, as you described it "their stories", which I completely agree btw, are lost for far too many people. I would also agree that events could do better in highlighting these stories both before and during their events, but what platform do you suppose they use to get just a margin of the trafic and hype that a well-written TL writer team article can achieve? Lets be real, Teamliquid is not just the center of Starcraft (Reddit also, but Reddit is more of a portal to excisting content, no?) not because it just always was so, but because they are the best at what they do in this business.
I wouldn't go to FIFA's website if I wanted to know about whats going on in Champions League, just as I wouldn't go to the NHL-homepage to know about hockey. I would go to a sports website that I know have quality articles and cool content - Is this what you describe as the traditional model the interdependency between sports and individual press?
Sorry for asking so many questions, I just want to be perfectly clear what you suggest the organizations do in practice. Do you think that the way forward, is the organizer creating and publishing their stories? If so, on what platform? Their own website, or? If that's the case, surely the viewers best interests are not represented.I know this is a tired old analogy, but to bring up sports again; can you think of any organizers of sports events that makes content like this? Im not talking about free boomsticks and banners here, but quality articles previewing their own events, as you described it "their stories", which I completely agree btw, are lost for far too many people. I would also agree that events could do better in highlighting these stories both before and during their events, but what platform do you suppose they use to get just a margin of the trafic and hype that a well-written TL writer team article can achieve? Lets be real, Teamliquid is not just the center of Starcraft (Reddit also, but Reddit is more of a portal to excisting content, no?) not because it just always was so, but because they are the best at what they do in this business.I wouldn't go to FIFA's website if I wanted to know about whats going on in Champions League, just as I wouldn't go to the NHL-homepage to know about hockey. I would go to a sports website that I know have quality articles and cool content - Is this what you describe as the traditional model the interdependency between sports and individual press?Sorry for asking so many questions, I just want to be perfectly clear what you suggest the organizations do in practice. The first link of chain forged, the first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.
StarStruck Profile Joined April 2010 24047 Posts Last Edited: 2012-12-11 00:06:19 #19 ELA that isn't true at all. We're only a small piece of the puzzle. Torte that's only for the avid followers of the sport.
Most people don't know where to look and that's why people like to bring up League of Legends. Why? Because they bring it to the forefront as you log-in to the actual game.
I keep track of the other websites and it's true that their traffic especially for the team websites is pretty pitiful in comparison. Its very true, but you have to provide the avenues to get there and that's what LoL does well. They have more focus on the actual players and it's just more user friendly.
People know where to go and look.
What Blizzard needs to do is focus more on a "Community Spotlight."
They should have their own writing staff & coverage as well that is more streamlined to everyone. There has to be better focus.
Torte de Lini Profile Blog Joined September 2010 Germany 30667 Posts Last Edited: 2012-12-11 22:57:35 #20 Their own website, or? If that's the case, surely the viewers best interests are not represented. Why would the viewers best interest matter whatsoever? The organizers are using stories to both hype and weave relevance into their event. This is for their own self-interest as well as inform the public, giving them reason to watch. If they choose not to, then that's their choice.
Your analogy of sports is terrible because it isn't the same circumstances. There aren't 2-3 day tournaments competing with simultaneous or similar 2-3 day tournaments happening at the same time. These are events, not necessarily full-leagues or associations. What we're asking here is for organizers to highlight past events and their winners and put stakes into their marketing pot to deliver to the reader or viewer. This is informing your public as I stated above and it's pretty much needed when you're competing with other events hosting similar competitions with the same players (creating a feeling of repetition).
Why would the viewers best interest matter whatsoever? The organizers are using stories to both hype and weave relevance into their event. This is for their own self-interest as well as inform the public, giving them reason to watch. If they choose not to, then that's their choice.Your analogy of sports is terrible because it isn't the same circumstances. There aren't 2-3 day tournaments competing with simultaneous or similar 2-3 day tournaments happening at the same time. These are events, not necessarily full-leagues or associations. What we're asking here is for organizers to highlight past events and their winners and putinto their marketing pot to deliver to the reader or viewer. This is informing your public as I stated above and it's pretty much needed when you're competing with other events hosting similar competitions with the same players (creating a feeling of repetition). but what platform do you suppose they use to get just a margin of the traffic and hype that a well-written TL writer team article can achieve?
Reddit, TL. You use those to draw in interests for your site and that would be ok within the forum rules because it is set on advertising your competition in an informal way. It serves to help create interest in the scene and in turn, your event. If TL wants to write their own article about an event, then they can and that works for both parties. If one draws more interest than another, that doesn't sound bad either because the same two people win (thus, the more, the merrier). If more people are talking about an event, it is going to be seen more often and net more interests. If not, the exposure is good regardless. If TL volunteers can write thousands of words of the players in an upcoming event alone, I'm pretty sure 2-3 paid commissioned writers can do it without a problem.
Reddit, TL. You use those to draw in interests for your site and that would be ok within the forum rules because it is set on advertising your competition in an informal way. It serves to help create interest in the scene and in turn, your event. If TL wants to write their own article about an event, then they can and that works for both parties. If one draws more interest than another, that doesn't sound bad either because the same two people win (thus, the more, the merrier). If more people are talking about an event, it is going to be seen more often and net more interests. If not, the exposure is good regardless. If TL volunteers can write thousands of words of the players in an upcoming event alone, I'm pretty sure 2-3 paid commissioned writers can do it without a problem. I wouldn't go to FIFA's website if I wanted to know about whats going on in Champions League, just as I wouldn't go to the NHL-homepage to know about hockey. I would go to a sports website that I know have quality articles and cool content - Is this what you describe as the traditional model the interdependency between sports and individual press
http://www.nhl.com/
http://www.fifa.com/
They all have their own articles, highlights and content. I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Like I said, the circumstances are different. There isn't an importance for NHL to produce content because they don't have any competition for their, pun intended, hockey players and competition.
MLG is not on the same level of comfortability. If TL is writing articles about all the events and all the players, the article on your event may get just as many views as another article of say, IPL. So should MLG not write about their own events because someone can do it better or because the obvious choice to content is TeamLiquid? Is smart to limit choice because preferences are made? They all have their own articles, highlights and content. I'm not sure what you're talking about.Like I said, the circumstances are different. There isn't an importance for NHL to produce content because they don't have any competition for their, pun intended, hockey players and competition.MLG is not on the same level of comfortability. ISo should MLG not write about their own events because someone can do it better or because the obvious choice to content is TeamLiquid? Is smart to limit choice because preferences are made? https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
1 2 Next AllA Bitcoin (virtual currency) paper wallet with QR codes and a coin are seen in an illustration picture shot May 27, 2015. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Illustration/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) - London-based bitcoin start-up Elliptic and the Internet Watch Foundation, a charity that monitors online child sex abuse, will cooperate to clamp down on the use of bitcoin in online child pornography, Elliptic said on Wednesday.
Bitcoin is a web-based digital currency that relies on complex cryptographic algorithms to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority to process transactions.
That has made it attractive to a variety of users, including those who want to get around capital controls and those who support a currency that is free from government control for ideological reasons. But it has also attracted drug dealers, arms dealers, and the buyers and sellers of online child pornography.
The UK-based IWF, which aims to eliminate child pornography on the internet, has given Elliptic - which identifies illicit activity on bitcoin’s public ledger of transactions, the blockchain - a database of bitcoin addresses that it has associated with the pornography.
“This is the first time anybody has started identifying these crimes in bitcoin and flagging them up in a system like ours,” said Elliptic CEO James Smith. “This is a great step... towards our goal of getting rid of any sort of illicit activity in bitcoin.”
Elliptic, which was named by accountancy firm KPMG this year as one of 10 top emerging financial-technology start-ups, counts the biggest U.S and European bitcoin exchanges as clients. It also provides evidence to federal agencies in the United States and Europe for major investigations involving bitcoin. That makes the firm uniquely placed to take action, it said.
Elliptic will integrate IWF’s data set into its transaction-monitoring systems and will then alert clients when it sees money moving from the addresses identified as bad actors by IWF.
“Over the past few years, we have seen an increasing amount of bitcoin activity connected to purchasing child sexual abuse material online,” said IWF Chief Executive Susie Hargreaves. “Our new partnership with Elliptic is imperative to helping us tackle this.”
Elliptic said that although illicit activity on the bitcoin network, including the buying and selling of child pornography, was increasing, the proportion that made up of bitcoin transactions was declining as bitcoin transactions continued to grow in number.MARTINEZ — For the second time in about 40 years, 83-year-old Vacaville resident Betty Rushton and her family tearfully left a Contra Costa County courthouse feeling that the justice system had failed them.
In 1969, a drunken driver in Richmond killed 19-year-old Susan Rushton, the eldest of Betty Rushton’s three daughters.
The driver served 90 days in County Jail.
This past summer, another drunken driver killed her youngest daughter, 57-year-old Walnut Creek attorney Kathleen Moorhead.
Given that DUI laws are much tougher today than when Susan Rushton was killed, the family was hoping that 70-year-old Ruel “Bud” Sasser would receive the maximum penalty — 10 years in prison. After a judge sentenced Sasser to probation Monday, prosecutor Paul Sequeira said it is unlikely that the Concord man will ever step inside a cell.
“I know you are disappointed,” he told Moorhead’s family as they shared tears and hugs outside the courthouse. “I’m disappointed in a bigger picture in that I don’t like the message being sent.”
Sasser had never even had a traffic ticket before he struck Moorhead on July 17 as she walked along Treat Boulevard. He is a fine man, according to the dozens of people who wrote letters and spoke before Judge Leslie Landau. They described him as generous and responsible, a role model for his family and friends. He had a distinguished career at Chevron, where he started with a menial job at a service station and retired as an IT supervisor.
Drunken driving was so out of character for Sasser that many close to him said they have never seen him consume more than an occasional light beer.
William Gagan, Sasser’s attorney, asked for probation based on his client’s history and numerous medical issues, including diabetes and skin cancer.
“A prison sentence for this man, I think, could well be a death sentence,” Gagan said.
Sequeira asked Landau to focus on the accident, rather than the defendant, when determining a sentence.
Sasser had several drinks July 17 as he and a friend visited three restaurants in Danville and Blackhawk. About 6:30 p.m., he was driving east on Treat Boulevard, returning home. He hit a median and blew a tire about a quarter-mile from where he hit Moorhead, but continued on. He scraped the median three more times before hitting it hard enough to flatten a second tire. It was then, while twice dialing his cell phone, that Sasser lost control of his pickup, veering across all lanes of traffic, and jumping a sidewalk curb.
Moorhead, taking an evening walk, saw the truck barreling toward her and tried to jump over a fence. Sasser ran her over — 14 feet from the curb line — and crashed into the fence and a tree. A witness pulled the keys from Sasser’s ignition, fearing he might flee. Sasser had a 0.15 blood alcohol content — nearly twice the legal limit — an hour after his arrest.
Moorhead’s only surviving sibling, Nancy Van Tassel, said she feels that there is an “endless, bottomless abyss in my life that will never be filled.”
Moorhead was described as a rock of the family, having cared for her father before his death the previous year. She had served two years in the Navy and was a nurse for 13 years. She was in the Army Reserve for 23 years. She passed the California bar in 1986; since 2003, she had headed Fidelity National Financial’s Northern California litigation department.
“We have to demonstrate the consequences of this conduct,” Sequeira said, pounding his fist on a courtroom podium. “If you drink and drive and kill, prison is where you need to go.”
Sasser sobbed as Sequeira listed Moorhead’s numerous injuries.
“I’m so sorry for the pain and suffering I put you all through,” he said, turning to Moorhead’s family. “My actions that day are inexcusable.”
“Thank you,” Betty Rushton mouthed from the audience.
In the end, Landau sentenced Sasser to five years formal probation that, if violated, would activate a suspended six-year prison sentence. She sentenced him to a year in County Jail that would be served either in custody or through electronic home monitoring, at the discretion of the Sheriff’s Office. She ordered him to 200 hours of community service, speaking to students about drunken driving.
“Maybe you’ll be able to save a life and balance the books in your own mind,” Landau said.
Sequeira said in his 26 years being a prosecutor, he knows of no such case where the defendant avoided time behind bars. He said that he has found suspended prison sentences to be hollow and, given jail overcrowding and Sasser’s medical issues, he foresees the Sheriff’s Office picking home detention.
“Days like today are among the hardest judges have to handle,” Landau said.
She said important factors in her decision were Sasser’s decision to plead guilty without any guarantee of a sentence or negotiated deal, as well as his “heartfelt” apology to Moorhead’s family.
“Given the man in front of us today, the maximum of 10 years in prison is not appropriate,” she said. “I don’t mean in any way to demean Ms. Moorhead.”
Reach Malaika Fraley at 925-234-168
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, dubbed “Terrorism, Extremism and Regional Security of West Asia”, Alavi said following its heavy defeats in the Middle East, ISIS is now seeking to impose its dominance on other regions like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia with the aim of fulfilling its long-term goal of restoring its Islamic caliphate in the world.
“Religious extremism, regardless of its origin, leads to imprudent and abnormal moves including terrorism. We have witnessed the emergence of extremism in the guise of various religions over the past years,” he was quoted as saying by Tasnim News Agency on Tuesday.
He went on to say the Buddhism extremism in Myanmar has set the lives of Muslims ablaze. “We saw the same trend when a number of Christians were set ablaze by a priest. Extremism in the form of racist moves and Nazism in France and Germany has led to inappropriate and brutal behaviours.”
Alavi then outlined the history of terrorism and extremism in Islam and said extremism first emerged among Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabism.
He cited occupation of Islamic countries as another cause contributing to the emergence of extremism. “During the last century, the West’s colonialist measures and occupation of Islamic states like Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq humiliated many Islamic groups pushing them towards extremist retaliatory moves.”
The Iranian minister added when facing big powers which have imposed their will on the region, some Islamic groups begin to see themselves defenceless and come to the conclusion that there is no way out of their plight but resorting to violence.
Alavi then referred to the recent decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital saying Trump announced that the decision should have been made 20 years ago “but the main question is: what has the US done during the past 20 years to prepare the grounds for the relocation of US embassy from Tel Aviv to al-Quds?”
He added over the past two decades the Zionist regime has been viewed as the main threat to the Islamic world. According to Alavi, the US’ support for the Zionist regime paved the way for the emergence of the extremist groups in the region.
“Though the terrorist groups have been uprooted in the region but we must remain vigilant because they are seeking to restore themselves in other parts of the world in new forms,” he added.
He underlined a moderate and logical account of religion will never lead to extremism and terrorism and said certain states in the region have built up their religious account on ethnicity and tribalism turning the region into a source of extremism.
Alavi called for distinguishing between religion and extremism and said the US and its allies have tried over the past years to push Islamic groups towards extremism.
“It is extremism rather than religion that is the main source of terrorism. The extremist groups have emerged following the humiliation of Muslims and occupation of their lands by the enemies of the Islamic world,” he noted.
Elsewhere in his address, the Iranian minister said the Takfiri groups are seeking to promote a misleading version of Islam.
“The enemies are trying to introduce the Islamic Revolution as a Shiite revolution with the aim of causing rift among the Shiite and Sunni populations and prevent the emergence of new uprisings against their hegemony on the Islamic world,” he said.
Alavi called for unity of the Islamic nations against the enemies and said fortunately today the Islamic world has managed to promote the true face of Islam and foil enemy plots to push the Muslim youths towards terrorism.The frosty relationship between two of the world’s most prominent Argentinians appears to have taken a turn for the worse after it emerged that Pope Francis rejected a charitable donation from the government of President Mauricio Macri – at least partly – because the sum included the figure 666.
Earlier this month, the centre-right president made a donation that totaled 16,666,000 pesos (slightly under $1.2m) from the Argentinian government to the Scholas Occurentes educational foundation, which is backed by the pope and is based on a similar organization founded by Francis when he was cardinal of Buenos Aires.
Two weeks ago, the pope presided over an event in Rome at which medals were awarded to Hollywood celebrities George Clooney, Salma Hayek and Richard Gere, who have agreed to be ambassadors for the charity. Shortly afterwards, Macri made the donation.
But according to the Vatican Insider – a publication specializing in papal affairs published by the Italian newspaper La Stampa – Francis wrote to the Argentinian branch of the foundation, asking them to return the money. In a postcript, he wrote: “I don’t like the 666.”
Francis, who has long supported progressive causes in Argentina, and the centre-right president Macri have often found themselves on opposite sides of political debate.
But the pope is reported to have been particularly irritated when the Argentinian media presented the president’s donation as a sign that relations between the two leaders were improving.
The Argentinian chapter of Scholas returned the donation saying that “there are those who are trying to misrepresent this institutional gesture... with the purpose of generating confusion and division among Argentines”.
Government officials denied that the return of the donation had caused any ill will.
“There is no animosity towards the president,” said foreign minister Susana Malcorra after a meeting with Pope Francis in Rome on Monday. “It was a very rich, very natural conversation, with no calling of accounts or enormous philosophical differences.”
Critics of the Macri administration said that the pope’s rejection of the donation reflected his distaste for the president’s introduction of swingeing austerity measures, such as a 500% hike in home power rates and a 100% increase in transport fares, which have cut deep into the pockets of the working class.
“The 16 million didn’t sound good,” said Juan Grabois, an Argentinian social
activist and Vatican advisor with close links to the pope. “Whoever thinks that by giving money, especially public funds to a foundation directly or indirectly linked to Francis, is making a gesture to the pope, is stupid,” Grabois told Argentinian media.Moldovan winemaker Purcari’s Freedom Blend was created in 2011 to commemorate Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine’s 20 years of independence from the Soviet Union. But it took on another meaning when Russian tanks rolled into Crimea last year.
Purcari’s creation is a blend of wines from all three countries. However, in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, wine enthusiasts joke that instead it represents lands partially invaded by Russia, including not just Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula but the occupied territories of South Ossetia in Georgia and Moldova’s own disputed Transnistria region.
In recent centuries Moldova’s wine industry has relied heavily on custom from its eastern neighbours, none more so than Russia. But that is now starting to change. Strained by geopolitics and hurt by periodic import bans imposed by Moscow in retaliation for Moldova’s friendship with the EU, the country’s vineyards are turning west for investment and new export markets, keen to project themselves as a modern region with a rich history.
“There is a regional crisis and these traditional markets do not work for us any longer,” says Dumitru Munteanu, director of the National Office for Vine and Wine, the industry’s lobby group. “Our strategy is to be less dependent on eastern markets. We are trying to reorientate our exports to find more opportunity and more reliable partners.”
In 2004, 90 per cent of Moldova’s wine exports went to other parts of the former Soviet Union, with almost 40 per cent going to Russia. Last year 68 per cent of the 67m bottles of wine exported from Moldova, worth $156m, went east. The industry’s aim, Mr Munteanu says, is to reduce that to 33 per cent before the end of the decade.
“Until 2006, major investments that came to the wine sector were Russian. But then the first Russian ban was imposed and since then more and more interest has come from Germany, the US and the west,” Mr Munteanu says. “Many growers understand that without a reliable partner outside the country, it is very hard to access markets.”
Wedged between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova’s geography plays an integral part in an industry that produces 15m decalitres of wine each year, according to Wine of Moldova, a government trade promotion body.
Rolling hills abound, with the slopes of valleys accounting for almost 60 per cent of the country’s surface area. A long summer also helps: Moldova’s latitude matches that of Bordeaux and Burgundy. The Moldovans say that they have wine in their blood. “For us, it is... a key element of our national identity,” says Victor Bostan, chief executive at Purcari Winery. Purcari sells 65 per cent of its wine in the EU, thanks to strong growth in countries such as Romania and Poland.
Like many regions looking to expand in the crowded European market, Moldovan growers started in the value segment, aiming to ape the rise of Chilean and Australian wines. Today brands such as Purcari want to position themselves as an exotic option for drinkers keen to explore undiscovered wines.
Investors are taking note. The past seven years have seen 30,000 hectares of vine plantations in the country, says Wine of Moldova, with €330m of investments in land, production equipment and technology over the past decade.
A European Investment Bank programme provides up to 50 per cent of financing for investments in the country’s agricultural sector, with a focus on attracting business keen to export to the EU. A Moldovan government subsidy fund provides a list of financial incentives to invest in the industry. Mr Munteanu says investors as far away as China, South Korea and Nigeria are taking an interest in his country.
ft.comOne of the perennial questions for all theologians (and all human beings) is “Why do we suffer?” And, “If God is good and sovereign, why does he allow suffering?”
While most of us have these questions, we don’t really have to deal with them until we experience suffering ourselves. This is when we discover whether we really have a “theology of suffering” that can deal with the hard parts of life.
This is an area of theology which needs more attention. I am not talking about answers to the intellectual questions regarding the problem of evil and how to resolve it. Reformed folks have addressed that issue in spades.
What is needed instead is a robust accounting for the role suffering plays in the life of the Christian and how to endure it faithfully when it comes.
A tremendously helpful step in that direction is the new commentary on the book of Job by RTS Charlotte OT professor, Dick Belcher entitled, Job: The Mystery of Suffering and God’s Sovereignty (Christian Focus, 2017).
If one wants to deal head on with the issue of suffering, then certainly the story of Job is a great place to start. But, Belcher’s commentary is more than just a verse by verse analysis of the text of Job. While there is much exegetical gold to mine here, Belcher presents the story of Job more like a pastor ministering to people who are suffering.
Woven throughout the commentary is a modern example of suffering that effectively applies what the text is teaching. Belcher tells the story of Nik and Lindsay Franks and their baby son Pierce. Pierce was born 17 weeks premature at just 1 pound, 8 ounces. The Franks endured innumerable challenges, set backs, and obstacles as they learned to trust the Lord in the midst of suffering.
Here’s the description of the book, along with endorsements:
Is God worthy of worship only because He blesses us? How should we respond to God when suffering comes into our lives? At the heart of the book of Job is a question about the character of God – and about how we should respond to Him. In this most recent title of the extensive Focus on the Bible series, Richard Belcher expertly deals with the difficult themes of this practical book, showing how it is still acutely applicable to the lives of believers.
Belcher takes a new direction amongst Job commentaries. He is no ivory tower academic, theorising about suffering, or playing with the book’s theology. Weaving in the story of little baby Pierce, this is a scholarly and reliable commentary with a real human touch.
–Jared Hood ~ Old Testament Lecturer, Presbyterian Theological College, Melbourne
This very readable commentary combines scholarly insight with pastoral compassion as it addresses the question of how we should respond to God when suffering comes into our lives. Throughout the commentary, he shows how the message of the book of Job points to Christ the righteous sufferer. His summary statements are golden.
–Jim Newheiser ~ Director of the Christian Counseling Program and Associate Professor of Counseling and Practical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina
For more on how to think about suffering, see this EQUIP seminar done by Nancy Guthrie at RTS Charlotte on “What Grieving People Wish You Knew about What Really Helps and Really Hurts.”Widespread Panic – 10/16/2001 – Seattle, WA
Play Stop Next» «Prev SHOW PLAYLIST X
Widespread Panic
10/16/01
Paramount Theater,
Seattle, WA
1: Little Kin > Let It Rock, Walkin’ (For Your Love) > Aunt Avis, Holden Oversoul > Stop-Go > Dyin’ Man, Gimme > Makes Sense To Me
2: Let’s Get Down To Business, Travelin’ Light, Climb To Safety, Fixin’ To Die* > Wish You Were Here* > Jam* > Drums > Bear’s Gone Fishin’ > Blight > Coconut
E: Imitation Leather Shoes
* with Trey Anastasio on guitar/vocals
[‘Running Away’ and ‘Little Kin’ raps by JB during ‘Stop-Go’; ‘Let It Rock’ jam after ‘Gimme’; ‘Heathen’ and ‘This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)’ raps by JB during ‘Blight’]
Show was moved to Paramount Theater
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commentsXbox Australia's absurd and cool promotional events continue with a unique campaign to support the launch of PUBG next week on Xbox One. Microsoft is dropping three "supply drops" in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane--one in each.
The crates are stuffed with 25 items, including some pretty desirable things such as Xbox One X consoles and Elite controllers, as well as Xbox Live codes and codes for PUBG. Also in the crates is unspecified PUBG loot.
Microsoft will disclose the location of the loot crates (and the password to unlock them) on the Xbox ANZ Facebook page, so bookmark this page and check it often. The crates will be available on Saturday, December 9, which is also when the passwords will be disclosed. You have to say the password to the Xbox staffer at the crate to unlock it.
PUBG launches for Xbox One via the Game Preview program on December 12. Like the early access PC version, it will cost $30. The game launches in full on PC later this month; before then, players will have a chance to try out PUBG's new desert map, Miramar, which will be available during the "final test round" before its version 1.0 release. The map will also feature an exclusive new vehicle.
In other news, you can already buy cosmetic items for PUBG on Xbox One, while the gameplay reveal for the desert map will be shown during The Game Awards this week.
This is just the latest over-the-top promotion from Xbox Australia. In October, the company launched pop-up hotel where people could sleep over and play the Xbox One X before it was released.JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — During a conference call with financial analysts and investors this morning, CSX Transportation CEO Michael Ward says that smaller crews are "inevitable."Ward was responding to a question about whether railroads will be able to reduce crew sizes in response to autonomous trucks, which are looming on the horizon.“There’s going to be autonomous vehicles out there. There’s no question. The only question is when and how much they will be deployed,” Ward says. With CSX planning to deploy positive train control by 2020, “one does have to question why there has to be two people in the crew.”“Longer term, that’s something we’re going to have to address,” Ward adds, saying that he expects challenging negotiations with labor unions about the issue.But he says one-person crews are “inevitable. It’s just a question of when.”Ward's comments come days after the U.S. Supreme Court denied to hear a petition from Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway managers who tried to substitute managers for conductors on freight trains in 2013. And, late last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation created a new office on automation that is expected to guide and eventually regulate vehicles that lack direct human inputs to move.A How‐To on Outreach Online
A lthough Friends enjoy singing “This Little Light of Mine,” it seems as though we have a tendency to “hide it under a bushel” anyway.
Early Friends made use of the printing press, the latest technology available to them to spread their message. Today that latest technology is social media, though how many local meetings and Friends churches are making use of it? My own meeting, Adelphi (Md.) Meeting, started a Facebook page only this year, when I wanted to run ads for our annual strawberry festival. Some meetings in my area have a Facebook page or a Facebook group or both, and some have neither. Other forms of social media are even rarer.
Facebook
What is the difference between a Facebook page and a Facebook group? If you’ve used other online communication, you’ll notice it as the difference between your homepage and your discussion listserv. On Facebook pages, you post things you hope will be shared far and wide, for example, events like my meeting’s strawberry festival. Facebook groups, on the other hand, are for chatter: you might let others know who’s in the hospital or ask if anyone accidentally took home your casserole dish after the potluck. Since I want to talk about online outreach specifically, I’ll only focus on Facebook pages.
Why should you care about Facebook? There are 1.3 billion people on Facebook; there will be a fair number within close proximity of your meetinghouse. Facebook event advertising can be focused on people who are within the surrounding ten miles. Should you want to reach out to an underserved population with a word of encouragement, you could do that! Imagine being able to tell your local lesbian/gay/bisexual/trans/queer community that you love them after a tragedy like this summer’s Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida (I did).
How can a meeting’s Facebook page be effective? First, you need to post frequently. Daily posting is the gold standard but if you only manage weekly, that’s fine. We’re mostly volunteers, so find some assistance!
An idea that I heard at Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) annual sessions was for the yearly meeting to create posts and then share them with the monthly meetings. It then would show up on the monthly meeting’s Facebook page. This tactic only partially works, as the local meeting’s commentary will be lost upon resharing by individual Facebook users. Friends of those individual users would only see the yearly meeting’s commentary. Therefore, pages should focus on original content from the monthly meetings.
Just because a Facebook user has liked your meeting’s page doesn’t mean users will see everything you post in their personal feed. Videos often get the most views; you can livestream events or adult religious education, or share videos from YouTube. Images come next in Facebook’s algorithm determining what is and isn’t shared, followed by plain old text. It’s good to have an image in just about everything you post.
Facebook’s recent changes make text posts by individuals rank higher than text posts by pages. Pages whose posts you’ve interacted with more show up in your feed more often, as your friends will see when you interact with posts. If you want to help others see what Quakers are doing, interact by clicking the Facebook like button, typing a comment, or sharing the post.
Are you going to your meetinghouse for an event? When you get there, open the Facebook app and check in to your meeting’s page. You can write something about what’s going on and tag the friend who came with you so that the post will show for their friends too. If your meetinghouse has a device called a Facebook Bluetooth beacon, the meeting’s page should appear as soon as you open the Facebook app, offering information about your meeting.
If you want to post about a planned activity at the meetinghouse, type the at sign, @, followed by your meeting’s name. If you’ve already liked the page, a link will be created from your post to your meeting’s page. Sweet!
Instagram
Instagram is owned by Facebook but has a different audience. While fewer high school and college students are using Facebook, Instagram reaches that younger demographic. Instagram is only for images and occasionally videos. Should your meeting have an Instagram account? Maybe. Should shutterbugs use Instagram? Yes.
Using Instagram for outreach requires good captions. You can tell an entire story with your picture. Look around your meeting. Who’s done something unusual as part of their Quaker witness? Has anyone risked safety or comfort in service to a cause? Take a photo of that person with something related to the action; tell the story in the caption. You can add hashtags (words preceded by a pound sign) to help others find the story; you might want to include hashtags such as #Quakers, #SocialJustice, #Testimony, #Peace, and #NoWar. Maybe meetings around the world could agree to do this and add #QuakerStories.
If you’re taking photos of an event or its preparation at your meetinghouse, remember to tag your city, county, and any nearby college campus. Find the popular tag for your community by searching variations on the name in Instagram and comparing the number of results. I found that #CollegePark can apply to several states, but #CollegeParkMD means the area near our meetinghouse (don’t worry about capitalization on hashtags, as it doesn’t matter).
Twitter
Twitter is more useful at the national level or regional level. Friends Committee on National Legislation has had great luck with using it to reach out to members of Congress and American Friends Service Committee shows up frequently with news articles in Twitter.
Twitter is better for conversations between individuals. There’s a limited amount of space for each tweet (a Twitter post), but if you reply to your own tweets they will display together as a comment thread and you’ll be able to tell a longer story. It’s also common to discuss the goings‐on at an event by using Twitter. At this year’s Baltimore Yearly Meeting annual sessions, I tweeted select bits of the plenary address by Christina Repoley, executive director of Quaker Voluntary Service.
On any given day, you can find a cadre of Friends posting on Twitter using the #Quakers hashtag (along with a few people talking about oatmeal). We discuss our faith; we link to articles; we ask questions; we discuss history.
If you want people to tweet about an event such as annual sessions, it’s a good idea to designate a hashtag for the event. For Baltimore’s sessions, we used #BYM345; Central Yearly Meeting recently used #CYM2016. You can put a sign in a common area like the registration desk to publicize the hashtag.
Resources for Outreach Committees
If you want to make compelling images for social media, I’d recommend that you check out Canva (canva.com). It has a ton of templates that let you edit text, change images and colors, and add a meeting logo. You can even learn about design with its free and paid lessons.
You can find free images to use from stock photo websites. You can also go to search.creativecommons.org, which lets you search Google, Flickr, and many other websites for photos that are already licensed for reuse.
If you need ongoing guidance, it’s not a problem. There are church social media chats on Twitter (I’d recommend #chsocm at tchat.io/rooms/chsocm) and on Facebook (join the Church Communications group at facebook.com/groups/churchcomm). Here users can ask questions about strategy and share resources. After finding that people in these groups tend to be perplexed by unprogrammed Friends practices (We let entire committees make decisions? We don’t have a pastor to decide things for us?), I started a specifically Quaker communications and outreach group (facebook.com/groups/QuakerComms), so we can ask each other questions.
I also recommend checking out the book The Social Media Gospel by Meredith Gould. Though it’s not specifically for Friends, it’s full of good tips (just as Liberal Friends are accustomed to translating each other’s language for God or the Divine, you can find ways to translate the advice for Friends’ use). Also, of course, check out what other Quaker meetings, churches, and organizations are doing online. New England Yearly Meeting and Quaker Voluntary Service both post regularly and have great social media.[Updated at 4:02 p.m. ET Saturday]
- He would be No. 51 in the all-time medal count, tied with Egypt and Portugal with 22 total medals.
- He'd have more Twitter followers (1,000,497) than Fiji has in total population (890,057).
- He'd be making more money than certain entire countries. He is estimated to make $100 million over the course of his lifetime. This is more than twice the estimated GDP of the Tuvalu Islands ($37,470,000).
- He'd be liked on Facebook (5.8 million times) more times than the total number of Internet users in Greece (4,971,000).
- Phelps, born in 1985, would be older than several countries including Namibia, Slovakia, Serbia, Kosovo, and South Sudan.
- Phelps, standing 6-foot-4, would be taller than the average Dutch man (6 feet), considered to be the world’s tallest people.
We say this, of course to highlight the legacy of Phelps, who won his 22nd medal on Saturday, extending his record of most Olympic medals won all-time.
Phelps, who began swimming at age 7 to emulate his sisters, set individual world records 29 times, and he still holds records in six events.
He has wrapped up a career as the most decorated Olympian ever, perhaps the greatest ever. Some commentators will argue the cases of track and field's Carl Lewis, who missed an Olympics because of a U.S. boycott, or distance runner Paavo Nurmi, who won 12 medals. Some might argue for Bjorn Daehlie, the Norwegian cross-country skier. And there's gymnast Larisa Latynina, whose 18 medals are now second all time.
Vote in the poll below if you think Michael Phelps should be considered the greatest Olympian ever. We plan to keep adding to this list so let us know in the comments if you have any similar "if Michael Phelps were a country" comparisons and we'll check them out.Ka circled above and behind the army of black dots. Zombies dotting the foothills leading up to the Snow Wall was not a welcome sight. Not when he was trying to gain entry to the very same valley they were sitting outside off.
"No way in?" Tiki asked as he swung back to their group, waiting for him in a high altitude soar over a thermal.
Ka waved a wing in negation, "no, they have nightcryers with them, I saw three or four flights in the air. Who knows how many on the ground. "
"Flying zombie nightcryers," Tiki shook his head, "it gets worse and worse. "
"It's strange that this army is less than half the size of the big one that attacked last month, but they're better organized and seem more intelligent than before," Ka noted. Indeed, zombie attacks were known for their reckless charges regardless of the odds.
Whoever heard of zombie armies camping?
But that was what this army seemed to be doing. If the almost daily attacking groups were now waiting here instead of attacking, that might explain this build up into an army. It didn't explain how the supposedly mindless zombies were now showing signs of tactical ability, if not suicidally attacking fortified defenses could be considered tactical ability.
Still, that didn't help Ka's group get home. The army was blocking the way into the valley with more nightcryers than Ka would want to face even with the entire Clan Two, much less their little group of four, one of whom was injured and flying poorly.
"We'll have to go around, take our chances with the peaks to the side," Ka said finally.
Tiki frowned, "you're proposing flying over the Snow Wall itself. You realize that the air itself freezes on your feathers if you go that high?"
"We shouldn't have to go that far to stay out of sight of the nightcryers," Ka paused, "but we'll wear all our fabrics. Just in case. "
Lolu covered her pain with loud complaints as she shook ice from her wings, "first you foul our wings with sand then freeze our blood with ice. What storms are you going to drag us through next, Ka?"
"There's no more, you know that. One more day and we'll be out of the peaks and below the clouds again," Ka tried to reassure her, he knew she was just putting on a brave front despite her joking. "We are past the notice of the nightcryers and should be able to make our descent by air in the morning. "
"Past their notice only because you made us climb up the mountain like those landbound!" She tried to hide her rubbing of her stiff wing where the hole was.
Tiki patted her shoulder in a manner he clearly hoped was reassuring but did nothing for Lolu. After all, he wasn't the one with a burn a handspan's wide in his wing. Of course, he avoided all contact with her feathers even if he had to bend his arm around her half outstretched wing.
"The last fire shell should be drained in an hour," Ka said, "our lift and strength should be recovered by then and we'll head back by air. "
She shuffled closer to the fiery pit in the gap in the rocks they were nesting in. The rest of them had their feathers to cloak them from the bitter chill but Lolu's injury made her more susceptible to the cold. And since neither zombies nor nightcryers had followed them up this high, they could spare the three remaining fire shells for heat.
Simply puncturing the shell without priming it was enough to cause the living fire inside to slowly flow out and promptly catch alight. They had to take turns holding up the shell so that the liquid dripped away from it, and didn't pool and make it explode, but the globs of sticky flame burned brightly even in the snow.
As they sat around the fire miserably, Ka frowned and rubbed at his eyes. A feather raising feeling was creeping up on him.
"Do you see something wrong?" Kee asked, noting his brother's actions.
"Is it getting brighter here?" Ka answered with a doubtful question of his own.
"Well, the sun is rising after all. "
Ka looked at his brother then shrugged, "but the shadows are wrong. The ice must be getting to my eyes, or perhaps the light shines strangely off it. "
Their conversation attracted Tiki's attention. He glanced around then cupped his hands together for a moment. "I think the air is glowing," Tiki noted faintly.
"What. "
"The air. It's glowing. "
Ka considered the last fire shell he was holding up and glanced over to Kee, who was peering into his clenched hands. His brother nodded back in confirmation. "Any idea what that means?" Ka asked Tiki, who answered with a shrug.
Remain here on a mountaintop with some unknown phenomenon happening or take their chances with a flight without their full strength? The choice was obvious.
Ka threw the fire shell down the ridge to join its brothers and stood up, "we're flying out. Now. "
A few minutes later, their packs were tightened and wings unfurled to dive off mountain ridge into the snowy air. And not a moment too soon. As the chilly peaks fell behind them, Ka glanced back at their impromptu nest to see a curtain of light descend from the wintry sky itself. The glow engulfed the rock and snow with an otherworldly radiance and Ka had to consciously keep his flight going when he saw the top of the mountain fade out of existence to be replaced by the uniform white light.
"An Aura Light!" Tiki exclaimed, "it looks like the legends are true, they really are stronger the higher you go in the mountains!"
To his horror, Ka looked back to the front to find the rest of the world, the warm lower air he was diving towards had also disappeared in a curtain of light, leaving the band of Elka with no visual guide to the shape of the mountain beyond their immediate vicinity.
Lolu choked a little behind him. Ka raised his fist and signaled them to pull up their wings into a shallow glide instead of the steep dive. The curtain of light ahead had retreated when they drew close in their dive, as the light engulfing the mountain behind kept pace. As their descent slowed, the light seemed to follow them, leaving the Elka stranded in their narrow strip of snow covered mountainside and empty air.
"Any idea what is happening, Tiki?"
The young wing had no answer. It seemed that there were no legends about this.
"As long as we don't touch the light, I believe we will be all right," Ka said, trying to keep his worry out of his voice. He didn't need their confidence shaken in this crisis. "But just in case, we fasten draglines. Me, Lolu, Kee, Tiki. Fifteen meter line. "
His brother unspooled the wire they used for assisting Lolu into the air before tossing it over. Setting up their little chain took some awkward formation flying but eventually they were ready to proceed.
"We fly down slowly, to give us time to see the lower peaks and valleys of the Snow Wall as they come out of the Light," Ka said. They nodded back grimly. The story that implied they could very well be flying down a similar mountain in another world was left unsaid.
So they suffered a long hour of careful gliding and dodging shadows in the Aura Light before the curtain parted before them to reveal a welcome snow-free mountainside.
A familiar mountainside less than a day's flight from Clan Two's home range. Certainly not a different world.
Ka looked back up beyond the thin clouds and saw the light dying into a faint nothingness. The deadly peaks above glinted as the sunlight bounced off the snow, twinkling innocently. As if their strange journey had not happened at all.
Cato was frowning by the time Ka had repeated his report of the expedition. Minmay and the whole Greater Circle was present to hear it after the Chancellor had deemed it important enough to repeat to everyone.
"So we have confirmed the zombies get their numbers from real bodies. And they have been destroying a country to the north in order to attack us. Furthermore, the nightcryers are working with them and the zombies are learning strategy?!"
The summary from the new mayor of Corbin town grew more incredulous as he went on.
"Clan Two has verified the presence of the army at the north end of the pass, numbers are estimated to be equal to the previous major attack and gathering more each week. Erin's report indicates that with most of the Guard still on rotation away from the Fort, if the zombies attack now, they have a good chance of causing severe casualties, if not breaking through entirely. With nightcryers in the army, it is not clear our previous trench tactics would be as effective. "
It was unstated that the Minmay Guard provided a large amount of the firepower present at Fort Yang despite being only a third of the total number of soldiers. Better weapons, better defenses, some semblance of military order in comparison to the conscripts from the other territories.
"Ektal has been trying to raise more soldiers to reinforce Fort Yang but weapon production is lagging behind recruitment," the chancellor nodded towards Willio, "thanks to the effort of our Ironworkers, we have more and better weapons than the king. We also lack the hands needed to wield the new guns and fire shells, hands that are better employed in the new foundries and factories. I would like to discuss the feasibility of selling our weapons to King Ektal. "
"Won't that weaken our position? The Guards and King Ektal's knights are roughly even, if you account for our better weapons and the magical shields. Provide them with our weapons and they'll overrun us with numbers. "
That was Hino. Previously leader of the knights in Minmay, she was now leading most of the parties who remained to become a peacekeeping force. Sort of like police but more militaristic and somehow beholden to public opinion. Cato wasn't sure if there was any Earth analog to that.
Minmay sighed. "Almost certainly. The king would not casually break the peace treaty brokered by Amarante but..."
"But Inath is far away and our military advantage gives us influence across the entire country and is worth more than mere money," Hino finished for him, "what about other forms of compensation? Can we use the sale of weapons to gain security in other ways? Perhaps Aldir might be willing to lend us support in court in exchange for weapons?"
"Aldir is firmly in the pocket of the King, any agreement with them can't be trusted. My contacts there say that Aldir provides almost half the production of fire shells in their army," Willio added, "besides, they're not a border province, what do they need weapons for?"
More protests and grumblings about trade and balance of power drove Cato back to the report again. Selling the Guard's old weapons to the Ektal knights only made sense when you considered that Guard recruitment was beginning to stall. It was an easy solution to increase total firepower.
"What about our University? Don't they have a new weapon or two to solve our problem like the last time?"
The murmurs of side discussions died away. Cato looked up from his perusal of the zombie clothing drawings. A small town mayor near the border of the Central Territory? What did he know of how the University operated? How did this person get a seat at the Greater Circle, didn't the chancellor interview and personally approve each of their characters?
Cato glanced around and saw not a few others seemingly waiting for him to answer. Surely they didn
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Davenport-Hines there is also a more profound reason, which becomes apparent through this highly enjoyable series of portraits: Keynes’s economics were not created out of a theoretical or mathematical firmament but were the product of his wider life.
Born into the middle-class intelligentsia, Keynes was by birth, by education and inclination, a Liberal. A King’s Scholar at Eton, he went on to King’s College Cambridge where he was a member of the semi-secret debating club, The Apostles. There, members discussed philosophy and took it in turns to read papers from the hearth rug. It was here that Keynes developed that “unparalleled power of lucid exposition” (Austin Robinson) which was to enable him to become one of the great “persuaders” of his age.
This power yielded its first historic consequences when Keynes convinced Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, not to suspend the Bank Charter Act on the eve of Britain’s entry into the First World War. In doing so, he succeeded against the advice of the City and saved Britain from what could have proved a fatal financial crisis during the first few weeks of the war.
Keynes’s liberalism prevented him from fighting but he was re-recruited to the Treasury to try to help Britain pay for the war. This became an increasingly torturous task for Keynes as he despaired at the slaughter, the jingoism, conscription and the destruction of Edwardian Liberal Britain. At the Versailles Peace Conference despair turned into rebellion. He resigned in protest at the extortionate levels of reparation which the Allies demanded Germany pay.
In his bestselling indictment of the “peace makers”, The Economics Consequences of the Peace, Keynes argued that it made neither economic nor political sense to wreck the German economy. A bankrupt Germany would never be able to pay the recompenses demanded and vengeance, he predicted, would “not limp”.
As is implied by the biography’s title, Keynes was a man of extraordinarily broad interests. In common with many Bloomsbury group members he had a passionate interest in the arts. Less typical was the energy with which he sought to bring high culture to a public audience. On hearing that the contents of Degas’s studio were to be sold, Keynes persuaded Bonar Law, the Chancellor, to send him to Paris with £20,000 to buy paintings for the National Gallery. He founded the Cambridge Arts Theatre, was the first chairman of the Arts Council and brought Sadler’s Wells Ballet to Covent Garden.
Keynes’s love of ballet was strengthened through his wife, the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, but in the decade prior to his marriage, Keynes had been an active homosexual – even keeping statistics on his sexual encounters. The tangled and overlapping love lives of the Bloomsbury set is as confusing as it is salacious but if this section drags, this is only a small eddy in a book which otherwise flows freely.
Above all, Davenport-Hines sells his title and his proposition: Keynes is about much more than borrowing and spending, deficits and interest rates and in order to understand his economics one needs to understand the man and his times. Contrary to the assertions of his free-market detractors, Keynes sought to save capitalism not to undermine it. He wanted to destroy that scourge of happiness and prosperity, unemployment, and to preserve those aspects of civilisation which promoted “the good life”. These were bold and universal aspirations which could only have come close to being achieved by a man of universal brilliance.
Tim Bouverie is a producer for Channel 4 News
Universal Man: the Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes by Richard Davenport-Hines
432pp, William Collins, Telegraph offer price: £16.99 (PLUS £1.99 p&p) (RRP £18.99, ebook £8.03). Call 0844 871 1515 or see books.telegraph.co.ukThis popped up among several friends, from an anonymous geek person. [Sic] all around.
Geekdom is the only place where socially shunned males can be save and be themselves. So when women, who exclude them outside geek culture, invade those save spaces and force the scene to conform to their wants and rules they leave the men with nowhere to go. Where can they flee? They’re backed into a corner. Attacking invading women is not harrassment – it is defense. Women hate socially inept males. Why should they not hate them back when they try to destoy their only sanctuary.
First, it’s blatant nonsense that women – or rather not cis dudes – were never part of “geekdom”, it’s bullshit to say women “invade” geek spaces. The first games I bought were by Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen; I was reading Ursula le Guin before I knew I was apparently supposed to hate all girls (i.e. teens); and the most popular character among me and my friends for Halloween was Frankenstein’s monster, created by – *gasp* – a woman.
But, I don’t need to list women who revolutionised the various mediums they were part of or elaborate on the quality and beauty they brought to their various genres. The works speak for themselves.
While some of us dudes were writing shitty poetry and thinking we could be the next Stephen King, women were adding quality to stale genres and mediums that were constantly poised to antagonise them.
If you tell me women are invading geek spaces, I just don’t know what you mean because the “geek spaces” I know and grew up with are comprised of women and their creations, of women friends coding software, winning awards, and building computers; writing books that have stayed with me for generations; creating games I still get nostalgia for (I’m replaying Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. Thank you, Jane Jensen!)
That geekbros don’t know this shows that the first premise is false: Geekdom is not maledom. Never has been. If the first premise is false, everything else collapses – since this is how logical arguments work.
But this Anon Geekbro isn’t trying to make a sound argument: it’s a justification to maintain the status quo, to not self-reflect; to mend the fences feminists and others have to started to rightfully dismantle, fences propped to keep the privilege soft and warm.
That was just the first part, though.
So when women, who exclude them outside geek culture, invade those save spaces and force the scene to conform to their wants and rules they leave the men with nowhere to go.
Note the assumption that geeks are straight and men (more diversity would inform you about different sexualities and genders!). We’ve already seen that “invading” is bog-stained horse manure.
But let’s assume it really is the case that before, um, 2012 women never appeared in geekdom anywhere (sorry Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and other Vertigo writers who then became household names: Karen Berger can’t get a job creating the finest line of comics imprint, because women can’t invade geek spaces!)
Many dudes growing up have often felt excluded by girls* (not girls’ fault), been bullied and were considered weird and strange in high school – that’s a lot of us. The first issue, you’ll note, is that they want to blame women for this sense of rejection, not themselves. Even blame might be the wrong term, since there could be a multitude of factors, beyond our control, that left us feeling isolated, socially awkward and so on. The issue requires care to think about – but you throw any sensitivity out the window as soon as you attack women as the catalysts for your male geek troubles.
Thus even if women had never been part of geekdom and now suddenly want to be, it’s still not a reason to oppose them. We’re not talking about someone who threw you into Robben Island and now wants to join your board game club; we’re talking about a particular group you were attracted to, but had trouble engaging, now entering a space you assumed was your own.
Why do male geeks not think any geeks from other genders exist? Could it be because, um, male geeks only hung out with other male geeks? The idea that girls were doing the same nerdy thing but among themselves seems alien. Instead, women appear ex nihilo into geekdom ready to conquer it? Maybe there are all sorts of other issues male geeks never had to face that often forced girls to be silent or downplay their geeky interests?
No! Far more likely women spring into geekdom to… “invade” cos… reasons. (I mean, why wouldn’t they, look how fucking welcoming it is!/s).
This part is interesting
conform to their wants and rules they leave the men with nowhere to go.
Note how this leaves out that men themselves want to hear from women; that we want to listen to feminist critics or – *gasp* consider ourselves feminists! There is a polarising of men versus women (assuming gender binary, too), and apparently all think alike – there’s no consideration that “Men agree with feminists’ arguments” or “Men are listening to women because maybe the women have something to say” or “Women actually made this or are in charge” etc. (Reminder: women already started gaming companies, made games, wrote books, etc. before so many of these angry dudes were born!)
Again: the idea is that if women “invade” and have their evil way, it would directly oppose (all) men – the reality is they would be opposing sexists, misogynists, transphobes and many other kinds of people a lot of us men do not want to associate with either!
If you feel anti-sexism is attacking you as a man, the problem isn’t anti-sexism.
Where can they flee? They’re backed into a corner. Attacking invading women is not harrassment – it is defense.
Fuck you.
Women hate socially inept males.
Tell that to my partners. Maybe women are getting better at spotting gross sexist jerks, who use “socially inept” as an excuse to blame women instead of figuring out how they can be better men.
Why should they not hate them back when they try to destoy [sic] their only sanctuary.
I for one welcome an end to toxicity where women find it easier to abandon writing careers in gaming, for goddamn law and politics; toxicity so vile, it hurts my friends who just tried to support me and others.
This is not your sanctuary. It’s everyone’s – yes, including yours. And either you accept that boring, sexist horseshit is no longer acceptable or get some money together and become a GOP Presidential candidate.
I’ll be fucked if people expect us who think marginalised folk deserve to be treated with respect should sit down, shut up or get out because gross jerks justify harassment as “defence”.
Fuck that.
Women made this culture before you were born. Sorry. Time to catch up and grow up.
UPDATE:
Is this is what “invading” geek space is? Good.
—
* I literally mean girls, as in high school, since that’s what I’m referring to. I’m not – and won’t – use “girls” as shorthand for “women”.
I am a cishet dude, who enjoys the products of geekdom: video games, sci-fi TV shows and lit, horror, and so on. I have written about them for publications you might know about. I have a great love for these. So, in thinking about this “question”, I am addressing other cishet dudes.Legal Psychiatric Abuse
5 Keys to Prevent Mental, Psychological
Rape of Battered Women
by Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.
It doesnt take long in this field to stumble upon a causality of the legal psychiatric system. If you are a battered woman or work with domestic abuse survivors, then you, too, know the incidence of abuse by psychiatric labeling to this vulnerable group of people.
Who Is Crazy?
From the moment she asserts her truth that she is the abused, the psychological abuse begins. She is told, Its all in your head. Youre out of your mind. Youre crazy!
Then, as she ventures out into the world for support and validation of her crippling relationship circumstances, another wave of psychological insult is upon her. She can be told by the very mental health professional she sought comfort from that she is a borderline personality disorder or has a severe mood disorder.
Then, if children are involved, she could even have Munchausen by Proxy. Whatever it takes to just get a label on this ranting, whining woman. But, is she really crazy? Does she really have a psychiatric disorder? Or, are these psychiatric labels used to contain, discredit and silence the alleged domestic violence?
The Psychiatric Rape and Incarceration of Battered Women
Battered women have been institutionalized in psychiatric hospitals for decades. Its the tried and true means to silence the abuse to her and save face for her abusive partner or former partner.
When the label doesnt do it in and of itself, more stringent measures are taken to impose psychiatric confinement to the battered woman. She could be picked up by the police and escorted into a 72-hour psychiatric hold for evaluation.
We have seen women parked in mental institutions just because their abusive partners claim they belong there. The saddest cases I see are the women who are in and out of psychiatric hospitals over and over again for a span of years.
These women can be subjected to psychotropic medications, solitary confinement, physical restraints and electroshock treatment all in the name of mental health care. In many cases, they can emerge from the psychiatric system unrecognizable to their family and former friends.
Often, when they do return to their lives, they discover they have no family or friends. It is not uncommon for their former abusive partners to engage the support of the victim's immediate family to carry out the psychological abuse toward them.
How to Prevent Legal Psychiatric Abuse
The answer to How to Prevent Legal Psychiatric Abuse rests in the statement/question. The operative word is prevent. You must be vigilant in your steps to prevent it, because once it starts, it quickly can spiral out of control.
Here are some things you will want to know to help you prevent legal psychiatric abuse.
1) Never subject yourself to a voluntary psychiatric hospitalization unless you yourself are seeking care by doing so.
2) Recognize that a psychiatric residential stay is not required to do a psychological evaluation.
3) Pick your own mental health professional, rather then subjecting yourself to the care of someone chosen by your abusive partner.
4) Give yourself a reality check... Seek the input of an independent professional not entangled in your court case to provide you with psychological care and assessment.
5) Trust your gut even when it offers up mixed signals. Deep in your soul, you know who is really "crazy."
If you are a domestic abuse survivor, you will want to keep your eyes wide open and follow the above pointers while you campaign for your safety and psychological well-being.
For more information on crazy-making legal psychiatric abuse, visit www.preventabusiverelationships.com/crazy_making.php and get instant access to free survivor success insights. Psychologist Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. helps couples nationwide end and heal from domestic abuse.
© Jeanne King, Ph.D. Domestic Violence Prevention and InterventionIn the span of seven days, researchers rejiggered the News Feeds of 689,000 users to surface either more positively or negatively worded stories to the top. The study found that users who saw the positive stories were more likely to write more positive words in their own posts, and users who saw negative ones were more likely to write negative words. According to the published paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study found that "emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion" and that it can happen "without direct interaction between people."
Let's face it: Most people don't read policies and terms of service before agreeing to them, and even if they did, the terms are pretty difficult to understand
It seems like a relatively innocuous study, right? Even Adam Kramer, the study's author, wrote that the impact of the study was fairly minimal, and that its purpose was to "provide a better service." But this experiment goes beyond the pale, for several reasons. For one thing, we didn't know it was happening. The American Psychological Association (APA) states in its Code of Conduct that in the process of doing psychological research with human beings, informed consent is required -- it needs to be offered in a "language that is reasonably understandable to that person or persons." The part of Facebook's Data Use Policy that seems to allude to this states that the company would use your information "for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and service improvement."
According to Forbes, however, this particular language didn't even appear in the agreement until four months after the study took place. And, let's face it: Most people don't read policies and terms of service before agreeing to them, and even if they did, the terms are pretty difficult to understand. Plus, that sentence is vague enough that it doesn't convey the possibility of a psychological study. It's logical to assume that the "research" stated here alludes to something harmless -- like making a button red instead of blue rather than studies that probe into the inner workings of your mind. That's not "informed consent" as the APA defines it, even if Facebook claims that it underwent a strong "internal review" process.
It's bad enough that the study occurred without Facebook users' permission. But it didn't just observe users' actions -- it intentionally meddled with their emotions. When we go on Facebook, we generally expect to catch up on our friends' lives unencumbered by any emotional sleight of hand. Sure, the advertising on Facebook is a form of emotional manipulation too, but many of us understand what we're getting into when we see an ad -- we expect to be pandered to and cajoled. We don't expect that same manipulation in our regular News Feed.
A local review board had approved the methodology "on the grounds that Facebook apparently manipulates people's News Feeds all the time."
But -- and here's the part that many people don't necessarily realize -- Facebook has been messing with your News Feed anyway. Susan Fiske, a Princeton University professor who edited the study for publication, told The Atlantic that a local institutional review board had approved the methodology "on the grounds that Facebook apparently manipulates people's News Feeds all the time." And she's right -- your News Feed is filtered based on a variety of factors so that some stories float to the top, while others don't. It's all part of Facebook's unique News Feed algorithm that intends to surface the "right content to the right people at the right time" so that you don't miss out on stories that matter to you. So, for example, you'll see a best friend's wedding photos over what a distant relative said she was having for lunch if your behavior on Facebook leads it that way.
In a way, the algorithm makes sense. According to Facebook, there are on average 1,500 potential stories every time you visit your News Feed and it's easy for important and relevant posts to get lost in the mix if you have to sift through it all. And from Facebook's perspective, surfacing more pertinent stories will also get you to stick around and engage more, and maybe help the company get more ad impressions in the process. The flip side, of course, is that Facebook is actually deciding what to show to you. Most of us probably don't really care about this because we're usually unaware of it, and as it's actually beneficial at times. But sorting out posts just because they're positive or negative is taking it too far. It turns us from customers into lab rats. Yet, we're all so used to this sort of manipulation that many of us probably never noticed.
In response to the negative reactions that the study caused, Kramer said in his post that the company's internal review practices would incorporate some of the lessons it's learned from the reaction to the study. Facebook also sent us the following statement:
"This research was conducted for a single week in 2012 and none of the data used was associated with a specific person's Facebook account. We do research to improve our services and to make the content people see on Facebook as relevant and engaging as possible. A big part of this is understanding how people respond to different types of content, whether it's positive or negative in tone, news from friends or information from pages they follow. We carefully consider what research we do and have a strong internal review process. There is no unnecessary collection of people's data in connection with these research initiatives and all data is stored securely."
Facebook's mea culpa is certainly appreciated, but it still doesn't quite resolve the biggest pain point: The experiment altered our moods without our consent. Also, let's not forget that Facebook has messed up with privacy issues before -- one of the more famous examples is the company's Beacon program, where it broadcasted your online shopping habits without your knowledge. This isn't exactly a company that can afford any further damages to its reputation. The firm has certainly made strides in recent years to show it's committed to user privacy by defaulting posts to friends only and making privacy options clearer. But it only takes a mistake like this to have everyone question their allegiance to Facebook again.
Facebook's mea culpa is appreciated, but it doesn't quite resolve the biggest pain point: The experiment altered our moods without our consent.
Or will it? The fact is that even with this controversial study revealed, most people will still continue to use Facebook. The company continues to grow -- it went from a million users in 2004 to almost 1.2 billion in 2013 -- despite the multiple privacy faux pas throughout the years. The social network has commanded such a loyal and dedicated following that none of these breaches in public trust have seriously damaged it. Most people just don't seem to care that their feeds are being manipulated, with or without their consent, as long as they still get to play Candy Crush Saga and see photos of their grandkids. After all, if you really cared about controlling your privacy, you'd look into getting off the internet entirely.
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images, AFP/Getty Images]http://e-archives.lib.purdue.edu/botpdf/BOTM18760614.pdf[Wednesday June 14th, 1876.] The Board of Trustees of Purdue University met on Call of the President, at the University Buildings, on Wednesday the 14th of June 1876. Present John R. Coffroth, Prest. [President], J.C. Ratliff, R. Wells, J. Sutherland, R.P. Haynes and M.D. Manson. Minutes of last meeting read and approved. The Secretary being absent M.L. Peirce was appointed Secretary pro tem. The report of President White, on the present condition of the University, with his recommendations as to the future wants, and work, was read, discussed and unanimously approved and ordered to be spread on the records. On motion Resolved:No Society shall be organized by the Students, except by Consent of the Faculty, and all public exercises of such Societies, in time, place and character, shall be subject to the approval of the Faculty. On motion Resolved, that untill [until] otherwise ordered by the Board the following tariff of rates, are required, to wit: Tuition in all departments—free. Entrance fee in Academy per term, two dollars. Entrance fee in College per Year, Five dollars. [page crossed out]bblack Profile Joined April 2011 Netherlands 288 Posts Last Edited: 2012-09-03 21:26:10 #1
Los Angeles, September 2, 2012 - Today, Infinity Seven is proud to announce the addition of its newest player, Brandon "KoMA" Spinosa.
Representing Canada, the 15-year-old Terran has been playing games ever since he was a young child. In June we saw him qualify for WCS Canada in Toronto, where he made it to the round of 24.
The passion and dedication we saw in Brandon made us believe that he will fit the team perfectly, having the motivation to succeed and the potential to do so. Expect to see him make waves in the scene in the upcoming months as he evolves. Below you can find a few words from KoMA on joining the team.
Brandon 'KoMA' Spinosa
Los Angeles, September 2, 2012 - Today, Infinity Seven is proud to announce the addition of its newest player, Brandon "KoMA" Spinosa.Representing Canada, the 15-year-old Terran has been playing games ever since he was a young child. In June we saw him qualify for WCS Canada in Toronto, where he made it to the round of 24.The passion and dedication we saw in Brandon made us believe that he will fit the team perfectly, having the motivation to succeed and the potential to do so. Expect to see him make waves in the scene in the upcoming months as he evolves. Below you can find a few words from KoMA on joining the team.Brandon 'KoMA' Spinosa Hey guys, thanks for allowing me to join such an awesome team, I am truly excited to be a member of Infinity Seven. You guys were so welcoming, I already feel like part of the family. I'm looking forward to practicing very hard and showing good results in the near future. I really appreciate being given this oppurtunity and I promise I will impress!
Zhang 'zemotion' Jingna
Zhang 'zemotion' Jingna Brandon has shown himself to be an extremely dedicated and passionate player ever since the beginning of our conversations, and it is no surprise that players on the team were quick to grow fond of him after watching his stream and playing together.
We are very excited about his potential and you will definitely be seeing him in future tournaments and events. Do join me in welcoming our new Terran to the team, we're happy to have you Brandon!
Brandon has shown himself to be an extremely dedicated and passionate player ever since the beginning of our conversations, and it is no surprise that players on the team were quick to grow fond of him after watching his stream and playing together.
Adding Brandon to our roster is part of our continued efforts in developing North American talents. We are very excited about his potential and you will definitely be seeing him in future tournaments and events. Do join me in welcoming our new Terran to the team, we're happy to have you Brandon!
With that being said, we hope you will join us in welcoming KoMA as a new member of the Infinity Seven family. Stay tuned for an interview with him in the near future, going over what exactly he plans on achieving and how he really became a hardcore fan of gaming. Stay tuned!
Infinity Seven Roster
iSAxslav
iSInsur
iSKoMA
iSPyre
iSanddbox
About Us + Show Spoiler +
About Infinity Seven
Infinity Seven is one of the most promising new eSports brands from North America. Its sole purpose is to improve the skills of its players while providing a fun environment.
In the short timespan since its formation, iS has already made great strides towards establishing itself as a recognizable name in the professional gaming industry. The team has seen its players participate in multiple MLG events, take part in GSL, and qualify for the WCS Global Finals.
Infinity Seven strives to continually push the limits of what it means to be a driven, competitive, and goal-oriented team, and is proudly sponsored by SteelSeries, deviantART, GGWP Apparel and ScienceWerk. With the hard work the team puts in along with a positive attitude towards what achievements in the future may hold, iS will only serve to further impress its fans by continuing to grow, and remaining determined to become the best that it can be.
About SteelSeries
SteelSeries is a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals, including headsets, keyboards, mice, software and gaming surfaces. SteelSeries has been on the forefront of professional gaming gear since its inception in 2001, thanks to continued innovation and product development in cooperation with leading professional gaming teams. SteelSeries supports the growth of competitive gaming and electronic sports through professional team sponsorships and community support all over the world. For more information, please visit
About deviantART
DeviantART was created to entertain, inspire, and empower the artist in all of us. Founded in August 2000, deviantART is the world’s largest online community focused on the arts. DeviantART is home to over 18 million registered members worldwide and features an extensive platform used to exhibit, promote and discover works and other members within a peer community. As the largest aggregator of creative talent on the Internet, deviantART is uniquely positioned to help artists and brands from all over the globe engage and interact with a desirable and valuable audience in a truly meaningful way.
Infinity Seven is one of the most promising new eSports brands from North America. Its sole purpose is to improve the skills of its players while providing a fun environment.In the short timespan since its formation, iS has already made great strides towards establishing itself as a recognizable name in the professional gaming industry. The team has seen its players participate in multiple MLG events, take part in GSL, and qualify for the WCS Global Finals.Infinity Seven strives to continually push the limits of what it means to be a driven, competitive, and goal-oriented team, and is proudly sponsored by SteelSeries, deviantART, GGWP Apparel and ScienceWerk. With the hard work the team puts in along with a positive attitude towards what achievements in the future may hold, iS will only serve to further impress its fans by continuing to grow, and remaining determined to become the best that it can be.SteelSeries is a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals, including headsets, keyboards, mice, software and gaming surfaces. SteelSeries has been on the forefront of professional gaming gear since its inception in 2001, thanks to continued innovation and product development in cooperation with leading professional gaming teams. SteelSeries supports the growth of competitive gaming and electronic sports through professional team sponsorships and community support all over the world. For more information, please visit www.SteelSeries.com DeviantART was created to entertain, inspire, and empower the artist in all of us. Founded in August 2000, deviantART is the world’s largest online community focused on the arts. DeviantART is home to over 18 million registered members worldwide and features an extensive platform used to exhibit, promote and discover works and other members within a peer community. As the largest aggregator of creative talent on the Internet, deviantART is uniquely positioned to help artists and brands from all over the globe engage and interact with a desirable and valuable audience in a truly meaningful way.
Relevant Links
+ Show Spoiler + KoMA's Twitter
KoMA's Twitch
Infinity Seven's Website
Infinity Seven's Twitter
Infinity Seven's Facebook Brandon has shown himself to be an extremely dedicated and passionate player ever since the beginning of our conversations, and it is no surprise that players on the team were quick to grow fond of him after watching his stream and playing together.Adding Brandon to our roster is part of our continued efforts in developing North American talents. We are very excited about his potential and you will definitely be seeing him in future tournaments and events. Do join me in welcoming our new Terran to the team, we're happy to have you Brandon!With that being said, we hope you will join us in welcoming KoMA as a new member of the Infinity Seven family. Stay tuned for an interview with him in the near future, going over what exactly he plans on achieving and how he really became a hardcore fan of gaming. Stay tuned!Could the Phoenicians, the ancient Mediterranean people who gave us the modern Latin alphabet and founded Carthage, have originated in Bahrain? A pioneering 19th century British archaeologist and his wife thought it possible.
Theodore Bent was born in Yorkshire in 1852. His marriage to landowner’s daughter Mabel Hall-Dare saved him from an intended legal career. The Bents shared a love of travel, and Mabel became a lifelong contributor to Bent’s work and writing. Visits to Italy in the late 1870s were followed by extensive tours of the Greek Islands and Asia Minor in the 1880s, where the Bents developed a deep interest in archaeology. Bent’s researches led him to produce books and articles for both the popular press and learned journals.
In 1889 Bent visited Bahrain. Sir Henry Rawlinson, who had deciphered the cuneiform script of ancient Babylon, had recently suggested that Bahrain was the site of ‘Dilmun’. Sumerian poets had written of Dilmun as an abode of the blessed, the refuge of Ziusudra, the Sumerian Noah.
An entry in the Persian Gulf Administration Report, 1888-89, recording the arrival of the Bents in the Gulf and the start of their excavations amongst the ancient tumuli at Bahrain: IOR/V/23/56, No 259, f.51r
Bent’s excavations among the island’s ancient burial mounds led him to draw frequent parallels between the objects he found there and known Phoenician artefacts. His conclusion was that there had been close links between Bahrain and the Phoenicians, and that the Phoenicians might even have originated there.
‘Theodore Bent receiving visitors at the mounds, Bahrein’, from Southern Arabia, to face page 24: YC.1995.b.7122, f.24a
Bahrain was indeed the epicentre of the Dilmun civilisation of eastern Arabia, a maritime trading culture that flourished from the third millennium BC, before being absorbed by the Babylonians in around 600 BC. However, despite the fact that a tradition of the Phoenicians originating in Bahrain (the Greek Tylos) is as old as the historian Herodotus, modern archaeology finds little evidence to support the theory.
An entry in the Persian Gulf Administration Report, 1889-90, recording the opinion of Mr and Mrs Bent that their researches had confirmed the statements of ancient writers that the Bahrain Islands were the original home of the Phoenicians: IOR/V/23/58, No 274, f.201r
More journeys to southern Arabia followed in the 1890s, when the Bents did much to expand European knowledge of the Hadhramawt (Mabel becoming the first European woman to visit the area). They also visited Socotra and the little-known country around Aden.
Bent’s last journey was in southern Arabia in 1897. Here he and his entire party were struck down by malaria, which in Bent’s case turned into pneumonia. Bent died at his home in London four days after his return to England. In a memorial tribute Sir Clements Markham, President of the Royal Geographical Society, mourned a ‘very accomplished man, both as an archaeologist and geographer, a charming companion and a true friend’.
Reference in Field Notes: Aden Protectorate (1917) to the death there in 1897 of Theodore Bent, after he and his wife had been ‘quite prostrated by malaria’: IOR/L/MIL/17/16/7, f.18r
Mabel Bent saw the account of their Arabian travels into print as Southern Arabia, which was published in 1900. Her book has been described as ‘a classic even of the great age of exploration’.
Martin Woodward
Project Officer, Gulf History Project
Archival Specialist British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership
Further reading:
Southern Arabia, by Theodore Bent, F.R.G.S., F.S.A., Author of The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland, The Sacred City of the Ethiopians, The Cyclades, Or Life Among the Insular Greeks etc. and Mrs Theodore Bent.. YC.1995.b.7122
‘37 File 483 Memorandum on Bahrain; Major E L Durand’s Notes on the Antiquities of Bahrain’. IOR/R/15/1/192
Elizabeth Baigent, ‘Bent, (James) Theodore (1852–1897)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)npm install grant-express
{ "server": { "protocol": "http", "host": "localhost:8010" }, "twitter": { "key":"consumer_key", "secret":"secret_key", "callback": "/twitter_callback" } }
var express = require('express'); var session = require('express-session'); var Grant = require('grant-express'); var grant = new Grant(require("./config.json")); var app = express(); app.use(session({secret: 'grant',resave: true, saveUninitialized: true})); app.use(grant); app.get('/twitter_callback', function(req,res) { console.log(res); res.end("Authorization Succeded"); }) app.listen(8010); console.log('Express App is running on port 8010...');
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In this post we will be discussing about implementing OAuth in Express.js Application. OAuth is commonly known as Open Standard for Authorization which is used to authorize websites to access and share information without giving them the password. In simple words OAuth helps third-party application to access the user data without exposng the password for ex, login with github, login with twitter etc.There are 3 main entities involved in OAuth and those are Owner (user having the github or twitter account whose data will be accessed), OAuth Client (application which wants owner details) and OAuth Provider (third party application e.g. github, twitter) as shown below.After you click Sign Up with Google it will ask you that do you want StackExchange to view your information as shown below :Now we are going to implement the same thing i.e. OAuth in Express.js Application using Grant Module. Grant is an OAuth middleware for Express which has over 150 Supported Providers. We will be using Twitter as OAuth provider. In Twitter you need to create an application to get Consumer Key and Consumer Secret Key, you can get more information about the same here. You also need to provide a Callback URL where the user will be redirected back to the server, after being granted access to the application.To use Grant in Express we need to install grant-express using npm as shown below :Next is to write a Grant Configuration file where we need to provide the configuration about the server and the provider information (twitter in our case). Key is the consumer_key and secret is the secret_key of your app and callback is the specific callback which you need to use for this provider.Next is to create your app.js file in your Express application as shown below. In the code we are requiring the Grant module and initializing it by passing the configuration file. Then we are defining our routes which will handle the response data returned after the OAuth flow.Then we will run the application using the command node app.js and navigate to localhost:8010/connect/twitter which will take you to the Twitter authorization page and once you are authorized you will get the response as Authorization Succeeded.When you “see the
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the eve of the first leg of the club's Champions League knockout tie against Galatasaray.
Trouble reportedly flared after a bar being frequented by English fans was targeted in a city that has been on high alert over political and social unrest over recent days. Local demonstrations are scheduled for Wednesday in Taksin Square as protests escalate against the current government in Turkey.
There had been clashes between fans of Galatasaray and Besiktas before their derby on Saturday, with Chelsea having issued warnings to their fans prior to travelling to Turkey.
Two Leeds fans were killed in clashes between the clubs' supporters in the city before the Yorkshire side's Uefa Cup semi-final in 2000.New research shows that horse-sized, T-Rex-like dinosaurs roamed southern Idaho 100 million years ago. This discovery shows Idaho was home to more types of dinosaurs than previously thought.
Paleontologist L.J. Krumenacker has been digging up dinosaurs in Idaho for more than a decade. But in the past, scientists have mostly found small burrowing dinosaurs.
Working with a team of Montana State University paleontologists, Krumenacker found the teeth and small bones of three types of theropods, the family of animals that includes Tyrannosaurus Rex.
He plans to keep hunting for more fossils near the Wyoming border.
“I would love to see some skeletons of this dog-sized tyrannosauroid we have and this larger, maybe horse-sized one plus, the giant egg-layer, it would be awesome to see that thing, but we’ll just have to keep looking and see what else we can find out,” says Krumenacker.
He says the find is important for a couple of reasons.
“There's so very little known about Idaho dinosaurs and for paleontology in general. At least in North America this is important because Idaho dinosaurs come from a time when there is very little known about dinosaurs in general in North America, so we’re filling in a little bit of that gap in knowledge.”
Krumenacker found the teeth of little T-Rex-type dinosaurs, one the size of a horse, and one the size of a golden retriever. They also found the eggs of oviraptorosaurs, the largest dinosaurs found in Idaho so far.
The work on the Idaho dinosaurs was published earlier this month in Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology.
When Krumenacker's research is done, the fossils will end up at the Idaho Museum of Natural History in Pocatello.
Find Samantha Wright on Twitter @samwrightradio
Copyright 2016 Boise State Public RadioBig changes coming to CodeWorld
I’m continuing work on CodeWorld, my educational programming environment based on geometry and algebra. There are big changes coming! If you’re interested in following the project, please join the new codeworld-discuss mailing list, where I’ll send more regular announcements about significant changes, as well as try to answer questions, and discuss future directions.
Here are some things I intend to change in the near future. A more complete list is on the project issue tracker, but this is a summary with more details and reasoning about some of the changes.
Aligning With Math Education
An important goal of this project is to align with a standards-based U.S. middle school math education, as much as possible. To be clear, I still refuse to add complexity or turn the project into a patchwork of specific lessons that promote a specific narrow path of learning. First and foremost, this should be an environment for tinkering and encountering ideas in self-motivated way. But given alternative designs that could each be valid on their own, I’ll choose the one that pushes students toward the math standards.
It’s sometimes a tough line to draw. But I’ve become convinced that there are a few places where I can do better. Two of those are going to be major breaking changes, coming soon.
1. Death to Currying
Haskell’s convention of currying functions is the wrong default for CodeWorld. Practically all of mathematics, especially at introductory level, is carried out with the notation f(x,y) = …. The interpretation is that a function of two parameters is a function whose domain is a product – a set of ordered pairs. The Haskell language makes a different choice. Applying a function to two parameters is more like f(x)(y) (the parentheses are optional in Haskell itself), and the interpretation is that f(x) denotes a partially applied function that’s still waiting for its second parameter.
If the goal were to teach about higher-order functions, there would be lots of great arguments for the latter. If the goal were convenience, you could argue for the latter pretty persuasively, as well. I think Haskell’s use of currying is great. But when the goal is to let students encounter and tinker with things they will see in school math, the right choice is to adopt the convention of mathematics.
Luckily, the assumption of curried multi-parameter functions isn’t baked into Haskell too deeply. By changing the standard library, it’s quite possible to write f(x,y) just as well. The parentheses on f(x) become optional, but this is actually true of mathematics in general (for example, operators in linear algebra are often written without parentheses, as are trig functions). I will adopt the convention of using parentheses around even single function parameters.
The only big source of awkwardness comes with binary operators. So long as we choose not to teach the notations `foo` (for turning a function into an operator) or (+) (for turning an operator into a function), this doesn’t come up much. Notably, sections still work fine, since they take only one argument.
A couple convenient side effects of this choice are nice, too:
Students who routinely write parentheses around function arguments less often find themselves forced to surround negative numbers in parentheses for weird parsing reasons. As trivial as it might seem, this was a very real and significant learning obstacle the last time I taught the class, and I’ll be happy to see it go.
Getting expression structure wrong sometimes gives much better error messages this way. It’s harder to accidentally mix up precedence between an operator and function application; and passing too few arguments to a function gives a clear error rather than inferring a function type and breaking in an obscure way elsewhere.
2. Resizing the Canvas
The second big change is to resize the canvas from 500×500 to 20×20.
The justification for a 500×500 canvas was generally about confusing pixels – little dots on the screen – with the general idea of a coordinate system. It’s convenient to blur the distinction at first, but it has in the past become a barrier to understanding the full nature of the coordinate plane with real (or even rational) coordinates. Many students were confused when later faced with fractional coordinates. At the same time, developing a full understanding of the rational number system is a big topic in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade mathematics, so it would be great to ask students to do more tinkering with these numbers.
By replacing this with a 20×20 grid (x and y coordinates ranging from -10 to 10), several goals are accomplished:
Students early in the class are working with numbers in a range they can comprehend better.
Students routinely work in fractions or decimals to fine tune their projects.
The abstract coordinate plane, including fractional coordinates, becomes more familiar.
This is a big win overall.
Changes to Usability
On the less controversial side, I’m planning a number of changes to make the site more usable:
Pervasive auto-complete, based on a pre-populated list of the standard library symbols as well as parsing the student code for declared names.
More complete documentation, tutorials, and better examples. I admit that the current site is grossly lacking in documentation. I don’t envy anyone who tries to figure it out on their own!
Better tools for playing around with results. At the very least, students will be given the chance to scroll, pan, and see coordinates of points in pictures, animations, and simulations.
Long-Term Wish List
I also have my wish list for things I’d love to see possible, but am not quite ready to build yet. This includes:
Social features: sharing projects with friends, commenting on or expressing support for other projects.
Collaborative projects with shared editing or exporting libraries for others to use.
Better debugging tools, such as easy controls to move forward and back in time, fast-forward, pause, etc. for animations, simulations, and even games.
Possibly grading features for teachers to grade projects and provide a scoring rubric and comments.
What else would you like to see? Let me know in the comments here, on codeworld-discuss, or by filing a feature request in the issue tracker.
AdvertisementsRecently Team Dignitas parted ways with their CS:GO squad but it didn't take long for us to acquire a new team which is full of enthusiasm. Three ex-CPH Wolves players, Jacob "Pimp" Winneche, Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjaerbye, Nicolaj "Nico" Jensen joined by two ex-Team Dignitas player Henrik "Fetish" Christensen and Philip "Aizy" Aistrup, join Team-Dignitas.
We interviewed Jacob "Pimp" Winneche about his thoughts on joining Team Dignitas.
First an foremost, welcome to Team Dignitas. Would you like to briefly explain how this opportunity came about?
Pimp: Well basically it all began when we took in Fetish as our new 5th player. Him and Aizy have played under the Team Dignitas tag before and both players had only good things to say about Team Dignitas. We reached out to eachother and quickly found out that both parts were more than intrested in making a deal. At the same time Wolves offered us a new contact, as well as a few other organisations, but in the end there was never really any doubt that it was Team Dignitas we wanted the most.
What are the team’s aspirations for this year?
Pimp: We want to etablish our self as a top 10 team in the world as quickly as possible. We might already have the play to do so, but we need to show it in the tournaments and not only in our own heads. When you have consistently broken into the top 10, you can start aiming higher, which we definitely will for the future. WE have the potiential to become one of the very best teams in the world, we just need to put down the hours and make it work for us! Right now the scene is so stacked with so many good teams, so even qualifing for the major tournaments can be really hard, so we need to maintain focus all the time!
What is the strength of this squad, what makes you confident that you’ll achieve great results in 2015?
Pimp: I think this squad has alot to offer. We're really young compared to other teams I think, we got Fetish and Nico as the old guys, and Kjearbye, Aizy, and my self as the young guns. I think the balance between having some'really' old, and young players is great. Besides that, we have some good individuals, and hopefully we can make the team work, so those individuals can shine when needed.
We're all hungry to show that we're better than people might think, and once again break into the very top of the CS:GO scene. It requires alot of hard work, which we are willing to do.
Does the team have a set in-game-leader yet, if so what kind of style can we expect the team to play?
Pimp: We took in Fetish to act as the in-game leader, while I will do the out-game leading if you can say so. It's hard to define a style yet, we're still a new team, and we haven't really found out ourselves what style fits us best. We're trying everyhing and only the future can tell what we end up with. One thing is for sure though, watching our team play, will be a fun experience for everyone.
After leaving CPH Wolves you guys continued as "Deponeret"and picked up Henrik "Fetish" Christensen. You've played for a few weeks together, how does the team feel?
Pimp: It feels really great. We needed a caller, and Fetish is basically the only danish caller out there, and maybe also the best. So the decision was not hard, and we could also feel right away that there was some potiental with him as our strategy caller. We've already beaten well knwon teams, Hellraisers and Penta who both were in the semi-finals of the ASUS ROG tournament, so that's pretty solid I would say. Despite it being online, the teams always give it all, so it does still mean something to beat two good teams.
What are you most excited for in the upcoming year?
Pimp: Seeing how well our team will perform and how far we can take it. Also I'm looking really much forward to what the CS:GO scene has in store for us. The scene has been growing imensely for the past two years, and if that continues I'm sure alot of new things will pop-up during this year.
The team has been invited to the Offline qualifiers for Katowice 2015, this is going to be the first big set of games for the team. Do you feel confident about the games and how will you prepare?
Pimp: Honestly, I don't feel confident at all about those games, it's still too early for us to even be close to our peak. Though I still hope that we have what it takes to win a spot for the Major, despite the lack of time to practise for the tournament. A factor that also plays in is that we all have changed our mouse and mousepad, which does require alot of practice and time to get fully used to. The odds are against us, but I believe we have what it takes to qualify if we give it 100%.
Please describe how a typical training session goes in a professional team like yours?
Pimp: We useally starts around 18 CET and stops around 22/23 CET. We practise against all the other top teams in the world, trying out new strats, new setups etc. Before practise the players usually also play a bit individually, how much depends alot on how busy we are with school, work etc. We try to play as much as we can up to the big tournaments, eg. the katowice qualifier, but sometimes it's not possible due to school/work.
If you could change one thing about CS:GO what would it be and why?
Pimp: I think the smokes could work a bit better than they are in CS:GO now. Might make them slighly less effective so we actually would see some more terrorist rounds won on the CT-sided maps. It will also encourage the CT-players to make big plays in order to have a great CT-side, which is not always needed the way it is now.
Do you have any other shoutouts?
Pimp: Thanks to Dignitas and their amazing sponsers for having us in. I hope we can show the world, Dignitas, and most importantly ourselves that we can become as good as we think!
Thank you Jacob for your time! We, the fans and the staff, would like to wish the whole team the best of luck for the upcoming ESL One Katowice 2015 qualifiers. As well as the best of luck for the upcoming year and hope we can all cherish great results!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PimpCS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pimpcsgo
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/Pimpwinneche
GL&HF!SALUTE: Kane Cornes is chaired off by teammates after his 250th game in 2013. He will play his 300th and final game against Richmond on May 24.
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KANE Cornes will retire from senior football following his 300th game in a fortnight.
Somewhat fittingly, the boy who first wore the yellow and black of Glenelg before being drafted to Port Adelaide will close the football chapter of his life against those same colours when the Power plays the AFL’s Tigers, Richmond, on Sunday 24 May.
Mindful that 2015 would be his final year of elite football, the 32-year-old applied and was accepted into the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service.
To commence his career, Cornes must accept a place in the SAMFS’s next training intake or risk not having the opportunity to do so again.
He accepted the offer with mixed emotions; starting the next chapter of his life a little sooner than expected.
“This is a great football club and I’ve had some incredible times at Port Adelaide and can’t thank the club enough for everything it has given me,” Cornes told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“This is the right time for me to give someone else an opportunity, we’ve got some terrific young players who will now step and make their mark on the game.”
The decision to retire against Richmond will occur in line with Cornes’s 300th AFL game, in turn making him the first player to reach that milestone with Port Adelaide.
BUY TICKETS TO KANE'S LAST GAME
A four-time John Cahill Medallist with the club and member of Port Adelaide’s first AFL premiership side of 2004, Cornes’s record of achievement is arguably the greatest in the club’s national-level history.
Port Adelaide’s AFL games record holder is also a two-time All-Australian and represented the ‘Dream Team’ composite side in the 2008 Hall of Fame Tribute Match.
Thanking his family, mentors and teammates, Cornes will now prepare to wear Port Adelaide’s black, white and teal guernsey twice more.
“I want to particularly thank my family for their support over the journey,” Cornes said.
“And thank you as well to Ken Hinkley for his help over the past two and half years, and in particular in helping me work through the process of joining the MFS.
“I couldn’t have made this decision without his blessing and playing under Ken has been one of the most enjoyable times of my career.
“I’d also like to thank all my past coaches, team mates and mentors, in particular Mark Williams, Phil Walsh and Keith Thomas for all they’ve taught me over the past two decades or so.”
Ken Hinkley has worked closely with Kane through what was always slated to be the highly-regarded tagger’s final year of AFL football.
He said it was important for Kane to be given a proper farewell by the club’s faithful at the Adelaide Oval, in line with his milestone game.
Kane Cornes and son Eddy celebrate setting the club's new games record of 256 matches against GWS in 2013
“Kane is a champion of the Port Adelaide Football Club who has given so much over his 15-year career,” Hinkley said.
“He is a premiership player, four-time best and fairest and the club’s games record holder, his record really does speak for itself.
“I’ve insisted that he play his 300th game for the Port Adelaide Football Club as he deserves to reach that outstanding milestone.”
Cornes will play Brisbane at the Gabba this Sunday (his 299th AFL game) before his final training sessions for the club next week leading up to the Richmond encounter.
Having experienced the ups and downs of Port Adelaide’s past decade, he, wife Lucy, and children Eddy, Raphael and Sonny leave the club as a playing family, but will remain part of the broader Port Adelaide family.
Port Adelaide’s chief executive Keith Thomas feels Cornes is “deserving of the praise” that will come in the lead-up to his final game.
“Kane has been a tremendous servant of the club and we wish him the very best in his next journey with SAMFS,” Thomas said.
“We wish Kane, Lucy and the boys all the best in the next step of their journey away from AFL football, but remember that their family here at Port Adelaide is never too far away.
“His longevity in the game and record of achievement really speak for themselves. All our staff, members and supporters agree he is one of our club’s greatest AFL players.”
Port Adelaide plays Richmond on Sunday 24 May at the Adelaide Oval, starting at 4:10pm (ACST).
Kane Cornes record of achievement
2000 National Draft, pick 20 (from Glenelg/Sacred Heart College)
Debut: Round 10, 2001 v Hawthorn, MCG
Brownlow Votes: 62
Port Adelaide AFL cap number: 61
Games (as of 14 May 2015): 298 Goals: 92
AFL Premiership Player (2004)
AFL Pre-Season Premiership Player (2001,2002)
All-Australian (2005,2007)
Hall of Fame Tribute Match (2008)
John Cahill Medal (2007,2008,2010, 2012)
Most Improved Player (2004)
Leading Disposals (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
VFL/AFL games record holder in number 18
3rd pair of brothers (with Chad) to play 550 VFL/AFL games
Leave your tribute to Kane belowLawNewz.com has confirmed a federal judge in New York has scheduled a hearing for 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by the activist group Election Justice USA on behalf of over 200 New Yorkers who can’t vote for the candidate of their choice on Tuesday because they say their voter party registration was suddenly changed without their consent. The lawsuit could impact tens of thousands of independent voters in the state, and comes as millions of New Yorkers head to the polls for the state’s primary.
The lawsuit asks the court to enter an order allowing New York primary voters to vote for any candidate on the ballot, regardless of their party affiliation. New York is a closed primary state that requires primary voters to register with the party whose primary they wish to vote in. The plaintiffs filed for an emergency hearing.
Election Justice USA encouraged voters who had their registration changed to cast provisional ballots on Tuesday. If the lawsuit is successful, those provisional ballots will be counted as valid votes.
Stay with LawNewz.com for updates on this breaking story.
UPDATE 1:45 p.m.
TYT Network reporter Jordan Chariton interviewed Blaire Fellows and Jonathan Clarke, the attorneys who filed the emergency lawsuit, outside the federal courthouse on Tuesday afternoon.
WATCH:
In the interview, Clarke acknowledged that their request to make New York an open primary is unlikely to be granted, so they plan to focus on the more narrow issue of obtaining relief for voters who were previously registered as democrats but who now find themselves erroneously stricken from Democratic Party voter rolls. The goal is place the burden on the board of elections to prove that a voter intended to change their party registration. Clarke also said that as many as 100,000 Democrats were purged from the voter rolls in Brooklyn alone.
Update 5:15 pm
A federal judge did not grant the immediate relief the plaintiffs requested, however, she did allow the lawsuit to proceed and scheduled another hearing to take place at a later date. Read full report on what happened during hearing here.
[image via shutterstock]The mass media have suddenly discovered Jeffrey Sterling – after his conviction Monday afternoon as a CIA whistleblower.
Sterling’s indictment four years ago received fleeting news coverage that recited the government’s charges. From the outset, the Justice Department portrayed him as bitter and vengeful – with the classic trash-the-whistleblower word “disgruntled” thrown in – all of which the mainline media dutifully recounted without any other perspective.
Year after year, Sterling’s case dragged through appellate courts, tangled up with the honorable refusal of journalist James Risen to in any way identify sources for his 2006 book State of War. While news stories or pundits occasionally turned their lens on Risen, they scarcely mentioned Sterling, whose life had been turned upside down – fired by the CIA early in the Bush administration after filing a racial discrimination lawsuit, and much later by the 10-count indictment that included seven counts under the Espionage Act.
Sterling was one of the very few African American case officers in the CIA. He became a whistleblower by virtue of going through channels to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2003 to inform staffers about the CIA’s ill-conceived, poorly executed and dangerous Operation Merlin, which had given a flawed design for a nuclear weapons component to Iran back in 2000.
Long story short, by the start of 2011, Sterling was up against the legal wall. While press-freedom groups and some others gradually rallied around Risen’s right to source confidentiality, Sterling remained the Invisible Man.
Like almost everyone, for a long time I knew close to nothing about Sterling or his legal battle. But as I began to realize how much was at stake in the government’s ongoing threat to jail Risen for refusing to betray any source, Sterling started to come into my peripheral vision.
Last spring, I worked with colleagues at RootsAction.org to launch a petition drive titled We Support James Risen Because We Support a Free Press. As petitions go, it was a big success, for reasons well beyond the fact that it gained more than 100,000 signers with plenty of help from other initiating groups (The Nation, FAIR, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, The Progressive and Center for Media and Democracy).
The Justice Department, which had been aggressively pursuing Risen for a half-dozen years at that point, was set back on its heels by the major favorable publicity that came out of our mid-August presentation of the Risen petition in tandem with a news conference at the National Press Club.
Quick media ripple effects included a strong column by Maureen Dowd in support of fellow New York Times journalist Risen (though she didn’t mention the petition or the news conference, which she attended). In the fall, I teamed up with a colleague at ExposeFacts.org, the incisive investigative journalist Marcy Wheeler, to write what turned out to be a cover story in The Nation, The Government War Against Reporter James Risen, providing the first in-depth account of the intertwined cases of Risen and Sterling.
But throughout the fall, for the mass media as well as all but a few progressive media outlets, Jeffrey Sterling remained the Invisible Man.
The principle of supporting whistleblowers as strongly as journalists is crucial. Yet support for the principle is hit-and-miss among individuals and organizations that should be clear and forthright. This need is especially great when the government is invoking “national security” claims.
As the whistleblower advocate Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project has said: “When journalists become targets, they have a community and a lobby of powerful advocates to go to for support. Whistleblowers are in the wilderness. … They’re indicted under the most serious charge you can level against an American: being an enemy of the state.”
We encountered this terrain when the same initiating groups launched a new petition – this one in support of Jeffrey Sterling – Blowing the Whistle on Government Recklessness Is a Public Service, Not a Crime.
Some groups that had been wonderfully supportive of the Risen petition – notably the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists – opted not to have anything to do with the Sterling petition. In sharp contrast, quick endorsement of the Sterling petition came from Reporters Without Borders and the Government Accountability Project.
Two weeks ago, Jeffrey Sterling went to trial at last. He was at the defense table during seven days of proceedings that included very dubious testimony from 23 present and former CIA employees as well as the likes of Condoleezza Rice.
When a court clerk read out the terrible verdict Monday afternoon, Sterling continued to stand with the dignity that he had maintained throughout the trial.
At age 47, Jeffrey Sterling is facing a very long prison sentence. As a whistleblower, he has done a lot for us. He should be invisible no more.
Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books includeWar Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
Reprinted with permission from ExposeFacts.1 of 15 View Caption
Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center protest the center on the 4th of July along Redwood Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center protest the center on the 4th of July, from the Utah Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Susan Barretta of Salt Lake ties a ribbon on the outer most perimeter fence of the ne Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center protest the center on the 4th of July, first moved t Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center protest the center on the 4th of July, following a m Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center, in background, protest the center on the 4th of Jul Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Activist Macey Booth of Salt Lake speaks out "you are using the First Amendment Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune About 150 people rallied at the Utah Veterans Memorial Park Thursday to protest National Secu Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Dane Phillips of Las Vegas shouts "we are here because of the treason up on the Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center protest the center on the 4th of July, following a m Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center protest the center on the 4th of July, by marching u Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Opponents of the NSA Data Center, in background, protest the center on the 4th of Jul Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Red, white and blue ribbons are tied to the outer perimeter fence of the new NSA Data Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Red, white and blue ribbons are tied to the outer perimeter fence of the new NSA Data Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Dane Phillips, left, of Las Vegas and A. True Ott of Ogden lead a prayer as opponentsMany of us have not heard of The Russel Conjugation, which turns out to be an assessment of how emotion — including empathy — over-rides our logical thinking process, leading us to favor bad options because they have greater effect on our persons:
As the theory goes, it is not that we don’t have our own opinions so much as that we have too many contradictory ones, and it is generally our emotional state alone which determines on which ones we will predicate action or inaction.
Russell Conjugation (or “emotive conjugationâ€) is a presently obscure construction from linguistics, psychology and rhetoric which demonstrates how our rational minds are shielded from understanding the junior role factual information generally plays relative to empathy in our formation of opinions.
…The basic principle of Russell Conjugation is that the human mind is constantly looking ahead well beyond what is true or false to ask “What is the social consequence of accepting the facts as they are?†While this line of thinking is obviously self-serving, we are descended from social creatures who could not safely form opinions around pure facts so much as around how those facts are presented to us by those we ape, trust or fear.President Barack Obama delivered a fiery attack on Congressional Republicans on Tuesday for intentionally blocking his nominees to the District Court of the District of Columbia. Obama said that Republicans in Congress have taken three times longer to confirm his nominees than those of his predecessor, President George W. Bush.
Speaking before reporters gathered at the White House, Obama said that that Congress is in danger of shirking their “constitutional duty” to promptly consider presidential nominees for federal court appointments.
“Throughout my first term as president, the Senate too often failed to do that,” Obama said. “Time and again, Congressional Republicans cynically used Senate rules and procedures to delay and even block qualified nominees from coming to a full vote.”
RELATED Lindsey Graham Goes Ballistic On Obama Over Benghazi, Pledges To Block Nominees Until Gets Answers
“As a result, my judicial nominees have waited three times longer to receive confirmation votes than those of my Republican predecessor,” the president continued.
Obama said that his nominees were all confirmed when they were afforded a confirmation vote. “So, this is not about principled opposition,” he declared. “This is about political obstruction.”
“What’s happening now is unprecedented. For the good of the American people, it has to stop,” Obama demanded.
The president said that if three of the seats on the Supreme Court were left vacant, as they have been on the D.C. court, this would be considered a judicial crisis. “If we want to ensure a functioning judiciary, our courts cannot be short staffed,” Obama noted.
Watch the clip below via CNN:
> >Follow Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] CITY – Authorities are investigating a shooting that occurred near an Oklahoma City school.
On Monday, Oklahoma City police say they were called to Harper Academy Charter School on reports of shots fired.
When police got to the school, they asked kids if they saw anything.
According to the police report, the kids were uncooperative and told police officers they did not see anything.
One of the school’s principals told officers he was standing outside when the gun shots rang out. Unfortunately, he says he didn’t see who was shooting.
The principal then told officers that a FedEx driver in the area may have seen the incident.
The FedEx driver reportedly told police officers the shots came from a small four door grey car that was occupied by four black males.
Police officers located four.45 auto spent shell casings in the area.
Fortunately, it appears no one was injured in the shooting.
The school’s other principal told officer that the shooting wasn’t unexpected.
Two people, one parent and one student, contacted the principal letting her know that a gang related fight was “going down” after school.
According to the police report, the principal never contacted police about the reports because she “did not think it was necessary to call the police.”
Police officers instructed the principal to call next time she gets a tip of a gang related fight that is expected to take place.
Officials did arrest one teenager in connection to the shooting.
Report a typoTwo badly damaged warships of the Russian Far East Fleet lie in Port Arthur sometime in the middle of 1904. On February 8th Admiral Togo of Japan had launched a surprise torpedo attack on the fleet with his destroyers, hitting two old pre-Dreadnought Russian battleships as well as the 6,600-ton cruiser Pallada, on the left in the photograph. Only three hours later did Japan formally declare war (a trait that was to reach its culmination at Pearl Harbor in 1941). A series of inconclusive naval actions followed. On April 12th two old Russian battleships slipped out of Port Arthur, but both hit Japanese mines, the Petropavlovsk sinking within minutes and taking the Russian commander Admiral Makarov down with her. The Pobeda (on the right in the picture) got back into harbour, though badly disabled. The following month it was the turn of two Japanese battleships to be sunk by Russian mines.
The clash between the two empires came because of the weakness of a third, China. In 1894-95 Japan had roundly defeated China, taking control of Korea, Taiwan, the Pescadore Islands and the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria. Within days of the peace treaty being signed, however, Russia pressured France and Germany into joining her in a demand that the peninsula be taken back from Japan, since Russia had designs on it herself. Her Far East port of Vladivostok, terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, froze up outside the summer months and in 1898 she signed a lease with China allowing her to establish a warm-water base at Port Arthur, at the end of the peninsula, about 250 miles to the east of Beijing. She was also obtaining mining and logging concessions in Korea. China’s Boxer Rebellion in 1900 then acted as an excuse for Russia to bring 177,000 troops into Manchuria to ‘safeguard her interests’ there, while Chinese troops were ejected from the province. It was all too evident to the Japanese which way the wind was blowing and they saw they would have to act soon before it reached gale force when the remaining incomplete section of the Trans-Siberian Railway, around Irkutsk, was finished. Britain was also alarmed enough to force China to lease her the port of Weihaiwei, about 150 miles to the south of Port Arthur, from where developments could be monitored. Attempts in 1903-4 to agree that Manchuria should be Russia’s while Korea fell to Japan were wrecked by Tsar Nicholas II’s hankering after what he thought would be an easy war to bolster his position at home.
By April 1904 Japanese land forces, after completing the seizure of Korea, had started investing Port Arthur. The Russian fleet tried to break out in June and then in August, without success; by early December the Japanese had seized 203 Meter Hill, from which they could bombard the Russian ships below without them being able to reply. Four battleships and two cruisers, including the Pallada and the Pobeda, were quickly sunk. Russia’s Baltic Fleet had been dispatched to relieve Port Arthur in October, but while Port Arthur surrendered in January 1905, the fleet did not arrive until May, when it was promptly wiped out by Admiral Togo at the Battle of Tsushima. The peace treaty that followed, brokered by Teddy Roosevelt, required the Russians to evacuate Manchuria and Port Arthur, while back in Russia the defeat triggered the 1905 Revolution, a dress-rehearsal for 1917. In 1910 Japan annexed Korea.
It was not until July 1939 that Russia got her revenge, when the Japanese invaded Outer Mongolia. Marshal Zhukov, with 58,000 men, 500 tanks and 250 aircraft, inflicted 61,000 casualties on the Japanese at the cost of 23,000 of his own men at the battle of Khalkin Gol. It is labelled the start of the Second World War by some, just as the war of 1904-5 is claimed to be the first modern war because of the
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life, grocery shopping, customer service, and ordering fast food. This is the logical extension of targeted advertising, which tries to show you advertising for things you might be interested in, based on things you’ve recently purchased or sites you’ve visited.
The problem with targeted advertising is that it’s intrinsically reactive. To use one common example: Run a bunch of searches for airlines and air travel, and you’ll start seeing ads pop up for those services. But what if you’ve already booked your plans? You might see more ads for headphones after you start researching, but most people aren’t going to buy a second set of headphones immediately after buying the first. Google Nearby is meant to alert you to interesting events or places in your immediate vicinity, but it also gives Google the ability to make a connection between you and a corporation that didn’t previously exist. Google’s own example cites prompting users to download a video-on-demand application from a particular provider while waiting at an airline terminal gate — a gate that the OS knows is assigned to United as opposed to Delta or JetBlue.
There are only two ways for a service like Nearby to provide that kind of customized function: Either the OS knows that you’re traveling on United because it has access to your calendar and/or email, or it knows your location. Ideally, from Google’s perspective, it knows both. This allows the OS to start making assumptions about what you’re going to do next. This idea is nothing new; stories about how “smart fridges” of the future would be able to automatically tell you when you’re out of food are literally decades old. What’s new is the way these features are tied to corporate interests and advertising.
Imagine a future in which Siri or Cortana recommends flights to you based on your known travel times and preferred departure dates. Give them permission, and they’ll keep a tireless watch on flight prices for the locations you prefer. If you’re driving, your digital assistant might offer you a custom-built list of the cheapest gas along your route within a specified distance from the interstate. If Apple succeeds at killing off the headphone jack, future computers will automatically know the names of the devices we hook to them — and that means Cortana / Siri / Google Now would be able to suggest replacement headphones for you before you’ve finished the “s” in “broken headphones.” Combine drone delivery with fast food and precise geolocation monitoring, and you’ve got a system in which Domino’s can literally deliver a pizza to your exact location (provided you’re outside, anyway).
Maybe you like these ideas. Maybe you feel like they’re a bridge too far and an invasion of privacy. But either way, the future that Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and other companies envision is one in which your every motion, interest, and desire are tracked, combined, bought, sold, and turned into sales dollars.
So, yes. Google’s location APIs are tracking you unless you turn them off. In some cases, you may have to turn them off through Google Play rather than at the per-app level. But this is one small part of Google’s overall business strategy to create a closed-source net around Android’s open-source roots. The actual feature that probably caused the kerfuffle is itself part of a larger trend to gather details about every aspect of your life, the better to advertise and market it to companies willing to pay. Consider, after all, the value of having that McDonald’s app on your smartphone to McDonald’s (or any other company).
From automatic geotagging to facial recognition, the same companies that provide essential digital services build databases of your activities, travels, and life. Said data is then vacuumed up and sold through third parties with names like Acxiom with little oversight and less accountability.Colorado’s laws for insanity pleas do not violate the U.S. Constitution, the judge in the Aurora movie theater shooting murder case has ruled.
The judge’s order clears up the last disputed issues around a tendered insanity plea for theater shooting suspect James Holmes. Judge Carlos Samour, who issued Wednesday’s ruling, is expected to decide at a hearing on Friday whether to accept Holmes’ insanity plea.
Attorneys for Holmes argued that the state’s laws on insanity pleas violated Holmes’ rights against self-incrimination.
The laws require defendants pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to cooperate in a court-ordered independent psychiatric evaluation. If defendants do not cooperate, they will be barred from calling any mental-health experts of their own to testify on their behalf at trial — or at a death-penalty sentencing hearing.
Holmes’ attorneys said the laws amounted to a compulsion to confess. They also said the law hurts Holmes’ rights to due process because evidence of noncooperation could be used against him. “[I]t is well settled and fundamental that a defendant may not be penalized for the exercise of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent,” Holmes’ attorneys wrote in a motion earlier this year.
But Samour ruled Wednesday that Colorado’s law requiring cooperation in the evaluation is needed to maintain a level playing field.
“[I]f the defendant fails to cooperate with the examination, the prosecution is placed at a severe disadvantage when attempting to rebut psychiatric evidence presented by the defendant,” Samour wrote in his order.
Without the cooperation provision, Samour wrote, “it is difficult to imagine a rational and equitable administration of the death penalty in Colorado in a case involving a(n insanity) plea.”
Before Samour can decide whether to accept an insanity plea from Holmes, he must first advise Holmes of the consequences of making such a plea — including the requirement for cooperation in a psychiatric evaluation. By challenging the constitutionality of the state’s insanity-plea rules, Holmes’ lawyers threw the proposed contents of Samour’s advisement into doubt. By resolving the dispute on Wednesday, Samour cleared the way for Friday’s hearing. If Samour accepts Holmes’ insanity plea, the required evaluation could add months of delay to the case.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068, [email protected] or twitter.com/john_ingoldIf you haven’t been following along with the series, you can find the last three entries here:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
***
I recently began reading Joseph Campbell’s well known work, the Hero with a Thousand Faces, and in the section concerning the challenges of the hero, he uses the example of Theseus and the Minotaur. I instantly thought back to my first entry in this reader’s diary, for the characters of the dialogue are all on their way to the Temple of Zeus, in mimicry of the journey of King Minos, who would go there once every nine years to propitiate the sky god for his aid.
I will quote what I said initially:
“They [the three participants in the dialogue] find each other as strangers on the road to Knossos, where they are all heading to the temple of Zeus for some religious function. The Athenian suggests a discourse, befitting their age and mental alacrity, on the nature of law. Aping the pilgrimage of the mythic king Minos, who would travel every nine years to this very shrine for the purpose of receiving instruction from Zeus on the law, the other two heartily agree to the suggestion. Plato’s first invocation, and the setting of his dialogue, readily complement each other. The first asks whether the law comes from man or from a god, while the second seemingly answers in favor of the gods, set as it is in direct apposition with Minos’ nine year journey to Zeus himself. Law, and all its attendant meanings, seems to spring from divine reason rather than human craftsmanship.”
Any serious student of literature could make that assessment, as it requires no previous knowledge about Greek culture, mythology, and history. The ability to make inferences, hopefully a faculty shared by all people, is sufficient. Coupling the plain interpretation of the passage with some concrete knowledge about the Ancient Greek cultural milieu will add further depth. I quote now from Campbell:
“…the king of the south Indian province of Quilacare, at the completion of the twelfth year of his reign, on a day of solemn festival, had a wooden scaffolding constructed, and spread over with hangings of silk. When he had ritually bathed in a tank, with great ceremonies and to the sound of music, he then came to the temple, where he did worship before the divinity. Thereafter, he mounted the scaffolding and, before the people, took some very sharp knives and began to cut off his own nose, and then his ears, and his lips, and all his members, and as much of his flesh as he was able. He threw it away and round about, until so much of his blood was spilled that he began to faint, whereupon he summarily cut his throat. This is the sacrifice that King Minos refused when he withheld the bull from Poseidon. As Frazer has shown, ritual regicide was a general tradition in the ancient world. “In Southern India,” he writes, “the king’s reign and life terminated with the revolution of the planet Jupiter round the sun. In Greece, on the other hand, the king’s fate seems to have hung in the balance at the end of every eight years... Without being unduly rash we may surmise that the tribute of seven youths and seven maidens whom the Athenians were bound to send to Minos every eight years had some connexion with the renewal of the king’s power for another octennial cycle” (ibid., p. 280). The bull sacrifice required of King Minos implied that he would sacrifice himself, according to the pattern of the inherited tradition, at the close of his eight-year term. But he seems to have offered, instead, the substitute of the Athenian youths and maidens. That perhaps is how the divine Minos became the monster Minotaur…”
Whereas the king’s journey to the Temple of Zeus, in connection with the theme of Plato’s dialogue, connects kingship, divinity, and the law thematically for the reader, this passage from Campbell offers a related but different perspective: kingship is not a transmission of divine decrees into a phenomenal space, but is itself bound by a deeper law, a primordial order tied to the revolutions of the planets, and the bloody desires of the gods. Zeus did not give just give Minos the law, but also a limited time to enforce it, for it was dependent on his devotion, and eventual demise. By subverting the will of the divinity in diverting the sacrifice from its typical victim, the regent, to a novel set of seven youths, the king invites calamity: his wife copulates with the bull of Poseidon, bearing the Minotaur, which as Frazer and Campbell argue, is really the personification for the bloodlust of the king himself, effaced over time by myth.
The law cannot be deceived, and it always exacts its due, for it is not the enforcement of human decrees, but an element of the fabric of the universe. The word of Zeus is binding because Zeus is the pillar of existence and the basis of all, “the first and last, one royal body, containing fire, water, earth, and air, night and day, Metis and Eros. The sky is his head, the stars his hair, the sun and moon his eyes, the air his nous, whereby he hears and marks all things,” in the words of an Orphic hymn (quotation from A. Wayman, “The Human Body as a Microcosm,” History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 2, (Nov., 1982), pp. 174). His words bear the weight of physical laws, which balk at defiance. If Plato had this myth in mind when he wrote the Laws, then his setting of the dialogue in such a place, at such a time, fives a different interpretation for his view of the law: law is the capricious will of the gods, which binds us with the finality of the law of gravity, the pious upholding it and prospering, the wicked flouting it and suffering, though its moral dictums are always enforced in the end, even if it is defied.
There is little to indicate that this was Plato’s intention. Though some Greeks moved into a sort of philosophical monotheism based on the preeminence of Zeus – see Stoic cosmology, for one example – belief in the entire Olympian pantheon was still widespread. If the law is the will of the gods, we must ask first, whose will? All of the gods, or just one, the father, Zeus? Surely all of them, since the poets always depicted the gods as bickering over their own spheres of influence, and with significant power endowed in each. But if all of them, how can their wills be the basis of law? For did not Poseidon support the Achaeans at Ilium, while Apollo took the side of noble Hektor? Plato went over these questions himself in his dialogue Euthyphro, which indicates to me that he would not endorse a viewpoint he ringingly denounced through his mouthpiece, Socrates, in his earlier dialogue. Furthermore, as I have pointed out earlier, it seems to vitiate the whole point of this book of the dialogue, which is to examine different systems of law and define the basis of good laws.
Despite this, there is something to go on here. As Plato’s Athenian has earlier argued, the old should be the only ones with the prerogative to discuss the laws, their bases, their validity, their use, while the young must be enjoined only to obey, lest respect for the law as an institution does not solidify in them. Edmund Burke has a similar argument in his Reflections. From page 29:
“Always acting as if in the presence of canonized forefathers, the spirit of freedom, leading in itself to misrule and excess, is tempered with an awful gravity. This idea of a liberal descent inspires us with a sense of habitual native dignity which prevents that upstart insolence almost inevitably adhering to and disgracing those who are the first acquirers of any distinction. By this means our liberty becomes a noble freedom. It carries an imposing and majestic aspect. It has a pedigree and illustrating ancestors. It has its bearings and its ensigns armorial. It has its gallery of portraits, its monumental inscriptions, its records, evidences, and titles. We procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which nature teaches us to revere individual men: on account of their age and on account of those from whom they are descended. All your sophisters cannot pro- duce anything better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued, who have chosen our nature rather than our speculations, our breasts rather than our inventions, for the great conservatories and magazines of our rights and privileges.”
Burke argues for creating a civic religion around the institutions of the laws, which attains its respect from its age and pedigree, in the same way an old man garners respect by virtue of his advanced age. On my foregoing interpretation of Plato, tying the law to a far more awful and terrifying source than human judgment gives it greater security, for there is not just the fear of man’s retribution, but also god’s. Both these thinkers operate on the premise that the law does not necessarily attain respect from its goodness or its appropriateness. These are objective aspects, which can only be comprehended by an intellect habituated to high and lofty topics, and not by the vulgus, which is naturally stupid, and has no capacity for understanding such things. Better to inspire such people, always the bulk of a society, through the antiquity of the law, to awe them with its heraldry and trappings, to set them to quaking with the terrible countenance of the statue of Zeus, in the greatness of its size and the scale of its construction a visible reminder of the awesome power of the god, and of his vengeance.In what can only be described as a rare occurrence throughout Cam Ward's tenure as a Carolina Hurricane, there is a legitimate question as to who will be the Hurricanes' starting goalie when opening night comes around in October. Eddie Lack, acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on the second day of the NHL Draft, should rise to the occasion and prove himself to be a worthy competitor for Ward's starting spot during September's training camp.
But while the starting goalie will largely be decided upon based on performance in preseason exhibition games and training camp practices, perhaps there is some way to take a look at recent statistical performances from both goalies and draw conclusions as to who may be the better choice for Bill Peters and his staff.
Ward has been Carolina's starting goalie for almost an entire decade now, and there's something to be said for that kind of loyalty and longevity. However, I think there's a very strong statistical case for Lack to be the one to end his reign as the Hurricanes' full-time number one backstop.
For the sake of this discussion, I'm going to make a few assumptions about the performance of the team in front of both Ward and Lack. They are as follows:
The Hurricanes allow the same amount of even strength shots as they did last season. This basically means I'm assuming that the team in front of the goalies is not significantly better or worse than they were last season defensively.
Both Lack and Ward perform exactly in line with their cumulative three-year qualified save percentage numbers. This isn't overly likely, but it gives us a much better idea of what to expect from the two goalies than it would assuming last year's limited sample size holds more accurate.
Whoever wins the starting job will get 50 games, while the backup will get 32. Of course, plenty of other scenarios exist, but barring injuries and based upon how Bill Peters used Ward and Anton Khudobin as a tandem a year ago, this seems the most feasible starting point to me.
With these assumptions in place, we now have the framework to project how the season could unfold from a goals against standpoint for both starter/backup scenarios. I'll start with what I find to be the more likely of the two scenarios, that Ward performs well enough in training camp and in the preseason to maintain his role as the team's starter.
Note: All of the following statistical data is gathered from War-On-Ice.com and their fantastic qualified shot data.
If Cam Ward Is the Starter:
Operating under the assumption that Ward gets 52 games and Lack gets 30, here is how the workload would shake out based upon the defensive performance of the Hurricanes in their lone season under Peters:
Goalie High Danger Shots Medium Danger Shots Low Danger Shots High Danger GA Medium Danger GA Low Danger GA Ward 319 310 476 58 23 17 Lack 204 198 305 37 15 8
Here's how these numbers were arrived at. Last season the Hurricanes surrendered 781 low-danger shots, 508 medium danger shots, and 523 high danger shots. As I stated earlier, the assumption going into this is that the team matches these numbers again next season, which would indicate an equal defensive quality of the team. Whether or not this is actually the case is anyone's guess, but this is the best way to estimate these numbers for the sake of the conversation.
The shots were then divided up to reflect a 52/30 split of the workload. Then from that, I used Ward and Lack's even-strength save percentages in each of the three categories from a three year sample. Barring significant over or under-performance, this is roughly how it might shake out if Ward is the starter next season.
Using this method, the Hurricanes would be expected surrender 158 even strength goals next season. The upgrade from last season's version of Khudobin to Lack brings that number down slightly from the 161 they gave up last year. The Hurricanes scored just 124 even-strength goals last year, so if that stays the same the goaltending improvement with Ward starting and Lack backing him up would raise the team's even-strength GF% ratio slightly from 43.5% last year to 44.0% next year.
That's better, but still not very promising. Let's take a look at how the projected numbers would play out if Lack wins the job and runs with it.
If Eddie Lack Is the Starter:
Operating under the assumption that Lack gets 52 games while Ward gets 30, here's how the team's goals against numbers would look if both players perform at their recent averages and the team matches last season's defensive performance:
Goalie High Danger Shots Medium Danger Shots Low Danger Shots High Danger GA Medium Danger GA Low Danger GA Lack 319 310 476 57 19 10 Ward 204 198 305 37 15 11
As you can see, having Lack as the starter would lead to a better expected outcome than having Ward as the starter. Compared to the expected even-strength goals against of 158 in the Ward-led projection, the 149 projection in the Lack-led alternative is obviously a bit better. Even if the offense remains at a lackluster 124 even-strength goals next season, Carolina's goals for percentage at evens would jump to 45.4%.
This is entirely attributable to the fact that over the last three seasons, Lack has outperformed Ward in each of the three shot quality-centric zones. Lack's HDSV% of 82.09% slightly bests Ward's 81.71%. Lack's MDSV% is 94.12% compared to Ward's mark of 92.67%. Even with LDSV%, Lack's 97.51% tops Ward's 96.43%.
* * * * * *
All that being said, there is reason for optimism in the idea that both goalies could outperform their past averages. Both goalies are entering contract years. On the brink of entering unrestricted free agency, both players will be looking to play at their absolute bests so that they can maximize the value of their next NHL contracts, whether those come here in Carolina or elsewhere around the league.
Be sure to let us know in the comments what your thoughts are with regards to the Ward/Lack tandem ready to take over between the pipes in Raleigh. Who do you think should get the nod as starter and why? Thanks for reading.As the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant has declared its leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi a caliph, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a couple of colleagues during my first year of university in Damascus in 2000. The school curriculum in Syria steered clear of almost all sensitive issues, and it was natural for new university students to find themselves exposed for the first time to “serious” issues such as the caliphate and sectarian divisions in the Muslim world. Such discussions were mostly hushed, often discussed in coded language among trusted colleagues or friends.
“Ana mubayi’,” or I have a pledge of fealty [to a caliph], said one of my colleagues. It was strange to hear such a sentence in a secular country like Syria. He added, with a smile that suggested a suddenly shaken certainty as to whether it was safe to have said it, that pledging allegiance to the caliph could be done without even meeting him because it would be deemed sinful if he didn’t declare allegiance. The supposed caliph was Mullah Omar, the Afghan spiritual leader of the Taliban.
That was around a year before the September 11 attacks in the US. This view of global jihadist groups was, I believe, pervasive within circles that were susceptible to foreign ideas and was being expressed at a time when satellite channels had just become popular in the region – especially Al Jazeera – that broadcast glimpses of jihadists in some mountains in Afghanistan, dressed in white and riding horses, reminiscent of a bygone period in Islamic history.
This story is relevant today, as some observers of jihadists in the region tend to play down the dangers of the ISIL announcement. The move is much more than whether the Islamic State, as it is known now, will hold on to the territories it currently controls or whether it will push into neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
A month ago, Barack Obama cited the weakening of “Al Qaeda central” as one of his administration’s achievements. Commentators then highlighted that while that may be true – a more dangerous trend has taken place during his presidency, the rise of local jihadi groups in many more countries than Al Qaeda ever operated. After the announcement of a caliph this week, the one thing Mr Obama bragged about has been rendered hollow, as the Islamic State has all but taken on Al Qaeda’s role as a leader of jihad. Some may celebrate the fact that the Islamic State has harmed Al Qaeda more than the war on terror has, but the only difference is that the Islamic State is the extreme of the extreme and is more invigorating for jihadists than Al Qaeda.
The announcement has already inspired jihadists previously aligned to Al Qaeda to join the Islamic State, including the spokesman of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, some members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in addition to members of Jabhat Al Nusra in Syria. Sympathisers with the announcement are likely to be far greater in numbers and range.
As it turns into a movement, rather than just a local faction, the Islamic State has many more advantages, and poses more danger than Al Qaeda. It is located in the heart of the traditional power centres of the Islamic world, Syria and Iraq. Its leader claims to be a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed’s family, and has religious credentials as a holder of a PhD in Islamic studies. These factors will help position him as a global leader.
Another advantage for the group is the fact that it is fighting a sectarian jihad, which tends to be more polarising than other forms of jihad. An indication of how this type of activism is popular is the fact that many groups and individuals who had previously fought ISIL or its precursors have praised its effort in fighting the Shiite-dominated Maliki government. Simply put, for many jihadists and Islamists, the wrong group is doing the right thing.
As I wrote in this space last month, the idea of an Islamic state has led many to support ISIL. The establishment of a caliphate will have an even wider effect on its popularity and relevance. A caliphate is the aspiration of most Islamists and many ordinary Muslims, and while many disapprove of the group that announced it because it has mainly killed fellow Sunnis since it was established, they approve of the move in principle.
The announcement, which has followed a striking success for the group in northern Iraq, has put subscribers of this ideology in an awkward position. Those who are not tied to the factions that have fought ISIL will likely sympathise with the move. After all, most of what the Islamic State is doing, in theory, can be justified in sharia terms.
It is not possible for me to know where my former colleague stands on the issue of the caliphate today. Another friend recently spoke of a conversation with his friend about the brutality of ISIL. He said that we are all perhaps paying the price of once supporting the jihadists who fought in Afghanistan.
Regardless, the whispers of support to a caliph in Afghanistan are now replaced by clear words and acts, amplified by social media. Jihadism has evolved significantly. It is no longer limited to narrow “elitists” who travel to distant countries to wage jihad. Today’s jihad is more sophisticated and individualised and can be waged everywhere.
Hassan Hassan is an analyst at the Delma Institute, a research centre in Abu Dhabi
On Twitter: hhassan140The thing is, your culture is really too white. I know it sounds counter intuitive but multiculturalism is the way of the future. It'll be important for you in the coming years to be open and respectful to your new Islamic brethren and accept their customs whole heartedly. Be accepting and don't try to force anyone to assimilate, it's time for white Europeans to put aside their privilege and learn the ways of Islam.
If you're having trouble with this, Israel has set up organizations in most European countries to help you embrace Islam and be a more accepting and multiculture person. The organization in Sweden is called Padeia and is run by Barbara Lerner Spectre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFE0qAiofMQ
As your country diversifies and Christianty/white heritage is left behind, you might feel resentful. This is your own bigotry and hate and it'll be important for you to suppress that. It's more important that these less privileged people moving to your country are well fed and have adequate housing than the whites that have enjoyed these privileges for so long. Good Luck and peace! Ma’a salama!It feels like I’ve been counting down to 25 ever since I turned 19, and today is the day I’ve been waiting for. Surprisingly, a lot of the life lessons I have learned happened to be in my 24th year. Better late than never, right? I thought I would share my experiences with you here’s what I’ve learned in my 25 years: 1. Don’t compare yourself to others I feel like this is common sense, but there have been times that I’ve forgotten this, and I’ve been so hard on myself because I was looking at what others had accomplished and what they were doing. When I I compared myself to others I distracted myself from seeing how I could grow and improve my life 2. Set yourself up to succeed I learned this lesson extremely late, and I used to wonder why things didn’t work out the way I wanted to. Give yourself as many options and opportunities to succeed, often we throw away our good fortune. If you shut more doors than you open, you’ll likely confine yourself to one space. 3. All good things in due time This is directly related to the previous point – once you’ve set yourself on the path to success by creating and taking advantage of opportunities you must also allow things to follow their trajectory (this is something I learned from my ex-boyfriend). We’re sometimes impatient for the fruits of our labour, but there’s no need to rush the outcome. That being said don’t take your sweet ass time if you don’t have to! 4. Surround yourself with people who will inspire growth It is good having friends you can laugh with, eat with, and party with, but you also need friends who will encourage you, challenge you and support you. When you are around people who want to be successful, you too will want some success for yourself. For me, stimulating conversation resonates much deeper than gossip. 5. You cannot build without a foundation I was all over the place after I graduated high school so now, six years later I’m back in post-secondary. When I went to college at 18, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I just knew I needed I career. Presently I know the what, I don’t know all of the how, but because I know the direction I want to go in, it will be easier for me to get there. 6. Network It is SUPER IMPORTANT. It really is about who you know, so please don’t brush off those Linkedin invitations. Meet as many people and make a good, lasting impression, It matters 7.Perseverance is as rewarding as they make it sound. Don’t give up just because things are looking bleak. You never know when your life is going to change for the better, but if you aren’t working towards making it happen, then it will never happen. Pretty simple, right? 8. Learn to let go At the same time allowing things to end when they’re supposed to is equally important. Let go of bad relationships, toxic friendships, and holding grudges. None of these things help you to move forward; it’s all baggage, and it weighs you down. 9. Appreciate the little things Celebrate your success: paying off your credit card, acing a test, falling in love, the employee of the month- whatever it is that made your day you should be praised. It will make you appreciate your existence and will help you to conquer the next milestone with ease. 10. Live a positive life Try to be a better person, for yourself and to yourself. This was something I struggled with, in truth I was my own worst enemy. Once I started appreciating the little things in life, I was able to shift into a positive state-of-mind. I still have my days when I’m angry or anxious, but even the lock screen on my phone is a reminder of all the positives there are in my world. I’m happier, and my life seems so fulfilling, it’s not a bad way to be when you’ve lived for a quarter of a century I know that there is so much more that I will learn in the years to come, and I’m excited to see how different my life will be in a year from now. If you have any tips for being 25 feel free to share them in the comment section
AdvertisementsAbstract Segregating objects from background, and determining which of many concurrent stimuli belong to the same object, remains one of the most challenging unsolved problems both in neuroscience and in technical applications. While this phenomenon has been investigated in depth in vision and audition it has hardly been investigated in olfaction. We found that for honeybees a 6-ms temporal difference in stimulus coherence is sufficient for odor-object segregation, showing that the temporal resolution of the olfactory system is much faster than previously thought.
Citation: Szyszka P, Stierle JS, Biergans S, Galizia CG (2012) The Speed of Smell: Odor-Object Segregation within Milliseconds. PLoS ONE 7(4): e36096. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036096 Editor: Matthieu Louis, Center for Genomic Regulation, Spain Received: November 8, 2011; Accepted: March 28, 2012; Published: April 27, 2012 Copyright: © 2012 Szyszka et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (01GQ0931 to PS and CGG) and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction Most natural odors consist of many components, though they are perceived as unitary odor-objects [1]. Because airborne odorants intermingle and fluctuate at fast timescales [2], [3], the olfactory system needs to segregate concurrent odors from independent sources in order to recognize them as different odor-objects [4], [5]. This problem is analogous to figure-ground segregation in vision [6] and concurrent sound segregation in audition [7]. Both, the visual and auditory system analyze temporal coherence between stimuli for object segregation [7], [8]. It is not known whether odor-object segregation is also based on temporal stimulus coherence. Studies on mixture processing in honeybees and other species demonstrated that mixtures have a perceptive quality that is different from their components [9]–[14], thus making it difficult to recognize odor-objects from mixtures. These studies only considered static step like stimuli. Rapid odorant fluctuations, however, contain information that can be used for odor-source tracking [15]–[18]. Accordingly, information contained in the fast temporal structure of odorant stimuli might be used to segregate an odor-object from a mixture [4], [5], [19]. To address this idea, we asked whether honeybees can use short temporal differences between two components of a binary odorant mixture to extract information about its components. We first trained honeybees to respond to an odorant A by pairing A with a sugar reward [20]. Then, we tested memory retrieval with a mixture of A and a novel odorant B. We found that a 6 ms asynchrony in the onset of A and B is sufficient to enhance the salience of the component odor information, and that it is not necessary that the component in question was presented alone at any time during the stimulus.
Results Studying the effect of millisecond time-differences in stimulus coherence on the perception of odorant mixtures requires temporally precise odorant stimuli. In our experiments, we mixed two odorants with an onset or offset delay of 6 ms. We therefore tested the temporal precision of odorant delivery in this time range using electroantennogram (EAG) recordings. Odorant stimuli evoked EAG responses with fast and reproducible response dynamics (Figure 1a). The rise time (10 to 90%) was less than 50 ms, and the difference in reaching 30% of amplitude maxima between two odor channels was 0.4±2 ms (mean ± standard deviation) (Table S1). The 6-ms interval between the opening of channel 1 and 2 used for our mixture experiments was clearly visible in the onset of the EAG responses (Figure 1b). The offset, however, was less precise and the 6-ms interval could not reliably be reproduced. When opening channel 1 and 2 simultaneously more than 40% of the EAG signals coincided within 1 ms and more than 75% coincided within 2 ms in reaching 30% of the maximum (Figure 1c). PPT PowerPoint slide
PowerPoint slide PNG larger image
larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 1. Temporal characteristics of the odorant stimuli. (a) Electroantennogram (EAG) response to odorant stimuli delivered by channel 1 (magenta, shifted up for clarity) and channel 2 (green) of the olfactometer. 13 single measurements and superimposed mean (dark trace). Stimulus duration was 800 ms. Channel 1 and 2 were measured sequentially. (b) Blow-up of the stimulus onset and offset (shaded period in (a)), shifted vertically for clarity. Top: Channel 1 and 2 opened and closed simultaneously (data from (a)). Middle: Channel 2 opened and closed 6 ms after channel 1. Bottom: Channel 1 opened and closed 6 ms after channel 2. N = 13 measurements each. To detect possible mechanical effects of opening two channels in the incoherent mixture, a blank channel was opened 6 ms before or after the opening of the tracer channel (middle: blank opened 6 ms after channel 1 or 6 ms before channel 2, bottom: vice versa). All traces were normalized to the amplitude maximum. (c) Percentage of EAG recordings for pairs of channel 1 and 2 that reached either 10, 30 or 63% of the amplitude maximum within a given coincidence interval. EAG1 (26 recordings per channel, 676 pairs, same data as in (a) and (b)) and EAG2 (28 recordings per channel, 784 pairs) show data from two independent EAG recordings. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036096.g001 Bees were
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was buried on Elliott Key.[2] However, he and the sailor had a falling out over a young woman the mate had brought back from one of the ships they had looted. Fighting over her, Caesar killed his longtime friend in a duel and took the woman for his own.
He began taking on more pirates over time and soon was able to attack ships on the open sea. He and his crew were often able to avoid capture by running into Caesar Creek and other inlets between Elliot and Old Rhodes Key and onto the mangrove islands. Using a metal ring embedded in a rock, they ran a strong rope through the ring, heel the boat over, and hide their boat in the water until the patrol ship or some other danger went away. They might also lower the mast and sink the ship in shallow water, later cutting the rope or pumping out the water to raise the boat and continue raiding. It is thought that he and his men buried 26 bars of silver on the island, although no treasure has ever been recovered from the island.
He apparently had a harem on his island, having at least 100 women seized from passing ships, as well as a prison camp which he kept prisoners in stone huts hoping to ransom them. When leaving the island to go on raids, he left no provisions for these prisoners and many eventually starved to death. A few children reportedly escaped captivity, subsisting on berries and shellfish, and formed their own language and customs. This society of lost children give rise to native superstition that the island is haunted.
During the early 18th century, Caesar left Biscayne Bay to join Blackbeard in raiding American shipping in the Mid-Atlantic serving as a lieutenant on his flagship Queen Anne's Revenge.[3] In 1718, after Blackbeard's death battling with Lieutenant Robert Maynard at Ocracoke Island, he attempted to set off the powder magazine as per Blackbeard's instructions. However, Caesar was stopped by one of the captives who tackled him as he prepared to light a trail of gunpowder leading to the magazine. He struggled with the man below decks until several of Maynard's sailors were able to restrain him. Taken prisoner by Virginian colonial authorities, he was convicted of piracy and hanged in Williamsburg, Virginia.[4]
In popular culture [ edit ]
The descendants of Caesar and his crew are depicted in Albert Payson Terhune's 1922 novel Black Caesar's Clan which describes people living near Caesar's Creek who chase off treasure hunters looking for Caesar's lost fortune.
which describes people living near Caesar's Creek who chase off treasure hunters looking for Caesar's lost fortune. Jimmy Akingbola played Black Caesar in the 2005 mini series Blackbeard: Terror at Sea.
. In the 2006 film Blackbeard, Black Caesar is depicted by Christopher Clyde-Green as a Boatswain on Blackbeard's ship.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]WASHINGTON —The war in Iraq is officially over. The costs will go on.
Eight years of dodging improvised explosive devices, repelling insurgent ambushes and quelling sectarian strife already have drained the United States of more treasure than any conflict in the nation's history except World War II.
Even though the last U.S. combat troops have left Iraq, American taxpayers will face decades of additional expenses, from veterans' health care and disability benefits to interest on the debt accumulated to finance the war.
"Those costs are going to build for years," said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington-based research group.
That burden will come amid growing concern about the federal government's debt, with cuts to popular programs such as Medicare and to national defense being debated. Spending so far on the war and related interest payments make up about a tenth of the U.S. Treasury's $10.4 trillion in publicly held debt.
Direct federal spending on the war through 2012 will reach $823 billion, surpassing the $738 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars the United States spent on the Vietnam War, the Congressional Research Service estimated in a March 29 report. Only World War II had a higher direct cost, $4.1 trillion, in current dollars.
Not counted in that is the interest of more than $200 billion the federal government has already had to pay on the resulting debt, said Linda Bilmes, a senior lecturer in public finance at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Bilmes also estimates the price over the next 40 years of health care and disability compensation for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts will be almost $1 trillion. "The veterans' costs in particular will dwarf the other budget costs," said Bilmes.
By any measure, the price of the Iraq conflict has far outstripped forecasts by President George W. Bush's administration as it made the case to go to war. Then-White House budget director Mitch Daniels and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld projected the United States would spend $50 billion to $60 billion and said they believed part of that would be defrayed by other countries.
Still, while the conflict turned out to be among the most expensive in the nation's history, the size of the U.S. economy is now larger than in earlier wars and so is the nation's capacity to bear the financial load.
The choice to avoid tax increases and pay for the war entirely through budget deficits has compounded the long-term economic impact.
The direct cost of the Iraq war to date is about as large as the Obama administration's 2009 economic stimulus, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated at $825 billion in an Aug. 24 report.
The impact will reverberate beyond the federal budget.
The war has exacted a toll on the broader economy as its consequences rippled through families, businesses and world oil and financial markets.A contentious article encouraging writers “to imagine other cultures” and to “set your sights on the big goal: Win the Appropriation Prize” is finding support from high-profile Canadian journalists who are raising money to create the controversial award. Hal Niedzviecki resigned this week as editor of The Writers’ Union of Canada magazine after his opinion piece sparked outrage with a member of the magazine’s editorial board calling it “clueless and thoughtless.”
Hal l Niedzviecki resigned this week as editor of The Writers’ Union of Canada magazine after his opinion piece sparked outrage. ( nick kozak / SPECIAL TO THE STAR )
Late on Thursday night, a conversation on Twitter began when Jonathan Kay, editor-in-chief of The Walrus magazine, called the outrage over Niedzviecki’s article a “mobbing” that was sad and shameful.
In response, former National Post editor-in-chief Ken Whyte tweeted that he would donate $500 to fund the “appropriation prize” mentioned in the opinion piece.
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The tweet began a stream of pledges from high profile Canadian journalists to create the prize.
Others were quick to condemn this drive.
Niedzviecki responded Friday with a note on Facebook. “Calls for an actual ‘appropriation prize’ are extremely unhelpful. They do not represent me in anyway. In the short article I wrote, the satiric notion of the prize was brought up in jest — ie. how can we encourage writers of all backgrounds to explore points of view other than their own? That’s all I meant. I agree that the timing of the article was poor, and I feel terribly that writers whose beautiful and important words were featured in that issue were hurt. As I wrote in the piece, ‘Indigenous writing is the most vital and compelling force in writing and publishing in Canada today.’ ”Filmmaker Jason Pollock wanted to change Michael Brown’s story to make him a hero and demonize the Ferguson police, now things are changing.
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The Attorney for the Ferguson Marts says Pollock is misleading the public. The Attorney showed an unedited video along with a description. The documentary made it seem as if Brown was coming back for a package he left the night before, but in the video, the store clerk took the package from Brown and put it back on the shelf as Brown didn’t have the money to pay for it.
Brown in the video where he attacked the store owner was seen leaving the store with the package in his hand the next day. The store owner never called the police, that was attributed to a customer, according to the owner.
What the Michael Brown video tells us https://t.co/gYKE0ouT5Z https://t.co/OcCV33fTAw — Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) March 14, 2017
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The filmmaker is making up his own narrative to change the facts as liberals always do. This is a blatant lie which I believe he based on Shaun King’s document that he published in 2014.
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Don’t forget to follow the Wayne Dupree Show social media accounts on Facebook, Google Plus & Twitter.Channel 4 and Whisper Films have today confirmed the line-up that will cover Formula 1 throughout the 2016 season.
As noted, and analysed in a separate article, Steve Jones is presenting Channel 4’s coverage. Alongside Jones in the pit lane will be a plethora of pundits.
How The F1 Broadcasting Blog has covered the Winter story
> December 21st: Channel 4 in, BBC TV out
> January 11th: Whisper Films and David Coulthard confirmed
> January 11th: Your Channel 4 F1 team revealed
> January 16th: Suzi Perry out
> January 18th: 2016 scheduling confirmed
> January 29th: Steve Jones in the presenter hot-seat
> February 12th: ‘The Chain’ confirmed
> February 20th: No technical expert expected
> March 8th: Steve Jones (and everyone else) confirmed
Ben Edwards joins from the BBC, where he was lead commentator from 2012 onwards. Edwards will again be joined in the commentary box by Coulthard. In pit lane, Karun Chandhok will be interviewing the drivers up and down the grid (his role is billed as ‘technical expert’), with Lee McKenzie also jumping over from the BBC.
Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to your #C4F1 team pic.twitter.com/Q23IpFRjbB — Channel 4 F1® (@C4F1) March 8, 2016
On the punditry side will be Eddie Jordan, Mark Webber, Susie Wolff, Bruno Senna, Alain Prost, Alessandro Zanardi and Nicholas Hamilton, all of who will be used in rotation through the season. Like his previous role at the BBC, Murray Walker will be interviewing stars of Formula 1 away from the race circuit. There are three main surprises here. The first is that Jordan and McKenzie will be part of Channel 4’s coverage despite early suspicions that both would not be involved, the former having recently signed up for Top Gear.
Furthermore, Bruno Senna has defected from Sky Sports to Channel 4. Lastly, Hamilton may be a surprise, but he has presenting experience having presented Channel 4’s coverage of the Race of Champions last November which was produced by Whisper Films. Overall, this looks like a fantastically strong team that Channel 4 have put together.
In other news today, it was announced that Channel 4’s coverage will be sponsored by the travel search engine website KAYAK.co.uk. Jay Hunt, Channel 4’s Chief Creative Officer, said: “This is the dream team – we’ve brought together the very best on screen and off screen talent to make Channel 4’s coverage unmissable.”
David Coulthard said: “I’m very proud to be a part of this exciting line up which will give F1 fans who choose to watch the most creative and innovative free-to-air coverage of the season a totally fresh perspective. This season promises to be the most competitive for years and viewers can look forward to extensive coverage of all the races, expert punditry, unrivalled paddock and pit access as well as exhilarating stunts and features throughout to bring the audience right into the heart of the race action.”
Update on March 13th at 12:00 – In what I can only describe as a very bizarre development, Alex Zanardi has denied that he will be part of Channel 4’s Formula 1 team. This is odd because there was a VT shown with him talking during the press morning last Tuesday. I’m chasing up word from Channel 4 and will update this when I get word.
Update on March 13th at 19:00 – Pitch PR have re-iterated that Zanardi will be part of Channel 4’s coverage. They say: “Alex is very much part of the coverage. As per the press pack from Tuesday, which gives more details on each person’s role in the coverage, he will be filming features with DC during the season but will not be presenting at any races as he is in training for the Rio Olympics.”
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United States intelligence agencies recently detected China’s military shifting road-mobile ballistic missiles closer to its southern coast near the disputed Senkaku Islands amid growing tensions between Beijing and Japan over the islands dispute.
U.S. defense officials said the movements are being watched closely as China’s military is also holding large-scale military exercises that some fear could be a trigger for a conflict with Japan that could involve U.S. forces.
The officials did not provide details of the missile movements that were tracked by U.S. aircraft, ship-based, and satellite surveillance systems in the region.
Disclosure of the missile movements comes as White House national security adviser Tom Donilon on Monday met in Seoul with China’s state councilor Liu Yandong. The two were in South Korea to attend the inauguration of South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
Tensions remain high between Japan and China over Tokyo’s nationalization last year of several uninhabited islands between Okinawa and Taiwan called the Senkakus. China claims the islands as its territory. At issue are large undersea oil and gas deposits sought by both energy-poor countries.
The officials confirmed the missile movements near the provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian after Chinese press outlets first reported them.
The most recent report appeared in the Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily News, a non-Chinese owned outlet that quoted a military source as saying the missile deployments included new solid-fueled DF-16 road-mobile missiles.
The Feb. 21 report said the People’s Liberation Army Second Artillery Corps, which operates missile units, were preparing to target the disputed Senkaku Islands as well as U.S. military bases in Okinawa.
The Daily News stated that the missile movements were signs the PLA is "preparing for the worst regarding the territorial dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands."
The report also stated that the DF-16 is capable of defeating U.S.-made Patriot missile batteries that are deployed at U.S. and Japanese military bases in the region. The DF-16 is said to be armed with multiple warheads.
According to the report, the PLA navy near the Senkakus is part of China’s "trump card" weaponry—niche military capabilities that could allow a weaker force to defeat a stronger one.
The U.S. newsletter East-Asia-Intel.com reported Feb. 13 that China’s military appeared to be making war preparations by holding large-scale exercises around the Lunar New Year, including live fire artillery and air force bombing runs.
The newsletter said state media also reported large-scale troop movements and maneuvers near the coastal Fujian and Zheijiang provinces, the areas closest to the Senkakus.
John Tkacik, a former State Department specialist on China, said Chinese television recently reported that PLA missile forces practiced saturation bombing exercises that used for the first time an automatic launch system that could fire 10 warheads accurately on one target.
"The Pentagon and the Japanese defense ministry already take the PRC ballistic missile threat to U.S. forces in the Taiwan Strait and Ryukyus seas very, very seriously," Tkacik said. "If U.S. surveillance and reconnaissance assets show significant redeployments of road-mobile missiles, including DF-16s on China's east coast, U.S. and Japanese forces have to respond with far higher levels of threat readiness, and that sort of thing can put the gathering crisis in the Senkakus area on a hair-trigger."
Regarding China-Japan tensions, a Chinese warship aimed weapon-targeting radar at a Japanese warship, drawing protests from Tokyo. Such radar illumination at sea is often regarded as a hostile act in military parlance.
U.S. officials fear the dispute could lead to a small-scale military confrontation that might spiral into a major conflict.
The U.S. military is committed to defending Japan in any conflict despite Obama administration assertions that it takes no sides in territorial disputes.
China has been building up its short- and medium-range missile forces in the region for at least a decade. U.S. intelligence agencies estimate the total number of missiles in the region is between 1,200 and 1,500 missiles.
They include mainly DF-15 and DF-11 short-range missiles. Taiwan government sources have reported that China also has deployed longer-range DF-21s in the region.
A variant of the DF-21 is a special anti-ship ballistic missile designed by Beijing to sink U.S. aircraft carriers and it is one of the main reasons for the Pentagon’s buildup in Asia to counter what it calls anti-access and area-denial weapons.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the recent missile movements.
Richard Fisher, a Chinese military affairs specialist, said the deployment of DF-16s is in its third year and indicates the PLA "has deployed up to three brigades of this reported 800-kilometer to 1,000 kilometer-range missile."
"The DF-16 is a development of the DF-11 short range ballistic missile; it simply places the modular warhead section of the DF-11 on a much larger booster stage," said Fisher, who is with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
"This means it could be armed with many types of warheads, including nuclear, electromagnetic pulse, fuel-air explosive, and anti-airfield submunitions. It should be expected that it eventually will have a maneuverable anti-ship warhead as well."
Fisher said China is also moving toward deployment of a new, nuclear or conventional-tipped 3,000-kilometer range missile dubbed the DF-25.
"China's goal is to overwhelm the United States and its democratic allies with new missiles, much as it has overwhelmed Taiwan with shorter range missiles," Fisher said.
The growing Chinese missile threat comes as the Obama administration unilaterally retired its theater-range nuclear Tomahawk cruise missiles even as China is moving ahead with new missiles of that range.
"It is now imperative that the United States get back into the medium- and intermediate-range missile business and to help some of our allies to do the same, in order to deter China," Fisher said.
"Only when the U.S., Japanese, and South Korean navies have enough long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles to take out China's shiny new navy will Beijing wake up and reconsider its course of increasing aggression," he said.
Meanwhile, China’s state-controlled media has been ramping up rhetoric indicating China is preparing for a conflict over the Senkakus. Large-scale military exercises have been held in recent weeks and Chinese leaders have been reported as telling troops to prepare for combat.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during a visit earlier this month to a military command that Chinese forces should be "expanding and deepening" combat readiness. Xi in December also called for intensifying "real combat" skills.
The United States and Japan held combined military exercises that ended Feb. 15 called "Exercise Iron First." Chinese state media reported the war games were practice for "island seizure" operations and preparations for a conflict with China over the Senkakus.
More than 1,000 Marines and 280 Japanese Self-Defense Forces troops took part in the maneuvers at Camp Pendelton, Calif.
China on Monday announced that its navy has deployed the first of a new generation of radar-evading stealth warships, called a Type 056 frigate.
The official Chinese military newspaper PLA Daily stated that the new frigate will be deployed in large numbers and features low radar observability and electromagnetic signatures.
The new warship will be used for escort and anti-submarine missions.
The PLA navy also announced that it would conduct military exercises in the northern Yellow Sea near the major military port of Dalian beginning Wednesday.
Chinese state television CCTV reported Feb. 13 that PLA air force units in northeastern China carried out an "emergency war preparedness exercise."
Three PLA warships completed a major open-ocean exercise Feb. 15 after 18 days at sea. The ships, a missile destroyer and two frigates, sailed in the East China Sea, where the Senkakus are located, as well as the Yellow Sea.CLOSE President Donald Trump on Wednesday reveled in Congress’ passage of a massive $1.5 trillion tax reform bill, claiming that, once he signed it into law, it would propel economic growth. Time
Donald Trump stands with his family at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York in April 2016. (Photo: PETER FOLEY, EPA)
Daniel Hemel, a tax law professor at the University of Chicago, wants to make a deal with President Trump: If the GOP’s new tax plan indeed costs him “a fortune,” as Trump claimed, Hemel will pay Trump back the difference.
But if the president becomes richer off the plan, that money would go to Hemel. “Of course,” Hemel said, “he'd have to release his tax returns for us to judge who wins.”
Trump’s decision to keep Americans in the dark on his taxes — the first president since Nixon to do so — makes it nearly impossible to know exactly how the bill benefits him, though tax policy experts say it almost certainly will.
They describe a plan tilted toward the wealthiest Americans with specific protections for real estate developers like Trump, his adult children and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Here’s how experts say the plan stands to benefit Trump's empire.
How does the plan carve out privileges for real estate developers like, say, the Trumps?
“Usually when people sell property at a profit, that profit is considered income and taxed,” said Steve Wamhoff, senior fellow for federal tax policy at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “But some investors are able to set up deals so that technically they are just ‘trading’ one property for another, and they tell the IRS that it was just a trade, not a sale, so there is no income to tax. (This is called a like-kind exchange.)
“The new law eliminates this break — except for real estate. It's as if lawmakers made sure that their half-hearted attempts to close loopholes and special breaks did not touch wealthy real estate investors like the Trumps and the Kushners.”
Hemel adds: “Many firms will be affected by a provision that caps the interest deduction of 30% of earnings before interest and taxes. But the GOP plan explicitly exempts real estate investors from this, so Trump doesn't have to worry.”
A lot's been made about how this plan helps “pass-through businesses." What might that mean for Trump?
“A last-minute provision that was dropped into the final bill allows (a special pass-through) break to go to businesses that have depreciable property, like buildings that wear out over time, even if they have very few employees,” said Wamhoff. “Guess what kind of business has that type of property and few employees? Real estate firms, which largely operate as pass-through businesses.”
“He’ll get a 20% deduction form the amount of his ‘business income,’” said Daniel N. Shaviro, a tax professor at New York University. “Suppose that income is $10 million: That’s a $2 million deduction right off the top.”
The new plan also lets larger inheritances out of the estate tax. Does that change the inheritance Trump leaves?
“Instead of leaving behind $11 million tax free, Donald and Melania Trump could leave behind $22 million tax free,” Wamhoff said. “If Trump is being truthful about how rich he is, that might be a drop in the bucket in his fortune.”
Is there anything in this new plan that doesn’t leave Trump wealthier?
“One provision that does seem to affect Trump negatively is the repeal of the deduction for state and local taxes over $10,000,” said Hemel, who mused that Trump could relocate his residency to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. “Florida has no state income tax, so this provision would affect Trump much less if he's in Florida than if he's in New York.”
Still, Wamhoff said, “It is inconceivable that any tax hike from that provision for Trump would not be offset by the break for the billions of dollars worth of pass-through businesses that he owns — at least by his own account.”
Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner
More: Tax cuts: Economists see modest impact on workers, economy as corporate taxes fall
More: Trump declares victory as tax bill passes: 'It's always a lot of fun when you win'
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2BaPFbTPromo for the fight between rising stars Jon 'Bones' Jones and Ryan 'Darth' Bader.Soundtrack:'Fearless'vhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKaFFrVLkG0
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3FC 19: Townsend vs. Crenshaw will be on November 2nd live from Pigeon Forge, TN featuring Adam "Primetime" Townsend vs. Shane "The Godfather" Crenshaw and Anthony "The Spoiler" Morgan and "Supa Que watch video >>With World Cup of Hockey training camps set to open next week in North America and Europe, let’s catch up on what’s been happening over the course of the summer with each of the eight competing teams.
Today: Team North America
For those who say that the Under-23 Team North America is just a World Cup of Hockey gimmick, we would ask you this:
Would you rather watch Team Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia or Latvia try to steal a win from the world powers of hockey? Because those countries make up the next group whose national teams are being replaced by Team North America and Team Europe in this tournament.
Led by Connor McDavid, this team will be as fast as any in the World Cup, and will be the dark horse in their pool, hoping to knock off two of Russia, Sweden and Finland in order to advance.
With the World Cup around the corner, here’s a look at Team North America.
Training camp site:
Montreal (Bell Centre): Sept. 5-7
Quebec City (Videotron Centre): Sept. 8-10
Montreal (Bell Centre): Sept. 11
Pittsburgh (CONSOL Energy Center): Sept 12-14
Summer headlines:
• The biggest story for Team North America actually happened this past spring, as Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray established himself as a Stanley Cup winner during the Penguins’ Cup run.
Remember, shortly after the U-23 concept was raised co-GMs Stan Bowman and Peter Chiarelli petitioned tournament organizers for an age exemption in goal, where they feared they wouldn’t have a candidate that would allow them to compete against the best players in the world.
Now, with Murray having stolen Marc-Andre Fleury’s job while becoming a Conn Smythe candidate, and Anaheim’s John Gibson (.920, 2.07 GAA) having taken over the No. 1 job in Anaheim, the kids might just have enough goaltending to make a run.
• At the time of this writing, neither Winnipeg defenceman Jacob Trouba nor Calgary winger Johnny Gaudreau have signed contracts with their clubs. Both are restricted free agents expected to sign soon, and each will be provided with insurance (by the NHLPA and NHL) should they remain unsigned when the tournament begins.
Both have committed to play in the tournament, but the contract situation will be a distraction for both — especially considering that short window between the end of this tournament (possibly Oct. 1) and the NHL regular season opener on Oct. 12.
• As it turns out, Auston Matthews’ first game at the Air Canada Centre won’t be in a blue and white uniform after all. The Toronto Maple Leafs No. 1 overall draft pick debuts in the black, grey and neon orange of Team North America, which might just provide a convenient break-in period for the pressure he’ll be feeling once the NHL season starts for real in Toronto.
“I think it’s great for Auston,” said Leafs and Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock on a Team Canada conference call. “I don’t know what his role is going to be, but he’s going to learn from this tournament and he’s going to get better every time out.”
• Perhaps the most intriguing part of this concept will be to see Matthews, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel potentially on the same powerplay. Particularly Eichel and McDavid, who spent their rookie seasons being compared to one another.
“I’m definitely excited to play with him and get to experience to be on the ice with him on the same team as opposed to playing against him,” McDavid told the Toronto Sun in August. “I think we’ve always been tagged as kind of rivals and all that but I definitely don’t see that or think that.
“It will be cool to play with him.”
Team captain: TBD
Assistant captains: TBD
Front-office refresher:
• Co-GMs: Stan Bowman and Peter Chiarelli
• Head coach: Todd McLellan
• Assistant coaches: Jon Cooper, Dave Tippett, Gerard Gallant, Jay Woodcroft
Injury concerns:
Sean Couturier sprained his shoulder on a hit by Alex Ovechkin in Philadelphia’s playoff opener and did not return in Round 1. He’s ready to go now, as is teammate Shayne Gostisbehere, who had hip and abdominal surgeries in May.
McDavid returned last season from his broken collarbone and is fine as well.
Key storylines entering camp:
1. The defence
Can a defence comprised wholly of 23-and-under players allow this group to compete against the best players in the world? Put it this way: Of the seven players named to the team — Aaron Ekblad, Seth Jones, Ryan Murray, Colton Parayko, Morgan Rielly, Gostisbehere and Trouba — how many would vie for a spot on their national team if this team North America didn’t exist?
With Murray having emerged in goal, the question becomes if this defence can weather the storm against pressure from the best veteran players on the globe.
2. Matt Murray
What if Murray was a “one spring wonder?”
What if, like Antti Niemi’s wonderful run with the Blackhawks in 2010, Murray can’t follow up with a sustainable level of play the following season? That would leave Gibson and Connor Hellebuyck to tend the North American twine, but in a short tournament, by the time you figure out your No. 1 isn’t good enough, it might be too late to recover.
3. The competition
Team North America finds itself in a bracket with Russia, Finland and Sweden, and only two teams emerge to face the top two clubs from the opposite bracket (Canada, USA, Czechs and Team Europe) in the two semi-final games.
Can this group pull off two victories to get through to the semis? They’ll have to use every ounce of their speed and youthful exuberance to make that happen.
Exhibition/preliminary round schedule:
**Sept. 8: Team Europe vs. Team North America, Videotron Centre, 8 p.m.
**Sept. 11: Team Europe vs. Team North America, Bell Centre, 6 p.m.
**Sept. 14: Team Czech Republic vs. Team North America, CONSOL Energy Center, 3:30 p.m.
Sept. 18: Team North America vs. Finland, 8 p.m.
Sept. 19: Team Russia vs. Team North America, 8 p.m.
Sept. 21: Team North America vs. Team Sweden, 3 p.m.
**ExhibitionMaybe a high school teacher who promoted an after-school Bible Club that he sponsored wouldn’t be the subject of much controversy. He shouldn’t do it, but it’s nothing a quick email reprimand from an administrator couldn’t take care of.
But what’s happening in Stockton, California absolutely crosses the line:
We understand that [New Vision High School teacher John] Alameda not only sponsors the club but also shares his Christian beliefs during school hours and frequently encourages his students to attend the club’s meetings. Furthermore, he offers extra credit for copying Bible verses and gives students “Bible Cookies” as a reward for completing class assignments.
That letter was sent about a week ago, quietly, by Americans United for Separation of Church and State — there’s no mention of it on their website — but it appears to have hit the local media.
What Alameda is doing is clearly illegal, it would never be accepted if he was anything but Christian, and it’s hard to believe he’s ignorant of how problematic this is. But the whole controversy can be put to rest if he simply promises to stop with the understanding that his job would be terminated if he doesn’t comply.
Indeed, that’s all AU is asking for:
… please ensure that Mr. Alameda and all other school employees refrain from using their official positions to promote religion in any manner, including by pressuring students to join religious clubs.
It’s not much to ask for and the district should be grateful its getting off easy.
So far, though, there’s no indication of how they’ll respond.
(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Richard for the link)INDIANAPOLIS -- Lost in the news of the Indianapolis Colts signing two linebackers and releasing cornerback Patrick Robinson on Friday was tight end Dwayne Allen addressing the New England media for the first time since being traded.
Tight end Dwayne Allen spoke fondly of the Colts on Friday when he addressed New England media for the first time since he was dealt to the Patriots. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
The Colts sent Allen and a sixth-round draft pick to the Patriots in exchange for a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft.
“I really feel like my involvement with the Indianapolis organization goes further than what was on the field. It was an amazing time,” Allen told New England media. “I think we had some incredible moments, overcame some just dire obstacles, and had a lot of success during the five years that I was there. I really wish those guys nothing but the best. I’m so thankful to the Irsay family for taking a chance on me. They had already drafted a tight end and decided to take another. I’m so thankful for them to do that. It’s one of those places that I’ll hold near and dear to my heart for the rest of my life.”
Allen, a third-round pick by the Colts in 2012, spent the first five seasons of his career in Indianapolis. His best season was his first, when he had 45 receptions for 521 yards and three touchdown receptions. That was also the only season that he played all 16 games.
Allen’s all-around skills got him a four-year, $29.4 million contract from the Colts last offseason. But he didn’t live up to expectations, recording only 35 receptions for 406 yards and six touchdowns in 2016.
The Colts were able to afford to trade Allen after Jack Doyle had 59 receptions for 584 yards and five touchdowns last season. Doyle signed a three-year contract worth up to $21 million earlier this week.
“When I got word that Jack was re-signing, my initial response was, ‘Congrats, Jack.’ Jack Doyle is easily one of the greatest teammates I’ve ever been around and deserved everything, every penny that he earned,” Allen said. “I believe that there was room for two tight ends, but [general manager] Chris [Ballard] had other plans and I’m sure that it’s within his plan to rebuild the Colts organization. Fortunately, unfortunately, depending on how you look at it or who you ask, I was able to be traded.”
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country is around 15 lakh, as per the data compiled by the Planning Commission of India in 2011. (Source: Illustration by C R Sasikumar)
The first-ever exercise by the CBI to map registered NGOs has disclosed that India has at least 31 lakh NGOs — more than double the number of schools in the country, 250 times the number of government hospitals, one NGO for 400 people as against one policeman for 709 people.
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These statistics, indicating the relative status of education and healthcare infrastructure apart from policing, have come to light after the CBI collated information from all states and Union Territories to list NGOs registered under the Societies Registration Act.
The CBI has been directed by the Supreme Court to collect information about NGOs and inform whether these NGOs have filed balance sheets, including income-expenditure statements, to ascertain compliance with accountability norms.
[related-post]
According to the affidavit filed by the CBI in the Supreme Court Friday, there are a total of around 31 lakh NGOs in 26 states. Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana are still to adduce information about the number of NGOs, so the total number of NGOs will be more than 31 lakh. Besides, more than 82,000 NGOs are registered in seven Union Territories.
The total number of schools in the country is around 15 lakh, as per the data compiled by the Planning Commission of India in 2011. The commission had calculated the number of schools, classifying them as primary, upper primary, secondary, lower secondary and higher secondary. The number inheres the peril of duplication since one school building may have primary as well as upper primary schooling — more than one level of education in the same building.
In March 2011, total number of government hospitals in the country was 11,993, with 7.84 lakh beds. Of these, 7,347 hospitals were in rural areas with 1.60 lakh beds and 4,146 hospitals in urban areas with 6.18 lakh beds. The number of NGOs also exceed the number of policemen in the country.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau data in 2014, there were 17.3 lakh policemen across the country, as against a sanctioned India has 31 lakh NGOs, twice the number of schools, 250 times number of govt hospitals strength of 22 lakh. This accounts for one policeman for 709 people. Add 13 lakh armed forces personnel to the number of policemen, and the total number of NGOs will be equal to the combined strength of both.
Among the states, Uttar Pradesh tops the list with more than 5.48 lakh NGOs, followed by Maharashtra which has 5.18 lakh NGOs. Kerala comes third with 3.7 lakh NGOs, followed by West Bengal with 2.34 lakh NGOs. Of the 82,250 NGOs in the Union Territories, Delhi alone has more than 76,000 NGOs.
Less than 10 per cent of the NGOs have complied with the requirement of submitting balance sheets and income-expenditure statements with the Registrar of Societies. Of around 30 lakh NGOs, 2.9 lakh have submitted financial statements.
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In Kerala, none of the 3.7 lakh NGOs have filed details since the state law does not mandate it. In Maharashtra and West Bengal, only around 7 per cent of NGOs have been filing such details. Other states also had poor records.
The CBI has told the court it will complete its exercise in the next two months after Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana also furnish the requisite data. Next week, the court will take up the PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma who has sought a CBI inquiry into affairs of all the NGOs lacking accountability.The locations where the company hopes to place rental kiosks are Union Station, the Caltrans building on Main Street, City Hall, the County Hall of Administration, Los Angeles Police Department headquarters and at El Pueblo on Olvera Street.
The company said it plans to start small in April and test several locations in downtown before trying to expand to other parts of the city.
“We are excited to put stations on the ground in downtown Los Angeles and begin the process of rolling out our bike share program and providing a safe, low-cost, healthy transportation alternative to Los Angeles residents,” Bike Nation's Chief Operating Officer Derek Fretheim said in a prepared news release.
The details are scheduled to be unveiled this afternoon at a news event with Bike Nation executives, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and L.A. Clippers basketball star and cycling advocate Caron Butler, who will be on hand to help give away bikes and helmets to youth just ahead of Christmas.
Bike Nation, the Southern California-based company that has pledged $16 million toward Los Angeles' first bike-share network, will announce Thursday that it plans to begin rolling out its program in downtown this spring.
City and Bike Nation officials said the permits for those kiosks have not yet been issued, but they are working on them. Bike Nation officials said they hope to use the $16 million to eventually install as many as 400 bike-share kiosks with 4,000 rental bikes across the city.
Villaraigosa announced Bike Nation's investment pledge in April during a CicLAvia event as an innovative way to bring a bike-share system to L.A. without the city having to invest any taxpayer money.
That plan has drawn praise from some who say a bike-share program would be years away if the city had to subsidize it. But it also has drawn skepticism from some who worry the city could be missing out on future revenues from sponsorship deals and advertising on the bikes and kiosks.
City officials contend they can't lose because Bike Nation (and any other bike-share company that wants to set up a program in the city) must secure their locations through a permitting process, and that the city could choose to change course after the permits expire.
According to initial plans, cyclists in L.A. will be able to rent bikes for $6 a day, or $1.50 for an hour or $4.50 for 90 minutes. Trips shorter than 30 minutes will be free; one-year passes will run $75.
Butler is serving as a community ambassador for Bike Nation and cheered Thursday's announcement.
"Today's event is just one example of things to come," Butler said in a release.
"Bicycling and youth fitness has been a passion of mine for many years now. I am excited that through this bike-sharing program people will have the opportunity to consider biking as a viable transportation option while also becoming more fit."
ALSO:
Newport Beach man accused of killing wife is out on bail
Northridge shooting victim’s family angry suspect wasn't in prison
L.A. gun buyback day next week: Mayor, LAPD announce locations
-- Ari Bloomekatz
Photo: A cyclist rides in the green bike lane in the 400 block of Spring Street in Los Angeles in March. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Timesby Stanley Bill
Five years after the Smolensk plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczyński, new transcripts from the flight recorder have emerged, potentially offering new insights into the disputed cause of the disaster. Notes from Poland looks at these new revelations and the continuing politicization of a national tragedy by both sides of the ideological divide against the broader background of Poland’s Eastern policy before and after the Ukraine crisis.
On 10 April 2010, the Polish Air Force Tupolev Tu-154 carrying the presidential delegation to the ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre crashed into the forest just short of the runway in Smolensk, Russia. Among the 96 victims were President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria, 18 members of the Polish parliament, Solidarity hero Anna Walentynowicz, high-ranking military officials, the president of the National Bank of Poland, members of the Catholic clergy, and relatives of the Polish army officers murdered by the Soviets in the forest at Katyn seventy years earlier.
The uncanny resonance of this tragedy with the tragedies of the past has given the event an almost unbearable symbolic weight, dividing Polish society between believers and non-believers in a creed of Russian foul play and Polish government collaboration. This week, on the anniversary of the crash and with presidential elections on the horizon, a leaked transcript presenting new analysis of the flight recorder has brought the Smolensk catastrophe back into the headlines in Poland.
Five years after the event, there is still no broad consensus on why the presidential plane crashed. The official Polish government report, released in July 2011, largely blamed pilot error, though – unlike the earlier Russian report – it also pointed to inaccurate information supplied by Russian air traffic control and irregularities at the airport (more recently, the military prosecutor’s office has even issued charges against the Russian controllers for contributing to the disaster). The opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), led by the deceased president’s twin brother Jarosław, rejected both reports, making repeated accusations of a Russian plot and a treacherous cover-up by the Polish government. The party established its own parliamentary commission to investigate the crash, assembling a team of scientists who have presented evidence suggesting that multiple explosions on board the plane had caused the crash.
In turn, the ruling party, Civic Platform (PO), has accused PiS of hysteria and cynical politicization of the catastrophe. This consistent message has formed the basis of a successful political strategy. PO won the last parliamentary elections in part because more Poles believed their version of events, viewing the crash as a tragic accident and rejecting the PiS narrative as paranoia or political opportunism. Nevertheless, almost a quarter of the population still believes in the assassination theory, while many more feel that the truth may never come to light.
Today, as every year on the anniversary of the disaster, anti-government protestors gathered in the centre of Warsaw to remember the victims and express their anger at the supposed perpetrators in the Kremlin and in the Polish government. Jarosław Kaczyński addressed the crowd in front of the presidential palace, attacking his political opponents and insisting that the Polish state could never be strong without “the truth about Smolensk.” Earlier in the day, the Archbishop of Łódź proclaimed from the altar that this “truth” was laboring to break through “the tangle of lies.” The latest Polish tragedy on Russian soil continues to confound and divide.
New Revelations
On 7 April 2015, three days before the present anniversary, Polish radio station RMF FM published leaked new transcripts from the Tupolev cockpit flight recorder. The transcripts are the result of the latest analysis of the flight recordings conducted by experts working for the Polish military prosecutor’s office. On April 9, the prosecutor’s office responded by releasing the full transcript with its own accompanying analysis, so as to clear up the “imprecise information” circulating in the media. In fact, there do not appear to be significant differences between the two versions, though the expert commentary is sometimes more cautious in establishing the identity of certain speakers. This is the fourth analysis of the recordings, following earlier versions released in the official Russian and Polish reports, and later by the Polish military prosecutor. The new transcripts include 30-40% more comprehensible words than previous versions, thus shedding more light on what unfolded in the cockpit before the crash.
The vastly improved interpretation is the result of a new copy of the recording made by Polish experts on a special trip to Moscow. The earlier transcripts were all based on a single copy made by the Russians, which the current Polish experts now regard as a faulty transfer (raising questions about the competence of the earlier Polish investigators, who failed to pick up this problem). But what does the expanded transcript reveal? Perhaps nothing astoundingly new, though it corroborates and strengthens earlier theories of pilot error and undue external influence on their decision making.
Here we should immediately ask who leaked the transcript to the media now (before the crash anniversary and so close to the presidential elections) and why. So far, those responsible have not been identified – they will face prison terms if caught – and we can only speculate on whose interests the leak may serve. Above all, the new transcript would seem to undermine the PiS narrative of suspicious circumstances or an assassination, so one imagines that the party’s opponents would not find its release displeasing.
If the transcript is authentic, it exposes a chaotic atmosphere on the flight deck, showing that the pilots were under pressure to land in spite of poor visibility caused by heavy fog. Specifically, the transcript reveals the presence of Commander of the Polish Air Force Andrzej Błasik in the cockpit until the flight’s final moments, as well as earlier interference from Director of Diplomatic Protocol Mariusz Kazana. The pilots repeatedly ask for silence and instruct passengers to return to their seats, but these requests are apparently ignored. Błasik remains on the flight deck, and even appears to involve himself in the landing process.
In fact, suggestions about Lieutenant General Błasik’s role in the catastrophe had emerged earlier in the Russian and Polish official reports. The Russian report even suggested (contrary to the evidence) that he was under the influence of alcohol. Yet later analysis of the flight recording by the military prosecutor in 2013 indicated that he was not in the cockpit at all, thus exonerating him of any suggestion of improper interference in the pilots’ operations. His widow, Ewa Błasik, and her supporters in PiS and the conservative media – who had always rejected the accusations – declared that his name had been definitively cleared. The new transcript reverses this finding once again.
Below I quote key excerpts from the new transcript in literal English translation (I have made no attempt to clarify obscure or ambiguous sentences). I have used the edited version published by RMF FM for ease of reference, but I have removed the editor’s tendentious interpretations of certain statements and cross-checked with the official version released by the military prosecutor. The contents of the transcript may be disturbing to some readers.
8:26:18 – conversation between the captain of the plane and the director of diplomatic protocol:
“Sir, the fog’s come out at the moment,” says the captain, “And in the current conditions we won’t be able to land. We’ll try to approach; we’ll make one approach, but probably nothing will come of it. Please think about the decision on what we’re going to do.”
“We’re going to keep trying until we succeed,” replies the director of protocol.
“Umm, we don’t have enough fuel to do that,” says the captain.
“Well, then, we have a problem!” says the diplomat.
[...]
8:40:07 – the first TERRAIN AHEAD! alarm sounds, preceded by a bang. In the cockpit a conversation ensues.
“Somebody’s messed up here,” says one of the members of the crew just before the TERRAIN alarm begins.
“You’re saying goodbye!” says the co-pilot.
“No, somebody will cop it for that,” says the captain.
“I-de-as!” says the Commander of the Air Force.
8:40:21 – the crew of the descending plane monitors the altitude reading [in meters].
“2-8-0,” reports the co-pilot.
“300!” the navigator corrects him.
“We don’t have to be precise,” says a member of the crew.
“You’ll fit easily,” says the Commander of the Air Force.
Two seconds later, he adds: “230.”
8:40:33 – second TERRAIN AHEAD alarm.
8:40:38 – third TERRAIN AHEAD alarm, obscuring the words of one of the crew members: “It’s not going to come off.”
8:40:41 – fourth TERRAIN AHEAD alarm.
8:40:42 – PULL UP alarm.
TERRAIN AHEAD and PULL UP alarms sound together; it’s loud in the cabin.
8:40:48:
“Maniacs,” says an unidentified voice in the cockpit. The plane is at 100 meters.
“Bring it in more slowly,” advises the co-pilot.
Altitude drops to 90, then 80 meters.
“We’re aborting,” says the co-pilot.
Altitude is still falling: the navigator announces 70, then 60 meters.
“Good,” says somebody in the cockpit at 8:40:52.
The navigator continues to report falling altitude: 50, 40, 30…
The PULL UP! alarm continues to sound.
At “50” the air traffic controller instructs the flight to level out: “Horizon, 101.” He repeats the instruction after “30,” this time in a raised voice.
8:40:54 – the recording registers a light impact on the fuselage.
“20” screams the navigator.
8:41:00 – in the cabin can be heard “a noise consistent with damage to the plane’s structure in a collision.”
“Fucking hell!”
PULL UP!
PU! [Alarm cut off]
[Very loud destruction of the plane’s structure]
“Abort and go around!” [Air traffic controller (in Russian)]
[Low scream]
[High scream]
“Oh Jesus!”
“Fuck!”
[Short, very strong impact cut off with the end of the recording]
[Loud bang]
Politicizing a Tragedy
The original Polish government report of 2011 suggested that the pilots were subject to “indirect pressure,” which clouded their decision making. Large sections of the mainstream Polish media, including journalists for Gazeta Wyborcza and Polityka, have interpreted the new transcript as strong confirmation of this diagnosis. Indeed, if the transcript is authentic, it would be difficult to reach any other conclusion. The pilots seem intensely aware that time is running out for the president and other passengers to make it for the scheduled Katyn memorial ceremony. A high-ranking diplomat repeatedly implies that, one way or another, they must land at Smolensk. Meanwhile, the Commander of the Polish Air Force is hovering behind them, offering unsolicited advice, while various unidentified people wander in and out of the cockpit’s open doorway throughout the last minutes of the flight. There is even an unknown person drinking beer on the flight deck. The whole scene is terrifyingly disorganized, and the pilots’ mounting anxiety is evident from the transcript.
Yet other sections of the Polish media – including the conservative Gazeta Polska, Fronda and Nasz Dziennik – have questioned the veracity of the new transcripts, or even followed the head of PiS’s parliamentary commission, Antoni Macierewicz, in dismissing them as false or fabricated. At the same time, the relatives of certain victims of the crash, led by Ewa Błasik, have demanded an international investigation, insisting that “the Polish state has compromised itself.” Others, including opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński, have reiterated the assassination theory, pointing to a book just released by German investigative journalist Jürgen Roth. The book supposedly reveals that an anonymous German intelligence operative has confirmed the possibility of Smolensk being an attack. According to Roth’s thesis, Smolensk is just one part of a broader Russian “policy of deception” that includes the Ukraine crisis and the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. He argues that the whole truth may never come out, since both the German and Polish governments have good reasons for suppressing it.
From an outsider’s perspective, the most striking aspect of the whole Smolensk saga has been the political instrumentalization of this terrible tragedy by both sides of Polish politics. PiS has constructed a hagiographical legend around the figure of Lech Kaczyński, inflating his achievements as president and drawing strongly on the symbolic vocabulary of Polish Romantic nationalism, with its preoccupation with death and messianic sacrifice. Jarosław Kaczyński has often seemed obsessed with proving that his brother’s death was not an accident, and at times the “Smolensk question” has formed the very foundation of his party’s policy platform and the source of its most passionate support. Ultimately, this has been destructive to the party’s electoral chances, as the majority of Poles have remained unconvinced by the assassination theory and the insinuations of Polish government collusion with Putin.
The unhealthy focus on Smolensk has prevented PiS from being the strong alternative party that Poland needs. Indeed, a credible opposition to hold the government to account is especially important given the length of PO’s tenure in office (eight years – an unprecedented term in post-communist Poland), along with questions about its ability to maintain Poland’s strong economic performance, and a string of political scandals.
PO has taken full advantage of the tragedy, stoking the electorate’s fears of a PiS government by presenting Jarosław Kaczyński as a raving lunatic and a danger to the country. Instead of focusing their attention on developing dynamic policy to deliver the structural reforms that Poland still desperately needs, PO has preferred to run exclusively negative campaigns, sharpening the division between what President Bronisław Komorowski has called “the rational Poland” and “the radical Poland.” Komorowski’s slogans of “concord” and “security” for the upcoming presidential elections reflect a complete vacuum of ideas and the complacent assumption that PiS can be defeated simply by raising the ghosts of Smolensk.
The Polish political scene has become a creative wasteland, just when the country needs politicians of vision to support its recent economic and social achievements, which have been driven by domestic small- and medium-sized businesses, European integration and a rising civil society. Both parties are to blame for the formation of this wasteland, and the Smolensk catastrophe has played a baleful role in the completion of a polarizing process that began when PO and PiS failed to negotiate an expected coalition back in 2005.
The Weakness of the Polish State
But what are we to make of the new transcripts from the flight recorder of the doomed Polish Air Force Tu-154? What really happened that morning? Many Poles – especially those in the PiS camp – have already made up their minds, and little is likely to change them. So how can Poland move forward from here?
First of all, it would be worth looking more closely at the general weakness of Polish institutions and thinking about how to strengthen them. However we interpret Kaczyński’s death, something went terribly wrong on 10 April 2010, as Robert Krasowski points out: “The death of the president was a violation of the natural order. Presidents don’t die in air catastrophes. [...] In recent decades, death in a plane has met the leaders of such countries as Burundi, Rwanda, Botswana, Mozambique, Panama, Ecuador, Madagascar and Togo. Poland finds itself in an elite club of states for which the transport of the head of state from A to B is too complicated a task.” If the president’s death was an accident, then more difficult questions still need to be asked about the functioning of the military, the president’s office and several government ministries.
Secondly, I would tend to agree with Ewa Błasik, the widow of the Commander of the Polish Air Force whose alleged presence in the cockpit may partly have caused the disaster. An entirely independent investigation, preferably conducted by institutions based outside Poland and Russia, would be desirable, as the previous investigations have all been compromised in one way or another.
The Russian report is filled with inconsistencies, and, unsurprisingly, exonerates Russian air traffic control from all responsibility. The Polish official government report offers the least tainted account, but one might still point to potential conflicts of interest and methodological problems (for instance, the use of a substandard copy of the flight recording). In any case, irrespective of the true circumstances of the investigation, a significant proportion of the Polish population will never give credence to any report produced by the current government or the military prosecutor, so such a report is unlikely to build the greater consensus the country needs on such an important issue as the untimely death of a president.
If the work of the military prosecutor is potentially open to question, then the investigations of the PiS parliamentary commission are compromised beyond any shadow of doubt. Antoni Macierewicz has led a circus of grandstanding innuendo, leaping from one theory to another with his conference of largely non-specialist experts, the vice-chairman of which was forced to resign after admitting to lying about the evidence on television. Today, on the fifth anniversary of the disaster, he has repeated his claims about explosions and Russian responsibility, even going so far as to suggest that Russian aggression against Ukraine could never have taken place without the prior elimination of Lech Kaczyński. According to this interpretation, Smolensk was “the first salvo directed against peace in Europe.”
A truly independent (perhaps international) commission would not convince everybody, but it might convince some. More importantly, it might have a better chance of getting at some uncomfortable truths. After all, the conditions of the official government investigation were far from ideal. It may well be too late to shed any further light on exactly what happened at Smolensk (especially since the key facts are probably already known), but a new investigation might tell us more about Russia’s shoddy treatment of the material evidence and the Polish government’s weak response.
For instance, it is an embarrassment for the PO government that it has failed to obtain the wreckage of the plane, or even the black boxes, from Russia. In general, the Polish leaders showed a lack of resolution and insight, taking a conciliatory tone as the Russians created antagonistic obstructions at every turn, perhaps even intentionally destroying evidence. Images of Russian soldiers breaking up the wreckage of the Tupolev with crowbars did not inspire confidence, and to this day the remains of the plane are lying on the tarmac in Smolensk, exposed to the elements, while the black boxes are in Moscow. Perhaps the leaders of the Polish government were laboring under illusions regarding Russian intentions, as they unsuccessfully pursued a broader normalization of relations with Russia, or perhaps it was simply not in their political interests to press the Russians to ensure a proper investigation. Either way, they are presumably under no illusions today, after the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis and the subsequent disintegration of Polish-Russian relations.
Poland’s Eastern Policy
The new political reality in Eastern Europe is sobering. In the light of recent events, is there any possibility that the Polish “conspiracy theorists” might have been right all along? Could the Russian security apparatus or a Russian oligarch really have assassinated the president of a European state? There is not a shred of evidence to corroborate this hypothesis, and it remains far-fetched for the simple reason of the missing motive for such a risky enterprise. Admittedly, Lech Kaczyński was no friend of Russia, but he was also an unpopular and largely ineffectual president, who – according to various polls – was almost certain to be voted out of power later in 2010. The idea that killing the Polish president was the founding act of a grand Russian plan to annex Crimea, attack eastern Ukraine and shoot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 remains fanciful, to say the very least.
Nevertheless, one thing we can say for sure with the benefit of hindsight is that Lech Kaczyński was right about the Kremlin. Putin probably did not have the Polish president killed, but Kaczyński’s suspicions of Russian geopolitical intentions in the post-Soviet sphere have turned out to be justified. However chaotic his personal style, Kaczyński’s stand on the Russo-Georgian war in 2008, and his efforts to forge an alliance of former Soviet Bloc countries against Russian aggression, look increasingly far-sighted today.
Images of President Kaczyński standing on a stage in Tbilisi with the presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are especially powerful after the recent annexation of Crimea and the invasion of eastern Ukraine. On that evening in August 2008, he condemned Russia’s territorial revisionism in powerful and principled language: “[Our neighbor to the east] believes that the nations around it should submit. We say: no! That country is Russia! That country believes that the old times of the empire that fell less than twenty years ago are returning. They believe that domination will be the stamp of this region. It will not! Those times have finished once and for all!”
While Kaczyński pushed for an eastern alliance against Russian power, the PO government policy driven by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski increasingly looked to normalize relations with Russia, even after the Georgian war, while strengthening ties with Germany and placing much less emphasis on Ukraine and the Baltic states. There were sensible reasons for pursuing this policy at the time, but in hindsight it turns out to have been a mistake. Russia demonstrated its contempt for Poland in the results of the Smolensk investigation and its refusal to return the presidential plane. Since then, Polish-Russian relations have practically fallen apart in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. Sikorski’s eastern strategy has collapsed, while Kaczyński’s idealistic vision of a coalition of the weak against the strong – as flawed as it may be – looks increasingly relevant today.
The Smolensk controversy will never entirely fade away. Whatever the conclusions of future investigations, some will always believe in the assassination theory. The power of the uncanny conjunction of symbolism (Katyn, anti-Russian sentiment, the atmosphere of “Solidarity,” Poland’s “culture wars” between traditionalists and centrists) is simply too overwhelming. One can only hope that the scale of the current divisions might diminish with time. Sikorski and Tusk made serious mistakes in their approach to Russia both before and after the Smolensk crash, but the attempt to normalize relations was a reasonable (though highly debatable) policy at the time, and there is no evidence to suggest that they did not have Poland’s interests in mind. PiS must stop demonizing PO as a party of traitors and murderers, and PO must stop demonizing PiS as a party of lunatics who have no right to participate in politics.
The conflict between Poland’s two major parties must shift from the nauseating politicization of a national tragedy into the realm of ideas for the country’s future: how to position Poland in the brave new international reality, how to tackle the country’s crippling demographic crisis, how to cut down the unnecessary bureaucracy that hinders business and people’s everyday lives, how to foster the creativity and innovation required to build the strong and distinctive Polish brands that will lift the economy to the next level. Regrettably, it is hard to see this shift taking place in the near future, as the specter of Smolensk has become too deeply embedded in the political strategies of both parties.
Whatever happened on Russian soil five years ago, the bitter political disagreement we see today only makes the country weaker. The Kremlin almost certainly did not kill Lech Kaczyński, but it can only profit from the deep disunity his death has brought to Poland.
AdvertisementsPresident Trump has reportedly told people close to him that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price Thomas (Tom) Edmunds PriceIs a presidential appointment worth the risk? Former Ryan aide moves to K street Grassley to test GOP on lowering drug prices MORE has become a distraction to the administration's agenda after it was revealed Price racked up several hundred thousand dollars in private charter flights for official business.
Trump has told figures around him that Price's actions have undermined the president's vow to "drain the swamp" and he believes the media coverage of Price's flights has turned attention away from the administration's tax-reform push, The Associated Press reported Friday.
Separately, Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that Price is a "fine man" but said he would make a decision on the secretary's future in the administration later in the day.
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Trump said earlier this week that he was "not happy" with the revelations surrounding Price's flights. He declined to rule out firing Price on Wednesday, saying, "We'll see."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also refused to say Thursday whether Price would keep his administration post, saying only that he administration would conduct a review.
Price said Thursday he looks forward to regaining the president's trust after pledging to write a personal check to the Treasury Department to reimburse taxpayers for a portion of the flight costs.
"I work at the pleasure of the president. The president is a remarkable leader. I'm incredibly privileged to serve in his Cabinet and work on behalf of the American people," Price told Fox News.
"I look forward to gaining, regaining, the trust that the American people — some of the American people — may have lost in the activities that I took. And to not only regain the trust of the American people, but to gain the trust of the administration and the president," Price said.
Price is one of four of Trump's Cabinet members to face scrutiny for their travel since taking office.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt are also facing scrutiny for their use of private aircraft for government business in recent days.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin David Jonathon ShulkinIs a presidential appointment worth the risk? It’s time to end the scare tactics and get to work for our veterans House Democrats open investigation of Trump associates' influence at VA MORE spent nearly half his time on a recent international trip sightseeing and shopping with his wife, who had her airfare paid for by the government.Epidemiologic studies suggest that dietary lutein and zeaxanthin may be of benefit in maintaining cognitive health. Among the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin are the only two that cross the blood-retina barrier to form macular pigment (MP) in the eye. They also preferentially accumulate in the human brain. Lutein and zeaxanthin in macula from nonhuman primates were found to be significantly correlated with their concentrations in matched brain tissue. Therefore, MP can be used as a biomarker of lutein and zeaxanthin in primate brain tissue. This is of interest given that a significant correlation was found between MP density and global cognitive function in healthy older adults. An examination of a relation between cognition and lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations in the brain tissue of decedents from a population-based study in centenarians found that zeaxanthin concentrations in brain tissue were significantly related to antemortem measures of global cognitive function, memory retention, verbal fluency, and dementia severity after adjustment for age, sex, education, hypertension, and diabetes. In univariate analyses, lutein was related to recall and verbal fluency, but the strength of the associations was attenuated with adjustment for covariates. However, lutein concentrations in the brain were significantly lower in individuals with mild cognitive impairment than in those with normal cognitive function. Last, in a 4-mo, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in older women that involved lutein supplementation (12 mg/d), alone or in combination with DHA (800 mg/d), verbal fluency scores improved significantly in the DHA, lutein, and combined-treatment groups. Memory scores and rate of learning improved significantly in the combined-treatment group, who also showed a trend toward more efficient learning. When all of these observations are taken into consideration, the idea that lutein and zeaxanthin can influence cognitive function in older adults warrants further study.NEWS
Dave McKinley, A Top Recipient of Coal Money, Pushes Coal Ash Deregulation Bill to a Vote
admin | July 22, 2013
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this week on a bipartisan bill (H.R. 2218) introduced by Representative David McKinley, R-W.Va. that would limit the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate the management and disposal of coal ash. The bill would allow each state to implement and enforce its own coal ash disposal programs, and would require the EPA to defer to the states. States that do not create their own coal ash disposal programs would still be directly regulated by the EPA.
Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to members of the House of Representatives from coal mining and electric power utilities industries from January 1, 2011—December 31, 2012. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org
Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., the bill's chief sponsor, has received $263,928 from the coal mining and electric power utilities industries, the second highest total in the House of Representatives (behind only Speaker of the House, John Boehner, $529,117).
, R-W.Va., the bill's chief sponsor, has received, the second highest total in the House of Representatives (behind only Speaker of the House, John Boehner, $529,117). McKinley has received 18 times more money from the coal mining and electric power utilities industries than the average for all members of the House of Representatives.
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Image: RepDavidMcKinley/FlickrFormer Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's "devices and services" strategy may be in tatters, discarded by his successor, Satya Nadella, but Ballmer must be smiling all the way to the bank.
According to U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) documents, Ballmer owns more than 333 million shares in Microsoft. At Monday's closing price of $44.83, those shares were valued at $14.9 billion.
On the day before Ballmer stepped aside, Microsoft's share price was $36.48, putting his portfolio's worth at just over $12.1 billion. Because of the 23% increase in share value since Feb. 3, Ballmer's Microsoft holdings have appreciated in value by almost $2.8 billion.
[ Find your 2017 salary info and our detailed report at IT Salary Watch ]
The "Nadella Effect" -- Wall Street's assumption that the new CEO will turn around Microsoft's fortunes -- has also put more on the ledger sheets of other executives, past and present.
Co-founder and former CEO and chairman Bill Gates owns 318 million shares -- he ceded his shareholder crown to Ballmer in May -- and has seen his Microsoft stock value soar by nearly $2.7 billion in less than six months, to $14.3 billion as of yesterday. Gates has regularly sold 80 million shares each quarter, however, as he slowly empties the portfolio.
Further down on the strike-it-rich tally board were chief operating officer Kevin Turner, whose holdings jumped by $21.3 million to $61 million since Nadella took over; and Eric Rudder, the 25-year veteran of the firm who has led the Advanced Strategy group since the mid-2013 reorganization. Rudder's Microsoft portfolio increased in value by $7.7 million to $41.2 million under Nadella's watch.
But what of the new CEO?
Nadella's holdings currently stand at just over 554,000 shares -- less than 0.2% of Ballmer's -- but the value of those shares has climbed by $4.6 million since his accession to the top job. Nadella's Microsoft shares were worth approximately $24.8 million as of Monday.
However, Nadella has been promised another 975,777 shares over the next four years if he stays in the job. Those shares had a paper value of $43.7 million yesterday.
Last week, Nad
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23, 2017
I can’t take anything our Celebrity in Chief says seriously. He’s a real life clown/troll 🤡 — George Iloka (@George_iloka) September 23, 2017
#Kaepernick we riding with you bro ✊🏾 — Reggie Bush (@ReggieBush) September 23, 2017
When will people learn that fear won’t make someone sit down. It quite possibly will make more stand up for what they believe in. — Chris Conley (@_flight17_) September 23, 2017
My mom is a beautiful lady she has never been a bitch — Michael Bennett (@mosesbread72) September 23, 2017
It's a shame and disgrace when you have the President of the US calling citizens of the country sons of a bitches. — Bishop Sankey (@BishopSankey) September 23, 2017
cloth has more value than people. apparently. https://t.co/PZjeRA9861 — feeno (@ArianFoster) September 23, 2017
I'm a full supporter of the Flag & This country! Trust Me! But this can't be real! https://t.co/GAPkZPB8hz — Rishard Matthews (@_RMatthews) September 23, 2017
Trump!! 😔😔😔😔😔😔😔 — Thomas Davis (@ThomasDavisSDTM) September 23, 2017
Does anyone tell trump to stick to politics, like they tell us to stick to sports? Smh. — Eric Ebron (@Ebron85) September 23, 2017
Trump stay in ur place... football have nothing to do wit u smh — Zach Brown (@ZachBrown_55) September 23, 2017
They really let Trump do and say whatever TF he wants. Shit is crazy. — Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) September 23, 2017
DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, also made his position crystal clear via this statement on Twitter:
We will never back down. We no longer can afford to stick to sports. pic.twitter.com/Ec3Bc4qt9h — DeMaurice Smith (@DeSmithNFLPA) September 23, 2017
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also released a statement in which it said that “divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect” for the league and its players.
New NFL statement pic.twitter.com/XHPgVvPPfH — Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) September 23, 2017
Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, said that he personally knows some of the NFL players who are protesting and said they were “smart young men of character who want to make our world a better place.”
He called for “unifying leadership” and “civil discourse” instead of “condemnation and sound bites.”
Statement from Miami Dolphins Owner and Founder of Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) Stephen Ross. pic.twitter.com/6W3mXwJO6M — Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) September 23, 2017
Hundreds of other tweeters joined in with blasting Trump, with many accusing him of trying to prevent people from exercising their First Amendment rights.
The hashtag #takeaknee also began trending globally on Twitter.
Check out a sampling of the other responses below:
"Get that son of a bitch off the field"- black man protesting racial injustice
"Very fine people"- white people demanding racial injustice — Jared Rizzi (@JaredRizzi) September 23, 2017
Get that son of a bitch off the stage. — Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) September 23, 2017
Black man uses his position to draw attention to a controversial, important issue.
White president calls him a son of a bitch. — Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) September 23, 2017
Can't wait to see Trump pallin' around with NFL owners after he said NFL employees who exercise their first amendment rights should be fired — Charlotte Wilder (@TheWilderThings) September 23, 2017
Let me be REAL clear: @realDonaldTrump just guaranteed that more heat is about to be unleashed on the @NFL. The players WILL respond! https://t.co/4FOQXRiTFz — rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) September 23, 2017
Add “black NFL players exercising their First Amendment right” to the list of people Trump has criticized more harshly than Vladimir Putin. — Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) September 23, 2017
Trump a lot tougher on Colin Kaepernick than on Vladimir Putin. Protesting American anthem: bad. Subverting American democracy: no big deal. — Max Boot (@MaxBoot) September 23, 2017
Trump was quicker and more vehement in his hatred of Colin Kaepernick’s non-violent protest than he was of Nazis. Take note of that. — Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) September 23, 2017
I'm like 75% sure that if Trump had never talked about Kaepernick he'd be on a roster now https://t.co/UMN96YttkU — Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) September 23, 2017
Government figure says he hates when people exercise their Constitutional right to free speech: pic.twitter.com/GCIS9CMLSY — jordan 🌹🌹 (@JordanUhl) September 23, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump has attacked Colin Kaepernick with more conviction than he has NAZIS. 🤔 — Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) September 23, 2017
To be clear, Colin Kaepernick's "crime" is protesting systemic racism and police brutality. Trump called him a "son of a bitch" tonight. — Ben Gardner (@BenGardner87) September 23, 2017
Donald Trump has gone after Jemele Hill and Colin Kaepernick stronger than he went after Nazis. — B. 📎 (@knicks148) September 23, 2017
Black man uses his position to draw attention to a controversial, important issue.
White president calls him a son of a bitch. — Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) September 23, 2017
Donald Trump referred to Colin Kaepernick as a'son of a bitch' at his Alabama rally? He didn't even call the #Charlottesville murderer that — Cyrus McQueen (@CyrusMMcQueen) September 23, 2017
This is the President of the United States of America.
Not to mention Kaepernick's not on a team. https://t.co/yidLC53Wwa — mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) September 23, 2017
Very revealing that the harshest language Trump has ever used as President was reserved for Black men protesting injustice. https://t.co/v2I6tf5ZHq — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) September 23, 2017
Trump on Kaepernick: son of a bitch!
Trump on Nazis: they're bad but like lol idkhttps://t.co/RUC2BggUAZ — Manny Fidel (@mannyfidel) September 23, 2017MARATHON, N.Y. – Marathon High School junior Wyatt Hatfield never imagined his daily vitamin C tablet would earn him a three-day suspension.
But the New York teen is now appealing the punishment leveled by school administrators last month after a bus driver found a baggie with vitamins he accidentally left behind in his lunch bag Oct. 13, WBNG reports.
“I found it quite ridiculous that I was being suspended for dietary supplements,” Hatfield said.
Marathon superintendent Rebecca Stone told NYC Central students are required to gain approval from school officials for medications, and all medications must be controlled by the school nurse. She said district policy also strictly prohibits look-alike drugs, but refused to discuss Hatfield’s situation.
“If there is anything that you are consuming as far as a medication, it has to be in the original container,” Stone said, adding that “It’s improper for any school administrator or teacher to talk about any student to other people.”
But Hatfield and his parents, Samantha and Glen, are concerned the alleged drug infraction on his son’s school record could put a kink in Wyatt’s plans to join the U.S. Army after graduation.
“I just don’t feel that something like this should be on my son’s record,” Glen Hatfield said.
The family appealed Wyatt’s suspension to the Marathon Board of Education, but board members rejected their request to rescind the punishment.
The Hatfields are now taking their case to the state Commissioner of Education, CNY Central reports.
“It’s really getting foolish about what we’re doing to students,” Samantha Hatfield told the news site. “We’re not talking about elementary students, we’re talking about high school.”
Parents sounded off about the incident online.
“I think a warning would have been fair, and educating the parents of the current rules,” Susan Taylor Lindeborn posted to Facebook. “Suspension doesn’t do anyone any good.”
“How pathetic,” Larry Purtell posted. “Have schools lost all common sense?”
“I would say suspension is a little extreme. Why not simply reach out to the parents for a meeting to clear up the whole thing?” Colleen Bullis questioned. “It’s getting just a little ridiculous anymore. I’m dreading what it will be like when my granddaughter is old enough for school. God only knows how craze it will be then!”
“Thank goodness this young thug was caught,” Bill O’Connor joked.
Others alleged there was a lot more to the story than was reported in the media.
“This news story does not give all the details of the situation,” Melissa Fritts Pratt wrote. “It does not say why he was bringing them to school to take at lunch. His father was going to be having or had just had brain surgery to remove a tumor. The doctor recommended to the family that they take these vitamins and supplements to help keep their immune systems up so they would not get sick and get the father sick.”With NASA under the thumb of the Russian space program, Congress continues to play political games with the space agency.
On Thursday the U.S. Senate’s Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the fiscal year 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. This means they agreed upon a spending plan to fund NASA, among other agencies.
But buried within the bill could be something of a poison pill for a company like SpaceX. Allow me to explain.
The language in question is this:
The Committee directs NASA to maintain FAR 15.403-4, related to the certified cost and pricing data for prime contractors, for any contracts entered into support the development of a commercial crew vehicle.
Three companies are vying for NASA contracts to build smaller spacecraft to replace the space shuttle and give the United States its own transportation to the International Space Station. In a recent story I went into depth about the plight NASA finds itself in with regard to Russia. Anyway, these companies offer the best chance to fix that problem.
If this language is approved by the full Senate, and reconciled with the U.S. House budget bill, it would require the three companies, Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp., to provide detailed cost and financial information about their spacecraft. This represents a wholly new wrinkle in a contracting process NASA originally devised to allow private companies to develop spacecraft much more cheaply than they otherwise could have.
I had a chance to speak with four-time astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who heads up the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, about the effect of this language. He explains:
This was introduced by Senator Shelby, and to comply with this you have to have an infrastructure in place in your company to do that, which a company like Boeing certainly has, but SpaceX certainly does not have. More importantly if it became law on Oct. 1, and they hadn’t awarded the commercial crew contract by then, they would probably have to recompete it.
The contract to which he’s referring is CCtCap, which NASA is expected to award late this summer to one or more of the companies to allow them to complete development and testing of their spacecraft, and have them ready to begin flying U.S. astronauts to the space station in 2017. This is the contract that would break U.S. dependence upon Russian spacecraft.
Re-issuing the contract would mean up to another year’s delay in the program, buying another six Soyuz seats from the Russians for half a billion dollars, not to mention the geopolitical implications.
Shelby told Florida Today that the language was not intended to punish a company like SpaceX. “That’s not true,” he said. “We’re looking for transparency.”
But this doesn’t make much sense, Lopez-Alegria said:
It’s just inefficient. The whole idea behind the commercial crew progam is to not do a lot of the stuff that we have traditionally done only because we have always done it that way. It would be nice to be a little forward leaning, and to save taxpayer money. We’re trying to be more lean and efficient in our procurement. It’s just bad policy.
Shelby, in the past, has shown disdain the commercial crew program. This is because it has competed, within the NASA budget, for funding with the Space Launch System, the large rocket NASA is designing at Marshall Space Flight Center in his home state of Alabama.Either Darrell Issa is so miffed at Republican leaders for yanking the Benghazi investigation out from under him that he's intentionally undermining the new House Select Committee, or he just vindicated those who believe he wasn't up to the task. Either way he just blew a hole in one big piece of the conspiracy theory.
A still-classified State Department e-mail says that one of the first responses from the White House to the Benghazi attack was to contact YouTube to warn of the “ramifications” of allowing the posting of an anti-Islamic video, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The memo suggests that even as the attack was still underway—and before the CIA began the process of compiling talking points on its analysis of what happened—the White House believed it was in retaliation for a controversial video.
The White House is thrilled with this revelation because it supports the view that their early citations of the YouTube video were sincere—not intended to whitewash the truth, that American public servants had been victims of a terrorist attack. The claim that this YouTube business was all a big lie is central to the entire convoluted Benghazi conspiracy, and something Select Committee chairman Trey Gowdy has harped upon in the past. Just two weeks ago, Gowdy told Charlie Rose, " I think that Ben Rhodes memo was probably the straw that broke the camel's back because that memo made it really clear that we're going to blame an internet video and not a broader policy failure in Libya.... If you really think it was the video, then site me all the evidence." Issa's leak is the evidence.
That's not how Issa sees it, though.
“The e-mail shows the White House had hurried to settle on a false narrative—one at odds with the conclusions reached by those on the ground—before Americans were even out of harm’s way or the intelligence community had made an impartial examination of available evidence,” Issa said.@Astro_Valdric @TeslaMotors We spoke earlier today and he said he would investigate the situation. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 4, 2016
In the US, buyers of a Tesla Model S electric vehicle get a tax credit from the federal government worth $7,500. In Singapore, apparently, buyers get fined about $11,000. Joe Nguyen shelled out about $400,000 for his Model S in Hong Kong (around $51,000 US), then brought it back to Singapore for a rude awakening that was basically about the length of his tailpipe.First, there was a testing process to get the car legalized in Singapore that took a couple of months. Then, instead of receiving a S$15,000 ($10,880) rebate under Singapore's Carbon Emissions Vehicle Scheme (CEVS), Nguyen was actually hit with a fine for that amount after the car underwent mandatory "emissions" testing by the country's Land Transport Authority (LTA) and it was determined that the Model S was not environmentally friendly The issue is so-called "upstream" emissions and the Model S was judged to use enough electricity to be judged as a polluter. We're still trying to figure out the math, but, suffice to say, Model S was estimated to use 444 watt-hours per kilometer driven. Given that the top-of-the-line Tesla Model S has a 90 kilowatt-hour capacity and can provide about 270 miles on a full charge, it uses – according to official US specs – about 210 watt-hours per kilometer. We're a little bit confused by the arithmetic Singapore is using here and the reason for calculating upstream emissions for a plug-in vehicle, unless the regulators do the same for gas-powered cars. A pro-EV Member of Singapore's Parliament, Ong Teng Koon, told the Straits Times that, "From the government's perspective, this is a rare carbon emissions reduction policy where the abatement cost would be voluntarily borne by consumers... rather than being paid for by the government." Elon Musk wonders what's happening, too. The Tesla chief was already in good standing with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who toured California's Silicon Valley last month and took a "brief but exhilarating" ride in a Tesla Model S P90D, according to Straits Times. In a March 4 Tweet, Musk said that he and the prime minister "spoke earlier today and he said he would investigate the situation." A Tesla representative didn't respond to a follow-up request for comment from AutoblogGreen, but we'll update this post if we hear back.MLS average attendance higher than NBA and NHL
The new MLS season has gotten off to a strong start with average attendance surpassing that of the NBA and NHL. Here are the numbers, courtesy of MLS Daily:
1. NFL – 67,508.69 (2009 season)
2. MLB – 30,213.37 (2009 season)
3. MLS – 18,452.14 (2010 season, as of 04/11/2010)
4. NBA – 17,149.61 (2009/10 season)
5. NHL – 16,985.31 (2009/10 season)
Some will try and downplay this by saying the league still isn’t making any money, but why kill the good vibe? Fans are starting to pour in and, most importantly, they’re remaining loyal.
The league got off to a poor start, losing $350 million between its inception in 1993 and 2004. It dealt with two failed franchises (Miami and Tampa Bay), and stuck many of its teams in football stadiums. We learned a couple things during those formative years: 1) Florida wants nothing to do with professional soccer, and 2) The game doesn’t look inviting when over half the stadium is empty. Thankfully, the league and team owners wised up, building smaller stadiums and targeting smaller markets for expansion. These decisions have cut away at the massive debt, but the league still has a long way to go.
This is where profit comes into play. With just 16 teams playing 30 games over a full season — with tickets prices that cost significantly less compared to the NBA and NHL — it’s no surprise that revenue isn’t overwhelming. The strong numbers at the season’s onset are a positive sign, but they are slightly deceptive. Obviously, opening day attendance is going to be high, and history has shown they will go down as the season progresses. When considering the NBA or NHL, those leagues have over 50 mores games on their schedule, allowing for greater profits. Also, the majority of MLS games take place on the weekend, making it convenient for a family event when coupled with the low costs. That’s great, but the league doesn’t have the elasticity to raise ticket prices, hold more games during the middle of the week, or add a couple more to the schedule. At least not yet.Park Rd in Miramar, where there is a burst water main, one of three in the city on Tuesday night.
Wellington homeowners left high and dry for most of the night following a series of burst water mains can enjoy a shower and a morning cup of coffee.
A Wellington City Council spokeswoman confirmed water was back on in all affected areas on Wednesday morning.
At about 5pm on Tuesday three water mains burst in different areas of Wellington – Miramar, Brooklyn and Mornington – causing outages for hundreds of homes throughout the city.
The pipe in Mitchell St in Brooklyn had been repaired and water was back on in that area by about 8pm, but the situation was more complex in the other two streets, Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said.
The mains in Park Rd in Miramar, and Vancouver St in Mornington, were being worked on, but water would probably remain off for a further four hours, he said.
"Several hundred homes will still be affected. They are both really big water mains, big arterial pipes, so we are also going to have to do some serious work to make sure this doesn't happen again."
It was hoped the incidents were not linked.
"We are hoping like hell that they are a coincidence. One burst water main is enough, but three is something that is not good."
The three outages meant the council and Wellington Water contractors would be stretched in trying to fix the issue, MacLean said.
The roadway in Park Rd was also badly damaged by the incident.Desperately searching for an establishment Republican who can block Donald Trump, many observers are ignoring the strong and politically astute performance of Rand Paul in Wednesday night’s Republican debate. A classic example this morning is Michael Gerson, the big-government Republican who has written for George W. Bush and the Washington Post and is the most anti-libertarian pundit this side of Salon. Recognizing the need for the Republican party to reach new audiences, especially “with minorities, with women, with younger voters, with working-class voters in key states,” Gerson writes:
The relatively rare moments of economic analysis and political outreach in the second Republican debate — Chris Christie talking about income stagnation, or Marco Rubio lamenting the “millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck,” or Ben Carson admitting the minimum wage might require increasing and fixing, or Jeb Bush setting out the necessary goal of accelerated economic growth, or John Kasich calling for a “sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity” — served only to highlight the opportunity cost of the Trump summer.
What’s missing? Well, Rand Paul talked about marijuana reform, an issue that is far more popular than the Republican Party, especially among younger voters. And criminal justice and incarceration, an issue of special concern to minorities. And especially about our endless wars in the Middle East, at a time when 63 percent of Republicans and 79 percent of independents say that the Iraq war was not worth the costs, and when 52 percent of Americans say the United States “should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.” (Not the best formulation, as noninterventionists are not opposed to international activity, just to imprudent military action. But you go to print with the polls you have, not the polls you wish you had.) Those are attempts to reach new audiences that a fair-minded debate watcher would have noticed.
Fortunately, not everyone was deaf to Paul’s arguments. Even at the Washington Post people noticed:
Eugene Robinson: Rand Paul seems to have become a libertarian again, sticking up for individual rights. And unlike the others on the stage, he spoke out for peace rather than war. Charles Lane: For my money, Paul has delivered the two pithiest critiques of Trump of anyone so far in the debates. In Cleveland, he pointed at Trump, who actually boasts about his promiscuous political donations, and declared, with complete accuracy, “I mean, this is what’s wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes.” Last night, Paul was also spot-on regarding Trump’s over-the-top rudeness: “Do we want someone with that kind of character? With that kind of careless language? I think there’s a sophomoric quality about Mr. Trump… about his visceral response to attack people on their appearance, short, tall, fat, ugly.” He added: “Do we really want someone in charge of our nuclear arsenal who goes around basically using the insults of a junior high or a sophomore in high school?” Lately, Paul’s stump speeches hammer on these themes, too.
And in the conservative media:
Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner: Rand Paul just gave the smartest comments on foreign policy from a GOP debate stage in decades. Guy Benson of Fox News and Townhall: Rand Paul making case that Iraq war didn’t make us safer… which most Americans agree with.
And in the heartland of America, John Kass at the Chicago Tribune:
Rand Paul won the Republican presidential debate. It wasn’t even close…. Paul, the senator from Kentucky, spoke like a thoughtful grown-up, overshadowing them all on foreign policy, explaining that intervening in Middle East civil wars is a recipe for disaster…. “Sometimes both sides of the civil war are evil, and sometimes intervention sometimes makes us less safe,” Paul said. “This is the real debate we have to have in the Middle East…. There is no buzz to such rhetoric, no bloody gusto, no King Leonidas abs of steel, no Joan of Arc with a sword. It’s just grown-up talk, and so, quite likely, not entertaining at all.
Right now 50 percent of Republicans tell pollsters they support two candidates who have never before sought or held public office, and who are highly unlikely to succeed in this race. That means the race is still wide open. As Rand Paul said Wednesday night, “If you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices.” Millions of Republicans believe in free enterprise, smaller government, less punitive drug laws, and a more cautious approach to military intervention. If Paul can convince them that he’s the only candidate who shares their perspective, he has every opportunity to move up sharply in the polls. But there’s powerful Establishment resistance to new ideas and new policies.Nasrallah maintains deterrence with Israel
Hassan Nasrallah appeared to signal a possibly pragmatic turn in Hezbollah’s approach to Israel in a speech Feb. 16.
“If there is now a consensus in Israel on this characterization of the resistance in Lebanon, does it mean that Hezbollah is opening a front and wants to eliminate Israel from existence?” the Hezbollah chief asked. “The reality now is not so.”
The speech, not surprisingly, was otherwise laced with anti-Israeli rhetoric and threats; nothing new there. But Nasrallah this time drew the line at both establishing a new “front” with Israel and threatening Israel’s “existence.” In practical terms, his remarks implied that Hezbollah would keep the Lebanese and Syrian borders quiet.
Nasrallah’s approach could be understood as both deeply pragmatic, given the toll of the Syrian war on Hezbollah’s forces, and reflective of a more moderate trend in Iranian foreign policy. It is no exaggeration to suggest that what Nasrallah says in Beirut is approved in Tehran. Al-Monitor columns have traced a mostly steady deterrence between Israel and Hezbollah over the past two years. Ben Caspit wrote in December that the assessment in Jerusalem was that “war with Israel is the last thing that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei needs right now.”
Two years ago this week, this column suggested that US-Iran engagement on Syria, which is now happening in the International Syria Support Group, could, over time, eventually lead to a broader discussion about Hezbollah and its role in the region. A year later, in January 2015, we wrote, “We could, and probably should, imagine a more expansive conversation, somewhere, between the United States and its allies and Iran to defuse the crisis on Israel’s borders. All parties should have an interest in averting a confrontation involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria, which would threaten the hard-fought progress to date in the nuclear talks and the increasing alignment of US, coalition and Iranian actions in battling IS and al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Iraq.” Since that column, the nuclear talks are a done deal, and US Secretary of State John Kerry said just last month that Iran’s plan for Syria “needs to be explored” and is “very close to what Geneva has been trying to achieve.”
Iran will be subject to sanctions as a “state of sponsor of terrorism” under US law until there are conversations about Hezbollah’s role in the region. Israel, Lebanon and post-war Syria will all benefit from secure and peaceful borders. The trend in that direction may be fragile and precarious, but it is a trend nonetheless, and it depends, ultimately, on Israel and Iran. And it all begins with Syria.
Relief worker: Jabhat al-Nusra can cross Turkish border "anytime"
Fehim Tastekin reported that “while speculation continues about whether Turkey and Saudi Arabia will march into the Syrian war, Turkey is already fighting on two fronts without even entering Syria.”
“In the first [front], Turkey is launching heavy artillery fire at Syrian Democratic Forces advancing toward Azaz in northwestern Syria, while declaring that the objective is to stop the advances of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). On the second front, Turkey is allowing militants to cross into Syria, since the Syrian army cut off the Aleppo-Kilis corridor,” Tastekin wrote.
Tastekin went on to explain how Jabhat al-Nusra is embedded among many of the Salafi groups operating in these regions: “As for claims that Jabhat al-Nusra is not present at Azaz, we have to realize that since Jabhat al-Nusra was added to the UN terror list, it has not been flying its flag in areas close to the Turkish border. In addition to its concentration in rural Idlib, Jabhat al-Nusra also has a presence north of Aleppo, in the Turkmen regions of Latakia and Azaz. Jabhat al-Nusra has significant mobilization capacity in these areas. Everyone following the developments in the region knows that the group is active not only on the Syrian side of the border but also in Turkey’s Kilis and Hatay. According to a relief worker at Yayladag, ‘Nusra people are considered local residents. They can cross the border anytime.’ Jabhat al-Nusra generally operates with Ahrar al-Sham in these areas.”
Aleppo: Syrian armed groups in "all-out defense"
Mohammed al-Khatieb reported from Aleppo that the battles for control of Aleppo “are unlike any others. They are the fiercest and bloodiest yet, for regime forces are attacking rebels at the heart of their areas of control, spurring them into all-out defense.”
“Russian fighter jets never leave Aleppo's airspace, Khatieb wrote. “The importance of this advance lies in the fact that rebel forces have lost a strategic passage linking the northern Aleppo countryside with the rest of their zones of control. As a result, FSA fighters in the northern countryside are now isolated and surrounded by IS in the east, the regime forces and their allies in the south, and the Syrian Democratic Forces in the west.”
Mustafa al-Haj reported from Syria that “the Syrian regime and its allies have taken control over the entire area between the cities of Moadamiyet al-Sham and Daraya in Rif Dimashq governorate, following an extensive military campaign and heavy aerial bombardment that began in December 2015. The campaign aims to isolate the city of Daraya, which has already been besieged for three years, cutting off the only humanitarian supply line and weakening the opposition and civilians in preparation to storm the city. … It is noteworthy that in 2010, Daraya was home to 250,000 citizens, and today that number has dropped to 12,000, including both civilians and military forces. As the road to Moadamiyet al-Sham has been cut off, these people will face worsening conditions as the regime continues the heavy bombardment that prompted people to seek refuge underground.”
Saudi Northern Thunder
Bruce Riedel suggested that a high-profile military exercise may be a distraction for Saudi Arabia’s many domestic and regional challenges.
“Iran is no longer under damaging UN sanctions and is poised to pump more oil into an already glutted world market. IS [Islamic State] and al-Qaeda are operating inside the kingdom and have bases to the north and south of it. The Yemeni war has no end in sight. Rumors about infighting in the royal family are persistent. Northern Thunder [large-scale military training maneuvers] is helping project strength and international support, but the king really needs a face-saving answer to his Yemen conundrums,” wrote Riedel.Last weekend I pointed out that 350.org leader Bill McKibben had endorsed the antics of some 350.org members in Texas that adopted tactics of the Klu Klux Klan – showing up at somebody’s house with mask covered faces, torches, and a threat:
It seems the well deserved ridicule of these cowards has had an effect, they have disappeared that photo from their website. See here: http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/enbridge-home-demo/
Fortunately, I have a copy of the entire web page before that disappearing act took place.
See the PDF: Tar Sands Blockade – Enbridge
No apology, just down the memory hole. What a bunch of cowardly and pathetic people they are. That goes for Bill McKibben too who thought this was a good enough idea to promote with a tweet rather than condemn it.
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RedditBackerKit surveys are now unlocked so that Wii U and console backers can make final changes to their platforms ahead of Yooka-Laylee’s release!
To review or check your own pledges, visit your BackerKit page. We’ve updated our detailed FAQ that should answer any questions you may have.
*** All changes (including shipping addresses if those apply) must be finalised by Thursday, 16th February, 2017 ***
In case you missed the news, Yooka-Laylee has gone gold! To thank you for your incredible support, after release and when all Kickstarter and game duties are completed, we will start work on a unique DLC pack exclusive and free to all backers! Look out for more news on that in the future.
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Final options depending on your current platform choice
Via BackerKit, Wii U backers can now do one of the following:
- Change to a PC digital Steam version (and receive Toybox Plus on PC Steam to compensate for price difference)
- Change to a digital console version (Xbox One, PS4 or Switch)
- Upgrade to a physical console version w/ console Toybox code (Xbox One or PS4 - £20 upgrade cost applies)
- Request a refund
*Please note that all Wii U backers who don’t choose another platform will be defaulted to PC digital Steam
*Physical versions will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. There is a limited supply, however we anticipate stock is enough to cover demand.
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Via BackerKit, Xbox One & PS4 backers (or physical PC backers with additional console codes) can now do one of the following:
- Change to a PC digital Steam version (and receive Toybox Plus on PC Steam to compensate for price difference)
- Change to a different digital console version (Xbox One, PS4 or Switch)
- Upgrade to a physical console copy w/ console Toybox code (Xbox One or PS4 - £20 upgrade cost applies)
- If you’re happy with your original choice, do nothing at all!
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PC digital backers
- Thank you for your support too. You don’t need to make any adjustments to your survey and will receive your pledges as planned.
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Huge thanks again to all backers for your patience and support as we work through the process of delivering many physical items, plus complex fulfilment plans, to ensure that everyone is as satisfied as possible with the game, on their platform of choice!'License to Discriminate' Bill Advances in Mississippi
A committee moves the bill to consideration by the full House, and opponents say an amended version still provides ample opportunity for discrimination.
A Mississippi House subcommittee today advanced a so-called religious freedom bill, which opponents say is actually gives business owners license to discriminate against LGBT people and members of religions other than their own.
The House Judiciary B Committee approved the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act, sending it to the full House for consideration, the Associated Press reports. The State Senate has already passed a different version of the bill.
A House subcommittee earlier changed the language in the bill in an attempt to make it more palatable to civil rights activists and less like the legislation vetoed last week in Arizona, but LGBT and liberal groups say the bill is still deeply flawed.
“While that new language would preserve the rights of businesses to enact non-discrimination policies, it would not prevent them from also enacting discriminatory policies where a ‘sincerely held religious belief’ was present,” reports the online publication Deep South Progressive.
Several Mississippi State University students demonstrated against the bill today at the state capitol. “It opens that door wide enough that anyone with a genuinely held religious belief is permitted to discriminate on any grounds without worry that the state might intervene,” one of them, L.B. Wilson, told the AP.
MoveOn.org has an online petition opposing the bill, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Mississippi affiliate has more information here.Image copyright Stefan Bengtson Image caption Synchrotron-based X-ray tomographic microscopy revealed structures typical of red algae.
The origins of plants may go back hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought, according to fossil evidence.
Ancient rocks from India suggest plants resembling red algae lived 1.6 billion years ago in what was then shallow sea.
The discovery may overturn ideas of when relatively advanced life evolved, say scientists in Sweden.
They identified parts of chloroplasts, structures within plant cells involved in photosynthesis.
The earliest signs of life on Earth are at least 3.5 billion years old.
The first single-celled microscopic life forms evolved into larger multi-cellular eukaryotic organisms (made up of cells containing a nucleus and other structures within a membrane).
Therese Sallstedt of the Swedish Museum of Natural History discovered some of the fossils. She described them as "the oldest fossil plants that we know of on Earth in the form of 1.6 billion year old red algae".
"They show us that advanced life in the form of eukaryotes (like plants, fungi and us humans/animals) have a much deeper history on Earth than what we previously have thought," she told BBC News.
Tree of life
The scientists found thread-like fossils and more complex
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(teams) have to survive. It’s a business.”
Bleak? Maybe. But in an era when sponsors are harder to find and retain, it’s the reality IndyCar operates in. No one knows that better than Kanaan.
Coming off a season in which he finished 13 of 17 races in the top 10, won at Iowa, had two more podium finishes and finished sixth in the championship, Kanaan found himself out of a job.
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“(After 2011), I had a long-term contract with Andretti, but they lost 7-Eleven as a sponsor,” the 2004 IRL season champion said. “I still had three years left on my deal, but Michael (Andretti) came to me and said, ‘OK we don’t have a sponsor for your car. I can't afford you, and I can’t field a car for you.'”
That was in November, Kanaan said. Pretty late in the game for a free agent to be looking for a new ride. None of the big teams had openings left, so Kanaan was forced to do something he’d never had to do: sell himself. For the first time in his career, his results — at the time a championship, 15 wins, 14 poles and 58 podiums — didn't speak for themselves. Kanaan would have to speak, too.
“It was the hardest thing I ever had to do,” Kanaan said. He eventually found enough sponsorship money to land a ride at the small operation KV Racing Technology. “When you’re a kid and you dream of racing, (selling yourself to sponsors) is not something I thought I was going to do. … I thought if I just worried about winning races, everything was going to take care of itself. It’s not the case.”
Fortunately for Kanaan, finding his own sponsors turned out to be a sort of blessing in disguise.
As one of IndyCar's most successful and charismatic drivers, he built a loyal stable of sponsors over the years who have told him they will be with him until the day he decides to quit. That has afforded him the opportunity to choose what he wants to do and where he wants to go.
“I am in a very good spot as far as free agency goes, because I bring money, and I’m Tony Kanaan,” he said. “But when a guy of my level started to bring money, teams are never going to ask me not to bring money. Once you start, it’s what you got to do.”
These days, there are probably six, maybe seven drivers who don’t have to worry about bringing sponsorship dollars to the table, Kanaan said. That list includes his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and four-time champion Scott Dixon, the four Team Penske drivers (Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden) and Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay.
That list might also include Schmidt Peterson Motorsport star and free agent to-be James Hinchcliffe, Kanaan speculated, but he’s not sure.
“In this sport nowadays, either you are a (great driver) and you find a team that can fund you, which there are not many left anymore, or you have all of your budget from sponsors, who fund you and you get a job that way. There’s nothing in between there.”
And that’s a big problem, Kanaan said. Because, frankly, there are some drivers in the paddock who probably don’t deserve to be there but are able to find money. And they will be coveted in free agency over more talented drivers.
“It hurts the sport,” Kanaan said. “It’s not good when you have to give rich kids an opportunity when they might not be as talented as some (drivers) looking for a job.
“When I had no money, I had sponsors over the years that said, ‘He’s the guy. Put him in there.’ In a way, it’s paying for a ride. But it’s the right way. It’s not, ‘Hey dad.’ There’s nothing wrong with that, but again, I just think sometimes it’s a little unfair.”
So, as the season heads toward its finale and the rumor mill begins to churn out potential landing spots for drivers, remember: Talent will matter, but money talks.
Follow IndyStar reporter Jim Ayello on Twitter and Instagram: @jimayello.A distinguished professor at Georgetown University runs a blog titled “Shit Men Say” where she publicizes the personal information of people who disagree with her online for the purpose of harassment and intimidation.
C. Christine Fair, a Provost’s Distinguished associate professor of security studies at Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, started the blog “Shit Men Say” in January 2017. According to the description of the blog, Fair shares “snarcastic missives based upon the shit men (and sometimes women ) say to me via email, voicemail and comments ‘deposited’ on my various social media” on her page.
In Fair’s posts, she reveals messages she received online along with the personal information pertaining to the people who sent her the messages. She posts her victims’ social media URLs, photos (including family photos), full names, locations, addresses, work information, phone numbers, and email addresses. For example, here are a few of her posts [and, unlike Fair, we redacted some information to protect her victims]:
MRCTV counted approximately 80 posts on Fair’s blog in which she disclosed the personal information of people who sent her messages.
In addition to simply posting personal information, Fair repeatedly shares her victims’ personal information by reblogging the posts so they will result in higher Google search results.
Fair’s Tumblr blog is connected to her Twitter account, which means when she posts someone’s personal information on Tumblr, it is also shared on Twitter.
According to Georgetown’s Code of Ethical Conduct from 2015, harassment on the basis of political beliefs, as well as acting in a way that does not show “courtesy, civility, and dignity” violates the code of conduct. While Fair is free to express her political views, as explicitly stated by Georgetown, it must also be in a way that is “mutually respectful” and does not involve “hatred or bias”:
An inclusive community committed to equal opportunity, Georgetown does not tolerate unlawful discrimination or harassment on the basis of personal characteristics or beliefs. In their actions on behalf of the University, faculty and staff should treat others with courtesy, civility and dignity and refrain from abuse of the power or authority conferred by their offices or roles. While the University values academic freedom and freedom of speech and expression, these rights should be exercised in a way that is mutually respectful and does not involve the expression of hatred or bias towards a particular individual or group.
It is unclear if that section of Georgetown’s Code of Ethical Conduct changed between 2015 and 2017.
Georgetown’s faculty handbook confirms the school prohibits harassment on the basis of political affiliation:
Harassment is a form of discrimination prohibited by law. It is the policy of Georgetown University to prohibit harassment on the basis of age, color, disability, family responsibilities, gender identity and expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin and accent, personal appearance, political affiliation, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, source of income, veteran’s status or other factors prohibited by federal and/or District of Columbia law (“Protected Categories”). Sexual harassment is addressed under the University’s Policy Statement on Sexual Misconduct.
Additionally, the harassment section of the faculty handbook explicitly states harassment can extend to online communications, including online communication intended to intimidate people:
Harassment may include, but is not limited to: verbal abuse or ridicule, including slurs, epithets, and stereotyping; offensive jokes and comments; threatening, intimidating, or hostile acts, and displaying or distributing offensive materials, writings, graffiti, or pictures. Harassment may include conduct carried out through the internet, email, social media, or other electronic means.
Fair appears to have been awarded her distinguished professor status for her “remarkable achievements” after she created her blog.
Fair recently made headlines when she attacked a former colleague for supporting President Trump.
Thank you for supporting MRCTV! As a tax-deductible, charitable organization, we rely on the support of our readers to keep us running! Keep MRCTV going with your gift here!Published by Steve Litchfield at 12:27 UTC, May 6th 2015
With the announcement of 'bridges' to help Android and iOS developers compile their applications to native Windows 10 'universal' applications, many have questioned the future of Windows Phone as an OS. In a sense, they're right - Windows Phone as it exists now is about to cease to exist. But it will transition completely seamlessly (in theory) into the Windows 10 - at which point it will share a platform with the dominant desktop and laptop OS on the planet. And creating Windows 10 applications will see a dramatically bigger potential market - hey, I've done a handy graphic (below) to make the point!
As you'll see below, a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Note that the exact definition of 'installed base' varies according to who you talk to, so I've used common sense, trying to estimate the number of devices/computers still in active use. So, for each platform:
Any Windows laptop, desktop or tablet running Windows Vista SP2 or above (XP being no longer supported)
Any Windows Phone running Windows Phone 8.1 or above
Any Android smartphone or tablet running Android OS 4.2 or above
Any iOS smartphone or tablet running iOS 7.x or 8.x
Any Mac OS X laptop or desktop running Leopard or above
Note also that Symbian OS and Blackberry OS (various versions) have been omitted from the chart since the numbers are just too small. Both now significantly less than 50 million, so in the noise in terms of the scale here. Ditto Linux used by consumers, Chrome OS, and a myriad other 'Where are they?' options...!
Note also that I've (for the purposes of making a point!) assumed that every Windows desktop, laptop, tablet and phone user will have upgraded to 'Windows 10' by the end of 2015. Now, somewhat obviously, in the real world, getting everyone to click or tap on the 'upgrade' button will take longer than that - just think of all the'mum and dad' computers, and indeed phones, which "work very well, thanks, so why should I change things?" And think of all the companies needing time to test and roll out.
But a significant majority - certainly all the active users, the people who do the browsing of application stores and buying, will have upgraded to 10 by the end of the year. Even on phones, I suspect, despite the best efforts of some networks around the world to hold things up with firmware approvals.
And don't get too hung up on the binary switch below - even those still on Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 will still be part of the platform, essentially, so the total number stays the same, whatever colour the bar below is(!)
Leaving aside my caveat about 100% conversion to Windows 10 (though why wouldn't it get fairly close, since the upgrade is free?), the takeaway here is that right now a developer looking at creating an application for Windows Phone has a relatively small addressable market. We've seen various companies pull their official applications from the Windows Phone Store because they claim they haven't got the resources to support the application for a fairly small number of users. For example, taking the example of Chase and Bank of America, a USA-specific banking application might only have a few tens of thousands of active users, while a similar app for iOS or Android might have millions. Of course, Windows Phone is more popular in the rest of the world, so this hundredfold difference is unusual, but you can see some developers' point.
In contrast, when Windows 10 is out, across all form factors (so by the end of Autumn 2015), the bright blue bar above is larger than that for all iOS devices and very comparable with the green bar for Android, which suffers in that it only applies to phones and (to a small degree) to tablets. While Windows 10 offers a very real platform that spans desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone.
For consumers, having the one platform across all form factors is good because it means that their phone interface looks the same as their desktop or laptop, familiar and with no unpleasant surprises. And being able to buy an application on the phone and then automatically have it installable on the desktop (for example) is a significant money saver. For companies, Windows Phone is already quite attractive, in terms of robustness and configurability - with Windows 10, the advantages of rolling out universal custom apps and the easier support will only make things more so. Admittedly companies will take a year or two to get 'there', but Windows 10 does seem to be the 'next Windows 7' in the business world.
In short, Windows on phones is currently limping along in terms of market share and acceptance, but it's about to become part of a much larger ecosystem. And, given that neither Android nor iOS scale past the tablet*, it's an ecosystem that should be the widest-ranging of them all.
Comments welcome, of course, plus we'll be discussing this in the next AAWP Insight podcast.
* You could argue that Google services across form factors and platforms, ditto iOS with its services and continuity utilities, mean that end users don't have to stick to one platform exclusively and that they can mix and match. Which is true, though a) given a choice, I think having just one platform would appeal to many, and b) Windows 10 has Continuum, which may be huge. It's early days in this sphere!156 Shares Pin
This past weekend I was detained and taken into custody by Turkish police near Ankara’s Kizilay Square, a few blocks away from my family’s apartment on the 1 year anniversary of the 2013 Gezi Park protests. The most dangerous weapon I was in possession of was a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS 10 camera and while Article 34 of the Turkish Constitution allows peaceful demonstrations to be held without prior permission, 118 people including myself were rounded up in Ankara.
You are seriously risking abuse, injury, or death by a police force that often travels in gangs, both in uniform and plain-clothed, arresting and beating people at will if they are found anywhere near a demonstration. Take caution to avoid protests but in case you can’t or decide to be a one-person media outlet, this is what to expect and how to prepare.
Your Passport Won’t Matter
The first parts of such an ordeal will generally be the same whether you’re a Turkish citizen like me or a foreign national. Your nationality won’t provide you any protection as CNN’s Ivan Watson recently demonstrated by being detained while giving a live report from Istanbul.
Police often implement a similar tactic of crowd and pounce on civilians near a demonstration. They’ll typically set up lines of provocation in disproportionate numbers, attempting to block the movement of demonstrating groups. Multiple tear gas canisters will be at best, shot above demonstrators, at worst, directly at them, causing stampedes, as police rush forward before quickly retreating back to their original line.
As all of this goes on, smaller groups of about 20 police run around side streets with batons waving in a government sanctioned meet and greet. These scenes are repeated several more times while police stealthily position themselves around protestors. The rush and retreats seem designed to desensitize everyone so when they finally do come, you’re caught off guard. Many of those detained are random targets although a number seem to have been carefully picked out in advance.
The Arrest Is The Most Dangerous Point
The moment in which police, usually in teams of 5-10, take you under arrest is the most dangerous for you physically. The amount of tear gas fired makes seeing beyond a few meters very difficult; within a few seconds to minutes the gas begins to suffocate your disoriented body. You’ll be yelled at and may be accused of having weapons or committing crimes in a threatening manner. Verbal taunting is nearly guaranteed but within the chaos there are other abuses. Ten minutes after I was tied in plastic handcuffs, a police officer sprayed me point blank with pepper spray. Given what others endured that evening, I was very fortunate to not have suffered any major physical injury.
Do not speak with police beyond giving them your identity and nationality if asked. Try to remain calm as many of the young, agitated police are a wrong gesture away from becoming violent.
Your First Stop Is Hospital
After you are apprehended, you’ll eventually be escorted to a police car that will take you to a local hospital. During the ride police will likely ask you more questions, make accusations, and incite fear by mentioning punishments. Fortunately, over 100 volunteer lawyers from groups like the Cagdas Hukukcular Dernegi (“Progressive Lawyers Association“) will be waiting for you at the hospital to tell you the truth while providing council. Photos of any injuries – another good reason to never travel without insurance – will be taken and documented by the group of lawyers.
The volunteer lawyers work without pay to defend and inform you of your rights, answer any questions, and contact family members. In the case of foreign nationals, they will get in touch with the appropriate embassy. Many will know English but for those not confident speaking the language, it’s in your best interest to let the lawyers know right away so they can make arrangements for a translator to be present.
Then, depending on the total number of people detained, you’re going to wait around to see a nurse that will take a health report. Let them know of any physical harm you’ve come under before they breathalyze you. (It’s not illegal to drink alcohol in Turkey or be drunk; this test is standard for anyone taken into custody.)
Now To The Police Station
Just as the situation begins calming down at the hospital, you’re moved to a police station where your identification is again processed. Keep in mind questions will continue to be asked about any and all things – from religion to politics to what you were doing at the time of your arrest. Under Turkish law, you aren’t obligated to say anything other than information pertaining to your identity. Take a page out of The Art Of War: be brief and don’t volunteer information.
All of the belongings on your person, like mobile phone, which you’ve had access to this entire time will be confiscated. The police will carefully document every item in your wallet, pockets, jewelry, plus your shoelaces before taking them. You get to keep any cash before signing a document verifying what you just handed over. Now, it’s starting to feel more like jail.
Men and women are all processed separately but in any event you’ll get to spend a few hours sitting in a holding room with members of the same sex.
Briefing Before Statement
Eventually it will be time for everyone to be moved to another part of the building to give statements. Prior to the questions, a group of the lawyers who were previously at the hospital will give you a briefing, so you know what to expect. They’ll give you advice on statement semantics, not leaving your side until police document what you have to say.
<Insert a lot more waiting around here.>
Now, you’re going back to the hospital for one more check up (to make sure the police didn’t abuse you at the station basically). Some more documenting and under most circumstances if you weren’t causing damage or harming others, you’re released… unless you’re not a Turkish citizen.
Next, What Happens If You’re Not A Turkish Citizen – After all of the above, you’ll be sent to a special police processing center for foreigners. After some time there plus a few days, chances of your deportation are fairly good.
Hours After The Hours Of Release
Anything that’s been confiscated is returned, whether you’re a Turk or foreigner, as the first night of detention is nearly over. Assuming you haven’t actually committed a crime (e.g. vandalism), you’re either released or deported. (In the case of the latter, that process can take several days.) Although I can’t speak to the specifics after this point, for all detainees, the state prosecutors may try to open a case against you.
The first night however has ended and as the sun begins to light the sky, dawn awakens you to the fact that none of this should have happened at all. Since it has, you realize everything could have been done in an hour if the powers that be had been bothered not to make every step along the way as inconvenient as possible.The Syrian football association wants Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho to coach the national team to reach the World cup first time in their history.
In a letter addressed to Mourinho's agent Jose Mendes and his firm Gestifute and published on its official Facebook page on Sunday, the association stated that they are willing to make an official offer to the renowned coach for the national team to reach the World Cup.
53-year-old Mourinho, who parted ways with Chelsea in December 2015 due to poor results after a 2.5 season term, is rumored to have been negotiating with several high profile European clubs, which include Roma, Valencia and Manchester United. He previously worked with top clubs such as Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, having won 10 domestic league, one UEFA Cup and two UEFA Champions League titles.
Finishing second in Group E at the second phase of Asian World Cup qualifications with six wins out of eight games, the Syrian national football team will proceed to the third round likely as the second best team in all eight groups. Twelve teams will compete in two groups at the third round, and the draw for this round will take place on April 12.
The association is willing to conduct negotiations with Mourinho's agents and sign him if possible until then.Get ready for Sunflower Dead, who are getting ready to turn some heads with their sophomore set, It's Time to Get Weird. The upstart rockers have just locked in an Oct. 30 street date for the disc and revealed the album's track listing and a very special guest for the disc.
Korn's Jonathan Davis lends his vocal chops to the album's title track, but fans will have to wait a little before hearing the song. The Long Beach, Calif. five-piece recently spent some time opening for Korn in the U.K. as well as a number of dates serving as support for fellow SoCal rockers Snot throughout Europe.
The group has chosen the track "Dance With Death" as the lead single from the It's Time To Get Weird album, and you can check out the lyric video for the song in the player provided above. As you can hear, "Dance With Death" is a hard-driving track filled with chugging guitars and a killer low end. The song is currently available for download at iTunes.
As stated, "Dance With Deathl" is featured on the It's Time to Get Weird disc, which will be released by Bloody Bat Records on Oct. 30. Stay tuned for album pre-order information and check out the track listing below.
Sunflower Dead, It's Time to Get Weird Track Listing
1. "Inhuman Lung"
2. "Dance With Death"
3. "It's Time to Get Weird" (featuring Jonathan Davis)
4. "Just a Little Kiss"
5. "You're Dead to Me"
6. "Nothing"
7. "My Mother Mortis"
8. "I'll Burn It"
9. "The Rain"
10. "Interlude"
11. "Through the Blackest Eyes"
12. "Anthem of the Seeds"
13. "Outtro"
Sunflower DeadTo help remove drinking drivers from the road, AAA Hawaii is offering its Tipsy Tow service during the Fourth of July holiday.
The service is available from 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 4, until 6 a.m. Wednesday, July 5. Tipsy Tow is available in the areas served by AAA Hawaii.
AAA Hawaii encourages party-goers to plan ahead for a sober ride or use a designated driver if attending a gathering. Motorists, bartenders, restaurant managers, party hosts or passengers of a drinking driver may call 1-800-222-4357 for a free tow home of up to five miles. Callers simply tell the AAA operators, "I need a Tipsy Tow," to receive the free tow and ride home. A regular AAA Hawaii-contracted roadside assistance service truck will be dispatched.
Tipsy Tow provides a driver with the option of a safe ride home for themselves and their vehicle instead of driving while intoxicated.
Callers need to keep in mind that the service excludes rides for passengers, is restricted to a one-way, one-time ride for the driver and the destination is limited to the driver's residence. Reservations are not accepted. Drivers can expect to pay the rate charged by the tow truck contractor for rides beyond five miles.
"We want motorists to be aware of the high crash risk from drinking and driving associated with the holiday. We encourage drivers to designate a sober driver instead of getting behind the wheel if they have been drinking," said AAA Hawaii's General Manager Liane Sumida.
In Hawaii, from 2003-2012, there were 484 people killed in crashes involving a drunk driving, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Nationwide, in 2015, crashes involving drunken drivers claimed 10,265 lives, an average of one alcohol-impaired driving fatality occurred every 51 minutes.
AAA Hawaii advises those who celebrate July 4th, can help keep themselves and others safe with these safety tips:IDEAS John R. Bowen is a Professor of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Jihad seems to hit France harder than other countries, with more than 1,000 young people leaving to fight on the side of ISIS or other jihadis in Iraq and Syria, and now the murderous attack by two men of Algerian descent on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Why, and where will this latest attack lead?
There are three points to keep in mind as we watch the investigations play out.
First, France has been more closely engaged with the Muslim world longer than any other Western country. Since 1830, when it conquered Algeria, it has seen much of Muslim Africa as its own backyard. And after World War I, France took control of Syria and Lebanon as well. Many French settled in North Africa, and after World War II, many North Africans came to France to work in new factories, most settling in poor areas in Paris, Lyon, and the industrialized north. In the post-industrial era, factories were shut down but the settlers stayed. And it is their children and grandchildren who in 2005 exploded in rage over their exclusion from French society. The 1995 movie La Haine showed this rage before the fact—and also made clear that these explosions had nothing to with religion.
France left Algeria only at the end of a long and bloody war, from 1954 to 1962, which continues to reverberate throughout the country, especially in the south, where Algerians who fought on both sides of the war settled in Provence and kept the conflict alive. Here is where the far-right National Front was founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, a paratrooper nourishing anger against De Gaulle’s “abandonment” of French Algeria. His daughter Marine now leads the party.
But unlike other European colonial powers, the French never really left their former colonies, continuing to intervene economically and militarily to defend France’s national interests in Africa and the Near East. Now this means battling al Qaeda and ISIS in Mali, Iraq, and, perhaps in the future, Syria. So when disaffected young men and women tune in to jihadi web sites, they find French-speaking Muslims telling them of the sins their government is committing against their “brothers and sisters” in Iraq and Syria. Resentment at French racism, at the series of largely symbolic measures taken against Muslims, such as the 2010 ban on wearing face-veils in public, add to this anger, and lead some towards fighting.
Second, the French Republic has nourished a sense of combat with the Church—which for some means with religion of any sort. If in the 19th century, the Church retained its hold on young minds through its monopoly of primary schools, by the end of that century the state had built a secular and free system of schools. Thereafter, the Dreyfus affair pitted an openly anti-Semitic Catholic establishment against pro-Republican intellectuals, Vichy gave powers to anti-Jewish French officials, and after the war schools continued to be the focal point, a microcosm, of the battle between religious and secularist camps.
France Stands in Silence for Terror Attack Victims Remy de la Mauviniere—AP Fredrik Von Erichsen—dpa/Corbis Ian Langsdon—EPA Francoir Xavier Marit—AFP/Getty Images Remy Gabaldi—AFP/Getty Images Frederick Florin—AFP/Getty Images Ian Langsdon—EPA Ian Langsdon—EPA Martin Bureau—AFP/Getty Images Etienne Laurent—EPA 1 of 10 Advertisement
Modern France thus produced a strong tradition, especially in Paris, of opposition to organized religion, and satire of its pretensions. Charlie Hebdo succeeded a long line of satirical magazines that ridiculed religion, and Charlie took down all with pretensions: Christians, Muslims, Michael Jackson—everyone.
Third, the attack risks to add fuel to the rise of the Far Right in France and throughout Europe. The National Front is already spinning the attack as showing up the basic incompatibility of Islam and the values of France. Even as its leader, Marine Le Pen, the much smoother political heir to her father, Jean-Marie, maintains a moderate line, officially stating that France was united for freedom of expression, she added that “the time for hypocrisy was over,” and that not confusing Islam with terrorism not ought to lead us to deny the obvious. Some of her lieutenants went further, attacking Islam directly, and the immediate commentators to Le Monde’s on-line coverage overwhelmingly took this line: anti-religion and anti-Islam.
France will not change its decades-old foreign policy, nor are rights and practices of satire likely to fade away. But the main impact may be to use the attacks as an excuse to blame Islam and immigration for broad anxieties about where things are going in Europe today. Such a confusion can only strengthen the far right.
John R. Bowen is a Professor of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, and author of Can Islam be French, Blaming Islam, and the forthcoming Shari’a in Britain.
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Contact us at [email protected] Moor and Matt Pickens of the Colorado Rapids celebrate their victory over the San Jose Earthquakes.
Last Sunday night, with one final smolder for the cameras, David Beckham conveyed his hairstyle off the pitch and out of the MLS playoffs. The L.A. Galaxy’s 3-0 loss to F.C. Dallas—a game in which Beckham’s slow-wilting sprout of a ponytail was an accurate meter of his side’s fortunes—deprives the competition of its most telegenic team. It also sends unheralded Dallas on to face the Colorado Rapids on Sunday in the least obviously glamorous sports final since, oh, the 2010 World Series. Instead of mashing CTRL-V on Beckham and his teammate-turned- World-Cup-hero Landon Donovan, the marketing wing of MLS now faces the task of selling a championship game contested by two teams who don’t even fill their own stadiums.
This is not, to put it mildly, the league’s strong suit. MLS has always been better at marketing stars than at creating meaning. From Freddy Adu to Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez, the league is forever unveiling the next glossy face who will finally, at last and forever, put soccer over in America. In the meantime, 17 years after MLS was founded, the league’s franchises still feel like more or less interchangeable corporate entities, all with the same soft-edged logo, all playing in Pizza Hut Park.
A Super Bowl or a European Cup final contested by two lesser-known teams is still exciting, even to casual fans. That’s because those playoff finals continue a tradition that’s been cultivated over time. The lore of past matches—Marcus Allen needle-looping through the entire Redskins defense, Eusébio applauding Alex Stepney after Stepney blocked his would-be game-winning shot—gives them a significance that exceeds the game being contested on the field. MLS and its teams have done astoundingly little to foster those kinds of traditions, even though their fans have consistently shown that they want them.
To take just the most recent example: Earlier this year, the Portland Timbers, an expansion team slated to join the league in 2011, dumped their rugged old axe logo in favor of a streamlined, anodized, Sports 2.0 update. (While the Timbers are newcomers to MLS, the team has been around since 1975.) As it happened, the fans liked the old version. They booed the unveiling, and after sustained criticism, the Timbers re-unveiled a compromise logo that restored some of the old crest’s rough edges while still, presumably, remaining palatable to whatever imaginary conference-hotel demographic the club envisions buying its T-shirts.
Those raucous, chanting fan groups that make MLS games atmospheric, even in half-empty stadiums? Team officials have confiscated their banners and told them to sit down, afraid that they’ll spook soccer moms. (“Because this is soccer in America, there’s this misperception that this has to be for 5-year-old kids,” one thwarted die-hard complained.) The NFL champion gets a trophy named for Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach who was carried off the field after leading Green Bay to its second straight Super Bowl win. The MLS title winner gets the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy, a bauble that bears the name of the conservative billionaire who owns two of the league’s clubs.
Of course, the NFL is rich, popular, massively exposed, and permanently surrounded by its own fleet of dancing laser robots and Christmas-themed F-16s. For Major League Soccer, by contrast, basic financial stability isn’t everything, it’s the only thing; league commissioner Don Garber can’t afford to take interested billionaires lightly. That’s one reason why the league has focused on marketing its current stars while ignoring the past: Every previous attempt to bring a major professional soccer league to the United States ended in failure. MLS has had to build its customer base while simultaneously reassuring those customers that it’s not doomed to extinction. Differentiating itself from its predecessors, especially the glitzy 1970s disco-relic of the NASL, has been a central part of its identity. (Ironically, Major League Soccer’s recent emphasis on luring international stars in the twilight of their careers is reminiscent of one of the strategies that helped sink the NASL.) So has an obsessive, highly public focus on business models and paths to stability. Dallas and Colorado, the two teams that will meet in Sunday’s final, have collectively undergone three major rebrandings since 2003. All of this makes sense. It just isn’t a lot of fun.
When you willfully exclude everything before 1996 from your sense of American soccer history, you don’t have enough history to go around. Of course, MLS fans have their own stories and heroes: Brian McBride in Chicago, say, or Ben Olsen at D.C. United. What’s missing is a sense from the league that soccer has deep roots in the United States, that the game is a constituent part of the national sports psyche rather than some alien import that crashed here to annoy Jim Rome.
And yet, for a country that never fully embraced the game, the United States has a fantastically rich and varied soccer history. Soccer was played here as early as the 1860s—American football partly grew out of it—and threatened to become a major sport in the early 20th century, when basketball was still a barnstorming oddity. (The first basketballs, in fact, were soccer balls.) Cities from Chicago to St. Louis to Boston had professional teams, leagues, intra-city rivalries, and local stars. The country’s oldest competition, the U.S. Open Cup, has been running since 1914. Archie Stark, who played for Bethlehem Steel in the 1920s, was one of the greatest pure scorers of his day, in any country. Behind stars like Billy Gonsalves and Bert Patenaude, Team USA finished third at the first World Cup, and beat England in 1950 in what’s widely seen as the biggest upset in World Cup history. In the 1970s, before it imploded under the weight of its colossal man-perms, the NASL featured some of the best players of all time: Johan Cruyff, George Best, Franz Beckenbauer. Pelé played his last competitive games here.
If this were baseball, say, or NCAA basketball, we wouldn’t be able to watch a game without being folded up in all this velvety history. Halftime segments would trot out wry old men to reminisce about the day Mervyn Cawston beat Pelé in New York. Commercials from league sponsors would unspool tinkly piano rolls while grainy black-and-white footage showed Gaetjens scoring in Brazil. The championship game would be played for the Patenaude Cup. Sure, the nostalgia trips wouldn’t be a direct path to revenue. But these nods to history wouldn’t have to replace MLS’s current stars-on-magazines approach. Every sports league markets its best players. Most leagues are also savvy enough to make their games feel important even when the stars aren’t playing.
At his State of the League press conference on Tuesday, Garber was asked whether a recent influx of teams with NASL heritage, like the Timbers and the Seattle Sounders, meant the league was softening its aversion to its precursor. (There’s also a reconstituted NASL in the ether; it’s currently awaiting sanctioning as the nation’s second-tier league.) His answer studiously avoided all mention of history, while dwelling on the idea that “every team creates their brand vision.” The notion that teams are created by time and by their fans’ imaginations, or by anything that isn’t subsumed under the term “brand vision,” had no place in this particular conference call.
MLS seems most comfortable operating in a vacuum, and it’s too bad. The league has improved in so many ways—the quality of play is rising, the finances are leveling
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Radamel Garcia said the three Premier League clubs and Juve showed interest in signing the 28-year-old from Monaco - but insists his son has picked a 'great team'.
He said: "Juventus, Manchester City and Liverpool were also interested and Arsenal late on. Fortunately he has ended up at Manchester United, a great team.
"Thank God for everything with Manchester United.
"Radamel is a person that has given a lot in Europe and he deserves the best for the effort and sacrifices he has made during his career.
"United are the most important team in England and one of the most economically powerful.
"Things with Real Madrid did not happen because if you have money to go to the market and buy a shirt or pants, you have to decide whether to buy or not. Real Madrid chose not to."Huh. Roderick Scott went out of his house to confront a trio of punks breaking into cars in his Greece, New York neighborhood. Scott’s story was that he fired two rounds at one of them when the young man charged him after being told to freeze and wait for the cops. So, we largely have an inverse image of the incident in which Trayvon Martin perished, complete with the kinfolk weeping thusly...
“The message is that we can all go out and get guns and feel anybody that we feel is threatening us and lie about the fact,” said Jim Cervini, Christopher’s father. “My son never threatened anybody. He was a gentle child, his nature was gentle, he was a good person and he was never, ever arrested for anything, and has never been in trouble. He was 16 years and four months old, and he was slaughtered.”
Alas, for the future value of the Christopher Cervini trademark and subsequent merchandise sales, young Chris didn’t really look like the son of anyone famous or influential. If they’d had one.
How heavily did stories of gangs of rednecks beating the life out of a black man hang upon the mind of Mr. Scott in the split second before he pulled the trigger? Who cares?
The jury clearly believed that Scott was in fear for his life when he defended himself, and all the second-guessing and carping about him being a wannabe cop went either unmentioned, or unheeded. Absent more information that the state, with all its resources, was not able to cobble together a case to the satisfaction of the jury, I believe that Cervini’s death is one of the possible outcomes of a young man being out screwing around when he shouldn’t have been.
When I was growing up, that’s what I was told. Run with a bad crowd, bad things can happen. Act a certain way, dress a certain way, mouth off to the wrong person, and bad things can and do happen.
Neither President Obama nor Attorney General Eric Holder were not available for comment.WA Election: Dirty tricks on polling day as warning texts sent, fake mosque flyers posted
Updated
Dirty tricks and ballot paper shortages have marred polling day in WA, with text messages sent to voters warning against voting Labor and a fake flyer about a mosque development sent to Stirling residents.
Labor has blasted the Liberal Party over the messages, which read: "FACT: Household bills will go up under a Labor Government. Mark McGowan is not worth the risk."
It is unclear who sent the texts, but that did not stop Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pointing the finger at the Liberal Party when he joined Mr McGowan in the northern Perth suburb of Yokine.
"I wonder if Malcolm Turnbull will have a tantrum about these text messages. They're not above using the very tactics they criticised Labor for," Mr Shorten said.
"I look forward to Malcolm Turnbull having a hissy fit tonight on that matter."
The messages have been compared to the "Mediscare" texts sent during last year's federal election.
Labor and unions produced election material resembling Medicare cards and ran an election-day campaign involving mobile text messages which appeared to come from the health agency.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described that campaign as "fraudulent" and unmatched in its deceit, but an Australian Federal Police investigation did not find any breach of the law.
One Nation denies involvement in fake flyers
Meanwhile, fake flyers proposing the construction of a mosque have been found in letter boxes in a northern Perth suburb.
City of Stirling Mayor Giovanni Italiano said he had no knowledge of the flyers being distributed prior to being informed by the ABC this morning.
Mr Italiano said he thought it might be related to ratepayer dissatisfaction with a recent application for a six-storey apartment and mixed use development building in the area
"Some people in the area don't like the application that's before them and they're just trying to raise some doubts on what's going to be there," he said.
But he dismissed any suggestions it was connected with today's state election and said it was "scaremongering".
Pauline Hanson denied One Nation had anything to do with the flyers.
"That's not my style, that's not the style of the party," she said.
"I'm upfront with people, I always have been, so we don't go out putting these sort of leaflets out to people.
"I don't believe in fearmongering, that's something you'd expect of the Labor party or the other political parties, that's not One Nation."
Ballot paper shortage
Voters at a polling station in the new seat of Bicton, near Fremantle, were left waiting after officials ran out of ballot papers.
It is understood the polling booth, at East Fremantle Primary School, attracted many voters whose local seat had changed from Fremantle to Bicton in the 2015 redistribution.
But electoral officials did not have enough ballot papers for those voting out of their area.
The WA Electoral Commission has been contacted for comment.
Topics: elections, stirling-6021, wa
First postedStory highlights Cruz went to Trump Tower on Tuesday afternoon to meet with the President-elect
This visit may stoke speculation about a Cruz role in the Trump administration
Washington (CNN) Donald Trump met privately Tuesday with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, kicking off what could be one of the most complicated post-election relationships in Washington.
Cruz visited Trump Tower on Tuesday afternoon to meet with the President-elect, a step most congressional Republicans have not yet taken. Many Republican leaders in Congress have merely spoken with Trump by phone.
The topic of their conversation was not clear.
Catherine Frazier, a Cruz spokeswoman, said in a statement that Cruz "looks forward to assisting the Trump administration" in achieving policy wins for conservatives, though she did not offer further details.
Cruz, a leader of the most conservative parts of the Republican Party, ran against Trump for the GOP nomination and was his chief rival for much of the race. After dropping out of the race in May, Cruz withheld his endorsement of his party's nominee, snubbing him at the Republican National Convention before coming around in September.
Read MoreGiven interlocking domestic, regional, and international developments, the AKP has launched attacks on ISIS and the PKK, the latter evidently being the main target, with four main objectives.
'War is the continuation of politics by other means', Clausewitz famously remarked. Nowhere is this maxim better in display than in Turkey’s current dual-offensive against the ‘Islamic State’, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
For rather than being a policy U-turn, as it has generally been described in mainstream media, this offensive is essentially a new tactic by Turkey's ruling 'Justice and Development Party' (AKP) to extricate its grand strategy of domestic entrenchment and regional hegemony from a structural impasse central to which is the advancements of the Kurdish revolution in Turkey and Syria.
This is why and how.
AKP and neo-Ottoman restoration
The AKP came to power in 2002. It supplanted the crisis-stricken Kemalist ruling class on a platform of social conservatism, fighting governmental corruption, and economic neoliberalism. It soon managed to curb the military's interference in politics, and more importantly, generate sustained economic growth, which led to an increase in its parliamentary majority in subsequent elections.
Emboldened by its successes the AKP adopted an ambitious strategy to end Turkey's traditional regional isolation and over-dependence on the US, and turn the country into a key regional and global power - a project grandiosely described as ‘neo-Ottomanism'. This was rooted in the AKP’s peculiar blend of Islamist transnationalism and Turkish nationalism.
Neo-Ottomanism rested on Turkey's central location in the Afro-Euroasian landmass, the soft power of the AKP's'moderate Islam', and, the geo-strategic deployment of the over-accumulating Turkish capital in the region.
Initially the AKP sought to establish Turkey as the transit route of choice for Russian, central Asian, and Iranian natural gas to Europe. This required the resolution of the ongoing conflict with the PKK in the country's southeastern regions, through which the proposed transit routes had to pass.
Resolving the Kurdish question would also attract Kurdish votes, which the AKP needed in its domestic political entrenchment vis-à-vis its Kemalist opposition, and later, the Gülen movement, a Sufi-oriented brand of Islamism that dominated the police and judiciary in the early years of the AKP rule, which was later attacked by the AKP, however, who came to see it as a ‘parallel state’ and danger to the AKP’s monopoly of power.
During the same period the PKK had revised its separatist program and advocated a non-state solution to the Kurdish question through 'democratic confederalism', a synthetic model of gender-egalitarian and eco-conscious communal socialism where the identitarian hierarchy of the nation-state was to be replaced by a social contract among equal and mutually recognized cultural communities.
These developments paved the way for peace talks between the AKP government and the PKK, which culminated in a ceasefire in 2013.
During the same period the AKP also established a'strategic partnership' with Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), the party which increasingly dominated Iraqi Kurdistan.
This partnership gave Turkey a near monopoly over Iraqi Kurdistan's market, particularly its construction sector in real estate and expanding oil industry infrastructure. Turkey also became the exclusive transit route for the export of the Iraqi Kurdistan's oil, increasingly the lifeline for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) - dominated by the PDK - given the KRG’s unresolved dispute with Baghdad over the federal budget.
Equally importantly, Barzani also shared the AKP's objective of containing the PKK whose socialist-libertarian project was a threat to his tribal authoritarian politics.
Arab Spring: an opportunity turns into a threat
Then came the Arab Spring.
Armed with its 'neo-liberalism with an Islamic face', restless Turkish capital, and a symbolic anti-Israeli stance, the AKP believed it could utilize seismic political changes in the region as a fast track to regional hegemony.
But the initial successes of the AKP's fellow Islamists were short-lived. Morsi was ousted in Egypt, Islamists lost power in Tunisia, and Libya plunged into civil war.
Left with Syria to contend with the AKP completely reversed its erstwhile 'zero problems with neighbours' policy and made a strategic commitment to the overthrow of Bashar Assad.
Thus, the AKP turned Turkey into the main conduit of military and financial support for Syria's armed Sunni opposition groups including ISIS, and foreign jihadists, which earned Turkey growing international isolation and recrimination.
But as the conflict prolonged, Turkey faced a more immediate, and potentially dangerous challenge: the growing power of the Syrian Kurds who had close political and ideological links with the PKK. Led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Syrian Kurds established three autonomous cantons and self-defense forces known as YPG and YPJ, which quickly emerged as the most effective anti-ISIS force in Syria.
The rise of the Syrian Kurds diminished Turkey's influence in Syria, weakened the AKP's position vis-a-vis the PKK, and challenged the influence of Barzani's PDK both in Syria and Iraq, where pro-PKK forces also played a key role in the anti-ISIS campaign.
Thus, Turkish policy duly shifted towards the containment of the Syrian Kurds through a policy of 'active neutrality' towards ISIS. This reached a climax during the siege of Kobane by ISIS when Turkey prevented reinforcements reaching the town while the AKP’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gleefully declared 'Kobane will fall'.
HDP: AKP's coup de grâce
Amidst all this turmoil, the AKP's all-important domestic policy of constitutional entrenchment through establishing a presidential system with extensive power for the presidency, came to a grinding halt in the June 2015 elections in which the AKP lost its parliamentary majority.
The AKP's electoral defeat was largely due to the unexpected success of the Kurdish-led but nationally constituted Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
The HDP offered a pluralist and inclusive election manifesto in which Kurdish demands for cultural and political rights were incorporated into a wider programme for radical democracy and the empowerment of women and marginalized social groups. This gave the HDP a nationwide appeal beyond its Kurdish heartland, attracting many left and left-liberal Turkish voters.
Another contributory factor was the Turkish aftershock of the Arab Spring, that is, the Gezi Park protest movement in 2013. It united democratic forces opposed to the AKP's growing authoritarianism and aggressive neoliberalism. The police brutality gave the Turkish protesters a small taste of what the Kurds had been enduring for decades, and paved the way for a closer understanding and cooperation between sections of the Turkish secular and left opposition, and the Kurds, which boosted the HDP's election campaign.
In the event, the HDP won more than 13% of the votes despite a sustained campaign of provocation, intimidation and subversion by the government.
Blood for votes
Concurrently, the Syrian Kurds achieved major victories over ISIS. The watershed was the liberation of the border town of Tal Abyaz, which deprived ISIS of its key logistical route to Turkey. The Kurds were now poised to advance further to the west and incorporate their third isolated canton of Afrin near Aleppo to the now interlinked Kobane and Jezira cantons in the northeast.
This would create a geographically contiguous Kurdish semi-state stretching from the border of Iraqi Kurdistan with Turkey and Iran, where the PKK has its bases, to the Mediterranean; and seriously endanger Turkey’s ambitions in Syria, and the wider region.
It could also remove Iraqi Kurdistan from Turkey’s geo-political orbit by offering it an alternative route for exporting its oil, and strategically weaken the AKP’s key Kurdish partner Barzani’s PDK.
Moreover, the successful conclusion of the nuclear talks between Iran and the west exacerbated Turkey’s regional isolation and seemed to further diminish its role in the region.
It is against this complex background of interlocking domestic, regional, and international developments that the AKP has launched its attacks on ISIS and the PKK, the latter evidently being the main target. In doing so the AKP has four main objectives.
First, it seeks to decisively win the likely snap elections in November by attracting Turkish ultra-nationalist voters through projecting a strong anti-Kurdish image.
Second, it hopes to directly check the growth of Kurdish power in Syria by formally joining the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, given that the AKP's wager on ISIS to contain the Kurds has failed.
Third, by entering the Syrian fray, Turkey also wants to re-optimize relations with the US, which in return for access to Turkish airbases has reportedly acceded to the Turkish demand for creating a'safe zone' along parts of Turkish-Syrian border, which Turkey hopes will become a barrier to the Kurds' further advance.
And finally, the bombing campaign against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan also aims to boost the AKP’s key ally there, Massoud Barzani, who is currently seeking an unconstitutional third term in office as the region’s president. A Turkish bombing campaign inside Iraqi Kurdistan is intended to strengthen his position by convincing the people and main political parties that given his links to the AKP, Barzani is the leader who can handle the Turks best under such unstable circumstances.
What next?
The AKP's anti-Kurdish and anti-left campaign and macho-chauvinist propaganda is unlikely to re-attract Kurdish conservatives whose disillusionment with the AKP over Kobane is being reinforced by the current bombing campaign of Kurdistan. The AKP’s bloody ploy is also unlikely to sway Turkish nationalist voters away from their traditional parties. So unless AKP’s care-taker government closes down the HDP, which the HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş claims is on the AKP’s agenda, the early elections might not produce the AKP’s intended result. But the closure is already being opposed by the main opposition party ‘Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Moreover, Turkey's current, US-demanded distinction between the PKK and the Syrian Kurds, who have been receiving coalition air-support against ISIS, and the proposed 'ISIS-free zone' might in fact aid the Syrian Kurds' attempt at reaching their currently isolated canton of Afrin near Aleppo. This possibility is reinforced by the strong reluctance of both US and Turkey to deploy ground troops inside Syria, and by the fact that the Syrian Kurds have established cordial relations with a number of Arab opposition forces such as Burkan al-Furat.
Furthermore, as the experience of the previous 30 years demonstrates, the PKK cannot be militarily eliminated. And no state has ever been able to exercise direct control over the Qandil Mountains where the PKK has been based for the past 20 years or so.
Finally, the Kurds are highly unlikely to relent in their fight against ISIS, which is an existential threat to them. But most ordinary Kurds, if not all Kurdish political parties, will certainly consider the US support for Turkey's bombing of the PKK as yet another demonstration of America’s treachery.
So all in all, the AKP’s active war with the PKK and passive war against the Syrian Kurds involves high risks and could easily backfire and spell the end of its political power domestically while severely undermining Turkey’s ability to exercise influence in Syria.
As Clausewitz also noted, ‘everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult’.Burnout Paradise ended up being a great entry in the series, and we've known for a while now that the game would be enjoying some rather unexpected and beefy updates. Critierion has also given word on a very neat feature: the ability upload your save game file to Criterion's website and then see what you've done and what you still have to do. Sadly, this is only for the PS3 version, but it's a neat idea for those of us who have the game for Sony's console.
Here's how it works: PS3 players with the recently-released Bogart software update will be able to import their save game via USB drive or Memory Stick and analyse it on criteriongames.com! Based on that, we create an interactive map that allows you to view the location of all incomplete discoverables. That includes Jumps, Smashes, Billboards, Junkyards, Body Shops, Paint Shops, Gas Stations and Car Parks. Our technicians are just putting the final touches to this feature – we expect it to go live imminently!
I like things that come sooner rather than later. If you haven't had a chance to play Paradise yet (and you should), there is a metric ton of stuff to do in the game; any way to make the job of finding out what you still need to do easier is welcome. I hope more developers are paying attention to Criterion. This is how you support your game after launch.Barefoot and accompanied by his beagle and pal Big Bill Booth, Dusty Crum eagerly set out to hunt, catch and/or kill as many Burmese pythons as possible.
Crum is one of more than 600 adventurous men and women from 24 states who paid $25 to participate in Florida’s 2nd Python Challenge. The first, held three years ago, netted 68 of the snakes. This time, Florida’s Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission hopes to remove more, although their camouflage in Florida’s Everglades making them extremely difficult to find, especially for amateurs.
“Oh, we’re so pumped!” said Crum. “It’s like a month-long frenzy and we’re just ready to get in the action and get some of it!”
“It’s like a month-long frenzy and we’re just ready to get in the action and get some of it!” — Dusty Crum, amateur python hunter
Jarrod Johnson, William Spake and Logan Adams hail from Cocoa Beach, Fla. They share Crum's big python dreams.
“I’ve never done anything like this,” said Spake. “This is our first time, all three of us. Not expecting a lot. I know catching the pythons is actually super hard, but we’re going to go full throttle with this and see what we can do.”
Fox News went air boating into the swamps with Florida Wildlife Commissioner and Sunshine State legend "Alligator" Ron Bergeron, whose family has been hunting alligators for eight generations. Machetes in hand, Bergeron and his guests hacked through the brush and trudged through the thick, black mud—prime python habitat—for an hour with no luck.
Notoriously elusive and not native to North America, pythons have no natural predators in Florida and strangle and eat everything. The population of Burmese pythons, which are native to India and other parts of Asia, likely developed from pets released into the wild, either intentionally or in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Sight surveys in Everglades National Park have shown a drastic reduction in the state’s small mammal populations.
“You know, rabbits, coons, deer, bobcat, panthers, bear,” said Bergeron. “That’s what the snake eats. And being an invasive snake, they can get 20 feet long and weigh 200 pounds."
At the Python Challenge kick-off event, a wily python demonstration showed the snake hunters the trick to catching and bagging a python barehanded. The technique calls for coming up from behind the animal, pouncing on it and pinning down its head before it can bite or wrap its powerful body around the hunter. Other weapons allowed for the hunt: machetes and guns.
Whoever catches the most pythons in the month-long challenge wins $3,500 - enough to turn one of the trophies into a new wallet, belt or pair of boots.MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) - A group of youths with machetes and knives killed three people on Kenya’s coast after police raided two mosques that officials said were used to recruit Islamist militants, police said on Tuesday.
Hand grenades and other items are displayed by police after an early morning raid at a mosque in the coastal town of Mombasa November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Joseph Okanga
At least two of the three were Christian.
About 10 youths chanting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest”, killed a shopkeeper who tried to close his store in case of a riot, police had said late on Monday. The man’s brother said he was Christian. On Tuesday, police said two more people had been killed, at least one of them Christian.
Police had raided two Mombasa mosques on Monday, seizing weapons and literature, which officials said was evidence of militant activity. They shot one man dead, who they said was trying to attack them, and arrested 251 other people.
Kenya has been trying to break up the militant networks that it blames for a series of attacks on its coast and the port city of Mombasa, saying many of the recruits have been inspired by al Qaeda-linked Somali Islamist group, al Shabaab.
Mombasa county police commander Robert Kitur said the youths had killed the two other men when they attacked people on public transport. Two more people were wounded, he said.
“We have launched an operation which is still ongoing, and so far we have arrested 16 suspects,” he said, referring to detentions related to violence after the raid.
The detainees were expected to be charged on Tuesday, he said.
Civil rights groups say police have been targeting Muslims unfairly, deepening distrust in a community which already accuses the government in mainly Christian Kenya of sidelining them.
Police raids in the past on other mosques, which officials suspect of being used as recruitment centers, have sparked violent protests.Ask a non-San Diegan what they think of when they hear the words San Diego. Most people will say “the beach.” Outside of that, you’re likely to hear about Mexican food, bad sports teams, or cetacean reproductive organs, thanks to Will Ferrell. If Stone CEO Greg Koch and former Mayor Jerry Sanders get their way, craft beer is about to get a major bump.
On September 19, scores of local policymakers gathered for a hospitality and tourism economic summit focused on craft beer at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station. Councilmen, congressional candidates, hoteliers, sports executives and theme park operators took in presentations with one goal in mind: make San Diego synonymous with craft beer. While it may seem like San Diego has long-since attained this goal, Koch thinks we can do better.
Koch began by looking at how integrated beer and wine are into the cultures of Munich and Napa Valley, respectively. Looking at those cities, he lamented that someone can “live in or visit San Diego and leave not understanding the significant presence that San Diego craft beer has grown to, and the international recognition that we’ve earned.” Koch drove his point home by pointing out that San Diego netted fewer than 300 votes in Charlie Papazian’s most recent “BeerCity USA” poll. To put that in perspective, Grand Rapids won the poll with more than 27,000 votes.
Sanders, now the head of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, offered some suggestions on raising the profile of San Diego craft beer. “We need to make sure that we’re boasting about San Diego as a craft beer destination,” said Sanders. “We should make a pledge that when people come from all over the country to run in the Rock & Roll Marathon, they’re not getting Bud Light or Miller Lite, they’re getting San Diego craft beer that really brands our region.”
It’s evident from the summit that the San Diego beer industry can tap into unrealized potential with a proactive strategy. Instead of thinking of the beer as a cherry on top of the beautiful weather, Koch and Sanders want San Diegans to think of beer as the main course. Only time will tell if San Diego will be able to market itself as more than just the sun.
Ed. note: One concrete way that you can help spread the word of San Diego craft beer is to invite your friends to visit during San Diego Beer Week, especially for the Guild Fest (Nov. 1 & 2) that supports the San Diego Brewers Guild. Also, use the hashtags #GuildFest #BrewerTakeover & #SDBWMobsterMania
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Your daily schedule of epic adventure playing and rescues, support, and ambush missions is abruptly interrupted by a frightening call from the officer in charge of you. You've been condemned for taking part in a bombing in the downtown of one of your race's colonies. Over 500 people were killed. How did the commanding officer find out? Investigations have found files referring the Captain on confiscated intel from suspected terrorist bases. Of course, you never committed the crime, and was instead framed by an unknown, yet clever criminal.
The penalty for such action is execution, however after your trial you were actually sentenced to exilation from your race. Your escort ship brings you to a known wasteland planet and drops you down there with only a one-message only radio and a newspaper copy of the incident. You fear the worst. You've heard of this planet; a barren rock with no known source of food or water on it.
However, this planet is not as empty as it seems....
Prologue: Words of the Wasteland
It's a clicky, so play now!
Words of the Condemned
Words of the Forsaken
Words of Realization
Words of Hospitality (fifth episode!)
Words of Identity *NEWEST*
OVER 15000 plays TOTAL!
It's a clicky, so play now! This message was edited 10 times. Last update was at 08/09/2011 03:21:15Desperate RIM Gives In And Lets Indian Gov't Spy On Blackberry Communications
from the impossible-doesn't-mean-what-it-used-to dept
RIM recently demonstrated a solution developed by a firm called Verint that can intercept messages and emails exchanged between BlackBerry handsets, and make these encrypted communications available in a readable format to Indian security agencies, according to an exchange of communications between the Canadian company and the Indian government.
Back in 2008, we wrote about how the Indian government was demanding that RIM let it snoop on encrypted messages from Blackberry users. RIM's response was that it was simply impossible to snoop on its enterprise customers' messages, since they set their own encryption keys. A few months later, the government claimed to have cracked RIM's encryption, though the whole claim was sketchy. In 2010, the government again demanded the right to spy on Blackberry users (raising more questions about that encryption cracking claim). RIM apparently offered up a "solution" that the Indian government rejected, because it didn't let them snoop enough (basically it allowed snooping on consumers, but not corporate accounts).Now, however, there are reports that RIM has come up with a "solution" to let the Indian government spy on enterprise users as well If you're a RIM Blackberry customer, and you bought into it because of the security features, now would be the point where you get pretty pissed off and start seeking alternatives. The report from the Economic Times suggests RIM did this because of the "importance" of the Indian market. RIM is clearly in trouble. Its failure to keep up on the innovation front means that the company is clearly struggling. But kowtowing to a government by allowing it to spy on users is hardly the sort of thing that's likely to get you more customers. It seems like it should do exactly the opposite.
Filed Under: blackberry, encryption, india, snooping
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Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Reps. Ted Poe, R-Texas, and Mike Thompson, D.-Calif., have reintroduced legislation that aims to level the playing field for clean energy.
On Oct. 25, Coons introduced the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act, or S. 2005. The bill aims to allow investors in a range of clean energy projects to access a decades-old corporate structure whose tax advantage is currently available only to investors in fossil fuel-based energy projects.
A master limited partnership (MLP) is a business structure that is taxed as a partnership, but whose ownership interests are traded like corporate stock on a market. By statute, MLPs are currently only available to investors in energy portfolios for oil, natural gas, coal extraction and pipeline projects. A statement issued by Coons notes that these projects get access to capital at a lower costs and are more liquid than traditional financing approaches to energy projects, making them highly effective at attracting private investment. Investors in clean energy projects, however, have been explicitly prevented from forming MLPs, starving a fast-growing portion of America’s domestic energy sector of the capital it needs to build and grow.
The new legislation would extend the benefits of MLPs to solar, wind, marine and hydrokinetic, fuel cells, energy storage, combined-heat-and-power, biomass, waste heat-to-power, renewable fuels, biorefineries, energy efficient buildings, and carbon capture utilization and storage.
“Clean energy technologies have made tremendous progress in the last several decades, and they deserve the same shot at success in the market as traditional energy projects have experienced through the federal tax code,” Coons said. “By updating the code, the bipartisan Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act levels the playing field for a broad range of domestic energy sources—clean and traditional alike—to support the all-of-the-above energy strategy we need to power our country for generations to come. This practical, market-driven solution will unleash private capital and create jobs, and that’s why it has earned broad support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress as well as think tanks, business leaders, and investors. Updating the tax code in this way will help increase parity and ensure that these energy technologies can permanently benefit from the incentives that traditional energy sources have depended on to build infrastructure for more than 30 years.”
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization has spoken out in support of the bill. “The Master Limited Partnership Parity Act will help U.S. renewable chemical and advanced biofuel companies compete for investment dollars,” said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO. “The global market for biobased products is projected to double by 2024. This legislation can help U.S. producers capture their fair share of that economic growth, revitalize the domestic manufacturing sector, and create new jobs and economic opportunities. We are especially pleased that the legislation captures the rapid growth and new classes of renewable chemicals that U.S. companies are developing, including those that reuse captured carbon.”
In the Senate, the MLP Parity Act was cosponsored by Sens. Coons; Moran; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Angus King, I-Maine; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.
In the House, the MLP Parity Act was cosponsored by Representatives Ted Poe, R-Texas; Mike Thompson, D-Calif.; Mark Amodei, R-Nev.; Peter Welch, D-Vt.; Jerry McNerney, D-Calif.; Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.; and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.Star Wars is about to get its first official gay person. Moff Mors, a character in Paul S. Kemp's upcoming Star Wars: Lords of the Sith novel, will become the first LGBT character in official Star Wars canon when the book is released in late April. Shelly Shapiro, editor at Star Wars book publisher Del Rey, confirmed the addition of the character during an interview on Big Shiny Robot's "Full of Sith" podcast. Mors, who is a lesbian, is described as an "incredibly capable" Imperial leader who spends much of the book working to prevent "absolute failure."
Moff Mors is a lesbian
Shapiro said that Mors will become the first officially recognized LGBT character in Star Wars canon, but noted that gay characters have been referenced in other media set in the galaxy far far away. Two male Mandalorians, Goran Beviin and Medrit Vasur, were married in Karen Traviss' Legacy of the Force books, and BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic video game, released in 2003, allowed for the possibility of same-sex relationships between the player and their AI companions.
Despite these nods, Star Wars has generally done a poor job of recognizing the existence of LGBT people — no openly gay characters appear in the movies, and the references to homosexual relationships that are present in the games and books can be skipped by the player or misinterpreted by the reader. The message was inconsistent, too: while BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic made same-sex relationships possible, spiritual successor The Old Republic only allowed for heterosexual relationships between players and AI characters at launch. On the game's official forums, BioWare censored the words "homosexual," "lesbian," and "gay," and community managers shut down topics discussing the issue of same-sex relationships, saying in 2009 that "these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars."
Game developer BioWare previously said "gay" was not a term that existed in Star Wars
BioWare went some way to making amends in 2013 with the release of The Old Republic's first expansion pack, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, which introduced Makeb — a new planet that offered the possibility for the player to pursue same-sex relationships. The developer was criticized for apparently shepherding all of the galaxy's gay people onto one planet, but the move at least countermanded the directive that LGBT people simply don't exist in a universe alongside pig-people, magic mountains, and genetically engineered talking Ewok pilots.
Mors' introduction and official recognition comes shortly after the entire Star Wars expanded universe was blown up. The hard reboot may have wiped away some 30 years of stories, but thankfully it also seems to be clearing Star Wars' strange blind spot for LGBT characters, and ushering in a new, more inclusive take on sci-fi's biggest series.0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
On the heels of such a devastating blow to civil rights for minorities in this country with the Supreme Court ruling on voter rights just yesterday, today’s ruling on the unconstitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act is an unbelievable victory for gay and lesbian Americans.
I am one of those. I am a lesbian who is a mother and grandmother. (37 and a half hours of labor proves it). I was raised by heterosexual Christian parents opposed to gay marriage. My daughter has become a lovely, mature well-adjusted heterosexual adult and a stellar mother.
I share this because the opponents of equality for lesbian and gays are in a panic and their heads are exploding today as evidenced by the despicable assertions that this is going to hurt children. One of these bigots, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) says the Supreme Court hurt children by striking down because every child deserves a mother and a father. No disrespect to my own parents, but my daughter’s life as a young girl growing up in a lesbian household was filled with love, caring and guidance. I grew up with discord and opposition in an environment where my parents were incapable of demonstrating love and nurturing.
What are these people so afraid of? They immediately spread lies about harm to children. This has happened over and over again with regard to allowing LGBT folks to teach in public schools. They viciously claim that we have some sort of quota to fill and are out to indoctrinate your children. That is a lie! What I worried about when raising my own daughter, was being indoctrinated by these religious zealots – and that is a very real threat. In fact, one of the most upsetting times in my life was when my own religious mother told my then 4 yr old daughter, that I would go to hell because I was a pervert and my daughter would never see me again. How is that for spreading love?
No one is demanding that churches be forced to perform gay marriages in their houses of worship. No one. Marriage ceremonies have been occurring outside of churches forever that will continue for heterosexuals and now gays in the states that have legalized
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notifications in Elixir with Ravenx
Óscar de Arriba Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 25, 2017
During the development of the new version of Acutario in Elixir, we had some issues related to notification dispatching.
One of the improvements we are working on is the possibility of sending notifications to multiple services, like e-mail, Slack, push notifications to mobile apps…
That functionality make us face with the problem of using different strategies depending on a concrete scenario that can be different for each user we want to notify, so we decided to develop a library that help us to manage all that cases. And we called it Ravenx.
How Ravenx works
The library is made of strategies, which define a way of sending a notification (Slack, e-mail, APNS, etc), and they have an standard interface, so its internal behaviour is abstracted from the outside.
Currently, Ravenx has two different strategies:
Slack: provides sending slack messages using webhooks URLs.
provides sending slack messages using webhooks URLs. E-mail: provides sending emails using different strategies (the ones included in bamboo).
But, as we are going to see at the end of this article, new strategies can be easily implemented to manage sending notifications to other systems and platforms.
Also, there are several ways of defining configurations which the strategies will use to know how to send the notification.
Configurations are per strategy, so they defines how a notification is sent (for example, Mailgun’s configuration to send e-mails).
Global configuration
This approach includes two kinds of configuration:
General Ravenx configuration: like the custom strategies to use, or the configuration module of our app (we will see this two aspects in a few moments).
like the custom strategies to use, or the configuration module of our app (we will see this two aspects in a few moments). Per-strategy configuration: strategy-specific configuration (Mailgun’s config, Slack’s webhook URL…)
Configuration module
A module that have a function for each strategy that receives the payload and returns a map with configurations that apply to that specific payload.
These configuration modules are useful to automatise the configuration generation, for example, if we need to retrieve the slack username of each user in each notification.
Particular configuration
This is a configuration map sent when a notification is dispatched. Useful to add configuration generated right before sending the notification.
Ravenx.dispatch(strategy, payload, %{url: "...", icon: ":bird:"})
Mixing configurations
For a given notification dispatch we can have configurations of the three kinds. In that case, configurations are merged with this priorities:
Global < Module < Particular
So a particular configuration key is used even if it’s defined in the configuration returned by a configuration module or by the app configuration.
Sending a notification
Ravenx allows to send a notification in a synchronous or asynchronous way. In case you want to send a notification in an asynchronous way, a Task will be launched to perform the operation under the hood.
To send a notification, the only action needed is a call to the library:
Sending multiple notifications
Sending a standalone notification is cool, but no one needs another library for that. The true functionality in Ravenx is sending a notification using multiple strategies in an easy way.
To do that, the library defines a macro that can be used to generate notification modules, which can be used to define how to send a particular notification using multiple strategies.
That modules must define a function called get_notifications_config that receives an object and returns a Keyword list with information of which strategies and which payloads will be used:
So that allows to define all the logic behind a notification generation in a particular module.
That modules can be used (as seen above) to dispatch the notifications in both synchronous and asynchronous way, as when we dispatched simple notifications.
Custom strategies
Anyone can create custom strategies and integrate them with Ravenx. To do that, the only requirement is to implement the interface needed and tell Ravenx which modules should use as strategies:
What Ravenx doesn’t do
Ravenx doesn’t take care of dispatching schedule (limiting the amount of notifications sent simultaneously). As Erlang VM can virtually take care of a lot (really, a lot) of internal processes, this is not a real issue.
You can send a lot of notifications asynchronously and the Erlang VM will be able to manage them without much problem.
Wrapping up
Ravenx is not the perfect solution for all the notification scenarios (and it is not intended to be that), but in Acutario we think this can solve some complex scenarios in which you can have to deal with changing configurations, multiple strategies and massive dispatches of notifications.
Using notification modules alongside with the configuration options, the code related to notifications can be organised and reused, avoiding repetitions in multiple places of your code.
If you have any question about Ravenx, you can read its documentation here, ask any question here or just open an issue! (Pull requests are welcome too :)
Hope you enjoyed this article and see you soon (in ElixirConf.EU if you assist!)An Indiana man who pleaded guilty to setting fire to a mosque in Ohio told the judge that, prior to the arson, he had been "riled up" watching Fox News.
On Sept. 30, Randolph Linn of St. Joseph, Ind., tried to burn down the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, The Plain Dealer previously reported. It was reported that he attempted to burn down the mosque in retaliation for attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East and for Muslims getting a "free pass" in the U.S. While being booked in jail, Linn reportedly said, "F**k those Muslims."
In court on Wednesday, Linn plead guilty to the arson charge. He said that he had gotten "riled up" watching Fox News, according to the Sentinel-Tribune, and drank 45 beers in seven hours before heading to the mosque. Linn started a fire in the prayer room, northwestohio.com reported.
“Every day you turn on the TV, you see Muslims trying to kill Americans,” he said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. When asked whether he thinks all Muslims are terrorists, Linn reportedly responded, “I’d say most of them are.”
Linn's viewpoints upset some in attendance at the court hearing on Wednesday.
“And I was more sad when Judge [Jack] Zouhary asked him that, ‘Do you know any Muslims or do you know what Islam is?’” a member of the mosque told WNWO after the hearing. “And he said, ‘No, I only know what I hear on Fox News and what I hear on radio.’”
Linn plead guilty to intentionally defacing, damaging and destroying religious real property because of the religious character of that property; using fire to commit a felony; and using and carrying a firearm to commit a crime of violence, the Albany Tribune reported. He likely faces 20 years in prison.As we saw in a previous blog post, OSSEC is UDP based. This is great for performance, and can scale to 1000s of nodes. However, it means there is an inherent problem of reliability. UDP is a connection-less protocol, hence the OSSEC agent has no guaranteed way of knowing that a particular event has been delivered to the OSSEC server. Instead, the architecture relies on heartbeats and keepalives. However, there is still a potential for lost events no matter how short the interval between keepalives. In this article we explore a simple python based broker solution that introduces some (but not complete) reliability into the OSSEC architecture, at the cost of performance.
The first requirement of the broker solution is that it absolutely does not touch any existing code from the current OSSEC solution. It must interfere as little as possible with the current solution, so that if there any updates or changes in OSSEC the broker can either continue to work as normal, or at least be removed and allow OSSEC to work as originally intended. To achieve this, the broker is also going to be split into two components: a TCP server which is installed on the same machine as the OSSEC server, and a proxy-like solution which is installed on the same machine as the OSSEC client.
The general idea is that the OSSEC client is configured to send it’s traffic to 127.0.0.1 rather than directly to the server. The broker client intercepts the UDP packets (which are kept encrypted and compressed, maintaining end to end security), and before sending them on to the OSSEC server, it checks via TCP (reliably) if the broker server is still reachable and if the ossec-remoted process is still alive. If the broker server responds, the the broker client “releases” the packets and forwards them on to the original OSSEC server. If no answer is received from the broker server, the broker client assumes the server is down and buffers the original UDP packets into a queue. After a while, the OSSEC agent will realise the server is down and pause operations (other than keepalives) When the server comes back online the broker client replays back all the packets that have been buffered, so no events would be lost. The general architecture is as follows:
Starting from the client, we have the following code, commented so one can follow along:
The server is significantly simpler, shown below:
Kicking the tires and testing
We use the same troubleshooting and techniques we used in the previous blog post.
First we setup the server, which is also quite straightforward. We just run the ossec_broker_server.py file, and of course ensure that the ossec process is actually running properly. Next, the client. We start off by starting the python client on the windows machine (assuming python is installed), and pointing the OSSEC agent to 127.0.0.1:
We immediately see some output on the ossec broker client, something like so:
We should also check the OSSEC agent logs to make sure it connected successfully to 127.0.0.1:
So far so good… we have communication between the OSSEC agent and the OSSEC server, through the broker. Now, time to test a network interruption. If we simply stop the ossec broker server (simulating such an interruption), we should see the OSSEC agent fail to keep communicating with the OSSEC server:
Now, during this interruption (but before the agent keepalives force a lock on the event viewer, so within a minute in default installs…) we generate some events:
These events would normally be lost, because the agent has not yet had time to realise there is a disconnection. So we now turn the server back on, and check the OSSEC archive logs to check if the above events were delivered anyways:
Success! 🙂 There are some improvements to be made, but the principle is sound, if one can look past the added overhead introduced to accommodate reliability.NFL Training Camp – both an end and a beginning in professional football. Much like Greenwich Mean Time, the Equator and the Continental Divide, NFL Training Camps mark a line a demarcation between preparation and execution at the organizational level.
Preparing for the NFL Draft
From a Player Personnel perspective this is the culmination of a year’s work of gathering new talent to maintain success or to build towards it for the future. NFL talent scouts began combing the country throughout the spring of 2011 in search of those college players worthy of consideration for the 2012 draft. Evaluations were submitted, crosschecks were ordered and the draft boards began to take shape.
There were practices to watch, games to attend, interviews to be conducted and bowl games to observe all throughout the college season. Afterwards were the College All-Star Games, the annual NFL Combine and individual workouts at Pro Days scheduled right up to the festivities in New York; Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Trent Richardson,...
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NFL Free Agency commences
Free Agency commenced with opportunities for greener pastures, big bonuses and a chance to reshape careers. Negotiations ran rampant as sports agents worked diligently to get their players resigned or relocated with one of the thirty-two teams. Visits were set, dinner reservations made, and hours of question and answers exchanged to find the right fit. (think “The Peyton Manning Tour)
No tackles were made, not a touchdown scored. But you can bet that the media and fans were keeping close tabs of who was “winning and losing” throughout the process. Rosters began to bloat up to numbers commensurate with Training Camp needs, veterans were released, and rookie hopefuls were signed. All of this taking place throughout the year prior to the end of July.
Philosophies have changed, new directions have been taken, and even an ownership has changed hands. There are thirty-two teams undefeated and thirty-two without a win. And as GM’s and Head Coaches walked on to their Training Camp fields, they knew that this was the beginning of the end of the preparation for the beginning of the 2012 NFL Season.
Building an NFL organization
So much goes into the building of an NFL organization and today’s fans are sophisticated enough to understand you don’t just toss a ball out on week one and make your way to the Super Bowl. No, it both finishes and starts over six weeks in the middle of summer. It’s a bit surreal, the only time that all of your organization is gathered in the same place at the same time; front office, coaching staff, players, scouts, support and the like. Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants a peek at the latest version of the Cowboys, Steelers, Dolphins, Giants, or whatever team you root or work for.
Predictions are already being made, pundits are racking up the frequent flyer miles and nobody really knows how things are going to turn out. I guess that’s what makes NFL Training Camps so enticing towards the thought of a new season, with new players and new expectations.
So as you pass out of your own offseason mode and into the start of another NFL regular season, just keep in mind the uniqueness of the NFL Training Camp experience for all those involved and for some of you, be thankful that you’re undefeated now and hope that your scouts are paying attention for 2013 Draft. “You’re gonna need to start over!”Jürgen Klopp has an interesting turn of phrase when it comes to describing Liverpool’s summer transfer policy. “In Germany, we say ‘we have to eat a lot of frogs’,” he said.
‘Bite the bullet’ is the closest English idiom to the one Klopp chose to explain why Champions League qualification will be vital to attracting top-quality players to Anfield.
At the beginning of last month, Liverpool’s manager said that he did not want players who were interested in joining the club only for Champions League football, and that his priority instead was signings who were keen to help push the team towards greater success.
Yet with a top-four Premier League finish now within grasp, Klopp appears to have relaxed his stance a little. He is, as the saying goes, ready to eat the frogs.Last year, the School District of Philadelphia, facing a shortfall of more than $300 million, instituted a “doomsday” budget that ultimately closed 24 schools. Those included the 99-year-old Germantown High School, whose students would attend Martin Luther King High, its former bitter rival.
“We Could Be King” tracks the efforts to combine the schools’ football teams, in spite of the lack of funds. Led by Ed Dunn, a 27-year-old laid-off Germantown math teacher who becomes the volunteer head coach, the King Cougars must first learn how to play together, then try to turn around a program whose only win in two years was a forfeit.
“He’s your brother, pull him up, don’t pull him down,” Mr. Dunn exhorts time and again, as players clash at practices.
Directed by Judd Ehrlich, “King” has a memorable season’s worth of moving stories to tell on and off the field, as rich as any in “Friday Night Lights.” Most Cougar players come from turbulent, impoverished backgrounds: Dontae Angus, a huge defensive tackle, hopes to get a scholarship to the University of Florida; Sal Henderson, a talented safety and team leader, runs into trouble with the law and misses several games.Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak had a quick chat with FayerWayer earlier this week, and the site asked him about a wide range of topics, including the new look of iOS 7 and the recent revelations about the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program. Wozniak’s most interesting comments, though, were about how cloud computing is slowly eroding the concept of owning content that we pay for, which in turn leaves us with less freedom than we used to have.
“Nowadays in the digital world you can hardly own anything anymore,” he said. “It’s all these subscriptions… and you’ve already agreed that every right in the world belongs to them and you’ve got no rights. And if you’ve put it on the cloud, you don’t own it. You’ve signed away all the rights to it. If it disappears, if they decide deliberately that they don’t like you and they cut that off, you’ve lost all the photographs of your life… When we grew up ownership was what made America different than Russia.”
The full video is posted below.Birdseye map of Pittsburgh by Krens in 1874
US40 #22 PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (Birdseye Map, 1874, KREBS) Date: 1874 Author: Krebs Dwnld: Full Size (6mb) Source: Library of Congress Print Availability: See our Prints Page for more details pff
This map is part of a series depicting the 40 largest cities in the United States (as ranked by CBSA). This series will run through the month of July.
Soothing Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [gmap] illustration with a bucolic charm.
(If this image was any more low-oblique angled, it'd be taxing the "Map" part of Big Map Blog. I'm gonna go ahead and count it, though. It's a great image, and it depicts spatial relationships within a city, so map-prescriptivists be damned. I'll leave the task of maintaining the Big Illustration Blog to someone else...
For more map resources and imagery from this period in Pittsburgh's history, check out the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's website.297
Chicago, IL 60622
The absolute best food in Chicago. Drunk or sober or eaten the next day warmed up, will never disappoint. My favorite spots to hit him up are gold star in the winter and happy village in the summer.
I used to love Tamale Guy. Running into him could make my night. Things have changed. A couple of months I saw him and asked for cheese/queso tamales. He said yes and handed me two bags. Both had meat tamales. It could have been an accident. I saw him again tonight and the same thing happened. If you don't have cheese say so, don't nod and hand me something else. I'm done wasting my money on food I don't want or eat. He used to actually give me what I ordered and the tamales are very good. If you want meat then they're worth buying. If not, save your $7.
My hot date and I ordered a delicious pack of chicken tamales. The four red tamales had what I thought a generous amount of chicken. He gave a tasty green salsa to accompany. I would definitely purchase again.
Best f'in tamales ever!!! So cheap he could totally charge way more. We paid $6 for 6!
The Tamela Guy came through when I was drunk and hungry. He's a God send. He come down from the tamale heavens when one needs his help. Every time I'm in need on tamales I pray to the Tamale Guy and he answers my prayers. They should build I shrine to him. Amen
You haven't had a solid night out on the town in Chicago unless you have run into the tamale guy! Seriously, he is a damn hero.
I'm drunk right now and these tamales taste good like a mother. These little hot sauces are good as hell. This guy just walked in here and walked straight to the Mexican knowing damn well we were gonna buy some. Yo too good soaked up all the alcohol!
This guy is a Chicago institution. Delicious tamales at a great price - I paid $7 for 1 set of 5 tamales. He came to the bar I was at and I couldn't say no. I would totally do it again - I can't think of anything I'd rather eat during a late night out.
You haven't experienced Chicago until you've tried Claudio's tamales at some random 4am bar. I've only encountered him in Wicker/Bucktown/Logan square establishments and every time his tamales had been great. It's a far better late night snack option than greasy pizza or hot dogs. https://twitter.com/tamaletracker
Never disappoints. I always order cheese tamales and even if he's out he will come back to fill my order when he reups. Every gig I go to I hope and I pray that he comes. I often have luck at the Hideout and Empty Bottle but not always. I'm always so disappointed when a friend wants to leave a show early before the Tamale Guy comes. Even if I'm not hungry I always keep 6 bucks cash in my pocket because I know I will eat them later and they are just as good reheated. Great salsa that comes with it! I'm glad he gives plenty of napkins, I'm always a mess by the time I finish em. Give the man some love, he and his wife that cooks them work so hard and are as much a part of the machine that keeps the Chicago music scene going as any musician or club.
I don't even like tamales.. but these are amazing. The tamales are smaller so the dough to meat ratio is more balanced than most others I've had (it's about 50/50 dough-meat). If you see this guy walking around get some from him!!! The only downside is they are a little pricey, but when you're out and drunk, these make your night! All meats and both sauces are legit!!
Heard all about him and finally experienced the beauty of this man's work last night at Rose's.
Ever been drunk in a Chicago bar that doesn't serve food and thought " Man i'm hungry AF and I'm drunk " well guess who walks in just moments after that thought? His name is Claudio (just like my late fathers ) and he is some kind of a magical tamale fairy god father who magically appears if you wish for him hard enough (Its happened to me twice ).Not only are his tamales ALL that and a bag of taki's but hes a super cool dude. Beware of the imposter (he exist!) who kinda looks like him and sells tamales in bars as well. There is only One Tamale guy...and his name is CLAUDIO!
The sheer number if bars that the Tamale Guy is able to visit on the North side of Chicago is impressive. Just when you're sitting in a bar thinking, "I'm getting a little hungry, and I shouldn't drink anymore without eating," the Tamale Guy will come through like a refreshing zephyr. He is quick and doesn't dawdle around, so if you think you hear someone announcing, "tamale tamale," that is him and you'd better act quickly: he has more bars to hit and he doesn't go from person to person so be on the lookout. In his little cooler are ziplock bags filled with 5 tamales each; he has several types available. The tamales are quite tasty. Cash only.
I always have an eye out for Tamale Guy when I'm out. I am forever indebted to him for the time when I didn't have cash and he bartered tamales for a Starbucks giftcard.
Oh, Claudio, my 2am hero. For $5, I get my fill of drunk food, and usually have enough tamales left over for lunch the next day. My coworkers are usually green with envy when this happens. Please never stop coming to Archie's!
Has saved my life multiple times. I saw him once pull a baby from a car wreck. One time, his tamales stopped a gang war. It was the al pastor, both sides stopped arguing and started eating. I'd highly recommend it. Anyways, flag him down. Tamales are life changing, and they support world peace.
Ghadi, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, The Tamale Guy. Some people are put on this work to do the lord's work and my friends, my countrymen, my fellow Chicagoans...this man is doing just that! Who else would heed the desperate hunger cries from boozed-up bar patrons? Who can say if there is a heaven or a hell...but I have no doubt that saints walk among us my brothers and sisters because this man, this keeper of corn husks, this sultan of salsa verde, this CHAMPION of late night drunk food is a SAINT! The world looked up and slurred out "I'm s'hungry!!" And The Tamale Guy answered "..tamales...tamales..." Thank you, Tamale Guy. You are not the hero we deserve, but the one we certainly need.
Most of the summer I spend in a stupor, hiding in one of the stalls at work or making clay paws for animals who haven't died yet, in my apartment watching Bojack Horseman or movies I picked up at Redbox, on a divvy going nowhere, at food festivals where I don't eat or in movie theaters. I left Village Tavern and it's night out, the cars and pavement are slick with rain and reflecting light from the street lamps. I'm stuffing goji berries into my mouth that I carry around in a damp paper bag from Mariano's. The berries don't satisfy me, but anything I add will only make them worse. At the bar I sat at a table and checked my emails (Urge Ugandan President Museveni to Pass the Acid Attack Bill Now, Chip in and Help Fight the NRA, Find a Home for Syrian Refugees). Seated at the opposite table from me was an older guy, slim, wearing a dark suit and a fedora, and his face was hidden in the darkness except his mouth when his lips peeled back into a smile. Pretty sure he's following me now. I turn the corner where moss has overtaken the brickwork and cascades down the pavement. When I'm halfway down the block I look back, and there he is, the brim of his fedora shadowing his face except for that pearly white grin. I don't know who to call. This doesn't feel like a 911 call, he can still break off and then I'm left trying to convince the cops he was here. The sky fractures with a big, thick bolt of lightning, but no thunder follows it, and this buildup fills me with a nameless dread that makes my chest cavity cold. An ambulance races and flashes its siren lights down Thomas Street, but again, no siren. The lack of noise is deafening. I turn on Division, which is usually a busy street with its bars and outdoor seating, but the earlier rain has turned everyone away. I think I hear laughing behind me but don't want to look. I'm calling everyone in my recent call list. No one picks up. I go into my contacts and try to decide who will answer. Then I see it, a contact I've tried maybe twice before, but who always picks up no matter how late: The Tamale Guy. We stumble through a conversation because I'm breathing heavy and he doesn't speak english. Finally we agree on an intersection three blocks ahead. I drop the paper bag of goji berries and run. He's waiting for me there, with his patented blue cooler, hunched over and spitting in typewriter bursts if I want cheese, pork, chicken. I look back and the man in the hat is gone. It's 6 tamales for 5 bucks but I give him a 10 anyway. The plastic bag is stretched thin, melting slightly from the condensation that builds inside. Before I can tell him how thankful I am, he's gone. I eat my tamales on the hood of someone's car. The tamales are geared to a more American palate, but the masa is wonderfully soft and chewy, steam rising as soon as I bite into 1. Al pastor juice streams down my chin and I'm nodding reverently, moaning to myself. Tamale Guy, you've done it again.Hyderabad: Investigations by the National Investigation Agency into the face-off with terror suspects at Suryapet last week, in which two Simi activists were killed, indicate that the terror module was planning a strike in Delhi.
NIA sleuths are pursuing leads that show that the terror module was using Hyderabad and Vijayawada for logistics while planning a strike in the national capital. A senior intelligence official of the AP police said, “There is a strong Delhi link emerging. According to the NIA, the Simi operatives were planning to strike in Delhi or its surroundings.”
He said that apart from the Delhi-Hyderabad train ticket recovered from the suspects, the NIA had “specific inputs” pointing to a plot to strike in the capital.
On Monday intelligence agencies of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were informed by the Central agencies that the suspects were using Hyderabad and Vijayawada for logistics, committing robberies to collect money for their activities and as hideouts.
It is suspected that Hyderabad, Nalgonda and Vijayawada have Simi supporters. The official revealed that the Nalgonda district has around 45 identified sympathisers of Simi and other terror organisations. The Telangana government is yet to hand over the investigations into the shootout, in which three police personnel were killed in two related incidents on Thursday and Sunday, to the NIA.
The National Investigation Agency is carrying out a parallel investigation along with the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh police forces. The two suspects, Md Aijajuddeen, the amir (chief) of the module and Md Ismail who were shot dead in an encounter on Saturday were sharp shooters; of the 20 rounds they fired, 13 hit the cops killing three of them and injuring three others. Three more suspects out of the five who escaped from Khandwa jail in Madhya Pradesh in 2013 are still on the run.
Meanwhile, a counter intelligence official of Telangana dismissed reports that the police had found cellphones belonging to the terror suspects. He said police was trying to track their movements prior to the encounter.
“We are scouring the CCTV footage from the Nampally railway station on suspicion that the missing third terror suspect may have travelled from Delhi. We are also checking the CCTV footage from the Pandit Nehru bus station in Vijayawada as the two suspects travelled from Hyderabad to Vijayawada twice,” he said.
The demand to hand over the probe to the NIA is growing louder; BJP leaders have insisted that the government hand over the case to the Central agency.In a culture of 140 characters, swipe right, snaps with dog faces and whatever the hell chasing an imaginary Pokemon is called, we have increasingly become a country of people who have short attention spans. It's why there is probably nothing more popular than lists. Well, maybe Taylor Swift. A list of favorite Taylor Swift photos might actually break the internet.
And so, with America's love of lists in mind, we once again bring back an annual tradition in time for drafts. What follows now are 10 different lists... of 10.
List 1: 10 players who are not being drafted as starters (outside top 10 at QB and TE, outside top 20 at RB and WR), but who will break out and be drafted at least three rounds earlier next year.
1. Kirk Cousins, Washington Redskins: So-so defense, no running game, aggressive play calling, just improved the offensive line and one of the most talented corps of skill players around.
2. Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo Bills: Actually broke out last season, just no one realizes it. Big arm, big legs and a legit top-tier wideout.
3. Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Fantasy-friendly offense, talented skill players around him, one of only three rookies to throw for 4,000 yards. The other two, Andrew Luck and Cam Newton, were both top-five fantasy QBs in their second season.
4. Derrick Henry, Tennessee Titans: Spare me the Alabama RB narrative and just take a look at the best RB on a Titans team that wants to run, run, run.
5. Paul Perkins, New York Giants: I love pairing him with Rashad Jennings, as both will come cheaply, and combined you'll have a legit RB2 on a high-scoring offense.
6. Ameer Abdullah, Detroit Lions: Post-hype sleeper, the skills are still there and now the offense will actually run the way it's supposed to.
7. Stefon Diggs, Minnesota Vikings: Everyone wants to talk about Laquon Treadwell, but give me Diggs, who showed he has elite ability in a small sample size last season. The speedster enters the year as the No. 1 wideout on a team that will now play its home games indoors.
8. Travis Benjamin, San Diego Chargers: More for standard than PPR, but now with a real QB and a consistent role, Benjamin becomes a weekly big play waiting to happen.
9. Zach Miller, Chicago Bears: Finally has the full-time opportunity and the quarterback to take advantage of his 6-foot-5 frame and good hands.
10. Virgil Green, Denver Broncos: Tight ends with less skills have been nice fantasy assets in Gary Kubiak's offense before.
List 2: 10 leftover stats from my "100 facts" column
1. There's a lot of talk about a regression coming for Cam Newton's rushing last season, especially his 10 rushing touchdowns. Fair enough. His arm worked pretty well, too.
Aaron Rodgers last season: 3,821 yards, 31 TDs and 8 INTs.
Cam Newton last season: 3,837 passing yards, 35 TDs and 10 INTs.
2. In the past five seasons, there have been only three instances in the NFL where a QB has thrown 600 passes, completed at least 66 percent of them, but FAILED to throw at least 29 touchdowns:
Matt Ryan, 2013
Matt Ryan, 2014
Matt Ryan, 2015
3. Derek Carr threw multiple touchdown passes in 11 of the 14 games in which he attempted more than 25 passes last season. The average top-five quarterback (Newton, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, Blake Bortles, and Carson Palmer) had 9.8 such games last season. Rodgers, the No. 1 QB in 2014, had eight such games.
4. In his past eight games, Kamar Aiken has caught 50 passes on 83 targets for 611 yards and three touchdowns despite playing with four quarterbacks. If you project all of those numbers for a 16-game season: 100 catches (on 166 targets) for 1,222 yards and six touchdowns, or 158 fantasy points in ESPN standard scoring. That would have ranked him 13th at the position last season. The Ravens led the NFL in pass attempts in 2015. Along with Aiken, other wide receivers on the Ravens include 37-year-old Steve Smith Sr., inexperienced Breshad Perriman, who is returning from injury, and Mike Wallace, who is on his third team in as many years. Aiken is currently going as WR58, in the 14th round of ESPN drafts.
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5. In the seven games Vance McDonald and Blaine Gabbert played together last season, McDonald was the 11th-best tight end in fantasy. His 16-game pace with Gabbert as QB: 48 catches, 599 yards and seven touchdowns.
5a. Last season, Richard Rodgers was TE9 with 58 catches, 526 yards and 8 touchdowns.
6. Larry Fitzgerald was the leading fantasy WR on the Cardinals in three games in 2015.
6a. Michael Floyd was the leading fantasy WR on the Cardinals in four games in 2015.
6b. John Brown was the leading fantasy WR on the Cardinals in nine games in 2015. Brown is currently being drafted after Floyd and Fitzgerald.
7. Since entering the league in 2011, only Calvin Johnson has more receptions AND averages more yards per reception than A.J. Green.
8. There has been only one season in which a tight end eclipsed the 215 fantasy point plateau. It was Rob Gronkowski in 2011.
8a. That same year, teammate Aaron Hernandez was TE3 with 127 points in ESPN standard scoring.
9. Last season, Thomas Rawls ranked 33rd in carries. He was tied for eighth in carries gaining 20-plus yards.
10. In the 15 games Jameis Winston and Mike Evans played together last season, Evans was responsible for 25 percent of Winston's completions and 29.3 percent of his targets.
10a. Players responsible for less than 25 percent of their team's completions in 2015 included Doug Baldwin (23.4 percent), Allen Robinson (22.5 percent), Jordan Reed (22.5 percent).
10b. Players responsible for less than 29.3 percent of their team's targets in 2015 included Brandon Marshall (29.0 percent), Jarvis Landry (28.7 percent), A.J. Green (26.8 percent) and Larry Fitzgerald (26.3 percent).
10c. Even with a missed game, Evans ranked seventh in target percentage and 13th in reception percentage.
List 3: 10 rookies I would draft, in order, in a dynasty league
1. Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys
2. Josh Doctson, WR, Washington Redskins
3. Sterling Shepard, WR, New York Giants
4. Corey Coleman, WR, Cleveland Browns
5. Laquon Treadwell, WR, Minnesota Vikings
6. Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
7. Derrick Henry, RB, Tennessee Titans
8. Devontae Booker, RB, Denver Broncos
9. Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints
10. Leonte Carroo, WR, Miami Dolphins
List 4: 10 best fantasy football team names (that I can print!)
As always, way too many submissions to make them all into the column. There were thousands (yes, thousands) of submissions on Facebook and Twitter, but I can tell you that Zach Ertz, Tyler Eifert, Stefon Diggs, Harambe the gorilla, J.J. Watt, Isaiah Pead, Todd Gurley
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, assuming that LLINs have similar developmental benefits to deworming (on a per-person-per-year basis), though this calculation excludes other benefits of LLINs such as direct mortality benefits.
Note: we have updated this section (and the linked spreadsheets) since initially posting to incorporate the short-term health benefits of deworming; across all scenarios we assume that each dewormed person experiences current health benefits of value equivalent to a 0.51% increase in income. This value was chosen because it results in 71% of the total benefits of deworming in our preferred scenarios (and 60% in the full set of considered scenarios) arising from developmental effects, the same as in the “lives saved equivalent” framework discussed above (assuming the short term health effects of deworming from the DCP2).
Our spreadsheet on financial returns performs this comparison. As in the previous section, many assumptions and judgment calls must be made. Regarding deworming, we have the same questions as in the previous section regarding the reliability and external validity of the studies on developmental benefits. Regarding cash transfers, there are additional questions: how much of the transfers are likely to be invested, and what rate of return are they likely to earn? What discount rate should be used to capture the fact that (a) recipients prefer present consumption to future consumption; (b) donors can invest their money and give later rather than giving today and letting recipients invest it?
Our spreadsheet on financial returns (XLS) addresses these questions.
Again, because this calculation is extremely sensitive to small changes in inputs, we provide the inputs for myself, Elie and Alexander. We also encourage readers to use the spreadsheet to enter their own assumptions. You can do so by going to the “Overview” sheet in our spreadsheet on financial returns, manually editing columns J through Q for any row, and watching the output in columns S through Z.
Elie’s assumptions: 50% of deworming goes to children; child-years of deworming by SCI are on average 1/3 as effective as child-years in the key study; 30.25% adjustment for external validity concerns; cash transfers are 75% invested, returning 10% a year with a 5% discount rate; 40% replicability adjustment for deworming and a 95% replicability adjustment for cash. (Elie assigns a much lower likely rate of return than seen in the studies on cash transfers, and as such does not do another large “replicability adjustment” for this.) This results in deworming being 2.3x as cost-effective as cash, with each dollar spent leading to total benefits equal to 1.25% of annual income for deworming, vs. 0.55% for cash. (In a family with the sort of income reported for GiveDirectly’s clients, this would translate to the equivalent of $2.98 in benefits for every dollar donated for deworming; $1.30 for cash.)
Holden’s assumptions: I did two different estimates, one representing low skepticism about results found in studies and another representing high skepticism. In both, I assume 50% of deworming goes to children; that child-years of deworming by SCI are on average 50% as effective as child-years in the key study; a 30.25% adjustment for external validity concerns (based on before-and-after rates of heavy-to-moderate worm infections in the key study); and a 75% investment rate (i.e., cash transfers are 75% invested vs. 25% consumed) with a 5% discount rate. However, in one case I give both the cash and deworming studies a 50% chance of holding up under replication, and use a rate of return (25%) that is triangulated from studies; in the other case I use a 5% rate of return on investment (which effectively assumes simply keeping up with the discount rate, i.e., not earning any substantive return on investment) while applying a 30% “replicability adjustment” to the deworming study. These assumptions result in deworming being ~2.9-4.2x as cost-effective as cash. In the less skeptical version, each dollar spent on deworming leads to total benefits equal to 1.93% of annual income, as opposed to 0.66% for cash; in the more skeptical version, each dollar spent on deworming leads to total benefits equal to 1.36% of annual income, as opposed to 0.32% for cash. (In a family with the sort of income reported for GiveDirectly’s clients, this would translate to the equivalent in $4.58 (optimistic)/$3.22 (skeptical) in benefits for every dollar donated for deworming; $1.57 (optimistic)/$0.76 (skeptical) for cash.)
Alexander’s assumptions are similar to those in my “optimistic” scenario except that he (as described above) assumes that 100% of the child-years of deworming are as effective as the child-years from the key study and takes the average of the reported ranges for cash transfer ROI across the two longer-term studies (54%). These go in opposite directions, leading to the conclusion that each dollar spent on deworming translates to total benefits worth 3.36% of annual income ($7.97 in a family with the sort of income reported for GiveDirectly’s clients) while each dollar spent on cash transfers translates to total benefits worth 1.21% of annual income ($2.87), which implies that deworming is ~2.8x as cost-effective as cash.
Relative to the ranges of assumptions we consider, our individual estimates come out more positive for cash transfers. The mean across the 6,075 scenarios representing each combination of our assumption set is that each dollar spent on deworming increases annual consumption by 3.37% and each dollar spent on cash transfers increases annual consumption by 0.65%, implying that deworming is ~5x as cost-effective as cash transfers.
ConclusionFor this special edition of the food calendar, we present to you a meticulously curated collection of restaurants. Because let's face it, your family isn't going to love you anymore if you spend 16 hours doing meal prep. (Also, you just don't have the upper body strength required to stuff that duck into that turkey. Sorry.)
Hard times? No friends? Emotionally crippled by seasonal gourds? Let The Slow Bone (above) be your safe place. Jack Perkins and company will prepare a feast with all the trimmings, free of charge, to anyone who comes aknockin'. Because that's what Thanksgiving is all about. Well, that and giblet gravy.
What it be: Free Thanksgiving lunch at The Slow Bone
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When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 from 1 - 4 p.m.
Where dat is: 2234 Irving Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75207
*****
Thanksgiving, meet brunch. The New York Times may have declared war on brunch, but the Omni doesn't seem to care. Instead, they're taking brunch to the next level: the holiday level. The menu features mimosas (of course), sangria (of course) or bloody Marys (of course), along with Texas hog, turkey, soups, cheeses and a whole host of traditional breakfast items. Adults are $55, and children 5-12 are $19. For more information, call 214-744-6664.
What it be: Thanksgiving at Texas Spice Restaurant at Omni Dallas Hotel
When it do: Thursday, Nov 27 from 10 a.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Where dat is: 555 S Lamar St, Dallas, Texas 75202
*****
O.K., so Thanksgiving at the Original Pancake House doesn't exactly conjure up images of a Norman Rockwell painting. But I say this is the perfect opportunity to put turkey on a Dutch Baby. Just think -- this is your chance to be the culinary version of Christopher Columbus! Minus the uh, unbelievable cruelty. Cost is $14.99 for adults and $12.99 for kids. For more information, call 817-421-3444.
What it be: Second Annual Thanksgiving at Grapevine Original Pancake House - a portion of the proceeds benefit GRACE
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 from 7:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Where dat is: 1505 William D. Tate Ave Grapevine, Texas 76051
*****
If you're anything like my Uncle Pat then you already draw mental associations when you heard the words "smoke" and "Thanksgiving." Needless to say, he's still very sorry about setting the patio on fire during The Deep Fried Turkey Incident of 2012. But here's a better association for you: let the good people at SMOKE make Thanksgiving dinner for you. "For $30 per person ($1 per year for children under 12), feast on your choice of Pit Roasted Prime Rib Roast with Cider Vinegar (Garlic & Mint Jus), SMOKE's House Ham with Dublin Dr. Pepper Red Eye Gravy, or Hickory Smoked Farm Turkey with Mushroom & Marjoram Gravy, and enjoy a spread of all of your favorite fixings, family-style." For more information, call 214-393-4141.
What it be: Thanksgiving at SMOKE
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 seatings from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Where dat is: 901 Ft. Worth Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75208
*****
Are you a knight? Do you say ni? Would you like a festive, four-course Thanksgiving meal with optional beer pairings in a casual, no-mail-coif-required atmosphere? If so, head to Holy Grail Pub, where notable menu items include roasted root vegetables with goat cheese dressing, smoked corn chowder with chorizo and jalapeño corn waffle and lamb chops with sweet potatoes and endive. Price is $35 per knight ($50 including beer.) For more information, call 972-377-6633.
What it be: Thanksgving at Holy Grail Pub
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 from noon - 7 p.m.
Where dat is: 8240 Preston Rd, Plano, Texas 75024
*****
When I was eight, my family's oven died right before Thanksgiving. We made the best of the local Ramada Inn's rendition of T-gives, but a dessert buffet can only compensate for so much dry turkey and overly starched linen. The Fairmont's Thanksgiving brunch -- with its "roasted turkey with corn bread and chorizo stuffing, grilled flat iron steaks, pumpkin flan [and] petite pecan pies" -- is slated to be the antithesis of my Ramada experience. Prices for adults are $69, $59 for seniors and $35 for kids 6-12. For more information, call 214-720-5249.
What it be: Thanksgiving at The Fairmont Dallas
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27. Seating times are 11:00am; 11:30am; 1:30pm; 2:00pm
Where dat is: 1717 N Akard St, Dallas, Texas 75201
*****
Fearing's knows what's up. They've put tangerine-glazed turkey with tortilla dressing on the menu in what is possible the biggest middle finger to all other turkey dishes ever. Their three-course menu features plenty of other delicious dishes and a dessert trio. Because a dessert duo would be a slap in the face. Price is $100 for adults and $30 for children 12 and under. For more information, call 214-922-4848.
What it be: Thanksgiving at Fearing's Restaurant
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 Lunch from 11:15 am-3 p.m. and dinner from 5-8 p.m.
Where dat is: 2121 McKinney Ave, Dallas, Texas 75201
*****
Knife will serve a three-course menu featuring dishes such as butternut squash bisque, filet mignon and pumpkin panna cotta with pumpkin doughnuts. Each table will receive a pecan pie ready to take home. Just keep your eyes peeled for someone with glasses and curly brown hair dressed as "peace making" Indian. Price is $75 per person. For more information, call 214-443-9339.
What it be: Thanksgiving at Knife
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27. Seating times are 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Where dat is: 5680 N Central Expy, Dallas, Texas 75206
*****
There is something really comforting about traditional dishes. The ones crafted from recipes that may only be broken out once or twice a year, but boy when they do the memories just start flooding back. San Salvaje says fuck that. Fuck your grandma's green bean casserole. Their Thanksgiving menu doesn't taste like your childhood, because it tastes good. Ham? Fuck that too. You get braised pork belly with persimmon-chile chutney instead. Canned yams topped with marshmallows? Get that shit out of here. We're having Peruvian sweet potato mash with coriander marshmallows. Pumpkin pie? Nope. Pumpkin-pecan tres leches tho. It's a badass, nontraditional, helladelicous T-gives. $38 per person. For more information, call 214-922-9922.
What it be: Thanksgiving at San Salvaje
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 from 6-10 p.m.
Where dat is: #100, 2100 Ross Avenue #100, Dallas, Texas 75201
*****
Executive Chef Michael Sindoni's a la carte Thanksgiving menu reads like a dream: Roasted Cushaw Squash with gulf crab, candied pecans, and house-made ricotta; Roasted Turkey Breast with leg and thigh sausage (the preferred sausage of Hannibal Lector) cornbread stuffing, and braised collards; and a Spiced Sweet Kabocha Squash Cheesecake with toasted marshmallow, sorghum candied pecans, cranberry graham cracker crust." Awww yis. For more information, call 214-261-4500.
What it be: Thanksgiving at CBD Provisions
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Where dat is: 1530 Main St, Dallas, Texas 75201
*****
"To the Mansion, dahling, where we will feast on sweet gem lettuce and arctic char!" I don't know what any of those words mean, but it feels very 1950s, in a glamorous, yet vaguely oppressed way. Anyway, the Mansion is doing a three-course menu with starters like veal cheek and salmon gravlax. Main courses include turkey, short rib and day boat scallops. Dessert/female presence in the workplace to follow. $105 per person. For more information, call 214-443-4747.
What it be: Thanksgiving at The Mansion on Turtle Creek
When it do: Thursday, Nov. 27 seatings from 11 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
Where dat is: 2821 Turtle Creek Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75219
*****Pro Tour Eldritch Moon in Sydney, Australia was surreal. I find it difficult to find the words to describe it—they all fall short. Incredible, amazing, fulfilling, lucky, dreamlike, remarkable, phenomenal, unbelievable, astounding, deece. I’ll start by talking about the Hall of Fame.
Getting inducted into the Magic: the Gathering Hall of Fame was never my goal—that felt like planning to land on the moon or win the lottery. It seemed like too high an honor to achieve, so instead I put my head down and played my matches, because that’s what I could control. When the dust settled, my peers decided that what I had achieved in doing so was enough to place me alongside the best to ever play the game. I’m filled with an immense sense of pride.
The voting went smoothly, which surprised me. Nobody was particularly vocal about my results not being very good or that I’ve displayed poor character. I don’t believe those things are true of the person I am today, but over a career of 10 years playing on the Pro Tour, I have made plenty of mistakes and I can understand and appreciate how I rubbed people the wrong way. Over the last few years I strived to be a better person and to set an example for newer players of how to be respectful of others and display good sportsmanship. I’m thankful the voters believed in me as a good ambassador for the game, and forgave me for the times I’ve shown poor judgement in the past. I love Magic more than anything, and working hard to prepare for a competition and doing well give me immense satisfaction and pleasure.
Magic has done so much for me—the friends I’ve made in the game are the smartest and the most good-natured people I have ever encountered. I grew up around card shops filled with liars, cheats, and thieves, and I made poor decisions for a long time. The more I played in tournaments, the more I saw that it would take discipline to succeed. The best players set an example for me about not only how to demonstrate high level strategy but how to be a good person. I wanted to win at Magic, so I watched them and I changed the way I played. I wanted to be a decent human being, so I watched the way they behaved and I tried to emulate that in my own life.
People jokingly refer to the “Hall of Fame curse”: after someone gets inducted, they do poorly at that PT. I think that’s in part because most people who retire from the game come back for their induction PT and they’re rusty. Also, when you accomplish a goal as momentous as the Hall of Fame, you lose some motivation—a lot like when someone makes Top 8 and is just happy to be there. You’ll see pros make Platinum and not try very hard at the last PT of the season because they stand to win less than at a normal event. I’ve always tried to stay motivated no matter what my direct financial incentives were—the competition matters most to me.
Testing for this Pro Tour went well, and the Pantheon did a much better job than we had been lately. At Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad we played Season’s Past Control. After Jon Finkel in the Top 8, our next best finisher was myself with a measly 9-7 record. Overall, we won less than 50% of our draft matches, too. To say that this result was poor for our team would be an understatement. We were embarrassed. Maybe we were just getting unlucky but we all knew something had to change. I loved seeing my teammates more motivated than ever. Arriving in Sydney two weeks in advance to prepare meant we had a lot of time to try different decks. With days running out, I was going to lock in my own build of BW Control.
BW Control
Antonino De Rosa saw a deck on an Italian message board that I believe was created by Riccardo Picciafuochi, which closely resembled a deck Jon had tried earlier with Kozilek’s Return and Elder Deep-Fiend. I woke up the day before the Pro Tour, and Jon, who had been playing the deck all morning, said he felt the deck was broken and that I would be making a mistake by not playing it. I trust Jon, and with that level of confidence I would have been a fool to ignore him.
The final nail in the coffin for the BW deck was that everyone else on the team seemed pretty impressed with our various Emrakul decks. I felt like I had a bad matchup there, and others would surely be playing Emrakul decks as well.
I registered the following list with under 25 total games played with the deck.
RUG Emerge
I raced off to an 8-0 start, then 10-0, and finished the draft at 10-1. I had gone 5-0 with my Constructed deck, and all I needed was a 2-3 record to clinch Top 8. I had the best position in the tournament, and after I won my first round of Constructed, I was over 95% to make Top 8. We knew with the small field that multiple 12-4 records would make Top 8, and I had great tiebreakers since I had played almost everyone at the top of the standings.
Then the wheels started to fall off. The thing about doing well at the Pro Tour was that I kept getting feature matches, which meant delayed round start times and very little time for a break after you finish a round. People play more deliberately in the feature match area, myself included, since they don’t want to make a big blunder on camera. When you play more carefully and your opponent does as well, the rounds last much longer. I’ll be the first to admit that I was getting nervous. I needed to win one of the next four matches, and nobody was going to give me a free win—I had to earn it.
Suddenly, I was making errors—stupid mistakes that I normally would never make. The high level of competition, intensity of each match, overall high complexity in the games (especially on some Emrakul turns), dehydration and poor diet from being in a foreign country, and inexperience with my deck were all adding up and it affected my play. This is no doubt something I need to work on in the future—the Pro Tour really is a marathon and not a sprint. Just starting 10-0 or 11-1 doesn’t mean you’ve won it already.
When I won my 16th round against Daniel Cathro, I was overcome with relief. All I wanted to do was escape the day without having totally imploded in what would’ve been an epic meltdown. I made multiple big mistakes in the match, but I tightened up near the end and played well enough to win a close match.
After the match, someone asked me about that match’s implications on the Player of the Year race and I had completely forgotten. “Oh yeah, I won!” I didn’t forget because it wasn’t important to me, but because there were so many other things happening that it was definitely at the back of my mind. Seth Manfield had one of the best seasons in modern Magic history—nobody can deny that—but with a lot of luck at the end, I was able to overcome what felt like an insurmountable point lead. As Seth was having more and more high finishes, I would see people on social media talk about what an amazing season he was having and how great of a player he was, and they weren’t wrong. Seth isn’t an enemy of mine by any means, or someone I have any ill feelings toward. But, as a competitor, when you see people saying he might be the best in the game, that lit a fire under me.
After a roller-coaster Day 2 I could finally relax. My hands were hurting from so many high fives.
Congratulations to Reid Duke and Luis Scott-Vargas on making Top 8 as well. They are my long-time friends, and I look up to them both. They’re popular and successful because they’re both excellent card players, and well respected for how they treat others and what they do for the game. And congratulations to William Jensen on getting Platinum. Somehow he gets Platinum every year without going to that many major events, and even does commentary at some of them. Without him, there’s absolutely no chance I would be as successful at this game as I am today.
The Top 8 went by fast, and there’s plenty of coverage to revisit. In the quarters I beat Yuuta Takahashi, where in one game I cast Emrakul 4 times and I barely won. He was an excellent sport and I got some lucky top decks to beat him.
In the semifinals I beat LSV in 5 games, and then lost the finals to Lukas Blohon, in what I believed was a favorable matchup. He played extremely well, had a great deck, and some good draws. No shame in losing like that.
I was disappointed to have come close to achieving one of my life goals of winning the Pro Tour, but it was still easily one of the best weekends ever. I got 2nd place at the Pro Tour for $20,000, I got inducted into the Magic: the Gathering Hall of Fame, and I won Player of the Year. Even having just one of those events would make for a weekend you would never forget. I think I failed to appreciate how amazing all of this was because it was just too many incredible things happening at the same time, and I didn’t take time to stop and smell the roses. Either way, I’m thrilled with my results and I’m a very happy person. The World Championship is in 3 weeks, and after that I’ll compete in the World Magic Cup and the Magic Online Championships. There are still so many tournaments left to win, and rest assured that I will be doing everything in my power to win them all.Analysis of the Western States Ultra (2017)
Xavier Penya Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 25, 2017
As I’m writing this, some of the runners have not yet finished the race (it can be checked live thanks to ultralive.net).
I have been following the race during the night and checking the progress of our local legend Tòfol Castanyer, born and raised in Mallorca (Balearic Islands).
It was a bit of a bummer to see him cross the line at the 11th place, which means that he is not automatically qualified for the next edition just by just one place. But I am incredibly proud (and as an amateur runner, also amazed) to see him finishing among the best in the world in one of the most iconic ultra races.
Tòfol Castanyer crossing the finish line. Photo published by @iRunFar on Twitter.
Edit: while the present article takes a graphic approach in showing how the race evolved, @iRunFar has just published an article describing the race in “text mode”. Both articles complement each other very well. They also dedicate some nice words to Tòfol Castanyer:
“Particularly heartbreaking has to be Castanyer’s finish in 11th after a 12th last year, just outside the men’s top 10.” / “Tòfol Castanyer ran with heart [a word play that makes reference to the holes of his t-shirt in the picture]”.
Men’s race: top 10 finishers only
This is how it went, the data shows that Ryan Sandes was first the entire race if we only take into account the 10th first men to cross the finish line (more on that later).
(click on the image to zoom it)
X-axis: number of miles / Y-axis: time diff between the leader (Ryan Sandes) and the other runners.
The image shows how far back from Sandes all the other runners were during the entire race. 2h at the end might seem like a lot, but remember: we are talking about 161km. 3.8 marathons in a row, with a total of 5500m uphill.
It’s interesting to see how Sandes pushed harder between miles 47.8 to 52.9 (the steepest descent), and lowered the rhythm a bit during the next few miles.
Kudos to Kyle Pietari (10th) who really deserved it. He really went for it: in this video he can be seen vomiting after crossing the finish line, ugh.
Men’s race: top 10 at every station
The other graph showed only the top 10 finishers, but the following graph makes a better job in showing the big picture of the race, with Jim Wamsley leading the race until mile 70 and dropping off the race some miles later.
The graph shows all the runners that arrived among the top 10 at any of the checkpoints.
(click on the image to zoom it)
X-axis: number of miles / Y-axis: time diff between the leader (Ryan Sandes) and the other runners. Dashed lines for all men out of top 10 finishers.
Women’s race: top 10 finishers only
Cat Bradley (1st female, 15th overall) did not take the lead until after mile 50. It was a tight fight between her and Magdalena Boulet during the whole race. The graph shows only the evolution of the 10 first female finishers.
(click on the image to zoom it)
X-axis: number of miles / Y-axis: time diff between the leader (Cat Bradley) and the other runners. Some time diffs are negative before her taking the lead after mile 50.
It worth noting that Cat Bradley is only 25 years old, and that she was virtually unknown up until the end of this race.
Women’s race: top 10 at every station
Now time to see the bigger picture in the women’s race.
The graph shows Yiou Wang leading from miles 40 to 60+, and then dropping off the race some miles later. It also shows Clare Gallagher abandoning at mile 90 while still being 4th.
One can also see Sarah Keyes drifting away from the front pack at mile 60, but not giving up before crossing the finish line 9h+ after Cat Bradley.
(click on the image to zoom it)
The race
The Western States Endurance Run is a 100-mile (161 km) ultramarathon in California. The terrain is quite rugged, frequently with snow on the ground at the high parts of the race, and hot temperatures in the low valleys near the end of the course.
Runners ascend a cumulative total of 18,090 feet (5500 m) and descend a total of 22,970 feet (7000 m) on mountain trails before reaching the finish.
Profile of the race.
This image was taken from last year‘s edition published on Strava.
*I will be updating this post as I keep crunching more numbers*645X363 - Full Sharing - Additional videos are suggested upon completion
The Obama administration on Wednesday asserted its authority over the nation's streams, wetlands and other smaller waterways, moving forward with one of the most controversial environmental regulations in recent years.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers said they are making final their proposed waters of the United States rule, which Republicans and many businesses have long panned as a massive federal overreach that would put the EPA in charge of ditches, puddles and wet areas.
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“We’re finalizing a clean water rule to protect the streams and the wetlands that one in three Americans rely on for drinking water. And we’re doing that without creating any new permitting requirements and maintaining all previous exemptions and exclusions,” EPA head Gina McCarthy Regina (Gina) McCarthyOvernight Energy: Joshua Tree National Park lost M in fees due to shutdown | Dem senator, AGs back case against oil giants | Trump officials secretly shipped plutonium to Nevada Overnight Energy: Ethics panel clears Grijalva over settlement with staffer | DC aims to run on 100 percent clean energy by 2032 | Judges skeptical of challenge to Obama smog rule Judges skeptical of case against Obama smog rule MORE told reporters Wednesday.
McCarthy and other Obama officials sought to emphasize that the rule is about increasing clarity for businesses and helping make it easier to determine which waterways are subject to the pollution rules of the Clean Water Act.
“This rule is about clarification, and in fact, we’re adding exclusions for features like artificial lakes and ponds, water-filled depressions from constructions and grass swales,” she said
“This rule will make it easier to identify protected waters and will make those protections consistent with the law as well as the latest peer-reviewed science. This rule is based on science,” she continued.
With the Wednesday action, the Obama administration is doubling down on an effort that has sustained repeated attacks from congressional Republicans hoping to overturn the regulations.
In doing so, the administration is fulfilling what it sees as a responsibility to protect the wetlands, headwaters and small water bodies that can carry pollution to the larger waterways, like bays and rivers, that are more clearly protected by the Clean Water Act. Officials said the rule was made necessary by a pair of Supreme Court decisions in the last decade that called into question Clean Water Act protections for some small tributaries, streams and wetlands that were previously covered.
Brian Deese, Obama’s top environmental adviser, said the rule “is an important win for public health and for our economy,” and sought to paint its opponents as fighting clean water.
“The only people with reason to oppose the rule are polluters who want to threaten our clean water,” he said.
McCarthy said the regulation would result in a modest increase in the federal government’s jurisdiction, amounting to less than a 3 percent growth.
Responding to criticisms from farmers, ranchers, developers, manufacturers and others, she took time to list what is not covered by the waters of the United States rule.
“It does not interfere with private property rights or address land use,” she said. “It does not regulate any ditches unless they function as tributaries. It does not apply to groundwater or shallow subsurface water, copper tile drains or change policy on irrigation or water transfer.”
She said the rule specifically does not interfere with agriculture, nor roll back any of the existing exemptions for farmers, ranchers or foresters.
Those have been some of the most vocal opponents of the rule since it was proposed in March 2014, saying that the EPA wants to insert itself into their businesses.
While critics are unlikely to be pleased by the new rule, the EPA’s supporters applauded it.
“The Obama administration listened to all perspectives and developed a final rule that will help guarantee safe drinking water supplies for American families and businesses and restore much-needed certainty, consistency, and effectiveness to the Clean Water Act,” Sen. Barbara Boxer Barbara Levy BoxerHispanic civil rights icon endorses Harris for president California AG Becerra included in Bloomberg 50 list Climate debate comes full circle MORE (Calif.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement.
Environment America said the rule is an important step toward protecting drinking water for the one in three Americans whose drinking water was not sufficiently protected before.
“Our rivers, lakes, and drinking water can only be clean if the streams that flow into them are protected,” Margie Alt, executive director of Environment America, said in a statement. “That’s why today’s action is the biggest victory for clean water in a decade.”
The House has voted multiple times to overturn the rule in its draft form. Senate Republicans have taken a different strategy, with a bill to overturn the rule and give the EPA specific instructions and a deadline to re-write it.
But the White House has remained steadfast in its push to enact the rule. On Wednesday, President Obama defended the regulation as protecting vulnerable waterways and providing clear guidance to businesses that are affected.
“Too many of our waters have been left vulnerable to pollution,” Obama said in a statement, adding that the federal agencies wrote the rule to “restore protection for the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of our nation’s water resources, without getting in the way of farming, ranching, or forestry.
— This story was last updated at 11:24 a.m.It is now being reported that Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a member of Donald Trump's transition team who has a history with the president-elect, is being considered for an appointment in the Trump White House.
NEW: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will be named to a post in the Trump White House, sources tell me. Trump aides finalizing her role. — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 5, 2017
When the Trump transition team was asked about the possibility of a Bondi appointment on Thursday, incoming press secretary Sean Spicer refused to divulge any information on the subject.
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"We have no additional announcements at this time," Spicer said. "I don't want to get ahead of any announcements that may or may not come."
When asked for comment by the Tampa Bay Times, Bondi said "I'd never discuss anything confidential."
It is unclear what position Bondi could be in contention for, although given that she is a career prosecutor, a position in law enforcement would be the most immediately logical.
Although Bondi is widely considered to be quite close to the Trump team, her appointment would almost certainly raise controversy due to her association with the scandals embroiling the Trump Foundation.
A spokesperson for Bondi's office had told the Orlando Sentinel in September 2013 that it was determining whether they should join the New York Attorney General's case against Trump University; four days after that, a pro-Bondi PAC received a $25,000 check from the Trump Foundation; and in October, Bondi's office decided that "no action was necessary."
Although a Trump representative claimed this was a clerical error — Bondi has also denied any impropriety — the contribution ran afoul of IRS regulations prohibiting charities from making political donations. As a result, Trump was required to reimburse his donation for the $25,000 as well as pay a $2,500 fine to the IRS.
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The investigation into the Trump Foundation is still ongoing.Monday's solar eclipse was free for those in its path to watch, but if you live in Metro Vancouver, it may have cost you at the pump.
The price of gas in the Lower Mainland has been rising steadily since Thursday. According to Gasbuddy.com, it topped the $1.40 mark on Monday.
That's well above the current national average of $1.08.
In a report released Monday by GasBuddy, experts are attributing the jump to an increase in supply caused in part by the large number of people travelling around the Pacific Northwest to witness the celestial event.
"(Ten) states saw average prices rise, mainly the West Coast and Rockies where high demand ahead of the eclipse was still putting pressure on prices," the report said.
The uptick in the western U.S. is likely being reflected in B.C. as the province imports much of its gas from the region.
And experts say the trend is likely to continue past Monday.
"Areas of the Pacific Northwest may continue to see eclipse fueled demand spurts and higher prices before some cooling towards the end of the month while prices in the Great Lakes may move higher due to the price cycling phenomenon common in the region," the report said.
While B.C. is not in the "Path of Totality," about 86 or 87 per cent of the sun was eclipsed in Metro Vancouver.
Viewing parties were held across the region to help solar watchers catch a safe glimpse.
Locally, the eclipse began at 9:10 a.m., peaked at 10:21 a.m., and ended at 11:37 a.m.Chinese Basketballers Of
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Interpreting the Tărtăria Amulet’s Writing
This amulet was deciphered by giving the characters of the Tărtăria tablet phonetic values consistent with the Proto-Saharan script. Dr. Vamos-Toth read the Tartarian inscription from left to right – and in Magyar we have:
Jo taj dogo ko: "Goodness here adheres (to you from) the Deity.
Taj-a to bo: Here the source of abundance.
To egybe: (The Deity is) the source of Unity.
Ko ne: The Deity (is) for me.
Mi ont ke: Which integrates (me) into one Unity (with the Deity)."
Breakdown of symbols on the Tărtăria amulet. (Author provided)
Significance of Deciphering the Tărtăria Tablet’s Text
The decipherment of the Tărtăria tablet by Dr. Vomas-Toth Bator and Dr. C.A. Winters is important because it offers the first written evidence that man paid homage to a Supreme Power in Europe over 5000 years ago. The Tărtăria amulet is also important to world history because it is the earliest written document to appear in Europe. Moreover, the fact that Ko may relate to powerful leaders suggests that the Proto-Magyar people, as evidenced by the excavation of other Tărtăria type tablets on 37 sites, had a powerful elite that welded the prehistoric Carpathian basin villages into one of the world's early empires.
Top Image: The Tărtăria Tablets. Source: O Livro De Areia
By Clyde WintersDon’t confuse gratitude with indebtedness. Sure, you may feel obliged to return a favor, but that’s not gratitude, at least not the way psychologists define it. Indebtedness is more of a negative feeling and doesn’t yield the same benefits as gratitude, which inclines you to be nice to anyone, not just a benefactor.
In an experiment at Northeastern University, Monica Bartlett and David DeSteno sabotaged each participant’s computer and arranged for another student to fix it. Afterward, the students who had been helped were likelier to volunteer to help someone else — a complete stranger — with an unrelated task. Gratitude promoted good karma. And if it works with strangers....
Try it on your family. No matter how dysfunctional your family, gratitude can still work, says Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside.
“Do one small and unobtrusive thoughtful or generous thing for each member of your family on Thanksgiving,” she advises. “Say thank you for every thoughtful or kind gesture. Express your admiration for someone’s skills or talents — wielding that kitchen knife so masterfully, for example. And truly listen, even when your grandfather is boring you again with the same World War II story.”
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Don’t counterattack. If you’re bracing for insults on Thursday, consider a recent experiment at the University of Kentucky. After turning in a piece of writing, some students received praise for it while others got a scathing evaluation: “This is one of the worst essays I’ve ever read!”
Then each student played a computer game against the person who’d done the evaluation. The winner of the game could administer a blast of white noise to the loser. Not surprisingly, the insulted essayists retaliated against their critics by subjecting them to especially loud blasts — much louder than the noise administered by the students who’d gotten positive evaluations.
But there was an exception to this trend among a subgroup of the students: the ones who had been instructed to write essays about things for which they were grateful. After that exercise in counting their blessings, they weren’t bothered by the nasty criticism — or at least they didn’t feel compelled to amp up the noise against their critics.
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“Gratitude is more than just feeling good,” says Nathan DeWall, who led the study at Kentucky. “It helps people become less aggressive by enhancing their empathy. “It’s an equal-opportunity emotion. Anyone can experience it and benefit from it, even the most crotchety uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner table.”
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Share the feeling. Why does gratitude do so much good? “More than other emotion, gratitude is the emotion of friendship,” Dr. McCullough says. “It is part of a psychological system that causes people to raise their estimates of how much value they hold in the eyes of another person. Gratitude is what happens when someone does something that causes you to realize that you matter more to that person than you thought you did.”
Try a gratitude visit. This exercise, recommended by Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, begins with writing a 300-word letter to someone who changed your life for the better. Be specific about what the person did and how it affected you. Deliver it in person, preferably without telling the person in advance what the visit is about. When you get there, read the whole thing slowly to your benefactor. “You will be happier and less depressed one month from now,” Dr. Seligman guarantees in his book “Flourish.”
Contemplate a higher power. Religious individuals don’t necessarily act with more gratitude in a specific situation, but thinking about religion can cause people to feel and act more gratefully, as demonstrated in experiments by Jo-Ann Tsang and colleagues at Baylor University. Other research shows that praying can increase gratitude.
Go for deep gratitude. Once you’ve learned to count your blessings, Dr. Emmons says, you can think bigger.
“As a culture, we have lost a deep sense of gratefulness about the freedoms we enjoy, a lack of gratitude toward those who lost their lives in the fight for freedom, a lack of gratitude for all the material advantages we have,” he says. “The focus of Thanksgiving should be a reflection of how our lives have been made so much more comfortable by the sacrifices of those who have come before us.”
And if that seems too daunting, you can least tell yourself —
Hey, it could always be worse. When your relatives force you to look at photos on their phones, be thankful they no longer have access to a slide projector. When your aunt expounds on politics, rejoice inwardly that she does not hold elected office. Instead of focusing on the dry, tasteless turkey on your plate, be grateful the six-hour roasting process killed any toxic bacteria.Get the biggest Newcastle United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The father of late Newcastle United midfielder Gary Speed says the family still ‘don’t know why’ he tragically lost his life - nearly five years on.
‘Speedo’, who made 213 appearances in a six-year stay on Tyneside, was found hanged at his Huntingdon home on November 27, 2011, at the age of just 42.
Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg ruled there was no evidence the Wales manager had planned to commit suicide.
And speaking ahead of the five-year anniversary this weekend, dad Roger Speed has revealed the anguish and pain at still not understanding why.
He told the Leader publication: “I talk about what Gary’s done and it’s brilliant. The fans are fantastic – Leeds, Newcastle and Everton.
“He was so well liked, on top of the world, going for the World Cup with Wales.
“The worst thing about it is we still don’t know why. We really miss him.”
(Image: 2016 Newcastle United)
Gary made a total of 677 professional club appearances in his career - racking up 104 goals along the way - and was rewarded with an MBE for services to the game.
The midfielder represented Leeds United and Everton before his stint at St James Park, and finished his playing career with spells at Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United.
Gary took the managerial hotseat at Bramall Lane in 2010, before taking charge of Wales just four months later.
And Mr Speed hopes Gary’s sons Tommy, 17, and Ed, 18, both follow in their father’s footsteps and make their way as professional footballers.
He said: “Hopefully, we’ll see another Speed soon. It’d be fantastic, you can see it in them now, you can see Gary in them.
“He was a leader.
“I miss the boys terribly, they were my world when Gary went. They’ve done extremely well, they’re strong lads, like their dad.
“On my bucket list is for England to play Wales and Tommy to play for England and Ed to play for Wales. A Speed on both sides.”
Both Leeds and Newcastle fans paid an emotional tribute to the former Wales manager in their recent clash at Elland Road.
Mr Speed says despite the support of footballers such as Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy, the family is still struggling to come to terms with their grief.
He said: “Something just clicked and that was it. I couldn’t believe it, couldn’t get over it.
“Carol (Gary’s mum) answered the phone and just burst into tears. Louise (Gary’s wife) had rung and said Gary was dead.
“We didn’t know what had happened. I never want to go through that again with anything.
“Carol’s struggling. She doesn’t come to the football any more.
“I love talking about him and watching his videos. I know he’s there watching me going, ‘Dad you can’t do that’.”
Gary represented Wales 85 between 1990 and 2004, captaining the side and scoring seven times.
Mr Speed and his grandsons made their way out to France for their country’s incredible Euro 2016 journey, and were overwhelmed by the travelling fans tributes to the midfielder.
He said: “I had a great time in France and Carol said, ‘I wish it could have been Gary’ in the dugout.
“I love Chris (Coleman) to bits and he’s done a fantastic job.
“I was made up for him and the Football Association of Wales have been brilliant to us ever since.
“That proves to me what a person Gary was.”
Days away from the fifth anniversary of Gary’s death, Mr Speed was clear on his son’s legacy and how he should be remembered.
He said: “Gary was a gentleman. People I’ve met remember him and say what a man he was.
“He was good at his job and captained every team he played for. We’re very, very proud parents.
“I want him to be remembered for the gentleman he was.”Tammeka Games has today confirmed that an update for popular virtual reality (VR) racing videogame, Radial-G: Racing Revolved, has brought support for the Oculus Touch motion-controllers to the title. The update is inherent to the Oculus Rift runtime, v1.14, which is rolling out to users now.
Despite the update being a natural part of the Oculus Rift’s evolution, Tammeka Games has undergone ‘extensive testing’ with Oculus Touch to ensure compatibility. Speaking to VRFocus, Sam Watts, Game Producer at Tammeka Games stated: “This is a fantastic feature as it means gamepad-shy gamers don’t have to put their Oculus Touch down to play, hopefully meaning more active users for us!
“Adding features to the Oculus Runtime means we save development effort, as we don’t have to integrate and publish new builds.”
For those eager to jump into Radial-G: Racing Revolved with Oculus Touch, the updated control scheme is as follows:
Right trigger = accelerate
Left grip = re-centre VR camera
A (right Touch) = convert shield into boost
X (left Touch) = fire weapons
Radial-G: Racing Revolved has been one of the most keenly adopted racing titles in VR since launching alongside the Oculus Rift over a year ago. The videogame is also available for HTC Vive and is coming to PlayStation VR, and VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest VR endeavours from Tammeka Games.The U.N. Security Council has condemned "in strongest terms" Thursday's attack against a U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which at least 14 Tanzanian peacekeepers and five Congolese soldiers died.
Security Council members met in a closed session Friday afternoon to discuss the attack, after holding a moment of silence in tribute to the victims.
In addition to the deaths, 44 people were injured in the attack in DRC's North Kivu province, where a Ugandan rebel group known as the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, is active.
A U.N. official told VOA that the group was suspected to be behind Thursday's attack.
In its statement Friday, the Security Council said it expressed deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the governments of Tanzania and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and to the U.N. mission in DRC, known as MONUSCO.
Noting that this attack was the worst on U.N. peacekeepers in recent years, the statement said incident was a "reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by these brave women and men every day."
U.N. flags are expected to fly at half-staff on Monday, in tribute to the victims.
The U.N. mission said at least five Congolese soldiers were also killed in the protracted fighting between suspected ADF elements and MONUSCO and Congolese forces.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli has expressed shock over the attack. He addressed his constituents Friday, the day the attack was reported by the United Nations — and the day before Tanzania celebrates its independence day.
The U.S. State Department said it was "horrified" by the attack, in a statement from the department's Bureau of African Affairs. The statement extended "deepest condolences" to the peacekeeping mission, the Congolese military and the families of those killed.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his "outrage" after Thursday's attack, which also left about 44 people injured.
"I condemn this attack unequivocally," Guterres said Friday. "These deliberate attacks against U.N. peacekeepers are unacceptable and constitute a war crime."
"This is the worst attack on peacekeepers in the organization's recent history," he added.
Guterres said military reinforcements had arrived on the scene. "The force commander is there as well, coordinating the mission's response, and the medical evacuation of casualties is ongoing," he said.
"Attacks against those who are working in the service of peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are cowardly and constitute serious violations," said MONUSCO chief Maman Sidikou in a statement. "MONUSCO will take all actions to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable and brought to justice."How could a repeal "vote" in the House -- however dramatic but still, only symbolic -- be misunderstood as an actual repeal by so many Americans?
First, people are very busy just getting through the day and they don't have a lot of time to sort through news reports about the policymaking process. They see the word "repeal" in the local paper or hear it on TV and think the law has been repealed. Second, there may be some partisan wishful thinking going on; 30 percent of Republicans think the law has been repealed while only 12 percent of Democrats do. But overall, it is obvious that the knowledge of basic civics is pretty low. Maybe it's because "Schoolhouse Rock" is no longer airing on Saturday morning TV explaining how government works.Bradley Wiggins's new third tier squad approved by the sport's governing body.
On the day that Sky confirmed that Bradley Wiggins will leave the team on April 30, the UCI has announced it has issued a licence to the World time trial champion’s new squad.
As revealed by Cycling Weekly in December, the squad will be called Team Wiggins and will operate at UCI Continental level.
Established for 2015, CW reported yesterday that the team – largely comprised of riders on British Cycling’s Olympic Podium Programme endurance squad – will make its debut at the Challenge Majorca four-day at the end of January.
The UCI’s approval of Team Wiggins’s licence also confirms that former Wiggle-Honda DS Simon Cope will manage the team. Pinarello will supply bikes, Rapha the clothing.
Upon leaving Team Sky, Wiggins can join his new squad during the UCI’s permitted transfer window in June.
Having Continental status allows them to race in races ranked by the UCI up to Hors Categorie status in the UK (as per RideLondon and the Tour of Britain), as well as events such as the Tour Series.
Team Wiggins becomes the sixth British team to be registered as a UCI Continental team for 2015, alongside JLT Condor, Madison Genesis, NFTO, One Pro Cycling and Raleigh-GAC.QWERTY keyboard layout (US)
A laptop computer keyboard using the QWERTY layout
QWERTY (, ) is a keyboard design for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six keys on the top left letter row of the keyboard ( Q W E R T Y ). The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to E. Remington and Sons in 1873. It became popular with the success of the Remington No. 2 of 1878, and remains in widespread use.
History
Keys are arranged on diagonal columns to give space for the levers.
The QWERTY layout was devised and created in the early 1870s by Christopher Latham Sholes, a newspaper editor and printer who lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In October 1867, Sholes filed a patent application for his early writing machine he developed with the assistance of his friends Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soulé.[1]
The first model constructed by Sholes used a piano-like keyboard with two rows of characters arranged alphabetically as shown below:[1]
- 3 5 7 9 N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 2 4 6 8. A B C D E F G H I J K L M
The construction of the "Type Writer" had two flaws that made the product susceptible to jams. Firstly, characters were mounted on metal arms or type bars, which would clash and jam if neighbouring arms were pressed at the same time or in rapid succession. Secondly, its printing point was located beneath the paper carriage, invisible to the operator, a so-called "up-stroke" design. Consequently, jams were especially serious, because the typist could only discover the mishap by raising the carriage to inspect what had been typed. The solution was to place commonly used letter-pairs (like "th" or "st") so that their type bars were not neighbouring, avoiding jams.[2]
Sholes struggled for the next five years to perfect his invention, making many trial-and-error rearrangements of the original machine's alphabetical key arrangement. The study of bigram (letter-pair) frequency by educator Amos Densmore, brother of the financial backer James Densmore, is believed to have influenced the array of letters, but the contribution was later called into question.[3] Others suggest instead that the letter groupings evolved from telegraph operators' feedback.[4]
In November 1868 he changed the arrangement of the latter half of the alphabet, O to Z, right-to-left.[5] In April 1870 he arrived at a four-row, upper case keyboard approaching the modern QWERTY standard, moving six vowel letters, A, E, I, O, U, and Y, to the upper row as follows:[6]
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - A E I.? Y U O, B C D F G H J K L M Z X W V T S R Q P N
In 1873 Sholes's backer, James Densmore, successfully sold the manufacturing rights for the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer to E. Remington and Sons. The keyboard layout was finalized within a few months by Remington's mechanics and was ultimately presented:[7]
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 -, Q W E. T Y I U O P Z S D F G H J K L M A X & C V B N? ; R
After they purchased the device, Remington made several adjustments, creating a keyboard with essentially the modern QWERTY layout. These adjustments included placing the "R" key in the place previously allotted to the period key. Apocryphal claims that this change was made to let salesmen impress customers by pecking out the brand name "TYPE WRITER QUOTE" from one keyboard row are not formally substantiated.[7] Vestiges of the original alphabetical layout remained in the "home row" sequence DFGHJKL.[8]
The modern layout is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ] \ A S D F G H J K L ;'Z X C V B N M,. /
The QWERTY layout became popular with the success of the Remington No. 2 of 1878, the first typewriter to include both upper and lower case letters, using a shift key.
Differences from modern layout
Substituting characters
Christopher Latham Sholes's 1878 QWERTY keyboard layout
The QWERTY layout depicted in Sholes's 1878 patent is slightly different from the modern layout, most notably in the absence of the numerals 0 and 1, with each of the remaining numerals shifted one position to the left of their modern counterparts. The letter M is located at the end of the third row to the right of the letter L rather than on the fourth row to the right of the N, the letters X and C are reversed, and most punctuation marks are in different positions or are missing entirely.[9] 0 and 1 were omitted to simplify the design and reduce the manufacturing and maintenance costs; they were chosen specifically because they were "redundant" and could be recreated using other keys. Typists who learned on these machines learned the habit of using the uppercase letter I (or lowercase letter L) for the digit one, and the uppercase O for the zero.[10]
Combined characters
In early designs, some characters were produced by printing two symbols with the carriage in the same position. For instance, the exclamation point, which shares a key with the numeral 1 on modern keyboards, could be reproduced by using a three-stroke combination of an apostrophe, a backspace, and a period. A semicolon (;) was produced by printing a comma (,) over a colon (:). As the backspace key is slow in simple mechanical typewriters (the carriage was heavy and optimized to move in the opposite direction), a more professional approach was to block the carriage by pressing and holding the space bar while printing all characters that needed to be in a shared position. To make this possible, the carriage was designed to advance forward only after releasing the space bar.
The 0 key was added and standardized in its modern position early in the history of the typewriter, but the 1 and exclamation point were left off some typewriter keyboards into the 1970s.[11]
Contemporary alternatives
There were no particular technological requirements for the QWERTY layout,[7] since at the time there were ways to make a typewriter without the "up-stroke" typebar mechanism that had required it to be devised. Not only were there rival machines with "down-stroke" and "frontstroke" positions that gave a visible printing point, the problem of typebar clashes could be circumvented completely: examples include Thomas Edison's 1872 electric print-wheel device which later became the basis for Teletype machines; Lucien Stephen Crandall's typewriter (the second to come onto the American market) whose type was arranged on a cylindrical sleeve; the Hammond typewriter of 1887 which used a semi-circular "type-shuttle" of hardened rubber (later light metal); and the Blickensderfer typewriter of 1893 which used a type wheel. The early Blickensderfer's "Ideal" keyboard was also non-QWERTY, instead having the sequence "DHIATENSOR" in the home row, these 10 letters being capable of composing 70% of the words in the English language.[12]
Properties
Alternating hands while typing is a desirable trait in a keyboard design. While one hand types a letter, the other hand can prepare to type the next letter, making the process faster and more efficient. However, when a string of letters is typed with the same hand, the chances of stuttering[clarification needed] are increased and a rhythm can be broken, thus decreasing speed and increasing errors and fatigue. In the QWERTY layout many more words can be spelled using only the left hand than the right hand. In fact, thousands of English words can be spelled using only the left hand, while only a couple of hundred words can be typed using only the right hand[13] (the three most frequent letters in the English language, ETA, are all typed with the left hand). In addition, more typing strokes are done with the left hand in the QWERTY layout. This is helpful for left-handed people but disadvantages right-handed people.
Contrary to popular belief, the QWERTY layout was not designed to slow the typist down,[5] but rather to speed up typing by preventing jams. Indeed, there is evidence that, aside from the issue of jamming, placing often-used keys farther apart increases typing speed, because it encourages alternation between the hands.[14] There is another origin story in the Smithsonian that the QWERTY keyboard was made for telegraph operators and has this layout to make it easy for the telegraph operator to work.[14][15][16] (On the other hand, in the German keyboard the Z has been moved between the T and the U to help type the frequent bigraphs TZ and ZU in that language.) Almost every word in the English language contains at least one vowel letter, but on the QWERTY keyboard only the vowel letter "A" is on the home row, which requires the typist's fingers to leave the home row for most words.
A feature much less commented-on than the order of the keys is that the keys do not form a rectangular grid, but rather each column slants diagonally. This is because of the mechanical linkages – each key is attached to a lever, and hence the offset prevents the levers from running into each other – and has been retained in most electronic keyboards. Some keyboards, such as the Kinesis or TypeMatrix, retain the QWERTY layout but arrange the keys in vertical columns, to reduce unnecessary lateral finger motion.[17][18]
The words 'typewriter', 'proprietor', 'perpetuity', and'repertoire' (from French) are the longest English words that can be written using only the keys in the top row.
Computer keyboards
The standard QWERTY keyboard layout used in the US. Some countries, such as the UK and Canada, use a slightly different QWERTY (the @ and " are switched in the UK); see keyboard layout
The first computer terminals such as the Teletype were typewriters that could produce and be controlled by various computer codes. These used the QWERTY layouts and added keys such as escape (ESC) which had special meanings to computers. Later keyboards added function keys and arrow keys. Since the standardization of PC-compatible computers and Windows after the 1980s, most full-sized computer keyboards have followed this standard (see drawing at right). This layout has a separate numeric keypad for data entry at the right, 12 function keys across the top, and a cursor section to the right and center with keys for Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down with cursor arrows in an inverted-T shape.[19]
Diacritical marks and international variants
Different computer operating systems have methods of support for input of different languages such as Chinese, Hebrew or Arabic. QWERTY is designed for English, a language with diacritical marks appearing only in a few words of foreign origin. QWERTY keyboards have no standard way of typing an accent. Until recently, no norm was defined for a standard QWERTY keyboard layout allowing the typing of accented characters. The so called "US-International layout" is, in fact, OS-dependent. There exist other layouts that try to overcome this shortcoming. One popular is EurKEY which is available for Windows, OS X and Linux.
A dead key is not used, like a grave accent (`) on a QWERTY keyboard, although some people use a dead key.
Depending on the operating system and sometimes the application program being used, there are many ways to generate Latin characters with accents independently of the layout in use.
Other keys and characters
International variants
Minor changes to the arrangement are made for other languages. There are a large number of different keyboard layouts used for different languages written in Latin script. They can be divided into three main families according to where the Q, A, Z, M, and Y keys are placed on the keyboard. These are usually named after the first six letters.
Canadian
English-speaking Canadians have traditionally most often used the same keyboard layout as in the United States, unless they are in a position where they have to write French on a regular basis. French-speaking Canadians respectively have favoured the Canadian French keyboard layout (see below).
Canadian Multilingual Standard
The Canadian Multilingual Standard keyboard layout is used by some Canadians. Though this keyboard lacks the caret (^) character, this is easily accomplished by typing the circumflex accent followed by a space. Note that while the diagram on the right depicts the Q key as if having upper-case and lower-case Greek Omega, that is not in conformance to the Canadian Multilingual Standard, which calls for a single extra character, an Omega-like Ohm symbol, not Omega. The lower-case Omega symbol does not belong in the diagram.
Canadian French
This keyboard layout is commonly used in Canada by French-speaking Canadians. It is the most common layout for laptops and stand-alone keyboards targeting French speakers. Unlike the French layout used in France and Belgium, the Canadian French layout is a true QWERTY and as such is also relatively commonly used by English speakers in the US and Canada (using standard QWERTY keyboards) for easy access to accented letters found in some of the French words commonly used in English. It can be used to type all accented French characters, as well as some from other languages. It also serves all English functions as well. It is popular mainly because of its close similarity to the basic US keyboard commonly used by English-speaking Canadians and Americans, historical use of US-made typewriters by French-Canadians, and is the standard for keyboards in Quebec. Use of the European French layout in Quebec is practically unheard of.
In some variants of this keyboard ⇪ Caps Lock is ⇪ Fix Maj (short for Fix Majuscule = Lock Upper Case) or ⇪ Verr Maj (short for Verrouiller Majuscule = Lock Upper Case), ↵ Enter is ↵ Entrée,[20] and Esc is Échap.
Czech (QWERTY)
Czech QWERTY keyboard layout
The typewriter came to the Czech-speaking area in the late 19th century, when it was part of Austria-Hungary where German was the dominant language of administration. Therefore, Czech typewriters have the QWERTZ layout. However, with the introduction of imported computers, especially since the 1990s, the QWERTY keyboard layout is frequently used for computer keyboards, too. Czech QWERTY layout differs from QWERTZ in that the characters (e.g. @$& and others) missing from the Czech keyboard are accessible with AltGr on the same keys where they are located on an American keyboard. In Czech QWERTZ keyboard the position of these characters accessed through AltGr differs.
Danish
Both the Danish and Norwegian keyboards include dedicated keys for the letters Å/å, Æ/æ and Ø/ø, but the placement is a little different, as the Æ and Ø keys are swapped on the Norwegian layout. (The Finnish–Swedish keyboard is also largely similar to the Norwegian layout, but the Ø and Æ are replaced with Ö and Ä. On some systems, the Danish keyboard may allow typing Ö/ö and Ä/ä by holding the AltGr or ⌥ Option key while striking Ø and Æ, respectively.)
Dutch (Netherlands)
Though it is seldom used (most Dutch keyboards use US International layout),[21] the Dutch layout uses QWERTY but has additions for the € sign, the diaresis (¨), and the braces ({ }) as well as different locations for other symbols. An older version contained a single-stroke key for the Dutch character IJ/ij, which is usually typed by the combination of I and J. In the 1990s, there was a version with the now-obsolete florin sign (Dutch: guldenteken) for IBM PCs. In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), "AZERTY" keyboards are used instead, due to influence from the French-speaking part of Belgium.
Estonian
The keyboard layout used in Estonia is virtually the same as the Swedish layout. The main difference is that the Å and ¨ keys (to the right of P ) are replaced with Ü and Õ respectively (the latter letter being the most distinguishing feature of the Estonian alphabet). Some special symbols and dead keys are also moved around.
Faroese
The same as the Danish layout with added Đ (Eth), since the Faroe Islands are a self-governed part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Finnish multilingual
The visual layout used in Finland is basically the same as the Swedish layout. This is practical, as Finnish and Swedish share the special characters Ä/ä and Ö/ö, and while the Swedish Å/å is unnecessary for writing Finnish, it is needed by Swedish-speaking Finns and to write Swedish family names which are common.
As of 2008, there is a new standard for the Finnish multilingual keyboard layout, developed as part of a localization project by CSC. All the engravings of the traditional Finnish–Swedish visual layout have been retained, so there is no need to change the hardware, but the functionality has been extended considerably, as additional characters (e.g., Æ/æ, Ə/ə, Ʒ/ʒ) are available through the AltGr key, as well as dead keys, which allow typing a wide variety of letters with diacritics (e.g., Ç/ç, Ǥ/ǥ, Ǯ/ǯ).[22][23]
Based on the Latin letter repertory included in the Multilingual European Subset No. 2 (MES-2) of the Unicode standard, the layout has three main objectives. First, it provides for easy entering of text in both Finnish and Swedish, the two official languages of Finland, using the familiar keyboard layout but adding some advanced punctuation options, such as dashes, typographical quotation marks, and the non-breaking space (NBSP).
Second, it is designed to offer an indirect but intuitive way to enter the special letters and diacritics needed by the other three Nordic national languages (Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic) as well as the regional and minority languages (Northern Sámi, Southern Sámi, Lule Sámi, Inari Sámi, Skolt Sámi, Romani language as spoken in Finland, Faroese, Kalaallisut also known as Greenlandic, and German).
As a third objective, it allows for relatively easy entering of particularly names (of persons, places or products) in a variety of European languages using a more or less extended Latin alphabet, such as the official languages of the European Union (excluding Bulgarian and Greek). Some letters, like Ł/ł needed for Slavic languages, are accessed by a special "overstrike" key combination acting like a dead key.[24] However, the Romanian letters Ș/ș and Ț/ț (S/s and T/t with comma below) are not supported; the presumption is that Ş/ş and Ţ/ţ (with cedilla) suffice as surrogates.
Greek
The stress accents, indicated in red, are produced by pressing that key (or shifted key) followed by an appropriate vowel.
Use of the "AltGr" key may produce the characters shown in blue.
Icelandic
The Icelandic keyboard layout is different from the standard QWERTY keyboard because the Icelandic alphabet has some special letters, most of which it shares with the other Nordic countries: Þ/þ, Ð/ð, Æ/æ, and Ö/ö. (Æ/æ also occurs in Norwegian, Danish and Faroese, Ð/ð in Faroese, and Ö/ö in Swedish, Finnish and Estonian. In Norwegian Ö/ö could be substituted for Ø/Ø which is the same sound/letter and is widely understood).
The letters Á/á, Ý/ý, Ú/ú, Í/í, and É/é are produced by first pressing the ´ dead key and then the corresponding letter. The Nordic letters Å/å and Ä/ä can be produced by first pressing °, located below the Esc key, and ⇧ Shift + ° (for ¨) which also works for the non-Nordic ÿ, Ü/ü, Ï/ï, and Ë/ë. These letters are not used natively in Icelandic, but may have been implemented for ease of communication in other Nordic languages.[citation needed] Additional diacritics may be found behind the AltGr key: AltGr + + for ˋ (grave accent) and AltGr + ´ for ˆ (circumflex).
Irish
Microsoft Windows includes an Irish layout which supports acute accents with AltGr for the Irish language and grave accents with the ` dead key for Scottish Gaelic. The other Insular Celtic languages have their own layout. The UK or UK-Extended layout is also frequently used.
Italian
Braces (right above square brackets and shown in purple) are given with both AltGr and Shift pressed.
The tilde (~) and backquote (`) characters are not present on the Italian keyboard layout (with Linux, they are available by pressing AltGr + ⇧ Shift + ì, and AltGr + �
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table last night.
And it left the national reporters in attendance at the Riverside in no doubt about the division Boro will be playing in next season.
The Guardian
In the manner of a middle-distance runner making that all-important kick for the finishing line, Middlesbrough have forced their way to the front of the Championship pack.
Aitor Karanka’s side may take some stopping now but they left securing the win that lifted them to the top of the table – two points ahead of Burnley and four in front of Brighton – extremely late.
The game had entered its 94th minute when Adam Forshaw sealed it with the last kick of stoppage time, the midfielder pouncing on a loose ball in the chaotic fallout from a Stewart Downing corner and scrambling it home to send the Riverside wild.
The Sun
The North East is set to be represented in the Premier League next season after all.
Doomed Newcastle and Sunderland might be facing the prospect of life in the Championship.
But, barring another end-of-season choke, Middlesbrough will be flying the region's flag in the top flight come August's big kick off.
And they will certainly have earned it.
Last night's dramatic win over Reading, thanks to Adam Forshaw's last gasp winner, said everything you need to know about the character of Aitor Karanka's promotion hopefuls.
The Mail
Middlesbrough moved top of the Championship last night thanks to a stoppage time strike from substitute Adam Forshaw that keeps them firmly on course for automatic promoion.
The North East club threw away their ticket to the Barclays Premier League last season after a poor run-in.
This year, however, they look determined to seal the title, and their share of of an £8billion TV deal.
The Times
The Premier League futures of Newcastle United and Sunderland look increasingly precarious but the north east seems likely to have at least one representative in the top flight next season, after Aitor Karanka's side continued their recent upturn in form to move two points clear of Burnley, with five games remaining.
Forshaw, the substitute, poked the ball home from close range after a goalmouth scramble from Stewart Downing's injury time corner to deny Reading a deserved point.
And what did the opposition make of it? GetReading
Royals looked to have done enough after Simon Cox’s first goal of the season had cancelled out Emilio Nsue’s early strike.
The hosts poured forward in the second period but found Ali Al-Habsi in superb form and it looked as if the home support would go home frustrated.
But Forshaw dragged the ball home following a goalmouth scramble in the fourth minute of stoppage time to break Royals hearts and send the Riverside Stadium into delirium.
There was also deserving praise for Ali Al Habsi
A superb display and so unfortunate to be on the losing side. The Omani was always in for a busy evening but he made a number of superb saves to keep Reading level, especially when Boro surged forward time after time in the second half.Ever since 1997, when, according to detailed Indian police investigations, pseudo- monks who infiltrated to Dharamsala from China murdered the Venerable Lobsang Gyatso, a noted lama close to the Dalai Lama, and his two young disciples, the cult of the Dolgyal-Shugden spirit has been on the attack. The well-evidenced culprits were not tried as they escaped back into Tibet and China, but the cult continued its campaign at the behest of, and with substantial funding from, the United Front department of the People's Republic of China, the agency handling relations with non-Chinese "minority nationalities." The futile effort of the cult backed by the agency seeks to alienate Tibetans from the Dalai Lama, their beloved leader and even to turn world public opinion against the acclaimed Nobel Laureate and Gandhi heir. The final aim is to disrupt the Dalai Lama's fifty-year-long nonviolent "truth and justice" campaign, to free the six million Tibetan people to be themselves in the special autonomous minority region offered them by the Chinese constitution, so far only on paper.
The cult and agency attack campaign is futile since its main claims are so easy to refute:
1) The worship of their chosen deity was not "banned" by the Dalai Lama, since he has no authority to "ban" what Tibetan Buddhists practice. "Banning" and "excommunicating" are not Tibetan Buddhist procedures.
Although they are Buddhists who should focus on emulating the Buddha, members of the cult are free to worship their chosen "protector deity," whom they call Dorje Shugden, as much as they like. The young Dalai Lama himself did propitiate it as a minor worldly spirit or angel, until he studied the history of its cult and decided it was not a protector at all, but instead a mischievous "king" spirit known as Dolgyal ("king demon from Dol"). Once his historical studies brought him to that conclusion, he recommended that other lamas in his school cease their relationship, or at least keep it to themselves, since its liturgy contains condemnation of the minority sects of Tibetan Buddhism and of non-Buddhist religions. In the late 80s', when certain individual lamas began to proselytize its cult, inducting even Western practitioners new to Buddhism, especially in England, he took the step of asking such persons to refrain from attending his initiations and associated advanced teachings, on the grounds that they were not following his advice and so should not take him as their teacher. They then went on the attack, claiming they had been "banned" and "excommunicated," etc., when in fact the Dalai Lama was exercising his religious freedom by not accepting students who reject his advice, and actually go so far as to condemn him!
2) The cult of Dolgyal Shugden is that of a minor angel or demon, and never has been mainstream, To claim that "four million" people belong to it, or even "millions," is untrue.
3) The members of the cult do not come from numerous Tibetan sects, but exclusively from the super-orthodox fundamentalists of the majority Gelukpa sect or order.
4) The Dalai Lama has never asked anyone to persecute anyone, and members of the cult who mind their own business and do not attack the Dalai Lama are not bothered by other Tibetans. Those who do attack the Dalai Lama with outrageous name-calling--"dictator," "false lama," even "demon," and "liar," etc., naturally do provoke the vast majority of Tibetans, who adore their Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama himself has never approved of either the provocations or any harsh responses, and remains steadfast in his adherence to nonviolence in principle and practice.
5) The whole fuss would have died down long ago except for the fact that the "hard-line" operatives of the "United Front Work Department" of the People's Republic of China, the agency in charge of dealing with China's "minority nationalities," sees the cult as a potential wedge they hope to drive between the Dalai Lama and his people and between him and world opinion. They therefore fund the leaders of the cult in Tibet, Mongolia, India and the West, and provide them the means to carry on their expensive propaganda campaigns. Evidence for this is very plain on the surface. For example, the so-called "Panchen Lama" reincarnation, whom the Communist party chiefs appointed after abducting and disappearing the five year old boy properly chosen in the traditional way by a committee of his monastery with approval of the Dalai Lama, is shown on the internet in various photographs sitting in front of a large icon of Dolgyal Shugden, as a sign of aggressive defiance of the Dalai Lama. The obvious fact is that the clearly stated purpose of the cult and the United Front agency of the PRC is to try to prove to the world that the Dalai Lama is not as nice as we all think, but is a bad, even "evil," person.
Whatever one believes about the reality of fierce angels or demons, it is clear that the leaders of the Dolgyal Shugden cult have done nothing over the last 30 years but cause trouble, both to their own followers and to the unity of the Tibetan people, both in exile and in Tibet. It has benefited no one except those misguided operatives in the Chinese government who wish to destroy Tibetan Buddhist culture, in order to assimilate systematically deracinated Tibetans into becoming second class Chinese citizens, and thus, through such a policy of crushing the identities and even lives of the "minority nationality" Tibetans, to secure forever their claim to the vast territories and resources of the Tibetan plateau. But as we have seen all over the world--and as aware persons can attest here in America with our still very much present First Americans--history never does end, people do not give up their distinctive identities, and truth and justice inevitably arise from the ashes of even genocidal flames.Should Ultra Rich Children of Celebrities Get College Scholarships?
Should Ultra Rich Children of Celebrities Get College Scholarships?
I would like to start this post off with a lyric from the eloquent Sean P.Diddy aka Puff Daddy aka Diddy Combs.
“Don’t get mad, get motivated!”
Now, if you haven’t heard. Ultra rich, celebrity, businessman, model dating, philanthropist, Sean (too many damn nicknames) Combs’s son recently was awarded a full ride to UCLA. Many people who, I can’t help but believe, are suffering from some kind of crab in the bucket, hating disease seem to think Mr. Comb’s son should give up his scholarship.
I could only shake my head.
I swear people just need something to complain about. Here are some of the hilarious comments I found around the web pertaining to this issue.
“Say thanks for the acknowledgement and pay it forward to someone who maybe didn’t get a maybach for their sweet sixteen.” “Like taking food from the hungry. He’s a disgrace. Multi-millionaire with no class.” “Diddy needs to talk to actor Denzel Washington whose son was offered a football scholarship as well but Denzel politely turned it down stating that he was blessed to have financial means to pay for his son’s education and the scholarship instead was offered to a low income kid :)” “If Diddy had class he would return the scholarship” “Perhaps Daddy Combs can create a scholarship for the underprivileged or donate back to the school, or give a one time gift to a cash strapped student.”
I can go on and on and on. It’s funny how people always want to tell someone else what to do with their money. This reminds me of how people were upset that Oprah opened a school in Africa instead of America. Are you kidding me people?
Back to the topic at hand. Let’s break this down piece by piece for you. I’m looking at the people who think Diddy should force his son to give back a scholarship he earned.
Point 1
This is a merit based scholarship, not a need based scholarship. Merit-based scholarships are awarded (not given) to students who show exceptional athletic or academic abilities. In the case of Diddy’s son, he had a 3.75 GPA from an elite private school, but more importantly he is ranked #133 in the nation as a cornerback. Did you know he was offered multiple athletic scholarships to play D1 football?
Here is a word from UCLA regarding the issue.
“Unlike need-based scholarships, athletic scholarships are awarded to students strictly on the basis of their athletic and academic ability — not their financial need. Athletic scholarships, such as those awarded to football or basketball players, do not rely on state funds. Instead, these scholarships are entirely funded through UCLA Athletics ticket sales, corporate partnerships, media contracts and private donations from supporters,”
Point 2
Are people just mad because it’s Diddy? I really think people just don’t like Diddy so they need to find something, anything to hate on when it comes to this guy.
Just because a person is rich doesn’t mean he should force his son to give up his hard earned scholarship.
I am willing to bet that on average, the parents of the children who play the following sports are very, very rich.
GOLF
TENNIS
LACROSSE
ROWING
WATER POLO
Yet, you don’t hear a peep from people about that. But with Diddy, “Oh no, he doesn’t have class.”
Let’s draw a closer parallel. Why didn’t anyone say anything about Peyton and Eli Manning accepting scholarships? Didn’t they have a well off father? What about Barry Sanders son? He just got a full ride to Stanford. Nobody cared!
Point 3
This isn’t about Diddy. This is about his son proving to a self-made father that he can do it on his own. People tend to think because your father is rich, you have it easy. I beg to differ. Imagine being in Diddy’s son shoes. Everyone thinks life is sweet, but you constantly live in the shadow of your father. All your achievements in life are attributed to the platinum spoon in your mouth.
So, what did he do to set himself apart from his ultra rich, ultra successful father? He blazed his own path, just like his father did and showed him that HE CAN DO THIS ON HIS OWN. He got stellar grades and became an elite athlete to show everyone that even though poor-to-rich Diddy is his daddy, he can control his OWN destiny.
Remember people, they don’t just give out 3.75 GPA’s, and you can’t buy your way to being a nationally ranked cornerback.
In Conclusion
Stop being a hater and as Diddy said, “don’t get mad, get motivated”
Good Luck Justin, I respect your grind!
Call to Action!
What was your reaction to Diddy’s son getting a scholarship? Do you agree or disagree with me and why?Medarot 7 was playable at the Saikyo V-JUMP Festa, and Japanese bloggers have written up a summary of the demo they played. Kimbles once again provides us an English translation of it all:
►Shoot and Snipe are now grouped into a single “Ranged” skill. Likewise, Strike and Berserk are grouped together as “Physical”. The grouped skills are levelled up at the same time.
►Battles feel twice as fast. Charge/cooldown happens quickly and the overall tempo is nice. (However, since it’s so fast it might take some getting used to.)
►Power of attacks seems to have increased; Bluesdog’s head rifle does around 140 damage.
►Bluesdog’s head cannon attack animation has it firing from a gun in its chest, like Cyandog in the manga.
►Assassin attacks do around 160 damage with a Physical stat of 25. In exchange for having a 100% chance of critical, the part now self destructs unless it destroys an enemy part. (?)
►Break’s mechanics are somehow different, and its animation looks cool.
►A-Buraage’s arms are now fire (shown as a blue will o’ wisp) and its head is a trap.
►Enemy traps show up as a? until triggered, so you can’t tell what kind of trap is placed.
►Rouge Katze uses shooting thunder attacks, and stop still prevents movement/defending/dodging like before.
►There’s a charge beam attack, where you charge up energy at the starting line and unleash it all at once.
►Snipe attack animations show the Medarot aiming with a crosshair before attacking. (Shown in the trailer)
►Guard/Defense actions don’t have animations, instead showing up as an icon on the bottom screen.
►”Combos” – Lets you link up to 3 part actions that use skills that match the medal, done by pressing Y when selecting a part. The combo can’t include guard/defending actions but you can use stuff like scan.
►It no longer cancels the attack if the target Medarot is destroyed, instead it chooses another target.
►Tornado now temporarily makes the target unable to move (and possibly does other things).
►Peppercat’s head part now uses “Stealth”.
►Matching sets of parts have unique poses on the parts select screen.
►Pressing select in a battle gives you the option to surrender. (hasn’t been a feature since the first game.)
►Something about combo attacks if multiple Medarots arrive at the attacking line at the same time.
►Tart’s Doctor Study is named “Docta” like in the manga.
►The AR card reader is in an option when you start the game up, so you can’t use it unless you have the game?
►The staff are interested in having tournaments for the game if possible.
►They’re taking the lessons learned from DS and putting lots of effort into the story.It would appear that a Florida bank has been the victim of a $13 million ATM heist, but just how did the cyber-robbers pull it off?
Although the security breach which led to the ATM fraud itself seems to have taken place in March, and was disclosed in the first quarter earnings statement for Fidelity National Information Services Inc (FIS) back in May, details of exactly what happened are only just starting to leak from the FBI probe that followed.
FIS, based in Jacksonville, is one of the world's biggest processors of prepaid debit cards with more than 775 million transactions every year. These cards, preloaded with a cash value, can be used at ATMs to withdraw that cash until the preloaded balance is exhausted. You might have thought that a company at the very top of the prepaid debit card business would also be at the very top of the security business as it applies to those cards, but as information leaks from the investigation it would appear that wasn't necessarily the case.
If it was, then how could a total of just 22 of these prepaid debit cards, issued by Efunds Sunrise in Florida, be used to perpetrate a staggeringly simple yet ingenious $13 million robbery? FIS, as is common practise in the financial sector, has issued a statement assuring customers that it has "taken steps to further enhance security and continues to work with Federal law enforcement officials on this matter" but that's pretty much as far as the official word goes.
So what actually happened?
According to former Washington Post staffer Brian Krebs who now runs the KrebsOnSecurity site sources "close to the investigation" are saying that the robbers hacked into the FIS network and managed to compromise the open-loop prepaid debit cards on the Sunrise platform. Which is where things get interesting. The cash balances of the cards in question are not actually stored physically on the cards, but instead are stored within a central database in records that are associated with the prepaid card account number. Unlike many such cards which automatically expire and turn into handy windscreen ice scrapers after the balance has been exhausted, these particular cards can be topped-up by the account holder by a simple transfer of funds.
Krebs reports that "the crooks were able to drastically increase or eliminate the withdrawal limits for 22 prepaid cards that they had obtained" and then cloned these cards which were distributed "to co-conspirators in several major cities across Europe, Russia and Ukraine". Waiting until the end of the business on Saturday March 5th, the robbers then sprang into action across Europe to withdraw cash from ATMs using those cloned cards which were replenished with additional funds, courtesy of access to the central database, as soon as the balances got anywhere near zero.
Philip Lieberman, President and CEO of security management specialists Lieberman Software, says that you "don't need to be a math genius to realise that each of the pre-paid cards - and their clones - were used to withdraw an average of around $590,000 per card" adding "assuming an average ATM transaction limit of $400, that's around 1,500 individual ATM sessions per card account". This suggests that while the actual concept of hacking the central database and topping up the cards was simple enough, the heist planning itself was anything but. The sheer scale of organising this crime, which took place over a weekend and across a continent, was mind-boggling to be honest. The robbers knew, for example, that to run the heist for any longer than they did would have triggered the sophisticated anti-fraud analysis systems that all banks have running behind the scenes to protect against just such unusual withdrawal activity.
Lieberman points out that assuming an average ATM cash capapcity of $50,000 then the robbers must have had a small army of several hundred'mules' on the ground in order to target something like 260 ATMs in total. "This raises the interesting question as to how much more the fraudsters could have withdrawn if they had more mules on the ground, and more cloned cards in their possession" Lieberman concludes "it also begs the question why the bank's own anti-fraud pattern analysis systems didn't spot what was going on before they did".Turkish-Armenian scribe sentenced to 13 months for blasphemy in blog post
ISTANBUL
An Istanbul court has sentenced Turkish-Armenian writer Sevan Nişanyan to 58 weeks in prison. DHA Photo
An Istanbul court has sentenced Turkish-Armenian writer Sevan Nişanyan to 58 weeks in prison for an alleged insult to the Prophet Muhammad in a blog post.The prosecutor had been seeking one and a half years of jail time for Nişanyan on charges of “insulting the religious beliefs held by a section of the society.”The sentence cannot be converted to a financial penalty, but Nişanyan has the right to appeal.He was charged with blasphemy after writing a blog post titled, “[We] need to fight hate speech.”“Making fun of an Arab leader who claimed he contacted Allah hundreds of years ago and received political, financial and sexual benefits is not hate speech,” Nişanyan said in his post last year. “It is an almost kindergarten-level test of what is called freedom of expression.”On May 22, the day of the sentencing, Nişanyan retweeted his blog post, writing, “Let’s share the article that was sentenced to 13-and-a-half months at the Istanbul 10th Criminal Court for insulting religious bla-bla.”Last month, renowned Turkish pianist Fazıl Say was also handed a suspended 10-month prison sentence for blasphemy, after a case that drew national and international reaction.Say had been the focus of a legal battle after he retweeted several lines, attributed to poet Omar Khayyam in April 2012, saying, “You say its rivers will flow in wine. Is the Garden of Eden a drinking house? You say you will give two houris to each Muslim. Is the Garden of Eden a whorehouse?”“I can’t help sharing some thoughts about today’s march in Kyiv. These pictures were shown first on Russian television: tires, firecrackers, reports on injured policemen and injured civilians. These pictures have been circulated deliberately to allege that some are trying to destabilize the situation in the country. I’d like to stress my absolutely clear position once again: there is no military way to retake Donbas,” Poroshenko said at a meeting of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council on May 20.
Ensuring international solidarity and supporting the country that provides an appropriate level of security, releasing hostages, withdrawing occupying forces from the occupied territories, [involving] political principles of the settlement, retaking control over the Ukrainian state border is a key position for Ukraine, the president said.
In addition, it allows for an effective extension of the special monitoring mission and the deployment of a special armed OSCE police mission, which would help ensure a peaceful transition.
Poroshenko stressed that the basic principles of the Minsk agreements were built on his peace plan. “Derailing the peace process under the guise of any idea is absolutely irresponsible towards the state, and it will only lead to the fact that part of Donetsk and Luhansk will remain under occupation a result of these processes,” Poroshenko said.
“I cannot let it happen as a commander-in-chief, as president. This is far from being my scenario,” he said.
In his words, most Ukrainians support peace and the peaceful return of Ukrainian sovereignty over the occupied territories. “We will stick to that course,” he added.
A spokesperson for Kyiv police later debunked media reports about injuries and the use of explosives during the Azov rally.
“Some media reported that explosives were used and one guardsman was injured during the Kyiv rally today. These reports are fakes. No explosive objects were used and nobody was injured,” press secretary of Kyiv’s police Oksana Blyschyk wrote on Facebook on May 20 afternoon.The Air Force has returned to flight duty the four B-1B crew members who dropped two bombs that killed five U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in June — the deadliest “friendly fire” incident in the long war.
None of the Air Force or Green Beret troops directly involved in the accidental bombing has been relieved of duty or faced criminal charges, despite an investigation that found startling deficiencies.
U.S. Central Command’s official investigation of the incident found that the four fliers — two pilots and two weapons officers — did not realize the bomber’s high-definition targeting — or “SNIPER” — pod wasn’t capable of detecting the infrared strobes worn by the soldiers.
The crew also tried to locate the strobes using a pair of night vision goggles, the only system on the aircraft that could detect the “friendly” signals. But the plane was flying too high, beyond the goggles’ range.
The crew reported to a ground Air Force target spotter that they saw no infrared beacons. It became a false confirmation that the group of men below were the enemy, and the crew dropped two 500-pound, satellite-directed bombs on their fellow Americans.
Sources within Army Special Forces, whose team was in the firefight that night, contend that the sole fault for the incident rests with the B-1B fliers and their lack of training on how their plane’s systems work.
They also blame the Air Force joint terminal attack controller (JTAC), the ground target spotter who relayed a wrong troop position to the B-1B crew. He had asked the crew via radio if they had the ability to see the Americans’ infrared signals, and they answered that they did.
“All four B-1 crew members have completed commander-directed requalification programs and have returned to flying status,” Capt. Andrew Schrag, a spokesman for Air Force Air Combat Command, told The Washington Times.
As for punishment, which included the possibility of criminal charges, Capt. Schrag said Lt. Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of 12th Air Force at the time, relied on his “experienced and operational judgment” and “determined administrative actions were the most appropriate for this situation” for the air crew.
“Administrative actions are a resource available to commanders to correct behavior and rehabilitate and discipline members,” Capt. Schrag said. “These measures include a broad range of actions and documentation, which may be attached to a member’s record.”
On the issue of the crew not knowing the capabilities of the B-1B’s sensors, the spokesman said: “The four crew members underwent extensive retraining that included night vision goggle and SNIPER pod retraining. These retraining programs were tailored to each individual’s needs based upon experience and specific tasks unique to crew positions. All ground testing was re-accomplished, and a final mission check was given to the air crew prior to their return to flying status.”
The Air Force issued a statement in January saying Gen. Wolters determined that the air crew’s “procedural miscues did not directly cause the loss of life in this matter.”
Army special operations sources scoff at that finding, arguing that the crew’s basic lack of knowledge about their aircraft directly led to the fratricide.
The Central Command investigation, led by Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, also faulted the doomed soldiers’ Green Beret team captain and the senior enlisted soldier for a faulty radio, not enough pre-mission rehearsal and a lack of full situational awareness.
The Army decided not to fire them.
It issued a statement in December, saying: “After carefully reviewing all of the information, the Commanding General of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, decided not to relieve the team leader and team sergeant of the Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha that was involved in the June 9th, 2014, friendly fire incident in Afghanistan. However, steps will be taken to significantly reduce the chances of this type of incident from happening again.”
The Air Force JTAC, who mistakenly told the air crew the Americans were a safe distance from the target when they were in fact the target, had a spotty career. He had been demoted from staff sergeant to senior airman for misconduct. He was kicked out of a special unit because he twice called in close air support directly over friendly positions. The Times learned that he showed a lack of basic air controller know-how when he was interviewed by accident investigators.
The JTAC found out before the mission that he would not be retained by the Air Force. The firing resulted in him being separated from the service. He also received what the Air Force called “administrative” actions before he left.
On the night of June 9, the Green Beret-led force of Americans and Afghans had completed a village-clearing operation and came under fire while awaiting extraction helicopters.
The B-1B arrived to perform close air support at 12,000 feet and a 5-mile orbit. It then dropped the two bombs on the Americans positioned on a ridge line.
Killed were Staff Sgt. Jason McDonald, Staff Sgt. Scott Studenmund, Spec. Justin Helton, Cpl. Justin Clouse and Pvt. Aaron Toppen. An Afghan army sergeant also died.
The tragedy has been cited in Washington’s debate over the future of the A-10, a storied attack jet designed in the 1970s specifically for close air support.
Former pilots say the deaths never would have happened if a low-flying A-10 Thunderbolt had been dispatched that night, because its pilots know how to use night vision goggles and would have been able to see the “friendly” strobes.
The Air Force, citing tight budgets, is retiring the A-10, which is deployed in the ongoing air war against the Islamic State terrorist army. Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican and chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, has criticized the Air Force for shutting down A-10 squadrons before providing a dedicated replacement. He says the B-1B strategic bomber is ill-suited for close air support.
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A Walsall ‘time bank’ which allows people to swap skills with their neighbours for free is celebrating after members exchanged 1,000 hours of kind acts.
The Time for Real time bank, run by leading housing organisation Caldmoreaccord, part of the Accord Group, allows people to exchange a host of skills.
For every hour someone spends doing a task, such as gardening or dog walking, they get an hour’s worth of ‘work’ from another member of their community.
The Time for Real time bank, based at the Village Hub in Caldmore Green, has 74 members who, in total, have exchanged 1,000 hours, which is the equivalent of 142 working days.
Tina Dalton, who heads up the time bank for Caldmoreaccord, said: “We are so proud of our time bank members for working together to exchange 1,000 hours of good deeds and really boosting community spirit in Caldmore.
“As well as bringing people together, the time bank is helping to tackle social isolation by providing free services to those who may struggle to undertake tasks themselves or are unable to afford them.”
Time for Real, which was launched in 2012, is the first time bank to open in Walsall. There are some 250 time banks operating across the UK.The U.S. and its allies have unleashed a massive air campaign in Afghanistan, launching missiles and bombs from the sky at a rate rarely seen since the war's earliest days. In October alone, NATO planes fired their weapons on 1,000 separate missions, U.S. Air Force statistics provided to Danger Room show. Since Gen. David Petraeus took command of the war effort in late June, coalition aircraft have flown 2,600 attack sorties. That's 50% more than they did during the same period in 2009. Not surprisingly, civilian casualties are on the rise, as well.
NATO officials say the increase in air attacks is simply a natural outgrowth of a more aggressive campaign to push militants out of their strongholds in southern Afghanistan. "Simply put, our air strikes have increased because our operations have increased. We've made a concentrated effort in the south to clear out the insurgency and therefore have increased our number of troops on the ground and aircraft to support them in this effort," Lt. Nicole Schwegman, a NATO spokesperson, tells Danger Room.
On the other hand, some outside observers believe the strikes are part of an attempt to soften up the insurgency before negotiations with them begin in earnest. But one thing is clear: it's a strategy Petraeus has used before. Once he took over the Iraq war effort, air strikes jumped nearly sevenfold.
Next month, the Obama administration is set to review the strategy for the Afghanistan campaign. Petraeus' newly-aggressive approachwill almost certainly part of that examination. It's a dramatic reversal from Gen. Stanley McChrystal's strategy, which drastically restricted the use of air power – even when troops came under fire.
But the new general is doing more than launching an expanded air war. He's also unleashing special operations forces to go after militants on the ground. According to Petraeus' team, those commandos conducted more than 1,500 operations in 90 days ending October 21. 339 insurgent leaders were killed or captured, as were 3,444 militant footsoldiers.
The ultimate goal of this aggression, ironically, may be a peace deal.* The New York Times' *Dexter Filkins is one of several veteran observers of the war that sees the push as "a coordinated effort by American commanders to bleed the insurgency and pressure its leaders to negotiate an end to the war."
But in the meantime, more innocents are getting caught in the cross-fire. Schwegman emails Danger Room that "while our air strikes have gone up, our incident rate of causing civilian casualties has actually decreased. As you know, our main principle in our counterinsurgency strategy is to protect the civilian population first and foremost."
According to NATO statistics, however, 49 by-standers were killed or wounded by coalition forces last month, compared to 38 last October. It's an increase of 30%. The militants' civilian toll has gone up at a similar rate. But the insurgents have been far more ruthless, far more callous about innocent life. They killed or wounded 322 civilians last month – four times as many as the coalition.
NATO has escalated its air campaign in Afghanistan before – most notably in the early summer of 2008, when coalition aircraft went on 2,366 attack missions. But each rise has been followed by a dip, often because the civilian costs of the air operations grew too high. In 2004, for example, then-commander Gen. David Barno halted all pre-planned air operations after a number of the strikes went awry, slaying innocents. "I was very concerned that if killing local Taliban leaders with airstrikes produced civilian casualties, the tactical benefit would not offset the strategic damage it did to our cause," Barno later said. After U.S. aircraft killed as many as 97 civilians in a single incident in May 2009, McChrystal imposed his tight guidelines on air power. Whether a similar constriction will happen after this current air campaign remains to be seen.
Photo: USAF
See Also:JNS.org – The chief of staff of the IDF said that tens of thousands of Palestinians illegally enter Israel every day, and that more effective policies and penalties are needed to stem this flow.
According to Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, more than 50,000 Palestinians manage to do this daily through gaps in the security barrier. Only 4,300 of these are arrested every year, and only 1,500 indicted.
“The front in Judea and Samaria is a challenge to the IDF in recent months…the Palestinians see terror as a political and religious tool,” Eizenkot told Israeli lawmakers at a special hearing, Haaretz reported.
Eizenkot said that Israel needs to invest in improvements in procedures for granting work permits to Palestinians, as well as imposing harsher penalties for employers who provide sleeping quarters and transportation for illegal workers.
“A balance must be created between the needs of the Palestinian economy and [Israeli] security requirements,” Eizenkot said. “Permit holders were not terrorists in the latest wave and it seems to me not even over the past decade. We are making great efforts to close the gaps, but there are still about 100 kilometers without a security fence.”American voters at a polling station in Ajijic, Mexico. Expats also voted by fax and Internet. (Guillermo Arias/AP)
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA—Dressed in workout casual and sipping a soda in one of the apartment-style rooms of Los Cuatro Tulipanes hotel, Matt Landau appears very much at home in Panama. One might even be tempted to call him an old hand were he not, at age 25, so confoundingly young. Part owner of this lovely boutique hotel in Panama City's historic Casco Viejo, he is also a travel writer (99 Things to Do in Costa Rica), a real estate marketing consultant, and editor of The Panama Report, an online news and opinion monthly. Between fielding occasional calls and text messages, the New Jersey native is explaining what drew him here, by way of Costa Rica, after he graduated from college in 2005. In addition to having great weather, pristine beaches, a rich melting-pot culture, a reliable infrastructure, and a clean-enough legal system, "what Panama is all about," he says, "is the chance to get into some kind of market first." Landau cites other attractions: "There is more room for error here," he says. "You can make mistakes without being put under. That, to me, as an entrepreneur, is the biggest draw."
Long a business and trade hub, Panama has been booming ever since the United States gave it full control of the Canal Zone in 1999. But as Landau says, it is precisely because so much of Panama's economy has been focused on canal-related activities that opportunities in other sectors, from real estate to finance to a host of basic services, have gone largely untapped. And among the many foreigners coming to tap them—as well as to enjoy the
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bullied, mate... But I don't have any massive issues with it these days. Okay, I probably do... Darryl Brohman
"Nice," says the kid. "It is nice," agrees Brohman, and like me, the boys can see that he means it. Brohman points to another boy who's been thrashing the air with his arm. "Do you have enough money to manage your life?" this one demands, so earnest in his delivery that we onlookers, crammed into the shower recess to avoid being caught on-camera, have to stifle our snorts. "Of course he does!" another boy interjects dismissively, but Brohman doesn't join the hilarity. "That's a very good question," he says. "... I don't have that much money, but I'm managing my life okay. And money's important, but it isn't the most important thing."
"It's the love," suggests a different boy, but The Big Marn shakes his head. "No," he says, straight-faced, "I think money is more important than love." "Yeah," responds the original questioner, rescued from the mirth he hadn't anticipated, "because you need to take care of your girl or she'll break up with you." The boys ask Brohman, 59, about the worst injury he ever suffered during his own years as an NRL player. He tells them about a horribly broken jaw that had to be wired shut for weeks, forcing him to consume his then-favourite food, KFC gravy, through a straw. Earlier in the session, when the boys were asked what they liked best about playing rugby league, one tiny specimen shot back, "Smashing other people!"
Brohman stared at him for a moment but made no response. When another boy confessed that he liked being tackled, Brohman shook his head wonderingly. "Geez," he muttered, almost to himself, "that'll change one day." Darryl Brohman became a household name as a rugby league commentator, funny man and "fall guy" within Sydney's competitive and sometimes cruel sporting media. But long before that, his public persona was defined by a single brutal moment in Brisbane in 1983, when NSW player Les Boyd smashed his jaw in an illegal tackle during Brohman's State of Origin debut for Queensland. Even by the standards of the day, when dangerous tackles and on-field punch-ups were commonplace, it was an ugly thing to behold. Grainy footage shows the 27-year-old Brohman - an unusually skilled and agile forward - running the ball up for the Maroons when he is struck in the face by Boyd with what one sports writer called "a viciously cocked right elbow, unleashed with merciless intent". Boyd was banned from the game for nine months, and Brohman missed the rest of the 1983 season. The injury meant he also missed likely selection for the Australian team about to play New Zealand, an opportunity that never arose again. Boyd still maintains his damaging hit wasn't deliberate but when Brohman sued him over the tackle, the matter was settled out of court, reportedly for $35,000. A Penrith player in 1983, Brohman later joined Canterbury-Bankstown before ending his career back at Penrith in 1987. But the Boyd incident never really went away, and animosity between the two former players and their respective supporters continues even today. The kids whose insights and absurdities he extracts so skilfully for The Footy Show see The Big Marn as he presents himself: as a "big fat jolly fellow" without a care. But the reality, however uncomfortable he might be about acknowledging it, is that Darryl Gregory Brohman has been running into bullies for most of his life. We meet at an inner-Sydney photographic studio, where Brohman is doing one of his regular shoots for the Lowes' clothing catalogue. When I arrive, he's standing in voluminous undies, waiting to try on the next pair of king-size fluffy tracksuit pants favoured by the cut-price clothing empire. (In TV commercials, Brohman and other footy figures caper about, chorusing the catchphrase - "At Lowes!" - with frenzied zeal.)
For footy tragics, Brohman's homely visage is as familiar as the bunchy trackies and plaid shirts he models. The moment I'm in his company, I feel I've known him all my life. After the shoot, he emerges in one of his own Lowes' ensembles and we head for Kurnell, near Cronulla, in Brohman's Volvo wagon, racing the clock for his session with the junior Stingrays. Like his friend and co-host on The Footy Show, Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Brohman plays the role of amiable stumble-bum. Surrounded by ripped young footy idols, Brohman is the lumbering, putty-nosed clown who actually leads the mockery over his own appearance and comparatively modest sporting achievements. There have been times, especially during his other job as a commentator alongside Ray Hadley on Sydney radio 2GB's Continuous Call broadcasts, when the piss-taking has verged on abuse. Yet as The Big Marn (as Hadley dubbed him) reviews his life, it's soon clear that self-denigration is more than a professional act. His late parents, Lew and Coral, were working-class battlers in Brisbane's northern suburbs, where the "goody two-shoes" Brohman grew up wanting to become a vet. Later, realising he "wasn't smart enough", he settled for a job in a bank. He began playing league at age 11, progressing to first grade with Norths in the local competition where, at 20, he took out player of the year and best and fairest player in 1976. He married his first wife, Maureen, the same year, but resisted early overtures from Sydney-based NRL clubs. "I was a lazy trainer," he says, "and I'd look at those NRL players and think, 'Geez, I don't wanna train with those guys, it'll be too hard!' " Brohman eventually made the move south in 1978, playing seven years with Penrith and two premiership-winning seasons with Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He played two State of Origin games for Queensland, yet still castigates himself for not doing better. "Mate, I was probably a back-rower in a front-rower's body. I was reasonably skilful, but I was just big. I wasn't fast enough to play at the back, and in all honesty, I should have been a better player. I was always last in training runs and stuff like that..." (In his media roles, such self-analysis invariably boils down to something like, "Too fat, too slow, too lazy!")
The end of his playing career marked the start of a grim period. In 1987, Brohman's and Maureen's son, Gregory, then seven, died as a consequence of the epilepsy he'd suffered since birth; the following year, Brohman and Maureen split up. "I don't blame the passing of my son as the major reason for us parting," he says. "But I don't have much doubt that it contributed." Did losing a son have any bearing on his obvious connection with boys around the same age on Small Talk? "I'm not conscious of that, although I do think about him a lot. We knew he was very sick, but we never expected him to die. No one expects to lose a child... it's just such a horrible thing to happen." Brohman and Maureen also have two now-adult daughters. He and his current wife, Beverley (or "Darling" as he calls her on radio), live at Caringbah in Sydney's south and have two daughters of their own. After the tragedy, Brohman tried his hand at coaching, but didn't take to it and ended up labouring and selling poker machines. Then he got a gig as a league caller with radio station 2KA for $60 a day. This led to his recruitment by Ray Hadley (then with 2UE), and - as his profile grew - to his current roles as a commentator/humorist with 2GB and Footy Show co-host. Asked what the term "fall guy" means to him, Brohman doesn't hesitate. "Oh, big fat jolly fellow, butt of all jokes, that sort of stuff," he says airily.
Was that always how his media role was defined? "No, but that's how it evolved... At times, I did get the shits. I thought Hadley [notorious for his on-air bullying] was being grossly unfair to me. Hadley, and Bozo [former league player and coach, Bob Fulton, part of the Continuous Call team]. I was the butt of all their jokes. But I've turned that around a bit now. I fight back, I give it back to them, and I think people sorta respect that and enjoy it." Was he bullied at school? "I probably was, being a heavier kid. But in those days, I thought it was just the way things were... you either put up with it, or took a stance. These days, people are encouraged to take a stance, and that's a good thing... but I'm still being bullied, mate. That hasn't really gone away." After a pause, he adds, "But I don't have any massive issues with it these days. Okay, I probably do - but not [issues] that I want to tell you about!" In 2007, as community pressure grew to clean up dangerous aspects of rugby league, lingering ill-will surrounding Les Boyd's jaw-busting tackle on Brohman reignited. Boyd claimed publicly that before the fateful 1983 Origin game, three then-selectors for the Australian team told him that he could do whatever was required to ensure no Queenslanders were in the national side. (Meaning if they were injured, they couldn't be chosen.)
"With this in mind, Les unleashed hell on Queensland," Brohman responded in his Sunday Telegraph column the following week. He mocked Boyd's continued assertion that his tackle on Brohman wasn't deliberate, listed some of Boyd's many suspensions for foul play, and called him an embarrassment to his family and rugby league. On the same day that Brohman's column appeared, Judy Boyd rang 2GB's Continuous Call team on air to defend her husband. This led to what reporters like to call an "almighty stink", with team member Bob Fulton calling Brohman a "coward" for suing Boyd instead of letting such incidents stay on the field. It was an unconvincing argument that went nowhere for Fulton, except to show what Brohman had been up against over the years. From the Continuous Call transcripts that day: Bob Fulton: "I know exactly why you [sued Boyd]." Darryl Brohman: "Why?"
BF: "Do you need me to go into it?" DB: "I want to know... Tell me." BF: "Well, what have I called you on this program any number of times?" DB: "Oh, fat flea, fat slob, which one?" BF: "No, the one that really hurts you."
DB: "Coward?" BF: "Yep." DB: "You believe I'm a coward?" BF: "Yeah..." DB (A bit later): "... and Judy [Boyd], I'm sorry for doing this to you, you don't deserve all this stuff, but... to me, rugby league is not about elbowing blokes... [or] gouging them in the eye. You don't have to be tough to do that, you have to have something, in my opinion, that is wrong, and the quicker we rub that out of the game the better."
Bob Fulton later apologised for calling Brohman a coward. The Big Marn survived a prostate cancer operation in 2010, then went on a health kick, losing 20 kilograms. But his passion for fast food soon had him back to 145 kilograms. "I just, well, started eating shit again," he sighs. "It took me six months to lose it, and I put it all back on in three months!" When he was dieting, Brohman vowed he wouldn't lose his funny "persona" along with his weight - which, of course, has been the element behind both his popularity and his susceptibility to abuse. Fellow Brisbanite Paul Vautin - another comic fall guy who Brohman lauds as "The King" - believes it is his friend's self-mocking, jolly-fat-man role that kids love. "Darryl is a very kind man, an endearing man," Vautin tells me. "... he's got a little round face, he's inoffensive-looking and he's always happy. He's a happy fat man, and the kids warm to him because of that."
As we approach the Kurnell Stingrays HQ, Brohman seems somehow revived by what lies ahead. "I've always been relaxed with kids," he says, "probably because I'm on the same mental level. I love that they have no inhibitions. Some of the stuff they say is quite racist, and I know a lot of it is bullshit, but I also know a lot of it is true." Most of his questions to the boys are prepared by a producer, but it's the way Brohman teases out their responses that elicits the best stuff. Today, when the freshly scrubbed young Stingrays are packed into their dressing room during Sydney's unseasonable heatwave, Brohman asks if they think the ocean is rising, and why. One boy reckons it's because there are more fish in the sea, pushing water levels up. "Water is attracted to the moon," ventures another. Brohman: "Who told you that?"
Boy: "My dad did." Brohman: "But if water is attracted to the moon, why is there water here and none on the moon?" Boy: "Because water can't float!" When everyone spills outside for a break, the would-be footy stars of the future surround their gentle giant, grabbing at his hands and high-fiving his legs. Similar scenes unfold at club after club across NSW, Queensland, even New Zealand - in what has apparently become The Footy Show's most popular segment. "Well, Fatty reckons it is," concedes Small Talk's ever-reluctant hero. "But he might just say that to give me a bit of a leg-up."Turn-based games have a thin line to walk in order to keep players engaged. XCOM: Enemy Unknown pulls players in so many different directions with both threats and opportunities that making the tough choices it demands is as difficult as stepping away from the nail-biting situation onscreen. Defending against XCOM’s mysterious alien invasion is one of the most challenging, intense gaming experiences of this generation.
Preventing Earth from succumbing to invading extraterrestrials takes place in two phases. In the strategic view, you must manage limited time, money, and material resources to outfit your soldiers with up-to-date equipment, expand satellite coverage across the globe to keep civilian panic levels under control, invest in XCOM’s underground infrastructure, and extract whatever secrets you can from captured alien artifacts. This layer is more of an interstitial break between the randomly generated tactical missions, where the true heart of the game lies.
Firaxis’ outstanding design strips away every last vestige of tedium from combat while maintaining the agency that makes the original such a classic. Though each soldier’s actions are constrained to a basic list, the tactical possibilities are as broad as your imagination: Park a sniper up on a roof and bait the enemy into his killzone, set up behind heavy cover and breach a wall with a rocket, or occupy the enemy with suppression from cover while flanking with a second team.
Implementing these strategies is fast and easy thanks to XCOM’s clear, uncomplicated interface. More importantly, the tactics that work make sense on an intuitive level rather than being a function of learning internal math. As I got better at the game, it wasn’t because I learned how many tiles a sniper rifle needs between shooter and target to negate its close-range aim penalty. I became a better commander because I learned when to retreat instead of pressing the attack, the value of covering a reloading soldier, and to fire off limited-use abilities whenever they might grant an advantage.
The AI understands these tactical truths as well. I was pleasantly surprised to notice no bad moves on the aliens’ parts except for those easily explained by the enemies not knowing my troops’ locations. They have to scout your positions just like you have to find them, which you can and should use to your advantage.
Toward the end of the 20 or so hours a playthrough takes, you engage the aliens on more even terms with plasma rifles and psionic powers of your own. With the exception of the lackluster final mission, XCOM maintains its difficulty throughout. More and tougher aliens appear, terror missions push you out of your tactical box by forcing you to save civilians, and a few setpiece missions at certain points in the narrative present unique challenges. Even with a demigod of a sniper who guns down two enemies per turn from across the map and mind controls anything that dares to get close, a single sloppy turn is all that stands between success and failure. Nobody is ever truly safe in XCOM.
As much as I appreciate XCOM’s outstanding balance and tight design, the game could benefit from more variety across the board, and not just because I saw maps repeat (albeit with different spawn locations) more often than I’d like. Restricting the new equipment you can research largely to guns that do more damage and armor that grants more health is disappointing. The endgame super-armors that let you fly and turn invisible break the mold, but where are the flamethrowers, the flashbangs, the incendiary rockets, the crazy alien weapons that have no analog in earthly technology? Even the psionic abilities you eventually unlock within your operatives have sadly straightforward effects.
Occasional line-of-sight problems are the only blemishes on XCOM’s otherwise rock-solid technical execution. Sometimes you don’t get a shot on an alien that looks like it should be there, or run into a cover bonus when you thought you had an enemy flanked. Losing a squaddie because it looked for all the world like he could shoot an enemy (who instead turns around and splatters him) is far more frustrating than eating a death due to your own poor decisions.
The Edge
The PC version is slightly superior thanks to improved textures and resolution and drastically lower load times, but those are minor differences. XCOM plays equally well with mouse/keyboard and gamepad, and features identical content across all three platforms, so grab it for whichever system you prefer.
Multiplayer is a barebones deathmatch mode where two players beat up on each other with squads of soldiers and/or aliens customized up to a set point value. The first turn of contact tends to determine the victor given combat’s extreme lethality. Only a handful of maps are available, and there’s no persistence or ranking structure. I don’t see any appeal to the multiplayer other than playing a couple rounds with a buddy just to see what commanding mutons and chryssalids is like.
Both of XCOM’s layers present life-or-death conundrums to which there is no right answer. No matter what you pick, something or someone is going to suffer for it. This kind of tension and terror rarely occurs within mainstream gaming, and almost never with this level of skill in the execution. Don’t let the “turn-based strategy” moniker scare you off; XCOM is a singular achievement that every gamer deserves to experience.First baseman Dae-ho Lee has declined his 2016 player option with the Fukuoka SoftBak Hawks, he announced (story via Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News). He added that he intends to pursue a contract with a major league organization.
The South Korean has played in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league since 2012. He moved there after more than a decade in the Korean Baseball Organization.
Unlike many other international players covered here at MLBTR, Lee will be looking to make the jump at the (relatively) advanced age of 33. That isn’t an unprecedented number, but it obviously limits his earning capacity and will reduce the number of teams that have interest in guaranteeing him money.
Lee has shown plenty with his right-handed bat, though, swatting 31 home runs and posting a.282/.364/.524 slash last year in the highly competitive NPB. That was his best overall campaign, but he has been quite consistently productive in Japan’s top league and the KBO before that.
Notably, because he is a free agent, Lee won’t require a posting fee. That eliminates some complications from the process and ought to drop the overall asking price. Presumably, the veteran will be looking first and foremost for opportunity, and it’s easy to imagine a variety of teams rolling the dice if the price is right.
“All baseball players dream of playing in the majors, and I’d like to pursue that dream,” Lee explained in his press conference. “If I can give 100 percent, like I’ve done throughout my career, I don’t think it will be impossible.”Fans can secure seats and submit ideas for the team’s name at www.foxvalleybasketball.com
BMO Harris Bank signs on as first official team sponsor
The Milwaukee Bucks and the NBA Development League today announced that the Bucks have acquired the right to own and operate an NBA D-League team that will begin play in Oshkosh, Wis., for the 2017-18 season.
As part of the deal, Fox Valley Pro Basketball led by Greg Pierce will be constructing a new 3,500-seat arena for the new minor league team. With the purchase, the Bucks become the 20th NBA team to own and operate an NBA D-League affiliate while the NBA D-League grows to a record 25 teams for next season.
“Our ownership group has been steadfast in its commitment to both build a championship-caliber basketball program and develop stronger partnerships with fans and communities throughout the state of Wisconsin,” Bucks co-owner Wes Edens said. “We’re thrilled to announce this partnership with the City of Oshkosh, Greg Pierce and his team, and the incredible basketball fans throughout the Fox Valley. This new team will be an invaluable resource for our basketball staff and an incredible vehicle for connecting with Wisconsin’s passionate sports fans.”
“NBA teams are increasingly recognizing the NBA D-League’s value in providing opportunities to players, coaches and front office executives,” said NBA D-League President Malcolm Turner. “A record two-thirds of NBA teams now own an NBA D-League affiliate, and I’m excited to welcome Wes Edens, Marc Lasry, Jamie Dinan and the Bucks to that list.”
The Oshkosh Common Council recently approved plans for a new 3,500-seat arena that is expected to anchor the newly-designated “Sawdust District” located near Pioneer Drive Park along the shore of Lake Winnebago. Similar to the arena development currently under construction in Milwaukee, the Oshkosh arena project will serve as a catalyst for additional economic development in the surrounding area. The overall vision for the project calls for the 3,500-seat arena, which will also house a sports bar and team store, along with proposed future development that could include a hotel and additional dining and entertainment venues.
“I believe that Oshkosh’s Central City is on the verge of a renaissance,” Oshkosh Mayor Steve Cummings said. “The Bucks’ selection of Oshkosh as its location for their D-League team reinforces our reputation as a great place to work, play and learn. The new arena will be the cornerstone of a revived central city that will attract visitors and greater development opportunities to Oshkosh.”
“When we pitched this idea, the Fox Valley’s response was so immediate and enthusiastic, we knew this would be the ideal location for the team to expand,” said Greg Pierce of Fox Valley Pro Basketball. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Building a new arena, bringing the Sawdust District vision to life and expanding the sports and entertainment options in our region will have a transformative impact on our community.”
Fans interested in securing tickets for the inaugural season of NBA D-League action in the Fox Valley can reserve their seats online at www.foxvalleybasketball.com. All fans who submit a deposit towards season tickets by this Friday, Feb. 10, will receive a pair of tickets to the Bucks’ Fan Appreciation Night game vs. Charlotte on Monday, April 10. Visitors to the site are also encouraged to submit ideas for the official team name, which will be announced in the coming months.
As part of today’s announcement, the Bucks are also welcoming BMO Harris Bank as the first official sponsor of the new NBA D-League team. A longtime partner of the Bucks, BMO Harris Bank operates in nearly 200 branches in the state of Wisconsin, including 12 in the Fox Valley.
More than 75 NBA players have been assigned to the NBA D-League for development or rehabilitation this season, including half of the players selected in 2016 NBA Draft presented by State Farm. In total, more than 40 percent of the last five NBA Draft classes have honed their skills in the NBA D-League.
Two current Bucks, Khris Middleton and Rashad Vaughn, have NBA D-League experience. In total, the Bucks have assigned 10 players since the 2005-06 season, the first when NBA teams were able to send players to the NBA D-League.
About the Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball franchise in their 49th season of play in the National Basketball Association, and third under the direction of a new ownership group headed by Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan. The trio purchased the team from Herb Kohl on May 15, 2014, tipping off a new era of Bucks basketball with the promise of building a championship-caliber team on and off the court that will unite the community and play a leading role in revitalizing downtown Milwaukee.
The Bucks have a lengthy history of success in the NBA, highlighted by the franchise’s NBA Championship in 1971 in just the team’s third season of action, giving the Bucks the distinction of owning the quickest rise from expansion team to champion in any of the four major North American professional leagues. The Bucks also count two conference championships, 13 division titles and 28 postseason appearances among the team’s many accomplishments, while numerous Bucks players, coaches and contributors are included as members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
About the City of Oshkosh
The City of Oshkosh, with a population of over 66,000, is the largest municipality in Winnebago County. Oshkosh is home to the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, the third-largest university in the state, with a total enrollment of more than 13,000 students. With diverse events such as the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture, the Miss Wisconsin Pageant, dozens of year-round fishing tournaments, and music festivals of all types, Oshkosh is widely recognized as “Wisconsin’s Event City.” The city is on the western shore of Lake Winnebago and banked by the Fox River and Lake Butte des Morts. Oshkosh and the surrounding area hold an abundance of sights and sounds for residents and visitors to discover and enjoy.This article is about the town in England. For the town in Canada, see Godmanchester, Quebec
Godmanchester ( GOD-mən-ches-tər, traditionally GUM-stər) is a small town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, in England. Within the parish its buildings are concentrated at the north end including a section of the south-to-east bank of the River Great Ouse facing the large Portholme flood-meadow at the south end of the town of Huntingdon. The urban-to-suburban core of the area is entirely south of the A14 arterial road.
History [ edit ]
The town is on the site of the Roman town of Durovigutum.[2] There is archaeological evidence of Celtic and earlier habitation prior to the establishment of a key Roman town and a Mansio (inn), so the area has probably been continuously occupied for more than 2,000 years. The settlement was at a crossroads of Roman roads Ermine Street, the Via Devana (from Cambridge, between Colchester and Chester) and a military road from Sandy, Bedfordshire. The Roman settlement was sacked by Anglo-Saxons in the third century. In contrast to Huntingdon archaeological finds have been extensive in the centre of Godmanchester, which has two conservation areas of early recognition[3] including many timber-framed Tudor houses, the largest being Tudor Farm, dating from 1600 and restored in 1995.
The Roman castra is mentioned in Godmanchester's name, which comes from Anglo-Saxon Godmundceaster, referring to a Roman fortified place or army camp of/belonging to Godmund, a typically Saxon name. The location is likely to have been originally settled due to the gravel beds providing a ford across the River Great Ouse.
The place was listed as Godmundcestre in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Leightonstone in Huntingdonshire.[4] The survey records that there were 26 ploughlands, with capacity for a further 31 and, in addition to the arable land, there was 160 acres (65 hectares) of meadows, 50 acres (20 hectares) of woodland and three water mills, a church and a priest.[5]
The town was first chartered by King John in 1212, though it had been a market town and royal manor for some years.
In 2003, Godmancheester had a population of about 5,500 in 3,500 homes, with the largest[6] increase in population occurring between 1981 and 1991 (81%) and more modest growth since.
Toponymy and pronunciation of place name [ edit ]
Godmanchester war memorial
A rendering of Godmundceaster as Gunecestre occurs in formal text in 1399.[7] A minority of visitors, former residents and residents continue to pronounce the place as Gumster, though this has long-since been superseded by Godmunchester, with stress identified in the summary section IPA pronunciation guide to this article.[8][9][10]
Government [ edit ]
Godmanchester was in the county of Huntingdonshire until 1965 (also an administrative county from the creation of those entities in 1887). From 1965, the town was part of the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. Since 1974, the former, relatively diminutive, county of Huntingdonshire has been a part of the administrative county of Cambridgeshire.[11]
The highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council, locally represented by two county councillors serving Godmanchester and Huntingdon East (electoral division)[12][13]
The second tier of local government, the planning authority and council-tax collecting body, is Huntingdonshire District Council, a non-metropolitan district, locally represented by two councillors elected for an eponymous ward.[12][14]
The third and lowest tier of local government is Godmanchester town council. The council comprises 16 councillors, including a mayor and a deputy mayor.[15]
At Westminster, the local Huntingdon seat and has been represented in the House of Commons since 2001 by Jonathan Djanogly (Con).[12]
Demography [ edit ]
Population [ edit ]
Since 1801, the population has been recorded every ten years by the UK census, the only exception being in 1941 due to the Second World War. In the 19th century, the population ranged from 1,573 (in 1801) to 2,438 (recorded in 1861).[16]
Population figures since 1911 are:
Parish
1911
1921
1931
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
Godmanchester 2,130 2,035 1,993 2,502 2,955 5,255 5,996 6,711
All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[16]
In 2011, the parish covered an area of 4,900 acres (1,983 hectares)[16] and so the population density for Godmanchester in 2011 was 876.5 persons per square mile (338.4 per square kilometre).
Culture and community [ edit ]
The Causeway
There are several bridges across the Great Ouse to Huntingdon, but until 1975 Old Bridge, Huntingdon, a medieval bridge, was the only one. It is now used only for light traffic, and a parallel footbridge has been built for pedestrians. Construction of the A14 bypass means that heavy traffic now flows over a modern bridge.
Between Godmanchester, Huntingdon and Brampton lies England's largest meadow, Portholme,[17] which remains an important flood plain but which has served as an equestrian racecourse and centre for early aviation.
South of the town centre is the headquarters and a large operational shelter of veterinary/rescue charity Wood Green Animal Shelters.
Original historical documents relating to Godmanchester, including the original church parish registers, local government records, maps, photographs and the surviving borough charters, are held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at the County Record Office, Huntingdon.
In October 2003 BBC1's Songs Of Praise was hosted by the parish church of St Mary the Virgin and featured the new hymn tune Godmanchester, written by the vicar, Peter Moger.[18]
Landmarks [ edit ]
Chinese Bridge [ edit ]
One of the town's largest public works of art and of landscaping is its Chinese Bridge which connects to a water meadow. Local legend has it that the bridge was built without the use of nails or other fixings. The bridge was removed by crane on 9 February 2010. A new replica was built off-site in two parts and was installed on 15–16 February 2010.[19] Today the Chinese Bridge does feature nails. The claims are believed to be false; a bridge in Queens' College, Cambridge had the same urban myth. Expert commentators write the original nails had corroded away masking their presence.
Sport and leisure [ edit ]
The non-League football club Godmanchester Rovers F.C. play at Bearscroft Lane whose teams play in various regional divisions.
Transport [ edit ]
Aside from the arterial road at the north end of the parish which connects the English Midlands to the port of Ipswich intersecting with two major north-south trunk routes in Cambridgeshire, the town is centred approximately 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from Huntingdon railway station, a semi-major stop on the East Coast Main Line. Huntingdon.
The town of Huntingdon is accessed via the expansive meadow and railway station by foot or cycle.
Huntingdon is at least every half hour in daytime (2 bph) linked by public buses (plus school buses). At least a frequency of 1 bph links Cambridge directly.As Everett continues to make its downtown more urban, a big part of that will be the development known as Potala Place. It’s located west of downtown at Grand and Wall streets and will have more than 200 apartments, retail spaces, restaurants and a market. The Market at Potala Place looks to be the first thing open this summer and today announced the first tenants in a release from their P.R. firm…
The Market at Potala Place, a new artisan food retail project located in Everett, Wash., is pleased to announce the initial market tenants will include Potala Farms, ChouxChoux Bakery, BB Ranch Butcher Shop and Fish Market. The Market at Potala Place is expected to open this summer.
“The Market at Potala Place will have some prominent tenants who share our commitment to healthy, locally-grown products,” said Steve Carlin, retail consultant on the project. “Everything needed to maintain a healthy, well-stocked kitchen will be available at the market, with affordable prices and the satisfaction of buying locally-sourced products.”
The Market at Potala Place will be a year-round indoor market, featuring locally grown produce, meat, poultry, and flowers, as well as prepared foods, specialty groceries, and a wide range of items for the kitchen and home. The diverse group of tenants will sell a wide selection of locally sourced grocery products, including milk, eggs, fresh produce and fruit. ChouxChoux Bakery will offer rustic and refined French pastries and desserts, a variety of breads, warm and cold sandwiches, and vintage American baked goods, all made with farm fresh ingredients and completed with the Pacific Northwest’s favorite coffees and espresso. BB Ranch, a long-time member of Pike Place Market, will offer exceptional cuts of meat and fresh fish, eggs, sausage, and related items typically sold in a butcher shop.
“We are very excited to be expanding our services to the Everett community,” said William Von Schneidow, owner of BB Ranch. “Pike Place Market has been an incredible home for us, and we’re happy that we can grow our business and provide the same quality and variety of meats, seafood, and ranch products to folks up north.”
The remaining tenants are expected to inhabit the market by the end of the year.
The Market at Potala Place will host a sneak-peek event on Thursday, April 30, 2015 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event will showcase the new space and include guided “private tours” of the facility. Tickets are $100 per person. The Market at Potala Place has partnered with Housing Hope for the event, with all proceeds from the event benefitting the local non-profit organization.
The Market at Potala Place will be a one stop destination for shoppers from Seattle to Vancouver. Produce and other products will be brought to the market each morning by local farmers; the goods will be sold to the general public and the cafés and restaurants located within the market. For more information, visit www.potalamarketplace.com.Bitcoin Security May Be a Matter of Old School Technology
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NEW YORK (InsideBitcoins) – Bitcoin is a high-tech innovation, no doubt. But perhaps the safest place to store your bitcoin is by converting your digital currency to a low-tech convention of common currency: paper.
Paper wallets aren’t a new form of storage, but haven’t yet gained widespread
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that is used by all functions that receive or return physical memory addresses. Moreover, this type is a structure whose members are integers. The programmer who wanted, for who knows what reason, to cast a physical address to a pointer could not easily do it in a way that is valid for 64-bit Windows but is invalid for 32-bit Windows when there’s memory above 4GB. With only a few highly contrived exceptions, any errors with a 32-bit driver’s handling of 64-bit physical addresses, e.g., to discard the high 32 bits, would be as much in error if left unfixed in the same device’s 64-bit driver for 64-bit Windows. Whatever such errors may have existed years ago, the natural expectation must be that they are rapidly getting fixed in the latest versions as ever more drivers get revised for 64-bit Windows.
For the particular matter of working with DMA, device drivers need to conform to the long-documented functional requirements for setting up and managing their DMA transfers. In particular, they need to be aware that the DMA functions may succeed only partially, and need to be called again to complete the request. The most significant, but not the only, reason for partial success is that the necessary double buffers could not all be set up. Double buffering is a technology for when a device cannot handle the full range of possible physical memory addresses. For instance, an old type of device (such as a floppy disk drive controller) may be limited to 24-bit physical addresses. To get data from the controller to physical memory above 16MB, the driver must use the DMA functions properly, so that the controller actually reads to a double buffer below 16MB and the DMA functions then copy the data to where it was wanted. A less old type of device (such as an IDE controller) may be limited to 32-bit physical addresses and will need double buffering in any operation that reads or writes to memory above 4GB. Of course, most devices can handle 32-bit physical addresses and increasingly many can handle 64-bit addresses. Either way, their drivers are supposed to use the DMA functionality as if double buffering may turn out to be needed. Some drivers for 32-bit Windows assume that all physical addresses fit 32 bits and that their 32-bit device therefore needs no double buffering. They then take shortcuts with their use of the DMA functions. If these drivers are not fixed, then using physical memory above 4GB will expose the liberty that they have taken with the documented coding model. Note that if the device can handle 32-bit physical memory addresses but not 64-bit, then double-buffering would be required on 64-bit Windows too, and the driver’s faulty assumptions would be just as faulty for 64-bit Windows.
None of this is to say that 32-bit drivers do not exist whose faults are exposed when using memory above 4GB, or even that they never existed in any significant number, but it is to say that the main types of fault must be confronted in the development of a 64-bit driver for the same device, so that retention of these faults in the contemporaneous 32-bit driver is highly implausible and even reckless. If you are worried that faulty drivers (or inadequate hardware, for that matter) make 32-bit Windows Vista with PAE unsafe when using physical memory above 4GB, then you would do well to wonder how 64-bit Windows can be any less unsafe on the same machine.
PAE and Performance
Some commentators say that PAE comes at some hideous cost to performance. Compared with the original algorithm that maps 32-bit linear addresses to 32-bit physical addresses, PAE is slower. It has one extra level to its page tables. Each PTE is twice as big. The operating system therefore has more work to do when preparing and maintaining the page tables, and since the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) has only half the capacity, memory references are more likely to miss the TLB and require additional bus cycles. The reduction in performance is surely measurable. If you have no need to access memory above 4GB and are concerned enough, then you would not enable PAE. Note however that Microsoft does not regard this performance cost as worth troubling over (as will be clear shortly, under the heading Data Execution Prevention).
Of course, for access to memory above 4GB, the appropriate comparison is not between using PAE and not using it, but between using PAE and using 64-bit Windows. For this comparison, not only are the PTEs the same size but the algorithms are very similar. To the processor, it’s PAE that is slightly simpler and plausibly quicker, but the memory manager in a 64-bit operating system can benefit from using 64-bit registers when working with the PTEs. These are very fine trade-offs relative to the enormous overheads that embellish some of the wilder misunderstandings of PAE on the Internet.
For a rough-and-ready assessment of these trade-offs, consider Microsoft’s own performance measurement, as given by the Windows Experience Index. Surely this is meant to have some objectivity, even if comparison of ratings for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows may not be strictly fair. On this article’s test machine, the “Memory (RAM)” component of the Windows Experience Index is consistently 5.0 in 64-bit Windows Vista and is just as consistently 5.1 in 32-bit Windows Vista, whether PAE is enabled or not.
Choosing PAE
Whether the memory manager in the Windows kernel uses PAE is configurable through the pae boot option. Indeed, 32-bit Windows Vista is supplied with two kernels:
an ordinary kernel which uses 32-bit PTEs without PAE, and has no code for working with physical addresses above 4GB;
a PAE kernel which uses 64-bit PTEs with PAE, and does have code for working with physical addresses above 4GB.
The two kernels are respectively NTOSKRNL.EXE and NTKRNLPA.EXE, both in the Windows System directory. The loader (WINLOAD.EXE) knows how to set up the linear address space for mapping to physical addresses with or without PAE, but each kernel is specialised to one algorithm for the mapping. The pae option tells the loader which kernel to load.
Data Execution Prevention
If you have a modern machine of the sort that manufacturers are fitting with 4GB of RAM, then you very likely are running the PAE kernel already. This is not so that you can use physical memory above 4GB, else this article would not exist. It is instead to give you what Microsoft calls Data Execution Prevention (DEP). This protects you from programs that try to execute data, whether in error or from (suspected) malice. The connection with PAE is that DEP depends on the NX bit that AMD has defined (and Intel adopted) in 64-bit PTEs, such that DEP can only be enabled if PAE is also enabled. Because Microsoft wants you to benefit from DEP, the typical practice of Windows Vista is to select the PAE kernel if you haven’t specified that you want it and even if you have specified that you don’t want it. If your machine supports DEP, then a necessary condition for disabling PAE is that you also disable DEP by setting nx to AlwaysOff as well as setting pae to ForceDisable.
Physical Memory Map
That you have 4GB of RAM does not mean that all physical memory addresses from zero to 4GB actually do reach any RAM. In practice, much of that range of physical address space, most likely at the top, is given over to such things as the system BIOS and devices. You can get some sense of this by starting the Device Manager, opening the View menu and asking to see “Resources by type” or “Resources by connection” and then expanding Memory. What this gives you, however, is at best only an indication. It tells you that some addresses are used for devices. It doesn’t tell you which addresses actually do have RAM (or ROM, for that matter).
The memory map that matters most for the question of what physical memory the kernel can use is the map that the loader discovers from the firmware. For machines whose firmware is a PC-compatible BIOS, the means of discovery is int 15h function E820h. Unfortunately, the loader does not save this map exactly as learnt from the BIOS, which complicates your inspecting this memory map for yourself. However, Windows Vista introduces some undocumented functions with which a kernel-mode driver can get the map fresh from the BIOS. Such a driver for viewing the firmware memory map is presented separately, along with a small console application that reports the results. You will need administrative privilege to load the driver.
Of particular interest once you have the firmware’s memory map for your computer are the ranges that are reported as RAM. This article’s test machine has its 8GB of RAM in four ranges spread through 9GB of address space:
Address Size Remarks 00000000`00000000 00000000`0009FC00 640KB of base RAM, less 1KB as an Extended BIOS Data Area 00000000`00100000 00000000`BFD0AC00 not quite 3GB at 1MB 00000001`00000000 00000001`00000000 4GB at 4GB 00000002`00000000 00000000`40000000 1GB at 8GB
The first 3GB of physical address space has RAM in two ranges because some is lost at the top of the first 1MB (for reasons of compatibility that go all the way back to the original IBM PC) and some more is lost at the end of the 3GB. The next 1GB is so much given over to device memory that instead of wasting RAM at 3GB, hardware remaps the RAM from there to the end of all other RAM, where it shows as the last of the ranges. The total amount of addressable RAM in the first 4GB is 3,143,338KB, i.e., 3069MB and 682KB. On this machine, with its present configuration of hardware, if the kernel is limited to the first 4GB as its physical address space, then 3069MB (and the spare change) is all the RAM that the kernel can possibly use. Get the kernel to recognise physical addresses above 4GB, and it picks up the other 5GB, for a total of 8189MB as shown in the picture.
If the 4th gigabyte were left at 3GB, Windows would have access only to as much of it as does not get overridden. In practice, RAM might show through in various gaps, so that the amount of RAM accessible below 4GB would be more than 3GB but nowhere near 4GB. If you have exactly 4GB of RAM installed, then getting the kernel to use physical addresses above 4GB will be no benefit to you unless some of your 4GB of RAM is remapped above the 4GB address. Whether this remapping is done at present on your particular machine can be checked by using the separately supplied driver. If it is not done, then whether it can be arranged is an issue of hardware configuration. Check your BIOS Setup, read your chipset manual, or consult your computer’s manufacturer.
Of course, for a machine that has exactly 4GB of RAM and has 32-bit Windows Vista pre-installed, you would expect that the manufacturer, having been told by Microsoft that Windows will not see any RAM above 4GB, might not have configured any of the 4GB to be remapped out of sight and into uselessness. You should not be surprised to find that remapping is disabled. Worse, unless the manufacturer anticipates installing other Windows versions on the machine, there is no incentive even to provide for remapping above 4GB as something that you can configure if you want. It may even be that your chipset can’t handle physical memory addresses that are wider than 32 bits. Either way, you don’t have memory above 4GB whatever your operating system. If your chipset does not support remapping, then RAM that is overridden for device memory below 4GB will never be seen as usable RAM by 32-bit Windows even with PAE enabled and is just as much lost to you if you install 64-bit Windows.
License Values
How does it happen, then, that 32-bit Windows Vista is supplied with a PAE kernel which is capable of using memory above 4GB but doesn’t actually use any of that memory? Broadly speaking, there are two mechanisms by which your hardware and firmware can provide for memory above 4GB which Windows will then not try to use. One is that the kernel never learns of any such memory. The other is that the kernel knows the memory is there but deliberately ignores it.
The first of these mechanisms comes about from a boot option, named truncatememory, which tells the loader to discard all pages of physical memory that are not wholly beneath some specified address. Thereafter, the discarded memory may just as well never have been reported by the firmware. When the kernel receives the memory map from the loader, memory at and above the truncatememory cut-off is already long gone from the map.
Of course, most people want all their computer’s memory to get used, and so the truncatememory option is ordinarily not set (even by people who know it exists). By the time the kernel receives the memory map from the loader, the map has been much refined in order to account for how memory is already in use, but it is otherwise intact as a report of physical memory that the kernel can use. Very early during the kernel’s initialisation, however, the kernel sets about its own filtering of this memory map. Limits are applied both to the total amount of usable memory and to the maximum physical address. Memory in excess of these limits is discarded, such that although it was passed to the kernel from the loader, it may as well not have been.
Total Memory
The total amount of memory allowed is taken solely from the license value Kernel-WindowsMaxMemAllowedx86, as read through the undocumented function ZwQueryLicenseValue. The data for this value is a number of MB, so that 0x1000, which is installed for all 32-bit editions of Windows Vista, means 4GB.
Maximum Address
The maximum physical address is calculated as the least of three values: a license limit; a run-time limit; and a hard-coded limit.
For the ordinary kernel, the license value for the maximum physical address is the same as for the total amount of memory, but the PAE kernel has a separate license value, named Kernel-MaxPhysicalPage. Again, the data for this value is a number of MB. Again, all 32-bit editions of Windows Vista are installed with this value set to 0x1000, representing 4GB.
The run-time limit arises from needing to be sure that an array of MMPFN structures can be set up to represent all the pages of physical memory, one structure per 4KB page, from zero up to the maximum physical address. The kernel’s capacity for such an array depends on how much of the linear address space is already in use. This gives the run-time limit on the maximum physical address. It is the size of the largest free block in the kernel’s part of the linear address space, divided by the size of an MMPFN structure (0x18 or 0x1C bytes for the ordinary and PAE kernels, respectively), and then multiplied by the page size.
The preceding calculation also produces an architectural limit on the use of physical memory by 32-bit Windows with a PAE kernel. The largest block of linear address space that is available even this early cannot be as large as 1GB and could be much smaller. Even if it is very nearly 1GB, that’s only enough to fit an MMPFN array for a maximum physical address of 128GB (given that the maximum should be a power of two). This limit is hard-coded in the PAE kernel, as is 4GB for the non-PAE kernel.
For the question of whether the kernel in 32-bit Windows Vista will use all the physical memory it learns about from the loader, the hard-coded limit of 4GB is dominant as the maximum address for the ordinary kernel, which truly cannot form addresses for physical memory above 4GB, but the license limit is dominant for the PAE kernel. If you have physical memory above 4GB and wonder how it can be that the PAE kernel does not use that memory, the answer is licensing. Code for using memory above 4GB is present in 32-bit Windows Vista as Microsoft supplies it, but Microsoft prepares license values in the registry so that this code never gets to work with any physical addresses above 4GB.
Transparency
Microsoft is not exactly forward in describing this mechanism by which 32-bit Windows Vista is restricted to 4GB. Especially notable is that the page Memory Limits for Windows Releases doesn’t mention the word license. Some explanation may be that Microsoft takes licensing so much for granted that it is simply left as understood that the stated limits on physical memory are licensing limits.
For the page The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4GB of RAM is installed, Microsoft again does not explicitly let on that all the necessary code for using memory above 4GB is present in the product, but does at least hint at it when saying that “the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista limit the total available memory” to protect users against incompatible drivers. Though no drivers need to know the mechanics of PAE and only a small proportion work at all with physical addresses, they may be indirectly incompatible with PAE because (as explained earlier) they have been coded to an assumption that the physical address space is the same size as the linear address space.
Accept for now that such incompatibilities with PAE have significant effects for significantly many users, and this page of Microsoft’s is still disingenuous. Of course, with DEP enabled as the typical Windows configuration (starting with Windows XP SP2), Microsoft will have needed to limit Windows to the first 4GB of physical address space so that the benefits of DEP are not blown away by problems from third-party drivers that misbehave when memory is present above 4GB. But Microsoft’s published reasoning would be satisfied by arranging that enabling DEP not only enables PAE but also adds by default a truncatememory option to stop the kernel from knowing of any memory above 4GB. It does not of itself explain why the restriction to 4GB has instead been implemented in a way that prohibits the use of memory above 4GB by everyone, even at their own risk or when using computers whose manufacturers test their machines and trust their drivers and are willing to bear the support costs if they’re wrong. (This is not to say that Microsoft ought to allow such usage, just that the reasoning that Microsoft gives for its solution does not of itself compel that solution.)
Anyway, how significant could these incompatibilities be in real-world use of Windows Vista? The drivers that Microsoft talks about are not the sort of things that users install willy-nilly. They are much more the sort that come installed with a new computer, such that they have been tested (or ought to have been) by the manufacturer. They are also the sort of driver to which Microsoft will not give a digital signature unless the driver passes Microsoft’s testing at the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). Add that Microsoft’s Device Driver Kit (DDK) for writing device drivers has defined the PHYSICAL_ADDRESS type as 64 bits since at least Windows NT 4.0 and that double-buffering into physical memory below 4GB has been supported since Windows 2000, and you might be forgiven some incredulity that these incompatibilities can now exist in any number, let alone that concern for them explains the forcible crippling of new installations of 32-bit Windows Vista on new computers.
Moreover, as noted earlier, the main types of coding error that are exposed by using memory above 4GB on 32-bit Windows are as much a problem to 64-bit Windows. It is beyond incredible that these errors are retained in 32-bit drivers that have been ported to 64-bit. However significant may have been the problems of 32-bit drivers and hardware for the safe use of memory above 4GB by 32-bit Windows in earlier versions, the natural expectation must therefore be that they are rapidly being eliminated from real-world occurrence by the widespread adaptation of those drivers to support 64-bit Windows Vista. Add that any hardware that won’t support memory above 4GB for use on 32-bit Windows with PAE won’t support it for 64-bit Windows either, and it is a wonder that anyone, inside Microsoft or out, can keep a straight face while saying that an upgrade to 64-bit Windows Vista is obviously safe for using memory above 4GB but enabling PAE on 32-bit Windows Vista (with up-to-date drivers) just as obviously isn’t.
Even Microsoft looks to be uncertain of its ground when talking about these incompatibilities. In the article just cited, which appears to be Microsoft’s main explanation of why 32-bit Windows Vista in particular is limited to using less than 4GB of memory, some paragraphs given as More Information are not even relevant to the question of using memory above 4GB. It simply does not matter that “DEP may cause compatibility issues” with a driver “that performs code generation or that uses other techniques to generate executable code in real time.” A problem from such a driver is resolved by disabling DEP, with no effect on using memory above 4GB. Why is that paragraph even present on Microsoft’s page if not to suggest a greater weight of argument to casual or uninformed readers?
Another paragraph that Microsoft presents as More Information is even worse. It talks of drivers that directly modify the page tables and “cause system instability” because they “expect 32-bit page table entries but receive 64-bit PTEs in PAE mode instead.” Put aside that you, as a security-minded user, ought not want (and hopefully don’t have) such drivers executing on your system even when you have 32-bit PTEs. Consider instead that these drivers will likely do the same mischief when PAE is enabled just for DEP. The PTEs are still 64-bit even if they never hold a physical address above 4GB. These errant drivers will still miscalculate the location of every PTE that they want to modify. If fear of this is an argument against using memory above 4GB, then it is just as much an argument against enabling DEP. Yet Microsoft recommends that DEP should always be enabled.
As Microsoft’s technical arguments for limiting 32-bit Windows Vista to 4GB of physical address space, these are strikingly poor in quality. Add that Microsoft seems nowhere to say outright that 32-bit Windows Vista already has the code for using memory above 4GB, and they look more like the sort of arguments someone might pass off to rationalise a decision made on other grounds.
Of course, I can’t know how Microsoft came to its decision. I just smell something fishy when technical reasons and good engineering do not of themselves compel exactly what Microsoft has implemented, which Microsoft anyway does not present transparently to potential customers. If I had found somewhere reasonably prominent some clear statement by Microsoft that 32-bit Windows Vista has all the necessary code for using memory above 4GB, and that although Microsoft sells the use of that code to customers who pay for server versions of Windows, customers who pay only for client versions have that code disabled because of concern for incompatibilities with third-party drivers—or even because Microsoft just didn’t want to enable it—then this article would not exist. Microsoft’s decision to disable the use of memory above 4GB would stand or fall on the commercial grounds of whether informed customers were troubled enough to complain enough. Instead, the decision stands on ignorance: many customers are left with their mistaken belief that use of memory above 4GB is impossible for any 32-bit operating system, and very few are well enough informed to know that working code for the use of such memory is already in the particular 32-bit operating system known as Windows Vista.
A Marketing Ruse
Perhaps the following, from Pushing the Limits of Windows: Physical Memory by Mark Russinovich at a Microsoft website, ends with a more frank description of Microsoft’s thinking about this 4GB limit than can be found in anything written directly by Microsoft:
Because device vendors now have to submit both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers to Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Laboratories (WHQL) to obtain a driver signing certificate, the majority of device drivers today can probably handle physical addresses above the 4GB line. However, 32-bit Windows will continue to ignore memory above it because there is still some difficult to measure risk, and OEMs are (or at least should be) moving to 64-bit Windows where it's not an issue.
See that the difficult-to-measure risk is merely asserted despite an acknowledgement that it seems implausible for new computers. As with Microsoft’s own literature, no comment is ventured about why this particular risk, among all the things that can go wrong with drivers, is so special that it must be handled as a licensing matter rather than letting users and manufacturers choose for themselves if they trust their hardware and drivers. It has the look of providing cover for moving consumers to 64-bit Windows faster than they might otherwise go. Just accept it without question and be glad for the new business as consumers who install 64-bit Windows start buying 64-bit applications which they might otherwise do without for a while. Who in the computer industry—whether a manufacturer of hardware or software, or even a commentator whom some might think is an independent analyst—is going to criticise Microsoft for a sleight of hand that brings forward a cycle of upgrades!
Windows With The Lot?
There is much that’s unsatisfactory about Microsoft’s hand-waving over imposing a 4GB limit to 32-bit Windows Vista. If nothing else, when consumers pay for a software product in an edition that the manufacturer describes as Ultimate, they surely have a reasonable expectation that the software is licensed to do everything that its code is capable of. If you buy only the Home Basic edition instead of Home Premium, then you expect to get less software and be licensed to use fewer features. But surely the point to an edition that is called Ultimate is that you get the whole package and are licensed to use it all. If you pay the extra for Ultimate but you’re not licensed for everything that the software can do, then how is Ultimate ultimate?
Note that this is not a case of a manufacturer puffing up a product description. The complaint is not that Ultimate isn’t truly ultimate because it isn’t the last word in what naive consumers might imagine Ultimate could be if only Microsoft would write the code. It’s that Ultimate deliberately is not given the ultimate license to do all that its code is already capable of.
Anti-Competitive Practices
An irony is that the very same driver incompatibilities that Microsoft talks of as a danger to users would surely have been eliminated—long ago—by the natural forces of competition among driver developers and device manufacturers except that Microsoft for many years misled those developers and manufacturers to believe that the 32-bit client editions of Windows could not use memory above 4GB when in fact they could (see below, under the heading Past). That Microsoft now points its finger at the driver writers without acknowledging the part played by its own substantial influence is at best distasteful.
By designing 32-bit Windows for memory above 4GB but licensing all but exotic editions only for memory below 4GB, Microsoft suppressed competition in the subsidiary market of computers that run Windows. Given that Windows Vista is the current representative of a monopoly product, this suppression may count as an anti-competitive practice in terms of some jurisdictions’ laws on monopolistic abuses. Certainly, consumers have been worse off for not having the competition. Especially while 64-bit Windows Vista was not so readily available, very many consumers bought computers with 4GB of RAM but not the whole use of that RAM. True, they will have proceeded with their purchase despite having seen the fine print that informed them of the loss, but they weren’t fully informed, and they arguably have been misinformed about the reason that all their RAM isn’t used.
You May Not Test What We Say
Especially unsatisfactory is that Microsoft says something about its product, and about other people’s products, but uses the licensing mechanism to deny the means to test what’s said. Whatever you think of software licensing, in general or as practised particularly by Microsoft, its use by any software manufacturer to frustrate independent testing of the manufacturer’s claims about a consumer product is a low act.
When Microsoft and others make out that defective drivers are so widespread and dangerous that 32-bit Windows Vista cannot be allowed to use memory above 4GB even as a configurable option, how is anyone to know the truth of it? Nobody can test even one driver’s use of memory above 4GB on 32-bit Windows Vista with the license data that Microsoft supplies for it. The closest that anyone can come is to test with 32-bit Windows Server 2008, which hardly any consumers ever get to see, and which of course was not available until some time after Windows Vista was first released. It is no credit to the computer industry that any manufacturer’s arguments are accepted so widely without independent testing.
Testing the Use of Physical Memory Above 4GB
Even to begin to test whether a particular installation of 32-bit Windows Vista cannot safely use memory above 4GB because of driver incompatibilities, you must somehow side-step the two relevant license values. The minimal interference for this purpose is to modify the kernel so that where it presently reads the two relevant license values from the registry, it will instead proceed as if the license values had no effect.
Let me stress that although I have to modify the kernel, using memory above 4GB does not require a change to even one byte of code. That I modify any code here is merely to simulate the provision of different license data by Microsoft. Much as you can buy Windows Vista Home Basic and then upgrade to Home Premium without having to reinstall Windows, you might upgrade to a configuration in which the two license values for memory limits are raised. Because Microsoft protects those license values, this patch is as close to that upgrade as can be arranged unless Microsoft makes the license upgrade available. If you patch the kernel and your tests then show to your satisfaction that your drivers are safe (though perhaps only after you disable defective drivers and install the latest updates from their manufacturers), then a license upgrade from Microsoft is what I intend you to seek.
You should understand now, i.e., before you get further involved, that patching the kernel presents some difficulties in excess of patching an application-level executable. Not only will you need a program with which to change a few bytes in the executable code, you will also need programming tools either to set the checksum in the executable’s header or to sign code.
Very soon after this article’s first publication at this website, other people and teams started to offer programs that automate the steps given below and spare you from needing separate programming tools. My only hand in these offerings is that they draw from what I have written here. Most do not acknowledge their source. Some even claim to have devised their kernel patch independently. (Curiously, none seem to have offered their patch in the two years between the formal release of Windows Vista and this article’s publication. That a search through Google showed little or nothing about the relevant licence values and absolutely nothing like this patch is the main reason that I ever did get round to writing this article after sitting on the information since mid-2007.) I am biased, of course, but if I had to resort to a third-party tool to do what I present below, then I’d suspect as unsafe all those whose authors don’t acknowledge their source. Except for that, I cannot help you choose one over another.
Patch Details
The only executable that is considered here is the PAE kernel, named NTKRNLPA.EXE, from 32-bit editions of Windows Vista (and Windows 7, which may as well be a Windows Vista service pack as far as concerns this article’s subject). The known builds have an internal routine named MxMemoryLicense in which there are two sequences of nearly identical code, one for each relevant license value. Each sequence calls the undocumented function ZwQueryLicenseValue and then tests for failure or for whether the data that has been read for the value is zero. In the known builds, each sequence has the following instructions in common:
Opcode Bytes Instruction 7C xx jl default 8B 45 FC mov eax,dword ptr [ebp-4] 85 C0 test eax,eax 74 yy je default
At the time of executing, the eax register holds the status code from ZwQueryLicenseValue. The first instruction is the test for failure (indicated by a negative status code). The remaining instructions test whether the retrieved data is zero. In the known builds, the xx and yy placeholders are 0x11 and 0x0A respectively for the first sequence and 0x10 and 0x09 for the second, but even with the placeholders left unresolved, the sequence shown occurs just twice in the whole kernel. This may help you find the patch sites even if you have a different build (such as you may have picked up from Windows Update).
Both occurrences are to be patched the same way. The patch is designed to vary the ordinary execution as little as possible. The kernel is left to call ZwQueryLicenseValue as usual and to test for failure, but the last three of the above instructions are changed so that the kernel proceeds as if the retrieved data is the value that represents 128GB (which is the least value that removes licensing from the kernel’s computation of maximum physical address). Change the 7 bytes starting from 0x8B so that you now have the following instructions:
Opcode Bytes Instruction B8 00 00 02 00 mov eax,00020000h 90 nop 90 nop
The following table lists the English-language builds of the PAE kernel for some known releases of 32-bit Windows and gives the file offsets for the two patch sites:
Version Package File Offsets 6.0.6000.16386 Windows Vista 0x003040B1, 0x003040F2 6.0.6001.18000 Windows Vista SP1 0x00309AA3, 0x00309AE4 6.0.6002.18005 Windows Vista SP2 0x0030C43A, 0x0030C47B 6.1.7600.16385 Windows 7 0x0035C243, 0x0035C283 6.1.7601.17514 Windows 7 SP1 0x003605F8, 0x00360638
If you are not completely certain how to interpret file offsets, to check the bytes and to edit them, then do not try to patch the file. Even if you think you know what you are doing, please take care to work on a copy. Use some command such as fc /b to compare your patched copy with the original, and verify that you have changed only the expected bytes.
For the remainder of these directions, I assume that your patched copy is named NTKR128G.EXE.
Checksum
For all executables that are loaded by WINLOAD, as is the kernel, the checksum in the executable’s header must be set correctly. Since patching the kernel will almost certainly have invalidated this stored checksum, you need to reset it. Signing the code, as discussed under the next heading, will do this. If you don’t have tools for signing code, then a suitable tool for setting the checksum is EDITBIN from Microsoft Visual Studio. Its /release switch exists solely to set the checksum. The command to run is
editbin /release ntkr128g.exe
Digital Signature
It is sometimes said that kernel-mode drivers are not checked for digital signatures in 32-bit Windows, or more accurately that although hashes are computed, drivers are not rejected if the hash is not validated by a signature. Although this is broadly true, there are a dozen executables that the loader ordinarily insists be signed properly. The kernel is one of them, of course. It must be signed by a certificate that derives from one of a handful of root certficates whose public keys are hard-coded into the loader. Since patching the kernel will have invalidated Microsoft’s signature, you have to resort to one of the exceptions that are covered by the word “ordinarily” (unless you want to patch the loader too).
One of these exceptions is a Test Mode which Microsoft provides so that drivers can be tested during development. Presumably, this Test Mode also lets Microsoft’s own kernel programmers get their kernel tested while it is still being worked on and is not ready for a proper signature. In patching the kernel to test what will appear to you to be a new kernel-mode feature, you are in essentially the same position, though on a much smaller scale, as Microsoft’s own kernel programmers when they want to test a new build. In this sense, Test Mode is the most appropriate way around the digital signature.
In Test Mode, the loader relaxes its integrity checking such that any root certificate is accepted. Provided that you have suitable tools, you can create your own test-signing certificate and test-sign your modified copy of the kernel, such that it will load when you boot Windows with the testsigning option. There is a price however: Test Mode has the detraction of placing small warnings on the desktop.
For suitable tools, with documentation, look in either the Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) or the Windows Driver Kit (WDK). With these, you can make your own certificate by running some such command as
makecert -r -ss my -n "CN=My Own Testing Authority"
This creates a root certificate for an invented certification authority named My Own Testing Authority and installs it in the Personal certificate store, which is represented by “my” in the command. You can view the new certificate by starting the Certificate Manager (CERTMGR.MSC), which also lets you set a Friendly Name for the certificate if you want to keep it. To sign your modified kernel with this certificate, run the command
signtool sign -s my -n "My Own Testing Authority" ntkr128g.exe
Note that you do not need administrative privilege for these steps. Also, you can self-sign the kernel on one machine but test it on another. There is no need to transfer the certificate to the test machine. Indeed, there is no more need to keep the certificate. You can delete it from the Personal store either through the user interface of the Certificate Manager or by running the command
certmgr -del -c -s my -n "My Own Testing Authority"
Booting the Self-Signed Patched Kernel
You now have a modified kernel with which to test your 32-bit Windows Vista for its use of physical memory above 4GB. Copy it to the Windows System directory of the machine that you will test. (For this, you typically will need administrative privilege for the target machine.) Then, provided that you successfully
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simple statement. GitLab has (almost) everything that GitHub does. Features are more or less the same (with very few exceptions) and UI is as great as the one from GitHub. If you go to GitLab’s site you’ll have a hard time not thinking that you are in GitHub. One would need to look very hard to find something meaningful that GitHub has and GitLab doesn’t so let’s skip at what distinguishes GitLab from GitHub.
GitLab Community Edition is free and open sourced. That in itself gives it a huge boost when compared to GitHub Enterprise Edition (the only version that can be installed on premises). While there are some features available only in the enterprise edition, you might not need them and even if you do, it makes the decision easier knowing that you can start with the free version and upgrade to the paid one later on. That does not mean that GitHub doesn’t have a trial. It does. But, as trials go, it is for a limited period of time that might or might not be enough. With GitLab community edition you might be fine until the end of time or you might start with the enterprise edition right away. The good thing is that you have a choice that does not expire.
Pricing for the enterprise edition is reasonable (several times lower than with GitHub). Unlike GitHub, GitLab can be installed on virtually any hardware/OS/CM combination. Cloud providers, virtual machines, directly on the server, Linux, Windows, Puppet, Chef, and so on. I dare you to find a combination you’d like to use that is not supported by GitLab. They are even maintaining Docker images. More over, installation is dead simple. It shows the power of open source with infinite combinations community came up with and wrote about.
Let’s move on and take a look at the third contestant.
BitBucket Server (Formerly Stash)
Short story is that I do not recommend it. It has no advantage over the other two (except maybe integration with other Atlassian products), its UI is horrible (for the lack of better words) and it is a huge and slow application that will eat your resources in no time. However, it has a great marketing power through the rest of Atlassian products. JIRA, Confluence, Bamboo and other Atlassian offerings are very popular and present in many companies. That makes BitBucket Server a very tempting choice. However, not all products Atlassian makes are truly good with BitBucket Server and Bamboo being in the group of those that made my life harder than it should be. UI lacks information I expected to find (actually information is there but not where it should be) and is as un-intuitive as it can get. There is no option to commit code snippets (called Gists in GitHub) and no editing in-line. That leaves us with the integration with other products as the reason to purchase it. Right? Wrong! I haven’t seen anything in Stash (I’ll use the older and shorter name from now on) that was easier to set up than in GitHub or GitLab. Integration with Jira is easy in all of them (haven’t tried the integration with the rest of Atlassian products so that’s the part I might be wrong). Of course, if you are the company doing everything Atlassian, then Stash is no brainer. Where there’s room for JIRA, Confluence, Bamboo, HipChat and what not, there is room for Stash as well. But then again, the fact you’re reading this article probably means that you are not in that group.
Good thing about Stash is the pricing. It’s a one time fee that is not much higher than the yearly subscription to GitLab (we already established that GitHub is over the top). Moreover, if you’ll have only few users (up to ten) the price is so low that it’s practically free. Then again, you’re probably not thinking to set up your own repository for only a few people. However, the price is low only if you already have a Wiki and an issue tracking system. If you don’t that will cost you extra with Stash while the other two have it incorporated.
Besides the (questionable) price advantage and the desire to have everything Atlassian, there is no real reason to choose Stash.
Final Verdict
If price is not an issue, you don’t mind closed-source, you’re OK with its installation options and you want to put your trust into the biggest and the greatest, choose GitHub Enterprise Edition.
If you must have everything Atlassian, choose BitBucket Server.
Everyone else should go with GitLab. It’s a great product, it’s open source with the enterprise offering, its pricing is reasonable and there’s nothing it lacks when compared to GitHub.
The pricing of the products we discussed can be found through the following links (thanks to duckieho):
GitHub
Hosted private repos: https://github.com/pricing
On-site (up to 500 users): https://enterprise.github.com/features#pricing
GitLabs
Hosted private repos: Free
On-site: https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/
BitBucket
*Hosted private repos: https://bitbucket.org/product/pricing
* On-site: https://bitbucket.org/product/pricing?tab=server-pricing
Finally, if you’d like to try it out and have Docker installed, just run the following command and you’ll see it in action in no time.
docker run -d --name gitlab-ce \ -p 8443:443 \ -p 8080:80 \ -p 2222:22 \ --volume $PWD/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \ --volume $PWD/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \ --volume $PWD/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \ gitlab/gitlab-ceThousands of Iranian women are uploading images of themselves without a hijab to the Internet, sparking a debate on the country’s 35-year-old law that requires them to wear the head covering.
They are sending their pictures to a Facebook page called Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women. The page was created by London-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad on May 3, and had notched up over 170,000 Likes by May 14.
“Every single minute I receive emails and Facebook messages, bombarding me with images,” Alinejad tells TIME.
The anonymous photos vary in their degree of defiance, some of them depicting uncovered women next to their husbands or mothers, others standing next to the Grand Ayatullah’s office or in the middle of a packed subway car.
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However, Alinejad, whose mother wears a hijab, says she has no intention of encouraging defiance.
“I’m not asking people to take off their scarves,” she says. “But you never see these ordinary, smiling women, full of color in the Iranian papers. I’m not fighting the hijab, I’m fighting censorship.”
The debate over the hijab tends to erupt every summer, when temperatures reaching 40°C cause women to challenge the limits on how far back on the head they are allowed to wear their hijabs. Normally, Iran’s morality police keep the streets clear of what is considered indecent behavior, but what’s on the Internet is proving harder to purge.
The semiofficial Fars News Agency has denounced the page and accused Alinejad of working with Iran’s enemies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Alinejad is meanwhile worried about Facebook pages with similar names to hers that have cropped up over the past few days.
“I verify every single image, and post them anonymously,” she says. “I don’t know who runs these other pages, maybe it’s the government, maybe it’s someone who wants to abuse the pictures. It could be dangerous for the women. I worry that they may be sending their images in the wrong direction.”
The Fars News Agency continues to claim that Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women promotes promiscuity, but the multitude of images of women enjoying the simple comfort of being bareheaded, and the messages that accompany the pictures, say otherwise.
“It is painful that I shall not be free so that you will not sin,” writes one woman. “That I have to be covered so that your weak faith does not break!”
Contact us at [email protected] research meant to highlight how the destruction of the Amazon rainforest could affect climate elsewhere, Princeton University-led researchers report that the total deforestation of the Amazon may significantly reduce rain and snowfall in the western United States, resulting in water and food shortages, and a greater risk of forest fires.
The researchers report in the Journal of Climate that an Amazon stripped bare could mean 20 percent less rain for the coastal Northwest and a 50 percent reduction in the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial source of water for cities and farms in California. Previous research has shown that deforestation will likely produce dry air over the Amazon. Using high-resolution climate simulations, the researchers are the first to find that the atmosphere's normal weather-moving mechanics would create a ripple effect that would move that dry air directly over the western United States from December to February.
Princeton University-led researchers report that the total deforestation of the Amazon may significantly reduce rain and snowfall in the western United States, including a 50 percent reduction in the Sierra Nevada snowpack that is a crucial source of water for cities and farms in California. The simulation showed that the water equivalent of the snowpack by April 1 decreased in range and depth from pre-deforestation levels (left) when the Amazon was cleared (right). The depth is measured in centimeters with the redder areas indicating more snow. (All images by David Medvigy, Department of Geosciences)
Specifically, a denuded Amazon would develop a weather cycle consisting of abnormally dry air in the sun-scorched northern Amazon around the equator weighted by wetter air in the cooler south. Research has speculated that this pattern would be similar to the warm-water climate pattern El Niño, which during the winter months brings heavy precipitation to southern California and the Sierra Nevada region while drying out the Pacific Northwest.
The Princeton-led researchers found that the Amazon pattern would be subject to the same meandering high-altitude winds known as Rossby waves that distribute the El Niño system worldwide from its source over the Pacific Ocean. Rossby waves are instrumental forces in Earth's weather that move east or west across the planet, often capturing the weather of one region — such as chill Arctic air — and transporting it to another. Because the Amazon pattern forms several thousand miles to the southeast from El Niño, the researchers report, the Rossby waves that put the rainy side of El Niño over southern California would instead subject that region to the dry end of the Amazon pattern. The pattern's rainy portion would be over the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico.
Research suggests that deforestation will likely produce a weather cycle over the Amazon consisting of abnormally dry air in the sun-scorched northern Amazon around the equator weighted by wetter air in the cooler south (left). The Princeton-led researchers found that the Amazon pattern would be subject to meandering high-altitude winds known as Rossby waves that move east or west across the planet (center). The Rossby waves would move the dry end of the Amazon pattern directly over the western United States from December to February, while the pattern's rainy portion would be over the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico (right).
First author David Medvigy, an assistant professor of geosciences at Princeton, explained that the findings stand as one possible outcome of Amazon deforestation in regions outside of South America — consequences that scientists are working to understand. The rainforest influences various aspects of the surrounding climate, including cloud coverage, heat absorption and rainfall.
"The big point is that Amazon deforestation will not only affect the Amazon — it will not be contained. It will hit the atmosphere and the atmosphere will carry those responses," Medvigy said.
"It just so happens that one of the locations feeling that response will be one we care about most agriculturally," he said. "If you change the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, where most of the irrigation for California's Central Valley comes from, then by this study deforestation of the Amazon could have serious consequences for the food supply of the United States."
The researchers found that deforestation could mean 20 percent less rain for the coastal Northwest. The figure above shows the change (in millimeters per day) in daily average precipitation after total Amazon deforestation compared to before deforestation. The pink to dark-pink range indicates a drop in precipitation of up 1.6 mm less per day once the Amazon is gone. Areas with statistically significant changes are hatched.
Because the exact result of Amazon deforestation is impossible to know currently, the behavior and impact of El Niño provides one of the best ideas of how the loss of the Amazon could play out, Medvigy said. Studies have suggested since 1993 that an Amazon without trees will develop an El Niño-like pattern, the researchers reported. The researchers then focused on the northwestern United States because the region is typically sensitive to El Niño.
"We don't know what the world will be like without the Amazon. We know exactly what happens with El Niño — it's been studied extensively," Medvigy said. "Our intention with this paper was to identify an analogy between El Niño and Amazon deforestation. There's good reason to believe there will be strong climatic similarities between the two. Research like this will give us a handle on what to expect from Amazon deforestation."
Medvigy worked with second author Robert Walko, a senior scientist in the division of meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami; Martin Otte, a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division; and Roni Avissar, a University of Miami professor of meteorology and physical oceanography and dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Deforestation will likely produce dry air over the Amazon. The researchers' model indicated that the surface temperature in the Amazon region would increase by up to 2 degrees Celsius (darkest green) over a 14-year period following deforestation. The region of Amazon deforestation is boxed.
The high resolution of the researchers' climate model allowed them to see the otherwise subtle pull of the Rossby waves, Medvigy said. The typical model buries finer atmospheric features under a scale of about 200 kilometers — twice the width of the Andes Mountains. Medvigy and his co-authors spotted the intricacies of the Amazon's future weather pattern using a resolution as fine as 25 kilometers, he said.
The researchers based their simulation on the Amazon's complete removal, an exaggerated level of destruction needed to produce a noticeable effect, Medvigy said. Nonetheless, clear-cutting of the Amazon marches on, although conservation efforts have significantly slowed deforestation in countries such as Brazil since the mid-2000s. In addition, research has shown that climate change, especially a spike in the global temperature, could wipe out as much as 85 percent of the forest.
The Amazon's fragility and vulnerability — combined with its outsized sway over the climate — add an urgency to better understanding how the forest's disappearance will affect the larger climate, particularly for agriculturally important areas such as California, Medvigy said.
"We know the Amazon is being deforested, but we don't know for sure what's going to happen because of it," Medvigy said. "Other scientists need to do these simulations and see if they get the same results. If they do, then policymakers will have to take notice."
The paper, "Simulated changes in Northwest US climate in response to Amazon deforestation," was published in the Nov. 15 edition of the Journal of Climate. This work was supported by awards from the National Science Foundation (grant numbers 1151102 and 0902197).Brian Lay has been penalized by the World Racing Group for violating the series’ substance abuse policy.
According to a release by the World of Outlaws, Lay failed to complete the testing procedure at the series’ May event at Eldora Speedway. Lay was notified that failure to complete the test would result in a first offense penalty.
Under World of Outlaws rules, Lay will be held out of competition for 90 days from the date of the test and fined $1,000, minus his $200 purse winnings. The suspension may be reduced to 60 days with the completion of an alcohol or drug-education program.
Lay’s reinstatement will be conditional on two negative tests over the final 14-day period of the suspension and payment of his fine.
If Lay has a positive result on a re-test, he will be subject to a second offense penalty process, which includes a 180-day suspension and a $2,500 fine. The suspension may be reduced to 120 days with the completion of a drug and alcohol program.
The World of Outlaws also assessed a penalty to eight-time champion Donny Schatz for an incident at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Schatz had an on-track altercation with Sheldon Haudenschild after a heat race. Rule 11.1-G of the rulebook states the following:
“Any member that attempts to drive roughly and/or bumps another competitor unnecessarily will be subject to a disqualification, and/or fine, and/or suspension, and/or any other action deemed appropriate by World of Outlaws officials and/or World Racing Group Supervisory Officials.”
Schatz received a $500 fine for the incident.
RelatedUntil now, generating high quality leads is still the top issue for many B2B companies. Regardless what type of industry your company is into, identifying qualified prospects is an ongoing process and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Every business owners must evaluate whether their marketing channels such as email marketing, SEO, content marketing, lead generation and referrals are generating leads and sales opportunities for the company. There are many competitors in the market and as a B2B company, you must embrace change in order to compete.
So what can you do to expect an increase in the success of your marketing strategies?
Let’s analyze and compare successful and struggling B2B companies to see how your company is doing.
1) Constant Learning
Struggling B2B Company
Business owner thinks he has answers for everything.
Successful B2B Company
Business owner is thirsty for new learnings.
Related: The New Year Resolution of A Singaporean Businessman
2) Employee Relationship
Struggling B2B Company
Business owner treats staff like a dirt or as their bestfriend.
Successful B2B Company
Business owner cares for his or her staff but managed to maintain professional distance.
3) Involvement in Financial and Operation side of the business
Struggling B2B Company
Business owner wait for his or her employees to provide him or her with all the information.
Successful B2B Company
Business owner knows every detail of his or her business to use in making good business decisions.
Related: Prepping your Lead Generation Plan for Malaysia in 2017: What to Include?
4) Set Data Driven Objectives
Struggling B2B Company
Business owner use his or her intuition in making decisions.
Successful B2B Company
Business owner based his or her decisions through facts. He or she evaluate and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of his company.
Related: Reaching Marketing Goals in Malaysia in the First Month of 2017
5) Well Balanced Life
Struggling B2B Company
Business owner is too busy at work. Says he or she don’t have time or is too old to do fun things.
Successful B2B Company
Business owner knows how to enjoy outside work for his or her personal development.
Related: Boost Creativity: Find Inspiration Inside your Office
Stop struggling! Instead, start making better business decisions using these tips as your guide and explore more opportunities for your company.
Read more posts on our blogRaleigh-Durham Featured in NYTimes Winter Travel Magazine
In case you haven’t picked up Sunday’s edition of the New York Times, you might want to rush out and get one if for no other reason than to check out the two page spread on the life and culture in the Raleigh-Durham area (from Locopops, to The Indy Week’s Grayson Currin, Only Burger and the onslaught of food trucks that have popped up in the past few years, to Raleigh Denim, Foundation, Kings Barcade and more).
Writer Stephen Heyman gives a short introduction to our city(ies) and states that “music is everywhere”, calls us a “hipster vibe factory”, expands on how much great food is in our area (from the food trucks to the restaurants), and calls the area “North Carolina’s Axis of Cool”. We’ll that that as a compliment.
Below are quick photos of the spread (click on the photos to enlarge) and we’ll update this article (with better photos of digital versions) once the NYTimes updates their own TMagazine site to include the Raleigh-Durham spread….if they do at all.
UPDATE: You can view the digital version of the magazine HERE and the Raleigh-Durham specific section HERE (which includes Raleigh Rickshaw and Vintage 21) or we’ve added the digital version of the article below.
Read More
Arts, Other posts by Jedidiah.
Tagged
Raleigh DenimKings BarcadeIndy WeekFoundationOnly BurgerNew York TimesNeptune's Parlour
RelatedWearing a Nike t-shirt, black shorts and tennis shoes, Rashia Wilson arrived in court.
The self-proclaimed “First Lady” of tax fraud faced a gun possession charge, but will be investigated further for her role in IRS tax fraud ring that was busted last week near Tampa.
NEW UPDATE, DEC 2012: The “First Lady” has been indicted – read the details here.
U.S. Marshals arrested Wilson on a weapons charge brought by IRS-Criminal Investigations on Friday morning, capping a tedious operation, nicknamed Operation Rainmaker, to capture the alleged perpetrators of Tampa tax fraud.
Authorities have been tracking the 26-year-old from her relocation to Wimauma to the gun range and buying an Audi with a $90,000 money order.
Tampabay.com detailed the initial hearing for the “First Lady” if tax fraud as her Facebook page was read aloud.
“I’m Rashia, the queen of IRS tax fraud. … I’m a millionaire for the record. So if you think that indicting me will be easy, it won’t. I promise you. I won’t do no time, dumb b——.”
IRS-CI special agent Gary W. Smedley said investigators found a.22-caliber Walther beneath Wilson’s mattress, a cellphone photo of her with a pink firearm and a Facebook image of her with the Taurus at Shooting Sports Inc.
The gun control was the means for Wilson to be held, still without bail, as prosecutor read Wilson’s tax-fraud millionaire Facebook post aloud in court. She said Wilson may well have been involved in the theft of $1 million.
“Ms. Wilson is clearly very skilled at identity theft,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara C. Sweeney said.
The prosecutors detailed the “staggering” amount of money Wilson has “thrown around town” and the Judge conceded that “there’s a substantial and serious tax charge coming.”
In a similar case Arswaya Ralph was sentenced to two years and four months after a scheme believed to have netted $273,254. She used other people’s social security numbers in late 2010 and early 2011 to trick the government into paying phony refund claims.
Wilson’s “scheme” appears to have been for much, much more in damages.
Investigators found evidence at Wilson’s home that fraudulent tax returns may have been filed within the past week, Sweeney said. Printouts of medical records, dated Sept. 14, contained notations that appeared to be about tax filings.
The search Wednesday turned up thousands of ID numbers and 40 reloadable debit cards.
Wilson’s boyfriend, Maurice “Thirst” Larry, and an associate, Marterrence “Quat” Holloway, were picked up Wednesday on a 39-count indictment that accused them of conspiring to defraud the federal government, wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Wilson has been arrested 40 times since age 12, but has never gone to state prison.
Before the hearing began, she mouthed messages to a row of family members, including her mother. At times, she shielded her words with a paper copy of the criminal complaint.
After many minutes of this, a U.S. Marshal told her to turn around and face forward. She did.LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Boko Haram Islamist militants in northern Nigeria are using children as human bombs and targeting women and girls for particularly horrific abuse, including sexual slavery, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein told a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that his office had received reports of Boko Haram using children as its first line of attack, as “expendable cannon fodder”.
“Bodies of children around 12 years old have been found strewn across such battlefields,” Zeid said. Boko Haram has been attacking towns and villages in northern Nigeria and border regions of neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
“The group has also repeatedly used young children as human bombs, including a case of a 14-year-old girl carrying a baby on her back who detonated a bomb in a marketplace,” Zeid said.
The Council condemned “the heinous terrorist activities of Boko Haram”, including the abduction of more than 200 girls from a school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, a year ago, and called for “drying up all possible sources of financing” for the group.
It called for those who have committed crimes on behalf of Boko Haram to be brought before competent courts of the affected states and held accountable.
Boko Haram has killed thousands and displaced some 1.5 million people during a six-year campaign to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
A joint offensive by Nigeria and its neighbours has succeeded in driving the group from most of the positions they controlled earlier this year, reversing militants’ gains that forced Nigeria to delay its February presidential election.
Zeid said that appalling atrocities committed by the group had created a critical human rights situation not only in Nigeria, but in the whole Lake Chad region.
WOMEN, GIRLS ENSLAVED
Both children and adults have been abducted by the group on a massive scale, he said.
Women and girls have been enslaved and subjected to sexual violence, forced labour and compulsory conversion, he said, citing reports from witnesses and survivors.
Retreating Boko Haram militants have murdered their so-called “wives” - women and girls they held as slaves - and other captives as military offensives by Nigeria and its neighbours advanced, Zeid said.
He said he had received information suggesting that the security forces of Nigeria and other nations combating the insurgency had also committed human rights violations, and called for a thorough and transparent investigation.
“Such violations intensify the suffering of the people - and (...) this can only create resentment, facilitate recruitment of new insurgents, and foster vicious cycle of greater extremism,” he said.
The insurgency has sharply reduced farming activity and many people are facing severe food shortages, Zeid told the Council.
“Because the farms of northern Nigeria provide produce across the Sahel, this also means that the price of several basic foods has risen sharply across the region,” he said.
The current dry season has intensified Boko Haram incursions into Cameroon, Chad and Niger, spreading bloodshed and desolation even more widely, the rights chief said.
“What was initially a localised crisis is fast growing to very disturbing regional dimensions,” he added.On trade deadline day, fans are glued to their televisions and refreshing Twitter to see what their team does. But when a move is made, how do the players find out?
Chris Chelios was traded twice in his career, but leaving Chicago still stings. Charles Small/Getty Images
Chris Chelios
June 29, 1990: Traded from the Montreal Canadiens to his hometown Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Savard. The Blackhawks also got a second-round pick in the 1991 draft (Michael Pomichter).
"Montreal was in the summer. It was a lot easier to take in the summer. Especially the fact I was going home to Chicago."
March 23, 1999: Traded from Chicago to Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline for Anders Eriksson, a first-round pick in the 1999 draft (Steve McCarthy) and a first-round pick in the 2001 draft (Adam Munro).
"I still never got over it until the next season. Hard to believe that I was playing for Detroit, a rival. Said I'd never play there. But, walking into that room was probably the strangest and most uncomfortable feeling I've ever had in my career. I think we were getting ready for a game in Pittsburgh and I found out in the afternoon. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my teammates. Had to go to the rink, grab my stuff and go right to the airport." -- Scott Burnside
Both times Igor Larionov was traded he went to the Red Wings. Tony Biegun/Getty Images
Igor Larionov
Oct. 24, 1995: Traded by the San Jose Sharks to the Detroit Red Wings for Ray Sheppard after playing just four games in the 1995-96 season.
"Of course I remember. Actually, I requested the trade. So I was in San Jose and I knew the team wasn't going the right direction, in my view, and I asked for the trade. And I was sitting at home for like two weeks until I got a phone call from Scotty Bowman and he told me I just trade for you to Detroit. Ray Sheppard was going to San Jose.
"You know what, obviously it's kind of like, not anxious, but I guess a new challenge. You're going to the different team and a different ambitions and to me going to Detroit was giving me a chance to play with great players, great team, great franchise. Also to have a chance to be in the Stanley Cup."
Dec. 28, 2000: In the 2000-01 season, after playing 26 games for the Florida Panthers, Larionov was traded back to Detroit for Yan Golubovsky.
"The second time I got traded from Florida back to Detroit. I just spent like three months in Florida. Things didn't work out in Florida and I was actually also asking to find me a different team. When [someone is] going on at a certain age, when you want to win some trophies, so you want to have a chance before it's too late. I knew that situation in Florida wasn't going the right direction and I asked for the trade as well. So it took a little longer, but I was glad to be back in Detroit by Christmastime. Bryan Murray [told me about the trade], Bryan Murray was the GM in Florida. Obviously going back... I was going back home. Back to Detroit and I won another Stanley Cup: No. 3." -- Scott Burnside
Johnny Boychuk got the dreaded call from the GM and knew something was up. Francois Laplante/Getty Images
Johnny Boychuk
Oct. 4, 2014: Traded by the Boston Bruins to the New York Islanders for a second- (previously acquired from the Flyers) and third-round pick (Brandon Carlo) in 2015 and a second-round pick in 2016.
"I was sleeping for my nap because I was supposed to be playing against Detroit in preseason and then I see a Boston area code phoning me and I'm like, 'This is really weird.' Usually I don't look at my phone and for some reason I heard my phone because it's usually on silent when I'm sleeping. Then I thought, 'Oh, I think I'm getting traded.' I answered the phone and it was Peter [Chiarelli, Bruins GM]. He goes, 'Hey, Johnny. It's Peter Chiarelli calling.' I'm like, 'Oh, hi.' The only time a GM phones you is if you've been traded, so he just said, 'We've traded you to the Islanders. We didn't want to but with the [cap] situation that we're in...' And I kind of knew somebody would be going out of our defense corps and it just happened to be me. I was obviously upset. It was hard because I was just getting up from a nap and you have to wake up right away for that. Especially with the team that we had, it was upsetting to be traded. I can't remember what I said but I was understanding because everybody knew something had to happen. He was nice about it. I think everybody in Boston knew somebody was going to get traded, right?... I was upset because I liked the city and the team, but I knew it's a business and that's what it comes down to. I knew my teammates were upset because I talked to everybody that day and everybody was upset, including myself. I went to bed a Bruin and woke up an Islander." --Joe McDonald
It was more of a trick than a treat when Max Talbot was traded by the Flyers on Halloween. Len Redkoles/NHLI/Getty Images
Max Talbot
Oct. 31, 2013: Traded by the Philadelphia Flyers with Paul Carey to the Colorado Avalanche for Steve Downie.
"Well, first time, I had just left practice. It was Halloween when I went from Philly to Denver. It was 10 or 11 games into the season and I was driving when I just got a phone call. I was only four streets from home when [Flyers GM Paul] Holmgren told me I was going to Colorado. I was like, 'Wow.' You don't expect 10 games into the season to get traded. My wife was seven months pregnant and we had brought a house 10 months prior. I had to meet the team that night in Dallas, so I get home, tell my wife and she's like, 'Sorry, what?' So she had to pack the whole house. I packed my stuff to leave for Dallas and she's stuck with a brand new house that we just finished painting, a house full of stuff, baby stuff, cribs and all the stuff we just put up. She's French-Canadian and she had to find out how to sell a house. She met me in Colorado a few weeks after."
March 2, 2015: Traded by the Colorado Avalanche to the Boston Bruins for Jordan Caron and a sixth-round pick in 2016.
"It was 2 p.m. [local] and I was at the doctor's just checking up on something, and I texted my wife 'We're safe' jokingly because there were no rumors, nothing, but everybody talks about it on trading deadline. I thought we were safe and I remember it was 2:11 I got a text from Renaud Lavoie from TVA, asking, 'Have you been traded?' I was like, 'I don't think so.' He said, 'Elliotte Friedman just tweeted you might be going somewhere.' I hadn't heard anything and it's [past the deadline] and five minutes later I'm coming out of the hospital and I got a phone call from [Avs GM] Joe Sakic and I learned I was traded. I called back my wife and she's like, 'No, way.' Our baby was 1 and we had Nathan MacKinnon [living with us], so we had to figure out how we were going to do this. At least I had one extra day on that trade, so I had time to pick up my things and wife and kid flew with me. [The Bruins] put us in a condo here and it worked out great. We went back to get our stuff at the end of the season." --Joe McDonald
Cam Neely found out from his sister that he'd been traded. B Bennett/Getty Images
Cam Neely
June 6, 1986: Traded on his birthday by the Vancouver Canucks with a first-round pick in the 1987 draft (Glen Wesley) to the Boston Bruins for Barry Pederson.
"I was actually working out with some buddies back in Maple Ridge [British Columbia] and it was pre-cell phones and you name it. The GM was trying to track me down. He called my parents' house and my younger sister knew where I was, so she got a hold of me at the gym and she was the one who told me I was traded. She said I needed to get a hold of the GM, so that's how I found out. I was surprised. I didn't hear any rumblings. My third year was more of a challenging year than my rookie year. There were times when I was playing fourth-line center, but I didn't think that I was going to be traded. [After the trade] I was like,'Man, if I'm struggling playing in Vancouver, what's it going to be like in Boston?' That's really what went through my head. I'm like, 'Geez, where is this going?' As soon as I got [to Boston] for my first camp, they put me with some better players to see if I could play, I guess. Right through camp and the start of the year things just really clicked for me here. I always say [being traded] was one of the best birthday gifts I got. I look back on it like it was a great gift." --Joe McDonald
Thomas Vanek found out he'd been traded by the Islanders from the TV. Mike Stobe/NHLI/Getty Images
Thomas Vanek
Oct. 27, 2013: Traded by the Buffalo Sabres to the New York Islanders for Matt Moulson and a first-round pick in 2014 and a second-round pick in 2015.
"In Buffalo, it was early in the year, I think, only about 10 games in and I got a phone call about 9 o'clock at night from Darcy Regier, who was our GM at the time. He just said, 'Hey, Thomas, I just traded you to the Islanders.' And that was it. Five minutes later, I got a phone call from [Islanders GM] Garth Snow welcoming me to the organization and he was telling me someone else was going to be calling me with my flight information, and pretty soon I got another phone call and I had a 6 a.m. flight, so it was a quick turnaround."
March 5, 2014: Traded by the New York Islanders with a conditional fifth-round pick in 2014 to the Montreal Canadiens for Sebastian Collberg and a conditional second-round pick in 2014.
"Actually, that one was a little different because it was on the deadline, so I was actually on the road in Edmonton watching TV and I heard I was traded, but I found out about half an hour later on TV that I'm going to Montreal, but I didn't get a phone call from anyone. But later on I got a phone call from Garth saying, 'Sorry it took so long but they had to wait for the papers to go through' or whatever. So it was a strange thing. I heard I was going to Montreal but no
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DNA sequences known to be present in insecticide producing Bt and Roundup Ready corn. The soy also contained DNA sequences known to be present in Roundup Ready GMO soy. What’s more, tests documented the presence of glyphosate at 0.12 mg/kg, the main chemical ingredient of Monsanto’s best-selling Roundup weedkiller. (source)
Is it any wonder we’re in the midst of a gigantic cancer cluster in this country? No wonder children have behavioral issues like ADHD. No wonder people are fat, exhausted, and sick.
It’s no longer an exaggeration to say this stuff is poison. Now, it’s a proven fact.
For those who think the word “poison” is an exaggeration, let’s be clear on exactly what glyphosate is. It’s weedkiller. You spray it on weeds to kill them. There is irrefutable proof of toxicity and death from glyphosate. Two recent peer-reviewed studies confirm this.
The first study found that glyphosate increases the breast cancer cell proliferation in the parts-per-trillion range.
An alarming new study, accepted for publication in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology last month, indicates that glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide due to its widespread use in genetically engineered agriculture, is capable of driving estrogen receptor mediated breast cancer cell proliferation within the infinitesimal parts per trillion concentration range. The study, titled, “Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth via estrogen receptors,” compared the effect of glyphosate on hormone-dependent and hormone-independent breast cancer cell lines, finding that glyphosate stimulates hormone-dependent cancer cell lines in what the study authors describe as “low and environmentally relevant concentrations.”
Another study found that consumption of glyphosate causes intestinal and gut damage, which opens the door to numerous human diseases, such as diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, obesity, autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
However, another classification of allergy-type food is emerging and getting recognized for adverse effects on the human intestinal tract and gut. Those foods are genetically modified organisms known as GMOs or GEs. There is scientific research indicating intestinal damage from GMO food and the article “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Disease” discusses how the inordinate amount of pesticides sprayed on GMOs leaves residues in GMO crops that, in turn, are being traced to modern diseases. (source)
And this is in cereal marketed to children with that big goofy cartoon toucan.
The toucan, incidentally, says, “Follow your nose, it always knows.” If you want to follow your own nose to the blatant corruption, you need go no further than the stench of the fact that this is perfectly fine with the FDA, the USDA, and the EPA, those noble guardians of our health. So, if you trust them, don’t even worry about a little weedkiller in the cereal.
If you want to follow your own nose follow it to the blatant corruption that allows this kind of thing. You need go no further than the stench of the fact that this is perfectly fine with the FDA, the USDA, and the EPA, those noble guardians of our health. So, if you trust them, don’t even worry about a little weedkiller in the cereal.
As Mike Barrett of Natural Society points out, I guess now we know why Kelloggs has spent so much money to keep foods containing GMOs from being labeled as such.
There is a good reason that Kellogg’s spent over $1,012,552 on media propaganda in California & Washington to defeat voter ballot initiatives that would have required the labeling of GMO foods, and now are contributing again to the defeat of labeling initiatives in Oregon (contributing $250,000).
If your kids eat this stuff, in light of this information, it’s time to make a change to the breakfast menu. A bowl of modified corn and weed killer does not a healthy breakfast make. They might argue with you, and that’s fine. Pull rank. Of course they like it and think it tastes good. Chemists spent a lot of time and effort concocting a formula to make the cheapest, most toxic ingredients taste absolutely delicious. But the risk is too high to even consider this an occasional treat. I wouldn’t consider weedkiller acceptable, even in moderation.
Healthier Cereal Options
If your kids insist that the day just can’t start without a bowl of cereal, don’t despair. There are many options out there that are far superior to anything from Kelloggs or General Mills. Forget about serving bowls of frankenfood and weedkiller and try one of these options instead:
Oatmeal: Your grandparents loved it and it’s still one of the healthiest breakfasts around. You can top this hot, filling meal with fruit, honey, syrup, nuts – the possibilities are endless.
Grits: As with anything made from corn, be sure you select an organic option. The displaced Southerner in me loves a bowl of grits with butter, milk, and black pepper.
Cereal: One of my favorite kid-friendly brands is Envirokidz. The organic choices are fun things like Chocolate Koala Crisps and Peanut Butter Panda Puffs. Definitely cool enough to make your tykes forget about Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam.
Homemade granola: I absolutely love homemade granola, and so do my kids. This is one of my favorite recipes and the nice thing about granola is that you can easily adjust it to your family’s favorite flavors.
Other hot cereals: Nearly any grain can be turned into a hot cereal. Wheatberries are especially flavorful and filling. Many parts of the world make rice porridge by cooking rice in milk, then adding honey and cinnamon for flavor.
What are your favorite healthy breakfast cereals?
Does your family eat cereal for breakfast? What are your favorite alternatives to the toxin-filled conventional grocery store choices?
Daisy Luther lives in a small village in the Pacific Northwestern area of the United States. She is the author of The Organic Canner and The Pantry Primer: How to Build a One Year Food Supply in Three Months. On her website, The Organic Prepper, Daisy uses her background in alternative journalism to provide a unique perspective on health and preparedness, and offers a path of rational anarchy against a system that will leave us broke, unhealthy, and enslaved if we comply. Daisy’s articles are widely republished throughout alternative media. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and you can email her at [email protected]’s a simple biological fact that, as we age, the odds of developing one or more sexual problems increases. But what exactly does this mean for the sexual satisfaction of older adults? Are they necessarily discontent with their sex lives? Study after study has found that there is a negative correlation between age and sexual satisfaction, such that the older people get, the less satisfied they report being [1,2]. However, if you dig a little further into the research, you will see that it would be a mistake to conclude that older adults are inherently unhappy in the bedroom.
For one thing, studies of middle-age and older adults reveal that a majority of them actually report being sexually satisfied. For example, in a nationally representative US sample of 1,384 older adults (mean age of 60 for men and 61 for women), average sexual satisfaction scores ranged from 3.6-3.8 on a five-point scale [3]. Given that the average was above the scale mid-point, this tells us that most participants were satisfied with their sex lives on balance. Similar results were obtained in a study of 1,009 heterosexual couples from five countries: Brazil, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the United States [4]. Overall, 64% of male participants (median age of 55) and 69% of female participants (median age of 52) reported being sexually satisfied.
More importantly, while average levels of sexual satisfaction do tend to decrease as people get older, it appears that this is largely a function of the fact that what makes sex satisfying changes considerably as we age. Specifically, when we are younger, our sexual satisfaction depends more on how often we are having sex (i.e., more sex = better sex); however, when we get older, quantity matters less and quality begins to matter more [1]. Put another way, older adults care more about the thought and effort that goes into sex than they do about how often they’re doing it. When researchers statistically account this different emphasis on quantity vs. quality, they see that the negative correlation between age and sexual satisfaction dissipates [1].
In short, these results suggest that it may be misguided to attempt simple, direct comparisons of sexual satisfaction scores for persons at different stages of the lifespan and draw conclusions. Getting older doesn’t necessarily mean that your sex life is going to get worse. Instead, the more likely outcome appears to be that your sexual priorities and preferences are likely to change.
Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook (facebook.com/psychologyofsex), Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit (reddit.com/r/psychologyofsex) to receive updates.
[1] Forbes, M.K., Eaton, N.R., & Krueger, R.F. (2016). Sexual quality of life and aging: A prospective study of a nationally representative sample. The Journal of Sex Research. DOI:10.1080/00224499.2016.1233315
[2] Laumann, E.O., Paik, A., Glasser, D.B., Kang, J.H., Wang, T., Levinson, B.,... & Gingell, C. (2006). A cross-national study of subjective sexual well-being among older women and men: Findings from the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35(2), 143-159. DOI:10.1007/s10508-005-9005-3
[3] DeLamater, J., & Moorman, S.M. (2007). Sexual behavior in later life. Journal of Aging and Health, 19(6), 921-945.
[4] Heiman, J.R., Long, J.S., Smith, S.N., Fisher, W.A., Sand, M.S., & Rosen, R.C. (2011). Sexual satisfaction and relationship happiness in midlife and older couples in five countries. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(4), 741-753. DOI:10.1007/s10508-010-9703-3
Image Source: 123RF.com/Cathy Yuelet
You Might Also Like:Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera says he will "do everything possible" to keep David De Gea as a teammate, amid speculation that Real Madrid could return with a bid for the goalkeeper this summer.
Madrid failed to sign De Gea in 2014 with a fax malfunction infamously stopping a deal which had been agreed among all parties, with the former Atletico Madrid man soon afterwards penning a new contract with United to keep him there until 2019.
Sources close to the English club have told ESPN FC that they expect Madrid to make a new offer for De Gea in the coming weeks, although Blancos coach Zinedine Zidane reportedly has faith in his current No. 1 Keylor Navas.
Speaking in the mixed zone after United began their preseason tour of the United States with Saturday's 5-2 victory over LA Galaxy, Herrera said the speculation over De Gea's future was getting repetitive.
"Maybe I am a bit boring on this, but I always say the same," Herrera said. "David is one of the few keepers who give you points over the course of a season. I prefer to have him with me, so I will do everything possible to have him here."
David De Gea has been linked with a move to Real Madrid.
United had looked close to signing Madrid's Alvaro Morata this summer, with Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho suggesting that they had only switched focus to successfully acquiring Romelu Lukaku from Everton because Blancos president Florentino Perez refused to budge on the asking price for the striker.
Herrera said that he had expected to have his Spain teammate Morata alongside him at Old Trafford, and it was "a pity" that a deal had not been done.
"I reached the point of seeing Morata as a teammate, he was very close [to joining United]," he said. "Even Real Madrid and Manchester United confirmed that there were negotiations. So of course I saw myself with him. I wish him the best, at Madrid or anywhere else. It is a pity he is not with us, but he is a top striker and will be a success wherever he is."
United playmaker Juan Mata also spoke from Los Angeles to Spanish radio show "Tiempo de Juego," and said it would be unlikely to see Morata and Lukaku both joining the club this summer.
"It looks difficult for Alvaro Morata to wear a United shirt with the arrival of Romelu," Mata said. "We have signed a big player for our forward line. So it is difficult. You never know until the end though. Things can happen in the last days of the market, but I wish Alvaro the best."
Asked what he thought would happen with De Gea this summer, the former Madrid youth player said there would be no movement.
"I believe [De Gea] is going to stay [at United]," Mata said. "He is going to stay."
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcorriganShare. Lelouch is back! Lelouch is back!
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, The Vision of Escaflowne, and Escaflowne: The Movie are coming to Blu-ray and DVD, Funimation announced at its Anime Expo 2016 panel.
The Vision of Escaflowne and Esclafowne: The Movie will both be available on October 18. The Vision of Escaflowne is getting a collector's edition and two standard Blu-ray and DVD combo packs for part 1 and part 2.
Exit Theatre Mode
There's also a Kickstarter exclusive version of The Vision of Escaflowne Part 1 for those that backed Funimation's Escaflowne Kickstarter. Escaflowne: The Movie features a new dub with "new HD materials."
Code Geass will be available on October 4 in a collector's edition that includes season 1 and 2, 16 art cards, and bonus features. The anime will also be available in two standard edition Blu-rays for season 1 and 2.
For more on anime, be sure to check out IGN Anime Club.
Miranda Sanchez is an Editor at IGN. You can find her ranting about cats, anime, and MOBAs on Twitter.Cryptogeddon consists of mission packs, each of which is sold as a short pdf ebook of about 20 to 30 pages. Each mission pack is available for purchase on Amazon (published simultaneously to all countries) and Kobo (click an image to find out more about each mission pack):
About Cryptogeddon
Cryptogeddon combines two words: Crypto is short for cryptography, which is the practice and study of hiding information. Geddon is short for armageddon, which infers end times in some way. Cryptogeddon suggests the end of secrets and what that might entail.
Cryptogeddon is an online cyber security war game that challenges you, the reader, to apply infosec tools and techniques to solve technology puzzles - an online scavenger hunt, if you will.
We publish mission packs, each of which is sold as a short pdf ebook of about 20 to 30 pages. After purchasing, you will receive a link via email to download your digital files.
Each mission pack provides an infosec scenario, a set of objectives and links to various digital assets that you use to solve each mission. Each mission pack also comes with a detailed solution that outlines which tools to use and how to apply the tools to solve the mission.
If you are drawn to puzzles, infosec, cryptography or computers, then you will enjoy Cryptogeddon. The challenges presented by each mission will keep you engaged, entertained and enlightened. If you're looking to test your skills, expand your knowledge and learn more about these topics, then you're in the right place.
Ultimately, Cryptogeddon aims to highlight the boundaries of privacy and to reinforce the fact that very little can be kept secret anymore.
About the Author
Cryptogeddon was created by me, Todd Dow. I’m an author, geek & CF fundraiser. My wife, my kids, faith, baseball, infosec & devops are a few of my favourite things.
Professionally, I specialize in information security, risk management and IT operations. I have earned my Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Project Management Professional (PMP) designations. I participate in various local conferences and groups (Sector, SC Congress, TASK) and I follow numerous infosec initiatives, including TrueCrypt, Backtrack, Kali, BlackHat and SANS Computer Forensics. As a point of personal pride, I won a prize for being in the top 3 participants within the first hour of a three hour hack night at a Symantec Cyber Readiness Challenge in Toronto in 2012. Unfortunately, I did not place in the top 3 at the end of the night – I got tripped up by a stupid mistake early in the competition that slowed my progress.
I earned my Honours Computer Systems Technology Diploma from Mohawk College in 1997. As well, I earned my Specialist Honours Degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the University of Toronto in 2006. Additionally, I have completed some graduate work at McMaster Divinity College. Previously, I earned my second degree black belt in the martial arts of karate, tae kwon do and jiu jitsu. This grounding in both eastern and western philosophical and religious traditions has provided a breadth and depth of experience that I bring to my writing and critical thinking.
One last thing… This site is not related to, nor does it reflect the views of my employer.
Thanks for the visit and stay in touch!
Todd Dow2K Games has confirmed that the first Borderlands and several titles in the Civilization series will be offline “temporarily” following the GameSpy closure on May 31st.
The games will “temporarily go offline while service is transitioned to Steamworks,” 2K explained. “During the transition, players will experience interruption of several features, including online play, matchmaking and voiceover Internet protocol (VOIP).”
The full list of PC games that will be transitioned include:
Borderlands
Civilization III
Civilization III: Conquests
Civilization III: Play The World
Civilization IV
Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword
Civilization IV: Colonization
Civilization IV: Warlords.
The following list of 2K games will be taken offline permanently following GameSpy’s server shutdown on May 31st.
Close Combat First to Fight (PC / Mac)
Jetfighter (PC)
Jetfighter V: Homeland Protector (PC)
Leadfoot (PC)
Rune (PC)
Stronghold 2 (PC)
Stronghold Legends (PC)
Top Spin (PS2 / PC)
Top Spin 2 (PC / DS)
Vietcong (PC)
Vietcong Demo (PC)
Vietcong Fist Alpha (PC)
Vietcong 2 (PC)
Vietcong 2 Demo (PC)
MLB Fantasy All-Stars (DS)
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (DS)
Major League Baseball 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars (DS)
NHL 2K10 (Wii)
NBA 2K10 (Wii)
Electronic Arts announced earlier this month that it is working to keep Battlefield 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 2142 playable online. But Crytek announced that the PC versions of Crysis and Crysis 2 will not have their multiplayer servers transitioned and so will no longer be playable online when the GameSpy servers are shut down.
(via CVG)Endogenous opioid systems regulate neurobiological responses to threatening stimuli. Stimulation of kappa-opioid receptors (KORs) produces analgesia but induces prodepressive-like effects in a variety of animal models. In contrast, KOR antagonists have antidepressant-like effects. KORs and their endogenous ligand dynorphin are expressed throughout brain areas involved in fear and anxiety, including the extended amygdala. Here, we examined whether KOR antagonists would affect unlearned fear (anxiety) in the elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field (OF) paradigms and learned fear in the fear-potentiated startle (FPS) paradigm. These studies were designed to accommodate the slow onset (approximately 24 h) and extended time course (>3 weeks) of the prototypical KOR antagonists nor-binaltorphimine hydrochloride (norBNI) and JDTic [(3R)-7-hydroxy-N-[(1S)-1-[[(3R, 4R)-4-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-3,4-dimethyl-1-piperidinyl]methyl]-2-methylpropyl]-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-3-isoquinoline-carboxamide hydrochloride]. Rats received an i.p. injection of norBNI (3.0-30 mg/kg) or JDTic (1.0-10 mg/kg) 48 h before EPM testing. One day later, they were tested in the OF, and 5 and 7 days later, they were trained and tested in the FPS paradigm. Both KOR antagonists dose-dependently increased open arm exploration in the EPM without affecting OF behavior. They also decreased conditioned fear in the FPS paradigm. The anxiolytic-like effects of KOR antagonists were qualitatively similar to those of the benzodiazepine chlordiazepoxide in the EPM. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine had no effect in the EPM and anxiogenic-like effects in the OF. Our results indicate that KOR antagonists produce a unique combination of antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like effects and suggest that this class of drugs may be particularly effective for the treatment of comorbid depressive and anxiety disorders.Research led by the University of Warwick's Systems Biology Centre and Warwick Medical School in collaboration with groups in Nice and Rotterdam has been able to demonstrate how the cycle of cell division in mammalian cells synchronizes with the body's own daily rhythm, its circadian clock. The study not only helps to explain why people with sustained disrupted circadian rhythms can be more susceptible to cancer, it may also help establish the optimal time of day to administer chemotherapy.
In a paper entitled "Phase locking and multiple oscillating attractors for the coupled mammalian clock and cell cycle" just published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) the researchers drew on an idea of clock synchronization first demonstrated in the 18th century when Dutch scientist Christian Huygens observed the synchronization of two pendulum clocks. The University of Warwick led research team wanted to establish if the two clocks within a mammalian cell (the gene based "clock" regulating the cycle of cell division and the separate gene based clock within the same cell that was regulated by the body's circadian) were or could be synchronized in the same way.
Past researchers had failed to measure the clock mechanism behind normal circadian rhythms in single cells. The Warwick research team solved that by using multispectral imaging of single live cells, computational methods, and mathematical modelling to track the cycles of the two clocks and were able to observe (by making copies of the key genes that fluoresce) that that they were indeed synchronized with each other.
While trying to understand why this synchronization has not been seen before they discovered that the protocol used by circadian researchers to reset the clocks in cells so that their clocks progress in step with each other disrupted the 1:1 synchronization between the clocks and pushed them over into a new pattern in which there were 3 cell divisions every two clock periods. This ability of the clock and cell cycle to have multiple patterns of oscillatory behaviour is a surprising discovery that has not been seen before in any cellular systems.
These new findings could provide a significant clue as to why people with sustained disrupted circadian rhythms such as those doing shift work can be more susceptible to cancer. If a person's circadian rhythms are messed up that disruption will also directly impact on the timings of cell division allowing more rapid proliferation. As Professor David Rand the Director of the University of Warwick's Systems Biology Centre who led the Warwick research team said:
"Robust phase locking between the mammalian clock and the cell cycle is of primary relevance to cancer because the clock is often disrupted or turned off in cancer cells allowing faster cell division and disorganization of the crucial anti-cancer cellular processes whose timing is regulated by the circadian clock inside each cell."
As well as providing a significant clue to a cause of cancer this research underpins a method of how to pick an optimal time of day to administer chemotherapy. Most chemotherapy drugs targets and attack cells at a particular phase of the cell division cycle. In healthy cells where the clock and cell cycle are synchronized this will be at a particular time of the day while in cancer cells that are not synchronized cell division will be occurring all round the clock. Thus one can time the therapy to avoid hitting susceptible healthy cells while still hitting the full amount of susceptible cancer cells.The 2016 Joint Admissions and Metrication Board (JAMB) Computer-Based Test (CBT) will commence tomorrow, February 27, 2016.
South-South Coordinator, JAMB, Rivers State, Mrs Beatrice Effa-Nyiam, who stated this in a chat with The Tide yesterday, said she worked hard to ensure that everything is put in place to ensure effective and stress free examinations.
According to her, this year’s examination which will last for two weeks has eight approved additional computer-based test centres in Rivers State.
Initially, we had only eight approved centres in the state, but right now, it has increased to 14 registered centres.
Effa-Nyiam explained further that there are more candidates than there are examination centres, hence ‘the best thing to do will be to group the number of candidates into days within the two weeks the CBT examination is expected to take place”.
“If candidates registered for the CBT at a wrong place or unapproved centres, there is nothing we (JAMB) can do about it”, Mrs Effa-Nyiam said.
The initial eight approved centres for the Computer-Based test examination, according to her are Rivers State University of Science and technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic Bori, Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), among others.
Sogbeba DokuboState Fair of Texas officials don’t want Dallas’ Ebola case to affect this year’s attendance. Thus, they are making changes in an effort to keep people safe and coming through the gates. Even Big Tex is in on the process, adding “Remember always wash your hands before eating,” to his greeting.
“I think people wait all year to come out to the State Fair of Texas and if they don’t come out this year it’s a missed opportunity to enjoy it,” said Karissa Schuler with the State Fair of Texas.
With more than 3 million people crowding the Midway during the next three weeks, fair officials plan to install extra hand sanitizer stations starting tomorrow. That’s welcome news to people such as Kristi Lash.
Whether it’s holding hands, gripping thrill rides or exchanging coupons, there are a lot of ways to spread germs at the State Fair of Texas. It’s the reason that Lash said she almost stayed away this year.
“I was a little skeptical about coming but decided to come anyway,” said Lash.
She isn’t the only fairgoer concerned about Ebola despite the extremely low risk of exposure.
Paul and Debra O’Neal from Abilene used more hand sanitizer than usual during their fair outing Wednesday.
“We probably have used those on this particular day more than we would have,” said O’Neal.
Ebola In The United States: What You Need To Know
State Fair officials said they already prides themselves on staying clean. But now there are more signs on bathrooms urging people to wash up.
Regardless, the fair is on pace to break its attendance records this year and there aren’t any signs that people will stay away.
More Ebola Information: CDC | WHO
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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A cold December street with slush and snow, A lady in red waits alone, Her beauty demands a second look, A more radiant light has never shone, A taxi approaches from the Western light, Cleaving through obstructions galore, Coming to a rest beside her curb, This is what she's been waiting for, A graceful man emerges from the freshly opened door, She'd met him just a year before, His smile is wide and his eyes are true, Her true love's presence restored, A short walk to the playhouse, The gentleman holds her close, The door gets held for the smiling pair, Their withheld affection shows, A long drawn curtain o'er the stage front, People pouring into their seats, A short wait, and the lights are dark, The chorus sets the scene, A lonesome dove alone on his perch, He decides to take to the skies, An innocent display of stage fright, He's forgotten what it looks like to fly,Volatility is not just affecting Bitcoin’s price itself; it is also hitting Bitcoin fee estimates as transactions continue to be slow and expensive.
Data added to Twitter by BitGo engineer Jameson Lopp shows a giant increase in spreads of BitGo’s estimated most appropriate fee level for a Bitcoin transaction since the end of May.
The action contrasts markedly with previous data, which on a graph produces almost entirely flat lines.
Sure, bitcoin transaction fees have gone up a lot. But what's more interesting is the volatility increase in the fee estimate market. pic.twitter.com/fkiDUNT6YV — Jameson Lopp (@lopp) June 13, 2017
Volatility appears to have increased in step with transaction fees themselves. According to 21.co’s fees calculator, the “fastest and cheapest” option on Tuesday is 390 satoshis per byte, down from the previous levels of 450, which also coincides with slightly reduced estimation volatility.
Not all were convinced of the interest of the data, however, one respondent to Lopp describing the findings as “rather boring” when the number of stuck transactions is taken into account.
On that topic, the size of the Bitcoin mempool has, in fact, decreased in recent weeks, coming down from all-time highs seen mid-May.
Reductions accelerated in line with a drop in prices on Monday but have since reversed as a correction hit.Location Flag Quick Facts Capital Oslo Government Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy Currency Kroner (NOK) Area total: 323,802 km2
water: 19,520 km2
land: 304,282 km2 Population 5,063,709 (April 2013) Language Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) and Saami Religion Christianity (mainly Lutheranism), though Norway is widely secular. Electricity 230V/50Hz (Schuko (Type F) European plug) Country code +47 Internet TLD.no Time Zone UTC +1 (CET)
Norway (Norge) is the westernmost, northernmost—and in fact the easternmost—of the three Scandinavian countries. Best known for the complex and deep fjords along its west coast which stretches from the North Sea near Denmark and Scotland into the Arctic Ocean and has borders with Finland, Sweden and the northwestern tip of Russia.
Understand [ edit ]
History [ edit ]
The Viking kingdoms of Norway were unified in 872 AD by Harald Fairhair. In the following period, Norwegians settled in many places, such as Iceland, the Faroe Islands and parts of Scotland and Ireland, where they founded Dublin. In the beginning of the 14th century, Norway and Sweden were unified as the Norwegian king was also elected king of Sweden. At the end of the century, the two countries and Denmark were unified in the so-called Kalmar Union.
Sweden broke out of the union in 1521. Norway remained in union with Denmark until 1814. Only a few months after the declaration of independence, Norway entered into union with Sweden, though it must be noted that this union with Sweden allowed Norway to keep a great deal of independence.
The union with Sweden lasted until 1905, which is considered the beginning of modern Norway. From 1940 until 1945, Norway was occupied by Germany.
Geography [ edit ]
Norway is on a large peninsula shared with Sweden in the north of Europe. In the north, it also borders Finland and Russia.
Norway is well known for its amazing and varied scenery. The fjords in the west of the country are long narrow inlets, flanked on either side by tall mountains where the sea penetrates far inland. By far the major part of the land is a rocky wilderness, and thus Norway has large, completely unpopulated areas, many of which have been converted to national parks. Even outside the national parks, much of the land is unspoiled nature.
A rugged landscape shaped by the Ice Age, shows forested hills and valleys, mountains, waterfalls, and a long coastline with fjords, islands, and mountains growing directly up from the sea. Norway's highest point is Galdhøpiggen, 2,469m (8,100 ft) in the Jotunheimen region that lies midway between Oslo and Trondheim, but away from the coast. In the far north (Finnmark), you will find flatter open spaces. Several of the world's greatest waterfalls are in Norway, particularly in the western fjords and the mountain region.
People [ edit ]
Norway is one of Europe's most sparsely populated countries. With a population of only 5 million people and a land area of 385,802 km2, the population density is only 16 inhabitants per km2. Most of the population are Norwegians. The indigenous Sami people traditionally inhabit the northern part of Norway, that along with parts of Sweden, Finland and Russia outlines an area known as Sapmi (or Sameland). Other recognized minorities are the Kven people, Jews, Forest Finns, and Norwegian Romani Travellers. In recent years, immigration, in particular from the European Union, has increased greatly.
Norwegians are shaped by surviving a harsh climate more than war and social hierarchy, and you'll find them to be generally friendly, but stubborn and fiercely individualistic. The people relies on a common understanding of things, with a lot of effort put in common law and regulation but with little hierarchy. A tradition where you don't rely much on a ruler or a fast moving society, but where some neighbours are all you have and you will probably have to depend on at least one of them for your life, and more than once. So it takes time to get to know Norwegians properly. Some misunderstand it as coldness, but the reasons are more skepticism and slowness of change. If you get to know one of these people, you get to know them on the depth. There's little front, they don't have that many people in their circles, so they probably won't trust you all that much unless they get to know you down to your faults. And they don't expect you to rush it either, for desperation is a weakness. But once a friendship is tried and tested, it can be solid and warm.
Norway is no longer formally a Christian country. In 2012, the government separated from the church, leaving the country without an official religion. Before this, almost 85% of Norwegians were part of the national church, even though most Norwegians are nonbelievers and the regular church attendance was, and still is as low as 5%.
Norway has become rather liberal in moral issues and thus similar to neighbours like Denmark and Sweden. Homosexuality is accepted by most people and recently (2008) same-sex marriage was given the same legal status as traditional marriage. For instance, a previous male minister of finance and prominent figure in the conservative party is in partnership with a prominent male business manager. With that said, some parts along the southern and southwestern coast are fairly conservative, especially in the more rural areas.
Economy and politics [ edit ]
Norway's primary income is from the oil and gas industry in the North Sea which constitutes nearly a quarter of GDP. It also has several other natural resources such as fish and minerals, some industry, and a healthy technology sector. Politically, it's dominated by a widespread and continued support for the Scandinavian model, which means high taxes and high government spending to support free schools, free healthcare, an efficient welfare system and many other benefits. As a result the unemployment rate in Norway is extremely low at about 2 percent.
The Norwegian people have rejected membership in the European Union (EU) in two independent popular votes in 1972 and 1994, both times just by a few percent, after being vetoed out of membership by France in the 50s and 60s. However, being a member state of the European Economic Area and part of the Schengen agreement, Norway is closely connected to the EU, and integrated as a full member in most economic matters, as well as in customs and immigration matters. This is of great economic importance to Norway.
As one of the richest countries in the world and with a strong currency, most visitors should be prepared for greater expenses than at home. In addition, Norway has a very compressed wage structure which means that even the typical low skill work is relatively well paid. Despite the extremely high prices, Norwegians enjoy a purchasing power parity per capita significantly higher than both the US and all EU countries. For the same reason, firms try to keep the number of staff as low as possible, even for low skill service work. On the other hand, many attractions in Norway are free of charge, most notably the landscape and nature itself. Furthermore, you don't have to spend much money on accommodation if you're prepared to sleep in a tent or under the open sky. According to the Norwegian right to access, you may stay for up to two nights in one spot in uncultivated land if you keep away from houses and other buildings and out of the way of other people, provided that you leave no trace. If you move far away from people, you can stay for as long as you want.
Climate [ edit ]
See also Winter in Scandinavia.
Because of the gulf stream
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made it seem like anything was possible in New York—literally, anything.
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Six plans from those years follow, ranging from the grand to the gargantuan. Makes Bloomberg's Vision 2020 plan look a bit puny in comparison, no?
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Infill the Hudson River, 1934
In March, 1934, Modern Mechanix featured the daring plan of Norman Sper, “noted publicist and engineering scholar” (maybe publicist meant something different back then?), who envisioned adding ten square miles of land to Manhattan by infilling the mighty Hudson River. Sper proposed creating a massive, multi-layered grid that would connect New Jersey to Manhattan, solving problems like housing and transit which, according to the editors, “are threatening to devour the city's civilization like a Frankenstein monster.”
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It’s hard for us to imagine the optimism felt about modern engineering in the 1930s and 40s, and today, Sper’s plan seems like folly. But the magazine asked a handful of established engineers about it, and many of them described it as visionary. “Provided with sufficient money and time, particularly money, the project could be carried through to completion with unquestionable success,” said one engineer. “... It would be quite in keeping with President Roosevelt’s rehabilitation and N.R.A. plan and put an enormous army of men to work. I heartily endorse the plan, though I am fully aware of the almost insurmountable impediments which appear at first study of the idea.”
Estimated cost: $17 billion*
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Build a Massive Hudson River Airport, 1946
The man who owned the Chrysler Building—William Zeckendorf—was behind this idea to build "Manhattan's Dream Airport." Zeckendorf proposed a 144-block-long floating airport on the edge of the Hudson River, where planes could take off on the long roof and boats could dock at its edges.
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It's hard to know how New Yorkers of the day reacted to the plan, which was sited on the edge of what was then a still-developing neighborhood. But as Untapped Cities points out, a similar (but satirical) plan to turn Central Park into an airport received over 85,000 earnest signatures—which should tell you something about how "green space" stacks up against "long cab rides" for most modern-day New Yorkers.
Estimated cost: $35 billion*
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Draining the East River, 1924
According to the editors at Popular Science, in 1924, New York was losing $1.5 million a day on traffic congestion. The solution? Get rid of the East River, of course. Dr. John A. Harriss, a "special deputy police commissioner in charge of traffic," was the progenitor of this particular scheme, which would've required the construction of two dams—one at the Williamsburg Bridge, the other, near Hell Gate in Harlem. According to Gothamist, Harriss envisioned the new land supporting a broad avenue of cars and small pedestrian routes, centered by a massive new City Hall. Basically, Brasilia in New York City.
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A Super-Highway Slicing Through SoHo, 1940-1962
The mercifully unfulfilled Lower Manhattan Expressway was one of Robert Moses' plans to modernize Manhattan. LOMEX, as the plan is known, came close to leveling a huge 14-block swatch of Lower Manhattan to build a ten-lane highway stretching from the Holland Tunnel to the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. Moses envisioned the highway edged on both side by gigantic public housing complexes.
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We actually have LOMEX (along with the destruction of Penn Station) to thank for the development of historic preservation in New York City. Jane Jacobs led the fight against the project, and ultimately, it was abandoned. It's hard to imagine that anyone ever seriously entertained the idea—but we need only look across the East River to see what could have been, since Moses was central in creating the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the highway that required the razing of thousands of homes in each borough.
Estimated cost: $749 million*
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A Geodesic Dome Over Midtown Manhattan, 1960.
Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome was proposed with the best intentions: It would've created a bubble of clear air stretching from the Hudson to the East River, between 21st and roughly 64th streets. Of course, in reality, it likely would've led to strict urban segregation in Manhattan, between those "inside the bubble," and those without.
Estimated cost: $7.5 billion*
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A Bridge Over the Hudson, circa 1915
Ever wonder why there are no bridges between Lower Manhattan and New Jersey? One of the main reasons is that too many massive freighter ships passed through the bay on their way to Manhattan's docks. But architect Alfred C. Bossom envisioned a seemingly simple solution: A bridge 200 feet above the waterline, more than enough space for ships of the day to pass unfettered.
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Bossom christened his idea the Victory Bridge, angled as a celebration of the end of World War I. The concept never took off, perhaps because of the sheer size and cost (the towers themselves would've been more than 800 feet high), but Bossom was right on, in some ways: The Holland Tunnel was completed underneath the exact same route, in 1927.
*All estimated costs have been adjusted for inflation.
[Hudson River images via Modern Mechanix; Dream Airport images via Ptak Science and Untapped Cities; East River images via Gothamist; Victory Bridge images via Andrew Cusack]A former teacher in Chilliwack says she quit her job after 14 years because she didn't have the resources to help the special needs children in her classroom.
Willow Reichelt spent more than a decade as a teacher in B.C., before quitting her job in 2013.
"I got to the point in teaching where it was taking my whole life," she told CBC News. "It does, honestly. If people think teachers work the hours of a school day, they are crazy."
The last class Reichelt taught, eight out of the 30 students were designated with special needs. Despite that, there was only one teaching assistant assigned to help, for just one and-a-half hours a day.
"It was sort of okay. We tried our best," she said. "But there were lots of disruptions. The kid who was later diagnosed with Tourette [syndrome] would spin like a dervish up to the front of a class while I'd be trying to teach, or sit in his desk and jump up and down and make loud noises. Then I did have a couple of kids [with] severe behaviour. It was pretty nuts."
With two special needs children of her own—one autistic, the other gifted—Reichelt continues to advocate for them, while working part-time.
How many is too many?
She believes there should be hard caps on how many special needs children are placed in a class.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender doesn't agree.
"There's such a variety of different special needs, that each class is unique. That is why the government doesn't determine hard caps."
About ten percent of students in B.C. have special needs. Of the almost 60 thousand students with special needs designations in schools last year, only 25 thousand qualified for extra funding.
"I think what's stressful is there's less support and resources available for teachers," said Faith Bodnar, executive director of Inclusion BC.
Bodnar says while special needs designations have expanded, funding hasn't gone up.
"We're better at identifying the unique learning needs of children with special needs than we were 15 years ago," she notes. "[But] with that comes the fact that investment in our school system hasn't kept pace with diversity in the school system. "1) Don’t Have Dreams Have Goals. Dreams create a yearning, while goals provide focus and direction Make sure your goals are,
S pecific.
pecific. M easurable.
easurable. A ttainable.
ttainable. R elevant.
elevant. Time Bound.
2)Complacency is Dangerous ‘Winners’ don’t accept defeat, they keep thinking of a way to turn the ‘gun’ around and come out on top of the situation. 3) Time Management is the Key Tip: Make a Plan for the Day before you start work. 4) Know Your Competition and your Client Inside And Out 5) Win Your Battles Before They’ve Even Been Fought Letting things fester is unproductive, end the fight before it becomes a war. 6) Don’t Try to Lose Small, Try to Win Big.. Change the way you think;
Increase self-awareness
Set your goal
Focus on action
Take control of your emotions
Increase memory
Analyze and learn from your mistakes
Rewire your brain to win
Keep your brain healthy
7) Take Control of & Own Your Responsibilities The realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences 8) The success of your client is ultimately your success Look at the long game. Don’t cash out early. 9) Be the Best that you can be. 10) Never Give up. 11) Look the Part & Act the Part. 12) Most Importantly Your Success is Ultimately with You
AdvertisementsInside Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, the run-up to the US presidential election played out much as it did elsewhere. Most employees went about their business assuming Hillary Clinton would win, and Donald Trump would be relegated to a historical footnote. His antics on the platform, where he regularly barrages opponents with insults, were viewed largely with amusement.
“The political climate then was still pretty giddy about Trump and how he’s a total joke,” said one employee who quit late last spring. But Trump’s surprise win prompted soul-searching for many of Twitter’s 3,800 employees. “Fast-forward to the day after election,” the former employee said. “I could feel it in my timeline — there was a strong sense of ‘what have we done’ from Twitter employees.”
“There was a strong sense of ‘what have we done?’”
On one hand, Trump has arguably been a gift to Twitter. His regular outbursts have put the struggling company at the center of the daily news cycle, drawing outsized attention to the product at a time when it is struggling to grow. And Trump’s willingness to tweet about nearly any topic has given the world a valuable, if not entirely coherent, window into the president-elect’s views.
At the same time, Trump’s tweets have drawn criticism for the way they have sent certain stock prices tumbling, and ratcheting up tensions with foreign governments. (Trump’s Twitter account might also be a national security problem.) Twitter has also been accused of empowering white supremacist trolls in the wake of Trump’s electoral win.
Yesterday, in an interview with The New York Times, investor Peter Thiel mocked Twitter employees for what he described as their unwitting contribution to Trump’s victory. “I think the crazy thing is, at a place like Twitter, they were all working for Trump this whole year even though they thought they were working for Sanders.”
That tension puts Twitter employees in an awkward position: their efforts have bolstered a politician that some of them find odious, and his use of the platform carries a real risk of harm. And yet thanks largely to his victory, Twitter has never been such a vital source of news and conversation. The conflict is felt at the highest levels of the company — last month, in a conversation with Recode, CEO Jack Dorsey said his thoughts on the subject were “complicated.”
America is not great. Twitter helped in promoting Trump. Twitter helped in spreading falsehoods and lies. — Marina Zhao (@m7z) November 9, 2016
“Twitter helped in promoting Trump,” Twitter engineer Marina Zhao tweeted. “Twitter helped in spreading falsehoods and lies.” “And refused to do anything about blatant Naziism,” responded Michael Farrell, a designer who left the company in 2015. “They stated they wouldn’t take action until after the election. Disgusting.”
In the weeks leading up to Trump’s inauguration, that debate has only intensified. Some of Trump’s tweets, notably his erratic tweets about nuclear policy, have generated calls for Twitter to ban the president-elect from the platform. Those discussions are now taking place inside Twitter as well, a current employee familiar with the matter told The Verge. “Banning is definitely a conversation that people are having, but only because we have to have the conversation,” the employee said. But a ban seems unlikely, this person said. “It would take something really deplorable for a ban, and I highly doubt even Trump is that stupid.”
“Banning is definitely a conversation that people are having.”
Twitter declined to comment for this story, but a spokesman noted that Twitter’s rules “apply to all accounts.” Still, one former employee who has participated in discussions about the company’s abuse policies said that a ban would be unimaginable. “It’s not gonna happen,” the former employee said. “You just can’t do it. He holds the most powerful office in the world. Would you rather not know what Trump was thinking at any given point? Knowledge is usually better than lack of knowledge.”
Twitter was prominently omitted from the list of tech companies invited to meet with Trump last month. But representatives from Twitter met this week with Dan Scavino, Trump’s director of social media, and it appeared to go well. “Great meeting @TwitterDC!” Scavino tweeted. “We look forward to working with you!”
Even as employees lament the role their platform played in Trump’s rise, they acknowledge that in some ways he has been good for the company. Twitter was designed to let users communicate directly with a large audience; that the most powerful man in the world does so would seem to speak well of the product. “It’s nice to feel like Twitter is doing what it was meant to do, i.e., bring news from the horse’s mouth,” one employee said. “Unfortunately, that horse is Trump.”
“Unfortunately, that horse is Trump.”
Conversely, Trump leaving Twitter would bode ill for the company, employees said. Were Trump to shift the bulk of his posts to Facebook or Snapchat, outsiders would likely take it as a sign that Twitter was on the wane. “That would be an even worse predicament for the company than the one they face now,” an employee who left this summer said.
Twitter employees also noted that the platform has been a tool for liberal organizing just as much as it has been a megaphone for Trump supporters. The company has long taken pride in the way democratic protesters used it during the Arab Spring, and at one point it had a #BlackLivesMatter hashtag painted outside its cafeteria. Twitter is likely to serve as a tool for resistance at the same time it serves as a platform to promote Trump’s agenda.
“Now the tenor has shifted to, you know how we’ve talked internally about how Twitter is a tool of dissidence and rebellion, and keeping governments accountable? Now this plays a little more critical role in the domestic side of things,” one former employee said. “That’s the role our platform plays. The same way it was vital in the Arab Spring, Twitter will play that same vital role in the United States.”But with the election of Donald Trump and the resurgence of interest in antitrust regulation and enforcement in the U.S. and abroad, Google has been scrambling to make inroads with conservatives in power. Public disclosure forms show that Google spent $5.93 million on lobbyists last quarter, a 40 percent increase from the previous year and more than any other individual corporation.
These groups — which Google has publicly listed as the recipients of donations — are part of a broader campaign that the Silicon Valley behemoth has pursued in Washington in order to cultivate political influence with both Democrats and Republicans. Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet and its unofficial ambassador to D.C., has long been close to leading Democrats, particularly in the Obama administration.
And yet for years Google has funded right-wing political groups and think tanks that say basically the same things as Damore’s manifesto.
The memo has ignited a firestorm of controversy and a debate about culture wars, gender equality, and ideological diversity in Silicon Valley. In an email sent to employees, CEO Sundar Pichai said that that Damore’s manifesto violated the company’s Code of Conduct “by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”
On Monday, Google fired engineer James Damore for arguing in a memo widely circulated within the company that said women are less successful in Silicon Valley because of biological differences from men.
Read more
On Monday, Google fired engineer James Damore for arguing in a memo widely circulated within the company that said women are less successful in Silicon Valley because of biological differences from men.
The memo has ignited a firestorm of controversy and a debate about culture wars, gender equality, and ideological diversity in Silicon Valley. In an email sent to employees, CEO Sundar Pichai said that that Damore’s manifesto violated the company’s Code of Conduct “by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”
And yet for years Google has funded right-wing political groups and think tanks that say basically the same things as Damore’s manifesto.
These groups — which Google has publicly listed as the recipients of donations — are part of a broader campaign that the Silicon Valley behemoth has pursued in Washington in order to cultivate political influence with both Democrats and Republicans. Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet and its unofficial ambassador to D.C., has long been close to leading Democrats, particularly in the Obama administration.
But with the election of Donald Trump and the resurgence of interest in antitrust regulation and enforcement in the U.S. and abroad, Google has been scrambling to make inroads with conservatives in power. Public disclosure forms show that Google spent $5.93 million on lobbyists last quarter, a 40 percent increase from the previous year and more than any other individual corporation.
And increasingly, those dollars are going to Republicans, whose socially conservative policy agenda is at odds with much of what both Google employees and the companies profess to believe in.
As of June 2017, Google had given money to the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and both the Heritage Foundation and its lobbying arm Heritage Action. Google also operates a policy fellowship program that places fellows inside some of these institutions, such as Cato and AEI.
All these organizations have published work or employ people who advocate for policy based, in part, on the idea that biological differences between the sexes or racial groups significantly explain the way society works, and can be used to understand — and even justify — existing patterns of discrimination in private life, politics, and the workplace.
“We work with a large number of groups across the ideological spectrum who take positions on issues like encryption, surveillance and internet regulation,” a Google spokesman said, in a statement provided to VICE New. “Of course we don’t agree with every position that every organization or scholar at these groups have ever stated on every issue. And they often don’t agree with us.”
The spokesman would not comment on funding of particular groups, and said Damore’s dismissal was an “internal workplace decision.”
While Google itself does not put out research papers or directly employ experts who make these arguments, it has good reason to make common cause with their backers. For years, Google has bankrolled academic research directly and given funding to academic centers, in addition to Washington think tanks. This also includes more left-leaning institutions such as the Center for American Progress and the New America Foundation.
Google claims much of this funding is in the spirit of support open academic inquiry, but the company has used academic research it has funded in defending its business practices to regulators.
This practice is pretty common across corporate America, but Google is ramping up its political engagement across the board. While the Silicon Valley giant had ties close enough to the Obama administration to warrant public scrutiny, it is scrambling to fortify those same connections on the right. And with more and more Democratic lawmakers beginning to question whether tech conglomerates have acquired their billions through anticompetitive practices, it makes sense that Google’s making sure it has Republican allies.
Google does not disclose the dollar amount of its advocacy and think tank funding, beyond what’s required by law for lobbyist, PAC, and candidate contributions. AEI, CEI, Cato and the Heritage Foundation all told VICE News that they do not discuss individual donations or their donor relationships. Heritage Action did not respond to a request for a comment.
Here are some examples of research or articles from each of the named organizations:
American Enterprise Institute
“But there remains a distributional difference in male and female characteristics that leads to a larger number of men with high visuospatial skills. The difference has an evolutionary rationale, a physiological basis, and a direct correlation with math scores.” – Charles Murray, AEI’s W.H. Brady Scholar (2005)
“Females who are gifted in math are often just as gifted in verbal expression, and that gives them career prospects that the gifted men don’t have. So my guess is that the girls with the talent for [Harvard University undergraduate introductory course] Math 55 are just too interested in other pursuits to spend most of their week on linear algebra.” – Christina Hoff Sommers, AEI resident scholar and “Factual Feminist” vlogger (2014)
Competitive Enterprise Institute
“Gender disparities in a major are not the product of sexism, but rather the differing preferences of men and women. The fact that engineering departments are filled mostly with men does not mean they discriminate against women anymore than the fact that English departments are filled mostly with women proves that English departments discriminate against men. The arts and humanities have well over 60 percent female students, yet no one seems to view that gender disparity as a sign of sexism against men.” – Hans Bader, CEI senior attorney (2012)
The Cato Institute
“The two main sources of the wage gap are 1) occupational choices (high-paying STEM fields, for instance, are more likely to be male and lower-paying jobs in education, female), and 2) hours of work.” – Kay Hymowitz, William E. Simon Fellow at the Manhattan Institute (2011)
The Heritage Foundation
“Google is free to operate in accordance with its anti-science androgynous belief system. So, too, Americans who believe we are created male and female, and that male and female are created for each other, should be free to run their organizations in accordance with their beliefs.” – Ryan T. Anderson, Heritage senior research fellow (2017)
“[According to the theory of biological essentialism,] biological sex goes a long way in determining how societies conceive of gender, with perceptions of women as more passive and caring and less aggressive and violent than men(1), more sexually modest or less promiscuous than men(2), less physically powerful than men(3), and more interested in and affectionate with children than more daring, rough-and-tumble men(4), among a myriad of other differences.” – Scott Yenor, B. Kenneth Simon Center Visiting Fellow (2017)
Heritage Action
“This bill affirms that when Congress passed civil rights law, the purpose was to protect against discrimination when it comes to a person’s objective biological sex, not a subjective, self-declared “gender identity … Heritage Action supports the legislation, encourages Representatives and Senators to support it, and reserves the right to key vote in the future” – Heritage Action (2017)I never ask myself routinely if I am a real artist. Of course I am, right? But, just the other night somebody asked me, “so do you make a living from your art?” It was not the first time I’ve heard this type of question. Usually it’s phrased, “Do you do art full time?” To me, those are two sides of the same coin: the premise is, you’re not a real artist unless that’s the only thing you do. Otherwise, it’s a hobby, right? Normally, this question does not bother me, I brush it off. But this time it was from a fellow artist, someone who professionally creates artwork for video games. He creates 3D and 2D artwork in a full time, paid position with an animation/media company. It irked me. Is he more of an artist than me? Does it even matter?
I was not lucky enough to find a "Patron," somebody to fund my every artistic whim so that I could do it full time, like Van Gogh did, with his brother financing his living and painting expenses. In my opinion, he was quite a whiney artist (as I think most are). There he was living off a weekly stipend from his brother, and he could not even manage his own finances to last a full month![1] Maybe I should have gone to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago or SFIA. I got quite good scholarships based on my portfolio. I chose a small liberal arts college instead, citing my desire to "know about more than just art." I think if I had chosen the art school path, I would have become one of those whiney artists expecting a career in art, much like Van Gogh expected success through sheer persistance and desire to find nature.
Van Gogh: True Artist or Sissy Whiner?
[...]
Look, a canvas that I cover is worth more than a blank canvas. There - my right to paint, my reason for painting, I do have it! It’s only cost me my broken-down carcass - my mind pretty well cracked as far as living as I could and should goes - living like a philanthropist. It’s only cost you, let’s say, around fifteen thousand francs that you’ve advanced me.
—Vincent Van Gogh, Letter 645, Arles, circa 22 July 1888 - [ Jules Dupré had found some art lover who was paying him. If only I could find that, and not be such a burden on you. After the crisis I went through when I came here, I can no longer make plans or anything else; I’m definitely better now, but hope, the desire to achieve, is broken and I work from necessity, so as not to suffer so much mentally, to distract myself.[...]Look, a canvas that I cover is worth more than a blank canvas. There - my right to paint, my reason for painting, I do have it! It’s only cost me my broken-down carcass - my mind pretty well cracked as far as living as I could and should goes - living like a philanthropist. It’s only cost you, let’s say, around fifteen thousand francs that you’ve advanced me.—Vincent Van Gogh, Letter 645, Arles, circa 22 July 1888 - [ 2
The mystique of the starving artist is one that I myself believed in at some point. I was convinced I must bend every bone in my body to create visual art. I thought that if I didn’t spend every waking moment exploring technique, developing style and vision that I would be an inferior artist. I played the character of this mythical artist quite well-- I’d draw and paint incessantly. Part of this was an escapist passion on by my father’s early death, part of it was a pre-existing obsession with capturing form on paper. They say you need about 10,000 hours to master something, a reference to the supposed hours you need behind the flight stick to fly a commercial airliner. I likely put in my 10,000 hours behind the paint stick before ever reaching university. Maybe it was this art fatigue that enabled my decision to not go to art school, even though that was my career choice. Was it my career choice to be a starving artist? I do know other artists from my rigorous high school art program that are living the real artist life— they are dirt poor, oscillating between having their own studio and living at home with their parents. Some I know are making in academics, teaching as adjunct professors who earn just above the poverty line. Most never had the passion, or became graphic designers, or gave up. I guess I read enough about artists to realize it was a big crapshoot, so I side-stepped the problem and took it into my own hands.
Down in the Dumps, Found a Way Out
While I studied digital animation in the Studio Art program at Reed College, I was dabbling in coding software; flexing that skill secretely in the context of animation. After graduation, I worked some shit jobs, like Noah's Bagels cream cheese jockey and glorified garbage man. The cream cheese job was the absolute worst job I've had in my entire life. I was the only male on the crew with a man-hating pregnant lesbian manager who (used to) smoke cigarettes and drink--With a bun in the oven, she was quite irratable. I was fired for being 7 minutes late. When I was unemployed, had a ton of issues and probably addictions, eating ramen and contemplating suicide. Suddenly, a former classmate, Antonia, literally knocked on my door with opportunity. The title was 3-D assistant. Perfect for somebody with a little CAD experience and no money. Before I knew it, I was doing programmatic, sound-reactive animation for the Beastie Boys. After that, I joined the dark side. Programming: the digital evil twin of making art. We all struggle with "making it" as an artist, Van Gogh, in his many letters to his brother, had gotten the self-pitty bug. It seemed to be his pattern and ultimate downfall, or maybe the pain was the source of his inspiration?
—Vincent Van Gogh My dear brother, if I wasn’t all washed up, and driven crazy by this bloody painting, what a dealer I’d still make, with the Impressionists, I mean. But there we are, I’m all washed up. London’s good, London’s just what we need — but alas, I feel I can no longer do what I could have done. But broken as I am, I myself see no misfortune if you were to go to London; if there’s fog, well, it seems to be increasing in Paris, too. [ 2 —Vincent Van Gogh
I can't claim to have avoided pain, of that I have had much. I guess if I could give anyone practical advice when trying to be an artist, is that you should channel that pain wisely and not let it destroy yourself. Plus, writing software day-in-and-day-out is not free from costs. It causes eye problems (my mother is nearly blind from computers) and back and wrist trauma that can't be undone. Pick your poison, I guess. Van Gogh tortured his body by supposedly living on crackers, coffee and wine.
Lessons From Software Engineering
Maybe it was my pride, or my stubbornness or the aversion to risk hammered into my head by my worrisome mother, but I've chosen not to be a full time artist. Not yet at least. However, some might call front-end user interface engineering an artform. What UI engineering really boils down to is problem solving, logic and a knack for organizing thoughts and visual layout. It's like drafting, but requires much more attention on organization and long-term vision. It requires picking up a new technology every few months. Perhaps this is akin to how I like to change styles every few months, too. I got bored of ballpoint pen after three hundred sheets and couple years. Now it seems after a hundred I'm tempted to switch media.
In today's world of Agile software management, the individual developer is reduced to a replaceable part, responsible for small features, or, "stories" as they're called. See "Why Agile is Terrible" by Michael O. Church. We rush in a sprint to make the next deadline of storypoints due, and constantly fret about micro variences in our productivity with daily standup meetings. This type of anxiety can be kind of relaxing. It's something to keep pace by. A clock to which we can measure our own progress. My clock for drawing pages is set at about.5 pages a day. If sense that I havent advanced at least 15 pages the last month, I get the terrible sensation of losing a race. I bury myself in the studio for a "War Room" drawing session (under agile, War Rooms are reserved for the toughest of tough problem solving to get the story points done in time). Am I just a cog in the machine, replacing myself every once and a while?
Show me the code. Developers also subject themselves to code review. Every bit of code we write, we write knowing that somebody else will eventually have to understand it. Martin Fowler has an old addage, "Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand". I think this may be one instance where past art critiques became useful to me: I can be humble and grow a thick skin to criticism, since afterall, art is to be seen by anyone. Good developers spend more time collaborating than trying to prove themselves. While I work solo, I try to see myself as a collaborator with my audience, I'm trying to get them to understand, not bash them over the head with superiority or arrogance. I also don't like to hide my process, if I could, I'd be Bob Rossin' it up. Amazingly, Bob Ross filmed 403 episodes.
View From My Desk
One common phase of design in UI/UX creation is called wireframing. Its kind of a cross between draft layout and flowchart. Each "view" in an application is not designed, but considered for what buttons should appear, what subviews should be included and what information should be made available. In this way its like a storyboard. Juggling storyboards was something I was familiar with in my early animation work. UX design simply takes it to a new extreme. This multi-layering, multi narrative is easily found in the interwoven stories throughout the ForeverScape. In an application there are any number of ways a user might get to a certain state within the app. Similarly, there are many ways to come to a genisis or a conclusion of a story in the'scape.
I'm Officially not an Artist: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
If you look at my official resume right now, the one I send employers, there's not one bit about my art. I might mention the fact that I'm still tinkering with video game, but I don't mention it's related to my art, and it's only one bullet point. My sheet reads like a software engineer. I cut my teeth at some companies where I worked 60-70 hour weeks routinely, writing software at all hours of day and night. I didn't draw anything for 5 years. This was a healthy gap though, maybe the void created a vacuum, now filling with unending passion. When I tell coworkers about my massive, thousand page, five year project they are completely astonished, apparently it is rare that a softwaere engineer can draw.
I probably could have pulled off being a "full time" artist, living on crackers, paying a pittance from family members to my slumlord. Instead, I am my own patron. I do not sell my artwork, only its derivatives. So far the art business is in the red by huge margins. Performing my art, building the exhibition contraptions, publishing it, buying T-Shirts in bulk is quite expensive and risky. Just the sheer amount of time required to setup a show can be daunting. So I use the day work of Dr. Jekyll to feed Mr. Hyde, locked in the basement. The art industry has already branded my age group as an "Early Career Artist" so I don't expect to be selling reproductions or booking a university tour quite yet... My uncle who has owned his own business for 30 years tells me, "Well, that sounds like their way of sticking it to you as long as possible." Maybe one day I can quit my job and call myself a real artist, in the meantime, I'm going to lose some sleep keeping up with both worlds.
Ultimately, I highly value not having to be a graphic designer. I like not answering to anyone; I can draw whatever I want and set my own pace. I"m not going to grow preoccupied with a catchy visual gimic I use to sell something. I like to keep the art pure. As my uncle recalled once,
I really liked cars, so I thought I'd become a mechanic. I started working as a DEQ mechanic and realized that working on other peoples cars all day made me hate working on my own cars at night. So I quit and became a plumber so I could keep cars as my hobby.
So it's almost 12:40 am. I promised I'd stop painting and get myself out of the studio. Not sure why I logged back in right now, I guess I just wanted to record the fact that if I had not set the alarm clock, I'd forget and paint until the sun rises. It is this losing track of time that makes me not wonder if I'm an artist.
-----sources: 1. Liesbeth Heenk, 2014. Van Gogh and Money: The Myth of the Poor Artist. Editor Malin Lönnberg. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2. Van Gogh Letters, No. 645. http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let645/letter.htmlYou’d think that in the 21st century, every inch of Earth—above and below water—would already have been documented and studied. But that’s far from true. Much of the ocean floor remains elusive to scientists, and a new study shows just how much remains to be found. As the Australian Associated Press reports, scientists have discovered remnants of a massive undersea landslide that occurred 300,000 years ago off of the Great Barrier Reef.
Related Content Why The First Complete Map of the Ocean Floor Is Stirring Controversial Waters
It’s an intriguing find in a location that has already yielded plenty of fascinating scientific information. The study, which was published in the journal Marine Geology, describes the remnants of a long-lost landslide off of northeastern Australia. The area has been named the Gloria Knolls Slide complex.
Scientists were using 3D mapping tools when they realized that they were sailing over a series of eight knolls that ended up being the remains of a landslide that happened hundreds of thousands of years in the past.
When researchers took samples from the area, they found coral fossils that were 302,000 years old. As the AAP notes, the landslide happened before this now-fossilized coral grew. Some of the knolls were up to 4,430 feet deep and over 1.8 miles long, and they were located up to 18.6 miles out from the spot where the landslide’s main remnants were found. They think that the landslide was likely caused by some kind of seismic event and a rising sea.
All in all, they believe that the landslide displaced 32 cubic kilometers—the equivalent of almost 3 billion dumptrucks filled with sand. They also discovered a community of cold-water coral on the top of the largest knoll. The displacement of all that sand seems to have created the perfect environment for these deep-sea corals, which don’t necessarily need sunlight to survive. Cold-water corals
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ess_Loaf?
[14:19] <serje> Zechariah how much time?
[14:19] <serje> from 6 till 10 is ok?
[14:20] <serje> 06.04.2017-10.04.2017
[14:24] * Quits: goin2mars_ ([email protected]) (Quit: goin2mars_)
[14:25] <Zechariah> serje: Do not consider, please, taking any more time to reach the place than what is needed for using the fastest means of transport available, considering also the time required to book it.
[14:26] <Zechariah> and no need for return ticket unless its practically a bonus (often are in classic airlines).
[14:27] <Zechariah> And please provide me how and in what means of payment you need the funds required. Lets say 100 mil (or the equivalent in any currency) to restrict the options to commercial flights.
[14:31] <papa_lazzarou> Zechariah: I asked for an admin role the other day. Did you missed it or should I assume it will not happen?
[14:31] <Zechariah> papa_lazzarou: char_id please?
[14:32] <papa_lazzarou> can i use the dead one? house of angus? 91
[14:32] <Zechariah> I gave too few fucks last time but it will happen with #91 now.
[14:33] <papa_lazzarou> cool. tnx
[14:33] <Zechariah> papa_lazzarou: try TRANSFER COH 1 36 680 [congrats for new admin]
[14:33] <serje> ok I will let you know in a few hours, my wifes dad is at work and I need to talk to him because he will have to babysit my little girl!
[14:33] <Zechariah> Zechariah: oh sorry replace 680 with 91'
[14:33] <Zechariah> serje: Family can be provided for.
[14:34] <serje> Zechariah my wife just started working and she can't get free days
[14:35] <papa_lazzarou> works thanks
[14:35] * Quits: Zechariah ([email protected]) (Quit: Zechariah)
Later on:
Code: [20:55] <serje> if Risto come here please someone tell him I can leeave tomorrow at 19.00 from Budapest
[21:20] * Quits: DaveyJones ([email protected]) (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
[21:45] <moneromooo> serje: will do
[21:47] <serje> thanks, also please tell him to check his message on forum
[21:48] <serje> i can't wait to get there!
Later on:
Code: [23:31] <SirJacket> serje: You planning on going to see Zech?
[23:32] <serje> yes
[23:32] <serje> i am ready
[23:32] <serje> hopefully i can leave tomorrow at 19.00 by plane if i will be able to get the ticket in time
[23:32] <serje> otherwise i will leave on 6 at 11.40
[23:33] <SirJacket> Looking forward to hearing about your trip
[23:33] <serje> and just put a minus 6 hours so i can reach the airport
[23:34] <SirJacket>!give e1 250 deborah
[23:34] <ckBot> SirJacket: 250 units of E1 given to deborah 1047.
[23:34] <Marquess_Loaf> lets see how it does :D
[23:34] <SirJacket> There's 250 Euro that you can withdraw from the agent :)
Later on:
Code: [23:46] <serje> SirJacket you want to test if withdrawals work?
[23:48] <SirJacket> Yes ;)
[23:48] <luigi1111> you mean e1? :D
[23:48] <SirJacket> Enjoy the 250
[23:48] <luigi1111> I just wish b1 would work -_-
[23:48] <serje> omfg
[23:48] <SirJacket> Yes - I gave him 250 e1
[23:48] <serje> I cant belive!
[23:49] <serje> thank you SirJacket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
[23:49] <serje> love you!
[23:49] <luigi1111> relax man :)
Later on:
Code: [00:05] <SirJacket> kidjim__: Are you near risto?
[00:06] <sphericon> http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=867005
[00:06] <kidjim__> Not even close.
[00:06] <sphericon> Crypto Kingdom(RCT2)
[00:07] <SirJacket> me either - so I wanted someone to try e1 withdrawl
So at that time no one saw a problem of me going there and getting a paid trip to Tallinn.
Also here you have the rules posted by Risto and every peer could have taken advantage of them.
The rules to get a paid trip:
Quote from: serje on April 01, 2017, 05:11:25 PM Quote from: rpietila on April 01, 2017, 03:10:10 PM Quote from: rpietila on March 31, 2017, 02:18:36 PM I want Peers to show up in my party in Tallinn now.
Zechariah feels that his reasonable wishes to have also guys in the party, just go unfulfilled day after day. The party has been going on for 24 hours already (recently extended to 168 hours, meaning: 144 hours left). After a short meditation, he thinks that the perks are indeed reasonable, the problem is the suddenness of the party as not all Peers are special agents who just need to show up in 48 hours, which people don't usually do.
Quote The first Peer who is not resident in Estonia and has previously not expressed any interest in attending the Party, but can make him/herself happen in base "Embassy" in Tallinn, before the party ends (it ends in 144 hours), gets the following bonus FOR FREE + plane tickets (max 2000 EUR):
VII... Serenity VIP
Price: 200,000,000
GM: HSH Grand Duke Paul, HSH of OZ, HSH HS-S3 of HUS
Access to most VIP areas, 20,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, hotel suite in any hotel.
The second Peer gets the following plus max 1000 EUR for the plane tickets:
V..... Bitcoin VIP
Price: 100,000,000
Access to some VIP areas, 15,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, sleeping lounge (1st priority), or EUR 150 hotel voucher, per day.
The third Peer gets the following (tickets max 500 EUR):
IV.... VIP
Price: 50,000,000
Access to some VIP areas, 10,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, sleeping lounge (2nd priority), or EUR 100 hotel voucher, per day.
Total availability of all VIP combined in IV-XII is 50 VIPs.
All the other Peers, regardless whether they are residents in Estonia, regardless of earlier intention to attend or not, get the following bonus for showing up at the door:
II.... Guest
Price: 25,000,000
Daypass: 12,250,000
Access to Guest areas, incl Ballroom, 3,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, sleeping lounge (3rd priority), or EUR 50 hotel voucher, per day.
Max 100 Guests and higher at any one time in the premises (Guest+ area).
OR
25,000,000 discount on any ticket class IV or higher.
ADD: Please note that the characters/people mentioned as Grandmasters of lounges, also get EUR 1000-2000 towards the tickets, and this applies until Sunday 18:00, before which they can collect their respective tickets and the associated perks for free by showing up at the door (Vene street entrance). If King cannot come, how about sending an emissary since Zechariah's patience is wearing thin much faster than that of Xerxes
VII... Serenity VIPPrice: 200,000,000GM: HSH Grand Duke Paul, HSH of OZ, HSH HS-S3 of HUSAccess to most VIP areas, 20,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, hotel suite in any hotel.V..... Bitcoin VIPPrice: 100,000,000Access to some VIP areas, 15,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, sleeping lounge (1st priority), or EUR 150 hotel voucher, per day.IV.... VIPPrice: 50,000,000Access to some VIP areas, 10,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, sleeping lounge (2nd priority), or EUR 100 hotel voucher, per day.Total availability of all VIP combined in IV-XII is 50 VIPs.II.... GuestPrice: 25,000,000Daypass: 12,250,000Access to Guest areas, incl Ballroom, 3,000,000 worth of drink coupons per day, sleeping lounge (3rd priority), or EUR 50 hotel voucher, per day.Max 100 Guests and higher at any one time in the premises (Guest+ area).25,000,000 discount on any ticket class IV or higher.ADD: Please note that the characters/people mentioned as Grandmasters of lounges, also get EUR 1000-2000 towards the tickets, and this applies until Sunday 18:00, before which they can collect their respective tickets and the associated perks for free by showing up at the door (Vene street entrance).
This still holds. (Btw. the party is not completely without rules. We have 2:
- no smoking inside
- respect the signs saying "entry above level (X) only")
Additional notice: Finns (who are Peers) are eligible for the 3 top prizes but it's hard to spend EUR2k on the plane/ferry, so you only get the actual cost. Note: Serenity VIP is probably still unallocated (did not visit the Embassy for some time due to adventure so this may be off) and it DOES in fact include 6 partydays of money (120,000,000 M in banknotes) + 6 days in ANY hotel (subject to allocation since good rooms in the area will soon be scarce, we keep a few in reserve at all times).
Additional notice: Finns (who are Peers) are eligible for the 3 top prizes but it's hard to spend EUR2k on the plane/ferry, so you only get the actual cost. Note: Serenity VIP is probably still unallocated (did not visit the Embassy for some time due to adventure so this may be off) and it DOES in fact include 6 partydays of money (120,000,000 M in banknotes) + 6 days in ANY hotel (subject to allocation since good rooms in the area will soon be scarce, we keep a few in reserve at all times).
If you can lift the peer condition for me then I can be there!
Or am I a peer?
Let me know!
P.S. I'm online on irc but I'm not at pc! Sir please send me a message here!
Later edit: it's a 4 hours drive to Budapest from my city!
Let me know as fast as you can so I can make the necessary preparations for my departure!
And I don't have a car! So I need some time to get a driver with a car to take me there!
If you can lift the peer condition for me then I can be there!Or am I a peer?Let me know!P.S. I'm online on irc but I'm not at pc! Sir please send me a message here!Later edit: it's a 4 hours drive to Budapest from my city!Let me know as fast as you can so I can make the necessary preparations for my departure!And I don't have a car! So I need some time to get a driver with a car to take me there!
HMC making me a peer:
Quote from: generalizethis on April 02, 2017, 11:12:16 AM Quote from: serje on April 02, 2017, 09:28:33 AM Quote from: generalizethis on April 01, 2017, 07:53:28 PM Quote from: serje on April 01, 2017, 07:13:51 PM Quote from: djjacket on April 01, 2017, 07:05:28 PM Quote from: serje on April 01, 2017, 06:58:38 PM Quote from: generalizethis on April 01, 2017, 06:39:12 PM Quote from: rpietila on April 01, 2017, 06:35:42 PM
See you in Embassy!
I don't know if you are a Peer, but if I were you, I'd just come first and cause the King to make you a Peer while on your way.See you in Embassy!
Since I can't make it, Sir Serje can act as my ambassador of wine tasting
Since I can't make it, Sir Serje can act as my ambassador of wine tasting
I would be delighted to be your ambassador!
I only have one last question, if I'm generalizethis ambassador that qualifies me for the contest?
I would be delighted to be your ambassador!I only have one last question, if I'm generalizethis ambassador that qualifies me for the contest?
He is the King!
He is the King!
I guess that's a yes! And will start preparations!
Wish me luck!
I guess that's a yes! And will start preparations!Wish me luck!
Serje, as one of the Ancients come to honor our lands once more, is officially peered by HM Crichton. Let it be known throughout the Kingdom.
Serje, as one of the Ancients come to honor our lands once more, is officially peered by HM Crichton. Let it be known throughout the Kingdom.
I'm sorry that I'm disappointing everyone but I can't make it!
I wish I could be there from my heart! But it seems that almost all the people from my real life think I'm crazy because I want to go there and people from here are stuck on some shitty excuse about it's a lot of money to lend!
I've tried very hard to convince people that my place is there but they do not agree with me.
All this being said I would like to apologize in from of Sir Risto and in from of HM Crichton!
Please accept my humble apologies they come from deep inside my heart.
I'm sorry that I'm disappointing everyone but I can't make it!I wish I could be there from my heart! But it seems that almost all the people from my real life think I'm crazy because I want to go there and people from here are stuck on some shitty excuse about it's a lot of money to lend!I've tried very hard to convince people that my place is there but they do not agree with me.All this being said I would like to apologize in from of Sir Risto and in from of HM Crichton!Please accept my humble apologies they come from deep inside my heart.
If they understood the arbitrage opportunity of E1 <--> M3, they probably would have paid you instead of lent you the money Sorry you can't get there and share your adventures. Hopefully there will be a few more parties to come.
If they understood the arbitrage opportunity of E1 M3, they probably would have paid you instead of lent you the moneySorry you can't get there and share your adventures. Hopefully there will be a few more parties to come.
Yes I did had two attempts to get there and only the second one was successful!
Also this is the thread where I asked for a loan:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1851508.0
Accusation: Elevated due to community messages for repeatedly protecting the scammer (received early bribes in Tallinn)
How did I protected the so called scammer? and what early bribes did I received in Tallinn?
Can you show me some proofs? Because I can't show you something that never existed!
And the community messages were because I withdrew 0.051 BTC from B2.
Code: [13:23] <serje> 456251 Give B2 5,131,434 deborah (1047) Zechariah (1) 29.04.17 (10:27) 1G6TWgXtVqegisCoNaRc8xQbFteG2vGqu3,12 hours
[13:24] <serje> just did it )
[13:24] <Marquess_Loaf> "/ignore" may show list of ignores
[13:24] <serje> :)
[13:24] <Marquess_Loaf> no " in it
[13:24] <Marquess_Loaf> the command
[13:24] <Marquess_Loaf> "/unignore <nick>"
[13:24] <Marquess_Loaf> http://www.geekshed.net/2011/05/how-to-use-the-ignore-command/
[13:25] <Zechariah> serje: done.
[13:26] <serje> Zechariah I sold almost everything I had to see if it's working with instand... but didn't make it to 10 mil :)))) so I used the 12 hours option
[13:26] <Zechariah> Everyone: https://blockchain.info/address/1G6TWgXtVqegisCoNaRc8xQbFteG2vGqu3
[13:26] <serje> https://blockchain.info/tx/c706608e0384fa2ee6f8539f27471830c2e93133a437aba74262c2f4a0a6dc49
[13:26] <serje> it's working
[13:27] <serje> what can I say
[13:27] <sammy007> fuck you both
[13:27] <serje> too bad I was poor ingame :)
[13:27] <serje> why none of you tried it?
[13:27] <serje> why?
[13:28] <sammy007> because you are asshole and only you tried, he has outstanding debt and must spend B2 to pay it
[13:28] <sznikers> 0.05 BTC withdrawn WOW
[13:29] * Quits: wizzardPJ ([email protected]) (Quit: My MacBook has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz )
[13:29] <sznikers> why havent i tried
[13:29] <sznikers> such oportunity
[13:29] * Joins: wizzardPJ ([email protected])
[13:29] <sammy007> there was no oportunity
[13:30] * Joins: qwebirc74622 (52df43b7@gateway/web/freenode/ip.82.223.67.183)
[13:30] <Zechariah> YRH wizzardPJ ;
[13:30] * Quits: qwebirc74622 (52df43b7@gateway/web/freenode/ip.82.223.67.183) (Client Quit)
[13:31] <moneromooo> fucking hanging loads...
[13:31] <serje> sammy007 please stop calling me like that as i've never used harsh words addressing to you, show some respect if you've been educated.
[13:31] <sammy007> you don't deserve any respect
[13:32] <serje> what I wanted to prove is that he tries to keep his word when he is the only one involved
[13:32] <serje> like in b2
[13:32] <sznikers> _ - _
[13:32] <serje> as for b1 i don know what to say
[13:32] <sammy007> you can cheat anyone here except me, it's pretty clear for me that you and cconnected fucker both just hanging out here and inciting him to do weird things
[13:33] <sammy007> and you both have been doing it since registration
[13:33] <serje> sammy007 i had char id 20... and I died
[13:33] <serje> so I don't think you can talk about me
[13:34] <serje> sammy007 you broke the rules by puttins ask/bids on M
[13:34] <sammy007> oh lol
[13:34] <serje> so what are we talking about? who is the deliqvent here? me or you?
[13:34] <serje> anyway
[13:34] <sammy007> fuck you idiot I didn't read all bullshit description there
[13:34] <sammy007> then I wanted to cancel but game rekt
[13:35] <serje> not knowing the rules doesn't make you innocent! this is what police will tell if you pass red light and tell them i ddn't knew that rules
[13:35] <sammy007> stfu and don't talk with me, best you can do in your poor life
[13:35] <serje> sammy007 you are not smart, so please don't act like one
[13:36] <serje> also I have another question... why didn't you came to Tallinn? can you answear a simple question?
[13:37] <sznikers> to wait for a week in a hotel and not get any EUR? :>
[13:37] <moneromooo> serje: just stop being a scammer apologist, you don't need to.
[13:39] <serje> there were smaller amounts available... i doubt you all walk down the street with hundred thousands in your pockets!
[13:39] <sznikers> i remember multiple ppl here claiming they could withdraw and i was not hundrets of euros they wanted
[13:39] * Parts: Zechariah ([email protected])
[13:39] <sznikers> they couldnt
[13:39] <sznikers> *
[13:39] * Joins: Zechariah ([email protected])
[13:39] <serje> moneromooo I'm not apologizing for Risto... I'm explaining you all some facts
[13:40] <serje> McDuffy did you cashed out 10.000 euros?
[13:40] <sznikers> how long did Roo waited for 20? how was it handled?
[13:40] <smooth> serje> as for b1 i don know what to say <= okay then, until you do know what to say, please STFU
[13:40] <sznikers> also McDuffy did got it on first trie
[13:41] <sznikers> didnt got it on first try
[13:41] <smooth> knowing what to say about B1 is not hard, if you try
[13:41] <Odin> Withdrawing b2 once again while other people have been waiting almost 2 weeks
[13:41] <serje> I don't know that... only McDuffy cashed out when I was there. everything I say is based on what I saw beeing there!
[13:41] <Odin> Is not a moral thing to do.
[13:42] <serje> once again? what I did again? I only tried it once
[13:42] <Odin> Already 100btc has been withdrawn from b2 while others were waiting.
[13:42] <Odin> No you added on top of the already made mistake.
[13:42] <Odin> And you support behavior like this by withdrawing.
[13:42] <serje> https://blockchain.info/tx/c706608e0384fa2ee6f8539f27471830c2e93133a437aba74262c2f4a0a6dc49
[13:43] <serje> and 0.05BTC is an amount to make this much fuss? compared to the persone who cashed out 50 or 100 BTC?
[13:43] <serje> seriously now are you out of your mind>
[13:43] <serje> how could you compare 60$ to 60.000$?
[13:44] <Odin> I love how people talk about amounts.
[13:44] <Odin> Its about principle kid.
All I know is that B2 is different than B1
This is what people don't understand.
Yet again odin who might have said this about me in fact he is the one who tried to skip the line before me and get his BTC from Risto:
Code: [08:30] * Joins: Zechariah ([email protected])
[08:30] <Odin> Good morning YGM
[08:30] <Odin> Does your offer of withdrawing b1 interest free still stand?
[08:31] <smooth> there is no need for interest free withdrawals, he can just pay as promised
[08:31] <smooth> simple
[08:31] <smooth> KISS
[08:31] <smooth> why overcomplicate?
[08:31] * Joins: H6zzz (50eb0db3@gateway/web/freenode/ip.80.235.13.179)
[08:32] <Odin> Im not that greedy that i need 80% interest on top of it
[08:32] <Odin> Maybe 12% for the long waiting times would be fair
[08:32] <smooth> i never asked for it, it was freely offered
[08:32] <Odin> Yeah your right..
[08:32] <smooth> nobody ever showed up and sad 'hey fucker, pay me 1% per hour'
[08:32] <Odin> But i dont want to bring the treasury any problems
[08:32] <smooth> there are no problem, im sure he can easily afford it
[08:32] <Odin> I just want to be able to arbitrage again
[08:33] <Odin> And now im just locked out of everything
Code: [00:22] <Zechariah> is anyone willing to settle his B1 withdrawal at no interest?
[00:22] <luigi1111> yes
[00:22] <moneromooo> Nice. I snarfed some HM02100B myself ^_^
[00:23] <saddam> probably.
[00:23] <tombot> yes me, its 5 btc
[00:23] <Zechariah> 296.4795348 BTC max.
[00:23] <SirJacket> yes
[00:23] <luigi1111> see my entry
[00:23] <Zechariah> first ones get it, but no interest.
[00:23] <luigi1111> entries, sorry
[00:23] <saddam> pay luigi
[00:23] <Speed112> I have like 30 tabs open with different items
[00:23] <luigi1111> L32 and L3
[00:23] <luigi1111> L33*
[00:23] <tombot> tombot 215 withdraw 5 btc, no interest is ok!
[00:23] <Speed112> Zechariah you can send me the 20 mil now so I can buy more cheap stuff 1273
[00:24] <Zechariah> tell me char_designator; amount; btc_addy until 296 btc ok?
[00:24] <Zechariah> where is the official my debt list? (url)
[00:24] * Joins: ChrisPop (4f743705@gateway/web/freenode/ip.79.116.55.5)
[00:24] <luigi1111> 29; 80,000*b1; 1E8EHEt7X9izSGDpognFNKkrD7J5CzC5pb
[00:24] <SirJacket> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zR5PszQOQyqnmX7b1CR4XtskcGWAtsHeGbZAWOYgi_o/edit#gid=0
[00:24] <floWS> did M just double
[00:24] <luigi1111> yes
[00:24] <Speed112> Yes
[00:24] <luigi1111> 30 minutes ago
[00:24] <Speed112> Literally 2 minutes after you left to take care of the baby
[00:24] <luigi1111> LOL
[00:24] <Speed112> Curses!
[00:24] <Speed112> This is why I will never have children.
[00:25] <moneromooo> lol
[00:25] <luigi1111> they ruin cheap item grabbing
[00:25] <floWS> damnit
[00:25] <SirJacket> 31; 20,500*b1; 1JEXNH9djnjkJzZYz7QtLGgNTaM78V5NJn
[00:25] <luigi1111> babies > loafed
[00:25] <floWS> someone bought the m3 I had on orders lol
[00:25] <SirJacket> 21;62,000*b1;1B3UeoJs3dqT2LqekuvxsnH3sedLs4vWDc
[00:25] <floWS> cancelall allxxx right?
[00:25] <floWS>!cancelall allxxx
[00:25] <ckBot> floWS: All of your active asks and bids are cancelled
[00:26] <Zechariah> SirJacket: sent.
[00:26] <moneromooo> Wheeee, B1 just dumped again
[00:26] <floWS> ty ckBot o/
[00:26] * Quits: ChrisPop (4f743705@gateway/web/freenode/ip.79.116.55.5) (Client Quit)
[00:27] * luigi1111 mumbles something about order of listing
[00:27] * luigi1111 then regains composure
[00:28] <tombot> Zechariah: 215; 5 btc; 1DZMcKdq8hgwDWfwP9fLygUq7fCwCkKstp
[00:28] <mulu> Bought all the BRA I could :)
[00:30] <moneromooo> Zechariah: 88; 25 BTC; 1F5rwMzt5Xm8nv5YL74hAjaN3sC83cbV3Y
[00:30] <moneromooo> (new wd though, so if someone else wants the slot, I'll give way)
And I don't see people who settled for no interest in this thread, why am I here?
So why are you trying to mock me here?Who gave you proofs I defend Risto? moneromoo???
Code: [13:37] <moneromooo> serje: just stop being a scammer apologist, you don't need to.
just read 5 lines up! he also said he is giving up on interest to get his BTC and then accused me of being a scammer apologist!
Who are you? and why do you have this language on chat?
Code: [22:40] <cconnected_> please identify urself
[22:40] <FenrirCK> cconnected_: Follow the thread you fucking little sack of shit.
Code: [22:45] <FenrirCK> cconnected_: I never said I am male.
Code: [22:36] <FenrirCK> serje is to be elevated to "fraudalent" status based on the PM I got. I double dare you to post a screen shot of the PM you got!
Also looking to the log looks what I've got:
Code: [14:29] * Joins: hannamaaria (554c6267@gateway/web/freenode/ip.85.76.98.103)
[14:32] * Joins: FenrirCK (554ca5d3@gateway/web/freenode/ip.85.76.165.211)
[14:32] <FenrirCK> I compiled a list, please review: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1890786.msg18784244#msg18784244
[14:34] <iluvbtcFOC> I just did
[14:34] <iluvbtcFOC> :P
[14:34] <FenrirCK> why is serje protecting Zechariah in an obvious scam?
[14:35] <papa_lazzarou> drop, drop, drop
[14:35] <Zechariah> FenrirCK: Who are (y)ou?
[14:35] <iluvbtcFOC> where exactly is he protecting him?
[14:35] <moneromooo> I think serje is not a scammer, he's just a bit of an airhead and attached emotionally.
[14:35] <FenrirCK> [14:39] Ignored Zechariah, to unignore type: /UNIGNORE Zechariah
[14:35] <iluvbtcFOC> yeah
[14:36] <FenrirCK> let me dig it up
[14:36] <FenrirCK> I saw it in the thread, unless already removed by the admin
[14:37] <papa_lazzarou> I just saw him (serje) asking sammy007 to back down
[14:37] <moneromooo> And yeah, he's constantly saying it'll be alright and we'll be paid, just we wait. Willful myopia.
[14:37] <iluvbtcFOC> but how will we be paid
[14:37] <moneromooo> Who knows, he might end up be correct, but it'd be by pure chance :)
[14:37] <papa_lazzarou> FYI, saddma will run the M3 depo till May 1st: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=819073.msg18742506#msg18742506
[14:38] <iluvbtcFOC> if our debts are converted to Markka
[14:38] <moneromooo> Mine isn't.
[14:38] <papa_lazzarou> nor mine
[14:38] <FenrirCK> ok I'll move serje to "airhead / harmless" section
[14:38] <FenrirCK> as well as PJ
[14:38] <moneromooo> Though I'd be OK with it being converted to monero, at the poloniex rates at the withdrawal times.
[14:38] <iluvbtcFOC> :)
your IP and Hannamaria IP are pretty much the same.
And by coincidence she joined the room right before you started making accusations, this is a little strange to me!
Also are you the one stalking and calling Syksy?
Code: [15:09] <Syksy> WHY AM I CALLED FROM SOME NUMBERLESS PHONE ASKING ABOUT HIS MONEY?
[15:10] <Syksy> holy fucking shit
[15:10] <Syksy> I have always kept my name open but not for this purpose
[15:11] <Syksy> he did not say his name
[15:11] <Syksy> speaks Finnish
[15:11] <Syksy> Zechariah answer to me, please
[15:11] <
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and Redwood Robotics, which made advanced robot arms. However, similar work is being done by numerous research labs and robotics companies (see “This Factory Robot Learns Jobs Overnight”).
Greiner says work like this suggests that Google still wants to commercialize robot technologies. “I don’t see Google backing away from robotics at all,” she says. “They just might not have found a market for dynamically stable robots.”
Boston Dynamics, famous for its remarkably nimble and lifelike legged robots, was the standout among the companies acquired by Google in 2014 (see “The Robots Running This Way”). It isn’t hard to imagine that Andy Rubin, the executive charged with creating a forward-looking robotics division within Google, was as wowed as anyone else by the YouTube videos showing the Boston Dynamics two- and four-legged creations demonstrating incredible dynamic balancing tricks.
But Boston Dynamics is trying to solve problems that are considerably more challenging than any other of the other companies Google acquired, by designing robots to walk over unknown terrain. This might eventually prove useful for robots designed to work in messy human spaces, such as homes or hospitals, but it is currently very difficult to pull off.
Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 by Marc Raibert, a pioneer in the field of legged robotic locomotion and previously a professor at both Carnegie Mellon University and MIT. Raibert had showed that robots could walk across uneven ground, or even treacherous terrain such as rocks using a neat trick: they keep moving in order to keep their balance. Raibert’s first robot was, in fact, a one-legged bot that kept itself upright by continually bouncing.
Despite being able to walk over mud, snow, or ice, Boston Dynamics’s machines cannot combine nimble locomotion with precise control. This much was clear when the company’s humanoid robot, Atlas, was involved with a DARPA challenge involving various straightforward everyday tasks (see “Why Humans and Robots Struggled with DARPA’s Challenge”).
That isn’t to say that Boston Dynamics isn’t making progress. The latest video from Boston Dynamics showed its newest humanoid robot moving through a warehouse and picking up boxes. On the other hand, the company’s robots cost millions of dollars each and require enormous amounts of power to perform their dynamic balancing. Continual refinement and economies of scale will be required to bring the cost and power demands down.
After Rubin left Google at the end of 2014, the robotics project apparently struggled with a lack of direction. Some suggest that Boston Dynamics, which is still located in Boston rather than on the West Coast, proved a bad cultural fit.
However, Raj Reddy, a professor of computer science and robotics at CMU, believes that the decision to sell the company probably has far more to do with commercial realities. “They bought all these companies because they thought this is going to be another major thing,” says Reddy. “I’m not sure you’re going to sell 10 million Big Dogs,” he says, referring to Boston Dynamics’s largest four-legged robot.
Reddy believes the technology developed at Boston Dynamics will live on at a company that has a longer-term vision. “The market for robotics companies is still hot,” he says. “People like Toyota, Honda, and Amazon are supposedly interested, and may be bidding a good price.”What's On Your Cult Film List?
The authors of the upcoming book "100 Cult Films" have put together their list of top cult films, but we think 100 movies aren't enough. Is your cult film favorite missing? Make your pitch for the 101st film in our comment section below, and we may read your pick on air!
Top 100 Cult Films
Source: "100 Cult Films" by Ernest Mathijs and Xavier Mendik
2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, 1968
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Angel of Vengeance, Abel Ferrara, 1981
Bad Taste, Peter Jackson, 1987
Baise-moi, Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi, 2000
Begotten, E. Elias Merhige, 1991
Behind the Green Door, Artie Mitchell, Jim Mitchell, 1972
La belle et la bête, Jean Cocteau, 1946
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Russ Meyer, 1970
The Big Lebowski, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1998
Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, 1982
Blue Sunshine, Jeff Lieberman, 1978
Brazil, Terry Gilliam, 1985
Bride of Frankenstein, James Whale, 1935
The Brood, David Cronenberg, 1979
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Robert Wiene, 1920
Café Flesh, Stephen Sayadian, 1982
Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato, 1979
Casablanca, Michael Curtiz, 1942
Un chien andalou, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí,1928
Coffy, Jack Hill, 1973
Daughters of Darkness, Harry Kümel, 1971
Dawn of the Dead, George A. Romero, 1978
Deadly Weapons, Doris Wishman, 1974
Debbie Does Dallas, Jim Clark, 1978
Deep Red, Dario Argento, 1975
Dirty Dancing, Emile Ardolino, 1987
Django, Sergio Corbucci, 1966
Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly, 2001
Don't Torture a Duckling, Lucio Fulci, 1972
Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton, 1990
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Aristide Massaccesi, 1977
Emmanuelle, Just Jaeckin, 1974
Enter the Dragon, Robert Clouse, 1973
Eraserhead, David Lynch, 1977
The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi, 1981
Fight Club, David Fincher, 1999
Flaming Creatures, Jack Smith, 1963
Freak Orlando, Ulrike Ottinger, 1981
Freaks, Tod Browning, 1932
Ginger Snaps, John Fawcett, 2000
The Gods Must Be Crazy, Jamie Uys, 1981
Godzilla, Ishirô Honda, 1954
The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, 1972
Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby, 1971
Häxan, Benjamin Christensen, 1922
Hellraiser, Clive Barker, 1987
The Holy Mountain, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973
The House with the Laughing Windows, Pupi Avati, 1976
I Walked with a Zombie, Jacques Tourneur, 1943
Ichi the Killer, Takashi Miike, 2001
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh, 2008
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Don Siegel, 1956
Invocation of My Demon Brother, Kenneth Anger, 1969
It's a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra, 1946
The Killer, John Woo, 1989
Lady Terminator, H. Tjut Djalil, 1988
The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, 2001–3
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, George Miller, 1981
Man Bites Dog, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde, 1992
Manos, the Hands of Fate, Harold P. Warren, 1966
The Masque of the Red Death, Roger Corman, 1964
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, 1975
Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow, 1987
Nekromantik, Jörg Buttgereit, 1987
Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero, 1968
Pink Flamingos, John Waters, 1972
Piranha, Joe Dante, 1978
Plan 9 from Outer Space, Ed Wood, Jr, 1959
Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon, 1985
Reefer Madness, Louis Gasnier, 1936
Repo Man, Alex Cox, 1984
Ringu, Hideo Nakata, 1998
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jim Sharman, 1975
Rome Armed to the Teeth, Umberto Lenzi, 1976
The Room, Tommy Wiseau, 2003
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975
She Killed in Ecstasy, Jesús Franco, 1971
Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven, 1995
Soul Vengeance, Jamaa Fanaka, 1975
The Sound of Music, Robert Wise, 1965
Star Wars, George Lucas, 1977–2005
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Todd Haynes, 1988
Suspiria, Dario Argento, 1977
Tank Girl, Rachel Talalay, 1995
Tetsuo, Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper, 1974
This Is Spınal Tap, Rob Reiner, 1984
Thriller: A Cruel Picture, Bo Arne Vibenius, 1974
Thundercrack!, Curt McDowell, 1975
El Topo, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970
The Toxic Avenger, Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman, 1984
Two-Lane Blacktop, Monte Hellman, 1971
Two Thousand Maniacs!, Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1964
The Vanishing, George Sluizer, 1988
Videodrome, David Cronenberg, 1983
The Warriors, Walter Hill, 1979
Witchfinder General, Michael Reeves, 1968
Withnail & I, Bruce Robinson, 1987
The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming, 1939Since 2004, the Narayanguri embankment in Assam's Baksa district has been washed away thrice.
Villagers suffer year after year due to floods in Assam.
The Narayanguri embankment in Assam's Baksa district has been washed away thrice since 2004 due to floods. Like the last two times, it's being rebuilt once again to protect human settlements.As villagers suffer year after year due to floods in Assam, 49-year-old Yasin Ali told NDTV he has lost his house, believe it or not, seven times. Every time he has had to escape to a relief camp or simply find high ground as rivers swell and cause havoc due to breaches in embankments."My house has been washed away seven times like this. This is how we have survived. This time we have taken refuge here," Mr Ali told NDTV."I have seen this embankment break and being rebuilt two times. In 2005 and 2008 it was rebuilt," added 65-year-old Abdul Qadir.One of the allegations is that successive governments in Assam have continued to depend on embankments as a solution for flooding problems simply because it means money. Money for the contractors who build these embankments and money for politicians who often receive kickbacks. And when due to erosion an embankment is washed away the government has no option but to build another one like this to save human settlements, all at the cost of public money.Himanshu Thakkar from South Asia Network for Rivers, Dams and People (SANDRP) told NDTV, "A lot of money keeps getting spent on embankments because it's a lot of money, mostly unaccountable money. Money keeps getting spent without really helping the local people and helping from the flood problem."Rs 33,000 crore have been spent in the name of flood prevention since the 1950s in Assam. The centre has set aside from Rs 500 crore in 2013 to over Rs 700 crore last year to equip the state better against the fury of the Brahmaputra. But where has all that money gone?Newly elected BJP Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal told NDTV, "Everyone knows what was going on in the state for all these years in the name of flood prevention."The Congress which has been in power for the last 15 years denies any corruption.Apurba Bhattacharya, senior spokesperson of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, told NDTV, "Now they (BJP) are in the government. They know it very well. They can go through the files. Just mentioning a figure and saying horrible things doesn't mean taking responsibility."Experts say embankments were only supposed to be a temporary solution. But the actual flood prevention measures which would have reduced the need for embankments have not been pursued seriously.Professor Dulal Chandra Goswami, whose work on the river is internationally recognized, told NDTV, "Unfortunately the short term measure has existed till today with us. We have stuck to it in spite of knowing it will go against the health of the river and its ecology."Vice Chairman of the Brahmaputra Board, Chaman Lal told NDTV, "You can keep on having a solution like this but there would be large amount of area without protection from embankments. The solution to save yourself from floods can happen only by creating reservoirs."The Brahmaputra Board set up by the centre has a plan that has been kept in cold storage. By building dams and reservoirs upstream the water flow can be regulated to prevent floods. They hope the new government takes its advice seriously so that people of Assam have some relief.Van Jones emerged as a star last November when he said that Donald Trump’s election was a result of a “whitelash.” Now the CNN political commentator is hosting a series of town hall meetings across the nation that he describes as “Anthony Bourdain meets Phil Donahue.”
Jones spoke with Variety about what to expect from the next four years, why Hillary Clinton lost, and what the Democrats need to do differently.
How has your life changed since the election?
For a lot of people, especially liberals and progressives, election night was a traumatic shock, like when JFK was shot or the Twin Towers fell. It was a huge media moment. And for a lot of them, I was their guy on CNN that night. For several days, I didn’t have to pay for anything. I would walk into a store or sit down at a restaurant or get in a cab, and the workers wouldn’t charge me, to say “thank you.”
JAKE CHESSUM for Variety
Why are people so traumatized?
You’re taught your whole life not to be a bully, and this time a bully won. It upsets your whole view when someone like that wins.
What are your biggest concerns for the next four years?
Those of us who know and love our Muslim-American communities are very concerned about them being targeted and singled out. Women’s rights are now in jeopardy. I think black voters and black protesters have reason to be concerned. And the list goes on. In terms of the overseas situation, this guy, for reasons that are hard to understand, has taken it upon himself to destroy NATO, which our grandparents and great-grandparents had built up to protect the Western democracies from a Russian dictatorship.
Related Rachel Maddow Is Ready to Tackle New Challenges of a Trump Presidency Chelsea Handler Blames the Kardashians for Donald Trump’s Election
Why did Hillary Clinton’s campaign fail?
Hillary’s campaign failed to connect. But her campaign didn’t come out of nowhere. There’s a level of coastal snobbery toward the red states and the red counties of blue states that allowed the phrase “basket of deplorables” to survive vetting and come out of the mouth of a presidential candidate.
You recently said on television that the Clinton era is over, a statement that upset some Democrats.
The sky is blue. Water is wet. And the Clinton era is over. These are not controversial statements. That style of politics that is so transactional and cynical is not going to work with the millennial generation. Do you think in four years that the Democratic Party that is more dominated by millennials and people of color would want to support a Clinton-style candidate as opposed to a Sanders-style candidate? I don’t think it’s worth arguing about.
“This thing should not have been close.” Van Jones
Are you saying that Sanders would have beaten Trump?
Not necessarily. Some business moderates who voted for Clinton would have been very nervous about Sanders. Plus, if you had Trump vs. Sanders, you probably would have had Bloomberg jump in. You would have had a different scenario.
What do Democrats need to do?
The Democrats are not going to get any better until we deal with our own problems. This thing should not have been close. We can’t just talk about fake news and the Russians. I talked face to face with voters who voted for Obama and then voted for Trump. I talked to voters in Detroit who got no help from the Clinton campaign trying to turn out black voters. Everybody knows that Clinton should have blown this guy out of the water, and she didn’t, because the campaign was run by a bunch of elite data-dummy snobs who thought they knew better than the grassroots people who were screaming the whole time.
Do you think Trump should be tweeting so much?
I think he’s jeopardizing the majesty of the office by the way he’s conducting himself. Every time a new form of media rises, you should have advantage of it: FDR with radio, JFK with television, Obama with the internet and viral videos, and now you have Trump with social media. We’ll see if America can survive a president who is a pathological liar with a Twitter addiction.
Did you see his response to Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes?
If you’re the president of the United States and you’re more angry with Meryl Streep than with a Russian dictator trying to subvert American democracy, there’s something definitely wrong with you.The much anticipated hard fork of the ethereum blockchain has been implemented, giving those building on the decentralized application network at least the potential for stability after weeks of controversy and sometimes terse disagreements in the wider community.
At approximately 14:30 UTC today, China-based ethereum miner BW.com mined the ethereum blockchain’s 192,000th block. Seconds later the mining pool also mined the first block on the new blockchain, which returned funds lost in the collapse of The DAO to an account available to its original investors.
The achievement, which returns approximately $40m worth of ether from an account owned by an unknown hacker to a new address, is being met with celebration by many members of the ethereum community. However, the actual implications of the decision, which essentially showed that a supposedly immutable blockchain history can be altered, is yet to be seen.
Co-founder of ethereum startup Slock.it and author of most of the DAO code, Christoph Jentzsch, wrote on his company’s blog to acknowledge those who helped pull off the implementation and execution of the hard fork code.
Jentzsch wrote:
“What I witnessed during this time was remarkable feedback and support from many different sides. A lot of work needed to be done, and many people came literally out of nowhere and helped in many ways.”
The hard fork of the ethereum blockchain moved the funds tied to The DAO to a new smart contract designed to to one thing: let the original token owners withdraw the funds. The token owners were given the original exchange rate of 1 ETH to 100 DAO tokens.
The original compromise occurred on 17th June when funds from The DAO, a distributed autonomous organization built as a fund for ethereum-based projects, were drained into an account controlled by an unknown hacker or group of hackers. Following multiple so-called white hat attacks designed to move the remaining funds to accounts controlled by the tokenholders, a series of efforts were attempted to recover the funds, or find another course of action.
However, by early this week, the hard fork option had emerged as the clear path forward, a decision that was influenced by the fact that, due to the rules in The DAO’s code, the funds would have been made available to those who took the funds from the original contract on 27th July, at which point they could have been potentially sold or otherwise exchanged.
Any extra balance that now remains is expected to be withdrawn and distributed by the DAO curators, individuals appointed yesterday to oversee the distribution. Earlier curators appointed prior to the launch have stepped down, according to Alex van de Sande, who was among the original curators.
Multiple hard fork counters set up leading up to the event had yesterday predicted it would occur almost two hours later than it did, and it’s currently unclear why there was a discrepancy, though one likely possibility is that the ethereum blocks are mined at an inexact period of approximately 14 seconds.
Since the hard fork, an additional 153 blocks have been successfully mined. However, as suggested earlier, the move may not be without continued controversy.
The decision to hard fork was initially met with resistance by some members of the ethereum community who were concerned it might undermine the perception that the blockchain was immutable, and that contract agreements, once settled to the blockchain, would be final.
With major banks and startups alike now building with ethereum, this is a concern that will likely be followed closely.
CoinDesk is following this developing story.
Banana split image via Shutterstock; Ethereum blockchain image via Etherscan.ioI was reading the YouGov survey into how many female Londoners have received unwanted sexual attention in public spaces (43% of those aged 18-35 in the past year) and noted the confusion from some men who feel that they are "just being friendly". It got me wondering whether an organ donor card type scheme might help.
Not just in London, but everywhere, women could wear badges signalling that they "opt in" to receiving attention. The badge could say: "I'd love strange men to interact with me randomly. Anything from catcalls, whistles and lewd comments to being followed, groped, pressed against, flashed at or followed home. That would give me the attention I secretly crave or I'd be wearing a burqa, right? If it's dark, and I'm alone, that's even better. Or you could lean out of your vehicle and yell obscenities. Go for it, bad boys. You're just friends I haven't met yet!"
If this makes the badge too large, then perhaps there could be a simple logo of a crooked "come hither" style finger. Or indeed anything that helps to dispel any intergender confusion during those admittedly sexy periods of public travel.
Yes, I'm being facetious. When a woman is out and about, it would be nice to think that the only large grey area she encounters is the pavement. Instead, grey areas abound. Not with the extremes – the physical assaults that shock everybody. It's the uncertainty over whether what's happening is intimidating or just ordinary banter, the rough and tumble of human interaction.
In truth, what grey area? This grey area is an urban myth that disguises the fact that these catcallers, stalkers, and gropers must know that what they're doing is wrong. That there is a world of difference between a pleasant "Nice day!" or, in my opinion, a chirpy "Smile, love, it may never happen" and things becoming darker, more threatening and opportunistic.
As it is, there seems to be a sense that men are entitled to behave this way that is so ingrained that women are resigned to it and develop coping strategies. Our public spaces are full of women avoiding men they don't know. Crossing streets, popping into shops unnecessarily, changing train carriages or buses (subtly, they hope), perfecting a placid "zombie stare", neither encouraging an overture, nor haughtily dismissing one. Rare is the woman who hasn't resorted to such actions at some point.
Young females get it worst, not just because they're prettier and sexier than jealous, bitter, old trouts like myself, but also because they're more vulnerable. Moreover, often it is secret behaviour. While some men show off to friends, others wait for the empty carriage or the lonely street. Which makes a twisted kind of sense: the creeps don't want decent men around who might berate or stop them.
Women aren't being hysterical – they know that it's not all men, just some men who do it all the time. But why? In truth, it's a rare woman who goes actively "cruising" for sexual attention in public spaces or who would respond positively to advances. Men must know this: they must know that staring, leering, shouting, pressing, rubbing and the rest is, if anything, going to give them even less of a chance, so what's in it for them? Intimidating, scaring, displaying their power to intimidate, their entitlement to scare?
There seems no point in addressing such creepy damaged characters, except perhaps with a taser. Other men might think about how much they interact with unfamiliar females and try to imagine a female they love (spouse, daughter, friend, family member) placed in a similar situation. Above all, accept that some of their fellow males aren't "just being friendly". At present, the problem is not just what's happening to a lot of women in public spaces, it's also the en masse denial that it is happening at all.
Stand up and salute Eugene. Better still, sit down
Eugene Polley, inventor of the television remote control, patron saint of couch potatoes, has died. In life, Polley was aggrieved that Robert Adler's slightly later design took prominence (Polley's Flash-Matic resembled a ray gun) and felt that he was being denied his place in history. He declared that the only invention more important was the flushing lavatory and that the remote was "almost as good as sex". Well, each to his own, as they say.
Polley needn't have worried about legacy – if nothing else, he almost certainly contributed to the obesity epidemic. His TV remote could be viewed as a factor in the condition of the current sedentary generation: people who refuse to move so much as a muscle – that's if they still have muscles.
With Amazon, Google and social networking, everything in the human pantheon is now an effortless click away. Polley's remote was the electronic genesis, people realising: "Hey, we can laze about and still do this."
The burden of walking towards the television set had been lifted from the lives of ordinary people. In this way, the remote delivered humankind into a pathetic helplessness.
Or maybe that's just me. When our remote broke recently, I just sat, blob-like, thinking thoughts along the lines of: "Magic picture box no work – me sad." Polley has earned his place in history – he contributed to making the world stationary and gadget-reliant.
It may not be a case of whether future generations remember him, rather, whether they'll forgive him.
'And this is me getting the sack for nicking your phone...'
It may be time to amend that well-known phrase "thick as thieves". It generally means, as you know, to be very close to someone. However, with some thieves, it could just mean that they're thick.
Take the case of a Disney cruise ship worker who is alleged to have stolen a passenger's iPhone and, while still aboard the liner, proceeded to take photographs of himself, his girlfriend and friends, not realising that the pictures were being automatically uploaded on to Apple's iCloud for the victim to peruse. The victim then put snarky comments on the photos, where they became a viral sensation. She even got to know the thief's name, Nelson, as, throughout his adventures, he was prominently displaying an employee name badge. Disney has since placed an unnamed worker on "administrative leave". Could this be the hapless Nelson? Is there any chance he could send in a snap to show how he's getting on?
Another case involves drug dealer Ayub Hagoscorrect, who used his camera phone to take photos of himself posing with mounds of banknotes and bags of drugs. Well, there's a contender for the family Christmas card. Other photos revealed knives, guns, more cash and more drugs. In court, the prosecutor said: "The photographs are such that the defendant would have difficulty in disassociating [sic] himself with the drugs." Quite. Hagos, was found guilty and sentenced to three and a half years.
The criminal behaviour is one thing, the dim-wittedness quite another. Put into context: if Lord Lucan had been this stupid, we'd have found him within 20 minutes, hiding in a Woolworths' photo booth. What next? Criminals tweeting in real time: "In house now. Nicking TV. LOL." Hashtag: HopeImakeitontoCrimewatch.Emmanuel Adebayor says that he has come through a “dark moment” in his career and he is determined to complete his latest journey from zero to hero. The Tottenham Hotspur striker seems only to deal in the wildest of extremes and this season has been a personal trial for him, largely because of what he describes as “a lot of family issues”.
The 31-year-old was given compassionate leave by the club last December after a close relative fell seriously ill and he has also had to contend with a family rift, in which there have been accusations that his mother used witchcraft against him.
On the field, Adebayor has barely featured since the home defeat by Stoke City on 9 November, after which he gave a characteristically candid interview in which he said that Tottenham’s players were struggling under the pressure of a negative atmosphere at White Hart Lane. It was intended to serve as a rallying cry, to get everybody pulling in the right direction, but a section of the club’s support felt that he was being critical of them.
Adebayor was out through injury and illness towards the end of the first half of the season and when he was available again Mauricio Pochettino routinely omitted him from the squad. He pushed for a loan move at the end of January to West Ham United only for the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, to block it. There is no love lost between the clubs at boardroom level.
Adebayor made a surprise return to the squad for Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United, which dented Tottenham’s hopes of a Champions League finish. He was given the opportunity after Roberto Soldado suffered a knock and Pochettino brought him on for the final 11 minutes. It was his first appearance since 24 January and only his fourth since the Stoke game.
The Togolese says that he has remained professional and he is determined to do whatever he can over the final weeks of the season to help the team. It is clear, though, that what he has lived through has given him greater perspective.
“I went through a little bit of a dark moment in my career,” Adebayor says. “A lot of things went wrong. We are all human beings. We all go through a lot at certain times of our lives. I think I have learned from it. I went through a lot of family issues. But now it is behind me and I am back on the football pitch. I am very glad to be back.
“The transfer window is behind me and today I’m still at Tottenham so for me the most important thing is Tottenham and helping the team achieve our target, which is to finish in the top four. Can I play a part? Why not? I was part of the squad at Old Trafford. I am available. The manager has a choice to make and whenever I am selected I just have to help my team, show respect for them and respect for the club.”
Adebayor says he is not “21 years old any more” and that he looks at things differently these days. “I travelled to Europe to be a footballer and today I am a footballer,” he says. “Already, I am very glad because in my country, only God knows how many people would love to wear the Tottenham shirt and play for Tottenham. Whenever I have a chance to wake up and be alive, I always thank God for that and for me all the rest is a bonus.
“I’m a Togolese boy who has suffered a lot, and today I’m in Europe. My junior brother, my senior brother, my uncle – I think they would love to be in my position, being a footballer, being a striker for Tottenham. Trust me. Even just travelling with the team, a lot of my family members, a lot of my countrymen, would love to do that. For me, let me just enjoy it and embrace it.”
Adebayor was out in the cold at the beginning of last season under the former manager André Villas-Boas. But he was revived by Tim Sherwood, who took over from Villas-Boas in December 2013, and he finished the season strongly, with 14 goals in 24 games. Now, under Pochettino, Harry Kane has emerged as the first-choice striker, but Adebayor, who is under contract until May 2016, is philosophical about the situation.
“It’s quite hard [to be out of the team] but I’m very happy and pleased for Harry Kane,” he says. “He is a young lad that came out and, at the moment, I think he is the only one that can save our season, like I did last season. Two years ago it was Gareth Bale. In football we all have our moments. I just have to work hard, come back and play football. Football is a funny game. Today, you are zero; tomorrow, you are a hero. At the beginning of last season, everyone wanted me out. At the end of the season, they wanted me to stay. I just have to keep believing in myself, keep doing my thing.
“Harry can get the club into the top four. People are starting to get to know him and what he can do on the field but he is an intelligent lad. He is learning through his difficult moments as well. We all have a huge faith in him. Hopefully he will drag us out of the top seven and put us in the top four.”
Adebayor kept quiet after the fallout from his post-Stoke comments but now is willing to address the subject. “I don’t know if I have been punished [by being left out of the squad] or not,” he says. “But what I do know is that I’m myself, I’m being me and if something is strong, if I have to say it and correct the future for the club, I will do it.
“This club has given me the chance to play again in London and I’m so grateful. It’s obviously [been] misunderstood and people take it the wrong way – [but] maybe they should look at it in a positive way, sometimes. We are all in the same boat. Me and the fans are in the same boat. I have nothing against the fans. I always love the fans.”When the Bureau of Labor Statistics compiled data on the pay levels in the 10 most common occupations in America, one sticks out like a sore thumb: nursing.
There are plenty of other good-paying jobs in the United States and plenty of other common jobs in the United States. But registered nurses stand alone in a job that is both widely available and reasonably highly compensated.
That annual mean wage of almost $70,000 isn’t a princely sum, of course. But it’s well above the national median of $48,320 and absolutely soars ahead of the other common jobs.
But while it’s better-paid, what nursing does have in common with other common jobs is that it’s broadly accessible. You certainly need training to be a nurse, but a two-year associate’s degree from a community college will suffice in most cases. You need to be hard-working and conscientious, but you don’t need to be an academic superstar. Last but by no means least, you don’t need to move anywhere in particular to find a job opportunity as a nurse.
At a time when economic opportunity has grown increasingly concentrated in a handful of very expensive coastal metropolitan areas, the hospitals, outpatient clinics, and schools that employ nurses exist in essentially every US population center of any size at all.
Nursing is a growing profession
Not only are there a lot of nurses now but the profession is poised for explosive growth in the future.
Media lists of the "fastest-growing jobs" often ignore nursing because they rely on the cheap trick of focusing on percentage increases. And the fastest growth, in percentage terms, tends to come from jobs that are essentially brand new.
The number of wind turbine technicians, for example, is expected to essentially double over a very short time span. That’s because the install base of wind turbines has grown very quickly over the past few years and is expected to keep growing in years to come. Technicians will be needed to work on those installations and to service the existing turbines.
But while this is a rapidly growing field, that simply amounts to a transition from an extremely rare job to a very rare one. Many slower-growing — or even shrinking — fields will still have many more job openings.
Nursing, by contrast, is expected to grow 16 percent — much higher than the national average — from an employment base that is already very high. That makes it the No. 2 profession in terms of actual new jobs that the Labor Department expects to see created over the next 10 years, and nurses are much better-paid than the home health aides who are in position No. 1.
Technology increases demand for nurses
Right above registered nurses on the list of jobs where the most new positions will be available is personal care aides. Right below nurses is home health aides. Nursing assistants are No. 6, medical assistants are 12, licensed practical nurses are 18, and medical secretaries are 20.
Registered nurses are the most trained and highest-paid of the bunch — the best job to get if you can. But the larger trend is clear.
The number of old people in the population is projected to grow, and they are going to need health care — so a wide range of health care jobs are expected to expand.
And while politicians continue to promise voters a return of manufacturing jobs, the basic facts about demand and technology make it extremely unlikely. The typical middle-class American family simply doesn’t have much use for another car, another sofa, or another television. As the world gets better at manufacturing things, we don’t need as many people working in factories simply because we have a limited need for material goods.
By contrast, we’re a very long way away from living in a world where everyone is as healthy as they might like to be. As we invent new and better ways to treat illness, we tend to want more treatments — and we’ll need more
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He wasn't prosecuted. During the Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 26, Casey Affleck won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of the father of those who died in the fire, while director Kenneth Lonergan took home an Oscar for best original screenplay.
"Within two hours of that movie playing to this defendant and her husband, Jeffrey's deceased," McBride said during Friday's bail hearing.
Officials said the fire was reported around 1:15 a.m. March 1 at the family's home in the rural town of Guilford, 55 miles (88 kilometers) southeast of Syracuse.
Ernest Franklin, 35, pointed out the room where the teen was lying when police arrived on the scene, authorities said. Officials have said the son had mental and physical disabilities.
The father told police he was away from the house chasing down the family's dogs when the fire started, officials said. Meanwhile, Heather Franklin, 33, claimed to have gone to two stores seeking a certain product while driving around from 11:30 p.m. until about 2:30 a.m., when she returned home, authorities said.
An autopsy determined that Jeffrey Franklin was already dead by the time the fire started, McBride said.
"The victim was badly burned," McBride said during the hearing. "Because of the damage to the body by the fire, the pathologist is not able to determine the cause of death."
Bail was set at $250,000 cash for Ernest Franklin and $125,000 cash for Heather Franklin. Neither had posted bail Wednesday.The Buddha ate meat. This is a fairly well attested fact. The issue of vegetarianism is addressed a few times in the Suttas, notably the Jivaka Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya. The Buddha consistently affirmed that monastics were permitted to eat meat, as long as it was not killed intentionally for them. There are numerous passages in the Vinaya that refer to the Buddha or the monastics eating meat, and meat is regularly mentioned as one of the standard foods.
For these reasons, the standard position in Theravada Buddhism is that there is no ethical problem with eating meat. If you want to be vegetarian, that is a purely optional choice. Most Theravadins, whether lay or monastic, eat meat, and claim to be acting within the ethical guidelines of the Buddha’s teachings.
This position sits squarely within a straightforward application of the law of kamma, understood as intention. Eating meat involves no intention to do harm. As there is no intention, there is no kamma. As there is no kamma, there is no ethical problem.
The situation in Mahayana is more complicated. Mahayanists, especially in East Asia, embrace vegetarianism, often as a temporary measure for religious events, although the monastics are typically vegetarian all the time. The motivation is, at least in part, an expression of the greater emphasis on compassion in Mahayana. In practice, however, Mahayanists often adopt vegetarianism (as do Hindus) as a rite of purification. This is despite such texts as the Amagandha Sutta of the Sutta Nipata, where the Buddha insists that eating meat is not a source of spiritual impurity. Tibetan monastics, on the other hand, usually eat meat.
Despite the apparently straightforward situation in Theravada, the problem does not go away. For obvious reasons: eating meat requires the killing of animals, and this directly violates the first precept. Eating meat is the direct cause of an immense quantity of suffering for sentient beings. Many people, myself included, struggle with the notion that a religion as categorically opposed to violence as Buddhism can so blithely wave away the suffering inherent in eating meat.
Let’s have a closer look and see if we can discern the roots of this problem. There are a few considerations that I would like to begin with. We live in a very different world today than the Buddha lived in, and Buddhist ethics, whatever else they may be, must always be a pragmatic response to real world conditions.
Animals suffer much more today than they did 2500 years ago. In the Buddha’s time, and indeed everywhere up until the invention of modern farming, animals had a much better life. Chickens would wander round the village, or were kept in a coop. Cows roamed the fields. The invention of the factory farm changed all this. Today, the life of most meat animals is unimaginable suffering. I won’t go into this in detail, but if you are not aware of the conditions in factory farms, you should be. Factory farms get away with it, not because they are actually humane, but because they are so mind-bendingly horrific that most people just don’t want to know. We turn away, and our inattention allows the horror to continue.
The other huge change since the Buddha’s time is the destruction of the environment. We are all aware of the damage caused by energy production and wasteful consumerism. But one of the largest, yet least known, contributors to global warming and environmental destruction generally is eating meat. The basic problem is that meat is higher on the food chain as compared with plants, so more resources are required to produce nutrition in the form of meat. In the past this was not an issue, as food animals typically ate things that were not food for humans, like grass. Today, however, most food animals live on grains and other resource-intensive products. This means that meat requires more energy, water, space, and all other resources. In addition to the general burden on the environment, this creates a range of localised problems, due to the use of fertilisers, the disposal of vast amounts of animal waste, and so on.
One entirely predictable outcome of factory farming is the emergence of virulent new diseases. We have all heard of ‘swine flu’ and ‘bird flu’; but the media rarely raises the question: why are these two new threats derived from the two types of animals that are most used in factory farming? The answer is obvious, and has been predicted by opponents of factory farming for decades. In order to force animals to live together in such overcrowded, unnatural conditions, they must be fed a regular diet of antibiotics, as any disease is immediately spread through the whole facility. The outcome of this, as inevitable as the immutable principles of natural selection, is the emergence of virulent new strains of antibiotic resistant diseases. In coming years, as the limited varieties of antibiotics gradually lose their efficacy, this threat will recur in more and more devastating forms.
So, as compared with the Buddha’s day, eating meat involves far more cruelty, it damages the environment, and it creates diseases. If we approach this question as one of weights and balance, then the scales have tipped drastically to the side of not eating meat.
Sometimes in Theravada vegetarianism is slighted, as it is traditionally associated with the ‘5 points’ of Devadatta. Devadatta wanted to prove he was better than the Buddha, so he asked the Buddha to enforce five ascetic practices, such as only accepting alms food, live all their lives in the forest, and so on. These practices are regarded as praiseworthy, and Devadatta’s fault was not in promoting these as such, but in seeking to make them compulsory. Stories of the Buddha’s childhood emphasize how compassionate he was compared to Devadatta’s cruelty to animals, perhaps because of Devadatta’s asscoiation with vegetarianism. So rather than deprecating the vegetarians as ‘followers of Devadatta’, one could infer from this passage that vegetarianism, like the other practices, was praiseworthy, but the Buddha did not wish to make it compulsory.
To argue in such a way, however, is clutching at straws. There is a wider problem, and I think the discussions of the issue among Buddhists generally avoid this. And the wider issue is this: meat eating is clearly harmful. That harm is a direct but unintended consequence of eating meat. Since there is no intention to cause harm, eating meat is not bad kamma. There are therefore two logical possibilities: eating meat is ethical; or kamma is not a complete account of ethics.
Let us look more closely at this second possibility. The notion that actions should not be done, even when they involve no harmful intention, is found constantly in the Vinaya. For example, a monk is criticised for baking bricks that have small creatures in them, even though he was unaware of them and did not intend any harm. The Buddha laid down a rule forbidding this.
In another case, the Buddha laid down a rule that a monastic must inquire about the source of meat before accepting it. The context of this rule was that someone had offered human flesh (their own – it’s a long story!) and this rule is usually said to only apply if one has doubts as to whether the food is human flesh. But that is not what the rule states – it simply says that one should inquire as the the source of the meat, and that it is an offence to eat meat without doing so. Needless to say, this rule is ignored throughout Theravada.
These are a couple of examples in the context of causing harm to beings. There are many others. Indeed, there are several Vinaya rules that were laid down in response to the actions of arahants. An arahant cannot act in an intentionally harmful manner, so these rules cannot be taken to imply that the motivation behind the acts was wrong. The acts have unintended harmful consequences, and this is why they are prohibited.
In this sense, if the Vinaya pertains to sila, or ethics, then the scope of sila is broader than the scope of kamma. This is, when you think about it, common sense. Kamma deals only with intention and the consequences of intentional action. This is critical because of its place in the path to liberation. We can change our intentions, and thereby purify our minds and eventually find release from rebirth. That is the significance of kamma to us as individuals.
But ethics is not just a matter of individual personal development. It is also a social question, or even wider, an environmental question in the broad sense. How do we relate to our human and natural context in the most positive and constructive way?
I am suggesting that, while kamma deals with the personal, ethics includes both the personal and the environmental.
As well as broadening ethics in this way, I would suggest we should deepen it. Ethics is not just what is allowable. Sure, you can argue that eating meat is allowable. You can get away with it. That doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing. What if we ask, not what can I get away with, but what can I aspire to?
When we recite the first precept, we say, ‘I undertake the training to refrain from killing living beings’. This is a challenge, and in itself is a powerful ethics. Yet it is merely a short summary of a principle. It was never meant to fully describe the virtue of harmlessness. When the Buddha spoke of this precept in more detail, this is what he had to say:
Having abandoned the taking of life, refraining from the taking of life, one dwells without violence, with the knife laid down, scrupulous, full of mercy, trembling with compassion for all sentient beings.
This is not just an ethic of allowability. It doesn’t merely set a minimum standard. It calls us out, asking us to aspire to a higher sense of compassion, an ethic that deeply feels for the welfare of all beings. More than just asking, ‘Does this act come from an intention to harm’, we ask ourselves, ‘Is this act the best I can possibly do to promote the welfare of all?’ Rather than simply escaping bad kamma, we create good kamma.
One obvious criticism of this approach is that being vegetarian does not mean you don’t cause harm. We hurt beings in many unintentional way, driving cars, buying products, almost everything we do. If we follow this principle to its logical conclusion, we end up with Jainism, and will have to walk everywhere with a cloth over our mouth to keep the flies from dying, and a soft broom to brush the creatures away. (Note, though, that even the Jains have a complex relationship with vegetarianism.) It is simply arbitrary to identify meat eating as the cause of harm. This is, after all, the point of the well-known (though apocryphal) story of Siddhattha as a young boy, seeing the plough turning up the soil, killing some worms, and leaving the others to be picked off by the crows. Even eating rice involves the unintentional destruction of life. The only solution is to get off the wheel.
The problem with this argument is that it confuses the existential with the ethical. On an existential level, quite right, any form of life, even the most scrupulous, will inevitably cause harm to some beings. This is one of the reasons why the only final solution is escape from rebirth altogether. Yet meanwhile, we are still here. Ethics is not concerned with the ultimate escape from all suffering, but with minimising the harm and maximising the benefit we can do right here. It is relative and contextual. Sure, being vegetarian or vegan we will still cause harm. And sure, there are boundary issues as to what is really vegetarian (Honey? Bees are killed. Sugar? Animal bones are used for the purification process… )
But the fact that we can’t do everything does not imply that we shouldn’t do this thing. The simple fact is that eating meat cause massive and direct harm to many creatures. That harm is, almost always, easily avoidable. Becoming vegetarian does not involve any huge sacrifices or moral courage. It just takes a little restraint and care. This is even more so today, when there is a wide range of delicious, cheap, nutritious vegetarian foods available. The choice of becoming vegetarian is, of all moral choices we can make, one of the most beneficial, at the smallest cost to ourselves.
To return to the basic problem. As Buddhists, we expect that the Buddha kept the highest possible ethical conduct. And for the most part, he did. So if the Buddha allowed something, we feel there can’t be anything wrong with it. There is nothing dogmatic or unreasonable about such an expectation. When we read the Suttas and the Vinaya, we find again and again that the Buddha’s conduct was, indeed, of the highest order.
How then, if meat eating is an inferior ethical standard, can it be that the Buddha did it? This is the crux of the matter. And I don’t have an easy answer.
Part of it is to do with the nature of the mendicant life. The Buddha and his disciples wandered from house to house, simply accepting whatever was offered. It’s hard to refuse offerings given in such a spirit. Yet this answer is incomplete, as there are many foods, including several types of meat, that are prohibited in the Vinaya. Clearly the monastics were expected to have some say over what went into their bowls.
There are other considerations I could raise. But I don’t want to press the textual argument too far. In the end, we have a partial, and partially understood record of the Buddha’s life and teachings. For those of us who have been blessed enough to have encountered the Dhamma, we have found it to be an uplifting and wise guide to life.
And yet: we cannot let our ethical choices be dictated by ancient texts. Right and wrong are too important. The scriptures do not contain everything, and do not answer every question. As Buddhists, we take the texts seriously, and do not lightly discard their lessons. Yet there is a difference between learning from scripture and submitting to it.
There are some things that the scriptures simply get wrong. The Suttas make no critique of slavery, for example, and yet for us this is one of the most heinous of all crimes.
Why are these things as they are? I don’t know. I have devoted a considerable portion of my life to studying and understanding the Buddhist scriptures, and in almost all things of importance I find them to be impeccable. But my study has also shown me the limits of study. We cannot access the truth through scripture. We can only access certain ideas. Our understanding and application of those ideas is of necessity imperfect. There is always something left over.
This being so, it is unethical to cite scripture as a justification for doing harm. If eating meat is harmful and unnecessary, it remains so whatever the texts say. Our sacred texts are sacred, not because they determine what is right and wrong, but because they inform our choices and help us to do better.
The principle of harmlessness underlies the very fabric of the Dhamma, and if its application in this context is problematic, the principle itself is not in question. It simply means our scriptures are imperfect, and the practice of ethics is complex and messy. But we knew that already. It is not out of disrespect that we make our choice, but out of respect for the deeper principles of compassion and harmlessness.
AdvertisementsIf there weren’t enough reasons to see the Double-A Reading Fightins, fans may have just gotten the one that will put that decision over the top. Top Phillies prospect J.P. Crawford has been promoted to Double-A Reading.
After starting the season on the disabled list due to a strained oblique, the 20-year-old has been dominating the Class A Advanced Florida State League, batting.392 in 21 games for the Clearwater Threshers.
The lefty batting Crawford was the Phils’ top draft selection (16th overall) in 2013. Last year, in his first full pro season, the six-foot-two 180-pounder sported a.285/375/.406 slash line with 24 stolen bases in 123 combined games at Class A Lakewood and with Clearwater.
Crawford acknowledged the move via his Twitter account shortly after the news was announced.
Reading is chock full of prospects this season with speedy center fielder and 2011 second round pick Roman Quinn (.296 avg, three HR, 10 RBI, 22 SB), 2010 first round pick Jesse Biddle (4-1 record, 4.46 ERA), last year’s seventh overall pick Aaron Nola (6-3 record, 1.87 ERA), the key return in the Jimmy Rollins trade Zach Eflin (4-3 record, 3.48 ERA) and several others drawing the attention of area fans this year.
Check out a Phillies Nation TV segment on J.P. in the media player below.At the same time, more moderate Republicans were expressing concern for other reasons. Administration officials say they want to preserve one of the most popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which bars insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions. But without a requirement for some form of community rating, insurers could effectively do that, simply by increasing the cost of policies for sick or risky customers.
“I don’t think we will have something that eliminates community rating,” said Representative Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, a member of the caucus of moderate Republicans known as the Tuesday Group. “That just can’t be.”
Mr. Murphy, a psychologist, has successfully championed legislation to improve treatment for mental illness and drug abuse, including opioid addiction. He said he wanted to be sure that any changes to the bill protected mental health care and treatment for substance abuse disorders, as well as maternity care — benefits that are guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act.
Mr. Ryan and the White House tried to play down expectations of a breakthrough, saying the talks on a new health care bill were at a preliminary, conceptual stage.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said the vice president and the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, were “very optimistic” about the possibility of developing a health care bill that could win a majority of votes in the House.
“The president would like to see this done,” Mr. Spicer said. “If we can get a deal and it gets to those votes — which, again, I’m not going to raise expectations, but there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about how to grow that vote.”
New York adopted community rating under a state law in the 1990s, and the policy caused serious problems in the individual insurance market, but state officials have come to accept it.Don't Search for the Solution
Finding "The Answer" is not helpful
Look for details not for the whole picture
Where the solution is helpful
Google, when used properly, is a powerful part of every programmer's toolbox.
What you're describing sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to use Google for. Life is an open book test, so is coding. No one is expected to remember the details/parameters/implementation of every JS function. Even experienced developers use Google multiple times a day as a memory prosthetic.As for the rest... it depends on how you use it.If you are specifically searching for a complete solution to the problem, IE: "How do I truncate a string in Javascript" or "How do I reverse a string in Javascript", then you are almost certainly cheating. The purpose of the Bonfires is not to solve them,. Solving them is almost beside the point. The purpose is for YOU to solve them, to break the problem down into its atomic parts and apply the tools you have learned - function, operators, loops, etc - to solve the problem. It's the process that is important, not the end result.Just as owning tools doesn't make you a mechanic, "knowing" the elements of a language doesn't make you a programmer. It's knowing how to apply those tools to a problem at hand that takes skills. It's knowing which tool to use and when. Google can be a powerful tool, even for learning.If you search for a solution (and use it), you're probably not learning anything. I've heard people say that "they try to understand the solution really well" before they move on, but I'm pretty sure they're fooling themselves. If you ever want to test this, just find a solution online, "understand" it as best you can.. then try to solve the problem on your own. You'll quickly find out how shallow your understanding is.To use Google correctly, you need to be using it to solve specific programming problems or fill in gaps in your knowledge. Queries like "How do I iterate through an array in Javascript" or "What are the parameters to the.filter callback" are practically what Google was made to answer. Even experienced developers use Google daily to help them remember the finer details of their language of choice. No one can remember all of the details of their language of choice, especially if it's an esoteric or rare function.Note that it's definitely not "against the rules" to look up the solutions. Free Code Camp makes solutions to all of the Bonfires freely available on out wiki. In fact, most Bonfires have several solutions, some with detailed explanation of how that solution works. Most Bonfires have several possible solutions and it can be enlightening to view alternate solutions once you've already solved it.You can also take your code to thechat room. A detailed critique of your solution can also be helpful.Image caption Officials have warned that faulty drugs may have been distributed to thousands of people
At least 70 people are believed to have died in the Pakistani city of Lahore over the past three weeks because of faulty heart drugs, officials say.
They said that at least 400 others are being treated for similar symptoms.
The number of dead has soared since Tuesday, when officials said about 36 people with cardiovascular problems had died since the start of the month.
The owners of three local drugs companies alleged to have supplied the contaminated drugs have been arrested.
The deaths have caused panic in the city less than three months after a dengue fever epidemic.
Officials have warned that the batch of contaminated drugs might have been distributed to nearly 40,000 people since 15 December. They say that patients affected by the sub-standard drugs suffer a rapid depletion of white cells and blood platelets.
The symptoms - first noticed in late December - created an impression that patients were suffering a form of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease common in Pakistan during the monsoon season, officials say.
But patient data soon revealed that all of those affected were heart patients who had been using free cardiovascular drugs from the government-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology.
Publicity campaign
Officials told the BBC that the deaths appear to have been caused by a batch of drugs issued on 15 December.
They say one or more of at least six drugs - all manufactured by little-known local firms and purchased by the Institute of Cardiology for heart patients - may be responsible.
The parliamentary health secretary for Punjab, Saeed Illahi, told the BBC that about 400 heart patients were ill from taking the drugs. About 100 had been admitted to hospital, with many of them still in a critical condition.
Drug samples have been sent to London and Paris for further investigation, he said.
Officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told a court in Lahore on Wednesday that the drugs did not carry dates of manufacture and expiry.
The court has remanded in custody three people who own pharmaceutical firms which supplied the drugs to the Institute of Cardiology. The owners of two other companies are being sought, Mr Illahi said.
None of the firms has commented on the allegations.
The institute provides free heart drugs to about 600,000 heart patients annually.
Hospital sources have told the BBC that if they do not buy medicines from the cheapest supplier they can be taken to court by drug companies.
The government has now launched a publicity campaign warning people not to use the faulty batch of drugs.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the Pakistani pharmaceuticals market is intensely competitive, with local companies competing with multinationals for hospital contracts.
This is thought to be the first time that drugs provided by Pakistani companies are alleged to have been below standard, our correspondent adds.Properties in Ryde are without water this evening (Sunday) due to a burst water main along Ashey Road.
Southern Water first posted on Twitter at 12.41pm this afternoon, telling Island residents they were aware of the incident and were investigating to make the necessary repairs as soon as possible However properties this evening are still without water. Ashey Road was closed at 3.20pm while teams worked to fix the fault in the pipe with diversions in place for motorists. According to the utility company, Water Direct has been delivering water to vulnerable people throughout the afternoon and into this evening while Southern Water provided ‘pick up points’ for residents to collect water supplies. Updates to follow
*UPDATE – 9.35pm
* Southern Water have announced the majority of people who have been without water today (Sunday) should see their supply come back on by 11pm tonight. Bottles of water continue to be available at Ashey Road and Osborne Road for those who need them.
josymesA newly discovered plastic-eating bacterium may hold the key to safely degrading millions of tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics dumped each year.
plastic bacteria KEY POINTS Key points: PET plastic is a global pollution problem
Scientists have discovered a new species of bacteria that produces a plastic-eating enzyme
When microbes were applied to PET film it broke down completely after six weeks
More than 45 million tonnes of PET plastics are produced annually. While a small percentage is recycled worldwide, much of it ends up in landfill or waterways, creating significant environmental problems.
Scientists have long searched for a biological agent that could effectively degrade PET's tough crystalline structure.
To date, they had only found a few species of fungi that could partially break down the plastic.
But a team of Japanese researchers, led by Dr Shosuke Yoshida from the Kyoto Institute of Technology, have discovered a new species of bacteria that produces a never-before-seen plastic-eating enzyme.
PET completely degraded after six weeks
Share A red-footed Booby on a polluted beach in Australia. Most plastics end up in landfills or waterways.
The researchers collected 250 debris samples — including soil and other sediments, wastewater and sludge — from a PET recycling plant and screened the microbial communities present in the samples to determine whether they played any role in the breakdown process.
"One sediment sample contained a distinct microbial consortium," Dr Kenji Miyamoto from Keio University, who was part of the study published today in Science, said.
"The consortium contained a mixture of bacteria, yeast-like cells, and protozoa."
When they applied the microbes to a thin PET film, prominent pits formed on the film surface as it was consumed. It completely degraded after six weeks.
"We then successfully isolated a bacterium, Ideonella sakaiensis, from the group and found that this strain produces two enzymes," researchers said.
Further analysis showed the two enzymes — PETase and MHETase — could break down both PET and another compound called MHET — (mono 92-hydroxyethyl) terephthalic acid — which forms during the breakdown process.
The environmentally benign breakdown products, ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, are then used by the bacteria as an energy source.
New enzymes may have evolved through swapping genes
Share Despite promising results, scientists say solving PET pollution will not be as easy as releasing the new bacteria into a landfill.
Human-manufactured PET has only been around for around 70 years, suggesting that this trait has evolved only relatively recently.
The researchers searched genomic databases to determine whether any other organisms shared the genes responsible for the enzymes that metabolise PET.
While they did not find any other species with the complete set of genes coding for PET metabolisation, they did find 92 micro-organisms that were able to code for MHETase, with 32 of those also able to code for other enzymes used in the PET metabolisation process.
"Mutations in an [enzyme that breaks down chemical bonds] such as PET hydrolytic cutinase, may have resulted in enhanced selectivity for PET," Dr Miyamoto said.
"It is unclear whether any other similar microorganisms exist," Dr Miyamoto said.
The researchers say the volume of PET at the sample site, as well as the culturing of the microbial group during the experimental procedure, might have helped select for a bacterium that had obtained the necessary genes by swapping genes with other bacteria.
While the new discovery holds exciting possibilities for the harmless breakdown of environmentally-damaging plastics, Dr Miyamoto said that it was not as simple as unleashing armies of PET-metabolising bacteria into landfills to break down waste plastic.
"Because of its crystal structure, the rate of degradation is very slow. However, after heat-treatment at 260 degrees, the crystal structure breaks down, allowing these micro-organisms to easily decompose the plastic," he said.Earlier this year we published an article about the reasons behind foreign VCs' increase interest in the Middle East.
Here is our updated list of companies (as of October 2015), based outside MENA, who are actively putting money into the region, or at least thinking about it.
Lumia Capital
Based: San Francisco
Investments in the region: In 2011 they invested $5 million in Series A funding in MarkaVIP, then a further $10 million in Series B funding in 2012.
Citing the fact that no billion-dollar internet business has yet emerged from the region, Lumia believes there is incredible value yet to be created. “We plan to continue investing in two types of opportunities,” said Lumia vice president Zachary Finkelstein. “Disruptive US technologies extending their product leadership internationally, and emerging market leaders pairing proven business models with local insights.”
500 Startups
Based: Silicon Valley, Mexico City, San Francisco
Investments in the region: In 2012 they started with Jordan’s Jeeran, and they've not stopped. To date there are 26 investments, Gallery Alsharq and Feesheh, both based in Jordan.
Working with Hasan Haidar of the angel investor network Tenmou in Bahrain, they have established themsevles in the Middle East. Haidar told Wamda they have also taken on Edfa3ly and the obituary site Alwafeyat. When it comes to their interests their website says there are many areas catching their eye, including mobile tech, video, healthcare, gaming and solar energy.
Hatcher
Based: Singapore
Investments in the region: In 2014 they led a Series A round for payment gateway Telr. In early 2015 they announced their new Hatcher Fund of $100 million, a global early-stage venture fund of which a third is likely to go towards fin-tech and IT startups in the MENA region. The firm is also planning to launch a Beirut affiliate with an attached fund, estimated to be worth around $50 million.
Amadeus Capital Partners
Based: London, San Francisco, Stockholm
Investments in the region: No investments made, yet. For this VC the MENA is “a massive market with huge untapped potential […] we are looking for ambitious, great entrepreneurs […] to provide a host of innovative services to address this massive market,” says partner Jason Pinto from his base in London. With their Amadeus Digital Prosperity Fund they are looking at the growing access to smartphones and mobile broadband that has opened up the market to entrepreneurs, and as they put it "providing a host of innovative services to address this massive market".
Tiger Global Management
Based: New York
Investments in the region: With no website or even a Facebook page this hedge fund-cum-venture capital firm likes to keep things on the down-low, especially when it comes to their Middle East portfolio, so it’s a little tricky to know where they might go next. But we do know they like ecommerce. Their US portfolio is largely ecommerce and when it comes to this region they are involved with cobone.com, they lead a round for Maktoob back in 2006 (and later buying up more of it in 20013), and they bought of a significant chunk in bayt.com in 2008.
Hummingbird Ventures
Based: Antwerp, London, Istanbul
Investments in the region: This Belgian VC has made many investments in Turkey, such as Peak Games and CicekSepeti. There is also their Moroccan venture Hmizate.ma, an ecommerce site. Focusing largely on IT, digital media and online services they were one of the first VCs to work with MarkaVIP, giving them their first $1 million in 2010. Most recently, in 2014 souqlmal.com received $1.2 million from them in a round.
Frontier Digital Ventures
Based: Kuala Lumpur
Investments in the region: Back in 2012 they invested in propertyfinder.ae, and in 2015 they took a 32 percent equity stake in Morocco's largest car classifieds website Moteur.ma. And most recently they took a 30 percent stake in Pakistan’s Zameen.com, a sister company to Bayut.com in the UAE.
Looking specifically at online classifieds in property and auto motors, CEO Shaun Di Gregorio is excited by the “many sub plots and market sizes” that a VC can tackle in the Middle East, as opposed to other developing markets like Asia, which he says is “sort of done.” “On the flip side it is complicated,” he continues. “From Morocco to Iran it’s a significant region just geographically.” The VC doesn’t have a fund dedicated at this stage solely to the Middle East; they are simply focusing on the region for now.
Naspers
Based: Cape Town
Investments in the region: Often labeled Africa’s largest media company, these South Africans are no strangers to the Middle East when it comes to investments. Their investments in souq.com and dubizzle.com have given them unprecedented sections of the ecommerce and classifieds sectors of the region. Shy and retiring folk, Wamda was unable to find out from them what they might be looking into doing next but we do know that in 2012 the firm made its first of many investments in Souq.com; in 2013 it acquired a 30 percent stake in Dubizzle.com, increasing to 48 percent in 2014.
Fenox Venture Capital
Based: Silicon Valley
Investments in the region: None as of yet. The global investment firm announced in 2014 its plan to raise $100 million, of which 25 percent would be going to MENA startups over the the course of ten years. The firm's Fenox Global Fund IV is partnered with Innovation 360 in Dubai and will apparently be looking at Series A and pre-IPO funding. As partner Brent Traidman put it in a previous Wamda article: “We are directing our focus towards emerging markets such Southeast Asia and the MENA region where there’s an increasing penetration rate of mobile usage and social networks, and shortages in many areas, which makes it a fertile land for ideas and investment.”
Rocket Internet
Based: Berlin
Investments in the region: This German ecommerce group wants to become the largest internet platform outside of the US and China - so obviously the MENA is high on their list as a region to penetrate. They’ve been making headway with their mission since 2012 when they launched both Namshi and Mizado in quick succession. In 2014, they created their Middle East Internet Group.
In 2015 they have been busy. They launched Kaymu.com and Wadi.com. In February they acquired Kuwait’s food ordering platform Talabat; in May they led the biggest tech exit in the region to date with Turkey’s Yemeksepeti.
This list is of course an ever changing thing and we are going to be adding to it whenever possible, so, if there is someone that should be on here, please do let us know in the comments section below.
Feature image via Vancouver.caIn a logical move, Lionsgate, the studio behind tomorrow’s presumptively weekend-exploding Expendables 2, has just released the trailer for Last Stand, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s post-Governatorial, solo comeback vehicle. (A vehicle, it seems, that’s got a giant cow-catcher A-Teamed to the front bumper as it hurtles toward a January 2013 release. But we digress.) It makes perfect sense to tie Stand to Expendables 2‘s release given Schwarzenegger’s prominent role in the latter; it would feel like promotional malpractice to do otherwise.
Still, this feels like a betrayal. (Betrayal is a strong word, but strong feelings demand strong words.) Yes, Expendables is an ensemble piece, and a rising tide of freshly spilled blood lifts all high-speed gunboats. But make no mistake: This is Sly’s weekend. Let him have his moment. Anyone can show up for a couple of scenes, gnaw the butt of a Cohiba, and belch out a greatest-hits catchphrase through a cloud of smoke. It takes someone with the eye of the tiger to sling nearly a dozen broken-down action stars on his back and carry them to glory. It’s not about you today, Arnold, it’s about the guy who brought you here.
(Pretty good trailer, though. We’d see that. “I’m old.” He is old! Then BOOM!, shit blows up. It
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high availability, and horizontal scaling.
Alternatives to containerization
Configuration management tools like Puppet and Chef help with some of the "legacy" issues such as keeping environments consistent, but they do not support the "atomic" deployment or rollback of the entire environment and application at once. This can still go wrong partway through a deployment with no easy way to roll everything back.
Virtual machine images are another way to achieve many of the same goals, and there are cases where it makes more sense to do the "atomic" deployment operations using entire VMs rather than containers running on a host. The main disadvantage is that hardware utilization may be less efficient, since VMs need dedicated resources (CPU, RAM, disk), whereas containers can share a single host's resources between them.
How to containerize
Preparation
Identify filesystem locations where persistent data is written
Since deploying a new version of the application is performed by replacing the Docker image, any persistent data must be stored outside of the container. If you're lucky, the application already writes all its data to a specific path, but many legacy applications spread their data all over the filesystem and intermingle it with the application itself. Either way, Docker's volume mounts let us expose the host's filesystem to specific locations in the container filesystem so that data survives between containers, so we must identify the locations to persist.
You may at this stage consider modifying the application to support writing all data within a single tree in the filesystem, as that will simplify deployment of the containerized version. However, this is not necessary if modifying the application is impractical.
Identify configuration files and values that will vary by environment
Since a single image should be usable in multiple environments (e.g. test and production) to ensure consistency, any configuration values that will vary by environment must be identified so that the container can be configured at startup time. These could take the form of environment variables, or of values within one or more configuration files.
You may at this stage want to consider modifying the application to support reading all configuration from environment variables, as that that will simplify containerizing it. However, this is not necessary if modifying the application is impractical.
Identify services that can be easily externalized
The application may use some services running on the local machine that are easy to externalize due to being highly independent and supporting communication by TCP/IP. For example, if you run a database such as MySQL or PostgreSQL or a cache such as Redis on the local system, that should be easy to run externally. You may need to adjust configuration to support specifying a hostname and port rather than assuming the service can be reached on localhost.
Creating the image
Create a Dockerfile that installs the application
If you already have the installation process automated via scripts or using a configuration management tool such as Chef or Puppet, this should be relatively easy. Start with an image of your preferred operating system, install any prerequisites, and then run the scripts.
If the current setup process is more manual, this will involve some new scripting. But since the exact state of the image is known, it's easier to script the process than it would be when you have to deal with the potentially inconsistent state of a raw system.
If you identified externalizable services earlier, you should modify the scripts to not install them.
A simple example Dockerfile:
# Start with an official Ubuntu 16.04 Docker image FROM ubuntu:16.04 # Install prerequisite Ubuntu packages RUN apt-get install -y <REQUIRED UBUNTU PACKAGES> \ && apt-get clean \ && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* # Copy the application into the image ADD. /app # Run the app setup script RUN /app/setup.sh # Switch to the application directory WORKDIR /app # Specify the application startup script COMMAND /app/start.sh
Startup script for configuration
If the application takes all its configuration as environment variables already, then you don't need to do anything. However, if you have environment-dependent configuration values in configuration files, you will need to create an application startup script that reads these values from environment variables and then updates the configuration files.
An simple example startup script:
#!/usr/bin/env bash set -e # Append to the config file using $MYAPPCONFIG environment variable. cat >>/app/config.txt <<END my_app_config = "${MYAPPCONFIG}" END # Run the application using $MYAPPARG environment variable for an argument. /app/bin/my-app --my-arg="${MYAPPARG}"
Push the image
After building the image (using docker build ), it must be pushed to a Docker Registry so that it can be pulled on the machine where it will deployed (if you are running on the same machine as the image was built on, then this is not necessary).
You can use Docker Hub for images (a paid account lets you create private image repositories), or most cloud providers also provide their own container registries (e.g. Amazon ECR).
Give the image a tag (e.g. docker tag myimage mycompany/myimage:mytag ) and then push it (e.g. docker push mycompany/myimage:mytag ). Each image for a version of the application should have a unique tag, so that you always know which version you're using and so that images for older versions are available to roll back to.
How to deploy
Deploying containers is a big topic, and this section just focuses on directly running containers using docker commands. Tools like docker-compose (for simple cases where all containers run on a single server) and Kubernetes (for container orchestration across a cluster) should be considered in real-world usage.
Externalized services
Services you identified for externalization earlier can be run in separate Docker containers that will be linked to the main application. Alternatively, it is often easiest to outsource to managed services. For example, if you are using AWS, using RDS for a database or Elasticache for a cache significantly simplifies your life since they take care of maintenance, high availability, and backups for you.
An example of running a Postgres database container:
docker run \ -d \ --name db \ -v /usr/local/var/docker/volumes/postgresql/data:/var/lib/postgresql/data \ postgres
The application
To run the application in a Docker container, you use a command-line such as this:
docker run \ -d \ -p 8080:80 \ --name myapp \ -v /usr/local/var/docker/volumes/myappdata:/var/lib/myappdata \ -e MYAPPCONFIG=myvalue \ -e MYAPPARG=myarg \ --link db:db \ myappimage:mytag
The -p argument exposes the container's port 80 on the host's port 8080, -v argument sets up the volume mount for persistent data (in the hostpath:containerpath format), the -e argument sets a configuration environment variable (these may both be repeated for additional volumes and variables), and the --link argument links the database container so the application can communicate with it. The container will be started with the startup script you specified in the Dockerfile's COMMAND.
Upgrades
To upgrade to a new version of the application, stop the old container (e.g., docker rm -f myapp ) and start a new one with the new image tag (this will require a brief down time). Rolling back is the similar, except that you use the old image tag.
Additional considerations
"init" process (PID 1)
Legacy applications often run multiple processes, and it's not uncommon for orphan processes to accumulate if there is no "init" (PID 1) daemon to clean them up. Docker does not, by default, provide such a daemon, so it's recommended to add one as the ENTRYPOINT in your Dockerfile. dumb-init is an example lightweight init daemon, among others. phusion/baseimage is a fully-featured base image that includes an init daemon in addition to other services.
See our blog post dedicated to this topic: Docker demons: PID-1, orphans, zombies, and signals.
Daemons and cron jobs
The usual way to use Docker containers is to have a single process per container. Ideally, any cron jobs and daemons can be externalized into separate containers, but this is not always possible in legacy applications without re-architecting them. There is no intrinsic reason why containers cannot run many processes, but it does require some extra setup since standard base images do not include process managers and schedulers. Minimal process supervisors, such as runit, are more appropriate to use in containers than full-fledged systems like systemd. phusion/baseimage is a fully-featured base image that includes runit and cron, in addition to other services.
Volume-mount permissions
It's common (though not necessarily recommended) to run all processes in containers as the root user. Legacy applications often have more complex user requirements, and may need to run as a different user (or multiple processes as multiple users). This can present a challenge when using volume mounts, because Docker makes the mount points owned by root by default, which means non- root processes will not be able to write to them. There are two ways to deal with this.
The first approach is to create the directories on the host first, owned by the correct UID/GID, before starting the container. Note that since the container and host's users don't match up, you have to be careful to use the same UID/GID as the container, and not merely the same usernames.
The other approach is for the container itself to adjust the ownership of the mount points during its startup. This has to happen while running as root, before switching to a non- root user to start the application.
Database migrations
Database schema migrations always present a challenge for deployments, because the database schema can be very tightly coupled with the application, and that makes controlling the timing of the migration important, as well as making rolling back to an older version of the application more difficult since database migrations can't always be rolled back easily.
A way to mitigate this easily is to have a staged approach to migrations. You need to make an incompatible schema change, you split that change over two application deployments. For example, if you want to move a piece of data from one location to another, these would be the phases:
Write the data to both the old and new locations, and read it from the new location. This means that if you roll the application back to the previous version, any the new data is still where it expects to find it. Stop writing it to the old location.
Note that if you want to have deployments with no downtime, that means running multiple versions of the application at the same time, which makes this even more of a challenge.
Backing up data
Backing up from a containerized application is usually easier than the non-containerized deployment. Data files can be backed up from the host and you don't risk any intermingling of data files with application files because they are strictly separated. If you've moved databases to managed services such as RDS, those can take care of backups for you (at least if your needs are relatively simple).
Migrating existing data
To transition the production application to the new containerized version, you will need to migrate the old deployment's data. How to do this will vary, but usually the simplest is to stop the old deployment, back up all the data, and restore it to the new deployment. This should be practiced in advance, and will necessitate some down time.
Conclusion
While it requires some up-front work, containerizing a legacy application will help you get control of, automate, and minimize the stress of deploying it. It sets you on a path toward modernizing your application and supporting no-downtime deployments, high availability, and horizontal scaling.
FP Complete has undertaken this process many times in addition to building containerized applications from the ground up. If you'd like to get on the path to modern and stress-free deployment of your applications, you can learn more about our Devops and Consulting services, or contact us straight away!The Texan nurse diagnosed with Ebola has received a blood transfusion from survivor Dr Kent Brantly.
It is the third time Dr Brantly has donated blood to an Ebola victim after medics discovered he had the same blood type as previous patient Dr Nick Sacra and NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, who is still being treated.
Incredibly, nurse Nina Pham, 26, has also matched with Dr Brantly and on Monday received a transfusion of his blood in a move that doctors believe could save her life.
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Lifeline: Dr Kent Brantly (left), who has been cleared of Ebola, has match blood types with Nina Pham (right) and donated so she can receive a blood transfusion to battle the deadly virus she caught treating a patient
Miss Pham has been in quarantine since Friday after catching the disease from 'patient zero' Thomas Eric Duncan - the man who brought the deadly virus to America.
About 70 staff members at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital were involved in the care of Mr Duncan after he was hospitalized, including the 26-year-old.
Brantly is believed to have traveled to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Pham worked, to make the donation on Sunday night.
Miss Pham's condition was described as 'clinically stable' on Tuesday morning. She is believed to be in good spirits and had spoken to her mother via Skype.
A second person who came in contact with the nurse is being monitored for Ebola symptoms in an isolation unit at Texas Presbyterian. He is reportedly Miss Pham's boyfriend according to Dallas News.
The individual works at Alcon in Fort Worth, according to a staff email seen by CBS. MailOnline was awaiting confirmation from the global eye care products company.
Those who have survived Ebola have antibodies in their blood which can help new sufferers beat the disease.
Dr Kent Brantly was flown back from Liberia to the U.S. after contracting Ebola during his missionary work for Samaritan's Purse.
He survived after receiving a dose of the experimental serum Z-Mapp and round-the-clock care at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
On September 10, Dr Brantly donated blood to a fellow doctor, Dr Rick Sacra, who also contracted Ebola during his work in West Africa and survived the disease.
Last Tuesday, he was on a road trip from Indiana to Texas when he received a call from Ashoka Mukpo's medical center in Nebraska telling him his blood type matched Mukpo’s.
He also offered his blood to Thomas Eric Duncan but their blood types didn't match.
Cured: Dr Nick Sacra was cleared of Ebola after receiving a blood transfusion from Dr Kent Brantly
Being treated: On Tuesday, Dr Brantly pulled over during a road trip to give blood to NBC's Ashoka Mukpo
Within minutes, he stopped off at the Community Blood Center in Kansas City, Missouri, and his donation was flown to Omaha.
Pham was diagnosed after admitting herself to hospital on Friday when her temperature spiked – one of the first symptoms of the deadly virus.
HOW COMMON IS IT FOR TWO PEOPLE TO MATCH BLOOD TYPE? There are four major blood types: A, B, AB, and O. They divide into positive and negative categories. It is not known what blood type the four Ebola patients have in common. The most common blood type in the US is O positive, although ethnic groups normally differ. The majority of African Americans and Hispanics have O positive. Around 37 per cent of Caucasians do too, but 33 per cent have A positive. There is more variety among Asian people. A quarter are listed as B positive, according to the Red Cross, but many also have a high number of Os and As.
A blood test confirmed she had the disease and she is now being treated in an isolation ward.
The Emergency Room where she was admitted was cleared and decontaminated.
Nina Pham's uncle confirmed to MailOnline that she is the nurse who has contracted Ebola while treating patient zero Thomas Eric Duncan.
Jason Nguyen told MailOnline: 'Nina has contracted Ebola, she is my niece. Her mother called me on Saturday and told me; 'Nina has caught Ebola.'
'My sister is very upset, we all are. She said she was going up to the hospital in Dallas and I haven't heard from her since. I've tried to call but I can't get through. It's very shocking. I don't know any of the details, only what I hear on the news. It's frightening.'
He added: 'Nina is very hard working. She is always up at the hospital in Dallas.'
A friend added: 'You always hear it on the news, but you don’t expect someone you know so well to have it.'
HazChem teams spent the weekend fumigating her apartment in Dallas while health officials have ordered an investigation into how she contracted the disease.
Tragic: Nina Pham, 26, is fighting for her life after contracting Ebola from Thomas Eric Duncan. Here she is pictured with her beloved King Charles Spaniel clled Bentley who is not expected to be destroyed
Kind-hearted: Raised in Vietnamese family in Fort Worth, Miss Pham graduated from Texas Christian University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Her beloved King Charles Spaniel Bentley will not be destroyed and is being quarantined, Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings has assured.
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) Dr Thomas Frieden has blamed a 'breach in protocol' of infection control lead Miss Pham to catch Ebola.
Mr Duncan arrived in Texas from Liberia on September 20. He began showing symptoms of Ebola three days after his arrival and was admitted to Texas Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday 28. He died on Wednesday October 8.
Presbyterian's chief clinical officer, Dr Dan Varga, said all staff had followed CDC recommended precautions – 'gown, glove, mask and shield' – while treating Mr Duncan.
And on Monday the CDC said that a critical moment may have come when Miss Pham took off her equipment.
Ebola victims suffer chronic diarrhea and bleeding. But blood and feces from an Ebola patient are considered the most infectious bodily fluids.
Mr Duncan also underwent two surgical procedures in a bid to keep him alive but which are particularly high-risk for transmitting the virus – kidney dialysis and intubation to help him to breathe – due to the spread of blood and saliva.
Nurses' leader Bonnie Castillo has criticized the CDC for blaming the nurse for the spread of the disease.
Ms Castillo, of the National Nurses United, said: 'You don't scapegoat and blame when you have a disease outbreak. We have a system failure. That is what we have to correct.'
In response to the criticism, Frieden clarified his comments to say that he did not mean it was an error on Miss Pham's part that led to the 'breach of protocol.'
Hazard: Protect Environmental workers move disposal barrels to a staging area outside the Dallas apartment of Miss Pham
Clean up: A man in full hazmat clothing walks in front of Pham's home after disinfecting the front porch
Compassion: Tom Ha, who taught Miss Pham bible class said: 'I expect, with the big heart she has, she went beyond what she was supposed to do to help anyone in need'
The CDC said on Monday it has launched a wholesale review of the procedures and equipment used by healthcare workers.
Dr Frieden added that the case'substantially' changes how medical staff approach the control of the virus, adding that: 'We have to rethink how we address Ebola control, because even a single infection is unacceptable.'
When she got accepted into nursing school she was really excited. Her mom would tell how it's really hard and a bunch of her friends quit doing it because it was so stressful. But she was like, "This is what I want to do" - Friend of Miss Pham
Friends and well-wishers have paid tribute to Miss Pham and praised her as a big-hearted, compassionate nurse dedicated to caring for other.
Raised in Vietnamese family in Fort Worth, she graduated from Texas Christian University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
She obtained her nursing license in August 2010 and recently qualified as a critical care nurse.
A friend told the Dallas Morning News: 'When she got accepted into nursing school she was really excited. Her mom would tell how it's really hard and a bunch of her friends quit doing it because it was so stressful. But she was like, "This is what I want to do".'
A devout Christian she regularly attends mass at the Lady of Fatima Church.
Tom Ha, who taught her bible class, told the paper: 'The family is very dedicated and go out of their way to help people. I expect, with the big heart she has, she went beyond what she was supposed to do to help anyone in need.'
Aid: Miss Pham had treated Mr Duncan multiple times after he was diagnosed with the disease and the CDC has claimed that a 'breach of protocol' meant the nurse contracted Ebola. However, nursing leaders attacked the authorities for apparently making Miss Pham a scapegoat
Hung Le, who is president and counselor at Our Lady of Fatima, said parishioners are uniting in prayer for Miss Pham.
He said: 'Our most important concern as a church is to help the family as they are coping with this. As a parish, we are praying for them.'
Ha, who taught the woman in Bible classes, said he and others are translating health information into Vietnamese to help others learn about the illness.
'People are more worried for the family than for themselves, but some have questions because they don’t really understand what it is or how it is transmitted.'
SPREAD OF A DEADLY PLAGUE: HOW WILL AMERICA CONTAIN EBOLA? WHEN IS EBOLA CONTAGIOUS? Only when someone is showing symptoms, which can start with vague symptoms including a fever, flu-like body aches and abdominal pain, and then vomiting and diarrhea. HOW DOES EBOLA SPREAD? Through close contact with a symptomatic person's bodily fluids, such as blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen. Those fluids must have an entry point, like a cut or scrape or someone touching the nose, mouth or eyes with contaminated hands, or being splashed. That's why health care workers wear protective gloves and other equipment. The World Health Organization says blood, feces and vomit are the most infectious fluids, while the virus is found in saliva mostly once patients are severely ill and the whole live virus has never been culled from sweat. WHAT ABOUT MORE CASUAL CONTACT? Ebola isn't airborne. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said people don't get exposed by sitting next to someone on the bus. 'This is not like flu. It's not like measles, not like the common cold. It's not as spreadable, it's not as infectious as those conditions,' he added. WHO GETS TESTED WHEN EBOLA IS SUSPECTED? Hospitals with a suspected case call their health department or the CDC to go through a checklist to determine the person's level of risk. Among the questions are whether the person reports a risky contact with a known Ebola patient, how sick they are and whether an alternative diagnosis is more likely. Most initially suspicious cases in the U.S. haven't met the criteria for testing. HOW IS IT CLEANED UP? The CDC says bleach and other hospital disinfectants kill Ebola. Dried virus on surfaces survives only for several hours.
The World Health Organization on Monday called the Ebola outbreak 'the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times'.
It added that economic disruption can be curbed if people are educated so they don't make any irrational moves to dodge infection.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, citing World Bank figures, said 90 per cent of economic costs of any outbreak 'come from irrational and disorganised efforts of the public to avoid infection.'
'We are seeing, right now, how this virus can disrupt economies and societies around the world,' she said, but added that adequately educating the public was a 'good defense strategy' and would allow governments to prevent economic disruptions.
Ebola screening of passengers arriving from three West African countries began at New York's JFK airport on Saturday.
Medical teams equipped with temperature guns and questionnaires are monitoring arrivals from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – countries at the centre of the Ebola outbreak.Illinois craft brewers fight to stop damaging regulations
The Illinois Liquor Control Commission, or ILCC, has proposed new regulations to the craft brewing industry that would halt expansion plans for many craft breweries throughout the state. The proposed regulations would limit brewpubs’ ability to produce and sell more than 1,200 barrels of their beer for offsite consumption, even to licensed distributers. This is...
The Illinois Liquor Control Commission, or ILCC, has proposed new regulations to the craft brewing industry that would halt expansion plans for many craft breweries throughout the state.
The proposed regulations would limit brewpubs’ ability to produce and sell more than 1,200 barrels of their beer for offsite consumption, even to licensed distributers. This is an incredibly small amount of beer,and would all but shut down all brewpub manufacturing intended for distribution. Revolution Brewing currently produces 20 times this amount.
Prominent members of Illinois’ craft brewing industry voiced their opposition to these new regulations earlier this week at the public forum on proposed liquor control rules.
Representing the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, Josh Deth, founder of Revolution Brewing in Chicago, sat on the panel of those testifying to the commission, while John Barely, founder of Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville, joined him and other guild members.
Josh Deth – Owner of Revolution Brewing (Chicago)
Deth testified to the committee, expressing great concern about the effects these newly proposed rules would have on both Revolution Brewing and other growing breweries throughout the state.
He currently operates his two Revolution Brewing facilities under both a craft brewery license and a brewpub license. Revolution manufactures beer in both locations for distribution through licensed distributors.
Deth’s main manufacturing location – which operates under a craft brewery license – is restricted under current law to producing no more than 30,000 barrels annually.
No final decision on the proposed regulations has been reached. After being unable to reach a consensus at the public forum, the ILCC tabled the passage of the brewpub regulations until their next Chicago meeting on Aug. 20.
John Barley – Owner of Solemn Oath Brewery (Naperville)
Featured image source.Cthylla (the Secret Daughter of Cthulhu) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. Cthylla was created by Brian Lumley, who originally mentioned her in his Titus Crow novel The Transition Of Titus Crow (1975), though he never actually described her. Tina L. Jens, however, depicted Cthylla as a gigantic winged-octopus in her short story "In His Daughter's Darkling Womb" (1997).
Cthylla's name may be a reference to Scylla, a sea monster from Greek mythology.
Cthylla in the mythos [ edit ]
Cthylla is a Great Old One, and is the youngest progeny of Cthulhu and his androgynous mate Idh-yaa. She came from the star Xoth, but now dwells on Earth in Yhe, where she is guarded by Cthulhu's minions. Cthylla is destined to give birth to the Great Cthulhu again after he is destroyed in the distant future. She is considered essential for Cthulhu's plans, and is thus vigilantly guarded by countless Yuggya and Deep Ones. In the epilogue of The Transition of Titus Crow, Project X is used in an attempt to kill Cthylla with a subterranean atomic bomb. She is wounded and escapes, but Cthulhu's wrath is a vastly magnified repeat of the events in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu".
Cthylla was not physically described by Lumley, but was featured in Tina L. Jens's short story "In His Daughter's Darkling Womb". Cthylla has the appearance of a gigantic, red-bodied, black-ringed, and six-eyed octopus with small wings. Like her father, she is able to alter her body-proportions at will, such as by enlarging her wings to enable her to fly. While she normally has eight arms like any octopus, she can extrude or retract additional ones at will (she has been known to sport as many as twelve arms). Each arm is equipped with dozens of razor-sharp claws, each about five inches in length.
Jens's short story narrates the capture of Cthylla by researchers who mistakenly believe her to be a rare specimen of a previously undiscovered octopus species. For the sake of preserving and studying the species, they then attempt to impregnate her through artificial self-insemination.
In Peter Rawlik's "In the Hall of the Yellow King" (2011), Cthylla is featured in a more humanoid form or avatar as a possible bride for Hastur.
References [ edit ]
Harms, Daniel. "Cthylla" in The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.), pp. 67–8. Chaosium, Inc., 1998. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
(2nd ed.), pp. 67–8. Chaosium, Inc., 1998. ISBN 1-56882-119-0. Jens, Tina L. "In His Daughter's Darkling Womb" in Singers of Strange Songs: A Celebration of Brian Lumley, Scott David Aniolowski (ed.), Chaosium, Inc., 1997. ISBN 1-56882-104-2
, Scott David Aniolowski (ed.), Chaosium, Inc., 1997. ISBN 1-56882-104-2 Lumley, Brian. The Transition of Titus Crow (1975), W. Paul Ganley Pub., 1992. ISBN 0-932445-45-4.
(1975), W. Paul Ganley Pub., 1992. ISBN 0-932445-45-4. Rawlik, Peter, "In the Hall of the Yellow King" in "Future Lovecraft". Innsmouth Free Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9866864-7-4.One of the benefits of an extended presidential campaign is that it presents real-world tests for candidates. Some take the form of pop quizzes assessing contenders' instincts in a crisis. Others are more like take-home exams -- the latest, and perhaps most revealing, being competing plans for an economic stimulus.
In practical terms, this is irrelevant: The moment for stimulus will be long past by Inauguration Day. But as a way of judging how candidates view government's role, how they balance politics and policy, and how sound their thinking is on economic policy, the proposals offer a revealing report card.
My grading starts with President Bush, because he sets the curve.
George W. Bush: B-minus. The president gets extra credit for signaling flexibility on his roughly $145 billion package and for not insisting on extending his tax cuts, which made no sense as stimulus and would have doomed its chance of passing.
A tax rebate -- the White House has floated $800 per individual -- is a good approach. Bush loses points, however, for excluding those without income tax liability, even if they pay hefty payroll taxes. Points off, also, for failing to extend unemployment benefits. In efficiency and fairness, both are exactly backward. As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke explained, "If you're somebody who lives paycheck to paycheck, you're more likely to spend that extra dollar."
Bush says tax incentives for business investment must be a significant part of the package. But such breaks didn't have nearly the positive effect anticipated after they were adopted from 2001 to 2003; the Congressional Budget Office found the impact of those provisions to be "relatively modest"; Moody's Economy.com put it at 27 cents for every dollar spent.
Barack Obama: A-minus. I criticized his previous tax plan, but Obama is at the head of the class with an intelligently designed, $120 billion stimulus plan. He would speed a $250 tax credit to most workers, followed by another $250, triggered automatically, if the economy continues on its sour path. Obama would direct a similar rebate to low- and middle-income seniors, who are also apt to spend and could get checks quickly. One demerit: Obama omits any increase in food stamp benefits, which Moody's estimates would have the greatest bang for the buck, $1.73 for every dollar spent.
John Edwards: B-minus. Edwards gets points for handing in his paper early -- in December, he issued a $25 billion stimulus proposal (plus $75 billion more if needed), including important help to states to avoid cutting Medicaid rolls. But like Hillary Clinton (see below), he would spend too much money on programs -- investing in "green collar" jobs, for instance -- with too long a lag time to make them an effective stimulus. Edwards's grade goes down because he also hasn't explained how the $75 billion would be spent.
Hillary Clinton: C-plus. Clinton, too, raised the issue early, then turned in a faulty first draft with a $70 billion stimulus plan that didn't provide much immediate stimulation. It included a $25 billion increase in the program to help low-income Americans with heating costs -- an excessive amount (the current program is under $3 billion) that probably wouldn't kick in until next winter. Even worse was her housing plan, including a five-year freeze on subprime mortgage rates that could produce higher interest rates and reduce liquidity.
Four days later, Clinton said she would immediately implement a $40 billion tax rebate plan she had put in reserve in her first draft. Fine, but overall, the Obama plan devotes a far greater percentage to spending that is more likely to jump-start the economy.
John McCain: D-plus. The senator should have his plan sent back with "Did you read this assignment?" scrawled in red ink. There's a respectable argument that stimulus isn't needed, wouldn't be effective and could be counterproductive. But the normally straight-talking McCain doesn't make it. Instead, he proposes permanent tax cuts -- cutting corporate rates, increasing investment breaks, eliminating the alternative minimum tax -- masquerading as a stimulus plan.
Mitt Romney: D. Romney's plan is way too big ($233 billion) and badly constructed (most of the stimulus goes to business breaks, his individual tax credits don't go to those who need them most, and his huge, long-term tax cuts would harm growth if not paid for). You don't have to be a Harvard Business School grad to understand that encouraging savings is not stimulative.
Mike Huckabee: D-minus. Huckabee understands economic anxiety better than economic principles. The only way his sketchy proposal could stimulate the economy is by scaring Americans into consuming now, before his Fair Tax takes effect.
Rudy Giuliani: Incomplete. His position is too internally contradictory to grade. The former New York mayor told ABC's George Stephanopolous that "permanent reductions have a bigger impact in stimulating an economy," then said of the Bush plan, which has no permanent cuts, "If it stays where it is, it's a good idea."
[email protected]: Briefly hospitalized for depression in 1980s
The two candidates Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, left, and State Senator Dan Patrick, right, in the Republican primary for Texas Lieutenant Governor square off in Texas Votes: The Dewhurst-Patrick Debate in the Republican Lieutenant Governor Race live from the Houston Public Media studios on Friday, May 2, 2014, at 7 p.m. The runoff primary election will be held Tuesday, May 27, 2014. less The two candidates Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, left, and State Senator Dan Patrick, right, in the Republican primary for Texas Lieutenant Governor square off in Texas Votes: The Dewhurst-Patrick Debate... more Photo: Eric Kayne, ElcinorhC Eht RoF Photo: Eric Kayne, ElcinorhC Eht RoF Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Patrick: Briefly hospitalized for depression in 1980s 1 / 9 Back to Gallery
AUSTIN — Dan Patrick, a state senator and front-runner in the May 27 GOP runoff to unseat incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, briefly spent time in a psychiatric hospital almost 30 years ago for depression and exhaustion, court records made public on Thursday showed.
In a statement, Patrick confirmed he sought and successfully completed the treatment, and accused Dewhurst of dirty politics in leaking the information to the press in the final days of an increasingly acrimonious campaign, sparking a new war of words that drew in other state senators in support of Patrick.
The documents were provided to the media by Jerry Patterson, Texas' land commissioner who was an unsuccessful GOP primary candidate for lieutenant governor who is now supporting Dewhurst. Dewhurst ordered Patterson to stop the continued leaks, and Patterson refused.
Patrick accused Dewhurst of complicity in the leaks, but the Dewhurst campaign denied that.
The court documents, depositions and exhibits that were part of a 1987 slander suit that Patrick filed against the now-defunct Houston Post, show that Patrick was at the time taking the anti-depressant Impramine and spent several weeks in the Spring Shadows Glen center in Houston. Documents also document at least one reported suicide attempt.
According to the deposition, Patrick also acknowledged he has been in Spring Shadows Glen, a shuttered psychiatric hospital in Houston. He said he wasn't sure exactly when he was there, but that it was in 1984 or 1985 "and for a period of about 10 days."
Insisting he was not there for psychiatric or emotional problems, but, "for rest," Patrick said he "slept, basically, for two weeks," according to the court document.
He also said he had been hospitalized at another facility, Memorial City, in the early 1980s for "fatigue, exhaustion."
Other records show Patrick was admitted to Spring Shadows Glen for "severe depression" after reporting "feelings of worthlessness, helplessness, hopelessness and marked decrease of self-esteem."
That admission was directly related to a suicide attempt on Jan. 14, 1986, according to the records, in which he tried to overdose on an antidepressant medication and slash his right wrist before collapsing and being taken to a local emergency clinic. According to the records, Patrick reported "business and marital problems and difficulties in personal relationships."
In a statement released late Thursday by his campaign consultant, Allen Blakemore, the senator acknowledged he "sought medical attention to help him cope with mild depression and exhaustion" nearly 30 years ago.
"Under the care of a medical doctor, he voluntarily admitted himself for treatment and spent a short time in the hospital," the statement reads. "He has not required additional treatment or medication for nearly 30 years. "This has not been a secret; for years on his radio station, he has regularly talked about depression and discussed the importance of early treatment when dealing with depression. He has done this to help others and remove any social stigma for those who seek or are considering seeking treatment. None felt inclined to write the story."
Patrick released a copy of a 2011 letter from the
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Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European commission.
However, Britain’s decision to leave has helped dissuade some political leaders from continuing to attack the bloc, said Jyrki Katainen, a commission vice-president.
Katainen suggested Britain’s EU referendum result had shown political leaders how dangerous it was to fuel anti-EU sentiment. “Brexit remedied this a bit,” he said.
“Many governments saw that you can all of a sudden find you are in a place you never thought you can be – if you order something you most probably can get it.”
Dutch parliamentary elections: everything you need to know Read more
The former prime minister of Finland said in an interview with the Guardian that it was now time for EU member states to take ownership of the European project. Constant attacks on Brussels by politicians engaging in party political point scoring could not go on, he said.
The new EU needed to be developed by the member states themselves, Katainen said, in order to “avoid the situation where every year, in some member states, elections create an existential threat to Europe. It is not sustainable.”
The Front National’s Marine Le Pen, who wants to renegotiate France’s relationship with the EU to “restore sovereignty”, is currently leading the polls in the first round of the French presidential election. In the Netherlands, the far-right candidate Geert Wilders celebrated Britain’s vote to leave and has vowed to call a referendum if he gets the chance.
Leaders nearer the political centre, including the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and the former French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, have been accused of aping the language of the populist right.
Katainen said political leaders in some member states had been demonising the EU for short-term domestic reasons, while some failed to show sufficient solidarity on EU policy despite being part of the decision-making process.
On Thursday, the commission criticised member states for failing to live up to their vow in 2015 to relocate thousands of refugees currently languishing in camps in Italy and Greece. Hungary, Austria and Poland refuse to participate in the EU’s relocation scheme. The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia are doing so on a “very limited basis”.
Katainen said: “[The] 27 governments in the last two years have wanted to be part of the EU and it is fair to say that they will want to stay in the EU but some of the countries are either unwilling to participate in common problem solving or they are demonising the EU even though they have participated in the decision-making themselves.
“Only for short-sighted political reasons, the governments have criticised the EU as a construction and it will have some impact on what the normal citizens think.
“This kind of voiceless partnership with our member states... is not sustainable. The commission cannot do anything in order to correct this. Citizens and national decision-makers can do it.”
Speaking after a white paper was published by the European commission offering member states various options for the future shape of the EU without Britain, Katainen said governments were not actually reflecting the desire for integration that he believed existed among citizens.
In comments that many will find contentious, he said: “I never questioned the basis of the European integration [as prime minister]. And this is not the case in a big part of Europe at the moment...
“Citizens’ expectation are way higher than what the general perception is. The majority of the people are supporting integration in the eurozone area and the euro as a currency, but there are a whole range of issues, including defence, counter-terrorism, climate change, some social policy issues, where people would like to transfer power from national to EU level.
“People are more in favour of integration than the governments are,” he said.
Juncker will end his time as president of the commission in 2019. Asked about claims that he could be a top candidate to take over, Katainen insisted he had no ambitions in that direction.Believe it or not, this is a news story about airlines that doesn’t make you want to roll up into the fetal position or carve your own spleen out.
The Consumerist reports that a Southwest Airline pilot refused to take off so that a man racing to his grandson’s funeral could make it on the flight. (The passenger’s grandson had just been murdered by his daughter’s live-in boyfriend.) Despite his arrival at the airport two hours early for his domestic flight, the TSA staff showed no sympathy for the man’s desperation. Once through security, he ran barefoot to the gate and arrived 12 minutes late.
This is the point where most airline stories spiral into pleading, crying, and rage. In this case, the man was greeted by the pilot himself, who said this:
Are you Mark? We held the plane for you and we’re so sorry about the loss of your grandson. They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.
Doesn’t quite balance the scales against this holiday’s groping extravaganza. But it’s a pretty good start.
Image xSeXiiLiLmAmiix1/Photobucket
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[MORE STORIES FROM GOOD FEED]September 2014.
Sunset over the black dunes of Vastitas Borealis, near the martian north pole. The three little and bright stars are (In order of distance from the Sun) the other teluric planets other than Mars: Mercury, Venus, and the double star of Earth with its moon. The martian moons, Phobos and Deimos are visible too.
My Mars paintings are usually based on dated concepts from the first half of the last century but this is an exception: This scene takes place on real-life Mars and it's scientifically plausible. Perhaps someday our descendants will be there to walk on that untouched land and they will see a a rare purple sunset like this one with their own eyes.
I must admit this piece was inspired by a scene from "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson. This is what Nadia saw when she became aware of the alien and exotic beauty of Mars.Today, as part of our ongoing Meet the Iconics series, we introduce the next of the six new iconic characters featured in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures. This week we meet Estra, the iconic spirtualist!
Illustration by Wayne Reynolds
Estra never wanted to commune with spirits: she only wished for others to believe she did, and profit from that belief.
Born the daughter of a poor miner in the nation of Isger, Estra dreamed of the theaters of far-off cities, and more than once nearly ran away with a traveling acting troupe that stopped in her small town. Fortunately, her family moved to the capital city of Isger, Elidir, during her teenage years, and she swiftly became enthralled with her new, cosmopolitan home. Her dreams of joining the theater were even somewhat fulfilled when she fell in with a small gang of faux-spiritualists who needed a convincing actress to play the role of their spirit-channeling medium. The group engaged in fraudulent séances targeting grieving mourners, who paid dearly for confirmation of the smooth passing of their loved ones into the hereafter.
Within darkened chambers and ramshackle theaters, Estra and her confederates spent nearly ten years bilking grief-stricken with the promise of communion with their dead relatives. Estra proved a talented actress, falling into convincing trances to channel the dead and dispense the carefully gathered information her associates had gleaned on their targets. Sessions typically culminated with the full-form “manifestation” of a bereaved subject's lost relative: actually a confederate dressed in luminous robes and clumsy disguises approximating the dead person's appearance.
The arrival of a handsome knight named Honaire changed all that. Stationed in Elidir, Honaire had left behind an ailing mother, and in his absence she had passed. Honaire sought some comfort in his loss, and turned toward the séances of Estra's troupe for assurance that his mother rested in peace. Relieved of his grief by the assurances of the spirit-seer, the young knight became smitten with Estra's quick wit and streetwise charm. Estra, for her part, found the knight's combination of physical strength and gentle courtesy enchanting, even as his strict code of honor made her regret her own life of lies. When at last she confessed the truth—that she'd never contacted Honaire's mother at all—she expected him to fly into a rage. Instead, he thanked her for her courage, and promptly proposed marriage. Accepting his proposal, Estra left behind the life of a charlatan, and the two spent several happy decades together, with Estra enjoying the social status that came from being the wife of an up-and-coming military commander.
Yet this life, too, came to an abrupt end when rumors of a rising alliance of goblin tribes reached the capital. Seeing her husband's frustration at the government's slow response, Estra urged him to volunteer to investigate, with no way of knowing that the goblin assemblies were in fact the precursor to the deadly Goblinblood Wars. There in the dark expanse of the Chitterwood, Honaire and his unit were unexpectedly ambushed by a horde of maniacal goblins and their green dragon ally. Though he fought bravely and saved the lives of many comrades in their retreat, Honaire was bathed in the dragon's toxic breath, his armor and body rent by the beast's deadly claws.
Wracked by guilt and loss, set adrift in a devastated nation that suddenly had more to worry about than the plight of military widows, Estra turned back to her old means of supporting herself, training several new associates in the tricks of the faux-spiritualist trade. Yet during the group's first performance, while her confederates secretly lifted spirit trumpets with thin threads and caused tambourines to shake as if by unseen forces, Estra's fake trance became something more. A wispy, greenish vapor coalesced from her mouth, eyes, and nostrils. To the wonderment of those assembled, a spectral figure emerged through the curtain of ectoplasmic mists. The ghostly apparition was not the luminous confederate Estra expected to emerge from the spirit cabinet, but rather the very real specter of her fallen husband. Both comforted and shamed, the burgeoning spiritualist pledged once again to never allow deceit to rule her life.
Though her body is increasingly stooped by age, Estra has learned to strengthen her spiritual bond with Honaire so that his ectoplasmic form might walk the world again. She tries to emulate her lost lover's selfless drive to aid the helpless wherever they might be afflicted—though her impatience and sharp tongue sometimes get the better of her. Wandering far from Isger, she uses her strange powers to provide comfort and consolation—for real this time—to those who've lost loved ones to the ceaseless violence of the world. Yet all the while, she remains plagued by doubt, wondering if her phantom husband's presence is the result of the depth of their love, some god's attempt to shepherd her toward righteousness, or a manifestation of her own guilty conscience.Kentucky has an identity crisis when it comes to Obamacare.
The state’s senior senator, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is one of the law’s leading opponents in Washington, regularly demanding the entire thing be repealed. But back home, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has embraced the law and seen its implementation go so well that Kentucky has become the poster child for Obamacare’s promise.
It’s the only southern state that decided to both expand Medicaid and set up its own health insurance “exchange,” and unlike the federal Obamacare website, HealthCare.gov, Kentucky’s online market has worked consistently — something Mr. Beshear said was the result of extensive testing and a clean website design that forsook bells and whistles in favor of convenience.
“Every time the topic of reform comes up, both pundits and the president of the United States himself say, ‘Look at what Kentucky’s doing,’” the governor told the Families USA Health Action 2014 conference in Washington.
But consensus on the topic is hard to come by in the Bluegrass State.
For Mr. Beshear, the law’s implementation has been a point of pride. On the other hand, it’s kindling for Mr. McConnell’s fiery campaign rhetoric as he tries to protect his seat from GOP primary challenger Matt Bevin and then Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic front-runner.
SEE ALSO: HENDERSHOTT: White House didn’t stop ‘flagging’ Obamacare ‘misinformation’
As minority leader, Mr. McConnell frequently uses his time on the Senate floor to rail against the law and Mr. Obama’s flawed promise that if Americans liked their health plans, they could keep them.
Sen. Rand Paul, the junior senator and fellow Republican, has criticized Kentucky’s health exchange, “kynect,” for adding more people to the government-funded Medicaid rolls than to private insurance.
But to Mr. Beshear, Kentucky is a progressive state with a “red-state persona.”
“People who don’t know Kentucky might consider the commonwealth an odd choice to be leading the nation in implementing federal health care reform,” he said. “After all, my state has historically suffered from a national stereotype of being, ya’ know, just another one of those southern states that are a little bit behind the times.”
One out of six Kentucky residents lacked health insurance before the law, but some 175,000 people have signed up for Medicaid or a private insurance since Oct. 1, according to the governor.
“These aren’t some group of aliens from a distant planet,” Mr. Beshear said. “These are our friends and our neighbors.”
He said his embrace of the law was the “morally right thing to do” and offered a holistic solution for Kentuckians, who ranked all-too-high in many health-risk categories.
A new McConnell campaign ad argues that health is one of the senator’s priorities, although the TV spot has been criticized by the Grimes campaign as a stale retread from the senator’s 2008 campaign.
In the ad, a throat cancer survivor from Paducah, Ky., who was exposed to radiation on the job said Mr. McConnell’s “strong voice” led to compensation and cancer-screening programs for sick workers.
A Grimes campaign spokeswoman said Mr. McConnell’s 2008 campaign used a rather similar ad and that it is “insulting to Kentuckians for McConnell to haul out this old, dishonest play every six years when he’s on the ballot,” according to Politico.
McConnell campaign spokeswoman Allison Moore hit back last week, saying, “Only the most partisan, embittered, dogmatically liberal activists would have the audacity to call a Paducah cancer survivor’s story dishonest.”
On Obamacare, Ms. Grimes must walk the political tightrope that other Democratic candidates face in 2014, after millions of Americans said their health policies were canceled because of the health care law.
Her campaign website talks about preserving Medicare but does not tout the health overhaul that, by many accounts, her state has implemented so well.
“I will continue to make sure the concerns I have about the Affordable Care Act are taken to heart,” she said at a campaign stop this month in Prestonsburg, Ky., according to WKYT, a CBS affiliate. “That, for instance, when Washington politicians make promises that if you like your doctor and you like your plan you can keep it, that we follow through with that.”
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Share. Getting to know the action MMO more intimately. Getting to know the action MMO more intimately.
Between the recent launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the upcoming Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World, there's not a lot of breathing room for MMO fans this year. But people should keep their eyes out for Tera, the action-MMO coming from Bluehole Studios on May 1st, because it sets itself apart through responsive, reactive, challenging and incredibly fun combat.
In fact, it's the combat that might grab people who traditionally shy away from MMOs. In Tera, if your attacks don't physically collide with the target, they don't work. Traditional MMOs use a virtual series of dice rolls, but with Tera it's up to whether you're skilled enough to follow a moving target and time your attacks accordingly. Basic mechanics for your standard action game, sure, but for fully-fledged MMOs, this is still fairly new territory.
Exit Theatre Mode
You get your first taste of the combat a couple minutes after you first enter the world. After character creation (check back tomorrow), you see a neat, if poorly lip-synced cinematic showcasing several different races on winged beasts flying into the Island of Dawn, Tera's introductory zone. From here you meet your first quest giver, indicated by a red marker above the character's head. Red markers indicate involvement in the main or story-questline, and these generally serve as the bread-crumb quests that move you between quest hubs at a steady rate.
The Island of Dawn is quite small in comparison with later zones, but it still shows off Tera's gorgeous visuals. It's completely surrounded by flowing waterfalls and a massive, fractured crystalline tree floats ominously above the island's center. The Island is a new development in the world, allegedly revealed by the Gods for mysterious reasons. A research group had been sent to the island with a small security squad, who had been killed by the island's denizens. That's where you enter; you've got to crawl across the island, eliminating threats and helping the new research team with whatever they need.
That means questing. While the red markers mean story-stuff, yellow quest markers represent the bulk of Tera's structured content. Questing in Tera is fairly standard in structure, usually consisting of killing monsters for items, or just for the sake of killing them. Sometimes, however, a quest throws a slight curve-ball. An early quest had me eliminating pigs, which were weak and travel in groups. The catch, however, is that to count towards the quest, I had to deliver a "clean kill" – which means killing them without being hit. That's easier said than done when you're being swarmed by eight quick and feisty critters.
Tera Blowout
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soon...An Overview
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soon...Character
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soon...Swordplay
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soon...Dungeons
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While the questing doesn't really shift from the standard MMO formula too much, at least in the early phases, it is occasionally presented with a neat little cinematic to help you get a sense of purpose. The quest dialogue (which isn't typically voiced) is also surprisingly clever at times, such as when you encounter a bomb-trainer who speaks in ALL CAPITALS due to hearing loss.
You might play Tera for the quests, but you're going to stay for the combat. The combat is really entertaining and requires you to pay serious attention to what your enemy is doing, responding to it appropriately. The longer you spend in combat though, the more "stamina" you use up.
Stamina is a mechanic that gives you bonus health, mana, and critical hits, or penalizes those stats, based on how much you have. To refill it, you need to hang out by a campfire, which can found at most quest hubs, or use an item. Stamina seems to drain at a rate of about 1% a minute during combat, so you can play a solid hour or so and not be penalized, but at some point you're going to have to take a break and chill by the fire. It's not a replacement for the "rested experience" mechanic used by other games – that's present in Tera as well – but it urges players to relax and give their hands a rest.
What I've enjoyed in Tera so far is the challenge factor. Unlike most MMOs where the early enemies hit like a dead fish and keel over after a couple of blows, even the early enemies in Tera can take off a decent chunk of health if you're not paying attention. They take a while to go down, too, which gives you time to play around with positioning and take notice of the enemy's attack cues.
I'm looking forward to playing more in upcoming beta phases, which you too can participate in by joining IGN Prime for beta keys.Six women will spend eight days in mock spacecraft simulating flight conditions and perform tasks to assess their suitability
A crew of six Russian women have been locked away in a mock spaceship as part of an eight-day experiment to simulate conditions for a potential mission to the moon in 2029.
The experiment, the first of its kind to feature an all-female crew, is designed to “test the psychology and physiology of the female organism,” the space institute organising it said. The participants will be let out next Thursday.
Sergei Ponomarev, the scientific director of Moon-2015, said: “It will be interesting to see how well they get on with each other, and how well they are able to perform tasks. We believe women might not only be no worse than men at performing certain tasks in space, but actually better.”
The Soviet Union sent the first woman into space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who spent almost three days in orbit in 1963, two years after Yuri Gagarin.
First woman in space recalls mission's teething troubles Read more
Earlier this week, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) announced plans for a manned mission to the moon in 2029. The spacecraft that will be used for the mission is currently under construction and is due for its maiden flight in 2021, according to Roscosmos. It will then dock with the International Space Station in 2023 and make an unmanned trip to the moon in 2025.
Russia and the European Space Agency are planning a joint research mission to the moon using an unmanned spacecraft in 2020, to perform a number of tests to determine how suitable the moon might be for human habitation.
The six women involved in the current experiment were narrowed down from a field of 10 potential candidates after rigorous testing over recent weeks. All of them have a background in medicine or biophysics. The crew will be expected to perform about 30 scientific experiments during the simulated flight.
The mock spacecraft is equipped with cameras and the participants will be monitored remotely by doctors and psychologists round the clock.
I was a Russian cosmonaut in space as the Soviet Union collapsed – your questions answered Read more
The experiment is expected to be psychologically taxing, but is less daunting by far than another experiment launched in 2010 in Moscow to simulate a potential mission to Mars. That saw six male volunteers spend 520 days in a capsule. A similar mixed-sex experiment in 2000 ended in disaster when two male crew members got into a fight and one tried to kiss a female crew member.
Despite the historic achievements of Tereshkova and others, the participants in the latest endeavour appeared somewhat daunted by the idea of the mock space travel, complaining about a lack of room and taking selfies in a video released by Roscosmos during the runup to the Moon-2015 experiment.
Anna Kussmaul, one of the participants, said: “I don’t know how we’ll survive without shampoo. Because even in this situation, we really want to stay looking pretty.”Kieran Foran will makes the Warriors line-up "ten times better than the club's 2002 grand final team", Clinton Toopi says.
Warriors legend Clinton Toopi believes if the current roster doesn't hoist the NRL trophy by the end of next year, the club never will.
Expectations have reached fever pitch in Auckland after the acquisition of the unregistered Kieran Foran, as well as former Kiwi coach Stephen Kearney.
Foran's impending registration will give Kearney his first-choice Test spine in a line-up Toopi labelled ten times better than the club's 2002 grand final team.
MARK BAKER New Zealand Warriors legend Clinton Toopi, centre, celebrates with teammates Wairangi Koopu, left, and Francis Meli as the Warriors booked their first NRL grand final appearance in 2002.
"Minimum is top eight, but I'd be pushing for top four because that calibre, how can you not think that they're capable of doing that?" Toopi told AAP.
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"On paper, the team that we had when we went to the grand final back in 2002, they surpass that ten-fold.
"It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. If we can't get it in this first year, it's surely going to be the second year.
"And if we can't do it in those two years, we're never going to get it."
Twice the Warriors have reached the grand final, in 2002 and 2011, and twice they've fallen at the final hurdle.
But Toopi is a big believer in Kearney, who led the Kiwis to World Cup glory in 2008 and Four Nations triumphs in 2010 and 2014.
"Nothing against any of coaches, because one of the best coaches I had was Daniel Anderson," he said.
"But I always felt like it's got to be one of ours to take us all the way. It's just a deeper meaning, if that makes sense.
"He was one of the best professionals when I first came into the Kiwis. There's a whole lot of other players, but he stood out, just being cool, calm and collected.
"He's still the same today."
However if boasting arguably the best-assembled roster isn't enough, then Toopi reckons the club's favourable schedule is even more reason to dream.
The introduction of the early Friday night game means broadcaster favourites Brisbane no longer have a monopoly on the free-to-air fixture.
The Warriors have six Friday clashes in the first 20 rounds, one less than the Broncos, who also have six Thursday night games.
"There's an advantage that way because you get more supporters coming to the game, getting behind you, making it more of a graveyard," he said.
"Most teams that travel over, they don't want to play in a night game. It's all wet and dewy, which they're not used to.
"Generally it's a Sunday game, that's what teams are accustomed to. In that sense, that's going to be a huge advantage, even though the likes of Broncos, they get it because they're prime time."In the wake of MSNBCs offensive tweet about the Georgia police officer being dragged by a suspect, there has been major backlash and people are taking to social media to express their distaste. Some are now personally discrediting the news source, labeling them “anti-cop.” MSNBC deleted the tweet, and apologized shortly after, acknowledging that the post was “inappropriate” but as one Twitter user put it “The damage is done.”
Here are some of the top responses to MSNBCs epic mistake:
Just like @msnbc is not trustworthy as a news organization. More like an anti-cop tabloid. #BlueLivesMatter — Tommy salommy (@TSalommy) May 18, 2015
@msnbc – Too freakin’ late MSNBC. You hatred of law enforcement is loud and clear. You want cops dead. We get it. — AudieMurphy (@SunsMum) May 17, 2015
@msnbc Just watched your video mocking a cop being dragged by one of those innocent black males. No wonder why your network is a joke. — southpaw (@coronadorukus) May 17, 2015
@msnbc @msnbc You Guys Are Scum And If You Had More Viewers More People Would Know It #TCOT #LNYHBT #uppers — John Dee (@GaltsGultch) May 17, 2015.@msnbc Entire network needs a colonic to flush all the shit out. Sad, pathetic, disgusting joke. Everyone associated should be embarrassed. — — Bonk — (@BonkPolitics) May 17, 2015 There has been no further response from MSNBC about the matter.Ancient redwoods in growth spurt of a lifetime Trees thousands of years old growing at fastest rate of lifetimes
Redwood growth in Richardson Grove State Park in Humboldt County and elsewhere has accelerated. Redwood growth in Richardson Grove State Park in Humboldt County and elsewhere has accelerated. Photo: Ian C. Bates, The Chronicle Photo: Ian C. Bates, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Ancient redwoods in growth spurt of a lifetime 1 / 14 Back to Gallery
The last remaining old-growth redwood trees along the California coast and in the Sierra are in the midst of a growth spurt the likes of which has never been seen before, a climate research study revealed Wednesday.
The ancient trees produced more wood over the past century than they have during any other time in their life, a stretch that dates back, in at least one case, a thousand years before the birth of Christ, according to a study released by the Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative.
The growth trend has actually accelerated over the past few decades, said the scientists from UC Berkeley and Humboldt State University who conducted the four-year study.
"It shows these trees are being impacted by something in the environment," said Emily Burns, director of science for Save the Redwoods League, the San Francisco nonprofit that is managing the initiative. "Our hypothesis is that it's because it is warmer. That lengthens the growth season."
The $3 million study, funded by grants and donations, was the most intensive research project ever conducted on the giant trees. The researchers climbed, poked and prodded 137 coast redwoods and giant sequoias on 16 research plots throughout the trees' geographic range.
The result was a dramatic increase in the amount of information available to scientists about the trees, specifically coast redwoods, known scientifically as Sequoia sempervirens.
Record pushed to year 328
Using multiple core samples taken from high in the tree canopy, scientists were able to identify tree-ring patterns, or markers, that were consistent throughout the coast redwood range. The tree-ring record, which revealed drought years and other major weather events, can now reliably be traced back to the year 328, extending the dendrochronological record, as it is called by scientists, by more than 1,400 years.
One tree in Redwood National and State Parks, near Crescent City, turned out to be 2,520 years old, breaking the previous age record for coast redwoods by more than 300 years.
The tree-ring chronology for giant sequoias, known scientifically as Sequoiadendron giganteum, goes back to the year 474. The largest of these Sierra giants, which generally live longer than their coastal cousins, was 3,240 years old, according to the study.
"We now have the most complete and thorough cross-dated chronologies for coast redwoods at sites throughout their range," said Allyson Carroll, a Humboldt State dendrochronologist. "These can be used for many applications, including fire histories, climate studies, dating of archaeological buildings and dating extreme climate events."
Growth spurts
Burns said the plan is to chart the health of the trees over time and use laboratory analysis of carbon and oxygen isotopes to figure out how the trees have reacted to past weather conditions. By studying the rings, scientists hope to be able to forecast how the redwoods will change as the Earth warms up.
The new chronology is what helped Stephen Sillett, a professor of forest ecology at Humboldt State, calculate wood growth over time. What he found was that both redwood species grew at a relatively stable rate for 650 years and then, about 100 years ago, suddenly began to grow faster. There was a slight slowdown in the 1950s and 1960s, and then in the 1970s the tree growth accelerated faster than ever, his research found.
"Wood production increased during the last century in both species," wrote Sillett, a pioneer in research conducted high in the redwood forest canopy, "and the pace of increase was unprecedented in our tree-ring record."
More sunshine
Anthony Ambrose, a postdoctoral research fellow at the UC Berkeley department of integrative biology, has said the growth spurt is most likely caused by increased sunshine along the coast and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A 2010 study documented a 33 percent decrease in the amount of fog and cloud cover along the Northern California coast since the early 20th century. Meanwhile, rainfall has kept the forests wet, Burns said.
"What we're seeing is that the redwoods are growing even better as the fog has declined," Burns said. "It's fantastic. For me this is a really hopeful story about the redwoods."
The data are important not only for ecological reasons but also because ancient redwoods could become a valuable commodity in California's emerging carbon market. Redwoods store three times more carbon than other types of forests, according to researchers, and have unique decay-resistant qualities that allow them to hold carbon even after death, thereby keeping climate-warming gases out of the atmosphere.
The 1739 mystery
The work, however, is far from complete. Researchers know, for instance, that something big happened along the Northern Coast in 1739. The tree rings in multiple redwoods and other trees in Northern California and Oregon were tiny that year, indicating some sort of extreme climatic event, Carroll said. There were no known volcanic events that year, she said, and nothing has yet shown up in the historic record.
Meanwhile, she said, tree-ring data from Big Sur, the southern-most study area, show that the trees have been affected more adversely than the trees in the north by past drought events.
"It is something we haven't quite pinned down," Carroll said. "This is why we need to explore further and figure out what's been happening throughout these chronologies,"
The research team will present its findings during a daylong symposium Wednesday in Berkeley that the public can follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Image copyright Jonathan Ernst/Getty Image caption Edward Brooke was elected to Congress in 1966
Edward Brooke, the first black senator to be popularly elected in the US, has died aged 95, Republican Party officials say.
Mr Brooke was elected to Congress in 1966 by voters in Massachusetts at a time of widespread racial unrest.
A former lawyer, he had also been the first African-American to hold the post of attorney general in any state when he was elected senator.
Two black senators before him were both picked by state legislatures.
President Barack Obama said in a statement: "Senator Brooke led an extraordinary life of public service.
"Ed Brooke stood at the forefront of the battle for civil rights and economic fairness."
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said: "I have lost a friend and mentor."
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said: "Senator Brooke's accomplishments remind us that anything is possible in our country."
Breast cancer awareness
Mr Brooke served in the Senate until 1979 and is one of only nine African-Americans to do so, including President Obama.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption President Obama attended Mr Brooke's reception of the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009
Mr Brooke built a reputation as a Republican liberal during his time in the Senate. He opposed Republican President Richard Nixon and was the first Republican senator to publicly call for Mr Nixon's resignation after the Watergate scandal.
He was instrumental in passing the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited racial and religious discrimination.
Mr Brooke was re-elected in 1972 by a huge margin but by the time he ran for a third term, he was involved in a divorce which attracted national attention and raised questions about a false financial statement he had made regarding a $49,000 loan.
He lost his bid for the third term in 1978 and returned to private law practice.
In 2002, Mr Brooke was diagnosed with breast cancer and became a national leader in raising awareness of the disease in men, which occurs much less frequently than in women.Unknown NEO GEO MVS Fighting Game Discovered & Dumped (UPDATED) arcadehero
UPDATE: The game was tentatively titled Dragon’s Heaven and it would have featured an extensive story shared through text. It used elements of Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer for the code base, hence the reason why the dev board had that game’s name on it. It wasn’t being done by Technos however but FACE, which had a handful of games to their name, nothing that had set the world on fire. More info can be found here. Judging by the reaction on the internet about this, one has to wonder if it might have been a big arcade hit. 😉
With all of the prototypes and unreleased games floating around out there, it is much more common for us to come across something that was reported on in the press at one time or at least that it has a title screen. In this discovery however, the circumstances just leave us with ‘Unknown’ as a title.
As the story goes over at the NEO-GEO Forums, user NeoTurfMasta purchased a NG development board back in March 2015, where he began the work of recovering the data from the board as soon as it arrived. Initially the prospects of it didn’t look too promising, thanks to a lot of corrupt data and some data indicating that it was supposed to be Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, which was released back in 1995. Upon further investigation, NTF came across a unique test menu and shortly after that he got the game to boot. Turned out it was not VFG at all but something else entirely. With 12 characters that belonged to one of three classes, it looked like it was intended to be a fairly deep fighter. Here is a video of the character selection screen, interesting to see the unfinished combatants:
Unfortunately the files needed to show things like the HUD, sound, etc were dead so it is unknown exactly what this game is. Other aspects of it were unfinished as well however, a user on the NG forums by the name of Shou-sama (who I believe is the same person behind the Shou Time blog) said he is in contact with someone who was formerly with Technos to get the “final code base” for this game, so just hang tight.
This game was also at the Midwest Gaming Classic 2016 event this weekend, where users got a chance to try it out:
What are your thoughts on this?
[Via Arcade Belgium]
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(non-Pashtuns) would be ineffective and unstable. The Obama administration returned to the strong leader, highly centralized government mantra that has consistently underscored U.S. policy in Afghanistan. The non-Pashtun communities, though, saw it as the United States favoring Pashtuns and betraying a new hope for their communities.
Instead, with Obama administration’s support, Ghani began negotiations with the Taliban (who are Pashtun). The Obama administration believed negotiations with the Taliban would accelerate its departure from the country and strengthen the Afghan central government. Ghani thought he could consolidate power and weaken his non-Pashtun partners by bringing the Taliban into his cabinet. Ghani’s Taliban negotiations significantly damaged the multi-ethnic coalition essential for governing the country, benefitting only the Taliban who drew out the negotiations while simultaneously building up their military strength and increasing the number of fighters in non-Pashtun areas. The Taliban then launched attacks in the non-Pashtun regions further pressuring Ghani’s coalition partners and sowing discord in his government and chaos in the country.
Unable to obtain constitutional reform, to influence negotiations with the Taliban, or to halt attacks on their regions, Ghani's non-Pashtun partners and allies found themselves weakened, their communities vulnerable. With the exception of a group of Afghan special forces that sustained terrible casualties, the Afghan National Army, in which donors had spent billions, proved incapable of defending against Taliban attacks. Moreover, non-Pashtun local militias seeking to combat the Taliban and the Islamic State in their areas received little or no support from Kabul or the United States because it undermined the strong central government narrative so embedded in U.S. policy.
President Trump in his August 2017 Afghanistan speech rightly indicated that his administration would avoid nation-building and focus on fighting terrorists; however, to do this, his policy must challenge the notion that concentrating power in the hands of the Afghan president is the best way to achieve effective results in the country. The belief that good governance is the answer to growing ethnonational community consolidation and its challenge to an obsolete and unsustainable political system in Afghanistan trapped both Obama and Bush in an endless commitment of troops to prevent the collapse of the Afghan government.
For nearly fifty years, a period that includes growing extremism and long intervals of foreign occupation, Afghan leaders and their external backers have assumed that no Afghan government could be both reliable and truly inclusive. Afghanistan’s Pashtun leaders have consistently argued that the only way to manage the country’s diverse ethnic and tribal communities is through the firm hand of a strong leader. This assumption is not only wrong but is the main reason for continued instability, constant political disarray in Kabul, and the return of the Taliban.
This old narrative has overlooked the growing consolidation and power of the country’s non-Pashtun ethnonational and tribal communities. No community, tribe or ethnic group in Afghanistan constitutes a majority, and decades of distrust and conflict make a centralized political system unworkable because it has been used to ignore, constrain or repress Afghanistan’s diverse communities. Today, in Afghanistan a centralized political system only intensifies the competition for power and increases the cost of holding the country together. It feeds a descending spiral of political instability, ethnic conflict, extremism and ultimately fragmentation, and thereby sustains the Taliban and their supporters.
The main reason for the rise of the Taliban was to impede and destroy the growing power of Afghanistan’s non-Pashtun communities. Empowering non-Pashtun communities by supporting a more decentralized, equitable and inclusive government undermines the Taliban, who seek to use control of the government to impose their extremist Pashtun religious and nationalist agenda on the nation. The more power is devolved, the more Afghanistan’s ethnic communities are strengthened, the more powerful the internal alliance against the Taliban become. U.S. policy over the past decade and a half has made Afghanistan more vulnerable to extremism because it supported a political system that amplified an inter-ethnic and regional struggle for power and rejected the possibility of a broad internal Afghan alliance against Taliban in favor of convenient and efficient decision-making in Kabul.
If the Trump administration wants to end the war in Afghanistan, then the non-Pashtun ethnonational and tribal communities must be allies in the fight against extremism. Constitutional reform that makes the government more decentralized and inclusive is the best way to achieve this broad Afghan Alliance against extremism. An Afghan government that doesn't take account of the country's ethnonational diversity will always face potentially violent threats to its authority and require more foreign money and troops. A political system that empowers Afghanistan’s diverse communities is the greatest remedy to extremism because it establishes insurmountable barriers to Taliban consolidation and control of the country and without this possibility the reason for the Taliban evaporates.
Focusing on negotiations with the Taliban before concluding constitutional reform is a grave mistake as it will signal to no less than 60 percent of the country that is not Pashtun that their rights and security are less important than cutting a deal with the Taliban who are trying to eradicate their identity. The Ghani government undermined its legitimacy and lost significant territory by pursuing this approach. The Taliban should be allowed to participate in the election of the constitutional Loya Jirga, but no further negotiation with their leaders should occur until the enactment of constitutional reform.
A constitutional Loya Jirga would not be a panacea, not least because there would inevitably be disagreement about the type of constitution Afghanistan needs. But once established, an inclusive and decentralized constitutional power-sharing system would bring security to the country's various regions and communities while reflecting their respective identities and aspirations. Trust among those communities would then develop and a government would emerge that valued Afghanistan's diversity rather than fought it. Afghan leaders, politicians, and power-brokers would, in turn, devote more time to their communities and less to a violent and expensive struggle for power in Kabul.
There should be no repetition of the foreign interference in the constitutional Loya Jirga that occurred in December 2003 and January 2004. This time the Afghans would have to reach agreement on their own. If they could not agree, they would have to take responsibility for that failure and accept that there would be no attempt to bail them out. Afghans must solve their problems, and they know better than any outsider how to manage their diversity. However, the international community should make it clear that it would continue to support those communities that resisted Islamic extremism and sought peaceful and moderate expressions of their Islamic faith and ethnonational identities.
The Soviet Union in the 1980s and the United States after the 2001 Afghan Bonn Conference both assumed that they could counter Afghanistan's Islamic extremism by establishing a robust and efficient central authority that could take control of the country and defeat internal enemies. They never understood that such an approach would make the situation worse because it ignored the importance of Afghanistan’s ethnonational identities. Even after the U.S. military successfully adopted an inclusive approach in 2001, exploiting Afghanistan's diversity to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda quickly, the West returned to the same old thinking that doomed the Soviet involvement and continues to condemn the United States to endless war. Previous U.S. administrations ignored the reality of Afghanistan, and their plans failed. Foreign troops can buy time but will never end the war in Afghanistan. The new American strategy for Afghanistan should understand this and learn from past mistakes.In only a few seconds, Brandmentions allows me to find recent client mentions on the web, saving me a lot of time. With one click I can export the results, and check if a link exists back to my client and approach any unlinked client mentions. Danny Lynch, Head of PR & Outreach Koozai
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I find BrandMentions to be faster than Google at discovering new brand mentions. This is extremely valuable as we report the success of our activity sooner than ever before. It found links that other tools, including even Google, didn’t discover until weeks later. Ashley Williams, Head of SEO MetaWant to start a startup? Get funded by Y Combinator.
March 2008, rev. June 2008
Technology tends to separate normal from natural. Our bodies weren't designed to eat the foods that people in rich countries eat, or to get so little exercise. There may be a similar problem with the way we work: a normal job may be as bad for us intellectually as white flour or sugar is for us physically.
I began to suspect this after spending several years working with startup founders. I've now worked with over 200 of them, and I've noticed a definite difference between programmers working on their own startups and those working for large organizations. I wouldn't say founders seem happier, necessarily; starting a startup can be very stressful. Maybe the best way to put it is to say that they're happier in the sense that your body is happier during a long run than sitting on a sofa eating doughnuts.
Though they're statistically abnormal, startup founders seem to be working in a way that's more natural for humans.
I was in Africa last year and saw a lot of animals in the wild that I'd only seen in zoos before. It was remarkable how different they seemed. Particularly lions. Lions in the wild seem about ten times more alive. They're like different animals. I suspect that working for oneself feels better to humans in much the same way that living in the wild must feel better to a wide-ranging predator like a lion. Life in a zoo is easier, but it isn't the life they were designed for.
Trees
What's so unnatural about working for a big company? The root of the problem is that humans weren't meant to work in such large groups.
Another thing you notice when you see animals in the wild is that each species thrives in groups of a certain size. A herd of impalas might have 100 adults; baboons maybe 20; lions rarely 10. Humans also seem designed to work in groups, and what I've read about hunter-gatherers accords with research on organizations and my own experience to suggest roughly what the ideal size is: groups of 8 work well; by 20 they're getting hard to manage; and a group of 50 is really unwieldy. [ 1 ]
Whatever the upper limit is, we are clearly not meant to work in groups of several hundred. And yet—for reasons having more to do with technology than human nature—a great many people work for companies with hundreds or thousands of employees.
Companies know groups that large wouldn't work, so they divide themselves into units small enough to work together. But to coordinate these they have to introduce something new: bosses.
These smaller groups are always arranged in a tree structure. Your boss is the point where your group attaches to the tree. But when you use this trick for dividing a large group into smaller ones, something strange happens that I've never heard anyone mention explicitly. In the group one level up from yours, your boss represents your entire group. A group of 10 managers is not merely a group of 10 people working together in the usual way. It's really a group of groups. Which means for a group of 10 managers to work together as if they were simply a group of 10 individuals, the group working for each manager would have to work as if they were a single person—the workers and manager would each share only one person's worth of freedom between them.
In practice a group of people are never able to act as if they were one person. But in a large organization divided into groups in this way, the pressure is always in that direction. Each group tries its best to work as if it were the small group of individuals that humans were designed to work in. That was the point of creating it. And when you propagate that constraint, the result is that each person gets freedom of action in inverse proportion to the size of the entire tree. [ 2 ]
Anyone who's worked for a large organization has felt this. You can feel the difference between working for a company with 100 employees and one with 10,000, even if your group has only 10 people.
Corn Syrup
A group of 10 people within a large organization is a kind of fake tribe. The number of people you interact with is about right. But something is missing: individual initiative. Tribes of hunter-gatherers have much more freedom. The leaders have a little more power than other members of the tribe, but they don't generally tell them what to do and when the way a boss can.
It's not your boss's fault. The real problem is that in the group above you in the hierarchy, your entire group is one virtual person. Your boss is just the way that constraint is imparted to you.
So working in a group of 10 people within a large organization feels both right and wrong at the same time. On the surface it feels like the kind of group you're meant to work in, but something major is missing. A job at a big company is like high fructose corn syrup: it has some of the qualities of things you're meant to like, but is disastrously lacking in others.
Indeed, food is an excellent metaphor to explain what's wrong with the usual sort of job.
For example, working for a big company is the default thing to do, at least for programmers. How bad could it be? Well, food shows that pretty clearly. If you were dropped at a random point in America today, nearly all the food around you would be bad for you. Humans were not designed to eat white flour, refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated vegetable oil. And yet if you analyzed the contents of the average grocery store you'd probably find these four ingredients accounted for most of the calories. "Normal" food is terribly bad for you. The only people who eat what humans were actually designed to eat are a few Birkenstock-wearing weirdos in Berkeley.
If "normal" food is so bad for us, why is it so common? There are two main reasons. One is that it has more immediate appeal. You may feel lousy an hour after eating that pizza, but eating the first couple bites feels great. The other is economies of scale. Producing junk food scales; producing fresh vegetables doesn't. Which means (a) junk food can be very cheap, and (b) it's worth spending a lot to market it.
If people have to choose between something that's cheap, heavily marketed, and appealing in the short term, and something that's expensive, obscure, and appealing in the long term, which do you think most will choose?
It's the same with work. The average MIT graduate wants to work at Google or Microsoft, because it's a recognized brand, it's safe, and they'll get paid a good salary right away. It's the job equivalent of the pizza they had for lunch. The drawbacks will only become apparent later, and then only in a vague sense of malaise.
And founders and early employees of startups, meanwhile, are like the Birkenstock-wearing weirdos of Berkeley: though a tiny minority of the population, they're the ones living as humans are meant to. In an artificial world, only extremists live naturally.
Programmers
The restrictiveness of big company jobs is particularly hard on programmers, because the essence of programming is to build new things. Sales people make much the same pitches every day; support people answer much the same questions; but once you've written a piece of code you don't need to write it again. So a programmer working as programmers are meant to is always making new things. And when you're part of an organization whose structure gives each person freedom in inverse proportion to the size of the tree, you're going to face resistance when you do something new.
This seems an inevitable consequence of bigness. It's true even in the smartest companies. I was talking recently to a founder who considered starting a startup right out of college, but went to work for Google instead because he thought he'd learn more there. He didn't learn as much as he expected. Programmers learn by doing, and most of the things he wanted to do, he couldn't—sometimes because the company wouldn't let him, but often because the company's code wouldn't let him. Between the drag of legacy code, the overhead of doing development in such a large organization, and the restrictions imposed by interfaces owned by other groups, he could only try a fraction of the things he would have liked to. He said he has learned much more in his own startup, despite the fact that he has to do all the company's errands as well as programming, because at least when he's programming he can do whatever he wants.
An obstacle downstream propagates upstream. If you're not allowed to implement new ideas, you stop having them. And vice versa: when you can do whatever you want, you have more ideas about what to do. So working for yourself makes your brain more powerful in the same way a low-restriction exhaust system makes an engine more powerful.
Working for yourself doesn't have to mean starting a startup, of course. But a programmer deciding between a regular job at a big company and their own startup is probably going to learn more doing the startup.
You can adjust the amount of freedom you get by scaling the size of company you work for. If you start the company, you'll have the most freedom. If you become one of the first 10 employees you'll have almost as much freedom as the founders. Even a company with 100 people will feel different from one with 1000.
Working for a small company doesn't ensure freedom. The tree structure of large organizations sets an upper bound on freedom, not a lower bound. The head of a small company may still choose to be a tyrant. The point is that a large organization is compelled by its structure to be one.
Consequences
That has real consequences for both organizations and individuals. One is that companies will inevitably slow down as they grow larger, no matter how hard they try to keep their startup mojo. It's a consequence of the tree structure that every large organization is forced to adopt.
Or rather, a large organization could only avoid slowing down if they avoided tree structure. And since human nature limits the size of group that can work together, the only way I can imagine for larger groups to avoid tree structure would be to have no structure: to have each group actually be independent, and to work together the way components of a market economy do.
That might be worth exploring. I suspect there are already some highly partitionable businesses that lean this way. But I don't know any technology companies that have done it.
There is one thing companies can do short of structuring themselves as sponges: they can stay small. If I'm right, then it really pays to keep a company as small as it can be at every stage. Particularly a technology company. Which means it's doubly important to hire the best people. Mediocre hires hurt you twice: they get less done, but they also make you big, because you need more of them to solve a given problem.
For individuals the upshot is the same: aim small. It will always suck to work for large organizations, and the larger the organization, the more it will suck.
In an essay I wrote a couple years ago I advised graduating seniors to work for a couple years for another company before starting their own. I'd modify that now. Work for another company if you want to, but only for a small one, and if you want to start your own startup, go ahead.
The reason I suggested college graduates not start startups immediately was that I felt most would fail. And they will. But ambitious programmers are better off doing their own thing and failing than going to work at a big company. Certainly they'll learn more. They might even be better off financially. A lot of people in their early twenties get into debt, because their expenses grow even faster than the salary that seemed so high when they left school. At least if you start a startup and fail your net worth will be zero rather than negative. [ 3 ]
We've now funded so many different types of founders that we have enough data to see patterns, and there seems to be no benefit from working for a big company. The people who've worked for a few years do seem better than the ones straight out of college, but only because they're that much older.
The people who come to us from big companies often seem kind of conservative. It's hard to say how much is because big companies made them that way, and how much is the natural conservatism that made them work for the big companies in the first place. But certainly a large part of it is learned. I know because I've seen it burn off.
Having seen that happen so many times is one of the things that convinces me that working for oneself, or at least for a small group, is the natural way for programmers to live. Founders arriving at Y Combinator often have the downtrodden air of refugees. Three months later they're transformed: they have so much more confidence that they seem as if they've grown several inches taller. [ 4 ] Strange as this sounds, they seem both more worried and happier at the same time. Which is exactly how I'd describe the way lions seem in the wild.
Watching employees get transformed into founders makes it clear that the difference between the two is due mostly to environment—and in particular that the environment in big companies is toxic to programmers. In the first couple weeks of working on their own startup they seem to come to life, because finally they're working the way people are meant to.
Notes
[ 1 ] When I talk about humans being meant or designed to live a certain way, I mean by evolution.
[ 2 ] It's not only the leaves who suffer. The constraint propagates up as well as down. So managers are constrained too; instead of just doing things, they have to act through subordinates.
[ 3 ] Do not finance your startup with credit cards. Financing a startup with debt is usually a stupid move, and credit card debt stupidest of all. Credit card debt is a bad idea, period. It is a trap set by evil companies for the desperate and the foolish.
[ 4 ] The founders we fund used to be younger (initially we encouraged undergrads to apply), and the first couple times I saw this I used to wonder if they were actually getting physically taller.
Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Ross Boucher, Aaron Iba, Abby Kirigin, Ivan Kirigin, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris for reading drafts of this.
French Translation
Russian TranslationUsing NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and ESO’s New Technology Telescope, two astronomers from University of Manchester, UK, have studied 130 planetary nebulae in our Milky Way galaxy. They have found that so-called butterfly-shaped nebulae tend to be mysteriously aligned.
The final stages of life for a star like our Sun result in the star puffing its outer layers out into the surrounding space, forming objects known as planetary nebulae in a wide range of beautiful and striking shapes.
One type of such nebulae, known as bipolar planetary nebulae, create ghostly hourglass or butterfly shapes around their parent stars.
All these nebulae formed in different places and have different characteristics. Neither the individual nebulae, nor the stars that formed them, interact with other planetary nebulae.
However, a new study shows surprising similarities between some of these nebulae: many of them line up in the sky in the same way.
“This really is a surprising find and, if it holds true, a very important one. Many of these ghostly butterflies appear to have their long axes aligned along the plane of our galaxy. By using images from both Hubble and the NTT we could get a really good view of these objects, so we could study them in great detail,” said Dr Bryan Rees, who is a first author of a paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (arXiv.org).
The astronomers looked at 130 planetary nebulae in the Milky Way’s central bulge. They identified three different types, and peered closely at their characteristics and appearance.
“While two of these populations were completely randomly aligned in the sky, as expected, we found that the third – the bipolar nebulae – showed a surprising preference for a particular alignment. While any alignment at all is a surprise, to have it in the crowded central region of the galaxy is even more unexpected,” said study second author Dr Albert Zijlstra.
“The alignment we’re seeing for these bipolar nebulae indicates something bizarre about star systems within the central bulge. For them to line up in the way we see, the star systems that formed these nebulae would have to be rotating perpendicular to the interstellar clouds from which they formed, which is very strange,” Dr Rees added.
While the properties of their progenitor stars do shape these nebulae, this new finding hints at another more mysterious factor. Along with these complex stellar characteristics are those of our Milky Way; the whole central bulge rotates around the galactic center.
This bulge may have a greater influence than previously thought over our entire galaxy – via its magnetic fields. The astronomers suggest that the orderly behavior of the planetary nebulae could have been caused by the presence of strong magnetic fields as the bulge formed.
As such nebulae closer to home do not line up in the same orderly way, these fields would have to have been many times stronger than they are in our present-day neighborhood.
“We can learn a lot from studying these objects. If they really behave in this unexpected way, it has consequences for not just the past of individual stars, but for the past of our whole galaxy,” Dr Zijlstra said.
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Bibliographic information: B. Rees, A. A. Zijlstra. Alignment of the Angular Momentum Vectors of Planetary Nebulae in the Galactic Bulge. MNRAS, published online September 4, 2013; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stt1300That’s not the last time you have seen Butterfly. She will be the star of the second longest Sandra and Woo story arc that will be published later this year.
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Caption: Woo presents: Six classic climbing problems for raccoons Caption: Maple tree behind Sandra’s house
Maple tree behind Sandra’s house Woo: Something for beginners and kits.
Something for beginners and kits. Rating: 3 Caption: Rainwater pipe with overhang
Rainwater pipe with overhang Woo: Recommended only for experienced city dwellers.
Recommended only for experienced city dwellers. Rating: 5a Caption: “La Dura Dura” route in Oliana
“La Dura Dura” route in Oliana Woo: Raccoons without strength and endurance should spare themselves the trip to Spain.
Raccoons without strength and endurance should spare themselves the trip to Spain. Rating: 7c Caption: “The Professor” beech tree in Jay State Forest
“The Professor” beech tree in Jay State Forest Woo: Climbed only twice so far. By Rocky in 1997, redpoint, and by Butterfly in 2012, on-sight.
Climbed only twice so far. By Rocky in 1997, redpoint, and by Butterfly in 2012, on-sight. Rating: 9b+ Caption: Solid concrete wall
Solid concrete wall Woo: Impossible.
Impossible. Rating: 10x Caption: Solid concrete wall with a cookie jar on top
Solid concrete wall with a cookie jar on top Woo: Everyone who needs more than two tries is a disgrace to raccoonity!
Everyone who needs more than two tries is a disgrace to raccoonity! Rating: 2Electric Children brings us a new continuous Chiptune mix performed on a the Nintendo Gameboy. He writes:
Another 1xLSDJ Mix for you to enjoy. As the title implies, this mix is much tighter, more focused, and more coherent than the first-Like ambien for an insomniac.
And enjoy we do. Electric Children is showing us what it means to be a Video Game DJ, mixing a collection of songs on original game hardware. It’s so cool it makes me blog (no joke). Wait, that was a joke. Was it? I really blogged myself into corner here.
Support this artist by heading over to his Bandcamp and picking up his albums, I Am and You Are.
Track list:
1. Ambien
2. Smiletron-Microcosmic (EC Makes You Think Remix)
3. Castlevania-Stalker (EC Holy Water Version)
4. Electric Children’s a Sap
5. Peter Bjorn and John-Young Folks (EC 8bit Arrange Version)
Ambien by Electric_Children
Like this: Like Loading...Ninja Turtle Classic Collection Michelangelo Figure Review
| By
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Classic Collection
Michelangelo
6 Inch Scale
By: Playmates
$15-$20 (price varies)
The Ninja Turtles have always been a big part of my life. I was part of the generation that rode the wave of the first Ninja Turtle craze and unlike a lot of folks, I hung in until the end. I remember being blown away by the Next Mutation figures and their improved articulation. Unfortunately, shortly after it seemed like the TMNT were finally done for.
My very first Turtle figure was Michelangelo, back when I was still fairly young. Not only was he my first Turtle figure, but he was the one I liked best. His personality was the most appealing to me (despite not always getting a fair treatment in terms of character development in the cartoons) and I just generally enjoyed him the most. Oddly enough, orange is not my favorite color. That seems to be the motivation for a lot of folks to love a particular Turtle.
Things worked out in my circle of playmates (no pun intended) back then because nobody else wanted to claim Mikey. My brother preferred Leonardo and my cousin Raphael. Eventually when the toy line was relaunched in 2003 with a new cartoon, I was right there with it. In fact, if it hadn’t been for that 2003 line, this site might not exist.
hoarder
See, by 2003, I was plenty good and grown up and had stopped collecting toys for several years. Marvel Legends? Yeah, I missed a lot of that. I didn’t care about toys. I was grown up, don’t ya know? But when the prospect of new Turtles came about, I jumped back in. Eventually it turned me into thecollector that I’ve become today.
Packaging
The Turtles are back for their third attempt at reclaiming the toy aisles (fourth if you count the failed Next Mutation era) and this time they’re not only launching a new cartoon with new toys, but also a retro “Classic Collection” line aimed at collectors. Playmates promised the most collector friendly Turtles ever, with more articulation than ever before… So is Michelangelo ready to start another Renaissance (pun intended) on my Turtles collecting?I wish I could say the packaging was amazing. You may remember that the old Turtles packages were really cool. Especially in the beginning when each figure got unique card art. Hell, I’d argue that no toy line has EVER come close to comparing to that. The 2003 line didn’t have as nice of packaging, but in the beginning they did do some neat things such as unique backer cards for the core characters.
This package falls a bit short. It’s not bad and it’s sort of an homage to the vintage packages, but it doesn’t reflect them very well. In fact the 25th Anniversary figures from a few years ago had a better imitation card. The back is kind of neat if only because it details some of the Turtles non-kayfabe history.
The real problem is that the package has several pieces of the merchandising art on it. These drawings of the Turtles aren’t bad, but they lack the life and vibrancy of the better artwork. Interestingly enough, the Turtle figures are actually more based on these art models than anything else.
There is one really neat element and that’s a manhole cover formation on the top of the “bubble”. It’s a nice touch and it helps to make these figures look like they are worth keeping in the package. So while I don’t love all the individual parts, the overall presentation isn’t bad, it just doesn’t live up the true classic figures.
Sculpt/Paint:
There’s been some criticism early on that these figures don’t accurately reflect the cartoons counterparts from the classic Fred Wolf Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animation.
This is true, but that’s because these figures aren’t supposed to. While they are the most accurate toon Turtles to date, they are supposed to be an amalgamation of several sources, including the vintage figures, promo art and the Fred Wolf cartoon.
In that sense, these guys are a home run. Mikey looks a lot like the various sources that he’s been inspired from.
If you weren’t putting him under a microscope, you’d think he was a perfect cartoon recreation. Seriously, show this figure to a casual fan and they’ll think he leaped right out of the screen. Put it under the scrutiny of highfalutin toy nerds and you may not get quite as warm a response.
Personally I think they’re pretty great in most respects. Mike doesn’t have any real detailed sculpting, but that’s because he’s mirroring that animation style. So there aren’t pulsating veins or skin blemishes.
Heck even the shell is in pretty good shape this time around.
“A FELLOW CHUCKER, EH?!”
That’s not to say that the sculpt itself isn’t detailed, because it is. There’s all the appropriate sculpting and designing, but it’s fitted to an animation style.
The paint work is minimal, but quite solid. The one area where most people are having issues is in the eyes. Mine seem to be painted fine, even though he’s more or less looking up and off to the side. From all the promo pictures and stuff, this appears to be the way he’s supposed to be looking.
Not all the eyes are so nice though. I’ve seen some that look a bit like Jack Elam.
The other controversial issue is scale. Mikey (and all the Turtles by proxy) is just a hair short of 6 1/2 inches tall. Perhaps even more alarming to me is the fact that he’s 2+ inches thick and 3 inches wide. He’s a bulky figure.
Yet, it feels right in a lot of ways. Never before has the Turtles girth and shell size been recreated so accurately to how it was most often portrayed in the cartoons. The top of the torso is articulated, but the back of the shell only connects to this piece. So it’s almost like he’s wearing a turtle shell backpack.
Some folks imagine the Ninja Turtles to be like 3 foot tall or something. I honestly don’t get it. That said, these guys ARE big and they won’t fit in perfectly with every figure line. Of course, they’re not designed to.
They fit in nicely with the 2007 TMNT movie figures, with the exception of width. Those figures were very thin and as such look a bit out of place.
I think Playmates won’t have a problem scaling other figures to this. Shredder can be 7-7 1/2 inches tall. Same for Rocksteady, Bebop and so on.
“Weren’t you bigger earlier, dude?”
But they tower over the original figures.
I can’t imagine they’ll fit in any of the vintage vehicles. I doubt they’d even squeeze into the Cowabunga Carl van. But oddly enough, Mikey looks fine on the 2003 motocycles.
Articulation
Playmates has claimed that this toy has more articulation than any Turtle figure ever. Is that true? Yes, it does appear so. This guy even blows the NECA out of the water.
That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good thing, though. Remember Toy Biz? They used to cram entirely too much articulation into their figures. Often it ruined a sculpt or playability. Mikey isn’t Toy Biz bad, but there are a few things that could have been left out.
The one thing I will say about the articulation is that it’s very creative. The individual toes and fingers are pretty sweet.
The thumb is actually a swivel hinge! This really allows for some good grasping.
However I did find that over time, some of the articulation is starting to loosen up. Especially in the arms. Then again, I posed this guy a lot.
That’s another really nice thing about the articulation… You can get Michelangelo into pretty much any pose you can imagine. That’s a good thing for a Turtle trained in Ninjitsu.
He also has a really good sense of balance. Which is pretty amazing when you consider all the joints and the heft and girth of the figure. This guy stands way better than Marvel Legends Baron Zemo, for example.
I constantly found myself putting him in crazy one legged poses, just to see if he would stay standing. He always did.
Accessories:
At this price point with this sort of articulation you can’t expect too much. However the Turtles need their core weapons and that’s what you get here. Each Turtle comes with their main weapon. Mikey is the best, because he comes with two nunchucks that have real chains!
The chains are thick and nice and are even more sturdy than the NECA versions. The chain is longer too. It’s a real winner.
Perhaps the best part is that you can use the nunchaku with the new Nickelodeon Mikey as well. They’re suited for both scales in my view.
The chucks can be stored in his belt.
You also get a manhole cover stand. It’s pretty bland with no paint other than a tampo of Mike’s name, but it is nicely detailed and could possibly be used as a weapon. It’s a nice bonus, even if the Turtles don’t really need them to stand. It will make putting them onto the shelf much easier.
Value
These haven’t hit retail yet but the average price is supposed to be around $15. I got mine early, so I paid more. I’ve seen them run up to $20 at some regular retailers, but the word on the street is that Target will only be charging $15. If that’s true, there probably isn’t much else on the market that has this kind of quality and articulation at this price.
Score
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agreed C.G. Lewis, Christina’s “prince” in the music video. “She’ll just be walking around, she’ll be in the moment, hitting her mark and she’ll just be singing.”
And they say Christina was as kind and down to earth as you could imagine a superstar ever being.
“I remember talking to her for the first time and just having a 30 minute conversation about boys,” laughed Wilk. “And then we’re like, ‘OK let’s go dance now!’ It was awesome.”
Now they’ve been able to see first hand the outpouring of love and support from Grimmie’s dedicated fans.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Merritt. “We’re just so thankful to have that response and make them proud.”
All close friends now, Liza, C.G. and Ashley didn’t even know each other before the music video. So in a way, their friendship is yet another part of Christina Grimmie’s amazing legacy.
“We didn’t meet some celebrity for a moment and then that moment passes and she was gone,” Lewis reflected. “We met a friend and we made a life long friend that we’re never going to forget.”As the son of a holocaust survivor, I have no tolerance for #racism. Just because I support @POTUS @realDonaldTrump… https://t.co/9oyclgf9wZ
After President Trump angrily defended white supremacists on Tuesday, Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, tweeted a collage of pics with his black friends in a bid to show he's not racist.
According to the New York Times' Maggie Haberman, CNN makeup artists and morning show crew members were also pictured.
Among those pictured with Cohen were Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault-Newman, and online comedians and Trump supporters Diamond and Silk.
Cohen told BuzzFeed News the people in the photos are "not random people," and that they "all know me for a while and call me a friend."
He said he had been receiving "horrific comments" all morning "about being anti-black, racist etc. for supporting Trump. It's just wrong!"
Cohen said he tweeted the photos to respond to these comments from detractors.
"Trump is not a racist and neither am I," he said. "The attacks against him and all of us who support him are disgusting, disgraceful and hurtful. I emphatically denounce white supremacy, white nationalism, Nazi beliefs and hatred of anyone based on race, religion, creed, color or sexual orientation."From the outside, the North Korean village of Kijong-dong looks like any other town, brightly painted houses, schools, daycare, even a hospital.
But on closer inspection, all is not as it seems.
Sitting in the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea, Kijong-dong is widely referred to as the “Propaganda Village” and is believed to be a decoy for luring South Korean defectors.
Built in the two-and-a-half-mile wide DMZ that was set up in 1953 as an armistice to end the Korean War, the town claims to have 200 residents and boasts an image of economic success.
However, observations from the south have suggested that Kijong-dong is fake and is devoid of human life.
The buildings are actually concrete shells with no glass in their windows, electric lights operate on an automatic timer, and the only people in sight are maintenance workers who sweep the streets to give the impression of activity.
Named Peace Village by North Korea, it has been used by the government as a battleground for supremacy between the two powers.
In the 1980s, the South Korean government built a 321.5-foot-tall flagpole in the opposite city of Daeseong-dong to antagonize the north. This was quickly countered by North Korea, which built a 525-foot-tall flagpole in response. It was at the time the tallest in the world.
Until 2004, massive loudspeakers delivered DPRK propaganda broadcasts to the south that praised North Korea’s virtues and urged disgruntled soldiers and farmers to walk across the border.
When this approach failed to lure defectors, the speakers began blasting 20 hours a day of anti-Western rhetoric, Communist operas and patriotic marching music. In 2004, both countries agreed to end their loudspeaker broadcasts to each other.
The village is surrounded by extensive cultivated fields, with the North Korean government officially claiming it is a collective farm for its residents.
Either way, it’s a lot of effort just to keep up appearances.UPDATE: Registration for this training is now closed. We had a great response (81 applicants!) and we thank everyone who applied and expressed their interest in and support for the training. Please feel free to follow this site to get notified when the next Boston area street medic training happens, or follow Boston’s Digital Street Medic on Facebook and join the group “Boston street medic training: interested folks”.
“Street medics, or action medics, are volunteers with varying degrees of medical training who attend protests and demonstrations to provide medical care such as first aid. Unlike emergency medical technicians (EMTs), who work for state-sponsored institutions, street medics operate as civilians and are not protected from arrest.”
– From the Street Medic Wiki, http://medic.wikia.com/wiki/Street_medic
This 20-hour course is designed as a complete introduction to action medical knowledge and skills, including basic first aid, street operations and tactics, emotional first aid and aftercare, chemical weapons information and treatment, and action preparedness. The completion of this course will prepare you to serve as a street medic at political actions. Street medics are also a source of health care information and resources in their communities, and so the training is open to anyone who wishes to gain greater first aid knowledge to use in their lives and to share with others. While the focus will be on urban street protests, much of the information in this training is also applicable to wilderness/rural situations and community first aid needs. This is an intensive, full weekend course with one evening session and two long daytime sessions, providing ample opportunities for hands-on skills practice in realistic scenarios.
You do not need to have any previous medical or first aid training in order to attend this course. People with all levels of experience and training are welcome, but if this 20-hour training is oversubscribed, we may exclude medical professionals and offer a 4-6 hour bridge training for them in the spring.
Schedule
The tentative schedule for this training is as follows: Friday evening, January 19th from 6 to 10 pm; Saturday, January 20th and Sunday, January 21st from 9 am to 5 pm. We encourage people to attend the entire training, and we will give registration preference to those who can attend all of the training sessions. We will provide specific information about the training and various logistical details to registered participants before the training weekend.
Food, Housing, and Childcare
We hope to supply some vegan and vegetarian food for participants during the training. We also invite participants to bring snacks (preferably vegetarian or vegan) to share if they can. Anyone bringing food to share with the group should be able to identify the ingredients in the food so people with dietary restrictions, allergies or food sensitivities can make informed choices about what to eat during the training.
Housing during the training weekend is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. If you will need housing, please let us know on the follow-up survey you will receive after your registration is confirmed. When you request housing for the training weekend, please tell us about any allergies, dietary restrictions, or other special needs you have so we can try to accommodate your requests and match you up with a compatible housing option.
We hope to be able to offer childcare during this training so parents can attend. However, we need to know if there is demand for this service, and how many people expect to bring their children with them to the training, so please let us know about that on the follow-up survey as well.
Costs
We have a sliding scale fee from $1 to $100 for this training course, and we welcome barter in place of money. We do not want financial restrictions to keep anyone from taking this course. We anticipate that our cost per trainee will be around $50, and we hope that donations from participants will cover our costs. We also welcome and appreciate support donations from friends who cannot attend the training but who wish to contribute to help keep the cost of the training affordable for everyone.
Because we have had problems with people signing up for trainings and then not showing up or contributing to the cost of the training, we will ask those accepted to submit a small deposit by cash, check or Venmo to confirm their spot. You can pay your entire training fee in advance, or pay your balance on the first night of the training. Please contribute as much as you feel able to, but know that nobody will be turned away based on lack of funds, nor will anyone making a large donation be given preference in registration.
If you don’t pay the full amount for the training(s) online, the balance of your training fee is expected at the first session of this training—we accept cash (preferred) and personal checks. If you need to make alternate payment arrangements, please contact us as soon as possible with your request.
Registration Information
To register for the Street Medic Training, click here or click the Register link in the Web site header, then fill out and submit the online Registration Form.
Enrollment is limited and we expect this course to fill up quickly. We will have a waiting list if the course fills up, and will contact people on the list if spaces in the training become available. Registration will be closed on January 2nd.
Because of the limited number of spaces in this course, we are prioritizing registrants based on identity, languages spoken, and community activism in order to ensure that people in under-represented communities will have a chance to attend this street medic training.
Once we receive your Registration Form, you will be added to a list of potential attendees. Once registration closes on January 2nd, we will review all the Registration Forms and assign training slots based on the criteria mentioned above. We will send you a confirmation message via e-mail when you are accepted into the course with a link to a follow-up form where you can tell us more about your needs for the training as well as information about how to pay your deposit. If your plans change and you need to drop out of the training, please let us know as soon as possible so we can let someone else have your spot. All information you give us on the Registration Form is confidential, and will not be used in any way that is not directly related to this training.
Thank you for your interest in this training. We hope to see you in Boston this January!While scientists have so far successfully predicted each sinkhole, the chasms can open with astonishing speed. On Dec. 4, as Ms. Chekhova watched the dark spot on her screen expand, witnesses began calling an emergency number for reporting sinkholes. They had heard a loud swooshing noise.
As the police cordoned off the area that day, dirt and snow tumbled in. Before noon, the sinkhole was 25 yards across.
Berezniki’s problems have been traced to October 2006, when a freshwater spring began flowing into the mine, where potash fertilizer is extracted from salt lying 720 to 1,500 feet below the surface. The problem is that the walls and pillars of salt that miners had left to support the ceilings of huge underground caverns began to dissolve.
“Imagine putting a sugar cube in a cup of tea,” Mikhail A. Permyakov, the chief land surveyor for Uralkali, the company that owns the mine, said in an interview. “That is what happened under Berezniki.”
Mining engineers first tried to maintain the supports by pumping in saltwater, intending to raise the salinity of the floodwater to the saturation point before the structure collapsed, but that did not work.
After that, the local government adopted the policy in effect today, of careful observation and early warning: geologists, surveyors and emergency personnel use a panoply of high-technology monitors. These include the video surveillance system, seismic sensors, regular surveys and satellite monitoring of the changes in altitude of roofs, sidewalks and streets.
Photo
“We will fight the holes with science,” the mayor, Sergei P. Dyakov, said in an interview. The city will not need to relocate, he said, because engineers believe that no new holes will open. Much of the mine was filled before the flood, he said, and the sinkholes occurred in an anomalous area that had not been filled in.
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But federal officials and company executives are debating whether to relocate the entire city to the opposite bank of the Kama River, where the bedrock is solid.
The largest hole opened in July 2007. Experts at Uralkali say it may be the largest manmade sinkhole in the world. Residents, who have given all the holes nicknames, call it “The Grandfather.”
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The municipal authorities were compelled to evacuate about 2,000 people from nearby apartment blocks, at great expense. The Grandfather is now 340 yards wide and 430 yards long, and it plunges right to the salt strata underneath the city — 780 feet, or the equivalent of 50 stories, straight down. It partly destroyed a warehouse near its edge.
The next hole appeared on a snowy night in November 2010, underneath a railroad siding. As dirt funneled in, the railroad tracks remained suspended over the abyss for a time. Then a boxcar tumbled in. That hole became known as “the Young One.” It sucked in a row of storage sheds and a parked Moskvich passenger car.
“We are afraid but don’t know what to do,” Tatyana Shishkina, a city resident, said in an interview in her living room, where the ceiling is cracked and appears ready to cave in. About 60 apartment blocks, including this one, are so badly damaged from subsidence that they will have to be abandoned, even though no holes have appeared nearby. “The mayor says one thing, people say another. We are confused.”
A government commission in 2008 cleared Mr. Rybolovlev, the fertilizer tycoon, of wrongdoing, blaming past unsafe practices for the sinkholes.
But a senior official close to Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin has said that Uralkali and Mr. Rybolovlev bear some responsibility, even though Mr. Rybolovlev, whose principal residence is in Monaco, sold the mine after the Grandfather opened.
The authorities are left trying to soothe nerves.
“Why worry about this all the time?” Natalya N. Verbitskaya, the mayor’s press aide, said in an interview. “You will spoil your mood.”
Critics take exception to the “don’t worry, be happy” approach. Valery V. Kovbasyuk, the editor of an opposition online newspaper called Inaya Gazeta, says the municipal government is not being forthright about the risks. Moreover, he says that the local government has moved some residents to new buildings constructed on top of the cemetery of the old gulag without moving the bones and that it is not paying fair compensation for condemned apartments.
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“In my view, we need to move the entire town,” he said. “Every house has cracks.”
But Mr. Kovbasyuk has been frustrated in his efforts to change anything. In 2009, he gathered 800 signatures for a public hearing on cracks in buildings, but the day he was to submit the signatures to the City Council, the police called him in for questioning on an unrelated pretext.
Census data, though, shows that about 12,000 people voted with their feet, leaving the town between 2005 and 2010. Those who remain in Berezniki are on the watch for holes. And its name has shown up on Web sites that are a blow to civic pride, like “The World’s Largest Sinkholes: Doorways to Hell.”
In one district of abandoned homes, the walls yellowed with mold and the windows shattered, old fliers are still pasted to corkboards beside the doors. “Sober Movers,” says one. “We move anything from a piano to a safe, assemble and disassemble furniture. Our movers are always sober.”The Senate is barely functioning. And the future looks even bleaker.
Showdowns, government shutdown threats and "nuclear options" will loom over the chamber in the coming months. In fact, the tumultuous first month of President Donald Trump’s administration may turn out to be the most pleasant period of the 115th Congress.
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It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Total GOP control of Washington should mean that Trump gets everything he wants out of Capitol Hill.
But Senate Democrats — the last line of Democratic defense — are slow-walking the installation of Trump’s Cabinet to a historic degree, so much so that Republicans haven’t even started yet on Trump’s legislative agenda. Republicans will eventually win all these confirmation battles, but it will be time-consuming and ugly.
How ugly has it gotten? Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted against the nomination of Elaine Chao for secretary of transportation. Chao happens to be the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Chao was approved easily — the vote was 93-6 — but Schumer's “no” vote infuriated many Republicans. Yet it was also the embattled Schumer's way of sending a message to both his base and GOP counterparts — I will do whatever it takes. He joined the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker in voting against Chao.
“The Senate is coming apart," said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).
"It’s not a good time. It’s not a good time," added Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Democrats, many of whom openly loathe Trump and are furious over his refugee crackdown — which Democrats describe as a "Muslim ban" — and other executive actions, have used all the procedural arrows in their quiver to slow down confirmation of Trump's Cabinet nominees. They've boycotted committee meetings, refused to let panels meet in the afternoon, dragged out votes as long as possible, and refused to agree to even normal floor requests. They are voting against Trump's Cabinet picks in unprecedented numbers, arguing that Trump doesn't deserve even a patina of partisan support.
And their tactics have been partly successful.
The Senate's confirmation of Trump's Cabinet is the slowest in modern history, spanning back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had their whole Cabinets confirmed at this point; Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama were nearly finished; and even George H.W. Bush had nine of his Cabinet secretaries in place despite opposition from a Democratic Senate.
Trump, though, has only four Cabinet secretaries confirmed, although several more — including attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions — are expected to clear this week.
Democrats say it's Trump's own fault for the slow pace. Democrats claim if Trump had picked better qualified candidates for these posts, the slowdown wouldn't have happened.
“They are extraordinarily fringe Cabinet nominees driving this conversation,” insisted liberal Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), a central advocate of slowing Trump’s agenda.
McConnell has responded to the delay tactics by exploiting his majority status to grind down the Democrats. He scheduled a rare 6:30 a.m. Senate vote on Friday to move forward Betsy DeVos for education secretary. He has delayed the opening times for the Senate each day to evade Schumer’s objections. When Democrats refused to attend committee hearings to vote on nominees, Republicans changed the committee rules so they could jam them through. They moved forward on nominations even before background checks were complete or refused Democratic demands for more information.
Republicans insist Democrats will eventually get tired of gnashing their teeth over Trump. He's the president and there's nothing they can do about it. It's a message you hear over and over from Republicans — Trump won, let it go.
"I don’t see how they sustain their anger and their lack of participation in the governing process very long and still come back in 2018. I just don’t think it’s an agenda for success," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). “So my hope is that once they sort of get over the fact that Donald Trump won … they’ll try to be more productive.”
GOP senators add that Democrats made their own troubles on Trump's nominees by invoking the "nuclear option" on executive-branch nominees and lower-court judges in 2013, making it possible to push them through on a simple majority vote. Before that, it took 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, forcing presidents and the majority to cut deals with the minority party.
The prospect of another "nuclear option" fight looms over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, a move that would cause a volcanic uproar from the minority party. Yet Democrats won’t rule out blocking him, and Republicans are threatening to kill the supermajority requirement to get him confirmed, potentially watering down the filibuster even further.
However, the real payback from Democrats may come later in the year. The first half of 2017 will be dominated by bills that McConnell can push through on a simple majority — including Obamacare repeal and a tax-reform package.
But government funding will run out on April 28, and Democrats could filibuster any bill to keep the government open, forcing a showdown over Republicans' spending and policy decisions. It's unlikely to happen, admitted Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), although other Democrats suggest it could.
The summer will see a vote on increasing the nation's $20 trillion-plus debt ceiling. Republicans can push an increase through the House on their own, but they need 60 votes in the Senate. Democrats could get leverage there.
It is the annual appropriations bills, though, where Democrats have their most power. GOP congressional leaders and the White House already believe Senate Democrats will block most or all of those bills, looking to gain an upper hand over Trump and Republicans. If Trump goes too far with policy riders — totally defunding Planned Parenthood, for instance — or makes cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency or other health and safety programs that Democrats consider too deep, Democrats suggest they're willing to go the mat.
“I don’t know, depends on what they propose,” replied Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) when asked about funding brinkmanship. “We’re not going to just shut the government down to shut the government down. That’s not what this is about."
A number of senators, including those in his own party, said Trump is going to have to dramatically tone down his rhetoric and attempt to build some relationships with Democrats.
“I hope and believe that, sooner rather than later, the president will realize that he has to establish some [bipartisan] relationships," McCain said.
McCain added that the first two weeks of the Trump presidency have felt like “two months.” And some longtime legislators had to dredge up dire events to make today’s political battles seem normal.
"People ask me if I’m worried about our country right now. And I say, well I am. But I always try to put things in perspective,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). “This is a country that survived a civil war followed by the assassination of our president followed by the impeachment of the next president. We got through that, so the Senate will get through this."New Zealanders are not at risk of becoming tenants in their own land, the government's Minister for Land Information said Sunday.
Speaking to Jessica Mutch on TVNZ's Q&A programme, Mark Mitchell (who is also Statistics Minister), defended New Zealand's overseas investment regime.
One interesting remark regarded land sales to foreigners that were not captured under the Overseas Investment Office's legislation. Mitchell suggested work was being done in that area:
JESSICA Is it robust, though, minister? Because we can’t quantify how much of New Zealand land is actually foreign-owned. The OIO looks at iconic and special land, but a piece of land that’s owned by a Chinese buyer or a Russian buyer that might be quite beautiful but doesn’t meet that iconic status, that’s not captured in those figures. MARK I think that Statistics New Zealand actually is developing processes that allows us to capture a lot more of that information.
Other comments made by Mitchell included:
"the net land that’s actually gone into foreign ownership is the same, and it’s been consistent over the last decade"
A defense of the OIO's approval of the sale of Hunter Valley Station to an American buyer, saying the owners had been trying to sell the property to locals for five years without much luck before the international interest
"Actually, some foreign investment into the country is really important because, as Kiwis, we like to engage and invest in other parts of the world as well, and we’re an open economy"
"it’s really important to note that when we’re talking about offshore investment and overseas capital, which is actually really important, fundamentally, to our economy, is that we have got a very extremely robust process that they have to go through before that actually gets signed off. And before it’s signed off, there’s got to be clearly identifiable benefits that go in as part of the conditions before that investment happens and goes forward."
That the OIO could demand an asset be divested if a foreign buyer does not keep to conditions imposed at time of purchase
Mitchell's interview was followed by a panel discussion on foreign land ownership in New Zealand.
Read the transcript of the whole interview below, as sent out by Q&A:
MARK Well the purpose of the OIO office is to make sure that every application is always in New Zealand’s best interests. And I think that – so in relation to Hunter Valley, just a little bit of context around that, Jessica, was that the same family has been faithfully farming Hunter Valley for decades. They’re older now; they want to retire. They’ve had the station on our local market now for five years looking for a local or Kiwi buyer. They haven’t had much luck. And, of course, they’ve had very strong interest from an offshore buyer that’s obviously got a real passion for the area. In terms of the public access, actually, the public access wasn’t that great. It is an operational farm, and of course, when it’s an operational farm, you’ve got to be careful around who’s moving across, especially with open access. But under the OIO application, actually we have increased public access.
JESSICA But in this specific case, though, they weren’t already negotiating with the council to try and get access through to that DOC conservation area and through to the lake of this very iconic property. They now don’t, and those locals there feel as though they’re missing out because of this American buyer.
MARK Those are two separate issues is that people can actually apply to the council to get access – or even through the Commissioner for Crown Lands. But what the OIO has done is they’ve made sure, through their process, which is quite separate, that actually public access is preserved and is actually being strengthened.
JESSICA That’s part of the act, of course, as you know – that you have to think about that. But in this case, was due consideration given? Because a lot of the locals feel as though this has been done by stealth, and they’re missing out on going for a walk in somewhere that they’ve walked in for decades.
MARK No, I can assure you that they’re not going to miss out on going for a walk. In fact, the public access has been increased as part of that OIO process. And, of course, the OIO office is always focused -- their primary focus is making sure that there are tangible benefits above and beyond what would have otherwise been a local sale.
JESSICA But just not walking access, in this case.
MARK No, walking access has been increased too.
JESSICA But it’s a goat track, though; you have to be a very experienced tramper or climber. We’ve been told that if you’re just a regular walker like you or I, you would struggle to get across there.
MARK I’ve been told that I could get across there.
JESSICA Maybe just me, then.
MARK So no, the access is very good. They’ve got access to the camp there. They’ve got access to an additional hut that’s on the station. There’s definitely been an increase in terms of public access. And some of these walking groups actually have got other options open to them to continue to look at increasing that access, as well.
JESSICA Bigger picture, though – are you concerned that this is happening more frequently? We’re having a big buy-up of New Zealand land, and a lot of New Zealanders are really concerned about it. Can you see their point?
MARK No, I don’t accept that there’s a big buy-up of New Zealand land at all. I think—
JESSICA There were 466 hectares – we’ve got those numbers from the OIO – and that was five times more than 2015, so 466 hectares in 2015—in 2016, rather.
MARK The way that that’s captured is technical, but what I can assure you of is that in terms of the net sales, they’re pretty consistent over the last decade. And we’re very conscious of that. We look very, very closely at that. And the OIO process is extremely robust in terms of--
JESSICA These are figures, though, minister, in fairness, from the OIO and show that it’s nearly five times more in 2016 than it was in 2015.
MARK I think, Jessica, it’s the way that number’s been interpreted. Some of those OIO applications that go through that involve land also involve Kiwis.
JESSICA But it’s foreigners having a finger in all these different pies.
MARK The actual — so the net land that’s actually gone into foreign ownership is the same, and it’s been consistent over the last decade.
JESSICA New Zealand First wants a register. Why won’t the government do that?
MARK I’m not going to talk about New Zealand First policy. I’ll just say--
JESSICA Why won’t the government do a register, then?
MARK So the government, in terms of—certainly from my office in the OIO, we are watching very, very carefully, and we have got a very robust process that is focused solely on making sure that any foreign investment—Actually, some foreign investment into the country is really important because, as Kiwis, we like to engage and invest in other parts of the world as well, and we’re an open economy, we’re recognised as being a very strong open economy, so good investment is good.
JESSICA Is it robust, though, minister? Because we can’t quantify how much of New Zealand land is actually foreign-owned. The OIO looks at iconic and special land, but a piece of land that’s owned by a Chinese buyer or a Russian buyer that might be quite beautiful but doesn’t meet that iconic status, that’s not captured in those figures.
MARK I think that Statistics New Zealand actually is developing processes that allows us to capture a lot more of that information.
JESSICA But it’s not robust now, is it?
MARK It’s getting better and better. And in terms of the OIO, we are able to monitor and watch very carefully, in terms of the applications that are coming through the office.
JESSICA But can New Zealanders find out exactly how much New Zealand land is owned by a foreign buyer?
MARK Well I know certainly, through the OIO, you’ve just quoted some figures and numbers there, so we can clearly demonstrate and show what applications we’re dealing with.
JESSICA So yes, you can tell us exactly how much land?
MARK Certainly from the OIO’s perspective, and that’s the portfolio that I’m responsible for, so the answer is yes. But I think that it’s really important to note that when we’re talking about offshore investment and overseas capital, which is actually really important, fundamentally, to our economy, is that we have got a very extremely robust process that they have to go through before that actually gets signed off. And before it’s signed off, there’s got to be clearly identifiable benefits that go in as part of the conditions before that investment happens and goes forward.
JESSICA Let’s talk about that process, then, because another concern that came up with people that we spoke to is they feel like they don’t have a say in the process; they don’t know when a transaction is imminent, when a foreign buyer is coming in, and feel like they don’t have a chance to say, ‘Hey, this is how it’s going to affect us.’ What do you say to that?
MARK I think, in terms of—If we take Hunter Valley Station, for example, that was on the open market for five years, so people were aware that the owners were trying to sell it. It’s actually a leasehold station, so they’re trying to sell the leasehold. And actually under the OIO, there is a requirement before any transaction goes through in terms of foreign ownership that it is actually gone out and advertised in the open market so people are aware of it.
JESSICA But people like Fish & Game say they’re just not being consulted.
MARK Well they, people are able to engage with the OIO if they have got a view or they’ve got information that they want to share around the transaction.
JESSICA In terms of the deal, for example, that people might promise that they will clean up a conservation area or build a walkway, and that’s part of the sale agreement, do you check up on whether they actually do it? And how far do you take it? Do you actually say to them, ‘Look, if you haven’t met this requirement by this time…’? How does that work?
MARK So part of the OIO process, there are a set of conditions that have to be met, and the OIO will continue to monitor those.
JESSICA Do you follow up, though? And what happens? Could you reverse the sale?
MARK Yes. Absolutely it could reverse. There could be a disposal of the asset. That would be the final step. Before that, there’s a whole range of options, starting with a written warning through to fines and then, possibly, the disposal of the asset.
JESSICA Do you require the public to notify you about that, or do members of the OIO go out and monitor and check?
MARK No, it’s a combination. The public certainly can notify us, the actual investor themselves is required to notify us if they feel like they can’t meet one of the conditions attached to the OIO approval, and, of course, we also go out and enforce ourselves.
JESSICA How many breaches have there been, minister?
MARK There have been several breaches that we have taken action on.
JESSICA Can you give us a ballpark figure?
MARK I can’t give you a ballpark figure. All I can say is that there have been breaches and we have acted on them.
JESSICA In terms of this whole situation, the locals and some New Zealanders in these situations do feel nervous. They do feel like this is happening without them knowing about it. Is it time for the government to sit back, take a breath, perhaps have a register, have something where the public feel as though it’s more transparent? Do you feel like the government should be doing that?
MARK I think that we should be listening all the time in terms of if there’s a way to improve a process. And actually, me as minister, welcome that sort of input, and I’ve had meetings like that since I’ve taken over the portfolio. Now we’re Kiwis, and we love owning property, and we have a keen interest in property, so it’s only natural that we have a real interest in how we’re actually managing—
JESSICA Do we risk, though, becoming tenants in our own country if we continue to let this happen?
MARK No, I don’t think we do. I think that the percentage of land that goes into foreign ownership and attracts foreign investment is actually very small, in terms of you know the productive land that we have in New Zealand, so I don’t feel like there’s any risk of that at all. And the fact that we’re monitoring it and watching it very, very closely also reinforces that.
JESSICA Does it matter to you who owns the land?
MARK Um, it matters to me in the sense that if we’re going to have some foreign investment, we should welcome that. We are an open economy. I’ve just been up to India with a business delegation where we’ve got Kiwis that are doing very good investments up there—
JESSICA But does it matter to you who owns our land?
MARK It matters to me that whoever is going to come and want to own a piece of New Zealand is that they’re passionate about New Zealand, is that they have a genuine interest in us and want to invest in us, and that they are actually going to deliver real benefits to us. And that’s what matters.Several readers have called my attention to a new paper in PLoS ONE by Christine Ma-Kellams and Jim Blascovich, psychologists from the University of California at Santa Barbara, supposedly showing that reading about science in an experimental study makes one behave more morally and altruistically. They also claim to show that studying science improves your moral judgment (reference below; download is free.) I say “supposedly” and “claim” because I don’t find the paper terribly convincing.
The authors did four experiments, three of them using the same protocol to “prime” the subjects with science or with a “neutral” non-science task. The authors’ predicted that “the notion of science as part of a broader moral vision of society [i.e., Enlightenment values] facilitates moral and prosocial judgments and behaviors.” And that’s what they found, in all four studies. I’ll briefly describe the experiments and results.
Study 1. This used 48 undergraduates from UCSB. All of them first read a date-rape story in which a guy drives a woman home, the woman invites him in for a drink, and then he has “nonconsensual sex” (a euphemism for “rape”, I guess) with her. Afterwards, the participants answered questions about their field of study and how wrong they thought the man’s act was (on a scale from 1–completely right, to 100–completely wrong). They also answered the question “How much do you believe in science?” on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much).
Results: Field
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’s budding private sector.
“It might not be real business today but Cuba’s cuentapropistas have tremendous potential,” she said. “If we develop business between our two countries, then passengers will get aboard our flights.”
If we develop business between our two countries, then passengers will get aboard our flights. Christine Valls, American Airlines
Many other chambers of commerce around the country have taken business delegations to Cuba, and Valls said the Greater Miami Chamber is working on such a plan too. “The goal is to do something in 2017,” she said.
American also hopes to fill more seats to Cuba by using its international network to bring in passengers from Europe, Asia and Australia, said Fernández. “The U.S. opening to Cuba has stirred up a lot of global interest in Cuba,” he said.
For American, Cuba is a long-term play.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on developing new markets and we expect to do the same here,” Valls said during a cocktail party American hosted in Cienfuegos to commemorate its first flight. “We’re really excited about this.”
“This is really a big investment in the future for them. I think they fully expect to lose money during the initial phase,” said Bob Guild, vice president of Marazul Charters, one of the pioneers in the Cuban charter business. Marazul plans to phase out its regular charter business at the end of November and has been emphasizing tours and other aspects of specialized travel to Cuba since the major airlines began scheduled service to Cuba.
Cuba Travel Services is another charter company that is moving out of that business to other Cuban travel services. Michael Zuccato, general manager of CTS, predicts that as more commercial airlines start their regularly scheduled Cuban routes, adjustments will have to be made. “I think there could be a lot of empty seats, a lot of competition on all the routes.’
To fill its planes, AA knows it will have to not only reach out to new passengers who may have never visited Cuba before but also cater to traditional charter passengers — the Cuban-American community.
“The key thing is providing greater access to families and also to other people so they can experience some of the beautiful opportunities Cuba has to offer,” said Fernández. “This cultural exchange doesn’t need to involve politics.”
Winning over those Cuban-American customers, especially older ones, could be challenging for American as well for the other major airlines with designs on Cuba.
Bill Hauf, who operates Island Travel & Tours, a charter company, says his passengers aren’t looking for the ease of booking online. They pay in cash, like to come into the office and schmooze with employees, want to travel on flights that leave at the crack of down so they get a full first-day in Cuba, travel with lots of checked baggage and generally plan their trips well in advance.
Although some charter companies have dropped out of the business with the advent of scheduled flights, Hauf plans to continue. “We’ve done a better job of serving our customers,” he said.
“In order to put people in the seats, the airlines will have to reach out to a different class of passengers,” said Zuccato whose company is helping American Airlines’ passengers with their Cuban visa requirements. “With these new flights, you could have passengers in Nebraska booking tickets to Cuba, and the Nebraska ticket agent is not going to know anything about travel to Cuba,” he said.This is a Call to Action for a
Non-Hierarchical Occupation of Monsanto Everywhere
Whether you like it or not, chances are Monsanto contaminated the food you ate today with chemicals and unlabeled GMOs. Monsanto controls much of the world's food supply at the expense of food democracy worldwide. This site is dedicated to empowering citizens of the world to take action against Monsanto & it's enablers like the FDA, USDA, EPA, GMA, BIO, and the processed food companies that use Monsanto's products.
Today activists from Occupy Monsanto and the Organic Consumers Association did an epic money drop in the Senate gallery to highlight the fact that so many Senators have been funded by the biotechnology industry. Unfortunately, the Senate voted to continue debate on the DARK Act. These activists will be in court on August 4.
“In 2013, the first March Against Monsanto garnered more than 2 million protesters in over 400 cities across the world. Since then, the March Against Monsanto has become the most powerful grassroots initiative we have in the fight to reclaim our food supply from the GMO seed juggernaut known as the Monsanto Company,” said Anthony Gucciardi, March Against Monsanto speaker.
According to the Center for Food Safety, dozens of US states have considered GMO labeling initiatives and a few have passed laws mandating GMO transparency. Vermont’s governor signed the nation’s first GMO-labeling requirement into law in 2014, to take effect in 2016, but a coalition of biotech firms filed a lawsuit in opposition. Other states have passed limited labeling laws with strings attached.
GMO crops and ingredients have been consumed in the US for over twenty years and most of the corn, soybeans, and canola produced in the US are genetically engineered. Polls conducted by the New York Times, Washington Post, and Consumer Reports show over 90% of Americans support national GMO labeling – an initiative that has been repeatedly defeated at the state level as a result of heavy spending by Monsanto-backed lobbying groups.
As the most powerful biotech corporation today, Monsanto has drawn criticism for its control of the global food chain and advancement of genetically modified organisms.
On Saturday, October 17th, the Food Justice Rally will begin at noon sharp on the West Lawn of the Capitol building. Scheduled to speak about the dangers of GMOs and the need for GMO labeling include Dr. Edward Group, Steven Druker, Anthony Gucciardi, Ronnie Cummins, Adam Eidinger, Kelly L. Derricks, and Liz Reitzig with other special guests. There will be a large unity march through the streets of D.C. following the rally.
The two-day event, in which hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are expected to turn out, aims to lobby Senators for the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act as well as occupy Monsanto, the EPA, the GMA, and the TPP!
WASHINGTON, DC — On October 16 and 17, 2015, the Food Justice Coalition will take to the streets of Washington, D.C. to raise awareness and lobby for the labeling of GMO foods.
Occupy Monsanto supports the March Against Monsanto!
Below is the News Advisory for the Washington, DC March Against Monsanto.
Click here to the read the Global March Against Monsanto News Advisory.
NEWS ADVISORY
May 22, 2015 CONTACT: Adam Eidinger 202-744-2671
[email protected]
MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO
WORLDWIDE PROTESTS ON MAY 23 Marchers in over 400 Cities Demand Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods and the Reduction of Carcinogenic Chemicals Used in Industrial Agriculture
WASHINGTON, DC – On May 23, 2015, for the third year in a row, hundreds of thousands of concerned individuals will gather across 38 countries and 428 cities to join in peaceful protest against the Monsanto Company as a part of the March Against Monsanto grassroots campaign. This movement seeks to raise awareness to the dangers surrounding Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds and cancer-linked herbicide Roundup.
The campaign comes as the demand for GMO labeling and non-GMO food alternatives continues its exponential climb, with states like Vermont enacting mandatory GM labeling legislation that will require food corporations to let consumers know if their products contain GM ingredients.
In polls conducted by the New York Times, Washington Post, Consumer Reports, and many others, over 90% of respondents were in support of national GMO labeling – an initiative that has been defeated time and time again at the state level thanks to heavy spending by Monsanto-backed lobbying groups.
Highlighting the concern over Monsanto’s products is the latest report from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, which listed the primary chemical in Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Roundup, glyphosate, as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” This finding has drawn many researchers and health experts to stand behind the goals of March Against Monsanto.
WHO: Concerned consumers, students, and gardeners, members of DC March Against Monsanto, GMO Free DC, Occupy Monsanto, and the Organic Consumers Association.
WHAT: The Washington, DC March Against Monsanto
WHERE: Lafayette Park, north of the White House to Monsanto’s Washington, DC offices.
WHEN: Saturday, May 23. Marchers will gather at noon and march at 1pm
The complete list of this weekend’s Marches Against Monsanto taking place around the world can be viewed at http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/events/
“We are marching because we’re tired of being ignored by the White House, FDA, and the USDA,“ says Gene Etic, an organizer with Occupy Monsanto. The White House has failed to respond to multiple GMO labeling petitions and has gone so far as appointing former Monsanto employees to positions of power in the FDA. Officially, the FDA does not believe there is any material difference between patented GMO plants and their non-GMO counterparts, but marchers believe that patented plants deserve a label in order to fully inform consumers of the novel technology.
“We already label foods that are irradiated, a process that everyone agrees is safe, so if GMO ingredients are also safe, why not label them as well?” asks Natalie Freeds, an organizer with DC March Against Monsanto. “I want this basic information so I can choose which foods to feed my children.” In fact, over 64 countries around the world either ban GE foods or require them to be properly labeled, including Russia, China, and the European Union.
Marchers will also be taking a stand against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement that will prevent GMO labeling in America and force Monsanto’s patented products on to countries that wish to be GMO-free.
There are two GMO labeling federal bills currently in Congress called the “Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act,” which would require the mandatory labeling of GMOs sold in America. The House version, H.R. 913, is sponsored by Rep. Defazio (D-OR), and the Senate version, S.511, is sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA).
Aside from marching against Monsanto and the TPP, organizers are marching against Rep. Pompeo’s H.R. 1599, colloquially known as the D.A.R.K. Act (Denying Americans’ Right to Know). This legislation promoted by Monsanto and other industrial agricultural proponents would pre-empt state labeling laws and would undo the GMO labeling laws that have been passed in Connecticut, Maine and Vermont.
Americans Demand GMO Labeling
In 2011 and 2012 over a million Americans signed the “Just Label It” FDA petition for GMO labeling, but the FDA has responded with silence. “The Food and Drug Administration is not listening to the overwhelming majority of Americans who want meaningful food labels,” says Jessica Payne, founder of Loudoun Against GMOs. “We have signed numerous petitions but we’ve received no response. We only want the same food labels citizens of over 64 countries enjoy.”
The deafening silence on GMO labeling reaches to President Obama’s White House as well. Activists have chosen to gather outside the White House because in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 President Obama’s White House failed to respond to three “We The People” online petitions on the White House website that have reached the required signature threshold for a response.
On September 23, 2011, on the second day after the “We The People” online petition website was launched, the first GMO labeling petition was created. This petition is the oldest unanswered petition on the “We The People” website. It has received over 66,000 signatures and has not received a response, while a petition on raw milk, which was also created on the very same day, was responded to after only 6,000 signatures. In April of 2012 another GMO labeling petition was created and 37 months & over 115,000 signatures later, there is still no response from the White House. Most recently, in October, 2014, another petition concerning the EPA’s approval of GE crops resistant to the highly toxic chemical 2,4-D reached the required threshold of over 100,000 signatures but has gone unanswered. In the meantime, the White House has answered three petitions on cannabis legalization and responded to insignificant petitions on issues like building the Death Star and the White House beer recipe. “What is the point of petitioning our government when our petitions fall upon deaf ears?” asks Gene Etic. “We are taking to the streets because our concerns can’t be ignored any longer.”
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by the New York Police Department about their purchases at Barneys, or took any action evidencing a belief or suspicion that either had committed or may have committed any illegal act that required or requested intervention by either Barneys Loss Prevention staff or the NYPD.
He adds that Barneys Loss Prevention Department has “no policy, written or unwritten” that encourages them to racially profile customers; rather, it has a “formal anti-racial profiling policy.”
But the report also reveals that the NYPD’s Grand Larceny Unit makes regular, unscheduled visits to the control room where loss-prevention officers sit. On occasion, it says, the officers would “either request visual surveillance on an individual they had followed into the store, or on other occasions, would watch the monitors in the Control Room for a period of time.”
What the report doesn’t say is how the NYPD gained regular unrestricted access to the Barneys control room in order to follow customers they deem suspicious (in the Daily News, Sharpton raised the same point, asking reporters Kerry Burke and Ginger Otis, “Do they have policies in place (regarding) the NYPD? If so, what? If not, then you’ve turned over the civil liberties of your customers.”) In other words: Has Barneys granted permission for the NYPD to be there and watch its customers? Or is the store claiming that the police come in periodically without permission?
Yaki’s report says that in both the Phillips and Christian incidents, Barneys employees told the police that, in their opinion, there was no need to investigate the transactions. In the case of Trayon Christian, the report says, the officers commented that he was being “too fast” with his purchase. The security cameras zoomed in on his credit card while he was buying the belt, although, as the report puts it, “No one in Loss Prevention can recollect whether the zoom was at the request of the NYPD officers or a Loss Prevention staff member.”
In three separate places, the report mentions Barneys’ anti-racial profiling policy. And while Yaki is indeed a civil rights expert, an attorney, and a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, he’s also a “crisis response” expert, promising his clients a “rapid response and war room management” that are “seemlessly [sic] integrated into a client’s overall objectives and message.”
Between that and the fact that our email to Yaki was answered by Barneys’ PR firm, it’s a stretch to conclude that this report is completely independent. But a spokesperson for the store said we were wrong, explaining that while Yaki is a paid consultant, his conclusions were indeed independent. Our questions about Yaki’s compensation were met with this:
“Mr. Yaki has been retained by Barneys New York to review, top to bottom, with unrestricted access, the policies, practices, and procedures of its non-discrimination policy.”
OK, then. Yaki is now at work on a second report, which will examine Barneys policies in more detail and make recommendations. There’s no date set yet for its release.
Report on the Kayla Phillips and Trayon Christian IncidentsPOLICE have apprehended a group of seven men for the massacre of eight members of one family in Krabi province in the South last week – a crime that shocked the country.
Thais awoke to the shocking news last Tuesday that eight people – three of them children – were killed en masse in the house of Worayuth Sunglung, a village headman in Ao Luek district. The victims were shot in the head execution-style, police said.
National police chief Pol-General Chakthip Chaijinda said yesterday that all seven suspects confessed to police. Six of them claimed that they were misinformed about the objective of the crime by the seventh suspect, identified only as Bang Fath, a former security guard.
Chakthip said Bang Fath had land disputes with Worayuth after the village chief took out mortgages on several parcels of land with Bang Fath. However, Bang Fath refused to return the land, worth millions of baht, after Worayuth repaid the debts. Some cases related to the mortgage dispute are being heard in court.
Worayuth, out of anger, allegedly threatened Bang Fath’s life, triggering Bang Fath to take action.
Chakthip said Bang Fath formed a team of six men, and falsely claimed that Worayuth owed him Bt3 million. The team had tried to confront Worayuth on three previous occasions before managing to do that last week.
“Our investigation showed that it was Bang Fath who shot to death all the victims,” Chakthip said, adding he would seek capital punishment for the suspects.
“We will use all the laws to prosecute them and we will seek death sentences for them. They killed people and children without mercy.”
Prior to the massacre last Tuesday, Bang Fath’s team had secretly visited nearby areas and Worayuth’s house several times to confirm the location.
A source later identified Bang Fath as Surifath Bannopwongsakul, saying he came from Phang Nga province.
The national police chief insisted that the seven suspects were civilians, dismissing previous rumours they had a military background. “Some of them were rubber tappers who worked for Bang Fath at a plantation,” he said.
On the afternoon of July 10, the doors to Worayuth’s house were opened for the gang as the assailants wore camouflage clothes and had claimed they were security officials. Worayuth’s house was in the same compound as four others and was used as his office.
However, Worayuth had not yet returned home so the group held those in the house at the time as hostages while waiting for him. The number of people taken hostage increased as other family members from other houses in the same compound came to the main house.
Worayuth arrived home at about 8pm, bringing the number of those held hostage to 11. The assailants separated the group in different rooms while negotiation started with Worayuth.
Police quoted Surifath as confessing that he intended to kill only Worayuth’s family – namely Worayuth, his wife and their three children. But as the number of those who witnessed his crime increased, he decided to kill them all.
Eight people died while three others, including a sleeping three-month-old baby survived. An earlier report claimed the baby’s mother covered the baby with a blanket, so that the killer was unable to see him.
At first, Surifath allegedly gave weapons to other gang members to help murder people in the house. When they refused, he allegedly did the job himself.
Chakthip told a press conference in Krabi that during the hostage taking, Bang Fath set up documents stating that Worayuth transferred his Toyota Yaris to him.
The same source added that Bang Fath initially tried to stage a scene to make people believe Worayuth killed his family members and himself because of pressure over business woes.
He forced Worayuth to telephone one friend to borrow Bt500,000, saying that he had business problems.
After the massacre, the group fled in two vehicles and also stole Worayuth’s car. They hid their Fortuner in Ao Luek and burnt Worayuth’s car in Phang Nga.
Bang Fath then boarded a public bus to Phuket and hid in a rented house. Police arrested the first suspect in Nakhon Si Thammarat before extending the investigation that led to other suspects.
The suspects were taken to Phang Nga’s Muang district to sites where they are said to have hidden and destroyed evidence.
At one suspect’s house in the Phang Nga police found potential evidence, including phone SIM cards and identity cards belonging to the victims, as well as three guns and ammunition reportedly belonging to Worayuth.
Confessions by the suspects then led police to retrieve gloves and handcuffs that they used.Paul Gallen's phone seized by Sydney airport customs: report
Posted
The ASADA investigation into the alleged 2011 supplement plan used by Cronulla has taken a new twist after it emerged Sharks skipper Paul Gallen's phone was reportedly seized by customs officials at Sydney airport last weekend.
Gallen was returning from Auckland where he had played in his side's 18-14 win over the Warriors on Saturday but according to a report by Fairfax, data was downloaded from his phone before it was returned to him.
The NSW State of Origin captain, who is one of 12 players due to be interviewed by ASADA this month, was separated from his team-mates who returned to Cronulla without him.
"Customs grabbed 'Gal' and they held him for a while," a source told Fairfax.
"It reached the stage where the bus couldn't wait any longer."
It is reported that the order to take Gallen's phone was issued to customs from another government agency.
Gallen denied to Fairfax that his phone was confiscated or that information was downloaded by Customs.
AAP
Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, sydney-2000, cronulla-2230, nsw, australiaSPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Police began an investigation Monday after hundreds of Subarus have been stolen in the past few months.
Police say older model Subarus are the number one target for vehicle thieves in Spokane right now. The Spokane Patrol Anti-Crime Team said they continue to respond to calls about stolen Subarus and find them abandoned all over Spokane.
Authorities also warned drivers with 1990s to early 2000s Subaru models to be hyper vigilant. Police said early models typically do not have alarms or chipped keys, making them easy targets for thieves.
In the past week, Spokane Police said they have arrested at least five people who admitted to a string of Subaru thefts.
One of those people, Gregorie McGill, appeared in court Monday and was charged with not one, but five Subaru thefts. According to court documents, McGill told police in the past six months he has stolen approximately 50 Subarus. In the past two weeks, McGill said he stole 8 or 9 cars.
As unbelievable as it may sound, police said they arrested a juvenile who admitted to stealing even more cars. That person said he stole approximately 100 Subarus in the past six months. In the past two weeks, he thought he had stolen about 15 cars.
Police recounted what the teenager told them: “He does this because he likes the adrenaline rush. He told me his adrenaline addiction is worse than his drug (methamphetamine) addiction. He told me he does not feel bad and has not remorse. He hold me when he gets out of jail, he will probably not stop stealing cars.”
That statement has already been proven true. Police said the teenager was only out of jail for about a week before getting arrested again.
“Between the time that he’s been released and now, he has accumulated a minimum six new counts of theft of a motor vehicle,” said Spokane Police Officer Josh Laiva.
The investigation is still ongoing, so it is possible the group is responsible for even more Subaru thefts in the area.Mike Segar / Reuters “You’re always going to have people picking apart this great man,” actor Jon Voight (right) send of Trump.
At the annual Values Voter Summit this weekend, Christian conservative leaders and attendees offered interesting and sometimes bizarre explanations for why they’re supporting the thrice-married, often offensive and insulting Donald Trump in interviews with me for SiriusXM Progress. Outside the conference of evangelical activists at which Trump spoke on Friday, a group of religious leaders opposed to Trump staged a protest, explaining that the Republican nominee didn’t exemplify Christian values when he mocked a reporter with disabilities and called women “pigs.”
But former GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a former Ted Cruz supporter, called the protest “nonsense” and repeated her view that, “God had a hand in the political process” in making Trump the GOP nominee. She also dismissed Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying only that, “there isn’t a dime’s worth of similarity between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.”
Christian Broadcasting Network host David Brody, responding to Trump’s claims that he will be “better for the gay community” than Hillary Clinton, observed that evangelicals will “look the other way on that” because they “believe Donald Trump will support conservative nominees” for the Supreme Court and they “look at it in those terms and don’t look at it as a man, if you will.”
Then there was actor Jon Voight, who said he traveled to the conference in Washington specifically to introduce Trump from the stage. The Academy Award winner, who explained that he’d supported Trump from the beginning of his run, responded to the protest of religious leaders outside of the event by comparing Trump to Saint Mother Teresa and the Nobel laureate and theologian Albert Schweitzer.
“Well, I’m a Catholic and I’m speaking to this group of Christians, and I’m happy to be doing it,” Voight said. “There will always be naysayers. There are people who are naysayers against Mother Teresa, trying to find something against her. They did it with Albert Schweitzer, and I was so enamored with what Schweitzer was doing in Africa.”If you can use ES6 template strings, you can write reactive, componentized views using less than 500 bytes of helper code.
Let me be clear. This approach isn’t intended as a serious replacement for React+Redux/RxJS. It doesn’t re-render views very quickly and the way it handles events is verbose. It’s simply an experimental way to write light, simple applications that need to load fast, without the hassle of transpiling JSX or rendering on the server. I’m sharing it as a curiosity more than anything else.
The idea
We store our state in observables – objects that let us subscribe to their changes with callbacks.
We create HTML for each component in computed observables – observables that read other observables, and automatically update with them.
We generate our view with a ‘master’ computed observable that read all the components’ computeds.
When that master observable changes, we update the DOM.
We make the observables and computeds work using a reactive microlibrary. Trkl, minified and gzipped, does the job in a little over 400 bytes.
That’s a lot to take in. Let’s first take a moment to understand these observables and computed observables, so we can then see how they fit together.
Understanding ‘observables’
Observables are values whose changes we can subscribe to with callbacks. When the observable changes, the callbacks are run.
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x.subscribe(change => console.log(change));
x.set(1); // The console prints '1'
x.set(2); // The console prints '2'
If we store our application’s model in observables, we can then read it with computed observables.
Understanding ‘computed observables’
A computed observable is an observable that runs a function, takes note of the observables that function reads, and re-runs the function whenever they change – updating itself in the process. A computed is an observable itself, and it can be subscribed to by other computeds.
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let x = observable();
x.set(1);
let y = computedObservable(()=> {
const newVal = x.get() * 2;
console.log('New Y value is:'+ newVal)
return newVal;
});
// The console prints 'New Y value is 2'
x.set(5);
// The console prints 'New Y value is 10'
y.get(); // returns 10
let z = computedObservable(()=> {
return y.get() * 3;
});
x.set(10);
// y's value is 20
// z's value is 60
How computed observables work is a little out of the scope of this post. Essentially, whenever we run an computed, we set a flag that tells any observables being read that they must subscribe the computed to their changes. When those observables next change, the computed gets re-run automatically.
Don’t worry if you’re still fuzzy on exactly how they work. The most important idea to grasp is that if our model is written with observables, our view can be written as a computed that is always updated when the model changes.
Here’s a simple example:
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const outputDiv = document.getElementById('output')
let firstname = observable().set('Crash');
let lastname = observable().set('Bandicoot');
let view = computedObservable(()=> {
const html = firstname.get() +'' + lastname.get();
outputDiv.innerHTML = html;
});
// Our HTML is now 'Crash Bandicoot';
firstname.setValue('Coco');
// Our HTML is now 'Coco Bandicoot'
This works, but remains too unwieldy to use on anything beyond the simplest views. We need to refine it.
Template strings
If we can use ES6 template strings – if we don’t care about anything beyond bleeding-edge browsers, or if we’re willing to transpile our code – we can embed HTML markup directly in our view function.
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let view = computedObservable(()=> {
outputDiv.innerHTML = `
<h1>My name is:</h1>
<p>${firstname.get()} ${lastname.get()}</p>
`;
});
Much better!
Now, that’s fine for two lines of HTML, but what if our view gets more complex? We hardly want to write all our markup in a single function. Won’t it grow out of control after five or six lines? And what if we want to reuse the same component in multiple places? We need to separate different parts of the view, rendering each component in its own computed, and subscribing to each computed in our ‘root’ view:
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let heading = computedObservable(()=> {
return `<h1>My name is:</h1>`;
});
let para = computedObservable(()=> {
return `<p>${firstname.get()} ${lastname.get()}</p>`;
});
let view = computedObservable(()=> {
outputDiv.innerHTML = `
${heading.get()}
${para.get()}
`;
});
Now, when firstname or lastname changes, para will update. Para is an observable like any other, so the view can subscribe to it.
Ignore redundant re-renders
If we change firstname and lastname at the same time, our view will render twice – one time with the first changed property, and another time with both. This is expensive, because every time we render the HTML, we force the browser to reparse the entire view’s HTML.
Some observables libraries are smart enough to handle this problem for us. Trkl – which I wrote – isn’t. It simply does the minimum necessary in the minimum bytes – that’s why it’s small. But we can still throttle redraws in a very simple way: whenever the view needs to change, we put our new markup in a variable, and then queue a redraw for the next frame if we haven’t already. On subsequent updates, we just update the variable, so that the queued-up redraw will output that, instead. This means the DOM only changes once.
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let nextHTML = '';
let queuedRedraw = false;
let view = computedObservable(()=> {
return `
${heading.get()}
${para.get()}
`;
});
let drawView = computedObservable(()=> {
nextHTML = view.get();
if (!queuedRedraw) {
window.requestAnimationFrame(()=> {
queuedRedraw = false;
outputDiv.innerHTML = nextHTML;
});
queuedRedraw = true;
}
});
Handling events
One shortcoming of only dealing with HTML strings, rather than actual DOM objects, is that we can only add events by adding inline event handlers to our markup. This is verbose and only allows events to call functions that are globally accessible on window. I have to admit that this is a real shortcoming of the approach. Still, if you’re building something basic enough, you might decide you can bear it.
Here’s what a form input might look like:
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let form = computedObservable(()=> {
return `
<form>
<label for='firstname'>First name:</label>
<input type='text' id='firstname' onchange='setFirstName(this)'>
</form>
`;
});
window.setFirstName = inputEl => {
firstname.set(inputEl.value);
};
Be careful how many events you attach. Remember that because the entire view is redrawn each time, every re-render means tearing down the existing event handlers and recreating new ones.
Putting it all together
You can see an example of this approach in a recent experiment of mine – a hands-free recipe app that uses computed observables and template strings to render the view. When the model is mutated, the view responds instantly, and without requiring any templating library or heavy dependencies.
Tempted to give it a try yourself? Have a go in your next experiment, and tell me how you get on in the comments below!Dec 17, 2014 11:38 AM Dec 17, 2014 11:38 AM
An East Quogue woman who was arrested and held for four nights on a misdemeanor trespassing charge after taking photos of a model of a helicopter at the entrance to the Air National Guard 106th Rescue Wing in July 2009 was awarded $1.112 million in damages by a federal jury last week following a trial on her false arrest lawsuit.
Nancy Genovese, 58, filed the lawsuit against Suffolk County and Southampton Town—the latter of which was later dropped as a defendant—in 2009, alleging that she was humiliated and physically abused during her time in County Jail in Riverside, according to a release sent by the law offices of Frederick K. Brewington, which is representing Ms. Genovese.
Ms. Genovese was arrested on July 30, 2009, by Suffolk County sheriff’s deputies after Air National Guard officials said they saw her taking photographs of an out-of-service HH-3E “Jolly Green Giant” helicopter near the entrance of the base at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton. In November 2009, four months after her arrest, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota’s office dropped the trespassing charge following its own investigation of the incident.
The charge was dismissed after investigators determined that Ms. Genovese—who had two registered guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in her car at the time—had remained inside her vehicle, and off the base’s property, just prior to her arrest, Robert Clifford, a spokesman for the DA, wrote in an email at the time.
“This is a positive determination by a smart jury that heard the evidence, reasoned through the facts and the law, and came up with a fair and appropriate decision,” Mr. Brewington said on Tuesday.
The federal jury awarded Ms. Genovese $1.112 million to compensate for her being incarcerated, but was hung on the amount of punitive damages that she should also be receiving. That amount could be set at a later date, according to Mr. Brewington.
“The fact that they could not make a determination on punitive damages should be an indication to the county that this type of mistreatment at the hands of sheriffs will not and should not be tolerated,” he added.
A representative from the Suffolk County sheriff’s office did not return multiple calls and an email seeking comment this week on the ruling, which was handed down last Thursday, December 11, in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, in Central Islip.
“We are not involved with this case, so we have no opinion of it,” Cheran Cambridge, public affairs manager for the ANG, wrote in an email on Wednesday morning.
As for Ms. Genovese, she said Tuesday morning that she’s relieved that the ordeal has finally come to an end.
“I’m very happy that it’s over with,” Ms. Genovese said, “especially living in such a small community … I feel like my name has finally been cleared.”
Authorities said they found an XM-15 assault rifle and a shotgun—both registered and unloaded—in Ms. Genovese’s car, and an estimated 500 rounds of ammunition in her trunk, at the time of her arrest. She said she was on the way home from a shooting range in Ridge that evening when she decided to stop and take a photo of the helicopter and upload it to a website that supports American troops.
Ms. Genovese was charged with third-degree criminal trespassing and released four days later from the Suffolk County Jail after posting $50,000 bail. She previously told The Press that she did not realize she was under arrest until she had been questioned without an attorney present for about eight hours.
She explained that she was questioned in public by officers with the Sheriff’s Department, Town Police officers, as well as FBI and officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She said she was transported to Suffolk County Police headquarters in Yaphank for further questioning and did not realize until 2 a.m. the following morning that she was under arrest.
The eight-day trial spurred by her lawsuit concluded last Thursday, December 11, according to Mr. Brewington’s office.
“If this can happen to me, and officers can abuse their power like this, I can only imagine how other people who are not as fortunate as me have been treated,” Ms. Genovese said.
Ms. Genovese added that for the first time since the incident, she went out and bought a Christmas tree this year and plans to celebrate with her family next week.
“I’m so excited, starting off the new year fresh,” she said. “It feels like a weight is off my shoulders and I can move on with my life.”Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
April 24, 2016, 5:41 PM GMT / Updated April 24, 2016, 7:56 PM GMT By Elisha Fieldstadt and The Associated Press
President Barack Obama said Sunday that he doesn't take seriously North Korea's claim that it would halt nuclear tests if the U.S. suspends military exercises with South Korea.
North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong made the ultimatum in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press Saturday hours after North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine.
"We don’t take seriously a promise to halt" nuclear tests, Obama said during a joint press conference in Hanover with German chancellor Angela Merkel.
He said the U.S. would engage in "serious conversations" with North Korea if the country shows that it is serious about ending its nuclear program.
"What is clear is that North Korea continues to engage in continuous provocative behavior, that they have been actively pursuing a nuclear program, an ability to launch nuclear weapons," Obama said. "And although more often than not they fail in many of these tests, they gain knowledge each time they engage in these tests."
U.S. President Barack Obama attends a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on April 24, 2016 in Hanover, Germany. Adam Berry / Getty Images
Obama is in Germany on two-day push to sell his trans-Atlantic trade pact, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). He said Sunday the U.S. and European Union need to "keep moving forward" on negotiations for a U.S.-Europe trade deal. He said Merkel agrees with him.
"What you’re seeing around the world is people are unsettled by globalization," Obama said. But "trade has brought enormous benefits," he said, adding that America has to stay competitive as regions in Asia and Africa begin to develop their economies.
Proponents argue that the deal would boost business at a time of global economic uncertainty. Critics fear the erosion of consumer protections and environmental standards.
While Obama repeatedly praised Merkel during their joint appearance and expressed appreciation over the U.S.-Germany relationship, he said he does not agree with her proposal to create "safe zones" to shelter refugees in war-torn Syria because of the military commitment that would be involved. "Who's going to put on a bunch of ground troops inside of Syria," Obama asked.
Still, he said the German chancellor was "on the right side of history" in her effort to aid the refugees in the midst of political push-back.
Merkel has received criticism at home for allowing thousand of people fleeing violence in Syria and other conflict zones to resettle in Germany. She recently helped Europe and Turkey negotiate a deal to help ease the migrant flow.At the turn of the 20th century, the Post Office Department relied entirely on antiquated mailhandling operations, such as the "pigeonhole" method of letter sorting, a holdover from colonial times. Although crude sorting machines were proposed by inventors of canceling machines in the early 1900s and tested in the 1920s, the Great Depression and World War II postponed widespread development of post office mechanization until the mid-1950s. The Post Office Department then took major steps toward mechanization by initiating projects and awarding contracts for the development of a number of machines and technologies, including letter sorters, facer-cancelers, automatic address readers, parcel sorters, advanced tray conveyors, flat sorters, and letter mail coding and stamp-tagging technology.
Post Office Sorting Machines
Post Office Cancelers
Post Office Optical Character Reader
Mechanization increased productivity. By the mid-1970s, however, it was clear that cheaper, more efficient methods and equipment were needed if the Postal Service was to offset rising costs associated with growing mail volume. To reduce the number of mail piece handlings, the Postal Service began to develop an expanded ZIP Code in 1978.
The new code required new equipment. The Post Office entered the age of automation in September 1982 when the first computer-driven single-line optical character reader was installed in Los Angeles. The equipment required a letter to be read only once at the originating office by an OCR, which printed a barcode on the envelope. At the destinating office, a less expensive barcode sorter (BCS) sorted the mail by reading its barcode.
Following the introduction of the ZIP+4 code in 1983, the first delivery phase of the new OCR channel sorters and BCSs was completed by mid-1984.
Today, a new generation of equipment is changing the way mail flows and improving productivity. Multiline optical character readers (MLOCRs) read the entire address on an envelope, spray a barcode on the envelope, then sort it at the rate of more than nine per second. Wide area barcode readers can read a barcode virtually anywhere on a letter. Advanced facer-canceler systems face, cancel, and sort mail. The remote barcoding system (RBCS) provides barcoding for handwritten script mail or mail that cannot be read by OCRs.
Walk-It
Until now, most of the emphasis in automation has been processing machine-imprinted mail. Still, letter mail with addresses that were handwritten or not machine-readable had to be processed manually or by a letter sorting machine. The RBCS now allows most of this mail to receive delivery point barcodes without being removed from the automated mailstream. When MLOCRs cannot read an address, they spray an identifying code on the back of the envelope. Operators at a data entry site, which may be far from the mail processing facility, read the address on a video screen and key a code that allows a computer to determine the ZIP Code information. The results are transmitted back to a modified barcode sorter, which pulls the 11-digit ZIP Code information for that item, and sprays the correct barcode on the front of the envelope. The mail then can be sorted within the automated mailstream.
Handling Paper Flow
Competition and ChangeViewers of the United States victory over Japan in the Women’s World Cup final — and there was a record number of them — couldn’t help but notice one emphatic fan in the stands.
This fan in an eagle costume has already won the World Cup – http://t.co/uuXFWo40L2 https://t.co/hP3PhS42Sd — For The Win (@ForTheWin) July 5, 2015
Full disclosure: I know the woman behind the bald eagle mask (we used to play roller derby together in Los Angeles, where she lives), and she generously agreed to talk to me about her new internet fame.
Who are you, Eagle Lady?
My name is Kelly Farrell and I love U.S. Soccer.
Do you prefer to be called Eagle Lady? Eagle Woman? Sheagle?
I think that’s up to the internet, I didn’t really plan to need a name. But I think Sheagle is my personal favorite. All three are better than Twitter’s favorite, “the guy in the eagle mask.’’
Pretty sure that's a woman “@HuffPostSports: This hilarious Eagle guy is every American today http://t.co/1tTlhL4ICr http://t.co/Q8xb8Dhghl” — Kibz (@Donhangani) July 5, 2015
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Did you buy the eagle mask specifically for this event, or did you already own it? How long did it take to create your patriotic ensemble?
I got it about a month before we left for Vancouver. We knew we were front row, so we wanted something big. I think we achieved that… Although, I’ll assume that the people sitting behind me weren’t the biggest fans of their obstructed view.
Was it hot in the eagle mask?
YES. But the biggest issues were not being able to hear or see. My very patient fiancée was a great wrangler.
How long have you been a huge fan of the women’s soccer team and also of America?
My whole life, for both. I started playing when I was old enough to catch ball and was a goalkeeper through college. Soccer has been a huge part of my life and I think it’s one of the greatest athletic environments in the world. And America is pretty awesome, too.
World Cup eagle fan, you are everything — Neil Waggoner (@NeilWaggoner) July 6, 2015
Do you celebrate with vigorous fist pumps at every sporting event you watch, or just this one?
I’m more of a jumper-upper and high fiver… but with the mask, you can’t see around you. So in an effort not to take everyone out, my only option was the awkward upward punch. It’s growing on me.
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When did you find out that you were internet famous and also, according to USA Today, that you won the World Cup? What’s that like?
Ha! We were leaving the stadium and the picture requests got a little more intense from other fans. Then a friend ran up to us and showed us the headline. It’s a bit of an out-of-body experience. Mostly because we had just finished witnessing our country win the F-ing World Cup, so after that, everything pales in comparison.
When the rest of the world has a nightmare I'm pretty sure this is what it looks like. pic.twitter.com/U5yxcknBEv — Evan Hill (@evanchill) July 6, 2015
What is next for the eagle costume?
The Sheagle head and I really want to get to Rio de Janeiro next month to cheer on America and see Ronda Rousey defend her title in Brazil. But other than that, every U.S. Soccer game possible and, of course, France 2019!
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Do you think you are a more passionate fan than the crying Villanova piccolo girl?
Yes. But I think she has what it takes. I just win by default. Cheering for your country will always be on a different level.
How great was it to watch the women win the World Cup?
There aren’t words. The energy in that moment is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was truly a dream come true.Whittaker Chambers said that “the great failing of American conservatives is they do not retrieve their wounded.”
He had it right, as Todd Akin can testify.
In an interview that aired last Sunday, Akin, the Republican candidate for Senate in Missouri, was asked whether he opposed abortions for women who had been raped. Akin’s reply:
“From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. … If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. …
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“But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
As no rape is “legitimate,” this was a colossal gaffe.
Yet anyone reading his statement knows what Akin meant. He was saying that in an actual rape–from what doctors have told him–the likelihood of pregnancy is rare. But if a pregnancy did occur, the punishment should be imposed on the rapist not the unborn child.
This was the moral position of those extremists John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. Of more interest, then, was the Republican reaction.
Howls for Akin to get out of the race came from pundits, talk show hosts, members of the Senate and the GOP’s monied elite that is raising hundreds of millions in hope of a sweep of both houses of Congress and the White House in November. Akin is henceforth not to get a dime.
Even Paul Ryan, whose position on abortion appears identical to that of Akin, called and urged him to drop out.
Who came to Akin’s defense? The Family Research Council. As President Nixon once told me, “Count your friends when you’re down.”
What does this hysteria over one egregious gaffe reveal?
A deep-seated fear, a gnawing anxiety among Republicans that the positions they have held and hold on social and moral issues, and even on economics and foreign policy, no longer command the support of a majority of their countrymen.
Consider. While the three amigos–John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham–are all for intervention in Syria, the Republican Party has fallen largely silent.
Where are the Republican and neocon hawks of yesteryear now that Barack Obama is pulling out of Afghanistan, when the expected result of a U.S. withdrawal is a Taliban takeover and massacre of many of those Afghans foolish enough to have cast their lot with the Americans?
Any Republicans demanding we stay the course in Afghanistan?
Rather than hearing the old paeans to free trade we used to get from Bush I and II, Republicans now talk about getting tough with China and fighting the “unfair” trade practices of foreign regimes.
Milton Friedman, whose writings Republicans once read as gospel, said we should throw America’s markets open to the world, no matter the protectionist policies of others, because cheaper imports benefit all of America’s consumers.
No Republican talks like that anymore. Yet none seems to have a solution to these endless trade deficits debilitating our
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young boy through the emotional ordeal of a trial,” First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said of the plea agreement. “We wanted to be respectful of the family's desires.”
After the allegations were revealed, the boy appeared to withdraw from friends and family, prosecutors said they were told by the family.
Although the boy has since made progress, his father feared that testifying at a trial would cause setbacks, according to Adriana Biggs, chief of the white-collar-crimes division.
Since the arrest, Caldwell and her two children have moved to Eagle Pass. Her husband testified on her behalf Tuesday, suggesting that her “exemplary record” as a teacher prior to the incident provided a more accurate portrayal of who she is.
“She was by all accounts a very good, dedicated teacher,” added defense attorney John Carroll. “The public humiliation and shame has been very difficult for her to deal with.”
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Twitter: @HearsaySAHenrik Svanström, statistician, Björn Pasternak, postdoctoral fellow, Anders Hviid, senior investigator 1Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Correspondence to: H Svanström htr{at}ssi.dk Accepted 21 July 2014
Abstract Objective To assess the risk of cardiac death associated with the use of clarithromycin and roxithromycin. Design Cohort study. Setting Denmark, 1997-2011. Participants Danish adults, 40-74 years of age, who received seven day treatment courses with clarithromycin (n=160 297), roxithromycin (n=588 988), and penicillin V (n=4 355 309). Main outcome measures The main outcome was risk of cardiac death associated with clarithromycin and roxithromycin, compared with penicillin V. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to sex, age, risk score, and concomitant use of drugs that inhibit the cytochrome P450 3A enzyme, which metabolises macrolides. Results A total of 285 cardiac deaths were observed. Compared with use of penicillin V (incidence rate 2.5 per 1000 person years), use of clarithromycin was associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiac death (5.3 per 1000 person years; adjusted rate ratio 1.76, 95% confidence interval 1.08 to 2.85) but use of roxithromycin was not (2.5 per 1000 person years; adjusted rate ratio 1.04, 0.72 to 1.51). The association with clarithromycin was most pronounced among women (adjusted rate ratios 2.83 (1.50 to 5.36) in women and 1.09 (0.51 to 2.35) in men). Compared with penicillin V, the adjusted absolute risk difference was 37 (95% confidence interval 4 to 90) cardiac deaths per 1 million courses with clarithromycin and 2 (–14 to 25) cardiac deaths per 1 million courses with roxithromycin. Conclusions This large cohort study found a significantly increased risk of cardiac death associated with clarithromycin. No increased risk was seen with roxithromycin. Given the widespread use of clarithromycin, these findings call for confirmation in independent populations.
Introduction Acute cardiac toxicity is an increasingly recognised potential adverse effect of antimicrobial drug treatment.1 2 3 Several agents of the macrolide class of antibiotics are known to interfere with the delayed rectifier potassium current (I Kr ), which results in accumulation of potassium ions in cardiac myocytes and thereby delays cardiac repolarisation.1 3 4 Evident on the common electrocardiogram as a prolongation of the QT interval, this mechanism is thought to underlie an increase in the risk of torsade de pointes, a potentially fatal arrhythmia, with macrolides.1 3 4 Although numerous case reports and spontaneous reports support this notion,1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 evidence from controlled studies to confirm and quantify a potential increase in serious cardiac events risk is limited. Two cohort studies of US Medicaid beneficiaries have found increased risks of sudden cardiac death and cardiovascular death associated with erythromycin and azithromycin, respectively.14 15 Both studies reported increases in risk in periods of current use of these antibiotics, supporting an acute mechanism. Whereas these studies were performed in cohorts at relatively high baseline cardiovascular risk, a recent population based cohort study of young and middle aged adults at low baseline risk did not find a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular death associated with azithromycin.16 The cardiovascular risks associated with exposure to macrolides other than erythromycin and azithromycin are largely unknown, although a small Dutch case-control study pointed towards the possibility of an association between sudden cardiac death and clarithromycin.17 Like erythromycin, clarithromycin is metabolised by the cytochrome P450 3A enzyme, thus introducing the potential for a pharmacological interaction with other drugs interfering with this enzyme.1 3 18 19 Roxithromycin is similarly metabolised by the cytochrome P450 3A enzyme,18 19 but it is known to be less susceptible to cytochrome P450 3A inhibition.19 Given this background, the cardiac safety profiles of individual macrolides need to be elucidated in greater detail to help guide clinical treatment decisions. We did a nationwide registry based cohort study to investigate the risk of cardiac death associated with clarithromycin and roxithromycin, compared with another antibiotic with similar indications and no known cardiac risk, penicillin V.
Methods We did a prospective study in a historical cohort of users of macrolides and penicillin V in the period 1997-2011. The primary study outcome was cardiac death associated with the use of clarithromycin and roxithromycin, compared with penicillin V. Apart from erythromycin and azithromycin, clarithromycin and roxithromycin are the only macrolides available in Denmark. In subgroup analyses, we additionally assessed the risk of cardiac death according to sex, age, an empirically derived risk score for cardiac death, and concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibiting drugs. We took several measures to minimise the potential for confounding. Firstly, to reduce the potential for confounding by indication, we analysed the risk of cardiac death associated with the respective macrolides relative to an active comparator; penicillin V is the most commonly used antibiotic in Denmark with indications similar to clarithromycin and roxithromycin. The indications for clarithromycin, roxithromycin, and penicillin V overlap with respect to upper and lower respiratory tract infections and skin and soft tissue infections. Both macrolides are additionally used for chlamydia, mycoplasma, and legionella infections; clarithromycin alone is used for the treatment of peptic ulcer. Secondly, to further reduce the potential for confounding and to increase the likelihood of isolating an effect attributable to the previously hypothesised pro-arrhythmic mechanism, we excluded participants with serious disease, who may be at high baseline risk of death from non-cardiac causes. Thirdly, to account for baseline differences in the risk of cardiac death, we adjusted all analyses for propensity scores, incorporating a wide range of potential confounders. Finally, to assess whether the choice of study drug may be associated with health status at baseline, which could bias the analyses of cardiac death, we also analysed the outcome of other non-cardiovascular death. An increased risk in death due to other causes for any of the study drugs would indicate differential health status at baseline. We defined the study source population on the basis of the Danish Civil Registration System,20 including all people aged 40-74 years living in Denmark during the study period. Using the participants’ unique civil registration number, we linked individual level information on drug use, causes of death, and potential confounders. We identified use of macrolides and penicillin V from the nationwide Danish National Prescription Registry.21 We included information on all filled prescriptions for study antibiotics during the study period. We considered each prescription to be a separate event, and each participant could contribute multiple prescriptions to the study. For inclusion in the study, the person filling the prescription was required not to have been admitted to hospital and not to have had previous antibiotic treatment within 30 days before and including the prescription fill date. To assure adequate capture of covariate information, participants were required to have been continuously registered in Denmark for at least two years before the prescription fill date. Supplementary table A lists exclusion criteria. We identified cardiac deaths from the Danish Register of Causes of Death,22 which is based on death certificates and holds information on causes of all deaths occurring in Denmark, coded according to the International Classification of Diseases (supplementary table B). We collected data on potential confounders at the time of starting treatment (demographic characteristics, medical history and healthcare use, and previous use of other selected drugs) from the Civil Registration System,20 the Danish National Patient Register,23 and the National Prescription Registry,21 respectively (details in supplementary table C). Statistical analysis For the primary analysis, follow-up started on the date when the prescription was filled and ended on the date of the participant becoming 75 years of age, loss to follow-up (disappearance, emigration), end of study (31 December 2011), switch to any other antibiotic, hospital admission, 37 days after the date of filling the prescription, or cardiac or non-cardiac death, whichever occurred first. In the analyses of death due to other causes, hospital admission and switch to another antibiotic were not included as censoring criteria. Given that the study drugs are generally administered in seven day treatment regimens, a follow-up of 37 days allowed effects of treatment to be evaluated for time periods up to 30 days after treatment had ended. Using Poisson regression, we estimated rate ratios comparing individual macrolides with penicillin V during time periods of current use (0-7 days from start of treatment) and past use (8-37 days). An increase in risk that occurred during current use and disappeared during past use would support the hypothesis of a transient toxic effect; conversely, an increased risk in periods of past use would instead support an alternative mechanism or confounding by baseline characteristics. We also estimated the adjusted absolute difference in risk per 1 million treatment courses with clarithromycin and roxithromycin ((adjusted rate ratio–1)×crude rate among users of penicillin V). To control for confounding, we adjusted the analyses for the propensity score for starting treatment with, respectively, clarithromycin and roxithromycin.24 We derived the propensity scores from two separate logistic regression models, including all courses with the respective study drug and penicillin V and with all potential confounders listed in table 1⇓ included as predictors. We then grouped the study participants according to tenths of propensity score distribution, included as adjustment factors in the regressions of the individual macrolides on cardiac death. To account for possible non-independence between multiple courses in the same participants, we used generalised estimating equations for all analyses. Table 1 Baseline characteristics of participants with use of clarithromycin, roxithromycin, and penicillin V included in analysis. Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise View this table: Cardiac risk score We estimated the cardiac risk score for subgroup analysis by using a logistic regression model, including as predictors all potential confounders (table 1⇑) and a set of dummy variables indicating the treatment received. We then calculated the risk score by multiplying the regression coefficients obtained from the logistic regression model by the respective covariate value at the time of starting treatment for all included factors but the treatment dummy variables, which were all set to 0.25 This produced a summarising single value risk score for each treatment course included in the study. We then categorised all courses into three strata according to the score’s distribution: low (tenths 1-5), medium (6-8), and high (9-10). Concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibiting drugs For the subgroup analysis according to concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitors, we identified prescriptions for drugs included in the Indiana University School of Medicine cytochrome P450 drug interaction table and defined as strong or moderate inhibitors of cytochrome P450 3A (supplementary table D)26; a strong inhibitor is defined as a drug that causes a greater than fivefold increase in the area under the plasma concentration curve of the substrate or a greater than 80% decrease in clearance and a moderate inhibitor as a drug that causes a greater than twofold increase in area under the curve or a 50-80% decrease in clearance. We defined concomitant cytochrome P450 3A inhibitor use as a prescription that overlapped with the start of antibiotic treatment and the duration of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitor use by the number of defined daily doses in the prescription, with 14 days added to account for irregular drug intake habits. We considered rate ratios to be statistically significant if the 95% interval confidence did not overlap 1. We assessed subgroup homogeneity by using the generalised score statistic. We used SAS 9.4 software for all analyses.
Results From a source population of 3 379 788 people, we identified 8 910 459 treatment courses with the study antibiotics. After application of the exclusion criteria, the final study cohort included a total of 5 104 594 courses: 588 988 courses of roxithromycin, 160 297 courses of clarithromycin, and 4 355 309 courses of penicillin V (fig 1⇓). Fig 1 Enrolment of participants in cohort of users of clarithromycin, roxithromycin, and penicillin V. *People living in Denmark, aged 40-74 years, 1997-2011. †Numbers do not sum because some participants were excluded for more than one reason. ‡Including cancer, serious neurological disease, congenital anomalies/childhood conditions, liver disease, Table 1⇑ shows participants’ characteristics at baseline. Supplementary table E shows standardised differences between participants with use of the different study drugs. Compared with users of penicillin V, users of clarithromycin and roxithromycin were less likely to be male, were on average slightly older, were less likely to have started treatment in June-August and more likely to have started in December-February, were more likely to have a history of respiratory disease, were more likely to have used drugs for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were more likely to have used proton pump inhibitors and H 2 blockers, had used a higher number of prescription drugs, were more likely to have had an outpatient hospital contact for non-cardiovascular causes in the previous six months, and were less likely to have had a recent emergency visit. Comparing users of the two macrolides, the groups were well balanced on medical history and use of healthcare; users of clarithromycin were more likely to have started treatment in the early part of the study period and were more likely to have used proton pump inhibitors and H 2 blockers. Odds ratio estimates for all potential confounders included in the propensity score models and the cardiac risk score model are shown in tables F and G. Table 2⇓ shows the risk of cardiac death associated with current and past use of clarithromycin and roxithromycin, compared with penicillin V. During follow-up, the proportions censored owing to, respectively, switch to another antibiotic and hospital admission were 19% and 3% in courses with clarithromycin, 18% and 3% in courses with roxithromycin, and 18% and 2% in courses with penicillin V. Among a total of 285 cardiac deaths observed during current use of the study drugs, 18 occurred during use of clarithromycin (incidence rate 5.3 per 1000 person years), 32 during use of roxithromycin (2.5 per 1000 person years), and 235 during use of penicillin V (2.5 per 1000 person years). In unadjusted analysis, current use of clarithromycin was associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiac death (rate ratio 2.07, 95% confidence interval 1.28 to 3.35); this association persisted after propensity score adjustment (1.76, 1.08 to 2.85). The adjusted absolute risk difference for current use of clarithromycin, compared with use of penicillin V, was 37 (95% confidence interval 4 to 90) cardiac deaths per 1 million treatment courses (fig 2⇓). With regard to past use, clarithromycin was not associated with an increased risk of cardiac death. Current use of roxithromycin was not associated with an increased risk of cardiac death in adjusted analysis (rate ratio 1.04, 0.72 to 1.51). Compared with penicillin V, the adjusted absolute risk difference for current use of roxithromycin was 2 (–14 to 25) cardiac deaths per 1 million courses (fig 2⇓). We observed no increased risk of cardiac death with past use of roxithromycin in either unadjusted or adjusted analysis. In the analyses of mortality due to other causes, we observed no significantly increased risk with clarithromycin (adjusted rate ratio 0.71, 0.49 to 1.03) or roxithromycin (1.14, 0.95 to 1.36). Table 2 Risk of cardiac death associated with use of clarithromycin and roxithromycin compared with penicillin V View this table: Fig 2 Rate of cardiac death and number of excess cardiac deaths with clarithromycin and roxithromycin, compared with penicillin V. *As calculated from unadjusted rate of cardiac death. †Adjusted for propensity scores Figure 3⇓ shows the risk of cardiac death associated with the use of clarithromycin and roxithromycin in subgroups according to sex, age, cardiac risk score, and concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibiting drugs. For clarithromycin, the relative risk was higher in women than in men (adjusted rate 1.09 (0.51 to 2.35) in men and 2.83 (1.50 to 5.36) in women), although not significantly so (P for homogeneity=0.07). We observed no significant differences across subgroups according to age (adjusted rate ratio 2.04 (0.88 to 4.74) among participants aged 40-64 years and 1.61 (0.89 to 2.91) among those aged ≥65 years; P=0.67) or concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitors (adjusted rate ratio 1.76 (1.05 to 2.93) without concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitors and 1.62 (0.38 to 7.00) with concomitant use; P=0.92). Estimates were similar across levels of cardiac risk score. For roxithromycin, we observed no significant difference in relative risk between men and women (adjusted rate ratio 0.97 (0.59 to 1.59) in men and 1.13 (0.63 to 2.00) in women; P=0.71) or between those younger than 65 years and those aged 65 years or older (adjusted rate ratio 1.64 (0.95 to 2.85) among participants aged 40-64 years and 0.75 (0.45 to 1.25) among those aged ≥65 years; P=0.06). We observed no cardiac deaths among users of roxithromycin with concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitors; accordingly, the effect of concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitors with roxithromycin could not be estimated. The relative risk was similar across levels of cardiac risk score. Fig 3 Subgroup analyses of risk of cardiac death associated with clarithromycin and roxithromycin, compared with penicillin V. *Cardiac risk score was covariate summary score aiming to capture baseline risk of cardiac death and derived from all variables shown in table 1; score was categorised according to tenths of score’s distribution and strata defined as low (tenths 1-6), medium (6-8), and high (9-10). †Adjusted for propensity score, categorised according to tenths of score’s distribution; analyses stratified according to cardiac risk score were not adjusted for propensity scores Sensitivity analyses In sensitivity analyses, courses with use of clarithromycin and roxithromycin were matched (1:2) on the propensity score to courses with use of penicillin V. With respect to both clarithromycin and roxithromycin, the resulting matched cohorts were well balanced on all covariates (supplementary tables H and I). In propensity score matched analysis for cardiac death, the rate ratio associated with current use of clarithromycin was 1.63 (0.87 to 3.03) and the rate ratio associated with current use of roxithromycin was 0.92 (0.60 to 1.39). We also analysed the risk of cardiac death associated with clarithromycin and roxithromycin according to the number of previous courses included in the study for each participant. The distribution for the number of previous courses according to study drug is shown in supplementary table J. For clarithromycin, the rate ratio was 2.07 (1.00 to 4.27) in people who had no previous courses and 0.94 (0.49 to 1.82) in those who had one or more previous courses. For roxithromycin, the rate ratio was 0.87 (0.44 to 1.73) in people who had no previous courses and 0.84 (0.52 to 1.35) in those with previous courses included.
Discussion In this study, we investigated the risk of cardiac death associated with the use of clarithromycin and roxithromycin, compared with penicillin V. Use of clarithromycin was associated with a significant 76% higher risk of cardiac death. We observed no significant increase in risk with roxithromycin. In terms of absolute risk, use of clarithromycin would account for an estimated 37 excess cardiac deaths per 1 million courses. In subgroup analyses, the increase in risk with clarithromycin seemed to be driven by a strong association among women. Comparison with previous studies Only limited data exist on the risk of cardiac death associated with clarithromycin and roxithromycin. To our knowledge, no controlled observational studies have been published on the association between roxithromycin and cardiac death. In a Dutch case-control study, use of clarithromycin was found to be associated with a non-significant increased risk of sudden cardiac death, although this analysis was based on only three clarithromycin exposed cases.17 In an observational study among Tennessee Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States, the macrolide erythromycin was associated with a significant twofold increased risk of sudden cardiac death.14 As in the Medicaid study, the association between clarithromycin use and cardiac death in our study was present with current use of the drug and disappeared in periods of past use. If the association is true, this observation supports an acute toxic mechanism. In the Medicaid study, a greater than fivefold increase in risk was observed in erythromycin users with concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibiting drugs. Similar to erythromycin, clarithromycin is metabolised by the cytochrome P450 3A enzyme.14 In our study, we did not find an increase in risk among users of clarithromycin with concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibiting drugs; this analysis, however, was limited by a small number of cases given the uncommon use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitors. We were unable to examine the possibility that the risk of cardiac death might be increased in users of roxithromycin with concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibitors. Consequently, the possibility of an increase in risk with concomitant use of cytochrome P450 3A inhibiting drugs (as observed in the study of erythromycin14) may not be excluded and should be considered in future studies. Of note, the results suggested that the overall increase in risk with clarithromycin was largely driven by a strong association in women, although the difference in risk compared with men narrowly failed to reach statistical significance. This finding is consistent with female sex being a known risk factor for drug induced cardiac arrhythmia in general and macrolide induced arrhythmia in particular.1 13 27 28 In the previous studies that found increased risk of sudden cardiac death and cardiovascular death with macrolides, subgroup analyses by sex were not reported.14 15 In our subgroup analysis by predicted risk score, the rates of cardiac death increased considerably with increasing risk score. No indication of a differential risk according to levels of baseline risk was, however, observed. In sensitivity analysis, we observed an increase in risk with clarithromycin only in people with no previous antibiotic courses during the study period. This increased risk in first time users could point towards the possibility of a genetic predisposition, which has previously been suggested to underlie drug induced torsade de pointes.3 Prolongation of the QT interval and subsequent serious arrhythmia are thought to be the underlying mechanisms for acute cardiac toxicity with macrolides. Individual macrolides vary in their potency of I Kr inhibition and thus potential for QT prolongation and, therefore, potentially have different pro-arrhythmic properties.29 Notably, available mechanistic data comparing individual macrolides suggest that clarithromycin has higher potency of I Kr inhibition compared with roxithromycin.30 31 If true, the observed increased risk with clarithromycin but not roxithromycin may represent a clinical manifestation of these differing pharmacodynamic properties. Our study expands on the available knowledge of the cardiac safety of macrolides, being the first large scale population based observational study to show significantly increased cardiac risk with clarithromycin and the relative cardiac safety of roxithromycin. Strengths and weaknesses of study Our study has several strengths that merit attention. Firstly, owing to the nationwide coverage of the study, the results are probably widely generalisable. Secondly, the comparative design allowed us to assess roxithromycin and clarithromycin relative to an antibiotic with similar indications, thereby reducing the potential for confounding by indication. Thirdly, to increase the probability of isolating an effect attributable to roxithromycin and clarithromycin, we restricted the study population to people free from serious disease, with no recent use of antibiotics, and no recent hospital admission. The study also has some limitations. We lacked information on several important lifestyle and health factors that are known to influence the risk of cardiac death, such as smoking and body mass index. Thus, despite propensity score adjustment, residual confounding cannot be ruled out. In propensity score matched analysis, which might provide more robust control for confounders than adjustment, the results, although less precise, were similar to the main findings. Furthermore, the fact that the risk of cardiac death was similar between penicillin V and both clarithromycin and roxithromycin in periods of past use would indicate that baseline differences between the groups are unlikely to have influenced the results significantly; whereas the incidence of cardiac death during current use of antibiotics is influenced by acute infection (for which the antibiotic was prescribed), the incidence during past use probably resembles the study participants’ baseline risk of cardiac death. The fact that no significant differences were observed for mortality due to other causes should further lessen concerns about systematic differences in health status at baseline as an explanation for the observed association; the relatively low risk of death from other causes associated with clarithromycin may indicate that the observed association for cardiac death might be stronger than what was estimated. Data on specific infections for which the drugs were prescribed were not available for this study; however, the fact that clarithromycin and roxithromycin have essentially identical indications should reduce concerns about the results being influenced through an effect of infection rather than the prescribed treatment (that is, confounding by indication). The absence of an association between roxithromycin exposure and cardiac death can be viewed as a negative control for the positive association between clarithromycin and cardiac death. Furthermore, the primary outcome definition of cardiac death may not have been sufficiently specific to fully capture an increased risk attributable to the postulated pro-arrhythmic effect; any resulting bias would be in the direction of the null and would not explain the association found with clarithromycin. Finally, the rate of cardiac death in this study was low and results were, accordingly, based on few events. The power to detect differences in subgroup analysis may have been limited. Implications of findings In absolute terms, 37 (95% confidence interval 4 to 90) excess cardiac deaths occurred per 1 million treatment courses associated with current use of clarithromycin compared with current penicillin V use in this study. Interpretation of the clinical importance of this finding, if confirmed, is delicate. One the one hand, the absolute risk is small, so this finding should probably have limited, if any, effect on prescribing practice in individual patients (with the possible exception of patients who have strong risk factors for drug induced arrhythmia). On the other hand, clarithromycin is one of the more commonly used antibiotics in many countries and many millions of people are prescribed this drug each year; thus, the total number of excess (potentially avoidable) cardiac deaths may not be negligible. These factors need to be considered when assessing the overall benefit/risk profile of macrolides (clarithromycin specifically), an important area for future work by, for example, regulatory agencies and other public health officials. Conclusion This nationwide cohort study found a significantly increased risk of cardiac death associated with current use of clarithromycin but not roxithromycin. The observed association for clarithromycin seemed to be largely attributable to women. Before these results are used to guide clinical decision making, confirmation in independent populations is an urgent priority given the widespread use of macrolide antibiotics. What is already known on this topic Macrolide antibiotics prolong the QT interval and are therefore thought to increase the risk of potentially fatal arrhythmias What this study adds This register based cohort study found a significantly increased risk of cardiac death associated with current use of clarithromycin, which was most pronounced among women
No increased risk of cardiac death was found with roxithromycin
Notes Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g4930
Footnotes Contributors: All authors contributed to conception and design of the study and to the analysis and interpretation of the study results. HS acquired the data and conducted the statistical analyses. HS and BP drafted the manuscript. All authors critically revised the manuscript and approved the final version for submission. AH supervised the study and is the guarantor.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran officials on Wednesday called for U.S. aid to Central America to reduce violence that has fueled a surge of child migration to the United States, with the foreign minister calling for a “mini-Marshall plan” to attack the broader underlying problems.
Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez (C) talks to officers of Honduras' army during a presentation in Mateo, on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa May 7, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera
Honduran President Juan Hernandez said Washington should help Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras fight gangs with a plan similar to U.S. anti-drug programs in Colombia and Mexico, as well as funds to lift growth in the impoverished region.
“One has to recognize that our countries can’t do it alone,” he said at a conference about the unaccompanied minors fleeing for the United States. “We need help from the United States, from Mexico, because this is everyone’s problem.”
Honduran Foreign Minister Mireya Aguero told the conference efforts to step up security at the U.S. border were not working and that U.S. aid would be better spent in Central America.
“It’s much more practical for the United States to launch a mini-Marshall plan, as they did after World War Two, to create opportunities and really get to the root of the problem in Central American countries that is fueling migration,” she said.
Named after top U.S. General George Marshall, the Marshall plan was a U.S. aid program to help rebuild shattered European economies after the destruction wrought by World War Two.
Simon Henshaw, the U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said that the economic situation in Central America should be addressed with the help of international and regional development banks.
“It’s clear, however, that it requires the best efforts by all stakeholders,” said Henshaw, speaking alongside Aguero and the foreign ministers of Guatemala and El Salvador. “That means better political will from all countries.”
Hernandez, who took office in January after pledging to crack down on crime, said U.S.-backed battles against cartels in Colombia and Mexico have pushed drug traffickers into Central America, increasing violence, which is causing the exodus.
Yet he underlined the success of U.S. efforts in Colombia.
“Today, for example, Plan Colombia is showing major success. It was worked on together, those generating demand for drugs in the north and those producing drugs in the south assumed joint responsibility and it was effective,” he said.
Honduras now has the highest murder rate in the world.
Gang-related killings have increased in recent years since Mexico’s drug cartels expanded into Honduras, enlisting local street gangs and using the country’s Caribbean coast to transport South American cocaine to the United States.
Thousands of Central American migrants have been streaming into the United States through Mexico, and those caught are being held in overcrowded detention facilities.
The United States deported a planeload of women and children to Honduras on Monday. The country’s first lady, Ana Garcia de Hernandez, said another U.S. charter flight containing 80 families would arrive in San Pedro Sula on Friday.
President Barack Obama has asked lawmakers for $3.7 billion to pay for more border security, temporary detention centers and additional immigration court judges to process asylum cases and speed up deportations.
A local U.N. official who also spoke at the conference in Honduras said that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “deeply concerned” about the child migrants. He urged the governments involved “to urgently protect the human rights of migrant children.”I salute these officers for keeping us safe from these dangerous criminals. This must be the safest city in the world since the cops must have solved all the murders, rapes and burglary’s that they now have time to go after 10 year old’s operating a lemonade stand without a business license and peddler’s permit. Chief Morningstar, thank you for keeping me safe from dangerous lemons.
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According to thecoastalsource.com
Midway police bust none other than a lemonade stand, because the three girls running it didn’t have a business license. The three girls thought if they sold enough lemonade, they could make money to go to the water park Splash in the Boro. Well they thought wrong. Midway police say, they’re breaking city law and have to go.
“It’s kind of crazy that we couldn’t sell lemonade. It was fun, but we had to listen to the cops and shut it down,” 14-year-old Casity Dixon said.
The girls had only been opened for one day before Midway’s police chief and another officer cruised by and saw the stand.
“They told us to shut it down,” 10-year-old Skylar Roberts said.
“We had told them, we understand you guys are young, but still, you’re breaking the law, and we can’t let you do it anymore. The law is the law, and we have to be consistent with how we enforce the laws,” Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar said.
By a city ordinance, the girls must have a business license, peddler’s permit, and food permit to set up shop, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day and a total of $180 per year. City officials said it’s their job to keep everyone safe and healthy, and there can be no exceptions to the rules.Record numbers of EU workers in UK since Brexit
Record numbers of EU workers in UK since Brexit
A record number of EU nationals are working in the UK
Record levels of EU nationals are now working in the UK, official figures have revealed.
An estimated 2.38 million employees from other EU member states were working in Britain from July to September this year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found.
This is the highest number recorded since comparable records started 20 years ago.
In the same period last year there were 112,000 fewer EU employees.
It marks the first time year-on-year comparisons of employment levels based on nationality have be made following the EU referendum in June last year.
While EU employment rose, overall UK employment fell by 14,000 to just over 32 million in the three months to September, according to the ONS.
Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of campaign group Migration Watch UK, said the figures "show that predictions of a Brexodus - an outflow of EU workers - are nonsense".
Matt Hughes, ONS senior statistician, said: "The number of non-UK nationals in work is still rising, albeit more slowly than in the last couple of years.
"However, this is being driven by EU citizens; the number of non-EU nationals working in the UK has
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Ayre, Fallows and Edwards is a help rather than a hindrance in the recruitment process.
“Obviously, I am involved heavily in the identification of the player,” Rodgers told the ECHO.
“The principle idea when I first came in was that like any manager you will have the first call on a player and the last call.
“That’s the call on whether he’s good enough to continue to look at and try to organise a deal and the last call to say yes or no.
“There is a big part that goes on in between. In modern football you need to trust other people to do the work. That’s something we do here and that’s why we have had the success we’ve had.
“The finer details of that are left to Ian who does a terrific job and our other guys in that field who will go through the contracts. I am aware of where the situation is at right the way through the process.
“We will never bring in a player here who the manager doesn’t want in. That’s a great credit to the owners and the other people at the club.
“We work very closely together – it’s worth stressing that. It’s key that we are very much one club.
“We are really preparing for next season. I’ve had some very good meetings with our recruitment team. We are very much together as one.”
The negotiating of transfer fees and player contracts is carried out by Ayre and Fallows, who have been busy working on deals to try to secure the likes of Southampton’s Adam Lallana and Bayer Leverkusen’s Emre Can.
Rodgers is after quality rather than quantity this summer with five or six signings being targeted to ensure Liverpool boast the strength in depth capable of coping with the increased demands of Champions League football next season.
The manager doesn’t intend to dip into the loan market again. Last term the Reds took Victor Moses from Chelsea and Aly Cissokho from Valencia but both flopped and have returned to their parent clubs.
The previous campaign Liverpool snapped up Nuri Sahin from Real Madrid but he failed to establish himself at Anfield and his loan stay was cut short.
“I would hope we don’t have to go for loans this summer,” Rodgers admitted.
“But it’s always about the availability of players. If you are not satisfied with the squad and you feel you can improve it then you have to look at every option.
“In these first couple of years I’ve been here we have had to do that as we’ve had a thin squad.
“The players we wanted we couldn’t get but we’re hopeful that this summer will be different. We turn the page and it’s another chapter in terms of where we are going.
“Hopefully that will mean it will be more permanent players than loan players but I can never rule it out completely. There could be a situation where a player becomes available, we can get him and he can add to what we’re doing.”
More Liverpool FC news:
We Go Again: The story of LFC's unforgettable 2013/14 season
Professor Stephen Hawking says Luis Suarez is a "ballerina" as he devises a formula that can help England win the World Cup
Lallana: Reds transfer talk won't affect my World Cup focus
Click below for our interactive timeline of the 2013/14 season:The Philadelphia Flyers moved up 11 spots in the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery to get the No. 2 overall pick, and that’s cause for a Draft Night Party!
Join us on Friday, June 23 as we gather at Smith’s Restaurant & Bar in Center City Philadelphia for our 2017 NHL Draft Party, co-hosted with the fine folks at SportsRadio 94WIP.
We’ll be there starting at 6 p.m., and from 6:30 until 8:30 we’ll have a live taping of BSH Radio. Bill, Kelly, Steph and Charlie will be talking hockey from the bar, and Travis will be reporting live from the Draft in Chicago.
Former Flyer Keith Jones will be making an appearance, and we’ll have swag from the SportsRadio 94WIP street team.
Whether it’s Nico or Nolan, we’ll be sure to have a great time. Come celebrate the draft with us!
The 2017 NHL Draft Party!Since Bayonetta 2 was announced last year, fans of the angel-killing witch have been waiting for any new info on the game outside of the brief teaser that was shown. Those devotees finally got some new info during today's Nintendo Direct in this new video for the game. We also grabbed screenshots of the most telling portions of the trailer and posted them in the gallery above..
The game still looks early, but at least this shows the team at Platinum is making progress with the anticipated title. Not much more was revealed for the game, but Platinum fans can take some solace in the newest trailer for the dev's other Wii U game, The Wonderful 101. Planned for release sometime in the next 6 months, here's the trailer...With a third straight B.C. high school triple-A football championship now tucked away in their back pockets, the Mount Douglas Rams will be forever remembered as a provincial dynasty.
The Rams pulled out a nervous 32-27 victory over the Terry Fox Ravens Saturday night, claiming their third straight Subway Bowl football championship at B.C. Place in Vancouver, much to the delight of a busload of fans donning their purple-and-white jerseys, clacking their rattles and banging their thundersticks.
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All season head coach Mark Townsend’s crew removed themselves from talk of a three-peat, not that they weren’t thinking about the impressive feat, last accomplished by the Richmond Colts from 1996-98.
“We’re a part of something huge, a part of history,” said Rams outstanding defensive lineman Zach Wilkinson. “We talked about it, not on the field, but off the field, and it truly is something special.”
As is this group of young athletes that has grown as a family these last few years, some being together for four seasons since first entering secondary school.
Now, 21 of them will graduate, and Townsend will attempt to piece together a team worthy of carrying on the tradition the school has established.
“There’s a lot of history here with these guys already. Getting a three-peat is something that only comes around so often,” said star runningback/receiver/defensive back Marcus Davis, who scored three touchdowns, added a key interception late in the victory over Terry Fox, and was named the game’s MVP.
“Coach Mark has done a great job of getting guys together. He built this program and he’s obviously done a very good job. This group is tight. We’re always around each other, on the field and off.”
It’s very much a family that has come together through football.
“We’ve been blessed with great kids and, yeah, you nailed it on the head, it’s like a family,” said Townsend. “A lot of them have been together three or four years, they treat each other with respect and it’s been a great run.” Capped by yet another championship win in which they played their hearts out on Saturday.
Davis, again, was the leader of the crew, scoring his 70th, 71st and 72nd TDs as a senior over the last two years alone. Ashton MacKinnon and Seye Farinu also scored for Mount Doug, which led 19-14 at halftime.
Byron MacKinnon got the Rams defence of to a solid start as he rocked Terry Fox quarterback Conner McKee early on a sack and Farinu followed it up with another sack.
“We didn’t like or want to say it, until we were looking back on it, but it’s been a good ride,” Rams defensive lineman James Nicholas said of the three-peat talk
“We’re brothers, we really are. If we’re not practising, we’re hanging out all the time. The core group of guys who are starters are best friends as well.”
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Twitter/tc_vicsportsWe're officially past the signing deadline for the 2011 recruiting class, but three players who have expressed interest in Kentucky and are still undecided -- DeAndre Daniels, Tony Woods and Ryan Harrow -- are still waiting to make a final decision. Regardless, Kentucky now knows generally what the roster will look like for next year, and FortyYearCatFan has laid it out in this FanPost.
The question we will be examining today is, where is Kentucky's sweet spot, vis-a-vis scholarships, under John Calipari?
Only one of the last two years did Kentucky have a full compliment of scholarships, and that was in Coach Cal's first year. Last year, Kentucky got by with 10 players, only six of whom played for 10 minutes per game or more, and those six players averaged over 31 minutes per game between them.
The previous year, Calipari spread the minutes out much more, with nine players averaging 10 minutes or more, and his top six players averaging just over 26.5 minutes per game.
The current roster contains 12 players including two potential walk-ons -- Jarrod Polson and Twany Beckham -- so Kentucky could make room for as many as three more players, although that seems unlikely to happen.
When you look at how Calipari plays his reserves and at the relative talent+experience level of the previous two teams, the 2011-12 team seems to represent the "sweet spot" for Kentucky. There are enough talented players to see significant minutes well past the top six, and the backups would appear to be either good enough or experienced enough to earn around 10 minutes per game this coming season.
I think this is why many recruits are looking elsewhere at this point. Kentucky does not generally involve itself with recruits below the Rivals 5* level very much. Kentucky has recruited some lower ranked players under Calipari -- Stacey Poole, Eloy Vargas and Marcus Thornton come immediately to mind -- but for the most part, UK is attempting to bring in as many top 25 players as possible.
I think the sweet spot for Kentucky under coach Calipari will be 10-11 scholarship players with a walk-on or two who can earn a scholarship. Calipari has shown relatively small interest in recruiting four-year players, which is where all but the highest 4-star players will wind up.
The new NBA collective bargaining agreement might change that, but for the moment, it seems to me that getting more than 10 or 11 high-quality players on scholarship might be the exception rather than the rule at Kentucky. Also, given Calipari's propensity so far to play only a limited rotation, it is entirely possible that better players will feel that they could wind up buried on the bench, much like Stacey Poole and Jon Hood.I counted Shea McClellin on the field for 33 of the 38 first half defensive snaps on Thursday and I think his role is going to be a lot larger than we previously thought.
The New England Patriots signed McClellin to a 3-year deal this offseason and I thought his role was pretty obvious; he’s a versatile player like 2014’s Akeem Ayers, who can line up at any linebacker and edge defender role. I expected him to be a back-up for every starter in 2016, and to serve as insurance as both linebacker starters and edge defender starters would be free agents after the season.
His role is a lot more involved, and I wonder if this is what the coaching staff previously had in store for Rob Ninkovich.
When the first team defense was on the field, McClellin played everywhere. He was a stand-up linebacker. He was playing on the edge of a 5-man defensive line (more on that in a bit). He played defensive end on a 4-man front. When the Patriots sat Jabaal Sheard halfway through the first half, McClellin assumed his role as the defensive end, only moving outside when Trey Flowers took the field as a pass rusher.
He stuffed the run, he rushed the quarterback, he covered running backs and tight ends, and he dropped into zone coverage in the flat. He’s going to be a fun player to watch.
The Patriots liked to line him across from the opposing team’s tight end on the strong side, with Jamie Collins taking the weak side. What’s interesting is that his presence meant the Patriots generally fielded four defensive backs, instead of the five they used so frequently in 2015. Is this a long term change in the scheme? Or is this just a temporary preseason moment to match up against the Saints vanilla personnel? We’ll find out over the next few weeks.
By far the most common usage of McClellin in the first team defense was as a cover for the tight end in a 5-2 front.
McClellin’s role was multiple out of the snap. He served as a chip against the tight end, should they go into coverage, and he was in position to hold the edge if the run was in his direction. McClellin adopted this role on 17 of the 20 first team snaps with McClellin. Collins actually played a mirroring edge position on four of the snaps, to create a 6-man front. The Patriots would drop their safeties into the box in order to serve as linebackers.
The Patriots were able to control the line of scrimmage with this personnel, with the Saints top two backs of Mark Ingram and Tim Hightower combining for 20 yards on 11 carries.
McClellin was also a contributor in pass coverage as he dropped into coverage of tight ends and running backs in the flat. (Below, McClellin is on the near side #58)
The Patriots used McClellin as a rusher, at times, and he was effective at collapsing the pocket when playing with the second team defense. It seems as if the second quarter was primarily so McClellin could get his feet wet as a pass rusher.
Overall, McClellin’s versatility rivals, and might even surpass, that of Rob Ninkovich. Ninkovich has been a solid edge defender over his career, but he has clearly declined in recent seasons. McClellin brings athleticism and youth to the role and it seems like Bill Belichick has created a new defense just for him.
And to that point, I don’t think we’ve seen this before at such a consistent level. Ninkovich allowed defensive flexibility in the past, but the Patriots never seemed to capitalize on this. The Patriots used Hightower in a similar capacity on a few snaps last year, but the quality of linebacker play with Jonathan Freeny on the field made it a vulnerability.
Now McClellin is a perfect fit for what Belichick has cooked up, and it allows Hightower and Collins to stay at their dominant linebacker positions. McClellin will definitely be a point of focus during film evaluation moving forward.Islamic State: Runaway German girl who joined terrorists led screaming through Mosul street in footage of capture
Updated
Video uploaded to YouTube shows the moment a runaway German teenager who joined Islamic State was captured by Iraqi troops in the ruins of Mosul.
The footage shows 16-year-old Linda W screaming, limping and being heckled by a group of men, thought to be Iraqi counter-terror troops, after her capture in the final days of the battle for the former IS stronghold.
The girl, from the German town of Pulsnitz, was reportedly radicalised online and went to the Middle East as a 15-year-old to marry a man fighting for the terrorist group.
A group of men surrounds her in the mobile phone footage, chanting as the teenager limps screaming along a street.
German media reported she had a gunshot wound on her left thigh and another injury on her right knee, which she said happened during a helicopter attack.
She was one of 26 foreigners arrested by the Iraqi military in Mosul, where Iraqi forces declared victory over IS last month.
If she stays in Iraq and is convicted of terrorism-related offences, she could potentially face the death penalty.
In a second video posted to Facebook, the same woman is seen with Iraqi forces. In this video, she speaks a few words in Arabic, then says in English her name is Linda.
After her arrest, she spoke to German media in the infirmary of a military complex in Baghdad, where she told them she wanted to leave.
"I just want to get away from here," she was quoted as saying.
"I want to get away from the war, from the many weapons, from the noise.
"I just want to go home to my family."
German media said the teenager told them she regretted joining IS, wanted to be extradited to Germany and would cooperate with authorities.
Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formally declared victory over Islamic State after what was dubbed the Battle for Mosul.
The fall of Mosul was the biggest defeat for the terror group since it declared a "caliphate" three years ago. The group still controls territory west and south of the city.
German authorities had been investigating Linda, who went missing last year, over alleged contacts with IS about preparing a possible act of terrorism.
Lorenz Haase, senior public prosecutor in Dresden, said after her arrest she was receiving consular support but he could not say anything about her exact circumstances.
He said the girl had travelled to Turkey about a year ago with the apparent goal of reaching Iraq or Syria and security officials had later lost her trail.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency estimated about 960 people had left the country to fight for IS and a number wanted to return.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, terrorism, iraq
First postedDARK STAR, Fla. – I said it on Twitter this week and will say it again now: It’s early and the entire team isn’t even here yet, but so far I’d have to say the Braves’ offseason effort to improve the clubhouse – let’s not use the “c” word (chemistry) since it offends some – was a success.
Of course, it wouldn’t take much to improve upon last year. Not that there were a bunch of bad guys on the team, because there weren’t. It just lacked something. It lacked a lot, actually. Things like leadership and big personalities, outspoken veterans who knew how to keep guys in line but also keep things loose and help ease the tension during rough spells. (It doesn’t have to be the same guy or guys doing all that, but if you’ve got one or two who can, that’s gold.)
This clubhouse is going to have that, I believe. Like Braves clubhouses did in the past, when the likes of Eric Hinske, Martin Prado, David Ross, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones fit all or part of the description.
Jonny Gomes helped the Red Sox win the 2013 World Series -- and have a lot of fun along the way. (AP photo)
And before that era, the Braves during their division-title run had a clubhouse abundant with veterans and team leaders, and a manager who knew exactly how to let those guys run their own ship for the most part, but who would also handle things himself on rare occasions when he needed to.
Leadership and chemistry matter, folks. Talent is more important, no doubt. A lot more important. But if you’ve got a decent amount of talent across the board, and exceptional talent at a few positions, then good chemistry, good leadership, can make a real difference in helping a team move toward being competitive rather than slide toward irrelevence before September because players tire of losing and dislike coming to the ballpark when things turn negative. When they don’t have the right guys to help snap them out of it, either collectively as a unit or to grab them (figuratively speaking) by the jersey individually and tell them something that needs to be said but that less-than-established veterans, or veterans who just don’t have that sort of personality, aren’t willing to do because they’re just not comfortable doing it. Because it’s not in their nature, even if the team is slipping away and they think something needs to be said to someone. They just don’t have it in them to do that.
From everything I’ve heard over the years, Jonny Gomes has that in him. In spades.
And in the right situations, with the right guys, it sounds like Jason Grilli and catcher A.J. Pierzynski also do. I've known Grilli since he broke in with the Marlins after being traded from San Francisco for Livan Hernandez way back. He was a cocky kid then, but many injuries and 10 organizations later, he's a grizzled, outgoing veteran who gets it and can help young guys get it, too.
Pierzynski is admittedly brash dude who rubs some guys the wrong way, but who has helped plenty of others and won't back down. That can be a good trait to have in a teammate. Pair him on a team with an equally scrappy and vocal veteran like Gomes, and I think the good part of Pierzynski is going to be more prevalent. At least the Braves hope so and believe it will, especially since A.J. has known Braves president of baseball operations John Hart for so long -- since he was an Orlando high schooler working at Hart's baseball camp -- and has so much respect for him. He's wanted to play for the Braves and live at home during spring training for a long time, now Hart has provided that opportunity.
Here's what Braves pitching newcomer Shelby Miller said about Pierzysnki, who was a teammate for much of last season in St. Louis, where Pierzynski filled in for Yadier Molina when the Cardinals' superstar catcher was injured.
"A.J.’s a guy who’s been around for a long time, and you can see it," Miller said. "He knows a lot of hitters. He knows what he’s doing. When you throw to a guy like A.J. you just have confidence in him. Just that mindset out there that he knows what he’s doing, he knows how to get the job done and how to call a game. At the end of the day, that’s what you want in a catcher. And he can hit as well, hit for average and power. And his leadership in the clubhouse is going to be a huge help in the clubhouse, not only to myself but to a lot of guys.”
Soon enough, we’ll see if Hart, assistant GM John Coppolella and Co. assembled a group that will gel and make everyone feel comfortable and want to come to work every day. That’s going to be particularly important if the Braves struggle as much as many believe they will. I’m of the belief that they’re going to be a little better than the majority of prognosticators are saying, and if a few things go their way and the pitching staff stays relatively healthy, they could flirt with.500. No, really.
But that's if some key things go their way.
Like if they get better seasons out of at least a couple of hitters from the group of Chris Johnson, Andrelton Simmons and B.J... er, Melvin Upton Jr. (that's going to take some getting used to). And if Grilli is healthy and pitches like he did after going to the Angels last season and somewhere near how he pitched with Pittsburgh for the couple of years before last season, in which case the Braves will have a formidable duo with him setting up Craig Kimbrel.
(I’ll wait and see on Jim Johnson, the former 50-save closer whose performance fell off a cliff last season. If he can regain his form, they have a nasty trio. But even if he doesn’t, the Braves could have a formidable ‘pen with Kimbrel, Grilli and the other newcomers they’ve added, especially if Luis Avilan can get back to what he was before last season.)
What else? Well, if Gomes keeps raking against lefties and maybe hits a few more homers. And if they figure out a workable, productive arrangement at second base until top prospect and future leadoff hitter Jose Peraza arrives. (I don’t think they'll rush him to the majors to start the season, and while I do think they could have him up by June, but that’s only if second base is a black hole offensively and they think his presence could make a meaningful difference on a competitive team.)
Also, if OF/2B Eric Young Jr. has a good spring and makes the team, he could give the Braves the prototypical leadoff hitter they’ve lacked since Michael Bourn exited At least against right-handed pitchers (we’re assuming Young would platoon with Gomes and play only against righties). But if Upton struggles early, the Braves might also consider Young for center field, or Eury Perez, a potential diamond-in-rough type.
They could do that if Zoilo Almonte platoons in left with Gomes, and Almonte might win that job anyway if he hits like he did this winter in the Dominican Republic. He crushed right-handed pitching there, and impressed a lot of people in the Yankees organization, though he never got much opportunity to play at the big-league level with all that high-priced talent they had in their outfield.
If I’m rambling it’s because there is so much to talk. So many ways that so many different positions could go. Such an interesting spring and season ahead as we see how this experiment comes together, whether the Braves can pull off this mission of rebuilding (without calling it that) for 2017 and beyond while remaining competitive in the interim, or at least respectable in 2015 and competitive in ’16 before they move into their new ballpark in 2017 with what they believe will be a potential championship-caliber team.
Listen, this team obviously has flaws. It’s a work-in-progress, and barring a dramatically disappointing season by the Nationals, the Braves aren’t going to win the division and might even have a hard time staying in front of the Marlins and possibly the Mets. (Philly's terrible; they'll finish ahead of the Phils for sure.)
But at the same time, there is so much to like and look forward to seeing in this ATL team, so many reasons to believe they will be more interesting and enjoyable to watch that last year’s team, which had the 29th-ranked offense in the majors and was flat-out hard to watch, both boring and at times sloppy and dispiriting. Bad body language that got worse as the season went on. Silly arguments with umpires after called third strikes as frustrations mounted. (There’s nothing wrong with arguing a called third strike on occasion, because it’s merited on occasion. But c’mon, last year’s Braves had guys who took it to ridiculous extremes, arguing almost every time they got rung up. Yes, the returning Upton did it more than anyone.)
The hitting coach couldn’t get through to a lot of Braves hitters last season, despite sincere efforts, and by the end Greg Walker looked and sounded like he wanted to be anywhere but there watching that team (and I don’t blame him, frankly). Walker and his assistant, Scott Fletcher, are gone. Well, Walker is not actually gone, but he’s in minor league camp in his new role.
New Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer served four seasons in that position with the Royals, and was credited with helping many of their young players make strides. (AP photo)
New hitting coach Kevin Seitzer is full of optimism and energy, and the emphasis of his approach – hit the ball up the middle and the other way – could benefit so many of these hitters, as will his advice to shorten up the swing and battle when there are two strikes, not just keep flailing away like the count or situations with runners on don't matter.
Seitzer thinks there are ways to improve with runners in scoring position, things that hitters can do. Things he’s picked up both as a player from the likes of teammates including George Brett, and from his hitting coaches along the way.
By the way, Seitzer won’t just be talking from what he’s ready or seen, or from what should work in theory. No, this is a guy who did it, who was a damn good hitter in his time. I was in my last year at the University of Kansas when he was a Royals rookie in 1986, and the next year in his first full season he hit.323 with a.399 OBP and.869 OPS, leading the AL in hits (207) while striking out just 85 times in 725 plate appearances at age 25.
Seitzer finished with a.295 career average and.375 OBP in 12 seasons, had more than 30 doubles six times, more than 10 homers four times, and never struck out as many as 80 times again after that 85-K season in his first full season. Now, does that sound like someone who might have some helpful advice for these Braves hitters?
And it’s not like he’s going to teach them all to slap the ball and be singles hitters. Not at all. In is one season as Blue Jays hitting coach in 2014, Toronto ranked fourth in the AL in runs (723) and batting average (.259), second in OPS (.736) and home runs (177), and third in on-base percentage (.323) and slugging percentage (.414). They were seventh or lower in each of those categories in 2013 except homers, where they ranked fourth. He adapts to the talent he's got to work with.
The Braves don’t have anywhere near the number or level of established, big-time hitters that Toronto had. But the point is, Seitzer has shown he knows how to get the best out of hitters, as he did with some young Royals hitters in four seasons as their hitting coach through 2012. For example, Alex Gordon credits him with overhauling his approach and swing in 2011 after Gordon’s promising career had stalled.
There's a lot to be excited about, folks. Don't let the doom-and-gloom talk of some get you down. Enjoy the process. Yes, there are going to be growing pains. There always are during any level of rebuilding, but those pains shouldn’t be as bad or last as long with the kind of rebuild (or whatever you want to call it) that the Braves are doing, compared to a strip-it-to-the-studs type project the Astros have endured in recent years. And like I said, if some things go their way, the Braves might actually surprise a lot of people this year and be competitive.
At the least, I think they will be a lot more enjoyable to watch. In large part because I think they’re going to enjoy playing the games more and enjoy being around each other more for the next eight months or so than they seemed to last year.
• Let’s close with this live version of an R.E.M. classic, since their guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Mike Mills is a noted Braves fan and since he and guitarist Peter Buck also play now in The Baseball Project, which will be in Orlando next month during its spring-training concert tour. Mike, let me know if the lyrics are way off. :)
“FALL ON ME” by R.E.M.
R.E.M.
There's a problem, feathers, iron
Bargain buildings, weights and pulleys
Feathers hit the ground
Before the weight can leave the air
Buy the sky and sell the sky
And tell the sky, and tell the sky
Fall on me (what is it up in the air for)
Fall on me (if it's there for long)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me)
There's the progress
We have found a way to talk around the problem
Building towers
Foresight isn't anything at all
Buy the sky and sell the sky
And bleed the sky and tell the sky
Fall on me (what is it up in the air for)
Fall on me (if it's there for long)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me)
Fall on me
(Well I would keep it above but then it wouldn't be sky any more)
(So if I send it to you you've got to promise to keep it home)
Buy the sky and sell the sky
And lift your arms up to the sky
And ask the sky, and ask the sky
Fall on me (what is it up in the air for)
Fall on me (if it's there for long)
Fall on me (it's over, it's over me)There is no shortage of extremists ready to capitalise on the events in Syria to serve their own divisive agendas
In an article entitled, ‘Sectarian Hatred at the Heart of British Muslim community,’ The Times recently highlighted issues of sectarianism that have been bubbling in the UK for some time. These issues have been crystallised after the Syrian conflict which brought matters to a head.
The Times article highlighted a graffiti incident against a Bradford-based Shia institution that had the words ‘Shia Kaffirs’ sprayed across its entrance. TELL MAMA, the national anti-Muslim hate incident reporting project that I manage and founded, picked up this case within hours when a leading member of the British Muslim Shia community reported it into us.
The incident highlighted what many of us knew, that the Syrian conflict, combined with preachers in Muslim communities promoting anti-Shia rhetoric and a mixture of hatred towards Assad and his Shia backers (Hizbollah and Iran), were threatening to upset the fragile cohesion between both faith communities in the UK.
Whatever the driver for the Bradford incident, it was becoming patently obvious to us at TELL MAMA that there were some individuals in Yorkshire and the Midlands who were actively promoting anti-Shia rhetoric. In some instances these individuals have been quietly re-enforcing anti-Shia discussions fuelled by hatred towards Assad and the largely Shia-based military support network that is keeping his administration alive.
The first time I came across the Shia and Sunni fault-lines was in May 2013 whilst I was sitting in Edgware Road in central London. Prior to 2013, I had not seen much of a fissure between the communities, and there seemed to be an acceptance that they found common ground on issues such as Halal food preparation, countering anti-Muslim hatred, protecting places of worship etc.
However 2013 seemed to be a turning point for Sunni-Shia relations in the UK, as the Syrian war dragged on and Assad’s brutal repression of the mainly Sunni population started to appear on YouTube videos. Such readily available content no doubt fuelled public discussions in areas like Edgware Road.
I remember endless conversations taking place in the busy restaurants on this famous road which pitted family against family and business against business in endless arguments about the future of Syria, and about the future of Shia communities in Syria, Iraq and the Gulf.
Most conversations ended in a bout of shisha smoking, raised eyebrows and pats on the back, though it was clear that, however tentatively, positions were being taken and support bases tested. The conflict was beginning to have an impact here in the UK.
Sadly, there were people waiting to take advantage of these emerging religious and political divides. Keen to use any situation as an opportunity to promote extremism, Anjem Choudary and his motley crew descended on Edgware Road in July 2013.
Loudspeaker in hand, surrounded by young hotheads chanting anti-Assad and anti-Shia slogans, a few individuals decided that a group of men walking down Edgware Road were Shia. The resulting brutal assault on one of these men lead to over 10 separate cuts and bruises as he was mauled to the ground and hit with placards which Choudary’s group has previously used to demonstrate against the Egyptian Embassy in Mayfair.
A few days later, I met with the victim and he started to tell me his story. He was a Shia and he was married to a Sunni woman. His children would be influenced by both Islamic traditions and he lived his life on the basis that sectarianism was a cancer that had continued to damage Islam and Muslim communities.
He made clear to me that the attack on him was not something that he held against the Sunni community, and he saw the attack for what it was. He believed that extremist groups were using the war in Syria as a means of opening up Shia and Sunni fractures and this was one way in which Choudary and his group were trying to attract new followers.
The war in Syria has therefore acted as a catalyst for those seeking to create and build divisions within Muslim communities. These divisions have also been manipulated and used by extremist groups who believe that Shia communities are heretics who should be eradicated through force of arms.
Yet we must also acknowledge that there has always been a small section within Sunni communities who have always taken a theological position that Shia communities are non-believers. A handful of them have been active promoting this rhetoric in the UK since before the Syrian war.
Finally, some of the people that I meet in Muslim communities believe that there is no problem and that ‘outside forces’ are at work trying to divide Muslim communities in the UK. The only forces that I see are extremists from within who seek to divide and who relish violence and confrontation.
Sadly, as long as the war in Syria continues, the risk to the UK will remain. The least that we can do is to counter and confront those who seek to sow the seeds of hatred within, to create the conflicts of tomorrow.
Fiyaz Mughal is the director of Faith Matters and the founder of Tell Mama, a project which records and measures anti-Muslim incidents
URGENT APPEAL: We need to raise £10,000 in the next few weeks to keep holding the right to account. Help us build a better media and back the crowdfunder to keep Left Foot Forward's progressive journalism alive.Premiums will rise an average of 27 percent for the hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents who buy their own health insurance.
Consumers eligible for income-based tax credits will be protected from the increasing premiums.
The state Department of Insurance and Financial Services published the rates Wednesday.
Enrollment for 2018 begins in a week.
Eight Michigan insurers will participate in a federally facilitated marketplace formed under the U.S. health care law.
In each county, there will be at least two insurers selling plans.
The state has said the premiums are higher than expected because President Donald Trump recently ended cost-sharing payments to insurers for providing lower-income people discounts on out-of-pocket costs.
About 80 percent of Michigan customers on the federal marketplace qualify for tax credits to offset their premium costs.The San Luis Obispo Gem & Mineral Club proudly presents:
Annual Summer Gem & Mineral Show!
Saturday June 18th, 2016, 10am to 5pm
& Sunday June 19th, 2016, 10am to 5pm
Located at the Cambria Vet’s Hall (1000 Main Street)
Free Parking, Admission, & Door Prizes
Featuring vendors selling a fantastic array of gems, minerals, fossils, jewelry,
jade, beads, crystals, meteorites, lapidary-related items & display supplies.
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The San Luis Obispo Gem & Mineral Club holds two shows per year. The annual June gem & mineral show is held on Father’s Day Weekend.
This year, due to the closure of the historic Cayucos Vet’s Hall, the Summer gem & mineral show will be held at the Cambria Vet’s Hall. Admission is
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Kuala Lumpur meeting but at the same time had identified an “Al Qaida safe house in Yemen.” He continued: “They understood that that Al Qaida safe house had a telephone number but they could not know who was calling into that particular safe house. We came to find out afterwards that the person who had called into that safe house was al Mihdhar, who was in the United States in San Diego. If we had had this [metadata] program in place at the time we would have been able to identify that particular telephone number in San Diego.” In turn, the number would have led to Mihdhar and potentially disrupted the plot, Mueller argued. (Media accounts indicate that the “safe house” was actually the home of Mihdhar’s father-in-law, himself a longtime al Qaida figure, and that the NSA had been intercepting calls to the home for several years.) The congressional 9/11 report sheds some further light on this episode, though in highly redacted form. The NSA had in early 2000 analyzed communications between a person named “Khaled” and “a suspected terrorist facility in the Middle East,” according to this account. But, crucially, the intelligence community “did not determine the location from which they had been made.” In other words, the report suggests, the NSA actually picked up the content of the communications between Mihdhar and the “Yemen safe house” but was not able to figure out who was calling or even the phone number he was calling from. *** Theories about the metadata program aside, it’s not clear why the NSA couldn’t or didn’t track the originating number of calls to Yemen it was already listening to. Intelligence historian Matthew Aid, who wrote the 2009 NSA history Secret Sentry, says that the agency would have had both the technical ability and legal authority to determine the San Diego number that Mihdhar was calling from. “Back in 2001 NSA was routinely tracking the identity of both sides of a telephone call,” [9/11 Commission Executive Director Philip Zelikow] told ProPublica. *** There’s another wrinkle in the Mihdhar case: In the years after 9/11, media reports also suggested that there were multiple calls that went in the other direction: from the house in Yemen to Mihdhar in San Diego. But the NSA apparently also failed to track where those calls were going. In 2005, the Los Angeles Times quoted unnamed officials saying the NSA had well-established legal authority before 9/11 to track calls made from the Yemen number to the U.S. In that more targeted scenario, a metadata program vacumming the phone records of all Americans would appear to be unnecessary.
And see this PBS special, and this ACLU comment.
Indeed, the NSA and other U.S. government agencies had been spying on Midhar for a long time before 9/11.
Initially, an FBI informant hosted and rented a room to Mihdhar and another 9/11 hijacker in 2000.
Investigators for the Congressional Joint Inquiry discovered that an FBI informant had hosted and even rented a room to two hijackers in 2000 and that, when the Inquiry sought to interview the informant, the FBI refused outright, and then hid him in an unknown location, and that a high-level FBI official stated these blocking maneuvers were undertaken under orders from the White House.
As the New York Times notes:
Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who is a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused the White House on Tuesday of covering up evidence ….The accusation stems from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s refusal to allow investigators for a Congressional inquiry and the independent Sept. 11 commission to interview an informant, Abdussattar Shaikh, who had been the landlord in San Diego of two Sept. 11 hijackers.
Moreover, Wikipedia notes:
Mihdhar was placed on a CIA watchlist on August 21, 2001, and a note was sent on August 23 to the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) suggesting that Mihdhar and Hazmi be added to their watchlists. *** On August 23, the CIA informed the FBI that Mihdhar had obtained a U.S. visa in Jeddah. The FBI headquarters received a copy of the Visa Express application from the Jeddah embassy on August 24, showing the New York Marriott as Mihdhar’s destination. On August 28, the FBI New York field office requested that a criminal case be opened to determine whether Mihdhar was still in the United States, but the request was refused. The FBI ended up treating Mihdhar as an intelligence case, which meant that the FBI’s criminal investigators could not work on the case, due to the barrier separating intelligence and criminal case operations. An agent in the New York office sent an e-mail to FBI headquarters saying, “Whatever has happened to this, someday someone will die, and the public will not understand why we were not more effective and throwing every resource we had at certain ‘problems.’” The reply from headquarters was, “we [at headquarters] are all frustrated with this issue … [t]hese are the rules. NSLU does not make them up.” The FBI contacted Marriott on August 30, requesting that they check guest records, and on September 5, they reported that no Marriott hotels had any record of Mihdhar checking in. The day before the attacks, the New York office requested that the Los Angeles FBI office check all local Sheraton Hotels, as well as Lufthansa and United Airlines bookings, because those were the two airlines Mihdhar had used to enter the country. Neither the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network nor the FBI’s Financial Review Group, which have access to credit card and other private financial records, were notified about Mihdhar prior to September 11. *** Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Congressman Curt Weldon alleged in 2005 that the Defense Department data mining project Able Danger identified Mihdhar and 3 other 9/11 hijackers as members of an al-Qaeda cell in early 2000.
We reported in 2008:
As leading NSA expert James Bamford – the Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings for almost a decade, winner of a number of journalism awards for coverage national security issues, whose articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including cover stories for the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and the only author to write any books (he wrote 3) on the NSA – reports, the NSA was also tapping the hijackers’ phone calls inside the U.S. Specifically, hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi lived in San Diego, California, for 2 years before 9/11. Numerous phone calls between al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi in San Diego and a high-level Al Qaeda operations base in Yemen were made in those 2 years. The NSA had been tapping and eavesdropping on all calls made from that Yemen phone for years. So NSA recorded all of these phone calls. Indeed, the CIA knew as far back as 1999 that al-Mihdhar was coming to the U.S. Specifically, in 1999, CIA operatives tailing al-Mihdhar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, obtained a copy of his passport. It contained visas for both Malaysia and the U.S., so they knew it was likely he would go from Kuala Lumpur to America.
NSA veteran Bill Binney previously told Washington’s Blog:
Of course they could have and did have data on hijackers before 9/11. And, Prism did not start until 2007. But they could get the data from the “Upstream” collection. This is the Mark Klein documentation of Narus equipment in the NSA room in San Francisco and probably other places in the lower 48. They did not need Prism to discover that. Prism only suplemented the “Upstream” material starting in 2007 according to the slide.
Details here and here.
Another high-level NSA whistleblower – Thomas Drake – testified in a declaration last year that an NSA pilot program he and Binney directed:
Revealed the extent of the connections that the NSA had within its data prior to the [9/11] attacks. The NSA found the array of potential connections among the data that it already possessed to be potentially embarrassing. To avoid that embarrassment, the NSA suppressed the results of the pilot program. I had been told that the NSA had chosen not to pursue [the program] as one of its methods for combatting terrorism. Instead, the NSA had previously chosen to delegate the development of a new program, named “Trailblazer” to a group of outside contractors.
Moreover, widespread spying on Americans began before 9/11 (confirmed here, here, here, here and here.
And U.S. and allied intelligence heard the 9/11 hijackers plans from their own mouths:
According to journalist Christopher Ketcham, America’s close ally Israel tracked the hijackers’ every move prior to the attacks, and sent agents to film the attack on the World Trade Centers
The National Security Agency and the FBI were each independently listening in on the phone calls between the supposed mastermind of the attacks and the lead hijacker. Indeed, the FBI built its own antenna in Madagascar specifically to listen in on the mastermind’s phone calls
According to various sources, on the day before 9/11, the mastermind told the lead hijacker “tomorrow is zero hour” and gave final approval for the attacks. The NSA intercepted the message that day and the FBI was likely also monitoring the mastermind’s phone calls
The CIA and the NSA had been intercepting phone calls by the hijackers for years (see also this)
According to the Sunday Herald, two days before 9/11, Bin Laden called his stepmother and told her “In two days, you’re going to hear big news and you’re not going to hear from me for a while.” U.S. officials later told CNN that “in recent years they’ve been able to monitor some of bin Laden’s telephone communications with his [step]mother. Bin Laden at the time was using a satellite telephone, and the signals were intercepted and sometimes recorded.” Indeed, before 9/11, to impress important visitors, NSA analysts would occasionally play audio tapes of bin Laden talking to his stepmother.
And according to CBS News, at 9:53 a.m on 9/11, just 15 minutes after the hijacked plane had hit the Pentagon, “the National Security Agency, which monitors communications worldwide, intercepted a phone call from one of Osama bin Laden’s operatives in Afghanistan to a phone number in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia”, and secretary of Defense Rumsfeld learned about the intercepted phone call in real-time (if the NSA monitored and transcribed phone calls in real-time on 9/11, that implies that it did so in the months leading up to 9/11 as well)
But even with all of that spying, the government didn’t stop the hijackers … even though 9/11 was entirely foreseeable. Moreover, the entire “lone wolf” theory for mass surveillance is false. In reality, 9/11 was state-backed terror.
As such, blaming 9/11 on a lack of ability of the NSA to spy is wholly false.
As TechDirt notes:
The [court’s] footnote refers to the 9/11 Commission Report whose findings directly contradict this narrative. The problem was not that the information wasn’t there. It was that it wasn’t shared. It was the fact that the CIA lost al-Mihdhar, but rather than issue an alert or place him on a watch list, it chose to do nothing. Many things went wrong, but not having the intel wasn’t the issue.
Indeed, the Boston Bombing proves that mass surveillance isn’t what’s needed. Even though the alleged Boston bombers’ phones were tapped – and NBC News reports, “under the post-9/11 Patriot Act, the government has been collecting records on every phone call made in the U.S.” – mass surveillance did not stop the other terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.
In reality – despite the government continually grasping at straws to justify its massive spying program – top security experts say that mass surveillance of Americans doesn’t keep us safe. Indeed, they say that mass spying actually hurts U.S. counter-terror efforts (more here and here).The video will start in 8 Cancel
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Jurgen Klopp saluted the selfless contribution of Daniel Sturridge as he urged his Liverpool side to “stay greedy” ahead of Friday night’s clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The German coach was delighted with the Reds’ attacking display in last weekend’s 4-1 rout of champions Leicester City and after analysing the footage he singled out Sturridge for special praise.
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The England international didn’t score but worked tirelessly for the team on his return to the starting line up.
Sturridge produced a stunning assist for Sadio Mane to score the second and Klopp was impressed by the frontman’s movement which created chances for others.
Asked how Liverpool go about maintaining the standards they set against Leicester, Klopp said: “Staying greedy. The movements were brilliant.
“Daniel was involved in three or four goals. For the first one, it was a brilliant run.
“Roberto (Firmino) can make exactly the same run but if Daniel hadn’t made that run he wouldn’t have been free. Being that flexible is the key for all games.
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“We had other times when Leicester had six or seven players around the box and we still found a solution. That’s what you have to create.
“All games are different. Leicester give you a lot of questions and their counter-attacking game is outstanding. You need to be even quicker in your mind than with your legs
“They defend really deep and try to disturb your build up. It was important we found the situations we found.”
Despite Liverpool’s commanding victory, Klopp insists there has been plenty to work on ahead of Friday’s showdown in the capital.
Klopp says they can’t afford to repeat the kind of mistakes which Leicester failed to punish.
“We had 10 minutes where we made the wrong decisions,” he added.
“I only speak about this now because it will be very important against Chelsea.
“We didn’t defend their No 6 as well as we did before. Our positioning was wrong.
“There were a lot of things we could have done better. Not to score more goals but to feel more secure in all situations. That’s the challenge for us.
“It’s about timing – doings the right thing in the right moment.”Image copyright Go Compare Image caption A still from a Go Compare advertisement
The way price comparison websites work is to be examined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Among other issues, it will look at how well sites such as Moneysupermarket, Uswitch and Gocompare can be trusted by their customers.
The CMA says it will look at whether consumers should be made more aware of how such sites earn their commission.
The study will look at all price comparison sites, including broadband, energy, insurance and banking.
Consumers are not always made aware of the cheapest deals on price websites, and usually they cannot switch to such deals immediately.
Companies often pay a fee of about £30 to a site for each new customer they gain.
Analysis: Brian Milligan, personal finance reporter
The CMA study will be seen by many as an opportunity to revisit one of its most controversial decisions. Back in June, its inquiry into the energy market ruled that price comparison sites would no longer be under an obligation to show consumers the cheapest deals.
In other words, such sites only need to show deals on which they are making a commission.
That decision reversed a previous ruling by the energy regulator Ofgem, which said consumers should see all the deals on offer. MPs on the Energy Select Committee have already complained about the U-turn.
While the CMA claims this new inquiry is completely separate, it says it will "see what issues it throws up".
It is now asking for evidence. There will certainly be no shortage of people willing to give it.
Andrea Coscelli, CMA acting chief executive, said: "Digital comparison tools have played a big part in changing markets for the better, bringing new ways of doing things and forcing businesses to up their game.
"Consumers have benefited as choice and access to goods and services have grown."
He said they had been more successful in some sectors than others.
The CMA said it wanted to understand why this was the case and whether more could be done to ensure consumers and businesses can benefit from them more widely.
It will examine four areas:
What consumers expect from comparison tools, how they use them and their experiences
The impact of such tools on competition between suppliers listed on them
How effectively comparison tools compete with each other
The effectiveness of existing regulation
One energy provider said the CMA was clueless about comparison sites.
'Farce'
Luke Watson, GB Energy managing director, said: "This latest investigation shows that the CMA has no idea what it thinks when it comes to comparison sites.
"It makes a farce of the CMA's energy market review, which handed more power to the comparison sites only a few months ago. Let's not forget some of those sites are also being investigated for anti-competitive practices. I think this is beyond a question of trust; these sites are profit-making machines posing as consumer champions, and they need proper regulation."
A MoneySuperMarket spokesperson said: "We look forward to working with the regulator to provide information and support as its work progresses."
The CMA must announce within six months whether it intends to refer the market for a more in-depth investigation and must publish its report within 12 months.
Margot James, the consumer minister, said: "The government welcomes this market study, as consumers deserve to have access to the best deals and the clear, reliable information they need to make the best decisions."Here’s an interesting video of former Omnoi Stadium champion and two-time K-1 World MAX champion, Buakaw using landmine or coreplate exercises in his strength and conditioning programme prescribed by the Faculty of Sports Science at Kasetsart University. The movements selected are very sport specific, indicating they are toward the end of a meso cycle or block of training, close to a fight.
Exercise 1 Landmine Twist
The landmine twist exercise allows you to work the anti-rotation function of the core in a standing posture. The objective is to produce the largest arc possible with no movement of the core — anti-rotator training. The barbell/landmine configuration also allows enough load to be added to satisfy strength development, not just muscular endurance.
Exercise 2 Landmine Reverse Lunge & Knee
The landmine reverse lunge and knee heavily works strength and power in the base leg. The low lunge position targets the glutes and hamstrings, and the knee strike also places further loading on the glute (backside muscle) of the base leg by squeezing at the top of the movement. The hip flexors lifting the knee only see very light loading. The objective is to move from the lunge to the upright knee strike explosively against the resistance.
Exercise 3 Landmine Push Press
The landmine push press develops punching strength and power from the ground up — driving through the legs. The angle of the final arm drive is also much closer to a real punch making it more sport specific. You’ll also notice that Buakaw places his feet in a fighting stance, right foot back when working both the rear arm (cross) and lead arm (jab). Again the objective is to drive explosively against the resistance.Great apes and clay warriors move in, a pop artist comes home and more.
Robert Indiana spent most of his career in New York, but the Hoosier pop artists' work will be celebrated by the IMA this spring. (Photo: Stephen M. Katz / Bangor Daily)
1. 'America's Got Talent' auditions
Jan. 25-26, Indiana Convention Center.
Go big or go home if you're going to try out for the chance to stand and be judged by Howard, Heidi, Howie and Mel B.
"You want to get out there and give it your all," host Nick Cannon told The Star. "If you're not the most talented person, but you have an amazing personality? Those people have gone pretty far on our show."
2. The Essential Robert Indiana
Feb. 16-May 4, Indianapolis Museum of Art.
It's fitting that this retrospective opens Valentine's Day weekend because the artist's most famous work is his LOVE sculpture, with the tilted O. But the timing is also ironic because Robert Indiana is not a sunny guy. The ubiquity of LOVE — there was even a postage stamp of it — irritated him and may have hurt his rep as a serious artist. "I am father to a bad child," he told The New York Times. "It bit me."
Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle and now, at 85, lives in an old Odd Fellows lodge on an island in Maine with a Chihuahua named Woofie. Besides the IMA's upcoming show, his work is the subject of a major exhibit at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York (through Jan. 5). The IMA's exhibit will have 57 works, only a few of them variations on LOVE.
3. Comic Con
March 14-16, Indiana Convention Center.
Gamers, geeks, comic connoisseurs will descend on the state's first Comic Con to see the likes of Maisie Williams (Arya Starks from "Game of Thrones") and Daniel Cudmore (Colossus from "X-Men: Days of Future Past"). /p>
The event — not to be confused with the San Diego Comic-Con, that draws 130,000 — will attract more than 10,000 attendees. More than 150 vendors will set up shop and artists will sketch live in Artist Alley. If that's not enough for you? Pop Con hits the city May 30-June 1, bringing pop culture and, what else? More comics.
4. Cheryl Strayed talk
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March 31, Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University.
Cheryl Strayed waited years to write her account of her three-month solo trek on the Pacific Crest Trail. When she finally put pen to paper, the result, "Wild," coaxed Oprah Winfrey to bring her book club out of retirement.
Strayed's tale of how the trail helped her pull herself out of a downward spiral after her divorce and loss of her mother also resonated with Reese Witherspoon, who optioned the screen rights to the book. Witherspoon plays the author in the movie, scheduled to hit theaters sometime next year.
5. Indy Eleven opening day
Buy Photo The Indy Eleven have captured the city's imagination without playing a game. (Photo: Rob Goebel/The Star)
7:30 p.m., April 12, IUPUI's Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium.
The Indy Eleven aren't Indianapolis' first professional soccer franchise, but it's already its most successful. That's saying something considering the fact that the North American Soccer Association-affiliated club has yet to play a game. The inaugural season home opener is scheduled for mid-April, and the Eleven will take the pitch to face the Carolina RailHawks.
With 7,000 season ticket deposits in hand and supporter groups like the Brickyard Battalion assembling, "footie" fans can expect to join the largest, loudest crowd IUPUI has seen... ever?
The NASL season will see the Eleven play nine times in spring and 18 times in fall with a break for the World Cup.
6. Tanjerine festival
Buy Photo Ben Long, part of the Fab Crew, works on a spray paint piece at Oranje, the older sister of the new event Tanjerine. (Photo: Robert Scheer/The Star)
Late April, location TBA.
After blending visual arts and music through 12 years of the Oranje festival, organizer Ryan Hickey is preparing a sister event focused on fashion, film and food. The new party, Tanjerine, will bring together chefs, bartenders, fashion designers, models and filmmakers in a setting never utilized by Oranje (an autumn event known for its rotating sites of unconventional spaces before settling down at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 2012).
"Like Oranje, the goal of Tanjerine is to present these creative media in an alternative environment and provide patrons with an experience unlike any other," Hickey says.
7. The Minimalists 'Everything That Remains' Tour
Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus strive to rid their lives of meaningless things. (Photo: Submitted photo)
April 29, venue TBA.
No, they're not a hot new indie band — though they count 2 million fans of their blog, the minimalists.com. Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus are two guys in their 30s who quit their six-figure jobs, rid their lives of meaningless things, activities and relationships, and decided to give the bird to American's obsession with status.
Now when someone at a party asks them, "What do you do?" they redirect the question to, "Do you mean, what am I passionate about?"
Already, the Minimalists have 350 Facebook RSVPs for their talk and book signing in Indianapolis. Tickets are free at their website.
8. Indy's first REAL vegetarian restaurant
Not "vegetarian friendly" — or one that has a vegan option or two. But a true all-veg, don't worry-about-stealth-bacon-in-the-greens kind of place.
Ezra's Enlightened Cafe, 6516 Ferguson St., likely will open in early 2014. Owner Audrey Barron, a certified raw chef (and mom to namesake Ezra), and head chef Allie McFee have already developed a menu of salads, wraps, raw soups, dehydrated breads and crackers and cakes, pies and chocolates. All will be made without gluten, dairy, animal products or processed sugar.
Ian Phillips of killertofuindy.com still is looking for a location for his Three Carrots restaurant on the Eastside. The chef serves up vegetarian comfort food such as biscuits and seitan sausage gravy at the Indy Winter Farmers' Market.
9. Grand Prix of Indianapolis
May 10, Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Speedway residents will hang their "Welcome Race Fans" banners early this year. The inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the first IndyCar Series road race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, takes place May 10 on the track's newly reconfigured road course.
The $5 million project — which required 20,000 tons of asphalt — created a 2.439-mile track that includes 14 turns with cars traveling clockwise around the course (rather than the counter-clockwise route of the Indy 500). The idea, say IMS execs, was to create a more competitive race with more opportunities for passing.
New infield grandstand seating and spectator mounds will offer better views, and affordable pricing (general admission is $25) makes the race family friendly. Unlike the 500, ABC's televised live coverage of the Grand Prix won't be blacked out in Indianapolis.
10. International Orangutan Center opening
Azy the orangutan, now kept at the Indianapolis Zoo. (Photo: Photo provided by Indianapolis Zoo)
May 24, Indianapolis Zoo.
Zoo-goers expecting to see the seven new residents at the center might come up with one extra primate in their count. An eighth orangutan, a 12-year-old male named Basan, has joined the "team," which moves into its new home at the Indianapolis Zoo in January.
This gives the endangered apes time to acclimate to their environment, which will feature a skyline aerial cable ride above the zoo, a community plaza, an exploration hub and an atrium featuring the 150-feet-tall "Beacon of Hope" illuminated by lights the orangutans turn on themselves.
It also includes a functional forest and three oases where the orangutans can rest, learn and play — which for Basan includes hiding in barrels, wrapping up in blankets and playing with water. (Filling objects up with water is a favorite past-time).
Weighing in at 114 pounds, Basan is a slightly smaller male orangutan (the average is 200 to 250 pounds) but has been declared fit for breeding by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and its Species Survival Plan Program. No pressure, Basan, but we'd love to hear the pitter-patter of little orangutan feet soon.
11. Terra Cotta Warriors: The Emperor's Painted Army
Terra cotta warriors will march into The Children's Museum this spring, (Photo: Submitted photo)
May 10-Nov. 2, Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
When China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang died in 221 B.C., he was buried with terracotta sculptures of his armies to protect him in the afterlife. These artifacts — 16 feet below the Earth's surface — lay untouched until the mid-1970s, when they were discovered by farmers in the ShaanxiCQ Province.
Visitors at this exhibit can see 10 of the warriors — which stand between 5 feet, 8 inches and 6 feet, 7 inches tall and weigh up to 500 pounds. In addition more than 100 artifacts recovered from pits around the emperor's tomb will be on display. Children can explore the science of paint and learn how these artifacts have remained intact all these years.
12. 'The Fault in Our Stars' movie
The movie adaptation of John Green's best sellar will be released this summer. (Photo: Twentieth Century Fox)
June 6, theaters nationwide.
"I'm on a roller-coaster that only goes up." This quote from the novel "The Fault in Our Stars" applies to the buzz surrounding the film version, which takes a love story between teenage cancer patients and heads into box-office battle in the middle of summer blockbuster season — opening the same day as Tom Cruise's next sci-fi project, "Edge of Tomorrow."
Indianapolis author John Green wrote "The Fault in Our Stars" as an Indianapolis story, which will be reflected in the movie even though it was made in Pittsburgh and not here because of tax-break reasons.
The cast includes Shailene Woodley (star of "Divergent," opening March 21), Ansel Elgort (recently seen in "Carrie"), Willem Dafoe and comedian Mike Birbiglia. Producers Wyk Godfrey and Marty Bowen have the "Twilight" saga on their resumes, while screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote "(500) Days of Summer."
13. 'The Book of Mormon' musical
June 17-22, Old National Centre.
Pious Hoosiers, take note: One of Broadway's "filthiest" and "most offensive" shows, according to critics, will make its first appearance in Indianapolis. "The Book of Mormon," which debuted in New York in 2011, won nine Tony Awards, and surprisingly, received only a mild response from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, known for their hit animated TV show "South Park," likens the show to a mash-up of Disney meets Mormonism meets Rogers and Hammerstein. "Mormons are just happy people," Trey Parker told Good Morning America. "So you're going to get a happy musical."
P.S. Looking for something more sentimental? "Ghost: The Musical," based on the 1990 romantic drama, will make its first Indy run in March.
14. The Beatles Tribute Celebration
Sept. 6, Pepsi Coliseum, Indiana State Fairgrounds.
The Fab Four first planted pop music's Union Jack on U.S. soil in Feb. 1964. That appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" triggered "Beatlemania," and the rest, they say, is history. Fast forward 50 years and the newly renovated Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum will host a Beatles tribute concert to mark John, Paul, George and Ringo's only concert appearance in Indianapolis.
Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/1caT8ClGerman people compelled by Allied forces to visit and view liberated concentration camps in Germany during World War II. Men at the concentration camp. The survivors of the camp who were grossly mistreated. The Nazi leaders and officials made to visit the camp. The officials visit dungeons, chambers, and furnaces where the prisoners were tortured. Heaps of bodies in the dungeon. The officials cover their noses with their hands and come out of the dungeon. The German citizens assembled in the streets to visit the concentration camps. Officials come out of a building. They walk past a board with 'Adolf Hitler Strape' written on it. The Germans walk on the road to the concentration camp. The corpses laid in coffins arranged in a line. The people walk in a line by the side of the coffins. Children hold their noses. Men and women come out of the camp. The people stand by the ashes of the burnt prisoners. Dead bodies of children and men in piles. People walk along the side of the bodies. Past events show the German crowd cheering the Nazi Party and hailing Adolf Hitler when he had come into power. Germans carry the crosses of the victims of the holocaust during the rule of Nazi Party.
This historic stock footage available in HD and SD video. View pricing below video player.America may be overdue for a recession. (Getty Images)
Donald Trump begins his reign in the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2017, inheriting an economy with a seven-year bull market, low inflation and an unemployment rate of less than 5 percent. After an initial election night stumble, the stock market is flirting with record highs. Interest rates remain close to historic lows.
All in all, it's a rosy economy picture. But at some point over the following four years, it's highly likely that the Trump administration will have to cope with an economic recession.
It's a timing issue. Economies run in boom-and-bust cycles, and it's been a long time, relatively speaking, since we had a bust.
The average post-war economic expansion lasts for 58 months, or just less than five years. The Great Recession ended in June 2009, meaning the current expansion is more than seven years old.
By the time Trump assumes office, we'll be 91 months in, and there will be another 48 to go before his first term is over. No post-war expansion has lasted longer than 120 months. It seems unlikely the current one will last 139.
Politics aside, the U.S. is overdue for a recession.
Uncertainty plus miserable growth equals risk. Trump's win wasn't even official yet and it had begun a series of economic shocks across the world. As the last votes trickled in, Asian stocks fell, the peso dropped 8 percent and Dow Jones futures briefly lost as much as 700 points, though the Dow's losses were soon erased.
Bankrate.com's chief financial analyst, Greg McBride, still believes Trump's victory could send reverberations through the stock market.
"The markets hate uncertainty and a Trump win means a whole lot more uncertainty," McBride says. "I still think we'll see the market pull back 10 percent, which is more than Brexit."
But uncertainty over what kind of a president Trump will be doesn't simply mean higher volatility over the next couple of months. It can actually lead to serious economic hardship.
"We have an economy that is already in a low-earth orbit of slow growth, and when you layer on top of that significant uncertainty that tends to prompt both consumers and businesses to hold back – that's how economic slowdowns and recessions are made," McBride says.
Protectionism. Beyond the specters of uncertainty and timing, there are some very real, glaring issues with the policies that Trump said he would champion as president. Protectionism in particular is arguably the policy that could most easily lead Trump to directly cause a recession.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to start trade wars with overseas partners – most notably China – by assigning large tariffs to foreign-made goods, which he sees as taking away American jobs.
"Forcing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. will raise the production cost. While it may provide jobs temporarily, the rest of the country will have to subsidize the new job creations by paying higher prices. The rest of the world will not buy the U.S. products due to the higher prices," says K C Ma, professor of finance at Stetson University. "Therefore, protectionism is not sustainable."
In the case of a trade war, American-made products would not only be more expensive due to higher labor costs, but because foreign trade partners would likely impose tariffs on American exports in response, making them more expensive.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 is often credited with both contributing to and exacerbating the Great Depression, something most Americans would rather read about than experience.
The elimination of the estate tax would contribute to a long-term deficit. Trump could also help cause a recession by repealing the estate tax, which currently is assessed upon death at a 40 percent rate on estates worth more than $5.45 million.
Trump's policy would replace that with a far smaller revenue stream for the government: capital gains tax on estates more than $10 million – and only when those assets are sold, not upon death.
Aaron Klein, an economics fellow at The Brookings Institution, is worried about this proposal. "In the long-run, deficits do matter," Klein says.
"I'm very concerned about a radical, deficit-financed tax cut that will exacerbate income inequality, create a massive transfer of wealth to elites and fail to stimulate real economic growth," he says. "Repealing the estate tax would be quite a windfall for wealthy families, paid for by my children. And my children's children. I'm very worried about that."
Laissez-faire financial regulation (or lack thereof). Trump has also promised to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in 2010 in response to the financial crisis with the intent of preventing another one. It raises capital and lending requirements at banks, and if that goes away – poof! – the conditions that allowed the 2008-2009 global economic meltdown to happen appear once
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lurasidone and asenapine, but not aripiprazole, displayed robust activity in this test. In contrast, other authors have reported significant inhibition by aripiprazole of MK-801 and ketamine-induced hyperactivity in rat and mouse (Leite et al. 2008; Nordquist et al. 2008). One reason for the discrepancy may be the somewhat variable response observed with aripiprazole herein (Fig. 1). However, the D2 receptor partial agonist properties of aripiprazole likely also render it less adapted to antagonizing hyperlocomotion elicited by NMDA receptor antagonists, as suggested by previous studies (Bardin et al. 2007; Leite et al. 2008). Indeed, the present data correlate with the modest efficacy of aripiprazole in controlling psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease patients (De Deyn et al. 2005; Schneider et al. 2006a), suggesting that reversal of NMDA receptor antagonist-induced hyperactivity is an important selection criterion for future drugs aimed at treatment of BPSD. Overall, the results from the MK-801 test are consistent with antipsychotic-like activity of the drugs and are important in the present study because they identify active doses that constitute measures of central activity for comparison with the other tests relevant to BPSD (see below). In tests of catalepsy and inhibition of locomotor activity, the drugs displayed expected profiles: Most of the drugs elicited dose-dependent catalepsy, a model of EPS, but clozapine, aripiprazole, and lurasidone did not (Table 1). However, all the drugs tested herein inhibited spontaneous locomotor activity, probably reflecting sedative properties, at doses similar to those active in the MK-801 test (although antipsychotic-induced sedation can progressively attenuate with repeated administration). This is an issue that may be significant in the context of BPSD drug discovery because elderly patients may suffer from poor motor coordination and/or movement disorders (Fasano et al. 2012). Care is necessary when using drugs that are known to induce motor disruption, and it would therefore be desirable to identify new drug candidates that did not suffer from such motor disruption liability.
Activity of compounds in a test of antidepressant-like efficacy Mood deficits and depressive symptoms are very common in patients suffering from dementia (Hersch and Falzgraf 2007), and the present study shows that antipsychotics used in the treatment of BPSD have distinct effects in the FST, a classic model of antidepressant-like activity (Fig. 2). Firstly, the capacity of antipsychotic drugs to alleviate symptoms of depression is being increasingly recognized with the clinical use of olanzapine, risperidone, and aripiprazole to treat treatment-resistant and bipolar depression in conjunction with established antidepressants (Komossa et al. 2010) or, in the case of quetiapine, as monotherapy (Weisler et al. 2012). Clearly, inhibition of monoamine reuptake by SSRIs, SNRIs, or tricyclic drugs does not provide optimal antidepressant therapy in many patients. Indeed, established antidepressants induce a broad increase in monoamine transmission that affects all serotonergic and noradrenergic receptors, including those that limit antidepressant response, such as, for example, 5-HT6 and 5-HT7. Thus, the efficacy of adjunct treatment with antipsychotics may be due to antagonism of targets that limit antidepressant action (Carr et al. 2011). Secondly, in most cases, the effects of the drugs herein were observed at only a single dose. This is likely a reflection of the multireceptor profiles of antipsychotics that can, presumably, interfere with the drugs’ capacity to alleviate mood deficits over a broad dose range. Olanzapine and lurasidone were active at doses that are 3-fold lower than those active in the MK-801 test (Table 1). In contrast, risperidone was active in the FST at the same dose that was first active in the MK-801 test. Interestingly, very low doses of haloperidol (10–30-fold lower than antipsychotic-like doses) modestly reduced immobility, probably by antagonism of pre-synaptic D2 receptors and facilitation of dopaminergic neurotransmission in limbic regions (Lucas and Spampinato 2000). Thirdly, the only drug that showed significant activity at more than one dose, overlapping with antipsychotic activity, was clozapine. This antipsychotic is among the most effective in reducing suicidality, a parameter which is strongly connected to depressed mood (Meltzer 2012). Previous studies of clozapine in the FST have shown that it is also active under other experimental conditions (Chindo et al. 2012) and, in a comparative study in mice, was the only antipsychotic that showed activity in the tail-suspension test (Wesolowska et al. 2011). It therefore seems that clozapine’s mood-modulating effects are clearly measurable in pharmacological models, and this might provide a criterion by which to evaluate novel drugs at an early stage of drug discovery. Fourthly, the antipsychotics reduced immobility times by about 10–15 % compared with vehicle-treated subjects. In comparison, the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine decreased immobility times by about 25 % at the dose tested. Imipramine’s effect is therefore only about 2-fold greater than that elicited by antipsychotic drugs, suggesting that the latter’s effects on mood modulation may be pharmacologically relevant. Nevertheless, higher doses of imipramine are sometimes reported to elicit larger responses so the antidepressant-like effects observed with the antipsychotics should be interpreted with caution (Kitamura et al. 2008). However, it would be interesting to evaluate the activity of clozapine and other antipsychotics in the FST upon chronic treatment—their efficacy may increase with repeated administration, as is the case for reuptake inhibitors, including imipramine (Koek et al. 1998). In addition, in view of the fact that antipsychotics are often prescribed as adjunct treatment, it would be interesting to test them in combination with clinically used antidepressants.
Activity of compounds in a test of cognition/memory Cognitive disturbance is a major characteristic of dementia (Hersch and Falzgraf 2007). Hence, it would be desirable to avoid treating patients suffering from BPSD with drugs that elicit or accentuate cognitive impairment. Herein, we used a classic memory test to compare the activity of the antipsychotics. The PA is based on the acquisition, storage, and retention of aversive Pavlovian conditioning involving short- and long-term memory processes. In addition, PA also depends on attention, perception (of painful stimuli and visual discrimination between the compartments), and sensorimotor integration that involves multiple neurotransmitter systems (Myhrer 2003). Therefore, PA acquisition is a composite read-out, and gaining information at an early stage on whether a compound impairs PA is of value in selection of new drug candidates for BPSD. Firstly, the antipsychotics generally showed impairment of the PA response (Fig. 3; Table 1) although their pattern varied from one drug to another. Thus, risperidone impaired PA performance but did so at doses that were 10-fold greater than those active in the MK-801 test. This suggests that it can achieve antipsychotic-like activity in the absence of memory impairment, although its induction of catalepsy and spontaneous locomotor activity remain sub-optimal. Other antipsychotics, including clozapine, olanzapine, lurasidone, and asenapine, showed little (3-fold) or no MED separation between the PA and MK-801 tests. Accordingly, it would be desirable to identify drug candidates that did not disrupt memory performance in early screening tests. Such drugs could then be further characterized in diverse models of cognition relevant to dementia (see below). Also, chronic studies are warranted to assess if repeated administration affects the separation factor between doses that elicit “antipsychotic” effects and those that alter cognitive capacities. Secondly, the novel antipsychotic lurasidone also impaired PA performance (MED 10 mg/kp, i.p.). This is notable because lurasidone has been claimed to exhibit a favorable cognitive profile in tests of passive avoidance, the radial arm maze, and the Morris water maze, without impairing basal PA performance (Enomoto et al. 2008; Ishiyama et al. 2007). In addition, lurasidone has been reported to attenuate MK-801-induced cognitive deficits at low doses (1–3 mg/kg p.o.) (Ishiyama et al. 2007), suggesting that it may exhibit dose separation between some of its pro-cognitive and antipsychotic-like properties. It will therefore be interesting to determine the extent to which lurasidone is of utility in dementia patients. Thirdly, the striking absence of memory impairment by aripiprazole is consistent with its generally benign tolerance profile. The partial agonist properties of aripiprazole at D2 and 5-HT1A receptors are claimed to provide “stabilizing” influence on neurotransmission, and this may underlie the drug’s absence of interference on PA performance (Tamminga and Carlsson 2002). Nevertheless, the incomplete blockade of D2 receptors by aripiprazole (due to its partial agonist activity at these sites) may also render it less incisive for control of psychotic symptoms or agitated states, as reflected in its somewhat lesser capacity to reverse MK-801-induced hyperactivity, as noted above, and its lack of clinical antipsychotic efficacy in a trial of Alzheimer disease patients (De Deyn et al. 2005). Fourthly, the present study examined the effects of antipsychotics on the PA test in normal rats that were drug-naïve and normally express a high level of performance. Therefore, the present conditions detect impairments of memory performance rather than cognitive enhancement (Marston et al. 2009). Ideally, drugs would be active in MK-801-induced hyperactivity tests while reducing immobility in the FST and being free of interference on (or even improving) PA performance. Such a screening battery could, theoretically, identify promising compounds for subsequent characterization in more advanced tests of anxio-depressive states and cognition. For example, drugs could then be tested for their capacity to reverse memory deficits elicited by muscarinic receptor antagonists such as scopolamine (Gravius et al. 2011) and/or examine their effects in aged animals that suffer from impairment arising from decline in cerebral function or in mice that have been genetically modified to alter beta-amyloid expression and neurologically mimic Alzheimer’s disease (Lithner et al. 2011).
Mechanistic aspects All of the drugs examined herein share the common property of interacting with dopamine D2 receptors, the primary action responsible for their antipsychotic-like profiles. In contrast, the drugs exhibit markedly diverse profiles of action at serotonergic receptor subtypes. In particular, the interaction of some atypical antipsychotics with 5-HT1A, 5-HT6, and 5-HT7 receptors is likely to underlie their effects on antidepressant-like behavior and cognitive performance (Arnt et al. 2008). Thus, 5-HT1A receptor activation mediates the capacity of aripiprazole to reverse social interaction deficits elicited by PCP (Newman-Tancredi and Kleven 2011) and may also underlie some of clozapine’s and lurasidone’s activity (Horiguchi and Meltzer 2012; Ishibashi et al. 2010). Lurasidone also has pronounced 5-HT7 interaction, a property which has been claimed to contribute to its attenuation of PCP-induced novel object recognition deficits (Horiguchi et al. 2011; Ishibashi et al. 2010). Lastly, 5-HT6 antagonism is a prominent feature of the receptor profile of clozapine and has been suggested to mediate some of its “atypical” properties (Glatt et al. 1995). Indeed, 5-HT6 receptor antagonists are active in models of cognition relevant to psychotic disorders (Arnt and Olsen 2011; Rodefer et al. 2008) as well as in tests of antidepressant-like and anxiolytic activity (Carr et al. 2011). 5-HT6 receptor antagonism may also be a promising target for therapy of Alzheimer’s disease (Gravius et al. 2011): A selective 5-HT6 antagonist, LuAE58054, improved cognitive performance of Alzheimer disease patients (H. Lundbeck A/S 2012). At a drug discovery level, the novel compound, ADN-1184, possesses a promising profile in rat models (active in the MK-801 and FST tests without catalepsy or impairment of PA) and is characterized by potent antagonism of 5-HT6 and 5-HT7 receptors, suggesting that they mediate some of its therapeutic-like properties (Kołaczkowski et al. 2013).The T-push is a core mobility technique for a goaltender. It is a quick movement used over relatively long distances (within the crease). It is usually used to follow the puck during a pass. The goaltender must be aware that he may have to transition to a butterfly slide should the pass become a one-timer.
To perform the T-Push dig your inside skate edge into the ice with the leg (outside leg) opposite to the direction of travel. Transfer all your weight to the outside leg. Turn the inside skate so it points in the direction of travel. Turn your body towards the location you want to move to. Push off with the outside leg. When you reach the required location, stop using the inside leg. Re-position your legs to square off with the puck.
As you progress, the motion will become fluid with steps 2 to 5 occurring simultaneously.
A few points to note:The future is bright; its colours, sights and sounds more vibrant and steeped in a better understanding of our consciousness and it’s brought to you by the wonders of psychedelic science. It is a field of study with a storied history that is experiencing a renascence as countries around the world and their governments begin to open their minds.
For those who have experienced the wonders of psychedelics, the benefits they can offer are clear. It’s easy to explain that elated sense of being and self to someone who is already an enthusiast, but for the rest of the world science is the key. That is why researchers in this field want to bring science and psychedelics together, as they once were, and in the past several years they have done just that.
Within the US the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is on the verge of receiving FDA approval of its MDMA-assisted therapy for patients with PTSD.
A year ago MAPS wrapped up six trails conducted in the US, Israel, Switzerland and Canada in which treatment resistant PTSD was treated with MDMA inspired therapy.
It’s proven to be an immensely effective form of treatment which is on track for wide-scale approval by 2021. The latest study, which included 107 participants, found that 66 percent of patients no longer qualified for PTSD after just two sessions. In their previous study that number was 83 percent.
The success of these trials has launched MAPS into the final phase of FDA approval in which they will continue their clinical trials as well as provide training for up to 100 therapists to be certified in administering MDMA-assisted therapy.
Brad Burge, Director of Strategic Communications for MAPS, insists that the FDA and even the DEA have been extremely cooperative with their studies. He’s seen a great reception for these alternative therapies from the scientific community and their patients and expects greater acceptance as the studies continue.
“I think that the momentum is strong enough and the need for alternatives is great enough that any sort of counter marketing that big pharmaceuticals would do would probably only make what we’re doing more popular.” Says Burge.
As with anything, there are also potential risks, but Burge notes that a large part of the government’s acceptance of their studies has come from the careful procedures and practices they’ve adopted. Safe storage, in house administration of drugs and most of all an openness in communication with the patient.
“As far as any sort of addictive potential,” Brad says, “there is zero evidence that a couple of administrations of MDMA in a therapeutic setting will lead to any form of dependence.”
Of the 107 patients that have been treated by MAPS, only a couple have sought out the substance outside of their scheduled therapies, those patients were compelled by the results MDMA provided yet they later admitted – as Burge also insists – that the therapy is a crucial element.
As a result of such studies, MDMA is likely to go the way of marijuana, in that its medicinal usefulness will eventually lead to widespread acceptance.
But one psychedelic which still has a long way to go in quelling the public stigma is ironically one which could also do a lot to ease people’s fears: LSD. Widely unknown to the public, the experience of LSD is often thought of as a hallucination-inducing brain-melter. Even film portrayals of acid trips have had a difficult time capturing the true experience.
Among those who have taken the substance, it is often thought to have a positive transformational effect in their lives, especially when — as with MDMA — it is administered properly and in a comfortable environment. Yet the difficulty in conveying the experience has made LSD one of the most feared drugs in the world.
Much of that fear has to do with a lack of information, and short inviting the whole world to experience it for themselves in the style of Timothy Leary, rigorous scientific study is the next best way to lift that veil.
That’s where the Beckley Foundation of the UK comes in. Their organization, which aims to bring science back into the world of psychedelics, is helping us all gain a better understanding of both the substance and our own consciousness.
When we last spoke with Amanda Feilding, director and founder of Beckley, they had been testing the effects of psilocybin (the active chemical in magic mushrooms) on depression with incredible results. Now she says her focus is mainly on LSD.
“Poor LSD is still not acceptable,” Feilding says with a sense of despair in her voice that only someone who truly understands the substance could convey, “there’s still a terrible taboo on those letters.”
Having lived in the world of psychedelics since their heyday Amanda has seen the effects in science, medicine and the counterculture of the 60s. She has also seen a decade’s long misinformation campaign which has stigmatized recreational users and the years of scientific research with them.
In the 1950s and 60s, more than 3000 research papers were published on the effects of LSD. Among these early researchers was Ronnie Sandison, whose work at Powick Hospital for the mentally ill had become recognized around the world as a breakthrough in the treatment of mental illness until LSD’s association with recreational users forced the compound into obscurity.
Even the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson lauded LSD as an aid in curing alcoholism — a possible use which the Beckley Foundation is also looking into. Wilson who famously believed that alcoholics required a spiritual awakening in order to overcome their addiction also believed that LSD could hold the key to that awakening.
Since its founding in 1998, the Beckley Foundation has sought to revive this field of study in the name of the public good it could do. With the use of modern scientific methods and brain imaging technologies Amanda and her team can now bring scientific backing to the experiences that underground users have known for years.
In 2016, the Beckley/Imperial Research Programme produced the first images of the brain on LSD. The study was conducted on 20 volunteers, whose brains were scanned using fMRI and magnetoencephalography (MEG) after receiving either 75 micrograms of LSD or placebo.
The images, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, displayed a luminous picture of the brain in which the Default Mode Network (DMN) had been dissolved. In other words, the rigid wiring of the brain had been freed up to enable greater connectivity. This explains the increased creativity that users experience, but it also allows for therapy to be more effective.
“It shakes the rigidity of the setting,” Amanda explains, “Mental and psychological disorder like depression, addiction, PTSD are set on hyperactivity in parts of the Default Mode Network, which is like the ego, its set into a rigid and negative setting.”
For recreational users, the images provided a visual representation of the illusive ego death. The concept is something of a mythologized holy grail of psychedelics or a state of nirvana that is now better understood by looking at the way in which LSD affects the brain.
“Ego death or ego disintegration is really the same as the flip side of the expression of the mystical experience.” Amanda says, “The ego is basically the control mechanism to keep the status quo as it is, when that diminishes in its activity there is a flood of other activity which is rather like when the cat is away the mice will play.”
That level of free-form thought can be quite overwhelming, especially when the average trip could take up to 8-10 hours. This is why Amanda emphasizes that the proper setting — and in the case of Beckley’s studies: a therapeutic guide — is important to ensure a positive experience. She also believes that maintaining a regular blood glucose level is an effective way to ensure clarity and stave off a bad trip. It’s one theory she aims to test in upcoming studies.
Among its’s newest ventures, the Beckley/Imperial Research Programme will undergo the world’s first microdosing study to investigate reports that minor doses of around 15 micrograms increase productivity while still allowing the user to function normally. The study will have volunteers play the ancient Chinese strategy game of Go, with one player having taken a microdose and the other a placebo, to investigate whether small doses of LSD can enhance intuitive pattern recognition and creativity. All of which is to increase our understanding of LSD, rather than base our knowledge on years of misinformation.
As a once recreational user, Amanda is aware of the stigma that can affect its widespread acceptance, but also believes that there are immense benefits in bringing it out of the dark.
“I think LSD has gone through a great black tunnel of publicity.” She says, “In many ways I think one can say that it’s the most adaptable and positive of all the drugs because what it does is expand the inner person.”
For her, Beckley’s work is about a much more than having a way to legally access a drug again. “It’s a social duty if you like, it’s much easier to just take LSD when you’re not having to change the world.”
In fact, LSD is quite available already and even relatively inexpensive on the black market, but the point of psychedelic science is education rather than access. Understanding these feared substances and the way they affect the body can ultimately help us to provide the safest possible methods of using them. Whether it be recreational or medicinal, more information is always better than propaganda, but wherever the future of psychedelics leads, it’s sure to be a more enlightened place thanks to psychedelic scientists.
To support the research of MAPS and the Beckley Foundation visit the links below:
MAPS
BeckleyFILE - In this Jan. 27, 2009 file photo, Peabody Energy headquarters is shown in St. Louis. Peabody Energy Corp. said Tuesday, April 19, 2011, its profit rose in the first quarter due to higher prices for Australian coal used in steelmaking and increased demand in the U.S. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, file)
WASHINGTON -– Peabody Energy Corp., the world's largest private-sector coal company, launched a public relations and advertising campaign last month extolling the virtues of coal energy for poor people.
A Peabody press release announcing the campaign, called Advanced Energy for Life, argues that lack of access to energy is "the world's number one human and environmental crisis."
To enter the campaign website, readers encounter a drop-in screen that asks them to agree or disagree with the statement, "Access to low-cost energy improves our lives." The site notes that there are 3.5 billion people in the world "without adequate energy" -- 1.2 billion of them children. A video titled "Energy Poverty" features babies and small children, with text that implores, "We can solve this crisis." It adds: "Affordable energy leads to better health."
Peabody's proposal to solve this crisis? Asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop setting pollution limits on coal-fired power plants. Those pollution rules are meant to address climate change caused by greenhouse-gas emissions, a global problem that has the greatest effect on poor countries. Burning coal generates carbon emissions as well as hazardous pollutants such as mercury, lead, and benzene, according to the American Lung Association.
Burson-Marsteller, the world's largest PR firm, and its subsidiary, Proof Integrated Communications, are working behind the scenes on Peabody's PR effort. Burson-Marsteller spokesman Paul Cordasco confirmed to The Huffington Post that the company is working on behalf of Peabody. Peabody spokeswoman Beth Sutton said "Burson-Marsteller and several other firms are providing support for the campaign."
Sutton said the campaign "will be sustained long term" and "is aimed at changing the global conversation to focus on energy poverty."
Burson-Marsteller's role isn't readily apparent. The environmental group Climate Investigations Center linked the PR company with Peabody by determining that the website for the coal campaign initially was registered to Luis Hernandez, the managing director and chief technology officer at Proof, according to domain ownership records. The site is now registered directly to Peabody Investments Corp.
Burson-Marsteller has a long history of working on PR campaigns that downplay or contradict established health concerns. The Guardian has described Burson-Marsteller as "the company that governments with poor human rights records and corporations in trouble with environmentalists have turned to when in crisis."
The firm worked for Union Carbide after its poison gas disaster in Bhopal, India, killed 3,800 people in 1984. It has also worked on behalf of governments accused of human rights abuses, including Nigeria and Indonesia.
Burson-Marsteller's work on tobacco is what its critics point to most often. The University of California-San Francisco's Legacy Tobacco Documents Library includes a memo from a former Burson-Marsteller staffer to a Phillip Morris executive discussing the need to "discredit" the EPA's identification of secondhand smoke as a carcinogen and to "hold the line against an escalation of smoking bans."
In the 1990s, Burson-Marsteller was involved in forming a "smoker's rights" front group known as the National Smokers Alliance, funded by the tobacco industry, according to the tobacco documents. The company was also part of the creation of the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition in 1993, which also sought to undermine the science on the health risks of cigarette smoke, also on behalf of Phillip Morris. (Burson-Marsteller said it stopped working for tobacco clients in 2010.)
The company's more recent work has included an anti-Google campaign on behalf of Facebook in 2011 and Proof's "Fix the Debt" campaign in 2012.
“We have sometimes been criticized for, say, working for the Bhopal Union Carbide situation over in India. I have no qualms whatsoever in having worked on that, trying to help Union Carbide work themselves out of that situation. I think Union Carbide worked in a very ethical way. Burson told Gannett News in 2001. "I think these companies are entitled to representation. I think it's part of their First Amendment rights.”
Environmental groups said Burson-Marsteller's role in Peabody's campaign isn't surprising.
"Burson-Marstellar has spent decades working for some of the world's worst perpetrators of human rights and environmental abuses," said Kert Davies, director of the Climate Investigations Center. "So Burson-Marsteller are well suited to help Peabody push dirty coal to the world's poorest people, at a time when everyone from the World Bank to the U.N. are warning us climate change will hit the poor first, and hardest."
Peabody's new website describes the "Path to Green Coal" and features a graph showing the adoption of carbon-capture and storage technology for coal-fired power plants in the 2020s. The new EPA rules that the site argues against would require all new power plants to have carbon-capture and storage. Coal supporters who used to be bullish on "clean coal" have gotten much less so since the EPA announced the rules last year.
Sutton said Peabody is the sole sponsor of the campaign, but, "We expect others to join as the campaign gains greater visibility."FLUSH with cash from the European Union and backed by a phalanx of ultra-loyalist MPs, Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, seems unstoppable. Brushing aside concerns about democracy, the European Commission last month signed a €21.9 billion ($28.2 billion) partnership agreement. The money will arrive between 2014 and 2020 to boost competitiveness and growth. Hungary will also get €3.45 billion for rural development and €39m for fisheries. GDP rose in the second quarter at an annual rate of 3.9%. Industrial output is up 11.3%. Tourism revenue has risen by more than 10% year-on-year.
Next month’s local elections will consolidate Mr Orban’s grip on power. The once mighty left has splintered into three parties, none of which poses a serious challenge to his ruling right-wing Fidesz party. Instead, disillusioned Fidesz supporters are moving farther right. Polls show Jobbik, a nationalist party, neck-and-neck with the Socialists. Attila Juhasz at Political Capital, a think-tank, reckons that Jobbik could win up to 30 mayoralties in small towns and villages. The party might even take Miskolc, a big city in the east.
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Budapest highlights the opposition’s malaise. The left-wing candidate, Ferenc Falus, a former chief medical officer, is a decent sort but has no chance. An amateurish video has provoked derision. It shows him standing in socks and sandals, drenched, together with a horse and a weeping grandson after issuing an ice-bucket challenge to Istvan Tarlos, the incumbent. Even 444.hu, a website scathingly critical of the Orban government, called on Mr Falus to give up. A poll by Nezopont, an institute close to Fidesz, shows Mr Tarlos with 50% of the vote. Had the left united around Lajos Bokros, a former finance minister, it might have had more chance: Mr Bokros gets 14% in the poll whereas Mr Falus trails with 11%.
Mr Orban swept to power with a two-thirds majority in April 2010, a feat repeated four years later, in part thanks to Fidesz-friendly adjustments of campaign rules and biased media coverage, according to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Mr Orban’s centralisation of power has drawn protests from the European Union, America’s State Department and human-rights groups. Corruption has worsened, says Transparency International, a watchdog. More than a third of the population live at or below the poverty line. The situation of the Roma, the largest minority in the country, remains as parlous as ever. In Miskolc a slum-clearance programme has made many homeless.
Mr Orban outlined his longer-term vision in a much-noted speech on July 26th in Baile Tusnade, in neighbouring Romania. Hungary, he explained, would become an “illiberal state”. Speaking admiringly of Russia, China and Turkey, he said Hungary would remain a democracy, and not reject liberal principles such as freedom of speech, but would be based on “a different, special, national approach”. The approach, say critics, was evident earlier this month when police raided the Budapest office of Okotars, an NGO that manages funds from Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein, and confiscated computers and documents for alleged financial mismanagement. Okotars strongly denies the charge. The police raid was “completely unacceptable”, thundered Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s minister for Europe.
The show of force has sent shivers through Hungary’s non-profit sector. The EU had no comment, as the NGOs are funded by Norway. But Kate Byrnes, the deputy chief of America’s OSCE mission, demanded that Hungary allow NGOs to operate without “further harassment, interference or intimidation”, repeating earlier protests.
Whereas most EU leaders have scaled down their criticism of Mr Orban’s illiberal ways, the Americans are stepping theirs up. Bill Clinton, a former American president, told a talk-show host on the Daily Show, a current-affairs programme, that Mr Orban was an admirer of “authoritarian capitalism” and never wanted to leave power. “Usually those guys just want to stay forever and make money,” Mr Clinton added. A few days later, Barack Obama, America’s president, took Hungary to task in a speech at the Clinton foundation, noting that “from Hungary to Egypt, endless regulations and overt intimidation increasingly target civil society”.
The Hungarian foreign office insisted that Mr Obama’s remarks “lack any factual basis”. Around 80,000 NGOs are operating in Hungary and they receive more than 200 billion forints ($825m) in state funds, according to Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesman. The government has no intention of hindering their activities, but all NGOs are subject to Hungarian law, no matter where their funds come from.
Against this backdrop Tibor Navracsics, a former justice minister and deputy prime minister, can expect a bumpy ride next week at his hearing at the European Parliament. Mr Navracsics, who was Mr Orban’s right-hand man in his radical reforms since Fidesz came to power four years ago, has been designated as the EU’s education commissioner. Education has been centralised in Hungary in recent years. Its universities were once renowned for producing distinguished scientists and thinkers, but are now notably absent in the top university-rankings. The opposition refers to Mr Navracsics as Mr Orban’s “butler”. His close relationship with his master may be a liability during his tenure in Brussels.Our nation has been on a collision course with simple, natural living for quite some time. People in cities are crammed into high-rise apartment complexes, working 12 hours per day, eating fast food as a daily staple, and getting sicker by the minute. What will it take to reverse this trend? Well, unfortunately, we don't seem to be able to do this on our own. It is taking an economic crash, the likes of which pales the 1929 fiasco to get us thinking about going back to the basics of growing our own food. The truth is, for far too many of us, if we don't start developing some basic survival skills, we simply won't eat.
So how do we go about growing some of our own food and eating healthy if we live in an apartment? It’s simple. Create a Freedom Garden. There are several ways to do this in a limited space. One way is to grow your veggies in pots indoors near windows, or with grow lights. Another suggestion is to use balcony space and create vertical gardens in which plants are started in containers and trained to grow upwards on trellises, poles, or anything that encourages upwards growth.
Hydroponics gardens are another option, and can be made cheaply and easily. These require no soil, just nutrients and water. You can have fresh, organic tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, squash, and many other veggies right at your fingertips.
Start your project with something easy like squash, lettuce, spinach, carrots, or beets. I live in the high desert, and these veggies grow outside like crazy here, even with the harsh weather and limited growing season. Squash, lettuce, and spinach do not require much depth, but carrots and beets do, so remember this when creating your gardening space.
To get your Freedom Garden started, make sure that you get only Heirloom seeds. GMO (genetically modified) or hybrid seeds will not work if you plan to harvest seeds for the next crop. Once your veggies ripen, choose the best plants from your crops, and harvest the seeds for your next planting from them. If you plant GMO seeds, it is likely that your harvested seeds will not be viable. The same goes for hybrid seeds. Heirloom seeds are the seeds that go back for hundreds of years, and are pure. Their genetic makeup has not been tampered with through artificial genetic modification techniques, or cross breeding.
Choosing only the best plants for your seed harvesting will ensure that future crops yield the best results. Also, be sure to gather extra seeds to create your very own personal seed bank so that you have something to fall back on just in case.
Here are some handy links for starting your Freedom Garden:
1)
2)
In short, one of the things that we cannot do without is food. To stay alive, we need to eat. If the shelves go bare, having a Freedom Garden in your apartment or backyard will be worth its weight in gold. So pick a gardening method, whether it is by indoor or outdoor containers, or hydroponics, choose your seeds wisely, and start planting for food freedom. This is the way to stay alive and healthy in today's world.Here are some handy links for starting your Freedom Garden:1) How to Harvest and Store Vegetable Seeds 2) Where to Buy Heirloom Seeds in BulkSS saw that I love cooking, especially Italian cuisine. He also noticed that I'm on a Low carb diet, so he could guess that what I want the most when I have a diet break is actually carbs :D
So he sent me 2 recipe books, one for pasta, one for chocolate :)
The best is that he noticed that I'm learning Dutch, so he choose to send me books written in Dutch. And that's very nice, because cooking the things I love is a very good incentive to read and practice the language that I want to learn! And recipes are short enough to read to be easy to understand. Excellent!
Bonus: I like r/foodporn, and indeed all the pics in those 2 books could be posted there!!! OMG I want to cook everything now!!
Thank you Secret Santa!
Merry christmas to you! Prettige feestdagen
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solar minimum (+ one year) relative to the instrumental record.
Figure 4: Oulu Neutron Count aligned on month of solar minimum
The last weak solar cycle was Solar Cycle 20 which caused the 1970s Cooling Period. From the same stage in that cycle the neutron count flattened out to minimum. That could happen for Solar Cycle 24 but it is more likely to keep rising to minimum as 23 did and thus we can expect a count, at the end, of over 7,000.
Figure 5: F10.7 Flux and Oulu Neutron Count 1964 – 2017
If we conflate the F10.7 flux and the Oulu neutron count inverted, that shows they tracked each other closely up to 2004. Something changed in 2004 and since then the neutron count has been higher relative to its previously established correlation with the F10.7 flux.
Figure 6: Ap Index 1932 – 2017
Figure 6 shows that what changed in 2004 was the magnetic output of the Sun, shown in this instance by the Ap Index. Prior to that, there seemed to be a floor of activity at solar minima, just as the floor of activity for the F10.7 flux is 64. Three years to minimum and the Sun is now back to that level.
Figure 7: Solar Polar Field Strength 1976 – 2017
The best predictor of the amplitude of the next solar cycle is the strength of the solar polar magnetic fields at solar minimum. Figure 7, from the Wilcox Solar Observatory, shows that the solar polar magnetic fields at minimum have been weakening with each successive cycle.
Figure 8: Solar Polar Field Strength aligned on minimum strength at solar maximum
Solar Cycle 25 started from the blocks looking like it was going to be very weak and fulfill the prophecies of those predicting a Maunder-like experience for the 2020s. Then after a couple of years it caught up with Solar Cycle 24. Looking back over the previous three cycles, the solar polar field strength at this stage, three years before minimum, has been close to the value at minimum. On that assumption, Solar Cycle 25’s amplitude is likely to be two thirds of that of Solar Cycle 24, and thus 60. Further climatic cooling is therefore in store.
Figure 9: Sunspot Area 1985 – 2016
NASA has deigned to give us another nine months of sunspot area data by hemisphere, up to September 2016. The strong asymmetry between the northern and southern hemispheres continues. The fact that the hemispheric peaks of the last three cycles align indicate that there is a multi-decadal force operating in the vertical dimension. The chance that two sets of three points line up exactly by themselves is infinitesimal.
Figure 10: Hemispheric Sunspot Area and F10.7 Flux
As shown by Figure 10, total sunspot area tracks the F10.7 flux closely.
David Archibald is the author of American Gripen: The Solution to the F-35 Nightmare
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Reddit(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp investors on Wednesday rejected a shareholder proposal to prohibit the world’s biggest coffee chain from making political contributions or forming a political action committee.
A sign is seen outside a Starbucks Coffee shop in central London December 3, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Winning
The Starbucks board had recommended rejection of the proposal, sponsored by shareholder John Harrington, chief executive of Harrington Investments. It was introduced at the annual meeting by a representative of Corporate Accountability International, where Harrington is a board member.
Two years ago, Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz organized scores of fellow CEOs to boycott campaign contributions until lawmakers came up with a plan to fix the nation’s financial woes.
Even though Starbucks has not contributed to political campaigns in recent years, directors said a policy forbidding contributions would hobble the company’s ability to promote policies needed to deliver strong results and could put it at a “marked disadvantage” with competitors.
The breakdown of votes was not immediately available.
The Seattle-based company’s corporate policy allows contributions to candidates, political action committees or state ballot measures. But over the last three years, Starbucks made no direct political contributions and did not operate a political action committee, according to the annual report to shareholders.
The company did pay dues to trade organizations that lobbied lawmakers.
During the shareholder meeting, Starbucks reiterated its 2013 revenue and earnings growth targets.
It also announced a $1 million seed grant to support a new job training program called LeadersUP and said it would expand sales of U.S.-made coffee mugs through a new relationship with Ohio-based American Pioneer Manufacturing, which later this year will begin supplying 100,000 mugs annually.
Over the last two years, Starbucks is one of 125 companies to face shareholder proposals related to political spending, according to a March 7 report by the Sustainable Investments Institute, which tracks political spending and corporate governance issues.
In votes held this year, 37 percent of Visa Inc’s voting shareholders and 31 percent of those of Accenture Plc supported proposals to disclose contributions for lobbying, according to filings from both companies.
Shares of Starbucks, which hit an all-time high of nearly $62 in April 2012, were up 1.3 percent at $57.58 on Wednesday afternoon.The DNC aided and abetted two illegal aliens on Monday night during the nationally televised DNC Convention 2016 in Philadelphia. Thus, according to the law, the DNC twice violated Section 8 U.S. Code 1324.
At 8:04pm local time, the DNC invited an illegal alien to accompany her daughter to tout Hillary Clinton for president. During her speech, which was televised on national TV, the daughter explicitly said her mother is in the United States illegally. Minutes before the mother and daughter team took to the stage, the DNC played a video showing the daughter communicating with Hillary Clinton during one of her tour stops in Nevada. It was then that the daughter (Karla) admitted to Hillary Clinton that her mother (Francisca) received a government issued letter of deportation. Clearly, the mother is ignoring the deportation order, and so to is the DNC and Hillary Clinton.
Following the mother/daughter act, another illegal alien took to the podium at 8:09pm local time. Her name is Astrid Silva, and she said in clear english, “I came to America illegally with my mother when I was 4-years old. We crossed the river [Rio Grande] on a raft.”
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Nisar Ahmed will never reach'requisite standards' of teaching and cannot work in state schools again, a panel has ruled
A teacher who is judged to be incapable of ever improving his work has become the first to be banned for life from the classroom due to incompetence.
Nisar Ahmed will never reach'requisite standards' of teaching and cannot work in state schools again, a panel ruled.
The General Teaching Council for England found the 46-year-old guilty of serious professional incompetence and said there was a risk that pupils would be seriously disadvantaged if he was ever allowed to return to lessons.
Mr Ahmed was head of business studies at the John O'Gaunt Community Technology College in Hungerford, Berkshire, from September 2007 to January 2009.
He had taught for a total of 13 years at schools across the South-East.
His management of lessons was 'invariably' below standard, the GTC disciplinary panel was told.
The school, which has more than 450 pupils, aged 11 to 18, gave Mr Ahmed 'extensive formal and informal' support for more than a year but he failed to improve.
Just 13 teachers have been banned from the profession for fixed periods for incompetence since 2000.
Mr Ahmed is the first to receive a prohibition order without time limit.
His organisation of classes was deemed 'persistently poor', with class registers regularly left uncompleted and student work folders 'poorly managed' and sometimes left at home or in his car when they were needed in lessons.
Marking was persistently not done or delayed and feedback to pupils was inadequate, GTC committee chair Rosalind Burford said.
She added: 'You regularly failed to undertake proper lesson plans. This resulted in a lack of pace and challenge in your lessons and a lack of clear learning objectives.'
These 'fundamental' failings had a significantly adverse effect on his students, she said, adding: 'We could not be satisfied that you have an appropriate level of insight into your shortcomings.
'Thus, we felt you posed a significant risk of repeating your actions.'
Two years ago, GTC chief executive Keith Bartley said there could be as many as 17,000'substandard' members of staff among the 500,000 registered teachers in the UK.
The small number banned for incompetence will spark fears these teachers are simply being recycled.
Mr Ahmed was head of business at the John O'Gaunt Community Technology College in Hungerford, Berkshire
Mr Ahmed had been placed under a formal capability process in December 2008. He resigned shortly after learning his case would be considered by governors.
Michael Wheale, the school's former headteacher who gave evidence at the hearing, was unavailable for comment.
Its current head Neil Spurdell said: 'Under a capability process, teachers do have the opportunity to improve against certain targets and many do.
'The bottom line is you can't have pupils disadvantaged by inadequate teaching. They only have one chance at this.'
Last night Mr Ahmed, who lives in Reading with his wife and their two children, said he would be appealing the GTC decision.
He added: 'They have made a scapegoat out of me. I'm deeply unhappy about it and don't deserve to be the first to be struck off for life.'Apparently, as long as violent leftists label their victims "fascists," they are free to set fires, smash windows and beat civilians bloody. No police officer will stop them. They have carte blanche to physically assault anyone they disapprove of, including Charles Murray, Heather Mac Donald, Ben Shapiro, me and Milo Yiannopoulos, as well as anyone who wanted to hear us speak.Even far-left liberals like Evergreen State professor Bret Weinstein will be stripped of police protection solely because the mob called him a "racist."If the liberal shock troops deem local Republicans "Nazis" -- because some of them support the duly elected Republican president -- Portland will cancel the annual Rose Festival parade rather than allow any Trump supporters to march.They're all "fascists"! Ipso facto, the people cracking their skulls and smashing store windows are "anti-fascists," or as they call themselves, "antifa."We have no way of knowing if the speakers at the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally last weekend were "Nazis," "white supremacists" or passionate Civil War buffs, inasmuch as they weren't allowed to speak. The Democratic governor shut the event down, despite a court order to let it proceed.We have only visuals presented to us by the activist media, showing some participants with Nazi paraphernalia. But for all we know, the Nazi photos are as unrepresentative of the rally as that photo of the drowned Syrian child is of Europe's migrant crisis. Was it 1 percent Nazi or 99 percent Nazi?As the "Unite the Right" crowd was dispersing, they were forced by the police into the path of the peace-loving, rock-throwing, fire-spraying antifa. A far-left reporter for The New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, tweeted live from the event: "The hard left seemed as hate-filled as alt-right. I saw club-wielding 'antifa' beating white nationalists being led out of the park."
That's when protestor James Fields sped his car into a crowd of the counter-protesters, then immediately hit reverse, injuring dozens of people, and killing one woman, Heather Heyer.This has been universally labeled "terrorism," but we still don't know whether Fields hit the gas accidentally, was in fear for his life or if he rammed the group intentionally and maliciously.With any luck, we'll unravel Fields' motives faster than it took the Obama administration to discern the motives of a Muslim shouting "Allahu Akbar!" while gunning down soldiers at Fort Hood. (Six years.)But so far, all we know is that Fields said he was "upset about black people" and wanted to kill as many as possible. On his Facebook page, he displayed a "White Power" poster and "liked" three organizations deemed "white separatist hate groups" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. A subsequent search of his home turned up bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics.Actually, none of that is true. The paragraph above describes, down to the letter, what was known about Micah Xavier Johnson, the black man who murdered five Dallas cops a year ago during a Black Lives Matter demonstration. My sole alteration to the facts is reversing the words "black" and "white."President Obama held a news conference the next day to say it's "very hard to untangle the motives." The New York Times editorialized agnostically that many "possible motives will be ticked off for the killer." (One motive kind of sticks out like a sore thumb to me.)In certain cases, the media are quite willing to jump to conclusions. In others, they seem to need an inordinate amount of time to detect motives.The media think they already know all there is to know about James Fields, but they also thought they knew all about the Duke lacrosse players, "gentle giant" Michael Brown and those alleged gang-rapists at the University of Virginia.Waiting for facts is now the "Nazi" position.Liberals have Republicans over a barrel because they used the word "racist." The word is kryptonite, capable of turning the entire GOP and 99 percent of the "conservative media" into a panicky mass of cowardice.This week, Mitt Romney and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) -- among others -- instructed us that masked liberals hitting people with baseball bats are pure of heart --they first label the likes of Charles Murray or some housewife in a "MAGA" hat "fascists."Luckily, the week before opening fire on Republicans, critically injuring House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Bernie Sanders-supporter James Hodgkinson had used the vital talisman, calling the GOP "fascist." So you see, he wasn't trying to commit mass murder! He was just fighting "Nazis." Rubio and Romney will be expert witnesses.And let's recall the response of Hillary Clinton to the horrifying murder of five Dallas cops last year. The woman who ran against Trump displayed all the moral blindness currently being slanderously imputed to him.In an interview on CNN about the slaughterHillary barely paused to acknowledge the five dead officers -- much less condemn the shooting -- before criticizing police for their "implicit bias" six times in about as many minutes.What she really wanted to talk about were the two recent police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, refusing to contradict Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton's claim that the Minneapolis shooting was based on racism.Officers in both cases were later found innocent of any wrongdoing. Either the left has had a really bad streak of luck on their police brutality cases, or bad cops are a lot rarer than they think.Some people would not consider the mass murder of five white policemen by an anti-cop nut in the middle of a BLM protest a good jumping-off point for airing BLM's delusional complaints about the police. It would be like responding to John Hinckley Jr.'s attempted murder of President Reagan by denouncing Jodie Foster for not dating him.Or, to bring it back to Charlottesville, it would be as if Trump had responded by expounding on the kookiest positions of "Unite the Right" -- just as Hillary's response echoed the paranoid obsessions of the cop-killer. Trump would have quickly skipped over the dead girl and railed against black people, Jews and so on.That is the precise analogy to what Hillary did as the bodies of five Dallas cops lay in the morgue.Thank God Donald J. Trump is our president, and not Mitt Romney, not Marco Rubio and not that nasty woman.COPYRIGHT 2017 ANN COULTERDISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATIONShare. Ain't no grit in this game. Ain't no grit in this game.
Sunset Overdrive Creative Director Marcus Smith recently opened up about the light-hearted tone of Insomniac Games' upcoming apocalyptic shooter.
"Games are kind of like uber-serious right now," Smith told Siliconera in response to a question regarding the goofy, self-aware tone of Sunset Overdrive."In a lot of cases, people are trying to make interactive movies more than things you are entertained by. For us, we just wanted to divert and go back to our roots. Insomniac has always done games that were pretty self aware, always had a sense of humor, and are fun for different groups of people."
Sunset Overdrive is a third-person shooter set in an energy drink-induced apocalypse. Rather than the bleak setting of the studio's Resistance series, however, the Xbox One exclusive features colorful environments and fast-paced methods of traversal.
Exit Theatre Mode
Its setting is just one of many examples of how the development team wanted to create a game that was self-aware, humorous, and fun.
"I love games that are really cinematic, but I also really love the Sega games of the late 90s. You know Crazy Taxi was just fun, you just jumped in and did it, and Jet Grind Radio. Those games were fun for the sake of being fun."
Ultimately, Smith hopes that Sunset Overdrive is its own unique experience built on the ideas of games that came before.
Exit Theatre Mode
"More than anything, the last thing you want to be is derivative," he says. "For me, the worst thing in the world is to read a review that says 'it’s like this game.' Especially video games from the coin-op days, they had to be different. At Atari, if you came with a game that was close to some other game they would be like, 'It’s too close to the other one, start something new.'"
Sunset Overdrive will release exclusively on Xbox One October 28. You can learn more about it by reading IGN's own preview.
Cassidee is a freelance writer for various outlets around the web. You can chat with her about all things geeky on Twitter.Godot Docs – master branch¶
Note Godot’s documentation is available in various languages and versions. Expand the “Read the Docs” panel at the bottom of the sidebar to see the list.
Attention This is the documentation for the development (master) branch. Looking for the documentation of the current stable branch? Have a look here.
Welcome to the official documentation of Godot Engine, the free and open source community-driven 2D and 3D game engine! If you are new to this documentation, we recommend that you read the introduction page to get an overview of what this documentation has to offer.
The table of contents below and in the sidebar should let you easily access the documentation for your topic of interest. You can also use the search function in the top left corner.
Note Godot Engine is an open source project developed by a community of volunteers. The documentation team can always use your feedback and help to improve the tutorials and class reference. If you don’t understand something, or cannot find what you are looking for in the docs, help us make the documentation better by letting us know! Submit an issue or pull request on the GitHub repository, help us translate the documentation into your language, or talk to us on either the #documentation channel on Discord, or the #godotengine-doc channel on irc.freenode.net!
The main documentation for the site is organized into the following sections:In light of the Wikileaks ‘Vault 7’ data dump confirming that the CIA is using microphones in smart phones and TVs to spy on people’s conversations, it’s worth highlighting the fact that Infowars was reporting on this very same issue ELEVEN years ago.
The leaks show that a project codenamed Weeping Angel was developed to hack Samsung’s F8000 range of smart TVs and trick the user into thinking the sets were turned off.
The TV sets would then be infected to covertly record audio and send that information over the Internet to CIA servers once the TVs were turned back on and a wi-fi connection was re-established.
“Under a “future work” section, it is suggested that video snapshots might also be taken and the wi-fi limitation be overcome,” reports the BBC.
Infowars was discussing the deep state’s intention to use microphones connected to the Internet for this very purpose almost eleven years before the CIA documents were made public.
In a September 2006 article entitled, Government, Industry To Use Computer Microphones To Spy On 150 Million Americans, myself and Alex Jones described how, “Private industry and eventually government is planning to use microphones in the computers of an estimated 150 million-plus Internet active Americans to spy on their lifestyle choices and build psychological profiles which will be used for surveillance and minority report style invasive advertising and data mining.”
If the term has been in use 11 years ago, they would have called this "fake news". #Vault7 pic.twitter.com/eDlGVEJk5S — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) March 8, 2017
We warned that all Americans would become, “potential targets for secret surveillance and the subsequent sell-off of all their information to unscrupulous data mining corporations and government agencies,” and that having initially been pioneered by private companies, “the use and abuse of this technology will eventually be taken over by the state.”
Years later and over four years before the release of the ‘Vault 7’ documents, we specifically warned that the microphones in Samsung TVs were being used to listen in on people’s conversations in a December 2012 article entitled, Samsung TVs Can Be Hacked to Spy on Users.
Back then, the mainstream media would have called this fake news & me a "conspiracy theorist". #Vault7 @wikileaks pic.twitter.com/neTxo8Gt8w — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) March 7, 2017
We reported on this issue again in November 2014, January 2015, and February 2015.
Alex Jones also exposed how the ‘Internet of Things’ was a tool for mass surveillance on numerous occasions on his radio show over the course of the two decades.
At the time these articles were published, we were called “conspiracy theorists” for suggesting the government would use microphones connected to the Internet to spy on Americans. If the term was in use at the time, the media would have even accused us of peddling “fake news”.
As the Wikileaks data dump shows, Infowars has once again been vindicated when it comes to exposing the deep state mass surveillance program that all Americans are now living under.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.Marion Motley was born in 1920 in Leesburg, Georgia and was raised in Canton, Ohio. His family moved to Canton when he was three years old. Motley attended Canton Mckinley High School where he excelled at Football and Basketball. He led McKinley to a 25-3 record as a fullback and linebacker where their only three losses were to rival Massillon who were coached by the legendary Paul Brown.
After graduation, Motley enrolled at South Carolina State University in 1939. He transferred after his freshman year to the University of Nevada-Reno where he starred from 1941-43. After suffering a knee injury, Motley returned to Canton to work after dropping out of school.
Motley joined the U.S. Navy in 1944. As World War 2 intensified, he was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station where he played for the Great Lakes Blue Jackets, coached by his old rival Paul Brown. Brown was serving in the Navy during an extended leave from Ohio State where he was the head coach. Motley played fullback and linebacker and was an important component of the teams offense and defense. The highlight, while at Great Lakes, was a 39-7 beating of Notre Dame in 1945. Motley was actually eligible for discharge before the game – it was to be the final game of the season and the last military game of World War 2 – but he stayed to play. Motley put up an impressive performance, thanks in part to Brown’s experimentation with a new play; a delayed hand off, later called the Draw Play.
Paul Brown, in the summer of 1946, became the coach of the Cleveland Browns in the newly formed All-American Football Conference. Motley wrote to Brown asking for a tryout but Brown declined, saying he already had all the fullbacks he needed. At the beginning of August, however, Brown invited Bills Willis, another African-American star, to try out for the team at its training camp in Bowling Green, Ohio. Ten days later Brown invited Motley to come to camp as well.
Motley and Willis were the first two African-American players signed by the AAFC. Around the same time, the Los Angeles Rams singed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode to contracts in the NFL. The Rams were forced to sign the players because a group of Black sportswriters had pressured the L.A. Coliseum to stipulate that, before it could use the publicly funded Coliseum, the Rams integrate upon the franchise’s move from Cleveland.
The Browns dominated the AAFC, winning all four league championships before the franchise was absorbed by the NFL.
Motley was the AAFC’s all-time leading rusher (3,024 yards), but there was much for Motley and his team to prove when they joined the NFL. Motley and the Browns proved it immediately by Motley winning the NFL rushing title and the Browns winning the championship by beating the Rams.
Motley averaged 17.09 yards per rush in a 188 yard performance in 1950 against the Steelers which held up as an NFL record for 52 years.
While the Browns proved to be an elite team in the NFL, advancing to six straight championship games in it’s first six years in the NFL, injuries slowed Motley, who eventually retired before the 1954 season. Motley finished his career averaging 5.7 yards per carry which is most for an NFL running back with at least 750 carries even surpassing the great Jim Brown who averaged 5.2 per carry.
Motley, after his career, had a dream to be an NFL coach. Motley asked Paul Brown for a job on his staff and Brown told him that “instead of coaching, go look for a job at a steel mill”, Motley also asked his old QB Otto Graham for a coaching job, but was also turned down for that job. Motley fought racism his entire life on the field and off and remains largely unappreciated in pro football history because of the injuries that shortened his career. He got his just due finally in 1968 when he became the second African-American player in history to be elected to the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame. Motley finished out his life working for the United States postal service, but he will always be remembered as one of the toughest running backs in NFL history.Using 3 on 3 to Develop Your Team’s Offense
Now in the basketball training field, I got my start as a high school basketball coach and was the former the head basketball coach at Metuchen High School in Metuchen, NJ. We had some great success over the seven seasons I was there and I was fortunate enough to coach some great basketball players during that time. One of those players, Marqus Blakely, has had stints with the Los Angeles Clippers and is currently playing professionally in the Philippines. While still coaching, I remember watching him in a summer league game where he looked like the best player on the floor for the Clippers posting 14 points and 6 rebounds. The members of my Metuchen team were so proud and excited to talk about Blakely’s game as most of them got the chance to see it on tv. So we spent the better part of our warmup that day talking about his performance, and then we got into actually playing some basketball, bringing me to my title, “Using 3 on 3 to Develop Your Team’s Offense.” This topic has come up on my site before in the post 3 on 3: The Key to Teaching Team Basketball, but using three on three drills in my practices throughout my coaching career resulted in so many good results for us in our games because players were able to develop their skills in a competitive situation that resembles components of your team’s offense. With that in mind, I decided to break this topic down even further into two more segments, offensive and defensive development.
Altering 3 on 3 to Fit Philosophy
Three on three basketball can and should be used to develop your team’s offense because the games can be altered in many ways in order to fit your offensive philosophy. During practice, you can work on multiple variations of three on three basketball in order to help develop your team offense and defense (which will be covered in the next post). You can run these as competitive games to one point and the loser will rotate off while the winner stays and plays the next team. Use as many baskets on the court that you can so that players and teams will not be standing for a long period of time. Put a time limit on each block of games (preferably 10 minutes) and designate certain variables for each segment that need to be followed and worked on based on your team’s offensive principles. For example, when I coached Metuchen, we ran the dribble drive but with more movement off the ball and some added pick and roll sets. Consequently, we worked on all of these concepts during our three on three play, setting parameters like the score must come off of a side pick and roll or the ball must be entered into the offense out of a dribble drive and kick up.
One action that we worked on while I was coaching and something we incorporate a ton into our basketball training sessions is moving without the ball. This seems to be a lost art in the new age, one player dribbles around while the others stand and watch era of basketball. However, ball movement which requires cutting and screening was imperative the success of the offense that we ran when I coached and is a large reason why the San Antonio Spurs won the 2014 NBA Championship. In order to teach moving without the basketball effectively in a three on three setting, restrict the players from dribbling at all during this prescribed time period. As previously mentioned, players get caught dribbling too much and the other players tend to stand around and watch that player. By eliminating the player’s dribbles it forces them to rely on cutting and screening in order to get an open look at the basket.
During the second block of games, allow the players to use one dribble per touch. Once again, this forces them to really move without the basketball in order to get open looks but at the same time, they were now working on using their dribble for a purpose. Players can do more than they think with one dribble provided they use their dribble to attack a gap and force a teammate’s defender to help or attack the basket and score. By limiting the number of dribbles a player has, they are forced to use their dribble properly or they will waste an opportunity to score.
As you progress into the next block of games, allow each player three dribbles on each touch. With this guideline the three on three become more like the actual game and similar to your team’s offensive concepts. Once again, the players are limited by their number of dribbles, and they have to learn to attack the defense efficiently with their dribble in order to be productive. At the same time they were still forced to rely on moving without the basketball and set screens in order to keep their spacing and create driving lanes for the man with the ball.
The final variable that you can add is to designate how the players must score, for example, designating that the score has to come off the pick and roll. Continue to limit each player to only three dribbles per touch in order to work on attacking the pick and roll effectively and not excessively with an inordinate number of dribbles. Drill the players to go by screener tight with their shoulder low enough that they actually hit the screener’s hip. It is preferable that they use two dribbles while coming off the pick and roll with the second dribble being the one to clear them from the pick and attack the space that is being created by the action. The player with the ball should also attack the pick and should not go sideways, all the while reading the hedge defender and your own defender. Attacking while coming off the pick will put the defenders at a disadvantage when trying to help and recover and should lead to better scoring opportunities. On the other hand, coming of the pick and attacking laterally creates an easy help and recover opportunity for the defenders.
Anything Goes 3 on 3
Once you have worked on all your offensive variables, incorporate an, “anything goes” session of three on three. This is meant to work on all of the concepts we had worked on in the previous four sessions while allowing the players to use their own creativity within the offense. This is an important concept because players are too often confined to what their coaches want them to do that it actually limits their capabilities as a player. A player’s creativity can sometimes be the best part of their game and it should be cultivated in order to make your team better.
Making the team better is the goal of every practice and game and three on three basketball can go a long way towards accomplishing this goal. Using three on three basketball can be a highly efficient way of developing your team offense. The games can be short, competitive, and altered in a way that fits your team’s offensive concepts. By adding rules to the games, the players are able to work on those concepts more effectively. Since there are fewer players per team than in a regular game, each player will get more opportunities to work on the designated concept. Also, because the games are short (only one point games) it forces the players to compete harder in order to win and stay on the court. Consequently, they will try to execute the concepts better, more often, and more efficiently in their attempts to win. Overall, three on three basketball is an excellent way to develop your basketball team’s offensive concepts and improve in a game like setting.Cork fared well in this year’s Michelin ‘Eating Out in Pubs’ Guide, with six businesses securing a deserved mention on the prestigious list.
Cork fared well in this year’s Michelin ‘Eating Out in Pubs’ Guide, with six businesses securing a deserved mention on the prestigious list.
The latest listing already has food-trekkers loosening their belts in preparation for a glorious cross-county pub grub crawl of proper proportions.
Many of Cork’s Michelin-mentioned pubs are most famous for their stunning seafood, courtesy of the near-by Atlantic Ocean and all are committed to celebrating the beauty of locally sourced ingredients from the stunning array of Cork food producers.
Meaty prawns, cracked crabs and fresh fish picked right from the day boats seem like reason enough to make the journey to any of these scrummy destinations.
Mary Ann’s
Castletownshend
Mary Ann’s, Castletownshend
Although the building that is Mary Ann’s dates back to the 15th century, it first began operating as a pub as far back as 1846. Now it’s owned by Fergus and Patricia O’Mahony and has been since 1988.
Being so close to the stunning Co. Cork seaside Mary Ann’s is the perfect destination for seafood lovers with fresh local fish forever shining from the menu.
(028) 36146
Poacher’s Inn
Bandon
Poacher’s Inn in Bandon is on our dream Michelin pub crawl.
Another one of Cork’s six pubs mentions in this year’s guide, Poacher’s Inn in Bandon celebrates the bountiful produce available from local producers in West Cork. Fresh fish are fetched daily from day boats pulled against the local piers and all produce remains untouched until it enters the kitchen.
www.poachersinnbandon.com
023-8841159
An Súgan
Clonakilty
An Súgan, Clonakilty
An Súgan is one of two Clonakilty based pubs mentioned in 2015’s ‘Eating Out in Pubs’ guide. The restaurant has been owned and run by the Crowley family for over thirty years bursting out stunning seafood, all locally sourced. Being in West Cork, the pub is best known for the seafare on offer but if you’re a proper carnivore, the Ballyburden steak sandwich is supposed to be killer. An adjacent guest house will house you afterwards with a full and happy belly.
www.ansugan.com
023 883 3719
Deasy’s
Clonakilty
Deasy's in Clonakilty
Gorgeous views of Clonakilty Bay are a top attribute of West Cork’s Deasy’s, located in the village of Ring.
Diners lap up the somewhat informal relaxed atmosphere of Deasy’s and the simple, traditional decor adds to the experience.
Fresh fish is delivered daily from Union Hall and visitors can expect ‘fresh, creatively cooked and well presented fish.’
023-883 5741
Cronin’s
Crosshaven
Cronin's in Crosshaven
Located in Crosshaven, Cronin’s is a traditional family run pub and restaurant.
The building itself was originally opened as a hotel in 1892 and was purchased by the Cronin family in 1970.
Now the adjoining Mad Fish Restaurant is a shining star of pub grub in Cork, boasting its own garden where fresh vegetables are harvested for use in the restaurant. Spankingly fresh seafood is again the focus of this Michelin mentioned treat but mouths water even just glancing at the pictures.
www.croninspub.com
021 4831829
Toddies at The Bulman Kinsale
Toddies at The Bulman Kinsale
The scenic village of Summercove is home to Toddies Restaurant, a local gem completely worthy of its inclusion in this year’s guide. This time of year, it’s the perfect spot to cosy up to a roasting wood burning open fire, a welcome escape from the chill brought on by the proximity to the ocean. A delicious oyster bar is one of the many highlights.
www.thebulman.ie
021 4772131
Online EditorsThe Tax Policy Center has just released its analysis of Mitt Romney’s newest tax proposal. That certainly calls for a chart
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of Rhode Island doctoral student who surveyed the state for freshwater turtles and studied their habitat preferences found that the once-common spotted turtle is in trouble, due largely to habitat disturbance.
Scott Buchanan, a New Jersey native working in collaboration with URI Associate Professor Nancy Karraker, repeatedly visited 88 different wetlands in the state over three years and captured nearly 2,000 turtles of four different species. Just 50 were spotted turtles, a species considered by the state to be of high conservation concern and a candidate for the U.S. endangered species list.
“Throughout their range, populations of spotted turtles have declined extensively, and we can certainly say with a good deal of confidence that’s also the case in Rhode Island,” said Buchanan, who graduates from URI later this month. “I found that they are associated with wetlands in forested landscapes, which means they are susceptible to development, forest fragmentation, wetland alteration and other human disturbances.”
Buchanan said that the largest populations of spotted turtles he found were in locations where human disturbance has been minimal. “So now it’s a matter of managing those landscapes in an appropriate way,” he added.
Habitat alteration is not the only conservation concern the species faces, however. The illegal collection of wild turtles for the pet trade is also a problem.
“Spotted turtles will command a formidable sum in the pet trade, which is unfortunate,” Buchanan said, noting that he encountered people during his research who had captured spotted turtles they intended to bring home to keep as pets but released them at his insistence. “It’s really easy for someone to deplete an entire population of them very quickly.”
During his turtle surveys, Buchanan also found a non-native turtle called a red-eared slider in more wetlands than he found spotted turtles. The slider is a species commonly purchased at pet stores and frequently released into the wild after their owners no longer wish to care for them. He said that wetlands close to human populations, especially those with easy access from roads, are the most likely place to find red-eared sliders in Rhode Island.
“They’re an especially detrimental invasive species,” he said. “It’s a good bet that all the sliders we found are turtles that were bought at pet stores. We don’t know if they’re reproducing in the wild.”
Eastern painted turtles and common snapping turtles, the two most common species of freshwater turtles in Rhode Island, were found in abundance during Buchanan’s turtle surveys.
“They were everywhere, with no strong pattern as to where we might find them across different landscape types,” he said.
What can be done to protect the region’s declining spotted turtle populations?
“It would mean protecting and preserving wetlands, especially forested wetlands, including small wetlands like vernal pools where they sometimes overwinter,” Buchanan said. “It would also mean minimizing fragmentation of the landscape surrounding those wetlands. And it’s also really important that we protect the turtles themselves from illegal collection. That’s an increasing concern among conservation biologists.”
As Buchanan prepares to graduate from URI, he will share his data with a region-wide team of biologists collecting information about the three turtle species being considered for inclusion on the U.S. endangered species list – spotted, wood and Blanding’s turtle.
“The habitat information we collected could help determine where populations of spotted turtles occur and help protect and appropriately manage those populations into the future,” he said.by Thomas Kinkade
Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart pumps out of the battered speakers of a portable boom box. A young woman is approached by another young woman wearing sunglasses and a sign around her neck that says Drugs (in French). The skit progresses through a series of people with signs (drugs, sex, abuse) with each interaction ending with the person taking off their sign and placing it around the neck of the young woman. The last sign is worn by me. It says suicide. But before she takes my sign, Jesus appears and saves her, taking all of her signs on himself.
Our stage is brown tiled floor in a tiny church in a small city in France. We are doing a show for the congregation and their invited guests as part of a spring break mission trip. This sketch is one of our final pieces and the one that packs the most emotional punch.
As we finish the sketch I am amped up from the thrill of performing. This show is the capstone of a week of performances in churches and on the streets all over France. It feels like what we are doing matters, that the stories we are telling are powerful, that these performances have the power to change the world.
I thought that our art meant something. I thought that it was revolutionary. Honestly, compared to what else was happening it was. From the time I started doing drama in church I was repulsed by the simplicity of the scripts available. They were cheesy and trite. They had easy solutions and the lives of the characters were shallow. So I started to write my own scripts and in them I tackled the big stuff; sexuality, depression, suicide, death.
I still remember people coming up to me after I performed in tears. They told me stories about their friends and every conversation ended the same way, “No one in our church is talking about stuff like this.”
I look back on those scripts now and I cringe. They all ended basically the same way, either some got “saved” or they gave their life back to God and things got better. It was better than the stuff that was out there, but not by much. (And really, if you’re competing with Amish romance novels and the Left Behind series, being not much better is still kind of huge.)
The thing is, I really believed that those skits would change people. I really believed in the power of art. But truthfully most of the things I wrote weren’t art, they were propaganda. The conclusion was decided before I even put pen to paper. Now, to be sure, propaganda done well can be compelling, but there is a hollowness to it. It dissolves in the rain of truth.
I often wrote about things I had never experienced. I wrote of pain I hadn’t known.
These days I still believe in the power of art, but I don’t want to be a Christian artist. I don’t want to produce writing that is safe for evangelical consumption. I don’t want to water down my message so it can be commodified and sold on the shelves of Lifeway Christian stores. I don’t want to have to compromise my humanity in order to sell my story to the church.
Art is dangerous. It challenges our thinking and our preconceived notions. It shakes us out of our complacency. It makes up empathize not only with people who are different than us but with people we might disagree with (or even hate).
I don’t want to be a Christian artist because of all that it implies. It implies that Jesus instantly makes everything better. It implies that my life is sanitized and happy all of the time. It implies that I don’t ever curse or drink or weep or get angry. It implies that I already know the ending, not only of the art that I produce, but of my life as well.
There is no clean narrative to my story and I have no desire to reduce myself to make the audience comfortable. I cannot fit myself into the acceptable narrative. My life and my art don’t fit into those boxes. It’s messy and complicated. It continues to be full of pain. There is ambiguity and uncertainty. The ending is unknown.
My art has to include all of it. The death and the resurrection. The violence and the peace. The pain and the glory.
But the weird thing is, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I cannot separate my faith from my art. The themes that nurture and nourish my life are themes that I learned from my faith. Death and resurrection. Sin and grace. Brokenness and healing.
My life and my art must embrace all of this.
Madeleine L’Engle (my patron saint) has an amazing book called Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. One of the many brilliant quotes in that book is this: “There is nothing so secular that is cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the incarnation.”
I don’t want any forgone conclusions. I don’t want trite endings. I want to write about it all; the pain and the pleasure, the mystery, the passion, the agony. I want there to be space for questions and doubts.
I believe art can change the world so long as we tell the whole truth.
I want to tell the truth.PS Vita celebrates its third birthday with a raft of savings
Make way, make way! A truck load of discounts go live later today, including a set of deals to celebrate the third birthday of PS Vita. Some of the console’s best games are on sale, from the brilliant Tearaway to more recent fan favourites such as the Danganronpa games.
On the home console front there’s just as much awesomeness to tuck into, with heavy discounts on Murdered: Soul Suspect and Battlefield 4 Premium Edition. You’ll also find discounts on more recent releases, including Samurai Warriors 4 and surprise hit Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
There’s a lot to get involved with – check out the full list below.
Deal of the week (ends 25th February 2015)
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £11.99/€14.99
PS Vita birthday discounts (ends 4th March 2015)
Assassin’s Creed III Liberation
Was £14.99/€19.99, now £6.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £11.99/€14.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Child of Light – Complete Edition
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £7.39/€8.99
Child of Light
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £5.79/€6.99
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £14.99/€19.99
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £14.99/€19.99
Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £14.99/€19.99
Dragon’s Crown
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £14.99/€19.99
Dustforce
Was £7.99/€9.99, now £1.69/€1.99
God of War Collection
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £9.99/€12.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Gravity Rush
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £5.79/€6.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA f
Was £24.99/€29.99, now £15.99/€19.99
Killzone Mercenary
Was £14.99/€19.99, now £6.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £24.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £14.99/€19.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – HD Edition
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £6.49/€7.99
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – HD Edition
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £6.49/€7.99
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
Was £24.99/€29.99, now £11.99/€14.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Mortal Kombat
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £6.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
MotoGP14
Was £24.99/€29.99, now £11.99/€14.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
MotoGP14 Compact
Was £7.99/€9.99, now £3.99/€4.99
MotoGP14 Compact to full game upgrade
Was £14.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
MotorStorm RC Complete Edition
Was £7.39/€8.99, now £3.29/€3.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Was £44.99/€49.99, now £11.99/€14.99
Persona 4 Golden
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £14.99/€19.99
Rayman Origins
Was £14.99/€19.99, now £6.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Resistance: Burning Skies
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £6.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Ridge Racer – Ultimate Edition
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £5.79/€6.99
Ridge Racer
Was £7.99/€9.99, now £3.99/€4.99
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £5.79/€6.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing Transformed
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £7.99/€9.99
Soul Sacrifice Delta
Was £24.99/€29.99, now £11.99/€14.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Street Fighter X Tekken
Was £39.99/€44.99, now £7.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Super Stardust Delta
Was £6.49/€7.99, now £3.29/€3.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Tearaway
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £6.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
The Jak and Daxter Trilogy
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
The Ratchet & Clank Trilogy
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £9.99/€12.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
The Sly Trilogy
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £9.99/€12.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
The Walking Dead: Season Two – SEASON PASS
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season
Was £14.99/€19.99, now £6.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
The Wolf Among Us – The Complete First Season
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £9.99/€12.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Was £19.99/€24.99, now £9.99/€12.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
WipEout 2048 – Was £11.99/€14.99, now £5.79/€6.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £14.99/€19.99
February Price Cuts (ends 4th March)
PS4
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £6.19/€7.49
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
Was £44.99/€49.99, now £19.99/€24.99
Battlefield 4 Premium Edition
Was £54.99/€69.99, now £24.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Destiny
Was £54.99/€69.99, now £29.99/€39.99
Destiny Digital Guardian Edition
Was £84.99/€99.99, now £54.99/€64.99
Divekick
Was £7.99/€9.99, now £3.29/€3.99
Killzone Shadow Fall
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £15.99/€19.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Killzone Shadow Fall (upgrade)
Was £24.99/€29.99, now £11.99/€14.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Killzone Shadow Fall and Season Pass Bundle
Was £44.99/€54.99, now £19.99/€24.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Killzone Shadow Fall Intercept Online Co-op
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £6.49/€7.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Premium Edition
Was £64.99/€74.99, now £39.99/€44.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Was £49.99/€59.99, now £29.99/€34.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Was £54.99/€59.99, now £24.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO The Hobbit
Was £54.99/€59.99, now £24.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Madden NFL 15
Was £59.99/€69.99, now £24.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Legion Edition
Was £54.99/€69.99, now £29.99/€34.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Premium Edition
Was £74.98/€94.99, now £44.99/€49.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
MotoGP14
Was £44.99/€49.99, now £15.99/€19.99
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Was £34.99/€39.99, now £9.49/€11.99
NHL 15
Was £59.99/€69.99, now £24.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Samurai Warriors 4
Was £54.99/€59.99, now £29.99/€34.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Strider
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £5.79/€6.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Tetris Ultimate
Was £7.99/€9.99, now £5.79/€6.99
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Gold Edition
Was £49.99/€59.99, now £24.99/€29.99
The Evil Within
Was £49.99/€69.99, now (£34.99/€39.99)
Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate
Was £59.99/€59.99, now £24.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
RESOGUN
Was £9.99/€12.99, now £5.79/€6.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
PS3
Army of TWO The Devil’s Cartel
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £6.49/€7.99
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £6.19/€7.49
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
Was £19.99/€29.99, now £10.99/€14.99
Back to the Future: The Game – 5 Game Series
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £3.99/€4.99
Batman Arkham Collection
Was £57.99/€69.99, now £19.99/€24.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Batman Arkham Origins
Was £49.99/€59.99, now £10.99/€14.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
Batman: Arkham City
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Battlefield 4 Premium Edition
Was £39.99/€49.99, now £15.99/€19.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Was £7.99/€9.99, now £1.69/€1.99
Bionic Commando Rearmed 1 and 2 Bundle
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £3.29/€3.99
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £2.49/€2.99
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Was £24.99/€29.99, now £7.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Catherine
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £3.99/€4.99
Child of Light
Was £11.49/€14.99, now £5.79/€6.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Was £11.99/€14.99, now £2.99/€3.59
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut
Was £19.99/€29.99, now £3.99/€4.99
Dishonored Game of the Year Edition
Was £29.99/€39.99, now £19.99/€24.99
Divekick
Was £7.99/€9.99, now £3.29/€3.99
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Was £19.99/€29.99, now £7.99/€9.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
EA Sports MMA
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £6.49/€7.99
Escape Dead Island
Was £39.99/€49.99, now £10.99/€14.99
Fight Night Champion
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £3.99/€4.99
Jurassic Park: The Game
Was £24.99/€29.99, now £3.99/€4.99
Killer is Dead
Was £19.99/€29.99, now £7.99/€9.99
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Premium Edition
Was £54.99/€64.99, now £29.99/€39.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Was £44.99/€49.99, now £19.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Was £39.99/€49.99, now £19.99/€24.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
LEGO The Hobbit
Was £39.99/€49.99, now £19.99/€24.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Lost Planet 3
Was £19.99/€29.99, now £3.99/€4.99
Madden NFL 15
Was £59.99/€69.99, now £19.99/€24.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Legion Edition
Was £39.99/€49.99, now £19.99/€29.99
10% additional PS Plus discount
Mortal Kombat
Was £15.99/€19.99, now £7.99/€9.99
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection
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At the direction of Gov. Mark Dayton, the Minnesota Department of Transportation lit the white bridge blue in honor of those “who protect and serve the beautiful state of Minnesota.”
The windows of the Governor’s Residence in St. Paul were also lit blue on Monday night.
“Every day and night, law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to protect and serve communities across our state,” Dayton said of his proclamation declaring Monday as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. “Today, we recognize the service and sacrifice of those brave men and women, and their families. Minnesota is a safer, stronger, better state thanks to their unwavering service.
The governor’s office said none of Minnesota’s more than 10,000 law enforcement officials lost their lives in the line of duty last year. However, 138 officers died nationwide in 2016, according to the office.Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton blasted President Trump for his reaction to Tuesday’s terror attack in New York City during an appearance on “The Daily Show.”
Clinton, who was plugging her book “What Happened” on Wednesday’s show, told host Trevor Noah that Trump lacked “empathy” when he publicly responded to the horrific attack.
"What you want in a president, is [someone who will try] to bring a country together, talk about what happened with the event they're concerned about but not point fingers, not scapegoat and not try to set Americans against each other,” Clinton told Noah.
"He just doesn't have any empathy," she said. "You can disagree with someone over all kinds of partisan issues, but you want a president who can try to put himself into the shoes, the feelings of someone else, and he has not been able to do that."
Trump came under fire for tweeting the suspect linked to Tuesday’s terrorist attack that killed eight people entered the U.S. through a program called the “Diversity Visa Lottery Program.” Trump called the program a “Chuck Schumer beauty.”
SCHUMER HITS TRUMP FOR ‘POLITICIZING’ NYC ATTACK – BUT HE DID SAME THING AFTER LAS VEGAS
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, was part of a group of Republicans and Democrats who backed a comprehensive immigration bill in 2013 to end the program as part of a broader bipartisan bill to overhaul U.S. immigration laws.
Schumer tweeted back: “I guess it’s not too soon to politicize a tragedy.” Following the attack, Trump has called for the suspect to be sent to Guantanamo Bay and be given the death penalty.
Clinton was also asked by Noah if there was a difference between her group funding an anti-Trump dossier and Trump’s campaign advisers allegedly colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
“Of course there is [a difference,]” Clinton told Noah. “I think most serious people understand that.”
"This was research started by a Republican donor during the Republican primary and then when Trump got the nomination for the Republican party the people doing it came to my campaign lawyer (Marc Elias) and said: 'Would you like us to continue it?' And he said yes. He's an experienced lawyer, he knows what the law is, he knows what opposition research is,” Clinton explained.
The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website, confirmed last week it originally retained the political research firm Fusion GPS to scour then-candidate Trump’s background for negative information. Later, reports revealed the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee continued funding Fusion’s work after the original GOP source lost interest.
Trump called the revelation “a disgrace.”
TRUMP CALLS FOR ‘DEATH PENALTY’ FOR NYC TERRORIST IN WAKE OF HALLOWEEN ATTACK
Clinton minimized the impact of the dossier during the interview with Noah, noting it was released following the election.
"And what also didn't come out -- which I think is an even bigger problem as I write in the book -- is that the American people didn't even know that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign because of connections with Russia starting in the summer of 2016," she said.
Clinton also alleged Trump “had to know” his team was contacting the Russian government for help in the election.
“I mean, he has to know -- we'll find out what he knew and how involved he was -- but he had to know that people were making outreach to Russians, to the highest levels of the Kremlin, in order to help him, to hurt me, but more importantly to sow this divisiveness," she added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.============================================================================== SIM CITY 4 GUIDE: VERSION 2, by thy451 ============================================================================== ______ _______ / | | | / | | ___| / | | | ________________ ________________ ___________________ | |__ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_____| | __________| |_____ _____| | | __ | | | | | |\ /| | | | | | | | /|| ||\ / | | | | | |_________ | | / || || | | | | | | | | | | / || || | | | | | | | | | | / || || | | | | |__| |__________ | /| |/ || || | | | | _______ | | / | | || || | | | | |_ _| | | / | |_____|| || | | | | | | _________| | ____| |____ | || | | | | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | |/| | | || | | | | |_| |_____________| |_______________| |___|| |___| |___| /\ /\ / | \ \_/ / /________________ | \ / | | | | | | | | |_________| |_| "If this is the best of all possible worlds, then what must the others be like?" Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 6. Ignoring the fact that the quote is taken out of context, my point is do not be afraid to create your own worlds and if you think of anything better, share it with me. ============================================================================== HTML / MS Doc Versions Check out the Simtropolis site, for the HTML version with pictures. Also this guide is in MS Doc version over there. I hope to improve upon the MS Doc version overtime by making it more user friendly. www.simtropolis.com www.simcity-4.net You can also find me and a whole bunch of other people who are truly experts at the game, at the Simtropolis Site. It is the best SimCity site and also the best, most active and friendly forum around with several thousand members and still growing by the day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version
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makes sense. This is the kind of advanced things jQuery takes care of for us. The thing with JavaScript is that it is pretty scary to get started on, but once you’re started it’s addictive and it’s imperative to know what’s going on under the hood, as the saying goes.
Attributes, setting, getting and removing
JavaScript offers better descriptive, if a little lengthier in character count, methods to dealing with attributes, let’s look at the differences.
Set attributes
In jQuery, the naming convention isn’t as good as native, as the attr(); can callback the value as well as set the value, in a way it’s clever, but to those learning it could cause confusion. Let’s look at how we can set attributes in both:
// jQuery $ ( '.myClass' ). attr ( 'disabled', true ); // JavaScript document. querySelector ( '.myClass' ). setAttribute ( 'disabled', true );
Remove attributes
Removing attributes is just as easy:
// jQuery $ ( '.myClass' ). removeAttr ( 'disabled' ); // JavaScript document. querySelector ( '.myClass' ). removeAttribute ( 'disabled' );
Get attributes
This is how we would log the attribute’s vale in the Console:
// jQuery console. log ( $ ( '.myClass' ). attr ( 'title' )); // JavaScript console. log ( document. querySelector ( '.myClass' ). getAttribute ( 'title' ));
Data-* attributes
HTML5 data-* attributes are probably one of the best additions to the HTML specification ever, IMO of course. I use the jQuery.data(); API all the time, and also the native JavaScript if it’s required:
<div class= "myElem" data-username= "Todd" ></div> <script> // jQuery console. log ( $ ( '.myElem' ). data ( 'username' )); // Logs 'Todd' // JavaScript - use the getAttribute method, fairly static console. log ( document. querySelector ( '.myElem' ). getAttribute ( 'data-username' )); </script>
HTML5 introduces the dataset API, which browser support isn’t bad, I don’t think IE9/10 even support it. For heavy.data(); usage, I recommend jQuery as it works in all browsers - even legacy.
Parsing JSON
There are neat tricks we can do to parse JSON and create objects too even in plain ol’ JavaScript. It’s pretty much the same! Let’s take an HTML5 custom data-* attribute for a JSON example, grab the attribute, parse the JSON into an Object and then hook into that object:
<div class= "myElem" data-user= '{ "name" : "Todd", "id" : "01282183" }' ></div> <script> // jQuery var myElem = $ ( '.myElem' ). data ( 'user' ); // Gets the JSON var myJSON = $. parseJSON ( myElem ); // Parses string into JSON Object console. log ( myJSON. name ); // JSON Object, logs 'Todd' console. log ( myJSON. id ); // JSON Object, logs '01282183' // JavaScript var myElem = document. querySelector ( '.myElem' ). getAttribute ( 'data-user' ); var myJSON = JSON. parse ( myElem ); console. log ( myJSON. name ); // JSON Object, logs 'Todd' console. log ( myJSON. id ); // JSON Object, logs '01282183' </script>
Events
Events play a massive part in JavaScript, and has had a bad reputation in the past with cross-browser issues. A simple click event in jQuery:
$ ( elem ). click ( function () { //... });
I actually recommend going with jQuery’s.on(); method should you want to use the click handler:
$ ( elem ). on ( 'click', function () { //... });
Two reasons, you can chain the ‘on’ part like so:
$ ( elem ). on ( 'click focus keyup', function () { //... });
This chains (well, binds) a couple of event handlers to register your function with. Any of them will run it. Not to mention you can easily swap them in and out.
Secondly, event delegation with dynamically created JavaScript elements:
$ ( parent ). on ( 'click', elem, function () { //... });
This captures the DOM event via a parent event listener. Look up event bubbling and capturing for homework if you’re unsure of the difference.
Back to jQuery versus JavaScript now anyway, here’s some event handlers:
/* * Click */ // jQuery $ ( elem ). on ( 'click', function () {...}); // JavaScript document. querySelector ( elem ). onclick = function () {...} /* * Submit */ // jQuery $ ( elem ). on ('submit', function () {...}); // JavaScript document. querySelector ( elem ). onsubmit = function () {...} /* * Change */ // jQuery $ ( elem ). on ( 'change', function () {...}); // JavaScript document. querySelector ( elem ). onchange = function () {...}
You see my point…
There is one issue with JavaScript event handlers however, and you can blame Microsoft for this one (again), with their attachEvent handler. Little did they decide to go down their own non-standard route and integrate attachEvent when every other browser was using addEventListener. Still, there is a nice workaround script, provided by John Resig himself which solves this problem for us. addEventListener is very similar to jQuery’s chaining of event handler methods, you can attach more than a single handler for each event - it also assists in event bubbling/catching.
document. addEventListener ( 'click', function () { //... }, false );
CSS manipulation
CSS is admittedly nicer in the jQuery object methods, but check out native JavaScript’s implementation of this, it’s very similar and worth knowing:
// jQuery $ ( elem ). css ({ "background" : "#F60", "color" : "#FFF" }); // JavaScript var elem = document. querySelector ( elem ); elem. style. background = '#F60' ; elem. style. color = '#FFF' ;
The above hooks into JavaScript’s style object and allows you to set lots of styles with ease.
Document Ready Function
jQuery comes built-in with a DOM ready function handler, in which we can safely execute all of our functions knowing the DOM tree is fully populated and any manipulation we do will work and not return undefined (undefined usually means it doesn’t exist, or in this case it would).
As we progress towards a future of amazing technology, browsers now fire their own DOM ready function handler, in modern browsers this is called the DOMContentLoaded event and can be fired like so:
document. addEventListener ( 'DOMContentLoaded', function () { // DOM ready, run it! }, false );
jQuery has had a tendency to be called the solution and there’s no other alternative ever, ever ever. It’s bad for upcoming developers to rely on it and it’s imperative to learn, or at least have some understanding of, native JavaScript. The more powerful HTML5 becomes, the more we can utilise these rapid HTML5 native capabilities. And the more powerful the features become, the less we need jQuery, the more useless it becomes!
Embrace new technologies now, I’m not suggesting throw away your jQuery workflow and start going native instantly, but a native future is coming - are you ready!Jake’s PokéQuest – Part 1: Breeding Basics
Pokémon games are fun. Anyone who says otherwise never experienced the joys of raising digital, fighting creatures in a quest to be the very best when they were kids. But even now, as a 22-year-old man, I find Pokémon games more entertaining than I ever did before. And that’s because I realized that as simplistic and charming as it appeared on the surface, this series was even more complex and advanced than I had ever anticipated when I took a good look at it.
In these posts, I hope to give casual Pokémon fans a glimpse at the more “hardcore” aspects of the game series and perhaps intrigue them enough to convince them it’s time to dust of their old cartridges to experience these delightful titles in a whole new way. The world of Pokémon is vast and wonderful, and it’s your choice to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
For the veteran trainers who know exactly what I talk about and scoff at my noobish tactics and strategies, I hope they will at least enjoy seeing another trainer’s mechanics being applied in a unique way. Maybe they’ll learn something in the process as well.
While we travel through this journey of discovery together, I will also share my own experiences with the methods, tactics, and mechanics I talk about and show off some of my greatest Pokémon accomplishments in hopes that you, too, will one day be a master trainer. Until X and Y are released, take this time to learn and enjoy a different side of Pokémon so you can apply your new knowledge when the sixth generation is released in October.
Let’s begin, shall we?
Pokémon Breeding 101
I thought this first post should talk about one of the most basic fundamentals of enjoying Pokémon games to their fullest: breeding new buddies to fight with. Breeding can be as deep or as complicated as you want it to be, up until the point of creating genetically monstrous Magikarps capable of knocking out legendaries in a single hit. Such tactics are pretty confusing to explain without a basic understanding of breeding in the first place, however, so that’s where I’ll start. I will later divulge information so powerful that you will soon rival Pokémon masters the world over, but let’s keep it simple to start, okay?
I’m sure you know you can breed in Pokémon games. As a matter of fact, I’m willing to bet you’ve done it a few times yourself already. There are multiple ways to breed the Pokémon you want, and reasons for doing so include making multiple offspring of the Pokémon you like, getting mons with different natures, teaching Pokémon moves they can only learn through breeding, making mons strong enough to battle competitively, getting shinies, and much more.
The reason I breed is for fun and to make Pokémon I’d be proud to train to level 100. But before you can create such magnificent beasts, you need to know the basics.
The Delibirds and the Combees
Two Pokémon can only breed if they have opposing genders, aren’t legendary (the only legendary that can breed Manphany) or “baby” Pokémon (such as Elekid and Magby), and they’re in the same egg group. To find out what egg group or groups a Pokémon is in, check Serebii, a great resource for all things Pokémon.
Looking at this site, it’s easy to see what Pokémon can breed with each other. For instance, a male Lotad can breed with a female Tangela because they’re both in the plant egg group. Even Wailord and Skitty can breed, as mind-boggling weird as that is.
So now you know what Pokémon can bump uglies and spawn an infant. But what Pokémon hatches from an egg produced by two wildly different Pokémon? Easy. The egg Pokémon will always be the same species as the mother. As a side note, if the father knows any egg moves (something we’ll cover another time) that the child Pokémon can learn, it will hatch with those moves already known. Pretty sweet, huh?
Another thing to note: Ditto. Ditto is that adorable purple Play-Doh guy that is essentially worthless in a battle but a sweet Pokémon nonetheless simply for the fact that it can breed with any Pokémon, including genderless ones. As a matter of fact, the only way to breed a genderless Pokémon is with a Ditto. Breeding with a Ditto will always produce the none-Ditto Pokémon. Unfortunately, Ditto can not breed between themselves, so the only way to get a specific Ditto you want (if you’re looking for a specific nature) is by catching one in the wild.
Making as Many Eggs as Quickly as Possible
So you’ve put two compatible Pokémon in the daycare and are waiting for an egg. Awesome. However, there’s a way to (roughly) see how long you’ll have to wait before your Pokémon produce an egg. If you’re playing a generation five game (which you should be, you stuck-up hipster), talk to the old man right outside the daycare on Route 3 and he’ll tell you one of four things. Here’s what they are and what they mean.
“The two seem to get along very much!” This is the best thing to hear the old man say because it means the chances of receiving an egg are the highest they can be. Typically you can get five eggs in just a couple minutes when the old man says this. To get this result, both the Pokémon you put in the daycare have to be the same species but they must have two different original trainer IDs, which essentially means one Pokémon you had to have caught and bred on your own and the other you had to have received in a trade. However, this doesn’t happen very often. What you’re likely to hear the old man say is…
“The two seem to get along.” This is the second best option. The chances for receiving an egg are high, but not the best they could be. Expect five eggs in a few to several minutes when you hear the old man say this. To get this result, both Pokémon have to be the same species and have the same original trainer or have to be different species and have different trainers.
“The two don’t seem to get along.” This is bad. Change this as soon as you can. If the old man is saying this, your Pokémon are two different species with the same trainer ID. Don’t expect eggs very often when this is the case.
“The two prefer to play with other Pokémon than each other.” This means you’ve broken one of the breeding rules and your Pokémon won’t produce an egg. Fix it.
Now that you know your Pokémon will produce an egg, get on your bike and start riding back and forth along the straight, horizontal path in front of the daycare (again, I’m referring to the daycare in Black and White 1 and 2). When the old man has an egg for you, he’ll stop you in your tracks and give it to you. Once you have five in your party (with one spot reserved for a hatched Pokémon), it’s time to get those eggs open.
Power Biking
That one reserved spot I mentioned? Give it to a Volcarona. Every Volcarona has the same ability, Flame Body, which makes eggs hatch twice as fast. Eggs hatch after a certain number of steps are taken, and the number of steps necessary to hatch different species of Pokémon varies wildly. Typically Bug Pokémon hatch quickly whereas Dragon Pokémon take forever to hatch. However, a Volcarona isn’t great just for its ability to hasten egg hatching. It can also learn the HM Fly which allows you to instantly travel to Castelia City, which you should do.
After landing, get on your bike and head east. You’ll end up on Skyarrow Bridge, which is where you should stay until your eggs are hatched. It’s the longest “straight” path in the game, meaning you’ll give your directional pad and thumb the least amount of stress possible as you hatch your eggs. Before long the game will pause will a suspicious “Oh?” and you’ll witness the miracle of birth right before your eyes.
And there you have it! Egg hatching for dummies. Breeding is one of the unsung joys of Pokémon, something that tons of players don’t take advantage of. While it’s not obvious yet, hatching your own Pokémon can be one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming, and you’ll find out why next week when I introduce the more advanced techniques of breeding.
Until then, happy puppymilling, trainers.
Update: The next part is up! Read it here.
0 SharesWhen you work for a web development firm, advertising agency or related business, as a web developer, you are typically one piece of the project life-cycle, the last piece! Once a delivery date is agreed upon, project managers dole work out to copywriters and designers, who typically have breathing room, as their task is early in the life-cycle.
More often than not, that breathing room is abused, leaving the web team at a big disadvantage when they are left cramming to build a high quality site in, at some extremes, just a couple days. Understandably, this leads to low quality websites which aren't scalable, don't validate, aren't performance optimized, and are weak on the SEO standards.
If you are a freelancer, the disadvantage multiplies, as many times, you aren't even kept in the loop on how the project is progressing, making it difficult to schedule other work.
There are actions you can take, on a large scale, as well as on a smaller scale to help mitigate your stress level as well as keep your clients happy.
Preventative
Change your business model. Prefer maintenance work over new project work. In my experience, no deadline is more unachievable for a developer than an initial website launch. This is usually when the project life-cycle is the most involved, and when the developer is afforded the least amount of time to play catch up for everyone else.
Prefer maintenance work over new project work. In my experience, no deadline is more unachievable for a developer than an initial website launch. This is usually when the project life-cycle is the most involved, and when the developer is afforded the least amount of time to play catch up for everyone else. Offer a relative completion date. "Can you have this ready by December 1st?", says your client. Your reply, "That depends on when I receive the final layout, I can have it ready within 3 weeks from that point".
"Can you have this ready by December 1st?", says your client. Your reply, "That depends on when I receive the final layout, I can have it ready within 3 weeks from that point". Semantics. Continuing with the tactic above, it's usually wise to avoid the term completion date, and substitute it with review date. This signals your boss or client that the target date is when the website is expected for final review, not launch.
Continuing with the tactic above, it's usually wise to avoid the term completion date, and substitute it with review date. This signals your boss or client that the target date is when the website is expected for final review, not launch. Avoid Friday launches. A Friday launch means you, the programmer gets to spend the weekend fixing all of the flaws that are discovered after launch, but were missed during final review. Suggest a Monday launch, allowing yourself the week ahead for patchwork. This applies to vacations as well. I can't count how many times I used to offer a completion date of October 1st, simply because I leave for vacation on October 2nd. Good-bye vacation. Better hope your getaway has wi-fi in the hotel room, or you'll be spending your tropical nights in the hotel lobby fixing bugs.
Offensive
Use placeholders. Explain to your boss or client that due to the time crunch, you feel it best to implement a number of graphic placeholders in order to meet the deadline. For instance, instead of coding a 1000 cell HTML table of product specifications, drop in a low-res graphic placeholder until after site launch. Or, if the table was provided to you in a useable format, convert it to PDF, and offer it for download temporarily.
Explain to your boss or client that due to the time crunch, you feel it best to implement a number of graphic placeholders in order to meet the deadline. For instance, instead of coding a 1000 cell HTML table of product specifications, drop in a low-res graphic placeholder until after site launch. Or, if the table was provided to you in a useable format, convert it to PDF, and offer it for download temporarily. Use a CMS. One of the best ways to get your website out the door faster is to use a CMS to enter content. In doing so, you avoid the need to manually create pages on the file system. WordPress will most likely get you up and running quickly, but may create scalability issues later on. This approach also applies to the divide and conquer method below.
One of the best ways to get your website out the door faster is to use a CMS to enter content. In doing so, you avoid the need to manually create pages on the file system. WordPress will most likely get you up and running quickly, but may create scalability issues later on. This approach also applies to the divide and conquer method below. Divide and conquer. Request an intern, or other staff member's assistance with some of the grunt work. Any process which is repeated multiple times, such as page content creation or database record creation is ideal for non-programmer, and typically is a waste of the programmer's time.
Request an intern, or other staff member's assistance with some of the grunt work. Any process which is repeated multiple times, such as page content creation or database record creation is ideal for non-programmer, and typically is a waste of the programmer's time. Red Bull. If it does anything for you, use it. Personally, I'm unaffected by whatever process it takes to dilate my blood vessels, but it may work for you!
Defensive
Defensive strategies really only should be used when your job or reputation for timely and quality work is at stake, at no fault of your own.
Take your time. You need to use this option as often as you can! If project time is consistently abused by those earlier in the project life-cycle, they occasionally need to be made accountable. Often times, the best way to do this is to simply miss deadlines. If a project was afforded 2 months to complete, and you are given the final designs with 3 days to spare, little blame can be sent your way for being 2 days past deadline. As your client or boss reviews the project schedule, it's easy to see where the time was misused.
You need to use this option as often as you can! If project time is consistently abused by those earlier in the project life-cycle, they occasionally need to be made accountable. Often times, the best way to do this is to simply miss deadlines. If a project was afforded 2 months to complete, and you are given the final designs with 3 days to spare, little blame can be sent your way for being 2 days past deadline. As your client or boss reviews the project schedule, it's easy to see where the time was misused. Tag, your it! Put the ball in someone else's court, preferably the one who put you in this time-crunch position. One good way to do this is to send off a mid-day email to that person (with your boss or project manager included), asking a question about a design element, or pointing out details that could be more refined. This tactic emphasizes to the team that not only are you in a time-crunch, but you don't even have all the information necessary to complete your task.
Put the ball in someone else's court, preferably the one who put you in this time-crunch position. One good way to do this is to send off a mid-day email to that person (with your boss or project manager included), asking a question about a design element, or pointing out details that could be more refined. This tactic emphasizes to the team that not only are you in a time-crunch, but you don't even have all the information necessary to complete your task. Staged launch. If time is getting tight, it might be time to go back to your boss or client and suggest a staged launch. Putting the less-important features of the site or application to the side for now, so focus can be placed on the more important aspects. After launch, develop a Phase II plan for delivering the remaining items.
Take Responsibility
If you, the developer are truly to blame, there are a few things you can do to smooth things over.Contouring resources
Unfortunately I haven't blogged since a llloong time, my fault ;)
But this doesn't mean the things in Plasma land aren't moving, au contraire! Last months I have been busy as hell with the Contour project, and the results are starting to became evident.
A quite big amount of progress has been made on several fronts: the user interface, the infrastructure of the Plasma mobile shell and what is even down in the stack from it, like Nepomuk and the KDE mobile profile
Also on the system integration front things have changed a lot. Admittedly trying out the KDE mobile software on an actual device has always been a bit of a voodoo operation, but now there are two ready to go booting pendrive images, for MeeGo and OpenSuse, together of course always updated package repositories (further information on the Plasma Active wiki).
I now want to show, as often as possible short videos of the User Interface of Contour, a little teaser for each notable feature.
OGG version.
First thing first, the screen the user sees when the tablet is turned on: an usual workspace with a wallpaper... it has icons.. (and eventually widgets)
but, interaction-wide you see that has some improvements for small/medium touch screens: icons are not individual, but categorized in boxes (documents, music, contacts...).
Second, everything is always aligned to a grid, making the composition always "look good" and impossible for those boxes to overlap, but still possible to drag them around to give a personal organization that helps your spatial memory.
And the last important characteristic is behind the scenes: that's not a view on some folder as the desktops used to be: but it's all data coming from Nepomuk, meaning that can be any type of what in Nepomuk is a "Resource", so not only a file but also more abstract data like a contact, an email or a geographical location.
Everything that you see there are resources that have been connected to the activity, so each one will show a different list of resources (this could also make possible in the future for instance to show those activity resources as default in a file open dialog for instance)
How those resources can be connected to activities.. material for the next video ;)
If you are interested to have a more in depth look at the Contour UX and you will be at the Desktop summit in Berlin, you can stop by at this talk :pThe term Polo shirt was originally used to describe the long sleeved, thick button down shirts used to play Polo. In the 1920’s a tennis shirt embroidered with a polo player on it was the first of it’s kind and by the 1950’s, even tennis players referred to the style as a ‘polo’ shirt.
It’s a classic and very versatile item. It can be worn with jeans, shorts and even a suit with the proper fit. To look more sophisticated, the polo shirt should be fitted but not tight. Length also plays a key role. Try to find one with detailing on the bottom where the side seams come together. This will allow it to be worn either tucked or untucked. And yes, tucked is ok. I would reserve this look to be worn with a slim fitted, flat front dress pant. We are going to give you some options for color blocked, contrast tipped, stripped and solid.
Things to avoid – Boxy pique styles and a very long cut.
Color Blocked The term color blocked is just what is sounds like. Large blocks of colors make up the shirt. This can be two colors or multiple colors. There is no rule to follow but I would avoid blocking done on a diagonal. This appears cheap and will easily become dated. Complimentary colors should be used. Grey and blue or white and navy are a couple of examples. Color blocking on a polo shirt is a bold modern look that can also be slimming for the husky guys but again, fit is imperative.
Contrast & Stripped Contrast can mean a different color pinstripe around the color and sleeves known as ‘contrast tipping’. It can also mean a different color collar and matching band around the bicep. For stripped polo shirts, avoid vertical stripes. They are too distracting and rarely look appealing. If you are more husky in size, avoid the stripes all together since the only style that looks good is horizontal stripes. This will make you appear larger. Thinner guys rejoice as this style might be best. The pants must be solid. Go with a dark color chino or jean or the outfit will look too nautical.
Solid Polos The most important thing to decide here is button color. The wrong color or white buttons can ruin the look. We prefer clear or matching colored buttons. White buttons can be tricky, so be sure to pair it up against the pant you are looking to match it with before you commit.Richard Dawkins is best known for his book, The Selfish Gene in which he described the innate need of all species to defend themselves as well as their kin. As a result of his research and writing, Dawkins became a well known ethologist and evolutionary biologist. He also became a Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. Richard Dawkins was born on March 26, 1941 to Clinton John and Jean Mary Vyvyan Dawkins in Nairobi, Kenya. Both of his parents were scientists which helped encourage Dawkins' own interest in ecological and evolutionary studies. Dawkins grew up in an upper-middle class household and eventually moved to England with his parents when he was eight. Although he quickly became part of the church, Dawkins always felt disconnected from the ceremony and tradition of religion and often doubted the existence of God. Dawkins spent his younger years at the Oundle School and, upon graduating, studied zoology at Balliol College at Oxford. Dawkins graduated with a BA in zoology in 1962 and stayed on to complete his Masters and Doctorate degrees. He received his D. Phil. in 1966 and later his D. Sc. In 1989. After completing his D. Phil., Richard Dawkins moved to California to become an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkley. He remained an assistant professor until 1970 when he was given a position as a lecturer. Six years later, Dawkins published his first and best known book, The Selfish Gene, in which he described the basics of human and animal behavior as a function of survival of not only the individual, but also of their families and their species as a whole. The book brought a lot of criticism from skeptics, especially those who disagreed with Darwin and the idea of natural selection. Having grown up in a scientific household, Dawkins read and studied evolutionary theories of various award-winning scientists, including Charles Darwin, and based his book on a combination of his learning and his own observations of species. Richard Dawkins followed The Selfish Gene with The Extended Phenotype in 1982 in which he discusses "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other" and focuses on genetics as the most important unit of selection in evolution. Where The Selfish Gene talked about the actions of species in relation to their genetics and natural selection, The Extended Phenotype focused more on genes and the genetic code in relation to evolution. During his lectures and tours with his books, Richard Dawkins also took part in multiple discussions and debates over the ideas of conventional evolution and creationism. As a self-proclaimed atheist, Dawkins spoke openly about his opposition to intelligent design and creationism and the Atheist Alliance International even named an award in his honor. As a result of his arguments, both public and published, Dawkins has been nicknamed "Darwin's bulldog" in an effort to explain his passion and enthusiasm for his scientific beliefs. His anti-religious beliefs led to the publication of his third novel, The Blind Watchmaker in 1986 in which he discussed the ideas of creationism in regards to evolution. After becoming a reader in zoology at the University of Oxford in 1990, Dawkins began giving lectures and speaches at a number of universities and events around the world. His written and spoken work has also earned him multiple honors and awards including honorary doctorates from the University of Durham, the University of Hull, Open University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Westminster. Dawkins also holds honorary doctorates at the University of St. Andrews and the Australian National University. He was elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and to the Royal Society in 2001. Dawkin's list of awards includes the Los Angeles Times Liteary Award, the Royal Society of Literature award, the Michael Faraday Award, the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic, and multiple others. Richard Dawkins has been married three times, once to Marian Stamp from 1967 to 1984, once to Eve Barham starting in 1984 and eventually to Lalla Ward in 1992. He has one daughter and authored a total of eight books and countless essays and articles.
This Richard Dawkins biography may not be reproduced online.
Copyright © Woopidoo.com (ek)BLOOMFIELD, NJ — With the capture of the prestigious Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for 2017 – along with its $25,000 award – Bloomfield College alum Patrick Rosal has come a long way from the days that he spent earning his bachelor's degree in English from the Essex County college.
Rosal, a class of 1996 graduate from Bloomfield College, now teaches English at Rutgers University-Camden and has written four, full-length poetry books. His latest collection of poems, "Brooklyn Antediluvian," won the 2017 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets, an annual award given to the "most outstanding book of poetry" published in the United States in the previous year.
According to a Bloomfield College news release, a central part of Rosal's prize-winning poetry collection is the exploration of his identity and experiences as a Filipino-American, traversing his childhood growing up in North Jersey and his family's roots from home to the Philippines.
Rosal said that the book is a "reflection on the aftermaths of historical ecological crises," such as hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, and Tropical Storm Ondoy in the Philippines, as well as the figurative floods that have affected him personally, such as gentrification in Brooklyn, and the emotion that washed over him as he learned to cope with heartache and loss.
Rosal, the 2017 John Simon Guggenheim Poetry Fellow and Lucas Art Fellow and former Fulbright Fellow to the Philippines, is the first Asian-American to win the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, according to Bloomfield College.
Don't forget to visit the Patch Bloomfield Facebook page here.
Send local news tips, photos and press releases to [email protected]
Photo courtesy of Bloomfield CollegeAs Tom Thibodeau enters his second season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the basketball lifer is brimming with confidence. The head coach and president of basketball operations reloaded his young team with longtime Chicago favorites Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson to pair with franchise cornerstones Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Thibodeau says he believes he will be able to mold this group in the same way he did during his time as coach of the Bulls, and he is convinced the Timberwolves are destined for prominence.
Thibodeau recently sat down with ESPN.com during a break at the Las Vegas Summer League to discuss a number of different topics, including the NBA's imbalance of power, LeBron James' legacy and how Wiggins can reach the next step in his development.
Q: Do you think the league is in a good place with so many stars going to the Western Conference?
A: I think it's just the way it is right now. You'd like to see more balance, but there's always going to be certain teams that have the opportunity to attract elite players, and when that happens it could create an imbalance. I think players look around and they look at the teams that they'd like to join and it's usually teams that already have good players on those teams.
Q: Are you in favor of playoff reseeding that would break up conferences and just go 1-16 throughout the league?
A: I think it's been so long now where there seems to be an imbalance. The West has gotten a lot more of the elite players and there's an imbalance. So I don't know what the answer is, but probably do think about what other options there may be to create more balance.
Q: You lived this as an assistant with Boston in beating LeBron in the playoffs. You faced him as coach of the Bulls and he got the best of you and your team several times. Do you think he has completely overpowered the Eastern Conference -- is that why we've seen the shift we've seen?
A: I think in Boston we had three great players in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. And I think when [Allen] joined forces with Miami, that changed them. And then I think we're seeing that with Golden State [now]. But certainly the things that LeBron has done to go to the Finals so many times in a row, seven times in a row, is a credit to who he is and his greatness. Now we're seeing the same thing with Golden State.
But I think that's sort of been the nature of the league. And then the challenge is for everybody else to try to move along and catch them. You never know when a window closes. You never know when another one may open. I know when we were in Boston we thought we would have an opportunity to win more than one championship. And of course, Kevin getting hurt probably set us back some.
And then I think when LeBron went to Miami everyone felt like [they would continue winning]. No one was thinking it would be Golden State, but then Golden State had the opportunity. So you never know. You have to play it out and just see how it goes.
With Jimmy Butler, right, already in the fold via a draft-night deal, Tom Thibodeau added another former Bull: Taj Gibson. AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King
Q: As somebody who has watched firsthand, is what LeBron has accomplished and what he continues to do comparable to anyone in recent league history?
A: I think when you have a player like that it also makes it attractive for other players to want to play with him. I think that when you sort of look at what's gone on where players are familiar with each other -- it starts in high school with AAU. When they get to the pros there's All-Star Games, they share agents and then there's Team USA stuff. They build relationships. And then when they have an opportunity to join each other and create a team that they like, that's part of this, too.
I think you have to look at everything; certainly being a great player, but also the way he plays. He's so unselfish. I thought Kevin Garnett was that way in Boston in '08 when we had a chance to win a championship there. I watched the way Golden State plays now and their willingness to share with each other, and that's the mark of a championship team. I think when you look around it's: How can you build a team in which you have more than one star? That part is important.
Q: You've always said you learn from every experience in the
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93 94 // Makes sure ports are LISTENing before giving running test 95 if ( dockerConfig. waitForPorts ()) { 96 LOG. debug ( "Waiting for host ports [{}]...", StringUtils. join ( hostPorts, ", " )); 97 final Collection < Integer > intHostPorts = Collections2. transform ( hostPorts, 98 new Function < String, Integer >() { 99 100 @Override 101 public Integer apply ( String arg ) { 102 return Integer. valueOf ( arg ); 103 } 104 } 105 ); 106 NetworkUtil. waitForPort ( this. docker. getHost (), intHostPorts, DEFAULT_PORT_WAIT_TIMEOUT_IN_MILLIS ); 107 LOG. debug ( "All ports are now listening" ); 108 } 109 } 110... 111 }
This class methods beforeTestClass(), prepareTestInstance() and afterTestClass() are used to manage the Docker containers life cycle:
beforeTestClass() : gets executed only once, before the first test. Its purpose is to pull the Docker image and depending on whether the test class will re-use the same running container or not, it might also start a container.
: gets executed only once, before the first test. Its purpose is to pull the Docker image and depending on whether the test class will re-use the same running container or not, it might also start a container. prepareTestInstance() : gets called before the next test method is run. Its purpose is to start a new container depending on if each test method requires it, otherwise the same running container started in beforeTestClass() will be re-used.
: gets called before the next test method is run. Its purpose is to start a new container depending on if each test method requires it, otherwise the same running container started in will be re-used. afterTestClass() : gets executed only once, after all tests have been executed. Its purpose is to stop and remove running containers.
Why aren’t I implementing this functionality in beforeTestMethod() and afterTestMethod() TestExecutionListener’s methods if judging by their names seem more suitable? The problem with these methods rely on how I’m passing information back to Spring for loading the application context.
To prevent hard-coding any port mapped from the Docker container to the Docker host, I decided to use random ports, for instance, in the demo, I’m using a Postgres container that internally listens on port 5432, but it needs to be mapped to a host port for other applications to connect to the database, this host port is chosen randomly and put in the JVM System properties as shown line 90. It might end up with a System property like:
HOST_PORT_FOR_5432 = 32769
and that lead us to the next section.
6. ACTORDAOIT INTEGRATION TEST CLASS
ActorDaoIT is not that complex, let’s take a look at it:
... @RunWith ( SpringJUnit4ClassRunner. class ) @SpringApplicationConfiguration ( classes = SpringbootITApplication. class ) @TestExecutionListeners ({ DockerizedTestExecutionListener. class, DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener. class, DirtiesContextTestExecutionListener. class }) @DockerConfig ( image = "asimio/db_dvdrental:latest", containerToHostRandomPorts = { 5432 }, waitForPorts = true, startMode = ContainerStartMode. FOR_EACH_TEST, registry = @RegistryConfig ( email = "", host = "", userName = "", passwd = "" ) ) @DirtiesContext ( classMode = ClassMode. AFTER_EACH_TEST_METHOD ) @ActiveProfiles ( profiles = { "test" }) public class ActorDaoIT { @Autowired private ActorDao actorDao ; @Test public void shouldHave200Actors_1 () { Assert. assertThat ( this. actorDao. count (), Matchers. equalTo ( 200L )); }... }
The interesting parts are @TestExecutionListeners, @DockerConfig and @DirtiesContext annotations used for configuration.
DockerizedTestExecutionListener discussed earlier is configured through @DockerConfig with information about the Docker image, its name and tag, where will it be pulled from and container ports that will be exposed.
with information about the Docker image, its name and tag, where will it be pulled from and container ports that will be exposed. DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener is used so that actorDao is injected and available for the test to run.
is used so that is injected and available for the test to run. DirtiesContextTestExecutionListener is used with @DirtiesContext annotation to cause the Spring to reload the application context after each test in the class is executed.
The reason for reloading the application context, as done in this demo, is because the JDBC url changes depending on the Docker host mapped container ports discussed at the end of the previous section. Lets look at the properties file used to build the data source bean:
1 --- 2 spring : 3 profiles : test 4 database : 5 driverClassName : org.postgresql.Driver 6 datasource : 7 url : jdbc:postgresql://${docker.host}:${HOST_PORT_FOR_5432}/db_dvdrental 8 username : user_dvdrental 9 password : changeit 10 jpa : 11 database : POSTGRESQL 12 generate-ddl : false
Noticed HOST_PORT_FOR_5432 placeholder? After the DockerizedTestExecutionListener starts the Postgres DB Docker container, it adds a System property named HOST_PORT_FOR_5432 with a random value. When is time for the Spring JUnit runner to load the application context, it successfully replaces the placeholder found in the yaml file with the available property value. This only happens because the Docker life cycle is managed in DockerizedTestExecutionListener’s beforeTestClass() and prepareTestInstance(), where the application context hasn’t loaded yet, as is the case with beforeTestMethod().
If I were to use the same running container for each test, there wouldn’t be any need to reload the application context and DirtiesContext-related listener and annotation could be removed and @DockerConfig’s startMode could be set to ContainerStartMode.ONCE so that Docker container is started only once through DockerizedTestExecutionListener’s beforeTestClass().
Now that actorDao bean is created and available, each individual integration test executes as usual.
There is still another placeholder in the yaml file, docker.host will be addressed in the next sections.
7. MAVEN PLUGIN CONFIGURATION
Following naming convention, integration test was named using IT as suffix, for instance, ActorDaoIT, this means maven-surefire-plugin won’t execute it during the test phase, so maven-failsafe-plugin was used instead. Relevant section from pom.xml includes:
<properties>... <maven-failsafe-plugin.version> 2.19.1 </maven-failsafe-plugin.version>... </properties>... <plugin> <groupId> org.apache.maven.plugins </groupId> <artifactId> maven-failsafe-plugin </artifactId> <version> ${maven-failsafe-plugin.version} </version> <executions> <execution> <goals> <goal> integration-test </goal> <goal> verify </goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> </plugin>...
8. RUNNING FROM COMMAND LINE
In addition to JAVA_HOME, M2_HOME, PATH environment variables, there are a few more that need to be set (in ~/.bashrc for instance) since they are used by Spotify’s docker-client in DockerizedTestExecutionListener.
export DOCKER_HOST = 172.16.69.133:2376 export DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME = osxdocker export DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY = 1 export DOCKER_CERT_PATH = ~/.docker/machine/certs
Once these variables have been sourced, demo could be built and tested using:
mvn verify -Ddocker.host = ` echo $DOCKER_HOST | sed "s/^tcp:\/\///" | sed "s/:.* $ //" `
docker.host is being passed as VM argument (the DOCKER_HOST IP only) and replaced when Spring JUnit runner creates the application context for each test.
9. RUNNING FROM ECLIPSE
As in previous section, DOCKER_* environment variables and docker.host VM argument need to be passed to the test class in Eclipse, the way to accomplish so is to set them in the Run Configurations dialog -> Environment tab:
Run Configurations - Environment
and Run Configurations dialog -> Arguments tab
Run Configurations - Arguments
and run the JUnit test as usual.
That’s all, enjoy! I’ll appreciate feedback and I’ll be glad to address it. If you found this post helpful and would like to receive updates when content like this gets published, sign up to the newsletter.
10. SOURCE CODE
Accompanying source code for this blog post can be found at:
11. REFERENCESTHE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, JUNE 11, 1979 A19
Tortures Teachers
By A.J. Langguth
LOS ANGELES A few months ago, I received some clippings of interviews with a former Federal Intelligence agency official. That operative, Jesse Leaf, had been involved with the agencys activities in Iran, and well into the stories Mr. Leaf made some damning accusations.
He said that the C.I.A. sent an operative to teach interrogation methods to SAVAK, the Shahs secret police, that the training included instructions in torture, and the techniques were copied from the Nazis.
Reading through the clippings, I could think of several reasons why the accusations had not been featured prominently. Mr. Leaf could not, or did not, supply the name of the instructor, his victims would be hard to locate; and the testimony from opponents of the Shah would be suspect.
But there is still another reason that I take to be the truest one: We and I mean we as Americans dont believe it. We can read the accusations, even examine the evidence and find it irrefutable. But, in our hearts, we cannot believe that Americans have gone abroad to spread the use of torture.
We can believe that public officials with reputations for brilliance can be arrogant, blind or stupid. Anything but evil. And when the cumulative proof becomes overwhelming that our representatives in the C.I.A. or the Agency for International Development police program did in fact teach torture, we excuse ourselves by vilifying the individual men.
This has been on my mind since I returned from Cuba recently. In Havana, I had tried to hunt down a former double agent, a Cuban named Manuel, who was said to have information about United States involvement with torture in Latin America. Manuel had revealed his true sympathies by leaving his job with the C.I.A. in Montevideo and returning to his homeland. But from his editor I learned that Manuel, whose full name turned out to be Manuel Hevia Conculluela, would be out of the country the entire time I was in Cuba. I could, however, get a copy of the book he had published six months earlier, "Pasaporte 11333, Eight Years With the C.I.A."
Mr. Hevia had served the C.I.A. in Uruguays police program. In 1970, his duties brought him in contact with Dan Mitrione, the United States policy adviser who was kidnapped by the Tupamaro revolutionaries later that year and shot to death when the Uruguayan Government refused to save him by yielding up politician prisoners.
Mr. Mitrione has become notorious throughout Latin America. But few men ever had the chance to sit with him and discuss his rationale for torture. Mr. Hevia had once.
Now, reading Mr. Hevias version, which I believe to be accurate, I see that I too had resisted acknowledging how drastically a mans career can deform him. I was aware that Mr. Mitrione knew of the tortures and condoned them. That was bad enough. I could not believe even worse of a family man. A Midwesterner. An American.
Thanks to Mr. Hevia, I was finally hearing Mr. Mitriones true voice:
"When you receive a subject, the first thing to do is to determine his physical state, his degree of resistance, through a medical examination. A premature death means a failure by the technician.
"Another important thing to know is exactly how far you can go given the political situation and the personality of the prisoner. It is very important to know beforehand whether we have the luxury of letting the subject die
"Before all else, you must be efficient. You must cause only the damage that is strictly necessary, not a bit more. We must control our tempers in any case. You have to act with the efficiency and cleanliness of a surgeon and with the perfection of an artist
A few months later, Mr. Mitrione paid with his life for those excesses. Five years late, thanks to the effort of such men as former Senator James Abourezk, the police advisory program was finally abolished.
But few of the accomplices in torture have ever been called to account. Years ago in open hearings, Senator Frank church tried to force some admissions but his witnesses sidestepped his staffs sketchy allegations. Given the willingness of congress to accept the C.I.A.s alibis about national security, I dont think any other public hearings would fare better.
But neither Jimmy Carter nor Adm. Stansfield Turner, the Director of Central Intelligence, is implicated in those past cruelties, and the President should call on Admiral Turner for a complete internal investigation and a full report. If he wants Vice President Mondale to oversee the effort, all the better. They can start with Operation Bandierantes in S�o Paolo, Brazil, continue with manual Hevias expos� of practices in Uruguay, and then move on to Child, Iran, and Southeast Asia.
If, at the end, the President can assure us that no American who taught or condoned torture is still working for the C.I.A. or any other agency of the Government, I know that at least we will want to believe him.
A.J. Langguth is the author of "Hidden Terrors," a book about the Central Intelligence Agency in Latin America.
http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/langguthleaf.html | [email protected] | last modified 21 Jun 1999Make no mistake; Triumph Motorcycles is on a bit of a roll at the moment. The British company currently has one of the best line-ups of motorcycles it has ever had, their U.S. dealer network is profitable and growing and the company is optimistic for a big increase in sales in North America for 2014.
This week, Triumph launched its all-new Thunderbird Commander and Thunderbird LT, and the timing appears to be spot on. But can either of these British cruisers really be considered as serious contenders in what is essentially a sector entirely dominated by one U.S. manufacturer?
Triumph’s Recent History
To understand what is new at Triumph and why, you have to understand a bit about the company’s past and the close ties it has to the U.S.
At the introduction of the new Thunderbirds, Triumph was keen to underline that it has a long and illustrious story in America. Its motorcycles, most notably the Big D Texas Cigar followed by the Triumph Gyronaut X-1, were breaking land speed records throughout the 1950s and 1960s on the Bonneville Salt Flats at ridiculously fast speeds.
With its U.S. dealers, Triumph also raced with great success in the 1940s through to the 1970s against the likes of Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycles.
Triumph even lays claim to have kicked off the whole biker image with the brooding Marlon Brando in the 1953 film The Wild Ones. Although Brando had to ride his own Thunderbird in the film because the Triumph factory wouldn’t supply him one and even demanded that the tank badges were taken off the bike during filming.
Through all of this and much more besides, Triumph has become an iconic brand and their motorcycles, particularly the current line-up, very well respected on this side of the Atlantic.
This fall, Triumph will again be back on the salt flats with the Castrol Rocket (powered by a pair of Rocket III 1485cc engines producing 1000 bhp) running in the streamlined motorcycle class and intent on breaking 400 mph.
On the business front things have been changing quickly too. Since 2010, the U.S. Triumph dealer network has been revised and increased from 165 to 225 (17 new dealers alone were appointed in the last quarter of 2013) with the aim of a 300-strong network in the next couple of years.
Triumph worldwide sales last year were at a record level with 52,089 motorcycles sold and around a quarter of those were in the U.S This year, Triumph is expecting even better U.S. sales performance.
Greg Heichelbech, CEO of Triumph North America, told RideApart: “Triumph wants to be the number one import brand in the U.S. within the next few years. We believe we can overtake the Japanese here in the U.S. based upon what we have achieved so far and what we know is coming down the pipeline from Triumph in the near future.
“We sold 13,000 motorcycles last year in the U.S. and estimate for 2014 that will increase to 16,000. So it’s absolutely the right time for us to launch two new cruisers into the market.”
It’s not going to be an easy task for Triumph. Harley-Davidson sold 260,839 motorcycles in the U.S. last year, but Heichelbech said that Triumph’s not looking to compete head on with the Milwaukee company: “There are a number of customers out there who don’t want to buy a Harley-Davidson and want something different. They like the brand image of Triumph and can relate to that and what we can offer them.”
In the past year, Harley Davidson and the hugely ambitious Indian Motorcycles have been starting to square up as to who is going to be the top dog in U.S. cruiser market not just in sales numbers but also in terms of quality, choice and rider appeal.
With Triumph now on the scene with two all-new convincing cruisers and promises from the British company of even more to come, things could start to get very interesting.
What’s New
Up until five years ago, Triumph did not have a full dresser cruiser that could compete with anything the U.S. or Japanese companies were offering. To begin cashing in on some of its legendary brand appeal in the U.S., Triumph launched its first cruiser the Thunderbird in 2009. It was and is offered with a big 1600cc parallel twin and belt drive. It was nicely built and finished and was generally felt to be a good first step for Triumph into the cruiser segment.
The Thunderbird did all things well, it rode nicely and looked like any other cruiser. That’s the main issue for Triumph - the Thunderbird is just not different enough from anything that Harley-Davidson or the competition is currently offering.
As it now turns out the first Thunderbird was just the start of Triumph’s plan to move into the cruiser market with a broader selection of models to choose from. In 2011 the Thunderbird was joined by the Thunderbird Storm, a dark and moody looking motorcycle which came equipped with the water-cooled, 1699cc, eight valve, DOHC parallel twin.
Now the latest additions to Triumph’s Thunderbird line-up – the Commander (and yes Triumph knows that Norton has used the name in the past) and the LT – have been designed to take the Triumph brand even further into Harley-Davidson territory.
While the new derivatives share the same tank, engine, brakes and switchgear as the Storm, Triumph says everything else on both the Commander and the LT is completely new including a redesigned steel twin spine frame with the 1699cc motor acting as a stressed member.
To keep things simple, the Thunderbird LT is the version that comes with a quick detach screen and detachable leather bags with waterproof liners and a custom-style front fender with chrome accents, single headlight and running lights.
There were two areas that Triumph was particularly proud of at this week’s Thunderbird introduction; firstly the LT’s spoked chrome wheels, which have the world’s first radial whitewall tires (16 inch front and rear) developed specifically for the LT by Avon Tires.
Triumph said for performance reasons the LT had to have radial tires and for style reasons it needed to be white-walled. They are proper white-wall tires too and are not just painted.
Secondly Triumph was keen to reinforce the quality and craftsmanship in its production methods and explained the pin striping on the LT’s tank and fenders is done entirely by hand at the Hinckley factory in the UK.
The other new Thunderbird model – the Commander - is effectively the naked version of the LT but with a drainpipe-style exhaust, alloy wheels with sportier Metzler tires and distinctive twin headlights. You could argue twin lamps is a Harley-Davidson design cue as it uses it on its Fat Bob but Triumph says it’s had twin headlights for some years on the Speed Triple through to the Rocket III long before H-D took up the idea for the Dyna.
There are some other minor differences between the two new Thunderbirds, such as the bars (you sit more upright and a little more aggressively on the Commander), while the LT has slightly different rear spring travel, as Triumph believes more people will ride with a passenger on one. But the LT’s extra kit brings its wet weight up to 836lbs, some 70lbs more than the naked Commander.
`What both bikes have in common is the world’s largest parallel twin. Triumph is very proud of its 1699 cc engine and the company says it has stayed with this configuration because the parallel twin is part of Triumph’s heritage; it has better heat management when water-cooled than a v-twin and it helps with a bike’s weight distribution, keeping mass positioned well forward in the frame.
In its latest guise in the Commander and LT, the Triumph twin produces 93 hp at 5400 rpm. But where it really counts there is an impressive 111 ft.- lb. of torque at just 3400 rpm.
The brakes have always been one of the highlights on the first Thunderbird and the Thunderbird Storm and Triumph has carried the set-up over to the Commander and LT. Both bikes feature ABS as standard equipment with twin 331m discs and four-piston Nissins up front and a 310mm disc, twin piston Brembo at the rear. An unusual combination, but it works and works well for these big, heavy cruisers.
Triumph claims the brakes will bring a Thunderbird traveling at 80 mph to a complete halt in just over 210 feet. That’s an impressive stopping distance for such a big bike.
Rider and passenger comfort was a key goal for the Triumph product development team for the LT and Commander, Triumph says it spent more time than it has ever done before developing a new seat for a motorcycle. The finished result, which is shared on both new Thunderbirds, we found supremely comfortable with a clever lumbar support for the rider, and it offers a really good seat height of just 27.5 inches on both bikes.
At the introduction Triumph insisted the media spent some time looking at the new bikes to check them over for fit and finish. We looked long and hard trying to find fault but we simply couldn’t.
The paint finish, quality of the chrome, all the wiring neatly routed through the bars for a simple clean look down to the slight design differences between the two models classic Triumph tank badges. It all spoke volumes about effort and pride of workmanship that has gone into building these motorcycles at Triumph’s UK factory.
We may not have been big fans of some of the subjective things like the chrome and paint color choices on the new Thunderbirds but in terms of how these test bikes had been put together they were definitely up there with some of the very best we have experienced.
The Ride
A lot of motorcycle manufacturers when faced with the prospect of an international media launch for their new cruiser have taken the easy way out and sent us on a round about trip up and down the freeway. For sure, a cruiser should be good on a freeway, but it should also be able to perform well on twisting, two-lane roads running up the side of a mountain.
Triumph was sufficiently confident in the work it has done on the LT and the Commander that it worked out two very comprehensive riding routes of more than 150 miles each east of San Diego for this international launch. There was very little freeway riding and a lot of time in the curves.
With both bikes nearly identical on paper, we opted to test the Commander. It may not have the fancy chrome bits on the fenders, the screen or bags like its LT sibling but we liked the naked look of this big Triumph. Apart from the slight difference in the handlebar design and stiffer rear on the LT, Triumph told us we’d be hard pressed to notice any major difference between the two when riding.
When you first swing a leg over the Commander’s big 5.8-gallon tank, the first impression is that this is one big motorcycle. However, everything falls neatly into place and for this rider, the low seat height and terrific work that’s been done by Triumph in developing a super comfortable saddle, made a great first impression.
We’d not say it was a doddle swinging the Thunderbird around at low speed in the parking lot, but despite its mass and girth you soon get the hang of how it turns and how it’s going to behave. You just need to respect the fact your controlling 766lbs of motorcycle and adapt your riding style accordingly.
Once on the move, this is a super smooth cruiser. Unlike others we have tested recently the six-speed gearbox is seamless and effortless. There’s none of the clunking you expect as the norm on a cruiser when shifting up and down.
We’re not big fans of foot boards on bikes and both the Commander and the LT come equipped with them (complete with replaceable wear plates) as standard. We accept the cruiser community in general like boards and when combined with forward controls they sort of make sense but make the ride (this rider anyway) awkward and take a bit of time to get used to, particularly if you’re used to riding with mid controls or with a sportbike set up.
At the Thunderbird’s heart though is a terrific engine. We understand why Triumph is so proud of its big twin. You can roll on and off the throttle with ease, it’ll pull from almost any speed and in any gear and it sounds good too. For these latest versions of the Thunderbird range, Triumph has equipped them with an exhaust valve that opens at low speeds to get that distinctive parallel twin engine sound. Triumph engineers were quick to point out that this new system still meets legal noise level requirements in the U.S.
Throughout the 150 plus miles we rode the Commander it felt solid and sure-footed and completely unflappable, while you know you’re not on a sportbike you can still ride the Commander quickly into corners, tucking in the front end far faster than you would ever imagine.
On a twisty section of mountain road if you get into the groove it’s an absolute blast. Sure it’s not a Ducati sportbike, it’s a Triumph cruiser. But for a big bruiser it’s one really nice motorcycle to be on early on a sunny morning on an empty, twisty mountain road. But with the extra work that has been done on making the seat so comfortable, this is a bike you can literally ride all day and then still want to do more.
The Good
Attention to detail, excellent build quality on a bike that, if you’re into cruisers, you will want to just ride and ride from the moment the sun comes up until the sun goes down.
It’s stable, comfortable and for a big heavy bike big fun to ride too.
The Bad
Triumph’s made no secret that it’s gunning for a piece of the pie H-D pie and wants to attract new customers. But it didn’t need to build a bike that looks just like a H-D Softail. We don’t think it’s been creative enough in the styling of either the LT or the Commander. Both are handsome looking bikes but to our eyes still too conservative. Put your hand over the badge and ask someone what brand of bike it is and we bet they’ll guess Harley-Davidson.
Price
Without a doubt Triumph is a premium brand. You pay extra for something that is a little more special, has heritage and real history. Look at how high residual values on late used Triumphs can be and see how quickly they are snapped up. It’s not just the private individual but Triumph dealers too right now that are having a problem sourcing good pre-owned Triumphs.
At $15,699 for the Triumph Thunderbird Commander and $16,999 for the kitted out Thunderbird LT, we think Triumph is bang on for the money. That’s cheaper than a Harley Davidson Softail and you’re still getting a lot of extras as standard and a two-year warranty thrown in. If you plan on traveling through the U.S., splash out the extra $1000 and get the LT with bags and the screen. If all you’re wanting is some serious weekend fun just cruising around, buy the Commander.
Verdict
A pair of great cruisers, which ride far better than you would ever imagine. They come with the added attraction of the Triumph name and heritage. Plus you get all of that together with excellent build quality and great performance at a really competitive price. If you’re into cruisers this is a no brainer – the hard part is whether to opt for the LT or the Commander.
Triumph has said this is only the start of their new product plans and these two new bikes are just taste of some really exciting things that we can expect from the UK that will be coming down the pipeline very soon. We can’t wait.
RideApart Rating: 9/10Ocala, Florida — A man got more than he bargained for when he decided it was time to end his relationship with his girlfriend of three and a half years.
Ocala police say the man broke off his relationship with the woman near the end of November.
On December 3, the man returned home from work to find that his ex-girlfriend, later identified as Melissa N. Ostrander, 22, had made entry to his home and was waiting for him.
According to reports, Ostrander’s sole intention was to argue with the man about him leaving her.
The man told police that he did not want to argue or discuss the relationship with Ostrander. Instead, the man left his residence and drove to his sister’s house.
While visiting with his family at his sister’s house, he heard a car pull up in the driveway.
Seconds later, Ostrander barged into the house and began to yell at the man about their break-up.
Ostrander then grabbed the man by his shirt and attemted to pull him to the floor. That’s when the man’s sister grabbed Ostrander by her throat, and shoved her outside.
The family said it appeared that Ostrander was going to leave, but she ran toward the house and tried to regain entry.
An unidentified person then pushed Ostrander, which kept her from entering the home.
Ostrander then went back to her vehicle.
Thinking Ostrander was leaving, the man exited the residence and began talking with someone at the rear of his vehicle.
That’s when Ostrander positioned her vehicle in their direction, revved up her engine, and accelerated toward them.
The man, along with the person he was talking with, were able to jump out of the way before Ostrander slammed into the man’s car.
The impact caused the man’s car to propel forward and hit the residence.
Ostrander then “threw” her vehicle into reverse, accelerated, and struck another car that had arrived at the residence. She then fled the scene.
Police said that there was a juvenile sitting in the passenger seat of that vehicle, but he was not injured.
Police made contact with Ostrander at her residence a short time later.
Ostrander told police that she argued with her ex-boyfriend because they “have to raise a child together,” and got upset that he had broken off the relationship.
According to reports, when Ostrander’s ex-boyfriend left his residence to go to his sister’s house, she left too.
Ostrander told police that she had intended to “go get gas”, but the more she thought about the break-up, the more angry she became. She said she then made the decision to drive to [his] sister’s house to confront him.
Ostrander was arrested and charged with Burglary with Domestic Battery, Domestic Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Assault, and Felony Criminal Mischief.
She was released on a $11,000 bond. Her next court date is slated for January 3, 2017.
On April 29, 2014, Ostrander was arrested for Domestic Battery. Five months later, she was arrested a second time and charged with Domestic Battery and two counts of Domestic Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon.Whenever Peyton Manning retires, I’ll remember him for the abject terror he inspired when he played against teams I liked, or teams I’d bet on. Whenever I think back on this Super Bowl, and this Super Bowl Week, I’ll remember feeling none of that.
The Legion of Boom in the secondary, the defensive line that didn’t have a nickname but was just devastating all year, Pete Carroll with two weeks to prepare, Marshawn Lynch, the possibility of Percy Harvin, Russell Wilson making just enough plays on offense … All of it would be too much for Peyton to handle.
So all week long around New York City, everyone I saw, I would ask, “Do you really think the Broncos have a chance Sunday?” Some would say yes of course they do, others would agree with me, but in retrospect, the most amazing thing about Super Bowl XLVIII is that the Broncos were favored for two weeks.
I was completely biased, of course. Biased enough so that I never wanted to outright predict a blowout, for fear of jinxing it all. The Seahawks are a team I’d fallen in love with over the past few months. Not really because of all the winning, but how they won, and who was winning.
The more I read about them, the more I got hooked. One thing that popped up over and over as I went down the Seattle wormhole was the players talking about preparation. Whether it was Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, or Richard Sherman, they all said basically the same thing. People see them talk trash and look cocky, but all that confidence goes back to preparation. They work so hard during the week that by Sunday, everyone’s relaxed. Winning is just a reflex. That’s what the Super Bowl felt like.
About six minutes in, Peyton hit Demaryius Thomas for a 3-yard pass in the flat, Kam Chancellor came up and just obliterated Thomas. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound receiver went flying five yards backwards.
The Broncos’ best chance to win this game was to dink-and-dunk the Seahawks to death, but right then, it became clear there was going to be a price to pay on every single one of those routes. Denver was already down 5-0 at that point, but when Chancellor delivered that hit and Earl Thomas ran over and bounced into his arms, it was already over. They’d been working two weeks for this. The game was just the fun part.
There was no drama in the Super Bowl this year. It was a game that turned into a coronation, that turned into a party all throughout the second half.
Once Percy Harvin ran the kick back right after halftime, the only question was how ridiculous it would be at the end, and how ruthless the Seattle defense could be in the meantime.
I watched the game from the top row of MetLife Stadium with some friends, and at one point in the second half, one of them yelled, “WOOOOOOOOO! Glad 80,000 people showed up for Peyton Manning’s funeral!”
Football games are the best. And this is a good place to admit that watching the Seahawks play taps into a side of me that would be hard to explain to my girlfriend, and definitely hard to explain anytime I act concerned about concussions. When I watch this team, I’m not just rooting for them to force someone into a three-and-out, but to do it by making Demaryius Thomas think twice about ever going over the middle against Kam Chancellor again.
It’s definitely weird in 2014 to love a team for punishing people, when we know more than ever what kind of toll football’s punishment takes on the people who play it. And I don’t know if there’s ever been a team that exposes the hypocrisy in football better than this season’s Seahawks — they’re the most exciting team in football not in spite of the punishment, but precisely because of it. It’s just too good not to love. They play games that remind you of Patrice O’Neal’s “Take his socks!” standup. It’s a kind of football that doesn’t happen anymore. It’s why Seattle’s defense was more exciting than Denver’s offense all year.
There are the PEDs, too. Seattle’s had scandals with performance-enhancing drugs for the past few years, so plenty of people think it’s hypocritical to cheer for them now. It’s hard to mention this team without acknowledging the cloud of rumors and accusations and Internet comments that follow them through every success. But the answer here helps me reconcile the hypocrisy about the hitting, too.
If anyone on Seattle is on PEDs, the one thing we can say for sure is, they aren’t the only ones taking some cocktail of legal and illegal drugs that help them play every week. If a handful of positive tests in three is enough to make you hate the Seahawks, that’s fine, but I can’t really bring myself to care. Knowing everyone’s on some batshit combination of stimulants and anti-inflammatories, knowing most of these players will probably spend the rest of their lives living with the consequences of playing eight or 10 years in pro football … all of that has made football a guilty pleasure for anyone who pays attention.
I think I love the Seahawks because they make the guilt worth it. As the game gets progressively softer without actually getting much safer, a team like this keeps it fun. If we’re going to watch football, let’s get the real thing.
We got that from Seattle all year, and they did it with one of the most enjoyable cast of characters we’ve seen in years. Pete Carroll, the hyper-positive gym teacher who made us all realize that not every football coach has to be an asshole. Russell Wilson, the quarterback who’s humble and hardworking enough to make us all sick of hearing about how humble and hardworking he is … only I think all the anecdotes are true.
Richard Sherman, the relentless trash talker who backs it all up on the field, then talks some more, and turns out to be as impressive as anyone in the league. Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas. Chancellor watches highlights of Sean Taylor
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37.1 13.5 1979 Wilkes $249,296 $255,000 $147 39 194 15.5 6.3 43.3 6.2 1981 Woodland Park $236,400 $245,000 $126 35 5 0.0 34.2 71.6 0.0 1945 Woodlawn $373,950 $352,500 $206 21 107 3.7 13.7 64.7 2.8 1956 Woodstock $403,180 $390,000 $211 27 189 1.1 21.1 62.5 2.1 1956
People
Neighborhood Adjusted Population Adjusted Population Density (people per sq. mi) Median Age Median Household Income % Home Ownership % Married (except separated) % Divorced % Widowed % Separated % Never Married % Population with Bachelor Degree as Highest Level of Education (25 and older) % Population with Graduate Degree Median gross rent % People Below Federal Poverty Level % Unemployed (16 years and older) % English as only language % Households with one or more people under 18 % Population in same house last year % Population in different county last year % Population in different state last year % Population in different state or Oregon county last year Alameda 5,465 9,246 40 $99,682 77 53.8 9.9 3.1 0.6 32.7 38.9 32.4 $1,457 8.1 6.3 93.5 51.9 87.7 0.5 0.6 1.1 Arbor Lodge 6,449 7,703 37 $59,304 68 45.8 13.5 3.4 1.0 36.3 29.0 16.3 $1,132 15.6 7.5 82.7 47.2 85.8 2.3 1.8 4.1 Ardenwald/Johnson Creek 1,357 6,855 41 $58,027 64 49.6 16.8 8.0 2.2 23.5 17.9 16.7 $993 11.6 5.4 90.4 39.8 90.0 2.8 2.0 4.7 Argay 6,384 7,194 36 $41,138 57 30.5 19.1 4.2 5.1 41.1 11.1 4.5 $855 24.7 14.8 78.8 55.6 58.5 12.5 4.5 17.0 Arlington Heights 1,083 5,364 48 $118,110 72 59.3 7.8 6.2 0.3 26.4 42.2 41.8 $958 5.3 3.8 89.2 31.6 78.8 1.3 1.3 2.6 Arnold Creek 3,190 3,096 44 $113,463 91 60.0 10.8 3.2 0.9 25.0 34.9 31.4 $1,551 3.1 7.2 92.8 41.7 91.4 3.9 2.6 6.5 Ashcreek 5,469 4,741 41 $80,002 75 58.0 9.5 4.4 1.8 26.4 31.2 25.8 $1,315 8.9 8.0 88.5 42.3 87.7 2.8 2.4 5.2 Beaumont-Wilshire 5,930 8,122 40 $93,970 84 52.6 10.4 4.0 2.1 30.8 33.9 29.8 $1,437 6.7 5.4 92.0 47.0 87.7 0.9 0.8 1.7 Boise 3,919 10,606 33 $54,540 38 28.0 10.7 3.0 0.7 57.5 35.8 16.6 $1,078 17.5 5.8 88.8 48.0 73.6 1.7 1.6 3.3 Brentwood/Darlington 13,215 8,272 36 $49,579 67 44.9 14.0 3.8 1.7 35.5 16.7 6.5 $1,037 21.6 13.1 70.1 51.5 81.3 4.1 3.1 7.3 Bridgeton 395 2,818 40 $56,516 70 47.3 16.2 3.4 3.7 29.5 14.4 9.8 $1,248 13.5 11.6 83.5 35.7 82.9 5.4 6.2 11.6 Bridlemile 4,740 4,349 45 $92,937 71 56.5 12.2 4.3 1.4 25.7 35.7 36.3 $856 9.5 10.2 86.3 49.7 85.9 5.0 3.4 8.4 Brooklyn 5,166 7,966 37 $57,277 45 42.5 13.5 3.6 0.9 39.4 29.8 26.3 $957 15.6 6.4 89.9 46.6 81.3 3.1 2.2 5.3 Buckman 7,943 10,814 33 $33,825 17 17.8 15.5 2.9 1.9 61.9 37.2 16.6 $818 22.0 9.8 91.2 32.3 66.2 4.7 3.1 7.8 Cathedral Park 3,823 8,289 37 $42,454 54 37.3 14.5 4.0 3.2 41.0 27.3 14.6 $896 21.1 9.4 79.8 44.9 81.9 1.7 1.4 3.1 Centennial 25,273 8,404 34 $40,314 58 42.2 12.4 6.3 3.2 35.8 9.4 2.6 $944 30.9 15.7 68.3 51.6 82.5 3.5 2.4 5.9 Collins View 2,544 4,127 29 $103,785 81 39.9 10.7 2.2 1.0 46.2 34.1 40.9 $1,373 7.4 8.0 92.1 42.2 79.4 2.0 1.0 3.0 Concordia 9,445 8,396 39 $73,474 74 46.1 11.0 3.5 1.5 37.9 33.2 22.1 $1,236 11.0 8.6 88.9 38.9 83.7 2.0 1.6 3.6 Creston-Kenilworth 8,229 10,982 34 $44,587 33 29.6 15.9 2.1 1.6 50.8 24.5 12.5 $896 23.0 10.7 80.7 44.6 76.6 5.4 4.5 9.9 Crestwood 1,176 4,686 42 $83,351 80 59.6 8.7 4.4 1.9 25.5 31.6 26.6 $1,383 8.9 8.2 88.8 43.2 88.6 2.1 2.2 4.2 Cully 14,223 7,299 36 $40,144 57 32.9 17.5 3.9 4.1 41.6 14.2 6.8 $853 27.1 12.3 72.0 56.3 72.2 7.9 2.9 10.8 Downtown 10,836 14,142 37 $31,329 15 17.3 14.9 3.9 2.9 61.0 29.3 20.9 $914 27.2 19.3 82.0 19.2 50.9 11.3 4.5 15.8 Dunthorpe 1,767 1,485 29 $103,397 80 39.7 10.7 2.3 3.7 46.3 34.0 40.8 $1,372 7.5 8.0 92.1 42.2 79.3 2.0 1.0 3.0 East Columbia 2,151 2,819 39 $56,375 70 47.1 16.3 3.4 0.9 29.6 14.3 9.8 $1,247 13.5 11.6 83.5 35.9 82.6 5.5 6.2 11.7 Eastmoreland 4,937 7,289 39 $78,526 68 54.8 8.7 3.9 3.1 31.8 29.2 27.1 $1,468 11.1 7.2 92.4 41.7 80.4 2.8 1.8 4.7 Eliot 3,297 6,206 36 $42,604 28 21.2 14.4 5.0 1.7 56.2 26.6 19.4 $911 29.9 10.3 89.7 41.9 73.2 3.4 2.1 5.5 Far Southwest 1,890 5,039 48 $74,225 62 58.2 14.2 4.8 1.2 21.2 35.7 28.7 $1,155 5.1 4.4 87.8 33.6 83.4 8.2 3.6 11.9 Forest Park 2,702 1,248 43 $117,085 82 64.9 12.7 4.3 1.6 16.8 36.3 31.5 $1,627 5.2 6.4 85.2 44.7 87.0 4.8 3.7 8.6 Foster-Powell 7,554 8,841 37 $50,743 54 39.6 13.7 5.5 3.7 39.4 25.5 8.7 $1,015 16.9 9.5 80.9 47.2 78.5 2.2 2.3 4.4 Glenfair 3,067 10,472 32 $43,256 36 50.2 12.0 5.4 1.2 28.8 12.9 5.7 $879 24.1 6.9 58.9 55.8 83.5 1.1 0.9 2.0 Goose Hollow 5,088 16,627 37 $54,630 14 27.4 12.6 2.8 0.8 55.9 32.5 31.0 $941 25.6 7.1 89.8 26.2 66.8 3.9 2.3 6.2 Grant Park 3,721 9,242 39 $96,186 69 54.9 9.3 2.6 2.8 32.5 33.8 30.9 $1,508 6.7 5.0 92.2 50.5 85.1 0.8 1.0 1.8 Hayden Island 807 1,207 58 $44,715 86 31.7 29.9 11.3 0.7 24.3 23.0 13.2 $866 14.5 11.2 92.8 21.0 91.9 0.7 1.0 1.7 Hayhurst 5,845 5,677 40 $63,999 59 45.6 16.8 8.8 1.9 28.1 33.4 24.2 $1,204 8.9 9.7 93.4 48.0 81.1 5.4 4.2 9.6 Hazelwood 24,636 7,097 36 $40,858 45 40.0 13.2 8.9 0.0 36.0 14.7 6.8 $900 23.1 8.8 68.4 46.4 84.8 1.5 1.2 2.7 Healy Heights 269 4,739 41 $95,956 59 57.6 6.8 4.4 0.7 31.2 34.0 44.2 $931 11.1 6.6 86.0 31.1 79.7 3.9 2.5 6.4 Hillsdale 8,366 5,012 41 $86,403 66 49.6 12.9 4.3 0.6 32.5 36.9 33.9 $1,069 10.5 8.2 92.1 43.5 82.5 3.7 2.4 6.1 Hillside 2,219 4,558 46 $122,529 68 62.4 7.9 5.7 0.8 23.4 41.2 39.3 $1,236 5.8 4.7 86.3 38.3 81.1 3.1 2.5 5.6 Hollywood 2,078 8,779 40 $65,728 46 40.6 16.9 5.4 0.3 36.3 30.3 27.2 $1,060 15.5 6.1 90.4 48.2 83.2 1.9 1.4 3.3 Homestead 1,985 4,654 39 $84,036 57 49.5 7.1 3.7 0.9 39.3 39.6 41.1 $995 14.4 7.1 88.2 36.2 76.8 5.0 3.0 8.1 Hosford-Abernethy 7,725 9,818 35 $55,646 46 33.0 12.7 2.6 1.3 50.8 34.6 25.2 $931 15.0 7.6 90.7 39.5 77.6 2.7 2.0 4.7 Humboldt 4,922 9,436 34 $50,454 47 29.1 11.6 2.8 1.4 55.3 32.2 17.0 $1,006 26.9 9.4 89.4 52.0 70.3 2.7 1.9 4.6 Irvington 5,864 9,477 39 $82,644 55 45.1 11.5 3.5 3.2 38.4 31.2 33.8 $1,370 9.0 7.6 92.2 43.8 84.7 0.9 1.2 2.1 Kenton 7,860 7,873 38 $54,927 64 47.2 14.9 3.8 2.4 31.0 17.1 10.4 $1,156 16.8 11.1 82.1 37.2 83.9 4.1 4.7 8.8 Kerns 5,951 9,227 32 $38,792 25 21.7 13.3 1.9 2.0 60.6 38.4 17.3 $874 22.6 9.4 91.0 48.3 68.4 5.1 2.7 7.8 King 6,615 10,837 32 $56,078 50 27.8 11.7 3.0 1.2 55.5 37.0 19.0 $1,107 20.3 8.4 89.0 49.1 75.3 1.4 1.2 2.5 Laurelhurst 4,662 7,580 44 $98,823 82 62.0 11.4 5.1 1.6 20.3 34.2 41.4 $1,001 5.1 7.4 92.9 54.1 91.3 0.5 0.4 0.9 Lents 20,231 7,183 34 $41,090 53 45.0 13.3 4.6 1.6 35.5 12.8 4.0 $944 22.3 11.1 66.2 54.1 83.0 4.0 2.8 6.8 Linnton 417 1,072 47 $83,279 79 56.7 21.3 3.5 4.2 16.9 29.2 23.4 $1,472 6.4 7.0 93.5 32.7 88.8 1.9 1.7 3.6 Lloyd District 2,417 5,407 37 $40,567 21 22.3 14.8 6.4 2.8 52.2 28.4 22.2 $987 22.7 11.6 92.7 29.8 68.7 3.5 2.1 5.5 Madison South 7,755 6,171 37 $53,734 61 40.8 13.2 3.6 0.2 39.8 22.0 13.0 $1,073 16.7 8.0 84.5 43.0 85.1 0.8 0.6 1.4 Maplewood 2,610 4,577 50 $91,429 71 57.1 15.7 9.1 0.5 17.9 40.7 25.7 $1,023 4.8 6.6 92.7 41.3 85.8 5.7 3.6 9.3 Markham 2,004 3,984 43 $98,204 84 56.8 10.8 3.7 0.9 28.2 35.9 28.7 $1,444 8.5 9.8 91.9 40.6 87.2 5.1 3.0 8.2 Marshall Park 1,697 3,363 39 $111,548 91 53.6 10.7 2.8 3.1 32.0 34.6 34.5 $1,506 4.0 7.6 92.7 42.1 87.8 3.2 2.1 5.3 Mill Park 9,399 10,199 33 $36,219 35 38.5 12.1 7.0 2.0 39.4 15.0 7.8 $865 31.4 6.6 57.3 55.1 82.0 1.7 1.9 3.6 Montavilla 16,725 8,117 35 $51,669 55 39.1 14.1 4.8 2.5 39.9 24.5 11.0 $1,037 19.4 11.7 77.0 43.6 78.2 2.6 1.7 4.4 Mt Scott-Arleta 7,193 8,567 38 $51,811 58 42.0 13.8 3.5 1.7 38.3 21.8 9.3 $1,003 13.6 9.6 84.4 46.0 84.3 2.0 2.1 4.1 Mt Tabor 10,052 7,935 42 $65,326 64 47.2 13.1 4.8 1.0 33.1 34.8 21.8 $948 7.9 6.4 87.5 36.0 80.6 3.7 2.1 5.8 Multnomah 7,756 6,157 37 $59,217 46 42.6 15.8 2.7 0.4 38.5 32.7 24.7 $888 14.4 7.5 89.1 43.4 76.8 7.2 4.0 11.2 North Tabor 5,558 9,553 38 $53,103 47 32.6 17.2 5.1 1.7 43.3 32.5 15.3 $878 16.7 10.4 88.4 42.5 77.7 2.2 1.7 3.8 Northwest District 14,891 14,741 37 $60,143 23 31.2 15.2 2.5 3.6 47.0 36.1 28.5 $1,006 16.6 5.3 84.3 33.8 66.6 5.4 3.4 8.8 Northwest Heights 1,425 1,550 42 $130,220 82 67.8 8.6 4.7 1.1 17.6 39.2 34.3 $1,706 5.4 6.0 81.1 50.3 85.9 6.1 4.6 10.7 Old Town/Chinatown 3,262 17,492 42 $42,122 28 24.3 17.8 4.5 2.5 50.9 29.1 24.6 $978 23.7 17.2 90.1 23.2 59.7 5.8 2.6 8.4 Overlook 6,593 6,377 36 $59,466 31 38.5 12.4 2.8 2.0 44.2 32.9 18.6 $1,030 18.7 26.7 89.0 44.2 81.8 1.4 1.1 2.5 Parkrose 6,084 5,589 36 $37,507 48 27.0 20.0 3.0 4.7 45.4 12.2 4.0 $857 19.0 16.0 76.0 57.6 57.5 13.0 5.1 18.1 Parkrose Heights 6,304 6,811 39 $53,762 59 41.8 13.3 7.9 1.5 35.6 18.2 6.3 $938 10.7 8.0 72.5 46.7 80.3 2.7 1.9 4.5 Pearl District 5,902 16,018 38 $60,481 30 29.4 15.6 4.0 1.6 49.5 36.6 28.7 $1,237 18.4 12.4 91.4 22.5 58.3 6.1 2.8 8.9 Piedmont 6,928 8,769 36 $50,930 60 36.5 11.6 6.8 1.0 44.1 29.5 16.8 $981 16.7 10.3 85.2 43.7 81.3 4.5 4.7 9.2 Pleasant Valley 8,689 4,203 37 $65,761 71 56.5 8.6 4.3 1.5 29.2 16.9 9.5 $1,213 16.6 9.3 70.7 52.7 89.0 2.5 2.1 4.7 Portsmouth 10,418 12,038 32 $41,645 45 32.3 12.1 3.4 3.8 48.4 16.4 7.8 $863 36.3 16.1 68.9 51.1 76.8 4.7 4.8 9.5 Powellhurst-Gilbert 25,104 8,128 36 $36,982 47 44.7 11.4 6.1 2.5 35.4 10.7 3.2 $891 29.0 12.5 57.5 56.5 83.1 1.9 1.4 3.3 Reed 4,037 11,349 31 $40,856 37 23.3 9.8 3.8 1.8 61.2 23.5 15.9 $966 16.8 12.2 89.1 38.5 61.9 7.0 3.2 10.2 Richmond 11,932 9,800 37 $66,773 60 40.7 11.4 3.6 1.0 43.4 34.9 24.6 $1,049 11.4 6.4 88.4 41.2 81.3 3.3 1.9 5.2 Rose City Park 9,504 8,402 40 $70,018 65 45.1 14.1 3.1 0.7 37.0 32.7 22.9 $1,098 8.8 7.7 89.2 45.5 85.2 1.2 1.2 2.5 Roseway 6,372 7,898 39 $56,272 68 43.8 14.1 3.5 1.2 37.4 30.9 16.3 $983 8.1 9.4 88.9 46.7 84.5 1.0 0.8 1.9 Russell 3,810 5,351 48 $52,333 83 51.2 13.3 12.7 0.7 22.2 15.5 6.5 $982 11.4 7.1 77.5 31.3 86.5 1.3 1.4 2.7 Sabin 4,495 9,767 37 $81,579 67 41.5 11.5 2.4 1.6 43.1 37.0 29.5 $1,278 13.3 7.5 93.2 49.8 80.8 1.3 1.2 2.5 Sellwood-Moreland 10,014 7,300 39 $58,457 51 51.0 12.5 4.1 0.9 31.5 30.4 26.4 $893 12.1 4.8 89.6 48.2 86.3 3.2 2.1 5.4 South Burlingame 1,732 5,138 40 $78,149 79 53.2 10.7 4.6 0.1 31.5 37.5 25.9 $1,274 11.9 12.4 91.2 39.1 81.8 6.5 3.5 9.9 South Portland 9,404 7,529 35 $71,396 36 35.5 13.7 3.3 1.2 46.4 40.8 27.4 $1,381 13.8 8.5 86.5 28.3 63.4 9.2 3.5 12.7 South Tabor 6,506 8,996 39 $55,924 54 43.1 12.5 4.0 2.2 38.4 25.7 16.2 $960 16.0 9.9 81.3 35.0 78.8 4.6 2.3 6.9 Southwest Hills 6,948 4,234 44 $128,857 62 61.2 8.2 3.7 0.5 26.4 32.5 44.7 $2,198 12.1 7.2 89.4 39.5 84.2 4.0 2.8 6.7 St. Johns 11,743 8,744 38 $52,188 59 47.0 14.3 3.3 3.3 32.2 15.8 10.2 $1,116 20.1 11.3 81.1 37.9 82.4 4.3 4.7 9.0 Sullivan's Gulch 2,902 10,143 37 $47,714 30 35.9 11.9 2.7 1.7 47.8 34.7 22.4 $946 12.2 7.9 90.3 40.1 74.5 2.2 1.8 4.0 Sumner 1,907 5,755 36 $37,552 70 30.0 22.2 3.2 4.3 40.2 11.9 4.8 $1,025 18.0 12.9 78.3 53.4 65.4 11.1 4.2 15.3 Sunderland 364 2,887 37 $39,427 61 27.2 21.6 2.1 6.3 42.8 8.3 4.5 $984 13.1 15.2 81.6 56.2 55.0 16.2 6.9 23.2 Sunnyside 7,568 12,785 35 $55,329 44 32.9 10.5 3.4 0.4 52.8 37.1 24.3 $971 13.7 7.2 88.0 42.0 76.1 3.8 2.1 5.9 Sylvan-Highlands 948 1,670 46 $161,831 88 66.9 7.9 3.9 0.9 20.4 34.8 41.5 $1,323 3.9 6.6 92.3 42.9 87.2 3.4 2.7 6.1 University Park 6,374 9,740 23 $58,072 60 28.8 7.4 2.2 0.5 58.0 25.4 17.7 $1,165 19.4 8.9 86.7 36.2 69.0 4.2 1.5 5.6 Vernon 2,614 9,445 35 $69,867 65 38.8 11.1 2.3 1.8 45.9 37.9 22.1 $1,147 15.3 7.6 89.9 44.1 78.1 1.5 1.2 2.7 West Portland Park 3,922 6,618 34 $70,432 60 40.8 15.7 4.6 0.4 38.5 27.2 17.1 $1,023 15.4 9.7 78.2 43.1 76.8 8.7 3.8 12.4 Wilkes 9,391 6,628 43 $52,995 63 51.9 15.5 6.3 2.0 24.3 13.6 5.1 $933 19.8 8.9 73.5 36.5 89.4 1.3 1.5 2.8 Woodland Park 308 6,554 38 $49,278 51 41.7 13.0 6.6 0.0 38.8 17.0 6.5 $1,045 14.7 5.5 76.9 44.3 78.4 2.1 1.8 3.9 Woodlawn 5,202 8,612 35 $62,929 65 36.1 12.9 2.8 2.3 45.8 33.8 18.5 $1,048 16.0 9.8 87.6 39.9 77.4 1.5 1.2 2.7 Woodstock 8,924 7,389 37 $72,027 75 51.8 10.7 3.4 0.8 33.3 30.3 20.3 $1,273 9.1 6.0 90.6 47.3 85.5 2.1 1.6 3.8
Crime
Neighborhood Aggravated assault Arson Burglary Homicide Larceny Rape Robbery Vehicle thefts Nonviolent crimes Violent crimes Crimes per 1,000 residents Alameda 1 0 15 0 20 1 1 7 82 3 16 Arbor Lodge 8 0 34 0 250 0 14 40 393 22 64 Ardenwald/Johnson Creek 0 0 2 1 4 0 0 0 12 1 10 Argay 19 1 44 0 128 2 12 56 317 34 55 Arlington Heights 1 0 8 0 4 0 1 5 118 2 111 Arnold Creek
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subcommittee members never imagined that it would be used to regulate carbon dioxide – something that was in many ways seen as a measure of good performance during that time.
Jorling and Billings were certainly limited in the topics they could cover in this hour-long discussion. In their regular lecture earlier in the day, they talked more in depth about the Clean Air Act within the context of climate change. Billings told students: “The law is alive and important and extraordinarily meaningful for your generation.” Those who are interested in hearing Billings and Jorling speak in more detail are welcome to join one of their remaining weekly lectures, which take place on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. in the International Affairs Building, Room 407. Each session is open to the public and guests are welcomed by the professors. Register for each week individually here:Sometimes, the evolutionary history of a species can be found in a fossil record. Other times, DNA and genetic fingerprints replace rocks and imprints.
That is the case for the carrot, the richest crop source of vitamin A in the American diet, whose full genetic code has been deciphered by a team led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison in collaboration with the University of California, Davis.
The study, published online today in the journal Nature Genetics, reveals how the carrot has been touched by domestication and breeding practices, as well as influenced by environmental and geologic change.
It also fills in a family tree of carrot relatives and reveals how carrots have become so good at accumulating carotenoids, the pigment compounds that give them their characteristic colors and nutritional strength.
“The carrot has a good reputation as a crop, and we know it’s a significant source of nutrition — vitamin A, in particular,” said lead researcher Phil Simon, a horticulture professor and U.S. Department of Agriculture geneticist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “Now, we have the chance to dig deeper, and it’s a nice addition to the toolbox for improving the crop.”
Knowledge gained from the study could also lead to the improvement of similar crops, such as parsnips and the yellow-fleshed cassava, a staple food throughout much of Africa.
“This was an important public-private project, and the genomic information has already been made available to assist in improving carrot traits such as enhanced levels of beta-carotene, drought tolerance and disease resistance,” said co-author Allen Van Deynze, director of research at UC Davis’ Seed Biotechnology Center. “Going forward, the genome will serve as the basis for molecular breeding of the carrot.”
Domestication dates back to Central Asia
Wild carrot seeds have been found in 3,000-to-5,000-year-old archaeological sites in Germany and Switzerland.
Cultivated carrots were first documented 1,100 years ago in Central Asia. Unlike wild carrots, which are white, those first domestic carrots were purple and yellow. The canonical orange carrot appeared in Europe in the 1500s, as shown in German and Spanish art of the time.
Color genetically linked to nutrients, not flavor
The new study reveals how the orange color occurs and which genes are involved, and also shows that carrot color is not genetically connected to flavor.
It is fortuitous that colored carrots became popular, because the pigments are what make carrots nutritious, and orange carrots are the most nutritious of all.
Nantes variety used for sequencing
The research team used the Nantes carrot — a bright orange variety named for a city in France — to assemble and analyze the full genetic sequence and peer into the vegetable’s evolution.
The carrot genome contains more than 32,000 genes arranged among nine chromosomes, which code for pest and disease resistance, colorful carotenoids and more. Carotenoids, like alpha- and beta-carotene, were first discovered in carrots.
The researchers uncovered features traced to distantly related plant species, from grapes and tomatoes to kiwi and potatoes. Carrots more recently split from lettuce, and they are in the same family as spice crops, like parsley and fennel.
The researchers also sequenced 35 different types of carrots to compare them to their wild ancestors. They showed that carrots were first domesticated in the Middle East and Central Asia, confirming the Vavilov Center of Diversity theory, which predicts cultivated plants arose from specific regions rather than randomly.
Carrots advanced as dinosaurs decline
The research team traced carrot evolution as far back as the dinosaurs. Sometime between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods — roughly around the time dinosaurs went extinct — carrots, along with other plants of the era, picked up genetic advantages that allowed them to thrive.
The study confirmed that the “Y” gene is responsible for the difference between white carrots and yellow or orange carrots. It also identified a new, previously unknown gene that contributes to the accumulation of the colorful compounds. The newly discovered gene is actually a defect in a metabolic pathway that appears to be related to light sensing, the researchers said.
Plants derive their own nutrition through light sensing, or photosynthesis, but roots like carrots aren’t normally exposed to light and do not need photosynthetic pigments like carotenoids. The carrot has, in a sense, repurposed genes that plants usually use when growing in light.
Vitamin A essential to health
Global carrot consumption quadrupled between 1976 and 2013, and over the last 40 years, breeding has led to more nutritious carrots with the selection of ever more intensely orange crops. In fact, carrots have 50 percent more carotene today than they did in 1970.
While most Americans are not deficient in vitamin A, it is considered an essential nutrient, and deficiency is a problem in some U.S. communities and around the world. While the study may not solve the problem, it does highlight the opportunity carrots present to improve health and economic outcomes in other nations.
Collaborators and funding
In addition to Van Deynze and Simon, the study included co-authors from Michigan State University and around the world, including Poland, Spain, Italy, Turkey, China and Argentina.
The study was funded by the carrot industry and the following seed companies: Rijk Zwaan BV, Bejo BV, Monsanto Co., Nunhems USA, Takii Co., Vilmorin, Suminak and Carosem. Funds also were provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, National Science Foundation, the Polish National Science Center and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.“We know that the image of the G.O.P. has slipped, but to see it slip so dramatically in Tea Party districts is pretty surprising,” said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Center. “You think of those as bedrock Republican districts. They are the base.”
The number of people who disagree with the Tea Party has also risen among the general public, according to the most recent of the polls in the Pew analysis, taken this month. Among the public, 27 percent said they disagreed with the Tea Party and 20 percent said they agreed — a reversal from a year ago, when 27 percent agreed and 22 percent disagreed.
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In Tea Party districts, 23 percent of people now disagree with the Tea Party, while 25 percent agree. A year ago, 18 percent of people in those districts disagreed with the Tea Party, and 33 percent agreed.
In another poll in the Pew analysis, conducted in October, 48 percent of people in Tea Party districts said they had a negative view of the Republican Party, while 41 percent said they had a favorable view. The favorable rating had dropped 14 percentage points since March.
That drop was steeper than it was among the general public, where the percentage of people with a favorable opinion of the Republican Party had fallen to 36 percent, from 42 percent in March.
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Opinions about the Democratic Party have shifted less, nationally and in Tea Party districts. Among the general public, favorable ratings for the Democratic Party fell to 46 percent in October from 50 percent in August. In Tea Party districts, favorable ratings for the Democrats stayed about the same — at 39 percent in October and 37 percent in August.
There was even some evidence that Tea Party Republicans were viewing Democrats a little less harshly. The share of people in Tea Party districts who viewed the Democrats unfavorably had fallen to 50 percent in October, from 57 percent in August.
How much this affects Republican chances in the presidential contest next year, Mr. Kohut said, probably depends on which candidate wins the nomination.
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“If the candidate is of a more conservative bent, he or she will have to deal with this complaint about the Tea Party among the general public, of being too extreme and not willing to compromise,” he said.
“The focus has been very much on the candidate and not on the party, but going into this election, the party has problems,” he said. “Which isn’t to say that people are wildly enthusiastic about the Democratic Party, but it hasn’t lost the kind of favor the G.O.P. has.”
The analysis is based on polls conducted by the Pew Research Center from March 2010 through November.MONTREAL — Oil workers just aren’t drinking like they used to.
Molson Coors Brewing Co. blames a sluggish economy for a big drop in beer sales in Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan.
Customers are abandoning higher-priced premium beers for economy brands, the beer giant says.
"The consumer is under pressure," Stewart Glendinning, chief executive of Molson Coors Canada, said Thursday during a conference call on the company’s fourth-quarter and 2015 results.
"And if you add to that the fact that consumer debt in Canada is at an all-time high, it’s made for quite a difficult recipe in some of those provinces."
Molson said its sales volume decreased 5.4% across Canada in the fourth quarter. In January, retail store sales fell by more than 10%.
Part of that decrease can also be attributed to higher food prices, Glendinning said, which could have forced beer lovers to choose between groceries and brewskies.
Sales volumes for Coors Light were also reduced in Quebec by the brewer’s decision to raise prices for its flagship brand.
Molson Coors said its net income plummeted 65% to US$32.8 million in the fourth quarter because of lower sales, currency fluctuations and reduced income from operations in Canada and the United States.Woman of the Year [Blu-ray] (George Stevens, 1942) Review by Gary Tooze Production: Theatrical: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Video: Criterion Collection Spine #867 Disc: Region: 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player ) Runtime: 1:54:32.323 Disc Size: 49,029,519,384 bytes Feature Size: 25,004,390,400 bytes Video Bitrate: 25.40 Mbps Chapters: 23 Case: Transparent Blu-ray case Release date: April 18th, 2017 Video: Aspect ratio: 1.37:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Audio: LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit Subtitles: English (SDH), none Extras:
• New interview with George Stevens Jr. (6:13)
• 1967 audio interview with George Stevens (16:54)
• New interview with George Stevens biographer Marilyn Ann Moss (14:23)
• New interview with writer Claudia Roth Pierpont on actor Katharine Hepburn (20:08)
George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey, a 112-minute 1984 documentary by George Stevens Jr. (1:51:30)
• The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn, an eighty-six-minute documentary from 1986 (1:26:34)
• Trailer (2:29)
• PLUS: An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek Bitrate: Description: George Stevens’s Woman of the Year, conceived to build on the smashing comeback Katharine Hepburn had made in The Philadelphia Story, marked the beginning of the personal and professional union between Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, who would go on to make eight more films together. This tale of two newspaper reporters who wed and then discover that their careers aren’t so compatible forges a fresh and realistic vision of what marriage can be. The freewheeling but pinpoint-sharp screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin won an Academy Award, and Hepburn received a nomination for her performance. Woman of the Year is a dazzling, funny, and rueful observation of what it takes for men and women to get along—both in the workplace and outside of it. The Film: Tracy and Hepburn were a great team, and this, their first outing together, set the seal on the pattern to follow into the next decade. He's a sports journalist, she's an influential political columnist, and after they marry he wants her to be a woman as well. The comic byplay between opposites - everyday guy Spence and haughty Kate - is a consistent pleasure, even if its sexual politics are ambiguous: Spence scores many more points than Kate, and the whole film is geared toward the climax when she cooks him breakfast like a good little housewife. Produced by Joseph L Mankiewicz, the film has that MGM glitter and literary sparkle. Excerpt from TimeOut Magazine located HERE Among the many film collaborations between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Woman of the Year (1942) is especially significant because it was the first film in which they appeared together. In fact, during the filming of the movie, the two fell in love, sparking a relationship that would last more than 25 years, right up until Spencer Tracy's death in 1967.
Based on the life of renowned newspaper columnist Dorothy Thompson, Garson Kanin wrote the script with Hepburn in mind. Hepburn's character, Tess Harding, is an international affairs writer for the same paper that features articles by sports writer Sam Craig (played by Spencer Tracy). Craig, a very passionate and dedicated sports fanatic becomes incensed when he hears a radio address in which Tess declares that the game of baseball should be abolished until WWII comes to an end. Craig voices his displeasure in his weekly column and the battle begins - on the printed page. The two carry on their conflict within their respective columns, until finally they meet. Suddenly, the dynamics change dramatically as their mutual attraction becomes evident. Much to the surprise and consternation of their friends and coworkers, the pair begin an unlikely courtship that eventually leads to marriage. It is then that the fun really begins. Excerpt fromTCM located HERE Image : NOTE : The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. Woman of the Year looks excellent on Blu-ray from Criterion and is cited as a "New 2K digital restoration". Contrast is at Criterion's usual high standards showing adept layering and a beautifully nuanced black and white image. The, pleasing, grain is balanced by some tight, detailed lines - notable in close-ups. There were only a very few light vertical scratches that were barely visible in one sequences. The 1080P visuals breathe new, digital, light into this classic, advancing well beyond SD. This dual-layered Blu-ray, with a supportive bitrate, reproducing a very strong HD presentation. It looks wonderful in-motion. NOTE: I wouldn't be surprised, at all, if this makes it to the UK on Blu-ray from Criterion. CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION Audio : Typically flat, linear PCM mono track at 1152 kbps (24-bit) - where dialogue actually sounds a bit echo-y in spots. The Franz Waxman ( Dark Passage, Rebecca, Bride of Frankenstein, Rear Window, Sunset Boulevard) score adds soft touches to the film, supporting humor and romantic interludes. It sounds wonderful via the uncompressed. There are optional English subtitles and m y Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A' disc. Extras : Criterion include plenty of extras starting with a new 6-minute interview with George Stevens Jr., son of the Woman of the Year director George Stevens recorded by Criterion in Washington D.C. in January 2017. In a 1967, 17-minute, audio interview with George Stevens he discusses working on Woman of the Year. We get a new, 1/4 hour interview with George Stevens biographer Marilyn Ann Moss author of Giant: George Stevens, a Life on Film. She discusses the director's early career and making of Woman of the Year. In another new interview with author and journalist Claudia Roth Pierpont discusses the significance of Woman of the Year on actor Katharine Hepburn's acting career and the evolution of Hepburn's status as a feminist icon. It runs over 20-minutes and was recorded by Criterion in December of 2016. Written and directed by George Stevens Jr., George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey, is a 112-minute 1984 documentary portrait of the life of one of the greatest Hollywood filmmakers of the twentieth century. From Swing Time to Gunga Din to Shane and Giant, George Stevens helped shape American cinema. This, almost 2 hour, documentary includes interviews with filmmakers Frank Capra and John Huston, actors Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy and many others. The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn, is an eighty-six-minute documentary from 1986 celebrating the work of the iconic actor. Narrated by Hepburn, this features interviews with filmmakers Stanley Kramer and Joseph Mankiewicz and actors Sidney Poitier, among others. There is also a trailer plus the package contains a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek. BOTTOM LINE:
Woman of the Year is the type of film Hollywood can no longer reproduce - Tracy/Hepburn were so natural and convincing - not contrived and overly produced. It thrives on the chemistry and iconic presence of both the leads. It is vintage cinema in top form, escalating beyond a cute romance with issues involving commitment, unselfishness, motherhood, idealism and... love. It's a, timeless, brilliant film. The Criterion Blu-ray package does the film justifiable honor with a stellar transfer and a mass of extras to wade through. It has one of our highest recommendations! Gary Tooze March 11th, 2017Jafco Co. was a multimillion-dollar chain of catalog showroom retail stores founded by Sidney Z. Jaffe in 1957 in Seattle, Washington. The company sold a wide variety of items from stereo and photographic equipment to holiday gifts. Jafco sent catalogs to all of their clients following for pickup at their stores or by mail-order. Though retail locations stocked the more common items, Jafco's usual technique of processing orders started with customers ordering through mail and picking it up at the store.
With notable locations in Downtown Seattle, Lynnwood, Southcenter, Bellevue, Northgate and Tacoma, the major retailer expanded until acquisition in the 1970s. Jafco was acquired by Modern Merchandising in 1972, then Best Products obtained all 17 stores in Washington and Oregon in 1982. By 1986 all the Jafco stores were converted to Best stores. In 1997, all of the Best stores in Washington state were closed down after financial troubles within the company.
Sidney Z. Jaffe [ edit ]
Sidney Z. Jaffe, born March 28, 1912, founded Jafco in 1957 with his wife and family in Seattle. After opening Jafco's first location near South Lake Union, Jaffe expanded into the catalog business with mail-ordering and processing right at their facilities. Throughout his ownership in the company, Sidney Z. Jaffe opened nearly twenty showrooms in Washington and Oregon. Jaffe's entire family helped manage the stores, with his wife Ruby and their sons Paul and Larry as well as his daughter Susan. In his spare time, he was a philanthropist, and donated generous amounts of money to many charities, synagogues and organizations around the Greater Seattle region. Sidney Jaffe died on May 25, 1979, at the age of 67.
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There is no way to sugarcoat it: Labor unions got shafted in the planning of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Labor leaders say they weren’t consulted before Democrats picked Charlotte, North Carolina, an anti-union city in a “right-to-work” state, to host their quadrennial confab. After pumping $8.5 million into the 2008 Democratic convention, many unions decided against funding this year’s convention, and they threw their own “Workers Stand for America” rally in Philadelphia last month.
But don’t be fooled into thinking union leaders and rank-and-file members are avoiding the Democratic convention. Labor is here—and it’s on a mission.
You might say union members are using the convention as a teachable moment. Here, in a state with the lowest unionization rate in America (2.9 percent), union workers are telling anybody who’ll listen about the benefits of joining a union, and also trying to defuse the stereotypes of union members as greedy or thuggish. “We’re here to spread the word,” says Lillian Roberts, executive director of the New York City affiliate of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the city’s largest public worker union. The convention “is an excellent way to educate people here on how important labor is.”
On Monday, union members walked the streets of Charlotte and handed out AFL-CIO fliers titled “What’s so good about unions anyway?” The fliers touted unions’ efforts to give workers more input in their employers’ business decisions and helping to “balance the power of big corporations and create a fair economy.” In the wake of fights over collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and Ohio, the flier reads, “When working people have the right to bargain collectively at work, it’s good for us, for our communities, and for the whole economy.”
The North Carolina AFL-CIO union took direct aim at the stereotype of “union thugs” here on the streets of Charlotte. At an event called “Hug-a-Thug” on Monday, state AFL-CIO members dished out hugs aplenty to friendly passersby amid the hubbub of the CarolinaFest street fair. Several other unions hosted booths at CarolinaFest, chatting up the crowd and handing out pamphlets, stickers, and more.
Jaime Rodriguez, an employee with the American Federation of Teachers in Oregon, says his message to North Carolinians echoes one of the themes in heard in Tuesday’s speeches—the idea that everyone deserves the opportunity to succeed and earn a living wage. Rodriguez says his conversations with locals have stressed how union representation benefits not just union members but also nonmembers. “A union job means higher wages for everybody,” Rodriguez says. “People here hopefully will realize that.”
The official convention proceedings present union leaders with a national platform to reach millions of Americans. Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, spoke on Tuesday night, giving a full-throated defense of Obama and a rousing call for working people to rally around the president and reelect him in November. “Middle-class Americans cannot afford four years of Romney economics,” she said. “We need a president who fights for us, and that’s what we have in President Barack Obama.” United Auto Workers president Bob King and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka are set to speak tonight.
Not all union members have embraced labor’s lemons-into-lemonade strategy here in Charlotte. At a Baptist church just outside of the city, the Los Angeles Times reported, labor organizers circulated an open letter to Obama noting that North Carolina “has been cited by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization for its violations of international labor standards.”
Nick Ciaramitaro, the legislative director for a Michigan branch of AFSCME, sees North Carolina’s hostility to organized labor as “an opportunity to show a right-to-work state how unions work and work well.” He told me that labor’s anger at the Democratic Party for picking Charlotte was “ancient history,” and that he looked forward to spreading his union’s message far and wide. “We’re here showing people we don’t have horns,” he says. “We’ll win hearts and minds.”Quebec's universities say they have been blindsided by a directive from the provincial government demanding they slash $124-million in spending by April. The government says universities should have known of the cuts from the previous Liberal government; the universities say they never got the memo.
The province's higher education minister, Pierre Duchesne, summoned a meeting of Quebec university heads on Tuesday and issued a warning that they would need to tighten their belts to fit within the government's spending estimates. The university rectors reacted with disbelief, calling it a retroactive cut.
This latest standoff over revenues adds tension to the higher education summit planned for February.
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Universities have already spent months trying to cover holes in their budgets after the newly elected Parti Québecois government annulled new tuition-fee hikes promised by Jean Charest's Liberals, and now worry they have no choice but to run up deficits, and perhaps cut student services.
"We have two-thirds of the budget already spent, and for the next four months everything is accounted for," said Denis Brière, rector of Université Laval, who said the move leaves his school short $21-million in government funds. "It's totally impossible and unrealistic."
The government says it is only asking universities to stay within spending estimates set out by the Liberals. Had they done so, they would not be $124-million in the red. "It's not as if they didn't know how much money they were getting," Treasury Board president Stéphane Bédard said in an interview.
As proof, a spokesman for Mr. Duchesne cited an internal letter penned by the previous government and dating from June in which the Treasury Board called on the Ministry of Education to cut $265-million in spending at all levels of education. The universities' leaders and budget officers are adamant they never saw the missive.
"It never filtered to the universities. I guess they forgot about it. They didn't put that into effect," Mr. Brière said. "Never, never, never were we asked to have a budget reflecting what the minister is saying right now."
In a statement, the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ) said university leaders will participate in February's summit, but that it "is very concerned" about how the cuts may impact the university's core functions – a worry shared by student groups.
"This will have an impact on students, for sure," said Martine Desjardins, president of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec. "[They will have to cut] services, teaching also…We'll have bigger classes, less possibility for bursaries for students."Rangers edged out 10-man Dundee United at Tannadice to stay on top of the Scottish Premier League.
Johnny Russell was sent off after half an hour for stupidly aiming a headbutt at Kirk Broadfoot.
Rangers made their advantage count when Kyle Lafferty nodded home from a Gregg Wylde cross on 61 minutes.
A Steven Davis shot struck both posts as the visitors pressed for second goal, while United battled gamely and were always a threat.
But, despite a host of chances at either end, there was to be no further scoring and Rangers kept a fifth successive SPL clean sheet to earn maximum points.
Rangers were under early pressure, following a poor kick out from Allan McGregor and the goalkeeper was relieved to see Willo Flood's deflected strike whistle inches wide of his post.
On 14 minutes, a clever pass from Juan Manuel Ortiz found Lafferty inside the penalty box but the striker's shot on the turn was smothered by United keeper Dusan Pernis.
Media playback is not supported on this device Interview: Rangers manager Ally McCoist
A delivery from Wylde looped off United defender Garry Kenneth and fell for Steven Naismith in front of goal but the Scotland international hammered his first-time shot over the crossbar from six yards.
With the game being played at a cracking pace, Danny Swanson stung McGregor's palms with a long-range effort and Kenneth went close with a header from a corner.
The game suddenly swung in Rangers' favour on 30 minutes when Russell and Broadfoot became embroiled in an argument and the United striker was sent off for foolishly aiming a headbutt at his opponent.
Interview: Dundee United manager Peter Houston
Rangers should have broken the deadlock soon after when Maurice Edu found Naismith with a smart, lofted pass but the forward was again wasteful in front of goal, shooting wide from near the penalty spot.
The powerful Kenneth threatened with another header from a corner, while Lafferty did well to dribble down the byeline only to see his drilled shot kept out by a combination of Pernis and post.
The second half started with a long-range strike from Lafferty skidding into the arms of Pernis and the keeper was then able to thwart the same player with a block inside the six yard box.
However, the big Northern Ireland striker was not be denied and he found the net with a powerful header after connecting with an excellent cross from Wylde.
A thunderous, low strike from John Rankin bounced awkwardly off the chest of McGregor before a huge slice of fortune for the home side.
Davis glided through the United defence and placed a shot beyond Pernis but the ball cannoned off both posts before bobbling off to safety.
Kenneth made a sliding clearance to keep out a Naismith effort before United duo Swanson and Rankin smashed strikes wide of the target, the latter's attempt taking a layer of paint off the post.
Live text commentaryHOUSTON - In just the past two years, Houston police have made 3,478 prostitution-related arrests.
While no part of town is immune, some neighborhoods are hit particularly hard by prostitution and the other problems that follow, including drugs, robbery and violence.
Only on Click2Houston will you find an interactive database of all prostitution-related arrests made in Houston in the past two years at the bottom of this story.
By far, the No. 1 spot for prostitution arrests is Bissonnet Street, along a 1.3-mile stretch between the Southwest Freeway and Beltway 8. A whopping 589 arrests were made on this street alone, and that doesn’t include the side streets.
KPRC Channel 2 News talked with a small business owner whose office sits directly on Bissonnet Street. She didn’t want her face shown on camera because her constant complaints to police about prostitution have earned a pair of gunshots through her front windows. She said she suspects one of the nearby pimps did it. Luckily, no one was inside at the time of the shooting.
“Most of the time, they’re right in everybody’s parking lot,” she said, adding that they leave behind “baby wipes and remaining condoms.”
Houston police acknowledged their uphill challenge in curbing this type of illegal activity.
“If we arrest one prostitute, the next day she is back out on the street, or we’ll have another prostitute taking her spot,” said Houston Police Department Vice Division Capt. James Dale.
The district attorney’s office is taking a different approach to how it deals with these types of crimes.
“Over the years, we have sort of figured out that it really doesn’t do a lot of good to just continuously arrest these women who are often victims of their circumstances or of traffickers, punishing them as criminals for something that is more or less a morality crime and a public safety issue, and public health issue just doesn’t seem to fit,” says JoAnne Musick, the division chief of the Sex Crimes Unit.
Musick said prosecutors are now focusing on prosecuting the johns who are purchasing the sex, as it's “easier to cut down the demand than to continuously attack the supply.”
For women arrested on prostitution charges, there is also a possibility of ending up in Safe Court, which the city runs as a diversion program.
Safe Court focuses on rebuilding shattered lives rather than on punitive measures. Women can earn a GED in Safe Court and get access to health care. Space is limited to just 27 women.
Houston isn’t alone in this fight. Harris County logged 446 arrests since 2016. In the county, prostitution leans more towards strip center spas than street corners.
New tactics to curb prostitution revealed
Police and prosecutors are trying a different approach to the age-old problem.
To attack these so-called hot spots, police and prosecutors have shifted their focus; realizing there are two sides to this problem—those who sell sex and those who buy it.
“Traditionally your prostitution focused on the woman as the offender, the person selling sex. Now we focus on the John,” Musick said.
VIDEO: Officials discuss how they are fighting the crime of prostitution
In the last two years, Houston police arrested nearly 1,500 so-called Johns.
“It’s easier to cut down the demand than continuously attack the supply,” Musick said.
Another shift in focus involves the organized crime aspect of prostitution; the human traffickers and pimps.
Houston police logged 181 of these arrests in two years.
Dale says the pimps and traffickers are the reason HPD now offers prostitutes a life-line after they are arrested.
Both Dale and Musick say these new approaches were inspired after seeing constant prostitute roundups had little impact.
The goal now is to get these women off the streets permanently.
“We don’t want to see them end up with criminal convictions, so we are looking at diversion opportunities for them,” Musick said.
Below you can search the streets around where you live and work to see if prostitution is becoming a problem in your neighborhood.
Here are the top five spots for prostitution-related arrests in Houston:
Copyright 2017 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.Leumi is one of three Israeli banks caught up in the US tax evasion probe (KEYSTONE/STEFFEN SCHMIDT)
Bank Leumi has been made to pay the price for aggressively poaching tax cheating clients from Swiss banks that were under United States investigation. The Israeli bank was fined a total of $400 million (CHF393 million) by the US authorities for tax evasion offences.
Leumi, that has a private banking arm in Switzerland, was among 14 Swiss or Swiss-based banks under active investigation by the Department of Justice (DoJ). Credit Suisse was fined $2.6 billion earlier this year after admitting similar offences, but on a larger scale.
Leumi set up various “egregious schemes” designed to help US citizens dodge taxes, including “complex, sham loan arrangements”, New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said in a statement.
“What’s worse, when certain Swiss banks began to put the brakes on this type of misconduct, Bank Leumi instead hit the accelerator even harder – viewing it as a ‘golden opportunity’ to pick up new business,” Wall Street’s top financial regulator added.
The same charge has been levelled at other smaller banks in Switzerland that provoked US ire by actively poaching tax cheating clients from larger competitors that had fallen under DoJ investigation.
Switzerland’s oldest private bank, Wegelin, was a prime example of this practice and paid the ultimate price of going bust last year under the weight of US prosecutions.
For its role in the international web of tax evasion crimes, Leumi was fined $270 million by the DoJ and a further $130 million by the New York regulator. Several senior employees have also been fired whilst the bank has agreed to allow a DFS monitor to review its compliance programmes, the regulator said in a statement.
In a statement, Leumi welcomed the end to the legal proceedings which it said had removed "a cloud of uncertainty that had impacted the operations of Bank Leumi".
Leumi’s Swiss-based private banking arm announced in July that it had entered into a “strategic partnership” with Julius Bär that would entail it handing over most of its clients to the Swiss bank.
The US probe into Swiss banks or Swiss-based foreign banking subsidiaries that aided and abetted tax cheats took off in 2009 with the prosecution of UBS. The active criminal investigation has since widened to 14 banks, including two other Israeli branches of Hapoalim and Mizrahi-Tefahot.
Big Swiss brand names such as Pictet and Julius Bär are also included on the DoJ prosecution hit list.
In addition, more than 100 Swiss banks signed up to a non-prosecution pact last year that would allow them to avoid the criminal courts in exchange for cooperation with the US authorities.
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SWI swissinfo.ch on Instagram SWI swissinfo.ch on InstagramIt is getting dicey out there for Wall Street investors, although stocks eked out a modest rise on Friday.
U.S. equities have been bouncing around lately. And the trend has been predominantly lower. Although it hasn’t been the sort of dizzying tumble for equities that would elicit an instant spike in fear, it has been, however, the kind of plodding descent that has the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.13% down nearly 300 points since the end of July.
In fact, the Dow and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.08% are on the verge of tallying three straight months of declines, with October shaping up to be the ugliest monthly fall since January—the month after the Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in a decade.
Check out MarketWatch’s Need to Know: The market will soon know if the S&P 500 is headed for a 22% wipeout
But, if the Dow posts a loss in October it would be the first time the blue-chip index logged three consecutive monthly declines since the period ended in September 2011. The S&P 500 notched three consecutive monthly loses earlier this year, ended February.
On Friday, stocks ended nearly flat, with only the Dow posting a significant gain buoyed by a rise in the banking sector’s Goldman Sachs Group GS, +0.13% Friday’s wobbly moves, where stocks started off sharply higher before fading, has characterized a market that appears to be increasingly on tenterhooks. Here’s what may be contributing to the recent spike in Wall Street anxiety levels:
1. October trade
Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial, points out that October is inherently a volatile month for stocks. “October has a reputation as a month you better buckle your seat belts for a reason. Nearly all the volatility records
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is possible, think of why Residential School survivors are so scarred. It was not just the abuse endured within those systems, it was the loss of kinship ties, and ties to land and culture.
Right now, the focus is on the epidemic of suicides in Indigenous communities. Well, the RCAP has this to say:
“In our special report on suicide among Aboriginal people, we discussed the factors that contribute to culture stress. Perhaps the most significant are loss of land, loss of control over living conditions and restricted economic opportunity. In turn, we found in our research for that report, culture stress has a central role in predisposing Aboriginal people to suicide, self-injury and other self-destructive behaviours. “
Relocation is not truly voluntary when conditions have been created in Indigenous communities that ensure people are living on the edge, with few to no opportunities to be healthy, vibrant and self-determining. When the subjects are not Indigenous peoples in Canada, we call people who flee such situations “economic migrants”. We decry the states that have allowed such people to suffer so extremely that they must uproot themselves to seek a place their basic human needs can be met.
Previous experiences have shown that relocation is directly linked to an increase in self-injury and suicide among Indigenous peoples. The situation is already dire, and people are seriously proposing “solutions” that history shows us will almost certainly make things even worse.
Economic opportunities will probably balance that out, right?
Traditionally the second consequences of relocation was economic dependency at levels so much worse than what existed when people remained in their communities. This was due to the fact that formerly self-sufficient peoples were thrust into unfamiliar and unwelcoming economic circumstances… on reserves.
The reserves were designed to be convenient for colonial authorities, they were never designed to have economic opportunities much past menial and part time labour for residents. The fact that the reserve model continues to lack economic opportunities simply means that the model is working just as it was meant to.
Right now, many people are arguing that the only alternative to the colonially created reserve system is integration into urban centres where there is more economic possibility.
This overlooks that Indigenous peoples are already massively urbanized, with over half living in a town or city. While this does not compare to the 80% of non-Indigenous Canadians that are urbanized, it does at least give us a large sample size to examine.
If over 50% of Indigenous peoples are already “relocated” (some of whom have been urbanized for generations), then surely over 50% of Indigenous peoples are experiencing the positive outcomes that relocation is supposed to provide?
Nope, hate to burst your bubble. While there are some slight improvements in terms of educational attainment, job opportunities and earnings, urbanization (relocation) is hardly the panacea it is being presented as.
For example, only 8% of Status Indians living off reserve have a University degree. Okay so that’s pretty dismal, but it’s probably way better than those living on reserve, right? Well it’s better, it’s just not a heck of a lot better; 5% of Status Indians on reserve have post-secondary degrees which is the same percentage of Inuit who have post-secondary degrees.
Having a post-secondary degree seems to be a huge determinant of income equity with non-Indigenous peoples, but achieving that level of education is difficult when 29% of Indigenous people have less than a high-school education. For those without a university degree, the income disparity is shocking.
“While income disparity between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians narrowed slightly between 1996 and 2006, at this rate it would take 63 years for the gap to be erased. The study reveals income inequality persists no matter where Aboriginal peoples living in Canada. The income gap in urban settings is $7,083 higher in urban settings and $4,492 higher in rural settings. Non-Aboriginal people working on urban reserves earn 34% more than First Nation workers. On rural reserves, non-Aboriginal Canadians make 88% more than their First Nation colleagues.” – The Income Gap Between Aboriginal Peoples and the Rest of Canada
There are a lot of reasons Indigenous peoples are not doing as well in urban centres as people insist we must be, and there is a huge discussion to be had about that. One that can literally fill volumes. Fundamentally, many of the same structural impediments Indigenous peoples face in isolated communities, continue to be a factor in urban settings. Relocation does not address this.
The RCAP also looks at the negative health impacts of relocation, which are similar to what refugees experience when not settled with comprehensive supports. Depression, psychological stress, an increase in domestic violence, alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide. There are social and political effects as well, as kinship systems are strained or destroyed, and as the last vestiges of our legal and political orders are rendered invisible and subsumed into the Canadian system.
Your great ideas have been tried, and they failed miserably
So stop suggesting relocation as the obvious solution to problems most Canadians don’t actually understand. We have so. much. research that shows relocations are incredibly harmful, and that they have never solved the problem. Why don’t relocations work?
Because the problem is colonialism. Not isolation.
Indigenous peoples have had our lands and resources taken from us so that Canadians can benefit from these vast riches. Indigenous peoples have been met with violence of the most extreme kind for centuries; to the extent that our children were specifically targeted in order to destroy who we are as peoples. When we dare to raise our voices and ask to be beneficiaries of what was taken from us, we are vilified and characterized as obstacles to development, and drains on the public purse. That has not changed for over 300 years. STOP DOING THE SAME THING AND HOPING THE RESULTS WILL BE DIFFERENT, CANADA.
When these facts are overlooked because they cause discomfort, or are believed to be irrelevant, the solutions proffered cannot be anything but ill designed at best.
The RCAP estimated the cost of doing nothing, of not following its recommendations, of not fundamentally changing government policy, would be $7.5 billion dollars annually, and frankly I think they lowballed it. Nonetheless, closing the gap, funding Indigenous communities equally, and sharing in the wealth derived from Indigenous lands and resources may actually be much more expensive. Maybe that’s really all it comes down to. Maybe Canada is just too damn cheap to take action when Indigenous lives are at stake.
After all, rehashing “great ideas” doesn’t cost a single damn penny."My family had to leave Libya just to survive," says a young bearded man in spectacles, perching awkwardly on a white leather sofa. We are in the front room of Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi's mansion in Hampstead Garden Suburb, recently expropriated by activists working in alliance with Libyan exiles. An hour earlier, I had passed through an open window near some ugly imported ferns belonging to Muammar al-Gaddafi's son, having been invited to meet the members of the new Free Libyan Embassy.
We drink stewed tea from Saif's best china and eat cheese sandwiches using his silver cutlery, while the young man, Abdulla, tells me about how his uncle was "disappeared" by Saif's father. "In Libya, people disappear all the time. There was a prison massacre where 1,200 people died. They poured cement over the bodies." Abdulla nervously adjusts his glasses. "It's important that people know we're not creating a civil war for no reason."
Nearly every room in this enormous house boasts a large, flat-screen television. The occupiers have set each one to al-Jazeera, for rolling coverage of the people's revolutions that are sweeping the Arab world. Televised gunfire echoes in the marble hallway as Jay, 25, explains how activists from the London squatter movement took over the Gaddafi mansion, moving in secretly and putting up notices declaring their intention to hold the empty house under English common law. "We wanted to show our solidarity the best way we know how," he says.
“It's a symbolic and practical reclamation of private property that belongs to the Libyan people. It's about their struggle, which is why the place has been handed over to the Libyans as a place to organise and a safe space for refugees," Jay says. "People have been arriving in support from all over the UK." The tabloids have portrayed the occupiers as drunken anarchists but this is, in Jay's words, "total bollocks". "On the first night, people came down thinking there would be a squat party and we turned them away. They didn't seem to realise how seriously we're taking this," he explains.
“At first, we were elated that we'd managed to pull it off. Then the Libyans turned up and they were elated. But once they started to get reports about family and friends being killed, the atmosphere changed. We were watching Zawiyah burning on al-Jazeera and someone saw his own house. It was terrible."
Jay takes me on a tour over four floors of hushed opulence, each several times the size of an ordinary London flat. "It's worth nearly £11m," he says. Under the kitchen is a cosy entertainment complex, complete with pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and a private cinema done out in suede, the pews so thick and warm you could sleep on them – which people have been doing. On the corner of one aisle a bare duvet lies, neatly folded. Everything here is white, bright and glistening: white leather sofas, marble floors, silver candlesticks adorning pristine white walls. The only note of colour is in one of the guest bedrooms, where a Libyan flag has been draped over the TV.
Fuelling anger
Fearing the spectacle of bailiffs dragging Libyans out of the private property of a Gaddafi, at a time when the UK government is desperately downplaying its erstwhile support for the dictator, the authorities have kept their distance. But that doesn't mean that there have been no attempts to get the occupiers to leave.
“Last night, at about four in the morning, someone came to the door," Jay says. According to Abdulla, "It was a well-dressed Arab person, [wearing] nice clothes and gold. When I asked him what he was doing here so late, he said, 'I want to make you an offer.' He told us: 'I have £40,000 in cash. You can have it if you leave immediately.' No amount of money could make us leave this house. It's not a financial issue."
On the sofa opposite, a quiet man called Ambarak suddenly speaks up in Arabic. "What's a life worth?" he says, as Abdulla translates softly. "What are 100,000 lives worth?" Ambarak perches on the edge of the sofa, looking out of place in his keffiyeh and scuffed trainers. "I'm talking about people being shot by snipers in the street. I'm talking about family members selling dry bread to live.
“They ask what the west should do, but they've known about [Muammar] Gaddafi for years," he continues in broken English. "They did nothing. The petrol..." – he rubs his fingers together in a "money" gesture, grinning without humour. "My brother has disappeared in the fighting. We haven't heard from him, we have no way of contacting him." Ambarak goes very quiet. "Excuse me, please. I must go and pray."
"The resources that come out of Libya should belong to the people but that petrol money goes somewhere else," says Abdulla. "All those close to Gaddafi have places like this to live. There are some who are heartless and will do anything for a comfortable life."
Ambarak's family is in Misurata, where fierce fighting continues. "They say on the phone that they can hear shooting and tanks are coming down the street. My cousin has died, [as have] my friend, my neighbours."
An influx of neighbours bearing food terminates the interview. A young man wearing a Libyan flag like a cape takes the cups politely to the sink. He is a long way from home. "We all want to go home," says Abdulla. "But not to Libya as it is now."
The Libyans involved in this article wanted their names to be known; other names have been changed. Anyone wishing to support the Free Libyan Embassy can send a donation to wmclibya.orgGAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida is looking for a new quarterback yet again this spring, and while the competition is ongoing, this time there's a very public favorite to win the job.
Coaches and players alike have raved about redshirt sophomore Luke Del Rio, who sat out the 2015 season after transferring from Oregon State. Del Rio was careful not to step on any toes a year ago while he was ineligible to play due to NCAA transfer rules, but teammates and even former teammates have seen a big change since spring practice began.
"He did a good job of going about it quietly while he wasn’t able to be playing," said former tight end Jake McGee, who has watched a couple spring practices, including Florida's scrimmage on Saturday.
"Now that he is cleared and ready to go he’s done a good job of extending that leadership and making it a little more vocal to really show guys the right way to get it done."
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McGee is gone and won't get to play with Del Rio, but the praise he offered speaks for itself.
"He’s a dude I would want to play with," McGee said. "He’s got a lot of those qualities you would want as your quarterback and as a leader of the football team. I think he’s just a guy that does things the right way. He works hard. He’s somebody that puts the time in."
Those are all things that second-year coach Jim McElwain has also noted in naming Del Rio the current leader in the quarterback battle.
McElwain, of course, recruited Del Rio at both Alabama and at Colorado State. He ultimately missed out, leaving Alabama before Del Rio decided to walk on there in 2013. Del Rio later transferred to Oregon State for the 2014 season, before coming to Florida in 2015.
But the same qualities that stood out about him to McElwain as a prospect are still there, on full display this spring.
"I think one of the things that I love about him is he's kind of a gym rat type of guy," McElwain said. "You can tell he obviously grew up around the game. He's a guy who enjoys watching film. Around the guys he does a great job as a leader. I think there's a lot of intangibles there. Not only is he a good quarterback, but just the qualities you want at that position. You can tell he spent a lot of time around the game."
Del Rio's father is Jack Del Rio, the current coach of the Oakland Raiders. The elder Del Rio was at practice Wednesday watching his son compete for the job.
After practice, the younger Del Rio spoke to the media for the first time. It didn't take long for reporters to realize why Del Rio is so well-liked by his coaches and teammates.
He humbly deflected praise and reiterated that the quarterback battle remains open and he's just trying to do whatever he can to help the team, including coaching up a pair of freshman quarterbacks on a college campus for the first time.
"I think it’s an open competition," Del Rio said. "We’re all competing for the job. We’re all doing everything we can do in our power to earn the starting job. I’ve been here, but I don’t think that makes me above or No. 1 right now. I have to earn it."
If there's one thing the younger guys can pick up from Del Rio, it's that gym rat mentality McElwain praised.
"Always in the film room, always in there trying to learn something new," starting center Cameron Dillard said. "With his dad being the coach from the Oakland Raiders, that’s helped him out a lot being football-oriented, learning plays and knowing everything and being in that film room extra."
While Del Rio doesn't have the biggest arm on the team -- he described both freshman quarterbacks as being "very, very arm talented" -- he knows what to do with the football.
Even defensive players have come away impressed in practice.
"You can tell. He’s real comfortable back there," senior safety Marcus Maye said. "He’s making his reads right away, good passes. He has a great feel for what’s going on back there."
Del Rio just hopes to finally get on the field and show what he can do. After three years at the college level, he hasn't played a whole lot in live-game situations.
"I haven't played here, but I do have experience running some of the plays," Del Rio said. "As far as making protection changes with the offensive line and understanding adjustments of the routes, it's more of a knowledge of the offense than anything.
"The longer you’re in a system the more comfortable you are. The timing of the plays, that’s what playing the position and football is all about, you’re comfortable and confident in what you’re doing. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been in this offense for a year or two. I’m getting more and more comfortable every day."
At least one current player has had the chance to watch Del Rio live, though. Senior receiver Ahmad Fulwood competed against Del Rio in high school when both lived and played football in Jacksonville.
While Fulwood's team won, he said he came away impressed with Del Rio's leadership and ability to keep his team fighting and trying to come back in the game.
He knows exactly what Del Rio could be for the Gators.
"I think he can be special," Fulwood said. "He’s smart. He’s accurate. He can put air under the ball. I like the way he plays."
If Del Rio can be the answer at quarterback and finally stop the revolving door at the position in Gainesville, something tells us Florida fans will too.
---------------
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Contact Thomas Goldkamp by 247Sports' personal messaging system or on Twitter at @ThomasGoldkamp.The second official described what in effect appears to be a drug robbery.
“So Tamerlan says they have dope, they rip them off. Tamerlan says, ‘They can identify me, so let’s kill them.’ And they kill them,” the official said.
Image Ibragim Todashev Credit Orange County Sheriff's Office
If Mr. Tsarnaev was involved, then the murders may shed light on the crucial question of what may have turned him violent and unstable, and whether that was before he traveled to his homeland in the North Caucasus region of Russia last year.
The recent focus on Mr. Tsarnaev’s possible involvement in the Waltham murders has also raised questions about whether authorities in Massachusetts missed an opportunity to thwart the marathon bombings by not adequately pursuing Mr. Tsarnaev as a murder suspect.
There was no indication on Wednesday why Mr. Todashev — who, like the Tsarnaevs, was an ethnic Chechen — would have implicated himself and Mr. Tsarnaev in the murders. Investigators, who are seeking to determine how Mr. Tsarnaev made money, have been looking into whether Mr. Todashev and Mr. Tsarnaev were drug dealers, one of the law enforcement officials said.
Mr. Todashev had not signed a written statement about the Waltham murders before he was fatally shot. “He had only said it orally but had not signed anything,” said the first official. “But that was where it appeared to be heading.”
The shooting occurred in a sprawling condominium complex in Orlando, less than a mile from an entrance to Universal Studios, where many of the residents work. On Wednesday, several streets in the complex were blocked off by federal and local law enforcement officials.
The law enforcement official said that the authorities had spoken to Mr. Todashev at least twice since the April 15 bombings in Boston, which killed three people and injured more than 200.
Mr. Todashev and Mr. Tsarnaev saw each other regularly in Boston before Mr. Todashev moved to Florida about two years ago, though they were not particularly close, Mr. Tsarnaev’s mother said in an interview in Russia.Giants’ coach Ben McAdoo losing credibility inside, outside locker room Jenkins situation latest example of apparent lack of respect from players
Ben McAdoo will step to the podium Wednesday around 2 p.m. ET and try to explain the latest New York Giants forest fire, the suspension of star cornerback Janoris Jenkins for being AWOL on Monday when the Giants returned from their bye week.
Rather, McAdoo will almost certainly stonewall questions about Jenkins and about why he lied to media on Monday by telling them Jenkins was among a group of players (Eli Apple and Paul Perkins being the others) excused for personal reasons.
For a guy who GM Jerry Reese says is “smarter than all of us” McAdoo appears to have missed the lesson on maintaining credibility.
It’s apparent through the words of Eli Apple about the “culture” of the locker room and the disrespect shown to McAdoo by and ultimate suspensions of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins that at least certain segments of the Giants’ locker room have no use for their head coach.
Though it’s really a small, and insignificant to some, part of the story it’s also obvious that McAdoo has no friends in a media that has turned on him with a vengeance. See here and here for examples. Which is no wonder. I have been in enough McAdoo press conference to know he generally treats media members like ants to be squashed rather than people with a job to do.
Anyway, when the Jenkins suspension was announced Tuesday afternoon I wrote that “It’s difficult at this point to argue that McAdoo has control of the locker room.”
I reached out to a number of people on Tuesday night and got agreement with that viewpoint, with one telling me “It's not a 100 percent lock, but hard to find another more plausible angle on it.”
It has been interesting to me that the issues that have become public all involve Giants’ defensive backs — Apple, Jenkins, Rodgers-Cromartie.
When he turned over the offensive play-calling to Mike Sullivan, McAdoo made the curious statement that “the whole locker room needed me this week.”
Doesn’t the whole locker room need the head coach every week? It makes me wonder if McAdoo, buried in his play card and insisting on continuing to function as the team’s real offensive coordinator, ever really built relationships with many of his defensive players.
McAdoo couldn’t have helped himself in the eyes of players by refusing to address inappropriate behavior by his star player, yet by trying to discipline others. He often says candidly that he believes he is being consistent by treating everyone differently. when, however, you have an obvious double standard players will notice. They will also notice when you refuse to take responsibility for a key mistake you were complicit in, instead throwing your quarterback under the bus.
The Giants right now have far bigger problems than losing games. They are broken, from the top down.
The head coach has no credibility outside the locker room and, apparently, not enough inside of it.
There are nine games to go, and it’s hard to see how things get any better the rest of the way. It is also increasingly difficult to see how McAdoo survives and gets a third season as head coach.Yet another failed attempt from bears to break the S&P 500, most stubborn of all indices. Greek crisis and increased possibility of a disorderly exit from Euro zone led S&P 500 to test 2040 support area to prevail once again.
The chart shows 5 day change in VIX prices, which reached above 50 at peak of recent crisis, much lower than above 80 recorded during September and December turmoil last year.
However as crisis failed to unfold the VIX retreated sharply. As of now, 5 day change in VIX prices has fallen to -40, lower than September and December trough.
S&P 500 has moved swiftly above from 2040 level, close to its all-time high. S&P 500 is currently trading at 2125 and further rise seems likely.
However rate hike prospects from FED is likely to keep the upside checked and consolidation is more likely with upward bias.
Bulls have gained once more from shorting the volatility, however shorting it at record low levels might prove to be risky in the medium term.MOSCOW, Nov 22 (Reuters) - A weapons designer at a Russian defence industry enterprise that makes rifles, grenade launchers and other arms was shot dead on a city street in a contract-style killing, law enforcement authorities and media reports said.
The deputy chief designer at the research and production facility in Tula, an arms-producing city south of Moscow, was found dead with a bullet wound in his head on Wednesday evening, the federal Investigative Committee said.
State television identified the victim as Vyacheslav Trukhachev and said investigators believe the killing may have been related to his job at the Central Sports and Hunting Weapons Research and Design Bureau.
Officials did not cite a potential motive, however. Russian business is plagued by corruption and disputes are sometimes resolved through contract killings.
Trukhachev was shot while walking home from work on Tula’s Red Army Avenue and the killing was captured on a surveillance camera, Interfax news agency quoted a senior regional investigator, Tatyana Sergeyeva, as saying.
She said the gunman was not wearing a mask but had fled the scene immediately. It was not clear whether he acted alone or had help. The well-lit street and was not deserted and police were looking for eyewitnesses.
Russia’s defence industry, the world’s second-largest arms exporter, has been under increasing scrutiny since a nearly $100 million corruption scandal implicated former Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. He was dismissed earlier this month.
Trukhachev’s job involved the design and development of weapons, not sales, Interfax quoted Sergeyeva as saying.
Officials at the enterprise where he worked declined to comment.Croweyes1121 Jul 28, 2016 @karbon You know the only thing I *dislike* about the Special Edition? Well, there are two. One, I don't like that they didn't get Silvestri to score the extra scenes and stole score from "The Seventh Sign" (even though I've not seen that movie and only associate the music with "The Abyss", that just seems lazy, and I hate when movies lift scores from other movies. But the second is Lindsey's delivery of "it says 'Virgil Brigman back on the air'". I really liked the delivery of that particular line a lot more in the theatrical cut. In the original cut, she was almost annoyed, but hiding how relieved she was with the delivery...sort of shaking her head at it, like "of course he's fine", but she's overwhelmed and can't react properly because it doesn't make sense that he's fine, lol. I just thought it was really cute. In the longer cut she just says it happily with a smile...just comes off as less genuine to me.As reported by FDL’s Kevin Gosztola, peaceful Walmart warehouse strikers and solidarity protesters were met by riot police in Elwood, Illinois this week.
Workers at one of the largest distribution centers in the world have been on strike against Walmart’s infamously abysmal labor standards since mid-September, including being forced to work in extreme temperatures, inhaling dust and chemical residue, discrimination and sexual harassment — as well as retaliation against anyone who speaks up for better conditions.
On Monday, when hundreds of peaceful protesters from community, faith and labor groups rallied to the side of the workers, they were met with fully-armored riot police and an Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) vehicle. Seventeen protesters were arrested.
The strikers have continued undeterred by the police action, but it’s already getting cold outside in Illinois, and many are unprepared to picket in cooler weather.
Firedoglake’s unique skills, resources and experience gained from building a supply chain for the Occupy movement are perfect for helping these strikers, so we reached out to see what they need. Organizers have requested a care package including socks, base layer shirts and leggings, jacket linings, jackets and our “Free Speech Kits” for nearly 40 people.
Can you donate $20 or more to help us send a solidarity care package to the Walmart warehouse workers on strike in Elwood, IL?
Click here to donate: https://secure.shadowproof.wpengine.com/page/contribute/walmart-strike
Sexual harassment and workplace retaliation seem to have been standard operating procedure for management at the Walmart distribution center. The stories are horrific and unquestionably justify the peaceful actions of these strikers and protesters in demanding a safer work environment.
As Allison Kilkenny writes in The Nation:
“When I worked at the Walmart warehouse in Elwood, I was sexually harassed on a regular basis…. I literally got locked inside a trailer because that’s what the men thought I was there for…. I reported it to my supervisor, but he didn’t do anything about it,” said Ulyonda Dickerson, a worker at the Walmart warehouse in Elwood, in a report released by Warehouse Workers for Justice. “I told the supervisors about it, but they definitely don’t listen. One supervisor I had tried to tell said, ‘I didn’t see that.’ Just because you didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” said Samantha Rodriguez, a former Elwood warehouse employee. “When I went to another supervisor about the harassment, he asked me out on a date. I said no, and eventually I got fired.”
Walmart’s anti-labor — and really, inhumane — practices are well known. The multinational corporation relies heavily on US taxpayer subsidies, forcing its employees to accept foodstamps and government healthcare all in the name of low prices, which destroy local businesses unable to compete.
From Wisconsin’s battle to protect collective bargaining rights to the recent showdown with the Chicago Teacher’s Union over improved classroom conditions, workers across the country are waking up and demanding fair and safe labor practices. Join us as we stand in solidarity with these workers and help them continue their strike for as long as they need.
Please make a donation of $20+ to help Firedoglake send supplies to the Walmart warehouse strikers in Elwood, IL.
We’ll keep you updated on the strike and the delivery of our supplies.Wizard game that helps to strengthen cognitive function will be available on an iOS app after being developed by the University of Cambridge
A “brain training” game improves the cognitive function of people with schizophrenia and facilitates everyday tasks, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge.
Wizard, which will now be available on iOS (Apple’s operating system) as part of the Peak app, was tested for four weeks by 22 participants with a schizophrenia diagnosis.
Schizophrenia is a long-term mental health condition which can contribute to behavioural changes, confused thinking, apathy and, in some cases, delusions or hallucinations.
People with schizophrenia may experience cognitive impairments, including poor episodic memory, which affects remembering things such as times and dates, and understanding context.
Wizard aims to improve the cognitive functionality and episodic memory of people with schizophrenia, with in-game tasks including users moving through rooms and identifying items in boxes and character locations.
Professor Barbara Sahakian, who developed the game alongside Tom Piercy at Cambridge, said: “We need a way of treating the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as problems with episodic memory, but slow progress is being made towards developing a drug treatment. So this proof-of-concept study is important because it demonstrates that the memory game can help where drugs have so far failed.
“Because the game is interesting, even those patients with a general lack of motivation are spurred on to continue the training.”
Another member of the research team, Peter Jones, added that further studies with larger sample sizes would need to be carried out to confirm the current findings, but that: “in conjunction with medication and current psychological therapies, [Wizard] could help people with schizophrenia minimise the impact of their illness on everyday life.”
People with schizophrenia often find studying and work difficult due to cognitive impairments. The employment rate for people with schizophrenia was recorded at 8%, according to a 2013 paper.
The Wizard game will be included as a mode within the popular brain-training app, Peak, after it began a partnership with Cambridge in April 2015.
“This new app will allow the Wizard memory game to become widely available, inexpensively. State-of-the-art neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, combined with the innovative approach at Peak, will help bring the games industry to a new level and promote the benefits of cognitive enhancement,” Professor Sahakian said.Must Watch: First Trailer for Spectacular Sundance Sci-Fi 'I Origins'
"I'd like to tell you the story of the eyes that changed this world." After making a splash with the indie sci-fi Another Earth at Sundance in 2011, director Mike Cahill returned to the independent film festival with the penetrating sci-fi drama I Origins. Now the first trailer for the compelling film starring Michael Pitt, Brit Marling and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey has arrived. This film is an absolute sensation (read Alex's Sundance review right here), and serves as an interesting, provoking bridge between the ever-strong debate between faith and science. This is one you'll want to seek out this summer for sure. Watch the trailer now!
Here's the first official trailer for Mike Cahill's I Origins, originally from Apple:
I Origins is written and directed by Mike Cahill (Another Earth). Ian Gray (Michael Pitt), a PhD student studying molecular biology with a specialty in eye evolution has an intense, but fleeting, encounter with a mysterious, masked model (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey) who escapes into the night. With only a picture of her stunning and iconic eyes, he tracks her down, and they fall in love. Their fundamentally different beliefs about life only serve to intensify their connection, and they vow to spend forever together. Years later, Ian and his lab partner, Karen (Brit Marling), make a stunning discovery with profound existential implications. The film premiered at Sundance 2014 and Fox Searchlight Pictures releases it in limited theaters July 18th.
Full poster via IMPAwards. In Alex's review: "It's a film that makes you think, makes you consider your own beliefs, even if just for a second. Because when that moment comes, if you feel chills, it has done its job…"
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Sorry, no commenting is allowed at this time.Daniel S. Margolies is Professor of History at Virginia Wesleyan College and the author of Spaces of Law in American Foreign Relations: Extradition and Extraterritoriality in the Borderlands and Beyond, 1877-1898 (University of Georgia Press, 2011).
Now that the initial street celebrations and media frenzy have dissipated with the passage of a couple of days after the killing of Osama bin Laden, politicians, historians, legal scholars, and even a few talking heads have begun asking new questions about aspects of the raid, particularly regarding its legality under U.S. and international law and its meaning within the context of American foreign policymaking. Putting aside profound questions of politics and justice in the decade-long pursuit of Bin Laden, and sidestepping thorny diplomatic quandaries raised by the news that Osama bin Laden has been hiding in plain sight down the street from the Pakistani military academy, we must still ask some critical questions such as: just what was up with the use of “Geronimo” as the name for the whole SEAL operation?
This choice of the seeming incongruous “Geronimo” should not be seen as a mistake, especially in the legally astute, historically informed, and media savvy precincts of the Obama administration. How much of this raid could possibly have been left to chance, starting with its name? Labels might seem irrelevant, but military code words and project names have long larded operations with intimations of great (or pseudo-) portent. We have been served up gassy names such as Bush’s “Operation Iraqi Freedom” rebadged into the flabby marketing of “Operation New Dawn” for the reinvented Obama war in Iraq. We can continue to scratch our heads over “Operation Odyssey Dawn” for the war in Libya. But “Geronimo” was clearly a deliberate choice saturated with historical meaning related to the extraterritorial pursuit of bin Laden. It may even have been a deft joke.
Geronimo is familiar to most as a renegade Chiricahua Apache fighter in the 1880s, and as the cry of World War II paratroopers jumping out of planes. The final capture and exile of Geronimo occurred as a result of an extraterritorial U.S. military operation in Mexico in September 1886. It was not an anomalous event, but rather one of a long series of extraterritorial acts employed by the United States as it built a flexible foreign policy upon unilateralism and the invocation of sovereign exception to established legal structures. The ease with which the United States found it could step outside of both borders and the law in times of declared emergency, such as in the case of volitional cross-border incursions into Mexico in pursuit of Geronimo and others, clearly marked the centrality of power via the sovereign exception (a la Giorgio Agamben) as a dominant feature of American foreign policy.
Broad and unilateralist assertions of global jurisdictional authority, including trans-border armed incursion and extraterritorial abduction and assassination, had their clear policy utilities firmly established in the 1870s
|
aby
Tonight, soon it will all be like it was,
Before
Soon, Ralek will be unconscious on the floor,
Cause I’m gonna break him from Bottom to Top,
While he screams out: “No, no, no, no, Please stop”
HE’s going to pay for the mess that he’s made
but seriously, hopefully some of us get paid,
Hush, Ralek please baby don’t cry,
Tonight, Garry is here, he’ll sing you a soft lullaby
Tonight, soon it will all be like it was
Before Ralek won’t be able to rap or rhyme any more
Now he calls himself G in a Gi but I beg to differ,
when he raps and rhymes it sounds like he can’t handle liquor,
Please, let my guillotine crush your voicebox,
I hear migraines when I hear you talk,
Now, athletes, sponsors and camera people but mostly AJ Agazarm,
Please, don’t cry, I swear I’ll try and be here by your side
Just right after Ralek takes a little nap
visits Snapcity and never comes back
Gets on a stretcher and if I play my cards right
He’ll be in an ambulance tonight
la, la, la…..The iPhone 5S and budget iPhone 5C could be released on 20 September according to the latest whispers to come out of the iRumour mill.
The speculated date has arisen after TmoNews' mystery sources told the site that US T-Mobile employees have been forbidden to go on holiday from 20-22 September.
Apple launches tend to create very long queues and frenzied mobs, so it makes sense that a major network provider will need every hand they can get on the big day.
A 20 September release date for the iPhone 5S and 5C makes sense to us as it follows the iPhone 5's release date pattern from last year, when it too launched the week after its reveal.
Check out everything we think we know about the iPhone 5S so far to prepare yourself for the big day on 10 September.
[TmoNews via CNET]At Viget we do a lot of redesign work. The analytics team informs and supports our redesign project teams in the initial strategy and design phase with a focus on data-driven design and development. It’s also our job, however, to get our clients interested and excited about post-launch analytics.
To get the most out of analytics, it’s helpful to have a framework to follow: Plan, Implement Tracking, and Act…the PITA model. Using PITA to think about analytics with the right mindset before a project even starts will establish appropriate expectations for a team to help get the most out of a redesign in the long run. Let me explain in more detail:
Plan
It’s easy to get caught up in your organization’s day-to-day procedures, but it’s worthwhile to occasionally take a step back. Now take another step. Begin with a broad view of your organization as a whole. Don’t focus on the present hangups; think about your organization’s key business goals. For example: Do you want more notoriety among a target audience? Are you looking to attract more users via content marketing? Do sales need to increase by a certain amount?
Now, take the time to translate these business goals into digital goals. Think about the digital steps of a user’s journey that will contribute to those business goals. We live in a day and age where we can measure a wide swath of a user’s experience online, so think about the detailed steps you’d like to measure when possible. Granted, some goals may not have a digital component (and that’s ok!), but do your best to identify the most digitally significant user behaviors.
Keep in mind that a redesign is also an opportunity to start fresh with your analytics strategy. Examine your current process of using data to make decisions. What’s working? What challenges do you currently face in either finding insights or driving change? Along the same lines, take the time to review past data. What is helpful, and what is noise? What is missing? Use the inertia of change in a redesign to fuel a renewed approach to analytics.
Update or establish new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to revisit after launch. Ideally, you’d have a short-term period of a month or so to see how visitor behavior has changed immediately after launch, as well as a long-term period to compare results over the next few months. Discuss reporting with the team. In many cases, ongoing reporting helps to keep the team accountable for initial goals. However, if you’re planning to do ongoing reporting, schedule recurring meetings with the necessary parties to actually discuss reporting that can be used to implement actual change. Reporting just for the sake of reporting doesn’t do anyone any favors.
Choose the types of tools you’ll need based on your team and project needs, for example:
General Visitor Behavior - Google Analytics
Visual Heatmapping - Crazy Egg or Clicktale
A/B Testing - Optimizely
Customer Intelligence - Mixpanel or KISSmetrics
Social Monitoring – Find a social tool using SocialPiq (we've enjoyed NUVI and SocialBakers)
Once you’ve chosen the appropriate tools, decide who will actually be using those tools. If it’s your internal team, make sure they’ve received the proper training and are familiar with reporting methods. If you’re hiring an outside party for help, make sure they have appropriate experience and ask for previous work if possible.
Use the inertia of change in a redesign to fuel a renewed approach to analytics.
Implement Tracking
Set up tracking the right way the first time. We often find that poor initial implementation of analytics is a huge obstacle to using and finding actionable insights based on data. Take the time to do it right yourself or hire someone who knows how. Making decisions based on flawed data is a recipe for disaster.
QA is an integral part of the process. Make sure to check that the tracking implementation is working correctly on all major browsers and devices. For example, if you have a sizable mobile audience and there’s a tracking issue on iPhones, you’re going to miss out on a huge part of your audience.
Clear communication between involved parties is key. Development and marketing teams should be able to work in tandem to complete tasks effectively. Almost every tracking solution has some sort of technical component, so collaboration is key to collecting accurate data.
Once analytics are in place, familiarize yourself with the data. Are you collecting everything you thought you were? Will the current analytics structure allow your team to make real change?
Act
Once you’ve collected enough data, it’s time to analyze and act. Review your data and take a look at the KPIs you established earlier. How is the site performing compared to expectations in the “Plan” stage? Once you’ve gathered all appropriate information, decide what changes should be made (or at least tested).
Depending on the changes needed, A/B testing can be an enormous help. Are you looking to change the position, message, and look of a CTA? Want to substitute a primary navigation link? This is the time to put your money where your mouth is and set up a test. Nothing settles a healthy debate like statistics. For a simple and solid testing service, consider Optimizely.
Now that you’ve made changes based on data, it’s time to monitor how changes are performing. Are they yielding the expected return?
Finally, reflect on the process and look for ways to make it better. Discuss what went well and what didn’t. There are likely areas of improvement for analytics. In fact, if you don’t see any, you’re not looking hard enough. Once you’ve acted, it’s time to go back to the PITA model and renew the cycle.
Ultimately, it’s imperative to get a team excited and thinking about analytics in the appropriate way before a project begins - to give them a solid framework to follow throughout a project. The PITA model helps a team get started on the right foot and get the most out of analytics during a redesign and afterwards.
For some other thoughts on digital measurement check out:CME Bitcoin Futures Could Launch the Second Week in December
Ever since Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced that it would be launching bitcoin futures trading, the question on everyone’s lips has been “When?” Today CME chief Terry Duffy provided an answer to that question. All going to plan, the world’s largest options and futures exchange should launch bitcoin trading by the second week in December.
Also read: CME Group Aims to Launch a Bitcoin Derivatives Platform This Quarter
The Future is Almost Here
In an interview on CNBC, chief executive Terry Duffy revealed when futures contracts should be ready and commented on the recent volatility that bitcoin has been subject to. “I think sometime in the second week of December you’ll see our contract out for listing,” he said.
On October 31, CME Group broke the news that it would be permitting futures trading on bitcoin, prompting frenzied speculation over the boost this may give to the digital currency. A week later, CME released further details, stating that bitcoin would be traded in $25 increments and would have a swing of no more than 20% above or below the previous settlement price.
Had futures contracts been in place last week, when bitcoin dropped by 30%, trading would have been forced to temporarily cease. By the time futures launch in December, it is hoped that much of the post-Segwit drama will have abated, but as anyone who’s followed bitcoin’s trajectory for long enough will know, sudden spikes and troughs are par for the course.
Christmas Comes Early
The arrival of CME bitcoin futures, signaling another step towards mainstream adoption, could prove a boon to investors across the board. Traditional stocks have benefited from the bitcoin bounce, with companies such as Nvidia seeing their share price surge off the back of cryptocurrency mining. In the first six months of the year, Nvidia shares shot up by 50% and are currently trading at around $213.
Shares in CME Group are also up today, equalling an all-time high of $140. Should CME’s bitcoin futures prove a success, Goldman Sachs could be next to get in on the act; Lloyd Blankstein has said he “wouldn’t preclude” setting up a bitcoin trading desk. If the debut of futures contracts sends the bitcoin price upward, it would cap a remarkable year for the cryptocurrency.
Do you think the arrival of CME futures will boost the price of bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.Uber Data Breach Proves Blockchain Model Needed
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Uber released its “Uber Partner App,” a collaboration of ideas between its engineers and drivers that gives users a more personalized feel. The result of the Partner app puts driver insights in the hands of its network — and apparently the general public as well. The app had a data breach of about 1,000 scanned documents of people’s driver’s licenses and personal info. This comes just after Uber and Lyft’s debacle of the 50,000 user data breach.
Also read: Bitcoin in Business: Smart Contracts
The company needs to learn a lesson in zero-knowledge technology and the power of the blockchain. Giant financial entities and tech corporations need to learn that the cost of providing security within the hacking arms race is huge. Unfortunately, their customers will eat the burden of security costs and breaches. These businesses know this, and most of the time they add these costs to the company overhead. Maintaining financial and personal info costs way too much to be sustainable and typically leads to compromise. Permissionless blockchain technology like the Bitcoin protocol helps show the environment that really there’s no need for data harvesting.
Distributed ledger technology adds military grade encryption and a trustless decentralized environment for those who don’t want their identities stolen. From 2005 all the way to September of 2015 there have been thousands of breaches, amassing an alarming 828,937,722 documents of personal and financial information. Back in May 2015, 50,000 Uber drivers records were leaked. What’s more astounding is that the company had claimed the CTO of its main competitor, Chris Lambert at Lyft, was the culprit.
Data breaches are a fixed happening this day in age, and you can now hear a story about them every other day. The Dow Jones & Company was just victimized in a cyber attack, and this is a firm that hosts publishing and financial information. Experian published its 2nd Annual Data Breach Forecast that tells the story of how companies can’t even keep up their security because hackers are ahead of them in terms of technology. The credit agency and survey firm says that Cybersecurity insurance is becoming huge adding to the cost of a business’s overhead. Experian says,
“For businesses, the risk of experiencing a data breach is higher than ever with almost half of organizations suffering at least one security incident in the last 12 months.”
Blockchain technology offers a superior way of doing things when handling data security procedures. These companies need to take the first lesson in Bitcoin’s underlying technology when holding people’s data: encryption! When containing vast amounts of financial and personal data, most of these centralized firms don’t even encrypt anything. Also, the ideas that are brought forth with blockchain technology is the exchange of public and private keys holding voluntarily submitted identity data. This could be one solution to the avalanche of hacking coming forth in the next decade. The blockchain provides the means to give users pure authentication, and doesn’t rely on fallible humans, but some of the most powerful encryption on the Internet today.
Let’s face it Uber is a “cool” concept that invokes the ideas of a sharing economy. However it’s a sharing unit that resembles Napster. The early music-sharing site was a kind of a peer-to-peer system, but it was centrally controlled, which led to its ultimate failure. BitTorrent’s decentralization methods solved this problem and brought file sharing to new levels. Uber is the same as Napster in many respects, acting as a peer-to-peer-like community but still relying on centralization. When creating such ideas like Uber, developers should take into consideration the whole boat when it comes to open source material, and P2P networks.
Do you think decentralization could have prevented this hack? Let us know in the comments below!
Originally posted on: Uber Data Breach Proves Blockchain Model NeededThe Faenza-based squad slipped behind McLaren to seventh in the constructors' standings in last weekend's Spa race, the second in succession that both Sainz and teammate Daniil Kvyat have failed to score.
While Kvyat finished in 14th, Sainz was running seventh when his rear-right tyre delaminated in spectacular style along the Kemmel Straight at the start of the second lap.
While the Spaniard believes that he never had any real chance of scoring points, such was Toro Rosso's lack of pace, he says that the STR11 was struggling just as much in the corners as it was in a straight line.
"We have a limitation on the power unit side, but it's something we expected and something we were prepared for," said Sainz.
"We put an upgrade at Hockenheim to compensate for the power we're losing, but since Hungary we have not been performing as we should have.
"So there are some question marks in the team to see why we have been suffering so much these last couple of races. Hockenheim should have been such a good track for us but it was similar to here.
"We look at the data and we see we are not really performing in the corners where we used to perform, so there's an issue there somewhere that the team will investigate."
Tyre trouble
Elaborating further on Toro Rosso's cornering woes, Sainz added: "The main feeling is that the balance is there, but then we look at the corner speeds where we were strong a few races ago, Silverstone for example, and we are not fast any more in these kind of corners.
"It's not like Force India, or Renault, or Haas have suddenly brought a new package suddenly to beat us in corners suddenly.
"Also I would say we have massive tyre degradation nowadays. Before we were not so bad, but now we cannot control the temperature of the rear tyres in the race.
"There's the tyre question mark, why the temperatures go off the chart, and why we are not quick in high-speed corners also."
Additional reporting by Oleg KarpovMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Rescue crews and ordinary citizens searched through rubble for survivors as night fell on Tuesday on battered cities in central Mexico, including the capital, where the death toll from a major earthquake grew to at least 226.
The magnitude 7.1 quake toppled dozens of buildings, broke gas mains and sparked fires less than two weeks after another powerful quake killed at least 98 people in southern Mexico. It also hit just hours after emergency drills marked the anniversary of a temblor that killed thousands in 1985.
Millions of people fled into the streets, where they weathered the violent shaking and desperately sought word about the welfare of family and friends.
Emergency personnel in Mexico City, a metropolitan region of about 20 million people, searched frantically with picks and shovels for survivors beneath the rubble of what the sprawling city’s mayor calculated to be as many as 44 collapsed buildings, including at least one primary school.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said late on Tuesday more than 20 children and two adults had been found dead at the school, Colegio Enrique Rebsamen, in the neighborhood of Coapa. Another 30 children and 12 adults were missing, he said.
Emergency personnel and equipment were being deployed across affected areas so that “throughout the night we can continue aiding the population and eventually find people beneath the rubble,” Peña Nieto said in a video posted on Facebook earlier on Tuesday evening.
Rescue workers and soldiers toiled around collapsed buildings where heat-sensing equipment suggested survivors could still be trapped. Bystanders joined in where they could, clearing debris with their bare hands or whatever tools they could find nearby.
“My wife is there,” said Juan Jesus Garcia, 33, choking back tears outside one building in Mexico City.
“I haven’t been able to communicate with her. She is not answering, and now they are telling us we have to turn off our cellphones because there is a gas leak.”
The quake had killed 49 people in the capital by late Tuesday, according to civil defense chief Luis Felipe Puente. The highest toll, he said, was in Morelos State, just to the south, where 55 people were killed.
Another 13 people were reported killed in the neighboring states of Mexico and Guerrero. Thirty-two deaths had been counted in the central state of Puebla, also to the south, where the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) located the quake’s epicenter.
As many as 4.6 million homes, businesses and other facilities had lost electricity, according to national power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad. Most of them were in the greater Mexico City area and in the states of Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Tlaxcala.
Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Henry Romero
GRIDLOCK, AFTERSHOCKS
In the capital, ambulances and fire engines confronted gridlock as millions of workers tried to get home, many of them after participating in annual readiness drills that commemorate the previous disaster on this date in 1985.
Much of the country was also shaken when an 8.1 magnitude quake, the strongest in more than eight decades, struck southern Mexico on Sept. 7, killing at least 98 people.
Earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above are regarded as major and are capable of causing widespread heavy damage. Another 11 aftershocks were registered after the initial quake at around lunchtime on Tuesday, the most powerful of which measured 4.9, according to the USGS.
In addition to the school, a supermarket and a factory collapsed in the capital. Much of the damage was in the fashionable Condesa and Roma districts near the city center.
On Twitter, relatives posted pleas for news of family members. At least one survivor was pulled from a collapsed building in Condesa and another was rescued from a six-story apartment building nearby.
Mexican media showed images of desperate locals forming human chains in search of people still trapped in collapsed buildings after nightfall. With power out in much of the city, the work was carried out in the dark or with flashlights and generators.
In Obrera, a central neighborhood in Mexico City, people applauded when rescuers managed to retrieve four people alive, with cheers of “si se puede,” or “yes we can,” ringing out.
Volunteers continued arriving throughout the night, following calls from the civil protection agency, the Red Cross and firefighters.
In Puebla, university student Jevon Minto, 24, said he had just arrived at class when he felt the shaking. “We were seated when the place started shaking real, real hard... You can literally feel the fear and the panic in this city.”
Banker Jesus Gonzalez Hernandez, 55, said office lamps and furniture swayed when the tremor began. He and colleagues rushed to evacuate. “But while exiting down the stairs, the walls were coming apart,” said Gonzalez Hernandez, who fractured his ankle in the chaos.
Mexican stocks and the peso currency dropped on news of the earthquake and Mexico’s stock exchange suspended trading.
At the same time as the earthquake, Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano had a small eruption. A church collapsed during mass, killing 15 people, in Atzitzihuacan on the slopes of the volcano, Puebla Governor Jose Antonio Gali said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter: “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”
Slideshow (33 Images)
For a graphic on earthquake strikes central Mexico, click: hereFC Porto's Ruben Neves and Manchester United's Anthony Martial are among the top young footballers in the world.
Who are the globe's top young footballers? That's what I set out to determine in ranking the world's top 21 players under age 21.
The parameters: a player had to be 20 years or younger as of Jan. 14, 2016, with ranks determined by current form and skill set. Players currently suffering from long-term injuries, such as Luke Shaw, were not to be included.
My final ranking represents the game's global talent reach and draw of Europe's top leagues. In total, 12 countries are represented, with France, Germany and Spain leading the way with three players apiece. All but five players are employed by a club in one of Europe's top-five leagues, with the others all playing for club powers in other reputable leagues.
Here's my rank of the top 21 players under age 21, followed by player-by-player analysis. Be sure to share your thoughts by getting involved in the discussion via Twitter at #FC21Under21.
...Image caption Human rights groups say sexual abuse is a growing problem in Somalia
A woman has been arrested in Somalia's capital after she alleged in a video interview posted online that she had been raped at gunpoint by colleagues.
The journalist who interviewed the 19-year-old has also been detained in Mogadishu, but the two men accused of rape have not been arrested.
It has been reported that the arrests came after those accused of rape complained about defamation.
The UN has called for a "proper investigation" into the case.
Earlier this year, another alleged rape victim and the reporter she had spoken to were sentenced to a year in prison for "offending state institutions".
They were later released on appeal.
'Dignity destroyed'
Somalia's UN-backed government said it could not get involved in the current judicial process and justice must take its course.
The alleged victim is herself a journalist who works for the Kasmo Voice of Women radio station in Mogadishu.
Fatuma Abdulkadir Hassan told a journalist at the privately owned Shabelle Media Network that she had been raped at gunpoint by colleagues who worked at the state-owned radio station.
One of the journalists contacted her by phone and asked if she could help him without making it clear how - and a car was sent to her house to collect her, she said.
She alleges it dropped her off at a house where she found the two journalists.
"One of the men threatened me with a pistol, and took me to the bedroom by force... both of them raped me several times, destroying my pride and dignity," the AFP news agency quotes Ms Hassan as saying in the interview, which was videoed and posted online by the Shabelle journalist and has since been picked up by several Somali news websites.
The men kept her at the house the whole night, only releasing her the following morning, she said.
"I am appealing to the government to take legal action against the rapists - they might have done the same to other poor girls," she added.
Police arrested Ms Hassan, the Shabelle journalist Mohamed Bashir Hashi who conducted the interview, and the manager of Shabelle.
The manager has since been released on bail; the other two remain in custody.
Somali journalists' union leader said they had been arrested because the woman's colleagues had complained to the police, accusing her of defamation, AFP reports.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman denied that the arrest of the journalist was an attack on the media.
"Journalists perform a critical role and we want them to be able to work without fear or favour," he said.
"A free press is at the heart of every democracy and is guaranteed under our new constitution."
Shabelle's radio station was forced off air last month when the authorities took possession of its headquarters, saying the building belonged to the government.
But the company's online operations have not been affected.
Human rights groups say rape and sexual abuse is a growing problem in Somalia where more than two decades of conflict have seen clan-based warlords, rival politicians and Islamist militants battle for control of the country.Oodles of special guest stars were par for course over the seven seasons of 30 Rock—and familiar faces also abound on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s follow-up. Some stars are universally known to TV fans (hi, Jon Hamm!), while others are slightly more obscure to mainstream audiences—Broadway aficionados will delight at the presence of Jefferson Mays, for example, while Twihards may be thrilled to find Gil Birmingham.
The show, about a woman living in New York after being imprisoned in a bunker by a cult leader for 15 years, is of course led by an incredibly funny cast that includes Ellie Kemper as the titular character, Tituss Burgess as her Broadway-wannabe roommate, Carol Kane as their landlord, and Jane Krakowski as Kimmy’s rich boss.
But who else pops up over the course of the first season?
Mike Britt, Mr. Bankston, Opening Credits/Episodes 1, 12, 13
The man behind “They alive, dammit,” who later appears to warn Titus about viral fame, is a stand-up comedian.
Best line: “Females are strong as hell.” Duh.
Netflix
Matt Lauer as himself, Episode 1
Matt Lauer does his Matt Lauer-cameos-on-a-show thing by playing Matt Lauer interviewing Kimmy and the rest of the Mole Women on the Today show.
Best line: “I’m always amazed at what women will do because they are afraid of being rude.”
Netflix
Horatio Sanz as Hector, Episode 2
Sanz pops up as leader of a mariachi band, who joins forces with Titus to stand up to a costume shop.
Best line: “And my mother cleans our costumes every night after she tucks us into the bed we all share.”
Netflix
Gil Birmingham as Virgil, Episode 3, 13
The Twilight star plays Jacqueline Voorhees’ dad, Virgil. As a rebellious teen, Krakowski’s character left behind her Native American parents and became a stewardess.
Best line: “That’s why we came all this way in the great iron eagle. I’m kidding. I know what planes are; I was in the air force.”
Netflix
James Monroe Iglehart as Coriolanus Burt,Episode 4
The Tony-winning star of Aladdin on Broadway plays Titus’ nemesis, Coriolanus Burt. Their pairing is doubly funny because Burgess also has experience in a Disney show on Broadway: He originated the role of Sebastian the Crab in The Little Mermaid.
Best line: “Me, just passing by on the way to tape a podcast!”
Netflix
Martin Short as Dr. Grant/Franff, Episode 4
Short is nearly unrecognizable and totally terrifying as plastic surgeon Kimmy‘s answer to Dr. Leo Spaceman, who has had so much work done he can barely speak.
Best line: [Wordless garbles.] (Sorry—this one needs to be seen rather than read.)
Netflix
Richard Kind as Mr. Leftkovitz, Episode 6
When Kimmy attempts to get her GED, she’s given a deadbeat teacher (Kind) who has a thing for Beverly D’Angelo, uses Major League as his lesson plan, and dreams of being placed in a Rubber Room.
Best line: “A Fangelo? Yeah, ever since Vacation.”
Netflix
Mark Harelik as Julian Voorhees, Episode 7
Jacqueline’s husband finally appears in the form of actor Mark Harelik, whom you may recognize from films like Election and Jurassic Park III. Sure, he’s not having an affair with Yuko—that’s a robot—but that doesn’t mean he’s completely faithful to Jacqueline.
Best line: “… a technology to the market that will change the face of healthcare, the service industry, and one day, I truly believe, prostitution.”
Netflix
Amy Sedaris as Mimi Kanasis, Episode 8
At first, it seems that Amy Sedaris is (unfortunately) playing a sane person, someone Kimmy calls upon to show Jacqueline that life after divorce isn’t that bad. Thank God that doesn’t last for long, because Sedaris is best at her loopiest—and here she gets to lick a marble countertop.
Best line: “Italy? I was in Naples, Florida. And Boyfriend is the name of my loneliness therapy dog!”
Netflix
Tim Blake Nelson as Randy, Episodes 9, 12, and 13
Look: Randy, Kimmy’s stepfather, is a mess. He’s a bad detective, and has a surprising taste for heroin. Still, his heart is in the right place.
Best line: “I let that stupid sign language talking gorilla trick me into helping him escape from the Durnsville zoo.”
Netflix
Kiernan Shipka as Kymmi, Episode 9
Sally Draper herself gets to put on her best teen angst-face as Kymmi, Kimmy’s soup, salad, and breadsticks-craving half sister.
Best line: “And here I am in New York, home of the Empire State Building…of Olive Gardens.”
Netflix
Christine Ebersole as Helene, Episode 10
Broadway star Christine Ebersole pops up as Xanthippe’s real mother.
Best Line: “Xanthippe Lannister Vorhees, if this is your idea of a joke, you belong in a Woody Allen film—because I am not laughing.”
Netflix
Dean Norris as Le Loup, Episode 10
Titus gets lessons on how to be straight from Hank Schrader himself.
Best line: [After Titus remarks on the men of Entourage being “almost too straight:”] “Like they’re compensating for something? Two of them are…”
Netflix
Jefferson Mays as Daddy, Episode 10
The star of Daddy’s Boy, the (fake) 1938 musical Kimmy’s boyfriend Logan (Adam Campbell) references, is actually the real-life star of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway. Mays won a Tony in 2004 for I Am My Own Wife.
Best line: “Daddy’s boy! He’s got a daddy that he brings such joy.”
Netflix
John Cullum as Daddy’s Daddy, Episode 10
Also appearing in Daddy’s Boy? Legendary theater actor John Cullum.
Best line: “And a daddy’s boy daddy’s daddy!”
Netflix
Nic Rouleau as Daddy’s Boy, Episode 10
And the third member of the Daddy’s Boy triumvirate is Nic Rouleau, who has played Elder Price in The Book of Mormon on Broadway and in the West End.
Best line: “My daddy’s tall and sweet like a candy cane.”
Netflix
Robert Osborne as himself, Episode 10
Elsewhere in the Daddy’s Boy gag—which should have theses written about it—Robert Osborne, the beloved host of Turner Classic Movies, pops up to give some background on the film.
Best line: “Coming up next, an encore presentation of Daddy’s Boy. No! We had a deal!”
Netflix
Nick Kroll as Tristafé, Episode 11
Kimmy gets lured by the wiles of Tristafé at a SoulCycle-esque spinning studio—which is basically a cult, as spinning studios are wont to be. But with Tristafé, everything is just an illusion.
Best line: “Be like a drunk girl getting out of a cab and leave everything behind.”
Netflix
Jon Hamm, Richard Wayne Gary Wayne, Episodes 11, 12, and 13
The big guns come out in episode 11, with the reveal that Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne—who imprisoned Kimmy and three others in that bunker—is none other than Don Draper. (Hamm, you’ll remember, is also a veteran of 30 Rock.) And while it may seem unlikely, Don and Wayne have something in common: They are both excellent salesmen.
Best line: “I believe in Gosh, and his son Jeepers, and the Holy Ghost—who is here today, supporting me. Don’t let that influence you.”
Netflix
Tina Fey as Marcia, Episodes 11, 12, and 13
On the other hand, when Fey makes her own appearance on the show, her character has little in common with Liz Lemon. Marcia is part of the legal team that’s supposed to help put Richard Wayne Gary Wayne in jail.
Best line: “Hey, I’m not paying Orlando prices for female condoms.”
Netflix
Jerry Minor as Chris, Episodes 11, 12, and 13
Chris, the other half of the ineffectual legal team defending the Mole Women, is Minor, a veteran of SNL, Mr. Show, and Community.
Best line: “More like Debra Schwinger!”The city of Seattle will decide between building a new arena in SoDo or making major redevelopments to the Key Arena. KOMO photo.
SEATTLE - A brand new committee on civic arenas will meet this week to compare options for a new arena in Seattle.
The city of Seattle will decide between building a new arena in SoDo or making major redevelopments to the Key Arena.
The two options have been at the center of a hotly debated push for a new sports an entertainment arena in Seattle.
Either option could be home to a new NBA and NHL team, the city says.
The council plans to meet 10 a.m. Monday at City Hall. There will be a briefing, a discussion period and a time for public comment.
Many residents from around the region say they're looking forward to a venue that would mean more sports and entertainment.
Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw talked to KOMO News about the committee via phone Saturday.
"We will be there reviewing what's going on, what the options are, what's happening in SODO and what can we expect when proposals are open with the Key Arena site," Bagshaw said. "We're all pretty enthused to see what ideas are coming back."
In January, possible investors toured Key Arena, including a group that managed the Key Arena for eight years and the company that designed CenturyLink Field.
Proposals to renovate or rebuild are due Key Arena are due by April 12. The final recommendations will be delivered to the Mayor June 30.
The committee says they plans to meet every month.It goes without saying that someone like me, who argued with the librarian who wanted to ban my 11-year-old from reading Terry Pratchett, will one day demand that the same Son comes along to chat to Terry. Into the lion’s den, and all that. It’s dark, the den, and it’s got a doorbell, which may well be standard for hotel suites. Never having stayed in one, I wouldn’t know.
We’ve met up with Terry’s PA Rob downstairs, and he takes us all the way to the top. Literally. Terry opens the door, and just to make sure, we bribe him with the Mars bar bought specially for this meeting.
Terry says ‘I’ll sit here’ and sinks down on the luridly red velvet sofa, clutching the Mars bar.
Ian – ‘Keep it for later when you need it.’
The Mars bar leads Terry to reminisce about the past, and he has the nerve (though he does sound just a little apologetic) to suggest we ‘must be of an age, or pretty much’ and I have to tell him that I’m just too foreign to share some of his memories. I don’t mention being too young.
‘So where do you come from?’
‘Sweden,’ I reply.
‘Sweden?’
‘Yes.’
‘Hahaha…’
‘It’s not that funny.’
‘Yes, hee hee, it is, it is. Let me tell you a story, to get ourselves warmed up.’
‘OK, you warm up.’
‘One of my little hobbies at the moment is; there is a game called Oblivion.’ Terry launches forth on this game and the game version of Sweden, and one of his favourite fighting companions, who appears to be a Swede called Vilja. He pronounces this the English way, with some confusion over what this lady’s name might mean. He’s keen on a Swedish accent he recalls from the 1960s, and he does sound quite convincing. Terry has enjoyed Vilja so much that he’s now in touch with her creator, who is another Swede. (I notice he doesn’t find her funny.)
‘She’s been a considerable help to me because I wanted something for the next Discworld book.’ He goes on about the game’s rainbows which also came out at night, because they hadn’t worked out how to prevent that from happening. ‘I don’t know why it enthuses me so much, but you can plant gardens, gardens which grow, there’s a farm and occasionally you have to slaughter a pig or something. It’s turning a game which is all about combat and inquisitiveness, into something that is different.’ Terry had a character making eight kinds of soap and selling jacket potatoes.
‘It sounds very Discworld.’
‘Well it is. The Luggage is in it. It doesn’t follow you around, but wherever you stop you’ll find the Luggage. Sometimes I go
|
ometer pointed out, the number of adults on anti-retroviral treatment could be overestimated if patients are not excluded from counts when, for example, they die or fail to adhere to the programme.
Other concerns about the counts have also been raised.The fact that people are receiving anti-retroviral treatment does not mean they are currently taking it or will continue to take it. It’s also not clear how tests are counted. Are people who get tested multiple times counted once per test or only once? We have asked the department for clarity and will update the report if they respond.
In response to some of the criticisms, South Africa’s health minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has argued that South Africa’s increasing life expectancy suggests that people are adhering to their treatment.
Claim “More than 20 million South Africans have taken the HIV test since the launch of the campaign in 2011 which indicates confidence in the health system.” Verdict mostly-correct
South Africa’s HIV counselling and testing campaign was launched in April 2010, not 2011. According the country’s health department, the available data suggests that 9.7-million people had been tested by the end of 2010/11.
In 2011/2012 the department claims that 8.7-million people were tested. In 2012/13, it says close to 9-million people were tested for HIV.
The department’s 2013/14 annual report will only be released later this year, but calculations based on figures in previous annual reports indicate that around 27-million people have been tested since the launch of the campaign in 2010, well above Zuma’s claim.
But there appear to be serious discrepancies in the department’s figures. The 2012/13 annual report states that 20-million people were tested in 2010/11. However, this is contradicted by the 2010/11 annual report which states that 9.7-million people were tested in that year.
It should also be noted that while the programme reported testing almost 9-million people in 2012/13, the department failed to meet its target of 18-million tests.
Claim “In housing, about 3 million housing units and more than 855 thousand serviced sites were delivered since 1994.” Verdict mostly-correct
The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation’s latest development indicators show that about 3.3-million housing units have either been completed or are “in progress”.
According to Xolani Xundu, a spokesman in the Department of Human Settlements, 2,799,702 “houses and units” were delivered from 1994 to December 2013. He says the number of “serviced sites” delivered over that period came to 876,774.
A 2013 report by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) pointed out that housing figures from different government sources are often contradictory.
Claim “Nearly 500 informal settlements have been replaced with quality housing and basic services over the past five years.” Verdict unproven
According to the Department of Human Settlements the figure is correct, but the data does not exist in a single collated form, and should refer only to basic services as it does not necessarily include housing.
The department’s Victor Rajkumar told Africa Check there were “myriad source documents” from which the department gathered its information. While no “list” exists showing that 500 informal settlements have been upgraded, Rajkumar says data from various sources indicates “at least 500 interventions or upgrading interventions” in informal settlements.
Defining the extent and status of informal settlements in South Africa remains a contentious issue.
The current baseline used to measure the number of informal settlements in South Africa comes from 2009. It states that there are approximately 2,700 informal settlements across the country, and that households in these settlements continue to grow at around 3% per annum. (According to the human settlements department, this figure will be updated during the course of 2014)
A recent report from the Housing Development Agency suggests that the number of households living in informal settlements has stabilised since 2001. In 2011 there were approximately 1,66-million households in informal residential areas or shacks not in a backyard.
Kate Tissington from the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) told Africa Check that while government “likes to talk about upgrading settlements”, the reality is that very little has been done. According to Tissington, “delivery figures around informal settlement upgrading are often very ambiguous, sometimes referring to formal housing projects and often hiding the removal of people from settlements and the growth of households living in backyard shacks”.
Claim “Since 1994, nearly 5,000 farms, comprising 4.2 million hectares, have been transferred to black people, benefiting over 200,000 families.” Verdict mostly-correct
Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti told Parliament last year that 4,813 farms had been transferred to black people and communities between 1994 and 2013, benefiting 230,886 people.
In 2012, a survey by the South African Institute of Race Relations found that 2,864 farms had been redistributed by August 2009. Between 2009 and 2012, 848 farms were acquired, giving a total of 3,712 farms by 2012. The survey found there were over 220,000 beneficiaries by March 2012.
The accuracy of the official government figures have however been questioned.
Dr Peter Jacobs, a research specialist in economic performance and development at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), told Africa Check discrepancies exist between figures compiled by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, the National Treasury and “various researchers”.
South Africa’s land reform programme has been dogged by controversy amid reports of farms failing and projects collapsing.
A survey of land reform and restitution projects presented at a 2013 conference on agrarian reform organised by the HSRC, indicated that one third of 301 households surveyed were not actively using the land they had received.
“Within that third there are some [people] that have taken big loans, they are failing to pay back and in those cases the land has been taken back by the banks,” said Dr Jacobs.
In recent years senior government officials, including Nkwinti, have repeatedly stated that over 90 per cent of the land transferred through the land reform programme is not productive.
Professor Ben Cousins, the founder of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (Plaas) has argued that “the actual failure rate is more like 50%, and a further 30% are struggling”.
To address the challenge, government embarked on a recapitalisation and development programme. By March 2013, 1,351 farms were reported to have been recapitalised, at a cost of R2.14-billion.
Jacobs believes that land reform and redistribution projects have thus far failed to bring about transformation and have created a rural elite that benefits more than the poor.
According to Cousins “there are some success stories, but a great many failures too” for “beneficiaries who have been told (or chosen) to enter into strategic partnerships with businesses”.
Zuma’s speech also made no mention of the fact that far less than 10% of the land earmarked for redistribution has been transferred. The initial target, set in 2009, was that 30% of the land that was historically in the hands of “white commercial farmers” would be redistributed by 2014.
“Government is not likely to transfer the remaining 20% of land within the next 20 to 30 years,” Jacobs believes.
Claim “Nearly 80,000 land claims, totalling 3.4 million hectares, have been settled and 1.8 million people have benefited.” Verdict mostly-correct
A total of 67,531 land claims had been submitted by 1999. A backlog in processing saw this number grow to a total of 79,696 claims. By the end of 2012 nearly 96% of these claims had reportedly been settled.
The 2012/2013 annual report of the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights states: “A total of 77,334 claims have been settled to date. Of these, 71,292 claims were settled by payment of financial compensation of R6,561,021,691 to claimants.”
The annual report also indicates that a “total of 111,278 people benefitted from the restitution programme in the 2012/13 financial year”.
An earlier Progress Report on Land Restitution Claims delivered to the Portfolio Committee On Rural Development and Land Reform in February 2012 indicated that, between 1995 and January 2012, a total of 76,506 claims had been settled which impacted on 1,662,099 beneficiaries.
When the 2012/13 figure of 111,278 is added to this, it results in a total of 1,773,377 individuals.
© Copyright Africa Check 2019. You may reproduce this piece or content from it for the purpose of reporting and/or discussing news and current events. This is subject to: Crediting Africa Check in the byline, keeping all hyperlinks to the sources used and adding this sentence at the end of your publication: “This report was written by Africa Check, a non-partisan fact-checking organisation. View the original piece on their website", with a link back to this page.Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) won his second stage in a row at the Dubai Tour, timing his sprint to perfection to edge out Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) on stage 3 of the race to Hatta. Related Articles Video: Kittel coy on winning Tour de France points jersey
Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) maintained his race lead and with one stage still remaining looks on course to seal the overall.
However the day belonged to Kittel, who clung onto the leaders when the attacks rained down on the final two climbs of the stage, while a number of sprinters were dropped.
The win proved that Kittel can also win without his lead-out train, as the German was left with only Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg for company inside the final kilometres.
“It was really hard. I had enough power to pass the climbs but if it was one more kilometre then I would have been dropped. I knew the final and I knew my chances were 50-50 but I’m very happy to have made it,” the German said at the finish.
“The team tried to help me as much as possible and we had to go for ourselves and see who was left. It was more difficult without the train."
Stage 3, with its two inclines towards the end of the race, was always going to provide a chance of disrupting the sprinters’ dominance but it was left to a six-man break of Evan Huffman (Astana), Willie Smit (Vini Fantini-Nippo), Ruslan Karimov (RTS-Santic Racing Team), Alexandr Pliuschin (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team), Diogo Nunes (Banco BIC-Carmim) and João Pereira (Banco BIC-Carmim) to create the action early on.
The six riders established a healthy lead in the opening half of the stage and it forced race leader Taylor Phinney to deploy his BMC riders on the front in order to contain the danger.
The situation looked well under control for the American team, as with 38km to go the gap was down 2:38 with the break already starting to fall apart.
Ruslan was dropped, followed by the two Banco BIC-Carmim riders, and Huffman, leaving just Smit, part of the break on stage 2, and Pliuschin clear with 34km to go.
BMC, protecting Taylor Phinney’s interests, led the chase, allied in support with Fabian Cancellara’s Trek Factory Racing.
Up ahead, it wasn’t long before Pliuschin, a rider who slipped through the cracks at the WorldTour level, was on his own. Hands over the bars, gripping those imaginary Spinaci aero extensions, the 27-year-old pushed on, leading by 1:58 with 16 kilometres remaining. At just over a minute down on GC, his antics forced BMC to use yet more energy but despite a headwind, and strength in numbers, Pliuschin’s two-minute buffer remained as the kilometre check ticked down to 14 remaining.
The Moldovan, still comfortable, even had time to wave to the television crews as they drew alongside him and with 12.5km to go he was still the virtual overall leader by 44 seconds.
BMC’s Max Sciandri, aware that it was time to crack the whip, ushered his riders to step up their tempo for one final assault, and the move instantly shaved 20 seconds off Pliuschin’s lead. The move had its consequences, though, with two BMC riders cracking as the lead slipped to 1:20 with 10km to go.
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While the plucky Pliuschin could admirably hold off the force of the bunch there was little he could do against a steepening gradient and on the first incline his advantage dropped further still. It wasn’t just his strength that was quickly disappearing, the waves to the television crews stopped too as smiles turned to grimaces.
Movistar then crept up towards the front of the bunch as they turned the screw in a bid to distance the pure sprinters, with Adriano Malori briefly jumping clear.
Sagan’s Cannondale squad then played their first card, reeling in Pliuschin with 7.4km to go, as Damiano Caruso and Marco Marcato set the pace. Behind them sat Cummings and Phinney, with Sagan and Rui Costa also monitoring the situation.
On the descent of the climb Sagan personally took matters into his own hands with a number of gaps appearing in the peloton.
Tony Martin put in a shallow attack but it merely acted as a launch pad for Alejandro Valverde, who skipped clear with Sagan once again closing the gap. There was a brief drop in pace as the leaders came back together with 40 riders - including Cavendish, Kittel and Sagan - still in contention for the stage.
Rui Costa then showed his rainbow stripes with his first attack of the race. The Lampre rider’s acceleration was brought back with the remnants of the bunch altogether with 1,000 metres remaining.
The stage looked perfect for Sagan to pounce but too much work in a bid to drop the sprinters, coupled with poor positioning, saw him trail home in third, with Kittel once again raising his arms in victory.
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Full Results
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 3:47:52 2 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team 3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 4 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin Sharp 5 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Giant-Shimano 6 Wouter Poels (Ned) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 8 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin Sharp 9 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo 10 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 11 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 12 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 13 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 14 Martin Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 15 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha 16 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 17 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing 18 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo 19 Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar Team 20 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Tinkoff-Saxo 21 Steven Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team 22 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida 23 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Cannondale 24 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Trek Factory Racing 25 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 26 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 27 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Team Katusha 28 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Team Katusha 29 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo 30 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Garmin Sharp 31 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Garmin Sharp 32 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 33 Peter Velits (Svk) BMC Racing Team 34 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 35 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 36 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:07 37 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:08 38 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:14 39 Luca Paolini (Ita) Team Katusha 40 Yousif Mirza (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:00:36 41 Joao Pereira (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 42 Rafael Ferreira Reis (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 43 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Trek Factory Racing 44 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 45 Rafaa Chtioui (Tun) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 46 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin Sharp 47 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 48 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 49 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin Sharp 50 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 51 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 52 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 53 Edward King (USA) Cannondale 54 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida 55 Alexandr Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha 56 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team 57 Adil Jelloul (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 58 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Astana Pro Team 59 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 60 Marco Marcato (Ita) Cannondale 61 Lawson Craddock (USA) Team Giant-Shimano 62 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 63 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Team Katusha 64 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 65 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Movistar Team 66 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:59 67 Kim Magnusson (Swe) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:01:30 68 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team Katusha 69 Bruno Manuel Sil Pires (Por) Tinkoff-Saxo 70 Alessandro Malaguti (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 71 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Garmin Sharp 72 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 73 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 74 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Sharp 75 Henrique Madeira Casimiro (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:01:39 76 Soufiane Haddi (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 77 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 78 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Shimano 79 Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 80 Alex Coutts (GBr) RTS-Santic Racing Team 81 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale 82 Manuel Antunes Amaro (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 83 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 84 Cheng Ji (Chn) Team Giant-Shimano 85 Luca Dodi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 86 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo 87 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 88 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida 89 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida 90 Daniel Mestre (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:02:08 91 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Cannondale 0:02:28 92 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 0:03:30 93 Manabu Ishibashi (Jpn) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:03:32 94 Tan Peng Yuan (Tpe) RTS-Santic Racing Team 95 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 96 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 97 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Trek Factory Racing 98 Simon Buttner (Fra) RTS-Santic Racing Team 99 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana Pro Team 100 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:03:35 101 Keon-Woo Park (Kor) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:03:46 102 Bruno De Matos Sancho (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 103 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 104 Fabio Silvestre (Por) Trek Factory Racing 105 Nawaf Albalooshi (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 106 Mohammed Albalooshi (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 107 Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team 108 Andrea Palini (Ita) Lampre-Merida 109 Mohammed Almansoury (UAE) United Arab Emirates 110 Sun Jae Jang (Kor) RTS-Santic Racing Team 111 Majid Albalooshi (UAE) United Arab Emirates 112 Ahmed Almansoori (UAE) United Arab Emirates 113 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:05:48 114 Valter Pereira (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:06:57 115 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:07:38 116 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team 117 Evan Huffman (USA) Astana Pro Team 118 Sebastian Lander (Den) BMC Racing Team 119 Khaled Altani (UAE) United Arab Emirates 120 Wen Chung Huang (Tpe) RTS-Santic Racing Team 121 Mansour Thani (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:08:26 122 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:10:10 123 Antonio Viola (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 124 Ruslan Karimov (Uzb) RTS-Santic Racing Team 125 Diogo Nunes (Por) Banco BIC Carmim DNS Ahmad Albalooshi (UAE) United Arab Emirates DNS Boris Shpilevsky (Rus) RTS-Santic Racing Team
Points # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 20 pts 2 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team 16 3 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 16 4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 12 5 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin Sharp 9 6 Diogo Nunes (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 8 7 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Giant-Shimano 7 8 Wouter Poels (Ned) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 5 9 Ruslan Karimov (Uzb) RTS-Santic Racing Team 5 10 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 4 11 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 4 12 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin Sharp 3 13 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo 2 14 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 1 15 Evan Huffman (USA) Astana Pro Team 1
Sprint 1 - Shawka, km 120,2 # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 8 pts 2 Diogo Nunes (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 5 3 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 3 4 Evan Huffman (USA) Astana Pro Team 1
Sprint 2 # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 8 pts 2 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 5 3 Diogo Nunes (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 3 4 Evan Huffman (USA) Astana Pro Team 1
Teams # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Movistar Team 11:23:36 2 Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 3 Garmin Sharp 4 Tinkoff-Saxo 5 Trek Factory Racing 6 BMC Racing Team 7 Team Katusha 8 Team Giant-Shimano 0:00:36 9 Cannondale 10 Astana Pro Team 11 Lampre-Merida 12 Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 0:01:48 13 Banco BIC Carmim 0:02:51 14 Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:03:36 15 United Arab Emirates 0:08:08 16 RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:08:43
General classification after stage 3 # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 6:50:24 2 Steven Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team 0:00:15 3 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Garmin Sharp 0:00:17 4 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:23 5 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:26 6 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 0:00:29 7 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 0:00:33 8 Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar Team 9 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Cannondale 0:00:36 10 Peter Velits (Svk) BMC Racing Team 0:00:38 11 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:41 12 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin Sharp 0:00:42 13 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:43 14 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:44 15 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 16 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:45 17 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 18 Martin Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 19 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin Sharp 20 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:46 21 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Giant-Shimano 0:00:47 22 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:00:48 23 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:50 24 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:51 25 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:53 26 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo 27 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Garmin Sharp 28 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:54 29 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:57 30 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:01:02 31 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:06 32 Alexandr Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:01:12 33 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:01:14 34 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:15 35 Wouter Poels (Ned) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:01:17 36 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:22 37 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:24 38 Luca Paolini (Ita) Team Katusha 0:01:25 39 Lawson Craddock (USA) Team Giant-Shimano 0:01:26 40 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida 0:01:30 41 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:01:31 42 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Team Katusha 0:01:34 43 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:39 44 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team 0:01:40 45 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 0:01:44 46 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:01:45 47 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 48 Marco Marcato (Ita) Cannondale 0:01:47 49 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 50 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:49 51 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 52 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:50 53 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:53 54 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin Sharp 0:01:57 55 Rafael Ferreira Reis (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 56 Edward King (USA) Cannondale 0:02:03 57 Rafaa Chtioui (Tun) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 58 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:02:05 59 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:02:13 60 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha 0:02:17 61 Yousif Mirza (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:02:19 62 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 0:02:23 63 Adil Jelloul (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 0:02:24 64 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:02:30 65 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:02:33 66 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:35 67 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Garmin Sharp 0:02:42 68 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin Sharp 69 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 0:02:44 70 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:02:47 71 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Sharp 0:02:51 72 Joao Pereira (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:02:54 73 Luca Dodi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:02:58 74 Alessandro Malaguti (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:03:01 75 Bruno Manuel Sil Pires (Por) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:03:04 76 Kim Magnusson (Swe) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:03:08 77 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:03:10 78 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:03:19 79 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 0:03:20 80 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 81 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale 0:03:24 82 Soufiane Haddi (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 0:03:25 83 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:03:28 84 Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 0:03:35 85 Manuel Antunes Amaro (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:03:42 86 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Cannondale 0:04:02 87 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Shimano 0:04:03 88 Daniel Mestre (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:04:12 89 Henrique Madeira Casimiro (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:04:14 90 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Trek Factory Racing 0:04:37 91 Fabio Silvestre (Por) Trek Factory Racing 0:04:41 92 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:04:43 93 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:04:58 94 Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team 0:05:00 95 Alex Coutts (GBr) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:05:14 96 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:05:22 97 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 0:05:32 98 Sun Jae Jang (Kor) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:05:34 99 Manabu Ishibashi (Jpn) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:05:35 100 Andrea Palini (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:05:36 101 Tan Peng Yuan (Tpe) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:05:39 102 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:05:52 103 Simon Buttner (Fra) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:06:02 104 Bruno De Matos Sancho (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:06:09 105 Mohammed Albalooshi (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 0:06:29 106 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:06:32 107 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:06:53 108 Majid Albalooshi (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:07:08 109 Ahmed Almansoori (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:07:16 110 Cheng Ji (Chn) Team Giant-Shimano 0:07:20 111 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:08:40 112 Evan Huffman (USA) Astana Pro Team 0:08:42 113 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:08:46 114 Sebastian Lander (Den) BMC Racing Team 0:10:16 115 Keon-Woo Park (Kor) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:10:29 116 Mohammed Almansoury (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:10:40 117 Nawaf Albalooshi (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 0:10:43 118 Antonio Viola (Ita) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:12:02 119 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Vini-Fantini-Nippo 0:13:06 120 Valter Pereira (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:14:24 121 Wen Chung Huang (Tpe) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:15:16 122 Mansour Thani (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:15:17 123 Khaled Altani (UAE) United Arab Emirates 0:15:44 124 Ruslan Karimov (Uzb) RTS-Santic Racing Team 0:17:41 125 Diogo Nunes (Por) Banco BIC Carmim 0:19:59
Points
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hours, officials said Tuesday.
Evacuees said the fire that spread without warning from the Great Smoky Mountains surrounded their homes, forcing them to leave with only the clothes on their backs.
"There was flames everywhere. It was a firestorm," Mark Benzschawel, 52, of Gatlinburg told CNN's Nick Valencia.
Benzschawel said police banged on his door Monday night to wake him and his partner, Denise Bearden. The couple alerted their neighbor, who managed to escape with her dog.
Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said that the three victims killed in the blaze died in separate incidents.
"We pray we don't experience any more fatalities but there are still areas that we're trying to get to because of down trees and down power lines," Miller said.
The fire that sparked the dozen other blazes was "human-caused," National Park Service spokeswoman Dana Soehn said, without elaborating.
The blaze is under investigation.
Bracing for the threat of more fires
Firefighters continued to put out flames and clear roadways blocked by trees and telephone poles on Tuesday, Miller said.
Officials braced for the possibility of spot fires as high winds were expected overnight.
"The single greatest concern would be the wind," Miller said. "The greater the wind speed is, it just makes our job a little harder. It creates these additional spot fires."
According to CNN's Weather department, the nearby Great Smoky Mountains were under a high wind warning, with possible wind gusts of up to 60 mph. Up to an inch-and-a-half of rain was also expected overnight, which could help.
But lightening is expected with the thunderstorms moving through the area, which could also pose a risk of sparking additional fires in the drought-stricken region.
Officials said they are not certain when residents will be able to return to evacuated neighborhoods.
Gatlinburg mayor Mike Werner said destroyed properties in many cases are next to properties that appear untouched or with little damage. He said a curfew was imposed from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
"It's a devastating time for us, and for Gatlinburg," Werner said.
He added: "We're strong and we're resilient.. we're going to make it."
'Like a perfect storm'
Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast An aerial photo shows Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on Tuesday, November 29 -- a day after wildfires hit the city. Gatlinburg city officials declared mandatory evacuations in several areas as firefighters battled at least 14 fires in and around the city. More than 30 large wildfires have left a trail of destruction through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service. Hide Caption 1 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Polo Gutierrez climbs onto the foundation of a destroyed home to try to see if his apartment building is still standing in Gatlinburg on November 29. Gutierrez fled his apartment with other residents as fires approached the previous night. Hide Caption 2 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A destroyed structure and vehicle are seen near Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 3 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast An Alamo Steakhouse was one of the Gatlinburg businesses destroyed by fire. Hide Caption 4 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Trevor Cates inspects the damage to the Banner Missionary Baptist Church in Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 5 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Two dormitories at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts were damaged from the wildfires that flared near Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 6 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Photographer Bruce McCamish captured this image of the fires burning behind the Dollywood Dreammore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Hide Caption 7 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Fires burn on both sides of Highway 441 between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge on Monday, November 28. Hide Caption 8 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Thick smoke looms in Gatlinburg on November 28. Hide Caption 9 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Officials from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reported the closing of roads and several trails near Gatlinburg on November 28. Hide Caption 10 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighter Layne Whitney checks the treetops while working to hold the northern head of the Rock Mountain Fire, north of Tate City, Georgia, on Tuesday, November 22. Hide Caption 11 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Flames from the Rock Mountain Fire silhouette a weather vane north of Clayton, Georgia, on Monday, November 21. Hide Caption 12 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Fire crews bring down a dead tree along Highway 9 near the community of Bat Cave, North Carolina, on Friday, November 18. Hide Caption 13 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A helicopter picks up water from Thrasher Lake to help battle a wildfire in Amherst County, Virginia, on November 21. Hide Caption 14 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Eric Willey looks on from the porch of his home as a helicopter fights a wildfire in Tate City, Georgia, on Wednesday, November 16. Hide Caption 15 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighters walk down a dirt road as a wildfire burns a hillside in Clayton, Georgia, on Tuesday, November 15. Hide Caption 16 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A wildfire burns as it approaches Bat Cave, North Carolina, on November 15. Hide Caption 17 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighters Valarie Lopez and Mark Tabaez work to cool hot spots in Clayton on November 15. A number of the fires are being investigated as suspected arson, but weather conditions are also responsible for the fires. Hide Caption 18 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighter Kevin Zimmer works the wildfire in Clayton on November 15. Hide Caption 19 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Exhausted firefighters take a break in Waldens Creek, Tennessee, on Monday, November 14. Hide Caption 20 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A haze hovers over the Atlanta skyline from a wildfire burning in the northwest part of Georgia on November 14. Hide Caption 21 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Assistant Fire Chief Brent Masey sprays water on a wildfire in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, on Thursday, November 10. Hide Caption 22 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A helicopter carrying 240 gallons of water takes off in Lake Lure, North Carolina, on November 10. Hide Caption 23 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Smoke from the Party Rock fire spreads near Lake Lure on Wednesday, November 9. Hide Caption 24 of 24
On Monday afternoon, a wildfire from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park spread into nearby communities. Strong gusts -- up to 87 mph -- scattered embers across long distances, starting fires that fed off drought-stricken trees. The winds also knocked down power lines, igniting new fires, Miller said.
"Everything was like a perfect storm," Cassius Cash, superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, told CNN affiliate WATE. Rain fell Monday night, but it was too late and too little to prevent damage as the region felt wind gusts in excess of 80 mph.
Video: A look at the devastation on roadway up to Ober Gatlinburg. If you can, please give to the Red Cross or local support agencies. pic.twitter.com/3hvfpwzuWr — Mark Nagi (@MarkNagiTDOT) November 29, 2016
A major attraction, the Ober Gatlinburg ski area and amusement park that overlooks the city, appeared to be spared. But on a road leading to the resort, what used to be homes have been reduced to burned-out husks.
Only the bricks remained intact -- and only in places. The insides have been eaten away by the fire.
The cars parked outside have suffered the same fate -- their paint burned to ash, their tires melted away. Uprooted trees leaned on power lines. Smoke turned the sky a bleak gray.
"It is absolutely devastating," said Mark Nagi of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, who posted footage of the devastation on his Twitter feed.
I'm in Gatlinburg this morning. Will post pictures and videos throughout the day. Many roadways, including the Spur, are closed. pic.twitter.com/TWKKV8kxqd — Mark Nagi (@MarkNagiTDOT) November 29, 2016
Fire destroyed a number of buildings at Gatlinburg's Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort & Spa. Smoke drifted Tuesday from burned-out vehicles and the buildings' charred remains. Chris Turner posted video of the damage to Facebook.
"It's all gone, guys," Turner said of one section of units on the bottom part of the property. "This got so hot, it melted the... pavement."
If you are able, 'evacuate immediately'
Authorities issued evacuation orders for Gatlinburg and nearby areas, including the north end of Pigeon Forge: "Nobody is allowed into the city at this time. If you are currently in Gatlinburg and are able to evacuate... evacuate immediately."
Pigeon Forge is home to Dollywood, the theme park owned by singer and actress Dolly Parton. At Dollywood, officials with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park evacuated guests from its resort and cabins as flames approached the area.
Parton said in a statement that she was heartbroken about the fires and was "praying for all the families affected."
"It is a blessing that my Dollywood theme park, the DreamMore Resort and so many businesses in Pigeon Forge have been spared," she added.
Schools in Green, McMinn and Sevier counties were closed Tuesday, the agency said, and about 12,000 people in Sevier County were without power as of Tuesday morning.
Several evacuation shelters opened and about 1,300 people stayed overnight at the local community center and park. Shaken residents, some needing oxygen after inhaling so much smoke, huddled with each other at the shelters.
"We watched a building go down in flames to the right of us," said one tearful evacuee, who was rescued by firefighters.
'It's just engulfed'
Despite evacuation orders, some people -- including guests at one Gatlinburg hotel -- could not safely leave the area as the fire advanced Monday night.
"I just see fire everywhere," said Logan Baker, a guest at the Park Vista Hotel. The fire swept up to the hotel parking lot, he told CNN affiliate WATE. He posted videos of the hotel doors and windows glowing from the fire looming outside.
Baker was among dozens of guests who couldn't leave because falling trees engulfed in flames had blocked the only road out.
The fire had not reached the hotel, but smoke had permeated the building, making it hard to breathe, he said. Guests stood in the hotel lobby Monday night with masks over their faces.
Due to continued erratic winds, the fires are very unpredictable and more fire growth is expected. pic.twitter.com/BYd9ANQeT4 — GreatSmokyNPS (@GreatSmokyNPS) November 29, 2016
Elsewhere, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park evacuated employees from the Elkmont and park headquarters housing areas on Monday.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam who flew over the scorched region said it was "a little numbing" to see the extent of the damage.
He said the region is a "special place" in Tennessee.
"Millions have families have come here and will continue to come here," Haslam said.SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama businessman who started a one-of-a-kind store selling the contents of unclaimed airline baggage has died. A spokeswoman for the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, says founder Doyle Owens died Saturday night. He was 85.
Store spokeswoman Brenda Cantrell says relatives haven't released details on Owens' death, but services are planned for Saturday.
Using a $300 loan and a borrowed pickup truck, Owens bought his first load of unclaimed baggage in 1970 and sold the contents atop card tables. The business caught on and the store became a landmark for people seeking unusual deals. It has been featured in numerous media stories.
The store is now owned and operated by Owens' son Bryan. Cantrell says the founder last visited the store about a month ago.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Danny Alexander: "Over many decades we have underinvested in our infrastructure"
The government has unveiled its infrastructure spending plan for the next two decades, describing it as "a blueprint for Britain".
The National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) includes the government selling off its 40% stake in the Eurostar rail service.
About £375bn of investment in energy, transport, communications, and water projects is planned, although no new money will be forthcoming.
The insurance industry also plans to spend £25bn over the next five years.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Shadow financial secretary Chris Leslie: "We get lots of grand plans... but a total failure to deliver"
Speaking at the Institute of Civil Engineers in Westminster, Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the plan was "a blueprint for Britain" that would lead to "long-term sustainable growth".
"Underground, overground, on shore, offshore, wired or wireless, tarmac or train track. You name it, we're building it right now," he said.
Earlier, he told the BBC that the UK had "underinvested... over several decades".
Scheme after scheme has been announced to great fanfare, but then little actually delivered Chris Leslie, Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury
He denied that there was a north-south divide in how spending was being allocated, saying: "There are projects going on in every part of the country."
Last month, Eurostar posted a rise in revenues and passenger numbers compared with last summer, but Mr Alexander said no final decision had been made on the proposed sale.
Previous infrastructure spending programmes have been criticised for slow progress, but he said that of the 646 projects outlined in this plan, 291 had already been started or completed.
Katja Hall, chief policy director of the employers' organisation, the CBI, said: "With the majority of national infrastructure projects earmarked to be delivered by the private sector, the insurance industry's £25bn investment is good news."
Image caption The current Wylfa nuclear power station is due to cease work next year
But Chris Leslie, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "With the country facing a cost-of-living crisis we need to invest in infrastructure to create jobs, boost living standards, and strengthen our economy for the long term."
National Investment Plan in brief Further £50m for a redevelopment of the railway station at Gatwick Airport
Government guarantee to support finance for the development of a new nuclear power station at Wylfa, North Wales
Confirmation that a UK guarantee has now been agreed for the £1bn Northern Line extension to Battersea in London
Funding for improvements to the A50 around Uttoxeter, in Staffordshire, to start no later than 2015-16
Improvements to the A14 around the strategically important port of Felixstowe in Suffolk
Target for the sale of corporate and financial assets will be doubled to £20bn between 2014 and 2020, including the government's shareholding in Eurostar
The government's record on infrastructure had been one of "complete failure", he said.
Jeremy Blackburn, UK head of policy for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), said the government should prioritise regional transport infrastructure investment.
"The better connected those areas are, the easier it is to move passengers, freight, goods and services," he told the BBC.
This would attract investment and help create jobs, he argued.
Rics also called for more investment in commercial and residential property, and reiterated its support for the HS2 rail project.
Insurance spending
Simultaneously to the NIP announcement, the insurance industry unveiled plans to invest £25bn in a range of infrastructure projects.
The decision by insurers L&G, Prudential, Aviva, Standard Life, Friends Life, and Scottish Widows to invest in infrastructure follows changes in European rules pushed for by the UK which incentivise investment in a wider range of assets.
Prudential has already invested £40bn in UK infrastructure, including property.
Image caption Felixstowe, the UK's largest container port, should benefit from the proposed improvements to the A14 trunk road in Suffolk
Group chief executive Tidjane Thiam said: "As a major long-term investor in the UK, Prudential is pleased to commit to harness our financial strength for the benefit of the UK economy. This initiative will help achieve sustainable economic growth."
Legal & General, which has invested £3bn in the last two years on various infrastructure projects, including university accommodation, said it was keen to spend more on construction.
Chief executive Nigel Wilson said: "We are very keen to help fund the creation of more housing - for sale, for private rent, and in the social sector - as having enough decent housing at sensible prices is crucial to the UK's recovery."
'Political will'
In September, CBI director general John Cridland said the government's infrastructure policy was "faltering" amid fears that it lacked the "political will" to deliver.
Critics have pointed to data showing infrastructure spending falling in recent times, not rising.
Labour said that despite schemes being announced with great fanfare, little was being done.
"The Office for National Statistics says that infrastructure work is down 3.7% in the last year, and fell by 10% in 2012. Scheme after scheme has been announced to great fanfare but then little actually delivered," said Mr Leslie.What are some of the lessons learned from the EU’s experiences in Bulgaria and Romania, and what could they mean for Turkey?
The fight against corruption is yet another example of the mismatch between EU expectations and capabilities. On the one hand, many regard the Union as capable of overhauling bad habits in member states and, to an even greater degree, in countries that have embarked on the accession journey. This belief in the EU’s transformative mission is widely embraced by the discourse in Brussels. On the other hand, European integration works thanks to reasonably functioning states (take for instance the damage on the Eurozone caused by the shortcomings in Greece’s statistical service). The rule of law is a precondition rather than a “deliverable.”
It is first and foremost up to national authorities – executive agencies, independent regulators and the judiciary – to scrutinise and enforce the law while safeguarding the public interest. After all, unlike the EU, member states enjoy the necessary legitimacy and resources to attain and secure such objectives. Unless freedom of movement is concerned, EU institutions such as the Commission and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) must play a secondary role.
Expectations that the EU was capable of delivering clean governance increased in tandem with the eastern enlargement. In all fairness, however, Brussels’ track-record in tackling chronic challenges relating to state capture, dysfunctional judiciaries and the influence of organized crime on government is mixed at best.
Soon after their accession in 2007 it was a foregone conclusion that such a mission had failed in Romania and Bulgaria. Pundits and bureaucrats have since explained that the reasons for this had to do with the duo’s unwillingness to change and Brussels’ lenience in imposing its own standards. There is much truth in such accounts, yet, strikingly, few care to delve deeper into the meaning and content of these standards.
In fact, the story is riddled with complexity. For instance, the Commission has demanded a comprehensive overhaul of the judiciary but there is not one model in the EU of how courts and magistrates relate to the executive branch. The same is true with regards to the institutional design of specialised agencies dealing with political graft. There is variance across the EU, not a uniform model to be replicated. Faced with this ambiguity, Brussels has by and large extrapolated some common benchmarks – for example on the need for an independent body charged with the administration of the judiciary. As far as the process is concerned, the Commission has decided to “frontload” negotiation chapters (23 and 24) on fundamental rights, judicial reform and home affairs in accession talks with Montenegro and now Serbia. The idea is to keep constant pressure on governments and close these chapters only at the end of the road.
Whether such “lessons learned” will suffice in the context of candidate countries from ex-Yugoslavia or elsewhere remains to be seen. Experience suggests that the rule of law cannot be built from outside and certainly not in the relatively short timeframe of accession talks.
Societal and institutional change needs to be promoted by stakeholders amongst the political and professional elites, domestic institutions, NGOs and civil society at large. Box-ticking, formal adoption of legislation and the flurry of façade measures to please the European Commission – which continues to monitor post-accession Sofia and Bucharest under the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) – cannot foster convergence in governance standards on transparency and accountability with the “old” member states.
A telling example in Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s example is telling. After years of passing laws, regulations and national strategies on combatting high-level corruption and organised crime, the public perception is that not much has changed.
To many, the appointment of Delyan Peevski, a controversial media mogul as head of the national security agency in June 2013 came to be seen as a token of everything that had gone wrong in Bulgarian politics since the early 1990s.
The unholy nexus of unaccountable politicians, rent-seeking oligarchs and a corrupt media has perpetuated state capture and led to a deep erosion of public trust in state institutions and the democratic process as a whole.
It prompted nothing short of a civic outburst in late 2013 as citizens marched for weeks and months in the streets of Sofia demanding that the government resign. The daily rallies proved that a vocal and growing minority of citizens has a clear set of demands that state institutions must be freed from the vested interests of the elites. They followed in the footsteps of several previous protest waves over the past year on issues such as high electricity bills and changes to environmental laws, brought about through lobby campaigns. But such civic mobilisations only confirm the point that cleaner, more transparent government is a long-term aspiration rather than the result of a technical process.
Turkey – what prospects?
What do such experiences mean for a country like Turkey? For one, because of the stalled negotiations, EU institutions enjoy no similar legitimacy as in Bulgaria and Romania, nor is the Union expected to deliver solutions.
As a result, elites in power face no need to cheat Brussels and fake efforts to uproot bribery and build transparency. They can simply dismiss any criticism and pressure from outside as deeply biased. What is striking however is the electorate’s unwillingness to punish the government for its alleged corrupt dealings. The large-scale scandal erupting on December 17 was successfully framed by the then Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan as a conspiracy concocted by the secretive Hizmet Movement and its adepts in the prosecution service and police to unseat a legitimate government.
Elections in March and August demonstrated that support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) remains strong. Concerns over corruption in high places were swept aside thanks to robust growth figures and Erdoğan’s charisma appealing to large social strata. The steady improvement of living standards benefiting the AKP’s conservative constituents but also society at large prevail over concerns about good governance, transparency and the rule of law. A plurality of voters is happy with the status quo and is unwilling to punish Erdoğan and his associates for such corruption allegations.
It is safe to assume that these levels of tolerance will subside only if and when the economy suffers a setback and that equilibrium is upset. But even if the anti-corruption ethos takes hold over large swathes of society and the AKP comes under fire, it is doubtful whether the EU will be leading the charge.
This does not mean that it will be irrelevant. Public opinion surveys show that Turkish citizens continue to see a gap between rule of law standards at home and in western Europe, considerations that represent a source of legitimacy for the EU. Yet, for better or worse, Turkey has long been ticking according to its own clock and that applies to the politics of corruption too. That is clearly one of the ‘lessons learned’ from the EU’s effort to project its transformative power abroad.
Experience elsewhere in Southeast Europe suggests high-level corruption cannot be contained unless the social consensus changes and there is a critical mass of citizens willing to hold governing elites to account, through the court system, the media or, indeed, by bringing in outside actors such as the EU institutions in Brussels. The opening of negotiations with Turkey on Chapters 23 and 24 is a necessary but certainly not a sufficient condition to transform the country along the lines of the EU’s own blueprint.
A longer version of this commentary was first published in the framework of this ‘Global Turkey in Europe’ publication series.Using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children data, we were able to investigate the possible effects of maternal alcohol use at levels typically seen in the general population on offspring balance in a large population-based sample of children, using prospective measures of both exposure and outcome and with additional measures allowing us to address the problem of confounding, in a way not previously possible.
Analyses using maternal–paternal and timing of exposure comparisons, and using a Mendelian randomization approach (in which a genotype was used as a proxy for maternal alcohol consumption), suggested that these paradoxical findings were the result of residual confounding due to the association between higher alcohol use and social advantage in this population.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been found to have adverse effects on several neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, previous observational studies of the effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on childhood balance ability, an important neurodevelopmental outcome, have failed to reach consensus.
Different epidemiological approaches can be used to help identify causal effects of prenatal exposures including comparisons of maternal–paternal effects and of effects associated with different timings of exposure. 15–17 Further, ‘Mendelian randomization’, which utilises genetic variation known to influence levels of the environmental exposure under examination, can be helpful. This approach is based on the assumption that since genotype is not usually associated with SES, it will not be associated with socially patterned confounding factors. 18, 19 Variants in alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) genes, particularly ADH1B, have previously shown robust associations with alcohol consumption. 20 Specifically, a rare non-synonymous variant in ADH1B has been shown to predispose to lower consumption before and during pregnancy. 21 Maternal ADH1B genotype can therefore be used as an instrument for maternal alcohol consumption (ie, in place of a self-reported measure of exposure) in analyses of effects of maternal alcohol use on offspring balance utilising the Mendelian randomization framework.
In addition, observational studies of effects of prenatal maternal behavioural exposures on offspring outcomes are prone to residual confounding by factors related to social position, as maternal behaviour is often related to socioeconomic status (SES). Maternal alcohol use during pregnancy is patterned by SES: very high use, ‘binge’ drinking and complete abstinence from alcohol are associated with social disadvantage, while more moderate use is associated with social advantage. 13 This, rather than any direct effect of alcohol consumption, may explain apparently beneficial associations between moderate maternal alcohol use during pregnancy and offspring neurocognitive outcomes. 13, 14
Balance is an important neurodevelopmental outcome in children, underpinning many motor skills. Balance problems in children can be associated with loss of confidence, low self-esteem and anxiety. 1, 2 Adverse effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on a variety of offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes have been well documented 3–8 and animal models suggest that fetal alcohol exposure may adversely influence offspring balance. 9 Animal models also suggest adverse effects of paternal alcohol use on a number of offspring outcomes; however, an adverse effect of paternal alcohol use on offspring balance has not been found. 10, 11 A recent systematic review found no strong evidence of effects of prenatal maternal alcohol exposure at levels typically seen in the general population on offspring balance, but noted important limitations in the current evidence base including an absence of large general population-based prospective studies with adequate measures of both alcohol exposure and balance outcomes. 12
Methods
Study population The study group was taken from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac), a birth cohort of children born to pregnant women who were resident in the former Avon region of the UK and who were due to give birth between April 1991 and December 1992 (n=14 541 giving rise to 13 988 live infants at 1 year). Full characteristics of mothers and children in the ALSPAC cohort have been described elsewhere.22,23 Participants were informed in advance of all measures to be taken at the research clinic. Informed verbal consent was obtained and recorded at clinic attendance. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the ALSPAC Law and Ethics Committee (IRB 00003312) and the Local Research Ethics Committees (Southmead, United Bristol Healthcare Trust, Frenchay and Weston Area Health Trust). Written consent was obtained for the use of genetic data (maternal genotype at rs1229984 in ADH1B as described later). The sample included all singleton-birth children from the original ALSPAC cohort who had undergone the 20 min balance assessment at age 10 (excluding children (n=59) with significant physical disabilities and/or visual impairment, as identified by a teachers’ questionnaire at age 7–8 years in the context of an assessment of special educational needs), and for whom data on maternal alcohol exposure at the time-points under consideration had been collected. Balance test results for up to 6915 children were available for analyses, depending on the completeness of the alcohol exposure data.
Balance outcome measures Full details of the balance outcomes considered including details of their measurement and validity have been published elsewhere.24 In brief, at 10 years of age, these measures included: time to cross a 2 m balance beam, walking heel-to-toe; heel-to-toe balance on a beam, eyes open and closed (time balance maintained up to a maximum of 20 s); and standing on one leg, eyes open and closed (time balance maintained up to a maximum of 20 s). All children had two attempts at the beam-walking test and those who were unable to maintain their balance for the full 20 s had a second attempt at the tests of static balance. Composite scores were calculated as described elsewhere,24 resulting in three balance outcome measures: dynamic balance (DB); static balance eyes open (SBEO); and static balance eyes closed (SBEC). The DB and SBEC scores were both categorised into quartiles; the SBEO score was dichotomised into maximum score versus < maximum score as the distribution of this variable was heavily right skewed with more than half of children achieving the maximum score. The resulting categorical data were coded such that the first quartile of DB (n=1961, 29.4%), the ‘maximum score’ of SBEO (n=3751 children, 56%) and the fourth quartile of SBEC (n=1618, 24.5%) were all designated ‘good balance’.
Measures of alcohol exposure Maternal alcohol consumption at 18 weeks gestation and at 47 months postnatally was measured using self-report questionnaires. At 18 weeks gestation, mothers reported both their current consumption and their consumption prior to pregnancy. For each time point, the mothers reported the total number of glasses consumed per week categorised into none (0 glasses), low (1–2), moderate (3–7) and high (>7) consumption. The questionnaire defined a glass as, “a pub measure of spirits, half a pint of lager or cider, a wine glass of wine”. At 18 weeks gestation, the mothers were also asked on how many days in the previous month they had drunk at least the equivalent of 4 units of alcohol, in order to examine the effects of binge drinking (categorised as never, 1–2, 3–4, 5–10, 10+ days and every day, which were recoded into none, 1–4, 5–10, 10+ days). Paternal alcohol consumption was also measured by paternal self-report at 18 weeks gestation of the mother's pregnancy. Fathers’ binge drinking was assessed as for mothers. In addition, the fathers were also asked about their total alcohol consumption during the first 3 months of pregnancy with response categories of never, less than 1 glass a week, at least 1 glass a week, at least 1 or 2 glasses every day, at least 3–9 glasses every day and at least 10 glasses every day. These categories were recoded into never, <1/week, 1+/week, 1+/day.
Measures of potential confounders Potential confounding factors were considered based on evidence of their variation with maternal alcohol consumption and with offspring-balance outcomes. Measures of SES were recorded by maternal self-report questionnaires at approximately 8 weeks gestation. These were marital status (never married, previous marriage (widowed/divorced/separated), married); crowding index (number of people in the household divided by the number of rooms); home-ownership (mortgaged/owned, rented/other); maternal occupational social class, classified in accordance with the British Registrar General's Classification (I professional, II intermediate, III-N skilled non-manual, III-M skilled manual, IV semiskilled manual/V unskilled manual); and ethnicity (white, non-white). Maternal parity (none, 1–2, 3+ previous children) and self-reported highest level of maternal education (CSE/vocational, O-levels, A-levels, degree) were recorded at 18 weeks gestation. Maternal age was extracted from delivery data (≤20, 21–30, 31–35 and >35 years). The number of cigarettes smoked per day was recorded by the maternal self-report questionnaire at 18 weeks gestation. Mothers’ smoking prepregnancy, during the first 3 months of pregnancy and at 18 weeks gestation were recorded (no smoking, 1–9, 10–19, 20+/day) along with maternal cannabis use (none vs any). Maternal caffeine consumption was recorded by self-report questionnaires at both 8 and 18 weeks gestation. The number of cups of caffeinated drinks (coffee, tea, cola) consumed per week were summed and then categorised into none; 1–21; 22–42; and >42. Maternal depression was measured at 18 weeks gestation using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale,25 and categorised into not depressed (<10) or possible depression (≥10). Stressful life events during pregnancy were also measured at 18 weeks gestation giving a weighted-life-events score categorised into 0–1; 2–4; 5–7; and 7+.
Genetic data Maternal DNA was extracted from peripheral blood collected as part of routine care during pregnancy22 as described previously.26 Single-nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped by KBioscience (http://www.kbioscience.co.uk) using the KASPar chemistry, a competitive allele-specific PCR system using FRET quencher cassette oligos (http://www.kbioscience.co.uk/genotyping/genotyping-chemistry.htm). Blind duplicates, plate-identifying repeat samples and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium tests were used as quality control checks. Maternal genotype at rs1229984 in ADH1B was available for a subset of 4335 mothers.21 The rare A allele of this variant has been found to be associated with lower alcohol consumption and less binge drinking during pregnancy.21The Use Of Secret Courts Confirms The End Of Democracy In Britain
By TruePublica: First published December 2015: The use of secret courts in Britain has escalated. Against their will, the controversial practice of forced adoption at the behest of social services has faced widespread criticism and yet, over 2,500 children have been forcibly adopted through the use of secret courts. An ex-military intelligence officer has offered to give evidence in secret court hearings about allegations of murders and collusion by the British Army. Two public inquiries, more than 200 judicial reviews and more than 1,000 damages claims against the British Army have largely been heard with secret evidence, including challenges to Britain’s arms sales to countries breaking international laws for their use.
The use of secret courts is a place where trials take place that is not open to the public, nor generally reported in the news and generally no official record of the case or the judge’s verdict is made available. Often there is no legal allegation. The accused is usually not able to obtain the counsel of an lawyer or confront witnesses for the prosecution, and the proceedings are characterised by a perceived miscarriage of justice to the benefit of the ruling powers of the society. This is the stuff of cold war Russia and Nazi Germany – right? Think again.
In the English-speaking world, one of the most notorious secret courts was the Star Chamber as it was used under Charles I in the early 17th century. The abuses of the Star Chamber were one of the rallying points of the opposition that organized around Oliver Cromwell, and ultimately resulted in the execution of the deposed king. The term “star chamber” became a generalized term for a court that was accountable to no one (except the chief executive) and was used to suppress political dissent or eliminate the enemies of the regime.
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The inherent lack of objectivity of politically-motivated charges has led to substantial reforms in English law. Clearly there is something very dangerous and pernicious about secret courts.
During the First and Second World Wars there were a number of spy trials held behind closed doors and the odd one thereafter but secret trials in Britain is an affront to openness dating back to Magna Carta and have never been used in civil cases.
Then came a Conservative Bill called the Justice and Security Bill and was roundly opposed by everyone, literally everyone.
From GlobalResearch – “The Bill was savaged by the Lords, but returned to the Commons with all the Lords’ amendments struck out. On the day of the vote on gay marriages it slipped through the vote in the select committee with the vote of one backwoods Ulsterman rushed in at the last minute. (The vote was held at the same time as members were in the lobbies voting on the gay marriage Bill). … This law when
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by Marshall Pétain who led the Nazi-allied regime, known as Vichy France, during World War II.
Chatel said Peillon’s quest to seek the “intellectual and moral re-education” of France’s young people copied “word for word the call of Marshal Pétain on June 25th, 1940” when he promised to rid France of its “moral decadence”.
Henri Pena Ruiz, a philosopher and specialist in moral secularism, has also been critical of Peillon’s plans.
“We can’t just replace Christian instruction with Republican instruction, for there is no point just substituting religious indoctrination with secularist indoctrination,” Ruiz told Le Journal du Dimanche.
Secular morality debates will become the norm in French schools from September 2015 once the project is passed by the French parliament.digiKam 2.7.0 in action
Source: digikam.org Version 2.7.0 of the digiKam Software Collection has been released and is now compatible with a variety of new camera models. The developers say that the update to the open source digital photo management application for KDE has improved RAW file processing thanks to it using the latest 0.14.7 release of the LibRaw image decoder library.
With the inclusion of a new version of LibRaw, support for a number of new cameras is now included in 2.7.0: Canon 5D Mark III, G1 X, 1D X and Powershot SX200, Nikon D4, D800/D800E and D3200, Fuji X-S1 and HS30EXR, Casio EX-Z8, Olympus E-M5, Panasonic GF5, Sony NEX-F3, SLT-A37 and SLT-A57, Samsung NX20 and NX210. The LensFun library has been upgraded to the current 0.2.6 release, which adds new camera profiles for applying optical lens corrections, and version 6.12.24 of LibPGF improves thumbnail processing speed when in icon-view. The new version also fixes nearly 30 bugs from the previous release, 9 of which could have caused the application to crash when, for example, tagging a picture, using curves correction or loading a large image collection.
More details about the update, including a full list of bug fixes, can be found in the NEWS file and in the announcement blog post. Version 2.7.0 of the digiKam Software Collection is available to download as pre-compiled binary packages for various Linux distributions and as source code for self-compilation. digiKam is licensed under the GPLv2 and is hosted on SourceForge.
(crve)Wendy Davis, the Texas lawmaker who rocked national headlines with her 11-hour floor speech against a bill to limit abortion, has now been caught making a couple of exaggerated claims in her campaign for governor.
Ms. Davis is hoping to become the first Democratic governor of Texas since 1995.
In a recent federal lawsuit, she claimed that she was divorced at 19 — and “after I got divorced, I lived in a mobile home park in southeast Fort Worth,” The Daily Mail reported. The truth is that she didn’t divorce until the age of 21. And when she did divorce, she only lived in the mobile home park for a few months, The Daily Mail reported.
The man she divorced was named Frank Underwood. Shortly after their split, and her relocation to a mobile home, she moved into an apartment with her daughter, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Meanwhile, Ms. Davis has also slightly misrepresented how her education was funded.
Her website states she attended Texas Christian University “with the help of academic scholarships, student loans and state and federal grants.” It also states she was the first person in her family to “earn a Bachelor’s degree,” and that she “graduated first in her class and went on to Harvard Law School.”
That’s true — but what’s left out is that her wealthy husband, lawyer Jeff Davis, also helped fund her Harvard dream. The Daily Mail reported that he paid her tuition and took out a loan to help pay.
She addressed the misrepresentation in The New Yorker and said: “It was community resources. We paid for it together.”
She also admitted that “my language should be tighter,” The Daily Mail reported.
Ms. Davis rose to national prominence when she donned a back brace, urinary catheter and pink running shoes and then tried to filibuster a bill that clamped down on abortion in the state. She spoke for about 11 hours.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.My secret santa sent over an adorable little retro gaming kit running inside a tiny, credit card sized classic NES shell. Not only that, but I was also gifted all the peripherals, including a USB SNES controller, the power and HDMI cables, some stickers which are going right on the fridge and, to top it all off, three, count em, THREE bags of Skittles because they're my favorite. One of the bags is trying to bamboozle me, claiming the colors don't match the flavor, finishing this gift off with somewhat of a mysterious flair that is very much appreciated. I have a 1-year-old son whom I can't wait to show the games I grew up with and with this gift, that dream just got real. Thank you so much! I know I'm going to be playing the h*ck out of this little thing all weekend long, mark my words.In 2005, if someone would have told me that the pioneer social networking site “Friendster” will get lost in the oblivion several years from then, I would hardly be able to believe it. Before Friendster, there were some sites that tried to introduce the concept of social networking but none managed to do it on such a large scale as Friendster.
2002 was the year of the dawn of a concept that most of the people didn’t know much about and today those same people can’t seem live without it; this evolutionary concept was social networking. With the passage of time more and more companies tried to carve a niche for themselves in this booming industry. But most companies couldn’t survive under such challenging conditions, with the exception of few. Websites like Myspace, HI5, and Orkut were all in the same race, competing to be the king of the social network but none would become one.
In 2004 the competition got fiercer for the reigning king of social networking at that time, Friendster, with the establishment of Facebook. After the founding of Facebook, everything took a turn for the worse for Friendster. In spite of the fact that the people behind Friendster knew about this new new player in the field, they didn’t view it as a direct threat and therefore didn’t quite manage to keep up and compete with the new kid on the block. Of course, in the end, it was Facebook who took the winning title and ultimately changed our social networking practices and culture.
The story behind Friendster is a sad one. The company went from being the top social networking site, dropping to second tier and eventually getting completely lost in the shadows of bigger and better sites like Facebook. The people behind Friendster tried to salvage what was left of their site. This all happened after about 7 years after its founding without success. The company tried to transform Friendster from social networking site to social gaming platform. Although they got some momentum in the beginning and you could say that they looked really promising, it was not enough momentum for them to pursue their objectives furthermore. They have since ceased all operations.
FOUNDERS:
Jonathan Abrams:
Jonathan Abrams is a successful entrepreneur and was the man behind websites like socializer, FRIENDSTER, and Hotlinks. He is also the founder and CEO of Nuzzel and a co-founder and managing partner of Founders Den. The foundation of the social networking site Friendster, which could have easily been one of his greatest creations turned out to be his worst. From early on the company faced a variety of technical issues and also struggled to monetize their site. However, Jonathan Abrams still argues that despite the fact that Friendster was not able to be the hit he thought it would, it still it left a positive impact on his life overall. He said:
“Whenever you step out and do something, you are going to get both positive and negative feedback. That’s just what happens when you create things,” he says. “Absolutely there are people who have criticized me for things involving Friendster — sometimes things that are not true. But overall, most of the legacy of Friendster is pretty positive. And there are a lot of connections and relationships that I have that may have been started because of Friendster.”
BEGINNING AND HISTORY:
Friendster, which was launched in 2002, was one of the first social networking websites. And unarguably the most successful of that time. It was founded by Jonathan Abrams, and it’s headquarter was established in California. When Friendster was launched it was simply a social networking site, and its main purpose was to provide opportunities for people to make new friends and to stay in touch with old ones. It allowed users to communicates with other members, discover new events and brands, share media and online content, and to find new hobbies.
When Friendster was at its peak it had more than tens of millions of registered users. Its early starts was so promising that Google offered $30 million to acquire it back in 2003. But after its early success, it quickly began to decline. And this gradual decline inevitably became the reason for its fall. By 2006, Friendster had lost most of its popularity in the US and most of its user were from Southeast Asia. It still had quite a few users from that region right up until 2009, but the bond connecting them to the brand wasn’t that strong. Most of the users were only friends with their immediate relatives and friends or in other words Friendster lost in keeping up with its major objective that was making people meet new people.
In 2009, it was announced that Friendster was acquired by one of Asia’s largest internet companies MOL Global for $26.4 million. A Couple of years later it transformed from social networking site to social gaming site and discontinued user’s s accounts. The services of Friendster and its website was closed in 2015.
INVESTORS:
In 2002, Friendster raised its first funding when the investors from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, and some other private investors invested an amount of $12 million. Again in 2006, it was funded with an amount of $3 million by the same company. In the same year, Friendster received $10 million through the funding rounds led by DAG Ventures. Furthermore, it raised $20 million through a funding round led by IDG Ventures in 2008. These three companies and some individual investor were the main sources of Friendster’s funds.
OPERATING COUNTRIES:
In 2002, Friendster was launched with the main purpose that everyone from around the world (over 16) can interact and socialize with their old friends and also make new ones. And judging from its initial performance, it can easily be considered as a hit. Countries like USA, UK and several more saw the birth of Friendster and also used it. But the major quantity of users Friendster got was from Asia especially South East Asia. Even after fading away from countries like the USA, it was still getting a large amount of traffic from countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and other South Eastern Asia countries. The recent research has shown that Friendster was still getting a huge amount of traffic from these countries up until 2009. And even after its transformation from social networking site to a social gaming site, the main source of their website traffic were the same countries from South East Asia.
FRIENDSTER PATENTS:
One thing Friendster still had despite being overshadowed by websites like Facebook and twitter was the large sum of members Friendster still had. In 2009, Friendster granted the portfolios of its patents to the social networking companies. Facebook was the most active one as it acquired more than 18 of Friendster patents.
SALE OF FRIENDSTER:
In 2009 after going through ups and downs in its online social networking career, it was finally bought by the Malaysian company, MOL Global for $26.4 million. It was another big step in the long journey of Friendster. For a short moment, it seemed that Friendster would rise up again and compete with social networking sites like Facebook, but it was not menat to be.
FRIENDSTER TRANSFORMATION:
In 2011, Friendster transformed from social networking site to social gaming platform. Its main focus was now shifted from socializing to entertainment. The previous accounts of its users remained unchanged but the user information such as pictures were removed. Friendster had given some time for their users to back up their data before completely removing it. In the beginning, it all appeared promising but this didn’t carry on for long as it was closed within a time of couple of years.
DEATH OF FRIENDSTER:
After a long online career, Friendster ceased to exist in 2015. What began as a break-through social networking site, and later bought by MOL Global and then transformed into a gaming platform was ultimately unsuccessful. The fall of the Friendster was not sudden at all. Everyone could see that from miles out that the only way Friendster was going was down. And down it went. In 2015, once referred to as the pioneer of social networking, in a sense, died as it was closed for an indefinite period.
Conclusion:
Many people over the past decade have studied about the causes of the fall and the decline of Friendster. The best possible reason it seemed, was that it had to face severe technical problems and investors didn’t help out much in finding the appropriate solution for these problems. But all we know is that the colorful saga of Friendster is over for now. The founder of Friendster is still in the business of social networking. But the journey of one of its greatest creation is over for sure.Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
A short video clip of a seemingly intoxicated woman performing oral sex on a man while he asks her, "What's the best fraternity at MSU?" is working its way through the internet social app latrines like Yik Yak and Sneak.
A link to the footage appeared on Reddit seven days ago and has racked up nearly 25,000 views.
The woman in video does not respond to the man's question about the fraternity. When asked again, mid- sex act, she responds, "Pike," the nickname given to the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha. The fraternity has had a chapter at Michigan State since 1987; the school's site describes its membership as "composed of men who share similar ideals of friendship, truth, honor, and loyalty."
In the video, the woman's voice is slurry and her eyes do not focus. The footage is shot inside a residential bathroom. The woman appears on her knees. Several men's voices can be heard muffled in the background, likely from another room.
The video is believed to be shot by a Pi Kappa Alpha member and student of Michigan State University.
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"It's a very unfortunate situation," Chris Kojaian, Pi Kappa Alpha president for MSU, told the State News last week. "We feel very bad for the girl in the video. We had absolutely nothing to do with the production or the distribution of the video and we don't think it has anything to do with Michigan State University."
When reached for further comment by Jezebel, Kojaian softened his denial over e-mail: "I am aware of sexually explicit footage going around," he wrote, "but not anything that clearly shows an MSU student."
A tipster and former sorority member with ties to Michigan State and the school's Pi Kappa chapter sent Jezebel a link to the short video. "The video is getting passed around through Pike email list serves here in Michigan," the tipster said in a phone conversation with Jezebel.
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The video been removed from Yik Yak, the popular campus social media app, but remains on the anonymous video site Vid.me. We've embedded it below, with the woman's face obscured.
Pi Kappa Alpha has a reputation across many college campuses as a top tier fraternity. It has also suspended several local chapters in recent years for drug dealing, hazing, posting nude pictures of women on Facebook, calling sorority sisters terrorist whores, and butt chugging.
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In 2010, Tulane suspended their Pi Kappa Alpha chapter for pouring boiling water, vinegar, and wasabi sauce on pledges. Northern Illinois University suspended their chapter in 2012, after a 19-year-old pledge died following two hours of binge drinking.
UPDATE: Comment from W. Brent Phillips, senior marketing official from Pi Kappa Alpha's national office: "After discussion with the local chapter and considering the comments on the video, the Fraternity does not believe this is a member of the Fraternity. Moreover, the video is an unfortunate attempt at defamation. The Fraternity regrets the crude display and lack of respect demonstrated to the woman in the video. It is inappropriate and certainly does not demonstrate treating people with dignity and respect. The Fraternity educates its members on expected standards of behavior and holds them accountable to those standards."
Anna Merlan contributed to this story.Charles Blow, a black, left-wing New York Times columnist, took to Twitter and the pages of the Times to excoriate Yale and a campus police officer over his son being detained at gunpoint. Apparently, Blow’s son met the description of a campus burglar. After learning of the incident, an incensed Blow published a series of racially-charged Tweets followed by a racially-charged Times column.
According to the Washington Examiner, Blow tweeted, “This is exactly why I have no patience for people trying to convince me that the fear these young black men feel isn’t real.” Blow also tweeted out slogans associated with protests involving race and the police: “I can’t breathe” and “Black lives matter.”
In his column, Blow detailed what would have been a terrifying police encounter for any innocent young man and his father, but again turned it into a racial issue [emphasis added]:
I am reminded of what I have always known, but what some would choose to deny: that there is no way to work your way out–earn your way out–of this sort of crisis. In these moments, what you’ve done matters less than how you look. There is no amount of respectability that can bend a gun’s barrel. All of our boys are bound together.
What Blow’s readers and Twitter followers weren’t told, though, was the race of the police officer in question.
As it turns out, the officer is black. Yale’s police chief is also black.
After firing off this series of racially-charged tweets and a racially-charged column in no less than The New York Times, Blow now claims his outrage had nothing to do with race. Blow also attempted to defend himself with the argument that a column he once wrote about Eric Garner also didn’t mention race.
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Original Article
Share This“WE WERE selling $1m a year in merchandise with the company logo on it,” says Erik Prince with a mixture of nostalgia and defiance. Blackwater, the company in question, rose to worldwide prominence as an outsourced branch of the American army during the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. It had plenty of admirers for the way it had pioneered a new branch of the defence industry, earning a total of around $2 billion from Uncle Sam for providing armed personnel to the Pentagon, the State Department and, secretly, the CIA. But the firm was overwhelmed by its more numerous critics, who said it was an undisciplined, unaccountable bunch of mercenaries.
In 2010 Mr Prince gave up the fight. He sold the firm, which he had founded in 1997 and which got its first big break by teaching police to handle school shootings after the 1999 Columbine massacre. It is smaller now and mostly does less controversial work such as guarding diplomats and providing training. Its new name, Academi, could scarcely sound less aggressive.
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Mr Prince has started talking, after a long silence, to promote his book, “Civilian Warriors”, in which he mounts a defence of his firm as unyielding as a Blackwater contractor under enemy fire. Mr Prince says he never intended to build a new sort of defence firm. But he stumbled on a huge opportunity to fill gaps in military capacity cost-effectively. Blackwater provided security to government officials such as Paul Bremer, the head of the transitional authority after the invasion of Iraq, and after that, senior State Department employees in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He says he got his entrepreneurial instinct from his father, who built a successful motor-industry supplier and taught him that the best way to win and keep a customer is always to say yes, then overdeliver—a formula that worked spectacularly well for Blackwater until the deadly nature of its overdelivery became so controversial. Now he is glad to be out of the industry he helped build. With the winding down of America’s military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has become a “very crowded field; too many firms competing for a shrinking pie.” But Blackwater’s demise created space for two rivals: DynCorp International, a 60-year-old firm that diversified into military security, and Triple Canopy, founded in 2003 with a similar business model to Blackwater’s.
Groups such as Human Rights First campaign against governments’ use of private military contractors, and Barack Obama attacked Blackwater in his first presidential campaign. George Bush responded by modestly tightening the rules on its deployment. But there has been no change of course since Mr Obama took office. “There is no going back, we just need to figure out the new rules for when private military firms should be used and when they should not,” says Sean McFate, an academic at Georgetown University who previously worked for DynCorp.
Imitators everywhere
Post-Blackwater, two trends have dominated the new industry, says Mr McFate: globalisation and indigenisation. On the supply side, there are a growing number of private military firms, and not all of the new ones were formed by former special forces from Western powers, such as Aegis and Blue Mountain, two British firms. Warlords in places such as Afghanistan and Somalia are creating contracting firms that they staff with local talent. Their embattled national governments are seeing the merits in contracting out security. So America is no longer the only big buyer of private force, notes Mr McFate.
One thing that would greatly improve the industry’s prospects is if the United Nations began using private contractors for peacekeeping missions, as it is said to be considering. Today, such missions are staffed by soldiers from poorer countries, who are often badly trained. Mr Prince thinks that private contracting would make the UN more effective, but he has no intention of going after that business. For him, the new promised land is Africa, where he is investing in firms providing services to the oil and gas industry, in places where he thinks his expertise in providing logistics and security can give him a competitive edge.A pair of Department of Homeland Security officials told the Senate Wednesday that the government does not search for most of the people who overstay their temporary visas, a day after DHS said that nearly 500,000 people were still in the U.S. after having overstayed their visas last year.
"I didn't mean to imply that we're actually out monitoring them," Craig Healy, an assistant director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., during Senate Judiciary subcommittee panel. Healy said that they review the universe of people who overstayed their visas and "prioritize" the deportation of people who went on to commit other crimes.
Their exchange came at the outset of a hearing on the federal government's failure to implement a biometric system to track entries into and exits from the country, as required by a 2004 law. A Customs and Border Patrol official said the program couldn't be implemented without causing "gridlock" at U.S. airports, a response that failed to allay bipartisan concern that the lack of this system is an ongoing national security threat.
"The biometric exit system is still not off the ground and that is unfortunate, very unfortunate, because it is a matter of national security," New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader-in-waiting, said during the hearing.
John Wagner, deputy assistant commissioner of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, said the program couldn't be implemented without causing two-hour delays when boarding airplanes. "It's the placement of the technology and how you collect it to ensure that the person actually departed the United States," Wagner said. "There's no zone to do that."
These answers frustrated Democratic lawmakers who otherwise disagree with Sessions and other immigration hawks the issue of border security and deportations. "It's hard for me to envision that we can't figure out where to get a space to do this at an airport or seaport," said Senator Al Franken, D-Minn. "If you can't solve it in 11 or 12 years, how can we know it will ever be solved?"
DHS's report saying hundreds of thousands of people remained in the United States after having overstayed their visas drew complaints from both parties, but Sessions in particular.
"That is a population of individuals that is larger than any city in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina," Sessions said. Healy replied that about 3,000 of the people who had overstayed their visas were under investigation, a statistic Sessions cited to argue that President Obama's team has made no effort to implement the system or to deport people who overstay their visas, as long as those people "keep their nose clean" and do nothing to draw the attention of law enforcement or counterterrorism officials.
He said the lack of a biometric exit system was part of a broader failure by the Obama administration to implement federal immigration law.
"Our executive branch is on strike against the will of the American people," Sessions said. "Simply put, there is no border at all if we don't enforce our visa rules."Mumford & Sons will support the LGBT community by donating proceeds from the band’s Thursday night concert in North Carolina to a local LGBT charity.
The gesture is in response to North Carolina’s HB2 law. Mumford & Sons posted on their Facebook page why they decided to donate.
“As a band that relishes welcoming everyone to our shows and promoting tolerance, we do want to take a stand with the people of North Carolina who this week are shouting loudly against intolerance, fear and discrimination,” the band writes.
“Over the years we’ve looked for ways to contribute to the vitality of local communities and, in that spirit, we’re now creating a charitable fund to support those who have made it their mission to pursue love and justice. We will be donating all of our profits from this show to this new fund. And we will start by making a donation from it to a local LGBTQ organization,” the band continues.
Mumford & Sons isn’t the only band using their concert time in North Carolina for good. BuzzFeed reports Against Me! lead singer Laura Jane Grace says her band will still play their May 15th show in the state as a “form of protest.”On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I rushed my wife Paula to the emergency room at Baltimore's Sinai Hospital. What she thought was just the stomach bug du jour turned out to be a life-threatening condition that would take her to nearly every corner of Sinai. Three weeks later, I would find myself sitting in the surgical waiting room at Sinai as a rock-star surgeon operated on her robotically in front of a crowd of other doctors.
It wasn't my first time wandering the halls of the hospital; 12 years ago, my son was hospitalized at Sinai when he had appendicitis. Much has changed in those 12 years, but what surprised me more is what hasn't.
I've spent a lot of time in the hospital over the past few weeks and have become all too well acquainted with the technology there. I've covered health IT in the past, but there's a big difference between talking with people about what's happening in the health industry with technology as a whole and experiencing it from the chair next to a hospital bed.
Don't get me wrong—I have nothing but praise for the people who treated Paula during her stay. Sinai is not just another hospital, it's the flagship of one of Baltimore's biggest healthcare systems and, while it doesn't have the sheer industrial size of Johns Hopkins, it's a major teaching hospital in its own right. And Sinai's emergency room is one of the best in the city, handling a huge volume of walk-ins and ambulance-delivered patients. But what I found is that medical IT remains a patchwork quilt of Star Trek and steampunk—one that seems to work almost despite itself.
Day 1: Back to the future
When we arrive just after noon, we fly through the ER's triage—apparently so fast that the receptionist checks off a box in my wife's electronic registration indicating she is uninsured. Despite other people taking the information four more times, the insurance information doesn't take until I talk to accounting later.
That is a minor annoyance; a larger one is not knowing what is going on. It's a busy Sunday, and once they give Paula a painkiller and sedative, we see the ER doctor a few times in passing. Having been in an emergency room frequently over the past decade thanks to kids' extracurricular mishaps, I know the drill. But in this case, the only hint at where the diagnosis is going is which test Paula is getting rolled off for next: ultrasound, CT scan, and multiple blood draws.
So I start to poke around, trying to decipher what I can from the tech around me—mostly to keep myself occupied as Paula's sedation and painkillers lull her to sleep. The first thing I notice is that everything but the bed and chairs in the room is wirelessly networked—the Computer On Wheels (COW) workstation, the IV infusion pumps, the machine taking Paula's vitals. And there's a full Wi-Fi signal on my iPhone—the network is accessible with a guest login.
While the wireless network is modern, the computing infrastructure is less so. The roll-around COW workstation the nurses use to enter data—like every other computer I will encounter during the next three weeks—is running Windows XP and a NetWare for Windows network client.
Hospitals are notoriously conservative about operating system upgrades, both for financial reasons and because the medical software industry has been slow to certify their applications for newer versions of the Windows OS; the infusion pump management software for the IVs in my wife's room is still available only for Windows 2000 and XP, for example, and the data connector to manage the system's software requires a nine-pin serial port.
The throwback nature of the computing infrastructure applies to the COW PCs and all the other workstations in the hospital as well—nearly every one I look at is a vintage 2006 HP/Compaq small form factor system, and some still have the Compaq OEM Windows XP wallpaper.
Three hours pass. Paula wakes up and asks me what's taking so long, so I go out to try to find an answer. Out in the bullpen of desks at the center of the cluster of ER beds we're in, there's a flat-screen display with a spreadsheet-like status chart for each patient. I deduce from the data on it that Paula is being admitted—a room number pops up next to her name.
But it seems like more hours passed before we see the ER doctor and get the diagnosis: the phrases "big-time pancreatitis" and "worst I've ever seen" are dropped casually.
I pull out my phone to Google "acute pancreatitis." It's not pleasant reading. I call home and tell our kids what's going on as a transport technician arrives to roll Paula off to the elevator.
Bring your own, or wheel it in
Twelve years ago, the general ward of the hospital enforced a cell phone ban. But now, it seems like everyone is carrying one—even the patients. I bring Paula her iPad and set up Netflix so she has some other entertainment beside the basic TV service in her room. (Unfortunately, Netflix was blocked by the hospital's network).
While the hospital staff isn't bringing their own devices to work, the physicians from Paula's primary care provider's practice are. The gastroenterologist, surgeon, and "patient care coordinator" are constantly texting each other with the latest information on the case; the iPhone seems to be their tool of choice.
As of Monday morning, it's looking fairly routine, though the surgeon says Paula's pancreas looks "scary." For now, though, Paula is just under observation, and everything we hear indicates she'll be better soon, aside from needing her gallbladder removed. I begin to dig in for the wait, bringing my laptop to the hospital to try to work while I keep her company.
The Wi-Fi network for guests is isolated from the hospital's general network at the access points—at least the hospital has done a good job of hiding the SSIDs for its internal network. It also has content filtering in place, as I find out when searching for an image for a story I'm writing, and it blocks Flickr as "pornography." I quickly defeat the filter by switching on a VPN connection.
I try again the next day and find that using a VPN connection going to an IP address in Sweden has apparently caused some security concerns, and I'm blocked. (My apologies to any network administrators at Sinai who may have thought Anonymous had infiltrated their network.)
The nurses push COWs into the room to record each round of medication and vital signs measurement, scanning Paula's wristband each time; there's a consistent problem with the barcode reader, and the technicians doing blood pressure and temperature roll their eyes as if this is a common problem.
For all this electronic medical record technology, a surprising amount of paper still gets handled. Every time I see one of Paula's doctors on the case, they're working with a paper chart in a binder, hand-noting instructions—since they're not hospital staff, they likely don't get access to the hospital's EMR system.
There's also some confusion about what exactly the instructions are. On November 30, Paula is told she can start to get clear liquids. But her surgeon quickly reverses that—just after Paula orders up some jello.
Throughout all this, there's not a whole lot of information to work with on our end. Paula is starting to get stir-crazy. The night of December 2, she goes for a CAT scan, posting to Facebook from her phone afterward, "No actual cats are involved in a cat scan. :(" She jokes that Guy Fiere could redeem himself if he came up with a better execution of the barium contrast drink.
The next morning, I am driving my son and daughter to school when my phone plays my wife's designated ringtone. My son picks it up for me: "Hi…he's driving. Oh? OK, I'll tell him. Bye." He hangs up, and puts the phone down casually. "They're moving her to the ICU, she said."
It turns out that there's been much more damage to the pancreas, and some of it has necrotized. Paula's surgeon transfers her case to another doctor who can write orders at the hospital—a young Lebanese surgeon who is an expert in robotic surgery and who has experience in pancreatic surgery. He is also Sinai's "intensiveist" for the week. The move to the ICU is to monitor Paula's condition more closely and bring as much attention and technology to bear on the issue as possible.In the latest Panamera 4S, that V6 engine delivers 434bhp at 5650rpm and 405lb ft of torque between 1750rpm and 5500rpm when running a relatively low 0.4bar of turbocharger boost pressure.
With subtle tweaks, including greater boost, this engine is claimed to offer more than 500bhp and up to 500lb ft, although Audi has yet to confirm the output of the new R8 variant. Audi officials have told Autocar that the unit will come with more than one power output.
One example of Audi's desire to extend the R8's reach is the recent launch of a rear-wheel-drive version of the V10 model, the R8 RWS. Whether the V6 R8 will adopt an entry-level rear-wheel-drive version has yet to be revealed; Audi might choose not to offer such a low-cost version to retain a certain level of exclusivity for the R8. The RWS model starts at £112,450, suggesting the V6 model could bring the price well below the £100,000 mark.
Despite sharing a layout and the number of cylinders, this 2.9-litre engine differs in capacity from the 3.0-litre V6 recently launched by Audi in the new S4 that was also developed by the joint venture.
Further differentiation is found in the induction system, with the S4’s engine using a single twin-scroll turbocharger and the 2.9-litre version getting twin turbochargers.
The only visual cues to differentiate the V6 model from its V10 sibling, according to spotted development cars, are smaller exhaust baffles hidden behind the rear grilles. The former has been made possible due to the V6's lower volume.
The most recently spotted test car is running with a V10 (above). The fitment of camouflage on the bumpers suggests the aesthetic changes will be focused there.
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The row between the Rolling Stones and Donald Trump has escalated into a bitter legal dispute
The band are talking to lawyers because the Presidential candidate refuses to stop playing their songs at his political rallies.
Lawyers for both the band and Trump have been firing off legal letters “back and forth” for five months with no resolution in sight.
The dispute started back in May when Trump walked out for his Indiana primary victory speech to Start Me Up.
The Stones said at the time they had “never given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs”.
Trump makes inappropriate remarks about young girl
They requested he “cease all use immediately.”
But then Trump closed out the Republican National Convention with You Can’t Always Get What You Want, in July. Brown Sugar has also been used.
The rockers then issued a second statement, saying: “The Rolling Stones do not endorse Donald Trump.
"You Can’t Always Get What You Want was used without the band’s permission.”
(Image: Getty Images)
It is understood one of Trump’s arguments is that he believes the rallies are private events and therefore he has every right to use their music.
But the Stones have pointed to the mass press and television coverage that the events generate as proof that this is easily disproved.
A source said: “This row is showing no signs of ending
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solidly defined as any character could have been.
NEXT TIME: Bane, Azrael, Nightwing and more! Tim gets his own series, his own car and a whole new set of problems!Just like the Lumia 920, Nokai's new Lumia 928 has had its case pulled off to reveal what's inside. We're always under the impression that Nokia packs magic inside its family of Windows Phones, with an army of fairies making the experience complete. Unfortunately, the Verizon Lumia 928 is (like technology in general) powered by circuitry. Interested to see what's inside?
All the goodness, including wireless charging can be spotted in the published shots, but what's interesting to note is how the Lumia 928 doesn't sport the same board layout as the 920 and looks similar to the Lumia 820. Be sure to head on over to the Chinese forum for more images of the multiple parts that make up the Lumia 928 as we know it.
Source: tieba.baidu.com; thanks, dyx171, for the tip!Piers Morgan writes at the Daily Mail:
Dear Bill,
How’s it going?
Not great, right?
Everyone in New York currently seems to hate you. The cops hate you, most of the media hates you, the driver who picked me up at JFK airport last night hates you (‘so weak!), the hotel waiter who brought me my breakfast this morning hates you (‘doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing!), even the bloke cleaning the street on Madison at 6am hates you (‘he should just resign!)
Your political opponents, obviously, hate you. But so do a worrying number of your own side.
Now, I’m used to hearing moans from New Yorkers about the city’s mayors.
I remember Mike Bloomberg clearing a massive snow blizzard as 2011 arrived in such speed that it was like it had never happened within 36 hours.
In England, where a single snowflake has been known to paralyze the entire rail network for a month, Bloomberg would have been knighted for services to efficient weather management.
In New York, he was furiously lambasted by media and public alike – for taking so long.
But this level of moaning about you is on a whole different league, even by New Yorker standards.
The NYPD is in open revolt; many refusing to do even basic police work on the streets, others gleefully disrespecting you at public events, even funerals, by turning their backs when you speak.
And you know why? Because you were RIGHT.
And sometimes, being right is the hardest thing in politics.
Read the rest of the article here.Ryse: Son of Rome, a third-person action-adventure video game that was originally released as a launch title for Microsoft’s latest Xbox One video game console last year, is coming to Windows PC next week, and while the game is boasted to be well optimized, it clearly won’t support AMD’s Mantle API on launch, as well as in future. However, Crytek, a German-based developer responsible for the game, recently clarified that the general engine optimizations that were done for the console version of the game on Xbox One’s CPU will cling to the PC version of the game.
Ryse: Son of Rome PC Version Will Carry Xbox One CPU Optimizations – Entirely Based on DirectX 11, Won’t Support Mantle
Originally launched exclusively for Microsoft’s latest Xbox One video game console, Ryse: Son of Rome is one of the visually most impressive next-gen games. A couple of months ago, Crytek announced that the game will be making its way to PC with enhanced visuals and 4K resolution support that will take the in-game experience to a whole new level. Among other perks, Ryse: Son of Rome PC version will come packed with all the bonus material and downloadable content that has been released for console version of the game since its launch.
The developer has mentioned several times that Ryse: Son of Rome PC version will be completely optimized to supply the best graphical gameplay experience to gamers. The upcoming version of the game boasts visible visual improvements over the Xbox One version. Talking to GamingBolt about the port, senior producer Brian Chambers explained that the optimizations that were done for the Xbox One’s CPU will be valid for PC version of the game. He said:
“During development of Ryse on console, we always had a version running on PC. The main work for the PC release was adding backend support and adjusting the engine to run well on the many diverse hardware configurations (multi-GPU setups, systems with less VRAM than Xbox, etc.). Most of the general engine optimizations we did back then for the Xbox One version are valid for PC as well.”
However, with all those optimizations Ryse: Son of Rome PC version won’t support AMD’s looming low-level rendering API known as Mantle, Nicolas Schulz, principal rendering engineer at Crytek, told DSOGaming recently. He clarified that the game is entirely based on Microsoft’s DirectX 11, so it won’t come with Mantle support, and the developer has no plans to add it via future updates.
“Ryse is entirely based on DX11 and is shipping without Mantle support but this won’t have any negative impact on the experience.”
Ryse: Son of Rome lands on PC next week on October 10.POLICE are hunting two killers who knifed to death a 60-year-old Perth travel agent in a bag-snatch gone wrong on the Thai holiday island of Phuket last night.
Mother-of-two Michelle Smith, struggled to hold her bag and was slashed with a sharp knife.
A 10cm knife wound to the heart killed her soon after as two men sped off on a motorcycle about 10.30pm local time.
Mrs Smith, who is married with two grown children, Chanelle and Cameron, worked as a senior travel consultant with RAC Travel in Joondalup.
Mrs Smith's husband Geoff told the ABC his wife was a special person and will be sadly missed.
"Bright, sparkly, hard working, a wonderful mother. Loved her job, been in travel for approximately 40 years," he said.
"(I'm) totally devastated. It's a shock. It's not as if she was travelling on her own. She was with a group of agents all together and just unfortunately plucked out of the crowd."
The family are arranging to have her body repatriated as Thai police hunt for the attackers.
Mrs Smith had been walking with a friend, a 42-year-old woman, near their hotel complex in Kata Noi Bay, on Phuket's west coast, about 10.30pm last night when they were attacked by two men who approached on the bike.
The men attempted to steal the women's handbags and lashed out with a knife when they couldn't grab them.
The second woman suffered a slash wound to her arm and was taken to hospital in Phuket, but was allowed to leave early today after receiving stitches.
The wounded woman told police later: "We were walking single-file along the road, coming back from dinner. These guys had gone past a couple of times, and that started to bother us.
"Then I heard a noise behind me and I turned to see what I thought was my friend being pushed in the chest. I tried to help her.
"The men rode off, empty-handed. We started walking again, and only then did we realise we'd both been slashed."
The woman collapsed and died on the road outside the hotel, cut in the heart. Staff rushed to help the other woman.
A DFAT spokesman told PerthNow: “We can confirm the death of a 60-year-old Australian woman from Western Australia in Phuket and are providing consular assistance to her family.
"We are also providing consular assistance to a 42-year-old Australian woman from Western Australia who was injured in the incident.''
Both women were in a group of 10 travel agents from Perth who had arrived on Phuket on Monday to inspect the five-star Katathani Beach Resort, which dominates the small bay at Kata Noi, south of Patong and Karon, on Phuket's west coast.
The group are going to attempt to return to Perth this afternoon.
Prominent Perth travel agent and former WAFL star George Michalczyk, proprietor of Motive Travel, said he understood the travel agents had just completed a hotel inspection and had dinner before the incident occurred on Kata Beach, which was quieter than the main nearby tourist area of Patong.
The offenders had circled the group several times and made the group feel uneasy before he attempted the robbery.
Travelling companion says 'I''m ok'
Perth travel agent Kylie Daff, who is with the group in Phuket, posted on Facebook this morning: "Guys it may have hit local news... I am ok... with a supportive group of people... Can't update further just yet.. will keep post when ok to do so".
Mr Michalczyk said he received a text message early this morning from one of his staff members, who was with the group in Phuket.
"One of my staff is with them," he told 6PR.
"It's just amazing how something can get out of hand like this.
"You would just never ever ever contemplate that something like that would happen."
He said crime such as this was not expected in a place like Phuket.
"To turn around and attack someone so viciously and kill them in the street in front of all this group... from what I gather, all the staff and all the people in the street were just blown away with what happened.
"Will it scar Phuket? I hope it doesn't."
Jayson Westbury, chief executive of the Federation of Australian Travel Agents, said it was a tragedy.
"Dreadful news for the family, dreadful news for the travel industry here in Australia," Mr Westbury told ABC Radio.
"We're doing everything we can to try and reach out and see if we can assist there."
Read more about Aussie travel agent stabbed in heart on Phuket street at PerthNow.March and Rally at the White House
Saturday, April 13
Assemble at 12 noon
Lafayette Park – 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
The targeting of Africa and its vast natural resources by the Pentagon and CIA is in full swing.
Having killed thousands of people through U.S. drone strikes in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, the U.S. government is now putting all of Africa in the crosshairs.
The Pentagon is establishing a drone base headquarters in Niger and a network of drone bases throughout the continent.
In late December 2012, the United States announced a plan to send military missions to as many as 35 countries on the African continent.
After engaging in centuries of colonial plunder and the kidnapping of millions into slavery, the U.S. and European powers are bringing a new wave of militarism to Africa.
Under the guise of “fighting terrorism” or “saving civilians,” the United States, France and Britain are invading and bombing African countries.
Now they will step up their campaign of killing African people by the employment of Pentagon and CIA drone aircraft located in a network of bases being established by the Pentagon throughout the continent.
The U.S. functions as a death squad government, permitting the president and military leaders to create secret “kill lists” of people who have been selected for assassination. There is no due process, no trial, no evidence – the individuals are selected to be murdered and they are killed, and many civilians who are nearby also die. Drones are the weapon of choice.
Over 3,000 people have been murdered by U.S. drone strikes in the last few years, including a large number of children among the many civilians who have been slaughtered by these robotic killing machines.
Sitting in offices thousands of miles away from their targets, U.S. operators routinely decide to “push the button” and kill their unsuspecting targets on the ground with hellfire missiles fired from unseen drone aircraft. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, villagers have staged mass protests against drone strikes after their kids were incinerated while they were collecting firewood or farming in nearby fields.
In the 19th century, it was a common tactic of imperialists to use gunboats to move around the world and assert their will, answering challenges to their authority with bullets and cannon shot. The use, or threat of the use, of naval force was used by Britain, the United States and other imperialist nations to force exploitative terms of trade and political accommodations on various political entities around the world.
The United States government’s drone program serves the same general purpose as gunboat diplomacy. It enables the United States to extend its military power over any country that lacks the ability, or will, to shoot down the aircraft.
Join us at the White House for a march and rally on Saturday, April 13 to let the world know that the people of this country are demanding “Drones Out of Africa and Everywhere!”
Initial endorsers:
ANSWER Coalition
Cynthia McKinney, former Congressperson
Akbar Muhammad, International Rep. of Nation of Islam
Revival of Pan Africanism Forum
CRI-Panafricain
Democratic Union of Gambian Activists – D.C.
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
Nisa Muhammad, writer Final Call newspaper
Jared Ball, radio host, WPFW (Pacifica)
Rev. Graylan Hagler, Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ
Imam Mahdi Bray, Freedom Coalition
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director, Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
American-Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC)
Peta Lindsay, Party for Socialism and Liberation
Haiti Liberté
and others.
Endorse the April 13 action now!
The April 13 “U.S. Drones Out of Africa and Everywhere!” March and Rally at the White House takes place during a nationwide month of action opposing drones that also includes National Days Against Drones Actions in San Diego April 4-7 and the Ground the Drones, End the Wars weekend of education and action in Syracuse, N.Y., April 26-28. DetailsIt was written off as a glitch in the Matrix and quickly fixed when Apple’s Siri proclaimed that the Lumia 900 Windows Phone was the best smartphone available. Now, just a few weeks later, Samsung’s S Voice digital assistant points to HTC’s Trophy Windows Phone as the top smartphone. Coincidence? Perhaps. But it’s also possible that the computers are trying to tell us something…
Far from being artificial intelligence, Samsung and Apple’s digital assistants are simply a voice interface to certain web portals. In Siri’s case, she (it?) looked to Wolfram Alpha to decide the top smartphone. Wolfgram Alpha then queued up Best Buy’s user ratings, delivering the result of the Lumia 900 as the best smartphone a few weeks ago. Similarly, Samsung’s S Voice looked directly at Best Buy’s user rating, which now lists the HTC Trophy as the top smartphone (the Lumia is now #4 on the list). Of course these results are a bit tongue in check but there is still a lot of truth here.
Windows Phone is generally considered to be a solid performer. Users love the simple, to-the-point interface. The hardware in the Lumia 900 and HTC Trophy are equally impressive. Siri and S Voice are right: Windows Phones are serious contenders in today’s smartphone wars.Another popular Teachers Pay Teachers seller, David Rickert, creates hand-illustrated poetry worksheets as a labor of love.* He chooses not to us one of his most popular products, a comic to accompany the text of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” in his classroom. Instead, he prefers to keep the materials he sells and the ones he uses for his own students separate. That is not to say that his materials aren’t classroom ready—he, like Orman and many Teachers Pay Teachers sellers, writes a blog that is full of ideas about best practices for using his resources. Unlike Orman, though, he is enthusiastic about the prospect of the DOE’s #GoOpen campaign. He said he would be interested in creating additional comics if his district were to join the #GoOpen initiative because he’s always looking for new ways to reach more kids. He initially joined Teachers Pay Teachers not for the money, but simply because it is “a great way to get [my] stuff into classrooms, and I wouldn't want to shut that off.”
Although it is unclear how districts and schools looking to adopt an open curriculum will look upon teachers who are already selling their resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, if the #GoOpen campaign is to succeed, it will need a centralized platform where teachers can seek out each other’s work and find community. The Learning Registry is one DOE-endorsed tool that aggregates free education resources. Marcinek, who worked closely with the Learning Registry and the platforms it serves, looks to the music industry for design inspiration, citing playlists as an ideal element to help teachers curate and share quality lessons.
Amazon, currently testing its new education platform, Amazon Inspire, is another company poised to step into this role. The company’s resource-sharing resembles Teachers Pay Teachers and is comprised only of free and openly licensed materials. Rohit Agarwal, Amazon’s director of education, estimates that teachers spend an average of 12 hours a week searching for resources, and he hopes that Amazon Inspire will help to streamline this process. This great goal may be helpful to teachers in the role of consumer, but Amazon has had more difficulty assessing the needs of teachers who create materials. The company has not always recognized that well-honed and polished resources are not just something teachers have lying around ready to share. Amazon Inspire’s rollout showed little regard for the work of educators when it used teacher-generated resources taken from Teachers Pay Teachers without permission. To foster an intellectual community, it is important to respect the creative output of teachers as intellectual property.
There is no right answer to whether teachers should be paid for their materials. The types of work represented on Teachers Pay Teachers span such different uses: There are the rigorous lesson plans on American literature that could make our country a better democracy, the customizable classroom name tags that could improve one second-grader’s day, and the grading rubrics that could give a teacher back an hour of his weekend. The fact is, teachers’ work is already bestowed on the American public whether or not it is polished for sale or uploaded to an OER platform. But whether a teacher decides to share on a micro or a macro level, the choice should be open and judgement free.
* This article originally misspelled David Rickert's last name as Rickets. We regret the error.These are the World’s Top 10 Bitcoin-Friendly Countries
Imagine a country where everything new in the digital world is not only tested but implemented. Bitcoin.com is proud to present a list of the ten most Bitcoin-friendly countries in the world, where the technology is being tested and used at an increasingly rapid pace.
Also read: IBM is Experimenting with Open Blockchain & Shadowchains
World’s Top 10 Bitcoin-Friendly Countries
The countries are listed in no particular order since each nation has its own idiosyncrasies, differences in population, internet connectivity, etc. However, all of the countries listed have demonstrated their willingness, whether on behalf of the population, the government or both, to embrace Bitcoin’s innovative technology.
Check out Bitcoin.com’s video listing the world’s top Bitcoin-friendly countries below.
Estonia
The small Baltic nation of Estonia not only has a history of jumping on the latest technological innovation, but its tech-friendly government seems willing to implement innovations like blockchain technology for healthcare, banking services and even governance by allowing its citizens to become “e-Residents.” This service also gives Estonian citizens and businesses digital authentication. It was also one of the first to use a blockchain-based e-voting service that enables people to become shareholders of Nasdaq’s Tallinn Stock Exchange.
Well known as the birthplace of Skype, it now hosts a number of Bitcoin ATMs and startups such as Paxful, a global peer-to-peer buying and selling service for bitcoins. With one of the highest internet penetration rates in the world, Estonia is well positioned to be a place where a cryptocurrency users can certainly feel welcome.
The United States
Unsurprisingly, the US hosts the highest number of cryptocurrency users and Bitcoin trading volumes in the world. Bolstered by Silicon Valley, which is home to numerous cryptocurrency, blockchain related startups, and the highest number of Bitcoin ATMs in the world, the US has been at the forefront of the digital currency space since the beginning.
Moreover, as a global financial superpower, many nations across the globe look to the US for guidance in relation to cryptocurrency’s legal status and regulatory clarity not only from Washington D.C., but also individual states such as California, New York, and New Hampshire, just to name a few. Therefore, the US will undoubtedly serve as the testing ground for crypto-regulation in the years ahead, as other nations look on to see which approach works best (Spoiler: it probably won’t be New York’s).
The peer-to-peer bitcoin trading service LocalBitcoins has shown incessant growth in bitcoin trading volume since 2013 — a good indicator of organic demand considering the large population and number of Bitcoin users in the country.
Denmark
Denmark is not only one of the most developed countries in the world in terms of living standards and technology, but it’s also at the forefront of the push towards eliminating cash in favor of 100% digital currency. Therefore, wide-scale adoption of digital currency is not a question of if, but when. But whether Bitcoin will be used as a means of exchange or an alternative to the central banking monopoly or both, remains to be seen.
What’s more is that the Danish Central Bank declared Bitcoin not a currency, stating that it will not regulate its use in the country. Denmark is home to a number of Bitcoin startups and exchanges such as CCEDK, which has been a prolific innovator in the crypto-space with recent releases of Bitcoin “3.0” technology and decentralized exchange.
“I think freedom goes well with responsibility, which is something we are brought up with as a vital part of all lessons in school, and with this kind of easy access to crypto, we all carry this responsibility on our shoulders to bring this kind of currency to mainstream acceptance,” CCEDK CEO Ronny Boesing told Bitcoin.com, adding:
“Denmark was recently voted being the happiest country in the world, and the open mind towards cryptocurrency is just another reason to be happy living in Denmark.”
The LocalBitcoins trading volume has also indicated gradual growth in demand, particularly after plans to eliminate cash were announced in spring 2015.
Sweden
Similar to Denmark, Sweden is also out in front in the race to eliminate cash. When factoring in the recent introduction of negative interest rates by the Swedish Riksbank, a surge in demand for bitcoins could become a reality in the not too distance future as citizens scramble to for safe haven to store their wealth.
The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) have legitimized the fast growing industry in the country by publicly declaring Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) as a means of payment. Though certain businesses interacting with fiat (mainly exchanges) must file for a license in accordance with AML/CTF and KYC regulations.
Sweden is home to numerous Bitcoin startups including the Safello bitcoin exchange and Stockholm-based KnCMiner, a well-known mining hardware developer that has been producing cutting-edge ASIC miners since 2013. The LocalBitcoins volume has reflected continued growth in cryptocurrency demand.
South Korea
Home to a vibrant tech-industry, which includes giants such as Samsung and LG, and having one of the highest smartphone penetration and mobile payment rates in the world, it is no surprise South Korea is quickly embracing Bitcoin both as an investment and means of exchange.
Since there are no laws in the country regulating Bitcoin use, a number of related startups have sprung up as a result including Korbit, “a secure and comprehensive service to use, accept, and buy bitcoin” that also focuses on remittances and cross-border payments. People can also buy bitcoins at 7-Eleven stores across the country thanks to a campaign by South Korean bitcoin exchange platform Coinplug.
South Korea is also a regular host of Bitcoin conferences and has provided a friendly climate for the local Bitcoin community.
“Bitcoin is about tearing down artificial financial barriers around the world,” said Bitcoin investor Roger Ver. “As an economic and societal hub in Asia, Seoul is a fantastic place to have a Bitcoin conference.”
The Netherlands
How can a country not be called Bitcoin-friendly when it boasts its own “Bitcoin City” i.e. Arnhem with over 100 merchants? Here, a Bitcoiner could probably get everything he wants including gas, accommodation, bicycles, and even dental services.
Cryptocurrencies are currently not regulated under the Act on Financial Supervision of the Netherlands, which is why numerous startups, Bitcoin ATMs and even a Bitcoin Embassy in the heart of Amsterdam have sprung up as a result. The climate has fostered vibrant Bitcoin communities across the country that host regular meet-ups and events.
Additionally, the country’s banking sector, including ABN Amro and ING, has been increasingly looking at Bitcoin and the blockchain as a way to improve their own technology and cut costs. The Netherlands is a regular host of Bitcoin conferences and Bitcoin companies such as BitPay.
Finland
Just like its Scandinavian neighbors, Finland has also been on the cutting edge of technological innovation, renowned for being the home of Nokia. The Finnish Central Board of Taxes (CBT) regulator has classified Bitcoin as a financial service, exempting it and bitcoin purchases from VAT.
The country has a significant amount of Bitcoin ATMs given its sparse population including 10 in the capital of Helsinki according to coinATMradar. The country is also home to exchanges FinCCX and Bittiraha as well as the leading global P2P bitcoin exchange LocalBitcoins. In January of 2016, the most expensive bitcoin sale involving a luxury vehicle took place at the Auto-outlet Helsinki Oy of a Tesla Model S worth over € 140,000.
Canada
Canada is home to numerous Bitcoin startups and ATMs, and is right on the heels of its southern neighbor as far as a Bitcoin-friendly climate is concerned. The country boasts not one but two cities in the eastern and western parts that can be deemed “Bitcoin hubs,” namely Toronto and Vancouver. Bitcoin is regulated under the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws in Canada following long deliberation and even testimony from Bitcoin expert Andreas Antonopoulos before the Senate of Canada.
Canada is home to a bustling cryptocurrency community and startups such as Decentral, the Vanbex Group as well as thousands of accepting merchants. Vancouver alone has over 20 Bitcoin ATMs while on September 19th, 2016, Toronto is slated to host the largest blockchain conference to date. The LocalBitcoins volume has grown consistently in the country since 2013.
UK
The UK is often seen as the leading global financial hub and a center of innovation. Therefore, the presence of numerous Bitcoin and blockchain related startups, BTMs, and an active community makes it a Bitcoin-friendly environment indeed. The country also sees new payment solution as inevitable and is preparing itself for mass-scale digital currency adoption in the future, as you can already grab a pint at many local pubs for bitcoin.
What’s more is that the Bank of England has been closely looking at Bitcoin technology and has even requested the public to pitch ideas on how to improve its monetary system. Currently, Bitcoin is treated as “private money,” where VAT is imposed in a normal way from suppliers of any goods or services sold in exchange for bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. While profits and losses on cryptocurrencies are subject to capital gains tax, similar to the US.
UK’s Barclays bank writes:
It is becoming increasingly clear that Bitcoin is part of an even bigger story: financial institutions, including barclays are now considering how the technology underpinning digital currencies – the blockchain – could itself revolutionize finance.
UK’s LocalBitcoins volume has reflected this sentiment, showing steady growth.
Australia
While Australia’s major banks have been rather hostile towards Bitcoin, the country recently moved to remove “double taxation” on Bitcoin, which came as good news to the local community and businesses; particularly after some Bitcoin startups chose to leave the country, in light of unfavorable taxation and reported bank account freezes.
Bitcoin, however, remains unregulated as the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia stated in an interview that “There would be nothing to stop people in this country deciding to transact in some other currency in a shop if they wanted to. There’s no law against that, so we do have competing currencies.” Australia classifies bitcoin as property and therefore purchases made with bitcoin as barter, according to Wikipedia.
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is currently testing distributed ledger technology, in relation to which former JP Morgan executive Blythe Masters said Australia could see “the first successful blockchain project in the world.” Moreover, the Australia Post will also consider using distributed ledger technology to store digital identities in an effort to improve service and reverse falling revenue.
The country is home to many exchanges and LocalBitcoins volume has been rising steadily.
What other Top 10 lists would you like to see? Let us know in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of coin.dance, seoulsuburban.comATLANTA–In response to complaints from the community, Georgia State University police today (June 2) removed tents and property from in front of the Georgia State Stadium on Hank Aaron Drive.
“It became apparent that community tolerance for the abandoned tents and debris was waning,” Georgia State Police Chief Joseph Spillane said. “We allowed the group to keep the tents up for more than two months, but the time has come for the university to clean up the property and move forward.”
Spillane noted the tent set-up required the university to use its resources to ensure the safety of protesters and the public.
University Police and Facilities Services allowed tent owners to move their property to the street and will store the rest of the abandoned tents and property until their owners claim them.
Some members of the surrounding neighborhoods urged the university to remove the tents, which they said were an eyesore and traffic, health and safety hazards that detract from the community.
University leaders are continuing to meet with representatives from the neighborhoods to talk about the university’s community involvement. In April, Georgia State reached a partnership agreement that defined a long-term plan for the university’s engagement with area residents.METRO VANCOUVER -- One man has been arrested and charged in connection to the murder of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch, the Surrey teen who was found dead Sept. 16 in East Newton.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said on Sunday night that the man was currently in custody, but no further details, including the name of the man, would be released until a joint press conference by the IHIT and Surrey RCMP on Monday morning.
Vermeersch was last seen taking a bus on 128 Street and 64 Avenue last Monday and reported missing by her mother the next day when she had not returned home.
Last Thursday, police said her death appeared to be a random crime and cautioned the public to be “vigilant.”
They had asked for public assistance in locating a man witnessed leaving the area in a pickup truck described as a gray or silver Dodge full size with a canopy and roof rack. The car was seen going West bound on 66th Avenue, u-turning at Uplands road and heading East bound on 66th towards 148th Street.
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===NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Divers have found the bodies of four sailors who were on board an Indian naval submarine that was badly damaged by a fire after an explosion, but it was unlikely any of the 14 other crew members would be found alive, the navy said on Friday
Navy divers standing on the INS Sindhurakshak submarine prepare to dive into the waters of the Arabian Sea, during a rescue operation in Mumbai August 14, 2013. REUTERS/Indian Ministry of Defence/Handout via Reuters
The explosion in a weapons store in the forward section of the Russian-built INS Sindhurakshak on Tuesday night caused a fire so hot it melted steel as the vessel lay berthed in Mumbai, resulting in the navy’s worst loss in more than four decades.
“The bodies are severely disfigured and not identifiable due to severe burns. The bodies have been sent to INHS Ashiwini, the naval hospital for DNA identification,” spokesman Narendra Vispute told reporters.
In an earlier statement, the navy said the heat of the exploding weapons made it unlikely anybody inside could have survived.
The sinking of the diesel-powered submarine is the biggest blow for the navy, both in terms of lives and the loss of a vessel, since a frigate was sunk in the 1971 war with Pakistan.
It has turned the spotlight on the navy’s ageing submarine fleet even as it spends billions of rupees on aircraft carriers to counter the rising influence of the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean.
The Sindhurakshak is a Kilo class vessel, which were built in former Soviet and later Russian shipyards for the Indian navy from 1985 to 2000. The navy has 10 of the submarines and four German HDW boats.
A defense source said the navy did not have a deep submergence rescue vehicle that other navies use to save trapped sailors, although in this case the incident occurred while it was docked and not in the deep seas.
The navy said divers could not enter the Sindhurakshak for more than 12 hours because of boiling water inside parts of the vessel. Access was “almost impossible due to jammed doors and hatches, distorted ladders, oily and muddy waters”.
Only one diver could work at a time initially to clear a path inside the submarine. Divers are trying to reach further inside to find the remaining bodies, the navy said.
A naval board of inquiry has been ordered into how weapons went off while the vessel was berthed in the high-security Mumbai base.
Weapons on board such a submarine include torpedoes and missiles that are launched over long ranges above water.Not to be confused with Trolls (film)
Troll is a 1986 American comedy horror film directed by John Carl Buechler and produced by Charles Band of Empire Pictures, starring Noah Hathaway, Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, Jenny Beck, and Sonny Bono. The film was shot in Italy in the Stabilimenti Cinematografici Pontini studios near Rome. It is unrelated to Troll 2 and Troll 3.[3]
Plot [ edit ]
The Potter family move into a new apartment complex in San Francisco. While unpacking, their young daughter Wendy is attacked by a grotesque little creature, who had long ago been transformed from a powerful wizard into a troll. Using a magic crystal green ring, he captures Wendy and possesses her form. After meeting the other eccentric tenants, the family notices Wendy's unusual behavior (roaring, biting, tossing people across rooms, punching people in the groin), but they attribute her behavior to the stress of the move. The only one that notices something is terribly wrong is Wendy's brother, Harry Potter Jr.
Frightened by his sister's sudden and violent changes, he seeks solace in the company of a mysterious old woman named Eunice St. Clair, who lives upstairs. When he tells her of the strange goings-on, she reveals to him her real profession: a witch. Harry asks Eunice to teach him magic, but she says that there isn't time. She does instruct him as to the ways of a hidden magical world, and tells him of her long history stretching back to a time when she and a powerful wizard named Torok were in love. At that time the world was divided between fairies, which includes trolls, and humans. The realms were equal and independent of each other; however, Torok and some of the fairies challenged this balance resulting in a great war in which the humans prevailed. Torok was transformed into a troll as punishment. Eunice stands guard, as she has for centuries now in her apartment, waiting patiently for Torok to challenge the realms again, which is happening now. The troll wizard has already begun his secret war, going from apartment to apartment, attacking the tenants and transforming them into mythical creatures according to their personalities, such as goblins, nymphs, an elf, and a bugbear, and it transforms their rooms into lush fairy worlds. When every apartment is transformed the world of the fairies will burst forth into the world of the humans.
Harry is told by Eunice that Torok can be stopped by plunging a magic staff into the heart of Torok's world. Eunice tells Harry the heart of the new fairy world will be a large and vicious magical creature. Armed with magic staffs which shoot bolts of energy, Eunice and Harry launch a final attempt to stop Torok's hostile takeover of the world and enter the troll's magical alternate universe. Eunice is attacked by Torok and turned into a tree stump, and Harry finds his sister trapped in a coffin of glass à la Snow White. Suddenly, Torok's great bat monster attacks and disables Harry. When it goes after Wendy, Torok kills it, destroying his carefully constructed fairy realm. As the magic world collapses around them, Harry and his family are given a chance to escape, leaving just as the police arrive. Eunice is restored to normal as well as she bids Harry farewell and departs. As the police investigate the house, one of them is drawn into a remaining fragment of the alternate fairy world.
Torok's arm rises into view, preparing to use his ring on the cop. The door closes while the film goes black. The credits roll.
Cast [ edit ]
Release [ edit ]
Box office [ edit ]
The estimated budget for Troll was between $700,000 and $1.1 million.[citation needed] Troll opened in the U.S. on January 19, 1986 on 959 screens, earning $2,595,054 that weekend. The film placed ninth on the box office charts for opening weekend.
Critical reception [ edit ]
The film received poor reviews by critics, including by Janet Maslin, Patricia Smith, and Alan Carter. Rex Reed had a few positive comments, but was predominantly negative.[4] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 25% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10.[5]
Despite the negative response, the film did become a cult classic, and an unrelated 1990 movie initially called "Goblins" was renamed "Troll 2" in an attempt to misleadingly market itself as a sequel to Troll.
DVD/Blu-ray releases [ edit ]
Troll was released on a double feature DVD with Troll 2 by MGM on August 26, 2003.[6] Scream Factory released a double feature Blu-ray of Troll and Troll 2 on November 17, 2015. The first 5,000 copies included a DVD of Best Worst Movie, the documentary about the production and legacy of Troll 2.[7]
Accolades [ edit ]
In 1986, Beck was nominated to 8th Youth in Film Association, for the exceptional performance by a Young Actress.
Legacy [ edit ]
Troll's plot has no
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of a new country, the Republic of South Sudan.Lockheed Martin's Fortis Knee Stress Release Device (K-SRD) – an exoskeleton designed to lessen leg strain on soldiers walking uphill with heavy loads – has been tested on a group of four participants, according to a report in Army Technology.
As part of a study conducted by University of Michigan's Human Neuromechanics Laboratory, four trained experts wore the Fortis exoskeleton and carried as much as 40 pounds (around 18kg) of weight on their backs while walking on a treadmill inclined at 15 degrees.
The subjects kept varying their speeds in order to demonstrate real-life situations, which could sometimes require troops to walk fast or run over rough terrains. They also performed the same physically-demanding task without any gear.
Ultimately, the results of the test showed significant differences between both scenarios. When wearing the exoskeleton, participants conserved energy and witnessed a significant reduction in exhaustion, while without it, they were quick to suffer from fatigue.
"The study results show K-SRD's potential to increase mobility for dismounted troops," said Keith Maxwell, exoskeleton technologies programme manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "By reducing the effort in walking and climbing, there's less fatigue. This technology can literally help our fighting men and women go the extra mile while carrying mission-essential equipment."
The Fortis exoskeleton, which interestingly looks like a piece of Iron Man's tech, works on Dermoskeleton bionic augmentation technology, which uses advanced sensors to reduce the amount of stress on the knees and lower back.
Information about the soldier's speed, direction and angle of movement is captured by the sensors and used by a software to generate synchronised movement at the motorised knees. This ultimately assists with the knee flex and extension and reduces energy consumption while lifting or dragging heavy loads on inclines or stairs.
The technology could have major implications in the military and enable soldiers to carry more supplies and heavy weaponry over long distances.
But it is worth noting that the benefits of this tech are not just limited to soldiers. It could even be used by firefighters, who have to climb several flights of stairs quickly during emergency situations.
There's no word on when this tech is likely to be incorporated, but University of Michigan researchers are moving ahead with other tests. They will soon conduct the next round of tests, which will be used to demonstrate the exoskeleton's viability in urban scenarios, such as ascending and descending stairs.Another day, another style phase for Kim Kardashian West.
The Keeping up with the Kardashians star has been trying out a variety of outfits lately, including a bike/short corset combo, a variety of denim Bermuda shorts and some clear thigh high rain boots. But not content to stop there, the star continued to push the boundaries of any normal closet, hitting husband Kanye West‘s Madison Square Garden show in a fully metallic ensemble.
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The 35-year-old star teamed a sheer silver slip dress with a pair of $1,700 Balenciaga boots previously “worn” by her daughter North West.
Said Elatab/Splash News Online Said Elatab/Splash News Online
In true KarJenner fashion, the mom of two documented her night — and her outfit — in a slew of Snapchat posts. She snapped selfies with stars like Ariana Grande, La La Anthony and Yoko Ono.
RELATED PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian’s Most Naked Moments Ever
And the night seemed just as fun as her outfit. In several videos posted on her Snapchat, Kardashian West is seen jumping around and screaming along with her sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Scott Disick and several others.
At the rate Kim is plowing through the world’s supply of sheer outfits and thigh-high boots, we worry there will be none left for Kylie. Won’t someone please think of Kylie?
What do you think of Kim’s latest, sexy look? Sound off below!Sixty years ago today, baseball saw one of its least likely home runs.
At the plate was a 28-year-old rookie Giant stepping into a major league batters box for the very first time. But it wasn’t just any 28-year-old rookie, but a 28-year-old rookie pitcher. Yeah, that’s someone unlikely to homer in his first at-bat.
This particular aging rookie was Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm. He’d made his pitching debut a few days earlier, but this was his first time at the plate. He faced Boston Braves reliever Dick Hoover, who had just entered the game after the starting pitcher allowed two homers and a hit batsmen to the last three batters he faced.
Wilhelm belted a solo home run in his first at-bat, clearly not a bad way to start his career. One could be forgiven for wondering if this newest pitcher would be better suited to an everyday role, but that was not to be. Rather famously, Wilhelm’s first-at-bat home run would be the only one in his career.
He’ll play 21 years and have 493 plate appearances, but never go deep again. In fact, he proved to be a.088 hitter. Even for a pitcher, that’s bad.
An inning after his homer, Wilhelm drove in another run on a ground out. He wouldn’t drive in another run for 14 months. Wilhelm had only one other multi-RBI game in his career.
After this game, his best shot was a triple, which he hit in 1953. He also hit two of his three career doubles that year. From 1954-73, Wilhelm hit.075/.125/.078.
As unlikely as it sounds, a pitcher homered in his first at-bat and then played another 20-plus years without another longball. And that homer was 60 years ago today.
Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is an event that happened X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you just want to skim:
Day-versaries
1,000 days since the Red Sox trade Mark Kotsay to the White Sox for Brian Anderson.
1,000 days since Mark Buehrle retires the first 17 batters he faces. Including his recent perfect game (and the fact he retired the last batter he faced in the start before that), he now has 45 consecutive batters retired, a new all-time record. However, the Sox lose this game, 5-3 to the Twins.
1,000 days since the Red Sox retire Jim Rice’s number.
4,000 days since The Red Sox lose 7-6 to the A’s. It’s a very strange loss, as the would-be game-tying sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth turns into a double play. The trailing runner tagged up and is nailed before the lead runner can cross the plate.
4,000 days since Carlos Delgado hits his 204th home run with Toronto, surpassing Joe Carter as the all-time franchise leader in dingers.
4,000 days since the Cardinals send struggling pitcher Rick Ankiel to the minors. He needs work on his control, as he tossed five wild pitches the day before.
5,000 days since seven games go into extra-innings, matching a record set in 1918.
8,000 days since the Mets fire Davey Johnson, the best skipper in franchise history.
8,000 days since Rickey Henderson steals his 893rd base, passing Ty Cobb on the all-time leaderboard.
9,000 days since Tom Candiotti tosses his second one-hitter of the year but loses 2-1. He makes an error and walks seven. The hit comes from the bat of Matt Nokes with two outs in the eighth.
10,000 days since the Padres and White Sox trade seven players. The Padres get former Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt, while the Sox get Ozzie Guillen, Tim Lollar, and Luis Salazar.
15,000 days since the Mets trade former Cy Young Award winner Dean Chance to the Tigers.
20,000 days since Hall of Famer George Kell hits his seventh homer off Alex Kellner. That’s rather impressive given that Kell will end his career with only 78 home runs.
20,000 days since Cub reliever Jim Brosnan injures his Achilles’ heel by falling off the mound during pre-game warm-ups. He becomes one of the rare starting pitchers who never tosses a single in-game pitch.
30,000 days since Del Crandall, catcher, is born.
Anniversaries
1886 Harry Coveleski, Giant-killer pitcher who beat them repeatedly in the 1908 NL pennant race, is born.
1888 Cupid Childs, a second baseman of arguable Hall of Fame talent, makes his big league debut.
1890 Kid Nichols, the dominant pitcher of the 1890s, makes his debut.
1891 Darby O’Brien hits into a walk-off triple play.
1892 Charles Comiskey manages his 1,000th game. His record: 643-340.
1900 Jim Bottomley, Hall of Famer, is born in Oglesby, Illinois.
1903 The New York Yankees win their first game, topping the Senators, 7-2. Well, they were called the Highlanders, not the Yankees, but close enough.
1903 The Braves win, giving them an all-time franchise record 523 games over.500 (1,833-1,310). That’s their franchise peak.
1907 Dolph Camilli, NL slugger, is born.
1910 Tris Speaker pulls off his second career unassisted triple play. He snares a low line drive and beats Harry Davis to second base.
1914 It’s the first game ever played at Weegham Park in Chicago. You know it as Wrigley Field. The Chicago Whales of the Federal League win, 9-1.
1919 Babe Ruth legs out the first of his 10 inside-the-park home runs.
1919 Walter Johnson hurls his fifth Opening Day shutout, a 1-0 win over the A’s in 13 frames.
1921 Warren Spahn, the winningest pitcher of the last 80 years, is born.
1923 Rogers Hornsby hits his 100th home run. All his homers have come with the Cardinals, making them the fourth franchise to have a guy with triple-digit homers.
1923 Rabbit Maranville hits his 100th triple.
1924 The Cubs begin regular radio coverage of their home games with Hal Trotten broadcasting on WMAQ.
1924 Sherm Lollar, catcher, is born.
1926 For the only time in his career, Lefty Grove doesn’t record a single out in one of his starts. He walks two, allows a hit, and has another guy get on via error.
1932 Hall of Famer Fred Lindstrom gets a hit-by-pitch for the first time since July 1928, a stretch of nearly 450 games.
1933 Tim Keefe, 300-game-winner, dies.
1935 For the first time in three years, Bill Terry hits an inside-the-park home run. He gets it off the same pitcher who allowed the previous one, Huck Betts.
1939 Ted Williams goes 4-for-5, including his first career home run.
1940 Pee Wee Reese makes his big league debut.
1941 Phil Rizzuto hits his only walk-off home run. It’s a two-run shot in the 11th inning for a 4-2 Yankees win over the Red Sox.
1942 Lloyd Waner fans for the first since Aug. 4, 1940. He played over 100 games since then.
1943 Amid complaints that the new balata balls are 25 percent less resilient, Spalding Company denies charges of inferior balls.
1944 Jim Tobin of the Braves tosses an Opening Day one-hitter. Phillies second baseman Ford Mullen gets a safety in the sixth inning.
1946 Ed Head tosses a no-hitter. He walks three and there is one error.
1947 The White Sox purchase slugger Gus Zernial from the Indians.
1948 A dying Babe Ruth attends the ceremony for the 25th anniversary of Yankee Stadium, The House That He Built.
1949 Joe McCarthy records his 2,000th win as manager. His record: 2,000-1,250. That same day, Frankie Frisch wins his 1,000th decision: 1,000-884.
1950 In a first, a game begun during the day ends under lights. It’s the second game of a doubleheader at Braves Field.
1950 Joe Adcock makes his big league debut.
1951 According to WPA, Warren Spahn has the best start of his career: 1.021 WPA. He tosses a personal best 15.2 innings (that’s one more out than he recorded in his famous duel versus Juan Marichal) but loses 2-1 to the Dodgers. Spahn’s Game Score is 99.
1952 It’s a rarity, dueling one-hitters. St. Louis Browns pitcher Bob Cain tops Indians legend Bob Feller for a 1-0 win. Feller allows a triple to the first batter he faces, who scores. Cain surrenders a single in the fifth. This is Feller’s 11th career one-hitter. This is the only one in which he pitches fewer than nine innings. He tosses eight, as St. Louis doesn’t need a ninth frame.
1953 Mickey Mantle knocks out the first of his dozen walk-off home runs.
1954 Hank Aaron hits the first of his 755 career home runs. Vic Raschi allows it.
1954 Jackie Robinson steals second, third, and home (as the front of a triple steal) in a 6-5 Dodgers win over the Pirates in 13 innings. The winning run scores on a Robinson homer.
1955 Sherm Lollar celebrates his birthday by getting two hits in an inning—in two different innings. The White Sox destroy the Indians, 29-6.
1958 It’s a big day for the Dodgers as Gil Hodges hits his 300th home run, Pee Wee Reese plays in his 2,000th game, and Duke Snider injures his arm. The Cubs beat them, 7-6.
1959 Jim Perry, star pitcher and brother of a Hall of Fame pitcher, makes his big league debut.
1960 For the 200th time, Casey Stengel and Paul Richards manage a game against each other.
1960 The White Sox release the first great Venezuelan shortstop, Chico Carrasquel.
1962 The Mets finally win a game. They’re 1-9 on the year. They beat the Pirates, who came into the contest at 10-0, an NL record at the time.
1964 Astros pitcher Ken Johnson tosses a no-hitter but loses. He personally commits two errors in the ninth, and that brings in a run for a 1-0 Reds win. He thus didn’t last a full nine innings, and this isn’t considered a sanctioned no-hitter as a result.
1965 Jim Lonborg makes his big league debut.
1966 Fergie Jenkins homers off of Don Sutton for his first home run. Jenkins also tosses a shutout for a 2-0 Cubs win. It’s the first of 13 consecutive losses Sutton will suffer against the Cubs.
1968 The Cubs acquire Jim Hickman and Phil Regan from the Dodgers for Ted Savage and Jim Ellis.
1968 Relief pitcher Stu Miller appears in his final game.
1969 The White Sox play the first of 11 games this year in Milwaukee. It’s the second year they’ve done this. They won’t do it again, as the Brewers will be there in 1970.
1971 Walter Alston becomes the ninth manager to record his 1,500th win. His record: 1,500-1,210.
1974 Gene Mauch has win No. 1,000 as manager. His record: 1,000-1,144.
1974 Cy Williams dies.
1977 Andruw Jones, centerfielder who fizzled younger than he should have, is born.
1977 Veteran pitcher Ray Sadecki plays in his last game.
1978 Ron Hassey makes his big league debut.
1978 The Phillies sign amateur free agent Julio Franco, who proves to have some impressive staying power.
1979 Carlos Silva, starting pitcher with great control, is born.
1980 Bruce Kison loses a no-hitter in the ninth, something that will happen to him twice this year. Ken Landreaux of the Twins doubles in the ninth with one out. Kison’s Angels win, 17-0.
1980 George Brett unleashes the only bases-loaded triple of his career.
1982 Julio Franco makes his big league debut.
1982 Ryne Sandberg has the first of 25 multi-home run games. They are career homers No. 1 and 2.
1982 The Yankees trade Bob Watson to the Braves.
1985 Teddy Higuera makes his major league debut.
1988 Steve Carlton plays in his final game.
1989 Andre Dawson connects for his 300th career home run.
1989 With one out in the ninth, Lloyd Moseby breaks up a would-be no-hitter by Nolan Ryan. It’s the only one Ryan loses in the ninth.
1990 In the Chicago Crosstown Classic exhibition game, Steve Lyons of the Sox plays all nine positions.
1990 Dan Quisenberry, former relief ace, plays in his last game.
1992 Deron Johnson dies of lung cancer at age 53.
1992 The Mets top the Cardinals, 1-0 in 13 innings, on the rare walk-off hit-by-pitch when Juan Agosto plunks Daryl Boston. It’s one of only four 1-0 games since 1950 to end on a walk-off HBP.
1994 John Mabry makes his big league debut.
1994 The Blue Jays all-time franchise record peaks at 14 games over.500 (1,363-1,349).
1997 Barry Bonds hits his first inside-the-park home run in 10 years. Five months later, he’ll hit his third and final one. Tom Glavine allows this one; it’s the only one he ever surrenders.
1999 Fernando Tatis hits two grand slams in one inning. Incredibly, they are both off the same pitcher: Chan Ho Park.
2000 Alex Rodriguez walks five times in five trips to the plate. He scores twice as the Mariners top the Royals, 8-5.
2000 Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada become the first teammates to homer from both sides of the plate in one game. The Yankees top the Jays, 10-7.
2004 Barry Bonds receives four intentional walks in one game. It’s the first of four times this happens. All four instances occur this year.
2004 Former ace pitcher Kevin Appier appears in his last game.
2005 Former big league pitcher Earl Wilson dies at age 70.
2005 Roger Clemens, for the third consecutive start, is on the wrong end of a 1-0 game. Today, Mark Mulder lasts 10 innings for a 1-0 win over Clemens and the Astros. It’s the first 10-inning complete game shutout win in a 1-0 game since Jack Morris did it in Game Seven of the 1991 World Series.
2006 Brian Wilson, famously bearded Giants closer, makes his big league debut.
2007 Alex Rodriguez’s best career hitting streak peaks at 23 games. He’s 39-for-90 with 10 doubles and 15 homers. He’s also walked 10 times. His line over this period:.433/.495/1.044.
2008 The Cubs win the 10,000th game in franchise history.
2010 The Reds replace GM Wayne Krivsky with Walt Jocketty, formerly of the Cardinals. Jocketty becomes the fourth Reds GM in six years.INTRODUCTION
Hello, my name is John Kiminas and welcome to my Kickstarter project page.
My dream is to make fishing lures for a living. For the past two years, I've spent a great deal of time and effort learning how to build fishing lures. I call this my research and development phase. I read many books, watched too many videos to count and visited all of the online resources I could find. I absorbed all of the information I could find, then proceeded to start building fishing lures.
Initially, I had a lot to learn. There are many steps involved when manufacturing fishing lures, and I had to figure out what those were and how to accomplish them. I learned the following:
Advanced wood carving techniques
How to use an airbrush
How to balance a lure
Which products to use for sealing the types of wood I was using
How to clear coat a lure
Which paints worked the best for production
Which epoxies to use for various situations
What lure hardware works the best
This phase of the project took a little bit longer that expected, but was necessary in order for me to proceed. All of my research and experimenting enabled the development of a manufacturing process that allows me to create and produce a quality product that will hold up to the rigors of fishing.
Lures In-Progress
THE PROJECT
The first lure model I plan to manufacture and sell is a surface lure called a popper. The popper is a surface lure with a cupped mouth, which when jerked, will create a surface disturbance and popping sound. This particular popper model boasts a set of protruding gills, a large concave mouth, 3-D reflective eyes and a fish-shaped body to help elicit a strike from the game fish you're perusing.
Freshly Painted Lures
This popper model comes in two different sizes, are the same lure shape and will be painted to match several of the more common bait fish species. The larger popper is 3 7/8” in length and weighs half an ounce. The smaller popper is 2 7/8” in length and weighs one third an ounce.
Finished Lure
Lure In Hand
Initially, I plan on selling the lures online from my Web site, and in Georgia, Alabama and Florida tackle shops. If sales are good and I can meet production, I will explore other areas where I can sell my fishing lures.
School Of Bass
CARVING THE LURES
Most people do not realize what is involved in the lure making process, so for those interested, I created this short video of the carving process. In just a few steps, a simple block of wood is transformed in to a fishing lure.
THINGS I NEED
I have been making fishing lures using hand tools and the few materials I have acquired in small quantities. In order to increase my production, there are a few things I will need.
Currently I am using a few files, sandpaper, carving knives, a hand drill and an old scroll saw to manufacture my lures. The tools I am using will do the job properly, but the process is time consuming. Having a few power tools will help to expedite the process, and allow me to be more consistent while shaping the lure bodies.
TOOLS LIST
Wood Lathe – Excellent tool for quickly shaping cylindrical lure bodies quickly.
– Excellent tool for quickly shaping cylindrical lure bodies quickly. Combination Sander – Expedites the sanding process and saves time.
– Expedites the sanding process and saves time. Drill Press – Having a drill press allows for precise hole drilling that a hand drill can't match.
– Having a drill press allows for precise hole drilling that a hand drill can't match. Airbrush – Having a good airbrush will allow for more complex and realistic paint jobs.
– Having a good airbrush will allow for more complex and realistic paint jobs. Air Compressor – This is what powers the airbrush.
My materials list is short, but necessary. I have been purchasing these materials in small quantities as I need them, but this is not cost effective. In order to bring the cost per unit down, I need to purchase the materials in my list in larger quantities.
MATERIALS LIST
Epoxy – I use two different types of epoxies, one to secure hardware and one as a sealant.
– I use two different types of epoxies, one to secure hardware and one as a sealant. Top Coat – This protects the paint, is a final seal for the lure and makes the lure almost indestructible.
– This protects the paint, is a final seal for the lure and makes the lure almost indestructible. Propionate Plastic – This is used to seal and solidify softer wood prior to painting.
– This is used to seal and solidify softer wood prior to painting. Paint – The paint used for decorating lures is heat-cured and scratch resistant.
– The paint used for decorating lures is heat-cured and scratch resistant. Acetone – This is used for thinning the propionate plastic and for clean up.
– This is used for thinning the propionate plastic and for clean up. Wood – This what the lure bodies are made from.
– This what the lure bodies are made from. Lure Hardware – These are used to attach the hooks to the lure.
FISHING INDUSTRY STATISTICS
In America, about 1 out of every 6 people enjoy spending time fishing. In fact, fishing is one of the most popular pastimes in America. If you know 6 people, chances are one of them is a fisherman.
The following are a few interesting fishing statistics presented by the American Sportfishing Association:
More Americans fish than play golf (21 million) and tennis (13 million) combined.
Fishing is identified by American families as one of the best ways to spend quality time together. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, fishing as a leisure-time activity ranks higher than playing basketball or softball, skateboarding, jogging or hiking.
If fishing were a company, the amount spent by anglers to support fishing-related retail sales would rank number 51 on the Fortune 500 list.
America’s nearly 60 million anglers are estimated to spend $46 billion per year on fishing equipment and related expenses.
The angling industry’s total annual economic impact of $115 billion will support more than 828,000 jobs in 2013.
Fishing generated more revenue ($48 billion) than: Lockheed Martin ($47 billion), Intel ($44 billion), Chrysler ($42 billion), Google ($38 billion)
STATISTICS SOURCE: Sportfishing in America: An Economic Force for Conservation A fishing statistics report produced by the American Sportfishing Association.
OTHER HAND CARVED LURES
The following lures are a just a few, of many, that I have created.
A Prop Style Lure
Medium Diving "Mini Mac"
Small Cigar lure with Propeller
Bleeding Minnow Wobble Bait
Big Headed Popper
Introducing The "Whatchamahookie"
CONCLUSION
Thanks very much for visiting my Kickstarter project page. I did my best to try and establish how and what I am trying to accomplish. Please help my dream of producing fishing lures come true by contributing to my project. As a special thanks, donations of $35 or more will receive a beautiful, special edition hand carved fishing lure.Enlarge By Kin Cheung, AP Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, will be released Nov. 17. Interactive Calendar Interactive Calendar
NEW YORK Sarah Palin finished her book quickly and became a best seller even faster. Just two days after HarperCollins announced that the release of Palin's memoir, Going Rogue, had been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, preorders for the former Alaska governor's book have made it No. 1 on Barnes & Noble.com on Wednesday and at No. 2 on Amazon.com, trailing only Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Palin, in collaboration with author Lynn Vincent, completed her 400-page book just four months after agreeing to terms with HarperCollins, which plans a first printing of 1.5 million copies. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read moreBy DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Political candidates could solicit unlimited contributions for independent committees supporting them under bills the Michigan Senate approved Thursday.
Majority Republicans said the legislation would lock federal court rulings into state law, but Democrats countered it would guarantee more money flows into politics. The bills advanced after Senate leadership received assurances that the GOP-led House will pass them quickly next week.
Similar legislation stalled in the House last year.
The new bills would codify and expand upon the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. It led to a proliferation of independent political action committees — super PACs — and nonprofits that can take unlimited contributions from corporations, labor unions and others to spend independently to sway voters. The ruling, the biggest in a series of decisions declaring that limits on big-money contributions violate the givers' free-speech rights, remains a partisan flashpoint.
All but two Republicans voted for the legislation on a 23-12 vote, while Democrats opposed it. A spokeswoman for GOP Gov. Rick Snyder declined to give his position on the bills.
"Citizens United rigged the game in favor of huge corporations, moneyed special interests and the wealthy and gave them undue control over our elections, government policy and our democracy," said Sen. Rebekah Warren, an Ann Arbor Democrat. She said the legislation goes even further by letting candidates coordinate fundraising with super PACs and use the same vendors and lawyers.
But Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, a West Olive Republican, said "everybody should have free speech, and the Supreme Court has said that free speech equals money and what you give."
State law now prohibits corporations and unions from directly making a contribution or expenditure, unless it comes from a segregated account funded with donations from individual employees. The bills would clarify that corporations and unions are allowed to spend independently.
The legislation also would let independent expenditure committees running ads or other communications use the same attorney, vendor or other agent that a candidate committee employs as long as that person does not convey information about the campaign's "plans, projects, activities or needs."
Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a watchdog group, was critical of the bills. He said federal candidates can solicit individual donations of up to $5,000 to a super PAC backing their candidacy. Candidates for state office, he said, would be able to solicit unlimited contributions to a super PAC, he said.
"Is it really independent when a lawmaker can go and say, 'Give this money to this super PAC that's going to support me'?" Mauger said.
He added that proving coordination between candidates and super PACs would be "made as difficult as possible" under the Michigan bills, while the rules are more restrictive at the federal level.
The idea that candidates and super PACs supporting them could share consultants but not information "is really unbelievable just on its face," Mauger said.
___
Online:
Senate Bills 335-36: http://bit.ly/2wsZYEW
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Follow David Eggert on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00. His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/David%20EggertThree not-quite-famous rappers walk into a Seattle McDonalds. It sounds like the start of a bad joke…
Maybe this is the kind of thing that only interests an obsessive rap nerd who will spend hours researching small details, but unlike my Surf research, which I'll admit catered to a pretty niche portion of the population who cares about vibraphone players, this particular rabbit hole involves three of the most famous rappers on the planet right now....who apparently all ate breakfast at this McDonalds together in 2010.
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What?! WHAT?! What did Cole order? Did Macklemore get sweet and sour sauce BBQ for his nuggets? What kind of McFlurry did Drake get? He seems like an M&M guy (for the record if you don’t get an Oreo McFlurry I’m not sure I trust you). What kind of “breakfast” happens at 3:18 PM 12:18 PM on a Monday and what’s wrong with getting a McFlurry in the middle of the afternoon? But more importantly than the legitimacy of a frozen afternoon treat, what string of events had to occur for these three soon-to-be household names to all go to a McDonalds together to get breakfast?
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So I started to do some digging. I may not have all the answers to all the questions—I still don’t know what kind of McFlurry Drake got—but in my “research” I found some pretty cool shit, the main fact being that it really does look like this is a real thing that happened in reality, really. To find out just how these stars aligned, let's take it case by case.
Drake (circa June, 2010)
McDonalds Order: Mighty Kids Meal with the toy and, of course, a McFlurry.
Of the three artists, Drake was far and away the most popular and successful (still is). 2009 was a crazy year for Drizzy. His So Far Gone tape, released approximately seven months before that McFlurry was ingested (maybe the best one he’s ever had?), was flying off the shelves like Beanie Babies. He had also hurt his knee and was going through rehab and was often found tweeting Anchorman quotes. Amidst the sea of Anchorman and quintessential Drake tweets, I found one that was really interesting.
Woah. Wait. What? What the hell is It’s Never Enough? I’ve seen a compilation tape around the internet, but it doesn’t seem to be an official release from Drake himself and there’s no mention of it anywhere on his discography. Does that mean there’s an unreleased Drizzy tape? Did it turn into So Far Gone? What happened to It’s Never Enough? I know there are hardcore Drizzy fans who can fill me in, please, have at it.
Anyway, back to the lecture at hand - the McDonalds meet up in Seattle. Fresh off the release of Thank Me Later and an absolutely epic late 2009/early 2010, Drake hit the road on his first ever solo tour. It just so happens that The Away From Home Tour made a pit stop in Seattle on September 4 as part of the Bumbershoot Festival. In other words, holy shit, Drake really was in Seattle at that time, his next tour date wasn't until September 20 in Miami, so it's completely conceivable Drake hung around Seattle for a day or two after the show, maybe even made a McDonald's run. Plus, as you can see from the flyer, Drake was a headliner right along with a young, hungry emcee on the verge of releasing his second mixtape. That emcee?
J.Cole (and friend circa December 2010)
McDonalds Order: McRib but if it's not available a Quarter Pounder, hold the pickles, and an apple pie.
Cole burst onto the scene with 2009’s “classic” mixtape The Warm Up. It’s amazing, yes, but if I remember correctly, it took him a minute to really start buzzing and it wasn’t until Friday Night Lights dropped in November of 2010—just two months after the breakfast club meeting—that Cole was poised to blow the fuck up. I’m actually pretty surprised he was a headliner at Bumbershoot because I feel like, at the time, he wasn’t that popular. I mean, look at this pic from August of 2010, of him performing in a parking garage on some 8 Mile shit.
He went from that performance to a tour headliner in a couple months? Still, Cole was sort of next in line behind Drake. At this point, Drake already had a few mixtapes, a deal and an album, so the headlining spot makes sense; he was the Ronald McDonald, but Jermaine was the Grimace. Kind of crazy to think about Cole’s career arc. You could say signing to Roc Nation, headlining festivals, getting McDonlads with Drake and dropping a well received mixtape in 2009 was his “arrival,” but it was more of the prequel. Sideline Story was the real beginning and now, five years after supersizing his career, he’s just hitting his true potential. All jokes aside, it's inspiring.
Macklemore (circa October 2010)
McDonalds Order: Fries. That's it. Just fries.
Now here's where things really start getting interesting. Macklemore was at Bumbershoot too, but other than that, he had nothing direct in common with Drake and Cole at that time. He wasn’t even on the flyer. I only know he performed because of this random girl's picture.
From the looks of it, he was only a guest of Grynch’s, too; the only thing he was headlining was the pre-festival show as the host. Despite the lack of credentials and influence, Macklemore still managed to link up with Drake and Cole for a McDonald's breakfast, and since Seattle was his hometown, I have to imagine he was the driving force behind the meeting. I’d love to know exactly how it happened, but regardless, September 6, the last day of Bumbershoot, is when the magical McDonalds visit happened.
While Macklemore’s career was a tadpole at the time—this is two years before The Heist, when he's still essentially a local underground rapper—his Twitter game was already on fleek (they said that back then right?). In fact it was too on fleek. The man would not shut up. Just a few months before hanging at McDonalds with Cole, Macklemore had this to say about Jermaine grabbing a headliner spot
Clearly though, Cole’s performance changed his opinion. The day after Cole performed, and the day of the meeting, he tweeted:
While it’s kind of shade-worthy, I actually agree with him. As I mentioned, it kind of surprised me to see Cole as a headliner; I really don't think his buzz was buzzin' until after Friday Night Lights. Macklemore may not have been in a position to critique, but his critique was on point. Drake, though? No way Mack could say anything. Well, not only did Macklemore have something to say, but he said it when Drake was on stage at Bumbershoot.
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, we at Haylen Group are here to help you with all of your real estate needs! If you are unsure what your options are, call Helen Chong at (408) 800-LIST or email at [email protected]. You can also visit us at our website for available listings and additional information.The pharma industry may be on the verge of solving a longtime problem: How to stop a flow of stolen or counterfeit pills entering the supply chain and trickling down to patients.
The answer comes in the form of blockchain technology, a form of software that runs across multiple computers, and creates a tamper-proof, indelible record of transactions.
On Thursday, a group of companies announced the MediLedger Project, which is creating blockchain tools to manage pharmaceutical supply chains. The group, which includes drug giants Genentech and Pfizer, has already completed a successful pilot program to track medicines.
If the project meets its goals, everyone from drug makers to wholesalers to hospitals will be recording drug deliveries on a blockchain. What this means in practice is that, at each step of the distribution process, a network of computers will vouch for the provenance and authenticity of a drug shipment—making it harder for thieves to unload stolen medications, or for counterfeiters to introduce fake wares.
According to Ryan Orr of Chronicled, the San Francisco-based company creating the blockchain tools for MediLedger, the drug industry already uses software to manage supplies, but these consist of a mishmash of different databases. The introduction of a blockchain system, in which each participant controls a node on the network, and transactions require a consensus, is thus a significant leap forward.
“The pharma industry consists of large conservative companies, so it takes a lot of confidence to build up a network like this,” said Orr.
Drug companies aren’t the only ones using a blockchain to tighten up their supply lines. The diamond industry is working with a company called Everledger to verify the origins of precious stones (it has already added over 1.6M gems to a ledger) while food sellers, including Walmart, are using blockchain to track pork and chicken. Meanwhile, the state of Delaware passed a law to help companies place shareholder lists and other corporate records on a blockchain.
For the drug industry, the potential advantages of the blockchain go beyond securing supply chains. According to Orr, the permission-based nature of the node system is a superior way for companies to share information with partners and customers without “leaking key business information.”
Genentech, meanwhile, sees blockchain as a logical extension of its efforts to assign unique traceable numbers to pharmaceutical products.
“Ensuring the safety of people receiving our medicines is of utmost importance to us. We look forward to exploring the potential benefits that this pilot could provide in protecting our medicines across the entire supply chain,” said the company’s SVP of Managed Care and Customer Operations, Marc Watrous, in a revised statement to Fortune.
One further upside to using a blockchain is speed: In the event a shipment is disrupted or goes missing, the data stored on the common ledger provides a rapid way for all parties to trace it, and determine who handled the shipment last.
For now, Orr says, the MediLedger Project is working on getting big companies to adopt the blockchain technology, and only intends to focus on business models down the road. The initiative is likely to get a boost thanks to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act Passed, a law requires companies to take a series of steps to create a more uniform drug-tracking system.
The MediLedger Project, which is receiving support from supply chain consulting group The LinkLab, has been building its software using Quorum—an enterprise version of the Ethereum protocol backed by J.P. Morgan.
This is part of Fortune’s new initiative, The Ledger, a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. For more on The Ledger, click here.
This story was updated at 10:15 ET to include a revised statement from Genentech.Luna, the sea otter pup rescued off the coast of California in 2014, is celebrating Sea Otter Awareness Week from Sept. 20 - 26 at the Shedd Aquarium as she nears her first birthday. She is also nearing her first anniversary of being in the Shedd's care.Luna was brought to Chicago after being found on Coastaways Beach between San Mateo and Santa Cruz on Sept. 30, 2014 by a passerby and rescued on Oct. 1 by Monterey Bay Aquarium. Abandoned by her mother, she was brought to the Shedd where she received round the clock care from specialists who, beyond feeding and grooming her, helped teach her swimming and otter behavior and readied her to meet the other sea otters in her new habitat. A tiny ball of fluff, she quickly captured the city's attention and affection.Now, a year later, Luna weighs about 30 lbs., on pace to match the average weight of a full-grown female otter. She also now opens shellfish on her own and has become comfortable with all the otter habitats at the aquarium. Shedd trainers say she's known to be quite playful and fond of toys, and gets along swimmingly with the other sea otters in their care.Luna's rescue helped bring some initial attention to the importance of protecting sea otter populations, and now as part of Sea Otter Awareness Week she joins the other four female otters at the Shedd - Mari, Kiana, Cayucos and Yaku - in once again directing attention to the conservation of her species.Southern sea otters like Luna are a keystone species, Shedd officials say, playing a disproportionately large role in the health of their ecosystem. They have been considered a threatened species since 1977, and the California sea otter population remains vulnerable despite state and national efforts.Although Intel was introducing a high-end unlocked 8-core "CPU" determined by its Haswell architecture this week, AMD is thinking about to briefing the particular press on new unlocked octa-core CPUs of a unique price.But AMD ain't doing head-to-head performance side by side comparisons between its latest FX-series processors and Intel’s top-shelf parts. AMD is competitive on prices, indentation the best CPUs versus Intel’s second- and third-tier processors: Like in series of Core i5 and Core i3.AMD introduced three brand new "8 core" processors today, Like 4GHz FX-8370 and 3. 3GHz FX-8370E (200 Bucks for each), along with the 3. 2GHz FX 8320E (147 Bucks for each). AMD also reduced the rates on its high-end processors, including AMD's best-ever FX-9590, that is actually going for 230 Bucks.Intel, meanwhile, expects to fetch 1000 Bucks for the fastest series of Haswell-E CPUs, intell introduced Core i7-5960X last week.AMD is concentrating on two primary applications for the new CPU, Creation of the Content and gaming above 1080p resolution. But it’s also focusing on systems of budget-priced, explaining the postulatory “enthusiast game playing PC” powered by the CPU of FX-9590, a video card having a Radeon R9 290X massive graphic processor ever, and 16GB involving DDR3/2133 memory that might sell for 1499 bucks.AMD says a person who's good in system building he could market a “performance gaming PC” also with the FX-8370 CPU, a video card having a Radeon R9 285 GPU, and 16GB DDR3/1866 memory for only 1099 Bucks!!In the community of content design, AMD says it is 8-core FX-8370 and also FX-9590 could appreciably outperform Intel’s quad-core Central i5-4690K in tasks such as converting images by RAW format in order to JPEG. But of course the time is everything near professional photographers and Video-graphers, Obviously a lot of them might be hoping to spend more money up front to obtain additional processing power for systems built all around Intel’s higher-end Core i7 CPUs.AMDs entire CPU technology is actually getting a bit long within the tooth. All of the companys octa-core processors like the three announced today is totally based in the Pile-driver micro-architecture this launched in the middle of 2k12. The Steamroller architectural mastery AMD announced earlier this season is limited to CPUs with at most four cores.In which Intel builds the fourth-generation Core processors with 22nm manufacturing processor, AMD still uses 32 nm process to develop it parts for FX-series. And the 5th-generation Cores processors, As Intel is about to launch are meant using a process of 14nm.AMD also lags poorly on power consumption. Intel’s most highly effective consumer CPUs, the particular Haswell-E series, get the cool thermal design power "TDP" ratings around 140 watts. AMD’s greatest CPU, The FX-9590, incorporates a TDP of 220 watts. AMD’s new FX-8370 do a lil better, with any TDP of 125 wts; and its FX-8370E along with FX-8320E both get TDPs of Ninety-five watts.(Adds details on case, comment from prosecutor, revised stock price)
By Nate Raymond
BOSTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The billionaire founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc was arrested on Thursday on U.S. charges he participated in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe a fentanyl-based cancer pain drug, marking a step by authorities to fight the opioid epidemic.
John Kapoor, Insys' majority shareholder who stepped down as chief executive in January, was charged with engaging in conspiracies to commit racketeering, mail fraud and wire fraud in an indictment filed in federal court in Boston.
He was arrested in Arizona, where Insys is based, and added as a defendant in a previously filed case against six former Insys executives and managers, including former Chief Executive Michael Babich, prosecutors said.
Brian Kelly, Kapoor's lawyer, in a statement said: "My client is innocent and he intends to fight these charges vigorously."
Insys, which has been in settlement talks with the U.S. Justice Department in connection with the probe, declined to comment. Its stock price fell 15.63 percent to a four-year low of $6.26 in midday trading on Thursday.
The charges marked a major escalation of the ongoing investigations of Insys related to Subsys, an under-the-tongue spray that contains fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid. They came as U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday declared the U.S. opioid crisis a public health crisis.
Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said the charges reflected authorities' commitment to combat the opioid abuse epidemic. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in over 33,000 deaths in 2015.
"We must hold the industry and its leadership accountable - just as we would the cartels or a street-level drug dealer," Weinreb said in a statement.
Kapoor, who founded Insys in 2002 and remains a board member, stepped down in January as the company’s chairman and chief executive, a role he took on in November 2015.
He is currently the chairman of drugmaker Akorn Inc, which Fresenius SE & Co KGaA has agreed to buy, and president of investment firm EJ Financial Enterprises Inc.
Prosecutors said that after launching Subsys in 2012, Kapoor, Babich and others devised a scheme to pay speaker fees and other bribes to medical practitioners to prescribe Subsys.
They also sought to defraud insurers into approving payment for Subsys when it was prescribed to patients who did not have cancer, the indictment said.
The other defendants include former Insys Vice Presidents Alec Burlakoff and Michael Gurry; ex-national sales director Richard Simon; and former regional sales directors Sunrise Lee and Joseph Rowan. They have pleaded not guilty. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Dan Grebler and Andrew Hay)HousingMaps
HousingMaps was the very first Google Maps mashup, created before there was a Google Maps API. It overlaid Craigslist apartment and housing listings on a map, for some 30 US cities plus London.
When it launched, in popularized the idea that real estate was best browsed on a map -- before that, real estate sites only showedof properties! It also introduced the idea that you can build a new website or service by borrowing pieces from existing sites, without asking for permission. The web is open, and we can shape it to our needs.
Now that Craigslist has a map view for all its housing listings, HousingMaps is currently taking a break.
Here's my original post on Craigslist in 2005 asking people to test this little project I was working on: https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=26638141
A few fun articles about the site:1 Glue the hula hoop to the bottom of the sweater. Insert a miniature hula hoop into the sweater through the bottom opening. Use a hot glue gun to hold the fabric to the plastic hoop. Fold the bottom of the fabric over the bottom and inner side of the hoop, then glue it to the inner side or top of the hoop. The entire hula hoop should be covered and hidden by the sweater.
Alternatively, you could wrap the bottom of the sweater around the hoop and hold it in place with a few loose stitches. Insert a miniature hula hoop into the sweater through the bottom opening. Use a hot glue gun to hold the fabric to the plastic hoop.
2 Put the sweater on. Put on the sweater and stand in front of a full-length mirror. You'll decorate the sweater while it's on your body.
3 Wrap the metallic garland around your torso. Pin the metallic garland to the bottom of the sweater on one side of your body. Wrap the garland up and around your torso until you reach the space just beneath your arms. Wind the garland up and around your torso like you would wrap garland around an actual tree. You'll need to pin it in place at various points as you work to prevent it from falling off. Pin the metallic garland to the bottom of the sweater on one side of your body. Wrap the garland up and around your torso until you reach the space just beneath your arms.
4 Wrap the garland around your arms. Pin the garland to the bottom of one arm, then wrap it all the way around and down the sleeve. Repeat with the other arm. Try to wrap the garland in even layers around both arms. The positioning doesn't need to match precisely, but it should be close.
You may need someone else to help you pin the garland onto your sleeves. If you don't have a helper, you might need to take the sweater back off to work on the arms. Pin the garland to the bottom of one arm, then wrap it all the way around and down the sleeve. Repeat with the other arm.
5 Attach the bells to the bottom of the sweater. Pin one end of the jingle bell garland to the bottom of the sweater on one side. Wrap it all the way around the bottom opening, pinning as needed, until the opposite end meets the starting point. Only wrap one layer of jingle bells around the bottom opening of the sweater. Trim off the rest of the strand to use for your sleeves. Pin one end of the jingle bell garland to the bottom of the sweater on one side. Wrap it all the way around the bottom opening, pinning as needed, until the opposite end meets the starting point.
6 Attach additional bells to the sleeves. Pin any excess jingle bells to the sleeves, doubling over the metallic garland you already attached. Try to keep the same amount of bells on each arm. You may need to cut the remaining strand in half before pinning each half to its respective sleeve. Pin any excess jingle bells to the sleeves, doubling over the metallic garland you already attached.
7 Pin the pom-poms to the sweater. Use safety pins to attach the white pom-poms to the body and sleeves of your sweater, spacing them apart at even but unmeasured intervals. These pom-poms will serve as ornaments, so arrange them as though you were placing actual ornaments on an actual tree. Use safety pins to attach the white pom-poms to the body and sleeves of your sweater, spacing them apart at even but unmeasured intervals.
8 Hang the ornaments. Remove the ornament hooks and replace them with safety pins. Pin the ornaments to the body and sleeves of your sweater, spacing them apart evenly but without a set pattern. Don't be afraid to rearrange some of the pom-poms you already placed to make room for the red ornaments. Continue rearranging as needed until you achieve a look you feel happy with. Remove the ornament hooks and replace them with safety pins. Pin the ornaments to the body and sleeves of your sweater, spacing them apart evenly but without a set pattern.
9 Adjust as needed. Hold your arms up, forming a point above your head by pressing your palms together. Look in the mirror to determine where any gaps or cluttered clusters might be and adjust accordingly.
10 Attach the star to your sleeve. Use another safety pin to attach the point of the star to the opening of one sleeve. Allow the star to hang loosely. When you bring your palms together above your head, the star hanging off your sleeve will turn into the tree topper of your sweater. Use another safety pin to attach the point of the star to the opening of one sleeve. Allow the star to hang loosely.(Warning: This story contains explicit descriptions of alleged sexual conduct described in a lawsuit and may be offensive to some readers.)
The former leader of a popular Christian ministry – who resigned from his position after confessing to an “inappropriate” relationship – is now the subject of a lawsuit that claims he “methodically groomed” and made unwanted sexual contact with a young woman after serving as an authority figure in her life for more than a decade.
Doug Phillips, a husband and father of eight children, had been a popular and controversial figure in the homeschooling movement and a leading advocate of “biblical patriarchy” before his resignation from Vision Forum Ministries and Boerne Christian Assembly, a Baptist church outside San Antonio, Texas, at which he had served as an elder and preached hundreds of sermons.
Phillips was also founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and of the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches.
According to the teachings of the patriarchy movement, also known as the stay-at-home daughters or quiverfull movement, young women remain at home under the protection of their fathers. They’re generally expected not to work outside their home or go to college, and they’re taught to abide by strict gender roles in which men have authority over women.
‘A personal sex object’
In the complaint filed in Kendall County District Court in Texas Tuesday morning, Phillips is accused of using a woman named Lourdes Torres, now 29, as “a personal sex object” over a period of five years.
Asked if she ever believed she loved Phillips, Torres, who was over the age of 21 at the time of the sexual contact, told WND, “Oh, yes, definitely.”
Torres said she met Phillips and his wife, Beall, at a homeschooling conference in November 1999 when Torres was 15 years old. Torres spent many hours in the Phillips home, cared for their children and helped run the family farm. She was invited on trips with the family to Hawaii, Virginia, Mexico, Florida and other states.
By 2007, according to the complaint, Phillips began “to pay special attention” to Torres, complementing her beauty and devotion to his family, giving her money, touching her, asking her personal questions about her thoughts and life plans and telling her he would take care of her.
By October of that year, the lawsuit states, Phillips invited Torres’ family to live with him as they were moving into a new home: “Phillips entered [Torres’] bedroom and without her consent began touching her breasts, stomach, back, neck, and waist.” Torres alleges she began to cry and ask Phillips to stop as he rubbed his genitals on her and “masturbated and ejaculated on her.” She claims the behavior continued, and Phillips told her he loved her and intended to marry her and “blatantly disregarded her requests” that he stop.
“Douglas Phillips, on the evenings he visited Ms. Torres, persuaded her that he was not doing anything wrong, that he intended to marry Ms. Torres, and that his wife would die shortly and enable him to marry Ms. Torres,” the complaint states. “He further repeatedly told Ms. Torres that he loved her, that he would take care of her, and that what they were doing was not wrong. He also stated that if it was wrong, it was completely her fault.”
Attorney Jason Jakob, who represents Phillips and Vision Forum, Inc., issued a statement to WND on behalf of his client, claiming, “To date, a media campaign has been architected to destroy and demoralize Doug Phillips, his family and his message, without justification and instead with conjecture and disinformation.”
He said Torres’ allegations are “false, defamatory and made with malicious intent to destroy Doug Phillips, his family and his ministry.” Concerning the relationship between Torres and Phillips, he wrote:
“While it may be true that Mr. Phillips had an intermittent relationship with Mrs. Lourdes Torres-Manteufel, they never had the physical intimacy of touching and/or the exposure of genitalia, nor did the intermittent relationship escalate to sexual intercourse. Furthermore, the evidence demonstrates the relationship was consensual and often initiated, encouraged, and aggressively perpetuated by Mrs. Torres-Manteufel. It was welcomed, consensual and one in which Mrs. Torres-Manteufel repeatedly requested money, trips, jewelry, and numerous special favors from Doug Phillips. This relationship occurred well after Mrs. Lourdes Torres-Manteufel reached the age of majority, as has been confirmed by Mrs. Torres-Manteufel to have begun at the close of 2007.”
In the following video, Doug Phillips can be seen in the Dulles airport in Virginia with his family and others as they wait for their flight to Rome. Torres appears at the 4:10 mark:
By the beginning of 2008, Torres said she was no longer invited to the Phillips’ home to help with the children and household chores. She said he continued to contact her, asking her to help him with his business, take photographs at Vision Forum events, visit his home to work on a radio drama series and judge movie competitions.
“He also began texting, calling, and emailing her about his daily activities, his hopes and dreams, and often including in his communication his love for [Torres] and his intent to marry her,” the filing states. “[Torres] – not wanting to disappoint the man that controlled every facet of her life – was manipulated to serve Defendant Doug Phillips in his business endeavors between years of 2008-2012.”
Torres alleges the unwanted sexual contact began again, and she said she repeatedly asked him to stop.
“Ms. Torres did not tell anyone about [Phillips’] conduct because he manipulated her into believing that it would ruin his reputation, destroy his ministry and get her in trouble with the church,” according to the lawsuit.
Torres’ attorney, David Gibbs, told WND, “Because of Doug’s position of trust, Lourdes had no ability to consent. When you look at the absolute control that that man had in her life, he was her pastor, he was her teacher, he was her employer, he was her patriarchal head of the home. In a sense, he was her counselor. Doug established the system where obedience to God required Lourdes to obey him and fully submit to whatever he wanted to do.”
But Phillips’ attorney responded, “In no way did Mr. Doug Phillips use his position to ‘manipulate, brainwash and [or] coerce’ her as alleged by Mrs. Torres-Manteufel. Mr. Phillips was an elder in the church she attended, but he was not her personal pastor, counselor, or ever her landlord. It is now evident that Mrs. Torres-Manteufel’s intent is to seek financial benefit and/or personal gain.”
Jakob questioned “her credibility and motives for bringing forth these claims in the media rather than the courts,” claiming she has offered “conflicting and contradictory accounts to many individuals in her community.”
He said, “What has been confirmed is that her initial claims were wildly exaggerated and have often changed to such an extent as to raise great question to her credibility and motives for making the initial claims from the onset.”
A consensual relationship between adults?
Gibbs said this was not a sexual affair between two consenting adults.
“This is someone who took all of those positions, all that trust, and in an abusive manner, irreparably injured my client,” he said. “Lourdes is an intelligent woman, but she was being perpetually promised things that Doug never intended to do, or at least, if he did intend to do it, he didn’t do.
“In that patriarchal quiverfull culture, the ultimate and the highest ideal is then becoming married. What Doug did as the leader of the movement was take the ultimate ideal and perpetually promise that fraudulently to Lourdes to manipulate and control her to do things that she would otherwise not have done.”
By the end of 2012, Torres stopped working with Phillips and attending his church. She told her parents and a friend about the relationship.
Though Phillips resigned from his position as an elder of Boerne Christian Assembly in January 2013, claiming he wished to devote more time to his family, it would be nearly nine months before Phillips would resign from Vision Forum Ministries.
Torres said she had received threatening emails around August 2013 from Phillips’ wife, Beall, saying she “had better keep her mouth shut” about the interactions. When asked about the email, Phillips’ attorney didn’t respond to the allegation.
In his Oct. 30, 2013, resignation statement posted on Vision Forum’s website, Phillips said, “There has been serious sin in my life for which God has graciously brought me to repentance. I have confessed my sin to my wife and family, my local church, and the board of Vision Forum Ministries. I engaged in a lengthy, inappropriate relationship with a woman. While we did not ‘know’ each other in a Biblical sense, it was nevertheless inappropriately romantic and affectionate.”
Three days later, Phillips added a clarification to his statement, which included the following: “Some reading the words of my resignation have questioned if there was an inappropriate physical component with an unmarried woman. There was, and it was intermittent over a period of years.”
Upon reading Phillips’ resignation statement, Torres said, “I had no doubt or question that he would never own up to anything that he has done. He never had before. He was actually backed into a corner to do that because I had opened my mouth in the first place to the right people.”
Phillips’ attorney, Jakob, said, “Mr. Phillips resigned voluntarily out of personal choice – after much prayer and counsel. His silence should not be misconstrued as an admission of any kind but instead as a desire for privacy. Mr. Phillips’ resignation letter was made as a servant of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to preserve the integrity of his family and that of the Message of Christ which was received by and through his ministry.”
Torres says she still has anxiety that Phillips will contact her and that she’s been forced to leave her home and many friends behind. She is now being counseled through her trauma.
Asked if she believes the same abuse could happen to another young lady in the patriarchy movement, Torres, responded, “Yes, definitely without question.”
Phillips had headed up the nonprofit ministry, which generated about $3.3 million in revenue in 2011 and paid Phillips a salary of $44,000 a year. In 2011, the nonprofit ministry also gave $193,176 for “labor and services” to the for-profit company Phillips founded 15 years ago, Vision Forum Inc., which sold books, toys and teaching resources. Vision Forum Inc. no longer sells products on its website, but Phillips retains control of the company. Both the nonprofit ministry and the for-profit company are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Vision Forum Ministries’ board was made aware of Phillips’ behavior in January or February of 2013, but continued to keep Phillips in the highest position of leadership until “it was apparent that Phillips’ behavior toward Ms. Torres could no longer remain confidential.” Also, it states that the board strategized “how it could bring Phillips to a place where he could make a ‘comeback’ and regain public leadership of the ministry.”
‘Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy’
In its posting titled, “The Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy,” which has since been removed since Phillips’ 2013 resignation, the Vision Forum Ministries website explained, “Since the woman was created as a helper to her husband, as the bearer of children, and as a ‘keeper at home,’ the God-ordained and proper sphere of dominion for a wife is the household and that which is connected with the home, although her domestic calling, as a representative of and helper to her husband, may well involve activity in the marketplace and larger community. …
“While unmarried women may have more flexibility in applying the principle that women were created for a domestic calling, it is not the ordinary and fitting role of women to work alongside men as their functional equals in public spheres of dominion (industry, commerce, civil government, the military, etc.). The exceptional circumstance (singleness) ought not redefine the ordinary, God-ordained social roles of men and women as created.”
Phillips has called “the problem of women in the military” “an abomination” and condemned the “breakdown of moral discipline and the rampant problem of promiscuity and adultery between American male and female soldiers stationed together overseas.”
He spoke at Torres’ graduation and posted the following entry on the Vision Forum website, speaking highly of Torres’ character and rejoicing in her “journey of mature Christian womanhood”:
Torres made an appearance in the 2007 film, “The Return of the Daughters,” which focuses on how a woman spends her “in between years” from the time she is in the home until she gets married.
It explores the lives of “unique young women who are rejecting the unloving demands of modern culture” and emphasizes “drawing close to family members, living productive lives in their father’s home until marriage.” The movement, according to the film, seeks to prepare women to be “helpmeets” for their husbands, “submit to a man” and be a man’s “Proverbs 31 woman.”
As the film explains, “Lourdes and her family have earned a widespread reputation in the San Antonio area as invaluable assets to the community. Many unmarried girls like Lourdes have been able to make the same kind of investments in their communities and are becoming known nationwide as the secret weapon of the church. In addition to missions work with her family, Lourdes cares for the sick, visits the needy, helps young mothers, encourages the elderly and disciples younger girls.”
Torres, then around 23 years old, tells viewers, “I want to encourage the young ladies in our church, in the spirit of Titus 2, I want to encourage them to obey their parents. I want to exhort them in the various things that they as daughters need to be doing in their home and with their family and their siblings.”
She continues, “Even though I’m not married, I would not call myself single because I’m part of a family unit. I’m so grateful for my father because he finds things for me to do to serve the Lord and to work for him. And I always feel like my life is full of purpose and I’m not sitting around, waiting. I’m an unmarried young lady, but I’m serving God and my father. Then that will transition one day if God wills. I’m very grateful and satisfied with that.
“I realize that my lifestyle is counter-cultural, and I don’t care because God’s word is my standard, and that’s what drives me, not the culture around me.”
Homeschool movement and Christian ministry
Before Phillips founded Vision Forum, he spent six years as an attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association, or HSLDA, a nonprofit advocacy organization that defends the right of American families to homeschool their children.
HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris told WND, “The reason Doug left HSLDA is because [President] Mike Smith and I, who were his bosses, were growing more and more uncomfortable as he started developing his patriarchy theory. We started limiting his ability to speak on those things while traveling on our behalf. We basically made it clear that he could not pursue those things with his HSLDA hat on. So he eventually chose to leave us so he could do those things because we were not comfortable with where he was headed.”
As for the patriarchy movement, Farris said the teachings are not widely accepted in the broader homeschool community.
“It’s a minority of homeschoolers that believe in it,” he said. “But unfortunately, until very recently, they were getting a lot of visibility in certain places. We have sought to avoid inviting any patriarchy speakers to speak at our national conference.”
While state homeschool organizations run their own events and may choose to have such speakers, Farris said HSLDA has never promoted them.
“Doug has never been invited to speak at our national conference since he left,” Farris said. “We have tried, by example, to keep this stuff outside the mainstream of the homeschooling movement.”
He added, “Frankly, we think it’s time for us to stand up and publicly say this is just wrong.”
Farris, who said he has known Phillips for two decades, expressed concern that Phillips could re-emerge in the homeschooling movement and as a leader in a Christian ministry.
“I think it would be one of the greatest tragedies for the homeschooling movement if Doug Phillips was allowed to be rehabilitated and go right back into leadership,” he said. “This kind of behavior is so bizarre – no matter which version of the story you believe, even if you take Doug’s own version of the story – it’s so bizarre and inappropriate that he needs to get his life in order and not be thinking about how quickly he can come back into leadership.”
Farris added, “Knowing Doug for 20 years, I’m confident he’s going to try to come back quickly. I’m also confident that would be an absolutely horrible outcome if he does.”
WND asked Phillips’ attorney, “Does Mr. Phillips ever plan to return to serve the Vision Forum Ministries nonprofit or further the patriarchal movement through his company, Vision Forum Inc., in the future?” However, WND wasn’t given a response to that specific question.
Others who knew him continue to wonder if Phillips will return to his previous work.
While Gibbs said he’s unsure of Phillips plans today, he added, “From our vantage point, there’s no question that the original plan was to let Doug take a little time off and then go back into being the leader of [the Vision Forum Ministries’] movement and continue moving forward in public ministry.”
Asked for her thoughts on whether Phillips might come back, Torres told WND, “I don’t even want to think about it.”
Starting a new life
Even after everything she says she’s endured, Torres told WND her faith hasn’t been shaken.
“I am so humbled by how God has really just directed my every step because I feel like I’ve been walking on water,” she said. “I’ve had to make choices and decisions like an adult. I realized I needed to get a job and make sure that I can provide basic needs and bills. God has totally provided for that and given me opportunities.”
Gibbs said when he met Torres, she was afraid to leave her church because she feared retribution and was concerned for her own safety.
“I have watched her have to make some very difficult decisions because coming out of that culture – where they did not want her to speak, to be educated, to make decisions, to be self-reliant – leaving the church was a huge step,” he said. “She has broken away from the religious ideology. But I would add that she continues in some pretty intensive counseling and also is learning a lot about herself. You don’t live in this culture for 10 to 15 years and escape unscathed.”
On April 11 of this year, Torres married Nolan Manteufel, a man who had also left the church and who is supporting her through difficult times.
“Even now, I’m currently looking for a different job and praying about what else is in the future because I might be willing to do a lot more, like maybe even going to school,” Torres said. “But we’ll see. I’m excited about having a new life. I just got married. There are possibilities, and it’s exciting.”
As for the lawsuit, Jakob indicated Phillips intends to sort out the matter in court.
He wrote, “In the absence of any serious interest from Mrs. Torres-Manteufel for Christian conciliation, and rather than trying the case through the media we intend to rely on justice through the courts for our clients’ vindication.”
Concerning the lawsuit, Torres told WND, “I just know it’s what the Lord wants, and I’m ready to move forward with it.”
In telling her story, Torres hopes to inspire any girl, wife or family in similar situations to find the courage to escape and discover freedom, rather than continuing to suffer at the hands of an abuser.
“Lourdes had the choice to either retreat quietly and kind of disappear and recover, or she could make the decision to go public and try to help others,” Gibbs said of Torres’ decision to tell her story.
“I really admire her decision to step forward – not trying to hide her identity – but to step forward and tell her story and let people know there is hope, and they don’t have to live under that oppressive type of abuse.”The Philippines is the 44th-largest economy in the world today, according to HSBC estimates. But if current trends hold, it can leap to the No. 16 spot by 2050. The Philippine stock market, one of the best performers in the region, closed at a record high after the recent S.& P. rating upgrade, and the country’s currency, the peso, reached a four-year high against the dollar at about the same time.
The gross domestic product of the Philippines grew 6.4 percent in the first quarter, according to the country’s central bank, outperforming all other growth rates in the region except China’s. Economists expect similarly strong growth in the second quarter.
“We have made a very bold forecast for the Philippines, but I think justifiably so,” said Frederic Neumann, a senior economist at HSBC in Hong Kong.
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A high population growth rate, long considered a hindrance to prosperity, is now often seen as a driving force for economic growth. About 61 percent of the population in the Philippines is of working age, between 15 and 64
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world – my way or highway. He has no such constitutional authority and this guy who misses most of his daily briefings as Fox News reported, and countless others. I am not kidding. This is precisely how Athens fell. It dictated to all its allies and one by one they turned against Athens and joined Sparta. Sparta was a virtual communist state and Athens was a state in a battle swinging back and forth between oligarchs and democracy.
* * *
Making friends and isolating people...International efforts to meet targets to stem the loss of wildlife and habitats are failing miserably, according to a UN report.
The Global Biodiversity Outlook 4, published as nearly 200 countries meet on Monday in South Korea in a bid to tackle biodiversity loss, paints a damning picture of governments’ efforts to meet a set of targets agreed in 2010 to slow the destruction of species’ habitats, cut pollution and stop overfishing by the end of the decade.
Conservationists said the lack of progress, nearly halfway to the 2020 deadline for the targets, was a troubling sign and a reality check.
The situation of the planet’s most threatened species, which include 90% of all lemurs and species such as the blue-tongued forest giraffe and spoon-billed sandpiper, is getting worse rather than better. “The average risk of extinction for birds, mammals, amphibians and corals shows no sign of decreasing,” the report says.
The set of 20 targets are broken down into 56 elements, of which only five are on track for 2020. Thirty-three show progress, but at an insufficient rate to meet the targets, 10 show no progress, five show things getting worse and three have not been evaluated.
A key pledge to halve the loss of natural habitats, including forests, is one of the targets that will be missed. “While global rates of deforestation are declining, they remain alarmingly high,” the report says.
One small ray of light is progress toward a target of gaining protected status for 17% of ecosystems on land, which is on track. A similar target for the oceans is, however, likely to be missed.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said the report showed it was time to “redouble efforts to achieve our shared goals”.
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said: “The good news is that parties are making progress and concrete commitments to implement the Aichi biodiversity targets. However, the report also shows us that efforts need to be significantly scaled up.”
The UN report follows a study last week in the journal Science, the first ever analysis of progress on the targets, which came to similar conclusions.
Dr Richard Gregory, one of the Science paper’s authors and the head of species monitoring and research at the RSPB, said: “World leaders are currently grappling with many crises affecting our future, but this study shows there is a collective failure to address the loss of biodiversity, which is arguably one of the greatest crises facing humanity.” He called the lack of progress “a troubling sign for us all.”
If the 2020 targets are missed, it will not be the first time efforts to halt the decline in the richness and abundance of wildlife and the natural world have fallen short. An assessment of goals set in 2002 to cut the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 showed governments had failed to deliver on the commitments they made.
“This is a reality check halfway to 2020,” said Mike Hoffmann, a senior scientist on species survival at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
“We’re in serious danger of being in the same position as we were back in 2010, of not having made the progress we need to make to lead to a better society and a better world.
“It’s not to say we’re not having successes. We don’t do enough to champion the conservation successes, without which we’d be in a much worse situation.”
But, he said: “The bottom line is we’re not doing enough and we’re going to have to do much much more to change things in the next five things.”There weren’t many positives for the Chicago Bulls during this years NBA Summer League. Yet in the plethora of bad performances, there was one player who shined for the “SummerBulls”, Antonio Blakeney. The former LSU guard averaged 16.8 points while shooting a whopping 64.3% from three-point range during his time in Vegas. He certainly provided his share of highlights, and his hard work and effort was rewarded by the Bulls signing him to a two-way contract that lasts for two years.
By signing Blakeney, Chicago has invested in a player who has a lot to develop in his game (he’s turning merely 21 just before the regular season) but could turn out to be a useful role player in the future. Let’s take a look at what Blakeney can do.
Offensive game
The one thing that stood out in Blakeney’s Summer League performance was his offensive output. He showed the ability to get buckets in a hurry, using his quickness and craftiness to get to spots he wanted on the court.
Blakeney took a leap offensively in his sophomore year at LSU, going from 12.6 to 17.2 points per game. He was their leading scorer and their go-to guy offensively last season. By being the guy offensively, Blakeney was given the freedom to go and create shots for himself.
(0:50-1:00) Here he creates enough space on a mismatch and was able to hit a quick pull-up jumper before his man can recover. In the given play, LSU gives Blakeney the ball near the half court line and lets him go to work. He gets a pick at the top of the key and Kentucky big man Wenyen Gabriel gets switched onto Blakeney. The pick was initially suppose to come to Blakeney’s right but right before the screen is suppose to be set the roll man resets on the other side, catching the UK defenders off guard. Due to the confusion Blakeney is able get a head start towards the lane and forces Gabriel to make a quick recovery. Garbriel does a good job staying with Blakeney and is right on his hip when he reaches the free throw line. But Blakeney is able to stop on a dime, letting Gabriel run past him, and rises up for an open jumper.
His athleticism is also a big part of his game as he uses it to help him drive into the paint and get up to the rim. This also makes Blakeney effective in transition offense as it always helps when there’s a guy who can run and throw down a dunk in the open court. In the video above (2:13-2:21), Blakeney does a good job of recognizing Kentucky not getting back quick enough on defense following a turnover. Realizing this, he immediately attacks the basket, side steps the defender in front of him, and scores with ease. Although it’s nice to see him taking advantage of opportunities in transition by going to the hoop, his numbers when it comes to scoring around the rim needs to get better.
At LSU Blakeney was average from three, at 34.7%. While it’s certainly not a horrible percentage, it certainly needs to improve considering 35% of his attempts were from that distance (4.8 3PA per game in his senior year). In Summer League, however, he has shown flashes of becoming reliable threat from three-point range. When given space and in catch and shoot opportunities, Blakeney made opponents pay for leaving him open. Obviously Summer League is a very small sample size, so while playing in the G-League, a thing to look for is Blakeney’s three-point shooting.
Blakeney also needs to also become a more versatile offensive player, more specifically when it comes to making plays for his teammates. He only averaged 1.3 assists per game during his career at LSU. In the G-League, teams will double Blakeney coming off screens or crowd him in the lane knowing he is unlikely to pass out or move the ball to an open teammate. If he can start making plays for his teammates, it’ll eventually open up space for him to operate in isolation.
There are some key things for him to work on, but there is a lot to like about Antonio Blakeney’s offensive game. Most specifically when it comes to his athleticism and scoring, which increases his upside/potential.
Defensive game
Registering -2.5 defensive box plus/minus at LSU last season, it’s clear defense wasn’t Antonio Blakeney’s strength. This is the area where growth is needed more than anything. It will help Blakeney get more minutes if he’s more refined on the defensive end.
At 6’4, Blakeney is likely going to be facing guys in this league who are much bigger than him. His height doesn’t really help him out when it comes to guarding shooting guards and wings plus his length won’t help him either when it comes to contesting jumpers.
Blakeney’s going to have to make the most of his skills he has, which is his athleticism and quickness. That’s going to aid him in sticking with guys on drives or off the ball. With length and height against him, the ideal situation would be for Blakeney to be at least a decent defender against 1’s and 2’s and be able to at least hold is own against smaller wings.
Like mentioned earlier, defense is the place where Blakeney needs to improve the most. He’s going to have to put a lot of effort there to improve his chances if he wants to be called up. His size is working against him but the quickness could help him at least not be a total negative on that end.
At age 20, there is a lot of room for Antonio Blakeney to grow as a player. Signing a guy to a two-way contract is a low risk move, and having the contract run for two years is a plus too. With his scoring and athletic ability, Blakeney could be a real fun player to watch in the G-League this season. But he has to improve in other aspects of his game to get a shot in the NBA. On a two-way deal, Blakeney can only spend a maximum of 45 days with the big club, but the ideal future for him is becoming a spark off the bench there.Senior Backend Developer - Special Project Overstock.com 201 reviews - Salt Lake City, UT 84121
Overstock, one of the world’s leading e-commerce organizations, is looking for a Senior Backend Developer to work on a start-up project. In this role you will have tremendous organizational, social and political impact. This top secret project will run as a start-up, but have the backing of a $1B+ organization.
What We Look For:
X-Factor. You are an intelligent and trustworthy team player with the work ethic of an entrepreneur
Passion. You have a high degree of interest in the underlying technology and the impact it will make globally.
Confidentiality. This project will be in stealth mode and requires a high degree of discretion.
What You Will Do:
Primary resource responsible for the development of the Key Management subsystem (backend hot-wallet/crypto balance management and reconciliation system)
Works closely with dev lead, product owner, and security consultant to design and develop secure backend systems for storing, transmitting and processing virtual/crypto currency transactions
Such backend systems must be highly secure, highly available, scalable, and automated to the maximum extent possible. Systems will support both the management of online (hot) storage and offline (cold) storage of crypto currencies
Must Have’s:
Required: A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, or equivalent
Required: 3+ years experience with higher level languages like Python, Ruby, Java, C#, etc.
Required: 1+ years experience with agile methodologies such as Scrum and XP
Required: Extensive knowledge and experience with systems, systems design and systems security paradigms and best practices (such as partitioning of duties, SOA/N-tier, security boundaries, etc)
Required: Previous Bitcoin development experience (or minimally, respectable knowledge and experience with public key cryptography and cryptographic systems)
Required: Must be able to demonstrate an ability to rapidly pick up and learn a new language and/or framework
Required: Extensive experience with SQL, APIs (REST, JSON-RPC, etc)
Required: Experience with git and Github, or similar RCS (subversion, CVS, mercurial). We use git/Github
Required: 1.5+ years experience with Linux (Ubuntu and bash experience preferred)
Highly Recommended: Experience with Test-Driven Development, unit testing & functional testing practices and tools
Highly Recommended: Systems / backend experience and experience with enterprise-grade load balancing and HA system configurations
Recommended: 2+ years experience with C, C++
Recommended: Experience (or at a minimum, familiarity) with the tools and technology powering our stack: Python 3, Django/Flask, RabbitMQ/Celery, PostgreSQL, Redis, HAProxy, Nginx, Pyunit, Jquery, Knockout, Selenium, Travis, Docker, Wiki/Restructured text, VMWare/KVM/Xen, NoSQL (Mongo/Cassandra/etc), Pingdom.
What We Offer:
Usual Suspects. Health, dental, vision, 401(k) with generous match, supplemental insurance, etc.
Culture. The culture is what you and a few others will make it.
Perks. Access to all of the perks and employee benefits Overstock provides (over-the-top events, discount ski resort passes, etc.)
Stock. As a member of the core team you are eligible to receive stock units
This position offers relocationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the Supreme Court prepares to decide whether the federal government may deny benefits to same-sex married couples that it allows their heterosexual counterparts, Americans seem already to have made up their minds.
Same-sex couple Frank Capley (L) and Joe Alfano listen to a speaker at City Hall in San Francisco, California February 14, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said married gay and lesbian couples should be able to qualify for Social Security survivor payments and other benefits provided to married heterosexual couples, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling of 2,886 people between March 5 and March 14.
Majority support for such benefits was seen across all regions of the United States, even in the traditionally more conservative South.
That widespread support emerges just before the Supreme Court takes up a pair of momentous gay rights cases next week, one testing whether the government may deny benefits to same-sex married couples without violating the Constitution’s guarantee of equality. In the other case, the nine justices will review a California law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.
A more extensive Reuters/Ipsos poll of 24,455 people between January 1 and March 14 found only a quarter of Americans opposed same-sex marriage or civil unions, although there were deep regional differences of opinion. Overall, that Reuters poll found 63 percent supported gay marriage or civil unions, with 41 percent of people saying same-sex couples should be permitted to marry.
The greatest support was in the Northeast, with 69 percent of adults favoring a gay marriage or civil-union right. The lowest support was in the South, at 57 percent.
Overall, surveys have shown a drop in endorsement of civil unions simultaneous to a rise in support of same-sex marriage.
LONG-TERM TREND
“While there is some divergence between those who support legalizing civil unions versus marriage, these groups are both likely to sit on the same side of the fence on the issue if pushed to a decision,” said Julia Clark, Ipsos vice-president. “The long-term trend shows steady movement toward a majority of Americans supporting the legalization of same-sex marriage.”
The support for equal federal benefits in the Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests a majority of people, regardless of their views on the marriage question, believe the federal government should not discriminate among couples based on sexual orientation.
Those views were not tied to respondents’ own sexual preferences. The overwhelming majority of people who took part in the poll, 93 percent, described themselves as heterosexual or straight.
Currently, nine states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex marriage. Eight other states allow civil unions or domestic partnerships with virtually all state marriage benefits, but do not allow couples to marry.
In oral arguments on March 26 and 27, the Supreme Court will address for the first time a possible right to same-sex marriage. The issue for the nine justices on the first day is the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 voter referendum that declared marriage a right only for a man and woman.
In their appeal, Proposition 8 proponents argue that the law advances the state’s interest in procreation and child-rearing. Challengers have asked the court not only to reject Proposition 8 for Californians but to declare a fundamental right to same-sex marriage nationwide.
On March 27, the justices will take up a provision of the federal 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, that allows only heterosexual married couples to claim federal benefits, such as tax exemptions for a surviving spouse’s inheritance. Edith Windsor of New York, legally wed to Thea Clara Spyer, who died in 2009, is challenging that provision in the case of United States v. Windsor.
OBAMA REVERSAL
The Obama administration, which two years ago reversed its position on the validity of DOMA, agrees with Windsor that the law violates the constitutional guarantee of equality. Defending DOMA is a Republican Party-dominated group from the House of Representatives.
The California case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, tests who at the state or federal level should have the authority to decide whether gay men and lesbians may marry. Defenders of Proposition 8 say that question should be left to the people in the states. Opponents insist marriage is a fundamental right for all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and should be protected by the Supreme Court through a constitutional ruling.
In the Reuters/ Ipsos poll, 31 percent of the people said same-sex marriage laws should be made by the Supreme Court. More respondents said they believed such laws should be set at the state level: 25 percent said through a voter referendum, 12 percent said by state legislatures. Ten percent said same-sex marriage laws should be generated by Congress. A full 23 percent said they did not know where same-sex marriage laws should be made.
When people responding to the poll were asked to describe themselves, 93 percent said heterosexual/straight; 3 percent said gay/lesbian; 3 percent said bisexual; and 2 percent said other.
The accuracy of the Reuter/Ipsos poll is measured using a credibility interval. The questions regarding federal benefits and what institution of government should be responsible for the legality of same-sex marriage, each with a sample of 2,886 people, had a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
The question regarding how people feel about same sex marriage and civil unions, with a sample of 24,455 people, had a credibility interval of 0.7 of a percentage point.DT: March 27, 2012
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
PICK EMI LABEL SERVICES FOR LAUNCH OF NEW ALBUM
‘OCEANIA’ TO HIT STORES JUNE 19TH, 2012
EMI Label Services/Caroline Distribution has announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with Martha’s Music to release the highly anticipated album from THE SMASHING PUMPKINS entitled OCEANIA on June 19th, 2012. The agreement covers the world excluding Canada, Brazil and Australia.
Produced by THE SMASHING PUMPKINS’ frontman Billy Corgan, OCEANIA is an intense and dynamic offering that will appeal to new and existing fans of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS alike. OCEANIA, the band’s 7th studio record, is “an album within an album,” part of their 44-song work-in-progress TEARGARDEN BY KALEIDYSCOPE.
Peter Katsis, manager of SMASHING PUMPKINS for Prospect Park, added: “The Smashing Pumpkins created Oceania as an album experience, and it is intended for the process of the release to follow a path of inclusion, so that best efforts are made for all the fans hear it at the same time as press or radio. We were excited to find partners in EMI Label Services that were equally passionate about the plan for the album release as well as being huge fans of the Pumpkins.”
EMI’s relationship with THE SMASHING PUMPKINS dates back more than 20 years, to the release of Gish in 1991. That album was reissued this past November along with 1993’s Siamese Dream. Mike Harris EVP/GM EMI Label Services / Caroline distribution said: “We are thrilled to extend the long-term partnership between The Smashing Pumpkins and EMI with the release of Oceania. Everybody at EMI Label Services is looking forward to working closely with Billy and the band to help them deliver their vision and their music to fans around the world.”
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS have created one of the most acclaimed bodies of work in musical history having sold more than 30 million albums, and won multiple Grammy awards in the process. Formed in Chicago in 1988, they released Gish, their influential and platinum debut in 1991, which was followed by albums including the nine-time platinum Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and the four-time platinum Siamese Dream, as well as the platinum certified 1998 album Adore. The pivotal group’s many hits defined the alternative music era and continue to resonate on modern rock radio, influencing a whole new generation. The PUMPKINS returned in 2007 with their acclaimed sixth album Zeitgeist. They have since remained on the cutting edge of music and technology with various online releases.
www.smashingpumpkins.com
http://www.facebook.com/smashingpumpkins
http://twitter.com/smashingpumpkin
http://twitter.com/Billy
http://www.youtube.com/user/PumpkinsMediaMilitia
# # #
For more information, please contact:
MSO: 818-380-0400
Mitch Schneider: [email protected]
Todd Brodginski: [email protected]
Alexandra Greenberg: [email protected]. Ambassador Susan Rice isn't just facing down right-wing GOP attacks these days, she's taking incoming fire from pundits widely perceived as liberal. Maureen Dowd went all in on Rice in a nasty column Sunday, while the Washington Post's Dana Milbank termed Rice "ill-equipped to be the nation’s top diplomat for reasons that have little to do with Libya."
Dowd paints Rice as looking to close an alleged "stature gap" with her Benghazi Sunday show statements, quoting a colleague blaming her troubles on being "focused on the performance, not the content." Milbank says she's made "an impressive array of enemies — on Capitol Hill, in Foggy Bottom and abroad." Both Milbank and Dowd seem to rely entirely on the anonymous testimony of such enemies; there isn't a single named source in either piece.
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I wasn't going to write about either column until I heard Milbank on Brian Lehrer's WNYC show today, promoting his piece. Before Milbank's segment, Lehrer asked his prior guest, New York Times correspondent David Sanger, about Milbank's claim that Rice wasn't much of a diplomat, and Sanger pointed to her role in negotiating tough sanctions on Iran supported by both China and Russia as evidence of her skills.
When he had the floor, after Sanger departed, Milbank dismissed Sanger's Rice defense as insincere. "You're asking him on the record, on the radio -- what else is he going to say? That's exactly the same answer I'd give in his position." Off the record, he insisted, is the way people unload on Rice. Stunningly, Milbank was implying Sanger would do the same thing, given the chance. I hope Sanger was listening.
I realized that the columns by Dowd and particularly Milbank reminded me of Jeffrey Rosen's hit piece on Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor back in May 2009, a similarly anonymously sourced mélange of complaints about Sotomayor, whom Rosen called “not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench.”
Milbank didn't quite call Rice a dumb bully. "Colleagues talk of shouting matches and insults," he merely confides.
He quotes a Russian newspaper quoting a Russian foreign affairs official who called her “too ambitious and aggressive,” and said her appointment would make it “more difficult for Moscow to work with Washington.” (Ooooh, imagine if Obama snubbed Rice because of that: He'd be taking his marching orders from Moscow!) Milbank also shares a fun story about Rice flipping her middle finger at Richard Holbrooke during a senior State Department staff meeting to the shock of her colleagues. Unfortunately, Holbrooke, that renowned figure of restraint and self-effacement, is no longer with us to say what he thought of Rice's alleged gesture. It's possible he admired it.
Secretary of state is a diplomatic role, but it doesn't require a doormat. It's true, Rice is no fragile flower. She's only a professional acquaintance, someone I've met just three or four times, but one of those times was at a week-long working conference on women and children, where she was smart, kind, funny, tough, opinionated and diplomatic. That doesn't mean she should be secretary of state; it just means it wouldn't be hard to write a piece refuting Rice's anonymous critics – had Dowd or Milbank looked for them.
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I know, they're columnists, they don't have to – but it's sad they're carrying water for Rice's cowardly rivals and doubters. No doubt Republicans are enjoying having so-called liberals with which to bolster their unfair, sometimes unhinged attacks on Rice – now with the imprimatur "Even those liberals at the New York Times and Washington Post agree." Righties used Jeffrey Rosen's Sotomayor slam the same way, adding "the liberal New Republic" to her list of detractors.
How relevant is it that both Rice and Sotomayor, two women of color, both wound up derided as bullies who aren't qualified? Hard not to notice; I'll let the reader judge what it means.Your complimentary articles You’ve read one of your four complimentary articles for this month. You can read four articles free per month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please SUBSCRIBE NOW
Brains & Minds
Philosophy of Mind: An Overview
Laura Weed takes us on a tour of the mind/brain controversy.
In the twentieth century philosophy of mind became one of the central areas of philosophy in the English-speaking world, and so it remains. Questions such as the relationship between mind and brain, the nature of consciousness, and how we perceive the world, have come to be seen as crucial in understanding the world. These days, the predominant position in philosophy of mind aims at equating mental phenomena with operations of the brain, and explaining them all in scientific terms. Sometimes this project is called ‘cognitive science’, and it carries the implicit assumption that cognition occurs in computers as well as in human and animal brains, and can be studied equally well in each of these three forms.
Before the mid-twentieth century, for a long time the dominant philosophical view of the mind was that put forward by Ren é Descartes (1596-1650). According to Descartes, each of us consists of a material body subject to the normal laws of physics, and an immaterial mind, which is not. This dual nature gives Descartes’ theory its name: Cartesian Dualism. Although immaterial, the mind causes actions of the body, through the brain, and perceptions are fed to the mind from the body. Descartes thought this interaction between mind and body takes place in the part of the brain we call the pineal gland. However, he didn’t clarify how a completely non-physical mind could have a causal effect on the physical brain, or vice versa, and this was one of the problems that eventually led to dissatisfaction with his theory.
In the early twentieth century three strands of thought arose out of developments in psychology and philosophy which would come together to lead to Cartesian Dualism being challenged, then abandoned. These were Behaviorism, Scientific Reductionism and Vienna Circle Verificationism. I will begin with a very brief summary of each of those positions before I describe various contemporary views that have evolved from them:
Behaviorism: Behaviorists accept psychologist B.F. Skinner’s claims that mental events can be reduced to stimulus-response pairs, and that descriptions of observable behavior are the only adequate, scientific way to describe mental behavior. So, for behaviorists, all talk about mental events – images, feelings, dreams, desires, and so on – is really either a reference to a behavioral disposition or it is meaningless. Behaviorists claim that only descriptions of objectively observable behavior can be scientific. Introspection is a meaningless process that cannot yield anything, much less a ‘mind’ as a product, and all human ‘mental’ life that is worth counting as real occurs as an objectively observable form of behavior. Head-scratching is objectively observable. Incestuous desire is not; nor is universal doubt, apprehension of infinity, or Cartesian introspection. Philosophers like Carl Hempel and Gilbert Ryle shared the view that all genuine problems are scientific problems.
Verificationism was a criterion of meaning for language formulated by the Logical Positivists of the Vienna Circle, who argued that any proposition that was not an a logical truth or which could not be tested was literally meaningless. For example, a mother’s claim that the cat will bite Jimmy if he doesn’t stop teasing her is testable, but a theologian’s claim that the Infinite Absolute is invisibly bestowing grace in the world is not.
Scientific Reductionism is the claim that explanations in terms of ordinary language, or sciences such as psychology, physiology, biology, or chemistry, are reducible to explanations at a simpler level – ultimately to explanations at the level of physics. Some (but not all) mental terms can be ‘operationalized’, or reduced to testable and measurable descriptions. Only these ones will rate as real mental events to the scientific reductionist. There will be no Cartesian or Platonic ‘mind’ left over to be something different from a body.
Mental Events are Physical
The Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) had another way to explain away the mind that Plato and Descartes believed exists independently of a body. Ryle characterized Cartesian Dualism as a ‘category mistake’. Category mistakes, as the name suggests, involve putting something into the wrong logical category. In Ryle’s example, a visitor to Oxford wanders around the various colleges, libraries, laboratories and faculty offices, and then asks: “Can I see the University?” She has missed the fact that in seeing the buildings she was already seeing the university.
Ryle claimed that Descartes’ ‘ghost in the machine’ – his immaterial mind in a material body – is a similar mistake. Descartes thinks he must have a ‘soul’ in his body that possesses his talents, memories and character. Ryle says that like the university, the mind is just the organization of Descartes’ body’s propensities. Bodies don’t need a ghost to run them. According to Ryle, the properties of a person are better understood as adjectives modifying a body, than as a noun (an object) parallel to it. Intelligence, for example, is not a thing that exists apart from and parallel to a body, but rather is a collection of properties a body has. Intelligence includes properties such as social skill, quick wit, organizational ability, math ability, a sense of humor, musical talent, articulateness, critical thinking skill, and artistic sensitivity. Someone who never exhibited any of these skills or abilities would not be called intelligent; and anyone who is considered intelligent exhibits some of these talents.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) contributed an argument against private language. He claimed that for a symbol or a word to have a meaning there must be agreement among people about what the symbol is to mean. Plato’s idea of what ‘triangle’ means was that an ‘inner’ mental image occurs ‘in your mind’. By contrast, according to Wittgenstein, ‘triangle’ is a public word, used to communicate in a social group. Children learn its correct and incorrect applications by being corrected by elders in their use of the word. According to Wittgenstein, apart from the social use, ‘triangle’ has no meaning. Similarly on this account, ‘mind’ has no meaning apart from its effects.
J.J.C. Smart added materialism to scientific reductionism in this developing point of view by claiming that mental states could literally be particular states of the brain – so that for example some C-fibres firing in one’s brain would be identical with a specific feeling of pain. This became known as the Mind-Brain Identity Theory, and for a while it dominated philosophical discussions about mental events. Since then, however, Identity Theory discussions have been superceded by discussions driven by computer metaphors, such as Functionalism, Neurological Reductivist Materialism, Supervenience Theories, and Naturalistic Dualism. So let’s look at those newer theories.
Functionalism
Functionalism is the theory that the important thing about mental states is not where they are located or what they are made of, but what function they perform.
Alan Turing is generally regarded as one of the fathers of computer science: among other achievements, he produced the first ever design for a stored-program computer. He also argued that artificial intelligence is intelligence in every sense of the word. In a 1950 paper he described a scenario which has since become known as the Turing Test. Suppose you are communicating with two people on the other side of a wall. You pass notes through a slot and figure out which of the people is responding to your notes. Now, suppose that one of the people is replaced by a computer, and you can’t tell that this has happened. Do you have any reason to say that the person you were communicating with before is intelligent but the computer is not? Turing says, no, you don’t. If intelligence consists of your ability to solve math problems, keep track of lots of information, organize data, recognize recurring patterns, and play chess, and the computer can do all of these things better and faster than you can, then you have no right to claim that you are intelligent and it is not. Now that Big Blue has beaten Kasparov at chess, and the best Jeopardy players have been beaten by IBM’s Watson, Turing’s claim seems even more convincing.
Turing is identifying mental properties with mental functions – not with observable behavior, as Ryle did; nor with brain states, as Smart did. Turing assumes mental functions can cause behavior and brain states, but not that they’re identical with either behavior or brain states.
Hilary Putnam, writing in the 1970s, argued that a feeling of pain could be a function that is in principle realizable in a collection of silicon chips or some other physical apparatus as well as in a brain. Putnam called the idea that humans can think but computers can’t, ‘hydrocarbon chauvinism’. He further claimed that any organism can be described as a probabilistic automaton – i.e., as a system that undergoes transitions from initial states, through processing functions, to output states which can be predicted with varying degrees of accuracy. All organisms are systems that causally interact with the environment, have processing procedures, and output effects, claimed Putnam. (He has since changed his mind about functionalism and become a pragmatist.)
Jerry Fodor added to the functionalist program the proviso that any function capable of working as brain states do must be computational. Neurons, structures and patterns in the brain can be described in terms of mathematical models. Therefore if mental events are to be functionally connected to brains in a one-to-one correspondence, then they too must be realizable through a language of thought in a digitizable format.
Neurological Reductionism
Paul and Patricia Churchland espouse a position they call ‘eliminative materialism’, which argues that the project of neuroscience will actually prove to be even more radical than identity theorists like Smart realized. The Churchlands claim that talk of mental states will eventually be abandoned altogether, in favor of a radically different view of how the brain works not identified with brain states.
According to the Churchlands, folk psychology is the way most people think about how thinking works. So for example, most people now think that we have a stream of consciousness that contains images and conceptions of a wide variety of types about which we have beliefs and attitudes. Our beliefs and attitudes are colored by our feelings, which include mental states like joy, sorrow, resentment, anxiety and relief. We also think that the way we sense the world and ourselves is largely a direct representation of the way the world is; so the world contains cold and hot, colored, shaped, hard and soft, threatening and soothing things, and our bodies sometimes are those ways as well. All of this is false, according to the Churchlands. It is not just a bit misleading, the way a fuzzy map might misrepresent some areas of terrain. It is downright false across the board, in the way that the notion that demonic possession explains mental illness is false.
Paul Churchland points out how radically scientific revolutions alter the way people think about things. When Aristotle’s theories in physics were replaced by Newtonian physics, his ideas like ‘natural motion is circular’ just ceased to exist. Likewise, science now has no place for phlogiston, choleric personalities, and demonic possession. Churchland predicts that in the same way, at some point in the near future, people will no longer even try to introspect to see how they are doing. Just as a psychologist might now tell a depressed patient to stop worrying about why he is depressed and take some Prozac, so in the future, people might figure out how they are doing mentally by giving themselves a home fMRI or CAT scan and having their computer analyze the data. The resulting analysis will have nothing in common with “I’m sad because my cat died,” or “I’m elated over the beautiful sunset.”
Churchland has three arguments in favor of eliminative materialism. The first is that folk psychology fails to explain such common activities as sleep, learning, intelligence and mental illness. Since folk psychology has been around for thousands of years, it isn’t lack of time to work out the details folk psychology suffers from, it is explanatory poverty. Secondly, the history of ideas supports elimination of old conceptual frameworks. Folk notions of motion were completely replaced by Newtonian physics, leaving not a trace. Folk ideas of cosmology, fire and life were equally cockeyed. The phenomena of conscious intelligence are more complex and harder to understand than any of the above, so there is little likelihood that
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in Łódź. He established the Dr. Stanzl special effects studio in Vienna for the Austrian public TV station ORF, and worked there from 1977 to 1980. During the political unrest in Poland in 1980 he was the head of the founders' committee of the Se-Ma-For studio branch of Solidarity.
Emigration to the United States [ edit ]
In 1982, during the martial law period, he managed to arrange a job contract that enabled him to leave Poland for Vienna, where he applied for political asylum. The following year he and his family emigrated to the US, where they lived in Los Angeles and then New York. The first works he made in the US were the short experimental videos The Day Before and The Discreet Charm of the Diplomacy, both made in 1984 on a commission from NBC TV's The New Show. In 1985 he launched his own studio – ZBIG VISION – in New York, which he subsequently outfitted with the latest video, computer and HDTV technology. It was in this studio that he made his most important American films, including Steps (1987), The Fourth Dimension (1988), The Orchestra (1990), Manhattan (1991) and Kafka (1992), which were showered with enthusiastic critical acclaim and numerous awards. In the US he also made short music-based pieces that added to his popularity and acclaim. Between 1984 and 1989 he made more than 30 music videos for such artists as Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Lou Reed, Simple Minds, Cameo, The Art of Noise, Chuck Mangione, Pet Shop Boys, Lady Pank, The Alan Parsons Project, Supertramp and Rush. One of them – Imagine (1986), made for John Lennon's composition – was the first music video ever made using high-definition technology.
In 1994 Rybczyński moved to Germany, where he co-founded the Centrum Für Neue Bildgestaltung, an experimental film center in Berlin, and later worked in Cologne. He returned to Los Angeles in 2001, where he worked for the Ultimatte Corporation and continued his research in the area where art, science and digital technology intersect working out new standards for moving images. Among the results of Rybczyński's long-term research and experimentation are his inventions in the field of electronic- image technology, for which he holds several US patents, and which are widely used in the film and TV industries.
In March 2009 Rybczyński returned to Poland, taking up residence in Wrocław, where he has set up the Center for Audiovisual Technologies (CeTa) at the site of the city's historic Feature Film Studio. The center, which officially opened in January 2013, includes a state-of-the-art studio designed by Rybczyński for the production of multi-layer film images, and an institute for research into images and visual technologies.[3]
Rybczyński was a professor at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne (1998-2001), and has also taught at many other art and film schools, including the Łódź Film School, Columbia University in New York and Yoshiba University of Art and Design in Tokyo.
Awards [ edit ]
star on the Lodz walk of fame
Rybczyński has won numerous prestigious awards at international film festivals including Oberhausen (1981), Tampere (1982), Kraków (1981), and the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival (1993). The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film he won in 1983 for his film Tango was the first ever Oscar awarded to a Polish artist. (The awards ceremony was notable for Rybczynski, as after he left the ceremony to step outside for a smoke, he was barred entry by a security guard even though he was holding an Oscar statuette. A scuffle ensued, and Rybczynski was arrested. His summation of the event was that "success and failure are quite intertwined.")[4]
He has also received three MTV Video Music Awards, three American Video Awards and three Monitor Awards (1984-1987), an MTV Video Vanguard Award for "being visionary in the field of music video" (1985–86), a Billboard Music Video Award (1986), a Silver Lion at the Cannes Advertising Film Festival (1987), an Emmy Award (1990), a Prix Italia (1990) and the Grand Prize at the International Electronic Cinema Festival, Tokyo-Montreux (1990 and 1992). In 2010 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the development of international cinematic art at the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival (BIAFF) in Georgia.
In 1999 Rybczyński was honored with a star in the Łódź Walk of Fame. In 2008 the Łódź Film School awarded him an honorary doctorate "for outstanding artistic skill and innovation in the cinematic arts and for the creative use of the potentials of art, technology and science". In the same year Poland's Minister of Culture and National Heritage awarded him the Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis for Cultural Achievements, and he also received the prestigious Katarzyna Kobro Award for artistic achievement.
Rybczyński's first solo exhibition – A Treatise on the Visual Image, shown in 2009 at Art Stations in Poznań, the WRO Art Center in Wrocław and the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń – focused attention on his unique artistic and scientific achievements, presenting his work in the context not only of film, but of contemporary fine arts.
Rybczyński was also active in an avant-garde group "Warsztat Formy Filmowej", and had cooperated with "Se-ma-for" Studios in Łódź, where he authored a series of short films, including: Plamuz 1973, Zupa 1974, Nowa książka 1975 and Tango 1980. Tango was his big success, winning the Oscar Award for Best Animated Short in 1983. [5]
After winning the Academy Award, Rybczyński moved to New York and embarked on a career directing music videos in the early years of MTV. Rybczyński created dozens of music videos for artists such as Art of Noise, Mick Jagger, Simple Minds, Pet Shop Boys, Chuck Mangione, The Alan Parsons Project, Yoko Ono, Lou Reed, Supertramp, Rush, Propaganda, Lady Pank. His clip for John Lennon's Imagine was created as a showpiece for HDTV technology. Rybczyński won several MTV Awards, including the coveted Video Vanguard Award for his radical contributions to the form.
Rybczyński is a recognized pioneer in HDTV technology. In 1990, he produced the HDTV program The Orchestra for the Japanese market. This suite of classical music videos won many awards (the Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects"). The program, created in HDTV, was broadcast in standard resolution by PBS as part of their Great Performances series in the U.S., as HDTV was not widely available to viewers until a decade later. Segments of this program are regularly featured on the Classic Arts Showcase channel in the U.S.
Frustrated with the quality of available chroma key technology — the process of removing a specific color frequency from film and video that had become essential to his work — Rybczyński began to author his own chromakey software in the 1990s. This led to an R&D position with the Los Angeles Ultimatte Corporation, longtime industry leaders in chromakey technology.
Filmography [ edit ]
Poland period [ edit ]
Year Film Title Duration Film Type Shoot Location 1972 Kwadrat (Square) 4:40 35 mm short film PWSFTviT Łódź, Poland Take Five 3:36 35 mm short film PWSFTviT Łódź, Poland 1973 Plamuz (Music Art) 9:38 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland 1974 Zupa (Soup) 8:22 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland 1975 Nowa Książka (New Book) 10:26 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland Lokomotywa (Locomotive) 9:38 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland Święto (Holiday) 9:38 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland 1976 Oj! Nie Mogę Się Zatrzymać! (Oh, I Can't Stop!) 10:07 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland Weg Zum Nachbarn (Way To Your Neighbor) 2:30 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland 1977 Piątek - Sobota (Friday - Saturday) 3:00 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland 1979 Mein Fenster (My Window) 2:26 35 mm short film Vienna 1980 Tango 8:14 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland Media 1:36 35 mm short film SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, Poland Sceny Narciarskie z Franzem Klammeren (Ski Scenes with Franz Klammer) 9:38 35 mm documentary film in collaboration with B. Dziworski, WFO Łódź, Poland and Signal Film, Vienna 1981 Wdech-Wydech (Inhale-Exhale) 2:26 35 mm short film in collaboration with B. Dziworski, SMFF Se-Ma-For Łódź, for TVP, Poland
Later works [ edit ]
1983 [ edit ]
Angst - Austrian serial killer film starring Erwin Leder
1984 [ edit ]
1985 [ edit ]
1986 [ edit ]
1987 [ edit ]
1988 [ edit ]
Fluff - opening sequence video, 1:47, HDTV, RAI
- opening sequence video, 1:47, HDTV, RAI The Duel - a tribute to G.Melies, 4:08, HDTV, Telegraph,
- a tribute to G.Melies, 4:08, HDTV, Telegraph, Blue Like You - HDTV music video for Etienne Daho, 3:41, Virgin Records
- HDTV music video for Etienne Daho, 3:41, Virgin Records The Fourth Dimension - experimental 35mm film, 27 min, Zbig Vision, Rai 3, Canal+ and KTCA-TV (PBS)
1989 [ edit ]
Capriccio no.24 - experimental HDTV film, 6:18, TVE's The Art of Video
- experimental HDTV film, 6:18, TVE's The Art of Video You Better Dance - HDTV music video for The Jets, 3:34, MCA Records
- HDTV music video for The Jets, 3:34, MCA Records Cowbell - HDTV music video for Takeshi Itoh, 4 min, CBS Records
- HDTV music video for Takeshi Itoh, 4 min, CBS Records GMF Groupe - promo, 2:03, HDTV, Zbig Vision and Ex Nihilo
1990 [ edit ]
The Orchestra - HDTV long film, 57:11, Zbig Vision and Ex Nihilo, coproduced by NHK, Canal+ and PBS Great Performances.
- HDTV long film, 57:11, Zbig Vision and Ex Nihilo, coproduced by NHK, Canal+ and PBS Great Performances. Video Hits One - 17 network ID's for VH1
1991 [ edit ]
Manhattan - experimental HDTV film, 28 min, Zbig Vision and NHK Enterprises USA, Inc.
- experimental HDTV film, 28 min, Zbig Vision and NHK Enterprises USA, Inc. Washington - experimental HDTV film, 28 min, Zbig Vision and NHK Enterprises USA, Inc.
1992 [ edit ]
Kafka - HDTV long film, 52:16, Télémax, Les Editions Audiovisuelles
- HDTV long film, 52:16, Télémax, Les Editions Audiovisuelles Curtains - opening sequence for Tonight Show, 0:34, HDTV, NBC TV
2011 [ edit ]
The Vision, 2011, co-director Dorota Zgłobicka, Zbig Vision, Polska
See also [ edit ]CLOSE Apple is set to sneak peek IOS9, the latest upgrade to its mobile operating system, ata developer's conference in San Francisco. Jefferson Graham previews the new features. Sean Fujiwara, USA TODAY
Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference logo (Photo11: Apple)
LOS ANGELES — Every year, Apple introduces a new iPhone, and an update to its iOS mobile operating system.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference next week, Apple is expected to preview the latest version of iOS, version 9. Unlike previous years, it may run a little more smoothly and more efficiently than previous iOS versions, especially on older phones.
"A lot of people don't want to upgrade, because they don't think the new version will be stable," says Mark Gurman, a senior editor with 9to5Mac, a leading Apple enthusiast site. "That will change this year."
The previous iOS upgrade, released last fall, had many consumers complaining about battery and Wi-Fi issues with the new software.
Still, while many people initially fear the download, then eventually succumb, says Peter Csathy, CEO of Manatt Digital Media, a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm. "At the end of the day, they like getting the new features."
Some of the highlights of the new features, according to 9to5:
-- Faster operations, with a smaller upload. iOS 8 was a monster at 2 GBs. Apple has reportedly found a way to get the new version on phones without it taking so much space. "This will be a big improvement on older devices," Gurman says.
-- Better notifications. iOS will work with Calendar, Contacts and Passbook to reportedly provide better informed updates to your day and interests.
-- A new keyboard and font is in the works.
Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies, says the new operating system will have "tighter security" features. "Apple's goal is to make all of their devices the most secure on the market," he says.
Adoption rate of iOS 8 has been slower than with the previous iOS upgrades, perhaps because of consumer fear about their phones running more slowly or not at all after the upgrade.
Apple broke through to 82% of iOS devices using the latest operating system, an improvement from 78% after just 3 months for iOS 7.
Follow Jefferson Graham on Twitter and Facebook
MORE ON WHAT'S COMING FROM APPLE
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1M7i9lzFormer Lebanon Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, lauded the indictments handed to Hezbollah officials by the UN-backed tribunal probing Hariri's 2005 assassination, calling it a "historic moment."
The handover of the indictments to Lebanese prosecutor general Saeed Mirza was made during a meeting with three judges from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which has given Lebanon 30 days to respond.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, January 14, 2011. AP
Saad Hariri issued a statement shortly after the indictment was handed to Mirza warning the new Hezbollah-led cabinet that it must abide by Lebanon's commitments toward the international tribunal.
"The cabinet should implement Lebanon's commitments toward the international tribunal and has no excuse in escaping its responsibilities," Hariri, who is currently living in Paris, said.
Hariri also said that "after many years of patience, of struggle... today, we witness a historic moment in Lebanese politics, justice and security.
"We are not seeking revenge, rather we put our faith in God," he added.
Shortly after the news came out that the indictments were released, many Lebanese security forces were deployed in Beirut and carried out patrols in a precautionary move to guard against any violence.
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On hearing reports of the indictments, Hariri supporters fired shots into the air in the mainly Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Tarek Jadideh.
"We are happy the truth is finally coming out," one neighborhood resident who asked not to be named, told DPA by phone.
"Since Hariri was martyred we have been asking for the truth behind the assassination and I think we are now starting to see the first list of names," he added.
The tribunal has long been a point of contention between Lebanon's rival political parties.
On January 12, Hezbollah and its allies toppled the Western-backed government of Saad Hariri over his refusal to stop the tribunal in probing his father's murder.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia’s Austal on Thursday submitted their best ideas for the U.S. Navy’s next small warship, as a Navy task force continues to reassess the future of its $34 billion Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program.
The Navy last month asked U.S. and foreign weapons makers to submit cost and technical data on ship designs and weapons to inform the work of the task force that is due to report on various options by July 31. That, in turn, will help the Navy shape its fiscal 2016 budget request.
The Navy created the task force after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed significant concerns about the survivability and firepower of the current LCS ships, and ordered a pause in orders after 32 ships. The Navy has ordered 24 ships of the total 52 planned so far.
Lockheed submitted what it called “a low risk approach with several options” that would allow the Navy to evolve the current steel monohull design built by Lockheed for the LCS program, said Joe North, vice president of Littoral Ship Systems for Lockheed’s Mission Systems & Sensors business.
The proposal includes a variety of options for new surface-to-surface missiles, launchers, radar and other equipment - all priced under $700 million - that the Navy can choose to pursue all at once or phase in over the coming years, North said. Lockheed’s LCS ships now cost about $460 million each.
North said Lockheed also provided details about a higher-end LCS variant it has offered to international buyers that has a bigger hull and includes an Aegis missile defense system. The cost of that option would exceed $700 million, he said.
“We’re basically doing a spiral design that offers them different configurations, based on what they may want,” he said.
He said the current design for Lockheed’s monohull had 180 metric tons of space set aside for interchangeable equipment packages that could be used for permanent weapons systems.
Austal said its response added “significant offensive and defensive capability” to its aluminum trimaran design to support higher end missions, including a towed array sonar for anti-submarine warfare, torpedoes, surface-to-surface missiles and equipment to increase the ship’s radar detection range.
Terry O’Brien, vice president of business development for Austal’s U.S. unit, said the process allowed the Navy to work closely with industry and leverage mature designs as it sought to maximize the capabilities of the LCS class of ships.
The current class of ships was built to hunt and fight mines, submarines and surface ships using interchangeable equipment packages, but officials have grown concerned that the ships also need some permanent weapons on board.
North said it was “way too expensive” to start with a clean sheet design for a new small warship. Such an effort would likely cost around $1 billion, he said, and could result in a new class of warships that cost around $1 billion each.On a fortified hill in Scotland some 1,900 years ago, a Roman army attacked local warriors by hurling lead bullets from slings that had nearly the stopping power of a modern.44 magnum handgun, according to recent experiments.
The assault seems to have been deadly effective, for the local warriors were armed only with swords and other simple weapons, says John Reid, a researcher at the Trimontium Trust and one of the co-directors of the archaeological fieldwork at Burnswark, south of Edinburgh. “We’re fairly sure that the natives on top of the hill weren’t allowed to survive.”
But Burnswark was just the opening salvo in a war against the restive tribes living north of Hadrian’s Wall. Despite their superior weaponry, Roman soldiers seem to have gotten bogged down in Scotland as they fought a tough, resourceful enemy capable of melting away into the hills and marshes. Less than two decades after the Romans attacked Burnswark and occupied part of Scotland’s lowlands, they retreated south to Hadrian’s Wall. “This is beginning to look like Rome’s Afghanistan,” Reid says.
View Images Roman soldiers armed with slings used these lead bullets to mow down foes. A skilled slinger could hit a target smaller than a person from 130 yards away. Photograph by John Reid
Reid and colleague Andrew Nicholson, an archaeologist at the Dumfries and Galloway Council, began studying Burnswark five years ago, hoping to uncover new clues to the events that unfolded at the site, which includes remains of two Roman camps. At the time, Scottish archaeologists were divided in their interpretations of the site. Some thought a Roman army had used Burnswark as an ancient firing range and training camp, while other researchers regarded the hill fort as the scene of a lengthy siege.
To clarify the picture, Reid and Nicholson decided to scour Burnswark for traces of ancient Roman ammunition. American archaeologists had used metal detectors successfully at the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn to locate buried bullets and shells and map the combatants’ movements across the battlefield. So Reid and Nicholson decided to try something similar at Burnswark. As a first step, the researchers learned to calibrate a metal detector so that it could distinguish the lead in an ancient Roman sling bullet from other metal artifacts buried at the site.
Trained metal detectorists then combed Burnswark’s hillsides and summit, producing more than 2,700 hits that Nicholson carefully recorded and mapped. Then the team ground-truthed the findings by digging five small trenches. The excavations revealed more than 400 Roman sling bullets right where the metal detectors indicated, as well as two spherical sandstone missiles known as ballista balls. The results suggested that 94 percent of the metal detector hits were in fact Roman bullets.
View Images Archaeologists discovered two spherical sandstone missiles known as ballista balls that were fired by Roman artillery. Photograph by John Reid
Impressed, the team began analysing the locations of the metal detector hits to better understand what had happened. They discovered a concentration of lead bullets across the entire 500-yard-long southern rampart of the Scottish hill fort, directly above one of the Roman camps. “This is just what we would expect from a besieging assault,” notes Reid. A second, smaller concentration lay to the north, along what may have been the defenders’ failed escape route.
The Roman slingers would have exacted a heavy toll. Recent experiments conducted in Germany showed that a 50-gram Roman bullet hurled by a trained slinger has only slightly less stopping power than a.44 magnum cartridge fired from a handgun. Other tests revealed that a trained slinger could hit a target smaller than a human being from 130 yards away. “That’s exactly the distance from the front rampart of the south [Roman] camp to the front rampart of the hill fort,” Reid noted.
Terror Tactics
The Romans also employed a previously unknown form of psychological warfare to terrify the Scots and undermine their resistance. While examining the bullets, Reid and Nicholson noticed small holes deliberately made in nearly 10 percent of the ammunition. Puzzled, the team cast replicas, and asked an experienced slinger to test them. The bullets with holes made “a weird banshee-like wail,” says Nicholson. “So you are getting these unworldly, unnatural sounds that you have never heard before, and people are falling over on either side of you.”
Comparative isotopic studies of bullets from Burnswark and from other well-dated sites suggests that the bloody assault took place around A.D.140, early in the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. “He was a new emperor with a need for a military victory somewhere,” says Reid. By striking with exemplary violence at Burnswark, the emperor may have hoped to claim a quick success and subdue difficult tribes along its northern frontier.Hillary Clinton makes $15 million a year. However, asking “How much does Hillary Clinton make in a year” gets different answers depending on the time frame. From 2007 through 2012, Hillary Clinton’s salary was $165,200 to $186,600. Her yearly earnings in that time averaged $225,000. In 2013 and beyond, Hillary Clinton made $15 million per year.
Hillary Clinton’s salary is only part of her total earnings story. Mrs. Clinton has traditionally earned some amount each year as an author. In recent years however, the question “How much does Hillary Clinton make in a year” is best answered by looking at her speaking fees. In 2013 and 2014, candidate Clinton earned over $13 million per year in speaking fees.
Hillary Clinton Earnings Over Time
To answer the question, “How much does Hillary Clinton make in a year,” we dug into her tax returns. Mrs. Clinton released eight years of tax returns in 2015. Combining salary and other earnings, we can track her annual income each year since 2007 in the table below.
How Much Did Hillary Clinton Make In... Hillary Clinton Salary Hillary Clinton Book Income Hillary Clinton Speaking Fees Total Hillary Clinton Income Per Year Total Hillary Clinton Earnings $1,080,900 $8,875,283 $20,172,000 $30,128,183 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2007? $165,200 $152,864 $318,064 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2008? $169,300 $60,759 $230,059 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2009? $186,600 $52,695 $239,295 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2010? $186,600 $3,612 $190,212 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2011? $186,600 $4,928 $191,528 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2012? $186,600 $6,540 $193,140 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2013? $3,011,597 $9,680,000 $12,691,597 How much did Hillary Clinton make in 2014? $5,582,288 $10,492,000 $16,074,288
Also see: Hillary Clinton Net Worth
The table shows Hillary Clinton’s salary from 2007 through 2009 as a U.S. Senator. Clinton’s salary in 2007 started at $165,200 and rose to $174,500 in 2008. In 2009 her salary rose to $186,600 a year when she was made Secretary of State.
Salary is only a small part of the “How much does Hillary Clinton make per year” story. Though Mrs. Clinton did earn $1.5 million in salary between 2007 and 2015, salary was the smallest part of her income. In that same time, Mrs. Clinton also earned $9 million from book deals and $22 million from speaking fees.
As the chart above shows, 66% of Hillary Clinton’s annual income between 2007 and 2015 came from speaking fees. Another 29% came from book deals, and only 5% came from her salary as a senator and Secretary of State.
So How Much Does Hillary Clinton Make in a Year?
The answer to how much Hillary Clinton makes in a year comes down to the time frame. Looking at the years between 2007 and 2012, the answer is $225,033 per year. In those years, Mrs. Clinton’s income came largely from salary, with a small amount from book income. Sales of Clinton’s previous books continued to bring in residual income from 2007 through 2012. The last of those books, Living History, was published in 2003.
Hillary Clinton avg. earnings per year 2007-2012 $225,033 Hillary Clinton avg. earnings per year 2007-2015 $3,811,160 Hillary Clinton avg. earnings per year 2013-2015 $14,569,543
Taking the entire period from 2007 through 2015, the question “How much does Hillary Clinton make in a year?” returns a bigger number. Averaging Clinton’s income from the entire eight year period gives a per-year earnings of $3.8 million.
Taking only the last two years of tax returns for 2013 and 2014 gives an even higher number. In those years, thanks to a big book deal and millions in speaking fees, Hillary Clinton earned $14.6 million per year.
Also see: Barack Obama Net Worth
2013 and 2014
In 2013 and 2014, Hillary Clinton’s annual income jumped from a previous $225,000 per year to a staggering $14.6 million per year. The reason is a combination of book deals and speaking fees.
In the years prior to 2013, Clinton’s four previous books, It Takes a Village, Dear Socks, An Invitation to the White House and Living History continued to bring in an average of less than $50,000 a year. However, in 2013, Mrs. Clinton signed a book deal that included her new book Hard Choices, released in 2014. Clinton earned $3 million dollars in 2013 as an advance against royalties and a further $5.6 million in 2014.
Hillary Clinton’s annual income from speaking fees took an even steeper jump. In the years between 2007 and 2012, Mrs. Clinton reported no or very little income from speaking fees. In 2013 that suddenly changed, with a reported $9.7 million in speaking fees that year. Hillary Clinton made $10.5 million for the year in speaking fees in 2014.
How Much Does Hillary Clinton Make Per Year vs Bill Clinton?
In the years since Bill Clinton was elected President, Hillary Clinton’s annual earnings lagged far behind his. In that time, Mrs. Clinton’s annual earnings hovered between 1% and 4% of the Clintons’ total combined household income.
In 2013 that suddenly changed, with Mrs. Clinton bringing in 48% of the Clintons’ joint income. In 2014, Hillary Clinton made more per year than her husband Bill, bringing in 58% of the family’s yearly take. That’s the first time Mrs. Clinton has earned more in a year than her husband since she worked as an attorney before Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas.
Year Bill and Hillary Clinton Annual Earnings Hillary Clinton Annual Earnings Hillary Clinton % of Total 2007 $20,974,253 $318,064 1.52% 2008 $5,503,158 $230,059 4.18% 2009 $10,084,843 $227,195 2.25% 2010 $13,066,789 $190,212 1.46% 2011 $14,699,977 $191,528 1.30% 2012 $19,727,863 $193,140 0.98% 2013 $27,093,859 $12,691,597 47.53% 2014 $27,946,490 $16,074,288 58.19%
Also see: Bernie Sanders Net Worth
The chart below shows Bill vs Hillary Clinton annual earnings visually.
As the chart above shows, when Hillary Clinton started following Bill Clinton’s lead in 2013 and earning speaking fees, her annual income skyrocketed almost overnight. Now, Hillary Clinton makes more in a year than Bill Clinton for the first time in decades.
How Much Does Hillary Clinton Make a Year from Books?
According to her tax returns, Hillary Clinton makes $1.1 million a year in average author income. Mrs. Clinton earned $153,000 in 2007 for book royalties, $61,000 in 2008 and $53,000 in 2009. Dwindling royalties from sales of books were down to $6,500 a year by 2012. Clinton’s annual author income spiked to $3 million in 2013 and $5.6 million in 2014 with the deal for her new book, Hard Choices.
Year How Much Hillary Clinton Made Per Year for Books 2007 $152,864 2008 $60,759 2009 $52,695 2010 $3,612 2011 $4,928 2012 $6,540 2013 $3,011,597 2014 $5,582,288 Total $8,875,283 Annual Average Clinton Author Income $1,109,410
How Much Does Hillary Clinton Make a Year from Salary?
Hillary Clinton became a U.S. Senator in January of 2001. In that year, Clinton made $145,100 per year from salary. Clinton’s salary as a U.S. Senator steadily grew to $169,300 a year by 2008. In 2009 Hillary Clinton made $186,600 a year as U.S. Secretary of State. Her salary remained at that level until she left office in 2013. At that time, Mrs. Clinton stopped drawing an annual salary. She does, however, still receive pensions as a former U.S. Senator and former Secretary of State.
Year Hillary Clinton Annual Salary 2007 $165,200 2008 $169,300 2009 $186,600 2010 $186,600 2011 $186,600 2012 $186,600 Total Hillary Clinton Salary Earnings $1,080,900
How Much Does Hillary Clinton Make a Year from Speaking Fees?
In 2013 and 2014, Hillary Clinton made $10 million a year average from speaking fees. From 2007 through 2012, Mrs. Clinton earned very little money in speaking fees. After she left office as U.S. Secretary of State, Clinton went on the speaking circuit in earnest, giving dozens of speeches per year and earning from $100,000 to $335,000 per speech. In 2013 Hillary Clinton’s per year earnings from speeches was $9.7 million. In 2014 Mrs. Clinton earned $10.5 million in income from speaking fees.
Charity
How much does Hillary Clinton give to charity each year? Bill and Hillary Clinton give a combined average of about $2 million per year to charity. Splitting that evenly between both partners, Hillary averages $1 million in charitable contributions per year. That’s about 50% of how much Hillary Clinton makes per year. Seen as a percentage of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s annual income combined, the Clintons give 10% to charity each year on average.
Year Bill & Hillary Clinton Charitable Contributions % of Clintons’ Annual Income 2007 $3,083,100 14.70% 2008 $550,000 9.99% 2009 $1,000,000 9.92% 2010 $1,000,000 7.65% 2011 $1,400,000 9.52% 2012 $1,825,650 9.25% 2013 $3,078,000 11.36% 2014 $3,022,700 10.82% Total Bill & Hillary Clinton Charity $14,959,450 Average Clinton Charitable Contributions 10.40%
Taxes
From 2007 to 2015, Bill and Hillary Clinton made $17.4 million per year combined. They paid an average of $5.5 million a year in taxes. By that math, 32% of how much Hillary Clinton made per year got paid back to the government in taxes.If you are an alien (not a U.S. citizen), you are considered a nonresident alien unless you meet one of two tests. You are a resident alien of the United States for tax purposes if you meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test for the calendar year (January 1-December 31).
Certain rules exist for determining the Residency Starting and Ending Dates for aliens.
In some cases aliens are allowed to make elections which override the green card test and the substantial presence test, as follows:
You can be both a nonresident alien and a resident alien during the same tax year. This usually occurs in the year you arrive or depart from the United States. If so, you may elect to be treated as a Dual Status Alien for this taxable year and a Resident Alien for the next taxable year if you meet certain tests. (Refer to section "Dual-Status Aliens" – "First Year Choice" in Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.)
A resident alien who is required to establish his/her U.S. residency for the purpose of claiming a tax treaty benefit with a foreign country should refer to Certification of U.S. Residency for Tax Treaty Purposes.So santa hooked me up!! Im currently stationed overseas in Guam, so the holidays is never easy for me. In my box i received Stephen kings sequel to the shining "Doctor sleep", which i cant wait to read. Inside of the book was an old school Julius Erving card, and being from Philly this put such a big smile on my face. Loved it! I have a pretty big sweet tooth, and Santa supplied me accordingly =p. There was a thing of Reeeses, Skittles, and a locally made chocolate with a marshmellow inside, and peanut coating...IT TASTES AS GOOD AS IT SOUNDS! A sweet Ironman funko pop bobble head was also inside! I absolutely love everything. Thank you so much K9KMAX. Like i said in the beginning of the post being away from home, and my
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a warning: "If you say one more word, I will have to throw you out."
Fouts kept his word, but grumbled inside.
"This is unthinkable," Fouts told the Free Press on Tuesday. "They muzzled me... this flies in the face of democratic belief. And I was not disruptive in any way, shape or form."
The Democratic National Committee, which organized the debate, was not available for comment. But DNC staffers told BuzzFeed that Fouts was being disruptive.
Hogwash, said Fouts, who claims all he did was speak in a normal tone to the women sitting near him.
Former Michigan Sen. Martha Scott, who was sitting in that row, backed Fouts up.
"I was shocked," Scott said of the threatened eviction. "All he said was, 'We need more debates,' and I said, 'Yes. I would like to see some more debates as well.' He was not loud."
Fouts said he believes that the culprit was DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was sitting in front of him. He said the security officer admitted it was Schultz who complained. He explained on Facebook and contrasted the Democratic debate with Thursday's Republican debate in Detroit:
"What an experience! There is a great contrast between the Democratic debate and the Republican. In the Republican debate anything goes and the audience is free to speak, shout, boo and say whatever they want to. It's almost pure democracy mixed in with a little anarchy," Fouts wrote in a Monday post. " However the Democratic debate is totally controlled by Hillary's good friend DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. No commentary is allowed by the audience. Particularly if you are cheering Bernie Sanders. Persons who do not adhere to Hillary's rules are threatened with expulsion. That's not very democratic.That borders on totalitarian control."
Schultz could not be reached for comment.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1peO9zw47.995949 7.853246 Bächle am Münsterplatz
Die Freiburger Bächle („Bächlein“, Bach mit der alemannischen Diminutiv-Endung -le) sind ein Wahrzeichen der Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau. Seit dem Mittelalter urkundlich belegt, finden sich die mit Wasser der Dreisam gespeisten Wasserläufe in den meisten Straßen und Gassen der Altstadt. Die Gesamtlänge der Bächle beträgt 15,5 Kilometer, von denen 6,4 Kilometer unterirdisch verlaufen.
Freiburger Bächle erwähnt werden Urkunde Graf Konrads von Freiburg (1238), in der dieerwähnt werden
Gerinne eines frühen Bächle aus rotem Sandstein. Im Spätmittelalter im Freiburger Predigerkloster als Latrinenüberlauf wiederverwendet.
Die erste urkundliche Erwähnung der Bächle stammt aus dem Jahr 1220. Damals gab Graf Egon I. von Freiburg dem Tennenbacherhof die Nutzung eines Feldes einschließlich Bewässerung durch ein Bächle zum Erblehen.[1] Ein weiterer Hinweis auf die Bächle findet sich in einer Urkunde aus dem Jahr 1238, in der Graf Konrad den Dominikanern den Hofstättenzins für ihr an der Stadtmauer inter duas ripas (lat.: zwischen zwei Ufern) errichtetes Predigerkloster erlässt.
Einige Archäologen schließen aus dem Ergebnis von Grabungen im Stadtgebiet, dass die Struktur der Bächle schon hundert Jahre früher als deren urkundliche Erwähnung, also bereits 1120 zur Zeit der Gründung Freiburgs existierte. Da die Siedlung als Vorläufer der Stadt Freiburg unterhalb des Schlossbergs auf dessen Schotterkegel errichtet worden war, bot sich wegen des natürlichen Gefälles der Ablagerungen die Anlage künstlicher Wasserläufe zur Bewässerung etwa von Weideland an.[2][3]
Um das Jahr 1180[4] kam es dann im Stadtgebiet zu Aufschüttungen einiger Straßenniveaus mit Kiesschichten von bis zu drei Meter Dicke.[5] Da es sich dabei nicht wie in vielen anderen Siedlungen um einen Schutz gegen Hochwasser handelte (das Flussbett der Dreisam liegt wesentlich tiefer als die Stadt), wird heute vermutet, dass mit dieser aufwendigen Baumaßnahme das Niveau des Bächlesystems insgesamt höher gelegt wurde, um auch die entstehenden Vorstädte bei ausreichendem Gefälle mit Wasser versorgen zu können. So richten sich Häuser aus der ersten Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderts an einem niedrigen Straßenniveau aus, alle Neubauten nach 1175 aber an einem höheren.[6] Diese Aufschüttungen machten die Erdgeschosse vieler Gebäude von der Straße aus unbegehbar, sodass Häuser entweder höher gelegt oder deren nun ebenerdige Obergeschosse kurzerhand mit Haustüren versehen wurden. So überstieg die Anzahl der Neubauten um das Jahr 1175 die durch das natürliche Stadtwachstum üblicherweise zu erwartende Anzahl, vermutlich auch weil die Höherlegung genutzt wurde, um Holz- durch Steinbauten zu ersetzen.
Die Bächle waren Teil des dualen Wasserversorgungssystems Freiburgs: Die Versorgung der Stadt mit Trinkwasser erwies sich als schwierig, da sich das Grundwasser in rund 12 m Tiefe[4] befindet und die wenigen Tiefbrunnen nur für Notfälle ausreichten. Man leitete Quellwasser vom Fuß des Brombergs im Osten der Wiehre über Deicheln nach Freiburg und speiste damit städtische Laufbrunnen. Dieses System reichte für die Versorgung der Bevölkerung mit Trinkwasser aus, deckte jedoch nicht den Bedarf an Brauchwasser und zum Tränken der Tiere innerhalb der Stadtmauern. Hierfür zweigte man zusätzlich Wasser der Dreisam ab und leitete es in Runzen durch die Stadt. Neben Kanälen wie dem heutigen Gewerbekanal gehörten dazu auch die Bächle. Da der Begriff Runze lange Zeit sowohl für Bächle als auch für Kanäle genutzt wurde, lassen sich in historischen Quellen beide Anlagen nicht immer exakt unterscheiden.
Die Bächle leiten seit jeher das Regenwasser aus der Stadt und transportieren dabei auch allerlei Schmutz. Damit tagsüber die Bächle ein positives Bild der Stadt boten, durften in ihnen bereits seit dem 14. Jahrhundert „Ärgernis erregende Stoffe“ nicht vor Einbruch der Dunkelheit entsorgt werden.[7] Ratsverordnungen im 16. Jahrhundert verboten später gänzlich die Entsorgung fester Stoffe mittels der Bächle:
„Und soll nymandt dhein mist, strow, stain in die bäch schütten …“ [8] Stadt Freiburg, Ratsverordnung aus dem 16. Jahrhundert
Nach ihrem Weg durch die Stadt wurden die Bächle zum Bewässern von Feldern eingesetzt. Das Wasser wurde mittels hölzerner Brücken (Kähner) über den Stadtgraben in die Felder geleitet. Das „gebrauchte“ Bächlewasser erhöhte als nährstoffreicher Dünger massiv den Wert der Felder.[9] Die Bächle schwemmten den Schnee aus der Stadt[10] und verlängerten damit die Vegetationsperiode im Frühjahr. Bei Trockenheit sicherten sie den Fortbestand der Ernte.[11]
47.996164 7.852229 Marktgasse – Eines der wenigen Bächle, die straßenmittig verlaufen
Wie heute nur noch in der Marktgasse zu sehen ist, verliefen die Bächle ursprünglich in der Mitte der Fahrbahn. Sie wurden mit dem massiven Anstieg der Einwohnerzahl im 19. Jahrhundert als Hindernis für den dadurch ebenfalls angestiegenen Verkehr betrachtet. Zwischen 1840 und 1851 verlegte man sie an den Rand der Straße[1] und deckte einen Großteil mit Holz- bzw. Eisenplatten[12] ab oder fasste sie in Steinrinnen[10] und Röhren.[13] Dies wurde von einem Teil der Bevölkerung negativ aufgenommen:
„Seit einigen Tagen hat man in der Grünwälderstraße begonnen, den bisher dort offenen Straßenbach durch Cementröhren zu ersetzen. Es wird dadurch für die Bewohner der Straße eine Annehmlichkeit beseitigt, welche gerade in hiesiger Stadt dem Fremden so vortheilhaft gegen andere Städte in die Augen springt. Es müssen jedenfalls sehr gewichtige Gründe maßgebend gewesen sein, welche eine derartige Veränderung rechtfertigen, ohne die in erster Linie betheiligten Bewohner der Straße um ihre diesbezüglichen Wünsche gehört zu haben. Wir glauben die geäußerten Befürchtungen nicht theilen zu dürfen, daß man an maßgebender Stelle die Absicht habe, sämmtliche Canäle zu verdecken. Denn die schon oben erwähnte Veränderung hat von betheiligter Seite mehrfache mißliebige Aeußerungen hervorgerufen.“ Freiburger Zeitung vom 27. Oktober 1878 [14]
Die Freiburger wollten nicht auf die Bächle verzichten. Es wurden bis 1858 sogar neue Bächle angelegt, so zum Beispiel in der Roß-, Engel- und der Kasernengasse und am Holzmarktplatz.[1] Die Amtszeit von Otto Winterer sah weitere Bächle in Stadt- und Tennenbacherstraße sowie die Offenlegung einiger verdeckter Bächle.[15] Die Planer der Freiburger Straßenbahn ignorierten den eingeholten Rat des Oberingenieurs der damaligen Straßenbahn Hamburg, der im Jahr 1899 „die Führung des Gleises am Bach entlang … unter keinen Umständen empfehlen“ konnte.[16]
Neben der Deckung des Brauchwasserbedarfs und der Bewässerung der Wiesen ermöglichten die Bächle eine bessere Versorgung mit Löschwasser als die Tief- und Laufbrunnen. Die Brunnen hatten kein Reservoir, doch der Zufluss der Bächle konnte bei Bedarf rasch erhöht werden, und die Läufe ließen sich zur besseren Wasserentnahme stauen. Für diese Aufgabe mussten die Bewohner in Oberlinden laut Brandordnung von 1692[17] jedes Jahr zum 1. Mai Personen aus ihrer Mitte bestimmen, die dann durch die Stadt mit Stellbrettern versorgt wurden. Im Jahr 1713, vor der Belagerung durch die französische Armee, waren dies beispielsweise 46 Haushalte.[18] Die Feuerordnung aus dem Jahr 1838 fixierte erneut die wichtige Rolle der Bächle. Sie fordert die Brunnenmeister auf, „das Wasser in den Brunnen und Stadtbächlein sogleich nach der Gegend des Brandes [zu] richten“.[19] Da so direkt am Ort des Brandes Löschwasser vorhanden war, mussten keine langen Eimerketten zur nächsten Wasserstelle gebildet werden.[20]
Mit der Modernisierung des Trink- und Abwassernetzes nach 1850[21] und dem Aufbau von Hydranten nahm im ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert die Bedeutung der Bächle als Löschwasserquelle ab. Sie halfen jedoch auch im folgenden Jahrhundert Brände zu löschen, als der britische Bombenangriff vom 27. November 1944 (Operation Tigerfish) Teile der Innenstadt völlig zerstört hatte. Zeitzeugen berichten, dass nach dem Angriff die Bächle mit ihrem Wasser gelegen kamen, da die Gewerbebäche verschüttet und mit den zerstörten Wasserleitungen die Hydranten unbrauchbar waren.[22] Ohne das Wasser der Bächle wäre es vermutlich nicht gelungen, das Gebiet Oberlinden, das historische Kaufhaus, das Wentzingerhaus sowie weitere Gebäude zu retten.[23]
47.994228 7.852084 Bächle in der Innenstadt. Links die Schienen der Straßenbahn, rechts der Gehweg für die Fußgänger
Bereits im November 1945 forderte Bürgermeister Wolfgang Hoffmann die Reinigung der Bachläufe zur Wiederinbetriebnahme der Bächle. Da die Bächle aber durch die Räumarbeiten oft im Fluss gehindert waren bzw. diese erschwerten, dauerte es bis zum Anfang der 1950er Jahre, bis sie wieder durch die wiederaufgebaute Stadt flossen.[16]
48.01516 7.839652 Das Bächle an der Neuen Messe
An der Neuen Messe, die im Jahr 2000 in Freiburg eröffnet wurde, sollte ein Bächle fließen, doch die Idee drohte anfangs aus Kostengründen zu scheitern. Deshalb wurden Freiburger Bürger und Unternehmen als Sponsoren eingeladen, für jeweils 500 DM einen Meter Bächle zu finanzieren. So fließt auch an einem Ort, der über zwei Kilometer vom Stadtkern entfernt ist, ein Bächle, das vollkommen unabhängig von denen in der Innenstadt ist.
Die aktuelle Fassung vom 8. Mai 2007 der Gehwegreinigungssatzung der Stadtverwaltung Freiburg vom 19. Dezember 1989 erwähnt die Stadtbächle an mehreren Stellen: In Fußgängerbereichen und in verkehrsberuhigten Bereichen gelten u. a. als Gehwege die durch Stadtbächle oder Straßenrinnen abgegrenzten seitlichen Flächen. Bächle müssen von Schneeanhäufungen freigehalten und Kehricht darf nicht in sie geschüttet werden.[24]
Am 15. September 2012 veranstaltete der Reha Verein Freiburg das "1. Freiburger Bächleboot Rennen".
Im Rahmen des Umbaus von Friedrich- und Rotteckring für eine neue Stadtbahnlinie wurden dort neue Bächle angelegt, die Ende 2018 in Betrieb gingen.[25]
Die Wortbildung Bächle stammt aus dem 20. Jahrhundert: Im Oberrheinalemannischen Dialekt, wie er in Freiburg gesprochen wird, bildet man einfache Verkleinerungen im Normalfall mit dem Morphem {-li}.[26] Allerdings haben sich die alemannischen Dialekte zumindest in den Städten im Laufe der Zeit abgeschliffen und es entstand eine „großräumige, einheitliche Variante“. So wurde aus dem Bächli das Bächle.[27]
47.99244 7.860881 Ausleitung des Wassers für die Bächle aus dem Gewerbekanal
47.992447 7.860777 Bächlestollen am Schlossberg
47.993528 7.854018 Anfang des Bächlenetzes am Schwabentor
Weit oberhalb der Altstadt, am Sandfang bei der Kartause, leitet eine Stellfalle Wasser aus der Dreisam in den Gewerbekanal. Vor der Verlegung an den heutigen Standort im Jahr 1852 befand sich diese Ausleitung unterhalb der Sandfangbrücke.[28] Die Stellfalle musste bis zum Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts manuell betätigt werden; erst im Jahr 2009 wurde ein automatisiertes Einlaufbauwerk in Betrieb genommen.[29] Der Gewerbekanal speist einen Stollen im Hangfuß des Schlossbergs, der östlich des SWR-Geländes vom Kanal abzweigt.[30][31] Dieser ungefähr 400 Meter lange[10] Stollen wurde teilweise gemauert, teilweise in den Fels gehauen. Es finden sich darin Gedenksteine für Bau-, Werk- und Bürgermeister von Freiburg.[32] Eine historische Karte lässt vermuten, dass der Stollen vor 1679, also vor dem Bau der Vauban'schen Festung, ein offener Wasserlauf war.[30] Im Jahre 2018 wurde der Stollen mit Lasern neu vermessen.[33]
Etwa auf Höhe des Schwabentores wird die Wassermenge durch eine Schleuse reguliert, so dass 200 (nach anderer Quelle 250[34]) Liter pro Sekunde in das Bächlenetz fließen und es dadurch alle acht Minuten komplett neu befüllt wird.[35] Dank des Höhenunterschieds zwischen dem Osten und dem Westen der Freiburger Altstadt fließen die Bächle von der Einspeisung mit natürlichem Gefälle von 1 bis 2° abwärts in nordnordwestlicher Richtung. In Oberlinden befindet sich ein Hauptverteiler, von dem auch Wasser zur Bewässerung der alten Linde aus dem Jahr 1729 abgezweigt werden kann. Nach dem Lauf durch die Stadt fließt das Wasser am Predigertor in den Nordarm des Gewerbekanals, der über den Rossgässlebach und den Schobbach in die Glotter mündet. Als die Bächle noch zur Wiesenbewässerung eingesetzt wurden, leitete man sie zudem am Christoffeltor und dem Mönchstor über die Stadtmauern.[11]
Für die Verteilung des Wassers sorgt der Runzknecht. Zur Regulierung dienen 142 Blechschieber,[34] mit denen das Wasser beim Reinigen der Bächle auch abgestellt werden kann. Weiterhin gibt es Grundabflüsse, die Abschnitte des Bächlesystems mit der Abwasserkanalisation verbinden und Schmutzwasser dorthin abfließen lassen. 15 Überlaufschwellen in die Kanalisation oder den Gewerbebach verhindern, dass bei höheren Wasserständen Keller geflutet werden.[16]
Die Sauberhaltung der Wasserläufe obliegt mindestens seit 1789[36] den drei hauptamtlichen „Bächleputzern“ (früher: „Bachräumern“). Verantwortlich dafür war bis 2010 der Energieversorger Badenova beziehungsweise deren Vorgänger die Freiburger Energie- und Wasserversorgung. Seit 2011 fällt die Aufgabe in die Zuständigkeit der Abfallwirtschaft und Stadtreinigung Freiburg GmbH.[37] Die Bächleputzer befreien zweimal pro Tag die Bächle von Laub und Abfällen,[38] die sich zudem auch in Rechen an den Abflüssen sammeln.[34] Zudem wird jährlich im Herbst sowie an einem Wochenende im Frühjahr der sogenannte Bachabschlag durchgeführt, bei dem das Wasser aller Kanäle und Bächle für zwei Wochen abgelassen wird.[39] Der Bachabschlag wird zum einen zur Reinigung genutzt, zum anderen um die Bächle auf eventuelle Schäden zu prüfen und gegebenenfalls zu reparieren. Weitere Gründe für eine Abschaltung sind z. B. Baustellen sowie das Freiburger Weinfest und der Fasnetumzug, an dem dann auch die Narrenhästräger der 1935 gegründeten Narrenzunft Bächleputzer zu bewundern sind. Am Aschermittwoch folgt dann unter Heulen und Klagen die Tradition der Geldbeutelwäsche vor dem Rathaus.[40] Auch während Dürreperioden wie 2003 und 2018 liegen die Bächle trocken, weil die Dreisam zu wenig Wasser führt. Bisweilen wurden dann die Bächle nur tagsüber mit Wasser versorgt und des nachts blieb es in der Dreisam.[41] Ebenso werden bei längeren Frostperioden die Bächle abgestellt.[42][43]
Angepasst an die Breite der jeweiligen Straße sind auch die Bächle unterschiedlich groß. Das größte Bächle mit einer Breite von circa 75 cm befindet sich am Oberlauf beim Schwabentor, die kleinsten, etwa 15 cm breit, fließen in den schmalen Altstadtgassen. Im Laufe der Zeit änderte sich die Form der Wasserläufe:
Mittelalter
19. Jahrhundert
19. bis 20. Jahrhundert
20. und 21. Jahrhundert
Liefen die ursprünglichen Bächle erst ungefasst,[44] dann in eher flachen Rinnen auf Straßenniveau, sind die Bächle des 19. Jahrhunderts ganz in Buntsandstein gefasst. Seit den Umbauten im 19. Jahrhundert war die Sohle betoniert und die Auskleidung bestand aus Granitplatten.[34] Im folgenden 20. Jahrhundert wurde auf die heute gebräuchliche Variante umgestellt: Die Sohlen sind mit Granit oder mit Kieseln aus dem Rhein gepflastert. Letztere werden auch für die Gehwegspflasterung eingesetzt, sind aber schwer zu beschaffen. Die Bearbeitung erfordert zudem eine spezielle Ausbildung der Pflasterer.[16] Ausgekleidet werden die Bächle wahlweise ebenfalls mit Rheinkieseln, Porphyr oder Basalt.[34]
Flora und Fauna [ Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten ]
Kleinstlebewesen wie die Larven einiger Arten von Eintagsfliegen, Köcherfliegen und Kriebelmücken zeigen durch ihre Präsenz die gute Wasserqualität entlang der gesamten Bächle an. Flohkrebse, die sich in manchen Jahren ebenfalls in den Bächle finden, befreien das Wasser von Algen-Nahrung und behindern damit deren Wachstum.[38] Weiterhin wurde 2010 von dem in Freiburg geborenen Evolutionsbiologen Ulrich Kutschera der Freiburger Bächle-Egel als neue Art beschrieben.[45] Möglicherweise ist diese nirgends sonst bekannte Art aber auch nur ein Synonym einer anderen Art.[46]
LKW steckt im Bächle fest (April 1980)
Die Stadt Freiburg kann ohne Gefährdung durch den Straßenbau den Bestand der Bächle erhalten. Zwar forderte der Freiburger Automobil-Club (FAC) 1952 die Beseitigung der „Verkehrshindernisse“.[47] Ein Besucher schlug 1956 vor, die Ortsschilder mit Hinweisen auf die Bächle zu versehen.[16] Ungefähr zur selben Zeit klagte ein Kaufmann aus Mannheim am Landgericht Freiburg gegen die Stadt, nachdem er in der Salzstraße in ein Bächle gefahren und in der Folge gegen eine Hauswand gestoßen war. Die Klage über 2360 DM wurde abgewiesen.[48] Mehr Erfolg hatte 1964 ein Tourist, der die Stadt verklagte, nachdem er sich beim Sturz ins Bächle in der Adelhauser Straße das Bein gebrochen hatte. Die Stadt musste jedoch nur zwei Drittel des Schadens bezahlen. Begründet wurde dies damit, dass ihm nach einem Tag Aufenthalt in der Stadt die Bächle aufgefallen sein müssten und die Stadt „solange wie irgend möglich an einer so kennzeichnenden, schönen und hygienischen Eigenart, wie sie die Stadtbächle darstellen, festhalten [solle]“.[16] Bei der Anfahrt zur Audienz mit Papst Benedikt XVI. im Priesterseminar Collegium Borromaeum anlässlich dessen Besuchs in Freiburg fuhr Maike Kohl-Richter, die Ehefrau des ehemaligen Bundeskanzlers Helmut Kohl, in ein Bächle. Das Auto musste von einem Abschleppdienst geborgen werden, konnte aber dennoch für den Heimweg des Paares genutzt werden.[49]
Immerhin ließ die Stadt infolge der Unfälle Ende der 1960er Jahre die Sohlen einiger Bächle höher legen,[50] darunter jene in der Salz- und Bertoldstraße.[16] Im Jahre 1973 wurde die Freiburger Innenstadt zur Fußgängerzone mit Straßenbahnverkehr. Seitdem stellen die Bächle kein bedeutendes Verkehrshindernis mehr dar, obgleich sie teilweise direkt neben den Schienen der Straßenbahn verlaufen. Mit dem Innenstadtkonzept 86 wurde erneut das Bächlenetz zwischen Rempartstraße und Martinstor erweitert und die verdolten Bächle in Universitätsstraße und Niemensstraße geöffnet.[38]
2015 wurden die Bächle Gegenstand eines Aprilscherzes der Lokalzeitung. Es wurde berichtet, dass durch den von Unfallversicherungen initiierten Druck ein Großteil der Bächle zugeschüttet und blau gepflastert werden solle. Eine Bürgerinitiative sammle an diesem Tag Unterschriften dagegen.[51]
„Hier herrscht große Unreinlichkeit. Durch alle Straßen läuft ein künstlich geführter Bach. Dieser nimmt die blutigen Säfte von Fleischern und Metzgern auf, den Gestank aller Küchen, den Schmutz aller Häuser, das Erbrochene und den Harn aller, ja sogar die Fäkalien von denen, die zuhause keine Latrine haben. Mit diesem Wasser werden die Leintücher gewaschen, die Weingläser gereinigt, ja sogar die Kochtöpfe.“ Erasmus von Rotterdam [52][53] Brief an Gasper Schets, 1534
„Es rinnt in dieser Statt durch alle Gassen Bächlin
das eytel frisch Brunnenwasser ist
und ober winter nicht gefrewrt.“ Sebastian Münster Cosmographia Universalis, 1544[52], 1544
„Der dritte Ruhm dieser Stadt (so der Eingang in den Schwartzwald ist/und all da es auch ein feines Raht-und Kauffhauß hat) ist/wegen deß herrlichen durch die gantze Stadt lauffenden Wässerlein / und Bächlein/von frischem Brunnen-Wasser/so über Winter nicht gefrieret.“ Matthäus Merian Topographia Alsatiae, 1643[54], 1643
„In Absicht der Lage meines Hauses bedarf es keiner Poesie; denn wirklich befindet es sich in einer der freundlichsten Gegenden unserer durchaus lustigen Stadt, und der durch alle hiesige Straßen geleitete Bach fließt in der meinigen vorzüglich rasch und hell.“ Johann Georg Jacobi (Professor der schönen Wissenschaften an der Albertina) [55] : Brief an seine Schwestern, 1808
„das gute Trinkwasser von den nahen Bergquellen, die herrliche Gegend und die schönen Spaziergänge, die Gärten und Alleen um die Stadt, vorzüglich aber die Bäche, welche in verschiedenen Richtungen alle Gassen durchströmen und Reinlichkeit und Gesundheit befördern.“ Christian Ludwig Fecht (Schriftsteller, Theologe und Herausgeber des Lahrer hinkenden Boten ), um 1810 [52]
„Nichts gewährt einen so angenehmen Anblick, wenn man die Reihe der gerade nicht prachtvoll, aber reinlich und heiter sich ankündigenden Wohnungen durchfährt, als die frischen breiten Bächleins, welche die Straßen durchschneiden, und von dem in mancher größeren Stadt so widerwärtigen Schmutze uns befreien. Die gesunde Luft trägt noch das Ihrige dazu bei und das kristallhelle, herrliche Wasser, welches üppig aus so vielen Röhren springt, bildet einen stärkenden Kontrast zu den prachtvollen Blumenanlagen, welche alles andere mehr, als Wasser, in sich vereinigen.“ Ernst Münch Freiburg, Ziel meiner Sehnsucht, 1822–1828[56], 1822–1828
„Wenn ich zur Universität gehe, dann komme ich durch diese sauberen Straßen, die es nur einmal in Deutschland gibt. Neben den Gehsteigen laufen breite Rinnen, durch die perlklares Quellwasser fließt. Scharen von Kindern waten darin bis zu den Knien und treiben mit den Vorübergehenden ihren Schabernack. Ich lebe wie Gott in Frankreich!“ Joseph Goebbels [57] : als Student in seinem Tagebuch, 1920
„Auf den langen Märschen durch die fußgängertotale Innenstadt steigt man achtlos über eine Rinne — und da kommt ein Papierschiffchen geschwommen. Kinder spielen am Bach mitten im Geschäftsviertel einer Großstadt. Straßenbächle heißen die offenen Wasserläufe, die in einem Netz von sechs Kilometern die Altstadt durchziehen. Frischwasser aus dem Schwarzwald fließt da munter neben den Straßen her. Nimmt den Staub mit und macht die Luft besser. So jedenfalls das Argument, wenn Nordlichter meinen, die Dinger seien gefährliche Fußangeln und einfach absurd heutzutage. Da möchte man natürlich etwas erwidern, was nach praktischem Nutzwert klingt. Aber ich glaube, die Bächle sind weniger für die Sauberkeit da als für die Seele.“ Ruth Merten Wenn Freiburgs Blüten blüh’n, 1986[58], 1986
„Venedig für die Füße“ Klaus Eberhartinger (EAV) [59] : auf einem Konzert, 2010
Einer badischen Sage zufolge wird jeder, der bei einem Besuch in Freiburg unabsichtlich in eines der Bächle tritt, im späteren Verlauf seines Lebens eine gebürtige Freiburgerin bzw. einen gebürtigen Freiburger heiraten. Bisher noch nicht erfüllt hat sich diese Sage bei Gerhard Schröder, der im Juni 2001 während des deutsch-französischen Gipfeltreffens mit Jacques Chirac auf dem Weg ins Rathaus prompt ins Bächle trat.[60] Im Fernsehfilm Zeit der Zimmerbrände, der Ende 2013 in Freiburg gedreht wurde, wird der Hauptdarsteller Uwe Ochsenknecht von einer Passantin ebenfalls vor dem Tritt ins Bächle gewarnt, da er sonst eine Freiburgerin heiraten müsse.[61]
Seit 2007 findet alle paar Jahre im Sommer in der Herrenstraße eine zweitägige Ausstellung von Skulpturen im Bächle statt. Die Künstler setzen sich mit ihren Werken mit dem schmalen steinernen Bachbett und dem fließenden Wasser auseinander.[62]
Vergleichbare Anlagen in anderen Städten [ Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten ]
Freiburg ist wohl die bekannteste Stadt, in deren Straßen heute noch bzw. wieder Bächle fließen, während diese Wasserläufe früher in den Städten häufiger zu finden waren. Antonio de Beatis schrieb am Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts über Innsbruck, dass die Straßen „breit und in denselben viele Wasserinnen und Brunnen“ sind.[63] In Goslar wurde die Gose bereits vor 1200 durch die Stadt geleitet und versorgte die Einwohner mit Trinkwasser. Für die Abwässer gab es gepflasterte Rinnen. Um sie zu reinigen oder zum Löschen von Bränden konnten sie mit Frischwasser geflutet werden. Noch älter sind die Be- oder Entwässerungsgräben aus der Zeit zwischen 1000 und 1100, die im 20. Jahrhundert in einem angelsächsischen Zentrum unter Winchester gefunden wurden.[64] Im Straßburg des ausgehenden 13. Jahrhunderts führte man die Brausch in Kanälen durch die gepflasterten Straßen, um die Abwässer zu beseitigen. Der ehemalige Stadtarchivar Adolf Poinsignon vermutete im ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert die Bächle in den älteren Städten des Elsasses am Fuß der Vogesen sogar als Vorbilder für die Anlagen in Freiburg.[65] In der französischen Kleinstadt Briançon, die von Vauban nach einem Brand wiederaufgebaut wurde, finden sich ebenfalls Bächle. Auch im Ortskern der niederösterreichischen Weinbaugemeinde Gumpoldskirchen ist ein mit einem Bächle vergleichbarer Wasserlauf.
Villingen, das ebenso wie Freiburg eine Zähringergründung ist, besitzt noch Bächle.[66] Auch die Zähringerstadt Bern hatte ein Bächlesystem, das ebenfalls zur Bereitstellung von Löschwasser genutzt wurde, indem der Bachmeister das Wasser zum Brandort umleitete.[67] Im Jahr 1954 existierte zumindest noch das Bächle in der Hauptstraße, wenngleich es bereits mit Steinplatten überdeckt war.[1] Bei Gründung der Stadt Schwäbisch Gmünd durch die Staufer finden sich ebenso durchgehend fließende Wasserinnen in den Straßen, wie auch in anderen Stauferstädten. Gab es die Gmünder Bächle bereits anfänglich, wurden sie anderenorts erst nachträglich angelegt. Beispiele sind Basel, Quedlinburg, Speyer, Horhusen/Niedermarsberg, Düren, die Lorenzerstadt von Nürnberg sowie Erfurt. Die dortigen Bächle sind auf der Stadtansicht Matthäus Merians aus dem 16. Jahrhundert gut zu erkennen. Auf einem Stadtplan aus dem Jahr 1869 finden sie sich jedoch bereits nicht mehr.[68] Weitere Städte mit Stadtbächen, die zum Teil ebenfalls seit dem 12. Jahrhundert bestanden, sind Jena, Gotha, Langensalza, Chemnitz, Dresden, Weißensee und Mühlhausen/Thüringen.[69]
Die Stadtgräben sind mit den Bächle entfernt verwandt. Durch Ausweitung der Städte lagen diese im Inneren und dienten dann auch zur Abwasserbeseitigung. Neben Würzburg ist hier Köln zu nennen. In Aachen und München (Münchner Stadtbäche) leitet(e) man zeitweise Flussarme durch die Stadt, wobei in München die Bäche neben der Entsorgung von Abwässern auch zur Gewinnung von Wasserkraft genutzt wurden. Dies ist mit dem Gewerbekanal in Freiburg vergleichbar.[70]
Bächle im benachbarten Staufen (Breisgau)
B
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Han Chinese] surname is Lu (呂). In Taitung, they are Yen (顏) and Yu (余). If our descendants meet and don’t know about their ancestry, they might start a relationship.”
An tragic example is featured in the 2002 documentary, What’s Your Real Name? (請問貴姓) by Mayaw Biho, where two Bunun lovers with different Chinese surnames learn that they are relatives and face familial pressure to end their relationship.
It was exactly this problem that led 12 Aborigines to stage a protest on Oct. 27, 1985 in front of the Wushe Incident Memorial (霧社事件) in Nantou, requesting that the government return them their true names (還我姓名). The date was not a coincidence: it was the 55th anniversary of day when hundreds of Sediq warriors descended on an athletic competition at the local elementary school and killed 134 Japanese. The Japanese retaliated and quelled the rebellion in two months with about 600 Sediq dead.
MANY SURNAMES IN A FAMILY
While Aborigines had been adopting Chinese names since the Qing Dynasty through the government’s assimilation policy, the name issue really began as the Japanese forced all Taiwanese to take Japanese names starting in the 1940s.
In May 1946, the newly-arrived Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) gave Taiwanese three months to revert to their original names after few people heeded their earlier attempts. Of course, this did not include Aborigines, who were forced to “revert” to a new Chinese name. Many of these names were assigned to them at random by household registration officials. Possible incest was not the only problem — the weakening of family and clan ties caused many Aboriginal societal functions to deteriorate.
According to a 1962 National Chengchi University field study report on Aboriginal communities in Yilan County, they “were assigned names by household, meaning each household received one surname, paying no attention to their extended family relations. Therefore, siblings who had already established their own families ended up with different surnames … For example, Peng Hsi-yue’s (彭細月) father is Peng Han-tang (彭漢黨), but his paternal grandfather is Chen Nai-kan (陳乃干).”
The report added, “Fortunately, the Aboriginal population is low, their household registration data is still relatively complete and they live in concentrated areas. It’s not too late yet. It wouldn’t be too monumental a task to remedy this situation, and we hope that the government can address this issue.”
Unfortunately, nothing would be done for several more decades.
Neqou Sokluman details his complicated relationship with his identity in a 2002 article for the Liberty Times. (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) Born in 1973, he used his Aboriginal name at home — but to everyone else he was Chuan Chen-jung (全振榮).
“There are very few people surnamed Chuan in Taiwan, so everyone thought I was Korean. I couldn’t be bothered to explain and told them that [former] South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan [who shares the same character] is my uncle.”The mysterious faceless hero known as The Question is one of comic books' most visually striking and compelling crime-fighting enigmas. He first appeared 50 years ago this month in the pages of Charlton Comics' Blue Beetle #1, before being integrated into the DC Universe in the mid-'80s, along with the rest of Charlton characters.
But despite the character's long history, he's a somewhat under-valued gem in the pantheon of the DC Universe and the superhero world at large. He's only had a handful of series to his name and has made a criminally small number of appearances in recent years.
From his origins to his present situation to his future, The Question raises lots of his namesake. So to enlighten you to the truth that is the Question, we've compiled nine essential questions about the Question that everyone should ask, and unlike the Question, we're nice to enough to give you all the answers.
So read on to find out all about this half-century-old hero... and be sure to ask all of your questions in the comments below.Desperate families are resorting to shoplifting and poaching as spiralling prices mean many are finding it hard to put food on the table.
Police Scotland’s Fife Division has reported a 37% rise in theft by shoplifting from shops across the region compared to last year. Officers believe many people are stealing just to survive.
Tayside Division also reported an increase in shoplifting cases.
It comes as Citizens Advice Scotland warned that poverty-stricken people are hunting illegally in Highland Perthshire to make ends meet.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association confirmed that poaching in Highland Perthshire is a “growing problem” and has warned that poachers will feel the full weight of the law if caught.
Meanwhile, the use of foodbanks in Dundee is up 120%.
Figures from the Trussell Trust revealed that, across Scotland, the rise in foodbank use is up 400%.
There were 8,000 more people turning to foodbanks compared to the same period last year.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Courier or try our digital edition.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.
As stone-throwing Palestinian children have been in the news lately it is relevant to observe that enlistment of children to carry out these violent acts is in effect no different than enlisting child soldiers, which is a war crime in terms of Article 8(2)(b)(xxvi) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The time has come to recognize that encouraging children to hurl stones and firebombs, as well as using them as human shields, as practiced by Hamas, cannot be described as anything but enlisting them to participate actively in hostilities and therefore a war crime.
The writer is a commentator on current affairs.
The book The Palestinian Uprising Against Israeli Occupation, edited by Zachery Lockman and Joel Benin, describes communiqués issued during the first intifada by the United Leadership of the Uprising. Communiqué No. 2 says: “O youth of Palestine, O throwers of incendiary stones, clearly the new fascists will be forced to admit the facts entrenched by your ferocious rebellion.... Intensify the use of popular means against all enemies beginning with the holy stones and ending with the incendiary Molotov cocktails.”Stones and firebombs, even thrown by children, can cause serious and even lethal injury.For example, according to a report by CIF Watch, rock-throwers caused the crash which killed Asher Hillel Palmer and his one-year-old son. Last December a rock struck a 12-year-old girl, breaking her skull and on March 14, 2013, a three-year-old girl was in critical condition and her mother and two sisters seriously wounded after a car accident caused by rocks thrown by Palestinians. The three-year-old was not breathing when medics arrived at the scene. Before the accident, a number of drivers reported rock attacks. A bus was hit with rocks and a man and a 10-year-old boy also were injured by rocks in the same area.After a recent spate of daily rock throwing near Hebron 27 youths were detained for questioning. Most of the young children were released within a few hours and handed over to the Palestinian police who called the parents to come and collect them. Only seven were actually held for questioning, none of whom were minors.The kids who were justifiably suspected of stone throwing were detained to enable the Israeli security forces to examine the video footage they had in their possession, to see which of the youngsters had thrown stones, and the suspicions were justified by the youths’ confessions to the Palestinian police.Judea Brigade Commander Avi Bluth said that stone throwing at checkpoint 160 had become a daily occurrence until the arrest of these kids, since which the area has been very quiet.Despite the serious nature of these attacks, all too often even responsible media irresponsibly treat the hurling of stones and rocks as a minor misdemeanor and protest strongly about every effort to deal with them.For example, despite the fact that only seven of the 27 kids were detained, the B’Tselem website as well as an article on March 31 by Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy described the incident as “mass arrests,” conveying the false impression of huge numbers of children arrested unjustifiably.Levy contradicted himself in his article. He first claimed the arrests were made indiscriminately, but he also tells us that when handed over to the Palestinian police and asked who had participated in the stone throwing, all raised their hands in the affirmative.In the circumstances the allegation by Haaretz and B’Tselem that there was mass detention of youths for unspecified reasons is highly irresponsible and unsustainable.B’Tselem spokesperson Sari Michaeli is quoted in a March 31 Jerusalem Post report as saying, “Even if they [minors under 12] are throwing stones, they cannot be arrested...there are other ways to deal with children that throw stones.”I’m sure the Israeli government and the IDF would be very grateful to learn B’Tselem’s secret about how to effectively deal with these hate-indoctrinated kids. In what other way could kids be dealt with whose violence emanates from indoctrination to hate, not only on official PA TV but in their school textbooks, as described by then-senator Hillary Clinton, who said, “These textbooks do not give Palestinian children an education; they give them an indoctrination.When we viewed this report in combination with other [PA] media that these children are exposed to, we see a larger picture that is disturbing.It is disturbing on a human level, it is disturbing to me as a mother, it is disturbing to me as a United States senator, because it basically, profoundly poisons the minds of these children.”Anyone hearing senator Clinton’s complete speech must agree that the problem should be tackled at the source, namely, the indoctrination and incitement not only in PA schoolbooks but in the mosques and media which guarantee that the conflict, terror and war will continue into the next generation.It is not only Israel that would appreciate sound advice on how to deal with child violence; there is worldwide concern about this problem.For example, under the headline “Number of child criminals has jumped by 13% under Labour” the Mail Online reported on March 3, 2010, that in Britain almost 160 children are convicted of crime every day – including 10-year-olds.On September 26, 2012, Euronews reported that in Turkey, new legislation was being considered to deal with the “stone throwing problem” that especially affects Turkey’s Kurdish youth. Hundreds of minors, some as young as 12, have been prosecuted and jailed following clashes with police.“An entire generation is growing up in the prisons in the southeast,” said a lawyer.“They are just kids, children, whose rights are recognised by international conventions, but are being punished as if they were members of terrorist organizations under anti-terror law.”One of the most carefully considered laws for dealing with children accused of crimes is the South African Child Justice Bill that was passed in September 2008 to deal with a situation in which between 9,000 and 13,000 children were arrested each month in the year prior to the promulgation of the Act.According to a paper published in May 2010 by the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development the act does not do away with arresting children but it introduces a preliminary inquiry aiming to “ensure that a collective, determined effort is made to consider what should be done in the case of each child, and that the inquiry occurs within 48 hours of arrest if the child is detained. The preliminary inquiry is designed to avoid children slipping through the intended safeguards and to change negative practices from the past where insufficient attention was paid to children in the early stages of their case being processed, sometimes causing them to languish in detention for several weeks or even months.”In its laudable humanitarian efforts and in conjunction with its vigilance in recording Israeli actions, B’Tselem would do well to seriously address the overall background to events. And Gideon Levy’s articles would be more credible if he admitted, even grudgingly, that the Palestinians also have obligations, such as ceasing to stoke the fires of hatred.Both would be doing a service to the cause of peace if they produced more balanced reports aimed at creating better understanding of the complexities and in the spirit that being pro- Palestinian and pro-Israeli are not mutually exclusive.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has been accused of being behind a “dirty tricks” campaign to try to oust Jeremy Corbyn's biggest union backer Len McCluskey.
The row erupted after Sion Simon, Labour's candidate in the West Midlands mayoral election, allowed his call centre to be used to telephone party members to see if they will support Gerard Coyne, Mr McCluskey's rival in the Unite election campaign.
Unite said this appeared to be a breach of data protection laws and has now threatened to report it to the information watchdog which has the power to levy large fines.
In correspondence with Unite, which has been seen by The Telegraph, Labour admitted it was not allowed to share personal information about its members with third party campaigns but denied breaching any laws.
Mr Simon is a close ally of the party's deputy leader Tom Watson who has had a very public and high profile falling out with Mr McCluskey.
Sources close to Mr McCluskey said the report was evidence of a “dirty tricks” campaign to try to stop him winning another five years as Unite leader.A Theme Park University reader recently wrote in to ask, “Hey Josh, when does the Marvel contract expire for Islands of Adventure so Disney World can start building its own Avengers attractions?” To answer your question quite bluntly: probably never.
Very few people have access to the real contract between Marvel and Universal (formerly MCA when they first inked the deal in 1994). However, if the SEC filing, which is public record, is any indication, the deal between Marvel and Universal doesn’t have an end date as long as Islands of Adventure remains in business.
According to what is available online, Islands of Adventure is the only place where Marvel characters and attractions can exist within a theme park east of the Mississippi River. This agreement was signed before Disney owned Marvel and was also when Universal Studios Florida was controlled by its parent company MCA.
This helps explain a couple of things that have recently happened in the theme park world once Disney acquired Marvel. Nearly every time a Marvel movie hits theaters, Disneyland has a meet and greet with either Thor, Captain America or an Iron Man exhibit installed at Innoventions in Tomorrowland. Per the contract, Walt Disney World isn’t allowed to have Marvel characters inside the parks at all, or else it would violate Island of Adventure’s original agreement.
It also helps explain the Iron Man and Avengers-themed monorails that glided around the Magic Kingdom express and resort monorail lines in the past few years. Those particular shrink-wrapped beauties weren’t allowed to jump over to the Epcot monorail line because that beam travels within the park’s gate. While technically the monorail doesn’t count as an “attraction”, why cause a legal battle between Disney and Universal if you don’t need to?
Keep in mind the deal is also only exclusive to the United States. This allows Disney to have carte blanche with the characters overseas. So that new Iron Man attraction that Hong Kong Disneyland is getting, will unfortunately never make its way to Orlando. Also, when the full roster of attractions are finally revealed for Shanghai Disneyland, don’t be surprised to see a few dedicated to the Marvel Universe.
Does that mean now that Disney, Universal’s direct theme park competitor in Orlando, owns the Marvel Universe that they can now just tell Universal to rip out or re-theme Marvel Superhero Island? No. Let’s say another company bought Marvel instead of Disney. For argument sake, Trojan Condoms. If Trojan bought Marvel, it has no more leverage than Disney to breach the original contract that was inked long before Bob Iger had his eye on the comic book powerhouse.
Theme park fan boys often miss this important part of the story: a contract is a contract. If Universal decided to misrepresent the characters in any way or take away the original amount of retail space dedicated to Marvel merchandise (10,000 square feet if the SEC filing is correct), then Disney could have some muscle to try and pry Marvel away. However, that isn’t in either company’s best interest.
The reason why I say Walt Disney World will “probably” never see a Marvel attraction or characters? Money talks. However, we are talking a serious chunk of cash in order to do this. Universal Orlando holds the trump card in this scenario. If Disney wants the exclusive rights to use Marvel characters in Orlando, that means Marvel Superhero Island will most likely need to be re-themed, if not have certain rides ripped out and replaced entirely.
If you were in Universal’s shoes and Disney (or Trojan condoms) were to come in and offer you a bucket of cash to revamp a very lucrative section of your park, wouldn’t you ask them to pay for it? Of course you would, and a huge loss of revenue fee as well as money to cover expenses for another intellectual property to come in and replace Marvel.
Still hanging on to that dream? Disney has money to spend, they just bought out Lucas, so why not? OK, let’s say the mouse plunks down $XXX million on not only acquiring the rights to Marvel in Orlando for Walt Disney World, but pays for the retrofit and intellectual property rights for Islands of Adventure’s new inhabitant.
Forget the fact that, in this scenario, Disney has just paid its competitor to have a brand new land that it can market for the next few years, but it also hasn’t spent a dime on building Marvel attractions, restaurants or gift shops in Walt Disney World. So after spending an extra $XXX million, then you have to wait to see a ROI (Return on Investment), which would take an extremely long time, if ever.
Then there is that other option. To use Disney’s vast catalog of growing intellectual properties and build attractions, restaurants and gift shops using what they already have. Otherwise, you’re spending a lot of cash on an expansion that may never see a financial return. As a Disney stock holder, I would personally rather see the parks continue to rake in the dough than fulfill some fan boys wet dream.
Your thoughts?
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commentsLeading Coalition supporter of same-sex marriage says ‘the less time we give to extreme views’ the better
Warren Entsch says marriage equality plebiscite needed 'as soon as possible'
One of the Coalition’s leading advocates for marriage equality, Warren Entsch, has called on the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to hold a plebiscite as soon as possible to prevent “extreme views” hampering the social change.
On Monday the innovation minister, Christopher Pyne, said the government was still committed to hold the plebiscite by the end of the year, but said “no one should feel hidebound by the month in which a plebiscite is held”.
The day after the election senator Cory Bernardi said the Coalition should “take a deep breath” and there was no need to hurry the plebiscite.
Asked on Radio National on Monday whether the government was committed to hold the plebiscite by the end of the year, Pyne said: “Well of course it is! Its policy hasn’t changed. We have a promise to deliver a plebiscite.
Campaign catchup: Coalition ministers in knots over marriage equality Read more
“The timing of the plebiscite will be determined by how many months there are left in the year and how quickly the machinery provisions can be put in place for these matters, and no one should feel hidebound by the month in which a plebiscite is held.”
Pyne said the entire party agreed with the plebiscite “because we want everyone to have a say on this major social change, not just the parliamentarians”.
Responding to Pyne and Bernardi’s comments, Entsch said: “My understanding is we’re having [the plebiscite] as soon as possible. Nothing has changed.
“I have no reason to believe we won’t have it as soon as possible.
“The less time we give to extreme views, on either side, the best possibility we have of getting a positive outcome.”
Entsch said he would not engage in a “speculative argument” about a delay.
Marriage equality is shaping up as a crucial early test for Turnbull’s leadership, after Bernardi called it a “fringe” and “trendy issue” that should not preoccupy the Coalition.
During the election campaign, Turnbull said he would press on with delivering a marriage equality plebiscite by the end of the year.
On Sunday the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, told Sky News the issue was “done and dusted” and was “overwhelmingly” what voters wanted.
“The senators who have just been elected will vote for the plebiscite because that is what the Australian people want,” he said.
Joyce said marriage equality was “very important for the people involved but is not the issue that is brought up with you on the street”.
Peta Credlin says marriage equality plebiscite bill may fail Read more
He said it might be “front and centre politics” in Canberra but “it’s not out there”, referring to the rest of Australia.
Labor and the Greens have not ruled out blocking the enabling legislation for the plebiscite, which led to a warning from Tony Abbott that there should be no parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage if the plebiscite legislation were blocked.
Pyne also criticised an unnamed Coalition MP quoted in the Australian who warned that because Turnbull had won the election only narrowly he would have to “kneel at the conservative altar”.
Pyne said: “Whoever said that, if they did really say it, they should put their name to [it].
“It sounds very brave and chest-beating when you say it anonymously. But I’d love a person who says something like that to actually put their name to it. Without their name it’s just cowardice, obviously.”
He said the party room was “supreme” in the Liberal party and the cabinet and party would work in the nation’s interest.
“I’m not going to respond to cowardly statements... from anonymous sources who haven’t got the wherewithal and the strength of character to put their names to those sorts of flowery statements.”inFamous: Second Son and First Light PS4 Pro Support Detailed
If you’re one of the many people planning to buy a PS4 Pro later this week, then you’re most likely salivating at the thought of playing your old games with that added extra layer of PS4 Pro sheen.
One of the games getting this magical brush up is none other than Sucker Punch’s inFamous: Second Son, and its expansion, First Light. PS4 Pro support for Second Son clocks in at over 3GB, while it’s under that figure for First Light.
Over on the official PlayStation Blog, Sucker Punch’s Jason Cornell details the inFamous PS4 Pro upgrades people can expect from the two games.
First up is HDR. When we re-worked our engine to create Infamous Second Son for the PS4, we had a strict focus on realistic lighting and exposure. We wanted the art direction and tech to reflect realism in a way that immerses players in the damp, rainy streets of Seattle. We did a lot of work to ensure our sky, sun, and light sources felt like the real thing. So why is HDR such a big deal now? This patch, along with an HDR capable TV, pushes those crazy bright values even further. Yes, that means looking at the sun or sky in our game feels extremely bright, providing a level of contrast I’ve never seen in our game before. The vibrancy of the sky and lighting creates some really striking and beautiful moments. Furthermore, this particular feature will work on the standard PS4 as long as you have an HDR capable TV. The second reason is in the smaller details. In both games, the Seattle city streets are filled with incredible art from our hard working art team. Signs, coffee cups, puddles, fall leaves — this world is filled with little touches waiting to be noticed. With PS4 Pro’s increased resolution, those touches are even more crisp. You can see detail on bricks and signs that previously went unnoticed. When we created the Seattle landscape, we had a goal to make everything wet. That means reflections of those details on every surface. It also meant a fair amount of specular aliasing. The increased resolution improves this and many other alias issues. And if you don’t have a 4K TV, you’ll still see a smoother image as the PS4 Pro will scale down to match your 1080p display. The third — and best — reason to revisit the Infamous games on PS4 Pro is simple: the powers look amazing. Delsin’s smoke powers and Fetch’s neon powers are particularly impressive. Watching the original effects now in 4K and HDR, I notice details I didn’t even know existed. For example, when Fetch does a ground pound, waves of brilliantly flickering particles erupt in all directions. We even improved photo-mode to let you pause on powers. My favorite is winding up Fetch’s ultimate neon bomb and then quickly activating photo-mode to pause and observe the thousands of emissive particles bits forming around her.
Don’t forget, for some of the new features, you need to have a 4K TV that supports HDR. But as Cornell has mentioned above, even non-4K TV owners can take advantage of the PS4 Pro’s added horsepower.
Are you going to play any or both of the inFamous games once you get your PS4 Pro? Don’t forget to check out our hardware review of Sony’s upcoming console here.
[Source: PlayStation Blog via GearNuke]Dallas Cowboys offensive guard La'el Collins (71) and quarterback Matt Cassel (16) are pictured during the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Dallas Cowboys NFL football game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Sunday, November 1, 2015. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News)
Rookie Dallas Cowboys guard La'el Collins got a nice monetary boost by being one of the NFL's top 25 players in the league's performance-based pay system.
Cowboys rookie LG La'el Collins earned 14th-most in NFL in league's performance-based pay system for 2015 at $277,940, league announced.
According to the NFL's official page, performance-based pay "compensates players for playing time based upon their salary levels." Collins appeared in 12 games and started 11 for the Cowboys during his rookie season.
His rookie salary was $435,000 with a $7,000 signing bonus. That means Collins' performance-based pay was more than half of his rookie base salary.
Collins was the second-highest paid guard in with the NFL's performance-based pay behind Philadelphia Eagle Matt Tobin who made $307,101.
To see a full list of players, click here.
After going undrafted, Collins, who was thought to have first-round talent, signed a three-year deal with the Cowboys.
To compare, three guards were taken in the first round of the draft. The first was Brandon Scherff, who signed a four-year, $21.4 million deal with the Washington Redskins. He made $3,857,388 during his rookie year. The final guard taken in the first round was Laken Tomlinson. He signed a four-year, $8.6 million deal with the Detroit Lions and made $1,554,589 in his rookie year.
SportsDay's Barry Horn detailed in an excellent feature story why Collins went from a projected first round pick to not being drafted at all.Both rudimentary lunar outposts, like the one above, and more ambitious facilities could be customers of a lunar power utility. (credit: NASA/John Frassanito and Associates) The lunar electrical power utility
This article proposes that a lunar electrical power utility be formed early to serve as a driver of lunar commercial development. Communications and positioning are two other services whose reliable availability to all parties would accelerate lunar development. By 2030 and beyond, potential demand for power from lunar operations is likely to be in the megawatt range and eventually at gigawatt levels. Scores of projects are being proposed for the Moon by established spacefaring powers as well as new players. The far side “Moon Village” proposed by the head of the European Space Agency, Johann-Dietrich Wörner has drawn great interest (see “Building a Moon village”, The Space Review, November 2, 2015). Of particular note is the endorsement of the concept by George Nield, the head of the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, who noted recently that no US agency has been authorized to supervise commercial space activities. All of these initiatives will require electrical power. Rovers will require several kilowatt-hours per month for communications and instruments. Demand will grow as the Lunar Village becomes a reality with its own demand for power and electrical storage. The Moon’s two-week-long night creates additional challenges for rovers or other lunar infrastructure. Jim Shier of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) office has proposed beaming power via lasers from powersats in lunar orbit to instruments on the lunar surface to enable continuous operation during the lunar night. 1 Consider the avenues of research that would open if the rovers had unlimited range or could drill deep into the surface or perform continuously on command. In situ resource utilization (ISRU) is being increasingly discussed as a game changer in the economics of space. It may be possible to process water from craters at the lunar poles into fuel, radiation shielding, even for consumption. Analysis shows that lunar water could offer significant economic advantage to Mars mission planning in the recent NASA-funded evolvable lunar architecture study 2 as well as through space logistics analysis. 3 ISRU will require much more energy than the few kilowatt-hours per month that rovers, sensors, and communication gear will require on missions anticipated in the early 2020s. By 2030 and beyond, potential demand for power from lunar operations is likely to be in the megawatt range and eventually at gigawatt levels. The initial target for ISRU is water, whose presence on the Moon has been confirmed. However, no samples of lunar water have yet been directly studied. We do not know how the water is bonded with the surrounding lunar materials. Thus far, the energy economics of ISRU projects has not been calculated because the nature of the resource is unknown and processing techniques can thus only be hypothesized. Given the availability of reliable electrical power on the Moon when and where needed, in the quantity and qualities desired, and at a competitive cost, many projects will become feasible that would otherwise not even be thinkable. As lunar activities pick up it will become compelling to examine all possible options for ISRU starting with low-hanging fruit such as water and structural materials made from lunar bulk materials, and soils for growing food and bio-based materials. Given the availability of ample, reliable, and competitively priced energy, the extraction of iron, aluminum, titanium, silicon, and other elements will become feasible; these can be used to manufacture products with high value. For example, the Compton-Belkovich Thorium Anomaly could potentially be a source of thorium 4 for use as a fuel in nuclear reactors in space, avoiding the danger of launching significant radioactive mass from the Earth. Peter Schubert has proposed processing lunar regolith to isolate silicon to be processed into solar arrays. 5 Lunar ilmenite, which is also widely present in regolith, has also been proposed as a source for producing solar arrays with particularly high radiation resistance and wide band gap. 6 Helium-3 from the Moon has been widely discussed for fusion power, but interest has waned in recent years. Poor availability of reliable electrical power can become a showstopper, particularly for projects that require continuous operation. Given the availability of reliable electrical power on the Moon when and where needed, in the quantity and qualities desired, and at a competitive cost, many projects will become feasible that would otherwise not even be thinkable. Electrical power: the primary instrument for development Utilities build power plants and industry then builds the factories that use generated power. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), launched by an act of Congress in 1933, built hydropower plants throughout the Tennessee Valley, providing power to seven southeastern US states. Future demand was hard to forecast insofar as the region had been largely without electrical power. TVA built the dams and industry emerged in the region to use the generated power. In a 2013 article (see “Move over NASA and make room for the TVA of space”, The Space Review, April 8, 2013), I suggested a space development corporation modeled on the TVA to accelerate commercial development of space. However, at that the time I did not see a central role for energy itself as key to commercial development of the Moon. The key role of ISRU to enable NASA missions to Mars and many other initiatives in space suggests that an energy utility could play a central role in lunar development. In principle, the only material that would need to be lifted off the surface of the Earth is people, some personal items that they treasure, and the living things people need or want in space. All else can be produced from materials in space. Given a scenario where interplanetary spacecraft can be built largely from asteroid and lunar materials, then it would be feasible to make such vessels much larger than presently planned to reach Mars or other bodies in space. In his Mars trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson envisioned spacecraft carrying hundreds of people from Earth to Mars. The ships would have sufficient radiation shielding to protect their human cargo and sufficient size to provide artificial gravity without disorienting Coriolis force effects. How can such a future be achieved? And by when? Lunar demand for power in the megawatt-and-more range is unlikely to emerge until after significant ISRU operations are underway, which is unlikely until 2030 or later. So our development scenario should address maximum potential power demand to the mid-2020s when planning will need to be underway for larger scale power generation for ISRU involving mining and materials processing. David Dunlop and Al Anzaldua, in a 2014 article, present an approach to use the International Space Station as a stepping stone and development center for developing space-based solar power for terrestrial applications, starting with emergency relief where power can be $3 or more per kilowatt-hour, ten or more times typical power costs in the US (see “Building a bridge to space solar power for terrestrial use”, The Space Review, May 12, 2014). The cost of power on the Moon will be significantly higher until a lunar power utility is formed that can deliver reliable power at competitive prices. There are lunar orbits from which power can be beamed via lasers to surface customers. Solar power arrays the size of the ISS system could deliver 84 kilowatts. Since two powersats are required, assume that two such arrays, for a total of 168 kilowatts of generating capacity to meet total power demand through 2030. A rough estimate on development and construction costs would be $250 million, including the development of standardized beamed power receivers for deployment on the lunar surface. An accurate estimate would require specification of the launch mass including assembly robots and the solar arrays, interconnect wiring, and packaging. If electrical power could be readily delivered to any point on the Moon or in lunar orbit at a defined price that is less than what it would cost the facility to develop its own power system, then a lunar utility would have a bright outlook. Given the deployment of the two powersats that could beam power to most points on the lunar surface, rovers could then be designed with unlimited range to accelerate lunar exploration. This would also enable pilot-scale ISRU operations anywhere on the lunar surface at much lower cost due to the availability of power from the lunar utility. The potential would also open up the use of laser-assisted launch technology to reduce the amount of fuel spacecraft would need to carry. Other customers could be facilities in orbit, to which power could be beamed from either of the two powersats. The lunar power utility’s future growth will depend on meeting the needs of customers for reliable electrical power delivered at costs competitive with alternatives. Alternatives might emerge in the form of supercapacitors that can store electrical power for the duration of the lunar night, with the additional requirement that the facility have its own power-generating capacity. It would be unlikely that a competing powersat system would be deployed in the 2020–2030 timeframe, giving the lunar utility a monopoly advantage to develop its technologies and power distribution capacity. Other potential competition includes nuclear power. Both the US and Russia have supported significant development of nuclear power for space. The US Prometheus program, initiated in 2003, was intended to develop nuclear as both a source of power as well as for space propulsion, but was later cancelled by NASA. 7 According to published information, Russia is working on packaged nuclear reactors for space both for propulsion and for facility power for space stations and lunar operations that could operate at up to the megawatt level. Information from 2011 speaks of initial launches by about 2020. 8 Power demand beyond 2030 Electrical power utilities build generating plants to meet anticipated long-term demand. In regulated markets the utilities, as monopoly suppliers, can be guaranteed a market decades into the future to recoup their long-term investment. This article proposes a similar model for the lunar power utility through 2050, where the monopoly supplier position is built on the basis of economics of power generation and distribution to the lunar surface and cislunar space operations. If the utility was controlled by the US or any other nation, though, this could not be sustained. No nation powerful enough to send spacecraft to the Moon and to operate there is likely to accept being subject to the risk of a competing nation controlling its source of power, even if the power is priced competitively. An international structure similar to the original Intelsat, owned by multiple nations, may resolve such a concern. It is unlikely the lunar power utility would remain dependent solely on solar energy. Nuclear was the power source of choice in the “Space Imperative” vision of space pioneer Krafft Ehricke. 9 Hydropower is the primary source of power for TVA, but the TVA also has three large nuclear
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11 either way.
A fact: Interceptor pilots and the military LOVED to scramble on ANYTHING because it was the very best "real world" training they could get next to an actual attack. And pilots got critical, and very enjoyable, flight time. This is why the Otis pilots were "straining at the bits" to get off the ground...they wanted some action and knew how to do it...PRECISELY...but were held back by the hijacking protocol. Penatgon approvals NEVER came for the Otis birds.
Prior to June, 2001, and after September 11, 2001 such "hold backs" simply didn't happen. There had been no reported scrambles for hijacks in the previous ten years, and therefore, ALL of the 1500 scrambles during the previous ten years had to have been the "high speed" type...the type which do NOT require Pentagon approvals.
Even a quick look through FAA's Special Military Operations Order 7610.4, [the very SUBJECT of the June reorganization in the CJCSI order modification in the first place...], will go along way in understanding that the hijacking scenario DID NOT have handling priorities except during take-off, and at that, only when requested. This explains why the Otis interceptors took off six minutes after being released...even though the pilots and aircraft were ready and able.
Reading through 7610.4 also catches Bronner, Vanity Fair and some statements by the military in yet another blatant lie. David Ray Griffin debunks this in his writings, but here you can read it for yourself. There were statements that the interceptors were not released because the military did not have exact coordinates or locations of the suspect aircraft. Yet, paragraph 7610.4 7-2-1. Facility Notification, makes the point that the FAA facility in charge would file a flight plan with the "remommended flight plan to intercept the hijacked aircraft". In "real world" terms, this means "gettum headed in the right direction...NOW", which both pilots and air traffic controllers fully understand. And, as we all know regarding the Langley fighters, flying in the proper direction did not happen either. ALL of this is all because everything was switched into: "hijack-hijack-hijack" instead of being looked at as "in flight emergency" activities.
And why do you think that there is a protocol for checking armament?
Anyway, here is my piece:
[please note that SOME of these steps and actions did happen...but not enough of them...]
WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN THE SKIES ON SEPTEMBER 11th, 2001...
Its now 08:14AM...
Once AA11 was considered a NORDO [no radio] the air traffic controller should have begun NORDO procedures which calls for attempting to contact he aircraft via various protocols and by usual means...
Its now 08:18AM...
When AA11 was seen to be out of control and when the transponder was lost, the air traffic controller should have given first alert to his supervisor about the possibility of an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY happening. Losing radio contact, losing the transponder, and observing the aircraft heading way off course without a specific ATC clearance should have led the controller to believe that the aircraft INDEED, was suffering an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY. Most likely it would be a massive electrical failure....
Its now 08:20AM...
After being unable to raise the aircraft on the radio, and still seeing it wanderring all over the sky, the air traffic controller should have then declared an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY, and immediately told his supervisor about this declaration. Air traffic controllers have the responsibility to declare an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY in situations such as this.
At this point, the supervisor should have IMMEDIATELY notified the "watch desk" about the IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY, and the watch desk personnel in turn would have begun to notify various "search and rescue" or other related organizations that might be called upon to help out in the emergency situation. For example: If the IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY were happening over the ocean, then the Coast Guard would have been immediately notified so as to prepare their assets. Simultaneously, or if not done earlier, the controller, the supervisor and the watch desk personnel would immediately reach out to their respective contacts at NEADS or, to any other appropriate control positions and facilities. The air traffic controller would reach out to the NEADS radar tech who was in charge of monitoring that particular airspace using readily available communications links readily available at a touch of a figertip in order to find out if the NEADS tech saw anything unusual...the supervisor would reach out to the NEADS supervisor via other land lines in preparation for a mutual set of activities...and the watch desk would reach out to the top levels of the NEADS facility using yet another set of land lines to make sure that these top levels could fulfill their roles in helping with the IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY.
Please note: NORAD, the Pentagon and the FAA headquarters would NOT have been informed about their field facilities, such as Boston Center and NEADS, scrambling assets to solve an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY. These higher-ups each get "after-action reports" because time is so precious during the emergency situation. Hijackings are different.
Its now 08:21AM...
The FAA air traffic controller and his supervisor should have been in the process of assigning as many extra controllers as were available to "plug in", to "get the picture", and to help coordinate with adjacent air traffic control sectors and bordering air traffic control facilities that might be affected by the emergency flight. This is because AA11 could have been at ANY altitude, and it could have been headed anywhere as it was presumed to have lost all control.
Upon getting notification from Boston Center about the IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY, NEADS personnel should have IMMEDIATELY called Otis air base supervisory personnel who then would have had the scramble crews get ready, or into "battle" stations as it is commonly known. Simultaneously, NEADS or the supervisory personnel should have informed the Otis tower that a scramble was initiated so that they could clear away any preceeding or arriving air traffic. Then, as soon as the interceptor crew and aircraft were ready, the two interceptors whould have been ready to pull out of the hanger under their own power while preparing for an immediate rolling take-off.
Its now 08:24AM...
As AA11 began its turn southward towards NYC, Boston, the air traffic controller team at Boston Center would reach out to the New York Center and other faciities along the projected route of flight to inform them of the building problem, to clear all their "known aircraft" out of the way, and to give them time to get more personnel plugged in and watching-listening.
Everybody involved would now be focused and working upon their assigned duties in handling this IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY being suffered by a US AIR CARRIER. An airliner that may have had hundreds of passengers on board. The interceptor pilots and ground crew should have been completing their "engine start" responsibilites, and the interceptors should be taxiing faster and faster to the departure end of the runway. Lacking any "hold" order, the two interceptors should have continued to the end of the departure runway and should have taken off without any delay. Scrambles are a GO mentality until they are stopped...and NOT vice-versa.
Around this time, the first of several radio transmissions [see note just below] are made indicating the possibility that AA11 is being hijacked, but there is no confirmation of this. This information does not stop the handling of AA11 as an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY.
Regarding the establishment of a "real" hijacking...it is impossible to initiate the ATC radio communications protocols for establishing that AA11 is being hijacked because there is no radio communications with AA11. Therefore, establishing the fact that it IS a hijacking has to be accomplished by other means, so the IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY scramble continues...
Note: The radio transmissions that are claimed to be from "the hijackers" could have come from ANY aircraft operating within a few hundred miles of the location of the FAA antennae used for that specific frequency. I suspect that the antennae location is somewhere in the middle of Connecticut.
Its now 08:25AM...
The interceptors are in full afterburner headed down the runway, all air traffic in the vicinity should have been already cleared out of the way as soon as the "scramble alert" was sounded, and within three minutes the interceptors should have been...gear-up..."full blower"...accelerating to supersonic...and headed westbound ROUGHLY in the direction of NYC...
...they were already fully armed.
It is now 08:27AM...
As the interceptors headed west accelerating to supersonic, all the FAA controllers and FAA supervisors should have been on their "land lines" talking to every facility, every control sector and every management level associated with the routes of flight regarding both AA11 and the interceptors...conversations should have been furious and continuous, yet coolheaded and professional.
Because this was an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY, all the air traffic controllers responsible for all the airspace ahead of both AA11 and the interceptors should have been AUTOMATICALLY clearing out the skies ahead of these two flights even if it meant...holding departures on the ground...turning back aircraft set up in a landing sequence...or reversing course for "through flights" in their airspace.
IN FLIGHT EMERGENCIES, or ANY applicable emergency situation gives air traffic controllers the authority to change the "first-come-first-served" principals of civilian airspace use. Hijacking procedures only call for priority upon departure and only IF requested.
This is because a declaration of an EMERGENCY SITUATION calls for HIGHEST PRIORITY HANDLING. Obviosuly the first responder aircraft need "first priority in handling" when responding to emergencies. Just like fire trucks need priority on our roadways when they are responding to fires.
Its now 08:29AM...
American Airlines confirms that AA11 is being hijacked and now the FAA headquarters, the Pentagon and NORAD should all be notified that AA11 is a confirmed hijacking and all phone banks and multiple facility communications should be on the way to be established. These steps are accomplished by initiating another set of protocols that call for a different routing of information and the inclusion of the State Department and the Pentagon...IE: the hijack protocols.
AA11, now in the vicinity of Albany, NY had made a HUGE unauthorized left turn and was now headed southbound towards NYC at about 600 mph [10 miles per minute] with about 140 miles to go to Manhattan...
The Otis interceptors, now west-northwest of Martha's Vineyard, are headed westbound towards NYC at about 1800 mph [30 miles per minute] with 170 miles to go...
AA11's ETA [estimated time of arrival] over NYC...08:43AM...
The interceptor's ETA over NYC...08:36AM...
Its now 08:30AM
Ground holds would have been issued for all departures from the New York Metro area...all adjacent air traffic control sectors would have been alerted about the locations and tracks of AA11 and the Otis supersonic birds...arrivals into the New York Metro area would have been rerouted well clear of the two incoming flights..."known" aircraft operating in these airspaces would have been shuffled out of the way...and the skies would have been cleared in front of these two flights. The FAA air traffic controller teams would have been giving the location AA11 to NEADS personnel so that NEADS could BOTH locate AA11, and to give the lats-longs to the Otis interceptors in order to program their onboard navigations sytems...to program their onboard radar tracking systems...and to program their onboard armament systems. This would have been EASILY accomplished because handing aircraft off, or pointing aircraft out to other facilities happens each and every day all across the country.
Once the interceptor's navigation systems had a more specific intercept location for AA11 [a lat-long or a confirned primary target], they would have turned slightly to the right and headed for an intercept in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie, NY, or, approximately 80 miles north of Manhattan. Even IF the interceptors nav systems weren't programmed, the FAA air traffic controllers would have a big enough "picture" to create their own intercept routing for the Otis interceptors and instructed the Otis birds to fly an intercept course.
This would be simple because air traffic controllers get paid to vector aircraft wherever they need vectoring...its their job....and they are very good at it.
Its now 08:32AM...
The Otis birds are supersonic and flying over the Long Island Sound having already turned towards Poughkeepsie for the intercept. AA11 has slowed down slightly, perhaps because the onboard flight director called for this in a descent and there is a continuous communications flow between all FAA air traffic facilities along the routes of flight. There are contstant updates between the FAA and NEADS....there are constant communications between the interceptor pilots and both the FAA and NEADS radar techs and weapons folks.
The Otis birds now have their "prey" locked into their onboard radar tracking programs...now the interceptor's flight director takes charge of navigation...now these highly skilled pilots do what they have been trained to do over years and years of service to this country...now they will be INTERCEPTING AN AIRCRAFT!
As the intercept nears, the Otis birds slow down and circle to approach from behind. Then, one pulls CLOSE alongside the cockpit of AA11 and tries to establish visual contact with the pilot. The other Otis bird either takes the other side, or remains behind the B767. They remain in this configuration trying every which way they can to get the attention of the pilot of this American Airlines B767 which, to the Otis pilots, is only suffering an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY. The Otis pilots want to know what is wrong.
Right around this time, with the hijacking being confirmed somewhere in the communications links between the FAA Command Center, FAA headquarters, the Pentagon, NORAD and all the affected FAA air traffic control facilities, the interceptor pilots should have become informed about the hijacking. This would change nothing, because with no contact with the pilot of AA11 being acknowledged, and with this status being shared with the FAA and the Military, the only issues left for the interceptor pilots are to:...consider the "controllability" of AA11, IE: are the pilots going to follow the lead or "instructions" of the interceptor pilots...or to follow closely behind the hijacked airliner...and to prepare for a shoot down if need be.
And if the pilots of AA11 did not respond to the presence of the Otis interceptors, this would mean very, very SERIOUS business...whether a hijacking or an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY.
Its now 08:38AM...
The Otis interceptors are now in trail and alongside AA11, and flying in tight formation right down the Hudson River headed to the world's largest city. As AA11 begins a descent, one interceptor pilot remains alongside attempting to get the attention of the pilot. And, because he is flying so closely to AA11, he easily can see inside the cockpit and thusly, would be able to see IF the pilot indeed DID see the interceptor pilot as to follow his instructions. The Otis pilot also could see if the pilot WAS NOT following the interceptor's instructions, or attempting to, and also if the pilot was dressed and appeared like an American Airlines pilot. The other interceptor pilot would have now fallen in behind AA11 in typical "escort" position.
Without clear "agreement" by the pilot of AA11, the interceptor pilots would have to conclude that AA11 was NOT going to follow their instructions, that the B767 was now a DANGEROUS flight whether controlled or uncontrolled, and that it was a threat to people and/or property within the USofA.
The Manhattan skyline was beginning to poke its head up less than 60 miles ahead, and the flights were descending...and it was painfully clear that AA11 was NOT headed towards Cuba.
Interceptor pilots are highly skilled, very well refined, incredibly disciplined, and highly patriotic defenders of this country who have had training in air-to-air combat. These folks are the top of the top. Perhaps some have had actual experiences in dog fights in the first Gulf War. They are professional killers who who have received training about when to shoot, and when not to shoot. As this treacherous formation flight was headed straight towards NYC, and continued its descent to unreasonably low altitudes as the formation approached Manhattan, the interceptor pilots KNEW what may be in store for them. A possile shootdown of an airliner was in the cards...whether or not they had approvals from higher authorities.
Whether its a hijack, an IN FLIGHT EMERGENCY, a lost or disoriented aircraft, or for an aircraft with ANY other reason for NOT following the orders of a US interceptor flying alongside the cockpit, the interceptor pilots have one basic responsibility...to protect the persons, property and security of the USofA. Please do not be fooled by any other rhetoric or cover-up.
Just as a policeman has bullets and strict protocols as when and why to pull the trigger WITHOUT immediate and direct consultation and approval from higher authorities, so do the interceptor pilots have missles and strict protocols as to when and why to fire those missles WITHOUT immediate and direct approval from higher authorities. When the US Military tells you otherwise, they are lying to cover up their failures. An interceptor pilot knows what to do...a policeman knows what to do...its their chosen professions.
Its now 08:42AM...
Manhattan's skyline is fully visible at this time to the interceptor pilots, and AA11 has continued its descent down to altitudes nearing the heights of the Empire State Building, WTC1 and WTC2 as they all speed directly towards the city. There is no stopping the descent of AA11 and the trajectory is unmistakeable to the Otis pilots. Tensions have grown, the interceptor pilots are hoping for instructions from a higher authority, and if they came, they would obviously be to "shoot down" before AA11 can cause major harm to this city...and if the instructions didn't come, the captains of the interceptors would have to make a hard and monstorous decision. A decision perhaps never before made by interceptor pilots trained in the art of killing. A decision made with steely and cool temperments, with a deadly final result...and that was to fire the missles before AA11 had a chance to crash into Manhattan. But this decision would have been made!
And if they DID NOT shoot down, and stood by as thousands of innocent citizens were murdered right in front of their eyes because they DIDN'T SHOOT DOWN, well, what then? I know what I would do, and I'm a man of peace. Its simple math that's really, really hard to calculate. But interceptor pilots understand about death, and the numbers, and they would know that someone was going to die! Which is the best option? THAT is the discipline that an interceptor pilot is trained for...if not, why give them missles?
These interceptor pilots do not live in a bubble, they remember the WTC bombings in the early 90s, they are fully briefed as to their missions on a daily basis, and they keep abreast the threats facing this country [from the military perspective of course.. ] because its just part of their JOB! They are not in their fighters delivering bread.
Interceptor pilots...
They KNOW...they are AWARE...they are VERY INTELLIGENT...they FIGURE STUFF OUT...they wear a uniform FOR A REASON...they know WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE...and they would SHOOT DOWN an airliner that was going to crash into a major city.
Do not be fooled by your own emotions about these choices or responsibilities because chances are that you would NEVER be an interceptor pilot! These are well trained warriors.
Its now 08:44...
The missle guidance systems have been locked onto AA11 for many minutes now...the cold water has been willed into, and is now running through the interceptor pilot's veins and arteries...the towers on Manhattan are less than 20 miles away and growing in height...the decision to shoot if need be has already been made...and if AA11 does not accept the final attempts at giving up command to the interceptor pilots...AA11 would be shot down. Period!
More and more of the ground beneath the formation flight is filling up with homes, and businesses, and busy highways...the earth below was filling up with innocent people...and off to the east just a few miles was a nuclear plant...the question now is WHEN to fire...because that will control WHERE the debris will fall...
The interceptor pilots are listening intently for some good news over the rdaio...it does not come...maybe the shoot down should be well north over the Hudson River if at all possible...up near Yonkers...its NOT going to be over the GW Bridge...its NOT going to be over Central Park...its NOT going to be anywhere over Manhattan...but it IS gonna happen...
The front interceptor peels off rapidly so as to not confuse the missle guidance system if the missle is a heat seeker...and once clear, the trailing interceptor fires its missle[s]...
Many lives are lost, all in the air, some on the ground...and some damage is suffered...
Its now 08:45AM...
AA11 has been destroyed...and two minutes earlier at 08:43, the entire system learned that UA175 has been announced that UA175 had also been hijacked. This makes the fatal decision at 08:44 more palatable but the Otis pilots were in another zone when these radio transmissions came over the air. And it STILL would not have made any difference. The lead interceptor that had peeled off away from the front of AA11 now knows of another PREY that it must respond to...UA175...and that's right...its just another PREY...because this game has defined itself very clearly, the enemy is in the sky.
The Otis bird continues in its turn behind his wingmate and once westbound, the interceptor blasts into full blower climbing to "greet" UA175. It takes vectors from the FAA controllers toward yet another intercept point and simultaneously inserts the positional and target information about the wayward UA175 into its navigational and missle guidance systems...this time its a transponder code because UA175 did not have its transponder turned off.
The fully armed Otis bird locks on to UA175 which is still west of NYC and still southwestbound...but again, out of FAA control...and the fighter speeds to the intercept. This time, there are no doubts....but the procedure is the same. Pull alongside...attempt to take command of UA175...try to establish contact with the pilot...get ready for another shoot down...the usual drill.
Everyone, and especially the Otis pilots NOW KNOW the dimension of the attack. And the Otis pilots also KNOW that it is THEY who are the ONLY two frontline players in our national defense at that very moment in time...they fully understand the NORAD system...and they KNOW what to do...because they had just done it...just as they had always practiced it...less the trigger.
The Otis interceptor that shot down AA11 remains behind and circles overhead Manhattan checking out the KILL, awaiting any word from anyone about another "prey" for its deathly power, and preparing for anything to happen at a moment's notice. He is ready...they are ALWAYS READY...
Its now 09:00AM...
This time the debris field falls between Ellis, Liberty and Governors Islands hopefully all over New York Harbor...
It is now fully accepted by ALL the players...that the United States is under full attack from the air...
All War Game activities are terminated...every military aviation asset is INSTANTLY made available for defending the nation...every airbourne asset is directed into a defensive posture...a lethal posture if the situation requires it...a weaponized asset or not...
All our major cities are covered with military assets. Every "suspicious" aircraft is immediately scrambled upon and intercepted for a first hand judgement...
UA93 is disposed of as were AA11 and UA175...UNLESS...there had been a successful takeover by the passengers...and then it would have happily rocked its wings in delight to see a fighter beside it trying to help out. UA93 would have been escorted to an airport that could risk the rough landing executed by an inexperienced civilian pilot...
Its now 10:00AM...
...the skies are now fully under control...
...actually, they have been fully under control for an hour...
...actually, they have ALWAYS been fully under control...
...even beginning at 08:14AM on 9/11/2001...
Epilogue:
AA77 is another story for another day...a very, very interesting story indeed...
However, this country STILL would have invaded Afghanistan...
And this country STILL would have invaded and occupied Iraq...
This is because that is what this country is "tricked into supporting"...ie:
...whenever the military industrial complex and the multinational corporations feel the need for more profits, they conjure up another reason to start another war...
Puts a different light on Bush's statement: "Mission accomplished doesn't it?
Love, Peace and Progress with:
PUBLICALLY FUNDED ELECTIONS using HAND COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS on a NEW PAID FEDERAL VOTING HOLIDAY...
Robin HordonPoliticians were unable to hold generals to account over strategy in Afghanistan because of their ignorance of military affairs, with one minister admitting they “did not know the difference between a Tornado and a torpedo", a former ambassador has said.
Ministers, commanders and officials were also engaged in “a massive act of collective self deception" about the prospects for success during the Afghan campaign and unable to admit how badly it was going.
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles said officials claimed that progress was being made because they desperately wanted it to be.
The former British ambassador to Kabul at the height of the war accused Whitehall officials and politicians of not showing the “moral courage” to question military advice during the campaign.
He told the Common’s defence committee that the Ministry of Defence was too dominated by senior officers and likened it to “the Department for Education being populated entirely by teachers”.
The lack of military knowledge among politicians meant they found the Armed Forces’ plans and jargon-filled briefings incomprehensible and could not question their strategy.
Sir Sherard said a minister confessed to being unable to properly challenge the plan to deploy Tornado jets to replace the Harrier force in southern Afghanistan.
"I did brief a minister to point out this would cost £70 million to build new taxiways at Kandahar and that minister said to me 'Sherard... I can't question the chief of the defence staff on this because I confess to you I don't know the difference between a Tornado and a torpedo'."
Officials and commanders also deceived themselves about how much progress was being made to rebuild and stabilise Helmand.
He said: “We all desperately wanted to believe that it was working. We wanted to please ministers, the Armed Forces and the Americans.”
Sir Sherard said the United States government of the 1960s behaved the same way over the Vietnam War and in both cases officials hid behind the claim that “progress is being made, but challenges remain”.
Speaking of the decision-making tensions in Whitehall during the war, he said: "There were times in Afghanistan that I felt both in the Ministry of Defence and across Whitehall civil servants civilian advisers to ministers and their political masters did not show the moral courage, the intellectual courage they needed sometimes to challenge advice from the Armed Forces.
He went on: “At times and in places one saw military advice to ministers which was driven by a military view of the situation which was not necessarily the same as what the wider national interest might or might not be.”
Brig Ed Butler, who commanded British forces when they first arrived in Helmand in 2006, said there was no delusion among commanders planning at a tactical level. But he said elsewhere “there was some self denial, some self-deception that we could still see things through and still deliver success.”UK antiterror police and military forces, including the SAS and nuclear plant protection teams, are using a German-made rifle that allegedly does not shoot straight.
A report commissioned by Germany's defence ministry, and seen by the Sunday Times, revealed that when the G36 assault rifle overheats – either due to overheating caused by hot or humid weather or firing too many rounds over a short period – it becomes very inaccurate.
When temperatures reach 30C, the G36's accuracy degradation is said to be exceed 50cm at a range of 200m. Reports in the German media claim that rounds fired at targets 500m away missed by as much as six metres.
The rifle is said to become unreliable after the firing of just two magazines (60 rounds).
German federal defence minister Ursula von der Leyen, who commissioned the tests, says the G36 has "serious faults" and the rifle has "no future" with the German military.
Now there are calls in the UK for the G36 to be tested by experts at the Centre for Applied Science and Technology (Cast). UK anti-terror police have 2-3,000 G36 rifles, which have a greater firepower than the standard 9mm pistol or carbine. The G36 has been used by the SAS on operations in Iraq and is used by teams guarding Britain's nuclear power stations.
UK anti-terror police use 2,000-3,000 G36 rifles. The G36 has also been used by the SAS on operations in Iraq and it is used by armed teams guarding Britain's nuclear power stations.
Armed policing expert Deputy Chief Constable Simon Chesterman from the National Police Chiefs' Council said: "The reliability of any weaponry that the police service uses is of paramount importance. As a result, we will refer the matter to Cast and ask them to consider the recent findings in Germany and advise us accordingly."
Manufacturer Heckler & Koch, which was not involved in the tests, responded by blaming the Bundeswehr (German Federal Defence) for fitting the G36's barrel with a tin covering, leading to it overheating.
"H&K views any negative statements with regard to the accuracy [of the G36] as factually incorrect, irrelevant and possibly illegal," says H&K. "Decades of use by the Bundeswehr validate that the G36 was – and continues to be – fully operational."
In a detailed response to the report, H&K also blamed the German military's decision to purchase a G36 in favour of the more expensive, and heavier, MG36 rifle.
Unlike the G36, the MG36's rifle sights are attached to a metal body, which means there is no risk of the sights becoming misaligned if the plastic coating around the rifle's barrel softens if it's overheated.GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office said in a report Monday that Russia is violating international law in Crimea, including by imposing Russian citizenship on its people and deliberately transferring hundreds of prisoners and detainees to prisons in Russia.
The report, drawn up under an existing request from Ukraine’s government, chronicles alleged rights violations and abuses in Crimea since Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Russia has refused to budge despite international outrage and biting U.S. and European Union sanctions against Moscow.
A Russian diplomat in Geneva insisted that the U.N. rights mission didn’t have competency to examine the situation in Crimea, insisting that the peninsula was part of Russia now.
“It is strange that the human rights mission in Ukraine assesses the situation in the Russian Federation,” the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because any official declaration can only come from Moscow. “This is un-mandated work.”
The report urges Russia to “effectively investigate” alleged torture, abductions and killings in the peninsula, while decrying denials of access to its own team — and urges the international community to support push for that access.
“A key finding of the report is the grave deterioration of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Crimea over the past 3-1/2 years,” said Fiona Frazer, head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine. She said the transfer of hundreds of prisoners and pre-trial detainees violates international law.
Thousands of Crimean residents who had refused to live under Russian jurisdiction had left for mainland Ukraine, Frazer said, while “tens of thousands more became foreigners, and as a result, faced significant hardship” either because they rejected or did not qualify for Russian citizenship.
“The lack of Russian federation citizenship limited or prevented their access to employment, health care protection, and property and political rights, with serious consequences,” she said.
In a statement, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said the imposition of Russian citizenship can be equated to forcing people to “swear allegiance to a power they may consider as hostile.”
Frazer said other restrictions involved the freedom of peaceful assembly and association, or the ability to register as non-governmental organizations or as media outlets.BMW Motorrad has a long tradition in pointing out new ways and thoughts for the topic „mobility on two wheels“. For that, again and again many studies were presented in the past giving views to the future. The experimental vehicle eRR, created as a project with the Technical University of Munich, embodies an idea of an electric powered supersport motorcycle made by BMW Motorrad.
Already a couple of years ago, BMW i showed the BMW Group’s visionary and sustainable approach with the vehicles BMW i3 and i8 and their revolutionary design principles (aluminum chassis and passenger cabin made from carbon fibre) and BMW Motorrad’s C evolution proved, that zero emission, riding fun and practicability do not exclude themselves.
With presenting the experimental vehicle eRR BMW Motorrad goes one step forward and shows the possibilities of an all-electric drive in a supersport motorcycle. Regarding design and chassis technology the eRR leans on the supersport motorcycle S 1000 RR, however using an all-electric drive.
Stephan Schaller, Head of BMW Motorrad, emphasizes: „Since their market launch, the RR is giving the creeps to motorsport athletes. If acceleration, handling or topspeed – the RR is setting standards. However, if acceleration on the first metres, up to 50, 60 kph, is the point, the RR’s 199 bhp have to admit defeat by another BMW product: the C evolution with its electric drive.
We asked ourselves: What happens when combining a sport motorcycle and an electric drive? The experimental vehicle eRR brings the topic zero emission and electric drive on a new, more fascinating level."
BMW Motorrad will announce technical details of the eRR at a later date.Image copyright MuslimMatch.com
The personal details of more than 150,000 members of dating website Muslim Match have been posted online.
More than 700,000 private messages between members have also been leaked.
A message on the site's homepage said: "We have been made aware of an alleged security breach and we are reviewing our systems as we work to remedy the situation and tighten our security."
The leaked details included sensitive information such as whether a member would consider polygamy.
The breach was discovered by security researcher Troy Hunt who runs a cybersecurity alert website.
Details of members' employers, location, marriage status and whether they were a convert to Islam were revealed, as well as names, email addresses, Skype handles and IP addresses - according to technology news site Motherboard.
Image copyright Twitter / @haveibeenpwned
Muslim Match's Facebook page describes the site as: "Single, divorced, widowed, married Muslims coming together to share ideas, thoughts and find a suitable marriage partner."
One of the leaked messages read: "I wanna marry you - if u agree I send my photos and details."
Another read: "You will enjoy when you speak to me, I am genuine and truthful and am seriously seeking a right muslimah who could be a friend, a companion to hold hands thru journey of life and beyond."
The bulk of users affected are believed to live in the United Kingdom, United States and Pakistan.
The website's operation has been temporarily suspended. The company said it will be closed until Ramadan ends this week.Dental impression evidence helped investigators determine who was responsible for biting a baby last year, a Regina judge heard this week.
While Crown prosecutor Kim Jones told the court this type of evidence is not relied upon in all North American courts, it helped to eliminate a pair of other potential suspects in this case. That left the baby’s 26-year-old father — whose own dental impressions could not be ruled out by an odontologist as a match for the bruises left on the child — as the likely perpetrator.
The father was subsequently charged and, on Monday, pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm as well as a range of unrelated offences related to the child’s mother.
The man cannot be named because of a court-imposed publication ban intended to protect the identity of the child, said to have been six or seven months old at the time of the incident.
The father spent the bulk of his sentencing in tears as he listened to submissions from Crown and defence counsel, ending up with an 18 ½-month sentence (15 months after remand credit) and 18 months probation.
“I love my son more than anything in this world …,” he told the court. “I just want to be with my son.”
Court heard police were called by the mother, who’d noticed a bite mark on her baby’s back. Photos were taken and provided to an investigator who, as it happened, had recently completed a forensics course that included dental identification of bite marks, or odontology.
A doctor from Port Coquitlam, B.C. was contacted and provided with photos of the bite mark as well as a “dental lineup” that included impressions from five different people — including the child’s father, mother and another person who had been in the residence at the time the injury was believed to have been caused.
Jones said the doctor was able to eliminate all but the impression that came from the father. While he could not make a definitive positive match, the doctor said he couldn’t exclude the father as the one who had left the marks.
Court heard that while the bite left bruises, it fortunately didn’t cause a more severe injury.
Defence lawyer Lynda Bordessa told the court her client suffers from both Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder. Born to an alcoholic mother, the man suffered abuse as a child and eventually developed his own addictions issues.
Although court heard he doesn’t remember biting his child — possibly because of intoxication — he accepted responsibility nonetheless.
Also sentenced for assaulting and threatening the baby’s mother, the man expressed a desire through his lawyer to continue the treatment he’s already started so he can eventually reunite with his family.
“I just want to be a family …,” he said. “I am willing to do whatever it takes to fix this.”
In agreeing to impose the suggested sentence, provincial court Judge Carol Snell
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Country shows continue to play vital role in Australian culture
Updated
The influential role of country shows in Australian life may appear to be dwindling, but a revival is underway as those in the bush aim to bridge the rural-city divide and educate people on how their food is made.
Organisers have become increasingly worried about their shows' future, due to a lack of volunteers and a declining interest among young people.
David Peters is the president of the Agricultural Societies Council of New South Wales, which aims to promote shows and boost membership.
He said country shows were, and continue to be, an integral part of Australian culture.
"Every adult has a story about when they were a kid at a show; it's etched into the Australian psyche," Mr Peters said.
"It used to be an event that you had to go to; now it's an event that you want to go to."
Mr Peters said agricultural shows had evolved a lot since their inception in the nineteenth century, when they primarily showcased new innovations and aimed to improve productivity.
"The first appearance of automated sheep-shearing handpieces were at agricultural shows, so that sort of agricultural innovation was part of shows," he said.
"Shows were a tool to increase agricultural productivity by promoting a competition where the best in a class or category was awarded with prize money and a ribbon."
The rise of major field days, which showcase new agricultural equipment and technologies, has in many ways eclipsed country shows' role in innovation, but adaptability has been a vital part of ensuring their survival.
Quirky country events attract new spectators
Another key function — entertainment — has offered small country shows leverage in drawing new and diverse crowds, from motocross and rodeo events to young farmers' challenges, which often involve quirky tasks such as repairing a quad bike and moving hay bales against competing teams.
The small town of Grenfell in central west NSW is just one of many shows that draw keen spectators for the mighty tractor pull — a competition that requires tractors to pull a heavy sled along a track.
Former mayor and local tractor enthusiast Maurice Simpson said interest in the competition among both city and country people was at an all-time high.
"It's got to be the noise and the dust and the dirt and the smoke and the mistakes and the slipping and the jumping," Mr Simpson said.
"I had people here from Sydney and they were absolutely tickled pink.
"It's growing, the ones out Trundle way are absolutely tremendous tractor pulls. They've got to run those over two days and into the night to fit them in."
The fascination with agricultural machines has seen no limit across parts of the country, with many people now becoming unlikely exhibitors after getting their hands on items such as vintage corn shredders and shearing equipment later in life.
Mr Peters said shows also allowed people from the metropolitan areas and big regional centres to better understand how their food was produced.
"When you look at the kids of major towns, most of them don't get the opportunity to have that contact with animals," he said.
"Today we've got programs run by a lot of shows that are education programs, so they're about improving the knowledge of kids about where all our foods comes from and the way Australia needs to think about feeding itself in the future."
Shows provide growing educational role
Among those programs is the junior judging competition — an event where young people assess different types of produce — which is surging in interest across parts of New South Wales.
Brendan Mansbridge, a former state junior judging champion, said agriculture and technology teachers in schools were leading the charge in getting young people interested.
"Even schools in Sydney and other metropolitan areas have been introduced to agriculture through junior judging, they've gone on to have some big careers in agriculture and achieved some big things," Mr Mansbridge said.
"It's an amazing opportunity to build your skills and get a foothold in the industry."
Fourteen-year-old William Cox from Manildra, near Parkes in NSW, has been competing in sheepdog trials at shows since he was four.
He admitted while many of his peers were not interested in country shows, he believed there was a bright future for shows.
"I've been practically everywhere around New South Wales, I don't think there are many shows I've missed," he said.
"[Other teenagers] are a bit surprised I'm into this stuff because of most of them are very sporty, where this is just what I've been brought up to do."
Topics: agricultural-shows, agricultural-machinery, orange-2800, dubbo-2830, broken-hill-2880, tamworth-2340, wagga-wagga-2650, bega-2550, bowral-2576, goulburn-2580
First postedBased on today's oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, Reuters counts at least five votes for the individual-right interpretation of the Second Amendment and against the constitutionality of the D.C. gun ban:
A majority of the nine-member high court seemed to support the view that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protected an individual right to keep and bear arms, rather than a right tied to service in a state militia.... "What is reasonable about a total ban on possession?" Chief Justice John Roberts asked Washington, D.C.,'s lawyer, Walter Dellinger, referring to a provision barring private possession of handguns. Dellinger said the ban was only on the weapons that have been considered especially dangerous. Justice Samuel Alito, who like Roberts was appointed by President George W. Bush, cited another provision requiring rifles or shotguns be kept unloaded and dissembled or bound by a trigger lock, and said it did not seem as if they could be used as such for the self-defense of one's home.
If Roberts and Alito are inclined to uphold the D.C. Circuit decision overturning the gun ban, that bodes well for defenders of the Second Amendment, since Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia presumably are as well. As for Anthony Kennedy, A.P. reports that he "said the Second Amendment gives 'a general right to bear arms.'"
Addendum: The Washington Post concurs with Reuters' assessment, saying, "A majority of the Supreme Court today seemed to clearly indicate that the Second Amendment provides an individual right to possess a firearm and several justices appeared skeptical about whether the District of Columbia's handgun ban could be considered a reasonable restriction on that right." Both Reuters and the Post implicitly distinguish between believing the Second Amendment protects an individual right to arms and viewing the D.C. law as unconstitutional. But as I've said, the latter is required by the former, unless the Court is prepared to say the Second Amendment does not apply in the nation's capital (as Laurence Tribe has argued) or implausibly interpret D.C.'s law as permitting people to use long guns for self-defense, something its plain terms seem to rule out.- 2007.01.15 -Tip Jar
It seems that Low End Mac has taken on something of a keyboardobsession in the last year or so. It started with a few articlesabout the Matias Tactile Pro keyboard (Has 'the Best Keyboard Apple Ever Made' BeenResurrected?), then moved to afew articles looking back at older keyboards, notably theApple Extended, Extended II, and the Northgate OmniKey.
My laptop articles have often focused on the relative meritsand/or weaknesses of laptop keyboards, including the good (MacBook,PowerBook, ThinkPad), the horrible (Dell), and everything inbetween. The one constant, however, is that the keyboard is thepart of your computer that you touch the most, and, strangely, it'sthe part that most buyers pay the least amount of attention to.
It's not a matter of Mac vs. PC or how many function keys youwant, but of build quality and switch type. There are many types ofkeyboard mechanisms, but all keyboards sold in the last 20 or soyears use either an Alps Switch, a buckling spring, scissor, orsoft dome to get their feel, along with a membrane switch toregister the keypress.
Clearly the most important thing that any keyboard does isregisters the letters that you type, but how it feels in thatprocess can make the difference between fast and accurate typingand slow and sloppy gibberish generation.
After reading Charles W. Moore'scolumns for years, I know that he prefers keyboards with a softtouch. In his case, it's due to a medical condition, although hemay very well have subjective reasons for that preference aswell.
I prefer a heavy, clicky keyboard. Clearly, Mr. Moore and Iprobably won't find happiness typing on the same keyboard, thoughstrangely two models are on both of our lists of the best keyboardsever made: the WallStreetPowerBook and the PowerBook1400.
I like those two keyboards because of the precise mechanicalfeel and the distinct feel when the key bottoms. These are softkeyboards, but they're also made with high-quality scissormechanisms that are precise and have no slop.
Slop equals typographical errors, and typographical errors equalwasted time and effort. A soft keyboard also influences how thetypist's hands must rest (on or off the keys) and what sort ofresistance is felt when entering a keypress.
Most of us can adapt quite easily to a soft or firmkeyboard.
A ThinkPad's keyboard has a much longer key travel and muchhigher effort than the keys on a PowerBook 1400 or WallStreet. Thefeel is totally different, but it's also my absolute favoritelaptop keyboard ever, with the MacBook a close second (shorttravel, but firm action).
Firm action may hurt the fingers of some typists, but I find itreduces fatigue as I can rest my fingers on the next key that I'lltype rather than maintaining tension by holding my fingers abovethe keyboard.
The IBM Model M Keyboard
Which brings me to my favorite keyboard, one that has seenupwards of ten computers (both PC and Mac, sometimes both with aKVM switch), 21 years, and millions of words. It is the famousIBM Model Mkeyboard, in my case one of the earliest PS/2 models made inlate 1986.
MyModel M wasn't pretty, with all sorts of dust inside and the keyscovered in crud, but it worked great and is still the fastest andmost accurate keyboard that I've ever used. Over the holidays Ifollowed the care and feeding advice over at clickykeyboards.com, and nowmy Model M looks shiny and new again.
So happy was I that I went back to clickykeyboards and ordered abrand-new, unopened 1995 Model M to use at the office, replacing afairly new and quite nice Microsoft wireless keyboard.
With the Model M, I type faster than on other keyboards -much faster. My personal best on a laptop was 50 words perminute on my old 12" PowerBook. I'vehit about the same speed on my various ThinkPads, MacBooks, andToshibas, but the 12" PowerBook was, in my opinion, the fastestlaptop keyboard.
I just took a typing test using my old Model M and hit 64 wordsper minute - and I had fewer typos in the process. There's justsomething right about the design; I really can't describe it otherthan saying that my finger always presses hard enough and never toohard on a Model M - are two of the many reasons for typos on lesserkeyboards.
Of course you still have to hit the right key, but even thatseems easier on this most magical of keyboards. The new one I justbought cost almost $70 for something made well over a decade ago,and I consider it a bargain.
Buckling Springs
Whatmakes the IBM Model M so good? It's all in the spring - bucklingsprings, to be precise. A buckling spring is a mechanism thatcarries tension until enough force is applied to "buckle" thespring, at which point it collapses and the key can travel down,producing an audible click when it does.
What makes these keyboards so sound so distinctive (and so loud)is that the spring makes another distinct click when tension isrelease and the spring pops back into its original shape. Ineffect, you get two fairly loud clicks every time a key is pressed,making you sound twice as fast as you really are - not to mentionannoying anyone in a nearby cubicle.
So noisy are these that IBM had to offer a "quiet" model (nobuckling spring) for libraries and such.
Of course, while noisy and intrusive to your neighbors, there'sone very good reason why the buckling spring keyboard remained inproduction for so many years and why it's something of a specialtyitem today. Those switches are very expensive compared to the cheaprubber domes in use today, and it's those switches that give thiskeyboard its legendary feel (and make it too expensive for this ageof made-in-China mass-production).
A Modern Model M with USB
You can still buy a brand-new Model M, and not only unsold oldones like mine, but a brand-new current production model. Unicomp still makes new Model Ms,only they call it a customizer. This is your only option if youwant Windows keys (a huge convenience for use on a Mac) andnative USB support. IBM and later Lexmark Model M keyboards all endin either a PS/2 connector, which can be adapted to USB, or theeven older AT connector, which can also be adapted but is moredifficult to deal with. Many of the old keyboards also were madefor point-of-sale terminals and cannot, to my knowledge, be used ona modern computer of any platform.
Still, whether you get a new one from Unicomp or a used orunsold IBM, it's definitely worth the effort if you like a firmkeypress. Unicomp offers a wide variety of styles, includingcolored (including black) keyboards; keyboards with built-intrackballs, pointing sticks or both; and your choice of USB or PS/2and Windows keys or no Windows keys.
A plain black one with USB and Windows keys will be the best fitfor most Mac and PC users these days.
Other Great Keyboards
Are there other great keyboards out there? Clearly, theNorthgate and Apple 'boards mentioned in previous articles allappear worthy of consideration, and by the sound of it so does theMatias Tactile Pro.
I used to use an Apple Extended Keyboard II back in the day andremember it fondly. In fact, it was the only keyboard other than myold IBM Model M that I've ever hooked up to one of my desktopcomputers. I prefer the feel (but not the sound) of the Model M tothe Extended II, but both are clearly high quality keyboards withexcellent feel and very fast action.
It really is a sad thing to look at the keyboards that come withmost computers these days. Whether you buy the cheapest $200eMachines or the fanciest, highest spec Mac Pro, you're getting a plastic keyboardof dubious quality. Apple's keyboards are crumb magnets, and mostPC keyboards are so flimsy that they won't support the weight ofthose crumbs. An old Model M, Extended II, or OmniKey may be justwhat your Mac or PC needs.
One thing is certain: If you generate a lot of text, you owe ityourself to get a decent keyboard.
When I took a three day trip last month and had a writingproject due, I brought my Model M in my luggage. My current ToshibaPortegé has a comparatively good keyboard for a laptop -good enough that I've used it to generate copious prose - but giventhe choice, I'll take my 20-year-old IBM Model M any day of theweek.
Editor's note: I'm a huge fan of the discontinued Logitech Cordless EliteDuo, which is far better than any recent Apple keyboard and hasgreat drivers for OS X. I simply can't work with any Applekeyboard made in the past several years - they're just too mushy.dkMountain Dew says it has cut ties with rapper Lil Wayne over his controversial lyrics referencing civil rights icon Emmett Till.
"Beat the pu--y up like Emmett Till," Wayne raps on the song "Karate Chop (Remix)."
More from GlobalPost: Lil Wayne: Epilepsy caused his seizures, singer says
Wayne, 30, had been the face of Mountain Dew's "Deweezy" campaign, a play on his "Weezy" nickname.
But in a statement released late yesterday, PepsiCo said that Wayne's "offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand."
The company said it plans no further work with the rapper.
More from GlobalPost: Lil Wayne sued for skateboard attack
His publicist, Sarah Cunningham, called the split amicable in an interview with The Associated Press and said it was due to "creative differences."
Wayne had sent the Till family a letter acknowledging how the lyric may have hurt them, but it came 75 days after the song was released and appeared online before the family received it.
The family said the letter fell short of a formal apology.
Till was fatally beaten beyond recognition at age 14 for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi in 1955.Bikers Pedal across America with Message of Population Sustainability
On Thursday, Rick Oltman and I drove out to the Golden Gate Bridge for a friendly bon voyage to Frosty Wooldridge and three biker companions.
It was far too early in the morning for a proper champagne send-off, but Rick (as Media Director for the Californians for Population Stabilization) brought his video cam to record the serious reason for the event: to spread the word that continuing Washington’s immigration/overpopulation policy is bad news for America’s future.
Below, three out of four bike riders: left to right, Denis Lemay, Scott Poindexter and Frosty Wooldridge, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
A press release set out the goals:
COLORADO TEACHER TO TRAVEL COAST TO COAST ON BICYCLE IN THE NAME OF OVERPOPULATION! Frosty Wooldridge, Colorado teacher and world bicycle traveler, will depart on an epic coast to coast bicycle ride from the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, 3,500 miles to Washington, D.C. in the Summer of 2010.[…] Riders: Denis Lemay of Canada, Scott Poindexter of Colorado, Bob Johannes of Colorado, Frosty Wooldridge of Colorado He rides with the purpose of alerting the public that America faces adding 100 million people within 25 years if it fails to change its current demographic course. No amount of environmental conservation will afford a viable and sustainable civilization with the current high rate of growth. Overpopulation issues that will be addressed include: 1. Growing water shortages
2. Accelerating carbon-based energy crisis
3. Accelerating air pollution and acidified oceans
4. Species extinction, and quality of life for Americans
5. Failed stewardship of a nation that will be handed to future generations
6. Solutions to overpopulation and continued population growth The issue of overpopulation caused by out of control legal and illegal immigration continues to be one of the main issues shaping the future of our country. Please support Frosty and his team. For more information, go to www.frostywooldridge.com.
In the video, Frosty further explains what he has in mind.
Happy trails across America!“The Women’s Movement: Liberation or Deception?” Ensign, Jan. 1971, 17
To quote the Master: “Ye are the salt of the earth. … Ye are the light of the world. … Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:13–14, 16.)
In stark and glaring contrast to this spirit are the tenor of our times, the demands of our day, and the goals of our generation. Look about you. Listen to the many voices, each competing for a listening ear. What do you see? What do you hear? The topic: women’s liberation.
Recently I read with interest feature articles that appeared in five widely circulated American publications. All presented information regarding the subject of women’s liberation.
Several of the articles called attention to the fact that 1970 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the right of women to vote in the United States. And from this base came a description of the goals and demands that are now being made by some women: free abortion, free child care, and equal employment.
One piece suggested that women should literally demand these things. This article then went on to describe much of Friedrich Engles’ philosophy. Engles, you will recall, was a colleague of Karl Marx and spoke out with irony and force against much of family life. He referred to marriage as a dreary mutation of slavery, urged its abolition, and suggested a public responsibility for the upbringing of children.
In another magazine there was a report dealing with “The Motherhood Myth.” This article debunked the idea that there is anything particularly fulfilling and satisfying about being a mother. It quoted one psychiatrist who suggested that people should move from planned parenthood to planned unparenthood and that it would be more loving to children not to have them. The author of the article, a senior editor of the magazine, concluded: “If God were still speaking to us in a voice we could hear, even He would probably say, ‘Be fruitful. Don’t multiply.’”
Such idiotic and blatantly false philosophy must not be entertained or believed. For God has spoken. Indeed, he has spoken in a voice clearly understood by those who have ears to hear and hearts that know and feel.
From the scriptures we read: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. …
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. …
“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, … and it was so.”
The beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the creatures of the deep were all created. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. …
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. …”(Gen. 1:3, 6–7, 26–28.)
Again, in these latter days, the Lord counseled: “… marriage is ordained of God unto man. Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation.” (D&C 49:15–16.)
Thus, we have the contrast. On one hand, the philosophy of man; on the other, the truth of God. Let us examine the result when men’s philosophies prevail.
Error, sin, lust, envy, and evil thrive in the midst of today’s prosperity. More than $5 million a year is spent on pornographic literature by which vile men try to “dig gold out of dirt.” Magazines, movies, television programs, and other mass media are utilized to lower moral standards and behavior. Crime and delinquency are rampant, and spiritual values are questioned. Our interests are centered in ourselves. We are preoccupied with material things. Many of us are more concerned about conquering space than about conquering ourselves. We are more dedicated to material security than to inner purity. We give much more thought to what we wear, what we eat, what we drink, and what we can do to relax than we give to what we are.
The weakness of our will and the confusion of our choices are illustrated in a letter that was written by a mother to the popular columnist and human relations adviser Ann Landers:
“Dear Ann Landers: A year ago our two-year-old son, Earl, had difficulty breathing, so we took him to a doctor. We learned that Earl is allergic to cigarette smoke. My husband said we both had to quit smoking right then and there. He hasn’t touched a cigarette since. I went back to smoking that same night.
“My husband doesn’t know I smoke. I have to sneak around and smoke in the basement. And it is making a nervous wreck of me.
“Do you think it would be wrong if we let a nice couple adopt little Earl—a nice couple who don’t smoke? The only problem is that my husband is crazy about the boy. I love him, too, but I am more the practical type.
“What do you think, Ann? Mrs. E. R. M.”
“Dear Mrs. I think a lot of people who read this letter are going to say I made it up. It’s utterly fantastic that a mother would put cigarettes ahead of her own child. Don’t present your wild idea to your husband. I wouldn’t blame him if he decided to keep little Earl and unload YOU.”
Have such mothers become liberated? Have they achieved freedom? Equality? No. They have not been liberated. They have been deceived. They have lost their true identity. They have followed that Pied Piper of Sin who has cunningly led them away from their divine role of womanhood down that pathway of error from which a return journey is so difficult and never completed without scars.
Is there to be found a way to avoid such tragic consequences, even a method whereby sin may be shunned and righteousness enthroned? Perhaps a point of new beginning? Let me share an age-old truth that I saw presented in a most modern manner.
One of the fine musical comedies of recent years is Joseph Stein’s Fiddler on the Roof. This tells the story of an old-fashioned Jewish father in Russia who is trying to cope with changing times brought forcibly home to him by his beautiful teenage daughters.
The gaiety of the dance, the rhythm of the music, the excellence of the acting all fade in their significance when the father speaks what to me becomes the message of the musical. He gathers his lovely daughters to his side and, in the simplicity of his peasant surroundings, counsels them as they ponder their future. “Remember,” he cautions, “in Anatevka each one of you knows who she is and what God expects you to become.”
You, beloved sisters of the Church, know who you are and what God expects you to become. Your challenge is to bring all for whom you are responsible to a knowledge of this truth. The Relief Society of this, the Lord’s Church, can be one of the means to achieve such a goal.
From the beginning, the Prophet Joseph Smith recognized the importance of organizing the women of the Church “through the order of the priesthood.” As he did so, the Prophet declared: “… and I now turn the key in your behalf in the name of the Lord, and this Society shall rejoice, and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time henceforth. …” (History of the Church 4:607.)
In planning the curriculum for women of the Church, we have been guided by the Prophet’s statements, as well as the instruction provided by those who succeeded him in Church leadership. We have, with resolute care, followed these guidelines:
1. Every woman has been endowed by God with distinctive characteristics, gifts, and talents in order that she may fulfill a specific mission in the eternal plan.
2. The priesthood is the central power of the Church. “The priesthood is for the benefit of all members of the Church. Men have no greater claim than women upon the blessings that issue from the Priesthood and accompany its possession.” (John A. Widtsoe, Priesthood and Church Government [Deseret Book Company, 1939], p. 83.)
3. The home is the basic organization to teach an individual to walk uprightly before the Lord.
4. Compassionate service and a sensitivity to the needs of others are the principal purposes for which a women’s program was organized.
What the modernists, even the liberationists, fail to remember is that women, in addition to being persons, also belong to a sex, and that with the differences in sex are associated important differences in function and behavior. Equality of rights does not imply identity of functions. As Paul the apostle declared: “… neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 11:11.)
Recognizing the truth of this statement, may I issue to you three challenges for our times: first, sustain your husband; second, strengthen your home; third, serve your God.
Sustain your husband. In speaking to missionaries, I frequently counsel them: “Love your companion. Make him a part of all you do. He may be short or tall, thin or fat, handsome or homely—but he’s all yours.” I think I need not elaborate on the analogy. Your husband is yours. Together you form a partnership with God. Your husband, as the priesthood bearer, is the head of the home. You, the helpmeet, are not the head, but just as important—the heart of the home.
Honor his priesthood, and he will respect your womanhood. Both husband and wife should appreciate that “woman was taken out of man, … not out of his feet to be trampled underfoot, but out of his side to be equal to him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved.” (M. Henry.)
Be patient, be tender, be loving, be considerate, be understanding, be your best self as you sustain your husband.
Strengthen your home. Several writers of the women’s liberation movement have referred to the family dwelling as “that ghetto called home.” I reply: “Home is what the mother makes it.” Home, that beautiful word in our language, was never meant to be a ghetto, but rather a haven called heaven where the spirit of the Lord might dwell.
Too frequently women underestimate their influence for good. Well could you follow the formula given by the Lord: “… establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” (D&C 88:119.)
In such a house will be found happy, smiling children who have been taught, by precept and example, the truth. In a Latter-day Saint home, children are not simply tolerated, but welcomed; not commanded, but encouraged; not driven, but guided; not neglected, but loved. In such a home children will seek and obtain testimonies.
I recognize that there are times when mother’s nerves are frayed, her patience exhausted, and her energies consumed; when she says, “My children don’t appreciate a single thing I do.” I think they do appreciate you. One of the questions after a study of magnets at one junior high school was: “What begins with ‘M’ and picks things up?” The obvious answer was “magnet.” However, more than a third of the students answered “mother.”
There is no scene more touching or beautiful than a mother kneeling with her child by his bed as she teaches him to pray. Then, arising from their knees, the little one is tucked tenderly into bed, receives his good-night kiss, and as mother gently closes the door he hears her say, “Good night, sleep tight, wake up bright, in the morning light, to do what’s right, with all your might. … I love you.”
Serve your God. There are those women who fail their responsibilities, who neglect the word of God, using as their excuse the inactivity or disbelief of an errant husband. With such our Father is not pleased, for they hide the divine gift with which they have been endowed—the power to influence for good the lives of their husbands. What miracles could be accomplished in the ranks of the priesthood if each wife resolved to love the Lord her God with all her heart, her might, mind, and strength, and her neighbor as herself. You cannot serve your neighbor without demonstrating your love for God. Your commission is to “Go, gladden the lonely, the dreary; Go, comfort the weeping, the weary; Go, scatter kind deeds on your way; Oh, make the world brighter today!” (“Make the World Brighter,” Deseret Sunday School Songs, 1909, p. 197.) The heart of compassionate service, one of the hallmark creeds of Relief Society, is the gift of oneself.
Sisters, will you accept these three challenges: sustain your husband, strengthen your home, and serve your God? I promise, as a servant of the Lord, that as you do, the blessings of heaven will attend you.Get 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
Liverpool will be boosted by the return of Philippe Coutinho to Melwood on Monday.
The Brazilian playmaker will report back for pre-season training with Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
Coutinho has been on holiday since Brazil’s early exit from the Copa America on June 12.
The 24-year-old scored the first hat-trick of his international career in their 7-1 rout of Haiti but they failed to get out of their group following a controversial 1-0 defeat to Peru which cost Dunga his job.
All of Liverpool’s internationals were granted three weeks off from their date of their nation’s exit but Coutinho’s leave was extended by a number of days.
Klopp wanted to ensure the gifted attacker was refreshed and ready for duty.
He will rejoin the Reds squad ahead of Wednesday night’s second pre-season friendly against Fleetwood (7pm kick-off).
Coutinho’s future has been subject of speculation this summer amid talk of interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.
However, Liverpool have had no bids for him and are adamant that arguably their biggest talent, who is under contract until 2020, is not for sale.
Anfield officials were baffled by recent reports suggesting that Coutinho had changed agents and that his new representative Kia Joorabchian was looking to move him away from Anfield.
The ECHO understands Joorabchian has been Coutinho’s agent for the past 18 months and was quoted last season as saying that the player was “extremely happy” with the Reds.
Coutinho was Liverpool’s standout performer last term – scoring 12 goals in 43 appearances.
He was shortlisted for the PFA Young Player of the Year award but lost out to Tottenham’s Dele Alli. He also swept the board at the club’s end of season awards night.She spoke for several hours about Mr. Labrie, but seemed to avoid looking at the young man, who sat as still as a statue through much of the testimony. Often, he seemed to be looking at the table in front of him, holding a pen in his hand, as the jury of 11 men and three women listened.
The courtroom here in New Hampshire’s capital city was packed — standing room only — as Mr. Labrie’s family, the family of the girl, and others strained to hear the testimony. A loud fan inside the courtroom made it hard to hear the accuser; early on, court officials had to turn it off.
It was all a sign of the growing interest in the case against Mr. Labrie, a former star student who earned a scholarship to St. Paul’s and had been headed to Harvard until the young girl came forward with her accusations.
Mr. Labrie’s lawyers deny that he and the girl had sexual intercourse, and he is expected to take the stand in his own defense. On Tuesday, J. W. Carney Jr., Mr. Labrie’s lead defense lawyer, argued that their encounter was consensual and more innocent than the girl had portrayed.
Seeking to undermine her credibility — the linchpin for many cases involving accusations of rape — he has pointed to their cordiality before and after the encounter, noting that she had wanted it to remain a secret, and emphasized that the girl chose to accept his invitation to the “senior salute,” which he described as an old tradition that many young students joined with pride.
Still, the case has cast that tradition, and other student rites, under a harsh spotlight as it explores the culture of sex, gender and entitlement at St. Paul’s — which counts ambassadors, senators and prominent authors among its alumni.
Surrounding the details of the episode, prosecutors have said, is the social context for the crimes of which Mr. Labrie is accused: The senior salute, in which, they have suggested, some boys compete to have sexual encounters with as many people as possible. It is one of many rituals at the school that encourage hierarchy, according to alumni, and Mr. Labrie told the police he had been actively engaged in the tradition, trying to “score” and win.We're facing a crisis of attention. How can books compete with addictive platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Netflix?
What happens when we run out of time?
This might sound like a philosophical question, but with the explosion in content and entertainment offerings such as social media and freemium games, we are rapidly approaching a state of peak attention. I define peak attention as the moment where the competition for our attention reaches a saturated point - when there is no more time to spare and something else must miss out.
As the old saying goes; time is the ultimate finite resource. Increasingly, ours is being spent online.
Herbert Simon first coined the term 'attention economy' way back in 1971. His simple conclusion was that an explosion of information must lead to a scarcity of what it consumes, our attention. From his office, it’s like he foresaw the entire rise of social media with its endless content feeds. We now collectively spend more than 10bn hours a week on the main social platforms, and it is rising fast. The total attention equation is different still. Between online and offline media platforms, the average American spends one more hour per day than they did just two years ago – almost 11 hours a day in total.
Simultaneously, from 2005 to 2015, the average amount of time Americans spent reading for personal interest on weekend days and holidays fell by six minutes to 21 minutes per day and 17 minutes on normal work days - a 22% decrease in a decade.
We’re essentially facing a crisis of attention.
Feedback data and machine learning are changing the game.
I believe the advent of the data feedback loop from users, now a reality with all digital media, will prove the game changer. Software can now learn on its own, powered by unprecedented computational power and vast data sets of real human behaviour. Imagine a book that gets better and better suited to its audience every time it is read, gradually personalising to fit each person’s preferred narrative direction.
These new self-learning systems will inevitably get very good at hooking us in – and keeping us there.
Facebook’s newsfeed has rightly been called the most disruptive invention in media in the last 50 years, and one simple reason is the data feedback loop from its users. This allows Facebook to get ever
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in an email.
“The White House provided a briefing this week to share specific details on all of our outstanding questions and committed to follow up at the conclusion of an ongoing investigation. Allegations that we have completed our engagement with the White House on this issue are absurd,” he added.
“As recently as this morning I was on the phone with a Cabinet-level official to ensure their full compliance. We need the documents — not the drama,” he said.
Gowdy and Cummings had teamed up last month on a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn requesting information about the use of personal emails, text messages and encrypted accounts by administration employees in the course of official duties. The letter came in response to a Politico report revealing that Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, and other White House aides had conducted official business over private email accounts.
“With numerous public revelations of senior executive branch employees deliberately trying to circumvent these laws by using personal, private, or alias email addresses to conduct official government business, the Committee has aimed to use its oversight and investigative resources to prevent and deter misuse of private forms of written communication,” Gowdy and Cummings wrote on Sept. 25
The lawmakers asked McGahn to identify the individuals and accounts of potential violators, and to provide the information by Oct. 9.
The White House responded on Oct. 10 in a letter from Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, saying the administration “has endeavored to educate” all staff, and employees “endeavor to comply with all relevant laws” related to the PRA. He did not provide the names or accounts of those who might have violated the law.
On Wednesday, Oversight and Government Reform Committee staffers met with three White House officials who “continued to refuse to identify any White House officials who used personal email accounts,” according to Cummings.
“[They] stated that several White House employees came forward and ‘confessed’ that they failed to forward official records from their personal email accounts to their governmental email accounts within 20 days, as the Presidential Records Act requires,” Cummings wrote in Friday’s letter to Gowdy.
Cummings said Gowdy rejected the Democrats’ entreaty, citing concerns about interfering in an ongoing criminal investigation into Flynn. Cummings said the explanation is inconsistent with Gowdy’s previous work as head of the special panel formed by Republicans to investigate the deadly 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Gowdy said he’s pleased that the Democrats, who had accused the Republicans of conducting a witch hunt surrounding Clinton’s use of private emails, are taking the issue seriously.
“I’m glad my Democrat colleagues now acknowledge the severity of the issue,” he said.Quarterback by day, mechanic by night. Thanks for fixing our sink @AaronRodgers12 pic.twitter.com/vebkqVnGvt — Sam Dekker (@dekker) September 3, 2017
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will soon be busy with work stuff, but before the NFL season begins, Sam Dekker made sure to call in a favor.
The Los Angeles Clippers forward posted a photo of the superstar quarterback getting his hands dirty repairing Dekker's kitchen sink. Per the complimentary tweet, one can surmise that the MVP succeeded.
Yet it appears Rodgers was not compensated for his labor, per Dekker's fiancee, Olivia Harlan.
On a sadder note, Rodgers' training-camp mustache didn't last a full week. It will be missed.
UPDATE: Thursday, Sept. 7 at 1:30 p.m. ET
Per Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal, Rodgers discussed the story behind the photo. The 33-year-old, who learned how to fix his garbage disposal by watching YouTube tutorials, agreed to help the younger Dekker during Green Bay's off weekend.
"Sam, he just got traded to L.A., I was hanging out with him Saturday," Rodgers told Wilde. "He was having some sink issues, asked for my help. He’s 23 years old. I know he’s engaged and taking the next step to being an adult, but he’s not quite there yet. So I went under the sink."
It turns out he didn't have much to fix.
"It wasn’t plugged in," Rodgers said. "So, that’s the picture of me holding the plug as I call him from the other room, and said, ‘Hey, idiot, it wasn’t plugged in.’"
[Sam Dekker]I’ve been reading a lot lately about Chick-fil-A. The news of their contributions to anti-gay organizations first came to my attention last year when Equality Matters researched some of their contributions and published them. Here is what they found:
WinShape Is Chick-Fil-A’s Charitable Arm. The WinShape Foundation is Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, created by Chick-fil-A founder and chairman S. Truett Cathy in 1984. WinShape has received a substantial amount of funding from Chick-fil-A: in 2009 alone, WinShape received $7,814,788 from Chick-fil-A Inc. [Winshape 2009 Publicly Available IRS 990 Form via Foundation Center, accessed10/28/11] WinShape Gave Over $1.7 Million To Anti-Gay Groups. In 2009 alone, WinShape donated $1,733,699 to multiple anti-gay groups: Marriage & Family Legacy Fund: $994,199
Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000
National Christian Foundation: $240,000
Focus On The Family: $12,500
Eagle Forum: $5,000
Exodus International: $1,000
Family Research Council: $1,000 [Winshape 2009 Publicly Available IRS 990 Form via Foundation Center, accessed 10/28/11]
This all came out in November of last year. In the time since, I’ve seen several posts on Facebook urging people to boycott the company as it continued to grow. Then last week, Chick-fil-A CEO, Dan Cathy responded to a question about the company’s anti-gay stances: “We’re guilty as charged.” In the same interview, Cathy said: “We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”
Cathy then reiterated that stance on The Ken Coleman Show, as Jeremy Hooper pointed out:
“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’ and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about,”
While contributing to organizations that align with your beliefs is indeed the right of any person or corporation, it is also the right of citizens to research the work of the organizations you contribute to and make their shopping choices accordingly.
Let’s take a look at how you are supporting anit-gay bigotry around the globe when you buy some waffle fries (or anything else at Chick-fil-A):
Marriage & Family Legacy Fund: Founded by Exodus North America’s Alan Chambers who has admitted to anti-gay housing discrimination: “As a property owner of Orlando, I wouldn’t rent to someone who is gay…” He has also implied a connection between gay people and pedophiles with no evidence whatsoever: “I believe the gay community is a good group of people but with groups like NAMBLA [a pedophile group] riding on their coattails.”
Exodus International: Exodus International Board Member John Schmierer began his trips to Uganda in 2009, preaching alongside Nazi revisionist Scott Lively, spreading hatred of gay people to the people and leaders of the country. This directly led to their legislation requiring the execution of some gay people.
In Schmierer’s future trips to Uganda, he would whip up anti-gay furor with lies linking homosexuality to child abuse, calling for mandatory “conversion therapy” for homosexuals and any other number of falsehoods he could come up with.
Fellowship of Christian Athletes: The FCA is decidedly anti-gay and discriminates against gay people from participating. Their website even goes on about “saving” people from being gay. Danny Burns, the National College Conference of the FCA spoke of people being “freed from homosexuality” at the 2011 annual conference.
Focus on the Family: Founded by James Dobson, FotF has been at the front of most anti-gay movements the US has seen since it’s founding. They have supported and funded “Ex-Gay” organizations for years and one of their co-founders (George Alan Rekers) was actually found bringing a gay sex worker on vacation with him. These same organizations have been one of the primary causes of suicide among young gay people forced to go through this “therapy.” Dobson believes gay people will destroy the earth:
“Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth.”
Dobson additionally equates homosexuality and sex with animals quite clearly in the video here.
Family Research Council: Not sure where to start. Let’s start with a Tony Perkins quote:
“While activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. … It is a homosexual problem.”
— Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, FRC website, 2010
There are literally dozens of other moments where FRC and Focus on the Family link homosexuality and pedophilia with zero reputable evidence.
In 2010, The Congress was considering a public condemnation of Uganda’s “Kill the Gays Bill” which would put gay people on trial with a possible death sentence as punishment for homosexuality. Family Research Council spent $25,000 lobbying Congress to not disapprove of this bill.
FRC and FotF have also fought hard against anti-gay adoption laws, so it can safely be said that they would rather see children spend their whole lives in a foster care system than find a forever home.
I posted the following meme on Facebook today in the hopes of enlightening people to where their money might be going when they pick up their chicken and waffle fries at Chick-fil-A.
Not that I should be, but I was honestly surprised by the anti-gay response on Facebook. People who refused to equate “Christian” organizations with anything anti-gay. The biggest leap of course was to people thinking they were supporting the murder of gay people. It’s a tough thing to think about, but the truth is that homosexuality is still criminalized in 77 countries. And the death penalty is among the possible punishments in at least 7 of those countries.
The Family Research Council is supportive of a new law proposed in Uganda which would also add a death penalty for those suspected of being gay. Chick-fil-A supports the work of the Family Research Council.
Plain and simple, this is where your money is going when you buy something at Chick-fil-A. Of course not every person who works there or owns a franchise is anti-gay. That’s not at all what we are saying. But when you purchase something there, your money goes to the corporation, which then uses that money to invest in bigoted, anti-gay, anti-family organizations.
UPDATE:
Yesterday late afternoon, after the image above had been shared on Facebook more than 9,000 times, I received notice that the image violated their “Rights & Responsibilities” and they censored and yanked it from every person’s profile who’d shared it. I assumed it was because I’d used Chick-fil-A’s logo. Apparently that wasn’t the case because upon recreating the image with a different non-trademarked font, it too was pulled and my account temporarily suspended. A friend at Facebook is currently looking into it.
Chick-fil-A has responded via Facebook message to the calls of boycott with a statement quite similar to one Dan Cathy made back in 2011. And while it’s a nice sentiment, their words and their contributions to virulently anti-gay groups don’t seem to match up.
“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena. Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family. Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
AdvertisementsIt seems as much a part of a trip to the ballpark as eating hotdogs.
But, when you hear the announcer say, "Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and remove your caps for the singing of the national anthem," do you ever wonder why you're standing?
As we discovered, you'll find the answer on an obscure plaque in the city of Tacoma.
An immigrant's tale
The plaque is in downtown Tacoma's historic district, across the street from the Pantages Theater. It honors Rossell G. OBrien, an Irish immigrant who was born in Dublin in 1846, during the Irish potato famine.
John Keane, Honorary Consul of Ireland for the state of Washington, has written about O'Brien. Keane says, like many immigrants, O’Brien seemed intent on showing his patriotism for his new country.
“He ended up, as a 16 year old, joining an Illinois infantry in the U.S. Civil War," Keane said.
By the end of the Civil War, O’Brien had worked his way up to Brigadier General.
In 1870, he moved to what was then Washington Territory. O'Brien didn’t seem to waste any time getting involved. He became clerk of the Supreme Court, mayor of Olympia, and the first commander of the National Guard in Washington Territory.
A veteran's legacy
But it was what he O'Brien did at the Bostwick Hotel in Tacoma on October 18, 1893 that resonates for us today.
At a meeting of the local chapter of a national Civil War Veterans group, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, O’Brien stood up and made a motion. According to Keane, it proposed that,
"People should rise and remove their hats, if they were not in the military, and stand at attention for the playing of the national anthems.”
Before that, apparently, what people did was all over the map. There weren't any rules. Some would take their hats off, others would keep them on.
The motion passed and, within two years, the custom had been adopted nationwide. Eventually, Congress made the tradition part of official United States Code.
In January, 1973, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Resolution honoring Rossell G. O'Brien for "originating the custom of rising and standing with head uncovered during a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner."
Proof you can make a difference
So the next time you stand to hear a singer croon "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave" give a nod to Rossell G. O'Brien, a shining example that one person's actions can make a difference.
"I think it is something wonderful. He did leave his mark on society, would that we could all leave such a mark," said Keane.The Washington Capitals lost a number of critical players due to free agency, the expansion draft, and a salary dump over the offseason. They also have seen several important staff members depart behind the scenes as well, including former Director of Game Entertainment Michael Wurman.
Tuesday afternoon, the Capitals announced that head athletic trainer Greg Smith has retired. Assistant athletic trainer Ben Reisz, a veteran of ten seasons with the Capitals, is also leaving the team to purse other opportunities.
Off the sand and at a show with @breisz A post shared by Greg Smith (@smittycaps) on Aug 22, 2017 at 5:19pm PDT
Smith, affectionately known as Smitty, spent 18 seasons with the Caps, including the entire Ovechkin Era in DC. Smith was invited to the 2017 All-Star Game last season as part of the Metropolitan Division All-Stars.
Let the fun begin pic.twitter.com/rLDHalzqPF — Greg Smith (@Smittycaps) January 28, 2017
Smith announced his departure from the organization several weeks ago in a Twitter profile update: “Former-Head Athletic Trainer- Washington Capitals 1999-2017; Owner-Pivot PT.”
Smith called retiring “a hard decision” and thanked owner Ted Leonsis in a tweet.
Thank you to @TedLeonsis and MSE family for 18 great yrs. It was a hard decision to give up a job I loved. Time to reconnect w/ love ones https://t.co/rjm9qHweuM — Greg Smith (@Smittycaps) September 12, 2017
Per CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Tarik El-Bashir, Smith’s contract actually ended in June, but he stayed on during the summer to help with the transition.
Although Smith's contract expired in June, he stayed around this summer to assist in the transition to Serbus and Co. #Caps — Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikCSN) September 12, 2017
“It’s been a great 18 years behind the bench in Washington, and unfortunately I made the hard decision to reconnect and spend more time with the family,” Smith told CSN. “I haven’t missed one of my kids’ sporting events this summer.”
Receive my 1500 Game award from the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society last night A post shared by Greg Smith (@smittycaps) on Jun 19, 2015 at 5:16pm PDT
Smith owns Pivot Physical Therapy, which has 245 locations in six different states (plus DC).
“Physical therapy is more about the relationship between really great people that care about you and want to make you better,” Smith says in a promotional video on the PPT website. “We want to help people succeed at their goals. Sometimes it’s getting back on the athletic field, sometimes it’s just getting back in the game of life and being able to play with their grandkids or walk the shopping malls.”
Under Smith’s guidance last season, the Capitals were the healthiest team in the league. Smith also helped Alex Ovechkin deal with two painful lower-body injuries during the postseason and keep him on the ice.
“We would like to thank Greg and Ben for their service, commitment and dedication to the Capitals,” Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said in a statement. “On behalf of everyone in our organization, we wish them both all the best in the future.”
JOE LOUIS ARENA, lots of memories, some good, some bad. Getting a few pics with staff together always nice. #nhl #CapsWings #caps pic.twitter.com/3qP96DkwQL — Greg Smith (@Smittycaps) February 18, 2017
Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin tweeted a photo posing with Smith after scoring his 500th goal, saying “u huge part of all we do n we never win without u!!”
@smittycaps n benny wish u good luck…will miss u boys (( u huge part of all we do n we never win without u!! thx for take care of us!!! pic.twitter.com/HNnuSEEwL7 — Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) September 13, 2017
Forward Tom Wilson also posted a thank you to Smith.
Thank you @smittycaps and @breisz for everything you have done. Two of the "behind the scenes" guys, your hard work and commitment to the team day in an day out was second to none. It was an absolute privilege to have you two guys looking after me and the boys over the years and you will be missed. Congratulations on 18 seasons with the Caps Smitty and 10 seasons Benny. See you soon. A post shared by Tom Wilson (@tom_wilso) on Sep 12, 2017 at 1:08pm PDT
“Two of the behind the scenes guys, your hard work and commitment to the team day in an day out was second to none,” Wilson said.
In the release, MacLellan also announced the hiring of former Coyotes trainer Jason Serbus as the team’s new head athletic trainer, while Michael Booi, previously of the Coyotes as well, will be the new assistant athletic trainer. Cleo Bates, formerly of the Dallas Stars, will be the team’s new massage therapist.
More from the Capitals:
The Washington Capitals have named Jason Serbus the team’s head athletic trainer, Michael Booi assistant athletic trainer and Cleo Bates massage therapist, senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today. Serbus replaces Greg Smith, who announced his retirement after 18 seasons with the organization and 24 years in professional hockey as head athletic trainer. Booi replaces Ben Reisz, who left the team after 10 seasons as assistant athletic trainer to pursue other opportunities. Serbus, 42, joins the Capitals after spending the past nine seasons as the head athletic trainer for the Arizona Coyotes, where he oversaw all aspects of the team’s medical operations. He worked as an athletic trainer for the U.S. Men’s National Team for the third time in 2017 at the IIHF World Championships in Germany after being with the Men’s National Team during 2016 IIHF World Championships in Russia, and 2009 in Switzerland. Serbus also has served as the athletic trainer for the USA Hockey U-17 team on four occasions. Prior to joining the Coyotes, Serbus spent three seasons as the assistant athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Lightning where he aided in all medical training and operations. Prior to that, he spent four seasons with the Pensacola Ice Pilots of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). While with Pensacola, Serbus had the honor of being selected as athletic trainer for the Western Conference at the 2004 ECHL All-Star Game. In 2003 he was named “Athletic Trainer of the Year for Professional Sports” by the Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida. A native of Bird Island, Minnesota, Serbus has worked with Eisbaren Berlin, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, the Central Texas Stampede of the Western Professional Hockey League. Serbus, who is a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the Arizona Board of Athletic Training and the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society, earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a Master of Arts degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Northern Colorado. A native of Lake Odessa, Michigan, Booi, joins the Capitals after spending last season as the Coyotes’ assistant athletic trainer. Booi spent the previous five years as the head athletic trainer for the team’s AHL affiliate where he oversaw all player related media duties, including one season with the Springfield Falcons and four with the Portland Pirates. Prior to joining the Coyotes organization, Booi worked for a season as the head athletic trainer for the Greenville Road Warriors of the ECHL and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Booi, also a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, and the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers’ Society, earned his Bachelor of Science degree Kinesiology from Michigan State University and a Master of Science degree in Athletic Training and Rehabilitation from the University of Kentucky. Bates joins the Capitals after working as a massage therapist with the Dallas Stars for nine seasons, including the 2007 NHL All Star Game. A graduate of the Texas Massage Institute and a state-license therapist, Bates has obtained certifications in several active release techniques, which include active palpation. Bates is certified in ELDOA I, II and III, myofascial stretching and corrective exercise and rehabilitation. Bates is currently participating in the Soma Therapy and Soma Training program with Guy Voyer, DO. In 2015, Bates obtained his message therapy instructors license. Additionally, Bates co-coordinated pre and post-season hockey training camps held at the Legacy Performance Center in Dallas over the last five years.
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PinterestVirunga Crisis – Saving Mountain Gorillas in Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo
Welcome to Virunga National Park a World Heritage Site in Central Africa and bordering with two East African countries (Uganda and Rwanda) where you find other Virunga mountains like Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Volcanoes National Park respectively.
Virunga National Park is truly the crown jewel of Africa’s national parks. The park contains over 50% of sub-Saharan Africa’s biodiversity and is home to about 200 of the earth’s last 720 critically endangered mountain gorillas. Virunga is the oldest national park in the Africa. Despite this, the forests and amazing animals of the park, most notably the mountain gorilla, are in a desperate fight for their survival.
Join us to Fight and Save the Mountain Gorillas
Virunga National Park may seem like a world away, but you can help save its last mountain gorillas and other amazing treasures right from where you are sitting. Without the help of people like you, the gentle mountain gorillas of the park will be lost forever, and that time is drawing near. This is your chance to help protect them – right here, right now. Join our team now by supporting some of the environmental conservation awareness that are done by the Virunga Foundation in the park and one of them is the Congo Hounds campaign where the trained breed dogs and rangers are deployed to hunt down the poachers!
The blog news on this site are written by the local tour operators promoting tourism in Virunga National Park, and by others who are active in running programs on the ground in the park. If you have followed the blog for long, you’re probably familiar with many of the key contributors here. And so many international news papers do help in written piece of articles and distributed online to entire world to know what is happening in this oldest park.
Therefore, if you want to get the latest Virunga news about the saving of the Virunga National Park and its mountain gorillas, mount Nyiragongo and other biodiversity species and you want to take part in this great campaign for the good of this park, we welcome you and with any assistance that you contribute the park will maintain it is vicinity resources.
Who We Are
The Virunga Crisis is a privately managed website by an Eco Tour and Travel Company in Africa with wide team of tourism professionals customizing Congo safari tours and at the same time advocating for biodiversity conservation in Virunga National Park and the entire country and other regions of Africa.
Be part of the Virunga Crisis community and our site brings together all the people committed to saving Virunga National Park and its critically endangered mountain gorillas and other fragile biodiversity. Here you find Eco Tour companies offering Congo safari tours in Virunga National Park in line with the protection of flora and fauna. More so several conservation organizations like World Wide Fund, Mountain Gorilla Conservation Programme, Gorilla Doctors among others do support the conservation work and needs of the rangers in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
We are the individuals and the organizations from across the globe who support Virunga National Park and wish to preserve this vast area for the generations to come.
How You Can Join the Team
There are three ways that you can become part of Virunga Crisis and join the fight to protect the park:HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay posted on his Twitter account that he was in Brett Favre's hometown, but the quarterback's agent says he has not heard of any interest from the team.
The Colts owner might have just been taking his Twitter followers for a ride. The team said Monday it was "99.5 percent" sure that Irsay was not in Hattiesburg on Sunday.
The 41-year-old Favre retired in the offseason after a 20-year career and lives in Hattiesburg, but Irsay appears to be sniffing around because Peyton Manning had neck surgery in May and hasn't played in the preseason, casting doubt on his availability for the start of the season. Manning has played in 227 consecutive games.
"Brad, I'm in Hattiesburg... is it right or left at the Firechief?" Irsay tweeted Sunday, presumably referring to former Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress, who traveled to Mississippi last July when he tried to convince Favre to return for the 2010 season.Hundreds of paintings were damaged in an early-morning London fire Wednesday that left a distraught art gallery owner calling 911.
Artisan’s Alley owner David O’Dell awoke to a 4 a.m. call from his security company, telling him a window had been broken at the Richmond Street building where he’s operated his gallery and framing business for more than 30 years.
After rushing to his business and finding it filled with smoke, he called 911.
Hours later, he watched as firefighters removed artworks from the three-storey building at 430 Richmond. “It’s pretty much all been damaged, either by water or by smoke, not by fire though,” he said of his inventory of several hundred pieces.
O’Dell and his wife, who’s in Europe caring for a relative, have operated the gallery since 1984. The couple have a gallery on a portion of the building’s main floor and a workshop on the second floor.
“The fire was mostly on the second and third floor,” said O’Dell, adding the upper floor is vacant.
Fire inspector Ryan Dick said crews were called to the scene at 4:45 a.m., but saw no smoke or flames.
Firefighters entered the building and found a blaze in the back portion of the second floor, he said.
Police closed a stretch of Richmond between Dundas Street and Queens Avenue for several hours.
A damage estimate wasn’t immediately available, and cause of the fire was still under investigation, Dick said.
The building also houses Macro Foods on the main floor. Specializing in ready-made meals, the company said on its website it’s closed for unexpected repairs to its kitchen and won’t fill orders again until April.
Neighbouring businesses pitched in to offer assistance to O’Dell, helping to care for the art after firefighters removed it.
“Everyone’s been very, very good,” he said.
London Music Hall owner Mike Manuel opened up his neighbouring building to temporarily store the art.
“A lot of it is safe, thank God,” Manuel said as he moved paintings.
The yellow-brick building, located on the north side of Richmond, was home to The London Free Press from 1868 until 1931. The newspaper kept several offices there until moving to its current location on York Street.
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twitter.com/DaleatLFPress
A vehicle passes by the building at 432 Richmond St., just to the north of The Free Press building in 1927. For several years it occupied both 430 and 432 Richmond Street. (Ivey Family London Room, London Public Library, London, Ontario, Canada)Canada plans to push the United States to change a “ludicrous” current policy that forbids Canadians who admit to previously using marijuana from entering the U.S.
A spokesman for the Canadian government said on Friday that it has been in discussions with the U.S. government about Canada’s plans to legalize marijuana, Reuters reported. But the spokesman said the travel policy has not yet been addressed.
The policy drew attention when a Canadian man in 2014 was barred from entering the U.S. after he admitted he had smoked marijuana recreationally, Reuters reported.
“We obviously need to intensify our discussions with our border authorities in the United States, including the Department of Homeland Security,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp late on Thursday, according to Reuters.
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“This does seem to be a ludicrous situation,” he said.
This debate comes as Canada moves toward legalizing marijuana and as more states in the U.S. are beginning to legalize marijuana or ease restrictions on its use for medical purposes.
Write to Katie Reilly at [email protected] started before a friend told me that he wanted to date white women and before another friend told me “fuck white people.” It started before two 14-year-old girls on their way to a birthday party were crushed to death on the Yangju Highway, before George Bush put North Korea on the Axis of Evil, and even before either of my parents was born.
The Korean government turned a blind eye to prostitution at American military bases so the soldiers would stop raping civilians and the Korean people boiled leftover hotdogs, spams, and beans from American military bases to create “military soups,” once known as the “Lyndon B. Johnson soup.” MacArthur was hailed as a national hero and phrases like “even shit tastes better American” were thrown around while, halfway around the world, America did its best to continue its worst by beating and killing its own people.
A decade later, people in both countries held hands and sang “All You Need Is Love” with four British boys from Liverpool, but neither really started confronting the growing hatred towards each other or their own people. And I am their child. I am the child of these two nations with unresolved past, with public love and private hate, with open disdain and secret fetish, and with sons and daughters who grow up to lose their parents.
Before I knew any of this, I knew I had two passports while my parents only had one. I had the blue passport that they didn’t have and was told that being born in Queens was a good enough reason for me to have it. I had no memory of the place because our family moved to Korea when I was three. But whenever New York City came on the news, my parents would call out and say “Look, there’s your city!”
They told me and my brother that Abe Lincoln and Neil Armstrong were part of our history. They told us that we belonged to the strongest nation in the world. History books said the same thing. Hollywood movies said the same thing. Olympic Games said the same thing. And when another Korean found out that I had this blue passport, I saw in their faces that they were thinking the same thing.
In 1998, I liked being Korean. I loved being American.
Sometime that year, Aunt June came from California with a giant bag of assorted candies. I had been saving up lollipops in my candy box for months and had only collected five or six. So when Aunt June came with enough candies to fill the box ten times over, the message I received was clear: Fuck saving, here’s three thousand candies – there’s more of these where I’m from.
Although I could never get myself to like the Laffy Taffys or the Lemonheads and ended up throwing most of the candies away, I wanted to go where Aunt June was from. And while I sat on the sofa opening a bag after another, tasting candies, and spitting them out, mom sat across from Aunt June and listened to her stories. She heard about Aunt June’s white engineer husband, her two story house with a peach tree in the back, and her son who had just skipped second grade. Three years later, Aunt June called my mom and asked if she wanted to send me to America. My mom and I were so enchanted by the illusion of America that we agreed in a heartbeat.
In 2001, I moved alone to Aunt June’s house in California and my dad told me over the phone that my new name would be David. And at this time, I was more ready to be David than any other. Aunt June bought me a pair of Jordans that she called “Nike IIs,” jean shorts with side pockets, and a bunch of polo shirts in different colors. She suggested that I slip a book in my side pocket to accentuate the cool, so I grabbed a yellow Nancy Drew book and slid it in my right pocket. And in the morning of my first class in America, I spiked my new “four on the top, two on the sides” hair with lavish amount of L. A. Looks Mega Hold.
Over the weekend, I watched cartoon episodes on Disney so I’d have something to talk about with the kids. But when I met the kids in Mrs. Drippes’s third grade class at Desert Christian, they carried Pokémon lunch boxes and backpacks. They watched Dragon Ball Z. Jackie Chan was still cool enough to have his own cartoon show and his Rush Hour 2 was one of the highest grossing films of that year. Even Jet Li had a number one movie alongside DMX around this time. When I arrived in America, kids and adults were already consuming Asian culture and other twisted, distorted, and untrue forms of Asianness.
So in 2001, I let others fetishize my Asianness, because I was desperate to become American.
Along with the rest of the boys, I just watched Dragon Ball Z in which the Asian martial arts gods fought aliens by turning supersaiyen. When a character goes supersaiyen, his skin become pale, brown eyes become blue, black hair turns blond, and the strength increases fiftyfold. I watched and enjoyed Asian characters transforming into white gods without being hurt, because that hierarchy made sense. And it made sense to Asian American kids across America, to the Asian kids in Asia, and to the Asian animators who created this visual endorsement of white supremacy. And after all, that’s what many of our parents wanted for us—to become white, become powerful, and become what they couldn’t be.
These were brave parents who packed their bags and moved their families to America or sent their children to live with friends, relatives, and strangers. But these were also scared parents who renamed their kids as Davids, Daniels, Jessicas, and Amys. They gave up on keeping their family together by sending their children to host families, or they left their careers to become storekeepers; dry cleaners; nail salon, massage parlor, and donut shop owners; cooks;, and domestic workers so that their children would have the choices and paychecks that they could never have. They wanted their kids to be able to permeate the white spaces and escape their horizon of Koreatowns, Chinatowns, and ethnic churches.
“If you're not white, you're missing out because this shit is thoroughly good. I'm not saying white people are better, but I'm saying that being white is clearly better. Who could even argue?” Louis C. K. says in “Chewed Up.”
And this is exactly what our parents thought. So when they saw that their children could perform as white, they encouraged it without teaching us or telling us to love our Asian side. And as the line between performing as white and being white blurred, so did the line between thinking white people are
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Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISISenator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other Senate Republicans appear during a news conference on Capitol Hill. AP Images WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican control of the House and Senate seems tantalizingly close, so leading Republicans are turning to a matter often overlooked in campaigns: how to actually govern.
They say it will be crucial to show the GOP can legislate, lead and solve problems after years of lobbing political grenades at President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats.
If they add Senate control to their House dominance, Republicans say they will pass some bills that Obama is sure to veto, as they try to highlight their ideological differences with Democrats. But they also will push for changes in taxes, trade, regulations and other policies that both parties might accept.
"We have to prove in two years the Republican Congress can govern," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Republicans know their new majority might last only two years — assuming, that is, they first obtain it this fall by picking up at least six net seats, as many predict they will. The 2016 Senate election map is far more favorable to Democrats. The contest to replace the term-limited president will add further distractions and uncertainty.
In interviews, GOP senators talked at times of an ambitious conservative push for fewer regulations, lower taxes and other long-held priorities. But they also outlined more pragmatic, modest agendas that might avoid Obama's veto and the filibuster powers Senate Democrats will hold even if they're consigned to the minority.There was virtually no talk of balancing the budget, repealing Obama's health care law or achieving similar GOP campaign pledges that prove politically impossible in Washington. These senators noted that even small achievements will require levels of bipartisanship rarely seen these days.
"It's very possible to get a number of things done if the president is willing to come to the table, and I believe he will," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
Portman, a former White House budget director and U.S. trade representative, said goals should include lowering the 35 percent corporate tax rate, enhancing the president's ability to make trade agreements, approving the Keystone XL pipeline and passing what he called responsible budget bills.
Significant numbers of Democrats and Republicans have shown interest in all these ideas, he said, and "we should focus on where we can find common ground."
Yet these proposals, not to mention more ambitious ones, face strong pockets of resistance, mainly but not entirely from the political left.
Many environmentalists strongly oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Canada to Texas. Obama has blocked it, but several congressional Democrats support it.
As for lowering the corporate tax rate, the parties repeatedly have failed to resolve several issues, including where to set the new rate, how to tax U.S. companies' overseas profits and which tax loopholes to close in exchange for a lower rate.
Prominent members of both parties say a GOP-controlled Congress could open the way to major trade deals with China, Japan and Europe. Obama has requested the power to negotiate trade agreements that Congress can approve or reject, but not cripple with amendments.
But some labor unions and Democrats oppose enhanced negotiating clout for the White House.
Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee hopes a GOP-run Senate would end the stalemate over trade and several other issues. "Congress would be speaking with one voice," he said, and Republicans "would have to be in a governing mode."
Corker hopes a Republican Congress could persuade Obama to loosen regulations and promote energy projects including the Keystone pipeline. But he said he worries that environmentalists, labor unions and other Democratic-leaning groups still hold too much sway.
"I've found him to be so afraid of his base," Corker said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says leaders of both parties must be willing to defy key supporters, and even risk their political careers, to end government gridlock.
With his re-election virtually assured, Graham has told business leaders he wants Congress to improve roads and bridges and to shore up entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, among other things. That will require ending some tax breaks and finding new sources of revenue, which is anathema to many Republicans, he said.
"I'm willing as a Republican to violate some of the pledges we've all made" against tax increases, Graham said.
Such boldness is rare in Washington. That truth is repeatedly proven when talk turns to the president's health law.
Nearly every Republican in Congress has pledged to repeal the law, and a GOP-run Senate would likely join the House in passing bills to do that. Obama would veto them, a point that would seem self-evident.
Yet no less a politician than Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky ran afoul of conservative activists when he told Fox News that Obama obviously "is not going to sign a full repeal." McConnell said, however, that Congress may try to peel off specific pieces, such as the tax on medical devices.
Conservatives' howls forced McConnell's re-election campaign to issue a statement saying he "is and has always been committed to the full repeal of Obamacare, and he'll continue to lead efforts to repeal and replace it."
Such statements extend the endless quarrels over the health law, suggesting how hard it will be for the next Congress — with or without a Republican-controlled Senate — to solve the nation's big problems.Abstract People are typically overly optimistic when evaluating the quality of their performance on social and intellectual tasks. In particular, poor performers grossly overestimate their performances because their incompetence deprives them of the skills needed to recognize their deficits. Five studies demonstrated that poor performers lack insight into their shortcomings even in real world settings and when given incentives to be accurate. An additional meta-analysis showed that it was lack of insight into their own errors (and not mistaken assessments of their peers) that led to overly optimistic estimates among poor performers. Along the way, these studies ruled out recent alternative accounts that have been proposed to explain why poor performers hold such positive impressions of their performance.
Goals of the Present Research The primary aim of this manuscript is to advance an understanding of why the incompetent, in particular, tend to lack self-insight. Although a growing body of evidence has provided support for the claim that incompetence hinders self-insight (e.g., Dunning et al., 2003; Haun et al., 2000; Hodges et al., 2001), this analysis has been subject to criticism. These critiques argue that the self-assessment errors observed by Kruger and Dunning can be largely reduced to statistical or methodological artifacts rather than to an absence of metacognitive competence among poor performers. Through the present research, we sought to examine whether Kruger and Dunning’s (1999) analysis or these competing alternatives better explains overestimation among the bottom performers and underestimation among top performers.
Metacognitive Error or Statistical Artifact? Two alternative accounts have been published to explain the pattern of over- and underestimation of performance observed by Kruger and Dunning (1999). Central to these critiques is the notion that top and bottom performers actually do not differ in their ability to evaluate the quality of their own performances. Instead, it is argued, people of all skill levels have equal difficulty estimating the quality of their performance — and it is this shared difficulty, coupled with statistical or methodological artifacts, that account for the observed patterns of over- and underestimation. Regression to the mean account In one critique, Krueger and Mueller (2002; see also Ackerman, Beier, & Bowen, 2002; Krueger & Funder, 2004) proposed that the patterns of over- and underestimation found by Kruger and Dunning (1999) were not evidence of a relationship between skill level and metacognitive skill. Instead, they argued, the pattern was produced by regression to the mean coupled with the fact that people tend overall to rate themselves as above average (Alicke, 1985; Brown 1986; Krueger, 1998). Because perceptions of performance correlate imperfectly with actual performance, it was nearly inevitable that the self-assessments of bottom performers would regress back to toward an average self-assessment, thus ensuring that their estimates would be higher than the performance they achieved. Similarly, the performance estimates made by top performers would regress back toward the average, ensuring that their true performance would be higher than their corresponding estimates. According to Krueger and Mueller (2002) this regression to the mean phenomenon arises, in part, because measures used to assess the skill level of participants are statistically unreliable and, thus, fraught with measurement error. This unreliability would ensure a smaller correlation between perceptions and the reality of performance, leading to more regression to the mean and greater levels of over- and underestimation. If one measured and then corrected for that lack of reliability, they argued, a good deal of over- and underestimation would evaporate. In two datasets, Krueger and Mueller did just that — demonstrating that a good deal of the overestimation among bottom performers and underestimation among top performers in their datasets evaporated after unreliability, and thus the impact of measurement error, were corrected (for a reply, see Kruger & Dunning, 2002). Task difficulty account Burson, Larrick, and Klayman (2006) provided a similar account for Kruger and Dunning’s interpretation of over and underestimation, this focused on comparative performance estimates in which people assessed how well they performed relative to their peers. They agreed with Krueger and Mueller (2002) that comparative judgments of one’ performance are difficult for everyone to provide and that bottom and top performers do not differ in their ability to evaluate their performance. Their argument, drawing upon Kruger (1999), noted that above average effect frequently occurs for tasks that people perceive to be easy but that tasks perceived to be difficult can produce below average effects. When faced with great difficulty in completing a task, individuals believe that they are performing poorly and, failing to properly account for the degree to which others also experience this difficulty, assess their relative performance as worse than average. Burson and colleagues argued that, if everyone produces similar estimates (estimates that are high for tasks perceived to be easy but low for tasks perceived to be difficult) what dictates accuracy is less a matter of greater insight on the part of some participants and more a matter of perceived difficulty. When a test seems easy, everyone will believe they have performed well relative to their peers but only top performers will be accurate, leaving bottom performers overconfident. When the test is construed to be hard, however, everyone will think they have done poorly relative to the peers and bottom performers will be more accurate than their more competent peers. In short, whether top or bottom performers are most inaccurate is an artifact of the perceived difficulty of the task. Indeed, Burson and colleagues (2006) presented participants with tasks perceived to be difficult in three studies and found support for their assertions. Participants estimated how well they had performed on tasks (e.g., trivia and the “word prospector” tasks) that were designed to appear either particularly easy or difficult. Across these studies, Burson and colleagues found that estimates of performance did not correlate well with actual performance but correlated highly with difficulty condition. After completing an easy task, participants of all skill levels estimated that they had performed well relative to their peers, such that top performers looked relatively accurate and bottom performers were grossly overconfident. However, after completing a difficult task, participants of all skill levels estimated that they had performed quite poorly relative to their peers, making poor performers look quite accurate and top performers vastly underconfident. Although Burson and colleagues largely focused this critique on comparative and not absolute estimates of performance, they took their results as evidence that the Kruger and Dunning (1999) pattern of over- and underestimation of relative performance was simply a function of using seemingly easy tasks and, as such, did not provide evidence of a relationship between skill level and accuracy in self-assessments.
The Present Investigations The following studies were designed to address the above critiques and, more generally, provide a better understanding of the relationship between level of skill and accuracy in self-assessment. We have organized the studies described in this manuscript in three sections, each with a separate aim. Section 1 Section 1 was designed to directly address the claims that apparent over and underestimation among bottom and top performers can be reduced to statistical and methodological artifacts. We did this in several ways. To address the claims made by Krueger and Mueller (2002), we explored the accuracy of self-assessments after correcting for lack of statistical reliability in our datasets. Once correcting for unreliability, would we still see dramatic overestimation on the part of poor performers and underestimation among top performers (as predicted by Kruger and Dunning, 1999) or would this pattern of misestimation largely vanish (as predicted by Kreuger & Mueller, 2002)? Second, given the Burson et al. (2006) critique, we thought it critical to explore self-assessment squarely in the real world, with tasks of ecological validity that participants approached with an ecologically representative range of competencies. Burson et al. explicitly chose tasks that would appear to be difficult or easy for their participants. As such, they showed what could happen at the extremes of human performance. In addition, they also chose tasks that participants were likely not to have much experience or familiarity with, such as trivia questions or a word game, which meant that participants faced a notable degree of uncertainty about how they or their peers would perform. Those choices left open the question of what patterns of assessments people would make if they dealt with a type of task they were very likely to face in real life—with which they had some familiarity about how they and their peers would performed. A quick look at overall performance levels attained by participants in Kruger and Dunning (1999) suggests that the patterns of over and under-confidence would look quite different from what Burson et al. proposed. According to Burson et al. (2006), poor performers will grossly overestimate their performance on only tasks that are perceived to be easy. The tasks used in Kruger and Dunning, however, look anything but easy. The average performance participants attained ranged from 66.4% correct (Study 3) to 49.1% correct (Study 4). Bottom performers answered between 48.2% (Study 3) and 3.2% (Study 4) questions correctly in these studies. Yet, even facing these difficult tasks, poor performing participants still grossly overestimated their performance relative to their peers. Thus, in Part 1, we looked at real world cases in which people approached (often challenging) tasks that they would encounter anyway in their everyday lives, rather than ones managed by experimenters to seem either easy or difficult. In these ecologically valid circumstances, would we tend to find the pattern of self-assessments observed by Kruger and Dunning (1999) or would the pattern look different? We took this direction because we thought it would be critical to explore error in self-assessment on ecologically representative and familiar tasks in real-world settings. In particular, we asked undergraduate students to estimate how well they had performed on course exams and asked members of college debate teams to evaluate their tournament performance. These tasks were chosen because they were ones that individuals approached out of their own volition (as opposed to having the task imposed by an experimenter), they were devised by naturally-occurring agents (e.g., a course instructor) rather than by experimenters, and participants had reasonable amount of prior experience and feedback on the tasks. In addition, Burson et al (2006) inspired us to explore a wider range of self-assessment measures. Their argument about task difficulty rested largely on the use of comparative measures in which people evaluated their performance relative to their peers. They argued that people would underestimate themselves on difficult tasks and overestimate themselves on easy tasks because of the inherent difficulty of knowing how their peers had done, regardless of the skill level exhibited by the person making the evaluation. But what about estimates that do not involve comparisons with peers? Burson et al. are largely silent on this, but Kruger and Dunning (1999) are not: Peer performers should still grossly overestimate their performance regardless of the type of measure used. Thus, in the following studies, we took care to ask participants to judge their performance on “absolute” evaluations — measures that required no comparison to another person (e.g., how many test questions did they answer correctly) — in addition to comparative judgments. We predicted that poor performers would overestimate their performance on absolute as well as relative measures, with top performers being largely accurate in their assessments. Section 2 In Section 2, we examined a third plausible alternative explanation of the pattern of over- and underestimation observed by Kruger and Dunning (1999). One could argue that a goal to preserve a positive, if not accurate, view of the self may be particularly strong among those who have performed poorly precisely because these are the individuals who might suffer the most from admitting the reality of their poor performance. Those who score very well, in contrast, would have considerably less motivation to glorify the quality of their performance. Indeed, they may be motivated instead to be overly modest about their achievement. If this is the case, what appears to be an inability to assess the quality of one’s performance on the part of the unskilled might actually be an unwillingness to do so accurately, in that the unskilled prefer to report a rosy view of their performance. Under this analysis, those who are unskilled can and will recognize how poorly they have performed if properly motivated. Thus, in the three studies comprising the second section, we offered incentives to encourage participants to provide accurate self-assessments. If the unskilled are truly unable to evaluate the quality of their performances, their performance estimates should remain inflated even in the face of strong incentives to be accurate. Section 3 The first two sections of this paper speak primarily to factors that do not influence performance estimates, while simply referring back to previous literature to clarify what does influence estimates. This focus stems directly from the alternative explanations provided in critiques of Kruger and Dunning (1999). In Section 3, however, we provide a meta-analysis of existing data to look directly at the specific errors leading to overestimation of comparative performance among poor performers and underestimation by top performers. According to Kruger and Dunning (1999), poor performers overestimate their abilities because they do not have the metacognitive skill to know that they themselves are doing poorly. The major problem is one of self-estimation, not estimation of peers. Misestimates of their peers’ performance may contribute to their bias, but it is not the primary mechanism that leads to their overestimation. Top performers, on the other hand, may underestimate how well they are doing relative to their peers because they overestimate how well their peers are doing. That is, mistaken assessments of peers become a more substantive portion of why top performers fail to recognize the rarity of their competence. Our analysis in Section 3 directly explored the influence of these differing sources of error on self-assessments made by top and bottom performers. In doing so, it served as a response to both the Krueger and Mueller (2002) and Burson et al. (2006) who attributed errors in performance evaluation to methodological or statistical artifacts—to overall bias in self-estimates (e.g., were people largely over- or underestimating their performance relative to their peers) as well as measurement error in the assessment of skill. If we could tie patterns of over- and underestimation more closely to the types of specific errors predicted by Kruger and Dunning (1999), we would then provide evidence in support of (or against) their account.
Section 1: Correcting for Reliability in Self-Assessments for Real World Tasks All too often, social psychological research remains in the laboratory and we are left to infer that the same phenomenon routinely occur in the real world. For this reason, the discipline is often open to the criticism that what we find is limited to particular contrived laboratory situations or to particular demographics (e.g., Mintz, Redd, & Vedlitz, 2006; Sears, 1986) Thus, those few opportunities to measure social psychological phenomenon in the real world are particularly valuable. Real world demonstrations are particularly important in this case because critiques of Kruger and Dunning (1999) have centered on whether their findings are limited to particular types of tasks (e.g., easy tasks or tasks with unreliable measures; Burson et al., 2006; Krueger & Mueller, 2002). Thus, in this section, we examined the accuracy of self-assessment among top and bottom performers on real world tasks. We were concerned not just with the generality of our phenomenon across tasks but also across measures. Thus, throughout this paper, we broadened the types of self-assessment measures examined to include absolute measures of performance as well as comparative ones. We, like Kruger and Dunning (1999), asked participants to rate the quality of their performance relative to their peers. However, in addition to this comparative estimate, we asked participants to provide absolute estimates of their performance, such as the number of exam questions answered correctly (Studies 1, 3, 4, and 5), the number of debate matches won, and how a judge had rated their debate performance (Study 2). Would poor performers dramatically overestimate their performance on absolute as well as relative self-assessments? In addition, the studies in Section 1 allowed for a more ecologically valid test of the regression-to-the-mean critique made by Krueger and Mueller (2002). According to that critique, once error in the measurement of perceived and actual performance is accounted for, bottom performers should not overestimate their abilities any more than do other individuals. Thus, in both studies, we measured and corrected for any unreliability in our tests. This correction should make estimates of performance more accurate—but by how much? If error in self-assessments stems from a psychological rather than a statistical source, the original pattern of over- and underestimation should remain largely intact. Study 1 In Study 1, college students assessed their performance on a challenging in-class exam immediately after completing it. They judged how well they had done relative to other students in the class and also estimated their raw score — the number of questions answered correctly. We predicted that bottom performers would overestimate their performance regardless of type of measure used. Top performers would underestimate their performance relative to their peers, but would show much less, if any, underestimation on the raw score measure. Study 1 replicates a study in Dunning et al. (2003), showing that students doing badly on a course exam tended to grossly overestimate their performance whether relative (e.g., percentile) or absolute (e.g., raw score) measures were used. This study also adds one important extension. Using students’ performances on a second course exam, we could calculate the test-retest reliability of students’ performance in the class. This reliability estimate could be used to correct for measurement error. Then, we could see the extent to which the original pattern of results evaporated once controlling for measurement error in this ecologically valid setting. We predicted that much of the original pattern would remain strong even after correcting for measurement error. Method Participants Participants were 124 out of 238 students enrolled in an intermediate-level large-lecture psychology course psychology course. Students received extra credit toward their course grade for participating. Procedure Participants responded to a short questionnaire attached to the end of their first preliminary examination in the course. Participants were asked to provide a percentile rating of their mastery of course material, as well as their specific performance on the course examination. Ratings could range from 1 (the student believed they would have the lowest score out of every hundred students) to 99 (the student would have the best score out of every hundred students. Participants also estimated their raw exam score (out of 40 possible), as well as the average score students in the class would attain. The exam consisted of 22 multiple-choice questions and 3 essays worth six points each. Participants completed the questionnaire and handed it in before leaving the exam session. On the questionnaire, participants also gave permission for the researchers to later obtain their score on the test. Five weeks later, during the second preliminary exam session in the course, we followed the identical procedure to collect participants’ perceptions of their exam performance, as well as the reality of performance. Results and Discussion Although the difficulty of this real life course exam was, of course, not manipulated for experimental purposes, we think it important to note that it was, in fact, a challenging exam. On average, students answered 71.2% of questions correctly, with bottom performers failing the exam (55.5% correct) and top performers earning, on average, a B+ (87% correct). Despite the difficulty of this exam, as predicted, participants overestimated their performance and their ability level (relative to their performance). Participants thought that their mastery of the course material lay in the 71st percentile, when their performance actually placed them in the 49th, t(120) = 8.74, p <.0001. Similarly, participants thought that their test performance placed them in the 68th percentile—again, an overestimate, t(120) = 8.12, p <.0001. Not surprisingly, participants also tended to overestimate their raw score on the test by roughly 3.5 points (estimated score = 32.0; actual score = 28.5), t(120) = 7.88, p <.0001. Students who completed the survey did not differ significantly in terms of average performance or variance from students who opted not to complete the survey. We expected that the degree to which participants provided overconfident estimates would depend upon their actual level of performance. To determine whether this was the case in this and all subsequent studies in this paper, we followed the practice outlined in Kruger and Dunning (1999) and split our participants into four groups based on their objective performance. shows both the actual performance achieved by students in each performance quartile and also students’ perceptions of both their raw score and percentile performance. As displayed by the difference between perceived and actual performance in, those performing in the bottom 25% of the class (n = 33) dramatically overestimated their performance. They thought their mastery of course material lay in the 63rd percentile and their test performance at the 61st, even though their objective performance placed them in the 15th percentile, ts > 17, p <.0001. Additionally, they thought, on average, that they had posted a raw score of 30.4 on the test, when in fact their average score hovered around 22.2, t(32) = 11.28, p <.0001. Open in a separate window Top performers—students in the top 25% (n = 27)—estimated their performance much more accurately, albeit not perfectly. First, they underestimated the distinctiveness of their mastery and performance relative to their peers. They thought that their mastery of course material lay in roughly the 74th percentile and their test performance in the 73rd, when in fact it lay in the 87th, ts > 4.5, ps <.0001. They also slightly underestimated their raw score, thinking on average that they scored 32.9 points on the test when they in reality had scored 34.8, t(26) = −2.83, p <.01. shows the difference between students’ estimates of their scores (both the raw score and percentile) and the score they actually achieved, split by level of performance. Table 1 Performance Percentile Estimates Group Bottom 25% Middle 50% Top 25% Study Perceived Actual Difference Perceived Actual Difference Perceived Actual Difference Study 1 61.2% 14.9% 46.3%*** 69.4% 49.8% 19.6%*** 73.3% 87.0% −13.7%*** Study 3 64.0% 11.4% 52.6%** 1.6% 45.4% 6.2% 61.5% 86.9% −25.4%* Study 4 58.8% 14.0% 44.8%*** 67.3% 56.1% 11.2%** 68.6% 92.1% −23.5** Study 5 64.4% 17.1% 47.3%*** 73.3% 56.0% 17.3%*** 71.4% 89.4% −18.0%* Overall 62.1% 14.4% 47.8% 65.4% 51.8% 13.6% 68.7% 88.9% −20.2% Raw Score Estimates (as a Percentage of Total Possible) Group Bottom 25% Middle 50% Top 25% Study Perceived Actual Difference Perceived Actual Difference Perceived Actual Difference Study 1 76.0% 55.3% 20.7%*** 76.0% 55.3% 20.1%*** 82.3% 87.0% −4.7%* Study 3 37.5% 7% 30.5%** 78.2% 56.4% 30.5% 73.3% 83.7% −10.4%* Study 4 60.0% 41.3% 18.7%*** 64.7% 60.6% 18.7% 71.7% 74.4% −2.7% Study 5 66.4% 50.0% 16.4%* 71.6% 74.4% 16.4% 75.0% 91.3% −16.3** Overall 60.0% 38.4% 21.6% 72.6% 61.7% 21.4% 75.6% 84.1% −8.5% Open in a separate window Correcting for Measurement Error How much of this over- and underestimation was due to lack of reliability, and thus measurement error? To estimate this, we used participants’ scores on the second preliminary examination to provide an estimate of test-retest reliability. In terms of percentile rankings, the ranks participants achieved on this first exam correlated.52 with the ranks they obtained on the second exam. In terms of raw score, performance on the first exam correlated.50 with performance on the second. Using these reliability estimates, we then recalculated what the regression slope would be if we assumed perfect reliability. The classic formula (Bollen, 1989) for that calculation is: B corrected = B observed /reliability estimate This typically results in a steeper regression slope than that originally observed. Correcting for the reliability associated with the dependent measure (in this case, participants’ performance estimates) does not alter this relationship or enter into the correction of the regression slope (Bollen, 1989). This altered regression slope correction, however, also calls for a revision of the intercept associated with the relevant regression equation. Because any regression slope must pass through the point representing the mean of both the independent and dependent variables (i.e., objective performance, estimated performance, respectively), the corrected intercept can be calculated as: intercept corrected = average performance estimate − B corrected × average objective performance depicts the results of an analysis in which perceived performance (including, separately, perceived mastery of course material, percentile score and raw score) is regressed on objective performance. It also depicts what the regression analysis looks like after assuming perfect reliability. As seen in the figure, across three different measures of perceived performance, the relationship between perceived and actual performance was stronger once unreliability was corrected for, but this strengthening was minimal. For example, in terms of test performance relative to other students, participants in the bottom quartile typically overestimated their percentile rank by 49 percentile points. After correcting for unreliability, their overestimates are reduced by only roughly 5 points. In terms of raw score, bottom performers overestimated their score by 8.4 points before correction; 7.2 points after. However, as also shows, a good portion of the misestimates among top performers were eliminated when we corrected for unreliability. For example, concerning estimates of
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"It was rare that we had the No. 1 pick. It was something we did not want to do again."
Boras
"That was the uniqueness of it: The Yankees had the No. 1 pick. That is what I kept saying to Mrs. Taylor. I said, 'This may never happen again.' "
Michael
"Normally, as a GM, you don't usually go see a player like that yourself, even if you have the No. 1 pick. You have minor league people who usually take care of that stuff. But the minor league people asked me to go ahead and see him because Scott Boras had become what really, in essence, was his agent. I saw him pitch his last two games in high school."
Boras
"The one thing I knew, there was no one else in the draft that was close to this young man's ability. That was clear-cut. I had watched all the players.
"Mike Kelly was at Arizona State. I watched him play. It was not even close if you were going to go out and pick the best player in the draft, Brien Taylor was so far above anyone else."
Michael
"He was hands-down the No. 1 prospect in the country. It was a no-brainer. I saw a couple of them on video. From what people told me, what I knew and what I could see, it was a no-brainer, we didn't have any doubts about it. We were going to pick him No. 1."
John Schuerholz, Braves GM in 1991 (Atlanta had the No. 2 pick)
"Even back in those Stone Age days, we had some film of kids and I saw him. I think he was rated just as he should have been in that draft class. We were focused on assuming that they wouldn't pass on Taylor and preparing ourselves to take the guy we liked next, which was Mike Kelly. We were happy with that pick. We thought he was a real strong athletic guy, who could run, could throw, could do everything."
'GEORGE BEING GEORGE'
Michael
"George Steinbrenner was out of baseball at that time, but he made a statement that went public that if we didn't sign Taylor, 'Someone should be shot.' The someone was me."
Vincent
"That was George being George. George was not permitted to have anything to do with running the team. I would certainly say that was close to being out of bounds."
Cashman
George Steinbrenner, ousted from the game at the time of Taylor's signing, made it clear he wanted Taylor -- and left it to Gene Michael (left) to get it done. AP Photo/Ron Frehm
"It didn't help the negotiations when from the outside George stated publicly that we better sign the kid. That obviously gave leverage for Boras."
Boras
"I also knew that Brien had a reading disability so we had to create an option for him, which was junior college, so he would have a place to pitch if in fact he couldn't receive the appropriate bonus."
Michael
"I didn't believe Brien Taylor was going to go to college. I thought he wanted to sign professionally. I think our organization became a little frightened. I wasn't worried about what George had said."
Boras
"I just had gotten Ben McDonald, a college pitcher, the first multiyear, major league contract for a drafted player in 1989. In 1990 the big deal was for Todd Van Poppel, a high school pitcher. That was most relevant for Brien. Van Poppel got a three-year major league contract with Oakland.
"The one thing I was confident about is that Gene Michael is a tremendous evaluator. He really, really knows the game. Gene Michael was not letting this player go anywhere, as long as we were not unreasonable.
"The issue was that Todd Van Poppel got $1.25 million and a major league contract, and we put an evaluation on what the value would be without a major league contract at $1.5 million. The talent level of the player was something that was above Todd Van Poppel."
Michael
"That was a mistake. No high school kid should get a major league contract because the chances are they are not going to be ready. There aren't many Bryce Harpers coming out, being ready on a major league contract. Bryce Harper was ready right away. That's a freak thing."
Boras
"Because we were involved early, we went to his teachers in high school and we then talked to his school counselor. We then talked to teachers at Louisburg Junior College in North Carolina. We really wanted to set forth a plan where Brien was going to be able to execute a college education, knowing under the rules that junior college players can be drafted every year. So we assumed that if the deal didn't get done with the Yankees, it certainly would have gotten done the next year. The minute he attended class, the Yankees would have lost their rights to sign him."
Michael
"We felt we were going to pay him around $750,000."
Boras
"There was definitely an approach on the part of the team, as you would expect toward a family that is literally barely making ends meet, at the minimum for any sum of money that they thought would persuade them.
"But Mrs. Taylor was very astute. I think I spent an hour and a half a day with her for 100 consecutive days. The preparation, the documents, the markets. I said, 'These people are going to come and they are not going to believe you. You are a lady who doesn't have a high school education.'
Taylor never made the majors, but before his injury, he struck out 337 hitters in 324 1/3 innings in Class A and Double-A ball in 1992 and 1993. Dave Schofield
"I explained how it is going to be perceived. 'They are going to view you as an indigent family that lives in a trailer that any amount of money is going to feel like you won the lottery. Our job is not to look at the money. Our job is to look at the value in the marketplace at the time for Brien's skills.'
"She said, 'Are you saying they are going to try to pay us on the basis of our circumstances rather than Brien's talents?' I said, 'Absolutely.' "
Cashman
"I remember Scott holding him out until he got what he wanted, and he got what he wanted. I remember it being very difficult conversations. We were trying to deal with the family to make sure they were educated. Scott looked at it as a unique talent, which he was, and put a unique price on it."
Boras
"The Yankees may have brought Betty a suitcase of money. I can't remember. That was an old tactic that scouts used to use where they would actually bring cash to the house. Betty stuck to the script: 'We want his value.'
"When the deal went down, I was with Betty at their home. His dad, I believe, had taken Brien to school at Louisburg College. We had instructed Brien. We were waiting for the contract. Betty had given the Yankees the number, the $1.5 million.
"Back then, the deadline was ours. When we attended class was when the Yankees' rights ended. Now, the deadline is a prescribed date, Aug. 15th. I looked at the draft rules at the time. It was really up to the athlete if he went to class or not. He could have told the team if he were going to class or not, and not go. Then, he would receive their top offer and evaluate it. Or he could go to class. The team had no way of knowing.
"Betty told the team he was going to class. I believe it was a 10 a.m. class. He was at the school. I know that one of his classes was history because there was concern with his reading disability and one of his counselors thought that would be a good subject. The college was great. They did a very thorough job of testing him and evaluating him. They had no problem.
"The Yankees offered $700,000 and said that was their final offer, and then they came up to $1.55 million."
Michael
"When we did sign him, we were in the Yankee Club at the old Yankee Stadium and Tony Kubek went up to Scott Boras afterward and said: 'Scott, how much did you think that statement that George made, how much money did you think that made for you?' Tony told me that Scott said, 'About $750,000.' That was the other half of the double. We paid him $1.55 million.
"I was only permitted to talk to George at the partner meetings. He made a statement once we signed Taylor. George said, 'I don't want you guys going around spending my money like that.'
"I said, 'What are you talking about? If it were you, you would have given him more money.'"
Cashman
"The Boss took both sides. He basically said we better sign this guy. Then he ripped Stick at an owners' meeting for signing the guy. It was vintage Boss. He was never wrong."
A CULT FOLLOWING
Michael
"He went out that first year in the Florida State League and was pretty dominant for an 18-year-old kid who didn't really play real good high school baseball. He was very dominant. The average time of his fastball for the whole year was 95 miles per hour. The minor league people told me. No one else could do that."That summer, Oliver asked Mom and Dad to use female pronouns for her. She started going by Olivia and dressing as she wanted. By fall she was a transformed kid. Joyful, confident, and social, she ran, played, and made friends (including my daughter). Now in second grade at another school in another state, she continues to blossom and grow, living comfortably outside the lines of what most of us consider "gender norms."
Three-year-old Oliver was relatively withdrawn for a preschooler, especially one in a rich, play-based preschool. Hesitant to let go of Dad or engage deeply with other students, Oliver seemed out of place all year long. We worried about detachment, disengagement, and most importantly, Oliver's well being.
Her success is in big part due to a dedicated and supportive family who listened to her. Another part is the schools that embraced her and created a safe place for her to be herself.
Today's Big Picture
Educators everywhere are dedicated to ensuring that each student feels safe, healthy, and welcomed in classrooms and schools. Increased awareness over the last decade has transformed how many schools and districts address bullying and harassment, in both digital and brick-and-mortar domains.
Less understood or examined however, is how districts, schools, and educators work to cultivate schools as safe places for students (and adults) who do not conform to our "heteronormative" bias. In her book, From the Dress-Up Corner to the Senior Prom: Navigating Gender and Sexuality Diversity in PreK-12 Schools, author Jennifer Bryan, PhD, defines heteronormativity as:
The binary view of gender and sexuality that assumes and privileges heterosexuality in individuals, couple and families, and supports traditional masculine and feminine gender roles and expression. It is the cultural and social "management" of gender and sexuality and is promoted and maintained by individuals and institutions.
In reading her book, I began to wonder:
How do students who do not conform to "the binary view of gender and sexuality" experience school?
As a heterosexual, married, male administrator, what messages have I (inadvertently) sent?
Have I created a safe place for such students and colleagues?
How do I know?
6 Powerful Ways to Help Transform School Climate
It was with these questions in mind that I found the section in Bryan's book on "The Role of Not-GLBTQI (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex) Educators" to be of particular interest. Adapted from this section, here are six things that "Not-GLBTQI" educators can do to increase safety, understanding, and acceptance for all students (and adults) in schools.
1. "Model conscious support of nonheteronormative" individuals.
As "straight" adults, we can demonstrate acceptance of gender and sexuality diversity in many ways. For example, how we respond to students who use terms such as "gay" in a derogatory fashion speaks volumes about who and what we value, and sends the critical message that all are accepted in our classrooms and schools. Equally important is challenging gendered labels such as "sissy" or "tomboy." What do those words really mean? How are kids using them? If a boy is told he throws "like a girl," we need to recognize not just the meanness of this comment but the frank sexism behind it.
2. Do not assume that all students are heterosexual or that a student's biological sex tells you all you need to know about their gender identity.
Students who are wrestling with their gender identity and sexual orientation do not always feel comfortable sharing their struggle openly. Better for us to assume that there are students who need our understanding and support, even when they don't express it overtly. Consider a garden bed full of volunteers. Even though you might not know what flowers will bloom, you mind the soil for them all, regardless of how they might later express themselves.
3. Create opportunities for all students to "see themselves in what they are studying, reading, presenting and researching."
Find and utilize resources that challenge a binary view of gender and sexuality diversity. Include books that have two moms or two dads. Include books that have gender-creative children. Study historical figures who were LGBTQ. In discussions, challenge students to expand how they talk, and encourage them to utilize language (that you yourself are modeling) demonstrating awareness of different ways of being.
4. Support colleagues who are nonheteronormative.
Nonheteronormative educators can be in a challenging predicament when addressing gender and sexuality bias with students and adults. They need the advocacy of their peers and colleagues to establish and sustain a trusting culture of acceptance that lays the foundation for the entire school. As with ending racial prejudices, it takes advocates of all skin colors to disrupt the status quo. Offer to co-facilitate a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) with your gay colleague.
5. Participate in transformative professional dialogue.
What we think we know about gender and sexual diversity is deeply embedded in our belief systems and wrapped up in our emotions, many of which are unexamined. As a result, having constructive conversations addressing our biases can be daunting. But for the educators committed to the well being of each and every student, engaging in such discourse can set the stage for supporting a diverse school community, including students, staff, teachers, and administrators.
6. Champion "programs that support gender and sexuality diversity education."
Here are just a few examples:
Also consider these additional resources:
Watch the documentary Straightlaced with your faculty and colleagues.
Even the trailer for Straightlaced is enlightening.
Download GLSEN’s (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) 2011 National School Climate Study (PDF, 8.6MB).
A Feeling of Belonging
Increasing gender and sexuality diversity equity in schools is important and valuable work. As the late Maya Angelou once said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
As educators, we have the power to ensure that all students feel safe, respected, and welcome in our schools and classrooms. And that has the potential to transform society.TypeThursday: Jessica, thanks for being here for TypeThursday.
Jessica Hische: Happy to be here. It’s Thursday and we both make type things.
TT: Yes, good timing. I brought you in here because I know you recently published a book, not too long ago, called In Progress. So first of all, congratulations.
JH: Thank you very much.
TT: It’s a big accomplishment. Something on the back cover that caught my eye was words of praise by Stephen Coles. To paraphrase it said, “Jessica’s work is excellent. She could easily have done a monogram for her first book just showing her great work as a final product, but she chose to show designers how to make great work and share her knowledge of the process.”
How would you feel about that summarization of the book?
Origin of In Progress
Photograph by Kari Orvik
JH: I think it’s a really fair summarization. I started thinking about doing a book after Chronicle had approached me. Chronicle wrote me and said, “Hey, Jessica, do you want to do a book? We’ll do any kind of book that you want to do.” It’s not often when the publisher is the one spearheading the project in the beginning.
I felt so allergic to the idea of doing a monograph just because I’m still so young
My immediate gut reaction was, “I don’t want to do a monograph.” I felt so allergic to the idea of doing a monograph just because I’m still so young. I mean at the time when they approached me — this was like two years ago — so I was 29 or had maybe just turned 30. And just really felt like I’m way too young to make a book just to showcase my work — I think that the time to put together a monogram is either when you want to encapsulate your life’s work or if you want to put a chapter around part of your work because you plan to move on and do really different work. So if I, for instance, decided to totally switch gears and be a type designer and wanted to make a book of all my lettering, I would maybe consider doing more of a monograph-style book.
One of the things that I had brought up was my sketchbooks.
Chronicle and I were spitballing ideas, and one of the things that I had brought up was my sketchbooks. They were always something that people really freak out about when they get to see them in person because my sketches are pencil but they’re still pretty tight. I think that a lot of people just didn’t anticipate that they’d be able to see that part of the project, because so many people now work on Wacoms and assume that if you’re making digital lettering that most of your process happens digital, but I still have a large portion of my process happening analog.
It turned into a much more ambitious project than I had initially thought.
The initial thought was making a coffee table book showing the sketches and the finished artwork. But there were issues with artwork rights in the contract. Publishers really want you to give them the moon when you’re going to do a book with them. Since I was an unpublished author that was definitely the case. We fought and fought and fought over what rights they would have to the publication of future stuff within it, and thankfully we ended up in a reasonable territory. After all that, I was like, “Man, this is more of a big deal than I really had anticipated and if I’m not going to be able to put this work in another book for a certain period of time, I want this book to be a lot more than just pretty pictures.” I want it to be an actual thick, rich thing that people aren’t just going to buy, put on their shelves and never look at again.
My original contract called for me writing essentially 10,000 words, which would be enough to cover captions and a couple of chapter openers. But I ended up writing almost 40,000 words and it’s a proper introductory textbook in the beginning. Initially when I was approached it felt like Chronicle and other publishers that had previously approached me were saying, “Oh, make a book! It’s no big deal; make a book!” And I was like, “No, this is actually a big deal!” It turned into a much more ambitious project than I had initially thought.
The title, In Progress, both has to do with the fact that the work itself is shown in progress (showing the process from the beginning to the end), but also, it was sort of a wink at the fact that I didn’t want to do a monograph, because I still feel that I’m still very much in progress as an artist and human. Like, I’m not at the pinnacle, at least I hope not. I think I’ve reached a good level of success, but I don’t want to feel like I’m at the tippy-top of what I’ll achieve. So I like the idea of feeling like I’m still wet clay instead of a formed person.
TT: First of all, that’s awesome! A lot of people wouldn’t expect to learn that rights management would actually be a big issue in a book deal, in a book relationship like this. What specific content is covered that those 40,000 words in the book.
Telling the full story in an accessible way makes it so that people feel less intimidated about trying something new. Whether or not that thing is lettering.
Jessica’s Process to Lettering
JH: Instead of it just being a picture book explaining the process of individual projects (which is a big part of the second half of the book) I walk through my process in a lot more detail. I give a lengthy introduction just about how I ended up in this weird world of lettering to begin with. I wasn’t an apprentice to some printer, or whatever. I came at it from a non-artsy portion of the world and a non-artsy family. I made my way into art school and discovered graphic design and lettering while in school.
I get asked questions quite a bit from students that feel a little intimidated about how to get into whatever it is that they want to do. Telling the full story in an accessible way makes it so that people feel less intimidated about trying something new. Whether or not that thing is lettering.
Once you become an “expert” at something, it’s easy to forget all the baby steps you took to get there and how important those baby steps were. I catalogue those baby steps of my process. I’m still at this age and place in my career where young students can still feel like we’re not so different from each other. I could imagine that when I’m in my mid-40s, some 22-year-old is not going to look at me and go like, “Oh, I can be her, like, tomorrow.” Whereas now I’m right on the cusp of older sister territory. Once I get past older sister territory, it might be a little bit harder to share things to the younger generation without them thinking that I’m just being a patronizing parent-figure.
TT: To summarize, to make lettering for people starting out not feel intimidated, you want to walk through the whole process.
JH: Yeah. Exactly. The beginning of the book is really just a very in-depth walk through my process.
TT: In the time it’s been released, have you heard from any readers who’ve read it? Anyone who’s been like, “This really changed my life. It’s really helped me and really improved my design ability or my life in general”?
For me, I find the work that we do can be so isolating.
Feedback from Readers
JH: Honestly, a ton. I got a really funny email last week from a guy who asked me why I decided to share all of my secrets because clearly people are just going to start ripping me off left and right. He was thanking me for the book and said he got so much out of it but was sort of wondering what my motive was, because he’s like, “This can’t make it easier for you to share all this stuff with people and then make more competition in the world. Like, why would you do such a thing?”
For me, I find the work that we do can be so isolating. Especially if you do commercial lettering and commercial illustration — day after day, most of what you’re doing is making something prettier so that someone will buy it. Every now and then I have like a major, “What am I contributing to the world?” inner dialogue. I can get rid of all of those doubts by just sharing knowledge and teaching other people. Sharing and teaching makes me feel good about the work that I’m doing if I’m able to help other people be able to do work that they want to do. That’s my main motivation for sharing any sort of knowledge. Plus there’s a really nice side effect of solidifying your position as an expert in a field if you’re out there publishing. A nice heartwarming feeling, but also a nice professional bonus side effect.
TT: Everybody’s winning.
JH: Yeah. It’s win-win hopefully.
TT: I think so. Jessica, this has been a great conversation. Thank you so much for your time.
JH: Yeah, it’s been great talking to you. Good to catch up.Image copyright AFP Image caption The Nkandla residence has become a political headache for Mr Zuma
The highest court in South Africa has ruled that President Jacob Zuma violated the constitution when he failed to repay government money spent on his private home.
It gave the treasury 60 days to determine how much he should repay.
The ruling is a victory for the opposition, who said they would push for Mr Zuma's impeachment.
They accuse him of using "ill-gotten wealth" to upgrade his home with a swimming pool and amphitheatre.
Mr Zuma has denied any wrongdoing.
A government statement said he would "reflect" on the judgement and take "appropriate action".
A spokeswoman for the governing African National Congress (ANC) said the party's top six officials, who include Mr Zuma and his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa, would meet to discuss the implications of the ruling, Reuters news agency reports.
A former top ANC official Mathews Phosa called for the president to step down.
"The whole country now waits with bated breath to hear whether he, and my party, the ANC, will do the right thing and relieve us of this crippling nightmare," he said.
'Mighty sword'
An anti-corruption body, known as the public protector, ruled in 2014 that $23m (£15m) had been spent on his rural home in Nkandla in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.
Image copyright AFP Image caption South Africa has seen a spate of protests to demand Mr Zuma's resignation
Mr Zuma had "unduly benefited" from the renovations and should repay a portion of the money, the public protector said.
In a unanimous judgement on behalf of the Constitutional Court's 11 judges, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said the public protector was a "Biblical David" fighting against the Goliath of corruption.
Mr Zuma's failure to repay the money was "inconsistent" with the constitution, he added.
"The president failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution," he declared.
Mr Mogoeng added that public officials ignored the constitution at their peril, and should remember that the rule of law was the "sharp and mighty sword that stands ready to chop the ugly head of impunity from its stiffened neck".
What Mr Zuma must pay for
Image copyright Google
Swimming pool
Amphitheatre
Visitor centre
Cattle enclosure
Chicken run
How Zuma's Nkandla home has grown
Profile: Jacob Zuma
The court also condemned the ANC-dominated parliament for failing to hold Mr Zuma accountable.
The case was brought by two opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The EFF called on Mr Zuma to step down while the DA said it would table a motion in parliament to demand his impeachment.
Mr Zuma's term in government has been marred by allegations of corruption and cronyism.
Analysis: Milton Nkosi, BBC Africa, Johannesburg
Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Zuma's ANC has been in power since white minority rule ended in 1994
It is very difficult to see how the ANC can continue to have President Zuma at the helm, following the stinging rebuke he received from the Constitutional Court.
Opposition parties now plan to strike against the 73-year-old leader, and hope that ANC MPs will vote with them to impeach him. Another option is for the ANC to recall Mr Zuma, as it did with his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, in 2008.
A third option would be to say "better the devil you know" and to stick with Mr Zuma, at least until after this year's crucial local government elections.
As for South Africans, they are celebrating the independence of the Constitutional Court. It has shown that it will protect the public from the abuse of power and will not be a political crony of the government.
This is likely to embolden South Africans to continue fighting corruption and demanding accountability from the government.Source code is among some of the most valuable finds that archivists can make. Thanks to some auction purchases, one preservationist now has the code for Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and NBA Jam Extreme.
Last month, the folks at SiliconClassics got their hands on workstations and discs from Acclaim Entertainment. The company went bankrupt in 2004, with assets sold at auction. Among the data on those stations was the source code for Nintendo 64 first person shooter/fog simulator Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.
A new discovery has unearthed what appears to be the source code for NBA Jam Extreme a 3-D entry in the popular basketball franchise. The files seem to indicate that the project was known by the odd codename “Squid.” An additional copy of Turok’s source code was also found.
As companies fold and data storage deteriorates, it is harder and harder to preserve games either in their original state or remasters. SiliconClassics claims that Nightdive Studios CEO has expressed interest in the source code. Kotaku has reached out to Nightdive Studios for more information.
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Dev kits and data often find their way to auction. Finding important source code or lost projects helps keep game history alive. Finds like this give insight to game development including cut features or design trick used in making the games. Who knows, the next time there’s an auction, maybe you’ll find something special hidden on the hard drive.Hulu CEO Jason Kilar will be stepping down from the company next month, but there may be some even more radical changes in the service's future. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal are both reporting that Disney and News Corp. have been holding discussions about Hulu, with both sides open to selling their stake in the company to the other — or to an outside party.
Subscriptions vs. ads
The two companies have disagreements over what the service's core business model should be: Disney prefers an ad-supported model, while News Corp. sees subscriptions as the best area to focus on. Currently Hulu straddles the fence, offering a free version along with its expanded Hulu Plus subscription service, though the latter still interrupts viewers with advertisements. Disney and News Corp. each own roughly a third of the company, with Comcast owning the majority of the remaining third. Due to regulatory restrictions put in place with it acquired NBCUniversal, however, Comcast is not allowed to participate in any operational capacity.
The subscription business has failed to take off for Hulu the way it has for some of its competitors. Netflix announced over 27 million streaming subscribers as of the end of last year; Hulu, in comparison, hit just three million. It's not apparent which direction Hulu will end up going — or if it will end up in the hands of an entity with entirely different ideas — but it's clear that the shaky ground it's been on could soon grow even more unstable.One Go feature which I’m using regularly is cross-compiling Go code to other platforms (usually from macOS to linux-amd64).
In Go, this is a built-in feature that “just works”. The following command produces a statically linked ELF binary which can simply be copied and run on a Linux machine:
1 2 3 $ GOARCH = amd64 GOOS = linux go build $ file api ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 ( SYSV ), statically linked, not stripped
Rust doesn’t have built-in support for such a feature. Edit: Rust core-commiter Steve Klabnik pointed out, that actually what I’m showing off here is the built-in Rust support :)
I’ve been looking for a while how to achieve this using Cargo and Rust. And (spoiler-alert!) I’ve found one, which is relatively simple to set up.
Assuming you have rustup and Homebrew installed, it’s actually quite simple to setup cross-compiling on macOS!
First, install Rust nightly. I haven’t tried whether this works on Rust stable, so let me know if you happen to try it.
1 $ rustup install nightly
Second, install the required target. In our case (Linux x86_64) this is x86_64-unknown-linux-musl. The lightweight standard library musl is able to produce statically linked libraries (contrary to the x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu target, which uses GNU libc.
1 $ rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
What’s still missing is the linker. This was always the part where I go into trouble when trying this earlier. Finally, this blog post from Graham Enos guided me to a Homebrew tap by Filippo Valsorda, which provides a complete macOS to Linux cross-compile toolchain.
1 $ brew install filosottile/musl-cross/musl-cross
That was the heavy-lifting. Now just tell Cargo where to find the linker. You can place the following into your projects.cargo/config or configure it globally in your ~/.cargo/config
1 2 [target.x86_64-unknown-linux-musl] linker = "x86_64-linux-musl-gcc"
That’s it! You can now cross-compile Linux binaries with Cargo!
1 $ cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
You can find the resulting statically linked ELF binary in the target/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/release directory. This file can be copied and run on any Linux x86_64 machine, just like the cross-compiled Go binary!Low wage workers in Australia have it better than most.
The country has the most generous national minimum wage in the developed world, according to a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The report ranked 27 countries that have laws setting a nationwide minimum rate of pay.
Australia's minimum wage workers -- aged 21 and over -- make 15.96 Australian dollars per hour. After tax and other deductions, that's equivalent to $9.54, once the difference in the cost of living is taken into account.
"They have a high minimum wage. And interestingly they have a low tax burden," said Herwig Immervoll, the author of the OECD report. "[Australians] recognize that supporting low wage earners through the tax system is important."
Other countries have set higher hourly rates but they also tax minimum wage workers more, leaving them with less in their pockets.
The U.S. ranked 11th on the list, with a federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. That leaves workers with take-home pay of $6.26 per hour.
However, the U.S. would move up the rankings if state minimum wage rules were factored into the equation. Roughly half of U.S. states have rules ensuring workers are paid more than the federal minimum, Immervoll said.
Related: Compare your salary with CNNMoney's global wage calculator
The OECD report shows that a single Australian minimum wage worker with two kids could work just six hours per week to lift themselves above the poverty line, because they would also receive state benefits.
In the U.S., the same worker would have to clock in 50 hours per week to escape poverty. In the Czech Republic, it would take 79 hours of work per week.
Eight countries, including Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, were not included in the report because their governments do not set national rules on minimum pay. Many of them have strong labor unions and established arrangements for collective bargaining, which means governments don't have to step in.
Related: The U.S. minimum wage, state by state
Here are the top five countries for hourly minimum wages, based on the latest OECD data from 2013:
1. Australia - $9.54
2. Luxembourg - $9.24
3. Belgium - $8.57
4. Ireland - $8.46
5. France - $8.24
(Click here to see the top 10.)
Countries with the lowest take-home minimum wages include Latvia, Chile and Mexico, which is bottom of the list with a rate of about $1 per hour.
-- An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the U.S. federal minimum wage was $7.85. It is $7.25."Haircut" redirects here. For other uses, see Haircut (disambiguation)
"Hairdo" redirects here. For the Little Birdy song, see Hairdo (song)
Venus of Willendorf with braided hair (or wearing a woven basket). Thewith braided hair (or wearing a woven basket).
A hairstyle, hairdo, or haircut refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human scalp. Sometimes, this could also mean an editing of facial or body hair. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although practical, cultural, and popular considerations also influence some hairstyles.[1] The oldest known depiction of hair braiding dates back about 30,000 years. In ancient civilizations, women's hair was often elaborately and carefully dressed in special ways. In Imperial Rome, women wore their hair in complicated styles. From the time of the Roman Empire[citation needed] until the Middle Ages, most women grew their hair as long as it would naturally grow. During the Roman Empire as well as in the 16th century in the western world, women began to wear their hair in extremely ornate styles. In the later half of the 15th century and on into the 16th century a very high hairline on the forehead was considered attractive. During the 15th and 16th centuries, European men wore their hair cropped no longer than shoulder-length. In the early 17th century male hairstyles grew longer, with waves or curls being considered desirable.
The male wig was pioneered by King Louis XIII of France (1601–1643) in 1624. Perukes or periwigs for men were introduced into the English-speaking world with other French styles in 1660. Late 17th-century wigs were very long and wavy, but became shorter in the mid-18th century, by which time they were normally white. Short hair for fashionable men was a product of the Neoclassical movement. In the early 19th century the male beard, and also moustaches and sideburns, made a strong reappearance. From the 16th to the 19th century, European women's hair became more visible while their hair cover
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of ake (apricot kernel extract) and being satisfied that our viewpoint was understood, the patient elected to continue self-administering ake,” they write.
The doctors say the case illustrates how long-term use of self-prescribed “complementary medicine” can result in harmful poisoning, “which may carry potential for serious consequences.”Ingredients
4 Tbs canola oil
3lbs brisket cut into ½ inch cubed pieces
3 cups yellow onions- chopped
5 garlic coves- minced
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs chili powder
½ Tbs cayenne pepper
½ Tbs crushed red pepper flake
6 ripe tomatoes- diced
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes with juices
1 green pepper diced
¼ cup brewed coffee
½ cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 (14 oz) can light kidney beans- drained and rinsed
1 (14 oz) can dark kidney beans – drained and rinsed
Kosher salt and pepper to season
Optional toppings:
Store bought season tortilla strips
Fresh chopped onions or scallions
Shredded cheddar cheese
Lime wedges
Sour cream
Serrano or jalapeño peppers- minced
Instructions
First cut the brisket into ½ inch cubed pieces. Pat all the pieces dry with paper towel and set aside.
In a large dutch oven heat the 4 Tbs of canola oil. In batches brown the cubed brisket on all sides to brown and transfer the brown pieces to bowl.
In the same dutch oven deglaze the pan by adding the chopped onions and stir frequently to scrape up the brown bits. Heat the onions until they are soft and fragrant. After about 6 minutes add in cumin, chili powder, cayenne and red pepper and stir into the onions until incorporated well about another 2 minutes. Next add the minced garlic and stir constantly for 1 minute then add all the fresh diced tomatoes as well as the canned tomatoes. Stir in the diced green peppers and bring to a simmer. Add the browned cubed pieces of brisket back to the pot along with any accumulated juices and cook covered at a simmer for 2 ½ hours stirring every 15 minutes.
After 2 ½ hours add the ¼ cup brewed coffee, check salt and pepper for seasonings and return to a simmer and cover and cook for another 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes add the fresh chopped cilantro and the light and dark kidney beans to the pot and heat for 15 minutes to make sure the beans are heated through.
Serve in bowls and garnish with any optional toppings served at the table.
Recipe adapted from the Barefoot Contessa http://www.barefootcontessa.com/
Copyright © Andicakes 2010.
Recipe by yumm yumm yumm.
Microformatting by hRecipe.PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE's campaign is bracing for the possibility of more damaging emails being leaked to the public as the presidential campaign enters its home stretch.
Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for Hillary for America, said it’s possible that more emails will be released at a time designed to inflict maximum political pain on Democrats.
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“The WikiLeaks leak was obviously designed to hurt our convention,” she told reporters. “I don’t think they’re done. That’s how they operate.
“We can’t know, but it’s part of the reason that we wanted people to understand our belief that the Russians are behind this,” she said. “People need to understand — when these leaks happen — what they’re designed to do.”
Palmieri added that the Clinton campaign was not worried about its own email security.
The first day of the Democratic National Convention was upended by the WikiLeaks release over the weekend of more than 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Some of those emails suggested that officials at the DNC, which is supposed to be neutral during the party’s presidential primary, worked against 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.) and favored Clinton, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
The leak led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as Sanders’s supporters made their displeasure with the party known in and outside the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention is being held.
The FBI announced it was opening an investigation into the leak Monday, and the Clinton campaign has previously suggested the email theft and timing of the leak may have been carried out by the Russian government to undermine her campaign and boost GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE’s.
Palmieri’s comments come as Democrats prepare to officially nominate Clinton for president, making her the first woman to be nominated for president by one of the two major political parties.
The campaign downplayed some of the intraparty strife that was on display Monday, when Sanders’s supporters broke out in chants or occasionally booed convention speakers backing Clinton’s candidacy.
“It is hard to work for someone for over a year and all of a sudden shift gears,” said Karen Finney, senior adviser for Hillary for America. “It’s a process, so our message is really that we understand that.”
Clinton’s campaign argued that Sanders’s endorsement on Monday evening was a big step toward unifying the party. But Tuesday’s roll call vote of the Democratic delegates will give Sanders supporters one final opportunity to push for their candidate, while Clinton is expected to formally receive the nomination that evening.
Finney said all 57 states and territories will cast their votes for their preferred candidates, as opposed to prior conventions when all of the delegates got behind the presumed nominee.
“We think it’s very important that everybody have a chance to vote and have their voice heard,” Finney said.Fifty-one bands from all around the world have joined their hearts and music together to pay tribute to one of the most passionate music enthusiasts that the shoegaze community has ever known. Premiering today, June 29th, at The Big Takeover is a compilation affectionately titled For The Love of Chris Tressler, dedicated to the memory of this amazing man.
Chris Tressler was truly in a league of his own. He had a zeal for music that seemed almost as vital to him as the air in his lungs and the beat of his heart. His pursuit of new music, and desire to share that music with the world around him, was unparalleled.
Chris was such a pillar of support for the bands that he loved! The shoegaze/dreampop community has definitely felt the loss of his selfless, devoted, and positive presence.
Although he may not be with us physically anymore, there has been a common thread of desire to commemorate his life and to pay respect. Shortly after the news of his passing, Jonathan Sellers (Movie Brain) and I started brainstorming as to how we could best go about that. We began to reach out to some of the bands in this community, to see if anyone would be interested in contributing to a music compilation in memory of Chris.
The response was almost overwhelming, in the most beautiful way. It has been very inspiring to see that SO many of the bands that Chris loved and supported eagerly jumped on board and wanted to be a part of this! Here we are, 51 bands later, using the music he loved to keep his memory alive!
Due to the fact that we want this music, and the memory of Chris, to reach as many people as possible, we have decided to make this comp available as a free download on Bandcamp
For any who would like to make a monetary donation in memory of Chris, here is wonderful organization Hungry For Music that encourages the creation of music and “provides musical instruments to underserved children, with a hunger to play”. This link allows us to make dedication donations in honor of Chris.
Below is a list of the amazing artists that have contributed tracks to this compilation. Many of these bands have submitted brand new tracks, which were never previously released. Other bands chose to contribute songs that Chris personally loved and supported.
A Thousand Hours – “Sleep Of Angels” [Chris Tressler Mix] *NEW
Abstract Thought Process – “Ascend”
Ambient Intimacy – “See You” *NEW
Angel Falls – “Touch the Sun”
Astral Lite – “Embers”
Blackpool Astronomy – “Brazen Blackout” *exclusive mix
Bloom Waves -” Wanna Be Tied”
Car Crash Sisters – “If You Ever”
Charlie Nieland – “Water”
CLUSTERSUN – “Event Horizon”
Coloring Electric Like – “Coloring Electric Like”
Crescendo -” Humble Attraction”
Dark Narrows -” Eight Hundred And Sixteen”
Dayflower -” Big Blue”
Estrella Oscura -” Promenade”
Fir Cone Children – “Chocolate” *NEW
Great Black Night – “Whisper”
Hold/Transfer – “Privacy Policy” *NEW
Jett Brando – “Slow”
Lavender Blush – “My Pal K”
Lazy Legs -” Beholder”
Linda Guilala – “Monstruo”
Loomer – “Stardust” *NEW
Movie Brain -” Visions”
My Raining Stars – “The Way Things Turn”
Nax -” Futuro” *NEW
Panophonic – “I Can’t Come Home” (Beatastic Remix)
Prana Crafter -” Creek Born Mind”
RevRevRev – “Buzzing Flowers Ecstasy”
See The Eye – “Social Bribe”
Slowly – “Away”
Soñder – “Strañge (For The Love Of)” *exclusive remix
Spell 336 -” Silence”
Static Daydream – “Eclipse” *NEW
Stella Diana – “M9”
Stellamaris – “Ultraviolet”
The Autumn Sighs – “The Autumn Sighs”
The Churchhill Garden – “The Same Sky”
The City Gates – “Checkpoint Charlie”
The Emerald Down – “Red Shift”
The Morelings – “No Sign”
The Speedwell Blue – “You & I”
The Spiracles -” It Shines On You” (Ft. June)
Vibrissae – “Not Forever”
Videodays – “Major Arcana” *NEW
Visiting Diplomats – “Try”
Vlimmer – “Inselschweben” *NEW
Whimsical – “A Strange Day” (The Cure) *NEW
Wozniak – “Five Star”
Xeresa – “For The Love Of Chris Tressler” *NEW
Vestidos – “sueeles dejarme”
Jonathan and I would like to thank everyone that has been a part of this comp and helped us bring this vision to life. Special thanks to:
Andy Jossi, for the beautiful artwork.
Greg Wilson and Amber Crain at DKFM Shoegaze Radio, for supporting this project, and helping to share this commemorative album with your listeners!
Jen Dan, for allowing us to premiere this on The Big Takeover.
Our deepest and most heartfelt sympathy extended to Chris Tressler’s family and friends. We hope that you will find comfort in knowing how loved he was. May his memory live on through this beautiful music!
The above text was written by Krissy VanderWoude (Whimsical), one of the organizers of this compilation album.
“My conversations with Chris were always very brief, but they were always positive. I never met him in person, but I felt a connection with him through the love of music. Chris was always on my news feed, sharing a new band he had found, or sharing some old tracks to reminisce. I didn’t know him too well, but I can see the impact he’s made after his passing, and I was super lucky to have known him the time I did.” – Jonathan Sellers
For The Love Of Chris Tressler: A Compilation by For The Love Of Chris Tressler
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DisqusOne of the core philosophies of Google, and one of the reasons it has been so successful, is efficiency. It's about both being as efficient as possible when serving search results and processing data and creating product that push the limits of efficiency for the user (as an example, Google's trying to make communication more efficient with Google Wave).
Maybe that's why we're not surprised that Google is finally looking to tackle the underpinning code that runs the web. Today the search giant released Go, an open-source development language that Google believes will combine performance with speed, and one that the company probably hopes will reshape the development and software industries in its favor.
Go is based on the C programming family, one of the most widely used programming language trees in the world. However, the twist is that incorporates elements of Python (a preferred development language within Google) and the Pascal/Modula/Oberon family to make faster and more dynamic programs.
Why Did Google Make Its Own Language?
In its Go FAQ, Google explains the main motivations behind the project:
"No major systems language has emerged in over a decade, but over that time the computing landscape has changed tremendously. There are several trends: - Computers are enormously quicker but software development is not faster. - Dependency management is a big part of software development today but the “header files” of languages in the C tradition are antithetical to clean dependency analysis—and fast compilation. - There is a growing rebellion against cumbersome type systems like those of Java and C++, pushing people towards dynamically typed languages such as Python and JavaScript. - Some fundamental concepts such as garbage collection and parallel computation are not well supported by popular systems languages. - The emergence of multicore computers has generated worry and confusion."
Summary: Google believes that the web and computing have changed dramatically in the last ten years, but the languages powering that computing have not. But when you get down to it, Google could benefit a great deal from not only having a more efficient programming language, but having one it designed being used in thousands web and software apps.
If you want to learn more, Google (as usual) has released a detailed, hour-long Google Tech Talk on the new language (embedded below). However, if you're a developer and just want to get started, we suggest checking out the Go Tutorial and writing your first program.Samuel Marlowe / Los Angeles Times On the heels of the "Network Diversity Scorecard" report published on this blog yesterday that rated The CW one of the worst among the Big 5 (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, The CW), comes news today that, currently in development is a period crime drama inspired by the real-life black private investigator, Samuel Marlowe, who was the inspiration for author Raymond Chandler's famed fictional character Philip Marlowe, who's been played in film adaptations, by several actors over the decades, from Humphrey Bogart to Robert Mitchum. The real Samuel Marlowe allegedly was the first black private detective licensed by the city of Los Angeles; this was in the 1930s. He was a Jamaican immigrant and World War I veteran, and is said to have corresponded with writers Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett for decades. He was born in 1890, in Montego Bay, Jamaica. According to an LA Times obituary, he served in Britain’s Egyptian Expeditionary Force, a World War I fighting brigade that guarded the Suez Canal. After the war, Marlowe immigrated to the U.S., settling in Los Angeles, where he became a private detective.The CW drama based on Marlowe's career is described as "a character-based procedural with a modern feel and contemporary soundtrack," although it'll be set in 1937 Los Angeles. "Marlowe" will follow Samuel Marlowe "from the mansions and red carpets of Beverly Hills, to the jazz clubs and back alleys of Little Harlem, where he navigates crimes, mysteries and social issues ripped from today’s headlines through the prism of 1937 Los Angeles," says the press release. Devon Greggory ("CSI Cyber," "State of Affairs") will pen the script and co-executive produce the project, which hails from Aaron Kaplan's Kaplan Entertainment shingle. Kaplan will also exec produce. The project is still in early development, and so whether it'll eventually make it to a TV screen near you, courtesy of The CW, isn't a guarantee. But should "Marlowe" indeed become a series for the network, it would become The CW's first with a black character central. Let's hope it makes it through to the finish line; time to play, who would you cast as Marlowe? Given that it's The CW, there's a strong likelihood that the character is under 40 years old. The CW's audience skews younger. So your casting choices are limited to black male actors under 40, or can play under 40.Lirik Pros/Cons a guest Jan 13th, 2016 186 Never a guest186Never
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 1.08 KB Lirik a pro/con comparisation trough the mind of a non-sub. Created by your friend, Wloz With the input of Lirik Non-sub Chat (official) TL:DR just fucking read it it's not that long. Pros: He's funny. (sometimes) Has a nice voice. Doesn't give a fuck. He sucks at video games, so funny Has Geers, Geers = Nice Art Streams for EU/NA Ignores hate. Is himself. Has great mods. Great Stories. (We want more) Cons: Does often not listen to criticism. We do not even know his name. (Sorry Larry) He NEEEEDs to end stream at 7am. Runs ads for plebs when he earns 5 figures a month. Has a lot of shit "to take care of". (probably business with Coobah_) Not open to all games. Non-Subs do not have a chance to chat when he streams. expect TI or beginning 15 minutes. Even when chat goes as slow as Lirik walks he does not flood the gates? UI20 and MrGoaty are still not banned. Does not encourage sub/non-sub peace/equality. Alt-Tabs to run ads, if you're saving for something just tell us. Just know that we still love you and always will, Saqib Zahid ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
RAW Paste Data
Lirik a pro/con comparisation trough the mind of a non-sub. Created by your friend, Wloz With the input of Lirik Non-sub Chat (official) TL:DR just fucking read it it's not that long. Pros: He's funny. (sometimes) Has a nice voice. Doesn't give a fuck. He sucks at video games, so funny Has Geers, Geers = Nice Art Streams for EU/NA Ignores hate. Is himself. Has great mods. Great Stories. (We want more) Cons: Does often not listen to criticism. We do not even know his name. (Sorry Larry) He NEEEEDs to end stream at 7am. Runs ads for plebs when he earns 5 figures a month. Has a lot of shit "to take care of". (probably business with Coobah_) Not open to all games. Non-Subs do not have a chance to chat when he streams. expect TI or beginning 15 minutes. Even when chat goes as slow as Lirik walks he does not flood the gates? UI20 and MrGoaty are still not banned. Does not encourage sub/non-sub peace/equality. Alt-Tabs to run ads, if you're saving for something just tell us. Just know that we still love you and always will, Saqib Zahid ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)Unable to make headway on Steam Greenlight, the developer of UFHO2 has put a torrent of the game on The Pirate Bay.
Things were looking pretty good for UFHO2 in 2012. A successful Kickstarter campaign wrapped up in February of that year and in August, it landed on Steam Greenlight. And there it sat. The develeper, Ciro Continisio, announced last month that the game would be launching in full on Desura and the Humble Store on April 1, and so it did, yet the effort to get it on Steam remains stuck and ignored.
It didn't take long after its release on other digital storefronts for Steam's dominant position in the industry, coupled with the lack of progress in getting UFHO2 onto it, to convince Continisio that the game is effectively dead in the water. But instead of giving up, he's decided to just give it away.
"My game UFHO2 has been on Greenlight for 2+ years now, and with no luck. Is it so shitty?" he wrote in a Reddit post. "I released it days ago on Desura/Humble Store, but the trend is clear: nobody is going to buy it unless it's on Steam. Thus, I've put it on torrent so everyone can enjoy it."
It's an unfortunate outcome that speaks rather poorly of Steam Greenlight, although its dysfunction is hardly a secret, and also highlights the overriding importance of Steam to indie studios and the dangers of not making it through the Greenlight process. Fortunately for Continisio, he's having better luck with the iOS version of the game.
"On mobile [UFHO2] is doing slightly better, because even if super crowded the App Store has mechanisms to make good game emerge, and a lot of websites publish articles about apps all the time," he wrote. "On Greenlight, nobody is really scouting for good games anymore."
UFHO2 is still available for purchase through Desura or the Humble Store.
Source: RedditBy Giacomo Lee. Read the dark side to Seoul city in his novel Funereal, out now on Amazon UK & US.
In support of one of the best albums of 2013, Youth!, dance duo Glen Check held a special countdown show in Seoul on New Year’s Eve. The packed out venue was Blue Square beside Hangangjin Station, a modern venue more used to hosting musicals than indie gigs.
The so-called Young Generation show started after 9, with Glen Check performing their first set as a band set-up, playing their more verse-chorus-verse tracks with guitars, synths and drums. The background screen that provided an epic and spacey title sequence to the group was used throughout, playing out specially made videos full of colour and Atari graphics.
After a 15 minute intermission, the only support act of the night played their set, a band called WHOWho (후후) who, like the headliners, only sang in English, mimicking Alex Turner down pat. Think the Arctic Monkeys paying occasional homage to Daft Punk in slow talkbox mode.
After WHOWho, the Glen Check boys returned without their drummer and dressed down in basketball tops. This was time for the DJ set of the show, with a medley of Glen Check tracks cut up and dipped in acid, hitting hard like Simian Mobile Disco at their best. Exhilarating stuff, although it was too ravey for an 11pm crowd, being much better suited for the early hours of 2014. With no alcohol on sale, you had to be in the right mood for the beats, and most people were just waiting for the countdown to begin. They should have DJed after midnight, not before.
The countdown itself was seen in by both Glen Check and WHOWho letting off confetti on stage, and followed by an encore of two songs which, disappointingly, had been played earlier in the night. I was looking forward to hearing ’84 getting an airing, but their standout single only made an appearance in remixed form during the DJ gig. Still, count me as a definite YES for their next NYE show, and any Glen Check show in the year ahead.UN Investigating Whether Or Not US Is Torturing Bradley Manning
from the good-for-them dept
As is true for so much of what it does, the U.S. Government routinely condemns similar acts -- the use of prolonged solitary confinement in its most extreme forms and lengthy pretrial detention -- when used by other countries. See, for instance, the 2009 State Department Human Rights Report on Indonesia ("Officials held unruly detainees in solitary confinement for up to six days on a rice-and-water diet"); Iran ("Common methods of torture and abuse in prisons included prolonged solitary confinement with extreme sensory deprivation...Prison conditions were poor. Many prisoners were held in solitary confinement... Authorities routinely held political prisoners in solitary confinement for extended periods... All four [arrested bloggers] claimed authorities physically and psychologically abused them in detention, including subjecting them to prolonged periods of solitary confinement in a secret detention center without access to legal counsel or family"); Israel ("Israeli human rights organizations reported that Israeli interrogators... kept prisoners in harsh conditions, including solitary confinement for long periods"); Iraq ("Individuals claimed to have been subjected to psychological and physical abuse, including... solitary confinement in Ashraf to discourage defections"); Yemen ("Sleep deprivation and solitary confinement were other forms of abuse reported in PSO prisons"); Central African Republic ("As of December, there were 308 inmates in Ngaragba Prison, most of whom are pretrial detainees. Several detainees had been held for seven months without appearing before a judge"); Burundi ("Human rights problems also included... prolonged pretrial detention").
We recently posted about the conditions under which the US was holding Bradley Manning, the private accused of leaking documents to Wikileaks, and noting that they seemed to reach the level of torture, based on some excellent reporting by Glenn Greenwald. This news was troubling just because we should not torture at all, and was made even worse by the fact that the guy hasn't even been convicted of any crime (though, as many commenters pointed out, even if he was convicted of a crime, torture is still not appropriate). Not surprisingly, the comments on that post expressed a variety of opinions, with two specific statements repeated against my post: the first is that solitary confinement is not torture, and the second is that Manning deserves whatever he gets.The latter response should be sickening to anyone who is an American or believes in the concept of innocent until proven guilty. It's about the most anti-American thought I can think of to say that someone deserves punishment even when they have not been found guilty of a crime. As for the first comment, as many people suggested, you should read Atul Gawande's fascinating and disturbing article on solitary confinement, and then see how you feel about solitary confinement. The number of people who claimed that people were just coddled and weak if they couldn't handle solitary appear to be quite ill-informed about the nature of solitary confinement, and I would imagine they would not last long under such conditions themselves.Since then, a lot more information has come out, including some explicit details about the serious negative effects the treatment has had on Manning's health and mental well-being. On top of that, while the Defense Department has tried to minimize the complaints by presenting their side of the story, the article above references Manning's specific comments to one of the only two people he is allowed to meet with, which indicates that the Defense Department was not being entirely truthful. The scary part is that it really appears that the treatment is having a significant impact on his health already. Even if you believe that what Manning did was the worst thing a person could do, can we at least let him be tried before issuing punitive measures?Separately, the UN has now said that it will investigate how Manning is being treated, though, as with so much the UN does, I do wonder how much impact they would have even if they did find the treatment to reach the level of torture.Glenn Greenwald has another detailed report, which highlights how the US State Department has condemned solitary confinement in other countries:Once again, it appears that the US State Department believes in different rules for itself than what it pushes on everyone else. Once again, I find that I am disappointed by my government not coming even close to the standards it purports to hold, and which it regularly argues other countries should follow as well.
Filed Under: bradley manning, solitary confinement, torture, united nations
Companies: wikileaksPolice: Daughter had been allowed to start car before
A Salem mother charged with endangering the welfare of a child turned herself in on Sunday.Police said Amylynn Boehm, 27, turned herself in at the Salem Police Department.She is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of allowing an improper person to operate a vehicle after she gave her 7-year-old daughter permission to go outside and start the car.The 7-year-old was able to shift the car into reverse and the car began to move backwards until it ran over her 2-year-old sister, who had gone outside with her.Police said Boehm was not outside at the time and came to help her daughter when she heard the 7-year-old scream for help.Related: Salem toddler accidentally run over by 7-year-old sister, police sayThe toddler was taken to Lawrence General Hospital before being flown to Boston Children's Hospital with injuries to her legs, chin and scalp. She also had some bruising along the right side of her rib cage and her upper arm.Investigators said this was not the first time the 7-year-old was allowed to start the car. Salem police and NH DCYF are still investigating.Get the WMUR app12967056
A Salem mother charged with endangering the welfare of a child turned herself in on Sunday.
Police said Amylynn Boehm, 27, turned herself in at the Salem Police Department.
Advertisement Related Content Salem toddler accidentally run over by 7-year-old sister, police say
She is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of allowing an improper person to operate a vehicle after she gave her 7-year-old daughter permission to go outside and start the car.
The 7-year-old was able to shift the car into reverse and the car began to move backwards until it ran over her 2-year-old sister, who had gone outside with her.
Police said Boehm was not outside at the time and came to help her daughter when she heard the 7-year-old scream for help.
Related: Salem toddler accidentally run over by 7-year-old sister, police say
The toddler was taken to Lawrence General Hospital before being flown to Boston Children's Hospital with injuries to her legs, chin and scalp. She also had some bruising along the right side of her rib cage and her upper arm.
Investigators said this was not the first time the 7-year-old was allowed to start the car. Salem police and NH DCYF are still investigating.
AlertMeThe biggest impediment to progress for this presidency is Donald Trump’s refusal to stop lying in public and just generally not knowing when to keep his mouth shut.
One of the things he has a habit of doing is jumping on Twitter and making claims that are demonstrably false even when he has to know that the chances of his bluff being called are high. And of course the more angry you make people, the higher the chances that they’ll call your bluff when they get the chance.
Ok, so remember this morning, when Trump claimed that Bob Corker was set up by The New York Times and didn’t know he was being taped? Here’s the tweet:
Well, Mr. President, consider your bluff called. Here’s the New York Times (if you click on the article the actual audio is there).
President Trump claimed on Twitter today that The Times “set Liddle’ Bob Corker up by recording his conversation.” Mr. Trump was referring to our interview Sunday with Mr. Corker, the Tennessee Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he said Mr. Trump was recklessly tempting “World War III,” treating the presidency “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something” and required constant supervision by his own staff. As the reporter who conducted the 25-minute telephone interview with Mr. Corker, I thought I would offer more insight about what actually transpired. Far from being set up, Mr. Corker asked that I tape our conversation. “I know they’re recording it, and I hope you are, too,” he said as two of his aides listened in on other lines, one of them also taping the interview.
End of story. Not only was the Times taping it, Corker was himself taping it.
Trump has been caught in yet another lie and he should have known this was going to happen. Now let’s see how he tries to spin this one.
And for anyone who missed it, here’s the rest of the audio from the interview:
Listen to Senator Bob Corker talk about President Trump in our exclusive interview. https://t.co/BkU7rxTwdD pic.twitter.com/maWBAnHLKN — New York Times Video (@nytvideo) October 9, 2017Rays of sunlight try to break through darkening clouds over a wind farm near Waverly, Kan., on Nov. 28. (Chris Neal/Topeka Capital-Journal via Associated Press)
A changing climate is beginning to change wind energy’s potential to provide power in key regions, part of what could be a broader diminishment of a key renewable energy source in part of the world, according to two scientific studies.
The world is turning more and more to renewable sources of energy – wind, solar power, and in some cases energy from flowing water – to fight climate change. But what if climate change itself alters the distribution of wind, or sunlight falling on the Earth’s surface, or river flows, and so changes or even shrinks the potential of these energy sources?
The studies suggest that, at least for wind energy, that is not only happening — at least in some key locations — but that it could grow worse.
“Renewables, including wind, are an important part of many nations’ and even states’ overall strategies for reducing greenhouse emissions,” said Kristopher Karnauskas, a researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and first author of one of the studies. “So it’s important that we fully understand how the potential efficacy of that mitigation strategy may be changing concurrently with the problem itself. We can’t assume that the baseline wind energy resource is a constant.”
Why would wind energy potential change because of climate change? At the most fundamental level, winds are driven by the unequal distribution of the sun’s energy across the surface of the Earth, which in turn creates regions of different atmospheric pressure. Wind then flows from regions of high pressure to regions of low pressure. Those installing wind turbines try to place them in spots where that flow tends to be particularly strong.
But climate change is also distributing energy unevenly across the planet. In particular, land surfaces are warming up more rapidly than are ocean surfaces, even as the Arctic is warming up much more rapidly than the northern hemisphere’s middle latitudes.
It’s not surprising that the distribution of winds around the Earth would change under global warming. Indeed, in the Southern Hemisphere, some researchers believe that changing winds are responsible for the growing melting of Antarctic glaciers, as they are driving warmer, deeper waters closer to the icy continent.
So how could changing wind patterns affect the deployment and effectiveness of wind energy?
The first of the two studies, recently published in Nature Scientific Reports, gives a first glimpse at an answer. It finds that the nation that has installed more wind energy than any other on Earth — China — is actually seeing a lowering of wind energy potential across vast regions, especially inner Mongolia and Gansu, two of the largest installation areas.
“To my great surprise instead of finding a random signal, we found that it was actually declining,” said Michael McElroy, a Harvard Earth sciences professor who is one of the authors of the study. He conducted the research with Peter Sherman, the first author, and Xinyu Chen of Harvard.
The researchers found, based on a large database of meteorological records, that there already has been a wind energy decline in key regions of China from 1979 through 2015. And they found that this had happened in concert with an overall warming trend, although natural climate fluctuations also played a role.
The change occurred, McElroy said, because the Asian continent has been warming up faster than the Pacific Ocean offshore.
“The circulation of the atmosphere over East Asia is what’s called a monsoonal circulation, driven by the temperature contrast between the land and the sea,” he said. “In winter, that temperature contrast is trending down.”
China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide by a considerable margin, has already installed well more than 100 gigawatts of wind energy, considerably more than any other nation. So the new research plainly shows how climate change can render itself harder to fight.
“This is a very important result because it highlights the many negative impacts of climate change,” Dan Kammen, an energy policy expert at the University of California at Berkeley, said of the China study, with which he was familiar but not involved.
These changes in China already seem to be happening. But the second study, published Monday in Nature Geoscience and apparently the first comprehensive look at wind energy resources under climate change, projects forward to the future using 10 climate change models. And it finds more of the same across the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere — a key area for wind energy installation from the United States to Europe to China — even as under some scenarios, the models show a growth of wind resources in the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere.
“What we found is that global warming will reduce the wind energy resource across much of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the central U.S.,” said Karnauskas, who conducted the work with university colleagues Julie Lundquist and Lei Zhang.
Based on high and low scenarios for the volume of greenhouse gas emissions, Karnauskas’s study found declines on the order of 10 percent to 40 percent of potential wind energy in the Northern Hemisphere middle latitudes by 2100. For the central United States, it showed declines by 8 percent or 10 percent by 2050, depending on whether the world follows a lower or higher greenhouse gas emissions scenario.
Meanwhile, wind energy potential in Southern Hemisphere regions such as East Brazil, West Africa and East Australia increased significantly in the models, but only under high emissions scenarios. That’s a trade-off, but hardly a simple one: The majority
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[email protected] an op-ed for the Washington Post, MSNBC’s Touré, said reports about Michael Brown‘s character served to “thuggify” him ahead of legal proceedings on whether to press charges against Darren Wilson.
A grand jury is currently deliberating whether to charge Darren Wilson, the white officer who killed 18-year-old Brown, who is black.
After the Aug. 9 killing of Brown, there were reports that he had marijuana in his system at the time of his death and surveillance video surfaced of him allegedly strong-arming a store clerk for Swisher Sweets cigars.
From Touré’s column:
It’s as if a black person must be a perfect victim to escape being thuggified, an angel with an unblemished history in order to warrant justice. The burden of the perfect victim suggests that only impeccable résumés may qualify for protection under the law and the support of the community.
Touré suggests in the column that Brown’s killer may not be brought to justice (read: convicted of murder) because Brown will be seen by a jury as undeserving of it.
“Most of us have something in our pasts we would not want revealed,” Touré wrote. “And for black Americans, those facts too often are used to suggest that victims of injustice don’t deserve justice, because they weren’t some sort of credit to their race.”
[Image via MSNBC/screen grab]
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>> Follow Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] Tsvangirai told journalists the 86-year-old leader was eager to shake his reputation as a destructive tyrant. "You must understand this man has got a split personality, from being a hero to being the villain the international community would like to define him as.
"If I was in the same position, would I like to go down as a villain? If there's an opportunity to rescue my reputation and legacy, I would go for that.
"I think Robert Mugabe genuinely believes he has left Zimbabweans at least talking across the political divide and he is committed to a peaceful Zimbabwe."
Mr Tsvangirai said he had no interest in punishing Mr Mugabe for Zimbabwe's decline. "Robert Mugabe has been portrayed as a demon but he himself made a contribution to that character and I cannot defend what he did over the last 10 years in terms of violence," he said.
"But there is also a positive contribution to our country that he made. He was a national liberation leader."This week, a Standing Committee of plant scientists from 28 member states in Europe is likely to endorse the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) findings so that the European Commission (under pressure from Monsanto, Glyphosate Task Force and others) can re-authorise glyphosate for another nine years. This is despite the WHO classifying glyphosate as being “probably carcinogenic” to humans.
An open letter from campaigner Rosemary Mason to Dirk Detken, Chief Attorney to the EFSA, follows the brief background article you are about to read. In the letter, Mason highlights the regulatory delinquency concerning the oversight of glyphosate in the EU. The evidence provided by Mason might lead many to agree that processes surrounding glyphosate ‘regulation’ in Europe amount to little more than a “cesspool of corruption.”
There are around 500 million people in the EU. They want EU officials to uphold the public interest and to be independent from commercial influence. They do not want them to serve and profit from commercial interests at cost to the public’s health and safety. However, what they too often get are massive conflicts of interest: see here about the ‘revolving door’ problem within official EU bodies, here about ‘the European Food and Safety Authority’s independence problem’ and here about ‘chemical conflicts’ in the EC’s scientific committees for consumer issues.
And they get governing bodies that are beholden to massive corporate lobbying: see here about ‘the fire power of the financial lobby’ and here about ‘who lobbies most’ for TTIP, with agribusiness being the biggest lobby group behing this secretive and corrupt trade deal that is attempting drive a policy agenda above the heads of the European people and contrary to their wishes (see this on TTIP as well).
Regulators turn a blind eye to the deleterious effects of products that pose a serious systemic risk to the public: see here about ‘the glyphosate toxicity studies you’re not allowed to see’ and here ‘case closed by EFSA on Roundup, despite new evidence’.
And they also give the nod to products based not on independent research but on a company’s statements or secretive studies taken at face value and then deliberately keep the public in the dark: for example, see here about ‘Roundup and birth defects’.
What people get are public institutions that serve a corporate agenda: see here about ‘the black book on the corporate agenda of the EC’.
Last year, Arthur Nelson noted that as many as 31 pesticides with a value running into billions of pounds could have been banned in the EU because of potential health risks, if a blocked EU paper on hormone-mimicking chemicals had been acted upon.
A study by Sebastian Stehle and Ralph Schultz found that 44.7 % of the 1,566 cases of measured insecticide concentrations (MICs) in EU surface waters exceeded their respective regulatory acceptable concentrations. The meta-analysis challenges the efficacy of the regulatory environmental risk assessment conducted for pesticide authorisation in the EU.
Our food and agriculture system is in big trouble. It’s in big trouble because the global agritech/agribusiness sector is poisoning it, us and the environment with its pesticides, herbicides, GMOs and various other chemical inputs. This is made possible because of the agro-chemical industry’s lavish funds, massive lobbying, slick PR, compliant politicians and scientists and its undermining and capture of regulatory and policy decision-making bodies that supposedly serve the public interest.
The situation in the US is possibly even worse and with TTIP on the horizon, Europeans could be in line for exposure to even more chemicals. Some 34,000 pesticides are currently registered for use in the US. Drinking water is often contaminated by pesticides, and more babies are being born with preventable birth defects due to pesticide exposure. Chemicals show up in breast milk of mothers. Illnesses are on the rise too, including asthma, autism and learning disabilities, birth defects and reproductive dysfunction, diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and several types of cancer. The link with pesticide exposure is becoming increasingly evident.
Elected politicians and ‘public servants’ are allowing this to happen. In 2014, the authors of the report ‘The record of a Captive Commission’ concluded that the outgoing Barraso II EC’s trade and investment policy revealed a bunch of unelected technocrats who cared little about what ordinary people want and negotiate on behalf of big business.
The report state that the European Commission had a one-sided relationship with agribusiness on GMOs and pesticides. Far from shifting Europe to a more sustainable food and agriculture system, the opposite had happened, as agribusiness and its lobbyists continued to dominate the Brussels scene. The report noted that the industry had been exerting strong pressure to prevent action by the EU on endocrine disruptors and pesticides.
Failure to expose and challenge the corruption, lobbying, back-room ‘free trade’ deals and revolving door that exists between agribusiness and decision-making/regulatory bodies will result in these corporations continuing to prosper at everyone else’s expense.
Open Letter from Rosemary Mason to Dirk Detken, Chief Attorney to the European Food Safety Authority
(For the sake of convenience, this is an edited version of the original letter and has been reformatted in places)
Dear Dirk Detken,
Humans and the environment are being poisoned by thousands of chemicals of that have never been tested by regulators in the combinations in which farmers use them today. Regulation of pesticides is controlled by the agrochemical industry. It has a financial interest in advising farmers to use as much and as many pesticides as possible. This week a Standing Committee of plant scientists from 28 member states in Europe is likely to endorse EFSA’s findings so that the European Commission (under pressure from Monsanto, Glyphosate Task Force and Crop Protection Organisations) can re-authorise glyphosate for another nine years.
1) Glyphosate is toxic to humans
Pesticide regulators and Monsanto maintain that glyphosate only affects plants, fungi and bacteria, not humans. Regulators claim it is non-toxic to humans because of the enzyme that glyphosate affects is only present in plants, fungi and bacteria and not in animals and humans. This is scientific nonsense. Pesticide scientists and plant scientists have based their assessment of herbicides on complete ignorance of human gut physiology. Humans and animals have exactly the same pathway as in plants; mammals can only absorb nutrients via the bacteria in their gut; the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome is the collective genome of organisms (i.e. bacteria) inhabiting our body (see this).
2) Environmentalists launch legal case against Monsanto and EU regulators over glyphosate assessment April 26 2016
Viennese lawyer Dr Josef Unterweger says:
“If there has been deliberate manipulation of the new licensing procedure for glyphosate with the intention of approving a carcinogenic substance, then this would be defrauding 508 million EU citizens.”
For this reason Dr Unterweger is pressing charges on behalf of Munich Environmental Institute and the six environmental organisations: Global 2000, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, PAN Germany, PAN UK, Générations Futures (France), WeMove Europe, and Nature & Progrès Belgique.
A report will also be submitted to OLAF, the European anti-fraud office.
Have EFSA and the EU Commission received a copy of the lawsuit?
3) Ignoring evidence about glyphosate in South America
I probably don’t need to remind you of the email I wrote to you on 22/10/2012 about EFSA and the Seralini paper on rat tumours (see this)
I said:
“As Senior Attorney to EFSA, I presume that your CEO Ms Catherine Geslain-Lanuélle must, on occasions, take your advice. Perhaps you would like to point out to her the trail of disasters to human health and the environment that has followed the planting of GM maize and Roundup Ready® crops in both Latin America and the US since they were first grown in 1996. These statistics are real, not theoretical laboratory ones. Are these the disasters that she would want to see repeated in Europe?”
I had no reply.
I noted that the German Rapporteur Member State (BfR)/Glyphosate Task Force had excluded all papers from Argentina/Paraguay reporting cancers, birth defects, reproductive problems and DNA changes in their Renewal Assessment Report.
4) Conflicts of interest
The German RMS (BfR) has members of industry serving on it. Le Monde revealed that one third of the Members of the BFR Commission on Pesticides and their Residues are directly employed by the chemical industry; others came from the ‘dubious’ bee institutes. The satirical comment from Le Monde was, that in Germany: “people from the pesticide industry give expert safety advice on their own products.”
Walter Haefeker President of the European Professional Beekeepers’ Association (EPBA) confirmed this:
“Federal authority for Consumer Protection and Food Safety: BVL (Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit), during a presentation in 2015, in Berlin, at the world’ s largest agricultural products fair, ‘Die Grüne Woche’, the Director of the Department for the Admission of Plant Protection (Pesticide Regulation Authority), Dr. Karsten Hogardt, stated that the BVL sees itself as: ‘a service for its clients, the plant protection industry’. In this role it is ‘advised’ by an expert group of ‘risk managers’ including many from the pesticide industry. It is shocking and disgraceful, that no independent scientists are allowed in the regulation, or licensing, of pesticides in Germany.”
They were correct. The BfR Committee for Pesticides and its residues had two members from Bayer and two members from BASF. Bayer manufactures Super Strength Glyphosate and BASF supplies a chemical component of glyphosate.
The WHO/JMPR (WHO Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues held jointly with the FAO Panel of Experts on the Use of Pesticides in Agriculture) met to make the final decision about the registration of glyphosate in September 2015 based on IARC’s full report; at least three had conflicts of interest
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) wrote to the World Health Organization (WHO) with the list of eight members of this Committee. They complained that three members had conflicts of interest. Angelo Morettiresigned in 2011 from EFSA after he had failed to declare conflicts of interest because he had shares in a company that helped companies needing to comply with EU Regulations. Prof Alan Boobis is Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe, Vice Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of ILSI Europe and a Member of the Board of Trustees. He had served as a WHO expert on Pesticides Residues on the WHO/JMPR Committee when glyphosate was granted approval in 2002.
Dr Roland Solecki, Head of the BfR, was one of the eight experts on the WHO/JMPR even though BfR had said: “In BfR’s opinion, it would be inexpedient if BfR as the composer of the assessment report on glyphosate would comment on the IARC monograph.”
5) Members of the Office of the European Ombudsman appear to be protecting industry
On 06/03/2016, I sent a letter to the EU Ombudsman Janet O’Reilly: ‘Maladministration and criminal collusion with the agrochemical involved in the renewal of glyphosate registration’. I received a reply on 13/05/2016, five days before the vote on the re-registration of glyphosate:
Complaint 378/2016/JVH “After a careful examination of your complaint, it seems that this condition is not met, because you do not appear to have made any administrative approaches either to the European Food Safety Authority or to the European Commission, in relation to your complaint. I regret to have to inform you, therefore, that I am not entitled to deal with your complaint.”
On 12/10/2015, I wrote an Open Letter to the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority.
On 07/12/2015, I sent the Health Commissioner an Open Letter to the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed asking for a copy be sent to the Committee.
On 16/02/2016, I sent letter to Bernhard Url: Glyphosate causes cancer and birth defects.
6) Glyphosate, which Monsanto claimed isn’t metabolized, was found in MEPs urine (see this)
The recent Green Party’s MEPs test was inspired by a German study ‘Urinale 2015’, which sampled glyposate concentrations in urine from more than 2,000 participants.
“The study found that the scale of the glyphosate problem is enormous, with detected concentrations in urine between five and 42 times over the maximum value of residues for drinking water in Europe,” the Green Party pointed out. “No less than 99.6 percent of all citizens who took part in this survey had higher residue levels. This means that virtually all citizens are contaminated with glyphosate.”
A number of other studies have detected glyphosate—the “most widely applied pesticideworldwide”—in feminine hygiene products, everyday food items and, yes, human bodies.
As veteran reporter Carey Gillam says in the article: What Killed Jack McCall? A Farmer Dies; A Case Against Monsanto Takes Root:
“Monsanto has deliberately concealed or suppressed information about the dangers of its product,” said environmental and chemical pollution attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is assisting in litigating glyphosate cases. “This is big. It’s on every farm in the world.”
There are now hundreds of court cases against glyphosate (and PCBs) for causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and since Anthony Samsel obtained the secret sealed files from the US EPA under Freedom of Information about Monsanto’s knowledge in the 1970s that glyphosate caused cancer and cataracts in animals, he is in great demand as a witness.
[In her letter, Mason then goes on to outline the track record of Monsanto in relation to PCBs and its own internal memos that proved it knew about the toxicity of PCBs as far back as 1970 but continued production. She also notes US EPA’s close links with Monsanto and the failure to protect the public interest.]
I look forward to hearing that the Standing Committee for Plants, Animals, Food and Feed has rejected EFSA’s Report on glyphosate and that the European Commission heeds the Appeal by the International Society of Doctors for the Environment to immediately and permanently ban, with no exceptions, the production, trade and use in all the EU territories of glyphosate-based herbicides and the four insecticides as assessed by IARC (see here).
Yours sincerely,
Rosemary Mason
16/05/2016
Colin Todhunter is an independent writer (his website is here)Sandy Leon. That’s the hook. I have you now.
This Red Sox season has been an odd one. Jackie Bradley is an excellent hitter but his defense has taken a step back. Weird. David Ortiz is 40 and better than ever. Huh? David Price has been bad, but somehow really good too. What? But nowhere in this bizarre spin-cycle of a season has there been anything as strange as Sandy Leon.
As I write this, we’re days from the trade deadline and the Red Sox are done unless they’re not. Dave Dombrowski is in charge and, supreme mover and shaker that he is, nobody is safe. Perhaps one of them most intriguing names on the market is that of Jonathan Lucroy. Lucroy is a catcher for the Brewers and brings an exciting group of skills including power, on-base ability and pitch framing. He’s perhaps the one player that makes the most sense for the Red Sox given where they are in the rotation (mostly full), the outfield (returning to health), and the infield (good to go). So, when you consider Blake Swihart’s injury and Christian Vazquez’s complete inability to hit, getting Lucroy makes sense. Except, there is Sandy Leon.
The first 17 players on the list of most valuable catchers per WAR have over 140 plate appearances. In truth, most have more than 300. But all of them have over 140, that is, until you get to the 18th spot. The player in the 18th spot has 93 plate appearances (before yesterday’s game). In those 93 PAs, he has 33 hits including 10 doubles, a triple, and three homers. That player is, of course, Sandy Leon, and that list is of the most valuable catchers in baseball by our metrics here at BP. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that our metrics treat Leon somewhat roughly, relatively speaking. By FanGraphs WAR, Leon has been the sixth best catcher in baseball. SIXTH! Steven Vogt, Brian McCann, Yasmani Grandal, and Matt Wieters are just some of the catchers that Leon has out-performed this year, which is silly in and of itself, but I want to draw your attention to the part that is extremely nuts. It’s not that Leon has been better than them. He has, but that’s not the point. It’s that he’s been better than them in about a third of the opportunities to be better than them. That’s extremely nuts!
It is on a couple different levels, too. It’s crazy because it’s just crazy. But it’s crazy because Leon was a forgotten player… I was going to say last year, but he was a forgotten player this year! After Vazquez’s injury last season, the team picked up Leon from Washington because that’s who they could get for basically nothing. Do you know who the Red Sox traded for Leon? I looked it up because I couldn’t remember either. The answer: nobody. They bought him for “cash considerations.” Incidentally that’s how I pay for my pizza. The Nationals thought so little of Leon that he wasn’t even worth a player, any player. The Red Sox thought so little of him that they DFA’d him one year ago (July 20, 2015).
To be fair to the Red Sox though, he was kinda terrible. So that’s the other thing that makes this all so weird. Leon has been excellent, amazing in fact, but he’s come out of nowhere to do it. He was literally cut loose by two organizations, and the second time nobody cared enough to bother with him, which is why he’s still on the Boston Red Sox. So then he comes into this season fourth on Boston’s catcher depth chart behind Swihart, Vazquez, and Ryan Hanigan in whatever order you want, and [flash forward four months] he’s not just the starter, he’s one of the best catchers in the sport.
So how in the heck, right? Well, let’s acknowledge that some of this is good fortune. You don’t sustain a.469 BABIP in the majors regardless of how many line drives you hit, or how much you barrel up the ball. Major league pitchers are too good. But this isn’t all luck, right? We’ve all seen Leon hit ball after ball on the screws. This can’t just be the baseball gods favoring a down and out player for a few months. Leon isn’t the best catcher in baseball, saying that much seems fair, but his success deserves the benefit of the doubt. So let’s see if we can figure it out.
First, look at this graph.
This is Sandy Leon’s exit velocity. The light blue is Leon, the gray line is the league average. It’s a weekly graph so it would fluctuate, but you can see how Leon has been, as John Farrell would say, impacting the ball. He’s been impacting the heck out of the ball, in fact. According to FanGraphs, 32.4 percent of his balls in play have been hard hit. For context, Mookie Betts is at 35.3 percent and Dustin Pedroia is at 32 percent. But it should be noted that 48.5 percent of Leon’s hits have been hard enough to be categorized as “medium hard.” That means that of the balls he puts into play, about 80 percent have a good shot to fall for a hit.
So that all sounds great, right? Here’s the bad news: the league average of Hard Hit plus Medium Hits is also 80 percent. Leon sprays the ball around, but his batted ball profile shows him as a very average hitter. So we’re back to Leon’s.469 BABIP, his unimpressive walk rate (six percent) and mediocre strikeout-to-walk ratio (3:1). I hate to end this on a buzz-killing note but I don’t think there’s any way Sandy Leon is this good, or is someone the Red Sox can count on as a star player going forward. If they can get Jonathan Lucroy for a reasonable package, they should, and they shouldn’t let Sandy Leon stand in their way.
However, this article isn’t finished. That’s because what Leon has done so far is, at the very least, put himself in the position to be a league average catcher going forward, or possibly even a little bit better if there is something in his performance that is more sustainable than I’m supposing here. As we’ve seen this season, league average players can be extremely valuable. Just imagine, for example, if the Red Sox had two more league average starters this season. They’d have a bunch more wins and they’d still have Anderson Espinosa. League average players are valuable. Sandy Leon, even if he’s not the best catcher in baseball, is very valuable.
Sandy Leon isn’t the best catcher in baseball, even if he’s made a case for it in the small sample of opportunities he’s been given this season. If the Red Sox can improve the position by adding a star like Lucroy, they should do so and not look back. But Leon has absolutely proven that he can be a major league catcher, even if he doesn’t have the baseball gods so solidly on his side, and considering where he’s been as recently as last season, that just might be the strangest story in a very strange Red Sox season.
Photo by Winslow Towson/USA Today Sports ImagesTwo little bits of Judge Dredd business came out of this afternoon’s Retailers Conference at the MCM London Comic-Con. I’m going to share the film-centric one first. Because, you know. Films.
According to a rep from Rebellion, addressing the assembled store holders and comic hawks, plans for a Dredd movie sequel aren’t entirely dead. I think the exact words were that it “could still be happening” but I’ll try to clarify that as soon as I can.
For now, be enthused. But also remember that this was said at a retailer’s conference, and could have just been salt sprinkled on to make the idea of ordering lots of copies of 2000AD and The Megazine tastier.
Now let me try and get the comic book half of this business worked out. I know Google Translate can handle Dutch, but how about Double Dutch?
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Foreword:
Remember, this blog is targeting healthy individuals seeking optimum health through diet and lifestyle who are ideally already following the Paleolithic/primal lifestyle.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction & Summary
1.1 Author’s Note
2. Cancer
3. Insulin Sensitivity & Glucose Tolerance
4. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
5. Heart Health & Hypertension
6. Pregnancy
7. Antioxidants & Inflammation
8. Mental Health
9. Liver Health
10. Oral Health
11. Bone Health
12. Gout
13. Fitness Performance
14. Metabolic Syndrome
15. Gallstone Disease
16. Additives & Nutrient Uptake
17. Variation Among Types of Coffee
18. Sleep
19. Future Topics of Interest
21. References (Annotated Bibliography)
22. Acknowledgements
1. Introduction & Summary
Over half of all American adults drink some form of coffee on a daily basis. But is it good for you? There are a plethora of ways to drink it: iced, with skim, 1%, 2%, whole, cream, half and half, with soy, a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, artificial sweetener, non-dairy creamer, as espresso, etc. Ask around and you’ll get just as many different opinions as to whether or not it’s good for you: it cures cancer, it causes cancer, it is hard on your heart, or it lowers blood pressure. What the hell is going on here? So, I decided to kick off my first EBP article by boiling down all the research I could find on coffee into a coherent, science-based recommendation.
What follows this introduction is a lot of summarization of research articles, so I will briefly give my recommendation on coffee. If you are currently healthy and enjoy coffee, drink it – but drink it black, and no more than six 6-ounce “cups” (or about 1 liter total) per day. Habitual drinking of four or five “cups” spread throughout each day is encouraged, but drink it before 5 pm. It is important you get ample calcium and occasionally lift heavy things to maintain bone health. Drink decaf all you want.
I say no more than one liter per day because it seems practical to hedge your bets: 4 or 5 cups will get you the vast majority of the benefits, while minimizing any potential risks associated with such a large volume of coffee consumption. What are the benefits of habitual coffee consumption? Coffee seems to protect against many types of cancer, including oral, pharyngeal, liver, pancreatic, colon, prostate, endometrial, brain and potentially others. It also appears that habitual consumption leads to improved insulin sensitivity, reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, reduced risk of heart disease and other heart problems, reduced oxidative stress and inflammation, better oral health, better mental health, better liver health, reduced risk of gout and gallstone disease, and couple cups of coffee before some high-intensity endurance exercise can boost performance. And it has practically no calories40! One major downside I have seen is that coffee reduces the body’s ability to metabolize calcium, so it is very important to ensure you are getting your calcium. Also, caffeinated coffee may be related to birth defects and should probably be avoided by pregnant women, especially during the first trimester. It seems that decaffeinated coffee can give you a fair amount of benefits without any apparent risk, but you will miss out on many of the great benefits of caffeinated coffee.
As an important note, this recommendation is not a permission slip to enjoy other types of caffeinated beverages like energy drinks or diet sodas! There are many components of coffee that all seem to interact to produce these effects, so you cannot generalize its benefits to other things. Also, it’s psychologically unhealthful to think of coffee as a need, so if you’re at a stage of psychological addiction that you simply cannot go without your coffee, you need to try to go thirty days without it to give yourself a little “reboot”. If you don’t want to drink four or five cups of coffee that is just fine, but don’t expect the benefits that come with that level of coffee consumption. If you already drink much more than five cups of coffee a day, you should consider lowering your intake to reduce your risk of unhealthful side effects.
Top
1.1 Author’s Note
I spent a lot of time on this research and writing this up, so I really hope you enjoy it. If you want to get a glimpse at how coffee affects each topic, simply look at the overviews. “The Research” sections are a lot more rigid and detailed.
Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you want me to research an unmentioned topic or critique my writing or reasoning. Every comment helps! Thanks for reading. I intend to keep this updated as new research comes to light.
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2. Cancer
Overview: You might find some big claims around the ‘net about coffee and it’s protective effects on certain types of cancer, and in fact the claims are mostly true! Studies show an inverse association between caffeinated coffee drinking and oral, pharyngeal, liver, pancreatic, colon, prostate, endometrial and even brain cancer. These associations are weaker or non-existent for decaf, depending on which type of cancer you are talking about. Finally, it seems that while coffee may help protect against acquiring cancer, it does not significantly affect cancer mortality in any broad sense.
The Research: A recent study in Evidence Based Dentistry3 found an inverse association of caffeinated coffee with the risk cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, decreasing combined risk by 39%. Data on decaf was too sparse for detailed analysis. Another major study60 showed that there was a 60% risk decrease for aggressive prostate cancers in those who drank six or more cups of coffee – decaf or caffeinated - per day, but there was no such association for non-advanced or low-grade prostate cancers. It also seems that24 coffee consumption may be associated with decreased risk of endometrial cancer, especially among overweight women. Several studies35,56,58,75,78 found that coffee drinking has a strong protective effect against the most common type of liver cancer, called hepatocellular carcinoma. This is likely due to the fact that colon, liver and pancreatic cancers are related to insulin resistance, which coffee helps protect against58. Multiple studies32,44 have found an inverse association between total caffeinated coffee consumption and risk of glioma, or brain cancer. No association between coffee and breast cancer has been found22. No association between coffee consumption and total cancer mortality among men was found, although a possible weak association was found for women54. From all of this research, it seems that caffeinated coffee is definitively superior to decaffeinated coffee with respect to its protective effects against cancers.
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3. Insulin Sensitivity & Glucose Tolerance
Overview: Coffee’s role in insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance is paradoxical and very puzzling to researchers – hey, I’ll admit, I was close to banging my head on my desk as I was working on this. On one hand, long-term habitual use of caffeinated coffee is associated with better insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, while acute administration of seems to decrease insulin sensitivity in certain conditions but not others. There appears to be an interactive group of events that goes on in the digestive tract after coffee consumption, with polyphenols, beneficial acids, and caffeine all following different pathways. My suspicion is that we have not yet come up with an appropriate method of testing in testing in order to see what is really going on.
The take-home message is this: habitual, long-term caffeinated coffee drinking improves insulin sensitivity. As for the acute effects, it seems that decaffeinated coffee or coffee extracts quickly lower blood glucose levels and insulin levels, while caffeinated coffee does not. I’m not too worried about the acute effects, however, as they appear to have no long-term negative effects, and if you’re already eating paleo/primal then you have relative little carbohydrate intake which will help minimize any of the acute effects of coffee on glucose tolerance.
The Research: Acute administration of caffeinated coffee produces a myriad of puzzling results. Researchers<a href=“#46” target=”_self">46 found that caffeinated coffee elicits acute insulin insensitivity when ingested before a carbohydrate load, and if co-ingested with one meal it results in insulin insensitivity after another meal. After a second dose of caffeinated coffee, insulin sensitivity was decreased. Another study8 found that caffeinated coffee and lipids additively decrease glucose tolerance.
Consumption of polyphenols, which are abundant in coffee, attenuate postprandial (“after-meal”) glycemic responses and fasting hyperglycemia and improve insulin secretion and sensitivity, but the mechanism of their action is not yet known30. A study34 analyzing the extract of decaffeinated green coffee beans found that a dose of the extract reduced plasma glucose compared to control, but without affecting insulin. This indicates that the extract works by inhibiting amylolytic enzymes, which break down sugars, and attenuating intestinal glucose absorption. Additionally, researchers63 found that chlorogenic acid and trigonelline, which are two major components of coffee, significantly reduced early glucose and insulin concentrations following an oral glucose tolerance test when compared with placebo. It has been suggested that this is mediated through incretin hormones, which help stimulates insulin release and inhibits glucagon release to lower blood glucose, but research49 does not support this. Another study42 suggests that polyphenol content in coffee may protect beta cells from oxidative stress, which helps in response to a glucose load, while caffeine in caffeinated coffee may counteract these positive effects and instead act through a different pathway.
Long-term consumption of coffee appears to be quite beneficial for insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. A long-term study5 found that men who had impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance and reverted to normal glucose tolerance had statistically higher coffee consumption compared to their non-reverting counterparts. This is consistent with other research41 that has shown that average fasting glucose levels have been found to decrease as coffee consumption increases61. Additionally, habitual coffee consumption seems to help lower insulin resistance in postmenopausal women, especially in overweight women14.
Researchers43 sought to resolve the coffee-insulin paradox by testing coffee along with co-consumption of sugar. Out of coffee, decaf, black tea, straight sucrose (10g), hot water, or coffee+sucrose (10g), only the coffee+sucrose reduced postprandial glycemia, which they thought may explain paradoxical findings of studies relating coffee to reduced risk of diabetes. However, it is unclear whether or not this is associated with long-term insulin regulation, as other studies11 have found that drinking coffee with additives like cream and sugar is correlated with obesity. In a review9 of research, scientists saw strong evidence that caffeine reduces insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, but it is unclear whether or not this is acute or long-term or whether
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the pet service.
"It's a money-making venture," he said, calling it a "win-win situation."
Click here to view his website.
Centre says he has called up a network of atheist families and friends in 22 states, who would step in to look after the animals.
Coverage is good for 10 years, he says. If there is no Rapture by then, he keeps the cash.
"There are no refunds," he said. "If I thought the Rapture was really going to happen, I wouldn't have the business."
He says he's gotten 4,000 emails, mostly from fellow atheists. About 10%, he says, are Christians who think it's a fun idea and wish him luck, and an undisclosed handful who have even signed up for the service.
The paper quotes Terry James, editor of a popular, Arkansas-based Christian website called Rapture Ready, as finding the project amusing.
"It's a scam," he tells the paper, "... Anyone who would take that offer seriously, well, how would you even follow up?"
But James concedes that the pet issue is real. He says he has written a pamphlet to worried Christians counseling that if people in Heaven find they miss their pets, they can decide to have them brought up later.
Click here for his James' website, Rapture Ready.
(Posted by Doug Stanglin)| by Jonathan English |
This article continues the CityRail series, which proposes a modern regional rail system for the GTA. For more detailed information, check out the original CityRail proposal.
CityRail is a revolutionary new proposal for transit in the GTA. It would connect more people to more places, make trips faster, and bring the GTA together in a new way. The best part is, it is entirely feasible.
CityRail is about using rail corridors that already exist to dramatically expand rapid transit in the GTA at a very reasonable cost. The GO Transit corridors would be transformed so that instead of infrequent and expensive GO trains, the entire GTA would enjoy rapid transit service much like the Toronto subway. Since the corridors are already there, there's no need for expensive tunnels. All that's needed is modern electrified trains and minor track upgrades. Better still, CityRail would mean never having to pay an extra fare to ride GO Transit again. Connections would be as seamless as they currently are between bus, subway, and streetcar on the TTC. CityRail would serve both the City of Toronto and the 905 suburbs, transforming Toronto from a transit city into a transit region.
CityRail routes and the TTC subway, cartography by Craig White
A minimum of new infrastructure would be required. GO Transit is already planning for the new tracks and electrification that CityRail would require. What we need, though, is a coherent and integrated plan. CityRail can’t be planned piecemeal. Right now, Metrolinx is planning various disconnected expansion and electrification projects with only a vague end goal of more frequent service. Instead, we need to set out, from the beginning, to design a system that meets the goals of integrated fares, high-frequency rapid transit-style service, and modern trains. It’s not about pouring concrete. Instead, it’s about a different philosophy of regional transit that no longer focuses on shuttling commuters from parking lots to downtown, but instead uses the corridors we already have for real rapid transit throughout the GTA so people can live their whole lives car free.
For a visual overview of the CityRail proposal, designer Iain M. Campbell has created a fantastic graphical presentation, worth your time to view!
CityRail involves four basic principles: frequent “turn-up-and-go” service, fare and schedule integration with other transit services, and modern electrified trains.
Frequent turn-up-and-go service
GO Transit service today is extremely limited for people not travelling to downtown Toronto for ordinary 9-to-5 jobs. On most lines, trains don’t even run outside rush hour, or on weekends. But even the new 30-minute service on the Lakeshore, which has brought a significant increase in ridership, isn’t real rapid transit. Nobody would put up with a subway train only every half hour. CityRail means true rapid transit frequencies of at least every fifteen minutes or better all day, every day. Research has shown this is the maximum amount of time for people to be able to show up at the station without worrying about a schedule. It’s even more important for people who are transferring from local buses, since nobody wants to run the risk of waiting a half hour if their bus is delayed.
Bombardier Talent 2 (Image Credit: Bombardier)
Fare Integration
CityRail can only succeed when passengers can transfer freely to connecting bus, subway, and LRT lines, like they do from the subway to TTC buses and streetcars today. The benefits would be huge. Ridership on the GO corridors would increase, which would mitigate the inevitable reduction in some fares through the introduction of a region-wide zone fare system (For more information, check out this earlier article on fare integration). Integration with TTC and other local routes would also reduce the need for parking at stations. Most importantly, it would bring rapid transit to countless areas that currently have none, even within the City of Toronto.
Weston residents know that their community is one of the most challenging in Toronto to reach by transit. A ride on the 89 bus from Weston can take three-quarters of an hour in rush hour just to get to the subway at Bloor. Still, this bus is crowded, while comparatively few people ride the GO train just a block away. This train could whisk them to Bloor in a few minutes or all the way downtown in less than twenty. So why don't they use it?
The insistence on providing service only for 9-to-5 commuters to downtown is a big part of the problem. But even if trains ran every 10 minutes all day, not many people would choose to ride them if it meant paying a $4.50 GO Train ticket on top of their TTC fare. Fare integration would bring rapid transit to an array of neighbourhoods like Weston, without the need to spend billions on tunnels and other mega-projects.
Schedule Integration
Nearly every TTC bus and streetcar route connects directly to a subway station. That means that people can easily ride from their home to the subway, take the subway across the city, and then take another bus to their final destination. That kind of well-connected network is what makes transit successful in suburban Toronto (For more information, see here).
With CityRail, it would be no different. Bus routes would be redesigned to connect with CityRail stations so that it would be like a massively expanded subway network. People would be able to get on a bus in Oakville, ride to the CityRail station, and then take it across the region to Markham, where they could take another bus to their final destination. CityRail could also act like a local rapid transit line. The Milton CityRail line would act like an east-west subway across the City of Mississauga, providing a rapid transit backbone for that city’s transit network.
Modern Electric Trains
Our GO lines use massive, double-decker trains that take a long time to load and unload. In Europe, regional rail uses lighter trains that are much more like subway trains. With many more doors than current GO trains and no steps at the entrance, these trains would dramatically reduce waiting time at Union Station, eliminating the major limitation on the capacity of the present GO network. Adding capacity through more frequency is much better for riders than merely running larger trains. It would also make the system much more wheelchair accessible. Electrified European-style trains like the Bombardier Talent 2 or the Stadler FLIRT also accelerate much faster than existing GO trains.
With CityRail trains like this, stations could be more closely spaced to attract walk-in traffic without making trips any longer than they are on the GO Train today. Antiquated North American safety regulations have long precluded the use of European trains, but regulators are finally starting to accept them here. Toronto needs to take advantage of this opening and buy these lighter, more efficient trains, instead of buying more old fashioned bi-level (double-decker) trains. The old trains do not need to be discarded, however. They would be very useful for limited stop services to outlying parts of the region, like Kitchener, Barrie and Niagara Falls, where there slow acceleration would be less of an issue.
Stadler FLIRT (Image Credit: Stadler Rail)
CityRail would serve both as local rapid transit in Toronto and 905 municipalities, and as a high quality cross-regional rapid transit service. People travelling from one part of the 905 to another would not be forced onto the crowded 400-series highways. The entire GTA would have access to high quality transit service. And it can be done at a fraction of the cost of underground rapid transit. It would transform the Greater Toronto Area into a true transit region.
What will it take to make CityRail a reality? Other CityRail articles:
Continuing the campaign for CityRail, we are pleased to announce a new Facebook group for CityRail.
Jonathan English is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University. His blog is Transit Futures.Lee Sin is the absolute bane of my existence while playing Ivern. Insanely mobile, an incredible duelist and an excellent counter jungler, Lee Sin has the tools needed to keep Ivern oppressed and hiding in the jungle. He's capable of winning a 1v1 at almost any time during laning phase and slipping away in Lee Sin fashion. Thanks to ward hoping via Safeguard and activating Tempest to acquire vision while you're attempting to hide, it's incredibly difficult to plug away at a Lee Sin who is in your face. Just like Syndra, it's also very arduous to attempt to use Daisy to your advantage against the Blind Monk. He can make very short work out of her with his kit and even use Dragon's Rage to send her flying back into Ivern's face.
11) A more delicate issue that has sprouted up a few times in my early Ivern games was using Brushmaker incredibly improperly. While ganking or sieging it's beneficial to set up some brushes ahead of you so you can benefit from W's passive and get ranged auto attacks. However, you can sometimes find yourself in a situation where you have created too much brush in an attempted siege and cut off vision for your own lane. It's a rookie mistake and I learned quickly, but one early instance was against an Annie in mid lane. I created a line of brush to begin a siege while ganking, but due to the path the brush was laid down, it created a vision pocket for Annie to hide behind, much to LML Taggles' despair. He lost all vision of the enemy tower as well as his opponent. Woops. Don't do that.
12) Speaking of Brushmaker, as mentioned above, the passive on Ivern's W allows him to have ranged auto-attacks while he's standing in a brush. This "buff" will last for 3 seconds while walking out of brush too. It's important to note how much time you have left before you need to step into a bush to reset the "buff" and if you aren't careful it can end in you trying to fight somebody without the important damage boost. Be aware of how many Brushes you are capable of spawning and don't let yourself fight without one, your basic auto attack is pretty laughable. (both visually and mathematically!)
13) Don't max E first. Triggerseed is definitely an excellent ability with a ton of uses and maxing it lowers it's cooldown and increases the size of the shield and damage of the burst. However, despite some back and forth in Ivern discussions, I find maxing W to be way more beneficial in every way. Maxing W increases the range at which Ivern can spawn brush, how fast his charges replenish and even how much damage his brush empowered autos do. Much more efficient earlier and even allows you to win some surprising fights!
14) Okay time to talk about something besides Brushmaker. Daisy isn't an incredible ultimate ability but there's a lot going for Ivern's Sentinel friend, especially in small skirmishes. However, do NOT throw Daisy out willy-nilly during a siege or stand off without a clear goal. Spawning Daisy in a 5v5 as the only engage will accomplish absolutely nothing, especially late game. Daisy will die before even attacking a single opponent if she is focused properly. Currently at max rank (level 16) Daisy is only packing 3000 health, and while Ivern is looking at some Okay time to talk about something besides Brushmaker. Daisy isn't an incredible ultimate ability but there's a lot going for Ivern's Sentinel friend, especially in small skirmishes. However, do NOT throw Daisy out willy-nilly during a siege or stand off without a clear goal. Spawning Daisy in a 5v5 as the only engage will accomplish absolutely nothing, especially late game. Daisy will die before even attacking a single opponent if she is focused properly. Currently at max rank (level 16) Daisy is only packing 3000 health, and while Ivern is looking at some possible buffs soon, including a bloat to Daisy's health pool, it's still very easy for a late game team to rip through Daisy. Don't sacrifice Daisy for no reason!
I sincerely hope these tips and pieces of advice have been helpful. Ivern is semi-difficult and really requires one to think a little bit differently about the flow of a game of League. I guess if I had to say what my "main" jungle champions have been over the years, Shaco and KhaZix would probably fit the bill even though I'll pretty much play anything. That being said, playing the "support jungler" makes for an approach unlike any other jungler in the game, even mechanically difficult ones, and can really assist your thought process while playing other champions. Before I head back on the Rift with Ivern to cause havoc and listen to him say things like "My favorite color is spring!", "Potatoes are always watching." and "Have an Ivern-Crisp apple! Don't ask how I make them...", I have one more INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TIP.
15) DO NOT use the Candy King Ivern skin. It's creepy and makes everyone feel bad.Without the protection of his own feudal lord, the peasant was subject to abuse both by criminals and other feudal lords. But both corporations and the government—and often the two in cahoots—are using their power to their own advantage, trampling on our rights in the process. And without the technical savvy to become Robin Hoods ourselves, we have no recourse but to submit to whatever the ruling institutional power wants.
So what happens as technology increases? Is a police state the only effective way to control distributed power and keep our society safe? Or do the fringe elements inevitably destroy society as technology increases their power? Probably neither doomsday scenario will come to pass, but figuring out a stable middle ground is hard. These questions are complicated, and dependent on future technological advances that we cannot predict. But they are primarily political questions, and any solutions will be political.
In the short term, we need more transparency and oversight. The more we know of what institutional powers are doing, the more we can trust that they are not abusing their authority. We have long known this to be true in government, but we have increasingly ignored it in our fear of terrorism and other modern threats. This is also true for corporate power. Unfortunately, market dynamics will not necessarily force corporations to be transparent; we need laws to do that. The same is true for decentralized power; transparency is how we’ll differentiate political dissidents from criminal organizations.
Oversight is also critically important, and is another long-understood mechanism for checking power. This can be a combination of things: courts that act as third-party advocates for the rule of law rather than rubber-stamp organizations, legislatures that understand the technologies and how they affect power balances, and vibrant public-sector press and watchdog groups that analyze and debate the actions of those wielding power.
Transparency and oversight give us the confidence to trust institutional powers to fight the bad side of distributed power, while still allowing the good side to flourish. For if we’re going to entrust our security to institutional powers, we need to know they will act in our interests and not abuse that power. Otherwise, democracy fails.
In the longer term, we need to work to reduce power differences. The key to all of this is access to data. On the Internet, data is power. To the extent the powerless have access to it, they gain in power. To the extent that the already powerful have access to it, they further consolidate their power. As we look to reducing power imbalances, we have to look at data: data privacy for individuals, mandatory disclosure laws for corporations, and open government laws.
Medieval feudalism evolved into a more balanced relationship in which lords had responsibilities as well as rights. Today’s Internet feudalism is both ad-hoc and one-sided. Those in power have a lot of rights, but increasingly few responsibilities or limits. We need to rebalance this relationship. In medieval Europe, the rise of the centralized state and the rule of law provided the stability that feudalism lacked. The Magna Carta first forced responsibilities on governments and put humans on the long road toward government by the people and for the people. In addition to re-reigning in government power, we need similar restrictions on corporate power: a new Magna Carta focused on the institutions that abuse power in the 21st century.nudity
- a scene shows a man and woman both completely nude in the streets with brief views of both of their buttocks as well as a view of her breasts (nipples are slightly more difficult to see but they are still present within the screenshot), part of this scene they are embracing/rolling around as he tries to protect her from being hit by cars - a few other scenes show male bare buttocks (further details of when these scenes occurr below) - a scene shows a woman undressing - shows her in bra reaving a lot of cleavage and then her shoulders/top of breasts after removing bra and shows her silhouette/shadow on the wall while she is nude) ------------------------------------- They used some of rear male nudity from The Terminator 1984 and added a little more - non sexual / non explicit A man steps into time displacement equipment completely naked and gets teleported, arriving at his destination naked (only buttocks very briefly visible). A man is presumed naked from the back, but the lighting is dark enough to not see his buttocks.What’s unclear is whether that prohibition extends to sexual orientation and gender identity—whether existing federal laws make it illegal for schools to keep transgender kids from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity, for example, or for large businesses to fire people for being gay. These questions have confounded courts since at least 1989, when the Supreme Court ruled in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins that disparate treatment based on femininity or masculinity—penalizing a woman who refuses to wear skirts or make-up, for example—is illegal. Outside the realm of legal theory, though, it’s difficult to separate a person’s gender performance (how they act out their gender) from their gender identity (whether they identify as male or female) or sexual orientation (who they’re attracted to). In other words: It’s nearly impossible to tease apart the harassment an effeminate gay man might face for his mannerisms, from the harassment he might face over the fact that he has sex with another man when he goes home.
Judges are well aware of this conceptual tangle. Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, a case brought by Kimberly Hively, who claimed she was denied full-time work and promotions because she is a lesbian. She lost, and the reason was straightforward, according to the court: Title VII does not cover discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. No matter how clear the facts of the case, no matter how explicit the reason for Hively’s stalled out career—it can’t be the basis for a successful suit. Federal law, under which she was suing, does not prohibit employers from refusing to promote lesbians. Because Hively lives in Indiana, she couldn’t sue Ivy Tech under state law, either—the state has no statute that prohibits what she says happened to her.
The Seventh Circuit could have stopped at that, but the judge who authored the decision, Ilana Rovner, went on to include 42 pages of legal research outlining the mess of conflicting decisions that courts have made on this topic. Gender theorists have spent decades trying to disaggregate “sex” from “gender” from “orientation,” but progressive legal groups have done exactly the opposite: They’ve tried to get courts to see all of those concepts as “sex,” with mixed results.
Objections to discrimination based on gender identity have had a bit more success in court than those based on sexual orientation, like Hively’s. When someone goes though a sex-change operation and their colleagues’ behavior toward them changes, for example, “you’re treating someone differently because of their sex than you did when they were the opposite sex,” said Michael C. Harper, a law professor at Boston University. “You’re discriminating against them because they’ve chosen the wrong sex.”It’s only been six years since Voyage of the Dawn Treader limped into theaters and then dragged itself back out again, so of course now’s exactly the right time to finally make that Silver Chair movie!
We last heard about this project back in January, when producer Mark Gordon said there was “active” development on it. He said a lot of other obfuscating BS about it being a “brand new franchise,” which was repeated with today’s news that TriStar is funding the movie with eOne and the Mark Gordon Company. To be clear this is a new franchise only insofar as new people are funding it. It’s still just moving on to the next book in the series, not starting over.
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The real thing distinguishing this movie from the three predecessors is that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian were made by Disney. Voyage of the Dawn Treader came from Dune Entertainment and Fox. And now a whole new company is going to try to make lemonade from these lemons.
I loved these books growing up. And I owned giant VHS copies of the BBC miniseries. So I hope to god a third studio’s the charm when it comes to making the movies work. We’ll have wait and see.
[Deadline]PHOENIX--Lawmakers, union leaders, human rights groups, Democratic Party leaders, and celebrities are taking on the "Toughest Sheriff in America" for policies that they say encourage racial profiling, civil rights violations, and other abuses.
Last week, four Democratic members of the Congressional House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) sent a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder requesting an investigation into whether MCSO has engaged in racial profiling or violated other civil rights in the course of its immigration enforcement efforts under 287(g). This week, the Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus made similar requests to DHS and the U.S. Attorney General's Office.
Sheriff Arpaio has had consistently high approval ratings among his constituents throughout his 15 years as Maricopa County Sheriff, but he has also been a well-known and controversial figure across the country throughout his terms. Arpaio is most famous for his Tent City Jail where, in efforts to save costs, a couple thousand county inmates are housed year-round in surplus military tents, fed baloney sandwiches twice per day, shackled in pink handcuffs, and dressed in old-fashioned black-and-white striped uniforms and pink boxer shorts. With a cost of only 15 cents per meal, the infamous Tent City Jail meals are touted on the Maricopa County Sheriff Office (MCSO) website as "the cheapest meals in the U.S."
Arpaio has also been denounced for using volunteer "chain gangs" and marching large groups of inmates through public streets to transfer them from one facility to another. Arpaio has even appeared in his own Fox television reality show, "Smile... You're Under Arrest!"
The most tendentious imputations to Arpaio, however, stem from an agreement between the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The 287(g) provision allows federally trained and supervised state and local law enforcement officials to investigate, apprehend, transport, and detain people who are living and working in the country without authorization.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), there are currently 67 state and local law enforcement agencies have 287(g) agreements with DHS, and with 160 officers, Arpaio has the largest contingent of 287(g) officers in the country. His critics charge that abuses by Arpaio's 287(g) officers have left entire local communities, including U.S. citizens, feeling "under siege." Those critics believe that the abuses are systematic and stem directly from policies and procedures enacted by Arpaio under 287(g) that encourage racial profiling and civil rights violations of the immigrants and communities targeted for enforcement.
In April 2008, then U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey was also asked to investigate similar charges of racial discrimination after Jessica Rodriguez, a high level staffer of Mayor Phil Gordon, believed that her husband was illegally targeted during a traffic stop by MCSO when six cars made an illegal u-turn but only her Hispanic husband was stopped, ticketed, and asked for proof of citizenship). Rodriguez has an ongoing lawsuit against MCSO related to the incident.
Gordon has also criticized Arpaio's neighborhood "sweeps" as heavy-handed, but Arpaio insists that overwhelming force is necessary when officers enter gang-infested neighborhoods. MCSO has used SWAT teams and helicopters when conducting what Arpaio calls "saturation raids," which target neighborhoods or businesses and are aimed at both hard criminals and illegal laborers.
The 287(g) program has rules in place to prevent racial profiling and to ensure that civil rights are not violated, but Arpaio's detractors say that his policies do not comply with those rules. For example, when conducting certain types of operations in areas heavily populated by minorities, the federal government requires the officers to have compelling evidence that crime is taking place, but Arpaio's critics believe that race is MCSO's primary criteria for targeting a community or business.
Lofgren says,
Latino members of the community are considered "undocumented" [by MCSO] until proven otherwise.
A 152 page report (PDF) released Wednesday by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) School of Law goes even further, saying:
A federal law granting local police and sheriffs the power to act as immigration officials when faced with dangerous criminals or terrorists has instead created a climate of racial profiling and community insecurity.
The primary strategic goal of 287(g) is to identify criminal aliens. The saturation raids include large numbers of traffic stops within neighborhoods targeted, according to MCSO, on empirical evidence of crime. The traffic stops, however, often result in the detention of people whose only crime is an immigration violation and a minor traffic violation.
In January, Arpaio was caught on video arresting Ciria Lopez in front of her two children for an unpaid traffic ticket. Mrs. Lopes was deported weeks later, leaving her children without a mother.
Critics charge that sheriff deputies pull over drivers based on hunches that illegal immigrants are in the vehicle or under the guise of minor traffic violations (e.g., crack windshield, broken taillight), and then officers check their residency status, but MCSO says that they check the legal status of the driver and passenger only when they have probable cause. An MCSO spokesperson says, "when we pull over a van with 30 people in it in a smuggling corridor, we have probable cause."
According to an ICE fact sheet, however, traffic stops should not be impacted by 287(g) enforcement efforts:
ICE representatives have repeatedly emphasized that [287(g)] is designed to identify individuals for potential removal, who pose a threat to public safety, as a result of an arrest and/or conviction for state crimes. It does not impact traffic offenses such as driving without a license unless the offense leads to an arrest.
Arpaio says, though, that in addition to the federal laws enforced under 287(g), he has an obligation to enforce Arizona state laws, to reduce violent crime, and to save local taxpayers money. Last month, he conducted sweeps in Buckeye that included traffic stops, an area that he says is "a hotbed for violent human smuggling operations," pointing to nearly 100 homicides in the area over the last 6 years.
Twice Arpaio has marched shackled prisoners from one location to another. Most recently, in February a couple hundred immigrant detainees were marched down a public street from one jail facility to another so that they could be segregated from the rest of the inmate population. MCSO points out that the so-called "public street" is actually a street that runs between MCSO buildings and that the detainees only walked about 220 yards. A spokesperson says, "There wasn't any traffic. Any cars driving down that street are probably occupied by MCSO employees."
Immigrant rights activists, including lawmakers and other public officials denounced the march as "ritual humiliation" and a trophy-like display of Arpaio's "conquests" and denounced the separate facilities as racial segregation. Arpaio's supporters, however, say that he was merely separating immigration lawbreakers from hardened criminals. Arpaio says the move was a cost cutting measure and that the immigrant detainees will also benefit from more convenient access to the Mexican consulate.
For 2 years, Arpaio has advertised a hotline on MCSO trucks and vans through which local residents are encouraged to report people suspected of human cross-border trafficking and people who they suspect are living and working in the U.S. illegally. Supporters claim that the hotline discourages businesses from hiring people who are not authorized to work in the U.S. and helps authorities identify drop houses and criminal gang members. Critics say it encourages people to report sightings of Hispanics and to inform on minority neighbors who may or may not be residing in the country illegally.
One local paper produced an award-winning series accusing Arpaio of neglecting other obligations in order to pursue an anti-immigrant agenda. They say that in an effort to gain the publicity attached to controversial immigration enforcement activities, Arpaio has shifted resources to his immigration enforcement agenda leaving too few resources available for the core responsibilities of MCSO. They cite statistics that show MCSO performance on a range of law enforcement criteria dropped after Arpaio signed the 287(g) agreement.
MCSO says those statistics are incorrect, and they refute the conclusion reached by the East Valley Tribune reporters by pointing to a recent FBI report that shows violent crime and homicides have declined in Maricopa County. In fact, an MCSO spokesperson says that the FBI has commended them for immigration enforcement because it likely contributed to the decline of violent crime.
In a public memo on January 30, Napolitano asked DHS to re-examine the entire 287(g) program. According to DHS Spokesperson Sean Smith, the request was sparked by questions of whether uniform standards are applied under 287(g) across law enforcement agencies. Specifically, the report asks the following:
How many officers have been trained to date? How many agreements have been signed with state and locals to date and how many are ready to be signed? What is the current turnaround time to sign an agreement and what can be done to expedite more agreements? How does this model compare in cost, effectiveness, and administration, to other forms of cooperation with these officials or entities? What are the strengths and challenges with jail model agreements versus task force model agreements?
The report is due on Napolitano's desk today, but has not yet been released to the public.
Napolitano's question, "what can be done to expedite more agreements?" sparked outrage among critics of MCSO and 287(g), spurring plans for protests across the country on Saturday, February 28. More than 70 organizations have signed on so far, along with lawmakers and leaders of the Democratic Party and celebrities. The lead singer of Rage Against the Machine, Zach de la Rocha, endorsed the march and is asking his fans to take up the cause, saying:
To witness what is happening in Arizona and remain neutral is to be implicated in human rights violations that are occurring right here on US soil against migrants. History will not be kind to Joe Arpaio. He will be remembered with other infamous sheriffs like Bull Connor who subjugated and terrorized communities for shortsighted political gain.
The coalition is planning a demonstration and march in Phoenix and teach-ins in cities across the country.
National Coordinator Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborers Organizing Committee said,
People of conscience all over the country are outraged at what's happening in Arizona, and they will be working nationwide to pressure the Obama administration to act quickly.
Although the organizers are demanding that all 287(g) agreements be rescinded, the protests are being largely promoted as just another anti-Arpaio demonstration, which some say is a distraction from the ultimate goal of ending all 67 of the 287(g) agreements.
The UNC report also says there is currently no transparency of 287(g) activities, and the program has no functional system for complaints or appeals. Rather than recommending the repeal of 287(g) agreements, the report proposes making improvements to the program, including increased transparency, community involvement in the implementation of 287(g) agreements, a better complaint/appeal process, clarification of civil rights standards, and improving officer training.
While 287(g) opponents are concerned about the expansion of the program, Arpaio has voiced concern, based on Napolitano's request for an examination of the effectiveness of the program, that DHS could rescind the program or some of its provisions. Some immigration experts expect Napolitano to rescind the provision that allows local law enforcement agencies to make arrests for immigration violations, but they expect Napolitano to keep the provision intact that allows local law enforcement agencies to identify and hold illegal immigrants who have already been arrested for felony crimes.Belle Characteristics Name Belle Appears In Anime and Manga Debut (Manga) chapter 1 Debut (Anime) episode 2 Age Unknown Gender Female Affiliation Fairies Team Team MÄR ÄRMs N/A Seiyū (Japanese) Kugimiya Rie Voice actor(s) (English) Unknown
Belle is a tiny fairy seen most of the times at Alviss side. She has light blue hair, dark blue eyes, and dresses in a purple leotard.
Belle befriended Alviss in his earlier years while he was training under Gaira's supervision and from then on has crush on him.
She cares for him a great deal, and gets jealous of whomever Alviss so much as behaves intimately to (which ranges from girls to friends, e.g. Alan).
She gets captured in episode 47 (titled "Alviss' Struggle") and used as a battery to power a giant rock golem whom Alviss takes on single-handedly to rescue her.
Belle and Edward host extras at the end of later episodes that sums up the plot of each episode and lists the ÄRM Chess Pieces use in that episode.
In the end of the anime, Belle is seen one last time supporting Alviss during his training and waves to Dorothy as she passes by.
Gallery Edit
Trivia Edit
She is named after Tinker Bell from Peter Pan stories.
stories. She makes a cameo appearance in Episode 5 of the anime series, Hayate the Combat Butler when she is referenced by Nagi Sanzenin, who shares the same Japanese voice actress as her.
See also EditHerbert Tillman, who was a senior at the Rocky Mount high school where the speech was given, shared what it was like to hear Dr. King speak.
It had been rumored for decades that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first gave his "I Have A Dream" speech in North Carolina months before the iconic delivery during a march on Washington D.C. 52 years ago.On Tuesday, it was made official with a never before heard electronically-restored recording of the original speech that was unveiled at North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus.Dr. King first delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at a high school gymnasium in Rocky Mount on Nov. 27, 1962 - nine months prior to his historic August 28, 1963 speech.The words were slightly different, but the meaning was the same:"I have a dream tonight. One day my little daughter and my two sons will grow up in world not conscious of the color of their skin but only conscious of the fact that they are members of the human race. I have a dream tonight," he said.For years, historians knew that the civil rights leader first gave the speech in North Carolina, but no one had ever actually heard documented evidence of the Rocky Mount version, or known that legendary poet Langston Hughes actually inspired it, until the recording found in a Rocky Mount library was revealed.NC State Professor of English W. Jason Miller, author of the new book "Origins of the Dream: Hughes' Poetry and King's Rhetoric", and co-producer of a documentary called "Origin of the Dream" about the intellectual relationship between Dr. King and Hughes, explained that after extensive research the tape recording was discovered in an unmarked box and restored."It's a 1.5mm acetate reel-to-reel tape that was sitting there not being played and nobody knew the contents of it," he said.Herbert Tillman, who was a senior at the Rocky Mount high school where the speech was given, was present during the address and shared what it was like to have Dr. King visit the town during that era."I was all into it, all eyes, all ears, and I just felt so uplifted," he recalled.Eight months later, Tillman watched King's historic address at the Lincoln monument."After listening to it and seeing it on the news, and I come back and say, 'Hey, you know, that was kind of similar,'" he said.The Montreal Canadiens face a series of key decisions in the next two seasons, including contract extensions for Max Pacioretty and Carey Price. This series starts this off-season, as their top young player, Alex Galchenyuk, approaches restricted free agency.
Questions have swirled around Galchenyuk — his offensive potential, his defensive prowess, his deployment and usage, and even his injury history — ever since he entered the league. Now, both Galchenyuk and the Canadiens stand at a crossroads. What should be done with a polarizing player who some view as a franchise centre and others view as a one-dimensional liability?
When we look at a potential new contract for Galchenyuk, there are many potential comparables for the first-line-level goal-scorer and point producer. They generally fall into four categories:
Players who were signed
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followed by the secondary, followed by the tertiary. What scale is used for skills? 100% is the "theoretical maximum" of a human hero. As a point of reference: if your character has a 100% sword skill, then they could compete as an Olympic-level fencer. 100% is the "theoretical maximum" of a human hero. As a point of reference: if your character has a 100% sword skill, then they could compete as an Olympic-level fencer.
Since our players are immortal champions, chosen by the Gods at the time of their death, they often have skills above the “theoretical maximum” that a human mortal can achieve. Anything above 100% is heroic level; bards wrote poems that centered around your skills and your achievements are the stuff of legends. How quickly do skills advance? These numbers are still being balanced, but we're generally going for something like this: to reach 100% level with any skill takes 1 month of primary training, 2 months with secondary, 3 months with tertiary. These numbers are still being balanced, but we're generally going for something like this: to reach 100% level with any skill takes 1 month of primary training, 2 months with secondary, 3 months with tertiary.
The results are granted on a diminishing returns curve, meaning that it is much easier to gain the first 10% of any skill than it is to gain the last.National Hot Dog Day is a little more complicated than it needs to be.
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council has designated July 14 as National Hot Dog Day this year. However, perhaps because the council has held its Annual Hot Dog Lunch on July 23 in previous years, the second date appears to be the more commonly celebrated one. Though there are a couple of retailers who recognize the NHDSC’s official date, most tend to offer their deals on July 23.
Follows are nine National Hot Dog Day deals—two offered on the 14th, and the remaining on the 23rd.
Hot Dog on a Stick
The California-based is celebrating National Hot Dog Day on July 14 by giving customers a free original hot dog on a stick. They can then return on July 24 for a similar promotion celebrating National Drive Thru Day, when they’ll be giving away a free stick item of your choice.
Pilot Flying J.
This truck stop chain has 550 locations across the country. Stop at one of them on July 14 with a coupon, which you can find on Pilot Flying J.’s Facebook page, to get free hot dog or any other rolling grill item.
7-Eleven
Each year on July 23, 7-Eleven celebrates the “other National Hot Dog Day,” and this year is no different. The chain will be offering its Quarter Pound Big Bites for just $1.
Ben’s Soft Pretzels
On July 23, Ben’s Loyalty Rewards Club members can buy one pretzel dog and get another for free. For anyone who isn’t a member, the chain is holding a contest all month long on its Facebook page. Winners get 12 free pretzel dogs.
Dog Haus
California-based Dog Haus is offering customers both hot dog and corn dog sliders for just $1 on July 23.
Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries
This chain will be celebrating National Hot Dog Day on July 23 at each of its 125 locations by selling its famous “fire-engine red Hot Dogs” for just $1.
Nathan’s Famous
Nathan’s Famous will also be celebrating the occasion on July 23, but only at one location in Fort Myers, Florida. Buy one hot dog, and get another for 5 cents.
Philly Pretzel Factory
Customers will be offered a $1 pretzel dog at Philly Pretzel Factory’s more than 150 locations on July 23.
QuikTrip
This Oklahoma-based chain of convenience stores will be offering free hot dogs on July 23 at its 730 locations. Access the deal by downloading their app.For the first time in its history, the iconic flagpole at San Francisco's Harvey Milk Plaza raised the pink, white and blue transgender flag at a ceremony marking the eve of the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, which takes place on November 20.
"This is a celebration of the great transgender people who have come before us, and the celebration of the great transgender people who are still with us," activist La Moni Stat told SFist at the ceremony. "In numbers we find strength."
The decision to raise the flag came after a weeks of conflict between the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro and a group of transgender activists, who have advocated temporarily replacing the enormous rainbow flag that typically flies there.
Activists initially hoped to have the trans flag flown at half-mast to honor the victims of anti-trans violence. However, the merchants' association balked at the suggestion, citing safety concerns.
This decision angered many in the community because the group regularly allows the "leather flag" to fly during the run-up to the Folsom Street Fair and the bear flag on President's Day.
In response, transgender rights activists circulated an online petition that gathered over 1,200 signatures, held a protest in front of a store owned by merchant's association president Terry Bennett and threatened to stage another demonstration over the flag on Tuesday night. The association eventually relented and agreed to fly the flag, although only at full height.
"This has been a difficult conversation and emotions run very high in both directions on the issue," Bennett said in a statement announcing the decision to fly the flag. "Over the last two years the MUMC Board has been overwhelmed with requests to alter or change the flag. These requests have regularly been accompanied by a great deal of personal attacks, blatant bullying and harassment. Due to these attacks it has made it very difficult to consider any requests."
Others stand firm that the rainbow flag should be the only flag that flies over the Castro. "It should fly at full-staff, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," famed local activist and Harvey Milk associate Cleve Jones told the San Francisco Chronicle. "People should just leave the damn flag alone."
The Castro flagpole was originally erected and operated by Gilbert Baker, who also designed the original rainbow flag that has since come to define the LGBT movement. Baker transferred the day-to-day operation of the flagpole to the merchants' association in 2001.
The trans flag was created by Monica Helms, a transgender woman, in 1999. It was first flown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Ariz., the following year. Helms described the logic behind her flag's coloring:
The stripes at the top and bottom are light blue, the traditional color for baby boys. The stripes next to them are pink, the traditional color for baby girls. The stripe in the middle is white, for those who are intersex, transitioning or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives"India and the 10-nation ASEAN today decided to ink a free trade agreement in services and investments in December in Bali with a view to strengthen economic engagement between the regions. "... the Agreements (ASEAN-India Trade-in-Services Agreement and ASEAN-India Investment Agreement) would be signed on the sidelines of the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Bali from 3-6 December 2013," a joint statement issued by India and Indonesia said.
The agreement will boost movement of Indian professionals in the ASEAN region which include countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It will also facilitate investments.
After operationalising a free trade pact in goods in 2011, both the sides were engaged in widening the base of the pact by including services and investments. Trade between India the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) stands at about USD 76 billion in 2012-13. Both the sides have aimed at increasing it to USD 100 billion by 2015. The other ASEAN are Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.
The statement was issued after a meeting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on an official visit here.
Further, it said that the leaders expressed satisfaction at the growing trade and investment ties between India and Indonesia and expressed confidence in achieving the bilateral trade target of USD 25 billion by 2015.
In 2012-13, the bilateral trade stood at USd 20.2 billion. The leaders also directed an early launch of negotiations on an India-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) that would build upon the ASEAN-India FTA by bringing more depth and coverage.This is a guest post by Andrew L. He is a 40-something business consultant, former Christian, current atheist, and mountain biker. He lives in Denver.
…
I am an atheist Republican — a combination that seems so rare I sometimes wonder if I could be covered by the Endangered Species Act. Then again, I wonder whether there should be an Endangered Species Act… (Kidding).
I’ve learned that it’s best to sit out some discussions when they come up on atheist websites or at conventions. I was silent through the arrival and departure of Edwina Rogers. I only quietly cheered when American Atheists’ Dave Silverman went to CPAC (albeit unsuccessfully) to reach out to conservatives. I didn’t respond when atheists piled on a fellow non-believer who said she was pro-life, though I at least in part agree with her. But, after reading the excerpt from CJ Werleman‘s Atheists Can’t Be Republicans: If Facts and Evidence Matter, I have to speak up.
His thesis is clear in the title. Like Werleman, I’m a bit of a political junkie; I watch C-SPAN, read political biographies, and attend my party’s neighborhood caucuses. While there are Republicans I won’t vote for because they are too theocratic, I agree and endorse most of the political philosophy of my party. As far as facts and evidence, I don’t see things the same way Werleman does.
Werleman, at least in his introduction, touched on a lot of topics he believes support his position. Here is my perspective on a few of those:
Tax rates on the wealthy : When will we have taxed enough away from the wealthy to spend on a progressive agenda? I worry that there will be “good reasons” to increase taxes without end. I’ve worked with “tax refugees” where our low taxes were at least a contributing factor to their immigrating to and choosing to open companies in the United States.
: When will we have taxed enough away from the wealthy to spend on a progressive agenda? I worry that there will be “good reasons” to increase taxes without end. I’ve worked with “tax refugees” where our low taxes were at least a contributing factor to their immigrating to and choosing to open companies in the United States. Mandated health care : While its intent is honorable, I worry that the Affordable Care Act is economically unworkable. We’ve created a system with significantly more users, a significantly unhealthier population, and have only some speculative health savings to fund the increase. I fear we will all soon be waiting in queues like those recently exposed in Veterans’ hospitals.
: While its intent is honorable, I worry that the Affordable Care Act is economically unworkable. We’ve created a system with significantly more users, a significantly unhealthier population, and have only some speculative health savings to fund the increase. I fear we will all soon be waiting in queues like those recently exposed in Veterans’ hospitals. Gun control : While I mourn those who die in mass shootings, I believe the basis of the Second Amendment isn’t about reckless expansion of personal rights, but a recognition by our Founders that guns are a restraint on an overreaching government.
: While I mourn those who die in mass shootings, I believe the basis of the Second Amendment isn’t about reckless expansion of personal rights, but a recognition by our Founders that guns are a restraint on an overreaching government. Minimum wage : There are good reasons to believe, all things being equal, that minimum wage increases lock those with low skills or other disadvantages out of labor markets and cause unemployment. In places legislating living wages we are beginning to see location-independent businesses migrate out of those areas.
: There are good reasons to believe, all things being equal, that minimum wage increases lock those with low skills or other disadvantages out of labor markets and cause unemployment. In places legislating living wages we are beginning to see location-independent businesses migrate out of those areas. Strong foreign policy: It’s easy to point to military failures and overreach abroad but it does seem that our interventions, taken as a whole, have lead to a safer United States and to a safer world. Look at how difficult it is to parse the proper response for Obama to make to the current internal strife in Iraq.
So it seems that if we look at policy and effects, it’s not quite the slam-dunk for atheists to be anti-Republican that Werleman would lead us to believe. You don’t have to agree with me — I suspect most of you don’t — but you have to acknowledge that one can hold conservative views while also not believing in a higher power. I’m all for a debate on the issues I just mentioned, but I don’t think there’s a debate to be had about whether atheists can be Republicans. They can. End of story.
I’m a Republican because their philosophy resonates with me. I believe they are more on the side of personal freedom and a restrained government than is the Democratic party. I believe economic growth and societal progress happen best in this environment. I believe that there are economic laws that are as immutable as scientific laws. I am for a strong defense as I believe this is ultimately the best option both in terms of resources and humanitarian costs.
Of course, the Christian/evangelical bend of the GOP is my gravest concern with my party and I don’t mean to minimize its effects. But I also think the secular side will eventually win out. We see this in the grand harrumphing heard by those defending prayers at government meetings and graduations. They stick it to us atheists at the next event with an overwrought prayer that somehow disappears from future agendas and programs as unworkable. Those in my party will eventually make the connection that their religious freedom is best protected when they protect the religious freedoms of others. In the meantime, the courts seem to be doing an adequate role at protecting our freedoms.
I admit my party is not always right and we find better results when we split the differences with our Democratic “adversaries.” And I wonder if the same isn’t also true in protecting Democrats from their own versions of hubris. Having two parties is the peer-review of politics.
I embrace my minority status as an atheist among Republicans and as a Republican among atheists. My existence, and that of other atheist Republicans, shouldn’t be dismissed as unthoughtful or illogical.
…
Andrew previously wrote for this site about his day at a Christian apologetics conference. The opinions expressed here are his own.WASHINGTON — Pot-related businesses in the District are starting to meet expectations, growing steadily since last February when marijuana became legal for private and personal use. The Washington Post details several examples of head shops that…
WASHINGTON — Pot-related businesses in the District are starting to meet expectations, growing steadily since last February when marijuana became legal for private and personal use.
The Washington Post details several examples of head shops that deliver pipes, papers and bongs, and companies that rent or sell and set up in homes all the equipment needed to grow marijuana.
Legal pot also is hot on social media and at social gatherings in D.C. where participants might, for example, share new pot-laced food products, showcase paraphernalia for sales, discuss growing tips or share seeds.
The Post also reports legal sales in D.C.’s medical marijuana community are up dramatically. The District now has five pot dispensaries and seven cultivation centers that are so busy they’re not keeping up with demand.
Between July of last year and July 27 of this year, the number of medical marijuana patients registered with the District’s Department of Health grew from 738 patients to 3,948.
Under Initiative 71, approved by D.C. voters last November, residents at least 21 years old can own up to six pot plants, can give away up to an ounce of pot at a time, and can possess up to two ounces of marijuana.
It remains illegal in D.C. to sell pot, possess it on federal land, smoke it in public, consume it in public housing or be under its influence while driving.
Find a full list of D.C. marijuana laws here.
WTOP’s Kristi King contributed to this report.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
© 2015 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.Donate
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The Hadi government suspended participation in the ongoing peace talks on the Yemen war, Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi, Foreign Minister of the Hadi government stated on May 17. Al-Mekhlafi said the Houthi alliance had backtracked on “commitments”: to pull out of territory they seized in 2014 and to give up heavy weapons they had captured. These demands of the Saudi Arabian side were unreal initially because this move will mean a capitulation. Abdul-Malik al-Mekhlafi blamed the Houthi alliance that they are pushing for the formation of a new government that would give them a share of power. He also said that the alliance has been violating the truce announced by the U.N. on April 10. Since it went into effect, the two sides have exchanged accusations of breaching the cease-fire.
Meanwhile, clashes continue along the frontlines with minor advances by Houthi-Saleh forces on the southern front and the Saudi-led attempts to consolidate the ground in the Taiz city. The Houthi-Saleh alliance forces reportedly moved to the Lahij governorate from positions in the al Wazi’iyah district in southern Taiz. These forces took part in the clashes in Kirsh in northern Lahij.
Clashes were also observed in Lawder on the al Bayda-Abyan border and in central al Bayda itself. Al Qaeda supports the Saudi-led operations in al Bayda and participated in the clashes against the Houthi-Saleh alliance in Abyan. The Houthi-Saleh forces continue to defend the peripheries of the Taiz city. Clashes are also ongoing in Ma’rib, in Nihm district near Sana’a, and sporadically in parts of southwestern al Jawf and northwestern Shabwah.
Considering the fail of the talks and the tense situation at the frontline, the Yemeni war is facing a military escalation. The Saudi-led coalition will make at least one more attempt to make a devastating blow at the Houthi-Saleh alliance before the kingdom is ready to re-launch the negotiations.
DonateNews >> Browse Articles >> Crime News
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Marine Murdered Defending His Wife In French Quarter
Sgt. Ryan Lekosky
The Houston Chronicle via YellowBrix November 02, 2010
NEW ORLEANS – A Marine from Texas survived combat in Iraq only to be murdered in the French Quarter — stabbed to death even as he wore his dress-blue uniform complete with battle commendations pinned to his chest.
Sgt. Ryan Lekosky and his wife were wrapping up an evening celebrating the service’s 235th birthday at a formal ball at the New Orleans Marriott on Canal Street.
“To know you survived some of the deadliest areas of the world … to come home and be killed stateside,” said Capt. Kate Vanden Bossche, a Louisiana spokeswoman for the Marine Corps.
Authorities said Monday they were hunting for a suspect and searching for recordings from surveillance cameras that may have captured the confrontation.
New Orleans police said a preliminary investigation indicates that at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, the 23-year-old Lekosky and his wife were walking along Dauphine Street in the Quarter.
A man allegedly pulled alongside the couple and began shouting inappropriate comments at Lekosky’s wife. She and the heckler launched into some sort of a physical confrontation that Lekosky tried to stop.
“(Lekosky) sustained several stab wounds while trying to break up the fight,” according to the statement released by police.
Officers would not take questions about the stabbing. It is unclear how many people were in the car or exactly what triggered the violence.
Lekosky was assigned to an air station in Louisiana but was born and raised in Corpus Christi.
He was a high school quarterback there, according to his family, and decided not to attend college, joining the service in 2005.
“He fought for our country and came back safe from that,” said his younger sister, Danika Lekosky, who wondered aloud how anyone could attack a service member, especially during a time of war.
She said that he was supposed to have again deployed in November to Afghanistan, but his orders changed.
Lekosky and his wife married quietly a few months ago.
As a result, most family members, including Lekosky’s parents, will meet her for the first time only now, as a military funeral is planned for Corpus Christi, she said.
She said her brother was changed by his military service, and confided that wherever he was, even back in the United States, he felt he had to be constantly on guard to threats around him.
“It was almost like he knew that someday something tragic would happen to him,” she said.The teenager contacted police who arrested a 55-year-old woman at Guildford train station. Lindsay Li (left) and the woman who has been arrested after a tirade on a Sydney bus. She was taken to Merrylands police station where she was charged with six counts of common assault and two counts of using offensive language. The arrest comes after 29-year-old Lindsay Li was subjected to a slew of racial insults as she caught her usual bus 273 home for lunch from Willoughby to Crows Nest in Sydney's north. When the woman reeled around on the bus and allegedly began throwing racist insults at Ms Li, the younger woman pulled out her phone and began filming.
The video footage apparently shows an older woman with blonde hair allegedly unleashing a tirade of racial slurs, calling Ms Li a "f---ing ugly f---ing chink" and accusing her of selling drugs. Fairfax Media has since received several reports from passengers on Sydney public transport and pedestrians in the city who say they have been on the receiving end of racial verbal abuse from the same woman. A second video seen by Fairfax Media shows a woman bearing a striking resemblance to the woman in Ms Li's video hurling abuse at several passengers on a train at Central station last Thursday. The incident was reported to police by Sydney Trains staff. Several other reports detail separate incidents in which commuters and pedestrians were left in tears after being on the receiving end of angry outbursts from a woman resembling the individual in Ms Li's video. One person claimed the woman racially abused a female student on a school excursion, calling her a "suicide bomber", leaving the student extremely upset.
Police have also received multiple complaints about the woman. According to police about 12.35pm on September 7 a woman and her son were on the platform at Edgecliff train station, when they were approached by a woman who allegedly verbally abused and spat on them. The following Monday a woman was at the Bondi Junction interchange when she was approached by a woman who allegedly spat and verbally abused her. The woman allegedly spat again, hitting another passenger. Last Friday, a man was walking on a pedestrian footbridge on Florence Street, Hornsby, when a woman approached him and allegedly spat in his face. Meanwhile, the bus driver accused of doing nothing when Ms Li was subjected to a barrage of racial abuse was found to have followed the correct protocols in response to the incident.
Ms Li said the bus driver ignored her pleas to stop the bus and call the police. But State Transit has reviewed the bus CCTV footage of the incident and found the driver took all necessary actions in response to the incident. "This included making a call to State Transit's Network Control Centre to request assistance, about one minute after being notified by the customer, and as soon as it was safe to do so," a spokeswoman for State Transit said in a statement. "We will continue to work with NSW Police on this matter and provide assistance where required," the statement read. It is understood bus drivers are directed not to engage with passengers who exhibit antisocial behaviour, but to contact the control centre via the bus radio. The control centre can then contact emergency services if appropriate.
On Thursday night, officers from Police Transport Command were out in force targeting anti-social behaviour on public transport in and around Sydney. Operation Disrupt involved 65 police officers deployed across the CBD, Sydney"s north and south-west patrolling 100 trains, 98 train stations and 25 buses. During the operation, Police Transport Officers issued more than 100 infringement notices for a range of transport offences, 74 people were moved on for antisocial behaviour, 19 people were searched, and eight people were arrested. "The Police Transport Command will continue to target antisocial behaviour and fare avoidance on public transport tonight and throughout the summer," Superintendent Joyce said.Last December, the CRTC ruled that high-quality Internet should be a basic service for all Canadians and created a $750 million fund to support broadband projects in rural, underserved, and unserved areas.1
Now, the CRTC is asking Canadians how that $750 million should be spent: should we invest it in innovative community-driven initiatives, or just hand it to Big Telecom giants who have failed time and time again to deliver affordable, reliable Internet to Canadians who need it?
If enough of us show there is real desire for community, municipal, and non-profit broadband — for the public, by the public — we can convince the CRTC to make this new fund a game-changer.
Tell the CRTC: Ensure broadband funding goes to community-driven initiatives instead of filling Big Telecom’s deep pockets.Four time speaker of The 21 Convention, star of The Community Tapes documentary series, and the “Bruce Lee of Game”, Adam Lyons was once voted ‘Least Likely to Ever Get a Girlfriend’ in school by his classmates. Age 15, Adam decided to try his best to improve his love life by working to become more attractive, and to understand the psychology of why we become attracted to others.
For 11 years he went by largely unsuccessful falling into a couple of relationships and spending most of the time completely perplexed by the opposite sex.
In the summer of 2006 one of his best friends handed him a copy of the book The Game by Neil Strauss with the words, “Read this book, you’ll take to it like a duck to water.” Since then Adam has become known as one of the worlds leading authorities on dating and attraction, has been consistently ranked the #1 pickup artist in the world, and is the CEO of the North American branch of PUA Training.
Adam Lyons lives and works out of Austin Texas with his lovely wife Amanda Lyons.Last week, Mayor Bloomberg ran afoul of medical science when he called medical marijuana “one the great hoaxes of all time.” A day earlier, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine released a survey of physicians finding that 76% of those surveyed would approve medical marijuana for use to reduce pain in a cancer patient. That same day NY Physicians for Compassionate Care announced that more than 600 New York physicians from all across state support medical marijuana and want to be able recommend its use to seriously ill patients who might benefit from its use. May 30 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine states that 76 percent of surveyed doctors said they would approve medical marijuana to help reduce the pain for an older woman with advanced breast cancerOverview (3)
Mini Bio (1)
Jackie Earle Haley was born on July 14, 1961 in Northridge, California, USA as Jack Earle Haley. He is an actor and director, known for Watchmen (2009), Little Children (2006) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010). He has been married to Amelia Cruz since August 6, 2004. He was previously married to Jennifer Hargrave and Sherry Vaughan.
Spouse (3)
Amelia Cruz (6 August 2004 - present) Jennifer Hargrave (1985 -?) ( divorced) ( 2 children) Sherry Vaughan (6 November 1979 -?) ( divorced)
Trade Mark (1)
Blue-tinted glasses
Trivia (18)
Met his third wife, Amelia Cruz, in San Antonio, Texas.
His father Haven Earle Haley was a radio show host and actor.
Began appearing in television commercials at age 6.
Has earned rave reviews in 2006 in an unanticipated comeback with his roles in All the King's Men (2006) and Little Children (2006). Having not done a movie since 1993 and moonlighting here and there as a commercial director, limousine driver, furniture refinisher, security officer and pizza deliverer in Texas, Haley happened to be "just remembered" for his earlier films by director Steven Zaillian for his role in All the King's Men and the ball started rolling.
Has two children: Chris Haley (born 1986) and Olivia Haley (born 1998).
Is one of 115 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2007.
Has a black belt in Kempo and Tae Kwon Do. (http://www.craveonline.com/site/147512-jackie-earle-haley-is-rorschach).
Haley starred in a failed pilot of "Oh, No! Not THEM!", an American remake of the British comedy "The Young Ones".
Executive vice president for Shootz Production Group in San Antonio, Texas. [October 2001]
Television producer/director and president of his production company, JEH Productions, Inc. in San Antonio, Texas (2007).
Attended and graduated from Canoga Park High School in Canoga Park, California.
Personal Quotes (9)
I started acting when I was 5 years old. And I was pretty well known for a while. Your self-esteem and your identity start to become wrapped up in that celebrity, and when that starts to fade away, your self-esteem and your identity start to fade away with it. Those roles that I played and the success that I had, that is not who I am. It's part of who I am, but it's not everything. So when it drifts away and you start to feel increasingly insecure, it's kind of a long battle out of that.
That transition from child to adult actor is so incredibly elusive. The roles that were coming to me as a young adult were not that great, but I was taking them anyway to pay the rent. And the more bad roles in bad movies I took, the less anybody wanted me for a good role in a good movie.
I'm an actor. Not at the exclusion of other things -- I'm also director or a limousine driver, if need be. But nothing is as thrilling to me as doing an actor's work.
I'd always avoided stuff like "Where are they now?" or "Whatever happened to?". Just "No thanks, thanks for calling." You tell me, have you ever seen a "Whatever happened to" where they seemed anything but pathetic? I could do that or just disappear.
After tossing and turning all night my wife came running in... she was just screaming and crying and said, "You got it!". (His reaction to his Oscar-nomination for Little Children (2006))
When you are young, your identity is connected to your celebrity. When it starts to decline, your self-worth goes with it.
[on his Oscar nomination] There are no words to describe how amazing, how surreal, how unbelievable this is. It's kind of like being 5 years old and you come down to the Christmas tree and just the most incredible gifts ever are under there. And the elation and the excitement of those gifts being there and the elation and excitement of getting to play with them for a while. For me, and where I've been and what I've experienced, it's all the more sweet. There is a sense of validation. There were periods of time where I started to think, "It's been a while, should I try to get back into movies?". But it was so daunting and seemed so overwhelming, like to even get out and really even try to stir it up seemed like such an uphill battle that I never did anything. It just seemed impossible. So now, this is kind of the most amazing scenario in my life.
[Getting back into acting after so many years away] I was starting to reach this pretty cool place in life where I was emotionally the most accepting of where life had taken me, and financially, finally, not behind the eight ball -- far from rich, but at least not late on stuff. I met this beautiful lady who is an awesome life partner, and we're on our honeymoon in France, and life is good. And out of the clear blue, Steve Zaillian [the director] calls and he wants me to audition for this part in All the King's Men (2006). When I got back from the honeymoon, I got a shooter and an actor and a sound guy and we did this audition tape and sent it off to Steve. It had been a long time since I did this. But there was this feeling inside. Over the years, people had called about a movie here, a TV show there, and it never really panned out. There was something about this; it felt different and, I don't know why, but it kind of felt like, "Hmm, this could actually happen." The way this whole thing went down, it almost seems like kismet, karma, divine whatever. It felt like this was supposed to happen.
[on his life after quitting acting] When I made the decision it was time to leave acting, it seemed directing was the way to go. But it probably took me a good eight years, or 10, until I could get to where I was finally making a living at it. In the interim, I was just working -- driving a limousine and delivering pizzas. I was a security officer for a while. I was a furniture refinisher for a while -- hated it. I just didn't have the arms for it. I also hooked up with this videographer and started to crew for him. I would run sound, I learned how to grip. I even learned how to be a cameraman, all the time trying to get my own corporate video thing going. Over time, I started to infiltrate the corporate world. At one point, I became vice president of marketing for a company in Las Vegas. From there, I ended up moving to San Antonio and getting into all sorts of branding commercials.Increasingly anxious about the impacts of radiation on their children, Fukushima's mothers are facing a new setback that could kill their hopes forever -- the imminent withdrawal of vital evacuation assistance. But if we all stand with the brave mothers now, we can help restore their hopes for a safe future.
Despite the billions of Yen allocated for Fukushima reconstruction, Governor Sato's plan to end relocation assistance is placing thousands of families between a rock and a hard place, either they hurriedly leave their homes, ruining their children's school year or lose the assistance they desperately need to save their families.
We only have a few days to persuade Governor Sato to reconsider his decision -- last year an outcry forced him not to cut this crucial lifeline, and if enough of us act now, we can do the same again. Click to sign the urgent petition and tell everyone -- when 50,000 people have signed, a massive card will be delivered to the Governor's office with the message “Don’t abandon Fukushima’s children in the new year”.Reid is likely to lose three of his members - Sens. Begich, Pryor and Baucus. Reid short of votes on gun control
The White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are shy of the 60 votes they need to move the bipartisan compromise bill on background checks for gun sales.
Vice President Joe Biden has been personally calling senators to urge them to support the measure, Democratic aides say.
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Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) began a whip count on Monday, Democratic aides said, and Biden has been pressuring his fellow Democrats to fall in line. Biden’s office did not return an email seeking comment.
( Also on POLITICO: Newtown: Victims turned lobbyists)
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) are co-sponsoring the proposal that would expand background checks for commercial gun purchases — including those at gun shows and online — opening a pathway for the biggest change in U.S. gun laws in nearly two decades.
A cloture vote on the Manchin-Toomey could come by Thursday, Democrats said.
Toomey on Monday afternoon acknowledged they don’t yet have the votes.
“I’m cautiously optimistic. We’re not there at the moment but were working on it,” Toomey said.
( Also on POLITICO: Who split with their party on guns?)
Manchin also said supporters were short of the votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster, but he remained hopeful that it would pass.
“We’re still working it, it’s very close,” Manchin told reporters. “I agree [with Toomey], it’s very close.”
Manchin added: “I’m talking to everybody.”
Manchin will appear with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) on Tuesday to press for its passage. Giffords was seriously wounded in a January 2011 shooting that left six others dead. Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have become high-profile backers of new gun regulations.
Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are attempting to hash out a floor procedure laying out votes on the Manchin-Toomey proposal.
If Democrats cannot overcome a GOP filibuster on the background checks bill, any chances for major gun control legislation being enacted in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting would diminish dramatically.
With Republicans filibustering the Manchin-Toomey proposal, a cloture vote on the bill is likely to take place on Thursday at the earliest.Drug offenders in Tulsa County will no longer be referred to a Christian rehab facility in Jay while the court system here conducts an evaluation of the program, The Frontier has learned.
The facility, CAAIR (Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery), was the focus of an investigation by Reveal, a national news outlet based in California. The investigation was released last week and revealed that at CAAIR, defendants worked pay
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and we will do more of everything. That’s our conclusion.”
Several hours later, during a brief stop at a horse farm in Delta, B.C., Harper delivered a version of his standard cheerful and combative campaign stump speech that included a new segment, an abridged version of the remarks I’ve just described. He knows military action must be part of the solution, he said. His opponents have no clue.
I admit I was surprised. The Conservative leader has decided—and it did not take him long at all to reach this conclusion—that his dispute with his opponents over the Syrian refugee crisis can be turned to his political advantage. We won’t have to wait long to see whether that instinct was accurate.These days just about any property is fair game for a mash-up or crossover of some kind, and this latest one from Dynamite and Dark Horse certainly has piqued our curiosity. Read on for a sneak peek of Aliens/Vampirella #1 (arriving in September) and the reveal of its creative team.
From the Press Release:
Dynamite Entertainment is proud to announce the full creative team for Aliens/Vampirella, the upcoming horror crossover between their classic comic book heroine and the Xenomorph monsters from Dark Horse Comics’ long-running comic book based on the renowned film series.
Corinna Bechko (Star Wars: Legacy) will steer the series with her scripts, while artist Javier García-Miranda will provide the atmosphere and action. Also, artist Gabriel Hardman will provide the distinctive covers worthy of the tradition of horror excellence that both long-standing terror icons represent.
As established in Aliens/Vampirella #1, humans have begun to colonize Mars, but something ancient and sinister got there first. Vampirella, a supernatural exterminator, is faced with a mystery only she can solve… and the bloody realization that some monsters should never be awakened.
Bechko has been writing comics since her horror graphic novel Heathentown was published by Image/Shadowline in 2009. Since then, she has worked for numerous comics publishers including Marvel, DC, Boom, Dark Horse, and Dynamite on titles such as Planet of the Apes, Star Wars: Legacy, Savage Hulk, and Invisible Republic. Her background is in zoology. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and a small menagerie.
Javier García-Miranda is a relative newcomer to the comic book industry but has been making waves with his work on several Dynamite horror titles. He has illustrated Aliens/Vampirella’s raven-haired heroine before as part of the anniversary Vampirella #100 celebration. In addition, García-Miranda chronicled the fall and resurrection of Chaos! Comics’ resident bat-winged villainess in the Purgatori miniseries and worked on Dynamite’s premier bad boy in Evil Ernie (Vol. 2) #6.
“I couldn’t be happier to be teamed with Javier,” says writer Corinna Bechko. “His work has an energy that is necessary for this story, and he’s great at creating a really creepy feel for the scenes that require it. Plus, both his Vampirella and his Xenomorphs are gorgeous.”
Gabriel Hardman, cover artist for the entire Aliens/Vampirella series, is a prolific creator in the comic book industry plus a frequent contributor to the film industry. A comic book writer and artist, he has worked on such titles as Kinski, Invisible Republic, Star Wars: Legacy, Planet of the Apes, and Savage Hulk. He also served as storyboard artist for the films Inception, Interstellar, Tropic Thunder, and X2.
Aliens/Vampirella #1 will be solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors’ July Previews catalog, the premier source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market, corresponding to items shipping in September 2015. Comic book fans are encouraged to reserve copies of Aliens/Vampirella with their local comic book retailers.
Aliens/Vampirella will also be available for individual customer purchase through digital platforms courtesy of Comixology, Dynamite Digital, iVerse, and Dark Horse Digital.Liberal GQ Magazine Writer on Mother of Benghazi Victim: ‘I would like to beat her to death’
Liberals lost their minds when Pat Smith spoke at the GOP convention last night. They can’t stand hearing someone who lost her son (and was lied to by Hillary Clinton about why it happened) telling the truth.
A liberal writer for GQ Magazine named Bethlehem Shoals even said on Twitter that he wanted to beat her to death.
Jammie Wearing Fools reported:
GQ ‘Journalist’ on Pat Smith: ‘I would like to beat her to death’ The speech by one of Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi victims ruined the night for Chris Matthews, but it really hit home for this tool.
GQ writer says he wants to beat Pat Smith (mother of Benghazi victim who spoke today at co… https://t.co/SvoExaUOz3 pic.twitter.com/iP9N3IbfW7 — King Robbo (@realkingrobbo) July 19, 2016
Shoals is obviously worried about blowback because he deleted the tweet and wrote an apology:
An Apology for Last Night’s Tweet Last night, when Pat Smith was speaking onstage at the Republication National Convention, I tweeted that “no matter how many children she’s lost, I’d like to beat her to death.” That’s what I said, and I accept full responsibility for my actions and their consequences. Why did I do it? It certainly wasn’t intended as a literal threat on a woman’s life. If anything, it was an extremely ill-advised attempt at satirizing the overall climate of the RNC. But with that kind of hateful language, an explanation just turns into rationalization. I certainly didn’t help the situation by getting defensive and suggesting that Twitter, vile as it can be, is already a hotbed for this kind of discourse, or by arguing that my track record and reputation as a writer could provide any exculpatory context. Because what matters is that I said it. And I wish I could take it back.
Uh huh.
Tell us more about how loving and open minded you are, liberals.A variety of medicinal marijuana buds in jars are pictured at Los Angeles Patients & Caregivers Group dispensary in West Hollywood, California U.S., October 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
Two U.S. studies on the effects of marijuana on drivers in states where it is allowed for recreational use came to different conclusions about whether it increases risks behind the wheel.
A study by the American Journal of Public Health published on Thursday looked at motor vehicle fatalities and found no significant increase in Colorado and Washington State, where recreational marijuana use is legal, compared with eight states where it is not legal that have similar populations, vehicle ownership, and traffic laws. Alabama, Kentucky and Texas were among the states in the comparison group.
“Our study focused on deaths and actually found what we expected going into this,” Jason Adedoyte, lead author of the study said in a telephone interview. Adedoyte is a trauma surgeon at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Back in 2012 some argued that people would ride around in their cars crash and die. Our study proved that isn’t true,” he said.
The American Journal of Public Health examined data from 2009 to 2015 taken from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
In another study published on Wednesday, the Highway Loss Data Institute analyzed the frequency of car insurance collision claims in Washington, Colorado and Oregon, where recreational marijuana is also permitted.
It found a 3 percent increase in collision claims in those states compared with Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada, where it is not legal.
“In states that passed legislation approving the recreational use of marijuana, the data showed that there was a strong indicator that marijuana was a factor in considering the rise of claims,” Matt Moore, senior vice president of The Highway Loss Data Institute, said in a telephone interview.
The Institute examined about 2.5 million insurance collision claims from January 2012 and October 2016.
Mason Tvert, communication director of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group, questioned the methodology of the Institute’s study.
“There’s no clear evidence that marijuana is a factor. It’s going to take several years and studies before we can determine that,” he said in a telephone interview.
The Institute’s Moore defended its approach, saying, “We looked at the correlation of states with similar insurance claim frequencies, and the states we chose had the highest correlation.”
Federal law prohibits recreational use of marijuana in the country, however, it has been approved by eight states including Maine, Massachusetts, Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada and the District of Columbia.
(Reporting by Taylor T. Harris in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty)Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By IVES GALARCEP
CARSON, Calif.– While Eddie Johnson revealed at least one surprise in the upcoming U.S. Men's National Team roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, there will at least be one more.
Sources have confirmed to SBI that FC Dallas midfielder Brek Shea will not be called up by Jurgen Klinsmann for the upcoming qualifiers against Antigua & Barbuda and Guatemala.
There are no details yet as to why Shea won't take part in the qualifiers on Friday and October 16th, but it should be noted he left FC Dallas' last match, a 3-3 draw vs. San Jose last week, early with with appeared to be an injury.
With Shea out, and with Landon Donovan having suffered an injury late in the LA Galaxy's 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night, Jurgen Klinsmann will likely need to look at new wing midfield options heading into the upcoming qualifiers.
Donovan was forced out of Saturday's match after landing awkwardly after taking a shot. He left the match soon after and at the final whistle he could be seen walking gingerly as he headed to the locker room.
What do you think of these developments? Think Graham Zusi will be a clear-cut starter for the upcoming matches? Who would you like to see called up in Shea and Donovan's place (if Donovan can't play)?
Share your thoughts below.Oh man, just when I thought Hyrule Warriors‘ hype had all but wrapped up, Nintendo drops a major Super Bomb into my lap. The Wooden Sword from the original game is going to make an appearance in an incoming update.
The game has already been available for two weeks in Japan, and while reports on its success have varied, new content is scheduled to be added on Sept. 1. Developer Koei Tecmo promised to deliver big on a long term scale, and why start small? The Wooden Sword is the very first weapon Link ever uses in the series, and its pixelated representation fits so perfectly with the insanity of this game.
New additions with the update also include the ability to choose your music before entering a new battle, a challenge mode with a new scene called “Faron Woods, The Great Battles!” and fixing standard bug issues. See the entire list below.
Challenge Mode – Take on eccentric battles in this challenging new mode. In the added scenario “Faron Woods, The Great Battles!” players will challenge enemy outbreaks one after the other and aim for the shortest clear time.
Take on eccentric battles in this challenging new mode. In the added scenario “Faron Woods, The Great Battles!” players will challenge enemy outbreaks one after the other and aim for the shortest clear time. New Weapon – A new “Sword” weapon for Link with a pixelated appearance. Pixelated shield included.
A new “Sword” weapon for Link with a pixelated appearance. Pixelated shield included. BGM Options – A new function to change the BGM played during battle. Before the start of each battle, by selecting “BGM Settings” from the menu screen, it’s possible to change the song to one you’ve already come across.
A new function to change the BGM played during battle. Before the start of each battle, by selecting “BGM Settings” from the menu screen, it’s possible to change the song to one you’ve already come across. Bug Fixes Fixed a bug that reduces your max strength if you’re defeated in battle. Fixed a bug that where sound was not output from the TV when starting up the game after playing only on the GamePad. Fixed a bug that paused the BGM during the battle victory screen. Fixed a bug where, in rare cases, the screen would go black and sometimes freeze after a battle is won. Fixed a bug where the game would randomly freeze when “Network Connections” is turned “On.”
Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, all I read was Wooden Sword! We still have a month to go before the game gets released in America, but chances are we’ll be seeing these updates shortly after that.
My biggest complaint about Hyrule Warriors has been that the game leans so heavily on imagery from the 3D games that the overhead classics have been vastly overlooked. The Legend of Zelda does receive a fair bit of attention at least in the form of the game’s “Adventure Mode,” but this new Wooden Sword is about as cool as it gets!
Now, more Link to the Past content, please! Hyrule Warriors will be released in America on Sept. 24 for the Wii U.
Order This From AmazonJust like the seven million honeybees that populate his 120 or so hives, Greg Fischer is feverishly busy. Head beekeeper for the Morton Arboretum and the rooftop hives at the Chicago Marriott, he doesn’t want a repeat of last winter’s massacre, when 80 percent of his colonies perished. “Everybody went into December really healthy and full of honey,” he says. “Then when the real cold weather hit, it just wiped them out.”
It’s no secret that America’s honeybees are dying: The media have been full of stories about their demise. But what you might not know is that the situation is especially dire in Illinois. Beekeepers here reported that 62 percent of their colonies died last year, the second-highest mortality rate of any state and far exceeding the 42 percent reported nationally (which is already plenty troubling). Think it’s a problem just on the farm? Chicago has 142 registered beekeepers.
While no hard data are available, beekeepers say that honeybees generally do better in Chicago than in rural areas. There’s more bee food here, for one thing, thanks to the city’s plentiful vacant lots, rooftop gardens, and protected parkland, which offer up an all-you-can-eat buffet of weeds and wildflowers that are (mostly) pesticide-free. (Honeybees don’t pollinate corn or soybeans—the main crops in Illinois—which makes millions of acres of farmland more or less a food desert.) Plus, because 86 percent of local apiaries are hobby operations, they don’t stress bees out by trucking them around to pollinate farms, as most large businesses do.
Last year, however, even a good diet wasn’t enough to boost city bee survival. Thad J. Smith, who owns the beekeeping service Westside Bee Boyz, says that only eight of his 131 colonies in and around Chicago survived. Jana Kinsman, who runs the organization Bike a Bee, lost all but two of her 20 hives on the South and West Sides. (Undeterred, she’s tending 35 this year.)
By the Numbers 3,500
beekeepers in Illinois tend to a total of … 30,000
colonies, each of which contains … 50,000
honeybees, adding up to … 1.5 billion
bees statewide, a figure hampered by … 930 million
deaths last year.
“People would like a nice simple story with a guy in a black hat as the bad guy, but it’s complicated,” says May Berenbaum, head of the entomology department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The polar vortex that slammed Illinois the past couple of winters was just one nail in the hive-size coffin. Just like humans, honeybees don’t poop where they eat. And just like humans, they don’t like going outside when it’s below 40 degrees, Kinsman says. If a cold spell lasts too long, their health suffers. (How would you feel if you had to hold it for a month?)
Simply moving the hive to a less harsh spot—near a warm-air vent, for example—or rigging up a bee-heating system won’t work. It’s cost prohibitive for most beekeepers to lug dozens of 200-pound hives from a place that’s good for summer pollination to a location with electricity. Plus, if hives get too warm, Kinsman says, bees will think it’s time to collect nectar. They’ll fly in search of flowers, find nothing in bloom, and return hungrier, which further depletes their stores of honey.
Winter varies from year to year, of course. But beekeepers know they always have to fight a tick-like parasite called the varroa mite. The pinhead-size insects have been waging full-scale war on honeybees and their larvae ever since they came to the United States from Asia in 1987. They transfer disease, cause deformities, and just plain suck the life out of bees. “They’re probably our biggest nemesis,” Fischer says.
When colonies croak in massive quantities, it’s not just honey that’s at stake. Illinois-grown watermelons, cucumbers, blueberries, and pumpkins all depend on bees for pollination. (Illinois is the nation’s No. 1 producer of pumpkins, in fact—who knew?) When beekeepers have to buy new bees each year, the cost gets passed on to you through higher fruit, veggie, and, of course, honey prices.
Since beekeepers can’t control temps, they focus their battle on the mites. They could blast the buggers with chemicals, but those can weaken bee immune systems and taint honey. So they’re experimenting with natural treatments such as HopGuard, a product approved this year for use in Illinois that controls mites with compounds from the same hops used in beer brewing. Fischer says he hasn’t seen any mites since he began applying the stuff in the spring. Smith is sprinkling hive entrances with powdered sugar, which coats the bees and coaxes them to groom each other (thereby plucking off the mites). Yet another strategy: Split colonies in two, which ensures that one of the colonies won’t have a queen laying eggs for about 30 days. No new bees equals nothing for the mites to feed on.
If you’ve got a little land or even a window box, you can do your part: Plant flowers that bees love to pollinate (see sidebar). The more calories bees store in honey form, the more energy they have to cluster and shiver—which is how they survive cold weather. “The whole system is fueled by honey,” explains Berenbaum.
As temps begin to drop, Smith, for one, is optimistic: An excellent summer has left his bee population robust. “So goes the health of the honeybee,” he says, “so goes the health of the planet.”
How You Can Help Bees
Plant five native flowers that thrive in the fall and keep colonies well fed.
Aster A garden speckled with blue blossoms in November? Believe it. Photos: istockphoto
Coneflower No need to deadhead: Birds will chow down on the seeds all winter.
Goldenrod The bad rap for allergies is undeserved. Its sticky pollen doesn’t blow around.
Hardy Ageratum Most pests aren’t into it, so it’s a good pick for organic gardens.
Witch Hazel Don’t be fooled by yellow-turning leaves: This plant blooms into October.
SOURCE: BeeSpotter, Burpee, Chicago Botanic Garden
This article appears in the September 2015 issue of Chicago magazine. Subscribe to Chicago magazine.
ShareOver the past 25 years, outgoing Vice President Joe Biden has made combatting domestic violence, sexual harassment and sexual assault something of a mission.First there was the Violence Against Women Act, the landmark piece of legislation he introduced back in 1990 when he was a U.S. senator. That bill, which was signed into law four years later, changed the way law enforcement addressed issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. He led the charge to reauthorize it three times.Then there is his work as vice president to change the culture surrounding sexual assault and violence. Throughout his two terms, Biden has been outspoken about the underlying societal norms and values that lead to violence against women.He appointed the first White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. He worked with former Education Secretary Arne Duncan to create guidelines for universities on how to address sexual assault on campus. And he even he established the first-ever White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, launching the “It’s On Us” campaign, an effort to educate students about the issue.As his term comes to an end, Biden is out there, still beating the drum. “Here’s the deal guys. I’m no longer going to be vice president, but…I’m going to be setting up a foundation that’s going to devote the rest of my life to dealing with violence against women” he said at the It’s On Us summit at the White House earlier this month.Refinery29 had a chance to ask Biden about rape culture, shifting cultural norms, and how women can continue to fight the good fight in the age of Trump.“Something is terribly wrong when people ask victims of sexual assault questions like, ‘What were you wearing? Why were you there? What did you say? How much did you drink?’ Rape culture happens whenever women are reduced to sexual objects instead being treated with the inherent rights and dignity that belong to all humans. And we have to take it on wherever we find it in our society, whether it’s the so-called locker room talk, or bar banter, or the tasteless joke—anything that condones or even promotes violence against women.“Naming rape culture—calling sexual assault by its rightful name—isn’t about attacking or alienating anyone on the left or the right. It’s about taking off the social blinders that make it easier to overlook violence, rather than confront it. And because this culture is pervasive in our society, we all have a responsibility to step up to change it.Australian firm Chiron Global have spent four years researching hi-tech armour which would allow for weapons to be safely introduced into the MMA battlefield. Courtesy UWM
ONE of sport’s most controversial categories, Mixed Martial Arts, could get an entirely new outlook if a competition based on Australian technology takes off.
UWM — Unified Weapons Master — plans to run competitions later this year between world-calibre martial artists, with a difference. That difference would be that unlike current MMA bouts, weapon use would be encouraged, because combatants would be clad in high tech armour designed not only to protect but also to register the real force behind each strike.
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A team of researchers at Sydney firm Chiron Global, including a former armour developer on the Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit films have spent the past four years developing the armour system, which is designed to be flexible enough to fight in while retaining both protective and real-time reporting functions.
The Iron Man-like armour, due to be launched next week, uses in-built sensors to both calculate and display the damage a weapon or limb strike would have done. The results are generated in real-time, and could be supplemented with 3D visuals to give a public view of the expected damage on a human body from each blow.
“UWM’s vision is to create a large-scale sport and entertainment experience where martial artists can compete against each other with real weapons, with an objective measure of who would have won in a real combat situation” UWM CEO David Pysden said.This is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
Most people assume I was trained in the Reform movement. They’re wrong. I started my Hebrew School education in an Orthodox synagogue and spent my teen years at Beth Torah, a Conservative synagogue, in North Miami Beach.
All of this is prelude. Last night after extremely vivid dreams, I retrieved the following from my email inbox. Reading but still groggy, I asked myself if I was dreaming I was awake. Was I still dreaming?
The reading in question is Arnold Eisen’s address to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism on the occasion of their 1ooth anniversary of existence. Eisen is the Chancellor of the movement’s flagship seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. The title of his address: “The Meaning of this Moment.”
Scrolling down the page, I quickly read through Eisen’s remarks. Then I read them again more carefully. I couldn’t believe what I was (not) reading. It was the middle of the night. I must be missing the obvious.
Eisen’s basic theme is the future. His point of departure is the recent Pew study of Jewish life. Eisen’s metaphor – stretching. On stretching, Eisen pinpoints three areas the Conservative movement needs to pay attention to. The Schechter, Eisen appeals to is Solomon Schecheter, the founding visionary of the Conservative movement:
First, we need to stretch our boundaries wider. Schechter spoke repeatedly in his talk about “Conservative or Orthodox,” aiming to build up what he proudly called “traditional Judaism.” He wanted United Synagogue to define itself positively, by what it was rather than what it was not, and he urged it to take “Klal Israel for its ultimate aim, but America as its immediate field of work.” We must unite despite our differences, he told his audience; you must not “sacrific[e] your children and the whole future of Judaism for the imaginary welfare of your own little soul.” Yes! We need to work to strengthen Movement institutions, shore up membership rolls of synagogues and schools, pave the path in Torah that we believe is the right and true path. This will take internal effort and compromise. But we must also recognize that, if we serve and save only ourselves, we will not serve or save ourselves. The way to grow Conservative Judaism is to reach out beyond it to bring in more Jews, affiliated or not, denominational or post-denominational, from what we call the vital religious center… Second, stretch beyond the status quo of the synagogue. You know about Schechter’s famous ambition to train rabbis who could talk baseball or even play baseball. What is the equivalent of that today? Or of his plea to give up “dread of the English sermon?” How can we act on his conviction that “our work must not remain confined to the synagogue?” This is striking: the work of United Synagogue must not be confined to the synagogue! Schechter did not just teach Mordecai Kaplan, he learned from him. I, a fellow student of Kaplan, am a scholar of North American Judaism who believes the synagogue remains the key institution of our communities. I treasure passionate tefillah. But I think that it does not help our cause in 2013 that Conservative Judaism is identified with the synagogue far more than with any other institution, and that the synagogue is judged far more by what happens in Saturday morning services than by any other facet of its activity. USCJ is absolutely right to change the discourse from synagogue to kehillah. Jews live the truth of Kaplan’s great book: Judaism is civilization—politics and arts, Israel and social services, the life of the mind, the care of the body, the sanctity of the home, the safeguarding of the planet, and the nurturing of the spirit…. Third, stretch our capacity for sacrifice, and our notion of what sacrifice entails. Schechter sought, we seek, “to establish Conservative Judaism on a firm foundation for posterity.” Our task, he emphasized, is to make matters easier for the generations that follow us. It’s not only about us. Then he said, “Such a work, as I hardly need tell you, will require material sacrifice on the part of all those who inaugurate to-day this movement. We cannot do anything worthwhile without taxing ourselves to the utmost of our capacity.” He meant financial commitment, and not only that.
So stretching – boundaries, beyond the status quo of the synagogue and finally, the capacity to sacrifice and the notion of what sacrifice entails. Here’s the sacrifice Eisen calls for:
There is a remarkable midrash on the Akeidah in Bereishit Rabbah that has a lot to say on this point of sacrifice. Abraham is protesting to God, after the angel has saved Isaac from the knife, that God has been incredibly inconsistent. First you tell me that my seed would come through Isaac. Then you order me to sacrifice him. Then you tell me not to touch him! What gives? God replies, “I never said to slaughter him. I said to take him up the mountain in order to participate in a sacrifice.” Not to be the sacrifice. Abraham heard it wrong! He was ready to sacrifice, but he moved in the wrong direction. We often hear so-called commands wrong; especially when they concern the people and causes we love most and call on us to give a lot of ourselves. We always have to be sure that it is God and Torah we follow, rather than faddish trends on the one hand or sheer inertia on the other. Let’s listen hard to Schechter’s warning that we not sacrifice our children’s Judaism in order to preserve our current notion of how things have to be. The Rabbis justified a lot in the name of va-hai ba-hem, the command to live through Judaism and not die, and make sure that Judaism lives through us. The point of taking Isaac up the mountain is to take him up, to reach the place where God appears to him, and by doing so to take ourselves higher too.
Like the other parts of his address, I have read and re-read this call to sacrifice. The sacrifice Eisen calls for eludes me. It seems to be summed up in this line: “Let’s listen hard to Schechter’s warning that we not sacrifice our children’s Judaism in order to preserve our current notion of how things have to be.” But rather than sacrifice, this strikes me more like my older son’s admonition: “Dad, hands off the wheel.” In youth parlance, it means he has his own life to navigate.
I’m OK with sacrifice – Jews of Conscience hear that beat. Sacrifice here, as the Chancellor of Jewish Theological Seminary, would be speaking the truth about the real challenge of Jewish life. This is totally absent in Eisen’s address. That pesky question of Israel’s continuing expansion, the American Jewish enabling of that expansion and the real-time dispossession of Palestinians from their land – not one word! No mention of Israel’s apartheid. Not even a John Kerry warning of “time is running out” on a Two State solution.
These essentials being unmentioned in his remarks, Eisen’s address becomes irrelevant and banal. I would say irresponsible.
Is there some Jewish sand, Eisen and the Conservative movement have their heads stuck in?
Perhaps when I read Eisen’s remarks, I was fully awake and he, when delivering his remarks, was dreaming.
Is the Chancellor of Jewish Theological Seminary dreaming of a world where Palestine and Palestinians don’t exist?Richard Dreyfuss Takes Disney To Court Over Its Refusal To Allow An Outside Auditor To Examine Its Accounting Methods
from the Hooray-for-Hollywood-(accounting)! dept
It takes a lot of skill to turn hugely-profitable films into net losers, and Hollywood studios have it down to an art form -- one that's often more creative than their sanitized retreads and ultra-safe franchises and reboots.
Lucasfilms, now owned by Disney, produced several Star Wars films, amassing billions of dollars. But the actor who played Darth Vader has never received any residuals from The Return of the Jedi, which was the 15th highest-grossing film of all time as of 2012. Low-budget hit The Exorcism of Emily Rose grossed $150 million on a $19 million budget. And yet, its director has yet to see a cent of his residuals, which were supposedly 5% of the net profit. Somehow $131 million just… vanished.
No matter how much is exposed about Hollywood's complete bullshit it calls an accounting process, it will seemingly never stop screwing over everyone but the studios themselves. It's apparently far more profitable to simply weather the criticism and occasional lawsuit.
Speaking of the latter, Richard Dreyfuss has just filed a lawsuit against Disney over missing What About Bob? residuals. His co-complainant, Christine Wagner, is the widow of the producer of Turner & Hooch. Both have a problem with the way studios do math. Both tried to bring in a third-party to take a look at Disney's books, and both were shot down by the studio. (h/t to Techdirt reader techflaws)
According to a complaint filed on Thursday in LA Superior Court, Disney has refused a demand by Dreyfuss and Wagner to hire their chosen auditor — Robinson Inc., founded by David J. Robinson.
In a potentially watershed case from attorney Neville Johnson, the complaint lays out how profit participation auditors are called upon to find monies due to profit participants and how studios are "make auditing as onerous as possible."
Studios make auditing as onerous as possible. For example, they make the auditors sign strict confidentiality agreements before auditing commences in order to ensure that, if wrongdoing has occurred, others will not find out. Even more egregious, when errors are discovered with respect to a property, the Studios do not correct the error retroactively or going forward for other profit participants on the same property. Additionally, Studios intentionally understaff the audit departments so that audits can take many years to be scheduled, and then to complete. On information and belief there is currently a three-year queue to audit Disney, which is inexcusable and outrageous.
The allegations are harsh, but also unsurprising.Dreyfuss and Wagner allege that studios often attempt to deter those seeking unpaid residuals with threats of blackballing and forcing them into restrictive confidentiality agreements and binding arbitration. The lawsuit also alleges that Disney's refusal to recognize Robinson's firm as qualified to perform an audit is based simply on its unwillingness to be audited by a firm it can't control, rather than any lack of experience on Robinson's part. The filing points out that Robinson has performed this service for a number of other movie and TV studios (including some of Disney's television partners), in addition to serving as Director of Finance for both NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. He has also previously audited Disney.Both parties allege that Disney is contractually obligated to allow them to audit the studio's records related to the two movies, but that the studio has abused its "final say" power to limit audits to auditors it prefers, rather than those chosen by the plaintiffs.This should certainly prove interesting if Disney is forced to make its auditing procedures public. But there's only a slim chance that will happen. The dark calculus of Hollywood accounting is more closely-guarded than law enforcement methods and capabilities. If the plaintiffs manage to secure the court-ordered (and court-supervised) auditing they're requesting, it will likely be met with settlement offers, rather than the "outing" of the studio's perverse number massaging.
Filed Under: accounting, audit, richard dreyfuss
Companies: disneyFor more than a month, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a standoff on a remote but strategically important Himalayan plateau near where Tibet, India, and Bhutan meet. © AFP/File DIPTENDU DUTTA
A war between the world's largest Democracy and the world's largest Communist state may not seem likely to the casual observer. But not only is it possible, it's happened before. Only things were very different back then.
China was facing an economic collapse in the early 1960s in the years following the Great Leap Forward. The country was struggling to feed its people, let alone support an all-out war.
India, on the other hand, was on an economic upturn. Militarily, however, India was unprepared and could only field 14,000 troops, compared to China's exhaustive manpower.
In 1962, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong invaded India for granting asylum to the Dalai Lama and not supporting the Chinese occupation of Tibet (Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was an outspoken critic of the occupation). The Chinese won the harsh mountain war, fought without Navies or Air Forces, at 14,000 feet.
Mao later told Sri Lankan and Swedish delegations the war was essentially to teach India a lesson.Image caption Not all fake notes can be detected by the naked eye and a machine can help spot counterfeit currency
In the eastern Indian city of Calcutta, a non-governmental organisation has started a programme to help sex workers recognise fake currency given to them by clients, reports the BBC's Rahul Tandon.
It is another busy day for Satabadi Jana in one of Asia's largest red-light districts, Sonagachi, where more than 10,000 prostitutes live and work.
A group of sex workers is crammed into a small room, which serves as Ms Jana's office. They listen carefully to what she has to say.
Normally, they come here to get advice about how to avoid contracting HIV.
But today, the subject on the agenda is how to spot a forged bank note.
Cross-border counterfeits
Over the past few months, women here have received a large number of counterfeit 500-rupee ($9; £6) and 1,000-rupee notes.
The authorities believe that the notes are coming in from across the border in Bangladesh.
Seema Fokle has been working in Calcutta's red light district since she was a young girl.
She pulls out a note and thrusts it towards me. "Look at this," she says as she waves a 500-rupee note in my face. "It's a fake and it's as worthless as the man who gave it to me."
Image caption Satabadi Jana teaches women how to recognise fake notes
All the other women nod their heads in agreement.
It is a problem that all of them have had to deal with. And it is making life even more difficult than normal.
Some of the women here earn just 100 rupees ($1.85; £1.21) a day.
Areas like Sonagachi are the perfect place to circulate counterfeit currency as the women are too scared to go to the police.
Ms Jana laughs when I ask her if any of the women have filed a police complaint after receiving fake currency.
"All of the girls are afraid to go to the police. They fear that they will end up being arrested if they go and complain.
"Anyway who is going to listen to a sex worker?" she asks.
Shefali Roy, who has received many fake notes, says: "If I go to the authorities, I will lose business. If my clients know that I have been to the police, they will stop
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2
University of Kansas
Carnegie Mellon University (Team Steel)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
TRAC Labs
University of Washington
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (Team IHMC)
Ben-Gurion University (Team ROBIL)
NASA JPL CalTech
TORC Robotics
Track C (Unfunded) Teams:
SARBOT
OU Robotics
Team K
nodein
Red Sky
Team Case
Robot-nicy
WPI Robotics Engineering C-Squad (WRECS)
Team Buckybots
Gold Team
TROOPER
Intelligence Technologies
Mimesis
Br Robotics Team
Team ELEX
VRC Winning Teams:
If you're counting, that comes out to NINE TEAMS, not the six that DARPA allocated funding and robots for! Here's what happened:
In a demonstration of good sportsmanship, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which also has a DARPA-funded Track A effort with its own robot, decided to merge its two efforts and offer the bulk of the resources it earned in the VRC to other teams. DARPA split the freed resources between the next two teams:
- The robot associated with the JPL win and some funding now goes to TROOPER (Lockheed Martin). - Additional funds are being allocated to a newly formed team of Team K and Case Western. That team, now known as HKU, will use an ATLAS robot generously donated to it by Hong Kong University to participate in the DRC Trials in December.
Each one of these teams is going to get a cool $750,000 of funding from DARPA. Also, they're going to get one of these:
The three VRC tasks are a subset of the eight tasks that will be a part of the disaster scenario challenge trials, scheduled to take place in December with the real robots. Here are the rest of the tasks that we'll be seeing at the end of the year:
1. Drive a utility vehicle at the site - In this event, the robot has to enter the vehicle, drive it on a travel course, and exit the vehicle. The robot has to operate the vehicle controls, including steering, throttle, brakes, and ignition. The vehicle is expected to be an unmodified utility vehicle such as a John Deere Gator or Polaris Ranger. 2. Travel dismounted across rubble - Now the robot has to cross terrain ranging from smooth and level to rough and sloped, with some loose soil and rocks. A human would easily traverse the terrain. In addition, the terrain will include discrete obstacles such as rocks, bushes, trees, and ditches that the robot must avoid. 3. Remove debris blocking an entryway - Here the robot has to move an object blocking an entryway. The object will have size, weight, and other properties to be movable either by a person or by the robot. The object is expected not to exceed 5 kilograms and be solid like a rock or a cinder block, and may have an irregular shape. 4. Open a door and enter a building - In this event, the robot has to operate a door handle and have the strength to push the door open. The door and door handle are expected to be standard, commercially available items. 5. Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway - The robot has to traverse an industrial elevated walkway (also known as a catwalk) with a grated surface and handrails. As part of this task, the robot has to climb an industrial ladder. It is expected that a person would need to use both arms and legs to climb the ladder. 6. Use a tool to break through a concrete panel - Next the robot has to use a power tool to perform “forceful manipulation.” The power tool will likely be an air or electric impact hammer and chisel, or an electric reciprocating saw. The task is to break through a concrete panel (with no rebar) or through a framed wall. (Pictured above, robot on the right.) 7. Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe - In this event, the robot has to find a leaking pipe and a nearby valve, which it needs to close. The facility will contain multiple pipes, but only one will be leaking, visible as smoke and audible as the hiss of escaping gas. It is expected that a person would need to use two hands to close the valve. (Pictured above, robot on the left.) 8. Replace a component such as a cooling pump - Finally, the robot has to locate the pump and be able to loosen one or more fasteners to extract the pump from its fittings and reverse all steps to replace the pump. It is expected that the pump will be small and compact enough that a human could handle it with a single hand.
While the robots will be teleoperated up to a point, DARPA is going to mess with the latency and bitrate of the teams' connection to the robots, with the goal of forcing teams to equip their robots with a great level of autonomy. And the more autonomy the robot is capable of, the more efficient it will likely be. The term for this is "supervised autonomy," meaning that humans will be getting sensor data and will make the high-level decisions, but that the robot will be doing most of the low-level tasks itself. So, rather than (say) manually moving the robot's joints to open a door, its controller will need to just send an "open door" command.
As for the robot itself, the official ATLAS rollout is going to be sometime in July. We've heard that development of the platform is on schedule, and we'll be getting more details on that later.
Between July and December, we're looking forward to all sorts of craziness as the DRC teams get their ATLAS robots and start messing with them.
[ DARPA Robotics Challenge ]Study finds customized content on political websites hurts democracy
University at Buffalo expert says popular customization technology has a dark side
“We found that presence of customizability technology increased consumption of pro-attitudinal information and decreased consumption of counter-attitudinal information. Such selective exposure is known to increase political polarization, which we are seeing a lot of in modern U.S. politics."
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Having it your way on political websites and seeing only the content that aligns with your beliefs is not good for democracy, according to Ivan Dylko, an assistant professor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Communication and an expert in the political effects of communication technology.
Dylko has published a groundbreaking paper in the latest issue of the journal Computers in Human Behavior that is among the first to experimentally test the political effects of customizability, a popular technology that personalizes a site’s subject matter and is present on many top websites like Facebook, Google News, Twitter and others.
The results of the study suggest that political websites that either customize content automatically or allow visitors to personally tailor the site’s content increase the tendency for those users to consume information that agrees with their ideologies at the expense of information that challenges those beliefs. This effect was particularly strong among politically moderate participants.
Customizability technology drives narrow decision-making that reflect personal biases. Liberals consume more liberal content and conservatives consume more conservative content.
Researchers call the resulting information diet “political selective exposure” and Dylko’s study provides important empirical evidence for what he calls “the dark side of technology.”
“These personalization tools were initially created to help cope with information overload. Unfortunately, these popular information technologies can unintentionally hurt our democracy,” says Dylko. “The increasingly popular personalization tools are likely to lead to a situation where we are surrounded by like-minded information that creates skewed perception of reality, incorrect beliefs, extreme attitudes and suboptimal political behavior.”
Customizability, a key element of the modern information environment, emerges as a critical contributing factor.
Using this technology, visitors, on their own, can select what articles a website delivers to them as easily as they might decide what to purchase from a clothes rack. This kind of user-driven personalization also has a system-driven counterpart that relies on software code – operating unobtrusively and sometimes covertly – that, in a political context, prioritizes stories that align with the ideological browsing patterns of individual users.
“System-driven customizability, termed a ‘filter bubble’ by political activist and Internet entrepreneur Eli Pariser, is particularly troubling because substantial content is filtered out by the information system without users ever realizing this is happening,” says Dylko. “The ease of reducing exposure to challenging opinions and automation of such filtering is what’s new and important about selective exposure today.”
The nature and effects of customizability have split many observers into separate camps of Internet pessimists and Internet optimists, each arguing whether this technology hurts or helps democracy, according to Dylko.
The optimists say that quality information that is free and easily accessible increases the likelihood that people will encounter and read opinions that differ from their own. The pessimists argue the opposite, saying human nature dictates that the Internet will not be used in the best possible way.
Researchers are just beginning to understand the nature of this complex problem and its nuances. Although many researchers speculated about the implications of this technology, Dylko’s study is the only experimental study to date that directly tested these effects in the context of routine consumption of political news.
For the study that Dylko co-authored with Igor Dolgov, associate professor of psychology at New Mexico State University, and former and current NMSU graduate students William Hoffman, Nicholas Eckhart, Maria Molina and Omar Aaziz, subjects answered a survey that measured their political attitudes.
One month later, subjects were randomly assigned to browse one of four different political websites with liberal and conservative content: A user-customizable site; a system-customizable site on which researchers manipulated content based on the survey responses; a hybrid of the first two customizability types; and a final non-customizable site. Subjects browsed the sites while researchers recorded clicks and time spent reading.
“We found that presence of customizability technology increased consumption of pro-attitudinal information and decreased consumption of counter-attitudinal information,” says Dylko. “Such selective exposure is known to increase political polarization, which we are seeing a lot of in modern U.S. politics.
“That’s not good for a healthy democracy” he says. “Living in ideological cocoons prevents cross-fertilization of political ideas, undermines civil political discourse, and hurts the quality of decision making in political context.”
The popularity of customizability technology, increase in the number of content choices, declining trust in various elite institutions of society and declining influence of the established traditional media are some of the factors responsible for the lack of civility and gridlock in modern politics, Dylko says.
“We hope decision makers behind websites like Google, Facebook, Twitter and other key gatekeepers of political information will take note of the unintended harm their services might be inflicting on our society and try to mitigate this harm technologically. However, the public should not be let off the hook either.
“We all should be more alert to how information algorithms might inadvertently negatively affect us, and try to break out of the comfortable information bubbles each of us has created on various online news and social media platforms,” Dylko says.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Some people are calling a religious group vandals and claim they broke the law when they dug up a patch of grass next to a Confederate general's grave in a Memphis park Wednesday.
Thursday, a man drove hundreds of miles to plant new grass.
"When I saw this last night, my wife couldn't understand why I was shaking so badly," Scott Hudson of Lincoln County, Tennessee, said.
He watched WREG's story on a group who dug up a patch of grass next to Nathan Bedford Forrest's statue and grave.
The group called the move symbolic, and said they're standing up to racism while taking the first steps to remove Forrest's statue and remains from Health Sciences Park.
"I'm going to repair the blatant disregard for this cemetery," Hudson said.
He was so outraged that he cut a piece of his own lawn, drove five hours and laid the patch down.
"It just upset me to my core, because my great-grandfather R.C. Hudson fought in the Confederate Army," he said.
Isaac Richmond, who organized the digging demonstration, said Hudson not only wasted gas, but also his time.
"It's not necessary. I think they are trying to symbolize that we are a bunch of vandals," he said.
Memphis Police has yet to say whether any laws were broken Wednesday.
Hudson isn't waiting on police to form his own opinion.
"It was vandalism. There is no question about it," he said. "It was vandalism, and it was illegal."
Please enable Javascript to watch this videoWhen former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee announced he was joining the 2016 Democratic primary race, some people scratched their heads when he said switching to the metric system would be one of his goals as president.
Of the world’s major countries, only the United States, Liberia and Myanmar don’t use metric units as their primary measurement systems. Instead, America uses U.S. customary units. CNN anchor Dana Bash asked Chafee about his desire to have the country use meters instead of feet and kilometers instead of miles in a June 7 interview.
Noting that he lived in Canada while they converted to the metric system in the 1970s, Chafee said this discussion has been going on for a while in the United States.
"I know many in the scientific community, the health care community that deal internationally, the business community, are saying this is way overdue," he said. "(Former President) Ronald Reagan talked about it. Others have talked about it."
It’s amazing how often politicians use Reagan’s name as a way to advance their cause. In this case, we wondered if Chafee’s claim measures up.
Falling short
In 1975, Former President Gerald Ford signed the Metric Conversion Act, which created the United States Metric Board, charged with leading the planning and educational efforts for switching over to the metric system. (Check out this delightful cartoon about converting to the metric system from 1975.)
So when Reagan took office in 1981, a government-backed push for metric conversion -- also known as metrication -- was already well underway. However, the Metric Board had limited effectiveness in that there was no mandatory conversion timeline, and the board included some members who actually opposed conversion.
In 1982, Reagan effectively dismantled the metrication effort by stripping funding from the Metric Board. The group morphed into the Office of Metric Programs, under the Department of Commerce, with much less responsibility and less than a fifth of the budget.
That year’s federal budget also cut a $2 million Department of Education program for metric education, according to the New York Times.
The Reagan administration justified the Metric Board cut as part of a general reduction in federal spending, rather than opposition to conversion -- preferring to leave conversion to the private sector. Reagan’s budget proposal said, "The board has accomplished its mission to familiarize the public with the metric system. Voluntary metrication will continue through market adjustments.''
The U.S. Metric Association, a current group dedicated to metric conversion, dug into this issue with Reagan Library materials. They found more than one piece of correspondence indicating that Reagan’s action against the Metric Board did "not imply a lack of support for voluntary metrication."
It’s worth noting that Frank Mankiewicz, a former Democratic strategist and National Public Radio president, took at least partial credit for killing the Metric Board -- having convinced a top Reagan adviser that metrication could damage the country.
We looked through newspaper archives with LexisNexis and found that for nearly the rest of the Reagan administration, there was very little talk of metric conversion, at least in Washington. (Other than in 1985, when the U.S. ambassador to Canada resigned in part because he called the Canadian metrication process "rubbish.")
But in 1988, his last year in office, Reagan signed into law an omnibus trade bill that included a slight amendment to the 1975 Metric Conversion Act. Tucked into the 1,000-page bill was a declaration that the metric system was "the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce" and called for federal agencies to switch to the metric system wherever practical by 1992.
While supporters of metrication saw this as a win because it had a timeline for implementation and a directive for federal agencies, unlike the earlier legislation, some believed the bill was without teeth because it allowed agencies an economic out from conversion, according to news reports from the time.
It’s unclear how much influence Reagan had over this amendment to the Metric Conversion Act because it went over with little fanfare, and we were unable to track down any relevant White House statement.
Reagan’s successor, President George H.W. Bush, further solidified that directive with an executive order in 1991.
All in all, the Reagan administration seemed ambivalent toward metrication, at best.
Today, not all, but many federal agencies -- including the military -- use metric units almost exclusively, according to a statement from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Many metric experts estimate that the United States is 50 percent metric, said U.S. Metric Association President Don Hillger, a meteorologist at Colorado State University. While most Americans use customary units in their homes, those in science and heavy industry typically use the metric system.
He added that there is no longer a standard yard or pound because U.S. customary units are defined by their metric equivalents.
"So we really are on the metric standard in the U.S.," Hillger said. "It’s just that we continue to use non-metric units that no other major country uses anymore."
Our ruling
Chafee said, "Reagan talked about" converting to the metric system.
The issue of metrication rose at the very beginning and at the very end of Reagan’s presidency. However, Chafee’s statement implies that Reagan had more than a passing interest in the issue, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
The metrication process started before Reagan took office. He slowed the process to a standstill by taking away funding. He was silent on the issue for the next six years until he signed a law that directed federal agencies to make a more concerted effort to transition to metric units when practical -- though it’s unclear how much influence Reagan’s White House had on that tiny aspect of a 1,000-page omnibus bill.
Without this additional context, Chafee’s claim is off by a few yards. Or meters. We rate the claim Half True.NOT to make you all “There’s a man on the wing” paranoid, but there’s a lot that goes on aboard planes that we just don’t know about. In our travellers’ haze of in-flight movies, naps, and conversations with seat mates, we miss some intriguing (and sometimes unpleasant) parts of the flying experience.
But flight attendants and pilots see all and know all. And now, we take you behind the galleys and cockpits to reveal some of what really goes on lanes. How do flight attendants entertain themselves? How do they handle passengers they like and the ones they don’t? And is it really possible to join the Mile-High Club without them noticing? (Hint: No.)
Here are 12 surprising secrets about flying:
1. The real reason flight attendants rush you to take your seat
During boarding, flight attendants often sound like drill instructors on an obstacle course: “Let’s go! Stow your bags! Take your seats! Buckle up! MOVE IT, PEOPLE!!!” (But flight attendants are a lot nicer and more subtle about it.) Turns out there’s a reason for that urgency, and it’s not just about preserving the airline’s on-time departure rate.
“We don’t get paid until the doors close and the plane gets moving,” former flight attendant Shawn Kathleen, creator of Passenger Shaming said. She says many flight attendants are paid by the flight hour, and that clock doesn’t start running until the doors close and the flight is underway. “We’re just as motivated to get going as the passengers,” Shawn Kathleen says.
2. Flight crews don’t party during layovers (well, maybe a little)
Thankfully for us passengers, life on the road for pilots and flight attendants isn’t anything like the sex, drugs, and booze orgy we saw in the first five minutes of the Denzel Washington movie Flight. “On domestic flights, the layover is only ten or so hours,” says Tom Bunn, a former airline pilot and licensed counsellor who helps people get over their fear of flying. “Most crew members get a bite to eat, watch some TV and get a good nights sleep.”
“Of course, parties happen,” Shawn Kathleen says. But she notes that federal “bottle to throttle” rules barring flight crew members from drinking within eight hours of a flight (airline policies are sometimes even stricter) do a good job of keeping the vast majority of flight crews honest. “You can arrive for a flight and someone is there to give you a Breathalyzer or drug test,” Shawn Kathleen says. “Nobody f***s around with that.”
3. Empty flight shenanigans
Remember the lucky guy who had a flight to New York that was empty except for himself and another passenger? “Betty,” the anonymous flight attendant who writes the Yahoo Travel column Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant, says that happens quite a bit. “Every once in a blue moon we will ferry a flight,” she says, “which is when we deliver the plane, and ourselves, to a destination. So there are no passengers on-board, only crew members.”
And when the passengers are away, the flight attendants will play. One popular empty flight pastime is called “aisle surfing.” Betty describes it as such: “You grab a meal tray, put it on the floor in the aisle at the front of the plane, stand on it, hold on to something solid for dear life, and wait for the moment the plane lifts off from the runway. At that point — when the plane is travelling 140mph (225km/h)— you let go and slide clear to the back of the plane on the carpeting.” Betty says she’s never tried this dangerous activity because, “It almost always ends badly.”
They rebooked everyone but me on another flight to LGA, so I am literally the only person on this plane. pic.twitter.com/ZZNPACUOfR — Chris O'Leary (@ohhleary) January 12, 2015
4. Yes, the flight attendants are talking about you
“I will neither confirm nor deny whether crew members talk about passengers,” jokes flight attendant Emily Witkop. Fortunately, ex-flight attendant Shawn Kathleen is willing to dish on flight attendants’ dishing. “You might say, ‘That guy’s hot,’ and, ‘Oh, she’s hot,” Shawn Kathleen says.
Witkop (reluctantly) confirms that. “I recall for a few years there was a ‘hot coffee’ code among flight attendants,” she concedes. “You would say, ‘I’ve got hot coffee in 3B!’ Which meant there was an extremely attractive passenger in that particular seat who the other flight attendants should check out.”
5. The flight attendant can probably kick your ass
In addition to training in CPR, first-aid, fire safety, and even delivering babies, Shawn Kathleen says flight attendants are taught something else that might come in handy: self-defence.
“[The training] is probably like what a woman would learn at a normal self-defence class,” she says, noting that they practice with each other and with dummies. The self-defence training is mainly to deal with security threats, such as someone rushing the cockpit.
So your flight attendant likely won’t open up a can of you-know-what on the average difficult passenger who makes rude comments and keeps pushing the call button. Or will they? “We don’t want to, but … yeah, sometimes we want to,” Shawn Kathleen says, laughing.
6. If you’re being a jerk, flight attendants will mess with your drink
No, we’re not talking about … THAT. “I would never spit in [someone’s] cup,” Shawn Kathleen says emphatically. But that doesn’t mean she or her fellow flight attendants are above exacting some liquid revenge against a rude passenger.
Shawn Kathleen had one favourite, and harmless, tactic when serving up some payback to mean passengers: “I’ll take a cup and scoop in a lot of ice, and when I pour the soda or juice in, there’s, like, two tablespoons!” she laughs. Shawn Kathleen called her cocktail “The ‘A**hole Special,” and she’s certain other flight attendants do it, too. As they say: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
7. Don’t think your flight attendant doesn’t notice you trying to join the Mile-High Club
Amorous couples often think they’re being more subtle than they really are, and that’s definitely the case when they sneak off to the lavatory for some in-flight entertainment. Sorry, guys, but flight attendants can spot you a mile away. “We usually can shake our heads at people attempting to populate the lavatory together and give them the ‘No, no’ sign,” Witkop says.
But while flight attendants may notice your naughty intentions, that doesn’t mean they’ll always stop you.
“They’re adults,” says ex-flight attendant Shawn Kathleen, who admits that if there was a light crowd on-board, no one waiting for the bathroom, and no safety risk, she was more than willing to look the other way. That doesn’t mean she won’t judge aspiring Mile-High Club members.
“Why would anyone want to?” she wonders. “You know what those lavatories are like. They’re disgusting!” Speaking of which …
8. Lavatories really are disgusting (and don’t get us started on the tray tables)
“For some reason people fail to realise that the on-board lavatories are just glorified port-a-potties,” says flight attendant Sydney Pearl, creator of the website Diary of a Pissed Off Flight Attendant and author of a book of the same name. “We are always reminding people to put their shoes on because the wetness on the floor is not water!
“The tray tables are a close second to the lavatories. People sometimes change their kids’ diapers on the tray tables, and, yes, sometimes they are soiled! The worst part is that they just close it back up, and then I see someone on the next flight either allowing their kids to eat their snacks off of the tray table or someone asleep with their bare face on the table. Gross!!”
9. Flight attendants are stain removal experts
On crowded aeroplanes these days, spills are inevitable. Fortunately, flight attendants know how to deal with spills that threaten to stain your outfit. Says Emily Witkop: “One trick is not only to use the ever-handy club soda to lift the stain but to put in on a sanitary napkin (maxi-pad) to blot the stain.”
She notes that, unlike paper towels or napkins, maxi-pads don’t leave residue on your clothing. But Witkop admits some people are a bit unnerved by this … sanitary approach to cleaning. “You must use good judgment on who you offer this solution to,” she says. “They will either love it or be absolutely horrified.”
10. Games flight attendants play
Just because the flight’s over doesn’t mean the fun stops. ”Saying the requisite ‘buh-byes’ to 300 people can get very repetitive,” says Betty. “If there are two of us, we will pick a random way to separate the workload. For instance, ‘You take the passengers with the eyeglasses and I’ll say goodbye to the ones without.’ While it may seem silly, Betty says it’s a good way to stay engaged in each personal encounter so that “our smiles look genuine.” Plus, they get added laughs whenever they have to decide how to count a guy with an eye patch or a monocle.
Let Yahoo Travel inspire you every day. Hang out with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. And check out Yahoo Travel’s original video series A Broad Abroad, starring Editor in Chief Paula Froelich. This week, Paula checks out what’s good to eat in Miami.
11. Cabin crew are beauty experts too
Flying is hell on the skin, but many flight attendants have a way to deal with the dryness that accompanies air travel. Says former pilot Tom Bunn: “Flight attendants have found that nothing keeps that moisture in better than baby oil.”
This article originally appeared on Yahoo Travel and was republished with permission via the New York Post.An incident between two drivers in Boca Raton Friday ended when one man pointed a weapon at another, Boca police said.
Irving Feingold, 81, pointed a.380 caliber handgun at an 18-year-old driver, according to the police report. But Feingold said he pointed the gun because he feared for his life.
The 18-year-old victim told police that Feingold, driving a gold Cadillac, cut him off at about 3:45 p.m. Friday near St. Andrews Boulevard and Verde Trail. The victim told police the Cadillac then followed him as he turned into his gated community. The victim told police he confronted the driver of the Cadillac and hollered at him.
The victim, and his passenger, told police the Cadillac followed them to the victim's home, where Feingold pointed the weapon at the victim.
Feingold, who said he unholstered the gun but never pointed it, was charged with aggravated assault, the report said.We’re back on the weekly release schedule, and after two jam-packed exciting new builds you might be forgiven for thinking the latest big Insider release would be a little light on new features and… you’d be wrong.
Build 16232 introduces some of the new security features which will be coming to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, including Exploit Protection, and Controlled folder access in Windows Defender Antivirus. It also introduces improvements for Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG).
SEE ALSO: With Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft is going all-in on security
If you’re not familiar, Windows Defender Application Guard makes use of Hyper-V virtualization technology and is designed to stop attackers from establishing a foothold on your local machine or beyond. If you sandbox Edge in this way, anything you do in the browser will be forgotten once you quit out. This build introduces Edge data persistence to WDAG so you can favorite sites and return to them afterwards. To use this new feature you’ll firstly have to enable it in Group Policy.
Close all Edge windows and update the Windows Components > Windows Defender Application Guard policy to turn on data persistence. When done, launch the New Application Guard Window from the Microsoft Edge menu, then browse to a site you like and add it to Favorites. This site will now be available for later use, with Microsoft Edge in Application Guard.
Also starting in this build you can make use of Exploit Protection to audit, configure, and manage Windows system and application exploit mitigation settings from Windows Defender Security Center. To access the settings open the Windows Defender Security Center and go to the App & browser control page. You can search for Windows Defender Security Center via the Start menu.
Microsoft warns that this is an early work in progress, so you might encounter errors along the way.
Ransomware is very much in the news again at the moment, and this build can help protect your valuable data from such threats via a new Controlled folder access feature in Windows Defender Antivirus.
To enable the feature, search for and open the Windows Defender Security Center from Start, go to the Virus & threat protection settings section, and set the switch to On.
Other changes, improvements, and fixes for PC include:
Fixed the issue that was causing updating to the latest build to fail and roll back to the previous build if you had the.NET 3.5 Framework installed. You should no longer need to uninstall.NET 3.5 before trying to update to this build.
Fixed an issue for those with certain languages installed in the last flight where ctfmon.exe would go into a crash loop, resulting in typing in the Start menu and UWP apps becoming impossible.
In Windows Defender Security Center you will soon have the option to dismiss recommendations (yellow badged items). In this build, you will see the upcoming addition however it is under construction and not up and running yet. Stay tuned.
Fixed an issue where some games like Mass Effect 3 would crash if you used Alt + TAB after 5 minutes of game play.
Fixed an issue resulting in Word 2016 crashing if you attempted to ink in it.
Fixed an issue where using the new Ctrl + Win + C hotkey to enable and disable color filters would unexpectedly open Settings.
Fixed an issue from the last flight where auto-complete in the URL bar of Microsoft Edge might fail on some devices -- searching for a partial string instead of the autocompleted text. This fix should also address the feedback some of you were reporting where Cortana sometimes couldn’t keep up with typing on that flight and the letters would end up out of order.
Fixed an issue where the File Explorer Ribbon assets were blurry if the window’s DPI was not equal to the system DPI.
Fixed an issue resulting in apps that start with X, V or Q being incorrectly categorized in Start on Polish builds.
Moved the new Video Playback Settings page to now be listed under the Apps category, and fixed the issues on the page where the video and battery dropdown weren’t displaying correctly.
Fixed an issue with the XAML Acrylic Brush that could result in certain apps, for example Maps, occasionally crashing due to attempting to load acrylic brushes while the app was suspended.
Fixed a rare condition that could result in Start menu appearing to flash/flicker continuously.
Known issues for PC include:
Your PC may fail to update to this build with an 0x80070643 and rolls back to the previous build. Microsoft is investigating.
Microsoft is also investigating reports that the battery status on certain laptops isn’t updating while the device is unplugged.
You may notice some of your inbox apps are now displaying a name that looks like "ms-resource:" and are listed at the bottom of Start. The app should still launch normally, it’s only the name resource that’s impacted.
Some UWP apps such as Twitter will crash on launch.
Xbox Live in-game experiences may fail to load. These include gamer profiles, achievement details, and other dialogs that may pop up on top of an Xbox Live-enabled game.
Avoid doing a PC reset via Settings > Update & security > Recovery and choosing "Remove everything." This may put your device into a reboot loop.
Task Manager may hang on launch on this build.
Microsoft also warns that it will be pausing the testing new versions of its inbox apps with Windows Insiders:
This means that Insiders will not receive app updates from the Windows Store for our inbox apps that are newer than the apps included in the build. Insiders may notice that some features we were testing in our inbox apps -- including recent updates to the Photos app -- will temporarily disappear. This is because some of our inbox apps won’t have all the latest new features without getting an update from the Store. It is critical that Insiders are experiencing the same version of Windows that will be released as the default version for all Windows users. Insiders will once again start receiving app updates in the very near future.
Photo credit: charnsitr / ShutterstockBRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man was charged Friday with helping his girlfriend dispose of a stillborn baby boy whose body was found inside a plastic bag in a reservoir in March.
State police also charged Benjamin Edgerly, 21, of Bristol, with helping to conceal the boy’s birth. He was released on a promise to appear in court. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
The mother, 19, told state police she “knew something was off” after giving birth at her grandparent’s home on March 13, an arrest warrant says.
“The baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck; he wasn’t crying, his lips were bluish and his skin a slight purple,” the woman told police, according to the warrant. “I panicked. I had done this completely alone.”
On March 19, she put the body in a white trash bag and into Edgerly’s book bag, the warrant says. Edgerly allegedly told police he threw the bag into a reservoir just before midnight on March 20.
The infant’s body was discovered the next morning in the reservoir in Harwinton, a town about 24 miles (39 kilometers) west of Hartford.
Edgerly and the mother told Bristol police what happened after learning that the body was found, the warrant says.
An autopsy confirmed the baby had been a stillborn. DNA matched the baby to the mother, but not to Edgerly, according to the warrant.SNc Channels:
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Jan-29-2014 22:31 TweetFollow @OregonNews 101 Reasons Not to Circumcise Includes Salem-News.com's two anti-circumcision songs by Agron Belica.
Photo from the 2013 San Francisco Pride Parade by Tim King Salem-News.com
(WASHINGTON, DC) - 1. Circumcision can cause numerous complications such as hemorrhaging, Chordee (bending of the penis), urinary retention, penile adhesions (skin attachments), swelling, the removal of too much penile shaft skin, meatitis, buried penis, urethral fistulas, cysts, penoscrotal webbing, urethral strictures, stenosis, injury to remaining genital tissue, lymphedema, lacerations of the glans, necrosis, partial amputation of the penis, loss of the penis, and death. Many studies have documented infections that have occurred through circumcision such as tetanus, diphtheria, staphylococcus, staphylococcal bronchopneumonia, pseudomonas, streptococcus, Proteus, bacteremia, MRSA, septicemia (blood poisoning), meningitis, sepsis, gangrene, tuberculosis, and impetigo. Side effects can occur with the use or non-use of anesthetics or narcotics for neonatal circumcisions such, nerve damage (from improper anesthetic application), lack of oxygen resulting in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (can cause brain damage), loss of blood leading to hypovolemic shock, and severe pain leading to apnea (leads to cerebral hypoxia), cardiopulmonary arrest, coma, pneumothorax, seizure, and stroke. All this is preventable because circumcision is not a necessary surgery. Why would you intentionally inflict pain on your child to remove a normal part of his body? 2. Most Parents in the United States do not know the risks of circumcision. The American Medical Association found that, in one study, physicians in "nearly half" of neonatal circumcisions "did not discuss the potential medical risks and benefits of elective circumcision prior to the procedure. 3. In a 2010 study published in the Journal Thymos estimates that In the United States each year around 117 male infants die as a result of their circumcision in the neonatal period (within
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9 percent increase in the number of terrorist attacks between 2012 and 2013, and the North Waziristan military operation has driven TTP fighters into major Pakistani cities, including the capital Islamabad, where the public is bracing for reprisal attacks against soft targets. Though there have been few such attacks thus far, militant groups in urban areas have escalated networking and fundraising through kidnapping, armed robberies, and extortion. Attacks are likely to increase once groups have gathered resources and consolidated urban operations. Meanwhile, the Afghan Taliban has taken advantage of the international troop withdrawal to launch coordinated attacks to regain control of districts in Helmand, Kandahar and Ghor provinces. Militant groups active in both countries continue to take advantage of the porous Durand Line and increasingly draw strength from each other.
The idea that Pakistan and Afghanistan are fighting separate enemies is also increasingly redundant. A TTP spokesman in October 2013 stated that the Afghan Taliban was providing financial support and safe havens in Afghanistan for the Pakistan Taliban. Increasing cooperation between the Afghan Taliban and TTP also reportedly led Pakistan’s security establishment in April to issue a warning to the former, saying that they could not rely on tacit support from Pakistan if they continued to facilitate the TTP. A coordinated counter-terrorism strategy is increasingly the best way forward for Pakistan and Afghanistan in terms of stemming the threat from militancy on both sides of the Durand Line.
Unfortunately, by placing blame across the border, Pakistan and Afghanistan are not only ignoring ground realities, but also distracting from governance failures that are stalling domestic counterterrorism initiatives. For example, the Pakistan government launched the first-ever National Internal Security Policy in March 2014 but has since done little to implement its clauses. The cornerstone of the policy -- operationalizing a National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) tasked with coordinating counter-terrorism strategies and intelligence gathering efforts at the federal and provincial levels -- has been repeatedly delayed owing to administrative bungling: a parliamentary act passed in 2013 placed the authority directly under the prime minister’s control; however, a subsequent federal government notification split control of NACTA, placing the authority under the prime minister for administrative purposes and under the Interior Ministry for operational matters. An Islamabad High Court ruling in July returned the control of NACTA to the prime minister’s office, but the authority remains non-functional.
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, a concerted effort to address the continuing Taliban threat -- including building the capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces, finalizing the Bilateral Security Agreement with the United States, and initiating negotiations with the Taliban -- will be delayed as a result of political uncertainty resulting from the 2014 presidential elections. The outcome will lack credibility, even after the completion of the audit of the votes cast during the second round of voting in June. Moreover, the proposed national unity government, which will include both leading candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, is likely to wrestle with infighting and internal power tussles as the leaders define their roles and accommodate their supporters in official positions. Counter-terrorism initiatives are likely to be deprioritized as the government establishes itself, despite an increase in Taliban activity.
Despite historic tensions, there is an opportunity for Pakistan and Afghanistan to develop a bilateral counter-terrorism strategy. The director generals of military operations on both sides met on July 3 to discuss cross-border operations and militant sanctuaries on both sides of the border. If Islamabad and Kabul stop playing the blame game, such engagements could be built upon to develop a coordinated and comprehensive strategy, including improved border control.
In addition to ceding space to militant groups, the practice of pointing fingers across the border is also limiting the scope of the bilateral relationship. As long as Pakistan and Afghanistan blame each other for the continuation of militant attacks on their territory, the relationship will be dominated by security issues, and led on the Pakistan side by the security establishment. This dynamic leaves little space for the two countries to engage on other, equally vital issues, including bilateral trade, shared energy infrastructure, the distribution of increasingly scarce water resources and the formalization of the Durand Line as a border.
There has been a significant shift in both Pakistan and Afghanistan vis-a-vis the militant threat in recent months. The public on both sides of the Durand Line has rejected militancy as evidenced by the historic turnout of voters despite threats from the Taliban in Pakistan’s general election in 2013 and Afghanistan’s 2014 presidential election. It would be tragic if the opportunity to act on the public and political consensus against militancy is squandered because of bilateral tensions and a desire among the administrations in both Pakistan and Afghanistan to remain unaccountable for domestic security provision.
Huma Yusuf is a Wilson Center Global Fellow and the senior Pakistan and Afghanistan analyst at Control Risks.Unknown Suspect(s)
Hillsborough, North Carolina - October 16, 2016
Carrboro, North Carolina - September 2015
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading directly to arrest of the person(s) responsible for the arson and vandalism of the Orange County Republican Party headquarters.
Details:
The Charlotte Division of the FBI and the Hillsborough Police Department are seeking information from the public to help identify the person or persons responsible for acts of vandalism and arson in North Carolina.
On Sunday, October 16, 2016, the Orange County Republican Party headquarters, located at 347 Ja-Max Drive in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was a victim of arson and graffiti. The building sustained heavy damage inside when several Molotov cocktail-type devices were thrown through the building's front window. No one was inside at the time, and the fire burned itself out before spreading to any other buildings. Federal, state, and local investigators believe the crime occurred sometime between midnight and 8:54 a.m. on October 16, 2016, when a 911 call was made by a nearby business owner. "NAZI REPUBLICANS LEAVE TOWN OR ELSE" was spray-painted on an adjacent building.
A suspect vehicle in this case was seen traveling north on NC-86, and passed under I-85 before entering The Shops at Daniel Boone, located at 110 Boone Square Street in Hillsborough, North Carolina, at approximately 2:55 a.m. on October 16, 2016. The suspect vehicle bypassed all businesses open at that time, and traveled in the direction of the Orange County Republican Party headquarters.
Investigators are also seeking information to determine a possible connection to an incident of vandalism that occurred in Carrboro, North Carolina, in September of 2015. The victim of this vandalism was an outspoken activist, who may have been targeted by the same individual or individuals who committed the arson and vandalism in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
The FBI, the Hillsborough Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Secret Service are working jointly on this investigation.It wasn’t all that long ago that we learned tomatoes (along with peppers, cucumbers, and anything else with seeds) are really a fruit, however that is not true in a United States court of law. In 1883 the US Supreme Court passed a law that classified tomatoes as a vegetable.
The reason, of course, was taxes. An importer of produce refused to pay the usual tariff on vegetables arguing that tomatoes were not actually vegetables. That’s true, and the senate agreed in the botanical sense… but they made the law anyway.
That’s how the tomato can cause taxes, so how about death? Well when that law was passed, North American people would have only been eating the tomato for about 60 years prior. Before that, it was widely believed and assumed that the tomato was very poisonous.
The tomato was picked up by European explorers around 1500 from it’s native home in South America, and it was experimented with once they got it back home. So I don’t know where along the line this poison belief crept in, but in 1820 nobody would dare eat a tomato. Except one man.
The brave mythbuster was Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson, and one day he staged a public demonstration on the courthouse steps of Salem, New Jersey where he dared to eat a tomato. Obviously, the event had an anti-climactic ending and people started eating tomatoes fearlessly.
Source: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/pae/botany/botany_map/articles/article_35.html
Inspired by my friend Shawn who asked about the poison myth (which I had never heard of)
http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/pae/botany/botany_map/articles/article_35.htmlYears ago, when I was tech writer for weird magazines such as Signal and for other more-normal techish pubs, Jews littered the intellectual landscape. They were all over high-end research, such as Bell Labs. The big names were often Jewish, Einstein, von Neumann, Feynman, Gell-Mann, Minsky. The staff list for the Manhattan Project read like a Yeshiva yearbook. The same happened in the arts. Bernstein, Landowska, Rubinstein, Stoppard (“Maidens in search of Godhead…and vice versa.”)
Jews were smart, most people figured, not necessarily liking it. I wondered why without great interest. Genetic determinists of course cooked up evolutionary explanations involving undiscovered genes acted upon by unquantifiable selective pressures to produce assumed results not correlatable with the pressures. Business as usual.
Later I began to notice without thinking about it that the Jewish names were growing thin on the ground. These were not systematic observations. But Asian names were becoming prominent almost everywhere. The Feinsteins seemed to be in recession, if only anecdotally.
Something odd was happening, I barely noticed.
Then Ron Unz published The Myth of American Meritocracy, documenting a stunning turnaround of which I had been only vaguely aware. The book deals substantially with corruption in admissions to Ivy schools, with some (I think) good ideas for reform. It also charts the sharp decline in Jewish achievement and the meteoric rise of the Asians. (Actually I think falling is more what meteors do, but cliches are cliches.)
As one example, consider the NMSQT, the National Merit Scholastic Qualifying Test, given nationally to high-schoolers. To be a Semi-Finalist a student has to test in the top one half of one percent–sort of upper middle-brow intelligence.
in 2010 there were about 2000 Semi-Finalists in California, the state with the second highest Jewish population after New York. Citing an analysis of last names, Unz notes that there was only one Cohen, Levy, and Kaplan, but 49 Wangs and 36 Kims.
This pattern, Unz notes with lots of documentation, repeats across the country. For example, in the ultra-high-end high schools such as Thomas Jefferson in Virginia and Stuyvesant in New York. These places are scary smart, CalTech in short pants. Unz:
“Jews and Asians today are about equal in number within New York City but whereas a generation ago elite local public schools such as Stuyvesant were very heavily Jewish, today Jews are outnumbered at least several times over by Asians.”
“In 2012, Asians were 72.5% of Stuyvesant students, with all whites at just 24%, of whom an unspecified fraction were Jewish.”
Which is to say that even if all the whites were Jews and no HAGVACAS (House and Garden Variety (non-Jewish) Caucasians), the Asians would be outperforming the Jews by three to one.
Which is crazy strange.
Now the reader may say, “But Fred, this objection and that objection, and what about…?” Fair enough, but in condensing a book into three paragraphs one leaves things out. The sources are there and the analysis careful. And no, the book is not an attack on Jews, Unz himself being Jewish and a Harvard grad.
Methinks, subject to correction, that his findings shed considerable darkness on what we think we know about intelligence. Jews still perform better than Hagvacas, but less better than before, and the Asians are way ahead of the Jews. It seems unlikely that the Asians have suddenly risen in biological intelligence, or that Jews have gone down. Putting it otherwise, when one group falls almost overnight on a wide variety of tests thought to measure intelligence, and another rises, it follows that either intelligence can change very fast or the tests are not measuring intelligence. So what is happening? What do the aptitude tests measure?
The easy explanation is that the Chinese kids are of about normal intelligence but just work harder. Yet when a kid gets into Stuyvesant or MIT, he can’t get by on hard work and modest aptitude any more than I could play for the Chicago Bulls by practicing hard. You have to be smart to do, say, computational fluid dynamics. Actually really, really smart with tensors and things.
Which is why I have trouble buying the explanation offered by a Jewish friend: “We’ve lost our hunger.” I think he means that in his day there were Jewish quotas in universities and no room in the country club so when those barriers lifted the Jewish kids were going to show the goyim what was what and went at everything fang and claw and, well, showed the goyim. Then they got comfortable, moved to the suburbs, and maybe even watched football.
I have known people with very high pre-dumbing-down SATs, and Merit Semi-Finalists, and people with IQs in excess of 150. They didn’t just know stuff. They were bright. Was intrinsic intelligence raised in the Asian young by hard study?
Whatever is happening, it is grave. Consider CalTech, which probably has the highest standards for admission in the country. Further, it does not practice affirmative action. The demographics of the studentry: Black, 2%; Hispanic, 12%; White (including Jewish), 28%; Asian, 44%. This is worse than it seems at a glance because Asians are only 15% of the population of California,and six percent of the national.
Whatever is happening, it is not a statistical fluke. A couple of quotes from the book among many similar ones:
“For example, among Math Olympiad winners white Gentiles scarcely outnumbered Jews during the 1970s…but since 2000 have become over fifteen times as numerous.”
“Over forty percent of Putnam winners prior to 1950 were Jewish…but since 2000 the percentage has dropped to under ten percent, without a single likely Jewish name in the last seven years.” The Putnam is a very high-end math test.
Another of my friends has an Asian wife and thus entree into the Asian community. He quotes their (wisely private) outlook: “Whites are lazy and stupid.”
If you like succinct, you just got it.
The curious thing is that the Asians are not just way ahead of Jews, but wayer ahead of Hagvacas. The gap is huge, and seems to me too large to be explained by the few points of extra IQ sometimes attributed to East Asians.
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The Asian rise may have consequences. It is not thought proper to notice that the white population of America, numbering very roughly two hundred million, provides nearly all of the scientific advance, engineering, and entrepreneurship. China has, again very roughly, a billion Han Chinese–you know, the kind that dominate Hagvacas and Jews in the US.
I watch Chinese technology as best I can. In fifteen years, China has gone from having no supercomputers to having slightly more than the US has, including the world’s two fastest, the most rapid of which (TaiHuiLight) is a Chinese design using Chinese semiconductors. (Obama, ever brilliant, stopped Intel from selling them chips, so they apparently decided the needed to supply their own.) The quantum-crypto line from Beijing to Shanghai, said to have been spurred by a desire to keep NSA off China’s back, is noticeably more advanced than carrier pigeons. The type 093B nukey attack sub just launched seems a major improvement over its predecessor. The 300 mph plus Shanghai Maglev trains uses foreign technology, but now they know how to do it. China is by far the world leader in high-speed rail, of which America has none.
Beijing is trying hard to advance technologically and with success With Jews going dark, and Hagvacas worried about safe spaces and microaggressions, who is going to protect America against competition by potentially five times as many engineers as we have, especially if they perform as well as our Asians do?news, local-news, politics, ICAC, political donations, corruption
AN EXPERT panel advising on electoral funding reforms has rebuked two Hunter MPs for criticising laws and downplaying the seriousness of dodgy donations. The panel, appointed by the Baird government and headed by former public servant Kerry Schott, has recommended sweeping changes to enforcement efforts that ‘‘cannot come a moment too soon’’. Members of Parliament ‘‘cannot pick and choose which laws they will comply with simply because they feel that some laws are ‘bad’ or ‘unfair’,’’ the panel said in its final report released on Tuesday. It has issued 50 recommendations, including the need for NSW to push for nationally consistent donations laws, in the wake of the ‘‘systemic failure’’ exposed by the state’s corruption watchdog. The public had been left in ‘‘shock and disgust at the brazen way in which some candidates and MPs have apparently sidestepped political donations laws for personal and political gain’’ in the lead-up to the 2011 state election. The panel, also including former Liberal shadow attorney-general Andrew Tink and former Labor deputy premier John Watkins, wants the ban on donations from developers and the liquor and tobacco industries to remain, pending the outcome of developer and former Newcastle lord mayor Jeff McCloy’s High Court challenge to the laws, set for late January. It expressed concern over public statements by retiring Port Stephens MP Craig Baumann and Swansea MP Garry Edwards. Mr Baumann described the laws as ‘‘inherently unfair and bad legislation’’ and Mr Edwards said none of his Hunter Liberal colleagues whom the Independent Commission Against Corruption investigated had ‘‘acted at any time in any improper way and never dishonestly’’. ‘‘The public is entitled to expect its elected members, its lawmakers, to show respect for the rule of law,’’ the panel said, noting allegations aired at ICAC, if proved, could not be considered ‘‘minor’’ breaches. Both were among MPs forced to the crossbench after the ICAC uncovered alleged secret donations to their campaigns from Mr McCloy, who has denied he personally could be considered a developer despite his property development interests. The panel was convened to advise on long-term reforms following ICAC revelations, which also forced the resignations of Newcastle and Charlestown MPs Tim Owen and Andrew Cornwell. But it said the allegations, particularly the use of slush funds and other entities to ‘‘wash’’ illegal donations and channel them into Liberal coffers, followed on from corruption inquiries into former Labor ministers and showed sweeping changes ‘‘cannot come a moment too soon’’. ‘‘An important question raised by the ICAC’s allegations is why neither party intervened at an earlier stage given the nature of the alleged activity in both major parties,’’ the panel said. The developer ban should stay as there was no cap yet on local government donations, and the removal of the ban in those circumstances would ‘‘enliven corruption risks given the planning and development responsibilities of local government’’. It considered a model of full public funding for elections to get rid of donations altogether, but found the arrangements would be impractical, could cost the taxpayer about $100million over a four-year election cycle and may not be valid anyway under the Constitution. Instead, the panel backed most of the existing caps and disclosure thresholds, with the exception of recommending the election-timed spending limit for unions and other third parties be halved to $500,000. But it wants stricter requirements for parties, saying they should be held to the same standards as other organisations that receive public money. The Auditor-General would be brought in for the first time to scrutinise party claims for funding of administrative costs and to run an eye over annual financial statements. The major parties would be made legal entities that could be prosecuted and ‘‘official party agents’’ positions would be scrapped in favour of holding candidates responsible for their campaign funds. An example of the need for such a change was Mr Owen’s ICAC evidence about how he wondered about the source of money ‘‘sloshing around in the campaign’’ but ‘‘I just sort of kept my nose to myself’’. ‘‘Elected members and candidates cannot have it both ways,’’ the panel said. ‘‘They cannot be involved in sourcing funds from donors for the benefit of the party and themselves, while at the same time deferring responsibility to an agent.’’ Senior party officials would not be able to shrug off responsibility for breaches, instead being held personally liable for not fulfilling their obligations, in the manner of company directors. Parties would have to make more detailed disclosures, indicating when a donation was intended for a specific candidate or where electoral spending targeted a specific seat. Real-time disclosures should be introduced for campaigns, and the Electoral Commission should switch focus from administrative activities to enforcement and withhold funds from parties that don’t obey the rules. The government said it would respond by the March election. In October, it increased penalties for electoral funding offences, in line with the panel’s interim findings.
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/storypad-36mDshx2U2dAuMR3XyjpW6R/bbdef05c-63e0-4d64-97de-372868d6e092.jpg/r3_3_1198_678_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgSubscribe to A Twin Peaks Podcast: A Podcast About Twin Peaks – on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts – to unwrap the mysteries in EW’s after-show every Monday during the Showtime revival.
The return of Twin Peaks on Showtime (Sundays, 9 p.m.) is finally here, 26 years after the influential cult classic left us hanging with many maddening cliffhangers. You might be thrilled, you’re probably mystified, and you’re certainly perplexed. What’s up with the talking tree? Where did Laura Palmer fly off too? Will Agent Cooper ever come back with mind and personality intact? Co-creator David Lynch, notoriously tight-lipped and spoiler-phobic, was true to form when we met up with him the morning after the premiere for coffee and a brief chat before he departed for Cannes Film Festival. “The story is the thing,” he said when asked about why he’d rather not explain or frame things for viewers. “When it’s finished, that’s it. Nothing should be added to it. All the rest is baloney.” Still, the director, 71, indulged our curiosity about what we’ve seen and teased the journey to come. He even drew us a picture. [Note: This conversation includes questions about Parts 3 and 4, which are currently available on Showtime’s digital platforms. They air on the flagship network on May 28.]
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It’s Monday. Parts 1 and 2 have premiered, and the reviews are coming in. Parts 3 and 4 are now available to some Showtime subscribers. And here you are, doing your favorite thing in the world, talking to the press. How are you feeling?
DAVID LYNCH: I’m feeling good, I am. I’m kind of insulated from things because I don’t hear so much feedback, so I’m just in regular living mode.
Is that a choice? To stay insulated?
Sort of.
Would you like people to tell you how things are being received, or would you rather shut that out?
Well, for sure I’d like to hear good news. But you have to face everything, and so it’s good to kind of go along with your life.
What were you doing last night while we were all watching the premiere? Were you watching, too?
A whole bunch of cast and crew went to a bar in the valley, and they had a big screening. So I pictured them there. I was at home working on a table in my woodshop.
What kind of table?
Okay, I’m building a table — well if you have a pen, I can draw it for you.
David Lynch
I have a pencil.
Yeah, that would be perfect! [He begins drawing] Here is a place for glasses, remote controls, and pens. And here’s a circle with Kleenex coming out. Here’s a larger circle for a wine bottle. This is a door on special hinges that holds cigarettes and lighter. And over on this side is a large door, so this part right here is a place for Parmesan crackers and trail mix and wine glasses and different things. I’m going to have electricity wired into the table — I’m going to have a lamp — so I have a switch right here. And then down here is a drawer that has a place for a yellow pad. If I have an idea, I can take out the yellow pad and write it down with the pens. And it’s on these red wheels. So it’s a side table that holds all the things that I use.
Is this for your painting studio?
No, it’s for a place where I sit. I can watch TV from that place, or I can meditate from that place, or I can think in that place.
So you were building a table last night.
Yep.
My experience of the show, after four parts, is similar to the subplot in Part 1, where the young lovers grow a monstrous entity inside a giant glass box, then get killed by it. It’s fascinating watching it slowly take shape and form, and occasionally, it bursts through the glass and blows my mind away.
Well, that’s good!
Were you trying to give the audience an allegory for TV-watching or how to watch the show?
No. But that’s an interesting way to think about it.
Do you think in terms of allegory or meta?
Not really. Ideas just come, you think about them, and you figure out their meaning. Then, how they fit into the whole is another thing completely. It’s not finished until it’s finished, and you don’t really know until further down the road how one thing relates to another. It’s just like a magical thing. I also always say the whole thing exists in another room as a complete puzzle, all the parts are together, and someone from that other room is sort of a rascal and randomly flips parts over into this room. And then you to have to put the puzzle together, but one is from the end of the story, one is from the middle, and a couple from the beginning, and you won’t know until it’s more formed what it could be.
RELATED: Hear A Breakdown of the First Two Episodes, Below
How many of those puzzle pieces were found during the writing process with Mark Frost, and how many did you get while shooting?
At least 80 percent in the writing, and then you discover others along the way. That’s always the way it is.
Agent Cooper’s story isn’t just about trying to escape from the Black Lodge. It’s also about a guy returning to a world he once knew and reconnecting with it. Does that story resonate with you, in terms of returning to television?
Sure. But as you’ll also see, it’s also about coming into the world as a new life, learning your likes and dislikes, and doing the best you can to find your way.
Part 1 also suggests the story of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) might be far from over. Will she live again and get justice? Maybe revenge?
Hmm. Let’s see what happens.
You decided to tell a story that doesn’t just take place in Twin Peaks but in different parts of the country. Why did you like the idea of expanding the scope of the series?
It’s not whether you like something. Ideas take you to places. There were just things going on in places other than Twin Peaks. Sometimes you get a need to travel from Los Angeles to New York for a meeting. So there you go.
It seems, though, that the world you’re presenting outside of Twin Peaks is a place gone bad due to the roaming spirit of this evil Cooper. What are we calling this character, by the way? I’m calling him Dirty Cooper.
I just call him Cooper’s doppelgänger. You’re allowed to call him whatever you want.
But are you telling a story about, say, the spiritual condition of America? Do you think of the world as mean and cold?
Mark might have a different perspective, but I don’t think about the world in that way. And regardless, in terms of Twin Peaks, I don’t think in terms of, “This is what’s happening in the world, let’s put it in.” It’s just about the ideas that come. That said, I also say that ideas are conjured by our world many times. Some come, and you have no idea how they appear, and they have nothing to do with the present-day world. Other ideas are conjured by the present and the way it is. So it does have an influence.
You have this ability to depict and convey a feeling of evil with sound and images in ways that are deeply disturbing, scary, and memorable. Where do you find inspiration for your representations of evil?
Again, I can’t really tell you. It just comes from the idea. An idea comes from reading a script, and an image appears in the mind, and a sound appears in the mind. All that matters is that finding a way to translate what appears in the mind into cinema. You have picture, sound, and mood, and you try to get that as good as you can when you film it.
One of the images of evil I’m speaking about was the man in the jail cell who seemed caked in mud or burnt to a crisp and contorted in agony. He seemed to be attending the misery of accused murderer Bill. We saw him turn to vapor and his head floated away. Was there a specific inspiration for that?
That’s an example of what I’m talking about. An image came; it was all about translating. And by the way, about that guy, you just keep watching.
I’d love to know about the editing process. The way these parts are constructed — are you following what you wrote, or did you restructure the stories in editing?
A little bit of both. Mostly we’re just following the script because we worked so hard to get it that way. Then, in the editing process, you are open to discovering new things. When you’re hands-on, it’s a magical thing. You’re in there with the stuff, and you can see possibilities for a new addition or a new way. It’s an ongoing process. I always say it’s not done until it’s done. Ideas came from the script, but ideas can keep coming into post-production.
Did you do any reshoots?
We never did any reshoots.
So the additions or changes are along the lines of special effects or playing a scene in a different place?
Right.
Given how much of the story that’s happening right now is taking place in other cities, I was curious to know if these scenes set in Twin Peaks are meant to serve more as a bass line, or at least, an indication or promise to the audience that eventually, we’ll be getting here.
No. It’s not like an anchor like that. Twin Peaks a place that is, um, super important to what’s going on. [Laughs]
Watch the cast discuss the show’s odd universe and the upcoming revival in the new People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN) special EW Reunites: Twin Peaks here, or download the app on your favorite mobile and streaming devices.
Are you currently editing the final episodes?
Oh, no, it’s all done. If it wasn’t all done, well, what if you wanted to go back and change something? What if you get an idea and you go, “Oh, we have to set that up earlier?” You have to finish the whole before you can go and put anything out.
There’s a very strange new character in the Black Lodge, a talking tree, an evolution of The Man From Another Place, also known as the Arm (Michael J. Anderson, who did not return for the new series).
Yes. Necessity is the mother of invention.
The head on top — is it a talking brain, pituitary gland, or neuron?
It’s just a head.
It looks like a brain to me.
It’s just a head.
Well, you got a great performance out of the tree.
Thank you.
At the end of Part 1, the detective with the flickering flashlight opens the trunk of a car and finds some kind of severed body part. What was that? A tongue? A kidney? No comment?
To me, it’s a piece of meat.
We also got just a ridiculous amount of vomit coming out of Dirty Cooper in Part 3.
It’s not pretty, is it?
What does the vomit of a Black Lodge demon smell like?
Well, smell isn’t one of the senses cinema gives us, so you have to imagine it. All I’ll say is that it doesn’t smell good.
There are scenes in the first four parts involving tender moments with the Log Lady (Catherine Coulson) and Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) that are even more poignant knowing the actors have since passed away.
I fell in love with Albert on this trip through Twin Peaks, and I just loved working with Miguel. This relationship between my character, Gordon Cole, and Albert is so important to the story. Now knowing that he’s gone, I’m even more grateful we did this and it was captured on film. It’s just really sad he’s gone. And I’ve known Catherine since 1971, and I see her on the screen, and it’s… well, it just doesn’t seem right that she’s not here.
Gordon comes on strong in Part 4. He steals the show for me.
Well, the actor who portrays Gordon is awfully good. But talk to Sabrina about him. He’s a pain the ass! [Executive producer Sabrina Sutherland, in another room, yells: “He’s really high maintenance!”]
Part 4 sees the return of Denise, a transgender woman and law enforcement agent played by David Duchovny. In a fitting move, she’s gotten a promotion.
I never directed David in the original Twin Peaks, so it was a thrill for me. Cole used to be Denise’s boss, but things have changed.
There’s a moment when Cole says that back when Denise was transitioning, he told her colleagues who couldn’t deal with it to—
“Change their hearts or die.” That’s right. People are people, and we are the way we are. We’re all supposed to get along, and diversity should be appreciated fully in the light of unity. That’s peace on earth, and there should be room for everyone.
Part 4 also establishes that apparently, Cole has had some dubious history with younger female agents. How did he get that reputation?
Oh, you don’t want to know.Tuesday, July 18th, 2017
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Police arrested a trio of women Monday that allegedly stole Louis Vuitton luggage worth more than $8,000 from the Neiman Marcus store at Fashion Island.Newport Beach police said the three women cut the locks to get inside the store on Saturday afternoon. A department representative said the luggage thieves left the area in a black BMW SUV, and that they searched the city for the vehicle that day.Officials said they later received a call from neighboring Costa Mesa police, who claimed they caught the suspects. Police also said they recovered the stolen luggage."When we made the arrest, there were burglary tools in the vehicle, wire cutters that are consistent with that kind of activity," said Jennifer Manzella of the Newport Beach Police Department.A similar robbery happened at the Bloomingdale's at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa a week before the Neiman Marcus incident. High-end handbags worth nearly $14,000 were stolen. An arrest has not been made in connection with that case.Shoppers at both malls said they are not surprised thieves would be that brazen to steal luggage and handbags worth hundreds to thousands of dollars."I think it's a status symbol for some people," said shopper Lisa Chen. "They could probably sell it in the second market for quite a bit of money."Firearms control used to be the one area of public safety where trains were stricter than airplanes. Not anymore.
Starting December 15, Amtrak passengers will be allowed to bring unloaded handguns on trains with checked baggage service, the Sacramento Bee reports. Passengers must give Amtrak 24 hours notice, and pack their unloaded firearms in hard-sided containers before storing them in a locked baggage hold.
"It's deemed safe and appropriate," federal Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez told the Bee. "If people follow the rules, it's pretty simple."
Reversing the decade-old ban has been a major initiative of the powerful gun lobbying group, the National Rifle Association. The measure was pushed through Congress in a transportation funding last year.
"We worked hard for this," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the Bee. "It is reasonable for law-abiding people who wish to travel with firearms to be able to do so."
Amtrak officials told the Bee that Amtrak, a federally funded train system, is retrofitting train cars for gun storage. There are no estimates of yet as to how many people will take advantage of the changes.
Daniel Vice of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence countered that the rule change makes it easier for terrorists to bring weapons on trains with intent to do harm. He said his group and Amtrak police are pleased, however, to have won concessions requiring locked storage and 24-hour advance notice.John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” asked a really simple yet poignant question: How is Columbus Day still a thing?
At this point, the American education system has modified textbooks to indicate that no, in fact, Christopher Columbus didn’t discover America. In fact, as Slate points out, the Italian explorer who set sail to bring wealth and glory to the Spanish monarchy was actually a colonizer whose arrival on the American continent brought misery and death to millions of Native Americans through slavery, disease and warfare.
So why do we still celebrate Columbus Day?
For Jews, at least, there may be a little-known reason to keep on marking this day: Columbus was Jewish. Not only that, but he was basically the Theodor Herzl of the 15th century.
This story "Why Columbus Day Should Be A Jewish Holiday" was written by Rachel Delia Benaim.
Charles Garcia outlined all of this in an article for CNN back in 2012:
Over the course of the last decade, Spanish academics and historians (including Jose Eruogo, Celso Garcia de la Riega, Otero Sanchez and Nicholas Dias Perez) have concluded that Columbus was a Marrano, a crypto-Jew, whose survival depended on keeping his Jewish identity sealed and hidden
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of 2-1, this really does not seem so far fetched.
So, has Gastelum shown us enough to warrant such comparisons? Maybe not. But he could very well be one of the most well-versed MMA fighters at the age of 21. When Jones made his UFC debut in 2008, at the very same age, he came in with an MMA record of 6-0 and earned his seventh win in the octagon. Sound familiar? Though Gastelum fought earlier this year on the TUF finale, he earned his seventh win, and first on a UFC main card, by defeating Melancon at UFC Fight Night 27. Not to jinx the career of Gastelum, but he truly has the makings of a very special fighter. With that said, Gastelum is currently the UFC’s best prospect, but judging by his skills and track record, he might shake that title soon enough. Kevin Gastelum, the contender, coming soon.Most of us have become accustomed to the benefits of overnight air delivery of mail, packages, and freight in the past three or four decades. The onset of corporate giants like Fedex and UPS have made these services largely routine. However, when I was a kid, it was still a special treat to receive a letter with an air mail stamp affixed to it. Furthermore, it was only 95 years ago when the United States Post Office first initiated its groundbreaking service of providing air mail delivery between Washington and New York City. This momentous event took place on May 15, 1918 – a mere 15 years after the Wright Brothers inaugural flight at Kitty Hawk. The book, Mavericks of the Sky, by Barry Rosenberg and Catharine Macaulay details this amazing story in superb and “first-class” fashion.
Mavericks of the Sky is one of those books that is soooo enjoyable that you hate to put down and wish you never had to finish reading it. From takeoff right through the entire flight until landing, the book grabs your attention and never, ever let’s go. In many parts it is a white-knuckle trip as you are worried about what may happen to these aviation heroes and heroine when you turn to the next page. Each and every one of them are remarkable pioneers and brave daredevils who deserve lasting kudos for their tremendous efforts. Sadly, a number of them made the ultimate sacrifice in their efforts by paying with their lives. It’s no wonder the group was also known as “The Suicide Club.”
What intrigued me most about this book is that it documents in very rich and well-crafted detail a part of aviation history that I (and probably many others) had never heard of or read before. That, in itself, lends a rare aura of exclusivity to Mavericks of the Sky that makes it even a more special read – almost like discovering a completely new thread of human history.
My congratulations to the authors on their excellent work. Personally, I feel this book should have won many awards for great historical writing, as it introduces us to those brave flyers and visionaries who challenged treacherous and hazardous conditions, both on the ground and in the air, to inaugurate an entirely new form of mail service. Hats off especially to the “dAIRdevils” who risked life and limb on a daily basis as Mavericks of the Sky.
AdvertisementsTÁNAISTE EAMON GILMORE has defended cuts in allowances for communion and confirmation payments saying that it is intended to limit ‘lavish’ expenditure.
The government is planning to cut the payment to a maximum of €110. Parents are currently able to apply for a payment of between €200 and €305 to help cover the costs of the religious occasions, which are held in the vast majority of primary schools in the country.
The cut has been criticised by the Society of the Saint Vincent de Paul who said it was “another cut for people who can’t afford it”.
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, the leader of the Labour party said that €3.4 million was spent last year on 14,000 communion and confirmation payments.
“It is the view of the Minister, and something I share, that we have seen over the years a lot of very lavish expenditure in some cases associated with communions and confirmations,” he said.
Many parishes and schools are anxious to try and get the costs associated with the events under control, Gilmore said, and so it had been decided to limit the payment to under €110.
“Hopefully this will try to limit” the expenditure, the Tánaiste said.
The Tánaiste was responding to a question from Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald who criticised the government for cutting the allowance, saying it wouldn’t just affect people on benefits but also the working poor.
The Sinn Féin TD said that members of the Dáil had claimed €6 million in expenses last year but the government was proposing to take the money “off the backs and out of the pockets of poor people”.
“A child still has to be dressed for an occasion,” she said
Gilmore noted that the payment varied widely by county. Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal had a total of 25 payments made in 2011 for communions and confirmations.
“This is about using the scarce resources of the public to the best effect” to ensure that the money spent on people in need goes to people who have the greatest need for it, he told the Dáil.
“Another cut for people who can’t afford it”
Spokesperson for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Jim Walsh said that the cut would put more pressure on families struggling to make ends meet.
“Unfortunately it seems to us that it’s another cut for people who very often can’t afford it,” he told TheJournal.ie.
“We find people who come to the Society tend to be just about able to manage on a week to week basis – but when occasions like communions, confirmations, a death in the family or going back to school comes up, they really struggle”.
“Then they have to make choices – they have to choose between putting food on the table or heating the home to help deal with the costs”.
“So we’re sorry to see it happen. It’s another additional cost on people and we expect it will bring more people to the Society”.The manufacturer of Adderall XR® has agreed to pay $14.75 million to resolve allegations that the company intentionally delayed the availability of a generic version of the medication.
Lead plaintiff Monica Barba claimed that Shire U.S. Inc. and Shire LLC filed “sham patent litigations” against generic competitors of Adderall XR as well as a “sham Citizen Petition” with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which resulted in both a delay and lessened availability of a cheaper version of the prescription drug.
In addition, the class action lawsuit accused Adderall XR manufacturer of “paying higher rebates to managed care organizations that agreed to the preferred placement of brand Adderall XR® instead of generic versions.”
Shire denied these allegations but agreed to settle the class action to avoid the cost and risk of going to trial.
The Adderall XR class action settlement will resolve Barba v. Shire U.S. Inc., Case No. 1:13-cv-21158, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, as well as the following cases currently pending in other courts: Allyson Netwall v. Shire U.S. Inc. and Shire LLC, E.D. Pa., Case No. 13-cv-1669; Samantha Peluso v. Shire U.S. Inc. and Shire LLC, D. N.J., Case No.15-cv-72259; and Jessica Hartenstine, Jayme Dearing, and Rosemary Autrey v. Shire U.S. Inc. and Shire LLC, D. Mass., Case No. 15-cv-14181.
Those who wish to object or be excluded from the Adderall XR settlement must do so by Oct. 7, 2016.The fight for Women’s Reproductive Freedom has been going on in every country around the world. Jane Cawthorne has been a long-time advocate for women’s rights in Canada. She is the writer of the play “The Abortion Monologues”. The play, according to Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation,“…gives a voice to the perspectives of real women who are all too often missing from the public debate. These powerful monologues have the potential to change the way people talk about abortion.”
In the following article, Jane asks us to take a moment to appreciate what our work can accomplish.
By Jane Cawthorne
Calgary, Alberta – These days with women’s reproductive rights under constant attack, especially in the United States, it’s sometimes hard to remember our true goals are in the reproductive justice movement. While we are busy trying to explain what’s wrong with legislating mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions, or explaining why it’s unacceptable and unethical for doctors to be forced to lie to women about their pregnancies so they won’t consider abortion, or fighting to make sure women facing poverty can access contraception, we might need a reminder of what winning really looks like when it comes to reproductive rights.
In Canada, a recent report describes how teen pregnancy and abortion rates in Canada dropped 36.9% between 1996 and 2006. This is an incredible achievement. The study is from the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada and Alexander McKay, one of the reports’ authors, credits this incredible decline to Canada’s “balanced, sensible approach to adolescent sexual health.” McKay says that,
“Generally speaking what you find is that the more a society has an accepting attitude toward the reality of adolescent sexuality, the lower the teen pregnancy rate is. Canadians tend to have a more relaxed attitude towards adolescent sexuality than people in the United States.”
Teen birth and abortion rate comparison
The United States’ emphasis on abstinence only education coupled with a lack of universal health care have meant higher teen birth rates. Further, McKay says, “The United States has large, well-entrenched pockets of inner city poverty and that clearly is linked to higher teen pregnancy rates.” He notes, “In those communities where young women feel optimistic about their educational and employment opportunities, the [teen pregnancy rates] tends to be lower.” The study is worth reading in full.
Here is another success story from Canada. Teens in Toronto can now simply text for accurate information on sexuality, thanks to a new program by Planned Parenthood. Their new text messaging service lets teens connect directly with trained peer volunteers for personalized answers to their sexual health questions via text message. We know that access to accurate and timely information on sexuality helps teens make informed decisions that are more healthy and safe.
Similarly, we can take heart in the fact that a recent attempt to bring the “abortion debate” back to Canadian Parliament and potentially re-criminalize abortion has been dealt a blow. The Conservative government has made it clear that a vote in favor of this new motion is a vote against the Prime Minister who says he has no interest in re-opening this issue. The Conservative Party Whip, Gordon O’Connor gave the most impassioned speech against the motion, stating, “Whether one accepts it or not, abortion is and always will be part of society. There will always be dire situations in which some women may have to choose the option of abortion. No matter how many laws some people may want government to institute against abortion, abortion cannot be eliminated. It is part of the human condition. I cannot understand why those who are adamantly opposed to abortion want to impose their beliefs on others by way of the Criminal Code. There is no law that says that a woman must have an abortion. No one is forcing those who oppose abortion to have one.” This is what winning looks like, when legislators stand up for women and for common sense.
In an American example, the US Conference of Mayors just passed a resolution supporting women’s reproductive rights and funding for Planned Parenthood. This is great news. Seeing elected officials in the United States stand up for choice might be a sign that this ruthless war on women is coming to an end.
Our efforts in the reproductive justice movement do have positive results. We will have won when we are not shamed in our sexuality. We will have won when everyone has access to accurate, comprehensive and timely information on sexuality and sexual health and unrestricted access to the full range of reproductive health services from contraception to abortion. We will have won when women and men are healthy in all parts of our lives, including our reproductive life, and we reproduce consciously and willingly
The report’s full title is: “Trends in teen pregnancy rates from 1996-2006: A comparison of Canada, Sweden, U.S.A., and England/Wales.” Published in The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol. 19 (1-2) 2010.
Like this: Like Loading...Most girls are told to begin wearing a bra in middle school, or even as early as elementary school, for the rest of their lives. I followed the social rule beginning in middle school up until last summer. Throughout those eight years, the thought of going out without a bra was gasp-worthy taboo to me.
But when I got to college, my roommate commented how she'd never met someone who hated wearing bras as much as I do, as she noticed the first thing I did when I returned to the dorm room was take off my bra.
Some may say I just wasn't wearing the right size or type of bra. But I tried everything from Maidenform to Aerie to Victoria's Secret, all with help from employees at the stores. I simply didn't like wearing a bra: it was uncomfortable.
I've always been self-conscious of my body, especially my breasts. I'll be the first to say they're small. I peaked at a 38 B cup. I used to hate how small my breasts are, but I've come to embrace them over my college career.
They turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I can comfortably go bra-less without the back pain and other physical pains big-breasted girls may run into if they go bra-less for the day.
So if I am far more comfortable braless — because, let's face it, bras are uncomfortable a lot of the time — why should I feel pressured to wear one?
But I can see your nipples!
And my response to this is: so? Women's nipples are a necessary part of human life and reproduction (we're still not sure why men have nipples) because before mankind developed baby formula, breastfeeding was the only way mothers could feed their newborns.
And still society sexualizes breastfeeding, as women who do so in public can be harassed or even arrested. As long as a woman is showing off her breasts to serve men's sexual desires, it's acceptable.
But this is not why I don't wear a bra. I don't view my breasts as inherently sexual. No one bats an eye when a man is shirtless, especially in the summer. But I would be arrested for doing the same in public.
Nipples alone are definitely not inherently sexual. While one may argue that breasts are sexual body parts because larger breasts signal to potential mates that the woman is past puberty, and therefore able to carry children, and have room to carry a lot of breast milk for their offspring.
The reasons breasts are sexual, then, are simply biological. The same goes for a woman's hips and butt; the size indicates her body's healthy progression past puberty and her ability to get pregnant and carry a baby.
While humans are biologically geared towards reproduction, that's no excuse for any woman to be shamed for not wearing a bra. Wearing a bra often covers the nipples and distorts the natural shape of the breasts by supporting them or pushing them up. Without a bra, I openly and publicly risk anyone seeing my nipples through my shirt, as well as the natural shape of my breasts, unsupported by a ridiculously expensive bra.
And I'm not sorry.
I've realized the extent to which women's bodies are controlled by quite literally, man-made, social constructions, bras being just one of them. Other social constructions that control women's bodies include the social pressure to shave our bodies: armpits, upper and lower legs, and our private parts.
So I refuse to wear painfully uncomfortable, ridiculously overpriced, pieces of social construction meant to control women's bodies, when I am perfectly happy with the way my body is naturally.
Also, if you're not convinced: it's really hot in the summer. Going bra-less makes it so much cooler.Story highlights A giant NASA balloon is being used to get a good look at Comet ISON
The balloon will rise to 120,000 feet
Comet ISON could put on show this winter
Exploring the heavens with spaceships and fancy orbiting telescopes like the Hubble is pretty routine stuff for NASA. But the space agency is going low-tech to get a good look at an eagerly anticipated comet.
The space agency plans to launch a balloon -- yes, a balloon -- to study Comet ISON, the much-hyped comet that many hope will put on a big sky show in coming months.
Photos: Up close with comets Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – Color filters help create this vivid image of Comet ISON, captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on April 30. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – The Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of Comet ISON on April 10, 2013, when the comet was slightly closer than Jupiter's orbit, or about 386 million miles from our sun. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – In November, Comet ISON is expected to dive into the sun's atmosphere. Rolando Ligustri used a telescope at the CAST Observatory in Italy to capture this image of it on February 28. Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – Comet PanSTARRS put on a show in both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemispheres earlier this year. This image was taken by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy on February 12, 2013, from Brisbane, Australia. He used a QHY9 camera and an 8" telescope with 5 minutes exposure. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – In 1986, the European spacecraft Giotto became one of the first spacecraft to encounter and photograph the nucleus of a comet. This photo shows Comet Halley's nucleus. The debris from the nucleus creates the trail of debris responsible for the Orionids meteor shower each October and the Eta Aquariids in May. Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – On July 3, 2005, NASA's Deep Impact fly-by spacecraft dropped its "impactor" probe into the path of Comet Tempel 1. There was a bright flash as the probe hit the comet. The images were beamed around the world in near real time on NASA TV and over the Internet. Orbiting telescopes watched from space and astronomers on the ground captured images, too. Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – NASA's Deep Impact mission's impactor probe snapped this picture 90 seconds before the probe was pummeled by Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – Comet Wild 2's nucleus was photographed by NASA's Stardust spacecraft as it flew past in January 2004 and collected samples from the comet's coma. The spacecraft's return capsule ferried the samples back to Earth on January 15, 2006. Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – After returning the world's first particles from a comet, the Stardust capsule was packed up and shipped to the Smithsonian. The mission's principal investigator was surprised by the size and composition of the particles captured in the capsule's aerogel-lined collector. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – This close-up view of Comet Hartley 2 was taken by NASA's EPOXI mission during a fly-by of the comet on November 4, 2010. Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – Comet Siding Spring looks like a red blaze in the sky in this infrared image taken on January 10, 2010, from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – This image of Comet NEAT was taken at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, on May 7, 2004. Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – Comet Linear was photographed by a camera on the European Space Agency's Rosetta space probe on April 30, 2004. Rosetta is on its way to study Comet 67-P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On June 8, 2011, Rosetta was placed in hibernation. It will wake up when it reaches the comet in mid-2014, when it will drop a small lander onto the comet's surface. Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – One of the most famous comets is Hale-Bopp. It was discovered independently on July 23,1995, by Alan Hale in New Mexico and by Thomas Bopp in Arizona. It was one of the brightest comets in decades and was visible to the naked eye for several months. Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Up close with comets Up close with comets – Comet Lovejoy stunned scientists in December 2011 when it flew through the hot atmosphere of the sun and emerged intact. The comet was discovered by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia. Hide Caption 15 of 15
Astronomers are scrambling to figure out ways to learn more about the comet, and that's where the balloon comes in. This isn't the kind of balloon you buy for kids at a party store, but they do have some things in common.
NASA says its scientific balloons are made of polyethylene film like the material in plastic bags, and it will be filled with helium, just like a party balloon. But the NASA balloons can carry a payload weighing 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), or about the weight of three small cars. It has a gondola to carry the instruments. Some similar balloons can fly up to 26 miles high and stay for up to two weeks.
The 671-foot-tall balloon that will monitor ISON is called BRRISON, or Balloon Rapid Response for ISON. According to NASA, it will float about 120,000 feet above Earth to observe the comet -- and other science targets -- using a telescope and other instruments. It is expected to stay up from nine to 11 hours.
JUST WATCHED Watch time-lapse of comet Pann-STARRS Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Watch time-lapse of comet Pann-STARRS 00:57
"By ascending above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere, BRRISON will be able to study the materials within the comet," Andy Cheng, principal investigator, said on BRISSON's website. "It's possible that water and organic chemicals on comets may have played an important role in the evolution of life on Earth."
The launch, from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, is targeted for 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, weather permitting.
Comet ISON is nearing Mars on its way toward the sun and will fly about 730,000 miles above the sun's surface on November 8. If it survives, it could brighten and put on a big show as it passes Earth's orbit on its way back to the outer reaches of the solar system. Comet enthusiasts hope they will be able to see it without binoculars or telescopes.
Its closest approach to Earth would be December 26, and it could be visible from the Northern Hemisphere for weeks in early 2014.
The comet was discovered by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok in September 2012. It is named after their night-sky survey program, the International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in 10 countries organized to track objects in space.Activision will have to defend charges from Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella that the publisher committed fraud by persuading them to sign a new three-year contact and finish Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and then firing them.
In March, California Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle ruled that Activision had sufficient claim for its case charging Electronic Arts for attempting to hire the developers away. Since then, West and Zampella created Respawn Entertainment and have an agreement to produce games for EA.
In Tuesday's move, the judge supported West and Zampella's claims of fraud in Activision's signing them to a new contract after finishing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Their lawsuit says that Activision promised them control over future Modern Warfare games, additional creative authority and increased income for Infinity Ward on income over $50 million on future games. In fact, they charge, Activision planned to fire them before any of that could happen.
The ruling means that Activision must answer the charges and West and Zampella's attorneys can question Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. "That can't be good for Activision. They can't be happy about this," says attorney Robert Schwartz.
Schwartz said that the continued discovery period could last several more months, after which the trial will take place. The judge has not yet set the trial date.Now that we finally got a look at the final production version of the Tesla Model 3, albeit from limited angles (though a few more in this video), we can clearly see some of the changes that Tesla has implemented to the vehicle since the pre-alpha prototypes shown in March 2016.
Some of those changes were already seen on Model 3 release candidates, but those vehicles were often at different stages of development so now we have the real final product.
The most obvious change is the front end which appears sharper and not as flat as what was shown on the pre-alpha prototypes just over a year ago.
A side-by-side view of the vehicle’s profile seems to show the peak of the fascia being lower on the production unit (right) than on the prototype (left):
The rear bumper also appears to extend longer on the production unit than on the pre-alpha.
Those changes appear to be aimed at better aerodynamic performance, which would make sense since CEO Elon Musk said that they were aiming to achieve a segment-leading drag coefficient of 0.21.
If they achieved it with those changes, it would help make the vehicle more efficient, especially for highway driving, which would, in turn, result in a longer range and lower cost of operation.
Here’s another angle of the pre-alpha prototype (left) and the new production unit (right):
Another obvious difference between the vehicles is the Autopilot hardware suite on the production unit.
When Tesla introduced the new hardware suite, which includes 8 cameras, 1 radar, all-around ultrasonic sensors, and a Nvidia Drive PX2 computer, they said all future vehicles will be equipped with it, including the less expensive Model 3.
But those were also seen on the Model 3 release candidates.
The proportions of the car also seem to have changed since the pre-alpha prototype. If we look at both vehicles at scale based on the size of the mags (assuming both are 19″), the changes become more evident:
After unveiling the pre-alpha prototype, Musk said that while it’s close to the production version, they had some design refinements planned. Now we can see that the production version definitely looks more refined, less boxy than the prototype.
There are also a few other little design features that are more pronounced on the production version, like the fenders around the wheel wells, the larger door handles, and the fog lights.
Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Do you prefer the pre-alpha or the production unit?By WizardCrab
Check out all the champs and skins on sale this May! 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 Acolyte Lee Sin 375 Anivia 395 Arclight Vayne 487 Bard 487 Blood Knight Hecarim 487 Blitzcrank 395 Blood Moon Akali 487 Cassiopeia 440 Bloodfury Renekton 487 Cho'Gath 292 Chosen Master Yi 260 Darius 440 Commando Xin Zhao 260 Dr. Mundo 292 Debonair Galio 375 Ekko 487 Definitely Not Udyr 487 Fiddlesticks 292 Demolisher Nunu 487 Fiora 440 Firefang Warwick 487 Fizz 440 Forsaken Jayce 675 Graves 440 Foxfire Ahri 487 Jax 292 French Maid Nidalee 260 Jayce 487 General Wukong 375 Kalista 487 Goalkeeper Maokai 375 Kassadin 395 Gothic Orianna 260 Katarina 395 Guardian of the Sands Skarner 487 Kha'Zix 487 Harbinger Kassadin 487 Lulu 440 Heartseeker Ashe 487 Lux 395 Heartseeker Varus 675 Malphite 292 Hextech Singed 260 Orianna 440 Junkyard Trundle 375 Rek'Sai 487 Karate Kennen 260 Renekton 440 Master Arcanist Ziggs 675 Rengar 487 Musketeer Twisted Fate 375 Rumble 440 Panda Annie 487 Shyvana 395 Renegade Talon 260 Skarner 440 Risen Fiddlesticks 675 Teemo 292 Shockblade Zed 487 Thresh 487 Siren Cassiopeia 260 Vayne 440 Surgeon Shen 487 Vel'Koz 487 Surprise Party Amumu 675 Vi 487 Tango Evelynn 260 Yasuo 487 Urf the Nami-tee 375 Yorick 440 Wildfire Zyra 487
Early SalesSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Senate Dems seek to turn tables on GOP in climate change fight Pence meets with Senate GOP for 'robust' discussion on Trump declaration MORE (R-Ky.) on Tuesday criticized President Trump's proposed cuts to the State Department budget, calling them inappropriate.
"America being a force is a lot more than building up the Defense Department. Diplomacy is important, extremely important, and I don't think these reductions at the State Department are appropriate," McConnell told The Associated Press.
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"There are things on the domestic side that are extremely important," he added.
McConnell maintained that he will fend off attempts to cut funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission, which sponsors economic development initiatives in Kentucky, and shield the National Institutes of Health, according to the AP.
The Kentucky lawmaker has previously said that he does not support the State Department cuts and predicted last month that they would "probably not" clear the Senate.
"When we get to funding the government, obviously it will be done on a bipartisan basis," he said last month, adding that the "diplomatic portion of the federal budget is very important."
The White House released its budget blueprint last week proposing a 28 percent cut to the State Department budget, among other major agency cuts, while proposing a $54 billion boost to defense spending.
Members of both parties have criticized aspects of the budget and lawmakers typically pass their own budgets.I don't mean the actual waivers process. The waiver period that's going on right now is pretty easy to understand. First and foremost, they are revocable waivers. Players go on waivers and they get pulled back if their teams aren't interested in making deals. They can get claimed and moved to the claiming team. They can go unclaimed and get moved to any team. This is all stuff you know, stuff you've heard about before.
But to this day a lot of people still raise their eyebrows when they hear about a big-time player on waivers. This, incidentally, is one of those things about baseball that's supposed to be secret and isn't. There are leaks everywhere. Major League Baseball is less like an organization and more like a colander. Every time, people respond that virtually every player goes on waivers in August and it isn't a big deal. But I don't remember hearing that literally every player goes on waivers. It's possible that every player does go on waivers. Every single player. My understanding, though, is that some don't. And the idea that some don't makes it eyebrow-raising when some do.
This is why I'm posting about this:
It doesn't mean anything that Felix was placed on waivers and claimed, unless it means just a tiny little something. Again, if literally every single player is placed on waivers, then this is completely and utterly insignificant. If not every single player is placed on waivers, then there was some thought process behind placing Felix Hernandez on waivers. That's what people are thinking about when their eyebrows are approaching their hairlines.
There is no risk, of course, to putting Felix on waivers. Maybe he gets claimed or unclaimed and someone offers an entire farm system because they really want Felix for the stretch run. The only downside is the slim possibility that someone within the organization fucks up the paperwork and neglects to pull Felix back from waivers or something. But, see, paperwork. There's probably paperwork that goes into putting a guy on waivers. Something tells me it isn't as simple as sending a text message. Someone or someones presumably put some effort into the process of putting Felix on waivers. For that person or those persons, it was basically a waste of his or their time.
It must be easy to put a guy on waivers, since several hundreds of players go on waivers this time of year. To tell the truth this is an entire blog post about nothing and I don't have a point. I don't know why you're even still reading this. The Mariners aren't going to trade Felix Hernandez. If they weren't going to trade him last offseason or last July they sure as shit aren't going to trade him in August when their options are the most limited. Felix isn't a guy you give away as a salary dump. They're not trading Felix.
So why waive Felix? Just, why bother, even? You can do it on the very very slim off chance that somebody goes insane and offers everything. Everything that either clears waivers, isn't subject to waivers, or gets claimed by the Mariners, anyway. You know it isn't going to happen. These moves don't happen in August, and while you could point to the Red Sox/Dodgers insanity, that was a very different situation. If the Mariners have absolutely zero motivation to move Felix, and if no other team has ever offered a little moon before, what is the point? Is this just something teams do because it's something teams have always done?
More generally, is literally every player placed on waivers, or are some players not placed on waivers? If every player is placed on waivers, why do we get reports about players being placed on waivers? If some players are not placed on waivers, why is that? What is the thought process behind a team not bothering, and why doesn't that extend to more players? This is a situation where it would be way better to be on the inside than on the outside, where I hardly know a damned thing.
Did the Angels place Mike Trout on waivers? If so, why did they bother? If not, why did the Mariners place Felix on waivers? I'm not saying that Trout and Felix are equivalent values because they're not, but the odds that the Angels would move Trout aren't much lower than the odds that the Mariners would move Felix. It's just...it's just weird. I have a good understanding of the revocable waivers process, but it's still incomplete. Certain things are weird, and as long as they're weird, people are still going to make news out of things that really aren't actually news at all.
Kevin Millwood could still get dealt, though. Not yet out of time for Millwood to be eligible for a playoff roster! Stay tuned!Britt McHenry’s one-week suspension is an embarrassing slap on the wrist from a network that has been doling out so many harsh suspensions recently that it’s like Roger Goodell on a power trip. McHenry, as you may know by now, was caught on video cursing and belittling a tow-truck company employee in a video that quickly went viral on Thursday. For that, ESPN sidelined her for a single week.
While Bill Simmons gets a three-week suspension for calling out his bosses and Tony Kornheiser is set aside for two weeks for commenting on Hannah Storm’s wardrobe, McHenry was shelved for just seven days for her mean, caustic diatribe. It’s a misguided system of justice: ESPN considers ESPN-on-ESPN smack-talk to be worse than ESPN sneering at the rest of the world. It’s a joke.
It’s a joke that will soon be on ESPN, though. Caught-on-video rants that spread across the web don’t blow over as quickly as silly comments from Stephen A. Smith. They are kept on the Internet and mocked forever. Britt McHenry will be the Christian Bale of a new generation. (Link and video are NSFW.)
While McHenry’s apology starts off with a mini-defense of herself, it eventually hits the right notes, even if she never actually apologizes to the employee — the only person who deserves one. But it’s all phony. That wasn’t the attitude of someone having a bad day. That wasn’t someone frustrated by an employee at a tow-truck operator and looking to blow off a little steam. We’ve all been there and (hopefully) didn’t denigrate the man or woman responsible for not having a degree, nor rip on a cashier for simply doing her job. A bad day is cursing at someone or driving away from that tow-truck company and flipping the bird. Those are the sort of slip-ups that make us human. What McHenry did is an attitude based on power and entitlement.
I’m sure countless famous people have done the same thing, without the misfortune of being videotaped. But you can’t feel bad for McHenry on that one: She kept going after she knew the video camera was running.
The reason Brian Williams likely won’t be back at NBC isn’t because he’s a bad guy or can’t
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Western Europeans and Americans are about to suffer a profound shock. For the past 30 years governments have explained that, while they can no longer protect jobs through traditional forms of state intervention such as subsidies and tariffs, they can expand and reform education to maximise opportunity. If enough people buckle down to acquiring higher-level skills and qualifications, Europeans and Americans will continue to enjoy rising living standards. If they work hard enough, each generation can still do better than its parents. All that is required is to bring schools up to scratch and persuade universities to teach "marketable" skills. That is the thinking behind Michael Gove's policies and those of all his recent predecessors as education secretary.
But the financial meltdown of 2008 and the subsequent squeeze on incomes is slowly revealing an awful truth. As figures out last week from the Office for National Statistics show, real UK wages have not risen since 2005, the longest sustained freeze in living standards since the 1920s. While it has not hit the elite in banking, the freeze affects most of the middle class as much as the working class. This is not a blip, nor the result of educational shortcomings. In the US, which introduced mass higher education long before Britain, the average graduate's purchasing power has barely risen in 30 years. Just as education failed to deliver social democratic promises of social equality and mobility, so it will fail to deliver neoliberal promises of universal opportunity for betterment.
"Knowledge work", supposedly the west's salvation, is now being exported like manual work. A global mass market in unskilled labour is being quickly succeeded by a market in middle-class work, particularly for industries, such as electronics, in which so much hope of employment opportunities and high wages was invested. As supply increases, employers inevitably go to the cheapest source. A chip designer in India costs 10 times less than a US one. The neoliberals forgot to read (or re-read) Marx. "As capital accumulates the situation of the worker, be his payment high or low, must grow worse."
We are familiar with the outsourcing of routine white-collar "back office" jobs such as data inputting. But now the middle office is going too. Analysing X-rays, drawing up legal contracts, processing tax returns, researching bank clients, and even designing industrial systems are examples of skilled jobs going offshore. Even teaching is not immune: last year a north London primary school hired mathematicians in India to provide one-to-one tutoring over the internet. Microsoft, Siemens, General Motors and Philips are among big firms that now do at least some of their research in China. The pace will quicken. The export of "knowledge work" requires only the transmission of electronic information, not factories and machinery. Alan Blinder, a former vice-chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has estimated that a quarter of all American service sector jobs could go overseas.
Western neoliberal "flat earthers" (after Thomas Friedman's book) believed jobs would migrate overseas in an orderly fashion. Some skilled work might eventually leave but, they argued, it would make space for new industries, requiring yet higher skills and paying better wages. Only highly educated westerners would be capable of the necessary originality and adaptability. Developing countries would obligingly wait for us to innovate in new areas before trying to compete.
But why shouldn't developing countries leapfrog the west? Asia now produces more scientists and engineers than the EU and the US put together. By 2012, on current trends, the Chinese will patent more inventions than any other nation. As a new book – The Global Auction (by sociologists Phillip Brown, Hugh Lauder and David Ashton) – argues, the next generation of innovative companies may not be American or British and, even if they are, they may not employ American or British workers.
It suggests neoliberals made a second, perhaps more important error. They assumed "knowledge work" would always entail the personal autonomy, creativity and job satisfaction to which the middle classes were accustomed. They did not understand that, as the industrial revolution allowed manual work to be routinised, so in the electronic revolution the same fate would overtake many professional jobs. Many "knowledge skills" will go the way of craft skills. They are being chopped up, codified and digitised. Every high street once had bank managers who used their discretion and local knowledge to decide which customers should receive loans. Now software does the job. Human judgment is reduced to a minimum, which explains why loan applicants are often denied because of some tiny, long-forgotten overdue payment.
Brown, Lauder and Ashton call this "digital Taylorism", after Frederick Winslow Taylor who invented "scientific management" to improve industrial efficiency. Call centres, for example, require customers to input a series of numbers, directing you to a worker, possibly in a developing country, who will answer questions from a prescribed package. We are only at the beginning; even teaching is increasingly reduced to short-term, highly specific goals, governed by computerised checklists.
Digital Taylorism makes jobs easier to export but, crucially, changes the nature of much professional work. Aspirant graduates face the prospect not only of lower wages, smaller pensions and less job security than their parents enjoyed but also of less satisfying careers. True, every profession and company will retain a cadre of thinkers and decision-makers at the top – perhaps 10% or 15% of the total – but the mass of employees, whether or not they hold high qualifications, will perform routine functions for modest wages. Only for those with elite qualifications from elite universities (not all in Europe or America) will education deliver the promised rewards.
The effects of the financial squeeze and deficit reduction programme will threaten much more than this government's survival. We shall see, in all probability, a permanent reduction in British living standards that can't be arrested by educational reform. Neoliberalism, already badly dented by the financial meltdown, will be almost entirely discredited. Governments will then need to rethink their attitudes to education, inequality and the state's economic role.Over the last few days lots of crying been done.
Iv redone alot of stuff making it more modular for the future eg. dont need to make a movement script for all 151 pokemon now.
Bulbasaur is being a pain its attack moves arnt up to my standards they are to rigged so his animations are being redone.
Charmander has had several animation tweaks.
-tackle redone
-tail whip tweaked / might be redone so that you step forward when you do it
The implementation of the Stamina Points system, This is the best system I've thought of that best represents the manga and anime.
You have your Stamina Points you can use these to use moves and sprint Idling restores them and walking slow dose the amount you have is displayed in the bottom right and displayed in green in the bar.
The Yellow is the amount of SP you can regenerate this grows the more SP you use for moves.
The Red is SP you have lost due to attacks being used on you and can only be restored by special moves.
So that about raps up this news sorry abuot being late on the Bulbasaur test and combat tests but I want it to be upto a good standard when I do put out a test (so when i think it cant be improved)
So tell me what you think!
James Irvine
Sing Us A Song Your The Piano Man!Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson says the government will introduce an amendment to Bill 6 stating that farm and ranch safety rules will apply only to paid workers.
The amendment specifies that mandatory Workers Compensation Board coverage will only apply to workers earning a wage. As well, occupational health and safety rules will only apply to operations that employ one or more workers at any time of the year.
The minister claims the government always intended for family members to be exempt from the contentious farm safety law, but the exemption was to be written into regulations coming in 2017.
However, when the legislation was first introduced, ministry officials said occupational health and safety rules would apply to everyone — paid or unpaid.
Now it will be made explicit that they will only apply to paid workers.
"Farmers and ranchers have told us loudly and clearly, and we've been listening, that it's important for us to have this actually in the legislation," Sigurdson said. "They said, 'Hey, we want this up front, we want this in writing,' so we said OK."
Sigurdson's comments came one day after more than 1,000 farmers and ranchers held a protest on the steps of the Alberta legislature.
Bill 6 proposes to introduce a range of new safety regulations on farms and ranches. It will also make Worker's Compensation Board coverage mandatory.
Farmers and ranchers are concerned the new rules will prevent their children from helping out with family chores and make it impossible for neighbours to help with activities like harvesting and calving.
They have called for the government to exempt small family farms.
Premier Rachel Notley said the government intends to pass Bill 6 in the fall session and won't delay implementation.
However, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said the government needs to kill the bill, and properly consult with farmers and ranchers first. Jean said adding an amendment shows the government got it wrong in the first place.
"The number one amendment I would like to see is to stop right now, not pass this bill, not force it through the legislature," he said. "And take a break, take a step back and listen to Alberta farmers and ranchers."
The government has admitted communication on the bill has been mishandled. While Sigurdson said she takes responsibility for the botched message, both she and Notley are blaming government officials for giving out wrong information about the bill at a town hall meeting in Grande Prairie last week.
Progressive Conservative Leader Ric McIver said Notley is throwing bureaucrats under the bus.
"That is a far cry from the level of responsibility Albertans should get from their premier," he said.
Notley said the bill does not prohibit children from working on family farms, as critics have suggested. Nor will it prevent children from taking part in 4H activities.
"Their kids will continue to be able to work on the farm as they always have," Notley said in a conference call from Paris, where she is attending the COP21 conference. "And they will continue to be educated on the farm through 4H programs as they always have."
Notley also discussed her activities while in Paris for COP21, where she said Alberta's new message on climate change was heard.
The government announced Alberta has been accepted as a member of the Climate Group's States and Regions Alliance.
The group is made up of 31 subnational regions across the world.The seven-foot statue is the first of its kind in the U.S. to honor the late actor and martial arts expert.
Bruce Lee has been memorialized with a seven-foot bronze statue in L.A.'s Chinatown.
The statue of the late actor and martial arts expert was unveiled Saturday to a crowd of several hundred people in historic Central Plaza, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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Lee's daughter, Shannon, said the statue, which was created by an artist in Guangzhou, China, is the first of its kind to honor her father in the U.S. Its unveiling comes on the 40th anniversary of Lee's death -- as well as the 75th anniversary of Chinatown -- and was part of the annual celebration Chinatown Summer Nights.
The statue was donated by the Bruce Lee Foundation, a nonprofit group that was formed to honor Lee's legacy. It isn't yet permanently installed; business leaders are aiming to raise $150,000 for seating and a concrete base.
San Francisco-born Lee moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s and landed a role playing Kato on TV's The Green Hornet. During that time, he opened his third martial arts academy in Chinatown and worked out at the Alpine Recreation Center in the area.
STORY: Bruce Lee Origin Story Heading to Big Screen
He went on enjoy a brief film career that included such movies as Enter the Dragon before dying at age 32 in 1973. According to his widow, Linda, Lee died from cerebral edema caused by hypersensitivity to an ingredient in a prescription medication called Equagesic.Cannabidiol oil, which is derived from the marijuana plant, will be available by prescription for the first time in Texas early next year.
The 2015 law that set up Texas’ medical marijuana program allowed the state to license three marijuana businesses. So far the state’s approved two. One dispensary near Schulenburg and another, named Compassionate Cultivation, near Manchaca, just south of Austin.
As heard on Texas Public Radio
CBD advocates celebrated this week during Compassionate Cultivation’s dedication ceremony, but some of them are worried there aren’t enough Texas physicians willing to prescribe this low-THC cannabis oil as medicine.
You have to take a two-lane country road to get to Compassionate Cultivation’s dispensary. It sits in the back of an industrial park —the last stop past a string of a white aluminum-siding buildings. It’s the type of business you wouldn’t notice unless you were actively searching for it.
Past the front doors, the dispensary’s consultation room resembles a doctor’s waiting room. CEO Morris Denton said, starting in January, patients will be able to find out how their CBD medication works or the strain being recommended by their doctor.
“We’ll have therapists on staff here to help provide counseling to patients as they come in; we’ll have different forms of medication that’s available; we’ll utilize a couple of different strains and couple products per strain to create the right medication that will have the best impact on that patient,” Denton said.
A few security doors away, in back of the building is the Compassionate Cultivation’s grow lab — a series of sanitized rooms, where rows and rows of marijuana plants are grown under controlled lights and fans. This is also where the company extracts CBD oil, the only legal element of the plant in Texas.
Outside, before the dedication ceremony starts, about two dozen people mingle and eat BBQ. They don’t look like who you’d think would show up to celebrate a cannabis business’ opening. Like Terri Carrieker, a mom from Austin.
“About five years ago we became felons in the state of Texas, a conservative Christian mom like me, right? But we had friends that had a relative in a ‘legal state.’ He had a dispense-grow license and he actually made products for us,” Carrieker said.
Carrieker’s 15-year-old daughter Catherine was diagnosed with intractable epilepsy at 3 years old. It is the one condition the state will allow doctors to prescribe CBD oil for.
Carrieker said her daughter can have as many as six to eight seizures in a night. But, when they began giving Catherine illegal cannabis oil brought in from Colorado, she was seizure-free for days.
That was enough to convince Carrieker to add her daughter to the state’s CBD oil registry and find a doctor willing to prescribe it as soon as possible.
WATCH | Tour of Compassionate Cultivation
Dr. Karen Keough is one of those Texas neurologists who treats epilepsy and is willing to prescribe CBD oil to patients.
“I can tell you that if you that if you do 'epilepsy' for a living, the patients are asking you about it every day. Every neurologist is getting this conversation about this every day and they have been for years,” Keough said. “II think everyone has a level of awareness of it, but there’s a different level of comfort with it.”
According to the state, only seven of Texas’s estimated 400 neurologists have signed up as registered CBD oil prescribers.
While CBD oil is legal in Texas, it is not at the federal level because it is derived from the same plant that produces THC, the substance in marijuana that gets you high.
Because of that, Koeugh said many Texas doctors still fear they could lose their federal license to prescribe medications if they prescribe the oil.
“From my perspective the alternative is what happens in other states where the doctors say, ‘You have an eligible condition, now go across the street and ask the guy in the cannabis shop what to take and how to take it.' If no one is after that guy across the street, why would they come after me,” Keough said.
Keough believes more doctors will register with the state once Texas dispensaries start selling the oil in early 2018.
Terri Carrieker is just ecstatic her doctor was willing to make it available for her daughter.
Fighting back tears, Carrieker said, “It’s very emotional to think that finally in our own state, you know — without being able to worry about legal issues — we might be able to give our daughter what she needs.”
The owners of Compassionate Cultivation estimate they will produce their first batch of oil from the marijuana plants they’re growing in either January or early February.
Ryan Poppe can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @RyanPoppe1Gilbert Donald Budgell appeared in Grand Falls-Windsor court Monday to face an attempted murder charge, after what police are calling a home invasion on his property Saturday night in Botwood.
Budgell, 53, allegedly "attempted to murder a male of unknown identity while using a firearm by shooting him," according to charges filed with the provincial court.
RCMP officers were still at the scene of a home on Swanee Pool Road in Botwood on Sunday, following a shooting that sent one man to hospital with serious injuries. 0:32
Budgell has also been charged with having a firearm while prohibited from doing so.
RCMP are continuing to investigate Saturday night's home invasion on Swanee Pool Road, between Botwood and Peterview.
2 suspects in home invasion
Police, who say two suspects entered Budgell's home Saturday night, are not commenting on how a homeowner whose residence was invaded came to be charged with such serious offences, or why Budgell is believed to have shot one of the two men.
"These charges have been carefully considered," Const. Ian Dollimount said in an interview.
Dollimount told CBC News that the RCMP maintains the home invasion was no accident, and said neighbours have no reason to fear for their safety.
"We do strongly believe... that this residence was targeted," he said.
"The public can rest assured we don't have concerns for any other residents in the area."
Suspect in hospital
One suspect sustained life-threatening injuries and is being treated at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's. Police said Monday afternoon that the man remains in critical condition.
Meanwhile, police are scouring for the second suspect, who fled from the scene on foot.
Neighbours told CBC there were officers and police dogs on the Swanee Pool Road property on Monday.
Dollimount suggested that an arrest may happen soon.
"We're going through [a] thorough investigation and we're hoping to have the second suspect before long," he said, encouraging residents in the area to contact the force or the anonymous Crime Stoppers service.
"All information is important and valuable," he said.
Budgell has been in trouble with the law in the past. In 2009, he was charged twice with possession of drugs, and was found guilty in 2011.
Budgell was ordered to pay a fine of $2,000 and placed on probation for 12 months.
Budgell has also been convicted of assault in Ontario. In 2002 he was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 18 months probation, and was placed on a weapons prohibition for 10 years.I was growing tired of the standard military style stock on my AR it rattled like crazy & in all honesty isn't too pretty if I may be so vain. The Magpul CTR was exactly the type of upgrade I was looking for ; it's made of seemingly high grade polymer that's of a nice matte black finish the friction look completely gets rid of any rattle that may be present before it is engaged. Installation is pretty self explanatory (idiot-proof of you read the instructions). Overall a perfect stock for a general purpose AR. Primary Arms is quickly becoming my go-to seller for any firearm parts or accessories they have great products at great prices with great customer service. I wish I found out about them years ago.Prison transporter fined over death of Mr Ward
Updated
Prison transport company G4S has been fined $285,000 for its involvement in the death of Aboriginal elder Mr Ward.
Magistrate Greg Benn, who sentenced the State Government for its part in the tragedy earlier this year, said the offences and mitigating circumstances were almost identical for both organisations.
Magistrate Benn said like the Department of Corrective Services, G4S could have implemented simple safety changes that would probably have prevented Mr Ward's death.
Mr Ward died of heatstroke after being transported in the back of a prison van from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in 2008.
The Magistrate told the Court today that G4S should have ensured the air conditioning in the prison van was working and that Mr Ward could communicate with the drivers.
The Court heard he could not impose the maximum fine of $400,000 because G4S had acted swiftly to implement safety changes and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
The G4S drivers face trial later this year.
In a victim impact statement read to the court earlier today, Mr Ward's cousin Daisy said she was severely affected by his death and often felt like committing suicide.
Topics: courts-and-trials, aboriginal, kalgoorlie-6430
First postedAbout 50 neo-Nazis have arrived at Pennsylvania Capitol for their planned rally to find a heavy police presence and counter-protesters that vastly outnumber them.
READ MORE: Neo-Nazis rally, counter-protesters rage
The National Socialist Movement, one of the country's largest neo-Nazi groups, selected the state Capitol as the location for their biannual rally against diversity today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The group obtained a permit for a protest on the capitol steps.
Scores of police in riot gear were keeping neo-Nazis, rallying on the Capitol steps with Confederate flags, and about 200 counter-protesters, apart.
Counter-protesters at neo-Nazi rally face off with police
In response to the event, a coalition of local civic and faith groups is urging the community to ignore the Capitol rally and instead gather for a "Speak Up for Unity" rally from 2 to 4 p.m. at Harrisburg High School Auditorium, at 2451 Market Street in Harrisburg. By 3 p.m., hundreds were present at the unity event.
KKK flags unfurl as counter neo Nazi protest reaches fever pitch. @PennLive pic.twitter.com/NGIW6uFOkf -- John Luciew (@JohnLuciew) November 5, 2016
About 30 neo-Nazi demonstrators arrive on PA Capitol steps. @PennLive pic.twitter.com/ddOiQdIadz -- John Luciew (@JohnLuciew) November 5, 2016
Neo Nazi speaker drones on as protesters shout him down. Nothing Audible. @PennLive pic.twitter.com/HqcjGevl8K -- John Luciew (@JohnLuciew) November 5, 2016The Texas Rangers, most notably Josh Hamilton, are dominating the early stages of American League All-star voting.
Hamilton leads all major leaguers with 2,587,991 votes in the first balloting update, released Tuesday. Hamilton has been voted into the last four All-Star Games.
Four of Hamilton's teammates are in position to join him in the AL starting lineup for the July 10 game in Kansas City.
Nelson Cruz is third among outfielders with 992,992 votes, trailing the Yankees' Curtis Granderson (1,406,128) and just ahead of the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista (930,814).
Mike Napoli has a big lead among catchers with 1,224,565 votes. Baltimore's Matt Wieters is second with 713,469.
Ian Kinsler tops the second base voting at 1,447,171, with the Yankees' Robinson Cano (1,167,448) his closest competitor.
Third baseman Adrian Beltre also leads at his position with 1,179,864 votes. Detroit's Miguel Cabrera is next with 886,365.
The Rangers are popular choices at positions they aren't leading, too. Mitch Moreland is fourth at first base (Detroit's Prince Fielder leads; the Angels' Albert Pujols is fifth), Elvis Andrus is second at shortstop (behind New York's Derek Jeter), Michael Young is second at designated hitter (behind Boston's David Ortiz), and David Murphy is sixth in the outfield.
In-stadium balloting concludes June 22, and online voting concludes June 28. The starting lineups will be announced July 1.Series: android
In my continuing quest to get code out of Android Activities, I’ve implemented the traditional “Form Model” pattern in a recent project with great success and wanted to share my thoughts.
The basic idea is to extract the code for handling the UI interactions, as well as the data binding and any state keeping, into its own class. This separation feels natural and keeps our Activities simple.
I think this is an area that is not often explored in Android — there is less of an emphasis on data entry and forms in most of the developer documentation. When you think of a lot of the popular social apps, most of the screens are just displaying information; they might have a few screens to compose a tweet or message, but the pain is not high.
For me, my past two Android applications have been very heavy on data entry. I think this is partial due to the domains (health care, finance) and the clients (closer to Enterprise than Start-up). But we were constantly making complex messes of our “form input” screens — especially when we started adding things like editing existing items, prompting to discard unsaved changes, and handling rotation without clearing all the fields.
Using this form model approach has led to fewer bugs, more understandable code, and happier developers.
Example: Search form
We have a banking app and we want to have a screen for searching through our transactions. There will be multiple filters: let’s just start with an account spinner, a keyword field and an amount range. (Hopefully, you can see how more of these filters will likely be added in the future and how the complexity could explode).
Instead of shoving all of the views, click handlers, validation logic, and data binding into an Activity, we will create a SearchForm class to handle all of this.
public class SearchForm extends LinearLayout { @InjectView ( R. id. account ) private Spinner mAccountSpinner ; private AccountAdapter mAccountAdapter ; @InjectView ( R. id. keyword ) private EditText mKeywordField ; @InjectView ( R. id. min_amount ) private CurrencyEditText mMinAmountField ; @InjectView ( R. id. max_amount ) private CurrencyEditText mMaxAmountField ; public SearchFormModel ( Context context, AttributeSet attrs ) { super ( context, attrs ); setup ( context ); } private void setup ( Context context ) { LayoutInflater. from ( context ). inflate ( R. layout. search_form, this, true ); ButterKnife. inject ( this ); // <3 @JakeWharton mAccountAdapter = new AccountAdapter ( context ); mAccountSpinner. setAdapter ( mAccountAdapter ); } public initialize ( List < Account > accounts ) { mAccountAdapter. setItems ( accounts ); } public String getKeywords () { return mKeywordField. getText (). toString (); } public void setKeywords ( String keywords ) { mKeywordField. setText ( keywords ); } public MoneyAmount getMinimumAmount () { return mMinAmountField. getAmount (); } public void setMinimumAmount ( double amount ) { mMinmountField. setAmountFromDouble ( amount ); } public MoneyAmount getMaximumAmount () { return mMaxAmountField. getAmount (); } public void setMaximumAmount ( double amount ) { mMaxAmountField. setAmountFromDouble ( amount ); } public Account getSelectedAccount () { return mAccountSpinner. getSelectedItem (); } public boolean validate () { clearErrors (); boolean isValid = true ; if (! isValidAmountRange ()) { isValid = false ; mMinAmountField. setError ( "Invalid range" ); mMaxAmountField. setError ( "Invalid range" ); } return isValid ; } private boolean isValidAmountRange () { return getMinimumAmount () <= getMaximumAmount (); } private void clearErrors () { mMinAmountField. setError ( null ); mMaxAmountField. setError ( null ); } public SearchParameters buildParameters () { return new SearchParameters ( getSelectedAccount (), getKeywords (), getMinimumAmount (), getMaximumAmount ()); } public void persist ( Bundle outState ) { outState. putInt ( "SELECTED_ACCT_INDEX", mAccountSpinner. getSelectedItemPosition ()); } public void restore ( Bundle bundle ) { int accountPosition = bundle. getInt ( "SELECTED_ACCT_INDEX" ); mAccountSpinner. setSelection ( accountPosition, false ); } }
We create a class that derives from LinearLayout (or maybe a FrameLayout if you prefer) which allows us to group up the related controls into one layout that we will inflate. We setup our views and create an adapter for the list of accounts.
We wrap up the Android controls in getter/setters — this may be somewhat controversial, but I think it makes for a better public API for SearchForm. We’ve got a method to validate the user input and apply errors if needed. We have buildParameters() that does some data binding and returns a domain object. And we finish it off with two methods that interact with Android’s onSaveInstanceState Bundle to handle custom configuration changes (note that most stock UI controls will handle their own persistence).
This is about a hundred lines of code and is pretty good for the most part. Everything in this class seems like it belongs in a “search form” object and there are good extension points for future features (date range filter, expense vs deposit filters, checks only, etc). We intentionally avoid dealing with how we get some of the data, leaving that up to other, more appropriate parts of the code.
What do things look like on the Activity side?
public class TransactionSearchActivity extends BaseActivity { @InjectView ( R. id. search_form ) private SearchForm mForm ; @Override public void onCreate ( Bundle savedInstanceState ) { super. onCreate ( savedInstanceState ); setContentView ( R. layout. transaction_search ); setTitle ( "Search Your Transactions" ); mForm. initialize ( mAccounts ); // fetch accounts via API/DB/etc if ( savedInstanceState!= null ) { mForm. restore ( savedInstanceState ); } } @Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected ( MenuItem menu ) { switch ( menu. getItemId ()) { case R. id. action_submit_search : onSubmitSearch (); return true ; } return super. onOptionsItemSelected ( menu ) } private void onSubmitSearch () { if ( mForm. validate ()) { // Do your magic, post to an API/DB/etc // You have access to the domain object with mForm.buildParameters() } } @Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu ( Menu menu ) { getMenuInflater (). inflate ( R. menu. search_menu, menu ); return super. onCreateOptionsMenu ( menu ); } @Override protected void onSaveInstanceState ( Bundle outState ) { super. onSaveInstanceState ( outState ); mForm. persist ( outState ); } }
Our Activity will include a <com.example.SearchForm /> tag in it’s XML layout and then just handle high-level user interactions (hitting submit in the ActionBar) and coordinates fetching and storing data. The heavy UI lifting and form logic is delegated to the SearchForm.
This activity comes in at around 50 lines — most of which is just boilerplate from the framework for lifecycles and menu creation.
Overall impressions
Things get a bit more complex once you start talking to an API or database, but overall by moving the form-specific logic and view concerns out of the Activity, the code becomes easier to understand.
I can write a whole slew of Robolectric tests on SearchForm without getting bogged down in the activity lifecycle. I can write tests about the interactions with form, the ActionBar, and the backend without exercising every edgecase. And when it comes time to add a new filter to the form, I will likely avoid having to make any changes to the Activity (ala the Open/closed principle for those playing Design Pattern Bingo at home).
Coming from other frameworks (and speaking with other developers), data binding is pretty lacking on Android. Something still seems a bit off with this design because we are coupled tightly to Android classes and there is dependency on knowing the order of methods to call (e.g. initialize() should be called before validate() ) — however I think it is an improvement over the “giant mud ball Activity”.
As your form models get more and more complex, you may want to think about extracting validations to a separate object and moving custom view functionality into their own controls (as you can see in our example with the CurrencyEditText ). Also, consider that complex forms might better serve the user being broken up into multiple steps as a wizard.
We’ve found this pattern to be a big win in untangling hairy form code and I would recommend giving it a try. I’ve formalized the code patterns a bit more and created a small base class to reduce a bit of boilerplate going forward, feel free to borrow it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions; get in touch with me on Twitter.Taking short breaks from sitting, even for only one minute, might whittle your waistline and improve your heart health, according to a new study.
People in the study who took the most breaks from sitting — up to 1,258 short breaks in one week — were about two pant sizes smaller than those who took the fewest, as few as 99 breaks in one week, said study researcher Genevieve Healy, who studies population health at the University of Queensland in Australia.
And a smaller waistline means less abdominal fat and better heart health, Healy said.
"A high waist circumference is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease," she told MyHealthNewsDaily.
When we stand, the large muscles in our legs and the back are continually contracting to maintain our posture, but when we sit or recline, these muscle groups are basically inactive, Healy said.
"So even short breaks from sitting get these large muscle groups contracting," she said.
The study will be published tomorrow (Jan. 12) in the European Heart Journal.
Measuring activity
Healy and her colleagues studied 4,757 people, ages 20 and older, who participated in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. All participants wore an accelerometer on their right hips for seven days during their waking hours.
These accelerometers measured the amount and intensity of the participants' physical activity every minute. When activity levels were very low, the researchers assumed the participants were sedentary, Healy said.
Participants ranged from 1.8 hours of sedentary time a day to 21.2 hours a day, according to the study. The average length of a break from sitting was 4.12 minutes.
Researchers found that even among those who spent a long time sitting, those who took a lot of breaks had smaller waistlines and lower levels of C-reactive protein — an indicator of inflammation in the body — than those who didn't take breaks.
The 25 percent of people who took the most breaks from sitting had waistlines that were, on average, 1.61 inches (4.1 centimeters) smaller than the 25 percent of people who took the fewest breaks, according to the study.
The finding comes on the heels of a study published earlier this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which found that spending more than four hours of your leisure time in front of your computer or TV a day can increase the risk of being hospitalized for, or dying from, heart disease.
And a 2009 study of 5,453 people published in the journal Obesity showed that a 1-centimeter increase in waist circumference is associated with an increased chance of premature death.
Researchers have been "following the relationship between markers of sedentary behavior, such as TV watching and screen time, but now we have started to objectively quantify physical inactivity as well as activity," said Jeanne D. Johnston, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Indiana University who was not involved with the new study.
Because the study relied on results from the accelerometers, instead of self-reported information from participants, the results "provide a foundation" for exploring why periods of long sitting are bad for health, Johnston told MyHealthNewsDaily.
For example, researchers could now further explore the way insulin levels are affected by movement, and therefore lack of movement, she said. Being consistently active may increase insulin sensitivity, whereas inactivity can lead to insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
Inflammation in the body in response to physical activity or high-fat meals might be another a culprit, Johnston said.
Pass it on: Taking short breaks from sitting is associated with a slimmer waistline and better heart health.
Follow MyHealthNewsDaily staff writer Amanda Chan on Twitter @ AmandaLChan.• Real Madrid to buy striker back from Juventus and then sell him on • Chelsea also interested in Morata but Spaniard favours Manchester United
Real Madrid have decided to activate their £23.6m buy-back option on Álvaro Morata but will then sell him on to the highest bidder for around £40m with Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain all interested in the forward.
Borussia Dortmund sign Ousmane Dembélé from Rennes on five-year deal Read more
Morata, who has been with Juventus for the past two seasons, would favour a move to United, especially if José Mourinho takes over at Old Trafford, and would prefer a move to the Premier League rather than Ligue 1. However, the decision may be taken out of his hands if PSG outbid the three English clubs.
There have been reports Leicester City, Napoli, who have approached the player, Internazionale and Milan are also interested but the 23-year-old’s representatives have ruled out those options for the time being. The new Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, would like to sign the striker, having brought him to Juventus in 2014 only to quit the club a few weeks later, but any move from Chelsea will depend on whether Diego Costa remains at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho worked with Morata at Real Madrid for three seasons, with the manager giving him his first-team debut against Real Zaragoza in 2010. Morata said later: “Mourinho could have chosen some other player but he chose me and I’ll be grateful to him for the rest of my life.”
United will make a decision on Louis van Gaal’s position after the season with the team still having a chance to finish fourth in the Premier League with one game remaining before facing Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final a week on Saturday.
Crystal Palace, Stoke and West Ham target Norwich winger Nathan Redmond Read more
Morata started out at Atlético Madrid before spending a season at Getafe in 2007-08. He joined Real, where he scored 10 goals in
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the house, including its brief period of being a museum and its centuries-long reputation for being haunted. Anna, on the other hand, found about all the triplets' childhood adventures, including many embarrassing incidents that Franny had hoped were long forgotten. After the meal, the women transitioned to the parlor upstairs for coffee, chocolate cake and more conversation until Anna started falling asleep. With another round of hugs, everyone called it a night, and Anna and Elsa retired to their room.
Anna retrieved her pajamas from the drawer she had put them in, and with a sigh of relief, she stripped off her clothes to exchange them for baggy flannel pants and an oversized cotton t-shirt. Elsa watched her every move, and Anna could hardly believe the subtle desire she could see in those very blue eyes. "I'm as big as this house, love, and I'm wearing comfy clothes; I'm not exactly sexy right now," Anna chastised with a smile, even though she appreciated Elsa's admiration.
"You will always be the most beautiful person in the world," Elsa replied, deliberately letting her gaze roam again.
"Stop that," Anna ordered suddenly, making Elsa look up.
"Stop what?" Elsa asked innocently, even though she knew exactly what Anna was talking about.
"Quit looking at me like that," Anna answered. "You know what it does to me, and we are a guest in someone else's home. We can't do that here."
"Says who?" Elsa asked impishly.
"Propriety," Anna replied sternly.
Elsa smirked before slowly advancing on Anna with a sensual sway to her hips. The sway mesmerized Anna as it always did, and Elsa had little trouble taking her Intended into her arms. Circling around so that she was pressed against Anna's back, Elsa tightened her arms, feeling Anna shiver when their bodies pressed even closer. "I've never really been one for propriety," Elsa husked into Anna's ear.
"But I'm never quiet, Elsa, and I really want to be able to look at Franny's family in the morning without blushing," Anna beseeched.
"This house is built the same way as ours, and the walls are very thick," Elsa countered in a low whisper, her hands taking opposite paths towards Anna's more sensitive places.
Anna sighed, and she seriously considered letting Elsa continue, but embarrassment won out over lust, and she put her hands over Elsa's. "Please, love, wait until we get home," Anna pleaded softly.
At Anna's tone, Elsa's hands stopped immediately, but she couldn't resist getting in the last word. "Until home, then," she said, giving the side of Anna's neck an open-mouthed kiss as her left hand softly squeezed Anna's pregnancy-swelled breast. Anna whimpered, and she almost gave in, but the temptation lessened when Elsa respected her request and moved away to get into her own pajamas. When she was finished, they both climbed into bed, and Elsa immediately tucked herself in behind Anna. It was the best position for cuddling both her future daughter and her future wife.
Anna snuggled back into Elsa. "Goodnight, love," she said sleepily. "Promise me you will stay safe tomorrow and come back to us."
"Always," Elsa promised lovingly, giving Anna a kiss before they both drifted off.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast and several kisses and hugs goodbye, Elsa and Franny took off for the coordinates Belle had given them. As expected, the coordinates were deep in the mountains, and the aerial view showed nothing but craggy peaks and snow. When they were close but still a good distance away, Franny landed in a clearing, and after shutting things down, she started to gather her gear. Elsa looked at her in confusion. "What?" Franny challenged.
"Belle implied that I was going in alone," Elsa answered. "I thought you were just here to fly the transport."
"Going into a State facility alone is stupid, even if you have a very good success rate doing it," Franny stated. "I promise you I'll follow your lead and not get in the way, but there is no way I would let you do this on your own, not with Freckles and Peanut waiting for you to come back."
Franny's face was as non-sarcastic and somber as Elsa had ever seen it, and she knew that the black-haired woman was serious. After a moment to consider everything, Elsa knew there was only one choice. "Backup would be nice," she said with a small smile.
Franny looked surprised at the affirmative statement, but then she smiled back. "Well, shit, Frosty Pants," she huffed good-naturedly. "I thought I would have to do more to convince you. I had this whole speech planned out."
Elsa chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint," she replied. Franny smirked at her as they got into their gear, and within a few minutes, they were out in the swirling snow. More minutes and a short hike later, they were at their coordinates, and after a careful survey to look for alarms, traps or cameras not present on Belle's blueprints, Elsa popped the grate of the ventilation shaft and they were in.
After a few meters' crawl, Elsa and Franny came upon another grate, and Elsa sent down the scope to see if anyone was in the hallway that it led to. The corridor was empty, so Elsa brought the scope back up and opened up the grate. She and Franny jumped down from the ceiling, and Franny, spying what she thought could be a security camera, sent a blast of plasma towards the spot. Whatever it was exploded in a volley of sparks and a small boom, and Elsa turned to her rescue companion. "I thought you said you would be following my lead," she reminded Franny.
"Sorry," Franny answered, her grin showing absolutely no remorse.
Elsa sighed, but said nothing, instead preferring to get on with the mission. The workers' locker room was just where the blueprints said it would be, and after Elsa froze the lock, the uniform supply cabinet opened obediently. Elsa and Franny dressed quickly, hoping that the uniforms would be enough camouflage. If people here knew what the Ice Queen looked like, then having the uniform on would be of little help. It would be much easier for Franny, considering her broadcast appearances had been far fewer than Elsa's.
Now less conspicuous than they were before, Elsa and Franny left the locker room to search for Rapunzel, returning to the ductwork to follow the route that Elsa had painstakingly mapped out. Peering into the rooms through the grates, the two women saw small groups of people, all of them wearing preventative cuffs, and most of them listlessly doing things like reading, sewing or watching the communication screen. "They all look drugged up to their eyeballs," Franny observed in a whisper.
"So they will be more docile," Elsa hypothesized, and Franny nodded. Not seeing Rapunzel, they moved on, but as they crawled, Elsa frowned in thought. They were only here to get Rapunzel, but her conscience was troubled about the others. It wouldn't be right to leave them behind, and Elsa found herself thinking of doing something completely ill-advised. She paused and turned her body so that she was sitting, activating her tablet and looking at the specifications sheet Belle had sent her about the facility. Being behind her, Franny had to pause too, and after sitting down, she noticed what Elsa was looking at.
"What are you thinking about, Frosty Pants?" Franny asked with knowing suspicion.
"We can't leave them here, Franny," Elsa said quietly. "Even if we are only here for Rapunzel, it wouldn't be right. They are people, and they need to be free."
Franny looked at her critically, then broke out into a smirk. "Freckles is really rubbing off on you, isn't she, Frosty Pants?" she teased.
"You already know the answer to that," Elsa retorted.
"Yes, I do," Franny confirmed, still smirking. "So what's the new plan?"
Elsa studied her tablet. "Belle's specs say that there are about 250 people are imprisoned here, and there are about 50 elite Enforcer guards overseeing them. First off, we don't have the room for 250 people in our transport, so we would need more transportation. We would have to get more transports on their way here so the prisoners don't freeze outside while we are waiting for the transports to show up."
"We have plenty of large-size military transports at the base in Middleton," Franny offered. "I could call Mama, and she could have someone out here in an hour."
"Perfect," Elsa said, nodding. "Next, we would have to take out the guards."
"You just took out thousands of Enforcers by yourself, and I am in a perpetual bad mood. Done and Done-er," Franny stated.
"But we need to do it quietly so that the State doesn't send reinforcements," Elsa added.
Franny sighed. "Okay, we do it quietly," she agreed reluctantly. "And then?"
"According to the blueprints, there are holding cells where the most 'unstable' prisoners are," Elsa said. "We would have to infiltrate and liberate that section, too. It's bound to be more dangerous than what we are seeing here."
"And still nothing the two of us can't handle," Franny responded immediately.
"Most likely not," Elsa concurred. She took a deep breath, her mind made up. "Please call General Kim and ask for the transport," Elsa requested. "But ask her not to tell Anna. I promised her I would stay safe, and this whole plan is putting me in more danger."
"Freckles can read people like a book, FP; she's going to figure it out," Franny pointed out with a shake of her head.
"Yes, she probably is, but hopefully General Kim can get the transports airborne before my Apprentice charms her way on to one of them," Elsa replied, and Franny chuckled as she opened the secure channel to her mother.
When that was done, it was time to start taking out the Enforcers. They crawled to a grate in the hallway and popped it open, the both of them dropping down onto the tiled floor below. They hadn't gotten five meters towards the common room they had seen when a voice stopped them in their tracks. "You don't look like real Enforcers," a childish voice informed them. Elsa and Franny spun around to see a young girl of about ten, with dark brown hair and light blue eyes, and she studied them critically. "You aren't Enforcers," she decided almost instantly.
"No, we're not," Elsa confirmed.
"Then why are you here?" the child asked. "You can't be Extraordinaries or Plebian because you don't have cuffs."
"Actually we were Plebian, and we are Extraordinaries," Elsa disagreed. "But, we are free now, so we don't wear cuffs anymore. And since we think everyone should be free, we are here to rescue you."
The child didn't look convinced. "Prove it," she demanded. "Prove that you are un-cuffed Extraordinaries."
"Smart kid," Franny murmured to Elsa.
Elsa nodded absentmindedly, distracted by the way her mind was trying to place the child's face. It was so familiar, but the eye color was off, as if it belonged in a different face that was familiar. When Franny said "smart", though, something clicked. "Belle," Elsa realized. "She looks exactly like Belle."
Franny overheard and looked at the little girl more closely. "You're right," she agreed, "and if she has been here all this time, it makes sense why Belle, even with all of her access to information, couldn't manage to find her."
"It does," Elsa agreed quietly, before realizing the girl was glaring at them for not fulfilling her request. "But, how rude of us. We are standing here talking when this young lady has asked something of us," she said more loudly. Elsa lifted her hands, and within seconds, snow started to fall from the ceiling. The child looked up and then back at Elsa. Elsa smiled at her before bringing her hands down and clasping them in front of her. After a few moments' concentration, Elsa opened her hands, and a sparkling ice hummingbird zipped its way through the air to alight on the girl's shoulder, causing the child to laugh.
"Great, how I am supposed to follow that?" Franny muttered. She clenched her hand into a fist and lit up her plasma, causing the little girl to look up from the ice bird that was now resting in her palm. Franny sent a blast of her power a safe distance over the girl's shoulder, and it zoomed behind her to punch a nice-sized hole in the corridor wall. The girl looked at Franny with wide eyes, and Franny smirked. "Believe us now, kid?" she asked.
The girl nodded with wide eyes, a hopeful smile coming to her face. "Can you really get us out of here?" she asked with hopeful skepticism, still clutching her frozen hummingbird as the small creature made itself comfortable in her hand.
"We will try our very best," Elsa assured her.
"And our best is really good," Franny added.
The girl giggled, somehow trusting them even though she had little experience with honest adults. "I can help you if you take off my cuff," she offered, holding up her wrist.
"Even if you don't help us, that abomination comes off now," Elsa growled, gently taking the proffered arm and sending freezing air under the cuff. The girl's hand slipped out easily, and Elsa and Franny watched as whatever power she had started flowing through her again.
"Thank you," the girl said gratefully, unexpectedly turning to Elsa and throwing her arms around the icy woman.
"You are very welcome," Elsa replied, hugging her back.
"Who are you?" the child asked, mumbling into Elsa's front.
"Well, my name is Elsa, and I have ice and snow powers; that's why some people call me the Ice Queen," Elsa explained. "My friend is named Franny, and she has energy powers. We were both Plebian until the Rebellion started, but we escaped and now we live free. Who are you?" Elsa asked, knowing it might be a hard question for the girl to answer.
"My designation is 65585, but I call myself Laura," the girl said. "There is an ancient set of books that one of the nicer guards gave me to read. They're about a girl who got to travel, to explore and escape. Her name was Laura, so I decided that I wanted to be a Laura."
Franny smiled. That story was familiar, and if she were Belle's child, being a reader would fit perfectly. "And what is your power, Laura?" she asked.
Laura looked around, until she saw a trash can a little way up the hall. Walking over to it, she touched it with her hand. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then, the trash can sprouted legs and arms, tipped its lid to the ladies in the hall, and then walked away. After watching it go, Laura turned back to Elsa and Franny. "I can bring inanimate objects to life," she explained. "When I was in the Plebian dorm, I brought a chipped cup to life, and he was my best friend. Then my teacher found him, and they sent me here. After they smashed him to pieces in front of me, of course."
As sadness washed over Laura's face, Elsa wished that Anna was with her. Her Apprentice was so much more adept at helping people than she was. Not knowing what else to do, Elsa simply hugged the girl again, and the girl hugged her back fiercely for a few seconds, before letting go. "We need to get going, or we are going to get caught," she stated, walking down the hallway.
"You know, I'm becoming more and more confident that she is Belle's kid," Franny declared as an aside to Elsa. Elsa nodded.
Laura led them to the common room they had been looking at through the grate. There were only three guards in the room, and Elsa took them out with ease. She and Franny spent a few minutes destroying preventative cuffs, but the prisoners were all too drugged out to do much. One of them, a woman with darker skin tone, arresting almond eyes and a few tattoos, seemed to recover faster than the rest, though. When asked what her powers were, she smiled and conjured a tornado to violently open the doorway in front of them. Elsa asked her if she would be willing to help, and after her emphatic agreement, she was tasked with keeping the others safe in the cafeteria.
Room after room, corridor after corridor, Elsa, Franny and Laura set everyone free and guided them to the cafeteria. Most of the Enforcers were incapacitated and knocked unconscious, but there were two that had taken one look at the invading group, handed over their weapons and begged them to get their lovers out of there. One was a younger Enforcer with medium-brown hair and blue eyes who kept her hair tied back with a light-blue bow. Her Extraordinary was a redheaded boy who could fly, and Elsa sent them both to the cafeteria after the young woman eagerly accepted her offer of defection. The second was a slightly-older Enforcer with curly black hair, sharp nose and a gravelly voice that could easily be mistaken for the Ice Queen's under the right circumstances. Her paramour was a redheaded woman with blue eyes who only had to sing to call all manner of animals and creatures to her aid. The redhead, Giselle, was sent back to the cafeteria, but Nancy, the Enforcer, offered Elsa and her group her help in infiltrating the facility's more secure cell block. Her offer was accepted, and the group marched to the only unliberated spot left.
The others carefully hid as Nancy pushed the intercom button. "How may I help you today, Lieutenant?" a crisp female voice asked her.
"I have dignitaries from Campus here to see the Healer," Nancy answered.
"I have no such record of a visit," the voice answered back.
"It is an unannounced inspection," Nancy lied.
There was a pause, and the door buzzed. Unplanned inspections were not uncommon, and the Enforcer in the cell block had no reason to think that Nancy was lying. Nancy opened the door and gestured to the others, and they all slipped in. The Enforcer who had let them in came out of her office, only to stop when she saw the group. "Well, now, I would say this actually makes more sense than an unannounced visit from Campus," she stated, much to everyone's surprise. "Come on, your Healer friend is this way," she said evenly.
"You aren't going to stop us?" Elsa questioned skeptically, as they followed her down the hallway.
"No, not if you take me and my prisoners with you," the brown-haired, brown-eyed Enforcer answered. When Elsa still looked puzzled, the guard explained. "I've been on this guard detail for many years, Ice Queen. I've gotten to know everyone as people. I would have broken them out myself, but I knew that was a suicide mission. If you're here, then I now have the means to get them out," she expounded. "Here we are," she announced.
Rapunzel lay huddled in a corner of the glass-fronted cell, her face towards the wall as her back faced the corridor. Elsa knocked on the glass, but Rapunzel didn't stir. "Can she hear me through the glass?" Elsa asked the Enforcer. The Enforcer nodded, so Elsa tried again. "Rapunzel?" she called. Rapunzel still made no move.
Franny sighed. "Blondie!" she shouted. "Get your ass up or we are getting everyone but you out of this place!"
Rapunzel perked up at that. "Goshen?" she questioned. Turning around, she saw Elsa and Franny standing behind the glass. Franny smirked at her, and Rapunzel stood up, rushing over to the front. The Enforcer guard opened the door, and Elsa and Franny found themselves being strangled. "Elsa! Goshen! I am so glad to see you!" she gushed.
Elsa politely disentangled herself. "We're glad to see you too," she replied, freezing off Rapunzel's cuff. Rapunzel took a deep, relieved breath and hugged Elsa again. Elsa hugged back and again wished for her Apprentice.
One by one, the Enforcer guard opened the rest of the cells, and when she opened the last, a tall muscular man came bounding out. Without preamble, he took the guard into his arms and kissed her in front of everyone, causing her to blush. She gently pushed him back, but he refused to let go of her completely. "Jane," he said reverently, his face buried in her neck.
Jane looked around to all of the knowing faces and blushed again. "Well, um yes, that's me. I'm Jane," she stuttered. "And this is John. He can talk with primates."
"Not John, Tarzan," the man insisted.
"John, that nickname was supposed to be an insult," Jane protested.
"Don't care," Tarzan said simply, causing Jane to sigh.
"Well, you two lovebirds can figure it out on the way to the transport," Franny decided, glancing at her communicator as it chirped. "Our rides are here," she said.
"Of course," Jane said crisply, moving away from Tarzan. She went over to her desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a portable data storage device.
"What's that?" Elsa asked.
"Some information that I think will be of great interest to the Rebellion," Jane answered cryptically.
Elsa didn't press for details, but instead started ushering everyone back out into the corridors. They met up with the rest of the group in the cafeteria, and with Jane and Nancy's help, they opened the front doors and gates to the facility. General Kim was waiting there with transports, and beside her was a very pregnant redhead with a beaming smile. Elsa frowned briefly, but Franny smirked. "Told ya she'd be here somehow," she whispered. Elsa glared at her for a moment, but before she could say anything, Rapunzel went rushing past and Anna let out a happy cry. The two old friends embraced heartily, and Elsa smiled as Anna led Rapunzel onto the ship, chatting all the while.
After everyone except Franny and Elsa was loaded on to the transports, they took off for Middleton. Elsa and Franny hiked back to their own hidden transport before heading back to Middleton themselves. The freed Extraordinaries were welcomed on the base, but not knowing the state of their mental health after being imprisoned by the State, they were treated carefully and offered any help that they needed. Some withdrew, wanting to be alone for a while. Others welcomed having company and being lucid after so long being alone and drugged. Still others, three in particular, merely enjoyed being with the ones they loved openly and freely. Laura, the youngest of them all, stayed by Elsa or Franny's side, nervously clutching the ice hummingbird she had named Flit. Within a short time, she had warmed up to Anna and Rapunzel, too, and so the choice was made to bring her back to the Goshen-Possible's house.
When they got home, Elsa went to debrief Belle and give her information from Jane, and Franny asked Laura for a small bit of her blood for testing. After both of those things were accomplished, Kim, Ronni, Franny, Elsa, Anna and Rapunzel met up in the parlor.
"Did you tell Belle about Laura?" Anna asked.
"I mentioned a child, but I didn't tell her of our suspicions," Elsa replied. "I didn't want to get her hopes up only to see them dashed."
"Well, you wouldn't have," Franny stated. "Laura is Belle's. Not only that, she's Beast's."
Rapunzel smiled. "That explains the eyes," she said, and the rest nodded.
"Leader will still be up," Ronni mentioned, not comfortable with calling their leader "Belle". "Now that we know, we should tell her."
"Laura is asleep, though," Kim pointed out. "And Leader will want to see her. I say we let the poor child and her mother rest for tonight, and we will tell them at tomorrow's meeting. A few more hours of separation won't matter that much."
Looks passed around the parlor, but it was mutually decided that Kim was right. Everyone said goodnight and went to their rooms. Most fell asleep instantly, but Rapunzel had a communications transmission to make. Eugene burst into tears at seeing her face, and Rapunzel started crying too. They talked for hours, and it wasn't until early in the morning that they could bear to say goodbye and fall into a disappointingly-separate, but still-happy sleep.This article is about the five-volume series from Next, Inc.. For other works with the same name, see Manga Bible
Manga Bible (新約聖書, Shinyaku Seisho) is a five-volume manga series based on the Christian Bible created under the direction of the non-profit organization Next, a group formed by people from the manga industry. Though first published in English, the books are originally written in Japanese and each volume is illustrated by a Japanese manga artist.[1] Each book is adapted from the Bible by Hidenori Kumai. The first two books were illustrated by manga artist Kozumi Shinozawa, while the remaining three will be illustrated by a different artist. The first book in the series, Manga Messiah was published in 2006 and covered the four gospels of the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Manga Metamorphosis (2008) covers the events in Acts and several of Paul's letters. Manga Mutiny (2008, 2009) begins in Genesis and ends in Exodus. Manga Melech (2010) picks up where Manga Mutiny left off and continues into the reign of David. The fifth, and currently final book, Manga Messengers (2011) addresses events starting with the reign of King Solomon and takes stories from several of the major and minor prophets, and the Book of Esther and concludes with anticipation of a messiah.
Production [ edit ]
The Manga Bible series is the creation of Next, a non-profit organization created in 2006 to produce and distribution biblically-based manga series for distribution in a multitude of languages worldwide. Next was formed by Roald Lidal, general director of New Life League Japan, pulling together manga publishing and printing professionals from Japan, and includes Japanese manga artists and other professionals in the manga industry.[2][3]
Lidal created the Manga Bible series in order to "reach children who might resist traditional Bible translations and never attend a church." When he first announced his vision, it was met with some derision, with other Christians feeling the books would be insulting to the gospel.[2] Lidal was persistent, and continued his vision to produce the five book series, with three covering the Old Testament and two covering the New Testament portions of the Christian Bible.[2]
Each book in the series is initially written in Japanese by Christian Japanese artists, then translated to additional languages and published by regional religious publishers.[2] Each language edition is reviewed by members of regional bible societies before publication, to ensure accurate translation.[2]
Media [ edit ]
The first book of the series, Manga Messiah, was scripted by Hidenori Kumai and illustrated by Kozumi Shinozawa. Though initially written in Japanese, the English edition was published first, premiering in the United Kingdom and the Philippines in 2006.[4][5] In North America, Tyndale House purchased the English rights for all the books in the series, publishing Manga Messiah in September 2007.[2][6] COMIX35 acted as the English consultants for translating the Japanese editions into English.[4][5] The Spanish language editions are being published by the American Bible Society.[2] The Japanese language edition was published in Japan in February 2008.[1][5]
Volume list [ edit ]
No. Title Japanese release English release 1 Manga Messiah
Kyuuseishu Jinrui o Sukui Shi Sha (救世主 人類を救いし者) February 2008[1]
ISBN 978-4-8202-4266-6 September 2007[7]
ISBN 978-1-4143-1680-2 Chapter 1: The Birth of Yeshuah
Chapter 2: Growth of Yeshuah
Chapter 3: John the Baptizer
Chapter 4: Preparation for Ministry
Chapter 5: At the Wedding in Cana
Chapter 6: Going to Jerusalem
Chapter 7: Return to Galilee
Chapter 8: The Seashore Road
Chapter 9: Messianic Miracles
Chapter 10: Sermon on the Mount
Chapter 11: Controversy About Beelzebub
Chapter 12: Parables
Chapter 13: Sending Out Twelve Disciples Chapter 14: Death of John the Baptizer
Chapter 15: Lazarus Dies
Chapter 16: The Entry to Jerusalem
Chapter 17: Investigation of the Lamb of God
Chapter 18: Judas the Betrayer
Chapter 19: The Lord's Supper
Chapter 20: Garden of Gethsemane
Chapter 21: The Way to the Cross
Chapter 22: Crucifixion
Chapter 23: Resurrection and Ascension
Area Map
Character Profiles
Twelve Apostles 2 Manga Metamorphosis
Tsukawasareshi Monotachi (遣わされし者たち) May 2008[1]
ISBN 978-4-8202-4267-3 September 2008[8]
ISBN 978-1-4143-1682-6 Chapter 1: Now What Do We Do?
Chapter 2: Unearthly Wind and Fire
Chapter 3: More Than You Asked For
Chapter 4: Could These Things Be True?
Chapter 5: Unity of Believers
Chapter 6: The Apostles' Arrest
Chapter 7: Called to Serve
Chapter 8: Cost of Conviction
Chapter 9: Spreading Flame
Chapter 10: Ancient Text Unbound
Chapter 11: Blinded by the Light
Chapter 12: No Outsiders, No Insiders
Chapter 13: A New Messenger
Chapter 14: Guardian Angels
Chapter 15: Sent to the World
Chapter 16: Unstoppable Good News
Chapter 17: Are These the Gods?
Chapter 18: The First Wave
Chapter 19: Growing Pains
Chapter 20: The Second Wave
Chapter 21: The Apprentice
Chapter 22: The Fellowship Expands Chapter 23: Power Encounter
Chapter 24: Turning the World Upside Down
Chapter 25: People of the Book
Chapter 26: The Unknown God
Chapter 27: Good News, Great Boldness
Chapter 28: Strengthening the Disciples
Chapter 29: A Teachable Genius
Chapter 30: The Third Wave and Beyond
Chapter 31: The Dream... or the Mission?
Chapter 32: Truth Worth Dying For
Chapter 33: Gathering Clouds
Chapter 34: Defending the Truth
Chapter 35: Great Trials, Greater Opportunities
Chapter 36: Hope in the Heart of the Empire
Letters to the Believers in Philippi
Letters to the Believers in Corinth
Letters to the Believers in Ephesus
Letters to the Believers in Rome
Character Profiles
Paul's Missionary Journeys (Map)
Chronology 3 Manga Mutiny October 2008[9]
ISBN 978-4-820-24268-0 September 2009[10]
ISBN 978-1-4143-1681-9 Chapter 1: The Beginning
Chapter 2: Banished
Chapter 3: Cain and Abel
Chapter 4: The Flood
Chapter 5: The Tower of Babel
Chapter 6: The Journey of Abram
Chapter 7: Three Travelers
Chapter 8: The Destruction of Sodom
Chapter 9: The Birth of Isaac
Chapter 10: The Sacrifice
Chapter 11: Death and Marriage
Chapter 12: Esau and Jacob
Chapter 13: In the House of Laban Chapter 14: Esau
Chapter 15: Joseph
Chapter 16: Joseph Interprets Dreams
Chapter 17: Reunion
Chapter 18: Israel Travels to Egypt
Chapter 19: Moses
Chapter 20: The Burning Bush
Chapter 21: The Courts of the Pharaoh
Chapter 22: Passover
Chapter 23: Escape from Egypt
Geography of the Old Testament Period (Map)
Character Profiles 4 Manga Melech — September 2010[11]
ISBN 978-1-4143-1683-3 Chapter 1: Journey to Sinai
Chapter 2: The Commandments
Chapter 3: Rebellion in the Desert
Chapter 4: The Desert Years
Chapter 5: Jericho
Chapter 6: Israel Advances
Chapter 7: The Song of Deborah
Chapter 8: Gideon the Warrior
Chapter 9: Mighty Samson
Chapter 10: Daughter of Moab
Chapter 11: Samuel
Chapter 12: The First King of Israel Chapter 13: David the Shepherd Boy
Chapter 14: Goliath the Giant
Chapter 15: Escape
Chapter 16: On the Run
Chapter 17: Battle on Mt. Gilboa
Chapter 18: Civil War
Chapter 19: Jerusalem
Chapter 20: King of Israel
Chapter 21: Absalom's Rebellion
Chapter 22: Song of Thanksgiving
Maps
Character introductions & Family Tree 5 Manga Messengers — September 2011[12]
ISBN 978-1-4143-1684-0 Chapter 1: Construction of the Temple
Chapter 2: The Wealth and Wisdom of Solomon
Chapter 3: The Divided Kingdom
Chapter 4: Elijah
Chapter 5: On top of Mt. Carmel
Chapter 6: Elijah's Departure
Chapter 7: The Power of Elisha
Chapter 8: Jehu's Rebellion
Chapter 9: The Work of Jonah
Chapter 10: Amos and Hosea
Chapter 11: Isaiah Chapter 12: Josiah's Reformation
Chapter 13: Jeremiah
Chapter 14: Road to Rebellion
Chapter 15: The Fall of Jerusalem
Chapter 16: Ezekiel's Vision
Chapter 17: Return to Jerusalem
Chapter 18: Queen Esther
Chapter 19: The Last Prophet
Chapter 20: They Who Wait for the Lord
Simplified Chronology of the Age of the Prophets
Map of the Prophet's Age
Book 6 [ edit ]
Manga Majesty is to be based on the Book of Revelation and is still under development and is seeking crowd funding as of 2018.[13]
Booklets [ edit ]
An abbreviated booklet version of Manga Messiah is called Manga Mission.[14]
Reception [ edit ]
Before its creation, some Christians expressed concern that the Manga Bible series format would "cheapen the gospel."[2] The first book of the series, Manga Messiah, received mixed reviews from critics. Matthew J. Brady of the website "Manga Life" found Manga Messiah to be "a fairly authentic manga," feeling it had an authentic manga background and styling, but showing Western-influences in its use of full-color pages and greater amounts of captioning and text. As a whole, he felt the book was a faithful adaptation of the gospels, but did note that some slight liberties taken with the story would "probably bother steadfast Christians".[15]
Comixology's Jason Thompson was less impressed, heavily criticizing the art of the book, referring to it as the "most basic kind of manga shorthand—awkward geometric faces with big eyes, big hair, exaggerated expressions" with "blandly attractive" main characters, "dorky caricatures" of old RPG characters used for the villains, and crudely drawn backgrounds.[16] Both reviewers felt the book tried to include too much information, and that the authors used Jesus' Hebrew name "Yeshuah" in an attempt to make it more palatable to non-Christian readers. They also both criticized the book's occasional odd phrasing when key dialog was rewritten using modern English.[15]
In an editorial piece, Bruce Wilson of The Huffington Post attacked the book, repeatedly quoting an anonymous source who sent him a copy of it, and Chip Berlet, a senior analyst at Political Research Associates. The trio felt the manga contained extreme Anti-judaistic views and was pushing for an idea of "objectifying Jews as non human".[17] Berlet is quoting as stating that Manga Messiah is "A colorful comic training manual for motivating young leaders of the next pogrom against Jews. Not just offensive -- ghastly and horrific in content with a clear enemy scapegoat identified for venting apocalyptic religious bigotry."[17] In a follow-up piece, Wilson himself claimed that "Manga Messiah depicts sinister, swarthy rabbis scheming with the devils and Jews laughing at and taunting Jesus as Christ is nailed to the cross. There are no "good" Jews depicted in the comic."[18]
Reviewer Deirdre J. Good, of the Christian think tank Ekklesia, rebuked the book for its removal of the tension between Jesus and his family and the removal of Judas from The Last Supper, suspecting that Japanese family values had been allowed to intrude upon the original text. She partially supports Wilson's assessment, feeling the depictions of the Pharisees were implausible and that "most depictions of Pharisees or other opponents are caricatures of unappealing people which become sterotypes [sic] by the time one has finished reading the book". As a whole, she felt it was too simplistic, even for a teenage audience.[19]On the day that the guy they thought they were signing — Hisahshi Iwakuma — signed with the Mariners, the Dodgers are working the phones in an effort to get another starting pitcher.
Jon Morosi of Fox reports that the Dodgers are “engaged in ongoing trade talks” with both the Indians and the Rays. Morosi says that the Dodgers are looking to acquire either Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar from the Tribe or Jake Ordor
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178 Faith is not merely a matter of words. We must realise the presence and goodness of Allah. When we do so, the scales fall from our eyes: all the falsities and fleeting nature of the Present cease to enslave us, for we see the Last Day as if it were today. We also see Allah’s working in His world and in us: His Angels. His Messengers and His Message are no longer remote from us, but come within our experience. (R).
179 Practical deeds of charity are of value when they proceed from love and from no other motive. In this respect, also, our duties take various forms, which are shown in reasonable gradation: our kith and kin: orphans (including any persons who are without support or help); people who are in real need but who never ask {it is our duty to find them out, and they come before those who ask); the stranger, who is entitled to laws of hospitality; the people who ask and are entitled to ask, i.e., not merely lazy beggars, but THOSE WHO SEEK OUR ASSISTANCE IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER (IT IS OUR DUTY TO RESPOND TO THEM); AND THE SLAVES (WE MUST DO ALL WE CAN TO GIVE OR BUY THEIR FREEDOM). SLAVERY HAS MANY INSIDIOUS FORMS, AND ALL ARE INCLUDED.
180 Charity and piety in individual cases do not complete our duties. In prayer and charity we must also look to our organised effort. Where there is a Muslim State, these are made through the State in facilities for public prayer, and public assistance, and for the maintenance of contracts and fair dealing in all matters.
181 Then come the Muslim virtues of firmness and patience. They are to “preserve the dignity of man, with soul erect” (Burns). Three sets of circumstances are specially mentioned for the exercise of this virtue: (1) bodily pain or suffering, (2) adversities or injuries of all kinds, deserved and undeserved, and (3) periods of public panic, such as war, violence, pestilence, etc.” (The Meaning of The Noble Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, page 23, online source)
Maulana Mufti Mohammad Shafi:
“SPECIAL NOTE
A careful look at the text of the verse will show that those on whom wealth has to be spent, that is, the relatives, orphans, the needy, the wayfarer and those who ask, have all been described in one distinct manner, while the last head on the list has been introduced in another manner. It is clear that by adding: ‘Fi’ in ‘and (spends) in (freeing) slaves’, the purpose is to point out that the amount spent will not reach the hands of the slaves owned by somebody as their personal amount which they can spent at will. Instead, the amount has to be spent in buying slaves from their masters and SETTING THEM FREE. Hence, the translation: ‘And (spends) in (freeing) slaves’.’ After that, the statement, …: ‘And observes the prayers and pays the Zakah’ appears in the same manner as everything else has been mentioned earlier.” (Maarif-ul-Quran: Quran Translation and Commentary [Translation by Prof. Muhammad Hasan Askari & Prof. Muhammad Shamim by Maulana Mufti Mohammad Shafi, page 444, online source)
Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi:
“168. This sums up Islamic belief: belief in God, in his Prophets, in His Books, in the Day of Judgement, and in the Angels.
169. Note the principal motive-force, in the Islamic code, to all acts of merit. Not to win the applause of human beings, nor to achieve good name, but impelled by the love of his Creator, Master and Sutainer, and moved to win His good-will, a Muslim is truly religious in all his acts of charity and benevolence.
170. Not those who make begging a profession, but those driven to beg by sheer need.
171. (of SLAVES AND CAPTIVES). ‘REDEEMING NECKS’ IS FREEING THEM, AND IS IN ISLAM A PRIMARY SOCIAL DUTY.” (Tafsir-Ul-Qur’an – Translation and Commentary Of The Holy Qur’an [Published By Darul Ishaat Urdu Bazaar Karachi: Pakistan] by Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi,volume 1, page 110)
Maulana Muhammed Ali:
“177a. While discussing the subject of minor details of the law, a warning is given to the Muslims that they should not fall into the error into which the previous people fell, who sacrificed the spirit of religion for the outward ceremonial. The essence of religion, we are here told, is faith in God and benevolence towards men. The turning of the face to the East and the West refers to the outward act of facing a certain direction when saying prayers. This, though necessary, should not be taken as the real object of prayer, which is in fact meant to enable one to hold communion with the Divine Being and to imbue oneself with Divine morals as explained further on. But the words may also carry another significance. The Muslims were told again and again that all opposition to the Truth would ultimately fail and they would be masters of the land. But temporal greatness was not their real object. They may conquer Eastern and Western lands but their real aim was to attain righteousness and bring others to righteousness.
177b. A belief in angels, while hinted at in the opening verses of this chapter, is clearly spoken of here as one of the basic principles of Islam. The belief in angels may not be as universal as a belief in the Divine Being, but it is accepted generally in all monotheistic religions. As in the case of all other principles of faith, Islam has pointed out a certain significance underlying the belief in angels. Just as our physical faculties are not by themselves sufficient to enable us to attain any object in the physical world without the assistance of other agents — as, for instance, the eye cannot see unless there is light — so our spiritual powers cannot by themselves lead us to good or evil deeds, but here, too, intermediaries which have an existence independent of our internal spiritual powers are necessary to enable us to do good or evil deeds. Now, there are two attractions placed in man — the attraction to good or to rise up to higher spheres of virtue, and the attraction to evil or to stoop down to a kind of low, bestial life; but to bring these attractions into operation, external agencies are needed, as they are needed in the case of the physical powers of man. The external agency which brings the attraction to good into work is called an angel, and that which assists in the working of the attraction to evil is called the devil. If we respond to the attraction for good we are following the angel or the Holy Spirit, and if we respond to the attraction for evil we are following Satan. Our belief in angels carries, therefore, the significance that whenever we feel a tendency to do good we should at once obey that call and follow the inviter to good. That it does not simply mean that we should admit that there are angels is clear from the fact that not only are we not required to believe in devils, whose existence is as certain as that of the angels, but we are plainly told that we should disbelieve in the devils (v. 256). As a disbelief in the devil means that we should repel the attraction for evil, so a belief in angels means that we should follow the inviter to good.
177c. While a belief in all the prophets is stated to be necessary, the Book is spoken of in the singular. The Book therefore stands for Divine Revelation in general or the scriptures of all the prophets. Or, because the Qur’an is a Book “wherein are (all) right books” (98:3), the Book might mean the Qur’an.
177d. The love of Allah is here, as in many other places in the Holy Qur’an, stated to be the true incentive to all deeds of righteousness.
177e. Riqab is the plural of raqabah, which literally signifies a neck, and then comes to signify by a synecdoche, a slave, or a captive (T, LL). Hence fi-l-riqab means ransoming of slaves. THE BASIS WAS THUS LAID DOWN FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 177f. The performance of promise on the part of individuals as well as of nations is one of the first essentials of the welfare of humanity, and hence the stress laid upon it by the Holy Qur’an. Faithlessness to treaties and pledges on the part of nations has wrought the greatest havoc on humanity. Just as no society can prosper until its individual members are true to their mutual agreements and promises to each other, so humanity at large can never have peace unless the nations are true to their agreements.
177g. In the concluding words of the verse, the patient … in the time of conflict, there is a clear reference to the coming conflicts with the opponents of Islam, ultimately leading to the triumph of Islam over those who were bent upon extirpating it.(The Holy Quran Arabic Text with English Translation, Commentary and comprehensive Introduction [Year 2002 Edition] by Maulana Muhammad Ali, page 75 – 77)
Malik Ghulam Farid:
“202. Ala Hubbi-hi means, for the love of God; notwithstanding love of money.
202A. Al-Ba’sa and al-Ba’s are both derived from Ba’usa and Ba’isa, i.e,; he was or became strong and valiant in war or fight; he was or became in a state of great want or poverty or distress. Al-Ba-sa means, might or strength in war or fight; war or fight; fear; harm, etc., al-Darra is especially that evil or affliction which relates to one’s person as disease, etc., and al-Ba’sa is that which relates to property, as poverty, etc (lane).
203. This verse gives gist of Islamic teaching. It begins with the basic Islamic beliefs and doctrines which are the source and basis of all actions and on the rightness of which depends the rightness of human actions – belief in God, in the Last Day, in Angels, Revealed Books and Divine Prophets. After this some of the more important ordinances relating to man’s actions are mentioned.” (The Holy Qur’an – Arabic Text With English Translation & Short Commentary by Malik Ghulam Farid, page 71)
Sayyid Qutb:
“Truly righteous is he who believes in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets…“ Taken as a whole, the verse spells out the total sum of GOODNESS, OR RIGHTEOUSNESS. What, then, gives these beliefs and actions their value and meaning? What is the value of believing in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets? Belief in God marks a definite turning point in one’s life, at which one is freed from servitude and submission to all manner of powers, forces and desires, and submits to God alone. It is a transformation from chaos to order, from aimlessness to purpose, and from fragmentation to unity. It is a focal point around which all mankind stands equal in the eyes of God and which gives the whole of existence direction, balance, and coherence. Belief in the Last Day is a belief in universal and divine justice. It is a testimony to the fact that human life on earth is not without purpose or value or order, and that good works that seem to go unrewarded shall certainly be rewarded. Believing in the angels is an essential part of believing in a world that is beyond human perception. It is what distinguishes the way humans perceive the world and understand it from the way animals do. Animals perceive the world through their senses and instincts, while man believes in a world that lies beyond the reach of his perception To believe in the Books and the Prophets means to attest, without reservation, to the truth, honesty, and integrity of all the revealed Books and all the Prophets and messengers God commissioned to deliver them at various times of human history. This leads to a belief in the unity of the human race, serving God alone, abiding by one and the same religion and adhering to one universal divine order. This outlook has a profound effect on the personality of the believer, who is seen as custodian of the heritage of God’s messengers and divine messages. The next clement of righteousness is to spend money, dear as it may be, on one’s near of kin, orphans, the needy, the stranded traveller, beggars, and for the freeing of slaves. The significance of this commendable act of charity and sacrifice is that it liberates man from stinginess, selfishness, greed and excessive love of wealth, which cripple one’s ability to give and help those who are in need. It is a highly spiritual act of altruism when someone of means has the courage and the generosity to give away his dearest and most precious possessions. It is an act of liberation for the human soul when man rises above worldly desires and materialistic instincts. It is an admirable achievement, which Islam commends and values very highly. It is characteristic of the Islamic approach that it aims, first and foremost, at liberating man from his own internal prejudices, weaknesses and desires before going on to liberate him from the pressures and influences of the society around him. Unless one overcomes one’s own egotism, one is not likely to stand up to evil and temptation in the world outside. Charity is also a social value that strengthens the bonds of love and trust within the family unit, the vital nucleus of society, and preserves the dignity of its members. Charity towards orphans in society achieves social justice and helps to save the young and the weak from homelessness, corruption and abuse. For the needy and the destitute, charity provides the care and security by which their dignity is preserved, their standing in society may be enhanced, and their contribution to society assured. It ensures that not a single person in the community is lost, or left uncared for. For travellers who, for one reason or another, find themselves stranded in foreign lands or in societies where they feel alienated, charity can be a lifeline. It is an emergency measure to alleviate an unexpected hardship, and by which they are made to feel that they belong to the global human family. Begging is a practice Islam abhors. It is forbidden to those who can earn a minimum of sustenance or have jobs. Charity by those who have the means aims to stop this evil practice. CHARITY HAS PLAYED A VITAL ROLE IN ISLAM’S FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY. IT PROVIDED THE MEANS TO FREE THOSE UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN PRISONER IN WARS AGAINST ISLAM. THIS IS DONE BY EITHER BUYING SLAVES TO SET THEM FREE, OR BY GIVING A SLAVE MONEY TO BUY HIS OWN FREEDOM, AT A PRICE HE AGREES WITH HIS MASTER. UNDER ISLAM, SLAVES BECAME ENTITLED TO THEIR FREEDOM AS SOON AS THEY DEMANDED IT, AND THEY WERE HELPED TO REGAIN THEIR LIBERTY AND DIGNITY BY ALLOCATING THEM MONEY FROM CHARITY AND ZAKAT. SLAVES WOULD THEN BECOME WAGE EARNERS, ENTITLED TO RECEIVE ZAKAT. EVERY EFFORT WOULD BE MADE TO SPEED UP THEIR TOTAL FREEDOM. (In The Shade Of The Quran (‘Fi Dhilal Al Qur’an’), by Sayyid Qutb volume 1, 187 – 189)
Shaykh Ashiq Ilahi Madni:
“SPENDING FOR THE PLEASURE OF ALLAH
After elucidating the fundamental beliefs, Allah outlines the general principles of spending wealth. It is extreme virtue that a person, in spite of having love for his wealth, spends it on his relatives, the orphans, the needy, the travellers, beggars, and such slaves who had transacted the deal of ‘Mukatabah’ with their masters (i.e., they secure freedom upon the payment of a stipulated sum of money.) The phrase, ‘in spite of its love’ may either refer to the love of wealth or, according to others, it refers to the love of Allah. This would mean that they spend because of their love for Allah. However, the first meaning includes the second because the person who spends in good causes, in spite of loving his wealth, will only do so because of his love for Allah.
THE BEST CHARITY
Bukhari (v. 1 p.191) reports that a person asked the Holy Prophet as to which charity earns the greatest reward. He received the reply, ‘When you spend while you are still healthy, desirous of wealth, fearing poverty and aspiring for riches. Do not delay so much in spending until your last breath is pending and then you say, ‘So and so must receive so much, etc. (Then your giving will be of no avail since). It already belongs to so and so.’
Therefore, the best time to spend in charity is when one is healthy (not on one’s deathbed). At this time when one wants to spend, the soul refuses. However, one should suppress it, and still spend. The soul also frightens one to think that one will become impoverished and that attaining prosperity will be delayed. It will entice one to delay spending until one is really wealthy. The true believer takes no heed to these threats and spends. Bequeathing sums to various people at the end of one’s life does not hold the same excellence since the estate already belongs to the heirs by then. …
SPENDING ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES
The final recipient mentioned in this verse are the ‘Riqab’. This is the plural of ‘Raqaba’, which literally means ‘a neck,’ referring to a slave. In his exegesis (v.1 p. 208), Allama Ibn Kathir writes that this refers to the FREEING of those slaves who are called ‘Mukatibs’. These are those slaves the masters of whom have promised freedom upon the payment of an agreed sum. It is also considered AN ACT OF VIRTUE AND GREAT REWARD TO ASSIST THESE PEOPLE FINANCIALLY. The commentator Baydawi writes (v. 1, p. 124) that the general application of this verse includes paying the RANSOM OF PRISONERS OF WAR, as well as the buying and subsequent FREEING OF SLAVES. …” (Illuminating Discourses on the Noble Quran – Tafseer Anwarul Bayan – by Shaykh Muhammed Ashiq Ilahi Muhajir Madni (r.a), volume 1, page 196 – 199)
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AdvertisementsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up a case testing free speech rights in the digital age, agreeing to decide whether a North Carolina law banning convicted sex offenders from Facebook and other social media sites runs afoul of the Constitution.
An illustration picture shows the Twitter logo reflected in the eye of a woman in Berlin, November 7, 2013. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/Illustration/File Photo
The justices agreed to hear sex offender Lester Packingham’s appeal of his conviction for violating the state law in 2010 when he posted a message on Facebook expressing his surprise at a traffic citation being dismissed.
“Praise be to GOD. WOW! Thanks JESUS,” Packingham wrote.
Local police saw the Facebook post, prompting his arrest. Packingham is on North Carolina’s sex offender list because of his 2002 conviction at age 21 on two counts of statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.
The North Carolina law, enacted in 2008, makes it a felony for people on the state’s sex offender registry to access websites that can lead to social interactions with minors.
The ban extends to sites like Facebook and Twitter that allow people to create personal profiles. The law does not require any proof that the user intended to use the site for an illegal purpose.
Packingham was sentenced to six to eight months in prison, suspended for a year.
An intermediate appeals court threw out the conviction, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech. The state Supreme Court reversed that decision last November, ruling in part that Packingham’s free speech rights were not unduly burdened because there are ample other websites he could access.
A group of First Amendment lawyers had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Packingham’s appeal. They said social networking sites have become indispensable places for speech about family life, politics and religion, and that the North Carolina law bars access to some of the most important venues for online speech.
The court is set to hear oral arguments and issue a ruling by the end of June.
The case is not the first the high court has taken up on social media and free speech.
In another case involving Facebook, the justices in 2015 threw out the conviction of a Pennsylvania man for making threatening statements using menacing language toward his estranged wife and others on the social media site.A curious thing has happened at the box office in the last two years: a batch of lesser-known Marvel Comics properties have overcome obscurity to put up some of Hollywood's biggest numbers.
That trend may yet spill over into Warner Bros. Studios' and DC Comics' "Suicide Squad," when the super-villain team-up movie opens next weekend. The film is tracking for a U.S. debut somewhere north of $100 million that would trump the current record holder for an August opening — Marvel's surprise 2014 hit "Guardians of the Galaxy."
It would also make "Suicide Squad" the first movie to top the $100 million mark in an August premiere.
The comic book team of the same name debuted in 1987. It has periodically featured a rotating cast of ne'er-do-wells who embark on high-risk missions at the behest of a clandestine government agency. The rogues get commuted sentences, and the agency gets plausible deniability.
Though "Suicide Squad" features Batman's arch-nemesis the Joker — and a cameo from the Dark Knight himself — Warner Bros. is certainly reaching deeper into its bench after this year's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."
Yet "Suicide Squad" has some of the ingredients that elevated past underdog superhero flicks: Namely an irreverent cast of anti-heroes, and a cult classic character with a die-hard base of fans.You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters
The Museum of Life and Science in Durham Tuesday announced ambitious plans for a $3.9 million dollar project to build two new outdoor learning areas on the museum's sprawling campus.
Plans call for a two-acre nature-based playscape, called Hideaway Woods, to open in summer 2015. Earth Moves, an interactive approach to Earth sciences, is scheduled to open in 2016.
"We are creating a one-of-a-kind place that encourages children's playful exploration of nature, physical activity, and keeps alive a child's sense of wonder," said President and CEO Barry Van Deman in a press release. "We believe children and their parents should have a safe, natural, and wonder-filled place to come where they are free to explore, climb, crawl and use their imaginations."
The announcement comes about two years after the museum opened the wildly popular Into the Mist exhibit, which turns natural elements into play pieces. The exhibit features classic kid favorites - water, sand, running and climbing - to teach kids about water, wind and topography. Here they can run through tall grasses; pop out of kid-sized gopher hole; and watch how water moves sand piles or changes direction with the wind.
Natural play areas are growing in popularity across the country and the Triangle. Local parks, including White Deer Park in Garner, Kids Together Park in Cary, Prairie Ridge Ecostation in Raleigh, the N.C. Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill and the Annie Louise Wilkerson MD Nature Preserve in Raleigh, are among those offering natural play elements.
And two businesses have popped up in the past couple of years, offering outdoor play experiences. Three Bear Acres is in northern Wake County. Go Play Outside Now is in Garner.
The new plans for the Museum of Life and Science call for everything from tree house villages to a massive digger pit with full-size excavators that are safe for kids to operate and a waterfall.
Here are descriptions of the two new features, courtesy of this morning's press release:
Hideaway Woods
"Opening in summer 2015, this two-acre nature-based playscape will be located in the wooded area, encircled by the Museum's Ellerbe Creek Railway tracks and will feature outdoor experiences designed to encourage movement, exploration and skill development.
Highlights include: Tree house villages suspended 15 to 20 feet off the ground. Children will climb high among the trees, crisscross between tree houses on suspended bridges, and see nature from a different point of view; an additional set of structures six to eight feet off the ground and a playscape of ramps, elevated platforms and swinging bridges will be available for younger explorers or others choosing to stay closer to the ground.
Living twig and sapling structures designed by artist Patrick Dougherty for hands-on imaginative play. These amazing sculptures invite exploration and rousing games of hide-and-seek. The main body of this area will be designed over a mulch base that is playground approved and ADA compliant so children of all ages and abilities can enjoy the space.
Play space dedicated to the museum's youngest visitors - those 18 months to age five - with activities ranging from building exercises to low log steppers for climbing. Designed to be increasingly challenging, this space encourages children to practice and improve over the course of a single or multiple visits."
Earth Moves
"Opening in 2016, this new experience will immerse visitors in Earth sciences where visitors experience how the Earth moves by natural forces and human interaction. This new experience will be located across from the Into the Mist exhibit in the Catch the Wind area of the museum's outdoor campus.
Highlights include: Large scale digger pit with full size excavators, modified for safe operation by families and children. Visitors are invited to take control of and experience the physics of moving massive amounts of earth with simple machines.
Earthquake platform that challenges visitors to build structures that can survive simulated seismic activity; foam blocks will be available to create "buildings" on a platform which visitors can trigger to activate movement. Guests will also be able to stand on the platform to experience what a tremor might feel like while controlling their quake's intensity and degree of magnitude.
Free-standing waterfall which will showcase the physical properties of water and provide insight into how groundwater flows into an aquifer. In addition to learning about water's movement and force, the waterfall will be the perfect place for visitors to cool off during hot summer days."
So far, Durham County commissioners have approved a lead gift of $500,000 toward the fundraising campaign. The museum's board of directors have promised 10 percent of the total with several gifts of $100,000 or more.
This is a very exciting announcement and I can't wait to follow the progress and share it here on Go Ask Mom. For more about the plans, check the museum's website.When it comes to church/state separation, the #1 rule is (usually) pretty simple: If you’re getting taxpayer money, you can’t discriminate against a group for their race/gender/orientation/etc. for any reason. If you’re paying for everything on your own, go do what you want. That’s overly simplified, I know, but it’s the gist of the law.
In Illinois, Catholic adoption agencies used to be given taxpayer money to run their businesses. In the process, they wouldn’t allow gay couples to adopt because it went against their faith. But now that civil unions are legal in the state, they’re no longer allowed to discriminate like that.
Instead of welcoming the new influx of prospective parents as any rational, loving person would’ve done, most of the Catholic Charities have closed shop. Apparently, they feel it’s better to let the kids remain without parents than to send them home with a loving gay couple.
And the Catholic groups are still complaining about it, as if they’re the victims:
“In the name of tolerance, we’re not being tolerated,” said Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., a civil and canon lawyer who helped drive the church’s losing battle to retain its state contracts for foster care and adoption services. … But Anthony R. Picarello Jr., general counsel and associate general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, disagreed. “It’s true that the church doesn’t have a First Amendment right to have a government contract,” he said, “but it does have a First Amendment right not to be excluded from a contract based on its religious beliefs.”
Yeah! How dare we not tolerate bigotry!?
I don’t feel bad for any of them and neither should you. Let them whine all they want. No one’s asking them to do anything crazy. The state is simply telling them to treat gay couples like they treat straight ones. If they can’t handle that, the problem is entirely in their own minds and their faith itself.
As for the comment about being excluded because of their religious beliefs, it’s just not true. The state isn’t saying, “We’re not giving you these contracts because you’re Catholics.” They’re saying that no group can discriminate for any reason while getting funding to support their bigotry. The Catholics brought this problem onto themselves.
In Illinois, Catholic Charities in five of the six state dioceses had grown dependent on foster care contracts, receiving 60 percent to 92 percent of their revenues from the state, according to affidavits by the charities’ directors… When the contracts came up for renewal in June, the state attorney general, along with the legal staff in the governor’s office and the Department of Children and Family Services, decided that the religious providers on state contracts would no longer be able to reject same-sex couples, said Kendall Marlowe, a spokesman for the department.
We’re all better off now that they’re leaving the adoption business in the state. In fact, you can help hasten the process by making sure other groups have the resources they need to take in the children abandoned by Catholic Charities. Let the discriminatory practices die away quickly.Jean Todt says cost-cutting will now be achieved through rule changes © FIA Enlarge Related Links News:
No solution found in cost-cutting talks
Jean Todt has revealed the FIA has dropped its plans for a cost cap in 2015 after opposition from F1's leading teams.
The BBC is reporting the six teams in the sport's strategy group have formally rejected the plans, which were agreed earlier this year. Cost-cutting will now be achieved through rule changes, though Todt is disappointed the teams could not reach an agreement with the FIA.
"If the commercial rights holder [Bernie Ecclestone] and six teams are against it, it's mathematics [that it can't be imposed]," Todt said. "In this case, no more cost cap. In a way, I am disappointed because it may be more difficult to achieve the reduction which I feel is needed. But everyone says we are all in favour of reducing the cost, and through sporting regulations."
Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Williams and Lotus all make up the six teams in F1's strategy group, and all get a vote each, while Ecclestone and Todt have six each. The plans centred on a figure of around $200 million (£126 million) as the maximum budget for the season. That would pose a problem for teams such as Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, who spend more than that amount in a year, while teams such as Marussia and Caterham exist on under a third of that amount.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Marko abandoned us. Emilia committed suicide. Katia died after being wounded in a raid. Roman's not as sick today, but he won't budge after hearing about Emilia, so we'll have to keep an eye on him.
These are the survivors—my survivors—hunkered in the fictional city of Pogoren, capital of the fictional Republic of Vyseni. It's all imaginary, a blighted urban made-up-scape, but it could be Sarajevo, or Gaza, or Fallujah, or Ukraine. It could be where you live.
I trawl my mouse across a chiaroscuro multilevel building that looks like a nihilistic Wes Anderson diorama with skittering pencil-sketched backgrounds. Roman sits on the cold concrete floor not far from the entrance, head in hands, sobbing about the futility of it all. He won't move from his spot, and with no one else to feed him, all I can do is watch the clock. I started with three survivors and eventually picked up a fourth (that was Emilia, who came seeking shelter). But I'm down to just one, an ex-militia former hoodlum "trained in combat," now mentally and emotionally shattered. Roman did something unspeakable last night, and the awful thing is, I made him do it.
11 bit Studios' This War of Mine, a war survival game for mobile and PC available now, shames and humbles me.
My survivors squat in a shelled-out building framed by plumes of smoke and the silhouetted husks of tanks. Sunlight blooms around the edges of pulverized concrete and jags of timber, just one of several gaping holes in this makeshift base, a dangerous breach that lures looters at night. I need to patch those holes. But first I need wood to cover the breaches and components to make the nails.
Before that, Roman needs food, and bandages, meds, and above all else a reason to live. That's going to be a circle to square, because he's seen unspeakable things and performed even ghastlier deeds. And now he's stuck in this broken-down stone block, alone and in the throes of a psychological fugue.
11 Bit Studios
This War of Mine imagines an endless civil war. Civilians are trapped in a besieged Stalingrad-like city, suffering from hunger and disease and shelling. Snipers roam the city, as apt to pick off civilians as they are insurgents. The phones don't work. There isn't enough food or medication. Your group operates out of a single structure, viewed from the side like a dollhouse, with apparatuses you can fiddle or upgrade to produce helpful goods or improve existing ones. Each survivor has a hierarchy of physical and mental needs equipoised against variably treacherous means of fulfilling them.
Your goal is simple: Survive. I'm not sure for how long, or if there's even a "win" state, because the best I've managed so far is 25 days, and that felt interminable.
Days and nights creep by at 10-minute intervals, one every three or four seconds. Instead of leveling up their attributes, your survivors suffer various conditions on an ever-backsliding scale: wounds, illness, hunger. You can direct them to unlock or crowbar open doors, rifle through debris, and claw past piles of rubble in search of parts, potable water, and luxury leavings like coffee beans or tobacco leaves that can act as palliatives or purchase necessities in trade with others.
When night comes, you have to choose who gets to sleep (did you build a bed?), who's on guard duty (are they rested enough?) and who's off to scavenge the remains of houses, squats, hospitals, churches, military outposts, supermarkets and schools. These places may harbor food, meds, or weapons, but they're also side-scrolling danger labyrinths you navigate by clicking to peep through keyholes or open doors, hiding in background nooks to avoid passerby.
Don't mistake side-scrolling for Mario-style platforming: You move like a real person would, slowly, and if you're sick or starving or wounded you stagger at a snail's pace, clutching your side in obvious agony.
You're allowed to visit one location per night, and you have until morning to return. You can take items to trade with other survivors or weaponry to fend off those who would rob you. As you ramp up your base, you can cobble ballistic weapons together from parts. Your survivors have perks that impact these evening runs, like "fast runner" or "good scavenger." The latter may be the game's most valuable, providing precious extra carry slots for items.
11 Bit Studios
Things get tricky when you come across what others claim to be their personal property. You can opt to trade for this stuff, or simply try to swipe it, but the latter usually prompts a weaponized reaction. You don't want to get hurt, since even slight wounds left unchecked eventually become lethal ones.
But the worst comes when you face heartbreaking moral dilemmas, your companions' health dwindling, your only choices brutally dehumanizing ones. Suffice to say one of these is the terrible thing I made Roman do, and as his mental state consequently deteriorated, he wouldn't let me forget. "We're ruthless robbers now," he said at one point, standing near cupboards newly flush with stolen belongings. This War of Mine is at its best when it's reflecting your actions back at you.
You can perform rare Samaritan deeds by deploying survivors to help visitors who drop by your building perform helpful or even heroic feats. But this is at the expense of time you'd otherwise have to improve your shelter, soothe your companions, or simply rest. But as the days and eventually weeks creep by, the negatives overwhelm the positives, and bad choices seem inexorably to consume what few there ever were of good ones.
I've seen some refer to This War of Mine as an antiwar video game. That's too reductive—like calling pictures of civilian casualties in conflict zones "pacifist propaganda."
The scenarios This War of Mine engages are less antiwar than they are actual war stories, and that, I think, is the point: This is what unflinching war looks like from the standpoint of those powerless to stop it, the ones caught in the teeth of the machine without catchy operational monikers to rally behind or celebrated by politicians to usher them home as heroes. The ones whose war this isn't.
It's what Cormac McCarthy was getting at in The Road: We're a faint signal cutting through the static of existence, and war, with its reduction of civilian lives to collateral damage, scrambles even that.
The version of war we're often sold involves abstract military numbers, splashy interactive news maps and easy slogans on bumper stickers. In real war, whatever the reasons and however noble the rhetoric, it comes down to individuals like the ones in This
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, as the Alt-Right was stacking up corpses, bay area law enforcement raided two homes in connection to antifascist protests in Berkeley on April 15th. Meanwhile, as Nathan Damigo and Kyle Chapman, both with violent records walk free and clear, the police and the State, helped by neo-Nazis on 4chan’s /pol/, continues to turn its repressive head towards the anarchist and antifascist movement.
One of the brave folks who stood up to white supremacist Jeremy Christian & survived has a recovery fund
Plz share https://t.co/5bwD271gYK — New York City Antifa (@NYCAntifa) May 27, 2017
And so we see a larger State strategy emerge. Anarchists and antifascists are facing upwards of 75 years in prison for taking part in protests against the inauguration, hundreds of water protectors face charges from grand juries in the wake of the #NoDAPL struggle, and hundreds more antifa await charges stemming from an anti-Nazi demonstration in Sacramento. The State represses our movement because they see it as a threat, but we will respond by building and expanding our movement, pushing back against both the repression of the State and the terror and murder of the Alt-Right.
This means shutting down their rallies. It means exposing their organizers. It means giving them no platform to speak, share their views, and rally their troops. It means building in our communities against both the rise of fascism and the everyday systems of patriarchy, colonialism, and white supremacy that industrial capitalism is built on. It means not believing in milquetoast liberal nonsense that we can defeat these systems through ‘good ideas’ or rational arguments, and instead acknowledging that in order to stop a movement based on supremacy and genocide, we actually have to fucking fight it.
We call on people across so-called North America and the world to:#899: “Disclosing a long-ago marriage and divorce feels awkward.”
Hi there,
I have a bit of an odd quandary. I am divorced, and I divorced young. My relationship was a very bad and abusive one, and that was a dark time in my life. I have gotten therapy, learned a lot about myself, and I think I’m doing well. It’s daily work to deal with lingering issues, but I typically feel most comfortable addressing those to my therapist or close family who knew me then. It’s intensely personal to me, and revisiting it in casual conversation isn’t something I’m interested in doing. I have PTSD, and it coming up usually sets me up for a good day of feeling anxious and awful.
I’ve since moved across the country and none of my new friends really know much about my divorce or that I was ever married. I don’t hide it, and a more in-depth peruse of my social media probably holds some clues, but I don’t proactively bring it up. I’m an age where many of my friends are getting married and navigating serious relationships for the first time, so it’s very plausible and even likely that none of this ever happened. People assume that (I never lie), and I don’t correct them.
That said, I’m fortunate that some of these relationships are becoming closer, which raises two issues:
1. It is normal to not tell a minor acquaintance your life story, but it is starting to feel like a purposeful omission to people whom I see often and confide in me. I know I’m not obligated to share it, but occasionally they’ll find out and when they do there’s a bit of “whoa, that was a pretty big thing to leave out.” I stammer and ineffectually mumble some sort of half-apology, but I have no idea how to even start. I don’t feel like I need to apologize, but I always feel like I kind of lied, even though I didn’t.
2. I’ve been asked, directly, a few times – “were you once married?” and I don’t want to lie. I also, however, want to be clear that it isn’t something I enjoy talking about without disclosing more about the relationship than I’d like to.
I want to set a boundary, I don’t want to lie, and I don’t want to sensationalize. I feel like I need to give a reason why I never said anything, but that gets into self-disclosure I’d rather avoid (“Yes, I was, but it was a difficult and painful time and not something I talk about” generally creates pity and curiosity and gossip and more prying, all awful.) Not giving a reason or changing the subject generally creates a weird, stilted conversation or doesn’t adequately communicate that it’s off-limits so then it comes up again.
I need a polite way to communicate that this is not a secret but not something I talk about without making it into a bigger deal than it is and not making anyone feel as though I’ve slighted them by leaving that out. I’d love to have scripts for either of these instances because right now I’m just floundering, it’s awkward, and it’s starting to become the elephant in the room, and I’m sad I can’t think of something better to say.
Thank you so much. She/her pronouns.
Hello!
First, you didn’t lie and aren’t lying if your marriage/divorce/the whole subject never comes up and you don’t talk about it. It’s not a detail you owe most other people. If you’re asked, tell the truth, if you get a “Why did you never mention it?” from people, where the implication is that you *should* have told them, recognize this for a derail and hold fast: “Well, I’m mentioning it now. It’s not a big dark secret – it was so long ago, and over so quickly that I mostly never think about it, especially when I get to know new people who didn’t know me during that time.”
See also: “Here’s your daily reminder that humans are complicated.” What they thought about you is not as important as what is actually true about you.
Second, People will be curious and there is no magic shield of a script that will pre-emptively fend off that curiosity, so they might ask. There is no 100% “this is all put to bed, forever” script in my bag of scripts.
For when it comes up casual conversation when you don’t want to either lie or bring down the mood:
“Oh, I have been married before – it lasted about 5 minutes. You were saying?”
“I was married once upon a time. I’d probably forget except I have to check ‘divorced’ about twice a year when filling out forms.”
If people start prying about the details and you don’t want to talk about it:
“Well, that’s about my least favorite story. What’s new with [subject change]?”
“It’s a sad story with a real happy ending since I’m here now.”
“Less said the better.”
“Play any sad country song on the jukebox and you’ll get the gist.” I don’t know why all your scripts are coming out like you are some tough-talking dame that Dolly Parton would play in a movie but here we are.
If it came up before, you didn’t want to talk about it, and it’s come up again and you still don’t want to talk about it:
“I really don’t like talking about it. Ask me again in 50 years, maybe.”
“I’m gonna powder my nose and see if I can find a change of subject while I’m up.” (See, there’s Dolly again! What’s going on today?)
There a jillion scripts, from “Why do you ask?” to “I’d really prefer not to talk about it,” to “If it had lasted another month maybe I could have gotten my own Lifetime movie” to “It ended so long ago, sometimes I honestly forget” to “It was over before it started, and I generally think of myself as a single person” to “Don’t worry, I won’t do that again anytime soon!” to “It’s very much in the past, but it hasn’t yet turned into a story I can tell without reliving some of it, so I’d prefer to keep quiet until I know you better” to “I’m not hiding it; I just don’t think about it.”
We’ve talked before about how you don’t owe other people a performance of coming from a happy family, or feeling great about the holidays, or of being well off, or a pretense that everything in life is and always has been okay. You also don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to talk about just because someone was curious. Try also to remind yourself that LOTS of people have marriages that don’t work out, and LOTS of people have stories that go “I was young and they were mean.” It’s okay to tell the truth about that, and if you can start shifting your narrative to remind yourself that the facts are nothing to be ashamed of, that you don’t have to manage people’s feelings about your story (or their bad manners if they pry into it), that might help you keep some composure in the moment. Our culture can be pretty horrible to victims of any kind of abuse, and I understand the visceral need to make certain that the information is need-to-know and maximally controllable by you. You can be a generally grown-up, cool, collected, has-her-shit-together-sort-of-person who has done the hard emotional work she needed to do AND have been abused once upon a time. You’re part of a pretty big sisterhood and brotherhood.
Knowing that, can you tell someone who is in your life now the whole sad tale? Maybe late at night, sitting in front of a fire, when you have a great, kind listening friend close by and saying anything becomes more possible, or on a road trip. Not in casual conversation, but in one of those deep conversations where all the “stuff” comes out and you chew on it together in a safe place with safe people. It’s up to you what/when/how to disclose, and you should absolutely take care of your PTSD and follow recommendations from your medical & counseling pros, so only do this if you think it makes sense to you. I only want to say that sharing the vulnerable stuff with trusted people is a way to let go of some of it go and to let them really see you. Even if it is all in the past. Even if you are “ok” now. Think of it as practice for re-shaping this narrative into a story you can tell without a particularly strong emotional reaction. The more you tell it, the less power it will have, as time and repetition do the heavy lifting to make this a story you can live with here in the Field of No Fucks Given.British architect Richard Rogers says Japan "lost its nerve" in abandoning Zaha Hadid's Olympic stadium design, adding that the decision could damage the country's credibility.
Rogers, who was on the jury that first selected Hadid's design, has released a statement outlining his concern that the decision will significantly impact both the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Japan's reputation.
Related story Zaha Hadid says Japan ignored warnings over Olympic stadium construction costs
"I'd like to express my concern about the decision to cancel the Zaha Hadid Architects' (ZHA) design at this late stage," said the statement released yesterday.
"For Japan to lose their nerve now, and abandon a design by one of the world's foremost living architects that was selected by an international jury, will not only result in a poorer quality stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but also in damage to Japan's international credibility, and reputation as a promoter of world-class architectural design."
Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe announced last month that the design of the stadium will be started again from scratch due to spiralling costs.
London-based ZHA later issued its own statement calling for the design to be revised rather than scrapped.
The firm had already modified the initial design following budget changes and criticism from a number of high-profile Japanese architects. Hadid described them as "hypocrites" in an interview with Dezeen last year.
Related content: see more stories about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
"Every major project faces challenges, but architect and client can almost always work together to resolve them," said Rogers. "If the design needs to change in response to cost or other issues, I am sure that the ZHA team would be willing to make them."
As well as hosting events during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Japan National Stadium is also due to host matches during the Rugby World Cup in 2019, but this may not be possible if Hadid's design is thrown out.
Rogers was also on the jury that selected the firm in 2004 to design the Aquatics Centre for the London 2012 games, which also faced criticism at the time. "This went through a number of design changes, but has since become an iconic building and popular with the public," he said.
Another controversy hit the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last week, when the designer of its logo was forced to defend himself against plagiarism accusations.Americans are equal before the law – but not before the taxman. That's because more than one comes knocking at your door. While the federal tax system is the same for everybody, local and state taxes vary greatly. As this map shows, local and state authorities have vastly different ways of filling their coffers.
States and local authorities basically have five different tax categories to generate the bulk of their income: property and sales taxes, personal and corporate income taxes, and a vast array of 'other' taxes (including, apparently, a blueberry tax in Maine, and a mosquito tax in Alabama).
The national average for these state and local taxes is shown next to the legend near the top of this data visualization: the largest part (31%) is raised by property taxes (in blue), equal parts (23%) by taxes on sales (in pink) and on individual income (in green), just under a fifth (19%) by 'other' taxes (in orange), and the smallest part (4%) by taxes on corporate income (in purple). But research published this July by the Tax Foundation shows great deviations between the federal average and the average at a State level. As shown on this map, some states rely more heavily on one particular tax category, and/or not at all on others.
The differences between states can be traced to differences in the demography, geography and even the ideology of the various states. The Tax Foundation lists a few extremes:
“Oregon derives over two-thirds of state tax revenue from income taxes, while North Dakota raises less than a tenth of its revenue that way. In New England, only 1.4% of local government tax revenue comes from sales and gross receipts taxes, compared to 34% in the Southwest”.
“In 'Live Free or Die' New Hampshire, 23.7% of state tax revenue is generated by corporate taxes, whereas such taxes are responsible for a mere 2.1% of state revenue in Hawaii”.
“A state with an abundance of natural resources, like North Dakota, might turn predominantly to severance taxes, while one with a high volume of tourists, like Florida, can see value in relying heavily on sales taxes”.
Let's have a look at the various tax categories to examine some of those extremes a bit more closely.
Top 10 States with HIGHEST Property Tax
1. New Hampshire - 66.1%
2. New Jersey - 47.5%
3. Rhode Island - 44.6%
4. Vermont - 42.2%
5. Texas - 40.4%
6. Maine - 39.9%
7. Connecticut - 38.3%
8. Montana - 38.2%
9. Illinois - 36.5%
10. Massachusetts - 36.3%
On average, property taxes are extremely popular at a local level, where they represent 72.5% of collections, with a high of 98.8% for local authorities in Maine. Property taxes used to be quite popular at a State level, representing an average of 52.6% in fiscal revenue 1902. That share had dropped to 1.6% in 2014, the latest year for which data is available.
New Hampshire has the nation's highest share of property taxes of local (98.7%) and state (16.8%) collections combined: 66.1%. Other high-property tax states in the Northeast are New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maine and Connecticut.
Top 10 States with LOWEST Property Tax
1. North Dakota - 11.5%
2. Hawaii - 17.2%
3. Alabama - 17.4%
4. Oklahoma - 17.5%
5. Arkansas - 18.0%
6. New Mexico - 18.4%
7. Delaware - 18.8%
8. Kentucky - 20.4%
9. West Virginia - 21.5%
10. Louisiana - 21.6%
At the other end of the spectrum, only 11.5% of North Dakota's state and local tax collections come from property taxes. In regional terms, New England states have the highest property taxes at state and local level (44.6%), with the Southeast relying least on property taxes (26.2%).
Top 10 States with HIGHEST Sales Tax
1. Washington - 45.4%
2. Tennessee - 40.9%
3. South Dakota - 40.4%
4. Arizona - 39.6%
5. Louisiana - 38.3%
6. Nevada - 38.1%
7. Hawaii - 37.6%
8. Arkansas - 37.5%
9. New Mexico - 36.8%
10. Texas - 36.0%
Based on U.S. Census data, sales taxes, in this case, includes both general sales taxes (levied on all goods) and certain gross receipts taxes (business taxes levied on the entire receipts of a firm), but generally exclude excises (levied on special categories of goods like alcohol or tobacco).
Washington leads the nation, with over 45% of its revenue coming from sales taxes. Tennessee and South Dakota also derive more than 40% of their income from the tax on sales. In compensation, these three states have no tax on individual income (Tennessee is phasing out a tax on interest and dividend income).
Top 10 States with LOWEST Sales Tax
1. New Hampshire - 0.0%
=. Delaware - 0.0%
=. Montana - 0.0%
=. Oregon - 0.0%
2. Alaska - 3.9%
3. Vermont - 10.5%
4. Maryland - 12.5%
5. Massachusetts - 13.6%
6. Virginia - 13.7%
7. Illinois - 14.2%
Local sales taxes are collected in 38 states, while five states charge no sales tax – resulting in four states being entirely sales-tax-free: Delaware, Oregon, Montana and New Hampshire. States with low or no sales tax generally look to severance taxes or miscellaneous business taxes for an outsized share of revenue rather than leaning more heavily on income taxes.
In general, sales taxes generate 12.1% of local government and 31.4% of state income. The Southwest is the region where states and local government rely most heavily on sales taxes (36.4%), New England the least (12.5%).
Top 10 States with HIGHEST Personal Income Tax
1. Oregon - 40.8%
2. Maryland - 37.4%
3. Massachusetts - 32.6%
4. California - 32.2%
5. New York - 32.1%
6. Kentucky - 31.3%
=. Minnesota - 31.3%
7. Virginia - 31.1%
8. Connecticut - 29.8%
9. North Carolina - 28.9%
Personal income taxes represent an average of 22.9% share of total state and local tax revenue but are much more important to state tax collections (35.9%) than to local governments (4.8%).
This is because most states do not allow localities to levy their own income taxes. In all, only 14 states (and DC) feature personal income tax collections by local governments. Of these, Maryland’s local governments gather most (32.7%) of their collections from this tax, followed by those in Kentucky (25.7%) and Ohio (21.2%). Combining state and local features, DC’s tax system derives 26.3% from personal income tax.
Top 10 States with LOWEST Personal Income Tax
1. Alaska - 0.0%
=. Wyoming - 0.0%
=. Florida - 0.0%
=. Texas - 0.0%
=. Nevada - 0.0%
=. South Dakota - 0.0%
=. Washington - 0.0%
2. Tennessee - 1.2%
3. New Hampshire - 1.6%
4. Nevada - 6.9%
Seven states do not tax personal income – on top of that, Tennessee and New Hampshire only tax interest and dividend income. No other state relies more on personal income tax than Oregon (40.8%), which has no sales tax. Other states heavily reliant on this type of tax are Massachusetts (32.6%), Maryland (32.6%), California (32.2%) and New York (32.1%). Personal income taxes are favored most by the Mideast (28.2%) and Great Lakes states (24.5%), and least by the states in the Southwest (13.1%).
Top 10 States with HIGHEST Corporate Income Tax
1. New Hampshire - 9.4%
2. Alaska - 7.3%
3. New York - 6.9%
=. Delaware - 6.9%
4. D.C. - 6.5%
5. Illinois - 6.3%
6. Tennessee - 5.8%
7. Maryland - 5.4%
8. Kentucky - 5.1%
9. Mississippi - 5.0%
Corporate taxes represent no more than 3.7% of combined state and local tax collections – 5.4% at a State level, 1.3% of local government revenue. State and local governments together rely most on corporate taxes in New Hampshire (9.4%), followed by Alaska (7.3%), New York (6.9%) and Delaware (both 6.9%). The effective corporation tax is zero or less than one percent in six states: Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, Texas, Ohio and South Dakota
Top 10 States with LOWEST Corporate Income Tax
1. Nevada- 0.0%
=. Wyoming - 0.0%
=. Washington - 0.0%
=. Texas - 0.0%
2. Ohio - 0.6%
3. South Dakota - 0.8%
4. Hawaii - 1.6%
5. Montana- 2.0%
6. South Carolina - 2.1%
=. Virginia - 2.1%
In all, five states forego corporate income tax; but seven states have municipalities that do charge corporation tax, nowhere more than in New York, where they account for 7.5% of local revenue (mainly in New York City). Corporate income taxes feature most heavily in the Mideast, where they represent 5.3% of combined state and local tax takings. At 2.0%, the Southwest region relies least on the tax.
Top 10 States with HIGHEST Share of Other Taxes
1. North Dakota - 57.1%
2. Alaska - 53.8%
3. Delaware - 47.7%
4. Nevada - 37.3%
5. Wyoming - 37.1%
6. West Virginia - 34.8%
7. Montana - 31.0%
8. Alabama - 27.4%
9. New Mexico - 26.6%
10. Florida - 26.0%
The four previous categories represent over 80% of combined state and local government tax yield. The remainder is made up of a wide range of taxes. Excises (on fuel, tobacco, alcohol and other products) make up nearly half and are levied in all states, albeit to varying degrees. Another significant type are severance taxes, which for some states are relatively important income sources. Less prominent are license fees for vehicles and businesses, taxes on inheritances and estates, etc.
Top 10 States with LOWEST Share of Other Taxes
1. Massachusetts - 12.1%
2. New Jersey - 12.2%
3. Georgia - 12.7%
4. Arizona - 13.0%
5. New York - 13.7%
6. Kansas - 14.1%
7. Connecticut - 14.2%
8. Nebraska - 14.5%
9. California - 15.3%
10. Wisconsin - 15.5%
Alaska (53.8%) and North Dakota (57.1%) are both resource-intensive states, and have adapted their tax collection accordingly. Delaware (47.7%) atypically collects a lot of tax from business licensing.
As this map shows, there is great variation in the way state and local governments choose to fill their coffers. As the Tax Foundation points out, higher-income states (e.g. New England) tend to rely more heavily on property taxes, while lower-income states (often in the South) go or sales and gross receipt taxes. However, over the years, property tax reliance has declined, while income taxes have risen. These variations and evolutions are not merely academic: they reflect different economic choices and create different economic realities.
Some states choose not to tax certain categories – personal income, corporate income, or sales – with the aim of stimulating growth. The flipside is that they must rely more heavily on other tax categories, which may render tax revenue more volatile, and has a negative effect on its own. Other states divide their collections more evenly over the various categories, but then lack a particular tax incentive to distinguish them from their neighbors.
The result is a patchwork of tax burdens that varies greatly throughout the land – and that makes it worthwhile or both individuals and corporations to wonder: Would I be better off next door?
Sources: Table 1.1Sunday kicked off the 100-day countdown until the much-anticipated official beginning of ObamaCare, when Americans will be able to start using the online health-insurance marketplaces known as exchanges to purchase insurance through health care overhaul — if, that is, the administration can convince them to voluntarily do so. The Obama administration and the law’s supporting actors are in desperation mode, trying to persuade Americans to sign up en masse for what, for many, will turn out to be much more expensive health insurance options than before the program’s implementation. It’s going to continue to require a massive effort, and they just launched their brand spankin’ newly revamped website full of helpful, ‘education’ tools today, via Reuters:
The Obama administration on Monday kicked off its public education campaign to get the uninsured to sign up for health coverage, with a new call center and a revamped website intended as the market entry point for millions of new consumers. The campaign is expected to target 2.7 million younger consumers between the ages of 18 to 35, whose participation in new online health insurance exchanges is vital to the success of President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform law. … The campaign will be one segment of a much broader national outreach effort that will include hospitals, healthcare companies and providers, community organizers, media groups and state and local officials. The challenge will be to overcome huge public skepticism, particularly among young and healthy consumers, that the new plans are worthwhile.
Yup — and the administration is well aware that no ordinary political marketing campaign will do the trick. The government has been discussing the idea of shoring up popular support by enlisting the help of the NBA, and they aren’t the only sports association with which the administration is in negotiations, apparently. Via The Hill:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Monday she is in talks with the NFL to help promote new insurance options under ObamaCare. Sebelius said the football league has been “very actively and enthusiastically engaged” in discussions about a partnership to encourage people to enroll in newly available insurance plans. “We’re having active discussions right now with a variety of sports affiliates” about both paid advertising and partnerships to encourage enrollment, Sebelius told reporters. … Partnerships with sports organizations are especially promising to HHS because the department hopes large numbers of young, healthy men will enroll in the law’s new coverage options.
Young, healthy people? You mean, the all-important target audience without whose subsidization the entire law is going to be essentially worthless? Yeah, that target audience.Few signs were evident of Saturday night's blaze, which killed 400 pigs at a farming operation in Hopuhopu.
About 400 mother and baby pigs were burned to death after fire ripped through the shed they were being housed in, on a farm north of Ngaruawahia.
It is a case of history repeating at the Hopuhopu piggery, where 300 of the animals were burned to death in a similar blaze in April 2005.
People driving past the farm, which is not far from State Highway 1, raised the alarm around 8.20pm on Saturday night and firefighters were quickly on the scene - but too late to save the occupants of the 800sq m "farrow house".
File A photograph taken in 2005, at the piggery, where a similar fire killed 300 pigs.
The sows and piglets would have been housed in metal pens and had no chance of escape once the fire took hold, quickly becoming an inferno due to the flammable polystyrene cladding in the building's walls.
Firefighters spent about five hours quelling the blaze.
Brien Farms owners Ray and Joanne Brien have owned the business on Great South Road for about eight weeks.
"It looks like a bit of a war zone down there," said Ray Brien of the remains of the shed, now a twisted pile of iron sheeting.
"It is pretty bloody awful, but it could have been worse. The guys from the Ngaruawahia and Huntly fire brigades did a great job to stop it spreading. There were 500 pigs in the building right next to it, and they saved that one."
The couple were still traumatised by the blaze on Sunday afternoon and did not want Stuff to go too near the incinerated shed and the bodies of the animals.
"I was asleep at the time. The first I knew of it was when one of the guys that works for me was banging on the door," Ray Brien said.
"It was great how everyone came from around to help. The farmer next door came over with his digger, and used it to pull down the side of the shed so the firefighters could put the fire out."
A Maori Warden living nearby even took up station on the farm gate, to ensure only those who needed to get to the fire site were able to get through.
Fire investigators were yet to pick through the site, but the couple suspected an electrical fault may have been the cause of the blaze, even though the building was about five years old.
In total, the couple farm about 3500 pigs on the property, which is fully insured. They sell their stock direct to Hellaby Meats.
Joanne Brien said: "We really want to thank the fire brigades who were just amazing. We are just thinking about what we can do to show our thanks. And we really want to thank whoever was driving by and saw it and called the emergency services.
"We really care about our animals' welfare. It really hurts that this has happened to them."
The Briens said they had no cause to suspect foul play.
"There are a lot of activists and that sort of thing, but no one would want to do that to pigs."
They had taken up pig farming after selling a dairy farm they owned near Otorohanga.
"We left there for a better life, but since we have been here we have had nothing but trouble with equipment failures and all sorts of things," Joanne Brien said.
"We were just getting on top of everything and then this happens. It's a real kick in the guts."
The last big fire at the farm in April 2005 killed 300 pigs. Amber Johnston, who helped alert nearby people and Joanne Brien, who was out of the area at the time, remembered that event, which she said was caused by welding equipment.
Ngaruawahia chief fire officer Karl Lapwood said as soon as the brigade arrived it was obvious the building on fire could not be saved.
"All we could do was save what we could save.
"We got a low-pressure water spray between that [the building on fire] and the building next door, which was filling with smoke.
"The guys went in with breathing apparatus and broke out all the glass windows, and we got some portable fans in there to pressurise the room."
Adding to the danger was a 3000-kilovolt power line directly overhead.
"It made things pretty tricky. It was right up there in terms of the big jobs we have dealt with."
Hans Kriek, the executive director of animal welfare advocacy group Safe said the piggery was not on his organisation's radar, although it was distressing to hear that it was the second time a blaze there had killed hundreds of pigs.
"You would hope that if it has happened there before, they would have implemented some safeguards to stop this sort of tragedy from happening again. Quite often these sorts of farms can be quite run down and the owners have to do a lot of work to meet the safety requirements and the code of welfare."
Kriek said he hoped that the fire would serve to highlight the benefits of free range pig farming, rather than the more intensive and less humane options.
"In those sort of facilities if something goes wrong then there is no escape for these animals.
"Accidents can happen and I would not want to say anything bad about these people without knowing anything about them... [but] some of these operations are pretty terrible.
"You go there and you see hundreds and hundreds of rats running around. When you have conditions like that, it is just an accident waiting to happen."
Representatives of industry body New Zealand Pork were not able to be contacted.Three female students and one male student went to the hospital this weekend after a party at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Tau Kappa Epsilon house. According to the police report, TKE brothers were using a color-coded system to "welcome" their female guests. Those guests were likely roofied.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports, "Police were called three times to the Sandburg Residence Hall between midnight and 1:33 a.m. Saturday as students entered the dorm, unable to stand or walk and with color-coded X's on their hands from the same party." The girls who were hospitalized all had special red X's on their hands. The man who was hospitalized drank from a girl's drink.
The police report also notes that "hot" girls were given or allowed to purchase index cards that provided "all access to the house" and free drinks. Party attendees told police that TKE brothers moved cups under the bar while making those drinks, and that they "looked cloudy."
UWM has suspended TKE for the time being. One student—likely a TKE brother—has been arrested.
[Photo via WISN]Bernanke on fiscal policy By Scott Sumner
Fiscal policy is the one area where I disagree most strongly with Ben Bernanke. In his new memoir (p. 387), he indicated that he supported Bush’s fiscal stimulus of early 2008.
But why? Bernanke gives no explanation at all. He also supported President Obama’s fiscal stimulus, however in that case he does give an explanation–near zero interest rates. But in early 2008 the Fed still had room to cut rates. So why didn’t they? If the economy needed fiscal stimulus, presumably it needed more aggregate demand. But that implies money was too tight. So why didn’t the Fed ease policy further in early 2008?
I know the answer—-the Fed was worried about high inflation. OK, but if you are worried about high inflation, then why would you favor more fiscal stimulus? It makes no sense, and Bernanke provides no explanation. (Was Bush doing the policy that his clueless colleagues at the Fed refused to do?)
Towards the end of the book he sums up what we have learned, and seems to put way too much emphasis on fiscal policy. On page 568, he suggests that the US recovery was stronger than elsewhere because our fiscal policy was less restrictive. And yet others who have looked at the data (such as Mark Sadowski) say this isn’t true. US fiscal policy during 2010-2014 was as tight if not tighter than in the Eurozone, and yet the US economy did dramatically better, it wasn’t even close. Bernanke also mentions that the US had more stimulative monetary policy, but actually gives the Fed too little credit. Monetary policy explains virtually all of the divergence between the US and the Eurozone after 2010.
On page 569 and 570 he notes that the UK also pursued a stimulative monetary policy, but then indicates that the UK had lower RGDP growth due to the fiscal austerity of the Cameron government. But the problem in the UK was not employment, which actually did better than in the US, but rather productivity. So Bernanke’s theory makes no sense. Demand-side policy reduces output by reducing employment. Supply shocks reduce productivity. How could British employment have done much better than US employment, if British fiscal policy was reducing aggregate demand?
On page 538 Bernanke indicates that the CBO estimated that fiscal austerity “would lop 1.5 percentage points off economic growth in 2013—growth we could ill afford to lose.” Many Keynesians worried that fiscal austerity could push us into recession. In fact, real GDP growth (4th quarter over 4th quarter) almost doubled in 2013, from 1.28% in 2012, to 2.45% in 2013. Monetary offset worked beautifully. Again, Bernanke gives himself too little credit. A few pages earlier he points out that in late 2012 the Fed had engaged in aggressive monetary stimulus because of fears that fiscal austerity would slow growth. So why didn’t the Fed take credit when it worked?
At least Bernanke does believe that QE is effective, and points to studies showing that it boosted growth. Some Keynesians adopt an even more bizarre position, that the fiscal austerity of 2013 dramatically slowed growth, and also that QE is ineffective. But they can’t have it both ways! Suppose you are a Keynesian, and you really believe that the $500 billion reduction in the Federal deficit in calendar 2013 reduced growth by 1.5%. That means you believe that without the austerity, growth would have been almost 4%, not 2.45%. But then consider this counter
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the royal servants of the Yogyakarta Palace.
The plaintiffs disputed the term "wife" in the provision, as it implied that only men could take the governor seat, hence also meaning only the male lineage of the royal family can take the reign of the sultan.
Hamengkubuwono, who became the sultan in March 1989, has five daughters and no sons. In 2015 he issued a sabdaraja (king's proclamation), naming his eldest daughter, Gusti Kanjeng Ratu (GKR) Mangkubumi, as the crown princess.
Yogyakartans criticised the move, saying the position of sultan was only for men, as it was part of the tradition of the Javanese Palace, hence Hamengkubuwono's younger brother should be his successor.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
April 15, 2015, 12:37 AM GMT / Updated April 15, 2015, 10:08 PM GMT / Source: NBC News
An Arizona police department released video Tuesday showing a police officer using a car to ram an armed suspect in February.
The video shows a Marana Police Department cruiser slamming into Mario Valencia, who was allegedly armed with a stolen gun and fired a shot in the air on Feb. 19.
The dash cam records a gunshot as the suspect is walking on West Coca Cola Place, and an officer warning, "stand off, stand off, the gun is loaded."
A different police car driven by Officer Michael Rapiejko then roars forward and strikes Valencia sending the man flying into the air.
"Oh!... man down," the apparently surprised officer in the first car says in the video.
Valencia survived the collision and faces a long list of charges.
Police said Valencia, 36, held up a 7-Eleven convenience store in Tucson, started a fire at a church, and then broke into a home and stole a car and drove to a Walmart in Marana, a town northwest of Tucson.
Valencia allegedly asked a store worker if he could see a rifle and then used it as a club to bash a case and threaten the employee, and ran off with the rifle and a box of.30-30 ammunition, police said. He loaded the weapon and pointed it at an officer before firing instead into the air, and was struck by the police car as he approached a business, police said in a statement Tuesday.
Police said in a statement the officer "[used] his marked police car to stop the dangerous situation Mario Valencia created." Police said that before the incident Valencia had pointed the rifle at his neck.
Valencia's attorney, Michelle Metzger, called the unconventional tactic "shocking," and "clearly excessive police force." She said it was obvious Valencia was suicidal, and that the officer heard in the video appears to tell other officers to back off before the car suddenly slammed into her client.
Lt. Tim Brunenkant said Rapiejko was cleared by the prosecutor’s office. He was placed on paid leave for three days but has returned to duty. An administrative review is currently ongoing, Brunenkant said.
Marana Police Chief Terry Rozema told NBC station KVOA that Valencia was hospitalized for two days after he was hit by the police car, and the situation could have ended in the death of Valencia or someone else.
"The guy probably is still alive because the officer took the action that he took," Rozema told the station. "Had he continued to press down the street... these officers have no choice but to begin firing."
Valencia is jailed on 11 counts that include armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, arson, burglary, shoplifting and theft. He is being held at the Pima County Jail.
— Phil HelselCommon Weakness Enumeration, or in its short name CWE, lists about 700 common mistakes developers make while writing code. Remembering or even reading the entire list can be a challenge. But there are some repeating ideas that due to their massive potential impact it is important to know (and tell your friends) about.
Injections
The first is of course injections, which in their many forms have caused chaos throughout the industry. Not long ago the entire internet was vulnerable to CWE-89 - SQL Injection. Today CWE-79 - Cross Site Scripting is still causing havoc and will continue to do so until we'll all move to CSP.
Another one from the same category is CWE-78 - OS Command Injection which talks about injecting OS commands through shell escapes. A vulnerable PHP code looks like this:
$userName = $_POST["user"]; $command = 'ls -l /home/'. $userName; system($command);
Just consider what happens when the input is ;rm -rf /
Path Traversal
CWE-22 - Path Traversal is one of the first CWEs I learned about, and its simplicity is what makes it beautiful. This following java code thinks it will only delete files from a specified safe dir:
String path = getInputPath(); if (path.startsWith("/safe_dir/")) { File f = new File(path); f.delete() }
But consider its result when the path parameter is /safe_dir/../important.dat. When reading path from a user always use a built-in path canonicalization function to produce a canonical version of the file name or path. In Java that would be getCanonicalPath.
Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity
CWE-345 is by far the most complex in this list as it is a parent of many other weaknesses. Its main gist is that you must never assume a request or data came from a specific user, and must validate the data before using it.
I think the most known child of this weakness is CSRF, which is caused by a request sent with the correct cookies but in the wrong context.
Another example is the padding oracle attack which was made possible due to improper verification of the encrypted data's signature, and assuming that if we get an encrypted packet then a trusted partner must have sent it (forgetting that adversaries can change the bits on the wire).
Race Condition
The Famous CWE-362 is easy to ignore just as it is easy to understand. When writing code too many developers forget to consider what would happen if the code ran concurrently, which is just the way most server code is executed.
Consider the code example from the CWE page:
$transfer_amount = GetTransferAmount(); $balance = GetBalanceFromDatabase(); if ($transfer_amount < 0) { FatalError("Bad Transfer Amount"); } $newbalance = $balance - $transfer_amount; if (($balance - $transfer_amount) < 0) { FatalError("Insufficient Funds"); } SendNewBalanceToDatabase($newbalance); NotifyUser("Transfer of $transfer_amount succeeded."); NotifyUser("New balance: $newbalance");
Looks good until one asks - what happens when this code is executed from multiple threads or processes? The answer is we don't know. It could work, or it could give too much money to one side, as Starbucks had unfortunately found.
Your language probably has transactions and locking mechanisms to protect against such cases. Use them.
Password in Configuration File
CWE-260: Password in Configuration File is almost too universal to be angry about, but we still should.
Passwords should not be stored in the same file as your DB connection strings or other network data, or in any configuration file. Those files are hard to protect and tend to be sent around.
Better to create a dedicated secrets file which will store all application secrets, or to use environment variables.
Keep your secrets secret and share configuration only.
Stack-based Buffer Overflow
At first I intended to finish here with the 5 most important CWEs presented above, but we can't ignore the famous CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow, due to its history and its insight.
This bug is probably very hard to exploit on modern systems due to ASLR, Non Execute Stack and Stack Protector features. But it was the seed for too many memory and buffer overflows we still encounter today.
Go read about it in the above link and later read and follow Paul Makowski's modern smashing the stack for fun and profit if you're not already familiar with that work.Students at the University College of London happened to chance upon a supernova 12 million light-years away in Messier 82, while attending a telescope workshop.
The International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, an organization that catalogues supernovae, says spectral analysis suggests it is a Type 1a supernova, created by a white dwarf star pulling matter off a larger neighboring star until the entire system becomes unstable and explodes.
Dr. Steve Fossey, a professor at the University College of London, was conducting a workshop for an automated telescope, when the skies started to get cloudy. The students chose to observe Messier 82 as it was in one of the few clear patches of sky. As Fossey was adjusting the telescope he happened to see a star-like object and did not recognize it from previous observations.
"We pointed the telescope at Messier 82 -- it's quite a bright galaxy, quite photogenic. But as soon as it came up on screen, it didn't look right to me," Dr. Fossey told BBC News. "We fired up another telescope, we got another frame -- and that was when we knew it was a supernova."
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On checking the archives, they realized that they had discovered a new star-like object. Fossey then rushed to file an official report and sent it to the International Astronomical Union, which confirmed that Fossey and his students were the first to discover the supernova, now called SN 2014J.
“It was a surreal and exciting experience taking images of the unidentified object as Steve ran around the observatory verifying the result. I’m very chuffed to have helped in the discovery of the M 82 Supernova,“ said Guy Pollack, one of Fossey's students.
The cigar-shaped galaxy is 12 million light-years away and is the closest supernova to be spotted since the 1980s. Scientists say the supernova could be even brighter in the coming weeks.
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[BBC] [University College of London] [International Astronomical Union]Last week we noted here how the move to “ban the box” of criminal convictions on employment application forms actually increased discrimination against blacks, and with its decision to fire the author of the infamous “diversity memo,” Google has just done its women employees a huge disservice, likely leading to more discrimination against women.
David Bernstein of the Scalia Law School at George Mason University offers this shrewd observation:
How Google’s decision may harm its female employees: there is a coterie of female employees who want Google to fire not just the engineer, but anyone who expressed agreement with him, and who want to police political correctness among Google employees more generally. Now let’s say you are a man picking a team to go to a three week long tech conference/expo in Hong Kong. Are you more or less likely to want to put women on your team, knowing that if you or someone you like inadvertently says something “offensive” regarding gender, a woman on your team may call for termination?
And guess what? There’s some social science evidence for this in the journal Politics, Groups, and Identities:
The unintended effects of political party affirmative action policies on female candidates’ nomination chances Angela L. Bos, College of Wooster Abstract Some state political party organizations that hold nominating conventions implement affirmative action (AA) policies to encourage the nomination of women and minority candidates. This paper assesses whether these policies help or hinder female candidates seeking statewide office. On the one hand, these policies could benefit female candidates since they demonstrate an organization’s commitment to diversity. On the other hand, diversity and AA policies may have negative, unintended consequences for female candidates such as promoting gender stereotype activation or creating a stigma of incompetence for female candidates. I examine whether and how delegates’ awareness of these policies shapes candidate evaluations, gender stereotypes, and nominee choice. I test this by analyzing unique survey data from Democratic state nominating convention delegates who evaluate candidates in statewide nominations in four states. The results suggest that while evaluations of the female candidate are not downgraded, focus on AA leads Democratic delegates to inflate their views of her male opponent. Furthermore, when delegates perceive that their party focuses on AA, they are less likely to choose the female candidate, in part because this perceived focus highlights that female candidates might lack masculine strengths. The resulting implications for female candidates and political party organizations are discussed.
Nice going liberals. Reminds of the old cliché, “Why is it we only hurt the ones we love?” Maybe the answer will come up in a Google search.Terry Crews I'm Going after Hollywood Agent on All Fronts For Alleged Sexual Assault
Terry Crews Says He's Going after Hollywood Agent on All Fronts for Alleged Sexual Assault
EXCLUSIVE
Terry Crews walked out of LAPD's Hollywood Division with resolve to go after a powerful Hollywood agent for sexual assault.
Crews told our photog he plans to file a civil lawsuit as well as pursue criminal charges.
Sources tell TMZ the person Crews named on the police report is Adam Venit, who heads up the motion picture group at William Morris Endeavor. Venit has been placed on leave while WME investigates.
Crews says the agent groped him last year at a Hollywood function. There are reports Venit was "wedgie-ing" people at the party as a prank.
We reached out to Venit's rep... they had no comment.Kings Wharf announced that a 150 seat Italian restaurant called Il Trullo, it will have a 50 seat patio on the Harbouras well. The principle is Rocco Scanlo of Rocco’s fame. Il Trullo is expected to be open by Canada Day.
Kit and Ace, makers of technical cashmere are looking for a store manager (or shop director as they call it) in Halifax. No location announced at this time.
Browns shoes is coming to town, setting up in Halifax Shopping Centre.
Indoor Radio Controlled Racing coming to #7 past Forrest Hills, Road Rage Indoor RC Racing.
A bakery called the Old Apothecary is coming to Barrington St., where Renaissance used to be on the corner of Blowers.
Good News: HMV on Spring Garden has a new tenant. Boring News: It’s Canadian optical giant FYidoctors.
I also notice their space further up on SGR is for lease, I wonder what it means for the Scotia Sq. location.
The Laura Secord and Cucina Modrna in Sunnyside have closed.
Spa-Dee-Da, a spa geared towards 6-16 year olds is opening in Bedford.
The Salvation Army on Green @ Queen is closed for good.They are looking for a future DT/South End home but the current space they feel had to many building issues.Reports that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) has recaptured major parts of al-Bukamal, its last stronghold in Syria, have emerged two days after the Syrian army declared it had taken full control over the town.
Rami Abdulrahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that ISIL has captured some 60 percent of al-Bukamal, an eastern town in Deir Az Zor province on the border with Iraq.
Abdulrahman also said the centre of al-Bukamal has continued to witness fierce fighting between ISIL and the Syrian army and its allies Hezbollah, the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
ISIL's retaliatory attacks come after the Syrian army's announcement on Thursday that it had regained full control of the town.
Following the statement, Syria's political and armed opposition denounced the entry of the Iraqi PMU in al-Bukamal as a violation of its sovereignty.
"The entry of the militias of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces [PMF] into the town of Albu Kamal and any other part of the Syrian territory is a blatant violation of Syrian sovereignty, especially as the PMF militias are part of the military establishment of the Iraqi government," the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces said.
"The [Bashar al-] Assad regime is primarily responsible for the current situation in Syria and for exposing the country to various forms of foreign hegemony, occupation, and violation of sovereignty."
A video circulating online, said to be released by ISIL's news agency Amaq on Friday, purportedly shows ISIL fighters battling Assad forces in what the narrator says are the outskirts of al-Bukamal.
The video, which bears the Amaq agency logo, is titled "Syrian regime forces fail to enter al-Bukamal city for the third day in a row." It shows an ISIL fighter speaking to the camera and claiming the Syrian army - despite being backed by the Russian air force - has failed to take control over the town.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government news agency SANA reported on Friday that "Russian demining experts" had begun removing unexploded land mines from al-Bukamal left by ISIL.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu congratulated "the heroes of the Syrian Arab army for their successes in liberating the city of al-Bukamal", SANA said.
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ISIL has met a series of defeats in Syria and Iraq after it made major advances across the two countries four years ago and declared its aim to build a caliphate.
In October, the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab opposition forces backed by the United States, pushed the group out of its de facto capital Raqqa in Syria.
In Iraq, government forces and allies recaptured Mosul, the group's last urban stronghold in the country, in July.WASHINGTON - A Senate panel is scheduled to vote Tuesday on President Trump's nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire and private school voucher advocate who has become one of Trump's most controversial Cabinet picks.
The GOP majority has defended DeVos as a bold reformer who is willing to shrink the federal imprint in education and upend the status quo in the interest of expanding opportunities for disadvantaged children.
But Democrats have vowed to oppose DeVos, arguing that she is wholly unqualified for the job. They say that she favors policies that undermine the public schools that serve most U.S. children and that she has not adequately answered questions about potential conflicts of interest related to her investments.
With the two sides dug in, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions appears likely to approve DeVos on a party-line vote when it convenes Tuesday at 10 a.m. DeVos's nomination would then go to the full Senate for approval.
DeVos has been a powerful force in pushing to expand charter schools in her home state and taxpayer-funded vouchers for private and religious schools nationwide. But she has no professional experience in public education. During her confirmation hearing this month, she stumbled over basic policy questions, at one point saying that states should be allowed to decide whether to follow a four-decade-old federal civil rights law that protects students with disabilities.
Also during the Jan. 17 hearing, DeVos left open the possibility that she might seek to cut education funding or support privatizing public schools. She passed up a chance to reassure senators who are concerned that she intends to scale back the Education Department's efforts to enforce civil rights laws in schools. And she rejected a ban on guns in schools, saying that some schools might need firearms to defend against "potential grizzlies" - a line that became fodder for late-night comics.
Some Democrats and their traditional allies - including teachers unions and civil rights groups - have criticized DeVos as unacceptable since she was nominated in late November. But her hearing performance unleashed a broad new wave of opposition, carried along in part by the Women's March on Washington and other anti-Trump resistance efforts.
Michael Moore, the liberal filmmaker, urged marchers to call their senators to oppose DeVos. Anti-DeVos petitions circulated widely online, with one, organized by Credo Action, amassing 1.4 million signatures.
Senate offices have been swamped with anti-DeVos phone calls and emails. The National Education Association, the nation's largest labor union, alone accounted for more than 1 million emails and 40,000 phone calls.
Teachers and parents also have organized protests to oppose DeVos on Capitol Hill and in places such as Portland, Ore.; Nashville; and Holland, Mich., DeVos' home town. More than 250 civil rights groups, including those devoted to disability rights, signed a letter of opposition.
DeVos' supporters accuse Democrats of bowing to union bosses and defending a status quo that too often consigns poor, African American and Hispanic children to the worst schools.
But the opposition to DeVos is broader than unions. It includes groups such as Democrats for Education Reform, which supports charter schools, and the Education Trust, which has pushed for evaluating teachers in part on standardized test scores.
Democrats on the Senate committee have repeatedly asked the chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., to delay Tuesday's vote, arguing first that they needed more opportunities to ask DeVos questions and then - after submitting more than 1,000 questions to her in writing - that she did not fully respond.
Through a spokesman, Alexander brushed aside those concerns Monday and said that Democrats have asked DeVos 25 times more questions than Republicans asked Obama's nominees for the job. He said that DeVos answered the questions and that the vote would go on as scheduled.
--
(c) 2017, The Washington Post. Emma Brown wrote this story.CHICAGO -- Kurt Warner has walked in the shoes Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford is currently wearing.
No, not his actual cleats, but like Bradford the former Rams, Giants and Cardinals quarterback has been in the position of the veteran quarterback logging time for a high draft choice to replace him.
For Warner, it was Eli Manning with the Giants in 2004 and Matt Leinart just two years later in Arizona.
Bradford requested a trade earlier this week after it was made abundantly clear that the Eagles will select either California's Jared Goff or North Dakota State's Carson Wentz with the No. 2 overall choice.
"I was in a number of those situations," Warner said Wednesday during a luncheon with reporters. "I always said that when I signed on the dotted line, the contract never said 'to be a good teammate if I'm the starting quarterback.' I signed on to be a member of that organization and I had to play my role. I had to do it the best way I possibly could because that's what I signed on to do.
"It's a tough dynamic. No question. Everyone wants to play and it is the one position that only one guy gets to. That's the hard part of it. You have to embrace the situation that you're in. As a competitor, you have to use every day to get better and hope that one day you get that opportunity to be the starter again."
Warner never got the chance to retake his starting job from Manning and in Arizona ultimately led the Cardinals to its first Super Bowl appearance and passed for 15,843 yards and 100 touchdowns over five seasons.
Bradford has never experienced that level of sustained consistency or playoff success i his career, but the parallels between situations are vast.
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"If I was in Sam Bradford's situation," Warner said. "And this isn't criticizing Sam, because everybody is different and every situation is different. I understand exactly where Sam's coming from.
"For me, I don't know what my role is when I signed on the dotted line. My role was to be the best teammate and best member of this organization that I can be. That's what I tried to do in every situation.
"I hoped, in every situation that I would get a fair opportunity to compete to start. If I got a fair opportunity to compete to start, I felt like I would win it every time. But, if I lost that fair competition, I would tip my hat to the competition and be the best teammate I could be to that guy because I lost fair and square. That was always the approach I took in the situations I was in."
Even after signing on the dotted line to collect $22 million in guaranteed money over a two-year contract, the ending appears to be pre-written for Bradford in Philadelphia. Wentz or Goff will be chosen with the No. 2 pick and the former Heisman Trophy winner's career could potentially become the winding path of a journeyman looking for work every offseason.
Should the Eagles elect to keep Bradford rather than trading him, the dynamic within the quarterback position meeting room could be dicey one similar to what Warner needed to navigate through his final two career stops.
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"In both of those situations and both of those rooms, I felt like I was the best quarterback," Warner said. "I felt like I deserved to be playing on the field. It comes down to 'who gives us the best chance to win today?' I felt I was the guy that should have been on the football field.
"When you're in that situation and you're not the guy on the football field, it is a tough situation to be in. As a competitor, as a guy that believes he should be in there, it was hard to go to work every morning.
"But, the other aspect to it was that decision was not made by Eli Manning. It was not made by Matt Leinart. I was not going to go in and hold that against those guys. I was not going to go in and withhold information from them, because I want their job. My role was to be the best teammate and member of that organization as possible.
"I went in and said every single day, I'm going to fight for the job every day and help that guy be the best quarterback he can be. If it is an open competition, I want to beat the best possible Eli or the best possible Matt. If I didn't beat them, I wanted our organization to have the best possible quarterback to position to help us win every game that we played."
Matt Lombardo may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @MattLombardo975 and Facebook. Find NJ.com Eagles on Facebook.Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Just outside of Geneva, Switzerland is one of the world´s foremost ongoing experiments to explore not only the smallest components of our universe, but, in so doing, to understand the vastness of space, our universe as a whole, and just how it came into being.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is an approximately 17-mile-long ring buried some 330 feet underground which spans the border between Switzerland and France. The search for the elusive Higgs-Boson, also known as the ℠God´ particle, has been one of the more noteworthy experiments to come out of CERN in the past decade. But the search for Higgs-Boson is hardly the only experiment or discovery derived from the LHC.
The LHC, itself, is a particle accelerator. Physicists use the LHC to study the smallest known particles which are the fundamental building blocks of all things. While we were all taught in grade school that everything is made up of atoms, these physicists are seeking to understand what makes up atoms. And then to know what makes those individual particles.
The LHC works by firing off two beams of subatomic particles, called hadrons, in opposite directions inside the accelerator. As they complete each lap, they increase in speed. The LHC is used to try to recreate the conditions that existed just after the Big Bang. This is achieved by finally colliding those two beams head-on at a very high rate of energy. The international teams of physicists then use different detectors to analyze the particles that are created in the experiments.
Before the LHC, the Standard Model of particle physics stood as an acceptable means for understanding the fundamental laws of nature. The Standard Model, however, was unable to tell the whole story. The CERN physicists believe that the experimental data from the high energies achieved by the LHC will be instrumental in pushing human knowledge forward.
Physicists from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have recently helped to push forward the bounds of human knowledge about the nature of light and time. They believe that heavy ion collisions at CERN will be able to produce the shortest light pulses ever created and they were able to demonstrate this assertion with computer simulations. One problem: These pulses are so short they cannot even be measured by today´s technological equipment. How do you address this issue? You build the world´s most precise stopwatch to measure the world´s shortest light pulses. This “stopwatch” detector will be installed at CERN in 2018.
Current experimentation that examines very short time scales are usually measured using short laser pulses. The best technology for these pulses today exists in the duration of attoseconds. An attosecond is literally billionths of a billionth of a second — or, more precisely, one quintillionth of a second. Even these mind blowing speeds are too slow for what the physicists at TU Vienna say could be achieved by using the LHC at CERN. “Atomic nuclei in particle colliders like the LHC at Cern or at the RHIC [Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Suffolk, NY] can create light pulses which are still a million times shorter than that,” says Andreas Ipp from TU Vienna.
This shorter light pulse will give more exact readings for many experiments. One in particular, the so-called ALICE experiment, involves the collisions of lead nuclei at nearly the speed of light. The collision creates debris from the scattered nuclei along with new particles that are created from the power of the impact, that form a quark-gluon plasma. Quark-gluon plasma — also known as ℠quark soup´ — is a state of matter that is so hot, even protons and neutrons melt. The base structures, quarks and gluons, move freely without being bound to one another. However, this plasma exists only for several yoctoseconds (a yoctosecond equals one septillionth of a second). This makes it very difficult to measure with current technological instrumentation.
The quark-gluon plasma that is created in the particle collider can emit light pulses. From these pulses, scientists could gain a deeper understanding of the plasma. However, as mentioned above, without better and faster measurement techniques, this information continues to be elusive and unknown. Current technology is unable to resolve flashes that occur on a yoctosecond timescale. “That´s why we make use of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, an idea which was originally developed for astronomical measurements,” says Ipp.
Hanbury Brown-Twiss has been used to very accurately determine the diameter of stars. It does this by studying the correlations between two different light detectors. “Instead of studying spatial distances, the effect can just as well be used for measuring time intervals,” Ipp claims. He and his colleague, Peter Somkuti, have calculated that the yoctosecond dilemma of the pulses of the quark-gluon plasma could be resolved by a Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment.
“It would be hard to do, but it would definitely be achievable,” continues Ipp. He contends that no new expensive sensor equipment would be necessary to run these experiments. All that would be needed would be a forward calorimeter. And, as luck would have it, CERN is supposed to have one that goes online in 2018. So, it is believed that the ALICE experiment will soon become the world´s most accurate stopwatch.
But what do we know about the physics of quark-gluon plasma and what do we hope to learn from it? What we already know is that it has an extremely low viscosity. In fact, it is far thinner than any liquid we know. If it starts out in an extreme disequilibrium, it can still reach a thermal equilibrium in very short order. If we are able to accurately study the light pulses from the quark-gluon plasma, we could derive extremely valuable new information that could only lead to a better and more concrete understanding of this state of matter.
Future application, once we have this improved understanding, could be used for nuclear research. “Experiments using two light pulses are often used in quantum physics,” explained Ipp. “The first pulse changes the state of the object under investigation, a second pulse is used shortly after that, to measure the change.” It is hoped that with improved measurement on the yoctosecond scale with light pulses that this well-established method could aid in advancement in areas that, up until now, have been completely inaccessible to this kind of research.
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commentsSUNDERLAND will wear their red and white stripes at Wembley for the first time since 1985.
Capital One Cup organisers today confirmed that both Sunderland and Manchester City will wear their home colours for the final on March 2.
The last time Sunderland were in a cup final at Wembley, against Liverpool in the FA Cup 1992, they wore their change kit of white.
In 1988, at the Mercantile Credit Festival (otherwise known as the Football League Centenary Tournament), they wore a yellow kit for the 0-0 draw against Wigan, before losing on penalties. It was the only time Sunderland wore that strip. They also wore a gold strip in the 1998 play-off defeat against Charlton Athletic.
However, Sunderland wore red and white in 1985, the Milk Cup defeat against Norwich, and also in 1973 when they beat Leeds United 1-0 in the FA Cup Final.Thanks to a combination of bad behavior, lax policing and politics, San Francisco is spending $400,000 a year just to pick up the picnic and party trash left behind by thousands of people who gather at Dolores Park every weekend.
Park workers spend hours cleaning up empty beer, wine and Champagne bottles, as well as what’s left of the rum-filled coconuts sold by one enterprising vendor — all in a park where littering and drinking are supposedly against the law.
Enforcement of those laws, however, does not appear to extend to the hipster hangout known as “Dolores Beach,” in part because the park system has only two rangers to patrol the city’s more than 220 parks — but also because the city does not want to put a damper on the fun.
“No one wants to begrudge anyone from enjoying a six-pack or a picnic,” said Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district includes the park. “People need to do what their parents told them to do — pick up after themselves.”
But they don’t, and whenever the temperature climbs over 65 degrees on a Saturday, a festival-size crowd of 7,000 to 10,000 descends on the park — but without any of the festival requirements.
The result is 14,921 cubic yards of garbage a year — 75 times as much trash as is left at the comparably sized Alamo Square park across town.
In fact, take away the California Academy of Sciences, Botanical Garden, Kezar Stadium and de Young Museum, and 1,027-acre Golden Gate Park generates just one-sixth the amount of trash per year as 14-acre Dolores Park, according to Recreation and Park Department officials.
What’s more, Rec and Park spokeswoman Sarah Ballard said, “there is a sense of lawlessness in Dolores Park, and it doesn’t stop once a majority of the crowd goes home.”
Police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza, who spent eight years working in the Mission, said the department simply doesn’t have the resources to patrol the park routinely.
“If you’ve worked in the Mission, you know that call after call is for a violent crime — a robbery in progress, a burglary or a domestic violence call,” Esparza said. “The priority of the department is to respond to violent crimes in progress.”
Esparza says officers do try to respond to “low priority’’ park complaints. But often, by the time they arrive, the caller has disappeared or the situation has dissipated.
Esparza said the department does not keep track of citations for public drinking and littering, but he acknowledged that few — if any — were ever issued in Dolores Park while he was working the beat. Typically, he said, if he caught someone drinking alcohol, he would ask the person to pour it out or be cited.
And from what we’re told, Rec and Park doesn’t do much to enforce the rules, either.
Rec and Park staffers believe the city’s anything-goes attitude at Dolores Park has led to a spate of lawlessness, including Thursday night’s playground-trashing and the incident involving two teens who allegedly hot-wired a construction vehicle and went on a doughnut-spinning joyride on newly laid sod.
Supervisor Wiener, however, says the answer is not a crackdown — which critics call a “war on fun.” Wiener wants more rangers on hand to help educate the park crowd to clean up, and to stop urinating and throwing up outside park neighbors’ homes.
Meanwhile, the party goes on.
To Bibi or not to Bibi: Bay Area Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Oakland), Mike Thompson (St. Helena), Zoe Lofgren (San Jose) and Jerry McNerney (Stockton) boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, while Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco attended.
Newly elected Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier of Concord wasn’t sure what to do. Attending the speech could be considered a slight to President Obama, while boycotting it could offend his Jewish constituents.
“And on this issue, I think the president’s course of action with Iran is right, at least compared to the alternative,” DeSaulnier said. “I went back and forth all morning.”
DeSaulnier ultimately decided he would follow Pelosi’s example. But by the time he reached the House floor, every seat was taken — including his. So he wound up watching Netanyahu on TV in the House cloakroom, just off of the floor, with the rest of the spillover crowd.
“I didn’t agree with everything he said, but he said it well,” DeSaulnier said. “The guy is very good at what he does.”
Off pitch: The other day we told you that the business-boosting Bay Area Council — with the blessing of Mayor Libby Schaaf — had sent George Lucas an invitation to build his much-maligned cultural arts museum in Oakland.
The group reminded the “Star Wars” creator that “urban legend suggests that you drew inspiration from (Oakland’s) towering maritime container cranes for the giant... Snow Walkers that appeared in 'The Empire Strikes Back.’”
Not a smart move.
The Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub interviewed Lucas several years back, and “the one time he appeared angry at me was at the end, when I asked about the port cranes and the AT-ATs,” a.k.a. Snow Walkers.
“He strongly denied the connection, and seemed like he was sick of the subject,” Hartlaub said.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening
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peacefully and productively with each other. Since by all estimates, we’re looking at 65% increases in urban traffic over the next decade, (and double that increase in smaller communities!), this dilemma could also serve as a kick-start in developing not only new automotive and communications technologies (CB radio revival?), but also new educational programs for drivers, and even encourage new socio-political views. Mass Transit might not be the final solution in it’s current forms, but if people see enough trains moving past them while stuck in traffic, their basic logic should kick in eventually and prompt some progress around the frustrations and failures of our current Transportation methods, and ultimately improve Modern Life in general.
This future outlook would be the end of my positive spin on ‘traffic’ if it wasn’t for all the sobering facts and destructive side-effects that continue to pile up. Since traffic “accidents” have killed almost half a million people in United States in the past decade, and we clearly can’t just sit back and let this experiment in social engineering play itself out over more time…Especially with stats to show that road rage incidents are rising at an alarming rate.
Basically, there are just too damned many dangerous and pervasive acts of selfish stupidity that grossly outweigh the much more rare acts of decency and Humanity between drivers. Perhaps this is all due to the fact that shared public roads are essentially open laboratories for these ongoing social experiments that use live Humans as test subjects – Humans who are all legally allowed to drive dangerous vehicles that can wreak havoc, and destroy lives, by doing nothing more than proving that they’re capable of parallel parking, and finding the turn signal at least once during a driving test. A test that grants lifetime privileges, and requires no refresher courses, or followups to check against sloppy habits.
So where do we go from here?
Despite that ridiculously low barrier to entry for Drivers, I still have faith that some greater good can come from this big sloppy social experiment. I firmly believe that by figuring out how to work better together behind the wheel, and somehow rid ourselves of the road hazards (and self-absorbed or sociopathic menaces) that exist on our shared roadways, we can actually, and collectively, pave the way to a better Society! Yet, before you dismiss me as a Dreamer, let’s establish a baseline for Reality first…Which will also explain how to start “Loving Traffic”!
Let’s start with the differences between “Us” and “Them” by CLICKING HERE
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Cheech & Chong defined an era with their irreverent, satirical, counter-culture, no-holds-barred comedy routines. Their success began on the stand-up comedy circuit leading to nine hit comedy albums and eight hit films, breaking box office records, garnering multiple Grammy nominations and mesmerizing fans. The comedy duo has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album with 1973's Los Cochinos. They transitioned to film in 1978 with Up In Smoke, the highest grossing comedy of the year. Cheech and Chong co-wrote and starred in a total of eight feature films together, all directed by Chong. They have recently announced their latest tour.
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Fig. 1. Eugène Atget, Worker's Interior, Rue de Romainville (Intérieur ouvrier, rue de Romainville), image from page 28 of the album Intérieurs Parisiens. This version is one photograph of a portfolio of 20 printed by Berenice Abbott from glass negatives made by Atget. Gold-toned gelatin silverprint, University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1974/1.109.
In 1910 Eugène Atget photographed various private interiors, some of which he assembled into an album entitled Intérieurs Parisiens, début du XXe siècle, artistiques, pittoresques, et bourgeois. In doing so he added to the imagery, ever increasing in nineteenth-century France and elsewhere, of the domestic interior. Though from a slightly later period, Atget’s photographs display the accumulation of furniture, objects, and styles that were characteristic of fin de siècle French interiors. The interior was often praised as a site of self-expression, but in its late nineteenth-century guise—as a site of unfettered accumulation—it provoked many critiques. In relation to these issues Atget’s album proves to be dialectical, at once seeming to present the interior as a signifier of human life, personality, and individuality, even while undermining such notions and exposing them as illusory. Accumulation, by its very excess, becomes revelatory under Atget’s lens: it is both subject and critical tool. Once collected together, Atget’s photographs yield small, uncanny signs indicating the interior’s enlivening of the object and deadening of the human subject.
Just as Atget’s images shed light on fin de siècle conceptions of the interior, so too do these conceptions provide a framework for approaching the album. I will therefore begin by evoking this interior and its myriad associations. As is so often the case with nineteenth-century France, Walter Benjamin (2002b, 20) provides a way in:
The interior is not just the universe of the private individual; it is also his etui. Ever since the time of Louis Philippe, the bourgeois has shown a tendency to compensate for the absence of any trace of private life in the big city. He tries to do this within the four walls of his apartment. It is as if he had made it a point of honor not to allow the traces of his everyday objects and accessories to get lost.... He has a marked preference for velour and plush, which preserve the imprint of all contact. In the style characteristic of the Second Empire, the apartment becomes a sort of cockpit. The traces of its inhabitant are molded into the interior.
This passage contains two closely intertwined ideas: the interior as the repository of the traces of the bourgeois inhabitant and the interior as the inhabitant’s mold. As the last phrase of the citation makes clear, the mold in fact stems from the traces, since it is the interior’s ability to guard the latter that transforms it into a mold. As such it becomes a kind of sculpture in negative of the inhabitant, one thought capable of revealing his or her personality or subjectivity.
Benjamin’s characterization of the bourgeois interior may seem fantastical, but its echo can be found in numerous nineteenth-century texts. In Edmond de Goncourt’s preamble to his idiosyncratic inventory of his home and collections—La maison d’un artiste—he refers to his home as “a nest,” paralleling Benjamin’s “etui” (1898, 1). The idea of the nest, as well as that of the trace and the mold, can be seen in the painter and writer Gustave Droz’s exhortation to wives, “That your nest be cozy, that you be felt in all of these little nothings.”[1] He uses a vocabulary of literal impression to discuss the expression of the individual in their interior. The architect Viollet-le-Duc employs much the same terms when criticizing “these large apartment buildings in which the individual’s personality is erased and where it is scarcely possible to feel the love of home.”[2] Honoré de Balzac’s úuvre dates from earlier in the century but is nevertheless a paradigm for the bourgeois sensibility described by Benjamin. When introducing the porter Cibot and her husband in Le cousin Pons (1847), Balzac wrote that “they got used to their loge, the loge became for them what the shell is for oysters.”[3]
Balzac is also a fount of descriptions evoking the human trace in the interior. In the short novel Ferragus (1834) the narrator describes how the typical woman, arriving home from a ball, takes off various parts of her clothing and accessories, from her robe and wilted flowers to her corset, such that “the entire false woman is there, scattered.”[4] Such traces are visible throughout Atget’s interiors, in the form of papers or items of clothing (see figs. 1 and 3, for example). A more literal form of the trace can be seen in the wear and tear visible on chairs or other pieces of furniture. This type of trace is dramatized in Balzac’s La Fille aux yeux d’or (1835). Describing a murder scene, the narrator dwells on the signs of the struggle on the interior rather more than on the body of the victim: “Paquita’s hands were imprinted on the cushions.... Entire strips of the fluted hanging were torn away by her bloody hands.... The marks of her naked feet were all along the back of the divan, upon which she had no doubt run.”[5] Nothing could reveal more strikingly the belief in the domestic interior’s ability to guard the trace of its occupants—their literal impression—which was then imbued with the metaphorical impression of their essence.
The concept of the mold and the trace can be used to encompass more prosaic manifestations, as, for example, in the emphasis on comfort and soft materials: Gustave Droz, dining at home, described himself as having “the happy look of a man who is in a warm room and who has on his feet good slippers trimmed with flannel, the soles of which sink into a thick rug.”[6] In the case of seating, plush materials and a lot of stuffing became the rule. In 1883, the writer Guy de Maupassant found even wood problematic: “For furniture, is not wood the carcass, horsehair the flesh and fabric the skin? The skeleton is only man when covered with flesh. A piece of furniture is only an armchair once padded.”[7] Le Bouteiller, in his Journal de l’Industrie et des Arts utiles (1840), condemned springs using a similarly carnal vocabulary, writing of a type of chair that “possesses all the qualities of a sprung chair without having its drawbacks; this is not one of your mechanical contraptions with entrails of iron.”[8] The elements of the private interior take on the pliability of the human body in order to better receive its traces. Nothing so resistant as hard wood or metal springs is to be tolerated.
In this light, just as Droz recommended, the interior becomes a kind of cozy nest. Like a bird, the interior’s denizen surrounded him or herself with heterogeneous bits and pieces, resulting in the dense massing of objects and ornamentation characteristic of the late nineteenth-century interior. The latter was made possible by the industrial revolution, which had brought with it a consumer revolution, resulting in a “‘seemingly unlimited profusion’ at once ‘real’ and imagined” of relatively low-priced goods (Watson 1999, 6). Small objects—like those visible throughout Atget’s album, covering desks, mantelpieces, shelves, and other surfaces (figs. 1–3)—began to infiltrate every space of the room. It is such a context, argues Janell Watson (1999, 5), that explains the popularity of the word bibelot, a catch-all term for everything from the expensive treasures of a collector like Goncourt to “the cheapest industrial kitsch.”[9] Only such an expansive term could encompass “a group of disparate items gathered together under the auspices of superfluousness, gratuitousness, heterogeneity, and accumulation” (Watson 1999, 6)—exactly the kind of grouping that increasingly characterized the interior as the century progressed. Other elements of the décor also participated in this dense massing: chairs, which only lined the walls in the early nineteenth century, moved into the central space. They congregated around one another, reflecting their users’ social habits (this effect is quite prevalent in Intérieurs Parisiens). Also like their users, they came in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and appearances.[10] They were accompanied in this movement by tables, cushions, and other types of small furniture. Other elements, such as drapery and rugs, added to the accumulation.[11] It is this increasing presence of the décor that gives it the potential to interact with the resident and become his or her mold.
Benjamin’s indexical trace can also be left in a more conscious, voluntary fashion. The accumulation of furniture, ornament, and objects described above was ideally the result and the source of individual choice, which in turn offered the tantalizing possibility of personalizing and differentiating one’s interior. Viewed thus, each element in the interior becomes a sign of the inhabitant’s hand. This is no doubt why Henry Havard, who produced a four-volume Dictionnaire de l’Ameublement (1889–1890), characterized mobile decoration (as opposed to fixe) as more intimate and personal (Thornton 1984, 212; Watson 1999, 49). This type of decoration tended to dominate in the fin de siècle interior and, as Havard’s term implies, was easier to move. The manipulation of such mobile elements, whether drapery or bibelots, was thought to be a form of self-expression, particularly for women (Thornton 1984, 224; Vernes 1995, 17). In the words of Émile Cardon and Claude David, writers of l’Art au foyer domestique (1884): “all this [bibelots] isn’t bought in a heap like apples. [The object] is encountered, searched, found, tomorrow one, in fifteen days another. The bibelot is only interesting in this sense.”[12] Style was also implicated in this form of expression, since by the end of the century it too had become heterogeneous, bits and pieces being culled from diverse regions and periods, according to one’s taste.[13] In Ferragus, Balzac encapsulates this aspect of the trace with the following passage, written in reference to a private interior:
there is in the arrangement of these things a cachet of personality that gives to such and such ornament or detail an inimitable character. Today more than ever reigns the fanaticism for individuality. The more our laws go towards an impossible equality, the more we’ll distance ourselves by our habits.[14]
The narrator thus implies that individuality, frustrated in other areas, insists on manifesting itself through the arrangement of possessions.
Toward the end of the century, just as the number of styles and bibelots multiplied in the interior, so too did the critiques. These objections were often based on the same grounds used to justify the praise. Common complaints held that, rather than expressing their inhabitants’ individuality, interiors revealed that society as a whole had no style of its own. The archaeologist Édouard Didron, as secretary and jury member for the Decorative Arts section of the 1878 Exposition universelle, had this to say in his report:
Since the beginning of civilization, each people has given to its art, and even to the various objects it uses, the imprint of its customs and tastes. In shaping all things according to its mindset, [a people] created its own style, one that suffices, with the help of history, to sum up for us the conditions of its existence. Only the present century has shown proof of a nearly total impotence by limiting itself to copying the works of the past.[15]
This critique, with a slight variation, was extended to the question of class. Viollet-le-Duc articulated it in this manner:
it is a curious thing to observe in France that the middle class, the vital force of any modern society, does not have an appearance and customs of its own. This is no longer the bourgeoisie of the old days; lately it has applied itself to imitating as best it can the appearances of an aristocracy of new money.[16]
According to such thought, inappropriate ostentation separated appearances from essences, thus leveling society to the lowest common denominator. The only escape was a consciousness that
True luxury is one that, in the guise of simplicity, displays an elegance that cannot be reproduced with the help of vulgar means. It is what, in society, is called distinction, a way of being sensible, discreet, and simple, that is the prerogative of some, independently of wealth and rank.[17]
A lack of this distinction resulted in “[a]partments very ordinary in terms of general composition, but upon which have been lavished gilded paste, fake paneling, hangings of a mean nature, and a whole set of knick-knacks that smell of the kept woman’s boudoir.”[18] Other complaints were along the same lines: Didron wrote that “today, everyone... wants to surround himself with the elements of vain sumptuousness that industrial art... places extravagantly at the disposition of modern society”; Guy de Maupassant’s version was “[e]verybody collects today, everybody is or thinks he is a connoisseur; because fashion has gotten mixed up in it. Practically all the actresses have contracted the rage of collecting; all the great houses resemble museums encumbered by filthy fetishes.” [19]
Many of these criticisms are linked in one way or another to the notion of promiscuity, the fact that anything could be had by anyone provided they had the money. The courtesan/actress and the nouveau-riche are recurring figures in such discourses, and it must be remembered that both are images of commodification. The former sells her body, converting flesh into cash (or other form of payment); the latter takes part in a hierarchy based on money, thus putting a price tag on the supposed bastions of rank and respectability. Juxtaposed against these figures is that of the collector, he (it is invariably a he) who possesses a finely tuned sense of Viollet-le-Duc’s distinction and who is capable of saving the interior from its descent into indiscriminate mediocrity. It is useful to recall Benjamin’s (2002b, 19) insistence that
[t]he Collector proves to be the true resident of the interior. He makes his concern the idealization of objects. To him falls the Sisyphean task of divesting things of their commodity character by taking possession of them.... The Collector delights in evoking a world... in which things are freed from the drudgery of being useful.
The interior was supposed to be isolated from the effects of commodification. Once objects or other elements entered it, they supposedly left the realm of the market in order to perform the higher task of expressing the self. But the effects of accumulation were capable of undermining such divisions; it was up to the collector to avoid such an eventuality through the proper choices and arrangements. Maupassant’s proposed antidote to crass materialism was Edmond de Goncourt: though Goncourt too was possessed by “the passion for the bibelot”—described by Maupassant as “a mania, an incurable sickness,” “this beloved vice, ruinous, gnawing, that everyone carries within himself”—he knew beauty when he saw it, and bought it “without haggling [sans marchander].”[20] Price tags, Maupassant implies, are meaningless for the true collector, who sees the object’s intrinsic qualities. This does not, however, prevent him from mentioning several times that the pieces in Goncourt’s collection would currently fetch astronomical sums, society having finally recognized what the collector knew all along.
Goncourt, on the other hand, was not so sanguine about his passion. He displayed a certain ambivalence, though perhaps exaggerated for effect, toward the fruit of his collecting: “my eyes roving over all the bric-a-brac that surrounds me, I often question myself about this passion for the bibelot that has rendered me miserable and happy all my life. And... finding in my memory those feverish days of insane buying from which one walked away still unsatisfied, feeling like one had been up all night gaming and suffering that bitter taste in the mouth... I would ask myself if this sickness were an accident, an evil contracted by chance, or whether it were rather some kind of hereditary illness, a contagion similar to madness or gout.”[21] This vocabulary of sickness is one of the reasons why Goncourt is a paradigmatic figure in Emily Apter’s “Cabinet Secrets: Fetishism, Prostitution, and the Fin de Siècle Interior.” In this article Apter, following a line of thought present in certain late nineteenth-century circles, links the “hyperbolic accumulation” of the fin de siècle interior to the notion of érotomanie, characterized as a “virulent form of attachment to things” (Apter 1989, 16, 14). The term was appropriated from medical discourse: érotomanie was a pathology created in the 1880s to designate an unreasonable, even violent attachment to another person (Apter 1989, 14). Unsurprisingly, the shift of the term—from one meaning excessive desire for a person to one meaning an excessive desire for objects—is paralleled by Goncourt’s explanation for the collecting craze: having explained that, in contrast to the very public life of the eighteenth century, that of the nineteenth revolves primarily around the private interior, he wrote that
In this enclosed, sedentary life, seated by the fireside, the human creature... has been led to want the four walls of his home agreeable, pleasant, amusing to the eyes; and these surroundings and this decor of his interior, he naturally searched for and found it in the pure art object or in the mass-produced art object, more accessible to everyone’s taste. At the same time, these less social habits brought with them a lessening of the role of women in masculine thought... man’s interest, straying from this charming being [woman], largely transferred itself to pretty inanimate objects, the passion for which assumed some of the nature and character of love.[22]
I think that this shift of the term is highly significant in that it establishes an important linkage/opposition: that of the living and the inanimate. This opposition is perhaps symptomatic of a deeper reason underlying the ambivalence, often veering toward outright distaste, of many people toward the late nineteenth-century construction of the domestic interior. It seems that they may have sensed that the accumulation and the plush surfaces indicated an assimilation of the person with the object. This idea of assimilation is central to Karl Marx’s description (1977, 164–165)—one that mirrors Goncourt’s remarks in some ways—of the fetishism of the commodity:
The mysterious character of the commodity-form consists therefore simply in the fact that the commodity reflects the social characteristics of men’s own labour as objective characteristics of the products of labour themselves.... It is nothing but the definite social relation between men themselves which assumes here, for them, the fantastic form of a relation between things.
Such conflation, along with the way in which furniture, bibelots, and other elements moved into the interior’s space, may even evoke an enlivening of the object—when Marx evokes the object’s transformation into the commodity, the object sprouts feet and a head—and a consequent deadening of the human inhabitant.[23] This would of course negate the idea that the interior could express its owner’s identity; in fact, the interior could be seen as subverting this notion, provoking a loss of identity.
I will now return to Atget’s Intérieurs Parisiens, début du XXe siècle, artistiques, pittoresques, et bourgeois as a revelatory site in which these oppositions (p)lay themselves out.[24] Atget sold this group of photographs, though not as an album, to the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris (BHVP) in 1910. Later that year the Musée Carnavalet would buy the photographs in album format, and the Bibliothèque Nationale (BN) bought a bound version in 1911. The subject matter was somewhat new for Atget: though he had produced documents for artists, architects, publishers, and other professions, he had been specializing in Vieux Paris—views of the historical aspects of the city—and the interiors were contemporary views. Their décor, however, is very fin de siècle. Although accumulation and eclecticism had peaked in the 1890s, the collections of bibelots, plush upholstery, and heavy drapery of this period are still visible in these photographs (Thornton 1984, 313).[25] One even recognizes the same rants, as in one critic’s response to the 1910 Salon d’Automne:
one sees the same furniture everywhere, in the ministries, in the bourgeois homes, in the workers’ homes, in the brothels. The salon of le grand 16 resembles the boss’s office: the same armchairs, same consoles, same carpets, same Diane de Falguières. An epoch without style? But it all holds together, goes together: stamped furniture from Saint-Antoine and paste jewels from the rue de la Paix.[26]
The album is unusual for another reason: its empty interiors. In Atget’s Seven Albums Molly Nesbit (1992, 124) insists that
[n]ormally portraits like these, of unpeopled rooms, were seen in private places, in family albums alongside other views of the home and family life, each of which had special personal significance. Homes of celebrities appeared in public places for the prying eyes of the fan as an extension of the genre.[27]
Nesbit’s characterization of Atget’s photographs of interiors as portraits is very compelling. The oblique angle used for most of these interiors is unlike the generally frontal view, which usually encompassed an entire wall of the room, of most interior decoration publications. Atget’s photographs also come much closer to the furniture and objects, centering upon them as one would a figure in a portrait.[28] Such qualities result in a claustrophobic, one might even say oppressive and imprisoning, atmosphere. This is particularly true of the lower-class interiors.
For, indeed, these interiors were characterized by class.[29] Instead of using the standard Monsieur F., Madame B., and so on, Atget included the profession of the resident in the caption, as well as the street on which they lived. Worker’s Interior, Rue Romainville (fig. 1) is one example, as is Interior of a Dramatic Artist, Rue Vavin (fig. 2).[30] The only interior identified by the owner’s full last name is that of Cécile Sorel, a famous actress at the Comédie Française. The profession would attribute the inhabitant and their interior to a certain class; the address no doubt aided in this process. Yet, as Nesbit points out, turning the pages of the album, one is struck by the sameness of these interiors, a sameness produced by accumulation, a similar eclecticism of style, and even the same objects.[31] According to Nesbit (1992, 120), “[t]he poorer interiors were furnished with less fine examples, but the idea was the same. Style had become more like a color or a pattern with historical connotations, a banalité susceptible in the end to dust.”
Even so there are visible differences, which Atget highlighted by juxtaposing interiors of different classes in several places.[32] This included the juxtaposition of the dramatic artist’s interior—his own, as will be explained below—with that of Cécile Sorel, clearly the most luxurious of the interiors. Aside from the more expensive bibelots and ornaments, richer interiors benefit from more light and space, the latter particularly emphasized by views that reveal a succession of several rooms. This type of view, aimed directly at the walls and their open doors rather than at dark corners, is generally reserved for the wealthy interiors. As Nesbit (1992, 120) puts it,
[t]he room lost all of its abstraction, its connotations of national genius and individual taste. These pictures were made for eyes that sized up other people’s homes, comparing the beauty of the décor, the number of square meters, and the amount of light (not to mention the ambiance, the neighborhood, and the number of windows and doors, which were taxed).
“Class, the album asserted, was founded on real material differences, which could be expressed through the evidence of addresses, antimacassars, period styles, and available light” (Nesbit 1992, 123). Identity is therefore based on objects in these images and only secondarily expressed through them. The high-minded notion that individuals could show their personalities, their subjectivities, through their interiors thus reveals itself to be nothing more than a question of money, those who have it and those who do not. This supposed refuge from the logic of the commodity was thus based on the very principles that made that logic distasteful.
Fig. 2. Eugène Atget, Interior of a Dramatic Artist, Rue Vavin (Intérieur d'un artiste dramatique, rue Vavin), 1910, photograph (printed on albumin paper) inset into the first page of the Musée Carnavalet's version of the album Intérieurs Parisiens. © Photothèque des musées de la ville de Paris / Clichè inconnu.
But what is perhaps most interesting about Atget’s association of the interior with class is that, in the instances where the actual interior can be identified, the captions are generally found to be misleading (Nesbit 1992, 120). Atget’s apartment, for example, played several roles, serving for all the views of the dramatic artist’s interior (figs. 2 and 3), for one
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February, 2007: The Montana House of Representatives issues a joint resolution standing against the nafta Superhighway, a series of roads running from Canada through the United States to Mexico that represents the first step in the erosion of our borders and the establishment of a hemispheric North American Union. No such superhighway exists.
October 13, 2008: British prime minister Gordon Brown calls for a new Bretton Woods so that the world’s dominant economies might craft a vision for the global economy. Interpreting Brown’s comments as a confession that the New World Order is real, Fox pundit Sean Hannity later proclaims that those conspiracy people had suggested that for years.
March, 2009: They put a black face on the New World Order. KRS-One, not exactly celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
January 7, 2012: Jay Z and Beyoncé welcome their first child into their lives. In an obvious nod to their overlords, they name their daughter Blue (Born Living Under Evil) Ivy (Illuminati’s Very Youngest) Carter.Replays for the CodeRage sessions are available. Here are mine from the Object Pascal / Delphi track, along with further information and source code links when applicable.
Replays for the CodeRage sessions are available on YouTube. Here are mine from the Object Pascal / Delphi track, along with further information and source code links when applicable.
Delphi Keynote
This is the video for the CoreRage 9 Delphi / Object Pascal opening keynote, which offers an overview of the status of the product. There is no source code for this session.
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What's New in the Object Pascal Language
This session focuses on recent features of the Object Pascal language, offering a roundup of dynamic arrays enhancements, record helpers for intrinsic types, and ARC, but also going back to generics, anonymous methods, and attributes. The source code can be browses online (or downloaded via subversion) at:
(Browsing) code.marcocantu.com/trac/marcocantu_delphi_sessions_demos/browser/coderage9/ObjectPascalLanguage
(SVN via HTTP) code.marcocantu.com/svn_public/marcocantu_delphi_sessions_demos/coderage9/ObjectPascalLanguage/
Here is the video:
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Modernizing Object Pascal VCL Applications
This session focuses on bringing new life to VCL applications by embracing features added or enhanced over the last few years, from styles to task bar buttons support, from Direct2D to controls updates, touching on REST client library and parallel library... and a few more topics.
(Browsing) code.marcocantu.com/trac/marcocantu_delphi_sessions_demos/browser/coderage9/VCLMigration
(SVN via HTTP) code.marcocantu.com/svn_public/marcocantu_delphi_sessions_demos/coderage9/VCLMigration/
Here is the video:
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Enterprise Mobility Services: Working with SQL Databases using Object Pascal
The focus of this session is the FireDAC database access in the new EMS architecture. In this case there is only one demo (as the other ships with the product), available for browsing at code.marcocantu.com/trac/marcocantu_delphi_sessions_demos/browser/EMS/EmsData1. The video is below:
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The Life of an Object Pascal Public Store App
Finally, this is s presentation offering my personal experience in building and publishing a public store app written in Delphi, and you can find the actual app at play.google.com/store/apps/details
The video is below:
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More from Fellow Speakers
Of course, there are many more sessions from other great internal speakers (including R&D sessions) and external speakers (including MVPs and Partners). The complete Object pascal track collection is a YouTube playlist. It was a great CodeRage, hope you can further enjoy the great content by looking to the session replays.When the first great Nordic wave rolled over the high mountains into India, it had already passed through many hostile races. Instinctively, as it were, the Indo-Aryans separated themselves from the dark alien peoples they encountered. The institution of caste was the outcome of this instinctive aversion. Varna means caste, but it also means color. The fair Aryans thus linked themselves to an acceptable version of the human type, and created a gulf between themselves as conquerors and the black-brown natives of pre-Aryan India. According to this opposition of blood and blood, the Aryans evolved a world-view which, for depth and range, cannot be surpassed by any philosophy even today, although admittedly this was only after a long battle against the constantly intruding ideas of the racially inferior aborigines. [Image: Alfred Rosenberg.] The period, for example, which lies between the heroic songs of the Vedas and that of the Upanishads is one both of expansion and of a simultaneous struggle against sorcery and degenerate ecstasies. The sacrificial cult of spirits and gods had begun to infiltrate. The priest, with his sacred ladle and firebrand, was not immune to these magical ideas. Every touch of the hand, every gesture, acquired a mystical significance... Ritualism developed between the mythological and the philosophical periods. Prayer, which with the true Brahman was only a powerful elevation of the heart, became an incantation to compel the gods by magic. In the midst of this murky process, the Atman doctrine appeared to light a ray of hope. It was not "an act of psychological development," which would be utterly meaningless... but represented a new awakening of the Aryan soul in the face of the superstitious and magical beliefs of the subjugated non-Aryans. This interpretation is at once confirmed when it is established that the great doctrine of the personal value of the spirit -- devoid of magic and the demonic -- originated in the courts of the kings and was diffused from the warrior caste. Although the Brahmans were later to become the teachers of the new idea of the essential Oneness of the world-soul and the individual soul, they were never able to conceal the origin of the new concept. Thus it comes about that instruction concerning Atman is given by King Ajatacatru to the Brahman Gargya Balake; by King Pravahna to the Brahman Aruni. Thanks to this aristocratic reassertion, the un-Aryan magic cult retreated further and further and did not proliferate once more until later when racial decay overtook even the India of the Kshatriyas. As a born master, the Indian felt his individual soul expand into the Atman which pervaded the entire universe and lived within his own breast as his innermost self. The concept of an impersonal nature, rich and virtually all-provident, could not divorce him from this metaphysical union. An active life, which was always demanded as an ineluctable duty of the world-renouncing thinker, gave place more and more to the aim of journeying into the universe of the soul. This transition to the pure light of knowledge led to the noble attempt to overcome nature through reason. There is no doubt that many Indians, as individual personalities and aristocrats, were successful in this quest. But for later men only the teaching remained, devoid of its vital racial prerequisite. Soon the rich, blood-based meaning of Varna was entirely lost. Today it is only a division between technical, professional, and other classes and has degenerated into the vilest travesty of the wisest idea in world history. The later Indian did not comprehend the three-fold significance Blood, Self, and Universe. He saw only the last two. And he perished in the attempt at isolated contemplation of the Self and in racial pollution, whose modern products are wretched mongrels, seeking healing for their crippled existence in the waters of the Ganges. After he had "overcome" the polarized ideas of self-universe by a rational choice in favor of the one part, the Indian monist also endeavored to eliminate the antithesis between them and violently to attain freedom through nature and master nature through freedom. He, therefore, was inclined to regard race and personality as being aspects of a higher concept and as illusionary. The late Indian monist came to see nature as something unreal -- an evil dream. The only reality for him was the world soul (Brahman) and its eternal reoccurrence in the individual soul (Atman). With this turning away from nature in general, the once clear idea and concept of race became ever more hazy. Philosophic dogma uprooted instinct from its earthly basis. If the only reality is the world-soul and if Atman is essentially one with it, then individuality vanishes and an undifferentiated universal oneness is achieved. The result was that Indian thought ceased to be creative. It grew rigid. The alien blood of the swarthy Sudras, who were now thought of as equally valuable bearers of Atman, seeped in. Thus was destroyed the original concept of the identity of caste and race. Bastardization was inevitable. Serpent and phallic cults of the aborigines began to flourish and spread. Symbolic interpretations of the hundred-armed Siva, like creeping vines in the primeval forest, begin to appear in a horrible bastard art. Only at the courts of the kings were the old heroic songs still heard and the lyricism of such as Kalidasa and other, mostly unknown, poets still honored. Shankhara attempted a new refurnishing of Indian philosophy. But it was in vain. Through too deep an intake of breath, the arteries of the race were ruptured. Aryan blood flowed out and trickled away. Only here and there, where the dark soil of ancient India sucks it up, does it still fertilize. But it leaves only a cultivated philosophical and technical orthodoxy which, in its later insane distortion, rules Hindu life today. We must not shortsightedly assert that the Indian first polluted his race and then surrendered his personality. It is rather the case that a metaphysical process took place and that this was manifested in a passionate yearning for the abolition of dualism as well as the reciprocally-conditioning lower forms of polarity. Viewed from the outside, philosophical acceptance of an equation of Atman-Brahman engendered racial decay. In other cultures, this decay was not consequent upon the establishment of a pervasive philosophy but was, simply, the result of uninterrupted miscegenation among two or more races. In such cases the essential characteristics of the various races were neither elevated nor strengthened but ended in mutual annihilation. Alfred Rosenberg, The Myth of the Twentieth Century, trans. Vivian Bird (Newport Beach, CA: Noontide Press, 1983), 8-10. Rosenberg, the NSDAP's official party ideologist, was hanged at Nuremberg in October 1946. His Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts was first published in 1930. The title above is editorial. For more on Rosenberg, read Peter Peel's introductory essay at Website Berlin. Also see Gnostic Origins of Alfred Rosenberg's Thought at the IHR site. Myth of the Twentieth Century can be purchased from Noontide Press.Key says he would vote for his deputy prime minister, Bill English, if he put his name forward for leader, after shock announcement that he is quitting
John Key, the New Zealand prime minister and leader of the National party, has resigned in a decision that has taken the country by surprise.
Key held a media conference in Wellington at 12.45pm local time, after informing the cabinet of his decision.
His resignation will be effective from 12 December, when National MPs will meet to select a new leader.
Key said he would vote for his deputy prime minister, Bill English, if he put his name forward. English briefly led the party to its worst-ever electoral defeat in the 2002 election, but has since served as a successful finance minister.
What next for New Zealand? National party loses John Key's personal appeal Read more
Key is widely regarded as one of the most popular prime ministers in New Zealand’s history. He was first elected in 2008, and recently marked his 10-year anniversary as leader of the National party.
He said stepping down was the hardest decision he had ever had to make, but there was “no way” he could have served a full fourth term.
This felt like the right time to go, he told reporters. “Sometimes you’ve got to make hard decisions to make right decisions,” he said, adding it was an opportunity to refresh the National party’s leadership of the country and hopefully clinch a fourth term.
“I think one of the reasons governments fail at that fourth-term hurdle is leaders don’t want to leave, everyone says ‘I’ve seen this before’. This is the chance to demonstrate newness about us.”
Glenn McConnell (@GlennMcCNZ) First ever John Key photo shoot from the FFX archive: Jane Sanders @PressNewsroom with Key at his old home, in Christchurch (2004). pic.twitter.com/tlC56desNu
He said he had a “pretty long discussion” about standing for a fourth term with his wife, Bronagh Key. “I don’t feel comfortable looking down the barrel of the camera and not being honest... On a family basis, I don’t think I could commit much longer than the next election.”
He denied that Bronagh had given him an ultimatum, but said his leadership had come at a cost to his family. “It’s been a decade of a lot of long, lonely nights for her and it’s the right time for me to come home.”
John Key kept the knife he reserved for himself perfectly concealed Read more
His children, Max and Stephie, had suffered an “extraordinary level of intrusion” along with the opportunities that came with being New Zealand’s “first family”.
In the past year, Key has had to answer to questions about his son’s burgeoning career as a DJ and social media personality. Spending more time with his family was a major factor in his decision to stand down, he said.
Key said he believed the mark of a good prime minister was one who left the country “in better shape than they found it”.
“Over time others will judge whether I’ve done that. All I can say is I gave it everything I had. I have left nothing in the tank.”
One of his regrets was not getting the Trans-Pacific Partnership “over the line”, as well as his failed bid to change the flag.
He said he considered his economic management of the country as a mark of success, even though New Zealand had weathered some crises during his government, including the Canterbury earthquake and the Pike River mining disaster. “Very few countries are in the financial position we’re in.”
John Key (@johnkeypm) It’s been an utter privilege and an honour to serve you as Prime Minister. https://t.co/4J4yk8HspF
But Winston Peters, the leader of the New Zealand First party, said Key had consistently misled the public about the state of the economy, and his resignation showed he was “unable to muddy the waters any more”.
Jennifer Lees-Marshment, an associate professor in politics and international relations at Auckland University, said: “Recently the normally high-performing Key brand has been undermined by denying a growing housing and traffic crisis as people in New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland, struggle to find a place to live and to travel to work.
“The Key brand has become disconnected and he has increasingly appeared to be someone who doesn’t understand what it is like to be an ordinary New Zealander any more.”
Key said he would remain in parliament long enough to avoid a byelection, but would step down as an MP before the next election. He said he stood down “hoping and believing New Zealand had been well served by the government I led”. He plans to remain in Auckland after leaving politics, and enter the commercial sector.
English, who has Key’s backing to replace him, praised the prime minister’s “intelligence, optimism and integrity” and said he would be “judged by history as one of New Zealand’s greatest leaders”. He said the National caucus would “now consider the implications of the prime minister’s decision”, and that Key “left behind a united team with plenty of talent”.
He told reporters at a press conference that he learned from Key he was considering leaving in September. English had not yet decided whether to stand for leadership, but would not rule it out.
Mei Heron (@meiheron) Bill English says many of his colleagues have benefited from John Key's positive leadership @rnz_news pic.twitter.com/9XftfaXp00
“Ultimately, that is a matter for the caucus... We’ve put a premium on stability and unity, and I don’t think you should expect to see the kind of public brawling that you see over leadership changes in Opposition.
“The country benefits from stable, clear direction and government.”
English pointed out that the caucus had only known about Key’s resignation “for a few hours”.
Say it ain’t so, bro – Australian PM
The leader of the Labour party, Andrew Little, and the Green party co-leader, Metiria Turei, both wished Key well for the future on Twitter.
Andrew Little (@AndrewLittleMP) John Key has served New Zealand generously and with dedication. I wish him and his family the best for the future.
Metiria Turei (@metiria) I fought every day against John's politics but always supported his right to be a dad & a husband first. I wish him and his family well.
Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said he was disappointed to hear from his “very good friend” that he was resigning.
“I sent him one very short message: ‘Say it ain’t so, bro’.”
Turnbull said Key was “one of the most outstanding national leaders in the world today”, whose influence was “out of proportion” to the size of the country.
“New Zealand has never boxed above its weight as much as it has done with John Key as its Prime Minister. He is truly outstanding.”
Turnbull’s “only consolation”, he said, was that Key’s resignation meant he might see more of him.
Lyndal Curtis (@lyndalcurtis) Just remembered this happened. pic.twitter.com/1nEzOaxagl
When Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott in September last year, he singled out Key’s leadership as an inspiration.
Abbott also praised Key’s “fine innings” on Twitter.
Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) Fine innings from John Key. Not
Many pollies retire unbeaten on a double ton.
Australia’s opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said Key had been “a good friend to Australia” and wished him well.
Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) John Key has been a good friend to Australia. I wish him and his family all the best.
The New Zealand dollar fell more than a quarter of a cent after the announcement.Eight people were rescued on Wednesday after a U.S. Navy plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Japan.
The plane was carrying 11 people, according to the Navy, and rescue crews have so far managed to rescue eight in "good condition."
Search and rescue operations are underway for the other three.
The Navy transporter plane went down in the ocean just southeast of Okinawa as it was en route to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in the Philippine Sea, where it was operating as part of a military exercise with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said in a statement.
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The names of the crew members are currently being withheld, but the Navy said an investigation into the incident would be conducted.
President Trump commented on the situation Wednesday morning tweeting that the administration is "monitoring the situation."
"The @ USNavy is conducting search and rescue following aircraft crash. We are monitoring the situation. Prayers for all involved," Trump tweeted.
The crash is the fifth in a string of incidents involving the 7th Fleet since January. Those incidents include two collisions involving guided missile destroyers that left 17 U.S. sailors dead.
Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, the head of the 7th Fleet, was relieved of duty in August.
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Mel Watt. (AP Photo/ J. Scott Applewhite) Ad Policy
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had a simple demand for his Republican colleagues: give all seven stalled nominees to the executive branch an up-or-down vote, or Democrats will change the Senate rules so all executive branch nominees are immune from a filibuster.
Tuesday morning, Reid announced that Republicans caved almost entirely. According to a Senate aide, the deal is as follows: all seven positions will receive an up-or-down vote, but the two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board must be switched out for two alternate people whom the White House is free to pick. Nothing in the agreement precludes Democrats from changing the rules in the future if Republican obstruction continues.
Right away, the Senate agreed to move forward with the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and with Republican help that motion got seventy-one votes.
One might raise two quibbles with this deal: the first is that the two NLRB nominees are replaced. However, I am told that not only will Republicans have no say in their replacement, but organized labor will have a very strong voice in this process, and that the nominees must be fast-tracked and approved by August 27. While that is certainly unfortunate for the two individual nominees in question, the final outcome could be an even more labor-friendly NLRB.
Nothing is official until it’s official, so this bears watching. But based on what we know today, the nominee rotation here was simply a face-saving measure for Republicans.
Another concern is that the GOP has still reserved the right to filibuster future Obama nominations—and that is certainly a valid worry, given past history.
From a political perspective, Reid couldn’t really pull the “nuclear” trigger after Republicans gave him everything he asked for. So the paramount concern for progressives here is that Reid must keep this threat alive if Republicans block another executive branch nomination.
Reid has the fifty-one votes to change the rules and prevent filibusters on executive nominations—or, at the very least, Republicans certainly believe that he does—and if Reid stays strong and operates with this leverage, then effectively he has already performed the nuclear option.
An excellent test of this resolve will come shortly. On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee will vote on the nomination of Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The full Senate will then consider the nomination. Republicans have not raised a single valid concern with Watt’s credentials, but nevertheless most oppose him and Wall Street analysts think that there’s only a 25 percent chance of confirmation.
At stake is potential relief for millions of distressed homeowners, which will come if Watt is confirmed and enacts principal reduction on underwater mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Republicans oppose that policy, and thus oppose Watt, which gets to the heart of the debate over executive branch nominations. Many people might tune out this debate as too procedural or inside baseball, but what’s really going on is that Senate Republicans are using fundamentally undemocratic procedures to block things that Americans have already voted on and approved.
Corday is a good example, and one that Reid brought up at the Center for American Progress on Monday. He noted that Wall Street “ruined” places like Las Vegas, Nevada in 2008 with the housing bubble and subsequent crash—and the small-d democratic response was the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
That bill survived the ugly legislative process, and became law—except, for 730 days, Republicans kept Cordray from being installed as the director. They raised “not one” quibble with Cordray himself, as Reid noted, but rather demanded a wholesale change in the way the CFPB operates that would neuter what it was created to do.
That’s a complete short-circuiting of the democratic process. The same is true with the other nominees the GOP has been holding up—Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Thomas Perez to lead the Department of Labor, and the NLRB nominees. The US Chamber of Commerce, big finance and big oil were all heavily invested in blocking these appointments, and are no doubt upset today—but their real opportunity to stop them was in 2012.
This is the same situation with Watt. Running up to the presidential election last year, the Obama administration made it clear that it backed principal reduction at Fannie and Freddie. Americans voted, and re-elected Obama, and also elected a bunch of Democrats to the Senate. Obama then nominated Watt to head FHFA, and a majority of the Senate will approve that nomination.
Republicans have not raised one issue with Watt’s experience or credentials, so how can they block this nomination? If they do, the Democrats’ resolve on the filibuster will be tested very quickly. Watt deserves an up-or-down vote.
What is at stake if Mel Watt fails to get confirmed?Fiber upgrades gave Chattanooga speed and made Kansas City smarter, but there’s no need to get on a plane to find an example of how faster internet could transform a local community.
A little less than an hour up the road, the town of Westminster and Canadian company Ting are installing a gigabit fiber network.
Officials in the Carroll County town of less than 20,000 decided to build their own fiber network after dissatisfaction with the usual options of Comcast, Verizon, satellite, etc.
Municipal broadband has recently seen an uptick in national interest.
During the competitive bidding process, Westminster officials found a company in Ting that is specifically aiming to provide internet in small towns. The Toronto-based company, whose parent company sold domain names and has its own history in mobile phones, is aiming for places where there is less competition from incumbents, said Ting Director of Networks Adam Eisner. Along with Westminster, the company is building fiber networks in Charlottesville, Va., and Holly Springs, N.C.
The Westminster arrangement is a public-private partnership, where the town owns the network and sells bonds to fund the build-out. Ting leases the network to provide internet service. It’s being built in phases, and a pilot in two areas is online with a second in development.
During our visit last week, Ting’s city manager for Westminster, Valerie Givoagnoni, provided a demo that showed how fast Chef’s Table can load with the “crazy fast fiber internet,” as advertised. In conversation with Givoagnoni and Westminster City Council President Robert Wack, it was apparent that Westminster is looking beyond just Netflix.
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“In a world that is increasingly dependent on data everyday, if you don’t have good broadband you’re going to be left behind,” said Wack, a major force in the fiber effort. “Westminster is not going to be left behind.”
The network is as much about building a local tech community as it is about technical capabilities. While Carroll County is known as a rural area, about two-thirds of the town’s residents commute to cities like Baltimore or D.C.
Wack sees providing a place for them to telecommute or stay and start a business as key to the city for the next generation.
“We know there are tech people who work here, we want them to live and play here, too,” Wack said.
On that front, Ting’s involvement goes beyond providing fast internet. Last week, the company officially opened a makerspace near the center of town. It’s the first of a model it would like to replicate, Eisner said.
The giant scissors from the ribbon-cutting won’t be staying, but the space has tools like a 3D printer and scanner (a laser engraver was also en route). While makerspace officials are going to let demand drive classes and programming, Ting wants it to become a gathering point for residents that may be tinkering at home, or going to Baltimore for meetups.
“We want the community to realize we’ve got good internet, but we’ve got other tools,” Givoagnoni said. “When you partner with the internet, the possibilities are endless.”Residents in Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, were surprised to see on Saturday that the uniformed urban management officers patrolling their neighborhood were foreigners.
The three foreigners, from South Africa, Central African Republic and Afghanistan, are actually fulltime college students at Anhui University, who were recruited as volunteers by the Luyang district urban administrative department to work with other officers who are known in Chinese as "chengguan."
Xie Fengqun, an official from the government office of the Xinghuacun Community, told the Global Times it recently began a community outreach program that last month also saw city management officers trade roles with two melon farmers.
"Through interaction with different social groups, we hope more people will experience the difficulties facing chengguan," said Xie.
The three volunteers worked for just one day, and are only paid a stipend to cover their transportation, said Xie.
Stanley Chipumbu, the volunteer chengguan from South Africa, said he's been in Hefei for four years and is an economics and finance major. He told the Global Times he took part because he wanted to help improve the appearance of the city.
Chipumbu said when he saw some cyclists stop in the middle of the road to talk on their phone, or some restaurant owners place chairs and tables on the sidewalk, he would first warmly greet them and politely tell them they were breaking rules.
"Some people just did not realize such actions were causing inconvenience to others," Chipumbu said. "Both foreigners and Chinese people should be responsible for improving the city's image."
Xie said the foreign volunteers' use of humor was something the fulltime Chinese chengguan could learn.
"Their good sense of humor often made people laugh, and people were very willing to cooperate with them," she said, adding that the volunteer chengguan spoke very fluent Chinese.
"Some people think we're causing them trouble, but if we treat them politely and with respect, they will follow our instructions," said Chipumbu.
Many Chinese residents were so surprised to see foreigners in uniform that they followed them all day and even asked to take photos with them, said Xie.
"I think the program is good because it shows that the local authorities are willing to interact with the public and show us what their job is like," Xu Feng, a 25-year-old engineer in Hefei, told the Global Times.The mid-1950s was a revolutionary time for the American driver. The Federal Freeway Highway Act of 1956 would radically alter the American landscape with the largest public works projects the country had ever seen. President Eisenhower’s expansion of freeways criss-crossing the country inspired a lot of Americans to think about what the future of transportation might look like. It was an era of drive-ins, tailfins and Googie architecture.
The September, 1955 issue of Reading Automobile Club Magazine – a magazine from the town of Reading, Pennsylvania associated with AAA – included an article by Michael Frome titled, “A Travel Editor Speculates: If Today Were 1965!”
The piece mentions some staples of futurism from the time, such as the four-day work week, which would allow citizens to take full advantage of the benefits resulting from greater mobility:
While the four-day work week is not yet universal, most citizens enjoy the pleasures of added three-day weekends during the year. These extra days, as well as monthlong vacations, are used in the pursuit of our studies, hobbies and travels — and often all three are indulged at the same time. On the one hand, there is a tremendous outgoing of travelers to other continents, but, on the other, the national parks are being visitied this year by 75,000,000 persons and the national forests by an equally heavy volume.
Frome also quotes Robert F. Kohr, director of Ford’s engineering staff about the future of the automobile:
“Today’s developments, no matter how advanced,” said then, “will be antiquated by 1965 — though that is just a little too far in the future for any accurate prediction. “The passenger car engine probably will be lighter, smaller and more compact. It should have greater combustion efficiency, higher compression ratios and improved ignition. If some of today’s knotty metallurgical problems are solved, a gas turbine power plant, weighing roughly half as much as the reciprocating engine, may be used. “Tomorrow’s automobile will be a highly dependable and durable vehicle, requiring fewer repairs and less frequent servicing. Strong, light metals, such as magnesium and titanium, may perform increasingly important roles in engine and body construction. “Visibility will be enhanced, probably by smaller structural supports and greater use of glass — although car glass may be tough enough to support the roof itself, and impregnated to filter out the burning rays of the sun. Stylists will attempt to lower the future automobile, imparting a longer, wider and faster look. Sliding car doors are a possibility. Electronic controls will be popular.”
The piece mentions some of the industries that would be expanded around the highway system to service all of the drivers participating in America’s favorite fossil fuel-based pastime. Writing from the futuristic vantage point of 1965, Frome continues:It’s amazing to see the British finally begin to talk about our feelings. But even as we mark this year’s Mental Health Awareness week, there’s still an elephant in the therapist’s waiting room: alcohol.
The physical health risks of drinking are well known. Less discussed are the mental health consequences. These are real and significant, and seem to be getting worse. For instance, the number of people admitted to hospital with alcohol-related behavioural disorders has risen in the last 10 years by 94% for people aged between 15 and 59, and by 150% for people over 60.
Alcohol played a key part in my own problems but it took me years to come out of denial about it.
Men need a drink to open up? What a dangerously self-fulfilling belief| Tom Usher Read more
I never drank in the morning or in parks, just in a British way, bingeing along with, well, everybody else. I didn’t question it because no one else seemed concerned.
Presenting to therapists over the years with anxiety, patterns of self-destructive compulsive behaviour, swinging between thinking I was the most important and the most worthless person on the planet, they barely asked how much I was tipping down my neck. And it was a lot.
The more I drank to medicate my low self-esteem, the worse my anxiety got and the more I drank to dull it. Years passed and I couldn’t see I was stuck right in the classic “cycle of addiction”.
Eventually a friend of mine who had gone into Overeaters Anonymous sheepishly suggested I might have a problem. I resented it hugely. I was successful with a good job. There was no problem.
Eventually, it was a work incident that woke me up. As editor of Attitude magazine, I believed it would be culturally significant to have Harry Potter on the cover of a gay magazine. When Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry in the film franchise, agreed, the only gap in his schedule for a shoot was early on a Sunday morning, which was annoying. Saturday night was my favourite time to go out. But fine. I could do this.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘The next thing I remember was waking up, empty cans everywhere, with a bunch of messages on my phone asking where I was.’ Photograph: David Jones/PA
I decided not to drink the day before. No wine at lunch, nor during the play I went to see, and then straight home. All went well. Just as I was about to go to bed, ready for the shoot the next day, curiosity got the better of me and I logged on to a dating site, just to check my messages.
The next thing I remember was waking up, empty cans everywhere, with a bunch of messages on my phone asking where I was. Daniel and his publicist couldn’t have been nicer when I arrived with my lame excuse, insisting I go home to bed and that the shoot would be OK, and he found time later in the week to do our interview. Disaster was averted but it was the wake-up call I needed.
Alcohol-related mental health problems are a huge issue for older people Read more
Since finally giving up alcohol, I’ve learned many things. First, that addiction is everywhere. That it is not about the drinking (or whatever the substance is), but the feelings underneath. Usually there is some kind of childhood trauma that needs to be addressed. I’ve learned that it isn’t about when or where you drink but about whether you can easily stop once you’ve started. I’ve also learned that there is an astonishing lack of understanding about addiction in general, not just from the public but sometimes by professionals who, being human too, often have their own issues to deal with.
The positive news is that despite alcohol being a socially acceptable carnage-causing drug that is pushed on us from an early age, it too is beginning to be talked about less furtively. Brad Pitt spoke in an interview last week about his struggles, Colin Farrell recently spoke on Ellen about being 10 years sober. Daniel Radcliffe himself has spoken about his problem drinking.
Last year I did another interview, with Robbie Williams and singer John Grant talking about their life-saving experiences of recovery from alcohol, drugs and sex addiction – and this time, I wasn’t late for it. Studies continually show a link between alcohol abuse and violence, domestic abuse and suicide, so talking about it is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
The British drink too much. Alcohol must be next on the mental health agenda.Khaama Press, January 17, 2015
Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock minister-designate
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Regardless, the fear and loathing of density, indeed, of all things urban, is also palpable. The advent of Rob Ford makes that painfully clear. But when the mayor declared the war on the car was over, he might as well have decreed an end to time. The car may be here to stay, but not so the assumptions about its pre-eminence. The basic need to get around will force our hand. Rob Ford notwithstanding, that process is under way. But the situation on the ground, and in the towers, is moving fast. Toronto can no longer keep up with itself. A backlash mayor was inevitable, perhaps, even understandable. But he’s not the only one who can’t see the city for the condos.Introduction
I work for a financial publishing company. Which means that sometimes, I get some random swag from companies, brokers or mutual funds. Usually pens or those little squeezy stress ball things. That stuff sucks.
But one time, a company sent me their employee cookbook. It sucks, but in a completely awesome way.
Basically, this company has a lot of potluck events. The cookbook's intro tells a charming story of favorite dishes and taste-offs and like, five whole requests for a company cookbook.
So everyone made their favorite recipe which was then professionally and earnestly photographed using lots of ugly table linens and fake flowers. Employees were encouraged to tell the story of the recipe ("I done found this recipe on the back of the cereal box") and give a suggested wine pairing ("Boone's").
I also think everyone was required to use at least one package of shredded cheddar cheese. Just a guess though.
Enter GalleryBack in the good old days, PC games used a resolution of 320×200, 640×480, or maybe 800×600 for the game play. This was even true for Windows games. Then it was common to have a 15″ CRT monitor which could display a large number of different resolutions with only little loss in quality.
Today, we have nice and shiny LCD displays, which are perfect for common office tasks. But with a horizontal resolution of e.g. 1600 pixel, you have a problem when playing these old games. Basically, you have two options when running your games with Wine: Scale the game’s small resolution to your display’s physical resolution (which looks ugly depending on the interpolation and the display’s aspect ration, e.g. widescreen displays) or run the game in a small window which makes a game designed for fullscreen displaying as large as your palm. No fun playing games here…
As far as I know, there is no possibility to scale a Windows program in Wine to make it more readable for high-resolution displays. However, I was able to create an ugly hack which allows us to “zoom” into these programs. The basic idea is to set up a dedicated X server with a fixed resolution for the Windows program and use a VNC connection (which can scale images) to get an enlarged view on this program.
If you like to follow the examples below, you will need to have the following programs installed:
Xephyr, which is part of your X server installation
Wine, installed and configured to run programs fullscreen (deselect “Emulate a virtual desktop” in winecfg)
x11vnc
RealVNC, TightVNC, or any other VNC client (server component not required here)
Most distributions such as Gentoo Linux provide packages for above programs.
Getting started
To run Windows programs within a scaled VNC session, the following four easy steps are neccessary. You can start each program in the background by appending an ampersand (&) or opening a terminal (simplifies debugging if something doesn’t work).
Start Xephyr to initiate a nested X server session. Set the resolution to match the requirements of your game (here, it is set to 640×480). I observed that some programs crash if the GLX extension is activated, so I disabled it here. The display number is set to 5 (arbitrarily).
Xephyr -once -screen 640x480 -extension GLX :5 Start Wine and your Windows program. Take care to use the display provided by the new Xephyr instance.
DISPLAY=:5 wine path/to/your/windows/program Start the VNC server which attachs to Xephyr’s display. Only connections from localhost will be accepted (for security purposes) and the scaling factor will be set to 2 (change to other factor to match your requirements). Option “:nb” speeds up the scaling.
x11vnc -localhost -scale 2:nb -display :5 Start the VNC client which connects to the server (the following example is for RealVNC).
vncviewer -FullColor -ZlibLevel 0 localhost
Well, this is rather cumbersome, but it works 🙂
Shell script
Here is a shell script which performs above operations:
#!/bin/sh XEPHYR_BIN=/usr/bin/Xephyr
WINE_BIN=/usr/bin/wine
WINPROG_BIN=/path/to/windows/program.exe
X11VNC_BIN=/usr/bin/x11vnc
VNCVIEWER_BIN=/usr/bin/vncviewer
XDISPLAY=:5 # start Xephyr in background
# note: *with* GLX extension wine crashs sometimes
${XEPHYR_BIN} -once -screen 640x480 -extension GLX ${XDISPLAY} &
XEPHYR_PID=$!
sleep 2 # start wine
DISPLAY=${XDISPLAY} ${WINE_BIN} "${WINPROG_BIN}" &
WINE_PID=$! # start VNC server
${X11VNC_BIN} -localhost -scale 2:nb -display :5 &
VNCSERVER_PID=$!
sleep 3 # RealVNC
## ${VNCVIEWER_BIN} -FullColor -ZlibLevel 0 localhost &
# TightVNC
${VNCVIEWER_BIN} -compresslevel 0 -nojpeg localhost &
# keep for both RealVNC and TightVNC
VNCVIEWER_PID=$! wait ${WINE_PID}
sleep 1
kill ${VNCVIEWER_PID}
sleep 1
kill ${VNCSERVER_PID}
sleep 1
kill ${XEPHYR_PID}
AdvertisementsI am not a hijabi. My choice is not religious or political, but rather cultural. Upon my conversion to Islam, it didn’t take too long before I was asked when I would wear hijab, and I was taught how to “properly” wear it. I must admit that I contemplated it for a couple of years. In my community in Northern Alberta, hijab-wearing converts had access to a whole different level of community relationships.
However, the more time passed, the more I realized that hijab was not for me. I had no cultural reference for veiling, which made the hijab feel like a “foreign” garment. Yet, later on, a more compelling reason appeared. I personally felt that by wearing hijab I was appropriating an experience that wasn’t mine. I am not suggesting that hijab-wearing converts are necessarily “appropriating” anything, but as someone who did not see it as a religious obligation, wearing hijab meant a completely different thing. As a convert who had a whole other life, I would be appropriating a garment that meant so much for many other women, whose experience of the hijab included Islamophobia and discrimination in Canada and other countries. In my view, their experience of such phenomena shouldn’t be washed out by converts like me who do not carry the same “baggage.”
However, my choices continue to be questioned and my “Muslimness” is often overlooked (something I wrote about on my personal blog):
“I noticed a few of my convert friends were struggling. I am not sure if it is a new trend, or if it has always been there, but these days a lot of born-Muslims are concerned about how Muslim converts are. A few days ago, a fellow convert married to a South Asian Muslim expressed her discomfort at the fact that classmates question her children not only about their “weird” looks (the mother is Caucasian) but also about their “Muslimness” since their mother is a convert. Another close friend has given up all together. The major problem for her was the hijab thing, people questioned her all the time about not wearing the hijab full-time and eventually it became such an issue that some fellow Muslims (even coverts) decided to stop inviting her to social events for not complying with the standard. A fellow working convert, married to a Lebanese Muslim, has her “Muslimness” continuously questioned because she “allows” her daughter to professional perform Highlands dance.“
My favorite part of this process, sarcastically speaking, is that there are people out there who still capitalize on the issue of the hijab and what it means to be a “proper” Muslim woman. This happens in waves, some months I get to see more images, videos and articles than others.
“We’re American Muslims (Any Peaceful person who submits to the Creator alone) here in the United States and it is our pleasure and privilege to help educate and share the true message of Pure Islam without cultural, traditional or nationalistic prejudices and corruption.”
A few days ago a Facebook acquaintance who is convinced that I am “losing” my path sent me a link to the Deen Show, along with an image that was in just plain bad taste. As you may imagine, the Deen Show wasn’t for me. Their About Us Page states:
The Deen Show is available over satellite and cable in different countries, and they have numerous videos and posts in their site, including “Secrets of a Muslim Women: Unveil the Mystery” and the “Polygamy Survival Guide.” The site is led by a “Brother” by the name of Eddie, and there is a video about his life story, which can be purchased through their site.
After years of working for Muslimah Media Watch, there are very few things that surprise me about how some Muslims and non-Muslims try to guilt Muslim women into behaving in certain ways. Tasnim recently wrote about Jeremy Browne and the veil debate in Britain while Afia discussed “99 Hijab Stories” a few months ago. Some resort to law and policy-making, while others bring “success” stories to compel certain behaviours; some choose to shame women for wearing hijab wrong (Woodturtle also wrote about this a while ago), others suggest that we “Keep Calm and Wear Hijab,” and yet others resort to creating fear of hell, death, or unwanted attentions.
Images like this always make me cringe. I guess they are meant to, but I just don’t see how threatening or forcing Muslim women into wearing or not wearing hijab makes people feel “good” about themselves, or like they are actually helping…Let me tell you, they are not. A lot of Muslim women make very deliberate choices to wear or not to wear certain clothing. Whether we like these choices or not, guilting Muslim women into wearing hijab does not do anyone any favours.uboats ED Tester / ED Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: East Sierra Posts: 5,281
Good News! F15C AFM nearly completes from "BelSimTek"
http://www.belsimtek.com/news/1459/
BelSimTek Nearing Completion of F-15C Advanced Flight and Engine Models
The original F-15C flight model currently featured in DCS was developed over a decade ago and represents an earlier generation of simulation technology. Despite demonstrating generally correct aerodynamic performance under normal flight conditions and providing great gameplay, current user expectations, available computer power, and developer expertise demand a higher level of fidelity. As a result, a comprehensive advanced flight model of the primary U.S. jet fighter, the F-15C Eagle, has been under development for DCS.
The complete aerodynamics model accounts for mass, force, and moment interactions of the aircraft’s elements as subjected to airflow. Unlike the previous model, which regarded the aircraft as a single point of focus, the new flight model consists of individual aircraft elements carefully tuned to reflect their unique aerodynamic characteristics and joined together to determine the sum vector of the airframe’s momentum.
Over a year a hard work has gone into the development of this model and now it is finally ready for initial external testing. The primary element of the new model is accurate aerodynamic performance that closely matches the characteristics of the real F-15C Eagle throughout the flight envelope, including in critical angles of attack, stalls, and spins. Maneuverability characteristics are also correctly modeled throughout the flight envelope, providing accurate performance in acceleration, available sustained G, maximum airspeeds, maximum altitudes and other characteristics.
Of course even real aircraft differ somewhat from their documented performance characteristics due to slight individual variability, but we have made every effort to ensure you are truly immersed in the experience of driving – without a doubt – one of the best fighters of the 20th century.
In addition to the aerodynamics model, the flight model includes a new engine model, based on the F100-PW-220 engine with increased dry and afterburner thrust. The model accounts for inverted and negative G flight effects and features a special afterburner component model. The flight model also includes a new fuel system model as well as nosewheel steering and wheel brake component models.
Special attention was paid to accurately recreate the design of the F-15C flight control system, including Pitch Ratio control adjusted for airspeed and altitude, Aileron/Rudder Interconnect (ARI), Control Augmentation System (CAS), Attitude and Altitude autopilots, and the Pitch Trim Compensator (PTC).
The new model significantly improves the entire flying experience, making special flight conditions like air to air refueling, landing, and edge of the envelope flying far more dynamic, exciting, and even more challenging. Straight and level flight no longer feels like “flying on rails” while maneuvering flight provides a sensation of the power and control in your hands.
At this stage of development, we can confidently provide a highly accurate aerodynamics model of the F-15C accompanied by a partly reproduced systems model.
The estimated release date of the new flight model for F-15C Eagle DCS module is late March, 2014.
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Updated:
what about su-27 afm? I do not think ed will allow f-15c afm vs su-27 sfm I just found this news from belsim's webBelSimTek Nearing Completion of F-15C Advanced Flight and Engine ModelsThe original F-15C flight model currently featured in DCS was developed over a decade ago and represents an earlier generation of simulation technology. Despite demonstrating generally correct aerodynamic performance under normal flight conditions and providing great gameplay, current user expectations, available computer power, and developer expertise demand a higher level of fidelity. As a result, a comprehensive advanced flight model of the primary U.S. jet fighter, the F-15C Eagle, has been under development for DCS.The complete aerodynamics model accounts for mass, force, and moment interactions of the aircraft’s elements as subjected to airflow. Unlike the previous model, which regarded the aircraft as a single point of focus, the new flight model consists of individual aircraft elements carefully tuned to reflect their unique aerodynamic characteristics and joined together to determine the sum vector of the airframe’s momentum.Over a year a hard work has gone into the development of this model and now it is finally ready for initial external testing. The primary element of the new model is accurate aerodynamic performance that closely matches the characteristics of the real F-15C Eagle throughout the flight envelope, including in critical angles of attack, stalls, and spins. Maneuverability characteristics are also correctly modeled throughout the flight envelope, providing accurate performance in acceleration, available sustained G, maximum airspeeds, maximum altitudes and other characteristics.Of course even real aircraft differ somewhat from their documented performance characteristics due to slight individual variability, but we have made every effort to ensure you are truly immersed in the experience of driving – without a doubt – one of the best fighters of the 20th century.In addition to the aerodynamics model, the flight model includes a new engine model, based on the F100-PW-220 engine with increased dry and afterburner thrust. The model accounts for inverted and negative G flight effects and features a special afterburner component model. The flight model also includes a new fuel system model as well as nosewheel steering and wheel brake component models.Special attention was paid to accurately recreate the design of the F-15C flight control system, including Pitch Ratio control adjusted for airspeed and altitude, Aileron/Rudder Interconnect (ARI), Control Augmentation System (CAS), Attitude and Altitude autopilots, and the Pitch Trim Compensator (PTC).The new model significantly improves the entire flying experience, making special flight conditions like air to air refueling, landing, and edge of the envelope flying far more dynamic, exciting, and even more challenging. Straight and level flight no longer feels like “flying on rails” while maneuvering flight provides a sensation of the power and control in your hands.At this stage of development, we can confidently provide a highly accurate aerodynamics model of the F-15C accompanied by a partly reproduced systems model.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last edited by uboats; 03-06-2014 at 09:22 PM. Reason: updateMichael Flynn announced his resignation as President Donald Julius Trump’s National Security Advisor just in time to spend Valentine’s Day with his one true love of sharing conspiracy theories.
Michael Flynn, who shared various articles peddling baseless conspiracy theories before becoming the shortest-serving National Security Advisor, said he was looking forward to being reunited with “recklessly sharing conspiracy theories and general misinformation on social media.”
Recklessly sharing conspiracy theories and general misinformation on social media has become a bit of a pastime for U.S. citizens, but for the baby boomer generation, and Flynn specifically, it has taken on a flare of romance.
More and more people are sharing fake information as a substitute for the missing thrill of intimate contact, according to Nathaniel Smartypants an esteemed sociologist from Stanford’s Honorable Institute for Totally Fabricated, Unreliable and Cooky Knowledge.
“It is well established through MRI research that the thrill of thoughtlessly passing around information on the internet activates the same region of the brain as passionate love making,” said Smartypants. “Basically, our hypothesis is their junk is dilapidated.”
At press time, Flynn was reading InfoWars.
Follow Stubhill News for all the newest news.Argument turns into bloody mess for drugged up couple
At around 11:30 on the morning of April 11th, Pattaya police and emergency services were called to a small village on the outskirts of Pattaya, where a bloody mess was waiting for them.
Police had received reports of an argument between a married couple by worried locals, after things turned violent.
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Arriving at the scene, police found both parties, the husband, aged 47, and the wife, aged 19, both with nasty injuries, although nothing life threatening.
The younger wife, known as Benz, was waiting outside the room with injuries to her head, arm and leg. Her husband had locked himself in the rented room and refused to come out or even open the door for up to an hour.
Eventually he gave in to police requests and both were treated for their injuries before being questioned by police.
According to the couple, the argument started when Miss benz was chatting on her phone using the Line app, and her husband had caught her smiling. He asked to see the phone, at which point Benz became all defensive, and refused to show him.
He decided to take matters into his own hand and smash a porcelain money box over his wife’s head, smashing it to pieces. Benz then reacted by grabbing a nearby knife and slashing her husband with it before running out of the room and calling for help.
Police then decided to take a further inspection of the room, which is when they came across a small stash of ICE, the Thai name for meth amphetamine.
The couple were taken down to the police station but no charges have been reported as of yet.Evolution of the rhinoceros? Preposterous!
By Jeffrey Dykes and David Catchpoole
The Rhinoceros—what a name, and what an animal! The name comes from two Greek words: ρίς/ρίνος (rhis/rhinos) meaning ‘nose’ and κέρας (keras) meaning ‘horn’. With their horns and their imposing size, rhinos are a sight to behold. Weighing around 3,600 kg (8,000 lb)1, the rhinoceros is the second largest land animal after the elephant—with the hippopotamus third.
Photo by Paul Salmon African rhinos look smooth-skinned, while in Asian species the skin hangs down in heavy folds. This is so pronounced in the Indian rhinoceros that the plate-like folds give the appearance of armour. What’s more, the skin is covered with tubercles, hard lumps that superficially look like rivets in the ‘armour’.
Very little can withstand the force of a charging rhino. Railroad locomotives have been attacked by rhinos and even derailed!2 (A group of rhinos is sometimes called a ‘crash’—which seems apt!) Despite their great bulk and ‘stubby’ legs, they can run faster than an Olympic sprinter—incredibly, the black rhino can reach speeds of up to 55 km/hr (35 mph).3
Rhinos use their horns for sparring with each other, digging for edible plants, and for defense (all rhinos are vegetarian). Indian and Javan rhinos have a single horn; the Sumatran (or hairy) rhino, and the African white and black rhinos have two. But unlike the ‘true horns’ of cattle and goats, which have a core of bone and are attached to the skeletal structure, rhino horn is made of densely-packed keratin fibres—the same substance as our fingernails and hair.
Rhinos are said to have poor eyesight, but an excellent sense of smell. Their ears can swivel independently of each other and can pick up the faintest sounds from any direction. Their three-toed feet are large (which helps to spread the load they carry), and leave a characteristic three-lobed footprint much like an ace of clubs. As in other heavyweight mammals like elephants and hippos, rhinoceros legs are almost straight—the ideal anatomy to prevent buckling when the animal is standing.
Courtesy of Oriental-arms Probably the biggest threat to the rhino is poaching for its horn. Traditionally, processed rhino horn has been believed to cure a range of maladies. However, today’s demand is largely from Arab buyers in Yemen wanting rhino horn for elaborately-carved dagger handles—a symbol of status and wealth in that country.
Did the rhino evolve?
The rhinoceros is routinely described as a ‘prehistoric’ beast that has inhabited the earth for ‘millions of years’. But such language presumes evolution is true,4 and that rhinos are descendants of the first mammals to have evolved hooves (such as cattle and sheep). Evolutionists say that the horse and the tapir are the rhino’s closest relatives—all are assigned to the perissodactyls, or ‘odd-toed ungulates’ (ungulate means ‘hoofed animal’). Evolutionists believe that perissodactyls preceded the artiodactyls, the ‘even-toed ungulates’, which include animals as diverse as the deer, pig, camel and hippopotamus.
If evolution were true, one would expect to find numerous transitional forms in the fossil record, linking the presumed common ancestor to all these animals. But where are they? Such conjecture—and that is what evolution is—does not bear up under scrutiny. Evolutionists themselves warn of the lack of evidence for evolution of the horse—supposedly a close relative of the rhino, and long paraded as a textbook ‘proof’ of evolution—in the words of one leading evolutionist, the textbook story is ‘lamentable’,5 and the previous 50 species have been reduced to two.6,7 And what of the rhino’s unique ‘horn’—it is not the bony structure of its supposed cattle and antelope relatives, but is made essentially of tightly wound hair. To say that these diverse life forms have evolved from a common ancestor is basically a statement of faith, not reality.
So if rhinos aren’t the result of evolution, where did they come from?
Rhinos and the Bible
If one starts from the standpoint that the Bible is a reliable historical record and worldview, then things ‘rhino’ begin to make sense—when viewed through the biblical framework of Creation, the Flood and man’s position in God’s order.
1. Creation
According to Genesis 1, God programmed all animals to reproduce after their kind. And that’s precisely what we observe—rhinos giving birth to rhinos. Evolutionists like to point to the different rhino species (living and extinct—see box on opposite page) as evidence of evolution.8 But speciation merely shows up the fantastic built-in variation within the originally-created kind9—it is not ‘uphill’ molecules-to-mammals evolution but rather a ‘downhill’ change, as each rhino ‘species’ is carrying a subset of the original genetic information that God put into the original created rhinoceros kind.10 All rhino species are still rhinos! Recently researchers reported hybrid offspring from mating between different rhino ‘species’.11 This is no surprise to creationists—it’s simply members of the same kind reproducing ‘after their kind’, just as the Creator originally programmed them to do.12
2. Flood
According to the Bible, the global Flood of Noah’s day (Genesis 6–9) wiped out all air-breathing land animals and birds—except for those Noah took on board the Ark. So today’s rhinos are all descended from the pair of rhinos released from the Ark after the Flood.13
Photo SXC.hu On two-horned rhinos, it is the front (anterior) horn which is longer. The biggest horn on record, from a female white rhino in South Africa, measured 158 cm (over 5 ft).
The geographical distribution of rhinoceros populations thus reflects a post-Flood dispersion from the Ark’s landing site on the ‘mountains of Ararat’ (Genesis 8:4). Today, rhinos are increasingly confined to scattered national parks and reserves in the dry savannah of Africa, the river valleys of India and the tropical jungles of southeast Asia. However, historically the rhinoceros inhabited the Middle East and Europe as well as most of Africa and Asia—absolutely consistent with rhinos multiplying and spreading out from the Ark.14
In the 4,500 years since the Flood, there was ample time for the rhinoceros to have multiplied from just two animals up to such large population levels—nicely re-demonstrated for us today in the way that endangered rhino populations have recently bounced back from low numbers. For example, under conservation management, the white rhino has gone from ‘near extinction’ a few decades ago to now being 11,000-strong. Similarly the Indian rhino was down to a mere dozen individuals in 1908, but now over 2,000 Indian rhinos live in protected parks.15
By the way, the cataclysmic watery upheaval described in Genesis 6–9 gives us a great explanation for the fossils—why we find billions of dead things buried in rock layers obviously laid down by water all over the earth. But evolutionists instead say that the rock layers with fossils are a record of the order of evolution and extinction over billions of years—an interpretation which leaves them surprised when faced with evidence to the contrary. (E.g., see box on p. 32.)
3. The influence of Man
In stark contrast to the evolutionary line that man is just an evolved animal, the reality of man’s historical impact and ongoing influence on the rhinoceros fits exactly with what you’d expect from the Bible:
(a) The fact of man’s impact on rhinoceros populations (rather than the other way around) shouts that man was made, just as is written in Genesis 1:28, to ‘fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over … every living thing that moves on the earth’. The authority/power over the animals originally entrusted to man by God is still clearly evident today—in fact, it’s so obvious that most people take it for granted. Rhinoceroses (or monkeys for that matter) don’t go to the zoo to see people!16
The very first man … arguably has had the biggest impact on the rhinoceros
(b) The inescapable fact that it’s only under strict conservation management by humans that ‘endangered’ rhino species have pulled back from critically low levels reflects man’s God-given responsibility/authority to exercise good stewardship over the Creation. (To ‘subdue’ the earth and to ‘rule’ over the animals does NOT mean to wantonly or neglectfully ‘destroy’ it/them! The Hebrew word for dominion, רדה (radah), is also used for Solomon’s dominion that resulted in peace, safety and ‘each man under his own vine and fig tree’ (1 Kings 4:24–25).17)
(c) It was the very first man who arguably has had the biggest impact on the rhinoceros. The first man’s sin resulted in the whole Creation being cursed, inaugurating death to the animals—which ultimately has even led to the extinction of whole kinds (not just species) of animals.18
Conclusion
Accepting the Bible’s account of history helps us to understand our world. Thus equipped, the notion that the rhinoceros (or indeed, anything else) could have evolved is indeed preposterous.
Rhinos big, small, and woolly
Université de Liège Ancient cave paintings in France depict woolly mammoths, bison, lions, horses and this woolly rhino. Standard evolutionary thinking ascribes these paintings to ‘primitive Stone Age’ individuals who are somehow mentally inferior to modern man. Rather, the evidence indicates great artistic ability, so there is no reason to believe that anyone other than people just like us created these animal paintings. Man has been intelligent from the very beginning.
As well as the five living species of rhino—two in Africa (black, white), and three in Asia (Sumatran, Indian, Javan)—there were once other rhino species, which are extinct today. There was the two-horned woolly rhino, which roamed the colder climates in Europe and Asia, and had long shaggy hair.1
The extinct Teleoceras was a much smaller rhino, standing only about one metre (3–4 ft) tall and weighing about 140 kg (300 lb).2 It had a build similar to that of a hippopotamus, and also probably spent much time in water. Large numbers of Teleoceras were catastrophically buried in the Ashfall deposits of Nebraska, leaving well preserved skeletons. They are so plentiful that the main section of Ashfall is nicknamed ‘Rhino Barn’.
And the largest land mammal fossil to have ever been discovered was quite possibly an extinct type of rhino—Indricotherium (also known as Baluchitherium and Paraceratherium). Its remains have been found in central and south Asia;3 it looked something like a short-necked, hornless giraffe. It had a massive body—weighing up to an estimated 33 tonnes4 and standing 5.5 metres (18 ft) at the shoulder.3 It would easily have dwarfed even an adult bull elephant today.
It’s possible that the Indricotherium, Teleoceras and woolly rhino, along with other descendants of the Ark animals, may have died out in catastrophes at the end of the Ice Age, some 4,000 years ago.5
References and notes
Woolly rhino, International Rhino Foundation, www.rhinos-irf.org/education/rhinofactsfiles/rhinofacts/extinctrhinos/woolly/, 18 May 2005. Prehistoric life, SOS Rhino, www.sos rhino.org/news/rhinonews070303b.php, 18 May 2005. Indricotherium, www.paleocraft.com/Indricotherium2.html, 18 May 2005. Peters, D., Giants, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, p. 10, 1986. See Sarfati, J., Mammoth—riddle of the Ice Age, Creation 22(2):10–15, 2000.
The ‘Giant Unicorn’ seen and described MorgueFile Reconstructions from fossils of the ‘giant unicorn’ Elasmotherium sibiricus show it was a rhinoceros two metres high (over six ft) and six metres long, with a single two-metre-long horn growing from its forehead.1,2 The fossils were found in Pleistocene strata, which evolutionists date from to 2,500,000 years to 10,000 years ago. So on that basis, they say that Elasmotherium has been extinct at least 10,000 years. However, a description of an animal matching this fossil, from a 10th century AD traveller to Russia, shows Elasmotherium may have still been alive only 1,000 years ago: ‘There is nearby a wide steppe, and there dwells, it is told, an animal smaller than a camel, but taller than a bull. Its head is the head of a ram, and its tail is a bull’s tail. Its body is that of a mule and its hooves are like those of a bull. In the middle of its head it has a horn, thick and round, and as the horn goes higher, it narrows (to an end), until it is like a spearhead. Some of these horns grow to three or five ells, depending on the size of the animal. It thrives on the leaves of trees …. Whenever it sees a rider, it approaches and if the rider has a fast horse, the horse tries to escape by running fast, and if the beast overtakes them, it picks the rider out of the saddle with its horn, and tosses him in the air … until the rider dies. … The locals seek it in the steppe and in the forest until they can kill it. … [T]hey climb the tall trees between which the animal passes. It requires several bow- men with poisoned arrows …. And indeed I have seen three big bowls shaped like Yemen seashells, that the king has, and he told me that they are made out of that animal’s horn.’3 When animals that evolutionists say have been long extinct turn out to have lived alongside humans more recently, it ought to be no surprise to Christians. For God has said that He created all the animals in the same week that He created man (Genesis 1, 2; Exodus 20:11), around 6,000 years ago. References and notes Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition, 4:416, 1992. Some have argued that the widespread unicorn myths might have been derived from stories about this animal. Note that the ‘unicorn’ referred to in the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible (e.g. in Job 39:9–10) is not the animal of legend, but likely a (two-horned) wild ox seen in profile. See Wieland, C., The unicorn—the Bible does not refer to fantasy animals, Creation 14(2):14–15, 1992. Elasmotherium, Wikipedia, www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Elasmotherium, 4 November 2005.The objective of the study was to corroborate or refute the hypothesis that farmers having a high intake of organic grown commodities have a high semen quality due to their expected lower level of dietary pesticides intake. Food frequency data and semen were collected from 256 farmers (171 traditional farmers and 85 organic farmers, overall participation rate: 32%) who were selected from central registers. Each farmer delivered one semen sample before the spraying season started. The farmers were divided into three groups where the commodities from organic production contributed no (N, 0%), medium (M, 1-49%), or a high (H, 50-100%) proportion of the fruit and vegetables consumed. Farmers having a high relative intake of organically grown fruit and vegetables also had a high relative consumption of organically produced meat, milk, and bread, and differences were observed comparing the actual mean intake of single commodities, such as rice, potato, and pork meat. The current individual dietary intake of 40 pesticides was estimated using food frequencies and generalized serving size data in combination with data on pesticide concentrations in food commodities as obtained from the National Danish Food Monitoring Program. The estimated pesticide intake was significantly lower among farmers of group H, but for all three groups of farmers the average dietary intake of 40 pesticides was at or below 1% of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) except for the dithiocarbamates (max = 0.21 microg/kg day = 2.2% ADI), methidathion, (max = 0.01 microg/kg day = 1.4% ADI), and 2-phenylphenol (max = 0.21 microg/kg day = 1.1% ADI). The median sperm concentration for the three groups of farmers was not significantly different (p = 0.40, median sperm concentration was N = 62, M = 44, and H = 75 million/ml). The group of men without organic food intake had a significant lower proportion of morphologically normal spermatozoa, but in relation to 14 other semen parameters no significant differences were found between the groups. Intake of 40 individual pesticides was correlated with four semen parameters (concentration, percentage dead spermatozoa, percentage normal sperm heads, and motility [VCL]). Five significant correlations (p value 0.01) were found among the 160 comparisons in relation to percentage dead spermatozoa: azinphos-methyl, carbaryl, chlorfenson, fenitrothion, and tetradifon. For all of them a lower percentage of dead spermatozoa were found in the groups with a high dietary intake of the specific pesticide. In contrast, for all pesticides evaluated only minor differences were found between the groups when considering spermatozoa concentration, morphology, and motility. In conclusion, the estimated dietary intake of 40 pesticides did not entail a risk of impaired semen quality, but precautions should be taken when generalizing this negative result to populations with a higher dietary exposure level or an intake of other groups of pesticides.One of the problems with
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