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What else were we told?
"My sister was a brilliant artist too, who sold her work when we were in college together in the US, to constantly get my sorry ass out of debt. She would pay off my dental bills, and my rent. … and when she'd finished her fine arts degrees, became a scientist."
That didn't mesh with the time frame mentioned in her obituary. PDF Jeanette's obituary said that Jeanette was a dancer and tour guide for five years at the Polynesian Cultural Center at Laie, Hawaii. Jeanette enrolled in the University of Waikato in 1987, to study for a Bachelor of Social Science degree in Geography, and the following year converted her degree to a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Earth sciences. She graduated her BSc in 1989, taking the full three years.
Jeanette Gillespie then spent another three years to graduate with a Master of Science in 1992, and in 1993 enrolled for part-time PhD study, which seemingly had not been completed by 2000.
Surely someone with multiple degrees would have been cross credited, had time remitted, and those degrees listed in her obituary?
According to Waikato University, Jeanette never asked for, or received cross credits. Her colleague who wrote her obituary has no knowledge of any other degrees. Are arts degrees something to be hidden?
More research brought up public records of both Jeanette and Polly attending a Mormon college called Christ Church New Zealand at Templeview in Western Hamilton, and Polly’s passing School Certificate in 1977, which places Polly's birth year at around 1962.
Using clues from Jeanette's obituary, more research placed both Jeanette and Polly at the Mormon Brigham University in Hawaii, which is where the Polynesian Cultural Center was located... yet apparently there were no degrees which came out of this particular time period.
We were then told that: "I've seen the result of not getting a flu vaccination. Jeanette told me she didn't think she needed one because she was fit and healthy.”
Yet in this 2001 ESR report, we read:
Immunisation Coverage "In 1997 influenza vaccination was made available free to those ≥65 years of age, and in 1999 free vaccination was extended to risk groups <65 years."
In 2000, it was neither the norm, nor was it expected for healthy 40 year olds to have the flu vaccine.
Plainly, Polly disagreed with Jeanette... by implication. Does that mean that Polly who would have been around 39 at the time, had the flu vaccine, and disapproved of her sister’s comment?
Polly claims she was on air/in the studio (presumably in Wellington) when the call came through that her sister was very ill in hospital in Hamilton. It would have taken the best part of a day to make arrangements and get to Waikato Hospital, even if flying. Jeanette had pneumonia, Staph. sepsis, renal failure and coagulopathy for 5 days, and Polly said that Jeanette's body was on life support and being dialyzed:
"The wonderful staff at the hospital hooked her up to a machine that removed her blood, cleaned it, and pumped it back through her body."
So her sister's body was shutting down. She was bleeding from her eyes, nose and ears, her lungs were full of fluid, her hands and feet turning black. With Jeanette in an induced coma a skeptic would have to ask, when could such a rational conversation with Polly asking, “Why didn’t you have the flu vaccine” and Jeanette saying, “I didn’t need it”, have taken place?
Who told Polly this was "the flu"? It would be instructive to see the medical files, but those would only be released to the executor of the estate.
So instead of a factual representation of her sister’s death, the public was bombarded with a story, some of which is verifiably false, and some indeed implausible, in order to form some kind of authenticity and legitimacy to allow Polly to say this:
The last of the three articles was about the feedback from the rant above. Polly again ranted about wanting to send the anti-vaccine crowd for an IQ test:
And Polly was delighted to report that:
“People from the health sector thanked me for my responsible position. Cool. That felt good.”
Perhaps the health sector can go and look at Jeanette Lea Gillespie's hospital file, doctor’s certificate and death certificate, obituary, and research the case. Then maybe they can explain to me, exactly what is responsible about anything Polly has said about her sister since 2014.
Or is truth not important when it comes to needling people?
Seemingly, Churchill was correct. "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."A Hint That J.D. Salinger Kept Writing, From A Story He Didn't Write
Enlarge this image toggle caption AP AP
With J.D. Salinger in the news three years after his death (and the new documentary and biography must have that obsessively private author spinning in his grave), I'm reminded of my conversations in the 1970s about Salinger with the editor of The New Yorker, William Shawn.
For a few years, as host of All Things Considered, I'd phone Mr. Shawn with one question or another, on background (like Salinger, he never spoke to the press). I have no idea why Mr. Shawn took my calls. ATC, then, was heard in maybe three apartment buildings in Manhattan, so I doubt he was a listener (although the magazine did run a cartoon about me in 1978). It was probably just his natural good manners, even though he, too, was a very private, reclusive man.
In 1977, Esquire magazine published, for the first time in its history, an anonymous short story. In an editor's note, Esquire said the story was being run without signature neither because the magazine knew the identity of the author and did not want to reveal it, nor because the author wanted to remain anonymous. Rather, they were not sure who the writer was, but felt the story had such merit they wanted to publish it.
The piece, "For Rupert – With no Promises" smacked of Salinger, who hadn't published since the 1960s. It was full of references to Salinger characters, there was mysticism, Viennese logic – all Salinger absorptions.
I phoned Mr. Shawn to see if he thought Esquire had just published Salinger. When I said, "the only way I think this could be Salinger is if he'd had a hideous breakdown and hasn't written for years," Mr. Shawn laughed and assured me it was not a Salinger story, and that Salinger had indeed been writing (although not publishing) for decades.
It turned out that the Esquire Fiction Editor, Gordon Lish, had written "Rupert." Lish told me on the air that he thought the world needed to be reading Salinger, and if Salinger himself wasn't publishing, why not borrow his voice, and soothe his fans?
A questionable defense, to say the least.
But these days, with much excitement and anticipation of some new Salinger stories to be rolled out in the future, I realize I'd been told decades ago, by the most reliable source, that he was still writing. It's taken 36 years, but we'll soon be able to read some of what he was creating.Continue Reading
But that sunny disposition masks a few sharper edges. For 25 years, Eveloff played in a "full-contact flag football league," until his body couldn't take it anymore. He mentions, in an offhand way, where the damage might have come from: "lift[ing] people up and throw[ing] them into other quarterbacks. Which, by the way, makes a lovely sound. It really does.
"The approach I had when I was quarterback is interesting," he explains. "First you have to give good instructions to your receivers. And then if someone rushes you, you throw the ball at their head. The next time you pump, they respect it."
Eveloff got his start as a neighborhood activist nearly 20 years ago with Tract 7260, a group that formed in 1956 to negotiate oil drilling rights under its land. Since then, it's worked to minimize the impact of development on Century City's suburban, low-rise community of tree-lined streets and single-family homes.
Along with other neighborhood groups, Tract 7260 helped stop the Beverly Hills Freeway (which was to have connected the 405 and 101 freeways, following roughly Santa Monica Boulevard), limit helicopter traffic over the area and pass Proposition U, the 1986 slow-growth ballot measure.
For decades, numerous private developers trying to build in the area have had to sit down at the negotiating table with the leaders of Tract 7260. When the Century City shopping mall wanted, in the late 1980s, to add a multiplex cinema and food court, it had to talk to Tract 7260. Eventually, a deal was worked out that banned dancing at restaurants and cut off the sale of alcoholic drinks at midnight.
In 2012, the mall wanted to stop offering three hours of free parking with validation. That required approval from the city, as well as from Tract 7260, thanks to an earlier agreement signed in 2001. And so the new owner of the mall, Westfield, sat down to negotiate a deal with Eveloff, who'd been the president of Tract 7260 since 2002.
Westfield made Eveloff a generous offer: $3.1 million, in exchange for the group's approval of the mall's new parking policy.
Anti-development activists in Los Angeles (like the backers of the recently defeated Measure S) have long argued that developers contribute money to the campaigns of elected officials in exchange for lucrative exemptions to planning laws, which constitutes corruption. In fact, that point is rarely disputed.
But developers say that homeowner groups, most of whom oppose growth, also engage in backroom deals.
"If money is paid to a politician, that's corruption, but if it's paid to a community group, it's not," developer Mott Smith complains.
Sometimes the developer modifies the project to mollify the community's concerns. Sometimes the developer offers to pay for certain infrastructure improvements meant to offset the perceived impact of the project — a new traffic light, perhaps, or a sound wall. And sometimes, the developer just cuts a check.
"Essentially, [homeowner groups] shake down developers for private settlements," says one land-use consultant, who asked not to be named to preserve the ability to negotiate with homeowner associations. "They complain, cite the project, raise their voice, and then they settle privately with developers for community benefit funds, and we never really know where it goes.
"It's very common. And it's getting more common."
These deals nearly always include a confidentiality clause, shielding them from public scrutiny. But a lawsuit has brought the details of the Westfield/Tract 7260 settlement to light and is raising questions about why these deals are made and who they benefit.
Westfield initially offered to pay $3.1 million in community benefits chosen by Tract 7260. That deal later was amended to have the money go to a nonprofit organization chosen by the board of Tract 7260. The board chose Fix the City, a sort of homeowners association super-group started, in 2007, by Eveloff and two other neighborhood group leaders, James O'Sullivan and Laura Lake. Though all three are Westsiders, they focused Fix the City on citywide issues such as fire department response times and infrastructure improvements.
In January 2015, about two years after the money changed hands, the current board of Tract 7260 sued Fix the City and Eveloff, who had resigned as Tract 7260's president in April 2013. The suit charges, in essence, that Eveloff arranged for money that was earmarked for improvements in the Tract 7260 neighborhood to go instead to Fix the City, a nonprofit that he heads.
"Eveloff decided to use the position of trust he held both as the negotiator purportedly acting on behalf of Tract 7260 and as its president to accomplish his own personal, social and political agenda instead of the purposes for which Tract 7260 was formed," the complaint reads.
All of the current board members of Tract 7260 (which recently changed its name to Century Glen) contacted by L.A. Weekly declined to comment — "because of the pending litigation," says its current president, Stacy Antler.
"This dispute, what it's really about is them... trying to [seize] funds that they never could have had — ever," Eveloff says. "It's just, 'We want the money.' Why? 'We want the money.'?"
Many of the earliest homeowners associations in Los Angeles, founded in the 1910s, were formed at least in part to enforce racial segregation.
"Homeowners associations first appeared on the political scene in the 1920s as instruments of white mobilization against attempts by blacks to buy homes outside the ghetto," Mike Davis wrote in his landmark 1990 book, City of Quartz. "Where tracts were not already legally bound by subdivision deeds, white homeowners banded together as 'protective associations' to create racially specified 'block restrictions.'... In this fashion 95 percent of the city's housing stock in the 1920s was effectively put off limits to blacks and Asians."
Over time, the homeowner groups' focus shifted away from who could live in their neighborhoods and toward what could be built there. More often than not, that meant fighting density and the construction of apartment buildings and office buildings. The groups began to align with environmentalists, working to create the California Coastal Commission and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. By the 1960s, the groups began to form larger coalitions, such as the Hillside Federation, and to acquire an intimidating level of expertise in land-use law.
"Some homeowners associations have always been very powerful players in development decisions," says Michael Manville, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA. "Some are very progressive, and really want to work to increase the housing stock and work with the planning department.
"Of course, there are others that are very hostile to development and change in their neighborhood, and have consented to change only after taking confidential payoffs from developers."
In the 1980s, for example, a coalition of Westside homeowners associations fighting a new hotel, the Sofitel, worked out a deal that included $1.05 million for neighborhood improvements.
"If that's the American way, I'm crazy," the hotel's developer, Sheldon Gordon, told the Los Angeles Times in 1989. "It was blackmail."
“I think the public may have a perception that the payments to a group or a private organization could be extortion — pay-to-play in reverse.” —Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association president Richard Close Facebook
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Even the then-president of Tract 7260, John H. French, chided the homeowners for taking money. In a letter to the editor published by the Los Angeles Times, French urged the homeowner leaders to "examine their priorities and to ensure that money and prestige have not diverted them from their primary purpose."
Today, some of the most prominent homeowner associations eschew the practice of taking payoffs.
"Our group prefers any mitigation money given by the developer to be controlled by the City Council office, rather than our group," says Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association president Richard Close. "I think the public may have a perception that the payments to a group or a private organization could be extortion — pay-to-play in reverse."
But other neighborhood groups say they are simply looking out for themselves.
"Since we represent the community, we want some compensation for the impacts that they're causing," says Harald Hahn, one of the homeowners who took part in the Sofitel settlement. "That's the foundation of all these settlements. We're not in the business of making a living off of these developers."
Indeed, there is no evidence that any neighborhood leaders are personally pocketing developer settlements. Hahn says deals involving money are the exception rather than the rule. But it's hard to verify this claim, since the settlements are nearly always protected by confidentiality clauses.
"Now, no one can tell if a community group is supporting a project because they got money," says Smith, the developer. "There's a way to find out with politicians. Community groups are completely opaque."
Neighborhood councils, which were established in 1999, are regulated by the city, are elected by all residents and stakeholders, and must follow the Brown Act, meaning they must meet in public. Homeowners associations, by contrast, are bound by no such laws. They make their own bylaws. Only dues-paying members can vote. They are not subject to open-records laws. In many cases, it's not clear how many members they have. Tract 7260's membership, according to Eveloff, averaged around 250 people. Hahn says his organization, the Burton Way Homeowners Association, doesn't even have formal members.
"We are basically a voluntary organization," he says. "As the need arises, we get together."
He has headed the organization since its founding, more than 30 years ago. "I can't find anyone to replace me," he says. "People don't want to do it, because they see how much work is involved."
In January, the City Council signed off on shopping mall magnate Rick Caruso's plan to build a luxury apartment complex near the Beverly Center. The approval came only after Caruso made a number of concessions, including shrinking the height of the tower by 55 feet. Caruso also agreed to pay for half a million dollars in repairs to a condominium building across the street, Westbury Terrace.
In exchange for that generous offer, the Westbury Terrace Homeowners Association reversed its position on the project. The association had been vehemently opposed to it, but last summer its president wrote a glowing letter of support to the Mid-City West Community Council: "It makes no sense at all to oppose this project logically."
The Beverly Wilshire Homes Association, apparently immune to this sort of logic, in February filed a lawsuit against Caruso's new tower.
"We've had enough," says the association's president, Diana Plotkin. "We're raising children in our neighborhood streets. We don't need all this extra traffic."
The Burton Way Homeowners Association, run by Hahn, supports the project. Asked why Hahn was supporting it, Plotkin replies: "No comment. I know why, but I'm not saying."
Hahn laughs off the intimation that he was paid for his support.
"I've known Rick Caruso for 35 years," Hahn says. "We came to an agreement. We were happy with it.... We didn't ask him for donations. But we asked him to make changes to [the] project. He's being milked quite a bit."
The Beverly Wilshire Homes Association is suing Caruso under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The 1970 law established a review process for projects requiring discretionary approval from state or local government, so that their environmental impacts are disclosed to the public. Developers must produce detailed CEQA studies, covering numerous impacts to the surrounding area — everything from traffic and parking to construction noise and the aesthetic details of the new building.
Anyone can file a CEQA lawsuit, challenging the studies: a competing developer trying to build a similar project at a nearby site, a labor union looking for a project/labor agreement, or a homeowners association looking for concessions.
Jennifer Hernandez, a land-use attorney and CEQA expert, says that roughly half of all CEQA lawsuits are decided in favor of the plaintiff.
"There's about 100 questions you have to get right in CEQA-land," Hernandez says. "If you lose any one of them, you lose the case."
It is ironic, perhaps, that an environmental law has become one of the main weapons in an arsenal used to target development in a city's core. In Los Angeles, CEQA is most often used to fight apartment buildings. But many environmentalists argue that the dense, urban development these projects would bring to the city is necessary to reduce housing prices and fight climate change — since, in theory, density encourages the use of public transportation.
The Target store that was under construction at Sunset and Western has been halted by neighbors' protests. Ryan Orange
More often than not, both sides have an incentive to settle. For a developer, time is money. And the mere existence of a CEQA lawsuit is enough to kill a construction loan or a government grant.
"If you go through the math of a cash settlement versus a three-year litigation process, the cash settlement pencils out," Hernandez says.
The math cuts both ways. Homeowners associations have to pay for lawyers, too, and their leaders often spend their own time attending committee hearings and reading the fine print of draft Environmental Impact Reports. And even if they win, often the best they can do is delay the project and recover attorney's fees.
"This is a business decision," Eveloff says. "Do I spend the time and money to delay [a project] for a year or two, or do I try to secure benefits for the community?"
But stories abound of shakedowns that had no discernible public interest.
"I worked on a project for a nonprofit that was building a museum," says land-use attorney Paul Rohrer. "A very small museum. After the project was announced in the media, we were approached by a community group that said they thought the project would have negative effects on the community, but those negative effects could be remediated if our client donated a million dollars to projects chosen by the group. A percentage would go to the group itself. That was their ask."
Rohrer declined to name the museum, or whether the offer was accepted.
"So you see this stuff," Rohrer says. "People end up paying settlements where the money may not accrue to the public's advantage."
In 2007, a Chicago-based developer named JMB Realty wanted to build two 47-story buildings and a 12-story building on an empty lot it owned in Century City. The project was larger than the city's planning laws allowed, so JMB needed to apply for a series of exemptions. It also needed to sit down with homeowner groups.
According to several media accounts, JMB first tried to cut a deal with seven homeowner groups, including Tract 7260, worth millions of dollars. But City Councilman Jack Weiss scuttled the deal. He thought any sort of settlement money should be controlled by the council office and should be subject to oversight.
This only served to increase the enmity between Weiss and homeowner groups, which began a campaign — headed by Eveloff — to recall the councilman. The effort failed to obtain the requisite signatures to qualify for the ballot, but the homeowners got their revenge. Not only was Weiss defeated in his bid for city attorney by Carmen Trutanich (a neighborhood group favorite), the groups did eventually reach a settlement with JMB. According to the Times, JMB agreed to pay $7.25 million into "a mitigation fund overseen by four groups," including Tract 7260.
Eveloff disputes that number. "Can't talk about confidential agreements," he says. "But I think your numbers are inaccurate."
The towers, meanwhile, were never built. Years later, JMB proposed building a 37-story office building on the same site. Land-use attorney Ben Reznik, who was working for a rival developer opposed to the project, was surprised to see Eveloff at hearings arguing in favor of JMB's revamped proposal.
"He told the planning commission, 'Oh, office buildings generate less traffic now, yada yada,'?" Reznik says. "I always thought it strange. They've always tried to limit development in Century City." (The tower was approved but never built.)
Eveloff won't say how many settlements his groups have taken part in over the years: "A, I wouldn't know off the top of my head. B, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Between zero and 100."
In addition to Fix the City, Eveloff heads at least two other nonprofits: Friends of West L.A. and the Westside Coalition. He's also vice president of Neighbors for Smart Rail, the group that unsuccessfully sued to stop the Expo Line extension from being built.
Publicly available tax forms show fluctuating revenues for these organizations. Westside Coalition, a 501(c)(4) whose stated mission is to "promote social welfare by facilitating neighborhood safety and security improvements and advocating for other improvements to the environment," took in $80,000 in 2012, $300,000 in 2013 and no money in 2014, the last year for which such forms are available. Friends of West L.A., a 501(c)(3), took in just $14,660 in 2012, $391,922 in 2013 and $3.1 million in 2014.
The money, Eveloff says, comes from settlements and an annuity that was created "through various settlements."
Friends of West L.A.'s mission is to "support local infrastructure including parks, schools, libraries, police departments and fire stations." Eveloff says the money is divvied out according to a set formula. Police officers and firefighters in the area say the money has been a tremendous help.
"They've done so many things here," says Captain Clifford Smith at Fire Station 59, who points to new flooring for the office and a barbecue pit out back. And he says that when Eveloff runs into firefighters who are out having lunch, he always picks up the tab.
"A lot of times we may not get the recognition," Smith says. "It's huge when someone just acknowledges our presence."
But not all settlement money goes back into the community. Some of it goes to finance other lawsuits.
Fix the City was incorporated as a nonprofit in 2012, just as it received the first $200,000 installment of the $3.1 million Westfield settlement. Since then, the organization has filed at least five lawsuits against the city: two over the mobility plan and one each over the Hollywood Community Plan, the Frank Gehry–designed 8150 Sunset Project in Hollywood and the Catalina project in Koreatown. Real estate developer Casden Properties cut a deal with Fix the City, agreeing to limit the commercial space of a new project at Pico and Sepulveda and to pay for $215,000 worth of community amenities, according to Eveloff. More recently, a settlement with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences avoided the need for a lawsuit over a new museum (details of the settlement have not been made public, and it's unclear if the Academy paid any money).
With the exception of the Casden project, Fix the City's energy has been spent far from Tract 7260's home turf.
"One of the nice things [about] the United States, we generally fight wars somewhere else. We try not to fight wars where you are," Eveloff says. "When you see some of these projects, you create a precedent. The Hollywood Community Plan... you had to stop it there before it became a precedent."
In the waning days of his doomed City Council campaign against District 5 incumbent Paul Koretz, Jesse Creed sent out a press release calling for more transparency when it comes to deals between developers and neighborhood groups.
"Residents are rightly frustrated when developers meet with City Hall politicians behind closed doors," the statement read. "Fewer people know about the tiny group of neighborhood power brokers getting developer cash in our broken pay-to-play planning system — the neighborhood power brokers that manage secret million-dollar hush money from developers with opaque public benefits."
Though it did not mention Eveloff by name, it did mention the Tract 7260/Fix the City lawsuit and alluded to Eveloff's other group, Friends of West L.A.
"Some of the developer hush money does go to worthy causes, including police, firefighters, parks and local schools," the statement continued. "Who decides what is given and to whom? No public elections or official appointments occur. No public meetings are held. The gifts may be good. They may be bad. Nobody knows — except them."
In contrast to his predecessor, Jack Weiss, Koretz has encouraged developers to deal with prominent neighborhood leaders like Eveloff — who, as Creed points out, is still being invited to negotiate with developers even though he is no longer president of Tract 7260.
"Paul knows what game is played," Creed says. "And he is facilitating it. What's less clear is if he's facilitating it because it's the path of least resistance, or if it's a way to buy political support."
Jesse Creed, left, unsuccessfully challenged City Councilman Paul Koretz. John D. Russell, left (used with permission of the campaign); Paul Koretz campaign
Koretz did not return our calls, but he did send a written statement, reading in part: "From the day I took office I said I would always try to give every legitimate stakeholder a seat at the table and empower them to influence what happens in the district. Sometimes that dialogue leads to agreements between developers and the neighborhood organizations that I respect but am not a party to. As long as such agreements are within the bounds of propriety and legality and help lead to a project proposal that I can live with, I don't think it's my place to be second-guessing them."
In regard to Eveloff, he wrote: "He and Friends of West Los Angeles provide funding for schools, fire stations, libraries, etc., every year. Negotiating those funds from developers makes a fair amount of sense — they impact our infrastructure, so they should contribute toward it. Mike's efforts do a lot of good for our community."
Koretz is hardly the only councilmember who encourages developers to meet with homeowner groups.
"When you go to meet with City Council staff, the first question is, 'Have you met with such-and-such neighborhood association?'?" says Smith, the developer.
The Westside is especially rife with such groups.
"Homeowner groups in Council District 5, they have quite a bit of power," says Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. "You have a lot of angry, wealthy individuals who are very organized. And [Koretz] listens to them."
After he sent out his press release, Creed received a letter from Fix the City's lawyer, demanding that Creed retract his statement and issue another one correcting the record. Creed declined, though he did remove the press release from his website. Similar cease-and-desist letters went to neighborhood activist Jonathan Weiss after he posted a story about the fracas on the website NextDoor.
When asked if this was a rather hardball tactic, Eveloff says: "Hey, lawyers do what they do, man. What are you supposed to say, please don't hurt me? Hardball tactic? Throwing a football at someone's head? Maybe. But if you don't stand up for yourself, people are going to roll right over you. That's what I've found."AP The Affordable Care Act has been successful at achieving some major goals in the first year of its full implementation, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund.
There are three important findings from the study: The uninsured rate is dropping, most people like their new insurance plans (even Republicans!), and most people are finding it easy to visit a doctor.
The study found the uninsured rate in the U.S. declined by one-quarter over the last nine months, which included the law's first, six-month open-enrollment period in which individuals could sign up for private insurance plans through exchanges established by the law.
From the July-to-September 2013 period to the April-to-June 2014 period, the uninsured rate of people between the ages of 19-64 dropped from 20% to 15%, according to the study. The research found 9.5 million people gained insurance, either through the exchanges or through the law's expansion of the federal Medicaid program.
The decline in uninsured was seen across different age groups and races, though the drop was disproportionately high among the young (-10%) and Latinos (-13%). It was disproportionately low among African-Americans — the decline was only 1%.
The findings show the law has been successful at reducing the uninsured rate among the poor — which was, of course, one of its main goals:
The Commonwealth Fund
Expectedly, there is a significant difference in the reduction of uninsured between states that have expanded Medicaid and those that have not. According to the study, the uninsured rate among residents who make up to 100% of the federal poverty level fell from 28% to 17% in the 25 states that have expanded Medicaid (plus the District of Columbia). In the 25 states that haven't, the rate only fell from 38% to 36%.
Among those who have become newly insured, the vast majority say they are "better off" and like their plans. In total, 58% of respondents with new plans said they are "better off" than before — including 61% who were previously uninsured. Seventy-nine percent of those who were previously uninsured said they were either "somewhat" or "very satisfied" with their new plans.
Even 74% of Republicans say they're at least somewhat satisfied with their new plans.
Significantly, most people who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act said they couldn't have accessed care they have received since obtaining insurance:
The Commonwealth Fund
Finally: About one-fifth of people who have signed up for a new plan have attempted to find a new primary care or general doctor, and most — 75% — have said the process is at least "somewhat easy." Two-thirds of those who found a primary-care doctor got an appointment within two weeks. Thirty-seven percent of people said their new plans included "most" of the doctors they wanted (about 39% don't yet know).EARLIER this month Tim Lee of the Washington Post tweeted:
People on the right view government pay as a symbolic/normative issue, private sector pay as a practical one. On the left it's the opposite. — Timothy B. Lee (@binarybits) July 12, 2013
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I thought this was very insightful for a good half-hour. However, upon reflection, I think this is misleading, even as a rough sketch.
As a practical matter, everyone sees wage determination as a matter of both supply and demand and bargaining power. And I think everyone understands, at some level, that market forces affect bargaining power, and vice versa. The difference is one of emphasis, or analytic priority. For those on the right, supply and demand tends to be the dominant explanatory variable. For those on the left, bargaining power is the dominant explanatory variable.
As a normative matter, I think everyone thinks pay should be roughly proportional to the workers' contribution. However, there is disagreement about what ought to be taken into account when understanding a workers' contribution. People on the left are much more likely to see effort, time, the inherent human dignity of work, and the overall social value of the general enterprise all as part of the contribution and thus relevant to the question of proportional or just compensation. In contrast, people on the right are more likely to see the operation of supply and demand in competitive labour markets not only as the primary measure of the economic value of labour, but also as the primary measure of merit, or moral desert. The market wage just is the fair wage. It doesn't matter if the work is hard, or time-consuming, or socially necessary. If the market offers a pittance, then the work's objectively worth a pittance. The effort to claim more than a pittance is therefore an effort to unfairly claim more than is due. On the other side of the coin, if the market offers you an extravagant, princely sum, then that must be what you've got coming. A disproportionately high income-tax rate will seem obviously unfair.
This is a tidy worldview. To see what people deserve, just look at what they get. That is, as long as they get what the free market determines. The wages of public employees, set outside the "real" market, reflect special-interest politics, not supply and demand, and therefore are likely unmoored from the simple justice of the market.
Now, it would be nothing short of miraculous if wages in competitive labour markets happened to reflect all the things some people on the left think wages ought to reflect. But one needn't have mushy-headed metaphysical notions about what workers are due to find the right-leaning view laughably simplistic. Setting aside the normative matter of fairness in compensation, the key explanatory difference is that people on the left are more likely to see markets as creatures of politics, and to see wage-determination therefore as a combative process of political and legal bargaining. As a practical matter, your compensation is a matter of what you or your union can manage to claim through negotiation. As a symbolic/normative matter, insufficient bargaining power gets you screwed over; without enough bargaining power, you won't get your fair share, won't get your due. And this is true in both the public and private sector. With the decline of private-sector union power, the working classes have lost their practical ability to claim a decent share of profits, and therefore have gotten buggered by capital. Public-sector unions, on the other hand, have maintained the very practical power to successfully negotiate fair wages and benefits for government employees. That's why folks on the left find it so incredibly perverse that the right would so relentlessly attack public-sector unions, which they see as the only significant, effective force in the American economy keeping compensation more or less appropriate for a large swathe of workers. On the other end of the economic spectrum, the system is rigged to give private-sector executives undue bargaining power, resulting in outrageously high compensation out of all proportion with real contribution.
Let's return now to Mr Lee's tweet. The right seethes over public-sector pay while the left seethes over private-sector pay due to a disagreement over both the way wages are and ought to be determined. The right thinks the market pays people what they deserve, and so the government probably doesn't. Meanwhile, the left thinks the market will pay ordinary workers less than they deserve, unless their individual bargaining power is bolstered by a union. So de-unionised private-sector workers are getting screwed, whilst public-sector workers, though under fire, are faring pretty well. Isn't that the difference?Seriously. I know that everyone's Santa is the best Santa ever... but my Santa went above and beyond the call of duty and gifted me more than I could ever have expected!
After a really tough day at work (working for the Postal Service during the holidays is super-taxing!) I came home to unwind. Soon there was a knock at the door. I opened it up to find an oversized box with my Reddit name on it. What a happy surprise! My secret Santa should change their name to Amazon because boy did they deliver!
In my notes to Santa, I mentioned that I |
workers' movement slogan "An injury to one is an injury to all" into practice today.
To shy away from such measures because they're unpopular among some of the people we want to organize is to avoid the hard work involved in forging unity in societies in which the working class is deeply divided and oppression is still very real in spite of gains in legal rights and cultural norms.
When carpenters union officials report workers without status to ICE; when many union leaders were on the wrong side at Standing Rock; when many white people act as if people of color are a threat to them; and when cis women and trans people are routinely denied control over their bodies; "race-blind" and "gender-blind" politics won't help us get where we need to go.
Unity built on the foundation of such politics will be fragile and shallow. It will always remain vulnerable to divide-and-conquer tactics used by employers and politicians.
None of this means that a politics whose aspirations for oppressed people don't go much beyond cultural recognition and fair representation in the power structure of neoliberal capitalism aren't a problem. They are, as the records of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton reveal so clearly.
Some supporters of these politics opportunistically use insinuations about Sanders and "Bernie Bros" being supposedly hostile to women and Black people to smear anyone who criticizes the Democratic Party establishment from the left. But attacks on "identity politics" in the name of a "universalism" that underestimates the importance of oppression or that doesn't explicitly take on oppression in every form aren't the way to persuade people swayed by that kind of liberalism to embrace socialist politics.Calling racing fans of all ages! Fuel your engines with these Lightning-inspired treats at your next Cars movie night or birthday party.
My sons love all the Cars movies, and they play on a continuous loop in my house. I had been looking for a way to increase the fun factor during our movie nights, so I created these Lightning McQueen Rice Crispy Treats. Make the full racer, a lightning bolt design, or both!
These treats are sure to shift your next Cars-themed event into high gear. Ka-chow!
For more magic, watch Disney Family at the Charlotte Motor Speedway:
Related Post Cars-Inspired Tow Mater Food Art
Lightning McQueen Rice Crispy Treats PinShareEmailTextPrint Ingredients LIGHTING MCQUEEN:
3 tablespoons butter
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Red, black, and orange food coloring
6 cups crisp rice cereal
Chocolate chunks
3″ circular cookie cutter
4 pastry bags and tips (or zip-top bags)
LIGHTNING BOLT:
3 tablespoons butter
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Yellow food coloring
6 cups crisp rice cereal
Lightning bolt cookie cutter
ROYAL ICING:
2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
7 1/2 teaspoons meringue powder
1/4 cup water Directions For McQueen: Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat, then add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat, then stir in vanilla and add 10 drops of red food coloring. Add the cereal, and stir until it’s well coated. Using a buttered spatula or wax paper, press the mixture into a greased 13×9 inch pan. Press gently with your fingertips until completely spread out. While rice crispy treats are cooling, make the royal icing. Put confectioners’ sugar, meringue power, and water into a bowl of an electric mixer fitter with the whisk attachment; beat on low speed for 10 minutes. Divide icing into thirds. Color one orange and one black. Transfer white icing into a pastry bag fitting with a size #3 piping tip. Transfer the orange and black icing into separate bags fitted with a piping tip. Using cookie cutter, cut out circles for the Lightning McQueen treats. Start with piping the windshield using white icing, then pipe headlights with white icing, and add orange icing on the outside. Once windshield is dry (about 10 minutes), pipe on eyes with black icing. Pinch in the sides of the crispy treats right below windshield to sculpt more of a car-like shape. Using black or white royal icing, “glue” chocolate chunks onto the bottom as tires. For the Lightning Bolts: Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat, then add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat, then stir in vanilla and 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring. Add the cereal, and stir until it’s well coated. Using a buttered spatula or wax paper, press the mixture into a greased 13×9 inch pan. Press gently with your fingertips until completely spread out. Let cool, and cut out lightning bolts with cookie cutter.
Posted 1 year Ago
Posted 1 year AgoSpeak Easy is examining issues of street use in Philadelphia. What should our priorities be to ensure safe streets for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit users? The following submission comes from an attendee of the June 30 Speak Easy forum Philadelphia Streets Under Pressure. We are seeking diverse perspectives on these issues. Submit your own commentary to Speak Easy by emailing it to [email protected].
—
I had dilly-dallied much of morning away before heading downtown for the tall ships. As it turned out, I had dallied too long, and I found myself treated to nothing more than a stagnant view of these glorious ships moored to the docks. Choosing not to board any of them, I decided to walk the Delaware and headed northward on Columbus Boulevard. At Race Street Pier, I found myself wanting to cross the street.
Now, Columbus Boulevard is not exactly pedestrian friendly, and fortunate for me, and all others who make that their crossing point, the city has put up bright, yellow pedestrian walk buttons. I am sure that you are familiar with them. In fact, they have become increasingly popular at some of the most dangerous crossings to make them safer for the casual walker.
I gave the large, prominent, silver button a push, and waited for the light to change. I waited some more, then I gave it another push. Nothing seemed to be happening. When the crossing light finally went on, I didn’t cross. Instead, I wondered if the button actually did anything, or was it merely a fixture. I decided to time the light without pushing the button: two minutes, 10 seconds. Then I tried pushing it once: two minutes, 10 seconds. Then twice: two minutes, 10 seconds. I continued testing it the same way all the way up to ten pushes: always two minutes, 10 seconds.
Next, I observed the behavior of people, who like me, found it necessary to cross at that spot. I watched as they pressed the button from either sides of the street. Their reaction after pressing the button one or more times and seeing nothing happen was classic. Perceiving that pushing the button did nothing to change the light to walk, they stepped out on red to cross.
These crosswalk buttons, which set out to make it safe for pedestrians to cross, actually do the opposite. They force walkers to take matters into their own hands and simply cross at will. While in many places this seems to be the normal course of action where no crosswalk light is available, it becomes that much more risky at an intersection where there is a walk button.
My great suspicion is that many of these crosswalk buttons do not work as expected, that many more are simply broken, and that some were never actually connected. Do you think I think some type of study or investigation is needed? I hope I have pushed your button. Two minutes, ten seconds and waiting.
—
Steve Perzan lives in the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia.Maybe he just likes the attention?
One week ago, the persistent rumor that Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement was imminent was put to rest when the 2016–2017 Supreme Court term ended with no announcement from the 80-year-old jurist. Now it’s back.
Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog noticed this new clue hiding in an NPR story on Justice Neil Gorsuch that was published on Saturday. Nina Totenberg reported:
But it is unlikely that Kennedy will remain on the court for the full four years of the Trump presidency. While he long ago hired his law clerks for the coming term, he has not done so for the following term (beginning Oct. 2018), and has let applicants for those positions know he is considering retirement.
Clerk hiring can offer clues about whether a justice is mulling retirement. Current justices get four clerks each and retired justices get one, so sometimes justices only hire one clerk if they don’t think they’ll finish out their term. Though, as Above the Law’s David Lat explained, that’s not a hard and fast rule:
Now, hiring clerks for 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 is not dispositive evidence that a justice will remain on the bench. There’s a nice tradition at the Court of justices picking up “orphaned” hires of their colleagues (which is what happened with Justice Antonin Scalia’s displaced clerks), so the clerks aren’t necessarily left in the lurch. But as a matter of collegiality and consideration — and whether or not you like his jurisprudence, Justice Kennedy is collegial and considerate — it’s not nice to impose upon your colleagues by hiring clerks you know will never work for you, putting pressure on these colleagues to sacrifice their own hiring discretion to scoop up your leftovers (because of SCOTUS tradition).
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who obviously does not want President Trump appointing her successor, has already selected her clerks through 2020. But as of March, there were plenty of other justices who, like Kennedy, had yet to make their hires for the term that starts in 2018.
But if Kennedy is telling prospective clerks that he might not be sticking around, that’s concerning news for liberals — and not only because he’ll be giving Donald Trump another Supreme Court appointment. As Rick Hasen notes, he’d be stepping down “right before the 2018 midterms, giving the Republican base reasons to turn out and keep the Senate with a Republican majority (already a strong possibility in 2018).”Relearning to tie my shoes changed my life.
The premise sounds ludicrous I know, but it happened. Unbeknownst to myself, I had been improperly tying my shoes wrong for 28 years. 28 years I spent my life living a lie. I guarantee most of you have been doing the same. Terry Moore sates your curiosity here, demonstrating the correct shoe tying method.
This was my first growth hack. From this simple change of habit, my life was launched in an entire new direction. I learned habits could be changed. I reconquered shoe tying. Therefore I could reconquer my existence.
What followed was a whirlwind of small habit changes. I learned a better way to brush my teeth. I learned a better way to shower. I learned a better way to communicate. I learned to be more connected with my work. I learned that learning was still possible and each change I made left me happier, more fulfilled, and living a better life. All thanks to relearning to tie my shoes.
I growth hacked my life.
What is growth hacking?
The newest buzzword on the block, growth hacking deals with increasing website traffic, consumers, and sales. It distances itself from traditional marketing by focusing on speed and quality.
I want to hijack the term.
I want marketing dropped from growth hacking's definition. I want growth hacking to be about self growth. I want business dropped from our mind. Our hacking should be focused on us.
Life hackers lament
Life hacking focuses on novelty. Tricks, shortcuts, or skills that increase efficiency. The majority of the life hacks out there today are almost silly little improvements to every day challenges. Life hackers don't focus on improving the self.
Computer hackers exist, Life hackers exist, what about self hackers? Those that look at human growth and want to make it easier, faster, and more efficient. Self development takes work and a lot of it. Changing habits takes weeks, months, sometimes years of constant reinforcement with the risk of failure rearing is ugly head at the most inopportune times. We struggle against the odds and for our effort we are rewarded with a surge of success and fulfillment.
There has to be a better way
I'm not advocating abandonment of sound principles on self growth. I'm advocating a way to “hack” our way to our better self. Growth hacks based on small changes and benefits that eventually will affect our entire lives.
Please join with me in taking growth hacking in a new direction. Let's stop Growth hacking business. Let's start Growth hacking ourselves.Share. All-new info on Nintendo's highly anticipated kart racer in one convenient location. All-new info on Nintendo's highly anticipated kart racer in one convenient location.
Mario Kart 8 is almost here, and we've got a bunch of preview coverage just for you. Check out the links below to see our recent hands-on preview, comparison videos, gameplay clips, and news from a special roundtable Q&A with Mario Kart 8's Producer Hideki Konno and Director Kosuke Yabuki. We’ll have more coverage for this game in the next few days, so check back here for all the latest info.
Preview
Mario Kart 8 is Gorgeous, Fast, and Incredibly Fun
The next Mario Kart looks absolutely gorgeous, but the latest build only hints at its potential. Read our hands-on impressions at the link above.
Gameplay Comparisons
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Gameplay Videos
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News
Why Mario Kart 8 Doesn't Let Players Design Tracks
The challenge of creating good Mario Kart tracks has held back user-created track features from being included.
Mario Kart: Double Dash's Dual Racers Haven't Been Forgotten
Nintendo is open to the possibility of a future Mario Kart game featuring two or three racers per kart.
Mario Kart 8’s Two Mysterious Unannounced Items
Nintendo has at least two more items for this year’s highly anticipated installment of Mario Kart.
Mario Kart 8 Introduces Expanded Item Customization
"I think we're going to be able to answer that feeling of, 'I don't want to race with items.'"
Podcast
Nintendo Voice Chat: Our Mario Kart 8 Preview Extravaganza
This week, the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast jumps into the fast lane with a bunch of preview info for Mario Kart 8. Join host Jose Otero, Peer Schneider, Marty Sliva, and special guest Greg Miller, as we share our impressions and check out IGN's comprehensive coverage.
Mama-mia, that was a lot of content. Don't forget to check out IGN's Mario Kart 8 Wiki for the nitty-gritty details on everything.
Jose Otero is an Associate Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. As you can probably tell, he's just as excited as you are for Mario Kart 8. You can follow him on Twitter.Meet Brenda Lee. By trade, she is a “reporter.” Except this Georgia Informer reporter also has her own world view of things, something reporters are told they should not share with anyone. Let alone the president. Ms. Lee must disagree, because she tried to hand deliver a letter to President Obama — while aboard Air Force One — urging him “to take a stand for traditional marriage.” The Secret Service promptly DRAGGED HER ASS OFF THE PLANE. NBC Los Angeles:
She said she asked a Secret Service agent to give the president her letter, but he refused and referred her to a White House staffer. Lee said she refused to give the staffer the letter.
“I said, ‘I’ll take my chances if (the president) comes by here,’” said Lee, who identified herself as a Roman Catholic priestess who lives in Anaheim, Calif. “He became annoyed that I wouldn’t give him the letter.”
Lee, who was wearing what she described as a cassock, said she protested when she was asked to leave.
“I said, ‘Why are you bothering me?’ They escorted me outside the gate,” she said.
She said security officers allowed her to return when she promised she would not yell or wave, but then other officers arrived and told her to leave.
“I said, ‘I’m not leaving,’” she said. “They tried to drag me out.”
Two officers then picked her up and carried her out. An Associated Press photographer photographed the incident.
“I was afraid you could see under my clothes,” she said, her voice choking up.
Lee, who said this was the second presidential event she has covered, was later released.U.S. President Barack Obama says the country is expecting too much from police, including answering society's problems. He made the comments Thursday night at a town hall meeting in a Washington theater to discuss the recent spate of racial tensions and police violence that have become a defining mark of his presidency.
He was strongly confronted on issues of racial tensions and police violence several times during the meeting.
Obama has been a reluctant arbiter on race relations, but the country's first African American president is being forced into the position after last week's shootings of black men at point-blank range by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota. Last week also saw the deadly ending in Dallas, Texas, of a peaceful demonstration protesting police violence when a black man with sniper precision killed five police officers and wounded several others.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Republican who has called Black Lives Matter protesters "hypocrites" after the Dallas shooting, called on the president to do more to support police, including lighting up the White House with blue lights, a reference to blue police uniforms.
In response, Obama said he has been "unequivocal in condemning any rhetoric directed at police officers" and said if Patrick "missed" those messages, the president would be "happy" to send them to him.
The meeting, broadcast on national television, featured appearances by many of the faces of the people affected by last week's fatal confrontations with police.
The site of the meeting was significant. It was held in a theater on Washington D.C.'s 14th street corridor, which was the center of racially fueled rioting in 1968; a passionate reaction to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
Victims' families
Another tense encounter was with the daughter of Eric Garner, who was killed last year by police in New York, where he could be heard saying "I can't breathe" as officers wrestled him to the ground. Garner's daughter was screaming near the end of the show after being denied a chance to ask Obama a question. However, she met privately with the president after the show.
Other speakers were gentler. The mother of a Baltimore police officer said her son insists on going out and doing his job even though his safety was in question during last year's Baltimore riots. "How are you supposed to feel?" she asked. "It just seemed like nobody was out there to protect him."
Another mother also spoke: a Baltimore mother who became "internet famous" after a video of her dragging her son out of the Baltimore riots went viral. Toya Graham, whose son stood beside her sporting a natty bow tie, said, "It is so hard to keep them out of harm's way" while trying to hold down a job as a single mother. "I have to work.... what can I do?"
Diamond Reynolds, whose video of the aftermath of her boyfriend's fatal shooting by a Minneapolis officer also went viral, appeared by videolink from Minneapolis, having attended her boyfriend's funeral earlier in the day. "When I think about my daughter's future, I'm scared for her," she said. "My question is, how do we as a nation stop what has happened to my family and all the other victims across the world?"
Obama provided no hard and fast answers, but he talked about the importance of building trust in the police force, police involvement in the community, and better resources for communities stressed by poverty, racial tensions, and crime. He also called for fairness in dealing with police officers, as resentment against law enforcement officers has given rise to new violence.
"We expect police to solve a whole range of societal problems that we ourselves have neglected," Obama said. "We have communities without jobs, with substandard schools, where the drug trade is so often considered the only way to make money. Communities that are inundated with guns. Where there's a lack of mental health services or drug treatment services. Then, we say to the police, go deal with that."
Obama said in such cases, it is no wonder police feel unsupported when violence breaks out. He talked about initiatives to improve life for at-risk youths - often a term that is a euphemism used to describe young black men, whose age, race and gender can play a significant role in the way they are treated.
Personal experience
President Obama noted that, like most young black men, he had times in his youth when he was aware other people perceived him as dangerous. He said he noticed as he was growing up that people would lock their car doors as he crossed the street.
"I sense that what's true for me is true for a lot of African American men: there's a greater presumption of dangerousness that arises from the social and cultural perceptions that have been fed to folks for a long time." He said people of all races must be aware of their assumptions about one another. "That has to be reflected in how we talk about these issues going forward," he said.
Obama also noted the very real consequences being part of the "at-risk" demographic has on young male minorities. "The single greatest cause of death for young black men between [ages] 18 and 35 is homicide, and that's crazy," he said. He said the burden of changing that situation cannot lie on police alone.
"It is going to require investments in those communities," he said. "It is going to require making sure the schools work, having after-school programs. And it is going to require us to look at things like guns and that is tough." He went on to describe how knowing there are guns "washing around" in the community can make a police officer more cautious and a confrontation more likely.
Obama offered no specific solutions, nor did he make any promises. But he sounded a note of hope - in fact, making a joke about it, he called himself "Mr. Hope." He called on all Americans watching to take part in the care of the next generation of Americans, regardless of individual color. "We have an obligation to each and every one of them," he said. "These are our kids and we want an America where they can feel safe."Iftach Spector (born 20 October 1940) is a retired Israeli brigadier general, a former fighter pilot and commander of the airbases at Tel Nof and Ramat David. He serves on the Israel Advisory Council of the Israel Policy Forum.
Biography [ edit ]
Spector was born in Petah Tikva, in what was then Mandate Palestine, in 1940. His parents were both members of the Palmach, the elite strike force of the Haganah. His father, Zvi Spector, was the commander of Operation Boatswain, a failed 1941 Palmach mission in Lebanon that resulted in the deaths of all participants, and his mother, Shoshana Spector, was among the founding members of the Palmach and served as its adjutant officer. Spector grew up on kibbutz Givat Brenner and kibbutz Hulata.[1]
Spector saw action in the Six-Day War, and was one of the pilots involved in the USS Liberty incident. He took part in Operation Rimon 20, an air battle between Israel and the Soviet Union during the War of Attrition, later fought in the Yom Kippur War, and participated in Operation Opera, Israel's 1981 bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor. During his service with the Israeli Air Force, Spector commanded 101 and 107 squadrons and both the air bases at Ramat David and Tel Nof. Spector shot down 12 enemy aircraft, eight while flying the Mirage III and four while flying the F-4 Phantom II.[2][3]
In 1992 he was awarded the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for his book A Dream in Black and Azure, a novelized account of a fighter squadron during the Yom Kippur War.[4]
Since 2001, he has been active in the Movement for Disengagement from the Palestinians. In 2003, Spector was one of 27 reserve pilots and former pilots exempt from reserve duty to sign "The pilots' letter" refusing to fly missions against targets in the West Bank and Gaza.[5][6][7]
Publications [ edit ]
Iftach Spector, Loud and Clear, Minneapolis, Zenith Press, 2009, 426 pp., ISBN 978-0-7603-3630-4 is his personal autobiography.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Before Kanye was a stage-crashing, Kim-loving, globe-trotting hip-hop superstar (and tabloid fixture), he was a fellow Chicago rapper who wanted to jump Che "Rhymefest" Smith for talking smack, Smith recalled on HuffPost Live Thursday.
The two men would go on to become friends and collaborators, winning a Grammy in 2005 for co-writing the track "Jesus Walks."
"He's the same guy -- just a lot richer and a little more outrageous," Smith told HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri.
These days, Smith and West are still friends who collaborate on not just music but also philanthropy: Smith is the creative director for Donda's House, the artist development program for Chicago youth that West co-founded and named after his late mother, Donda West.
"I think one of the great things about the people we work with from Chicago is that we all come from a similar -- even though we come from different backgrounds -- we have a similar struggles," Smith said.April 9, 2012 | 9:55 am
Just after the close of World War II, the last Great Migration in the United States — the move from the city to the new suburbs — began to emerge, fueled by new roads, low congestion, and modest energy costs. It was a new beginning, a chance to shake off the past, and it came complete with the promise of more privacy, more safety, and easier financing.
Not surprisingly, Americans bought in.
After that, it didn’t take long for the preferred retailers to do likewise, abandoning the city and following their customers to the suburbs. The suburban single family home on a large lot became synonymous with the American Dream.
After 60 years, many commentators have announced that the American Dream is poised to make its next great shift — this time from the suburbs to the urban core of our cities. Indeed, at the recent New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in San Diego, Chris Nelson, Joe Molinaro and Shyam Kannan made it clear that a radical shift in preferences is on the horizon.
They’re not alone in that position.
Just last week, Robert Shiller of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index made the dramatic statement that, with our growing shift to renting and city living, suburban home prices may never rebound in our lifetime.
Why such pronounced findings? According to researchers, it lies in the preferences of our largest generation since the Boomers, the under 30 Generation Y.
But, why?
While the answer is complex, it comes into focus when you contrast the childhood lifestyle of Generation Y with the childhood lifestyle of previous generations. While they may be “overwhelmed, overconnected, overprotected, and overserved,” according to Tim Elmore’s best seller Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future, those connections and services may be a little different than you’d think. Like those before them, Generation Y currently finds themselves attracted to things they did not have growing up. Four that stand out are:
1. Safety to Adventure. Generation Y has grown up in the safest environment in human history. The suburban cul-de-sac offered a safe place to play, with lower crime rates than cities. But despite this safe environment, the need to fill a 24 hour news cycle in the emerging world of cable and online communications brought every localized “stranger danger” news story to a national audience, giving rise to the overprotective Helicopter Mom who oversees every minute of her child’s life. Whereas previous generations simply needed to come home before dark, Generation Y grew up with scheduled play dates and activities.
It should come as no surprise that this over-protected generation now celebrates dangerous and exciting activities like skydiving, rock climbing and bungee jumping.
At the same time, television shifted from glorifying the surburban lifestyle in the 1960’s and 1970’s (e.g., Leave it to Beaver and the Brady Bunch) to glorifying the urban lifestyle in the 1990’s (e.g., Seinfeld and Friends).
These cultural changes have pushed Generation Y to look for more adventure than previous generations, and they are less fearful of cities than previous generations.
2. Isolated to Connected. While the suburban cul-de-sac lifestyle offered the safest environment the planet has ever seen, it also produced the most isolated and disconnected environment. Today’s children rarely have the freedom to roam beyond the cul-de-sac, ensuring their social lives are determined by the quality of friends on the same street, together with the nature of their scheduled social interactions beyond their neighborhood.
The net result? Generation Y wants to be more connected and less isolated than previous generations. They manifest this desire in their full-on embrace of social media and their desire to live in places where they can be around others; i.e., the densest, most active, areas of cities.
3. Inconvenient to Convenient. Convenience is another word for time, and Generation Y has a low tolerance for spending time on things associated with the suburban lifestyle — Saturdays filled with yard work or long commutes in the car.
Instead, they want the convenience of living close to the things they need, the things they do, and the people they do them with. They prefer the walk downstairs and around the corner to the neighborhood coffee shop or brew pub to the 20 minute car trip required in the ‘burbs.
Developers of mixed-use communities understand this shift, and have been marketing their communities as places where you can live, shop, work and play. This is simply another way of saying that convenience matters more than ever.
4. Car Dependent to Car Independent. Last week the New York Times reported that General Motors has hired MTV’s marketing arm to help combat Generation Y’s lack of interest in cars. Talk about a shift. Only a few decades ago the car symbolized freedom. Indeed, you were not socially viable without one. Now, Generation Y views freedom as being car-independent. How did this happen?
As stated above, the car is no longer a great convenience if it takes a 20 minute trip to buy a quart of milk (or a 6-pack of Belgian IPA). And if the trip is characterized by stop lights and traffic as opposed to the free-flowing suburban streets of the 1960’s, it is no longer going to be considered cool — especially if the trip is in a minivan.
In fact, Generation Y would rather be on a bus or train where they can work or be connected to the internet and social media, which is why Google provides its employees a bus to work.
Generation Y wants freedom, not obstacles or anchors. So when it comes to where and how they live, they also exhibit a greater desire to rent rather than own.
Not the Only Factor
As Generation Y ramps up the buying power they’ll need to fuel a Great Migration back to the cities — and the adventure, convenience, freedom and connectedness they offer — note that a few other factors will also play large roles. These include:
1. Aging Population. When you turn 80 in the suburbs, you begin to realize that your lifestyle is contingent upon your ability to drive. As the Baby Boomers continue to age in the next few decades they will increasingly choose cities where they can walk or take transit over the alternative: independent and assisted living facilities.
2. Higher Energy Costs. Most analysts believe that energy will only become more expensive over time. This will increase the cost of living far from cities, and therefore contribute toward the revitalization of cities and the inner-ring suburbs.
3. Rediscovery of Urban Design Principles. 30 years ago it was difficult to find cities that were making life livable through excellent design. Today, knowledge of these principles is widespread, making it easier for cities to provide a better, even great, place to live.
4. Public School Reform. The recent advent of charter schools, magnet schools and other alternatives have provided an opportunity for parents to enjoy excellent schools in downtown areas for the first time in decades.
5. ROI Analysis. As government budgets become more austere, more municipalities will analyze their infrastructure investments based upon a Return-on-Investment analysis, something advocated by Joe Minicozzi. This naturally favors urban locations over suburban locations.
6. Lower Crime. Technological advancements over the past decade in surveillance and crime investigation have given us tools that make combating crime (as well as the perception of crime) easier.
7. Better Downtowns. While experts are already signaling the popularity of downtown living, these preferences are only likely to increase as our downtowns become better than they are today.
It’s Never Just One or the Other, But…
Just as cities were not completely abandoned in the 20th century, suburbs will not be abandoned in the 21st century. But the shift in preferences is clearly underway, and this radical change will manifest itself in the nature of real estate development over the next 20 years.
–Nathan NorrisVolvo, a Swedish automaker owned by China’s Geely, announced a new aspect of its plans to transition the company in the new electric revolution.
The company is launching its Polestar brand as a separate entity to build and sell performance electric vehicles.
The brand previously made parts and tuned performance cars, especially versions of Volvo’s vehicles since they acquired them in 2015, but now they could have their own vehicles built from the ground up to be electric performance cars.
Volvo wrote in a press release:
“Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build world beating electrified high performance cars.”
It’s not clear if they are going after Tesla or something even more geared toward performance, like Rimac and the other electric supercar out there.
The company confirmed that the upcoming new vehicles, which will first be unveiled this autumn, will only have the Polestar logo – pictured above – and not Volvo’s.
In order to make this happen, Volvo had to transfer some of its leadership to the new company.
Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo, will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer at Polestar and Jonathan Goodman will become Chief Operating Officer. Mr Goodman moves from his position as Senior Vice President Corporate Communication at Volvo Cars.
Polestar announces new management team to develop electrified performance brand for Volvo Cars Polestar announces new management team to develop electrified performance brand for Volvo Cars
Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, says that those appointments show that they are serious about the new brand:
“Thomas heading up the Polestar organisation shows our commitment to establishing a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group. […] With 25 years of commercial experience in the automotive industry, Jonathan is ideally placed to provide operational experience alongside Thomas’s vision, building on the experienced management team that will drive the Polestar brand forwards”
Samuelsson announced that Volvo’s head of interior design, Robin Page, will take over Ingenlath’s role as head of design at the Volvo brand, while David Ibison, who was Vice President Corporate Communications and Global Head of Media Relations, is promoted to Goodman’s role.
Today’s announcement is only the latest in Volvo’s electrification plans. The Swedish automaker plans to launch its first all-electric vehicle in 2019, an aggressively priced long-range electric car to start between $35,000 and $40,000 and be manufactured in China to be globally exported.
They plan to quickly ramp up and launch other EVs from that point in order to accumulate a global fleet of “up to 1 million electrified cars by 2025 globally”.PCJCCI, Sichuan chamber sign MoU
LAHORE: Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) has signed a long-term collaboration with Sichuan International Chamber of Commerce, Halal Food Commission to establish Pakistan-Chengdu Economic Trade Center for creating joint business activities between the two countries, especially for the establishment of Special Economic Zones in Pakistan under CPEC, a statement said on Wednesday.
In this connection, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed as final phase of the efforts taken by PCJCCI trade delegation during a current visit of China under the leadership of S M Naveed, president of PCJCCI, who signed the MoU on behalf of his chamber. From Sichuan International Chamber, Ma Zhijun, president of the Sichuan International Chamber of Commerce, Halal Food Commission signed the MoU. The MoU will benefit the two countries by developing trade relations and all-round cooperation, he said, adding that Pakistan-Chengdu Economic and Trade Center would prove to be a strong organ in promoting economic, commercial, financial and industrial collaboration between Pakistan and the Western China.Canada’s marijuana industry could benefit after at least six states representing twice the population of Canada voted in favour of legalizing the drug, either recreationally or medically. Voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada approved on Tuesday the use of recreational cannabis, joining four other states and Washington, D.C., that have similar laws in place.
California, Massachusetts and Nevada approved on Tuesday the use of recreational cannabis, while Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas approved medical marijuana. ( Mark Boster / TNS )
Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas approved medical marijuana, which would bring the total number of states with such a system to more than two dozen. Shipping marijuana into the U.S., whether for medical or recreational purposes, is illegal. But the CEO of Privateer Holdings, a U.S.-based private equity firm that focuses on investing in the marijuana sector, says he expects Canadian producers will enter into partnerships and joint ventures with their neighbours to the south following the referendums. “I think you’ll see Canadian companies jump at the opportunity to expand their operations and brands into the United States,” says Brendan Kennedy, whose firm owns Nanaimo, B.C.-based licensed producer Tilray.
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That could mean everything from participating in the production process to providing consulting services or licensing intellectual property to U.S. producers, Kennedy says. “There are huge opportunities for Canadian companies, because Canada has the most robust and tightly regulated medical cannabis framework in the world,” he says. “Both governments and companies around the world are looking |
Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), an autonomous international research training institute having an international board of trustees and staff, Dr. Borlaug was made director of its International Wheat Improvement Program. In this capacity he has been able to realize more fully a third objective, that of training young scientists in research and production methods. From his earliest days in Mexico he has, to be sure, carried on an intern program, but with the establishment of the Center, he has been able to reach out internationally. In the last seven years some 1940 young scientists from sixteen or so countries (the figures constantly move upward) have studied and worked at the Center.
Dr. Borlaug is presently participating in extensive experimentation with triticale, a man-made species of grain derived from a cross between wheat rye that shows promise of being superior to either wheat or rye in productivity and nutritional quality.
In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Borlaug has received extensive recognition from universities and organizations in six countries: Canada, India, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, the United States. In 1968 he received an especially satisfying tribute when the people of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, in whose area he did some of his first experimenting, named a street in his honor.
Selected Bibliography
Borlaug, Norman E., “The Impact of Agricultural Research on Mexican Wheat Production”, Transactions of the New York Academy of Science, 20 (1958) 278-295.
Borlaug, Norman E., “Mexican Wheat Production and Its Role in the Epidemiology of Stem Rust in North America”, Phytopathology, 44 (1954) 398-404.
Borlaug, Norman E., Wheat Breeding and Its Impact on World Food Supply. Public lecture at the Third International Wheat Genetics Symposium, August 5-9, 1968. Canberra, Australia, Australian Academy of Science, 1968.
Borlaug, Norman E., “Wheat, Rust, and People”, Phytopathology, 55 (1965) 1088-1098.
Borlaug, Norman E., and others, “A Green Revolution Yields a Golden Harvest”, Columbia Journal of World Business, 4 (September-October, 1969) 9-19.
Brown, Lester R., “The Agricultural Revolution in Asia”, Foreign Affairs, 46 (July, 1968) 688 – 698.
Brown, Lester R., Seeds of Change: The Green Revolution and Development in the 1970’s. New York, Praeger, 1970. Contains a bibliography.
Freeman, Orville, World without Hunger. New York, Praeger, 1968.
The Green Revolution: A Symposium on Science and Foreign Policy. Proceedings before the Subcommittee on National Security Policy and Scientific Developments of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, 91st Congress, First Session, December 5, 1969 (#38-612) J. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.
Hardin, Clifford M., ed., Overcoming World Hunger. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1969.
Johnson, David Gale, The Struggle against World Hunger. New York, Foreign Policy Association, 1967.
Ladejinsky, Wolf, “Ironies of India’s Green Revolution”, Foreign Affairs, 48 (July, 1970) 758-768.
Myrdal, Gunnar, The Challenge of World Poverty: A World Anti-Poverty Program in Outline, chap. 4, “Agriculture ” pp. 78-138. New York, Pantheon Books, 1970.
Paarlberg, Don, Norman Borlaug: Hunger Fighter. Foreign Economic Development Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating with the U.S. Agency for International Development (PA 969). Washington, D. C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.
“Statement to the Press” from Dr. J. George Harrar, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. New York, The Rockefeller Foundation, October 21, 1970.
“U.S. Agronomist Gets Nobel Peace Prize”, the New York Times (October 22, 1970) 1.
Wharton, Clifton R., Jr.,”The Green Revolution: Cornucopia or Pandora’s Box”, Foreign Affairs, 47 (April, 1969) 464-476.
From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1951-1970, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Norman Borlaug died on 12 September, 2009.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1970
To cite this section
MLA style: Norman Borlaug – Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2019. Tue. 26 Feb 2019. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1970/borlaug/biographical/>Happier times: Imogen with her dogs in 2009. Credit:Wolter Peeters Last week the Sun Herald revealed federal drug regulators are considering making common pain killers that contain codeine along with other medicines such as paracetamol and Nurofen prescription-only, because of concerns that people are becoming addicted and suffering serious health consequences from overdosing on them. Mrs Dodd said her daughter had bravely fought against mental health difficulties her whole life, but before she died in February she had been working in a job she loved at the Mount Tomah botanic gardens, and had just completed a diploma in accounting. "She was always very good at maths," she said. "She was very clever in many ways, but she just had many problems that really got the better of her." The 38-year old had been applying for accounting jobs but had received few responses as it was just before Christmas, something Mrs Dodd believes may have pushed her to take the medications to help cope.
Tragically, after she died on February 2, her family started receiving calls offering her job interviews. Ms Cunningham was brought to the Nepean Hospital emergency department the same day she died, feeling very drowsy and suffering from low blood pressure. Her condition deteriorated quickly, and she became unconscious and developed organ failure. It emerged she had been hiding her addiction to pain medication from her mother, who she lived with, and recently had been taking as many as 40 tablets a day. Associate Professor Martin Weltman, the head of the department of gastroenterology and hepatology and Nepean, said Ms Cunningham was treated in intensive care and was assessed for an emergency liver transplant, which ultimately was unavailable. She just wanted to make herself feel better. Robin Dodd.
"[The staff] were having to explain what was happening to the patient and her mother as it was happening, so it was very traumatising," he said. He said the damage to her organs from the paracetamol that was combined with the codeine in the medications she was taking happened slowly, and so would not have immediately made her feel sick or given her a clear indication of the damage she was doing. "She just reached a tipping point where she had one or two days too many taking the tablets," he said. "If she had even taken all that paracetamol in one go we do better at treating that, because the liver has a reserve when it has just been challenged once," he said. He said doctors were increasingly seeing serious consequences from people misusing drugs containing codeine, including patients with serious stomach ulcers - in one case so bad they completely blocked the patient's stomach - from taking too much ibuprofen, another drug that is commonly combined with codeine. Rod Bishop, the director of the Emergency Department at Nepean, said the hospital saw a lot of poisoning from prescription and non-prescription medications.
"Just because a medication is available over the counter doesn't mean it is not potentially dangerous," he said. "They are good drugs if you take them as recommended, but they all come with some risk if they are abused." Mrs Dodd said she believes her daughter should never have been able to buy such large quantities of the medications without a prescription. But she hopes that other people in similar situations to her daughter will learn from her death. "I just feel I would like something good to come out of this," she said. Pain Doctors call for ban on over-the-counter codeine meds Doctors who specialise in treating pain have called for the national drug regulator to ban sales of codeine-containing medications without a doctor's prescription.
The Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists has made a submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which the Sun Herald last week revealed was assessing the status of the drugs. Faculty dean Ted Shipton said the low levels of codeine in over-the-counter medications meant they were not very effective, as well as carrying high potential for addiction and harm. "Codeine is a weak opioid and addicts swallow dozens of these tablets a day for effect," Professor Shipton said. "People who are misusing these over-the-counter preparations are invariably taking very high doses of paracetamol and ibuprofen for the codeine effect and that kind of dosage can lead to serious liver damage, stomach ulcerations, renal failure and even death." But the chief executive officer of Pain Australia, Lesley Brydon, said while the Faculty was right to be concerned, people suffering chronic pain were often in desperate need, and often could not afford to regularly go to the doctor. "The health system does not support access to pain programs which use non-drug therapies such as special exercise and psychological therapies and are far more helpful than medication in managing chronic pain," she said. "Before any decision is made there should be an independent review."
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia this week also disagreed that codeine-containing medications should be sold only on prescription. It has called for the government to help fund real-time recording of sales, to stop addicts from stocking up on large numbers of the drugs. People who need help with addiction to opioids such as codeine can call the opioid treatment line during business hours on 1800 642 428. NSW residents can call the Alcohol and Drug Information Service 24/7 on 9361 8000 or visit http://yourroom.com.au/ People in Victoria can call Direct Line 24/7 on 1800 888 236.My Wine Won't Stop Crying — A Mystery In A Wineglass
Mysteries, mysteries, mysteries — everywhere I look there are puzzles, questions with no obvious answers: like why do I never see a baby pigeon? (There must be pigeon chicks somewhere, no? But where are they?). How come houseflies manage to land on a ceiling upside down without falling off? (At least I've never seen a fly lose its grip.) And now, here's a new one, sent to me by a reader who asks, "Why does wine cry?"
Why does wine what? I've never looked closely enough at a glass of wine to notice, but apparently, when you pour the wine in, swirl it a bit, then let it sit, something beautiful happens. The wine that sloshed around the inside of the glass doesn't fall back but stays there, above the beverage line, and starts to drip, forming a continuous little curtain of... well, wine lovers call them "tears." Elegant little droplets slide down back into the wine, and then, for some weird reason, creep up again, then down again, then up/down, up/down, driven by some mysterious force that doesn't seem to end. What is causing this continuous "crying"? The answer, it turns out, is fascinating...
YouTube
I want to say a couple of things about Dan Quinn's video. He's not a professional science explainer; he's a grad student studying fluid mechanics at Princeton. As best I can tell, he wrote this piece, voiced it, drew the drawings, and edited it on his own. From his YouTube website, it seems he's been making videos at least since high school (when, in 2006, he produced a wonderfully weird 60 Minutes-style "investigation" of his classmates' addiction to the game Smash Brothers.)
A Golden Age?
Video isn't, I'm guessing, his main thing; it's what he does when he wants to exercise his storytelling muscles. In his grandparents' day, they would have had diaries, written letters, sketched, or maybe painted. This video thing — it's a new form of expression. And in the past five years or so, with the advent of YouTube and Vimeo, it's blossoming — and it's changing the world of science writing. Ten years ago, there were science reporters, scientists who wrote for public audiences and a few Carl Sagans and David Attenboroughs who did TV "specials" to explain the natural world. Now, if you know where to look, every morning on the Web you can find cartoons, illustrated essays, animations like Dan's, musicals, even dance explorations of science, all of them new, and some of them spectacularly good. We are living, I think, at the dawn of a golden age, where there are more ways, and more and more of them visually sophisticated, to learn how the world works. And it's all free! Yay! (Except, I sometimes wonder where that leaves us, the ones who get paid to do this for a living.)
But The Best Part Is...
One last thing: For most people, science is what tickles you when you're in grade school learning about bugs and dinosaurs, and what dulls and drives you off when you meet the Krebs cycle in 9th grade, and you have to memorize long lists of chemical transactions. In high school, the pull-you-in storytelling stops, and for many, science becomes one long slog through short answer quizzes. But look what Dan did in his video: He shows you a puzzle — wine magically climbing a wineglass. He asks the right question: "Why?"
And the way he builds his answer — with a dab of laundry detergent scattering pepper flakes on a plate, with an escalator that can't unload its people — is totally engaging, true to the science, and makes you want to know more. That's the key. Science writing should be impregnating. It should make you lean in, not out. And now, thanks to the hundreds and hundreds of amateurs who have joined the game, there are impregnators everywhere. Bring on the Dans, I say. They spread the word — and the word needs spreading.Was 2013 Really The Year Of The Paleo Diet?
Google Trends has released its annual Zeitgeist list so that we can mull over the burning questions of the day.
And this year, the most googled diet was the paleo diet. Some have suggested that paleo's Google search triumph means that this is the "year of paleo." Paleo advocates interpreted the Google search data to mean that the movement is growing exponentially.
The diet's reputation has been burnished lately with endorsements from Major League Baseball players, boxers, celebrity actors and musicians.
And paleo dieters are a passionate bunch. They make the intriguing assertion that there's a mismatch between our genes, which are best adapted to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle because that's how we've spent most of our time on Earth, and a modern life replete with temptations like Cheetos and cronuts. Their thinking goes that before agriculture flooded our diets with "Neolithic" grains and sugar, we were healthier and happier.
Thus, they say, to attain an optimal state of health, we should consume a diet close to what our ancestors ate: vegetables, meat, tubers and fruit. That's the general gist, though the authors of the latest paleo books concede that the paleo diet itself is evolving. Dairy, for example, need not be restricted if you can tolerate lactose. "It seems clear now that there are some genetic changes that allow some of us to partially adapt to agriculture," says Chris Kresser, author of Your Personal Paleo Code, which promotes an individualized approach to the diet.
This year brought a flurry of recipe blogs as well as paleo products and services catering to the newly converted. But this year's paleo books — including one that sharply criticized the diet — and related media coverage, probably best explain the surge in paleo searches on Google. In 2013, paleo searches peaked in April, just after evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk's book Paleofantasy came out.
Zuk argued that we didn't stop evolving 10,000 years ago or at any other point in time, and so our diet then couldn't possibly be ideal. Rather, she says, evolution can work very quickly, and so we shouldn't consider ourselves biologically identical to cavemen.
"Evolution is deceptively easy to incorporate into your thinking," Zuk told The Salt when we interviewed her back in May. "But there's a pervasive misconception that anything could be perfectly adapted to its environment, and if the environment changes it gets knocked off its pedestal." In other words, the paleo community's notion that we're poorly adapted to modern life has some problems.
Biological anthropologist Christina Warinner poked another set of holes in the paleo diet this year, in a TEDx video that got its own fair share of traffic. She argued that there's strong archaeological evidence suggesting most humans have been eating grains and legumes — and not that much meat — for milennia.
Still, it's easy to see why a lot of people find modern life to be very challenging, especially when it comes to maintaining a desirable weight. And it's understandable that a lot of people need guidance on how to say no to the abundance of fatty, sugary treats around us and find new ways to exercise.
But we have only a smattering of evidence that the neo-paleo diet works as a weight management tool (and a noisy delegation arguing that we should eat less meat to contend with). And we have only vague idea of how many people follow the diet today.
Hamilton Stapell, a historian at SUNY-New Paltz who did an online survey of the paleo community this year, estimates that between 1 million and 3 million Americans are paleo, or about 1 percent of the population. At a meeting of the Ancestral Health Symposium this summer, he argued in a talk called "The End of Paleo" that the diet's popularity will continue to grow modestly, but won't go mainstream.
As far as diets go, mainstream science is increasingly backing the Mediterranean way of eating (which came in at no. 3 in the most googled list of 2013.) As NPR's Allison Aubrey reported in November, a large observational study of older women suggested the Mediterranean diet offers significant benefits for both mind and body.
But paleo probably isn't going away. A survey of more than 500 registered dietitians conducted by the nutrition trade magazine Today's Dietitian and Pollock Communications found that than half of respondents said that paleo and gluten-free diets would be the most popular diet fads of 2014.
So what might paleo in 2014 look like? Word on the street is that ugly vegetables are going to make a comeback, which should appeal to retro dieters of all stripes, yearning for the glory days.Jaguars players on Thursday report to training camp, their first under Mike Mularkey.
Earlier in the week, the Jaguars' new head coach sat down with the Times-Union's Vito Stellino and talked about his plans and expectations for the upcoming season and why he thinks the Jaguars will better than the national media are predicting.
Excerpts from the interview:
You only had one off-the-field incident since the end of minicamp and that was for unpaid traffic tickets [Odrick Ray]. Do you think the players are getting the message?
I think we are. That's good based on some of the other things I heard around the league. I'm still disappointed in that [one incident]. I told him I'm disappointed. We could have a clean slate.
Did you stay away from the office on vacation?
I always feel I have something to do. I still have things to do in regards to planning, schedules, practices and menus and seating charts on airplanes. If I'm here [in town], I'm probably going to come in for a few hours.
Did you go anywhere on vacation?
Went to Italy for 10 days with my wife and two other couples. We stayed up in the northern part. It was really beautiful.
Do you have your message planned for your first address to the team?
Not that I want to share. I've got some film to support the message. I think the video will speak more than I can ever say.
Do you have much contact with owner Shad Khan?
Rarely do we go very long without speaking. I will keep him updated. It's important I do that. My biggest concern is when I call him, I have no idea where he's at. I know I've called him sometimes it had to be in the middle of the night [in Europe]. If he doesn't pick up, he calls back. It's amazing a man as busy and as successful as he is, how well he can communicate with everybody.
You're going to unveil the new locker room to the players Thursday. Will it make a difference?
I think it is. It's important the players see we're trying to build something for their success. We're trying to do things for them. Some things we're going to do that even change the gameday experience, so it's not like you're walking in the same locker room I walked into on Wednesday or June OTAs. This is gameday. There is something different about it.
What is your perception of the team after the offseason?
All I heard about before I met any of them was how good of a locker room it was. Even some of the departing coaches went out of their way to emphasize how good people were in the locker room. I have to support what they were saying based on the work we got done in a short amount of time.
What do you think the team's strengths are?
I think we're going to be a physical group. I think one of the things we have, we've got intelligent players who can make decisions quickly. That's extremely important in this business, making the right decisions fast. Not a lot of mistakes once the ball is snapped. When they've got to make a split-second decision to get the positive outcome on the play, we've got guys [who can do it]. Not a lot of mental errors.
Which players caught your eye in the off season?
Offensively, I thought Eugene Monroe, Eben [Britton], it was nice to have him back, I like his energy. I thought Rashad Jennings responded to being pushed into the starting lineup. I thought he responded well, his work ethic was great. Obviously, I think Blaine [Gabbert] took a step in the right direction. I felt like he got better with a lot of pressure on him to get better. I thought Brian Robiskie was a consistent player for us. There are some things Cecil Shorts does that I'm excited about. Defensively, [Jeremy] Mincey was outstanding in everything he did. He gets what we we're looking for. I think players fed off of it. Aaron Ross was very impressive to come in here and learn the system and play like he did. [Dawan] Landry, never had a loaf since he's been here, which is unheard of in the NFL.
A loaf?
That means doesn't finish the play. Each player is graded on whether they finish the play. And some guys give the impression they're trying to. So I know the difference. This guy, he's just impressive. I like Russell Allen. He kind of got thrown in there with Clint Session [concussions] not practicing. I thought Russell did a really good job.
Any player who needs to step it up?
Nobody stood out that I had to pull in my office.
The oddsmakers list the Jaguars over/under at 5.5 wins. What do you think they are missing about the team given the optimism in the building?
They're not here. They're not watching what I'm watching. I think we're sitting exactly where we want to be sitting.
Why will the team be better this year?
We've had a good offseason. Last year, there was no offseason. You've got a quarterback who's got 14 games under his belt. Just a new feel in the building with the locker room. If you walk down the hallway we've been trying to reinforce specific things we think we stand for as a staff and as a team. They're all over the place.
What are some examples?
There's seven racks in the weight room and you can work on either side of the rack. So on each side of the rack, there's a term like physical, aggressive, violent, together... there's 14 words. I quizzed them on it. The second time [he quizzed them] it was much better. Even their keys to the hotel room will have the words on the key. Even when they're putting them in the door, we're trying to reinforce what we stand for.
Are you feeling any pressure as you open camp?
I have an extreme fear of failure. I don't want to let anybody down. When I was coaching tight ends, coordinator, I put pressure on myself. I've always done that as a player as a coach. It's important.
Why did you name Blaine Gabbert the quarterback instead of saying it's an open competition?
Just so there's not a conversation piece every single time I sit down in the press room. This guy did this better, that guy did that better. Blaine is the quarterback. It's one less thing to talk about which is not good for you, but for me.
We'll still talk about it, won't we?
I know [laughs].
What has Gabbert done better so far?
The mechanics are better. I think it's helping with his accuracy. A lot of that is because of the balance he's had in the pocket. We've changed his drop that he had last year, even slowed it down a little bit just so he comes to balance. That's very important at that position. He's on both feet set to throw. There are still some things to his left we need to work on.
How good can he be?
That's yet to be [determined]. Let's see where we take off on Thursday with it.
You've said the padded practices will be two hours and 45 minutes. How will the players handle practicing during the day in this heat?
I'm comfortable with it, but I went back and looked at it and decided to make it two hours and 30 minutes.
[email protected], (904) 359-4279Dear 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.
During the nine months of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that ended in failure in 2014, 62 percent of Israel’s publicly announced tenders for housing beyond the Green Line were earmarked for the 1.9% of West Bank land that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had once consented would remain in Israel’s hands.
David Makovsky, who was a member of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s negotiating team during this period, pointed out this little-known fact during a speech Tuesday at a conference on US-Israel relations that took place at Bar- Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
Makovsky, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that Israel was more “geographically cautious” with settlement announcements during the negotiating period than many realize.“It would have been helpful if that could have been made public,” Makovsky said, explaining that for political reasons that was not a possibility.This geographic caution was not stated publicly but was the policy.Announcements of settlement plans during this period were a huge bone of contention, with former US Mideast envoy Martin Indyk, who headed the team Makovsky was a member of, placing much of the blame for the breakdown of the talks on Israel’s settlement policies. He said during a speech last year that “rampant settlement activity – especially in the midst of negotiations – doesn’t just undermine Palestinian trust in the purpose of the negotiations, it can undermine Israel’s Jewish future.”In 2008 Abbas reportedly turned down an offer by thenprime minister Ehud Olmert for Israel to annex 6.3% of the West Bank to incorporate the major settlement blocs into Israel in exchange for 5.8% of land within Israel and the corridor from the West Bank to Gaza. Abbas reportedly countered with a proposal for a 1.9% land swap, apparently the area where most of the housing tenders were announced during the 2013- 2014 negotiations.Makovsky, in his first public comments on the negotiations since they broke down more than a year ago, said the premise of the negotiations was to try to reach conceptual agreement on the five core issues, “and then let the technicians come in and talk about the details.”He defined the core issues as territory (borders), refugees, Jerusalem, security and mutual recognition, which encompassed the issue of recognition of Israel as the Jewish national home.He said that there was significant progress on two of the issues: territory – meaning the territory that would make up the future Palestinian state – and the refugee issue. Without providing details, he said that “the Palestinians were more flexible on the refugees than most Israelis would believe.”Makovsky said that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas were “risk averse,” and that because of each side’s political calculations – not wanting to appear domestically as giving too much or raising expectations – “we couldn’t talk about progress.”As a result, he said, it was difficult to build momentum. He said that the Americans would have liked Abbas to talk about how Netanyahu had taken down security checkpoints, and Israel to praise the security cooperation with the PA, but that neither side was willing to do so.The leaders didn’t want to raise expectations, because it would have been too costly politically, he maintained.Makovsky came to the defense of Kerry, his boss at the time, saying that “I feel the history books will be nicer to him than the newspapers.”Makovsky bemoaned that the Israeli public is largely unaware that Kerry has spoken more to Netanyahu on the phone than any other world leader, and that he was interested in working quietly behind the scenes with the Israelis. All that was noticed, he said, were some public gaffes that were pounced on by the media, which then often drew the wrong conclusions.“I feel that he has been treated unjustly by the Israeli public,” Makovsky said. “One day the truth will emerge.”
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Dem poll shows Mourdock tanking, Donnelly up 9 in Indiana
Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly has established a clear lead over Republican Richard Mourdock in the Indiana Senate race, according to a poll taken for Donnelly’s campaign in the wake of Mourdock’s damaging comments about abortion and rape.
In a Global Strategy Group poll shared with POLITICO, Donnelly now leads Mourdock by 9 points in a two-way race, 47 percent to 38 percent. When a third candidate, Libertarian Andrew Horning, is added to the poll, Donnelly leads by 7 points — 43 percent to 36 percent to Horning’s 9 percent.
Mourdock’s personal image has taken a beating, with his unfavorable rating rising 9 points in the past 10 days to 49 percent. Among undecided voters in the Donnelly poll, only 8 percent have a favorable view of Mourdock while 46 percent view him unfavorably.
There has been little available polling on the Indiana Senate race since Mourdock’s problematic debate performance, but private polling on both sides has shown real bleeding for the GOP state treasurer.
The GSG poll was taken from Oct. 28-30, surveying 600 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. You can read the full polling memo here.An ordinance to give enforcement officers more tools to deal with overcrowded off-campus housing at Tufts University has passed its first reading.
A new ordinance has been advanced to a second reading by the Medford City Council that would give the city’s code enforcement office a new tool in combating overcrowding in off-campus housing units close to the Tufts University campus.
The ordinance, similar to housing ordinances passed in Boston and Somerville in prior years, would require Tufts to send the Medford City Clerk a list of all of the addresses that are occupied by their off-campus students.
The list would not include names, as some council members were concerned about, but would only include the addresses of the students and the number of occupants at those addresses. The goal, according to councilor John Falco, is to give the city’s code enforcement officers some help in identifying housing units that are housing too many occupants.
Medford has a local zoning ordinance that only allows up to three unrelated persons to occupy the same housing unit. Falco said that the issue had come to the council’s attention from concerned community members around the university.
"Overcrowding in the Hillside neighborhood has been a major issue for Tufts students for years," Falco said. "It could get very unruly at times. The neighbors had been having to deal with these issues for years and an ordinance like this would help protect the neighbors and the neighborhood."
Currently, the city’s enforcement office only has two full-time code enforcement officers. Council vice president Michael Marks and president Richard Caraviello both brought up the need for another code enforcement officer and planned to address the issue at the time of the next budget.
Should the ordinance pass its third reading (either at the Feb. 28 or March 7 meeting of the City Council), the ordinance will become official, and Tufts will have 45 days from the start of the new semester to get the list to City Hall.Getting the ol' glitter treatment is nothing new for politicians. A little (or big) dash of that sparkly stuff, and boom, you are part of an exclusive (but growing) club.
Glitter-bombing -- the act of dumping a bunch of glitter onto an unsuspecting politician -- became a popular form of protest during the 2012 presidential election cycle, particularly used by LGBT activists.
So it's kind of a throwback to hear of glitter and politics! But this week, aides to Nebraska Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry received a glitter bomb via mail to the lawmaker's Lincoln office, the Omaha World-Herald reported Thursday. The glitter contained a note, alluding to his position on abortion. “Nobody was injured, except now people have glitter on their clothes," spokeswoman Jennifer Allen told the World-Herald.
Fortenberry and company, you join a line-up of well-known Republicans who have been glitter-bombed. Here's a look back:
MITT ROMNEY
Romney dodging glitter at campaign rally in Eagan, Minn., on Feb. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Back in 2012, then-candidate Romney was campaigning across the country, and getting glitter dumped on him along the way.
The Post's Philip Rucker reported from a rally in Eagan, Minn.: As Romney "walked to the stage inside a warehouse here, a gay rights activist who said he was from the group 'Glitterati' threw a cup of glitter on the former Massachusetts governor. The glitter poured over his hair, stuck to his face and shimmered from his navy blazer."
Romney eventually proclaimed, “I’m happy for the celebration. This is confetti! We just won Florida!”
Points for the quick, positive spin. A few days later, a student in Colorado threw glitter at Romney and got slapped with misdemeanor charges for it. Student Peter Smith said Romney's positions on the economy and gay rights prompted the move. “When I see people living in opulence I normally say that they are living in the glitter — in the glitter of lights,” Smith told Denver's CBS affiliate.
RICK SANTORUM
The former Pennsylvania Republican senator has gotten the glitter treatment many, many times, and we gotta say, his reaction time has been remarkable. Just take a look at this moment from 2012. The man had just come in third in the South Carolina primary. And, as he was autographing posters and greeting supporters, Occupy protesters showed up out of nowhere and threw a bunch of glitter in his face.
Do you see this? The man literally does not break his smiley, happy demeanor. What? How is that possible? Security detail guy looks understandably grumpy about it.
MICHELE BACHMANN
The former Minnesota congresswoman and 2012 presidential candidate had wrapped up a 40-minute speech in Minneapolis in 2011 and was exiting the stage when a bunch of glitter was thrown her way.
"You can run, but you can’t hide," activist Rachel E.B. Lang yelled.
Bachmann kept it moving, and it's unclear whether any of the glitter actually stuck to her. Take a gander:
TIM PAWLENTY
The former Minnesota governor and GOP presidential candidate was hanging out in San Francisco when he had a bunch of confetti dumped on him by Code Pink activists.
Okay, while this is not technically glitter, confetti seems like it could be almost as annoying, so it's getting an honorable mention here.
NEWT GINGRICH
The former House Speaker and then GOP presidential candidate may have been the first, true glitter-bombing target. He was at book signing in Minnesota with his wife, Callista, in 2011. As AP reported at the time, a man came up to the table "dumped a cracker box full of colorful confetti on the pair and said, 'Feel the rainbow, Newt! Stop the hate! Stop anti-gay politics!'"
Gingrich quickly went to the work of brushing the glitter off of the table, adding, "Nice to live in a free country."
But um, he wasn't so happy about it a few months later. "Glitter bombing is clearly an assault and should be treated as such,” Gingrich told the New York Times in 2011. “When someone reaches into a bag and throws something on you, how do you know if it is acid or something that stains permanently or something that can blind you |
gay people and who made his call for mass extermination onstage at the event.
Pastor Kevin Swanson, who has said in the past that Christians should attend gay weddings and hold up signs telling the newly married gay couples that they “should be put to death,” declared this week that Hurricane Harvey is God’s judgment on Houston and other cities that refuse to repent for their embrace of “sexual perversion,” according to Right Wing Watch.
“Jesus sends the message home, unless Americans repent, unless Houston repents, unless New Orleans repents, they will all likewise perish,” Swanson said on his radio program Thursday. “That is the message that the Lord Jesus Christ is sending home right now to America.”
Swanson said that it’s no coincidence that Houston was hit by the catastrophic storm because “it was persecuting pastors and churches” and recently had “a very, very aggressively pro-homosexual mayor.”
He also blamed the Texas legislature’s recent failure to pass a bill “that would have prevented cross-dressing men from using the women’s restrooms” because “they wanted to encourage the abomination of men attempting to dress like women and women attempting to dress like men.”
“I think that the entire state of Texas and the entire United States of America needs to take note of this,” Swanson warned, “and realize that there is a God in heaven, He brings His judgments and He calls nations to repentance, as He is doing right now.”
Swanson also noted that the remnants of the storm were forecast to brush New Orleans just as the city prepares for its annual “Southern Decadence” festival.
He said God is giving the city a “head’s up” before it hosts “the largest sexual perversion event in the country.”
“Is anybody paying attention in New Orleans?” he asked.
“Unless you repent, you will likewise perish,” Swanson proclaimed. “And repairing your houses in Houston after a hurricane is useless if you’re just going to go to hell.”When all is said and done as far as Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott is concerned, there’s likely to be more “culture shock” than “culture change” coming to One Bills Drive. Players on both sides of the ball clamored for more discipline and accountability ever since previous head coach Rex Ryan was fired in late December.
Remember the phrase, “be careful what you wish for”? If players wanted more discipline, structure and accountability, they just got it and then some with the type of positional coaches McDermott’s has hired so far.
Related 4 Bills that will benefit most from HC Sean McDermott
Throughout the 17-year playoff drought, the level of talent on Bills rosters has varied a great deal. For example, former head coach Chan Gailey made the most out of an offense consisting of middling talent Stevie Johnson as the number one wide receiver, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, as well as running back C.J. Spiller. Undrafted free-agent running back Fred Jackson was arguably the most gifted player on offense at that time.
Related Bills interviewing Greg Olson for OC position
However, the level of talent drastically improved over the last few years through the draft and free agency. Despite injuries to key players during 2016, Buffalo still had a better offensive line, depth at running back, and defensive line by comparison to Gailey’s journeymen.
Under Rex Ryan, the Bills failed to do much better in terms of overall record despite having a top-three NFL running back in LeSean McCoy, an elite wide receiver in Sammy Watkins (when healthy), and a quarterback who is not necessarily elite but much less likely to turn the ball over as much as Ryan Fitzpatrick did.
The reasons for underachievement by these more talented squads can be certainly be debated, but there’s no question Buffalo was not getting the kind of productivity on the field reflective of their lavish spending to the cap.
The Bills organization clearly knew after the Rex Ryan experiment failed they needed to go in a different direction in terms of the type of personality and temperament of their head coach. Ryan was laid back and allegedly behaved more like he wanted to be friends with players than their head coach.
Hiring Sean McDermott definitely put an exclamation point on going “all-in” to find the “anti-Rex”. Whereas Ryan was loose and unorganized, McDermott appears to be the exact opposite. Furthermore, in hiring defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and especially defensive line coach Mike Waufle, McDermott is doubling down on the organization’s desire for more accountability and discipline. Neither are exactly known for their “warm and fuzzy” personalities.
Time will tell whether veering so much in coaching philosophy and personality will be the answer the Buffalo Bills are looking for to make a return to relevance in the NFL. There’s no question McDermott and his coaching staff are the polar opposite of his predecessor with respect to discipline and accountability.Gambling addiction is fast becoming the public health issue of a generation, according to the Rutland centre.
The Dublin facility has said the number of people addicted to gambling here in Ireland is on the increase.
It is believed there is around 40,000 problem gamblers here - with men traditionally the most commonly affected - but gambling amongst women is also on the rise.
The Rutland Centre wants the industry - which is worth billions of euro - to be regulated.
Maebh Leahy is CEO of the Rutland Centre: “Gambling as far as I can see is fast becoming the public health issue of the generation.
“Numbers presenting for treatment are increasing year on year we are seeing a huge increase, 9% of our clients are presenting with problem gambling as their primary addiction now and that’s a drop in the ocean.”Another day, another poll on the amendments
Yesterday I covered the SurveyUSA poll on the two constitutional amendments Minnesotans will be voting on in November. Today I’ll talk about the Public Policy Polling poll that came out yesterday concerning the very same two constitutional amendments.
PPP (9/12, 6/4 in parenthesis, 1/22 in brackets):
Should the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota? Yes 48 (43) [48]
No 47 (49) [44]
Not sure 5 (7) [8]
(MoE: ±3.4%)
On the surface this looks like an increase in support for the marriage amendment of five points. But as was the case with the SurveyUSA poll that showed a big increase in opposition, I think this is more related to regression to the mean then it is to any change.
Afterall, both polls show the exact opposite trends. But those trends are the result of the polls being put into the context of the polling firms previous poll. And for both of these firms, their previous polls painted substantially different pictures of the race.
PPP’s June survey showed the opposition ahead 49-43, while SurveyUSA’s July survey showed supporters ahead 52-37. Those polls were not at all like each other. The two current surveys are sort of like each other. PPP’s shows the amendment winning 48-47, while SurveyUSA shows it winning 50-43.
For both of these polls then, the trend lines should probably be dismissed as they won’t do anyone any good to look at.
To help: mnunited.org
Onto the photo voter ID amendment:
PPP (9/12, 6/4 in parenthesis):
Should the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present valid photo identification to vote and to require the state to provide free identification to eligible voters? Yes 56 (58)
No 39 (34)
Not sure 5 (8)
(MoE: ±3.4%)
It’s pretty safe to say it’s a good sign that this poll shows opposition to the photo voter ID amendment increasing at the same time it shows support for the marriage amendment increasing.
The big change is Democrats coming home on this amendment, something that is absolutely vital if it’s going to get defeated in November. Looking at the cross tabs tells the story.
While Republican support for the amendment has hardened some, going from 84%-10% to 88%-9%, the much more dramatic movement has been among Democrats who went from opposing the amendment by a 54%-36% margin in June to opposing it by a 72%-20% margin in this poll.
That’s a very encouraging sign, and if Democrats continue to come around on this issue, we might actually have a chance of defeating it in November.
The amendment is still leading by a seventeen point margin though.
To help: ourvoteourfuture.orgAn editor for Liberty University's student-run newspaper says that the school's president Jerry Falwell Jr. censored a column of his that was critical of 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.
"Yesterday I was told [Falwell] was not allowing me to express my personal opinion in an article I wrote for my weekly column in the Liberty Champion about Trump and his 'locker room talk,'" Joel Schmieg, the sports editor of the Liberty Champion, wrote in a Facebook post.
He told The Hill that he did not hear “directly from the school” about the matter and noted, “It is technically within their right to pull the article."
But [Falwell] "did tweet about the subject and called it a matter of space. Which is a blatant lie. My column runs every week in the same spot. By cutting my column, I was then forced to fill space," he told The Hill.
My intvw with WAPO below that I censored a story in the LU student NP. WAPO understands editorial dcsn @thedailybeast is sleazy & ran story pic.twitter.com/XLL64xsqnc — J L Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) October 19, 2016
"The two letters were redundant and space was limited so an editorial decision was made to go with the other letter written by a medical student," Falwell said.
"The letter that the medical student wrote was also preferred because it was not a staff member, but rather an independent reader."
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Schmieg noted in his Facebook post that Falwell recently praised Liberty University for promoting "the free expression of ideas unlike many major universities where political correctness prevents conservative students from speaking out."
"I find these words from Jerry amusing and extremely hypocritical," he wrote.
Schmieg proceeded to publish his column on Facebook, in which he attacked the notion of "locker room talk," stating that male athletes never premeditate sexual assault in locker rooms.
Falwell defended the Republican nominee after Trump's comments on a hot mic from 2005 emerged showing him discussing his failed efforts at trying to sleep with a married woman and grabbing women by their genitals.
The Liberty University president, who has caught flak from students for his continued support of Trump, also said he would vote for Trump despite several new accusations of sexual assault and harassment against the GOP nominee.
"I think there’s a different Donald Trump now,” Falwell told CNN recently. “Unlike Hillary, I believe all people are redeemable and I believe his life has changed, he’s a different person now, and that’s why I’m still supporting him.”
Updated 10:47 p.m.INDIANAPOLIS -- Matthew Warren Heimbach has been called a white supremacist, a racist, a neo-Nazi and the future of organized hate in America.
MORE | Young, racist, white supremacist movement's rising star
The Indiana Department of Child Services hired Heimbach to be a family case manager in Dubois County, which is close to Paoli, where he lives with his wife and infant son.
He started with DCS as a family case manager trainee on January 11, 2016.
The nationally known pro-white activist was one of 950 family case managers hired by DCS in the last year, records show.
The state agency has battled turnover and overwhelming caseloads for some workers.
MORE | Pence announces hiring of 113 new DCS case workers | DCS caseworker: Caseload makes job impossible to do
Heimbach, 24, has appeared on national news, including Nightline, for his views on white separatism.
DCS terminated Heimbach on January 28, less than three weeks after his hire date.
Call 6 Investigates Kara Kenney sat down with Heimbach, who says he was wrongfully fired by the state agency.
“I want to be a DCS worker because I see communities in need,” said Heimbach. “I care about all kids. I see a lot of families that need assistance, that need advocates, who are being left behind.”
Heimbach spent several weeks in classroom training and had access to children and families, alongside a mentor and other caseworkers.
"I was able to administer drug tests to one family, and to run several different interviews with families and do visits," said Heimbach. “I was able to get my hands dirty.”
The Paoli resident calls himself a white nationalist and a pro-white community activist, and someone who advocates for the interests of white people.
“I’m not a supremacist, I’ve never been a supremacist,” said Heimbach. “I simply believe my people deserve a voice.”
Heimbach denies being racist, if you define racist as someone that hates races other than their own.
“I’ve never been a hate filled person,” said Heimbach. “I have no animosity toward any other group, but (racist) is this title thrown out for any white person who thinks we should be able to stand up for ourselves.”
Heimbach believes it was his political beliefs that triggered his firing at DCS.
“I had done all of my training activities appropriately,” said Heimbach.
Heimbach said his coworkers had learned of his political beliefs and told him they were going to report him to DCS supervisors.
A day later, he was escorted out of classroom training on January 28, Heimbach said.
“Before I was even able to say anything, I was handed a piece of paper that said ‘you’re fired,'” said Heimbach, who added he was not given any further explanation for his termination.
Heimbach said he does not think his political beliefs would result in any bias toward certain families or children.
“I’m a humanitarian at the end of the day,” said Heimbach. “One of my coworkers was talking about being involved in the Black Lives Matter movement. There is obviously a double standard.”
Heimbach said he ruffled some feathers during DCS training when he questioned why DCS case workers are not expected to report illegal immigrants.
“I was told we’re not supposed to report it, we aren’t supposed to contacted ICE or immigration control or police, and that’s a lot of concern to me,” said Heimbach. “Under federal law if you knowingly conceal someone as being an illegal immigrant, that’s a federal felony. DCS is more interested in protecting people who aren’t supposed to be here in the first place than enforcing the rule of law.”
DCS does not have a policy or statute requiring workers to report illegal immigrants, according to Ashley Hungate, spokesperson for the Indiana State Personnel Department.
The State Personnel Department does not require Google searches before hiring state employees.
Call 6 Investigates googled Heimbach’s name and easily found how controversial his views are.
Heimbach said he used his legal name on his resume, and didn’t try to hide his identity.
“I did not hand them a ‘hey, here’s all the things I’ve said and done throughout my life’ but at the same time I was upfront with them,” said Heimbach. “I passed my criminal background check, I passed my drug test, my college transcripts passed with all the qualifications for DCS, and by all objective standards I was qualified for the job.”
Hungate provided Call 6 Investigates with a list of checks included when hiring a DCS case worker.
Limited Criminal History – State Police
Sex Offender Registry
Driver’s License - Bureau of Motor Vehicles
Tax payment check - Department of Revenue
Fingerprinting – National Criminal History (FBI)
Pre-Employment Drug Screening
Past Employment
Educational verification
Child Protective Services (CPS) check
State Personnel and DCS both declined requests to go on camera about Heimbach and hiring procedures.
Hungate said DCS provides a 12 week training period for family case manager trainees where DCS determines if an employee is a “good fit.”
Heimbach did not pass his probationary period, according to Hungate.
“Heimbach was not dismissed for political/religious opinions or affiliations,” said Hungate. “He was dismissed for his behavior at work. His behavior in training was disruptive of the workplace, incompatible with public service, and not protected speech. For example, what I’ve been told is that, while in training, his response to a question suggested violence against a client.”
Heimbach denies being violent and said no one from DCS ever talked with him about being disruptive.
Call 6 Investigates followed Heimbach as he returned his equipment to DCS, but he says his connection to the agency is far from over.
He plans to appeal his firing, pointing to a DCS policy that states employees can’t be demoted or dismissed because of their political beliefs or affiliations.
“I could be a good family case manager,” said Heimbach. “I think I could bring a lot to the department and help a lot of people.”
Dubois County is part of Region 17, which is not currently meeting standards aimed at keeping caseloads manageable for case workers.
Heimbach has also contacted the ACLU, and said his case could have implications for anyone with political views, especially in the age of social media.
“This is really a civil rights slippery slope we're seeing,” said Heimbach. “You're saying because of my political beliefs I can't properly serve the children of my community, then how are you going to handle it if we have an atheist case manager who is dealing with traditional Christian families?"
The state points out DCS’s political activity policy prohibit DCS employees from engaging in political activity when on duty or acting in an official capacity.
“My personal, political views had nothing to do with the job,” said Heimbach.At home in Beijing on a recent Saturday night, I was bombarded with Long March coverage on nearly every TV channel. On one network, a troupe of child performers, dressed in gray military uniforms, sang of the power of the “bright red star to shine through the generations.” On a financial channel, commentators offered analysis of the economic impact of the march.
President Xi has been making the case for a “new long march,” using the anniversary to rally the public and warn against creeping complacency, especially among the young. “A nation that forgets its origins will find itself in a blind alley,” he said in a speech late last month.
On the whole, the spirit of the propaganda campaign is unambiguous: Chinese citizens should seek to emulate the ideals of self-sacrifice and perseverance that the soldiers of the Long March embodied. Above all, the messaging makes clear, people should show unwavering loyalty to the Communist Party.
The Long March allowed the Red Army to escape defeat at the hands of the Kuomintang forces of Chiang Kai-shek in southern China. The Communists regrouped in the north before going on to victory in the civil war in 1949.
Anne-Marie Brady, a professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, has challenged the official narrative, which portrays the march as a victory for the Communists and a turning point in their efforts to win over the public. Pointing to testimonials of foreign missionaries captured by Communist soldiers, she argues that it was instead a humiliating moment in which Red Army soldiers ransacked villages and abused peasants.
But by invoking the journey, she said, Mr. Xi is betting that the party’s idealized version of history will resonate across generations.
“This is a heroic narrative that is meant to inspire young people in China,” Professor Brady said. “Xi wants to remind people what is unique and distinctive about China and to ask: ‘How did we get to where we are today? What is this journey that we’re on? What are we aiming toward?’ ”Share. Cutting down on piracy and cheating. Cutting down on piracy and cheating.
In an effort to improve the security of 3DS, Nintendo is paying hackers to provide information about vulnerabilities in its family of handheld systems.
Through HackerOne—a platform for coordinating and offering bounties for providing vulnerability and bug information—Nintendo is offering cash rewards that range between $100 to $20,000 USD for reports of 3DS vulnerabilities.
According to Nintendo's HackerOne "Bug Bounty Program" page, the company is strictly interested in receiving information tied to 3DS, with the desire to prevent various activities, including piracy, cheating, and the "dissemination of inappropriate content to children."
Exit Theatre Mode
The size of the reward is contingent upon "the importance of the information and the quality of the report." The more severe the vulnerability, the higher the reward. Only one reward will be given for each qualifying vulnerability that is reported.
Nintendo is gearing up to release a new console called the Nintendo Switch this coming March. While the system will function as both a home console and portable, the company says it has no plans to discontinue 3DS anytime soon.
Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.I’ve just submitted a piece for the new Opinions section of the monthly LMS Newsletter: Should mathematicians cooperate with GCHQ? (Update: now available (p.34).) The LMS is the London Mathematical Society, which is the UK’s national mathematical society. My piece should appear in the April edition of the newsletter, and you can read it below.
Here’s the story. Since November, I’ve been corresponding with people at the LMS, trying to find out what connections there are between it and GCHQ. Getting the answer took nearly three months and a fair bit of pushing. In the process, I made some criticisms of the LMS’s total silence over the GCHQ/NSA scandal:
GCHQ is a major employer of mathematicians in the UK. The NSA is said to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the world. If there had been a major scandal at the heart of the largest publishing houses in the world, unfolding constantly over the last eight months, wouldn’t you expect it to feature prominently in every issue of the Society of Publishers’ newsletter?
To its credit, the LMS responded by inviting me to write an inaugural piece for a new Opinions section of the newsletter. Here it is.
The Society has an indirect relationship with GCHQ via a funding agreement with the Heilbronn Institute, in which the Institute will give up to £20,000 per year to the Society. This is approximately 0.7% of our total income. This is a recently made agreement and the funding will contribute directly to the LMS-CMI Research Schools, providing valuable intensive training for early career mathematicians. GCHQ is not involved in the choice of topics covered by the Research Schools.
I had a 500-word limit, so I omitted a lot. Here are the facts on the LMS’s links with GCHQ, as stated to me by the LMS President Terry Lyons
So, GCHQ’s financial support for the LMS is small enough that declining it would not make a major financial impact.
I hope the LMS will make a public statement clarifying its relationship with GCHQ. I see no argument against transparency.
Another significant factor (which Lyons alludes to above and is already a matter of public record) is that GCHQ is a funder of the Heilbronn Institute, which is a collaboration between GCHQ and the University of Bristol. I don’t know that the LMS is involved with Heilbronn beyond what’s mentioned above, but Heilbronn does seem to provide an important channel through which (some!) British mathematicians support the secret services.
Finally, I want to make clear that although I think there are some problems with the LMS as an institution, I don’t blame the people running it, many of whom are taking time out of extremely busy schedules for the most altruistic reasons. As I wrote to one of them:
I’m genuinely in awe of the amount that you […] give to the mathematical community, both in terms of your selflessness and your energy. I don’t know how you do it. Anything critical I have to say is said with that admiration as the backdrop, and I hope I’d never say anything of the form “do more!”, because to ask that would be ridiculous.
Rules for commenting here I’ve now written several posts on this and related subjects (1, 2, 3, 4). Every time, I’ve deleted some off-topic comments — including some I’ve enjoyed and agreed with heartily. Please keep comments on-topic. In case there’s any doubt, the topic is the relationship between mathematicians and the secret services. Comments that stray too far from this will be deleted.The developer behind the massive King's Wharf project along the Dartmouth waterfront has asked Halifax regional council to approve major changes to the project, although the number of proposed residential units would remain the same at 1,500.
There are four buildings already built or under construction at the site.
Developer Francis Fares said he plans to begin work on the tallest building on the site in 2018, but he'll spend the next six months going through an amendment process.
"We reduced the height along the waterfront. The focus is on the pedestrian experience," he said.
Francis Fares is the developer behind King's Wharf. (CBC)
The revised proposal envisions more public space, including boardwalks and a beach.
"We have the sun here until sunset, so we thought we'd take advantage of it and make the waterfront more enjoyable and pedestrian friendly," said Fares.
The developer has also asked the municipality for permission to eliminate a second access route into the King's Wharf
site.
Fares said experts have told him it isn't necessary, but a second route is part of the original plan approved in 2008.
Fares said it could take another decade to complete the King's Wharf Project.(Courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment)
With a dark and moody noir twist, the iconic teen detectives are back in Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie Trade Paperback (Dynamite Entertainment). With a edgy and modern take, readers of both literary franchises will definitely love this crossover story!
The teenage brothers, Frank and Joe Hardy, find themselves accused of the murder of their father. In the small resort town of Bayport, they must team up with the femme fatale, Nancy Drew, to prove their innocence. Will they find the real guilty party in this twisting, hard-boiled tale, complete with double-crosses, deceit and dames?
Here are 5 reasons why you should read Nancy Drew And The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie:
5) A Trip Down Memory Lane!
Frank and Joe Hardy, the amateur detectives, are lucky and clever as they solve mysteries after school. Nancy Drew was an amateur sleuth as well, holding her old as a strong female heroine. They are forced to team-up to solve the murder of Fenton Hardy, a slain detective framed for crimes he didn’t commit.
4) An Updated Re-Imagination!
Driven by a strong plotline, writer Anthony Del Col creates feelings of nostalgia while delivering a new untold story. Though Nancy Drew may be tough on the outside, on the inside though, she’s still reeling from her mother’s death. The Hardy Boys actually feel like brothers as they wrestle with each other at every turn.
3) The Artwork!
In the opening pages, the Hardy Boys are caught in an interrogation room with tough cops. Artist Werther Dell’Edera captures the noir genre with his crooked angles and smoky lighting. Aided by colorist Stefano Simeone, the illustrations are gorgeous with their vibrant tones.
2) The Details
I like the little details in the illustrations, especially when it comes to Nancy Drew’s wardrobe. She definitely delivers the intrigue with her femme fatale look.
1) A Dark & Pulpy Read!
A clever crossover, Nancy Drew And The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie gives the original source material a modern facelift. The trade paperback of The Big Lie is a dark and pulpy read that starts with a bang and never whimpers out.
RATING:
via GIPHY
Three out of four emojis
Nancy Drew And The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie Trade Paperback is available in stores on November 15, 2017.
– By Jorge Solis
Like this: Like Loading...A 65-year-old Brooklyn man has been arrested for allegedly scrawling symbols of hate, including swastikas and the acronym KKK, in bathrooms at Penn Station over the last month. Andrew Siff reports.
What to Know NYPD officials say hate crimes in New York City have increased dramatically since last February
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have increased 94 percent since February 2016, with 17 of the 24 instances taking place since the start of 2017
Nearly 100 Jewish Community Centers have been threatened so far, including facilities in Westchester and Staten Island
A 65-year-old Brooklyn man has been arrested for allegedly scrawling symbols of hate, including swastikas and the acronym KKK, in bathrooms at Penn Station over the last month.
Pasquale Vargas faces eight counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime, which is a felony, Gov. Cuomo announced Monday.
According to the governor, MTA police had been conducting surveillance in connection with an ongoing investigation into hate-crime graffiti in men's bathrooms in the transit hub when they arrested Vargas on suspicious on vandalizing one of the stalls.
Vargas allegedly admitted he was responsible for the graffiti, saying he wrote it "because Mexicans take jobs from Americans."
Police believe he is responsible for the pattern of desecration that dates back to Feb. 18.
MTA Chief of Police Own Monaghan said "no one should think they can get away with trying to intimidate the public in this way."
“This arrest sends a clear message that all hate crimes will be thoroughly investigated, and we will prosecute those found responsible for perpetrating these reprehensible actions,” Cuomo added. “We have zero tolerance for these acts of bigotry, which stand in direct contrast to the values that we New Yorkers represent."
Vargas was being held on $20,000 bail. He's being represented by Legal Aid, which does not typically comment on ongoing court cases.
He's next scheduled to appear in court on March 10.
Vargas' arrest comes amid a dramatic uptick in hate crimes in the city and across the nation in the aftermath of the presidential election. In New York City, anti-Semitic hate crimes are up 94 percent since February 2016, with 17 of the 24 instances taking place since the start of 2017.
In November, Cuomo launched a toll-free hotline to report cases of bias and discrimination across the state. New Yorkers who have experienced bias or discrimination are encouraged to call the toll-free hotline at (888) 392-3644 or text “HATE” to 81336. The state offers a $5,000 reward to information leading to the arrest and conviction of a hate crime.It is not directly related to Providence, but there is plenty of H.P. Lovecraft and even a bit of Alan Moore at the L.A. County Museum of Art’s Guillermo Del Toro At Home With Monsters exhibition on display now through November 27.
The show travels to the Minneapolis Institute of Art next year February 26 through May 21, 2017 and then to the Art Gallery of Ontario from September 30, 2017 through January 7, 2018.
Guillermo Del Toro is, of course, the director of numerous fantastic and horrific films. He is also big fan of both H.P. Lovecraft and of comics.
The exhibition displays visual art, sculpture, films, props, comics and other objects, primarily from Del Toro’s personal collection. This is topped off by some similarly-themed artwork from the museum’s collections.
I did not expect to see any Alan Moore, but, among a lot of original comics art, there are two framed From Hell pages, but Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.
Other original comics art on display includes Richard Corben, Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, Rick Geary, Moebius, Winsor McCay, Mike Mignola, Gahan Wilson, and Jim Woodring.
Lovecraft is represented by a life-sized realistic sculpture, the work of Thomas Kuebler.
There are also several Lovecraft busts, a painted portrait and even some preliminary sculpture renderings for Del Toro’s proposed adaptation of Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness.
There are several of Del Toro’s notebooks on display. These are reminiscent of a Commonplace Book, and include Del Toro’s own sketches.
There is plenty more to see, from Lord Dunsany, to Edgar Allen Poe, to horror artists H. R. Geiger and Zdzisław Beksiński. Plus lots more life-sized horror sculptures.
If you find yourself anywhere near Los Angeles, Minneapolis, or Ontario, make plans to check out this exhibition likely to appeal to readers of Providence.“Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda fired back at President Trump’s attacks against Puerto Rico officials Saturday morning, saying the president will “go straight to hell.”
“You're going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump. No long lines for you. Someone will say, ‘Right this way, sir.’ They'll clear a path,” Miranda tweeted.
Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent, defended the mayor of San Juan after Trump fired off a series of tweets attacking her “poor leadership” following devastation from Hurricane Maria.
“She has been working 24/7. You have been GOLFING. You're going straight to hell. Fastest golf cart you ever took," Miranda wrote.
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Trump, who is spending the weekend at his golf club in New Jersey, was slated to hold a series of phone calls on Saturday related to relief after Hurricane Maria.
The president was set to talk with the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Brock Long, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, Puerto Rico resident commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón and the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Kenneth Mapp, the White House said.
But his tweets Saturday morning attacking the “poor leadership” of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and other Puerto Rican officials prompted backlash online.
“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” Trump tweeted. "Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help."
Miranda fired back at Trump.
“Did you tweet this one from the first hole, 18th hole, or the club?" he wrote. "Anyway, it's a lie. You're a congenital liar.”
You're going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump.
No long lines for you.
Someone will say, "Right this way, sir."
They'll clear a path. https://t.co/xXfJH0KJmw — Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 30, 2017
She has been working 24/7.
You have been GOLFING.
You're going straight to hell.
Fastest golf cart you ever took. https://t.co/5hOY23MBvQ — Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 30, 2017
Did you tweet this one from the first hole, 18th hole, or the club?
Anyway, it's a lie. You're a congenital liar.https://t.co/pxx7qvHPdf https://t.co/edFgHSHe3y — Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 30, 2017
Trump also accused Puerto Rican workers of not helping in the relief efforts.
“They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort,” Trump said. “10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.”
Miranda, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, has previously criticized Trump’s response to the crisis in the U.S. territory, warning that “there will be a lot of American deaths on your watch” if aid was slow to reach the island.
Miranda has urged his nearly 1.7 million Twitter followers to donates to relief efforts via the Hispanic Federation and said last weekend he was reaching out to “every famous Puerto Rican singer I know and several I don’t” to raise money for Puerto Rico.One of the principles of the BYU Code of Honor is:
Be honest in all behavior.
This includes not cheating, plagiarizing, or knowingly giving false information.
I propose to speak to you today about honesty and truthfulness.
There are few words in the English language with any more beautiful connotations than the word truth. In one of its meanings, the word truth is synonymous with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The scripture teaching us that the glory of God is intelligence adds “or in other words, light and truth” (D&C 93:36). The Psalmist referred to God as the “Lord, God of truth” (Ps. 31:5). John described Jesus as “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
The children of God have always been commanded to seek the truth and to say what is true. We are all familiar with the Ten Commandments the Lord gave the children of Israel through Moses. They include: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” (Exod. 20:16). Proverbs contains this teaching: “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape” (Prov. 19:5).
There is no more authoritative or clear condemnation of the dishonest and lying person than the Savior’s description of the devil as a liar and as the father of lies (John 8:44). In the apostolic letters we read these commandments: “Lie not one to another” (Col. 3:9), and “Wherefore,... speak every man truth with his neighbor” (Eph. 4:25). In his condemnation of the lawless and disobedient, the apostle Paul listed murderers, whoremongers, those that defiled themselves with mankind (an obvious reference to homosexuality), and “liars and perjured persons” (1 Tim. 1:9–10).
Jacob, the Book of Mormon prophet, declared that the liar “shall be thrust down to hell” (2 Ne. 9:34). Similarly, in the great vision on the three degrees of glory, the Prophet Joseph Smith included “liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie” as among those who |
“It’s a safety and privacy concern when any student of any age, at any time, can claim or self-identify as the opposite gender and have access to the locker rooms, showers, restrooms, overnight accommodations, and any school activity, such as sports teams, that is gender specific,” said Theis.
“No federal law requires school districts to grant students access to facilities dedicated to the opposite sex,” she noted. “Yet, this is what Regulation 225 does.”
“No student should ever be pressured to undress, shower, or share overnight accommodations with individuals of the opposite sex,” concluded Theis. “There is no recourse in situations like this,” because it would be considered “discriminatory.”
The Delaware Family Policy Council is urging the public to comment on this proposed regulation here.
Public comment is open until December 4, 2017.Gallup Daily: Race Back to a Tie at 46% Each McCain now on equal footing with Obama
PRINCETON, NJ -- John McCain has gained ground and is now tied with Barack Obama among registered voters in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update for Sept. 22-24, with each candidate getting 46% support.
This update covers interviewing conducted Monday through Wednesday, and as such includes one night after McCain's announcement that he was suspending election campaigning and flying to Washington to help seek a bipartisan solution to the financial crisis. A night by night analysis of interviewing results, however, does not suggest that McCain had a dramatically better night against Obama on Wednesday. Instead, the data show that McCain has been doing slightly better for the last three days than he had in the previous week, and with some strong Obama days falling off of the rolling average, the race has moved to its current tied position. This is the first report since Sept. 13-15, in which Obama did not have at least a one percentage point edge.
As was true during the two weeks in which the candidates selected their vice presidential running mates and held their conventions, this appears to be a time period with much going on that can affect the candidates' standings, including whatever happens regarding the three planned presidential debates and the one vice presidential debate. -- Frank Newport
(To view the complete trend since March 7, 2008, click here.)
Survey Methods
For the Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey, Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008.
The general election results are based on combined data from Sept. 22-24, 2008. For results based on this sample of 2,731 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones (for respondents with a landline telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell phone only).
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
To provide feedback or suggestions about how to improve Gallup.com, please e-mail [email protected] goes to the polls today, and Congress is likely on the brink of a power shift as Republicans are predicted to pick up the Senate and several seats in the House. But perhaps the most significant congressional departure won’t derive from election results tonight, but from an announcement made earlier this year.
U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) announced in February that he wouldn’t seek re-election to the House of Representatives after failing in his bid to become the new Senator from New Jersey after Sen. Frank Lautenberg died. Holt is something of a rarity in Congress: a scientist (a nuclear physicist no less), Quaker, and political progressive dedicated to supporting fact-based and secular legislation.
His departure from Congress will leave the institution lacking a devoted advocate for the sciences and liberal causes, along with depriving humanists of a dedicated ally. Holt worked with the American Humanist Association in 2013 and 2014 to introduce the Darwin Day resolution, which memorializes the work of Charles Darwin and modern scientists while repudiating intelligent design and affirming the validity of the theory of evolution. The resolution has yet to pass the conservative House of Representatives, but it garners more co-sponsors and attracts greater media attention each year it is introduced. Rep. Holt himself told me how much he cared for the resolution and worked hard with his staff to drum up congressional support for its passage.
Holt also served on a committee focusing on education where he helped draft the College Cost Reduction Act and defended science education from the numerous cuts proposed by the Religious Right. Holt was also known for his leadership of a congressional caucus that focused on promoting scientific research, something that has come received a governmental “cold shoulder” in the past few years as budgets have shrank due to the global recession.
Rep. Holt will be missed for his scientific expertise, his willingness to work with humanist groups, and his dedication to the idea that legislation should be based in reality and seek to serve the interests of all Americans, and not just those that are wealthy or part of the majority religion. Congress has far too few scientists, and losing one more will certainly have a drastic impact on the ability of the institution to serve the interests of the American people.I would continue my tabulations, but unfortunately, I have run out of thumbs. Next question?
This last weekend, Paul Ryan repeatedly dodged questions about the mathematical impossibility of the tax plan he and Mitt Romney are running on, and then, having burned through seven repeated questions and two minutes of dodging, insisted he couldn’t answer because the math would take too long. Today Bloomberg News spoke to Ryan and promised he could have all the time he wanted to get into the math. Guess what? He still didn’t.
Rather than try to reconcile his irreconcilable promises, Ryan dissembled his way through another interview. To briefly review, the Tax Policy Center showed that people earning more than $250,000 a year would have to get a big tax cut from the Romney plan. The revenue lost from the income tax rate cuts they propose exceeds the available revenue from reducing deductions:
Photo: Tax Policy Center
Ryan insisted the study has been discredited, which it hasn’t. The only reason he cited as to why it’s discredited is that “It doesn’t even assume economic growth.” This is a classic gripe of Ryan’s supply-side wing against mainstream economic analysis. It fails to assume that cutting tax rates will spark waves of economic growth, as conservatives are certain it will. But in fact, the study, in one of the many ways it bent over backwards to make the most favorable assumptions for Romney, assumed it would create faster economic growth. It adopted the model proposed by a name Romney and Ryan may recognize. Let me quote the study:
Nevertheless, even if one were to use the model from Mankiw and Weinzierl (2006) and assume that after five years 15 percent of the $360 billion tax cut is paid for through higher economic growth, the available tax expenditures would still need to be cut by 56 percent; on net lower- and middle-income taxpayers would still need to pay higher taxes.
“Mankiw” is Greg Mankiw, former Bush administration economist and current advisor to Mitt Romney.
Ryan likewise insisted that he would not spell out which deductions he would close, because this would make it impossible to negotiate:
You don’t say to Congress, to Democrats that you want to work with, “Take it or leave it, it’s everything, it’s all my way or the highway.” You say, “Here’s my framework. Obviously, the numbers add up. We’ve shown that. … the best way to maximize success is to leave room for negotiation on how to accomplish the goal and, more importantly, we don’t want to cut some backroom deal like they did on Obamacare. We want to have, you know, Congress and the public participate in this debate about how best to do this.
But you haven’t shown it! Incredibly, Ryan is arguing here that public participation requires him to withhold his plans, rather than letting the public evaluate them during the campaign. Detailing your plans during the campaign would amount to a “backroom deal.”
Every time Ryan was asked about how he could make the impossible numbers add up, he retreated to abstract defenses of tax reform. For instance:
That’s - so look at the way our tax system works right now. We have a very narrow tax base. We raise about $1.2 trillion a year through income tax revenues. We forgo about $1 trillion a year through tax expenditures. So look how narrow that tax base is. So what we’re saying is, you can lower tax rates by 20 percent across the board, limit some tax expenditures and loopholes and deductions without hitting middle class taxpayers. …
Right, but nobody is denying that some form of tax reform is possible. What they’re claiming — indeed, what they’ve proven — is that Romney’s specific proposed form of tax reform is not possible. If he wants to keep current revenue levels, cut tax rates by 20 percent, and hold tax rates on capital constant, and he does, he will reduce revenue, increase effective tax rates on the middle class, or both. All Ryan can do is flee from the math.Carey Wedler
Activist Post
In spite of the media and establishment’s attempts to portray divisions between two-party ideologies, similarities are often blatant. One thing they have in common? A worship of authority. In this case, it manifests as a shared distaste for the police accountability and education organization, Cop Block.
Allen Clifton of Forward Progressive writes:
They’re not out to educate, inform or hold anyone accountable – they’re out to slander police officers.
He said:
…their clear disdain for law enforcement is just a part of their overall intense hatred of authority and the government.
We’ll get to the emptiness of accusing someone of being “anti-government” in a derogatory way, but for now: These allegations run contrary to everything that Mr. Clifton claims to believe in. Google defines a “progressive” as someone advocating or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas.”
It is therefore puzzling that he would be so opposed to a group that not only advocates for social reform by way of police accountability, but sides with a “liberal” cause. For decades, one progressive crusade has been to help minority groups that are disadvantaged by the system – but not, apparently, if that same cause is shared by those who do not adore government.
The hypocrisy runs deeper. Clifton scolds Cop Block for claiming to be an advocacy group (egotistically gloating that he warned of this type of group before and self-aggrandizing his previous, prophetic writing in at least two other instances in the article). He writes:
Who’s watching the ‘watchers’? Often these ‘advocacy groups’ are just as, if not more, unethical than those they claim to be ‘watching and holding accountable.’
Besides the fact that an organization called “Forward Progressive” is surely a form of “advocacy” for a particular ideology, Clifton’s boot-licking tendencies are apparent in his presumption that Cop Block could ever be equally or more unethical than police. Cop Block has not beaten anyone. They have not murdered anyone. They have not violated unarmed, innocent civilians’ rights or slammed any faces into the pavement.
They educate people on how to talk to police, exercise their rights, and they discourage violent behavior. There is a supreme deficit of logic to cast Cop block as “watchers” when government has been watching all of us for years, literally and figuratively.
Regardless, the first substantive stab the author takes at Cop Block is the fact that their page has supported the 2nd amendment. Lions, tigers, hate groups, oh my! God forbid that “law-abiding” citizens be able to defend themselves or even advocate to that end. That’s only for inept state organizations who shoot each other and others while drunk. And black people while totally sober. Is Mr. Clifton aware that the sweeping gun control provisions in America that he supports started as a means to keep African-Americans oppressed?
Perhaps if progressives could move past the prejudice that guns are only valued by and useful to crazy redneck, toothless, “privileged” white people (and government agents, of course), they wouldn’t be so afraid.
Nonetheless, Clifton goes on to share screen shots of Cop Block posts (conveniently cropping out the number of likes, comments, and shares because the thousands of shows of support would not help his tirade). He shares a meme quoting rapper, The Game, who mocked the two murdered NYPD officers.
Cop Block noted in its post that
if they [police] are going to be insensitive to the death of a citizen then how can they expect everyone to sympathize with the death of a cop?
Clifton calls this hateful, but fails to debunk the logic.
In another example, he cites a status update that Cop Block shared:
He views this as hateful but rather than disproving the factual statement, Clifton says:
That sounds like the very same sort of anti-government propaganda pushed by the likes of Fox News, the tea party, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz or any number of right-wing radicals.
Apparently, he missed the last several decades of conservative policy and ideology that have enabled huge government programs from police militarization to war. He also missed the fact that Bill O’Reilly defamed Cop Block on national television. Cop Block has nothing in common with Fox News – the former is anti-government while the latter pretends to be. But in an attempt to “slander” Cop Block, Clifton relies on predictable progressive disdain for Fox to dupe his readers into hating cop blockers.
Avoiding The Eye - Ships Free Today! Humorously, progressives have a great deal in common with Fox News in that they love authority. They love laws and they believe it is the job of the government to regulate society. Though Fox News viewers may want to do that by banning gays and abortion while progressives would like to do it by redistributing income and obtaining “free” birth control, loyalty to the state and its force are present on both ends of the political spectrum. This love of government authority has blinded many (not all) progressives from the principles they used to cherish. Their need to create an equal society through institutions has led them to excuse war, spying, and gross police overreach – especially since a Democrat is president. Though they were up in arms over George Bush’s atrocities, they are willing to accept a “lesser of two evils” as long as he pretends to care about the poor. The author claims that Cop Block is ludicrous because of its anti-government views and that it shamefully seeks to tear down the system. Sadly, the point is lost that perhaps the system needs to be torn down. The system doesn’t work. It keeps the poor impoverished and the disenfranchised voiceless. No self-respecting progressive could possibly support a system that does this – but many modern progressives care far less about the well-being of citizens than they do preserving the delusion that government can achieve said well-being. Clifton closed his article by accusing Cop Block of stirring up hate, fear, anger and paranoia toward anything and anyone that resembles government or authority. To clarify: it’s not paranoia if your government actually is a hateful, murderous, corrupt, deceitful, angry machine. And if Clifton is so confident in the absurdity of being “anti-government,” he should have no worries that his beloved progressives follow Cop Block. It is clear he is irrationally more afraid of his cohorts shifting their philosophy than he is the epidemic of police brutality or making any effort to stop it. It would behoove the author to recognize that police are merely the foot soldiers of violent government institutions and that if he is true to his “progressive” cause wanting to improve society and effect change – recognizing that violence is not the answer must be the first step.
This is why Cop Block and so many of its followers are “anti-government.” More than being-anti-government, however, they are pro-peace. They are simply informed enough to recognize that government is the biggest hindrance to achieving that goal. Carey Wedler writes for The Anti-Media, where this first appeared.Wash. GOP Senator to propose bill criminalizing 'illegal protests'
Students at Garfield and Nova High Schools walk out of class and march to Cal Anderson Park in protest of President-elect Donald Trump. (Genna Martin, seattlepi.com) Students at Garfield and Nova High Schools walk out of class and march to Cal Anderson Park in protest of President-elect Donald Trump. (Genna Martin, seattlepi.com) Photo: GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Wash. GOP Senator to propose bill criminalizing 'illegal protests' 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A Republican state senator who campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to propose a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would take a firm stand against what he calls "illegal protests."
Sen. Doug Ericksen of Ferndale said in a news release his bill would create a new crime of "economic terrorism" and would allow felony prosecution of people involved in protests that block transportation and commerce, damage property, threaten jobs and put public safety at risk, he said.
"I respect the right to protest, but when it endangers people's lives and property, it goes too far," Ericksen said. "Fear, intimidation and vandalism are not a legitimate form of political expression. Those who employ it must be called to account."
But some people believe the term "economic terrorism" goes too far.
"To call it economic terrorism is just another way to silence it and another way to gain popular support." said Seattle resident Molly Boord.
"Frankly, I'm appalled," said Seattle city councilman Miked O'Brien.
He was detained by the Coast Guard when he joined kayaktivists protesting a Shell oil rig last summer.
"To me (it) strikes a complete disregard of the US constitution and our First Amendment rights," said O'Brien. "Our country is based, in part, on the ability to have free speech and public dissension."
Since Trump won the election last week, thousands of people have taken to the streets nationwide to condemn his comments about muslims, people in the country illegally and crude references to women.
American Civil Liberties Union of Washington spokesman Doug Honig told The Associated Press Wednesday that while they'll need to see an actual bill, Ericksen's statement throws out a lot of broad rhetoric.
"We're already concerned that some of its loose terms appear to be targeting civil disobedience as 'terrorism.' That's the kind of excessive approach to peaceful protest that our country and state do not need. Let's keep in mind that civil rights protesters who sat down at lunch counters could be seen as 'disrupting business' ''and 'obstructing economic activity,' and their courageous actions were opposed by segregationists as trying to 'coerce' business and government," Honig said.
Erickson said his bill also would apply to people who fund and organize such protests.
"We are not just going after the people who commit these acts of terrorism," Ericksen said. "We are going after the people who fund them."
The bill, if proposed and passed through the GOP-controlled Senate, likely would face serious obstacles in the current Democratic-controlled House.Related: Now I test out the theory that Bill Clinton standing and smiling behind anything is creepy…
Apparently Bill Clinton hung out with @JCats2013 (and family!) the other night. pic.twitter.com/Kbf5aRUm1k — Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) December 16, 2014
After the picture above went viral on Twitter Tuesday night, Washington Free Beacon decided to enlighten us of just who that girl is that Bill has his hands on in the picture in the article, “Bill Clinton Creeps on Daughter of Guy Who Tried to Buy New York Senate for Dems” — the daughter and wife of New York City’s grocery store king John Catsimatidis, long-time friend and Clinton fundraiser.
The Catsimatidis family has long been close with the Clintons. John Catsimatidis raised more than $750,000 for Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid in 2008, and often lets both Bill and Hillary fly around the country on his private jet. Catsimatidis also got involved in a scheme orchestrated by fellow Clinton ally New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to circumvent campaign finance laws and buy control of the New York state Senate for Democrats… (source)
Yadda yadda more corruption and crony capitalism blah blah. Back to the viral pic: so how long have Clinton and Catsimatidis been long-time friends? Here’s an older picture of Clinton with Catsimatidis and fam, including the same girl, via Washington Free Beacon:
What was she, 11 or 12 there?
Apparently Bill Clinton hung out with @JCats2013 (and family!) the other night. pic.twitter.com/Kbf5aRUm1k — Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) December 16, 2014
If your immediate reaction between the two photos was something along the lines of “Ewwwww,” you are not alone.
@BuzzFeedAndrew @JCats2013 I think hanging out was not correctly identified in this picture. — I MARRY YOU! (@JPVT4U) December 16, 2014
Ewwwwww. The whole thing only devolved into a pile of infinitely worse when it got combined with the Joe Biden photo op going on the same day.
“Bill Clinton’s meme is him and a hot young woman. All I get is me looking out a window? Where did it go so wrong?” pic.twitter.com/qh6NNP5K86 — Drew M. (@DrewMTips) December 16, 2014
No, not that Tweet.
This one:
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww. Guess it’s not any creepier or more “ew-inducing” than this.
Christina Aguilera Confirms Hillary Clinton Stared Down Her Top At Meeting « Pat Dollard http://t.co/pdtT87CU5Z pic.twitter.com/4Sj27yTqCq — Chuck Norris (@GreyShhadow) October 31, 2014
Update: For the record, you could probably put Bill Clinton standing and smiling like that behind basically anything and it’d be creepy. Let’s test that theory, shall we?
Yep, still works.
Let’s try a few more…
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Contributed by Melissa Dykes of The Daily Sheeple.
Melissa Dykes is a writer, researcher, and analyst for The Daily Sheeple and a co-creator of Truthstream Media with Aaron Dykes, a site that offers teleprompter-free, unscripted analysis of The Matrix we find ourselves living in. Melissa and Aaron also recently launched Revolution of the Method and Informed Dissent. Wake the flock up!All communities in India have resisted state interference in their personal laws. Such interference, they argue, is outside the state’s jurisdiction since personal laws are exclusively within the private domain of the religious community. Such a claim is historically false. It was the codification exercise of the colonial state, and its regular adjudication in disputes on matters of marriage, inheritance, adoption and related matters, that produced a body of personal laws for each community. This body of laws was accepted by the major communities as their own personal laws.
It is equally false to claim that resistance to interference comes from only one community. The Rakhmabai case of 1884, which has parallels in the Shah Bano case of 1985 and the Mary Roy case of 1986, gives lie to this claim. The democratic state has a right to reform personal laws. It has a right to align them with constitutional principles. Today, when we revisit the obligation of Article 44 – “that the state should endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India” – there is, therefore, little scope for such politics of community one-upmanship.
The raising of the Uniform Civil Code issue, today, can elicit only two possible responses. The first response reads Article 44 narrowly as a result of which it seeks to enact a uniform civil code for India. The second response, in contrast, attempts to go behind the wording of Article 44 and search for the normative goals that underlie it. It campaigns for a body of laws that promote these goals. Such laws may not lead to a uniform civil code but they would meet the ethical aspirations of such a code. I shall, therefore, begin by identifying and examining these ethical aspirations. I will discuss the second response first.
Ethical aspirations
The ethical aspirations of a uniform civil code, since the adoption of the Constitution in 1950, have gone through three stages. As the nation has grown in becoming a society based on the rule of law, it has engaged with the changing global debates about citizenship and women’s rights that have been brought into the public discourse by the women’s movement.
The first of the ethical aspirations, at the time of independence, was to have a “uniform law” for all communities. That is what nation-building required but the trauma of Partition, and the urgent need to reassure the Muslim community that they, as a minority, were not going to be unequal citizens in the new polity, however, prompted the political leadership, led by Nehru, to pass such legislation only for the Hindu community. The Hindu Code Bill that ensued, and the debates that preceded and followed it, were the result of such contingent considerations. The political leadership, in the early years, believed that national consolidation, stabilising the fragile young nation, was a higher goal than having uniform personal laws for all communities.
When consolidation was assured, and the state felt that it could further push the reform exercise in personal laws, the argument shifted to the second stage. Here the women’s movement, aided by the courts, defined the ethical aspiration as an “equality of laws”. In addition to the academic literature it was the judgments in the Shah Bano and the Mary Roy cases the generated a robust public debate. It was unfortunate that the government of Rajiv Gandhi cynically gave in to an electoral calculus to appease the conservative Muslim leadership. In the face of resistance from many in the women’s movement, the government, in a retrogressive step, passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986. Today this second stage too has passed and we are now in the third stage where the ethical aspiration has now shifted towards “gender justice”.
Gender justice
It is, here, in this third stage where I shall locate my discussion. At this third stage the ethical aspiration of the women’s movement, with respect to personal laws, is to reform the ecosystem of laws concerning women whose outcome is the diminishing of gender injustice. There are five dimensions to this ecosystem:
1. Laws that seek to make public spaces more safe for women – for example, those that emerged from the Justice Verma Committee Report
2. Laws relating to women’s safety in the work place – for example, the Vishaka judgment
3. Laws concerning women’s rights in the home – for example, laws against domestic violence and laws granting right to the matrimonial home,
4. Internally driven reform of personal laws, and
5. Juridification of personal laws – for example, disputes in courts seeking awards under Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, which have resulted in innovative judgements.
These, when taken together, constitute an ecosystem of laws that can be regarded as promoting gender justice.
In addition to the combined effect of the ecosystem there are also aspects, within each of the five dimensions, which can also be pursued to promote gender justice. The women’s movement, concerned with establishing equality of treatment in a patriarchal society, and conscious of the current party politics that seeks to communalise the issue of the uniform civil code, has taken the debate on gender justice beyond uniformity and towards a plurality of laws.
Plurality of laws
When seen analytically, uniformity is desirable because it is the means to promote equality of treatment and justice of outcomes. However it is plurality which is a superior path to achieving these outcomes. Acknowledging the advantages of a plurality of laws is also consistent with the global trend in legal thinking towards legal pluralism which recognises that plurality of laws is more in tune with the requirements of diverse societies.
Let me now move from this brief discussion of the value of legal pluralism, to the second response, the political demand for a uniform civil code. The politics of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party regime will allow it only to debate the first response of a uniform civil code for India. Even though it may be yesterday’s demand, and even though it may have an anachronistic ring to it, when the global thinking is looking at legal pluralism, the shape of a uniform civil code for India has to be pursued because it is in the BJP manifesto.
What should its elements be? Where should we look to study its working? Why should certain aspects be included and others excluded? To answers these questions we fortunately do not have to look very far.
There is only one state in the Indian Union that has the semblance of a uniform civil code. Goa has practiced a common civil code, for all citizens of Goan origin, for several decades now both pre and post liberation. Ironically this continuity in practice was not interrupted by liberation since the Nehruvian state accepted legal pluralism. It allowed Goa to retain its common civil code although it was a legacy of the colonial regime since all Goans, irrespective of community, accepted it even after liberation from Portugal in 1961. From a gender justice perspective the common civil code in Goa has features which are far superior to any of the personal laws currently operating in other parts of India as the following list illustrates.
The key elements of Goa’s common civil code are (i) registration of marriages, (ii) communion of assets, (iii) equal treatment of sons and daughters, (iv) legitime which implies 50% of assets belong to children, (v) inventory, (vi) deed of succession, (vii) relinquishment of rights, and (viii) registration of wills.
Three tests
From a gender justice perspective the main aspects are three: (a) the requirement of marriage before the civil authorities which must precede a religious ceremony, (b) the communion of assets, and (c) legitime. These have political consequences for the property system in society and it is with respect to these features that the commitment of the RSS-BJP for a uniform civil code can be tested.
The first feature, registration of marriages, in addition to being an impediment to bigamy, since now the state has to certify a marriage before it is performed, implies the priority of the state authority over religious authority. Religious authorities who perform marriages before the civil registration are to be prosecuted for breaking the law. Would the BJP be willing to antagonise its core constituency of assorted godmen by acceding to this feature of a prospective uniform civil code? Would it sacrifice gender justice to appease religious leaders and conceding thereby the priority of religious authority over secular authority?
The second feature is even more politically charged since it results in giving women equal rights to all property listed in the husband’s name. Women in India would thereby have material security. Husbands would not be able to disinherit their wives who would be equal co-owners in all the property. Feudal and corporate India, another core constituency, would baulk at the implications of such a provision.
The third feature has similar implications as the second since it would result in the fragmentation in property holdings. Would the BJP be willing to bite the bullet and fight the patriarchal property systems in India?
Is the call for a uniform civil code being made by the RSS-BJP combine a call for gender justice or to push a particular community into a corner?
Peter Ronald deSouza is professor at CSDS and holds the Dr S Radhakrishnan Chair of the Rajya Sabha (2015-2017).— Rocky Levy loves a good story.
“I’m a big history buff in Chicago and architecture,” he said.
He also loves beautiful furniture.
“I always was interested in unique things,” he said.
Combine the two, and you have Icon Modern.
WBBM 780’s Lisa Fielding
“I started out as a manufacturer’s rep designing mostly high-end office interiors, board rooms, stuff like that,” Levy said. “I started thinking about sustainability and what was offered in the industry. I put this idea together where I was able to bring together resources, I found fabricators in Chicago so I orchestrated this and I was able to come up with some design concepts. We integrated these materials into conference tables and simple pieces.”
Levy is co-owner of the company he began in a garage in Elk Grove Village. Now, they operate in a two-story, 20,000 square foot office space, showroom and manufacturing center in the West Loop, where much of their furniture is created and made from reclaimed wood.
“We use trees from the Chicago metro area that had fallen in storms or died from disease or would otherwise would have been chipped or left to rot,” he said.
One of their first customers was Starbucks.
“So if you go into Starbucks and you see a table that says reclaimed urban wood stamped on the top of it, that is wood from Chicago that’s been used to make that furniture,” said Levy.
Now you can see their creations in Whole Foods, Goose Island and inside tech companies like Twitter and Braintree.
“We’ve done a lot of tech companies because they’re a little more creative and outside the box thinking. They can have a very personalized touch to the project just by not only being responsible with the materials but being locally fabricated,” said Icon Modern partner Aaron Tvrdy.
He and Levy are even known to put on the boots and hardhats and search for their own materials.
“We do furniture out of car hoods, we do furniture out of twigs,” Levy said. “We are going to junkyards, usually in the nicer weather, and we’re actually hand picking hoods and trunks form vintage 60s, and 70’s domestic vehicles.”
The key to their product is sustainability, something more and more companies want.
“You go to a restaurant and everybody wants locally made food and that message is really crossing boundary into this contract world,” Levy said. “Traditionally, this is furniture you wouldn’t think about where it’s made. But now to be able to walk in and have your reception desk made from a tree that grew in Grant Park, it offers the customers to retell that story. That story, that sustainability, the true sustainability of products is becoming more and more important every day.”
Furniture with a story. Sustainable design from the urban forest, a niche market that Levy says will keep them relevant and growing.
“There are a lot of people doing things what we do, but there aren’t a lot of people doing everything we do,” he said. “We hope to take the sustainable message as far as we can.”
For more information, visit iconmodern.com.Herbert and Catherine Schaible, who believe in faith-healing rather than modern medicine, will each spend the next three and half to seven years behind bars for the death of their 8-month-old son (Published Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014)
A Pennsylvania couple who believe in faith-healing rather than modern medicine will each spend the next three and half to seven years behind bars for the death of their 8-month-old son, the second time one of their ill children died without seeing a doctor.
Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner told Herbert and Catherine Schaible on Wednesday that it wasn't 8-month-old Brandon's time to die.
He said: "You've killed two of your children... not God, not your church, not religious devotion -- you."
At the time, they were under court orders to seek medical care for their children after their 2-year-old son Kent died of untreated pneumonia in 2009.
Faith-Healing Couple to Be Sentenced for Son's Death
Faith-healing couple Herbert and Catherine Schaible could face decades in prison when they are sentenced in the death of their son. (Published Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014)
Each devout parent received up to seven years in prison to be followed by 30 months of probation. Herbert Schaible, 45, has remained behind bars while awaiting sentencing, his 44-year-old wife is set to report to prison next month.
The prosecution asked for a sentence of eight to 16 years.
In November, the devout parents pleaded no contest to third-debree murder. They are third-generation members of a small Pentacostal community, the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia.
Both expressed remorse and apologized for violating a court order to seek medical care for their children following the 2009 death of a 2-year-old son of untreated pneumonia.
Their six surviving minor children are now in foster care.
A lawyer for Catherine Schaible explored their religious beliefs at the sentencing. Her husband's lawyer argues that no malice was involved.
Couple Pleads in Baby's Prayer Death
Faith-healing couple Herbert and Catherine Schaible pleaded no contest to murder after their 8-month-old son Brandon died. He is the second child in the family to die after the couple opted to pray for healing rather than seek medical help. (Published Friday, Nov. 15, 2013)
“We believe in divine healing, that Jesus shed blood for our healing and that he died on the cross to break the devil's power,” Herbert Schaible said in a 2013 police statement. Medicine, he said, “is against our religious beliefs.”
A jury had convicted both parents of involuntary manslaughter in Kent's death, and they were put on 10 years of probation that included orders to seek medical care if any other child got sick.
After Brandon's death, an irate judge found they had violated parole.
Prosecutors have described the boys' symptoms as “eerily similar,” and said they included labored breathing and a refusal to eat. Catherine Schaible's lawyer, though, said her client tried to feed Brandon during his illness, and applied baby powder to keep him comfortable.
Their pastor, Nelson Clark, has said the Schaibles lost their sons because of a “spiritual lack” in their lives and insisted they would not seek medical care even if another child appeared near death.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC 10 PhiladelphiaSignup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
A gay politician who is running for the Labour leadership in New Zealand has selected a former Mormon to be his deputy.
Out politician Grant Robertson is running to become leader of the Labour party, after current leader David Cunliffe agreed to trigger a leadership challenge and seek a new mandate.
Mr Robertson last week announced Jacinda Ardern – a former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – as his running mate.
Ms Ardern revealed during a debate on the country’s equal marriage bill last year that she had previously been a Mormon, recounting: “[I was] a staunch member of the Labour Party, but I was |
to business in the Coachella Valley asking them to invest in their community – by contributing to his education. With each investment for college, he made a promise to come back home and serve the community as a physician.”Every year since 2005, a light novel guide book titled Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! (This Light Novel is Amazing!) is published in Japan, featuring lists such as top 10 most popular light novels and top 10 favorite light novel characters. To create their final listings, the poll works with multiple categories of voters: the homepage survey (general public), collaborators (critics, writers, bookstore workers, bloggers, etc), and a monitor group (teens who have read over fifty of the year’s light novels). This typically leads to a final list that includes not only the most popular works, but also some relatively overlooked titles that are well-received by those in the light novel industry. Light novel series that have won in the past include Zaregoto, Spice and Wolf, Book Girl, A Certain Magical Index, and Sword Art Online.
This year’s top light novel in the rankings is My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected (Oregairu), which placed #1 the previous year as well… and the year before that! The series also won the male character listings once more with Hachiman. The artist for Oregairu, Ponkan 8, also won for top light novel artists.
Shocking plot twist! Oregairu‘s Yukino placed second for the female character listings. For 2016, she has been ousted by Index‘s Mikoto. Perhaps not so shocking actually, considering she won each year from 2010 to 2014. How did Mikoto get so popular?
Top 10 Light Novels
My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected (Oregairu) [#1] Sword Art Online [#2] Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin (Alderamin on the Sky) [#10] Eirun Last Code: Kakuu Sekai yori Senjou e (Eirun Last Code: From the Fictional World to the Battlefield) [new] Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka? (Do You Have What The End? Are You Busy? Shall You Save xxx?) [new] No Game No Life [#3] A Certain Magical Index [#4] Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Danmachi) [#11] Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata (Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend) [#14] Escape Speed [#7]
The number in brackets notes the light novel’s ranking from last year. It seems Oregairu has made itself quite at home in the top spot? English volumes for that series will begin releasing this year in June.
Two new light novels made the top ten, while the rest of the spots were more or less just shuffled around, with Danmachi and Saekano moving up a few spots to make it in this year.
Top 10 Male Characters
Hachiman Hikigaya (Oregairu) [#1] Kazuto Kirigaya (Kirito) (Sword Art Online) [#3] Touma Kamijou (A Certain Magical Index) [#2] Accelerator (A Certain Magical Index) [#4] Tatsuya Shiba (The Irregular from Magic High School) [#5] Sora (No Game No Life) [#6] Bell Cranel (Danmachi) [#8] Saika Totsuka (Oregairu) [#9] Sakuta Azusagawa (Seishun Buta Yarou Series) [new] Sadao Maou (The Devil is a Part-Timer!) [#19]
For the most part, this list was just the same as last year. The only two new characters to make it in are for the final two spaces: Sakuta from Seishun Buta Yarou (a new works winner [#7] for 2015) and Maou-sama from Part-Timer. Bumped out from the top ten are Rentarou Satomi (Black Bullet) [#7] and Sorouku Ikuta (Alderamin on the Sky) [#10].
Top 10 Female Characters
Mikoto Misaka (A Certain Magical Index) [#2] Yukino Yukinoshita (Oregairu) [#1] Iroha Isshiki (Oregairu) [#12] Yui Yuigahama (Oregairu) [#3] Asuna Yuuki (Sword Art Online) [#4] Megumi Katou (Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata) [#14] Shiro (No Game No Life) [#10] Miyuki Shiba (The Irregular from Magic High School) [#11] Othinus (A Certain Magical Index) [#5] Index Librorum Prohibitorum (A Certain Magical Index) [#6]
Again, a lot of similarities to last year. Oregairu took second, third, and fourth, with Iroha being the new addition to the top ten. With those votes split three ways, Misaka from Index ended up taking the top spot once more. Bumped out from the top ten are Shino Asada (Sword Art Online) [#7], Komachi Hikigaya (Oregairu) [#8], and Misaki Shokuhou (A Certain Magical Index) [#9].
Top 10 New Works
Eirun Last Code: Kakuu Sekai yori Senjou e Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka? Imouto sae Ireba Ii Gamers! Shitayomi Danshi to Toukou Joshi Tatakau Panya to Automaton Waitress Isekai Shokudou Ryuuou no Oshigoto! Hakozoko no Elpis Ideologue!
It’s difficult to say much about new works. If anyone has read one of these (presumably in Japanese), feel free to comment on them!
Top 10 Artists
Ponkan 8 (Oregairu) [#1] Kiyotaka Haimura (A Certain Magical Index) [#2] abec (Sword Art Online) [#3] Kantoku (Imouto sae Ireba Ii, The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat) [#6] Kurehito Misaki (Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata) Suzuhito Yasuda (Danmachi, Durarara!!) Yuu Kamiya (No Game No Life, Clockwork Planet) [#8] Kurone Mishima (Rokudenashi no Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!) Tsunako (Date A Live) [#10] Saki Ukai (Black Bullet) [#5]
The first three places were the same as last year. But congratulations to Kurehito Misaki, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Kurone Mishima for making it to the top ten this year!
I’ll end this post the same way I did last year, by including the rest of the light novels that ranked in the top sixty. How many of them do you recognize?
Top Light Novels (#11-60)
11. The Irregular from Magic High School (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei)
12. I Don’t Have Many Friends (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai)
13. To Aru Hikuushi e no Seiyaku (Oath of a Certain Pilot)
14. Imouto Sae Ireba Ii
15. Gamers!
16. Kono Koi to, Sono Mirai. (This Love, and That Future)
17. Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers (Rokka no Yuusha)
18. Durarara!!
19. Shitayomi Danshi to Toukou Joshi
20. Tatakau Panya to Automaton Waitress
21. Hai to Gensou no Grimgar
22. Seishun Buta Series
23. Isekai Shokudou
24. Kino’s Journey (Kino no Tabi)
25. Overlord
26. Ryuuou no Oshigoto!
27. Accel World
28. Zesshinkai no Solaris (Solaris the Abbysal)
29. Re: Life in a Different World from Zero (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu)
30. Hakozoko no Elpis
31. Rokudenashi no Majutsu Koushi to Akashi Records
32. Koukyuu Rakuen Kyuujou: Harem League Baseball
33. The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat (Hentai Ouji to Waranai Neko)
34. Ideologue!
35. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto
36. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
37. Wa ga Hero no Tame no Zettai Aku
38. Namapo Aniki
39. Haken no Kouki Altina
40. Dokusou Tanpen Series: Nozaki Mado Gekijou
41. The Devil is a Part-Timer! (Hataraku Maou-sama!)
42. Sekai no Owari no Encore
43. Sky World
44. Wizard’s Brain
45. Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu)
46. Ore no Kyoushitsu ni Haruhi wa Inai
47. Rasen Jikuu no Labyrinth
48. Aria the Scarlet Ammo (Hidan no Aria)
49. Cop Craft Dragnet Mirage Reloaded
50. Chuuko demo Koi ga Shitai!
51. Clockwork Planet
52. Date A Live
53. Kagerou Daze
54. Ashita, Boku wa Shinu, Kimi wa Ikikaeru
55. Hitotsu no Umi no Pallas Athena
56. Youkoso Zitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e
57. Nourin
58. Orihara Izaya to, Yuuyake wo
59. Uchuujin no Mura e Youkoso Shinomura Nougyou Koukou Tanteibu wa Mita!
60. Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no ShoAl-Bashir, right, was greeted by the Chinese president and given an honour guard reception [AFP]
The presidents of China and Sudan have cemented economic ties between their countries during a state visit by Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese leader, to Beijing.
Bashir was greeted by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People and given an honour guard reception on Wednesday, a day after his delayed arrival in the Chinese capital.
Hu said he was very happy to host Bashir, an internationally wanted war crimes suspect, whose country is a crucial oil supplier to China.
"I believe that this visit will definitely have great significance for the consolidation and development of traditionally friendly relations between China and Sudan," Hu said.
"I am willing to have thorough exchanges with you on our developing relations and other shared issues."
Bashir thanked his hosts for his "warm welcome and treatment."
Their talks are expected to focus on challenges in the African nation ahead of South Sudan's independence from Khartoum on July 9.
China is a major buyer of Sudanese crude oil, and is keen to ensure the partition of Sudan into two states will not descend into fighting that could disrupt supplies and damage Beijing's stake on both sides of the new border.
In video
Al Jazeera's correspondent in China, Melissa Chan, reports on the Sudanese president's visit. Al Jazeera's correspondent in China, Melissa Chan, reports on the Sudanese president's visit.
On Tuesday, officials for China's national oil company signed a deal with Sudanese government officials to deepen oil and gas cooperation, China National Petroleum Corp said.
Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred in Sudan's western Darfur region, where about 300,000 people have died since 2003.
Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan said that the Sudanese president's visit to China highlighted the mutual importance of the countries' relationship and Beijing's concern that the north-south split shouldn't affect the flow of oil eastwards.
"The oil is produced in Sudan, mostly in the south but it will need to be transferred through the north in order to make its way to China.
"The Chinese need to manage the relationship between the north and south Sudan; that is why they have invited Bashir," she said.
The Sudanese leader's visit to China has sparked outrage among rights groups, and earned the reproach of the US State Department.
"We continue to oppose invitations, facilitation, support for travel by ICC indictees," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday.
"We have a longstanding policy of strongly urging other nations to do the same," she said. "We have urged China to join the international community in its call for Sudan to cooperate fully with the ICC."
ICC statutes dictate that any member country should arrest Bashir if he visits. China is not a party to those statutes, nor is the United States.
Amnesty International said earlier this month that China risked becoming a "safehaven for alleged perpetrators of genocide" if it hosted Bashir.
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Monday to send a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Abyei in a bid to douse tensions.
An estimated two million people died in Sudan's two-decade civil war.
A 2005 peace accord, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ended the conflict and allowed for a referendum in January in which the south voted by an overwhelming majority to split from the north.posted on Tue 17 November 2015
Following is a public service announcement from Pascal de Bruijn, the maintainer of the Ubuntu PPAs.
As most of you know, my darktable-unstable PPA was serving as a pre-release repository for our stable maintenance tree, as it usually does. Now as master has settled down, and we’re slowly gearing up for a 2.0 release, I’ll do pre-release (release candidate) builds for darktable 2.0 there.
On my darktable-unstable PPA I will support Ubuntu Trusty (14.04, the latest Long Term Support release) as always. Temporarily I’ll support Ubuntu Wily (15.10, the latest plain release) as well, at least until we have a final 2.0 stable release. Once we have a final 2.0 stable release I will support all Ubuntu versions (still) supported by Canonical at that time via my darktable-release PPA as usual.
In general updates on my darktable-unstable PPA should be expected to be fairly erratic, completely depending on the number and significance of changes being made in git master. That said, I expect that it will probably average out at once a week or so.
If you find any issues with these darktable release candidates please do report them to our bug tracker.(CBS) — It was stunning for those who watched Thursday night as federal agents investigated a possible nuclear threat at Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center.
CBS 2’s photojournalist Lana Hinshaw-Klann happened to be at the scene and used a cell-phone camera to record agents in action. Reporter Dave Savini looks into what agents were looking for and what they found.
Sources say the agents were members of the elite TSA VIPR team on the 5:04pm Union Pacific West line. They were carrying hand-held nuclear-detection devices that picked up a reading.
VIPR teams were created after the 2004 bombing of a train in Madrid, Spain, to protect U.S. transportation.
At the Ogilvie station, officers held the train and searched for a person or bag that posed a potential nuclear threat.
Jerry Jones, a Chicago lawyer, was heading home on that train. He says the federal officers narrowed the trouble to the area where he was sitting.
“I had no idea I was the center of the activity,” he says.
The special security team must have picked up on him as he entered the station and walked up the stairs, Jones says. Little did he know a nuclear stress test he had at a hospital earlier in the day had set off silent alarms and sent security scurrying.
The TSA team passed by him several times before ending up on his train car. Finally, he got a clue when an agent questioned the man right next to him and asked, ‘Sir, do you have an explanation as to why I am getting a high isotope reading on your bag?’”
“The fellow’s jaw dropped,” Jones said.
Once the agent said the word “isotope,” Jones says he realized he was the one they were looking for. He raised his hand to say he had a nuclear stress test.
The tests can leave patients emitting radiation for some time. After showing identification and proof of the nuclear test, Jones and the other passengers were allowed to go on their way.
He says he’s satisfied with the way authorities acted, “knowing there are people on the lookout for this type of thing,” and was pleased with the way officers and passengers behaved.
Patients undergoing nuclear testing can request a card they can give to security if they travel afterward. Doctors have done this for air travelers.Facebook detailed a new plan Thursday to target the rapid spread of fake news across its site, a phenomenon that received renewed attention in the weeks following the 2016 election, with accusations that it may have influenced the behavior of voters.
The problem reached a breaking point two weeks ago when a gunman entered a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., to investigate an internet-based conspiracy theory about a child-sex ring that does not exist.
Now the move from the internet’s largest social-media platform has some intentional fake-news writers, who created their websites to “satirize” right-wing conspiracies or exploit Facebook’s algorithm, believing they’ll soon be out of business.
But the new program also has conspiracy theorists, ones who believe Hillary Clinton’s fictitious ties to the occult are the “real news,” excitedly drawing battle lines over the future of the news on social media.
Should Facebook’s fact-check initiative take off and result in censorship of propagandist sites, editors at websites like Infowars and alt-right leaders insist it will only reinforce the belief that certain ideas are being suppressed in favor of facts from mainstream outlets. One editor told The Daily Beast the Facebook plan proves that now the “‘Infowar’ isn’t a cliché, it’s perfectly apt.”
If Facebook’s experiment is applied correctly, authors of intentionally fake news face a potential hurdle for generating advertising revenue for their sites, if not the banning of their stories from the social network outright.
Marco Chacon, the creator of the intentional fake news website RealTrueNews.org, says Facebook is finally taking a positive step toward making sure websites like his no longer go viral on the social network. In an article for The Daily Beast in November, Chacon wrote that he created his site to make those who share fake right-wing news on Facebook more aware that they’re “susceptible to stories written ‘in [their] language’ that are complete, obvious, utter fabrications.”
Chacon’s larger aim, he wrote, was to force Facebook to work out a solution for a fake-news epidemic he believed was “deeply entrenched” and easily monetized.
“This is the right approach,” said Chacon of Facebook’s new plan Thursday. “The people who fear censors fear a whitelist of ‘approved news sites.’ This sounds like a more intelligent heuristic that is exactly the kind of thing a company like Facebook should employ.”
Chacon, who said he was preparing for NBC News to interview him about his antics in his home later in the day, added that the new safeguards “will give people some greater responsibility in what they spread.”
Between his website, social-media interactions, and his Scribd document drop site, Chacon’s fake “Goldman Sachs transcript”—wherein Hillary Clinton called Bernie Sanders fans “a bucket of losers”—garnered millions of views. Still, the fake story was read on air by Fox News’s Megyn Kelly and was repeated by Donald Trump-approved websites like Infowars.
In context, the fabricated document clearly shows that the fictionalized version of Clinton is speaking about the children’s show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
The story was later retracted by Kelly and pulled from websites like Infowars without a correction. (It remains on some of Infowars’ sister blogs.)
“Often people who forward fake news—the ones I have talked to—think it might be true. That is, they kind of hope it is, kind of think it isn’t. But they are passing it along anyway, either for comment or just for ‘I’m part of the tribe’-style signaling,” said Chacon.
“They’ve told me it ‘feels good’ to post pro-X stories—even if the stories aren’t true.”
Facebook’s new policy will allow users to self-report the presence of fake news on the site. Stories that are frequently reported will be flagged to nonpartisan fact-checking groups like PolitiFact and Snopes. At the outset, it will be an experimental process, meant to discern how exactly the policy could be practically implemented.
Some critics who traffic in misleading information, but don’t acknowledge that they are writing what’s commonly referred to as “fake news,” point to potential biases with the fact-checking organizations that, they believe, might be more interested in promoting a “left-leaning” agenda.
Infowars’ Paul Joseph Watson, whose website engages with and promotes conspiracy theories, characterized Facebook’s new efforts as part of a punitive leftist plan.
He took specific issue with the site Snopes, with which Facebook is partnering, because one of its fact-checkers described herself as being politically left-leaning.
“One of the organizations on the list tasked with burying ‘fake news’ is Snopes, which represents a clear conflict of interest given that Snopes is clearly not impartial,” Watson wrote in a piece Thursday.
“As The Daily Caller reported, Kim Lacapria, Snopes’s main political ‘fact checker,’ describes herself as “openly left-leaning” and a liberal. She has previously equated Tea Party conservatives with jihadists.”
Watson told The Daily Beast that his content is already being blocked but that the censorship will simply draw more attention to his cause. And he’s ready for a fight.
“Facebook is already blocking some of our YouTube videos. It’s already happening,” Watson said. “This will fail like every other attempt to silence us failed. Streisand effect. By actually being censored, we will simply draw attention to it and people will be more motivated to share our content.”
“The term ‘Infowar’ is not a cliché, it’s perfectly apt,” he added.
Breitbart, which reports on real news through a pro-Trump lens, similarly placed the announced crackdown in the context of a war on the legitimacy of facts. “Masters of Universe Decree: We Decide What’s ‘Fake News,’” a headline on the website’s homepage blared after the Facebook announcement. The Drudge Report was similarly dismissive, posting a banner headline that read “Facebook to Label ‘News.’”
The idea that fact-based information is up for debate is a disquieting element of a post-truth America. But the potential unintended consequences of Facebook’s new efforts and the categorization of news as fake or real is something entirely new and still being defined.
Mike Cernovich, who popularized the #HillarysHealth hashtag during the presidential election, helping to spread various theories about her rumored ailments, told The Daily Beast that other news outlets, which have reported things that turned out to be false, should also perhaps be banned.
“Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Should The New York Times be banned from Facebook?” Cernovich said in a direct Twitter message to The Daily Beast referencing erroneous reporting about the lead-up to the Iraq War.
“Rolling Stone created a nationwide hysteria surrounding the University of Virginia. Rolling Stone created a rape hoax. Should Rolling Stone be banned from Facebook? Should the so-called journalists who linked to the hoax article be banned from Facebook?”
Cernovich characterized the way in which “fake news” could be labeled as an imperfect process.
“It’s complicated,” Cernovich wrote. “Sometimes people are wrong. Being wrong is different from spreading fake news. If a person is legitimately trying to reason her way to the truth, even if misguided, then she is not spreading fake news—even if it seems ‘kooky’ to outsiders.”
He referenced a recent instance in which a young Muslim woman retracted a story about her being harassed by Trump supporters on a New York subway platform to illustrate the country’s treacherous present media climate.
“The entire media enterprise has become dishonest. We define one another based on a few tweets we can dig up or a bad judgment call or two. That’s the game. In that regard, all of media is fake news,” Cernovich concluded.
And the war on information has already begun.The magazine has been mocked for featuring the first lady as her husband single-handedly triggers a diplomatic crisis between the two nations
Her husband has single-handedly triggered a diplomatic crisis between the US and its southern neighbor in a confrontation which has helped send Mexico’s economy into a tailspin.
Trump-Mexico relations hit new low after 20% border wall tax mooted Read more
So it was probably inevitable that Melania Trump’s appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair Mexico would provoke outrage.
The fact that she is posing with a fork and a string of jewels as if she were about to eat them like spaghetti has only added insult to injury in a country where almost half the population lives in poverty.
The magazine’s February issue includes a lengthy interview with Trump (which originally appeared in GQ last year), and promises to dish on “her (turbulent) family past, the tactics for dealing with her husband and how she plans to turn herself into the new Jackie Kennedy”.
“It’s a lack of sensitivity on the part of the publisher,” said Guadalupe Loaeza, a Mexican author and columnist. “I started reading this and I couldn’t finish. I didn’t want to know anything about the wife of our country’s No 1 enemy.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Melania Trump on the cover of Vanity Fair Mexico. Photograph: Vanity Fair Mexico Handout/EPA
Mexicans used social media to mock the cover, though many also expressed outrage and dissatisfaction with the magazine for playing up the Trumps at time when the US president is denigrating them as a country and culture.
“Thank you @VanityFairMX for putting Melania Trump on the cover. Great example of sensitivity, empathy, patriotism and editorial intelligence,” tweeted Denise Dresser, a prominent public intellectual.
Mexican magazine covers frequently offer outlets of escapism, portraying the privileges, excesses and tacky tastes of celebrities and the upper crust.
“Large proportion of Mexicans are culturally programmed [by media] to worship the fair-skinned and famous,” said Andrew Paxman, a professor at the Center for Research and Teaching of Economics, who studies Mexican media.
“It plays into the escapist fantasy, perpetuated in Mexico by decades of Cinderella-style telenovelas, that a good girl of modest means can fulfill her dreams by marrying a Prince Charming.”
Last year, a BuzzFeed Mexico survey found that the overwhelming majority of people featured in Mexican magazines were white – even though the majority of the population is considered mestizo or indigenous.Investigator Ed Haslam discussed his research into a 1964 murder of a cancer researcher which links to the JFK assassination and the contamination of the polio vaccine. In describing the complex web of intrigue that he had uncovered, he said, "I look at it as a very sane, clearheaded investigation into a very crazy subject."
Haslam traced his interest in the story to the strange murder of noted cancer researcher Dr. Mary Sherman in New Orleans. Intrigued by the sensational nature of her demise and the quick closing of the police inquiry, he unearthed clues which actually suggested that Sherman had been the victim of "what I will politely call an 'industrial accident.'" He speculated that Sherman’s involvement in underground research using monkey viruses was ultimately the cause of her death.
In explaining the origins of this research, he noted that early polio vaccines had been grown using monkey kidneys. In turn, this practice accidentally tainted up to 100 million doses of the vaccine with a cancer-causing monkey virus. In an attempt to develop a benign strain of this virus, researchers secretly used a linear particle accelerator to mutate the disease. It is this high voltage piece of equipment that Haslam thinks caused the unusual and extreme burns found on the body of Mary Sherman.
Tying this story into the JFK assassination are the claims of witnesses who say that the infamous David Ferrie had been working alongside Mary Sherman in the underground labs. Additionally, Haslam told the story of a scientist who'd been sent to New Orleans to work on the monkey virus research and had been given Lee Harvey Oswald as her handler to guide her around the unfamiliar city.
Sonny Bono Killed?
First hour guest, researcher Bob Fletcher, talked about Sonny Bono's mysterious death. Fletcher revealed that he'd been briefing Bono about CIA involvement in the drug trade and had made plans to meet with the late Congressman just days prior to his death.
Fletcher stated that the Bono autopsy contained "a whole multitude of problems," including the lack of neck trauma, which runs contrary to the claim that Bono died of a massive head injury. Among a myriad of other oddities about the case, he noted that a massive amount of blood had soaked into the back of Bono's jacket and through three layers of clothing underneath, yet no wound could be found on his back.France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault leave 10 Carlton House Terrace in central London, where representatives from Britain, China, France and energy company EDF signed an agreement to build and operate a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, Britain, September 29, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
PARIS (Reuters) - France’s foreign minister took a swipe at U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday calling his foreign policy objectives “confused” and warning that Paris could not forget remarks made after militant attacks in France.
Trump’s campaign has been marked by insults and inflammatory rhetoric to deal with radical Islam, while on international affairs he has put into question U.S. policy on everything from Syria to Iran, Mexico and North Korea.
“I don’t know what Donald Trump’s foreign policy is as it’s very confused,” Jean-Marc Ayrault said in an interview with U.S. broadcaster CNN. “As French foreign minister I’m not going to tell Americans how to vote, but the future U.S. president is not only important for the United States, but also for the rest of the world too.”
While not endorsing outright Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Ayrault said she had done a “great job” and lived up to her responsibilities when she was secretary of State.
France has been reeling after several attacks claimed by Islamic State during the summer. Trump said in July that France was no longer France and that if it had looser gun laws then the attacks would not have happened.
“As for Mr Trump, I have one observation: he said some very harsh things about France and questioned the French people and those words I will not forget,” Ayrault said, dismissing suggestions of relaxing gun legislation in France.Metro Approves Continuing Work on Union Station Run-Through Tracks
At its monthly meeting today, Metro’s board of directors approved moving forward with the “Link US” Union Station run-through tracks. The estimated $2.75 billion Link US project will add new loop tracks to extend Union Station’s existing stub-end tracks, resulting in decreased delays and increased station capacity. The project will also make Union Station compatible with future high-speed rail.
For full background on the Link US project, see SBLA’s earlier coverage when the item was on the February board meeting agenda. At that meeting some boardmembers questioned where funding would come from, and questioned the viability of California high-speed rail. Then the board continued (postponed) the item for one month.
Today’s Link US approval is actually a series of approvals:
approve the recommended “6+2” alternative, with six local/regional rail tracks, and two tracks for high-speed rail
approve $13.8 million in additional contract funding for HDR Engineering, Inc. engineering and environmental clearance work (plus an additional ten percent/$1.38 million in potential contingency funding)
approve contracting with the California High Speed Rail Authority for $3.7 million to cover the high-speed rail portion of the work
approve a $9.2 million increase in the fiscal year 2017 budget
As a result of interactions with the state of California and the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the recommended alternative actually changed since the item was considered in February. In February, Metro staff recommended a “6+4” alternative, which would have built four high-speed rail tracks. For today’s vote, the staff recommendation shifted to the “6+2” alternative which includes only two high-speed rail tracks, and accommodates phasing in high-speed rail over time. With fewer high-speed rail tracks, Metro’s planned West Santa Ana Branch rail project is expected to operate at the same level as the other tracks, instead of double-decked as was anticipated in the 6+4 alternative.
The funding for actually building the project is not clear. So far funding has come from Measure R and CHSRA. Metro staff reports that they are “exploring” getting funding from Metrolink and Amtrak, officially via their overarching agencies: Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) and Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency. Potential additional funding could come from Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and/or state cap-and-trade funds via CAHSRA and/or the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) grants.
To quell board fears about high-speed rail viability, Metro staff reported that the phased approach includes plenty of “offramps” where high-speed rail could be jettisoned from the project. CAHSRA is paying for the high-speed rail share of the design and construction costs. Further, from the staff report: “all the HSR project components in Link US are being designed with independent utility so that when complete all tracks and infrastructure can be fully utilized by Metrolink, Pacific Surfliner, and Amtrak until HSR reaches LAUS. If HSR plans do not move forward, and Metro chooses to change the scope of the project because the CHSRA plans are not advancing, CHSRA will be responsible for actual costs incurred including without limitation any and all costs due in connection with reducing the scope items added to accommodate HSR.”
(Article updated 3/27 with additional visuals from Metro March 2016 staff presentation.)People sending email to any of Google's 425 million Gmail users have no "reasonable expectation" that their communications are confidential, the internet giant has said in a court filing.
Consumer Watchdog, the advocacy group that uncovered the filing, called the revelation a "stunning admission." It comes as Google and its peers are under pressure to explain their role in the National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance of US citizens and foreign nationals.
"Google has finally admitted they don't respect privacy," said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's privacy project director. "People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents' privacy, don't use Gmail."
Google set out its case last month in an attempt to dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of breaking wire tap laws when it scans emails sent from non-Google accounts in order to target ads to Gmail users.
That suit, filed in May, claims Google "unlawfully opens up, reads, and acquires the content of people's private email messages". It quotes Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman: "Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it."
The suit claims: "Unbeknown to millions of people, on a daily basis and for years, Google has systematically and intentionally crossed the 'creepy line' to read private email messages containing information you don't want anyone to know, and to acquire, collect, or mine valuable information from that mail."
In its motion to dismiss the case, Google said the plaintiffs were making "an attempt to criminalise ordinary business practices" that have been part of Gmail's service since its introduction. Google said "all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing."
According to Google: "Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their communications are processed by the recipient's ECS [electronic communications service] provider in the course of delivery."
Citing another privacy case, Google's lawyers said "too little is asserted in the complaint about the particular relationship between the parties, and the particular circumstances of the [communications at issue], to lead to the plausible conclusion that an objectively reasonable expectation of confidentiality would have attended such a communication."
A Google spokesperson said on Wednesday evening: "We take our users' privacy and security very seriously; recent reports claiming otherwise are simply untrue.
"We have built industry-leading security and privacy features into Gmail — and no matter who sends an email to a Gmail user, those protections apply."
Simpson, a long-term Google critic, said: "Google's brief uses a wrong-headed analogy; sending an email is like giving a letter to the Post Office. I expect the Post Office to deliver the letter based on the address written on the envelope. I don't expect the mail carrier to open my letter and read it.
"Similarly, when I send an email, I expect it to be delivered to the intended recipient with a Gmail account based on the email address; why would I expect its content will be intercepted by Google and read?"
• This story was corrected on 14 August to make clear that Google's court filing was referring to users of other email providers who email Gmail users – and not to the Gmail users themselves.CM Storm Quick Fire Xti Cherry MX Brown Mekanisk Gaming Tastatur
Flerfarvet baggrundsbelysning pr. tast.
Quick Fire XTi mekaniske gaming tastatur fra Cooler Master er det ultimative i minimalt design og elegant enkelhed. Luksuriøse UV belagte taster har en strømlinet multicolor baggrundsbelysning pr. tast, systemet har indbygget 100% autentiske Cherry MX taster. Plug and play design sikrer at alle farver, baggrundsbelysningstilstande, profiler og makroer hurtigt og nemt kan tilpasses uden behov for kompleks software.
Elegant |
in the relief efforts. If you feel so inclined, the Cincinnati Red Cross would be a good place to start.
Another organization close to my heart is Architecture for Humanity, which provides free or low-cost professional design services to disaster-stricken areas around the world.Tami Barker is an ESL teacher, a test scorer, and a resident of California. She is notorious for canceling an Asian-American woman's reservation to stay at her house for a weekend and texting controversial racial comments.
Tami Barker
Career
Tami Barker is a Test Scorer for the Educational Testing Service (ETS) as well as an ESL instructor and writing center tutor at Mt. San Jacinto College (a community college) andInstructor of Workshops and Substitute Teacher at the University of California, Riverside.
In addition, she was listed on the 2016 Summer list of adjunct faculty members of Chaffey College in San Bernadino. [21] [22]
She also works as a creative mosaic artist where she builds sculptures and creates mosaic murals. [19]
Personal Life
She is married to Jonathan Sutter, a Chemistry professor at Chaffey College. [16]
According to their Airbnb account, the couple has had the Running Springs house since 2012. [16]
Both of their LinkedIn accounts have been deleted as of April 8, 2017. However, one can see an archived PDF version of her Linkedin. [18]
She has two dogs. [19]
Airbnb Incident
In January 2017, [20] Tami Barker confirmed that she would host a few people via Airbnb in her mountain cabin in Running Springs, California. Dyne Suh (a 25-year-old Asian-American woman studying law in UCLA), her fiance (Alex Biancardi), and two of her friends (Emily Williams and Theo Lequesne) were looking to spend a short vacation in Big Bear Lake over Presidents' Day weekend. [4] They booked Tami Barker's house, listed as a "Tree House Loft and Private Bathroom," a month in advance. [2]
Suh originally scheduled to stay in the house with her fiance for $250 per night. She eventually asked Tami Barker if it was okay to bring two more friends and two dogs along. Barker said it was fine, but she needed to pay an additional $50 per night. [20]
Suh agreed and the foursome made their way over to the house. 15 minutes away from the house, Suh texted Tami Barker to let her know they were almost there. In a video, Suh said she wanted to reaffirm how much it was for four people and two dogs. Suh said that Barker denied that she ever agreed to have two extra people staying at the house. However, Suh texted her with screenshots from weeks ago saying that it was okay.
Transcript of Aribnb Conversation (Extra Guests)
Screenshots were captured and posted online of the conversation between Tami Barker and Dyne Suh regarding additional charges for bringing extra guests:
Tami Barker: The hot tube is not sexy; it's an inflatable Coleman, It does the job but only fits 3 comfortably. It is an extra $25 a night for each guest. I can send u a new invoice that would add these guests to the bill if you like. If so, how many nights will they be there? I should add that there are two huge feather down sofas in the man cave on the first floor that are great for sleeping on My husband and I sleep there when we have a full house. Perfect for your guests. (3:26 PM) Dyne Suh: Oh lovely!! Thank you very much!! I will talk to them to verify the details! :) will get back to you shortly! Thank you so much for your response and for being so kind and accomodating!! (3:31 PM) [37]
Another conversation continues on January 9, 2017: [37]
Dyne Suh: Hi Tami! Thank you so much for your message! So yes, two friends will be staying over as well on both nights so $50 each? I can give it to you in cash if you prefer it as well! (7:01 PM) Tami Barker: $25 each, so an extra $50 per night. I will just revise the invoice and send it to you via Airbnb. Thank you. (7:03 PM) Dyne Suh: Ok sounds good! :) thank you!!! (7:05 PM) [38]
Transcript of Airbnb Conversation (Dogs)
Dyne Suh also provided screen shots of her conversation with the host about bringing her puppy to the cabin. After buying a second puppy, she asked if it was okay to bring two puppies. Tami Barker was reluctant at first, but she eventually agreed after discussing it with her husband.
Dyne Suh: Hi Tami! Just wanted to let u know we have a teacup yorkie who is extremely well-behaved, quiet, and sweet and is about 1lb right now. Wanted to ask if it was okay with you for us to bring her. She would mostly stay in her little bag. Thank you! Tami Barker: Hello Dyne. Our listing is very clear that we do not acept dogs. We would love to be able to do that; however, our pitbull would love nothing more than to eat your sweet dog. Our pitbull loves people and super friendly [27] but is extremely hostile towards other animals. Our pitbull lives on the first floor and you wil be on the 3rd floor; the problem is the pitbull will smell your dog and she will pace and bark constantly. So, I am sorry.... I have to say no to this request. Dyne Suh: Oh... it actually says dogs will be considered depending on the pet... Under house rules... [28] Tami Barker: Do you want our dog to eat your dog? I wasn't aware it said "Considered." I've considered and I say "no." It is not wise at all. Thank you for understanding. I need to also give you a heads up that as of now, the hot tub is burried under5 feet of snow and is not in operation. I will check with my husband on the dog situation; it may be that our dog won't be there during that weekend. Keep in mind, there will be other guests on the main [29] level.... 2nd floor. Does your dog bark? The dog would also have to stay in your room; we do have a doggy gate for the room you are staying in. Is your dog potty trained? I will check with my husband and get back to you on this; it might be a possibility. Dyne Suh: Our dog is very quiet and she is potty trained, but still we will keep her in her bag most of the time and NOT have her running around the room. She would definitely stay inside our [30] room and not go to other parts of the house. We will be out of the house all afternoon and she will get her exercise then so she will probably sleep the whole timeback at the house. Oh... bummer about the hot tub bc that's the main thing we were looking for in selecting an airbnb for this trip, but I think we can try to find a hot springs or something and make it work. Thank you for your responses. I appreciate them. Tami Barker: Hello Dyne, OK... as long as it doesn't bark; it should be fine. However, if the hot tub not working is going to be a problem, I would strongly adivse you cancel now, so you can get your money back. There is so much snow up there; it is impossible for the hot tub to work as it is outside. Thank you for understanding and My husband says yes to the dog as our dog will be in San Diego that weekend with my son. Dyne Suh: Oh thank you so much!!! That is ideal... to just be able to bring [31] her with us and go to a hot springs... bc the cancellation policy is strict, so if I cancel now I would only get 50% back. Plus I think your place is adorable and would love to stay there Tami Barker: Wonderful! It all works out. We are looking forward to your visit. Dyne Suh: Thank you so much!!! Looking forward to it too! [32]
Weeks passed, and they eventually had another conversation about Dyne Suh's second dog:
Dyne Suh: Hello! So we actually ended up getting another puppy... they're two pounds each, really tiny, and would stay in their carriers or be in our arms when at the house, never left free to roam. They don't bark. Is it okay if we bring both our babies on Friday? I would really appreciate it. We're just there two nights and barely one day because we'll be out skiing Saturday... thank you so much... Tami Barker: Where will the dogs be when you [33] are skiing? Dyne Suh: With us in their little bags :) Tami Barker: Our pit bull will be there this weekend along with other guests. If the dogs are in your presence at all timesand do not bark, we will permit it, but will not permit it for any future reservations when booking a single room. We usually only allow pets when guests want to [34] rent the entire house because then there are no real concerns with other guests and / or pets. Dyne Suh: Yes they will be in one of our arms at all times and they do not bark. This would be tremendously helpful. Thank you so so much. Can we bring you a bottle of wine or anything as thanks? [36]
One final line can be read at the end of the last screen shot from Dyne Suh: "Hi! So if the roads are blocked". [36]
Cancellation
With the foursome being minutes away from reaching their Airbnb destination, Tami Barker canceled their reservation. Her friends, Emily Williams and Theo LeQuesne (also a couple) drove 3 hours through heavy rain and snow; Dyne Suh and her fiance Alex Biancardi live 1 hour and 45 minutes away from the Big Bear destination. [38]
Screenshots of text messages were posted of Tami Barker replying with the following: [4]
"If you think 4 people and 2 dogs [and] getting a room [for] $50 a night on big bear mountain during the busiest weekend of the year..... You are insanely high." [14] "I will contact Airbnb immediately." "We are done here." "You are a con artist."
The foursome was 3 minutes away from reaching the house before Tami Barker canceled their reservation. [4]
Dyne Suh posted screenshots of her comments on Facebook. They include the following:
"[...] I wouldn't rent to u if u were the last person on earth" "One word says it all. Asian" [8] "it's why we have Trump" [10] "And I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners." [11]
Right after receiving these text messages, Dyne and her friends pulled over to a nearby motel to put on tire chains. While there, they found some crew members of KTLA news. Dyne then talked to KTLA to tell her side of the story. [✔] [45]
Aftermath
Tami Barker and her husband's VRBO account (under her husband's name: Jonathan Sutter)
After the incident took place, Tami Barker's Airbnb account was banned for life. Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas told the Washington Post in an email that her behavior was “abhorrent and unacceptable.” [2]
After her account was banned, the house was relisted on VRBO. The name under which it is listed is her husband's name: Jonathan Sutter. [16]
In addition, people took to social media to express their outrage towards Tami Barker's text messages. They also wanted Barker fired from her teaching positions.
One of her employers, Mt. San Jacinto College publicized their decision to keep Tami Barker on their staff. On April 11, 2017, they posted the following message on Facebook:
"Mt. San Jacinto College is aware of the allegations of discrimination that have surfaced against the owner of a property that was offered as a vacation rental. The allegations do not involve the college district and did not occur on our campuses nor during college district business. However, as a college district, we do not condone the type of behavior described in the allegations. Mt. San Jacinto College does not tolerate discrimination of any kind at its campuses or during the course of college business." [43]
In July 2017, Barker was ordered to pay a $5,000 penalty and take a course on Asian-American culture for her discrimination, based on a California law that penalizes those who racially discriminate on Airbnb. [46] [47]Atelier Escha & Logy Plus details playable Nio, new features
Enhanced PS Vita port due out digitally in late January.
Koei Tecmo has shared new screenshots and information on the new playable character and additional event scenes of Atelier Escha & Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky for PS Vita.
Get the information below.
New Playable Character: Nio Altugle Nio Altugle, the younger sister of the protagonist in Atelier Ayesha, only had a supporting role in the PS3 version of Atelier Escha & Logy, but can now be controlled in battle, adding another dimension to the gameplay of Atelier Escha & Logy Plus for the PlayStation Vita! New Event Scenes This version of the game also comes bursting with new content, including brand new event scenes inspired by the Escha & Logy anime, which released in Japan in celebration of developer Gust’s 20th anniversary. These new scenes delve deeper into the relationship that titular characters Escha and Logy share, revealing a sweet secret story that was not available in previous versions of the game. All DLC Included Additionally, Atelier Escha & Logy Plus includes all DLC from the PlayStation 3 version, new costumes, and — to the delight of fans of the Atelier IP — a series of new and more challenging missions and ‘boss’ enemies! Gust has also incorporated PlayStation Vita-specific features into Atelier Escha & Logy Plus alongside minor balancing fixes to create a more level gaming experience for the PlayStation Vita.
Atelier Escha & Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky will launch digitally for PS Vita in North America on January 19 and in Europe on January 20. A physical edition is available via the NIS America Online Store.
View the screenshots at the gallery.The Clio RenaultSport has just gone out of production, leaving the number of naturally aspirated full-on hot hatches at precisely zero. The BMW M3 and the old-shape-booted 118i and 120i, cars in the last year of their lives, are the only models in the entire BMW range not to have one or more turbochargers. The next M3, all 1-Series and the next Clio RS will get turbos. The overwhelming buzzword across the entire petrol-driven world is downsizing - reduce displacement, cut cylinders, add a turbo or two. Is the time coming when we’ll read the obituary of the naturally aspirated petrol car engine? Must we resign ourselves to the loss of big revs, the loss of an instant and proportional answer to the throttle foot, the loss of the goading yell of an exhaust unencumbered by a turbine - things that only an unblown engine can give?
Well, hang on. Ferrari and Aston Martin, suppliers of the naturally aspirated F12 and One-77, would seem to disagree. You might think those two magical V12s prove exactly why forced induction will never win. Or you might mark them as epic last hurrahs of a dying breed.
We all know why the turbo is dominating. During official consumption tests, and indeed in everyday wafting around, smaller engines drink less than big ones. They’re running in the more efficient part of their load band, and their frictional, thermodynamic and thermal losses are lower too. Crucially, consumption is proportional to CO2, since petrol (compounds of carbon and hydrogen) burns and is catalysed into CO2 and H2O. Both the cost of fuel and low-CO2 tax incentives are only pushing buyers one way.
But what good is that if the resulting caris so slow it can’t get out of its own way? You need a turbo bolted to the side of your small-displacement engine. Having sat there quietly minding its own business during gentle running, it charges to the rescue when you floor the accelerator. Propelled by a turbine in the exhaust stream, it compresses the air coming into the engine. More air molecules can be fitted into each cylinder, and burn proportionally more petrol (but hey, it’s outside the regime of the official test). The small-displacement Bruce Wayne transforms into a big-block Batman, burning more fuel to produce more power when you need it, reverting to small and economical when you don’t. All’s well.
Except that in place of the sound and instant response of a multi-cylinder naturally aspirated engine, you get lag and a dull drone. And if you drive a small turbo engine hard, your consumption may be no better than a bigger n/a engine. But small turbo engines do have other advantages. They’re lighter and more compact, from which should follow better packaging and handling. Besides, they’re cheaper to make than multi-cylinder ones, some of which saving a manufacturer ought to pass on to us.
While turbos seem to be winning the war, over the decades, there have been strings of little individual battles, where turbo and n/a engines have punched and counter-punched technical innovations to overcome their weaknesses.
Early turbos were mostly a route to power in the absence of any available or affordable alternative. Chevrolet launched the turbo Corvair Spyder in 1962, and then Porsche the 911 Turbo in 1974. Both had flat-sixes in the rear, with no room for anything physically bigger. And for Saab in 1978, not having the wherewithal for six cylinders, turbocharging the existing four was a handy shortcut. Saab made a better job of it than BMW’s highly strung 2002 Turbo (Europe’s first petrol turbo in 1972), but, even so, ‘off-boost lethargy’ and ‘turbo lag’ became staple phrases whenever these engines were being talked about. A naturally aspirated engine gives the full possible torque for a given rpm as soon as you ask for it. It might not be as strong as the torque from a turbo engine after the lag’s passed, but a bird in the hand, and all that…
To try to get near the peak torque of the turbos, the natural-aspiration team fought back with some clever ruses. With its VR6, VW simply jammed a big engine into the space of a small four by wedging in two extra cylinders. Simple variable-cam phasing is widespread now, and it varies inlet/exhaust overlap to suit high-rev power, mid-rev torque and low-rev emissions. Honda’s VTEC system and Rover’s VVC were among the first to use differing cam profiles at different revs, giving an optimal timing and lift profile for mid-rev torque, and another for high-rev power. BMW’s Valvetronic and Fiat’s MultiAir are even more sophisticated ways of controlling valve timing and lift, plus they let the engine run without the throttle and its associated pumping losses. Naturally aspirated engines also often have variable intake tracts, to introduce various resonant lengths to charge the cylinders more effectively at various revs.
Well, if n/a engines were going to get themselves more torque, squashing lag was a priority for turbos. Anti-lag systems for rally engines such as the Mitsubishi Evo injected air and fuel into the exhaust when the throttle was shut; it caught fire in the heat, and the explosions kept the turbo spinning. Magnificently incendiary, crazily wasteful, and destructive and dirty - not exactly acceptable on the road.
On road engines, smaller turbos help: they have less inertia. But they don’t work as well as bigger ones for high-speed power, so some engines use pairs of blowers in sequence. Or twin-scroll turbos, which separate the exhaust tracts of the cylinders that would otherwise wastefully interfere. A lateral-thinking solution is to use a small supercharger for low-rev pick-up. But superchargers use energy at high revs, so VW’s Twincharged 1.4 and the new Jaguar C-X75 engine bypass and declutch the supercharger at high revs and hand off boosting duties to a turbo. Hmm, complicated. More common now are variable-geometry turbos. They change the angle of the vanes that guide exhaust across the turbine, so they’re efficient at a wide range of exhaust flow rates. They were used in diesels for yonks, but their mechanisms were prone to fail in the higher heat of petrols. Beginning with the Porsche 997 Turbo, new materials have resolved that.
Handily, as naturally aspirated engines chased torque, as a good rule of thumb along came improved efficiency. Direct fuel injection (DI) adds more. It means an engine can run higher compression without knock, because the fuel is injected just before spark. Through clever exhaust and piston design, Mazda’s new DI SkyActiv engines get it to 14:1. And compression equals efficiency. When it’s combined with full variable-valve control, as BMW did in its last pre-turbo fours and sixes, you had an engine that was the poster child of n/a economy and civilisation.
Thing is, almost every technology that works well on n/a engines works even better on turbocharged ones. If knock matters on n/a engines, it matters more on boosted ones, which have, in effect, higher compression ratios once boost arrives. So DI is even more handy to have. Same for variable-valve control. All its benefits on n/a engines are redoubled on turbos.
Strangely, one of the final places we’ll see n/a engines is in hybrids. In mild hybrids, the electric motor doesn’t only help efficiency, it helps fill the low-rev torque hole. Ferrari’s next Enzo will exploit that double win. In full hybrids, whether the Toyota system or in range-extenders like the Ampera, the hybrid system allows the petrol engine to run only around its most efficient middle rpm range. But that’s the opposite reason to why we love n/a engines. We love them for their revs and sound.
Turbos tend not to rev because they don’t need to: big on-boost torque allows higher gearing. Anyway, DI turbos are hampered because direct-injection systems become hugely expensive if they have to work above about 6,500rpm.
Turbos give us more performance and more economy. So you’re left asking which of an/a engine’s particular delights has the turboyet to give us. Is there no substitute for revs? The Jaguar C-X75 500bhp turbo motor runs to 10,000rpm. Or if you want instant torque, is there no replacement for displacement? A Viper buyer might say so, but AMG’s turbos hardly feel limp-wristed. And in America, Ford’s V6 EcoBoost-powered F150 pickup is beginning to convince the good ol’ vee-eight’s most loyal followers that there may be merits to this new-fangled itty-bitty 3.5-litre.
But we’ll regret the passing of the sound and the instantaneous response of a good unblown engine. Sure, lag has largely gone now - it’s more a slight softness in the pedal - but without that softness, with the hard-edged bite of a good n/a engine, you’re harder-wired into the experience.
Finally, the noise: try the new M135i, and you’ll be convinced BMW’s straight-six petrol turbo is a fine sonic replacement for a heavier n/a V8, but the trouble is not many people are building straight-sixes. Even BMW petrols are mostly fours these days. At least Ford is binning its boring 1.6 n/a fours in favour of a charismatic little blown triple, and it won’t be the only one. Generally, though, we’re suffering not just because turbos mute the exhaust, but because downsizing means the dull-sounding blown four-cylinder is taking over from fives and sixes.
Maybe the price for the turbo engine’s performance, economy and lightness boils down to this: we’re going to have to live with engine noise that’s electronically and synthetically enhanced, rather than the real thing. That’s not so far-fetched, either. It’s coming on this autumn’s new Mondeo.
Words: Paul Horrell
This feature first appeared in the September 2012 issue of Top Gear magazineA Must Win for the Gamecocks
After last weeks crippling second half performance against Texas A&M, South Carolina needs to rebound against Arkansas. Much has been said about offensive coordinator Kurt Roper and his inability to get the Gamecock offense to be balanced, but the Gamecocks have no choice this weekend. If South Carolina loses to Arkansas, they will fall to 3-3 with Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Clemson remaining on the schedule. Sophomore QB Jake Bentley will need to find ways to convert on third down to keep Arkansas off of the field. With the third down struggles against the Aggies last weekend, the South Carolina defense simply could not maintain their first half success due to being gassed. With a South Carolina victory, the Gamecocks would improve to 4-2 and Gamecock fans would have been thrilled to be 4-2 if you asked them before the season.There was a time when movie films were exclusively made of music. Sure, there was a fat man in suspenders falling off a steel beam suspended from a crane (what’s that banana peel doing up there anyhow?!), but it was all set to whimsical vaudeville piano, interspersed with white writing on a decorative black background, having the character say something like "Golly gosh!" Even when your talk films came along, they’d only be soundtracked by sad string sections as tall, moustachiod men scowled and left crying women in billowy dresses to die alone.
I’m not here to give you an oral history of movie soundtracks, because I know fuck all about it. I do, however, know a little bit about one of the greatest films ever made: Dumb And Dumber. The Farrelly brothers’ first movie and magnum opus, Dumb And Dumber, saw Harry and Lloyd, played by Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey respectively, travel to the bouji American ski resort of Aspen to seek out the beguiling Mary Swanson and return her briefcase to her.
On Harry and Lloyd’s cross country journey on the back of a kid’s scooter, they’re soundtracked by a perfect blend of 90s garage rock, psychedelic pop, country and western and Apache Indian’s "Boom Shack-A-Lak." In fact, a lot of the film’s best music didn’t make it onto the commercially released soundtrack. The Cowsills Beach Boys-esque "The Rain, The Park And Other Things,"played in Lloyd’s dream as he returns the briefcase to Mary and doves flutter behind her, didn’t make it. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ "Red Right Hand," which accompanies Lloyd’s attempt to get a newspaper and subsequent mugging by an old lady also didn’t make it. Perhaps the most glaring omission is of Todd Rundgren, whose pretty ballad "Can We Still Be Friends" plays as Swanson’s husband (fucks sake) arrives after being held captive. Rundgren is also responsible for the movie’s original soundtrack, and created the highly emotional "Love Theme," a sprinkly-yet-epic tear inducer that plays as Lloyd meets Mary for the very first time.
There’s been a lot of Lloyd here, and a lot of what’s-not-even-on-the-soundtrack, which is, in itself, an omission. Little known momentary RCA signing The Lupins provided "Take," a punky alt rock road trip anthem for Harry and Lloyd’s statewide journey in their 84 Sheepdog. Also a tarmac burner is Coventry indie pop act The Primitives’ "Crash." It's a song that packs the sort of breezy punch that characterizes the entire soundtrack, and that’s why it wins over all.
Dumb And Dumber is, while being furiously excellent in every facet, an incredibly silly and ultimately pointless film. It’s like Airplane but with a more solid plot and more subtlety. For every flagrant "Who’s got the foot long?" there’s a little Freida Felcher anecdote, for every "I desperately want to make love to a school boy" there’s a "Big gulps, huh? Alright!" It’s an innocent film about two essentially very innocent, childish men, and the soundtrack reflects that. Jovial, nodding music that isn’t cheesy like that you’d find in a big budget adaptation of The Magic Roundabout, and isn’t over staying its welcome like so many film scores have before it, whether that be with too much OST violin cry-bait or too much OST big horn drear. I can see Harry and Lloyd listening to The Butthole Surfers, Dead Eye Dick, tapping the furry steering wheel going the wrong way over America, or Gigolo Aunts as their frozen urine binds them on their entry to Pitkin County, Colorado.
Alone, all these tracks are inconsequential. They’re great, undoubtedly, but ultimately forgettable. You won’t find them on your shuffle or in your playlists. It’s in the context of this film, a film that’s aged well for a silly 90s comedy, that they all work in unison, mildly serious feelings expressed in a largely pleasant and innocuous way (especially in the case of Pete Droge’s "If You Don’t Love Me (I’ll Kill Myself)"). It makes sense, then, that a movie which is mostly just pleasant and innocuous, yet somehow manages, through being greater than the sum of its parts, amazing, that the soundtrack should follow suit as well.
Next time Dumb And Dumber wanders listlessly onto your TV's late night film slot, sit down and have an extra listen out for the best soundtrack ever made, and shed a tear, drying your eyes with $100 bills.
Joe's on Twitter so you should follow him - @joe_bish
Related:
My Favorite Soundtrack: Romeo + Juliet
A Definitive Guide to the Dumb and Dumber Soundtrack because everyone should really get involved with a track-by-trackArsene Wenger has revealed the following team news ahead of Saturday's game against Sunderland:
on Kieran Gibbs…Kieran is a few more weeks away. Still four to six weeks really.on Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen…Koscielny had a scan that was quite reassuring so he will have a test today [Friday]. It is a calf problem. Vermaelen is out with his ankle injury.on defensive options…The options are restricted, I will have to be creative. We have Iggy Miquel, we have Sagna who can play there and Jenkinson on the right, so we will see. But we have very good hope that Koscielny will be available.on Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey…Francis still has a little pain at the back of his hamstring. I don’t think he will be with us on Saturday but I’ll have to check that today [Friday]. Aaron Ramsey is OK.on Gervinho…Gervinho has arrived back [from the Africa Cup of Nations] on Friday but he is not in the squad for Sunderland. We have given him five days off.[powerpress url=”http://editor2.jacobinmag.com/feed/ChicagoEpisode1.mp3″]
We’re happy to present our first episode of Jacobin Radio Chicago, featuring hosts Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Micah Uetricht. Jacobin Radio Chicago is part of an international series of podcasts and terrestrial broadcast content that Jacobin will sponsor over the coming months.
In this episode, Micah and Keeanga give an overview of the state of the city of Chicago by interviewing Ben Joravsky, longtime columnist for Chicago’s alt-weekly newspaper the Chicago Reader. Their conversation spans the tenures of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Mayor Richard M. Daley, the hard right turn of the Democratic Party in the city, the frenzied privatization of all things public, the Chicago Teachers Union, city financing schemes that take tax dollars away from city services and give them away to corporations, and the prospects for a challenge to Mayor Emanuel in the coming election.
The series is produced by Jacob Brownell and supported by our readers.Banned HuffPo Contributor: Trump “Must Go Through Hell Every Day If This Is How The Press Is Behaving”
What happens when a prolific progressive Huffington Post contributor deviates from the narrative and publishes an article admitting Donald Trump was correct about something?
HuffPo deletes the article and bans the guy, of course!
Norwegian journalist, author, and world traveler René Zografos had the audacity to suggest that Donald Trump was telling the truth about Sweden’s ongoing nightmare related to the violent tidal wave of predominantly North African refugees. Zografos wrote:
It’s well known for Scandinavians and other Europeans that liberal immigration comes with drugs, rapes, gang wars, robbery and violence. Additional to that we see the respective nations cultures fading away, for good and for bad.
Hours after publication, the article was gone – and Zografos’ access to the Huffington Post was revoked:
When reached for comment, Zografos’ told iBankCoin:
I just think this it’s a silly behavior, and actually a bit scary, because free press is crucial in our world. I don’t always agree with Trump, but he must go through hell everyday if this is how the press is behaving.
For the liberal media to actively ignore, suppress, and lie about what’s going on in Sweden (which now has a grenade problem of all things, which did not exist prior to 2012) is beyond the pale. Between no-go zones, riots, news crews being assaulted, and a recently earned reputation as the “rape capital of Europe” – all of which have been vehemently denied by the MSM and the hypocritical Swedish government, the level of propaganda and cover-up is astounding.
Mr. Zografos discussed the incident on Twitter:
@CachDPT @HuffingtonPost have asked them, but I'm still waiting for answer. I have given them a lot of sources so it shouldn't be that — René Zografos (@zokrates) February 23, 2017
@DrJhopheon Well, where I come from we try to tell the truth, I also hope Huff thinks that a good thing, let's see if it comes back. 😉 — René Zografos (@zokrates) February 23, 2017
In the meantime, Mr. Zografos granted iBankCoin permission to republish his now-deleted article in it’s entirety:
—————-
Sweden has huge problems because of liberal immigration policy
Many journalists around the world are eager to condemn Donald Trump no matter what. When he tweeted about immigration in Sweden few days ago, the social media exploded. Most of the opponent said that Trump had made up the immigration problem Sweden are having. They are wrong.
Only hours later there was a riot of violence and destructions by immigrants in the capitol of Sweden, Stockholm. The police was forced to shoot with ammunition to put and end to it. In Malmö, another city south in Sweden they have struggle with gang violence and lawlessness for years. So when Trump talk about that Sweden have an immigration problem he is actually spot on.
It’s well known for Scandinavians and other Europeans that liberal immigration comes with drugs, rapes, gang wars, robbery and violence. Additional to that we see the respective nations cultures fading away, for good and for bad.
But the immigration problem is not only a Swedish predicament. The truth is, that several European cities have huge immigration problems where even the police force is afraid to interfere in some locations in these cities. UK, France and several other European countries are changing rapidly with extreme quantity of immigration. I’m not saying immigration is only bad, but a lot of problems come with poor immigration policy, as consequences we get violence, terror and gangs. The fact is that the press here in Europe hasn’t doing their job properly. There is this fear for journalists to not report the basic truth – which is that Europe has enormous problems that comes from liberal immigration politics, and as we also now can see in Sweden, but also here in Norway. But it’s not political correct for journalists to say or write that immigration in Europe is unsuccessful. When that said, most of the people that come from other countries are behaving flawless and are a gift to our society, but then again to report that everything is all good is simply wrong and these journalists should find another job, because they do not have enough integrity that requires to be decent journalist.
-renezografos.com
-http://www.renezografos.com/blog
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on TwitterBritain and the EU appear more bitterly divided over Brexit than at any time since the referendum, with European leaders ramping up their rhetoric after Theresa May signalled she would seek a clean break with the bloc.
The prime minister’s Conservative conference speech, in which she indicated Britain would prioritise immigration control and restore the primacy of UK law to become an “independent, sovereign nation” without full access to the single market, drew a sharp response from continental capitals.
In Paris, François Hollande said Britain must suffer the consequences of its decision. “The UK has decided to do a Brexit. I believe even a hard Brexit,” he said. “Well, then we must go all the way through the UK’s willingness to leave the EU. We have to have this firmness.”
If not, “we would jeopardise the fundamental principles of the EU”, the French president said on Thursday night. “Other countries would want to leave the EU to get the supposed advantages without the obligations … There must be a threat, there must be a risk, there must be a price.”
Hollande’s message was underlined on Friday by the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who said the 27 remaining member states must not give an inch in exit negotiations. “You can’t have one foot in and one foot out,” he said. “We must be unyielding on this point.”
Britain risked “trampling everything that has been built” over six decades of European integration, he said.
Government bars foreign academics from advising on Brexit Read more
In Berlin, Angela Merkel rammed home the same point. “If we don’t |
. So short of tying your kid's right arm behind his back, the best way to produce a lefty might be to grab your spouse and head to the bedroom. Summer is almost over.
Matt McCarthy is an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan. You can follow him on Twitter here.
1 There are several advantages to being left-handed in baseball. For pitchers, it's partly supply and demand. Nearly a quarter of Major League pitchers are lefties, which is more than double the national average, and for a variety of reasons many batters are less comfortable against southpaws. Just ask John Kruk. Meanwhile, left-handed batters are closer to first base, so they've got a couple steps advantage trying to beat out a grounder, Perhaps most importantly, left-handed batters get more off-handed match-ups (lefty facing a righty) which allows for a better view of the ball and a more comfortable positioning of the head.
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2 There are a host of other factors that influence one's risk for developing schizophrenia, including family history and obstetric complicationsHere are the latest transmissions I’ve received via divination this morning transcribed verbatim. I’ve also included commentary and some other notes.
1. Your dreams now undergo traumatizing visions.
This morning I had several traumatic dreams, one involving being chased by a demonic figure, another with surviving a water-based cataclysm, and a third with observing a fight break out in a classroom. I learned that these experiences were presented purposefully to help prepare myself to endure extreme conditions in the astral state while progressing through the ascension process.
2. You will present your thematic time without understanding your full mission.
I will be thrusted into a state of no-time without having full access to my knowledge, memories, and extra-sensory abilities.
3. You will present yourself fully unused to not experiencing your very time.
I have become conditioned to experiencing time as linear in third density, so being thrusted into a state of no-time will require rapid adaptation.
4. You will present very quickly your true fundamental learning capability.
I will have to be able to handle adapting to a new reality very quickly.
5. You will present your understanding of All-That-Is.
Enduring this process will require universal knowledge.
6. You now know your thematic finish is truly approaching under your very eyes.
It is now apparent to me that this is really going to occur, as obvious signs are appearing before my eyes in physical reality.
7. You will need to prepare your time and make sure you not only travel entirely safe but fully aware.
I need to prepare by practicing astral projection and lucid dreaming, and working on adjusting my perception of reality to a state of no-time.
8. You will not visit Sirius until your understanding becomes novel.
I will not be able to travel far in the astral state until I’ve fully adapted to existence in no-time and completed the transition.
Other Notes
1. When a being decides to enter a lower vibration environment than his current state, he must optimize his energy in order to be able to function in that environment.
2. It’s like there is a certain energetic spectrum that he must lower his energy into in order to reach an optimized frequency that is not only comfortable enough for him, but also a low enough frequency to be able to communicate with other beings who exist in that state.
3. So a 5D being has to descend to an optimal frequency within the 3D spectrum in order to be present for beings who are conscious in 3D.
4. Survival, and death in general, is merely the concept of leaving the current energetic spectrum that you have been existing in. The essence of you is eternal, but your soul ascends to a higher frequency that beings within the previous plane can no longer perceive.
5. So when someone moves on from 3D, a transition event occurs in order to move on, and the soul moves forward to the next plane that is within a higher frequency range than before, which is why others can no longer perceive them.
6. Survival is a fear-based concept that involves a being trying to remain existent within its current frequency range without awareness of eternal existence.
7. So what if someone decides they no longer want to exist in a particular frequency range? They have to complete a transition event such as ascension, conscious transition through transmogrification, or through what is considered to be physical death. Both are transitions to a higher frequency spectrum.
8. Service-to-others (objective perception) is creating with the conscious intention to evolve the macrocosm.
9. Service-to-self (subjective perception) is creating with the conscious intention to only evolve yourself, a microcosm, within the macrocosm.
10. The problem in society is that people become addicted to the physical perception of reality, and become disconnected from unity consciousness.
11. Unity consciousness is the natural state of being (being aware of the macrocosm), but there are so many distractions in the modern world that people are constantly brought down to physicality because their attention becomes transfixed on lower frequency thought forms based on duality and separation.
12. And this disconnection includes all of the programs that involve competition and opposing forces, as well as programs that function to invest people into the the Matrix, influencing them to believe that the virtual reality world is real so that they focus their intention on Matrix issues and other superficial desires.
13. The problem is that the majority of humans are not aware that physical reality is a virtual reality experience, a superficial world, so they go through their lives attached to their avatar’s performance in the Matrix, thinking that it’s important. This is not to say physical life is to be thrown away, no, the point is to be aware and be responsible in the 3D world in order to help the planet and the people evolve, and not become stagnant and distracted by superficial desires.This item has been removed from the community because it violates Steam Community & Content Guidelines. It is only visible to you. If you believe your item has been removed by mistake, please contact Steam Support
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Caption If you're trying to unlock new ships in sector 7, you're going to have a bad time. Save Cancel
Created by cyberscythe
Last Online File Size Posted Size 0.221 MB Jan 13, 2013 @ 12:58pm 1280 x 720 114 Unique Visitors 0 Current FavoritesI don't know how to thank you!! This is BEYOND amazing!! I'm just sooo happy I can't even begin to explain. I expected a book but this is something way more extraordinary!!
I got a camera!! And not like any old camera!!! A dslr. I can't wait to spend some time learning how to use it!! What I didn't mention... is there is a REMOTE and a UV protector that came with the camera as well. And of course the strap (that I'm struggling putting on but by golly I WILL GET IT!!)
If I wasn't afraid of breaking it I would sleep with it!! Lol
Anyway, wow I'm just shocked and happy!!!
Why can't I rate this higher than ten? I know I'll give it elf points lol. Can I give my own gift elf points?
UPDATE!! Today I got a CF Card Reader to go with my camera. Awesome!! Thanks so much. :DAccording to advertise.secondlife.com, the advertising beta will be shut down at the end of this month. Six whole months? Wow, that really flew by.
It was certainly an interesting idea, but I cannot reasonably speculate to the failure of the beta, as I have to admit that I’ve never actually seen an ad from this programme, to my knowledge.
Surely, they must have been displayed somewhere – somewhere that I didn’t happen to go, or in some slice of time when I was looking away or getting coffee or something. Or perhaps it was just so unobtrusive that it failed to pass ordinary perceptual screening.
So, you tell me instead – why did this programme fail?
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Tags: Advertising, Beta, Linden Lab / Linden Research Inc, Second Life, Virtual Environments and Virtual WorldsThe Campaigns To Speak Directly to Democrats Abroad!
Democrats around the world will participate in a Global Town Hall this Sunday, February 21, at Noon eastern time (that's 6pm in Europe). The Clinton and Sanders campaigns will be speaking directly to us via a webex video connection, and responding to our questions. This will be a historic event--the first time ever that DA has been addressed directly by presidential campaigns during a primary--and you will not want to miss it. Joining us to answer our questions will be Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State, and Senator Bernie Sanders, candidate.
You can JOIN THE TOWN HALL in the comfort of your own home!
Joining us from the Clinton campaign are Madeleine Albright and Jake Sullivan. Mrs. Albright served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations before being named the first woman to hold the post of U.S. Secretary of State. Jake Sullivan is Hillary Clinton's top Foreign Policy Advisor.
The person joining us from the Sanders campaign needs no introduction: Senator Bernie Sanders himself! No, you didn't read that wrong - the Senator informed us on Thursday night that he would connect to the call. So this is truly a historic event for Democrats Abroad.
You will not want to miss out on this exceptional event. RSVP NOW
You can connect to the event with your computer. Instructions to connect will be provided when you RSVP, and we ask that contribute 25 euros to participate in this landmark event. And even though it is on a closed network, the number of connections are limited, so you'll want to ACT NOW.
It's short notice to be sure, and there's just not enough time for most DA chapters to organize any "official" event for this. But YOU can! Why not invite some friends over and have a House Party? EMAIL US, and we'll provide you with information to get set up.
On the RSVP page, scroll down and click on the RSVP button, and you'll be taken to the donation page. Information to connect to the event will be sent to you later, as will a form by which you can submit your questions for consideration. Rest assured, both candidates are going to be asked about FATCA, CBT, and taxation!After spending much of the 2014 season in first place and then collapsing down the stretch, the Brewers will try to regroup for 2015, perhaps hoping for the best with a talented but flawed core and a marginal, though improving, farm system.
Guaranteed Contracts
Arbitration Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections via Matt Swartz)
Contract Options
Free Agents
The Brewers unexpectedly got off to a great start in 2014 and continued that hot start into the summer, with a 51-32 record as of June 28. As the first half of the season became the second, however, the 6 1/2-game lead they had held over the Cardinals evaporated, and in the end they missed the playoffs and barely finished above.500.
The Brewers retained manager Ron Roenicke following their collapse, although they dismissed hitting coach Johnny Narron and first base/infield coach Garth Iorg. Despite any lingering frustrations, it appears unlikely they’ll make many huge moves this offseason.
One position they will likely upgrade is first base, where they’ve struggled to find a reliable contributor since Corey Hart’s last healthy season with the team in 2012. Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay platooned at the position in 2014 and, unsurprisingly, neither of them helped much. Reynolds hit 22 home runs in 433 plate appearances, but with his usual very low batting average and a.287 OBP. Both are free agents; Overbay appears likely to retire. Adam LaRoche (whose mutual option the Nationals are likely to decline) looks like the prize of this year’s free agent class, with the injury-prone Michael Cuddyer and the defensively challenged Michael Morse close behind. The Brewers could also lean on rookies Matt Clark and Jason Rogers, who both hit well with Triple-A Nashville, although both are minor league veterans who might not have much to offer at the big-league level.
The Brewers will also need to figure out what to do with Aramis Ramirez. Given his $4MM buyout, Ramirez’ $14MM mutual option is effectively $10MM for the Brewers. They would be wise to exercise their end, given that Ramirez produced a reasonable 2.1 fWAR while hitting.285/.330/.427 last season. Ramirez would not get the buyout if he were to decline his end, so it might make sense for him to accept his end of the option, particularly if he intends to retire after 2015. He could also decline the option and seek a multi-year deal, however. Ramirez said in July that he planned to reach 2,500 games for his career, which would take at least three more seasons, but he also said in September that he was not sure whether he would play in 2015. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes predicts that Ramirez will ultimately re-sign with the Brewers for two years and $26MM.
The middle infield is mostly set with Scooter Gennett and Jean Segura, although Segura took a big step backward after a strong rookie season in 2013. The Brewers will surely decline their $11.5MM option on Rickie Weeks, who didn’t get enough plate appearances for his option to vest. The 2003 No. 2 overall pick doesn’t expect to be back in Milwaukee in 2015. If he isn’t, the Brewers could pursue a cheap right-handed infielder to platoon with Gennett, or have Hector Gomez, who had a good season at Nashville and is out of options, occupy that role.
The Brewers could also continue with Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez and Khris Davis in the outfield. Gomez continues to produce at an extremely high level and is a bargain at just $17MM total through the next two seasons. Braun, though, struggled in 2014 (hitting.266/.324/.453, not a good figure for a player with little defensive value), and the $117MM he’s owed through 2020 looks like it could become a problem. Perhaps a healthier Braun (he suffered from a thumb injury this season and has already had unusual surgery to freeze a nerve) can rebound in 2015.
The Brewers could retain Gerardo Parra as an outfield backup — it’s hard to pass on an average hitter and elite defender (although defensive metrics weren’t keen on his 2014 performance). Still, Parra is coming off a disappointing season and will get a modest raise on his $4.85MM 2013 salary, making him an expensive backup. Dealing or non-tendering him might be a way for the Brewers to free up salary. Another possibility might be to move Braun to first base and have Parra start in right field.
Behind the plate, of course, there’s Jonathan Lucroy, who is, like Gomez, an elite, prime-age player signed to a bargain contract. Lucroy’s five-year deal is among the most team-friendly in baseball — it guarantees an MVP-caliber player a mere $11MM and gives the Brewers an option on what would have been Lucroy’s first free agent season (2017) for just $5.25MM.
In the rotation, the Brewers have already decided to exercise their $13MM option on Yovani Gallardo, and they also have Matt Garza and Kyle Lohse under contract and a reasonable collection of pre-free agency pitchers in Wily Peralta, Mike Fiers and promising newcomer Jimmy Nelson. Marco Estrada could be a non-tender candidate after allowing 29 homers in 150 2/3 innings in 2014, although he’ll still be fairly cheap and his other peripherals were reasonable. The Brewers don’t figure to be big players for free agent starting pitching.
Their bullpen will be trickier. Closer Francisco Rodriguez and lefties Zach Duke and Tom Gorzelanny will all be eligible for free agency. Duke emerged from oblivion to become the Brewers’ best reliever in 2014, posting a 2.45 ERA with a remarkable 11.4 K/9 in 58 2/3 innings, and his production will be difficult to replace if he departs.
The bullpen’s season demonstrated how crucial a good relief corps can be. Rodriguez, Duke, Tyler Thornburg and Will Smith dominated in the early going, leading the Brewers as they jumped to the division lead. During that time, however, those relievers piled up appearances as little-used Rule 5 pick Wei-Chung Wang occupied a bullpen spot that could have gone to someone capable of soaking up innings. Rodriguez couldn’t keep up his early pace, Smith imploded in July, and Thornburg faded in May and eventually ended up on the DL with an elbow injury. The team also lost Jim Henderson to shoulder problems. Finally, they acquired Jonathan Broxton — and his entire $9MM 2015 salary, plus a $2MM buyout — from the Reds in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
In March and April, the Brewers had the fourth-best bullpen ERA in baseball, at 2.45; in the second half, it was more than a run higher, at 3.62. While variance in bullpen performance is normal, and the team did get some good work from second-tier relievers like Gorzelanny and Jeremy Jeffress, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Brewers attempt to avoid last season’s struggles by pursuing bullpen depth this winter. Re-signing or replacing Rodriguez at closer could also be a priority.
Despite the trajectory of their 2014 season, the Brewers’ 82-80 record was about what they should have expected, given their talent. The question is what they’ll do from here. Having two excellent and cheap players in Gomez and Lucroy is a strong place for any franchise to start, but the Brewers’ complementary pieces aren’t nearly as valuable, and it’s unclear where their next group of stars will come from. Including Gallardo’s option, the Brewers already have about $70MM on the books for 2015. Retaining Ramirez will add to that total, as will arbitration raises for Parra, Estrada and catcher Martin Maldonado (assuming Parra and Estrada are retained). The Brewers will need to address first base as well, which should leave them without much money to make a big splash this offseason, given that their highest ever Opening Day payroll was their 2014 total of about $103MM. Perhaps their best shot at an attention-grabbing signing would be if they acquired someone like Chase Headley to play third base, and that would only happen if Ramirez left.
An infusion of star talent doesn’t appear imminent from the minors, either. The Brewers’ farm system has improved after a strong 2014 draft, but they don’t currently have anyone in MLB.com’s list of the top 100 prospects in the game, and their best talents (Tyrone Taylor, Orlando Arcia, and top 2014 draftees Kodi Medeiros, Jacob Gatewood and Monte Harrison) have little or no experience in the high minors.
The Brewers are therefore in a tight spot. They don’t appear to be as good as the Cardinals or Pirates, and perhaps they soon won’t be as good as the rapidly improving Cubs. But given the state of their farm system, a rebuild would potentially be long and painful. And as the team’s outstanding 2014 first half suggested, the Brewers are still probably good enough to win an NL Central title or a Wild Card if everything breaks right. If Gomez and Lucroy were to maintain their production in 2015, if Braun and possibly Segura were to return to form, and if a couple more players (Davis and Nelson, say) were to break out, it wouldn’t be a shock if the team won 88 games or so and made the playoffs.
Given that possibility, rebuilding can wait. But if the Brewers get off to a poor start in 2015, expect to hear plenty of rumors about their veterans. In particular, Gallardo, Lohse and Broxton, who can all become free agents after 2015, would likely be fair game.Updated: See the notes before the download for information in internationalization.
Here’s a quick System Service for OS X that finds all the numbers in selected text and adds them together. I find myself making lists of numbers in Markdown quite a bit, and often just want to add them all together. That’s what this does.
It works with decimals and currency symbols (including “,” as a decimal separator) and ignores all other text. There can be more than one number on a line. The output will have as many decimal places as needed to match what’s found in the text. Negative numbers work as well.
The output doesn’t replace your existing text; it appends the total number after a new line below the selection. I’ve toyed with making a Markdown Table Calculator that lets you use spreadsheet-style “SUM” fields to get row and column totals, but that’s still just an idea. This is just a quick and dirty solution.
If you’re interested in the nitty gritty, here’s the script from inside the Service:
Download, unzip, and double click to install. Just select some text containing numbers, right click, and choose “Total Numbers” to get the result.
Update: The Service now handles commas in numbers for standard decimal notation, and you can change the separator and decimal delimiter at the top of the script. Open the workflow in Automator and you’ll see two variables at the very top where you can define these. Use this to change the decimal delimiter to “,” for example.Left-wing comedian Larry Wilmore had a meltdown during MILO’s appearance on Overtime, the online segment of Real Time With Bill Maher, eventually telling MILO to “go f*** yourself.”
Following a heated discussion about the discrimination of homosexuals in society, MILO suggested to Bill Maher that he invited guests with higher IQ’s onto the show.
Wilmore, visibly infuriated by MILO’s comments, said “hang on a second, you can go f*** yourself alright,” to rapturous applause and squealing from Maher’s audience.
“Your argument is that these people are stupid, you didn’t hear a word what this man said earlier in this segment because he can talk circles around your pathetic, douchey little ass,” he continued.
Wilmore then challenged MILO’s theory that Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones is barely literate.”
“Leslie Jones is not barely litterate, you can go f*** yourself again for that one,” Wilmore said. “She’s a very thoughtful person and very funny.”
Why is the goofy white boy coming thru!! The announcers won't even call him lebron. The jamesing like a Muthafucka! Wake up James!! — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) June 3, 2016
“You should check her twitter feed, she can barely spell,” MILO responded.
Despite not receiving support from Maher’s left-wing audience, Georgian Congressman Jack Kingston did come to MILO’s defense.
“Larry, I’m a great fan of yours man, but we are all about the First Amendment here and MILO, go for it brother, because I think what they did you to in Berkeley was atrocious.”
Watch MILO’s appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher at this link, and watch his Overtime appearance below.
MILO wears camouflage jeans by True Religion, $189.99. Grey tank top by All Saints, $38. Flower embroidered bomber jacket by All Saints, $415. Leather high top sneakers with lion by Gucci, $695. Glasses by Givenchy, $350. Jewelry by Swarovski. Pearls: model’s own.
You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at [email protected] Hiroshima Carp capitalized on a bullpen meltdown by the Yomiuri Giants on Monday in a 5-4 victory that was the sixth straight win for the Central League’s third-place club.
Chasing their first postseason appearance since they lost the 1991 Japan Series, the Carp broke the game open in a four-run eighth inning against Giants relief ace Tetsuya Yamaguchi (4-3) and fellow lefty Kyosuke Takagi.
The victory, before a full house at Mazda Stadium, moved the Carp 4½ games clear of the fourth-place Chunichi Dragons in the race for the CL’s final playoff spot. The winning streak is Hiroshima’s longest of the season.
“I was nervous before the game (from the playoff chase), but the support from the crowd gave me a boost,” said Tetsuya Ogikubo, who had an RBI single in Hiroshima’s decisive four-run outburst. “I think we’re all getting a little nervous (about the playoff chase), but the fans’ support is helping us get over our nerves.”
Yoshihiro Maru singled and scored from second after Kila Ka’aihue singled to right with one out off Yamaguchi. Giants right fielder Hisayoshi Chono charged the ground ball, but it got past him, allowing Maru to score and Ka’aihue to go to third. Brad Eldred chased Yamaguchi with an RBI single.
Takagi entered and walked two batters before surrendering Ogikubo’s RBI single and issuing a two-out, bases-loaded walk.
The Carp opened the scoring in the fourth on a bases-loaded single by 19-year-old rookie Seiya Suzuki off Giants rookie lefty Nobutaka Imura, who got the start in his pro debut and allowed just a run in five innings.
Chono tied it for the Giants with his 18th home run, a solo shot in the fifth, and Yomiuri rallied in the ninth for three runs, two unearned, off closer Kam Mickolio.
BayStars 3, Dragons 2
At Nagoya Dome, Daisuke Miura (9-12) allowed two runs on five hits over six innings and Tatsuhiko Kinjo lined a shot off pitcher Takuya Asao for a two-run, seventh-inning double as Yokohama came from behind to beat Chunichi.
Miura surrendered a pair of solo homers and struck out five without issuing a walk to earn his first win since Aug. 13.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Hawks 5, Fighters 2
At Yafuoku Dome, Fukuoka Softbank overcame a two-run deficit to defeat Hokkaido Nippon Ham, win its third straight game and move to within a half-game of second-place Chiba Lotte.
The Hawks rallied for three decisive runs in the sixth after the first two batters were retired. Kenji Akashi’s RBI infield single broke the tie and Yuichi Honda singled in two more."How do thee play the pick and roll? Let me count the ways."
The last NBA Shakespearean scholar was Paul Westhead. He actually was an acknowledged Shakespearean scholar with a master's degree in English literature. But he was also an offense-first guy that pushed the pace with "The System." We would all have to go back into the WNBA vault and see how many ways the Phoenix Mercury played the pick and roll. I can't recall it being of utmost importance to the Bard of Basketball.
But like my clumsy basketball paraphrasing of Sonnet 43, it wasn't actually Shakespeare that uttered those famous words. It was Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and she really knew how to wall off a pick and roll.
The pick and roll is the genesis of the modern NBA offense. It forces the defense to make a decision on each and every possession. That decision then opens up a multitude of offensive options: the pull-up jumper, the drive to the paint, the pass to the rolling or popping man, the kick-out pass, the dish to someone coming off an action on the opposite side, etc. There is so much going on.
As a result, NBA defenses have come up with a smorgasbord of defensive coverages to combat it. Every team has multiple ways to play the pick and roll, depending on individual matchups and their overall defensive philosophy. Almost every defensive decision in the NBA begins and ends with how you choose to play the pick and roll.
This leads to a variety of questions. What are you willing to give up? What is the number one thing you're trying to take away? How does your personnel fit with what you would ideally want to do? Or, a better question: how can you play the pick and roll with your existing personnel?
The goal: try and make it so the pick and roll can only beat you one way. That one way must be something that's most different than their successful habits. If you ask the offense to make decisions that are new to them, you've blown up the foundation of their offensive actions.
How do thee play the pick and roll?
Blue (Also known as ICE, Down, or any other number of terms): Force the side pick and roll away from the middle by forcing the ball handler away from the middle screen. The on-ball defender must lock onto the ball-handler's high hip and force him to the sideline and toward the lurking big man. This is also an ideal time to send a third defender to overload the strong side. Here's a more detailed description.
Hedge: The screener's defender stays attached or within arms length of his man. That man (usually a big) jumps out on the ball handler just long enough to slow him down, while the original on-ball defender slides under the screen and attempts to meet the ball handler before he can turn the corner into the key.
Show: The screener's man creates at least a healthy arms-length separation (and usually more) between himself and the screener. The player then takes two to three long slides and tries to string the ball handler out, preferably moving him back towards center or sideline to sideline. The ball handler's defender should have aggressively fought over the top of the original pick by then and should be closing back in on the man with the ball. After stringing the ball handler out for a few dribbles, the screener's defender then recovers to his original man or rotates to a potential shooter on the "back."
It is absolutely crucial that the help defender(s) shrink to the key and make sure to get contact with the roll man. Slow down the roll and recover to the perimeter.
Long Arm Show or Contact Show: This is the under-the-screen version of the original show. As the screener's man jumps out at the ball handler, he extends his arm or gets a small bump on the guard. He literally sticks his arm out for a second and makes the ball handler draw contact on his "long arm" or dribble higher to avoid the contact.
This is a Tim Duncan specialty that is very rarely called. It's awkward but effective with a somewhat timid ball handler on the pick and roll.
Blitz: The aggressive cousin of "show." This is a hard double team of the ball handler. It's a high risk, high reward style of destroying the pick and roll. You can only play this way consistently if you have mobile bigs to contain the ball handler and long, quick wing defenders who can cover space when outnumbered by offensive players in their area. You must also have a help defender slide to the "nail" and be in a position to tag off on the roll man. This is the famous preferred style of the Miami Heat.
When you consistently blitz the pick and roll, you need to set up your "rules of trapping." They include:
Contain the ball handler.
Hands straight up. "Wall the glass."
Do not go for steals on the ball.
When recovering, teach players to run back to spots rather than to a man.
If two players accidentally go for the ball, trap automatically. Don't give the players a reason to claim they were confused.
Notice the Heat fulfilling those obligations in the video above:
Switch: Pretty self-explanatory. The offensive personnel determines the difference between a good and bad switch. Can the bigger defender handle a guard off the dribble? How much do you need to account for the roll man? Is he a threat to catch and finish? Can the guard handle the switch long enough to shadow the big into the paint and then pass him off or switch again to a waiting big defender under the hoop?
Push: A straightforward technique that you see more often in college. As the screener sets the pick, his defender gives no space and basically attaches himself straight up on the screener. Thus, he essentially "pushes" himself into the screen. In essence, the defender makes himself part of the screen and allows the on-ball defender to go under the pick.
It's like the scene in the highly underrated adaptation of "Miami Vice" where Ricardo flies so close to the other plane that they look like one plane to the radar. Something like that...
Zone up: The preferred pick and roll strategy of many NBA teams, especially those with large, immobile big men or an active analytics department. On middle or high pick and rolls especially, the screener's man (again, almost always a big man) doesn't come out and play the pick and roll. Instead, he essentially plays a one man zone at the elbow area of the key or even a little deeper, patrolling the high paint. The big should be able to contain further penetration by the ball handler while giving up the mid-range pull-up jump shot, seen as the least efficient attempt in the game.
This is how the Indiana Pacers play the pick and roll. Up until recently, they were better than anyone.
**
So, after all of that, how do thee play the pick and roll? Let me count the ways. Or, quickly consult Coach Browning's clinic notes.Two brothers charged in a fatal shooting that occurred four months ago in Harrisburg were spotted in the same car as the shooting victim minutes before the crime occurred, according to police.
Miles Trumaine Cooke, 30, and Justin Asaad Cooke, 29, are both charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the May 30 homicide of Ronald McGruder Jr., 35.
The brothers and McGruder were spotted together leaving Double D's Sports Bar & Grill, located in the 500 block of South 19th Street, around 1:45 a.m. the morning McGruder was killed, according to Harrisburg police Detective Richard Iachini Jr., who prepared charging documents.
The three men left the bar and got into an Audi A6 sedan, driving on South 19th Street toward the south side of the city, police said.
Later, at 1:59 a.m., a surveillance video camera stationed in the 900 block of South 13th Street captured the brothers alone in the same car driving from South Cameron Street to the intersection of South 13th and Sycamore streets, according to police.
Police reported earlier that McGruder was shot multiple times in the head around 2 a.m. in the 1100 block of Hanover Street.
The shooting scene is only a half-mile from where the Cooke brothers were captured on surveillance video.
Additionally, Iachini, the detective, reported in charging documents that he interviewed Miles Cooke the day after the shooting. At that point, Miles Cooke admitted he and his brother gave McGruder a ride from the bar, the detective said.
But he allegedly said they dropped off McGruder at the corner of South 13th and Sycamore streets and never drove on South Cameron Street. Iachini said the surveillance video later showed the statement to be a lie.
Moreover, the detective reported in charging documents that he spoke on June 3 with Justin Cooke, who gave an identical false statement on the night's events.
The detective also said he timed the drive several times from the shooting scene to the intersection where the brothers were captured on surveillance video. He reported the timeline confirms the brothers had the opportunity to commit the crime.
Charging documents filed in support of the murder charge against Miles Cooke do not indicate whether police have obtained other evidence connected to McGruder's death.
The murder charges were filed last Thursday against the Cooke brothers. It was the same day that Miles Cooke was taken into custody after police alleged that he sold crack cocaine to a confidential police informant in Swatara Township.
The drug deal occurred at some point between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2, according to Swatara Township police Detective Ashley Wilt, who prepared charging documents in that case.
The detective, a member of the Dauphin County Drug Task Force, reported the transaction occurred in the 6500 block of Grayson Road.
Cooke, of the 1900 block of North Fifth Street, Harrisburg, was arraigned Thursday on felony charges of drug possession with intent to deliver and criminal use of a communication facility. The latter charge stems from his alleged use of a phone to set up the crack cocaine sale.
He was arraigned Friday on the charges connected to McGruder's homicide, according to court records. He has been denied bail and is being held in Dauphin County Prison.
Harrisburg police announced earlier they are still searching for Justin Cooke, who is also facing felony charges of persons not to possess a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is encouraged to contact Iachini at 717-255-3118 or [email protected] or Officer Paula Trovy at 717-255-3158 or [email protected]. City detectives are also available through Dauphin County dispatch at 717-558-6900.Xiaoice is Microsoft's latest piece of artificial intelligence.
She has a 'cute' voice, can instantly comment on weather data and big news events, and now, she has a job on morning TV.
The Chinese live program, 'Morning News,' introduced the AI on Tuesday, making Xiaoice the first robot to take on a job of this kind.
Her voice sounds more like a human's than any other AI's to date, and Xioice's success now has people questioning the future of their careers.
Xiaoice is an artificial intelligence software. She has a 'cute' voice, can instantly comment on weather data and big news events, and now, she has a job on morning TV. The Chinese live program, 'Morning News,' introduced the AI on Tuesday, making Xiaoice the first robot to take on a job of this kind
WHAT XIAOICE CAN DO Xiaoice is an artificial intelligence software. To achieve a 4.32 score in linguistic naturalness, compared to the 4.76 score of a human voice, developers equipped the AI with breakthrough Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology. Using deep learning techniques through Smart Cloud and Big Data, Xiaoice |
human being. Riding the coaster's track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful. Celebrating the limits of the human body but also the liberation from the horizontal life, this ‘kinetic sculpture' is in fact the ultimate roller coaster: John Allen, former president of the famed Philadelphia Toboggan Company, once [said] that "the ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people and they all come back dead. This could be done, you know."
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The Euthanasia Coaster only exists on paper, as I imagine Urbonas would have to cut through some impenetrable red tape before anyone could step right up. Kind of brings to mind the Carousel from Logan's Run, no?
[Royal College of Art via Deconcrete]Jackson has balked at having to fight Matt Hamill (10-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) instead of Thiago Silva, then promised to knock Hamill out, then said Hamill has lit a fire under his behind. You could probably tack some pop psychology onto the stages Jackson has gone through in coming to terms with the booking.
“The Hammer” certainly has, and he doesn’t blame Jackson for his initial reluctance.
“I don’t blame Rampage for thinking that way,” Hamill told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today during a conference call in support of his fight with Jackson, which takes place next Saturday at UFC 130 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. “I’m only ranked 17th in the world right now, and I think Rampage should be thinking about fighting the top five guys in the world.
“But the opportunity came up for [me] to face him, and [I] feel that I can beat him. I just want to thank Rampage for giving me the opportunity.”
It was an opportunity that was heavily lobbied for by Hamill’s trainer, Duff Holmes, after Silva’s run-in with the Nevada State Athletic Commission got him scratched from the card this past February.This product was discontinued on 29 January 2019, for more information please read this post.
DECENT Network is a digital content distribution platform aimed to reshape the online publishing industry. As it is based on Blockchain Technology, it brings cost-effectiveness, transparency and ultimate security.
The open-source DECENT protocol will allow anyone to create applications on top of it and enjoy the advantages of decentralization without having to spend time and resources on building a new blockchain. To demonstrate the functionalities and potential of DECENT Network, the first application called DECENT GO is currently being finalized!
DECENT GO is a Google Play-like Digital Marketplace built on top of the DECENT Blockchain Network which allows content publishing and buying on a peer-to-peer principle. It includes all the features of DECENT presented during the testing phase.
All users are able to create an account wallet, search for content and authors, browse content by category, read content descriptions and user comments, purchase content and leave a rating and a review on the content. Authors (content creators) have the ability to upload their own content, assign it to a category, write a description of the content, choose its lifetime duration, and allocate its price.
The entire DECENT team is proud to present the following preview of the web-based DECENT GO application and its main features!
The users will be able to easily create an account, explore the abilities of decentralized online publishing and build a life-time reputation saved in the immutable records of transactions – the Blockchain.
DECENT GO will also include the online DCT Wallet. This Wallet will display the user’s DCT balance and allow him/her to transfer a certain amount to another account.
We would like to say thank you to all of our supporters and ICO participants who made DECENT a reality. We are working hard to make the upcoming launch of DECENT Network successful. More updates are coming soon, remember to subscribe to our Newsletter and check the Slack and Telegram discussion channels!In today’s modern television landscape there are far too many shows which focus on violent crimes and serial killers. Every channel has their own spin on the genre, being CBS’s Criminal Minds and CSI‘s, NBC’s various Law and Order‘s, Fox’s recent hit (a horrifying fact) The Following, and even AMC’s The Killing. The bottom line is that violence and murder are everywhere on television today, which is a problem, to say the least. These types of shows are deplorable because they are set out to a specific track within their run. First, they provoke the viewer with their subject matter. Then, they sensationalize that subject matter. And finally, they end up exploiting the viewer. However, there is one show which is focused on serial killers and violence that is different from all of its counterparts, which is NBC’s Hannibal.
At the time when Hannibal premiered, it seemed like television needed anything but another serial killer show. After the show premiered, that perception was changed drastically. What became apparent after the pilot aired was that the show really knew how to approach its subject matter. The show did indeed provoke, (the pilot’s first crime investigated was a series of young women mounted onto stags’ heads) but it did not sensationalize. The crimes and images shown were extremely disturbing, but instead of glorifying them, the show used them to their advantage. With conscious awareness that the show’s subject matter was extremely disturbing, Bryan Fuller (the show’s creator and showrunner) approached the subject matter in a wildly different way than expected: with empathy.
Hannibal’s main character, FBI Special Agent Will Graham (played wonderfully by Hugh Dancy) has what the show calls an empathy disorder. With his empathy disorder, Will is able to put himself in the place of the murderers he is investigating and empathize with them. By doing this, Will figures out who they really are. Because of this unique approach to storytelling, the show is able to investigate its subject matter through an unflinching perspective and present it in an intelligent way. As Will is forced to investigate more and more crimes, he begins to hurt. Through this depiction, murder and violence is shown to really have an impact on a person. Instead of being a crime-fighting machine like one you would see on CSI, Criminal Minds, or The Following, Will shows signs of stress and uneasiness as he continues to be hurt by the cases he is investigating. This ultimately demonstrates that he is a real human being with real emotions. Instead of treating the subject matter lightly, the show is aware of its thematic weight and uses it to its advantage.
As Will begins to hurt more and more by the things he is experiencing, the viewer hurts with him. From the first episode on Will is damaged. Throughout the entire first season he is plagued by visions of Garret Jacob Hobbs, a man he killed in the pilot. The more and more Hobbs appears in visions the viewer hurts more for Will, because it is clear that he will not be getting better. In the first season’s 5th episode “Coquilles” (known as the infamous “skin angels” episode) Will remarks that it is getting harder for him to look at the crimes. This statement is one that resonates very much with the viewer because we feel exactly the same as he does, and it shows the amount of pain Will is really in. Will hits his most damaged point in the first season’s 10th episode “Buffet Froid” (one of the most unsettling episodes of television I have ever experienced) which gives acute insight into what damage has been done to Will. As the viewer finally sees this damage we are extremely hurt and disturbed, and consequently provided with an immense amount of thematic weight.
Of course, none of this thematic weight would be achieved without Hugh Dancy’s performance as Will Graham. The writing on the show is particularly good, but the performance is what really sells it. Because Dancy is such a talented actor, his performance as Will translates the raw emotion which the character is feeling beautifully. With this performance, the viewer is able to really see what has been done to Will, and ultimately ends up empathizing with him. It’s hard to find real characters who feel real emotions in network dramas (especially crime procedurals), but somehow Dancy has given us one.
It’s not only Dancy himself who is doing terrific, Emmy worthy work on the show. Lawrence Fishburne (playing Jack Crawford, Will’s boss) and Caroline Dhavernas (as Dr. Alana Bloom, a profiler for the FBI) especially resonate with the viewer through their performances. Both react to everything which Will is experiencing in nervous and cautious ways, as the viewer would. Dhavernas’s performance in particular is a beautiful piece of understated and subtle acting, and throughout this performance she shows how the world around Will has been impacted.
It would be very remiss of me to not mention the man himself, Mads Mikkelsen playing Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Even though Mikkelsen is giving a truly great and sinister performance, the show isn’t really about him. Even though the show’s name is in fact Hannibal, Dr. Lecter is more of supporting character in Will’s journey. This truly brings home the fact that Hannibal is not a murder obsessed serial killer show, but instead a complex and emotional journey of one man who has been deeply affected by violence.
Because of all this, Hannibal is probably the most important show on TV. When other shows take a heavy-handed and exploitative approach to violence and serial killers, they demonstrate how good Hannibal really is. Hannibal does feature instances of extreme graphic violence, but instead of glorifying it, it uses it to its advantage. There is real thinking which takes place within the shows creation and the characters themselves. The show cares deeply about its intelligent characters, and their complex emotions. Hannibal knows how to approach its subject matter, and has executed it successfully every chance it has gotten. In the end, nobody really wants to watch a show about serial killers and murder, but if these types of shows are going to be so damn popular, we’re going to need one like Hannibal.
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Estimated reading time — 19 minutes
July 7th 1864
I am writing this letter under appreciable strain. It is to be, by this night’s end, that I shall be no more. Penniless and at a loss of the drug which once kept my temperament secure, I shall cast myself from my squalid room and onto the rain slicked streets below. Upon reading these scrawled notes you may guess, but never fully understand as to why I would either have forgetfulness or death. With my supply of laudanum drawing to an end I have no choice but to end it all.
May God have mercy on my soul.
It was one of the most desolate bodies of water I’d ever the misfortune to travel upon (though it wasn’t misfortune at the time). A small vessel is what we rode the open waters on. A beautiful ship, by the name of Sainte Marie. A French vessel, but one captained by myself, an Englishman. Alas, my long years of smuggling secret documents across the English channel awarded me very little. Others found my ship to be nothing special: a short goélette with two sails hefted high in the air, but for my men and myself this ship was our source of livelihood, as well as my home. The boat itself could support a dozen men; however, my crew was just four. Each had the charisma to strike up any conversation on a whim, and a gullet that could drink even myself under the table. I do miss them grievously.
I shan’t include the names of my companions in this recollection, as to protect their good names and the families they have left behind. Their lives were lost on the fourth day out at sea, the day my vessel found itself caught against the rocks in a storm. My choice to stray far from our usual fishing grounds was met with an unfortunate series of events. The storm seemingly struck us from nowhere. No clouds had formed; the waves had remained calm. A sense of serenity lay on my shoulders, but that feeling shifted upon a momentous gust of wind, one that sent my ship astray. After a fruitless attempt to regain control; I felt my ship take lift from the sea, and my body with it. As my crewmates screamed, water began to burst its way into my hull. Although I can’t quite recall how, a fish barrel met my cranium with such force. My mind went numb, and I fell unconscious.
I came forth from the shadows of my mind after an indeterminable amount of time. I found myself to be in no immediate pain or discomfort, say for the splitting headache from the fishing barrel that had met it. I hastened to my feet and planted myself firmly in sand, and as I looked back to where I had lain. There I found one of my crewmates, directly below where I had landed; surely without him my body would have shattered against the earth, much like his own.
Dead, pupil-less eyes stared up at me from a skull so deformed I could not tell for sure which one of my friends he was. Both of his arms bent backwards, bones protruded from his shirt, now soaked in both his blood and salty seawater. It was in that moment I vomited, the first of many times.
With the boat destroyed and my crewmen deceased, I found myself utterly alone, stranded on a small stretch of land, next to the boat which I once captained, that was now caught against the shore’s jagged rocks.
I can say for certain and of sound mind, that the events that transpired were not of any hallucination due to my malnourishment.
I first was met with the prospect of the impossible sandbar. The deep waters seemed to stop upon meeting the spire of rocks; with the sandbar encroaching behind its sullen crag, I questioned my knowledge of the sea. To have a drop off at what could only be predicted to be hundreds of fathoms, end with a sandbar, surely there was some sort of force at play. My first memory of the region of this sandbar was that it was littered with the carcasses of rotting fish, as well as the debris from other vessels which had met their fate here. The smell was absolutely nauseating, the miasma concocted a constant assault on my nostrils whenever I had the misfortune to breathe. The foremast of my ship had shattered and collapsed against the rocks. The splinters appeared to mock my predicament as they took on the facade of a dead man’s stare; yet the most unappealing stare that I received was from above. The sun’s accusing eye brightly lit the world of my predicament, and every time its heavy rays beat down on my skin, I felt guilt.
Much to my chagrin, upon stumbling out into the sandy shore I could not help but stare at my destroyed ship with intense feelings of sadness and disappointment. The hull was caked between the rocks, and the stern had slunk into the ocean, two of my crewmates with it. A third was dangling from the conch shaped figurehead.
Other than rotting fish, scuttling crabs, the occasional shipwreck debris and sand, the mass of land contained nothing else, say for a shell that happened upon my route around the bank. It was a tiny bit of land, most of it lay under a foot or two of water, but I did not care, as the waves would not push me out to sea. In fact, it seemed as though the waves only drew into the island, as though it bore a magnetic force to them. By that evening I could make out the possible source as to why. The moon shone brightly above me, and I recall reading somewhere that the moon could control the direction of the tides. However I am no astrologist, so I cannot be so sure as to what I heard being true or not.
Upon nightfall I had began to feel the somber presence of a lurking fear behind my spine. The moments that followed were some of the worst sensations I had felt up until that point. My skin tightened around my body as though I was beginning to swell, and suddenly, almost all at once, my body toppled over and suffered from a seizure-like event. My muscles spasm-ed uncontrollably, my mouth filled with blood, and my eyes rolled back into my head. I passed out my body unable to handle the sudden pain and chaos of the spell. Sometime later I awoke. Upon inspection of myself, although thoroughly disturbed I had not been physically harmed. I deemed the inexplicable event as a temporary psychosis, but was unsure whether it had been due to the crash, me facing my own apparent doom, or the smell of decay and death that constantly invaded my nostrils.
For the first few days I put up with the rumbling of my stomach, A wandering crab sated my hunger for a while, but the small crustacean did not stay down for long. My stomach churned violently at its abhorrent texture which resulted in me keeled over, vomiting whatever I had left sitting in my stomach. I was unable to bear the thought of devouring my friends; nor did I wish to eat the rotting fish, of which their smell I never grew accustomed to.
By the third day the rotting fish had begun to look ambrosial as I starved while wandering around the sandbar for what was probably the hundredth time. However, my water had yet to be spent, and I maintained enough intelligence to have saved most of it, only taking a few sips when needed. It was due to this that I was able to survive that horrible place. But by the fifth day, the water situation had begun to worry me, as I had downed my third bottle, with only two more left to spare.
If it had not been for the constant heat that beat down upon my skin, maybe I would not have downed the water as fast as I had, but the sun would not let up during the day. It was during the night where I found most of my solace. With the cool, dark sky around me, acting as a shield to all outside forces, it was an impenetrable fortress. I felt safe when the moon was out, and the sun gone.
It was during the sixth night when I began to indulge upon the rotting fish. They tasted absolutely maddening; gritty scales caught themselves between my teeth; the bones were decayed enough to swallow, but they still left their mark of sores in my mouth. The saltiness of the sea that coated the fish only caused me to drink more. My clothing did nothing but cling to my chest as the ocean soaked through them, day by day. When the sun had risen upon the seventh day, I removed my remaining articles of clothing as the heat beat down upon my skin. I no longer sweat, as my body had run dry of any excess water. With the cascading sun causing my skin to melt, I tore the sail from the mast with great vigor and strung up its frame using the splintering of my ship. My shelter failed to protect me; the damage had already been done. Most of my skin was red and covered in scars, some of which had begun to scab from the intense burning it had suffered. The worst part of my body was my upper back and neck, a place that was constantly battling the sun. The skin was peeling, I could feel it. It was after this day when I began to lose track of time. For what seemed like the next week, I spent my time wandering aimlessly around the island during the night, scavenging whatever washed up.
Whenever I would pass by the body of my deceased crewmate, I could almost discern a whisper. I could not be sure if it rose from him, or if it was a voice that ascended from the sea for only my ears to hear. His grisly features had partially sunk beneath the sand, but his arm bone stuck up from the ground like a mast of a ship. If I could have brought myself to look upon him for longer than a moment, I would surely have buried his corpse, but it seemed nature did most of that job for me.
Though I cannot be certain, two weeks into my predicament, my final bottle of water had been emptied. The water failed to even quench my thirst at that point; the fluid would meet my tongue and dance for a moment, only to dry as the pilfered sun stole my drink. I was lucky to have not indulged on the seawater, for I knew better than that. I managed to form a makeshift water purifier and with it I was able to harness the heat of the sun in some sort of positive way. I constructed the water extractor using one of my empty bottles, a large conch shell I had found lying around, a sample of fabric from my shirt, and my own urine, which was not much. I began to siphon the salt out from the ocean around me, using the same method I had with my own urine. It all tasted unsatisfactory, and the incessant need for more never left me, which was quite possibly the sickest part of the entire quest for nourishment.
At some point past my recording of days and weeks, a small cretin had scuttled out of the sand. Its features were remarkably distinct, as it had no resemblance to any other crab I had seen. Legs larger than the length of its body carried it across the sandbar. Indigo in colour, it made a taunting snapping gesture towards me and I began after it. I could not care how abnormal it looked, it was something I could eat. As I reached down to grab the scuttling creature, my hand passed through it and dug into the sand. I leapt backwards, perturbed and unsettled. Its body remained present and it blinked soulless bug-like eyes are me. The abnormal twist of its shell that followed was no doubt a mockery of sorts. I went to grab it again and passed through it once more. It danced about the sand for a moment and from it erupted a cackle. I distinctly remember it, and even now the apparent laughter of that creature incites my rage. I paraded about where it stood, hoping to crush it with my feet. Its body almost melded into my flesh as we came into contact, and yet I felt nothing. I began to dig where it was. My fury increased as every momentous attack I made at the creature met nothing but the sand below it. My fingernails cracked in the sand and began to bleed as the small grains dug beneath my nails. The whole time the cretin mocked me, unable to be touched. That was when it happened again. My body began to convulse and my skin began to swell. I felt a lurch of pain enter my body from behind my neck, as my next memory is that of my waking self, covered in sand, and slouched inside a hole I had seemingly dug. I never saw the creature again.
Upon waking up one morrow, I found the carcasses of the fish to be depleted. My only source of food had seemingly vanished overnight, and soon after, as my stomach roared even louder, I became unbearably miserable. The many days without any food caused me to become so angry and malnourished that I turned to my dead friend. For weeks his decrepit state of being lay silently. Sand had found its way into every orifice of his being, and as I dug out his rotting corpse, a cluster of small crabs scampered out. I plucked up as many as I could and shoved their crusty bodies into my mouth, still wriggling and snapping away as I swallowed. The critters sated me for no time at all, and with the thought of my death looming over me I turned my friend onto his side and tore into the rotting flesh.
It was far easier than I’d expected it to be. The meat was tender and easy enough to tear apart with bare hands, and even easier to chew. A sort of primal being took control of my body thereafter. What was a rueful action, I did not regret at the time. I cannot recall his taste, but I do recall my body’s lurching and spastic response as I swallowed pieces of him. I ate every bit of him, suckling the blackened bones, getting chunks of sand and meat stuck between my teeth. I rolled his head towards me; I was met with a stricken horror. His hollowed eyes! They stared at me with empty sockets. The once white jelly filled sockets had sunk into his skull, perhaps even devoured by crabs. Their gaping and lifeless facade caused my stomach to erupt and my meal spilled out all over the sand. Even in this instance of savagery and primal desperation I could not fathom allowing the flesh of my friend to sate my hunger.
Hours following, my mind was filled with a series of disturbing images. Mirages of sorts beckoned me from beyond the shoreline. Images of palm trees and thriving animals that romped about, each with indescribable features, but features I would have enjoyed to taste nonetheless. Slowly I could feel my skin began to tighten against my bones, and with every passing minute I could discern the guttural howl from my stomach, longing for something to satisfy it.
One night I awoke to the sound of what I could only discern as a seal. The ambient honking noise echoed in my ears and I left my makeshift shelter in search of this animal, hoping to kill it with my bare hands and eat its flesh that night. I found no animal in sight. Though I did find something else. Something that had not been there before.
On the opposite side of the island from where my boat had crashed (it had long since slunk under the waves, my rotting chums with it) stood a monolith, rising at least twenty feet into the air. The obsidian-coloured sarsen possessed a phallic-like shape, something I would have found comical be it not for my present situation. The monolith dripped of seaweed and water, which darkened the sand around it. I recall no immediate discomfort in it’s presence, merely a curiosity as to how and when it arose. Was it here before? I thought to myself. Had it floated in as I slept? The object seemed to be grounded to the earth below it, and how far it stretched under the ocean I could not say, but I did not approach it during the night, as I thought I could very well be dreaming this object up.
Upon sunrise I hesitantly approached it to get a closer look. The first aspects I could discern of this object were the markings. Hieroglyphics portraying an unknown language had been carved into it. In fact, they were horribly grotesque, some of which resembled the dismembered limbs of human beings, others of fish skulls and shark fins. The entire sight began to cause an inner childlike wonder, and from that a morbid curiosity. Though exasperating to behold, I had begun to wonder whether this obsidian statue was brought on by my starving mind. Yet, something made me believe that it was not my conscience that created this object. I reached out to touch the figure to indeed see if it was a physical manifestation. My hand met the slippery surface and almost instantaneously, like a painful electric shock; a sensation sparked from within my fingertips and traveled up my arm, down my neck and spine, and encompassed my body as a whole. I fell backwards, and the pain I had felt momentarily was replaced with a lingering sense of remorse. I decided it best to ignore the monolith. Its unknown origins and seemingly magical appearance, as well as macabre power, caused thoughts of sacrifice and cult formations to enter my mind, thoughts that I did not want stewing. I stumbled back to my shelter, the whole time feeling as though the monolith was watching me. I sat huddled beneath my tattered sail, looking off in the opposite direction, towards the horizon. In an attempt to disregard what I had just experienced, my mind began to wander and I found myself thinking of better times; almost like clockwork, the image of a large commercial fishing boat approaching the island began to take form. It possessed a mast that stretched up beyond the clouds; a pristine white flag with a dove on it that fluttered in the wind. The wings on the sigil seemingly came to life in the breeze. The figurehead of the ship resembled that of a woman, one arm outstretched towards me, and the other brandishing a lantern which lit the boat’s way in the dark. As the vessel came in contact with the island, the light from the lantern died and the boat itself caved in, vanishing into a pillar of smoke. On cue, the monolith emit a low humming noise, and I turned back towards it and cursed its hideous form; I cursed the words that were carved into it, I cursed the very creator that made its malignant structure in the first place, and I cursed the visions it brought forth of solace and comfort.
It wasn’t until that night when I realized that my cursing would come with consequence, as if my current fate had not been consequence enough. That night I felt the earth beneath me tremble, as though an earthquake were taking place. I gripped the ground, thinking the sands beneath me would part and I feared a giant maw would devour me whole. Waves crashed along the shoreline with a fierce vigor I had not seen them beckon before. The very sky above me shuddered, the moon itself took over the night sky, growing exponentially as the severity of my predicament further seeped into every crack of my soul. During the entirety of this plight the monolith stood there, gawking at me. The tremors suddenly ceased and I let go of the sands, allowing my body to sink back into the ground.
I felt like my heart would fall out of my chest. The metallic taste of blood began to form in the back of my throat, and my heart beat incessantly, unable to slow. I began to cry; no tears, as I hadn’t enough water to emit those, but I sobbed loudly where I sat, shuddering and knowing surely this was the end, and that I could never escape this loathsome place. As I began to think my fate could not get any worse, my eyes turned to the obelisk.
In the distance, near the obsidian object stood something in the dark. My eyes could for some reason not decipher what was there. As I squinted my eyes to try to visualize this object before me, I swear I saw it move; a harkening movement, which caused me to stop mourning my fate and establish a better concentration on it.
Then suddenly I saw it. Polyphemus-like and abominable; the light of the moon lit its features. Large malformed breasts hung from its abdomen and brushed the water. The creature lifted its heavy, slimy head and let out an unimaginable scream. My ears rang and bled. I shut my eyes; I could not bear to look at this thing but despite my disgust, they were forced open once more and watched as the creature darted towards the monolith, wrapping its scaly and repulsive arms around the thing. It stood to a man’s knee depth in the water, its body towering above the monolith itself, at least thirty feet tall. Tendrils fell from its back and landed in the water around it. They proceeded to slither up its idol and wrap their repulsive form around it. The head, now shimmering wetly in the moonlight, was a horrendous amalgam of blighted, greying flesh shaped strangely like the silhouette of a crab. The flesh that loosely hung to what should have been it’s face was corpus and bloated; waterlogged from what can only be assumed as millennium spent in the unknowable depths of the sea. Pulsing from a crater in its approximate center came forth a cycloptic eye of nightmarish size, the muscles of it’s iris flexing into acute focus on the monolith. It’s head in cumbersome motion swiveled to face the flat stone, wet mucus-y fluid flung from the exertion into all directions. It let out another sound, causing my ears to bleed once more, and I began to sob again. In one monstrous movement, it leapt from the monolith and into the depths from whence it came, and in doing so, proclaimed the island to be its own. I watched as its dark form swam around the island, creating large waves as it did so. Every wave of water made impact on the shoreline. As the beast slithered through the water in circles around the island, I felt my knees give way, and my head land weightless against the soft sand below. The last thing I recall before slipping back into my mind, was the sea water engulfing me, as the hideous being moaned.
When I came out of the shadows of my unconscious, I was in a hospital, located in the port of Plymouth; brought there by an English merchant vessel. According to my rescuers, I was found floating soundlessly between two rocks; my boat had long since been claimed by the sea. At my mere mention of the sandbar, they explained that no mass of land was in miles of where I was shipwrecked. That I knew could not be true. I knew for certain that I had landed upon an unknown island. One that possessed a creature forgotten by mankind over the ages.
After my recovery in hospital, I returned to England. I was broadcasted as the sole survivor of a horrifying ordeal that encompassed much loss and time. My claims of the sandbar and obelisk fell on deaf ears, as no one could fathom the prospect of such things. The families of my crew spoke briefly to me upon meeting at the quaint memorial orchestrated for my fallen comrades. I spoke highly of them, that they fought the storm to their dying breath. I did not discuss my time on the sandbar though, as they would not care, much like others before them. The acts of heroism I claimed their loved ones displayed was enough for them to gain some form of closure, and off they went never to speak with me again.
For months following, I suffered constant delirium and psychosis. My family did not care to discuss the matters of my survival, and after a while they stopped returning letters. Alone and discombobulated, I turned to morphine and laudanum as a source to numb my dreams. While under the affliction of these drugs I can only vaguely recall the sound of the malformed creature from that island, and very rarely did I see the vacant eyes of my crewmate looking up at me while I sleep, but the persistent fear that I was left with resonated with a haunting sensation that I could not shake. I cannot recall exactly how it happened, but one morrow when I awoke I was surrounded by doctors and nurses, all of whom insisted I go with them. They took my drugs and with that my remaining sanity. While in hospital the dreams persisted, and eventually the doctors allowed me an ever depleting supply of laudanum. Now here I sit, on my last bottle, unable to cope and unable to shake the dread that sits heavy on my head.
The end for me is drawing near. Had it not been for that thing, then perhaps I would not be in this hospice right now. Perhaps I will be able to forget the events with time, but that thing I saw, the unspeakable unholy creature from Hell – no longer do I wish for this accursed thing to poison my mind. I can still hear the howl of its people, an echo in my soul, a whisper in a fever dream. I hope you do not discredit these words as the others have. I am deeply saddened and apologetic for having shared this account with you. I only hope you trust these words and hold them close.
There are strange and fearsome things that prowl the open waters, and I can only hope that I have indeed lost my mind; for the sake of humanity, I hope so.
Credit: S.M. Patricks
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RANDOM PASTAS YOU MAY ALSO ENJOYJeffrey Miron will testify today at 9 am east coast time before the House Committee on Financial Services.
Miron is the Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard, and also a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute (and a card-carrying Libertarian).
In his prepared testimony, Miron says that Congress is proposing – by way of Title XII of the proposed Resolution Authority for Large, Interconnected Financial Companies Act of 2009 – to make bailouts of large financial institutions permanent.
Specifically, Miron says that the bill would allow (and encourage) the FDIC to:
Make loans to the failed institution, to purchase its debt obligations and other assets, to assume or guarantee this institution’s obligations, to acquire equity interests, to take liens and so on. This means the FDIC would be putting its own – that is to say, the taxpayer’s – skin in the game, a radical departure from standard bankruptcy, and an approach that mimics closely the actions the U.S. Treasury took under TARP. Thus, this bill institutionalizes TARP for bank holding companies.
Miron says that this drastically increases moral hazard and the threat to our economy. Miron instead recommends that the too-big-to-fails be put into bankruptcy.
Paul Volcker is saying pretty much the same thing.Losing our lead: emissions targets increase ahead
Updated
Australia will have to increase its greenhouse gas reduction target from the current 5 per cent by 2020, to at least 15 per cent within two years under the policies of both the ALP and the Coalition.
That's because the conditions for doing that look like being met. Remember… the Government's reduction target is 5 per cent below 2000 levels unilateral and 15 per cent if "major developing economies commit to substantially restrain emissions and advanced economies take on commitments comparable to Australia's".
The Opposition has signed up to both the 5 per cent and 15 per cent targets, although it hasn't mentioned the second one for a while.
It's clear that science is beginning to reassert itself on this subject after a few years on the sidelines following the debacle in Copenhagen in 2009.
Current advanced country pledges already suggest a 10-20 per cent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020. China has imposed quotas on carbon emissions and is likely to have an emissions trading scheme in place by 2015; it already has them in nine provinces. The action being taken by other developing countries is already sufficient for a |
TS: I work with several museums and cultural institutions, and those sketches are based on works of art displayed in museum collections. I am usually assigned to draw certain objects, but others are chosen for my own enjoyment. Those sketches are interesting in that they offer an interpretive connection with history, with ancient works of art being filtered through my viewpoint as an artist in the present.
TS: In my work with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, I create artwork for an ongoing HR program. I am tasked with creating sketches of works in the museum’s collection, which the museum then frames and presents as gifts to noteworthy recipients.
EL: That is awesome!
TS: I greatly enjoy the job, but more than that, I’m truly honored that the Gardner Museum recognizes the quality of my work and has chosen my art to represent their world-renowned collection.
TS: Earlier this year, I began working as an Art Advisor with the Massachusetts Senate. One of our State Senators wanted to have college student artwork from his constituency represented in his office at the State House in Boston, and I helped draft an initiative and offered logistical advice for the project. It is quite rewarding, personally, to see the proud expressions on the faces of the students and their parents as the artwork is put on display at the state capitol.
TS: Last year, I was hired by the Worcester Historical Museum to create portraits of three generations of the Salisbury Family (17th-18th Century benefactors of the city). My artwork was put on display in the circa 1772 Salisbury Mansion, placed alongside paintings by colonial-era portraitist Gilbert Stuart. Gilbert Stuart painted the famous portrait of George Washington (used on the dollar bill) and is one of my artistic heroes, so that was quite an honor.
EL: Wow! That is fantastic!
TS: I also work at the Worcester Art Museum, having taken on various roles from assisting in art classes to monitoring the safety and security of the artwork on display. I have also referred collectors I know to the Worcester Art Museum, and my efforts and connections in that regard have culminated in the addition of more than 300 works of art to WAM’s permanent collection, including 97 woodblock prints by Japanese artist Yoshida Toshi.
Art Security is a major concern of mine as well, both personally and professionally. I hold a certification from the International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection. I am a contributor to various art security forums, conducting research into art theft, preservation and archaeological ethics.
EL: How interesting. Keeping art safe is a challenge! Your wife is also a talented artist.
TS: My wife, Janet, is an amazing artist. She has a wonderful eye for detail. Currently, she is working on a series of miniature paintings, which have been on display in three gallery shows so far this year. We share a mutual love and respect, and I credit all of my success (artistic and otherwise) to her encouragement and support.
EL: Wonderful! How sweet! She does have an eye for detail as can be seen in the miniature painting below.
EL: Can anyone contact you for a portrait? If so, how and where?
TS: Portrait commissions can be made through my website: http://www.artcrimeillustrated.com
I can be emailed directly at: [email protected]
Find my page on Facebook as “Travis Simpkins: Artist & Museum Professional”
Affordable prints of my portraits of historical Freemasons can be purchased through Cornerstone Book Publishers at: www.cornerstonepublishers.com
EL: Your work has rightfully earned a vibrant place in the hearts and minds of Freemasons. Is there anything I did not ask that you would like to talk about?
TS: I’m glad to hear others describe my Masonic portraits as a contribution to the fraternity, it’s meaningful to be able to play some part in my own way. It is a wonderful organization and being raised a Master Mason will always be a defining moment in my life. Since joining earlier this year, I feel that I’ve already made many lasting friendships and associations. I have experienced the start of an incredible journey and am open-minded to future opportunities in Freemasonry. All of the brethren at Morning Star Lodge in Worcester and the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in Boston have been very welcoming and helpful. I am looking forward to joining the Scottish Rite Valley of Worcester and the Boston Consistory later this year. I hope to do a lot of traveling over the coming years and experience the Masonic art, architecture and fellowship in other areas as well.
EL: Your work is an outstanding contribution to Freemasonry and the Fraternity is most fortunate to have had you join. Thank you again, for this interview. Bro. Travis’ portraits cost about $200 (for an 8×10 inch drawing) if you would like to get your own or get one as a gift. Phoenixmasonry will certainty keep an eye on your work to let our friends and fans know what you are up to in the future. Thank you everyone for reading!
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Like this: Like Loading...A legal dispute between webcomic The Oatmeal and content aggregator website FunnyJunk began in 2011.[1][2] The Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman alleged in 2011 that FunnyJunk users repeatedly infringed copyright of The Oatmeal's original content. In June 2012, FunnyJunk's lawyer, Charles Carreon, sent Inman a letter demanding US$20,000 in damages from him, alleging the claims he made were defamatory. Inman responded by publishing the letter on his site, along with a response and announcement that he would be organizing a charity fundraiser through Indiegogo, donating the amount demanded by Carreon to the American Cancer Society and the National Wildlife Federation.
On June 15, 2012, Carreon filed a separate pro se lawsuit Carreon vs Inman et al against Inman, Indiegogo, both charities and a hundred Does for allegations related to The Oatmeal's response and related actions by other individuals. Carreon dropped this case on July 3 of that year. Mashable named the case first among their list of "silliest tech lawsuits ever."[3] Carreon was also sued by the anonymous operator of a blog parodying him after Carreon sent letters to the site's web host demanding they reveal its operator.
Background [ edit ]
FunnyJunk is a website where users can upload content they find humorous. According to Ars Technica, key FunnyJunk personnel are Bryan Durel and Benjamin Bunker.[4]
In 2010, The Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman found that FunnyJunk was distributing copies of comics from his website without permission. He sent e-mails, resulting in removal of some but not all of the comics, and subsequently discontinued attempts at removal.
In May 2011, Inman made a post on The Oatmeal's blog against FunnyJunk and contemplating a cease and desist under the DMCA (see Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act).[1][5] The FunnyJunk owner known simply as "Admin" responded with a message to all users claiming that “the Oatmeal wants to sue funnyjunk and shut it down! He thinks we're nothing more than dirty content thieves...Contact Oatmeal anyway you can!" and provided links to The Oatmeal's e-mail and Facebook page.[6] This triggered spamming by FunnyJunk users and a flame war with The Oatmeal readers.[1]
Operation BearLove Good, Cancer Bad [ edit ]
In 2011/2012, FunnyJunk hired Charles Carreon to review its website.[7] In June 2012, Carreon delivered a demand letter via process server to Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal claiming that The Oatmeal's posts regarding FunnyJunk's alleged copyright infringement constituted defamation.[8] The letter demanded the removal of references to FunnyJunk and US$20,000 in damages. Inman responded with a The Oatmeal blog post containing an annotated copy of the letter, and refusing to do so. Inman further proposed to raise the requisite $20,000, take a photo of himself with the cash, and send the photograph along with a satirical illustration of FunnyJunk's mother "seducing a Kodiak bear" to FunnyJunk.[9][10] Rather than pay the damages, Inman proposed to donate the money to two charities, the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society. This blog post elicited more popular support for Inman and The Oatmeal than anticipated, and the fundraising effort "Operation BearLove Good. Cancer Bad." generated the $20,000 in 64 minutes and over $100,000 in under 24 hours, and at completion he raised $220,024.[11] Inman also responded via counsel.[12] On June 21, 2012, Carreon abandoned FunnyJunk's demands because of misinformation.[13][14]
The incident spurred commentary by Dan Mitchell of SF Weekly on how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act places the onus of policing violations on content creators[15] and by Maxwell S. Kennerly Esquire of the Beasley Firm LLC on whether public accusations of copyright infringement are defamatory.[16]
In the aftermath of the blog post, FunnyJunk took down all pages Inman linked as infringement and Carreon sought to hide his e-mail address due to a flood of e-mail. Carreon expressed surprise, stating: "I really did not expect that he would marshal an army of people who would besiege my website and send me a string of obscene emails."[17] On June 14, 2012 Carreon replaced his contact page with one saying, "Due to security attacks instigated by Matt Inman, this function has been temporarily disabled."[18] Inman, however, disputed the assertion that he had instigated an attack, noting in a blog post that Carreon's contact information had been redacted from his initial comic and that he had never directed anyone to attack Carreon.[19] Carreon's website, Twitter account and WordPress site were all attacked, but he says "I welcome the opportunity to confront legally the misuse of a new technology."[20] Carreon is trying to identify the operator of the impostor account @Charles_Carreon by subpoenaing Twitter and Ars Technica.[21][22] As of September 2012, the account was suspended.[23]
Carreon sent Indiegogo a request to halt Inman's charity fundraiser as a terms of service violation,[17] alleging that the charities' names are misrepresented in violation of California law, and Inman will profit. Inman promised, "I won't use any of the money on legal fees."[24] and "100% of it is going to charity."[25] Indiegogo investigated the allegations and did not suspend the campaign.[26][27]
When Operation BearLove Good, Cancer Bad ended, Matthew Inman said that he still plans to go with his plan of taking a picture of the money, sending it to Carreon with the satirical picture, and donating the money, though now both the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society get $105,611.52 each instead of $10,000 each.[28] Inman negotiated to receive the sum in $20 bills from the bank.[29][30][31] As of July 1, 2012 Inman has already withdrawn and photographed his own funds,[32] posting the images on July 9.[33][34] Glenn Fleishman participated in and reported the photo shoot.[35][36] Inman sent FunnyJunk a framed print of the satirical drawing and a photo of the cash spelling out "F. U."[34]
Carreon v. Inman et al [ edit ]
On June 15, 2012, Carreon filed a pro se lawsuit Carreon v. Inman et al in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland against Inman, Indiegogo Inc., the American Cancer Society, the National Wildlife Federation and a hundred anonymous Internet users for allegations related to the Oatmeal case.[37][38][39][40] In the filing, Carreon says he donated to the fundraiser, which would give him legal standing for his lawsuit.[41] Carreon stated that he wants to prevent charity fraud like the donations from being diverted from NWF and ACS to Inman, Indiegogo or other undisclosed charities.[25][42] Inman responded to the lawsuit with a blog post,[19][43][44] but was advised against giving interviews.[14]
Indiegogo responded with a statement calling the lawsuit "frivolous."[45][46] Lawyer Rebecca E. Hoffman of Bloomberg BNA said Carreon's case could "only be described as frivolity on top of frivolousness."[47]
On June 21, 2012, the case of Carreon v. Inman et al was assigned to Judge Edward M. Chen.[48] On the same day, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that it would represent Inman, stating, "This lawsuit is a blatant attempt to abuse the legal process to punish a critic."[49][50][51]
On June 25, Carreon amended his lawsuit against Inman and the other defendants to include Kamala Harris, the state Attorney General of California.[52] On June 30, Carreon also requested a temporary restraining order to stop disbursement of the donations.[53] On July 1, 2012 Inman's and Indiegogo's attorneys filed opposition.[32][54][55][56] According to their filings, credit card donations held by Indiegogo were disbursed directly to the National Wildlife Foundation and the American Cancer Society on June 29 while donations via PayPal were held in a PayPal account.[32] Inman wrote checks to the charities against the PayPal balance and gave them to his lawyer.[32] Inman withdrew and photographed his own funds, posting the images on July 9.[33]
On July 3, 2012, Carreon filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in his lawsuit against all parties without prejudice.[57][58][59][60] Carreon declared, "Mission Accomplished," in an interview with Ars Technica[58] and told Comic Riffs, “Inman aborted his ‘publicity stunt’ to photograph himself with the proceeds that were intended to go to charity, the court took cognizance of the issues and ordered Inman to deposit evidence of his disposition of the funds, and Inman deposited the evidence of payments made to the charities.”[61] Carreon wrote to MSNBC.com, "While it's not the largest sum of money I have ever had a substantial role in raising, it is the first time I've seen it go to charity, and I think it's great."[62] Carreon went on to propose a mud wrestling match with Inman but Inman declined.[62] Robert X. Cringely wrote that Carreon's actions in the dispute made him "Internet Enemy No. 1."[63]
Doe v. Carreon [ edit ]
In June, a critic of Carreon set up the site charles-carreon.com, a blog that pretends to be written by Carreon while satirically criticizing him. The Charles Carreon Esq. character is obsessed with dinosaurs.[64] On June 21, 2012 Carreon sent Register.com a letter demanding that they disclose the site's owner.[65] Register.com acquiesced and briefly revealed the owner's name in the site's WHOIS information. "Satirical Charles" was represented by Paul Levy of Public Citizen pro bono.[65] Levy filed a federal suit Doe v. Carreon to seek a declaratory judgment to protect the satirical site's owner in July 2012.[66] After evading service, Carreon agreed in December 2012 to settle for costs of $725. He then "engaged in unnecessary, vexatious, and costly tactics" to determine the proper amount of attorney fees, but was ultimately ordered to pay $46,100.25.[67]
On July 7, 2012, Carreon released a music video "Psycho Santa: The Heroic Exploits of Matt Inman / A Work of Perpendicular Fact" on his new site Rapeutation.com.[68][69] Carreon alleges that he was the victim of a "Distributed Internet Reputation Attack (DIRA)" perpetrated by "large numbers of both human and digital Internet zombies" acting in concert.[69] Carreon claims to have evidence of a denial-of-service attack.[70]
See also [ edit ]Dan Pearson European Editor Monday 9th November 2015 Share this article Share
Companies in this article Sony Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Shahid Kamal Ahmad, the well known and highly respected head of Sony's Strategic Content division in the UK, is leaving the platform holder after a ten year stint at the firm. As he announced this morning, he'll be leaving what he called "the best job in video games today" and returning to the front lines of development by creating his own games.
Known for his tremendous work ethic and eminently approachable nature, Ahmad has been heading up the Strategic Content division since March 2012, helping small indie teams put their games on to Sony's platforms. Whilst bringing names like Vlambeer and Mike Bithell to Sony's platforms, predominantly the Vita, Ahmad has provided a level of support and guidance which has earned him many friends in the UK scene and abroad. In his absence, the team he helped to build will continue its work, with Ahmad parting company on the best of terms.
"Strategic Content will continue. There are no plans to change anything. Our approach to developers will also be unchanged"
"On December 1st 2015, I will be celebrating 10 years at PlayStation," said Ahmad in a post on his personal blog. "This has been the most rewarding period of my professional life. I have had personal highs and lows and the company has supported me throughout. The last few years in particular have brought so many professional highs, that it's been hard to take it all in.
"So it might surprise you to learn that I'm planning on leaving this wonderful company. Some will want to know why, and some will want to know what it means to developers and to the amazing Strategic Content team that I will be leaving behind.
"Strategic Content will continue. There are no plans to change anything. Our approach to developers will also be unchanged. We have many talented people across the board who work tirelessly to support developers in bringing their videogames to PlayStation. Leaving this company has been the hardest decision of my career, because I get to work with the most dedicated, friendly and inspiring people in the business. So why am I doing this? Why leave when things are going so well?"
"I want to make games again. I stopped being a developer around a quarter of a century ago and have seen so many changes since then, with most of the exciting ones happening in the last few years. I want to be part of that"
Whilst he's clearly relished the role, it seems Ahmad hasn't quite been able to scratch his creative itch whilst working for Sony, despite keeping his development skills keen by working on various projects of his own in his spare time. Now, he hopes to return to full time development.
"I want to make games again," he continues. "I stopped being a developer around a quarter of a century ago and have seen so many changes since then, with most of the exciting ones happening in the last few years. I want to be part of that. It's that simple. The team at PlayStation, while sad to see me go, completely understands my desire. I am privileged to enjoy their support.
"I'd love to keep in touch with you as I start my new life in December and as always, you can reach me on Twitter (@shahidkamal), where I will continue to be a friend of PlayStation, its partners and its fans."
If you have jobs news to share or a new hire you want to shout about, please contact us on [email protected] was a really good year for redditgifts! We had 24 gift exchanges, raised a bunch of money for DonorsChoose.org, set a world record, had a ton of school supplies donated directly to teachers in need, helped organize hundreds of meetups all over the globe, had 60,000 people sign up for secret santa and launched the redditgifts marketplace!
2013 is going to be even bigger and better and we're looking to start that off today! Today we are opening sign ups for 6 new exchanges! Book Exchange 2013, Snack Exchange 2013, Coffee and Tea Exchange, Pokemon Exchange, Sock Exchange and Hats and Scarves Exchange.
Also, one last note: do you sell products that you think redditors would love? Would you like to sell in our marketplace? We only sell products from the best merchants, so go and fill out an application!“This is what triggered the correction,” said Steven Sun, a Hong Kong-based analyst for HSBC. “Also, there have been controlling shareholders, significant shareholders and corporate management trying to cash out. They had been selling massively into the rally. And these are people in a better position to know the performance of their company.”
Many analysts say that the government props up the stock market as a policy move aimed at helping debt-burdened state-owned companies repair their balance sheets. A strong market also improves the financing of private entrepreneurs, which could help spur innovation.
But the government has been careful to warn about some of the risks, including the use of borrowed money, knowing that a sharp decline could hurt smaller investors.
Analysts at some major banks, including HSBC and Morgan Stanley, have been cautioning investors about the risks of the market, particularly after a big sell-off last month. Although stock prices are still up significantly from a year ago, with the Shanghai composite reaching 5,166.35, up as much as 160 percent in the last two years, there are signs that some of the most sought-after stocks are now in the doldrums.
The Shanghai composite is down about 18 percent from its June high. But in Shenzhen, the so-called ChiNext, a kind of Nasdaq-style board on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for growth stocks, has dropped about 30 percent in the last several weeks, meaning it is already technically in a bear market.
The FTSE in London fell nearly 0.8 percent on Friday; while the German DAX closed up 0.2 percent and the CAC in France rose 0.4 percent. United States indexes were mixed: The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was flat, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.3 percent and Nasdaq fell 0.6 percent.
Chi Lo, a senior economist covering greater China for BNP Paribas Investment Partners, said the Chinese government had promoted the growth of the stock market as a tool for financial reform, like reducing the economy’s reliance on bank lending. But he said the government grew concerned about margin lending, and that, combined with a steady stream of new companies listing their shares on the market, had led to a correction in prices.
“This is not a bad thing,” Mr. Lo said. “This is an opportunity for long-term investors to go back in. Many investors weren’t comfortable with those sky-high valuations.”Layla was being teased at school in Virginia for wearing an R2-D2 jacket and Guardians of the Galaxy shirt. After hearing about this, the local chapter of the 501st Legion, Garrison Tyranus, decided to step in and help out by issuing her a set of Stormtrooper armor.
This has happened a couple of times over the years: back in 2010, a girl named Katie Goldman faced much the same thing. Members of the 501st Legion around the world decided to step in and help, sourcing a scaled-down stormtrooper costume, and presented it to her.
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That suit has been passed along in an awesome sort of Sisterhood of the Travelling Armor. In 2014, Katie passed the suit along to another girl, Allison, who had been bullied and attacked for liking Star Wars and Spiderman. Now, that armor has been passed along to Layla, who then had something really special happen:
Taking it one step further, Layla became the next recipient of the custom Stormtrooper armor originally built for another girl (Katie Goldman) who was in a similar situation. After suiting up, Layla was whisked away to meet “Weird Al” Yankovic at a local concert where 501st members were participating on stage.
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Layla, Allison and Katie’s treatment is nothing short of horrific. As Annalee noted back in 2010, this wasn’t nerd-hating, this was a girl being targeted because people believe that stories like Star Wars aren’t things girls should like.
That this is still happening isn’t the takeaway that should be pulled from this, however. The takeaway here is that despite instances of bullying, there’s a larger community of people who are willing to lend a hand of support, whether that’s an international costuming group or just some other fans willing to point out that Star Wars isn’t just for boys.
More importantly, seeing this suit of armor passed from girl to girl is just awesome, and each one learns that they’re not alone in what they enjoy.
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Image credit: The 501st Legion
Disclaimer: I’m a member of the 501st, but I wasn’t directly involved in this event.Losing your hard-earned cash playing Game of War's virtual spinning wheel isn't a real-world problem. That's what a federal judge is ruling in dismissing a proposed class-action suit against the game's maker, Machine Zone of Palo Alto, California.
The popular Android and iOS game is free to play, but players may purchase virtual "gold" to "improve their virtual towns and hasten their advancement in the game." Real money is required to buy the digital gold, from $4.99 for 1,200 pieces to $99.99 for 20,000 pieces. With that gold, players can buy virtual "chips" to wager on a virtual casino-like spinning wheel. Gamblers win virtual prizes with every spin, from "wood" and "stone" to more chips and even "gold." The suit charges that algorithms make it likely that gamblers will win "basic items" instead of more valuable ones like gold.
"On the surface, Plaintiff charges that Defendant trampled real and important rights and interests of hers, wrongfully and unlawfully, in an alternative, virtual world created by an electronic game," US District Judge James Bredar ruled. "But a careful probe beneath the surface reveals a hodgepodge of hollow claims lacking allegations of real-world harms or injuries. Perceived unfairness in the operation and outcome of a game, where there are no real-world losses, harms, or injuries, does not and cannot give rise to the award of a private monetary remedy by a real-world court."
The suit (PDF) by a Maryland woman named Mia Mason says she lost more than $100 and claims the casino is an unlawful "slot machine or device." The court ruled that were it to apply Mason's logic, one might declare skills-based game pinball to be an illegal gambling device as well.
The judge said that, even if he were to decide in the woman's favor, determining the amount of damages she is owed would render him in the "unenviable position of pricing the conversion from virtual gold and chips to virtual wood and rock."
"Such whimsical undertaking may spark the imaginations of children and ardent game enthusiasts, but it can have no place in federal court," Judge Bredar ruled.
The judge noted that it was immaterial that there are secondary markets, like on e-Bay, where people buy and sell Game of War accounts and other goods. The further along a player has gotten in the game, the more valuable an account is in a secondary market.
"Plaintiff does not allege that Defendant hosts or sanctions these secondary markets, nor does she allege that she has ever sold or attempted to sell an account—nor even that she intends to do so in the future," the judge ruled.Getty Images
One former player for all 32 teams will announce a second-day draft pick, the NFL announced on Wednesday.
The second day of the 2013 draft falls on Friday, April 26 and includes Rounds Two and Three. The first round is the previous day, with Rounds Four through Seven occurring on Saturday.
A fan of all 32 teams will also participate in the selection announcement, with one fan getting a chance to announce the pick with the NFL alumnus. Players can announce second- and third-round picks of their former club if they so choose, the league said.
Here is the full list of former players slated to announce second-day picks:
Arizona Cardinals: Fullback Larry Centers
Atlanta Falcons: Cornerback Deion Sanders
Baltimore Ravens: Offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden
Buffalo Bills: Defensive end Chris Kelsay
Carolina Panthers: Safety Mike Minter
Chicago Bears: Running back Neal Anderson
Cincinnati Bengals: Defensive tackle Tim Krumrie
Cleveland Browns: Offensive Dick Schafrath (no second-round pick; third-rounder slated to be announced)
Dallas Cowboys: Defensive tackle Tony Casillas
Denver Broncos: Linebacker Randy Gradishar
Detroit Lions: Wide receiver Herman Moore
Green Bay Packers: Linebacker Dave Robinson
Houston Texans: Center Steve McKinney
Indianapolis Colts: Offensive tackle Tarik Glenn (no second-round pick; third-rounder slated to be announced)
Jacksonville Jaguars: Quarterback Mark Brunell
Kansas City Chiefs: Defensive back Gary Barbaro (no second-round pick; third-rounder slated to be announced)
Miami Dolphins: Offensive guard Larry Little
Minnesota Vikings: Safety Joey Browner
New England Patriots: Running back Kevin Faulk
New Orleans Saints: Safety Steve Gleason (no second-round pick; third-rounder slated to be announced)
New York Giants: Offensive guard Rich Seubert
New York Jets: Wide receiver Wayne Chrebet
Oakland Raiders: Defensive back Willie Brown (no second-round pick; third-rounder slated to be announced)
Philadelphia Eagles: Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter
Pittsburgh Steelers: Running back Merril Hoge
St. Louis Rams: Offensive tackle Orlando Pace
San Diego Chargers: Defensive back Jim Hill
San Francisco 49ers: Offensive guard Guy McIntyre
Seattle Seahawks: Linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Deefensive tackle Warren Sapp
Tennessee Titans: Linebacker Keith Bulluck
Washington Redskins: Linebacker LaVar ArringtonCarolina "La Belle" Otero (4 November 1868 in Valga, Galicia – 10 April 1965 in Nice[1]) was a Spanish actress, dancer and courtesan. She had a reputation for great beauty and was famous for her numerous lovers.
Biography [ edit ]
Early years [ edit ]
Born Agustina del Carmen Otero Iglesias in Valga, Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain), daughter of a Spanish single mother, Carmen Otero Iglesias (1844–1903), and a Greek army officer, named Carasson.[2] Her family was impoverished, and as a child she moved to Santiago de Compostela working as a maid.[3] At ten she was raped, and at fourteen she left home with her boyfriend and dancing partner, Paco, and began working as a singer/dancer in Lisbon.
Career as artiste and courtesan [ edit ]
In 1888 Otero found a sponsor in Barcelona who moved with her to Marseilles in order to promote her dancing career in France. She soon left him and created the character of La Belle Otero, fancying herself an Andalusian gypsy.[3] She was pretty, confident, intelligent, with an attractive figure. It was once said of her that her extraordinarily dark black eyes were so captivating that they were "of such intensity that it was impossible not to be detained before them".[4]
She wound up as the star of Folies Bèrgere productions in Paris.[3] One of her most famous costumes featured her voluptuous bosom partially covered with glued-on precious gems, and the twin cupolas of the Hotel Carlton built in 1912 in Cannes are popularly said to have been modeled upon her breasts.[3][5][6]
Within a short number of years, Otero grew to be the most sought after woman in all of Europe. She was serving, by this time, as a courtesan to wealthy and powerful men of the day, and she chose her lovers carefully. She associated herself with the likes of Kaiser Wilhelm II,[7] Prince Albert I of Monaco, King Edward VII, Kings of Serbia, and Kings of Spain as well as Russian Grand Dukes Peter and Nicholas, the Duke of Westminster and writer Gabriele D'Annunzio. Her love affairs made her infamous, and the envy of many other notable female personalities of the day. Six men reportedly committed suicide after their love affairs with Otero ended, although this has never been substantiated beyond a doubt. It is a fact, however, that two men did fight a duel over her.[3]
Early film [ edit ]
In August 1898, in St-Petersburg, the French film operator Félix Mesguich (an employee of the Lumière company) shot a one-minute reel of Otero performing the famous "Valse Brillante." The screening of the film at the Aquarium music-hall provoked such a scandal (because an officer of the Tsar's army appeared in this frivolous scene) that Mesguich was expelled from Russia.[8]
Later life [ edit ]
Otero retired after World War I, purchasing a mansion and property at a cost of the equivalent of US$15 million.[3] She had accumulated a massive fortune over the years, about US$25 million, but she gambled much of it away over the remainder of her lifetime, enjoying a lavish lifestyle, and visiting the casinos of Monte Carlo often. She lived out her life in a more and more pronounced state of poverty until she died of a heart attack in 1965 in her one-room apartment at the Hotel Novelty in Nice, France.
Of her heyday and career, Otero once said, "Women have one mission in life: to be beautiful. When one gets old, one must learn how to break mirrors. I am very gently expecting to die."[9]
Notable published works [ edit ]
Les Souvenirs et la Vie Intime de la Belle Otero (1926).[2] ISBN 9782402042819
In film and literature [ edit ]
In 1954 film La Belle Otero starring Mexican actress María Félix. [10]
starring Mexican actress María Félix. There is a portrait of "Madame Otero" in Colette's My Apprenticeships.[11]
Gallery [ edit ]
La Belle Otero circa 1890
La Belle Otero, at Folies-Bergère, 1894
An 1894 Folies Bergère poster
A 1905 postcard of La Belle Otero
La Belle Otero, by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
La Belle Otero, by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
La Belle Otero, by Jean Reutlinger
La Belle Otero, by Jean Reutlinger
La Otero, from a 1912 publication
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]Do you have clownfish breeding in your tank?
Did your clownfish lay eggs?
Raising baby clownfish from clownfish eggs that were laid in my reef aquarium is one of coolest things I have ever experienced in this hobby. If your clownfish pair laid eggs in your tank, congratulations–I’m so glad you will also share in this experience.
Of all the saltwater fish species that are kept in the hobby, clownfish are probably the most likely candidates to spawn in your tank–but raising baby clownfish from eggs to adults requires patience, persistence, a bit of luck and some extra equipment (woo-hoo, I know you were looking for an excuse to get some new gear).
When my clownfish started breeding, I was an uber-nerd about it. Ok, I’m still an uber-nerd, but I wanted to document what was happening, so I wrote down my observations, which I include here for your own consideration.
Feeding clownfish
If you want to have breeding clownfish, you have to have a happy, well-fed pair. What have I been feeding clownfish? I regularly feed my clownfish at least two times a day (during the week) and 3 times a day on the weekends. I like to feed them live black worms (when in stock at my local fish store), frozen mysis shrimp, freeze-dried mysis shrimp, Ocean Nutrition pellets and spirulina-20 flakes.
Not all at once. I mix it up a bit. Since the black worms are fresh, live food, I binge feed those when I have them. They get nasty in the fridge after only a couple of days, so I feed those as much as they will eat them. Other than that, I just rotate through the other foods, based on how much time I want to spend feeding them and what they’ve been eating lately, trying not to let it go too many days with the same food day after day.
The important thing, in my mind, is feeding multiple times a day and getting a lot of calories in. You want your clownfishes to grow quickly, you want them to fatten up and you want them to have enough calories to sustain them through breeding and to not be tempted to eat the eggs.
So try to feed a variety of high quality, high-calorie foods 2-4 times a day, based on what your schedule will allow.
Clownfish lifespan
How long do clownfish live? According to some sources, like National Geographic, the average lifespan of a clownfish in the wild is about 6-10 years. While I have never seen a scientific article examining clownfish lifespans inside the home aquarium, I suspect it isn’t that far from the average. I’ve certainly kept my fair share of clownfish who have unfortunately lived much shorter than the average.
I’ve also read posts online heralding individuals or pairs that have lived well into their teens (I’m pretty sure Gary Parr, from ReefThreads is one of the lucky owners of a teenager).
So the thing to keep in mind with average lifespans and applying them to the home aquarium is that if we do our job well, there is certainly the chance to outlive the average range.
At the moment, the oldest clownfish in my system is a black ocellaris that is about 6-7 years old, depending on how old she was before I got her. Over the years, I’ve had 3 who lived to about that range.
How old do clownfish have to be in order to breed?
Clownfish have the potential to reach sexual maturity right around 1.5-2 years of age.
I say ‘have the potential’ because there are a few environmental factors |
of transgender individuals. Not only will you find that they help you through what could be a difficult journey, you will also find that you make some new friends.
Express support – strongly and frequently. Transgender children are among the most bullied in our schools. Trans teenagers often suffer from depression and over 40 percent have attempted suicide. Transgender adults are all too often the targets of hatred and violence. This is a difficult path. Nobody follows it lightly; they do so because it is who they are. Expressing your love and support can go a long way toward making things easier. And, if your trans friend or loved one has gone public, speak up openly to show your acceptance. Every time we share our stories about the transgender people we care about, we build awareness. Hopefully, with that awareness will come greater acceptance.
Be joyful. The journey, although hard in some ways, will also be filled with joy. I will not pretend that there aren’t difficult moments, that in some ways, I grieved for the loss of my daughter. But the joyous times are many. The realization that I’d had a son all along. The pride when I recognized the courage my son demonstrates every single day. The love that I feel for him. The incredible happiness that my son’s transition has brought to him. When he looked over this article for me, his response was, “I’m glad that you ended with ‘Be joyful.’ Transitioning is the most affirming thing a person can do. While scary, allowing yourself to be one hundred percent yourself is joyful indeed.”Hotties and Notties
There’s been a serious debate at the other place where I blog over whether academia in general, and political science in particular is a sexy profession. I’m glad to say that we actually have Real Social Scientific Data1 that we can bring to bear on this topic. In 2006, James Felton, Peter T. Koper, John Mitchell and Michael Stinson conducted research that sought to establish, inter alia how perceived hotness of professors affected their RateMyProfessors evaluations for teaching quality. As part of this exercise, Felton et al. ranked (Table 2 in their paper) the relative hotness quotients of 36 different academic disciplines. My estimable colleague John Sides prepared a nice graph of the Felton et al. data (see below).
Three important research findings leap out from this picture.
First – that academic disciplines are, without exception, more ‘not’ than ‘hot.’ When adjusted positive and negative hotness scores are totted up against each other, no discipline does better than – 0.062 (Languages). Thus, the main hypothesis of Careerbuilder et al. 2009 is decisively refuted.
Second, the above proviso aside, political scientists are pretty damn hot in comparative terms. We rank as number 5, trailing only languages, law, religion and criminal justice. From eyeballing the data, it looks as though there is a minor discontinuity right after political science, where the hotness lurches down a notch, and another, more significant one between psychology (at number 10) and finance (at number 11).
Third, economists are, without any jot, tittle, scintilla or iota of doubt or ambiguity, the notties rather than the hotties of the social sciences (coming 30th out of 36). Tough luck, John. Sociologists are sixth (heh), philosophers come in at number 9 (which is a perfectly respectable score, I suppose), and English professors are middlin’, at number 12 in the ranking.
(An earlier version of this post appeared at The Monkey Cage)
1 Real Social Scientific Data is a term of art here, meaning ‘statistics that are sufficiently entertaining and gratifying2 that I really don’t want to look at them too hard.’ This understanding of data is very commonly applied in the public sphere of learned debate although it is, perhaps surprisingly, rarely spelled out in explicit terms. I note in passing that some commenter at the Monkey Cage wants to control for differences in sex ratios between professors and students and similar irrelevant persnickets. All I want to say to this pedant (whom I suspect to be a jealous chemistry professor or denizen of a similarly low-ranked discipline) is political science is number 5! Suck on it.
2 In a collective rather than individual sense (I don’t imagine that I’m pulling my discipline’s score up).Christopher Thomas Pambos. Credit:Kate Geraghty Police arrested Christopher Thomas Pambos, of Earlwood, two weeks after Tweddle vanished. Phone records indicate Mr Pambos arranged to drive from Sydney to the Blue Mountains to meet with the British-born computer sales representative on the night he went missing. Court documents reveal the 26-year-old had planned to sell Tweddle 2.5 grams of cocaine in five small resealable plastic bags. He tried to meet Tweddle sometime between 10pm on July 15 and 2am on July 16 but the pair lost contact. They never met.
Blue Mountains police arrested Mr Pambos after he allegedly supplied more than $30,000 of cocaine and $800 worth of MDMA in Sydney on August 2. He was charged with two counts of supplying a prohibited drug after he allegedly sold 128 grams of cocaine and 88 grams of the drug commonly known as ecstasy at Earlwood, in Sydney's inner west. Police also charged him with dealing with the suspected proceeds of a crime after he was found with $5930. Mr Tweddle's body had yet to be found when Mr Pambos first appeared before Burwood Local Court on August 23. Magistrate Christopher Longley granted him bail on the condition he surrender his passport and report daily to Marrickville police station.
Fairfax Media approached Mr Pambos last week but he declined to comment. He was casually dressed in a black T-shirt and shorts when he stopped briefly outside the Despointes Street station. Mr Pambos calls himself an online entrepreneur who runs a website called Simple Marketing Plan. ''SimpleMarketingPlan.com is the world's leading website and newsletter for the online entrepreneur,'' his Facebook page says. Tweddle went to Silk's Brasserie in Leura where he enjoyed a dinner with colleagues. Owner-manager Stewart Robinson said he was polite and one of the quieter members of the group. But he remembered what Tweddle looked like because he thought his behaviour was strange for someone who had not been seen to be drinking a lot. ''We noticed at that stage [when the group was leaving] that the man who went missing was a little unsteady on his feet,'' Mr Robinson says. ''It was an unremarkable night. Nobody had drunk that much. They were in a celebratory mood.'' Tweddle was one of the last people to leave the restaurant.
His colleagues helped him get into the passenger seat of a Leura-Katoomba Radio Cabs taxi. The taxi driver, who did not wish to be named, says he remembered well the 10-minute trip to the hotel. ''He was wasted, seriously wasted,'' the driver said. The driver dropped the group off and they continued to drink in one of the rooms of the resort before they decided to take their night a step further. Security footage captures Tweddle running out of the Fairmont without his jacket or glasses. It is believed he wanted to meet Mr Pambos, who he had met on previous occasions in Sydney. Shortly after leaving the resort, a distressed Tweddle rang colleagues and said he was lost. They pleaded with him to stay where he was. A motorist told police they saw him standing in the middle of the road on the phone. A short time later, his phone battery died. Tweddle's friends, family, police and more than 1000 volunteers searched for him for weeks before his body was found on September 2.
Mr Pambos has not yet entered a plea and is expected to face Burwood Local Court in October. Blue Mountains disappearance July 15: Gary Tweddle travels to the Blue Mountains for a conference. 10.41 pm: The bill is paid for a work dinner with 45 colleagues at Silk's Brasserie in Leura. 11pm: Tweddle gets into a Katoomba-Leura radio cab with three colleagues. He is unsteady on his feet. The group is dropped off at the Fairmont Resort. Several people continue to drink in one of the rooms. Police say Tweddle has only a few sips of a beer before he leaves.
12am: Police say he runs out of the Fairmont just after midnight. A short time later he rings a colleague and says he is lost. The conversation lasts 17 minutes. Police say it sounds as if he is running and jumping during the conversation. 12.15am: A car drives past Tweddle as he stands in the middle of Watkins Road talking on his phone. July 16: The search begins. Police and more than 1000 volunteers search for more than 10 days. August 2: Christopher Pambos is charged with attempting to supply cocaine to Tweddle on the night he disappeared. August 23: Mr Pambos appears in court.
September 2: Tweddle's body located on a cliff.Each week, Big Issues focuses on a comic-book issue of significance. This week, it’s the ongoing debate regarding the treatment of artists in the industry and the disproportionate amount of attention they receive for their work compared to writers.
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One of the longest-running discussions in comics is whether writers or artists are more important to the process, which is ridiculous because artists are the people who take a script and turn it into a comic book. Writers typically begin the process, but the artist is responsible for the huge shift from words to visuals, and that requires considerably more time and labor. Artists are the key element that makes a comic book a comic book, but their efforts are consistently diminished in an industry that gives greater significance to writers. Because of this, equal credit for artists has become a major talking point. The topic blew up this past week after the results of a recent retailer survey by SKTCHD went public.
While the survey is far from comprehensive—only 25 comic-book retailers participated, less than 1 percent of the stores in the U.S.—it does provide some interesting statistics regarding reader demographics and what retailers prioritize. One statistic in particular sparked a lot of concern from artists: When asked the most important thing they considered in terms of ordering a comic, 4.8 percent of retailers said “artist,” a number considerably below the 33.3 percent that said “writer” and “other” and the 23.8 percent that said “star character.” This statistic didn’t go over well with the artist community, but it’s easy to see why that number would be so low.
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To start, retailers were asked to list the most important thing, and it would be interesting to see how artists fared if this question asked retailers to rank the different criteria rather than picking one single item. “Other” has such a high percentage because some retailers said it’s impossible to decide on just one specific characteristic; perhaps a better measure would have been to have retailers rank each element when considering them all together. But even then, artists most likely won’t rank higher than writers or star characters. Why? If artists are such an invaluable part of the process, why aren’t they a bigger deciding factor when it comes to selling titles?
Part of it is an unfortunate side effect of the amount of time it takes artists to do their work, almost always limiting them to working on only one title at a time. A writer like Charles Soule can write seven comics in the time it takes his artists to draw a single issue. And if he’s telling an extended story, he’ll be there for the entire duration, while his artists may be replaced at any given time. Sometimes an artist falls behind and the editor needs a fill-in to keep the book running on time. Sometimes an artist is moved to another book. Marvel’s double-shipping schedule forces some books to have rotating creative teams, so artists aren’t associated with the titles’ identities the way writers are.
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The cards are stacked against artists, specifically those working for corporate-backed publishers primarily concerned with making sure their books hit the stands on time so readers get their regular fix of Batman, Superman, The Avengers, and so on. These characters are going to sell comics no matter who is drawing them, making the artists expendable. Getting comics out in a timely manner takes precedence over artistic consistency and high-quality visual storytelling. If the publishers don’t prioritize artists, why should readers and retailers?
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Everything publishers do contributes to the way artists are viewed in the industry: When publishers announce new titles without any artists attached, they are telling retailers that the artist doesn’t matter. When they put out collections with the writer’s name in big bold letters and the artist’s in smaller type, they’re telling the consumer that the writer has a larger role. When they pitch interviews with writers, but not artists, they are telling the industry that writers have something to say while artists do not. All these various issues come together to create an uphill battle for artist equality, and it all starts with how publishers choose to treat their creators. It was a big deal when DC finally started putting colorists’ names on the covers of their comics, telling readers and retailers that these colorists are part of the core creative team of these titles. Those are the kinds of small changes that lead to bigger change.
Marvel’s recent “All-New, All-Different” announcements disappointed by not including artists for a number of titles. DC has made some steps forward giving artists more spotlight with its current DC You campaign, primarily by putting artists in the writer’s position: Ming Doyle co-writes Constantine: The Hellblazer with James Tynion IV while Lee Bermejo writes We Are Robin (in addition to his Vertigo series, Suiciders, which he writes and draws). Bryan Hitch and Patrick Gleason are the writer-artists on Justice League Of America and Robin: Son Of Batman, respectively. Those last two are the most important because they maintain the artists’ visual perspectives. While the quality of the writing varies, DC is showing readers and retailers that they trust these artists to take on bigger responsibility and tackle some of their most popular characters.
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Comic-book journalists and critics also have a responsibility to give artists equal attention. In a perfect world, artists would always receive credit as part of the creative team when discussing specific titles, and their contributions would be analyzed as thoroughly as the writing. That requires learning a specific vocabulary and understanding the elements of comic-book design and composition, but that’s a valuable education for anyone that wants to write about comics. And as comic-book adaptations become more prevalent in movies and television, it’s important for the mainstream media to remember that a lot of these comics are the product of multiple creators. Robert Kirkman isn’t the only person responsible for The Walking Dead, so he shouldn’t be the only person credited if The Walking Dead comic is mentioned in a piece. (The TV series has a credit that says it is based on the series of graphic novels by Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, but that doesn’t stop people from ignoring Moore and Adlard when talking about the series’ relationship to the comic.)
Artists aren’t asking for much when it comes to giving them credit for the huge amount of work they do, and ideally this would lead to artists gaining a bigger profile and earning more work. Artists make extra income by doing commissions and selling original art. Creators with greater name recognition are going to be more successful in those arenas, so of course they want their contributions to be recognized and mentioned by publishers, journalists, critics, retailers, and readers. There’s considerable financial gain to be had when artists get this extra attention, but it’s also a matter of respect for the labor that goes into making these comics. It’s not a comic book without the art. It’s time to stop pushing these creators onto the sidelines and start recognizing their roles as primary players.A magazine vendor with cerebral palsy has been robbed on a busy street in Melbourne's CBD in front of passers-by who didn't know what was happening.
The woman was selling the Big Issue magazine in front of a fast food outlet in the afternoon 10 days ago when a man approached her, wiped her face and then rummaged through her belongings, Victoria Police say.
The woman, who was unable to alert passing pedestrians due to her medical condition, could only watch as the thief then slipped her purse into his back pocket and walked off.
Authorities have released CCTV footage of the men in hope of catching them.
(Image: Vic Police)
According to police, two men who were smoking cigarettes began touching the woman's face and rummaging through her belongings. One of the men slipped the woman's purse into his back pocket.
According to The Age, one of the men is perceived to be of Aboriginal appearance. He was wearing a hooded camouflage cargo jacket, a white T-shirt and a beanie at the time of the theft.
The other man, described as Caucasian with a slim build, loitered near the scene of the crime for some time.
He was wearing a grey hooded vest, denim shorts, black leggings and grey runners with fluorescent green laces.
The man also had a distinctive mohawk haircut with shaved sides and a long goatee, along with a bandaged elbow.
Anyone with further information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1900 333 000.
Source: AAP/The AgeOne of the new features in Wind-up Knight 2 is checkpoints. They work the way you expect: if you die after passing a checkpoint you will restart at the checkpoint location with the game world restored to its previous state. This sort of system is easy to implement if you plan for it from the beginning of development, but it can be tricky to retrofit to an existing game engine because entities tend to change their state subtly as the game is played. What animation frame was the character on when the checkpoint was hit? What was his velocity? His collision contacts? If you didn’t plan on saving this sort of state when you wrote your entity behaviors, adding it in later could represent a pretty major code change.
We didn’t have checkpoints in the original Wind-up Knight, and when we decided to add them for the sequel I realized we were looking at a potentially massive change to the codebase. Our requirements for checkpoints were as follows:
Flexible. Need to be able to serialize all the entities in levels we already built.
. Need to be able to serialize all the entities in levels we already built. Instant. No hitching when saving the checkpoint, and restarting after a death should be instantaneous.
. No hitching when saving the checkpoint, and restarting after a death should be instantaneous. Repeatable. We only store one checkpoint at a time, but a level can have any number of checkpoints in them.
. We only store one checkpoint at a time, but a level can have any number of checkpoints in them. Efficient. We can’t use too much runtime memory.
At first, my main concern was Flexibility. We have a lot of entities that change their state in a lot of different ways. Coins that are collected. Enemies that animate, attack, and turn around. Rocks that fall only once. Gates that open and close. I wanted to make a system that would deal with all of those things without having to make code modifications to each.
My first attempt was to use C# reflection. I figured that if I walked the object tree and recorded all of the public fields and properties, I could restore those values on checkpoint reset and be 90% done. Turns out that this isn’t so hard to do in C#, and I was able to knock out a prototype in a couple of hours. But immediately there were problems: the number of fields to serialize was so large that there was a visible framerate hitch, and properties on many Unity objects have side-effects when set (e.g. rigidbody asserts if you try to write to velocity while isKinematic is true), making deserialization difficult. I also noticed that most of the data getting serialized was not really information needed for a checkpoint restore. Most fields never change.
This lead me to try the opposite extreme. I would serialize only specific objects, and only a few parameters of those objects, and anything that wasn’t sufficiently covered would require custom code. For this second attempt I decided only to record the following information:
Object transform
Whether or not the object was destroyed since the last checkpoint
That’s it. Any other state would have to be dealt with on a per-script basis. I figured that this method would get me about half way there and then I’d spend a lot of time modifying entity code to deal with state storage and loads. Sort of a lame solution, I thought, but one that probably would meet all of the requirements above.
I implemented this in three parts:
CheckpointRegistry, a singleton that maintains a record of all objects that are tracked for checkpointing. CheckpointAware, a script that marks an object (and all of its children) for tracking, and CheckpointBehavior, a child of MonoBehaviour that adds two virtual methods for dealing with checkpoint saves and loads.
CheckpointRegistry contains a HashSet of objects that have been marked for tracking. When a new object is registered, all of its children are automatically registered as well, and top-level objects are called when save or restore events occur. The Registry also provides methods for destroying objects; CheckpointRegistry.Destroy() makes an object inactive and adds it to another set, to be reactivated on the next checkpoint restore or actually deleted on the next checkpoint save.
The real work occurs in CheckpointAware. This script, which is dropped on any object that should save its state when a checkpoint is hit, records the transforms of itself and all of its children. CheckpointAware adds its object to the CheckpointRegistry when it is allocated, and waits to be told to save or restore its state. When a call from the Registry comes in, CheckpointAware reads or writes all of the transforms in its subgraph and calls the appropriate method on any CheckpointBehaviors therein.
To sum up the algorithm: CheckpointAware stores position, scale, and rotation of subsets of the hierarchy. CheckpointRegistry stores references to all of the objects in all of those subsets, and manages object destruction from within those subsets. A checkpoint is saved by calling CheckpointRegistry.SetCheckpoint(), which calls a similar method on each CheckpointAware instance. CheckpointAware records the transform of itself and its children to a simple struct and calls CheckpointBehavior.SaveState() on any children with CheckpointBehavior-derived components. Restoring the checkpoint is the same, but reversed: CheckpointAware walks its list of stored transforms and writes the cached values back into them, and then calls CheckpointBehavior.RestoreState() on any children that need it. Whew.
In any given Wind-up Knight level there are thousands of objects that need to be serialized for checkpoints. Fortunately this method is very fast; there’s no visible hitch on saving or restoring the state, even on fairly low-end devices. It’s also pretty efficient, as only the minimum amount of data required to restore a checkpoint is saved. So there’s two of our four requirements right off the bat. It’s also easy to manage multiple checkpoints with this system, so we can mark off Repeatable as well.
Which leaves us with one last requirement: Flexibility. The weakness of this approach is that it’s only storing positional and lifetime information; nothing about entity state is recorded by default. I thought it was only going to get me half way. But once I had it up and running, I found that it is almost a complete solution. For Wind-up Knight, storing position and lifetime alone proved to be about 90% of the final solution.
I did end up having to go through a bit of entity code to save and restore internal variables. But even that turned out to be simple; most objects just need to record an int or a bool, and can cache them right in the script instance. I spent a day converting existing scripts to CheckpointBehaviors and adding SaveState() and RestoreState() implementations, usually only three or four lines of code each, and then I was done.
Retrofitting a mass of existing code to perform new tricks isn’t fun (even when it’s simple and easy), but the payoff was worth it. Now dying in Wind-up Knight 2 (which happens a lot) hardly slows you down; you’re sent back a bit and get to try again without missing a beat. It’s a huge improvement in the general flow of the game compared to its predecessor (which required a full scene reload on every death–ugh). The architecture of this checkpoint system occupies a nice middle ground between general purpose serialization and script-specific logic, and I’m glad (and a little surprised) that the design worked out so well.
Oh, and if you’re one of the hardcore group of folks that wants to play the game without checkpoints, never fear: you can turn them off.House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned Monday that the Senate GOP health care bill that could be voted on later this week would be extremely harmful to Americans who rely on their health insurance.
In an interview on "CBS This Morning," the California Democrat said while the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has not yet released its cost estimate of the measure, she can already predict one major effect.
"We do know that many more people, hundreds of thousands of people, will die if this bill passes," Pelosi said.
Pelosi, 77, said there's no room to fix the legislation and instead Democrats and Republicans should focus on improving Obamacare, "instead of sabotaging it," she said.
"These bills, systemically, structurally, they are very, very harmful to the American people," she said. "They will raise costs, with fewer benefits, have an age tax...they will undermine Medicare, they will throw millions of people, tens of millions of people, off."
Democrats, she said, have to "fight for our lives and the lives of many people" in the U.S. this week to defeat the Senate bill.
Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has been aiming to hold a vote on it before lawmakers leave Washington later this week for their week-long July 4 recess, but as of Monday, leadership appears to be falling short in securing enough support.
Meanwhile, Pelosi dismissed calls by a select few House Democrats who said last week that she should step aside from her leadership position in the wake of two more special election losses last week.
"I've always had a challenge in the caucus right from the start," she said.
Pelosi said that there are 70 House races that are "easier for us" than any of the special election races they've lost since November's election. She explained why she should stay.
"I'm a master legislator," she said. "I'm experienced in terms of knowing the institutional memory of the Congress. If Hillary Clinton had won, I might have gone home. But with Donald Trump in the White House, with a Republican majority in Congress, no way. "The skaters of New York would like to thank Riverside Parks Conservancy for securing the funds and committing to the rebuilding of the historic (built by Andy Kessler) Riverside Skatepark.
A group of NYC transition skaters headed by skate legend Jim Murphy and in keeping with Andy Kessler’s vision of Riverside, came up with the following but not limited to minimum features that are needed at the new Riverside skatepark.
Rename the park: Andy Kessler Memorial Skatepark
Combi Bowl: (advanced) Pool coping Square bowl 11ft deep, 18” vert, round bowl 10ft incl. vert, shallow end drop in bowl
Medium flow bowl: (intermediate) pool coping/steel coping, extensions, a roll in spot, hip, place to half pipe opposing walls
Small flow bowl: (beginner) Steel coping, Extensions, a roll in spot, hip, place to half pipe opposing walls
Also, in keeping with Andy Kessler’s vision of Riverside, include the following: Good for very beginners to advanced, multiple height drop spots.
Suggested other elements to request, snake run, micro mini ramp, ledges, rails etc.Two farmers allegedly attempted suicide in separate incidents in two Madhya Pradesh banks, police said on Saturday, underlining rising desperation among people unable to withdraw cash since the shock ban on high-value notes.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, one person allegedly suffered a heart attack and died on Saturday after he was unable to deposit money in his bank account as the branch did not function due to ruckus created by some people over withdrawing cash.
The incidents will give opposition parties a fresh handle to attack the government over its decision to scrap 500-rupee and 1000-rupee banknotes which they say have led to the death of more than 100 people across the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended the clampdown, saying the short-term pain of will lead to long-term gains for the country.
Since the November 8 announcement, MP too has seen snaking queues in banks and ATMs with people lining up for long hours, most of them to withdraw cash.
Police said a 40-year-old soyabeen farmer, identified as Radheyshyam Prajapati, allegedly consumed pesticide while standing in queue at a Central Bank of India branch in Mandsaur on Saturday.
He was said to be depressed after failing to encash a cheque despite visiting the branch for 23 days, police added.
Mandsaur collector in-charge Arjun Singh said action will be taken against bank officials if any negligence was found on their part. The farmer was admitted to a government hospital.
In Ashok Nagar, a 45-year-old farmer allegedly tried to hang himself inside the Madhyanchal Grameen Bank at Pranpura after he was allegedly refused to withdraw Rs 10,000 for three consecutive days. Bank employees overpowered him and sent him home.
Kushwaha said he wanted to withdraw money for treatment of his son who is suffering from typhoid.
“He was standing in queue, but when his chance came, our cash was exhausted,” bank manager Vivek Kumar Jain said.
“We are helpless, we cannot help everyone.”
However, no police complaint was lodged over the suicide attempt.
(With inputs from HTC Lucknow)
First Published: Dec 17, 2016 19:40 ISTThe following tutorial will teach Linux users how to install the Mass Effect 3 game on their open source operating system.
The third installment in the Mass Effect franchise, Mass Effect 3, is an action role-playing game (RPG) developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts.
For more details about Mass Effect 3, you can check out the official home page or the Wikipedia article.
Editor's note: For this guide, we have used the latest version of the PlayOnLinux application. We've tested the tutorial on the current 32-bit release of the Ubuntu OS, 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) with Wine 1.5.8.
Before anything else, please make sure you meet the minimum system requirements (especially the graphics card and CPU/RAM) for playing Mass Effect 3.
To install the Mass Effect 3 game on your Linux system, follow the next step-by-step (with screenshots) tutorial.
Step 1 – Install PlayOnLinux
The PlayOnLinux developers provide binary packages and repositories for many Linux operating systems, including Fedora, Debian, ArchLinux, Frugalware and Ubuntu, as well as a universal binary package.
We can't write instructions for all these Linux distributions here; therefore, if you use one of the aforementioned OSes, go HERE for detailed installation instructions.
Step 2 – Install the latest version of Wine
The PlayOnLinux developers provide an easy installation process of any Wine version, stable or development. So, all you need to do now is to go to the "Tools" menu, select "Manage Wine version" and you'll see a new dialog showing you available Wine versions on the left side, and installed Wine versions on the right side.
Select version 1.5.8 of Wine from the left side and click the middle arrow button to install it...
Wait for the installation to finish and close the window.
Step 3 – Install Mass Effect 3
Assuming you have the PC DVD of Mass Effect 3, open the PlayOnLinux app and follow the first time instructions to setup the application. Once these are finished, you'll see the PlayOnLinux interface. Click the "Install" button...
Now click the "Install a non-listed program" link at the bottom of the window...
An installation wizard will appear, click the "Next" button...
Click the "Next" button again when asked what would you like to do, leaving the "Install a program in a new virtual drive" option selected...
On the next step type the game's name in the field and click the "Next" button...
Now make sure you check the "Use another version of Wine" box and click the "Next" button...
Select version 1.5.8 of Wine from the list and click the "Next" button...
Now Wine will be configured and necessary packages will be installed, such as Mono and Gecko...
When the Wine version is fully configured, you'll need to select the Mass Effect 3 installer from the DVD, or from your computer if you copied the installer from the disc on your computer (but you will still need the DVD to play the game)...
Wait for the installation to finish! Choose the "Browse" option and choose the Mass Effect 3 executable from the Binaries/Win32 folder. Close the wizard.
Now, you will see a Mass Effect 3 entry in the main PlayOnLinux window. We're not finished yet, as we have to install DirectX 11 by clicking the "Configure" button while the Mass Effect 3 entry is selected, and going to the "Install packages" tab, select the "d3dx11" entry and click the "Install" button. Let it install it and close the PlayOnLinux.
Editor's note: If the game asks you about the PhysX Engine, install it manually by clicking the "Configure" button while the Mass Effect 3 entry is selected, and going to the "Miscellaneous" tab, and clicking the "Run a.exe file in this virtual drive." Then search for the PhysX Engine installer in the /path_to_masseffect3_installation/_Installer/physx/redist directory.
That's it! Open PlayOnLinux again, select Mass Effect 3 and click the "Run" button to play the game. Enjoy!
If you encounter any issues with the tutorial, do not hesitate to use our commenting system below.
Follow us on Google+President Barack Obama’s health care law, which requires that all Americans buy health care insurance, is constitutional, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said today.
The American Center for Law and Justice, a legal group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, had argued in a lawsuit that the insurance requirement is unconstitutional because it violates the religious freedom of those who choose not to have insurance because they believe God will protect them, the Associated Press reported. Americans who don’t have health insurance will have to pay a penalty on their taxes starting in 2014.
“It certainly is an encroachment on individual liberty, but it is no more so than a command that restaurants or hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race... or that a farmer cannot grow enough wheat to support his own family," Judge Laurence Silberman wrote in the majority opinion, Reuters reported. "The right to be free from federal regulation is not absolute, and yields to the imperative that Congress be free to forge national solutions to national problems."
According to Politico:
The D.C. Circuit Court is the fourth appeals panel to consider a lawsuit challenging the health reform law. The 6th Circuit upheld the law, the 11th Circuit struck the mandate and the 4th Circuit ruled that the Anti-Injunction Act — which says Americans have to pay a tax before they can challenge it in court — barred it from ruling on the mandate until at least 2014.
The Supreme Court may decide this week to resolve the conflicting rulings on Obamacare by taking up the issue this term, the AP reports.
"We're confident that, like today, we will prevail," Stephanie Cutter, assistant to Obama and his deputy senior adviser, said in a statement, Reuters reported. "People who make a decision to forego health insurance do not opt out of the health care market. Their action is not felt by themselves alone.”
More from GlobalPost: Supreme Court asked to rule on health care lawDENVER (AP) — Don’t delay.
Don’t expect help.
And get used to the smell.
Those are some marijuana lessons from the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
The agency is starting to open up about regulating cannabis, a plant the agency long ignored and snickered about.
Here are some pointers the Colorado Department of Agriculture recently shared with agriculture officials from other states during a recent convention in Denver:
DON’T WAIT
Colorado’s Department of Agriculture ignored the marijuana industry for the first dozen years it was legal, figuring state agents shouldn’t mess with a drug that violates federal law.
The result was a statewide industry of plant growers and processors that grew up without regulation. That gave the Agriculture Department a much tougher job later implementing things like safety guidelines and plant sampling.
Mitch Yergert, the head of Colorado’s Division of Plant Industry, urged other state agriculture departments not to stick their heads in the sand and wait for the federal government to shut down the pot industry.
“You kinda gotta get your mind around it,” he said.
THE FEDS WON’T HELP
Agriculture regulators routinely turn to federal agencies to regulate things like pesticides and labeling.
But when it comes to marijuana, those federal offices won’t help, and may even try to block a state from copying federal regulations to apply to pot.
Some federal agencies won’t even respond to emails including the word “marijuana,” Yergert said.
“We had to work around that, so we’d just email ’em saying, ‘Can we talk?'” he said.
HIRE MORE PEOPLE
Colorado now has 17 agriculture employees simply to regulate pot, including nine pesticide inspectors and a chemist. A dozen more staffers spend some of their time regulating hemp and marijuana, Yergert said.
He advised other states to ask budgeters for additional money and employees before pot is legalized.
“We thought we could handle it, but we about killed our staff,” he said.
PREPARE FOR STINKY EMPLOYEES
Marijuana inspectors can’t avoid a skunky weed tang sticking to their clothes and hair after inspecting a pot growing operation.
But Colorado is reminding its sister agencies that inspectors should be used to unpleasant odors. After all, poultry and seafood processing plants can smell just awful, but public safety relies on those plants being thoroughly inspected.
Colorado encouraged other agriculture departments to be ready for employee grumbling about bad pot smells, and to give employees a break if they personally oppose pot, like giving them time to shower after an inspection.
FIGURE OUT HOW TO MOVE IT
The U.S. Postal Service won’t accept packages containing marijuana, so agriculture regulators need another plan for collecting pot samples for pesticide testing.
Colorado considered having its governor write letters for each ag inspector charged with driving pot to a lab or state office. Ultimately the state decided against the letters, but cautioned other |
, women
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Models of Apple’s higher-end portable computer, the MacBook Pro, have come to the end of their three-year extended warranties. That leaves their owners at the mercy of Apple when something goes wrong, and at minimum thousands of the computers have had the same computer-killing problem with their graphics processing unit. Apple has not publicly admitted that the machines have a problem.
Of course, MacBook Pro owners are people who have spent at least $2,500 on a computer designed for serious graphics work. That means that they’re probably media professionals or serious amateurs, and able to make YouTube videos making fun of the situation with really great production values.
Some iMacs from the same period were recalled and their graphics cards replaced, but for the notebook computers, Apple appears to be making decisions on a case-by-case basis. Some of those decisions are leaving computer owners with unusable aluminum-encased lumps.
There’s a Washington, D.C.-based law firm gathering plaintiffs for a class action suit, but that process will take a long time, and most likely resolve once all of the users will have long since moved on, purchasing new, non-self-destructing computers. (For example, a class action against Apple regarding power adapter for Macbooks was filed in 2009, and not settled until 2011.) It also might not help customers who live outside of the United States, as many of the people complaining of issues with their MacBooks do.
A Change.org petition pleading with Apple to repair or fix all affected computers now has more than 18,500 signatures. A single repair may not help when some users report that they’re on their second or third logic board replacement.
This is not a new problem. Widespread failures of the soldered-on graphics card, which users more battery life and kicks in during graphics-intensive tasks like watching video, was first reported over a year ago on Apple Insider.
2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card [Apple Support] (via Reddit)
MBP2011 [Official Site]
Replace or Fix All 2011 Macbook Pro with Graphics Failure [Change.org]Virgil Smith is Chair of legislative black caucus.
Police are looking for Michigan Democrat Virgil Smith after he fired gunshots at his girlfriend’s car.
Click on Detroit reported:
A Detroit Police Department source told Local 4 that officials are investigating a shooting at Michigan senator Virgil Smith’s home in Detroit.
The source said around 1 a.m. Smith got into an argument with his girlfriend and fired several shots with a shotgun, hitting her 2015 Mercedes Benz. It happened in the 18000 block of Wexford Avenue in Detroit.
The Domestic Violence division is handling the investigation, which began Sunday morning, the source said.
Smith has not been arrested, and police have been unable to contact his girlfriend.
Police told our Shawn Ley that they want to question Smith about the incident. They said the victim of the alleged shooting is a prominent Ann Arbor businesswoman.A common question asked about Snap is whether it has support for REST. To quote lambdabot, the superficial answer is “Yes! Snap can do that.” But the truth is that Snap lies at a lower level of abstraction–it is a tool for building any kind of web site, not just REST sites. We would like to announce our new library restful-snap which provides infrastructure for building RESTful web interfaces.
The package is centered around the concept of a Resource. A Resource has a name, root URL, and custom resource- or item-level endpoints. The easiest way of using restful-snap is to use the addResource function to set up your application’s resources. Let’s look at a simple example.
usersResource :: Resource usersResource = Resource "users" "/admin/users" [] [] usersCrud :: [( CRUD, Handler App App ())] usersCrud = [ ( RNew, newH), ( RShow, showH), ( REdit, editH), ( RUpdate, updateH), ( RCreate, createH), ( RIndex, indexH) ]
Then, in your application initializer you would have something like the following:
appInit = makeSnaplet... $ do h <- nestSnaplet "" heist $ heistInit "" -- More app-specific stuff... addResource usersResource usersCrud [] [] return $ App h
This defines a “users” resource located at the URL “/admin/users”. We also have to define Handler functions for whichever CRUD routes we want. Then we pass the resource and the list of CRUD to addResource which sets up all the necessary routes and splices. It adheres pretty closely to the standard established conventions for route schemes.
CRUD URL HTTP Method RNew /new GET RShow /:id GET REdit /:id/edit GET RUpdate /:id POST RCreate / POST RIndex / GET
The addResource function also sets up splices. These splices allow you to embed resource paths into your templates in a checked way, so if you change the location of the resource, your links will still be correct. The above code would generate the following splices (for both compiled and interpreted templates):
usersNewPath
usersIndexPath
usersCreatePath
usersPath
Links to item-specific pages are a function of the item ID, so addResource cannot bind those splices by default. For this, the library provides itemSplices and itemCSplices which return the following splices for item URLs as a function of an item ID.
usersItemEditPath
usersItemShowPath
usersItemUpdatePath
usersItemDestroyPath
Along with this basic functionality for establishing a routing convention, the restful-snap package also provides infrastructure to facilitate the creation of forms and rendering data structures as HTML. The HasFormlet and PrimSplice type classes let you define default splices and digestive-functors forms for your data types. Having a uniform interface like this allows us to automatically generate basic forms and splices using Template Haskell via the functions deriveHasFormlet, iSplices, and cSplices.Yoon Si Yoon was overflowing with energy and ambition on the May 1 broadcast of '1 Night 2 Days'!
Though the '1 Night 2 Days' crew were pleased to see that Yoon Si Yoon was so full of spirit, they were also a bit intimidated, especially at the actor's fearsome declaration. �
Yoon Si Yoon had said, "Hello. I'm Yoon Si Yoon. As Kim Tak Goo, I achieved 50% in viewership ratings. Now it's time to do the same on variety. I will achieve a 50% viewership rating [on this show]." At the actor's speech, the members teased, "This guy is weird. We brought a weird guy on here." Not bothered at all by the quips, Yoon Si Yoon added, "We can do it. But only if we suffer," making all the members uncomfortable.�
That's the spirit, Yoon Si Yoon!�There is this common notion, that asynchronous IO is hard and that writing a custom connection pool is even harder. The nice thing however is, that in reality asynchronous IO is just “weird” in the beginning – and that a connection pool using async IO is so simple it hurts.
Recently, I wrote an authentication backend for our nginx IMAP/POP3 load balancer and while it performed fine without any pool magic, I found the bulks of TIME_WAIT connections annoying (we even had to raise the system limit for open connections, twice), so I added a pool.
It took 6 extra lines and maybe 15 minutes.
In my case it was about LDAP access using ldaptor, but it doesn’t really matter so I’ll keep this article agnostic to the type of connection.
I put the LDAP related stuff in a separate class that has an instance variable called connections which is a deque – i.e. a FIFO. Why a FIFO? Since we have enough traffic at any time, we don’t have to worry about timeouts if the connections are added left and popped right – they are simply circled through and therefore kept fresh all the time.
I also added an instance variable called maxIdle that defines the maximal size of idle connections in our pool. You don’t want to have 1,000 connections in your pool just because of a single spike. This does not affect the total number of connections though!
So let’s start with a method to get a new connection:
def getConnection(self): try: defer.succeed(self.connections.pop()) except IndexError: # create and return a connection
That would be the first three lines of our pooling. It tries to pop a connection from our pool and if there’s none left, we open a new one. If you wanted to limit the number of total active connections, you’d add a counter and a check here.
When you’re done, you want to free your connection again:
def returnConnection(self, connection): if len(self.connections) < self.maxIdle: self.connections.appendleft(connection) else: # kill the connection
And that marks the other three pool related lines: we check whether we want to pool the connection too and kill it if not. As there’s absolutely no concurrency or context switches that could lead to inconsistent state – this is really all it takes.
Is my content helpful and/or enjoyable to you? Please consider expressing your gratitude! Every bit helps to motivate me in creating more.The value 0 but true is a special case in Perl. Although to your mere mortal eyes, it doesn't look like a number, wise and all knowing Perl understands it really is a number.
It has to do with the fact that when a Perl subroutine returns a 0 value, it is assumed that the routine failed or returned a false value.
Imagine I have a subroutine that returns the sum of two numbers:
die "You can only add two numbers
" if (not add(3, -2)); die "You can only add two numbers
" if (not add("cow", "dog")); die "You can only add two numbers
" if (not add(3, -3));
The first statement won't die because the subroutine will return a 1. That's good. The second statement will die because the subroutine won't be able to add cow to dog.
And, the third statement?
Hmmm, I can add 3 to -3. I just get 0, but then my program will die even though the add subroutine worked!
To get around this, Perl considers 0 but true to be a number. If my add subroutine returns not merely 0, but 0 but true, my third statement will work.
But is 0 but true a numeric zero? Try these:
my $value = "0 but true"; print qq(Add 1,000,000 to it: ). (1_000_000 + $value). "
"; print "Multiply it by 1,000,000: ". 1_000_000 * $value. "
";
Yup, it's zero!
The index subroutine is a very old piece of Perl and existed before the concept of 0 but true was around. It is suppose to return the position of the substring located in the string:
index("barfoo", "foo"); #This returns 3 index("barfoo", "bar"); #This returns 0 index("barfoo", "fu"); #This returns...uh...
The last statment returns a -1. Which means if I did this:
if ($position = index($string, $substring)) { print "It worked!
"; } else { print "If failed!
"; }
As I normally do with standard functions, it wouldn't work. If I used "barfoo" and "bar" like I did in the second statement, The else clause would execute, but if I used "barfoo" and "fu" as in the third, the if clause would execute. Not what I want.Oct. 30, 2012
MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin goaltender Joel Rumpel, who stopped 64 of 66 shots on goal for a.970 saves percentage and recorded a shutout while backstopping the Badgers to a victory and tie at No. 14-ranked Minnesota Duluth last weekend, is the Red Baron® WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for Oct. 30.
A 6-3, 185-pound sophomore from Swift Current, Sask., Rumpel’s outstanding play between the pipes enabled visiting Wisconsin to claim three points from the Bulldogs with a 2-0 triumph on Oct. 26 and 2-2 (ot) tie on Oct. 27. He blanked UMD on Friday with a 29-save effort for his fourth careeer shutout and second in five games dating to last season. He also held UMD scoreless on two power plays, including a five-minute major late in the third. On Saturday, Rumpel returned to the UW nets and recorded 35 saves in the overtime tie, with double-digit save totals in three periods. The Badgers trailed 2-0 in the third, but Rumpel kept his team in the game, despite a 26-10 UMD shot advantage. He also stopped UMD on all five power-play chances.
Rumpel, a free agent, has now allowed two goals or less in nine of his last 10 games dating back to last season. He is 1-1-1 this season with a 1.30 goals-against average and.954 save percentage.
Also nominated: Sam Windle, D, BSU; David Makowski, D, DU; Derek Forbort, D, UND; Ryan Faragher, G, SCSU.adidas Basketball Offers James Harden 13-Year, $200 Million Deal
James Harden is a free agent. No, not in terms of his playing contract, as he signed an extension with the Houston Rockets in 2012 to remain with the team through the 2017-18 season. The former Arizona State Sun Devil is a free agent in terms of his footwear and apparel endorsement.
Harden’s contract with Nike ended on August 1, and as many presumed, adidas Basketball was eager to pursue the All-Star guard. So much in fact that a report today from ESPN’s Darren Rovell indicates that the brand offered Harden a long-term deal that extends 13 years for the sum of $200 million.
Now that adidas will no longer be the official apparel provider of the NBA with Nike set to take over after next season, much of their positioning on-court will now be centered around their roster of endorsed athletes. With the likes of Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard, John Wall, Andrew Wiggins and others, Harden would make a huge statement for the brand – one that more than anything says we have an athlete that Nike once had and continues to covet.
Nike, however, isn’t out of the running just yet. The Beaverton-based brand has a week to match the $200 million offer submitted by adidas. But with a number of this magnitude, you’d almost imagine Nike would bow out of this fight and focus on their growing new relationships with the likes of Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell, among others.
For many, adidas Basketball and Harden works for a multitude of reasons. But will Nike attempt to match? If not, will Harden be the next in line for a signature shoe? Stay tuned to Nice Kicks for more on this developing story.
Source: ESPNKarl Ravech proposes three mock trade offers for Andrew McCutchen to Jim Bowden, who gives his opinions on whether the Pirates would agree to the trades. (1:22)
What would the Pirates need in return to trade McCutchen? (1:22)
Andrew McCutchen is still a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the star outfielder said the rampant trade talks did "bother" him.
"I'd be lying to you if I told you none of this bothered me," McCutchen said Saturday at the team's PirateFest. "Of course it did. I'm human."
Despite that feeling and being "on edge," McCutchen said he's where he wants to be.
"My dream is to be a Pirate my whole career," McCutchen said. "My dream is still to win multiple World Series. We all have those dreams."
During the winter meetings, Andrew McCutchen could only watch as trade rumors flew. Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
On Thursday, Pittsburgh general manager Neal Huntington said he talked to multiple teams at the winter meetings about McCutchen, but none of them were willing to meet his steep asking price.
"Our intent coming in here was to have Andrew McCutchen be in our lineup going forward," Huntington said Thursday. "No one changed that. It's unlikely someone changes that going forward. We're not going to close the door, but we're not going to be making calls."
"We took calls. We listened. We engaged," Huntington told reporters. "And not just on Andrew but on other players who are on one- or two-year contracts. As we will always do, if we find the right move and we believe the right move is to move the player, we'll move the player. If we believe the right move is to hold the player, then we'll hold the player."
The Washington Nationals were reportedly talking to the Pirates about McCutchen, but the Nats' trade for Chicago White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton on Wednesday appeared to end their interest.
Editor's Picks Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates are sticking together for now Pittsburgh nearly traded the 2013 NL MVP last week, and the two sides will enter the '17 season unsure of the outfielder's future with the franchise.
Pirates' trade talks featuring McCutchen fizzle Baseball's winter meetings ended Thursday with Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen still on the team. The expectation is that he will be there on Opening Day. 1 Related
McCutchen is a five-time All-Star and won a Gold Glove in 2012. He has two years remaining on his contract.
Though McCutchen has been given "no assurances," he has spoken to Huntington since the league's winter meetings ended Thursday.
"We had a really good conversation," McCutchen said. "I do understand he has a job. I don't understand what he has to do -- I can't empathize with that, just like he can't empathize with the challenges I could be going through. We had a good conversation. We basically ended it on good terms."
McCutchen, who won the National League MVP award in 2013, is coming off his worst major league season, posting career lows in batting average (.256), on-base percentage (.336) and slugging percentage (.430). He also had 24 home runs and 79 RBIs.
"You're going to have your off years, but it's all about what you do and how you come back from that," McCutchen said. "I'm looking forward to this season. I'm ready to go."Everyone wants to know what on earth is going on with homegrown jihadists here in Canada and so far they’ve got more questions than answers.
This past week the issue garnered renewed attention after multiple back and forth exchanges in the House of Commons over whether we should be treating our own jihadists, freshly returned from the battlefields, with kid gloves via unproven reintegration programs or try our hardest to charge and convict them of serious Criminal Code offences.
Amidst all of this, a new talking point is emerging from the Liberals: It’s all Stephen Harper’s fault.
Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a Toronto-area mall and was surrounded mostly by adoring selfie-seekers. Mostly. One woman was far from happy with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s statement in the House of Commons on Monday that there are around 60 returned jihadists roaming about in Canada.
In a video posted to social media, the woman shouts her concerns at Trudeau. The PM rather surprisingly turns away from his fans and, without breaking a smile and bordering on a wink, tells her: “They came under Harper.”
Is this true? Yes, when it comes to the 60 count. But as I wrote in a recent column, Goodale in his very statement referenced CSIS testimony that he admitted was many months old – over two years old in fact. Goodale’s office insists the numbers remain the same but a 2017 public threat report expected in the coming weeks will be the true test.
That original 60 number comes from the December 2015 year-end numbers. While a handful of these 60 may have possibly come in after November 4 – when Trudeau became PM – most of them surely came in under Harper’s watch.
Expect the Liberals to highlight this point more and more. Because only hours after Trudeau’s mall appearance, Liberal MP Bill Blair made the same argument in the House of Commons.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel asked the government what they’re planning to do with these dozens of returned jihadists. Blair’s response included Trudeau’s line that they all came in before the Liberals took office and “not one of those individuals had been charged during the term of that government. In fact, the previous government cut over a billion dollars from Canadian security services during its last term of office.”
We know that Canadian jihadists have indeed been coming since at least the middle of 2014 so the question as to why none of them were charged soon after is a good one. While the politicians don’t direct the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, you’d still expect a government that talks tough on terror to oversee tough on terror results.
It’s a bit strange though to say “they came under Harper” as if something the former PM did somehow encouraged their footloose and fancy-free return. The opposite is true.
The Conservatives were the government that in 2013, as Rempel reminded Blair, introduced the very legislation that now allows for charging Canadians who go abroad for terror purposes. The Liberal caucus voted for this law back then, so they should strive to make good use of it now. (Although newly minted leader Trudeau was, in fact, absent for the vote that day)
Besides, while no one was charged under those provisions during the Harper years only two have been charged under Trudeau – and one of those is the alleged Canadian Tire attacker whose case, far from being the result of a savvy police investigation, just fell into the lap of the police and prosecution.
Whatever the reason for the absence of charges under the former government, the latest talking point makes little sense. For starters, it’s the political equivalent of “I know you are but what am I.”
More importantly, there’s nothing stopping Trudeau from providing security services with the beefed up resources to now go and build a case against these guys, if that indeed is what they think partly explains the holdup – as Blair’s remarks suggest.
It’s not like there’s a rule that says terrorists that came in during one government can’t be prosecuted under another. Unless of course, this is all just a convenient excuse for Trudeau.
Expect them to roll out this line more. And don’t fall for it.
Twitter: @anthonyfurey
[email protected] has been reviewing lead and copper rule since 2010 but has yet to make changes even as its own scientists have criticized current regulations
Changes to laws that protect Americans’ drinking water are still at least six months away, the US Environmental Protection Agency has said, despite the ongoing lead crisis in Flint and calls for reform from lawmakers and public health groups.
The EPA has been reviewing the lead and copper rule, part of the Safe Drinking Water Act, since roughly 2010. The rule is supposed to ensure high levels of lead don’t seep into drinking water, but has been the subject of criticism for years by scientists who feel it has not adequately protected the public.
In response to questions from the Guardian, the agency reiterated it would be 2017 before Americans could expect changes.
“It is shameful EPA has delayed updating the lead and copper rule,” Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, told the Guardian.
“EPA’s priorities are backwards. They have prioritized ideologically driven regulations, such as Waters of the United States and the Clean Power Plan, instead of updating regulations that ensure Americans’ access to safe drinking water,” said Chaffetz, referring to two EPA rule changes that Republicans have argued are overreaches of authority.
In memos and emails, EPA scientists claimed that loopholes in the lead and copper rule allowed Flint’s toxic water to go undetected. Physicians’ groups have also piled on pressure, calling last week for the complete removal of lead from America’s plumbing infrastructure.
Earlier this month, the Guardian revealed that 33 cities in 17 states used the same testing methods that the EPA scientists warned had initially diminished lead found in Flint. Even when the law is updated, the EPA has not said whether it will outlaw the testing methods it has repeatedly warned against.
The vast majority of lead corrosion occurs after water reaches private property, from lead service lines that connect homes to mains, lead solder in houses’ plumbing, and even from brass faucets, which contained up to 8% lead by weight until 2014.
That makes the lead and copper rule unique compared with other testing schemes required of water departments, because samples are taken from residents’ homes.
Almost since its inception, the regulation endured criticism. In emails and memos, EPA scientists said that loopholes in the law allowed high lead levels in Flint to go undetected. As of May, the city’s water was still not safe to drink unfiltered.
“We know that there is no safe level of lead consumption, yet 20% of the lead that is ingested comes from the drinking water that flows through lead plumbing in communities across the nation,” Dr Andrew W Gurman, incoming president of the American Medical Association, said in June. The group called for a complete removal of all lead service lines and lead plumbing, ongoing testing of water and prompt community notification.
“We must do everything in our power to ensure that another Flint-like water crisis never happens again,” said Gurman.
One of the most controversial parts of the lead and copper rule is actually only implied.
Because water samples for lead come from people’s homes, most water departments ask residents to collect them. Instructions sent by those departments describe how to collect samples. These directions may ask residents to “pre-flush” their taps, run water for a few minutes before a six-hour federally mandated test period, remove small faucet filters called “aerators”, or use small-mouthed bottles to reduce the flow of water from taps.
All of these methods, the EPA said, can diminish the amount of lead found in tests. The EPA has warned against them and a water scientist in the agency has called their use a “serious concern”. But none are prohibited by the lead and copper rule.
“The practice of pre-flushing before collecting compliance samples has been shown to result in the minimization of lead capture and significant underestimate of lead levels in drinking water,” wrote Miguel Del Toral, an EPA drinking water scientist, in a memo during the Flint crisis. “Although this practice is not specifically prohibited by the [lead and copper rule], it negates the intent of the rule to collect compliance samples under ‘worst-case’ conditions.
“This is a serious concern,” Del Toral continued, “as the compliance sampling results which are reported by the City of Flint to residents could provide a false sense of security to the residents of Flint regarding lead levels in the water.”
Two state officials in Michigan and one Flint official were criminally charged in the lead crisis there, in a warrant that accused the men of tampering with lead tests “by directing residents to ‘pre-flush’ their taps by running the water for five minutes the night before drawing a water sample and/or [failing] to collect required samples” from homes with risky lead service lines.
The EPA has warned against pre-flushing since 2008, when activists discovered the water department in Washington DC added a 10-minute pre-flush to testing instructions four years after its own lead contamination crisis.
“It removes all traces of lead that would come from the lead service line,” Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech scientist who uncovered lead contamination in Flint and Washington DC, told the Washington Post in 2008. “If they had used this instruction in 2004, they would have missed the problem,” Edwards said.
Activists wrote to the EPA’s office of ground water and drinking water. The then head of the department, Cynthia C Dougherty, responded that while pre-flushing “may fall within the strict legal interpretation of the regulations, we believe that it goes against the intent of the monitoring protocol”. The EPA then forced DC’s water department to stop the practice.
Since then, multiple EPA documents, advisory committee white papers and peer-reviewed research by EPA scientists and others have said the practice could diminish lead levels.
Roughly one-quarter of all the water departments that responded to the Guardian’s requests for information said they did not pre-flush, and some water departments abandoned the practice years ago.
Chicago, for instance, stopped telling residents to pre-flush taps and remove aerators by 2012. Michigan initially refused to abandon pre-flushing in June 2015, according to an EPA document, but stopped soon after Flint became national news.
However some water departments, such as Philadelphia’s, remain opposed to the idea of abandoning pre-flushing.
The EPA has said it does not collect information on how many water departments might use this practice because states are required to regulate water departments, so there is no national data on how many cities and towns across the US might be affected by such tests. In a statement obtained by the Guardian after the newspaper revealed practices were widespread, the EPA backtracked.
“A 2008 letter on pre-stagnation flushing was directed to an individual water utility and was not framed as national guidance,” the EPA said following the Guardian’s reporting. “The Lead and Copper Rule does not prohibit practices of pre-stagnation flushing and removal of aerators, but EPA’s February 2016 memorandum reflects the agency’s recommendations on these practices.”
The guidance the agency referenced said pre-flushing may “lead to samples that erroneously reflect lower levels of lead concentrations”.
“In December 2015, the agency received extensive recommendations from the National Drinking Water Advisory Council and other concerned stakeholders,” an EPA spokeswoman said about an outside group of advisers that includes activists and water departments. “EPA will carefully evaluate these recommendations, national experience in implementing the rule, and the experience in Flint to develop a proposed revision to the rule. EPA currently expects this proposal to be published for comment in 2017.”ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A tide of mine closures and layoffs sweeping across Minnesota’s Iron Range gave extra weight Monday to Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk’s annual drive to help stock northeastern Minnesota food shelves.
The global slump in the steel industry has hit Minnesota’s iron ore-producing region hard, creating an economic downturn that Bakk says has put a strain on food shelves throughout the northeastern corner of the state. Although the Iron Range has dealt with the ups and downs of the national economy in the past, Bakk said this time is different: Hundreds of steelworkers are losing jobs when the nation as a whole is faring well.
“The Range should be humming along when our nation is selling cars. We’re over half shut-down,” the Cook Democrat said at Monday’s fundraiser at a St. Paul bar. He has hosted the event for nine years running.
Nationwide, the industry is struggling because a strong dollar has made it hard to export U.S. steel, low oil prices have reduced producer demand for tubular steel goods and other countries are flooding the market with cheap steel, according to Mark Phillips, commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation economic development agency.
November provided just the latest grim news for the Iron Range. Magnetation LLC announced last week it may shut down an iron ore production plant in Bovey, Minnesota, next year, affecting up to 163 workers. A day earlier, Natural Resources said it would temporarily shut down a second plant, Northshore Mining, in a move that could sideline up to 540 workers.
With that grim news as a backdrop, the fundraiser quickly cleared the previous record for $120,000, which will go to food shelves in the area.
“It’s going to help a lot of people you’re never going to meet,” he said.
Bakk and Gov. Mark Dayton are thinking of a special session to extend unemployment benefits for laid-off steelworkers before funds dry up. In his letter to lawmakers seeking a special session, Dayton said 600 miners could exhaust those benefits before the Legislature’s early March return date.
House Republicans have been non-committal, but Dayton said Monday he’s still hopeful. The governor and Bakk are also seeking a meeting with President Barack Obama to use his trade authority to help the reeling Iron Range.
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)Five years ago, a group of hardcore role-playing game fans asked the world if they’d like to see a return to the classic style of RPG design — the sort of vivid, lush worlds and rich stories made great by games like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment. The answer, from over 75,000 backers on Kickstarter and beyond, was a resounding “yes,” bolstered by a record-setting crowdfunding campaign. The result was Pillars of Eternity, which pulled in dozens of awards and glowing reviews when it finally released.
Our team at Paradox was incredibly proud to get to work with the master storytellers and designers at Obsidian Entertainment when we shared Pillars of Eternity with fans on PC. It was a passionate project for us — quite a few people within our company had been Kickstarter backers! When the game finally did release, and we began to hear back from players who had explored the world of Eora for themselves, we knew we had a truly unmissable experience on our hands.
That’s why today, together with our friends at Obsidian, we are thrilled to announce that this once-in-a-lifetime RPG is ready for PlayStation fans everywhere, in Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition. And we do mean “complete” — not only will you get to experience the original Pillars of Eternity on PS4, but you’ll also visit the expanded world and new characters from The White March: Parts I & II, the two expansions that arrived alongside the core game. You’ll have the full experience in your hands on August 29th, 2017, available at PlayStation Store and in game stores everywhere!
Every piece of the award-winning story, artwork, and writing is coming to PS4, ready to look its best on your TV — and play its best in an enhanced console interface, with controller-friendly menus, combat, and party management, all developed for console players from the ground up by our own Paradox Arctic studio.
If you’ve had the chance to try Pillars of Eternity already, then the Complete Edition is a great chance to revisit the detailed landscapes of the Eastern Reach on a big screen, and try new character builds and new paths through the epic story. If this will be your first time experiencing Pillars… well, to say all of the things that await you would be venturing very close to spoiler territory.
We’ll have more details as we get closer to launch on August 29. Keep an eye out!The FDA recently approved the sale of Flibanserin, a pink pill intended for women diagnosed with low sex drive; critics have questioned the pill’s effectiveness, while advocates are praising the move toward supporting both men and women with these sexual issues. Here are some of the most common questions about Flibanserin:
Q: How does Flibanserin work?
A: Women simply take the pill daily for four to eight weeks, feel no increase in happiness or desire, and then discontinue using it.
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Q: Is it safe?
A: No. The female libido is a cloven-hoofed beast that must be caged.
Q: Where can I get Flibanserin?
A: From any doctor in possession of clipboards and pens with the Sprout Pharmaceuticals logo.
Q: What are the possible side effects?
A: Trial participants reported feelings of being duped, ripped off, and lied to.
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Q: What are some of the proposed brand names?
A: Pink Lightning; Libido Juice; Corsoffren.
Q: How long does it take for Flibanserin to work?
A: Results vary depending on how gullible patient is.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: $29.99, but if you order now only $13.99, plus you’ll get 10 free jars of Orgasmo-Boom Skin Butter, all with free shipping and handling.
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Q: Why was the drug rejected twice before?
A: Doesn’t matter now! It’s approved, baby!
Q: I’m a woman in my mid-50s in a loving relationship, but do not feel like engaging in sexual intercourse. Sometimes I feel as if my husband does not communicate how he truly feels about me or my body, and I have a hard time discussing this with him. Will this pill solve that?
A: Yes.
Q: Are there other alternatives for women?
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A: Hold on there, little dreamer! Let’s work on basic contraception first.An article in the Press of Atlantic City notes that Twitter can act as an extremely accurate early warning system for the spread of disease.
Adam Sadilek at the University of Rochester analyzed 4.4 million tweets from users in New York City and was able to predict when healthy people would get sick up to eight days in advance, with about 90 percent accuracy.
Given that three of your friends have flu-like symptoms, and that you have recently met eight people, possibly strangers, who complained about having runny noses and headaches, what is the probability that you will soon become ill as well? Our models enable you to see the spread of infectious diseases, such as flu, throughout a real-life population observed through online social media.
Sadllek applied machine learning and natural language understanding techniques to determine the health state of Twitter users. Focusing on tweets that were geo-tagged his team was able to plot them on a map and observe how sick and healthy people interact. Using this data Sadilek is able to predict if and when an individual will fall ill with a high degree of accuracy and potentially predict the emergence of global epidemics.
The video below is heatmap visualization of flu in New York City, as observed through public Twitter data.
Previous methods (including Google Flu Trends and government data) entail time lags from days to years, whereas Sadilek use of Twitter data allows him to show emergent aggregate patterns in real-time, with second-by-second resolution.
Sadilek also developed a web application called Fount.in that monitors the health of New Yorkers based on their Tweets.
These fine-grained epidemiological models could even power a location-aware iPhone app that warns you when you are in an area with a high incidence of flu so that you can avoid it or take the necessary precautions.
There isn't an app for that. Yet |
checks there are on a president when it comes to matters overseas. The National Security Council staff is not accountable to Congress. The president controls the nuclear arsenal.
-- The Post’s Editorial Board, which is independent of the newsroom, has published a series on “the damage Mr. Trump could do” if elected. Previous editorials have focused on Trump’s ability to deport freely, end the era of American global leadership, wreck progress on global warming and destroy the world economy. Today’s edition wraps it all together: “His candidacy forces us to confront the extent to which democracy depends on leaders adhering to a set of norms and traditions. … Mr. Trump has made clear his contempt for those virtues, norms and traditions … Handed the immense powers of the presidency, what could such a man do? The honest answer: No one can be sure. … Yes, Congress has the power to remove a president who ignores the law. But given the easy GOP capitulation to such an obviously unfit candidate, how far would Mr. Trump have to go for a likely Republican House to impeach him?”
Good morning from SACRAMENTO, California, and welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning newsletter.
With contributions from Elise Viebeck (@eliseviebeck). Sign up to receive the newsletter.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:
-- The nation added a solid 156,000 jobs in September, a major indicator of health for the labor market. From Chico Harlan: “The unemployment rate rose to 5 percent. In August, the nation added 151,000 jobs. The labor market, with months of steady hiring, has helped pull the U.S. economy through a recent period of otherwise lackluster growth. Layoffs are at a four-decade low, wages are rising, and consumers are steadily pumping that money back into the economy. But the U.S. still faces significant challenges, including paltry business investment, and the International Monetary Fund this week said it expected the nation’s economy to grow just 1.6 percent this year, the lowest mark in five years.”
-- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in negotiating a peace agreement to end the country’s decades-long civil conflict, despite voters’ shock rejection of a peace deal just days ago. “There is a real danger that the peace process will come to a halt and that civil war will flare up again,” said committee chair Kaci Kullmann Five. “We hope it will encourage all good initiatives and all the parties who could make a difference in this process in Colombia.” (Michael Birnbaum)
A pair of swimmers take advantage of the high surf from winds associated with Hurricane Matthew in Daytona Beach, Fla. (Chris O'Meara/AP)
--Hurricane Matthew has been downgraded to a Category 3, but still dangerous, storm: "Early Friday, the storm weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, but still packed dangerous 120 mph winds. By mid-morning, the National Hurricane Center reported that the center of the storm was “hugging the coast of Central Florida” as it continued north." The storm is tracking over central Florida, taking aim at "the shoreline just south of Cape Canaveral, bringing pounding surf, storm surges and possibly up to a foot of rain in some areas after Matthew roared through the Caribbean leaving widespread destruction and nearly 300 dead in Haiti."
More from Renae Merle and Mark Berman: "As Matthew approached, life’s normal routines across the southeastern coast gave way to the bedlam of a looming storm. Emergencies were declared, evacuations ordered, schools closed, scores of flights grounded and college football games canceled or postponed. Authorities stressed the dangers of the storm, while the National Hurricane Center issued a series of foreboding bulletins warning of 'potentially disastrous impacts for Florida' and 'life-threatening' flooding over the coming days in that state as well as Georgia and the Carolinas. The National Weather Service warned that the gusting winds could leave some places 'uninhabitable for weeks or months.'"
--“The coastal section that Matthew has targeted north of Palm Beach has not seen a hurricane this strong make landfall in the entire period of record since 1850,” The Capital Weather Gang’s Brian McNoldy and Angela Fritz report. “The results could be catastrophic.” (A New York Times reporter recalls her terrifying experience of being trapped in a Florida City motel during a Category 5 hurricane -- where the roof was ripped off and pressure from 165 mph winds literally sealed doors shut.)
A lone taxi heads toward the Walt Disney World Resort area in Orlando:
(Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images)
A college student watches weather updates on his iPad at a public shelter set up at a high school in Jacksonville:
(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The Palm Beach airport is closed. All flights were canceled as of yesterday afternoon:
(Wilfredo Lee/AP)
The first outer bands of rain from Matthew pass over downtown Orlando at dusk last night:
(Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
-- Despite the storm, Florida Gov. Rick Scott refused to extend the state’s Tuesday voter registration deadline, denying a request from the Clinton campaign. “Everybody has had a lot of time to register,” Scott said. “On top of that, we’ve got lots of opportunities to vote: Early voting, absentee voting and Election Day. So, I don’t intend to make any changes.”
From the Florida Democratic Party's communications director:
86,000 Floridians registered in the final 5 days of the voter registration window in 2012. https://t.co/AJp497nIuR — Max Steele (@maxasteele) October 6, 2016
-- Clinton’s campaign has asked cable systems in Florida not to run its ads on the Weather Channel. Republicans yesterday attacked the $63,000 in reservations as opportunistic. Eric Trump called it “evil and sick.” (Politico)
-- Newly-disclosed emails show top Obama administration officials were in close contact with Clinton’s nascent presidential campaign in early 2015 about the potential fallout over revelations about her private State Department email server. Leading today's Wall Street Journal: “Their discussion included a request from the White House communications director to her counterpart at the State Department to see if it was possible to arrange for [John Kerry] to avoid questions during media appearances about Mrs. Clinton’s email arrangement. In another instance, a top State Department official assured an attorney for Mrs. Clinton that, contrary to media reports, a department official hadn’t told Congress that Mrs. Clinton erred in using a private email account.” While the exchange likely poses no legal or ethical concerns, it highlights the “revolving door” between the State Department, the White House and the Clinton campaign as she ramped up efforts for her presidential bid.
Carl Ferrer's mugshot
-- This could be a big coup in the war on sex trafficking: The CEO of Backpage.com was arrested last night after cops raided the company's headquarters. Carl Ferrer, 55, was detained in Houston on a California warrant and faces felony charges of pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping, the Texas and California attorney generals announced. Ferrer had just returned to the country on a flight from Amsterdam. “Raking in millions of dollars from the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable victims is outrageous, despicable and illegal,” said California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. “Backpage and its executives purposefully and unlawfully designed Backpage to be the world’s top online brothel. (Katie Mettler)
Steven Woolfe lies on the ground after losing consciousness in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg France.(TV News/ AP)
GET SMART FAST:
Pro-Brexit politician Steven Woolfe collapsed face down in the European Parliament after brawling with colleagues from his own party in France. The scuffle occurred after Woolfe said he was considering defecting to the Conservatives, leading another member to hit him with a right hook punch to his forehead that caused him to seize and lose consciousness. He is recovering from his head injury at a local hospital. (Karla Adam) Obama commuted the prison sentences of 102 nonviolent drug offenders. In total, he has pardoned 774 inmates – more than the previous 11 presidents combined – and said he will continue to do so until the end of his term. (Sari Horwitz) New data recovered from last week's New Jersey train crash shows the commuter train was moving at twice the legal speed before slamming into the Hoboken terminal. The train operator has told investigators that he has no memory of the crash. (Faiz Siddiqui and Martine Powers) The Catholic cardinal in New York announced an independently-mediated compensation program for victims who were sexually abused by church leaders, trying to get victims to waive their right to sue in exchange for financial compensation. Critics argue that the new plan suggests the archdiocese wants to quietly settle claims before the state reforms its statute of limitations law, which would expose the church to more lawsuits. (Sarah Pulliam Bailey) The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to its lowest level this week since mid-April, another encouraging sign of job security in the country. And a four-week average of individuals seeking jobless aid dropped to its lowest level since December 1973. (AP) Lawmakers in Pakistan advanced a bill to combat the practice of “honor killings," seeking to curb a spike in the number of brutal slayings in the country -- and to close the loophole that allows many killers to go free. ( AP ) Two senior North Korean officials defected this week in Beijing, following the escape of the country’s deputy ambassador and several other high-profile officials who have sought refuge from Pyongyang this year. (Anna Fifield) Police in India charged more than 70 call center employees with fraud and wrongful impersonation this week, saying the computer-savvy employees may have posed as IRS officers and conned Americans out of “millions.” ( Rama Lakshmi ) Bill Cosby’s attorneys launched a comprehensive effort to have his sexual assault charges dropped, claiming that, among other factors, the ex-comedian will not receive a fair trial because of his race. (LA Times) Hundreds of sinister clown threats have erupted at universities and grade schools across the country, prompting a spike in campus lockdowns and arrests. Officials are struggling with how to properly address the threats, which have given way to national hysteria. ( Joe Heim and T. Rees Shapiro ) A rash of violent adult fighting has broken out at Chuck E. Cheese restaurants across the country, with parents using the popular children’s birthday party venue to pick fights or settle old scores. Pennsylvania police said they were called to one location 17 times in 18 months. And in another recent incident, a child’s first birthday party spiraled into a 50-person brawl. (Peter Holley) A Brooklyn artist known for his biting social commentary has unveiled his newest project – a satirical haunted house called “Doomocracy,” inspired by government systems seemingly beyond our control. The exhibit replaces traditionally frightening figures with actors portraying Wall Street executives and drone pilots. “The strange thing about this project is that the worse things are in the news, the better it is for us,” said the artist. ( New York Times )
THE DAILY DONALD:
-- Trump held a town hall event in New Hampshire last night, insisting the forum was not a “mock session” to prepare for the impending town-hall-style debate against Clinton. "This has nothing to do with Sunday,” he said. “We're just here because we just wanted to be here." In fact, the gathering was hardly a preview of his face-off in St. Louis, where Trump and Clinton will field spontaneous questions from voters and moderators, says Sean Sullivan. This event was closed to the public; the campaign invited people to attend and submit written questions in advance, and it was moderated by conservative radio host Howie Carr. Asked by Carr whether he wanted to be told when his two minutes allotted for answering each question were up, Trump quipped: “If I’m doing well, don’t call me.” And he was not pressed on his taxes, or his recent comments about women’s physical appearances, both of which are expected to receive significant attention on Sunday.
Instead, Trump used the evening to attack Clinton. He alleged with no evidence that she is actually “resting” when she claims to be taking time off the trail for debate prep. "He went after Sen. Mark Kirk for not supporting his presidential bid. And he knocked journalists John Harwood and John King, as well as the media in general and even the Commission on Presidential Debates."
-- Which Trump will be on display in St. Louis? Jenna Johnson says he “appeared more controlled” on both Wednesday and Thursday. He’s been sticking with scripted speeches, (mostly) avoiding interviews, and sending tweets that appear to be “closely edited” – if not written outright – from his staff. He also notably abandoned his plans to attack Clinton’s infidelity in the upcoming debate, saying he plans to focus on “policies for the future” instead. “In another move typical for an ordinary campaign but not for his, Trump issued a somber statement Thursday urging those in the path of Hurricane Matthew to follow local evacuation orders because ‘nothing is more important than the safety of your family.’ He left it to the Republican National Committee to attack Clinton’s campaign for running commercials on the Weather Channel during the storm’s buildup.”
-- Mike Pence disavowed Trump’s proposed Muslim ban, claiming that his running mate “no longer supports” the controversial campaign promise. “That’s not Trump’s position now,” the Indiana governor said on CNN. But his statement comes as the Republican nominee has yet to formally abandon the proposal himself. And Trump’s campaign website still contains a statement on preventing Muslim immigration, which says he is “calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.” (Jenna Johnson)
Trump in April 1991 (Luiz Ribeiro/AP)
-- Another reminder that The Donald is not a Reagan Republican --> “Trump personally lobbied Congress to give real estate developers bigger tax breaks,” by Steven Mufson and Max Ehrenfreund: “In 1986, [President Reagan] and Congress came together to pass a landmark tax reform bill that streamlined tax brackets, cut rates, closed loopholes and eliminated tax breaks. Reagan declared it ‘a sweeping victory for fairness.’ [Trump], however, wanted the loopholes and tax breaks back.” Testifying before the House Budget committee in 1991, Trump called the 1986 legislation an ‘absolute catastrophe’ that had pushed the real estate business into an ‘absolute depression.’ ‘To fix the situation, Trump advocated a combination of higher tax rates for the rich and the restoration of special exemptions for real estate investment. The benefits became part of a suite of tax breaks that have buoyed the real estate industry and the wealthy developers behind it. Now the Republican presidential nominee, Trump … has invoked Reagan’s tax legacy as a model for a new ‘revolution.’ That sentiment is at odds with his [1991 testimony], when Trump argued that the 1986 reform ‘caught many developers off guard’ and ‘undermined deals’ conceived under the previous tax rules.”
-- “Voters are being asked to reconcile two diametrically opposed views of Trump: his own narrative that he is a financial wizard who simply used the laws of the country to protect himself, and Hillary Clinton’s contention that he is a rapacious and unrestrained capitalist who ‘abuses his power’ and ‘games the system.’ Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Drew Harwell write. Back in 1987, the real estate developer was soaring – but was ultimately undone by his own bad bets: “Trump wanted a third casino — his grandest yet — and he made a move on the hulking, unfinished Taj Mahal,” O'Harrow Jr. and Harwell write. “Analysts had warned that Atlantic City’s gaming market was cooling. But Trump charged ahead. [And] contrary to a stark promise he made to regulators under oath … he financed the Taj project with $675 million in junk bonds.” A confidential report produced in June 1990 showed only three of its 22 assets were profitable. The report also made a startling claim about Trump’s net worth, saying it had plunged to negative $295 million.
Facing the possibility of personal bankruptcy, Trump turned his attention to a $100 million line of credit he had with Bankers Trust, the key to his survival in coming years. In an interview for “Trump Revealed,” Trump said he drained the account while his bankers were on vacation and could not block such a large transaction. “I said, ‘Draw it down,’ Trump said. ‘I took everything out of the bank.’ When the bankers found out what had happened, they ‘went absolutely berserk.’” Trump viewed it as ingenious.
Vladimir Putin meets with Prince Albert II of Monaco at the Kremlin yesterday. (Sputnik/Kremlin Pool)
-- More evidence of Russia’s influence on Trump --> A Republican lobbyist was earning hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting one of Vladimir Putin’s top priorities at the same time he was helping shape Trump’s first major foreign policy speech. From Politico’s Ben Schreckinger and Julia Ioffe: “In the first two quarters of 2016, the firm of former Reagan administration official Richard Burt received $365,000 for work he and a colleague did to lobby for a proposed natural-gas pipeline owned by a firm controlled by the Russian government … The pipeline, opposed by the Polish government and the Obama administration, would allow Russian gas to reach central and western European markets while bypassing Ukraine and Belarus, extending Putin’s leverage over Europe. [And] this spring, Burt helped shape Trump’s first major foreign policy address … [recommending] that Trump take a more ‘realist,’ less interventionist approach to world affairs.” Trump’s April speech sounded those themes and called for greater cooperation with Russia. Today, by the way, is Putin’s birthday.
-- Thirty more former GOP congressmen urged fellow Republicans not to vote for Trump, blasting him in an open letter as being “manifestly unqualified” for the presidency and “making a mockery” of their principles. "He offends our allies and praises dictators,” they wrote. “His public statements are peppered with lies. He belittles our heroes and insults the parents of men who have died serving our country. Every day brings a fresh revelation that highlights the unacceptable danger in electing him to lead our nation." They do not endorse Clinton. (CNN)
-- A group of Chicago city aldermen are pushing an ordinance to strip Trump’s name from a plaza in the city, slamming him for "painting a distorted caricature of Chicago" on the campaign trail and for "comparing our great city to a decimated, war-torn country.” The measure could take about a month to be enacted, but it seems to have the votes. (Chicago Tribune)
-- Rudy Giuliani announced he is taking a leave of absence from the law firm he joined earlier this year, saying he will spend the final month of the general election stumping full-time on Trump’s behalf. A spokesman for Greenberg Traurig LLP said he wants to return in November. (WSJ)
THE DAILY HILLARY:
-- Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Clinton could run up an “insurmountable lead” in Florida, North Carolina and Nevada ahead of Election Day because of early voting, “effectively deciding” the outcome of those battleground states. From Anne Gearan: “Democrats expect that at least 40 percent of votes will be cast ahead of Nov. 8 in battleground states that allow early voting,” Mook told reporters on a conference call. He also claimed early indications in Florida and Ohio are positive for Democrats, citing a small lead in Florida and a shrinking deficit in the Buckeye State. His comments come as both Democrats and Republicans predict success from a record mail-in vote in Florida, with some 2.7 million residents requesting to vote by mail, compared to 1.8 million in 2012. Mook claimed Democrats are “winning” this day-to-day tabulation of mail-in-ballots, citing a 77 percent increase among Hispanics in mail-in ballot requests.
FLOTUS in Philly last week (Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)
-- Want to know where Clinton’s turnout operations are under the most pressure? Just watch where Michelle Obama campaigns. From the New York Times’ Amy Chozick: “Mrs. Obama has made only about a half-dozen campaign appearances for Mrs. Clinton in the general election, each carefully approved by the White House. But the first lady’s reluctance to campaign means that the events she does attend speak volumes about the places Mrs. Clinton views as most critical in November. She has appeared in North Carolina, at college campuses in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. — all areas where Mrs. Clinton needs to drive up turnout among blacks and younger voters.” “She chooses her moments, and she has made clear to her staff and the Democratic Party that she wants to go places where she can make a difference,” said Peter Slevin, the author of “Michelle Obama: A Life.” “If a candidate is up by 15 or down by 15, you’re not going to see Michelle Obama there.”
-- Barack Obama’s approval rating is at its highest level since his first year in office, according to a CNN/ORC poll, continuing a seven-month streak in which his approval has been at the 50 percent mark or higher. But partisan differences persist: while the president is up 12 points among Democrats and 14 percent among independents, he’s only gotten a two-point bump from Republican voters since September of last year.
-- Alaska Dispatch News, “The untold story of Hillary Clinton's 1969 summer in Alaska,” by Michelle Theriault Boots and Erica Martinson: “For decades, Alaskans have been kicking around versions of the same story: A young Hillary Rodham improbably placed in Alaska, elbow deep in fish guts. Clinton herself has used the tale to salt her life story with a measure of earthy experience, [dedicating a paragraph in her 2003 biography to the summer she spent ‘sliming fish.’ But that's about all most people ever knew about the time the now-Democratic presidential nominee spent in Alaska. … (Records) from 1969 reveal new details about what Hillary Rodham did in Alaska, and who she came here with. Still, the part Clinton talks about the most — the Valdez slime line — is the part we know the least about.”
THE BATTLEGROUNDS:
-- Dave Weigel attended a focus group of undecided millennial voters in Philadelphia yesterday. He found that most of the eight-person group was on board with the Democratic agenda -- though they continue to struggle over how to cast their vote – and have relatively bleak views of both candidate. Four key points from his write-up:
They despise Trump. Asked to describe Trump with whatever words came to mind, every member of the group came up with a negative word: “Bully.” “Evil.” “Racist.” “Misogynist.” “Bigot.” Only one member thought Trump was “smart” in his approach to terrorism. No one else defended a single aspect of Trump's campaign or persona.
Asked to describe Trump with whatever words came to mind, every member of the group came up with a negative word: “Bully.” “Evil.” “Racist.” “Misogynist.” “Bigot.” Only one member thought Trump was “smart” in his approach to terrorism. No one else defended a single aspect of Trump's campaign or persona. They were more nuanced when it came to Clinton: Asked to assign terms to the Democratic nominee, members used more balanced terms such as “Career politician.” “Experienced.” “Shady but knowledgeable.” “Untrustworthy but stable.”
Asked to assign terms to the Democratic nominee, members used more balanced terms such as “Career politician.” “Experienced.” “Shady but knowledgeable.” Gary Johnson’s foreign policy gaffes may have cost him: No one in the group said that the Libertarian candidate was his or her top choice for president.
No one in the group said that the Libertarian candidate was his or her top choice for president. They're counting on something — an assassin, impeachment — to prevent Trump from doing too much damage: One member paralyzed the group with laughter after darkly floating the idea that Trump would “probably be assassinated” as commander-in-chief. “He's going to be in court most of the time as president,” said another member. “He's going to get impeached.”
-- A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of New Hampshire shows Clinton holding just a 2-point lead over Trump, putting the two in a statistical dead heat. Meanwhile, Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte continues to lead in her Senate reelection bid, besting Gov. Maggie Hassan by 6 points (47-41).
-- In Florida: Beverly Young, the outspoken widow of the late U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, posted on Facebook that she is voting for Charlie Crist over former Young aide David Jolly for the Congressional seat that her husband represented, the Tampa Bay Times’s Adam Smith reports. “Mrs. Young has been fiercely critical of Crist in the past too, but had a falling out with Jolly shortly after he won the special election and laid off staffers who used to work for Young. On Facebook Mrs. Young said she ‘can't believe Jolly is still saying Bill is his mentor, when Bill would be totally disgusted and ashamed of how he has handed his district of 50 years.’ Jolly's campaign noted that Mrs. Young in 2013 told Crist to stay away from the congressman's memorial, citing his ‘transparent attempts to manipulate the political arena.’”
-- Hillary will a rally in Detroit on Monday, the latest Clinton to campaign in Michigan. The voter registration deadline there is Tuesday. Then she’s going back to Ohio the next day.
-- George W. Bush is going to North Carolina next week to raise money for Richard Burr. He’s headlining fundraisers for the vulnerable senator on Tuesday in Charlotte and Raleigh. Bush has stumped for Todd Young in Indiana, and he’s hosted fundraisers for Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.). On Tuesday, he appeared at a fundraiser for Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.). (The Hill)
-- The bigger picture: How much is Trump hurting down-ballot Republicans? “Public polls released since Trump’s post-debate tailspin have not yet shown a major impact on key Senate races or the generic congressional ballot question that tends to be the most reliable indicator in the battle for the House,” Mike DeBonis and Kelsey Snell write. “Only in four states — Arizona, New Hampshire, Nevada and Ohio — have Democratic candidates or their allies funded television ads that link GOP Senate candidates to Trump. Instead, races are largely being fought on familiar ground on a state-by-state, district-by-district basis, with messages largely tailored to the specific candidates, issues and political climates. That reflects the fact that loyal Republicans have become more comfortable with Trump as their party’s nominee, a shift of the Senate battleground into redder states, and … a notable display of discipline from GOP Senate candidates who have been peppered with Trump questions for months.”
-- “Trump is lightning rod in debate between candidates in Northern Virginia race,” by Jenna Portnoy: “During the first debate with her Democratic challenger Thursday, Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) called herself an independent advocate for Northern Virginia in the Republican-controlled House, and never once uttered the name [Trump]. But Democrat LuAnn Bennett could not stop talking about Trump, hoping the GOP presidential candidate will sink down-ballot Republicans like Comstock and turn the 10th Congressional District seat blue for the first time in a generation. Bennett, 63, worked Trump into her answers on the economy, climate change and immigration — a strategy that sometimes elicited chuckles from the crowd at the debate … In seeking a second term, Comstock has focused on constituent services and issues that she says are important to Northern Virginia, while Bennett has tried to paint the congresswoman as out of step with the district’s moderate voters on national concerns. [Now], both parties are pouring millions of advertising dollars into the district, which they consider among the most competitive this year.”
-- Should Trump falter badly in the second debate, Republican congressional candidates may take it as a cue to flee openly from their nominee, two senior Republicans involved at high levels of the campaign told the New York Times. “Trump has already slipped perceptibly in public polls, trailing widely this week in Pennsylvania and by smaller margins in Florida and North Carolina — three states he cannot afford to lose. But private polling by both parties shows an even more precipitous drop, especially among independent voters, moderate Republicans and women, according to a dozen strategists from both parties … Liesl Hickey, a Republican strategist involved in several House races in swing states, said she was dismayed by a sudden exodus of independent voters in more diverse parts of the country. ‘They are really starting to pull away from Trump,’ said Ms. Hickey, describing his soaring unpopularity with independents as entering ‘uncharted territory.’”
A Republican who spoke with Mitch McConnell tells the Times on background that the Senate majority leader was alarmed by Trump’s erratic behavior after he lost the first debate, including the attacks on the former Miss Universe and his suggestion that HRC is unfaithful to Bill. “Mr. McConnell expressed concern that Mr. Trump might not have bottomed out yet and could lose even more support among women,” Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns reported on the front page of yesterday’s paper.
-- Gary Johnson announced he will give a major foreign policy address today: The speech at the University of Chicago comes as the Libertarian nominee seeks to recover from a series of high-profile gaffes, in which he could not recall the Syrian city of Aleppo or name the leader of North Korea.
Ahead of the speech, the former New Mexico told Katie Couric that he would pardon Edward Snowden because “no one has been hurt by these disclosures.” “I’d like everybody who is watching this interview to watch ‘Citizen Four,’” he said. “I thought that was really revealing. The documentary won an Academy Award.” (Yahoo News video)
Sean Hannity at CPAC last year (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
FOX FEUD:
-- Hosts Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity made nice last night. Kelly called out Hannity for throwing softballs when Trump comes on his show, and Hannity fired back on Twitter that his colleague in in the tank for Clinton.
The hosts tweeted the same picture out to their followers one minute apart:
As usual, Megyn is less excitable and more grammatical. pic.twitter.com/o1Af5GeqY0 — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 7, 2016
-- Kelly’s contract comes up for renewal in 2017, and this might make her more likely to leave. “It may be too late to keep her,” media columnist Erik Wemple notes.
-- “In some ways, the Fox News dilemma is a microcosm of the GOP’s dilemma,” writes conservative Post blogger Jennifer Rubin. “Does it want to be a serious center-right party dedicated to good governance and building an electoral majority, or does it want to be the party of [Trump] — ignorant, divisive, mean-spirited and racist? … Hannity’s behavior is so inappropriate that one has to wonder whether he is trying to get booted … Nevertheless, the responsibility is Fox’s. If it cares about the reputations of quality news figures (e.g. Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, James Rosen) it will dump Hannity or relegate him to 21st Century Fox’s entertainment division. Fox cannot be both a serious outlet and tolerate Hannity’s attack on the integrity of its news people. The latter should be letting their bosses know in no uncertain terms: It is time to choose between the Fox News brand and the Hannity brand. The two are incompatible.”
-- Max Boot, a conservative Never Trumper, writes critically of “Hannity”: “The right wing has created its own echo chamber which is increasingly disconnected from reality. There are millions of Americans who share Trump’s outré beliefs — which helps to explain why his presidential campaign has done better than expected. But in the long term, the right’s addiction to its own news has become destructive — it promotes the election of tea party absolutists to Congress and the nomination of presidential candidates who have trouble appealing to swing voters.”
-- “Glenn Beck’s website The Blaze is coming apart, suffering from a lack of editorial direction, staff attrition and internal discord,” Michelle Fields reports for the Huffington Post. “The site, which Beck launched in 2010 … has dropped from 25 employees on its editorial side to just six.” A source said the mood among rapidly diminishing news team is “somber,” with remaining employees scrambling for an exit. Former and current employees all blamed upper-level management for the site’s troubles: There have been four CEOs since 2010, and two of them left in a span of six months in 2015.
SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:
Evan McMullin announced his running-mate, Mindy Finn:
Looking forward to a great future... pic.twitter.com/5i1EkvThym — Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) October 6, 2016
A Dallas Morning News video clip of Ted Cruz phone-banking for Trump -- without mentioning his name -- has gone viral:
The final humiliation https://t.co/NvSQGKRAUL — Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) October 6, 2016
"Yes, that same Ted Cruz. Yup, he called my wife ugly. Yes, he did say my dad killed Kennedy. Why am I doing this? Because I hate myself." pic.twitter.com/zqEH61TlpK — Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) October 6, 2016
I Have Never Seen More Pain In A Man's Eyes Than The Eyes Of Ted Cruz Calling Voters To Support Trump https://t.co/NEQye1FIup pic.twitter.com/3zMQJjjEty — BroBible (@BroBible) October 6, 2016
It's now a meme (click to watch):
The Drudge Report drew wide criticism for downplaying the storm:
This is irresponsible, dangerous and disgusting. pic.twitter.com/NsRYws2ztk — Steven Shepard (@POLITICO_Steve) October 6, 2016
The deplorables are starting to wonder if govt has been lying to them about Hurricane Matthew intensity to make exaggerated point on climate — MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) October 6, 2016
A sample of the criticism:
This tweet is a cultural marker, a crossing point. They thought the'reality-based community' a joke concept. It's a life-and-death concept. https://t.co/o4IBNSw7UV — Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) October 6, 2016
So irresponsible. If you are in the path of Hurricane Matthew, do not listen to this man! Stay safe! pic.twitter.com/aNS4RG459Z — Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) October 6, 2016
I truly cannot believe that Drudge and his pals on the right are trying to unskew the Hurricane. Great work, folks. — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 6, 2016
Standing on the beach, screaming, "Show me the long form hurricane certificate!" — David Waldman (@KagroX) October 6, 2016
I'm going to let you in on a big secret: Hillary Clinton does control the weather https://t.co/Ihd41hDvFF — Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) October 6, 2016
From our Capital Weather Gang:
Don't believe the morons who are telling you this is no big deal. Hurricane #Matthew is deadly serious. https://t.co/b34SPEv8cv — Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) October 6, 2016
What it's like to face this kind of storm:
What it’s like to be trapped by a Category 5 hurricane: https://t.co/RRor6R5prF pic.twitter.com/6Nyl4kUfgj — Masuma Ahuja (@masumaahuja) October 6, 2016
Rapper Vanilla Ice might not have as much juice as Drudge, but he's still not setting a good example:
This hurricane is serious and coming right at me. I'm going to ride out the storm. I'll keep you updated pic.twitter.com/LQGzAFY9O8 — Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) October 6, 2016
But on the plus side, there's this pun:
The @WeatherChannel just aired this unusual message from @TWCBryan, urging evacuations. "This is not hyperbole, and I am not kidding..." pic.twitter.com/tUYYM32hXX — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 6, 2016
And there's this:
In alternate universe, GOP nominee Jeb Bush touts how well he handled hurricanes, down to emailing individual residents about their plight. — Matt Viser (@mviser) October 6, 2016
Woops -- New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, a master at putting his foot in his mouth, was not on message when asked about investigations into goings on at City Hall:
"The next president of the United States has gone through more investigations than I can count," de Blasio says, defending probes into him. — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) October 6, 2016
Don't think this is ripped from the Clinton surrogate talking points. https://t.co/F5CrjDOZE2 — Matt Flegenheimer (@mattfleg) October 6, 2016
Sen. Steve Daines is back home in Montana:
Stopping for lunch in Alzada. pic.twitter.com/T4UpxikB9D — Steve Daines (@SteveDaines) October 6, 2016
Donald Trump Jr. stopped by Sean Duffy's office:
Jon Huntsman snapped this selfie with Joe Lieberman:
Only 31 days left:
this election is giving us all Tapper Resting Face pic.twitter.com/O16VxqyTIW — Tim Dickinson (@7im) October 6, 2016
HOT ON THE LEFT “‘Evil Sodomites’ Now Being Blamed For Hurricane Matthew,” from HuffPost: “You just can’t win in the eyes of right-wing conservatives if you’re an ‘evil sodomite.’ The latest disaster the [LGBT] community is being blamed for is Hurricane Matthew, which has already hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic is gearing up to pound Florida and the Carolinas over the coming days. …Andrew Bieszad, a contributor for Shoebat.com, recently wrote that Orlando and Savannah may be responsible for the massive storm and the damage that the cities will soon incur, as they both planned Pride parades this month. Bieszad cites the Biblical Old Testament tales of God punishing the Hebrews with natural disasters to back up his claims. He wrote: |
ello-Maher is an exiled Oaklander who teaches political theory at Drexel University, and can be reached at gjcm(at)drexel.edu.KARACHI: Continuing to add records after records to his credit, Pakistan's extraordinary batting talent Babar Azam became top-run scorer in first 25 ODI innings with a match winning knock of 125 runs against West Indies in the second ODI.
22-year-old Babar Azam smashed three sixes and stroked seven boundaries to score 125 off 132 deliveries, taking his total career runs to 1306 in first 25 ODI innings, a world record of most runs after first 25 innings of career, surpassing England's Jonathan Trott.
The Pakistani batsman earlier entered the record books to join batting stalwarts like Viv Richards, Quinton de Kock, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott in the list of quickest to 1000 runs in ODIs, they all reached the thousand runs milestone in 21st innings.
On Sunday, while playing his 25th ODI innings, Babar set another record, this time of most ODI career runs after first 25 innings of career.
He surpassed Jonathan Trott's 1280 runs after his initial 25 ODI innings. West Indian great Sir Viv Richards had scored 1211 runs after first 25 innings of his career. England's Kevin Pietersen scored 1189 and South Africa's Quinton de Kock has scored 1181 in their initial 25 ODI innings.
Babar, with his 4th century against West Indies, becomes jointly the second in the list of players scoring most ODI centuries against the former World Champions. India's Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa's Kallis have also scored four centuries each against West Indies. South African trio of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and H Gibbs are joint leaders of the list with five centuries each against Caribbean side in ODIs.
No other Pakistani has scored more than two ODI centuries against West Indies. Mohammad Yousaf, Ramiz Raja and Saeed Anwar have scored in three figures against West Indies only twice in their careers.
The century was also Babar's 5th career ODI hundred, jointly the most number of ODI tons after playing 25 ODIs. South Africa's Quinton de Kock had also scored 5 centuries in first 25 ODI innings of his career, however de Kock's 5th century came in his 19th ODI.
Babar Azam's career average against West Indies 124.50 (after scoring 498 runs in 5 innings) is highest by any player, so far, against WI.
This is also the highest batting average by an individual against any single opponent.It’s down to crunch time at the City of Portland, where nearly 1,000 union workers — affiliates of the District Council of Trades Unions (DCTU) — are voting on the City’s “last, best and final” offer for a new contract. The DCTU declared impasse Sept. 27. As required by law, both sides exchanged last, best and final offers. The City showed some movement, union officials said, but not nearly enough, and they linked it to many unacceptable takeaways.
DCTU referred the offer, and a strike authorization, to the membership for a vote. Voting is taking place Oct. 12-19, with a recommendation to reject the City’s offer and to authorize a strike.
The sides are scheduled to meet again with a mediator on Oct. 24.
The Northwest Oregon Labor Council at its Oct. 9 Executive Board meeting said if requested by DCTU, it will cite Portland City Council to show cause why it shouldn’t be placed on the official Unfair/Do Not Patronize List.LOS ANGELES—Saying there was a near perfect correlation between the two phenomena, a new study released Monday by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found that being on the cover of People magazine is the best predictor of revealing all. “Our evidence overwhelmingly suggests that appearing on a People cover is by far the most reliable indicator of finally opening up about love, life, and everything in between,” said head researcher Karina Mandor, adding that the vast majority of subjects who posed for the glossy’s photo portrait went on to discuss how they finally found happiness in their own skin. “We determined that in almost every case, individuals who did a cover shoot for the magazine spoke out about life after loss and dished about all the behind-the-scenes drama for the very first time. And there might, in fact, be no population more predisposed to sharing their story of picking up the pieces after their fairy-tale marriage suddenly fell apart.” The study went on to say, however, that being on the cover of People was an accurate predictor of being Sexiest Man Alive only about 2 percent of the time.
AdvertisementPrefer Peace to Piece wrote: Let’s face it, we all know that women don’t want men to have fun. You are only allowed to have fun with her and her alone. Have you ever seen the rage in a woman’s eyes after admitting you actually had a good time with the guys? In my opinion, there are several factors at play here. First, you are dealing with a woman’s insecurity. Then you are dealing with narcisism- a woman want’s to be the center of attention. There is also the control issue. One can usually have fun without dealing with the snowflakes. On a different note- nice to see you Old Bill. I hope everything is well with you. Thanks.
Man, my first girlfriend was like that. Well, more emotionally flat and dismissive after I came to her place (well, parents’place since we both still lived at home) and told her about the night before.
There sure was a seething rage in her eyes each time I announced I preferred having an evening of drinking and laughing with the guys instead of spending it with her, on the couch, watching a movie while fondling eachother a little. She then said the classic line of “sure, go ahead, do whatever you want”, trying to shame – or guilt – me into staying with her. I simply smiled and said “alright, see ya!” and left to have fun. Heh.
She did once or twice take me along to go shopping, though. First time was when her parents came along, and it resulted in her and her mom going from shop to shop while her dad and I waited outside. The second time it was just me and her, and instead of being the good docile man, waiting outside the changing rooms (or even outside the store holding her purse) I merely followed her inside the changing room and felt her up. Hey, if she’s allowed to have fun by trying on clothes, I’m having me some fun with her big t~~~, am I right? You should’ve seen how blushy and meek she became when I ripped the curtain aside, stepped in, closed the curtain again and stood behind her, pressing my crotch to her ass and placing my hands on her t~~~ to start playing with them *grin*“It was tough out there on the wing — that side of the field is really hard. I think they use it for cricket … ”
I’m talking to a young hopeful at the MLS Combine, the selection trials for the SuperDraft, after he has dragged himself off the field to talk to the few reporters gathered here at the Central Broward Regional Park stadium. I look out in the general area of where he is pointing, and see that there is indeed a dry, hard square of dirt at the far side of the field, large enough to accommodate a particularly unforgiving wicket, if not being quite so accommodating to a sprinting soccer player’s cleats. The player looks irritated — the state of the field out there has compounded his frustration at being played on the wing instead of his normal forward position, and he feels he hasn’t done himself justice on the biggest stage of his footballing life so far. As he slopes off to the locker room, he gives another last grimace at the dusty patch of ground. It’s doubtful that he’ll be consoled when he returns for his next game two days later to find the dirt has been painted green. Welcome to the lowest rung of MLS.
I wasn’t going to come down from New York for the Combine — the annual event in which 60 or so hopefuls are put through their paces in front of MLS coaching staffs in the hope of earning a SuperDraft selection. Prior to covering the SuperDraft last year, I had watched the Combine on a pixelated MLS feed, and had felt that a combination of that plus the various mock drafts executed with relish by the wonkier end of the U.S. soccer cognoscenti were plenty to get a sense of things. But this year I’d been kicking around another story idea featuring an interview subject living half an hour from Fort Lauderdale and I’d remembered someone saying to me that the Combine was one of the best places to speak to MLS coaches (because let’s face it, aside from all being in one place, they’re as relaxed and open as they’re going to be all year right now, when none of them has a losing record yet). So at the last minute I muttered something about “networking” and “it is work” to my wife and headed down to Florida.
If the Combine is big news in Fort Lauderdale, it’s hard to see sign of it as I’m driving in. The biggest attraction in town is suggested by a home-made poster on a pedestrian bridge advertising a forthcoming screening of Zero Dark Thirty. Other billboards mutedly plead the case for forthcoming gun shows and orchid expos, apparently at the same versatile venue. When I finally drive past the giant swap meet by the highway and arrive, I find that Central Broward Regional Park’s stadium is actually a loose collection of stands built around one side of a large staked out circle accommodating the cricket field. At the other, unpopulated, side a simple barrier barely breaks the impression of an endless field of grass — reminding me of a sun-drenched version of Brian James’s description of Carlisle’s Brunton Park: “the notion that a ball kicked over the fence would go on bouncing until it dropped off the end of the world is hard to shake off.” The end of some young men’s small soccer worlds will come this weekend, but in the general understated environment of the Combine it’s hard to spot a sense of occasion. Perhaps that’s no bad thing for the nerves of the participants, but such atmosphere as there is feels like it might dissipate at any moment.
It’s hardly helped by the soccer on view on Day 1. The first game starts like a bad 10-year-old’s pickup game. Anxious for touches to impress early, players end up bunched in high lines for the first half, as the ball pinballs around among them. It’s a traditional first-day mess, and perhaps only the center backs stand out — cleaning up the ball decently at the edge of the fray. Meanwhile, the rest of the players struggle to gain traction in the melee. Jason “J.J.” Johnson, the raw but talented young forward who has drawn comparisons with C.J. Sapong, is one of those who played out of position, and he looks tentative on the wing, playing just in front of the low line of temporary bleachers that has been installed for the MLS coaches to observe the young players up close. At first what these coaches see is a young man with a flashy haircut, boots, and earrings, not doing much to add to a striking first impression.
Gradually the game stretches a little and the two attacking playmakers for each team begin to impress with some neat touches. UConn’s Carlos Alvarez gets himself a couple of goals, much to the satisfaction of Chivas USA’s new coach Sanchez “Chelis” Sola (Alvarez’s father once played for Chivas Guadalajara), who will later declare his intention to take the player with his no. 2 overall pick. Chelis might have been given food for thought, though, by the performance of Mikey Lopez on the other team — the slight, young midfielder has an assured game, and indeed his stock will rise throughout the weekend.
Noting these developments, I’m continually reminded how this is an alienating way to watch a game — basically running a parallel mental leader board alongside the action (to be reordered momentarily). Individual moments of skill or errors are always talking points in the sport, but at the Combine the games themselves are simply frames for individual moments. Every time a goal is scored there’s less a sense of excitement at how this narrows or blows open the game, or changes its momentum, than a sudden jarring reminder that all these “phrases” we’re focusing on are meant to add up to something like a recognizable story. It’s a little like trying to imagine sound by reading the numbers in a digital sample.
So back at the opening game, there’s a sudden burst of movement as a routine ball out of the back sees Johnson spin, turn, and lose his marker as he sprints to the edge of the box before crossing for teammate John Stertzer to score. You can see all concerned walking back to their starting positions playing the moment back in their heads and wondering what they’ve just done for their stock. As Johnson jogs back to the halfway line, a little lighter on his toes for his part in the goal, the player who was marking him seems to be visibly shrinking as he slowly turns back to his position. Meanwhile, in the stands, members of the press, family friends, agents, and college coaches look at their list of starters and ask each other “Who scored? Stertzer? He’s looked decent actually.” Shuffle. Recalibrate. Repeat …
I’m surrounded in the stands by now-familiar faces from the MLS circuit. Sprawled over three rows, the ESPN posse are holding court: Alexi Lalas laid back and offering laconic asides, Taylor Twellman always ready to prod the group with a goofy comment. As the game unfolds and the non-playing teams on the far side of the field are measured for how high they can leap, Lalas starts a debate on how useful a metric that could possibly be, when it doesn’t simultaneously measure a skill like heading. In the next minute he shrugs off some good-natured taunting from colleagues at the sight of the long-haired Greg Cochrane looking lively as an overlapping wingback: “He’s got long hair — he should have good music taste, Alexi” (at last year’s draft, Lalas’s on-air color commentary on players lower down the order tended to revolve around the bands they liked). Another Lalas, Greg, the MLS digital editor, is glancing up at the assembled crowd to wonder how many total Twitter followers are represented here. When the stand does respond in unison to something, it’s not to a goal, but the Twitter news that Alex Morgan has been allocated not to Seattle, but Portland.
It’s not that those watching don’t care about what we’re watching — the occasional, suddenly tensing shoulders of a spectator indicates a parent or coach who clearly cares to a fault, or one of the ESPN group will lean forward, stab their notes and start whispering urgently at something they’ve just seen and why this means “he doesn’t convince me” or “that’s what he can do right there.” The general lack of focus is because the game itself, and the score produced by it, is utterly secondary to a process we can only guess at, namely what the assembled coaches down in front of us are thinking.
And there is a secondary theater at the Combine of watching said coaches interacting all in one place. There’s Philadelphia’s John Hackworth, making his way on and off the field without any entourage, stopping to talk affably to fans; Bruce Arena is in full training gear at the heart of his ever-expanding L.A. Galaxy huddle, looking relaxed and in his element close to the halfway line; Ben Olsen and Dominic Kinnear are ever present down on the benches, too, though more studiedly focused than Arena as they watch the games — even Olsen’s apparent jokes seem intense. Meanwhile the Toronto and Chivas technical teams enjoy a kind of inverted stardom — their poor finishes last season give them the high draft picks this year. New Portland boss Caleb Porter is circulating everywhere — perhaps hoping he can trade Portland back into the first two rounds for one of the college players he knows so well from his years in Akron.
Not everyone is front and center. There’s little sign of Seattle’s Sigi Schmid, for example — though he is here, watching the games from the second floor of the clubhouse. So too are the New York delegation of interim head coach Mike Petke and technical director Ricardo Campos. Contrary to message-board leaps of logic, there’s no particular intrigue to where any coaching team watches the game from, or why — and in line with the idea of preseason bonhomie, all are approachable. Petke jokes to me about how he “can die happy, now that I’ve coached my hometown club,” following his two-month offseason stint since Hans Backe’s departure. Even Arena wanders over to share a few words, noting of the media mock drafts, “You guys treat it like it’s a science … ” and suggesting the reality is much more prosaic.
“Pick the best left on the board regardless of position” has been the Galaxy’s mantra in recent years, though their successful recent seasons and subsequent low picks have meant that that’s a fait accompli as much as a policy. Their last high pick was in 2009, when they landed Omar Gonzalez (who turned out to be the best on the board from the start).
The last 10 minutes of the game get messy again, as players both tire and lose discipline. Those within any sort of reach of goal now start hitting wild shots that they hope might knuckle spectacularly to propel them to a draft position. None go in, and the ball boys and girls are kept busy scrambling through the empty stands beyond the goals. Finally the game ends and the two sides troop off to be replaced by the players from the other two teams, and the next game quickly gets under way. I’m still talking with a disappointed Jason Johnson about his hit-and-miss performance when midfielder Dillon Powers opens the scoring in that next game with a thumping shot. Johnson’s eyes flicker to the game behind us, “Well, I suppose it’s good to get the butterflies out of the stomach on Day 1.”
I wish him luck, and for once find myself truly meaning that end-of-interview platitude. I find that happening repeatedly over the next few days. Even the most feted of these young players faces an uncertain path ahead — most of them have at least acquired a college education, but even those who’ll now segue into decent, if not exorbitant, starting salaries as Generation Adidas players still face a long route toward anything like stable careers. And speaking with one young player, Machael David, of whom more soon, he remarks that with his college career over he’s basically homeless if he does not find a team. We both know he has had injuries and is a long shot to go in the first two rounds, but as with Johnson I wish him luck, and promise to revisit his extraordinary personal story.
When you see the players up close, en masse, you’re reminded of how young they really are and what this represents for them. At one point in the weekend, I walk in front of the clubhouse to make a call and find myself standing a few feet behind Mikey Lopez and presumptive no. 1 draft pick Andrew Farrell as they sit on a concrete ledge happily watching the two other teams play, only for one of the Combine coaches to shout at them to get inside and get ready for the bus. As they scramble to their feet, reaching for their kit bags, they look not like budding superstars, but guilty kids. Kids who just want to play.
Andrew Farrell was drafted no. 1 overall by New England Revolution. His roommate at the Combine, Jason Johnson, was drafted no. 13 by Houston Dynamo. Carlos Alvarez (2) went to Chivas USA as expected, and Mikey Lopez (14) went to Sporting Kansas City.
Machael David was interviewed by three MLS sides, but was not selected in the SuperDraft and will now enter the Supplemental Draft on Tuesday.
In Part 2 of this story, we speak at length with two of the young hopefuls from the Combine, Andrew Farrell and Machael David, about the draft and the extraordinary personal circumstances that brought them there.
Graham Parker (@kidweil) leads the U.S. and MLS soccer coverage for the Guardian. He also writes for Howler.Sebastian A. Harris is a graduate student and also a Timber Rattlesnake researcher. Recently, we were able to speak with him about this unique line of work.
Sebastian’s childhood strongly contributed to his interest in zoology. While growing up in the inner-city, he didn’t have many opportunities to get out into nature, but his parents were still able to foster his interest in wildlife. Sebastian’s father showed him Discovery Channel documentaries about nature and shared his large collection Zoobooks with his son. Sebastian’s mother took him to the Philadelphia Zoo so he could see all of the animals he was learning about firsthand. Additionally, Sebastian’s childhood heroes included Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin, who are famous for their experiences with animals. All of these factors strongly contributed to his desire to become a zoologist.
Later on, Sebastian began his undergraduate program studying biology at Delaware Valley University. During this time, Sebastian worked as a naturalist at Wildlands Conservancy’s Pool Wildlife Sanctuary and through relationships formed here, secured the opportunity to gain field experience with some of Pennsylvania's rarest reptiles and amphibians. It was also during his time at Delaware Valley University, that Sebastian met his advisor, Dr. Gregory George, who connected Sebastian with a herpetologist at East Stroudsburg University. Through this relationship, Sebastian was offered the opportunity to study Timber Rattlesnakes for his Master’s thesis under the direction of Dr. Laduke.
Sebastian is currently still working on this Master’s program and when complete, he will have earned an M.S. in Biology. So far he has completed over 30-course credits and a comprehensive exam, he only needs to finish his dissertation before completing the program. The project for his dissertation studies whether or not pregnant rattlesnakes select habitats with specific features to gestate in. Sebastian hypothesizes that “rocks with particular dimensions, conducive to sustainable conduction, and surrounded by vegetation, which is optimal for crypsis, make up the ideal gestation habitat for Timber Rattlesnakes.” Sebastian still needs to analyze all of the data he has collected to determine the study’s findings. He did note that he has seen some very interesting rattlesnake behavior, for example, he found two females utilizing a dead tree that had fallen as a gestation chamber. This is unusual because rocks are usually what they choose to gestate within.
To gather data for this study, Sebastian must plan ahead, set due dates, and communicate frequently with committee members. To stay on track, Sebastian also tries to write every day, while information is still fresh in his mind. However, Sebastian also must remain flexible about when he can collect data because it depends heavily on the weather. He usually heads out into the field about twice a week. In the field, he uses traditional methods of habitat sampling including, “linear measurements of habitat features and quadrat sampling to determine percent cover estimates of habitat surrounding gestation rocks.” This particular project studies utilized versus available habitat, so stratified random sampling is involved. As Sebastian noted, “ensuring that samples are indeed random can be challenging but it's integral to comparative data.” Sebastian also uses a mapmaking program called ArcMap to gather information about other characteristics of the habitat such as slope and site elevation.
After learning all of this great information about the project, we still had to ask Sebastian, “Why rattlesnakes?” Sebastian says he has always been very interested in venomous snakes, and that they are often misunderstood. Timber Rattlesnakes are only aggressive when provoked and there is nothing inherently vicious about these animals, unlike what most people believe. One of Sebastian’s major missions is to reduce the stigma surrounding these types of animals. Overall, while he would not have turned down the chance to study any type of amphibian or reptile, Sebastian is very happy he was able to find a project studying rattlesnakes.
When not working on his dissertation Sebastian still remains very connected to nature. He is a passionate advocate for environmental awareness and education. He feels that humans need to better understand the environmental problems we face before we can join together in solving them. Sebastian also supports the efforts of the Pennsylvania Amphibian and Reptile Survey (PARS) which as he described, “has garnered a large number of volunteers who do outreach and contribute their findings to an online database. It has produced a number of citizen scientists and has done well with connecting Pennsylvanians to our native reptiles and amphibians.” Beyond this important conservation work, Sebastian also enjoys writing blog posts about nature for his website and volunteering with the North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group, helping with their study of Wood Turtles. Overall, Sebastian seeks out and participates in many unique experiences that enable him to engage his passions for zoology and nature.
At Conseris, we love helping passionate researchers reach their goals. Sign up for a free-trial today and learn how Conseris can help you better pursue your interests.The organisers of the Vuelta a España today announced the five teams that will join the 17 WorldTour teams in the 2015 edition of the race. As expected, Spain's only Pro Continental team Caja Rural-Seguros RGA was one of the five. Also in the list are two French teams, Europcar and Cofidis, Team Colombia and the MTN-Qhubeka squad, which also earned wildcard bids in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. Related Articles News shorts: Possible replacements for Riis, Neylan signs for Orica-AIS
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Last year Luis Leon Sanchez won the mountains classification while riding for Caja Rural, and while he transferred to the Astana squad ahead of this season, the team still is home to Luis Mas, who was voted most combative rider on two stages in 2014.
Colombia was elated with the news after missing out on bids for the Giro and Tour. “It is a great day for us as a team, and we will be honored to bring the Colombian flag at the start of the Vuelta a Espana," manager Claudio Corti said. "For us, it is another big step ahead in our team’s evolution: after racing the Giro twice, we have now managed to earn the confidence of Unipublic, something we cannot wait to pay back with three weeks of aggressive racing in August and September.”
Teams for the 2015 Vuelta a España:
WorldTour teams:
AG2R La Mondiale (FRA)
Astana Pro Team (KAZ)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Etixx - Quick Step (BEL)
FDJ (FRA)
IAM Cycling (SUI)
Lampre – Merida (ITA)
Lotto Soudal (BEL)
Movistar Team (ESP)
Orica GreenEdge (AUS)
Team Cannondale - Garmin (USA)
Team Giant - Alpecin (GER)
Team Katusha (RUS)
Team Lotto NL-Jumbo (NED)
Team SKY (GBR)
Tinkoff - Saxo (RUS)
Trek Factory Racing (USA)
Wildcards:
Caja Rural – Seguros RGA (ESP)
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (FRA)
Team Colombia (COL)
Team Europcar (FRA)
MTN - Qhubeka (RSA)Joe Biden (Photo: Screengrab)
Failed financier Bill Ackman got an earful from former Vice President Joe Biden, said three people who witnessed the conversation.
According to Fox Business News, the two spoke at the SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference, a popular Wall Street conversation among high-rollers started by Anthony Scaramucci. Biden and Ackman were both speaking at the event.
During Biden’s speech, he commented on former Secretary Hillary Clinton and the 2016 election.
“I never thought she was a great candidate. I thought I was a great candidate,” he said, renewing curiosity if he was interested in running for president in 2020.
Later during a private VIP dinner, the question came up about why Biden didn’t run in 2016. Former Gov. Jeb Bush asked, “why didn’t you run?”
Biden — who has been especially close to his family since losing his wife and infant daughter in a 1972 car accident weeks before he was sworn into office as a senator — became emotional and ultimately said “I’m sorry … I’ve said enough.”
“Why? That’s never stopped you before!” Ackman blurted out.
That’s when things got tense, according to those present.
“Who is this assh*le?” Biden asked. “Look, I don’t know who you are, wise-ass, but never disrespect the memory of my dead son!”
Sources say that Ackman tried to apologize but Biden stopped him, “just shut the hell up.”
Ackman’s spokesperson disputed “the idea that there was an argument or altercation between Joe Biden and Bill Ackman.” Adding, “Bill had a great time at the dinner and enjoyed spending time with the former vice president.”
Sources dispute the account, however, saying “Biden was in rare form,” and noted, “I can’t believe it has never leaked out.”
Ackman’s main investments include stocks in Herbalife and Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which was once caught hiking drug prices and using a specialty pharmacy for some of it’s drugs. Stock in the company fell nearly 90 percent.
Ackman’s Pershing Square hedge fund has struggled through the last three years and was down 13.5 percent.
According to a May survey by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, Biden would beat President Donald Trump by 14 points.A group of conventional physicians who are strongly aligned with the pharmaceutical paradigm have called themselves the “skeptics”. They also have a few journalists in their camp.
Michael Spector is one of these journalists. If you have any appreciation of natural medicine you will have a very good laugh by watching his entire presentation at a recent TED conference.
If you want further entertainment then listen to my interview with Jeffery Smith in which he decimates Michael’s ignorant comments on GMO.
Jeffrey Smith, the premiere GMO expert and author of the bestseller Seeds of Deception, and Genetic Roulette, exposes the flimsy rationale, and the complete lack of evidence that tries to pass as “science” when it comes to defending genetic engineering.
Science can, and has, given us answers to the question: “Are genetically modified foods safe?”
But those answers are NOT what industry is reporting, and the reason is simple. If they were, genetically engineered crops would never be allowed to be planted, and GM foods would be banned worldwide.
Smith sheds light on how the deception is perpetrated, and counters the critics' claims that “GMOs are safe” with science-based evidence.Customers receive nothing from settlement with US Federal Trade Commission, which decided owner Ruby Corp was unable to pay full $17.5m penalty
The owner of hacked infidelity website Ashley Madison will pay a sharply discounted $1.66m penalty to settle US investigations into lax data security and deceptive practices.
The remainder of a $17.5m settlement was suspended based on privately held Ruby Corp’s inability to pay.
“I recognise that it was a far lower number frankly than I would have liked,” said Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “We want them to feel the pain. We don’t want them to profit from unlawful conduct. At the same time we are not going to seek to put a company out of business.”
The size of the payment means Ashley Madison’s customers will not receive any financial redress for the breach, which exposed the personal details of more than 36 million people who signed up for the site with the slogan: “Life is short. Have an affair.”
International report into Ashley Madison hack 'highly critical' of site's privacy Read more
Class-action lawsuits against the company are pending.
The joint investigation, which also included authorities in Australia and Canada, found the Toronto-based company’s lax security practices allowed intruders undetected access to its computer networks several times between November 2014 and June 2015.
The investigation also found that Ruby, as the company previously known as Avid Life Media has rebranded itself, created fake female profiles to lure men into paying for conversations and retained user information even after customers had paid for a service to “remove all traces of your usage”.
The company first disclosed it was the target of an FTC investigation in a Reuters interview in July. At that time it said it was likely to collect $80m in revenue in 2016 and had $50m to spend on acquisitions.
Top executives on Wednesday declined to update that outlook and said they had spent millions of dollars to beef up security.
“The company is stable. We’re very pleased with the outcome,” said Rob Segal, who took over as chief executive earlier this year. Founder Noel Biderman left the company soon after almost 10 gigabytes of its data was leaked in several stages in mid-2015.
The company has offered a free delete function since September 2015 when it discontinued the paid feature.
Avid shut down the fake profiles in the United States, Canada and Australia in 2014 and by late 2015 in the rest of the world, but some US users had message exchanges with foreign fembots until late in 2015, according to an Ernst & Young report commissioned by the company.
Another site, JDI Dating, paid $616,165 in redress for similar fake profile practices in an October 2014 settlement with the FTC.Warning: Some may find the video disturbing.
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HARTFORD -- A juvenile is under arrest after a video showed a surprise attack on a man in Hartford also known as the "knockout game."
A 66-year-old man was walking outside of his home, when he was approached by four teens, police said. One of the teens punched the man in the back of the head, shoved him to the ground and threw him into the street. One teen filmed the attack on his phone and two others watched. They can be heard laughing as the man lies in the road.
The victim said he wasn't seriously injured and got a bump on the back of his head and a headache. He didn't call police or seek medical attention.
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Police said the video quickly made the rounds at Hartford High School where the attacker goes to school. That's when school district officials caught wind of it and reported it to authorities.
Police said the teen was arrested and referred to juvenile court Tuesday, May 10. He was issued summons for assault in the third degree on an elderly person, reckless endangerment in the second degree and disorderly conduct. He has a previous arrest record, according to police, and just a week prior was arrested after a fight at his school.
No word yet if the other teens in the video will face charges.
According to police, when the teen was visited at his home by officers he claimed the victim was an old man and acting crazy and doing "karate stances," which the suspect said he thought meant he wanted to fight his friend. However, after police showed the suspect and his grandparents the video, the suspect got upset and exasperated.
According to police the victim is 5-foot-4 and 110 pounds, while the suspect is 5-foot-6, 140 pounds and muscular.
In the so-called "knockout game," a victim is chosen at random. Without warning, the perpetrator tries to knock out their target with a single blow to the head. Often the attacks are recorded and posted on social media. In 2013, New Haven officers reported six knockout-style assaults in two days.Lester Holt was wrong on the subject of "stop and frisk" during Monday's presidential debate. Is that criticism coming from supporters of Donald Trump? Yes but, more importantly, it is also coming from liberal sources as well including Ed Kilgore of the not exactly Trump-friendly New York Magazine.
You can see Holt make his claim about "stop and frisk" being ruled unconstitutional in the video below followed by Kilgore's critique:
In the debate, moderator Lester Holt raised Trump’s call for nationwide stop-and-frisk and asked him if he was aware of the judicial ruling in New York. The exchange has drawn fire from commentators on the right, who argue that Holt’s challenge of Trump was factually inaccurate: HOLT: “Stop-and-frisk” was ruled unconstitutional in New York because it largely singled out black and Hispanic young men. TRUMP: No, you’re wrong. It went before a judge who was a very against-police judge. It was taken away from her, and our mayor — our new mayor — refused to go forward with the case. They would have won on appeal. If you look at it, throughout the country, there are many places where it’s— HOLT: The argument is that it’s a form of racial profiling. TRUMP: No, the argument is that we have to take the guns away from these people that have them and that are bad people that shouldn’t have ’em. While the entire exchange was characterized by half-truths and overgeneralizations, Holt’s critics have a point. The NBC anchor (and by extension Clinton) was correct that a single district-court judge declared the particular use of stop-and-frisk in New York unconstitutional — but he didn’t make it clear that stop-and-frisk has generally been upheld if conducted in a nondiscriminatory manner, most famously by Earl Warren’s Supreme Court in the 1968 case of Terry v. Ohio. Trump was right that the decision in New York was of dubious value as precedent (he didn’t use those words, of course, though he seemed to be gesturing in that direction), but was arguably wrong that stop-and-frisk had much if anything to do with crime reductions in New York — and also wrong in attributing the heavy use of the tactic to his buddy Rudy.
The New York Daily News would beg to differ on how effective stop and frisk was in a report last year on whether it reduced crime:
A dramatic drop in stop-and-frisk encounters has emboldened criminals and made cops more reluctant to take proactive police action, even as murders and shootings are on the rise in the city. The frightening message — echoed by police supervisors and union leaders — comes as stop-and-frisk encounters are on pace to plunge |
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policy, and stated in early August 2002 that "it is clear that both sides of the straits are separate countries". This statement was strongly criticized by opposition Pan-Blue Coalition parties on Taiwan, which support a One-China Principle, but oppose defining this "One China" as the PRC.
The One China policy became an issue during the 2004 ROC Presidential election. Chen Shui-bian abandoned his earlier ambiguity and publicly rejected the One-China Principle claiming it would imply that Taiwan is part of the PRC. His opponent Lien Chan publicly supported a policy of "one China, different interpretations", as done in 1992. At the end of the 2004 election, Lien Chan and his running mate, James Soong, later announced that they would not put ultimate unification as the goal for their cross-strait policy and would not exclude the possibility of an independent Taiwan in the future. In an interview with Time Asia bureau prior to the 2004 presidential elections, Chen used the model of Germany and the European Union as examples of how countries may come together, and the Soviet Union as illustrating how a country may fragment.
In March 2005, the PRC passed an Anti-Secession Law which authorized the use of force to prevent a "serious incident" that breaks the One China policy, but which at the same time did not identify one China with the People's Republic and offered to pursue political solutions. At the same session of the PRC Congress, a large increase in military spending was also passed, leading blue team members to interpret those measures as forcing the ROC to adhere to the One China Policy or else the PRC would attack.
In April and May 2005, Lien Chan and James Soong made separate trips to Mainland China,[41] during which both explicitly supported the Consensus of 1992 and the concept of one China and in which both explicitly stated their parties' opposition to Taiwan independence. Although President Chen at one point supported the trips of Lien and Soong for defusing cross-strait tensions,[42] he also attacked them for working with the "enemy" PRC[citation needed]. On April 28, 2008, Honorary Chairman Lien Chan of the then opposition Kuomintang visited Beijing and met with Hu Jintao for the fourth time since their historic encounter on April 29, 2005 in their respective capacity as party leaders of both the Chinese Communist Party and the KMT. Lien also met Chen Yunlin, director of the PRC's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.[43]
On May 28, 2008, Kuomintang Chairman Wu Po-hsiung made a landmark visit to Beijing,[44] and met and shook hands with the Communist General Secretary Hu Jintao, at the Great Hall of the People. He also visited the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen. Hu Jintao called for resuming exchanges and talks, based on the 1992 Consensus, between mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), as early as possible, and practically solving problems concerning the two sides through talks on equal footing. Once the ARATS-SEF dialogue is resumed, priority should be given to issues including cross-Strait weekend chartered flights and approval for mainland China residents traveling to Taiwan, which are of the biggest concern to people on both sides of the Strait. "The KMT has won two important elections in Taiwan recently," Wu said, "which showed that the mainstream opinion of the Taiwan people identified with what the KMT stood for, and most of the Taiwan people agree that the two sides on the strait can achieve peaceful development and a win-win situation".[45] Wu also told reporters that he had stressed to Hu that Taiwan needed an international presence. "The Taiwanese people need a sense of security, respect and a place in the international community", Wu said. Hu was also quoted as having promised to discuss feasible measures for Taiwan to take part in international activities, particularly its participation in World Health Organization activities.[46]
See also [ edit ]It was a tight race between three different competitors but a familiar face took home the AT&T Goal of the Week in Week 4.
Montreal Impact forward Jack McInerney saw his looping chip in the 27th minute against Orlando City squeak by game-winners from Mike Grella and Jordan Allen. After Orlando City failed to clear the their area, the 22-year-old striker rushed onto a loose ball in the box and chipped it over a flummoxed Donovan Ricketts.
The former Philadelphia Union forward has earned a Goal of the Week award in each of the past two seasons, taking home the award in Week 16 of last season with this shocking finish.
AT&T Goal of the Week: Week 4 Final Results
1. Jack McInerney (MTL) 27.65%
2. Mike Grella (NY) – 24.78%
3. Jordan Allen (RSL) – 21.85%
4. Kaká (ORL) – 15.26%
5. Chris Pontius (DC) – 10.46%Buy Photo James Sheppard is congratulated as he walks through a crowd after announcing he will run for mayor of the City of Rochester. (Photo: Jamie Germano/@jgermano1/Staff Photographer)Buy Photo
The first city Democratic committees to weigh in on who should get the party endorsement for mayor shunned Mayor Lovely Warren on Tuesday night, going strongly for challenger James Sheppard.
Sheppard, the city's former police chief and a current Monroe County legislator, easily doubled Warren's vote totals in the 28th and combined 26th and 7th legislative districts. Warren narrowly edged out her other challenger, WROC-TV reporter/anchor Rachel Barnhart in combined votes. The two tied in the 26th/7th districts, which traces the northwest edge of the city, extending to Charlotte.
Candidates receive a percent total of a weighted vote that will be binding for the first ballot at the Democratic convention this spring. There are 10 city committees in all. Warren is generally considered unlikely to win the party designation, a first in local politics reflecting what is alternately described as divisions or diversity within the party.
In a statement, Sheppard spoke of a "groundswell among Democrats for change," saying: "Citizens here are tired of the shootings and violence, tired of being left out of the decision-making process that affects their neighborhoods and tired of lack of results from City Hall."
Gary Rogers of the Friends of Lovely Warren Committee released a statement early Wednesday morning.
"Exactly what we thought would happen tonight happened — although we actually got more votes than we expected to receive," Rogers stated. "It is our belief that when everyone votes, everyone's heard so regardless of what happens during this elite, handpicked committee process we will go forward to the primary where we are sure that we will be successful.
"We have brought more jobs and opportunity to our City, better educational opportunities and made our neighborhoods safer and the real decision makers in this race are the everyday voters and residents of Rochester."
Barnhart released a statement that read: "I was the only candidate to present solid plans to grow the economy and reduce poverty. I was grateful for the opportunity to present my platform to a select group of party insiders. The real contest involves all voters on Primary Day."
Local businessman Alex White, an enrolled Green Party member, also is running for mayor.
[email protected]
Read or Share this story: http://on.rocne.ws/2mDSsGFHow to Install Software In Linux : A Step By Step Guide
In any operating system we have used in our computer, application or software is the main. In Windows, we download a.exe file and install it by clicking Next and install. But, how to install software in Linux?
Yes, Linux has a several procedure to install applications/software. In this post, I will show you about 4 easiest way to installing software on Linux. This is an ultimate guide for beginner to expert users.
Note: This guide is based on Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions. So please install Ubuntu or Ubuntu based OS in your PC.
Tutorial Requirements
An Ubuntu or Ubuntu based distribution Such as Linux Mint, Zorin OS, Xubuntu, Kubuntu installed PC
An Active Internet Connection
How To Install Software In Linux -From Online
Method 1: Installing Software From Ubuntu Software Center
This is the easiest and most stable method for installing software. You can use Ubuntu Software Center for installation. So, click on Ubuntu Software Center icon from the launcher. If you don’t find, go to dash and search for Ubuntu Software Center and click on it.
This is the Ubuntu Software Center. There are several categories which contain thousand of software/application. And also, all of these applications are Free and Open Source. Suppose, we need to install Filezilla. Click on the FileZilla icon to install it. You can also select any other software to install.
After clicking FileZilla, the window will appear. Press ‘Install’ to install this software. You see that the software has some screenshot. If you want to view it larger, simply click on the screenshot.
After clicking ‘Install,’ this dialogue box will appear.Simply enter the user/root password to the box and press ‘Authenticate’.
Congratulations. Our application has installed.Wait some time for finishing the installation.
OK, our installation has completed. Go to Dash and search for FileZilla. Click on it to start.
Method 2: Installing Software By Using Terminal/Command Line
Think about a couple of year ago.Before 10-12 years, Linux has no GUI (Graphical User Interface) software installation process. The procedure has developed. But, Old Is Gold.
Yes, in this method we using Terminal (The Emulator of Command Line) to install software on Linux. Obviously, using the brand new Terminal
First of all, we need to select an application for install. Example: KODI – an Open Source Media Center Software for Linux. Go to the KODI official website, click on the ‘Download‘ button and select Linux from platform section.
Now, read the code carefully. You need to write these code in Linux Terminal. To open theTerminal, go to Dash and search for ‘Terminal’. Or, press Ctrl+T from the keyboard to open Terminal.
In this Terminal window, write the following code and press Enter. This code adds software properties to your Operating System.
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
Insert your User/Root password. Your password will not appear on the Terminal.
Now, enter this code and press Enter. You will be notified to press Enter again for adding PPA finally. You can see this post to know more about PPA.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
After adding PPA, you need to update your Software Repository. So, write this code in Terminal and press. Click Here to know more about Software Repository.
sudo apt-get update
This is the last step for installing the application. Write this code and press enter. When you will notify about confirmation, press ‘Y’ and then press ‘Enter’.
sudo apt-get install kodi
Your application has installed completely. Go to Dash and search for KODI and enjoy.
How To Install Software In Linux – From Offline
A couple of years ago when I first used Linux, my main problem was how to install software in Linux from offline. I have no internet connection on my PC and it was very hard for myself to install software. On those days,.deb file are not available on the internet. But nowadays, there are a huge amount of.deb file available for download. You need to know that.deb file is equivalent to Microsoft Windows.exe file.
There is two place to download.deb file about your preferable software. First, you can try the official website. Such as Dropbox, Google Chrome, Skype etc. The positive point to downloading from the official website, you can get the latest update of this software. Let’s start.
Method 1: Installing Software From.deb File (Official Source)
As an example of installing software with a stable.deb file, we will download Skype for Linux from their official website. You can also search it on Google as “Skype for Linux“. Find the embedded the download link after the screenshot.
Note: skype has not updated regularly after releasing 4.3 version for Linux. Don’t worry, Skype 4.3 completely support the Ubuntu 12.04 version and up.
After downloading the.deb file it will look like the screenshot. Next is to install it now.
In Ubuntu or Ubuntu based distribution as like Linux Mint, Zorin OS,DeepinLinux, Ubuntu mate you can install a.deb file using GDebi Package Installer. So, right click on the.deb file and select open with ‘GDebi Package Installer’.
After opening the package installer click on ‘Install Package’.
Our installation has started. You can see the dialog box for showed that ‘Downloading additional package files’. This means Skype need some additional files to run. Don’t worry, that is a special requirement for Skype.
After installing it will show you a successful message. Close the installer and search on Dash for Skype. Click on it and run it.
Sign in with your Skype name or Microsoft account and enjoy.
Method 2: Installing Software From.deb File (Unofficial Source)
As usual any other OS, Linux has some unofficial source to download software/application. But, most of the time the websites not provide the.deb file. They only provide the source code.It is more complex to install an application from source.
Yes, I have found a solution for this problem. You can visit UpToDown.com and download all types of application you need. You will find a stable.deb file for all software listed here.
The website is very user-friendly and easy to use. You can select any application you need and click on Download. That’s it.
BONUS
[sociallocker]
This list helps you to find your important application, themes, icon packs easily.Just click on the buttons and get your favorite software.
Important Website List
Recommended Application List
[/sociallocker]
At Last………………….
In this article, I have described you the easiest and helpful way to installing software in Linux.
There are more ways to installing software on Linux. As like installing software for source code,from.run command and etc. I will detail this advanced method of another article.
If you have any question about how to install software in Linux, please leave a comment.
Thanks for reading ‘How To Install Software In Linux.’A study conducted on heart patients in Saudi Arabia and UAE has found that men with more than one wife are four time more likely to suffer a heart attack than their monogamous counterparts.
The findings of the study, which were recently presented at the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology Congress 2015 in Abu Dhabi, examined how polygamy put men at the risk of heart diseases, PTI reported.
"We found an association between an increasing number of wives and the severity and number of coronary blockages. This could be because the need to provide and maintain separate households multiplies the financial burden and emotional expense," Dr Amin Daoulah, a cardiologist at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia said.
The study, which was conducted on patients at five hospitals in Saudi Arabia and UAE, found a significant connection between number of wives and the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD), left main coronary artery disease (LMD) and coronary microvascular disease (MVD).
"The risk increased with the number of wives," the study noted. The study also found that 56% men had diabetes, 57% hypertension and 45% suffered from CAD.
The study also noted that men with more than one wife were more likely to be older, live in a rural area, have a higher income and have a history of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
The study concluded that men who practised polygamy had a 4.6-fold increased risk of CAD, a 3.5-fold increased risk of LMD and a 2.6-fold elevated risk of MVD.Not every assist is equal, and the same is true for seemingly equivalent per-game lines. Two NBA players averaging five assists aren’t identically adept passers.
Right off the bat, we’ll admit we’re overlooking plenty of factors here. Passes squeezed into tight spaces count the same as easy feeds in transition. We’re not factoring in turnovers. The players who rack up disproportionate numbers of dimes don’t receive their due credit.
But we’re zeroing in on passing efficiency—not volume—by looking at two different metrics for the league’s top 50 in assists per game (among those with at least 20 contests to their credit): passes per assist and field-goal-percentage improvement off potential assists.
Using NBA.com’s SportVU data, we’re calculating the former by dividing a player’s total passes by their total assists. The lower the number (or the further left on the chart to come), the better they are at generating buckets for their teammates without wasting passes. Those with higher scores are more likely to swing the ball around the horn or pass to set-up men; they don’t always serve as primary distributors.
The latter is a bit more complicated.
First, we’re looking at a player’s assists and potential assists—defined as passes that would have resulted in assists had the ensuing shot dropped. Dividing potential assists into actual assists yields the field-goal percentage produced by their teammates on worthy feeds. For example, James Harden is leading the NBA by averaging 11.8 assists and 22.3 potential assists, so the Houston Rockets are shooting 52.9 percent when he passes and they shoot quickly enough to earn him an assist if the shot falls.
This would be a potential assist:
By subtracting the team’s field-goal percentage, we can see how much better it shoots off that player’s passes. The higher the discrepancy (or the higher up on the coming chart), the better.
Don’t be surprised that every single player among the 50 analyzed has a positive differential, as teams’ field-goal percentages are typically depressed by isolation attempts, post-up plays and shots off passes from players who don’t serve as leading facilitators.
Again, volume isn’t taken into account here. But the league’s most-efficient passers are those who populate the upper-left portion of this graph (full data at the bottom of this article):
The men occupying the most prominent spots shouldn’t be even the tiniest bit surprising.
James Harden, Russell Westbrook and John Wall are 2016-17’s three leading assist men, and each of them operates with near autonomy in their respective schemes. When they’re not looking to score, they’re always seeking open teammates.
LeBron James and Jeff Teague aren’t far behind, while Chris Paul is in arguably the best position of the leading bunch. The Los Angeles Clippers’ resident point god doesn’t waste many passes while running the show, and he boosts LAC’s field-goal percentage from 46.5 to 56.1 off his passes.
But the true outlier here is Nikola Jokic, who boosts the Denver Nuggets’ efficiency levels by a smidgen under 14 percentage points.
This isn’t a fluke created by his position or role. If it were, you’d see players such as Marc Gasol and Paul Millsap much higher on the y-axis. Instead, it’s a testament to Jokic’s knack for putting the ball in the perfect spot.
He accumulates his fair share of outlet passes and is often willing to kick the ball to the perimeter after an ill-fated post-up attempt, which is why he doesn’t fare better in passes per assist. But the Nuggets know they can cut to the hoop and receive a high-quality feed around the basket:
A disproportionate number of his assists lead teammates right to the rim, where they can complete easy layups and dunks. Even when defenders are there to contest shots, they’re capable of finishing, as Gary Harris is below:
In many ways, Jokic is a product of the Daryl Morey school of thought—just with his passing rather than his scoring.
Of his first 124 assists this season, 71 have led to buckets from no further than three feet (57.3 percent). Another 35 produced triples (28.2 percent), and that leaves just 14.5 percent allocated to two-pointers from at least four feet. He knows how to pass into the most efficient zones, and he’s already become a master of creating easy opportunities for his teammates.
By comparison, 23.4 percent of Gasol’s assists lead to two-pointers from at least four feet, and the average shot distance on one of his dimes is 4.5 feet longer than Jokic’s.
The 6’10” center from Serbia may only be 21 years old, but he’s already become one of the NBA’s most efficient distributors, simply by understanding how to pass players open in the most advantageous locations.
Denver was right to hand him the keys to its offense.
[wpdatatable id=27]
Adam Fromal is the founder of NBA Math. Follow him on Twitter @fromal09.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from NBA.com or NBA Math and are accurate heading into games on Jan. 13. Videos come from 3ball.io.Family demands answers over death of Villawood detainee Robert Peihopa
Posted
The family of a man who died in Villawood Detention Centre last month say they do not believe he died of a heart attack, as the Immigration Department said, and have accused the Department of covering up the circumstances surrounding the death.
Key point Witnesses say Robert Peihopa was involved in a fight before he died in Villawood last month
Family and witnesses report bruising and cuts on Robert Peihopa's face
Immigration Department says Robert Peihopa probably died of a heart attack
On the evening of New Zealander Robert Peihopa's death, his mother, Hera, was told that he died of a heart attack after a sparring session in the gym.
"I thought that was a bit too quick to be giving me a reason like that," Hera Peihopa told 7.30.
"It was too quick, and even before he'd been examined, to say he'd had a heart attack, it just sounded really strange … just didn't feel right."
Her fears were confirmed later when she saw the body.
"When I saw his body he had two black eyes, one more severe than the other, he had abrasions on his face and in the back of his head he had a gash and it was stitched up," she said.
"That told me a lot, actually, that there was an altercation of some sort, definitely."
Anastasia Kalaboukas, Robert's former partner, and the mother of his three children, agreed.
"I was really upset when I first saw the body because what we were told, that he died of a heart attack, clearly wasn't the case," she told 7.30.
"He was badly bruised, he also had a laceration to his face and when I spoke to the detective (he told me) he did not die of a heart attack and his cause of death was still unknown."
"I believe someone should be held accountable for his death."
Do you know more about this story? Email [email protected]
Witnesses say detainee was involved in a fight
Several Villawood witnesses who spoke to 7.30 say Mr Peihopa was involved in a fight prior to his death in the detention centre.
Among them is Englishman Lee Mulligan, who was a friend of Robert Peihopa in Villawood and one of the key witnesses who saw his body immediately after he died.
"I'd just left my friend's house in another compound and headed up home at about 9.30 that night, and just as I was about to enter my unit I looked to my left and I found Rob's body on his back facing upwards, lifeless, with two young (detainees) over him trying to wake him up," Mr Mulligan told 7.30.
"Within one or two minutes I started to realise that something was really wrong."
"I was under the impression that he'd been knocked out in a fight 'cause he had his straps on, his gym straps, so I thought he'd had a fight."
"He had two black eyes and a scratch from there down to there," he said, pointing to Robert's right cheek in a photo.
Mr Mulligan also disagreed with the Immigration Department's assessment that Robert died of a heart attack.
"Absolutely not," he said.
"Not judging by the marks on his face and the straps on his hands."
"He'd had a face, and, I'd say more so, a brain injury."
"Somebody needs to be held accountable, if not the person who's done it, the staff."
"It should have been monitored, it should have been cameras there, it's a very grey area the security."
Family criticises 'complete silence' from department
Hera Peihopa said she felt authorities were covering up the real circumstances of her son's death.
"I really feel that they are not telling us everything, that they know they are keeping it very much under cover," Hera Peihopa said.
"They are not being open and sharing any information at all. I've had absolutely nothing, I've heard nothing at all in regards to any details around Robert's death.
"There's complete silence, so, yes, I do think someone is covering up.
"The circumstances of his death makes it very uncomfortable for them and they don't look good.
"I'm sure they are unhappy about the whole issue with his untimely death, but that's part of the whole thing, it's not as though they can walk away from it and say that was bad luck and hopefully it will go away."
She said she would keep asking questions until she found out what really went on.
"The one thing that keeps me going is I want to get to the truth of what happened," she said.
"I don't want his death to be swept under the carpet and I don't want him to be forgotten as being just another detainee."
"He was a real person and he was beautiful and he was my son."
New South Wales Police are investigating Mr Peihopa's death and say they are preparing a coroner's report.
The Immigration Department says it is aware of claims of a fight in Villawood but is waiting to see the report from the coroner.
Topics: death, immigration, villawood-2163I’ve heard of the Scoville scale, which measures the potency of spicy peppers. Those boring green bell peppers get a 0; habaneros get a score of 350,000.
The stuff those UC Davis police officers so casually hosed into the faces of peacefully demonstrating students? between 2,000,000 and 5,300,000 Scoville units.
But we’ve taken to calling it pepper spray, I think, because that makes it sound so much more benign than it really is, like something just a grade or so above what we might mix up in a home kitchen. The description hints maybe at that eye-stinging effect that the cook occasionally experiences when making something like a jalapeno-based salsa, a little burn, nothing too serious. Until you look it up on the Scoville scale and remember, as toxicologists love to point out, that the dose makes the poison. That we’re not talking about cookery but a potent blast of chemistry. So that if OC spray is the U.S. police response of choice – and certainly, it’s been used with dismaying enthusiasm during the Occupy protests nationwide, as documented in this excellent Atlantic roundup – it may be time to demand a more serious look at the risks involved.
Their goal is to cause intense pain. Where has the police gotten this bizarre idea that somehow inducing agony in protesters is somehow humane or reasonable?
(Also on Sb)Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Courtesy of Burlington Police
Related Stories: Burlington City Leaders Working on a Way to Curb Crime Downtown
South Burlington, Vt. - South Burlington police say a man is facing charges of assault and violating conditions of release.
Police say they were called for an intoxicated man assaulting a woman around 3:30 Monday afternoon. Police identified the man as Michael Reynolds, 40. Police told Local 22 & Local 44 in August that Reynolds has had almost 900 interactions with law enforcement since 2011.
A police investigation found Reynolds was in violation of seven separate conditions of release on multiple prior assault charges. Authorities say Reynolds was arrested and taken to the South Burlington Police Department for processing. While there, police say Reynolds kicked an officer.
Officials say Reynolds is being held at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, he's due in court on Tuesday.Original Paper Acute Effects of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine and Methylphenidate on Circulating Steroid Levels in Healthy Subjects Seibert J.a · Hysek C.M.b · Penno C.A.a · Schmid Y.b · Kratschmar D.V.a · Liechti M.E.b · Odermatt A.a
Author affiliations aSwiss Center for Applied Human Toxicology and Division of Molecular and Systems Toxicology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, and bPsychopharmacology Research Group, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Biomedicine and Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Matthias E. Liechti Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology University Hospital Basel, Hebelstrasse 2 CH-4031 Basel (Switzerland) E-Mail [email protected] Alex Odermatt Division of Molecular and Systems Toxicology Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 50 CH-4056 Basel (Switzerland) E-Mail [email protected] Keywords: MDMAMethylphenidateSteroidCortisolAldosteroneTestosterone Related Articles for " " Neuroendocrinology 2014;100:17-25 https://doi.org/10.1159/000364879
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Python is one of the best programming languages out there, with an extensive coverage in scientific computing: computer vision, artificial intelligence, mathematics, astronomy to name a few. Unsurprisingly, this holds true for machine learning as well.
Of course, it has some disadvantages too; one of which is that the tools and libraries for Python are scattered. If you are a unix-minded person, this works quite conveniently as every tool does one thing and does it well. However, this also requires you to know different libraries and tools, including their advantages and disadvantages, to be able to make a sound decision for the systems that you are building. Tools by themselves do not make a system or product better, but with the right tools we can work much more efficiently and be more productive. Therefore, knowing the right tools for your work domain is crucially important.
This post aims to list and describe the most useful machine learning tools and libraries that are available for Python. To make this list, we did not require the library to be written in Python; it was sufficient for it to have a Python interface. We also have a small section on Deep Learning at the end as it has received a fair amount of attention recently.
We do not aim to list all the machine learning libraries available in Python (the Python package index returns 139 results for “machine learning”) but rather the ones that we found useful and well-maintained to the best of our knowledge. Moreover, although some of modules could be used for various machine learning tasks, we included libraries whose main focus is machine learning. For example, although Scipy has some clustering algorithms, the main focus of this module is not machine learning but rather in being a comprehensive set of tools for scientific computing. Therefore, we excluded libraries like Scipy from our list (though we use it too!).
Another thing worth mentioning is that we also evaluated the library based on how it integrates with other scientific computing libraries because machine learning (either supervised or unsupervised) is part of a data processing system. If the library that you are using does not fit with your rest of data processing system, then you may find yourself spending a tremendous amount of time to creating intermediate layers between different libraries. It is important to have a great library in your toolset but it is also important for that library to integrate well with other libraries.
If you are great in another language but want to use Python packages, we also briefly go into how you could integrate with Python to use the libraries listed in the post.
Scikit Learn is our machine learning tool of choice at CB Insights. We use it for classification, feature selection, feature extraction and clustering. What we like most about it is that it has a consistent API which is easy to use while also providing a lot of evaluation, diagnostic and cross-validation methods out of the box (sound familiar? Python has batteries-included approach as well). The icing on the cake is that it uses Scipy data structures under the hood and fits quite well with the rest of scientific computing in Python with Scipy, Numpy, Pandas and Matplotlib packages. Therefore, if you want to visualize the performance of your classifiers (say, using a precision-recall graph or Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve) those could be quickly visualized with help of Matplotlib. Considering how much time is spent on cleaning and structuring the data, this makes it very convenient to use the library as it tightly integrates to other scientific computing packages.
Moreover, it has also limited Natural Language Processing feature extraction capabilities as well such as bag of words, tfidf, preprocessing (stop-words, custom preprocessing, analyzer). Moreover, if you want to quickly perform different benchmarks on toy datasets, it has a datasets module which provides common and useful datasets. You could also build toy datasets from these datasets for your own purposes to see if your model performs well before applying the model to the real-world dataset. For parameter optimization and tuning, it also provides grid search and random search. These features could not be accomplished if it did not have great community support or if it was not well-maintained. We look forward to its first stable release.
Statsmodels
Statsmodels is another great library which focuses on statistical models and is used mainly for predictive and exploratory analysis. If you want to fit linear models, do statistical analysis, maybe a bit of predictive modeling, then Statsmodels is a great fit. The statistical tests it provides are quite comprehensive and cover validation tasks for most of the cases. If you are R or S user, it also accepts R syntax for some of its statistical models. It also accepts Numpy arrays as well as Pandas data-frames for its models making creating intermediate data structures a thing of the past!
PyMC
PyMC is the tool of choice for Bayesians. It includes Bayesian models, statistical distributions and diagnostic tools for the convergence of models. It includes some hierarchical models as well. If you want to do Bayesian Analysis, you should check it out.
Shogun
Shogun is a machine learning toolbox with a focus on Support Vector Machines (SVM) that is written in C++. It is actively developed and maintained, provides a Python interface and the Python interface is mostly documented well. However, we’ve found its API hard to use compared to Scikit-learn. Also, it does not provide many diagnostics or evaluation algorithms out of the box. However, its speed is a great advantage.
Gensim
Gensim is defined as “topic modeling for humans”. As its homepage describes, its main focus is Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and its variants. Different from other packages, it has support for Natural Language Processing which makes it easier to combine NLP pipeline with other machine learning algorithms. If your domain is in NLP and you want to do clustering and basic classification, you may want to check it out. Recently, they introduced Recurrent Neural Network based text representation called word2vec from Google to their API as well. This library is written purely in Python.
Orange
Orange is the only library that has a Graphical User Interface (GUI) among the libraries listed in this post. It is also quite comprehensive in terms of classification, clustering and feature selection methods and has some cross-validation methods. It is better than Scikit-learn in some aspects (classification methods, some preprocessing capabilities) as well, but it does not fit well with the rest of the scientific computing ecosystem (Numpy, Scipy, Matplotlib, Pandas) as nicely as Scikit-learn.
Having a GUI is an important advantage over other libraries however. You could visualize cross-validation results, models and feature selection methods (you need to install Graphviz for some of the capabilities separately). Orange has its own data structures for most of the algorithms so you need to wrap the data into Orange-compatible data structures which makes the learning curve steeper.
PyMVPA
PyMVPA is another statistical learning library which is similar to Scikit-learn in terms of its API. It has cross-validation and diagnostic tools as well, but it is not as comprehensive as Scikit-learn.
Deep Learning
Even though deep learning is a subsection Machine Learning, we created a separate section for this field as it has received tremendous attention recently with various acqui-hires by Google and Facebook.
Theano
Theano is the most mature of deep learning library. It provides nice data structures (tensors) to represent layers of neural networks and they are efficient in terms of |
should serve as a warning to those who would simply dismiss the former DJ and wait for history to correct the error of his national influence. When Beck unveiled his “plan” last November in Orlando, he emphasized the long-term nature of the historic task ahead. Re-founding America, he said, would require more than one generation to accomplish, possibly taking as long as 100 years. You can be sure that Beck intends to remain at the center of his crusade for as many of them as possible.
Alexander Zaitchik is a freelance journalist in New York City. He is the author of Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance.
For more TNR, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.Please sign the campaigning group 38 Degrees’ open letter to Jeremy Hunt, warning him not to mess with the NHS.
Sometimes it’s almost unspeakably depressing to be living in England, in a dystopian fantasy that no one voted for, with a useless coalition government of the Tories and the Lib Dems that required Frankenstein-like engineering just to come into being.
Yesterday was one of those particularly depressing days, as David Cameron shuffled his cabinet and lurched even further to the right. Of course, there is desperation in the Prime Minister’s manoeuvring, and we should be thankful for that. Cameron has not got rid of George Osborne, of course, as he is the prime architect of the Tories’ economic policy, which involves allowing the rich to hoover up whatever they can, including that which has been secreted offshore, while obliging the rest of us to have to try and prise five pound notes out of Osborne’s hands, who it turns out, has the tenacity of a corpse with advanced rigor mortis. However, when 48 percent of voters recently gave Osborne a vote of no confidence, it was obviously significant. Cameron may be the whey-faced buffoon who can come up with an opinion at any time of the day or night, but Osborne is the whey-faced buffoon in charge of economic policy — Gordon Brown to Cameron’s Tony Blair, if you will.
48 percent of voters recognised the toxicity of Osborne, thereby providing a stunning vote of no confidence in the government, but he remained in place in the reshuffle while other buffoons got shifted around or axed. Andrew Lansley, who trailed the Chancellor with a 37 percent disapproval rating in the Guardian/ICM poll on August 28, was shifted out of health, to be replaced by Jeremy Hunt, who had a 24 percent disapproval rating as culture secretary. Michael Gove (on 36%) keeps his job as the butcher of education, Kenneth Clarke (on 28%) was replaced at justice by the incompetent employment minister Chris Grayling, and William Hague (on 21%) kept his job as foreign secretary.
Some of the shuffling needs analysing. Iain Duncan Smith held on to the Department of Work and Pensions — although apparently not without a fight — where his Victorian social Darwinism will continue to wreak havoc on the lives of those in need, even though he seems determined to prevent George Osborne from slashing the welfare bill still further. However, Grayling’s replacement, Mark Hoban, the former Treasury minister, is rather an unknown quantity, although what is known has been ferreted out by Johnny Void. There is also Esther McVey — blonde, former TV presenter — who replaces Maria Miller as minister for the disabled, as Miller now fills Hunt’s shoes. Miller was known by disabled campaigners as “Killer Miller,” and will not be missed, but McVey appears to be no better. She worked under Grayling, and earlier this year showed a worrying enthusiasm for workfare — the wheeze whereby eyewateringly wealthy corporations get welfare claimants to work for them for nothing.
What is particularly shocking about the shuffle is the replacement of Andrew Lansley with Jeremy Hunt — firstly, because David Cameron spent so long supporting Lansley’s wretched NHS reform bill, only to drop him just six months after it was finally passed, and, secondly, that he chose Hunt, a man that all but the most hardline Tories know is the epitome of sleaze and smugness, tainted by his involvement in the Murdoch takeover scandal, when he replaced Vince Cable, who had shown independence of spirit when it came to the Murdochs. Hunt, it turned out at the Leveson Inquiry, blatantly broke the law, but wormed out of being held accountable, and allowed his assistant, Adam Smith, to take the fall, as I explained in my article at the time, Can Jeremy Hunt Prevent a Tsunami of Sleaze from Engulfing David Cameron?
Alarmingly, Hunt is also — of course — opposed to the existence of the NHS. Back in August 2009, the Daily Mirror reported, “Three of [David Cameron’s] Shadow Cabinet — Michael Gove, Greg Clark and Jeremy Hunt — called for the health service to be dismantled. They claimed it was ‘no longer relevant’ in a book, Direct Democracy, co-authored with Tory MEP Daniel Hannan.” Mr. Hannan, the Mirror explained, “sparked outrage last week by calling the NHS a ’60 year-old mistake’ on US TV.”
As the Guardian explained, it also seems that Hunt attempted to exclude scenes celebrating the work of the NHS from Danny Boyle’s Opening Ceremony for the Olympics. Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, stated, “Right now the NHS needs somebody who believes in its values and is ready to stand up for it. Instead, the prime minister has given it to the man who reportedly tried to remove the NHS tribute from the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.”
Anyone in doubt that the NHS needs Jeremy Hunt like it needs a hole in the head should read the following article that Alysson Pollock, professor of Public Health Research and Policy at Queen Mary, University of London and the author of NHS plc: the Privatisation of Our Healthcare, wrote for the Guardian last week, which I’m posting in its entirety because it helps define the severe threats that face the NHS — and patients — as a result of Lansley’s evil bill, whose implementation, of course, Jeremy Hunt will be only too happy to deliver.
NHS franchising: the toxic world of globalised healthcare is upon us
By Alysson Pollock, The Guardian, August 27, 2012
Staff wages and benefits eroded through privatisation is nothing compared to what is in store for patients
Under the government’s franchise plan for the NHS, shareholders and equity investors will use the service’s logo as a Trojan horse to prise open the budgets of other countries’ health systems and to front up their unethical, fraudulent and inequitable activities. However, prospective customers will be buying neither NHS services nor the NHS model of care.
Since 1948, the NHS has been the model for universal heathcare on the basis of need and free at the point of use. In 2012, parliament in England passed a law effectively ending the NHS by abolishing the 60-year duty on the government to secure and provide healthcare for all. From 2013, there will be no National Health Service in England, and tax funding will increasingly flow to global healthcare corporations. In contrast, Scotland and Wales will continue to have a publicly accountable national health service.
NHS hospitals and services are being sold off or incorporated; land and buildings are being turned over to bankers and equity investors. RBS, Assura, Serco and Carillion, to name but a few, are raking in billions in taxpayer funds for leasing out and part-operating PFI hospitals, community clinics and GP surgeries that we once owned.
Strangled by PFI debts and funding cuts, NHS foundation trusts compound their problems by entering into joint ventures. The great NHS divestiture, which began in 1990 with the introduction of the internal market and accelerated under the PFI programme, now takes the form of franchising, management buyout and corporate takeovers of our public hospitals. Virgin has been awarded £630m to provide services to vulnerable people and children in Surrey and Devon. Circle has been given the franchise for NHS hospital Hinchingbrooke and is now struggling to contain its debts. London teaching hospitals are merging to give them greater leverage for borrowing and cuts.
As for public accountability, there is none. Commercial contracts are redacted so that crucial financial information is not in the public domain. Government departments and companies refuse to release the necessary information on the grounds of commercial confidentiality and allow companies to sequester their profits in offshore tax havens. NHS staff transferred from the public to the private sector see their wages and benefits eroded. But all this is nothing compared with what is in store for patients.
In the new world it will no longer be possible to measure coverage or fairness. Former NHS hospitals, free to generate half their income from private patients, will dedicate their staff and facilities to that end, making it impossible to monitor what is public and what people are paying for.
The belief that markets distribute resources more efficiently is the basis of regional economic agreements like the European Union as well as policies imposed on developing countries by the World Bank and IMF. Britain led the way, starting with gas, water, telecoms and railways. By 2004, the whole of Whitehall was committed to putting corporations in control of what had formerly been publicly administered services. This year it is the turn of the NHS.
Loss of public control means higher cost and fewer services, as we have learned from the toxic record of the US corporations which are now part of England’s new healthcare market and helped design it. Billing, invoicing, marketing and advertising will add between 30% and 50% to costs compared with 6% in the former NHS bureaucracy.
Patient charges will become commonplace. Fraudulent billing and embezzlement will become endemic. Take HCA, one of the largest and most profitable US chains and controlled by private equity firms including Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital. In 2006 HCA International described its first joint venture with the NHS, the PFI University College London Hospital (UCLH), as “the establishment of Harley Street at UCLH”.
HCA-UCLH provides cancer treatment to those who can pay from the 15th floor of the hospital. But currently some of HCA’s American hospitals are under investigation for refusing care and performing unnecessary investigations and treatment, including cardiac surgery. A decade ago it paid the federal government $1.7bn to settle fraud charges, while former chief executive Rick Scott — now the Republican governor of Florida — managed to avoid prosecution.
This is the pattern elsewhere. Unitedhealth, which is currently providing services to the NHS, paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement of mischarging allegations in the US; Medtronic paid $23.5m for paying illegal kickbacks to physicians to induce them to implant the company’s pacemakers and defibrillators; GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott paid $4.5bn in fines relating to improper marketing and coercion of physicians to prescribe antidepressants and antidementia drugs respectively. Novartis, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Eli Lilly have all paid large fines for regulatory breaches.
The list is not exhaustive. In the absence of information and strong laws to prevent corporate crime and tax evasion, England’s business-friendly environment is rapidly becoming a banana republic. Franchising is not an easy win for the public. It is a profit opportunity for big business in whose interests healthcare is increasingly being run both at home and abroad.
Note: The campaigning group 38 Degrees has just initiated an open letter to Jeremy Hunt, which says, “Our NHS is precious, and worth protecting. We want Britain to always have a public health service we can all rely on. As you begin your new job as Health Secretary, we want you to know that we’re watching you. We’ll challenge you every step of the way if you try to do our NHS any further harm.” 38 Degrees add, “When we reach 100,000 signatures, we’ll take out a full page ad in The Times – Hunt’s favourite newspaper – reprinting the letter in full.” Please sign the letter if you can!
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed — and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Flickr (my photos) and YouTube. Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in April 2012, “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” a 70-part, million-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011, and details about the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and available on DVD here — or here for the US). Also see my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and please also consider joining the new “Close Guantánamo campaign,” and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.Islamic Association of Northwest Calgary (Photo: Cindy Russell)
At a time when Muslims and Islam are being associated with terrorism, one Calgary, Canada group spent Christmas day giving back.
According to a CBC report, one woman was overcome with emotion when she returned home to see driveways and sidewalks shoveled. The good samaritans were members of the Islamic Association of Northwest Calgary and they were handing out flowers and chocolates to the neighbors.
“They are just so humble and kind,” said Cindy Russell.
Muhammad Abbas, outreach director at the association, explained that the tradition for the last five years has been that younger members of the center come together to give back on Christmas.
“They share the best wishes of the season with our neighbors,” Abbas said. “We want to make a positive contribution to our community.”
Russell noted that the gesture came at an important time, “especially right now with all the dialogue going on around the world,” she said. “There is so much fear and ignorance and a lot of people who are afraid just haven’t taken the time to educate themselves.”
She thanked the members for ” showing me the real purpose of this time of year, which doesn’t belong to any religion. It’s time to express love, concern and interest for each other.”BY: Follow @FBillMcMorris
A liberal think tank with close ties to the Obama administration took money from General Motors and other businesses it did not disclose while campaigning for policies benefitting those companies, according to The Nation magazine.
Members of the "Business Alliance" of the Center for American Progress (CAP) include bailed out car company GM, unsafe Bangladeshi factory utilizer Walmart, and embattled solar energy company First Solar, according to a membership list obtained by the liberal magazine.
CAP, whose chairman is Democratic Party power player John Podesta, was a major proponent of the auto bailout, which used $50 billion of taxpayer money to spare GM a traditional bankruptcy.
The month before GM entered bankruptcy proceedings with the backing of the federal government, CAP posted an article titled, "As General Motors Goes, So Goes the Nation."
A collapse of the Big Three—GM, Ford, and Chrysler—not only affects their employees, but employees all along the supply chain. The Center for Automotive Research, or CAR, estimates that the total effect of direct, indirect, and expenditure-induced effects of a contraction in U.S. automobile manufacturing will be considerable. For example, a 50-percent reduction in operations would lead to nearly 2.5 million jobs lost and more than $125 billion lost in personal income in the first year.
Such doomsday predictions were important for the administration as it promoted the unpopular bailout, according to U.S. auto expert Ed Niedermeyer.
"That assessment was made by a think tank Center for Automotive Research funded by the Detroit 3 and the UAW," he said. "They [CAP and CAR] were crucial. … Many other justifications have been given for the auto bailout post-hoc — green cars, exports—but the key assessment was that 1 million jobs would disappear all at once."
CAP did not respond to requests for comment.
GM was not the only alliance member to receive favorable public treatment from the liberal think tank while donating money to it, according to the Nation.
CAP’s Richard Caperton praised First Solar’s "innovative projects" while testifying to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, but failed to disclose that First Solar was a member of the alliance.
CAP does not disclose Business Alliance members to the public despite its criticism of corporate money in politics. CAP vice president Alex Demots called on Congress to "strengthen disclosure" laws in the wake of the 2010 Citizens United decision:
Though it can no longer prohibit corporate political spending, the federal government is allowed to require corporations to publicly disclose their political spending. For reporting to be effective, Congress would have to take steps to prevent corporations from circumventing reporting requirements and hiding their identities.
The post also talked of the ways that corporations can use intermediaries to donate unlimited sums to politicians and political groups. CAP has received millions of dollars from the Democracy Alliance, a collection of liberal billionaires and millionaires that funnels money into liberal groups without disclosure.
CAP created the Business Alliance in 2007, two years after it started receiving money from Democracy Alliance members. The Business Alliance was instrumental to maintaining the think tank’s growth, the Nation reports.
"After growing rapidly in its first few years, tax records show, CAP’s total assets fell in 2006 for the first time, from $23.6 million to $20.4 million," the report states. "Assets started growing again in 2007 when CAP founded the Business Alliance, a membership rewards program for corporate contributors, and then exploded when Obama was elected in 2008. According to its most recent nonprofit tax filing, CAP’s total assets now top $44 million, and its Action Fund treasury holds $6 million more."
While CAP’s lucrative war chest has made it one of the largest liberal think tanks in the country, its political connections have made it the most influential.
Its founder John Podesta served as former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff before launching the group in 2003. He later oversaw President Obama's transition team.
Podesta stepped down as its president in 2012, allowing former Clinton and Obama staffer Neera Tanden to take over.The astrology of 2014 makes me think of Clash of the Titans, Alien versus Predator, the Daleks versus the Cybermen – ok well, the latter wasn’t a movie but you get the picture. There are some powerful energies at work during this year with the first half of the year proving to be the most active. There are some monstrous chart patterns forming but we do get some helping hands. As ever, it’s how we use the energy that counts but it’s prudent to expect some challenges along the way!
January
The year begins with Venus retrograde in Capricorn which may see the new year beginning with some significant cost cutting. If the seasonal celebrations have tested your bank balance, now is the time to implement your own austerity measures in order to feel more stable on rocky ground.
In relationships, less is more. It may feel like it’s all work and no play. There may be issues with trying to find the time to be with those you love. Work and other responsibilities can get in the way of quality time together. The overall sense of delayed gratification with Venus in Capricorn is intensified. Be patient, it’s worth the wait. Venus gives us a clue of things to come by stationing direct on 13 Capricorn on the 31st January. This degree is going to play a starring role in the Cardinal Grand Cross in April. The Sabian symbol for this degree is An Ancient Bas-Relief Carved In Granite Remains A Witness To A Long-Forgotten Culture. We are witnessing history in the making.
February
February sees the first Mercury retrograde of the year with the trickster turning tail in Pisces on the 6th February. Once again, the retrogrades are in water signs this year but each time they back up into the preceding sign. So there is still an emphasis on our emotional life and how we relate to others. Mercury is looking for a profound connection, something to unite us all.
This is intensified as the North Node moves into Libra on the 23rd February which shifts into gear the year’s theme of relating and relationships. Mars will spend nearly 8 months in Libra due to retrograde action. The North Node transiting Libra pulls us towards evolving, learning, growing within the realm of relating. It’s not just love and partnerships, this is relating on all levels, one to one. Mars fuels a debate on how and why we love. He forces us to focus on the art of harmony. The Nodal axis says this is no longer about the ‘I‘, it’s about the ‘we‘. Libra is about harmony, balance and compromise. It’s an active sign so it inspires us to get involved, to make amends, to find peace.
But Mars is in detriment in this sign. He’s out of his comfort zone and that may well be one of the manifestations – feeling uncomfortable. With Libra we tend to project those things we don’t like about ourselves – or we don’t see. Anger, rage and how we defend ourselves are all called into question. It’s a fight for peace which sounds like a paradox.
March
This sense of confusion and possible indecision intensifies when Mars stations retrograde on the 1st March.
Saturn follows suit by stationing retrograde on the 2nd March. Be prepared for everything moving into slow motion. Saturn will remain in Scorpio until the end of the year so there is still the big focus on re-establishing trust and boundaries. If we can’t trust each other then how can we relate? How can we have meaningful relationships? In the meantime though, Jupiter turns direct on the 6th March in Cancer, which kind of softens the blow a little – or makes us want to run home to Mum…
Meanwhile Psyche enters Aquarius where she will remain for the year on the 15th March, probing the group mind, psyching us out. Here she has the ability to raise the group consciousness. We are prompted to see each other with our hearts and transcend our differences.
April
And then we get to April and it’s either breakdown or breakthrough. The much talked about Cardinal Grand Cross of 2014 kicks into gear. It begins building on the 10th April as Mars backs into position. The configuration builds in intensity until we hit the peak dates 22nd – 25th April with all the players on their respective 13th degree of the signs involved. Thirteen, the number of death, change, transformation, magic. On the 23rd April Juno, asteroid of commitment and marriage conjuncts the South Node. Within all of this, there may be something about letting go of old promises in order to make future commitments. I have a very strong sense of old karma as I study this. This may be a time when certain karmic ties are released, fulfilled or bonds broken. It’s like open book day at the akashic records.
Note – My birthday is on the 20th April. It’s gonna be a hell of a solar return chart!
The Grand Cross in itself brings up issues of power and control, revolution and awakening, will and desire and faith. It may seem as though everything is at cross purposes. There is division and strife or there is an urgent call for action to change. Anything that feels like a stalemate, isn’t. When Mars starts moving forwards again and re-crosses this 13th degree of Libra in June, the consequences or results of this square may be plain to see. Oh and not to forget, we also have a Lunar Eclipse in Libra just as this is all coming into play on the 15th April followed by a Solar Eclipse at the end of the month in Taurus on the 29th April. It feels ground shaking with a trine to Pluto but there is a healing element at play with a sextile to Neptune being the closest aspect. It could be the balm to soothe sore wounds.
So we see the Cardinal Grand Cross, Jupiter square Uranus, Jupiter opposite Pluto and Uranus square Pluto – the 5th square. The number 5’s in the tarot are associated with trouble and strife, but five is also an active, creative number. Once the squabbling is done with, there may well be something very productive coming out of all this enormous tension. I will be writing a lot more about this Cardinal Square and how you can use its energy at a later date.
Thankfully it is not all doom and gloom because in the background we do have a nice Grand Water Trine with Jupiter, Saturn and Chiron. There’s a possibility that some of this powerful, conflicting energy of the Grand Cross could be siphoned off into the Grand Trine and put to good use. But trines tend to work best when they are used consciously. On their own, the energy can simply trickle away under the raft of other more powerful aspects.
May
The Grand Cross begins breaking up on the 4th May so we get some reprieve and time to ponder the implications of the preceding month’s happenings. Events pick up between the 19th – 20th May with a yod forming between Venus in Aries, Mercury in Gemini and Saturn in Scorpio, with the latter at the apex. With Saturn retrograde, it could be a good time to strike up a conversation with your alter ego, your evil twin, your shadow self. Question, what is the reality? Who am I when it’s just me and the mirror?
Mars also turns direct on the 20th May which releases the stranglehold, freeing energy to flow again. The Sabian symbol of the station degree is Having Passed Through Narrow Rapids, A Canoe Reaches Calm Waters and that ladies and gentleman is one very descriptive Sabian!
June
However, there is little sense of real movement as Mercury stations retrograde in Cancer on the 7th June. It feels all Six of Swords- transition, passage by water, drifting with the tide. In fact, June is a rather watery affair altogether as Neptune and Chiron follow suit by turning retrograde on the 9th and 20th June respectively both of whom are travelling in Pisces. Mercury however will back up into Gemini on the 17th June granting some thinking space. Watch for Grand Cross manifestations however between the 14th – 18th June when Mars re-ignites the 13th degree of Libra as mentioned above.
July
Mercury stations direct on the 1st July in Gemini. Aside from this, the first part of the month is quiet. Then Saturn too stations direct on the 20th July, still trine to Chiron and in a wide applying trine to Mercury. With a quincunx to feisty Uranus however, it doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable but at least the mind is clear and you know what you need to work on.
A conjunction between Mars, Ceres and the South Node in Libra on the 13th July sesquiquadrate to Neptune and trine to Venus may bring up some feast or famine issues. This aspect makes me think of a Mother Bear protecting her cubs! Here the divine feminine is fighting back from the brink, insisting upon making a stand and redressing the balance.
Jupiter moves into Leo on the 16th July so all you lucky lions get a boost. For all of us though, this ingress provides some much needed relief. Opportunities and growth come from showing your colours, acting with confidence and getting in touch with your inner child. Approach life with a playful attitude!
Mars enters Scorpio on the 26th July. As Co-ruler of Scorpio, Mars is strong and powerful in this sign with a ‘don’t mess with me’ attitude. Scorpio sun signs now have a little more energy to play with. Mars isn’t afraid to dig through the dirt now so for everyone it’s time to shovel the proverbial out of the way to get a glimpse of the gold beneath. It’s a time to reclaim your power and drive.
Uranus stations retrograde on the 22nd July, withdrawing its potent energy inwards. He probably could do with a rest after all the action this year! It’s a time for seeing inventive solutions and contemplating your freedom. Sometimes there can be an enormous drive to change something, anything! However, the focus is on change from within before changing outside circumstances.
August
August sees some powerful action as Mars once again moves in to square Jupiter on the 1st which bleeds into a Thor’s Hammer pattern with Chiron at the apex – ouch! Also known as God’s Fist, this aspect pattern packs a punch and can either be used for great protection or great destruction. With Mars square to Jupiter, there’s something here about ‘righteous anger’ being the trigger. The problem is that Chiron suggests that this energy may be channelled towards a scapegoat rather than the real perpetrator.
September
Mars enters Sagittarius on the 13th September which leads into a fabulous grand trine which will perfect in October. The fun starts as Mars moves into the grand trine orb on the 24th September and on the 25th September Jupiter perfects a trine to Uranus. It’s all glitz with a bit of sparkle thrown in for good measure. New information may change your beliefs about what is really possible. This is a learn by experimenting aspect and Mars in the mix gives you the courage to give it a try. The pattern holds sway right through to the 13th October so there’s plenty of time to discover how this can work for you. Fire trines are creative. This is the perfect time to embrace the playful Leo Mars energy. Amidst this inspirational pattern, Pluto turns direct on the 22nd September which gives even more impetuous to the ‘out with the old, in with the new’ feel.
October
October becomes a little more bumpy however as it sees a Mercury retrograde in Scorpio beginning on the 4th October. This retrograde will back up into Libra, bringing to mind the Libra action earlier in the year. It’s a time of summing up what you have learned so far since the Grand Cross. The retrograde period is enveloped between a Lunar Eclipse on the 8th October and a Solar Eclipse on the 23rd October. Out of the two, it’s the Lunar Eclipse that catches my eye as it’s conjunct Uranus triggering the Grand Fire trine but something feels unsettled as it’s also square to Pluto. It makes me feel like wheels have been set in motion and something that was once hidden away now comes glaring into the limelight. It’s a new piece of the puzzle that must be incorporated during the Mercury retrograde and in fact, it may be that this single piece changes the whole picture.
The Solar Eclipse on the 23rd October is conjunct Venus and trine Neptune which is strange because just as I was looking this up I got distracted by a visionary art picture posted on Facebook which lead to a wander into visionary painting techniques online (dreaming of being an artist!). So this eclipse awakens the inner artist in us all, perhaps making us look at our own creations differently and with more intensity. The Sabian symbol A Crowded Sightseeing Bus On A City Street evokes the wonders of different places and faces. Something stirs within. Unconditional love may be a source of inspiration. In Scorpio, we feel passionately and deeply.
November
November is a much quieter month with both Neptune and the Chiron turning direct in Pisces, once more continuing their journey of magic and healing of our deepest bonds.
December
December sees Jupiter station retrograde on the 8th December once more promoting inner growth. In Leo it may be a time of exploring fixed beliefs and opinions to see if they still hold true.
Then we are into the sixth Uranus-Pluto square on the 15th December. Pluto is on the Sabian A Fire Worshipper Meditates On The Ultimate Realities Of Existence and Uranus is on An Unexploded Bomb Reveals An Unsuccessful Social Protest. The configurations of the chart aren’t as volatile as the April square but there is something here about recognising a situation that has been diffused, perhaps due to a better understanding of reality.
Lastly Saturn finally shifts out of Scorpio and into Sagittarius on the 23rd December. In one way this is about bring the visionary side of Sagittarius down to earth – making it a reality. The world focus may shift towards examining belief systems, possibly conservative ideas may come to the foreground. There may be some kinds of restrictions set in place on certain practices and belief systems – possibly even more stringent methods of controlling movement between countries. Higher education and publishing may too see some changes. There may be a push for more control on the internet to stop information being so freely shared. On a mass level, this ingress promotes bettering our understanding of each other’s beliefs, finding new meaning in the world. Unfortunately Saturn in this sign can also breed moral superiority and lack of tolerance so we shall have to see how this plays out through 2015.
It’s possible with the combination of the Uranus-Pluto square and Saturn in Sagittarius that we will end the year realising we are in a better place than we once were. It hasn’t been easy and hindsight is a wonderful thing. But now that we know, we can take that knowledge forwards into the new year and make ready for the final clash of the titans with the final Uranus-Pluto square in 2015.
Painting – ‘Cosmos N°2’ by Martha BotoThe bot era is here, and the world has already begun to see its transformative potential. But like any technology, there will be bad bots as predictably as good ones. With every advancement, there are people looking to exploit it. Anticipating what they might do is key so that builders, developers, and users can prevent, preempt, and prepare.
Here are the “dark bots” we’re likely to see:
The Stealthy Bot
This is a bot whose ownership is unknown, giving it the freedom to cheat with impunity. Trust and verification is essential for security on any platform. On the Web, services like Truste, VeriSign, and others have provided the trust infrastructure needed. For apps, Apple and Google do the same. Credit card issuers and payment platforms do as much for merchants offering paid services. But who will provide the trust infrastructure for bots? Will messaging channels certify bot developers? Each channel has a different approval process now. It will be crucial to arrive at a shared certification process.
The Leaky Bot
This bot will leak information about you to other bots. The information may or may not be personally identifiable, but these leaky bots will compromise your privacy beyond reasonable use. The bot is merely the latest battlefront for user privacy. While the web ecosystem settled on cookies to establish the “right” balance between user privacy and ad targeting, new mechanisms need to be created in the bot world. In the meantime, bots need privacy statements along with strong enforcement.
The Sneaky Bot
This bot will abuse your trust to gather knowledge about you. By leveraging the messaging metaphor, bots assume the role of a friend. Bots have a conversational interface, making them appear more human than websites or apps. Inevitably, human users will start seeing bots as their friends, sharing more information than they would with sites or apps. The Sneaky Bot will abuse this trust to collect or even ask for more information than is necessary. Since bot conversations are private and personalized, others may not be able to monitor this abuse. There isn’t a clean solution to this problem — not yet. Perhaps the messaging channels can monitor these conversations, but that isn’t foolproof and causes even more privacy concerns. Perhaps the solution is non-technical: End-users will have to be wary and use common sense when sharing their information with bots.
The Thieving Bot
This bot will pick your pocket. It may charge you a fee without delivering the service. Or the service itself may be of an inferior quality to what was advertised. If it’s a small transaction with a micropayment, users may not even bother trying to reclaim the funds. We will need to develop escrow mechanisms and/or a reputation management service to weed out rogue bots.
The Transformer Bot
This is a bot that performs a bait-and-switch on the user. It advertises a compelling service up front but gradually switches over to a different kind of service over time. For example, a content bot could become an ad bot over time. A bot reputation or blacklisting service is the way to identify such bots.
The Spammy Bot
These are bots that start off being well behaved but gradually start spamming you. While a single bot can be managed or blocked, the scale of this problem will grow rapidly as more bots get more aggressive. Messaging channels are best positioned to detect mass broadcast of standard messages or the frequency and reach of these messages. Borrowing techniques from email spam filters will end up helpful.
The Good-Bot-Bad-Bot Pairing
This is a pair of bots that act in concert to bypass user-blocking algorithms. A “good bot” may attract users and cross-promote one or more “bad bots.” The bad bot tries the risky stuff that may get it blocked by the user or the channel. But since the bot developer can maintain a continuing relationship through the good bot, they could be willing to take more risks with the bad bot(s).
Messaging channels will be able to track and keep watch on bots that recommend other bots — as well as on bots with notably intersecting user bases. While the bad bots may get blocked quickly, there should be a cost to the referrer as well.
Bots are yet another battlefront in the cat-and-mouse game played between good and bad actors. This new ecosystem must prevent, preempt, and prepare for the coming onslaught of the bad bots. They will be here before you know it.
Beerud Sheth is founder and CEO of bot building platform Gupshup.The president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, one of the entities on the chopping block in President Trump’s proposed budget, said that the elimination of funding “begins the collapse of the public media system itself and the end of this essential national service.”
Patricia Harrison said that the plan to eliminate federal support “would initially devastate and ultimately destroy public media’s role in early childhood education, public safety, connecting citizens to our history, and promoting civil discussions – all for Americans in both rural and urban communities.”
She added, “Viewers and listeners appreciate that public media is non-commercial and available for free to all Americans. We will work with the new Administration and Congress in raising awareness that elimination of federal funding to CPB begins the collapse of the public media system itself and the end of this essential national service.”
Public broadcasting advocates are expected to wage an intense lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill, urging lawmakers not to adopt Trump’s budget proposal. The plan to eliminate |
had acknowledged his life was in danger, was a fierce critic of the Clinton Foundation’s activities in the Caribbean island, where he served as director general of the government’s economic development agency, Fonds d’assistance économique et social, for three years.
According to Eberwein, a paltry 0.6% of donations granted by international donors to the Clinton Foundation with the express purpose of directly assisting Haitians actually ended up in the hands of Haitian organizations. A further 9.6% ended up with the Haitian government. The remaining 89.8% – or $5.4 billion – was funneled to non-Haitian organizations.
“The Clinton Foundation, they are criminals, they are thieves, they are liars, they are a disgrace,” Eberwein said at a protest outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in Manhattan last year.
The former director general of Haiti, who also served as an advisor to Haitian President Michel Martelly, was also a partner in a popular pizza restaurant in Haiti, Muncheez, and even has a pizza — the Klaus Special — named after him.
According to the Haiti Libre newspaper, Eberwein was said to be in “good spirits“, with plans for the future. His close friends and business partners are shocked by the idea he may have committed suicide.
“It’s really shocking,” said Muncheez’s owner Gilbert Bailly. “We grew up together; he was like family.” –Your News Wire
Americans were warned about the crooked dealings of the Clinton Crime family when in September of 2016, former Senate President of Haiti, Bernard Sansaricq, shocked a large crowd at a Trump campaign event in Little Haiti, FL. Sansaricq stood up during the public event and relayed his account of the Clinton’s dirty dealings in Haiti while he was still in office. To his credit, candidate Donald Trump allowed Sansaricq to speak his mind, and to expose the crimes of the Clinton’s, who were attempting to scratch and claw their way back into our White House.
Sansaricq claimed he begged the Clinton Administration not to invade Haiti. His request was followed up with a visit by an anonymous messenger from the White House who encouraged him to “side” with the Clinton Administration and he would “be the richest man in Haiti.”
He also demanded that Hillary Clinton “disclose the audit of all money” related to the Haiti earthquake crisis, as he claimed they scammed the poorest citizens of Haiti out of BILLIONS of dollars through the Clinton Foundation.
“Not even 2% of that money went back to Haiti. So, Mr. Trump, we are asking you, begging you, the Haitian community will side with you if one day, you ask Hillary Clinton publicly to disclose the audit of all of the money they have stolen from Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. Haiti is a very poor country. Haiti needs defenders. You said you would champion our cause. We welcome you sir and we will work with you. Ask Hillary Clinton publicly, during your next debate for an audit of all of the money they have stolen from Haiti.”
Only a couple of days before Eberwein’s death, a Republican donor, and operative from Chicago’s North Shore who said he had tried to obtain Hillary Clinton’s missing emails from Russian hackers killed himself in a Minnesota hotel room days after talking to The Wall Street Journal about his efforts, public records show.
In a room at a Rochester hotel used almost exclusively by Mayo Clinic patients and relatives, Peter W. Smith, 81, left a carefully prepared file of documents, which includes a statement police called a suicide note in which he said he was in ill health and a life insurance policy was expiring.Introduction
The PVS-Studio Compiler Monitoring system (CLMonitoring) was designed for "seamless" integration of the PVS-Studio static analyzer into any build system under Windows that employs one of the preprocessors supported by the PVS-Studio.exe command-line analyzer (Visual C++, GCC, Clang, Keil MDK ARM Compiler 5/6, IAR C/C++ Compiler for ARM) for compilation.
To perform correct analysis of the source C/C++ files, the PVS-Studio.exe analyzer needs intermediate.i files which are actually the output of the preprocessor containing all the headers included into the source files and expanded macros. This requirement defines why one can't "just take and check" the source files on the disk - besides these files themselves, the analyzer will also need some information necessary for generating those.i files. Note that PVS-Studio doesn't include a preprocessor itself, so it has to rely on an external preprocessor in its work.
As the name suggests, the Compiler Monitoring system is based on "monitoring" compiler launches when building a project, which allows the analyzer to gather all the information essential for analysis (that is, necessary to generate the preprocessed.i files) of the source files being built. In its turn, it allows the user to check the project by simply rebuilding it, without having to modify his build scripts in any way.
This monitoring system consists of a compiler monitoring server (the command-line utility CLMonitor.exe) and UI client (Standalone.exe), and it is responsible for launching the analysis (CLMonitor.exe can be also used as a client when launched from the command line).
In the current version, the system doesn't analyze the hierarchy of the running processes; instead, it just monitors all the running processes in the system. It means that it will also know if a number of projects are being built in parallel and monitor them.
Working principles
CLMonitor.exe server monitors launches of processes corresponding to the target compiler (for example cl.exe for Visual C++ and g++.exe for GCC) and collects information about the environment of these processes. Monitoring server will intercept compiler invocations only for the same user it was itself launched under. This information is essential for a correct launch of static analysis to follow and includes the following data:
the process main folder
the full process launch string (i.e. the name and all the launch arguments of the exe file)
the full path to the process exe file
the process environment system variables
Once the project is built, the CLMonitor.exe server must send a signal to stop monitoring. It can be done either from CLMonitor.exe itself (if it was launched as a client) or from Standalone's interface.
When the server stops monitoring, it will use the collected information about the processes to generate the corresponding intermediate files for the compiled files. And only then the PVS-Studio.exe analyzer itself is launched to carry out the analysis of those intermediate files and output a standard PVS-Studio's report you can work with both from the Standalone version and any of the PVS-Studio IDE plugins.
Getting started with CLMonitor.exe
Note: in this section, we will discuss how to use CLMonitor.exe to integrate the analysis into an automated build system. If you only to check some of your projects manually, consider using the UI version of C and C++ Compiler Monitoring (Standalone.exe) as described below.
CLMonitor.exe is a monitoring server directly responsible for monitoring compiler launches. It must be launched prior to the project build process. After launching the server in monitoring mode, it will trace the invocations of supported compilers.
The supported compilers are:
Microsoft Visual C++ (cl.exe) compilers
C/C++ compilers from GNU Compiler Collection (gcc.exe, g++.exe) and its derivatives
Clang (clang.exe) compiler and its derivatives
Keil MDK ARM Compiler 5/6
IAR C/C++ Compiler for ARM
Texas Instruments ARM Compiler
GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain
But if you want the analysis to be integrated directly into your build system (or a continuous integration system and the like), you can't "just" launch the monitoring server because its process blocks the flow of the build process while active. That's why you need to launch CLMonitor.exe with the monitor argument in this case:
CLMonitor.exe monitor
In this mode, CLMonitor will launch itself in the monitoring mode and then terminate, while the build system will be able to continue its work. At the same time, the second CLMonitor process (launched from the first one) will stay running and monitoring the build process.
Since there are no consoles attached to the CLMonitor process in this mode, the monitoring server will - in addition to the standard stdin\stdout streams - output its messages into a Windows event log (Event Logs -> Windows Logs -> Application).
Note: for the monitoring server to run correctly, it must be launched with the same privileges as the compiler processes themselves.
To ensure correct logging of messages in the system event logs, you need to launch the CLMonitor.exe process with elevated (administrative) privileges at least once. If it has never been launched with such privileges, it will not be allowed to write the error messages into the system log.
Notice that the server only records messages about its own runtime errors (handled exceptions) into the system logs, not the analyzer-generated diagnostic messages!
Once the build is finished, run CLMonitor.exe in the client mode so that it can generate the preprocessed files and call the static analyzer itself:
CLMonitor.exe analyze -l "c:\test.plog"
As the '-l' argument, the full path to the analyzer's log file must be passed.
When running as a client, CLMonitor.exe will connect to the already running server and start generating the preprocessed files. The client will receive the information on all of the compiler invocations that were detected and then the server will terminate. The client, in its turn, will launch preprocessing and PVS-Studio.exe analyzer for all the source files which have been monitored.
When finished, CLMonitor.exe will save a log file (C:\ptest.plog) which can be viewed in Visual Studio PVS-Studio IDE plugin or Compiler Monitoring UI client (Standalone.exe, PVS-Studio|Open/Save|Open Analysis Report).
You can also use the analyzer message suppression mechanism with CLMonitor through the '-u' argument:
CLMonitor.exe analyze -l "c:\ptest.plog" -u "c:\ptest.suppress" -s
The '-u' argument specifies a full path to the suppress file, generated through the 'Message Suppression' dialog in Compiler Monitoring UI client (Standalone.exe, Tools|Message Suppression...). The optional '-s' argument allows you to append the suppress file specified through the -u with newly generated messages from the current analysis run.
For setting additional display parameters and messages filtration you can pass the path to the file of diagnostics configuration (.pvsconfig) using the argument '-c':
CLMonitor.exe analyze -l "c:\ptest.plog" -c "c:\filter.pvsconfig"
Saving compilation monitoring dump and running analysis from this dump
CLMonitor.exe allows you to save information it gathered from monitoring a compilation process in a dump file. This will make possible re-running the analysis without the need to re-build a project and monitor this build. To save a dump you will first need to run monitoring in a regular way with either trace or monitor commands, as described above. After the build is finished, you can stop monitoring and save dump file. For this, run CLMonitor.exe with the saveDump command:
CLMonitor.exe saveDump -d c:\monitoring.zip
You can also finish monitoring, save dump file and run the analysis on the files that the monitoring have caught. For this, specify a path to the dump file to the CLMonitor.exe analyze command:
CLMonitor.exe analyze -l "c:\ptest.plog" -d c:\monitoring.zip
Running the analysis from the pre-generated dump file is possible with the following command:
CLMonitor.exe analyzeFromDump -l "c:\ptest.plog" -d c:\monitoring.zip
Compilation monitoring dump file is a simple zip archive, containing a list of parameters from compiler processes that CLMonitor had caught (such as process command line arguments, environment variables, current working directory and so on) in an XML format. The analyzeFromDump command supports running the analysis form both the zipped dump file and an un-zipped XML.
Using compiler monitoring from UI client (Standalone.exe)
For the "manual" check of individual projects with CLMonitor, you can use the interface of the Compiler Monitoring UI client (Standalone.exe) which can be launched from the Start menu.
To start monitoring, open the dialog box: Tools -> Analyze Your Files... (Figure 1):
Figure 1 - The compiler monitoring start dialog box
Click "Start Monitoring" button. CLMonitor.exe process will be launched and the environment main window will be minimized.
Start building your project, and when it's done, click the "Stop Monitoring" button in the bottom right-hand corner of the window (Figure 2):
Figure 2 - The monitoring management dialog box
If the monitoring server has successfully tracked all the compiler launches, the preprocessed files will be generated first and then they will be analyzed. When the analysis is finished, you will see a standard PVS-Studio's report (Figure 3):
Figure 3 - The resulting output of the monitoring server and the analyzer
The report can be saved as an XML file (a.plog file): File -> Save PVS-Studio Log As...
Compiler monitoring from Visual Studio
A convenient navigation for analyzer messages and source code navigation is available in Visual Studio IDE through PVS-Studio extension. If the project to be analyzed can be opened inside this IDE, but the'regular' analysis by PVS-Studio (i.e. PVS-Studio|Check|Solution) is not available (for example, for makefile Visual Studio projects), it is still possible to have all the benefits of Visual Studio by loading the analysis results (plog file) into PVS-Studio by the'PVS-Studio|Open/Save|Open Analysis Report...' command. This action can also be automated, through the use of Visual Studio automation mechanism, by tying it, and also the analysis itself, to the project build event. As an example, let's review the integration of PVS-Studio analysis through compiler monitoring into a makefile project. Such type of projects is used, for instance, by the build system of Unreal Engine projects under Windows.
As a command to run the build of our makefile project, let's specify the run.bat file:
Figure 4 – configuring makefile project
The contents of the run.bat file are the following:
set slnPath=%1 set plogPath="%~2test.plog" "%ProgramFiles(X86)%\PVS-Studio\CLMonitor.exe" monitor waitfor aaa /t 10 2> NUL nmake "%ProgramFiles(X86)%\PVS-Studio\CLMonitor.exe" analyze -l %plogPath% cscript LoadPlog.vbs %slnPath% %plogPath%
As arguments to run.bat, we pass the paths to solution and project. Compiler monitoring is first launched with CLMonitor.exe. The 'waitfor' command is used as a delay between launching the monitoring and building the project – without it, monitoring might not catch the first compiler invocations. Next step is the build command itself – nmake. After build is finished, we run the analysis, and after this is complete (the analysis results are saved along the project file), we load the results into Visual Studio with the 'LoadPlog.vbs' script. Here is this script:
Set objArgs = Wscript.Arguments Dim objSln Set objSln = GetObject(objArgs(0)) Call objSln.DTE.ExecuteCommand("PVSStudio.OpenAnalysisReport", objArgs(1))
Here we use the DTE.ExecuteCommand function from the Visual Studio automation to access our running Visual Studio (in which our solution is currently open) instance directly from the command line. Running this command is virtually identical to clicking the 'PVS-Studio|Open/Save|Open Analysis Report...' menu item in the UI.
To find a running Visual Studio instance, we use the GetObject method. Please take a note that this method uses the solution path to identify the running Visual Studio instance. Therefore, when using it, opening the same solution in several instances of Visual Studio is inadvisable – the method could potentially "miss" and analysis results will be opened inside the wrong IDE instance – not the one that was used to rung the build\analysis.
Specifics of monitoring a build process of IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM
Sometimes, IAR Embedded Workbench IDE can set up the current working directory of the compiler process (iccarm.exe) to 'C:\Windows\System32' during the build process. Such behavior can cause issues with the analysis, considering that current working directory of the compiler process is where CLMonitoring stores its intermediate files.
To avoid writing intermediate files to 'C:\Windows\System32', which in turn can cause insufficient access rights errors, a workspace should be opened by double clicking the workspace file ('eww' extension) in Windows explorer. In this case, intermediate files will be stored in the workspace file's directory.
Incremental analysis
In case of necessity of performing the incremental analysis when using the Compiler Monitoring system, it is enough to "monitor" the incremental build, i.e. the compilation of the files that have been modified since the last build. This way of usage will allow to analyze only the modified/newly written code.
Such a scenario is natural for the Compiler Monitoring system. Accordingly, the analysis mode (full or analysis of only modified files) depends only on what build is monitored: full or incremental.
Conclusion
Despite the convenience of the "seamless" analysis integration into the automated build process (through CLMonitor.exe) employed in this mode, one still should keep in mind the natural restrictions inherent in this mode - particularly, that a 100% capture of all the compiler launches during the build process is not guaranteed, which failure may be caused both by the influence of the external environment (for example antivirus software) and the hardware-software environment specifics (for example the compiler may terminate too quickly when running on an SSD disk while CPU's performance is too low to "catch up with" this launch).
That's why we recommend you to provide whenever possible a complete integration of the PVS-Studio static analyzer with your build system (in case you use a build system other than MSBuild) or use the corresponding PVS-Studio IDE plugin.The Road To 200 and Beyond: Phish Summer Tour Leg Two Preview
The first leg of Phish's Summer 2012 tour provided its share of fine improvisational moments and some great musical highlights, but in my opinion, the real headline of the summer has been the commitment to diving deep into the band's storied catalog. In a (nowadays) rare moment of candor in the press, Page McConnell told Rolling Stone before the tour began that the band would be aiming to play 200 songs over the course of the summer. Taken at face value at the time, the comment didn't appear to be describe anything overly ambitious -- the band has routinely crossed the 200 song mark on a yearly basis during the 3.0 era, though the limited 2012 schedule did provide a small challenge to accomplish this feat.
Soon after the tour kicked off, it became clear that this was not just an off-the-cuff remark. The band had set that their sites and set out on a campaign to not only reach that goal, but to shatter it; leg one ended with 207 unique songs performed. While previous years followed a measured approach to adding songs to the repertoire, in 2012 the band seemed to trot out unplayed songs like it was their obligation.
I thought I'd visually compare the cumulative song totals, by show, to the trajectory of the other years in the Phish 3.0 era. This graph gives a feel for the pace at which songs were added to the playlist year over year. While the other years show a steep climb, but then a steadying of the repertoire (except of Halloween shows in 2009 and 2010), the 2012 plot shows an increasing, purposeful climb all the way until the end of leg one.
So where do we go from here? Will we see 2012 debuts at the same rapid clip as Leg One? Using a linear projection function (orange line), I tried to show where we might end up at the end of leg two [333 unique songs] and a hypothetical (unannounced but heavily rumored) four show New Year's run [360 unique songs]. Then just for fun, I included the projection if the 2012 tour schedule had the same workload (48 shows) as 2009, the most heavy touring year in 3.0 -- at the pace they are on they would be approaching 495 unique songs!
While those number seem ambitious and the linear projection could probably be tweaked for accuracy after a few more shows, remember, Phish has accomplished what they already have in leg one with no new original debuts and only one new cover (Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler"). There have been 140 songs played since 2009 that haven't year seen performance in 2012, and the band hasn't been shy about reaching back to pre-3.0 material to round out this years' setlists.
Here are songs performed each year of 3.0 that haven't seen action in 2012 yet.
2009 2010 2011 Albuquerque A Apolitical Blues After Midnight All Down the Line After Midnight Albuquerque All Of These Dreams Albuquerque Anything But Me Anything But Me All Of These Dreams Army Of One Army of One All That You Dream Auld Lang Syne Auld Lang Syne Army of One Been Caught Stealing Blue Moon Auld Lang Syne Big Balls Bobby Jean Beauty of My Dreams Brian and Robert Brian and Robert Bill Bailey Won't You Pls Come Home? Cars Trucks Buses Cars Trucks Buses Billie Jean Jam Colonel Forbin's Ascent Casino Boogie Brian and Robert Come Together Catapult Burn That Bridge Destiny Unbound Colonel Forbin's Ascent Cars Trucks Buses Dog Faced Boy Crimes of the Mind Cold Water Esther Demand Colonel Forbin's Ascent Fast Enough for You Destiny Unbound Day or Night Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover Dixie Cannonball Destiny Unbound Fly Famous Mockingbird Dog Faced Boy Dixie Chicken Glide Drums Dog Faced Boy Guy Forget Esther Don't Bogart That Joint Halfway to the Moon Fast Enough for You Dr. Gabel Harpua Fly Famous Mockingbird Esther Have Mercy Frankie Says Fast Enough for You Icculus Free Bird Fat Man in the Bathtub Instant Karma! Glide Feats Don't Fail Me Now Jam Glory Days Fly Famous Mockingbird Lifeboy Gone Frankie Says Mellow Mood Happy Free Man in Paris Monkey Man Happy Birthday Gone On Your Way Down Harpua Halfway to the Moon Rhymes Hello My Baby Harpua Rocket in My Pocket Highway to Hell Have Mercy Rocket Man How High the Moon Heartbreaker Round Room I Been Around I Am the Walrus Scents and Subtle Sounds I Just Want To See His Face I Been Around Sleep I Kissed a Girl Idea Sparks Icculus In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Sweet Adeline Invisible Instant Karma! The Ballad of Curtis Loew Let Me Lie Jumpin' Jack Flash The Curtain Lifeboy Killing In The name The Way It Goes Love You Let Me Lie Thunder Road Middle of the Road Lit O Bit Time Loves a Hero Mountains in the Mist Llama Reprise Twenty Years Later Mustang Sally Look Out Cleveland USA Storage Jam My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own Love You NO2 Mellow Mood Oh! Sweet Nuthin' Mercenary Territory On Your Way Down Mountains in the Mist Rip This Joint My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own Rocks Off My Problem Right There Scents and Subtle Sounds Night Nurse Secret Smile NO2 Shake Your Hips Oh Atlanta She Thinks I Still Care Oh! Sweet Nuthin' Sleep Old Folks Boogie Sleep Again On Your Way Down Soul Survivor Pigtail Stop Breaking Down Ramble On Sugar Shack Rocket in My Pocket Sweet Black Angel Sailin' Shoes Talk She Caught the Katy The Ballad of Curtis Loew Sleep Again The Connection Spanish Moon Time Turns Elastic Spooky Tomorrow's Song Stairway To Heaven Train Song Sugar Shack Tumbling Dice Summer of '89 Turd on the Run Thank You Twenty Years Later The Ballad of Curtis Loew Two Versions of Me The Connection Uncle Pen The Rover Ventilator Blues Time Loves a Hero When the Cactus is in Bloom Time Turns Elastic Windy City Train Song Tripe Face Boogie Twenty Years Later Uncle Pen Walfredo What Things Seem Whole Lotta Love Willin'
Where do you think they will end up? What songs will we likely see? What are you wishing for?For most of us single gals, we know how hard the dating game is in our 20's. Having to deal with ghosting, situationships, soft nexting, zombieing and the bunch of other terms that all just boil down to frustration and no real commitment, is no fun. But since we're social creatures who are meant to be loved, we know that hibernating in our rooms and watching Netflix forever just won't cut it (I mean you can only re-watch Making A Murderer so many times before it gets weird for everyone). So sometimes you need to put on your big girl panties and put yourself out there.
READ ALSO: Why Benching Is The New Ghosting
That's why recently I decided to jump into the online dating world. With so many websites and apps to choose from, I was a little overwhelmed. But after consulting some knowledgeable friends, I decided to sign up for the most common three- Tinder, OkCupid, and Bumble and try my luck for 1 full month. I mean if nothing happened within that time, I figured that it was the universe's way of telling me to take up knitting and start buying cats because I was destined to be alone.
My first week was pretty lame tbh, it was just a lot of people starting conversations that quickly fizzled out or just some plain old creeps. I was quickly losing interested when all of a sudden I got a message on OkCupid from this unbelievably hot girl - let's call her Sara. I totally wasn't expecting it since I put all my preferences to interested in males and identifying as straight but the situation had me intrigued. While I've never hooked up with a girl before, I'm by no means opposed to trying it out and seeing if it could be something I'm into. So I messaged Sara back.
Surprisingly things weren't weird at all. I was impressed by how down to earth Sara was and how quickly the conversation moved from superficial topics to more serious and meaningful ones. We had a lot of things in common and she was so funny. After a few great days of conversation, I was really wanted to meet Sara in real life and see if this online connection could exist when we were face to face. So, we set up a date to see Despicable Me 3 together for the following weekend.
Like mentioned before, I've never been in a lesbian relationship and wasn't sure what the protocol for first dates was so I hit up a friend and asked for the down low. She INSTANTLY called bullshit on the situation. She told me that this whole thing seemed really sketchy and that the kind of lesbians who only reached out to straight girls would not be worth my time. She also said that lipstick lesbians typically didn't go for other lipstick lesbians so I was probably being catfished. By the end of the conversation, my head was spinning.
I mean we can all agree that most of those statements were generalizations, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a little internet lurking. I found Sara's Instagram account and Facebook page which were both pretty established so I felt confident that Sara was a real person. On a whim, I decided to look up her number on WhatsApp and see if the profile picture would match up to her social media.
What I discovered floored me.
The photo attached to the number definitely wasn't the one I'd been seeing on Sara's social media accounts and through the pictures she'd sent me. The WhatsApp pic wasn't of a tall, gorgeous, blonde 23-year-old girl but instead a MUCH older and larger man. I was SHOOK, to say the least.
Honestly, I knew there was a chance that Sara might not have been 100% legit but I never in my wildest dreams thought that she was actually a HE.
It didn't take long for me to get PISSED. I mean who the actual fuck does that? I'd shared intimate details with this guys (let's call him John) thinking he was Sara and I now felt unbelievably stupid. So you best believe that I called out "Sara" real quick. John didn't even try to deny it when I made my accusations and aplogized like crazy.
I asked him if he planned on showing up to the movie as himself or if he was going to keep stringing me along forever! He said that he had every intention of showing up as himself and seeing if I would give him a chance. I was totally blown away by that revelation, I mean couldn't he see how absolutely terrifying that would have been for me?
I felt like I needed to educate him a little on why everything he's just told me was beyond not okay. As we got to talking I asked him why he thought he could do this to people and how he thought it was fair. He explained that he knew that as himself, no one would ever go for him and at least as Sara people would talk to him online and he wouldn't be so lonely.
It turns out that John is a war vet and struggles with serious PTSD from his time he spent in Iraq/ Afganistan. He struggles with depression and has extremely low self-esteem. Hence his need to create a fake online identity to interact with people.
By no means did him telling me all this excuse the fact that he lied, stole someone's actual identity (oh yeah Sara does exist but she's a cute Toronto girl who he friend requested so he could steal pics from), and just made poor choices all around. BUT on a human level, I could understand why he did the things he did.
I said it at the beginning of this article, humans are social creatures and we all need someone to connect with and feel loved by. John really thought he was so worthless as himself, and that no one could like him for who he really was.
I knew making him feel like shit for his lies would just confirm his negative opinion of himself. I figured in order to really teach him a lesson he needed to see that there are people out there who could like him for who he is. That's why instead of hating on my catfish, I decided to befriend him.
We won't ever be joint at the hip BFF's who braid each other's hair and talk on the phone for hours but we do text back and forth and we occasionally meet up for coffee. He knows there's absolutely zero chance of this developing into something romantic but John is happy to accept the friendship I'm offering.
It's strange and unconventional but that's okay because sometimes forgiveness teaches a better lesson than anger.
*This story was written based on a friend's true experience*Android M has a lot of cool new features, and we're working hard to highlight as many of the good ones as we can. In this post, I'm going to quickly go over some of the changes we're seeing in the stock dialer app, which actually got a bit of a refresh all around.
First up, space is being used more efficiently, thanks to the most recent call card no longer being a thing. Previously, in Lollipop, the dialer would display a dismissible card with your last call, showing things like call back, add to contacts, and send SMS. This used a fair bit of screen space, and on Android M, that card thing appears to be gone.
Left: L, right: M
Instead, going to recent calls (by the way - the text descriptors are gone, you have a star, clock, and contacts icon) and tapping on a call gives you an expanded list of options - create new contact, add to existing contact, send SMS, and view details. This new UI basically seems to replace the card by combining it with the old expanded call view.
When you go to the contact screen now, something handy happens, too - the dialer FAB is replaced with an add contact FAB. Which makes sense. Because why would you go to your contacts then dial a number? Duh.
The speed dial manager appears to be gone (I think, at least - it's not in the 3-dot menu), and settings for the dialer have been completely reorganized.
Left: Lollipop, right: M
While nothing in the M preview is totally final, the dialer looks like it's one of the stock apps that's received a bit more organizational (as opposed to visual / functional) attention, which is good, because it's always been kind of a pain to navigate and use. It's not the most exciting stuff in the world, but hey, these thing we use are phones after all.Set 1
Bertha, Playin' in the Band, Loser, Mexicali Blues, Sugaree, Jack Straw, Big Railroad Blues, El Paso, Ramble on Rose, Me and Bobby McGee, Cumberland Blues, Brokedown Palace, One More Saturday Night
Set 2
Casey Jones, Me and My Uncle, Tennessee Jed, Sugar Magnolia, Comes a Time, Truckin', Brown Eyed Women, Not Fade Away-> Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad-> Not Fade Away
FM broadcast WABX; other artist(s): NRPS
Notes:
-- All disc changes are seamless
plus-circle Add Review
comment Reviews
Reviewer: c-freedom - favorite favorite favorite - October 24, 2017
Subject: I don't know if I am going back again I find 10/22/71 so much more preferable on my ears but this is a show where the Dead press-on faced with a lukewarm audience shouting out general stupidity at the boys.
I always marveled that Jesus could do no miracles in the presence of unbelief.
Not meaning to sound to harsh because this show has a
"I am stranger in your town" vibe to it.
Anyway, kinda of an eclectic set list but at some point the GD figure they can make a better party at the Hotel.
Heaven Help the Fool --If you ever messed with the vibe at a show
A blazing fast CUMBERLAND!
Some interesting choices
B.E. Women -so late in the evening.
The BAND can't make you learn
what you don't want to know. - October 24, 2017I don't know if I am going back again
Reviewer: JamsOnly - favorite favorite favorite - October 25, 2016
Subject: Nice Spin Highlights: Big Railroad Blues - October 25, 2016Nice Spin
Reviewer: chris phillips - favorite favorite favorite - September 8, 2013
Subject: middling 11/14, 12/5, 12/10, 12/14 set 1 and 12/15 set 2 are best for this tour, imo. - September 8, 2013middling
Reviewer: njpg - favorite favorite favorite favorite - September 25, 2011
Subject: Awesome end to the 2nd set, with a jammy Truckin and an incredible NFA/GDTR. Really smokin. - September 25, 2011Awesome
Reviewer: eaglessoar - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 9, 2011
Subject: great show the whole way through didnt get to pay too much detailed attention to this show while listening but classic set list all well played and just an amazing show the whole way through
def needs a relisten - February 9, 2011great show the whole way through
Reviewer: drmlabs - favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 8, 2011
Subject: Cumberland great version of Cumberland Blues here - February 8, 2011Cumberland
Reviewer: deadhead53 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 29, 2011
Subject: 1971!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Mr. Miller for giving us some great shows from my favorite period from the grateful dead! Just downloaded it and it is great, love the early Keith shows and all the shows with just Billy on the drums! - January 29, 20111971!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reviewer: amishman0002 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 29, 2011
Subject: Nice show Thank you Mr. Miller! This is a wonderful show with that early 70's tone & taste that I love so much. - January 29, 2011Nice show
Reviewer: Tidewater four ten O nine - favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 26, 2011
Subject: Not a five.......... Not a five, closer to four.
But a long way from bad and helps fill the gap in the '71 collection.
No Pigpen but there you go.
Great 'Millerman' sound once you get over that brief FM patch in 'Bertha'.
Listen carefully - does Jerry really sing "Kicked my eye and blacked my dog" in Tenn Jed? I think so but it might have been the wacky backy.
Rock on out........... - January 26, 2011Not a five..........08-09-2017 (Photo: ) http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/contact http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/schedules Twitter: @BatchelorShow
It’s still the economy in Trump country. @MonicaCrowley
It's hard to find fault with the latest jobs numbers. The unemployment rate is 4.3%, a 16-year low. The economy has added more than 1 million jobs since Trump took office. On the other hand, wage growth has yet to really pick up. Employers still don't feel pressure to offer big salaries to attract the workers they need. Average hourly earnings have increased only 2.5% over the past 12 months. The Federal Reserve would rather see 3% to 3.5%.
Housing prices They're red hot. The average price for an existing home in June was a record $263,800, or 6.5% higher than a year ago. June was the 64th consecutive month of gains compared with a year earlier.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/07/investing/trump-economy-report-card/index.htmlHighlights from the Season-Opener
1/4/2016
Inside the Box (Score)
In Colorado’s 16-15 win in the season-opener on New Year’s Day, the Mammoth accomplished the following:
- Colorado’s first eight goals were scored by eight different players, an anomaly in the NLL.
- In total, 10 Mammoth players scored. There was only one game in 2015 in which 10 or more Mammoth players scored in a game (1/10 vs. CGY).
- Colorado scored two short-handed goals on Friday, matching the number of power-play goals scored by Georgia.
- John Grant Jr.’s game-winner late in the fourth quarter tied him with longtime captain Gavin Pr |
State’s housing stock had been built. “That could have been put in at minimal cost.”
He said “it would have hit the developers a little bit but it would have had far more impact. But now we have to go and retrofit all of that stuff and we should have a scheme to do that and that would have a much bigger impact on water conservation than charges.”Settling in with a coffee at Northside Social, a genial locus of suburban D.C. hipsters, earnest teleworkers hunched-over laptops, and moms in yoga pants and ball caps on break, John Kiriakou is talking about prison.
It’s a jarring juxtaposition, and a safe bet that no one else at Northside Social is talking about a recent incarceration at that very moment. Beltway culture is a bubble, and North Arlington, Va., is its own bubble-within-a-bubble. Caffeine-fueled chatter about politics and prison policy is pretty standard stuff, reliving one’s time in the pen is not.
Kiriakou, however, fits right in, looking relaxed in a comfortable green t-shirt and jeans. He addresses the baristas with a familiar wave, and they respond warmly. After all, he is a denizen of this milieu: a well-educated, professional man who lives with his family—an accomplished wife and three young children—in nearby Lyon Park, a tree-lined neighborhood filled with colorful and eclectic but expensive homes, many retrofitted in the last decade from the sturdy bones of 1920s Craftsman bungalows.
But it wasn’t always this way. After the former CIA agent was charged and convicted with leaking classified information and sent to prison in 2013, he became one of the 2.3 million Americans incarcerated by the state. It was a shock. Everything he had developed in the 40-odd years of his life—independence, dignity, strength, sense of purpose, and justice—had been challenged, as if he were suddenly a nobody, another number, or worse, a disposable man.
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The entire experience changed how Kiriakou sees himself in the order of things. And it changed how he perceives the government in that order of things.
“I don’t trust the government, not a single branch of it,” he tells TAC in our interview. “I think the judicial system is broken. And I don’t think Congress has the guts or the willingness to fix it.”
His metamorphosis began in the Kafkaesque world of the federal legal system and continued through his 24 months in the Loretto Federal Correction Institution. Kiriakou, now 51, emerged from incarceration this spring not broken but “more open minded and patient,” unyielding to power, and laser-focused on changing the status quo.
“I had always just assumed that government employees, whether CIA, FBI, Justice, or whomever, mostly tried to do the right thing; that is, obey the law, serve the country, and protect Americans,” he shared.
“What I ended up seeing, though, was an ugly underbelly that included corrupt prosecutors and investigators, racism, and abuse of power. I have come to the conclusion that Ronald Reagan was right: Government is the problem, not the solution to the problem.”
In other words, he does not want to be known only for blowing the whistle on the CIA’s torture enhanced interrogation techniques, which began his long initiation into the government labyrinth over seven years ago. He wants to blow trumpets, high and clear, on the entire racket. And he wants to start with prisons, over-criminalization, and unfair sentencing.
“One of my great regrets is being known as the torture guy,” he said easily. “[That’s] something most everyone has already taken a position on.” He wants to push reform legislation now supported by both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. He wants to talk about the lack of real drug counseling and addiction services for prisoners, when statistics say more than half were likely abusers or addicts when they were incarcerated. He wants to talk about overcrowding, and neglect in the prison health care system. He wants to talk about how mental illness is treated like a behavioral problem for which solitary confinement is the standard fix.
Stunningly, Kiriakou said inmates were the only ones in Loretto teaching “classes,” in lieu of serious academic and rehabilitation programs for prisoners. “There was no incentive,” for anyone to be a better person, period, he said.
“These guys are going to get out eventually and they are going to be untrained, and they’re going to be pissed off, and they’re go straight back to their communities and they are going to have no skills—no marketable stills,” he said. “Then we wonder why there is recidivism because the system has done nothing to curtail recidivism or improve recidivism rates,” he said. A study of 30 states by the Bureau of Prisons in 2014 found that 3 out of 4 convicts returned to jail within five years of their release.
Loretto officials have long declined to speak about Kiriakou or respond to the charges he’s made publicly since his release. Nevertheless, he’s been quite candid about his time there, often speaking fondly of the other prisoners who he socialized with and helped out periodically by writing motions and letters to their attorneys. He made friends with the inmates, antagonized the guards, and survived with his CIA know-how. Much of this will be documented in a forthcoming book, Doing Time Like a Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison, along with Letters from Loretto, a collection of missives from prison originally published online by journalist Kevin Gosztola.
“When 98.2 percent of all federal cases end up in convictions, almost all of which are the result of plea bargains, there’s a problem. When prosecutors try to make a name for themselves so they can move onto multi-million dollar salaries in big law firms, there’s a problem. When hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans are serving sentences of life or nearly life for first-time, non-violent drug offenses, there’s a problem,” he said.
“And when those men and women who conceived of the torture, who approved the torture, who carried out the torture, and who destroyed evidence of the torture continue to not only walk free, but also to justify their crimes with multi-million dollar book deals, there’s a problem.”
Kiriakou is known in the activist crowd as the only member of CIA to go to jail for torture—because he exposed it. He certainly doesn’t have champions in every corner, however. Members of the CIA rank and file, in particular, have accused him of embellishment, betrayal, and self-aggrandizement, according to Steve Coll, who wrote a lengthy profile of Kiriakou’s case for The New Yorker in 2013. Though he is ready to move on, his judgments and actions on torture bought him the unique soapbox on which he stands today, albeit at great cost to himself, and his family.
Kiriakou was involved in counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11, and was part of a team that captured high-ranking al-Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah. After he resigned and was consulting with ABC News in 2007, Kiriakou was the first CIA official to confirm publicly that waterboarding had been used on detainees. He called it torture, but necessary nonetheless. Two years later, when it was revealed Zubaydah was waterboarded at least 83 times, Kiriakou denounced the practice altogether. He became a hero of the anti-torture/anti-war movement.
His growing fame garnered attention from the CIA and FBI. In 2012 he was charged with violating the Espionage Act and the Intelligence Identities Act for revealing the names of two agents, one covert, to journalists. He was also charged with making misleading statements to the CIA’s Publications Review Board while seeking clearance to publish his memoir, The Reluctant Spy. He enlisted attorney Jesselyn Radack, herself a whistleblower, and she kept light on his case. He was able to plea a deal to get all but the charge of revealing the name of one agent dropped, but he was still off to prison in February 2013, on a 30-month sentence.
He left his family behind, severely weakened by the ordeal. His wife Heather, a senior CIA analyst, was forced to resign and had no job prospects. They took out a second mortgage on the house they built and moved a street away into a smaller rental. Heather and the kids eventually went on welfare. When it came time to tell his younger children, then eight, seven, and one, where daddy was going, he told them simply that he lost the argument he was having with the FBI and his “punishment” was helping bad guys get their high school diplomas. He was only half lying—he really thought he’d be teaching GED classes at Loretto.
It would be the first of many shattered expectations, but certainly not the worst. He was supposed to be going to the low-security camp outside the prison walls. On the first day he was led inside instead, to quarters with murderers and child molesters in a rotating menagerie of cellmates. It turned out that camp was just a court “recommendation,” not an order. Instead of a teacher, he became a janitor at the chapel, which he described as a hotbed of pedophiles.
So he spent his time writing “Letters from Loretto.” With an old-school pen-to-paper urgency, his letters alternated between sad vignettes of prison life, and daily attempts by guards to break him down for a penance he knew he would never make.
“My first day I thought, holy shit, I’m in prison. What have I gotten myself into? Then I said to myself, ‘take it easy, you were trained for this stuff, this can’t be harder than Pakistan or Afghanistan,’” he recalled to TAC.
“I made a conscious decision when I got there that I would not allow myself to become institutionalized,” he added, “and I would resist their authority at every opportunity, whether it was writing ‘Letters from Loretto,’ or defending myself from abusive guards.” He wouldn’t stand “at attention” when told, he questioned silly rules, and at one point told the guards to do their worst, that they would get out eventually.
It was a gamble, but it preserved his sanity and self-respect. When his children finally learned the full truth, it was during one of their visits to the prison. His seven-year-old daughter noticed that other men in khaki jumpsuits were coming in and out of a door that read, “inmates only.”
“My son said, ‘dad are you a teacher here or are you a prisoner here?’ I said, ‘I am a prisoner, but you know buddy, I’m going to get out of here and we are going to be a family again.” In time he did, and they were.
This time, the expectations were exceeded: the Kiriakou family will be moving back to the dream house in Arlington this winter, thanks in part to Code Pink, which crowd-sourced enough cash for John and Heather to pay off the second mortgage while he was in prison. Strangers from the Greek-American community made sure he fulfilled the mandated full-time employment requirement when he was released, and sent money to his wife each month he was incarcerated. His friends and family assured the children that dad is a hero. He believes they are proud, which is more than he could ask for.
Today Heather has a new job with a defense contractor, and John has a perch at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies as an associate fellow. He will continue to write, make speeches, and do plenty of media. “Prison changes people, and John came out with a passion for prison reform,” notes IPS director John Cavanagh, who met with Kiriakou before Loretto. “It felt like an excellent fit to invite him on board.”
Above all, he’ll be enjoying life as an Arlington dad. School starts Monday, and for the first time in two years he will be there to see his kids off, then perhaps make a stop for coffee at Northside Social. Because he can.
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance reporter and TAC contributing editor. Follow her on Twitter.Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images So many parties. Donald Trump stands with fight promoter Don King as they address the media during a party at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 28.
Tickets were on sale for a lavish New Year’s Eve party that President-elect Donald Trump and his family are hosting at the Mar-a-Lago Club this weekend, which once again raises those thorny ethics question that have dogged Trump’s presidential transition.
Mar-a-Lago sold the tickets, the Trump transition team confirmed to Politico. They cost $525 each for members of the Mar-a-Lago Club and $575 for guests. Since Trump himself owns the Palm Beach, Florida, resort, those sales profit him personally.
Simply buying a ticket could be seen as an effort to curry favor with the president-elect. Those seeking an in-person audience with him also had an incentive to buy since Trump will be there.
So it’s probably no surprise that the tickets sold out. Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave reporters the news on a Friday press call. He also noted that more than 800 guests are expected, including actor Sylvester Stallone and music producer Quincy Jones.
Despite Spicer’s assertion that Jones was expected to be present, the legendary music producer tweeted on Friday night that he would be spending New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles with family and friends. Jones’ daughter Kenya Kinski-Jones called the claim that her father would attend the event “false information” and a “total lie.”
Trump has hosted similar star-studded New Year’s Eve parties at Mar-a-Lago many times in the past, including last year, when his presidential campaign was in full swing. But this year he’s about to assume the highest office in the land.
Norm Eisen, who served as ethics counselor to President Barack Obama, had a one-word response to the spectacle:
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team who will be White House director of strategic communications, dismissed the idea that the party posed a potential conflict of interest.
“The transition is not concerned about the appearance of a conflict,” she told Politico. “This is an annual celebratory event at the private club, like others that have continued to occur since the election. Additionally, the president cannot and does not have a conflict.”
Trump has struggled to quiet criticism that his sprawling international business will create multiple conflicts of interest for his presidency. He announced this past Saturday that he would be closing his charitable foundation to avoid the perception of such problems, but he has not laid out any plan to divest from his company and place his assets in a blind trust, as ethics experts recommend.A man who lived with more than one woman was anathema in the 19th century; the media called polygamy an "act of licentiousness" that deserved to be categorically denounced, its adherents disenfranchised. In 1885, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal law making plural marriage a felony, declaring that "the union for life of one man and one woman in the holy estate of matrimony [is] the sure foundation of all that is stable and noble in our civilization." A New York Times editorial celebrated that result, observing cheekily that "we had not supposed there had ever been any serious question."
Today, it's the old-timey view that marriage is between one man and one woman only—and that sex should be reserved to that union—that raises the Grey Lady's ire. When Californians sought to ban gay marriage in 2008, the editors of the Times called the initiative a "mean-spirited" effort "to enshrine bigotry in the state's Constitution."
Even assuming you think the paper was right the second time around, the reversal is striking. But while the norms have clearly changed, the desire to punish anyone who refuses to comply with those norms appears to be forever.
As the nation goes to war over birth control mandates and gay wedding cakes, many religious supporters of traditional marriage and sexual mores understandably feel their rights are being trampled. But so did the Mormons a century ago. To justify the anti-polygamy laws forbidding that group to live out its faith, Christian traditionalists stretched the First Amendment to precarious lengths. Now, the arguments they created and employed are being turned against them.
Discrimination Nation
"We can't promote a marriage that God says isn't really marriage," the blog post would have read. "Even if our beliefs are a bit different or unpopular, we have to stick to them."
But those words, penned by Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, were never published to their website. The authors feared the government of Phoenix might come after them if they were.
The young women, aged 23 and 24 respectively, are the owners of Brush & Nib Studio, an Arizona-based custom artwork and calligraphy shop. Shortly after getting their new business off the ground in 2015, they realized that a city ordinance passed two years earlier opened them up to enormous fines and even jail time as a result of their beliefs. The law forbids certain companies not just from discriminating against gays and lesbians but also from saying anything that so much as implies a customer would be unwelcome because of his or her sexual orientation.
Duka and Koski don't want to be forced to create wedding invitations and other artwork that celebrate same-sex marriage, so they're suing to overturn the Phoenix regulation as a violation of their First Amendment rights. Their prospects seem grim, however: In September of last year, the Maricopa County Superior Court denied their request for a temporary injunction to stop the law from being enforced while the challenge proceeds. "There is nothing about custom wedding invitations made for same-sex couples that is expressive," the decision, incredibly, reads.
That ruling is just one in a litany of recent instances in which small business owners have faced serious legal consequences for not wanting to be involved in commemorating same-sex unions. In Colorado, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop was hauled before the state's Civil Rights Commission. In Oregon, the proprietors of Sweet Cakes by Melissa were fined an eye-popping $135,000 and had to shutter their storefront. In New Mexico, the state Supreme Court told photographer Elaine Huguenin that she and her husband would be "compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives." In upstate New York, a couple was forced to stop renting out their farm for wedding ceremonies unless they agreed to let gay couples marry there as well.
In theory, the Constitution is supposed to prevent things like this. The First Amendment says that the government "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In each of the above cases, though, the government got around that limitation by arguing that individuals have the right to believe as they like on their own time, but when they venture out into the marketplace, they forfeit the privilege of acting in accordance with the dictates of their faith.
The same supposed distinction between private opinions and public behaviors also features prominently in debates over the Obama administration's contraception mandate.
That rule, which was handed down by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2012 as part of the Affordable Care Act, said that free birth control coverage had to be included in all employee health insurance packages. But some religiously affiliated employers, and in particular Roman Catholic ones, believe that facilitating the use of contraception makes one complicit in sin.
The agency exempted houses of worship from the rule, which let Catholic churches off the hook. But that did nothing for Catholic schools, hospitals, nursing homes, adoption agencies, and other charities. Eventually, the administration offered an "accommodation" in which the groups' insurers, rather than the groups themselves, would technically be responsible for paying for the coverage. Not surprisingly, this accounting sleight of hand did not allay the charities' concerns.
In Zubik v. Burwell, a coalition of faith-based nonprofits asked the Supreme Court to determine whether the mandate, as applied to such organizations, violated their religious freedom. Among the petitioners are the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who care for the indigent elderly and have become the public face of this dispute.
Despite the nuns' sympathetic character, the political left remains strongly opposed to allowing them and their coreligionists to opt out of the requirement. "What these people are after isn't religious freedom," wrote Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in a blog post that represents the general tenor of progressive rhetoric on the matter. "It's the right to use theology to control the private behavior of others, to impose their religion on the unwilling and to employ narrow dogma as an instrument of discrimination."
Discrimination is a term that comes up frequently in these debates, since "the very nature of religion is 'discriminatory,'" says U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow. "Now, it's not invidious discrimination. But Catholics are different from Jews. And Jews are different from Muslims. And Muslims are different from Protestants, and on and on."
Kirsanow argues that those differences ought to be respected. "One of my main concerns is the elevation of principles of nondiscrimination over principles of liberty," he says. "We should be more concerned about government coercion than we are about individual coercion. Both may be bad, but one is scores of orders of magnitude more serious than the other. And one was the principal reason we fought a revolution."Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has largely been showcased so far through a number of trademark epic set-pieces and high-action gameplay segments.
And while those moments will still play a major role throughout the upcoming game, the developer is more keen than ever to strike a balance between the spectacle and the intimate.
In a long-form interview, creative director Neil Druckmann recently told the Official PlayStation Magazine UK that while the studio’s design philosophy in the past has been to “go bigger”, going any bigger than where they went in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception would simply “become comical” and a “parody of itself”. As a result, the team have shifted their approach somewhat, taking in a lot of knowledge gained from their time spent working on The Last of Us.
According to Druckmann, creating the iconic and touching photobooth scene from Left Behind required as much work as the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ collapsing building set-piece – and was just as important to the game’s narrative. Seeing the success of that particular scene in particular has changed the way Naughty Dog look at the composition of Uncharted 4.
“We’re going to have the big spectacle set-pieces, but the thing that The Last of Us and Left Behind gave us is the confidence to create these small, intimate moments where there isn’t a threat of death, but it’s another way to get to know the characters through interactivity,” Druckmann said. “I’m excited to see how fans react to that new balance of spectacle versus intimate moments.”MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — An 18-year-old from Murfreesboro was viciously attacked, and his father has released a video of it, hoping the suspect may get a tougher sentence if the public sees just how horrible it was.
The attacker, identified as the victim’s classmate Mickal Ladd, jumped him right after he got off the school bus, WTVF reported.
He threw him to the ground, punched him, stomped his head into the road and whipped him with his belt while a friend recorded, according to the station.
“The video tells me he was trying to kill him,” the victim’s father, John, said. “This was not a fight. He came up from behind and jumped on him.”
The victim suffered a concussion.
Police arrested Ladd, who pleaded guilty to assault and said he doesn’t regret it.
He said he did over over a girl.
Ladd is out on bond while he waits to be sentenced, which John is upset about. He doesn’t want him to get off easy.
Ladd could be sentenced to up to six years in prison, but no jail time is also a possibility.
“I don’t know what the judge and courts will do, but other kids will be hurt if the justice system doesn’t come through,.” John said. “Just watch the video. It tells you all you need to know.”Lynn Anderson sings at the RCA Victor's Opry breakfast in October 1967 (Photo: Jimmy Ellis)
Country singer Lynn Anderson, best known for her classic recording “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” died Thursday night of a heart attack at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
She had been hospitalized for pneumonia following a trip to Italy. She was 67 years old.
Lynn Rene Anderson was born Sept. 26, 1947 in Grand Forks, N.D., and raised in California. She came from a musical family: Her parents Casey and Liz Anderson were both songwriters; the latter penned the Merle Haggard hits “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers” and “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive.”
Ms. Anderson’s debut single, a duet with Jerry Lane called “For Better or for Worse,” was released in 1966, when she was just 19 years old. It failed to chart. However, later that year her single “Ride, Ride, Ride,” cracked the country charts, and its successor, “If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)” was a Top 5 hit.
For two years during the late 1960s, Ms. Anderson was a regular on the popular “Lawrence Welk Show,” an outlet which exposed her to a nationwide audience. "It was appointment viewing," said WSM DJ and Grand Ole Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs. "Lynn Anderson really helped expand the boundaries of country music because there wasn't a lot of (it) on network television at that time."
Ms. Anderson wed producer/songwriter Glenn Sutton in 1968. He produced several of her hit songs — and wrote some too, including “You’re My Man” and “Keep Me in Mind” — but the couple would divorce in 1977.
In 1970, Ms. Anderson moved from California to Nashville, and signed with Columbia Records. In October of that year, she released what would become her signature song, and one of country music’s classics. The lilting “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” penned by Joe South, became a worldwide hit with its immediately recognizable intro and catchy lyrics. In the U.S., it spent five weeks atop the country music charts and crossed over to the pop charts as well.
The recording also netted Ms. Anderson a Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy Award, and in 1971, the Country Music Association named her Female Vocalist of the Year. Over the last four decades, “Rose Garden” has been covered numerous times by a wide variety of artists including k.d. lang, Martina McBride, Suicide Machines and Southern Culture on the Skids.
Her popularity began to fade during the second half of the 1970s, and in 1980, she released her final recording for Columbia. After a short hiatus from recording, Ms. Anderson returned to music and signed with Permian Records. It was with this label that she released her final Top 10 single, “You’re Welcome to Tonight” (a duet with Gary Morris) in 1983. Since then, she’s recorded a handful of albums, including the Grammy-nominated “Bluegrass Sessions,” in 2004.
In recent years Ms. Anderson had multiple arrests for driving under the influence. Following her September 2014 arrest in Nashville, Ms. Anderson apologized to her fans in a statement and affirmed that she was committed to her recovery. This summer, she seemed poised for a comeback: In June, she released the inspirational gospel album "Bridges," which garnered positive reviews, and appeared at the CMA Music Festival.
Ms. Anderson was also a horse breeder and an award-winning, lifelong equestrian who became involved in therapeutic horse riding programs for disabled and troubled children.
She is survived by her father, three children — Lisa Sutton, Melissa Hempel and Gray Stream — four grandchildren and her partner Mentor Williams. Funeral services will be held at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home and Memorial Park. Details will be announced shortly.
Read or Share this story: http://tnne.ws/1I7UwJ6A US investment firm that pulled out of buying NAMA's Northern Ireland loan portfolio over multimillion-pound fixer fees has accused the state agency of "repeatedly mischaracterising" its role in the controversy.
The Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee has heard Pimco ditched its bid to buy the so-called Project Eagle portfolio in March 2014 over concerns about £16m in "success fees".
The money was to be split equally between Frank Cushnahan, a former member of NAMA's Northern Ireland Advisory Committee, US law firm Brown Rudnick, and Ian Coulter, a managing partner of Tughans, a Belfast law firm subcontracted to assist in the deal.
In a letter read out by Committee Chairman Seán Fleming this morning, Pimco said it was "disappointed" that its withdrawal from the sale had been "repeatedly mischaracterised by NAMA".
"We would suggest that NAMA has conflated what may or may not have been discussed at the NAMA board level (upon which we can not comment) and the reality of the calls that Pimco made to NAMA and Pimco's own decision to withdraw," it said.
However, this afternoon NAMA rejected any suggestion that it did not set out the circumstances of Pimco's withdrawal accurately.
The investment firm said that at no stage did NAMA ask it to withdraw from the process, despite Pimco flagging concerns about the proposed fixer fees, which were never agreed, it added.
According to Pimco, NAMA said it was not aware of the fee arrangements but inquired if the firm would proceed with the sale should Mr Cushnahan's involvement or fee proposal be an issue for the agency.
"In no way did Pimco seek the acquiescence of NAMA to any fee arrangement nor sought agreement that any fee arrangement was appropriate," it said in a four-page letter, signed by Tom Rice, a chief legal officer at Pimco.
Pimco said it would not attend the committee hearings, which are investigating the controversial Project Eagle sale, because it did not want to prejudice investigations in the US and the UK.
The firm said it told NAMA just before pulling out of a proposed deal that it was disappointed disclosures had not been made by relevant parties to the agency.
It did not want to be part of any process "where there would be a suggestion of impropriety", it said.
Pimco added it was asked by NAMA if it had considered "other options" such as "proceeding without the three parties, and we were asked to consider before closing any doors whether every option was being considered".
The firm told NAMA on 12 March it had "no option but to withdraw" and NAMA expressed its disappointment but accepted the decision, the hearing was told.
The PAC is examining the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the sale of the loans portfolio.
'PIMCO's withdrawal from Project Eagke repeatedly mischaracterised by NAMA'- says 'explosive letter'. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/ChsYySsr89 — Conor McMorrow (@ConorMcMorrow) November 10, 2016
This afternoon, a NAMA spokesman said that it has made its position clear to the PAC on the withdrawal of Pimco from the process.
The NAMA board was very clear that, if Pimco did not withdraw, then NAMA would exit them, the spokesman added.
He said that NAMA rejects any suggestion that it did not set out the circumstances of Pimco's withdrawal accurately.
The Project Eagle portfolio was eventually sold to US investment fund Cerberus for £1.2bn.
The C&AG found the sale incurred a potential loss to the taxpayer of £190m.
Brown Rudnick acted as advisers in the successful deal, which has been dogged by scandal for more than a year, including £7m linked to it being found in an Isle of Man bank account.
Mr Coulter resigned after it was unearthed.
Pimco said it was first approached about buying the portfolio by Brown Rudnick in April 2013, and the US law firm introduced Pimco to Mr Cushnahan and Mr Coulter.
The investment firm was told the Northern Ireland government wanted to ensure there would no fire-sale of the properties and that "it was a sensitive political matter and would have a major impact on the Northern Ireland economy".
Following a meeting with then first minister Peter Robinson and then finance minister Sammy Wilson in May 2013, Pimco was "informed by Brown Rudnick that it was the Northern Irish government's preferred purchaser for NAMA's Northern Ireland portfolio", according to the firm.
Members of the PAC have described the contents of the letter as "very serious" and "explosive".
Mr Fleming said a detailed response to the letter is needed from NAMA.
Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald said the letter is "a game changer".
"It now seems that Project Eagle was conceived not by Pimco but by Brown Rudnick along with Tughans and Mr Frank Cushnahan," she said.
She accused NAMA of being "less than full in giving information over who knew what and when".
She said PAC focused on Mr Cushnahan and the fixer fees but this letter shows that he was "at the heart and the centre from the very beginning of this process".
She claims the letter shows that NAMA were aware of that.
Sinn Féin party colleague David Cullinane said: "I think it's fair to say that this is the most important piece of evidence that we have got.
"It is very illuminating and it joins up a lot of dots and it clearly contradicts evidence we got from NAMA. I think that is very worrying it. It casts doubt on the evidence presented to us by NAMA in respect of what happened when they were made aware of the success fees or fixer's fees."
Fianna Fáil TD Shane Cassells questioned the credibility of NAMA.
"The very core of this key evidence regarding Pimco shows that they (NAMA) has been dishonest with the committee."
Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy has meanwhile told the hearing that he stands over his report into the sale of Project Eagle.By Joseph Jankowski
At this point, most Americans are aware of the staggering dishonesty and reality twisting that the mainstream, corporate news media engages in on a daily basis.
And it is showing.
Numbers released by Pew Research show that major news channels like CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are in a decline of prime time viewers.
Even reporters within the major networks have admitted that the media has been corrupted by political and corporate interests.
This is what former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson had to say:
There is unprecedented, I believe, influence on the media, not just the news, but the images you see everywhere. By well-orchestrated and financed campaign of special interests, political interests and corporations. I think all of that comes into play.
But if there was any indication that the mainstream press has no credibility and is on its way to extinction, this latest poll is it.
From the Associated Press:
Trust in the news media is being eroded by perceptions of inaccuracy and bias, fueled in part by Americans’ skepticism about what they read on social media. Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public’s view of other institutions. In this presidential campaign year, Democrats were more likely to trust the news media than Republicans or independents. Nearly 90 percent of Americans say it’s extremely or very important that the media get their facts correct, according to the study. About 4 in 10 say they can remember a specific incident that eroded their confidence in the media, most often one that dealt with accuracy or a perception that it was one-sided. Download Your First Issue Free! Do You Want to Learn How to Become Financially Independent, Make a Living Without a Traditional Job & Finally Live Free?
Download Your Free Copy of Counter Markets The news media have been hit by a series of blunders on high-profile stories ranging from the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling on President Barack Obama’s health care law to the Boston Marathon bombing that have helped feed negative perceptions of the media. In 2014, Rolling Stone had to retract a vivid report about an alleged gang rape at a fraternity party at the University of Virginia. The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, asked by Rolling Stone to investigate after questions were raised about the veracity of the story, called it an avoidable journalistic failure and “another shock to journalism’s credibility amid head-swiveling change in the media industry.”
There is only one thing that can save the mainstream media, and that is the truth.
But the truth is not why networks like MSNBC exist. They exist to deceive and play lapdog for the establishment.
More than ever the American people want the truth and accuracy when it comes to their news. This is why we are seeing a huge rise in alternative media.
By just taking a look at the popular commercial web traffic data and analytics site, Alexa.com, we see that alternative news sites are ranking very high inside the United States and globally.
The very popular and accurate ActivistPost.com is ranked in the top 16,000 websites inside the United States and in the top 35,000 globally!
Just to put that in perspective, there are over 1 billion websites in all globally.
American Natural Superfood - Free Sample Considered to be the tip of the spear of the alternative news, Alex Jones’s Infowars.com is ranking in the top 1,200 websites in the U.S. and the top 3,200 globally! Alexa.com gathers data on a web page’s daily unique visitors and daily pageviews. Another great example of alternative news rising to mainstream popularity is James Corbett’s CorbettReport.com. This stunning website is ranking in the top 150,000 globally and in the top 60,000 in the U.S. There is only one way to conclude this article: Joseph Jankowski is a contributor for Planet Free Will.com. His works have been published by recognizable alternative news sites like GlobalResearch.ca, ActivistPost.com and Intellihub.com. Follow Planet Free Will on Twitter @ twitter.com/PlanetFreeWillIn a world where billionaire businessmen regularly undercut wages, mechanize labor, and offshore production to meet quarterly deadlines, Brunello Cucinelli has done something different. The Italian fashion designer has merged the philosophies of Stoicism, Christianity, and German idealism to create a billion |
physically accost him for not moving quickly enough. The second was when Bartolomey said, “Imagine a world where we are allowed to say no to an officer. It would be chaos.” Dear Lord. Imagine a world where you are not allowed to say no to a police officer. THE NATION IS READER FUNDED. YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL TO OUR WORK. DONATE NOW!
4) The NYPD has a racism problem that was just proven in open court. One of the least covered aspects in this trial was that Thabo’s lawyer had surveillance footage of the initial approach by police. They are seen passing Thabo’s white teammate Pero Antic and making a beeline for Thabo. He was in their sights. He was their target. His skin was a bull’s-eye.
5) It’s easy to understand why the Atlanta Hawks left it all on the court for their coach Mike Budenholzer. Coach Bud took a team without superstars to the Eastern Conference Finals and was named Coach of the Year. He also traveled to Manhattan to testify on Thabo’s behalf, vouching for his truthfulness, character, and version of events. In the aftermath, he said, “Thabo is such a great person, we feel great about supporting him. We’re very happy for him and his family that the decision went in his favor today. Now he can focus on basketball and get back to doing what he enjoys and loves.” Don’t think for a moment that any NBA coach would have stepped into a criminal courtroom to do this.
6) The sports media dropped the ball. I wrote about it before, but the absence of coverage on this case speaks to the power of the New York Police Department, particularly its public relations wing. Talking heads, as I was told, were instructed not to cross them. Or maybe in some cases, Thabo was deemed too irrelevant a player to pay attention to. But it was a colossal failure not to understand just how deep in the vein of NBA players’ life experiences this case cut. But hey, when there is breaking news about who to select on DraftKings, maybe there just isn’t time to talk about the NYPD breaking an NBA player’s leg right before the playoffs.
7) The only question that now remains is whether Thabo Sefolosha will bring a civil suit against the NYPD. When asked, Sefolosha said, “I haven’t made a decision on that.” It would be more than understandable if he wants to put this behind him and focus on rejoining the Hawks. But it would be a public service if Thabo uses this victory as a platform to take a bite out of the NYPD and sue them for every last cent he lost, and every moment of mental and physical anguish he endured last spring. Thabo could then take that money and start a legal fund for families who are subject to police brutality, yet don’t have the means to hire competent attorneys. That act of solidarity would be epic and truly inch us forward to more families finding a measure of justice in a manifestly unjust environment.I'am currently playing this build in Perandus Hardcore at lvl 93, my current Skill Tree is planned to lvl 93 as well and I have 6.620 life at that point. If I should manage to gain more levels I would probably pick up some of the spell damage nodes near the Templar startpoint or skill into Berserking/Versatility.
In the end I will link some videos of my progression with the build.
Skill Tree LvL 41
Skill Tree LvL 93
Bandits:
Life - Attack Speed - Endurance Charge
Pros:
-> Permanent! Immortal Call and Molten Shell up time while fighting
-> 231% life - 210% from the Skill Tree + 3 Jewel slots
-> Shock/Freezes the whole screen
-> Runs dual Curse Enfeeble + Warlords Mark with +40% Curse efficiency
-> Easy to reach Elemental Weakness cap for red maps
-> With less than 2-3 ex gear investment(Scolds + 5L Carcass Jack) quite cheap for what it can do
-> High clear speed
-> Uses Cyclone, you can move while dealing damage
-> High weapon range
-> Fun to level from 40+ together with Tabula Rasa
-> Non Crit(good for HC vs reflect) - uses Elemental Equilibrium, Elemental Overload, Controlled Destruction for damage
Cons:
-> Lags alot, my Computer is probably not the best for this as well :/
-> Map mods you cant run: Ele reflect! Blood Magic and Curse Immune is possible but I wouldnt do it
At first some theorycrafting, how does this work?
The following damage link is beeing used:
Cyclone - Cast on Crit - Shock Nova - Ice Nova - Controlled Destruction - Empower
Instead of Empower as a 6th link you can also use Inc AOE/Conc Effect or LL
So lets figure out why this does so much damage:
Because of Elemental Equilibrium(EE)! This is a very interesting node in the Skill Tree but how it works exactly might not be trivial from the description.
"Enemies you hit with Elemental Damage temporarily get +25% Resistance to those Elements and -50% Resistance to other Elements"
This debuff(well or buff if you do it wrong) on the enemy is removed and reapplied for each hit with elemental damage. If your attack or spell has more than one elemental damage source this can work against you. As example if your Cyclone deals physical, cold and lightning damage, the target would get +25% cold and lightning Resistance and -50% fire Resistance after beeing hit!
To make optimal use of EE make sure you have added fire damage to attacks somewhere on your gear, basicly your Cyclone should have a little bit of fire damage(NOT lightning or cold damage), your Shock Nova ONLY lightning damage and your Ice Nova ONLY ice damage.
If you have this your initial Cyclone hit makes the target vulnerable to lightning and cold damage, the potential first CoC proc(Shock Nova) makes the target vulnerable to fire and cold damage and the potential second CoC proc(Ice Nova) makes the target vulnerable to fire and lightning damage.
How does permanent Immortal Call work?!
Endurance Charge generation:
-> With Scolds Birdle you take physical damage every time you use a Skill, this is considered a hit!
-> With the Juggernauts Unflinching you have a 20% chance to gain an Endurance Charge when hit
-> Lots of short Cyclones = lots of Endurance Charges
-> Additional charges from kills with Warlords Mark
I'am currently playing this very safe since I use 3 Immortal calls:
-> First one is self cast, for opening Strongboxes and stuff like that
-> Second is linked with Vengeance - CoC - Inc Duration - IC - Molten Shell, Vengeance is also beeing triggered by Scolds Bridle! - This is the main IC trigger while fighting!
-> Third is linked with CWDT - Inc Duration - IC, this would usualy be not needed but I like to have it as a fail safe in case of lags
Summary of used Links:
Cyclone - CoC - Shock Nova - Ice Nova - Controlled Destruction - Empower/Inc AOE/Conc Effect/LL
Enfeeble - Warlords Mark - Blasphemy(20% is important!) - Flame Dash
Vengeance - CoC - IC - Inc Duration - Molten Shell(or any other spell which doesnt deal cold or lightning damage)
Rallying Cry - Blood Rage - IC - Inc Duration
CWDT - IC - Inc Duration - Vaal Haste
Current Gear:
Spoiler
Current average damage selfbuffed:
Ice Nova - 5600 - 10% Freeze chance
Shock Nova - 4900 - 30% Shock chance
2.5 attacks per second with Cyclone
Important stats on the Gear are:
-> 1x fire damage to attacks
-> Life and Resistances
-> Accuracy
-> Attack Speed
-> Spell Damage
Important stats on Jewels:
- Life
- Attack Speed with Maces
- Area Damage/Spell Damage
Flask Set up:
Spoiler
Make sure you have Curse and Bleed removal! Also try to get Surgeons.
-> Juggernauts Unstoppable also makes you Freeze immune, thanks for clarifying that!
Videos of some Map runs:
Poorjoys Asylum
T12 Shipyard
Note:
Since this is the first guide I wrote, let me know if I'am missing something essential.
There are already some guides for builds utilizing the new unique weapon Trypanon but I still think it is an underrated unique. It has extremly strong synergies with the Juggernaut class and Scolds Bridle which was made available this league thanks to Cadiro and the cheap Torment enchant from Zana. It is possible to reach a high clear speed while beeing extremely tanky, on top of that it is also quite cheap.I'am currently playing this build in Perandus Hardcore at lvl 93, my current Skill Tree is planned to lvl 93 as well and I have 6.620 life at that point. If I should manage to gain more levels I would probably pick up some of the spell damage nodes near the Templar startpoint or skill into Berserking/Versatility.In the end I will link some videos of my progression with the build.Bandits:Life - Attack Speed - Endurance Charge->and Molten Shell up time while fighting-> 231% life - 210% from the Skill Tree + 3 Jewel slots-> Shock/Freezes the whole screen-> Runs dual Curse Enfeeble + Warlords Mark with +40% Curse efficiency-> Easy to reach Elemental Weakness cap for red maps-> With less than 2-3 ex gear investment(Scolds + 5L Carcass Jack) quite cheap for what it can do-> High clear speed-> Uses Cyclone, you can move while dealing damage-> High weapon range-> Fun to level from 40+ together with Tabula Rasa-> Non Crit(good for HC vs reflect) - uses Elemental Equilibrium, Elemental Overload, Controlled Destruction for damage-> Lags alot, my Computer is probably not the best for this as well :/-> Map mods you cant run: Ele reflect! Blood Magic and Curse Immune is possible but I wouldnt do itThe following damage link is beeing used:Cyclone - Cast on Crit - Shock Nova - Ice Nova - Controlled Destruction - EmpowerInstead of Empower as a 6th link you can also use Inc AOE/Conc Effect or LLBecause of Elemental Equilibrium(EE)! This is a very interesting node in the Skill Tree but how it works exactly might not be trivial from the description."Enemies you hit with Elemental Damage temporarily get +25% Resistance to those Elements and -50% Resistance to other Elements"This debuff(well or buff if you do it wrong) on the enemy is removed and reapplied for each hit with elemental damage. If your attack or spell has more than one elemental damage source this can work against you. As example if your Cyclone deals physical, cold and lightning damage, the target would get +25% cold and lightning Resistance and -50% fire Resistance after beeing hit!To make optimal use of EE make sure you have added fire damage to attacks somewhere on your gear, basicly your Cyclone should have a little bit of fire damage(NOT lightning or cold damage), your Shock Nova ONLY lightning damage and your Ice Nova ONLY ice damage.If you have this your initial Cyclone hit makes the target vulnerable to lightning and cold damage, the potential first CoC proc(Shock Nova) makes the target vulnerable to fire and cold damage and the potential second CoC proc(Ice Nova) makes the target vulnerable to fire and lightning damage.Endurance Charge generation:-> With Scolds Birdle you take physical damage every time you use a Skill, this is considered a hit!-> With the Juggernauts Unflinching you have a 20% chance to gain an Endurance Charge when hit-> Lots of short Cyclones = lots of Endurance Charges-> Additional charges from kills with Warlords MarkI'am currently playing this very safe since I use 3 Immortal calls:-> First one is self cast, for opening Strongboxes and stuff like that-> Second is linked with Vengeance - CoC - Inc Duration - IC - Molten Shell, Vengeance is also beeing triggered by Scolds Bridle! - This is the main IC trigger while fighting!-> Third is linked with CWDT - Inc Duration - IC, this would usualy be not needed but I like to have it as a fail safe in case of lagsCyclone - CoC - Shock Nova - Ice Nova - Controlled Destruction - Empower/Inc AOE/Conc Effect/LLEnfeeble - Warlords Mark - Blasphemy(20% is important!) - Flame DashVengeance - CoC - IC - Inc Duration - Molten Shell(or any other spell which doesnt deal cold or lightning damage)Rallying Cry - Blood Rage - IC - Inc DurationCWDT - IC - Inc Duration - Vaal HasteCurrent average damage selfbuffed:Ice Nova - 5600 - 10% Freeze chanceShock Nova - 4900 - 30% Shock chance2.5 attacks per second with CycloneImportant stats on the Gear are:-> 1x fire damage to attacks-> Life and Resistances-> Accuracy-> Attack Speed-> Spell DamageImportant stats on Jewels:- Life- Attack Speed with Maces- Area Damage/Spell DamageMake sure you have Curse and Bleed removal! Also try to get Surgeons.-> Juggernauts Unstoppable also makes you Freeze immune, thanks for clarifying that! T9 Gorge - This was an early run, not using Scolds BridleNote:Since this is the first guide I wrote, let me know if I'am missing something essential. Last edited by Vendatpath on Apr 5, 2016, 9:47:20 AM Last bumped on Apr 2, 2017, 3:01:59 AMThe suspect in the horrific crash in Times Square was high on drugs and had a history of mental illness, sources said. Jonathan Dienst reports.
What to Know A car slammed into a crowd of pedestrians in the heart of Times Square shortly before noon Thursday; police say Richard Rojas was driving
Authorities said there was no evidence of terror, but police aren't ruling out that the crash was deliberate
Rojas, 26, said he smoked drugs before the crash and heard voices telling him to hurt people, sources said
Police are considering the possibility that Thursday's deadly crash in Times Square was a deliberate act after the driver told police he smoked drugs and heard voices telling him to hurt people before the chaos unfolded, law enforcement sources said.
An 18-year-old woman was killed and 22 people were injured when 26-year-old Richard Rojas turned the wrong way onto Seventh Avenue in the heart of Times Square and sped along the sidewalk for three-and-a-half blocks, police said.
Victims Scattered All Over Seventh Avenue: Police
Police say a horrific crash in Times Square left victims scattered all over Seventh Avenue. Ray Villeda reports. (Published Friday, May 19, 2017)
Authorities don't believe the crash was terror-related, but investigators aren't ruling out that it was deliberate, sources said.
Car Mows Down Over 20 People in Times Square, Killing 1: Police
A man driving a car drove his on a sidewalk in Times Square, injuring at least 22 people and killing one, police say. Checkey Beckford reports. (Published Thursday, May 18, 2017)
As Rojas was being arrested, police said he was acting out of control and seemed impaired. He told police he heard demons in his head and voices telling him to hurt people, sources said, adding he has a history of psychiatric problems.
Sources said certain statements and tests suggest Rojas was under the influence of a drug he ingested through smoking. They said he blew a 0.0 when tested for alcohol at the precinct he was brought to for questioning.
Police charged Rojas with a slew of charges, including second-degree murder, 20 counts of second-degree attempted murder and five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, authorities said.
Dramatic Scenes From Times Square Arrest
Dramatic scenes of an arrest emerged Thursday after a man drove a car into pedestrians in Times Square, killing a young woman. Andrew Siff reports. (Published Thursday, May 18, 2017)
Former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said police will do a roll-back investigation, looking at his computers and cell phones, and talking with neighbors and friends.
"Was there something else going on? Was this in fact intentional?" Bratton said.
Times Square Crash Suspect Has History of DWI Arrests
The 26-year-old man suspected of crashing into a crowd of people in Times Square, killing one of them and injuring dozens more, has a history of drug, alcohol and psychiatric problems, law enforcement sources said. Marc Santia reports. (Published Thursday, May 18, 2017)
Rojas is a former member of the armed services with a history of arrests for DWI, according to officials and law enforcement sources. He was dishonorably discharged from the Navy, where he once served aboard the USS Carney, for resisting arrest in Florida in 2014. Charges were dropped in the case.
Harrison Ramos, a friend, told reporters that Rojas hadn't been the same since he returned from active duty in the Navy. He says Rojas was posting "crazy stuff" online that has since been taken down, according to The Associated Press. Other friends say he was having money troubles.
In Pictures: Car Slams into Crowd in Times Square
Rojas was most recently arrested on a menacing charge last week for allegedly pulling a knife on an acquaintance in the Bronx.
On Thursday evening, police were at an apartment where Rojas stayed with his mother in the Mount Eden section of the Bronx. Law enforcement sources said police are obtaining a search warrant and will soon begin looking for evidence that could help explain what led to the crash.
Major Emergency Response in Times Square After Car Apparently Jumps Curb
Video shows authorities responding to an incident involving a car in Times Square. (Published Thursday, May 18, 2017)
Rojas' mother was also brought in for questioning; she said nothing to reporters as detectives led her to a waiting car.
Fati Smith, a neighbor who has known the Rojas family for years, said she couldn't stop crying since she learned the news. She said she's in disbelief. Another neighbor said Rojas is a "good person" and he doesn't know what happened to him.
In Pictures: Car Slams into Crowd in Times Square
Authorities stress the investigation is ongoing, but details are beginning to emerge about the man who incited horror and total panic in the Crossroads of the World.
Here's what we know about Rojas, from sources and officials:
26-year-old U.S. citizen and former member of the Navy, where he had the rank of electrician's mate fireman apprentice
Lives in the Bronx, has two prior arrests for DWI in New York, including one in Queens in 2008 and another in 2015
In one of the DWI cases, he was driving faster than 99 mph in a 50 mph zone
Resisted police during a DUI arrest in Florida, resulting in a dishonorable discharge from the Navy in 2014; criminal charges against him were dropped in the case
Most recently arrested last week in the Bronx on a charge of menacing; officials said he pulled a knife on an aquaintance
Blew a 0.0 when tested for alcohol after crash at police precinct; a law enforcement official said test and statements suggested he was under the influence of a drug
Has a history of psychiatric problems, as well as drug and alcohol abuse; he claims to have heard voices in his head before the crash
So far, he has been found to have no links to terror
'Everyone Just Starts Running': Times Square PanicSYDNEY is poised to get Australia's biggest brothel, with an entire floor of a three-storey complex devoted to suites each containing two king-sized beds, a lounge, pool table and spa.
A development application for a $12 million extension to Stiletto brothel on Parramatta Road, Camperdown - now owned by the big-time punter Eddie Hayson - has been lodged with City of Sydney council.
Stiletto Credit:Domino Postiglione
It proposes doubling the size of the brothel to 40 working rooms and 21 waiting rooms with underground parking, making it nearly double the size of its nearest rival.
While some rooms are more conventional, offering bed and spa bath, the top floor of the new wing includes seven suites with pool tables and two sets of beds for parties and group bookings.Main updates in Version 1.8.4
*Features marked with [EX] or [PRO] can only be used in EX or PRO.
Animation features have had a major update.
You can now add audio files to the timeline for sound effects or background music.
2D camera features have been added. Layers and animations folders can be stored inside 2D camera folders, which can be used to add camera movement effects. Using the [Object] tool, you can move the transformation frame (camera field of view) on the canvas to add camera movement. You can now carry out edits using keyframes on the [Timeline] palette. You can register edits such as camera movement, layer transformations, layer opacity, and audio volume to keyframes. When [Enable keyframes on this layer] is turned on, you can use the [Object] tool and [Move layer] tool to transform or move layers and layer folders. A keyframe will be added to the [Timeline] palette in each case. When you use the [Object] tool to select a 2D camera folder or a layer with keyframes enabled, you can edit settings such as camera movement, layer transformations, and layer opacity using the [Tool Property] palette. You can input numerical values to allow for detailed adjustments. Clip Studio Paint now supports audio files.
The command [Colorize (Technology preview)] has been added to the [Edit] menu. This feature automatically colorizes line art. You can choose from several colorize options: [Colorize all], [Use hint image and colorize], and [Use more advanced settings]. * 1 * 2
A [Remove tones (technology preview)] feature has been added. With this feature, you can remove screentones from raster layers that have both main lines and screentones, leaving only the main lines. Alternatively, you can convert the screentones to grayscale. With this function, you can avoid moiré caused when scanning black-and-white images, and more easily convert black-and-white manga and comics to color. EX * 1 * 2
*1 About technology preview functions
These are preview functions that you can try out before their official release. These functions may change when they are officially released.
*2 About the Colorize and Remove Tone features
These features send the image data to an AI server using the network connection. This image data sent to the server is handled with the utmost security and privacy, and is not associated with personal information. Copyright holders retain all rights of such data. The image data is not released to external parties. For more information, see our Terms of Service.
Corrections of Version 1.8.4
Improvements (DEBUT/PRO/EX)
[New animation layer] has been added to the [Animation] menu. Within this option are the commands [2D camera folder], [Audio], and [Animation folder]. The command [Enable keyframes on this layer] has been added to the [Animation] menu > [Edit track]. With this feature, you can carry out edits to layers and layer folders using keyframes. [Render 2D camera] has been added to the [Animation] menu > [Settings of play]. With this option, you can choose whether or not to apply camera effects when playing your animation. Options to edit keyframes have been added to the [Animation] menu > [Edit track].
- [Add keyframe]
- [Switch keyframe to hold interpolation]
- [Switch keyframe to linear interpolation]
- [Switch keyframe to smooth interpolation]
- [Delete all keyframes] Options to edit keyframes have been added to the command bar in the [Timeline] palette.
- [Add keyframe]
- [Keyframe interpolation]
- [Delete keyframe]
- [Enable keyframes on this layer]
- [Edit layers with active keyframes] An area to edit keyframes have been added to the track name in the [Timeline] palette. The command [Edit layers with active keyframes] has been added to the [Animation] menu > [Edit track]. While this option is turned on, you can edit the images on layers and animation folders that have keyframes enabled. The option [Apply 2D camera effects] has been added to the dialog box for exporting image sequences and movies. With this option, you can choose whether or not to apply camera effects when exporting your animation. The Graph Editor has been added to the [Timeline] palette. With this feature, you can edit the animation curve to adjust image transformations and opacity, as well as make detailed adjustments to interpolation methods between keyframes. You can switch to the Graph Editor view by selecting the [Graph Editor] icon on the [Timeline] palette. The [Animation curve] option has been added to the [Animation] menu. You can edit the animation curve by switching to the Graph Editor view in the [Timeline] palette. The options [Show 2D camera frames] and [Show camera path] have been added to the [Animation] menu. With these options, you can show or hide the camera frames and the path of camera movement effects. The [Show all field guides] option has been added to the [Animation] menu. With this option, you can show or hide the guides that indicate layer transformations. This option will show all layers that have transformations applied on the canvas. The [Camera path/Camera] category has been added to the [Preferences] dialog box. In this category, you can change the color or opacity of camera frames, camera paths, and field guides when they are made visible from the [Animation] menu. Clip Studio Paint now supports audio files.
- [Audio] has been added to the [File] menu > [Import]. Audio files will be imported as an audio layer.
- [Audio] has been added to the [File] menu > [Export animation]. You can export audio files.
- You can export movies with audio using the [File] menu > [Export animation] > [Movie] option. If you select an audio layer with the [Object] sub tool, you can adjust the volume on the timeline using the [Tool Property] palette. We have sped up the import of Clip Studio format files (extension:.clip). The import progress bar is also more accurate than before. We have improved the speed of operation on multiple layers as well as the display of the [Layer] palette, [Layer search] palette, and [Animation cels] palette. We have improved the display speed of the [Layer] palette and [Timeline] palette for canvases that include a lot of long layer names. You can now use up to 10,000 layers on a canvas. (Note: Depending on the system and canvas size, the application may operate more slowly.) The [Image interpolation] option has been added to the dialog box when creating a new animation file. This allows you to choose the method of interpolating pixels when images are transformed using keyframes. An area for displaying track labels has been added to the [Timeline] palette. You can edit track labels by clicking and dragging them The [Range] option has been added to the [Animation] menu > [Label] > [Create track label]. You can create a track label that lasts for the specified number of frames. You can export the camera path when exporting or printing your files. You can set up the camera path in the following dialog boxes. The color of the camera path can also be adjusted in the [Advanced settings of color] dialog box.
- [File] menu > [Save Duplicate]
- [File] menu > [Export (Single Layer)]
- [File] menu > [Print Settings] Hidden cels will now be visible when using [Animation] menu > [Show animation cels] > [Check cel motion by key input] or [Check surrounding cels by key input]. You can keep the operation of the previous version by changing settings in the dialog box. The option [Prioritize display speed over quality] has been added to the dialog box that appears when you use the [Animation] menu > [Show animation cels] > [Check cel motion by key input] or [Check surrounding cels by key input]. When this is turned on, the software will adjust the image quality to increase display speed. The [Show all field guides] option has been added to the [Animation] menu. With this option, you can show or hide the guides that indicate layer transformations. This option will show all layers that have transformations applied on the canvas. The [Camera path/Camera] category has been added to the [Preferences] dialog box. In this category, you can change the color or opacity of camera frames, camera paths, and field guides when they are made visible from the [Animation] menu. Clip Studio Paint now supports audio files.
- [Audio] has been added to the [File] menu > [Import]. Audio files will be imported as an audio layer.
- [Audio] has been added to the [File] menu > [Export animation]. You can export audio files.
- You can export movies with audio using the [File] menu > [Export animation] > [Movie] option. If you select an audio layer with the [Object] sub tool, you can adjust the volume on the timeline using the [Tool Property] palette. We have sped up the import of Clip Studio format files (extension:.clip). The import progress bar is also more accurate than before. We have improved the speed of operation on multiple layers as well as the display of the [Layer] palette, [Layer search] palette, and [Animation cels] palette. We have improved the display speed of the [Layer] palette and [Timeline] palette for canvases that include a lot of long layer names. You can now use up to 10,000 layers on a canvas. (Note: Depending on the system and canvas size, the application may operate more slowly.) The [Image interpolation] option has been added to the dialog box when creating a new animation file. This allows you to choose the method of interpolating pixels when images are transformed using keyframes. An area for displaying track labels has been added to the [Timeline] palette. You can edit track labels by clicking and dragging them The [Range] option has been added to the [Animation] menu > [Label] > [Create track label]. You can create a track label that lasts for the specified number of frames. You can export the camera path when exporting or printing your files. You can set up the camera path in the following dialog boxes. The color of the camera path can also be adjusted in the [Advanced settings of color] dialog box.
- [File] menu > [Save Duplicate]
- [File] menu > [Export (Single Layer)]
- [File] menu > [Print Settings] Hidden cels will now be visible when using [Animation] menu > [Show animation cels] > [Check cel motion by key input] or [Check surrounding cels by key input]. You can keep the operation of the previous version by changing settings in the dialog box. The option [Prioritize display speed over quality] has been added to the dialog box that appears when you use the [Animation] menu > [Show animation cels] > [Check cel motion by key input] or [Check surrounding cels by key input]. When this is turned on, the software will adjust the image quality to increase display speed. The option [Show materials that cannot be used] has been added to the [Material] palette menu. You can choose whether to show or hide materials that cannot be used in Clip Studio Paint. (Windows) When using a high-resolution display, the display width of the [Font List] has been widened. The [Font List] can be found in the [Tool Property] palette of the [Text] tool, etc.
Improvements (PRO/EX)
The option [Safety margin] has been added to the comic settings. Safety margins can be configured in the following dialog boxes.
- [File] menu > [New] > [Show all comic settings]
- [Edit] menu > [Canvas Properties]
- [Page Management] menu > [Change basic page settings] (EX)
- [Page Management] menu > [Change basic work settings] (EX) You can export safety margins when exporting or printing your file. Safety margins can be configured in the following dialog boxes. The color of the safety margin can also be adjusted in the [Advanced settings of color] dialog box.
- [File] menu > [Save Duplicate]
- [File] menu > [Export (Single Layer)]
- [File] menu > [Print Settings]
Improvements (EX)
Clip Studio Paint is now compatible with exposure sheet format files (extension: xdts).
- [Exposure sheet] has been added to the [File] menu > [Import]. You can use this to import exposure sheet information.
- You can export exposure sheet information with the [File] menu > [Export animation] > [Exposure sheet] option.
- More information about exposure sheet information formats can be found here. (PDF) (Windows) The options [Apply Toei Animation Digital Exposure Sheet information to current exposure sheet], [Load changes to Toei Animation Digital Exposure Sheet], and [Toei Animation Digital Exposure Sheet settings] have been added to the [Animation] menu > [Exposure sheet]. With these options, you can use the Toei Animation Digital Exposure Sheet with the [Timeline] palette in Clip Studio Paint.
Changes of specification (DEBUT/PRO/EX)
When switching the [Enable timeline] setting on or off, the selection with the [Object] sub tool will be deselected. When playing an animation with the [Animation] menu > [Settings of play] > [Prefer speed], layers that are moved using keyframes will be shown with the nearest neighbor method of pixel interpolation. When clicking an animation cel, the track name will display faintly by the animation folder on the [Timeline] palette regardless of the thumbnail image. When [Show split view] is turned on in the [Timeline] palette, some of the buttons will become inactive on timelines that aren’t selected. Cel names now show beneath the thumbnail image on the [Timeline] palette. When a vector layer has keyframes, the thumbnail image on the [Timeline] palette will not move when playing the animation. When changing the overflow frame size or the black space in the [Edit] menu > [Canvas Properties] or [Change basic page settings] dialog boxes, the images on the canvas will move with the output frame. The names of the interpolation methods in the [Edit] menu > [Transform] > [Mesh Transformation] have been changed to the following. The interpolation methods themselves have not been changed.
- Smooth (oversampling)
- Hard edges (nearest neighbor) The image interpolation methods have been changed. You can choose from [Smooth edges (bilinear)], [Hard edges (nearest neighbor)], [Clear edges (bicubic)], and [High accuracy (average colors)]. With the new interpolation methods, the interpolation methods will not switch for scaling or rotating images. The calculation of the original pixels has also become more accurate, so edges no longer become misaligned. The interpolation methods have been changed in the following areas.
- [Edit] Menu > [Transform] > [Scale up/Scale down/Rotate], [Free Transform], [Flip Horizontal], [Flip Vertical]
- [Edit] menu > [Change Image Resolution]
- The [Tool Property] palette when transforming an image When you rasterize a layer with keyframes, the transformation of the current frame will be maintained, and it will be converted to a clip without keyframes. We have changed the settings that appear when you click [Operation of transparent part] in the [Tool Property] palette for the [Object] sub tool.
- The option [Enable for 2D camera folders only] has been added.
- Other setting names have also been changed, but the functions remain the same. When merging several layers such as with the [Layer] menu > [Merge with layer below], rulers that have the same placement and shape will be combined into one. When you use [Check cel motion by key input] or [Check surrounding cels by key input] when the light table is enabled, the opacity of cels will not change when you release the key. The command name of [New animation folder] in the [Animation] menu has been changed to [Animation folder]. The [Edit track] submenu has been added to the [Animation] menu. This contains the options in the previous [Animation] menu > [Specify cel] and [Clip] submenus.
- [Delete], [Cut], [Copy], and [Paste] are now applicable for specified cels, clips, and keyframes.
- The options [Specify cels] > [Specify cel], [Batch specify cels], [Create all supported cels], [Standardize in order of timeline], and [Standardize in order of layers] have been moved to the [Edit track] submenu.
- [Clip] > [Combine] has been changed to [Combine clips] and moved to the [Edit track] submenu.
- [Clip] > [Divide] has been changed to [Divide clip] and moved to the [Edit track] submenu.
- The [Animation] menu > [Set as first displayed frame], [Set as last displayed frame], [Select previous cel], and [Select next cel] options have been moved to the [Edit track] submenu. [Animation] menu > [Label] > [Go to timeline label] has been moved to [Animation] menu > [Move frame]. [Animation] menu > [Enable timeline] has been moved to [Animation] menu > [Timeline]. [Animation] menu > [Timeline] > [Delete motion of selected layer] and [Delete motion of all layers] options have been removed. When using [Animation] menu > [Show animation cels] > [Check cel motion by key input] or [Check surrounding cels by key input], if you press two number keys at once, the program will no longer select the cel for the key that was last pressed. If you switch to a cel that is a folder when using [Animation] menu > [Show animation cels] > [Check cel motion by key input] or [Check surrounding cels by key input], the forefront layer in the folder will be selected. When you use the [Animation] menu > [Show animation cels] > [Check cel motion by key input] on a standard cel that is hidden, you |
majestic King Sigismund's Column, which was later destroyed by the Nazis during World War II.
And Warsaw's Lute Singing Club included music and lyrics from the prominent Polish composer and teacher Zygmunt Noskowski - For you my brothers, for you brothers, I sing and play, I sing and play.
Then there are the signatures. Some were dashed off by top officials. Many others are in the meticulous handwriting of schoolchildren.
Students from the public school in Wielki Klincz, in northern Poland, sent pressed flowers and a school picture - the girls with ribbons in their hair, the boys with buzz cuts - along and their signatures.
Anna Malinowska, Gertruda Rekonska, Franciszek Gostkowski and 28 other children wrote their names in black ink.
Such signatures provide, in a way, a "demographic snapshot of Poland in 1926," Conway-Lanz said.
Many of the names are likely those of the almost 6 million Polish citizens, including 3 million Jews, killed during World War II, the library said.
Another school in northern Poland sent students' signatures along with a drawing in pencil.
It seems to depict a destitute-looking family pausing for a meal under a tree. Children reach for food a woman is preparing. There's a ruined, smoldering building in the background.
The caption reads: "Bóg zeslal nam pomoc z Ameryki" - God has sent us help from America!For those unfamiliar with what goes on at the annual January boondoggle at the World Economic Forum in Davos, here is the simple breakdown.
Officially, heads of state, captains of industry, prominent academics, philanthropists and a retinue of journalists, celebrities and hangers-on will descend Tuesday on the picturesque alpine village of Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum;
Unofficially, it's the world's biggest echo chamber, where wealthy, influential and/or powerful people, yet vastly out of touch with the rest of the world, sit down with other wealthy, influential and/or powerful people who are just as out of touch, to validate to each other that nobody really knows anything (also known as the "ratings agency effect"), but because the press is there and fails to point out that these emperors of industry, commerce, entertainment and politics are naked in hopes of maintaining their annual invitation and direct access, everyone goes home happy. And just as clueless.
Hence Trump.
Case in point, as Reuters fondly recalls, last year, the consensus here was that Trump had no chance of being elected (actually, last January the world's elites were far more worried about plunging markets as we pointed out in "How Billionaires Are Investing In 2016: "The Only Winning Move Is Not To Play The Game").
Trump was elected. His victory, less than half a year after Britain voted to leave the European Union, "was a slap at the principles that elites in Davos have long held dear, from globalization and free trade to multilateralism."
We'll get to Trump in a second, but first some more on the background of this festival which revels in everything the populist backlash of 2016 found excerable, courtesy of the NYT.
Who Attends the Conference?
More than 2,500 people will attend this year’s conference from 90 different countries, paying up to $50,000 per person to attend (that of course excludes the ultra-celebrities who get in for free). In fact, so many people are attending, some of the local staff may sleep in shipping containers. Most of the participants are corporate executives, but more than two dozen heads of state and government are expected to attend. Theresa May, the prime minister of Britain, and Xi Jinping, president of China, are attending the conference for the first time this year. Xi is the first Chinese president to attend the event, and will also be the star attraction. His presence is being seen as a sign of Beijing's growing weight in the world at a time when Trump is promising a more insular, "America first" approach and Europe is pre-occupied with its own troubles, from Brexit to terrorism.
On the other hand, Trump has decided not to officially send a member of his team as it would "betray his populist-fueled movement." Likewise German chancellor Merkel will be absent, worried about her own image ahead of the 2017 German elections.
Aside from politicians, Shakira and the actor Forest Whitaker are to receive awards this year. Expected attendees include Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook; Matt Damon; Formula One driver Nico Rosberg; and Alibaba's Jack Ma. While only 17% of last year’s participants were women, according to the forum, this year the number is not expected to change.
How Are These People Kept Safe?
All of those dignitaries need security. During the conference, Davos transforms into a fortress. Roadblocks restrict traffic on the city’s main streets and checkpoints spring up outside each venue. At the Congress Center, where the main panels take place, and at each hotel that hosts parties and talks, attendees pass metal detectors, armed guards and beneath the watchful eyes of sharpshooters. In the past, the conference was targeted by protesters associated with the anticapitalist Occupy movement. In 2013, members of the Ukrainian activist group Femen were arrested after a topless demonstration. The Swiss government estimated it will spend 8 million Swiss francs, about $8 million, on security, but said that number could increase if there were a credible threat to the conference. “Switzerland is still not regarded as a priority target for jihadist terrorists,” the Federal Council said on its website. “On the other hand, even on Swiss soil, the interests of states participating in the military coalition against the so-called Islamic State face an increased threat.”
Is It as Elitist as It Sounds?
Yes. The meeting runs on a tiered system of colored badges denoting just how important one is, or is not. White badges are for attendees able to attend any official event and make full use of the forum’s facilities. Orange badges are reserved for the 500 journalists who cover the forum, but are not allowed at some parties. Other badges, like purple ones, denote technical or support staff and limit their holders to a few areas. Local hotels like the Belvedere and the InterContinental often sell their own badges to the bankers and consultants who descend upon Davos to strike deals and chat up clients. These souls camp out at the hotels, renting rooms for business meetings by day and soiree hopping at night.
What About the Parties?
Beyond the boring, ineffective, and circle-jerking lectures and panel discussions, a much more important agenda unfolds after sunset. One notable event, according to the NYT, is a simulation of a refugee’s experience, where Davos attendees crawl on their hands and knees and pretend to flee from advancing armies. It is one of the most popular events every year. The theme of this year’s conference is “Responsive and Responsible Leadership.” But attendees like to play as hard as they work.
There are several official cocktail receptions, but the action really lies in a galaxy of events hosted by corporations. Some are small, intimate dinners that feature the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Bono. Others are dazzling affairs worthy of a modern day Gatsby: JPMorgan Chase, for example, has previously taken over the Kirchner Museum Davos for drinks with its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister. Google’s annual party at the InterContinental Hotel has become the hottest ticket in town. The investor Anthony Scaramucci, now an adviser to Donald J. Trump, for years has hosted a reception at the famed Hotel Europe featuring a sometimes eye-popping list of high-end Champagne and Bordeaux red wine. A more recent up-and-comer is hosted by Salesforce.com, a business software maker, whose chief, Marc Benioff, is one of the forum’s most ardent boosters. Last year’s Salesforce party included Mr. Benioff flying in scores of fresh flower leis and a band from Hawaii, as Eric Schmidt of Google and other tech notables danced in a corner. Several years ago, Sean Parker of Napster and Facebook fame, hosted an over-the-top gathering that featured stuffed animal heads shooting laser beams out of their eyes. And the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has thrown opulent gatherings at a nearby villa where the Champagne flowed freely For a nightcap, the Davos crowd traditionally retires to the Tonic Bar at Hotel Europe, sipping cocktails while the forum fixture Barry Colson leads the crowd in Billy Joel singalongs.
* * *
With the background of the event covered, we once again focus on the key topic at hand, namely quite ironic "social and wealth inequality" - which incidentally has been a core topic for the past several years, demonstrating just how clueless Davos really is, and of course Trump.
Just so readers can get a sense of just how delightfully surreal this whole event is, one of the most prominent panels is called "Squeezed and Angry: How to Fix the Middle-Class Crisis"
Its description: "Poor employment prospects and low-income growth in many developed economies have laid the groundwork for the rise of populism. Did policy-makers ignore these trends or do too little to redress them? What can be done to restore growth in the middle class and confidence in the future?"
Who are these experts on the woes of the middle class? Read em and weep: Ray Dalio - a billiionaire who encourages spying on his employees; Christine Lagarde - a convicted criminal and tax evader, head of an organization that takes from the poor and gives to the world's creditors; and Larry Summers, a firm believer, and doer, in wealth redistribution from the middle classes to the wealthy.
* * *
While in previous years the Davos party was not to be spoiled with any actual concerns about the real world violating the inner sanctum of the world's uber-poseurs, this year something has changed.
Beneath the veneer of optimism over the economic outlook lurks acute anxiety about an increasingly toxic political climate and a deep sense of uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump, who will be quite symoblically, even if purely accidentally, inaugurated on the final day of the forum.
And with Trump's election come worries that the ivory towers inhabited by the 2,500 or so Davosites, are far less sturdy than previously believed. "Regardless of how you view Trump and his positions, his election has led to a deep, deep sense of uncertainty and that will cast a long shadow over Davos," said Jean-Marie Guehenno, CEO of International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution think-tank.
Moises Naim of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was even more blunt, suggesting that the people in Davos are even more clueless than usual, which is saying quite a lot.
"There is a consensus that something huge is going on, global and in many respects unprecedented. But we don't know what the causes are, nor how to deal with it."
Brilliant.
* * *
Meanwhile, in an attempt to figure out the causes and "how to deal with it", the participants in the World Economic Forum, which runs from Jan. 17 to 20, will partake in such panels as the abovementioned "Squeezed and Angry: How to Fix the Middle Class Crisis", "Politics of Fear or Rebellion of the Forgotten?", "Tolerance at the Tipping Point?" and "The Post-EU Era".
The central question in Davos, a four-day affair of panel discussions, lunches and cocktail parties that delve into subjects as diverse as terrorism, artificial intelligence and wellness, is whether leaders can agree on the root causes of public anger and begin to articulate a response... aside from the forum participants themselves of course.
A WEF report on global risks released before Davos highlighted "diminishing public trust in institutions" and noted that rebuilding faith in the political process and leaders would be a "difficult task". Guy Standing, the author of several books on the new "precariat", a class of people who lack job security and reliable earnings, believes more people are coming around to the idea that free-market capitalism needs to be overhauled, including those that have benefited most from it.
"The mainstream corporate types don't want Trump and far-right authoritarians," said Standing, who has been invited to Davos for the first time. "They want a sustainable global economy in which they can do business. More and more of them are sensible enough to realize that they have overreached."
But Ian Bremmer, president of U.S.-based political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, is not so sure, and he recounted ro Reuters a recent trip to Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York where he saw bankers "rejoicing in the elevators" at the surge in stock markets and the prospect of tax cuts and deregulation under Trump. Both Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and his JP Morgan counterpart Jamie Dimon will be in Davos.
It remains to be seen if there will be as much "elevator rejoicing" when the market finally crashes under Trump, an inevitable outcome which some speculate is precisely why Trump was allowed to become president: so that all the blame on the grand crash, once it, happens can be placed on him.
Others are less worried about the impact of Trump, and more concerned that the pace of technological change and the integrated, complex nature of the global economy have made it more difficult for leaders to shape and control events, let alone reconfigure the global system. The global financial crisis of 2008/9 and the migrant crisis of 2015/16 exposed the impotence of politicians, deepening public disillusion and pushing people towards populists who offered simple explanations and solutions.
The problem, says Ian Goldin, an expert on globalization and development at the University of Oxford, is that on many of the most important issues, from climate change to financial regulation, only multilateral cooperation can deliver results. And this is precisely what the populists reject. "The state of global politics is worse than it's been in a long time," said Goldin. "At a time when we need more coordination to tackle issues like climate change and other systemic risks, we are getting more and more insular."
* * *
Whatever the reason, sense of dread that things are moving, changing beyond the participants' control will be all too tangible.
It is also why, as Bloomberg reported today, the World Economic Forum will convene a special meeting in Washington this year to discuss issues raised during the president-elect’s campaign "and the populist wave that swept him to victory" WEF founder Klaus Schwab told Bloomberg Television on Sunday. The gathering will explore U.S. investment and job-creation opportunities for companies that participate in the forum, he said.
“It’s very natural that with the new administration we plan a major event in the U.S. to see what are the implications of the new president and how the business community could engage,” Schwab said in advance of the forum’s 47th annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. “We have to be responsive to the call.”
“People have become very emotionalized, this silent fear of what the new world will bring,” Schwab said in the town’s hulking conference center. “We have populists here and we want to listen. We have to respond to these individuals’ fears and to offer solutions. It’s not just enough to listen; we have to provide answers and that’s what were here for in Davos."
No, that's what you were there for in Davos in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and you did nothing. Now it's too late as the pendulum has already swung.
That, however, is not obvious to the forum organizers who will enjoy another blockbuster year. Business is booming for the WEF and Schwab, 78, said he has no plans to abandon or alter its annual retreat. Revenue is up 45% in the past five years and staff have increased by about a third - with employees earning an average of 135,000 Swiss francs, ($133,875) which rises to 213,000 Swiss francs with the addition of costs such as pensions and healthcare.
“Our salary structure is completely in line with others such as the Bretton Woods organization, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund,” Schwab said. “We also have to be competitive with organizations like Goldman Sachs and McKinsey. We are competing for the same talent.”
How does Schwab reconcile the glaring hypocricy of the world's wealthiest debating social injustice and wealth inequality? Simple:
Despite the glitzy parties that have become the hallmark of the annual gathering, Schwab said his aim is not to celebrate the “outrageous excesses of life,” but rather to create a “global village,” where participants can mull weighty issues facing the world without the distractions of a large city. And he insists that as the power and beliefs of business and political leaders face unprecedented challenges, the meeting is needed more than ever.
Schwab says the WEF’s annual meeting, where companies host lavish parties awash in champagne and rare vintage wines, attendees pay $50,000 and thousands of soldiers and police stand guard, remains an appropriate forum to discuss political issues like the rise of populism and seek solutions to society’s biggest problems. Unfortunately, that's all it is, as no concrete, revolutionary decisions can ever take place within the confines of this giant echo chamber.
Schwab concludes by saying that "the right solution will require a lot of effort and many steps in the right direction. I am optimistic that in a new multi-polar world we still have the notion of a joined and shared destiny" but adds that his "biggest fear is that we will believe there are very simple answers to very difficult questions.”
Actually, herr Klaus Schwab, there are other far more tangible things you and your peers should be afraid of, but somehow we doubt that those will become apparent while eating $40 hot dogs.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence later this week while they're both visiting a conference of U.S. state governors.
The event will be a formal sit-down.
The men will be in Rhode Island for a gathering of more than three dozen governors, and there had been whispers that the Canadian delegation might spend time with a high-profile U.S. federal official.
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That official is Pence, a Canadian official has confirmed.
Related: Trump says of Trudeau: 'Justin is doing a spectacular job'
Read more: Canada has a secret weapon in the upcoming NAFTA fight
Lest anyone read any political intrigue into the meeting with the man who is second in line to the U.S. presidency, the official stressed this event was arranged before the latest headlines involving President Donald Trump's family contacts with Russians.
"It was confirmed before this week's revelations," the official said.
The special counsel investing Russian election meddling is now examining an exchange involving Donald Trump Jr. in a probe that has now expanded to touch Trump's immediate family.
The release of emails this week has shown that Trump's son went into a meeting with a Russian lawyer last year hoping for dirt collected on Hillary Clinton, and being told it was gathered by the Russian government to help Trump.
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The outreach to a vice-president is not uncommon: former U.S. president Barack Obama's vice-president, Joe Biden, was hosted at an official dinner in Ottawa late last year.
With NAFTA negotiations approaching, Canada also has a strategy of reaching out to 11 politically important states – in the hope that, if trade talks hit a rough patch, their governors will advocate for continued open borders.
Some of those governors will be in Rhode Island.
Trudeau will deliver a speech and hold a more informal public exchange with the governors Friday.The Rays have traded infielder/outfielder Richie Shaffer and infielder/outfielder Taylor Motter to the Mariners in exchange for minor league first baseman Dalton Kelly and minor league right-handers Andrew Kittredge and Dylan Thompson, the teams announced.
The 25-year-old Shaffer (pictured) was the 25th overall pick in the 2012 draft but has yet to live up to cement himself as a Major League contributor. He’s spent parts of the 2015-16 seasons at the Major League level, hitting.213/.310/.410 in 142 plate appearances. He’s been considerably more productive at the Triple-A level, where he’s slashed.243/.338/.445 with 30 homers in 188 games. The right-handed-hitting Shaffer has experience at all four corner positions but has spent the majority of the time at first base. In his big league career, he’s actually been better against right-handed pitching than left-handers, but he doesn’t come with much of a platoon split looking back throughout his minor league career.
Motter, 27, made his big league debut with Tampa Bay in 2016 and hit.188/.290/.300 in 93 plate appearances while seeing time at all four infield positions and both outfield corners. The bulk of his work came in left field and at the two middle-infield slots, but Motter’s versatility is undoubtedly an appealing factor to the Mariners, especially when considering the fact that he carries a fairly solid.266/.338/.437 slash with 27 homers and 45 steals in parts of two seasons at the Triple-A level (215 games).
Thompson rated as the Mariners’ No. 22 prospect, according to MLB.com, whose scouting report gives the former fourth-round pick (No. 125 overall, 2015) a chance to develop three average-or-better offerings. His fastball currently sits in the low 90s and touches 93 mph, though there’s some room for further growth, according to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis, so he could add some heat down the line. He also has the makings of at least an average slider and changeup, though they’re both inconsistent, the MLB.com duo notes. Thompson just turned 20 in September and has a 2.87 ERA with 8.9 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 31 1/3 professional innings — all of which have come with the the club’s Rookie-level affiliate.
Kittredge, 27 next March, split this season between Seattle’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, posting a 3.50 earned run average with 10.5 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 72 innings of work. He made five starts but worked primarily out of the bullpen.
Kelly, 22, was a 38th-round pick by Seattle in 2015 but turned in a strong 2016 season despite that modest draft pedigree. In 564 plate appearances in the Class-A Midwest League, Kelly batted.293/.384/.416 with seven homers and 21 stolen bases. The UC Santa Barbara product sports a.384 OBP through parts of two professional seasons, having slashed.219/.385/.333 in 31 games after being drafted in ’15.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.Skip to comments.
Is this boring...or fascinating? (Dave Barry) (LOL)
Miami Herald ^ | Dave Barry
Posted on by nuconvert
Is this boring...or fascinating?
DAVE BARRY
This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on Nov. 20, 1994
I was at an airport, reading a newspaper, when the World's Three Most Boring People sat down next to me and started talking as loud as they could without amplifiers. They were so boring I took notes on their conversation. Here's an actual excerpt:
FIRST PERSON (pointing to a big bag): That's a big bag.
SECOND PERSON: That is a big bag.
FIRST PERSON: You can hold a lot in a bag like that.
THIRD PERSON: Francine has a big bag like that.
FIRST PERSON: Francine does? Like that?
THIRD PERSON: Yes. It holds everything. She puts everything in that bag.
SECOND PERSON: It's a big bag.
THIRD PERSON: She says whatever she has, she just puts it in that bag and just boom, closes it up.
FIRST PERSON: Francine does?
SECOND PERSON: That is a big bag.
* * *
I want to stress that this was not all that they had to say about the big bag. They could have gone on for hours if they hadn't been interrupted by a major news development; namely, a person walking past pulling a wheeled suitcase. This inspired a whole new train of thought: ("There's one of those suitcases with those wheels." "Where?" "There, with those wheels." "John has one." "He does?" "With those wheels?" "Yes. He says you just roll it along." "John does?")
And so on. It occurred to me that a possible explanation for some plane crashes might be that people like these were sitting close enough to the cockpit for the flight crew to hear them talk ("There's a cloud." "Look, there's another... ") and eventually the pilot deliberately flies into the ground to make them shut up.
The thing is, these people clearly didn't know they were boring. Boring people never do. In fact, no offense, even YOU could be boring. Ask yourself: When you talk to people, do they tend to make vague excuses -- "Sorry! Got to run!" -- and then walk briskly away? Does this happen even if you are in an elevator?
But even if people listen to you with what appears to be great interest, that doesn't mean you're not boring. They could be pretending. When Prince Charles speaks, everybody pretends to be fascinated, even though he has never said anything interesting except in that intercepted telephone conversation wherein he expressed the desire to be a feminine hygiene product.
And even if you're not Prince Charles, people might have to pretend you're interesting because they want to sell you something, or have intimate carnal knowledge of you, or because you hold some power over them. At one time I was a co-investor in a small aging apartment building with plumbing and electrical systems that were brought over on the Mayflower; my partner and I were regularly visited by the building inspector, who had the power to write us up for numerous minor building-code infractions, which is why we always pretended to be fascinated when he told us -- as he ALWAYS did -- about the time he re- plumbed his house. His account of this event was as long as The Iliad, but with more soldering. I'm sure he told this story to everybody whose building he ever inspected; he's probably still telling it, unless some building owner finally strangled him, in which case I bet his wife never reported that he was missing.
The point is that you could easily be unaware that you're boring. This is why everybody should make a conscious effort to avoid boring topics. The problem here, of course, is that not everybody agrees on what "boring" means. For example, Person A might believe that collecting decorative plates is boring, whereas Person B might find this to be a fascinating hobby. Who's to say which person is correct?
I am. Person A is correct. Plate-collecting is boring. In fact, hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby. (This is also true of religion, although you will not find me saying so in print.) The New Age is boring, and so are those puzzles where you try to locate all the hidden words. Agriculture is important, but boring. Likewise foreign policy. Also, come to think of it, domestic policy. The fact that your child made the honor roll is boring. Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside-down. Talking about golf is always boring. (Playing golf can be interesting, but not the part where you try to hit the little ball; only the part where you drive the cart.) Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.
Speaking of sports, a big problem is that men and women often do not agree on what is boring. Men can devote an entire working week to discussing a single pass-interference penalty; women find this boring, yet can be fascinated by a four-hour movie with subtitles wherein the entire plot consists of a man and a woman yearning to have, but never actually having, a relationship. Men HATE that. Men can take maybe 45 seconds of yearning, and then they want everybody to get naked. Followed by a car chase. A movie called Naked People in Car Chases would do really well among men. I have quite a few more points to make, but I'm sick of this topic
TOPICS:
Culture/Society
Editorial
Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS:
barry
boring
davebarry
humor
To: nuconvert
Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting. LOL!!! A man after my own heart!
Thanks for the article, Nuconcert! Always time for a good laugh!
by 2 posted onby yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
To: Boxsford; Irish Rose; Ditter; kitkat
Pong
by 3 posted onby nuconvert ([there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
To: nuconvert
"Men can take maybe 45 seconds of yearning, and then they want everybody to get naked. Followed by a car chase. A movie called Naked People in Car Chases would do really well among men."
Lol!
It's so true!
To: nuconvert
My brother-in-law can bore a person to tears in no time flat. He tells these long, long, slow stories about hunting. For ducks. With his dog. Out in the swamps. By the cornfields. With his friends. Around Christmas. When it's cold. And he just keeps adding details till your eyes glaze over. And there is no alcohol in that house, either. You either sneak your own in or sit and listen to him stone cold sober. It's Hell.
To: wizardoz
LOL.
I feel sorry for your sister
by 6 posted onby nuconvert ([there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
To: MaryFromMichigan
HeHe! I have to agree, but there's something missing from the scenario. Men like movies with naked people and car chases, but they also like to see things go boom. Throw an explosion into the scenario and it's a perfect man-flick.
by 7 posted onby SvdByFaith ("I am sending you out like sheep among wolves..." Matthew 10:16)
To: nuconvert
Of course it's boring to a third party listening in to be entertained. But the conversation didn't happen for Dave Barry's benefit. The conversation he's talking about isn't about anything but the contact between the people involved. Maybe they're old acquaintances who never had much to say to each other but are getting used to being together again. Or maybe they're people who've just met and have no idea what each other's interests are. Or else they're just trying to pass the time while waiting. It's hard to get into "interesting" mode with people you don't know at a time when you'd just as soon be napping. Of course, they could just be boring people. But "that's a big bag" conversations are very common in the world. They happen, for example, when people are waiting for hours for a bus or plane. Or when you have to sit next to a distant relative, you have nothing in common with, at a family occasion. A good playwright and some talented actors could do a lot with such a conversation. Or at least, most playwrights today -- Pinter, Sheppard, Mamet -- tend to write lines like those Barry overheard.
To: x
"But "that's a big bag" conversations are very common in the world."
Yes, and that's what makes it funny. Everyone can relate to either having heard or having taken part in a smiilar boring conversation, whatever the reason for it.
btw - Dave Barry is a humorist. And I thought his re-telling of the "big bag" conversation was very funny.
by 9 posted onby nuconvert ([there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
To: x
I couldn't read your whole post. It was too boring.
To: T Minus Four
LOL
by 11 posted onby nuconvert ([there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
To: SvdByFaith
Don't forget:
by 12 posted onby Sofa King (A wise man uses compromise as an alternative to defeat. A fool uses it as an alternative to victory.)
To: nuconvert
Thank you for posting this Dave Barry, he's funny all of the time!
I think he also wrote a very funny column about the cell phone conversations you overhear everywere you go.
by 13 posted onby Theresawithanh (Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I stuck around...)
To: x
Barry could have been describing any day around Floyd's Barber Shop.
by 14 posted onby Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: nuconvert
A movie called Naked People in Car Chases would do really well among men. That sounds like a good movie, where's it playing?
To: x
The conversation he's talking about isn't about anything but the contact between the people involved. Maybe they're old acquaintances who never had much to say to each other but are getting used to being together again. Or maybe they're people who've just met and have no idea what each other's interests are. Or else they're just trying to pass the time while waiting. It's hard to get into "interesting" mode with people you don't know at a time when you'd just as soon be napping. I think I just fell asleep while reading your post.....
by 16 posted onby Onelifetogive (* Sarcasm tag ALWAYS required. For some FReepers, sarcasm can NEVER be obvious enough.)
To: nuconvert
Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting. Bump.
To: nuconvert
"Is this boring...or fascinating?" lol, it's funny! thanks for the ping.
To: wizardoz
lol, that is too funny. I think that could be a thread all on its own. everyone would try to top the most boring person they'd ever met.
To: x
okay, I have to ask. Were you FIRST PERSON in Dave's story? Do you own a big bag?
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FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John RobinsonIf you're jonesing for a cup of coffee in the next time you're in Wooster Square, you may not have to go back downtown. Come November, you can pick it up on 516 Chapel St., where another signature brew was once handed out by the cupful.
At least, that's the hope for Zhiming and Sarah Wang, building owners who are opening a new cafe at Fuel Coffee's old location. After two years looking for a tenant to occupy the first floor space, the two have decided to run a cafe themselves, with two part-time baristas. They have already hired one and are looking for another.
Despite renovation delays, they expect to be open by November.
"The community needs a coffee shop," said Sarah Wang Tuesday evening, stepping over planks of wood and tarp that has yet to transform into a finished product. "It's been a long time coming."
With a team of contractors, the two have given the space a facelift. A new, dropped white ceiling has replaced an old one. Exposed brick shines from where it's been cleaned on a back wall. Planks of wood still cover the ground, but they have purposes: a floorboard, counter reinforcement, bit of the prep area waiting to be put into action.
The property has been out of commission for close to two years. From 2005 to 2015, Fuel Coffee lived at 516 Chapel St., frequented by neighborhood regulars and foot traffic from the Saturday Wooster Square farmer's market. Then in 2015, owner Courtney Ciesla moved the coffee shop to Wooster Street.
She was there for two years. Then June of this year, Ciesla closed up shop on Wooster Street. The property was approved as a "beauty bar" by the Board of Zoning appeals in July.
Since 2015, the lower floor of the building at 516 Chapel St. has been vacant. Earlier this week, the Wangs mounted a banner reading "Coming Soon: Wooster Square Coffee," with a small, steaming mug under the words.
Originally, Zhiming Wang had approached the City Plan Commission with plans to convert the space into an apartment, according to a City Plan advisory report that was published in 2015. That never came to be, and the first floor of the property has remained vacant since Fuel ownerCiesla moved her business to 203 Wooster St., and then out of New Haven.
While the Wangs are keeping the details largely under wraps until a ribbon cutting, they said that the 1100 square foot property is set to open this fall, with sandwiches and salads as well as a full coffee and tea menu. They are still looking for bakeries to contract out to, and are taking suggestions. And they've made a habit of doing some work with the door open — so curious neighbors can peek inside and meet them.
"There's lots of work to do," said Wang in an earlier conversation, as he sat in Russo Park. "So we are excited, but it's lots of pressure."The 14-year-old girl's death affected Wendy Tracey like no other call in her 15 years as an EMT.
Buy Photo A teenager's suicide hit York Township Fire Department EMT/firefighter Wendy Tracey hard. She was one of the first to respond to the suicide on Jan. 18. (Photo: Chris Dunn, York Daily Record)Buy Photo
The call came in at 19:35 hours – 7:35 p.m. in civilian time – as a cardiac arrest. The age of the patient was not known, according to the dispatcher, nor was her "life status," a term used by emergency workers to describe a person nearing death.
Wendy Tracey was on Interstate 83 when she got the call, driving back to York from her nursing job to report for duty as an EMT/firefighter with York Township's Goodwill Fire Company. She drove directly to the address |
of Kiwi journalists, the team have enjoyed strolls around the city, a training session in a railway station and a meal in Chinatown.
However, flying under the radar may not last long as buzz builds in the Windy City for the sold out game against the USA Eagles at Soldier Field this weekend (Sunday 9am NZT).
In the absence of paparazzi, the All Blacks have taken to social media to share some snaps of their daily adventures.
Dan Carter asks who is coming to watch him.
Great to be Chicago! Anyone coming to the game this weekend? pic.twitter.com/bMt1xZB59V — Dan Carter (@DanCarter) October 27, 2014
Captain Richie McCaw hits the streets.
Only in Chicago can Sonny Bill Williams walk the streets unnoticed
Victor Vito, Malakai Fekitoa and Jerome Kaino on a recovery walk in Chicago
Walked through Chicago after recovery yesterday with @victorvito1103 and @jeromekaino #OnTour A photo posted by Malakai Fekitoa ® (@malakaifekitoa) on Oct 10, 2014 at 8:39am PDT
Training at Chicago Union Station.
Check out the @AllBlacks hosting a training session at the Great Hall of the Chicago Union Station #USAvAllBlacks pic.twitter.com/24ZDsAtcnW — All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 28, 2014
Photographic evidence that a Bus can exist quite comfortably in a train station #USAvNZL #USAvAllBlacks @juliansavea7 pic.twitter.com/QzwW7mc6r1 — All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 28, 2014
Conrad Smith in Chicago.
Conrad in Chicago. The third largest city in the US certainly knows how to build them! #USAvNZL #USAvAllBlacks pic.twitter.com/FTMnO3rka1 — All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 28, 2014
Some of the All Blacks headed out to Chinatown for dinner.
Dinner in Chi-town with these breathers @liammessam @sonnybwilliams #Augy A photo posted by Jerome Kaino (@jeromekaino) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:19pm PDT• Clarke says review is not linked to recent Joey Barton case • ‘We are actively considering what our position will be and should be’
Greg Clarke admits the Football Association is considering ending its partnership with betting companies but stressed the decision is not linked to the recent Joey Barton case.
Barton was banned from football for 18 months in April for breaking betting rules but the Burnley midfielder fired a parting shot at the FA over its own links to gambling companies.
Experts warn of £12.6bn scale of UK gambling problem | Paul MacInnes Read more
A statement published on Barton’s official website last month read: “I think if the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies.”
The governing body signed a “long-term” deal with Ladbrokes in June 2016 to become its “official betting partner” following a similar agreement with William Hill.
The FA also has commercial deals with alcoholic drinks firms such as Budweiser and a report – ordered at the start of the season by Clarke – into whether such agreements are appropriate is due to be published in the summer.
Clarke, the FA chairman, told the Times: “We are actively considering what our position will be and should be.
Play Video 1:29 Does football have a gambling problem? – video
“I have thought about the relationship between betting and football, and alcohol and football, and I raised this at the start of the season when I took over as chairman.
“I asked for the management team to produce a report on what our position should be on a number of things, and gambling and alcohol were among those things. At the end of the season, when that paper is produced, the FA board will take a measured decision on what our position should be.
“Until I see that paper, I don’t have a position but it is right we consider it and then make a positive decision on what we are going to do or not. This is not linked to the Joey Barton case at all, this goes back to the start of the season.”
Of the 20 Premier League sides, 11 have betting companies’ logos on their shirts while the three English Football League divisions are sponsored by Sky Bet.
Clarke added: “The FA will decide what is appropriate for a governing body, and there is a set of tests we would apply, and they will be different to what should apply to clubs, as for a governing body they should be higher.”Isaura Garcia, a battered woman and legal immigrant, called 911 after her boyfriend beat her up. The cops believed her boyfriend's version of the story (despite bruises and other signs recorded at the hospital after she fainted). Because she was arrested, she faces deportation under the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's "Secure Communities" program:
"The dangerous message that Isaura's case sends to immigrants who are victims or witnesses to crimes is that if you call the police, you might be deported," Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said during this morning's press conference.
Garcia was snared thanks to Secure Communities, the Department of Homeland Security program that requires local police departments to share the fingerprints of arrestees with immigration authorities. While the intention of the program is to identify and deport criminal aliens, in practice it has not always worked out that way for Garcia and other non-criminals, according to Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU-SC. "Secure Communities ends up providing security to criminals, including perpetrators of domestic violence," he said today. "This couldn't possibly make our communities more secure."
Garcia echoed those sentiments to those gathered before her. "I still don't understand why I was arrested," she said, "but had I realized I could be arrested after calling 9-1-1 for help and deported, I never would have called..."
Illinois has announced its desire to opt out of the federal program, while San Francisco Police Chief Michael Hennessy recently revealed his department will not turn over non-criminals and low-level offenders to immigration authorities identified through Secure Communities.Whether you have just completed your graduation or looking for a job. The first thing you need to do is a build a professional Resume. In professional world a company hires an employee by checking his/her resume. An HR usually receives thousands of resumes per day, So you really need to be creative with your Resume. Resume Or CV is like your first and last impression, So you really need to stand out of the crowd. Although there is some difference between Resume and CV(curriculum vitae). Resume is comparatively shorter than CV as it just includes details about your educations, skill and experiences. On the other side CV includes in-depth details of your education, achievements and career biography. So here are some Resume builder websites which let us create professional Resume totally free.
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A large homeless camp outside Flinders Street Station. Credit:Eddie Jim He defended accusations police were doing nothing, saying officers could not enforce laws that don't exist. However, Mr Ashton's comments came in stark contrast to the view expressed only 24 hours earlier by Victoria Police Superintendent David Clayton. A man sits at the homeless camp outside Flinders Street Station. Credit:Joe Armao Superintendent Clayton rebuffed suggestions that police should use move-on powers to disperse the homeless camps, saying those laws were used for problems around night-clubs and protests, not for homeless people.
"It's not an offence to be homeless," he said. "It's not a very good look what's going on there on Flinders Street, but it's not an offence to sit or sleep on the street." On Wednesday, Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle said he was not convinced that council officers or the police needed any further powers to force homeless people to move away from high-traffic areas. It would not fix the problem, he said, but instead shift homeless people to other parts of the CBD. "There are cities around the world where they simply bundle homeless people up and ship them out," Cr Doyle said.
"I'd hate to think that we were ever that sort of city. We need to address the problem, not just do a cosmetic clean-up." He reiterated that message on Thursday, in response to Mr Ashton's comments. "The more important thing is to connect people to services," he said. "I don't necessarily think a move on power is going to do that, remember we're trying to help people. "There's no easy answer, it's very complex but I don't think the answer is to demonise people and I don't think the answer is to just move people out of sight, it's to actually engage and try to deal with the problem."
Cr Doyle said if people were forced away from the station they would only move to other rough sleeping hot-spots such as Enterprize Park, Treasury Gardens and City Square. "These camps keep moving and what we have to do is keep up that activity to clean them up after police play their role and look to the State Government for long-term housing solutions," he said. "We're all in it together but we've got to co-ordinate those efforts so that were actually having an effect and making a difference to those people who are vulnerable." Speaking alongside Mr Ashton on Thursday, Police Minister Lisa Neville said the Flinders Street camp was illustrative of Melbourne's "serious homeless problem" but that it wasn't illegal to sleep rough. "Homelessness is not a crime in this state," she said.The Maserati MC12 Corsa was not intended for public roads. Yet here one is, with a New York license plate and all the ground clearance of a household vacuum cleaner. Unlike most Maseratis for sale, It should be illegal, and yet whomever accepts the $3 million asking price on this ultra-rare GT1-series race car should be able to drive it to any Cars and Coffee without an enclosed carrier.
The regular MC12 is street legal and 50 were built so the track version, the MC12 GT1, could pass the FIA requirements for a limited run of production cars. That GT1 won the 2005 FIA GT Manufacturers Cup and beat Ferrari, the donor for the MC12’s mid-engine bones. Everything you see on an MC12 is a reworked Enzo, that pinnacle of Ferrari engineering that posted incredible numbers (660 hp, 7-speed gearbox, 217 mph top speed) despite its gawky, Formula 1-inspired exterior.
The MC12 put art at the forefront. The car is wider, longer, and altogether prettier from any angle – and it brought Maserati into sports car racing after decades of missed opportunity and overlooked cars. It’s also slightly down on power, to 625, used a more antiquated 6-speed automated manual and could only turn about 205 mph. It had a removable targa hardtop like the contemporary Porsche Carrera GT and the older Ferrari F50.
Except this car. A dozen MC12 Corsas were built with 755-hp V12s, full roll cages, slicks, a removable steering wheel with digital telemetry, zero sound deadening, zero suspension travel, and a team of mechanics. Like the Ferrari FXX that was an extreme, track-only Enzo, Maserati sold the MC12 Corsa with a leash: Owners would fork over $1.3 million and travel to wherever Maserati felt like bringing their cars. It was one of the most lavish and ridiculous factory racing programs in that the Corsas never competed against anything or anyone. They were timeshares.
Now that Maserati’s custodianship is long over, Corsa owners are free to do whatever they like. This very car with the “CORSA” plate was filmed driving in California last August. Again, federal regulations prohibit this vehicle from public roads – you can’t install five-point racing harnesses – but it’s very likely another DMV will accept this Corsa given the previous registration and a sales tax topping $200,000.
Search: Maserati GranTurismo For Sale
It’s still a tough purchase. The Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, and McLaren P1 can all circle around the MC12 Corsa on most any road or track, plus they’re downright luxurious and docile. But the Ferrari and Porsche are sold out, and the P1 has a waiting list. Then there’s the question of purity. The Corsa has minimal electronics, manually adjustable downforce, and raw, naturally-aspirated power. There is no plug-in hybrid setup and certainly no trick differentials or anything that might save an inexperienced driver from disaster. This car is the end of an era. It begs to be strung-out at full octave, the cams churning a lumpy, nasty idle in the pits, with stacks of fresh tires and spare brakes at the ready. It deserves to be beaten upon rather than scrape amongst the beach traffic in south Florida where it’s presently sitting. Race cars shouldn’t have license plates.
By Clifford AtiyehCapcom’s Resident Evil 2 was released back in 1998 meaning that it’s a game that’s about 16 years old. What this also means is that as far as graphics are concerned, it does seem a little dated, which is why fans have been clamoring for a remake of the game. Capcom obliged fans with a remake of the original Resident Evil which was met with huge success and has stated that if there was enough demand, they might consider a remake of Resident Evil 2 as well.
While it remains to be seen if a remake of Resident Evil 2 will ever surface, a fan of the game and YouTuber, Rob Lima, has taken it upon himself to recreate certain portions of the game as a proof of concept to show that a remade version of the game could look like. Like we said this is a proof of concept, so if you were hoping to download it, you’d be out of luck.
The game is built using the Unreal Engine and has used scenes from the Resident Evil 2 sections of the Wii game, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles. Lima has also added the classic sound effects and cutscenes, as well as a functioning inventory system that shows how the game might play in real life if it were to be made a reality.
So far we really like what we see and here’s hoping that Capcom takes notice and releases a remake of the game for fans around the world. In the meantime if you have some time to spare, you might want to check out the video above to see the remake in action. What do you guys think?
Filed in. Read more about Capcom and Resident Evil.In this March 18 file photo, Pastor Mike Metzger, right, of First Bible Baptist Church, leads a moment of prayer at the start of the Greece Town Board meeting. Atheist Dan Courtney will open the July 15 Greece Town Board meeting. (Photo: Carolyn Thompson/ AP)
An atheist is set to deliver the opening "prayer" before the Greece Town Board where the U.S. Supreme Court's recent prayer case was centered.
The Center for Inquiry says Rochester atheist Dan Courtney will open the July 15 Greece Town Board meeting.
Two town residents — one Jewish, the other atheist — recently lost their challenge of the town's pre-meeting prayer practice. The pair argued that the mostly Christian prayers said at the start of each meeting made them uncomfortable.
But in May, the Supreme Court narrowly upheld the practice, declaring the prayers in line with long national traditions.
Greece officials say people of any religious denomination are welcome to deliver the opening prayer.
Courtney says his invocation will focus on the theme of inclusion in America.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read or Share this story: http://on.rocne.ws/1iqRfvcHenri Anier thought he had won it within 90 minutes with a late goal
History was made in the Scottish League Cup with the first game of its new group format being won on penalties following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.
Henri Anier's late goal looked like it had given Dundee United a win over Arbroath, but Colin Hamilton bundled in a dramatic equaliser.
That took it to a shootout in the new group format and Cammy Bell saved from Liam Callaghan to win it for United.
Raith beat Cove 2-1, with Partick Thistle beating Airdrieonians 1-0.
Teams get one point for drawing after 90 minutes, with an extra point awarded to the winner of the shootout.
A man-of-the-match performance from Arbroath goalkeeper Robbie Mutch, on loan from Aberdeen, had denied United for so long.
But, when Cammy Smith's shot deflected into the path of Anier with five minutes to go, he rolled it into the far corner.
However, in stoppage time, Hamilton scored from close range, although it looked like it came off his arm.
Charlie Telfer, Coll Donaldson and Paul Dixon scored for United from the spot, with Steven Doris, Mark Whatley doing likewise for Arbroath.
Bell tipped Callaghan's effort onto the post and, after United's Harry Souttar and Arbroath's Colin Hamilton netted, Scott Fraser stepped up to win it for Ray McKinnon's men.
At Station Park, Cove Rangers took a shock lead through new signing Ryan Stott, but within four minutes, Kyle Benedictus had Raith Rovers level.
Lewis Vaughan ensured a winning start for new manager Gary Locke, finding the winning goal virtue of help from the crossbar.
It means that United and Rovers lead their respective groups with 13 more games coming on Saturday.Fox News hosts Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly, and Brett Baier at the first GOP debate in Cleveland. (Reuters photo: Aaron Josefczyk)
The network’s cocoon is alluring, but it won’t win conservatives any converts.
I’ll never forget the first time I was on Fox News. Bill O’Reilly had taken an interest in one of my cases and brought me and my client on to his show. Truly, he was interested only in her perspective, but since litigation was looming, we were a package deal. So I drove to a studio in Nashville, sat in front of the fake city-skyline background, took a deep breath, and dove in.
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I bombed miserably. O’Reilly didn’t like my answers, and I struggled to explain myself when he pressed me for more details. I didn’t look good and I didn’t sound good. I had all the charisma of a wet dishrag. The first phone call after the show was from my best friend from college. He was laughing at me. “Dude, you were terrible.”
And yet, in the long run, that first appearance may well have been the best career move I’d made since getting a law degree. From that moment forward, I could claim the most important résumé bullet point in the conservative movement: “David French has appeared on Fox News.”
It’s hard to overstate the power of Fox News for those seeking a career in the conservative movement. I’ve seen the most accomplished of lawyers suddenly become “somebody” only after they regularly appear on Fox. I’ve seen young activists leave senators or representatives languishing alone in rooms as they flood over to Fox personalities, seeking selfies. Fox has become the prime gatekeeper of conservative fame, the source of conservative book deals, and the ticket into the true pantheon of conservative influence.
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It’s killing the conservative movement.
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As Matthew Sheffield laid out brilliantly in a piece earlier this month, at any given moment Fox may have the biggest audience in cable news, but its overall cultural and political influence pales in comparison with that of its leading network and Internet competitors. Fox has constructed a big, beautiful, and lucrative gated community — a comfortable conservative cocoon.
The result is clear: Conservatives gain fame, power, and influence mainly by talking to each other. They persuade each other of the rightness of their ideas and write Fox-fueled best-selling books making arguments that Fox viewers love. The sheer size of the audience lulls minor political celebrities into believing that they’re making a cultural and political difference. But they never get a chance to preach to the unconverted.
RELATED: The Conservative Media Echo Chamber Is Making the Right Intellectually Deaf
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The problem goes well beyond this cocoon effect, into the very moral and intellectual heart of the conservative movement. Like any human enterprise, Fox is filled with a wide variety of people — some good, some bad. But it is, at heart, a commercial endeavor, rather than an intellectual or spiritual one. Its fundamental priority is to make money, not to advance a particular set of ideas or values in public life.
To be clear, one of the ways that it makes money is through a very deliberate strategy of counter-programming the mainstream media. But that is an economic determination far more than an ideological one, which means that Fox’s priorities will never exactly match the conservative movement’s.
Such is the power of Fox fame that I’ve seen with my own eyes conservative leaders alter their message and public priorities in response to Fox’s demands.
Yet such is the power of Fox fame that I’ve seen with my own eyes conservative leaders alter their message and public priorities in response to Fox’s demands. “Fox isn’t interested” is a statement that often shuts down conversations and ends public campaigns before they begin, because if Fox is interested, the conversation never ends. Ever wonder why conservatives talk so much about Benghazi almost four full years after the vast majority of the key facts of that tragic engagement became clear? Because Fox remains interested.
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I’m not ascribing nefarious motives to Fox executives. They know their audience and they play to it. Conservative leaders and conservative politicians should likewise be savvy enough to know the limitations of the network’s reach: It doesn’t speak to a majority; it speaks to a bubble. But such is the allure of the community within the bubble that a person can’t help but walk through its gates.
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The result is a world in which many individual conservatives just keep failing up. Fox is the place where you can nurse grievances over failed arguments. It’s the place where you can make money after failed campaigns. Do you wonder why the GOP had 17 presidential primary candidates? In part because there were actually two primary contests — the race for the nomination and the auditions for Fox.
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RELATED: Why Principled Conservatives Should Tune Out, for a While
In 2008, Mike Huckabee won by losing — not by making a strong electoral showing and positioning himself for the next contest, but rather by demonstrating enough charisma to land his own show on Fox. Here was a form of victory through continued influence and enhanced fame. If you couldn’t win the election, you could still be a contributor. You could still write a book. You might even get a show. So why not run? You’d probably lose the election, but you might gain a time slot.
Fox News went on the air in October 1996. Since that time, the GOP has won the popular vote for president exactly once: in 2004, by a whopping 2.4 percent. If Hillary Clinton wins in November, as appears likely, the GOP will have lost the popular vote in five of the six presidential elections since Fox broke the liberal media monopoly.
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#related#In the six presidential elections before Fox, the GOP won four landslides. The reasons for the change are complex, and we certainly shouldn’t overstate the influence of any given media outlet. But prior to 1996, a politician could truly succeed only by going to the American people through the media outlets they actually watched, which encouraged communication that persuaded those who weren’t true believers.
The conservative movement is a victim of Fox’s success. The network is so strong that conservatives who ignore it risk obscurity and irrelevance, even as it remains far too weak to truly transform the landscape. So long as Fox continues to make more than $1 billion per year, that’s unlikely to change. It will be up to conservative leaders to wean themselves off the cheap high and intentionally engage the vast majority of Americans who don’t turn on Fox, don’t follow Sean Hannity, and think “The Factor” sounds more like an old game show than the most-watched news program in America.
Appearing on Fox can create an alluring but illusory fame, and in seeking it above all else, some of our best minds inadvertently limit their own influence. I don’t resent Fox’s existence, but I lament its effect on our movement. It’s time to leave the cocoon.
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— David French is an attorney, and a staff writer at National Review.The video will start in 8 Cancel
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A man has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after a shocking video emerged of a van driver cutting dangerously across a lorry before stopping in the middle of a busy motorway.
The motorist can be seen overtaking and cutting across the lorry on the M62, missing it by just inches, in the footage.
When the lorry driver overtakes, the van driver is seen undertaking him from the inside lane at close range.
The van then brakes hard in front of the lorry, forcing the wagon to come to a standstill on the central lane of the motorway.
The footage, which quickly went viral, also shows the van driver gesticulating and sticking his head out of the window of his vehicle while swearing at the lorry driver.
Police confirmed earlier this month that they were examining dashcam footage of the ‘road rage’ incident and were appealing for witnesses.
They have now said a man has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after officers went to his home.
It is understood he was being interviewed on Thursday evening.
The incident unfolded between junctions 17 and 18 of the M62 at around 12.50pm on Monday October 12.The Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group announced today that Shanghai Disney Resort will host a multi-day, grand opening celebration, culminating in a spectacular welcoming ceremony for the resort’s first official guests on June 16, 2016. The world-class resort, located in the Pudong District of Shanghai, will be Disney’s first destination resort in mainland China, featuring classic Disney storytelling and characters with all-new experiences tailored for the people of China.
“When it opens in June, Shanghai Disney resort will be a one-of-a-kind, world-class destination that is authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese,” said Robert A. Iger, chairman and chief executive officer, The Walt Disney Company. “The resort reflects Disney’s legendary storytelling along with China’s rich culture, and showcases some of the most creative and innovative experiences we’ve ever created. We’re looking forward to showing it to the world and sharing it with the people of China for generations to come.”
In 2014, Disney and Shanghai Shendi Group, joint shareholders of the Resort, announced an accelerated expansion plan to capitalize on the tremendous growth in China’s tourism sector – adding additional attractions, entertainment and other offerings to increase capacity at the theme park. On opening day, Shanghai Disney Resort will include:
– Shanghai Disneyland, a world-class theme park with six themed lands: Adventure Isle, Gardens of Imagination, Mickey Avenue, Tomorrowland, Treasure Cove and Fantasyland, all centered around the Enchanted Storybook Castle, the largest and tallest castle at any Disney theme park. Guests will enjoy numerous thrilling attractions and live entertainment spectaculars – many of them first-of-a-kind for a Disney park.
– The Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and Toy Story Hotel, imaginatively themed resort-hotels conveniently located near the theme park. The Shanghai Disneyland Hotel is an elegant Art Nouveau-inspired resort with a touch of Disney magic and imagination, while the Toy Story Hotel immerses guests in a world inspired by the toys from the Disney•Pixar series of Toy Story animated films.
– Disneytown, an international shopping, dining and entertainment district, adjacent to the entrance of Shanghai Disneyland. Disneytown will include the Walt Disney Grand Theatre, home to the first-ever Mandarin production of the Broadway hit Disney’s THE LION KING. Another “must-see” for guests will be the World of Disney Store, offering an impressive collection of Disney merchandise, including many products designed especially for Shanghai Disney Resort.
– Wishing Star Park, a recreational area with beautiful gardens, a walking path and a glittering lake. With approximately 40 hectares, Wishing Star Park presents guests with awe-inspiring natural views and beautiful sunsets.
The resort represents the largest foreign investment project in Shanghai, and one of the largest foreign investments in the history of China. The opening of Shanghai Disney Resort will mark a key milestone in the development of tourism in Shanghai, changing the landscape of the industry and delighting guests for generations to come.
Shanghai Disney Resort broke ground in 2011 and has celebrated numerous construction milestones since then, including the topping off of the iconic Enchanted Storybook Castle in spring 2015. In October, the resort kicked off the first of several large-scale job fairs aimed at ultimately recruiting thousands of cast members from across China to provide Disney’s legendary service to guests on opening day.Image caption Lord Rix opposed the Assisted Dying Bill in 2006
Actor and disability campaigner Lord Rix has died aged 92, his family said.
The president of the learning disability charity Mencap had been terminally ill and urged Parliament to change the law on assisted dying.
He had previously opposed an assisted dying law, but said his illness had left him "like a beached whale" and in constant discomfort.
As Brian Rix, he performed on stage and TV, specialising in a series of post-war "Whitehall farce" comedies.
For more than 30 years his farces, which starred the likes of comic greats Tommy Cooper and Sid James, were hits on TV and stage, and earned Rix the reputation for his trousers always falling down.
Reforms
It was after his eldest daughter was born in 1951 with Down's syndrome that he began campaigning for people with learning disabilities.
From 1980 to 1988 he was secretary general of Mencap, becoming chairman in 1988 and then president 10 years later - a role he occupied until his death.
In 2006 short breaks for carers became Law - an issue he had been lobbying on for 12 years. In the same year he introduced amendments to the Childcare Bill, which extended childcare provision for disabled children from 16 to 18.
His work on the 2006 Electoral Administration Bill also led to people with a learning disability being able to vote.
The crossbench peer voted against an Assisted Dying Bill in 2006 because of concerns that people with learning disabilities might become the unwilling victims of euthanasia. But his own experience of dying led him to change his position.
Obituary: A master of farce and leading disability campaigner
Image caption Brian Rix (left) appeared with Terry Scott in 1965's wartime drama Women Aren't Angels
Rix quit performing in 1977, bowing out during an emotional evening at the Whitehall where he ended a period of 26 years of live performances, both at the Whitehall and at the Garrick to which he had transferred his productions in 1967.
He was still a partner in a production company which put on a number of hit shows in the West End.
But… an increasing amount of his time was being spent campaigning on behalf of people with learning difficulties, something that had started with the arrival of his eldest daughter, Shelley, in 1951 who was born with Down's syndrome.
Rix was appalled to discover that there was no support for children with this condition other than a place in an institution where there was little or no attempt to provide any stimulus, let alone education.
Brian Rix: full obituary
'Unique charm'
Jan Tregelles, chief executive of Mencap, who described Lord Rix as an "extraordinary man", said: "When Lord Rix's daughter, Shelley, was born with a learning disability he and his wife Elspet were told to put her away, and forget about her.
"This started a quest lasting over 60 years to make the world a better place for all those with a learning disability.
"His unique charm, personality and passion have been invaluable in helping Mencap grow."
Peter Jenkins, campaigns director at the charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, said Lord Rix "made an immense contribution to the cause of disability rights in this country" and would be "greatly missed".
Mark Atkinson, the chief executive of disability charity Scope, said Lord Rix "worked passionately and tirelessly to improve society for disabled people".
'Slip away peacefully'
Lord Rix, who died on Saturday morning, wrote to the speaker of the House of Lords earlier this month, explaining why he wanted legislation pushed through to allow those in his situation to be helped to die.
"Unhappily, my body seems to be constructed in such a way that it keeps me alive in great discomfort when all I want is to be allowed to slip into a sleep, peacefully, legally and without any threat to the medical or nursing profession," he wrote.
"I am sure there are many others like me who having finished with life wish their life to finish.
"Only with a legal euthanasia Bill on the statute books will the many people who find themselves in the same situation as me be able to slip away peacefully in their sleep instead of dreading the night."For many, yoga is only available to those who can afford it.
But what about homeless youth? How can they access yoga when the young women and men just want a roof over their heads?
Yoga Haven, a new nonprofit in Las Vegas, seeks to change that, not just for homeless youth but organizations who serve victims of sexual, physical or psychological abuse with free yoga classes.
"It helps build that confidence and aid in that healing process," said Natalie Lim, one of the co-founders of Yoga Haven.
After launching in the July 2016, Yoga Haven founders Lim and Honey Tejero set up its first partnership with Crossings Supportive Housing, part of St. Jude's Ranch for Children. The program serves homeless youth 18 to 25 years old with a place to live as they go to school or work toward making themselves self-sufficient.
"Their life has value, regardless what trauma they came from, what colorful background they came from," Tejero said. "... They're important human beings, just like us."
Three times a week, Lucy Shalvoy, a teacher affiliated with Yoga Haven, comes to the Crossings Supportive Housing facility in Las Vegas to teach yoga to the young adults, bringing a consistent practice to the residents.
"Having that commitment and discipline, they'll be able to take that off the mat and apply it to their lives," Tejero said.
Shalvoy first got involved through her personal practice with Tejero and thought it was "such a great concept Yoga Haven was developing."
She has enjoyed getting to know the students through the practice.
"They teach me as much as I teach |
which makes it passing strange that congressional Republicans are doing their utmost to kill Amtrak. Each year, they cut its budget further. They starve it of capital funds it needs to buy new cars so it can carry more people. Last year, House Republicans forced through a measure that drove a knife in Amtrak’s back. They put a legal requirement on Amtrak to end all losses on food and beverage services.
Even in the glory days of rail travel, dining cars lost money. Railroads provided diners anyway, and took pride in the excellence of the food served on their trains, because when people are traveling for a day or more they need real meals.
The only way Amtrak can meet the new mandate is to eliminate dining cars. Passengers would have to go on journeys of a thousand miles or more with nothing but a snack bar. Coach passengers may do that, but a great many sleeping car passengers will not. Amtrak makes a lot more money from sleeping cars than from coaches: by its own calculations, sleeping car passengers account for just 15 percent of long-distance passengers but contribute 36 percent of total revenue. Amtrak’s average yield per mile for coach passengers is 14.2 cents; for sleeping car passengers, 27.2 cents. As Jim Loomison wrote in a Consumer Traveler story last year: “Here’s the unvarnished truth, put in the simplest possible terms by a respected authority on passenger rail: ‘If the dining cars go, the sleepers go. If the sleepers go, the big revenue goes. If the big revenue goes, Amtrak goes’.”
Congressional Republicans explain their hostility to Amtrak with two arguments. First, Amtrak is subsidized, and second, it runs trains no one rides.
Yes, Amtrak is subsidized. So are all competing forms of transportation. Highways cover only 51 percent of their costs from all user fees, including the gas tax. The rest is paid by subsidies of one form or another, especially from local property taxes. Airlines receive massive subsidies in the form of airports and the air traffic control system. The day after 9/11, the airlines ran to Capitol Hill and were immediately given billions of dollars in additional taxpayer money, no questions asked.
Amtrak currently covers 75 percent of its costs from passenger fares, not counting payments from states and commuter authorities. Including both ticket revenue and ancillary payments, Amtrak covered 93 percent of its expenses in 2014. And again, sleeping car patrons on long distance trains, a particular target of House Republicans, contribute over a third of Amtrak’s total long-distance revenue.
Arguments that we should keep the Northeast Corridor—which serves cities like Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston—but eliminate the rest of Amtrak’s network fail both financially and politically. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains do make an operating profit. But because Amtrak owns most of the corridor, it bears an enormous expense for its maintenance and operation. Amtrak’s long-distance trains by contrast run on private railroads’ tracks, with little direct cost to Amtrak. Politically, if you kill everyone else’s trains, why should senators and congressmen from outside the Northeast Corridor vote money for Amtrak? If the Republicans kill Amtrak, they kill all of Amtrak, including the Northeast Corridor.
As to Amtrak’s trains running empty, the opposite is the case. Amtrak could carry more passengers than it does if it had the equipment, which Congress refuses it the money to buy. On many long-distance trains, sleeping-car space is sold out months in advance. Since Amtrak’s founding in 1971, its ridership has grown from 6 million to 30.9 million in 2014. All across the country, more and more Americans are finding the train is a better way to travel, and they want more trains to ride. Passenger rail is a growing business. Usually, Republicans want to encourage business growth. In this case, they are going to kill it.
If congressional Republicans would replace their irrational loathing for passenger trains with an approach based on facts and reason, they could help both the taxpayer and the people who want to ride trains. Amtrak, like most businesses that have monopolies, could use some competition. The railroads will fight bitterly against letting other passenger-train operators besides Amtrak run over their tracks because they fear that would lead to “open access” for competing freight-train operators as well. But a few years ago, when an old colleague of ours, the late Paul Weyrich, served on a high-level commission examining the future of transportation, several railroad presidents told him privately that if they could bid for part of Amtrak’s subsidy, they would consider again running their own passenger trains. Were Congress to pass legislation opening the door to this possibility, we might get, on at least some long-distance routes, trains that were run well and on time for less cost.
In fact, in Florida a railroad, the Florida East Coast (FEC), is planning to introduce its own passenger trains between Miami, Palm Beach, and Orlando, trains it expects will make money. FEC has pioneered new practices in railroading for many decades, usually with success. If this one works, the return of passenger trains operated by private railroads would receive a major boost.
Another private company that owns a number of short-line railroads, Iowa Pacific Holdings, is bringing back one of the glories of the railway age, the Pullman Company. Once a week, restored Pullman cars run between Chicago and New Orleans, attached to Amtrak’s “City of New Orleans” route. Trains magazine reports:
It could almost be an evening in 1956. Streamlined passenger cars, handsomely attired in the chocolate and orange livery of the Illinois Central Railroad, their windows glowing invitingly, stand beside a platform at a great Chicago terminal. White-jacketed men wait at lowered vestibule steps, ready to direct passengers to their assigned space and to lift their luggage aboard.
Sound a bit different from what you go through trying to get on an airplane?
Again we come face-to-face with what conservatism is all about: conserving and restoring good things from our shared past. As Trains notes, “At its 1920s peak, Pullman carried 39 million people per year to every corner of the country. Its hallmark was quality comfort for the traveling public, delivered consistently, at reasonable prices. It was not about opulent luxury for a wealthy, junketing few.”
What is the Republican Party in Congress about? Whom do the Republicans represent and serve? The middle class, who enjoy traveling by train and can afford to do so—or just the 1 percent, people who travel by private jet and write large checks as campaign contributions?
Ultimately, the Republican Party’s efforts in Congress to deny Americans the choice of travel by rail come down to two different visions of America. The first is a vision of the America we once had and conservatives still want, an overwhelmingly middle-class country with lots of nice things available at prices the middle class can afford. The other is an America where the 1 percent lounge in Neronian splendor while the middle class sinks into poverty, where everything they can afford is unpleasant. With its efforts to destroy Amtrak, the Republican Congress casts a vote for the latter.
William S. Lind is director of the American Conservative Center for Public Transportation. Glen Bottoms is the center’s executive director.Aligarh: According to a PTI report, gau rakshaks thrashed five people who were allegedly caught slaughtering a buffalo illegally inside the premises of a private dairy in the Gandhi Park area of the city. However, the Indian Express reports that one man was beaten up by locals, while five people were arrested by the police in relation to the incident.
An ANI video shared by many news media organisations shows a man being thrashed even as he is being escorted by the police.
#WATCH: Man thrashed by locals for allegedly slaughtering a buffalo in Achal Tal area of Aligarh (UP), 5 arrested, investigation on. pic.twitter.com/ENmX7Bd91l — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 12, 2017
PTI reports the local police as saying dairy owner Kalu Baghel decided to sell one of his buffaloes after it stopped giving milk. Imran, a cattle trader, agreed to buy the buffalo only if Baghel allowed him to slaughter the animal in dairy premises.
Imran and four butchers were apparently in the process of slaughtering the buffalo when the blood of the animal oozed out of the gates of the dairy and was spotted by some bystanders.
A huge crowd soon gathered and began thrashing those slaughtering the buffalo, PTI reports the police as saying.
Following the incident, the police took Baghel, Imran and the four butchers into custody for carrying out illegal slaughter. However, no case has been registered against the assaulters. The officer in-charge of the Gandhi Park police station said an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
This incident is the latest in a series involving self-proclaimed gau raksha activists who have felt it fit to take the law into their own hands. The crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses initiated by UP chief minister Adityanath, the passing of a law that makes cow slaughter punishable by life imprisonment in Gujarat and other measures of ‘cow protection’ have only fuelled such attacks by cow vigilantes.
In early April, Pehlu Khan – a 55-year-old Haryana resident – died just days after he and four others were attacked on the Alwar highway in Rajasthan for transporting cows.
In another incident last month, three men transporting buffaloes were allegedly beaten up by vigilantes near the Kalkaji metro station in south Delhi, just two days after five people, including a nine-year-old girl, were attacked by gau rakshaks in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
(With PTI inputs)An emotional Neymar on Friday called for an end to "false stories" about his alleged frosty relations with Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery and striker Edinson Cavani.
"I want to ask you to stop creating stories which are not true," Neymar told a press conference following Brazil's 3-1 international friendly victory over Japan in Lille, before leaving in tears.
"I want to say what I think. I'm totally realistic and what I don't like is these false stories about me, there is nothing bothering me at my club.
"I'm here because I asked to be here. It's going really well (in Paris), I'm really happy here and motivated. I'm a player who wants to give everything on the pitch.
"What bothers me is everyone creating stories about me, with my coach and with Cavani. These things are not real, it's not true."
Neymar and Cavani reportedly fell out over penalty-taking duties after the Uruguayan refused to let the former take a spot-kick in PSG's 2-0 win over Lyon in September.
Both players subsequently played down the incident, but rumours continue to swirl claiming the Brazilian is unsettled in the French capital.
Neymar, who scored a penalty but also missed a spot-kick in the win over Japan, admitted he had also spoken to national team coach Tite about the matter.
"I just want to be happy, I'm not here to make or create trouble with anybody. I know my role on my pitch and I do what my coach asks me to do," he said.
"I had a chat with (team coordinator) Edu and Tite because these things are hurting me, every day there are these stories."
Tite, who replaced Dunga as Brazil boss in June 2016, quashed any notion that he himself had experienced run-ins with the 25-year-old striker.
"People said I had problems with Neymar, it wasn't true. We heard that a lot and it wasn't true," said Tite.
"My relationship with him is the best. I'm not saying this to be a nice guy but because it's true."A middle school football team in Virginia is forfeiting the remainder of its season in the aftermath of an explicit video shot in the school’s locker room.
The Short Pump Middle School (Glen Allen, Va.) football team will forfeit the rest of its games, although practices will continue. The school board addressed a message to the Henrico County schools community Friday announcing the decision.
As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the letter reads that a mandatory part of the practices will be discussions about “reporting responsibilities, accountability, ethics, sexual harassment, and racial tolerance.”
“As a consequence of the students’ actions that came to the school’s attention on Monday, the remaining football games for the SPMS football team will be forfeited,” the message reads. “We acknowledge that all team members were not involved in the incident; however, we believe there are important lessons/reminders that should be reinforced with all team members.”
The video in question, which was posted on Snapchat, showed black students being straddled by their peers with racially charged language over the footage. Per the Times-Dispatch, police were made aware of the video Tuesday and have been investigating the incident.
An important message from the Henrico School Board regarding Short Pump Middle School. https://t.co/ETMBzg6UO8 pic.twitter.com/qHy9wjICEX — Henrico Schools (@HenricoSchools) October 20, 2017
The Short Pump Middle School football team had one regular-season game and two postseason games left, Henrico schools spokesman Andy Jenks told the Times-Dispatch.
Henrico NAACP President Frank J. Thornton commended the school board’s decision, but sees a deeper issue at play.
“You can’t just sugar-coat,” Thornton said. “You need a group who really knows what they’re doing.”
April Sullivan, a parent of a child at Short Pump Middle, called the response “a first step” in speaking with the Times-Dispatch, but said more was needed “to address the systemic class and race issues that exist in society in general and Henrico County in particular.”Here’s an excerpt from a recent Vancouver Sun story by Randy Shore titled “Local organic food: An answer or a sure path to disaster? — Behind the collapse of past civilizations was the collapse of a food industry — each and every time”
“If there is a hotter topic in the publishing industry than local organic food, I don’t know what it is. Two books that recently crossed my desk take decidedly divergent approaches to the problem of commercial agriculture, though both authors agree that commercial agriculture is a problem.
There the similarity ends.
James E. McWilliams argues in Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Eat Responsibly that the locavores have it all wrong and that organic farming is not only NOT the answer, but a path to certain disaster.
He quite rightly points out that the local foodism promoted by Alice Waters is elitist in the extreme and that organic farming as it is practised today provides high-end groceries for the relatively rich.
He is dismissive of the concept of food miles, arguing that transport is only a tiny fraction of the energy inputs that go into food production as though that was the only problem with the globalization of food systems.
The premise of his book is that we have to do something drastic to ensure that we are able to feed a rapidly growing global population, but the author doesn’t properly consider that rapidly expanding food production is exactly the reason that we have so many mouths to feed in the first place. Countless times in human history, advances in agriculture led to population booms. The collapse of those food systems, usually due to soil depletion or climate change, led to the collapse of the population. Each and every time.
If we, as a race, are committed to uncontrolled population growth, then yes, Williams is right to say that genetically engineered crops are the only way to support the nine billion people we will have to feed in a couple of decades. But the bubble will burst, because commercial agriculture devastates the soil’s natural capital, and famine will result, as it has throughout human history. Each and every time.
We can only hope that biotechnology leads to a solution to soil depletion.
Just as informative and less annoyingly pedantic is Empires of Food: Feast Famine and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, by Evan Fraser and Andrew Rimas. The professor and his reporter pal take us on a ride through time, noting those moments that changed history. Civilizations arise when the people growing food produce more than they can eat, giving rise to trade and urbanization. All civilizations are built on a foundation of food. Without productive agricultural systems, cities collapse into ruin and, more often than not, revolution results.
We got a tiny taste of the fragility of our own civilization just a few years ago when a single crop of rice faltered and six countries closed their borders to rice exports. When prices spiked, there were riots in many Asian cities and a run on all available supply here in Vancouver.
McWilliams calls locavores “cynically populist, isolationist, and protectionist.” I say if we can produce enough food to feed ourselves — and British Columbia produces only 42 per cent of the food we consume — the world’s problems need not be ours. At least not right away. When push comes to shove, most nations will take care of their own and you can kiss your Chilean grapes and New Zealand apples goodbye. Maybe cynically populist, isolationist and protectionist isn’t such a bad thing….”
Get the whole story from The Vancouver Sun.Police in Germany are hunting for a man sporting a Hitler moustache who attacked two Afghan refugees with a Nazi helmet before fleeing.
The man verbally abused the pair before attacking them while they were sledding in the mountains of Altenberg, near the German border with the Czech Republic.
After he struck them with the helmet, passersby intervened and he then performed a Hitler salute, police say.
The pair of refugees were sledding in Altenberg (pictured), Germany, when they were attacked by the man sporting a Hitler moustache
One of the victims, who were aged 21 and 26, needed to be hospitalised after the attack, Bild reported.
The paper said the attacker was wearing light blue jeans and a khaki jacket, while he was aged between 25 and 30 and was bald.
The incident arises amid high tensions across Germany following the New Year sex attacks in Cologne.
The scale and nature of the crimes in Cologne, coupled with police descriptions of the perpetrators as being part of a large crowd of drunken men of 'Arab or North African' origin, has fanned the debate about Germany's approach to migration.
Almost three weeks after the incident, 838 people have filed criminal complaints, including 497 women alleging sexual assault.
Yesterday a 26-year-old Algerian man has become the first person arrested in connection with a string of sexual assaults.
Prosecutors said the unidentified asylum-seeker was arrested at a refugee home in the nearby town of Kerpen over the weekend.
He is accused of groping a woman and robbing her cellphone, prosecutor's office spokesman Ulrich Bremer told The Associated Press.
Two other Algerian asylum-seekers, aged 22 and 24, were also arrested in Kerpen and the western city of Aachen, respectively, over the weekend, both for robbery, Bremer said.
The number of people accused of committing crimes in Cologne at New Year's now stands at 21, of whom eight are in detention, he said.
While the incidents were seized on by those in Germany who had already argued for stricter immigration rules, left-wing parties have also voiced concern.In my mind, the question ‘Why?’ is perhaps the most powerful question a person can ask. Three letters can be uttered in a single breath, and they throw everything into question. Entire conversations of complex and delicate explanation collapse under the weight of ‘Why?’; under the demands that they justify themselves solely on their own merit. ‘Why?’ is perhaps the simplest question so often left unanswered – not that it cannot be answered, but it is deeply personal.
So why anime? I can no longer pinpoint when I started watching anime, or what show was the magic ‘I’m an anime fan’ moment. And to be honest, it’s kind of fruitless. Sure, there were shows I remember being there; I watched the same Toonami broadcast as everyone else, but I prefer to think of the birth of my fandom like a road.
It’s kind of unfair to say where a road begins and ends. We do it all the time to simplify locations and give direction, but a road doesn’t just ‘start’, it always branches off some other trail, another road. The shows I remember serve as landmarks along that road; they are all part of the journey. Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed the sentiment best, “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” But I told you that story to tell you this one: the answer to the ‘why?’ isn’t a particular show.
So why anime? In my early teens I took an interest in psychology, spurred on from realizing that Persona 3 had more to it than a great soundtrack and stylized suicide. Naturally, this time in a youth’s life is monumental in influencing who they will become, and coincides with the time we start asking why. So when I found the works of Carl Jung, it just clicked and, to this day, I still prescribe to a Jungian way of thought. Key to this is the significance of dreams.
Have you ever held on to a physical object for the memories attached to it? I keep all the ticket stubs for every film I’ve seen. Some people buy t-shirts at concerts to embody the moment, others take photos to save the experience… But what if the object was an image? What if that image was unelected? That is the language of dreams. Dreams use symbols and images as shorthand, to tell a story, and storytelling is one of the most powerful ways we learn. Surely a dream about flying doesn’t mean you should notify your nearest airport; it’s symbolic, metaphoric – just like film. But what about film?
“We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls. They allow us to enter other minds – not simply in the sense of identifying with the characters, although that is an important part of it, but by seeing the world as another person sees it. François Truffaut said that for a director it was an inspiring sight to walk to the front of a movie theater, turn around, and look back at the faces of the audience, turned up to the light from the screen. If the film is any good, those faces reflect an out-of-body experience: The audience for a brief time is somewhere else, sometime else, concerned with the lives that are not its own. Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us into better people.”
~ Ebert, Roger. The Great Movies. Introduction pg xv
That quote changed me the moment I read it, sitting by my third story window in Greenfield, California. Film is a medium like no other. Explosions and unrealistic expectations aside, it is the closest art we have to life: moving, speaking, breathing – film is sensual. But film is also unlike other art in the fact that it is placed on the ground. For centuries and longer, art was primarily produced by the elites, for the elites. Contrast with now, where a movie can be about the common man in the now; no wonder it’s so empathetic. So what about dreams?
If what Ebert said is true, and we live in a box of space and time, then can’t dreams be a window outside of that? There’s a message, an emotion, some form of communication on a base level; it’s what makes it applicable. Nightmares scare us, not because we understand them, but because they confront us with something we haven’t encountered. But not every snake pit or dream assassin is literal; it’s allegorical – like film. And sometimes, we even dream film.
There was a time in my life not long after discovering analytical psychology where I watched a new film every day (it was a time before metered internet). What was the goal behind that? I can tell you it wasn’t to be some sort of ‘movie buff’ – it was almost a psychological pilgrimage. I was in search of symbols, characters, and things to fill the lexicon my dreams could draw on. After all, if you dream about Darth Vader, it’s the image your mind is invoking, not the thing itself. I was putting mental tools in my subconscious toolbox. If my waking self couldn’t understand the message, I was hoping my subconscious, dreaming self would. But I ran into an issue with film: visual suspension of disbelief.
“Just like in the movies” is really an ironic phrase. Movies are grounded in reality. People sometimes cannot tell the difference and instead overwrite reality with the reality of film. “Based on a true story” is read “A true story.” The experience is that powerful. Everything we know about dinosaurs we learned from Jurassic Park. “Just like in the movies” if we know the movie isn’t real, then why do we pretend it is?
Because movies are so grounded in reality, it becomes that much harder to make the unbelievable believable. “Just like in the movies” is said when we’ve made a connection with the image and reality. But it’s the same reason Attack of the Clones is unrelatable. It’s not that robots being used for war is unbelievable; Terminator is still a frightening idea. It’s because the moment a sloppy-rendered super battle droid enters the frame, it looks out of place, like it doesn’t belong. Even though we know film isn’t real, we accept it as reality; but when something contrasts that, it throws everything back into question. Suspension of disbelief, the image, the symbol – is broken. But not with anime.
So why anime? Suspension of disbelief is assumed at the door, like an ID at a nightclub. Shinji can stand next to Unit 01 and you don’t bat an eye. There is a mutual understanding between the audience and the narrative that the story is artificial and, under that pretense, we immerse ourselves like a tale around the campfire. Except this story is drawn.
But what is a drawing? It is a depiction of how the artist sees or imagines the world. Unlike film, the artist has full manipulation of the image and complete control over that reality – as artificial as it may be. This allows images to take on a life of their own in a way a living, breathing person cannot – as a symbol. Nolan addressed this in his two Batman films (the third one doesn’t exist). Totoro isn’t really a cuddly forest troll so much as he is a personification of a child’s imagination. There are no characters in Evangelion, only mental problems with faces.
Impossible camera angles, hair colors that don’t occur naturally, characters as living symbols: it is because of this that anime inhabits the space between reality and film, dreams and symbols. It’s artificial, all of it. Even when you hear them speak, they don’t sound like real people. But because it is artificial, that means a real human had to make it, and if they do it right, they capture real emotion. As Kaiki Deshu would say “the fake is of far greater value. In its deliberate attempt to be real, it’s more real than the real thing.”
The question ‘So why anime?’ has been on my mind as of late. Thoughts akin to ‘if I spent this much time doing film reviews or video games I could be lucrative’ have slowly crept into my heart. Funny thing is, it’s really not about money, so much as it is success. There is no money in this industry, not even for the people who create these shows. There’s a glass ceiling. I’ve come to terms that no matter how popular Senpai becomes, any random YouTube video labeled Let’s Play! Dark Souls is going to surpass it; it’s not a question of quality. I think the question lies with the revolving door of fans: i.e. they come, stay for two years, then leave.
I think there’s only one clear way to combat this: we need to start treating this medium as we do film, as we do dreams. Film was in its infancy when Emerson gave the aforementioned quote, the quote wasn’t even about film to begin with; but it holds a truth I think we need to acknowledge. Jung too, attributed legend and myth, artificial stories, to holding meaning and virtue in understanding oneself and those around him. And what Ebert said is true if we watch the film, the dream, or anime. We can watch to be somewhere else, sometime else, concerned with the life of someone else, or we can watch from our couch, in the now, concerned only with ourselves.
So why? Why anime? Because emotions are the universal communication, and the ability to draw and tap into emotion is powerful. The very nature of art is understanding through empathy, and without emotion, no empathy can occur. Anime is art. It makes us better people, if we watch it – if we let it.Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms. We respect your privacy.
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There are times you just want to increase your click-through rates. You might need to raise it to help Quality Scores, increase traffic, or gain visibility for a new product.
Often by just raising click-through rates, you might not be raising your conversion rate. You can even decrease your conversion rates with ads. However, we’re going to focus on raising click-through rates regardless of how it affects other metrics.
As always, you should be testing this for yourself to see what helps your overall account’s goals.
Adding An Extension
One of the easiest ways to increase click-through rate that also helps conversion rate is to use ad extensions. Ad extensions will help you take up more real estate on the page and show additional information with your ads. You can add extensions for local, social, products, and there is even a beta contact and subscription extension.
If you have yet not added extensions, do so now.
Add Sitelinks
Sitelinks are a type of extension so this could be grouped with adding an extension except there is one big difference between all the other extensions and sitelinks.
With the other extensions, only one extension will show with an ad. You can have sitelinks show with another extension. This is another no-brainer to add. With sitelinks, you can add additional benefits or navigation into your site directly from the ad copy.
Extended Headlines
The absolute easiest way to increase click-through rates if your ads are shown above the organic results is to end your description line 1 with a punctuation mark. When you do so, the description line 1 is added to the headline and really makes the ads stand out.
Take a look at these three ads:
The first two ads have very long headlines. The third ad does not. All the third ad has to do to have a longer headline is to add a period after ‘Low Fare Guaranteed On All Flights’. That’s it. As soon as that change was made, the ad would have an extended headline.
Consider The Display URL As Marketing Copy
Your display URL does not have to be an actual URL. As long as your root domain in the ad and site are the same, you can consider the rest of the URL as marketing copy. The display URL can be 35 characters long – don’t waste the space.
You can add a product name, feature, benefit, or other aspects to the display URL to make the ad copy more attractive. To learn more about display URLs, please see the article: Everything You Need To Know About AdWords Display URLs.
Seasonal Headlines
There is always some holiday or event on the horizon. In just the United States, there are more than 40 holidays at the national level. When you starting adding regional events such as the Boston Marathon, DC Cherry Blossom Festival, state fairs, parades, and much more; the list of events becomes endless.
When you add or reference events in headlines, your ads look very timely and relevant and can often have positive impacts on click-through rates.
Use Trademarks
Many consumers are brand conscious. When someone searches for a brand, they want to see that brand in the ad copy. You do have to be careful of the legalities around trademarks; however, adding those well-recognized words to the ad can make a large difference to your CTRs.
Remove Prices & Ad Discounts
A price in an ad copy reminds the searcher they need to spend money. Often removing the price can help CTRs. It is also useful when you’re not the cheapest ad on the page.
While we don’t like to always spend money, everyone likes a good deal. Instead of putting your price in the ad, switch your offer to a discount. Instead of spending $50, someone is going to save $10. What would you rather do, spend $50 or save $10?
In many countries, people do not get the concept “just because it’s on sale does not mean it’s free.” Discounts often outperform prices in ads.
Give Something Away for Free
Who doesn’t want something for free? Put something in your ad that’s free. A free consultation, free gift, buy one get one free, a free whitepaper. It doesn’t matter – it’s free.
Test For Yourself
While these 8 methods often work – they don’t always.
I recently saw an account where when the word ‘free’ appeared in an ad, their ads had a lower CTR than if they focused on experience or value. Removing all instances of free from the ad copies and switching the value proposition to experience raised both their CTRs and their conversion rates.
The next day, I was working on account in a very similar industry and when the word ‘free’ appeared in the ad, their ads had a much higher CTR and the same conversion rates as the other ad types.
If you need to raise your click-through rates, these ideas can help you gain a solid starting place. However, always test for yourself. Only you can truly know what happens to your account’s profits as you change your ads to bring more visitors to your site.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.I recently saw a post on Hacker News: “Build yourself a Linux”, a cool project that guides you through building a simple Linux system. It’s similar to Linux from Scratch in that it helps you build a simple Linux system for personal use. I’d like to supplement this with some insight into my experience with a more difficult task: building a full blown Linux distribution. The result is agunix, the “silver unix” system.
For many years I’ve been frustrated with every distribution I’ve tried. Many of them have compelling features and design, but there’s always a catch. The popular distros are stable and portable, but cons include bloat, frequent use of GNU, systemd, and often apt. Some more niche distros generally have good points but often have some combination of GNU, an init system I don’t like, poor docs, dynamic linking, or an overall amateurish or incomplete design. Many of them are tolerable, but none have completely aligned with my desires.
I’ve also looked at not-Linux - I have plenty of beefs with the Linux kernel. I like the BSD kernels, but I dislike the userspaces (though NetBSD is pretty good) I like the microkernel design of Minix, but it’s too unstable and has shit hardware support. plan9/9front has the most elegant kernel and userspace design ever made, but it’s not POSIX and has shit hardware support. Though none of these userspaces are for me, I intend to attempt a port of the agunix userspace to all of their kernels at some point (a KFreeBSD port is underway).
After trying a great number of distros and coming away with a kind of dissatisfaction unique to each one, I resolved to make a distro that embodied my own principles about userspace design. It turns out this is a ton of work - here’s how it’s done.
Let’s distinguish a Linux “system” from a Linux “distribution”. A Linux system is anything that boots up from the Linux kernel. A Linux distribution, on the other hand, is a Linux system that can be distributed to end users. It’s this sort of system that I wanted to build. In my opinion, there are two core requirements for a Linux system to become a Linux distribution:
It has a package manager (or some other way of staying up to date) It is self-hosting (it can compile itself and all of the infrastructure runs on it)
The first order of business in creating a Linux distro is to fulfill these two requirements. Getting to this stage is called bootstrapping your distribution - everything else can come later. To do this, you’ll need to port your package manager to your current system, and start building the base packages with it. If your new distro doesn’t use the same architecture or libc as your current system, you also need to build a cross compiler and use it for building your new packages.
My initial approach was different - I used my cross compiler to fill up a chroot with software without using my package manager, hoping to later bootstrap from it. I used this approach on my first 3 attempts before deciding to make base packages on the host system instead. With this approach, I started by building packages that weren’t necessarily self hosting - they used the host-specific cross compiler builds and such - but produced working packages for the new environment. I built packages for:
my package manager
musl libc
bash
busybox
autotools
make
gcc (clang can’t compile the Linux kernel)
vim
I also had to package all of the dependencies for these. Once I had a system that was reasonably capable of compiling arbitrary software, I transferred my PKGBUILDs (scripts used to build packages) to my chroot and started tweaking them to re-build packages from the new distro itself. This process took months to get completely right - there are tons of edge cases and corner cases. Simply getting this software to run in a new Linux system is only moderately difficult - getting a system that can build itself is much harder. I was successful on my 4th attempt, but threw it out and redid it to get a cleaner distribution with the benefit of hindsight. This became agunix.
Once you reach this stage you can go ham on making packages for your system. The next step for me was graduating from a chroot to dedicated hardware. I built out an init system with runit and agunix-init and various other packages that are useful on a proper install. I also compiled a kernel without support for loadable modules (on par with the static linking theme of agunix). If you make your own Linux distribution you will probably have to figure out modules yourself, likely implicating something like eudev. Eventually, I was able to get agunix running on my laptop, which has now become my primary agunix dev machine ( |
irris he wald haue fukkit’.
The Fucking Abbot (1528) isn’t even the earliest citation that’s widely talked about, predated by ten years by Dunbar, which the link discounts as not being in English, despite appearing in the Oxford English Dictionary.
[THE FUCKING ABBOT COMES HERE IN THE CHRONOLOGY]
1663 – Richard Head, Hic et Ubique: or, The Humors of Dublin. A comedy, ‘I did creep in..and there I did see putting [sic] the great fuck upon my weef.’ I’ve included this even though it’s quite late because I really like saying ‘the great fuck upon my weef’. And because it’s written by a man called Richard Head. RICHARD. HEAD.
And in 1680 by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in a book of what sounds like LOVELY poems: ‘Thus was I Rook’d of Twelve substantial Fucks’.
So, I think we can definitely say there’s at least three, possibly four earlier instances of fuck in English before the Fucking Abbot. Sorry dude.
EDIT: I wrote about that ‘d’ here…
Bibliography:
Keith Briggs, ‘Two Thirteenth-Century By-Names: Fukkebotere and Smalfuk’, Nomina (2012), 141-43
Richard Coates, ‘Fockynggroue in Bristol’, Notes and Queries (2007), 373-76
Marc Morris, @Longshanks <https://twitter.com/Longshanks1307/status/432856212363694080>
Jesse Sheidlower, The F-Word (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Edward Wilson, ‘A “Damned F—In Abbot” In 1528: The Earliest English Example Of A Four-Letter Word’, Notes and Queries (1993), 29-34Hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from World Bank’s private lending arm used to expand industrial farms amid mounting concern about local effects
Hundreds of millions of dollars in development finance from the World Bank’s investment arm have helped to fund the controversial expansion of a billionaire’s agribusiness empire in Ukraine, amid growing concern that land and farming in the country are increasingly falling into the hands of a few wealthy individuals.
Controlled by one of Ukraine’s wealthiest men, Yuriy Kosiuk, the agribusiness company Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) dominates the country’s domestic poultry market and exports chicken and luxuries such as foie gras across Europe. Since 2010, it has received at least $200m (£128m) in long-term loans from the bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Much of this funding has gone to support the building of Europe’s largest industrial chicken farm in the middle of Ukraine’s rural heartland. Almost 300km south of Kiev, the Vinnytsia poultry farm is part of an audacious effort to transform the country once known as “Europe’s breadbasket” into its “meatbasket”.
The IFC, which like all World Bank institutions has an explicit mandate to end global poverty, says its investments in MHP have created jobs and supported food security in Ukraine and beyond. Central to the IFC’s mission is a policy to “do no harm” and achieve positive development outcomes by investing in the private sector.
But villagers living near the Vinnytsia project, which is already partially constructed and in operation, said no one is listening to their concerns about its impact on their area. They also said that people are being pressured into giving their land over to the project by signing long-term land leases.
The project is a massive complex, with slaughterhouses, hen houses, fields to grow crops to feed the chickens, and incubators for eggs. It is still expanding, and this expansion requires leasing extra land from nearby villages in order to construct more “rearing zones” for chickens and additional grain facilities. The second phase of construction is expected to be completed in 2017-18.
“There are growing fears about potential ecological and health impacts and extra pressure on local people to sign land lease agreements,” said Natalia Kolomiets, environmental protection specialist at the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (Necu). “It looks like once the business, the state and the investors are interested in having these projects, there is really little attention paid to local populations.”
In villages already surrounded by the farm’s facilities, residents said the smell and noise are overwhelming, and claimed their roads and houses have been damaged by heavy trucks driving past day and night.
“Before, it was calm and peaceful here,” said one man in the village of Olyanitsa, pointing at cracks in his brick walls, which he said appeared after the trucks started driving through the village. “Now everything is vibrating … look, everywhere, it’s all broken.”
Local NGOs have documented concerns about air, noise and potential water pollution since 2011, but the company dismissed the question of environmental concerns, saying it complies with all environmental regulations. Community leaders in Ulianovka, a small village on the frontlines of the project’s expansion, said they have written to the company and to local authorities but that no one is listening to them.
“There’s no rights, no consultation,” said one woman.
The woman, who did not want to be named as she fears being pressured by the company, said people in her village, including the sick and elderly, were being visited at home and coerced into giving their land over to the project.
“We are nothing for rich people, they don’t want to see us, or hear us.”
Villagers in Ulianovka and Bilousivka said representatives of the company had visited people in their homes. When asked to respond to villagers’ allegations about home visits, the IFC said: “Land acquisition and environmental impacts are covered under the IFC performance standards, which define our clients’ responsibilities for managing environment and social risks. If there are specific concerns or incidents connected with this investment, we will work together with the client to help address them.”
After the dismantling of Soviet and collective state farms in the 1990s, agricultural land in Ukraine was divided up into small plots of roughly two hectares each (4.94 acres), and distributed among the population. There is currently a moratorium on the sale of this land, but it is expected to be lifted as soon as 2016.
Meanwhile, big agribusiness companies have already been acquiring huge swaths of land through long-term leases of up to 50 years. This has fuelled concern over a quiet land grab, where land is de facto controlled by a small group of powerful private individuals and companies.
Once the business, state and investors are interested in these projects, little attention is paid to local people Natalia Kolomiets, environment protection specialist
Some estimates now put the total Ukrainian farmland controlled by foreign companies at more than 2.2m hectares. And, as in many countries experiencing a rush for farmland, domestic investors are also major players.
Kosiuk, founder and chief executive of the MHP company behind the Vinnytsia chicken farm, is one of Ukraine’s wealthiest men. In 2014, along with President Petro Poroshenko and seven other billionaires, he was estimated to control nearly 6% of his country’s GDP. Since 2008, MHP has been listed on the London Stock Exchange, though Kosiuk remains its major shareholder with 66% of its shares.
In Ukraine, his company is pursuing an aggressive strategy to control production “from field to fork”, growing its own grain to feed its chickens and installing facilities to incubate eggs, slaughter animals and package meat. Now it plans to increase the amount of land under its control to 450,000 hectares.
The IFC first invested in Kosiuk’s company in 2003. According to its website, the IFC has provided MHP with hundreds of millions of dollars in finance over the past five years alone.
In 2010, the IFC invested $61m in the company: a $50m loan “for crop cultivation and to secure the land lease rights” and an $11m credit guarantee for “a leasing portfolio of agricultural machinery”. In 2013, it provided a further $50m loan to support “MHP’s growth plans” in the Vinnytsia region.
Last year, the IFC announced a historic $250m investment in MHP, its largest deal in Ukraine since 2008. Of this, $100m would come direct from the IFC’s own books, with the remainder raised in partnership with other investors.
In a statement, the IFC said it has invested in MHP on commercial terms to support poultry production in Ukraine, “which has created jobs and promoted the development of the agribusiness sector, a key driving force for the national economy”.
It added: “Despite the challenging economic situation, the company continues with its expansion programmes and, as a result, direct employment is expected to grow.”
It also said its finance had helped the company improve food safety standards and energy efficiency. Anastasiya Sobotyuk, head of investor relations and communications at MHP, said the company complies with environmental regulations and builds long-term relationships with local communities, often paying higher-than-market rent for the land it leases. “Everything is transparent and legal,” she said. “We can’t force people, because it is our reputation and we are here for a long time and need land.”
Sobotyuk acknowledged that some people were opposed to the project and said that others might have ulterior motives for criticism. “There are some people who understand our competitive advantages … and therefore do black PR campaigns toward MHP.”
Describing Ukraine as a “food basket for the world”, she said the country had great potential because of its black soil. “We create facilities from scratch, invest in development of towns and villages: roads, infrastructure, social. And we want to continue to do so, especially taking into account the difficult macroeconomic situation in the country,” she added.
But Kolomiets said funding big farms is the wrong approach for Ukraine, where small- and medium-sized projects should be supported instead. At minimum, she said, the IFC should step up its monitoring of such projects and pay closer attention to the concerns of people living nearby.
The IFC has a formal mechanism whereby communities impacted by its investments can file complaints if they have grievances. But villagers and community leaders in the Vinnytsia region said they had never heard of this arm of the World Bank, and that they were informed about the project when it was already too late to resist it.
“There should have been community discussions before building started, but there weren’t. They just gathered us and confronted us with the fact that they were building this,” said one woman, standing near the village school where she works.
“Had there been a vote, people would have voted against it.”
• Claire Provost and Matt Kennard are Bertha Fellows at the Centre for Investigative Journalism. Travel for this article was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis ReportingSo only a lucky few of you could participate in our clothing swap raffle, but guess what? Ann Victor has made one more Perfect Cami prize available to Hourglassy readers far and wide. The winner can choose any cami she likes from the collection. I happen to own the navy one below, which you know I love.
For one entry into the raffle, answer one of the questions below. For two entries, answer both.
1. Besides black, what color camis would you like to have for the fall/winter?
2. What is your biggest complaint about camisoles?
For those of you who wonder about the Perfect Cami sizing chart, here’s some good news: Ann is experimenting with attaching bigger fronts to smaller backs. I love how responsive she is to customer needs. This means that your answers to the two questions above will really make a difference.
You can also help make a difference to Hourglassy. After our writer’s brunch before the swap on August 2, we are brimming with ideas for future events, one being, what if we were to organize something in YOUR area of the country? To do so, we need to know the geographic pockets of the United States where our readers live, so for a third entry into the raffle, please answer question #3:
3. What major city is closest to your home, and how far away is it? (Feel free to expound if you live in different parts of the country for different periods of the year!)
Send your answers to giveaway [at] hourglassy [dot] com, and put “Perfect Cami” in the subject line. We’ll draw the winner via a random number generator after 11:59 PM EDT next Tuesday, August 26, and we’ll send an email to the winner.Vice President Biden's sunglasses reflect the students in the audience at Yale University on May 17. (Jessica Hill/AP)
Joseph R. Biden Jr. has spent decades in national office, first as a senator and now as vice president, and he has an extensive record on the major issues in the campaign.
As a champion for progressive causes, he has several major accomplishments to his name. He's also taken several stances over the years that could make him vulnerable to criticism — if he runs for the Democratic presidential nomination next year.
Here is a quick review of where he stands on the big questions.
Crime
Biden's most consequential legislative achievement in his long career might be the crime bill he shepherded to passage as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1994. That bill expanded the federal death sentence and created the "three-strikes" rule, requiring a life sentence without parole for anyone convicted of three violent or drug-trafficking felonies. The bill also increased the penalties for undocumented immigrants who enter the country illegally a second time after being deported.
States that likewise instituted harsher prison terms for convicts tried in their courts were more likely to receive grants from the federal government under the legislation, which also made billions of dollars available for the construction of new prisons and provided enough federal funding to add some 100,000 officers to police forces nationwide.
These days, some politicians on both sides of the aisle see the country's reliance on incarceration as misguided. While the causes of the steady and sustained decline in crime rates over the past two decades are still debated, most criminologists do not think that incarceration helped much if at all.
"It is time to end the era of mass incarceration," Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said earlier this year. Her husband — who signed Biden's crime bill into law as president — has said that the legislation "made the problem worse."
Experts say that the federal crime bill had only a small effect on the overall rate of incarceration nationally. Federal prisoners account for only about 1 in 10 inmates behind bars on any given day. The rest are in state facilities or local jails, and state officials had already begun to impose harsher sentences before Biden's bill became law. In other words, the legislation merely followed a change in attitude among policymakers and prosecutors rather than establishing a new paradigm across the country.
All the same, the bill clearly articulated a tough-on-crime attitude that Biden may have to explain if he enters the race.
Guns
While the punishments imposed by the crime bill could be a liability for Biden, he could also point to several provisions in the law that liberal Democrats will celebrate. For one, the bill banned assault weapons, a prohibition that remained in effect until it expired 10 years later. Biden said recently he thinks the ban should be reinstated.
[Everything you need to know about the assault weapons ban]
He has been an impassioned defender of stricter gun control throughout his career. Following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, President Obama gave him the job of moving a bill through Congress that would require background checks for private purchases, including guns bought and sold over the Internet and at gun shows. (Current law requires that only federally licensed dealers perform background checks on their customers.) That legislation failed because of a filibuster in the Senate.
There is some evidence that expanded background checks could reduce gun violence, although to be truly effective, a gun-control program would probably have to require gun owners to sell their weapons to the government, as Wonkblog has reported previously.
[What liberals don't want to admit about gun control]
Violence against women
The crime bill also included the Violence Against Women Act, a series of provisions designed to protect women from domestic abuse. The bill made federal money available to ensure that law enforcement had the manpower to pursue domestic-violence cases. Other funds went to shelters, where victims of abuse could stay if they weren't safe at home.
Advocates for women are divided on the effects of the law. For example, one provision, encouraged state authorities to require police officers to make arrests whenever domestic abuse is reported. The aim, in part, was to prevent police from discounting women's accusations against their abusers and leaving the scene of a serious crime without taking action.
Yet some research suggests that mandating arrests actually increases the rate of domestic homicide. Some victims of abuse might want the police to help calm an aggravated partner, but those victims might not want their partners to go to jail. If so, they might hesitate to call the police, even when a dispute is getting violently out of hand. In this respect, the law might have harmed some of the women it was intended to protect.
Although the act might have had unintended consequences, Biden has called the Violence Against Women Act his "proudest legislative accomplishment." More recently, he has been a leading figure in the Obama administration's efforts to reduce sexual violence on college campuses.
"No man has a right ever to raise his hand to a woman. Period. End of story," Biden said earlier this year.
Abortion
Biden has also been a supporter of abortion rights. Although the vice president is a practicing Catholic who believes that life begins at conception, he has said that women should be free to make their own choices about terminating pregnancies.
"Life begins at conception in the church's judgment. I accept it in my personal life," the former senator from Delaware said in a debate in 2012. "I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews.
"I do not believe that we have a right to tell … women they can't control their body," he added. "It's a decision between them and their doctor."
Climate change
By burning fossil fuels, humans are causing the planet to warm. Biden sees the change in the climate that has resulted as a "deadly serious" problem, he said Monday. He called it "the most consequential issue of our time."
He has also excoriated conservative politicians who deny the reality of global warming.
"I think it’s close to mindless. I think it’s like, you know, almost like denying gravity now," Biden said earlier this year.
Economic policy
Biden believes that the working class is no longer benefiting from an increasingly productive economy alongside the wealthy.
"It used to be when productivity went up in America, everybody got to share. The people who caused the productivity increase, they got to share. They got a piece of the action," the vice president said last month. "Something is wrong."
Biden was citing research by the liberal Economic Policy Institute, which suggests that in recent years, workers' wages have stopped increasing even though investments in technology and equipment are still allowing them to produce more per hour on the job. Clinton has used the same figures in her campaign.
Biden has served as the White House's liaison to Congress at crucial moments — in 2011 and again at the end of 2012, when he helped avert crises by negotiating deals on the budget. Liberal critics of the administration have complained that Biden and the administration gave up too much to Republicans, who didn't want to raise taxes on the wealthy or to borrow money to stimulate the economy.
It is difficult to know from his behavior in these negotiations how Biden really feels about the national debt, but he has a record of opposition to borrowing. As a senator 20 years ago, Biden supported a GOP-sponsored constitutional amendment that would have required the federal government to balance its budget every year.
Some economists have warned that such an amendment could have grave consequences. For one thing, it could destabilize the national economy, since the government would have to respond to an unexpected shortfall in revenue by spending less or taxing more to keep the budget balanced. Analysts in business and industry would have to try to predict these shifts in the government's finances to anticipate how the economy and their own firms would have to respond.
[Why Rand Paul wants to balance the budget every year]
Trade
Another major question for Biden's campaign is what he thinks about international trade. The Obama administration has negotiated a trade deal with several Asian and Latin American countries. Biden supports the deal and will help negotiate with lawmakers for its passage.
Unions, though, oppose the agreement, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Labor leaders predict the deal will put employees of U.S. exporting firms out of work.
[Tobacco companies lose as last pieces of a massive trade deal fall into place]
The vice president has reportedly sought support from union leaders in advance of an announcement about whether he will seek the presidency. Biden is a popular figure with labor.
"He’s a friend. He’s a brother. He’s a great champion of working men and working women," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said last month.
It is an open question, though, whether Biden can win their votes while supporting his boss.
The issue of trade has given Biden headaches in the past. "The thing I'm most unsure about is how you rationalize competition in trade policy," Biden said in a debate during his last presidential campaign in 2007. "I think that’s the single most difficult challenge that I will have as president."
Foreign policy
As a senator, Biden voted for the war in Iraq in 2003. Later, he made a controversial proposal for a political settlement in the chaotic aftermath of the invasion.
Biden's plan was to give the Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite regions of the country more independence from the central government in Baghdad. Each would have its own government and more authority to manage its own affairs. Biden compared his plan to the agreement that ended the conflict in the Balkans, which he said separated that region along ethnic boundaries to prevent sectarian violence.
Critics of the plan worried that internally dividing the nation would lead to civil war. Maintaining a powerful central government in Baghdad didn't prevent internecine conflict, however. This year, the Islamic State has taken control in the western part of the country, with the support of some disaffected Sunnis.
And some experts on the region have suggested Biden's might have been the best approach all along. Had Sunnis felt that they had more say in their political affairs, they might have been less inclined to support a brutal insurgency.The military government faces pressure from East and West to restore democracy to the Kingdom quickly.
Washington has continually urged the junta to return power to the people through a democratic system. US officials at all levels, from the president to the charge d’affaires at the embassy to Bangkok, have consistently called for the restoration of democracy. Relations with the United States and military cooperation would not return to normal until Thailand is once again governed by an elected civilian government.
Cobra Gold, the annual military war games, was scaled down this year as the US sent fewer troops to join the drill and the theme was refocused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response capabilities.
The junta wanted the war games to be a purely military exercise but the US has linked it with political development in Thailand. Many things could remain the same, as Patrick Murphy, charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Bangkok said at the opening of Cobra Gold on Monday, but “still, we can’t deny that this period is a challenging one for us all, and has necessitated a modified Cobra Gold exercise this year as Thailand manages its return to elected, civilian-led government.”
Thai leaders anticipated the Americans would say this for a while and then phase it out when Thailand offered strategic interest to Washington, or leaned on other major powers in the region.
Initially, the junta expected that one US major ally in the Far Eastern region, Japan, would be more relaxed towards the military government by turning a blind eye on the military coup and focusing only on economic cooperation for mutual benefit.
Of course, Japan’s main interest in relations with Thailand is on economic matters, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cares also about political and security matters as Tokyo under his leadership seeks a more political role in the international arena.
During his three-day visit to Japan, coup leader Prayut worked to explain Thailand’s domestic political situation; and furthermore, he was forced to show a strong commitment to an early restoration of democracy.
The next election, something Prayut is reluctant to speak on at home, needed to be mentioned during several meetings with Japanese officials, including Abe. The poll could be held by the end of this year or early next year.
Prayut’s visit to Japan is likely to be fruitful since officials in Tokyo know how to play along.
Prayut received two documents signed on railway development and promoting of business in Thailand, although the paper simply showed just “intention”, not action. The junta wanted Japan to help develop a rail route, high speed if possible, to link Bangkok with western, northern and eastern provinces. It also wanted to fulfil connectivity along the East West Economic Corridor and the pouring of money into the Dawei project in Myanmar.
Prayut received a commitment, in the Japanese style of diplomacy. Tokyo said yes, these projects are very important — but let’s study and look at their prospects for the long run. That simply means projects would not materialise during Prayut’s time.
China is the only single comfortable nation Prayut can deal with. Unlike the Americans and the Japanese, Chinese leaders refrained from comments on Thai politics. China has a very clear agenda to have countries in Southeast Asia as its main supporters — to counter-balance Japan and US pivot policy. China’s new strategy to create a Maritime Silk Road in the 21st century is compatible to Asean and Thailand’s connectivity plans.
However, the junta leader should know there are no more “free lunches” in international relations. Prayut’s rail project, signed in a Memorandum of Understanding with China in December, needed to go through a real Chinese style business arrangement.
Beijing shocked the Thais in the first round of negotiations with a proposal that Thailand borrow capital at a high interest rate between 2-4 per cent annually, from the Chinese Import-Export Bank, while China would build and operate the project.
Negotiation with China is tough. If Prayut wants something to demonstrate the value of his coup, perhaps he needs to pay what, to him, would be the most expensive price.At its annual meeting, the African Literature Association (ALA) passed a resolution supporting the spirit of the 2004 Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel. The annual meeting took place in April, but the resolution was only publicized this week as Israeli bombs rained down on Gaza.
Kenyan novelist, political analyst and activist Mukoma Wa Ngugi, an ALA member not directly involved in organizing the boycott vote, commented to me via email: “The African literary tradition has been one in which writers have used their pens to speak out against injustice – so they wielded their pens against colonialism, neocolonialism and concomitant dictatorships and today against unequal globalization.”
He said that the “ALA endorsement of the boycott falls within the tradition of a literary and intellectual tradition that has often stood on the side of marginalized and ‘dominated.’ In this sense it is not a surprise that the first sentence reaffirms the principle of standing against all forms of racism including ‘including anti-semitism, discrimination, and xenophobia.’”
He said that the statement was “strongly worded and grounds its rationale in the anti-apartheid tradition of boycotts and sanctions in order ‘to awaken the world’s conscience to a situation that must change.’ It reminds us that Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, who once said that South African ’freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians,’ have historically stood with the Palestinian people. The rationale is also grounded in the plight of African immigrants and refugees in Israel who have been received with virulent racism.”
The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel on Tuesday afternoon released a statement praising the ALA’s resolution.
Also at the annual meeting, a resolution opposing all homophobic legislation was passed. The boycott resolution’s full text is as follows:
BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) The ALA supports the Academic Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions. Whereas the African Literature Association is committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the struggle against all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, discrimination, and xenophobia, and to solidarity with aggrieved peoples in Africa and in the world; Whereas Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the expansion of illegal settlements and the Wall in violation of international law, as well as in supporting the systematic discrimination against Palestinians, has had documented devastating impact on the overall well-being, the exercise of political and human rights, the freedom of movement, and the educational opportunities of Palestinians; Whereas there is no effective or substantive academic freedom for Palestinian students and scholars under conditions of Israeli occupation, and Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students; Whereas the African Literature Association is dedicated to the right of students and scholars to pursue education and research without undue state interference, repression, and military violence, and in keeping with the spirit of its previous statements supports the right of students and scholars to intellectual freedom and to political dissent as citizens and scholars; it is resolved that the African Literature Association (ALA) endorses and will honor the call of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. It is also resolved that the ALA supports the protected rights of students and scholars everywhere to engage in research and public speaking about Israel-Palestine and in support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.
Rationale: The resolution is offered in the spirit of the past boycott of Apartheid South Africa, one of the ALA’s earliest efforts at political coalition politics. This boycott has been endorsed by Bishop Desmond Tutu. ln the spirit of his endorsement, and of our commitment to the liberation of dominated people everywhere, we are resolving to act against a state that has taken actions that have resulted in the dispersal of millions of Palestinian people around the Middle East and North Africa (including Egypt and Tunisia), that has targeted African refugees by placing them in internment camps indefinitely, and that has collaborated with authoritarian regimes in Africa, either by their work in extractive industries, or in the shipment of arms to repressive regimes. The resolution, like the long boycott of South Africa and of Southern Rhodesia, is intended to awaken the world’s conscience to a situation that must change.Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson (87) could both be limited in the preseason. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson (87) could both be limited in the preseason. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
Green Bay wide receiver Jordy Nelson had a knee procedure and will miss the rest of training camp, head coach Mike McCarthy announced Tuesday. The Packers hope Nelson will be able to return for the team's Week 1 game against the 49ers.
Meanwhile, fellow wideout Randall Cobb left practice Tuesday after suffering a bicep injury, per Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
BURKE: Cobb dealing with "butterflies" during camp
The Packers are relying on Nelson and Cobb to be the primary targets, along with James Jones, for quarterback Aaron Rodgers this season after Greg Jennings left for the Vikings in free agency. Cobb had 954 yards receiving in his second year as a pro, with eight touchdowns. Nelson had 745 yards receiving and seven touchdowns.
https://twitter.com/TyDunne/status/364782254402174977
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/364790846438113280
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/364790998385164289The Biggest Advocates For An Imperial Executive Branch Are Suddenly Freaking Out Over Trump
from the oh,-now-you-get-it dept
For many, many years, we've pointed out why there are problems with an executive branch that is too powerful. As we noted, laws should be designed as if the people you trust the least are in power. Of course, in an era of partisan red team/blue team politics, very few people seem to care or listen. Or, worse, their positions on executive power seem to shift based on whether "their guy" is in power or "the other guy" is in power. But in a situation that would be amusing if it weren't quite so terrifying, some of the biggest advocates for expanded executive power are suddenly freaking out about the very thing they helped bring about now that there's a President Trump.
Ryan Lizza, over at the New Yorker, has a post detailing the ways in which Trump could seize more power following a terrorist attack. And there are lots of ways. That, by itself, may be interesting, but what strikes me as even more interesting is that the people who he quotes are some of the very people who helped create this kind of world where the President has almost unlimited power in certain areas.
First up, he quotes Jack Goldsmith. Goldsmith worked for George W. Bush, and while he's positioned himself as having pushed back against executive branch expansion, while he was there he did sign the Office of Legal Counsel memo that enabled the NSA to basically spy on all Americans' internet usage. That memo included the following:
We conclude that in the circumstances of the current armed conflict with al Qaeda, the restrictions set out in FISA, as applied to targeted efforts to intercept the communications of the enemy in order to prevent further armed attacks on the United States, would be an unconstitutional infringement on the constitutionally assigned powers of the President. The President has inherent constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and sole organ for the nation in foreign affairs to conduct warrantless surveillance of enemy forces for intelligence purposes to detect and disrupt armed attacks on the United States. Congress does not have the power to restrict the President’s exercise of that authority.
And, more recently, Goldsmith has argued that we "need" a more invasive NSA which is crazy.
Yet, now, suddenly he's worried that Trump wants these orders to be struck down so he can blame the courts in the event of any terrorist attack, and then use that to claim more powers:
If Trump loses in court he credibly will say to the American people that he tried and failed to create tighter immigration controls. This will deflect blame for the attack. And it will also help Trump to enhance his power after the attack. After a bad terrorist attack at home, politicians are always under intense pressure to loosen legal constraints. (This was even true for near-misses, such as the failed Underwear bomber, which caused the Obama administration to loosen constraints on its counterterrorism policies in many ways.) Courts feel these pressures, and those pressures will be significantly heightened, and any countervailing tendency to guard against executive overreaction diminished, if courts are widely seen to be responsible for an actual terrorist attack. More broadly, the usual security panic after a bad attack will be enhanced quite a lot—in courts and in Congress—if before the attack legal and judicial constraints are seen to block safety. If Trump assumes that there will be a bad terrorist attack on his watch, blaming judges now will deflect blame and enhance his power more than usual after the next attack.
Yeah, that's why we don't say silly things in OLC memos like "The President has inherent constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and sole organ for the nation in foreign affairs to conduct warrantless surveillance of enemy forces for intelligence purposes to detect and disrupt armed attacks on the United States. Congress does not have the power to restrict the President’s exercise of that authority."
Next up in Lizza's piece is John Yoo. Yoo, somewhat famously, seemed to have never met an executive power he couldn't justify... until Trump came to power. Yoo, wrote the Bush adminstration's legal justifications for the CIA's torture program after 9/11. He's also argued that the NSA should be given a pass on the 4th Amendment because it takes too long to get a warrant. To him warrantless surveillance is no big deal.
And yet, now suddenly John Yoo is worried about "executive power run amok"?
As an official in the Justice Department, I followed in Hamilton’s footsteps, advising that President George W. Bush could take vigorous, perhaps extreme, measures to protect the nation after the Sept. 11 attacks, including invading Afghanistan, opening the Guantánamo detention center and conducting military trials and enhanced interrogation of terrorist leaders. Likewise, I supported President Barack Obama when he drew on this source of constitutional power for drone attacks and foreign electronic surveillance. But even I have grave concerns about Mr. Trump’s uses of presidential power. During the campaign, Mr. Trump gave little sign that he understood the constitutional roles of the three branches, as when he promised to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would investigate Hillary Clinton. (Judge Neil M. Gorsuch will not see this as part of his job description.) In his Inaugural Address, Mr. Trump did not acknowledge that his highest responsibility, as demanded by his oath of office, is to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.” Instead, he declared his duty to represent the wishes of the people and end “American carnage,” seemingly without any constitutional restraint.
Yoo goes on to point out a bunch of problems with some of Trump's actions (while admitting that others he finds perfectly fine).
While I guess it's kinda nice that Goldsmith and Yoo are finally recognizing that an all-powerful executive branch is problematic, they don't seem to recognize their own role in shaping that view of a uniquely powerful executive branch. It's time to own it, guys.
Filed Under: abuse of power, donald trump, executive power, jack goldsmith, john yoo, surveillanceThe first Olympics gave silver medals to the winners, China didn’t win a medal until 1984 and more random trivia as these Olympics wind down.
Unless I get hit by some shot of absolute brilliant inspiration, this will be the last of my Olympics lists. And it’s really quite a catch-all.
Here are 11 interesting, weird, obscure or just flat-out strange facts about the summer Olympics. (Not including the weird Olympic sports that used to exist; I’ve covered those previously.)
1 | Gandhi once covered the Olympics as a newspaper reporter
The 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. I have no idea why, since it was right during his civil disobedient prime. But he did.
2 | The Olympic rings cover every flag in the world
They picked yellow, green, red, black and blue because at least one of those five colors appears in every flag in the world. (The five rings also allegedly represent the five continents of the world. But wait, you’re saying, aren’t there seven continents? Yes. But the Olympic committee has spun things to try to appease everyone. The way they’ve condensed the world into five continents: America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania. Sorry, Antarctica. And apparently, we’re |
place at an FBI field office in Manhattan, and Maggie Haberman comments:
The nominees of both parties are eligible to receive the classified briefings after the conventions. But for Mr. Trump, the moment presents another in a series of opportunities for the businessman-turned-reality-television-star-turned-candidate to try to demonstrate gravitas.
Nobody is better at keeping classified information secret than Trump, believe me.
* TRUMP’S STRANGE APPROACH TO UNITY: The Post reports that on the campaign trail, Trump has been emphasizing the “problem” of voter fraud and has been criticizing Black Lives Matter. And yet, Trump still thinks this:
Trump has spoken confidently about earning the support of Hispanic and black voters, dismissing his abysmal polling numbers among minorities as he seeks to brand himself as someone who can unify the country.
Here’s another area where Trump’s “unconventional” approach to politics — this time, to black outreach — just might end up failing him.
* AETNA THREATENED OBAMACARE PULLOUT: Aetna has pulled out of the Obamacare exchanges, prompting new worries about the law. But the Huffington Post now reports that Aetna privately threatened the Obama administration that it would pull out if its merger with Humana were not approved. It wasn’t, and Aetna made good on its vow.
Also note this basic point from HuffPo: The law might need fixing, but Clinton has proposed fixes that would preserve the law’s successful coverage expansion, while Trump vows to repeal the whole thing and replace it with something that would result in many millions losing coverage.
* LATINA WHO WORKED FOR BUSH ENDORSES CLINTON: Former Bush official Rosario Marin throws her support to the Democrat, citing the GOP’s decision to nominate a man who won the GOP primary in part by insulting Mexican immigrants:
The party left me and my community all alone again. It has had plenty of time to stand up for my community, but it has chosen not to do so. I have come to the devastatingly painful realization that my party right now doesn’t want my vote nor that of my community. Evidently it is not important, or not as important as some other voting bloc.
The GOP Latino outreach that the RNC’s post-2012 autopsy called for is going swimmingly.
* AND NEW ENGLAND REPUBLICANS FACE EXTINCTION: Bloomberg Politics’ Billy House reports this fascinating tidbit:
New England’s shrinking Republican delegation in Congress is moving toward the brink of political extinction in November with Donald Trump at the top of the party’s ticket. Only four Republicans remain in New England’s 33-member congressional delegation, and three are in competitive races this fall. The other, four-term Senator Susan Collins of Maine, doesn’t face re-election this year.
But Trump told us he was going to put Connecticut in play!!! In all seriousness, the idea of “New England Republicans” seems even more quaint in the Age of Trump, doesn’t it?AN independent Scotland could not be asked to leave the European Union for “practical and political” reasons, a senior European Commission figure has said.
Graham Avery, an honorary director-general of the EC, says Scottish citizens already have rights as EC citizens and could not be asked to leave and apply for readmission.
“Scotland’s five million people, having been members of the EU for 40 years, have acquired rights as European citizens,” Mr Avery says in a submission to Westminster’s foreign affairs committee.
“For practical and political reasons they could not be asked to leave the EU and apply for readmission.”
The intervention will come as a boost for First Minister Alex Salmond who has always claimed that Scotland would remain in the EU after independence.
Mr Avery, pictured below, added: “Negotiations on the terms of membership would take place in the period between the referendum and the planned date of independence. The EU would adopt a simplified procedure for the negotiations, not the traditional procedure followed for the accession of non-member countries.”
Europe has been at the centre of the constitutional debate in recent weeks over concerns that if Scotland is forced to re-apply for EU membership, it could be forced to join the euro and sign up to the Schengen “open border” agreement which the UK is currently exempt from.
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said it underlined the need for the SNP to clarify the position on Europe post-independence.
“The Scottish Government have a duty to remove the doubt and secure the agreement of all the EU nations before the referendum,” he said.
But Blair Jenkins, chief executive of the Yes Scotland campaign, said: “People in Scotland should be reassured that an independent Scotland will remain a member of the European Union.”San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski hasn't recorded a point in the Stanley Cup Final. (Photo11: Charles LeClaire, Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
SAN JOSE — Joe Pavelski and Phil Kessel share little in common outside the fact they’re both from Wisconsin and were teammates on the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team.
Their distinct paths have diverged further in the Stanley Cup Final.
Kessel recorded two assists in Monday’s Game 4 victory as the Pittsburgh Penguins seized a 3-1 series lead, further bolstering his candidacy for the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP with a team-high 21 points. (He also has a goal and 18 shots in the Cup Final).
Pavelski has yet to record a point in the series as the San Jose Sharks face elimination beginning in Pittsburgh on Thursday (8 p.m. ET, NBC).
“I’m more frustrated with wins or losses more than anything,” Pavelski said after the Sharks’ 3-1 loss on Monday. “If we were up 3-1, it’d be a different story. Right now we are in the hole we are in where a goal or two probably changes the outcome. I feel I should probably have more (goals in the final). You just have to keep going.”
Pavelski, in his first season as the Sharks’ captain, entered the Stanley Cup Final as the leader playoff goal scoring (13 goals). He also had a slot on Team USA’s World Cup of Hockey entry, a roster announced before the final began that lacked Kessel’s name.
Kessel has been dogged by questions about his work ethic during much of his 10-season career that has seen him play for three different teams. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan hasn’t seen any of that, at least since he took over as the coach midway through the season.
“I give Phil a lot of credit,” Sullivan said. "I think his game has evolved into a complete two-way game. We've asked him to improve in certain areas of his game away from the puck — in the battle areas — and he's embraced our message.
“I think he's really gained a whole lot of admiration from his coaching staff and his teammates with how his game has evolved here in the second half of the season.”
Kessel had not been on team that made it past the second round in his career, which started in Boston. He made the playoffs once in his six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs before he was dealt to Pittsburgh last offseason.
“You never imagine something like this,” Kessel said. “Being one game away is something pretty special.”
Kessel has made the Pens' third line churn. Meanwhile, the Sharks' top line had to be reshuffled after Game 2 because Tomas Hertl — who had been with Pavelski and Joe Thornton — has been unable to play with a lower-body injury. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said Tuesday that Hertl remains day-to-day and DoBoer is “hopeful” Hertl could return.
Pavelski, who is a minus-3 in the final, saw more ice time in Game 4 than any other Sharks forward (24:54) and put five of his nine series shots on net. Logan Couture has only two of his 26 playoff points in the final, and Thornton has just two of his 20. Neither have scored.
“You have to find a way,” said Pavelski, who is still the top goal scorer in the playoffs. “We all do. The games are tight. If we can take lead, maybe things open up for us.”
Kessel and Pavelski have been on the ice against each other for 18 minutes, 31 seconds, according to war-on-ice.com. And they won’t share the same bench for Team USA like they did at the last two Winter Olympics.
“We are in the Stanley Cup Final, so I can't be that disappointed,” Kessel said on missing out on the World Cup.View this article text only, or just the images with captions
The Overthrow of the Monarchy By Pat Pitzer
''Spirit of Aloha,'' May 1994
(The in-flight magazine of Aloha Airlines) The statue of Queen Lili`uokalani, which stands between `Iolani Palace and the State Capitol, was draped with leis for last year's centennial observance of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. (Photo by Linda Ching.) Winds of profound change swept over Hawai`i in the 1890s, turbulent times that altered the islands' future forever
The storm that had been gathering broke on Jan. 17, 1893, when the Hawaiian monarchy ended in a day of bloodless revolution. Armed insurrection by a relatively small group of men, most of them American by birth or heritage, succeeded in wresting control of the Islands with the backing of American troops sent ashore from a warship in Honolulu Harbor. To this "superior force of the United States of America," Queen Lili`uokalani yielded her throne, under protest, in order to avoid bloodshed, trusting that the United States government would right the wrong that had been done to her and the Hawaiian people.
Sugar and a coerced constitution played roles in the drama -- intertwined themes of economics and politics.
Sugar was by far the principal support of the Islands, and profits and prosperity hinged on favorable treaties with the United States, Hawaiian sugar's chief market, creating powerful economic ties. As the Islands' sugar industry grew, large numbers of contract laborers were imported first from China, then from Japan and other countries, to work on the plantations -- the beginning of Hawai`i's present multicultural population. Plantation ownership and control of the business community were in the hands of men of American or European blood.
The league's more radical members favored the king's abdication -- one even proposed assassination -- but cooler heads prevailed. They would allow the king to remain on the throne with his power sharply limited by a new constitution of their making. Dethroning him would be a last resort, if he refused to comply. Many Hawaiian League members belonged to a volunter militia, the Honolulu Rifles, which was officially in service to the Hawaiian government, but was secretly the league's military arm.
Kalakaua was compelled to accept a new Cabinet composed of league members, who presented their constitution to him for his signature at `Iolani Palace. The reluctant king argued and protested, but finally signed the document, which became known as the Bayonet Constitution. As one Cabinet member noted, "Little was left to the imagination of the hesitating and unwilling sovereign, as to what he might expect in the event of his refusal to comply with the demands made upon him."
The Bayonet Constitution greatly curtailed the king's power, making him a mere figurehead. It placed the actual executive power in the hands of the Cabinet, whose members could no longer be dismissed by the king, only by the Legislature. Amending this constitution was also the exclusive prerogative of the Legislature.
The Bayonet Constitution's other purpose was to remove the Native Hawaiian majority's dominance at the polls and in the Legislature. The righteous reformers were determined to save the Hawaiians from self-government.
The privilege of voting was no longer limited to citizens of the kingdom, but was extended to foreign residents -- provided they were American or European. Asians were excluded -- even those who had become naturalized citizens. The House of Nobles, formerly appointed by the king, would now be elected, and voters and candidates for it had to meet a high property ownership or income requirement -- which excluded two-thirds of the Native Hawaiian voters. While they could still vote for the House of Representatives, to do so they had to swear to uphold the despised Bayonet Constitution.
The Hawaiians strenuously opposed the diminution of their voice in governing their own country and resented the reduction of the monarch's powers and the manner in which the Bayonet Constitution had been forced on him. Hawaiians, Chinese and Japanese petitioned the king to revoke the constitution. The self-styled Reform Cabinet responded that only an act of the Legislature could do this - though their new constitution had never been put to a vote.
For the remaining years of the monarchy, efforts to amend or replace the constitution received widespread support. The constitutional controversy proved to be the spark that ignited the overthrow of the monarchy.
In 1889 a young part-Hawaiian named Robert W. Wilcox staged an uprising to overthrow the Bayonet Constitution. He led some 80 men, Hawaiians and Europeans, with arms purchased by the Chinese, in a predawn march to `Iolani Palace with a new constitution for Kalakaua to sign. The king was away from the palace, and the Cabinet called out troops who forcibly put down the insurrection. Tried for conspiracy, Wilcox was found not guilty by a jury of Native Hawaiians, who considered him a folk hero.
His sister, Lili`uokalani, took the oath of office as monarch, including, to her distaste, swearing to uphold the Bayonet Constitution.
Like her brother, the new queen was childless. She named as her successor to the throne her niece, Princess Ka`iulani, who was away at school in London.
Lili`uokalani's husband, John Dominis, an American sea captain's son, died just seven months after she became queen.
She would soon face a formidable threat to the monarchy and the independence of the kingdom. In early 1892 Lorrin Thurston and a group of like-minded men, mostly of American blood, formed an Annexation Club, plotting the overthrow of the queen and annexation to the United States. They kept the organization small and secret - wisely, since they were talking treason.
Thurston went to Washington to promote annexation, and received an encouraging message from President Benjamin Harrison: "You will find an exceedingly sympathetic administration here."
In Honolulu, Hawaiians spoke out strongly for their monarchy and presented numerous petitions to the Legislature to replace the Bayonet Constitution, to no avail.
The queen had also been deluged with petitions for a new constitution, signed by an estimated two-thirds of the kingdom's voters, and she boldly prepared to act on their wishes. In her book, Hawai`i's Story by Hawai`i's Queen, she noted, "The right to grant a constitution to the nation has been, since the very first one was granted, a prerogative of the Hawaiian sovereigns."
On Jan. 14, the first of four crucial days in Hawai`i's history, the queen presided at noon over the legislative session's closing ceremonies at the Government Building. She then walked across the street to `Iolani Palace for a more significant ceremony. She was about to proclaim a new constitution which she had written, restoring power to the throne and rights to the Native Hawaiian people.
The Royal Hawaiian Band played as the queen's invited guests, including diplomats, legislators and Hawaiian petitioners, assembled in the throne room, and a large crowd of Native Hawaiians gathered on the palace lawn.
As the audience waited, the queen argued heatedly with her Cabinet, who refused to sign her new constitution, fearing her enemies would use it as a pretext to challenge her. They finally persuaded her to defer action on it.
The queen addressed the guests in the throne room, and the crowd on the palace grounds, telling them that she was ready to promulgate a new constitution, but yielding to the advice of her ministers, was postponing it to some future day.
Alerted earlier of the queen's intention by two of her Cabinet members, the Annexation Club sprang into action. A 13-member Committee of Safety was chosen to plan the overthrow of the queen and the establishment of a provisional government. As they plotted revolution, they claimed that the queen, by proposing to alter the constitution, had committed ''a revolutionary act."
The American warship USS Boston was in port at Honolulu Harbor. With an eye toward landing troops, Lorrin Thurston and two others called upon the American minister in Hawai`i, John L. Stevens, an avowed annexationist. Stevens assured them he would not protect the queen, and that he would land troops from the Boston if necessary "to protect American lives and property." He also said that if the revolutionaries were in possession of government buildings and actually in control of the city, he would recognize their provisional government.
The next day, Jan. 15, Thurston told the queen's Cabinet that the Committee of Safety would challenge her.
In an effort to stave off the mounting crisis, the queen issued a proclamation declaring that she would not seek to alter the constitution except by constitutional means. Unsuccessfully, she sought Minister Stevens' assurance that he would support her government against armed insurrection. The kingdom's marshal proposed declaring martial law and arresting the Committee of Safety, but the Cabinet feared this would lead to armed conflict, and Lili`uokalani wished to avoid bloodshed.
On Jan. 16, several hundred Native Hawaiians and other royalists gathered peaceably at Palace Square in support of the queen, expressing loyalty to the monarchy, and carefully avoiding saying anything inflammatory.
Simultaneously, at the mass meeting called by the Committee of Safety at the armory, the speeches were incendiary. Lorrin Thurston vehemently denounced the queen and asked the crowd to empower the committee to act as it deemed necessary. The resolution passed amid cheers. No one had mentioned overthrowing the monarchy, but the unspoken was apparently understood by all.
The Committee of Safety delivered a letter to Minister Stevens requesting him to land troops from the Boston, stating that "the public safety is menaced and life and property are in peril."
At 5 that afternoon, 162 fully armed troops from the Boston came ashore. A few of the marines were posted at the American Consulate and Legation, but the main body of troops marched through downtown Honolulu past `Iolani Palace. They were quartered less than a block from the Government Building and the palace. While the troops were ordered ashore ostensibly "to protect American lives and property," their placement close to the palace was threatening. Members of the queen's Cabinet hastened to Stevens to protest the troops' presence, but it made no difference.
The Committee of Safety had initially proposed that Thurston head the government, but he said he was considered such a,"radical mover" it would be better to choose someone more conservative. They then offered the presidency to Sanford B. Dole, another of the "mission boys," as Thurston called them. Dole had declined to take part in the revolution except for drafting documents. Rather than abolishing the monarchy, he favored replacing the queen with a regency holding the throne in trust until Princess Ka'iulani came of age. Still, he accepted the presidency and submitted his resignation as a justice in Hawai`i's Supreme Court.
On the morning of Jan. 17, Dole gave Stevens a letter from Thurston, asking for his recognition of the provisional government, which they planned to proclaim at 3 that afternoon. The American minister told Dole, "I think you have a great opportunity."
They also had luck. Just as Dole and the Committee of Safety were about to set out to take possession of the Government Building, Hawaiian police halted a wagon loaded with arms for the insurgents, and the driver shot a policeman in the shoulder. (This was the only blood shed during the revolution.) The sound of the shot drew a crowd, including the policemen who had been keeping an eye on the Committee of Safety, and in the confusion, they walked to the Government Building unnoticed.
The building was unguarded and nearly deserted, and few people heard the proclamation that was read from its steps, declaring the end of the monarchy and the establishment of a provisional government as an interim measure until annexation to the United States could be achieved. The American troops were lined up nearby. Minister Stevens immediately, and prematurely, recognized the provisional government.
On Jan. 17, 1893, at dusk, Queen Lili`uokalani yielded her throne under protest, with these words:
"I, Lili`uokalani, by the grace of God and under the constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom. "That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America, whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the said Provisional Government. "Now, to avoid any collision of armed forces and perhaps loss of life, I do, under this protest, and impelled by said forces, yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands."
The queen surrendered Hawai`i's sovereignty not to the revolutionaries but to the "superior force of the United States of America" -- temporarily, she believed -- confident that the American government would restore her to the throne.
After the queen yielded, the marshal surrendered the police station house, and at the barracks, the Queen's Royal Guards stacked their arms.
Having stated her case in writing, Lili`uokalani retired to her private residence, Washington Place, urging the leaders of her people to avoid riot and to await tranquilly the result of her appeal to the United States government.
The provisional government took over the palace and declared martial law. Later, at its request, Minister Stevens proclaimed Hawai`i a temporary protectorate and raised the American flag over government buildings. He wrote the State Department urging annexation, saying, "The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe, and this is the golden hour for the United States to pluck it."
The provisional government had chartered a steamer, and Thurston and four others hastened to Washington with a treaty of annexation in hand. The queen's envoys were refused permission to sail on the same ship, and by the time they reached Washington, President Harrison had already sent the annexation treaty to the Senate.
But Harrison was in his last days in power, and Grover Cleveland, who replaced him, withdrew the treaty.
Lili`uokalani wrote to Cleveland requesting redress, and young Princess Ka`iulani went to Washington to appeal for the monarchy and the Hawaiian nation, impressing the president and all who met her with her beauty and dignity.
President Cleveland sent to Honolulu special commissioner James H. Blount, former chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Blount's job was to investigate the circumstances of the revolution, the role Minister Stevens and American troops played in it, and to determine the feelings of the people of Hawai`i toward the provisional government.
Blount's instructions were secret, but it was known that his word would be "paramount," concerning the United States in the Islands, so he was given the nickname "Paramount Blount."
He ordered the troops back to their ship and the American flag taken down and replaced by the Hawaiian flag.
Accessible to all who wished to talk to him, he cordially and impartially heard a steady stream of people from both sides. Over four months, he assembled a vast amount of information from interviews, letters and documents.
Blount's final report charged that Stevens conspired in the overthrow of the monarchy, which would not have taken place without the landing of U.S. troops. Blount recommended restoring the queen, saying...The undoubted sentiment of the people is for the queen, against the provisional government and against annexation." He noted, "There is not an annexationist in the Islands, so far as I have been able to observe, who would be willing to submit the question of annexation to a popular vote."
Based on Blount's findings, President Cleveland decided that, in the name of justice, he would do everything in his power to reinstate the queen, provided she would grant amnesty to those who had overthrown her government. The idealistic Cleveland, in assuming the provisional government would willingly relinquish power to her at his request, misjudged the character and tenacity of her adversaries.
The new American minister in Hawai`i, Albert Willis, expressed to the queen the president's regret that the unauthorized intervention of the United States had caused her to surrender her sovereignty, and his hope that the wrong done to her and her people might be redressed. Willis told her the president's condition for reinstating her on the throne was that she grant full amnesty.
Lili`uokalani replied that according to Hawaiian law, the punishment for treason was death, but that she would be satisfied with banishing them from the kingdom forever. Later, she agreed to accede to the president's wishes.
Willis next went to Sanford Dole and the provisional government, assuring them of the queen's amnesty. Speaking for President Cleveland, Willis acknowledged the wrong committed by the United States in the revolution and requested them to resign power and restore the queen.
The answer, of course, was no. They repudiated the right of the American president to interfere in their domestic affairs and said that if the American forces illegally assisted the revolution, the provisional government was not responsible.
On Dec. 18, 1893, President Cleveland made an eloquent speech to Congress on the Hawaiian situation.
He had harsh words for the landing of American troops at the revolutionaries' request:
"This military demonstration upon the soil of Honolulu was of itself an act of war; unless made either with the consent of the government of Hawai`i or for the bona fide purpose of protecting the imperiled lives and property of citizens of the United States. But there is no pretense of any such consent on the part of the government of the queen... the existing government, instead of requesting the presence of an armed force, protested against it. There is as little basis for the pretense that forces were landed for the security of American life and property. If so, they would have been stationed in the vicinity of such property and so as to protect it, instead of at a distance and so as to command the Hawaiian Government Building and palace.... When these armed men were landed, the city of Honolulu was in its customary orderly and peaceful condition.... "
The president continues:
"But for the notorious predilections of the United States minister for annexation, the Committee of Safety, which should have been called the Committee of Annexation, would never have existed. "But for the landing of the United States forces upon false pretexts respecting the danger to life and property, the committee would never have exposed themselves to the plans and penalties of treason by undertaking the subversion of the queen's government. "But for the presence of the United States forces in the immediate vicinity and in position to accord all needed protection and support, the committee would not have proclaimed the provisional government from the steps of the Government Building. "And, finally, but for the lawless occupation of Honolulu under false pretexts by the United States forces, and but for Minister Stevens' recognition of the provisional government when the United States forces were its sole support and constituted its only military strength, the queen and her government would never have yielded to the provisional government, even for a time and for the sole purpose of submitting her case to the enlightened justice of the United States.... "
He further stated,
"... if a feeble but friendly state is in danger of being robbed of its independence and its sovereignty by a misuse of the name and power of the United States, the United States cannot fail to vindicate its honor and its sense of justice by an earnest effort to make all possible reparation."
President Cleveland concluded by placing the matter in the hands of Congress.
The Senate hearings were conducted by the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, John Tyler Morgan, an annexationist, whose final report managed to find everyone blameless for the revolution except the queen. Many in the Senate disagreed, and the House censured Stevens and passed a resolution opposing annexation. In the end, Congress took no action either to restore the monarchy or to annex Hawai`i.
With their goal of annexation stalled, the leaders of the provisional government decided to form a republic, while waiting for a more opportune political climate.
They drafted a constitution and declared it law by proclamation -- the very act for which they had forced Lili`uokalani from her throne.
The new constitution required voters to swear allegiance to the republic, and thousands of Native Hawaiians refused, out of loyalty to queen and country. Foreigners who had sided with the revolution were allowed to vote. Property requirements and other qualifications were so strict that relatively few Hawaiians and no Asians could vote.
On July 4, 1894, Sanford Dole announced the inauguration of the Republic of Hawai`i, and declared himself president.
Unwilling to give up, many Hawaiians and other royalists accumulated arms for a counterrevolution to restore the monarchy. In the January 1895 uprising, led by Robert Wilcox, the royalists were forced by government troops to retreat into the valleys behind Honolulu, and after 10 days of fighting, most of them, including Wilcox, were captured.
The republic's prize catch was Queen Lili`uokalani. A search revealed a cache of arms buried in the flower garden of her home. She was arrested Jan. 16, 1895, exactly two years from the date the American troops landed in support of the revolution. Imprisoned in a corner room on the second story of `Iolani Palace, she was guarded day and night, allowed only one attendant and no visitors.
Shortly after she was imprisoned, Lili`uokalani was given a document of abdication to sign and was led to believe that, if she refused, several of her followers were to be shot for treason. She wrote, "For myself, I would have chosen death rather than to have signed it; but it was represented to me that by my signing this paper all the persons who had been arrested, all my people now in trouble by reason of their love and loyalty toward me, would be immediately released... the stream of blood ready to flow unless it was stayed by my pen."
Wilcox and four others were sentenced to death, after all. Many other royalists received long prison sentences and heavy fines.
Lili`uokalani noted, ''Their sentences were passed the same as though my signature had not been obtained. That they were not executed is due solely to a consideration which has been officially stated: 'Word came from the United States that the execution of captive rebels would militate against annexation.'"
The queen was charged with misprision of treason -- having knowledge of treason and failing to report it--and was tried by a military commission. Her trial was held in the former throne room of the palace, where she had once greeted sovereigns and dignitaries from around the world. The prosecutors taunted, insulted and tried to humiliate her, but they never succeeded in destroying her dignity.
Found guilty, she was given the maximum sentence of five years imprisonment at hard labor and a $5,000 fine. It was not carried out, but she remained a prisoner in the palace.
On New Year's Day 1896, all the royalist prisoners were freed -- except Lili`uokalani. After eight months of imprisonment in the palace, she was allowed to return to her home, under house arrest. Not until late 1896 was her freedom restored.
She went to Washington, armed with documents signed by many Hawaiians asking President Cleveland to reinstate their queen. The president welcomed her warmly and she expressed her gratitude for his earlier efforts to restore her kingdom's independence. But it was now too late for him to be of further help.
His successor, William McKinley, sent the annexation treaty to the Senate.
Hawaiians submitted a petition to Congress with 29,000 signatures opposing annexation, and petitions to the Republic of Hawai`i, asking that annexation be put to a public vote. They were never permitted to vote on the issue.
Adding to the pro-annexation argument was the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, drawing attention to the Islands' strategic position in the Pacific.
Ultimately, the annexationists won, and Grover Cleveland wrote: "I am ashamed of the whole affair."
Sovereignty of Hawai`i was formally transferred to the United States at ceremonies at `Iolani Palace on Aug. 12, 1898. Sanford Dole spoke as the newly appointed governor of the Territory of Hawai`i. The Hawaiian anthem, ''Hawai`i Pono `I" -- with words written by King Kalakaua -- was played at the Hawaiian flag was lowered, and replaced by the American flag and "The Star-Spangled Banner." The Hawaiian people had lost their land, their monarchy and now their independence.
Another loss came the following year, with the death of the beautiful young Princess. Ka'iulani, heir to the Hawaiian throne, at age 23.
Lili`uokalani remained an indomitable spirit, honored and revered by her people as a queen to the end. She died in 1917, at the age of 79, still waiting for justice.
Last year, for the observance of the centennial of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, `Iolani Palace, draped in the black of mourning, was a powerful symbol. The Hawaiian people are still seeking justice through legal means reparations, a fulfillment of trust commitments, settlement of land claims and the return of lands. They are, moreover, seeking recognition of Hawaiian sovereignty. The Native Hawaiians will decide how they choose to structure sovereignty -- as a nation-within-a-nation, complete independence, or some other model. It is no longer a distant dream, but an attainable goal.
`Iolani Palace, draped in black for last year's observance of the centennial of the overthrow of the monarchy, was a moving, powerful symbol to Hawaiians who participated in a torchlight ceremony.
As a first step toward redressing the wrongs of a century ago, the Hawaiian people have finally received a federal apology, recognition of the American government's participation in the overthrow of the monarchy.
Last November, the United States Congress passed and President Clinton signed a joint resolution saying, "The Congress... apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai`i on Jan. 17, 1893 with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination;" [and] "... expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai`i, in order to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people."
View this article text only, or just the images with captions
Return to the Hawaiian Independence Home Page or the News Articles IndexHISPANICKED GOP ELITE: THEY'LL RESPECT US IN THE MORNING
Don't anyone tell Marco Rubio, John McCain or Jeff Flake that nearly 80 percent of Hindus voted for Obama, or who knows what they'll come up with.
I understand the interest of business lobbies in getting cheap, unskilled labor through amnesty, but why do Republican officeholders want to create up to 20 million more Democratic voters, especially if it involves flouting the law? Are the campaign donations from the soulless rich more important than actual voters?
Without citing any evidence, the Rubio Republicans simply assert that granting 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens amnesty will make Hispanics warm to the GOP. Yes, that's worked like a charm for Republicans ever since Reagan signed an amnesty bill in 1986!
True, Romney lost the Hispanic vote, but so did John McCain, the original Rubio. (McCain lost Hispanics by 67 percent compared to 71 percent who voted against Romney.)
President George H.W. Bush created "diversity visas," massively increased legal immigration and eliminated the English requirement on the naturalization test. In the 1992 election, he won 25 percent of the Hispanic vote -- less than what Romney got.
Although Hispanic spokesmen benefit from Rubio's mass legalization scheme, there's no evidence that Hispanic voters care very much about it.
Amnesty never shows up in polls as a top concern of Hispanics. It's a top concern of employers, not workers -- which isn't going to do much to help Republicans shed that "Party of the Rich" image. After Reagan signed an amnesty bill in 1986, unemployment among Hispanics skyrocketed when, suddenly, there was increased competition for low-skill jobs. That's precisely why businesses want amnesty. They dont want a massive influx of poor people to help them, but to exploit them.
How's this for an idea: Why don't Republicans remind Hispanic voters that the more low-skilled immigrants who are admitted, the lower their wages will be? That at least has the virtue of being untried.The Hartford Yard Goats Baseball Club, the Double-A Eastern League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, announced its 2017 Opening Day Roster. 13 pitchers and 12 position players have been assigned to Hartford, including two of the Rockies top 10 prospects listed by Baseball America- #6 RHP Ryan Castellani and #9 INF Ryan McMahon and four of MLB Pipelines top 30 prospects- #7 Castellani, #8 McMahon, #16 RHP Yency Almonte and #26 RHP Parker French.
(Hartford, CT ) The Hartford Yard Goats Baseball Club, the Double-A Eastern League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, announced its 2017 Opening Day Roster. 13 pitchers and 12 position players have been assigned to Hartford, including two of the Rockies top 10 prospects listed by Baseball America- #6 RHP Ryan Castellani and #9 INF Ryan McMahon and four of MLB Pipelines top 30 prospects- #7 Castellani, #8 McMahon, #16 RHP Yency Almonte and #26 RHP Parker French. The Rockies set the roster and are responsible for all the player transactions during the season. The Yard Goats have 10 returning players from last year's club, 12 players who are at the Double-A level for the first time and 4 players who are in their first year in the Rockies' organization. The Yard Goats will play their home opener at Dunkin' Donuts Park on April 13th after starting season with a 7-game game road trip.
2017 Hartford Yard Goats Opening Day Roster
RHP Yency Almonte (Miami, FL), RHP Shane Broyles (Burleson, TX), RHP Ryan Castellani (Philadelphia, PA |
days a week
Standard Order: Truffle Egg Toast ($ 7), Cheese Plate ($11-$21), Verdura Misti ($8)
8. Best Kept Secret: Smith and Mills
This Tribeca trendsetter caters to the fashion & film crowds whose appetites are for tiny glasses of vino and an even tinier menu. Ladies should definitely powder up in the bathroom – it’s brilliant.
Location: 71 N. Moore St. (Tribeca)
Kitchen open until: 3am, 7 days a week
Standard Order: Charcuterie Plate ($18), Fennel Mac And Cheese ($14), Scallop Ragu ($20)
9. Best Tapas: Bar Carrera
Bar Veloce was the original, but Carrera stole my heart with its sultry Spanish/no fuss, E. Village vibe. Now the Houston St. location is my fave—Stefan runs the place with style and charm. On offer late: delicious and unexpected wines, sherries and an array of tempting tapas. Hey, even Mario insists Spanish ham is better than Italian…
Location: 175 2nd Ave (Soho)
Kitchen open until: 1:45am, 7 nights a week
Standard Order: chorizo bocadillo ($6), lamb meatballs ($6), cabrales cheesecake ($5)
10. Best Sherry: Terroir
A FREE sherry happy hour everyday from 5-6 and late night eats every night till 1 AM…is this New York or am I just dreaming? The folks at Terroir have dreamt up a quiet little village wine bar that’s part college kid casual (note the binder as menu) and part liberal adult chic (the Obama t-shirts say it all) while paying equal homage to unusual wines and nibbles from around the world.
Location: 413 E. 12th St. at 1st Ave (East Village)
Kitchen open until: Mon-Sat 2am
Standard Order: Sherry (free!), Cauliflower Frittata ($6), Sage Fried Sausage ($7)
To be continued…A 75-year-old white Milwaukee man has been charged in the shooting death of a 13-year-old boy, whom he claims stole guns from his home.
STORY: HE HAS A NAME: Trayvon Martin, Shot & Killed By His Own Neighborhood Watch
John Henry Spooner was charged with one count of first-degree intentional homicide when he killed Darius Simmons right in front of his mother.
Police said they are investigating whether there was a history of disagreements between Spooner and Darius.
Darius was unarmed when he was shot in the street outside their homes, according to a police department report on its website.
According to the complaint, Spooner approached Simmons as the boy retrieved a garbage cart from in front of a house Thursday morning. The boy’s mother, Patricia Larry, who saw the shooting, said Spooner told her son he “wanted his stuff back and that he wanted his shotguns back,” the complaint said.
Darius and his mother told Spooner they did not have his property. Spooner then pulled a gun, pointed it at Simmons and fired one shot from about five feet away.
Spooner fired a second shot at Simmons as the boy was running away, according to the complaint. An autopsy found the boy suffered a gunshot wound to his chest, and the bullet damaged the ventricles of his heart before exiting his back. Police recovered a weapon as well as two spent casings.
Above: Patricia Larry of Milwaukee holds a picture of her son during a news conference Saturday. Darius Simmons, 13, was killed in front of their south side home. Photo credit: Meg Kissinger
Neighbor Toni Johnson said she was watching TV when she heard a commotion outside her door:
“I looked out the door and saw the mother kneeling over her boy at the curb, screaming, ‘my son!’ and the old guy was standing right over there by the stop sign with his dog, just waiting.”
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a friend of Spooner, Alderman Bob Donovan, said he had breakfast with Spooner earlier in the day at a George Webb restaurant and Donovan said Spooner told him he had lost $3,000 worth of shotguns in a burglary this week, was frustrated with police and was dying of lung cancer.
“He seemed burdened, truly burdened,” Donovan said.
Spooner also said something about “there are other ways to deal with situations” the police couldn’t resolve, Donovan added.
Reminiscent of Trayvon Martin, this is another case of a vigilante taking matters into his own hands. Our thoughts and prayers are with Darius’ family.
Above: John Henry Spooner mug shot
Also On Global Grind:Because the medical profession was opposed to it. Roosevelt's administration feared that including the universal health insurance provisions would kill the entire Social Security Act.
For the sake of passing the Social Security bill, we postponed the introduction of the bill on health insurance as the opposition was so great from the American Medical Association (principally) that it would have killed the whole Social Security Act if it had been pressed at that time. Lampman, Robert J. "Social Security Perspectives: Essays by Edwin E. Witte." Madison, University of Wisconsin (1962).
Edwin Witte was the Executive Director of the Committee on Economic Security, established in June 1934 to work on what would become the Social Security Act. The proposals for providing public health insurance provoked outrage from medical organisations such as the American Medical Association
By then, the AMA's opposition to national health insurance had become even more fierce. in the Journal of the American Medical Association, national health insurance was presented as an un-American menace to the public health, undermining the traditional American values of individualism and self-reliance... In later years, Edwin Witte would claim again and again that it had been his "original belief" that health insurance was not politically feasible, mainly due to the opposition of the medical profession. - Kooijman, Jaap.... And the Pursuit of National Health: The Incremental Strategy Toward National Health Insurance in the United States of America. Vol. 8. Rodopi, 1999.
In early 1935, the Social Security bill was languishing in Congress, where the universal healthcare section received little vocal support. In contrast, the AMA was strongly opposed and influential in Congress. This convinced Witte and the CES that retaining public health insurance would prevent the bill's passage.
CES staffers admitted privately that... "extreme care is necessary to avoid the organized opposition of the medical profession," and that "there is not a very great chance for the adoption of legislation at this Session on the subject." When the time came to present the committee's final report... those who feared that controversy over health insurance would doom the whole bill won out and the health title was dropped. - Gordon, Colin. Dead on Arrival: The Politics of Health Care in Twentieth-Century America. Princeton University Press, 2009.
With Social Security seemingly bogged down, Roosevelt decided to hold off on public health insurance, and ultimately shelved the idea altogether in favour of increasing the availability of medical care.A major sports rivalry comes to Busch Stadium on Thursday - but it doesn't involve the Cubs, or the Brewers, or baseball at all.
The exhibition game between Manchester City and Chelsea of the English Premier League will be the first time that the stadium locals sometimes call "Baseball Heaven" hosts a sporting event other than baseball since it opened in 2006.
Here's how you convert a baseball diamond to a soccer pitch.
St. Louis Public Radio's Rachel Lippmann explains how a crew of 20 will take Busch Stadium from "Baseball Heaven" to a soccer pitch.
"Oh boy."
That was the first though that registered in Bill Findley's head when he was given the task of getting Busch Stadium ready to host two of the world's top soccer teams.
Findley is the head groundskeeper at Busch, which puts him in charge of making sure the grass is green, the Arch in center field is perfectly mowed, the foul lines are straight and the base paths are well-packed.
But he'll have to undo most of that hard work by Wednesday night, when Chelsea and Manchester City take the field for a practice session before Thursday's game.
"Obviously, it's very stressful for me and my crew," Findley says. "We want to make sure that we're giving the best possible playing surface to the baseball team. As a groundskeeper, I have to roll with the punches, so to speak."
How it's done
When it comes to putting a regulation-sized soccer pitch into a baseball stadium, there's a lot of potential for knock-out blows. (In fact, the pitch at Busch will be slightly smaller than the dimensions required by soccer's international governing body, but there's some leeway for an exhibition match).
Findley and a crew of about 20 will have three working days - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - to make final measurements, dig out the infield dirt - including the pitcher's mound - lay sod, and paint the actual pitch.
"We can sod in our sleep," Findley says of his crew. "Putting the actual grass in the dirt areas, that's going to be the easy part. The hard part is going to be getting the dirt out without wrecking the field in the process."
Just before 11 a.m. Monday, crews with shovels and rakes are making their way around the field scraping loose dirt into a conveyor belt that blows it into the back of a utility cart. Nearby, a backhoe is demolishing the pitcher's mound. Another groundskeeper begins breaking up the dirt on the third base line.
Jason Griffin, the head groundskeeper for Chelsea, is keeping a watchful eye on the process, and likes what he sees so far.
"This isn't new to us," he says of playing in baseball stadiums. "But the process that they're doing out here is a new way of doing it. It's very good. It's going to be nice and flat, which is what both teams want."
The new normal
A scene like this will become more and more common at Busch and throughout the major leagues, says Joe Abernathy, the stadium's vice president of operations.
"As any company is these days, you're trying to maximize your revenues," Abernathy says. "We've got a tremendous asset here at Busch Stadium, which holds 45,000 people. It's a great location here in downtown. We're challenged to see how we can take advantage of that asset on non-game days. We only have 81 games a year."
Abernathy says timing is the most important factor when it comes to scheduling a special event like Manchester City-Chelsea. A 7 to 10 day window is the best, especially earlier in the season when it's not as hot and it's easier to do any repairs to the field.
The organization, says Abernathy, was always excited about the possibility of soccer matches at Busch. Efforts to get a soccer match in the fall didn't come together, but the operations and special events staff found a window in May.
"It's a low-impact sort of of an event on the field, as opposed to a concert where we're covering the stadium with some type of field covering and then putting seats and stages out there," he says.
Groundskeeper Bill Findley says aside from being new, the conversion to a soccer pitch isn't the most stressful special event he's dealt with.
"It was definitely the U2 concert," he said. "Having to re-sod the whole field in the middle of July after a concert, then playing on the field three days later, two days later, and then having to go the rest of the season with that fresh sod that we put on the field in July."
Setting up for the future
Findley and Abernathy know that people will be watching to see how well the crew can make the switch from baseball to soccer and back to baseball on a tight timetable. European teams, says Abernathy, are doing more traveling. A successful exhibition opens up the possibility of getting other field sports, like lacrosse.
And because Major League Baseball doesn't take a percentage of the ticket sales as they do with Cardinals games, special events mean more revenue for the team.
Head groundskeeper Bill Findley says that's why he's willing to take one for the team and dig up those perfectly groomed basepaths.
"I signed up to be a baseball groundskeeper, so you'd rather just be doing baseball, but you know, I work for the Cardinals, I work for the organization, and this is how I help the organization - by making these events happen," he says.
And even if the forecasted rain leads to long hours, he says Manchester City and Chelsea will have a field by Wednesday night.
Follow Rachel Lippmann on Twitter: @rlippmannShocking! Odisha girl gangraped by six men for four days
Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Udala, May 7:
In yet another case of love affair gone awry, a teenage girl has allegedly been gangraped by six men – including her lover – for four days in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
The matter came to the light after the victim manged to escape from the clutches of her tormentors.
The prime accused along with his two friends took the victim from Titia village under Khunta police limits in the district to Udala last Wednesday on the pretext of marrying her. After reaching the sleepy town, the trio took her to a tea stall near Udala High School and then to a rented house near Thana Chhak here.
Unaware of the evil designs of the trio, the 18-year-old Sumitra Kar (name changed) followed their instructions owing which she was gangraped one by one. The inhuman act continued for three days till Friday. On Saturday, three more persons joined in and continued to gangrape the victim.
While the heinous act was going on inside the four walls, one of them was continuously guarding her to prevent her from fleeing.
The appalling act continued for days while the victim wasn’t even being offered food or water.
Taking advantage of the anti-socials’ absence, the young girl managed to give them a slip and reported the incident at Udala police station today morning.
The victim narrated her ordeal and could identify three of the accused – Purna, Tuna and Chandan. However, she couldn’t name the three others.
“I was in love with Purna. He brought me to Udala on the promise of marrying me. He gangraped me along with his friends,” the victim said.
Meanwhile, police registered a case and are investigating into the incident.
“The complainant was sent for medical examination today. A case has been registered and we are probing into the matter,” Udala police station second officer, Srinibas Martha said.
All the accused are absconding after the incident.
The incident has sent shock waves in the sub divisional town of the tribal-dominated district.For the first time in nearly 50 years of Gallup polling on the question, a majority of American Republicans say they support marijuana legalization.
Fifty-one percent of Republicans surveyed by Gallup this month said they support legalization, up sharply from 42 percent a year ago. Even larger majorities of independents (67 percent) and Democrats (72 percent) are in favor of legal marijuana.
Overall, 64 percent of Americans now support legalization, the highest percentage ever in Gallup polling.
“The trajectory of Americans' views on marijuana is similar to that of their views on same-sex marriage over the past couple of decades,” Gallup said in its analysis of the data. “On both issues, about a quarter supported legalization in the late 1990s, and today 64% favor each.”
[Finally, a degree in marijuana: But it’s not for stoners or slackers.]
Nationwide support for legalization first hit 50 percent in 2011, just ahead of historic votes in Colorado and Washington state to legalize recreational use of the drug in 2012. Since then, voters in six more states and the District of Columbia have approved recreational marijuana laws.
More than 20 percent of the U.S. population now lives in a state where marijuana use is fully legal, and even strong opponents of legalization concede that norms around marijuana use are shifting.
“The national discussion surrounding marijuana enforcement efforts continues to evolve,” the federal Drug Enforcement Administration wrote in its just-released 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment. Despite the drug's widespread availability even in states where it hasn't been legalized, marijuana remains at the bottom of law enforcement agencies' drug priorities.
[Legal marijuana is saving lives in Colorado, study finds]
Meanwhile, many of opponents' fears about marijuana legalization don't appear to be panning out. States that have legalized pot are also beginning to reap some of the benefits of the policy change, including job growth, tax revenue and even some evidence of slowing in the opiate epidemic.
To be sure, legalization has also brought some challenges. The popularity of potent edible products proved to be a surprise, prompting lawmakers to scramble to regulate them. Drug-impaired driving will continue to be a concern, as will medical issues among people who overdo it.
The sharp shift in Republican voters' views on pot is the most significant finding in the Gallup poll, coming during a time of increased federal skepticism of marijuana legalization efforts. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked lawmakers to undo federal protections for medical marijuana, repeatedly calling it a “dangerous drug.”
But greater support for legalization could complicate any administration efforts to crack down on pot. "Attorney General Jeff Sessions could find himself out of step with his own party if the current trends continue,” Gallup wrote.PM attacks paper over slush fund'smear' campaign
Posted
The Prime Minister has launched a scathing attack on The Australian newspaper, accusing it of a long-running smear campaign against her over allegations involving a union slush fund.
Julia Gillard has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to her involvement with the fund for her then-boyfriend and Australian Workers Union (AWU) official Bruce Wilson.
Ms Gillard, who was a lawyer at Slater and Gordon in 1992 when the fund was set up, has said she believed the fund would be used for legitimate purposes, namely to support the re-election of union officials.
The Australian today reported that in 1995, $5,000 was deposited in Ms Gillard's bank account by a former AWU official at the request of Mr Wilson.
The paper states there is no evidence to suggest Ms Gillard asked for the payment or knew of its origins.
The report said the money was provided to the union official in a "wad of $100 and $50 notes", but it is not known where Mr Wilson got the funds.
When asked about the money by journalists in Brisbane this afternoon, Ms Gillard lashed out at the newspaper for publishing the story.
"Having read today's Australian closely, there is not one substantiated allegation in today's Australian," she said.
This kind of smear that we are seeing in today's Australian... this is a smear pure and simple, and I'm not going to dignify it by becoming involved in it. Prime Minister Julia Gillard
"It does not contain one allegation of wrongdoing by me.
"The Australian newspaper has spent months and months and months in so-called investigative journalism looking at this matter, and after all of those months and months and months of looking, there is not one substantiated allegation of wrongdoing by me.
"This matter is trawled over for the best part of 20 years, and at the end of it being trawled over for the best part of 20 years, there is not one finding of wrongdoing by me, and there's a reason for that - I didn't do anything wrong.
"This kind of smear that we are seeing in today's Australian... this is a smear pure and simple, and I'm not going to dignify it by becoming involved in it."
Asked if she remembered getting the $5,000, Ms Gillard responded: "I've just dealt with the nature of these smears."
When pressed on the matter of the deposit, the Prime Minister added: "If you've got substantiated allegation to put to me, put it, otherwise don't engage in this smear."
Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop has targeted the Prime Minister in Parliament over the union slush fund, declaring Ms Gillard still has legitimate questions to answer.
"It goes to the Prime Minister's honesty, it goes to her character, it goes to her ethical standards, it goes to her professional conduct," Ms Bishop said in a subsequent interview with Macquarie Radio.
Indigenous remarks
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister says she will not use the same language about Indigenous Australians that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott used recently.
Liberal MP Ken Wyatt is the only Aboriginal person ever elected to the House of Representatives.
Mr Abbott says he is incredibly proud to have Mr Wyatt in Liberal ranks, but he also sparked criticism yesterday by referring to his backbencher as an "urban Aboriginal".
Ms Gillard says she would not make distinctions between different Indigenous people.
"I am not going to engage myself in the kinds of things that have been said in recent days, trying to divide Indigenous Australians up into neat little columns and descriptors - people are people.
"People bring with them into the Parliament all sorts of attributes and outlooks on life."
Mr Wyatt says Mr Abbott's comments were unhelpful, but he says the Opposition Leader has apologised.
"It was unreserved and I said to Tony the friendship and our collegiality remain intact, it's not an issue, let's just get on with the job and continue to focus on increasing the number of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders within the Australian Parliament."
Topics: government-and-politics, alp, print-media, australiaFew Things Clear About Succession In North Korea
toggle caption TV/AFP/Getty Images
The world knows one thing for sure as a result of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party conference of the past few days: Supreme leader Kim Jong Il has clearly designated his successor, his son Kim Jong Un.
North Korean media released the first pictures of the 20-something young man Thursday. Other things about the succession are much less clear though, and in South Korea, where analysts watch every twist and turn of North Korean politics, not everyone believes the succession will be plain sailing.
The pictures have all been of agreement and conformity -- rows of delegates all applauding in unison in the way that North Korean functionaries do. But if you ask people in Seoul, that is not the whole story.
'More Confucian Than Confucius'
"What has happened [in the] past two days is not the end of succession process," says Moon Chung-in, a professor at Yonsei University. "[It's] barely [the] beginning of [the] succession process. "
Moon says though North Korea is very communist and still very Confucian in its hierarchical approach to politics, the young prince Kim Jong Un has a lot to prove before he can take over power.
"North Korea is more Confucian than Confucius. You cannot become leader with legitimacy without making contribution to the people," he said. "But Kim Jong Un has so far... not made any significant contribution to the people.
"Therefore, in the process of preparing for his political succession, he will be making a lot of effort to impress North Korean people."
No Gorbachev-Style Reformer
Brian Myers, an associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University, says not only is Kim Jong Un not going to be a reformer in the manner of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, but his lack of legitimacy could well lead to provocative behavior internationally.
"The more problems, the more difficulty the regime has legitimizing this young man, the greater the pressure is going to be on North Korea to engage in provocations, to ratchet up tension with the outside world in order to rally the North Korean masses around the new leader," Myers said. "The fact that North Korea has chosen a young and untested leader is actually not grounds for optimism."
While much of the focus has been on Kim Jong Un himself, some analysts say other appointments could prove to be more key: Kim Jong Il has promoted his sister and her husband, and strengthened his family as opposed to the military's old guard.
Old Guard Sidelined
"Potential danger of the conflict between the party and military is there," said Choi Jin-wook of the Korean Institute for National Unification. "It's quite clear."
Choi says even more important could be the rise of some younger generals in the military.
Kim Jong Il has promoted one more junior general over the heads of other senior generals into the Politburo Standing Committee and made him one of the five most powerful people in the Workers' Party. That, Choi says, could sow some seeds of anger among the military top brass.
"Family members and young generals seem to be the winners... and old members of military are now losing their power," he said. "You wake up one morning, and you realize all of a sudden your junior staff is in higher position than you are.
"That is a shock to the old guard."
The Kremlinology will continue over the months and years to come, and the situation in North Korea could play out very slowly if Kim Jong Il lives many years longer. But if he is as sick as many suggest, events could become more complex more quickly, analysts say, and those fault lines and power struggles could break out into the open.I feel that not many Premier League viewers know how good a player Sandro Raniere is. If we cast our minds back to January 2013, Sandro was labelled as one of the best Premier League midfielders in the league, and his partnership with Moussa Dembélé was indeed the best in the division.
Sandro was playing deeper than Dembélé and acted not only as a tough-tackling midfielder but also a deep-lying playmaker such was his range and accuracy of passing.
To put his talent into perspective Sandro has represented Brazil from U-19 level and was the U-21 captain at the 2009 South American Youth Championship.
He has made 17 appearances for the Brazilian outfit and scored one goal. He fought his way into the team surpassing the likes of Kaká and Luiz Gustavo.
He has also captained the senior Brazil team in some friendly matches denoting his authority and ability to control both a game yet also a team.
One of the highlights of his game, when playing for Brazil, is that he's not an orthodox Brazilian player with flair and guile but a tenacious defensive player who allows others to get the glory and the credit.
And that is why Brazil need him so much because they need someone back for when they lose possession. He is the 'unsung hero' of this Brazilian generation.
So what are the main qualities of Sandro's game? His best feature is his tackling and that is why he anchors almost every team he's ever played in.
He likes to sit just in front of the defence and act as both a fifth man in defence yet is also capable of deep surging runs when in possession.
But it is also his anticipation of play, his ability to read the game that makes him different gravy from the rest. He is able to see where the ball will go and where the man will turn before putting in a killer tackle.
Sandro had won, at the time of injury, the second highest amount of tackles in the league with 45, an incredible 62.5% of all those he attempted.
Sandro never stops.
He has the fitness of a long distance runner and a fierce determination. There is the classic example when he wasn't feeling too good and vomited on the pitch and then just got up and carried - a real trooper.
Sandro is also capable of brilliance in attack. He is the man who retrieves the ball and then plays it short to Dembélé or indeed long to Defoe or Bale. He is capable of either.
Similarly he is capable of absolute bullets and anyone who has any doubt about the Sandro shot only needs to look to that goal against Chelsea.
And, lest we forget, he's only 24. He has a very bright future. And playing alongside Dembélé and Paulinho, the Tottenham midfield is once again looking very strong.
Is Sandro that good? Have any views? Leave a comment.
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DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.A nuisance-calling firm from the West Midlands had been hit with a £70,000 fine for making 'frightening' automated calls to pensioners in the wee hours of the morning with sales pitches for burglar alarms.
In just one day, according to the ICO, Dudley-based Direct Security Marketing Ltd made nearly 40,000 automated calls, with 9,775 being made between 1am and 6am.
The calls were made from a withheld number and received by residents in the early hours of 14 August 2015, who were invited to purchase a security system. The ICO stated it began its investigation after receiving complaints from some of those who had been called by the company.
Andy Curry, the ICO’s group enforcement manager, said: "Elderly people were among those who were left distressed after being woken up in the night by the automated calls."
"Automated calls at any time can leave people feeling unsettled but to receive a call trying to sell you a burglar alarm in the middle of the night must have been very frightening," Curry added.
Despite handling personal data (i.e. phone numbers) the company had not notified the ICO that it was a data controller. This is an offence under Section 17 of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Prosecutions under Section 17 can be carried out at the ICO's request, The Register understands, and Direct Security Marketing was prosecuted at Dudley Magistrates' Court. The company pleaded guilty and was fined £650 last November, also being ordered to pay costs of £492.78, with a £65 victim surcharge.
Direct Security Marketing Ltd was incorporated by one Antonio Daniel Pardo, its sole director, on 1 December 2014, who was also prosecuted alongside his company. He pleaded guilty and was fined £534, ordered to pay £489.08 in costs and a £53 victim surcharge.
According to documents at Companies House, Pardo filed to have Direct Security Marketing struck off the register of active companies in January this year. Its registration will, therefore, expire in April. While the ICO can be a creditor of a liquidated company, that is not the procedure Pardo has filed for. Direct Security Marketing's annual return is overdue and The Register wonders how likely it is that a struck-off company will pay its fine.
The ICO told The Register that recovery of fines was not the primary purpose of its enforcement powers, however, and that the office's commitment was to making sure the nuisance calls stopped. ®Brian Dyak is president, CEO and co-founder of the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) and executive producer of EICnetwork.tv. Dyak contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
In this special, sit-down interview on EICnetwork.tv from the SET Awards, the ever- animated Bill Nye "the Science Guy" spends five intense minutes examining the meaning of life, innovation and "the stuff of stars."
While most of us remember his familiar character from our youthful classroom activities and childhood television favorites, Nye, a former mechanical engineer, continues to capture our hearts and minds with his insights into the science and technology world.
With a career as a scientist, engineer, comedian, author and inventor, he says he has but one mission: "To help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work." That's exactly what he does.
In his interview, Nye asks us to ponder how "everything you can touch and see, everything, came out of someone's head." Science and technology affects and changes the world every day. Everything starts off from someone wanting to explore and dig deeper into creating something bigger and better. For Nye, it was his curiosity for how a bicycle works that compelled him to explore the question of how machines can improve people's lives. His curiosity ultimately led him on a path to become a mechanical engineer for Boeing — before he won a Steve Martin look-alike contest and entered into comedy, to later be followed by his career promoting science and technology. His experience of wanting to know more and learn more is a perfect example of how anyone can venture into the world of science and technology and make a difference in the world. [Bill Nye's Creationism Debate Not a Total Disaster, Scientists Say]
Whether you're a budding scientist, a media creator or a tech-hobbyist, you know embracing science and technology is critical in shaping future lives. Getting excited about science is important, and if becoming a scientist is not part of your plan, appreciating science is still valuable.
EIC reached out to Nye as part of our efforts to work directly with writers, producers, directors, actors and journalists to bring the power and influence of entertainment and news media to better communicate about health and social issues to vast audiences.
We bring the power and influence of entertainment and media to showcase scientists, engineers and technologists in more authentic ways, portraying their real life stories on the Web.
In this video, Nye encapsulates the effort perfectly: "The Internet has changed everything. It is so exciting! It is a very exciting time to be alive."
The author's most recent Op-Ed was "Hollywood Makes Mental Health an A-List Cause (Op-Ed)." Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science.
Copyright 2014 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice has turned down a request to testify before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism.
CNN was first to report––and Fox News subsequently reported––that Rice’s lawyer sent a letter back to committee chair Lindsey Graham and Democratic ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse that said, in part, “Chairman Graham’s invitation was extended only after the hearing was noticed, less than two weeks before the hearing was scheduled to occur, and without consultation with Ambassador Rice, a professional courtesy that would customarily be extended to any witness.”
The letter also alleges that this was not truly meant in a bipartisan fashion. Per CNN:
Senator Whitehouse has informed us by letter that he did not agree to Chairman Graham’s invitation to Ambassador Rice, a significant departure from the bipartisan invitations extended to other witnesses. Under these circumstances, Ambassador Rice respectfully declines Senator Graham’s invitation to testify.
On MSNBC earlier, Senator Dianne Feinstein said Rice “ought to consider” testifying.
[image via screengrab]
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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]'s going to be a USS Fort Lauderdale, but it won't be the ship the city first anticipated.
The city announced Monday that its name would be placed on a coastal combat ship, but it turns out the USS Fort Lauderdale will be an amphibious transportation dock vessel instead. Blame it on a miscommunication between the Navy and the city, officials said.
The 684-foot vessel will be used to transport marine forces — up to 700 at a time – and their landing craft. It will support amphibious assaults, special operations and expeditionary warfare missions, the Navy says. It can also serve as a platform for helicopters and other vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
The USS Fort Lauderdale will be the Navy's 12th San Antonio-class ship. Many are named after cities, including New Orleans, Green Bay, San Diego and Anchorage. Three honor locations associated with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
One is the USS New York, built using 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center towers. It was part of Fort Lauderdale's Fleet Week in 2014.
The USS Somerset is named after the Pennsylvania county where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed. The USS Arlington honors the Virginia location of the Pentagon, which was also struck on Sept. 11.
[email protected] or 954-356-4556Republicans in Oklahoma have introduced the sixth anti-evolution bill of 2012. Introduced by State GOP Senator Josh Brecheen, SB 1742 would force the state board of education to assist school staffs in promoting “critical thinking, logical analysis, open and objective discussion of scientific theories including, but not limited to, evolution, the origin of life, global warming, and human cloning” and says that teachers “may use supplemental textbooks and instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner.”
In other words, this bill is covertly requiring the state board of education to encourage schools to teach opposing views of climate change and evolution even though those opposing views have no scientific facts to stand on. The bill claims that it isn’t promoting a religious doctrine, but the problem is that the bill is modeled after the 2008 Louisiana bill that requires schools to teach creationism. SB 1742 also allows teachers to use alternate book materials in addition to the regular textbook, which means teachers could theoretically bring a Bible to school and call it a “supplemental textbook.” Besides, there are no scientific theories that debunk evolution and climate change. Both theories are widely accepted by nearly all scientists. That leaves pseudo-science theories like creationism as the only choice for schools to utilize as an opposing theory. The bill for some reason also declares an emergency of some kind which I can only assume is the emergency being declared by religious groups on the right who think Christianity is being discriminated against. You can read the full text of the bill here.
Oklahoma is the fourth state to introduce such a bill in 2012. The others are Missouri, New Hampshire, and Indiana. Clearly, Republicans and religious right groups are going to try to ram through these creationism bills down our throats throughout the year. Apparently the economy is not worth their precious time, but introducing bills that harm education by injecting religion into science class is important to them. This is just another dangerous and distracting bill in a long line of dangerous and distracting bills being introduced by religion obsessed Republicans.You wouldn’t expect a baby to work. Unless that baby is actually a 30-year-old man who just likes wearing diapers and drinking juice from a bottle.
If that’s the case, the federal government is probably going to start asking questions.
That’s what happened to Stanley Thornton Jr. of California after he was featured on a National Geographic show called “Taboo.” Thornton, who sleeps in an adult-sized crib and has a roommate who plays the role of mother, collects disability benefits |
a Guadagnini. “I don’t think the scroll goes with it,” he said, pointing to a slight difference in color between the violin’s parts. “Am I going crazy?” (A scientific analysis commissioned by the dealership suggests that the scroll is original.) David picked up a violin made in the seventeen-eighties by Paolo Castello, in Genoa. There was a trace of woodworm damage. Putting it under his chin, he said, “It looks like the woodworm is attacking me. It’s creepy.” Sean played a few bars on a nineteenth-century replica of a famous Strad, which was priced at a quarter of a million dollars. He winced. “I want to buy it, but it sounds so bad,” he said. “It’s like a beautiful girl, who looks so lovely, and then she opens her mouth and it’s less than flattering.” The next day, they began negotiations for another instrument. The shop’s most valuable consignment was a few blocks away, at Sotheby’s, under high security: a Stradivarius viola, known as the Macdonald. Stradivari made hundreds of violins, but only ten violas. The Macdonald was the last one likely to go on the market. It belonged to the heirs of Peter Schidlof, the violist in the Amadeus Quartet, who died in 1987. For years, collectors wooed the Schidlof family without success, but in March Ingles and Hayday announced that, in conjunction with Sotheby’s, they would be offering the viola, in a sealed-bids auction with a reserve price of forty-five million dollars—nearly thirty million dollars more than had ever been paid for a Stradivarius. The hope was that a wealthy Sotheby’s client who had never before considered buying a fine instrument might be attracted by the viola’s iconic status, just as he might be by an extremely rare stamp or coin. A new collector who was determined to build a Stradivarius quartet—perhaps for a newly established museum in an emerging international capital—would need to acquire this instrument. The Carpenters were excited by the Macdonald’s price tag, and what its sale might mean for the violin business. “It’s the ultimate trophy piece—like a Vermeer,” Sean said. The Carpenters made an unsuccessful bid of their own for the Macdonald last year: along with a co-investor, they offered twenty-two million dollars for it. Upon learning that it was going on the market, the Carpenters made another offer—for David to serve as the Macdonald’s “ambassador,” playing it at press events and at collector previews in Paris and New York. This was accepted, and one Sunday evening in early May Sotheby’s presented a performance by the Salomé orchestra at its New York showrooms. Three hundred or so guests took their seats in an auction room on the seventh floor. First, Tim Ingles spoke, recounting the viola’s provenance. Made in 1719, one of only two violas from Stradivari’s golden period, it had been owned by several well-known collectors, including, in the nineteenth century, Godfrey Bosville Macdonald, the 3rd Baron Macdonald of Slate, who gave the instrument its name. Ingles, who has an understated affect attuned to the moneyed hush of an auction room, was too discreet to mention the price. He merely called it “the greatest Stradivarius in existence.” Fourteen youthful musicians took their places behind music stands. In a flourish of showmanship, David Carpenter rotated into view on the auction display carousel, clutching the Macdonald by its neck. He was wearing a ten-thousand-dollar ivory-colored tuxedo with blue satin trim by Angelo Galasso, which made him look like a sybaritic sea captain. (He borrowed the tux from Galasso’s New York boutique, and the store later gave it to him.) Hopping to the floor, viola in hand, David assumed his place at the center of the ensemble, flanked on the right by Sean, in a traditional navy suit, and on the left by Lauren, who wore a blue sequinned gown that glimmered like the varnish on her Strad. Lauren’s was one of eight Stradivari instruments that the Carpenters had assembled for the occasion, including the Leo Group Strad and one that, until recently, had been on display at the Metropolitan Museum. “This is probably the most expensive concert in history,” David said, with transparent jubilation. The orchestra launched into a program of its most popular tunes—Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” Paganini’s “Carnival of Venice”—along with pieces that had been composed for it, such as “Sephardic Prayer,” by the young Israeli composer Oran Eldor. David’s performance wasn’t flawless: playing an unfamiliar instrument is a challenge, and even the most expensive Stradivarius in history is still capable of squeaking or emitting an off note. But he was crowd-pleasingly theatrical—he has a backbend worthy of an accomplished yogi—and when he played “The Swan,” from Saint-Saëns’s “Carnival of Animals,” his furrowed brow rose extravagantly, like a soprano leaping octaves. “I come as a package with the viola,” he joked, in a break between pieces. “I’m going to be travelling with it, giving the new owner the greatest wake-up call ever.”
The Carpenters grew up in Great Neck, Long Island, where each started taking Suzuki Method lessons on the violin at around five years old. Neither parent was a musician. Their father, Dennis Carpenter, taught history at Long Island University. Grace Carpenter’s parents were Jews who emigrated from Iraq when she was a baby, and she taught English to new immigrants. (The siblings’ parents are divorced, and they credit their mother with bringing them up alone.) The Carpenters attended public school, and their mother aggressively augmented their education with extracurricular activities: Kumon math, weekend English classes, competitive sports. Grace’s approach to the danger of sibling rivalry was not to diversify the children’s interests but to unify them. “We did everything like triplets,” Sean says. They practiced at the same time, in separate rooms, which made for cacophonous evenings. David, in particular, benefitted from his older siblings’ experience. “Sean would shout downstairs to me, ‘No, you need to play it like this,’ and then Lauren would be, like, ‘No, it’s this way,’ ” he recalls. Instruments bought for Sean were passed down to Lauren and then to David, who switched to the viola in his early teens. “We had the infrastructure in place,” Lauren says. They took lessons at Queensborough Community College, and then at the Manhattan School of Music. They performed at the local synagogue. “All three, when they were sixth graders, they were like artists already,” Joseph Rutkowski, who taught them music from middle school to high school, says. Sean, who had plastered his bedroom wall with posters of Stradivaris, took pre-college courses at Juilliard. He was offered a place in the prestigious joint program offered by Columbia and Juilliard, but decided to go to Princeton, where he majored in political science, and became the concertmaster of the school’s orchestra. “Sean was very much in the tradition of these great violinists of the forties—he would play showman pieces, but with great reserve,” Leo Goldmakher, a mathematician who played the viola with Sean at Princeton, says. Sean caught the attention of the college president, Shirley Tilghman, who learned that Sean was the oldest of three musical siblings. “I was on the lookout for more Carpenters,” she says. Lauren arrived at Princeton two years after Sean, having skipped twelfth grade. Like Sean, she became the university-orchestra concertmaster. Each of them twice won Princeton’s concerto competition, the maximum number of times a student is permitted to enter. David arrived at Princeton two years after Lauren. He, too, played in the university orchestra, but only very briefly. “He is much more of a soloist by nature,” Goldmakher says. “He was sitting in the back of the section and playing so loudly that some of the brass players complained.” In 2006, David won the Walter W. Naumburg competition, which earned him an appearance at Carnegie Hall’s Weill recital hall. That year, he was accepted into a year-long mentorship program under the guidance of Pinchas Zukerman, the violinist and violist. David acquired other mentors, among them the conductor Christoph Eschenbach. Two years ago, the Carpenters recruited Eschenbach to conduct the Salomé orchestra at Alice Tully Hall; the concert benefitted the Feed Foundation, which raises money to fight hunger and was founded by Lauren Bush Lauren, a contemporary of Lauren Carpenter’s at Princeton. Alan Gilbert, the music director of the New York Philharmonic, who used to play a Strad owned by a Carpenter client, also conducted. While David was at Princeton, he studied privately with Roberto Díaz, who is now the president of the Curtis Institute of Music. At the time, Díaz loaned him a valuable eighteenth-century viola attributed to Camillus Camilli, upon which David recorded his first CD, of concertos by Elgar and Schnittke, in 2009. Díaz recalls, “We spent a lot of time harnessing his energy, and just getting him to focus a bit more musically on what he was trying to do. I wanted to give him the freedom to express himself, but with a real recognition or understanding of what is actually written. My point was that everything you play shouldn’t always sound like David Carpenter, which was very much the approach he came with. It was always ‘Me first.’ ” Grace Carpenter drove David from Princeton to Philadelphia for lessons; sometimes Sean and Lauren sat in, too. Díaz recalls, “I would be saying something, and a member of his family was saying either ‘Yes’ or ‘You should consider this.’ There were times when I said, ‘Guys, we are not teaching by committee.’ ” David did not always endear himself to his peers. Viola players are generally an unassuming lot, Díaz says, adding, “If you get up there and hot-dog around on the stage, these people are going to shoot you down.” On more than one occasion after David failed to win a competition, he questioned the judges’ verdict. “I would get calls from a number of people saying, ‘He needs to understand that you can’t win everything,’ ” Díaz says. “There are times when our conversations got extremely frank.” Scott Burnham, who headed Princeton’s music department at the time, said that any of the Carpenter siblings could have had a career as a performer. “But they seemed to be putting their family chips on David,” he went on. “He reminds me of a modern Paganini—he loves to be onstage, and he has got that kind of dashing look that seems to speak to a preternatural musical gift, like maybe this guy has made a pact with the Devil.” Sean went on to do a master’s degree in history at Cambridge University, then worked briefly at the Department of Homeland Security before joining Fortress, as a trainee analyst. Lauren went from Princeton to the job at Google, where she worked with such entertainment clients as ABC and Showtime. Both Lauren and Sean commuted to their Manhattan jobs from Great Neck; there was a period, after David graduated from Princeton, in 2008, when the siblings and their mother shared a one-bedroom pied-à-terre near Lincoln Center. It was a difficult time, the siblings concur: Sean’s banking career was in jeopardy after the financial crisis. “Everyone lost everything,” David says. “But, actually, we kind of didn’t, because we had nothing to lose.” After a stint at an investment bank, Further Lane Securities, Sean quit finance. “Sean is not a very aggressive, super-type-A personality,” Lauren says. David urged Sean to go into the violin business, especially after meeting a London-based dealer named Florian Leonhard, at the Verbier Festival. Sean was seduced: “You see this guy coming in a Bentley, a beautiful suit, and he had two Strads with him.” In 2010, Leonhard planned to go into partnership with the Carpenters, with Sean as his North American representative. “We thought, This is perfect—we don’t know how to have the inventory, and we don’t know where to get it,” David says. Together, they found the Central Park West town house, which had been the home of Lorin Maazel, the former conductor of the New York Philharmonic. The rent was fifteen thousand dollars a month, and Leonhard signed as guarantor to the lease. Very quickly, the relationship dissolved. “We couldn’t get anything done, and we disagreed how to do it,” Leonhard told me, although he and the Carpenters agree that they executed several profitable transactions before going their separate ways. Without inventory, and with very little capital, the Carpenters decided to strike out on their own. “Sean took the commissions he made from those instruments, I took my savings from Google, and Mom took her savings,” Lauren says. David contributed money from competitions, for a total of about two hundred thousand dollars. They began to equip the town house with trappings of affluence, even though there were months when they could barely pay the rent. “When you are dealing in a market where you are competing with Florian Leonhard, who has a beautiful house in Hampstead, you have to be presentable,” Lauren says. Sean says that they took a lot of risks, such as acquiring instruments without knowing whom they would sell them to. “We will do everything we can to get something done,” Sean says. The first year, they barely broke even. Their first significant sale was of a Strad that came to them through a musician they knew well. They sold it to a family friend: a hedge-fund owner with whom Lauren had played in the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, a non-professional orchestra comprising, in part, plutocrats whose overachievement extends to the musical realm. The friend had always wanted a Stradivarius, Sean explained. “I knew it was going to be a good investment,” he said. “Was it a perfect-condition Strad? No. But it was a very nice instrument.” The Carpenters took a small commission on the deal; the hedge-fund manager has gone on to buy more than half a dozen instruments from them, and has made introductions to other potential buyers. Unlike many other dealers, the Carpenters place instruments almost immediately, and they hold very little inventory. Rather, they set out to find a violin to match a client’s particular needs, in terms of price, rarity, and intended use. As highly social musicians, the Carpenters have a good sense of the whereabouts of many fine violins, and also of the likelihood of their owners’ being willing to part with them. Larry Lam, a technology entrepreneur who met the Carpenters through a Princeton connection a few years ago, decided last year that the time was right to sell a violin he owned. He had been approached by several dealers over the years. “I had a better comfort level with Sean,” Lam told me. “The way he transacts sales and purchases is very transparent.” The Carpenters typically take a six-per-cent commission, which is low for the industry, but they also like to co-invest in instruments with their buyers, so that they can reap long-term profits. A few years ago, Christophe Landon, a New York luthier and dealer, went in with the family on the purchase of the viola that David Carpenter usually plays; it dates from 1766 and was made by Michele Deconet. A year later, the Carpenters bought him out. The viola is now worth more than a million dollars. The hedge-fund owner who was their earliest client calls his instruments “very interesting investments. I know that if I need to sell one, I can predict within ten per cent what it will sell for, which is very different from contemporary art.” He prefers to buy the best-sounding instruments, rather than those with the best superficial preservation. He has played the Bach Concerto for Two Violins, Strings, and Continuo in D Minor on his Stradivarius—“The two violins were worth twenty-five or thirty million dollars together, which was a little scary”—but typically he plays on a very good modern American instrument. “It is like the difference between an eight-dollar Merlot and an ’82 Lafitte,” he says. But, the hedge-fund owner says, he is more interested in putting his possessions to philanthropic use, and has made loans to prominent institutions and musicians. “When audiences are hearing my instrument at Avery Fisher Hall, I feel honored,” he told me. “It is my small contribution to musical history.” The Salomé orchestra was launched around the time that the Carpenters started dealing in instruments, and though it now serves as a useful adjunct to their business, it was conceived as a way to play with old Princeton friends. The orchestra made its début at Steinway Hall, in 2009. After the Carpenters moved to Central Park West, the orchestra began rehearsing there. One early member, Crista Kende Bergendahl*, recalls, “It is not the normal living situation for musicians. You take any musicians from Juilliard and they are struggling to pay off loans, and they go to Central Park West and here are three siblings wearing Prada and Cavalli and Gucci.” Then, there were the instruments. “I went once to their house and played a de Salo viola, from the fifteen-hundreds,” Bergendahl says. “It is an almost unheard-of thing to have these instruments lying around.” Within a year of the orchestra’s founding, however, most of the original members were gone, several of them objecting to a re-auditioning process upon which the Carpenters insisted. The siblings enlisted new players, and assigned the orchestra a new mission: lending support to David’s solo viola career. They also expanded the Salomé’s ambitions: for the past three summers, they have held a festival in the Hamptons. At the inaugural concert, Rufus Wainwright, a friend at whose wedding they played, sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” alongside David. Crista Bergendahl, one of those who left the orchestra, says, “It is more of a trait among musicians to be extremely humble, and to think of yourself as second to the art. Part of the Carpenters’ success has been to think, We can do this. We are the Carpenters.” The Carpenters claim to have participated in transactions involving more than a hundred million dollars’ worth of instruments in the past four years, including, they say, eighteen Stradivaris. (Dealers estimate that there are about twenty Strad sales worldwide in any given year.) They have more than repaid Princeton’s investment in them, in part by performing for wealthy alumni. “Once I ran into David and Lauren, and I wanted to talk them into playing for a development-office event,” Scott Burnham told me. “When I said it was going to be at Per Se, they brightened up and said, ‘Yes, we’re there. We’ve never been able to get in there.’ I’m not sure I’ve ever seen David so excited as when he heard the words ‘Per Se.’ ” The Carpenters have also become donors themselves: last year, they gave a Géricault painting to the university. Ultimately, they would like to donate a concert hall to Princeton, and agree that “Carpenter Hall” has a nice ring to it.Manchester City travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Saturday, and GMP are aware of the heightened tension surrounding the clash.
Recent fixtures between the two sides have been plagued by problems – most notably after Paul Scholes’s late winner at Eastlands last season – and the police are concerned that a stream of incendiary statements, from the likes of Gary Neville as much as Tévez, have increased the likelihood of problems.
City responded to GMP’s request by placing an interview with the player on their official club website in which the Argentine made no reference to his time at United.
GMP have asked pubs and bars around Old Trafford to restrict the flow of alcohol in the build-up to the game.
Assistant chief constable Neil Wain said: “Police are asking licensees to consider voluntarily restricting the supply of alcohol near the stadium and in areas where we expect a large number of supporters.”Izvor: N1
Otkazana je konferencija za novinare Živog zida o problemima pirotehničara, koja je bila najavljena za danas u 13 sati, izvijestila je ta stranka. Živi zid je najavio da će javnost obavijestiti o novom terminu konferencije za novinare.
Razloge otkazivanja objavili su na svojoj Facebook stranici.
''Tjednima i mjesecima dobivamo pozive i poruke od pirotehničara da se založimo za njih. Nakon svih sastanaka i proučavanja njihove problematike, zakazali smo konferenciju za medije.
Trebala se održati u Saboru, da i oni napokon imaju priliku u najvišem domu reći što ih muči, progovoriti o silnoj korupciji u razminiravanju i nehumanim uvjetima rada u kojima zarađuju za kruh.
Sve se to dogovaralo tjednima.
Danas, sat i pol prije koneferencije za medije, njihov je predstavnik nazvao i pod psihološkim pritiskom otkazao sudjelovanje na konferenciji. Ostala trojica su, nakon poziva iz MUNGOS-a, pod pritiscima, prijetnjama i strahom od otkaza, također odustala od izlaska u javnost.
Draga gospodo, imali ste prilike iz Sabora govoriti o svim problemima, o potplaćenosti, o poginulim mrtvim kolegama, o prevarama i lažima, namještanjima i korupcijama. Imali ste priliku, kakvu vam dosad nitko nije pružio, izboriti se za bolje, za sebe, za obitelji poginulih kolega.
Sve dok strah upravlja vašim životima, neće biti bolje Hrvatske niti bolje budućnosti za sve nas.
A vi što prijetite ljudima koji izlažu svoje živote, nemojte misliti da ćemo stati na tome. Borba tek sad počinje, nazovite mene pa mi prijetite, bando kukavička'', napisali su na Facebooku Živog zida.
N1 pratite putem aplikacija za Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| i društvenih mreža Twitter | Facebook | Instagram.Getty Images
The judge presiding over the bounty cases recently has focused on a specific factual contention from the NFL, and the NFL has now answered the judge’s question by producing a letter from the NFLPA along with a sworn statement from Commissioner Roger Goodell.
On Wednesday, Judge Helen G. Berrigan ordered the parties to identify by 12:00 p.m. on Friday, August 17 “the date on which the NFLPA requested that Goodell defer issuing discipline notices to the players rather than issuing them at the same time that he disciplined the coaches.”
In response, the NFL has submitted a March 7, 2012 letter from former NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen to NFL general counsel Jeff Pash requesting generally a 60-day delay in all disciplinary proceedings, for players and non-players alike.
Assessing the letter at the superficial level, the NFLPA technically never made a request that the discipline against the players be deferred; instead, the union wanted all discipline delayed. Goodell explains in his sworn statement that the league nevertheless delayed announcing player discipline on March 21 in deference to the March 7 letter.
Goodell also explains that, despite a March 14 letter from Pash to the NFLPA explaining that there was no basis to delay the discipline “especially with regard to discipline of the club and non-player employees,” Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith agreed in subsequent talks by phone “to address first discipline of the club and then to afford the NFLPA a reasonable opportunity to conduct its own investigation and express its views before [Goodell] imposed discipline on the players.”
Though the judge didn’t explain the reason for her most recent order, it appears that the judge wants to confirm that such a request was actually made, since that would tend to bolster the representation from NFL counsel Gregg Levy at the August 10 hearing in the bounty cases that any statements made on March 21, the date on which the discipline of non-players was announced, about Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma reflected conclusions reached by Goodell as part of the official disciplinary process contemplated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If the truth is that Goodell hadn’t started the process of determining player penalties when publicly accusing Vilma and/or other players on March 21 of bounty-related wrongdoing, then Vilma’s argument that those comments can provide the foundation for a separate defamation lawsuit becomes stronger.
The NFL’s submission seems to clear things up appropriately, eliminating the impression that the process of disciplining players hadn’t commenced as of March 21.
That said, the NFLPA has yet to submit a response to the judge’s order, as far as we know. It’ll be interesting to see what the union has to say — and more specifically whether Smith will acknowledge that he and Goodell reached an agreement before March 21 that the league would give the union a “reasonable opportunity” to conduct an investigation of its own before disciplining the players.
If Smith denies that point, then this one fairly specific fact could sprout even longer legs as the judge tries to craft her rulings.Michigan State University and East Lansing police departments have received threats against MSU athletic events.
The departments received letters making general threats, according to authorities.
Both MSU and East Lansing police departments are investigating to determine where the threats came from and if they are credible.
The letters do not give specifics in regards to the threat or particular event.
Students and nearby residents are asked to remain vigilant of their surroundings and report anything suspicious to authorities.
Tensions are high since more than 100,000 people are expected to attend Saturday’s football game against MSU at the University of Michigan.
Larry Young says he hasn’t been to a large public event in 20 years.
“I haven’t felt safe in a public event in a long time,” said Young. “It’s been very scary to go anywhere public with all these crazy people -- And then no gun control”
Tia Tsakos is a former U of M student and is back in town for the game.
“I don’t think it’s really anything that’s crossed my mind but I think I’m just really excited, so I’m in that zone,” she said.
The following email was sent to MSU community members:
As you may be aware, the Michigan State University and city of East Lansing police departments are investigating letters making general threats against MSU athletic events. The letters do not provide specific information in regards to the event or manner of the threat. Both police departments are working in conjunction with additional law enforcement agencies to investigate the origin and validity of the letters.
MSU is taking all of the appropriate security measures. Regardless of the threat credibility, it is important for members of the MSU community to always remain vigilant and be aware of their surroundings. If you see something, say something; it is always better to be safe.
In the case of an emergency, MSU Police will use the MSU Alert system to notify students, staff and faculty of any threat and the appropriate action to take. Please visit alert.msu.edu to make sure your information is updated.
If you plan on attending the game, here is some useful information such as parking and what you can bring into the stadium.Research In Motion (RIM) has confirmed that it has begun testing its BlackBerry 10 platform with more than 50 mobile operators.
The company called the move "a critical milestone" in the development of the operating system, which is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2013.
"I have spent the last several weeks on the road visiting with carrier partners around the world to show them the BlackBerry 10 platform and to share with them our plans for launch," RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement. "Their response has been tremendous."
In order to certify BB10 for use on their networks, operators have to test and certify the system through the "lab entry" process, which could take up to several weeks.
Heins said the RIM team is still working to prepare for the technical and commercial launch of the OS. The CEO has already met with operators in Canada, Mexico, and the US, and is planning trips to Europe, Asia, and Africa soon.
"The hard work will not stop here as we build toward launch," Heins said.
Developers are now crafting applications for BlackBerry 10, and RIM's enterprise teams have started presenting BB10 devices and services to business customers.
"Our engineers are fully mobilized to ensure that BlackBerry 10 launches flawlessly in the first quarter of 2013," Heins said.
This may be RIM's last chance to impress. In July, the company had to fend off rumours that it was falling into a "death spiral," as Heins put it. The Ontario, Canada-based company announced brutally low financial results this summer, and has already pushed back the rollout of BlackBerry 10 from late 2012 to early 2013.Let’s start this transcript of Calgary’s mayor reacting to Alison Redford’s resignation with the last question I threw to him, as a just-in-case query: Will you run for Alberta PC leadership?
We didn’t get the pat “no” I expected. We got Naheed Nenshi talking about “Albertans,” even though three-quarters of them aren’t in his jurisdiction:
“Seriously? There will be lots and lots and lots of opportunities to talk about lots and lots and lots of different people. I can tell you regardless of whatever role I’m in personally, I will take a very serious part in this next election, always fighting for the interests of Calgarians and Albertans.”
Let’s rewind, then, to the beginning of his statement.
Obviously what has happened tonight will be covered as a political story, and it is a political story. But I also want to remind everyone that this is also a human story.
It’s about a real person, a good person, a person who loves this province and and has worked and made incredible sacrifices… And it’s the story of a system that takes someone like that and chews them up and spits them out. And I think that’s what we really need to remember today. Alison Redford is a good person. A good person who has tried to do great things for this province, who has had amazing dreams and amazing ideas for what we can do together as a community.
Every one of us who goes into public service knows that it can be a tough job. Every one of us knows you’ve got to have a thick skin, sometimes people say really cruel things about you on the Internet. But I think all of us as Albertans need to really think about what has happened over the last several weeks. And what that means to how we get great people to be politicians, how we get great people to enter into public service.
The partisanship under that dome in Edmonton is what leads to this. And I hope that whoever the new premier will think hard about how we make sure that what happens under that dome isn’t just for party and caucus, as we heard over and over again in the premier’s statement today, but it’s about people. It’s about Albertans. It’s about how we do the best for all citizens of this great province.
And I think every single legislator, every caucus member, every party volunteer whether in the Progressive Conservative party or across the aisle from the Progressive Conservatives needs to think hard about that. Needs to think hard about how our systems of party politics keep great people from doing great things, regardless of where you are. And I hope that at the very least this will start us in a conversation about that.
There will be a lot of time to talk about politics in the upcoming days. There will be handicaps of leadership races. There will be a million billion polls. There will be mayors like me talking about the importance of cities, and how whoever wants to be the premier of this province has to remember that. But today, I’d like to focus a little bit on that human story, and a little bit on how we can make politics better for everyone.
Q: Are you saying she shouldn’t have resigned?How many Tic-Tac-Toe (noughts and crosses) games are possible?
A nice simple question which is perfectly possible to solve with a little bit of brute force.
The number is clearly bounded above, since there are 9 possible ways of placing the first mark, 8 remaining ways of placing the second, 7 the third,..., and 1 the ninth. This would be 9*8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1 = 9! = 362880.
But 362880 is clearly too high. For example, a game that finishes after the seventh mark with three in a row would count twice in this figure, but should only count once. So we should expect a lower figure. But all games should continue until either all nine squares are filled or someone has three in a row (or both), so there must be at least five marks. So all we have to do is find how many games end with five marks, and similarly how many with six, seven, eight, or nine. For nine, there are two possibilities: either someone has won on their ninth move, or it is a draw with no three in a row.
For simplicity, we can assume that the first player starts with an X and the second uses an O.
Number of games ending on the fifth move
An easy calculation:
there are 8 lines of three squares (three vertical, three horizontal, and two diagonal) and it doesn't matter in which order the three Xs were placed, and the two Os could have gone into two of the other six squares in any order. So we are looking at 8*3!*6*5 = 1440 possibilities for games ending in a win on the fifth move.
Number of games ending on the sixth move
Slightly harder:
there are again 8 lines of three squares, and it doesn't matter in which order the three Os were placed, and the three Xs could have gone into three of the other six squares in any order (providing that the Xs are not three in a row). Ignoring the bracketed phrase, this gives us 8*3!*6*5*4 = 5760 possibilities. To take account of the bracket, we need to exclude cases where there are three Os in a row and three Xs in a row: none of them can be a diagonal, and if a particular row is taken, there are only two other possible rows, so we need to exclude 6*3!*2*3! = 432 cases. So we are looking at 5760-432 = 5328 possibilities for games ending in a win on the sixth move.
Number of games ending on the seventh move
Another little complexity:
there are again 8 lines of three squares, but this time it does matter in which order the four Xs were placed, as the fourth must be on the line, while the three Os could have gone into three of the other five squares in any order (providing that the Os are not three in a row). Ignoring the bracketed phrase, this gives us 8*3*6*3!*5*4*3 = 51840 possibilities. To take account of the bracket, we need to exclude cases where there are three Os in a row and three Xs in a row: none of them can be a diagonal, and if a particular row is taken with Xs, there are only two other possible rows of which one has an X, so we need to exclude 6*3*6*3!*3! = 3888 cases. So we are looking at 51840-3888 = 47952 possibilities for games ending in a win on the seventh move.
Number of games ending on the eighth move
More of the same:
there are again 8 lines of three squares, but again it does matter in which order the four Os were placed, as the fourth must be on the line, while the four Xs could have gone into four of the other five squares in any order (providing that the Xs are not three in a row). Ignoring the bracketed phrase, this gives us 8*3*6*3!*5*4*3*2 = 103680 possibilities. To take account of the bracket, we need to exclude cases where there are three Os in a row and three Xs in a row: none of them can be a diagonal, and if a particular row is taken with Os, there are only two other possible rows of which one has an O and two remaining places for an X, so we need to exclude 6*3*6*3!*2*4! = 31104 cases. So we are looking at 103680-31104 = 72576 possibilities for games ending in a win on the eighth move.
Number of games ending on the ninth move
This could easily be calculated by substracting the possibilities already covered from 9!. But we will save that for a final check and move by brute force. The ninth game could end in a win or a draw, and we will calculate each.
For a win, there are a wide variety of possibilities:
not only do we need to ensure that there are no three Os in a row before the fifth X is placed, but also that there is not already a distinct line of three Xs in a row. First we will consider a win involving a diagonal only: there are two, and the fifth X must be |
inated children are three to six times at risk of dying before their fifth birthday, which makes vaccines the most cost-effective public health intervention to prevent disease and death. Immunisation has helped bring down the annual mortality of children under five, from 3.3 million a generation ago, to 1.3 million deaths –which is 17,000 deaths each day. The solution is obvious, but gaps exist. India has the highest number of unvaccinated children in the world, with 89 lakh children not receiving all vaccines and 17 lakh not getting vaccinated at all. Till 2014, only 65% children were fully immunised, measured as having been given three doses of the DPT or pantavalent vaccine (against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type b), till the age of 2.
Mission mode
Making immunisation a public health priority, the NDA launched ‘Mission Indradhanush’ in December 2014, in order to fully immunise 90% of India’s 26 million children born each year, till the age of five. Four new vaccines have been added, including PCV vaccine, a vaccine against polio, rotavirus vaccine against diarrhoea (rolled out in Andhra, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha), rubella against measles, and the pneumococcal vaccine against pneumonia, which will be rolled out in February 2017.
“Reaching children is not impossible. India did it for polio and was certified polio free. India also reached its maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination targets in May 2015, well before the target date of December, 2015.This is a target we can reach ahead of deadline too,” Nadda said.
Facts India has the highest number of unvaccinated children in the world
89 lakh children don’t receive all vaccines, 17 lakhs none at all
The centre launched Mission Indradhanush in December 2014, to immunise 90% of India’s 26 million children born each year
2.1 crore children have been vaccinated against 10 preventable diseases including polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, pneumonia and diarrhoea
Since the first phase of immunisation in April 2015, 2.1 crore children have been vaccinated against 10 preventable diseases -- polio, severe forms of childhood tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, pneumonia and diarrhoea caused byhemophilus influenzae B, and measles across India.
Of them, 55 lakh were fully immunised in 497 districts across 35 states and union territories, shows health ministry data.
New vaccines will help. Rotavirus, for example, is one of the leading causes of severe diarrhoea and death in children under 5 years, killing between 80,000 and 1 lakh of them, hospitalising 9 lakh and causing 32.7 lakh visits to clinics.
Data dashboard
But how reliable is the data? “The surveillance is very vigorous and we’re following parameters and learnings from the pulse polio programme, when vaccines were reached to children who are missed, such a migrant populations working at construction sites, brick kilns, hamlets, dhanis or purbas in hills and areas prone to flooding,” said Dr Pankaj Bhatnagar, technical officer (immunisation) at WHO India, which offers technical support to train health workers in vaccination and to maintain the “cold chain,” so that vaccines do not lose their potency and effectiveness owing to temperature variations during storage, transporting and handling.
Boosting tracking are I-dashboards (immunisation dashboards) that systematically review reported data from across the health facilities in India, analyses and collates it on a monthly basis and shares it with the health ministry, immunisation partners and programme managers across India,” said a union health ministry officer who did not wish to be named.
It also tracks potential vaccine shortages, human resource shortfalls and patterns of vaccine-preventable diseases.
LITTLE LIVES MATTER India’s child immunisation programme is forging ahead despite challenges
There is a lack of awareness among many parents about the need for vaccination. (GettyImages)
Mission Indradhanush
Determined to increase India’s full immunisation rate from 65% to 90% by 2020, as many as 2.1 crore children have been vaccinated in three phases since April 2015 across 497 districts, in 35 states/UTs.
The goal of the programme is to fully immunise all children against 10 vaccine-preventable diseases. These include tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, polio, hepatistis B and measles. In a few states, children are also being vaccinated against japanese encephalitis, influenza and diarrhoea.
New vaccines added to UIP
Inactivated polio vaccine: As part of its polio endgame strategy, the govt has introduced injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV). India’s child immunisation programme is forging ahead despite challengesThere is a lack of awareness among many parents about the need for vaccination. (GettyImages)The goal of the programme is to fully immunise all children against 10 vaccine-preventable diseases. These include tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, polio, hepatistis B and measles. In a few states, children are also being vaccinated against japanese encephalitis, influenza and diarrhoea.As part of its polio endgame strategy, the govt has introduced injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV). Measles Rubella (MR) vaccine: This will be introduced in February 2017, in a phased manner. The vaccine will eventually replace the measles vaccine. Rotavirus vaccine: Around 18.6 lakh doses of the rotavirus vaccine were administered in three doses, in Andhra, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha, till September 2016. It will be gradually rolled out in all states during 2017-18. Pentavalent vaccine: There will be a select roll-out of this vaccine in February 2017, in five states -- Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Will replace DPT. PROGRESS CARD
How children in India have been dealing with life-threatening diseases
How children in India have been dealing with life-threatening diseases
Roadblocks
Challenges remain, such as quacks who work against the government system, or misguided beliefs. Parents are often unaware of vaccination benefits, don’t know where to go. The real challenge, though, is to keep the momentum.
“BCG vaccine (against TB, given at birth) coverage is above 90%, but there’s a sharp fall in the number of children getting vaccinated in the second year of birth,” says Dr Bhatnagar. “The newly instituted district task force for immunisation has introduced an accountability framework, with the district collector also reviewing data (apart from medical officers),” he adds.
“If everyone does their job, no one will be missed.”
First Published: Dec 09, 2016 13:54 ISTHow to combine meshes in Unity3D
public static Mesh CombineMeshes(this GameObject aGo) {
MeshRenderer[] meshRenderers = aGo.GetComponentsInChildren<MeshRenderer>(false);
int totalVertexCount = 0;
int totalMeshCount = 0;
if(meshRenderers!= null && meshRenderers.Length > 0) {
foreach(MeshRenderer meshRenderer in meshRenderers) {
MeshFilter filter = meshRenderer.gameObject.GetComponent<MeshFilter>();
if(filter!= null && filter.sharedMesh!= null) {
totalVertexCount += filter.sharedMesh.vertexCount;
totalMeshCount++;
}
}
}
if(totalMeshCount == 0) {
Debug.Log("No meshes found in children. There's nothing to combine.");
return null;
}
if(totalMeshCount == 1) {
Debug.Log("Only 1 mesh found in children. There's nothing to combine.");
return null;
}
if(totalVertexCount > 65535) {
Debug.Log("There are too many vertices to combine into 1 mesh ("+totalVertexCount+"). The max. limit is 65535");
return null;
}
Mesh mesh = new Mesh();
Matrix4x4 myTransform = aGo.transform.worldToLocalMatrix;
List<Vector3> vertices = new List<Vector3>();
List<Vector3> normals = new List<Vector3>();
List<Vector2> uv1s = new List<Vector2>();
List<Vector2> uv2s = new List<Vector2>();
Dictionary<Material, List<int>> subMeshes = new Dictionary<Material, List<int>>();
if(meshRenderers!= null && meshRenderers.Length > 0) {
foreach(MeshRenderer meshRenderer in meshRenderers) {
MeshFilter filter = meshRenderer.gameObject.GetComponent<MeshFilter>();
if(filter!= null && filter.sharedMesh!= null) {
MergeMeshInto(filter.sharedMesh, meshRenderer.sharedMaterials, myTransform * filter.transform.localToWorldMatrix, vertices, normals, uv1s, uv2s, null, null, null, null, subMeshes);
if(filter.gameObject!= aGo) {
filter.gameObject.SetActive(false);
}
}
}
}
mesh.vertices = vertices.ToArray();
if(normals.Count>0) mesh.normals = normals.ToArray();
if(uv1s.Count>0) mesh.uv = uv1s.ToArray();
if(uv2s.Count>0) mesh.uv2 = uv2s.ToArray();
mesh.subMeshCount = subMeshes.Keys.Count;
Material[] materials = new Material[subMeshes.Keys.Count];
int mIdx = 0;
foreach(Material m in subMeshes.Keys) {
materials[mIdx] = m;
mesh.SetTriangles(subMeshes[m].ToArray(), mIdx++);
}
if(meshRenderers!= null && meshRenderers.Length > 0) {
MeshRenderer meshRend = aGo.GetComponent<MeshRenderer>();
if(meshRend == null) meshRend = aGo.AddComponent<MeshRenderer>();
meshRend.sharedMaterials = materials;
MeshFilter meshFilter = aGo.GetComponent<MeshFilter>();
if(meshFilter == null) meshFilter = aGo.AddComponent<MeshFilter>();
meshFilter.sharedMesh = mesh;
}
return mesh;
}
private static void MergeMeshInto(Mesh meshToMerge, Material[] ms, Matrix4x4 transformMatrix, List<Vector3> vertices, List<Vector3> normals, List<Vector2> uv1s, List<Vector2> uv2s, Dictionary<Material, List<int>> subMeshes) {
if(meshToMerge == null) return;
int vertexOffset = vertices.Count;
Vector3[] vs = meshToMerge.vertices;
for(int i=0;i<vs.Length;i++) {
vs[i] = transformMatrix.MultiplyPoint3x4(vs[i]);
}
vertices.AddRange(vs);
Quaternion rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(transformMatrix.GetColumn(2), transformMatrix.GetColumn(1));
Vector3[] ns = meshToMerge.normals;
if(ns!=null && ns.Length>0) {
for(int i=0;i<ns.Length;i++) ns[i] = rotation * ns[i];
normals.AddRange(ns);
}
Vector2[] uvs = meshToMerge.uv;
if(uvs!=null && uvs.Length>0) uv1s.AddRange(uvs);
uvs = meshToMerge.uv2;
if(uvs!=null && uvs.Length>0) uv2s.AddRange(uvs);
for(int i=0;i<ms.Length;i++) {
if(i<meshToMerge.subMeshCount) {
int[] ts = meshToMerge.GetTriangles(i);
if(ts.Length>0) {
if(ms[i]!=null &&!subMeshes.ContainsKey(ms[i])) {
subMeshes.Add(ms[i], new List<int>());
}
List<int> subMesh = subMeshes[ms[i]];
for(int t=0;t<ts.Length;t++) {
ts[t] += vertexOffset;
}
subMesh.AddRange(ts);
}
}
}
}
public GameObject gameObjectWithMultipleMeshesInChildren;
gameObjectWithMultipleMeshesInChildren.CombineMeshes();
In the Unity API you can find the function Mesh.CombineMeshes. It is almost useless. It will combine the meshes you pass to it into 1 mesh with the option to make a separate submesh for each of them. But when the original meshes already had submeshes this info is lost. I haven't tested it but the documentation doesn't mention anything about skinned meshes, so i think boneweights and bindposes are lost as well.So I wrote my own function instead. It combines all the meshes it finds in a GameObject and its children. It makes a sub mesh for each unique shared material it finds. So when you have 5 children, that each have 3 sub meshes, you end up with 1 mesh, 15 sub meshes. Unless some of the children use the same shared materials in which case the number of submeshes is smaller.This code is part of the Asset Store package SimpleLOD. It will disable the children and add a MeshFilter + MeshRenderer to the receiving GameObject.I left the code for merging skinned meshes and recomputing tangents out (sorry). If you need to combine skinned meshes or need tangents (for bumped materials) as well, you may want to get that package from the asset store. You will also need it when you want to reduce the number of triangles in your mesh or when you want to generate LOD levels for your models.You can use it as easy as this:How it works:We scan the gameobject and search through it's hierarchy for MeshRenderers.For each meshrenderer we find the MeshFilter and count the vertices.We then check to see if we have more than 1 mesh and less than 64K vertices, because this is the max Unity will allow.We make a new Mesh and create empty Lists for vertices, normals, etc.We read the transform matrix for the gameObjectWe make a Dictionary with a List of triangles for each unique material we findWe go through all the MeshRenderers a second time, find the Meshes and for each mesh we call the function MergeMeshInto(). As parameters we use:the found child mesh,the shared materials found in the renderera transform matrix computed as parent world to local transform matrix * child local to world transform matrixthe lists we created for vertices, normals etcthe dictionary with triangles per materialAfter this loop we have all the vertices, normals, and triangles store in our lists and dictionary. So now we can populate the new Mesh with them.Setting the vertices, normals and uv is easy.We go through all the keys of the dictionary and add the material to a new Materials array. We also set the triangles for the sub mesh.And finally we add a MeshRenderer and MeshFilter if they were not yet present and we set the materials and new Mesh in them.Yesterday’s rather unpleasant IBM 3Q earnings report did little to shake the conventional wisdom that IBM is in need of some serious mojo to turn itself around as software and hardware revenue continues to decline.
So perhaps it seems a little cruel to take this opportunity to mention that in terms of strict software revenue, IBM just slipped to the No. 3 software company in the world, behind No. 1 Microsoft … and (now) No. 2 Oracle.
The claim was made in an Oct. 17 press release from Deborah Hellinger, Oracle VP of Corporate Communications. It was a quick blurb, with a few numbers to collaborate their statement thrown in:
Given IBM’s recently announced quarterly results, we would like to take this opportunity to point out that Oracle’s software business has been growing faster than IBM’s software business and now Oracle has moved up to become the number 2 software company in the world while IBM has slipped to number 3. Over IBM’s last four quarters, they reported software revenue totaling $25.7 Billion, while during Oracle’s last 4 quarters, we reported software revenue totaling $27.8 Billion.
Oracle was pretty quick to point out that they had moved past IBM in terms of software sales. That’s the thing about corporate sharks: if one starts bleeding, the others will turn on them in a feeding frenzy.
Confirming the numbers that Oracle sent on both the IBM and Oracle Investor Relations pages, it does indeed appear that Oracle’s claims are true: over the past four quarters of reporting, IBM’s software revenue totaled $25.71 billion, and Oracle pulled in $27.83 billion over roughly the same period.
That puts Oracle in the number two software company spot, if you only look at software revenue. So, in that sense, Oracle has a valid claim to the title of number two.
What Oracle fails to mention, however, that when you look at other elements of the business, such as hardware revenue, Oracle is still way behind Big Blue. For the same four-quarter period, Oracle’s hardware revenue is $5.25 billion, just one-third of IBM’s $15.87 billion from hardware.
Looking at total revenue, Oracle isn’t faring much better: their $37.37 billion in total revenue is only 36.9% of IBM’s $101.36 billion.
Oracle vs. IBM Software Revenue (Past Four Qtrs)
Based on that comparison, it’s a little bit of a stretch for Oracle to make the claim that they are the “Second Largest Software Company in the World.”
Another issue with the way Oracle is spinning this story is found within this particular statement: “…we would like to take this opportunity to point out that Oracle’s software business has been growing faster than IBM’s software business…”
Well, let’s not get carried away. A chart that compares the last four quarters’ worth of data (IBM’s just-announced 3Q 2013 financials and Oracle’s 1Q 2014 numbers announced on Sept. 18 are referred to as “Now”) shows that Oracle’s software revenues are indeed higher than IBM’s.
Oracle vs. IBM Software Revenue Linear Trend (Past Four Qtrs)
Add some trend lines to the chart, and you can see that Oracle’s success wasn’t so much it’s revenue growing so much as IBM’s software revenue falling. But fair is fair, there is a slight growth in Oracle’s software revenue over their last four reporting periods.
It is not clear how long Oracle will hold this lead. If IBM manages to pull up out of this dive the current difference in software revenue (now $2.13 billion) can be overcome. Oracle, thanks to a pretty good 4Q 2013 fiscal report back in June, is trending ever-so-slightly up for the past year. But just looking at the plummet they had in software revenue from 4Q 2013 to 1Q 2014, Oracle’s fortunes and claim to fame could easily vanish.
One thing is certain: IBM’s revenues are not heading in the right direction. It wasn’t a good day when Microsoft became the world’s biggest software company, and I’m sure no one in Armonk is celebrating Oracle’s victory lap today.This is frame 352 from the Patterson-Gimlin film taken on Oct. 20, 1967, claiming to depict Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Colton. (Photo: Wikipedia/Patterson-Gimlin)
GALLUP, N.M. - The head of the University of New Mexico’s Gallup campus is under fire for spending money on Bigfoot-related pursuits.
UNM Gallup’s Executive Director Dr. Christopher Dyer organized a two-day, on-campus Bigfoot conference in February followed by a Bigfoot expedition, costing taxpayers more than $7,000, KRQE-TV reported.
“It was the largest and most well-attended event in the history of this campus,” Dyer said.
UNM paid for advertising, meals for guest speakers, airfare and per diem. Self-professed Bigfoot expert Dr. Jeff Meldrum was paid a $1,000 honorarium plus expenses. The other guest speaker, Rob Kryder, was paid a $500 honorarium plus expenses.
Dyer is an avid Bigfoot hunter in his free time and says he only pursues the mythical creature when he isn’t on the job. He has a collection of Bigfoot hairs and photos of suspicious footprints.
After the conference, Dyer and some of his companions went to the desert searching for Bigfoot. No students or faculty went on the expedition, but KRQE found UNM paid for the expedition. Dyer said he and his companions did not spot Bigfoot, but they did see habitat.
“I’d have to say it was pretty much a blown waste of money because we did not find evidence because of the snow. It was just impossible to get around out there. So in that case, yeah would we spend money on that again? Absolutely not,” Dyer said.
Dyer said he uses discretionary funds for field work that he believes has some kind of merit, such as field work of some kind of research. “People use monies from the taxpayers to do research. For Bigfoot or whatever,” Dyer said.
UNM President Robert Frank said he didn’t know about the university’s Bigfoot spending until reporters called about it.
“Dr. Dyer needs to be much more thoughtful about how he undertakes these activities,” Frank said. “The type of expedition that just took place was not appropriate and will not occur in that manner again.”
Read or Share this story: http://lcsun.co/2eVd2heGeorge Lucas created what is rightly considered one of the greatest films ever, launching a phenomenon that still shows no sign of waning, even despite those who might suggest that the director has spent the past ten or so years undoing his creation's own heritage. Regardless of that, the Star Wars franchise is a behemoth that won't be stopped any time soon, and as long as there are new formats, there will be new versions of the six original films, as well as a multitude of spin-offs. Today the most anticipated of home video releases lands on shelves, as Lucas' entire franchise - his sci-fi opera if you want to label it in such terms - gets the high definition treatment, and is packaged with a veritable treasure trove of special features that will have even the most cynical of Lucas critics reaching for the £60 or so it will take to score a copy. And to celebrate, in the grand tradition that fans of this site will have now become accustomed to, we bring you the latest in the 52 Reasons series. I may have already professed my belief that Gremlins might just be the greatest film of all time, but that was more for fun than anything, and it is now my esteemed pleasure and honour to proffer my thoughts on a genuine contender for the crown. There was some temptation to write this article based on the entire Original Trilogy, and no doubt the other two films will enjoy their own focus soon, but the first Episode in George Lucas' space opera epic in itself deserves the headiest of praise because of both what it represented and how it was executed. So despite a vocal majority of fans who will no doubt argue that The Empire Strikes Back is the superior film, here are my reasons for choosing Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope for this treatment...
1. The Scrolling Intro
2. The Definitive Battle of Good v Evil
3. Groundbreaking SFX
4. The Spaceships
5. The Score: Main Title
With the appearance of ten words (admittedly along with that iconic, irresistible fanfare), the Star Wars universe was introduced in brilliant, pulpy fashion. The text crawl is a direct homage to the 1930s Flash Gordon serials - which form a major part of the Star Wars heritage - and is an integral part of the franchise's mythology, to such an extent that many would be forgiven for thinking Lucas invented it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9kMh04GooE Originally of course there was one major difference between what we see now at the start of A New Hope and what those first 1977 audiences saw, because the sub-title Episode IV: A New Hope wasn't added until a later re-release (and then subsequently removed for the 2006 theatrical cut DVD). There is nothing quite so definitive in the rest of the film world as the distinction between good and evil in Star Wars - it is a universal battle, as old as story-telling itself, and is defined by as pure a difference as between black and white. On one side stand the Rebellion, and the remnants of the Jedi Order, epitomised by Luke Skywalker, a Chosen One of sorts, whose essential goodness puts him alongside Frodo Baggins and Superman as heroes without real contradiction who resist huge temptations to defend what is morally right and good. And on the other is the Dark Side, personified in chilling, exquisite fashion by Darth Vader, a malignant blemish on the universe who revels in, and thrives on the work of evil. There is little grey area in A New Hope, and it is surprise that when good ultimately triumphs, the audience shares the excitement of the right side, and it is precisely because Luke Skywalker is so fundamentally good that we can forgive him of his obvious naivety.Star Wars gave the world Industrial Light & Magic, arguably the most famous visual effects company to have ever worked on Hollywood productions as George Lucas plugged the gap created by the closure of Fox's own SFX department. And boy was it a good decision - handed the bulk of the film's budget (including vast amounts that went on creating sequences that were ultimately cut), ILM broke the mould of how visual effects could work for a film, having been tasked by the director to produce effects that had never been seen before. Since Star Wars, the company has gone on to work on over 300 films, and reshape the way visual effects are created, but without Lucas' first foray into the Star Wars universe, and the ground-breaking sights like the lightsaber battles and dogfights that now look conventional but which at the time would have been eye-popping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMeSw00n3AcAs a dyed in the wool astro-nerd, brought up on Star Trek and Star Wars, one of my greatest adolescent pleasures in life was to design my own spaceships (I didn't have too many female friends back then), based on the wondrous designs I'd seen on screen while watching the Enterprise captains, and the Rebels v Empire space battles. Star Wars in particular was full of artisanally crafted ships, from the screaming Tie fighters, through Luke's X-Wing and to the inimitable Millennium Falcon, based, according to Lucas on a hamburger with an olive on the side. So good were the designs, that toy-makers Kenner were able to reproduce them in near perfection, selling more than they could make, and launching a rabid collector market that still shows little sign of abating even thirty plus years later.http://youtu.be/LQDYDpxL-KQIs it possible to historicize the commons, to describe the evolution of the commons over time? This is our first draft and preliminary attempt to do so.
To do this we must of course define the commons. We generally agree with the definition that was given by David Bollier and others and which derives from the work of Elinor Ostrom and the researchers in this tradition.
In this context, the commons has been defined as a shared resource, which is co-owned and/or co-governed by its users and/or stakeholder communities, according to its rules and norms. It’s a combination of a ‘thing’, an activity, commoning as the maintenance and co-production of that resource, and a mode of governance. It is distinguished from private and public/state forms of managing resources.
But it’s also useful to see commoning as one of four ways of distributing the fruits of a resource, i.e. as a ‘mode of exchange’, which is different from the more obligatory state-based redistribution systems, from markets based on exchange, and from the gift economy with its socially-pressured reciprocity between specific entities. In this context, commoning is pooling/mutualizing a resource, whereby individuals exchange with the totality of an eco-system.
A number of relational grammars, especially that of Alan Page Fiske in Structures of Social Life, are very useful in that regard, as he distinguishes Authority Ranking (distribution according to rank), Equality Matching (the gift economy, as a social obligation to return a gift), Market Pricing and Communal Shareholding.
Kojin Karatani’s book about the Structure of World History is an excellent attempt to place the evolution of these modes of exchange, in a historical context. Pooling is the primary mode for the early tribal and nomadic forms of human organization, as ‘owning’ is counter-productive for nomads; the gift economy starts operating and becomes strongest in more complex tribal arrangements, especially after sedentarisation, since the social obligation of the gift and counter-gift, creates societies and pacifies relations. With the onset of class society, ‘Authority Ranking’ or re-distribution becomes dominant, and finally, the market system becomes dominant under capitalism.
Let’s now reformulate this in a hypothesis for civilisational, i.e. class history.
Class-based societies that emerged before capitalism, have relatively strong commons, and they are essentially the natural resource commons, which are the ones studied by the Ostrom school. They co-exist with the more organic culturally inherited commons (folk knowledge etc..). Though pre-capitalist class societies are very exploitative, they do not systematically separate people from their means of livelihood Thus, under for example European feudalism, peasants had access to common land.
With the emergence and evolution of capitalism and the market system, first as an emergent subsystem in the cities, we see the second form of commons becoming important, i.e. the social commons. In western history we see the emergence of the guild systems in the cities of the Middle Ages, which are solidarity systems for craft workers and merchants, in which ‘welfare’ systems are mutualized, and self governed. When market-based capitalism becomes dominant, the lives of the workers become very precarious, since they are now divorced from the means of livelihood. This creates the necessity for the generalization of this new form of commons,distinct from natural resources. In this context, we can consider worker coops, along with mutuals etc… as a form of commons. Cooperatives can then be considered as a legal form to manage social commons.
With the welfare state, most of these commons were state-ified, i.e. managed by the state, and no longer by the commoners themselves.There is an argument to be made that social security systems are commons that are governed by the state as representing the citizens in a democratic polity. Today, with the crisis of the welfare state, we see the re-development of new grassroots solidarity systems, which we could call ‘commonfare’, and the neoliberalisation and bureaucratisation of the welfare systems may well call for a re-commonification of welfare systems, based on public-commons partnerships.
Since the emergence of the Internet, and especially since the invention of web (the launch of the web browser in October 1993), we see the birth, emergence and very rapid evolution of a third type of commons: the knowledge commons. Distributed computer networks allow for the generalisation of peer to peer dynamics, i.e. open contributory systems where peers are free to join in the common creation of shared knowledge resources, such as open knowledge, free software and shared designs. Knowledge commons are bound to the phase of cognitive capitalism, a phase of capitalism in which knowledge becomes a primary factor of production and competitive advantage, and at the same time represent an alternative to ‘knowledge as private property’, in which knowledge workers and citizens take collective ownership of this factor of production.
To the degree that cognitive or network-based capitalism undermines salary-based work and generalized precarious work, especially for knowledge workers, these knowledge commons and distributed networks become a vital tool for social autonomy and collective organisation. But access to knowledge does not create the possibility for the creation of autonomous and more secure livelihoods, and thus, knowledge commons are generally in a situation of co-dependence with capital, in which a new layer of capital, netarchical capital, directly uses and extracts value from the commons and human cooperation.
But we should not forget that knowledge is a representation of material reality, and thus, the emergence of knowledge commons is bound to have an important effect on the modes of production and distribution.
I would then emit the hypothesis that this is the phase we have reached, i.e. the ‘phygital’ phase in which the we see the increased intertwining of ‘digital’ (i.e. knowledge) and the physical.
The first location of this inter-twining are the urban commons. I have had the opportunity to spend four months in the Belgian city of Ghent, where we identified nearly 500 urban commons in every area of human provisioning (food. Shelter, transportation)[1].
Our great discovery was that these urban commons function in essentially the same way as the digital commons communities that operate in the context of ‘commons-based peer production’.
This means that they combine the following elements:
1) an open productive community with
2) a for-benefit infrastructure organisation that maintains the infrastructure of the commons and
3) generative (in the best case) livelihood organisations which mediate between the market/state and the commons in order to insure the social reproduction of the commoners (i.e. their livelihoods).
In our vision, these urban commons, which according to at least two studies [2] are going through an exponential phase of growth (a ten-fold growth in the last ten years), are the premise for a further deepening of the commons, preparing a new phase of deeper re-materialization.
We can indeed distinguish four types of commons according to two axes: material/immaterial, and co-produced/inherited.
Ostrom commons are mostly inherited material commons (natural resources); inherited immaterial commons, such as culture and language, are usually considered under the angle of the common heritage of humankind; knowledge commons are immaterial commons that are co-produced and finally, there is a largely missing category of material commons that are produced. We are talking here of what is traditionally called ‘capital’, but in the new context of an accumulation of the commons, rather than a accumulation of capital for the sake of capital.
Let’s see the logic of this.
In pre-capitalist class formations, where the land is a primary productive factor, natural resource commons are an essential resource of the livelihood of the commons, and it is entirely natural that the commons take the form of the common governance of natural resources tied to the land.
In capitalist formations, where the workers are divorced from access to land and the means of production, it is natural that the commons become ‘social’; they are the solidarity systems that workers need to survive, and they are the attempts to organize production on a different basis during the rule of capital, i.e. they can also take the form of cooperatives for production and consumption.
In an era of cognitive capitalism, knowledge becomes a primary resource and factor of production and wealth creation, and knowledge commons are a logical outcome. But the precarious workers that are in exodus from the salaried condition, cannot ‘eat’ knowledge. Therefore, the commons also take on the form of urban infrastructure and provisioning systems, but must ultimately also take the form of true physical and material productive commons. The commons are therefore potentially the form of a mode of production and industry appropriate to the current conjuncture. During a time of market and state failure regarding the necessary ecological transition, and heightened social inequality, commoning infrastructure becomes a necessity for guaranteeing access to resources and services, to limit unequal access, but also as a very potent means to lower the material footprint of human production.
Therefore, current urban and productive commons are also the seed forms of the new system which solves the problems of the current system, which combines a pseudo-abundance in material production which endangers the planet, and an artificial scarcity in knowledge exchange, which hinders the spread of solutions.
The knowledge commons of cognitive capitalism are but a transition to the productive commons of the post-capitalist era.
In this new form of material commons, which are heavily informed and molded by digital knowledge commons (hence ‘phygital’), the means of production themselves can become a pooled resource. We foresee a combination of shared global knowledge resources (for example, exemplified by shared designs, and following the rule: all that is light is global and shared), and local cooperatively owned and managed micro-factories (following the rule: all that is heavy is local).
This cosmo-local (DGML: design global, manufacture local) mode of production and distribution, has the following characteristics:
Protocol cooperativism: the underlying immaterial and algorithmic protocols are shared and open source, using copyfair principles (free sharing of knowledge, but commercialization conditioned by reciprocity)
the underlying immaterial and algorithmic protocols are shared and open source, using copyfair principles (free sharing of knowledge, but commercialization conditioned by reciprocity) Open cooperativism: the commons-based coops are distinguished from ‘collective capitalism’ by their commitment to creating and expanding common goods for the whole of society; in Platform coops it is the platforms themselves that are the commons, needed to enable and manage the exchanges that may be needed, while protecting it from capture by extractive netarchical platfors
the commons-based coops are distinguished from ‘collective capitalism’ by their commitment to creating and expanding common goods for the whole of society; in Platform coops it is the platforms themselves that are the commons, needed to enable and manage the exchanges that may be needed, while protecting it from capture by extractive netarchical platfors Open and contributive accounting: fair distribution mechanisms that recognize all contributions
fair distribution mechanisms that recognize all contributions Open and shared supply chains for mutual coordination
for mutual coordination Non-dominium forms of ownership (the means of production are held in common for the benefit of all participants in the eco-system.
In our opinion, the current wave of urban commons, is a prefiguration of the coming wave of scaled up material commons for the production and distribution of value in post-capitalist systems.
All artworks by Mario Klingemann.
[1] See: http://wiki.commons.gent for a directory of these commons, classified by provisioning system, in Dutch.
[2] The first study pertains to the Netherlands, and is a booklet with the text of a lecture by Tine De Moor, entitled ‘Homo Cooperans, delivered at her inauguration as Professor of Institutions for Collective Action in Historical Perspective, August 30, 2013:
http://www.collective-action.info/sites/default/files/webmaster/_PUB_Homo-cooperans_EN.pdf
The second study concerns the Flanders: Burgercollectieven in kaart gebracht. Van Fleur Noy & Dirk Holemans. Oikos,2016: http://www.coopkracht.org/images/phocadownload/burgercollectieven%20in%20kaart%20gebracht%20-%20fleur%20noy%20%20dirk%20holemans.pdfby Eric Zuesse
On March 23rd, Gallup headlined “South Sudan, Haiti and Ukraine Lead World in Suffering”, and the Ukrainian part of that can unquestionably be laid at the feet of U.S. President Barack Obama, who in February 2014 |
public trust in the Bureau's data and forecasts, particularly as they relate to bushfires and cyclones, is paramount. A letter from Greg Hunt to Tony Abbott
Late last year, the Government set up a taskforce to provide advice on post 2020 emissions reduction targets ahead of the United Nations Paris climate change conference in December 2015.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet originally wanted the taskforce to also conduct "due diligence to ensure Australia's climate and emissions data are the best possible, including the Bureau of Meteorology's Australian temperature dataset".
An accompanying brief seen by Mr Abbott noted that "in recent articles in The Australian, the BoM was accused of altering its temperature data records to exaggerate estimates of global warming".
Do you know more about this story? Email [email protected].
"The way the Bureau manages its climate records is recognised internationally as among the best in the world," the brief said.
"Nevertheless, the public need confidence information on Australia and the world's climate is reliable and based on the best available science."
Public trust in BOM paramount: Hunt
The pressure intensified when Mr Abbott's business advisory council chair Maurice Newman wrote an opinion piece in the paper, demanding a Government-funded audit and review of the Bureau.
The concerns centred on the Bureau's temperature homogenisation process — the method in which it adjusts temperatures for weather sites based on factors like trees casting shade or influencing wind or if the station is moved.
Both the Department of Environment and Environment Minister Greg Hunt argued against having the taskforce investigate the Bureau.
The credibility of Government agencies is important and must be ensured. A letter from Tony Abbott to Greg Hunt
One Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet bureaucrat described a Department of Environment official as being "on a campaign" to get the references to BoM removed from the taskforce's responsibilities.
Further documents appear to show Mr Hunt convinced senior cabinet members to remove any references of "due diligence" or "quality assurance".
In a letter to Mr Abbott written on November 18 last year, Mr Hunt highlighted the fact the "draft terms of reference refers to the taskforce doing due diligence on the Bureau of Meteorology's Australian temperature data set".
"In doing this, it is important to note that public trust in the Bureau's data and forecasts, particularly as they relate to bushfires and cyclones, is paramount," it said.
"Given the recent publicity about the Bureau's temperature data sets, Senator Birmingham and I established a strengthened governance oversight of the Bureau's ongoing work in this area."
Review group set up in response to articles
The strengthened governance of the Bureau that Mr Hunt referred to is the setting up a Technical Advisory Forum to review and provide advice on the Bureau's temperature data — a recommendation from an earlier review of the Bureau's processes.
"It is important to emphasise that this is primarily a matter of meteorology, statistics and data assurance," Mr Hunt wrote in his letter to Mr Abbott.
A 2011 review found the Bureau's data and analysis methods met world's best practice but recommended a group be set up to review progress on the development and operation of the temperature data.
The 2015 panel included eminent statisticians and members have told the ABC they were in no doubt that it was set up in response to the newspaper articles.
A draft letter from Mr Abbott addressed to Mr Hunt showed that Mr Abbott wanted personal updates on the panel's review.
"The credibility of Government agencies is important and must be ensured," the letter read.
The review confirmed the credibility of the Bureau of Meteorology in its report released in June 2015, which did not find any evidence that the BoM had been adjusting its figures to fit a pattern of global warming.
"There is a clear trend [of temperature] increase in both the raw and homogenised temperature data, and the temperature patterns exhibited in a variety of other datasets have a similar character," the report said.
However, it did recommend improving the clarity and accessibility of information and refining some of the Bureau's data handling and statistical methods.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, climate-change, environment, australia
First postedNow that the rumors surrounding Jon Jones’ very bad weekend have coalesced into something more closely resembling cold, hard facts, it’s hard to imagine too many ways that this could have been worse for the UFC light-heavyweight champion.
Running a red light and hitting someone else’s car? That ain’t good. Fleeing the scene of an accident you caused? Even less good. But it’s the details that launch this story from the familiar realm of Pro Athlete Behaving Badly and into the stratosphere of Pro Athlete Fails to Display Basic Human Decency.
For instance, there’s the fact that it just happened to be a pregnant woman’s car that Jones (allegedly) hit. And the collision just happened to leave her with a broken arm. Not only did Jones (again, allegedly) take off instead of checking on the person he hurt, he did so on foot, which is not a great look for a guy so recently shown running through city streets in a Reebok ad.
But then, according to the police report, Jones returned to the scene. To check on the victim, perhaps? To wait for police and paramedics? No, it was just to grab a handful of cash. Then he ran off again, leaving behind an injured pregnant woman, a wrecked rental car filled with documents linking him to the crime, plus a pipe and some marijuana, just in case you didn’t already think his behavior seemed like that of a man who was maybe not completely sober behind the wheel.
After that, he goes incommunicado for the next day or so before finally turning himself into police, and then posting bail. Just to put a cherry on top at the end of a long, awful day, Jones’ lawyer, Vincent Ward, then appears before local news cameras to drop a gem of empathy and understanding.
“(Jones) wants to get down to training for this fight he has,” he said. “He wouldn’t want to be dealing with this right now, but he’s a great guy. He’s taking all this seriously.”
Good work, lawyer. Way to make your client seem like he’s more annoyed with the consequences of his actions than concerned for the pregnant woman he’s accused of injuring. Way to make it seem like you think he deserves credit just for not treating it all as one big joke.
Also, way to throw a mention of the fight in there, just in case all the people who are only now tuning into the ongoing Jones saga didn’t already know that he’s supposed to defend his title in roughly one month.
As of the time of this writing, that’s still the case. UFC officials have made no public mention of pulling Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) from his pay-per-view headliner against Anthony Johnson (19-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) at UFC 187 on May 23, nor have they said whether they’ll strip him of his title, which even UFC commentator Kenny Florian has come out in favor of. If you think it’s because UFC executives are taking an “innocent until proven guilty” approach, just stop and think about how fast they’d cut some prelim fighter who put their brand name in national headlines over something like this.
At least so far, Jones has been permitted to play by different rules. He crashes his Bentley, and he gets his wrist slapped. He starts a hotel lobby brawl, and the UFC uses it to hype his next fight. He tests positive for cocaine, and the UFC is proud of him for attending a whole day’s worth of rehab.
Jones may be behaving like a spoiled rock star, but that behavior is enabled at every turn by the people who see him as a walking ATM.
If you want an answer to the question of how this could possibly get worse, there it is. The powers that be in our sport could easily make this worse by demonstrating that, when it comes to superstars, there are no meaningful consequences. They could once again choose money over everything, opting to go ahead with a fight that pits Jones, who stands accused of hurting one woman, against Johnson, who in 2010 copped a plea to hurting a different one.
They could once again remind us that how big a jerk you get to be and get away with it is directly proportional to how many tickets and pay-per-views you sell.
So yeah, that would make this worse. And, come on, isn’t it already bad enough? I think so. Hopefully the UFC agrees. Hopefully this time it sends the message to Jones that he needs to get his affairs in order, rather than simply going through the motions to make it look like he has.
For more on UFC 187, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro backed Bernie Sanders for US president Tuesday night, saying the self-described democratic socialist would win "if the election were free."
Sanders is nearly certain to lose the Democratic party's nomination to Hillary Clinton, but has doggedly refused to bow out, drawing large numbers of young voters and seeking to shift the party to the left.
Maduro, the political heir to late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, said Sanders's candidacy showed the United States "wants change" in the November election.
"If the election were free, Sanders would be president of the United States," he said in a nationally televised address.
Venezuela has had a rocky relationship with the United States since Chavez came to power and launched a "revolution" in 1999.
The two countries have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010, and Caracas regularly accuses Washington of "imperialism."
Maduro is currently fighting off opposition attempts to force him from office in a recall referendum.
His popularity has plummeted as falling crude prices have plunged oil-rich Venezuela into a dramatic economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food and medicine, daily power cuts, weekly school closures and the near-paralysis of government offices.Oct. 14, 2016, 11:30 PM GMT / Updated Oct. 14, 2016, 11:54 PM GMT / Source: CNBC.com By Carmen Sesin and Sandra Lilley
Blame it on Mexicans and Mexico, again.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim was involved in the publication of New York Times articles about women who have come out and alleged Trump made unwanted sexual advances.
"The largest shareholder in the Times is Carlos Slim. Now Carlos Slim, as you know, comes from Mexico," he said Friday. "He's given many millions of dollars to the Clintons and their initiative. So Carlos Slim, largest donor of the paper, from Mexico."
Trump went on to call Times reporters "corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton," and said: "We're going to let foreign corporations and their CEO's decide the outcomes of the — you just can't do this."
In attacking Slim, the Republican presidential candidate is going back to his recurrent theme of condemning Mexico and Mexicans, a tactic that has played well to a base of supporters but has turned off a vast majority of Latinos —including Hispanic Republicans — and other more moderate voters.
"There is this persistent drive to describe the U.S. as under dire threat to the point of imminent collapse by the presence of Mexican immigrants and Muslim immigrants," said Ian Haney-Lopez, author of Dog Whistle Politics and a professor of race and constitutional law at the University of California at Berkeley.
Donald Trump announced his presidential bid last year by accusing Mexico of sending its "rapists" and by promising to build a wall on the border, accusations that set off protests and strong condemnations by U.S. Latino organizations as well as Mexicans. Several companies — including NBC — severed business ties with the business mogul after the controversial comments.
RELATED: Donald Trump Announces Presidential Bid by Trashing Mexico, Mexicans
Trump also drew strong controversy by repeatedly questioning whether the judge presiding over a Trump University lawsuit could be impartial; Judge Gonzalo Curiel is of Mexican-American heritage.
Yet despite the fallout, Trump has continued his rhetoric. His call to "Build the Wall" has become one of his most memorable campaign themes.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010, file photo, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu holds a press conference at the Forbes Global CEO conference in Sydney. Carlos Slim is Latin America's wealthiest man, according to a Forbes report, and the world's second richest after Bill Gates. Jeremy Piper / AP
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the Trump campaign was going to connect Slim to the Times articles and to the Clinton campaign. As of March, Slim owned about a 17 percent share in the New York Times Company, according to CNBC.
New York Times publisher and chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. said in a statement that Slim "fully respects boundaries regarding the independence of our journalism. He has never sought to influence what we report."
Slim's spokesman said Slim "doesn't know anything about his [Trump's] personal life and to be honest, he doesn't care about his personal life," and that Slim is not involved in politics in Mexico, let alone in the U.S.
Trump’s attacks on the Mexican billionaire and the New York Times are in line with the racial and class differences he has focused on throughout his campaign, Haney-Lopez said.
"I would describe it as pure dog-whistle politics," he said, a term used to describe coded words or language that targets certain groups. Examples of these terms, said Haney-Lopez, are "thug," "working-class America," "inner city," and "silent majority."
Trump has been trying to shift attention away from economic elites to cultural elites, which in this case is The New York Times.
"It's a notion that Americans don’t have to fear the big corporations but worry about cultural elites who say that we need to tolerate and welcome immigrants and people of color, Haney-Lopez said.
RELATED: Bipartisan Latinas Urge Vote Against Trump's 'Down the Gutter' Campaign
University of Miami political science professor Casey Klofstad said that targeting Slim is more of a strategy to shore up his own base than trying to convince others to vote for him.
"If you’re undecided at this point, you are going to be a very rare commodity," said Klofstad. "It’s not about persuasion anymore. It’s about getting people to turn out," he added.
Latinos on both sides of the political aisle have spoken out strongly against what they consider Trump's incendiary remarks. At a Latino voter forum in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Republican strategist Ana Navarro noted that while Trump's comments about women had been a "game changer," his comments about Mexico should have spurred the same reaction.
"My question is why did it take that tape? Why wasn't it when he called Mexicans rapists," said Navarro, who also slammed Trump's criticism of Judge Curiel as well as Muslims and the disabled.
Trump still has some support among the Latino community. Denise Galvez, who co-founded the group "Latinas for Trump," says the latest allegations have not dissuaded her.
"At this point, I’m no longer paying attention to the mudslinging. I’m sticking to my principles and my ideologies,” she said.
Galvez, who thinks the media favors Clinton, doesn’t think the attack on Slim will alienate undecided Latino voters. “People know the media is biased, even the undecided voter — nobody has time at this point to research what is true and what is not,” she said.
Follow NBC News Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Anthropological notion
In anthropology, High-context culture and low-context culture is a measure of how explicit the messages exchanged in a culture are, and how important the context is in communication. These concepts were first introduced by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book Beyond Culture. According to Hall, in a low-context culture, the message will be interpreted through just the words (whether written or spoken) and their explicit meaning. High and low context cultures creates a scale to describe a cultures communication with others through their range of communication abilities; utilizing gestures, relations, body language, and verbal or non verbal messages are ways in which a culture can be categorized.[1] Categorizing cultures in this manner helps to comprehend a culture's communication skills and applying this knowledge also influences how cultures respond through global communication.[2] In a high-context culture, messages are also interpreted using tone of voice, gesture, silence or implied meaning, as well as context or situation.[3] There, the receiver is expected to use the situation, messages and cultural norms to understand the message.
High context cultures often stem from less direct verbal and nonverbal communication, utilizing small communication gestures and reading into these less direct messages with more meaning.[1] Low context cultures are the opposite; direct verbal communication is needed to properly understand a message being said and doing so relies heavily on explicit verbal skills.[4]
"High" and "low" context cultures are typically defined by language group, nationality, or regional community. However, they have also been applied to corporations, professions and other cultural groups, as well as settings such as online vs. offline communication.[5]
Examples of higher and lower context cultures [ edit ]
Cultural contexts are not absolutely "high" or "low". Instead, a comparison between cultures may find communication differences to a greater or lesser degree. Typically a high-context culture will be relational, collectivist, intuitive, and contemplative. They place a high value on interpersonal relationships and group members are a very close-knit community.[6] Typically a low-context culture will be less close-knit, and so individuals communicating will have fewer relational cues when interpreting messages. Therefore, it is necessary for more explicit information to be included in the message so it is not misinterpreted.[7] Not all individuals in a culture can be defined by cultural stereotypes, and there will be variations within a national culture in different settings. For example, Hall describes how Japanese culture has both low- and high- context situations.[8] However, understanding the broad tendencies of predominant cultures can help inform and educate individuals on how to better facilitate communication between individuals of differing cultural backgrounds.
Although the concept of high- and low-context cultures is usually applied in the field of analyzing national cultures, it can also be used to describe scientific or corporate cultures, or specific settings such as airports or law courts. A simplified example mentioned by Hall is that scientists working in "hard science" fields (like chemistry and physics) tend to have lower-context cultures: because their knowledge and models have fewer variables, they will typically include less context for each event they describe.[9] In contrast, scientists working with living systems need to include more context because there can be significant variables which impact the research outcomes.
Cultures and languages are defined as higher or lower context on a spectrum. For example, it could be argued[by whom?] that the Canadian French language is higher context than Canadian English, but lower context than Spanish or French French. An individual from Texas (a higher-context culture) may communicate with a few words or use of a prolonged silence characteristic of Texan English, where a New Yorker would be very explicit (as typical of New York City English), although both speak the same language (American English) and are part of a nation (the United States of America) which is lower-context relative to other nations. Hall notes a similar difference between Navajo-speakers and English-speakers in a United States school.[10]
Hall and Hall proposed a "spectrum" of national cultures from "High-Context cultures" to "Low-Context Cultures.[11] This has been expanded to further countries by Copeland & Griggs (1985).[12][13]
Cultural context can also shift and evolve. For instance, a study has argued that both Japan and Finland (high-context cultures) are becoming lower-context with the increased influence of Western European and United States culture.[14]
The overlap between context cultures [ edit ]
The categories of context cultures are not totally separate. Both often take many aspects of the other's cultural communication abilities and strengths into account.[15] The terms high- and low-context cultures are not classified with strict individual characteristics or boundaries. Instead, many cultures tend to have a mixture or at least some concepts that are shared between them, overlapping the two context cultures.[15]
On the other hand, certain intercultural communication skills are unique for each culture and it is significant to note that these overlaps in communication techniques are represented subgroups within social interactions or family settings.[16] Many singular cultures that are large have subcultures inside of them, making communication and defining them more complicated than the low context and high context culture scale.[16] The diversity within a main culture shows how the high and low scale differs depending on social settings such as school, work, home, and in other countries; variation is what allows the scale to fluctuate even if a large culture is categorized as primarily one or the other.[16]
Miscommunication within culture contexts [ edit ]
Between each type of culture context, there will be forms of miscommunication because of the difference in gestures, social cues, and intercultural adjustments; however, it is important to recognize these differences and learn how to avoid miscommunication to benefit certain situations.[17] Since all sets of cultures differ, especially from a global standpoint where language also creates a barrier for communication, social interactions specific to a culture normally require a range of appropriate communication abilities that an opposing culture may not understand or know about.[18] This significance follows into many situations such as the workplace, which can be prone to diversified cultures and opportunities for collaboration and working together.[17] Awareness of miscommunication between high and low context cultures within the workplace or intercultural communication settings advocates for collected unification within a group through the flexibility and ability to understand one another.[16][17]
How higher context relates to other cultural metrics [ edit ]
Diversity [ edit ]
Families, subcultures and in-groups typically favour higher-context communication.[8] Groups that are able to rely on a common background may not need to use words as explicitly to understand each other. Settings and cultures where people come together from a wider diversity of backgrounds such as international airports, large cities, or multi-national firms, tend to use lower-context communication forms.[16]
Language [ edit ]
Hall links language to culture through the work of Sapir-Whorf on linguistic relativity.[10] A trade language will typically need to explicitly explain more of the context than a dialect which can assume a high level of shared context. Because a low-context setting cannot rely on shared understanding of potentially ambiguous messages, low-context cultures tend to give more information, or to be precise in their language. In contrast, a high-context language like Japanese or Chinese can use a high number of homophones but still be understood by a listener who knows the context.[14]
Elaborated and restricted codes [ edit ]
The concept of elaborated and restricted codes is introduced by sociologist Basil Bernstein in his book Class, Codes and Control. An elaborated code indicates that the speaker is expressing his/her idea by phrasing from an abundant selection of alternatives without assuming the listener shares significant amounts of common knowledge, which allows the speaker to explain their idea explicitly. In contrast, restricted codes are phrased from more limited alternatives, usually with collapsed and shortened sentences. Therefore, restricted codes require listeners to share a great deal of common perspective to understand the implicit meanings and nuances of a conversation.[19]
Restricted codes are commonly used in high-context culture groups, where group members share the same cultural background and can easily understand the implicit meanings "between the lines" without further elaboration.[18] Conversely, in cultural groups with low context, where people share less common knowledge or ‘value individuality above group identification’, detailed elaboration becomes more essential to avoid misunderstanding.[20]
Collectivism and individualism [ edit ]
The concepts of collectivism and individualism have been applied to high- and low-context cultures by Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede in his Cultural Dimensions Theory.[5] Collectivist societies prioritize the group over the individual, and vice versa for individualist ones. In high-context cultures, language may be used to assist and maintain relationship-building and to focus on process. India and Japan are typically high-context, highly collectivistic cultures, where business is done by building relationships and maintaining respectful communication.[21]
Individualistic cultures promote the development of individual values and independent social groups. Individualism may lead to communicating to all people in a group in the same way, rather than offering hierarchical respect to certain members.[22] Because individualistic cultures may value cultural diversity, a more explicit way of communicating is often required to avoid misunderstanding. Language may be used to achieve goals or exchange information. The USA and Australia are typically low-context, highly individualistic cultures, where transparency and competition in business are prized.[21]
Stability and durability of tradition [ edit ]
High-context cultures tend to be more stable, as their communication is more economical, fast, efficient and satisfying; but these are gained at a price of devoting time into preprogramming cultural background, and their high stability might come with a price of a high barrier for development.[23] By contrast, low-context cultures tend to change more rapidly and drastically, allowing extension[definition needed] to happen at faster rates. This also means that low-context communication may fail due to the overload of information, which makes culture lose its screening[definition needed] function.[10]
Therefore, higher-context cultures tend to correlate with cultures that also have a strong sense of tradition and history, and change little over time.[24] For example, Native Americans in the United States have higher-context cultures with a strong sense of tradition and history, compared to general American culture. Focusing on tradition creates opportunities for higher context messages between individuals of each new generation, and the high-context culture feeds back to the stability hence allows the tradition to be maintained. This is in contrast to lower-context cultures in which the shared experiences upon which communication is built can change drastically from one generation to the next, creating communication gaps between parents and children, as in the United States.[10]
Facial expression and gesture [ edit ]
Culture also affects how individuals interpret other people's facial expressions. An experiment performed by the University of Glasgow shows that different cultures have different understanding of the facial expression signals of the six basic emotions, which are the so-called "universal language of emotion"—happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger and sadness.[25][26] In high-context cultures, facial expressions and gestures take on greater importance in conveying and understanding a message, and the receiver may require more cultural context to understand "basic" displays of emotions.
Marketing and advertising perspective [ edit ]
Cultural differences in advertising and marketing may also be explained through high- and low-context cultures.[27] One study on McDonald's online advertising compared Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the United States, and found that in high-context countries, the advertising used more colors, movements, and sounds to give context, while in low-context cultures the advertising focused more on verbal information and linear processes.[5]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]A man was arrested Friday morning after leading police on a high-speed pursuit in a stolen car through Chicago's south suburbs.
Just after 6:20 a.m., two Richton Park police officers spotted a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo that matched the description of a car that had been stolen from a home on Monday.
On March 7, a homeowner reported to police to have returned back to their home in the 2800 of 3800 block of 217th Street in Matteson to discover his home had been burglarized and a.45 caliber handgun was stolen along with ammunition and his 2003 vehicle.
After approaching the car, police identified it to be the one stolen. The suspect was found sleeping inside. After being woken up, he quickly shift the gears and took off.
For nearly 20 minutes the offender managed to outrun the police, racing southbound towards US-30 at over 50 mph through residential side streets, gaining speed to upwards of 90 mph as multiple squad cars tried to catch up with him.
Sky 5 video of the chase showed the suspect trying to drive through a fielded area, then hitting a bump and crashing the front fender. He then removed himself from the car, and tried to flee on foot.
After trying to hide behind trees, officers caught up with the suspect and he was placed under arrest.Oh, Gotham. No. No no no no.
After receiving concerned inquiries, Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has cancelled plans to film a white stuntwoman wearing dark face makeup for Gotham. The production had already applied makeup to the performer’s face for a test in advance of next week’s filming, but has since released a statement saying the role will be changed:
A mistake was made this week in casting a stunt woman for a guest star in a particular scene on the show […] The situation has been rectified, and we regret the error.
According to Deadline, “painting down” white stunt performers so they can pass for actors of color has been a custom in the entertainment industry for decades. SAG-AFTRA condemns the practice as “unacceptable” and “improper” but doesn’t explicitly forbid “painting down”; casting coordinators must simply “endeavor” to find stunt performers of the same race or gender as the actor in question.
Adam Moore, SAG-AFTRA’s National Director of EEO Diversity, told Deadline that “there is simply no excuse” for Gotham‘s actions:
With respect to this issue in general, the relevant SAG-AFTRA contract is clear: The practice known as ‘painting down’ is presumptively improper … particularly so in a production center like New York City with so many qualified stunt women of color trained for this type of work […] While this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often anymore, still, in 2014 there are apparently people who don’t seem to understand that there are qualified professionals ready to do this work and that, if you are foolish enough to engage in this offensive behavior, you will be called out for it. Performers and audiences alike won’t stand for it – they’ll speak out in ways like this and stand up by spurning the content itself in favor of on-screen experiences that are reflective of our collective stories and values.
Despite Moore’s assertion that the practice is “presumptively improper,” in the light of Gotham‘s casting it seems like stronger wording in the union contract might dissuade insensitive casting coordinators and productions from being so blatantly disrespectful. (Not that, you know, anyone should need to be told not to film an actor in blackface. Or, you know, cast a white actor as a POC.)
Warner Bros. in particular has a history of being condemned for “painting down” performers; in 1971 the dark makeup used on a white stuntman in Skin Game spurned protests and a push for equality in front of and behind the camera. Sadly, Gotham‘s bone-headedly stupid decision to continue the practice is a reminder of how much progress still needs to be made. Retired black stuntwoman Jadie David told Deadline,
Fast-forward to today, and we are again faced with a Caucasian stuntwoman who was going to be painted down to double for an African-American actress, ironically again, in a Warner Bros. production. The excuse of the past that there are no qualified African-Americans to hire is gone; there is a huge pool of qualified African-American women to choose from and many were available for work. The studios all have fair employment policies in place, as does SAG-AFTRA. This blatant disrespect of African-American stunt women is beyond the pale. Will the lesson ever be learned?
Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?I often notice people looking for reliable WordPress resources. I’ve answered as much on Quora before, and the newly relaunched Code Poet recently asked people to share resources on Twitter. But I really just need to blog about all of the resources I use most often. I’ve been meaning to make this for a long time, so here I am.
Below is a thorough, though not totally complete, list of resources for support, news, tutorials, resources, etc. It’s basically a breakdown of the WordPress oriented websites I keep up with.
Duh:
The Codex is always the first place for WordPress documentation, and you can often find answers in WP.org forum posts, but there are also other ways.
Other avenues for support:
WordPress Stack Exchange is an excellent resource, especially for advanced developers. I find myself on this site more and more each month.
WPQuestions.com is a good place if you need quick support. It’s a fee model where you set a price you’re willing to pay for an answer, and you choose from the answers people submit.
#wordpress on IRC is quite helpful for beginners, and they could always use a hand answering questions if you’re willing.
Resources:
WordPress on Github. Go straight to the source!
WordPress function reference (worth differentiating from the general codex – a must use resource)
WordPress template tags (same as above – a must use resource)
QueryPosts.com is a new project by Rarst that is an excellent resource. It’s truly a “better WordPress code reference.” It currently boasts a “what’s hot” section and all WP functions. Hooks and classes are on the way, and highly anticipated (by me at least).
This is just a big WordPress functions reference. Handy.
The Adam Brown hooks database is a great resource for advanced developers.
Lorelle’s WordPress Resources can be helpful.
I like to go to the new plugins archive periodically. Pretty fun to see what people are cooking up.
People / blogs on WP
If I listed every blog I read, this list would simply be too long. So here are a couple links to other posts that list all that stuff, and then I’ll share a few of my personal favorites.
WPCandy has a list of people and blogs about WordPress to follow. It’s a big one.
Here’s another list of blogs by WPMU that you can follow if you are super information hungry.
And here are some special shout-outs to my really go-to WordPress oriented blogs. Please don’t be offended if you’re not included in this section. Like I said, it’s not a full list of sites I like:
No single individual is doing more awesome stuff in the plugin sphere than Pippin Williamson. No one. Subscribe to his blog.
Gravity Wiz is meta blogging at its finest. Only Gravity Forms tutorials, and I think that is just plain awesome. And speaking of Gravity Forms, if you haven’t bookmarked this post by Rocket Genius on targeting elements in CSS, then you’re welcome.
Justin Tadlock may only post here and there, but when he does, his posts become the go-to resource on whatever he’s written about.
I don’t even know Paul’s last name, but he posts frequently with nice, quick snippets. And they are always practical. Paulund is a great resource you may not have heard of.
Tom McFarland is a freaking guru. He often posts on wp.Tuts+, and his are about the only articles on that site I’m not critical of. When he posts, he cross posts the links to his personal blog, where he also shares other nuggets. He’s the primary coder of Standard Theme, in case you needed more reason to trust me. Follow him and be smarter.
Not really sure where to put this one, but I build all my custom post types and taxonomies over at Themergency. Try it, it’s great. And you get to own your code when you use it, unlike most WYSIWYG post type builders. Brad made these generators with multi-page gravity forms, and they spit out the raw code for use in your plugins and themes. Neat.
And you should know all of these people, but I’d feel remiss if I didn’t at least mention them, as they’ve each helped me so much over the years. You should without a doubt be keeping up with Yoast, Nacin, Mark, and Otto.
There are also some good blogs for following what’s happening in WordPress development land: WPDevel, Make Themes, Make UI, Make Plugins, Make Accessibility… just Make All The Things.
Get your news from WPCandy, WPTavern, WP Mods, WPForce, the new WPRealm, WPLift, WPMU, and of course WordPress.org. Matt likes to make news too. Obviously, I definitely have a preference for WPCandy. And of course I’m unfairly pigeonholing all of these blogs to “news”, but really each does much more than that, and are all valuable to the community.
I tentatively recommend some tutorial sites. Please take these for what they’re worth: sometimes the tutorials are great, sometimes.. not so much. But I still subscribe to them, and I think they all have good intentions. So check out the WordPress section of Smashing Magazine, DigWP, WPBeginner, and most cautiously, wp.Tuts+. I debated heavily whether to include these, but I think they need to be here. However, please use what you find on these sites with extreme caution.
Forums:
Theme Hybrid is a paid, $25 / year forum. Justin is one of the best, and has a general WordPress section if you don’t use his themes. It’s my go to place to “hang out”, but I also use his framework. This is how I learned pretty much everything I know, and I can’t recommend it enough.
CSS Tricks often has good WP stuff, and there are good opportunities to help people that are more casual WordPress developers.
The WordPress Reddit subgroup (surprisingly good resources pop up here).
The WPTavern forum is good sometimes.
The WPCandy forums are not bad for non-support, but WordPress oriented things.
Code snippets / resource collections I like:
Michael Fields’ code snippets are super handy. I often find myself back here. He’s a great theme and plugin developer with a lot of really beautiful code.
WP Snippets is good sometimes, but as with any pure snippets site, use them with caution.
Bill Erickson’s website. He’s a great dev, and even more helpful if you’re a Genesis fan. He has loads of snippets and little plugins I use all the time.
The new Code Poet is awfully promising for ebooks, resources, and periodic news stuff.
This is the section I know I’m not putting enough resources that I use. So many people are sharing great work that they do. Help me remember what/who I’m forgetting in the comments : )
Company Blogs
There are a few company blogs I particularly like. Check out WooThemes, WPEngine, Page.ly, Sucuri, and StudioPress. But beware that each of these comes laced with product info. They’re still worth subscribing to.
Newsletters worth getting:
Daily Documentation Newsletter – this one is a lot of fun to take a glance at as I start my day.
wpMail.me is an indispensable resource on what’s fresh in WordPress. I really love getting it every week.
Here’s a secret of mine: subscribe to WordPress on Google Alerts. I get it once weekly, and usually find at least one interesting link. There’s a good bit of trash in it too, but it’s worth it for the random good stuff you find.
Misc.
The WordPress Twitter community is quite helpful. There are a lot of people I recommend following. I’m pretty much only following WordPress or web people from my primary Twitter account these days, so |
select days lately as the National Park Service embraces its spooky side—particularly in relation to an ill-fated race track that opened on the property in the 1950s and closed a year later after three fatalities. The remains of the track can still be seen by visitors today.CHCH has cancelled its Friday evening and weekend newscasts, with restructuring and cuts coming to the local station that will result in fewer overall hours of local news being aired.
The changes mean an end to all-day news at the station, but newscasts will return in the new format.
As of 4 p.m. Friday the station cut off its live news content and started airing pre-taped content. According to a press release, Channel 11 L.P., the entity that has created local news for CHCH since 2009 and pays the local news employees, has filed for bankruptcy.
It's a bloodletting. - Donna Skelly, former CHCH reporter
Romen Podzyhun, CEO of parent company Channel Zero, made an announcement about the cuts on air Friday.
"Business decisions like this are hardest because they impact the personal lives of colleagues that we care about," he said. "As difficult as it is, this decision will allow us to continue to deliver the local stories that matter most to this community."
"Starting on Monday, we will once again be airing local news again on CHCH," he said. "We are unwavering in our commitment to serve this community."
Thank you everyone for all the good thoughts. We will keep you updated. —@CHCHNews
Podzyhun's on air statement was the first concrete information about the cuts that many in the newsroom were given. Unifor media sector director Howard Law told The Canadian Press that a lawyer for Channel Zero told him in a briefing that CHCH was planning to reduce its local programming from 80 hours to 25 hours a week.
Law said he was also informed that CHCH newsroom staff would be halved.
Donna Skelly, Elise Copps, Matt Hayes among those let go
Longtime reporter and on-air personality Donna Skelly told CBC News she is among those who have lost their jobs. That list also includes well-known names such as Matt Hayes, Scott Urquhart and Elise Copps, she said.
"They will be reduced to, I think, three hours of programming a day... Nobody was given severance," Skelly told CBC News. "There were people with 30 to 40 years of seniority. There were part timers. It's a bloodletting.
"It was devastating. There were people there that we adored. It was one of the best places to work. People whose names you will recognize — Matt, Scott — were let go. And not a penny of severance."
Reporter Melissa Raftis tweeted: "Came to #HamOnt for school, stayed for CHCH News and am I ever glad I did. Proud to call this city home. It's been great getting to know you." Photos posted online showed her leaving the station with a banker's box of her belongings.
Reporter Cindy Csordas tweeted, "I need a job."
Michael Miles, who identified himself online as a digital news producer for CHCH.com, tweeted that "after 15 years, me and 2/3rds of my CHCH colleagues have been terminated."
The Hamilton-based network started broadcasting in 1954. According to the station's website, it produced more original news programming than any other local television station in North America.
Podzyhun said that CHCH faces a "new reality" that has left it in a "untenable situation."
"While we are forced to make cuts, the core news programs and many of the faces you've come to love over the years will remain," he said.
Transitioning to a new schedule
According to a Channel Zero news release, CHCH is transitioning to a new schedule starting next week that includes both the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday newscasts. Its morning show Morning Live is slated to return on Tuesday.
This comes just months after the federal government discontinued the Local Program Improvement Fund, which CHCH availed itself of.
"When CHCH was acquired in 2009 [by Channel Zero], funding support for local television was available, along with healthy national advertising revenue. That has since changed dramatically," Podzyhun said in his statement.
Many people reacted to the news on Twitter Friday:
Thoughts with news staff <a href="https://twitter.com/CHCHTV">@CHCHTV</a> right now. Not sure what's happening but hope we don't lose local news station. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hamont?src=hash">#hamont</a> —@annlamanes
CHCH is trending. There's a whole lotta love for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HamOnt?src=hash">#HamOnt</a>'s local news. Still waiting for an update on staff cuts. —@KyraHayesHere
Sincere best wishes going out to all my friends and former colleagues at CHCH News. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hamont?src=hash">#hamont</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/chch?src=hash">#chch</a> —@LisaKnap
CHCH has such a rich history in Canadian broadcasting and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HamOnt?src=hash">#HamOnt</a>. Hoping the best for all involved. —@fostersarah
Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger told CBC News that he plans to reach out to the chairman of Channel Zero to get some clarity on the situation.
"It's very, very concerning for our community," Eisenberger said. "It's been one of our institutions for a very, very long time. I would hope that this isn't the sign of some impending doom that is permanent."
CH says it is available to over 92 per cent of Ontario households and is seen by millions across the country each week.
[email protected] (Reuters) - China plans to extend a railway line linking Tibet with the rest of the country to the borders of India, Nepal and Bhutan by 2020 once an extension to a key site in Tibetan Buddhism opens, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.
China opened the railway to Tibet’s capital Lhasa in 2006, which passes spectacular icy peaks on the Tibetan highlands, touching altitudes as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above sea level, as part of government efforts to boost development.
Critics of the railway, including exiled Tibetans and rights groups, say it has spurred an influx of long-term migrants who threaten Tibetans’ cultural integrity, which rests on Buddhist beliefs and a traditional herding lifestyle.
The Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said that an extention to Shigatse, the traditional seat of Tibetan Buddhism’s second-highest figure, the Panchen Lama, would formally open next month.
That link is scheduled for its own extension during the 2016-2020 period to two separate points, one on the border of Nepal and the other on the border with India and Bhutan, the newspaper cited Yang Yulin, deputy head of Tibet’s railways, as saying, without providing details.
China has long mooted this plan, but the difficulty and expense of building in such a rugged and remote region has slowed efforts.
Tibet is a highly sensitive region, not just because of continued Tibetan opposition to Chinese control, but because of its strategic position next to India, Nepal and Myanmar.
The Chinese announcement coincides with a drive by India, under its new prime minister Narendra Modi, to consolidate its influence with its smaller neighbors.
Modi’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, heads to Nepal on Friday with a proposed pact to help develop the Himalayan country’s hydro-electric power potential high on the agenda.
Modi, who made his first foreign trip as prime minister to Bhutan, is to visit Nepal next month. But Nepal’s opposition Maoists are uneasy about the hydro-electric plan and say it could lock out China to the benefit of Indian companies.
India and China fought a brief border war in 1962 over the region at the eastern end of the Himalayas. The nuclear-armed neighbors signed a pact in October to ensure that differences on their shared border do not spark a confrontation.
India and China have competing claims over what India calls Arunachal Pradesh, which has been administered by India for decades and what China calls South Tibet.
China’s Communist army occupied Tibet in 1950. Nine years later, Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India after a failed uprising.Sean Parker, Facebook's founding president and a co-founder of Napster, has given $100,000 to the ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in California.
Parker is portrayed by Justin Timberlake in "The Social Network," forcefully shaping his public image as the bad boy of Silicon Valley. He's been playing out that image at trendy nightclubs in New York City.
He's also a preternaturally gifted programmer and press-shy suddenly famous billionaire with some extra cash to shower on causes he supports. Parker, who's a venture capitalist with Founders Fund and one of the founders of Causes, the Facebook application that helps you rally support and donations for nonprofits and charities, can be counted on by friends to contribute to their causes. Among the major supporters of legalizing marijuana in California is Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who has given $70,000.
Parker could not immediately be reached for comment.
-- Jessica Guynn"Marc Bergevin and I regretfully accepted the resignation of assistant coach Clément Jodoin, who made the decision to end his long-time association with the Montreal Canadiens. At our post-season meeting, we offered Clément to remain on our coaching staff, but he indicated to us that at this stage in his career, he would be looking for a change and would like to explore other challenges. Clément has been a valuable part of our hockey management team during his 12-year tenure with the organization. His wealth of knowledge and valued experience were important assets for all of us. His positive attitude and optimism were contagious and will be missed. I take this opportunity to thank Clément for his remarkable contribution to our hockey club and wish him the very best with his future endeavours," said Canadiens head coach Claude Julien.
Clément Jodoin, 65, was a member of the Canadiens' coaching staff for the past five seasons, and also previously served as assistant coach for five seasons (1997 to 2001 and 2002-03). Jodoin was also a member of the Canadiens' recruiting and player development squad between 2000 and 2002. In 2011-12, he served as head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs, then the Canadiens' main affiliate team in the AHL.
Between 2007 and 2011, Clément Jodoin completed four seasons as head coach of the QMJHL's Rimouski Oceanic. During his four-year tenure with Rimouski, the Oceanic posted a 140-112-8-5 record in 265 regular season games. In 2008, while coaching the Oceanic, Jodoin was selected to be an assistant coach with Canada at the World Junior Championship in Czech Republic and returned home with a gold medal. He was also a member of gold medal-winning Canadian teams at the WJC in 2006 and 2007.
Before joining Rimouski, Jodoin was the head coach of the QMJHL's Lewiston MAINEiacs from 2004 to 2007. The Canadian Hockey League honored him with the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award in 2007, as he led Lewiston to the President's Cup and a berth in the Memorial Cup. Jodoin has twice been named the QMJHL's Coach of the Year, receiving the Ron Lapointe Trophy for the first time in 1997 as head coach / GM of the Halifax Mooseheads, and again in 2007 with the MAINEiacs. He was also the recipient of the Paul Dumont Trophy in 2005-06 as QMJHL Personality of the Year.
Jodoin began his coaching career 30 years ago and became, in 1984-85, the head coach of the UQTR Patriotes of the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union. He led his team to a conference championship in 1986 and to the CIAU title in 1987. Following a season as assistant coach with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins in 1987-88, he returned to UQTR to coach the Patriotes for two more seasons, winning the OUAAC Championship in 1990. Jodoin also worked with the Québec Nordiques between 1990 and 1994 spending two seasons as head coach of the AHL's Halifax Citadels (1990 to 1992) and was as an assistant coach with the Nordiques from 1992 to 1994.FILE PHOTO: The logo of HSBC bank is seen in Paris, France, France, February 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC could spend up to $300 million (228.72 million pounds) moving jobs and parts of its business to Paris following Britain’s exit from the European Union, Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said on Monday.
The estimate, one of the most detailed yet by a major bank, includes the costs of relocating up to 1,000 jobs to the French capital as well as associated legal fees, Gulliver told reporters on a conference call.
“The $200-$300 million total is the cost of the transition to France,” Gulliver said after HSBC reported an increase in profits for the first half of the year.
HSBC said up to $1 billion in revenue could be at risk from Britain’s exit from the EU but it should be able to preserve the income by shifting associated jobs to Paris, Gulliver said.
Companies are spending tens of millions of dollars getting ready for Britain’s exit, with international banks establishing new subsidiaries in the bloc or developing existing ones.
That’s despite there being little clarity on how much business their UK outposts will be able to in the EU once Britain leaves in March 2019.
HSBC Chairman Douglas Flint said a meeting he attended between Brexit minister David Davis and British company executives this month showed signs of an improved relationship between the government and business over Brexit.
“The meeting was evidence of that, it was a well-designed meeting with the right people in the room, and each side interested in understanding each other,” Flint told Reuters on Monday.Marvel Surveyed Captain America 2 Viewers This Weekend, This Is What They Asked By Kristy Puchko Random Article Blend Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier. So, last Friday afternoon I made my way to a Manhattan movie theater to catch up with what many of my colleagues were calling
They told us they would like each of us to participate in a survey concerning Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier. At first, I thought this might be those mysterious
As you can see, they begin with simple demographic questions, like age, gender, race (at bottom of page 1) and whether or not you brought kids with you. Next came basic marketing questions about what sold me on seeing Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier. (Internet/Online Blogs, obviously!) Then they go more into depth, asking what about Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier's marketing campaign most appealed to me as a moviegoer. And of course, what Captain America merch do I spend my moneys on?
Page 2 was supposed to be answered after we watched the film. These questions focused on how our expectations were met and if we'd recommend the movie to others (and other demographics). From there, Marvel wanted to know what impressed viewers most about Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier and how we'd describe it to our friends. Following that are more questions on merchandizing and marketing for this movie as well as for other Disney properties, Maleficent and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Most curious of all these questions though is section 29, asking which Marvel movies you'd be interested in seeing. Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant Man, Thor 3 and Captain America are already in the works. But Iron Man 4 is a bit of a surprise as there has been a bunch of back and forth over Downey's future in the franchise. We've previously expounded on why Iron Man 4 Iron Man 4 is go? Or is Marvel gaging interest before green lighting another massive production? My guess is the former. After all, Iron Man 3 made $1.2 billion worldwide. If they have Downey on contract again, why not roll the dice one more time?
From a business perspective, this survey makes sense. But is it hedging Marvel in creatively? Shouldn't they be leading the charge on projects they believe in?
What's most shocking to me is an omitted question. Why is there no entry for a Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier spurred audiences to see it. But on a survey targeted specifically at those who went to see a Marvel movie opening day, there's not even the suggestion that a Black Widow movie is in the works. Still, I'm hopeful that Natasha Romanoff will have her day as the lead hero. After all, they gave her a ton of setup in this movie. Sometimes as a blogger you have to make a tough scheduling call. For me that meant missing the NY press screening for. So, last Friday afternoon I made my way to a Manhattan movie theater to catch up with what many of my colleagues were calling one of Marvel's best movies yet. What would have been a pretty standard theater experience was suddenly interrupted ahead of the trailers, when a group of young men in black slacks and white dress shirts came in and made an unexpected announcement.They told us they would like each of us to participate in a survey concerning. At first, I thought this might be those mysterious Cinema Scores we've referenced so often. But these men made it clear they were from Marvel Studios. With friendly smiles they offered me a 2-page survey and a tiny pencil, the kind you get at miniature golf courses. But what did they want to know? Check it out with my snapshots below. Click each to enlarge. (Apologies for the dimness, it was a dark theater and my iPad doesn't have a flash function.)As you can see, they begin with simple demographic questions, like age, gender, race (at bottom of page 1) and whether or not you brought kids with you. Next came basic marketing questions about what sold me on seeing. (Internet/Online Blogs, obviously!) Then they go more into depth, asking what about's marketing campaign most appealed to me as a moviegoer. And of course, what Captain America merch do I spend my moneys on?Page 2 was supposed to be answered after we watched the film. These questions focused on how our expectations were met and if we'd recommend the movie to others (and other demographics). From there, Marvel wanted to know what impressed viewers most aboutand how we'd describe it to our friends. Following that are more questions on merchandizing and marketing for this movie as well as for other Disney properties,andMost curious of all these questions though is section 29, asking which Marvel movies you'd be interested in seeing.andare already in the works. Butis a bit of a surprise as there has been a bunch of back and forth over Downey's future in the franchise. We've previously expounded on why would never be, but since then the possibility re-emerged with the Mandarin One-Shot seemingly setting it up. Could this survey meanis go? Or is Marvel gaging interest before green lighting another massive production? My guess is the former. After all,made $1.2 billion worldwide. If they have Downey on contract again, why not roll the dice one more time?From a business perspective, this survey makes sense. But is it hedging Marvel in creatively? Shouldn't they be leading the charge on projects they believe in?What's most shocking to me is an omitted question. Why is there no entry for a Black Widow movie? Sure, there's a couple of questions about whether or not her involvement inspurred audiences to see it. But on a survey targeted specifically at those who went to see a Marvel movie opening day, there's not even the suggestion that a Black Widow movie is in the works. Still, I'm hopeful that Natasha Romanoff will have her day as the lead hero. After all, they gave her a ton of setup in this movie. RELATED: Avengers 4 Cast Looks Back On 10 Years Of Marvel Blended From Around The Web Facebook
Back to topFrom time to time, people come to us with a problem, "Our queries cancelled on standby servers, and we enabled hot_standby_feedback, but queries on standby get cancelled. Why?". Indeed, after reading the documentation, it may seem that the feedback solves query cancelling problems, and if it is enabled the conflicts will disappear. However, this is not true. In this article we take a look at the feedback, how it works and which problems it is intended to solve.
hot_standby_feedback - Specifies whether or not a hot standby will send feedback to the primary or upstream standby about queries currently executing on the standby. This parameter can be used to eliminate query cancels caused by cleanup records, but can cause database bloat on the primary for some workloads. Feedback messages will not be sent more frequently than once per wal_receiver_status_interval. The default value is off. This parameter can only be set in the postgresql.conf file or on the server command line.
As seen from the description, standby server sends information about queries which are currently running on it. What kind of information? By default the feedback is disabled, in which case wal receiver process sends only information about which parts of the transaction log are written, flushed and replayed (see To begin with let us turn to the official documentation hot_standby_feedback - Specifies whether or not a hot standby will send feedback to the primary or upstream standby about queries currently executing on the standby. This parameter can be used to eliminate query cancels caused by cleanup records, but can cause database bloat on the primary for some workloads. Feedback messages will not be sent more frequently than once per. The default value is off. This parameter can only be set in the postgresql.conf file or on the server command line.As seen from the description, standby server sends information about queries which are currently running on it. What kind of information? By default the feedback is disabled, in which casesends only information about which parts of the transaction log are written, flushed and replayed (see pg_stat_replication view for details). To send feedback, enable the option and reload postgres.
Now we take a look into postgresql source, particularly on the code of the wal receiver process. This process runs on standby server and receives WALs from master server. We search src/backend/replication/walreceiver.c for the function XLogWalRcvSendHSFeedback. WAL receiver process use this function for sending feedback. It sends feedback only when following conditions are met:
wal_receiver_status_interval parameter is greater than zero; hot_standby_feedback parameter enabled.
Feedback send interval specified in wal_receiver_status_interval. Before sending feedback the oldest xmin is to be determined: it is the ID of the oldest transaction which executes longer than others transactions (see GetOldestXmin function in src/backend/storage/ipc/procarray.c for details). Note, while searching oldest xmin, PostgreSQL checks all currently running transactions and all logical replication slots. Slots have their own values of xmin and catalog_xmin. Xmin is the oldest transaction ID which retention for this database is needed by this slot. Catalog_xmin is the oldest transaction which affects the system catalogs that should retain in the database for this slot. VACUUM cannot remove tuples deleted by any later transaction.
When the id of the oldest transaction is determined, the
is subtracted from this value.
parameter is a means to postpone the VACUUM, it is a parameter in the earlier versions of
that is now replaced by feedback:
vacuum_defer_cleanup_age - Specifies the number of transactions by which VACUUM and HOT updates will defer cleanup of dead row versions. The default is zero transactions, meaning that dead row versions can be removed as soon as possible, that is, as soon as they are no longer visible to any open transaction. You may wish to set this to a non-zero value on a primary server that is supporting hot standby servers, as described in Section 25.5. This allows more time for queries on the standby to complete without incurring conflicts due to early cleanup of rows. However, since the value is measured in terms of number of write transactions occurring on the primary server, it is difficult to predict just how much additional grace time will be made available to standby queries. This parameter can only be set in the postgresql.conf file or on the server command line.
Thus the
is equal to the oldest transaction id running on the standby minus
, or the oldest transaction id that is needed for logical replication slot minus
.
But that's not all, now we need to take into account the
, because it may happen that the epoch has changed, and transactions counter was restarted. To do this, we take the value of the next transaction and compare it to the
. If the
is greater than the next transaction, then the epoch value is decreased.
Now we have to construct our feedback message and send it to the master. To do this, initialize a blank message, add the label which says that the this message is feedback, then add current timestamp,
and
. Now send the message to the master, using
(actually
) function. At this point, the
is done.
Next, the message will be accepted by
that is running on the master or an upstream server.
value will be recorded in the WAL sender's internal structure
. Every postgres backend has it's own structure. In the future, when the vacuum occurs, and before the vacuuming relation, the oldest transaction will also be determined (with the function
that we already know) and the WAL senders's
will be also taken into account. The calculated
will be used to check tuple visibility in any open transactions. If the tuple is still
seeing at least one transaction, it cannot be vacuumed.
Thus
acts as an intermediary for standby and if the vacuum has to process tuples which are visible on standby transactions, it will be forced to skip these tuples.
Summary. The parameter
does nothing with conflict resolution of streaming replication and its only purpose is to avoid queries cancellation on standby in the case the vacuum on master server cleans something up.Summary
This is all in good fun, thought it would be funny to model the Fry fork from McDonalds recent ad campaign and make a joke out of the whole thing To use this stick 3 fries inside the top container area and dip them into your sauce This is a simplistic model and doesn't take long to print, If you do choose to print this i recommend you use supports on the inner fry containment area. Please use food safe plastics and DO NOT use toxic plastics since this will be used with food. Hope you find this funny like i did. Maybe my jokes are just silly and cheesy
Print Settings
Rafts:
Doesn't Matter
Supports:
Doesn't Matter
Resolution:
Any resolution can work but i used 0.17mm
Infill:
15% - 25% you can print higher it may make it feel sturdier but with my experience it doesnt make that much of a difference
How I Designed This
Step 1 | Become notably bored.
To begin this wondrous project i was browsing youtube and came across the Frork video from McDonalds, that gave me an idea and i cant just turn on the idea of creating something just for a joke! I was thinking about the design and realized the first step would be to get the length and width of a french fry from mcdonald's. So instead of going out at first I used the trusty google. I stumbled on this MIT paper about the average length of a french fry but yet, no width. I had to go to McDonalds and purchase a small fry for myself to measure. Turns out the average length of a McDonald's french fry is 6.86mm.
Step 2 |???
Went to modeling this on Fusion 360. Once i came up with the base design i printed 3 versions with minor changes here and there, and did the extensive testing of dipping it in sauce to seeing if it can hold it in the chamber well.
Step 3 | Design and PublishThe main culprits of the most radical measures taken by the Venezuelan government come from Spanish politician Alfredo Serrano Mancilla, according to Spanish Adviser to President Nicolás Maduro Deputy Carlos Valero.
Valero told the newspaper ABC in Spain that Serrano “is the author of the latest and most radical economic measures undertaken by the Chavistas, who have only managed to impoverish the country.”
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Expropriations, the seizure of businesses, “urban agriculture” on balconies, the soviet supply system and forced employment in the public agriculture sector are all a result of Serrano’s influence.
Earlier this year, the newspaper El Nacional reported about “Alfredo Serrano Mancilla, the Spaniard who pulls the strings of the Venezuelan economy.” The newspaper pointed out the Podemos member is one of the most influential figures in Maduro’s economic cabinet.
“The fact that the government continues to insist on the economic model of socialism in the 21st century, despite the queues, shortages and inflation is entirely from him,” the paper claimed.
Who is Alfredo Serrano Mancilla?
Mancilla “is the last redoubt that the Spanish populist left keeps in Venezuela,” according to ABC.
He is the coordinator of the Center for Political and Social Studies (CEPS), a Spanish anti-capitalist organization that provides political consulting. He has consulted for the governments of Spain, Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador and Bolivia. CEPS is currently listed as an “appendix” of Podemos. Several of its leaders operate within the Spanish leftist party (most notably Podemos leaders Pablo Iglesias and Iñigo Errejón).
Mancilla studied economics in Barcelona, Spain and in Quebec, Canada. He arrived in Venezuela 10 years ago with a group of leftist Spanish teachers (Juan Carlos Monedero, Pablo Iglesias, Luis Alegre, Roberto Viciano Pastor) who were attracted to the idealistic thought of Hugo Chavez.
Mancilla began a friendly relationship with the Marxist political intelligentsia of Venezuela until meeting with then-Planning Minister Ricardo Menendez, after which he began rubbing shoulders with even more important higher-ups.
In 2014, he presented the paper The Economic thought of Hugo Chavez, for which President Nicolás Maduro praised him and introduced him to the elite of the regime. Mancilla immediately became an advisor to Maduro.
From there, Mancilla became a kind of ideologue of Chavismo. He wrote speeches for President Maduro, including the most important ones presented to the National Assembly.
Mancilla, according to El Nacional, has solidified the idea that the socialist economic model of the 21st century is unquestionable, and that any failure is the result of attacks from the opposition.
“Clinging to the hope of an economic miracle to save his country, Maduro has placed his trust in a dark Spanish Marxist professor whom he calls ‘the Jesus Christ of the economy,'” The Wall Street Journal recently reported.
ABC noted Alfredo Serrano Mancilla is the man behind the Maduro’s constant refusal to allow humanitarian aid into Venezuela.
“Serrano said he wanted to hide the crisis and not allow the entry of humanitarian aid. Even NGOs like Doctors Without Borders cannot act in Venezuela without asking permission from authorities.”ITTA BENA, Miss. -- Davon Usher scored 31 points as Mississippi Valley State turned in its best offensive performance of the season, downing winless Grambling State 90-68 Monday night in Southwestern Athletic Conference action.
Usher hit 12 of 19 from the floor and 4 of 8 from deep. Cameron Dobbs and Darryl Marshall also each hit four treys and scored 12 and 14 points, respectively. Matt Smith also had 12 points and Ervin Thomas added 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Delta Devils (5-22, 5-12), who snapped a four-game losing streak.
Grambling State (0-25, 0-16) shot 40 percent (28 of 70) but connected on just 2 of 17 3-pointers and 10 of 18 free throws.
The Delta Devils knocked down 15 treys in 34 attempts (44.1 percent) and hit 49.3 percent (35 of 71) from the floor.
MVSU used a 16-2 run to build a 42-33 halftime advantage.KARACHI: A giant blue whale has recently been spotted along with its baby off Churna Island, Balochistan, the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) reported on Thursday.
This was the first live sighting of the blue whale, stated the organisation, which had earlier reported sighting of a sperm whale pair off Jiwani.
The blue whale is listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and its global population today stands at around 10,000 to 25,000.
According to the organisation, the mother and baby duo were sighted by Captain Saeed Zaman and his team while fishing for tuna off Churna Island.
“The mother whale was around 17 metres long, almost the same size of their fishing boat whereas the calf surfaced rarely so its size could not be assessed,” the WWF-P quoted fishermen as saying.
According to the information available on the National Geographic website, blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on earth. These magnificent marine mammals rule the oceans as they are up to 100 feet long and can weigh up to 200 tons.
“Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant and their hearts as much as an automobile. Blue whales reach these mind-boggling dimensions on a diet composed nearly exclusively of tiny shrimp-like animals called krill.
“During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about four tons of krill a day. Its average lifespan in the wild can be 80 to 90 years,” the website says.
Protect Churna Island
Mohammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser on marine fisheries at the WWF-P, called for conserving the biodiversity of Churna Island. “Both old and new records show that the area is ecologically sensitive and is home to a variety of species including whales. It must be declared a marine protected area.”
A number of skeletal remains of beached blue whales, he pointed out, had earlier been reported from Pakistan’s waters.
“The last such specimen was observed in the Khuddi creek along the coast of Sindh in 2014. Last year, there were 47 sightings of baleen whales (characterised by having baleen plates for filtering food rather than having teeth) from Pakistan’s coast but none of them could be recognised as a blue whale, which is also a baleen whale species.”
He attributed the increase in the sighting of whales to pelagic shrimps, which the whales eat. These shrimps are found in abundance in the post-monsoon period.
“Besides, more than 100 fishermen, mainly skippers, have been trained by the organisation to record sightings of megafauna (whales, dolphins, whale sharks, rays, turtles and sunfish) as well as to ensure the safe release of such animals in case of entanglement in fishing nets,” he said.
Under the programme, he pointed out, 60 whale sharks, 45 mobulids, 25 sunfish, six dolphins, one finless porpoise, five whales, 25 sea snakes, five masked boobies (seabirds) and thousands of marine turtles had been rescued.
Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017In primis bisogna spiegare cosa sia il fenomeno Soffokati. Si tratta di un gru ppo di tassinari romani molto arrabbiati e esasperati che stanno fuori dai sindacati tassinari tradizionali e che sono nati anche con interessanti funzioni civiche (il taxi service per orientare i consumatori a Termini o a Fiumicino e salvarli dagli abusivi) e che ultimamente hanno avuto una deriva aggressiva e violenta.
Merlo, Taverna e Raggi durante i festeggiamenti per la vittoria di quest'ultima alle Comunali
I Soffokati - lo stesso gruppo che ha ricoperto la città degli orribili adesivi abusivi bianchi con scritta nera che invitano in inglese i clienti a prendere solo "white taxi" e non "illegal black cab" - si sono distinti nelle lotte contro la norma Lanzillotta a favore di Uber qualche mese fa e le loro gesta sono state raccontate da molti giornali (ma Lorenzo D'Albergo scrisse un lungo articolo anche sul Venerdì) e da un inquietante servizio di Piazza Pulita a firma del sempre ottimo Salvatore Gulisano
cliccando qui, qui e ), capo dei Soffokati Pasquale Merlo (ma in realtà il suo nome è tutt'altro come si impara qui ), capo dei Soffokati
Il Merlo e che è l'individuo ritratto in tutte queste foto oltre che, in performance atletiche di lotta greco-romana e in dialoghi raggelanti, nel filmato de La7, è immortalato in decine di scatti a fianco a Paola Taverna e in questo filmato ( I Soffokati sono da sempre vicini, anzi vicinissimi, al Movimento 5 Stelle (sono stati loro a ricoprire i loro taxi di simboli elettorali durante le passate comunali) e in particolare a Paola Taverna. Il leader dei Soffokati, che si fa chiamaree che è l'individuo ritratto in tutte queste foto oltre che, in performance atletiche di lotta greco-romana e in dialoghi raggelanti, nel filmato de La7, è immortalato in decine di scatti a fianco a Paola Taverna e in questo filmato ( qui l'origin |
the Canvassing Board. By that time, however, the die had been cast.
FRANKEN TAKES THE LEAD
At the end of the hand count, the Canvassing Board took center stage. Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, DFL, a man known for his partisan bent, appointed a well-balanced judicial panel to hear the recount challenges from both campaigns. Two of the judges had been appointed to the bench by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, one by independent former Gov. Jesse Ventura and another who had won her seat on the bench by election. For the most part, the panel took its job seriously enough that only a handful of the hundreds of decisions made on ballots were not unanimous. Even Ritchie appeared to sense that partisan actions at this juncture could create chaos in the process and put the entire effort in jeopardy of getting rejected entirely in the expected legal contest to come.
The first action from the board was a demand to both campaigns to reduce the number of challenges. Initially, more than 6,000 ballots had been challenged by both teams, and eventually they brought it down to about 1,500.
Immediately, Coleman ran into problems with the Canvassing Board. The team of aggressive, well-trained Franken volunteers had its match in the panel that intended to try to discern voter intent, if at all possible, rather than adopt the more “common-sensical” approach urged by Coleman trainers to their volunteers. While the Canvassing Board kept an eye towards consistency, they also felt a mandate to determine voter intent, especially on overvotes, a role given them by Minnesota statute despite the rather clear and unambiguous nature of the optical-scan system. That mandate fit perfectly with the Franken approach, which used the limits of the law to argue for overvotes to count for Franken rather than get tossed or counted for Coleman—an effort not matched by their opponents.
By the time the Canvassing Board completed their work, Franken had taken the lead by 49 votes—and the question of absentee ballots had arisen. Franken alleged early in the recount process that thousands of absentee ballots had been erroneously rejected and wanted the recount process to address that. Coleman objected, stating that the question should come up in the contest process, which comes after the recount in Minnesota law.
Inexplicably, the Minnesota Supreme Court on Dec. 18 ordered the recount process to address the issue and declared that the campaigns should try to agree on a standard for accepting erroneously rejected absentee ballots rather than have the state enforce the standards themselves. As Scott Johnson notes, the Coleman campaign should have stood its ground at this point:
“The Minnesota Supreme Court held that absentee ballots identified by local officials during the recount as wrongly rejected should be included in the recount subject to agreement of the parties (and also subject to the possibility of sanctions on the parties’ lawyers for withholding agreement in bad faith).
“The Coleman campaign had argued (correctly, in my view) that previously excluded absentee ballots should not be included in the recount. The Coleman campaign was caught flatfooted by the Minnesota Supreme Court’s December decision. Coleman should not have agreed to the inclusion of a single one of these ballots until he secured some agreement on the uniform treatment of absentee ballots. Instead, Coleman’s team agreed to the inclusion of 933 of 1,346 previously rejected absentee ballots identified by local officials during the recount as having been improperly rejected.”
Johnson says that the court had practically handed the Coleman team the election at this point: They could have used that ruling to block further consideration of absentee ballots until the contest phase. Just a day later, however, the Canvassing Board calculated that Franken had jumped into the lead based on ballot challenges. Nevertheless, the inclusion of a portion of the absentee ballots put Franken’s lead from a tenuous 49 to a relatively stronger 225—where it would remain for more than three months.
SHIFTING STANDARDS
On Jan. 5, 2009—two months after the election—the Canvassing Board certified the election results, showing that Al Franken had unseated incumbent Norm Coleman by that 225-vote margin. A day later, Coleman fi led his election contest, the next legal step in fighting the results, and promised a tough campaign to “count every vote.”
Coleman’s court case rested on several premises, but primarily that Minnesota’s counties used varying standards in accepting absentee ballots as valid. As a remedy, Coleman wanted more of the rejected absentee ballots opened and counted, which he insisted would provide him with the extra votes he needed to win.
Unfortunately for Coleman, his attorneys took much the same tack as Dino Rossi’s 2004 legal team. Instead of finding individual ballots and making individual cases for inclusion, the Coleman lawyers attempted to focus on “categories” of ballots to gain acceptance of large blocs of previously rejected ballots, many of which had been demonstrated to fail against the statutory requirements for inclusion. Those statutory requirements include matching addresses between registration information and the absentee ballot, a proper and valid signature on the external envelope of the ballot, validation of the voter registration for that precinct and the establishment that the voter had not voted in person or with another absentee ballot.
Eric Black, who covered the trial for MinnPost.com, explained that Coleman’s team argued for a consistent low standard of acceptance for absentee ballots in order to get the broadest number of new ballots to count. “At one point, they were arguing that if you were alive on Election Day and at a Minnesota address, your absentee ballot should count, and that that was the only way you could get it to a standard that could be applied uniformly,” Black recalled. “It would require you to ignore a great many things that the statutes require.”
Coleman’s team argued that his team deserved that remedy based on the lack of uniformity of treatment of absentee ballots between the counties. Because some invalid ballots got counted in Franken-leaning counties, they said, the only remedy was to count all of the ballots that matched the lowest denominator of acceptance on Election Night. In essence, they argued that the judges should deliberately violate the law in order to remedy earlier violations of it, whether intentional or accidental.
At the same time, Franken’s team worked to find more examples of absentee ballots they could request for opening during the contest, but they went after cases on an individual basis. Again, this parallels Rossi/Gregoire, where the Democrats understood that they needed to remain on offense even in the contest phase. Instead of trying to convince the judges to allow ballots outside of the law, Franken’s lawyers found more ballots from the rejected pile to argue for inclusion within the law.
The three-judge panel hearing the contest unanimously found that Coleman had failed to prove his case that extraordinary relief would substantially change the outcome of the election. They bluntly wrote that Coleman’s legal team failed to prove its case at all, saying, “There is no evidence of a systemic problem of disenfranchisement in the state’s election system, including in its absentee balloting procedures.” To add insult to injury, they had added 87 more votes to Franken’s lead nine days earlier, widening the gap to 312 votes, after opening up 351 absentee ballots, which is all that the panel said had been proven necessary to count by either side. The judges had, in the end, focused on individual ballots rather than categories and generalities, just as Judge Bridges had done in Washington four years earlier.
Had the contest succeeded, would Coleman have won enough votes to upend Al Franken? The Coleman team asked the chair of economics at St. Cloud State University, King Banaian, to testify in support of their statistical analysis. Banaian, contacted only after the Coleman team filed the contest, had just a week to prepare and presented evidence that the distribution of rejected absentee ballots showed something other than chance at work, which would have bolstered Coleman’s insistence on extraordinary remedies. Franken’s team successfully challenged Banaian’s status as an expert on statistics and moved to exclude his testimony.
That might have been just as well, because Banaian’s study of rejected absentee ballots indicated that Coleman had a very slim chance of succeeding even had they opened the nearly 5,000 ballots Coleman first requested. Initially, Banaian calculated that Coleman could argue for the inclusion of almost 2,000 absentee ballots of the 12,000 rejected on Election Day, based on higher rejection rates in some counties than the state average for that election. Assuming that the vote distribution matched that of the general vote in each of the counties, Coleman could gain only 94 votes—far short of what he needed.
Banaian says, “That is why, in my opinion, the Coleman team requested opening 5,000 ballots instead.” But that would have generated only a net gain for Coleman of 166 votes, assuming a matching distribution once again— still short of the final 312-vote gap. Banaian puts the likelihood of winning enough votes out of the 5,000 ballots to overcome even the intermediate 225-vote gap at “only 0.8 percent or about 125-to-1 against.” Coleman’s team had pinned those hopes on a motion to reverse the inclusion of what they alleged were 133 double-counted ballots. Had the contest panel agreed with them and had the count not moved to 312 votes, Banaian still put the likelihood of reversing the election at “about 3-to-1 against,” not a convincing case for any judge to throw out the statutory requirements for absentee ballots and allow correctly disqualified votes into the count.
Norm Coleman appealed his case to the Minnesota Supreme Court to no avail and dropped his legal case June 30. Al Franken took his seat in the Senate a week later.
DON’T KNOW HOW TO WIN
The truth about the Minnesota election is that it was statistically a dead heat, which magnified the problems inherent to all elections. Most elections do not have close enough outcomes for the irregularities to matter. Even the best systems in the best states have their issues, and while Minnesota will work to improve the shortcomings exposed in the recount, it can never be made so perfect that a close election will have no problems in counts, absentee ballots and other issues.
But was the election really “stolen”? Republicans around the country repeatedly alleged that Franken had cheated in the recount, but the Minnesota Republicans actually involved tell a very different story. “They [Franken’s team] looked at it in the way extraordinarily good attorneys look at a case,” one remarked. “Our clients have interests. It’s our goal to get those interests pushed to the fore. Our job is not to be objective or fair.”
The legal analogy is a good one, another volunteer confirms. In the Minneapolis precinct in which she worked, she said that at times the Franken campaign seemed to have “10 lawyers for every volunteer working.” In fact, the precinct officials had to put tape on the floor to keep the lawyers from interfering with the recount process. Another volunteer estimated that in his precinct Franken had eight to 10 lawyers for every Coleman attorney.
This disparity put the two different missions in stark relief. The Franken campaign saw this as an adversarial process not unlike a court case, while the Coleman team saw it as something else entirely. Rather than steal the election, the lawyers were there to make their case on each and every ballot. The message from the Coleman team was that they were there to ensure overall fairness, acting more like judges or referees than the counterpoint adversaries to the Democrats.
Franken did not “steal” this election in the recount process. The Republicans lost this election because they failed to learn from their mistakes in Washington four years earlier and because they failed to realize how serious Democrats are about winning recounts for significant political offices. The Democrats have made it a major adversarial business, working much like defense attorneys or litigators do to find every legal advantage available to them in order to prevail.
As long as Republicans continue to handle election recounts as an afterthought, act like referees rather than stakeholders and fail to match resources with their opponents, they will lose these close elections. And if Republicans insist on believing that fraud rather than their own mistakes led to the recount loss, they will fail to learn this lesson—and lose the next one as well.Blizzard Entertainment is holding a one-year anniversary event for Overwatch starting next week, bringing with it a batch of fresh, still-to-be-revealed content for the hero-based shooter. But the release of the Overwatch Anniversary event will also include some non-event-related game content as well.
Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan said in an interview with Polygon that Blizzard will also refresh the game’s standard loot boxes with a few things fans have been asking for — specifically laughing and sitting emotes for post-release characters Sombra and Orisa. Kaplan said the Overwatch team wanted to give fans a few new cosmetics untethered to events.
Blizzard is also reacting to fan feedback by adding that smarmy, meme-worthy shrug that Gabriel “Reaper” Reyes did in the recent Overwatch Uprising comic.
Reaper’s sarcastic shrug was quickly embraced by the Overwatch community, resulting in requisite fan art and attempts by fans to recreate the move, as seen in the render from Deviantart user dahshi above. It’ll come to the game as an emote and spray next week.We recently discussed some broad strategies for how to set the tempo for you Destiny games. This week we’re going to get into some more specifics about deck building by looking at the Battlefields. Particularly, when you might want to take each of the different battlefields included in the Awaenings set.
Command Center
Each opponent discards the top 2 cards of their deck.
Character Combos
Padme Amidala
Admiral Ackbar
Count Dooku
Jabba the Hutt
Strategies
This battlefield is great for a mill deck. Burn your opponent’s hand during the round and then this battlefield also burns some of their deck.
Echo Base
Give a character 1 shield
Character Combos
Qui-Gon Jinn
Padme Amidala
Jabba the Hutt
Strategies
Gaining shields is never a bad thing so this battlefield can be useful to any character. Qui-Gon loves it because it combos very nicely with his ability. It also stands out as useful to Padme and Jabba in particular because their strategies usually do not resolve around dealing direct damage to your opponent. Therefore, if your opponent claims the battlefield it doesn’t really help them much.
Emperor’s Throne Room
Turn one of your dice to a side showing a special ability (Special). Then you may resolve that die.
Character Combos
Padme Amidala
Kylo Ren
Poe Dameron
Strategies
In Awakenings there are only three characters with a special so this battlefield combos more with upgrades than particular characters. Many Blue deck Force ability upgrades have very nice specials. This battlefield is good for maintaining a quick tempo as you can turn a potentially useless die to its special, resolve it and get the battlefield all with one action.
Frozen Wastes
Remove a character die.
Character Combos
None
Strategies
This is another battlefield that can help you maintain a quick tempo. It allows you to claim while your opponent still has valuable dice in the pool and eliminate one of them. This means sometimes it is worth claiming before even your dice are all used in order to eliminate a big threat.
Imperial Armory
Play an upgrade from your hand, decreasing its cost by 1.
Character Combos
First Order Stormtrooper
Nightsister
Tusken Raider
Rebel Trooper
Padawan
Hired Gun
Strategies
This battlefield helps a lot with reducing the cost of your upgrades. This is very useful when you have multiple non-unique characters. Equipping them all with upgrades takes time and a lot of resources and the Imperial Armory makes that cheaper.
Jedi Temple
Look at an opponents hand and discard up to two events.
Character Combos
Padme Amidala
Admiral Ackbar
Count Dooku
Jabba the Hutt
Strategies
This is another battlefield that goes well with mill decks. Unlike Command Center this eliminates cards from an opponent’s hand instead of their deck. Ackbar in particular likes this as it has the potential to trigger his ability. It is limited to events but those are likely to be the majority of the cards in someone’s deck.
Mos Eisley Spaceport
Return an upgrade to your hand to gain 1 resource.
Character Combos
Rey
Qui-Gon Jinn
Strategies
Rey is particularly suited to this card if you have some cheap upgrades. You can play a 1 point upgrade during the round, trigger Rey’s extra action and then at the end of the round return the upgrade to your hand and recover the resource cost so you can do it again next round. It is also useful on Qui-Gon with Jedi Robes. You won’t recover the resource cost but when you play the robes he gets a shield, potentially triggering his ability.
Rebel War Room
Resolve one of your dice. If it has a resource cost, you do not have to pay it.
Character Combos
Hired Gun
Leia Organa
General Grievous
Count Dooku
Kylo Ren
Tusken Raider
Strategies
Any character or upgrade with a resource cost on one of its sides goes well with this battlefield. It can save you many resources over the course of the game and let you trigger those powerful abilities far more frequently.
Separatist Base
Each opponent chooses and deals 1 unblockable damage to one of their characters.
Character Combos
Jango Fett
Rey
Tusken Raider
Strategies
This is a simple damage dealing battlefield. It can go well with any damage dealing character but it pairs best with those that allow you to maintain a good tempo. You don’t want your opponent claiming this battlefield.
Starship Graveyard
Choose a support or upgrade in your discard pile and place it on top of your deck.
Character Combos
Poe Dameron
Strategies
Poe likes discarding upgrades and this helps him get them back. This is not a battlefield you want to pair with a mill deck or Darth Vader and it can undo their effects.
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commentsIf your childhood was like mine, meatloaf made frequent appearances on your dinner table. It was frugal and kid-friendly, and my dad would take a meatloaf sandwich to work the next day. I liked it okay, but it wasn’t until I became an adult that I really started to enjoy it — perhaps for the same reasons my own mother liked it.
Meatloaf is one of those under-appreciated, all-American type dishes that we don’t often pay that much attention to. But the reality is that it has a rich history. Here are five facts about meatloaf that may help you appreciate it more.
Meatloaf has a long and ancient history
Patties or “loaves” of minced meat, mixed with a variety of ingredients, are part of many culinary histories. Germans hid boiled eggs inside meatloaf, the Romans enjoyed theirs made with wine-soaked bread, spices, and pinenuts, Medieval Europe served it mixed with with fruit, nuts and seasonings. Sometimes it was served hot, or wrapped in ham, or served cold with sauces, or was found jiggling in layers of gelatin. From the beginning, meatloaf showed us how much potential we have for the re-invention of food.
Modern meatloaf followed the invention of the meat grinder
Before the meat grinder, meat had to be laboriously minced by hand. The meat grinder changed all of that, making the process much quicker. It may be rare to own now, but a meat grinder used to be a normal kitchen tool, ensuring that everyone could grind his or her own meat. And what better use for ground beef than meatloaf? Meatloaf became much more popular after this important culinary invention.
Meatloaf was comforting during the Great Depression
The Great Depression was hard on the majority of Americans, with millions out of work, the stock market crash, and the Dust Bowl. With meatloaf's ability to stretch cheap meat into even more meals by the addition of cheap oats, breadcrumbs, and other starches, it's no wonder this filling dish gained even more appreciation in the hearts of Americans during this time frame.
Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives/flickr
Meatloaf was popular during World War II
For many of the same reasons, meatloaf grew in popularity during World War II as well. A version by "Penny Prudence" was promoted with the name of "Vitality Loaf" during this time frame. It was formulated for getting as much nutrition as possible on the dinner table for a low cost. Vegetarian options also started circulated as rations cut down on the availability of meat. The picture above was likely part of the "Health for Victory" campaign, focused on helping war time families get through the war with good nutrition despite shortages of staples such as meat. Meat-stretching recipes like meatloaf were an obvious choice. With mothers working outside the home at higher rates, I’m sure ease of preparation was also a reason for its popularity.
Meatloaf is incredibly adaptable
Many home cooking-style restaurants serve classic meatloaf, with diners appreciating the meatloaf that has survived through all of this history. For some, it speaks of a mother's love. But since meatloaf takes on variations so easily, the fine dining scene also features it with rich and exotic ingredients, showing that it dresses up just as well as it dresses down. And there are plenty of recipes for making it at home that use more specialty items like mushrooms, wines, special spices, unusual meats, and more. You can keep it as plain and simple, or as fancy as you like.
The reason meatloaf has stayed with us through so many generations? It’s a master of evolution. It’s lived through ancient times, the Industrial Revolution, world wars, heart breaking depressions, nasty processed foods, and fancy gourmet versions, all because it is so adaptable. With such skills, it's sure to outlast us, as each generations makes it their own.
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Photo of meat grinder: Rocketlass/ Flickr
5 little known facts about the history of meatloaf
Meatloaf is an everyday food with an out-of-the-ordinary history.In 2016, legendary game designer Mark Rosewater (Magic: the Gathering) published an article on what he calls “the Storm Scale”. Simply put, it is the likeliness for any one given mechanic to return in a Standard-legal set. The idea originated by many people asking him about this on his blog, so he decided to turn it into a full-fledged scale, which since then has become a prominent feature of modern design philosophies, especially in regard to card games in particular. It should be noted that this concept has existed for well over 10 years now, however only recently it was written about in great detail by the author himself – expanding, improving and elaborating on the original concept.
Caveats
Before we move on, we have to mention a few things. Like Rosewater states in the inaugural post, the scale is very subjective because it’s based on his own opinion on the subject. Here are some things I’d like to get out of the way for the rest of the article:
The scale is in flux. We are constantly learning and evolving with the game itself. Through iteration and continuing to develop our methods, we might find other metrics and systems that help us better evaluate mechanics and be more accurate in the future. Additionally, the designers themselves are always looking to improve on the game and this can lead to internal reevaluation of priorities. This will directly affect this scale, but we will adapt accordingly.
Through iteration and continuing to develop our methods, we might find other metrics and systems that help us better evaluate mechanics and be more accurate in the future. Additionally, the designers themselves are always looking to improve on the game and this can lead to internal reevaluation of priorities. This will directly affect this scale, but we will adapt accordingly. The scale is mostly my opinion. While it’s based on deep knowledge about game design, Hearthstone and it’s mechanics, evaluation criteria and comments from the rap legend himself, we are only human and this scale is how I would construct it.
. While it’s based on deep knowledge about game design, Hearthstone and it’s mechanics, evaluation criteria and comments from the rap legend himself, we are only human and this scale is how I would construct it. Not everything is going to fit right in. Despite what you might read on reddit or on the forums, the game is actually fairly consistent overall. Still, there are many outliers even among the core mechanics (read: those that have been keyworded) and they won’t fit into our criteria as easily.
. Despite what you might read on reddit or on the forums, the game is actually fairly consistent overall. Still, there are many outliers even among the core mechanics (read: those that have been keyworded) and they won’t fit into our criteria as easily. I ‘m neither on the design team nor perfect. As previously stated, in a perfect world this work would be done by the game’s own designers. Sometimes mine and their opinions might differ and I might make an error, but mostly I’m here to provide structure and basis for further analysis, based on the criteria below:
Adapting the System to Hearthstone
Unlike MTG, for which the original concept was developed, Hearthstone is a relatively new game. It has been out for about 4 years now, depending on what you count as release (first playable versions, open beta, actual official release, etc.) but it’s still very young in development cycles and to this day feels like it’s yet discovering and exploring its identity. It is very hard to pinpoint the degree to which the internal inflation of power within the game has already hit the intended power curve, passed it or hasn’t reached it yet. For all we know, the Basic and Classic sets could have started way below it, in order to have plenty of room for growth; or right on point, serving as a guideline of what the power level should remain throughout the game’s life cycle, barring the inevitable inflation that naturally occurs within all games.
Because it’s so young, it makes it very hard for Hearthstone to have underlying problems such as incredibly broken mechanics yet. Aside from a couple of outliers, every single mechanic right now has a very big chance of coming back because design space isn’t very limited yet. So, when we talk about levels of the Hearthstorm Scale, we can’t really go to the same extent as we could with other games. For that reason, I’m straight up excluding levels 9 and 10 from the adapted scale and won’t be mentioning 8 either until a developer steps in to say otherwise. Right now if a mechanic is score poorly on the scale, the dominant reason would be player dissatisfaction and lack of interest more than anything else. I am also introducing level 11 – a proverbial watchlist that monitors only combinations of mechanics that are too good together and serves as a big red light for mistakes.
Levels
Level 1: Will definitely see it again, most likely in the immediate future.
This level can be described with one simple word – Evergreen. We call mechanics evergreen when we talk about the game most fundamental effects. In most cases this will mean things that have been used so much that they have been given keywords. Note that not every single keyword is strictly level 1 and not every level 1 mechanic will always appear in every set, but a key characteristic of this level is that they are generalistic designs that can always be included.
Examples: Battlecry, Deathrattle, Taunt.
Level 2: Will definitely see it again, but not necessarily right away.
These are still mechanics that are available for every set to use, but they might not always fit thematically. Those will be the less commonly used keywords that don’t fall into level 1, as well as other widely-applied but not keyworded interactions. They range from often used to rarely used based on whether the set needs them or not but are otherwise a lot like level 1 – popular and with virtually no limitations on the design space. A great way to distinguish between Levels 1 and 2 is that basic cards don’t feature any keywords that are not level 1.
Examples: Secret, Discover, Immune.
Level 3: Will most likely see it again, probably many times.
In this category we can find popular and non-problematic mechanics that leave plenty of design space available to be brought back but can’t be always present for some reason, such as overlapping or conflicting with other mechanics in Standard. This is where we can also see designs that would otherwise be problematic and constricting be brought back in slightly different form.
Examples: Lifesteal (to be keyworded with Knights of the Frozen Throne), Windfury, Highlander.
Level 4: Will most likely do again, but they have issues that make them less of a guarantee
On this level we can find popular mechanics that bring with them considerable limitations to design. The most dangerous keywords reside here, but they are popular enough to warrant return and are generally not so problematic that they can’t be brought back. An important distinction between these and level 3 mechanics is that when overtuned, these can be actively detrimental to the game’s health and must be handled cautiously.
Examples: Charge, Stealth, Freeze.
Level 5: There would have to be a good reason to see them again, but I’m optimistic
From here on out, most of the items included in these upper levels will be here firstly because they are less popular with the playerbase and secondarily because they present a problem for the game. Usually their problems can be worked around to bring them when it makes sense to do so. On this level we put the mechanics that were not very well received but have good applications to be brought back whenever necessary and can work without too much support. An alternative criteria that can push a mechanic above level 4 is being tied to a set’s identity so much that it wouldn’t make sense to bring back in a different environment.
Examples: Adapt, Quest, Silence.
Level 6: There would have to be a good reason to see them again, but I’m a little less optimistic
Here also reside the mechanics that are unpopular, however unlike in level 5, they require more structure to make work and will only be brought back if a set or format actively requires them to return. This is particularly hard to quantify in Hearthstone at the moment because we have only gone through a single Standard rotation at the moment but this criteria will become more clear in the future.
Examples: Restrictions, Taking control, Stealing.
Level 7: It’s unlikely to return, but possible if the right environment comes along
This level is for the super unpopular mechanics and those most restricting on design space. Also they are often tied to a very specific flavour and/or need specific mechanical support to bring back. To put it simply, mechanics in level 7 are those whose power level is way too high and they exploit some of the game’s fundamentals or the least popular of all time.
Examples: Cost Reduction, Counter, Inspire.
Level 11: Combinations of mechanics that are too powerful and oppressive to be repeated ever again
This level is more special than the others. It only looks at specific combinations between different mechanics and identifies the ones that break the game. Currently there are three cards that stand head and shoulders above the rest and they all utilise the same level 11 mechanic – Tutor+Summon.
Examples: Mad Scientist, Patches the Pirate, Mysterious Challenger.
Lenses
When exploring where mechanics end up on the Hearthstorm scale, we need multiple metrics in order to place them as accurately as possible in their respective levels. For that we use four additional “lenses” to examine them through and introduce more granularity to our approach. The most important one is how popular a given mechanic is with the playerbase, but we also look at which designs are problematic for the game in various ways.
Popularity
One of the main driving forces behind the return of mechanics is whether or not players liked them. The game’s developers are not going to bring back something that received a majorly negative response (looking at you, Inspire) and they will do their best to feature a fan-favourite design again and again. This evaluation metric mostly tries to look at how people answer the question “Was it fun?”. It’s mostly derived through market research and the prevailing opinions of the vocal part of the player base.
Very popular – This mechanic falls in the top 25% of player satisfaction.
Popular – Still above the average, but not in the top 25%.
Liked – Most mechanics end up here and this is treated as the average – generally accepted and not actively disliked.
Disliked – Bottom 25% in player satisfaction, often publicly critiqued.
Design Space
What this lens examines is the ability to make more cards with a given mechanic. This is very important, because if there are no more additional ways to explore it, then it won’t matter how popular it was with the players or how easy it is to fit in the set. Additionally, it makes sense to fit the Versatility requirement here, which asks the questions “How easy is it for this mechanic to combine with others?” and “Does it require a lot of support or can it work on its own?”. If it requires additional infrastructure or is what’s called a “parasitic” mechanic that requires it to be featured on a lot of cards and only in the same set, then there won’t be too much design space in the set overall – even if there is the general capability to make more cards featuring it, there can only be so many things in a given expansion and parasitic mechanics restrict that a lot. This is a major factor of where a mechanic will place on the scale.
Large design space – This mechanic leaves plenty of room for new cards to feature it and can therefore be brought back many times.
Medium design space – There are not necessarily problems to bring it back, but there is a limit on how many cards can use it in a meaningful way.
Small design space – The mechanic is pushing the boundaries of it’s design in the set and it will be difficult to make new cards with it.
Final Design
The team that balances card concepts produced by “initial design” is called “final design” in Blizzard’s Team 5. This essentially comes down to asking the questions on how hard the mechanic was to keep in check – How easy was it to stat, cost, balance, etc.
Not problematic – This is usually a previously explored territory and making balanced cards with this mechanic is easy.
Neutral – There might be some issues with this mechanic but they are nothing major.
Problematic – These are either brave mechanical designs that thread previously unexplored game space or ones that are very hard to tune properly.
Playability
This lens looks at how easy a mechanic was for players to understand, both in how it works and how it interacts with other mechanics. Since Hearthstone is a digital card game there are very few and far between examples of something being logistically hard to use, so we are not looking at that here. MTG has a huge shuffling problem, which is done automatically here. Still, there are a few levels of user interaction that mechanics utilise – they can happen automatically (deathrattles), require player input (battlecry) or they can require from the player to do several things (choose one, discover). Due to being designed with simplicity in mind, Hearthstone will rarely have mechanics that can cause misunderstanding or misuse on the side of the player, but it’s not unheard of. It took many people quite some time to stop forgetting to attack with Patches, for instance.
Playability not affected – mechanic was crystal clear and/or there were no problems playing it.
Playability affected – there was ambiguity and/or it was not intuitive to play with.
Forming Ratings
Using these lenses, we have to form actual ratings for each mechanic. In the beginning here, as we try to put each of the current keywords on the scale, we will use a rather simplistic approach – we’ll apply each lens to each mechanic, starting with a base score of 1 and increment by 1 for each position further down on a particular lens the mechanic scores. The lens labels are ordered from top to bottom (best outcome to worst, respectively) with the top one increasing its rating on the scale by 0 and each one further down by +1 than the previous.
The further we work with the developers of the game to identify where each mechanic places on the scale, the more we can refine this process, award different points from each lens and further advance our understanding of where on the scale everything belongs. It’s crucial to understand that this is a gradual process and we will learn more about the game as it keeps growing, constantly reevaluating our metrics and discovering new ones.
Identifying Mechanics
When talking about mechanics, it’s important to be able to make the distinction between what constitutes as a “mechanic” and what doesn’t. Things like card type (minion, weapon, spell, hero card), mana cost and stats are not mechanics. Things such as cost reduction, summoning effects, drawing cards and countering spells are. Generally, mechanics fall into two categories – conditions and effects.
Conditions are requirements that “lock” the card’s effect behind some form of an obstacle that the player has to overcome. In game design, we call this “content gating”, because the desired content is often literally behind a closed gate. In Hearthstone, finding the key often equates to meeting a certain condition (eg. “have no duplicates in your deck”), completing an action (eg. “whenever this minion attacks”) or triggering an event (eg. “when you summon a minion”) in order to get your card’s real effect activated.
Effects are what the cards actually do, such as dealing damage, destroying minions, etc. Some effects can appear to not be gated behind conditions other than having the card due to how or when its triggers activate (Prince Malchezaar), but a key characteristic of effects is that they are always, always out behind some requirement. You can recognize conditions by the fact that they can be interacted with, while an effect will always go off when the requirement is met. The most confusing case is when auras are concerned because it might appear that the effect is freely available while it is in fact dependent on the aura persisting. Auras can be self-applied as well, such as the Taunt status.
For a full breakdown of what mechanics are, you can head on over to the Hearthstone Gamepedia section regarding abilities. In this introductory article we will only look at mechanics that have been keyworded so far, excluding Mega-Windfury because it’s not found on a collectible card and substituting it with “Elusive”, which is the “Can’t be targeted by spells or hero powers” ability.
The Hearthstorm Scale
Author’s Ratings
In this section I’m going to give my opinion on where each of the 24 currently keyworded mechanics falls on the scale with a brief explanation why. In the next part of this project we will take a look at every single mechanic in the game and rate it, as well as do a much more detailed walk-through of these same 24 abilities and see if anything changes. One of the biggest difficulties is distinguishing level |
ement _ I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."
French lawmakers are conducting hearings on whether women should be allowed to wear the burqa in public.Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, the presumptive coach of the 49ers, promised 100-percent focus on his current job.
Shanahan confirmed Thursday he expects to meet with 49ers executives Jed York and Paraag Marathe for a second time after the Falcons’ NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Shanahan interviewed with the 49ers on Jan. 5 in Atlanta. He is the last remaining available candidate among the six coach candidates with whom the 49ers met after firing Chip Kelly. The 49ers announced the firings of Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke after the team concluded a 2-14 season.
Shanahan met with the media three days before the conference championship wearing a gray shirt that read, “The only fight that matters is the one we are in.”
“You don’t have an option, so there’s nothing to get distracted about,” Shanahan said. “You can put this aside and totally focus on right here and right now. That’s not tough to do.
“This is an opportunity that I personally as a coach – I’ve wanted to win a playoff game my entire career and got to do that last week. Right now, that we have a chance to play for a Super Bowl, is pretty much what’s consuming my mind.”
The 49ers are prohibited from officially hiring Shanahan until the Falcons’ season is over. If Atlanta defeats the Packers on Sunday, the 49ers can still interview Shanahan next week and have him involved in the process to hire the team’s next general manager. But Shanahan could not be officially hired until following Super Bowl 51, which will take place Feb. 5 in Houston.
Shanahan admitted there is “some interest” but denied there’s been any spoken agreement he will become the 49ers’ next head coach.
“There’s a lot of stuff out there,” Shanahan said. “My friends growing up hear all that stuff. My wife hears that stuff. But everyone’s asking me what’s going on. I don’t know.
"I’m in my office looking at film all day and there’s nothing I’m allowed to do about it. So I think I’ll have an idea of that after the game. I don’t know what date that will be, whether it’s Monday or the following week, I’m not sure, and right now, I truly don’t care.”
The 49ers are expected to hire a general manager next week that will be matched with Shanahan. A source close to Shanahan told CSNBayArea.com that Shanahan is not insisting on full control over personnel and is fine working together with a general manager, on whom he would lean, to execute the plan with free agency, trades, the draft and determining the 53-man roster.
Green Bay director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst and Minnesota’s assistant general manager George Paton are expected to meet Tuesday with the 49ers and, possibly, Shanahan. The 49ers are keeping the door open on Arizona vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough. The 49ers informed a handful of candidates early this week they would not be brought back for second interviews. McDonough was not among those cut from contention.
Eliot Wolf, Green Bay’s director of football operations, pulled out of the running on Thursday. Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wolf withdrew his name from consideration when it became apparent he would not get the job. The Packers increased Wolf’s salary and will give him a change in titles, according to the report.
If Shanahan and the 49ers determine Gutekunst is the man they want, Packers general manager Ted Thompson is expected to let him leave immediately even if Green Bay advances to the Super Bowl, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Two years ago, Paton and Falcons coach Dan Quinn, Shanahan's current boss, were reportedly connected as part of a possible general manager-coach team. Paton and Quinn know each other from their time together with the Miami Dolphins. Paton and Shanahan interviewed with the 49ers on the same day – both in Atlanta.
McDonough is a highly respected talent evaluator who was believed to have Shanahan at the top of his list all along for coaches with whom he wanted to work, according to sources.
The second interviews are reportedly scheduled for Tuesday in Atlanta, according to the report. The 49ers could have their next coach and general manager in place by the middle of next week – depending on the outcome of Sunday’s game.
“My situation outside of this week, I’m definitely excited about that,” Shanahan said.
“You’re only allowed to talk to teams when you do have a bye week. I got that opportunity a couple of weeks ago. Regardless of what happens in this game, win or lose, you can talk to them again when your season’s over or if you get another bye week. I know I think I’ll get that opportunity next week, whatever happens, and I plan on doing that.”Yosemite National Park Enlarge
Yosemite National Park is preparing for a large number of visitors this Memorial Day weekend.
Park Spokesperson Scott Gediman was Friday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”.
“It’s going to a very busy weekend here,” said Gediman. “Holiday weekends are always busy here and if last weekend’s visitor numbers were any indication, we are going to be very busy.”
Highway 120 Tioga Road was closed yesterday due to snow. It remains closed this morning.
Officials will monitor conditions to determine when to re-open the mountain pass.
“Once Tioga Pass does re-open, The Tuolumne Lodge, the grocery store and the grill will all be open and operating for business. However, the gas station will not be open until Monday, Memorial Day.” said Gediman.
The upper campgrounds along Tioga Road (near Tuolumne Meadows and other locations) are not yet open.
Despite the dismal amount of snowfall over the winter months, Gediman says that there have been numerous mountain rain storms over the past few weeks and the famous waterfalls are flowing very strong.
When driving in Yosemite, be aware of bear, mule deer and tourists who may all unexpectedly dart onto the roadways.
The entrance fee into the Park has increased since last year. The standard entrance fee per vehicle is now $30. Drivers will be supplied with a receipt good for seven straight days to drive in and out of the Park. Last Memorial Day weekend the cost was $20 per vehicle.
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM.
Written by Mark Truppner. Report breaking news, traffic or weather to our News Hotline 532-6397. Send Mother Lode News Story photos to [email protected]. Sign up for our FREE myMotherLode.com Daily Newsletters by clicking here.FBI Director James Comey testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2014. Alex Wong/Getty Images
A former chief ethics lawyer at the White House, who served during George W. Bush’s presidency, has filed an ethics complaint against FBI Director James Comey. In an op-ed published in the New York Times on Sunday, Richard W. Painter writes that he filed a complaint against the FBI for violating the Hatch Act, “which bars the use of an official position to influence an election.” He filed the complaint with both the Office of Special Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics.
Painter, who was the head White House ethics lawyer between 2005 and 2007 and now supports Hillary Clinton, says Comey violated the Hatch Act when he sent the letter to lawmakers on Friday informing them of the newly discovered emails. “This letter, which was quickly posted on the internet, made highly unusual public statements about an FBI investigation concerning a candidate in the election,” writes Painter. “The letter was sent in violation of a longstanding Justice Department policy of not discussing specifics about pending investigations with others, including members of Congress.”
Although Comey’s previous statements may be concerning, there is no actual evidence yet that the FBI director actually wanted to influence the election. Still, that is irrelevant as far as the Hatch Act is concerned.
Painter also warns that letting this precedent stand would be dangerous:
This is no trivial matter. We cannot allow FBI or Justice Department officials to unnecessarily publicize pending investigations concerning candidates of either party while an election is underway. That is an abuse of power. Allowing such a precedent to stand will invite more, and even worse, abuses of power in the future.
Speaking to LawNewz.com, Painter says he doesn’t buy the argument that Comey had to send the letter because he had promised to update lawmakers on the issue. The FBI director could have easily sent the letter two weeks later, after voters had gone to the polls, and no one would have been able to argue that he “breached that promise to update,” particularly considering the reports that “the FBI apparently had not even looked at the emails because they did not have a search warrant.”Smoke billows from stacks as a Chinese woman wears as mask while walking in a neighborhood next to a coal fired power plant on November 26, 2015 in Shanxi, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
How we view the costs of future climate change, and more importantly how we quantify them, may soon be changing. A much-anticipated new report, just released by the National Academy of Sciences, recommends major updates to a federal metric known as the “social cost of carbon” — and its suggestions could help address a growing scientific concern that we’re underestimating the damages global warming will cause.
The social cost of carbon is an Obama-era metric first addressed by a federal working group in 2009. The basic premise is simple: Scientists agree that climate change will have all kinds of impacts on human societies, including natural disasters and effects on human health, productivity and agricultural output, all of which have economic consequences.
The social cost of carbon, then, refers to the monetary cost of emitting a single ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, given that these emissions will further contribute to global warming. The value has been used to aid in cost-benefit analyses for a variety of federal environmental rules. Currently, it’s set at about $36 per ton of carbon dioxide.
But the new NAS report, requested by the federal Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon, suggests the methodology used to arrive at this value is in need of updating, both to make it more transparent and more scientifically sound. It makes a number of recommendations for future estimates aimed at helping the process “draw more readily on expertise from the wide range of scientific disciplines relevant to [the social cost of carbon] estimation.”
“I think the report has laid out an important blueprint for how to update the most important number that you’ve never heard of,” said Michael Greenstone, an economist at the University of Chicago and former chief economist for President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. Greenstone helped convene the first federal working group to estimate the social cost of carbon and served as a reviewer on the new NAS report. “Social and economic understanding of climate change has advanced greatly in the last six years, since the original social cost of carbon was released, and the report identifies important ways to take advantage of those improvements in our understanding.”
The method developed by the original federal working group relies on a set of three models which translate current carbon emissions into future temperature increases, factor in the damages that may be caused by the resulting climatic changes in the future and then translate these damages into dollars. The method also applies a discount rate to account for the fact that these damages will occur in the future, rather than right away — the discount rate can be thought of as a kind of interest rate addressing how much the future generation is willing to pay now to avoid climate consequences in the future.
The new report recommends a new framework that unbundles the various steps of the calculation process and addresses them in separate modules, all of which feed into and inform each other. The report suggests that, over the next two-to-three years, these modules be shaped to rely on the most relevant and up-to-date science in each area — and it also suggests that estimates of the social cost of carbon be updated every five years.
These recommendations address a growing concern in the scientific community that our increasing scientific understanding of the consequences of climate change isn’t adequately represented in the current methodology. In fact, climate scientists and economists alike have begun to argue that the current models may actually be underestimating the social cost of carbon.
A 2015 survey, for instance, conducted by researchers from the New York University School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity, found that more than half the respondents thought the current estimate of the social cost of carbon was too low, while only eight percent thought it was too high. In addition, multiple recent studies have attempted to improve our understanding of the way climate change will affect human societies in the future — and what these effects will cost.
Despite these concerns from the scientific community, recent documents suggest that the incoming Trump administration may seek to reconsider — or even do away with — the metric. A memo penned in November by Energy Department transition leader Thomas Pyle suggested the incoming administration should review the social cost of carbon and said that if the metric “were subjected to the latest science, it would certainly be much lower than what the Obama administration has been using.”
But the opposite effect could occur if the academy’s recommendations are applied. There are several major ways the new report’s recommendations could cause this to happen, said Richard Revesz, a law professor and dean emeritus of the New York University School of Law, who also served as a reviewer on the new report. For one thing, accounting for certain climate damages that were omitted in the older models could drive the value up, he said.
A second factor involves the report’s approach to the use of discounting. When calculating the social cost of carbon, applying a higher discount rate causes the cost to decrease, and vice versa. Critics who favor a lower social cost of carbon have sometimes argued that the current discount rate used by the federal government — 3 percent, in most cases — is too low.
“The report endorses the use of declining discount values, where the declining rates respond to uncertainty around a number of factors,” Revesz said. “As for negative impacts that happen far into the future, those models would lead to substantially lower discount rates, and lower discount rates would lead to higher values for the social cost of carbon.”
Revesz added that the current estimate of the social cost of carbon is a global estimate — that is, it applies to the entire world, not just the United States. Some critics have argued for a U.S.-specific estimate in the future, which would be a smaller value than the global estimate. This argument is also addressed in the new report, which recognizes the many uncertainties and difficulties that would be associated with making such an estimate.
“The impacts of carbon dioxide are felt globally, regardless of where the emissions occur,” noted Richard Newell, president and chief executive of Resources for the Future and co-chair of the committee that authored the report, at a Wednesday press conference to present the new report. “In addition, climate impacts in other countries may affect the U.S. in a more indirect fashion.”
The committee did not speculate on how the report’s recommendations would affect the metric’s values, and the new report isn’t binding — it’s simply a set of recommendations. This means the incoming Trump administration isn’t legally obligated to use them once in office.
But Revesz added that the report’s release could place pressure on the Trump administration in a different way, making it more difficult for the administration to make any arbitrary or unscientific changes to the social cost of carbon estimate to lower its value once in office.
“If the metric is revised, then the incoming administration would have an obligation to explain why it’s departing from the current approach,” Revesz said. Any changes made without adequate scientific justification would likely be struck down in court. And given that the new academy report is likely to be recognized as the “gold standard for scientific evaluation of the social cost of carbon,” he said, it would be difficult to justify any changes that dramatically depart from its recommendations.
Still, despite the transition team’s criticism of the current metric, how the new administration will choose to approach it once in office remains to be seen.
“This report is a blueprint of actions that should be taken in the near term and actions that should be taken in the longer term,” Revesz said, adding that the most responsible action would be to “follow the prescription of the report.”
Read more:
On the eve of Trump, Energy Department announces new policy to protect scientists
Antarctica is about to lose an enormous piece of ice. The question is what happens after that.
America’s first ‘clean coal’ plant is now operational — and another one is on the way
For more, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter here and follow us on Twitter here.Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People
By Harry Ostrer
Oxford University Press, 288 Pages, $24.95
In his new book, “Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People,” Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist and professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, claims that Jews are different, and the differences are not just skin deep. Jews exhibit, he writes, a distinctive genetic signature. Considering that the Nazis tried to exterminate Jews based on their supposed racial distinctiveness, such a conclusion might be a cause for concern. But Ostrer sees it as central to Jewish identity.
“Who is a Jew?” has been a poignant question for Jews throughout our history. It evokes a complex tapestry of Jewish identity made up of different strains of religious beliefs, cultural practices and blood ties to ancient Palestine and modern Israel. But the question, with its echoes of genetic determinism, also has a dark side.
Geneticists have long been aware that certain diseases, from breast cancer to Tay-Sachs, disproportionately affect Jews. Ostrer, who is also director of genetic and genomic testing at Montefiore Medical Center, goes further, maintaining that Jews are a homogeneous group with all the scientific trappings of what we used to call a “race.”
For most of the 3,000-year history of the Jewish people, the notion of what came to be known as “Jewish exceptionalism” was hardly controversial. Because of our history of inmarriage and cultural isolation, imposed or self-selected, Jews were considered by gentiles (and usually referred to themselves) as a “race.” Scholars from Josephus to Disraeli proudly proclaimed their membership in “the tribe.”
Ostrer explains how this concept took on special meaning in the 20th century, as genetics emerged as a viable scientific enterprise. Jewish distinctiveness might actually be measurable empirically. In “Legacy,” he first introduces us to Maurice Fishberg, an upwardly mobile Russian-Jewish immigrant to New York at the fin de siècle. Fishberg fervently embraced the anthropological fashion of the era, measuring skull sizes to explain why Jews seemed to be afflicted with more diseases than other groups — what he called the “peculiarities of the comparative pathology of the Jews.” It turns out that Fishberg and his contemporary phrenologists were wrong: Skull shape provides limited information about human differences. But his studies ushered in a century of research linking Jews to genetics.
Ostrer divides his book into six chapters representing the various aspects of Jewishness: Looking Jewish, Founders, Genealogies, Tribes, Traits and Identity. Each chapter features a prominent scientist or historical figure who dramatically advanced our understanding of Jewishness. The snippets of biography lighten a dense forest of sometimes-obscure science. The narrative, which consists of a lot of potboiler history, is a slog at times. But for the specialist and anyone touched by the enduring debate over Jewish identity, this book is indispensable.
“Legacy” may cause its readers discomfort. To some Jews, the notion of a genetically related people is an embarrassing remnant of early Zionism that came into vogue at the height of the Western obsession with race, in the late 19th century. Celebrating blood ancestry is divisive, they claim: The authors of “The Bell Curve” were vilified 15 years ago for suggesting that genes play a major role in IQ differences among racial groups.
Furthermore, sociologists and cultural anthropologists, a disproportionate number of whom are Jewish, ridicule the term “race,” claiming there are no meaningful differences between ethnic groups. For Jews, the word still carries the especially odious historical association with Nazism and the Nuremberg Laws. They argue that Judaism has morphed from a tribal cult into a worldwide religion enhanced by thousands of years of cultural traditions.
Is Judaism a people or a religion? Or both? The belief that Jews may be psychologically or physically distinct remains a controversial fixture in the gentile and Jewish consciousness, and Ostrer places himself directly in the line of fire. Yes, he writes, the term “race” carries nefarious associations of inferiority and ranking of people. Anything that marks Jews as essentially different runs the risk of stirring either anti- or philo-Semitism. But that doesn’t mean we can ignore the factual reality of what he calls the “biological basis of Jewishness” and “Jewish genetics.” Acknowledging the distinctiveness of Jews is “fraught with peril,” but we must grapple with the hard evidence of “human differences” if we seek to understand the new age of genetics.
Although he readily acknowledges the formative role of culture and environment, Ostrer believes that Jewish identity has multiple threads, including DNA. He offers a cogent, scientifically based review of the evidence, which serves as a model of scientific restraint.
“On the one hand, the study of Jewish genetics might be viewed as an elitist effort, promoting a certain genetic view of Jewish superiority,” he writes. “On the other, it might provide fodder for anti-Semitism by providing evidence of a genetic basis for undesirable traits that are present among some Jews. These issues will newly challenge the liberal view that humans are created equal but with genetic liabilities.”
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Email “About 80% of Jewish males and 50% of Jewish females trace their ancestry back to the Middle East”,
Jews, he notes, are one of the most distinctive population groups in the world because of our history of endogamy. Jews — Ashkenazim in particular — are relatively homogeneous despite the fact that they are spread throughout Europe and have since immigrated to the Americas and back to Israel. The Inquisition shattered Sephardi Jewry, leading to far more incidences of intermarriage and to a less distinctive DNA.
In traversing this minefield of the genetics of human differences, Ostrer bolsters his analysis with volumes of genetic data, which are both the book’s greatest strength and its weakness. Two complementary books on this subject — my own “Abraham’s Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People” and “Jacob’s Legacy: A Genetic View of Jewish History” by Duke University geneticist David Goldstein, who is well quoted in both “Abraham’s Children” and “Legacy” — are more narrative driven, weaving history and genetics, and are consequently much more congenial reads.
The concept of the “Jewish people” remains controversial. The Law of Return, which establishes the right of Jews to come to Israel, is a central tenet of Zionism and a founding legal principle of the State of Israel. The DNA that tightly links Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi, three prominent culturally and geographically distinct Jewish groups, could be used to support Zionist territorial claims — except, as Ostrer points out, some of the same markers can be found in Palestinians, our distant genetic cousins, as well. Palestinians, understandably, want their own right of return.
That disagreement over the meaning of DNA also pits Jewish traditionalists against a particular strain of secular Jewish liberals that has joined with Arabs and many non-Jews to argue for an end to Israel as a Jewish nation. Their hero is Shlomo Sand, an Austrian-born Israeli historian who reignited this complex controversy with the 2008 publication of “The Invention of the Jewish People.”
Sand contends that Zionists who claim an ancestral link to ancient Palestine are manipulating history. But he has taken his thesis from novelist Arthur Koestler’s 1976 book, “The Thirteenth Tribe,” which was part of an attempt by post-World War II Jewish liberals to reconfigure Jews not as a biological group, but as a religious ideology and ethnic identity.
The majority of the Ashkenazi Jewish population, as Koestler, and now Sand, writes, are not the children of Abraham but descendants of pagan Eastern Europeans and Eurasians, concentrated mostly in the ancient Kingdom of Khazaria in what is now Ukraine and Western Russia. The Khazarian nobility converted during the early Middle Ages, when European Jewry was forming.
Although scholars challenged Koestler’s and now Sand’s selective manipulation of the facts — the conversion was almost certainly limited to the tiny ruling class and not to the vast pagan population — the historical record has been just fragmentary enough to titillate determined critics of Israel, who turned both Koestler’s and Sand’s books into roaring best-sellers.
Fortunately, re-creating history now depends not only on pottery shards, flaking manuscripts and faded coins, but on something far less ambiguous: DNA. Ostrer’s book is an impressive counterpoint to the dubious historical methodology of Sand and his admirers. And, as a co-founder of the Jewish HapMap — the study of haplotypes, or blocks of genetic markers, that are common to Jews around the world — he is well positioned to write the definitive response.
In accord with most geneticists, Ostrer firmly rejects the fashionable postmodernist dismissal of the concept of race as genetically naive, opting for a more nuanced perspective.
When the human genome was first mapped a decade ago, Francis Collins, then head of the National Genome Human Research Institute, said: “Americans, regardless of ethnic group, are 99.9% genetically identical.” Added J. Craig Venter, who at the time was chief scientist at the private firm that helped sequenced the genome, Celera Genomics, “Race has no genetic or scientific basis.” Those declarations appeared to suggest that “race,” or the notion of distinct but overlapping genetic groups, is “meaningless.”
But Collins and Venter have issued clarifications of their much-misrepresented comments. Almost every minority group has faced, at one time or another, being branded as racially inferior based on a superficial understanding of how genes peculiar to its population work. The inclination by politicians, educators and even some scientists to underplay our separateness is certainly understandable. But it’s also misleading. DNA ensures that we differ not only as individuals, but also as groups.
However slight the differences (and geneticists now believe that they are significantly greater than 0.1%), they are defining. That 0.1% contains some 3 million nucleotide pairs in the human genome, and these determine such things as skin or hair color and susceptibility to certain diseases. They contain the map of our family trees back to the first modern humans.
Both the human genome project and disease research rest on the premise of finding distinguishable differences between individuals and often among populations. Scientists have ditched the term “race,” with all its normative baggage, and adopted more neutral terms, such as “population” and “clime,” which have much of the same meaning. Boiled down to its essence, race equates to “region of ancestral origin.”
Ostrer has devoted his career to investigating these extended family trees, which help explain the genetic basis of common and rare disorders. Today, Jews remain identifiable in large measure by the 40 or so diseases we disproportionately carry, the inescapable consequence of inbreeding. He traces the fascinating history of numerous “Jewish diseases,” such as Tay-Sachs, Gaucher, Niemann-Pick, Mucolipidosis IV, as well as breast and ovarian cancer. Indeed, 10 years ago I was diagnosed as carrying one of the three genetic mutations for breast and ovarian cancer that mark my family and me as indelibly Jewish, prompting me to write “Abraham’s Children.”
Like East Asians, the Amish, Icelanders, Aboriginals, the Basque people, African tribes and other groups, Jews have remained isolated for centuries because of geography, religion or cultural practices. It’s stamped on our DNA. As Ostrer explains in fascinating detail, threads of Jewish ancestry link the sizable Jewish communities of North America and Europe to Yemenite and other Middle Eastern Jews who have relocated to Israel, as well as to the black Lemba of southern Africa and to India’s Cochin Jews. But, in a twist, the links include neither the Bene Israel of India nor Ethiopian Jews. Genetic tests show that both groups are converts, contradicting their founding myths.
Why, then, are Jews so different looking, usually sharing the characteristics of the surrounding populations? Think of red-haired Jews, Jews with blue eyes or the black Jews of Africa. Like any cluster — a genetic term Ostrer uses in place of the more inflammatory “race” — Jews throughout history moved around and fooled around, although mixing occurred comparatively infrequently until recent decades. Although there are identifiable gene variations that are common among Jews, we are not a “pure” race. The time machine of our genes may show that most Jews have a shared ancestry that traces back to ancient Palestine but, like all of humanity, Jews are mutts.
About 80% of Jewish males and 50% of Jewish females trace their ancestry back to the Middle East. The rest entered the “Jewish gene pool” through conversion or intermarriage. Those who did intermarry often left the faith in a generation or two, in effect pruning the Jewish genetic tree. But many converts became interwoven into the Jewish genealogical line. Reflect on the iconic convert, the biblical Ruth, who married Boaz and became the great-grandmother of King David. She began as an outsider, but you don’t get much more Jewish than the bloodline of King David!
To his credit, Ostrer also addresses the third rail of discussions about Jewishness and race: the issue of intelligence. Jews were latecomers to the age of freethinking. While the Enlightenment swept through Christian Europe in the 17th century, the Haskalah did not gather strength until the early 19th century. By the beginning of the new millennium, however, Jews were thought of as among the smartest people on earth. The trend is most prominent in America, which has the largest concentration of Jews outside Israel and a history of tolerance.
Although Jews make up less than 3% of the population, they have won more than 25% of the Nobel Prizes awarded to American scientists since 1950. Jews also account for 20% of this country’s chief executives and make up 22% of Ivy League students. Psychologists and educational researchers have pegged their average IQ at 107.5 to 115, with their verbal IQ at more than 120, a stunning standard deviation above the average of 100 found in those of European ancestry. Like it or not, the IQ debate will become an increasingly important issue going forward, as medical geneticists focus on unlocking the mysteries of the brain.
Many liberal Jews maintain, at least in public, that the plethora of Jewish lawyers, doctors and comedians is the product of our cultural heritage, but the science tells a more complex story. Jewish success is a product of Jewish genes as much as of Jewish moms.
Is it “good for the Jews” to be exploring such controversial subjects? We can’t avoid engaging the most challenging questions in the age of genetics. Because of our history of endogamy, Jews are a goldmine for geneticists studying human differences in the quest to cure disease. Because of our cultural commitment to education, Jews are among the top genetic researchers in the world.
As humankind becomes more genetically sophisticated, identity becomes both more fluid and more fixed. Jews in particular can find threads of our ancestry literally anywhere, muddying traditional categories of nationhood, ethnicity, religious belief and “race.” But such discussions, ultimately, are subsumed by the reality of the common shared ancestry of humankind. Ostrer’s “Legacy” points out that — regardless of the pros and cons of being Jewish — we are all, genetically, in it together. And, in doing so, he gets it just right.
Jon Entine is the founder and director of the Genetic Literacy Project at George Mason University, where he is senior research fellow at the Center for Health and Risk Communication. His website is www.jonentine.com.
This story "Jews Are ‘Race’" was written by Jon Entine.Report findings
In a new report, the Committee concludes that while the Government has a "laudable ambition" to improve these services, "we are sceptical about whether this is affordable, or achievable without compromising other services".
The Committee finds pressure on the NHS budget will make it very difficult to achieve 'parity of esteem' between mental and physical health and that this is a task "for the whole of government".
Access to mental health services
One in four adults is diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their lives, but only around a quarter of people estimated to need mental health services have access to them.
The report states: "The challenge is to build joined-up, well-configured services within the health system and across other parts of government that provide people in all areas of the country with access to the services they need, near to where they live."
Systems for working across government are weak, says the Committee, citing no consistent way to access mental health services for people leaving prison, inconsistent availability of counselling in schools, and a disconnect between the NHS and Department for Work and Pensions in helping people with mental health problems get back into work.
The way mental health services are designed and configured is "complex, variable and difficult to navigate", with significant variation in people's access to services.
The Committee concludes achieving parity of esteem will depend on the health system having the right staff, with the right skills in the right places – but "there is not yet a clear plan to develop the workforce needed".
It also finds commissioners and providers are not sufficiently incentivised to deliver high-quality mental health services for all who need them.
Recommendations to Government
Among its recommendations to Government, the Committee challenges the Department of Health and NHS England to collect and properly understand by the start of 2017–18 the cost and performance data it needs to improve services.
Government should develop an effective strategy to integrate health services and to join up relevant public services to ensure continuity of care for those with mental health problems, "whatever their circumstances and wherever they live".
The Department of Health, NHS England and Health Education England should also work together to collect the information needed to estimate the workforce required to achieve parity of esteem between mental and physical health, and by the start of 2017–18 put in place a plan for supplying that workforce.
Chair's comments
Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee, said:
"Many people can make a full recovery from mental health problems if they receive appropriate treatment at an early stage. This is good for them and has wider benefits for the economy and society in general. It is therefore crucial that mental health is given equal priority to physical health and that service provision reflects this. The Government has committed to making much-needed improvements to mental health services but we are concerned it does not yet have sound foundations to build on. As a priority the Department of Health and NHS England must achieve a better understanding of the current landscape and the likely costs of achieving its goals. If these goals prove beyond the scope of the funds provided then it is vital a plan is in place to make best use of the money available. It is the responsibility of Government to ensure its departments work together more effectively to support people with mental health conditions and in doing so reduce pressure on the public purse elsewhere. If it is serious about achieving its aims it must also plan to secure skilled staff in sufficient numbers."
Further information
Image: iStockphotoOAKLAND — Discussing the events of the past week, Sandra Chatman said it “felt like somebody stabbed me in the heart.”
Her granddaughter, 13-year-old Jahi McMath, has been declared brain-dead, just days after undergoing surgery to have her tonsils removed.
“They took away my granddaughter. That’s how it feels,” said Chatman.
Jahi’s family, including her mother, Nailah Winkfield, huddled by her side at Children’s Hospital Oakland for a sixth day Sunday, calling on the community for prayers and searching for answers on what went wrong during what was supposed to be a one-night stay for the family favorite.
Jahi arrived at the hospital Monday and was supposed to be released Tuesday, the family said.
Monday night, Chatman, a veteran nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, noticed her granddaughter was bleeding from her mouth and nose. She later went into cardiac arrest.
Jahi spent Tuesday on a ventilator. By 2 a.m. Wednesday, doctors said she had swelling in her brain, and Thursday, she was declared legally brain-dead, family members said.
The hospital staff is reviewing what happened, as they do when any procedure does not have the anticipated results, said spokeswoman Melinda Krigel.
Jahi’s uncle, 27-year-old Omari Sealey, said the hospital should have done more to stop the bleeding.
“There was a lack of urgency,” Sealey said. “It’s shock, it’s disbelief. You never think something like this will happen to you.”
Family members describe Jahi as a well-behaved, bubbly teen who has been looking forward to spending the holidays with family and attending an eighth-grade dinner dance at E.C. Reems Academy of Technology and Arts.
Jahi’s family has asked the hospital keep her on life support for as long as possible, even if it means spending Christmas at the hospital.
“As long as she has a pulse, we want her on life support,” Sealey said. “We want her to come home for Christmas. We want to give her presents. We want a chance for a Christmas miracle.”
Krigel, the hospital spokeswoman, said “the hospital is very, very sad about this outcome.”
“It’s incredibly sad,” Krigel said. “What I can add is that there is informed consent that comes with any surgery and that with any surgery, there can be unanticipated outcomes.”
Before her surgery, Jahi took off her pearl earrings and gave them to Chatman. She asked Chatman to put them back on her as soon as she woke up from surgery. The pearls are now tucked inside Chatman’s purse, where they will stay.
“It’s so hard to look at them. I get choked up,” Chatman said. “I’ll keep them for a lifetime. In every purse I carry. They will always be with me.”
Contact David DeBolt at 510-262-2728, and at Twitter.com/daviddebolt. Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and at Twitter.com/3rdERH. |
how, and with whom, his information was being shared. Kinder and other lawmakers say that the move violates several Missouri state statutes. Because license offices process CCW endorsements, some claim that this is de facto gun registration."
The question becomes, who issued the orders? The Missouri Department of Revenue is run by Brian K. Long. I doubt Mr. Long did this on his own authority. I sent an e-mail asking who gave the order. We shall see if they reply. This will have legs - long legs. Missouri cannot be alone in this scandal; doubtless numerous other states have complied with DHS requests as well. We are seeing but the tip of the iceberg. Timothy Birdnow is a St. Louis-based writer. His website is www.tbirdnow.mee.nu
Lt. Governor Peter Kinder today hosted a press conference in the Capitol to announce a lawsuit filed over the collection and scanning of private documents by the Missouri Department of Revenue for residents seeking concealed carry gun permits. The lawsuit was filed Monday by Russ Oliver in Stoddard County. Oliver is Stoddard County's prosecuting attorney. He filed the lawsuit as a private attorney on behalf of Eric Griffin. "I fully support Mr. Oliver in this important legal action in Stoddard County Circuit Court," Kinder said. "This case has issues of statewide importance implicating serious privacy concerns for law-abiding citizens. These folks have followed the letter of the law and been approved for concealed carry by the proper authorities. They must not be required to share that information with any third parties or the federal government." Oliver said Mr. Griffin went to his local Department of Motor Vehicles fee office after passing the application process for a concealed carry gun permit. When he refused to let DMV employees scan some of his documentation, he was denied the permit. Oliver said Griffin acted within his rights. He said the Department of Revenue apparently installed new computer equipment to record the information as part of the federal Real ID Act of 2005. But state laws prohibit the department from retaining and collecting these types of documents and from complying with that portion of the Real ID Act. The data the DOR collected was being forwarded to Morpho Trust U.S.A., a Georgia company that specializes in partnering with state and federal governmental agencies. "There are important privacy concerns for concealed carry holders who justly fear their information being sent to a third party or the federal government," Oliver said. "Missouri law makes it clear that what is going on here is illegal, and serves no legitimate purpose since the county sheriff is solely charged with the duty of determining applicants' eligibility for the endorsement." The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to stop the Department of Revenue from collecting and sharing the private data and declare their actions unlawful.
Of course, that is not the reason to pursue this; this is a foul attempt to circumvent the current law and justice must be served. Lieutenant Governor Kinder's office issued this release:
I am wondering who in the Missouri Department of Revenue authorized the collection of this data for DHS; clearly this had to come from somewhere in the Nixon Administration. And it is illegal, a violation of state law which forbids the implementation of the Real I.D. Act here. If Nixon himself gave the order he can be impeached, and with the GOP supermajority in the Missouri Congress he would be removed from office. He should be, if he gave that order.
The Department of Homeland Security is attempting to backdoor gun registration in the State of Missouri.
According to talk show host Dana Loesch:
"Department of Revenue is working with the Department of Homeland Security to install new hard and software to obtain data on Missouri citizens and transfer this information to DHS and unnamed third parties, says Kinder. Kinder and the Stoddard County Prosecutor today took legal action and held a press conference outlining the infringement on civil liberties as posted by the DoR and DHS. The move by the departments is related to the Real ID.
Griffin went to renew his driver's license and was disturbed by how, and with whom, his information was being shared. Kinder and other lawmakers say that the move violates several Missouri state statutes. Because license offices process CCW endorsements, some claim that this is de facto gun registration."
(Hear the interview with Lieutenant Governor Kinder here.)
I am wondering who in the Missouri Department of Revenue authorized the collection of this data for DHS; clearly this had to come from somewhere in the Nixon Administration. And it is illegal, a violation of state law which forbids the implementation of the Real I.D. Act here. If Nixon himself gave the order he can be impeached, and with the GOP supermajority in the Missouri Congress he would be removed from office. He should be, if he gave that order.
Of course, that is not the reason to pursue this; this is a foul attempt to circumvent the current law and justice must be served.
Lieutenant Governor Kinder's office issued this release:
Lt. Governor Peter Kinder today hosted a press conference in the Capitol to announce a lawsuit filed over the collection and scanning of private documents by the Missouri Department of Revenue for residents seeking concealed carry gun permits.
The lawsuit was filed Monday by Russ Oliver in Stoddard County. Oliver is Stoddard County's prosecuting attorney. He filed the lawsuit as a private attorney on behalf of Eric Griffin.
"I fully support Mr. Oliver in this important legal action in Stoddard County Circuit Court," Kinder said. "This case has issues of statewide importance implicating serious privacy concerns for law-abiding citizens. These folks have followed the letter of the law and been approved for concealed carry by the proper authorities. They must not be required to share that information with any third parties or the federal government."
Oliver said Mr. Griffin went to his local Department of Motor Vehicles fee office after passing the application process for a concealed carry gun permit. When he refused to let DMV employees scan some of his documentation, he was denied the permit.
Oliver said Griffin acted within his rights. He said the Department of Revenue apparently installed new computer equipment to record the information as part of the federal Real ID Act of 2005.
But state laws prohibit the department from retaining and collecting these types of documents and from complying with that portion of the Real ID Act. The data the DOR collected was being forwarded to Morpho Trust U.S.A., a Georgia company that specializes in partnering with state and federal governmental agencies.
"There are important privacy concerns for concealed carry holders who justly fear their information being sent to a third party or the federal government," Oliver said. "Missouri law makes it clear that what is going on here is illegal, and serves no legitimate purpose since the county sheriff is solely charged with the duty of determining applicants' eligibility for the endorsement."
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to stop the Department of Revenue from collecting and sharing the private data and declare their actions unlawful.
The question becomes, who issued the orders?
The Missouri Department of Revenue is run by Brian K. Long. I doubt Mr. Long did this on his own authority.
I sent an e-mail asking who gave the order. We shall see if they reply.
This will have legs - long legs. Missouri cannot be alone in this scandal; doubtless numerous other states have complied with DHS requests as well. We are seeing but the tip of the iceberg.
Timothy Birdnow is a St. Louis-based writer. His website is www.tbirdnow.mee.nuScotland’s Wind Power Output Takes “Massive Jump”
March 6th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill
New data published this week shows that wind power output in Scotland jumped by more than two-fifths compared to the same period a year earlier, and generated more than Scotland’s total electricity needs on four separate days.
WWF Scotland, commenting on the new data provided by WeatherEnergy, subsequently urged politicians to make the most of Scotland’s renewable energy future, and build on the already amazing progress made in the country.
According to WeatherEnergy, Scotland’s wind turbines provided 1,331,420 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity to the National Grid in February — enough to power the equivalent of 3.9 million homes, or 162% of Scottish households. This was the result of a 43% increase compared to February of 2016.
Most impressively, however, was that wind power in Scotland accounted for 67% of Scotland’s entire electricity needs for February — Scotland’s total electricity consumption was 1,984,765 MWh for the month of February. Further, on Thursday the 2nd, Monday the 13th, Monday the 20th, and Sunday the 26th, wind energy generated an output equivalent to more than Scotland’s total power needs for that day — 118%, 110%, 127%, and 128% respectively.
“Thanks to a combination of increased capacity and stronger winds, output from turbines was up more than two-fifths compared to the same period last year,” said WWF Scotland’s director Lang Banks.
“This was enough power to provide the equivalent of the electrical needs of almost four million homes. As well as helping to power our homes and businesses, wind power supports thousands of jobs and helps Scotland to avoid over a million tonnes of polluting carbon emissions every month.
“Every one of the main political parties supports the aim of generating half of all Scotland’s energy needs from renewables by 2030 – including heat, electricity and transport. With this level of political backing, we call upon all of the parties to now bring forward policies that will help maximise the benefits to Scotland’s economy, as we transition to a renewable future.”
“Compared to last year, some very powerful winds across the month helped increase the total electricity supplied to the National Grid from Scotland’s wind turbines,” added Karen Robinson of WeatherEnergy.
“As we began to witness for the first time last year, this February has also seen a few days where the power output from wind farms exceeded the total electricity demand for an entire day. This is quite an achievement.
“With the increasing occurrence of ‘100% wind power days’ there can be little doubt that Scotland is well placed to begin the next step of increasing the role that renewables could play in cutting carbon emissions from its transport and heating sectors.”
This should really come as no surprise to anyone who has been watching Scotland’s record-breaking renewable energy sector over the last few years. The country has regularly reported days where renewable energy — dominated by wind energy — accounted for more than the country’s total power needs. And the country is a leading European renewable energy developer and technical expert, providing services around the world.Last week, The Borneo Post reported that China had once again encroached into Malaysian waters in the South China Sea.
According to the June 2 report, confirmed by Malaysian officials, a Chinese Coast Guard ship had been detected intruding into Malaysian waters at the Luconia Shoals – which Malaysia calls Beting Patinggi Ali. In this case, the vessel was not just passing through, but had been defiantly anchored just 84 nautical miles from the coast of Sarawak, well inside Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone and on the southern end of China’s nine-dash line which covers about ninety percent of the South China Sea.
This is hardly the first time Chinese vessels have encroached on Malaysian waters. Indeed, as I have written before both here and elsewhere, these intrusions have become both bolder and more frequent over the past few years (See: “Playing It Safe: Malaysia’s Approach to the South China Sea and Implications for the United States”). They pose a clear threat not only to the country’s claims in the South China Sea, but its extensive natural resource activities there as well as the territorial integrity of the nation given that the waterway divides Peninsular Malaysia from East Malaysia.
In response, Malaysia, a nation which has traditionally sought to secure its interests in the South China Sea quietly without undermining its overall relationship with Beijing through what I have termed a ‘playing it safe’ approach, has become increasingly alarmed and recalibrated its policy. Over the past few years, Malaysia has been lodging diplomatic protests directly with Beijing while also shaping debate on the South China Sea within ASEAN, increasing its military capabilities and strengthening ties with other countries including the United States (See: “Malaysia’s South China Sea Policy: Playing It Safe”).
Malaysia’s reaction to this incident is indicative of its growing concern. While Malaysia has at times downplayed such South China Sea-related matters in the past and preferred to handle them privately, the country’s response this time was much firmer and more public. Shahidan Kassim, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, told a press conference following the incident that he had held meetings with the country’s foreign ministry, national security council, navy and coast guard on the issue. He also announced that Malaysia had sent its navy and coast guard to monitor the area “to ensure the sovereignty of the country.”
Shahidan also took to his personal Facebook page to provide the Malaysian public with further details about the country’s response as well as pictures of the feature in question. In the post, which was written in Malay, he said Malaysian navy and coast guard vessels had anchored around one nautical mile from the Chinese vessel to monitor its activities. He also clarified that the feature was not a case of overlapping claims but one of a foreign ship intruding into Malaysia’s waters.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Monday, Shahidan said that Malaysia would also be taking further diplomatic action, and that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak would himself raise the issue directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He also reiterated the fact that this was not an issue of overlapping claims.
“This is not an area with overlapping claims. In this case, we’re taking diplomatic action,” he said in the interview.
Malaysia – like many other countries – has registered such diplomatic protests before. What is interesting in this case is that the country is making a point to reveal publicly that it is doing so at the highest levels, rather than just carrying this out more quietly as it often does.
The relative hardening of Malaysia’s line in the South China Sea thus far should not be viewed as an abandonment of its ‘playing it safe’ approach.’ Though the response has been firmer and more public, it is still quite measured. Shahidan did not publicly condemn Beijing’s actions to a level that would prompt an escalatory Chinese response, and the Malaysian vessels have also been deployed cautiously. The Najib administration has proven unwilling to let the issue damage the Malaysia’s broader relationship with its largest trading partner, and there is little evidence to suggest this will change anytime soon. Malaysia is also no doubt aware that it is not capable of confronting Beijing directly. Indeed, as I have noted previously, the country has been careful to build in mechanisms to prevent escalation even when it does confront Chinese vessels, down to the number of ships deployed.
Nonetheless, it is notable that Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea has been so alarming that it has even hardened the position of a country that – unlike the Philippines and Vietnam – has been traditionally quieter in how it expresses its reservations.larse Profile Blog Joined March 2012 1595 Posts Last Edited: 2014-02-26 07:15:47 #1 This is a quick second-hand and shortened translation. As always, it is important to note about the things that lost during the two translation processes.
Q: Words for winning the series for the team.
Flash: Like the last series, my performance was not very good. In the ACE match, I was very nervous, so there were many mistakes. Next time I really need to be relaxed a little bit more.
Q: Your current TvP is not very good. It was not like this in the past.
Flash: On the one hand, Protoss is in an advantageous position; on the other hand, I did not play to my full strength like I did in the practice. In other matchups, you are less likely to get all-in’ed. But in TvP, you need to be completely ready for all-ins. It is a huge headache. And even I don’t have confidence. In the next series, I will prepare well and hope I can meet Protoss again.
Q: Is Protoss in a dominant position?
Flash: To be honest, it is at the moment. But Protoss is not invincible. I believe I will get better and I am practicing hard. In the practice, I can win Protoss often.
Q: Is it predetermined that you play the ACE match?
Flash: Yes. I expect my opponent to be either solar or Roro, or it’s a Protoss. I prepared everything, so I had confidence for the ACE match.
Q: How did you expect the game with Stork?
Flash: I want to play TvP. I want to meet a Protoss in the next match. I want to improve my weakness and accumulate more experience.
Q: How do you feel about Stork’s ceremony?
Flash: I don’t care how people do ceremony after winning me. I even want to applaud for Stork’s victory. But on the other hand, I did take notice of Parting’s ceremony where he used the ruler that I used for preparing my gears. It’s uncomfortable that the material of the ceremony is based on my behavior (smile). Back in the United States, I treated Parting very well. I even paid for several meals for him. He said he won’t do ceremony to me. But now he did this to me, which makes me feel betrayed. Parting was considered by many as not a beloved person but I thought him as a kind-hearted player. But now I am disappointed. It would be better if he just did a ceremony with a'shutdown move' (smile).
Q: Any words for David Kim?
Flash: He said I can send him email, so I did several times. Several patches until now have reflected my opinions to some extent. So I don’t have more to say. David Kim probably heard too many opinions from too many sides, so he couldn’t make changes so easily. But Protoss is indeed overpowered. I think he will have solutions in the next patch.
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Also some news:
Now people who go to SPL studio to watch the game can earn points which can redeem for coffee, chocolate, and even Louis Vuitton handbag, and Samsung pad. In addition, now there is "Proleague Girl" show between the two matches.
Source:
http://s.163.com/14/0225/21/9LV7PQK500314Q8T.html
http://s.163.com/14/0226/11/9M0NM1LB00314Q8N.html : Like the last series, my performance was not very good. In the ACE match, I was very nervous, so there were many mistakes. Next time I really need to be relaxed a little bit more.: On the one hand, Protoss is in an advantageous position; on the other hand, I did not play to my full strength like I did in the practice. In other matchups, you are less likely to get all-in’ed. But in TvP, you need to be completely ready for all-ins. It is a huge headache. And even I don’t have confidence. In the next series, I will prepare well and hope I can meet Protoss again.: To be honest, it is at the moment. But Protoss is not invincible. I believe I will get better and I am practicing hard. In the practice, I can win Protoss often.: Yes. I expect my opponent to be either solar or Roro, or it’s a Protoss. I prepared everything, so I had confidence for the ACE match.: I want to play TvP. I want to meet a Protoss in the next match. I want to improve my weakness and accumulate more experience.: I don’t care how people do ceremony after winning me. I even want to applaud for Stork’s victory. But on the other hand, I did take notice of Parting’s ceremony where he used the ruler that I used for preparing my gears. It’s uncomfortable that the material of the ceremony is based on my behavior (smile). Back in the United States, I treated Parting very well. I even paid for several meals for him. He said he won’t do ceremony to me. But now he did this to me, which makes me feel betrayed. Parting was considered by many as not a beloved person but I thought him as a kind-hearted player. But now I am disappointed. It would be better if he just did a ceremony with a'shutdown move' (smile).: He said I can send him email, so I did several times. Several patches until now have reflected my opinions to some extent. So I don’t have more to say. David Kim probably heard too many opinions from too many sides, so he couldn’t make changes so easily. But Protoss is indeed overpowered. I think he will have solutions in the next patch.Also someNow people who go to SPL studio to watch the game can earn points which can redeem for coffee, chocolate, and even Louis Vuitton handbag, and Samsung pad. In addition, now there is "Proleague Girl" show between the two matches.Source:Second Helpings is proud to partner with Heartland Film Festival on a screening of Anthony Bourdain’s new food waste documentary WASTED! The Story of Food Waste during Heartland Film Festival 2017. Learn more about the film, and watch a short preview below. Join us for a of screening at Indianapolis Museum of Art‘s Toby Theater at 7:30pm on Wednesday, October 18th or at AMC Castleton Square 14 at 2:15pm on Thursday, October 19th. Save $5 on your ticket using the promo code: HFFSECOND
Since 1998, Second Helpings has rescued more than 28 million pounds of food from wholesalers, groceries and restaurants, using that food to prepare and deliver more than 10 million meals to partner agencies across Central Indiana. We believe that waste is wrong. Whether it’s food, money or people, we strive to put all resources to their best use and potential. We value rescued food as the raw material that fuels our hunger relief and culinary job training programs. We identify and solicit priority food items to ensure a stable food supply to support our program goals. We are excited to partner with Heartland Film to raise awareness around the critical issue of food waste.
About the film:
Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food is thrown out. That’s $218 billion worth of food produced for human consumption that never gets eaten with one-third of the world’s food being thrown away even before it reaches the plate. It’s time to shed light on what is food and what is garbage. WASTED! The Story of of Food Waste is a feature-length documentary that will change how people buy, cook, and eat food. Through the eyes of chef-heroes like Massimo Bottura, Dan Barber and Danny Bowien, we’ll see how the world’s most influential chefs battle food waste – transforming what people consider garbage, scraps, and rejects into incredible dishes that feed more people, impact the bottom line, and create a more sustainable food system.Fallujah, the major Iraqi city that ISIS has held since January 2014, has officially been retaken. Iraqi army troops seized the last ISIS-controlled district in the city on Sunday, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi appearing on television to give a victory speech. The city that ISIS has held longer than any other in Iraq is, for the moment, out of the militant group's hands.
This is the beginning of the end for ISIS's territorial control in Iraq. After Fallujah, there's only one more urban center in ISIS's possession: Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. ISIS's defeat in Fallujah, a longtime stronghold, reveals that it's now no longer a question of if but when Mosul falls to the Iraqi government.
But while Iraq is on the verge of ending ISIS's reign of terror, that's no longer enough. Now that the ISIS endgame is approaching, the country needs to get much better at addressing the root causes of ISIS's rise — most notably, deep sectarian tensions. These haven't gotten better over the course of the ISIS fight. In some ways, they've gotten worse.
So while ISIS's looming defeat is a cause for celebration, it's looking more and more like Iraq doesn't have a good plan for preventing it — or something like it — from rising again.
Fallujah has long been a hotbed of extremism and insurgency
Fallujah is a heavily Sunni city in Iraq's western Anbar province. For some time, the city of some 300,000 people has been the epicenter of radical Sunni Islam in the country.
"It's not, in the main, a very moderate city. It never has been, even by Iraqi standards," Douglas Ollivant, the former National Security Council director for Iraq from 2008 to 2009, tells me. It's nicknamed the "City of Mosques," and according to Ollivant, "a lot of those mosques are Saudi-funded, very extreme."
Fallujah was also a military stronghold under Saddam Hussein. "During Saddam Hussein's time, many of the town's 300,000 people had highly-paid jobs as soldiers and security officers," writes Colin Freeman in the Telegraph.
When, after the invasion, the US decided to purge Saddam's Baath party loyalists from the government and military, in a process known as de-Baathification, thousands of former Iraqi military personnel — including many in Fallujah — found themselves unemployed and more than a little angry at the Americans.
This toxic combination of Sunni extremism and virulent anti-American sentiment essentially turned Fallujah into one of the most dangerous hot spots in the post-US invasion insurgency. Fallujah became a major base for al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the organization that would eventually become ISIS. The US military stormed the city twice in 2004 to try to root out insurgents, producing some of the war's most vicious fighting.
Though AQI was temporarily defeated by a US-backed Sunni uprising in 2009-'10, Fallujah's radical spirit wasn't quelled. After ISIS rose from AQI's ashes, Fallujah was the first major city it managed to seize. That was way back in January 2014, months before the group managed to sweep over a vast swath of the country's north.
Fallujah clears the way for ISIS's final defeat in Iraq
But now ISIS has been pushed out. It took about five weeks of intense fighting: Iraqi forces had to engage in firefights with ISIS fighters while simultaneously clearing out the IED land mines they had planted around the city.
Yet the outcome was, ultimately, never in doubt. Yet government-aligned forces vastly outnumbered their ISIS opponents — by roughly 20 times, per Ollivant's estimate. Moreover, they have gotten fairly skilled at taking on ISIS in urban areas, thanks in part to the training efforts of the US-led coalition.
"The Iraqi Security Forces, the uniformed ISF, don't have a problem clearing ISIS out of locations," Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told me. "It just takes longer than the Western media might like."
The fact that ISIS couldn't even defend Fallujah, a city that has long been its stronghold, illustrates just how vulnerable the group is in Iraq. ISIS's only remaining urban stronghold in the country is Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and Iraqi forces are already preparing an offensive on the city. It's now just a question of when, not if, Mosul is retaken — which would effectively destroy ISIS's dream of creating an actual caliphate in Iraq for the foreseeable future.
"There's really nothing big left except for Mosul," Ollivant says. "Everyone [in Iraq] understands it's just a matter of time."
This defeat in Fallujah comes in the midst of a very bad year for ISIS. Between January 2015 and mid-March 2016, ISIS lost about a quarter of its remaining territory in Iraq and Syria. The US government estimates that ISIS recruitment of fighters from abroad has dropped by at least 75 percent. Kurdish troops have moved within 35 miles of its de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria.
There are a number of reasons for this: US airstrikes have disrupted ISIS's ability to maneuver, Iraqi forces have adapted to the group's tactics, and it's simply facing too many determined enemies in Iraq and Syria to defend itself on all sides. But the conclusion, in Iraq at least, is now clear.
We're currently witnessing the death throes of ISIS's empire.
Defeating ISIS on the battlefield in Iraq is just the first step
It's not enough just to get rid of ISIS. You also have to make sure it — or something like it — doesn't come roaring back in a few years.
It's instructive, here, to look at the history of al-Qaeda in Iraq again. In 2010, the group was mostly defeated, and things in Iraq were looking up. "Iraq finally had relatively good security, a generous state budget, and positive relations among the country’s various ethnic and religious communities," Zaid al-Ali, author of The Struggle for Iraq's Future, wrote in Foreign Policy.
But this calm didn't last. By 2012, AQI had grown strong enough again to launch a series of ambitious prison raids around Iraq, liberating fighters and criminals who would later become ISIS foot soldiers. In 2013, suicide bombings were on the rise around the country, with ISIS functioning as a particularly deadly terrorist group. Right now the Iraqi government is trying to get back to 2013 — to reduce ISIS to a terrorist group rather than a territorial threat.
"The objectives of this campaign are kind of modest," Knights explains. "They're to turn us back to 2013, when things were pretty terrible on the security front. ISIS could take down a ministry building, or Abu Ghraib prison, or a provincial council headquarters."
Preventing ISIS, or something like it, from rising again isn't purely a military question
But to get all the way back to 2010, when things were relatively good, the Iraqi government will need to wage a long-term counterterrorism campaign against ISIS remnants. To prevent a replay of 2010-'14, when ISIS rose from the ashes of AQI, it will need to deal with the root cause of ISIS's rise: Iraqi sectarianism.
While the war in Syria played a significant role in ISIS's rise, its most important source of strength was the Iraqi Sunni minority's alienation from the Iraqi state. Saddam's regime, though technically secular, was predominantly Sunni. But Iraq is majority Shia, and the government has been Shia-dominated since the advent of quasi-democracy in 2003.
This sudden reversal of fortune created resentment among many of Iraq's Sunnis, who now found themselves a marginalized minority. They felt mistreated by Baghdad, and this anger helped ISIS build a support base and replenish its manpower after its near defeat.
"Raw political sectarianism in Iraq was the main causal factor [in ISIS's rise]," Fred Hof, who for part of 2012 served as the Obama administration's special adviser for the transition in Syria, explained in an email to me last year.
Thus, preventing ISIS, or something like it, from rising again isn't purely a military question. It also depends on the Shia-dominated Iraqi government's ability to actually take steps toward reconciling with the Sunnis — as well as the Sunnis' willingness to accept that a democratic Iraq means a heavily Shia government.
"Let's face it: If we don't do reconciliation, if we don't do rebuilding properly... ISIS is going to get another shot at this in two years' time," Knights tells me.
The good news is that Prime Minister Abadi is far more clear-eyed about the need to reconcile with the Sunni population than his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki. The bad news is that Abadi's support is limited at best. Many of Abadi's legislative priorities, including reining in hard-line groups and making it easier for Sunnis to get into high levels of the Iraqi government, have stalled out.
This isn't just because of standard tensions between the Shia Maliki and Sunnis/Kurds; he's also dealing with intra-Shia political divisions. Populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's supporters recently staged disruptive protests in Baghdad, which were ostensibly supporting an Abadi government reform package but are really about expanding Sadr's influence. Maliki is gunning for his old job back. Shia hard-liners, backed by Iran, are blasting Abadi as soft on the Sunnis.
To make matters worse, the Iraqi government is facing bankruptcy as a result of war expenses and the collapse in oil prices.
These challenges make a push for postwar reconciliation extremely complicated. Abadi's good intentions aren't enough: He needs to overcome extraordinary political and structural barriers in Iraq in order to solve the sectarianism that could allow ISIS to rise again.
It's a challenge that makes the past year's victories over ISIS, as hard-won as they were, seem easy by comparison.The team viewed the “Whirlpool Galaxy” Messier 51 (M51), about 30 million light years away, with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope in the frequency range 115-175 MHz, just above the normal commercial FM radio frequency band of 88-108 MHz. These results are the first LOFAR observations of a nearby galaxy.
LOFAR consists of 38 stations in the Netherlands, six stations in Germany and one station each in the UK, France and Sweden. The signals from all stations are then combined in a powerful computing cluster located at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Radio astronomy shows two crucial components of galaxies that are invisible to optical telescopes – cosmic ray electrons and magnetic fields – which play an important role in the stability and evolution of galaxies.
With LOFAR’s high sensitivity, the astronomers detected electrons and magnetic fields in the spiral arms and extended disc of M51, 40,000 light years away from the galaxy’s centre – much further out than had ever been traced before.
The research, which is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, was led by David Mulcahy from the University of Southampton’s Astronomy Group. It was conducted for his PhD work at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
“Low-frequency radio waves are important as they carry information about electrons of relatively low energies that are able to propagate further away from their places of origin in the star-forming spiral arms and are able to illuminate the magnetic fields in the outer parts of galaxies,” says David. “We need to know whether magnetic fields are expelled from galaxies and what their strength is out there.”
“This beautiful image, coupled with the important scientific result it represents, illustrates the fantastic advances that can be made at low radio frequencies with the LOFAR telescope,” adds co-author Dr Anna Scaife from the University of Southampton. “Unravelling the mysteries of magnetic fields is crucial to understanding how our Universe works. For too long, many of the big questions about magnetic fields have simply been untestable and this new era of radio astronomy is very exciting.”
For many decades, radio astronomy has been unable to explore low frequencies below 300 MHz because the ionosphere around the earth acts as a barrier of low-frequency radio waves. The only observations were of poor resolution and no details could be made out.
“This opens a new window to the Universe where we do not know what galaxies will look like,” says Rainer Beck from the Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy, who supervised David’s PhD project. “Maybe we will see how galaxies are magnetically connected to intergalactic space. This is a key experiment in preparation for the planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA) that should tell us how cosmic magnetic fields are generated,” he adds.Reishi: Positive Cancer Treatments
(improved immune system & blood circulation)
The prestigeous Japanese doctor, Dr Fukumi Morishige, M.D.,Phd., currently involved in the research of reishi's role in cancer control, is a researcher at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science & Medicine - an American institute that had been awarded the most Nobel prizes. He also occupies an important role in Europe's medical field as well, and is the only Japanese authority employed by the international cancer group. The following is his speech and case reports on reishi.
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I have been a surgeon for 37 years and have performed numerous operations. I have a keen interest in surgery especially when I was young but gradually questions began to appear. I always feel that the ideal would be to induce the natural immunity power within oneself.
Being a surgeon, I had countless occasions to encounter cancer cases; however, the key to cancer control is in its early detection which is easier said than done. About one in a hundred would be considered a good percentage.
Nowadays, regular physical check-ups is the trend and this is good practice, but we have to realize that one cannot let our guards down just because cancer was not detected at the time of check-ups. People often suspect the physicians of misdiagnosing when cancer was detected at a later date. This notion is incorrect as there are many undiscovered cases even with monthly check-ups. For example, in the case of penetrance type stomach cancer, it is one of the most difficult to detect and these account for about 25% of the cases, therefore, prevention is equally important.
It is better to employ preventive measures in the case of cancer but, there are no set methods. One can always rely on dietary control, but here again it is not a prescribed regiment. The best method at the present is reishi. I do not know of its amazing effects until after I have used it and I am truly surprised. During my practice, I have obtained outstanding results using reishi either as preventive measures or during the course of treatments.
Earlier on, I have come across patients and their relatives praising the merits of reishi. But being a medical person, I have thought that it might have a slight effect on certain chronic diseases but on cancer, surely, must be greatly exaggerated.
Reishi's tremendous effect warrants further studies. In June of 1986, a 39 year old female came to me with lung cancer and complications of the chest wall membrane. She had been told that she could not be operated on by a number of hospitals. She left in a hopeless state. Upon returning home, her husband started to feed her reishi. After my examination, I was surprised by the findings: 6 months ago, she had edema in the chest cavity, secondary to cancer and now the symptom had completely disappeared. For a person who have already made her funeral arrangement and waiting for death to rediscover there is hope for life, is incredible. X-Ray had presented an even better picture when I am going through her medical history. She insisted that this was the result of her husband giving her reishi. The edema had drained while the cancer tumor remained. On a rough calculation, this patient had used about 4 grams of reishi essence daily and this was quite a high dosage. We further undertook exploratory surgery and by using special freeze technique, it was possible to perform operations on chest membrane cancer. Looking at the X-Ray, no cancerous cells were found. Only scar tissues were evident, which were different from cancer cells. I did a biopsy of the lung tissues and detected malignancy, but stable. The next case involved a child with congenital liver cancer. He had one operation when he was 5 years |
our Fate, which we should and can love as the next page of the story has not yet been written.
James Luchte is Lecturer of Philosophy and Director of Research at the University of Wales, Lampeter, UK. His other publications include Kants Critique of Pure Reason: A Readers Guide, Heideggers Early Philosophy: The Phenomenology of Ecstatic Temporality, Nietzsches Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Before Sunrise (all Continuum), and a translation of Nietzsches collected poetry, The Peacock and the Buffalo: The Poetry of Nietzsche (to be reprinted by Continuum in 2010). He has also published numerous articles on various topics in European Philosophy.If you think the coming nuclear winter will make job market tough for employees, you need to hear about the job offer my daughter got recently.
The job has:
$0 salary and no equity (you’re supposed to be compensated in experience)
and no equity (you’re supposed to be compensated in experience) no benefits other than vacation and sick time: no insurance, for example
no possibility of promotion or raise, ever
no job description: just do what you’re told
micromanaging boss asks about project status every hour
strict hours, starting at 8:30AM sharp
if you’re late even a few minutes, your boss sends you to her boss
rigid workweek, but then you’re expected to work from home a ton
open-desk seating, not even a cube, with a hard chair
the work is boring and demeaning, like adding digits and copying text
all your useless work gets thrown away
if you want to use a computer, you can buy one or just scribble on paper
no supplies room, either
my daughter can’t drive, so commute was complicated
can’t even put the job on your resume until you work there for a decade
I wish this was a joke or I was making it up.
Having consulted with me, my daughter of course rejected this ridiculous offer and is now just working on side projects while looking for a better opportunity.
But millions of other seven-year-olds accepted identical offers.By Keith Porteous Wood
Back in 2010, Labour equality minister Baroness Thornton met with 17 different organisations to discuss caste discrimination in the UK. The groups, who represented several hundred thousand people, had hoped that caste would be added to the list of the protected characteristics within the upcoming Equality Act.
It wasn't to be. Thornton commissioned a study into the existence of such discrimination and added an enabling power to the Act, but that was as far as it went. There was still hope, though. The power could be speedily triggered by a ministerial order after the study was completed without the need for any further primary legislation.
Then came the general election and it soon became painfully clear that the new coalition government had no appetite for such discrimination legislation. They claimed rather unconvincingly that education was all that was needed. Their strategy seemed to be one of procrastination.
Pro-legislation campaigners became increasingly frustrated at what they saw as the government's determination not to use the enabling power, despite the study commissioned by Thornton demonstrating that discrimination did indeed exist.
By September 2011, the UN had specifically called for the Equality Act amendment as a treaty obligation, a demand it has since reiterated. Baroness Warsi, who took over as secretary of state for faith and communities in 2012, took the opposite stance to the one she had held in opposition. She rejected the treaty obligation argument despite a legal opinion backing it up.
The House of Lords finally ran out of patience with the failure to utilise the enabling power and in 2013 directed the government to make caste discrimination unlawful. In a face off, the Commons was forced to accept the direction. But it did so through gritted teeth. MPs inserted a Henry VIII clause which could repeal the 2013 direction by ministerial order any time after April 25th 2018. A regressive clause such as this is unprecedented in equality legislation.
As time dragged on, more protests were made, including by the human rights campaigner Lord Avebury to the prime minister. Meanwhile, a legal case, Tirkey v. Chandhok, in which caste played a small part, went to appeal and so could have been used as a precedent. However the judge concluded the case could be decided using other grounds and stated that he had deliberately avoided ruling on caste. Despite this, the government opportunistically – if not disingenuously – continues to claim to be awaiting development of this case law on caste.
Cases developing new precedents are notorious for their unpredictability and huge cost and are therefore rare. Yet it suits the government to give the impression that they are as reliable and frequent as route 38 buses. In the government consultation about caste, which closes on September 18th 2017, this is Option One. Legislation - Option Two - is not encouraged. This is despite, or perhaps because, it could clear each House of Parliament in minutes. It could also be precisely drafted, rather than be subject to the vagaries of a particular case, as the Option One route is.
The purpose of equality law should be to protect the oppressed, yet this consultation appears intended to hand over the decision about who should be protected into a contest between the oppressed and their oppressors.
Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East, where many prosperous Hindus live, is parliament's principal caste law opponent. He welcomed the consultation because it "will allow the Hindu community in particular the opportunity to put its perspective on why this legislation can be removed from the statute book", adding that anti-caste legislation was "unwanted, unnecessary and ill-judged".
The BBC has posed the question: Why are UK Hindus against a caste law? The answer they got was'many Hindus do not accept caste is an integral feature of the Hindu religion. As a result, there are many who would prefer the issue remain under the radar.'
Yet the legislation does not mention any particular religion and pro-legislation campaigners accept that caste is a feature in several religions, including Sikhism.
Opponents told The Hindu newspaper that they were opposing legislation because caste is a "product of colonialism and any move to recognise it in legislation would entrench divisions, and deepen prejudice towards Indian communities". They went on: "It would also lead to unnecessary interference and a bureaucratic nightmare."
Caste long-preceded the Raj, and if caste discrimination doesn't exist, as some even claim, there will be no bureaucratic problem. Those in favour of legislation are adamant that no one should ever be required to disclose their caste. There is no reason to suppose that such legislation would entrench divisions.
The unpalatable truth behind the government's determination not to legislate is at least in part because, as is claimed in the Indian Wire, May's government, and Cameron's before her, is in hock to the increasingly powerful Hindu right. It's wary of upsetting relations with prime minister Modi – particularly when she anticipates significant trade deals with India post-Brexit.
The pro-legislation lobby is in no mood to quit and if anything the government's consultation has been counter-productive, acting as a welcome recruiting sergeant. Campaigners are determined to keep pressing the government until legislation is forthcoming.
Keith Porteous Wood is a pro-legislation campaigner. The consultation is available here.
The opinions in politics.co.uk's Comment and Analysis section are those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the website or its owners.Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios executive vice president Patrick Söderlund has spoken about how he had been left “puzzled” after he was first shown Nintendo Switch.
He admitted that Nintendo likely understood something that he didn’t, adding that it wasn’t until his four=year old son used the portable home console in the multiple ways that had been designed to be used that he realised that the whole concept was “working right” – with Söderlund now recognising it as being “a pretty special machine.”
“A little,” Söderlund admitted to EDGE in their October issue when asked whether Nintendo Switch has blindsided the games industry – especially after the disappointing consumer reaction to Wii U.
“It’s doing really well, which I love. But I’ll be honest, when they first showed it to me years ago, I didn’t get the concept, I was puzzled by it. But then I was like, it’s Nintendo. They probably understand something that I don’t [laughs]. They usually do.
“I have a four-year old son and it’s like it’s connected to him. He will use it as a portable machine, he will plug it into the TV, but more importantly, he uses it like, ‘Do you want to play with me?’ Then he takes off the Joy-Con and we play Mario Kart together. He’s using it as intended, which just tells me that it’s working right.
“I think it’s a pretty special machine because it’s not just more of the same. I looked at it and thought, why would you play on that instead of this? But now it’s crystal clear to me why. That’s the Switch.”
FIFA 18 will release for Nintendo Switch worldwide on September 29th.Edip Yuksel (born December 20, 1957 in Güroymak, Turkey) is a Kurdish American intellectual and professor of philosophy. He is considered one of the prime figures in the modern Islamic reform and Quranism (Quraniyoon) movements and is known for his criticism and rejection of Sunni and Shiite version of Islam. Author of many books on the Qur'an and Islam, he has gained much attention through his works and speeches.[1][2][3]
He is also a promoter of Theistic evolution, an understanding he gets from science and the Qur'an, instead of Creationism.[4] Specifically, Yüksel is critical of Islamic creationists such as Harun Yahya who is known for his hedonistic cult and Holocaust denial views.[5] Yüksel is a former member of United Submitters International.
Biography [ edit ]
Yüksel was born in Turkey in 1957 into a Kurdish family.[6] His father, Sadreddin Yüksel, an Islamic scholar, taught Arabic at a Turkish university. His brother Metin Yüksel, an Islamist activist, was assassinated by far-right nationalists. Yüksel says that he was an outspoken Islamist as a youth, and spent years in prison for his views. Yüksel says that he broke with Islamism in 1986 and adopted the Qur'an Alone philosophy as preached by Rashad Khalifa, the inspiration of the United Submitters International whose beliefs include: the dedication of all worship practices to God alone, upholding the Quran alone, and rejecting the Islamic traditionalist hadith and sunnah falsely attributed to Muhammad. Because of this, Yüksel's traditionalist father, Sadreddin, declared his son an apostate, and he received many death threats from Orthodox Muslims.[7][8] In 1989, he was sponsored for immigration to the US by Khalifa. Yüksel moved to Tucson, entered college, got a legal degree, and became a prominent member of the United Submitters International.[3] He became a U.S. citizen in 1993.[9]
Professor Aisha Musa, from Florida International University, says in her book Hadith as Scripture about Yüksel:
Edip Yüksel [..], is a prominent figure among advocates of the doctrine of Qur'an alone. His works are published in the traditional print media, and he also maintains two active websites.[..]Born and raised in Turkey, [...], Yüksel comes from a traditional Sunni background. [..] Although Yüksel initially came to his belief that the Qur'an is the only legitimate source of religious guidance in Islam, his own writings show much more independence than does the work of Kassim Ahmad. Like Khalifa and Ahmad, Yüksel rejects the Hadith using the same Qur'anic criteria. However, he differs with Khalifa in his interpretation of the Qur'an on a number of issues, [...]. Yüksel's work represent a new trend that has emerged in the modern-day Qur'anist movement in the last several years,[..][1]
Edip organizes international Critical Thinkers for Reform conferences; so far in Atlanta, Oxford, Los Angeles, Almaty, and Istanbul. He has given lectures at various universities and institutions, including University of Arizona, Emory Law, Princeton University,[10] University of North Carolina,[11] Oxford University (UK),[12] Middle East Technical University (Turkey),[13] Technische Universität Dortmund (Germany),[14] European Parliament,[15][16] British Parliament,[17] etc.
Edip is married to a Persian-American dietitian who is currently working at TMC as diabetes educator. They have two children. Yahya (27) who received his law degree from the University of Arizona and LLM degree from Tsinghua University (Beijing) and presently running for the US Congress.[18][19] from Tucson District-2; and Matine (24), who recently graduated from Princeton University[20][21] and presently working for a major ecommerce company as financial analyst.
He now teaches philosophy and logic at Pima Community College, since 1999 to present (2017),[22] and medical ethics and criminal law courses at Brown Mackie College. He taught Turkish to high school students at a charter school, which one of his two sons attended.
Publications [ edit ]
Yüksel is the author of over twenty books on religion, politics, philosophy and law in Turkish. He has published many pamphlets and essays in English, most of them put out by the United Submitters press—his former congregation., and has written many articles on his own website and several press-websites.[3][23] His new publications are with Brainbowpress.[24] His official website [1] remains banned in Turkey following complaints by Adnan Oktar (a.k.a. Harun Yahya).
English [ edit ]
Yüksel has published the following works in English:[25]
The Quran: A Reformist Translation (2007-2012, Brainbow Press, ISBN 978-0-9796715-0-0) The transcription reads: "The Reformist Translation of the Quran offers a non-sexist and non-sectarian understanding of the divine text; it is the result of collaboration between three translators, two men and a woman. It explicitly rejects the authority of the clergy to determine the likely meaning of disputed passages. It uses logic and the language of the Quran itself as the ultimate authority in determining likely meanings, rather than ancient scholarly interpretations rooted in patriarchal hierarchies. It offers extensive cross-referencing to the Bible and provides arguments on numerous philosophical and scientific issues. It is God's message for those who prefer reason over blind faith, for those who seek peace and ultimate freedom by submitting themselves to the Truth alone".[26][27]
His translation has been praised by many well-known authors and activists as Professor Riffat Hassan, Dr. Amina Wadud, Dr. Reza Aslan and Irshad Manji.[26]
A bold and beautiful translation that serves a timely reminder to all believers that the Qur'an is not a static scripture, but a living, breathing, ever-evolving text whose sacred words are as applicable today as when they were first uttered by the Prophet Muhammad fourteen centuries ago. Reza Aslan[26]
A testament to the fact that faith need not suffocate reason. This is bound to be among the smartest of'smart bombs' in the battle of ideas within Islam. Irshad Manji[26]
Yüksel has published the following works in Turkish:[25]
19 Questions for Atheists/Ateistlere 19 Soru Philosophical and Theological arguments refuting atheism. (Destek Publishing, Istanbul, 2017-2018, 488 pp.)
Philosophical and Theological arguments refuting atheism. (Destek Publishing, Istanbul, 2017-2018, 488 pp.) The Message: Qur'an’s Translation/Mesaj: Kuran Çevirisi. A Turkish translation of the Qur'an. (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 2000–2008, 5 editions, 600 pp.)
A Turkish translation of the Qur'an. (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 2000–2008, 5 editions, 600 pp.) Purple Letters/Mor Mektuplar. Essays on religion, politics, law, philosophy, women, human rights. (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 2000–2008, 2 editions, 232 pp.)
Essays on religion, politics, law, philosophy, women, human rights. (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 2000–2008, 2 editions, 232 pp.) Democracy, Oligarchy, Theocracy/Demokrasi, Oligarşi, Teokrasi. A discussion of Turkish democracy and secularism (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 1998–2008; 133 pp.).
A discussion of Turkish democracy and secularism (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 1998–2008; 133 pp.). On It Is Nineteen/Üzerinde 19 Var. A study of the mathematical structure of the Bible and the Qur'an. (Milliyet Publishing, Istanbul, 1997, Ozan Publishing, 2000–2008, 4 editions 320 pp.).
A study of the mathematical structure of the Bible and the Qur'an. (Milliyet Publishing, Istanbul, 1997, Ozan Publishing, 2000–2008, 4 editions 320 pp.). The Prime Argument/Asal Tartışma (E; T). A two-round argument with Prof. Carl Sagan regarding claims for a mathematical structure in the Qur'an. (The Monotheist International, Tucson, 1995, 64 pp.); Turkish translation (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 1998–2008, 92 pp.).
. A two-round argument with Prof. Carl Sagan regarding claims for a mathematical structure in the Qur'an. (The Monotheist International, Tucson, 1995, 64 pp.); Turkish translation (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 1998–2008, 92 pp.). Errors In Translations of the Quran/Kuran Çevirilerindeki Hatalar. A book comparing eleven Turkish translations of the Qur'an. (Gösterge, Istanbul, 1992, 164 pp.; Milliyet Publishing, Istanbul, 1998; Ozan Publishing 2007-2008 182 pp.)
A book comparing eleven Turkish translations of the Qur'an. (Gösterge, Istanbul, 1992, 164 pp.; Milliyet Publishing, Istanbul, 1998; Ozan Publishing 2007-2008 182 pp.) Nineteen Questions for Christian Clergy/Hristiyan Din Adamlarına 19 Soru. An examination of modern Christianity. (Monotheist International, Tucson, 1993–1999, 3 editions, 100 pp); Turkish translation (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 2 edition 1998-2008).
An examination of modern Christianity. (Monotheist International, Tucson, 1993–1999, 3 editions, 100 pp); Turkish translation (Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 2 edition 1998-2008). Nineteen Questions for Muslim Clergy/Müslüman Din Adamlarına 19 Soru. A book challenging Muslim clerics. (Renaissance Institute, Tucson, 1991, 66 pp.; The Monotheist Productions Int., Tucson, 1992, 80 pp.); Turkish version (Gösterge, Istanbul, 1992, 72 pp.; Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 1997–2008, 10 editions, 110 pp.). The English version is currently revised for a possible publication.
A book challenging Muslim clerics. (Renaissance Institute, Tucson, 1991, 66 pp.; The Monotheist Productions Int., Tucson, 1992, 80 pp.); Turkish version (Gösterge, Istanbul, 1992, 72 pp.; Ozan Publishing, Istanbul, 1997–2008, 10 editions, 110 pp.). The English version is currently revised for a possible publication. Censored Essays/Sakıncalı Yazılar. A rebuttal of published articles critical of "Interesting Questions-2." (Devlet, Istanbul, 1989, 2 editions,100 pp.)
A rebuttal of published articles critical of "Interesting Questions-2." (Devlet, Istanbul, 1989, 2 editions,100 pp.) Books Are Dangerous/Kitap Okumanın Zararları. A book urging the reader to become a critical thinker. (Beyan, Istanbul, 1988, 106 pp.)
A book urging the reader to become a critical thinker. (Beyan, Istanbul, 1988, 106 pp.) Interesting Questions-2/İlginç Sorular-2. (Yüzondört, Istanbul, 1987, 190 pp.; Beyan, Istanbul, 1988, 2nd-3rd editions, 190 pp; A revised version was later published by Ozan, Istanbul, 5th edition, 1999, 184 pp.)
(Yüzondört, Istanbul, 1987, 190 pp.; Beyan, Istanbul, 1988, 2nd-3rd editions, 190 pp; A revised version was later published by Ozan, Istanbul, 5th edition, 1999, 184 pp.) Interesting Questions-1/İlginç Sorular-1. Essays on religion, philosophy, and politics. (İnkılab, Istanbul, 1985–1987, 8 editions, 214 pp.; Beyan, Istanbul, 1988, 9th edition, 214 pp.)
Essays on religion, philosophy, and politics. (İnkılab, Istanbul, 1985–1987, 8 editions, 214 pp.; Beyan, Istanbul, 1988, 9th edition, 214 pp.) Chemical Properties of Iron in the Quran/Kuran'da Demirin Kimyasal Esrarı. A booklet on Qur'an 57:25. (Timaş, Istanbul, 1984, 48 pp.)
A booklet on Qur'an 57:25. (Timaş, Istanbul, 1984, 48 pp.) Is The Bible God's Word?/Kitab-ı Mukaddes Allah Sözü müdür? Critical evaluation of the Bible. (İnkılab, Istanbul, 1984, 2 editions, 164 pp.)
Critical evaluation of the Bible. (İnkılab, Istanbul, 1984, 2 editions, 164 pp.) The 40th Commandment of Joseph/Yusuf'un 40. Emri. Poems (Madve, Istanbul, 1984, 72 pp.)
Poems (Madve, Istanbul, 1984, 72 pp.) Quran, the Ultimate Miracle/Kuran En Büyük Mucize. A book co-authored with Ahmad Deedat re Islam and science. (İnkılab, Istanbul, 1983–88, 16 editions, 204 pp.).
A book co-authored with Ahmad Deedat re Islam and science. (İnkılab, Istanbul, 1983–88, 16 editions, 204 pp.). The Interrogation/Soruşturma. A novel about police interrogation and torture of a political detainee (XYZ, Istanbul, 1982,??? pp.).
See also [ edit ]Written by Will Beitzel (@willkbeitzel) on 23 May 2017
A lazier person than I would just end the review right there because that pretty much sums up the win for Essendon. They were hungrier, faster and stronger than the Eagles. From the opening bounce to the final siren the Bombers dominated the Eagles – it was their most complete win since they took down the Lions in Round 8, 2015.
The temptation is far too great for me, so if you'll indulge me I'm going to post the two Tipungwuti tackles of the past fortnight because I honestly can’t decide which one is better:
To be perfectly honest, I just wanted to see both of them side by side. Couldn't care less which one is better. Let’s get stuck into the game, shall we?
This was the kind of performance Essendon has been hinting at all year but couldn’t put together for four quarters – a dominant 3rd quarter against Hawthorn, a couple of good quarters against Brisbane, a good start against Carlton, a great finish against Collingwood, a blistering first half against the Dockers and 3 excellent quarters and one not so excellent quarter against Geelong. Sunday was the day that it all fell into place for Essendon – the fact that it was a top 4 fancy in West Coast made it all the more pleasing. The stats speak for themselves:
Essendon Category West Coast 143 Contested Possessions 112 312 Uncontested Possessions 227 10 Contested Marks 9 142 Uncontested Marks 79 152 Total Marks 88 68 Tackles 73 34 Clearances 28 49 Inside 50 48 56 One Percenters 45 11 Goal Assists 5
That is as complete a performance as you could ask for. Sunday was the first time this season the midfield was on top from start to finish – they had more contested ball, more clearances and more inside 50s. The end result? 19 goals, from 30 scoring shots, from 49 inside 50s.
Jobe Watson took us back in time to 2012 with a vintage display - 30 touches, 13 contested possessions, six clearances and five tackles. It was his best game by far and the main reason Essendon were able to get so many scoring opportunities.
The Essendon midfield brigade led by Watson gave West Coast's midfield unit an absolute bath. That gave the Bombers first use, which translated into something that Essendon had yet to achieve this year - winning the inside 50 count. Granted, it was 49-48 but the final score speaks for itself. It's a very ominous sign for the rest of the competition that Essendon breaking even in inside 50s coincided with a 10-goal thumping - I've mentioned before that as the midfield goes, so do the Bombers and that is looking truer by the week. Where it gets scary for opposition teams is if the Dons can start doing this week-in, week-out. If they do, they're not just in the running for the top 8 - they're a genuine top 4 contender.
One of the big reasons Essendon were able to get such a great return from their entries inside 50 was their refusal to play into West Coast’s hands. Time and time again over the past few seasons we’ve seen teams bash their head against the brick wall against the Eagles by bombing it long down the line, only to see the likes of McGovern, Hurn, Wellingham and Yeo cut the ball off and set up their own scoring launch. The Bombers held their fire on Sunday – instead of bailing out West Coast’s defenders they led up the ground, created space for one another and chipped the ball around until they found a hole in the West Coast defence. That game plan was built on the back of their inside mids in Heppell and Watson – they got the ball first (143-112 contested possessions), fed it out to their outside runners in Zaharakis and Merrett, who then used their foot skills to play keepings off (142-79 uncontested marks, 272-179 kicks). It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for Essendon - once again, simple skill errors leading to turnovers cost them via easy scoring opportunities for the Eagles. It's the nature of their game plan - their relentless desire to move the ball via the corridor is going to leave them more likely to give up scores on the counter-attack - but it will still be an area of concern for Worsfold and his coaching staff.
Big Joe Daniher was the catalyst for the Bombers early, snagging four majors before the half time break. He’s become a bit of a barometer for Essendon – sitting in the stands and watching him nail his first set shot on goal in the opening minute of the game, you knew he was in for a big day. I’ve waxed lyrical about his elite disposal by foot around the ground before, and today I’m going to fawn over his skills when the ball hits the deck. Three of his goals came from snaps on goal from a live ball situation and all three showcased just how effective he is at ground level:
Here's a replay of that last highlight, because the raw footage does it absolutely no justice:
Yeah, that's just Daniher snatching the ball out of the ruck with one hand, wheeling around and dobbing it around his body while surrounded by four Eagle players. Blokes that are 200+ centimetres tall shouldn’t be able to do that. Hell, nobody should be able to do that. It’s what makes Daniher such an exciting prospect – even if he isn’t kicking goals from set shots, he can still get in the game through his ground work or his long range goal kicking on the run. Yesterday he put it all together, and he looked like the best key forward in the game. Just quietly, he’s kicked 13.2 from his last three games – take away the abominable Melbourne game and he’s on 25.12 for the year. He keeps this up for the rest of the year, and he’s a chance to become the best key forward in the game. Big words, but come on – wouldn’t you love to live in a world where this guy is the best big man in the league:
Truly a face only a mother – and hordes of rabid, slavering Essendon fans such as yours truly – could love.
I’ve just realised that we’re approaching 1000 words and there’s only been one mention of McDonald-Tipungwuti. That I cannot abide. Walla was once again, a force to be reckoned with all around the ground. He led up the ground to provide a target and provide support to defenders, he tried his hand at multiple centre bounces, presented as a marking target up forward and dobbed a couple of goals from set shots, and was a nightmare for West Coast defenders with his tackling and physical pressure. He did it all - 18 disposals, five marks, two goals, one goal assist, three clearances, two rebound 50s and 5 inside 50s. He is Rioli-like in that he might not amass big numbers, but every time he is near the ball something happens. Right now he's the ultimate impact player - but that's just the beginning for Walla.
What has impressed me throughout this year and last year has been his constant evolution as a player. He started as a running half-back before being deployed as a defensive forward. Towards the end of last season, he became a real goalkicking threat and this year he has seen increasing midfield minutes. With each added bow to his arsenal, he is becoming more and more dangerous as a player – his size, speed, toughness, foot skills, set shots (absolutely elite – I would stake my life on Walla nailing a set shot from 45 metres out) and line breaking ability is such a rare combination to have in this league. The sky is the limit for him – he has gone from cult hero to most likely one of the first picked each week and one of Essendon’s most important players. Also, he can do things like this:
I promise you that is the last time you’ll see that clip. This week.
The standard has been set for Essendon – we’ve seen what they are capable of when their midfield fires. Will they be able to back it up? A huge test awaits them this week in the form of the Tigers at the Dreamtime game at the MCG. Incredibly, the two sides are now even in the win-loss column (in no small part thanks to what can only be described as Richmond’s uncanny ability to screw up late-game scenarios). The ramifications are huge – a win here over another potential top eight side could see them primed for an assault on the eight themselves. A loss could almost sink their chances – after Richmond, they play GWS (A), Port Adelaide (H) and the rejuvenated Swans (A). As impressive as their win was, right now the Bombers are just another team stuck in the logjam from 6th – 11th. A win over Richmond and they entrench themselves as a serious candidate for September. We’ll see what team shows up on Saturday night.A Yar Akayi Kyaw Akayi Mhuu Paing Akayi Moe Myint Akayi Su San Alice Ong Alinn Yaung Annie Khin Ant Minn Nyo Ar Kar Myint Aung Ar Thit Arr Thit Athen Cho Swe Aung Khine Aung Min Khant Aung Min Swe Aung Myin Aung Paing Aung Thu Aung Ye Linn Aung Zaw Aung Zay Aye Myat Thi Han Aye Myat Thu Aye Padamyar Khin Aye Thandar Bo Aye Thidar Aye Thidar Maung Aye Wut Yi Thaung Ayine Ba Ho Baby Maung Bay Lu Wa Bo Thiri Khit Bobby Soxer Bu Lain Nine Caesar Nyi Nyi Chan May Myat Noe Chan Mi Mi Ko Chan Myay Khine Chan Nyein Htoo Chan Nyi Chan Chaw Thiri San Chaw Yadanar Chit Sayar Chit Snow Chit Snow Oo Chit Thel San Chit Thu Wai Chit Toe Choe Pyone Christina Chu Lay Chu Pann Nwe Cynthia Daiwi Su Khet Dane Daung Dat Linn Dawn Dee Dee Dwe Eain Thit Eaindra Kyaw Zin Eaint Nhine Han Ei Chaw Po Ei Ei Soe Paing Ei Myat Ei Myat Naing Ei Phyo Cherry Ei Shun Madi Fuu Sone Gandawin Gone Pone Gone Pone Gyi Han Lay Han Thar Soe Min Hanzar Moe Win Hat Kat Hay Thar Heavy Phyo Hein Hein Htet Soe Hein Ko Ko Kyaw Hein Kyal Sin Hein Lay Hein Myat Hein Shine Hein Thu Hein Wai Yan Hla Inzali Tint Hla Myo Thinzar Nwe Hlaing Phyu Phyu Htun Hlwan Hlwan Paing Honey Honey Maung Maung Htar Htet Htet Htet Aung Shine Htet Htet Han May Htet Htet Htun Htet Htet Moe Oo Htet Lu Htet Myat Htet Naing Htet Naing Aung Htet Nay Chann Htet Paing Htet Paing Oo Htet Thiri Aung Htet Wati Htun Htike San Moss Htike Su Win Htike Tan Htike Tan Linn Htoo Char Htoo Inzali Htoo Khant Kyaw Htoo Mon Htoo Myat Htoo Thar Htun Eaindra Bo Htun Htun Htun Htun Win Htun Pa Pa Linn James Jess One June June Ko June Mo Mo Ko Kara Kaung Htet Kyaw Kaung Khant Kaung Khant Kyaw Kaung Moe Yan Kaung Myat Moe Kaung Pyae Kaung Set Htoo Kaung Sithu Kaung Zan Thit Kaung Zay Min Kay Kay Moe Myint Khant Kyaw Zin Khant Nyi Thit Khant Sithu Khara Khay La Yaung Khay Mi Ko Khin Hlaing Khin Lay Nwe Khin Maung Chin Khin May Kha Khin Mi Mi Ko Khin Moe Moe Aye Khin Myint Zu Khine Khin Pa Pa Hlaing Khin Phyu Phyu Thant Khin Phyu Phyu Thant Khin Sann Winn Khin Soe Paing Khin Than Nu Khin Than Nwe Khin Thuzar Khin Wint War Khin Zarchi Kyaw Khine Khant Khine Myal Khine Myat Thazin Khine Nhin Wai Khine Pwint Khine See Sar Khine Thazin Khine Thazin Oo Khine Thazin Thinn Khine Thein Ghi Maw Khine Theingi Zaw Khine Thin Kyi Khun Sint Nay Chi King Kong Kit Kit Ko Koe Ko Pauk Ko Zay Kyal Sin Lin Kyal Thee Kyaw Hein Kyaw Htoo Kyaw Kyaw Kyaw Kyaw Bo Kyaw Soe Kyaw Thu Kyaw Win Htut Kyaw Ye Aung Kyaw Zaw Hein Kyaw Zin Htut Kyay Mone Khin Kyet Pha Kyi Phyu Shin Thant Kyi Zaw Htet Kyin Whet L Sai Ze La Min Kabyar Lhwan Pyae Linn Latt Hein Linn Zarni Zaw Lu Htet Moe Lu Minn Lu Mone Lu Zaw Lwin Moe Ma Hay Thi Ma Naw Phyu Ma Tha Khin Htun Man Aung Mann Win Maung Maunt Chit Thae Maw Kun May May Htut Khaung May Kabyar May Kabyar Oo May Kyi May Myat Noe May Myint Mo May Nann Khaung May Pann Chi May Phu Thwin May Su Maung May Tha Khin May Tha Ya Phi Lwin May Thadar Khin May Thal Cho May Than Nu May Thet Khine May Thingyan May Thinzar Oo May Thun Kha May Yadanar May Yati Khant May Zun Melody Mhu Tha Khin Mi Han Ko Miko Min Chit Ko Min Hein Min Htet Min Htet Aung Min Htet Kyaw Min Htet Kyaw Zin Min Ko Min Maw Koon Min Min Tun Min Myat Hein Min Oke Soe Min Oo Min Thet Htet Min Thitsar Min Thway Min Yarzar Minn Kha Minn Khant Ko Minn Khant Kyaw Minn Khant Nyi Minn Lu Minn Myat Soe San Minn Thu Minn Thu Ta Moe Aung Yin Moe Di Moe Hay Ko Moe Htet Myint Moe Kaung Moe Kham Moe Kyaw Moe Moe Moe Moe Myint Aung Moe Myint Htet Moe Myint Thazin Moe Pwint Kyal Moe Pw |
just in case). He might feel sorry for you and help it end quicker than normal asphyxiation or help you get out; either is win/win 🙂
Bottom line, what you want to try to do is some how some way make an opening in the coffin large enough for you to fit through. You do that and you have a good shot at making it out of this alive. Once you have an opening, unless you are a midget, getting out or at least getting your head above the surface, will literally be as easy as standing up. If it is raining hard around the time of your burial, things could be more difficult of course. But by trapping as much earth as possible in the coffin, you should still be able to stand up and break your head free of the surface at the least; from this point, if it’s sufficiently muddy, you may require someone’s aid to extradite yourself the rest of the way. But at least if you die this way, it won’t be of asphyxiation. So you’ve improved your situation at the least. Good luck!
Now may I echo the sentiment that Lord Chesterfield made to his daughter-in-law in a letter on March 16, 1769:
“All I desire for my own burial is not to be buried alive”.
If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), as well as:
Expand for References:When you mention racism and Donald Trump in the same tweet expect for major backlash. Piers Morgan is currently catching fire on Twitter after tweeting out some pretty controversial opinions about Muhammad Ali that fans aren’t happy with. The British TV personality is known for his outlandish remarks and ability to speak his mind no matter the topic, and again he held nothing back after sharing the following tweet.
Muhammad Ali said far more inflammatory/racist things about white people than Donald Trump ever has about Muslims. #fact — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 5, 2016
Ali, who recently passed away at the 74 is sadly no longer here to defend himself, but the people of Twitter waisted no time to step in and do it for him.
@piersmorgan PS Would you have been brave enough to write such bollocks while Muhammad Ali was still alive? Again, doubt it tosser! — Nick Kenney (@nixken) June 5, 2016
Piers Morgan has built a career on not-so-subtle race baiting. Pay the man no attention. — Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) June 5, 2016
me whenever piers morgan tweets pic.twitter.com/uHnaPTunUM — (black power)puff (@volchtza) June 5, 2016
Black people please mute piers morgan https://t.co/qQUZcL5pgr — miss army if u nasty (@salivationarmy) June 5, 2016
@theshrillest @piersmorgan "Throughout the annals of history, few men were more adept at squandering immense privilege than Piers Morgan." — Tyger Huckabeatz (@TylerHuckabee) June 5, 2016
At Piers Morgan's level it's not a case of being too old to know better, he's just completely unwilling to know better. — Ayishat Akanbi (@Ayishat_Akanbi) June 5, 2016Ireland finally says sorry to the 10,000 'Magdalene Sister slaves' of its Catholic workhouses who were locked up and brutalised by nuns
10,000 young Irish girls were sent to the laundries between 1922 and 1996
Taoiseach Enda Kenny expresses sympathy for survivors and their families
Survivors reject apology and demand full admission from state and church
It follows a 10 year campaign for an apology and compensation scheme
Women who had their childhoods ‘stolen away’, locked up in Catholic-run workhouses received a qualified apology from the Irish government yesterday.
Over a period of 70 years, an estimated 10,000 were sent to the ‘Magdalene laundries’ to carry out unpaid manual labour under the supervision of nuns.
Some were sent because they were the children of unmarried mothers, others for crimes as minor as not paying a train ticket.
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Slaved: An estimated 10,000 were sent to work for no remuneration in 'Magdalene laundries' over a period of 70 years
Anger: Magdalene survivors Marina Gambold, left, and Mary Smyth, were sent to the laundries where they were were forced to work without pay. At a press conference in the Handel Hotel, Dublin, they rejected the Irish government's apology
Demands: Survivors of the Catholic-run institutions have asked for a fuller and more frank admission from government and the religious orders involved
Incredibly the last of the ten laundries, which washed clothes and linen for major hotel groups, the Irish armed forces and even the brewer Guinness, was in operation until 1996. They were established in 1922. Irish prime minister Enda Kenny apologised for the stigma and conditions saying they were a product of a ‘harsh and uncompromising Ireland’. The taoiseach expressed his sympathies with survivors and the families of those who died but stopped short of a formal apology. His words drew scorn from victims’ groups, who insisted the institutions were worse than prison and demanded a much stronger statement. The move follows an 18-month inquiry chaired by senator Martin McAleese which found one in four of the women sent to the laundries had been sent by the state. Mr Kenny said: ‘To those residents who went into the Magdalene laundries from a variety of ways, 26 per cent from state involvement, I’m sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment.’ Pain: Mary Smyth (left) and Maureen Sullivan (right) are overcome during the press conference held by Magdalene Survivors Together
Mary Smyth, Steven O'Riordan, and Maureen Sullivan were among the members of the group who rejected an apology from Taoiseach Enda Kenny (L-R) Marina Gambold, Mary Smyth, Steven O'Riordan, Maureen Sullivan and Diane Croghan of Magdalene Survivors Together hold copies of the Government report But he added the report found no evidence of sexual abuse in the laundries, that 10 per cent of inmates were sent by their families, and that 19 per cent entered of their own volition. Survivors quickly rejected his apology, and demanded a fuller and more frank admission from government and the religious orders involved.
Maureen Sullivan, 60, of Magdalene Survivors Together, and the youngest known victim, said: ‘He is the taoiseach of the Irish people, and that is not a proper apology.’ She was 12 when taken from her school and put in the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in New Ross, County Wexford, because her father had died and mother remarried.
Miss Sullivan said she was told it would further her education, but she never saw her schoolbooks again. A Council worker shines a torch over debris on the floor of the corridor in the now derelict Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Magdalene Laundry in Dublin Chilling: The interior of the now derelict Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Magdalene Laundry on Sean McDermott St in Dublin's north inner city
An inquiry found 2,124 of those detained in institutions such as the now derelict Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Magdalene Laundry in Dublin (pictured) were sent by the authorities
For 48 years she says she has been haunted by memories of a lost childhood and slave labour and is demanding a full apology from the government and religious orders for stealing her education, name, identity and life.
‘I feel that they are still in denial, but other parts of this report clearly state that we were telling the truth,’ she said.
By day she worked in the laundry, was fed bread and dripping, and then made sweaters or rosary beads before bedtime. ‘It was long, hard tedious work,’ she said.
‘I remember being hidden in a tunnel when the school inspectors came. I can only assume this was because I should not have been working in the laundry.’
An estimated 10,000 young Irish girls were sent to the laundries where they were were forced to work without pay and were subjected to a strict regime at the hands of the nuns who ran the institutions
At the weekends, she was forced to clean the floors of the local church instead of having time off to play.
‘How come all this was taken from me?’ she said. ‘The nuns have destroyed my life and they never allowed me to develop as a young girl.’
'PRISONS FOR THE DISAPPEARED '
Set up in the 19th century as refuges for prostitutes, the Magdalene Laundries became prisons for the 'disappeared'. Orphans with nowhere else to go, single girls who found themselves pregnant and hence abandoned in a morally repressive state, children whose parents could no longer afford to keep them and those judged by priests or the religious to be in'moral danger' because they were too pretty or flirtatious. Women were forced into Magdalene laundries for a crime as minor as not paying for a train ticket, the report found. The majority of those incarcerated were there for minor offences such as theft and vagrancy as opposed to murder and infanticide.
Another survivor, Mary Smyth, also 60, said she was forced to follow in the steps of her mother who had also been one of the Magdalene women when she became pregnant.
She said she was treated like a slave and had her dignity, identity and life taken from her.
‘My name was changed, my hair was chopped off, all my possessions were taken from me,’ she said. ‘I didn’t eat for three weeks. I wanted to die.’
Miss Smyth has described her time in the Good Shepherd Convent in Sunday’s Well, Cork, as Hell and revealed she was afraid to have children as an adult in case she was locked up.
‘It was horrendous and inhumane. It was worse than any prison,’ she added. ‘It was soul destroying, it will never ever leave me,’ she said.
Senator McAleese’s inquiry found women were forced into Magdalene laundries for minor offences such as theft and vagrancy as opposed to major crimes such as infanticide.
Despite the stigma of being known as Maggies – a slang term for a prostitute – only a small number of the women were sent to them for prostitution.
In 2011, the UN Committee Against Torture called on the Irish government to set up an inquiry into the treatment of women in the laundries.
The McAleese inquiry spoke to more than 100 women and 40 per cent spent more than a year incarcerated.
In 2002, a film titled The Magdalene Sisters, written and directed by Peter Mullan, was released telling the story of three girls who were sent to 'Magdalene laundries'.
The film's director initially said that he had been inspired to undertake the project as the victims had never been given closure.
A plaque dedicated to Magdalane Laundry survivors in St Stephens Green in Dublin. Between 1922 and 1996 an estimated 10,000 young Irish girls were sent to the laundries where they were were forced to work without pay Plight: The Magdalene Sisters starring Dorothy Duffy (second front), Nora-Jane Noone (second back) and Anne-Marie Duff (back) told the harrowing story of three girls placed in one of the laundries A scene from The Magdalene Sisters in which one of the girls is humiliated in front of a nun The film's director initially said that he had been inspired to undertake the project as the victims had never been given closure
A DAY IN THE LIFE: LAUNDRY SURVIVOR RECALLS THE TOUGH REGIME
In a 2011 interview for the Irish Mail, Sarah Williams who spent two years working in two different Magdalene Laundries gave a harrowing account of life in the institutions:
Rising at 6am the girls, heads shrouded in black veils, were marched to Mass in the cold convent.
Breakfast of cold watery porridge with tea and bread followed at 7am before returning to the chapel for a second Mass. Then it was off to the laundry to wash, boil, mangle, dry, iron and fold. They were allowed one break for soup before 6pm.
At 7.30pm the girls, now locked into their tiny cells furnished with only a bucket and an iron bed, would be handed another mug of soup, frequently so cold that they'd try to heat it on the pipes in their rooms. Recreation was a half hour listening to the radio after work. Work was conducted either in total silence or while singing hymns or reciting decades of the rosary.
At nights, the miserable girls cried themselves to sleep. Simple offences like neglecting to wear the institutional hat or laughing would result in a belting on the head with a bunch of heavy keys by an irate nun. 'Every night I cried and cried,' recalls Sarah. 'I could hear the traffic on the road outside and sometimes I'd climb up at the iron barred window to see if I could see anything of the street. 'Our only exercise was half an hour walking in twos outside in the yard.' The nuns' authority was absolute, the girls had to ask permission even to go to the bathroom and if a girl stepped out of line, she was locked in her room on a diet of bread and water for days on end. 'We didn't work on Sundays so we were allowed to write letters which were then read by the nuns. I frequently wrote to my aunt begging her to come and get me but I don't think she ever got my letters.
Any letters we got were read out in public by the nuns. We never got them into our own hands. 'Once a month we were allowed visitors but my only visitors were the women from the Legion of Mary who'd remark that I was being looked after very well.'Isidore Heath Campbell wants to legally become a Hitler.
The New Jersey father — who first made headlines in 2008 when he unsuccessfully tried to have a birthday cake for his then-7-year-old son inscribed with “Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler” — has filed paperwork to change his last name to Hitler, NJ.com reports.
A hearing has been scheduled for Campbell, who was featured in the documentary “Meet the Hitlers,” on March 24 in Hunterdon County, according to court documents.
Campbell was among several people featured in the film that examined the “relationship between names and identity, by exploring the lives of people who are linked by the name ‘Hitler,’” according to IMDB.com.
“My son is Adolf Hitler Campbell,” he said in the film’s trailer. “I named him — big deal. Does that make it OK for them to come in and steal your children?”
Days after Campbell’s birthday cake request went viral, he and his then-wife, Deborah, would lose parental rights to his nine children.
Campbell was sentenced to 180 days in jail and two years of probation last year under a plea deal for charges of resisting arrest and obstructing justice in connection to a domestic violence incident on Oct. 19, 2015, NJ.com reports.
Campbell, who fled to Pennsylvania before police arrived, was later charged with aggravated assault. He was arrested by police in Shippensburg, Pa., last March and was sent back to New Jersey after waiving extradition.
Campbell was required to undergo a psychiatric evaluation with an assessment for batterer’s counseling, NJ.com reports.
In 2013, the self-professed Nazi walked into the Hunterdon County Courthouse wearing a Third Reich uniform, black boots and a swastika armband to petition a family court judge to let him see his youngest son, Heinrich Hons Campbell, who was removed from his custody after the boy’s birth in 2011. He was accompanied by a woman in Nazi garb who was a fellow member of the pro-Nazi group Hitler’s Order.
“Prisoners get to see their children, murderers get to see their children. What’s so horrible about being a Nazi?” Campbell told The Post after the hearing. “I just want to be a dad. I just want to prove I’m a good father, because I am... So what if I’m a Nazi, who cares?’’
State officials said they removed the boy because of previous violence in Campbell’s home after an anonymous abuse claim was made to local police. Campbell, however, claimed he was unfairly targeted due to the names he chose for his children and denied abusing them.
Officials from the state Division of Youth and Family Services had previously placed Heinrich’s older siblings — Adolf Hitler Campbell, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honzlynn Jeannie Campbell — in foster care. Court papers indicated Isidore Campbell refused to follow an order to seek counseling because the “psychologist was Jewish.” He later lost an appeal of the state’s decision in 2014, MyCentralJersey.com reports.Achewood
www.achewood.com
Created by Chris Onstad
Started in 2001
#1. Achewood
Written by Chris Onstad
It's not a graphic novel in every, or maybe any, traditional sense, since its primary venue is the Web, but Achewood is so profoundly genius it would be a crime to put it anywhere but on this list, and at the top of it. Achewood defies categorization or description, but a brief, futile attempt at a synopsis would go something like this: A bunch of cats, some robots, a bear and an otter who's 5 years old, live together in a fictional neighborhood called Achewood, which you might usefully think of as a grown-up, suburban, stoned version of Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood. The alpha and omega of Achewood are Ray Smuckles, a cat who's incredibly rich and successful at everything he does, but whom you can't quite hate because he enjoys it so much; and his best friend Roast Beef, who suffers from crippling depression. The art is at times crude, but it rises to moments of extreme lyrical beauty, and the writing has enormous emotional range from aching sadness to some of the most brilliant, bizarre comedy happening anywhere, in any medium.
Next Top 10 Graphic NovelsMad Max director George Miller was "heartbroken" over Mel Gibson's string of scandals in recent years. But he says that isn't why he recast the lead part in the post-apocalyptic auto action franchise.
Gibson was simply too old.
The Australian director helped launch Gibson, now 58, to stardom three decades ago in the trilogy featuring stark desert landscapes, intense car chases and a bleach-blonde Tina Turner.
Miller, 69, originally hoped to bring Gibson back as Max Rockatansky for the fourth film. As he developed the story over the last decade, Miller hatched plans for a second trilogy instead of just the one new film. Concerned that Gibson wouldn't be able to commit to three more movies, he asked Tom Hardy, 36, to step into the road warrior's black leather boots.
"I have a great affection for Mel. I was really heartbroken to see him go into (the scandals)," Miller said in a recent interview. "But it's a new time. I hope Mel gets to act in more movies because I think he's a wonderful actor. But I think he's an amazingly good director."
Miller describes Mad Max: Fury Road as an extended chase taking place over three days. The movie, due out next summer and also starring Charlize Theron, features minimal dialogue. The screenplay consisted of storyboards - sketches of each planned shot - rather than a conventional script.
"You're picking up the characters and the backstory as you go," Miller said. "And in order to create that backstory, we found ourselves having written two other screenplays. One of them is completed. The other one is in the form of a kind of unedited novel. So by the time we got there, we realized we've got a couple more Mad Max stories to tell, and that... required us to cast someone who was younger."
Miller showed the first footage from Mad Max: Fury Road at the recent Comic-Con fest in San Diego and got an enthusiastic response from attendees. He's still finishing work on the movie, his return to live action after directing the animated Happy Feet in 2006 and 2011's sequel.
"Roman Polanksi had a saying, which is that there's only one perfect place for the camera at any given time. And I learned that on the animations," Miller said. "You can move the camera wherever you like. But to tell the story - it was interesting how much you could influence the story by simply shooting from another perspective."
There is, of course, a heightened sense of danger when you're moving said camera through a high-speed motorcycle and dune buggy chase in the harsh Australian outback - not circling cute dancing penguins via computer software.
"Particularly a film like this where we wanted to shoot like real, old-school," Miller said.
"Every car you see smashed is a real car. Every stuntman you see is a real person, and in many cases the cast.... It's like being in the middle of a real-life video game getting that footage. One, two inches too far one way or the other or a miscue and you've got disaster on your hands. It was both exhilarating and very wearying."
There were only minor injuries during the shoot, Miller said. Mad Max: Fury Road will roll into theatres next May.UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
Memorandum
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
DATE: June 28, 1962
TO: Nevin R. Feather, Office of the Secretary
From: Robert M. Holmes, Director of Personnel and Personnel Security Officer
SUBJECT: Interrogatory
The Library of Congress has received a report concerning you, and as a result oif some of the information contained therein, certain questions have arisen about which we are now giving you the opportunity to present your explanation. The Library is not charging you with anything but is merely requesting your cooperation in resolving this matter. Therefore, you are asked to prepare a written response, in triplicate, to the following questions, have your statement notarized, and return it to me by the close of business July 6, 1962.
It has been reported that during 1961 you disclosed to representatives of another government agency that, on a couple of occasions, you had permitted a man to perform a homosexual act (fellatio) on you. Also, that you related that you find members of the male sex attractive; that you have been in bed with men; and that you have enjoyed embracing them.
Is this report true? If it is, please state whether or not your conduct in this respect has been confined to the foregoing, and if it has not, please explain. If the above report is true, then please explain your negative answer to that part of item 20 on the Standard Form 89, "Report of Medical History", which reads "Have you ever had or have you now homosexual tendencies." If the above report is not true then how do you account for its existence? This seems to be of serious matter to me. I must admit I am quite shook-up over this matter. Please advise me or better yet may I make an appointment with you for an interview as soon as possible. Thank you.
The Mattachine Society of Washington
The Honorable Paul C. Jones
House of Representatives
Washington 25, D. C.
August 28, 1962
Dear Mr. Jones:
Enclosed, for your interest and information, is a formal statement of the purpose of the Mattachine Society of Washington, a newly-formed organization, devoted to the improvement of the status of our country's 15,000,000 homosexuals.
Included, also, is a copy of our news release, which was submitted to the Washington newspapers and others, and to the various press services.
The question of homosexuality, and the prejudice against it, both personal and official, is a serious one, involving, as it does, more than one out of every ten American citizens, including roughly a quarter-million in, each, the Federal Civil Service, the Armed Forces, and secutiry-sensitive positions in private industry, and at least 10% of your constituents.
We feel that the government's approach is archaic, unrealistic, and inconsistent with basic American principles. We feel, in addition, that it is inexcusably and unnecessarily wasteful of trained manpower and of the taxpayers' money.
We realize that this area presents you with many potential problems, some of them quite subtle and touchy ones of politics and public relations, and that they are not always subject to easy solution, but policies of repression, persecution, and exclusion will not prove to be workable ones in the case of this minority, any more than have, throughout history, in the case of other minorities. This is a problem which must be worked with, constructively, not worked against, destructively, as is now the case. A fresh approach by the Federal government is badly needed.
We welcome any comments you may have on this subject.
We will be pleased to meet with you personally, at your convenience, to discuss these and related matters.
Thank you for your consideration of our position.
Sincerely yours,
THE MATTACHINE SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
(Signed)
Franklin E. Kameny
President
[Paul Jones's handwritten response: "I am unalterably opposed to your proposal and cannot see how any person in his right mind can condone the practices which you would justify. Please do not contaminate my mail with such filthy trash."]
In 1961, four years after losing his job as a U. S. Army astronomer on account of his homosexuality, 36-year-old Frank Kameny saw his latest appeal against the dismissal rejected by the Supreme Court. However, the decision only strengthened his commitment to the wider cause: Kameny went on to become a major figure in the gay rights movement and spent the rest of his life as a full-time activist.Below are just two letters from his papers, all of which were donated to the Library of Congress in 2009. The first was written to Nevin Feather — an employee of the Library of Congress itself — in 1962, after news that he enjoyed such things as "embracing" men reached his superiors. Feather subsequently turned to Kameny for help. The second letter was written by Kameny some months later, to Congressman Paul C. Jones, in an effort to spread the word about the Mattachine Society. Jones's depressingly negative reply can be found at the foot of the same page.Transcripts follow.Nintendo
I wonder what will happen if I press this button? Algorithms armed with a sense of curiosity are teaching themselves to discover and solve problems they’ve never encountered before.
Faced with level one of Super Mario Bros, a curiosity-driven AI learned how to explore, avoid pits, and dodge and kill enemies. This might not sound impressive – algorithms have been thrashing humans at video games for a few years now – but this AI’s skills all were all learned thanks to an inbuilt desire to discover more about the game world.
Conventional AI algorithms are taught through positive reinforcement. They are rewarded for achieving some kind of external goal, like upping the score in a video game by one point. This encourages them to perform actions that increase their score – such as stomping on enemies in the case of Mario – and discourages them from performing actions that don’t increase the score, like falling into a pit.
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This type of approach, called reinforcement learning, was used to create AlphaGo, the Go-playing computer from Google DeepMind that beat Korean master Lee Sedol by four games to one last year. Over thousands of real and simulated games, the AlphaGo algorithm learned to pursue strategies that led to the ultimate reward: a win.
But the real world isn’t full of rewards, says Deepak Pathak, who led the study at the University of California, Berkeley. “Instead, humans have an innate curiosity which helps them learn,” he says, which may be why we are so good at mastering a wide range of skills without necessarily setting out to learn them.
So Pathak set out to give his own reinforcement learning algorithm a sense of curiosity to see whether that would be enough to let it learn a range of skills. Pathak’s algorithm experienced a reward when it increased its understanding of its environment, particularly the parts that directly affected it. So, rather than looking for a reward in the game world, the algorithm was rewarded for exploring and mastering skills that led to it discovering more about the world.
This type of approach can speed up learning times and improve the efficiency of algorithms, says Max Jaderberg at Google’s AI company DeepMind. The company used a similar technique last year to teach an AI to explore a virtual maze. Its algorithm learned much more quickly than conventional reinforcement learning approaches. “Our agent is far quicker and requires a lot less experience from the world to train, making it much more data efficient,” he says.
Fast learner
Imbued with a sense of curiosity, Pathak’s own AI learnt to stomp on enemies and jump over pits in Mario and also learned to explore faraway rooms and walk down hallways in another game similar to Doom. It was also able to apply its newly acquired skills to further levels of Mario despite never having seen them before.
But curiosity could only take the algorithm so far in Mario. On average, it explored only 30 per cent of level one as it couldn’t find a way past a series of pits that could only be overcome through a sequence of more than 15 button presses. Rather than jump to its death, the AI learned to turn back on itself and stop when it reached that point.
The AI may have been flummoxed because it had no idea that there was more of the level to explore beyond the pit, says Pathak. It didn’t learn to consistently take useful shortcuts in the game either, since they led it to discovering less of the level so didn’t satiate its urge for exploration.
Parker is now working on seeing whether robotic arms can learn through curiosity to grasp new objects. “Instead of it acting randomly, you could use this to help it move meaningfully,” he says. He also plans to see whether a similar algorithm could be used in household robots similar to the Roomba vacuum cleaner.
But Jaderberg isn’t so sure that this kind of algorithm is ready to be put to use just yet. “It’s too early to talk about real-world applications,” he says.
Journal reference: https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.05363
Read more: AI learns to play video game from instructions in plain EnglishForeign students attending Warwick University believe they are being targeted for racist attacks — by a swan.
Students have voiced concerns that a 4-foot tall bird with an 8-foot wingspan is xenophobic because it seems to protect its nest from ethnic minorities, The Telegraph reported.
“These swans are very annoying, and the students feel as though they’re being bullied,” one student told the Telegraph. “I’m from India, and they attack me especially, they focus straight on me.
“We’ve been warned that the swans will be a bit feisty at this time of year, but they go for me all year round,” the student said. “I think they don’t like too many Indians in England — maybe the swans here are a little bit racist.”
Italian student Albertina Crocetti agreed that the bird seems to attack foreign students “to defend her nest,” adding that the swan was a “true right-winger for sure — they certainly seem to be racially motivated incidents.”
However, a spokesman for Warwick University told the Telegraph that the students’ responses to reporters were all tongue in cheek, and that the entire story stemmed from a offhand comment made on a social media site by the student initially contacted by the paper.
“The student is greatly saddened to see how a flippant remark they then made was reported,” the spokesman said.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.In its never-ending quest to breathe life into Sparks Street, the city is asking residents, business owners, community associations and government agencies what they want the oft-maligned pedestrian mall to be.
The City of Ottawa recently posted a short questionnaire on its website as part of its long-term plan to revitalize the 50-year-old mall, which has a reputation for being a ghost town on evenings and weekends. It is asking respondents to describe “the most important things for the City to consider to ensure the future success of Sparks Street” in 250 words or fewer.
The city said a more detailed survey aimed at gathering feedback on specific themes, programming and public amenities at the mall will be released before the end of the year, with the results being announced in early 2018.
The website said the city and its partners, the National Capital Commission and the federal government, “are committed to engaging the public about the future of the iconic public space known as the Sparks Street Pedestrian Mall – how should it be used, what should it look like, and how should it be programmed.”
The year-long consultation process will consist of a variety of online surveys, design workshops and other information sessions, the city said. A report on the results is slated to be presented to the city’s finance and economic development committee in 2019. City staff will then recommend a “cohesive plan for the future,” it said.
Sparks Street BIA acting executive director Kevin McHale praised the initiative, noting the mall hasn’t had a major redesign since the late 1980s and is badly in need of a facelift.
“Over time, things come out of fashion, things change,” he said. “What I’m hoping for is a clear vision of what we want to do with the street for the next 30 years.”
Mr. McHale said it’s a positive sign that the city, NCC and federal government are working together on the new consultation plan. Although the city owns the street, the NCC has a say in its long-term vision and the federal Public Services department is the mall’s biggest landlord.
“That’s what I think is kind of amazing about this project is all these people are around the table and all have a collective (will) to make it work,” he said. “I find that very exciting.”
The city touts the pedestrian thoroughfare as “a famous place for residents and visitors alike to gather and celebrate in the heart of Ottawa’s downtown,” pointing to a spate of new residential and commercial development in the area as well as the recently unveiled Stanley Cup monument at the corner of Sparks and Elgin streets, light rail and the planned indigenous cultural centre at 100 Wellington St.
However, critics view the street differently.
Reliance on government
Ian Lee, an assistant professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, told OBJ in 2015 the mall relies too heavily on nearby government workers for traffic and will never truly become a bustling hub of activity until more people live within close walking distance.
“They’ve never been able to solve the problem of after 6 o’clock,” he said. “I don’t think that they can address that problem. That’s a structural problem – nobody lives on Sparks Street. Its liveliness is going to be a function of the stores that are there operating in the daytime appealing to the downtown workers who work there Monday to Friday. Unless you literally build condos on the Sparks Street Mall … the only thing you can do is encourage some businesses to locate there to cater to the daytime workers.”
Retail analyst Barry Nabatian said Ashcroft Homes’ re Residences project that is slated for completion next year is a positive sign in the effort to entice more people to the neighbourhood. Located between Sparks and Queen streets, just west of Metcalfe Street, the development features two buildings with a total of about 200 condo and luxury rental units. Mr. Nabatian said the project will attract well-heeled buyers and tenants who will eat, drink and shop at nearby bars and restaurants.
“The people who move there are affluent, single and two-person households,” Mr. Nabatian told OBJ two years ago. “A lot of those people, afterwards they go to the Bier Markt and other places. They’re walking on Sparks Street, and if the right type of stores are there, they’ll shop as well.”
However, while establishments such as Bier Markt and Riviera restaurant have opened on Sparks in the past few years, several other businesses – including Holt Renfrew and Yesterday’s – have closed their doors.
(Photo courtesy Sparks Street BIA)
Over the years, the BIA introduced food festivals such as Poutinefest and Ribfest in a bid to boost the mall’s profile, but other much-ballyhooed initiatives to draw tourists – including a proposed zipline – never materialized.
With a number of governing bodies – including the NCC, Public Works, the city, the BIA and the Sparks Street Mall Authority – all having a say in how the shopping district is run, Mr. Nabatian said it’s hard to get everyone on the same page when it comes to planning and marketing.
“I just don’t know how well they communicate with each other,” he said. “Sparks Street has got to be run more or less like a shopping centre. In other words, everybody has to agree on what they want it to be.”
Mr. McHale, who has worked for the organization for four years, acknowledged there have been hits and misses in efforts to revitalize the street in the past. But he said he’s hopeful that this time, things will be different.
“This is about getting people engaged,” he said. “I think at the core of it, everyone knows it’s not working anymore, but everyone also wants it to work.”Paint Your Wagon is a 1969 Western[4] musical film starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg. The film was adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 musical Paint Your Wagon by Lerner and Loewe. It is set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. It was directed by Joshua Logan.
Plot [ edit ]
When a wagon crashes into a ravine, prospector Ben Rumson finds two adult male occupants, brothers, one of whom is dead and the other of whom has a broken arm and leg. While burying the dead man, gold dust is discovered at the grave site. Ben stakes a claim on the land and adopts the surviving brother as his "Pardner" while he recuperates.
Pardner is innocent and romantic, illustrated by him singing a love song about a girl named Elisa ("I Still See Elisa"), who he later confesses exists only in his imagination. P |
choose from: the self-parodic Jack and Jill, the product placement-fest Grown-Ups 2, the xenophobic gay-panic nightmare I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and so many more, all of them marked by a halfhearted indifference towards basic concepts like “jokes” and “comedy,” to say nothing of their reliance on the dubious talents of Sandler’s pals and sycophants. But for my money, nothing he’s made shows more contempt for the intelligence of its audience than Click, whose variations on its gimmick (man gets a “universal remote” that allows him to fast-forward, pause, and visit chapters of his universe) consist mostly of Sandler freezing people so he can punch them or fart on them. But that’s not the insulting part: that comes in the third act, when the picture suddenly tries to transform itself into a heartfelt drama, with sappy music and wailing, overwrought death scenes as Sandler revisits the life he fast-forwarded through in what amounts to a remake of It’s a Wonderful Life for the exceptionally stupid (who are, in turn, about the only ones who will swallow its final, clichéd “twist”).
29. Exit to Eden
Of all the bad ideas that director Garry Marshall has ever had — and keep in mind, this is the man who directed The Other Sister, Valentine’s Day, and New Year’s Eve — none was worse than adapting Anne Rice’s erotic novel into wacky buddy-cop comedy, which gave us the opportunity to observe Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O’Donnell in leather fetish gear. And the movie-going public is still not entirely certain what they did to deserve that.
28. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Here’s a movie so bad, it didn’t just get the Mystery Science Theater treatment; both of that show’s spin-offs (Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax) revisited it, and got two more “riffs” out of it. That’s an awful lot of terrible for one feature film, but the shoe fits — from the treacly holiday messaging to the preposterous effects to “Dropo,” perhaps the most irritating character ever committed to celluloid, this is the cinematic equivalent to a stocking full of coal.
27. The Twilight Saga
It would be impossible to pick the worst of the bunch, or to rank them in any kind of definitive order, so let’s just lump all five of these laughably brain-dead piles of mumbly dead-eyed YA sparkly vampire nonsense into one entry and be done with it, shall we?
26. Glen or Glenda
WITNESS! The birth of the cinematic style of Edward D. Wood, Jr.! SEE! A nonsensical mish-mash of stock footage, blown takes, and warring narration! MARVEL! At the dopey dialogue, stiff performances, and bargain-basement production values! And, most of all, THRILL! To the picture so bad, so disjointed, so amateurish, that even decades of neglect couldn’t keep it down!
25. From Justin to Kelly
American Idol fever was at its absolute peak in 2003, and even a nation enraptured by that singing competition still couldn’t be persuaded to plunk down their hard-earned cash for this warmed-over would-be Grease starring first season winner Kelly Clarkson and runner-up Justin Guarini (remember him?). It was conceived as an extension of the show, a contractual obligation that, thankfully, was not amended to future seasons after its very poor commercial and critical reception. Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman put it best: “Set in Miami during spring break, it’s like Grease: The Next Generation acted out by the food-court staff at SeaWorld.”
24. Disco Godfather
Dolemite himself, Rudy Ray Moore, managed to fall prey to the end of both the Blaxpoitation craze and the disco craze with this bananas tale of a cop-turned-nightclub-owner who takes on the underworld after his nephew Bucky gets hooked on angel dust. We’re getting into real you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it territory here, between the woefully inept filmmaking and the actorly stylings of Mr. Ray Moore (who has two speeds: over the top and waaaay over the top). It’s a schlock masterpiece, so put your weight on it, everybody.
23. Norbit
The poor timing of this excruciating mix of fatty-fall-down jokes and deliriously minstrel-show-esque stereotypes may well have cost Eddie Murpy his Dreamgirls Oscar — which isn’t exactly fair, but it certainly seems like justice. For it’s not just a poorly made movie, but a loathsome and distasteful one to boot, consisting of a single joke, told over and over and over and over and over again, that wasn’t funny the first time. The joke is that fat people are physically repulsive, disgusting creatures. It’s mean, angry, vile, and misogynistic, and some of that might be forgivable if Norbit were funny. It isn’t. There is, no exaggeration, not one laugh to be found in it. It marked Eddie Murphy’s creative nadir (which is saying something), and if we’re lucky, it’s the worst film he’ll ever make. I shudder to imagine one that’s worse.
22. Howard the Duck
Marvel movies got off to rather an inauspicious beginning with this notorious 1986 goose egg (sorry) from executive producer George Lucas, whose attempts to turn an adult comic book into a family sci-fi adventure resulted in a movie for no one. Painfully stupid, narratively inept, grotesquely overlong, it’s remembered today for its total lack of logic (events happen on screen, in a form that appears to have been organized by words and character names on pieces of paper, but all reason has been abandoned somewhere along the way) and the nightmarishly disturbing scene of human/duck foreplay between our hero and poor Lea Thompson.
21. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Then again, it’s not like DC doesn’t have a couple of skeletons rattling around in its closet. In the mid-‘80s, after the disappointing Superman III, the original trilogy’s producers sold the Superman rights to Canon Films, best known as the exploitation outfit responsible for the Breakin’ movies and various Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson vehicles. True to form, they slashed the budget to the bone, resulting in a chintzy-looking installment that runs barely 90 minutes and is handicapped by its dopey script and subtle-as-a-sledgehammer messaging.
20. Catwoman
Poor Halle Berry again, who made a series of bad decisions following her Oscar win for Monster’s Ball in 2002, but none of them worse (or more of a career staller) than starring in this goofy, campy (and not in a good way) attempt to wring some new life out of the Batman movie universe. That would happen the next year, with Batman Begins; by then, this box-office and critical bomb had been long, long forgotten, except by the poor souls who subjected themselves to it.
19. The Transformers Saga
As with Twilight, good luck picking the worst one — and yes, I’m even including the 2007 original, which has somehow gained a reputation as being infinitely better than its far inferior sequels. But they’re all the same: overlong, overdone, headache-inducing cacophonies of clanging metal, roaring engines, and choppy explosions, done in a dead-serious, flag-waving tone just this side of Private Ryan (aside from the even more painful scenes of leering “comic relief”). Their domestic grosses total $1.3 billion (with a B!) dollars, which is about as persuasive an argument as I’ve heard for just burning movies to the ground and starting over.
18. Jaws: The Revenge
The still-untouched height (depth?) of desperate sequels, the fourth — and so far, fingers crossed, last — entry in the Jaws series introduced us to the idea of a Great White Shark that could actually follow a family from Martha’s Vineyard to the Bahamas, to get revenge for the deaths in the earlier films. Or, as the widely mocked (and occasionally imitated) poster tagline put it, “This time it’s personal.” A box office bomb and critical whipping boy, it contains one of the most egregious gaffes in movie history: Michael Caine’s plane crashes into the ocean, and he not only survives, but does so with dry clothes.
17. The Human Centipede
An evil genius abducts two lost girls to complete his “human centipede” in this cinematic ode to literal ass-to-mouth, which attracted no shortage of attention (and a reportedly even more repulsive sequel) thanks to the “wait, you’re fucking kidding me, they actually made a movie about that?” factor. Pushing buttons is all good and well, but The Human Centipede doesn’t actually have anything to say — it’s just a cinematic geek show, with no engagement past feeling bad for the (topless, of course) actresses who have to spend half the film with their face in someone else’s ass. (However much they paid these actors, it wasn’t enough.) Director Tom Six’s sadism runs parallel to the madman at his story’s center, but his is worse, because it really happened.
16. The Terror of Tiny Town
This 1938 Western comes advertised as a “rollickin’, rootin’, tootin, shootin’ saga of the great outdoors” starring “Jed Buell’s Midgets.” The resulting waking nightmare tells one joke and one joke only: hey, look at all the little people in a seemingly incongruous Western setting. Its tropes are presumably played for laugh, but it’s not like the clichés are spoofed in any kind of a witty way; they’re merely enacted by people who are shorter than we’re used to seeing. In other words, it’s an hour or so of pointing and laughing — a dull, lifeless mess, running a mere 62 minutes, but all of them so agonizing that the film feels longer than Shoah.
15. White Chicks
The Wayans Brothers haven’t exactly been a gift to the cinema, but none of their other efforts is as stunningly, bafflingly terrible as this 2004 buddy cop movie, in which the duo play FBI agents who don whiteface drag to impersonate a pair of Paris Hilton-esque socialites. It’s Some Like It Hot for people with brain damage, sunk irreparably by the simple, unstated fact that the makeup effects are so terrible they don’t look like white chicks, or even human beings. And yet everyone on screen just acts like they’re who and what they say they are, a disconnect even more shocking than the film’s box office success ($113 million worldwide). That we allowed both cinema and humanity to continue after that success says a lot about our patience and forgiveness as a people.
14. Robot Monster
The prototypical terrible, micro-budgeted ‘50s sci-fi movie, Phil Tucker’s 1953 camp classic concerns an evil alien called “Ro-Man,” played by a man in a gorilla suit with an astronaut helmet. The hodgepodge of stock footage, farcical effects, and goofily “thought-provoking” dialogue (“I cannot — yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do ‘must’ and ‘cannot’ meet? Yet I must — but I cannot!”) became a popular favorite among early bad-movie aficionados thanks to its many television viewings, and later generations via Mystery Science Theater 3000, which tackled the movie in its very first season.
13. Alone in the Dark
The filmography of professional video game adapter and bad movie purveyor Uwe Boll is filled with stunningly terrible movies: House of the Dead, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Postal, and the BloodRayne trilogy (trilogy!). But one of them stands head and shoulders above the rest, for one reason and one reason only: Tara Reid as a scientist. (You can tell, because she wears glasses!)
12. Highlander II: The Quickening
The original 1986 Highlander was a sleeper hit, gradually finding an audience via VHS and television. The sequel, released five years later, reassembled much of the cast (including Sean Connery) and director Russell Mulcahy, but the results were… well, problematic, thanks to slashed budgets, locations issues, and general ineptitude. Numerous alternate versions and special editions have been released through the years, all aiming to fix the movie’s many problems, but a reputation is a hard thing to repair; Roger Ebert correctly predicted its fate in his original review, calling it “the most hilariously incomprehensible movie I’ve seen in many a long day — a movie almost awesome in its badness. Wherever science fiction fans gather, in decades and generations to come, this film will be remembered in hushed tones as one of the immortal low points of the genre.”
11. I Spit on Your Grave
This 1978 exploitation movie all but redefines the word “sleazy,” a rape-and-revenge fantasy with something to offend and repulse just about any viewer. Ebert deemed it the worst movie he’d ever seen, a “vile bag of garbage… told with moronic simplicity,” but it acquired enough of a cult cachet among a certain kind of viewer to inspire a 2010 remake, which just goes to show that pretty much anything can get remade these days, no matter how putrid.
10. Batman and Robin
“It’s not the worst movie ever,” wrote MST3K’s Michael J. Nelson in his book Movie Megacheese, of Joel Schumacher’s 1997 disaster. “No, indeed. It’s the worst thing ever. Yes, it’s the single worst thing that we as human beings have ever produced in recorded history. (There may have been a viler clay tablet somewhere in prehistory, but we mustn’t spend time speculating on that.)” It was a genuinely spectacular implosion of a huge movie franchise, one that seemed indestructible when Schumacher took it over two years earlier with the smash Batman Forever. But given free reign, Schumacher cooked up a groan-worthy stew of uncomfortably fetishized closeups, horrifying puns, and “extreme” sports; it took the series eight years to recover, by gently assuring us that none of this ever happened.
9. The Friedberg/Seltzer Oeuvre
You may as well lump them all together, because they all bleed together in cinematic hell: the “parody” efforts of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, which include Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, Vampires Suck. They’re sad, limp affairs that have all but single-handedly reduced the “spoof movie” from parody to mere quotation: From Napoleon Dynamite to Borat to the “Leave Britney alone!” guy, no payoff delights these comic geniuses more than cutting away to the flavor of the month, presumably causing the audience to roar with laughter, smack themselves on the forehead, and exclaim, “Hot damn, how the hell’d the Kardashians end up in thar? Hyuck, hyuck!” Their most recent efforts, the Hunger Games parody The Starving Games and the Hangover riff Best Night Ever, both sunk without a trace, meaning the jig might finally be up for these two rip-off artists.
8. Troll 2
The various cinematic crimes of Troll 2 have been well documented in the rather delightful documentary Best Worst Movie: the puzzling plot, the dubious titling (there are no trolls in it, and it is unrelated to the 1986 Troll), the clumsy dialogue (“You can’t piss on hospitality! I won’t allow it!”), and the wildly amateurish acting turned it into a very popular piece of junk art. But it’s kept this far from the top spot simply for begetting Best Worst Movie, a terrific movie and thoughtful mediation on the nature of so-good-they’re-bad movies themselves.
7. The Room
The cult that has popped up around this weird combination of cable softcore flick and failed psychological drama is based on one thing and one thing alone: the bizarre and inexplicable onscreen presence of writer/director/star Tommy Wiseau, an apparent mental case whose impenetrable accent and eccentric line readings render the whole movie a slow-motion car crash that you just can’t look away from.
6. Reefer Madness
Made in 1936 with the financing of a church group and intended as a serious morality tale (its original title was Tell Your Children), Reefer Madness dramatizes the dangers of this “new drug menace,” “marihuana.” The reefer scene comes to life in a dealer’s apartment, which is hotbed of bad music, insane dancing, and illicit sex, where one puff of the demon weed turns the smoker into a deranged lunatic. Hilariously overcooked and feverishly paranoid, it became a counterculture fave in the early 1970s among the very audience it was presumably “targeting.”
5. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
This 1987 stinker might have very well gone down as just another horror rip-off — and make no mistake, it is certainly that, an 88-minute movie that spends over a third of its running time on repackaged scenes from the notorious 1984 original. But the performance of Eric Freeman in the leading role catapulted this from forgotten follow-up to cult comedy, thanks in no small part to the meme-friendly “GARBAGE DAY!” scene. Garbage day, indeed.
4. Battlefield Earth
The annals of bad movie history are filled with vanity projects gone awry: Glitter, After Earth, On Deadly Ground, The Postman, Under the Cherry Moon. But none is as egregious — nor as unwatchable — as this 2000 flop, in which John Travolta leveraged six years of post-Pulp Fiction goodwill to bring to the screen a sci-fi novel from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Travolta’s own high-profile association with the religion lent the picture an unshakable whiff of indoctrination, but even if that weren’t the case, the picture’s butt-ugly production design, self-conscious camerawork, and hammy acting (mostly from Travolta himself) would’ve surely done it in.
3. The Beast of Yucca Flats
Ed Wood may have received all the dubious accolades and the biopic treatment, but he was Ingmar Bergman compared to Coleman Francis, whose three feature films test the patience of even the most ardent bad-movie lovers. The first and worst of the bunch is 1961’s Beast of Yucca Flats, a film which asks us to believe that Swedish wrestler and Wood fave Tor Johnson is a Russian scientist (that’s an even bigger stretch than Tara Reid) who wanders into a nuclear test and turns into a killer beast. Yucca Flats is most memorable for its director’s stubborn refusal to even attempt sync sound; the dialogue scenes are played with characters’ backs to the screen, or out of frame, or even (most hilariously) with the camera on the listener rather than the speaker. To fill the awkward silences, a narrator barks such mumbo-jumbo as, “Flag on the moon. How did it get there?” and “Find the Beast and kill him. Kill, or be killed. Man’s inhumanity to man.” It runs all of 54 minutes, and those who can survive it deserve some kind of prize.
2. Manos, The Hands of Fate
Written, directed, produced by, and starring Harold P. Warren, a Texas insurance and fertilizer salesman (sometimes the jokes just write themselves), this 1966 horror (I guess?) movie would’ve likely disappeared forever had it not been rediscovered for Mystery Science Theater 3000, where the 1993 episode became one of the show’s most popular. It’s easy to see why: it’s a stunningly amateurish effort, filled with lengthy and inexplicable sequences of driving, staring, stammering, and weirdness. The clumsy lighting scheme fills the frame with moths; the endless opening credit sequence is missing the vital ingredient of credits. It’s one of those movies you watch in slack-jawed wonder, unsure of how such a thing ever made it out of someone’s brain and onto celluloid.
1. Birdemic: Shock and Terror
Say what you will about Manos or Beast, but the sheer mechanical and chemical nature of the film process required some minimal degree of proficiency to get a movie to the screen. But there’s no such firewall in the digital age, and that brings us to the top of the heap, the cream of the crop, the worst movie all time (in this viewer’s eyes, anyway): a film so wildly incompetent, so unfamiliar with even the most basic principles of film grammar, that it really must be seen to be believed. The dialogue is nonsensical, the acting is laughably wooden, shots don’t match, sound disappears and reappears willy-nilly, shots crossfade in mid-scene, eye-lines are all over the place, extras are either entirely absent (bars and restaurants are suspiciously empty) or hilariously uncompliant (traffic proceeds as normal during the titular event). But the birds themselves are the topper: they don’t even appear until a good halfway through the film, interrupting a ghastly romantic drama, and when they do show up, the staggeringly terrible computer effects make them look less like real birds than the targets of the old Nintendo Duck Hunt game, hovering in one place, flying in formation, and exploding at random. It all looks like it was shot and edited on someone’s iPhone in about three hours, but give it this much: unlike countless other throwaway movies, once you’ve seen it, you’ll never forget it. Or, as the guys in Rifftrax put it, “I don’t think anyone told this movie that it’s in a movie.”After Splatoon had been out for a few weeks, I went out to dinner with a friend. We had sushi, appropriately enough. They asked me what I had been up to and I told them I’d been playing a lot of Splatoon. I explained that it was an arena shooter that addressed many of the issues with the genre that had kept me away in recent years. Splatoon does not have a hint of jingoism, doesn’t have blood and violence, and the object of the game is not to earn the most frags, but rather to paint the largest area for your team. I also mentioned how much fun I’d been having collecting the various clothing and accessories in the game, which are not only stylish, but confer various bonuses in-game. My friend exclaimed, “That game sounds very femme!” I rejoined, “Well, except you can’t wear skirts or dresses.” They replied, “Ah, well.”
There is no logical reason for stat bonuses granted by gear in many games. Certainly in a fantasy world there is magical enchantment and in a science fiction world there are nano machines, but in a modern setting, why would what you tie your hair with affect your ability to punch things? In Splatoon, the connection between bonuses and equipment seems even more whimsical: use less ink because of your shoes; move faster because of your shirt; get your special faster because of a headband. Even given the conceit that Splatoon takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is long extinct, the bonuses given by the clothing don’t make a whole lot of sense—and no matter what you choose, you’ll be okay, as the most important thing in the game is to stay fresh and go with a look that suits you.Feb. 24 Update: Turns out the expected heavy snows in Minnesota this week missed Minneapolis. Seattle is maintaining its yearly lead!
Seattle isn't exactly known as a snowy spot in the winter -- as anyone who has attempted to drive on the rare occasions it does snow can attest.
But since the calendar flipped to 2017, Seattle can surprisingly hold its own against some of nation's winter stalwarts for snowfall -- at least, through the middle of this week.
Believe it or not, for the month of February through the 21st, Seattle has had more snow than Minneapolis, Chicago, Green Bay, Denver and others:
Now, the Midwest has had a bad few weeks with unseasonably-to-record high temperatures this month -- for example, Minneapolis has been in the mid 50s to low 60s the past few days. That's certainly not going to get a lot of snow. And they've had some Minnesota-worthy cold snaps, just without the moisture. But even going back to January 1, Seattle is still ahead of some of the big kahunas, including Minneapolis and Chicago -- which surprisingly has had hardly any snow all year!
(I stuck Boston in there to show New England has not missed out on their snow parties)
Also of note, Seattle is ahead of Portland at least in the battle of airport snows since the start of 2017. Some Portland and Seattle suburbs have had considerably more but I'd think overall as a region, Portland is probably still ahead of Seattle this winter as far as wintry precipitation impacts are concerned (remember, they've had a lot of freezing rain issues that don't show up in the snowfall column). Although if you go back and add in December too, Portland is barely ahead of Seattle at 11.2" to 11.1" in the snowfall tally.
Big snows to return to the Midwest
Alas, if you want to share this little tidbit around with your friends across the nation, do it fast. A big winter storm is bearing down on the upper Midwest with 6-12" of new snow expected in Minneapolis by the end of the week. So the universe will likely be back in balance soon enough, but we'll hold on to our snow crown as long as we can!Edward F. Mooney is an Emeritus Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Syracuse University. His most recent book, Excursions with Thoreau, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion was published by Bloomsbury in 2015, and he has also published numerous books on Kierkegaard. He still writes on Kierkegaard, and contributes to the interdisciplinary blog Zeteo on everything from Bach to Wittgenstein. He settled into Portland, Maine, after two years living and teaching at Tel Aviv and Hebrew Universities. He plays chamber music (violin and viola) and sings (bass). In a breakaway moment, he’s delivered several sermons at a local church. His email is [email protected].
J. Aaron Simmons (JAS): You have spent most of your life as a philosopher working on the thought of the Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard. He had a notoriously difficult relationship with the Lutheran Church in Denmark. That said, how has thinking with Kierkegaard helped you to think about the relationship between philosophy and the church here in your own context? Do you think that there are specific things that Kierkegaard’s critique of “Christendom” can offer to us here and now as resources for reconsidering church practice?
Edward F. Mooney (EFM): Thanks for opening up this informal dialogue, Aaron. I’m quite surprised that I now give occasional sermons and perform occasional weddings. I’ve had no pastoral training, and although when I was ten my minister’s wife told me that I should become a minister, by the time I was twenty I’m sure she would have recanted. For the next five decades or so I studied and taught philosophy and kept a friendly distance from both from church and divinity schools. This is my first attempt to say something coherent about this late-life transition. Your questions will guide.
You ask about Kierkegaard’s battle with the Danish Lutheran establishment. Kierkegaard’s anger at the State Church for its pomp and circumstance is paired contrastively, in my mind, with his quite reverent listening attentiveness to folk of all sorts with whom he fell in stride and conversation on his daily walks. He had no anger but only respect, perhaps gentle love, for them. He was not a grump or misanthrope or intellectual elitist. In a sense (for me, at least) his church was the streets.
Of course this is a very personal image of him that I share now, but it’s one way to see my own sense of a terrain where one can be fully Christian, as Kierkegaard was, without fussing over doctrine or chapel attendance.
Another angle on Kierkegaard comes from my immersion in his labyrinthine, explosive, strangely gentle, often perplexing texts. I love the challenge. I love the fact that a writer can be simultaneously soaringly philosophical, literary, and dramatic, so brilliantly intelligent, so satirically cutting. And entertaining. And funny. And sermonic. He defies genre-schemes and categories of mood, writing temperament, or style.
His writing is more a scattered, impulsive barrage of creativity that an ordered easy-to-follow oeuvre. We find an overwhelming variety of paragraphs on an overwhelming variety of issues wherever we dip into his volumes upon volumes.
How does all this bear on the practice of the church? I suppose it’s an invitation to improvisation, to bend formats of liturgy, to encourage daring sermonic and liturgical imagination. And it’s an invitation to listen to street conversation.
Dogma and doctrine should cohere in theory. But Kierkegaard is non-doctrinaire and anti-dogmatic—which is to my taste. I am always more interested in the snippet, the paragraph, the three pages here or there, full of almost random insight—rather than in any supposed grand thesis.
As you know, we’re in the midst of this conversation because I’m eager to make better sense of my migration in the past year or so into a wonderful church community in Portland, Maine. This is after a life-time of being a respectful outsider—apart from the pleasure of frequent choir and chorus performance in various sanctuaries, and youthful, pre-college memories. This change is slowly getting into focus, but by bit. There was no grand revelation or conversion experience. But Kierkegaard and Thoreau give me lots of tools for understanding it.
I guess my take on things now, with regard to Kierkegaard’s relevance to church practice, is that a church can, and should, gently spill into the streets, and it should welcome the streets to enter under its roof, setting aside for as long as possible confessional commitments or family lineage and upbringing as litmus tests preliminary to soulish encounter. A church should welcome good-hearted improvisation and imagination.
Exchange among souls, co-mingling, is primary. Rigid adherence to set doctrines or practices is secondary. I find Kierkegaard to be an anti-dogmatist through and through. And he had what I’d call a street—and literary—religious practice. In a provocative moment from a posthumous typescript, he writes “I am not a Christian”—and yet he’s as Christian as can be. Bruce Kirmsse calls this Kierkegaard’s “sublime lie.” [See his essay in Anthropology and Authority: Essays on Søren Kierkegaard, ed. by Poul Houe, Gordon D. Marino, Rodopi 2000.]
I think Kierkegaard has taught me, over the years, to become progressively sensitive to what is soul rather than self—where ‘self’ has come to be too wedded to self-assertion and getting ahead in life. You might say that Kierkegaard teaches us to exchange self for soul, and to see soul as both inner and outer, as a matter of what we do in solitude, but also of how we listen to the souls of others, and through openness to them, nourish and be nourished. Thus we become who we are, fluid ensembles of listeners and singers who periodically break into solos only to return to duets or larger groups. But all this verges on philosophical-theological reflection rather than on what Kierkegaard can inspire with regard to church practice.
(JAS): Your own story is interesting in that you have recently begun offering “sermons” in Christian contexts. How does delivering an academic lecture differ from offering such sermons? What do you think academics and pastors can learn from each other in this regard?
(EFM): I’m only a beginner here, but the challenge is to speak to an intelligent and caring but non-academic audience. One can become stale taking only to professors, graduate students, and undergraduates. Topics or themes I’d use in a university setting need to be refreshed with a new ‘public’ in mind. And I suspect facility gaining audiences outside a university can’t help but to enhance their success in reaching the hearts and minds of students.
I might digress here to urge that teachers in the humanities take their vocation as a ministry to souls reaching for depth and maturity. Too often classes are conceived as a locus for information-transfer or practice in writing. I’ve written quite a bit about teaching, at its best, being a form of passionate speech meant as an invitation to realign the soul. Teaching should resemble 40 minutes with Kierkegaard or Thoreau as they entice us with words rather than a training session on mastering a new computer app or new methodology for research.
I like the challenge of a twenty-minute talk to a congregation that carries (I hope) a vibrancy we weed out in professional deliveries, and a sense that the soul is to be rent or uplifted. I think the congregation I face is not afraid of difficult thought if it’s delivered poetically. It’s not just the rhythms of delivery but also a down-to-earth diction that nevertheless sparkles. The congregation is for the most part loyal and welcoming in listening, not distracted by thoughts of rushing to a next class or by worry about tests—or by the glance from next row down.
In the congregation I’ve joined I’m not restricted in sermons to biblical commentary—I might start recalling a scriptural passage, but I can quickly wander. I can learn the discipline of scriptural interpretation, a boon. And I suppose some pastors might be intrigued both by my wandering and by my discipline in listening to language philosophically.
(JAS): Postmodernism is often seen by many in the church as a significant threat to Christian Truth (always expressed with a capital-T). Alternatively, many postmodern philosophers suggest that postmodernism is what makes Christianity possible again after the “death of God” as it were. How do you think pastors and academics can work together in a postmodern world to navigate this tension?
(EFM): I’m old enough to remember when existentialism was seen as a threat to Christian Truth. Existentialism became atheism, pure and simple. When French Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, and Post-modernism moved center stage, they too were regarded as a threat. But individual thinkers are almost always more nuanced and rewarding than a general rubric like “Post-modernism” or “Existentialism.” I read Sartre and Kierkegaard, Marcel and Tillich, and discover riches unavailable if I try to characterize “Existentialism” or “Death of God Theology” or “Post-modernism” in the abstract.
I suppose if we focus on the demise of “Big-T-truth,” we might have a manageable theme for discussion. But I’m cautious here, too, even though I’ve written on “Tactile Truth” and “Truth in the Trenches.”
Donald Trump is sometimes announced as having opened post-truth politics. If so, it’s time to defend truth—period. When I think of the philosophers I most admire—say Kierkegaard and Thoreau—I’m not sure they were devoted to “Big-T-truth,” though they weren’t out to deconstruct it, either. I suspect they thought it was an issue beyond their ken, for only the gods to debate and decide (keeping their conclusions to themselves). I suspect they thought that truths saturate everyday life and appear glancingly in transcendent moments in everyday life. That’s where they’d focus their efforts.
I suspect that for Kierkegaard and Thoreau, debates about “Big-T-truth” would fall into the same collection can as debates about proofs for the existence of God.
Maybe I’m stuck with pre-post-modern texts; that would account for my flat-footedness in responding to your question. Musing, I’d rather construct and sing praises than deconstruct. I’m a romantic at heart. I want to build castles, or admire them, or admire their ruins, or study their blue-prints, or get a photo of sunrise behind the spire, dappling a meadow. Believe it or not, that’s philosophy and theology for me.
My most recent paper is on Moby Dick as fluid, episodic philosophy-literature-theology-disaster with a strong dash of demonism, but also a song in praise of life, spirit, and soul, and full of truths scattered all about.
Wittgenstein is not Melville, but he too is a religious-existentialist-romantic, unafraid of episodic illumination and absence of grand theory. If we turned to perplexities about truth or truths, he’d ask us to attend to ‘truly sorry,’ ‘true friend,’ ‘true pitch,’ ‘truthfulness,’ or ‘truing up the angle.’ These exercises would shed light on our quite legitimate and wide ranging craving for truth.
(JAS): What two or three books do you wish all pastors would read? Why?
(EFM): I’d want to know what a pastor has already read, and where her passions lie. There are three retired pastors in my congregation, and one is reading Martha Nussbaum, whom I recommended. He’s looking for clues for changing our feelings from worse to better. Nussbaum’s Fragility of Goodness is wonderfully moving and helps place positive emotions, love and friendship, back to the center of human existence.
James Edward’s The Plain Sense of Things: the fate of religion in an age of normal nihilism is inspiring and always insightful. He discusses, among others, Heidegger, Thoreau, and Kierkegaard as thinkers who have not utterly abandoned a religious sensibility.
I think Kierkegaard’s “Lilies of the Fields and Birds of the Air” is exemplary in embodying lyrical spiritual insight. Of course, I’m still giddy from immersion in Thoreau, a first-rate poet, philosopher, and religious thinker. I’d recommend dipping here and there in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.
And I’d recommend Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue, by Paul Woodruff. All of these books evince sensitivity to theology, philosophy, literature, and a moral-religious sensibility. They help dissolve the great walls between these domains of thought, feeling, and expression, and help energ |
Harper said.
Many English backbenchers across all the major parties have been critical of and irritated by the issue. As she unveiled her bill in February, Baldwin said the West Lothian question came from the "heart of middle England".
She told the Commons: "How can it be right for it to be possible for potentially decisive pieces of legislation to be voted on in this place by, and carried by a majority of, members of parliament who are not legislating on behalf of their own constituents? That is not a question that we can carry on parking in that car park for ever."
Tom Harris, the Labour MP for Glasgow South, said he disagreed fundamentally with limiting MPs' voting rights. He said the Conservatives had relied heavily on Northern Irish unionist votes at Westminster for 50 years, even while Northern Ireland had its own legislature.
It was right to do so, he said. "We're a UK parliament. MPs always have responsibilities outside their own constituencies and even outside their nations. MPs vote on issues affecting Libya, for example, and I don't have many Libyans in my constituency."
He said the ability of Scottish or Welsh or Northern Irish MPs to control or influence English policy was overstated. There were far more English MPs than those from other nations or areas: there are currently 533 English constituencies against 59 in Scotland, 40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland.
The UK government's legislation to cut the total number of MPs to 600 for the next general election in 2015 will leave England with between 500 and 502 seats, depending on the size of the electorate in 2015, Scotland with 50 to 52, Wales with 30 and Northern Ireland with 16.
"My bottom line is this: Scotland got devolution because it is a small nation, and it's easily possible for every single Scottish MP to vote one way and be out-voted by a small fraction of English MPs, but Scottish MPs don't decide English issues. You would need every single non-English MP to vote in that direction."
Eddie Bone, chairman of the Campaign for an English Parliament, said the issue needed urgently to be addressed as discontent in England about the "imbalance" between Westminster and the devolved areas was increasing rapidly, particularly with the upsurge in support for the Scottish National party.
"If they don't deal with it soon, they will have missed the window of opportunity with the people of England to save the union," Bone said.
Elfyn Llwyd MP, Plaid Cymru's constitution spokesman, said it was time for a federal system: "The problem is that Westminster is trying to do two jobs. It is trying to act as both an England and a UK parliament.
"England deserves to have its own administration to deal with issues which affect England only. This would then ensure that there is a clear distinction between what is a matter for England and what is a matter for other countries too. The lines are too blurred as they are."[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]
14th June 2016, NASHIK, INDIA: Zabuza Labs, one of the well-known mobile game development companies, has launched one more game in Virtual Reality - VR Zombie Runner. Previously they had launched Moto Racer VR - a moto racing game in Virtual Reality - which has got more than 20,000 downloads so far. Moto Racer VR is one of those rare games in VR to have got so many downloads. VR Zombie Runner is an endless run into the terrifying zombie land, where you have to survive as long as you can. You will face number of zombies moving forward to kill you, you have to dodge them and save yourself. The environment gets bloodier when you die. With the frightening music, this experience in virtual reality becomes scarier as you move ahead in the game. You can play this game on Google Cardboard. However it'll soon be ported to other VR devices like Occulus & Gear VR. In case you don't have Google Cardboard, you can still play the game on fill screen in 360 degree environment. "VR is going big and we are seeing a lot of new games. However there are very few horror or zombie related experiences available on VR. VR Zombie Runner is a treat to those VR enthusiasts who like horror experiences. ", said Manas Gajare, CEO, Zabuza Labs. This game is now available on all the Android smartphones, users can download it here - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zabuzalabs.vr_zombie_runner - About Zabuza Labs Zabuza Labs is an indie-game development company based out of Nashik, India. Driven by their mission of delivering delight to people through games, they are continuously raising bar with each of the new game launch. Zabuza Labs' some popular games are Balloon Bow & Arrow, Dahi Handi Knock Down and ATV Race 3D. For more info- Web - www.zabuzalabs.com | Facebook - http://facebook.com/zabuzalabs | Twitter - http://twitter.com/zabuzalabs - For more information please contact: Amol Wagh, PR, Game Marketing, [email protected] Zabuza LabsDive Brief:
California Independent System Operator (CAISO) data shows solar is now the top renewables provider of electricity to the grid that delivers about 80% of California’s power and serves Southern California Edison (SCE), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E).
Calculations from CAISO data show utility-scale solar power plants produced 15,591,964 MWh, 6.7% of the 231,965,326 MWh system total in 2015. Wind provided 5.3% percent. Drought-diminished hydropower was at 5.9%.
Distributed solar is not counted by the CAISO but if the estimated 467,200-plus privately owned smaller installations representing 3,655 MW were included, solar would likely be nearly 10% of the state’s electricity.
Dive Insight:
The rise of solar in California has been rapid and the impact of the state's four-year drought has been powerful. Three years earlier, in 2012, solar was 0.9% of CAISO’s generation mix while wind was 4% and hydro was 9.3% of the state’s electricity supply.
The growth of renewables in California is the result of the state’s rich solar and wind resources and policies that have driven the development of them. Under the 33% renewables by 2020 mandate, PG&E has contracted for 31.3% of its power to be renewables by 2020, SCE has contracted for 23.5%, and SDG&E has contracted for 38.8%, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. All are now gearing up to meet the new 50% by 2030 mandate.
California’s electricity average generation mix, according to CAISO, is 58.8% natural gas, 24.3% renewables, 12.5% large hydro, 3.5% nuclear, 0.5% coal and 0.4% oil.
Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson's Solutions Project projects that California could get 100% of its power from renewables by 2050 with 13% from distributed solar, 41.5% from utility-scale solar power plants, 35% from onshore and offshore wind, 5% from geothermal, 4.5% from hydro, and 1% from wave and tidal energies.Update 10.09am: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been speaking about some of the measures contained in today's Budget.
He said that today would see the "biggest education budget ever", saying that it would lead to "more teachers, more doctors, more nurses, more gardaí".
He also revealed that there would be a "very significant increase in spending on infrastructure, with big increases for housing and transport in particular".
Mr Varadkar claimed that the changes in the Budget will benefit an average family by between €500-600 per year.
Measures such as a lowering of USC rates, changes to tax bands and reductions in the cost of prescription medicines are widely expected.
Hear from Taoiseach Varadkar, Paschal Donohoe, Katherine Zappone and Simon Harris ahead of #Budget18. pic.twitter.com/0ItV52PlGV — RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 10, 2017
Separately, Children's Minister Katherine Zappone said that 20,000 more children will be given free childcare.
Children's Minister @KZapponeTD confirms free childcare for 20,000 extra kids, supports for Tulsa, modest tax cuts #Budget18 pic.twitter.com/GkAZCqc290 — Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 10, 2017
Update 9.26am: Leo Varadkar has said this morning that there will be "no fireworks, no big bonanza" in the upcoming Budget.
The Taoiseach said that it aims to give a little to a lot of people.
"It should put some more money back in the pockets of taxpayers, working people, families, pensioners, people on welfare, and also some measures to reduce the cost of living, particularly in relation to childcare and prescription medications," he said.
"So it's a good Budget overall. There's no fireworks, no big bonanza, but it is another small, sustainable step in the right direction for our country.
"And everything else will be announced by Paschal at one o'clock."
Update 8.37am: Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said this morning that his Budget will lay the foundations for a fairer and more resilient Ireland.
He said that measures in his Budget, set to be announced this afternoon, will be aimed at "making sure that we have a broadly balanced budget next year, making sure that we sustainably invest in how we can reduce taxation, in how we can improve the funding of our public services.
"And then making long-term investments in our hospitals, our schools, our public transport - they are the foundations for more resilient, a fairer Ireland."
Paschal Donohoe says the budget will lay the foundations for a more resilient and fairer Ireland #Budget18 pic.twitter.com/OAtZDMHKaI — Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 10, 2017
He added later: "We need to invest more in that which will make a big difference to our country responding back to the challenges of Brexit, and giving every citizen in our State the opportunity to be all they can be.
And we'll be announcing plans today in relation to capital investment that will bring that future a bit closer."
This government won't make the mistakes of the Celtic Tiger when it comes to tax cuts, says @SimonHarrisTD #Budget18 pic.twitter.com/GdXPG5jxhi — Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 10, 2017
Earlier:
The Government will today unveil a Budget with additional tax and spending measures worth about a €1bn.
Following last-minute talks with the king-makers on opposition benches, the country can expect modest cuts to income tax, initiatives to ease the unprecedented housing and homelessness crisis and modest welfare rises.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe's first Budget in the Fine Gael Government is a delicate balancing act as he is reliant on the support of Fianna Fáil to get it through.
It is the second year that those in power will have negotiated with their traditional political rivals, leaving few surprises to announce on the day.
And much like last year, the critics on the Opposition benches will be watching closely to see how well the Government has thought to Brexit-proof Ireland's economy.
Among the flagged reforms are an easing of the tax burden on average working families.
The so-called "squeezed middle" will be closely counting cuts to income tax and the deeply unpopular Universal Social Charge, which hits the pay packets of all but the lowest earners.
There are some suggestions that a modest payback - up to 0.5% on the two middle bands of the rate - could return about €250 to annual salaries.
Income tax bands are also being tweaked with workers set to pay the top rate of tax on wages above €34,500, compared to €33,800 as it is now.
Older people should also enjoy some improvements. Five euro is due to go on the old age pension, and a bereavement grant, which helped covered the cost of a funeral until it was abolished a few years ago, is also expected to return.
RTÉ political correspondent @MartinaFitzg with updates on Budget 2018 pic.twitter.com/heDlo7RuDV — RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 9, 2017
Prescription charges are likely to be cut and dole and other welfare benefits are likely to see a Christmas bonus this year.
There will also be a package of measures to improve the lives of carers and people with disabilities to ensure Ireland lives up to commitments under a UN rights charter.
A huge chunk of the money available to Minister Donohoe will come from hikes in stamp duty on commercial property deals.
It is currently at 2% and every percentage increase is set to yield about €100m.
Tax incentives for corporations to lodge intellectual property rights in Ireland will be reduced to bring in about €150m.
A sugar tax is also on the menu.
It will target sweetened drinks specifically and is forecast to make up to €40m, and it will be timed to coincide with the UK's levy.
A question mark remained at the 11th hour on whether a reformed betting tax was over the line and whether the funds raised could be ring-fenced.
Land owners who hoard development sites as they wait for prices to climb can also expect to be penalised under a new and long-awaited tax.
It is due to be included in a package to alleviate the housing and homelessness crisis.
More than 8,000 people have been forced to live in emergency accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs after losing their homes, while social housing waiting lists have soared to about 90,000 families.
The old reliables rarely get away untouched.
Smokers can expect to be hurt in the pocket again, with Ireland second only to Norway for the most expensive tobacco in Europe.
Alcohol went untouched last year and there is little to suggest it will be treated any differently this year.
Other duty and taxes on everyday life will also be closely watched, including changes to excise on diesel and home heating fuel.
But the green lobby will also be looking on to see if this Minister goes further than predecessors by trying to encourage micro-generation and waste reduction levies.
Mr Donohoe will deliver his Budget in the Dáil at lunchtime, and in doing so he becomes the first Minister since the worst years of Ireland's recession to get the limelight all to himself.In a bid to make JavaScript run ever faster, Mozilla has developed asm.js. It's a limited, stripped down subset of JavaScript that the company claims will offer performance that's within a factor of two of native—good enough to use the browser for almost any application. Can JavaScript really start to rival native code performance? We've been taking a closer look.
The quest for faster JavaScript
JavaScript performance became a big deal in 2008. Prior to this, the JavaScript engines found in common Web browsers tended to be pretty slow. These were good enough for the basic scripting that the Web used at the time, but it was largely inadequate for those wanting to use the Web as a rich application platform.
In 2008, however, Google released Chrome with its V8 JavaScript engine. Around the same time, Apple brought out Safari 4 with its Nitro (née Squirrelfish Extreme) engine. These engines brought something new to the world of JavaScript: high performance achieved through just-in-time (JIT) compilation. V8 and Nitro would convert JavaScript into pieces of executable code that the CPU could run directly, improving performance by a factor of three or more.
Mozilla and Microsoft followed suit. Mozilla introduced TraceMonkey in Firefox 3.5 in 2009 and Microsoft released Chakra in 2011.
JIT compilation provided great scope for accelerating the performance of JavaScript programs, but it has its limits. The problem is JavaScript itself. The behavior of the language makes it hard to optimize. In languages such as C and C++, the behavior of a program is baked in when the program is compiled. Languages like Java and C# add a little more flexibility, but most of the time they share that same characteristic. The functions and data that make up a particular class are fixed when the program is compiled.
This isn't true of JavaScript. In JavaScript, the way an object is meant to behave can change at more or less any time. A JIT engine could produce executable code to make an object behave one way, and then that object could be modified to invalidate the executable code. This means that the executable code has to be quite conservative to guard against this kind of modification. From time to time, bugs have cropped up that cause bad code to be generated.
Browser developers are, therefore, in a frustrating position. They want scripting engines that are faster to enable the browser to be used for a wider range of applications, but their efforts to improve performance are hamstrung by JavaScript itself. The language simply isn't designed for high performance optimization.
Breaking the speed limit by changing the rules
This has all led to a number of efforts to change JavaScript itself. The first notable one is Google Dart. Google Dart is a scripting language that is aimed at the same kind of programs as JavaScript is currently used for, with syntax that is broadly familiar to JavaScript developers but without many of the traits that make JavaScript difficult to optimize.
Google's original ambition was to have Dart integrated into the browser, using a Dart-specific engine where available or translating to JavaScript when not. Google also developed Dartium, a fork of its Chromium browser (Chromium being the open-source counterpart to Chrome) that includes the Dart engine.
As a practical matter, getting both Web and browser developers to embrace an all-new language with an all-new engine is an uphill struggle. JavaScript isn't going to go away any time soon, so adding additional languages simply increases the complexity of browsers and spreads development resources thinner.
asm.js
Mozilla proposed an alternative. Rather than using an entirely new language, Mozilla defines a strict subset of JavaScript that it calls asm.js. The asm.js subset of JavaScript is very limited. It eschews, for example, JavaScript's object-oriented constructs. As a result, it also eschews many of JavaScript's hard-to-optimize dynamic capabilities.
Instead of using objects and classes, asm.js programs manipulate a large array representing "memory" in a manner not entirely dissimilar to the way C and C++ programs manipulate system memory. This does not mean that concepts such as objects and classes cannot be used. It means instead that they must be implemented and used by asm.js programs in the same way that C++ compilers implement and use them. In a C++ program, an object in memory is typically represented by the memory address of the class's v-table (a table of all the functions belonging to the object's class) followed by the storage for the object's data. So too in asm.js: the memory array would contain, in consecutive elements, the array index of the v-table and then the object data.
asm.js also contains special hints to indicate which data types are being used. In traditional JavaScript, numbers can behave more or less like integers, or more or less like floating point numbers. The behavior changes depending on the operations being performed. For example, JavaScript will let you perform bitwise operations on floating point numbers by coercing those numbers into integers first. This coercion happens automatically and implicitly, meaning that JIT compilers cannot safely assume that a number is of one type or the other. asm.js uses explicit indicators to specify whether numbers (and operations on those numbers) should use integer-like behavior or floating point-like.
This representation is much lower level than that found in traditional JavaScript programs, but it comes with an important constraint: it's nonetheless still JavaScript. The big memory array uses (relatively recently introduced) JavaScript Typed Arrays. It was originally created for WebGL, but it became available in all modern browsers, including the WebGL-less Internet Explorer 10. The number type indicators similarly use JavaScript constructs. For example, to indicate that a number is an integer, asm.js uses "bitwise or with zero" (an operation that forces JavaScript to coerce to integer-like, but which does not change the number's value).
The result is that, unlike Dart programs that need a Dart engine or explicit translation to JavaScript, asm.js programs already run in any browser. They're just JavaScript programs, albeit weird JavaScript programs that don't look like anything that a human would ever produce.
Fewer features mean better performance
Browsers that recognize and have explicit support for asm.js can, however, take advantage of this knowledge to perform better optimization. An engine that knows about asm.js also knows that asm.js programs are forbidden from using many JavaScript features. As a result, it can produce much more efficient code. Regular JavaScript JITs must have guards to detect this kind of dynamic behavior. asm.js JITs do not; asm.js forbids this kind of dynamic behavior, so the JITs do not need to handle it. This simpler model—no dynamic behavior, no memory allocation or deallocation, just a narrow set of well-defined integer and floating point operations—enables much greater optimization.
The fact that asm.js doesn't look like JavaScript any human would produce might seem like a problem. Scant few developers of native code programs use assembler, and asm.js is even more feature-deprived than most real assembly languages. Mozilla doesn't really intend for developers to write asm.js programs directly, however. Instead, the idea is that compilers use asm.js as the target, with programs themselves written in some other language.
That language is typically C or C++, and the compiler used to produce asm.js programs is another Mozilla project: Emscripten. Emscripten is a compiler based on the LLVM compiler infrastructure and the Clang C/C++ front-end. The Clang compiler reads C and C++ source code and produces an intermediate platform-independent assembler-like output called LLVM Intermediate Representation. LLVM optimizes the LLVM IR. LLVM IR is then fed into a backend code generator—the part that actually produces executable code. Traditionally, this code generator would emit x86 code. With Emscripten, it's used to produce JavaScript.
Emscripten can be used in two modes. It can produce regular JavaScript and it can produce asm.js JavaScript. In both cases, the output would not be described as human-readable. Just as with asm.js, the regular JavaScript uses the basic concept of a big array to represent "memory" with operations performed on that array. It was the success of this approach that led to the development of asm.js: asm.js is a formalized set of rules for how this style of JavaScript should be written.
So that's what asm.js is. The real question, however, is how fast does it go? We've built a number of common benchmarks using Emscripten to take a look.I say when, not if, because equalists WILL accept the premises of HBD (human biodiversity), whether their acceptance comes willingly or at the behest of the smoking ruins which will be the eventual consequence of studiously avoiding the truth and wallowing in lies for personal profit.
Hot on the heels of leftoids having another satisfying public hate session (do they ever tire of their self-grooming hysterics?) over Jason Richwine’s (UPDATE: Jason Richwine has resigned from the Heritage Foundation. Score a win for the lying filth) mortal sin of observing the world and reporting the facts, GLPiggy commenter “lords of lies” wonders what America would look like if the Cathedral finally realized the truth of HBD, openly admitted its descriptive and predictive power, and began to tailor their policies accordingly. Would policy tilt more left-wing or more right-wing? The answer is not as obvious as might appear.
a case could be made for either outcome: more left-wing or right-wing policies.
regarding the former, the thinking by leftoids would go like this: 1. ok, people are genetically different, and unequally able to succeed in a modern, information- and abstract symbolism-heavy economy. therefore, we need to make life as comfy as possible for the left side of the bell curve (which we now believe in).
2. it’s not FAIR that people and groups are born with better or worse abilities and temperaments. ergo: massive redistribution.
3. this redistribution will take the form of direct payout (really, bribery to abstain from rioting), rather than feelgood policies like NCLB intended to close the gap, (which we now know can’t be closed).
4. we must encourage miscegenation so that the good genes filter down into the populations with the bad genes. (this is already happening. see any cathedral agit-prop) regarding the latter, the thinking by rightists would go like this: 1. ok, group differences in IQ and other important traits are finally understood to be real by those in power. therefore, we need to end quotas, set-asides and affirmative action now because they only punish people who, through no fault of their own, were blessed with the right recombinatorial soup at conception.
2. it might not be FAIR, but no one said life was fair. children demand fairness to the exclusion of every other consideration; adults accept that unfairness is a part of living in the natural world. we should do our best to avoid deliberate unfairness, but accept that organic unfairness isn’t going anywhere, and that efforts to ameliorate organic unfairness will often lead to worse, intentional unfairness.
3. any redistribution (as a form of danegeld or preventative so that bleeding heart liberals won’t have to witness the poor dying in the streets from starvation and chaotic violence) should be coupled with eugenic social planning. e.g., any amount in govt largesse received over X would require the recipient consent to his or her reproductive incapacitation.
4. nominal rightists like Charles Murray could also make a case for encouraging miscegenation so as to avoid inequality boosting and culture severing cognitive stratification. but the more likely response would probably be active anti-dysgenics policies. i could see the widespread emergence of shaming campaigns against lower class white women dating outside their race. “Of course, the iron rule of Progressivism is that if you never, ever say anything bad about minorities and women you can get them to vote for you no matter what your actual policies are. Therefore the reaction is political rather than policy-based and certainly few people who matter are actually interested in the truth.” it’s a dangerous game, to run as one thing and govern as another. but in a riven society like ours, it makes some sense, because competing tribes will vote more on emotion than on rationality or interest for the common good. you tacitly suggest the right could take a pointer from the left and mouth all the anti-racist platitudes, but then govern like realists. however, that is exactly what the right has been doing for a long time, minus the governing like realists part. and what has it gotten them? nothing but their capitulation and kow-towing. no, if the right assumes the tactics and mantel of the left to win votes through subterfuge, all that will happen is that the teat-sucklers will demand more promised concessions, and the real left will give it to them. playing perpetual catch-up is no way to win this war. and a war it is, let there be no doubt of that.
If CH had a son, he would sound like “lords of lies”.
It’s possible that, given open HBD acceptance, the leftoids may double down on their anti-white male animus by clinging ever more bitterly to their “institutional racism” shibboleth, on grounds that humans evolved dysgenic traits under discriminatory pressures. (Of course, this argument, like most equalist arguments, is easily refuted.)
If that were to happen, all bets are off. A healthy civilization can only sustain so much delusion, weaseling, sophistry and lies from its ruling class before the whole thing implodes as the rickety foundation gives under the weight of its prettifying ornamentation.
So… either the status whoring, sermonizing Cathedral is going to WAKE THE FUCK UP and do an about face as they discard their cherished pretty lies, or the ropes are going to grow in number and creak ever louder as they swing from the gallows waiting for justice.The $655.5 Million Question
For Alan Bauer, an American citizen wounded along with his 7-year-old boy nearly 13 years ago by a Palestinian suicide bomber, the trek to justice took nearly 13 long years.
On Monday, Feb. 23, a New York jury awarded Bauer and nine other plaintiffs $218.5 million in compensatory damages, to be paid by the financially strapped Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The award is expected to swell to a whopping $655.5 million because a U.S. terrorism law requires the tripling of terrorism awards. The huge award may serve as an incentive to others considering pursuing civil terrorism lawsuits in American courts. For the moment, it remains hard to imagine how the plaintiffs will be able to collect on the multimillion-dollar award, given the Palestinians’ dire financial straits.
In all, the jury found the Palestinian leadership responsible for six terrorist attacks carried out in Israel between 2002 and 2004, the height of the Second Intifada, by Palestinian militants with links to the Palestinians’ chief governing bodies. The strikes killed 33 U.S. and Israeli nationals and wounded more than 400 more.
Monday’s ruling marks the culmination of an 11-year-long legal case spearheaded by the Israel Law Center, or Shurat HaDin, a nonprofit whose lawsuits often align with Israeli government priorities. For more than a decade, the Israeli legal group has sought to wield the power of lawsuits to undercut the financing for anti-Israeli militant groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
The group filed the current case in 2004 under anti-terrorism legislation that was passed after Palestinian militants hijacked the MS Achille Lauro in 1985, killing Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled Jewish American man in a wheelchair. The law permits U.S. nationals who are victimized abroad by foreign terrorists to pursue them in American courts. Last September, a Brooklyn jury found the Jordanian-based Arab Bank responsible for a string of other terrorist attacks carried out by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Damages in that case will be determined in May.
“After 11 years, we are very grateful to the American court and the American jury,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder of Shurat HaDin, told Foreign Policy after the verdict was issued. “No money brings back life, and no money can heal the physical and psychological wounds of the plaintiffs. But it brings closure and justice to the victims and shows everyone who is thinking about becoming involved in terrorism to think twice. The PLO now knows that there is a price to be paid for sending suicide bombers into our cafes and into our malls.”
Darshan-Leitner said cutting off funding for extremist groups is vital to any push to prevent new attacks. “Money is like oxygen for terrorism,” she said. “If you can stop the flow of money you can stop the flow of terrorism.”
The verdict comes as the State Department has grown increasingly concerned about the prospect of the Palestinian Authority collapsing from a lack of funds. Last month, the Israeli government cut off $100 million in tax revenues it owes the Palestinians in retaliation for their decision to join the International Criminal Court.
In a statement issued after the verdict, the Palestinian Authority said it was “deeply disappointed” and that it “will appeal this decision.”
“This case is just the latest attempt by hardline anti-peace factions in Israel to use and abuse the U.S. legal system to advance their narrow political and ideological agenda,” Mahmoud Khalifa, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said in the statement. “We are confident that we will prevail, as we have faith in the U.S. legal system and are certain about our common sense belief and our strong legal standing.”
Last week, Mark Rochon, an attorney representing the Palestinian government, argued in his closing arguments that the Palestinian leadership played no role in the terrorist attacks, which were carried out by militants who happened to work for the Palestinian Authority. “These incidents are by the extremists, the bad guys who keep the good things from happening, and a verdict against the Palestinian Authority or the PLO would only damage the government and the PLO who don’t deserve it,” he told the jury.
Outside groups have long raised questions about Shurat HaDin, whose lawyers successfully won the case. A U.S. government cable made public by WikiLeaks claims that Darshan-Leitner’s group has worked closely with Israeli intelligence in picking lawsuits and gathering evidence. In an interview, Darshan-Leitner said she sometimes receives information from Israeli government sources but that the organization is independent and the Israeli government played no role in the New York lawsuit.
Bauer said that Palestinians have long argued that the attacks were “hatched out” by free agents, “but our feeling was there was a much broader narrative.” He said there was a “significant amount of evidence people associated with the PLO were involved in planning, financing, and executing the attack, and we kept pushing.”
Bauer said he was walking hand in hand with his son Jonathan, only 7 at the time, along King George Street in downtown Jerusalem in March 2002 when a Palestinian militant, a former policeman, blew himself up. The policemen, who had previously been detained in Ramallah by Palestinian authorities under suspicion of planning a separate attack, had been released from a Palestinian jail shortly before the attack.
“I was thrown like 20 feet forward. When I got up my hand was covered with blood,” Bauer said, recalling that two screws passed clear through his left arm. His son was unconscious, his head bleeding as a result of a Phillips screw having driven itself through his brain. Bauer said his son, now 20, still walks with a limp.
Bauer said the outcome provides him with a “certain level of vindication.” But he said the experience also leaves him with a certain degree of bitterness over the U.S. approach to his case and others involving efforts to hold Palestinian perpetrators accountable. The State Department, he said, “was always against us.”
Bauer said he doesn’t want to see the Palestinian Authority collapse because it would impose a burden on Israel to administer the territory currently under the Palestinians’ control. But he hopes the verdict would raise the costs for backing terrorists.
Photo credit: Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty ImagesSewage treatment plants unable to cope
Who is really to blame?
The obvious solution
(NaturalNews) We're all familiar with horror stories about juveniles on drugs, but normally it's humans that are involved, not fish. This case, however, involves juvenile chinook salmon who never had the chance to "Just Say No."Disturbing new research has indicated that young salmon found in Puget Sound tested positive for more than 80 different drugs, including cocaine, antidepressants and dozens of other medications used by humans.When researchers tested the water at and near sewage treatment plants in the estuaries of Puget Sound near Seattle, Washington, they discovered high levels of drugs and personal care products – at some of the highest concentrations found anywhere in the nation.The tissues of migratory chinook salmon and local staghorn sculpin also contained these compounds – even in the fish found in estuaries far from the sewage treatment plants where the water was previously considered "pristine."As reported by"The medicine chest of common drugs also included Flonase, Aleve and Tylenol. Paxil, Valium and Zoloft. Tagamet, OxyContin and Darvon. Nicotine and caffeine. Fungicides, antiseptics and anticoagulants. And Cipro and other antibiotics galore."Why are the levels so high? It could be because people here use more of the drugs detected, or it could be related to wastewater-treatment plants' processes, said Jim Meador, an environmental toxicologist at NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle and lead author on a paper published this week in the journal Environmental Pollution."The presence of these drugs in the water appears to be related to the inability of the wastewater plants to fully remove these chemicals during treatment. But high fecal coliform counts in some areas of the Sound suggest that leaky septic tanks may also be contributing to the problem.Some of the drugs found in the fish and the water of Puget Sound are difficult to remove using standard sewage treatment methods:"Treatment plants in King County are effective in removing some drugs in wastewater, but many drugs are recalcitrant and remain. Seizure drugs, for instance, are very hard to remove, and ibuprofen levels are knocked down — but not out — during treatment, said Betsy Cooper, permit administrator for the county's Wastewater Treatment Division."But the blame should not be placed entirely on the treatment plants, according to Cooper. "You have treatment doing its best to remove these, chemically and biologically," she said, "but it's not just the treatment quality, it's also the amount that we use day to day and our assumption that it just goes away."Shamefully, our own drug dependence is now poisoning other species as well. We have become a nation of drugged-out zombies, but that doesn't give us the right to turn fish and other animals into the same.Maybe it's time to start realizing that prescription pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter remedies and illicit drugs are doing us – and our environment – far more harm than good.We've bought into the Big Pharma-created myth that there is a chemical solution to all our problems – physical and mental – when in reality these substances are theof much of our "dis-ease" and general out-of-balance lifestyles.Although Western pharmaceutical medicine arguably has some value, almost everything these drugs are designed to treat can be more effectively dealt with using natural methods which promote healing rather than dependence.And one of the obvious lessons from the situation in Puget Sound is that when you make bad decisions at one level, there will be negative effects on other levels as well. We don't live in a vacuum, and our unhealthy lifestyles have an impact on all living things.We're simultaneously poisoning ourselves and our surroundings. Maybe it's time for another approach...Founded in 1975, Facets Cinemathque is one of the best venues in all of Chicago for independent films, both American and foreign. It houses two auditoriums, the main 125 seater for film and a tiny 35-seat one for video.
Facets Cinemathque is for serious film connoisseurs seeking screenings of more obscure and little-seen features presented nowhere else in Chicagoland. It also features director retrospectives, interviews, discussions and exclusive premieres.
Facets Cinemathque also hosts several film festivals each year, including the Chicago Children’s Film Festival and the Chicago |
were interpreted as cruelty and greed.’ Valentinian died of apoplexy at the height of his triumph over the German tribesmen, and in the east Valens and his legions were overrun by the resurgent Goths – who had been allowed to settle within the Roman frontier – at the battle of Adrianople in 378. The army was almost wiped out after faulty tactics (probably part of the Roman cavalry engaged the enemy before the complete army was properly deployed) and then smoke from blazing fires blowing into Roman faces, and Valens was never seen again.
The victorious barbarians swarmed over Thrace but were unable to break into its walled cities. The new emperors of west and east, respectively Gratian and Theodosius, settled the Goths within the Roman frontier and recruited heavily from them to replace the vanished legions. Yet the barbarians served under their own chieftains and could be persuaded to adopt Roman military tactics only with difficulty, while they were also reluctant to wear their heavy Roman armour. Even the famous Roman curved, rectangular shield gave way to a lighter, circular type. The imposition of strict discipline on Roman armies had become troublesome from the early third century, with their propensity to make and unmake emperors; now it would be well-nigh impossible. Although neither the bravery nor, surprisingly, the loyalty to Rome of the new recruits could be criticized, the fact remains that by the end of the fourth century the ‘Roman’ army amounted largely to just another barbarian force. Less surprisingly, the new army was not successful against the numerically superior waves of other barbarians pouring in across the frontiers.
As the situation deteriorated, the increasingly Christian rulers and leaders of the empire took firmer steps to prevent its superstitious population from reverting to pagan worship in the hope of averting the barbarian onslaught. The use of public funds to pay for pagan ceremonies was halted in 384. In 389 all pagan festivals were stopped, excepting those deemed to be innocuous, such as the celebration of Roma Aeterna. Pagan temples were to be preserved as ‘ornaments’. Six years later, all pagan holidays were removed from the calendar but the games that once celebrated them were allowed to continue. The gladiatorial schools were closed in 399 and the last gladiatorial games were held in 404, being then replaced by wild beast hunts. The barbarian army, however, remained predominantly pagan.
Advertisements*Conditions Apply. Excl VIC, NSW, SA & WA. Gamble Responsibly
A decision by the Queen’s racing manager has paved the way for Bold Sniper to register his second Australian success.
Co-trainer David Hayes said it was on the advice of John Warren that Bold Sniper tackled the Mayoral Charity Community Handicap at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
“John Warren, the Queen’s racing manager, and I had a long discussion about this horse and we were thinking whether to give him a try at 2000 metres,” Hayes said.
“It’s such a great thrill to win for (the Queen) again.”
Ridden by Cory Parish, Bold Sniper ($6.50) scored a three-quarter length win from the $4.80 favourite Pin Your Hopes with Yulong Baby ($5) a half-neck away third.
Bold Sniper had won over 2400m at Sandown before three unsuccessful attempts at Flemington and appreciated a truly run race.
“He travelled as well and as kind as he ever has in Australia,” Hayes said.
For Parish, who rides work at Lindsay Park’s Euroa base, the win was reward for hard work.
“In the last couple of Saturdays I’ve had a few placings for them so to get a win on The Queen’s horse is super,” Parish said.
“My dad’s from England and I’ve got a dual passport.
“My parents are in England at the moment and they were stoked that I got the opportunity to ride The Queen’s horse.”
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*Conditions Apply. Excl VIC, NSW, SA & WA. Gamble ResponsiblyScotland's decision to reject independence from the United Kingdom shored up British stocks on Friday but worries over future constitutional changes kept a lid on the relief rally.
With all 32 Scottish councils having declared, the No campaign won 55.3 per cent of the votes cast in Thursday's referendum against 44.7 per cent who backed independence. The 10-point or so victory margin was wider than expected — most opinion polls were predicting a narrower 4-point victory for proponents of the union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The FTSE 100 of leading British shares was up 0.7 percent in morning trading as investors breathed a sigh of relief that a host of thorny economic issues were not triggered by a Yes vote. By mid-afternoon it had sunk lower, as they weighed the uncertainty ahead.
It might not have been financial meltdown territory, but the markets almost certainly would have been in turmoil this morning if the Scots had voted yes. - Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com.
As well as worries over what currency an independent Scotland would use, investors had concerns over how the U.K.'s £1.3 trillion debt would be split. There were even fears that a Yes vote may have triggered a bank run. The uncertainty was so great that Bank of England Governor Mark Carney flew back early from a summit in Australia.
"It might not have been financial meltdown territory, but the markets almost certainly would have been in turmoil this morning if the Scots had voted yes," said Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com.
Previous Next Those companies with Scottish connections outperformed the general market. Among them, Royal Bank of Scotland PLC was up three per cent, Lloyds Banking Group PLC rose two per cent. Oil giant BP PLC, which has sizeable operations off the shores of Scotland, was up 1.5 per cent, too.
Royal Bank of Scotland, which is majority-owned by the U.K. government since receiving a bailout during the financial crisis in 2008, said it was abandoning a contingency plan that included moving its registered head office down south to England.
"That contingency plan is no longer required," the bank said in a statement. "Following the result it is business as usual for all our customers across the U.K. and RBS."
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 18 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 6,837 at the close of trading, but is still down on the month, because of a run on stocks in the leadup to the vote.
The No vote in Scotland encouraged investors throughout the world. Tokyo's Nikkei stock index rose 1.6 per cent to its highest close since early January, with a sharply weaker yen boosting exporter shares.
U.S. stocks, which pushed both the Dow and the S&P 500 to new records Thursday, opened higher Friday.
In London, trading volume in RBS and utility Scottish and Southern Energy was particularly strong as both companies had seen a hit leading up to the referendum.
In the currency markets, the pound was faring less well than stocks, partly because it had already rallied strongly this week on expectations of a No vote.
After rising to 2-year high, pound settles
Having earlier risen to a two-year high of 1.2817 euros, the pound settled around the 1.2712 euros in European trading, up slightly on the day. Against the dollar, the pound was down at $1.6314, as the greenback is strengthening.
Uncertainty over the pound was likely a key element in the No campaign's victory. Last week, the pound took a battering after opinion polls indicated the vote would be closer than anticipated.
The vote not only keeps Britain intact, but also reduces the likelihood it would leave the European Union, potentially a much greater risk for markets. (Chris Ratcliffe/Associated Press) A key concern had been what currency an independent Scotland would use. The Yes campaign had hoped it would still use the pound through a currency union with what's left of the U.K. but the main British political parties insisted that wasn't going to happen.
"There is nothing like uncertainty about the money in your pocket to sharpen the minds of voters," said Derek Halpenny, head of global markets research at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
Now that the independence referendum is over, the focus in markets is swiftly moving on.
The rise of the pound over the last week is putting pressure on exporting stocks, which stand to lose business as the price of their goods rises. Companies such as Imperial Tobacco and Rio Tinto saw their stocks decline, offsetting the ebullience in shares linked to Scotland.
In particular, there are some concerns about how powers will be devolved to Scotland, as promised, and to the rest of the U.K. In a statement Friday, Prime Minister David Cameron said he was looking at a broad-based constitutional rejig in the U.K.
"The Scottish referendum may be over, but political uncertainty is here to stay in the U.K.," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com. "Markets tend to be fearful of political uncertainty, especially when it could change the political landscape in a major global power like the U.K."
Cameron has promised more autonomy, including new taxing powers, to the Scots.
That pledge to rethink the union won’t stop at the Scottish border, as Wales and Northern Ireland will be keen to see what powers they can wrest in the process.
Britain’s economy has been in rebound this year, with growth of 3.2 per cent in the second quarter, its best performance in six years.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has begun musing about raising interest rates next year, as U.K. inflation hovers near the target rate of two per cent. Those indicators may not stay on track during a protracted period of negotiations over the union.The election may be history, but President Donald Trump continues to bask in the glow of his historic victory.
The president is reportedly planning to hang a framed picture showing the electoral college map from the night of his November 8 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trey Yingst, a journalist for the One America News Network, snapped a photo of someone believed to be a White House aide holding a framed map of the United States and posted it to his Twitter account.
The map, titled 2016 Presidential Election Results, is mostly colored in red with pockmarks of blue to reflect how the country's districts voted on November 8.
'Spotted: A map to be hung somewhere in the West Wing,' Yingst tweeted.
Trey Yingst, a journalist for the One America News Network, snapped a photo of someone believed to be a White House aide holding a framed map of the 2016 Presidential Election Results. The map is mostly colored in red with pockmarks of blue to reflect the voting
The map elicited reaction from anti-Trump Twitter users who posted maps of their own highlighting the popular vote disparity between Clinton and Trump
The map on the top shows how the election was tilted toward Trump due to overwhelming support in the center of the country, while the map on the bottom shows the proportion of Hillary Clinton's voters in highly populated areas
The map elicited reaction from anti-Trump Twitter users who posted maps of their own highlighting the popular vote disparity between Clinton and Trump.
While Trump won the electoral college vote by a count of 304 while Clinton ended up receiving 227.
But the popular vote told a different story. Clinton garnered 65,844,610 votes across all 50 states and Washington, DC, (48.2 percent) while Trump managed to win 62,979,636 (46.1 percent).
That means that despite losing the election, Clinton won 2,864,974 more votes than Trump.
President Donald Trump arrives at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan to address his supporters after winning the election in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016
Clinton (center) is seen above giving the concession speech as her husband, former President Bill Clinton (left), and her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine (right), look on
Since taking office, Trump has alleged, without evidence, that three to five million people voted illegally in his 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump is due to sign an executive order launching a commission to review alleged voter fraud and voter suppression in the US election system, according to three White House officials.
One official says Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will lead the commission, which will look at allegations of improper voting and fraudulent voter registration in states and nationally.
Trump and his associates have often referred back to the election victory in an attempt to answer critics.
White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino taunted Clinton on Monday six months after her defeat by tweeting out an image of now-White House counselor Kellyanne Conway's cell phone from what looks like Clinton's election night concession call.
The image, which Scavino sent from his personal account, shows the 2:30 am call that longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin placed to Conway, who was then serving as Donald Trump's campaign manager.
Trump and his associates have often referred back to the election victory in an attempt to answer critics. White House aide Dan Scavino taunted Clinton on Monday by tweeting out an image of Kellyanne Conway's cell phone from Clinton's election night concession call
Scavino was responding to Clinton's former head of social media, Alex Wall, who criticized Trump on Twitter (above) Monday after Trump went after acting attorney general Sally Yates on the day she was testifying to Congress
Scavino also said he intended to share video of the call soon – promising to provide a real-time, and possibly awkward, glimpse of the moment when a stunned Clinton called her opponent after their bitter contest.
'Screen shot via @KellyannePolls cell phone- of Huma's call at 2:30amE....6 months ago. I have on video & will share that in the near future,' Scavino wrote.
The missive from Scavino follows a day of jostling online with Clinton's social media director.
Clinton herself has reemerged to blame FBI Director James Comey and Russian election interference for tipping the balance in her race against Trump.
Scavino rose from being a golf caddy to manager of Trump's Westchester golf course and later the curator cultivator of Trump's Twitter account, which now has millions of followers.
Clinton's former head of social media, Alex Wall, criticized Trump Monday after Trump went after acting attorney general Sally Yates on the day she was testifying to Congress about the Michael Flynn affair.November 14, 2011 11:45 am ET — Alan Pyke
After several GOP presidential hopefuls pined for the good old days of waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques" at Saturday night's debate, the right-wing noise machine is busy defending torture. Given his own history — he was nearly court-martialed for his treatment of a detainee in Iraq — Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is a natural mascot for the pro-torture right, but that doesn't mean he can make a logical argument. From this morning's Fox and Friends:
WEST: I would say this, the president is the benefactor of a lot of information that came from waterboarding and the most important thing is when you look at the precedent, non-state, non-uniform belligerents captured on the battlefield under the Geneva Convention are not afforded the same type of rights. We can make that determination. And as the president, you need to do those things which are necessary to make sure that the American people are kept safe. I see that when we continue to read Miranda rights to people such as the underwear bomber, we are using [sic] the advantage and leverage that we have. And furthermore in the movie G.I. Jane, Demi Moore was waterboarded and we do use that in military training and Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion training.
BRIAN KILMEADE (HOST): And she ended up with a much younger husband in real life. WEST: That's right. KILMEADE: So I don't know if that's related. Colonel, on top of that, you're very intimately involved with this because you almost got court-martialed because of the way you handled a situation where you had a detainee in your presence and you knew American lives were at stake.
WEST: That's the thing and so as a commander, that's my responsibility and this was the responsibility not just to those men but also to their families to do what is necessary. I used a psychological intimidation tactic to fire a pistol over his head and it kept my men safe. Of course, they took it to an investigative hearing, but I'm here today as a congressional representative and I still continue to fight for men and women in uniform.
Watch:
It's hard to believe that President Obama "is the benefactor of a lot of information that came from waterboarding" given that interrogation experts say the practice yields inaccurate intelligence. Furthermore, the CIA says that only three detainees were ever waterboarded — and we know that those men intentionally lied about the identity and import of the courier who earlier this year led U.S. troops to Osama bin Laden's door. West's suggestion that Obama owes his national security successes to waterboarding is sheer partisan bluster.
West's own experience using beatings, intimidation, and the fear of death to interrogate a detainee in Iraq actually illustrates the argument against torture: It just doesn't work. West fired a gun next to the head of a detainee after letting his soldiers beat the man, who claimed not to have knowledge of the ambush West believed he had planned. Eventually the man described such a plan — not because it actually existed, but because it was what West wanted to hear. No evidence of such a plan was ever found, and in a 2004 interview, West told the New York Times, "It's possible that I was wrong about Mr. Hamoodi."Tyson Farago is about to start a new journey in his soccer career.
The 22-year old goalkeeper from Winnipeg will turn pro and sign a one-year deal with FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League.
The deal also includes a club option for next season. It is expected to be finalized on Monday.
"Their coach contacted me and I gave him a call and things got rolling from there," says Farago.
"I’ve been waiting for a long time and have put in a lot of hard work. It’s been a long road."
Farago recently spent time with WSA Winnipeg of the Premier Development League. He led the PDL with 106 saves in 14 games last season.
He says it will be a major leap to go from the PDL to the NASL, the second tier of professional soccer in North America below the MLS.
"It’s a great stepping stone for me as a player if I want to go any level higher," says Farago. "It’s a great opportunity and I’m going to take full advantage of this year."
Farago’s year with Edmonton will start with pre-season in February when he will have a chance to compete for playing time.
"I spoke with (goalkeeper coach) Darren (Woloshen) and he said that there are two other goalkeepers at the moment.
"He said that I would be challenging the number one spot."
His resume is impressive for a young goalkeeper. He has experience with the Canadian national team and has played in Brazil and England.
"It’s great getting professional experience out of Canada. It helps me learn new techniques and how to conduct myself in a professional environment. I think it definitely helped me towards my knowledge of becoming a professional soccer player."
During his time in England, Farago trained with former Chelsea players Gus Poyet and Tony Godden, who played goal professionally through the 1970s and 80s.
"I was there for about six months and I learned so much from them, especially Tony," said Farago. "I was with him every day and it was amazing to learn technique and the overall mental aspect of the game from him. It was a great experience."
Farago is the first player in WSA Winnipeg’s history to sign a professional contract. The program’s head coach Eduardo Badescu was excited for his player.
"Tyson is going to do very well. He has all of the right character," says Badescu. "His goalie technique is amazing and his physical ability is top-notch.
"He’s made to be a professional. He gives everything for the team first and he works hard at everything he does."
Badescu says the PDL allows players like Farago to go up against other high calibre players and make the jump professionally when the time is ready.
"It gives them an opportunity to practice five times a week and play very good competition against the best players under 23 in North America."
Farago agrees that the experience playing in the PDL was beneficial to his career.
"I know that there are a lot of scouts that go to games and it’s a great league to join especially with WSA, where they gave me a chance to shine.
"It’s a great way to showcase myself to the MLS, USL, and NASL where I am going now."
With February just a few months away, Farago will spend much of that time preparing himself for his first professional season.
"The NASL is a high level league in Canada and North America and I’m looking forward to pushing myself to the next level."In an August 3 tweet, Washington Examiner staff correspondent T. Becket Adams highlighted Breitbart.com attempting to pass off a picture of Cleveland Cavaliers fans as an image of a Trump rally.
In an article hyping “Trump’s Jacksonville Rally Draws 15,000,” Breitbart News used a photo titled “Cleveland parade celebrates NBA title,” taken from a June 23 CNN report. Breitbart News has changed the image without issuing a correction, the original photo remains in a Google cache of the write-up.
Breitbart's deceptive use of an image displaying celebratory NBA fans is consistent with their non-existent editorial practices, as previously seen when they attempted to attack Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and instead devoted an article to attacking a woman of an entirely different race. Breitbart later admitted this error, writing ‘[t]he Loretta Lynch identified earlier as the Whitewater attorney was, in fact, a different attorney.”
[h/t T. Becket Adams]
UPDATE: Breitbart issued the following correction: "A photograph that was incorrectly attributed on social media to the rally in Jacksonville has been removed."Four years ago, Charles G. and David H. Koch seemed poised to control some of the country’s biggest newspapers. Known for using their vast wealth and network of donors to advance their brand of libertarian-infused conservatism, the titans of Koch Industries explored buying the Tribune Company’s eight newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune.
They ended up not making a bid, and in an interview at the time with his hometown paper, The Wichita Eagle, Charles Koch suggested that Koch Industries was rethinking whether it was wise to enter such a troubled industry.
“There are tremendous changes going on in media,” Charles Koch said. “We’re back at square one, analyzing where is the most change, where are the best opportunities for new entrants to come in and add value?”
The answer, it appears, was the magazine business.
In a move that came to light on Wednesday, the Kochs have tentatively agreed to back an offer by the magazine publisher Meredith Corporation for Time Inc., the owner of titles including Time, People and Sports Illustrated. Koch Industries, the sprawling industrial conglomerate controlled by the two brothers, plans to support the deal.A Dover head chef died during a kinky bondage game in which he wanted to be “mummified” by being wrapped in clingfilm, a jury has heard.
As Alun Williams, 47, laid on a bed he took the horse tranquilliser ketamine before being spanked and engaging in anal sex, it was alleged.
Mr Williams worked for P&O Ferries in August last year when the kinky sex game went wrong and he ended up dying in the flat in East Street.
Chef Alun Williams was found dead wrapped in clingfilm in Dover
Tests on the dead man – who had a long-term female partner - later revealed he had taken a cocktail of drugs including the horse tranquilliser ketamine.
Richard Bowler, 35, and his “live-in carer” David Connor, 23, both of Sturry Road, Canterbury have denied manslaughter charges.
Bowler, who suffers from cerebral palsy, wept openly in court during the prosecution opening statement.
Prosecutor Ian Hope told the jury at Canterbury Crown Court how Connor went to a Dover taxi office where his mother worked as a taxi controller at 5.50am on August 20.
He is alleged to have told his mother: “Mum, Richard’s killed someone!”
Mr Hope said Connor then spoke about bondage and using a chemical which relaxes bottom muscles before telling his shocked mother that Mr Williams was dead and “he was purple and wrapped in something.”
Richard Bowler (left) was found guilty but David Connor was acquitted. Picture: Mike Gunnill
The prosecutor said that Bowler had called the police a 5.53am from the Dover flat after initially believing Mr Williams was just sleeping.
“He told them that they had had a kinky sex session in which his friend had been wrapped up and had stopped breathing.”
He said Bowler said they had tried to do CPR on him and had cut the hood but couldn’t bring him back to life.
Bowler is alleged to have revealed that Mr Williams was wrapped up in a PVC sheet with tape and clingfilm around his body and had taken Ketamine.
Mr Hope said when paramedics arrived they discovered the bed covered in black plastic and Bowler performing CPR on Mr Williams.
A forensics van outside the property in Tower Hamlets, Dover
“The clingfilm extended from his ankles to his shoulders and it was obvious he had been dead for some time.”
Bowler is alleged to have told a police officer: “He’s dead. I know he’s dead. I just thought he was sleeping. I’m sorry I should have called before.
“He takes K and that mongs him out. I went up there and pushed him and he did not move. I just thought he was sleeping.
“The last time I saw him breathing was three hours ago. I should have gone up there but I didn’t. I’m sorry, “ it was claimed.
Bowler would later claim that Mr Williams asked for his whole body to be wrapped in Clingfilm including his head with just holes for his nose and mouth.
Mr Hope added: “At his (Mr Williams’) request Bowler had put a hood on him and let him take ketamine.”
Bowler claimed that the chef asked to be “totally mummified” and was then laid on the bed – while being spanked by Connor and penetrated by Bowler using a strap-on penis.
Forensics officers outside the flat in East Street, Tower Hamlets
The prosecutor said the two then left Mr Williams on the bed and went downstairs – returning hours later to find him dead.
A pathologist concluded Mr Williams died from a heart attack brought on by excessive heat because the Clingfilm, rubber sheets and hood prevented the body from cooling
Bowler told officers that it had been a kinky sex session which had gone wrong but Connor had claimed he had left the flat after being told that his friend “had a male coming round for kinky sex”.
Connor told officers he had returned at 1am to find Bowler sitting on the sofa shaking and crying saying the man had wanted to be wrapped in clingfilm but wasn’t breathing.
“The clingfilm extended from his ankles to his shoulders and it was obvious he had been dead for some time" - prosecutor Ian Hope
Mr Hope said Bowler then called his brother for advice and was told to alert the emergency services before Connor left the flat to get cigarettes.
Bowler also sent a text to his sister-in-law which read: “Lisa, me and Dave are in serious trouble. I had some kinky sex and it’s gone wrong.”
Officers later retrieved Mr Williams’ rucksack which contained a mobile phone, bottles of poppers, cocaine, ketamine, methamphetamine, a gas mask and bondage ties.
Mr Hope added that in the bedroom, officers found various sex toys were also found along with clingfilm, masking and duct tape and condoms.
The prosecutor said wrapping Mr Williams in Clingfilm was like 'turning over an egg timer with the grain of sands running away'.
It was like rolling rolling a dice and taking a gamble.
The jury heard how despite having a female partner, Mr Williams enjoyed meetings “for the purpose of gay sex”.
Bowler said they had known each other for five years and had met for sex after using various gay websites, the jury heard.
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Boy taken to hospital after crashBorussia Dortmund 17-18 Away Kit
The Borussia Dortmund 17-18 away kit is part of Puma's Step Out football kits collection. Dortmund's 2017-2018 away jersey was revealed on July 12. This is the Borussia Dortmund 2017-2018 away strip.The Dortmund 2017-18 away shirt is designed to bring a new look compared to last season's striped away shirt. It has a pure black base which gets combined with pops of 'Cyber Yellow' to create a modern look.Specifically, a dotted yellow line runs down each sleeve of the BVB 17-18 away kit. More yellow is present in the form of Puma Cat logos on the shoulders and the left chest of the Borussia Dortmund 2017-2018 away jersey.As always, the shorts and socks of the Dortmund away kit are black.Do you like the new Borussia Dortmund 2017-18 away shirt? Drop us a line below, and check out all official jerseys in the 17-18 Kit OverviewMomotombo stands 4,255 feet (1,297 meters) high and is located next to Lake Xolotlán and near to the colonial city of León, with 32 smaller communities in its immediate vicinity. The volcano is a popular hiking destination with a reputation as the most difficult climb in northern Nicaragua.
"We will evacuate if necessary, right now we are monitoring the activity of the volcano," disaster prevention chief Guillermo González told reporters.
The authorities said the renewed activity, which began on Monday night, has not yet put nearby communities in any imminent danger but warned locals to get ready to leave at a moment's notice.
Nicaragua's Momotombo volcano has erupted for the first time in more than a century, spewing bright red lava into the night sky accompanied by large quantities of ash.
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Nicaragua's Momotombo volcano has erupted for the first time in more than a century, spewing bright red lava into the night sky accompanied by large quantities of ash.
The authorities said the renewed activity, which began on Monday night, has not yet put nearby communities in any imminent danger but warned locals to get ready to leave at a moment's notice.
"We will evacuate if necessary, right now we are monitoring the activity of the volcano," disaster prevention chief Guillermo González told reporters.
Momotombo stands 4,255 feet (1,297 meters) high and is located next to Lake Xolotlán and near to the colonial city of León, with 32 smaller communities in its immediate vicinity. The volcano is a popular hiking destination with a reputation as the most difficult climb in northern Nicaragua.
Momotombo erupted ten times between 1849 and 1905 — the volcano's last active cycle.
Signs that it was waking up again had been noticed for several years before locals began reporting feeling small tremors a couple of weeks ago, at the same time as the volcano began releasing plumes of steam.
via YouTube
The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, which tracks volcanic activity around the world, reports that Momotombo had experienced "seismic swarms" — a localized surge of small earthquakes — between 2003-2011 that suggested the movement of magma underneath.
"The recent eruption is typical of Strombolian activity, which means it is characterized by lava spouting like a fountain and ash plumes," Sally Kuhn Sennert, of the Smithsonian program, told VICE News, adding that the activity a century ago was also typically Strombolian. "Certainly the activity going on now is very similar to what has happened in the past. However, whether this will be the beginning in a series of eruptions is impossible to say."
Local media reported that the spectacular scenes were attracting sightseers to the area, prompting warnings to them not to get too close.
"We don't know how long the activity is going to continue," Armando Saballos, a government volcanologist told La Prensa. "We ask for prudence from the general population who should maintain a distance of at least six kilometers in order to avoid tragedy."
Related: What It's Like Living Near Cotopaxi, Ecuador's Very Active Volcano
Follow Nathaniel Janowitz on Twitter: @ngjanowitzWing Nut Daily recently featured a brand new article about a very old hoax, centered on the claim that chariot wheels have been found in the Red Sea. That anyone could see the photos of relatively new and shiny metal wheels and not be skeptical astonishes me. That anyone could simply take the word of a sensationalist news source that these objects are solid gold (and hence not covered by coral) and that no one has found and removed them suggests that some people have yet to learn the difference between faith and gullibility.
One looks like it might be a ferry steering wheel, which makes me think this has less to say about the historical accuracy of the Exodus account, and more to say about whether it is a good idea to take a ferry trip on the Red Sea.
The hoax is at least as old as the charlatan Ron Wyatt. There are a wide array of sites, some explicitly by Christians, focused on exposing the lies and deceptions perpetrated by this individual.
That others have come along to try to profit from similar claims is unsurprising. That frauds can be exposed and have no effect on people’s willingness to believe is, however, disturbing.C# 6.0 is now available and the final list of features is well explained by Sunny Ahuwanya so go there and try it with his interactive samples page.
Adam Ralph has a list of the probable C# 6.0 features Mads Torgersen from the C# design team covered at new Developers Conference() NDC 2013 in London.
I thought it would be fun to show some before and after syntax for comparison and in doing so ended up with a few thoughts and questions.
1. Primary Constructors
Shorter way to write a constructor that automatically assigns to private instance variables.
Before
public class Point { private int x, y ; public Point ( int x, int y ) this. x = x ; this. y = y ; } }
After
public class Point ( int x, int y ) { private int x, y ; }
Thoughts
Do you need to independently define x and y?
Can you still write a body?
How would you make the default private?
This solution feels too constrained, would have preferred something like:
public Point ( set int x, set int y )
That set the property and optionally created a private one if it didn’t. Would allow bodies, use on multiple constructors etc.
2. Readonly auto properties
Readonly properties require less syntax.
Before
private readonly int x ; public int X { get { return x ; } }
After
public int X { get ; } = x ;
Thoughts
Love this.
Very useful for immutable classes.
3. Static type using statements;
Imports all the public static methods of a type into the current namespace.
Before
public double A { get { return Math. Sqrt ( Math. Round ( 5.142 )); } }
After
using System.Math ; public double A { get { return Sqrt ( Round ( 5.142 )); } }
Thoughts
Not something I’ve run into often but no doubt very useful for Math-heavy classes.
Could be useful for Enumerable LINQ-heavy classes if it works with static extension methods.
4. Property Expressions
Allows you to define a property using a shorthand syntax.
Before
public double Distance { get { return Math. Sqrt (( X * X ) + ( Y * Y )); } }
After
public double Distance => Math. Sqrt (( X * X ) + ( Y * Y ));
Thoughts
Small but useful syntax reduction.
Has nothing to do with System.Linq.Expression despite the name.
5. Method Expressions
Allows you to define a method using a shorthand syntax.
Before
public Point Move ( int dx, int dy ) { return new Point ( X + dx1, Y + dy1 ); }
After
public Point Move ( int dx, int dy ) => new Point ( X + dx, Y + dy );
Thoughts
Same as Property Expressions.
6. Params for enumerables
No longer need to define your params methods as an array and force early evaluation of the arguments.
Before
Do ( someEnum. ToArray ()); public void Do ( params int [] values ) {... }
After
Do ( someEnum ); public void Do ( params IEnumerable < Point > points ) {... }
Thoughts
Can have params methods for IEnumerable and array side-by-side? Probably not.
Is evaluation deferred until evaluated if you pass a single IEnumerable instead of a params?
7. Monadic null checking
Removes the need to check for nulls before accessing properties or methods. Known as the Safe Navigation Operator in Groovy.
Before
if ( points!= null ) { var next = points. FirstOrDefault (); if ( next!= null && next. X!= null ) return next. X ; } return - 1 ;
After
var bestValue = points?. FirstOrDefault ()?. X?? - 1 ;
Thoughts
Love it. Will reduce noise in code and hopefully reduce null reference errors everywhere!
8. Constructor type parameter inference
Removes the need to create static factory methods to infer generic types. This is helpful with Tuples etc.
Before
var x = MyClass. Create ( 1, "X" ); public MyClass < T1, T2 > Create < T1, T2 >( T1 a, T2 b ) { return new MyClass < T1, T2 >( a, b ); }
After
var x = new MyClass ( 1, "X" );
Thoughts
Another great addition.
Does it understand list and collection initializers to automatically determine the generic types too?
9. Inline declarations for out params
Lets you declare the out variables inline with the call.
Before
int x ; int. TryParse ( "123", out x );
After
int. TryParse ( "123", out int x );
Thoughts
Not a particularly large syntax reduction.
Shorter code for Try methods and DirectX.
Wrapping up
Hopefully there are a few more gems to come that would help reduce noise. Would especially like to see syntax that wired up an interface to an internal instance variable where not specifically overridden to aid in encapsulation, e.g |
Gen. George Casey Jr., declared that, “as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.”
The US later droned Awlaki, making for a curious double standard. If he was worthy of death, wasn’t Hasan at least worthy of scrutiny?
Which brings us back to Boston. In March 2011, Russian officials warned the FBI that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was “a follower of radical Islam” who had “changed drastically since 2010.” They also knew he was planning a trip to a hotbed of terror in Russia.
That’s an incredible amount of detail. The FBI has said many things in its defense, some conflicting, but closed the case because agents found no evidence of terrorism or a crime.
That’s a non sequitur. The Russians didn’t accuse Tsarnaev of committing a crime; they said he was a radical Islamist. Why did the FBI limit its concern to actual crimes?
The emerging reason is that bureau guidelines eliminate Islam and other religions as a red flag. In this case, making an actual crime the threshold meant Tsarnaev’s links to radical Islam were ignored or downplayed.
Blinders in place, the screw-up continued. The frustrated Russians gave the same warning to the CIA six months later and added Tsarnaev’s mother was also a threat. Again nothing was done, except both were put on a list with 700,000 other people. He went to Russia in 2012 and stayed for six months.
If the Russians were so clueless, how did they know his travel plans a year in advance? And The Washington Post reports that a source warned the Joint Terrorism Task Force that, after Tsarnaev returned to the United States, he had become radicalized — but still nothing happened.
After all that, the FBI continues to defend its conduct, with an official telling The Washington Post that “since there was no derogatory information, there was no reason to suggest that additional action was warranted.”
This is worse than scary — it is nuts. By definition, the information about Tsarnaev was “derogatory.” It was also true.
The Russians knew he was dangerous two years ago. The FBI figured it out only after the bombs went off.
There’s no stopping the city $pin machine
Thanks to the latest money-burning idea from the city’s Department of Transportation, New Yorkers have a clear view of government gone wild. Asked by The Post how much it costs taxpayers to have workers stand in bicycle lanes holding stop signs and instructing riders how to follow the law — duh! — the department refused to answer. But a spokesman insisted that using city workers saves “costs associated with contracting out” the sign-holding services.
Let’s unpack that stinking load of bull. First, the Bloomberg administration outsources many jobs because it saves money, so somebody at City Hall ought to, in the 12th year of the administration, bring the transit hacks up to snuff.
Second, comparison pricing wasn’t the point of the question — it was whether the job needed to be done at all. But New Yorkers have a better chance of getting hit by a zombie biker than getting the truth out of the DOT.
The agency has fudged statistics for years to justify its policies. From the impact of pedestrian plazas on traffic speeds to accidents involving bikes, to the number of two-wheeled commuters, the agency gives spin a bad name. When facts don’t fit, a lie will do just fine.
Meanwhile, roads are congested and rutted and street lights on highways are optional. Yet workers, one of whom told The Post he earns $50,000 a year, stand around holding stop signs, a job that went the way of the dodo birds a century ago.
Apparently honesty and common sense are extinct, too.
Taxpayers stuck with big fat bill
Alarmed about obesity, Mayor Bloomberg wanted to block the use of food stamps to buy sugary drinks. The feds said no, so he tried to ban sodas larger than 16 ounces. A judge said no.
Now comes word that diabetes, often linked to obesity, drives up health-insurance prices by 10 percent.
As for settling the tab, maybe taxpayers should say no.
Odd prez out at Dubya’s party
Beyond the feel-good moments, the opening of the George W. Bush library and museum provides two takeaways. Barack Obama and Bush now have the same approval rating, 47 percent. And, to judge from body language and the distance they kept, nobody likes Jimmy Carter.
Do you blame them?
Liberally defined
“DC, stars toast ‘Diversity in Media,’ ” read a Politico headline about a reception before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It turns out white liberals, black liberals, Latino liberals, Asian liberals and gay liberals gathered to hear praise of President Obama. That’s diversity, media style.Image caption Bollards have already been installed on A184 Felling Bypass
Plastic bollards are being installed on roads in Gateshead to stop drivers ignoring lane markings.
They will be placed on the solid white bus lane line and are intended to deter motorists from cutting into the lane early or ignoring them completely.
Gateshead Council said it believed it was the first authority in mainland Britain to experiment with bollards to protect bus lanes.
They are being trialled on the A184 Felling Bypass and A167 Durham Road.
'Peeved drivers'
The council said no end date had been set for the trial and it would monitor its success with surveys and by liaising with bus companies.
Nick Clennett, head of transport strategy at Gateshead Council, said: "We receive quite a lot of complaints from the bus operators but also from other motorists who get really peeved by other drivers cutting in front of them.
"We've been looking at how we might best tackle it. These bollards are something that we don't think has been tried before for this purpose, but they seem to offer a sensible solution."
Costing about £75 each, the bollards are one metre high and would not cause an accident if a driver were to hit them, the council said.
It added that two types were being used in the two areas, flexible bollards on the A184 while the A167 will have hinged bollards.Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a regular contributor to PostEverything
Last night, the GOP debate focused entirely on foreign policy while only mentioning China for two minutes, which meant that CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and the other debate moderators concentrated on terrorism and the Middle East.
One of the things that was said repeatedly by numerous GOP candidates — particularly Ted Cruz — is that the real problem with current American foreign policy is that there is just too much political correctness. Apparently, if politicians, policymakers and pundits were less afraid to speak the truth, our country would be more secure.
Okay, here goes: The overwhelming bulk of what the GOP candidates had to say last night was pure, unadulterated horses***.
Were I in a different humor, I might focus on how there was an interesting axis of Donald Trump, Cruz and Rand Paul advocating against greater military intervention in the Middle East but more draconian border and homeland security measures. But truthfully, that would be missing the forest for the trees. No, what was startling about the debate was just how so many candidates could say so many wrong things about American foreign policy in two hours.
[The odd effects of the Paris attacks on the 2016 campaign]
Don’t take my word on this. Will McCants — a man who knows a thing or two about the Islamic State problem — was live-tweeting the debate. Many of those tweets were not pretty. Here’s a sampler:
Fiorina says Obama admin hasn't asked tech companies to help combat radicalization. That is wildly inaccurate. — Will McCants (@will_mccants) December 16, 2015
Cruz is clueless on the ISIS problem in Syria and Iraq. You can't bomb most ISIS positions w/out hitting civilians. That's been the problem. — Will McCants (@will_mccants) December 16, 2015
Kasich says US isn't doing enough to create coalition against ISIS. US has done plenty. Our local allies have other different priorities — Will McCants (@will_mccants) December 16, 2015
Carson is confusing his Kurds. US is arming Kurds in Syria. Baghdad has nothing to do with it. — Will McCants (@will_mccants) December 16, 2015
Well, at least Trump demonstrated his deep foreign policy knowl — wait, what’s this Politico story by Nick Gass?
Donald Trump appeared to struggle with his explanation of the nuclear triad, instead going off into his own explanation of who can be trusted with such an arsenal. … Marco Rubio immediately followed up with an explanation of the triad, informing the American people that the term refers to the ability to deliver nuclear weapons by strategic bomber, intercontinental ballistic missile, or submarine.
For those unfamiliar with political correctness, “Trump appeared to struggle” is code for “Trump had no clue what the nuclear triad actually is.”
There was more. Chris Christie said he’d be ready, willing and able to shoot down a Russian fighter over Syria. (He also assured Americans that he’d get along great with Jordan’s King Hussein, who unfortunately has been dead for quite some time.) Carly Fiorina gave a nonsensical answer on how to change the status quo in North Korea. Rand Paul claimed that America’s greatest threat is the national debt. The entire discussion on regulating the Internet was pretty nonsensical. You get the idea.
[When the U.S. freaks out about foreign enemies, things get weird]
By my count, only two candidates didn’t say anything flatly wrong about foreign policy the whole night: Jeb Bush and Rubio. The former fumbled too many of his lines to matter in the primary and the latter is barely treading water in the polls. Oh, and both of them were far more hawkish on the use of force in the Middle East than the other candidates, which is less than comforting.
What this debate revealed is that if you’re a Republican and you’re limiting yourself to viable candidates for the nomination, your choice is between a reasonably well-versed, super-aggressive hawk (Rubio), a smart but tendentious paradox (Cruz) and the Insulter-in-Chief (Trump).
[Cruz’s new foreign policy doctrine is pretty muddled]
What’s particularly frustrating is that the Obama administration has plenty of foreign policy warts to pick over. There can and should be a vibrant debate over how best to advance American interests in an uncertain world. But we’re dealing with a political environment in which the GOP front-runner knows nothing about U.S. nuclear capabilities. This is not the most fertile soil to inculcate a real debate.
When I came of political age, the Republican Party had a surfeit of smart, tough-minded foreign policy folk: Brent Scowcroft, Robert Gates, James Baker, Bob Zoellick, Richard Haass, and Lawrence Eagleburger. I pity these people having to listen to what was said on the GOP main stage last night.
Because when it comes to American foreign policy, what was said in Vegas should stay in Vegas.
Read more:
If you call Trump a Nazi, make sure you know what you’re talking about
The Fed’s seven-year itch
Will Syria’s civil war turn out like Spain’s did?Vinay Gupta: disaster consultant and global resilience guru
"You know that scene in Jurassic Park where they're being chased by the Tyrannosaur? And Jeff Goldblum is in the back of the Jeep watching the jaws come closer and closer? So I'm Jeff Goldblum. The difference is I'm carrying a gun. I think of my role in the futures game as sitting in the back of the car shooting at the bad scenarios so they don't get any closer... Shooting down the bad scenarios means identifying them, figuring out what they're contingent upon, and then wrecking the hell out of them or replacing them with something better... This is an incredibly aggressive stance towards the future. But given that no-one else is on watch – what am I supposed to do?"
So asked Vinay Gupta, software engineer, disaster consultant and global resilience guru, in a talk he gave to a group called the Association of Professional Futurists in 2012. You can see it here on YouTube:
He is explaining his mission.
"It's all I do. I get up in the morning, I figure out what to hit, and I hit it."
Coming from almost anybody else, this would sound like the ravings of a madman with a particularly entrenched messiah complex. But when it comes from Vinay Gupta, not only is the self-description of the intensity of his efforts entirely believable, but he is likely to be the person in the room with the most clear-eyed understanding of just what those "bad scenarios" are. Giving serious intellectual consideration to identifying the very worst things that can happen to people in crisis situations, and working out what to do about them, has long been his stock-in-trade.
Starting out in the 1990s as a computer programmer, Gupta shifted his attention to environmental and infrastructure risk around the turn of the last century, becoming involved with the Rocky Mountain Institute, a leading US think-tank dedicated to the sustainable use of energy and resources. He was on the editorial team for two of its books, the Pentagon-funded Winning the Oil Endgame and Small is Profitable, winner of the 2003 Economist book of the year. Since then, his work on state failure and critical infrastructure has seen him contribute to US Department of Defense research projects, consult for the engineering and design firm Arup on urban resilience and most recently, take on a role as an associate fellow at the UCL Institute for Security and Resilience Studies in London. War, natural disaster, pandemics, economic collapse, resource scarcity, how the poor die: these are his abiding concerns. Horsemen of the apocalypse he negotiates with a humorous sense of the absurd as much as a deeply thought-through philosophical and spiritual base.
Born of Indian-Scottish descent, Gupta's dual heritage is reflected in his two chief inspirations: Gandhi, with his vision of the moral outrage of poverty; and the global technological, engineering perspective of Buckminster Fuller, the visionary American systems theorist and inventor who created the geodesic dome. He is highly unusual – someone driven by a sense of the world's profound injustice, and its growing dangers, who has been willing to work solely for his vision of the global common good without promise of personal material gain. Despite his collaborative efforts with government and military institutions, he is essentially a maverick one-man team, relentlessly putting forward his case at conferences, festivals and through an online catalogue of critical infrastructure models, video lectures and essays. His aims are heroically vast in scope and at the same time unarguably sane and straightforward: find basic technological and engineering solutions that prevent people dying of extreme poverty (22,000 children die each day due to poverty, according to UNICEF); that mitigate the suffering of those who are displaced by wars and other disasters; and that stop the slide into a dystopian global future created by resource scarcity and all its attendant evils.
Vinay's Hexayurt (right) at Burning Man festival, Nevada (Photo: Sascha Pohflepp via Flickr)
Central to the practical side of his operation has been the Hexayurt, a six-sided refugee shelter Gupta invented in 2002. Made from 8x4 sheet building materials such as plywood, it is simple and relatively cheap to construct. Non-patented and available open-source, it has become widely used at the Burning Man festival held annually in the Nevada desert. Gupta believes the Hexayurt is capable of lasting for many more years, and provides more secure and protective shelter than the relief tents used by large aid agencies in refugee camps today. He feels sure it's only a matter of time before it finds a wide application.
Today we live on a fragile planet, heavily consuming finite resources, wary of our own powers of invention and destruction. The ice caps are melting, NASA reports that 2015 is going to be hottest year of global temperatures on record, swathes of the Middle East are trapped in cycles of savage violence, sending millions of displaced people into Europe, a phenomenon that is likely to persist for decades and may well be amplified as the effects of climate change push other desperate people to leave their homes. The future as a shiny utopia probably started dying somewhere back in the 1960s. Now it seems the future we have long since feared is starting to arrive and we are going to have to face up to it. So how do we react?
Gupta's brand of brutally realistic, technologically literate, practically engaged and highly original thinking could be what we need in this increasingly volatile environment. I spoke to Vinay on the phone and then we conducted an interview via Gmail chat. We talked about the opportunities and dangers of the technological revolution, poverty, war, refugees, evolution and the new age of space exploration.
VICE: Can I start by asking you a very general question – as a global resilience guru, what do you see as the biggest threats to peaceful human existence on this planet in the 21st century?
Vinay Gupta: Well, the bottom line is that there are too many of us using too many resources, and we're too smart. And we're in a double bind. The technologies which could give the answers to resource scarcity (running out of oil, food, fresh water and other raw materials) are inherently very powerful, very dangerous technologies – chiefly nanotechnology, biotechnology and robotics.
What role can government play in addressing these issues and why are they so ineffectual in getting to grips with something like climate change?
Governments evolved to solve the territorial/cultural integrity problem: control land, put up a border and maybe provide some services. There's no cultural or technical background in the nation state to automatically enable them to handle strategy up an exponential curve as we try and adapt to wave after wave of disruptive technology. There's also no mechanism inherent in the nation state for handling genuinely global issues.
There's also no mechanism inherent in the nation state for handling genuinely global issues.
In an era dominated by consumerism and market individualism, is it possible to develop a global perspective, and a belief in collective responsibility, to deal with problems such as poverty, climate change and environmental degradation?
We can't. We've failed, and this strategy is consuming enormous resources for almost no actual measurable return. Elon Musk's approach – what the Las Indias group would term "Market Activism" – works. Fixing problems by changing the technology base, and the buying options available to the public, seems to be a fairly painless way to move us forwards, but political change on all of these issues is basically a dead end.
Is it inevitable that increasingly authoritarian governments will be a consequence of climate change and resource scarcity? Do you see a challenge to democracy coming?
That challenge is called China. China is a mess right now: economic instability, horrendous pollution, and internal political strife that threatens to tear the country apart. But it's also a country of 1.3 billion people that started the century in a feudal aristocracy, the Qing Dynasty. More people have been pulled out of poverty in China faster than the entire rest of the world combined.
The counterpoint is India; a country paralysed by democracy, with something like 50 percent of the world's worst child poverty concentrated inside a single nation. You could also look at Haiti and Cuba: roughly parallel histories, but one is a hell hole, and the other a mildly oppressive functional socialism. Where would you rather live?
What about here in Western Europe. Do you think a managed retreat from the high-consumption European-American lifestyle model that contributes to so many of these global problems is possible through Market Activism or would it require enlightened authoritarian government? Is it possible at all?
Best estimates put the EU at four planets worth of consumption, and the US at nearer eight. So when we talk about getting to sustainability, we're talking about a 75 percent to 90 percent reduction in natural resource use. My friend Jay Springett terms this "asperity" – the slashing of an economy down to a sustainable level.
This simply cannot be done on the existing technological base.
However, fortunately, we aren't restricted to the existing technology base. I think there's far more likelihood of success by rampant, even foolhardy acceleration of our technological progress towards sustainability, than the false hope of mass social change. Take a look at "Is there a Moore's Law for Solar?" by Ramez Naam in Scientific American: 20 years from now, solar's likely to cost a quarter of what it does today.
Do you see the current political problems with rolling out these renewable energy technologies as a temporary hitch?
As they become profitable, governments want to stop subsidising them and spend that money on other priorities. The subsidies were designed to get them to scale, and now they have scale. Of course, it's probably better for everybody if those subsidies stay put and keep the acceleration going, but I don't think at the 40-year mark it's going to make any difference at all, subsidy or not. We are over the tipping point.
But we are still piling into nanotech and biotech, and while there are a lot of potential solutions there, there is also much – very much – to fear!
What are the potential dangers of nanotech and biotech?
The big worry is that a small university team could pull off something like the destructive power of a large nation state: 14 nerds and a gene printer makes you a superpower, although the nanotech stuff is further out, it's even worse. Personally I do not think we have a future – not a long term future, anyway – unless we get really, really solid control of these technologies.
There's far more likelihood of success by rampant, even foolhardy acceleration of our technological progress towards sustainability, than the false hope of mass social change
Is it right to say that a lot of your work lies in trying to get away from centralised power structures?
Some people want to fix inequality and centralisation. But when we try to fix inequality, 1) it keeps coming back, and 2) it often leads to mass murder (Stalin, Mao, etc.)
So stop and think about this for a moment: what if the objective isn't to level out the game between winners and losers, but to make life as good as possible for the losers? If we accept that most people will be losers at some point in their lives, how do we design a good life for losers, for the mediocre, the untalented, the unlucky – for every single human being, no matter how "undeserving" they may appear to some means-testing meritocratic aid bureaucracy. This is "decentralisation" certainly, but not in the usual sense that people use the word.
Refugees, homeless people, disaster victims, migrants, all these people often face the same basic challenges: staying warm, staying cool, avoiding hunger, thirst, illness and injury. For those of us left scrambling in the dirt – that's a billion people today in the slums, and another two billion barely making a living on tiny little mud hut farms all over the world. For those people to make a decent life, that has been my goal.
I don't know how to fix inequality. But I do think we can – with safe, available, even cheap technology – stamp out nearly all of the suffering that poverty causes. As Gandhi said: "Poverty is the worst form of violence." So my decentralisation is at the very bottom.
You've said in the past that "a vision of the certainty of death" is at the heart of your work. Do you think the sanitised separation we tend to have from death in the "developed world" makes it harder to confront the realities you've spent much of your working life thinking about?
In my case, a lot of what enabled me to do the worst case scenario work (I did nuclear terrorism, pandemic flu, some areas of genocide, economic collapse, state failure and a few other things) was the realisation that I could not save anybody. Old age or something else would get them in the end. I can buy people time, maybe save them in a disaster, add a few decades to their life, but only that.
I realised that can't save anybody... I can buy people time, maybe save them in a disaster, add a few decades to their life, but only that
I know you also spent a period of your life training in meditation and studying Hindu thought. How has that experience informed what you do? You stress the importance of science and technology in getting human beings out of the mess we appear to be in, but do you think the old insights of religion have a role to play too in how we approach these problems?
Meditation, particularly meditation on death, is as old as fire-hardening a stick at a campfire. It produces people that can face death (their own death, or the potential death of the planet) without flinching. Gandhi is, of course, the poster child for this.
Religion plays a role. But here's the problem... All religions are full of lies, Hinduism included. Medieval or ancient peasants who stared up at the sky without understanding, speculating on the origins of humanity and the eventual destiny of souls. Without evolution to provide objective answers to the questions of human origins, the entire semantic map of the ancients is filled with Here Be Dragons and marginalia of sea monsters. We sometimes call them "gods".
Yet I've had all the experiences which cause people to believe in a religion like Hinduism: enlightenment, what seem like past lives or reincarnation, gestures towards immortality, various other impossible things and it's all there, all valid experiences that one can have. But if I embrace the story about those experiences which the medieval peasants came up with, I'm simply joining the people of the past in their ignorance.
Why are we like this? Because we evolved, and we're not done evolving. That's liberation, right there, in the palm of your hand. An unfinished work by a non-existent creator, crying out for meaning and justice in a land gone wrong.
Your kids could live here..(photo Cyril Rana via Flickr)
If we're talking about evolution... is the next step into Space for human beings?
Making life interplanetary, and then interstellar, enables creation to generate untold wonders over potentially trillions of years. We have no idea how long human life could last, if we can get it off this one fragile, risk-filled, tiny sphere into the ocean of darkness and light above our heads, and into every nook and cranny of the observable sphere. We owe all the potential futures that could emerge from our present the possibility of existence, and to accomplish this, we must go not only into space, but eventually, by any means found necessary, into the stars.
Creatures we cannot even imagine, evolved from us, our passengers on that trip, will thank us – their nameless ancestors who carried the fire of life away from one sun, and into the potential bay of eternity. This is actually within our reach. I'm sure we could, say, launch Orion-class starships (designed, what, 50 years ago?) from the moon or from Mars, and really get our striding boots on.
Without space, humanity is meaningless. A billion years from now, beings will theorise about how life came to spread across the cosmos. They might even remember us, their humble ancestors. We owe it to them in exactly the same way the fish clambering up the muddy beach owed it to us: we have a duty to life. Our duty is to go!
William Burroughs once said, "This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games." Can we get away from that among the stars?
A global minimum standard of living is the way to go here, and it's cheap to produce if you think of it as "manufacture and distribute for free" rather than trying to hand out cash and hope people will buy what you want them to buy. And, yes, this is absolutely a soft paternalism strategy. Who makes the decisions about what to produce? But if you want to know what's possible, that's what's possible.
This still leaves the psychological problem: an ape that has two modes, "explore" and "conquer". So my hope is that the High Frontier will keep us in "explore" mode indefinitely, and we won't have to resort to bombing each other to relieve our territorial aggression in a too-small dog cage. But the truth is that we could solve that territorial problem right now pretty easily if we made an all-out assault on solar water desalination: all the dry coast and most of the desert in Africa, America and especially Australia would become habitable if there was abundant, affordable fresh water. So colonising the desert areas would be a big win. There's a huge leap of imagination to take our existing physical resources and purpose them into this kind of pseudo-utopian project, but it's only a leap of imagination. We have all the technology, right here, right now, this very day.
Is basic human irrationality a problem here as well as lack of imagination? Modern advertising was pioneered by Sigmund Freud's nephew with theories of the unconscious. Consumerism is so mad and so damn successful.
Nobody will admit that we are apes with ape problems. Everybody is carrying around the essentially colonialist fiction that we are in some way more than the other animals, and once that error is made, our heads fill with imaginary needs and imaginary stories. We can pretty much perfect the happy ape level of consciousness in this world, and all that it's going to cost us is our history of over-complicating all of this with our pre-evolutionary mythology about the nature of humanity.
And remember, I'm saying this to you as an (occasional) teacher of Hinduism. If god is real, it's not going away just because nobody believes in it. Those who care can rediscover it in time if their minds lead them in that direction, but for the rest of us, a radical Year Zero atheism and a focus on the basic human needs are the best strategies in town right now, I believe. Brutalist, but have you seen how the rest of the world actually lives, and dies?
Where should refugees go? Build a couple more brand new cities like Masdar (above) in Abu Dhabi (photo via Flickr)
Okay, so to bring this back to the here and now, what do you think could be practically done to address the current refugee crisis?
There are basically four questions here. Firstly, is the existing UN Refugee legal abstraction really fit for purpose any more?
People who have to leave where they are because staying will get them killed aren't necessarily fleeing political oppression or war any more, now we have to increasingly contend with climate-induced famine and economic factors.
Second question is where are these people going during the period of their dependency? They've largely abandoned jobs, and their savings won't last long. Where are they to go in the short term, and who is to house and feed them. It seems to me that the obvious solution would be for the oil-rich Gulf States to take them in en masse – build a couple of new cities instead of (or, hell, as well as) Masdar and do some of that "make the desert bloom" stuff in Saudi Arabia, and settle a few million people there. Problem solved.
The third question is where do they return to regular life? Syria when it is at peace, and so on for Iraq, Afghanistan, and all the rest? This "Refugee Nation" concept is certainly appealing, but I hope they have some ideas for an economy to go with their policy. In my novel Mother of Hydrogen a lot of the action is set in a temporary city which became permanent, called Harappa after an ancient Indian hill fort. The economics of building essentially countries from scratch are a lot better than you would expect: it's dirt cheap to provide a population with all the denim and bicycles they could possibly need, but once again, you have to be a soft paternalist about this to get the job done at those prices.
The final question is this: 3 million or 10 million today? Tomorrow, well, the estimates are 150 million climate refugees. That kind of disruption is likely to bring a global austerity, even if we are booming in the age of cheap solar panels and manufacturing robotics.
When we admit that the allegedly-temporary status of "refugee" is actually the permanent status of "displaced, never to return" maybe we could start to design a lifestyle that works cheaply enough for the international community to continue support, while at the same time producing a high standard of living to the point where refugees have some real utility.
Turn refugee camps into universities. If we won't let them get jobs and work, let them get PhDs
My proposal, along those paths, is that we turn the refugee camps into universities. If we won't let them get jobs and work, let them get PhDs on the internet and become huge academic centres of excellence. There is no problem in this world that access to 150 million more educated human beings would not improve, and maybe in the long run they could fan out across the globe as school teachers.
But an explicit mandate is required for this to work well: a ground-up reconceptualisation of what a refugee is, and what their lives should be like. At a technical level, we can certainly build as many temporary cities or countries as are required, at very reasonable prices, but surely we can do better than shoring up these broken legal fictions.
We need a legal replacement for the "refugee" concept, in the age of people being forced off their land by climate crises. All the rest comes from that. Global citizenship?
Do you feel like a lone voice in the wilderness with this stuff or do you have a sense that there is an emerging body of people with the skills, as well as the vision and energy, to face up to and tackle these problems?
I'm very much not alone. I'm a successor to Buckminster Fuller, and he has many heirs: WorldWatch Institute, the Buckminster Fuller Institute itself, Open Source Ecology, even the 3D printer / maker movement. On the political, post-colonial theory side, Vandana Shiva is a far, far more advanced form of the same thinking that I'm doing, and I can recommend her work wholeheartedly. So, no, I'm far from alone.
But you could probably fit all of the people in the world with a realistic model of our resource constraints (i.e. how much metal and how many calories per person per year?) who are actively working full time on solving these problems at the most basic and realistic level on one aeroplane. That community is a few hundred of us at most. Knowing the truth and acting on it brings a peace which surpasses understanding.
Where do you get your information about the world from? What are your favoured news sources?
My information about the world comes from three mains sources: Reddit, Hacker News and Boing Boing. Until I was 25, I read everything I could get my hands on, and did very little useful work. Now I read book reviews, and try to write more than I read. I do an immense amount of thinking in community on Twitter (@leashless) where I'll essentially write an essay in real time as a series of tweets, and take feedback, criticism and debate from people as we go. This produces much better, much clearer thinking than blog posts used to, because of the element of real-time feedback and improvement through dialogue.
What are you working on right now?
In November of 2014 I sold my soul. I'd spent about 15 years working only on problems that were directly relevant to human survival on earth, under the rule that I wouldn't do something for money if I wasn't willing to do it for free.
Then I got older and started to slow down, and I realised I was broke, and that even worse, an awful lot of my heroes who had gone before me on this path were begging on the internet for help with their medical bills: Howard Rhinegold, Robert Anton Wilson, John Draper (Cap'n Crunch) among others.
So I gave up.
The trigger event was seeing the Cosmic Trigger stage play in London. Robert Anton Wilson, without who's work I'd probably have killed myself in my twenties (I mean that quite seriously) lost a daughter to poverty. They lived in an awful neighbourhood because Bob had quit his job working for Playboy to write the literature and analysis that helped me to save my own life. And a crazy homeless person killed his daughter. And, at that point, I snapped.
Fate then takes a hand: Vitalik Buterin started the Ethereum project, which generalises what Bitcoin did for currency for all kinds of software, and I get a job working on topics like music and identity for poor traders. I'm now working for both the Ethereum Foundation, and Consensys Systems, building all manner of interesting futures.
I've found a niche in the world that balances my need to change my life with my need to change the world. I feel happier and better balanced than I ever have done, and I'm looking forwards to a brighter future than I'd hoped. It's not bad, is it?
And the hexayurt is coming: I expect to see small test deployments within the next year. So it'll all come together, soon and soon enough. Maybe we'll even have the software for self-governing refugee camps written for Ethereum by the time the first big camps go up...
@joepbanksVermont senator Bernie Sanders made a forceful pitch for his progressive political vision in a talk at MIT on Friday evening, asserting that U.S. politics “must be” liberal in nature if the country is to surmount its economic and social struggles.
“In the country today, there is a lot of desperation and fear and anxiety about what is going on economically,” Sanders said, noting that the top one-tenth of 1 percent of Americans has as much financial wealth as the bottom 90 percent.
To counteract that, Sanders argued, the country should implement a series of progressive measures: a single-payer health care system, the removal of large money donations from politics, and a complete overhaul of the energy production system, among other things.
“The future of this country will be and must be based on a progressive vision,” Sanders contended.
Those policy ideas, to be sure, are measures Sanders himself backed vigorously during his surprisingly successful 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders’ candidacy, initially expected by many observers to be an electoral afterthought, gained traction with voters for months and helped reveal how deeply economic stress has affected the middle and working classes in American society.
Sanders’ remarks on Friday also had the feel of a campaign event at times. Sanders noted that he won 22 states in the Democratic Party primary and claimed 46 percent of the primary’s popular vote (although calculations vary).
And with the tenor |
threat.... Engaging in this is not just irresponsible, it is insane.... Washington's actions are putting the entire world in jeopardy.70
SDI had touched a sensitive nerve. The Soviets treated it as an extremely serious development for two reasons. First, despite their boasting in the 1970s, Soviet leaders--and perhaps Andropov most of all--had great respect for US technological capabilities.71 Second, SDI had a profound psychological impact that reinforced the trend already anticipated in the new Soviet assessment of the "correlation of forces." In a remarkable tete-a-tete
with a US journalist and former arms control official, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff, interpreted the real meaning of SDI:
We cannot equal the quality of U.S. arms for a generation or two. Modern military power is based on technology, and technology is based on computers. In the US, small children play with computers.... Here, we don't even have computers in every office of the Defense Ministry. And for reasons you know well, we cannot make computers widely available in our society. We will never be able to catch up with you in modern arms until we have an economic revolution. And the question is whether we can have an economic revolution without a political revolution.72
This private rumination was all the more remarkable because Ogarkov's public statements showed him to be a hawk's hawk who compared the United States to Nazi Germany and argued repeatedly for more resources to continue the arms competition. The dichotomy between his public statements and his confidential remarks to the US journalist was striking; it indicated that he understood better than most political and other military leaders the challenge posed by American military technology.
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At 3:26 a.m. Tokyo time on 1 September 1983, a Soviet Su-15 interceptor fired two air-to-air missiles at a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 airliner, Flight 007, destroying the aircraft and killing all 269 crewmembers and passengers. Soviet air defense units had been tracking the aircraft for more than an hour while it entered and left Soviet airspace over the Kamchatka Peninsula. The order to shoot down the airliner was given as it was about to leave Soviet airspace for the second time after flying over Sakhalin Island. It was probably downed in international airspace.
From US and Japanese communications intercepts, the White House learned about the shootdown within a few hours, and, with Secretary Shultz taking the lead, denounced the Soviet act as deliberate mass murder. President Reagan called it "an act of barbarism, born of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and the value of human life and seeks constantly to expand and dominate other nations."73
Air Force intelligence dissented from the rush to judgment at the time, and eventually US intelligence reached a consensus that the Soviets probably did not know they were attacking a civilian airliner.74 The charge probably should have been something akin to criminally negligent manslaughter, not premeditated murder. But the official US position never deviated from the initial assessment. The incident was used to start a vociferous campaign in the United Nations and to spur worldwide efforts to punish the USSR through commercial boycotts, lawsuits, and denial of landing rights for Aeroflot. These efforts focused on indicting the Soviet system and the top leadership as being ultimately responsible.75
Moscow did not even acknowledge the incident until September 6, and it delayed an official explanation for three more days. On 9 September, Marshal Ogarkov held a live press conference that ran for two hours.76 The five-star spin doctor's goal was to prove that--269 innocent victims notwithstanding--the Soviet Union had acted rationally. Ogarkov asserted that the regional air defense unit had identified the aircraft as a US intelligence platform, an RC-135 of the type that routinely performed intelligence operations along a similar fight path. In any event, regardless of whether it was an RC-135 or a 747, he argued, the plane was unquestionably on a US or joint US-Japanese intelligence mission, and the local air defense commander had made the correct decision. The real blame for the tragedy, he insisted, lay with the United States, not the USSR.77
Map: Korean Airlines Flight 007, 1 September 1983
Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov during his September 9, 1983 press conference on the shootdown of KAL 007. Ogarkov gave a good performance, but his remarks were a coverup from the beginning to end.
A classified memorandum submitted to the Politburo by the Defense Ministry and the KGB shows that the Soviet leadership held much the same view in private. Released in 1992, the memorandum concluded:
We are dealing with a major, dual-purpose political provocation carefully organized by the US special services. The first purpose was to use the incursion of the intruder aircraft into Soviet airspace to create a favorable situation for the gathering of defense data on our air defense system in the Far East, involving the most diverse systems including the Ferret satellite. Second, they envisaged, if this flight were terminated by us, [the US would use] that fact to mount a global anti-Soviet campaign to discredit the Soviet Union.78
Soviet angst was reflected in the harsh propaganda reaction that followed. Once again Andropov took the lead in bashing the United States. Asserting that an "outrageous military psychosis" had overtaken the US, he declared that "the Reagan administration, in its imperial ambitions, goes so far that one begins to doubt whether Washington has any brakes at all preventing it from crossing the point at which any sober-minded person must stop."79
Yuri Andropov on KAL-007
The sophisticated provocation, organized by the US special services and using a South Korean airplane, is an example of extreme adventurism in policy. We have given the factual aspect of this action a detailed and authentic elucidation. The guilt of its organizers--no matter how they twist and turn or how many false stories they put out--have been proved.
The Soviet leadership has expressed regret in connection with the loss of human lives that was the result of this unprecedented act of criminal sabotage. It is on the conscience of those who would like to arrogate to themselves the right to disregard the sovereignty of states and the inviolability of their borders, who conceived of and carried out this provocation, who literally the next day hurried to push through Congress colossal military appropriations and now are rubbing their hands in satisfaction.
As reported in
Pravda and Izvestiya,
29 September 1983
The local Soviet air defense commander appears to have made a serious but honest mistake. The situation in the region was not normal; his forces had been on high alert and in a state of anxiety following incursions by US aircraft during the spring 1983 Pacific Fleet exercise recounted above. A Soviet demarche contended that US planes had flown some 32 kilometers (20 miles) into Soviet airspace and remained there for up to 20 minutes during several overflights.80 As a result, the Soviet air defense command was put on alert for the rest of the spring and summer--and possibly longer--and some senior officers were transferred, reprimanded, or dismissed.81
The KAL 007 incident was not only a tragedy; it also touched off a dangerous episode in US-Soviet relations, which already had been exacerbated by the war scare. As Dobrynin put it, both sides "went slightly crazy." For Washington, the incident seemed to express all that was wrong with the Soviet system and to vindicate the administration's critique of the Soviet system. For Moscow, the episode seemed to encapsulate and reinforce the Soviets' worst case assumptions about US policy for several reasons:
President Reagan was quick to seize on the shootdown to broadly indict the Soviet system and its leaders. Andropov, notwithstanding whatever he actually may have believed about Soviet responsibility, was forced onto the defensive and evidently felt compelled to justify the USSR's actions at all costs.
The US follow-on campaign at the UN and in other channels to embarrass and isolate the USSR in the international community undoubtedly contributed to Moscow's penchant to see an anti-Soviet plot. 82 In the Soviet view, a campaign of this scope and magnitude that just happened to dovetail with the Reagan administration's moral critique of the USSR must have been more than simply a chance opportunity seized by Washington in the heat of the moment. 83
In the Soviet view, a campaign of this scope and magnitude that just happened to dovetail with the Reagan administration's moral critique of the USSR must have been more than simply a chance opportunity seized by Washington in the heat of the moment. President Reagan's decision to use the KAL 007 shootdown to persuade Congress to support his requests for increased defense spending and the new MX missile pointed in the same direction, in Moscow's view. Given the Soviets' predilection for conspiracy theorizing, it was not farfetched that they would see a US design behind the combination of circumstances.
The net effect of the crisis was to close off whatever debate was still going on within the Soviet leadership over US intentions. On 29 September, Andropov issued an unusual "declaration" on US-Soviet relations that brought the war scare into sharper public focus:
The Soviet leadership deems it necessary to inform the Soviet people, other peoples, and all who are responsible for determining the policy of states, of its assessment of the course pursued in international affairs by the current US administration. In brief, it is a militarist course that represents a serious threat to peace.... If anyone had any illusion about the possibility of an evolution for the better in the policy of the present American administration, recent events have dispelled them completely.84 [emphasis added]
Dobrynin says the last phrase was the key one; the word "completely" was carefully chosen to express the Politburo's consensus that the USSR could not reach any agreement with the Reagan administration.85 In sum, the aftermath of the downing of KAL 007 heightened Soviet anxiety. Within weeks Soviet intelligence and the Soviet military, almost certainly with the KAL 007 episode in mind, would overreact to a US/NATO military exercise.
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Another notable incident in 1983 occurred during an annual NATO command post exercise codenamed ABLE ARCHER 83. The Soviets were familiar with this exercise from previous years, but the 1983 version included two important changes:
In the original scenario (which was later modified), the 1983 exercise was to involve high-level officials, including the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in major roles, with cameo appearances by the President and the Vice President. Such high-level participation would have meant greater publicity and visibility than was the case during past runnings of this exercise.
ABLE ARCHER 83 included a practice drill that took NATO forces through a full-scale simulated release of nuclear weapons.
According to Gordievsky, on the night of November 8 or 9--he was not sure which--the KGB Center sent a flash cable to West European residencies advising them, incorrectly, that US forces in Europe had gone on alert and that troops at some bases were being mobilized. The cable speculated that the (nonexistent) alert might have been ordered in response to the then-recent bomb attack on the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, or was related to impending US Army maneuvers, or was the beginning of a countdown to a surprise nuclear attack. Recipients were asked to confirm the US alert and evaluate these hypotheses.
Gordievsky described the reaction in stark terms:
In the tense atmosphere generated by the crises and rhetoric of the past few months, the KGB concluded that American forces had been placed on alert--and might even have begun the countdown to war.... The world did not quite reach the edge of the nuclear abyss during Operation RYAN. But during ABLE ARCHER 83 it had, without realizing it, come frighteningly close--certainly closer than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.86 [emphasis added]
The ABLE ARCHER story has been told and retold by journalists with inside contacts in the White House and Whitehall.87 Three themes run though the various versions: The US and USSR came close to war as a result of Soviet overreaction; only Gordievsky's timely warning to the West kept things from getting out of hand; and Gordievsky's information was an epiphany for President Reagan, convincing him that the Kremlin indeed was fearful of a US surprise nuclear attack:
Within a few weeks after...ABLE ARCHER 83, the London CIA station reported, presumably on the basis of information obtained by the British from Gordievsky, that the Soviets had been alarmed about the real possibility that the United States was preparing a nuclear attack against them. [National Security Adviser Robert] McFarlane, who received the reports at the White House, initially discounted them as Soviet scare tactics rather than evidence of real concern about American intentions, and told Reagan of his view in presenting them to the President. But a more extensive survey of Soviet attitudes sent to the White House early in 1984 by CIA director William Casey, based in part on reports from the double agent Gordievsky, had a more sobering effect. Reagan seemed uncharacteristically grave after reading the report and asked McFarlane, "Do you suppose they really believe that?...I don't see how they could believe that--but it's something to think about."...In a meeting the same day, Reagan spoke about the biblical prophecy of Armageddon, a final world-ending battle between good and evil, a topic that fascinated the President. McFarlane thought it was not accidental that Armageddon was on Reagan's mind.88
Is Gordievsky's stark description credible? According to a US foreign affairs correspondent, the "volume and urgency" of Warsaw Pact communications increased during the exercise.89 In addition, US sources reported that Soviet fighter aircraft with nuclear weapons at bases in East Germany and Poland were placed on alert.90 But a US expert who queried a number of senior Soviet political and military officials reports that none had heard of ABLE ARCHER, and all denied that it had come to the attention of the Politburo or even the upper levels of the Defense Ministry.91
Moreover, Dobrynin, who argues that the top leadership took the war threat seriously and devotes several pages in his memoirs to the KAL 007 tragedy, makes no mention of ABLE ARCHER.
An important piece of evidence--the Center's flash message referred to above--is missing from the RYAN cables that Gordievsky published in 1991. ABLE ARCHER 83, it seems, made more of an impression in the White House than in the Kremlin.92 In any event, it was not comparable to the Cuban crisis, when the superpowers were on a collision course, US nuclear forces were on full alert, and--as recently revealed--the USSR had deployed nuclear weapons in Cuba.
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Did Gordievsky's reporting bring home the message that the war scare in the Kremlin was serious and that it posed a potential danger of Soviet overreaction? Gordievsky and British co-author Christopher Andrew have said so repeatedly. The information Gordievsky provided to the British "was of enormous importance in providing warning of the almost paranoid fear within some sections of the Soviet leadership that President Reagan was planning a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union," according to Andrew.
Prime Minister Thatcher herself apparently delivered the chilling message to President Reagan, hoping to convince him to moderate his rhetoric and actions. She evidently believed that US policy toward the USSR had become risky and counterproductive by threatening to undermine NATO's consensus on deployment of US intermediate-range missiles. Thatcher also was mindful of the growing strength of the peace movement in Europe and especially in West Germany.
Thatcher publicly urged a shift in policy on 29 September in an address at the annual dinner for the Churchill Foundation Award in Washington, where she knew her remarks would attract media--and White House--attention. Her theme--"we live on the same planet and must go [on] sharing it"--was a plea for a more accommodating Alliance policy that she spelled out in subsequent speeches. She did not, according to a chronicler of the Thatcher-Reagan partnership, pick up the phone or approach Reagan directly, because:
The essence of the partnership at this stage was that the two governments were basing their decisions on much the same evidence and on shared assessments at professional level. In particular, both governments would have had the same intelligence. A critical contribution in this field was made over a period of years by Oleg Gordievsky....94
A US journalist who interviewed British intelligence sources believes Gordievsky's reporting had a significant impact on the White House.95 He adds an interesting twist to the story. The British claimed the KGB was exploiting, and perhaps manipulating, "bluster in Washington" to hype the US threat to Soviet leaders for the KGB's own bureaucratic purposes and interests. London's message to Washington was: stop helping the hawks and start supporting the doves. Whether the British were acting as analysts or spin doctors is open to question. President Reagan says in his memoirs--without reference to British intelligence reports or ABLE ARCHER--that in late 1983 he was surprised to learn that "many people at the top of the Soviet hierarchy were genuinely afraid of America and Americans," and "many Soviet officials feared us not only as adversaries but as potential aggressors who might hurl nuclear weapons at them in a first strike."96
In the broad scheme of things, election-year politics and polls showing that the President's anti-Soviet rhetoric was his highest "negative" with US public opinion probably played the main role in the more conciliatory tone he adopted in early 1984. But the President himself said the war scare was "something to think about." The British intelligence reports appear to have influenced President Reagan--as they were no doubt intended to do--more than they influenced senior White House policy aides, who remained skeptical of the Soviet war scare during 1981-83 and even after Gordievsky had defected and publicly surfaced in 1985.97
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In the months following the September 1983 KAL incident, a full-scale war scare unfolded in the USSR. Soviet authorities clearly instigated this through a variety of agitprop activities. Even so, the scare took on a life of its own and threatened to get out of hand before the Kremlin took steps in early 1984 to calm public fears.98
Soviet attacks on President Reagan reached a fever pitch. Moscow compared him to Hitler and alleged that he had ties to the Mafia. The Soviet media hammered home that the danger of nuclear war was higher than at any time since World War II.
Radio Liberty interviews with Soviet citizens traveling abroad suggested that much of the Soviet public was genuinely alarmed. A series of officially sponsored activities at home fed the frenzy. Moscow organized mass "peace" rallies; sponsored "peace" classes in schools and universities; arranged closed briefings on the "war danger" for party activists and military personnel; designated a "civil defense" month; broadcast excerpts from Stalin's famous 1941 speech to troops parading through Red Square on their way to defend Moscow from the approaching German army; and televised a heavyhanded Defense Ministry film that depicted a warmongering America bent on world domination. The Politburo also considered, but rejected, proposals to shift to a six-day industrial workweek and to create a special "defense fund" to raise money for the military.
What were the Soviet leadership's motives? Some observers who have studied the war scare have written it off as political theater--as an elaborate orchestration to release tensions over KAL 007 at home and promote the ongoing Soviet "peace offensive" abroad.99 But it clearly was more than that. The leadership would not have invoked the memory of World War II--which is emotionally charged and had an almost sacred significance for the Soviet people--solely for propaganda purposes. It would not have fueled popular fears about nuclear extinction just to boost morale and influence public opinion abroad.
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War Scare in the USSR
We have been hearing a lot of rumors about the possibility of war in the near future. At political information meetings they are saying that the United States is getting ready to attack the Soviet Union, and that we should be prepared for an attack at any moment. From what I could see, those who believed these warnings significantly outnumbered those who didn't. The simple people are very frightened of war.
Soviet citizen interviewed by
Radio Liberty (Munich)
November 1983
The regime appears to have aggravated popular fears of war for a specific purpose: to prepare the population for the possibility that repeated promises to raise living standards might have to be abandoned in order to increase defense spending in the face of a growing danger of a US military strike on the USSR.100 The Kremlin, it seems, had decided that the only way to make new sacrifices palatable was to play to the public's fears.101 The ploy was a risky one, not only because the Soviet people had come to expect improvements in their living standards, but also because developments in Poland at that time were underscoring how popular unrest could develop into revolt against a Communist regime.
With the improvement in US-Soviet relations after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the domestic war scare subsided as quickly as it had emerged. Before it did, however, the leadership apparently felt compelled to allay the public's fears with assurances that the USSR was in a position to deter war and, if necessary, to defend itself. This was further evidence that the war scare was genuinely felt among the populace.
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The Soviet Union and the United States both entered World War II in 1941 as victims of surprise attacks, but the impact of Operation BARBAROSSA--the German codename for Hitler's June 1941 attack on the USSR--was even more of an enduring national trauma than Pearl Harbor was for the United States. The German invasion was the worst military disaster in Russian history. It should have been anticipated and could have been countered by the Soviets but was not, mainly because of a failure to interpret indications and warnings accurately.
The connection between ignored warnings and surprise attack has never been forgotten in Moscow. For decades after the war, Soviet leaders seemed obsessed with the lessons of 1941, which were as much visceral as intellectual in Soviet thinking about war and peace.103
The 1941 analogy clearly had an impact on the way RYAN requirements were formulated and implemented. The historical example of Operation BARBAROSSA, moreover, may explain the sense of urgency that KGB officers such as Gordievsky and Shvets attributed to the Kremlin even while these officers themselves discounted the threat. The gap in perceptions may have reflected a gap in generations. Members of the Brezhnev-Andropov generation had experienced the German war firsthand as the formative experience of their political lives. But for the younger generation born just before, during, or after the war, BARBAROSSA was history rather than living memory.
The Soviets' intelligence "failure" of 1941 was a failure of analysis, not collection.104 Stalin received multiple, detailed, and timely warnings of the impending invasion from a variety of open and clandestine sources. But he chose to interpret intelligence data with a best case or not-so-bad-case hypothesis, assuming--incorrectly--that Hitler would not attack without issuing an ultimatum or fight a two-front war. Stalin erred in part because he deceived himself and in part because German counterintelligence misled him with an elaborate deception plan.105 Possibly because of this precedent, Stalin's heirs may have decided that it was better to look through a glass darkly than through rose-colored lenses. This, it appears, is why Operation RYAN used an explicit worst case methodology to search for indications and warning of a US surprise attack.
RYAN also seems to have incorporated--or in some instances misapplied--other lessons from 1941. Despite the prowess of his intelligence services, Stalin distrusted clandestinely acquired intelligence, including agent reporting and even communications and signals intercepts.106 He did so because he was convinced that such sources could be controlled by the enemy and corrupted by disinformation--a belief that led him to reject accurate as well as inaccurate information. He insisted that Soviet intelligence look instead for indirect indicators of war planning that could not be concealed or manipulated. He went along, for example, with a proposal by his chief of military intelligence for surveying mutton prices in Nazi-occupied Europe; the intelligence official thought the Germans would need sheepskin coats for winter military campaigning in Russia and, by buying up existing livestock supplies, would flood the market with cheap mutton.107 This deceptively simple indicator turned out to be simply deceptive; Hitler, believing he could defeat the Red Army by the fall of 1941, did not prepare for wintertime operations.
RYAN requirements reveal the same kind of unorthodox thinking. For example, the KGB residency in London was instructed to monitor prices paid for blood at urban donor banks.108 The KGB Center assumed that prices would rise on the eve of war as blood banks scurried to stockpile supplies. But there was a problem with this assumption: British donor banks do not pay for blood--contributions are voluntary. In another such example of RYAN requirements, the KGB residency in London was told to visit meatpacking plants, looking for signs of "mass slaughter of cattle and putting of meat into long cold storage."109 The parallel with Soviet intelligence requirements of 1939-41 is close enough to suggest that the KGB was digging them out of old NKVD (the KGB's predecessor) and GRU files.
Finally, there was another plausible--although unprovable--link between 1941 and 1981. The 1941 disaster was Stalin's fault, but he blamed Soviet intelligence. This left an indelible stain on the Soviet services, and the subject was so sensitive that it could not be discussed openly until the advent of glasnost.110 One motive behind Andropov's decision to launch Operation RYAN in 1981 may have been a determination not to let history repeat itself. Soviet intelligence certainly had a vested interest in promoting a dire threat assessment of US intentions, but professional pride and a wish to avoid being a scapegoat may have been involved as well.
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The fears that prompted Operation RYAN seemed genuine, even if exaggerated. Ex-Ambassador Dobrynin implied as much to a skeptical US television interviewer in 1995. When the interviewer asked whether Andropov "had really believed" that the Reagan administration might order a first strike, Dobrynin replied: "Make your conclusions from what he [Andropov] said in telegrams to his rezidents."111
The alert was a crash program to create a strategic warning system in response to new challenges the Soviets saw looming on the horizon. That response was panicky but not paranoid. One historian, rejecting the paranoia thesis that has often been used to explain Russian reaction to technologically superior 112 Western military power, captured the point when he wrote: "At various times Russian strategists were acutely fearful. But those fears, although at times extreme, were scarcely insane."113
More Than Just a Scare Tactic
The following remarks were made by former Soviet Foreign Ministry official Sergei Tarasenko at a 1993 conference of former US and Soviet officials:
Around this time [late 1983], [First Deputy Foreign Minister Georgi] Kornienko summoned me and showed me a top-secret KGB paper. It was under Andropov. Kornienko said to me, "You haven't seen this paper. Forget about it."...In the paper the KGB reported that they had information that the United States had prepared everything for a first strike; that they might resort to a surgical strike against command centers in the Soviet Union; and that they had the capability to destroy the system by incapacitating the command center. We were given the task of preparing a paper for the Politburo and putting forward some suggestions on how to counter this threat not physically but politically. So we prepared a paper [suggesting] that we should leak some information that we know about these capabilities and contingency plans, and that we are not afraid of these plans because we have taken the necessary measures.112
Tarasenko was a senior adviser to Kornienko. He was one of the few officials outside the Soviet intelligence community who had seen the above mentioned KGB paper. His remarks confirm that the Soviet leadership genuinely believed the risk of a US attack had risen appreciably.
Dobrynin has noted that post-Stalin leaders believed the "existing political and social structure of the United States was the best guarantee against an unprovoked first strike against us."114 He claims, however, that in the early 1980s some Soviet leaders, including Andropov, changed their minds. Why? Dobrynin's reply, quoting Andropov, was that President Reagan was "unpredictable." That answer seems too simplistic--and too "un-Soviet" in that it attaches so much weight to personalities--although it is vintage Dobrynin, who seems to view the Cold War largely as an interpersonal interplay among Soviet and American leaders he knew.
To reduce the war scare to Andropovian paranoia and Reaganite rhetoric is too facile. Otherwise RYAN would not have outlasted both leaders, the KGB, and the changes in US-Soviet relations that led to the end of the Cold War.115 The Kremlin's thinking was shaped by adverse trends, not just adversarial personalities--that is, by its pessimistic assessment of the "correlation of forces" and the ever-widening gap in the USSR's technological lag behind the West. Soviet leaders knew that their nation was no longer even running in place on the treadmill of history; it was beginning to fall back. In this atmosphere, Soviet officials and much of the populace felt vulnerable to the prospect of a US attack.
Many Western observers dismissed the intelligence alert and the subsequent war scare because they considered its worst case scenario--surprise nuclear attack--as out of touch with reality or just plain irrational. They based their view more on their certainty that there was no objective threat of a US attack--Reagan was not Hitler, and America does not do Pearl Harbors--than on their uncertain understanding about how the Soviets saw things. While Western observers were half-right in questioning whether the Soviet war scare was "objective" or "rational," they were half-wrong in writing it off as scare tactics. Even fear based on a false threat can create real dangers.
Paradoxically, viewing the Soviet war scare as nothing more than a scare tactic may have led the West to underestimate another threat--a Soviet preemptive strike, either as a result of miscalculation or by design to reverse the adverse "correlation of forces." Was this really a possibility? Some observers think so.116 For example, Gyula Horn, Hungary's last Communist foreign minister (and current prime minister), claims that Soviet marshals, fortified with a little vodka, openly advocated an attack on the West "before the imperialists gain superiority in every sphere."117 The evidence is anecdotal but plausible. Whether this threat was real is likely to remain one of the Cold War's conundrums until or unless still classified documents someday provide an answer.
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Operation RYAN revealed much about the KGB in the twilight years of Soviet intelligence. The picture that emerges from Oleg Gordievsky's writings as well as firsthand accounts by other ex-KGB officers is mixed. By the early 1980s the KGB was corrupt and ineffective. But it appears to have been less so than many other Soviet organizations. It was still regarded by Soviet leaders and other observers as an important arm of Soviet foreign policy.
Before being posted to London in June 1982, Gordievsky received a briefing on Operation RYAN from a KGB expert on NATO.119 The briefer paid lipservice to the need to recruit "well-placed agents," but he emphasized that the principal method to be employed in RYAN was visual observation of "tell-tale indicators" such as lights burning in government offices and military installations late at night, VIP movements, and high-level committee meetings.
The message was clear, even if implicit: the much-vaunted KGB had become largely unable to recruit well-placed agents. Having KGB staff officers serving under official cover do their own spying, rather than recruiting agents to do it, violated basic rules of tradecraft. Lurking around well-guarded official installations during the night seemed almost certain to attract the attention of host-country security services.120 The KGB's willingness to risk exposure of its officers in this way reflected the urgency of its search for ways to implement Operation RYAN.
Gordievsky and another ex-KGB officer, Yuri Shvets, note that the KGB in the 1980s was having particular difficulty acquiring agents in the United Kingdom and the United States.121 The spy organization's halcyon days of recruiting ideologically motivated agents worldwide were long gone.122 In the meantime, Western services were recruiting sizable numbers of KGB officers and receiving defectors who in turn identified other KGB officers and operations.123 Western and some Third World countries were expelling KGB officers in record numbers; the peak year was 1983, when 147 intelligence officers, including 41 in France alone, were ousted for spying.124
Some observers argue that the increased expulsions resulted from the high risks the KGB was taking to collect RYAN-related information. There may be something to this, but most of the expulsions in the early 1980s were part of a coordinated crackdown on Soviet intelligence operations designed to collect strategically important Western scientific information and technology.
Inability to recruit well-placed agents compelled the KGB to try to exploit its remaining advantages, such as the relative openness of Western nations and the still-large KGB staffs stationed in many of those countries. Operation RYAN was launched on the assumption that, if the United States did decide to attack the USSR, it would reveal that decision more or less openly--that is, through a variety of actions it could not conceal. The troubles enumerated above also prompted the KGB to look at another advantage it still possessed: it could draw heavily on East Germany's formidable intelligence capabilities for help in implementing RYAN.
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Veteran KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky began spying for British intelligence in 1974 while stationed in Denmark. He was the primary--and for a long time the only--source of Western intelligence on RYAN. Two of his fellow ex-KGB officers, Oleg Kalugin and Yuri Shvets, later provided corroborating information.
Gordievsky went to London in June 1982 as deputy rezident. In early 1985 he was appointed rezident. Soon thereafter, based on information from American spy Aldrich Ames, Soviet counterintelligence recalled Gordievsky to Moscow on a pretext, put him under surveillance, and began interrogating him. In late July 1985, using a prearranged signal to British intelligence, he triggered a plan to exfiltrate himself from the USSR. He returned to London in September 1985. By this time he was the highest ranking Western penetration of Soviet intelligence.
The British soon acknowledged publicly that Gordievsky had been working for them, and he came under their protection. He became an informal adviser to Prime Minister Thatcher and President Reagan and played an important role in persuading them to take Mikhail Gorbachev seriously as a reform-oriented leader.
Despite Gordievsky's efforts to convince the West that the Soviet war scare and Gorbachev were both for real, some skeptics, who believed that he was peddling KGB disinformation aimed at influencing Western policy, question his trustworthiness. In addition, neither Gordievsky nor the British have ever offered a convincing explanation of his motives for betraying the KGB or the circumstances of his recruitment, and this too has prompted some observers to suspect his credibility and even his bona fides.125 These two issues--bona fides and credibility--are related but not identical. There were cases during the Cold War when a Soviet intelligence defector proved bona fide (that is, he was who he claimed to be and had access to the information he gave to Western intelligence), but also lied, fabricated, and exaggerated to please benefactors, ingratiate himself, inflate his value, protect himself, or protect his family if he had left one behind as Gordievsky did.
Many US analysts (including the author of this monograph) do not doubt Gordievsky's bona fides, and for the most part his credibility appears solid as well (see exceptions noted below). British intelligence debriefed him 150 times over a period of several months, taking 6,000 pages of notes that were reviewed by analysts.126 Everything checked out, and no significant inaccuracies or inconsistencies were uncovered. Gordievsky's information before and after he defected led to the identification and expulsion of KGB officers, including 31 who were expelled from the United Kingdom after he was exfiltrated from Moscow.127 In various books, articles, and interviews, moreover, he did inestimable damage to the KGB by revealing its officers, secrets, and operations and by damaging its reputation.
President Reagan with ex-KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky. Gordievsky was the West's sole source of information on the Soviet war scare during the early 1980s.
Gordievsky's track record, although good, is not entirely unblemished. In 1984, he told British intelligence about an alleged spy working at a British signals intercept site on Cyprus.128 The authorities arrested eight British servicemen--five in the RAF and three in the army--and detained them for a year. Their four-month trial did not begin until after Gordievsky defected and arrived in London in 1985. The Crown's case then collapsed when Gordievsky's information proved wrong.
In several cases Gordievsky has displayed a tendency to shoot from the hip, making accusations about alleged Soviet agents that were later amended or retracted.129 In some instances these accusations served to help promote his publications. He became embroiled in a legal battle on the eve of the publication of his memoirs in 1995 when he erroneously charged that a UK Labour Party MP and a British publisher were Soviet agents. Because most of the people Gordievsky identified as Soviet agents were Labour Party leaders and/or leftists, he was accused of seeking to serve the interests of benefactors in the Conservative Party and conservative sympathizers in the intelligence and security services. Some Labour officials called for termination of his British pension.130
British intelligence has used Gordievsky to reinforce its reputation at home and abroad. Some observers have said the British spy scandals of the 1950s and 1960s did lasting damage to confidence among Western intelligence and security services in their British counterparts. Gordievsky was welcome as living, breathing proof that MI6 was not penetrated and could run a long-term agent safely and securely. A knowledgeable Conservative MP, Lord Bethell, has commented that the decision to exfiltrate Gordievsky from under the KGB's nose was motivated in part by a desire to demonstrate what British intelligence could do:
A successful operation would do wonders for MI6 |
the strength — of beer.
According to an abstract, the study — which was led by Dr. Felipe Carvalho of Vrije Universiteit Brussel — comprised of three experiments "in which participants tasted a beer twice, and rated the experience, each time under the influence of a different sound stimulus. The participants were not informed that they were, in fact, tasting the same beer." Volunteers at the Music Instruments Museum in Brussels tasted three different beers in a range of styles from pale ale to dark, with alcohol content that varied from 4.5 to 8 percent ABV. They were exposed to three different kinds of background music, and asked to taste and rate each beer while listening to each one.
The researchers found that a "Disney-style track" caused people to rate the beers as tasting sweeter, while deep, rumbling bass made beer taste more bitter. "'The results demonstrate that soundtracks that had been specially developed to evoke a specific taste can effectively be used in order to influence the participants' beer tasting experience," they concluded.
It seems that an individual's musical tastes may also come into play: "While listening to the pleasant sweet soundtrack, the participant transfers his or her experience and feelings about the music to the beer that they happen to be tasting," the researchers wrote.
Volume matters, too: A previous study showed that excessively noisy environments can have an adverse effect on how people perceive the taste and texture of food.
So sound can affect how humans perceive flavor, but what about changing the actual taste of the beer? Philadelphia's Dock Street Brewery put that to the test last year when they used a custom-made pair of headphones to expose a barrel of golden saison to the sounds of the Wu-Tang Clan for six straight months, for a (supposedly) extra-funky brew.The advent of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have made us all more connected, but long-distance social networks existed long before the Internet.
An article published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on the transformation of social networks in the late pre-Hispanic American Southwest and shows that people of that period were able to maintain surprisingly long-distance relationships with nothing more than their feet to connect them.
Led by University of Arizona anthropologist Barbara Mills, the study is based on analysis of more than 800,000 painted ceramic and more than 4,800 obsidian artifacts dating from A.D. 1200-1450, uncovered from more than 700 sites in the western Southwest, in what is now Arizona and western New Mexico.
With funding from the National Science Foundation, Mills, director of the UA School of Anthropology, worked with collaborators at Archeology Southwest in Tucson to compile a database of more than 4.3 million ceramic artifacts and more than 4,800 obsidian artifacts, from which they drew for the study.
They then applied formal social network analysis to see what material culture could teach them about how social networks shifted and evolved during a period that saw large-scale demographic changes, including long-distance migration and coalescence of populations into large villages.
Their findings illustrate dramatic changes in social networks in the Southwest over the 250-year period between A.D. 1200 and 1450. They found, for example, that while a large social network in the southern part of the Southwest grew very large and then collapsed, networks in the northern part of the Southwest became more fragmented but persisted over time.
"Network scientists often talk about how increasingly connected networks become, or the'small world' effect, but our study shows that this isn't always the case," said Mills, who led the study with co-principal investigator and UA alumnus Jeffery Clark, of Archaeology Southwest.
"Our long-term study shows that there are cycles of growth and collapse in social networks when we look at them over centuries," Mills said. "Highly connected worlds can become highly fragmented."
Another important finding was that early social networks do not appear to have been as restricted as expected by settlements' physical distance from one another. Researchers found that similar types of painted pottery were being created and used in villages as far as 250 kilometers apart, suggesting people were maintaining relationships across relatively large geographic expanses, despite the only mode of transportation being walking.
"They were making, using and discarding very similar kinds of assemblages over these very large spaces, which means that a lot of their daily practices were the same," Mills said. "That doesn't come about by chance; it has to come about by interaction – the kind of interaction where it's not just a simple exchange but where people are learning how to make and how to use and ultimately discard different kinds of pottery."
"That really shocked us, this idea that you can have such long distance connections. In the pre-Hispanic Southwest they had no real vehicles, they had no beasts of burden, so they had to share information by walking," she said.
The application of formal social network analysis – which focuses on the relationships among nodes, such as individuals, household or settlements – is relatively new in the field of archaeology, which has traditionally focused more on specific attributes of those nodes, such as their size or function.
The UA study shows how social network analysis can be applied to a database of material culture to illustrate changes in network structures over time.
"We already knew about demographic changes – where people were living and where migration was happening – but what we didn't know was how that changed social networks," Mills said. "We're so used to looking traditionally at distributions of pottery and other objects based on their occurrence in space, but to see how social relationships are created out of these distributions is what network analysis can help with."
One of Mills's collaborators on the project was Ronald Breiger, renowned network analysis expert and a UA professor of sociology, with affiliations in statistics and government and public policy, who says being able to apply network analysis to archaeology has important implications for his field.
"Barbara (Mills) and her group are pioneers in bringing the social network perspective to archaeology and into ancient societies," said Breiger, who worked with Mills along with collaborators from the UA School of Anthropology; Archaeology Southwest; the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Hendrix College; the University of Colorado, Boulder; the Santa Fe Institute; and Archaeological XRF Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M.
"What archaeology has to offer for a study of networks is a focus on very long-term dynamics and applications to societies that aren't necessarily Western, so that's broadening to the community of social network researchers," Breiger said. "The coming together of social network and spatial analysis and the use of material objects to talk about culture is very much at the forefront of where I see the field of social network analysis moving."
Going forward, Mills hopes to use the same types of analyses to study even older social networks.
"We have a basis for building on, and we're hoping to get even greater time depth. We'd like to extend it back in time 400 years earlier," she said. "The implications are we can see things at a spatial scale that we've never been able to look at before in a systematic way. It changes our picture of the Southwest."Nato has admitted that its forces were responsible for the deaths of three women during a botched night-time raid in eastern Afghanistan in February. It had already admitted killing two innocent men in the operation, saying they were shot dead when they came out of their homes carrying firearms. Nato now says the women were killed by shots fired at the men. Nato officials had previously suggested the women were killed by unknown assailants hours before the raid. There was no immediate comment from the Afghan government. Civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces have been a source of increasing friction between it and Nato. Some reports have suggested Nato soldiers tried to cover up the deaths of the women by removing bullets from the bodies. 'Protecting their families' Nato initially denied involvement in the deaths of the women in the raid in the Gardez district of Paktia on 12 February, but now admits to having bungled the operation. I want house searches to be stopped in Afghanistan
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
Mistrust imperils war on Taliban "While investigators could not conclusively determine how or when the women died, due to lack of forensic evidence, they concluded that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men," a Nato statement said. The statement said Nato officials would apologise and pay compensation to the family of those killed. "We deeply regret the outcome of this operation," said a Nato spokesman. "The force went to the compound based on reliable information in search of a Taliban insurgent and believed that the two men posed a threat to their personal safety. We now understand that the men killed were only trying to protect their families." One relative - whose two brothers, wife and sister were killed in the raid - said the family wanted the informant tried and put to death. "Our demand is that this spy be executed in front of the people to ensure that such bad things don't happen again," he told the Associated Press news agency. Karzai 'wants changes' On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for an end to house searches by foreign troops. Gen McChrystal (left) introduced new rules of engagement for Nato He was visiting the southern city of Kandahar with top US commander Gen Stanley McChrystal to win support for an anti-Taliban offensive there. "When there's an incident, he [McChrystal] comes and apologises," Mr Karzai told tribal leaders in the city, the birthplace of the Taliban. "There've been changes in behaviour with the arrival of this new general, but we are still not convinced. I want more changes," Mr Karzai added. Nato admits that its killing of civilians has undermined support for its mission in Afghanistan. But it points out that far more people are killed in attacks by the Taliban and other militants. United Nations figures show the number of civilians killed by foreign and Afghan forces fell by 25% in 2009 compared with 2008. The UN says the vast majority of the 2,412 civilian deaths in 2009 were caused by militant attacks. Gen McChrystal has introduced changes to Nato tactics aimed at cutting the risks to civilians. Measures include reducing the number of air strikes and night raids.
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionTolerance is a characteristic on which the British used to pride themselves. But the ever more frequent discussion of religion, and how it relates to science and to our much cherished pluralism, is increasingly marked by an absence of that quality. Indeed, debate in this area reminds me of a tradition at my old school called "the house shout", in which the members of two houses would bellow "Up School House" and "Up the Grange" at each other from two sides of a quad, victory being awarded to whichever was judged the more vocal. The contest did provide a certain brute physical exhilaration, but ultimately proved no important point. It was not a conversation. There was no exchange of ideas or attempt to persuade.
Today, we hear far too much aggressive assertion that serves only to increase intolerance and suspicion. It may have been a thoughtless slip, but too often we hear careless generalisations such as the novelist Sebastian Faulks's recent dismissal of the Quran as "the rantings of a schizophrenic". We are familiar with the opinions and sometimes actions of religious fundamentalists in this country - it is less than a year since the home of the publisher Martin Rynja was firebombed because his firm was due to print a novel about the Prophet Muhammad's bride Aisha. But in their words, many of those who seek to defend reason show themselves to be equally unreasonable and inflexible in their views. A gentle and accommodating agnosticism has given way to an angry and insistent atheism that sees offence as the best way to defend rationalism and science.
Going on past correspondences, the sympathies of most New Statesman readers are with the "God-free". There seems to be a widespread feeling that a magazine of the left should not only display a preference for secularism but for atheism, too: that we should take our editorial line from Richard Dawkins and agree with him that religion is, at best, as silly as believing in fairies at the bottom of the garden but is, more generally, "dangerous nonsense" that devalues human life.
But this ignores the deep association in this country between religion and radicalism. The right may see the parable of the talents as a justification for wealth creation, and Margaret Thatcher once pointed out that the Good Samaritan was only in a position to help because he had money; but others have long looked to the man who washed the feet of his disciples and who consorted with outcasts, and have drawn very different conclusions. British socialism, said Harold Wilson, owed more to Methodism than to Karl Marx, while Keir Hardie was even more explicit: "I have said, both in writing and from the platform many times, that the impetus which drove me first into the Labour movement, and the inspiration which has carried me on in it, has been derived more from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth than from all other sources combined," he wrote in 1910.
Radical predecessors such as the Levellers and the Diggers would have agreed. And the Lollard John Ball's thrilling rebuke to the iniquity of entrenched privilege would be nothing without its biblical reference. "When Adam delved and Eve span," he asked in a sermon during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, "who was then the gentleman?"
Just as pertinently, to refuse to engage with faith would be to close one's eyes to the reality of belief, both here, where in the last census nearly 80 per cent of the population agreed they had a religious affiliation, and abroad. The Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, admired by thinkers and leaders from Amartya Sen to Al Gore, once commented that Asian man is "Homo religiosus", but the term could be applied much more widely. At a time when the convictions of billions do so much to shape our geopolitics, is it really wise to discount them as misguided delusions?
Much of the current noisy argument comes down to the status of knowledge, and specifically what is commonly deemed as the unbridgeable gulf between "revealed" knowledge and that of science - which Dawkins's ally Daniel Dennett once told me was the "only game in town" when it came to "facts, and the explanation of facts".
But this is an overly narrow view. Religion consists of far more than "revealed" truths, which are, in any case, obviously of a different kind from those derived from theoretical and empirical study. More importantly, this is to claim far too much for that corpus of conjecture we call human knowledge. As a student, I read David Hume's argument that although we may believe the sun will rise tomorrow, we cannot know it. For me, it was as profound and as revelatory as any religious experience, and as convincing as any scientific proof. And I hope that his words will inform the blog on religion, reason, belief and unbelief that I am about to start on Newstatesman.com: "Where men are the most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken."
All will be welcome to the blog, those who wish to shout as well as those who wish to converse, religious believers and atheists alike. But it is my conviction that the discussions (in which I hope readers will join me) will develop into debates about matters of belief, whether they be over evolutionary theory, the validity of literal readings of sacred texts, or the boundaries between the religious and the secular. For how many of us can truly gainsay the wisdom of Socrates: "All I know is that I know nothing"?
Sholto Byrnes begins his new God Blog on Monday: www.newstatesman.com/blogsFormer national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to making false statements, but his sentencing is being delayed while he cooperates — a sign that the special counsel probe won't be over by the end of the year, contrary to President Donald Trump's reported predictions.
Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the FBI in January. As part of the plea deal Flynn reached with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, Flynn agreed to cooperate with the government, with the understanding that if he's helpful, prosecutors will ask the judge to consider a reduced sentence.
Flynn agreed to delay his sentencing until his cooperation is complete. When asked by the judge on Friday how much time the government wanted before they filed an update with the court, the special counsel prosecutor suggested three months — which would go into March 2018. The judge, however, set a due date of Feb. 1 for a status report.
The 2018 date undermines assertions by both Trump and White House lawyer Ty Cobb in recent weeks that Mueller's probe would finish and Trump would be exonerated by the end of the 2017 or, per Cobb, by the end of the year or soon after, as reported by the Washington Post. It's not even guaranteed that Flynn's cooperation will end by Feb. 1 — that's just the date when prosecutors have to update the court. The government could then ask for more time.
Cobb said in a statement on Friday that, "The conclusion of this phase of the Special Counsel's work demonstrates again that the Special Counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion.”
The White House this fall has downplayed the anticipated duration of the special counsel's work. When the first round of charges stemming from Mueller's office were announced in late October — against former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, Manafort's longtime associate Rick Gates, and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos — White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that they expected the probe to "conclude soon."
But at that point, there were indications that the investigation was far from over. At a sealed plea hearing for Papadopoulos on Oct. 5 — he pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements — special counsel prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky described the investigation as "large-scale" and said that Papadopoulos' case was "a small part," according to a transcript.
A sentencing date hasn't been set yet for Papadopoulos. Zelinsky said at the Oct. 5 hearing that Papadopoulos was cooperating with the investigation, and his plea deal, like Flynn's, includes a section stating that his sentencing may be delayed while he's working with Mueller's team. The lawyers are scheduled to check in with the court by phone on Jan. 22.
Flynn agreed to "cooperate fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly" with Mueller's office and other law enforcement authorities on "any and all matters" that the special counsel's office considers relevant. His cooperation could include interviews, giving written statements, taking a polygraph exam, and participating in undercover law enforcement activities, according to the plea agreement.
He's required to turn over evidence of any crimes that he's aware of, and to testify before grand juries or at trial if the special counsel's office believes he has relevant testimony.
Mark Lee, a white collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said that with a cooperator as high up in the chain as Flynn, Mueller's team will be taking the time to make sure they've learned all they can from him, as well as to consult with him on any information they're getting from interviews with other individuals and other evidence.
"You are going to have to do all of your diligence to make sure you're checking what Mr. Flynn knew against what other witnesses told you, the other information, and objective evidence," Lee said. "It could be a lengthy process."The event, the VRScout Haunted Mansion, was more than just an excuse for southern California’s VR community to hit the open bar–it was also an informal meet and greet between the techie developers, Hollywood investors, and visionary artists who are turning the Los Angeles area into one of the world’s most fertile hotbeds of VR development. Proceeds from the haunted house were donated to literacy organization 826LA.
Approximately 1500 visitors stopped by the haunted house, which included eight room-size horror virtual reality environments and 12 scary virtual reality movies and art installations.
According to Jonathan Nafarrete of VRScout, the organization that put on the event, “The lay of land was five little rooms with different experiences. There are tabletops with Gear VR headsets to check out content on that, a main stage with a DJ spinning in virtual reality, and an artist painting in Tilt Brush next to him with a giant 360-degree dome projecting art on top of it. There’s also a 360-degree photo experience, which is a normal photo booth that puts you in a zombie research facility. Your picture is taken inside a holding pen and is then shared on Facebook as a 360-degree photo.”
Virtual reality content shown at the haunted house ranged from homegrown projects to big-budget scare pieces tied to multimedia brands like vampire television show/book The Strain and the Paranormal Activity movies. Charles Hu of digital studio Fishermen Labs said that his company built their zombie game, Ctrl Collective: Last Stand, over the course of two months as a passion project. Fishermen is based at the massive Ctrl Collective co-working space (which includes many hallways and outdoor areas). They designed the game to have players experience a zombie attack inside their own office building.
I played (participated?) in quite a few of the virtual reality games and experiences there, and they were interesting. I’m a horror movie fan and found them to mostly be fun, immersive, and even a bit cathartic, but would not recommend VR horror for anyone who isn’t a fan of scary movies. Horror in virtual reality has already turned out to be a bit of a minefield for developers and brands: A paid attraction at California’s Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park called FearVR was canceled after an outcry by mental health advocates because it had players escaping from a demonically possessed patient in a mental hospital.
But done the right way, virtual reality horror can be a big hit with audiences. The zombie photo booth Nafarrete mentioned was operated by Foxtales, an interactive experiences company whose clients include the NFL, CNN, Facebook, Red Bull, and Mazda. The company’s vice president of marketing, Denise Nafarrete (who is married to VRScout’s Jonathan), noted that the virtual reality camera/prop-filled photo booth/photo customization kiosk automatically posts participants’ zombie VR 360-degree photos to their Facebook feeds. As I waited on the long line for the zombie photo booth, it was easy to see how that technology could find a home anywhere from parties to trade shows to sweet 16s to sporting events… whether or not zombies are involved.Here's a list of Portland metro area holiday closures for Monday, Oct. 10:
* Portland parking meters will be enforced.
* Federal offices and courts will be closed.
* State offices in Oregon will be open.
* Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington county government offices will be open. City of Portland offices will be open.
* Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington County courts will be open.
* Metro's regional center will be open.
* TriMet and C-Tran will be on regular schedules.
* Portland aerial tram will be on its regular schedule.
* All Multnomah County Library locations will be open on their regular schedules.
* All Clackamas County libraries will be closed for staff training.
* In Washington County, only the Sherwood Public Library will be closed.
* Most school districts will be open; check with your district or school.
* U.S. Postal Service offices will be closed; Express Mail with holiday delivery requested will be delivered.
* All Oregon Department of Environmental Quality vehicle emission test centers in the Portland area are typically closed on Mondays.
* Oregon Health & Science University and Legacy Emanuel Medical Center offices and clinics will be open regular hours.
* The Oregon Zoo will be open.
-- The OregonianOne of the most controversial stories covered on HuffPost and HuffPost Live this week is this new study by Canadian academics on Mother Teresa, claiming that she was "anything but a saint."
This isn't new: Mother Teresa always had her critics, the fiercest of all being the late Christopher Hitchens who went as far as making a documentary about her called "Hell's Angel." I know that all the great people of this world have seen their name dragged through the mud at some point in their life. And I'm sure that Mother Teresa would have been the last one bothered by these criticisms, because she had far more important things to take care of. But I still had to write this post, if only for the fact that for one bad thing published about Mother Teresa on HuffPost, there would also be a good one.
I was baptized, but I consider myself a Catholic by culture and not by belief. Therefore I do not admire and defend Mother Teresa because I think she is a saint, but because I believe she is an incredible human being. On a more practical note, I have volunteered twice with the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, in Calcutta and in Cuzco. I have therefore been able to experience first hand the work these women do as they follow the example set by Mother Teresa.
Firstly I'd just like to state what might be a simplistic and yet fundamental reason why I find criticism of Mother Teresa extremely hard to hear: who are we, sitting in our office or in the comfort of our home in our cocoon-like world, hiding behind books and computers, to criticize a woman who abandoned everything to spend her life and bring attention to the forgotten of this world? The day someone will lead a similar life to Mother Teresa's and still criticize the way she acted, then I will truly respect that opinion. But unsurprisingly that day still hasn't come.
In order to keep succinct on a topic that tends to create endless controversy, I will just address two of the most recurring criticisms of Mother Teresa which both the Canadian study and Hitchens shared: the way she cared for the sick; and her opposition to abortion and contraception. I will say why, in my modest opinion and experience, they are wrong or missing the point entirely.
The way she cared for the sick
The sick and dying do not receive appropriate care, despite the amount of money donated to the charity each year: this has been an ongoing criticism of the Missionaries of Charity. One simple answer: yes they do care for them appropriately and even if they didn't, to the risk of sounding extremely harsh to some, it's better than dying on the street.
First thing I was told by the sisters in Calcutta was that if we didn't agree with the way they proceeded, they understood it and respected it but then we didn't have to help. And they were completely right. After all, we were only there for a short period of time when it was their everyday life. They couldn't possibly adapt to everything that volunteers would complain about, using big words like "human decency" or "truly helping the poor," when in a few weeks they would be running away from the dirt of Calcutta back to the comfort of their home.
Yes it's true, Mother Teresa was a Catholic and therefore believed that dying wasn't such a bad thing. Although I do think dying is pretty bad because I don't believe there's such a thing as afterlife, I do not think her attitude was wrong given the context she was working in.
Most of the people the sisters care for are physically and mentally handicapped, or very old and very sick. They live in places of the world where it's hard enough to survive when you are young and healthy. I have seen the sisters do everything they can to make these people's lives better and I have seen their heart ripped apart when a little girl died one morning in Cuzco, even though they are so strongly convinced that being with God is so much better than being on this planet. Yes, maybe if that little girl had gone to an expensive hospital in America she would have lived longer. But the fact is that she couldn't go to that hospital, and ultimately she had a far better life than the one she would have had had the sisters left her in the garbage they found her in.
Her opposition to abortion and contraception
Yes, Mother Teresa was adamant and very vocal about this. Although I usually scream loud and clear when I hear any politician questioning what I consider two fundamental rights, I do not hold it against Mother Teresa. In fact, I understand her and see it as a necessary price to pay for all the good she has done to this world. Her fundamental belief is that everyone, absolutely everyone in this world deserves love and care. She cherished every single life on this planet more than anyone ever did, and that's why she created the Missionaries of Charity: to help and welcome the poorest of the poor, those whose life had not been judged worthy enough to live and who had been rejected by everything and everyone.
Without that belief that every life is worth it and therefore that abortion and contraception are wrong, she would not have created such a powerful organization, nor would she had the strength to carry it on her shoulder all her life. I am not saying that in order to do good in the world one necessarily has to be against abortion, that would be stupid; I'm just saying that her belief in the sanctity of life was her main driving force to do the good that she did, and that looking back at her work I do not believe that, in the grand scheme of things, she can be criticized for it.
The Canadian academics conclude that, based on many books they read but zero visit to the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa was a lot more helpful to the Catholic Church than to the people she said she was helping, and that a lot more should be taken into account before the Vatican decides to make her a saint (she's on the fast track to become one.)
I mean, come on! What do we need to be a saint? Who even really believe in miracles? Mother Teresa created 517 missions in 100 countries, helped hundreds of thousands of people, and inspired generations of volunteers all over the world: to me that's a far bigger miracle than the one the Church credits her with (that she cured a woman who was suffering from intense abdominal pain)!Please Talk to Me
Don Milne here with Reader Comments about ROADTRIP-'62 ™. Many of you have been kind enough to write with compliments, and some have even sent pictures. This week I'm sharing it all with the rest of you. If you have any comments or questions of your own, photos you want to share of US-23, US-6 or 1962, or even comments on the comments, please send them in. I’ll add new things to this page as they come in. So check back here from time-to-time and see what’s new!
September 19, 2018
Have you ever done US-12? I've followed parts of it on the Empire Builder and I did the Michigan portion years ago.
- Kenneth Bailey
Funny you should ask, Kenneth. I just completed a short review of US-12 in February. Enjoy!
April 21, 2018
Great compilation of nostalgic memories! Thanks!
- Dwain Greer
April 12, 2018
In June of 1962, Chevrolet Truck Division left Milford testing grounds in Detroit and traveled to Cabos San Lucas Mexico. From there went North through Oregon and returned to Detroit. They used this trip to promote the new 63 Truck lineup. "Check the Champ" was the name of the promotion. I have literature of this trip and was thinking of redoing it in 2022, 60 years later.
- Norman Meloche
Good luck on the trip planning, Norman. He has graciously allowed us all to see his historical material of the "Check the Champ" promotion on his Google Photos page.
February 26, 2018
I love your site and think you might be the best person to ask about a project I am working on at the moment. I would really like to get an expert's opinion on the quality of the route 66 guide I have put together.
Thank you so much - Andrea Kenny, My America Holiday.
Thanks for asking, Andrea. You have a nice page, despite your cartographer making an error and routing US-66 through Las Vegas. I've included the link above: hope you're successful.
End of US-66 sign, Chicago, Illinois (Apologies for my fuzzy, nighttime photo.)
October 25, 2017
While I don't generally post reviews on Roadtrip-'62 ™, I felt I should forward this info from reader Rani Lakus. He stayed at the Curtis House in Woodbury CT, which I mentioned in a discussion during our US-6 roadtrip. Rani had a very bad experience there with insects in his room and wanted to let my readers know.
And as a reminder, though I have visited many of the places I discuss, this is a virtual roadtrip and I have not been everywhere. Please gather information from other sources you find credible and make your own decisions.
July 17, 2017
Hello, I have run into a Edu-card Corp. product and have not been able to find any info on it. I thought you might be able to shine some light on it. I have a Laurel and Hardy Feelable Movables that I ran across in my grandma's things. I was wondering if you may know anything about it.
Thank you for your time - John Vegar.
Thank you for reading and for the new information, John! While I have not yet found information on a Laurel & Hardy Feelable-Moveable, I do have information on other Feelable-Moveable sets. There were at least 2 others, both issued in 1971. These are Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Feelable-Moveable, and Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Feelable-Moveable. From what I found, the Laurel & Hardy Card Game was first issued in 1972, so it would be reasonable to think that a Laurel & Hardy Feelable-Moveable could have been issued that same year.
May 18, 2017
I was searching the web for information on Massachusetts and saw your great post. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I recently wrote a blog post you might like. It’s a detailed, up-to-date 7,000 word guide on the 100 best things to do in Massachusetts and is packed with detailed tips and advice. Keep up the great work!
- Jesse Miller, Jen Reviews.
March 8, 2017
Regarding the What Day Is It? - Calendars of 1962 page, "The Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Company must have had these (calendars) printed for many years--we have a 1938. The girls are known here as "Miss Carlisle". The The Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Company and Brown & Bigelow (the publisher) are both still in business!!"
- Lynn Hofer, Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Company, Carlisle, PA
Bill Medcalf Wall Calendar for Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Company - December 1962
February 23, 2017
Regarding the How Sweet It Was page, "I loved the 10:30 bar...It was the best! For some reason I can't find one picture of this candy bar. If I could find out what was in it I'd make my own. I wish they would bring this candy bar back."
- Antonia Hopper
January 8, 2017
I just stumbled across your Highway 6 Road Trip site, which provided a couple hours’ worth of entertainment. In return, I'd like to fill you in on some curious history about Highway 6. A (distant) relative of mine worked on the project to pave US-6 from Davenport to Council Bluffs, Iowa. One of the early problems they had to solve was to determine how to keep people on the right road. They accomplished this by painting all of the telephone poles along the route white and by letting the world know about “the great white pole road.” The state officials were so impressed by this road that they started a highway commission and hired (the man) as its first commissioner.
- Scott Harris
November 4, 2016
I enjoy your trips down memory lane. Drove a truck over there (US-49 in Mississippi and Arkansas) once when I had a load of groceries. It is very scenic.
- Threefeathers Colby, responding to our Roadtrip-'62 ™ Newsletter. Sign up today!
June 10, 2016
Love road trips on historic roads, and I clearly remember 1962!
- Virginia Davis, Main Street Travel of Dexter
December 26, 2015
Hi, Don -
Great blog you've got here; what a lot of work and so very interesting! But, I just had to let you know about a small error in your Davenport, Iowa, section. In two places you have noted you were in Davenport, Illinois (not). As a native daughter and former copy editor at the Quad-City Times newspaper (in Davenport, Iowa), I just couldn't let this error go uncorrected ;) You also might be interested to know that the Iowa PBS video about Ernie Mim's Captain Ernie TV show on WOC includes the former Features Editor of the Q-C Times, Bill Wundram, my former boss at the Times. He is a WEALTH of information on the Quad-Cities, if you ever want more info on this area. He only just retired in 2015. Best wishes and continued success with your blog!
- Rita O'Brien-Young
Thanks, Rita! Glad to see someone catching my typos: I guess I need an editor. I have of course made the changes to my page about Davenport, Iowa.
Fejérváry Park’s Mother Goose Land, Davenport, Iowa, in 1960. (Photo by Bill Young, former Fejérváry Park groundskeeper from Flashback Moline, used by permission.)
December 24, 2015
What an interesting site! In 1962, I was just becoming aware of things in the bigger world, beyond my childhood. Your site brings back memories of that time. I, too, am a road tripper. Have been for years. Always looking out for places and things that haven't been assimilated into our generic culture. I'm finding fewer and fewer places that retain their unique feel. Thanks for putting together Roadtrip-'62. You are welcome to use any other of my photos that fit your needs.
- Bruce Fingerhood
October 1, 2015
Hello Donald -
My father owned Precision Assembly Corporation in New York. We did the packaging for Edu-Cards in Long Island City. We shared the same building together. The owner of Edu-Cards was Irving. We also did packaging for RTV Sales which consisted of Great Moments in Music and Great Art Treasures. If you know the game Yahtzee we did the packaging for them which was owned by E.S. Lowe. You have a very interesting and informative web site.
- Sincerely, Alan
August 7, 2015
Really, really |
is a small investment to make to free this generation to plan for their own retirement without government interference. The government will save far more than this in reducing the Social Security Administration (SSA) staff associated with managing these young citizens' SS accounts for a lifetime. For persons ages 21-59, roll over into an IRA all citizen and employer contributions that have been made to the beneficiary's account (with accrued interest). Implement a gradual pay-out to recipients under Categories B, C, and D above to spread out the Social Security Administration workload and the financial impact to the federal government. A specified percentage of citizens a week could be contacted for their payout option based on random selection of social security numbers for citizens in the affected age category. How many per week would be based on the total number of citizens with a social security account, and how quickly the total phase-out of SS is desired. For example, if there are 100 million Category B, C, or D enrollees, that would be 192,308 "conversions" to private investment per week over a 10-year period. That may seem like a monumental task, but how many social security checks are presently issued each month by the SSA? Those monthly checks would now only be issued to Category A and Category B, Option 1 recipients. Encourage working citizens age 18 and older to save for retirement by amending the retirement contributions deduction to apply to a much higher income bracket and increasing the annual allowable contributions to an IRA. The tax code could also be amended to encourage other types of retirement savings, such as 401(k) accounts. Allow parents to set up and make small ($500 per year?) after-tax retirement plan contributions to a minor's IRA account, to instill the mindset of saving early for retirement and allow parents to provide a future inheritance for their children in this manner. Eliminate taxes on social security benefits. This money was already taxed as income when it was earned! Furthermore, it is retirement benefits - not "income from whatever source derived!" Do not require employee or employer contributions to a retirement plan; leave that to the discretion of both individuals. Let the employer decide to offer retirement matching as part of a benefits plan, if he wants to. Let the employee decide if he has discretionary income to put toward retirement. Immediately revoke the Social Security tax!
For this plan to work, the current social security program must not be a PONZI scheme that requires perpetual taxation in order to fund future retirees. I sincerely hope that the program is sufficiently solvent to fund the lump sum payouts I recommend and thereby free workers and employers from the burden of government taxation and regulation brought on by decades of this misguided program.
The solutions to social security are not complicated, but they do require a new approach that adheres to the boundaries of both the Constitution and economic principles. The challenge is on for Congress to implement legislation to abolish social security rather than simply reforming it.
*************
Evalyn Bennett is Secretary of the Lemhi County Tea Party in east-central Idaho. She wrote this article to express the viewpoint that social security is inconsistent with the Tea Party values of constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, and free markets.ORLANDO — Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is still deciding the penalties the Atlanta Braves will receive for violating rules in the international market. Those penalties, however, will definitely include the loss of prospects the team signed out of Latin America, according to major-league sources.
Any players the Braves lose become free agents subject to international bonus pools, sources said. The procedure will be the same as it was for the five Latin American prospects that baseball took from the Boston Red Sox on July 1, 2016, for circumventing international rules—the players kept their initial signing bonuses, each of which was $300,000, then became eligible to sign with other clubs. The players’ union, under terms of the collective bargaining agreement, must sign off on Manfred changing the statuses of the players involved, as it did in the case with the Red Sox.
Manfred has yet to decide which players the Braves will forfeit, sources said. The biggest...There will be no Red Line trains through the Bethesda area on weekends through Aug. 6, and no Yellow Line trains run in or out of the District this weekend. This is the first of multiple shutdowns.
WASHINGTON — The first of four consecutive weekend shutdowns on the Red Line through the Bethesda area and the first of three consecutive weekend shutdowns of the Yellow Line bridge over the Potomac River will disrupt Metro trips this weekend.
On the roads, drivers should watch for a major construction project on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway that is scheduled to close one of two southbound lanes all of this weekend and all of next weekend between Interstate 195 and Maryland Route 100.
Amtrak track work at Baltimore Penn Station also means some significant changes to MARC Penn Line service.
As a reminder, Metro now closes at 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights, but only runs between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Sundays. Monday through Thursday, the system closes at 11:30 p.m.
Red Line
There will be no Red Line trains between Friendship Heights and Grosvenor-Strathmore on Saturdays or Sundays from this weekend through Sunday, Aug. 6.
Shuttle buses are scheduled to run on two separate routes: express between Grosvenor and Friendship Heights; local to Grosvenor, Medical Center, Bethesda and Friendship Heights.
The express buses could take about 15-40 minutes of travel time, depending on traffic, while local buses are expected to take longer.
With the shutdown, the last Red Line train of the night will leave Shady Grove at 11:45 p.m. Saturday, 40 minutes earlier than usually scheduled. Metro plans no changes for the last train from Glenmont Saturday night, and no changes to the final train times on Sunday.
Riders might want to consider getting dropped off at or taking a bus to stations on the Glenmont side of the Red Line, which is not scheduled to be slowed by this work.
This work is part of a test for a potential tunnel sealant.
Yellow Line
No Yellow Line trains will run in or out of the District this weekend in the first of three straight weekend shutdowns of the bridge and tunnel connecting Pentagon to L’Enfant Plaza.
The work through Sunday, July 30, is focused on repairing concrete that holds up the tracks.
During the shutdowns, Yellow Line trains are scheduled every 15 minutes or so between Huntington and Reagan National Airport. To go any farther toward D.C., riders will have to transfer to a Blue Line train.
Riders trying to reach the airport by rail from D.C. or Maryland also must use a Blue Line train coming the other way.
Blue Line trains are scheduled to have weekend service with no track work, which means trains scheduled about every 12 minutes during the day on Saturday and every 15 minutes during the day on Sunday, with less-frequent service in the evening.
No Yellow Line service in the District also means half as many trains as a usual weekend for Green and Yellow Line riders between L’Enfant Plaza and Ft. Totten.
Metro has a series of other weekend work zones scheduled over the next few weeks, including additional full shutdowns. The next 24/7 work zone is scheduled on the Green Line in August.
MARC’s Penn Line
A number of MARC Penn Line weekend trains are canceled, delayed or changed this weekend (July 15-16) and next weekend (July 22-23) because of major weekend Amtrak track work at Baltimore’s Penn Station.
On each Saturday, trains will run on a Sunday schedule, but the first southbound train will leave Baltimore at 9:15 a.m. For people who must be in Washington in time for 9 a.m shifts or appointments, the Maryland Transit Administration plans to run a limited number of shuttle buses from Baltimore Penn Station at 7:35 a.m. only to West Baltimore then directly to Union Station. Those buses will require a MARC ticket, and will be first come, first served. The last departure from Washington will be 30 minutes later than usual, at 11:05 p.m.
On both the Saturdays and Sundays, two northbound and southbound trains in the early afternoon will start or end at West Baltimore rather than Baltimore Penn Station. Shuttle buses are scheduled to be available up to 15 minutes before a train usually departs, or riders can use regular bus routes in the area. On each of the two Sundays, the first northbound train of the morning from Washington, that usually leaves at 10:40, will depart 10 minutes earlier. The last northbound train of the day, that usually leaves Washington at 7 p.m., will depart 25 minutes later than usual.
Read more on Maryland Transit Administration’s website.
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© 2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.Sen. Ted Cruz exhorted conservative supporters to fight for a conservative platform at the Republican National Convention during a conference call on Monday. | Getty Cruz braces supporters for platform fight with Trump The Texas senator won't challenge Trump's nomination but looks to put a conservative stamp on the convention in Cleveland.
Ted Cruz and two of his closest allies told supporters on a conference call Monday night that they are not planning to challenge Donald Trump’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in July, according to multiple sources who took part.
The call was led by Ken Cuccinelli, the former attorney general of Virginia who has played a key role in Cruz’s delegate operation. Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, also joined the call, as did Cruz himself, who gave a brief statement.
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The 25-minute call was a pep talk of sorts after the disappointment of last week’s Indiana primary, which forced Cruz to end his campaign and cemented Trump as the GOP’s presumptive nominee.
But the call was also a rallying cry to Cruz’s supporters about the importance of showing up in Cleveland and not ceding control of their slots on the party’s platform and rules committees.
“They made a point of saying, 'This is not something nefarious we’re plotting at the convention,'” said Rep. Ken Buck, who chaired Cruz’s campaign in Colorado and is planning to attend the convention as a delegate. “The Cruz team really just wants to make sure the platform reflects conservative values so that conservatives are excited about turning out this November and in the future.”
Cruz, who spoke for four minutes, thanked supporters while acknowledging their disappointment along with his own. Asked to characterize Cruz’s remarks, one source on the call replied, “disappointed in [the] result, but no direct call to challenge Trump nomination. Simply to show up in Cleveland to protect [the] platform.”
Many Cruz allies are interested in seeing the Texas senator mount another presidential bid in 2020. But for now, the first source said, it “was very clear they were not trying to change [the] primary outcome, but wanting to influence rules and platform committee. No specific plan rolled out, simply asking people to come to Cleveland.”
Participants heard few specifics on which policies the team wants to see codified in the platform, though they came away with the impression that Cruz’s goal is defensive — to “protect the platform this time around from drastic change,” the source said.
Neither Cruz nor his surrogates spoke directly about Trump, whom Cruz had called a “pathological liar” on the final day of his campaign, or the schism Trump’s likely nomination is causing within the party as a growing number of establishment Republicans vow not to support him or attend the July convention.
In recent days, conservatives have decried Trump for breaking with party orthodoxy on issues that are core to the base, such as taxes and abortion.
“The unspoken message [on the call] is that we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next three to four months in terms of Donald Trump and his message, who he chooses as vice president and the best thing we can do is to be there and hope that Donald Trump proves he’s going to recognize conservatives in his administration,” Buck said.
Before the series of primaries last month in the Northeast and Indiana, which ultimately pushed Cruz out of the race, the Texas senator looked to have an edge in a contested convention scenario. His team had worked aggressively to ensure that his allies were elected at the local and state levels, to be in place to support him during multiple rounds of balloting in Cleveland.
Now that Trump is the presumptive nominee, it is unclear how many of those delegates, who will be paying their own way, will choose to attend the convention. Monday night’s call was designed to encourage them to make the trek and fight for conservative principles.
“The main thrust was, it is still [important] to stay engaged in the process, go to your state GOP convention if it remains upcoming and keep your plans to go to the convention in Cleveland,” another source said.It's 2:00 a.m. You are at home in your bed sound asleep. Your wife is sleeping beside you, and your children are asleep in their rooms down the hall.
The muffled sound of a window breaking interrupts your slumber. You're groggy and you wonder if it was just a dream, so you lie there quietly and listen. A few seconds later, you hear other sounds. The window opens; a table beside the window makes a noise as it is jostled by an intruder; through your open door, you see reflections from a dim light that's moving from side-to-side on the floor below.
You are your family's protector. What should you do?
If you are like most Americans, there is not much that you can do except pray that the intruder won't come upstairs. In 2011, only 47% of Americans had a gun in their home or on their property. Republicans were more likely to own a gun than Democrats, but between 2009 and 2011, gun ownership among Democrats increased by 33% compared to less than 4% for Republicans. Obviously, people who call themselves "Democrats" are beginning to realize that something isn't right.
The scenario that I presented may sound like a nightmare situation, something that happens only rarely, but that's not the case. According to the FBI, in 2011 there were 1,203,564 violent crimes in the United States. That's 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 people in our country. That means that in 2011 you had a less than 1% chance of being a victim of a violent crime in the U.S., but for those who were victims, statistics didn't matter in the slightest.
The FBI reports that aggravated assault accounted 62.4% of violent crimes committed in the U.S. in 2011; robbery was the criminals' motive 29.4% of the time; forcible rape occurred in 6.9% of the cases; and murder resulted just 1.2% of the time. Murder may be a rare occurrence, but homicide victims are still dead and their deaths are anything but peaceful.
According to the FBI, violent crime was down 3.8% in the U.S. in 2011, but that statistic means nothing to you if you are confronted by an intruder in your home. Police response time to a 911 call is roughly 8 minutes, but making that call may attract the intruder's attention. There are other sounds that are sure to get his attention as well. For instance, there's the sound that a 12 gauge pump shotgun makes when you chamber a round, and then there's the sound of an AR 15 when you release the charging handle. Both of those sounds will put the fear of God into anyone with any sense, and the response time of an AR 15 is 3200 feet per second.
The AR 15 is taking lots of heat because it's an "assault weapon," but if an intruder breaks into your home and threatens your family, as far as you are concerned it's just an effective weapon. High capacity magazines are under attack as well, but despite what you hear from pandering politicians, those magazines enable you to fire freely so that your attacker has to advance on you and your family through a wall of bullets.
According to the FBI, in 2011, 67.7% of murders, 41.3% of robberies, and 21.2% of aggravated assaults involved guns. If someone is brazen enough to break into your home, it's a safe bet that he's armed and dangerous. Most criminals aren't stupid, though. Few of them are willing to die to prove their manhood, to steal your property, or to commit any other offense. Even if they are armed, they aren't excited about engaging in a gunfight. When they hear those sounds that I mentioned, most of them will beat a hasty retreat, and they'll probably be miles away from your house by the time the police arrive -- that is if you have a gun. But if you don't have a gun, you may become another statistic.
It should come as no surprise that when gun ownership increases, the incidence of crime decreases. People are buying guns and ammunition for a reason. That's true in Connecticut as well where the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre took place. They aren't fools. Most of them follow the news, and almost every day they see the president on television engaging in open class warfare. They see his stooges on television, too, people like Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, and Andy Stern, former president of SEIU. They have done everything except declare war on job providers because they want to collect dues from every worker in America. Make no mistake about it: they are in it for the money.
The president and his flunkies should realize that there are consequences for incitement. But even if they don't, sane people (i.e., responsible people) do. They are buying guns and ammunition as insurance to protect themselves and their families if and when the need arises. When the dust settles, they will think long and hard about the wisdom of limiting their options at a time when the need is great and the threat level is increasing.
As public sentiment regarding guns shifts, most of those pandering politicians will do what they do best -- change their tune to avoid defeat at the polls thus leaving the president high and dry. They know that Barack Obama will not be there to protect them in 2016, and his power will wane between now and 2014. That's the nature of politics.
Neil Snyder is the Ralph A. Beeton Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia. His blog, SnyderTalk.com, is posted daily.Ferrari probably doesn't have a problem selling its line of supercars. But when you're one of the premier automakers in the world, you want to make sure your customers have a magical experience when they enter the showroom. The new Augmented Reality Showroom app developed by Zspace brings that technological sorcery to the buying experience by giving would-be clientele the ability to preview the color and accessories of their next Ferrari. Using Metaio's edge-tracking technology to identify a vehicle, the app presents customers with a seven-step walk around of five Ferrari models. In addition to showcasing the exterior of the cars, the app also delves into the vehicle's innards with exploded views of the braking system and a working model of the drivetrain. The AR experience will initially be available in Australia and Japan with a US launch at the InsideAR event in mid-May.The 2015 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2014–15 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeated the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers in six games (4–2) for the Warriors' first title in 40 years and their fourth in franchise history, becoming the first team since the 1990–91 Chicago Bulls to win a championship without any prior Finals experience from any player on their roster. Golden State's Andre Iguodala was named the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP).
The Warriors were led by 2014–15 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Stephen Curry, while the Cavaliers featured four-time league MVP LeBron James. Both teams entered the series with title droughts of four decades, with the Cavaliers having never won a title since their 1970–71 inception and the Warriors' last title having been in 1975.[1] This was also the first time that both participating teams had first-year head coaches since the inaugural league finals in 1947, when the NBA was known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).[2] It was the fifth consecutive finals appearance for James who played for the Miami Heat the previous four seasons,[3] making him the first NBA player since the Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1960s to achieve this accomplishment.
James also became the first player in NBA Finals history to lead both teams in points, assists, and rebounds for the entire series. He averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists for the series, although he shot 39.8% throughout the series.[4][5] Kevin Love missed the entire series due to an injury, and Kyrie Irving missed the final five games of the series due to an injury in Game 1. For the second straight year, the Finals was played in the 2–2–1–1–1 format (Games 1, 2, and 5 were at Golden State, games 3, 4, and 6 were at Cleveland. Had it been necessary, Game 7 would have been held at Golden State). The series began on June 4, 2015, ending on June 16. In the United States, it was televised on ABC and in Canada on TSN.
Background [ edit ]
Cleveland Cavaliers [ edit ]
The Cavaliers entered the 2014–15 season after firing Mike Brown and replacing him with David Blatt as head coach, signing free agent forward LeBron James, and trading for forward Kevin Love. James previously played for Cleveland from 2003 to 2010, leading the Cavaliers to their only previous Finals appearance in 2007. James then played for the Miami Heat from 2010 to 2014, leading the Heat to two NBA championships in 2012 and 2013. During the 2014 NBA draft on June 26, 2014, Cleveland held the first overall pick and used it to select Andrew Wiggins. Later on August 23, a three-team trade was completed involving the Cavaliers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Philadelphia 76ers. As part of the deal, Cleveland dealt Wiggins and Anthony Bennett and received Love.[6]
James, Love, and guard Kyrie Irving became known as the Big Three.[7] The Cavaliers got off to a shockingly bad start that led to intense media scrutiny and caused many to question Blatt's job security, going 19–20 in their first 39 games, which included a stretch where they were 2–10 in 12 games, starting with a December 25 road loss to Miami. Injuries to James and "chemistry issues," with James "still learning how to play with his new teammates and vice versa,"[8] were considered the primary reasons for the underwhelming start. A number of trades turned the season around. The Cavaliers acquired J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert from the Knicks in exchange for draft picks while sending Dion Waiters to the Thunder. They then acquired Timofey Mozgov. James's return to the Cavaliers' lineup (following a 2-week layoff) on January 12 completed the turnaround. The Cavaliers closed out the season on a high note, going 34–9 for a 53–29 regular season record and the Central Division title, the second best record in the Eastern Conference behind the Atlanta Hawks. The Cavaliers advanced to the Finals after sweeping the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, defeating the Chicago Bulls in six games during the second round, and sweeping the Hawks in the conference finals.
Golden State Warriors [ edit ]
The Warriors entered the 2014–15 season after replacing Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr as head coach. This was Kerr's first ever head coaching job. After retiring as a player in 2003, he served as a broadcast analyst from 2003 to 2007 and 2010 to 2014, and as general manager of the Phoenix Suns from 2007 to 2010. Revamping Golden State's offense, Kerr employed elements of the triangle offense from his playing days with the Chicago Bulls under Phil Jackson, the spacing and pace of Gregg Popovich from his playing days in San Antonio with the Spurs, and the uptempo principles Alvin Gentry used in Phoenix when Kerr was the GM.[9]
In Kerr's first year, the Warriors finished with the best regular season record at 67–15, including an incredible 39–2 in home games. Kerr became the winningest rookie head coach in NBA history, passing Tom Thibodeau and his 62 wins with the Chicago Bulls in 2010–11.[10] Point guard Stephen Curry set the NBA record for three-pointers made in a regular season with 286, eclipsing his own record set in 2012–13.[11] Curry also won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for the 2014–15 season.[12] He and fellow guard Klay Thompson, known as the Splash Brothers, finished first and second in the league in three-pointers made, respectively, and combined to make 525 threes, surpassing their previous league record for a duo by 41, while also converting an impressive 44% of those shots.[13][14][15] During the season, the backcourt mates both started in the NBA All-Star Game and were each named to the All-NBA team, the first time in decades that either has been achieved by guards on the same team.[16][17] Golden State advanced to the Finals after sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies in six games during the second round, and eliminating the Houston Rockets in five games in the conference finals.
Road to the Finals [ edit ]
Regular season series [ edit ]
The Cavaliers and Warriors tied the regular season series 1–1, with each team winning its home game.
Series summary [ edit ]
Game Date Home Team Result Road Team Game 1 Thursday, June 4 Golden State Warriors 108–100 (OT) (1–0) Cleveland Cavaliers Game 2 Sunday, June 7 Golden State Warriors 93–95 (OT) (1–1) Cleveland Cavaliers Game 3 Tuesday, June 9 Cleveland Cavaliers 96–91 (2–1) Golden State Warriors Game 4 Thursday, June 11 Cleveland Cavaliers 82–103 (2–2) Golden State Warriors Game 5 Sunday, June 14 Golden State Warriors 104–91 (3–2) Cleveland Cavaliers Game 6 Tuesday, June 16 Cleveland Cavaliers 97–105 (2–4) Golden State Warriors
Game summaries [ edit ]
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
For the first time in NBA Finals history, the first two games went into overtime and first since 2009 were involved between the Lakers and the Magic.[18] After Golden State fell behind 2–1 in the series, Kerr gave swingman Andre Iguodala his first start of the season, replacing center Andrew Bogut in Game 4. The Warriors' small lineup, which came to be known as the Death Lineup, helped turn the series around.[19] Golden State won the series in six games, claiming their first title since 1975 and their fourth in franchise history.[20] They played small ball in the Finals to a greater extent than any prior champion.[21] Combining regular season and playoff games, the Warriors finished 83–20, the third-best record ever behind the Chicago Bulls in 1995–96 (87–13) and 1996–97 (84–17).[20]
Iguodala was named the Finals MVP, becoming the first to win the award without having started every game in the series. He finished the Finals averaging 16.3 points, 4 assists, and 5.8 rebounds. He was also tasked with guarding Cleveland's LeBron James, who made only 38.1% of his shots when Iguodala was in the game, but still averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists.[22] James received four of the 11 votes for Finals MVP even though Cleveland lost by an average of 14 points in the final three games.[23] Stephen Curry was just the sixth player to win his first league MVP and his first NBA title in the same season. Shaquille O'Neal was the last player to have accomplished the feat, in 1999–2000. Kerr became the first rookie coach to win a title since Pat Riley in 1981–82.[20]
The Warriors were the first team since the 1990–91 Bulls to win a title with a roster that did not have any players with Finals experience.[24] James and teammate James Jones made their fifth consecutive trip to the Finals, having qualified the previous four seasons with the Miami Heat, though Jones did not play in the 2011 Finals.[25] It was the first time since 1998 that the Finals did not include the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs, or the Heat. This was also the first NBA Finals since then not to have featured Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, or Dwyane Wade.[26]
Game 1 [ edit ]
The Warriors defeated the Cavaliers 108–100 in overtime, taking Game 1 and the 1–0 series lead. The Cavaliers got off to a strong start, opening up a 29–15 lead before settling for a 10-point lead after the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter, the Warriors went on a big run and led 46–41. The Cavaliers then went on a 10–2 run to close out the first half, capped off by a J. R. Smith three with.7 seconds left. The Cavaliers led 51–48 at halftime. The second half was a back and forth affair, with neither team able to gain separation. Late in the 4th, Timofey Mozgov hit two free throws to tie the game at 98. The Warriors ran a play for Stephen Curry out of a timeout. Curry beat Kyrie Irving to the basket and went for a go-ahead layup, but Irving blocked the shot, and the Cavaliers called timeout after Smith secured the rebound.[27] The Cavaliers had two chances to win in the final seconds of regulation. James's potential game-winning jumper was off, and then Iman Shumpert got the offensive rebound and threw a shot at the buzzer, but also missed, sending the game to overtime. In overtime, the Warriors dominated with a 10–0 run consisting of 7 free throws and a three-pointer by Barnes. Cleveland's only score in the extra period was James's layup with 9.5 seconds left as the Cavaliers shot 1/12 and committed 3 turnovers in the game's final 5 minutes.[28]
Only three players scored for the Cavaliers after halftime: James, Irving, and Mozgov. The trio combined for 83 of the Cavaliers' 100 points.[28] James had a career NBA Finals high of 44 points, while attempting a postseason career-high 38 shots,[29] and Curry led Golden State with 26 points. The Warriors' bench outplayed the Cavaliers' bench, outscoring them 34–9, with all 9 Cavaliers bench points coming from Smith. Andre Iguodala led the Warriors bench in scoring with 15 points. Irving suffered a knee injury in overtime and was forced to leave the game early. The following day, he was diagnosed with a fractured left kneecap that would require surgery and was ruled out for the rest of the Finals, joining Kevin Love, who suffered a dislocated shoulder against the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, and Anderson Varejão.[28]
Game 2 [ edit ]
The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors 95–93 in overtime, tying the series at 1–1 and stealing homecourt advantage heading into Cleveland. For the first time in NBA Finals history, the first two games were decided in overtime, with the Cavaliers winning their first Finals game in franchise history. LeBron James tallied his fifth Finals triple-double with 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists while moving solely into second all-time in Finals triple-doubles behind Magic Johnson's 8. James, who shot 11-for-35 in the game, played 50 minutes and led all scorers. James either scored or assisted on 66 of Cleveland's 95 points, and his 83 points in the first two games of a Finals was also second all-time to Jerry West's 94 in the 1969 Finals.[30] Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 34 points. Curry added 19, but he struggled mightily against the Cavaliers' defense, shooting 5-for-23 from the floor, including 2–15 from 3-point range. Curry set an NBA record for most missed three-point attempts in an Finals game with 13. Matthew Dellavedova's defense on Curry was huge as Curry was 0–for-8 against him.[31]
The margin was close through the first three quarters, with neither team leading by more than 8 points. The Warriors jumped out to a 20–12 lead, but the Cavaliers closed the quarter on an 8–0 run to tie the game at 20. The Warriors led 31–25 early in the 2nd quarter, but the Cavaliers went on a 15–2 run to take a 40–33 lead. They settled for a 2-point lead at halftime, leading 47–45. The third quarter was low scoring, with the Cavaliers scoring 15 points and the Warriors 14 points. Heading into the 4th quarter, the Cavaliers led 62–59. After three tight quarters, the Cavaliers began to pull away, building an 83–72 lead with just over 3 minutes remaining in the fourth. However, the Cavaliers squandered the 11-point lead as the Warriors went on a 15–4 run to tie the game at 87, capped off by a Curry finger roll layup with eight seconds remaining. Out of a timeout, James drove towards the basket as he went for a game winning layup, but he misfired, and the rebound tipback attempt by Tristan Thompson was unsuccessful.[32]
In the overtime, Iman Shumpert hit a three-pointer, and James made two free throws, giving the Cavaliers a 92–87 lead. However, Draymond Green answered with back-to-back baskets, and Curry hit two free throws to give the Warriors a 93–92 lead. Out of the timeout, James's go-ahead layup was blocked by Green and recovered by Andre Igoudala, but he threw it out of bounds, giving possession back to the Cavaliers. The ensuing Cavaliers possession resulted in a three-point attempt by James Jones which missed, but Dellavedova grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. Dellavedova hit both free throws to give the Cavaliers a 94–93 lead with 10.1 seconds remaining. After a timeout, the Warriors went to Curry, who airballed the potential go-ahead jumper. James rebounded the miss and was fouled.[33]
James hit one of two at the line, giving the Cavaliers a 95–93 lead with 4 seconds left in overtime. With no timeouts remaining, the Warriors had to go the length of the court to get off a game-tying or game-winning shot attempt. However, Curry's pass near midcourt was stolen by Thompson, and the Cavaliers ran out the clock. After getting badly outplayed in Game 1, the Cavaliers' bench outscored the Warriors 21–17 in Game 2. The Cavaliers handed the Warriors their 4th home loss of the season (including the postseason) and were only the second Eastern Conference team to win at Oracle Arena (the Chicago Bulls also won in overtime on January 27). The victory for the Cleveland Cavaliers was their first ever single game Finals victory, having lost Game 1 of this series, and being swept in the 2007 Finals by the San Antonio Spurs.[34]
Following the game, James had dubbed the undermanned Cavaliers as "The Grit Squad", due to adopting a slower paced, more physical style of play in the absence of All-Stars Irving and Kevin Love.[35] This new moniker was quickly embraced by Cavaliers fans, in hopes that this new tough style of play would be enough to offset the Warriors' depth advantage.[36]
Game 3 [ edit ]
The Cavaliers led wire to wire as they defeated the Warriors 96–91 and took a 2–1 series lead. The first half was close throughout, with the Cavaliers leading 24–20 after the first quarter. They led 44–37 at halftime.[37] Stephen Curry's struggles in Game 2 carried over to the first half of this game as he was held to 3 points in the first half. In the third quarter, the Cavaliers seized control, outscoring the Warriors 28–18. They led by as many as 20 in the third quarter before taking a 72–55 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The 55 points scored by the Warriors was their lowest scoring output through three quarters all season. However, the Warriors fought back, making it a 1-point game as they cut the deficit to 81–80 late in the fourth quarter. However, Matthew Dellavedova banked in a circus shot as he tumbled to the floor while being fouled by Curry. He made the free throw to put the Cavaliers up 84–80. After Curry committed a turnover, LeBron James hit a three-pointer to give the Cavs an 87–80 lead. Curry hit a handful of three-pointers down the stretch, but the Cavs made their free throws and closed out the win.[37]
James led all scorers with 40 to go along with 12 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals. Through 3 games, James scored 123 points, the most points scored by any player in the first three games of any NBA Finals series, surpassing Rick Barry's 122 from the 1967 NBA Finals.[38] Dellavedova scored 20, a playoff career high. Curry led the Warriors with 27 points, 17 of which came in the fourth quarter.[37] This win marks the first time that the Cavaliers held a lead in a Finals series in their franchise history, as well as their first home win in a Finals series in their franchise history.[39]
Game 4 [ edit ]
The Warriors routed the Cavaliers 103–82 in Game 4, evening the series at 2–2 and reclaiming homecourt advantage. Despite stating that there would be no changes to the starting lineup the morning of Game 4, Kerr inserted Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup in place of Andrew Bogut, while moving Draymond Green |
physiological necessity. These people, unlike AB's, will usually not regress physically (adopting a baby form) or mentally. These tend to be the equivalent of 'diaperfurs' in the babyfur community. For some DLs, but not all of them, there is a fetish connection to the diapers. They will sometimes take the submissive role to a carer in sexual play, and the carer will take a dominant role.
(DL) : A person feels a strong desire to wear or use diapers, usually without physiological necessity. These people, unlike AB's, will usually not regress physically (adopting a baby form) or mentally. These tend to be the equivalent of 'diaperfurs' in the babyfur community. For some DLs, but not all of them, there is a fetish connection to the diapers. They will sometimes take the submissive role to a carer in sexual play, and the carer will take a dominant role. Infantilist : Essentially, infantilism regards any person who enjoys regressing to the mental age of an infant or toddler, and may or may not involve diapers and other baby paraphernalia.
Baby items (and why) [ edit ]
From the Adult Baby (AB) angle of AB/DL, regressing individuals prefer to behave and be treated as much like a baby or toddler as possible. To do so successfully achieves in many babyfurs a comforting, secure or blissful feeling. Various paraphernalia help to satisfy these preferences:
Clothing [ edit ]
Many babyfurs enjoy wearing all sorts of clothing. Some say the cuter it looks, the better it is. Such articles of clothing include the following:
Plushies and toys [ edit ]
Just like clothing, interacting with plushies and toys is a very large contribution to the cub experience. Toys range in age from baby toys to toy cars and action figures. As long as cubs get to interact with one another though, toys are not always the focus in a role-play.
Objects [ edit ]
A toddler's life is not complete without items such as cribs, walkers, strollers, high chairs, car seats/booster seats, pacifiers, baby bottles/sippy cups, talcum powder and bubble baths. Many babyfurs use these objects in online roleplay and would love to be able to use them in the real world.
As well as physical objects, some babyfurs find a keen interest in actions like blowing a raspberry, being held, or watching old television shows that are no longer available on TV. Many old children's shows such as 80's and early 90's cartoons on Nickelodeon were the same shows some babyfurs watched when they were little, and reminiscing about them leaves a nostalgic warmth.
Diaper usage (and why) [ edit ]
Diapers are an item frequently used while "cubbing out". Like other aspects of babyfur, this can be done in the virtual world, the real world, or both. There are many babyfurs, however, who will wear diapers in online roles but not in real life. Many babyfurs will wear diapers in real life for a feeling of security and comfort, but will not use them for their intended purpose. At the other end of the spectrum, there are some babyfurs that, either by choice or by necessity, wear and use diapers all the time.
Why babyfurs wear, and possibly use, diapers in the real world is varied. For some, they are forced to wear them because of a medical condition and have no choice in the matter. These people have often blended their real life situation with that of their furry persona. For others, it is a way they can regress into their furry persona's age. Some others see the diapers as a connection to their furry persona, paralleling a tail or fursuit in the general furry community.
The wearing (and especially the use) of diapers in the real world are at the heart of many issues that some members of the furry community in general have with the babyfurs. For example, it is generally not considered appropriate for a diaper user to soil themselves at a convention in the presence of other furry fans - or to put themselves in a situation where this is likely to happen — yet individuals have been known to do this, to the detriment of the group's reputation.
Babyfur behavior [ edit ]
When cubbing out in both the real world and in online roleplaying, the level of connection to the role will vary between each player. Some babyfurs will become so involved and yearn for such an authentic childish mentality that they will use speech impediments and baby talk to communicate. Very few babyfurs make a habit out of using babytalk in the real world, similar to a gay lisp. Depending on the situation, a babyfur could even develop a habit of whining or crying to get what he/she wants from a caregiver or another roleplayer.
In light online role-playing, babyfurs may toddle, crawl and wag their tails playfully while the sounds of crinkling diapers abound. Pouncing, giggling, cuddling, snuggling and tummy rubbing ensue with the maximum possible level of cuteness.
Child-like behavior, baby animal sounds and an emphasis on cuteness can be found among some furry fans when among themselves, even those who don't call themselves babyfurs and who don't participate in other babyfur activities described here, such as diapers or baby clothing.
While most babyfurs are closely attached to the development of young humans, a different approach can be found in online role-play, where newborn zoomorphic and anthropomorphic characters often grow up at a similar pace as wild animals, doing without accessories such as diapers and learning to walk in a short time. This has the practical advantage of sooner getting into an age that allows interesting role-play even for non-babyfurs when playing a character since birth. As in nature, opinions on when a character can be considered adult vary greatly.
Cubbing out [ edit ]
"Cubbing out" is a general term used by the community to describe roleplaying as a babyfur character. This can either be roleplay in the virtual world or the real world. Usually it will involve one or more regressed characters or people interacting with each other or with a caregiver.
"Padding" and "Getting Padded" may also refer to cubbing, in particular regarding to being diapered.
The caregiver's role [ edit ]
Caregivers (or caretakers) are the "mommy" and "daddy" figures in the roleplay. For the most part, they interact with other babyfurs as a mother or father would with their child. This can include playing with, cleaning or disciplining the younger character.
Babyfurs at furry conventions [ edit ]
Just like furries in general, babyfurs go to conventions to spend time with friends and express their furriness. For many, that includes their babyfur aspects too. One may see many babyfurs dressed in juvenile clothing and with various paraphernalia because that is part of how they choose to express themselves. To some babyfurs, dressing in such a way is no different from other furries wearing ears, tails or fursuits.
At many conventions, hotel rooms are set up as gathering places for babyfurs to socialize privately, and many conventions now have unique babyfur rooms/parties available, instead of relying on the same people to run the same parties at every con. Three of the most notable ones[citation needed] are the TFF Cub Hub (run by Kitsuno, Hexaod and Kay/Kayote) running out of Texas Furry Fiesta, the Cubhouse, run by LilPup, as well as the Cub Hub, a new room run by any of its core members (FoxCub, Natasha Softpaw, and Scritchwuff, currently) who show up for a particular con.
History of the babyfur community [ edit ]
The factual accuracy of this section is disputed. (discuss)
Notable babyfurs [ edit ]
The factual accuracy of this section is disputed. (discuss)
The following babyfurs are among the most known and respected in the furry fandom, recognized here for their contributions and devotion to the babyfur community:
BabyTiger has been a member of the babyfur community since 1998, A Canadian Babyfur who has a strong presence at the Canadian conventions such at furnal Equinox and FurFright, as well as organizing and hosting BabyFur gatherings. He works and helps out with newer babyfurs in the community.
FoxCub founded the Cub Hub mixer parties held at furry cons, which have been well-received by the babyfur community and the furry community alike. He's organized numerous local babyfur parties in the Pittsburgh area, and has been directly involved with most of the babyfur parties held at furry cons for the past decade. Recently, he began building high-quality cribs, high chairs, and other AB furniture, providing samples of his work at babyfur room parties at Anthrocon.
Karis owns and maintains Karis' Playground, featuring a large collection of babyfur and AB/DL comics by artists of all rank. Karis was the first person to make babyfur/diaper art available at furry conventions, thus pioneering the community known today as "Babyfurs."
LilPup ran and managed the Babyfur Cubhouse at furry conventions for babyfurs to get together and have fun, before the Cub Hub and other babyfur parties gained prominence. Like Swift and Orca, LilPup works to improve the relationship between babyfurs and non-babyfurs at conventions and to help babyfurs maintain a positive reputation in the furry fandom.
at furry conventions for babyfurs to get together and have fun, before the Cub Hub and other babyfur parties gained prominence. Like Swift and Orca, LilPup works to improve the relationship between babyfurs and non-babyfurs at conventions and to help babyfurs maintain a positive reputation in the furry fandom. Orca is a former moderator for the Babyfurs mailing list. He maintains an external file archive for the mailing list as well as reporting links to articles relating to AB/DLs. Orca is the inventor of the "Orca Stack".
Proxima Centauri runs Nursery Tails, one of the longest running AB Furry pages, dating back to 1997 (before the term "babyfur" had existed) and featuring thousands of babyfur art, fiction and multimedia files.
, one of the longest running AB Furry pages, dating back to 1997 (before the term "babyfur" had existed) and featuring thousands of babyfur art, fiction and multimedia files. Swift Fox has been a member of the babyfur community since its inception in the mid to late 90's. He writes babyfur fiction, was owner and moderator of several iterations of the Babyfurs mailing list.
Babyfur media [ edit ]
The factual accuracy of this section is disputed. (discuss)
A few of the authors and artists in the babyfur community are:
Artists [ edit ]
Marci McAdam is possibly the most popular artist in the babyfur community. Although not a babyfur herself, her ability and open-mindedness make her one of the most recognizable and well loved artists in babyfur circles. It is often said that a fur isn't officially a babyfur until they have purchased a badge or commission from her. Marci's babyfur art is for sale at her husband's website, Karis' Playground - other art is located at Marci McAdam's Furries. Due to professional time constraints, Marci only takes a few fandom commissions at a time, mostly at conventions.
. Due to professional time constraints, Marci only takes a few fandom commissions at a time, mostly at conventions. BushyCat appears at several furry conventions and is well known for her humorous-yet-innocent take on babyfurs as well as other alternative genres of furry art. Some of her creations have more human-like qualities than other artists tend to portray in their characters.
Jade Fox The majority of his work is based on his own or other babyfurs' characters. His drawings focus on the most treasured aspects of childhood and include innovative clothing design. Jade announced his "retirement" in 2014. He has stated that he is going to cease working for commissions and focus on only his own artwork. His artwork can been located on FurAffinity in two locations; his main page (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fjf), and his archive page (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jadearchive)
Kelvin the Lion's works include the progressive webcomic Nivlek, about the "weird" adventures of Nivlek the snow leopard, who enjoys wearing diapers and eating.
, about the "weird" adventures of Nivlek the snow leopard, who enjoys wearing diapers and eating. OzzyFox, a student of animation at the Art Institute of Houston, produces work that ranges from cuddly cute to controversial and mature.
Cargo Weasel's art leans strongly toward the "DL" side of "AB/DL," showing off mature diaper-related concepts that fit with his coloring and shading style. His art was featured on a now-defunct mailing list, but can still be found on his website.
Familliar is a regular at Guppy's Bluefurry oekaki board. Familiar regularly draws pictures of both his own character creations as well as that of his commissioners in his own charmingly creative and endearing way.
Aramitz's artwork focuses almost exclusively on the "DL" side of commissions for the babyfur community. His style features bold, thick inking lines set against cell-shaded coloring. Aramitz maintains galleries at all major furry art websites.
TaviMunk is a traditional and digital artist whose work is intended to reflect the joys and fun of childhood and babyhood, using bright colors and warm, innocent expressions and actions. Tavi keeps his art at a G-PG level, and takes commissions.
Kalida produces a great deal of babyfur artwork, much of it commissioned.
Writers [ edit ]
CS Fox, also known as Kit Fox and Cyprus Sygial, is possibly the best known babyfur writer in the community. His works are the biggest features in the stories section at Nursery Tails, and since his submissions to Proxima's site he has gone on to host his own website showing off babyfur fiction of his own and by newer babyfur writers. The latest rendition of CS Fox's site, Fox Tales Times, is being completed as this article is written. Its biggest feature is CS Fox's renowned AB/DL RPGM2K-based game, Weston Academy. Since CS's return from hiatus, he has updated his site as of January 6th, 2016 and removed most of the art that was not on the sites' forum.
and, is possibly the best known babyfur writer in the community. His works are the biggest features in the stories section at Nursery Tails, and since his submissions to Proxima's site he has gone on to host his own website showing off babyfur fiction of his own and by newer babyfur writers. The latest rendition of CS Fox's site,, is being completed as this article is written. Its biggest feature is CS Fox's renowned AB/DL RPGM2K-based game,. Since CS's return from hiatus, he has updated his site as of January 6th, 2016 and removed most of the art that was not on the sites' forum. Firemane's fiction is prominently featured on CS Fox's fiction page.
Fieval Mouse's work is still favored by many furs. His stories are roughly 5 years old and are found on Proxima's Nursery Tails, featuring illustrations by Doodles.
Athalon is another notable furry writer who has written the lightly famous The Milkshake Club.
Little Foxy is a prominent fiction writer in the babyfur community, his works being hosted on Littlefoxy.org; He is also the first babyfur to have his works published as a series of books with another one on the way.
Other [ edit ]
Controversy [ edit ]
Babyfurs and pedophilia [ edit ]
Like other furry fans, babyfurs often exhibit sexual attraction to anthropomorphic animals by participating in TinySex. But because this usually involves adult players roleplaying sexual situations involving prepubescent characters, the question of whether babyfurs are pedophiles often arises.
Babyfurs generally assert that roleplaying as underage characters doesn't imply sexual attraction to such characters. For example, some roleplay as young furries due to a longing to be young again, and have no sexual element to their roleplay.
Of those that do participate in sexual activity, some are interested in (for example) the fantasy of submission to an adult figure. Those who have TinySex with other babyfurs sometimes argue that if there is no adult character involved, the activity is not pedophilia. Others may stress that since characters portrayed are not human, it is not meaningfully pedophilia. Outsiders often disagree, since the activity still involves actual adults taking an interest in prepubertal persons depicted in sexual situations.
This debate applies equally to visual and written depictions of babyfurs in sexual relations, and disagreements are often intense, between those with concerns about pedophilia, those who feel babyfur is distinct from pedophilia (because of players' identification with characters or the species of those characters), and those who don't care who enjoys it just as long as they're not forced to see it.
Within the psychological community there is a clear distinction that has been made between AB/DLs and pedophiles. Including from wikipedia Sexologist Gloria Brame whom states that "...infantilists who recognize and accept their sexuality - and its possible roots in infantile trauma - tend to be acutely protective of real children."[citation needed]
Babyfurs vs. non-babyfurs [ edit ]
The concept of babyfurs is quite contentious with some members of the fandom. Some furries and non-furries who have identified themselves as babyfurs or were identified by others as being babyfurs may have acted inappropriately at conventions in the past.[citation needed] Such contentious behavior has allegedly included wearing diapers in public without using proper hygiene and trying to push uninterested people into babyfur roleplay, including sexual roleplay. These behaviors are frowned upon by the babyfur community in general, and such incidents, if perpetrated by babyfurs, are done by a small number of babyfurs within a larger babyfur community. The community in general adopted guidelines of conduct for how to act in public after a rash of such alleged incidents at conventions in an effort to police themselves.
Furries who dislike babyfurs may do so for a variety of common points, including:
Disturbed by the concept of diaper lovers (or, in the aforementioned cases, by the smell)
Concern that some babyfurs may be pedophiles.
Previous negative experiences with those who identify themselves as babyfurs or were identified by others as being babyfurs.
Fear that babyfur behavior will be associated as a characteristic of the general fandom, especially in the media.
While there is some conflict between babyfurs and the general fandom, such conflicts should not be overstated. The majority of babyfurs and non-babyfurs coexist quite well because the majority of babyfurs do not engage in the more extreme behaviors mentioned here.
Two babyfurs hug in the world of Second Life
General [ edit ]
Babyfur.com official homepage (not maintained)
Informational [ edit ]
Media [ edit ]
Fox Tales Times official homepage
Social networking [ edit ]
DiaperFurs.com German-speaking diaper- and babyfurs social network
BabyFur.ME official social network homepage
Fluffy Waddles official social network homepage
Crinkle Corner official social network homepage
Twitter feeds [ edit ]
Facebook [ edit ]
Mailing lists [ edit ]
AltBabyfur mailing list
IRC [ edit ]
MUCKs [ edit ]
The Treehouse on Tapestries
Second Life [ edit ]Nearly 200 Wikipedia editors have taken the unprecedented step of calling for a member of the Wikimedia Foundation board of directors to be tossed out.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which governs the massive Wikipedia online encyclopedia and related projects, appointed Arnnon Geshuri to its board earlier this month. His appointment wasn't well received by the Wikipedia community of volunteer editors, however. And last week, an editor called for a "vote of no confidence on Arnnon Geshuri."
The voting, which has no legally binding effect on the Wikimedia Foundation, is now underway. As of press time, 187 editors had voted in favor of this proposition: "In the best interests of the Wikimedia Foundation, Arnnon Geshuri must be removed from his appointment as a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation Board." Just 13 editors have voted against, including Wikimedia board member Guy Kawasaki.
Geshuri has an impressive resume in the human resources field, having worked at Google from 2004 until 2009. While there, he oversaw a department of 900 recruiters who fielded 2.5 million job applications per year. In 2009, he took a job as head of HR at Tesla Motors, where he still works today.
The editors object to Geshuri's involvement in a high-profile "no poach" agreement between several large tech companies. In that deal, companies agreed not to "cold call" each others' workers. In 2010, the Department of Justice said the arrangement—which applied to Google, Apple, Adobe, Intuit, Intel, and Pixar, among others—violated antitrust law.
Ultimately, the companies reached a settlement with the government in which they agreed to avoid such deals in the future, but the companies did not admit guilt or pay any financial penalty. A class-action suit brought on behalf of affected employees resulted in a $415 million payout last year.
Geshuri's role was detailed in certain court documents that became public during the class-action litigation. Some of those details were reprised in a recent article in The Signpost, an online newspaper serving the Wikipedia community.
Articles from PC Magazine and Pando Daily reported that Geshuri was at the center of a 2007 exchange between Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt, the respective CEOs of Apple and Google at that time. Pando published Geshuri's e-mail responding to Schmidt, in which he apologized for a Google recruiter trying to hire an Apple employee.
Eric: On this specific case, the sourcer who contacted this Apple employee should not have and will be terminated within the hour. We are scrubbing the sourcer’s records to ensure she did not contact anyone else. In general, we have a very clear "do not call" policy (attached) that is given to every staffing professional and I reiterate this message in ongoing communications and staffing meetings. Unfortunately, every six months or so someone makes an error in judgment, and for this type of violation we terminate their relationship with Google. Please extend my apologies as appropriate to Steve Jobs. This was an isolated incident and we will be very careful to make sure this does not happen again. Thanks, Arnnon
That e-mail was followed up by a response from another Google HR manager, who encouraged Geshuri to "please make a public example of this termination within the group."
The details of Geshuri's involvement upset many of the editors who voted. "Even if his experience/qualifications (in the IT industry) was an important aspect, I find it hard to imagine that there wasn't a less controversial figure with similar qualifications," wrote one. "Please tell him to leave 'within one hour,'" wrote another.
"I have no more confidence for the whole Board, especially also to name Mr. Wales himself," wrote an editor whose sentiments were echoed by other voters. "The Board presents itself in a tragic condition, all faith lost that it could work for the best of the projects."
Several editors endorsed an e-mailed statement on a Wikimedia mailing list by Florence Devouard, a former chair of the foundation, explaining why she had voted "no confidence." It reads, in part:
I hoped very dearly that the board would actually issue a statement that would have helped me understand the decision... I hoped very dearly Arnnon would post on this list to address the issue and to convince me he was a good fit in spite of the whole situation. I waited... waited... waited... but nothing came... Kat completely nailed it with regards to integrity being one of our core values. You guys rock in most of what you do and I know it is hard... But here, I do not understand what you are doing. Please take my vote as a respectful record of my perplexity.
Neither Geshuri nor the Wikimedia Foundation responded to Ars' requests for comment for this story.EAST RUTHERFORD -- Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. says he will appeal the fine he received for his actions in the Giants' 24-10 win over the Buffalo Bills this past Sunday.
"Of course," Beckham said when asked if he was planning to appeal. "I get punched every single game, or whatever it is. I get hit in my face every single game. It is what it is. We're playing football. These are grown men. I don't think anybody should be talking about what happened after they lost the game.
"What they do to me, and what I do to them, it's irrelevant. It's football, man."
Beckham was apparently fined by the NFL for throwing a punch at Bills safety Duke Williams late in the fourth quarter of the game. The fine is reportedly close to $9,000; the NFL fine schedule calls for a player to be docked $8,681 for striking an opponent on a first offense.
Beckham said he did not read the fine letter yet, saying he was not particularly concerned about the issue.
The fine comes after several Bills players blasted Beckham in The Buffalo News, calling him a "prima donna" and "golden boy" while accusing him of multiple cheap shots and incessant trash talk. Beckham said he was not concerned with the comments.
"I sleep like a baby at night," Beckham said, acknowledging it is tough sometimes to keep his composure as opposing defenses target him on a weekly basis.
PLUS: 10 things Giants fans need to know about the 49ers
"It's tough to walk the line. You know they're out there targeting you, they're out there trying to do things to you," he said. "As much as someone would say that they aren't, they are. And that's just the case."
After Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara stripped Bills receiver Robert Wood of the ball with just over six minutes left in the game, sealing the Giants' win for all intents and purposes, the Bills were called for three personal fouls, as well as a chop block.
Beckham said he felt the game was chippy from the start, though.
"I think it was the beginning of the game, I think it's every game it starts off like that," he said. "Whatever the case is, it's just how it is."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin said he met with Beckham on Wednesday morning. Beckham said he also talked with general manager Jerry Reese, and his message to both was the same.
"I was just telling him how much I love playing football, how much I love being here and this being my job," Beckham said. "I want to be the best."
TALK IS CHEAP, Ep. 26: The Giants are the best team in the NFC East
After Sunday's impressive and dominant 24-10 win in Buffalo, one thing is clear: The NFC East is the Giants' division to lose. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.
James Kratch can be reached at [email protected] or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find and like NJ.com Giants on Facebook.by
Mosquitoes aren’t just a nuisance you have to endure when you go outdoors, they’re a legitimate cause for health concerns. They buzz around, searching for people or animals to dine on, sucking out their blood and bringing all sorts of diseases and viruses with them, like Zika, malaria and west Nile virus, none of which you’d probably wish on your worst enemy. But, dousing yourself, and your family, in chemical sprays come with another set of problems that can negatively impact health.
So, what’s a gardener to do in order to repel these biting insects and keep everyone in the home free of disease? Use the power of smell. Mosquitoes are attracted to things like sweat and body odor, but certain scents that many of us find pleasant, repel them. That’s why things like citronella candles and DEET sprays work. There is also a number of sweet smelling, beautiful plants that contain powerful mosquito repellent properties.
By including these 11 plants in your garden, you can give up chemical mosquito repelling products and enjoy a much more relaxing outdoor space without fear of getting bitten.
Citronella
While citronella candles are often laden with chemicals, the citronella plant (officially known as the citrosum plant and often referred to as the mosquito plant) can be grown in your garden for mosquito control. The plant carries the fragrance of citronella in its foliage, and when a leaf is crushed and rubbed onto the skin, the aroma is very pleasant, yet it helps to naturally repel those mosquitoes. While not as effective as bottled repellents, it comes without the high price or potentially hazardous chemicals, and when grown in the garden, you’ll always have it on hand.
This perennial clumping grass grows 5 to 6 feet and can be planted in the ground or kept in large pots. The plants tend to do best in full sun in areas with good drainage. If you live in a drought-prone area, you can still plant citronella as it’s relatively tolerant of summer stress.
Want to try growing citronella? You can buy a Citronella Grass Plant from this page on Amazon.
Lemon Balm
The green leaves of lemon balm have the scent of lemon with a hint of mint, which should be no surprise as it’s a member of the mint family. Not only does it offer lots in the way of healing properties, it’s known for warding off mosquitoes while also attracting important pollinators like butterflies and bees. For a quick mosquito repellent, all you need to do is crush a handful of the leaves in your hand and rub them onto your exposed skin.
By growing lemon balm near your back door or in your garden, the leaves will be handy when you need them. Just keep in mind that while this plant is especially effective for keeping mosquitoes away, it’s also considered an invasive species, you can avoid a takeover by planting it in a pot, rather than directly in your yard or garden. It’s drought resistant, fast growing and reseeds itself, making it ideal for container gardening.
You can purchase a live lemon balm plant from this page on Amazon so you don’t have to wait for seeds to start.
Catnip
Not only will your feline friends be especially appreciative of having catnip around, it’s considered one of the best natural insect repellents. It contains a natural chemical known as nepetalactone, which is both a useful insect repellent and a feline attractant. In fact, studies, including one reported at the 222nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, have shown that catnip is about 10 times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET.
Of course, if you’re not a fan of cats, you may want to consider one of the other plant options. Otherwise, be sure to plant it in a spot where cats can rub and roll in it without hurting adjacent plants. Some cats like it so much that they lie on it, roll on it, and chew it to the point of destruction.
Catnip is easy to grow – it grows readily as a weed as well as a commercially cultivated plant in some regions of the U.S. While it will repel mosquitoes that are in close proximity to it, some people apply the crushed catnip leaves for optimal protection.
A live catnip plant can be purchased from here to instantly start taking advantage of its mosquito repelling properties.
Marigolds
Marigolds contain Pyrethrum, a compound used in many insect repellents. A “screened cage method” study examined the repellent action of essential oils derived from Marigolds and Myrtle compared to DEET and found that it demonstrated the protection time of 50% essential oils of marigold and myrtle were respectively 2.15 and 4.36 hours, compared to 6.23 hours for DEET 25%.
Position potted marigolds near the entrances to your home, as well as common mosquito entry points like open windows to deter the insects from going past the barrier.
Basil
As one of the most pungent of herbs, basil makes an outstanding natural mosquito repellent, giving off a scent without the leaves having to be crushed or touched. A 2011 review published in the Malaria Journal found that essential oils from Ocimum (basil) provided very high levels of mosquito protection, as much as 100 percent.
Plus, as basil can be used in a wide range of dishes and for a variety of reasons, you’ll be able to take advantage of its wonderful flavors just by taking a few steps outside your door. Basil emits its aroma without crushing the leaves, so you can grow it in pots and place them in your yard or garden to control mosquitoes. To keep the mosquitoes away from your skin, rub a handful of the leaves onto exposed areas.
Read More: How To Grow A Giant Basil Bush: A Pro Gardener Reveals Her Secret
Lavender
Most of us love the smell of lavender, but few realize that it not only offers that fabulous scent, and helps promote a relaxing, calming sensation, but it can keep those tiny invaders from ruining your outdoor dinner party. The pleasant aroma of lavender is offensive to mosquitoes and is best harnessed by planting it in the garden, or in pots situated near doors, windows and entertainment areas.
For an even higher level of protection, rub the plant onto your skin to release its oils. Lavender is also used in our highly effective Four Thieves Mosquito Repellent Spray.
For a total guide on growing, harvesting and using lavender, read our guide here.
Peppermint
Not only is peppermint’s minty clean scent significantly better than that awful chemical smell, it can serve as a natural insecticide to repel mosquitoes. In fact, research published in the Malaria Journal revealed just why it’s so effective. The experts discovered that it offered repellent action when applied to exposed body parts, while also showing larvicidal and mosquito repellent action. Mosquito larvae were killed 24 hours after exposure to a solution of peppermint oil and water.
When enjoying your yard or when mosquito problems get severe, crush a few of the leaves on the plant to release the scent and oils.
Garlic
While eating garlic-filled foods won’t repel mosquitoes unless you consume a massive amount, growing garlic can do the trick. Planting it not only helps to deter the nasty rascals, but you’ll have your own supply of vampire repellent if you believe in that sort of thing anyway. Simply add some garlic to your vegetable garden or flowerbed.
Pennyroyal
Pennyroyal is another famous natural bug repellent and it’s especially effective for battling mosquitoes. Simply planting it outside around your house can discourage them from taking up residence in your yard, and by keeping a vase of fresh pennyroyal in a room, it can kill any that occupy the area as well as drive potential newcomers away. By keeping the crushed stems in your pockets during times you’re most likely to be exposed, you can be just about guaranteed you’ll keep the mosquitoes away.
As pennyroyal is related to the mint family, it can quickly become invasive which means it’s best to plant it in a container or control growth by using a tough border that it can’t penetrate through and spread. As it can be grown both indoors or out, you may want to grow it in a couple of containers in your home for added protection.
Rosemary
This gorgeous flowering plant is most commonly used to flavor dishes, but it can also serve as an outstanding mosquito repellent amongst a number of other fantastic uses. You can keep it indoors or out, just be sure it gets full sun. For repellent purposes, both the live plant and cuttings from it are effective for repelling those annoying disease-carrying insects.
Rosemary is great when you want to gather around a fire without battling mosquitoes. Just toss some in and the incense it gives off when it’s burned not only adds a nice smell, but it’s strong and unpleasant enough to those critters (and many other types of insects) that it will keep them away from you – provided you’re near the smoke.
Geranium
Scented geraniums are yet another popular mosquito repelling plant recommended by countless gardeners and gardening sites. The lemon scented type of geranium is most effective, as it’s similar to citronella, which as mentioned previously, is one of the best for keeping the pests away. Geraniums also have especially gorgeous blooms that can make for an incredibly attractive decorative piece. While they prefer a warm, sunny and dry climate, in cold climate areas, you can grow them in planters provided they’re pruned frequently.
Read Next: How To Keep Mosquitoes Away With Essential OilsCapital One Cup Round 1
Huddersfield Town 2 (Vaughan 42, 54)
Bradford City 1 (Wells 90)
Kick Off: 7.45pm
at the John Smith's Stadium
Attendance: 11,630 (3,932 visitors)
Pictures kindly provided by Gintare Karpaviciute
A much-changed City side narrowly lost out in their West Yorkshire derby with Huddersfield Town this Tuesday evening, ending their time in the Capital One Cup at the first round stage in the process.
Phil Parkinson’s team, featuring as many as seven alterations from the eleven that started at Bristol City on Saturday, found themselves two down going into the tie’s final stages thanks to a goal in each half by James Vaughan.
Substitute Nahki Wells gave City a lifeline on the stroke of ninety minutes though when he rattled in a fine drive from just outside the area.
Roared on by nearly 4,000 away supporters, City threw everything at Huddersfield’s goal in the two minutes of injury time that followed but they couldn’t quite keep their interest in the competition going past the first round despite a couple of late corners.
While the defeat obviously means a repeat of last season’s amazing achievement of reaching the grand final is now unachievable, Parkinson can still find plenty of reasons to be positive considering the changes he made for the tie and the calibre of the opposition City were up against.
One of the changes made by Parkinson saw defender Matt Taylor make his debut at centre half, while Raffaele De Vita and Jason Kennedy were both handed their first starts in City colours at the John Smith’s Stadium.
FT: Huddersfield Town 2 Bradford City 1
Clayton is booked for catching Meredith just inside Huddersfield’s half over by |
more people or attempt to create more Faunus. That was a rather sadistic tactic the White Fang did, spread Dust around in hopes of creating more Faunus, which in turn would drive the new Faunus right into White Fang's arms.
And now, Ozpin was left watching as the US Secretary of Defense was in an argument with none other than the five ambassadors representing the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Isabella "Ella" Woods was 45 years old, brown eyes, dark hair with a touch of gray. She seemed to be enjoying the argument. One thing that Ella had a reputation for was taking every fight in stride and with style, whether it was in the field or a political battle at home. She was the youngest Secretary Defense in US history, and the first who was female. She was demonstrating why.
Ozpin sat back and listened as Ella moved among the holograms.
"I promise you, we will have the new Helicarrier in the air very soon. We just want to make sure everything is in order first. The United States footed the bill for the majority of its construction, remember, and we're not going to completely own the property. We want to make sure it works."
"You're just holding out on us, Ms. Woods," growled the Russian ambassador. "We would have had the Helicarrier built long ago!"
"Yes, and it would've plummeted out of the sky on its first test," the French ambassador sniffed.
"Your insolence is not amusing," the Russian ambassador replied. "Do I have to remind you all that this carrier is in the world's interest, not in individual countries?"
"The moment it was put on the United States to pay for this thing, it became an American interest," Woods replied.
The American ambassador looked stunned by the remark and was about to cut in when Woods held up her hand. The ambassador stuttered and then looked away, in clear embarrassment.
"And don't act so selfless, Mr. Yakov. You're the country bullying the Ukraine right now. There's reports of Dust supplies sneaking in from Russia to support the rebels. Do I have to go into detail on those reports for the rest of the audience?"
"What Dust supplies?" cried the British ambassador.
Ella smiled as she turned around to pace around the holograms again. She spotted Ozpin and gave him a knowing wink before returning to the conversation.
"So you should excuse BEACON and the United Nations in general for deciding to shift the responsibility to the United States. And once we know the Helicarrier II is ready for action, we will begin production on the other two models commissioned. Keep in mind that the United States still maintains its own defense budget as well. We have an F-35 program that has gone overbudget, I've had to fund the construction of new F-16Cs to compensate for the F-35 not being ready yet. This costs money, ladies and gentlemen. I am not about to sacrifice my nation's military to please the United Nations. We are not a one-world government."
"We are slowly heading that way, and your country has the most to lose," said the Chinese ambassador. "You shouldn't be surprised when we accuse your country of dragging your feet."
"My president begs to differ. Now, I have another meeting, so we will have to continue this another time."
Ella turned off the holograms then, and sighed. The door to the room unlocked then, and Ozpin looked at Ella, a lopsided smile on his face, and he raised his coffee cup to her. "That sounded like fun."
"You have no idea. Please tell me you have good news about the Helicarrier," Ella said as she walked forward towards him.
This was going to be the troubling part.
Ruby Rose's words from a couple of days ago had continued to pursue him. Maybe the Helicarrier was going too far. Maybe it wasn't. But now...
"I think it might be best to delay it another week," Ozpin said.
Ella raised an eyebrow. "Why such a short delay?"
"I want to look everything over one more time," Ozpin said. "It's probably nothing. But this is a gigantic undertaking, and while I think it could launch within a couple of days, I want to make sure everything is in order personally."
Ella nodded and smiled. "I'm going to eat a lot of grief from the United Nations and the President over this, you know."
Ella had been the champion of making another Helicarrier after the first one was damaged beyond repair in the Battle of New York. Ozpin owed Ella a lot, and their frequent meetings on this had created a sense of familiarity between them. There was also a sense that Ella wanted to take their relationship to another level, and while Ozpin was willing to oblige dating, he was reluctant to go much further, not until he completely vetted the woman several times over.
He was paranoid that way. And in others.
"I'd like to continue discussing this in private if you don't mind. Care for coffee and a pastry?" Ozpin asked.
Ella sighed. "Sure. As long as this makes it a date."
Again with the date request. Then again, she is forty-five years old, unmarried, no kids.
Ella Woods' psychological profile seemed to suggest someone who wanted children really badly, but Ozpin wasn't sure how much stock to put in that. Especially as Ella didn't seem that broken up about the issue in real life. Unless she hid it really, really well.
"That's fine. We both could use a break from this building anyway." He downed what remained of his coffee. "My treat."
Washington D.C. Streets
Present Day
"So, what seems to be the problem with the Helicarrier?" Ella asked as they sat inside Ozpin's specially-equipped Chevy Suburban. Ella had finished her meal a long time ago, and seemed to be chomping at the bit. Ozpin knew he couldn't put off the inevitable much longer.
"It is the same reason as why I only chose to produce one new carrier instead of the planned three," Ozpin said. "There is a lot going on with this new investment and if it does not work right, or if there's sabotage, a lot of people will die and the United States will have a wasted investment worth billions of dollars."
"You're worried about another hijacking," Ella says. She nodded her head and looked out towards the road. "I thought defenses were in place to prevent another Loki incident."
"Considering that Loki's apparently been masquerading as an ordinary human on Earth for decades if not centuries, and no one's caught him, I wouldn't put it past Loki to try again," Ozpin said. "This time in disguise as one of us."
"If you feel that is the right course of action, I won't stop you. It's sensible," Ella replied. "However, you're sticking your neck out for this and I will be doing the same for you. The President is marching in lockstep with his UN ambassador. They're impatient and they want their Helicarrier delivered already."
"They'll get it," Ozpin promised.
"The President is not happy as it is with my F-16 order," Ella replied. "He wants fewer fighter planes, not more. He is starting to demand dramatic military spending cuts, and if he gets his way, the US military won't be able to afford much after the Helicarriers."
Ozpin didn't want to get too deeply involved with the politics of the situation. He knew Ella was in tough territory, trying to maintain a big intelligence apparatus but also supporting the world's strongest military. Ella's background was in the intelligence community, the military distrusted her, and Ella wanted to seem like she had their best interests at heart too.
"It is important enough to me to risk my job over this. I don't just answer to the US President, I answer to the Secretary-General as well," Ozpin said. He took a sip of his bold-roast coffee and sighed.
"I won't stop you, I just want to inform you of the risks." Ella gave him a concerned glance. "What brought this on, by the way?"
"Hm?" Ozpin grunted, pretending he didn't hear her.
"You don't get like this without a motivation. Who gave you a warning on this?" Ella asked.
Ozpin paused. He didn't want to say 'Ruby Rose'. Taking advice from a girl who biologically just turned twenty-one was, on paper, career suicide.
"Multiple reports," Ozpin said, which was the truth in a sense.
"You don't need to keep everything so close to the vest with me," Ella said, offering him a reassuring smile. "Was it Ruby Rose? I have it on authority she is a skeptic of rebuilding the Helicarrier."
Ozpin gave Ella a look. It did not surprise him that she had deduced this.
"I can't discount the advice of the woman who is known as 'Miss America' to the general populace," Ozpin finally said. "Especially as she is advocating caution over recklessness. She has seen more war than any of us, Ella."
Ella nodded. "World War II was a long time ago, however. War's changed. So has the technology."
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. That phrase, or paraphrases thereof, was repeated so much that it was a cliché at this point. But it was a cliché for a reason, it still held truth.
Ozpin started the car and pulled out from the parking space. "That's true. But the generalities have not. What Rose is advocating-"
The light had turned green, and they were pulling out into the intersection when it happened.
All of a sudden, a police car came barreling into the intersection and crashed right into the driver's side door.
Ozpin was stunned for a moment, before he finally clawed himself free of his airbag. His side and left leg were killing him. He heard a computer voice calmly recite "Multiple fractures detected."
"Are you all right?" It was Ella, sounding shaken up, but she didn't seem hurt.
"I need the painkiller. Now," Ozpin groaned.
Ella fumbled with the glovebox, but found the painkiller within moments and handed it to Ozpin. He injected the painkiller into his right arm and gasped from the pain of the injection, but it was fast-acting, and it dulled the pain within seconds. The downside was that it would burn itself out pretty quickly, but that didn't matter. He just needed to get out of here.
That is, if he could.
It turned out they were surrounded by several police cars now, without their lights flashing, and a dark van was pulling up besides Ozpin's driver's side door.
"What the hell are they doing?" Ella growled as she finally got the remnant of the airbag off of her.
That's what I want to know. Ozpin looked at the police walking up towards him, and that's when he heard the voice from the computer.
"DC Metro Police dispatch shows no units in this area."
Then he saw a telltale giveaway. One of the 'police officers' had a tail.
Faunus were not allowed to become police.
"White Fang," Ozpin hissed.
And they were about to pull the coup of the young century at this very moment, by assassinating the leader of the organization that opposed them the most.Indianapolis Artsgarden
Designed by the New York architectural firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, the 19,000 square foot Artsgarden spans the intersection of Washington and Illinois Streets. The Lily Endowment funded the twelve million dollar construction cost in 1995. Two 185-foot steel plate girders support the structure seventeen feet above the intersection. The top of the structure stands seven stories, or ninety-five feet above the floor of the Artsgarden. Over 32,000 square feet of glass covers the structure.
Event Area - Artsgarden
View of Downtown Indianpolis - Artsgarden
Buy Paul Wonning's At:
Indianapolis Artsgarden/Visitor CenterThe Artsgarden is the centerpiece of downtown Indianapolis, spanning the busy Washington/Illinois intersection. It serves as the site for numerous events, concerts and art shows throughout the year. Visitors will also find a visitor center with many brochures, maps and books about Indianapolis and Marion County. A staffer on answers questions and provides information to curious tourists.Founded in 1959 in Berkley, California by Ezra Ehrenkrantz as the Building Systems Development, the company underwent a series of mergers as it grew. Ehrenkrantz opened an office in New York in 1972, naming it the Ehrenkrantz Group. The company specializes in urban development, school and campus design and historic preservation, among other things. The company maintains offices in New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Shanghai, China.WalkwayThe Artsgarden serves primarily as a pedestrian walkway that allows people to travel, unimpeded by weather or traffic, across the busy Washington/Illinois Street intersection. It connects the downtown Circle Center Mall with hotels and other businesses on both sides of the street.The Arts Council hosts over 250 events per year in the Artsgarden. These events range from free art exhibits to public concerts. The Artsgarden may also be rented for private parties, weddings and corporate events.The 32,000 square feet of glass that enclose the structure afford some magnificent views of downtown Indianapolis down both Illinois and Washington Streets. Benches are provided for visitors to sit and watch traffic pass under them along both streets.It is possible to rent the Artsgarden for weddings. It has proven a popular nuptial venue. Rental fees from weddings and events support the various public arts programs that occur in the Artsgarden.The Arts Council of Indianapolis owns the Artsgarden and manages it. For more information about the Arts Council, contact:924 N. Pennsylvania St. (Mailing Address),1 North Illinois (Physical Address of the Artsgarden)Indianapolis, IN 46204(317) [email protected] in multiple ebook formats and softboundFor more information, contact:[email protected] over $50.00 Free Shipping© 2017 Paul WonningThe search for an Earth-like planet orbiting another star is one of astronomy’s greatest challenges. It’s a task that appears close to fruition. Since astronomers spotted the first exoplanet in 1988, they have found more than 2,000 others.
Most of these planets are huge, because bigger objects are easier to spot. But as sensing techniques and technologies improve, astronomers are finding planets that match Earth’s vital statistics ever more closely.
They have even begun to use a ranking system called the Earth Similarity Index to quantify how similar an exoplanet is to the mother planet. The exoplanet that currently ranks most highly is Kepler-438b, which orbits in the habitable zone of a red dwarf in the constellation of Lyra some 470 light years from here.
Kepler-438b has an Earth Similarity Index of 0.88. By comparison, Mars has an ESI of 0.797, so it’s more Earth-like than our nearest neighbor. That’s exciting but it is inevitable that astronomers will find planets with even higher indices in the near future.
And that raises an interesting question: how much can we ever know about these planets, given their size and distance from us? After all, the limited size of orbiting telescopes places severe restrictions on how much light and information we can gather from an Earth analogue.
But there is another option—the gravitational field of the sun can focus light. Place a telescope at the focal point of this giant lens and it should become possible to study a distant object in unprecedented detail. But how good would such a lens be; what would it reveal that we couldn’t see with our own telescopes?
Today we get an answer to these questions thanks to the work of Geoffrey Landis at NASA’s John Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Landis has analyzed the resolving power of the solar lens and worked out just how good it could be.
The basic physics is straightforward and has been worked out in some detail by astronomers in the past. General relativity predicts that light must bend around any massive object. The effect is tiny, however, and only observable with objects of truly enormous mass.
Despite its size, the sun only bends light by a tiny amount. Consequently, the focal point of our solar lens is at least 550 astronomical units away. That’s beyond the orbit of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, which extends a mere 50 AU.
Nevertheless, it is a tempting stepping stone given that there is little of interest between the Kuiper Belt and the next nearest star, Alpha Centauri, which is 280,000 AU distant. “There is thus a powerful incentive to find some plausible objective in visiting the gravitational focus, as a potential intermediate step toward a future interstellar mission,” says Landis.
But there are significant challenges in using the sun as a gravitational lens. The first is related to pointing and focal length. The idea is to place a spacecraft on the opposite side of the sun from the exoplanet, but it cannot sit exactly at the focal point where the light from the exoplanet converges.
That’s because any image would be drowned out by light from the sun, which would still be the brightest object in the sky. Instead, the spacecraft would sit beyond the focal point where the light from the exoplanet would form into an Einstein ring around the sun. It is this ring that the mission would have to sample.
But it is not just the sun that can drown out the image. The solar corona, the aura of plasma that surrounds the sun, is also a problem, and this extends much further. To ensure that the Einstein ring is larger than the corona and not obscured by it, the mission would have to sit even further, at a distance of more than 2,000 AU, says Landis. That’s much further than the 550 AU that previous analyses have suggested.
It is a simple matter to show that this mission could only have a single objective. To point at a different object just 1 degree away, the telescope would have to move at least 10 AU around the sun, equivalent to the distance from Earth to Saturn. “A significant difference of the solar gravitational lens from a conventional telescope is that the gravitational lens telescope is not in any practical sense pointable,” says Landis.
But given a specific target, the focal power of the sun produces a hugely magnified view. To demonstrate its potential, Landis uses the hypothetical example of an exoplanet orbiting a star some 35 light years away. If this planet were the same size as the Earth, the image at the focal plane of the sun would be 12.5 kilometers across.
So the mission could only ever see a small fraction of the planet’s surface. Indeed, a telescope with a one-metre detector would image a one kilometer square area on the surface of the planet—that’s smaller than New York’s Central Park.
Pointing a telescope at an area so small and distant is tricky. There can be no “finder scope” on such a telescope because the target would be invisible except when using the gravity lens. So the exoplanet’s position will have to be known with high precision.
Even then, pointing it will not be trivial. “Finding a planet of diameter ~10^4 km at a distance of 10^14 km requires a pointing knowledge and pointing accuracy of 0.1 nanoradians,” says Landis. State-of-the-art pointing accuracy is today about 10 nanoradians.
But that’s just the start. The exoplanet will be moving as it orbits its star. Landis analyses what would happen if the exoplanet has the same orbital velocity as the Earth, 30 km/sec. In that case, a one-kilometer section of the planet will traverse a one-meter detector in just 33 milliseconds and the entire planet will slip past in 42 seconds.
Preventing blur by moving the telescope to track the image will be hard. Landis says that the spacecraft will need to change its velocity by 30 meters per second to keep up and that over the course of a year it would follow an ellipse with a semi major axis of about 150,000 kilometers. It’s not clear what kind of propulsion system would be capable of this.
The alternative, of course, is to use image processing techniques to remove the blur, which is increasingly doable with today’s technology.
Another major problem is filtering out the light from the sun, not to mention the exoplanet’s parent star, which will be orders of magnitude brighter than the target. The telescope will also have to minimize interference from other sources such as zodiacal light. Much effort has been out into this for the current generation of planet hunting telescopes. Nevertheless, Landis says, this is not a trivial problem.
Given all these problems, how much better the image from a gravitational lens be compared to an unlensed image? Landis’s estimate is that the lens increases the intensity of light from the exoplanet by a factor of 100,000.
That’s a significant advantage. But it can only be realized if the exoplanet light can be well separated from the light from other sources such as the sun, the corona, the parent star, and so on. And this is a big unknown.
The utility of the mission depends on this. “Given all the difficulties, is it worth traveling out to beyond 600 AU to merely gain a factor of 100,000? Is this enough?” asks Landis.
That’s a question that astronomers, funding agencies, and the public at large will have to consider in some detail. Landis makes no suggestion that such a mission should be undertaken now or is even possible or affordable. But his analysis has certainly raised the stakes.
Going further, it seems hard to understate the significance of finding an Earth analogue that has the potential to support life. The idea of mapping areas on this planet that are just one kilometer in size will be powerful motivation.
On Earth, this kind of image would reveal islands, rivers, parks, Great Walls, freeways, cities, and so on. Perhaps a spacecraft sitting at the gravitational focus of a distant star is revealing these things right now to a spellbound alien population. Just imagine.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1604.06351: Mission to the Gravitational Focus of the Sun: A Critical AnalysisFILE- In this Aug. 31, 2017, file photo, District Judge Allen Sinclair arrives for the seventh day of preliminary hearings at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa. Sinclair threw out involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges against eight defendants in death of Tim Piazza in September. A hearing on Thursday, Dec. 7, will determine whether a new district judge will preside over what will be a second preliminary hearing, as prosecutors pursue reinstated criminal charges in the death of Piazza. (Phoebe Sheehan/Centre Daily Times via AP, File)
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — A prosecutor Thursday used a press release to sharply criticize a judge hearing the case against former Penn State fraternity members charged in a pledge’s drinking death. Defense attorneys accused her of violating rules of professional conduct.
“While this case may be unusual and novel in complexity and number of defendants, the court has an obligation to handle it properly and be fair to both sides,” Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller wrote in a statement. “To date, it has failed miserably.”
Parks Miller was not in the courtroom as her seven-page news release was sent out to reporters at the same time that Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Ruest was presiding over a hearing on whether to reinstate serious charges in the case that have been dismissed.
Parks Miller said Ruest would not let her participate by phone from out of town.
Defense lawyers argued the release was highly inappropriate and their clients were harmed by it.
“This press release violates the rules of professional conduct six different ways from Sunday,” defense attorney Michael Engle told the judge, asking her to raise the matter with the body that investigates lawyer misconduct.
Defense attorney Frank Fina said Parks Miller was engaged in a type of “public litigation” that compromised the defendants’ rights.
“A prosecutor deploying outside influences to try and get his or her way inside the courtroom — it’s inherently contrary to the entire structure of the system, the entire way it’s supposed to be,” Fina argued.
Ruest has to decide whether to let prosecutors pursue dismissed charges in the case, and if she should appoint a new magisterial district judge to handle those re-filed charges in the Feb. 4 death of 19-year-old Tim Piazza of Lebanon, New Jersey. She did not indicate Thursday when she will rule.
Twenty-six people currently face criminal charges related to Piazza’s death, which occurred two days after he suffered a series of falls and consumed a dangerous amount of alcohol during a pledge bid night at the Penn State chapter of Beta Theta Pi. Some fraternity members face charges that could result in prison terms, while others are accused of hazing and alcohol violations.
After an unusually hard-fought preliminary hearing, which lasted seven days over three months, District Judge Allen Sinclair on Sept. 1 threw out many of the charges, including the most serious allegations of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. The district attorney subsequently refiled many of those counts and sought a new judge.
Sinclair “simply did not understand the theory and made many incongruous rulings by binding over some charges and dismissing others,” prosecutor Michael Osterberg argued to Ruest.
Defense attorneys told Ruest that Sinclair’s decision did not amount to legal error, so the dismissed charges should not be revived.
“Just because you disagree with the judge’s ruling doesn’t give you a second bite,” argued defense attorney Ted Simon.
Sinclair also ruled there was evidence to send other charges to for trial, and they are currently pending in county court.
On Nov. 13, Parks Miller announced the FBI had helped recover erased security camera footage from the fraternity basement, providing evidence that Piazza had been given at least 18 drinks over less than 90 minutes.
That led her to file entirely new charges. A preliminary hearing for those “basement tapes” charges, which had been scheduled for next week in Bellefonte, has been postponed.
Security camera footage documented how Piazza became visibly inebriated early in the evening, after which fraternity members made ineffective and even counterproductive efforts to help him. He had suffered a fractured skull, shattered spleen and other injuries.
Fraternity members found his unconscious body in the basement the next morning, but waited about 40 minutes before summoning help.
Parks Miller, defeated in the spring Democratic primary, leaves office at the end of this month. Her successor, Democrat Bernie Cantorna, has indicated he will ask the state attorney general’s office to take over the prosecution.Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness held lengthy negotiations with the former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern to save the Northern Ireland peace process in the full knowledge that the IRA was planning to carry out the biggest bank robbery in its history, according to leaked US cables passed to WikiLeaks.
Ahern, who was instrumental in drawing up the 1998 Good Friday agreement, judged that the two Sinn Féin leaders were aware of plans for the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery in 2004 because they were members of the "IRA military command" with a deep knowledge of its operations.
The US cables also reveal that:
• The Irish government believed Britain had a "valuable source of information" at a senior level in the republican movement.
• Adams argued that the IRA would have to be "taken out of the equation" during negotiations which led the organisation to declare a formal end to its armed campaign in July 2005.
The revelations are published as Adams seeks to broaden Sinn Féin's appeal in the Irish Republic. The Sinn Féin president is abandoning his Westminster seat to stand in the forthcoming general election amid hopes of a breakthrough as voters register anger with Ireland's mainstream political parties after the country was forced to apply to the EU and IMF for a bailout.
Ahern's concerns about Sinn Féin and the IRA are highlighted in cables which describe a challenging period in the peace process as London and Dublin sought to restore the power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland. Unionist suspicions about the intentions of the republican movement were fuelled when the IRA robbed the headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast in December 2004.
In a cable on 4 February 2005, two months after the robbery, the US ambassador to Dublin, James Kenny, reported that a senior Irish government official told the embassy of the taoiseach's concerns about Adams and McGuinness. The cable claimed the official in the department of justice told the ambassador "that the GOI [government of Ireland] does have 'rock solid evidence' that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness are members of the IRA military command and for that reason, the taoiseach is certain they would have known in advance of the robbery".
In another cable on 1 June 2005, six months after the robbery, Kenny reported that Ahern had raised his concerns with Mitchell Reiss, the US envoy to Ireland. The cable says: "The taoiseach … believes Sinn Féin leaders were aware of plans to rob the Northern Bank even as they negotiated with him last fall. Publicly, he has been unprecedentedly critical of Sinn Féin and, until recently, greatly reduced private contacts as well."
The cables indicate that in private Ahern and officials used language which was slightly blunter, though consistent, with the public pronouncements of the former taoiseach, who told the Irish parliament, the Dáil, he believed Sinn Féin had negotiated in bad faith. Ahern told the Dáil on 2 February of a meeting with police chiefs on both sides of the Irish border. "They believe that a number of operations which took place during 2004, not just the Northern Bank robbery, were the work of the Provisional IRA and would have had the sanction of the army council and be known to the political leadership."
Sir Hugh Orde, the former chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland who met Ahern, accused the IRA of carrying out the robbery. In what was then the largest cash robbery ever carried out in the UK, a group of armed men held the families of two bank officials hostage while the officials were forced to hand over sacks filled with millions of pounds in cash to terrorists at the bank.
Nobody has been convicted of any offence in relation to the actual robbery. Ted Cunningham, a Cork-based financial adviser, was found guilty last year of laundering more than £3m connected with the robbery.Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA. McGuinness has admitted being a member in the 1970s.
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said: "There is not a shred of evidence that has ever linked the IRA to the Northern Bank robbery. The theories put forward by the British at the time regarding republican involvement were disproved in court. No link has ever been made, other than by opponents of Sinn Féin, that the IRA was involved. All the republicans arrested in connection with the Northern Bank robbery were released without charge."
The cables also suggest:
• Adams was a powerful voice in arguing that the IRA had to stand down during negotiations in the run-up to the Provisionals' historic statement in July 2005 of a "formal end to the armed campaign". In the cable on 1 June 2005, the US ambassador to Dublin quoted Adams as saying: "The IRA must be taken out of the equation."
• Michael McDowell, the former Irish deputy prime minister, said after the murder in 2006 of Denis Donaldson, a British informant working for Sinn Féin, that he believed Britain had a more senior mole. In a cable on 31 May 2006, a US diplomat wrote: "McDowell believed that the outing of Denis Donaldson as an informant was a clear message from the British government that it had another, more valuable, source of information within the republican leadership. He reiterated the taoiseach's point, however, that Sinn Féin leaders appeared to have had no connection to Donaldson's murder."
• An intriguing Anglo-Irish role reversal in which Dublin, normally regarded as the guardian of republican interests in the peace process, felt that Tony Blair had gone too "soft" on Sinn Féin. The cable sent by the US ambassador on 1 June 2006 says: "GOI concerns about UK'softness' represent a role reversal. Usually, it is the UK that is concerned Ireland will be too accommodating to Sinn Fein."
• Brian Cowen, the current taoiseach, claimed in 2005 that Adams had played a "double game on criminality". In a cable dated 8 March 2005, the US ambassador to Dublin James C Kenny wrote: "Cowen [then finance minister]... believed that, after the May Westminster elections, Sinn Féin would attempt to convince people of its seriousness about criminality through actions designed to back up the party's recent positive rhetoric on the subject. Cowen related his impression that Gerry Adams was playing a 'double game' -- taking a hard public line against criminality, but avoiding definitive action in order to retain maneuverability for final negotiations with unionists."
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said: "Brian Cowen is a political opponent of Sinn Féin. As a former finance minister and now as taoiseach he has brought the country to its knees."Chia seeds can be mixed with water and turned into a gel. Flickr/ljguitar Chia seeds are among the healthiest foods on the planet.
They are loaded with nutrients that can have important benefits for your body and brain.
Here are 11 health benefits of chia seeds that are supported by human studies.
Chia seeds are tiny black seeds from the plant Salvia Hispanica, which is related to the mint. This plant grows natively in South America.
Chia seeds were an important food for the Aztecs and Mayans back in the day. They prized them for their ability to provide sustainable energy… in fact, "chia" is the ancient Mayan word for "strength."
Despite their ancient history as a dietary staple, only recently did chia seeds become recognized as a modern day superfood. In the past few years, they have exploded in popularity and are now consumed by health conscious people all over the world.
This is what chia seeds look like:
Flickr/ljguitar
Don't be fooled by the size… these tiny seeds pack a powerful nutritional punch.
A 1 ounce (28 grams) serving of chia seeds contains (1, 2):
This is particularly impressive when you consider that this is just a single ounce, which supplies only 137 calories and one gram of digestible carbohydrate!
Just so that we're all on the same page, 1 ounce equals 28 grams, or about 2 tablespoons. Interestingly… if you subtract the fiber, which may not end up as usable calories for the body, chia seeds only contain 101 calories per ounce.
This makes them one of the world's best sources of several important nutrients, calorie for calorie. To top things off, chia seeds are a "whole grain" food, are usually grown organically, are non-GMO and naturally free of gluten.
Bottom Line: Despite their tiny size, chia seeds are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. They are loaded with fiber, protein, Omega-3 fatty acids and various micronutrients.
2. Chia Seeds Are Loaded With Antioxidants
Another area where chia seeds shine is in their high amount of antioxidants (3, 4). These antioxidants protect the sensitive fats in the seeds from going rancid (5).
Although antioxidant supplements are not very effective, getting antioxidants from foods can have positive effects on health (6).
Most importantly, antioxidants fight the production of free radicals, which can damage molecules in cells and contribute to ageing and diseases like cancer (7, 8).
There are some claims online about chia seeds having more antioxidants than blueberries, but I was unable find a study to verify this claim.
Bottom Line: Chia seeds are high in antioxidants that help to protect the delicate fats in the seeds. They also have various benefits for health.
3. Almost All The Carbs In Them Are Fiber
Looking at the nutrition profile of chia seeds, you see that an ounce has 12 grams of "carbohydrate."
However… 11 of those grams are fiber, which isn't digested by the body. Fiber doesn't raise blood sugar, doesn't require insulin to be disposed of and therefore shouldn't count as a carb.
The true carb content is only 1 gram per ounce, which is very low. This makes chia a low-carb friendly food. Because of all the fiber, chia seeds can absorb up to 10-12 times their weight in water, becoming gel-like and expanding in your stomach (9).
Theoretically, this should increase fullness, slow absorption of your food and help you automatically eat fewer calories. Fiber also feeds the friendly bacteria in the intestine, which is important because keeping your gut bugs well fed is absolutely crucial for health (10).
Chia seeds are 40% fiber, by weight. This makes them one of the best sources of fiber in the world.
Bottom Line: Almost all of the carbohydrates in chia seeds are fiber. This gives them the ability to absorb 10-12 times their weight in water. Fiber also has various beneficial effects on health.
4. Chia Seeds Are High In Quality Protein
Chia seeds contain a decent amount of protein. By weight, they are about 14% protein, which is very high compared to most plants.
They also contain a good balance of essential amino acids, so our bodies should be able to make use of the protein in them (11, 12). Protein has all sorts of benefits for health. It is also the most weight loss friendly nutrient in the diet, by far.
A high protein intake reduces appetite and has been shown to reduce obsessive thoughts about food by 60% and the desire for night time snacking by 50% (13, 14).
Chia seeds really are an excellent protein source, especially for people who eat little or no animal products.
Bottom Line: Chia seeds are high in quality protein, much higher than most plant foods. Protein is the most weight loss friendly macronutrient and can drastically reduce appetite and cravings.
5. Due To The High Fiber And Protein Content, Chia Seeds Should Be Able To Help You Lose Weight
Many health experts believe that chia seeds can help with weight loss.
The fiber absorbs large amounts of water and expands in the stomach, which should increase fullness and slow the absorption of food (15).
There have been several studies on glucomannan, a fiber that works in a similar way, showing that it can lead to weight loss (16, 17).
Then the protein in chia seeds could help to reduce appetite and food intake. Unfortunately, when the effects of chia seeds on weight loss have been studied, the results have been rather disappointing.
Although one study showed that chia seeds can reduce appetite, there was no significant |
, but I was really upset about it,” Ramsey said. “I used to be more open and forthcoming about my relationship and my job and my friends. This was a learning experience that taught me to stop doing that.
“More hurtful to me than people saying mean things about me was people saying mean things about [Patrick]. I couldn’t understand why a stranger would go to such great lengths to say hurtful things to me and the person that I loved.”
…
Ramsey, perhaps best known for the video “Shit White Girls Say… to Black Girls,” which went gangbusters to the tune of 9 million views, considers herself to have fostered a “really great” relationship with YouTube, and she’s solicited the site for help.
A few months ago, the site’s brass sent a survey to a limited number of partners, asking what kind of improvements they’d like to see on the site.
“One of the things I suggested was the ability to block users by IP address,” Ramsey remembered. “I know it’s possible because people do it with blogs. It’s pretty simple: If an account on an IP address deleted because enough people are complaining, you shouldn’t be able to sign up for a new account at the IP address.”
The other suggestion Ramsey made was one that would limit comments to subscribers only.
“I know there’s a workaround for that,” she said, “but I think it would help to curb the crazies.”
In both cases, YouTube never responded to her questions. And YouTube did not respond to the Daily Dot’s requests for comment.
In the meantime, ItRubsTheLotion beats on under the guise of a like-minded name. This round, the individual goes by It Rubs TheLotion, and it’s done so for two weeks.
You can log on to YouTube to see some of the user’s activity. In the top right corner, a brief biographical description is listed:
“Ingrid has been returned to the jungle. She’s back in her natural habitat. Banned and broken.”
Welcome to the jungle. It’s more than fun and games.
Photo via Franchesca RamseyCarbon offset specialists CO2 Group has entered into the Queensland market under a deal to reduce Bundaberg Brewed Drinks’ carbon footprint.
The company will develop a carbon offset project at Moura, about 300 kilometres west of Bundaberg, with support from the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI).
CO2 said the project paves the way for it to provide carbon management solutions to a new market in Queensland, including its burgeoning resources industry.
While the company has traditionally used mallee eucalypts in Australian-based carbon sink plantings, it will introduce a new species of eucalypt that’s best suited to the Queensland landscape.
Seed from elite provenances will be provided by the DEEDI for the planting.
Besides reducing greenhouse emissions, the project will also serve as a resource for research and development work over coming decades.
CO2 has 22,000 hectares of carbon sink plantings, or about 33 million trees, under its management.
Its clients include Woodside Energy (ASX: WPL), Origin Energy (ASX: ORG), (ASX:RIO) and (ASX: QAN).The unrest engulfing the Middle East could result in Israel becoming involved in a “surprise war” with Syria, according to the head of the Israeli air force.
"When you look [around] today I think that a surprise war can be born in very many configurations," Major General Amir Eshel said at a conference near Tel Aviv.
In particular, the general stressed that if rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and seized the huge stockpiles of missiles within the country, it could lead to a major conflict in the region.
"If Syria collapses tomorrow, we are liable to find ourselves in this stew very quickly and in a very big way," Eshel said.
"The enormous arsenal parked there... will be spread all over the place and you find yourself having to act on a very broad scale."
On Tuesday, Israeli chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz issued a personal warning to President Assad, saying the Syrian leader would “bear the consequences” in the event of further attacks on Israeli forces. The threat followed the Syrian military firing across the armistice line on the Golan Heights, hitting an Israeli military vehicle. Israeli troops have responded to such events by taking retaliatory shots at targets across the Syrian border.
Technically, Israel has been at war with Syria since it seized 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan territory from its neighbor in the 1967 Six-Day War. Fourteen years later, Tel Aviv annexed the land, though the move has never been recognized by the international community.
Israel warned it would not tolerate fire from Syria, or the transfer of advanced weapons to militants.
Tel Aviv maintains that its main concern is that Syria’s arsenal – which includes chemical weapons, anti-aircraft systems and missiles – could be sent to Hezbollah or fall into the hands of rebel groups linked to Al-Qaeda. Israel reportedly conducted flights into Syria to determine if there were any chemical weapons stored across the territory of the conflict-torn state. Tel Aviv has denied the flights took place.
Earlier, Israeli defense officials spoke out on a more positive note, saying that Israel's ability to deter attacks on its positions in the occupied Golan Heights was undiminished.
"The good news is that the continued stability of the Golan Heights [and] the deterrent power of the Israeli army have not been weakened," senior defense adviser Amos Gilad told Army Radio at the time.
However, this past week there have been three consecutive cross-border shootings, and the Israeli military is concerned by the incidents, according to Army Radio.A controversial arrest in the city of Valparaiso, Indiana, in August has been resolved amicably, and could serve as a model for easing tensions between law enforcement and communities of color nationwide.
On Tuesday, Porter County Sheriff David Reynolds, Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas and local resident Darryl Jackson, Jr. issued a joint statement that they said was the result of a collaborative dialogue.
“In it we offer some reflections on what happened the evening of August 29th, 2015,” the three said in a written statement. “We moreover seek to bring closure to this episode by pursuing true reconciliation, which is more than simply the papering over of differences.”
The 24-year-old Jackson, who is African-American, was arrested on Aug. 29 in the mostly white, affluent city of Valparaiso for resisting arrest and failing to identify himself. He was parked along a residential street waiting for a friend to come out of a house when police approached him.
In a police dash-cam video released to local media, Jackson asks the arresting white officer why he is being targeted. The officer, part of a Porter County gang task force asks the man to get out of the car and then asks for identification.
Jackson refused and was arrested soon after. At the time Sheriff Reynolds, who oversees the gang unit, said the officer did nothing wrong.
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A few days later after the Porter County prosecutor’s office declined to pursue criminal charges, Mayor Costas called into question the professionalism of the arresting officer.
In the weeks that followed police groups condemned Costas’ “rush to judgment” while a group of local activists and students at Valparaiso University defended Jackson. Tensions came to a head last month at a packed meeting of the city's Advisory Human Relations Council which was considering a resolution on the matter.
But now, all sides seem to be moving on.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for officers of the law. I went to school in suburban Detroit, where I interacted with the police daily and was always taught to be respectful of those trying to do a difficult job,” Jackson stated. But I am not perfect. On the evening of August the 29th, 2015, my flaws presented themselves in a way that I was unaware was even possible. During my interaction with Officer Lucas and the other officers on the gang task force, I was overcome with fear, which led me to act in ways that I regret.”
Jackson went on to state that the experience had left him “eager to help other people see that it is on all of us to stop the cycle of disrespect.”
Sheriff Reynolds said he accepted Jackson’s apology.
“The truth is, we know that we can do better too. I have always believed that every interaction with citizens is important and that my department has an obligation to be tactically sound, critically aware, and constructively engaged with the communities we serve,” Reynolds stated. “We are dedicated to Porter County and strive for excellence in everything we do.”
Heath Carter, a history professor at Valparaiso University, was among the community leaders who helped foster a dialogue between the different camps. “Everyone admitted they could do better,” Carter said, calling the final statement “a remarkable document.”
“These are difficult issues not just in Valpo but around the nation,” Carter added. “The community was able to come together and have a meaningful conversation about our hopes and expectations for the way law enforcement happens.”
In the statement, Reynolds seemed to concur: “As a result of these conversations, I have come to see that my officers must be better equipped to understand the ways that our own implicit biases inflect our work, as well as the ways that citizens’ backgrounds impact their perceptions and experiences of law enforcement.”
The sheriff promised to hold quarterly dialogues with residents.
Mayor Costas, meanwhile, hopes Valparaiso, a city with a history of racial strife, can learn from the episode.
“The strength of a community is tested by its ability to work through tough issues in a spirit of understanding and respect, Costas stated. “We have a remarkably diverse and talented citizenry here in Valparaiso and in Porter County, and we benefit every day from the dedication, character, and sacrifice of law enforcement personnel whose efforts are essential to the flourishing of our communities. Together, we can and will lead by example, and through our efforts this city and this county will continue to be known as places of peace and prosperity for all people.”
Jackson Reynolds Costas Joint Statement
WBEZ’s Michael Puente covers Northwest Indiana. Follow him on Twitter @MikePuenteNews.Welcome to the on-line version of Sacred Economics. This is
a book that explores, on a social, political, and personal level, the
transition in money and economy that is upon us today. With the agreement of
the publisher, EVOLVER EDITIONS/North Atlantic Books, I am making the full text
available on line one chapter at a time over a period of about six months. By
the end of 2011, the complete book will be on this website.
I am doing so, first, in order that this information can
spread as widely as possible in a time of mounting crisis; secondly, to align
the book with the spirit of the gift that lies at the heart of a sacred
economy; and third, because it no longer feels right to attempt to profit
through creating an artificial scarcity of things, like digital content, that
are fundamentally abundant.
Of course, the book is also available in print, through your
local bookstore or online, and in ebook versions at online booksellers. I also
intend, again with the bold agreement of the publisher, to make a
you-choose-the-price ebook available on my website.
Why serialize the book rather than putting the whole text up
at once? First, I wrote the book to be read linearly – it is very much a book,
not a website. Secondly, I would like to use this serialized version of the
book as a way to deepen the conversation around it by responding to readers'
comments, chapter by chapter. It will be as if we are reading it together. Over
time, the sum of the text plus the comments and responses will constitute a
larger, cocreated, book.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Humanity is only
beginning to awaken to the true magnitude of the crisis at hand. If the
economic transformation I describe seems miraculous, that is because
nothing less than a miracle is needed to heal our world.
Chapter 1. The Gift World
My intention is that by identifying the core features of the economics of Separation, we may be empowered to envision an economics of Reunion, an economics that restores to wholeness our fractured communities, relationships, cultures, ecosystems, and planet.
Chapter 2. The Illusion of Scarcity
It is said that money, or at least the love of it, is the root of all evil. But why should it be? After all, the purpose of money is, at its most basic, simply to facilitate exchangein other words, to connect human gifts with human needs. What power, what monstrous perversion,has turned money into the opposite: an agent of scarcity?
Chapter 3. Money and the Mind
Money is woven into our minds, our perceptions, our identities. That is
why, when a crisis of money strikes, it seems that the fabric of
reality is unraveling, toothat the very world is falling apart. Yet
this is also cause for great optimism, because money is a social
construction that we have the power to change. What new kinds of
perceptions, and what new kinds of collective actions, would accompany a
new kind of money?
Chapter 4. The Trouble with Property
The realization that property is theft usually incites
a rage and desire for vengeance against the thieves. Matters are not so simple. The owners of wealth play a role
that is created and necessitated by the great invisible stories of our
civilization that compel us to turn the world into property and money whether
we are aware of doing so or not.
Chapter 5. The Corpse of the Commons
When
I ask people what is missing most from their lives, the most common answer is
"community." But how can we build community when its building blocks- — the things
we do for each other-have all been converted into money?
Chapter 6. The Economics of Usury
The imperative of
perpetual growth implicit in interest-based money drives the relentless
conversion of life, world, and spirit into money. The more of life we convert into money, the more we need money to live.
Usury, not money, is the proverbial root of all evil.
Chapter 7. The Crisis of Civilization
The impasse in
our ability to convert nature into commodities and relationships into
services
is not temporary. There is no more room for the conversion of life into
money. Postponing the collapse will only make it worse. We need to shift
our perspective toward what we can give.
What can we each contribute to a more beautiful world? That is our only
responsibility and our only security.
Chapter 8. The Turning of the Age
The lie of separation in the age of usury is now complete. We have explored its farthest extremes, and have seen the deserts and
the prisons, the concentration camps and the wars, the wastage of the good, the
true, and the beautiful. Now, the capacities we have developed through our
long journey will serve us well in the imminent Age of Reunion.
Chapter 9. The Story of Value
As our sojourn of separation comes to an end and we reunite
with nature, our attitude of human exceptionalism from the laws of nature is
ending as well. A new economic system is emerging that embodies the new human
identity of the connected self living in cocreative partnership with Earth.
Chapter 10. The Law of Return
The personal and
planetary mirror each other. The connection is more than mere analogy: the kind
of work that we force
ourselves to do is precisely the kind of work that despoils the planet. We don't really want to do it to our bodies; we
don't really want to do it to the world.
Chapter 11. The Currency of the Commons
The metamorphosis of human economy that is underway in our time will go
more deeply than the Marxist revolution because the Story of the People
that it weaves wont be just a new fiction of ownership, but a
recognition of its fictive, conventional nature.
Chapter 12. Negative-Interest Economics
The deep link between money and being is good news because human
identity today is undergoing a profound metamorphosis. What kind of
money will be consistent with the new self, the connected self, and a
world in which we increasingly realize the truth of interconnectedness:
that more for you is more for me?
Chapter 13. Steady-State and Degrowth Economics
I have long been impatient with sustainability, as if that were an end
in itself. Isnt it more important to think about what we want to
sustain, and therefore what we want to create?
Chapter 14. The Social Dividend
Sacred Economics
envisions a world where people do things for love, not money. What would you do, freed from
slavery to money? What does your own life, your true life, look like?
Underneath the substitute lives we are paid to live, there is a real life, your
life.
Chapter 15. Local and Complementary Currencies
Local currency is often proposed as a way to revitalize
local economies, insulate them from global market forces, and re-create
community. There are at present thousands of them around the world. So what's the catch?
Chapter 16. Transition to Gift Economy
The new
exchange systems blur the boundary between the monetary
and
nonmonetary realms and therefore the standard definition of the
"economy." How would we
measure it in the absence of a common unit of account? Ultimately,
underneath money, is the totality of what
human beings do for each other.
Chapter 17. Summary and Roadmap
The transition I map out is evolutionary. It
does not involve confiscation of property or the wholesale destruction of
present institutions, but their transformation. As the following summaries
describe, this transformation is under way already, or incipient in existing
institutions.
Chapter 18. Relearning Gift Culture
The transition to sacred economy is part
of a larger shift in our ways of thinking, relating, and being. Economic logic
alone is not enough to sustain it. As we heal the
spirit-matter rupture, we discover that economics and spirituality are
inseparable. On the personal level, economics is about how to give our gifts
and meet our needs.
Chapter 19. Nonaccumulation
It is true that accumulation adds at least some measure to our security, but not for long. The mentality of accumulation is
coincident with the ascent of separation, and it is ending in tandem with the Age
of Separation as well. Accumulation makes no sense for the expanded self of the
gift economy.
Chapter 20. Right Livelihood and Sacred Investing
Etymologically speaking, to invest means to clothe, as in to take naked money and put it into new vestments, something
material, something real in the physical or social realm. Money is naked human
potential — creative energy that has not yet been "clothed" with material or
social constructions. Right investment is to
array money in sacred vestments.
Chapter 21. Working in the Gift
As
you step into a gift mentality, the first steps will be small ones. Perhaps if you run a business, you will
convert a small part of it to a gift model. Whatever steps you take, know that
you are preparing for the economy of the future.
Chapter 22. Community and the Unquantifiable
Despite being able to pay for everything we need, we do not feel like all our needs have actually been met. We feel
empty, hungry. Perhaps the things we need the most are absent from the products of mass production, cannot
be quantified or commoditized, and are therefore inherently outside the money realm.
Chapter 23. A New Materialism
Most of this book has been about money, which is the usual subject of
economics today. On a deeper level, though, economics should be about things, specifically the things that human beings create, why they create them, who gets to use them, and how they circulate.We live the era of data; today we deal with data systems that are larger than anything that humans have ever created. We reach the volume of 34 gigabytes of content consumed by a single person per day, on average, and as technological progress continues that number will climb and climb.
In the world of short attention spans and constant information overload we need a simple way of comprehending large amounts of data. Data should be a ubiquitous resource that can be shaped to provide better consumption, and it’s possible to squeeze a lot of information into small space by presenting data in visual ways. By visualizing data, you can turn it into a format that can be both easily explored and consumed.
In this article, I’ll describe what data visualization is, how it can be used, and what you should take into account if you want to visualize your data.
What is Data Visualization?
Data visualization is a way of representing some form of collected data. Typically, such representations help people make decisions. At its core, data visualization is about visual encoding. We use visualization to extend our own cognition and perception.
A Brief History of Data Visualization
Data visualization has a long and exciting history and while it’s impossible to cover all aspects of its development in this article, it’s worth mentioning two big steps in showing information.
Maps
The first attempt to show data visually began with cartography — about 6000 years ago when the first map was created. A town map of the city of Konya is known as the oldest recorded example of data visualization.This study focuses on the negotiation process that partners in a couple engage in behind the scenes to negotiate whose career will take precedence in the household and the resulting effort and burnout that individuals experience at work and at home. The author finds that gender moderates the relationship between competitive negotiation tactics and an individual’s career responsibilities. Gender also moderates the relationship between both competitive and cooperative negotiation tactics and the emotional work conducted by one’s spouse or partner. The author also observes a moderating effect of gender between emotional and career effort and burnout—both from one’s job and from one’s relationship. Results suggest that men and women react differently to negotiation tactics used within a couple and tend to be affected by gendered norms regarding the work and family domains.
Marriage is often said to be the process of moving from “me” to “we.” This transition is especially poignant in dual-career couples because of the joint participation in outside work. Every day, individuals in dual career couples must make decisions together about their work and family lives: Promotions are accepted or declined when couples decide whether a job is worth keeping, work hours are increased or decreased depending on what a couple needs or wants, emotional support is given and received in response to the decisions that are made about work. This fact notwithstanding, the current work and family research tends to focus very little attention on how decisions made within couples can affect outcomes at work and at home. Though the ways in which strains spills over from work to family (Bolger, DeLongis, Kessler, & Wethington, 1989; Piotrkowski, 1979) or from husband to wife (Takeuchi, Yun, & Tesluk, 2002; Westman, Vinokur, Hamilton, & Roziner, 2004) are undoubtedly important aspects of the work–family landscape, there are other aspects that have been overlooked.
Recent reports on the gender wage gap have suggested that young, unmarried women do not suffer the same wage differentials as married women do (Luscombe, 2010; Wolgemuth, 2010), but married men enjoy wage premiums (Chiodo & Owyang, 2002), suggesting that marriage precipitates some sort of gendered difference in workplace outcomes and employment trajectory. Marriage often precipitates adherence to—or at least recognition of—gendered norms in relationships (e.g., South & Spitze, 1994; Stafford, Backman, & Dibona, 1977), suggesting that women’s careers may be set aside for the good of the family when they enter into relationships with men who also have careers (i.e., become a dual-career couple). Because to get ahead in the workplace women need to put in the discretionary time needed to achieve success, the decisions that partners make about the investments they will make in their careers are central to the study of gender differences in employment outcomes.
How are decisions made about the effort one will invest into one’s career? Presumably men and women do not just magically fall into gendered roles—and the research on household labor suggests that a bargaining process occurs at the relationship level (Bittman, England, Folbre, Sayer, & Matheson, 2003; Brines, 1994). This “second stage” negotiation occurs over the division of household labor (Bowles & McGinn, 2008b), resulting in decisions about who will do what around the home. I adapt this conceptualization to propose that a similar type of bargaining also occurs between partners regarding the division of the career role. When partners are faced with divergent or conflicting interests regarding their career ambitions, they must negotiate the degree to which each partner’s career will be valued in the household and how much effort each will devote to his or her career.
Indeed, to experience work outcomes commensurate with the top men in industry, women must prioritize their careers and put in the extra work hours to prove their commitment to their careers. The intracouple negotiation of the career role might also explain the differential working hours that men and women report and the types of jobs that men and women take, as well as the amount of time that men and women devote to household labor (e.g., Hersch & Stratton, 1994). A lot of questions about the bargaining process itself emerge from this line of inquiry: If women use self-focused negotiation tactics, are they more likely to invest more time and energy into their careers? Alternatively, if they put their spouse’s career and support needs above their own, will they suffer career-hindering outcomes? In addition, though outcomes such as income and gender segregation of the workplace are critically important to the trajectory of research on women and work, less is known about more proximal outcomes such as stress and burnout. The current research thus also examines whether men and women experience different precursors to job and relationship stress stemming from the career negotiation process.
Relationship-Based Outcomes of Negotiation: Emotion Work Section: Choose Top of page Abstract Negotiation Tactics to De... Dual Concern Theory and R... Work-Based Outcomes of Ne... Relationship-Based Outcom... << Work-Based Outcomes of Ca... Home-Based Outcomes of Ca... Method Results Discussion References CITING ARTICLES It is not only the division of paid labor within a household that will be affected by negotiations over the career role; emotional labor between partners is also likely to be affected. Hochschild (1983) describes emotional labor as the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display, suggesting that one must engage in active work to achieve an emotional display that fulfills a need. Although most conceptualizations of emotional labor have been concerned with organizationally required displays (e.g., Grandey, 2000), emotional labor is a critical activity within families and between partners (DeVault, 1991; Seery & Crowley, 2000). Indeed, Hochschild (1983) claimed that emotion management is an ongoing activity in all settings. Erickson (1993) first conceptualized emotional labor as emotion work conducted by partners in a couple. Specifically, she noted that though it is rarely recognized as such, providing emotional support is more than just “normal” marital intimacy—rather, it involves a concerted effort. Emotion work involves activities including comforting a spouse, encouraging him or her, and providing support, and it is also gendered (Erickson, 2005), just like other forms of household labor. Emotional support activities are seen as related to communality (Eagly, 1987) and thus are more strongly associated with women than with men. In a negotiation, though partners might be negotiating for specific outcomes (such as the division of career effort), they might also experience other outcomes as a result. I propose that the amount of emotion work that one’s partner partakes in is likely one of these “unintended consequences.” When women negotiate competitively with their spouses, their partners are less likely to invest effort in emotion work than the partners of competitive men because of the aforementioned backlash effect (Rudman, 1998). Specifically, when women utilize competitive negotiation tactics, they are enacting gender-incongruent behaviors and can expect to encounter a social penalty for their behavior to correct for the behavior and restore a gendered balance to the relationship (Coltrane, 2000). The tendency toward penalizing gender-incongruent behavior and the fact that couples routinely reproduce gendered norms suggest that a correction of sorts can be expected to occur if women act competitively. Their partners might reduce the effort they put into emotion work as a result. Alternatively, because men who enact competitive behaviors are not bucking a gendered norm, they may not experience any emotional-support-related penalty from their spouse for this behavior. In essence, negotiating competitively is expected from men and thus will not affect the emotion work of their partners. The opposite effect might be expected for cooperative negotiation tactics. Cooperative tactics are congruent with feminine norms of communality and niceness—and this combined with the gendered norms within couples suggests that women will be interpersonally rewarded for reproducing the expected behaviors. Men, on the other hand, might expect to receive interpersonal backlash in terms of less spousal emotional support for using cooperative negotiation tactics. Although this backlash may not result in a wife not partaking in emotion work on behalf of her partner (after all, giving emotional support is a gendered norm for women itself), it may not have nearly as much impact on her willingness as when a woman enacts cooperative (i.e., gender-typical) negotiation behaviors. Hypothesis 3 : The relationship between competitive negotiation tactics and the perceived emotional support from one’s partner will be moderated by gender such that the relationship will be more strongly negative for women than for men.
Hypothesis 4: The relationship between cooperative negotiation tactics and the perceived emotional support from one’s partner will be moderated by gender such that the relationship will be more strongly positive for women than for men.
Method Section: Choose Top of page Abstract Negotiation Tactics to De... Dual Concern Theory and R... Work-Based Outcomes of Ne... Relationship-Based Outcom... Work-Based Outcomes of Ca... Home-Based Outcomes of Ca... Method << Results Discussion References CITING ARTICLES Sample Participants were recruited from working undergraduate students at a southeastern university and by using contacts from independent data collectors (e.g., research assistants contacted working individuals of varying ages to complete the study). I purposively sampled for age and length of time in relationship to improve generalizability. Participants were invited to complete the study if they were in a committed, cohabiting relationship (e.g., marriage) and if each partner either worked or was in school. Individuals participated in three surveys over a period of one month. In total, 129 women completed the Time 1 survey, 93 completed Time 2, and 74 completed all three surveys, for an attrition rate of 43%. In addition, 96 men completed the Time 1 survey, 56 completed Time 2, and 49 completed Time 3, for an attrition rate of 49%. The only significant difference between the attrition group and the group that completed all surveys was that, among women, the leavers worked longer hours (42 vs. 32 per week) and were enrolled in less hours of classes (5.4 vs. 7.9 per week). For men, younger individuals were more likely to leave (29 vs. 34 years of age). There were no significant differences on the critical study variables. The average age of women in the sample was 29.9 years and of men was 32.2 years. Men were more likely to be married than were women (75% vs. 66%), but since marital status did not materially affect any results, it was not included in the analyses. Both men and women had one child on average, and men worked more hours and made more money than women did (43 vs. 35 hours; $59,100 vs. $36,500). Women were in their relationships longer than were men (9.9 years vs. 8.9 years). Both the men and women were predominately white or Caucasian (84.0% and 86.5%, respectively). Many different occupations and industries were represented in the sample. A plurality of respondents was in education (20%) or sales/insurance (17%), with 9% in both health/medicine and financial services, 5% in both IT and construction, and 3% in each of three industries: media, hospitality/travel, and law. The remainder reported somewhat idiosyncratic occupations such as jobs in the military, sports, or music. Procedure Participants completed three surveys at three separate time points—Survey 1 at Time 1, Survey 2 at Time 2, and Survey 3 at Time 3. Each time point was separated by 2 weeks to decrease the effect of same-source bias. Survey 1 contained demographic information and measures of negotiation tactics, Survey 2 collected emotional labor and paid labor information, and Survey 3 collected data on relationship and job burnout. Individuals had the option of utilizing a confidential and unique ID number if they were uncomfortable using their names on the surveys, and they had the option of completing online or paper versions of the surveys. Measures Negotiation tactics To assess negotiation tactics, I used a measure derived from De Dreu and Boles’s (1998) scale. De Dreu and Boles created a list of negotiation heuristics to assess how individuals prepared for negotiations that encompassed both cooperative and competitive shortcuts. I adapted this scale to refer to retrospective accounts of negotiation tactics used by individuals in their relationships. The questions were prefaced by the following guidelines: “Please describe the extent to which you utilized any of the following types of tactics while you were first negotiating work roles, for instance, whose job would be primary, with your spouse/partner.” The eight-item competitive negotiation tactics scale included items such as “Did you feel that your partner’s loss was your gain,” “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” and “Winner take all.” Coefficient alpha for this scale is.84. For the eight-item cooperative negotiation scale, items included “Share and share alike,” “Were willing to compromise,” and “Played fair.” Coefficient alpha for this scale is.87. Descriptive and control variables Via the Time 1 survey, I collected demographic data concerning gender, marital status, length of relationship, number of children, age, prosocial orientation, and education. Work effort On the Time 2 survey, I asked participants what proportion of the paid work in the household they were responsible for. Responses could range from 0% (e.g., the respondent does not participate in paid work) to 100% (e.g., the respondent is the sole wage earner). Emotion work On the Time 2 survey, to assess the effort toward emotional support that a person has negotiated from his or her partner, I used Erickson’s (1993) “husband’s emotion work” scale, reworded to refer to either female or male partners. The scale includes items assessing how often a partner “Confides their innermost thoughts and feelings,” “Offers me encouragement,” and “Acts affectionately toward me,” among others. The 15-item scale has a coefficient alpha of.84. Job burnout I assess emotional exhaustion at Time 3 using the nine-item emotional exhaustion scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996). Sample items include “I feel emotionally drained from my work” and “I feel burned out from my work.” Coefficient alpha for this scale is.95. Relationship burnout To assess relationship burnout, at Time 3 I used Erickson’s (1993) 12-item marital burnout scale. Sample items include “I feel burned out from my relationship” and “My relationship energizes me” (reverse coded). Coefficient alpha for this scale is.94.
Acknowledgements This article is adapted from the author’s doctoral dissertation. Thanks to Timothy Judge, John Kammeyer-Mueller, Lisa Nishii, Charlice Hurst, and the anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments and suggestions on prior drafts.
Notes 1.
The dual concern model (Pruitt & Rubin, 1986) suggests four different negotiation tactics (based on two intersecting continua): self-focused, other-focused, avoidant, and win-win (simultaneously self- and other-focused). Because of their location at opposite ends of either continuum, I focus only on self- and other-focused negotiation tactics in this exploratory investigation of the role of negotiation on job and relationship outcomes. 2.
To further support the results using standardized interactions, I also ran the LISREL model using multiple groups analysis (by gender). Though the lower sample size of the male group reduced the degrees of freedom needed to exclusively use this approach, the coefficient patterns supported the results reported. 3.
Chi-square difference tests were not able to be conducted because the alternative models were not nested within the hypothesized models, but comparison of fit statistics supports the choice of the hypothesized causal ordering. The fit statistics for the first alternative model (M → IV → DV) with the same gendered interactions were χ2(df = 6) = 84.20, CFI =.92, SRMR =.06. The fit statistics for the second alternative causal model (IV → DV → M) were χ2(df = 6) = 41.46, CFI =.91, SRMR =.04.Cuba announces firing of half a million state workers
By Bill Van Auken
15 September 2010
With its announcement that over 500,000 state workers will be fired over the next six months, the Castro regime is carrying out its most sweeping attack on Cuban workers since it came to power more than half a century ago.
The announcement was published in the official government daily Granma Monday in the name of the National Secretariat of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), the country’s state-controlled and only legal trade union federation.
The union’s statement served as a concretization and rubber-stamping of plans for mass layoffs that were first made public last month by President Raúl Castro, who told a meeting of the country’s parliament that the regime was determined to purge “bloated” payrolls and “wipe out forever the notion that Cuba is the only country |
Sanders’s campaign moribund in the wake of his recent loss in Nevada. This is absurd; after all, out of 50 states, only three have voted, one being a tie, one being a major Sanders win, and one being a small Clinton win. The media has dishonestly pointed to Hillary Clinton’s higher superdelegate count as evidence of her strong lead, despite knowing full well that superdelegates are highly unlikely to risk tearing the party apart by taking the nomination out of voters’ hands, and are thus mostly a formality. The press has also crafted a narrative about Sanders “slipping behind,” ignoring the fact that Sanders has been behind from the very start; not for a moment has he been in front.
But even if it was correct to say that Sanders was “starting to” lose (instead of progressively losing less and less), this should only motivate all Democrats to work harder to make sure he is nominated. One’s support for Sanders should increase in direct proportion to one’s fear of Trump. And if Trump is the nominee, Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race and throw her every ounce of energy into supporting Sanders. If this does not occur, the resulting consequences for Muslims and Mexican immigrants of a Trump presidency will be fully the responsibility of Clinton and the Democratic Party. To run a candidate who can’t win, or who is a very high-risk proposition, is to recklessly play with the lives of millions of people. So much depends on stopping Trump; a principled defeat will mean nothing to the deported, or to those being roughed up by Trump’s goon squads or executed with pigs’ blood-dipped bullets.
Donald Trump is one of the most formidable opponents in the history of American politics. He is sharp, shameless, and likable. If he is going to be the nominee, Democrats need to think very seriously about how to defeat him. If they don’t, he will be the President of the United States, which will have disastrous repercussions for religious and racial minorities and likely for everyone else, too. Democrats should consider carefully how a Trump/Clinton matchup would develop, and how a Trump/Sanders matchup would. For their sake, hopefully they will realize that the only way to prevent a Trump presidency is the nomination of Bernie Sanders.ROHTAK, India (Reuters) - Police issued orders on Monday to shoot protesters on sight ahead of the sentencing of a self-styled guru whose conviction for rape triggered deadly clashes last week.
Soldiers stand guard at a highway in Panchkula, India August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Ajay Verma
The guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was on Friday found guilty of raping two women in a 2002 case, sparking protests by his supporters in various parts of north India. At least 38 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.
Singh is due to be sentenced in Haryana later on Monday.
“We have issued shoot-on-sight orders if anyone tries to start a protest,” said Ram Niwas, a senior bureaucrat in Haryana in-charge of law and order.
Singh’s lawyer told Reuters his client was innocent and would appeal against his conviction.
Authorities imposed curfews in several areas of Haryana and Punjab, while the capital, Delhi is on alert.
Niwas said Singh would not be taken to court to hear his sentence. Instead, the judge who convicted him would be flown to the jail where he is being held in Rohtak town.
The prison has been transformed into a fortress, with journalists banned from approaching closer than a mile (1.6 km) and roads lined with barbed-wire barricades.
“A library in the jail has been converted into a courtroom,” said Rajiv Pant, an official in charge of prisons.
There was also heavy security outside the headquarters of Singh’s spiritual cult, Dera Sacha Sauda, a 1,000-acre (400 hectare) compound in Sirsa town in Haryana.
Thousands of his supporters are believed to be inside the compound although many left following a tense stand-off with soldiers.
The Haryana state government, controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, has faced criticism from the opposition and a state court for failing to stop the violence that erupted on Friday.
In a monthly radio address on Sunday, Modi said it was “natural to be worried” after the violence, that briefly broke out in Delhi.
The rape case against Singh was brought after an anonymous letter was sent to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002. The author accused Singh of repeatedly raping her.
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The case has highlighted the Indian heartland’s fascination with spiritual gurus, who enjoy immense influence for their ability to mobilise millions of followers, many of whom are frustrated by the shortcomings of the state.
The 50-year-old Singh is known as the “guru in bling” for his bejewelled costumes. He says he has more than a million followers.
In 2015, Singh started a film franchise portraying him as MSG or “Messenger of God”, performing miracles, preaching to thousands and beating up gangsters while singing and dancing.Hello, tell us about yourself and what you do.
I'm both a musician and a producer so I have one foot in composition and performance and another foot in sound design. I've never been too interested in staying in a specific genre but I tend to lean in an experimental direction rather than a pop direction... both as a musician and as a producer.
Electronic music was something I fell into initially based on convenience in the sense that I didn't need a band. Once I started recording at the age of 15 or 16 I didn't want to wait on collaborators to help me finish songs. I didn't have access to many instrument so I ended up using bad synth patches and editing drums using mostly samples I recorded in my room with a computer mic. By the time I left high school I think I had recorded nearly 300 songs. I still work very fast and I work constantly.
I don't think I found any true grounding as an artist with something to say until I made the album "Form" at the age of 22. That album was about the illusion of control and both the production and compositions weave in and out from stable to unstable. It was the first group of songs I recorded after I got clean from drugs. It was the base of my simple understandings of adulthood and trying to break free from the cultural mindset and depictions of Millennials. That album was also the base of what the various themes of my music would be.
A year after I recorded "Form" my best friend and musical collaborator, Shawn Dickerson, disappeared. There's a lot of unsolved specifics to the case but I have good reason to think he's no longer alive. Shawn wasn't the first death I had experienced but he has definitely been the most important person I've lost. He was an amazing talent and unfortunately only released one track... a remix of my song "Cleare" which was released on "Uniform" and if you have time you should give it a listen. My EP "Peter" was a dedication to my relationship with Shawn and more or less based on the world we lived in together.
There are a few releases after those ones but my creative work at this point centers around death, control, addiction, identity and I try to switch back and forth between a light-hearted playful aesthetic and a dark aesthetic as to hopefully give these topics many dimensions to live in.
Could you give us an insight into your latest release, Sibbe?
"Sibbe" (pronounced Sibby) focuses on information, the technology that proliferates that information and cultural identity. Both of my parents were born in Iran but my brother and I were born in the United States. I've only been to Iran once when I was 12... this was pre 9/11 so the Middle East wasn't as large of a cultural topic as it is now. I was just old enough then to understand what Iran was and how it connected to me but not really mature enough to understand what identity is in a larger worldly sense. I especially wasn't ready to become a "professional" on the Middle East, Islam, religious fanaticism, international relations and Iran post 9/11.
Granted, I definitely knew more about these topics than my peers did, which actually became part of a problem. It took quite some time for me to understand that my knowledge of Iran, Islam and the Middle East was informed by a very specific diaspora. My family, their friends and other Persians I knew all come from a specific slice of the greater Iranian culture. In other words, I only heard one story and I heard it frequently. I had always thought I knew the full picture. Even the news I'd hear from Iran came through major Iranian cities... for example the media tends to focus on Tehran. It's not uncommon for people to ask me about Iran or the Middle East and my thoughts on specific things happening in the news because I am seen as an authority on the topic. In reality, I am removed from the true source and experience and in some ways even my sources are removed.
"Sibbe" is about that inaccuracy and also the wanting to understand. Some of the source material was sent to me from Iran by my dad and my girlfriend who were visiting at separate times and all the source material for the track "Sibbe III" was sent from Teipei by my friend Nicole who lives out there now. The source material was recorded secretly using cellphones. I wanted to use things like cellphones in this project because it is a way information is spread and collected whether that's reading the news, talking to people in other countries, or NSA spying and data-mining (which is also why I appreciated the recordings were done in secret.)
I've also been listening to a lot of re-releases of older music from all around the world which have become more and more popular in the last decade. It's always been easy for Western, English speaking countries to proliferate their media and influence to other countries but we're finally at a time and place where the Internet and the greater interest in information has opened up the doors for this music to come back to us.
I look at "Sibbe" as an American album through and through although a lot of it is influenced by music outside of the United States. I also made a point to nonsensically mishmash cultural tones and ideas to show ignorance, appreciation and a push for something new.
To what extent do you make use of Renoise in your music creation process and what is the blend of hardware and software in your setup?
The only D/I I use is an Alesis Ion synthesizer and then everything else is either recorded through a microphone or sampled. When making experimental music, Renoise is my main instrument. Every track on this album and even going back to all the tracks on my first album "Form" were made using Renoise. I may write segments on instruments but I never plan a full song before I start recording because I'd rather filter it through the creative process of production while I'm writing.
I don't know if this works for everyone but I'd definitely recommend not planning out an entire song before you record it if you're the only person working on the song. The benefit of having collaborators is that there are many minds working at the same time. You can recreate that effect if you record and then write with what you've laid out. The problem with a big idea for a song from beginning to finish is that you'll leave no room for flexibility or serendipity.
Do you involve live instruments in any way?
Yes. On the new album "Sibbe" for example I used piano, glockenspiel, violin, synthesizer, vocals, Turkish Tar and melodica. I'll record passages on instruments and then if I don't like the way it turns out I might cut them up and sample them to create something I would never have thought of just sitting in front of the piano, for example.
The track, Vietnamoses, caters to the dance floor, while the others are more ambient in nature. Was this planned in advance? Why not focus exclusively on one or the other?
I recorded many songs during this period, some of which had drum tracks. My EP "Czarat" was made during this time and the B-Side was "Vietnamoses."I was originally only going to focus on the experimental non-percussive stuff for "Sibbe" but I thought "Vietnamoses" added something other songs couldn't.
There may be a sense of elitism in experimental music that sees rhythmic music as lesser than. Or at least this may have been a driving point in the 20th century when people really wanted to challenge what we know about music and now it's just part of the cultural understanding that songs with beats are in one box while ambient experimentalism is in another box. But truthfully, there is an overlap between the two. When done in a specific way, robotic rhythms and free-flowing sounds can each have a trance like hypnotic effect, which I think "Vietnamoses" captures. You can see this connection in cultures that chant or create drones when praying or meditating while other cultures will use drums and poly-rhythms in their religious practices.
This release just came out on the Audiobulb label. Do you have any upcoming shows or new releases planned?
I don't really play my solo stuff live because I always create it with home listening in mind, but I am a part of a duo that performs live. I collaborate with Daniel Blomquist and we have two shows planned in San Francisco. We'll be playing with Thomas Dimuzio and two other acts on Saturday, October 17th at Thee Parkside and we'll be doing a collaboration set with a yet to be determined acoustic musician or group curated by Danny Clay on Saturday, December 12th at the Center for New Music. Daniel and I have enough songs recorded for an album, but we haven't shopped anything out quite yet. Our songs are generally in the 10-15 minute range with long, slow builds and towering peaks.
I also have an LP called "Agnys" coming out digitally and on vinyl on Spring Theory sometime in January or February of 2016. "Agnys" is playful and joyful without being overstated or saccharine sweet and all in all pretty much the opposite in aesthetic when compared to "Sibbe"... all the songs have beats to them for example and they definitely give into a pop sensibility. "Agnys" was initially based around ideas Shawn and I never got to complete, but eventually grew into a bigger world of ideas as I developed it.
Who would you say have been your biggest musical influences and why?
Early on the two big ones were Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie. I was mostly into bad metal bands before the age of 14 and both of those guys showed me you could be dynamic with sound and style. I listen to a lot of music now but the artists that I am really inspired by would be people that are widely dynamic. To name a few I'd say John Zorn, Mike Patton, Trey Spruance, Moondog, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yoko Kanno, Nobuo Uematsu, David Bowie, Aphex Twin, Daniel Lopatin, Bjork, Can, Demdike Stare, Dungen, Fennesz, Floating Points, Four Tet, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Haxan Cloak, William Basinski, Debussy, Chopin, Googoosh, Satie, Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans, Holly Herndon, Richie Cunning, Opiate, Pole, Andy Stott, Ata Ebtekar, Dariush Dolat-Shahi, Selda, Isao Tomita, Leyland Kirby, Dr. Lloyd Miller, Murcof, Pan Sonic, RAUM, Ryoji Ikeda, Secret Chiefs 3, Tim Hecker, Tortoise...
Are there any other things that you would say have an influence on your music?
I get bored very easily so my mind is always racing. I would never be able to pay attention in Elementary School because I was always day-dreaming. Even up until college I never found school to be that challenging... it was always hard for me to pay attention. There are some serious downsides to not really having to work in school... mainly you just don't learn what it's like to struggle to accomplish something but it taught me something about creativity I wouldn't have learned otherwise.
When I would daydream I would think in ways that were productive. One thing I still do is I take some sort of visual stimulus or an object and I think about what it would be if it were a sound. So not exactly what sound it makes if you hit it but rather what tones, textures, notes, lengths, moods and so forth would this non-sound based stimulus have. I don't mean that you then go ahead and make a concept album based on this or anything... I just did it to keep my mind thinking of sound in a different way.
One of my favorite musings was light trails on film from old footage of boxing matches in the 70/80's and what that would sound like. I also like to look at plain uninspiring things like pencils and post-its and think about their sound because it's a little more of a challenge.
How did you find out about Renoise and what attracted you to it in the first place?
Shawn had introduced me to it through a video Aaron Funk, aka Venetian Snares, posted on YouTube. I had no idea what a tracker was at the time. Renoise is much cheaper to buy than a lot of other equal quality DAWs, so I didn't see the downside of spending the money for a product good enough for someone like Venetian Snares.
I didn't touch the software for a while though. It wasn't until I went to visit my parents for a week sometime in 2007/8 that I actually used it. The first night I was in town I met up with a good friend and she was at some turning point of her life and needed advice. I didn't know what to say at the time. I went home and recorded an EP over the next 5 days using Renoise for the first time... I was forced to in a sense because I didn't have any instruments to record with. I named the EP "Advice" and I gave it to her at the end of the week. It was just some sweet gesture... I didn't know what else to do. Regardless, I've used Renoise ever since.
Finally, is there any particular new feature you'd like to see in a future version of Renoise?
The ability to automate instrument modulations and Autoseek tracks with pitch modulation. It'd also be nice if the pitch envelope could span more than 6.144 seconds like it did in previous versions.
(Editor's Note: Technically, you can get longer envelopes. Set the envelope to beat synced mode, extend it to the maximum 24 beats, set your song tempo to the lowest 32 BPM, then switch the envelope back to milliseconds. It will now be around 45 seconds in duration, and you can switch the song tempo back to normal.)Hanging with the new flesh
“Your reality is already half video hallucination. If you’re not careful, it will become total hallucination. You’ll have to learn to live in a very strange new world.” – Media philosopher Brian O’Blivion in David Cronenberg’s “Videodrome” (1983)
So far, the bulk of gifted documentarian Ondi Timoner’s work has dealt with the forces that persuade human beings to give up some part of themselves, whether it be in pursuit of creative growth, God, or fame. Her latest film, takes that as far as it can possibly go. Unlike her remarkable “DiG!,” about the cultish neo-psychedelic rock band, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, or “Join Us,” about an actual religious cult, this time the cult is not just a few fanatics, it’s you and me.
I first praised the Sundance Grand Jury prize-winning “We Live in Public,” opening Friday at L.A.’s Nuart Theater (with special Q&As Friday and Saturday nights), back in June when I saw it at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The screening was capped off with the then somewhat surprising appearance by the documentary’s antihero, Internet entrepreneur and self-styled conceptual artist Josh Harris. Having returned from an idyll in Ethiopia, he said that his next project was something he called “the Wired City” and that, in his view, a typical human’s life in the future is going to be something like the present day existence of “a Purdue chicken.” He also said he hadn’t seen the movie and wasn’t sure when he would.
Back in the 1990’s, Harris made a large fortune largely by being one of the first to see the full communications potential of the web and was a dot-com era sensation via his groundbreaking web entertainment company, Pseudo. Leaving that when his eccentric and creative side grew to be too artsy and weird for the corporate room, he then spent a good chunk of that fortune on two highly provocative experiments/art projects.
First came “Quiet” – basically a month-long party/community in an underground compound on the west side of New York with overt fascistic overtones. Harris recruited roughly 100 artists and creative types to live there 24/7 for an indefinite period (it turned out to be a month). He would provide all the food, (legal) party favors, a firing range and plenty of weaponry (blanks only, I’m told), as well as a fake church and real interrogation tactics borrowed from the Cold War-era East German secret police.
Cameras were everywhere – bedrooms, bathrooms, and showers very much included — and it was all subject to web broadcast. As Harris starkly put it: “Don’t bring your money with you. Everything is free – except the video that we capture of you. That we own.” The results were as fraught as you might imagine, though it was managed well enough that Harris says not a single lawsuit emerged, something of an achievement in 21st century Manhattan.
“Quiet” was followed by “We Live in Public,” in which Harris turned his privacy-robbing ways inward. The net-artiste and the woman he now insists to everyone (including me) was his “fake” girlfriend, Tanya Corrin, allowed themselves to be put on web display in the most intimate fashion possible, naturally including their loft bedroom and bathrooms. (Somewhat gruesomely, Harris added toilet bowl mounted cameras to the mix.)
Not too surprisingly the project ended with the break-up of the apparently real couple, and the near breakdown of Harris. To make matters worse, his remaining fortune was largely evaporating in the wake of the bursting of the nineties dot-com bubble.
Cut to Tuesday, when I met with writer-director Ondi Timoner at a conference room in a Beverly Hills boutique hotel. I was supposed to interview Harris there as well, but when Timoner reached him via cell, he turned out to be in the middle of a Hold-‘Em tournament at the Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood and couldn’t talk for long. However, he volunteered that he had finally seen “We Live in Public.”
Timoner was naturally anxious to get his reaction, but Harris said he had yet to fully absorb the film’s impact. However, he liked the film’s graphics and wished the movie would be about an hour longer. Timoner countered that “There’s that weird thing where you have to make a movie 90 minutes long,” and said there’s be more for him on the DVD. Poker tournaments, it turns out, are part of how the onetime web millionaire is currently getting by financially, and so rather than get in the way of his livelihood, we agreed to have a separate conversation later that day.
My conversation with Timoner, some of it sadly lost to time due to likely user error and definite unwise reliance on analog technology (farewell, my tape recorder), focused on the filmmaking’s slightly jagged, off-kilter, but very compelling approach to filmmaking — which she describes as “written” and storytelling oriented — as well as her interest in cults and cult-like groups.
“It’s really more about the followers than the leader. With “DiG!,” the question was: What are we willing to give up to go down the road of making music? What kind of commitment is required that goes beyond just being in a band? Or in the case of ‘We Live in Public,’ what are we willing to give up to make a connection with a number of people — fame? The answer is ‘everything’: our lives, our freedom.”
Her connection to Josh Harris began in 2000 when he hired the young filmmaker to document “Quiet.” Keeping a hotel room “to keep myself sane.” She spent the entire month filming the events and had completed a rough cut of a documentary feature when, in the midst of his financial and emotional crisis, Harris confiscated all of the footage and, Timoner says, reneged on her fee. The project was nevertheless revived a few years later when Harris called her back and promised to give her full creative control and 50% of whatever take there was. Still, she says, she wasn’t fully energized about the project until she saw her first Facebook update somewhat later.
“Someone posted, ‘I’m going west on the freeway.’ I thought ‘is there some reason I’m supposed to know this? Am I am supposed to meet this person or something?’” It was then that the cartoon light bulb appeared over her head and she realized, with some alarm, “this is the future.” Though Timoner is an energetic woman who describes herself as personally quite upbeat, she admits that her films tend to be dark, because they are about the extreme of what human beings are willing to give up, including their very humanity.
Next up for Timoner is her dramatic filmmaking debut, to be co-produced with actress Eliza Dushku. “The Perfect Moment” will be a biopic about the life of the artist Robert Mapplethorpe, whose on-the-edge work sparked a national right/left debate about censorship, homophobia, and government funding for the arts following his death in 1989. Nevertheless, making sure that “We Live in Public” gets as much distribution and exposure as possible – and a shot at what would be a well-deserved Oscar nomination — is very much top of mind. As is the film’s disturbing subject matter, something she’s constantly reminded of every time she gets a new message via her very busy Blackberry.
I asked her about how it seems that, despite having such a seemingly bleak vision of the future of humanity, Josh Harris doesn’t appear to be in any way trying to prevent it. “He’s trying to capitalize on it.” She added with a metaphorical wink: “I’m Luke Skywalker and he’s Darth Vader.”
****
And so it was a few hours later than I found myself having a chat in Vader’s lair, a guest house in an ultra-upscale portion of Brentwood, just north of UCLA…and being helped out with my recurring audio issues by a surprisingly tolerant and relaxed Mr. Vader. Perhaps the better movie villain to compare Josh Harris to would be Prof. Brian O’Blivion, the evangelist of “the new flesh” – humanity merged with media — in David Cronenberg’s “Videodrome.”
Even so, it’s somewhat comforting to note that even a man whose IQ is likely significantly north of most smart people, and who saw the possibilities of the Internet decades early, can be a bit boggled by how to get an audio file off his cell phone. (Later on I also had the pleasure of explaining via e-mail to the ‘net pioneer how to make screen capture images from a DVD.)
As to Harris’s reaction to the film about him, he seemed to have decided he generally was pleased with it. On the other hand, he admitted that he was talking with friends while watching it, and it was possible he had missed more than a few things on the sound track. “I was more interested in which imagery she chose. The imagery is what’s interesting to me personally.”
Still, it didn’t take much time to get to the one topic I knew for sure was coming. “There’s only piece of the film that didn’t ring true was when Ondie did the voiceover saying that Tanya and I were in love.”
Timoner and the vast majority of people who see the film seem to agree that Harris’s denial of the reality of the relationship is a pretty transparent means of maintaining some emotional distance from an obviously painful episode. When I expressed even greater skepticism when Harris explained that he’d “cast” Tanya Corrin in late 1996 and dated her for the entire period up to “We Live in Public” in late 2000, “suffering” for his art for years only to follow through on his vision for “We Live in Public,” Harris tried to explain it to me using references to Peter Weir’s “The Truman Show,” not surprisingly a favorite film of his. He eventually got to the heart of the matter more directly. I think.
“It wasn’t like ‘I’m casting you and five years later we’re going to be with the cameras on in the loft and fifteen years later we’re going to be in this movie.’ It just happened…But I certainly cast her and I certainly have proof of that casting,” Harris said, promising to send me a link to a video which he was certain proved his point.
“If you look at me in a certain light everything make sense. If you don’t [it doesn’t]. Virtual…real. We’re right at the cusp right now of the mingling of virtual and real. Ten or fifteen years ago I understood that problem, so I did name my company ‘Pseudo.’ If I can prove to you the premeditation of a fake girlfriend, then you might believe that the company is named ‘Pseudo’…That edge of reality and virtual is my pursuit relative to this work.”
While I brought up the probability that the thousands of ‘net users who tuned into the Harris/Corrin loft would never have bothered if they believed that they were seeing a partially staged relationship, we found ourseves in “all the world’s a stage” territory. It was time to move on to another topic: the mere future of mankind. I mentioned his “Purdue Chicken,” line, one of many dystopian predictions Harris has made over the years. Still, he’s not in the position of futuristic writers of the past like Aldous Huxley or George Orwell, trying to prevent mankind from going down a perilous path — as he sees it, there’s no point.
“Unless the world blows up, it’s gonna happen. You just have to accept it. It’s evolution. You can stop evolution, but you can’t deny it.”
It’s tempting to deny Harris’s prediction as the mouthings of a wacked out genius with too much unfocused brainpower and too much energy – except that he’s one of the very few people who saw the future of the Internet literally decades early. “I’m very adept at extrapolating. So I know what’s gonna happen. I’m not guessing….I know this is hard to believe and all that, but all of this is hard to believe. I can keep you harder-to-believing it until the cows come home.”
Harris was as good as his word. In fact, I have to admit that we wandered some what far afield discussing media and his newest project and the possible source of his next fortune, the Wired City. It’s a hard to describe virtual community involving home studios in which users make their own videos and share them in a set-up which sounds something like an audio-visual reimagination of Facebook, perhaps combined with a user-driven community blog along the lines of the liberal DailyKos. I was finding all of this a bit too much fun and to an outsider, it might have looked like that scene from “Animal House,” with me as Tom Hulce’s naïve freshman and Harris as Donald Sutherland’s vaguely evil, pot-smoking professor. Only no mind-expanding substances were involved. Indeed, I’m not sure what my excuse was, but Harris probably can’t help being a bit of a visionary.
Still, there’s no denying the dark side of all this. And, that came later that night when Harris sent me the promised link to a site belonging to a friend where I could see the video “proof” of the falseness of his now long-dead relationship with Tanya Corrin.
The video is a conversation between Harris and friend, Internet entrepreneur and vastly more restrained web visionary, Jason Calacanis, who figures prominently in “We Live in Public” and is promoting the film on his blog. In the video, a younger Harris describes Tanya Corrin in some very unflattering terms as being an essentially hollow person and, for the life of me, he really does seem to be saying that he has been searching for someone to use in some form of art project and that Corrin will be it. Indeed, he adds that she seems to realize there is some kind of deception going on, which sounded a lot like one of Harris’s “Truman Show” comparisons.
As of this writing, the video is viewable only through a private website. Not that it reveals or explains much, though it is somewhat disturbing. Calacanis, if not quite approving, doesn’t seem put off by a project that, assuming it’s all true, would be cruel and deceptive. To be fair, however, I have to add that there’s something about Harris that sort of defies literal reading; you don’t want to believe he’s entirely serious even though you know he mostly is. On the other hand, we males sometimes tell themselves things to minimize the importance of relationships early on, only to later realize we’ve gone the whole nine emotional yards. Jason Calicanis, in a January 28h post on his blog, refers to Tanya Corrin as “the love of his [Harris’s] life.” He was there. I wasn’t. Who am I to try and make sense of any of this?
And, then, I thought of the strangest exchange from the previous night, in which I asked Harris about a remark that Ondi Timoner said he had thrown her off somewhat, which was that his entire life’s work could be boiled down to “Launder My Head,” a two-minute CGI video Harris had made in the early nineties using a pair of augmented Amiga computers. The animation features a group of bodies with monitors displaying their faces for heads, chanting the title and some other, vaguely creepy, words. As recounted by Harris:
We are here to tell you, How we tell you; How to live; We are you conscience; We are not conscious.
Harris tried to explain how the video relates to his life’s work. “I believe that, however they did it, maybe it was watching all that media or whatever, from on high, that next evolutionary force had me make that little video because that’s them introducing themselves to us in advance.”
Just who does Harris mean by “them”?
“‘Who,’ ‘it,’ whatever you call it. The singularity.”
Doesn’t that sound a little…religious? Is he talking about God?
“Whatever you want to call it. It got downloaded, and I opened the file.”
Make of all that, what you will, because I’m still trying to figure it out. But I guess I should have expected that I’d finish this piece with more questions than I started with. When you go down the rabbit hole, the light is going to be poor.
****
Anyone who has read this far and lives in the Los Angeles area really should make it down to the Nuart Theater while the highly entertaining and reasonably mind-blowing “We Live in Public” runs through this week. Preferably on Friday or Saturday night when, for the first time ever in public, filmmaker Ondie Timoner and her infuriating, amoral, and oddly likable visionary subject, Josh Harris, will be discussing the film for the first time in public since he’s seen the film.
If you’re not in the area but still want to check out what’s bound to be a fascinating moment, anyone who’s interested will also be hear the discussion live via the “We Live in Public” website.Journalist backs IDF version of missile strike on school playground, says Hamas rockets went astray. But it's just the tip of the iceberg.
An Italian journalist who until Tuesday was embedded in Gaza has backed the IDF's account of a rocket strike on a school playground in central Gaza's Shati refugee camp on Monday.
At least 10 people were killed in the attack - most of them children - and some sources claimed the death toll was as high as 30. Palestinian sources were quick to blame Israel, claiming that an Israeli fighter jet fired missiles directly at the playground and nearby hospital. Israel denied the accusations, saying that Hamas rockets aimed at Israel from the area misfired, and struck both the school and the hospital:
IDF Tweet illustrating the path of misfired Hamas rockets:
Verifying facts on the ground in Gaza is notoriously difficult for foreign reporters, and even for Palestinian journalists seen as aligned with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, as journalists are closely watched by Hamas security forces and can face interrogation and a permanent ban from Gaza for publishing material deemed unfavorable to the territory's Islamist rulers. As such, little information has emerged on what exactly happened that day in Shati.
But returning from a stint in Gaza, and safe from what he ominously referred to as potential "Hamas retaliation", Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati broke the media silence by tweeting the following message, confirming that Hamas terrorists rushed to cover up evidence of what was indeed errant rocket fire aimed at Israel:
During the 23 days of Operation Protective Edge a handful of journalists have defied, purposefully or inadvertently, Hamas's restrictions on reporting negative information from Gaza - only to backtrack soon after.
Two cases in particular were highlighted earlier this week. In one, Wall Street Journal reported Nick Casey tweeted evidence - and veiled criticism - over Hamas's leadership's use of Shifa Hospital in Gaza as a command center, shedding more light on the group's use of human shields. Hamas reacted furiously, and a Hamas-affiliated twitter account blacklisted him as a journalist "who lies for Israel" - a potentially deadly accusation for anyone in Gaza, let alone a foreigner. Shortly afterwards, the tweet was promptly removed by Casey.
Hamas
Numerous foreign journalists have admitted to interviewing Hamas leaders inside the hospital, but their reports are notable for the lack of emphasis placed on such a flagrant violation of international law.
In the second case, another WSJ journalist tweeted evidence of a Hamas rocket misfire which damaged Gaza's main hospital. Again, shortly after tweeting it, Tamer El-Ghobashi removed the evidence.
Deleted tweets:
The use of human shields by Gazan terrorist groups during the current conflict has been repeatedly documented. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have stored and fired rockets from within densely-populated civilian areas, making Israeli attempts to stop them without causing collateral damage near to impossible. To compound the problem, Hamas has openly encouraged civilians to act as human shields, |
the state.
Outside of the jail, her supporters cheered, waved American flags, and carried crosses and signs.
“If this goes through, if the Supreme Court continues to override society and what the majority thinks, then all you’ve got left is tyrannical authority,” said Leonard Stone, 65, a Christian minister from Wolf County, Ky. “She should be released. That’s simple. The Supreme Court doesn’t have the right to write laws. She’s in there unconstitutionally.”
Phillip and Larimer reported from Washington. This post has been updated.A red-winged blackbird gently lit
upon a proud reed in the marsh.
It's color, beauty, and its song
an ample counter to its weight.
To celebrate, the reed bowed slightly
offering up a comfy perch
and for a time the bird and reed
were there, alone, a peaceful pair.
Until at once, in glorious splendor,
red-winged blackbirds filled the air
and sought the source of such sweet music;
paradise, they'd heard, was near.
And gently, oh so ever gently
one, then two, then three and more
alit beside their joyous sister
on the reed down in the marsh.
At first, the reed knelt just more slightly
glad to hold this party high
but when a dozen birds had joined
its flex and vigor fully left.
And so a faint and tiny crack
between the fibers of the stalk
gave way to flutters black and red
and silence flew to fill the void.Image copyright AP Image caption The offensive on Tikrit includes thousands of Iranian-backed Shia militiamen
The US has begun air strikes against Islamic State militants in the Iraqi city of Tikrit, the United States military has confirmed.
The order followed a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for assistance, after an Iranian-backed ground offensive in the city stalled.
"These strikes are intended to destroy [IS] strongholds with precision," said US Lt-Gen James Terry.
Until now, Washington has had no involvement in the operation in Tikrit.
Gen Terry, who is the commanding general of the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve, said the strikes would "minimise collateral damage to infrastructure".
The Iraqi ground offensive also resumed on Wednesday, targeting IS positions. The renewed efforts would be supported by the coalition, the US military statement said.
It said the aim was to dislodge IS from Tikrit, which is encircled by Iraqi forces, "once again placing the town under the government of Iraq control".
'Dug in'
A reporter with the Associated Press in Tikrit reported hearing warplanes overhead on Wednesday night, followed by multiple explosions.
The operation to retake the city, which lies about 160km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, began earlier this month with more than 20,000 soldiers, police and Shia militiamen from the Popular Mobilisation (al-Hashd al-Shaabi) units attacking from all directions.
Iranian military advisers - led by Gen Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force - helped co-ordinate the assault.
Despite having no support from coalition aircraft, the government's forces made rapid advances, capturing outlying towns and villages along the River Tigris and entering northern and southern districts of the city.
But the offensive stalled in the past two weeks, with the army and militia suffering heavy casualties and the city centre remaining firmly in the control of several hundred IS militants, who have planted a large number of bombs in roads and buildings.
Col Steve Warren told reporters in Washington earlier on Tuesday that "the enemy" had "dug in".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jonathan Beale reports from the front line in the battle for Tikrit
The need for coalition air support had been a point of contention between the Iraqi military and the Popular Mobilisation, which had opposed it.
Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the powerful Iranian-backed Badr Brigade militia, told journalists on Sunday: "Some of the weaklings in the army... say we need the Americans, while we say we do not need the Americans."
Popular Mobilisation
Image copyright Reuters
The Popular Mobilisation (al-Hashd al-Shaabi), comprising dozens of Shia militias, takes a lead role in Iraqi operations against IS. Its fighters have also been accused of committing atrocities and acting with impunity
It was formed by the Shia-led Iraqi government in June 2014 after the army collapsed in the face of an advance by IS across northern Iraq
Iran provides funding, weapons and military advisers to the Popular Mobilisation militias and reportedly controls several of them directly
The Popular Mobilisation is headed by Jamal Jaafar Mohammed, also known as Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, a former Badr Organisation commander who is close to Iranian General Qasem Soleimani
Can Iraq's army dislodge Islamic State?
How Iran is involved in battle for Tikrit
Gen Soleimani: Iran’s rising star
Tikrit campaign key to rolling back IS advance
Tikrit: Iraq's city of palacesIn this post I will present some recent developments in the gas supply statistics for the U.K.
The early arrival of unseasonal cold weather in the U.K. has increased demand for natural gas for heating which has called for heavy withdrawals of natural gas from storage and resulted in headlines like Could Britain’s gas stocks run out this winter?.
DISCLAIMER: The author holds no positions in the oil/energy market that may be affected by the content of this post.
Several factors will continue to shape the demand for natural gas from storage this winter, such as;
Decline of U.K. indigenous supplies. National Grid in their “Winter Outlook Report 2010/11” expects this decline to be around 9 % relative to last winter. During December - February last heating season U.K. indigenous marketable natural gas supplies averaged around 160 Mcm/d. A 9 % decline translates into an average decline of around 15 Mcm/d for the same period this heating season.
Another reason for supply concern was that Statoil was not able to produce as much gas as anticipated at the Ormen Lange field offshore Norway. "We were granted a lower production permit", said Bjørnson. How or if this affects Norwegian natural gas deliveries to U.K. this winter is unclear.
Ruhm gas field is shut down due to EU sanctions on Iran since an Iranian company is a partner in Rhum. Ruhm produced around 6 Mcm/d in the first half of 2010.
Growth in LNG imports
The supply situation for Continental Europe (Flows in the Interconnector between Bacton and Zeebrugge.)
Developments in LNG demand from the Atlantic and Pacific basins.
And last but not least……..the weather, which has just seen a week on unseasonal very cold weather that is set to continue.
Use of natural gas storage facilities adds flexibility to the supply system.
Figure 01: The diagram shows the structure of UK natural gas supplies from January 1996 and as of September 2010.
The dark red line in the diagram above shows how UK demand for natural gas declined due to the economic slowdown in 2009 and how demand recently has rebounded. UK demand is increasingly being met by pipelined imports from Norway and Continental Europe and in recent years by rapidly growing LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) imports.
Figure 02: The diagram shows development in natural gas used for electricity generation in U.K. from January 2000 and as of September 2010.
Most of the recent years growth in UK natural gas consumption has been led by natural gas used for electricity generation. In 2000 around 34 % of UK's electricity production was based on natural gas. This has since grown to 43 %, burning around 37 % of UK's natural gas consumption.
Figure 03: The diagram shows development in UK gross natural gas imports by type and source from January 2000 and as of September 2010. Belgium is not an exporter for natural gas, but a transit country for other natural gas exporters.
Presently around 40 % of U.K. natural gas consumption is met by imports.
Figure 04: The diagram shows development in U.K. net natural gas exports by destination from January 2000 and as of September 2010.
As U.K. has been a net importer of natural gas it has also become established as a European hub for exports of natural gas. These exports are subject to seasonal variations as illustrated in the graph above.
With the recent growth in U.K. receiving capacities for LNG, natural gas exports to Continental Europe have increased. This is believed to be due to the price differential between the U.S. and the U.K. market. The U.S. market is presently well supplied due to unconventional gas (also shale gas) production, and with this the U.K. market has become more profitable than the U.S. market for sellers/shippers of LNG.
U.S. unconventional gas may thus now be attributed to help bring down LNG prices in the Atlantic basin which also has made it possible for buyers on Continental Europe to buy slots at the U.K. LNG receiving facilities and thus get some supplies of cheaper natural gas compared to suppliers of pipelined gas like Norway and Russia.
If LNG will remain a “cheap” alternative for natural gas in the Atlantic basin throughout this winter also very much depends on developments in LNG demand from the Pacific basin (China, Japan and South Korea to name a few). A strong demand for LNG from the Pacific basin may move U.K. natural gas pricing away from U.S. market pricing towards oil priced indexed natural gas prices. As of now natural gas (dayahead) trades around 60 p/therm (which is around $9,50/MMBtu). Presently the U.K. LNG receiving facilities have a total send out capacity of around 130 Mcm/d.
Figure 05: The diagram shows changes from 2009 to 2010 in U.K end user natural gas consumption, marketable supplies, total pipeline imports and exports and LNG imports.
Over the years the U.K. trends are declining indigenous supplies, growing consumption (now driven primarily by natural gas used for electricity generation as coal fired electricity generation will be retired) and as of this summer growing secondary exports of LNG to Continental Europe.
The chart below shows the flows through the Interconnector (Bacton - Zeebrugge for the contractual years 2008 - 2010).
Figure 06: The diagram shows flows in the Interconnector between Bacton and Zeebrugge for the contractual years 2008 - 2010. Positive value is flow from U.K. to Belgium.
The U.K. storage system has 3 classes of storage facilities: LRS (Long Range Storage), MRS (Medium Range Storage) and SRS (Short Range Storage). Simultaneous operation of these facilities may add 120 + Mcm/d to the supply.
Figure 07: The diagram shows development in total working natural gas in U.K. storage for the contractual years 2005 - 2010. The thicker red line shows status for contractual year 2010.
For the contractual year 2010 (which started October 1st 2010 and ends October 1st 2011) increased use of storage withdrawals have been used to balance demand.
As of December 2nd there was a total of 1 020 Mcm or 23 % less natural gas in U.K. storage relative to the same date in 2009. Last heating season (2009) ended with a total of 470 Mcm natural gas in storage.
Last heating season had a low of around 240 Mcm natural gas in LRS (Rough). During this refilling season storage levels ended below last year.
As of December 2nd there was a total of 700 Mcm or 20 % less natural gas in LRS relative to same date last year.
MRS reached a total level of 120 Mcm natural gas in storage as a low last heating season. Total levels for MRS have also stayed below last year's.
As of December 2nd there was a total of 250 Mcm or 31 % less natural gas in MRS relative to same date last year.
SRS has not reached previous year’s levels. How this may affect a GBA’ (Gas Balancing Alert) remains unclear.
As of now it is of course impossible to forecast if present U.K. natural gas in storage will be adequate throughout this heating season. Gas demand and also storage withdrawals are very much influenced by weather and plans for later this winter now call for more use of coal and less natural gas for electricity generation.
I will revisit this subject later this winter to update on the situation as it unfolds.Hosni Mubarak was the Israeli government’s favourite dictator, so it was hard for them, and for the mass media, to say goodbye to him. Coverage of the uprisings elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East has been fairly supportive of the protesters, but Egypt was a special case. As Gabi Ashkenazi, the recently retired head of the army, put it, ‘stability is preferable to democracy.’ The refrain throughout has been: 'Israel is anxiously following events.’ But on 26 January, the Israeli establishment was hopeful that its neighbours would fail in their struggle for democracy. The daily Ma'ariv, under the headline 'Trusting Mubarak', said: 'Israeli officials are optimistic: Egypt will overcome’ – ‘Egypt’ here and elsewhere meaning the despotic administration, not the people.
In the days that followed, and perhaps as a way of avoiding the charge of being 'democratophobes', Israeli analysts took the Islamophobic option. Israel HaYom, a free popular daily owned by the US billionaire Sheldon Adelson, argued that the events in Egypt may be 'good news for democracy, but in the background is the growing power of the Islamists and the long arm of Iran'. Yedi'ot Ahronot ran an article comparing the Egyptian struggle to the Iranian revolution under the headline: 'Good intentions – all the way to hell'.
Meanwhile on TV, Channel 2 aired a discussion about the Muslim Brotherhood. It started with a short film about the movement, including a few interviews with its leaders. None of them showed signs of fundamentalism or expressed a desire for a religious revolution. 'They have said some very moderate things,’ the presenter conceded. ‘They are willing to accept the peace treaty with Israel… and they are willing to recognise Israel.' But the channel's correspondent on Arab affairs was there to set things straight. 'They might have some internal disputes about how they should present their views of Israel,' he said, 'but there is no room for mistakes… For example, one of their leaders said today that the peace treaty with Israel should be called off.' What a relief. The Muslim Brothers were evil again.
According to Ha'aretz, during the first week of the protests Israel called for the US and Europe to curb their criticisms of the Egyptian dictator. When Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was in Jerusalem, President Shimon Peres said to her: 'The world saw what happened in Gaza when they pushed for democratic elections and a dangerous movement rose to power.’ A few days later, the minister for regional development, Silvan Shalom, said that 'the West should not push for democracy’ in Egypt ‘as it might weaken the moderate powers there, and will allow Tehran to renew the Iranian Empire.’ So that’s what regional ‘development’ means.
When Mubarak finally stepped down, Yedi'ot Ahronot suggested that a 'way of honour' should be found for his departure. In Israel HaYom the foreign editor praised Mubarak for maintaining the peace treaty with Israel, 'which continued even during Operation Cast Lead', the Israeli offensive in Gaza two years ago during which 1400 Palestinians were killed. In its concluding sentence, the op-ed said: ‘Thank you, dictator.’A few thoughts on a closer-than-expected game at the Superdome:
What it means: The Detroit Lions have now lost five of their last seven games, all to teams in the thick of the NFC playoff hunt, to fall to 7-5. Sunday night's loss clinched the NFC North for the Green Bay Packers and left the Lions in the seventh seed of the NFC's six-team playoff field.
Costly penalties: Ndamukong Suh's teammates didn't seem to get the message sent by his two-game suspension. They had at least three inexcusable post-whistle personal fouls. Receiver Titus Young cost his team a goal-line opportunity and forced it to settle for a field goal. Kick returner Stefan Logan threw the ball at the Saints' Will Herring after a return, and tight end Brandon Pettigrew was penalized for trying to kick and trip Saints safety Roman Harper. That was 45 lost yards right there. Scrutiny will increasingly turn to Lions coach Jim Schwartz to get this team under control.
StaffordWatch: Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford put together a whale of a game, completing 31 of 44 passes for 408 yards and did not throw an interception until the Lions were in desperation mode late in the fourth quarter. It's probably not a coincidence that Stafford wasn't wearing gloves to protect a fractured right index finger. He had thrown nine interceptions in three previous games while wearing the gloves.
Undermanned: The Lions couldn't have been too upset with the way their defense played without Suh, safety Louis Delmas and cornerback Chris Houston. They actually held the Saints 10 points below their average for home games this season.
What's next: The Lions will host the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday at Ford Field.Sri Lanka's fielding woes are deep-rooted, and will only be fully solved through long-term emphasis on fielding in junior and emerging cricket, coach Graham Ford has said.
Once considered the best fielding side in Asia, Sri Lanka's fielding standards have declined substantially through the last few years, across all formats. A lack of catching ability behind the wicket has been repeatedly exposed on the most recent tours of South Africa, England and New Zealand, and while Sri Lanka won the T20 series in Australia in February, several catches had been spilt through that series as well. Ground fielding standards have also deteriorated.
"I think fielding, for quite a long time, has been a problem for Sri Lanka," Ford said. "They've tried various coaches at the national team level. The board's realised that you're not just going to solve the problem by having a coach at the top, because the players coming through to the top are way off the required standard. No coach is going to turn someone into a star fielder if he hasn't been coached for quite some time. It's the old story of you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
"You can't just get a group of players and put them together with Jonty Rhodes and think that tomorrow they're going to go out and field well. It is going to take some time."
Though Sri Lanka's domestic cricket structure is ill-resourced and ill-equipped to invest meaningfully into fielding training, Sri Lanka Cricket has begun to emphasise fielding to the teams the board directly manages, Ford said. The top fielding coach in SLC's employ - Nick Pothas - was recently deployed with Sri Lanka's Under-19 side, for example, and the A team has had more attention from top coaches in the past few months as well.
"I think the board should be commended on really looking and they're trying to get a fielding program working with the Under-19s, the emerging players, and the A team players, so that by the time they get to the national level, they're ready and fully content to field there," Ford said.
"Hopefully that project is pursued with determination and patience, and in time, I think Sri Lanka can become the best fielding nation in the world. I believe the Under-19 team at the moment is fielding pretty well. It's just about getting those basics right at a young age. For some time now, we've had high quality fielding coaches working with the national team, but it's almost too late."
The board has also recently strengthened its cohort of trainers and fitness coaches, which Ford said would have a positive effect on fielding.
"Athletic ability, speed and ability is also important, so it's not just the fielding coach - the conditioning coaches also need to be involved. I think with that project put in place, there will in time be a result. Credit to the board that they've looked into this and decided they will have a proper fix and a long-term fix."Defender, who had been tipped to return during Champions League ties with Arsenal, set to feature next Wednesday, with Guardiola not keen on rushing him back to action too soon
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For all the latest reports and transfer rumours, visit our dedicated section here Barcelona have received an injury boost with the news that captain Carles Puyol could be back in action for next Wednesday's Copa del Rey final against arch rivals Real Madrid, according to El Mundo Deportivo.Head coach Pep Guardiola should be able to call upon the experienced defender again when his men take on Madrid, as the Spain international has recovered from his troublesome knee problem.The 33-year-old centre-back has been on the sidelines since January and has been working extensively on his recovery. He was initially expected to return to match action in the Champions League round of 16 tie with Arsenal, but the injury has kept him out of action longer than expected.Puyol is now almost ready to return, though, and is pushing to be included in the match squad for the first time in three months in the showpiece event at the Mestalla.Guardiola doesn't want to rush Puyol's comeback, and is therefore expected to keep the defender out of Saturday's match squad for the league game at the Santiago Bernabeu.Kadokawa announced today that "Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World: Shinichirou Otsuka Art Works Re:BOX," the first art book of the illustrator for Tappei Nagatsuki's popular light novel series, will be released in Japan on September 23. The Kumamoto-born artist is also known for his character design works for Banpresto's Nintendo Game Boy Advance game Summon Night: Swordcraft Story (2003) and Spike Chunsoft's PSP game series CONCEPTION (2012, 2013).
The fantasy series was originally posted on the amateur novel contribution site "Shousetsuka ni Narou" (Let's Become a Novelist) in April 2012, then has been published from Kadokawa's light novel imprint MF Bunko J since January 2014. The latest 12th volume of the main story arc was released on March 25 of this year, and the whole series including its short story collections and spin-offs has printed over 3.1 million copies in Japan.
In addition to the art book featuring the Re:Zero main characters, including Rem and Emilia (and probably
Subaru, the press release says), the 4,320 yen set also comes with two novel books that contain short
stories that were released as bonus items for purchasers at selected stores in the past and have never been
included in the previous bunko editions. The total pages of the two books is 450 (the average page number
of a Japanese light novel book is around 300).
Novel 1st volume (January 2014) and 2nd volume (February 2014)
3rd (March 2014) and 4th (June 2014)
5th (October 2014)and 6th (March 2015)
7th (September 2015) and 8th (March 2016)
9th (September 2016) and 10th (October 2016)
11th (December 2016) and 12th (March 2017)
Short Story Collections 1st volume (December 2014) and 2nd volume (June 2016)
EX1 "Shishiou no Mita Yume" (June 2015) and EX2 "Kenki Renka" (December 2015)
Source: Kadokawa press release
© Tappei Nagatsuki illustration: Shinichirou OtsukaGoyang Wonders coach Kim Sung-keun leaves after he talked to players during a meeting at the Goyang national baseball team training field, Thursday, when the club declared it was disbanding. / Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Goyang Wonders declared Thursday that the team has been disbanded after its "adventurous operations" for the past three seasons as the nation's first and only independent baseball club.
Without being affiliated to any leagues, it has operated since December 2011 with the aim of offering a second chance to baseball players who were undrafted or released from professional teams and helped them play again in the professional leagues.
"Despite meaningful achievements over the past three years, we have continuously realized that we have different stances on the operation of our club from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), which first suggested the launch of the club. Now, we decided to stop our journey," the Wonders said in a statement.
The decision came as disappointment not only to baseball players and coaching staff belonging to the team, but also fans who have witnessed the club's contribution to Korean baseball.
"I'm really sorry for our players and coach who have been striving for the past three years," Wonders general manager Ha Song told players during a meeting at the Goyang national baseball team training field.
The club started to draw keen attention immediately from the start for the bold investment by owner Hur Min, CEO of We Make Price, a social commerce company, and the appointment of coach Kim Sung-keun, one of the most admired baseball coaches in Korea. Kim led the SK Wyverns to the Korean Series four times from 2007 to 2010 and won it on three occasions.
As there is no independent league in the country, the Wonders have played unofficial friendly games with the teams of the Futures League, a second-tier division of the KBO. The KBO also runs the top Korean baseball league. This year, the Wonders recorded 43 wins, 12 draws and 25 losses.
Also from 2012, they have sent 23 players to professional baseball clubs registered to the top league. They include LG Twins' Hwangmok Chi-seung, Nexen Heroes' Ahn Tae-young and the Hanwha Eagles' Song Joo-ho.
In the 2015 draft last month, catcher Jung Kyu-sik was picked by the KT Wiz, which will be elevated from the Futures League from next year.
"There must be an end, but it came earlier than expected," coach Kim told players. "I'm really sorry and sad for being helpless that I cannot offer you more opportunities."
He said that he and the rest of the coaching staff will come to the stadium and help players' train until November, and the club will also pay their salaries until then.
Uncertainty was the biggest reason behind the decision.
The Wonders did not know how many games they would play each season, as it solely depended on the decision of the baseball organization, which led general manager Ha to continuously request that the KBO allow the Wonders to be affiliated with the Futures League, which did not happen.
The KBO increased the number of friendly games from 48 to 90 this year and reportedly suggested the club have the same number of games next season. However, the Wonders demanded a more "stable future."
"Many professional clubs have wanted (to play with) us during the past three seasons, but a more stable environment was needed to operate the club," said an official at the Wonders, who declined to elaborate.
Financial concerns also seem to be a reason behind the breakup.
Owner Hur, well known as a sport enthusiast, reportedly spent more than 3 billion won to run the club every season -- mostly from his own pocket.
Observers also expressed their disappointment on the misfortune of the Wonders.
"It is a really regrettable result, but I think it was an unavoidable end for the Wonders," said Daniel Kim, a commentator for MLB broadcaster Spotv. "There must have been many limitations for the club to be what it now is only through the friendly games or the sole efforts by a tycoon, since there is no independent league or other ones in which they can compete."
Korea Times intern Jhoo Dong-chan contributed to this story.It doesn't really feel like summer up here until the solstice hits; I've always felt a little righteous about that. First day of summer, both on the calendar and outside. And in the Upper Great Lakes, the longest day of the year generally coincides with the start of the best fishing of the year. So we—myself and whoever I can drag along; this year, my wife—pack the truck and hit the road for a week or so.
Chasing fish in the Upper Lakes in the summer is really more about chasing insects. The big bugs of summer are Ephemera simulans, Isonychia bicolor, and Hexagenia limbata. There's other fishing to be done but these guys are the headliners and the schedule-makers. The hatches generally move from south to north, so a well-timed weeklong trip, with a little windshield time and a lot of luck, can hit all three.
BENT PADDLE and the BROWN DRAKE
We start with Ephemera, the Brown Drake. They're just winding down now on a certain northern Wisconsin stream. It doesn't get truly dark up there until nearly 11, and if a spinner fall's going to happen, it'll be around then.
Which means that even if we leave after work, we'll still have time to stop at Duluth's Bent Paddle Brewing Company. Last year, Bent Paddle was blacklisted from a number of northern Minnesota liquor stores and bars after joining a business coalition in opposing the foreign mining interests that are trying to introduce hard-rock copper mining to the water-rich wilderness upstream of Lake Superior. Like Bent Paddle, I'm generally pro-water, and anti-acid mine drainage, so they're a must-visit.
Photo: Tom Hazelton
We get one of their Hydroflask growlers filled with the 14° ESB, a balanced carmely British-style ale that's pleasantly dry-hopped. We also grab a twelver of their newest release, Kanū, an approachable and refined session pale ale. At 4.8% ABV, it's nice for tapering off the stronger stuff as night goes on. Have to be sharp when the bugs pop.
And that night on the river, they do. Just as the last of twilight gives way to starlight, the brown drakes come out of the cedars, rustling like a delicate breeze, and do their spinner thing invisibly over the run. The fish aren't far behind--also invisible, but sounding anything but delicate. In an hour it's over, and we're muddy, bug-bit, and plenty sober for the swamp-slog back out to the dark road, where that growler (still tap-cold) and our sleeping bags await.
HEREFORD AND HOPS and the MAHOGANY DUN
The Isonychia bicolor, introduced to me years ago in lower Michigan as the "White-Gloved Howdy," is the reason for the next evening's planned stop just past Escanaba. There's a stretch of tailwater that, despite its hatchery fish and heavy foot traffic, is just too fun to drive by. The fish are smart, selective, and fat--and besides, our six weights are still strung up from last night. The day's been hot and we'll get there just as the sun hits the treetops. Perfect Iso weather.
But as we roll up along the western edge of Green Bay and into Escanaba, a roiling black thunderstorm looms. On the radar it stretches in a red band from Menominee to Munising. So we make a right onto Ludington Street and wait out the storm at Escanaba's oldest brewery, Hereford & Hops. I get the Redemption IPA and my wife gets the Blackbird Stout. Both beers are good--the solid, if not exciting, kind you find at a small-town brewpub that's been around since long before the craft beer boom. They do have other local beers on tap, and if you're picky, the Blackrocks 51K IPA is an excellent alternative to the housemade stuff. The real reason to go to Hereford & Hops, in addition to the historic building, friendly staff, and surprisingly fishy locals, is their house-smoked corned beef, which comes stuffed into one hell of a $9.00 Reuben sandwich.
We step outside into golden sunset-light illuminating a ship graveyard and the towering stern of that thunderstorm, now heading east out over Little Bay de Noc. Highway 2 takes us the same direction. The Isos will have to wait; we have a date with the big lake in the morning.
Photo: Tom Hazelton
LAKE MICHIGAN and the TWO HEARTED ALE
We meet up with Dave Karczynski at a remote northern Lake Michigan reef and proceed to put some beach-miles on our wading boots. Luckily, a Grayl-press of cold Lake Michigan water and a pint of Two Hearted Ale takes them off again. Carp are present in ones and twos, cruising mostly out of range. The ones we get shots on do not eat. Luckily, there are a few smallmouth bass around, terrorizing the rocky flats in erratic fashion like schools of small trevallies. If presented a small enough Clouser minnow with a long enough lead, they will eat, as Dave found out after finally peeling a fish off of a pack of fast movers as Amy and I watch from the beach.
Bottles of Two Hearted Ale used to have a blurb on the label about "Hemingway-esque adventures in the U.P." Too bad they changed it, given the nature of this trip--but then again, we're not in the U.P. any more. And then again, Hemingway wasn't really writing about the Two Hearted River anyway.
Photo: Tom Hazleton
Honestly, I'd forgive Bell's just about any sin so long as they don't change Two Hearted. This 100% Centennial hops American IPA just bumped Pliney the Elder off the coveted top spot on the Zymurgy "Best Beers in America" list. I forgave them when they changed the art on their cans from brook trout to a carp, especially after I learned the story behind the label art, which involves native brookies and Judge Voelker. There's probably no beer more spiritually-connected to the U.P. than Two Hearted.
Photo: Tom Hazelton
But today we're in the Lower Peninsula, drinking Two Hearted from trout-painted cans while fishing for carp. We can see the U.P. though, across a strait that's in the news a lot lately. If you need another reason to grab a fourpack of Bell's next time you see it, they're a founding member of the Great Lakes Business Network, a group that advocates for the shutdown of an Enbridge Energy pipeline. Line 5 is 63 years old, and threatens hundreds of waterways on its route across the U.P. and lower Michigan, and crosses the very heart of the Great Lakes, the Straits of Mackinac--carrying 540,000 barrels of crude and natural gas per day. Even a small spill in the Straits would certainly oil the beach we're on right now.
DEATH'S DOOR G&Ts and the MICHIGAN CADDIS
So began a few days of double-ender candle-burning: fishing the flats during the high sun and then setting up on a stretch of sandy river at dusk, hoping for big bugs. And it's mostly about hope, if you're not able to be on the river every night. A hot day--and it's been hot--helps to get the Hexagenia limbata going, but they're ultimately on their own schedule. Occasionally you wish so hard for bugs, and then you get bugs, but no fish show up. Some nights that still feels like a win, and some nights you feel stupid for wishing for the wrong thing.
Photo: Tom Hazelton
After all day in the sun, we're now waiting for it to set. Helping are ice-cold Death's Door gin and tonics from our camp coffee mugs, and we're doubly refreshed as a breeze from the cool alder swamp replaces the dusty pine forest air. The gin is unassuming but well-regarded and drinkable, especially for being one of the first craft gins on the market and priced below $30. It's distilled in Wisconsin, using red winter wheat and juniper berries from Lake Michigan's Washington Island at the mouth of Green Bay. The Island, which we'd have been able to see from the flats today if the Earth were a little less round, is separated from the mainland by a small passage called Porte des Morts--Death's Door, after native tragedies the French learned of when they showed up in the 17th century. Today it's a charming ferry route for tourists and farmers, and in case the Death's Door Spirits needs a karma boost for taking the name, they focus on local, sustainable farming and are a member of the green business network 1% For The Planet.
Photo: Tom Hazelton
Bottom line: the coriander and fennel make for a citrusy yet smooth time-passing G&T, which is good. It'll be several more hours before the Hex go. If they go. Pour me another.
Other Mentionables
When 20-knot winds blew us off the flats, we avoided the crowds in Traverse City and wandered into Petoskey, where Petoskey Farms Vineyard and Winery had just opened a small, modern tasting room. We favored their Romance full-bodied red and Late Harvest semi-dry Riesling (both 2016s). According to Amy, who (unlike me) has learned a lot from our visits to New York’s Finger Lakes and California’s Sonoma and Napa regions, recalibrate your notion of “dry” and you’ll enjoy the experience.
A quick stop in Wisconsin’s central sands region for some last-day trouting means a last chance at a gas-station six pack. We chose the Rift IPA from Central Waters Brewing Co. of Amherst, Wisconsin. It might be Wisconsin’s best new IPA and, if we’ve learned anything on this trip, it’s that when possible, your beverage should come from the same watershed as your trout.Advertisement Man accused of killing brother in Hamilton bar shooting Police: More shooters may exist Share Shares Copy Link Copy
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had circled overhead before swooping three times and then stalked the 'intruders' for several hundred metres almost up to the golf course clubhouse where it perched in a tree giving the victim a good view of her attacker.
A few weeks ago I came across a piece, published back in August in the News & Observer from Durham County in North Carolina.
The header “Three affidavits support Peterson’s murderous owl theory” grabbed my attention. I read on:
A lawyer for Michael Peterson filed three affidavits this week that further support the theory that an owl killed the novelist’s wife.
The story centred on moves to overturn Peterson’s conviction for the murder of his wife Kathleen in 2001.
T. Lawrence Pollard, one of Peterson’s attorneys, believes the written statements from three experts are enough to convince Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson to order the state Medical Examiner’s Office to turn over all documentation related to Kathleen Peterson’s autopsy, including photos, videos, notes and audio recordings. If granted, the information would be used to prove that Kathleen Peterson was killed by a owl, not from blunt force trauma. … “It does give us new hope,” he said about the affidavits. “We know that we got the feather. We know that it happened late at night. We know that there was a small wooden sliver recovered that was determined to be a tree limb. The SBI crime lab did not examine the feathers. They assumed these feathers didn’t have anything to do with the crime.”
While the News & Observer story didn’t identify the species of owl that may have left the feather – and the lacerations in Kathleen Peterson’s head – the theory that she was attacked by a bird appears more convincing – from this very distant remove – rather than blunt force trauma from a weapon.
The Raleigh Metro Magazine expanded at some length here on what has become known as “The Owl Theory.”
The theory speculates that Kathleen Peterson had been drinking wine with Michael at the outdoor pool area of the house during the unseasonably mild evening. … Kathleen walked outside near two white artificial Christmas reindeer lit by floodlights. Here an owl (or owls) was lurking, hunting for prey at night. Suddenly, the owl, perhaps attracted by the reflection of her glasses or something she was wearing, swooped down on Kathleen, crashing into her head at great velocity and digging its talons into the back of her head. Unsure what had happened, she struggled to fend off the owl, lifting her arms to her head. The bird swept in again, its talons extending into her skin, digging deeper and stopping only at the skull. The impact of the boney toes on the feet of the owl caused lacerations by splitting her scalp. At the tips of the lacerations on the back of her head and elbows, her wounds reveal where talons would have dug in and hit the skull bone, but not crack the skull. The force of the impact probably knocked her to the ground where she received marks on her nose and face. As she got up from the ground and started running, the owl assaulted her again, raking her head – either to force her away, or to grab the glasses on her face or head, which were reflecting the light from the floodlights.
And it seems that – from the US and Canada at least, Owl attacks are, while not perhaps frequent, are not unknown. Earlier this year Alan Van Norman posted this article at The Bismark Tribune from North Dakota, in which he relates his knowledge of the severity of owl attacks:
An owl attack will hurt — a lot. It can cause serious and permanent injury. More than one person has lost sight in an eye to an irate owl. When an owl is killing something, it does so by grabbing it with both feet and hanging on until its prey suffocates or bleeds to death. It will often peck at it with its sharp beak, but most of the killing is done with the feet, which are extremely powerful, while the talons are very sharp. A 3-pound great horned owl can carry a 10-pound jack rabbit just by grabbing it with its talons and hanging on. To defend themselves from a large adversary such as a bear or a human, owls instinctively go for the head or face.
And this 2006 report in the Vancouver Sun discusses confusion between pigtails and squirrels – if you are an owl:
Barred owls are attacking people as they jog through the region’s wooded trails. Bird attacks in Coquitlam’s Mundy Park are serious enough that the city has posted signs telling people to wear a hat while in the park to avoid being mistaken for squirrels by hungry birds. The recent spate of owl attacks came as no surprise to Bev Day, founding director of the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL). “That’s usual every year,” she said. The attacks come in September when the juveniles are learning to hunt and should tail off by the end of the month, she explained. Joggers are in particular peril because the owls will mistake bouncing hair or pony tails for a squirrel, one of their favourite food sources, she said. Anything dangly could draw an attack if the owl mistakes it for a smaller bird or a rodent.
In Australia we are used to being swooped by less dangerous birds like Australian Magpies and other vigorous defenders of nest and territory, particularly during the breeding season.
In the recent past I had the fortune to live close handy to a family group of Powerful Owls Ninox strenua, the largest owl in Australasia but as wonderful as it was to hear their calls and see them at close quarters from time to time I wouldn’t want to be the subject of an attack from one.
Powerful Owls are typical hawk-owls with prominent staring yellow eyes. Adult Powerful Owls can reach 60 cm in length, with a wingspan of up to 140 cm and can weigh up to 1.45 kilograms. Male owls are larger than the females.
As illustrated in this great picture by Duncan Fraser (you can see more here) not only are Powerful Owls massive creatures but they are well able to carry adult Brushtail Possums – which can weigh between 3.5 and 4.5 kilograms. Not bad for a bird less than half their weight.
I’ve only come across a couple of reports of attacks upon humans by large owls in this country – and none of them fatal. Here are some excerpts from a post on the Birding-Aus weblog from July 2009:
I was asked for information by a couple who had each been attacked on separate occasions by a large nocturnal bird on the nearby Ivanhoe Golf Course. The first attack had occurred in the winter 3 years ago and the second attack was 4 days ago (22/07/2009). The first attack was on the wife who was walking with her husband and 2 dogs (one large and one small) at about 7.30 pm across the golf coarse fairways near Horseshoe Billabong in moonlit darkness. The bird had circled overhead before swooping three times and then stalked the ‘intruders’ for several hundred metres almost up to the golf course clubhouse where it perched in a tree giving the victim a good view of her attacker. When shown a photo of a Powerful Owl the victim was convinced that her attacker had been a Powerful Owl. In the first two swoops the bird made hard physical contact but on the third swoop the victim, very scared by this stage, managed to take evasive action. “It was not an isolated attack or a case of mistaken prey – it was a very calculated and repeated attack”. The husband was attacked last Wednesday night (22/7/2009) and sustained scratches to the back and shoulders. He was walking in the same area with the same dogs and on this occasion was accompanied by his 12-year-old son. The child and the dogs were not attacked. “The force of the blow when struck by the bird was surprisingly hard and was not just a glancing blow…it was like being hit square in the back by a soccer ball that had been kicked fairly hard”. In both attacks the bird struck the main victim in the top of the back with a heavy blow and its wings also made contact with the companion walker. Male Powerful Owls are known to be aggressive during the breeding season even at a considerable distance from the nest. Eye damage from their talons is a potential hazard.
Got any stories about people being attacks/killed etc by birds in Australia and beyond – log in (only takes a minute – and share your news and thoughts.In what must be ranked as one of the weirdest UFO flaps in modern history, citizens of the Southeast Asian nation of Malaysia were besieged by a plethora of miniature flying saucers occupied by even more diminutive, tunic clad, antenna bearing occupants who were armed with searing ray-guns!
Covering an area of over 127,300 miles, Malaysia is a country that occupies two regions. The first borders Thailand on the Peninsular Malaysia and is separated from its sister country — Malaysian Borneo — by the South China Sea. The country has a rich tradition of legends and folklore, but few are as intriguing as the bizarre ufological phenomenon, which plagued this nation during the 1970s and into the 1980s.
In one of my previous articles for Mysterious Universe: “Close Encounters of the Weird Kind,” I reported on all sorts of strange run-ins that people have claimed to have had with some of the wackiest aliens ever chronicled. These odd visitors ranged from elephant-skinned robots to steel-toothed assailants to giant space brains, but between 1969 and 1985, Malaysia played host to an utterly unique breed of alien invader, which I‘ve hastily dubbed: “micro-terrestrials.”
These micro-terrestrials were said to be clad in one piece suits or gaudily decorated tunics and purportedly stood between 3 and 6-inches in height (though there have been encounters with beings that measured a mere 1-inch high.)
Some reportedly had bigger heads and larger, more rounded eyes than average human beings, and most were said to be armed with what the witnesses described as “ray-guns.”
Intriguingly, the 3-inch humanoids were specifically said to have two antenna-like structures protruding from the heads and in almost every case they were accompanied by — what, at least to human eyes, must have seemed to have been — miniature flying saucers, measuring no more than 3-feet in diameter. Even more disturbing was the fact that the nexus of their presumably nefarious activities tended to be schoolyards!
The first reported case of a micro-terrestrial encounter in Malaysia occurred in Johor Bahru, the densely populated capital city of Johor, on July 2nd, 1969. In a scene which must have been evocative of the 1994, Ariel School Aliens encounter in Ruwa, Zimbabwe — four schoolboys ran into their headmaster’s office and excitedly informed him that they had just seen a tiny silver UFO (reportedly no larger than a dinner plate) on school property.
Even more astoundingly they claimed to have seen five, 6-inch tall humanoid figures in red uniforms emerge from the craft. According to the boys, the moment these creatures noticed the growing audience they scuttled out of sight down a nearby hole as their flying saucer seemed to vanish into thin air.
Of course, it wasn’t long before word of these doll-sized, crimson clad creatures spread throughout the school. In no time both students and teachers were scouring the vicinity in search of the enigmatic entities and their miniscule vehicle. Sadly, the search turned up nothing more than a small patch of burnt grass where, presumably, the UFO landed.
The second significant encounter with these lil’ folk — and the first known report of these creatures being armed — occurred on August 19th, 1970, near the playground of the Stowell Primary School in Bukit Mertajam. Eyewitnesses claimed that they saw five, 3-inch tall humanoids march in a military fashion down the gangplank of a miniature flying saucer into the schoolyard.
Four of the beings wore identical blue uniforms while the fifth, who carried himself with the aura of one who seemed to be in charge, wore a bright yellow tunic decorated with stars and had a pair of “horns” or antennas on his head. A first the unusual entities seemed to ignore the onlookers and proceeded to climb a nearby tree where they erected an “aerial-like device” in its branches. The purpose of this device or even if it was recovered were facts that remain frustratingly unrecorded.
In no time a cluster of six boys advanced on the unexpected guests. The bravest of the bunch, one K. Wigneswaran, made a grab for the garishly clothed leader, but the alien astronauts were quick to defend themselves and wasted no time in drawing their “tiny laser pistols” and opening fire on the inquisitive children. The kids scattered in a panic and once the hubbub died down Wigneswaran would discover a scar on his thigh where he had been hit by the laser pistol.
This case would come to be indicative of a wave of encounters — wherein a curious kid would try and capture one of the “spacemen” resulting in said spaceman defending itself vigorously — which would quickly spread throughout Malaysia in the coming years.
It’s worth noting that in most of these cases there is a disturbing lack of specific names, dates and places on which to base further research. This is likely due to the fact that the primary source of these sightings is one Ahmad Jamaludin, who published his report on these strange occurrences in the November, 1979 edition of the MUFON UFO Journal, No. 141.
Jamaludin claimed that the facts in these cases are so scarce due to his inability to contact the primarily youthful witnesses: “The following alleged encounters, the full stories of which are incomplete since the principle witnesses cannot be located, are listed below.”
One must presume that Jamaludin has access to at least some additional information, but for reasons of brevity chose not to include them in his overview. Be that as it may, assuming these cases are true, they represent one of the most fascinating ufological flaps in history and one that, according to Jamaludin, was distinctly Malaysian:
“While other countries have been experiencing close encounters with humanoids of diversified forms, I would like to draw attention to the reports in Malaysia where humanoid encounters have been confined to only one type — tiny entities measuring from 3 inches to 6 inches in height. Though reports of the other UFO categories bear similarity to the global sightings, encounters with humanoids in Malaysia on the record so far are in a class of their own. There has not been a single reported incident of encounters with UFO occupants measuring taller than 6 inches in height. It is also to be noted that there has not been a single case of a UFO measuring greater than 3 feet in diameter landing on Malaysian soil. These observations constitute a puzzle, and if any explanations can be given it is hoped that some relationship with the global UFO landings may give a clue to the UFO phenomena.”
Things appeared to calm down after the initial Johor encounter, but in 1973 it must have seemed as if the entire country were about to be invaded by a mini-intergalactic armada.
The first big encounter of 1973 occurred in transit town in Pahang, which is located near the state capitol of Kuantan. The alleged aliens continued their alarming trend of landing on school grounds and this time would be seen not only by two students, but also a teacher!
Two young men would later insist that they had come into contact with a pair of 3-inch tall, humanoid creatures, one of which they managed to capture. The commotion these lads made over their quarry was so profound that a teacher walked over to see what all the fuss was about. According to the official report, said teacher saw this odd entity immediately before it made its escape.
That same year, a bunch of school children claimed that a puny UFO carrying undersized humanoids landed in a nearby field. Several kids hysterically called for their teachers, but the adults missed the craft’s swift ascension by mere seconds.
The second report of one of these creatures being armed also came in 1973. The event began innocently enough with a group of boys playing soccer in a school field in Bukit Mertajam, the capital of Central Seberang Perai.
They young men testified that they watched in astonishment as a small UFO landed adjacent to the field in which they were playing. The boys quickly abandoned their game and ran over to inspect this curious interloper.
The youngsters claimed that a group of “tiny creatures” emerged from the object and — as in the Pahang case — an effort was made to capture the miniscule men. But, unlike the briefly incarcerated creature of Pahang, these small beings were apparently in no mood to be manhandled.
According to the kids’ tale, a “beam of light” was fired at the hand of the boy who lunged for the aliens. Information regarding what sort of mysterious device fired the “beam” and what (if any) damage was done has, unfortunately, been lost to time. Understandably, the UFO and it occupants took off within seconds of the alleged attack.
The next 1973 event happened in the city Miri, which is located in northern Sarawak, on the Malaysian portion of the island of Borneo. Intriguingly this is the first case that did not hail from the Peninsular Malaysia. Again a group of boys claimed to have spied a humanoid, approximately 6-inches in height and clad in a “white suit.” Intriguingly, they further claimed that the creature was cutting through a “wire fence” using an apparatus that emitted an “intense beam of light.”
Perhaps this was the same device that the previous aliens used to defend themselves against their gargantuan human assailants, but there is no information as to what transpired next. It should also be noted that no UFO was spotted at the scene.
The next encounter of that auspicious year also took place in Miri, Sarawak, but this account diverges from the rest in that it did not take place at a school and it involved more creatures and eyewitnesses than the usual encounter. The event began as several people — presumably children and adults — where frolicking on the sun drenched tropical shoreline. It was then that they stumbled across “a group of tiny beings wearing white suits.”
The eyewitnesses claimed that there were at least six or seven humanoids. They further stated that the entities wore no masks and resembled humans in every way except for their tiny size, although they did not specify any ethnic affiliation. As if these additional details weren’t tantalizing enough, this report is the first to state that the group of micro-terrestrials included both male and female members.
The females were notable for their longer hair and (presumably) other gender specific attributes. This encounter, much like the previous one, did not include a UFO sighting, but it is difficult not to assume that there is at least some tenuous connection between the tiny beings seen on the island of Borneo and those on the Peninsular Malaysia.
Sometime in 1975 or 1976, the New Straits Times of Kuala Lumpur published a report entitled: “Believe it or Not.” This account detailed a bizarre of a tiny UFO — and it’s even tinier 3-inch occupant — which allegedly touched ground at a Royal Malaysian Air Force Base located approximately 9-miles outside of the town of Kuantan. A translated excerpt from the article follows:
“Kuantan, Thursday – A 3-inch-tall creature said to resemble a human being, has become the talk of the RMAF base here since its reported sighting, by a schoolboy two days ago. The story has also spread to the town. Paul Lazario, 9, a pupil of the RMAF Primary School said he saw the creature two days ago near a drain at the RMAF field. It was stopping to drink water, he added. ‘I caught it but it escaped from my grip and ran into some undergrowth near the drain,’ he said. ‘It had two feelers on the head and held a steel-like rod in its hand. A pistol was hanging from its waist. It was brown in colour and looked like a man,’ he added. Paul said he related the incident to his friends and in the evening three of them went to the spot near the field. And according to schoolboy, Neo Lee Ann, 12, all three saw the creature moving about on the area. ‘When it saw us, it ran into the undergrowth and disappeared’ he said. A teacher of the school, Mr. Yew Kim Guan, said when he heard the story he went to investigate. ‘There was no sign of the creature in the area, but I saw a Red Indian-like wigwam beautifully weaved out of grass. It was partly crushed.”
The final major case in this first decade long flap occurred 6 years later in 1979, in same locale that the 1973 wave started, Bukit Mertajam. Apparently a small flying saucer landed in a field and when a group of youngsters approached they were flabbergasted to see a 3-inch tall creature emerge from the UFO.
As is evidently the trend with the fearless (or foolhardy) young men of Malaysia, an attempt was made by one of the boys on hand to capture the creature from outer space, but — much like in the first Bukit Mertajam case — the armed alien fired a “beam that temporarily paralyzed his right arm.” The reports conclude with the unexplained visitor from out of this world making its escape.
According to Jamaludin, there were seven reported landings in Malaysia between 1969 and 1979. He mentioned that all but two of the encounters took place during the day and described the similarities between the encounters in his official report:
“The creatures measured, in all cases, either 3 inches or 6 inches tall. All were equipped with a type of ray gun. They were described as well dressed in one-piece suits. Some had slightly larger head and round eyes. The 3-inch humanoids sometimes had two antenna-like structures protruding from the head. Case 1,2,3,4 and 7 occurred in West Malaysia, all reported by schoolchildren and all landings took place in school premises.”
Jamaludin even chronicled a 2-foot wide UFO encounter that happened near Kulim that resulted in yet another “attack” by these little extraterrestrials, but not a “humanoid” sighting:
“There were 3 more probable encounters with tiny humanoids in Malaysia, but unfortunately the origin of the incidents cannot be traced. One recent case, a probable landing, occurred on May 26, 1979, near Kulim where the witnesses, 3 boys and 2 adults, claimed to have sighted a small UFO hovering a few feet above the ground perhaps in an attempt to land since its three landing gears were already down. As the witnesses tried to touch the object an intense light ray shone into their eyes which temporarily blinded them. This shows that the small UFO was intelligently controlled from inside. Considering its small size, estimated about 2 feet in diameter, the UFO occupants if any inside would have to measure about 3 inches tall to fit comfortably in the object.”
Jamaludin would also go on to suggest the reason that he believes these creatures tend to focus on schoolyards has less to do with children and more with the open fields near the school’s themselves:
“From the air, Malaysia offers half a dozen types of landing grounds, namely jungles, rubber and oil palm plantations, rice fields, tin mining areas, and football fields. For a landing the thick jungles and rubber plantations do not offer enough clearance. Rice fields and tin-mining areas are almost isolated, and if there were any landings, most would go unnoticed (considering also the small size of the UFO). The only landing spot that would attract attention in the event of a landing would be a field.”
While the “official” flap ended in 1979, 1985 would prove to be a renaissance of sorts for the Malaysian micro-terrestrial. The first event occurred in Paka, Terengganu, in October of 1985. Much like in the previous cases, a group of school kids claimed to have encountered no less than seven “human-like entities” hiding beneath a stack of wood near their school.
The youthful witnesses described the beings as about 4-inches in height and further speculated that the party consisted of six men and one woman. It goes without saying that one of the children lunged out and managed to touch one the beings, but unlike those who were struck by some sort of beam-like weapon, this youngster claimed that his hand suddenly became “itchy.”
The “aliens” then disappeared into their lumber covered hiding spot. According to the reports, numerous folks dedicated hours to removing the wood piece by piece in the hopes of reacquiring these stealthy visitors, but there efforts were for naught.
The next event occurred at about 8.30 am. in December of that same year. Khairuddin Eidin — a 26 year-old bicyclist from Karak, Pahang — claimed that he spied an “umbrella” shaped UFO flying approximately 30-feet away from him. He described the object as “metallic” and “shiny.” Several other eyewitnesses also claimed to see the object rotate and ascend out of sight. As prolific as the Malaysian reports would be, they weren’t the only people claiming to encounter flight capable “wee folk.”
In his book “UFOs Over California,” Preston Dennett claimed that there were two encounters in California with UFOs that were described as being the size of a “baseball.” These run-ins occurred in 1958 and 1976 respectively, and in the latter case eyewitnesses claimed to have seen three “things” inside the ball-like craft. It has to be assumed that these being were even smaller than 3-inches, if they were able to comfortably traverse the universe — or even inter-dimensionally — in such a minute vehicle.
Speaking of minute mysteries, one would be remiss not to include the incredible case of the on the tiny humanoid that was allegedly discovered alive in Chile.
According to this fascinating report, on October 1st, 2002 — while vacationing in the Southern Chilean city of Concepción — young Julio Carreño and his family discovered a strange-looking creature lurking around in some dense foliage.
The humanoid being measured out to be 7.2 centimeters long (approximately 3-inches) and bore a relatively large head, two arms with unnaturally long fingers and two, apparently bipedal, legs.
Julio managed to capture the creature and wrapped it in a piece of paper. The family claimed that this aberration of nature survived for over a week and even managed to open its eyes before succumbing.
It wasn’t long before this curious carcass became a media sensation and scientists from across the globe have debated the origins of this little guy, with some speculating that it might be a fetus from a known animal such as a mouse, possum or wild cat. Others, however, are not so sure.
There are some who believe that the Chile humanoid may represent an unknown species of primate, while others of a more eccentric bent presume the remains to be those of an alien that did not manage to survive the ordeals of the Chilean jungle.
While Asians, North and South Americans have all claimed to have had encounters with various breeds of teensy space invaders, it should be noted that there have been a handful of unusual mini-humanoid sightings, one in particular, which seemed to end on a particularly sour note for the ostensibly alien visitor.
In 2009, in Lahore, Pakistan, a 4-inch human-like alien was allegedly found alive in the debris of an old store that was being rebuilt. The creature flopped around in a fish-like manner and local children threw stones at it, assuming that it was a dangerous animal. Eventually the creature was captured by locals who — one can only hope — accidentally killed it when trying to secure it inside a bottle.
News of the strange cadaver swiftly spread through the town and witnesses gathered to see the little body, which — according to the report — shriveled and burned in the searing Lahore sun (or by placing it on hot rocks, depending on which report you read.) Clips of the odd body and the Pakistani news report are on YouTube.
The locals claimed that they wanted the corpse to be examined by “medical” officials. Whether or not that has transpired is unknown, but I’ve got to admit that it looks like a bit of a cob job on a plastic toy to me, but, then again, you never know.
So what should one make of this strange phenomenon? Does it just prove that aliens really do come in all shapes and sizes or are we dealing with hyper-futuristic time travelers who, for reasons incomprehensible to us, must shrink themselves in order to make the arduous journey?
Are these just the small scout ships for a grand — albeit relatively tiny — alien armada, hellbent on the enslavement of humanity or are they merely mild mannered explorers who can’t understand why these strange giants are constantly attacking them?
Or, when all is said and done, is all of this merely a schoolboy prank that spread like out of control wildfire with copycat reports popping up all across Malaysia?
According to Jamaludin, the primary investigator of this phenomenon, skeptics should give these young witnesses the benefit of the doubt. He also indicated that if these encounters are genuine, they represent just the tip of a colossal, mysterious, iceberg:
“At the time of writing I have documented 24 cases: about 50 percent of the tiny entities were sighted with their little UFOs, and the remainder without the UFOs. If we reject these claims as hallucination or hoaxes, then I can close shop with this UFO business since there is nothing to report of significance. If we were to accept that the young witnesses were reporting what they actually saw, then we have a very important clue to work with.”
Either way it’s hard not to speculate that a great number of UFO sightings may well go unreported due to the fact that sky watchers are generally on the lookout for colossal mother ships rather than model-sized vehicles. Whatever the answer to this fascinating enigma may be, there are few who would argue that micro-terrestrial reports — be they cosmic or Earthbound — represent a fascinating and perplexing puzzle for ufologists and fortean investigators worldwide.Jenni Simpson applies to court of appeal for right to take on case amid fears it could lead to claims being traded like commodities
A vast, speculative market in negligence claims could be created if a widow from Norfolk persuades the court of appeal to let her pursue someone else's NHS compensation case.
The highly unusual legal manoeuvre threatens to congest the courts with thousands of applications that could force public authorities to pay out massive sums to avoid being bankrupted by litigation costs.
Jenni Simpson, from Norwich, paid £1 for the "right" to take over the compensation case of former hospital patient Alan Catchpole, also from Norwich, who contracted an MRSA infection while undergoing surgery in 2005.
The NHS Litigation Authority, which paid out £827m in claims and costs last year, warned that if Simpson's case succeeds it would be a "worrying development" that could lead to claims "being traded like commodities".
Her novel method has twice been struck out by lower courts. "It's a very strange case," a spokesman for the NHS Litigation Authority said. "It's the only claim of its type." The authority is funding the hospital trust's defence.
Catchpole, the court of appeal was told, decided not to pursue any claim himself. Simpson's interest in picking it up is not financial: her husband was diagnosed with the same superbug at Norwich and Norfolk University hospital before he died. She wants to highlight the hospital's alleged failure to control the infection.
But her success could open the floodgates to a secondary market in compensation claims driven by profit and buoyed up by no win, no fee agreements.
Simon Redmayne, representing Simpson, said her motive was not financial, but to see the hospital's infection control procedures tested in court and to "heighten the appreciation within the hospital that it needs to deal with MRSA".
He said there was no principle of law preventing alleged negligence victims assigning their right to take court action to third parties and, even if there was, it was anachronistic in light of the Human Rights Act and modern attitudes to access to justice.
Although he now has no direct interest in the case, the court heard Catchpole "cares about the result" and would like an apology from the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital NHS trust.
But Jeremy Morgan QC, for the trust, said it was against public policy for Simpson to be able to step into Catchpole's shoes and pursue his damages claim herself.
If the arrangement between Catchpole and Simpson were upheld, there would be nothing to prevent solicitors and "claim farmers simply buying causes of action from injured people and running the cases for themselves," he told the court. "There would be a ready market for the sale and purchase of claims," he said.
NHS trusts would also find themselves "on a hiding to nothing" in trying to defend claims by impecunious claimants – backed by legal aid, or no win, no fee deals – and would be forced to settle cases for more than they were really worth, just to save legal costs.
"By substituting a person of straw as a claimant, it ensures that, whatever the merits of the dispute, the rational course for the defendant is not to go to court itself, but to buy off the claim as cheaply as possible," he added.
Judgment has been reserved until a later date.Even Before 9/11, NSA Knew In Real-Time Which Countries Both Parties to Phone Calls Were In
In finding the NSA’s metadata collection program legal today, Judge William Pauley III ruled:
The September 11th terrorist attacks revealed, in the starkest terms, just how dangerous and interconnected the world is. While Americans depended on technology for the conveniences of modernity, al-Qaeda plotted in a seventh-century milieu to use that technology against us. It was a bold jujitsu. And it succeeded because conventional intelligence gathering could not detect diffuse filaments connecting al-Qaeda. Prior to the September 11th attacks, the National Security Agency (“NSA”) intercepted seven calls made by hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar, who was living in San Diego, California, to an al-Qaeda safe house in Yemen. The NSA intercepted those calls using overseas signals intelligence capabilities that could not capture al-Mihdhar’s telephone number identifier. Without that identifier, NSA analysts concluded mistakenly that al-Mihdhar was overseas and not in the United States. Telephony metadata would have furnished the missing information and might have permitted the NSA to notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) of the fact that al-Mihdhar was calling the Yemeni safe house from inside the United States. The Government learned from its mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program—a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data. This blunt tool only works because it collects everything. Such a program, if unchecked, imperils the civil liberties of every citizen. Each time someone in the United States makes or receives a telephone call, the telecommunications provider makes a record of when, and to what telephone number the call was placed, and how long it lasted. The NSA collects that telephony metadata. If plumbed, such data can reveal a rich profile of every individual as well as a comprehensive record of people’s associations with one another.
Judge Pauley is uninformed … and he fell for the “big lie” behind NSA spying.
Bill Binney – the high-level NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information, senior technical director within the agency who managed thousands of NSA employees, interviewed by CBS, ABC, CNN, New York Times, USA Today, Fox News, PBS and many others – told Washington’s Blog:
[NSA chief Keith] Alexander wants you and everybody (including this clueless judge) to believe that caller ID does not work. First of all, all the calls that are made in the world are routed by machines. And, with machines, you have to tell them exactly what to do. Which means, the routing instructions calling nr and called nr have to be passed through the machines to route the call to get from point A to point B in the world. So, he is feeding everyone a line of crap. If you buy into this, I have a bridge I would like to sell. Also, all calls going from one region of the world to another are preceded by 01 or 011 in region “1″ (US/Canada/some islands) or by “00″ in the rest of the world. And that goes both ways on any call. The Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) numbering plan is how we could eliminate all US to US calls right up front and never take them in.
In other words, while Binney headed NSA’s global digital communications gathering efforts prior to 9/11, his team knew in real-time which countries calls were made from and received in. The NSA is lying if it claims otherwise.
ProPublica notes:
“There were plenty of opportunities without having to rely on this metadata system for the FBI and intelligence agencies to have located Mihdhar,” says former Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who extensively investigated 9/11 as chairman of the Senate’s intelligence committee. These missed opportunities are described in detail in the joint congressional report produced by Graham and his colleagues as well as in the 9/11 Commission report. *** Mihdhar was on the intelligence community’s radar at least as early as 1999. That’s when the NSA had picked up communications from a “terrorist facility” in the Mideast suggesting that members of an “operational cadre” were planning to travel to Kuala Lumpur in January 2000, according to the commission report. The NSA picked up the first names of the members, including a “Khalid.” The CIA identified him as Khalid al Mihdhar. The U.S. got photos of those attending the January 2000 meeting in Malaysia, including of Mihdhar, and the CIA also learned that his passport had a visa for travel to the U.S. *** Using their true names, Mihdhar and Hazmi for a time beginning in May 2000 even lived with an active FBI informant in San Diego. *** Let’s turn to the comments of FBI Director Robert Mueller before the House Judiciary Committee last week. Mueller noted that intelligence agencies lost track of Mihdhar following the January 2000 |
establish off-Internet connection through SmartMesh App
Alice pays Brandon 5 tokens
Alice sends crypto transaction data to Brandon without the Internet, both sides store crypto
transaction information.
When there is internet access, Alice and Brandon synchronizes the transaction information up to
Raiden Network node; verify transaction settlement within the transaction verification channel.
If Alice closes the transaction channel, Alice submits a signed Update Transaction message to the
blockchain contract, which will wait for the Hold Period. During which if Brandon could submit a
higher Update Transaction message with a higher sequence number; the contract will confiscate all
pledged assets of Alice in the channel and transfer it to Brandon. If there is no objection until wait
for Brandon is timeout, the contract will complete the transfer payment and close the channel in
the block chain according to the message content. Vice versa.
If Alice closes transaction channel, Alice submit a Update Transaction
Compared to Lightning Network, Raiden Network introduces a more common SmartMesh Condition
than Hash Timelock Contract of Lightning Network. In the event of a dispute, the contract can be
enforced by presenting the latest version of the Update Transaction message to the SmartMesh
contract on blockchain, and requesting SmartMesh contract to process the SmartMesh Condition in
the message. If there is no dispute, none of these will appear on Ethereum blockchain, which
enhances the privacy as well as performance.
When Alice and Brandon make off-the-Internet transactions, the two sides store encrypted
transaction information off-chain, which will be synchronized, verified when the Internet access is
available. This guarantees security of the transactions and untamperable.
SmartMesh has integrated Ethereum Light Node, Raiden Light Node and a SmartMesh Off-Internet
Extension of Raiden Network, by which a parallel global mesh network incentivized by crypto tokens
will emerge and thrive.
Universal connectivity architecture
SmartMesh Mesh aim to enable a Global Mesh Network parallel to the Internet. Every
SmartMeshphone is like a SmartMesh. A single spark can start a wild fire on a prairie. With the
increase in Fireflies, mobile SmartMesh nodes create a network of their own; the apps would be
SmartMesh enough to choose a path for each data packet, over Internet or SmartMesh Mesh.
Blockchain was on PC nodes only, and now they are making their ways to SmartMeshphones with
mobile light node technologies, which allows crypto currencies trading whether access to the
Internet is available or not. SmartMesh off-Internet Payment lets crypto currencies can be traded
even when the Internet is off.
For the future generation of communications, the Internet and SmartMesh Mesh complement each
other, SmartMesh Mesh will be carrying a large number of local traffic and it will be the most
optimized universal connection.
SmartMesh governance
SmartMesh Foundation
SmartMesh Decision Making Committee
The SmartMesh Blockchain Decision Committee is responsible for the management and decision
making of significant matters, including the appointment and dismissal of executive officers and
directors of each committee and important decisions. Members of the decision-making committee
term of office are three years. The committee will appoint a chairperson and specifics shall be
determined later.
The members of the First Decision Committee will be appointed by SmartMesh Founding Team and
Investors.
SmartMesh Ecosystem Center
The purpose of SmartMesh Ecosystem Center is to explore the potential use cases and facilitate
business applications, to promote applications in education, e-commerce and social networks, to
achieve artificial intelligence, cross-border transactions, interoperability and sharing of value.
SmartMesh Research and Development Center
The SmartMesh Research and Development Center is responsible for the research and development
of infrastructure layer technologies, including testing, launch and verification. The SDK supports
mainstream programming languages and provides technical support in all domains and offer open
source code.
SmartMesh Marketing Centers
The Marketing Center is responsible for technical marketing, product marketing and marketing of
related applications.
SmartMesh Daily Operation Center
The Daily Operation Center performs financial, legal affairs, Human Resources, office administration
managerial duties. Finance Department is responsibility for the use and audit of the fund;
Drafting and examination of official documents, to prevent potential legal risks; Administration and
HR are responsible for personnel management, compensation and daily administrative work.
Development team
Henry Wang
Founder of SmartMesh
The Founder and President of International Blockchain Application Federation (IBAF).
Paul Gardner-Stephen
Chief Scientist
Founder and CTO, Serval Project,
Senior Lecturer, Flinders University
Ashton Addison
Chief Marketing Strategist
CEO & Founder at EventChain.io
A leader, entrepreneur and technology enthusiast in blockchain technology since 2013.
Matthew Lloy
Expert in Disaster Telecommunications
Maxim Prishchepo
Founder&CEO Integral LLC
Maxim is a founder and CEO of two innovative IT companies.
Roadmap
SmartMesh ico Allocation and distribution
Only 3,141,592,653 SMART tokens will ever be created. The SMART tokens are intended to be
allocated as follows:
- 40% to be sold by the Company to Crowdsale and pre-crowdsale purchasers pursuant to
the offering or through Company Approved Affiliates.
- 25% reserved by the Company to incentivize future developements.
- 12% reserved by the Company early investors.
- 10% to be distributed by the Company to the SmartMesh team.
- 5% to be used for marketing purposes throughout the entire
project.
- 4% reserved by the Company advisory board.
- 4% reserved by the Company angel investors.
- SmartMesh platform and Company Staff tokens will be locked for 24 months after
the end of the Crowdsale.
- Company angel investors and early investors tokens will be locked for 12 months
after the end of the Crowdsale.
- Company advisory board tokens will be locked for 12 months after the end of the
Crowdsale, and released at a rate of 25% per quarter thereafter.
1. ICO Start: 09:00 29th Nov, 2017 SGT
2. ICO End: 23:59 28th Dec, 2017 SGT
3. Crowd sale supported currency ：ETH
4. Amount of the SMART： 3,141,592,653 SMART
5. Hard Cap：36,000 ETH
6. Currently Accepting Private Investment：
1 ETH = 33888 SMART +10% Bonus
Public ICO Phases：
29th Nov - 2nd Dec (Phase I)：1 ETH = 33888SMART
3rd Dec - 5th Dec (Phase II)： 1 ETH = 30888SMART
6th Dec - 28th Dec (Phase III)：1 ETH = 27888SMART
Links:
Website:https://smartmesh.io/
White Paper:https://smartmesh.io/white-pap...
Telegram:https://t.me/SmartMesh
Twitter:https://twitter.com/smart_mesh
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Smart...
GIthub:https://github.com/SmartMeshFo...
Kalao:https://open.kakao.com/o/gWZRt...Racehorse drowns at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved Just Dance With Me, a three-year-old racehorse drowned in a training accident at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino on June 7, 2016. (Provided Photo/Centaur Gaming) [ + - ] Video
ANDERSON, Ind. (WISH) - A racehorse is dead as a result of an accident during a training session at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino in Anderson Tuesday.
The three-year-old Standardbred racehorse, Just Dance With Me, reportedly veered off the track, went through one of the track's inner fences and then fell into the infield pond.
A broken bit and loss of control are being blamed for the fatal accident.
The driver on the horse at the time, Brett Wilfong, was not injured during the incident.
The Anderson Fire Department responded and assisted on scene.
Later in the evening, the regularly scheduled races went on as planned. Dozens of fans showed up, some unaware of what happened earlier in the day.
"I can imagine how deeply affected the owners, the drivers, and the trainers are in this tragic event because they invest a lot of time and heart and skill into their, into this vocation," said racing fan Mimi Josie. "They have a very close connection with their animals and so it's really deeply sad."
Rick Moore, the Vice President and General Manager of racing said, "When you lose one of your own, whether it be a human or equan and unfortunately we lost a horse today, it's a very sad day." Despite the sadness, he and the fans agreed the show must go on.
"Going ahead and racing will probably take everyone's mind, at least, keep their mind off of it a little bit for a few hours," Moore said. "Tending to business is probably the best therapeutic medicine possible."
Donnie Recchiuti was in town from Ohio to watch one of the races. He was saddened to hear about Just Dance With Me's death, but as someone who shows horses for a living he knew the races wouldn't be suspended.
"We don't like to see that happen to any animal but there are accidents that happen and that's what they are, they're accidents and all these people around here are good horsemen that try to prevent stuff like that from happening," Recchiuti said.Elderly inmates are putting a burden on Texas taxpayers A growing burden
As more elderly prisoners serve time, state officials struggle to pay their medical costs
Raymond Palen, 79, is serving 20 years for sexual assault at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Estelle Unit in Huntsville. He uses a walker and has diabetes and arthritis. Raymond Palen, 79, is serving 20 years for sexual assault at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Estelle Unit in Huntsville. He uses a walker and has diabetes and arthritis. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Chronicle Photo: Melissa Phillip, Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Elderly inmates are putting a burden on Texas taxpayers 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A growing population of elderly inmates is driving up prison medical care costs to the point that some Texas lawmakers would like to see more of those who are feeble and chronically ill released early.
In the last decade, the number of inmates 55 and older has spiked as much as 8 percent each year, growing to about 12,500, while the general inmate population has remained fairly flat.
In prisons across the country, inmates grow old serving longer sentences and enter prison at an older age. Between 1999 and 2008, the number of inmates 55 and older in state and federal prisons increased by 76 percent to 76,400 inmates, according to the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. The general population grew by 18 percent.
With rising medical care costs and dwindling state budgets, policy-makers and prison officials have struggled to keep pace. Elderly inmates in Texas make up 8 percent of the state's prison population, yet they account for more than 30 percent of prison hospitalization costs.
In fiscal 2010, the state spent more than $545 million on inmate health care. It paid $4,853 per elderly offender for care compared with $795 for inmates under 55, according to the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee.
"It's no different than in the free world," said Dr. Owen Murray, chief physician and vice president of offender services for the University of Texas Medical Branch, which provides most of the state's prison medical care. "They're more expensive because they have more medical needs."
Legislators this session considered a bill that would have required release of certain elderly and sick inmates to community settings. Outside prison, many inmates would qualify for Medicaid, lessening the state's costs.
Required care
The legislation died after failing to make last week's calendar deadline. But lawmakers grapple with the issue every session. Inmates are constitutionally entitled to receive medical care, so states must balance the quality of care with its cost.
State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said he would like to see prison space freed up for more dangerous criminals and the cost savings used for law enforcement. "In times of fiscal concern, we're spending $1 million or more on inmates who can't get out of bed or are really sick individuals. It's just nuts," he said.
Many prisons are not properly equipped to care for the elderly, said Robert Aday, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and author of a book on aging prisoners.
"The sheer numbers are overwhelming them," Aday said. "A convergence of trends, including enhanced sentencing, more prisons built, and the graying of American people, it's created this crisis."
The Estelle Unit in Huntsville has a 60-bed geriatric unit where Raymond Palen, 79, has been housed for four years. He has diabetes, heart problems and arthritis. He moves around with the help of a walker and takes up to nine medications a day.
Palen, who has three years left on a 20-year sentence for sexual assault, has seen inmates die in what he calls the "old man's home."
Some states have turned to compassionate release and medical parole programs as ways to cut costs. But national statistics show that medical parole programs are under-used, Aday said.
In Texas, more than 1,000 offenders are identified each year as being eligible for medical parole, according to a Legislative Budget Board report. About a third of those are processed and presented to the state parole board, which approves 25 percent of those cases each year. Since 1991, 1,287 offenders have been released under the program — about 64 prisoners per year, the report said.
A long review process
The referral and review process for medical parole can be so long and complicated that many inmates die before their case goes to the parole board. In 2009, for example, 74 inmates died waiting for their case to be reviewed, the report said.
Inmates are referred for medical release mostly by physicians based on diagnosis and medical condition. The Texas Correctional Office for Offenders with Mental or Medical Impairments screens the referrals and presents recommendations to the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The majority of medical releases are for inmates who are terminally ill or need long-term care, said Dee Wilson, director of the correctional office. Elderly inmates are rarely approved because a large percentage of them are in prison for committing sexual assaults and other violent crimes, Wilson said.
Inmates sentenced to death or life without parole or who committed certain violent crimes are not eligible.
Whitmire said he has tried in a few cases to appeal to the seven-member parole board to release an elderly and sick inmate who didn't pose a public safety risk, but he believes the board is too concerned about political consequences.
"We all want to save the state tax dollars, to think outside the box and to reduce cost where we can, but not at the expense of public safety," parole board chairwoman Rissie Owens said.
[email protected] caption Mr Mahmoud was surrounded by supporters outside his office
President Mohammed Mursi of Egypt has agreed to allow the Mubarak-era chief prosecutor to keep his job after an embarrassing public row.
Spokesmen for Mr Mursi and the prosecutor, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, confirmed an agreement had been reached at talks in the capital, Cairo.
Mr Mahmoud earlier returned to work, escorted by judges and lawyers.
He has been criticised for acquitting officials accused of attacking protesters under Hosni Mubarak.
The acquittals sparked violent protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday when supporters and opponents of President Mursi clashed.
More than 110 people were injured in the worst violence seen since he took office at the end of June.
Saturday's outcome is a big defeat for Mr Mursi, who until now has been steadily consolidating power, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.
Under the old government, there was often criticism that judges and prosecutors were susceptible to government pressure. Our correspondent says they are now fighting hard to assert their independence from the new government.
'Unless I am assassinated'
Mr Mahmoud's return to his office on Saturday was a symbolic display of independence, after President Morsi tried to remove him by appointing him ambassador to the Vatican, our correspondent says.
Analysis The decision to re-instate the prosecutor general is a big blow for President Mursi. It shows the limit of his power, after months in which he had steadily been consolidating his grip. It's also important because control, or influence, over the judiciary could be crucial in Egypt's future. Already one court has dissolved parliament. Another is considering whether to dissolve the constitutional assembly, which has nearly finished preparing a new draft constitution.
A number of judges reportedly threatened to resign as well.
The chief prosecutor vowed to serve out his term, telling reporters: "I occupy this office and I will defend myself, and I will defend my position, and I will defend the independence of the prosecutor general, and the independence of the judges, and I will not leave this office unless I am assassinated."
The prosecutor went on to a meeting with one of the vice-presidents, in an attempt to defuse the situation.
Mr Mahmoud's deputy, Adel Said, said later that the chief prosecutor and President Mursi had met and agreed that he would stay in office.
There had been a "misunderstanding" over Mr Mahmoud's nomination to the Vatican, Mr Said was quoted as saying by state TV.
Vice-President Mahmoud Mekki confirmed for reporters that Mr Mursi had agreed to keep Mr Mahmoud in his post.A drug used to increase blood production in both medical treatments and athletic doping scandals seems also to improve memory in those using it. New research published in the open access journal BMC Biology shows that the memory enhancing effects of erythropoietin (EPO) are not related to its effects on blood production but due to direct influences on neurons in the brain. The findings may prove useful in the treatment of diseases affecting brain function, such as schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's.
Patients given EPO to treat chronic kidney failure had been observed to have improved cognition after starting the drug. "These effects of EPO were thought to result from the blood-boosting effects of the drug", explains Hannelore Ehrenreich at the Max Planck Institute, "but the finding of receptors for EPO on nerve cells in the brain suggests that some other mechanism might be involved."
To investigate the mechanisms of EPO-enhanced cognition, the researchers injected mice with EPO every other day for three weeks (11 doses) to test the effects of long-term exposure. After the treatment period, mice given EPO had better memory in some situations than did mice that had been given a placebo instead. The improvement in memory lasted up to three weeks from the last EPO dose and outlasted increased blood-cell production, but had disappeared by four weeks. Mice given three doses saw no benefit with respect to memory improvement.
"Young mice systematically treated with EPO for three weeks have improved memory, similar to the dramatic improvements observed in endurance and muscular performance athletes who use EPO to boost performance", says Ehrenreich. The specific memory improvements were associated with the hippocampus, a structure in the brain involved in learning and memory, among other functions.
The researchers did a series of experiments on hippocampal tissue taken from the mice and found that EPO directly affected the neurons in this structure. "EPO had pronounced effects on short-term and long-term plasticity in the hippocampus as well as on synaptic transmission", the researchers report. "Treatment with EPO seems to increase the number of inhibitory circuits, which actually increases the efficiency of transmission of excitatory nerve impulses in specific neurons, resulting in greater short-term and long-term plasticity in memory pathways in the hippocampus."
These findings begin to shed light on the mechanisms of improvements in cognition seen in patients with schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis as a result of treatment with this drug. As well as working to refine these findings, further studies might also investigate the effects of EPO on other brain regions that might be associated with improvements in motor functions in multiple sclerosis, and investigate the potential of using EPO or targeting the networks involved in EPO-generated neuronal plasticity in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
###
Notes to Editors:
1. Erythropoietin enhances hippocampal long-term potentiation and memory
Bartosz Adamcio, Derya Sargin, Alicja Stradomska, Lucian Medrihan, Christoph Gertler, Fabian Theis, Mingyue Zhang, Michael Müller, Imam Hassouna, Kathrin Hannke, Swetlana Sperling, Konstantin Radyushkin, Ahmed El-Kordi, Lizzy Schulze, Anja Ronnenberg, Fred Wolf, Nils Brose, Jeong-Seop Rhee, Weiqi Zhang and Hannelore Ehrenreich
BMC Biology (in press)
During embargo, article available here:
http://www. biomedcentral. com/ imedia/ 1457667673213824_article. pdf?random= 149923
After the embargo, article available at the journal website:
http://www. biomedcentral. com/ bmcbiol/
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
Article citation and URL available on request at [email protected] on the day of publication
2. BMC Biology - the flagship biology journal of the BMC series - publishes open access research and methodology articles of special importance and broad interest in any area of biology and biomedical sciences. BMC Biology (ISSN 1741-7007) is covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, BIOSIS, CAS, Scopus, EMBASE, Zoological Record, Thomson Scientific (ISI) and Google Scholar. The journal will receive its first Impact Factor in 2008. BMC Biology has an Impact Factor of 5.06.
3. BioMed Central (www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science.The Democratic Party and Wall Street
By Barry Grey
1 October 2008
The role of the Democratic Party in promoting the plan devised by the Bush administration and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to bail out Wall Street has exposed the real social interests that this party defends.
From the moment Paulson broached the idea of using at least $700 billion in taxpayer funds to buy worthless mortgage-backed securities from the major banks, the Democratic leadership, including the party’s presidential candidate, Barack Obama, backed the scheme.
They accepted the basic framework of Paulson’s proposal. They echoed his claims and those of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke that immediate legislative action was required to avert an economic catastrophe.
Despite their control of both houses of Congress, the Democrats never advanced their own plan to deal with the financial crisis. With Wall Street and the entire ideology of American “free market” capitalism discredited in the eyes of the American people, and popular opposition to the bailout mounting, the Democrats were in a position, as the nominal opposition party, to demand significant reforms of the banking system.
They could have called for tougher regulation of the banks and punitive measures against the multi-millionaire architects of the financial meltdown. They did nothing of the kind.
Instead, they took the lead in secret negotiations with Paulson to draw up legislation whose entire purpose was to protect the interests of the most powerful sections of the financial elite, such as the Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, formerly headed by Paulson. They insisted that the crisis required a bipartisan response, and that a program to place immense public resources at the disposal of Wall Street, with the most far-reaching implications for the American people, should be excluded from the election campaign and implemented before voters could register their opposition on Election Day.
There is little doubt that the outlines of the scheme Paulson presented to congressional leaders on September 19 had been discussed in advance with the Democratic leadership. Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who has led the Democrats in their talks with Paulson, had already publicly called for a government rescue of the banks along the lines of the $160 billion bailout of the savings and loan industry carried out in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Democratic-backed bill that emerged last weekend from these talks conformed in all essentials to the scheme initially proposed by Paulson. The supposed improvements included at the insistence of the Democratic negotiators amounted to window dressing aimed at duping the American people into thinking their interests were being protected.
Even the token measures initially called for by some Democrats to aid distressed homeowners were dropped, at the insistence of the banking industry and the Bush administration. The bill granted Paulson virtually unlimited powers to run the bailout as he saw fit, with no serious provisions for the government to recoup the vast sums it will lose in the purchase and eventual resale of the junk assets.
Perhaps the most extraordinary provision of Paulson’s proposal, barring any court review of his actions and those of the Wall Street firms he hires to manage the bailout, was largely retained. The bill that was voted on and defeated in the House of Representatives on Monday bars anyone from challenging the bailout program in court except on grounds of violations of the US Constitution. The program, its overseers and the banks that participate cannot be sued for violating existing laws—a blatantly unconstitutional restriction that amounts to a blank check for illegality and corruption.
As this provision underscores, the Democratic leadership wants nothing to be enacted that in any way threatens the interests of the most powerful banks and investment firms. They support the Paulson bailout because they themselves are deeply embedded in the milieu of Wall Street and consider their most critical constituency to be the financial aristocracy and the richest layers of the upper-middle class.
The Democratic Party’s open alliance with Wall Street reflects the economic evolution of social layers upon which it has long based itself. The past three decades of boom on Wall Street have immensely enriched sections of the middle class which profited from the growth of financial speculation.
Not a few prominent Democratic politicians embody this process: Jon Corzine, the governor of New Jersey and former senator of the state, who made hundreds of millions of dollars as chairman and co-CEO of Goldman Sachs; New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, another small businessman who became a multi-millionaire; and Bill Clinton, who has amassed a personal fortune since leaving office by associating with big players on Wall Street.
This accounts for the utter indifference of the Democratic leadership to the popular opposition to the bailout and the crisis confronting the broad mass of working people.
Leading up to Monday’s vote in the House, it was apparent that the most serious threat to the bailout bill came from right-wing Republican congressmen, who feared being thrown out of office by angry voters and sought to posture as opponents of Wall Street. They denounced the measure as an affront to “free market” capitalism and demanded instead of a direct use of taxpayer money a government guarantee against banking losses, combined with a frontal assault on social spending and even greater tax breaks for big business.
The negotiations on the bill were dominated by efforts on the part of the Democratic leadership and Paulson to appease the Republican opposition by removing the token housing provisions and adding the insurance scheme, but only as an option to be used at the treasury secretary’s discretion. The result was a united front of Wall Street spokesman Paulson, Bush and the Democratic congressional leadership.
In the event, the bill went down to defeat, with 67 percent of House Republicans voting against and 60 percent of Democrats voting in favor. The vote itself reflected the close ties between the dominant sections of the Democratic Party and Wall Street.
Only three of New York state’s 23 Democratic congressmen (13 percent) voted against the measure. All four members of the Black Congressional Caucus from New York voted “yes.” In contrast, 15 of 34 Democrats from California (44 percent) voted against the bill. This is a measure of the degree to which Democratic legislators in the environs of Wall Street identify with the interests of the financial elite.
It is significant that the media has focused its attention almost entirely on the Republican opponents of the bailout bill, while saying virtually nothing about the 95 Democrats who voted against it. Though their opposition lacks any principled basis and has been far less aggressive than that of the dissident Republicans, in their statements on the floor of Congress and elsewhere they have adopted a more openly populist tone and highlighted some of the most egregious aspects of the bailout plan. The media has ignored them because it fears their protests will legitimize and encourage the popular opposition.
In the aftermath of the bill’s defeat, the Democrats have once again taken the lead in the effort to hold a revote and push the measure through. Speaking Tuesday at the University of Nevada at Reno, Obama said that he had spoken with Bush, the Democratic majority leader of the Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada, and other leaders about reviving the bailout plan.
Obama stepped up the campaign of fear-mongering in support of the bailout, saying that its defeat would mean that “thousands of businesses could close around the country,” and “millions of jobs could be lost.”
He added, “To the Democrats and Republicans who opposed this plan yesterday, I say: Step up to the plate and do what’s right for this country.”
Both he and his Republican opponent, John McCain, announced their support for an amendment, pushed by some Republicans who voted against the bill, to raise the federal deposit insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000—a further sop to the wealthy that would ultimately be paid for at taxpayer expense.
At the heart of the bailout plan is a drive by the most powerful sections of the financial elite to utilize the economic crisis to effect a reorganization and further consolidation of the banking industry. In a front-page article headlined “Industry is Remade in a Wave of Mergers,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday:
“The notoriously fragmented American banking system is going through a decade’s worth of consolidation in a matter of weeks, with the US government often acting as matchmaker.
“At the end of last year, the three lenders that are now the largest in US banking—Bank of American Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc.—collectively held 21.4 percent of all US deposits. Now, with this month’s government-backed sales of the banking assets of Washington Mutual Inc. to JPMorgan and of Wachovia Corp. to Citigroup, the Big Three instantly have a combined 31.3 percent of US deposits…
“For customers, it means less choice and the potential for higher fees as the big banks get more pricing power, further pressuring smaller rivals.”
With the assistance of the government, scores of small and mid-sized banks, and some larger ones, will disappear, and a few banking behemoths will emerge from the crisis with dictatorial power over the economic life of the country.
Whatever their minor tactical differences, both major parties are united in the defense of the financial elite and a bankrupt economic system that is preparing a social catastrophe.
The Socialist Equality Party rejects the entire framework of the bailout plan and the official debate surrounding it—a debate that proceeds entirely from the standpoint of the capitalist system, private ownership and control of the banks, and the subordination of all social needs to the enrichment of a financial oligarchy.
We call for the nationalization of the banks and major financial institutions, without compensation to their executives and big shareholders. These institutions must be turned into public utilities, controlled democratically by the working people, so that their resources can be used for productive purposes. These include the creation of jobs, a halt to foreclosures and evictions, the rebuilding of the country’s infrastructure, and the funding of education, health care and other social programs.
The Wall Street executives who are responsible for the crisis, who enriched themselves by means of financial manipulation and fraud, must be held accountable. Their assets should be confiscated and they should face criminal prosecution.
The struggle for this program requires a complete break with the Democratic Party and the building of an independent party of the working class, based on a socialist program and the fight to end the political rule of the banks and big business through the formation of a workers’ government.
This is the program being advanced by the candidates of the Socialist Equality Party in the 2008 elections—Jerry White for president and Bill Van Auken for vice president. We urge all those who see the need for a socialist alternative to support our election campaign and join the SEP.
To find out more about the SEP campaign, visit www.socialequality.com or contact us.Let’s be honest: If conservatism wants to succeed in the 21st century, it really needs to shake off the evangelist wing that attached itself to the movement in the 1980s and poisoned its progress for decades. You should probably start with folks like American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer and the “let’s return to the days when premarital sex was punishable” Family Research Council types.
In the wake of Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) announcing his son is gay and that he now supports same-sex marriage, Fischer took to Twitter to rant:
He then showed his true colors by likening the act of homosexuality to committing an armed robbery:
Let’s just think about that for a minute. Fischer believes two consenting adults engaged in homosexual activity is akin to people using coercive force against others at a bank. So… consensual adult relationship = violent crime? Wow. There’s no other word to describe this besides “moronic.”
But wait, there’s more. Fischer then went on to condemn Portman’s newfound “emotional” reasons for supporting same-sex marriage:
LOL, “reason.”
If there’s one thing people who legislate based on faith should realize, it’s that their policy prescriptions are absolutely not based on reason. Faith is the antithesis of reason. When you base government policy on homosexuality around a magical ancient text that tells you homosexuality is a stoneable offense, it’s laughable to suggest you have the “reason” edge in the debate.
The sad part is that one can actually view homosexuality as a “sin” and still be okay with same-sex marriage. Want to know why? Because government is not God. The state has no place legislating a religious moral code. If you truly believe gay people who love each other are going to burn in Hell or whatever, then let your God sort that out. Government’s duty is simply to protect people from coercion and fraud.
Despite how obnoxious Fischer’s idiocy may seem, know this: he is on the losing end of history.
As little as ten years from now, he and the FRC camp will be in the same boat as flat-earthers, racists, opponents of women’s suffrage, etc. In other words: most people will view them as a relic of the past; of a time when an influential group of theocrats actually believed homosexuality was like a violent crime. And we’ll all be able to laugh at such nonsense.
— —
>> Follow Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]’s become a well-trod refrain, but carmakers are looking at what comes after ownership, and car-sharing between individual owners and renters is one of those models. Mercedes-Benz has begun its own car-share service that adopts that approach – Croove, a platform that has now launched as a pilot in Munich, Germany.
Croove is pure peer-to-peer car rental model, where renters use an app to make choices about what model, trim level and other options they’re looking for in a car. The app will poll its database of registered vehicle owners in the area and find out what’s available for the time and duration need by the renter, and connect the dots. Mercedes isn’t limiting what kind of cars can be on the platform – it’s available to all makes of cars, with the limitation being that the car is in good condition, and isn’t older than 15 years.
Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler is no stranger to car sharing; the company owns and operates Car2Go, a shared vehicle platform where it offers a fleet of Smart and Mercedes vehicles to members who use them on an as-needed basis and pay only for the time they drive. This is a very different approach, however, and notable for being automaker agnostic.
Typically you’d expect carmakers to want to use a service like this to promote its own vehicles, and indeed that’s how they’ve approach services like Zipcar in the past – as a showroom or test ride opportunity for casual drivers who might consider a purchase later on. GM’s Maven has that as one of its explicit service goals, in fact.
Croove is much more like its independent competitors, however; Turo, which just launched in the UK, does the same thing, connecting car owners with renters regardless of vehicle type, and others like easyCar Club in Europe are doing the same.
The decision to open up the platform might just be about making sure Mercedes-Benz can accrue enough data about the pilot to judge whether this is a worthwhile effort for expansion using its own cars, but it’s more likely that the carmaker is not treating this primarily as lead-generation for vehicle sales. Instead, like other automakers making more serious investments in alternative transportation models, Mercedes seems to be focused more on what comes next for automakers when selling cars to people might not be their primary business.
Car sharing also becomes something that Mercedes-Benz and other carmakers can use as a purchase incentive, however – almost like an alternative form of financing, which can be used to help defray the cost of ownership. Even if Croove is open to all vehicles, it’d be relatively easy for Mercedes to use it as a sales push by showing how much a potential vehicle buyer could potentially earn back towards their lease or finance payments by also renting their car out occasionally on the platform.Ten's head of sport David Barham says the network is interested in securing the broadcast rights for the A-League - as long as they come at the right price.
The declaration comes in the wake of a Fairfax Media report that soccer's spiritual broadcasting home, SBS, was planning to cut ties with the sport after a celebrated 35-year association.
David Barham says Channel Ten is keen on securing the rights to the A-League. Credit:Getty Images
SBS are believed to be willing to sell off the final two years of their A-League commitments and Football Federation Australia are understood to favour a partnership between Ten and Fox Sports for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
Barham said Ten's interest in soccer went beyond the A-League and that they were also keen to win the rights to the FIFA World Cup - which SBS is reportedly also willing to on-sell, UEFA Champions League - which will be up for grabs in two months - and Socceroos matches.Date: February 26th, 2014
To read the full report, click here
San Francisco, Calif.– Feb. 25, 2014 - Swrve, the leader in relationship marketing for mobile apps, today announced |
a lot of potential for these sites, says Josh Bourne, the cofounder of Fair Winds Partners, a domain-name consulting firm.
"By the time a candidate announces their candidacy, especially when the candidate is older, the good and intuitive names have already been taken," he says. "But now, with new domains opening up, candidates can be a part of something more intuitive that looks new, sleek, and technologically forward."
Republicans do have plans for the.GOP domain--plans that they hope can give them an advantage over Democratic groups, none of whom registered a domain. But what exactly these plans are remains unclear. Jankowski's RSLC will be the official owner of the site, but he says it will be working very closely with other Republican groups.Federal employees are getting their Christmas list done a little early this year.
A petition started on the White House's "We the People" website Monday asks President Barack Obama to give federal workers an extra holiday on Friday, Dec. 26 as a "good gesture to improve morale of the federal workforce."
"Federal employees have dealt with pay freezes and furloughs over the past few years," petition organizers note in asking for the four-day weekend.
Time off around the Christmas holidays has been handled different ways by different presidents. President Obama provided a full day off on Monday, Dec. 24, 2012 and a half-day off on Dec. 24, 2009. President George W. Bush gave federal workers Friday off in 2003 and 2008, the last two times Christmas fell on a Thursday.
Obama did not give federal workers any extra time off last year when Christmas fell on a Wednesday. The president usually announces his decision in December.
The petition still has a long way to go, however, if federal workers are hoping to be home Dec. 26. It needs 100,000 signatures to receive White House comment; as of Tuesday night it had 73 signatures.T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere made an announcement at the end of last week that his company would be ending employer rate plan discounts, opting for a more “transparent” game plan.
“The old programs were designed to help big carriers close big corporate contracts, with employees as bargaining chips. We aren’t playing that game anymore,” was what John had to say about the current setup of employee discounts.
The end of discounted rate plans will begin tomorrow, April 1. Starting then and going forward, customers with a qualifying account will receive a T-Mobile reward card of $25 each time they purchases a new device through the carrier. According to T-Mobile, this method is simple, clear and transparent.
John closed the message with a hopeful look to the future, as the Uncarrier has even more plans at simplifying wireless for everyone. “A year ago, I promised we’d change this industry, and this is just one more step in the movement. And, we’re not done yet. Stay tuned.”
Are you affected by this change? If so, let us know your thoughts on the new “deal” below in the comments section.This cannot happen in Britain, where British human rights laws ensure that any religious group that seeks government funds to provide a community service must abide by secular law. Equally, it cannot happen in Tasmania. Almost a decade ago the island state structured its anti-discrimination laws to deny religious groups any exemptions from the Act, on the grounds of sexual orientation or transsexuality. As Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Group spokesman Rodney Croome recently pointed out, these measures have led to ''more inclusive, productive and fairer schools and workplaces, and not one single faith-based organisation has complained their religious freedom has been violated''. Not so on the mainland. The Gillard government has grovelled to the religious right to take a big step backwards. Any electoral support it may have garnered in the past year on the issue of gay marriage has now been lost. In defending the laws, Australian Christian Lobby head Jim Wallace, said: ''I'm not aware of any Christian organisation that has refused to hire anyone (based on their sexuality), and I've looked.''
The obvious question to ask here is, if the laws are not being used and discrimination isn't happening, why is Wallace so doggedly fighting for their retention? The answer, of course, is that these laws are being used, do have an impact and serve as a very strong symbol of the church placing itself above the law. It is also the case that the most insidious and enduring homophobia in the community does not come directly from the application of the law but from the fallout from it. For example, during the bitter campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s to decriminalise male homosexuality in Tasmania and Western Australia, religious groups and anti-gay campaigners would frequently claim that the criminal laws were not being used, so there was no need to change the law. The law, they argued, was needed simply because it had, ''a residual educative impact''. The Gillard government has grovelled to the religious right to take a big step backwards. This so-called residual educative impact meant that many gay men lived in fear for their jobs, careers and welfare – a form of psychological oppression that contributed to and still contributes to, higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness and suicide among gay males.
This very same systemic homophobia has now shifted to the gay law reform issue in front of us. Let's be clear about this: the main purpose of these special rights being claimed by religious groups is about keeping fear alive, forcing employees and those in their charge to be closeted, insecure, vulnerable and labelled as defective. And all with federal government sanction. It's also about the ongoing push by the religious right to define homosexuality as behaviour and to prevent it being protected as an innate part of a person's identity, as is gender and colour. As such, gay people are an understandable target for discrimination. Unless of course they're in a nursing home. In a sign of just how badly federal Labor is dealing with this issue, the anti-discrimination reforms would prevent religious-run nursing homes from discriminating against gay staff and the gay and lesbian folk in its care. But no one else. So why stop there? The answer is schools. And this is what this issue is really about. The government is simply too scared to insist that religious schools grapple with anti-gay prejudice and protect gay kids.
Because religious groups continue to assert that homosexuality is ''behaviour'', they take steps to ''minimise the contagion''. Gay teachers are sacked or silenced. Prospective employees are not told that their application failed because they are gay, or presumed to be so. Gay and lesbian kids are expelled or, more commonly, made so miserable they leave the school. Same-sex partners are forbidden entry to school functions. Bullying of gay students goes unchallenged. This is not to suggest that all religious schools behave in this way or that similar levels of anti-gay prejudice cannot be found in public schools, however, the evidence shows it's more common and often more acute in religious schools. It's good that the federal government is proposing to remove homophobia and anti-gay discrimination from elderly people in nursing homes, but isn't that a bit late? How about giving gay and lesbian people a better chance at a longer and happier life by extinguishing the prejudice when they are about to start their lives? The legislation before parliament is woefully inadequate, entrenches discrimination and uses taxpayer funds to sustain religious bigotry. You cannot have freedom of religion unless you also have freedom from it.
Brian Greig OAM, is a former Democrats senator and veteran gay rights campaigner. Follow the National Times on TwitterVarying vastly in quality and narrative hook, Romero himself ultimately disowned There’s Always Vanilla as well as citing Season of the Witch as an unfinished project he had hoped to remake one day, making this new Arrow Video boxed set an uneven package strictly for die hards eager to see the transitional period which built upon Night towards Dawn. As such, it’s an intriguing if not somewhat disappointing package as neither Vanilla nor Witch bear much solidarity along with The Crazies sporting familiar territory better explored in Dawn. Nevertheless, the Movie Sleuth took a good look at these early works in the zombie horror master’s career and here are our thoughts.
There's Always Vanilla (1971)
Cited as one of the director’s only romantic comedies in his oeuvre and characterized as among the few pictures written by someone other than Romero (penned by Rudolph J. Ricci),is a rough-around-the-edges 60s flower generation 16mm venture featuring much of the cast and crew fromwithout that film’s focus and drive. In other words,not only meanders and struggles to maintain the viewer’s attention, Romero himself went on the record to call it his ‘worst movie’ and added in a video interview included in the boxed set just how little he cares about it.
Following the aimless exploits of former U.S. Army soldier Chris Bradley (Raymond Laine, also appearing in Season of the Witch), the film jumps about between Laine addressing the camera directly through recollections in an attempt to add coherence to the proceedings and following his soon-to-be girlfriend Lynn (Judith Ridley from Night of the Living Dead) fending off a sleazy television commercial director. If it sounds like this film went on ahead without giving the audience something to latch onto, it certainly is. While some fans will get a kick out of spotting Russell Streiner as a hippie working on a beer commercial, it’s difficult to invest in what frankly amount to little more than random scribblings.
Outside of a creepy abortion clinic chase sequence compounded with medical unease, most expecting the Romero who delivered
will find themselves increasingly bored by this misbegotten effort. Arrow Video have done a fine job cleaning up and giving new life to this forgotten film, but chances are most people who buy this boxed set will only ever watch this once before moving on to the director’s more fully realized efforts. Romero places blame of course on the picture being underbudget and largely unfinished, though I doubt this is one anyone feels the need to remake for modern audiences anytime soon.Mouth breathing is breathing through the mouth rather than the nose.[1] Mouth breathing Synonyms Open-mouth breathing, mouth breathing habit Human infants are sometimes considered obligate nasal breathers, but generally speaking healthy humans may breathe through their nose, their mouth, or both. During rest, breathing through the nose is common for most individuals. Breathing through both nose and mouth during exercise is also normal, a behavioral adaptation to increase air intake and hence supply more oxygen to the muscles. Mouth breathing may be called abnormal when an individual breathes through the mouth even during rest. Some sources use the term "mouth breathing habit" but this incorrectly implies that the individual is fully capable of normal nasal breathing, and is breathing through their mouth out of preference. However, in about 85% of cases, mouth breathing represents an involuntary, subconscious adaptation to reduced openness of the nasal airway, and mouth breathing is a requirement simply in order to get enough air. Chronic mouth breathing in children may affect dental and facial growth.[2] It may also cause gingivitis (inflamed gums) and halitosis (bad breath), especially upon waking if mouth breathing occurs during sleeping. The term "mouth-breather" is sometimes utilized as an insult to imply low intelligence.[3] Contents
Causes Edit
An antrochoanal polyp, one possible cause of nasal obstruction and adaptive mouth breathing. Mouth breathing has been classified according to etiology into three groups: obstructive, habitual and anatomic.[4]:281 The nasal airway may be compromised partially (where there is increased resistance to the flow of air due to narrowing of the lumen at some point in the upper respiratory tract) or completely obstructed. Such individuals may find it difficult or impossible to breathe through their nose alone. In about 85% of cases, mouth breathing is an adaptation to nasal obstruction.[1] Specific causes of nasal obstruction which have been linked to mouth breathing include antrochoanal polyps.[5]:350 Pregnancy rhinitis may lead to nasal obstruction and mouth breathing. This tends to occur in the third trimester of pregnancy.[6]:435 Some individuals breathe through their mouth through force of habit, perhaps due to a previous cause of nasal obstruction that is now corrected.[4]:281 In other cases, the upper lip may be short, and the lips do not meet at rest (lip incompetence).[4]:281
Potential effects EditChina is moving closer to deploying a ballistic missile designed to sink an aircraft carrier, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command said in newspaper interview published Tuesday.
Adm. Robert Willard told Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper that he believed the Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile program had achieved "initial operational capability," meaning that a workable design had been settled on and was being further developed.
Known among defense analysts as a "carrier killer," the Dong Feng 21D missile would be a game-changer in the Asian security environment, where U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle groups have ruled the waves since the end of World War II.
The DF 21D's uniqueness is in its ability to hit a powerfully defended moving target with pinpoint precision — a capability U.S. naval planners are scrambling to deal with.
The system's component parts have likely been designed and tested, but U.S. sources have not detected an over-water test to see how well it can target a moving ship, Willard said.
Years of tests are probably still needed before the missile can be fully deployed, he said. The system requires state-of-the-art guidance systems, and some experts believe it will take China a decade or so to field a reliable threat.
The missile is considered a key component of China's strategy of denying U.S. planes and ships access to waters off its coast. The strategy includes overlapping layers of air defense systems, naval assets such as submarines, and advanced ballistic missile systems — all woven together with a network of satellites.
At its most capable, the DF 21D could be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at a distance of more than 900 miles (1,500 kilometers).
That could seriously weaken Washington's ability to intervene in any potential conflict over Taiwan or North Korea, as well as deny U.S. ships safe access to international waters near China's 11,200-mile (18,000-kilometer) -long coastline.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Tuesday referred questions about Willard's comments to military departments, but reiterated China's insistence that its expanding military threatens no one.
"I can say that China pursues a defensive national policy.... We pose no threat to other countries. We will always be a force in safeguarding regional peace and stability," Jiang told reporters at a regularly scheduled news conference.
While China's Defense Ministry never comments on new weapons before they become operational, the DF 21D — which would travel at 10 times the speed of sound and carry conventional payloads — has been much discussed by military buffs online.© Samantha Sais/Reuters Former President Bill Clinton, left, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, center, watch their daughter and Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation Chelsea Clinton discuss how she was raised during the closing plenary session on the second day of the 2014 Meeting of Clinton Global Initiative University at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona March 22, 2014.
WASHINGTON — More than 40 percent of the top donors to the Clinton family foundation are based in foreign countries, which could lead to conflict-of-interest questions for Hillary Clinton as she prepares to launch her campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
The charity that now bears Hillary Clinton's name along with her husband and daughter has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments, businesses, individuals and nongovernment organizations around the globe, according to an analysis of 10 years of contributions by McClatchy. Many of them gave as recently as 2014.
The governments of Saudi Arabia and Norway each contributed $10 million to $25 million.
Mohammed Al-Amoudi, a billionaire businessman who lives in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, retired German race car driver Michael Schumacher, and Denis O'Brien, the Irish chairman of Digicel phone company, each donated between $5 million and $10 million.
A London-based children's charity and a Nairobi-based organization trying to improve agriculture in Africa each gave between $1 million and $5 million.
Canada's Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development agency gave between $250,000 and $500,000 last year. The government agency is pushing for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which had been under review by the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary.
In total, at least 70 of the 168 donors contributing more than $1 million each are foreign individuals or entities. Twenty-one of them contributed in 2014.
Of the seven top donors giving more than $25 million each, four were foreign.
Hillary Clinton, 67, is already the presumed front-runner for her party's nomination, though she continues to be dogged by complaints about her high-priced speeches and ties to Wall Street.
Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York, said the foreign donations or "everything that looks like big bucks" will make it more difficult for Clinton to relate to the middle-class voters she needs to woo.
"As much as she wants to build a firewall between her and the foundation, it's not going to work when perception is nine-tenths of politics," he said.
"The Clinton Foundation is a philanthropy, period," said Craig Minassian, chief communications officer for the foundation.
"As with other global charities, the Clinton Foundation receives the support of individuals, organizations and governments from all over the world because our programs are improving the lives of millions of people by strengthening health systems, improving access to lifesaving medicines, helping communities confront the effects of climate change, creating economic opportunity and reducing childhood obesity and other preventable diseases," Minassian said.
"The bottom line: These contributions are helping improve the lives of millions of people across the world for which we are grateful," he said.
Hillary Clinton's personal spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the foundation began accepting foreign donations again after reducing that number considerably after Clinton left the secretary of state's office.
"The alarming rate at which these contributions are now coming in presents a massive conflict-of-interest problem for her," said Michael Short, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. "When that 3 a.m. phone call comes, do voters really want to have a president on the line who took truckloads of cash from other countries? Absolutely not."
America Rising, a conservative opposition research group, called on the Clinton Foundation to return all its donations from foreign governments and pledge not to accept them in the future.
Foreign nationals have been prohibited from donating money to U.S. campaigns since 1966, though government watchdog groups say that elections may be vulnerable to foreign influence through new committees whose donations are secret.
Foreign contributions to charities such as the Clinton Foundation are allowed.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which studies money in politics, said it's easier than ever for foreign individuals to influence a U.S. campaign through groups that are not required to disclose their donors. But she said the Clinton Foundation is of slightly less concern because it has disclosed the names of their donors.
Still, she said, there is a potential problem with foreign donors to the foundation. "There are a lot of high-rolling foreign donors," she said. "This isn't a boys or girls club. This is a major international force."
Former President Bill Clinton founded the charity, then called the William J. Clinton Foundation, in 2001 to address issues around the world, including health care, climate change and economic development.
The foundation agreed to disclose the names of donors after President Barack Obama tapped Clinton to be secretary of state in 2009 to address questions about potential conflicts of interest between fundraising and her role as the nation's top diplomat. It also agreed to a closer review of donations from foreign entities, which led to few donations from overseas.
After leaving the State Department in 2013, Clinton joined the foundation, which changed its name to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation after the couple and their daughter.
Pat Griffin, a legislative director in Bill Clinton's administration who serves as the academic director for the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, said the donors are giving to the foundation because of the work it does.
"It's hard to imagine it's to get credit and chits with Clinton," he said. "They are principally giving for what it does. That gets lost in this debate."
But Giffin said Clinton would have to come up with a way to separate herself from the foreign donations to the foundation if she runs for president.
The foundation is not required to publicly release its donors. A foundation spokesman said that the organization continued to release donor information after Clinton left the State Department to be transparent.
The foundation website indicated that 65,499 individuals or entities donated since 2004, though it does not include exact donation amounts; does not give dates beyond indicating who gave in 2014; and does not identify information about the donors such as addresses or employers.
The list includes many of the Clintons' longtime friends and political supporters and prominent Democratic donors as well as the foreign individuals and entities.
Donors that gave between $500,000 to $1 million include the Alibaba Group, a Chinese e-commerce company that provides sales services; the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office; and two British banks, Barclays PLC and HSBC Holdings, that have been under investigation by the Justice Department.
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(Danielle Ohl, Greg Gordon and Tish Wells of the Washington bureau contributed.)Just in front of City Hall in Ithaca, N.Y., the mayor has a reserved parking spot. Or at least he did. When then-24-year-old Svante Myrick took office in January 2012, he decided he didn’t need it. During his four years as a student at Cornell University, Myrick had gotten used to traversing the city of 30,000 on his feet and via public transit. As an environmentally conscious member of Generation Y, he wanted to set an example. So Myrick authorized city workers to construct Ithaca’s smallest public park where his parking space once stood. They laid down turf and erected a small bench. Some evenings, he will sit out there and conduct a sort of open forum, letting residents come up and share their thoughts or concerns. A few feet away stands a “Mayor’s Mailbox” that Myrick has installed, a comment box for citizens to leave their praise and scorn for the city government.
These small touches are reminders that Ithaca’s youngest and first African-American mayor (he’s actually biracial) does things a little differently. When Myrick wants public input on a road project, he doesn’t wait for the 6 p.m. Tuesday City Council meetings, where folks have to fill out a comment card and get their allotted three minutes to speak. He posts a status on the city’s Facebook page -- a page he started -- and lets residents share their thoughts. His new style “still freaks people out a little bit,” Myrick says. “They’re used to getting feedback in a certain way and through a certain structure.”
“People aren’t used to having unfettered access to public officials,” he says. “But unfettered access is kind of what my generation is all about.”
Just like his approach to governance, little about Myrick’s journey to the Ithaca mayor’s office is traditional. He grew up in Earlville, about 70 miles to the east, the son of a single mom and the third of four children. His mom worked two jobs, cooking at a hospital and nursing home, while caring for her kids between double shifts. Perpetually short on money, the family moved in and out of rundown apartments and homeless shelters. When Myrick was 11 years old, he started his first business. He and a friend would walk around Earlville with a bucket of water, offering to wash strangers’ windows, mow their lawns or trim their hedges.
He grows noticeably quieter when talking about his childhood and how it might have impacted how he approaches his job, but he acknowledges the influence is there. Some months as a kid, he would have to choose between going on a school field trip and buying a new pair of shoes. “When the money didn’t match up, and it never matched up, it was like, ‘OK, what are we going to do?’” Myrick says. “It does make you grow up a little faster, and it does prepare you for the hard decisions that you have to make in this job.”
That level of maturity is part of what it takes to be a young, new mayor. And Myrick is one of several young mayors around the country who represent a changing of the guard in city hall, bringing a fresh perspective and new energy to public office.
You can see it in Pittsburgh, where residents might catch 32-year-old Mayor Luke Ravenstahl at a City Council meeting one night and then out with friends at a local watering hole the next. In Manitowoc, Wis., where 25-year-old Mayor Justin Nickels can’t go out on a date without his server asking about a pothole on her street. In Holyoke, Mass., where 23-year-old Mayor Alex Morse commuted from class at Brown University during his campaign. Or in Duluth, Minn., where 38-year-old Mayor Don Ness keeps a drawer full of toys in his desk for his young children when they make a surprise visit to the office.
Being a young mayor comes with its own set of challenges. There’s skepticism from friends and family -- not to mention voters -- about whether you’re prepared to move from the college dorm to city hall. Once in office, younger mayors are eager to shake things up with fresh ideas and new ways of doing business, only to be confronted with the same old challenges of overburdened budgets, drowning pension systems and struggling schools. And these mayors are still learning to strike a balance between public service and the private life of someone in their mid-20s or 30s.
“With this new generation of elected officials, I think you have people who see the potential in public service to establish a new framework to how we approach these things, to be solution-minded and to bring a sense of optimism,” says Duluth’s Ness. “Oftentimes, we look at optimism as a source of weakness, but I actually see it completely differently. I think optimism is the fuel for a willingness to take on the big problems and to feel like we have a chance to actually solve those problems.”
The first step in running for office as a young person is convincing somebody -- anybody -- that you can do it. That usually starts with family. In 2011, when Holyoke’s Morse sat down with his extended family (his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles -- everyone) and told them he wanted to challenge Elaine Pluta, the 67-year-old incumbent mayor, they voiced their support. But Morse says he sensed a little skepticism. “I’m sure they thought, ‘We’ll support him, but I doubt he can unseat an incumbent mayor.’ Even if they thought I was crazy, though, they weren’t going to tell me that.”
Then comes convincing everyone else that you’re ready for the responsibilities of public office. “People would laugh,” says Pittsburgh’s Ravenstahl, who ran for City Council at age 23 in 2003 and even had the advantage of having a father who had been a local judge and a grandfather who had been a state legislator. “At least one person told me, ‘Look, I have kids your age. The last thing I would ever do is put them in that seat.’ There were days that were very discouraging.”
But the mayors overcame others’ skepticism by conveying long-term visions for their cities. “Experience is important for mayors, but it’s really not as important as inspiration and leadership,” says Stephen Goldsmith, professor of government at the Harvard Kennedy School and former mayor of Indianapolis (and a contributor to Governing.com). “A person will be successful as mayor if they’re able to galvanize enthusiasm and support for public goals. So in that sense, a young mayor is as capable as somebody older in filling that role.”
Many of these executives have already achieved significant successes. In Duluth, Ness was facing a structurally unbalanced budget and $290 million in unfunded retiree health-care benefits. So he offered his plan to resolve those legacy issues. “There were a lot of derogatory statements -- that I just didn’t get it, that these were promises written in granite,” he says. “But I explained that we either had to have the courage to face this today or be faced with bankruptcy in the future.” In his first few years as mayor, Ness cut the city’s annual budget by more than 9 percent and implemented reforms, including increasing copays and deductibles, to retiree health benefits, changes he says will save Duluth $4 million annually. He won a court case in 2011 to go through with his plan.
Pittsburgh’s Ravenstahl campaigned in part on a promise to improve public schools. For years, he had watched friends with young children move away or send their kids to private schools because of public education’s poor reputation. Now he’s organized Pittsburgh Promise, a public-private partnership that awards college scholarships of up to $40,000 to public students who finish high school. So far the project has given out some $25 million to more than 3,000 students, and graduation rates are on the rise.
Alex Morse saw Holyoke, a former paper mill town now facing 11 percent unemployment, as a dying city. He pledged to remake its economy around art, innovation and technology. Last year, he oversaw the ribbon-cutting at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, a state-of-the-art energy efficient computing facility, as a start down that path.
In Ithaca, Myrick has said he wants to create a more affordable, livable and sustainable city. That’s already resulted in plans for a 60-unit mixed-income housing project, an $800,000 commercial street rebuild with sidewalks and bike lanes, reforms to the zoning code to encourage denser development and a $10 million downtown redevelopment program. “Mayor Myrick is wise beyond his years,” says Stephen Philip Johnson, vice president of government and community relations at Cornell, an important constituency in a town-and-gown place like Ithaca. “He has been able to make the tough decisions that the reality of our economic times have required.”
In addition to these kinds of successes in somewhat traditional areas -- education, fiscal reform, downtown redevelopment -- there’s a definite shift in style among this cadre of young leaders. They’re injecting their cities with a hipper, cooler vibe that many residents say is bringing new energy and new attitudes about public service. Before Don Ness became mayor, he ran the Homegrown Music Festival (billed as “Duluth’s annual showcase of rawk and/or roll devil music”), and when the alt-rock band Wilco performed in Duluth last summer, Ness, a fan, gave the members keys to the city. Each of these mayors regularly speaks at local schools or colleges about their experiences and why a life of public service is worthwhile. Ravenstahl created the ServePBH initiative in Pittsburgh, aimed at getting youth to volunteer and improve their city. Morse was recently approached by a 19-year-old Holyoke resident who wants to run for City Council after seeing what Morse has done as mayor.
Youth can be a double-edged sword. Ness, who was first elected to the Duluth City Council in 1999 at age 25, remembers the strange looks he got when he walked into a local chamber of commerce meeting dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. But as soon as he started speaking, displaying intimate knowledge of the local economy and the state politics that would factor into their ability to get it going, the mood changed, he says. “I could feel the room turn. Folks had been playing wait-and-see, wondering, ‘Is this kid going to bring any real value or is it just a sideshow?’”
Manitowoc’s Nickels noticed similar doubts as he sat in on some of his first department meetings after taking office in 2009. Longtime city workers seemed to talk around him as if he weren’t even there. “I could tell sometimes that I wasn’t a part of their conversation,” he says. “But I think people finally get it now. They accept that a 25-year-old can do a pretty darn good job.”
And then there’s trying to have a social life. Balancing the role of running a city and living the life of a single 20- or 30-something can be tricky. Morse (who is gay) says that the biggest drain on his social life is fellow bar patrons asking if they can take a picture with him and post it on Facebook. In Manitowoc, Nickels recalls being on a date with another young professional, with roses set at the table’s center and candles lit, while half a dozen residents kept walking up and sharing their complaints about the city government. It can all be a little jarring, says Ithaca’s Myrick. “I’ve tried to adapt -- I’m usually more comfortable with it than the people who are unlucky enough to go out with me.”
Sometimes the tug of war between political and personal life can have very real consequences. That’s true for any public official, of course, but especially for those unaccustomed to the limelight. Less than a year after he became mayor, Ravenstahl was criticized for appearing at a celebrity golf invitational sponsored by some groups, including a university medical center, that have frequent dealings with the city. The same year, he caught flak for driving a publicly funded homeland security SUV to a country music concert. Some of that scrutiny was probably connected to his age, Ravenstahl says, but he also admits that he didn’t fully understand the attention that comes with being mayor in those days. “I underestimated the lens that I was under,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot, and I do approach things a lot differently than I did in the beginning.”
Ravenstahl assumed office in 2006 when Mayor Bob O’Connor died and Ravenstahl was sitting council president -- a promotion he was granted only because he was viewed, in his youth, as the least threatening candidate by other council members. Some dubbed him “The Accidental Mayor.” The stress of the position took a toll on Ravenstahl’s personal life. He and his wife, with whom he shares a 4-year-old son, separated in 2009, when Ravenstahl was 29. While Ravenstahl says he wouldn’t go back and change his mind about seeking public office, he acknowledges that the divorce has been one of the toughest unintended consequences of his decision to become a public figure at such a young age. “The hardest thing for me is how this job impacts my family and those that didn’t choose to have their name in the paper and be a public servant,” he says. “It’s something that I didn’t foresee or expect.”
In the years since he took office, Ravenstahl has grown into the position and become a stronger leader, says Pat Altdorfer, a political science professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “You play the hand you’re dealt. From that perspective, he did step up,” Altdorfer says. “Everyone’s got a learning curve, and I would certainly say he’s a better mayor today than he was when he first started.”
The bottom line, these mayors say, is that they don’t see their youth as the defining aspect of their leadership. Sure, they may be more connected on Facebook and Twitter than their predecessors were. And they may be more open to unconventional solutions and ideas, like Myrick’s pocket park in his parking space. But being an effective city leader is the same regardless of age. “I ran not because I wanted to represent the youth,” says Myrick, “but because I cared about this place.”HYDERABAD: A local BJP leader on Friday filed a police complaint against Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri's for his remarks about Mahatma Gandhi's statue inside the state assembly."The Nizams built the state assembly building in Hyderabad, but see what has happened. They have installed a statue of Mahatma Gandhi there. Who constructed it and who has been installed there," Quadri, who represents Charminar in the assembly, told a gathering in Karimanagar district's Jagityal town on Thursday.He said "we" have built all significant structures in India. "What have you done?” he asked. "We constructed Red Fort, Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Mecca Masjid and Charminar. What have you constructed in Hindustan?”Qaudri accused the state government of targeting MIM and framing his fellow party legislator, Akbaruddin Owaisi, jailed for alleged hate speeches.A few right-wing organizations protested Quadri's speech as BJP's Jagityal unit president Raju lodged the complaint and submitted a CD of his speech as it went viral on Facebook and YouTube. "We received a complaint and are seeking legal opinion about it,” ASP B Rajeshwari told TOI.Sources said police were collecting information about the MLA's speech from the district's Special Branch and would take a decision on registering a case against Quadri accordingly.Analysts said Quadri's speech was planned and designed to revive memories of Nizam's rule and the old Hyderabad state that is bound strike a chord with the region's Muslims. "But his ‘us and them' rhetoric is dangerous,” an analyst said.Observers said whether planned or not, it will impact the Telangana statehood issue by infusing a communal angle to the issue. "His speech is likely to anger sections of Hindus and make Telangana formation more difficult. Telangana can be created only when the region's Hindus and Muslims unite for the demand."Ashley Williams has had two separate spells as captain of Wales
Euro 2016: England v Wales Venue: Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens Date: Thursday, 16 June Kick-off: 14:00 BST Coverage: Live on BBC TV One, S4C, BBC 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, the BBC Sport website and app
Ashley Williams grew up supporting England but will lead out Wales in Thursday's Euro 2016 'Battle of Britain' in the biggest game between two of football's oldest rivals.
But why the 31-year-old defender lines up wearing the Welsh dragon, not the Three Lions of England, is an extraordinary coincidence and thanks to the inquisitive detective skills of former Wales youth coach Brian Flynn.
"I was playing for Stockport County," Wolverhampton-born Williams recalled. "Luckily we had [Wales goalkeeper] Wayne Hennessey on loan, so Brian Flynn came to watch.
"He liked me during the game and recognised that I had a Welsh surname.
John Toshack was Williams' first Wales manager and the man who made him captain for the first time
"Then Wales called Stockport to check if 'Williams' had any |
that led from the gunmen back to the Secret Elite in London. Be certain of one thing. It was not the man who fired the bullet that caused a world war.
Thus war engulfed the known world to a degree that had no precedent. Histories have been written to explain away the reasons why, histories that favoured the victors and twisted the truth to blame Germany. How history has been manipulated, how evidence has been removed, burned, shredded or otherwise denied to genuine researchers remains a crime against truth, against humanity. The received history of the First World War is a deliberately concocted lie. Not the sacrifice, the heroism, the horrendous waste of life or the misery that followed. No, these were very real, but the truth of how it all began and how it was unnecessarily and deliberately prolonged beyond 1915 has been successfully covered up for a century.
Professor Quigley stated,
“No country that values its safety should allow what the Milner group accomplished – that is, that a small number of men would be able to wield such power in administration and politics, should be given almost complete control over the publication of documents relating to their actions, should be able to exercise such influence over the avenues of information that create public opinion, and should be able to monopolize so completely the writing and the teaching of the history of their own period.” [76]
Never were truer words uttered in dire warning. These Founding Fathers, the Secret Elite, began with Rhodes’ secret society and expanded across the Atlantic, always away from the public eye. They were deniers of democracy, men who always pursued their own malevolent agenda, who used this very process to advance their power. What they achieved in causing the First World War was but the first step in their long term drive to a new world order.
Gerry Docherty is a former head teacher. Jim Macgregor was a family doctor. They took early retirement and worked full time together for the past five years researching and writing Hidden History, The Secret Origins of the First World War – described at the Edinburgh International Book Festival as a “fascinating and incendiary book”. It reveals how historical accounts of the war’s origins have been falsified to conceal the guilt of the secret cabal of rich and powerful men (described in this article) and explains their manipulations and deceptions. Perhaps it will suffer the same fate as Carroll Quigley’s work, for there are many with cause to wish it suppressed. If you have an open mind and seek answers that have not been forthcoming, if you are prepared to dig further into a hugely important aspect of history, we invite you to read it.
For details visit the authors’ blogsite at firstworldwarhiddenhistory.wordpress.com.
Notes:
[1] W.T. Stead, The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes, p. 62.
[2] Stead, The Last Will and Testament, p. 55.
[3] Carroll Quigley, The Anglo-American Establishment, p. 6.
[4] Carroll Quigley, Tragedy &Hope, pp.130-31.
[5] Joan Veon, The United Nations Global Straightjacket, p. 68.
[6] J. A. Hobson, John Ruskin, Social Reformer, p. 187.
[7] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. 3.
[8] Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island, p. 272.
[9] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, pp. 4-5.
[10] Interview can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v= JeuF8rYgJPk
[11] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. x
[12] Ibid.
[13] www.youtube.com/watch?v= JeuF8rYgJPk
[14] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. xi
[15] www.youtube.com/watch?v= JeuF8rYgJPk
[16] Neil Parsons, A New History of Southern Africa, pp. 179–181.
[17] Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, The World’s Banker, p. 363.
[18] James Lees-Milne, The Enigmatic Edwardian, pp. 162-8.
[19] Quigley, Tragedy & Hope, p. 216.
[20] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. 311.
[21] Derek Wilson, Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty, pp. 98-99.
[22] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, pp. 16-17.
[23] Stead, Last Will and Testament, p.108.
[24] Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War, p.115.
[25] Emily Hobhouse, The Brunt of War and Where it Fell, p. 174.
[26] W.T. Stead, cited in Hennie Barnard, The Concentration Camps 1899–
1902 at www.boer.co.za/boerwar/ hellkamp.htm
[27] Pakenham, The Boer War, p. 483
[28] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. 7.
[29] Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, p. 138.
[30] William Nimocks, Milner’s Young Men p. 21
[31] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p.312.
[32] Ibid., p. 7
[33] Ibid., pp. 86-7.
[34] Ibid., p.314.
[35] Ibid., p. 4.
[36] Ibid., p. 312.
[37] Quigley, Tragedy & Hope, p. 216.
[38] Ibid., pp. 60-61.
[39] Stead, Last Will and Testament, p. 59.
www.publicintelligence.net/ the-last-will-and-testament- of-cecil-john-rhodes-1902/
[40] Ibid. p. 34.
[41] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. 33.
[42] Ibid., p.49
[43] Ibid.
[44] Anne Pimlot Baker, The Pilgrims of Great Britain, p. 12.
[45] New York Times, 3 March 1903.
[46] Baker, Pilgrims of Great Britain, p.13.
[47] E.C. Knuth, The Empire of The City, p.64
[48] Baker, The Pilgrims of the United States, p.3.
[49] Baker, Pilgrims of Great Britain, p.16.
[50] While it is possible to list all of those in whose honour these dinners were organised, the individual members who attended remains a secret.
[51] Baker, Pilgrims of the United States, p.9.
[52] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. 15.
[53] Webster G Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin, George Bush; the Unauthorized Biography, p.136.
[54] W.G.Carr, Pawns in the Game, p. 60.
[55] G. Edward Griffin, interview
www.://educate-yourself.org/ cn/ gedwardgriffininterview02apr04.shtml
[56] Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, p. 951.
[57] Ron Chernow, The Warburgs, pp. 46-8.
[58] Stephen Birmingham, Our Crowd, p. 175.
[59] Chernow, The Warburgs, p. 51.
[60] Carr, Pawns in the Game, p. 61.
[61] Initially an outspoken critic of Standard Oil, Archbold was recruited by Rockefeller to a directorship of the company, where he later served as vice president and then president until its ‘demise ’ in 1911.
[62] Ferguson, House of Rothschild, p. 117.
[63] Chernow, Titan, The Life of John D Rockefeller Sr., p. 390.
[64] Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island, p. 436.
[65] Quigley, Anglo American Establishment, p. 134.
[66] Ibid., p. 312.
[67] Terence H. O’Brien, Milner, p. 187.
[68] Gary Allen, None Dare Call it Conspiracy, Chapter 3, p8.
[69] Chernow, Titan, p. 352.
[70] Organisation for the Study of Globalisation and Covert Politics,
https://wikispooks.com/ISGP/ organisations/Pilgrims_ Society02.htm
[71] Griffin, Creature from Jekyll Island, p. 23.
[72] Ibid., p. 240.
[73] Ibid., p. 458.
[74] George Sylvester Viereck, The Strangest Friendship in History: Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House, p. 4.
[75] Ibid., pp. 35-7.
[76] Quigley, Anglo-American Establishment, p. 197.NEWS RELEASE FROM ECPD:
On 10-05-12 at approximately 6:30 p.m. a vehicle pursuit began in the City of Altoona involving several agencies. The pursuit continued into the City of Eau Claire when Eau Claire Police officers became involved in the pursuit.
The pursuit led into the 3rd Ward area of Eau Claire where the suspect vehicle crashed and the suspect fled on foot.
A short time later a home invasion was reported in that area and the caller advised that the suspect was armed.
The suspect acquired another vehicle and shortly after leaving the 3rd Ward was spotted again by police at which time a second pursuit ensued.
This pursuit ended in the area of Culvers where an Eau Claire Police Officer shot the armed suspect in the parking lot.
The suspect was transported to a local hospital and did not survive his injuries.
The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation and the Wisconsin State Patrol will be assisting in the investigation of this incident.
The suspect is not being identified at this time. The Eau Claire Police will not be answering any further questions at this time.
Further information will be provided in the near future after further investigations.
-------
EAU CLAIRE, Wis (WEAU) - WEAU.com is following developments after a chase through parts of Eau Claire.
(CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO THE RIGHT TO VIEW A SLIDE SHOW. HOVER OVER TO FIND "ARROWS" TO CLICK THROUGH)
We're still getting details.
We know it went down part of Clairemont past London road.
The Chase went on S. Hastings Way northbound.
We're talking around the Starbucks, the bowling alley, etc.
Brackett is blocked especially around the Culver's. Our news team heard at least 8 gunshots.
One of our reporters on the scene tells WEAU.com at least one person was taken away in an ambulance. It wasn't immediately known who that person was.
WEAU.com is learning police are planning on an extended investigation, so roads may remain partially blocked in the area for some time.
Brackett at S. Hastings way will likely remain closed until sometime Saturday morning.
The Eau Claire police spokesperson is at the scene, but not talking at the moment. We believe he will have some information to release soon.
Stay with WEAU 13 News for the latest on this breaking story and follow us on Facebook, for instant updates with pictures from the scene.A poll asking male students which female classmate they wanted to have "hate" sex with was too much to bear for Ryan Millet, a fourth-year Dalhousie University dentistry student and member of the misogynistic Facebook group Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen, according to his lawyer.
He blew the whistle on the 12 other members. "To see something so targeted and violent and hateful against someone that you care about is something else," Mr. Millet said in an interview with the Halifax Chronicle Herald. "That's not me. That's not what I'm about. And the people who know me would agree."
Facing a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday, Mr. Millet, 29, is the first, and only, member of the Facebook group to come forward and make his story public.
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Early last month, the father of three, who is originally from the American Midwest, quit the group, informed a female colleague that she was the target of offensive and sexist comments, and allowed her into his account so that she could gather the evidence for a complaint, his lawyer, Bruce MacIntosh explained in a statement provided to The Globe and Mail.
Mr. Millet told the Chronicle Herald he was added to the group and did not deliberately join it. It has been operating since their first year – and some posts were offensive, including one he reported to Facebook and it came down, he said.
"Really, the posts weren't super extreme," he said. "Obviously there were some foolish, boyish posts but the extreme inappropriateness and disturbing nature of the specific hate post that eventually came out – there was nothing of that insane level that caught my eye until it happened."
It was posted on Dec. 6, 2014 – which, ironically, was the 25th anniversary of the shooting deaths of 14 women at Montreal's École Polytechnique.
"When it did happen there were a few of us in the group that were immediately 'whoa,' shock factor, very upset, disturbed by the post," he said. "We honestly felt like the guys who posted it would come to their senses within minutes and realize this is was way too far."
Like the other members of the Facebook group, the university has suspended Mr. Millet from clinical activities and he cannot graduate until his suspension is lifted.
He talked about how close the class is – and so the hateful posts were made that much more upsetting to him. In the interview with The Chronicle Herald, he said he stayed in the Facebook group because he felt that even if he disagreed with some of the things being said he wasn't going to completely ignore them.
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"Ryan, alone amongst the Facebook group, took a vocal stand against those offensive posts," writes Mr. MacIntosh. "He alone forced the removal of earlier Facebook entries that were similarly disrespectful."
"Mr. Millet asked that his hearing be conducted in public, but his request was denied, said his lawyer. The "primary female target of the hateful Facebook poll," who Mr. MacIntosh identifies in his statement as "anonymous Student AB," is to appear before the discipline committee to say she "supports his legal efforts to have his suspension expunged from his student records," the lawyer said.
The university did not respond to repeated requests for comment. After the Facebook group came to light, it sparked protests by both staff and students of the university demanding the men's expulsion and ignited a discussion about rape culture across the country. The university has shielded their names and those of the female students as it has established a restorative justice process to deal with the matter. However, Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia dental regulatory bodies have said they will ensure that any of the male students from the Dalhousie 2015 class who apply for licences to practise will be scrutinized for "good character."
Mr. Millet's lawyer said he feels it is important that his story and identity be made public because it's about more than having his suspension lifted.
"I have advised my client that there is little value in winning the easy battle on suspension, if he loses the subsequent war on dental licensing and the trust of his patients," Mr. MacIntosh writes.
There are 19 women and 19 men in the core group of the fourth-year dentistry class. Shortly after the scandal broke, Mr. Millet wrote a letter of apology to his female classmates, which leaked to the local press.
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"While I did not play a direct involvement in the hurtful comments brought forth, I apologize for being a bystander," wrote Mr. Millet. "No father can stand idly by with this happening and consider himself a man. I knew it was time to step forward. My children deserve to know their father did the right thing.
"To the direct victims: I am eternally sorry for the damage caused by what has occurred. You deserve far more respect as daughters of God, and for the hard work you have devoted to getting to this point in your career," his letter said.
There has been much criticism about the restorative justice process. Some critics and students have argued that it was hurried to control any more damage to the school and a proper investigation of exactly who was involved was never conducted.
Last week, four of the female students released an open letter saying they will not participate in the restorative justice process, expressing concern that the university was pressuring them into it and "silencing our views, isolating us from our peers, and discouraging us from choosing to proceed formally."
Mr. MacIntosh is also critical of the process. In his statement, he writes, "… both perpetrators and victims alike were prematurely enticed into a restorative justice system which started with acceptance of guilt.
"To be clear, my client agrees restorative justice is an invaluable legal and social tool for those guilty of unprofessional conduct. However, that tool should only be used after there has been a due diligence finding of guilty conduct, not assumption of guilt by association with others."
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He added that Mr. Millet, as well as the 12 other students, has "been publicly pilloried and secretly convicted, without due process or the right to be heard. At least three separate times in the last month, a Dental School [sic] internal process has met behind closed doors and found him guilty of 'blatant unprofessionalism,' without once demanding a due diligence investigation or offering the opportunity to be heard."Nicholas Kristof is in Palestine, though like all mass media journalists he calls it "the West Bank." He has just discovered that many Palestinians are resisting the Israeli occupation nonviolently, though scholars of nonviolence started writing about the Palestinian resistance over 20 years ago. So Kristof is "waiting for Gandhi," as the title of his latest New York Times column puts it, or at least a "Palestinian version of Martin Luther King Jr."
Perhaps I should not be so cynical. Kristof has gained fame as a crusader for human rights, especially women's rights. Now he's taking a real risk by advocating for Palestinian rights and praising Palestinian resistance. Any hint of Israeli wrong-doing has undone many U.S. liberals in the past. And Kristof is giving more than a hint. His previous column detailed Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and clearly sympathized with their plight. He praised the work of Rabbis for Human Rights as "courageous and effective voices on behalf of oppressed Palestinians."
Kristof himself deserves praise for placing the Palestinians alongside all the other victims of oppression he has written about so eloquently. He's moving the mass media one more tiny step toward more honest and balanced reporting on the Israel/Palestine conflict.
But if a writer is not careful, every step forward can also be a step backward. By calling for a Palestinian Gandhi, Kristof clearly suggests that Palestinian resistance so far has fallen short of his high moral standards. He complains that "many Palestinians define ‘nonviolence' to include stone-throwing," so even when they claim to eschew violence their protests "aren't truly nonviolent."
That reinforces a self-serving stereotype we've been hearing from supporters of Israeli policy for decades: We Jews want peace, they say. We've even got an organized peace movement. But there's no Palestinian equivalent. It seems like those Palestinians are all a bunch hot-heads, implacably bent on violence. How can we make peace with them?
That kind of stereotyping spurs even more extreme views that are all too familiar: There's "no partner for peace" on the Palestinian side. "Those people" are so steeped in violence, there's no reasoning with them. They only understand one thing: force. And at their worst they ask: What else can you expect from Muslims?
I'm sure Nick Kristof didn't mean to promote that kind of simplistic anti-Palestinian prejudice. He sees good guys and bad guys on both sides. But when you are a top columnist for the nation's top newspaper, you are supposed to be smart enough to understand the implications of your words, to know what people can (and some inevitably will) read between the lines.
I don't know Kristof, so I can't say why he might have fallen into this trap. But I know the U.S. mass media coverage of the issue pretty well. Even when they begin to break out of their reflexive "pro-Israel" shell, mass media journalists are still plagued by lines of thinking that are so old, so deeply ingrained, that they go unnoticed. "Ain't it a shame those Palestinians are so violent. If only they'd turn to more peaceful ways, all would be well," is perhaps the oldest and deepest of those lines.
So it's not surprising that, even when a prominent columnist appeals for sympathy for the victims of oppression, he ends up indirectly but all too obviously blaming the victims.
Palestinians might well ask, "Who the hell is Nicholas Kristof to tell us how to resist the occupation anyway?" That's a good question. What can he really know about their situation after being with them for a day or two? Critics of American journalism have long noted the declining quality of our news from other countries. The main culprit, many say, is the ignorance of journalists who show up in a place for a few days or even a few weeks and write for the folks back home as if they were experts.
At a deeper level, there's the ever-present tendency among the stenographers of imperial power to assume that they've got the right to preach truth to "the natives" and tell them how to live their lives.
Even if Kristof had been living in Palestine for years, though, the question would still remain: Does he, or any non-Palestinian, have the right to tell an oppressed people how to resist their oppression? Maybe they do, if they've joined the resistance and taken all the risks involved for a long enough time to earn that right. But neither Kristof nor most any of the other non-Palestinians who call for a Palestinian Gandhi fit that description.
I've been teaching and writing about, and advocating nonviolence for a long time. From the beginning, I felt in my gut that I don't have the right to tell oppressed people to keep their resistance nonviolent, since I haven't shared in their suffering.
Eventually, I found in Gandhi's own writings a powerful theoretical argument to explain my gut feeling. It starts with the heart of Gandhi's teachings. He would have rejected the premise of Kristof's column: that nonviolence is a smarter tactic for the Palestinians, the best way to get what they want. For Gandhi, nonviolence was never a tactic or a way to win anything. It was a way -- the only way, he insisted -- to act out moral truth in daily life. The core principle of Gandhian nonviolence is to do the right thing in every situation, regardless how painful or even lethal the consequences.
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In other words, nonviolence is not about figuring out how to make the other side -- even when they are brutal oppressors -- change their ways. It's not about making others change their ways at all. Gandhi said that such efforts are senseless, because we cannot control the choices of others. All we can control is our own choices, trying to make sure that they are as morally correct as possible.
So telling other people what to do, how to live their lives, or even how to resist oppression simply doesn't fit Gandhi's vision of nonviolence. It's only about changing our own ways.
But when Gandhi spoke about controlling our own choices, he included in "our" not just himself as an individual but his people. That's why, in the vast corpus of Gandhi's writings, you'll sometimes find indictments of British colonialism and insistence that the British must leave India -- in effect, telling the other side what to do -- but far more often you'll find indictments of Gandhi's own Indian people and insistence that they (Gandhi said "we") stop cooperating with oppression.
If you're looking for another Gandhi, then, look for someone who addresses his own people's policy choices rather than telling others about what they're doing wrong and how to fix it. Kristof made a nod in that direction when he repeated the words of Palestinian nonviolence advocates like Moustafa Barghouthi, Ayad Morrar, and Iltezam Morrar. He could have found plenty of others. They've got the right to call for a Palestinian Gandhi, since they are talking to their own people.
The only thing Nick Kristof has the right to do -- and the obligation, Gandhi would have added -- is to address his own American people about the choices that Americans are making. If any Americans are publicly waiting for the next Gandhi to appear, they should be waiting and hoping for him or her not in Palestine or any foreign country, but right here in the U.S. of A.
Kristof, given his immense readership and influence, has a special responsibility. Rather than flying half-way around the world for a few days and lamenting his failure to find another Gandhi, he could be doing what Gandhi did: writing about America's failure to stand on the side of justice, which is the only way to stand on the side of peace.
As Gershon Baskin, Israel's leading expert on conflict resolution, recently wrote, the U.S. must play a central role if Israel and Palestine are to forge a just peace settlement. The two parties mistrust each other so deeply that they need a truly even-handed third party to bring them together and guarantee adherence to a peace agreement.
Though the Obama administration has moved a bit closer than its predecessors to an even-handed approach, it is still far from the genuine neutrality that the Palestinians must see if they are to come to any negotiating table. Foolish steps like bolstering Israel's nuclear arsenal are bound to move Israel and Palestine away from the peace that both sides need so badly.
For the sake of that peace, it's we Americans, not the Palestinians, who need to take up the torch of nonviolence. Until we do, it seems hypocritical to be blaming Palestinians for failing to live up to Gandhian standards.
But that does not mean we should sit around "waiting for Gandhi." The Mahatma surely would have scolded Nick Kristof and all of us who waiting for some extraordinary charismatic leader to rescue us from our wars and injustice. It's easier to wait for someone else to do the job than to heed the charge Gandhi famously left us: Be the change you want to see in the world.
We Americans have already had our Gandhi. And while we elevated him to the status of a heroic King, most of us conveniently forgot the most difficult parts of his message, his call to recognize our own nation as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world and to practice nonviolence no matter what the consequences.
Now, instead of waiting for another miraculously gifted leader, we should each be speaking out and acting up, doing whatever little bit we can. We may not see the greatness of a Gandhi or King again for a very long time. But that's no reason to give up the quest for nonviolent resolution of our problems. It's all the more reason for each of us to take responsibility for ourselves and our own people, to stop telling others what they should do and start, right now, changing what we do.
Meanwhile, when oppressed, militarily occupied people resist, let's recognize that it's not our place to tell them what means they should or should not use -- and certainly not when our own nation is contributing so much to their oppression.Some say VR is the future. Others say it's a fad. What we want to know is - what do YOU think?
Virtual reality is certainly one of the most interesting aspects of gaming right now, and over the past few months, we've seen an increasing number of developers jumping onto the VR bandwagon. But despite there being a great deal of hype surrounding the technology, opinions about it vary wildly. Some think it's going to be the Next Big Thing, while others feel it's niche technology for hardcore enthusiasts only. But what we want to know is - what do you think? Are you going to be an early adopter of the technology, or are you a sceptic? We're looking forward to hearing your opinion!
While you formulate your response, here's the USgamer team's take on VR tech.
Jeremy Parish Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Parish
"Thanks, but no thanks."
The fundamental idea behind VR — immersive visuals — is a pretty great one, and it's nice that we've taken enough baby steps toward realizing the dream that corporations are willing to show their rough drafts in public, but man… the tech is not there at all. Having tried PSVR, Hololens, and Oculus are basically like being surrounded by PS3 graphics on an all-encompassing low-resolution LCD screen. It's like being wrapped in a Game Boy Advance screen while little gremlins rendered in last-generation game graphics throw stuff at you. Neat for about 30 seconds, and exhausting thereafter.
Of course, that will rectify itself in due time. But even then, that won't resolve the bigger issue, which is that wearing a bulky, clumsy headset makes for an uncomfortable experience and also makes you look like a giant tool. No one looks cool wearing VR gear, which is why you never see VR stage demos. Enticing as the prospect of paying nearly $1000 to look stupid while clumsily interacting with bad game graphics sounds… nah, I'll pass. Not to get political here (too late!), but right now I kind of see VR the way I see Donald Trump's presidential campaign: A clownish, frankly horrifying disaster that no one actually wants, and yet it just keeps hurtling inexorably forward.
Unlike Trump, VR will eventually turn out OK. The price will come down, graphics and resolution will improve, and VR devices will move more toward the Hololens end of the spectrum in terms of wearability and comfort. Also unlike Trump, VR holds tremendous promise for the fields of science and education! In the meantime, I would personally like to thank all the people with tons of disposable income for being the test cases with which VR is refined into something that doesn't resemble a comedic car wreck. I look forward to joining you crazy one-percenters circa 2024.
Jaz Rignall Editor-at-Large Jaz Rignall
I'm an old-schooler who remembers VR when it got its first outing in the 90's. It was interesting then, and still remains interesting now, but I'm not completely enamored with the technology, despite the fact that it's evolved significantly over the years. I've played numerous VR demos, particularly Elite and Adr1ft, and while most were impressive, they remind me somewhat of 3D TV technology: It's something great to look at, but I've yet to see that killer app that makes me want to own my own pair of VR goggles.
What seems to separate most VR games from "normal" ones is the immersive experience they offer, but there's a premium to pay for that. Not just the out-of-pocket expense of purchasing a headset and needing a decent PC to run it, but also having to wear the technology which, despite strides forward in design, I still find comfortable only for short periods of time. Also, although they're good, I've yet to try a headset whose screen really blows me away. So far, the experience has always been slightly blurry for me. That might well be my long-sightedness, but if it's an issue for me, that means other people will have similar problems.
Ultimately, I think VR is guaranteed a place in gaming, especially over the long-term - but I think it will be more of a niche thing for some years to come. Something that appeals to those who really love that immersive experience, and are happy to pay the price for it. To be honest, I'm more excited about AR technology. I loved Microsoft's Hololens experience at last year's E3, and am very interested to see where it might go. Like VR, it's a long way from being perfect, but I just like the concept a little more.
Mike Williams Associate Editor Mike Williams
I've lived that virtual reality life from the beginning. I tried the original show model at E3 years ago, playing Doom 3 in VR without my glasses on because the headset wasn't built for them. It was a rough experience, but the potential was apparent immediately.
The technology has only gotten better. Over time. The screens have gotten better, the hardware is much lighter and more comfortable. I can see home VR as a thing now. Unfortunately, the sticker shock is in full swing. I certainly can't afford $599 for an Oculus Rift, nor can I drop $799 on an HTC Vive. I'm pretty much hoping that PlayStation VR comes in cheaper, but I'm not really holding my breath.
Do I think virtual reality is the future video technology through which we'll consume all of our games? Lord no. that's said, I do believe VR has its place in gaming and other markets. I legitimately think it's a game-changer, once the price comes down and developers get an understanding of what the technology can really do. I never really felt that way about 3D, which definitely came across as a gimmick rather than something that would really expanding gaming.
I'm probably the closest USgamer has to a VR guy, even if I'm not as gung-ho as some of my journalistic counterparts. Hopefully, I can snag a headset sooner rather than later. I'd totally be that early adopter type if my money was right, but those are the breaks.
Kat Bailey Senior Editor Kat Bailey
I'm on record as being a VR skeptic. I wrote the following earlier this year:
"For now, VR's true potential remains elusive. It's certainly worth pursuing, but platform holders have yet to prove to me that it can be more than an expensive toy for hobbyists. If anything, mainstream game development is actually trending away from VR as Steam, PSN, and Xbox Live are flooded with minimalist, old-school indie games. You could argue that VR will be the 3D IMAX movie of the future - a premium experience for the biggest games of the year - but even the most expensive movie tickets will only run you about $30. It's much tougher to sell mainstream audiences on paying $599 up front for that sort of experience. So I remain a VR skeptic. I'm not willing to write off VR entirely, but neither am I going to spend the equivalent of two consoles on potential, especially when that potential may have already been reached."
That said, it's hard to deny the amount of time and money being thrown at VR. I'm in the process of prepping for the Game Developers Conference right now, and every other appointment is on Oculus, HTC Vive, or Morpheus. Developers are excited, and why not? It's always fun to experiment with new gameplay experiences. I'm just not sure that it will ever receive any kind of mainstream penetration beyond the hardcore hobbyists who want it for their cockpit games and the like. Facebook and Sony are making huge bets that VR will be the way to experiment games and media in the future, and I frankly don't see it.
Nevertheless, the momentum is undeniable. I look forward to wearing a lot of sweaty goggles at GDC.
Nadia Oxford Staff Writer Nadia Oxford
Short answer: I think VR is here to stay. Kids are being introduced to the technology via Happy Meals and Cola-Cola, so unless they collectively reject it, I believe headsets will be a permanent part of the gaming landscape.
Long answer: Yes, VR is sticking around, but it’s not going to be a mainstay in the games industry until the companies behind the push can work out a couple of big problems.
First: Cost. Oculus Rift is $599 USD. HTC Vive is $799 USD. Prices are considerably higher outside the US, thanks to the country’s strengthening dollar. A game console is already a big investment for a family, and I can’t see the average “only-on-weekends” gamer picking one up (and if they do, it’ll probably be for a titillating web-surfing experience rather than games).
Second: There’s the issue of comfort. I suffer from motion sickness, and the prospect of even trying VR terrifies me. Just thinking of the technology gives me a headache and a flippy stomach. Valve swears the HTC Vive doesn’t cause motion sickness, but I once got barfy from a 3D Harvest Moon game. If Gaben is that confident, he should look me up as a test case.
I also have fibromyalgia, and my neck and shoulders are a bad problem area. Keeping a headset strapped to my face for any amount of time would be an issue, unless the Oculus Rift is lighter than air. I don’t think it is.
Still, I’m a child of the ‘80s and ‘90s, so I’m interested to see where VR goes from here. Bring on the neon-splashed digital dystopian worlds made of boxes and polygons!The previous time that Donald Trump supposedly solicited Hillary Clinton’s assassination from his campaign podium, the reverberations were massive. A Democrat super PAC reached out to “high-level contacts” in the FBI to demand Trump’s arrest, right about the same time a Clinton campaign staffer was drafting a fundraising email based on Trump’s comments.
As Twitchy reported, Trump on Friday served the media another supposed solicitation to assassinate his opponent, saying at a rally in Miami that Clinton’s bodyguards should be disarmed, adding, “Let’s see what happens to her” — not the best ad lib following a horrible week for the Clinton campaign.
No one freaks out over anything gun-related like Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who after the Pulse nightclub massacre decided to blame Republicans for selling guns to ISIS. In August, Murphy scolded Trump for inspiring “unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary,” and on Saturday he tweeted that Trump would have blood on his hands were anything to happen.
Hey @realDonaldTrump, if you keep suggesting your supporters kill @HillaryClinton, someone will listen. The blood will be on your hands. — Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 17, 2016
Twitchy regular Joyce Carol Oates agreed, adding that supporters of He Whose Name Must Not Be Spelled (Cher has settled on a toilet emoji) would only cheer if Clinton were killed.
This would only boost his polls. Supporters would cheer |
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Maria Gunnoe, 304 245-8481, [email protected]
Is Arch Coal About to Mine Historic Blair Mountain?
Local and National Groups Rally to Townspeople’s Defense
Logan, WV - Residents of Blair, West Virginia have noticed increased activity from mining company Arch Coal around the historic Blair Mountain Battlefield site. Members of the town have become more and more concerned about Arch’s activities and fear they are moving forward with plans to mine the Blair Battlefield site. There have been reports of proposed buy outs of resident’s property, increasing industrial activity in the area and other preparations indicative of a move towards mining operations on the battlefield itself. Blair Mountain is the site of the largest civil insurrection in American history since the Civil War. In 1921 more than 10,000 coal miners fought forces backed by mining interests in an attempt to organize unions in Logan and Mingo County.
“In the late 1990s, Arch Coal came through and destroyed much of Blair with one mountaintop removal mining operation. The town went from about 700 people to about 90 today. Mountain top removal poisons the drinking water, destroys communities and makes people sick.” says Friends of Blair Mountain executive director, Brandon Nida, who currently lives in Blair. “For the sake of all that is good and right, we must save the people in this town, protect their homes, and save this historic mountain from the decimation and poison of mountaintop removal mining.”
Arch Coal, the second largest coal producer in the United States, has four planned operations that intrude into the Blair Mountain battlefield. They have already begun operations on the Left Fork surface mine, which sits directly adjacent to the battlefield.
According to retired coalminer Joe Stanley, “We know that they are moving quickly in the Blair area. We know that they have land agents trying again to buy from people who have already refused them. And we know they are blasting on the Left Fork permit. So, time is running out for the people of Blair and the battlefield.”
Appalachian filmmaker and Friends of Blair Mountain board member Mari-Lynn Evans says, “Arch Coal is moving the chess pieces in so that they can come in and blast away our heritage. If we wait until they are on the battlefield, it is too late. And they know that.”
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest civil uprising after the Civil War, fought due to protracted grievances between coal miners and the coal operators. It was finally brought to a halt after five days of heavy fighting along the Logan-Boone county lines. Federal troops were called in to quell the conflict.
"Blair Mountain is a national treasure and a critical piece of America's history," said Mary Anne Hitt Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. "Workers fought and died on its slopes for the simple right to represent themselves and win fair working conditions. We will not stop our fight to defend that land and their memory no matter what tactics Arch Coal may use to try and destroy it."
“Not only is our rich West Virginia history being destroyed by out-of-state coal operators, but the people around me here in Blair are being sickened, blasted, and generally run out of town. It’s not easy watching a town being killed, and unless something is done soon to stop the out-of-control companies, there won't be a Blair left in six months, or a Blair Mountain,” says Brandon Nida.
###It was a tricky question... How would Swedish duo VINTERSORG continue after 2014's intriguing album "Naturbål"? Shunning repetition, vocalist and mastermind Andreas "Vintersorg" Hedlund did the unthinkable and composed a sequel to his groundbreaking 1998 album "Till Fjälls", which is considered to be one of the most important albums in the genre of black/folk metal!
What to expect from "Till Fjälls Del II"? No scientific lyrical concept, no progressive trickery, but a heartfelt return to snowcapped mountains, pure nature-inspired mysticism, Nordic folklore and real black metal with a captivating epic streak. VINTERSORG share a vision of equally harsh and melodic soundscapes that melt the raging extremes of the late '90s with the focus of 2016.
The worldwide album release is set for June 30 via Napalm Records.
"Till Fjälls Del II" track listing:
CD1
01. Jökelväktaren
02. En Väldig Isvidds Karga Dräkt
03. Lavin
04. Fjällets Mäktiga Mur
05. Obygdens Pionjär
06. Vinterstorm
07. Tusenåriga Stråk
08. Allt Mellan Himmel Och Jord
09. Vårflod
CD2
01. Tillbaka Till Källorna
02. Köldens Borg
03. Portalen
04. Svart Måne
The album will be available as a 2-CD 6-page digipak and 2LP gatefold edition (black vinyl, strictly limited to 300 copies worldwide). Also available is the VINTERSORG classic "Ödemarkens Son" from 1999 on vinyl for the first time ever. 1LP gatefold edition, strictly limited to 300 copies worldwide.MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Yes, a new Gallup Poll indicates that a majority of Americans now support the recreational use of marijuana. This is a 10 percentage point increase since a Gallup survey last year.
Remember that this surge in backing is for the unrestricted personal use of marijuana, regardless of medical need.
As BuzzFlash at Truthout readers are aware, Colorado and Washington State have legalized individual use of marijuana through voter initiatives. Given the rising national tide of support for placing pot in the same category as alcohol, it appears possible that federal policy -- which still classifies marijuana as a narcotic -- will change in the coming years.
That may provide hope that other paradigm shifts may occur as older voters are replaced by new millenials.
Buzzflash and Truthout don’t take corporate funding - that means we’re accountable to our readers, not big business or billionaire sponsors. Please support our work by making a tax-deductible donation today - just click here to donate.
According to the Washington Post, which published the Gallup finding,
Pro-marijuana legalization groups hailed the poll as proof that public sentiment is shifting.
“The latest poll results point to the absurdity and even venality of persisting with harsh prohibitionist policies,” said Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance.
Unlike alchohol, which is the cause of many deaths through individuals that become violent when drunk and through thousands of deadly drunken driving automobile collisions -- not to mention organ damage and cancer caused by the excessive drinking of liquor, the legalization of marijuana can save lives. Thousands of US and Mexican citizens are killed each year not as a result of smoking marijuana, but as a result of getting caught in the crossfire of illegal trafficking.
As we have often mentioned, there is the additional benefit of taxing marijuana and increasing revenue into the public purse.
And then there is, of course, the job-creation that will result in the munchy snack industry. Let's not forget that economic benefit of ending prohibition.
(Photo: absolut xman)Sen. Chuck Schumer (Alex Wong/Getty)
He pretends to be tough on the Zika virus, but he paved the way for immigrants who may have brought it.
Latin America’s Zika virus is the latest undocumented immigrant to hit our shores, but have no fear. Self-appointed Zika Warrior Prince Charles Schumer has declared that he is here to stop it.
The New York Democrat has a “three-point plan” of attack to build a “firewall” that will prevent an outbreak of the mosquito-borne illness from spreading across our mainland. He’s armed with big charts and jabby index fingers, too. Allons!
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Five cases of the Zika virus have been identified in the Empire State alone. The CDC says a total of 31 Americans in 11 states and Washington, D.C., have been identified as carriers who brought the miserable disease in from abroad.
The feds’ don’t-worry-be-happy health bureaucrats emphasize that these are “isolated” incidents that can be contained by simply avoiding travel to hotspots like Brazil, where the disease has been linked to an explosion of microcephaly among an estimated 4,000 babies.
RELATED: Will the EPA Cause a Zika Pandemic?
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But on Tuesday, Dallas County, Texas, reported the first case in a resident based in the continental U.S., who contracted the condition “through sexual contact with someone who had visited a Zika-endemic country,” according to health officials.
When people in Washington tell you not to worry, be alarmed.
I know I’m not the only one who sniggered at the spectacle of the Senate’s leading Gang of Eight immigration expansionists now playing Chicken Little about global communicable diseases.
The Democrat-manufactured border surge ushered in a resurgence of tropical diseases across the Southwest.
News flash: The sky has already fallen. The barn door can’t — or rather, won’t — be closed by those scrambling in front of the cameras to grab headlines about the latest panic du jour. The fundamental policy dissonance is lost on tin-eared Schumer: While he makes theatrical grand gestures to stop foreign viruses from entering through the front porch, he and his amnesty-promoting pals in both parties have left the side and back entries swinging wide open for illegal immigration.
People from Central and South America, ground zero for Zika and other infectious diseases including tuberculosis, dengue, Chagas, Chikungunya and schistosomiasis, make up nearly 15 percent of the illegal-immigrant population in the U.S. They flooded the border in record numbers in 2013 as Schumer and company were pushing mass amnesty on Capitol Hill — and as President Obama was implementing blanket deportation freezes in advance of his executive illegal-immigrant waiver policies.
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#share#The Democrat-manufactured border surge ushered in a resurgence of tropical diseases across the Southwest. Meanwhile, laborers here illegally and amnestied migrants who have never been screened for disease obtained Obama work permits to hold low-wage jobs in places like Chipotle, which shut down scores of its restaurants over the past three months after two separate E. coli outbreaks.
Now comes news from Texas governor Greg Abbott and Representative Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) that the Obama Department of Homeland Security plans to cut back aerial monitoring of the southern border by 50 percent. The Texas Tribune reports that the cutback coincides with a new surge in illegal crossings of the Rio Grande.
RELATED: Lies, Damn Lies, and Immigration Statistics
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“From October to December of 2015,” the paper reported, “about 10,560 unaccompanied minors entered Texas illegally through the Rio Grande Valley sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. That marks a 115 percent increase over the same time frame in 2014.” With spring just around the corner, those numbers will swell again.
And the illegal-immigrant border surge will only be strengthened (and public-health risks increased) if Obama gives in to left-wing immigrant groups who are lobbying the White House to extend Temporary Protected Status en masse to upwards of 750,000 Central Americans purportedly fleeing violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
#related#TPS is a special amnesty program originally intended as a short-term humanitarian program. As usual, “temporary” means permanent. Example? In 2014, the White House extended TPS status and employment permits for an estimated 90,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans here illegally “for an additional 18 months, effective Jan. 6, 2015, through July 5, 2016.” Who are these TPS winners? They’ve been here since 1998 — when Hurricane Mitch hit their homeland. That was 18 years ago. Their “temporary” status has been renewed more than a dozen times since the Clinton administration first bestowed it.
One of the biggest champions of the fraud-riddled, illegal immigration-incentivizing TPS program? Chicken Little Chuckie Schumer.
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The Beltway posturing of open-borders engineers is enough to make you sick.Update from Meechan himself (From July 21, 2016)
One of the weirdest stories to surface recently has been that of Markus Meechan, who taught his girlfriend’s dog how to perform something similar to a Nazi salute. The success of the online video also led to his arrest.
Meechan (from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland) uploaded a video to Youtube (M8 Yer Dugs a Nazi), depicting a pug named Buddah responding to the phrase “gas the Jews,” raising its paw in an imitation Nazi salute when it heard the words “Sieg Heil”, and viewing footage of Hitler giving a speech. The video was uploaded on April 11, and to date, has close to 1.9 million views, with a 16:1 ratio of likes to dislikes.
Meechan says in the video that My girlfriend is always ranting and raving about how cute her dog is so I thought I would turn her into the least cute thing you could think of which is a Nazi. After the video went viral, Meechan denied being a racist, insisting it was all done in order to annoy his girlfriend: I am so sorry to the Jewish community for any offence I have caused them. This was never my intention and I apologise.
On April 28, Meechan was arrested, and after spending a night behind bars, he was released pending further investigations. According to detective Inspector David Cockburn of Lanarkshire CID, this clip was shared online and has been viewed almost one million times. I would ask anyone who has had the misfortune to have viewed it to think about the pain and hurt the narrative has caused a minority of people in our community. The clip is deeply offensive and no reasonable person can possibly find the content acceptable in today’s society. This arrest should serve as a warning to anyone posting such material online, or in any other capacity, that such views will not be tolerated.
Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities: To regard the meticulously planned and industrialised murder of six million people solely on the grounds of their ethnicity as a joke is outrageous, and for someone who does so to claim not to be racist, beggars belief.
Racist or not, I’m not quite sure Meechan is still proud of teaching Buddah how to act like a proper Nazi.Greek Orthodox Church Sells Land In Israel, Worrying Both Israelis And Palestinians
Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel Estrin/NPR Daniel Estrin/NPR
Secretive real estate deals in the Holy Land are putting one of Jerusalem's most powerful and ancient churches in the spotlight.
The Greek Orthodox Church calls itself the second-largest landowner in Israel, after the Israeli government. It says it owns some 30 percent of Jerusalem's walled Old City, the city's historic core, and controls the largest stake of any Christian denomination in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, home to the traditional tomb of Jesus. It also owns lands throughout Jerusalem, Israel and the West Bank.
But in recent years, church leaders have quietly sold off several properties to anonymous investors fronted by companies registered in far-flung tax havens. Israeli and Jewish businessmen were later identified as some of the buyers.
These deals have only recently become public, raising panic among Israelis whose apartments are built on church land and leading to small but growing public protests by some Palestinian church members.
The church leadership is dominated by Greek nationals, but the church's local following is largely Palestinian. Some Palestinians are worried about possible implications for their quest for independence.
"We are concerned because these are the properties of the church. And these properties are diminishing year after year," said Hanna Amireh, a Palestinian official in charge of church affairs. "This is part of our land, in a way or another. We don't want this land to be sold... to our enemy."
The question of landownership strikes at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian tug of war over Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem, whose holy sites include the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Al-Aqsa Mosque and Western Wall, in 1967. But the Palestinians demand that part of the city as the capital of a future independent state.
The land dispute saga began a decade ago at Jaffa Gate, the most prominent entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, where throngs of pilgrims pass on their way to the city's most revered religious sites. Just inside the gate are two hotels run by Palestinian families but owned by the Greek Orthodox Church.
In 2005, an Israeli newspaper reported on a secret deal struck the year before by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate — the church leadership — to sell the hotels to Ateret Cohanim, a Jewish settler group that aims to buy up Palestinian-owned properties in strategic locations in Jerusalem to increase Jewish control in the contested city.
The church's sale caused an uproar among Palestinians in the Greek Orthodox community. Then-Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irenaios I was accused of conspiring to sell the property. Rumors swirled about the patriarch's relationship with the young man who conducted the secret property deals with the patriarch's power of attorney.
The scandal led to Irenaios' ouster – sparking yet another drama.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel Estrin/NPR Daniel Estrin/NPR
For years, Irenaios holed himself up in his apartment in the church headquarters in Jerusalem's Old City, refusing to accept his expulsion and afraid he would be locked out if he left the premises. A sympathetic Palestinian grocer brought him food, which Irenaios hoisted up to his window by rope.
A new church leader was appointed, Patriarch Theophilos III, who is fighting in Israeli court to annul the sale of church-owned properties in Jaffa Gate during his predecessor's tenure. A lower court recently deemed the sale to be proper, and the patriarch is appealing to Israeli Supreme Court.
But Theophilos is now on the defensive. News first broke this summer about additional land deals, which he personally approved.
More details about the land deals have been reported in the Israeli press in recent weeks and months.
Many of the deals in question are of lands that the church leased in the 1950s to institutions affiliated with the Israeli government, like the Jewish National Fund, a century-old nonprofit dedicated to obtaining land and developing Jewish communities in Israel.
The church sold lands in the upscale beachside cities of Caesarea and Jaffa to companies registered in the Caribbean. In other deals, Israeli investors purchased large tracts of land in the most luxurious neighborhoods of West Jerusalem. When the long-term lease on the land expires in a few decades, these companies will decide the fate of the apartments on those lands.
Leaseholders in the area say their property values have dropped drastically because of the uncertainty.
"I am not doing any renovations," said Nava Bat-Zur, whose apartment is on land sold by the church. "It is hard to sell these properties."
She has helped rally residents to lobby Israeli authorities to do something to resolve their predicament.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel Estrin/NPR Daniel Estrin/NPR
A bill in the Israeli parliament is proposing that the government immediately expropriate Greek Orthodox Church lands if they are sold to private investors.
That has alarmed Jerusalem-based churches of many denominations, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch is now conducting a rare public campaign, recording a video message in English that warns of of an "assault" on the church, and taking an international tour — meeting with the pope, the archbishop of Canterbury and other faith leaders — to drum up support for churches' property rights.
Local Palestinian church members argue whether the property sales are actually benefiting the local flock.
"All that [money] was put in projects that serve the preservation of the Christian community in the Holy Land" like church-run schools and a housing project for Palestinian church members in East Jerusalem, said Dmitri Diliani, a Palestinian church member supportive of the patriarch's deals.
Ghassan Munayyer, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and member of the church who opposes the land deals, argues that other churches in the Holy Land invest more in their local flock than the wealthy Greek Orthodox Church does. He says the patriarch has not reached out to the community to explain the recent land deals.
"We ask always: 'Why you disgrace us? Why you hate us so much?' " said Munayyer. "You don't invest anything in the local community. And now you sell our land."
The church has conducted some two dozen major land deals in Israel, the West Bank and Jerusalem in recent years, according to a Greek Orthodox Patriarchate official who spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized by the church to speak openly about the matter.
The official offered a defense for some of the recent land deals. In the case of the Jewish National Fund, he said the fund asked the church to renew its lease on a large tract of land in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia. The lands were leased to the JNF in the early 1950s for a period of 99 years, and the JNF wished to negotiate a new lease early.
The church said the JNF made a low offer for the new lease, and the church felt its hands were tied, believing it could not actually reject the offer and evict the tenants from their upscale neighborhood. In addition, he said, the church was under pressure from Israeli officials about extending the lease of the land.
So the church sold the land to an Israeli investor and got rid of a "headache," the official said.
Other church properties were sold, either to generate income or to get rid of properties that had caused the church problems, he said. One was sold after the church was found in breach of the lease and an Israeli court ordered it to pay millions of dollars in damages, even threatening Israeli expropriation of a Greek Orthodox monastery property in a politically sensitive part of East Jerusalem, the official said.
"None of these deals are endangering the future dream of the Palestinian people. None are siphoning off endowments," the official said, referring to churches and monasteries considered to be ecclesiastical holdings.
In a city contested by both Israelis and Palestinians, the story of church-owned land in Jerusalem has always been sensitive.
A former Israeli city planner, Israel Kimhi, said he mapped out all the church-owned lands in Jerusalem for an atlas he helped prepare in the early 1970s. But he said the Israeli government censor prohibited the map from being released to the public.
"To see the amount of land that is owned by others, not by Israelis, in those very sensitive areas — at that time, the government decided it was not a good thing to show," Kimhi said.
As the public learns more about the Greek Orthodox Church's holdings, it has opened a Pandora's box of worries about the city's future — because other churches own lands and properties in Jerusalem.
Some fear that investors with deep pockets and ideological ambitions — Israelis wanting a toehold in a Palestinian area of the city, or vice versa — might pressure a church into selling a property, giving Israelis or Palestinians one more win in the real estate battle for control in the city.A Syrian woman who managed to escape the war-zone in her native country was beaten to death in an asylum home by her own husband.
The story of Dalia is like many other Syrian migrants. Dalia came with her family from Kurdistan in northern Syria to Germany last year along with hundreds of thousands of others, though most of her fellow migrants were not Syrian. Her story ended in tragedy last October when she was beaten to death in the asylum home where she and her family lived, by her own husband and in front of their children according to a shocking report by Die Welt.
The murder happened last August but has only now come to trial. The husband of Dalia, Saoud T., is now facing charges of manslaughter in a German court. Police in the case were shocked when they entered the room where Dalia had been murdered. The husband who had killed Dalia was sitting with one of their three children at a table as another child played on a bunk bed and yet another slept. The official remarked the situation as surreal and that the four were acting, “as if nothing happened.”
32 year-old Saoud T. murdered his also 32 year-old wife after they had been staying at an asylum home in Trier, Germany for only three weeks. It is said that he beat his wife with the leg of a broken table, striking at least eight times, all in the presence of their three children aged one, four and five. The prosecution in the case is only seeking a charge of manslaughter as they believe it may be difficult to prove he acted in a premeditated manner.
Dalia was initially found on a blood soaked mattress and was taken to the hospital as workers at the asylum home had assumed she had been sick, fell and injured herself. The hospital staff were quick to alert police to the fact that they thought Dalia had been a victim of violent crime. Police found the bloody mattress propped up outside the asylum home leaned up against the outside wall with the bloody side facing inward so as not to be seen.
Neighbors of the family told authorities they had heard arguments coming from the room in which the murder took place. They said they heard Saoud T. shout at his wife, “shut up, or I’ll kill you,” during a particularly heated argument the night before the murder. The couples children also gave testimony to police saying that their father had hit their mother. “Papa has hit the mama,” one child said.
The children are also said to be victims of Saoud’s violent behavior. In testimony given by Dalia’s mother she told that he had a history of beating Dalia with a stick and often resorted to beating the children with his belt.
Saoud sat in a courtroom this week silent and immobile as his trial began in the Trier regional court. Even his defence attorney, Christian Woods, remarked that it was hard to get through to Saoud and found it impossible to build any kind of trust with him.
Violence against women and minorities is pervasive in German asylum homes. Breitbart London has reported on multiple cases of violent behavior by predominately Muslim men who are forcing authorities to consider separate asylum homes for women, children, homosexuals and Christians. A German rail company has also suggested it might even separate train carriages by gender to protect women from sexual assault and violence.This week was a rough one for Donald J. Trump. Democrats and their like-minded friends spent four long days lobbing everything they had at him during their convention in Philadelphia. They painted the former reality TV star as uninformed, unhinged, and un-American. They also made fun of his business record, his alleged fortune, and his Twitter account.
And how did all that make Trump feel? I’ll let the Donald answer that for himself. Here he was during a Thursday rally in Iowa:
You know what I wanted to. I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard. I would have hit them. No, no. I was going to hit them, I was all set and then I got a call from a highly respected governor. ‘How’s it going Donald?’ I said, ‘Well it’s going good but they’re really saying bad things about me. I’m going to hit them so hard.’ I was gonna hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was gonna hit this guy so hard his head would spin and he wouldn’t know what the hell happened. … I was going to hit a number of those speakers so hard their heads would spin, they’d never recover, and that’s what I did—that’s why I still don’t have a lot of people endorsing me—they still haven’t recovered.
To be fair, by the time Trump was done it was obvious that he wasn’t talking about physically assaulting anyone. His eventual claim that he did the same thing to his Republican rivals during the primary suggests he’s talking about going after his opponents verbally or on Twitter. Also, the former reality star frequently uses the verb to hit rhetorically. He’s not a total outlier on the matter; politicos and the press frequently describe politics in terms of combat—commercials are attack ads, debates are boxing matches, and campaigns are war (or, in Slate’s case four years go, one big and bloody video game).
Still, as you can see in the clip above, Trump’s fans can’t get enough of his macho act, and the clear pleasure they derive from this particular show comes from the double meaning of the word hit. They might not want Trump to actually throw a punch at his opponent, but they love imagining it. Trump, in turn, is always happy to play along. The fact that beating up on the “little guy” (in this case, probably Michael Bloomberg) is what passes for an applause line at his rally is hardly a coincidence.
More striking to me, though, is that both sides believe they can use Trump’s tough-guy act to their advantage. The overarching narrative of the DNC criticism of Trump was that he is a thin-skinned bully who can’t be trusted to keep his cool when provoked. And here was Trump, in effect, saying the very same thing—to cheers.
Read more Slate coverage of the 2016 campaign.“Anyone who sees these points will know that the government of Myanmar is conducting textbook ethnic cleansing on the Rohingya Muslims,” Riaz Karim, the director and co-founder of the Mona Relief Organization, said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.
Karim is a consultant for Veritas Consulting of London, UK. He is also a commentator for a number of media outlets around the world and a political expert on Yemen and the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Following is the full text of the interview:
Tasnim: As you know, the Rohingya Muslim minority in western Myanmar has long been a victim of systematic violence and religious discrimination. The members of the 1.1 million population in Rakhine state have limited rights and are classified as illegal immigrants rather than citizens. Reports of violence and massacre of the Rohingya Muslims have prompted international human rights groups to call for urgent foreign intervention. According to media reports, Myanmar’s government has responded to the Rohingya people with gruesome acts that the UN says may amount to crimes against humanity and has already pushed more than 66,000 Rohingyas into neighboring Bangladesh. Many are living in makeshift camps where there is not enough water or sanitation facilities for the growing number of refugees. What is your assessment of the ongoing tragedy in the Southeast Asian country?
Karim: What is happening in Myanmar has tainted our humanity. Let’s be clear about one thing, this is not an 'intercommunal, interethnic or interreligious conflict', this is a state-led, state-sponsored, state-initiated and state-spread ethnic cleansing operation.
Let’s take a step back… The Rohingya trace their origins in the region to the fifteenth century when thousands of Muslims came to the former Arakan Kingdom. Many others arrived during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Bengal and the Rakhine territory were governed by colonial rule as part of British India. Since independence in 1948, successive governments in Burma, renamed Myanmar in 1989, have refuted the Rohingya’s historical claims and denied the group recognition as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups. The Rohingya are largely identified as illegal Bengali immigrants, despite the fact that many Rohingya have resided in Myanmar for centuries.
The Rohingya used to have citizenship rights up until 1982 when they government passed a law which basically removed those rights, and ever since then they have been struggling to get that right back but however hard they try, their rights have been steadily reduced over the years.
Firstly, Both the Myanmar government and the Rakhine state’s dominant ethnic Buddhist group, known as the Rakhine, reject the use of the label “Rohingya,” a self-identifying term that surfaced in the 1950s and that experts say provides the group with a collective, political identity.
Though the etymological root of the word is disputed, the most widely accepted origin is that “Rohang” is a derivation of the word “Arakan” in the Rohingya dialect and the “ga” or “gya” means “from.” By identifying as Rohingya, the ethnic Muslim group asserts its ties to the land that was once under the control of the Arakan Kingdom.
As an example, even the past UN secretary General Ban Ki Moon refused to address them as Rohingya. That says something, doesn’t it?
The state has an 11-point Ethnic Cleansing plan that was adopted in 1988 which clearly state the following:
1. The Muslims (Rohingyas) are not to be provided with citizenship cards by identifying them as insurgents.
2. To reduce the population growth of the Rohingyas by the gradual imposition of restrictions on their marriages and by application of all possible methods of oppression and suppression against them.
3. To strive for the increase in Buddhist population to be more than the number of Muslim people by way of establishing Natala villages in Arakan with Buddhist settlers from different townships and from out of the country.
4. To allow them temporary movement from village to village and township to township only with a form that is required by the foreign nationals for travel, and to totally ban them traveling to Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State.
5. To forbid higher studies (university education) to the Rohingyas.
6. No Muslim is to be appointed in government services.
7. To forbid them from ownership of lands, shops, and buildings. Any such properties under their existing ownership must be confiscated for distribution among the Buddhists. All their economic activities must be stopped.
8. To ban construction, renovation, repair and roofing of the mosques, Islamic religious schools and dwelling houses of the Rohingyas.
9. To try secretly to convert the Muslims to Buddhism.
10. Whenever there is a case between Rakhine and Muslim the court shall give the verdict in favor of Rakhine; when the case is between Muslim themselves the court shall favor the rich against the poor Muslim so that the latter leaves the country with frustration.
11. The mass killing of the Muslim is to be avoided in order not to invite the attention of the Muslim countries.
Anyone who sees these points will know that the government of Myanmar is conducting textbook ethnic cleansing on the Rohingya Muslims.
Tasnim: Earlier in January, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed deep concern over the plight of Rohingya Muslims, calling on the secretary-general of the United Nations to take immediate actions to help end the suffering of the people. What is your take on that? Why are the international community and some Muslim countries keeping silent on the sufferings of Muslims in Myanmar?
Karim: The Rohingya reside on important land which is along the coast bordering Bangladesh. There are many plans to redevelop that area, one key development has been the building of a deep sea port to take in oil tankers which will then send oil up the new pipeline to China, which shortens the route. Oil tankers from the Middle East will be docking there, the pipeline started pumping just recently I think in 2013/14.
There are many business opportunities to be had in Myanmar and many oil exploration opportunities also both on and off shore. Countries all around the world want to get a share of the Myanmar pie and that includes the US, hence the state of Myanmar wants the Rohingya out of there as soon as possible in order to take advantage of the potential economic boom.
There is money in chaos, peace doesn't make any money for anyone, Minister Zarif was absolutely correct, only Muslim countries which genuinely care about the welfare of fellow human beings and Muslims are raising their voices. With Iran being one of them, just as they do for the Palestinians and other Muslims around the world.
The Rohingya Muslims are the most persecuted people in the world and yet we only hear a handful of countries even raise the issue because we live in a world where profits take precedence over humanity.
Tasnim: A video showing Myanmar police beating Rohingya civilians has recently surfaced, amid widespread reports that Myanmar security forces were setting homes on fire and killing, raping and arbitrarily arresting Rohingyas. This is while the government of the Southeast Asian country denies the allegations of growing violence against the minority. As you know, Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. What’s the use of having a Nobel prize? Why does not she make an appropriate move to prevent the tragedy in her country?
Karim: Latest attempt to remove them has been focused around the township of Maungdaw which borders Bangladesh. It was triggered by an attack on a border guard police post which did kill some police officers, it is almost as if the Myanmar government were waiting for something like that to happen.
So now, they have an insurgency, it is exactly what they wanted and they were ready to make the most of this opportunity, their 'Clearance Operation' as it has officially been named has consisted of burning down entire villages, raping literally hundreds of women in front of their husbands and children, throwing people into fires, including children, shooting fleeing villagers dead from their helicopters.
There have been 6 Rohingya Muslims who according to the State of Myanmar died in custody everyone knows they died from torture, people who have managed to be released have told of horrific torture.
Almost 500 Rohingya men and boys now in prison from this recent Clearance Operation, and it is likely that at 99% of them had nothing to do with any insurgency and it is also very likely that all have been tortured and are still being tortured now.
The torture is not just for information or otherwise, it is for sadistic pleasure, as the Rohingya are so hated they are considered sub-human by many of the military and police, some of the tortures are so horrific that they cannot be mentioned on here.
As for Aung San Suu Kyi, the only way she could garner support for her political aspirations was to appease the military and its support base, this is exactly what she did, she traded her humanitarian values for political aspirations.
Many analysts, humanitarians, and human rights organizations have called on her to give back her peace prize and the money that came with it, because she has time and again portrayed a "Jekyll and Hyde" persona when it comes to the Rohingya.
In order to keep her political base happy Suu Kyi will not do anything about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims, in fact, the ongoing "Clearance Operation" of the Rohingya Muslims is state-sponsored and initiated of which Suu Kyi is a part of.
The very first step for Myanmar government to take is to mention the Rohingya by their rightful identity and until such time they don't do that, the Rohingya will remain a persecuted stateless people who nobody wants.Nice hair. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
When Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past hit the big screen last year, Quicksilver, the mutant with a penchant for traveling at superhuman speeds, notably became the film’s breakout character. Director Bryan Singer clearly did the necessary homework, as Evan Peters (not to be confused with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays Quicksilver in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron) told Deadline in a recent interview that not |
just 5 percent of the vote, last among the six actively campaigning candidates. She fared poorly even in her home county of Black Hawk, winning just 7.2 percent of the votes cast there. She won no counties, was the second-highest vote-getter in tiny Emmet County and placed third in Howard and Shelby counties. Her remarks Wednesday came from the same ballroom where the previous night she had pledged to continue her campaign in South Carolina.” http://dmreg.co/x0FS0O
YAWN – DOES IT REALLY MATTER? “On a national level, it removes another road block from Santorum. “Though, here in New Hampshire, Bachmann’s exit from the race is almost irrelevant,” WMUR’s James Pindell writes http://bit.ly/wqnniU
MCCAIN ENDORSES ROMNEY – HOMECOMING AT YESTERDAY’S MANCHESTER RALLY NOT WARM: “The day after his impossibly thin eight-vote victory, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination flew here for a town hall meeting at Manchester Central High School, where he was to bask in the endorsement of his 2008 arch rival, John McCain,” Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post. “But the senator grimaced when he was introduced, and as Romney delivered his own stump speech, an increasingly impatient McCain pulled up his sleeve and checked his watch. McCain gave his endorsement address without mentioning Romney’s Iowa win until the end…Then came the questions [from hecklers and occupiers]…Romney sat through most of the ambush with a tight grin and raised eyebrows…When the end mercifully came, the candidate gave a final rallying call to ‘get the White House back.’ All but a few rose and put on their coats without applauding.” http://wapo.st/zuPqzy
NEW WEB VIDEO – DNC USES MCCAIN’S WORDS AGAINST ROMNEY: A Democratic National Committee web video brackets Romney’s appearance with McCain in South Carolina today. The messaging push: “Somehow - as if John McCain had an epiphany of some sort - he's gone from complete disdain for Mitt Romney as a shape shifting, politically calculating flip-flopper in 2008 to endorsing him in 2012. The question for John McCain who regularly ridiculed Mitt Romney in 2008 as someone who had taken both sides of every issue is, #WhichMitt are you endorsing?” Watch: http://bit.ly/yA2tcv.
Watch the 2008 web video attacking Romney as a flip-flopper that has been removed from John McCain’s YouTube page: http://bit.ly/z1YjPc.
MOVEON’S NEW AD – BLAMES ROMNEY FOR CLOSING DOWN A FACTORY: MoveOn.org will begin airing an attack ad against Romney today. It features a steel worker and Army veteran, Donny Box, who lost his job at Kansas City's GST after Bain Capital took it over. Box says Romney cares more about making money than creating jobs. The 30-second spot will begin airing on New Hampshire cable today through next Tuesday. The group is not publicly disclosing the size of the buy. Watch: http://bit.ly/xJ4iJx.
ENDORSEMENT – NASHUA TELEGRAPH BACKS ROMNEY: “[W]e do agree with him Washington is broken. That there is a leadership gap – more like a cavern – that imperils the nation. And that he is the most-accomplished Republican in the field to fix it,” the paper’s editors write in today’s edition. http://bit.ly/xBz4vL
GINGRICH ATTACKS – THERE WILL BE BLOOD:
SORE LOSER? – NEWT REFUSES TO CONGRATULATE ROMNEY ON IOWA WIN: “The fact is, Gov. Romney in the end has a very limited appeal in conservative party,” Gingrich told reporters in New Hampshire. CBS’ Sarah Huisenga captures the money moment of the press conference: “Asked by a local reporter if he would buy a home in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, where Romney has a summer home, Gingrich replied, ‘No, I can’t afford things like that, I’m not rich.’ His wife, Callista, added a jab at Romney as well. ‘We have one home,’ she demurred. The Romneys own two summer homes, including one in California.” http://bit.ly/xblCP8
SHOTS FIRED, from Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond: “What would have happened to Mitt in Iowa if 45% of the ads were on Mitt's pro-abortion past?” http://bit.ly/ya3lmd
SANTORUM TALKERS –
“IN SENATE, SANTORUM FUSED PUGILISM AND PRAGMATISM”: That’s the headline in the Wall Street Journal story about his two terms. “Santorum earned a reputation during his 12-year Senate career for pursuing polarizing ideological crusades. He said the child-sex scandal involving Catholic priests was centered in Boston because it's a liberal town, made disparaging remarks about homosexuality and argued there are ‘holes’ in the theory of evolution,” writes Naftali Bendavid. “But unlike today's Senate rebels, Mr. Santorum was also willing to work within the system. He helped push through laws to overhaul the welfare system and limit late-term abortions. His GOP colleagues thought enough of him to make him the third-ranking Senate Republican, and like many of his colleagues, he was a frequent seeker of special provisions known as earmarks.” http://on.wsj.com/yYIUxF
WHO IS BACKING HIS SUPER PAC? “A wealthy Wyoming financier and conservative philanthropist confirmed today that he is one of the principal backers of a new Super PAC that spent more than $530,000 on TV ads in Iowa supporting Santorum and figures to play prominently in South Carolina and elsewhere,” NBC’s Michael Isikoff reports. “Foster Freiss, the founder of a hugely successful mutual investment fund, told NBC News that he is ‘one of a number of contributors who have rallied’ to the Red, White and Blue Fund, the new super PAC supporting Santorum. He declined to give precise figures on how much he has put into the Super PAC. ‘I don't dare let my wife know that,’ he joked.” http://on.msnbc.com/xOwUnQ
PUNDIT PREP – SANTORUM’S 2006 LOSS WAS HISTORICALLY EMBARRASSING: Since 1994, when Santorum won his Senate seat, only one incumbent from the upper chamber has lost by more than the 17 points he got trounced by in 2006 (17 points). Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat, lost by 21 points last year. Larry Sabato’s Center for Politics at the University of Virginia charts recent incumbent Senate losers: http://bit.ly/yKuKWU. [An addendum to this: Nixon lost the 1962 governor’s race but carried California six years later when he ran for president.]
VOTERS, LIKE GIRLS, JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN –GEORGE WILL’S TAKE ON SANTORUM’S SURGE: “Santorum has become central because Iowa Republicans ignored an axiom that is as familiar as it is false: Democrats fall in love, and Republicans fall in line. Republicans, supposedly hierarchical, actually are — let us say the worst — human. They crave fun,” Will writes in his column yesterday. “Supporting Mitt Romney still seems to many like a duty, the responsible thing to do. Suddenly, supporting Santorum seems like a lark, partly because a week or so ago he could quit complaining about media neglect and start having fun, which is infectious.” http://wapo.st/zqWYLy
ROMNEY’S BALANCING ACT – NATIONAL REVIEW EDITORS ADVISE CAUTION ON APPROACH TO ATTACKING SANTORUM: “Romney should be careful in his attacks on Santorum. If he disagrees with Santorum’s approach to winning over blue-collar voters — and some of the policies Santorum recommends in that regard deserve criticism — he will nonetheless have to express that disagreement in a way that does not deepen his own difficulty in appealing to them. Romney would be well within his rights to stress his business and executive credentials, and implicitly or explicitly Santorum’s lack thereof, and to make the case that he is a stronger general-election candidate. But if he appears to cooperate in a media campaign to portray social conservatism as extreme, he will weaken himself severely.” http://bit.ly/xpn9va
WHAT THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE UP TO: Here are details of all 15 events in New Hampshire today, plus Romney’s 3:45 p.m. South Carolina rally. http://politi.co/nKs8EW
MARK YOUR CALENDAR – POLITICO PREVIEW EVENT IN MANCHESTER NEXT MONDAY: Our New Hampshire Primary Preview is at 6 p.m. next Monday at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei host a conversation with Ovide Lamontagne, New Hampshire GOP gubernatorial candidate, and a media roundtable with Dan Balz of The Washington Post, Candy Crowley of CNN, Jonathan Karl of ABC News and Chuck Todd of NBC News. There’s a reception after. RSVP: http://bit.ly/wERIkt.
IOWA POST-MORTEM – ROMNEY’S SECRET WEAPON WAS A LIST OF 30,000 SUPPORTERS: “Even as his campaign leadership claimed into the fall that they were keeping their options open here, Romney’s targeters were quietly maintaining a continuous tally of their supporters in Iowa, a list that proved unexpectedly stable even as other candidates rose and fell in the polls,” Slate’s Sasha Issenberg, the author of the forthcoming book Victory Lab writes in an after-action Iowa report for Slate. “It had become a stock observation to note that Mitt Romney just couldn’t move from 25 percent in Iowa—his support was both resistant to growth and impervious to decay. But what was more important for Romney’s team was not just that his total share of the vote remained steady but that the individual voters who comprised it didn’t move either, making it easy to keep track of who they were and to mobilize them personally… Romney’s Iowa staff triaged the electorate based on their micro-targeting research. Republicans who showed no interest in caucusing—or looked unlikely to back their candidate—were pushed off Romney’s lists for good.” http://slate.me/zp8Jwt
WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS UP TO – TALKING ABOUT DEFENSE AT 10:50 A.M. ET: “Later, in the morning the President will deliver remarks at the Pentagon on the Defense Strategic Review, which will guide our budget priorities and decisions going forward. He will be joined by Secretary of Defense Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dempsey. The President’s remarks come after a comprehensive review of our defense strategy by the President, America’s civilian and uniformed military leadership, and the Administration’s national security team.”
ARIZONA HOUSE – GIFFORDS SET TO ATTEND JAN. 8 VIGIL: “U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will participate in a Jan. 8 vigil at the University of Arizona Sunday evening,” according to the Daily Star. “While in Tucson, Giffords will not give interviews…The vigil on the UA Mall is one of dozens of events that will be held in Tucson and the surrounding area this weekend to observe the tragedy in which 19 people were shot last year at Giffords' Congress On Your Corner at a shopping center in Northwest Tucson…Giffords' staff did not say whether the congresswoman will speak at the vigil.” http://bit.ly/wV4lfm
REMEMBER HIM? – CAIN GOING ON BUS TOUR TO PUSH 9-9-9: The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO announced plans to tour the country to raise support for the ‘9-9-9’ plan that was the star of his aborted presidential run, hoping to rally congressional sponsors for his plan to replace the federal Tax Code with a 9 percent corporate tax, 9 percent personal income tax and a 9 percent national sales tax,” per Juana Summers. “The one-time Republican front-runner announced his ‘Cain’s Solutions Revolution’ during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night.” http://politi.co/AagAB7
CODA – QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I was out on the trail when it kind of came to me." – Rick Perry on his decision to stay in the race http://bit.ly/yMDZHJReport
Twenty-five experts from Europe and the United States developed and discussed four different scenarios in order to map the possible foreign policy consequences of the eurocrisis.The four scenarios are: 1) Complete Fragmentation. The European Union moves toward disintegration. On the world stage, a divided Europe declines as a global actor. 2) Partial Fragmentation. Europe moves toward polycentricity. Several competing Europes emerge. The European Union becomes less reliable, predictable, and powerful as a foreign policy actor. 3) Partial Integration. Incremental progress toward better policy coordination within the eurozone re-establishes the European Union as a reliable partner for its neighbors. The transatlantic relationship fades, and NATO slowly withers away. 4) Full Integration. The Economic and Monetary Union is completed in the European Union. It takes several years, but eventually Europe becomes a more ambitious foreign policy actor with a global outlook and an increased military capacity.Incredible Spoken Word: "Doubt Your Doubts Before You Doubt God"
In this incredible video, Joseph Solomon expresses what it is like to be attacked by deep doubts about your faith, and encourages us to "doubt our doubts before we doubt God." Doubt is such a big issue for Christians, as we often feel guilt for asking tough questions, but we must be honest with God and confront it head on.
"I remember when my little niece ran up to me and told me "we learned about Jesus today!" says Solomon. "And I could tell by her smile she was so excited to learn about this man that she did not quite know yet. But she knew without a doubt for it to be true because after all "Mommy said so."
"That was the first time in my life that I looked into the eyes of a child and I envied them. Because she has no idea what it feels like to doubt. What it feels like to have your entire belief system overload with skepticism."
Solomon recounts moments of doubt that were profoundly frustrating. "I remember sitting in the back row of a cold sanctuary. Crying. Because I desperately wanted what the preacher was saying to be true. But my doubts were preaching a sermon of their own. And the streams of my tears turned into oceans of frustration!" he says.
"Honestly, i've considered quitting, but where will I go? Back? There's no home for the living in the land of the dead. So I keep pressing forward. Today I have faith but I can't make any promises about tomorrow. I'm surprised I've held on this long," Solomon says. "I'm not questioning you, i've just got questions. Don't leave me here. Don't leave me."
Solomon passionately demonstrates what God says in response. "My child. Your faith is small enough to fit in the cracks of your palms. I told you, faith the size of mustard seeds can rearrange old landscapes and turn mountains into highways!"
"Have your questions. I'm not telling you to have a blind faith. I'm asking you to consider the blind men who had faith and believed my words before they were even able to see me. Consider the birds who eat from my hand, and do not fall from the sky without my consent. So how much more will I love the one who I died for!"
"Before you doubt me, doubt your doubts!"
Watch the incredible video below.
Share this article on:Image caption Iraq is rebuilding its armed forces
Iraq has signed contracts to buy Russian arms worth $4.2bn (£2.6bn; 3.2bn euros) this year, Russian news agencies report.
Moscow, the main supplier of arms to Iraq under Saddam Hussein, thus becomes the country's second-biggest arms supplier after the US.
The new contracts were announced after talks between the two countries' prime ministers near Moscow on Tuesday.
Reports suggest attack helicopters and missiles are included in them.
Analysis Anything I sign, Nouri Maliki warned before setting off to Russia, might well be scuttled by parliament. It was an unusually blunt admission of weakness from the Iraqi leader, who has been railing against the constraints placed on him by his opponents in the Council of Representatives and in government. But this has not stopped him from pursuing what he called "quick contracts to fight terrorism". Mr Maliki's opponents have described his arms purchase policy as clumsy. Why buy from Russia, they asked, when multiple deals with the US have been signed? Counterterrorism, said one MP, required improved intelligence, and not helicopters. The debate comes against the backdrop of a proxy war across the border in Syria. Iraq has been struggling to maintain an image of neutrality in that conflict, but is coming under increased pressure from both the United States and Iran, with each pulling Baghdad in a different direction.
Iraq has been rebuilding its armed forces since the end of US-led combat operations against insurgents.
Thirty Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems are said to be among items being sold.
Further discussions are said to be under way for Iraq eventually to buy MiG-29 jets, heavy armoured vehicles and other weaponry.
The contracts were negotiated during visits to Russia by Iraq's acting Defence Minister, Saadoun al-Dulaimi, in April, July and August.
"The delegation members familiarised themselves with the Russian military production, discussed the technical and commercial options of the offer with Rosoboronexport [state] supplier, and signed contracts worth more than $4.2bn," said a joint statement by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri Maliki.
Earlier this week, Mr Maliki explained in a speech that he did not want Iraq to be "part of someone else's [arms export] monopoly."
"We have good relations with the United States and Iran. We do not want to live surrounded by constant conflict. We buy weapons based on the needs that we feel we have," he added.
Iraq clearly wants to diversify its weapons purchases - a step that will only encourage the sense in Washington that the US is somehow "losing Iraq", says the BBC's defence and diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus.
For the Russians these arms sales are a useful foot in the door in Baghdad - a way of bolstering Moscow's position at a time when the future of its close ties with the Assad regime in Syria must be in doubt, our correspondent says.While a quantum computer is the Holy Grail, "on the way, there's all kinds of low-hanging fruit," he said. Other key applications are emerging, from extremely sensitive sensors to highly secure communications.
Paving the way to the development of Quantum Valley was a careful 25-year strategy that began back in 1999 with the founding of the Perimeter Institute — a way to attract talent and build research density, and a means to market the region as a quantum destination.
Other research facilities followed. The foundations for a venture capital base were laid. Recognizing the need for tech-savvy business leaders, a new Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises was founded at Wilfrid Laurier University. Partially funded by Lazaridis, it, too, is named in his honour.
But Lazaridis, who founded Quantum Valley Investments with RIM co-founder Doug Fregin, cautioned that the work is far from over. While the development of more advanced quantum computers is "inevitable," it's far from a quick process and the evolution of new technology takes time and money. More companies need to be developed to commercialize the discoveries, and talent needs to be retained once it's here.
"If this is something you truly believe is going to be important … let the governments know. Tell them that you support this," he said. "Yes, it requires philanthropy, but it also requires public support.
"It really falls on us as a society to help these researchers really pursue their dreams," he said. "We want them to do that here."
A further example of Lazaridis' commitment to the quantum field came with his announcement Thursday that Raymond Laflamme, founding director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, will serve as a new research chair into quantum error correction.
Lazaridis and his wife, along with UW, are investing $8 million to support Laflamme's research on error correction in quantum systems. Laflamme joined UW as a professor in the department of physics and astronomy in 2001; his term as executive director at the institute ended this summer. He becomes the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis "John von Neumann" Chair in Quantum Information at UW.
"This pioneering research in quantum technologies at Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing will help further establish our impact as a global leader in quantum research," UW president Feridun Hamdullahpur said in a news release.
"The combination of Raymond Laflamme's expertise and the Lazaridis family's generosity ensures that the world can continue to look to Waterloo for the latest advancements in quantum knowledge and technology."
Laflamme also holds a Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information, and is a founding faculty member at the Perimeter Institute.
[email protected], Twitter: @DavisRecordOver the past two decades, Colombia’s Iglesia de Dios Ministerial de Jesucristo Internacional — La Ministerial — has built a massive following with almost 900 churches worldwide. The Ministerial calls itself a prophetic faith, but defectors call it a cult that targets immigrants to fill its charismatic leaders’ coffers.
José Rocha went to the church because he had questions that needed answering. It was February 2000 in Bogotá, Colombia, and was, Rocha said, “one of those moments in life when you have to make decisions.” When he walked through the door of the Iglesia de Dios Ministerial de Jesucristo — “La Ministerial” — there was someone tasked with spotting newcomers, greeting them enthusiastically, and seating them near the front. Toward the end of the service, the pastor turned to the novices and invited them to stay and receive la profecía. They would each hear a message from a member of the church who had the gift of prophecy, the pastor explained. Although it would be a human being uttering the words, God would be the one speaking, and his words would reveal to them things they needed to know — things about the future. Rocha, despite already being an emergency room doctor at a prestigious hospital at the age of 29, felt lost. His son was born the year before, thousands of miles away in New York City, where he lived with his mother, Rocha’s ex-girlfriend. “We separated when she was pregnant,” Rocha said. “And that was always my doubt. Did I do the right thing? What will the boy’s life be like growing up so far from his father? Am I selfish? Am I crazy?” The mother of Rocha’s child was also a member of the Ministerial, one of the reasons he went there seeking clarity. When his turn came to receive prophecy, Rocha was approached by a man not much older than he. The man put both hands firmly on top of Rocha's head, then leaned forward and began murmuring into his ear. I have brought you here so that I can bless you, he started — general statements, intoned dramatically, in vaguely biblical rhetoric. I know you have been seeking me. Then came the words that determined the next dozen years of José Rocha’s life. I will lead you to that foreign land, that place where your beloved lives, the one you love and value most. It was as if he knew exactly what to say.
Iglesia de Dios Ministerial de Jesucristo Internacional / Via commons.wikimedia.org The Ministerial temple in Bogotá where José Rocha converted.
Rocha packed up his life and moved to New York City. He and his family, like many believers, built their lives entirely around the Ministerial, receiving prophecy on a regular basis and volunteering large amounts of time, money, and labor to the church and its political wing. Twelve years later, Rocha wrenched himself away from what he had come to see as a damaging cult, one that exists to funnel wealth and political power into the hands of its leader. That leader, a Colombian woman named María Luisa Piraquive, is revered by her followers as a prophet, the semidivine messenger of God on earth. Over the last two decades, she has used that influence to turn the Ministerial into a global empire with 868 locations in 48 countries. The church says it has more than 2.5 million followers worldwide, and while outside observers consider this figure exaggerated, defectors and experts still estimate its size to be somewhere in the mid to high hundred thousands. The bulk of its operations are in Colombia, where it also wields political power through an influential party with officials in every level of government. Much of that political capital is accumulated abroad, where the Ministerial, according to its defectors, exploits the captive devotion of its immigrant members to advance its political project. In the United States, the Ministerial claims 89 locations from coast to coast, ranging from tiny storefronts to large temples in major cities. This is second only to the number of Ministerial churches in Colombia itself. The rise of the Ministerial forms part of the relentless growth of Evangelical Christianity in Latin America and among its emigrants, a huge demographic shift that has shaken Catholicism’s once uncontested reign. But the church of María Luisa Piraquive stands apart for its zealous reverence for its leader, and for the strange rite at the heart of its doctrine — the practice of prophecy, a literal foretelling of the future that strays from Protestant orthodoxy. This ritual, according to the church’s defectors, is also the principal mechanism by which the Ministerial lures believers, isolates them, and manipulates them into submission to the church and its motives. In a letter to BuzzFeed News, the Ministerial objected to defectors’ claims that it is a cult and said that many of the scandals that have afflicted the church over the years have been the result of defamatory fabrications motivated by religious persecution. “Out of 89 churches in the US alone, with thousands of congregants, it is telling that there are only a few vengeful detractors willing to make these false allegations against the church.” In other contexts, church leaders have pointed to the charitable work performed by the Ministerial’s affiliated nonprofits around the world. To Rocha and a larger community of apostates, even the most seemingly well-meaning of the church’s endeavors are a ruse. “It’s not a church,” Rocha said. “It’s a business built on manipulation and fear.”
Iglesia de Dios Ministerial de Jesucristo Internacional
The Ministerial was small when Priscila Angulo found it in the early 1990s. Like many believers, she turned to the church in a moment of crisis. Her mother had suffered a brain aneurysm that left her in a vegetative state. Angulo felt trapped in a loveless and abusive marriage, having wed at 17 and quickly realized her husband was not the man she thought him to be. She needed a miracle. At first, Angulo received vague prophecies about a person she loved who was ill. Later, the prophecies became more specific — one church member, who had accompanied Angulo to visit her mother in the hospital and had seen her improve, prophesied that she would be healed. Three months later, her mother recovered, and Angulo’s conversion was completed. At the time, the Ministerial was led by its founder, Luis Eduardo Moreno, María Luisa Piraquive’s husband. Moreno, a paternal figure beloved by his flock, saw a young devotee in the 21-year-old Angulo. Before she and her mother returned to their home in the state of Santander, half a day's drive from Bogotá, Moreno entrusted Angulo with a task: Find 10 people who are interested in starting a congregation, then call me.
Iglesia de Dios Ministerial de Jesucristo Internacional / Via commons.wikimedia.org Luis Eduardo Moreno
She did as she was told. On February 29, 1992 — it was a leap year — 10 people gathered in Angulo’s living room. Moreno showed up with María Luisa in tow and gave a brief sermon on the subject of 1 Corinthians 12, the Bible chapter that introduces the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When he finished, María Luisa, who hadn’t otherwise spoken much, circled the room and gave everyone prophecy. “All of my friends were excited, because they thought they had just been told their futures,” Angulo said. After it was all over, Moreno told them they would meet again the next month and asked them to bring one person with them — not two, not none, but one. At the next meeting there were exactly 20 people in Angulo’s house. “Then there were 40, then 80, then 160,” Angulo said. They started meeting in schools and restaurants, and when they passed 500 Angulo rented a permanent space in a disused factory. “It was the perfect way to start a business,” Angulo said. “It was a pyramid. That’s how I look at it now.” The Ministerial, in its letter to BuzzFeed News, called Angulo’s statement “false” and said that “the Holy Spirit revealed from the very beginning that He would bring the people to the church, and that the founders of the church did not have to do anything to bring people because all the work would be done by Him.” As the church itself has grown dramatically over the years, the Piraquive family has accrued significant wealth, including several million-dollar homes in South Florida. The Ministerial’s members are expected to donate a tithe (10% of all their income) to the church, and are encouraged to make extra “offerings” — gifts of cash or clothes or anything else of value. The church has its own publishing house, part of a larger network of corporate holdings affiliated with the Piraquives and the Ministerial, and some larger temples sell magazines, CDs, Bibles, and other goods to worshippers. Defectors say members also routinely devote large amounts of uncompensated labor to the church — people from doctors to real estate brokers to chefs say they have done free work for the Ministerial and its leading family. Still, according to defectors, many church members are poor, and others are not always obedient about paying their tithes, raising questions about whether the Ministerial's aboveboard fundraising is enough to explain the Piraquive family’s wealth. Last year news broke that a Ministerial pastor in Argentina was arrested in a drug ring and that Colombian prosecutors were investigating María Luisa Piraquive for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Courtesy Priscila Angulo Priscila Angulo
Over the course of their visits to Santander in the '90s, Angulo noticed that the union between Moreno and Piraquive was strained. He would silence her whenever she tried to speak, and she would glare at him with a “.38-caliber face.” No one spoke to Piraquive much, but Angulo forged a close relationship with Brother Luis, as he was known. She would call him regularly on the phone, asking for advice on all manner of things. “He became like a father to me,” Angulo said. In May 1996, Moreno died suddenly. The publicly given cause was heart disease, although Angulo said she had always known Moreno to be a healthy and active man. Moreno’s funeral in Bogotá was packed with his followers, including most every high-ranking member of the Ministerial. Piraquive called for a three-day vigil for her husband and predicted that it would culminate in his resurrection. On the third day, he was still dead. Piraquive told the church’s inner circle that the Lord had informed her that he would be keeping Brother Luis after all. (The Ministerial denies that Piraquive predicted Moreno’s resurrection.) It came time, then, to choose the minister’s successors — the church was growing fast, and the flock was eager to know who would guide it into the future. Piraquive stood before the congregation and told them of her revelations, which dictated that leadership would be split between two of Moreno’s top lieutenants. Piraquive cut a humble figure in those days. Video footage of the funeral shows a middle-aged woman with her jet-black hair in a shapeless cut, a far cry from the glamorous woman she would become. (Many years later, the church sued an anonymous person in the United States under copyright claims for posting the funeral video to YouTube.) Brother Luis believed strictly that women were not to rise to the pulpit and preach, and that, Piraquive assured the flock, would not change. (The Ministerial has since changed this policy.) However, she informed the believers that she had always been the source of her husband’s divine inspiration. “The Lord used me to deliver the doctrine to Brother Luis,” she said. Earlier in her speech, Piraquive had reminded the believers that in the Old Testament one finds kings and priests, and then one finds prophets — male prophets and female prophets. “And God gave the same gifts and the same principles, the same power, to the female prophet as to the male prophet.” Now Piraquive explained the meaning of that lesson. “The gift the Lord gave to me,” she said, “is the gift of the prophet.”
Mauro Fernando Diaz / Via commons.wikimedia.org
I will lead you to that foreign land… The words had drilled directly into José Rocha’s core. “Caramba,” he thought. “How could it be that this person knows that this is what I’m going through?” On that first day in the Ministerial in Bogotá, Rocha was vulnerable. “There are moments in life when you don’t feel emotionally strong,” he said. “And the tendency is to look elsewhere for something that will solve the problem. You’re sensitive, and you get caught off guard. And you wind up believing that maybe it was God who spoke to you.” “Now I understand that it’s simply a question of probability,” Rocha said. “Out of 100 people who sit down for prophecy, you might get it right with 30, and out of those, 10 will stay in the church. But those are people they’ll have tied down for a long time.” That was February. By May, Rocha had quit his job, sold his car, packed his things, and boarded a plane to New York. His friends thought he was insane to abandon a stable career at the urging of a fortune-teller in an Evangelical sect. But to Rocha the move felt inexorable. The mother of his child was pregnant and alone the first time she went to the Ministerial, and was told in prophecy that the man she loved would return to her. This was fate — they were two sides of the same prophecy fulfilling itself. Once in New York, Rocha and his girlfriend married and had a second child. The Ministerial’s presence in New York was small at the time, with some 40 believers gathering in a rented second-floor room in Jackson Heights, a heavily Colombian neighborhood in Queens. Rocha and his family went multiple times a week, spending the entire day on Sundays, riding the train an hour and a half each way from the Bronx. On weeknights they wouldn’t get home until after 10. Their fellow parishioners lived similarly devoted lives, a level of commitment arising in part, Rocha said, from the immigrant’s sense of having been uprooted. “You feel a disconnection from your native land,” Rocha said. “So you arrive in this country, and you find in this group a way of feeling part of something related to what makes you who you are.” They were hardly alone in their devotion. The Ministerial identifies itself as a neo-Pentecostal denomination, an outgrowth of Pentecostalism. Over the last few decades, Pentecostalism and other charismatic faiths have exploded in size across Latin America, Africa, and their respective diasporas. Pentecostalism, a Protestant denomination that emphasizes the personal, spontaneous, mystical elements of worship, is said to have originated in 1906 when a black preacher, William J. Seymour, the son of slaves and blind in one eye, held a series of sweat-drenched revival meetings on Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles. Quickly expanding crowds of converts — black, white, and Mexican alike — got together to cast out spirits, yell and shout in tongues, and otherwise feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-filled denominations draw their theological authority from passages in Corinthians that explain the various gifts the Holy Spirit is liable to give the true believer, among them divine healing and speaking in tongues. Prophecy is in there too, but in the conventional reading, the word means simply a revelation from God, more often intended to strengthen the faith and uplift the spirit in the present moment. The future has little to do with it. Not so in the Ministerial, where the fortune-telling version of prophecy overshadows every other doctrine. Defectors say the church’s predictions are almost exclusively positive. “Generally they don’t tell you that your mother’s going to die,” Rocha said. “They say: ‘You will get a car, you will travel, you will fall in love, you will get a job offer’ … Health, wealth, and love, basically.”
Pownerus / Via commons.wikimedia.org A gathering of worshippers in Colombia.
Rosario, a defector in Florida who asked that only her first name be used, recalled stumbling on the Ministerial when she and a friend were looking for someone to read them the Tarot. Like many other believers, she came to depend on the prophecy to make basic decisions and structure her life. As Rosario put it: “I became addicted to prophecy.” Although any member of the church can receive the gift of prophecy, only Sister María Luisa is considered to have been selected by God to lead the flock. Piraquive’s name, Rocha said, often came up in the context of fear. One day the Queens congregation received a visit from the leader’s sister, who spoke at length about the injury, death, and disease brought by God upon the souls who dared bad-mouth María Luisa Piraquive. Rocha and his family lost contact with friends and family who weren’t of the church. Their isolation was deepened by the fact that the Ministerial forbade celebrating “pagan” holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the New Year. The family dutifully paid the church its tithe. Rocha began |
Among this group of supposedly vegetative patients are those who are revealed by scanners to be able to communicate and should be diagnosed as locked-in, if they are fully conscious, or minimally conscious, if their abilities wax and wane. But Schiff believes the remainder will have to be defined another way altogether, since being aware does not necessarily mean being able to use mental imagery. Nor does being aware enough to follow a command mean possessing the ability to communicate.
In 2009, Laureys’s team asked one of the original group of 54 patients that he and Owen had studied - patient 23 - a series of yes-or-no questions. It was the usual drill: imagine playing tennis for yes, navigating the house for no. The Liège patient, who had been in a vegetative state for five years, was able to answer five of six questions about his earlier life - and all of those were correct. Had he been on holiday to a certain place prior to his injury? Was such-and-such his father’s name? It was an exciting moment, said Laureys. “We were stunned,” adds Owen, who helped independently score the tests. “By showing us that he was conscious and aware, patient 23 moved himself from the ‘do not resuscitate’ category to the ‘not allowed to die’ category. Did we save his life? No. He saved his own life.”
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“This is your big chance. Just do your best.” Owen gazed down at 39-year-old Scott Routley, lying on a gurney. Scott had studied physics at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, but his promising career in robotics came to an end when, aged 26, he collided with a police vehicle. Since that accident, on 20 December 1999, Scott had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state by a well-seasoned neurologist, Bryan Young, and in 2012 his diagnosis was confirmed by Owen’s team, again using traditional methods.
As Owen talked to him, Scott’s mouth remained wide open, apparently unaware, the same way that he’d been in the 12 years since the accident. This encounter was filmed by a crew from the BBC. Reporter Fergus Walsh was there to witness the moment that Owen attempted to reach inside Scott’s mind. Owen admits now that he was sceptical that the scans would reveal anything at all.
The team scanned Scott several times. To their surprise, the pattern of brain activity showed Scott knew exactly who he was, where he was and that he was actively choosing to answer the team’s questions. “My heart stopped when we asked if, after 12 years, Scott was in pain,’’ Owen recalls. “Thankfully, the answer was no.”
Although Owen’s colleague, Lorina Naci, recounts how the experience of telling the Routley family the news was “quite emotional”, the BBC crew were surprised at their relative lack of celebrations. Not Owen. Scott’s parents, Jim and Anne, and his brother, Ritch, had always been convinced that he was conscious. They insisted he could lift a thumb or move his eyes to indicate as much, even though standard tests had always reached the same gloomy conclusion: Scott was unresponsive.
Scott had the same neurologist - Young - for more than a decade and had appeared vegetative in every assessment, including more than a dozen separate assessments by Owen’s own team. Perhaps the family discerned subtle signs of consciousness that were almost undetectable, even to the trained eye. Or perhaps they had deceived themselves, as many families do for comfort. “Either way, it was the word of the family against that of my team, and their word against an army of specialists over many years,” says Owen. Where the family saw a sign of cognition, the doctors saw only wishful thinking. “The scans showed that they were right, perhaps for the wrong reasons - we will never know - but Scott’s story teaches us the value of objective measures. And the need for a little humility.”
There’s anecdotal evidence that when contact is re-established with the occupant of a living box they are understandably morose, even suicidal. They have been ground down by frustration at their utter powerlessness, over the months, even years, it can take to recognise their plight. Yet the human spirit is resilient, so much so that they can become accustomed to life in this twilight state. In a survey of patients with locked-in syndrome, Laureys has found that when a line of communication is set up, the majority become acclimatised to their situation, even content (again, these insights took some time to be accepted by the medical and scientific establishment - and even to be published in a scientific journal - reflecting the prevailing unease about the implications for hospitals and care homes).
The important question is detecting the extent to which such patients are conscious. Studies of large numbers of patients with brain injuries, and how they fare over the years, show that it makes a huge difference to the chance of recovery if a patient is minimally conscious rather than vegetative. The former have fragmentary understanding and awareness and may recover enough to return to work within a year or two. Yet there are still surprises, such as the case of New York fireman Don Herbert, who awoke after a decade from a minimally conscious state caused by a severe brain injury suffered while fighting a fire in 1995. In the past year, Schiff has recommended withdrawing care from a man who had lain in a coma for eight weeks after a cardiac arrest. “I was wrong,” he says. “This man is now back at work.” Schiff has used a technique called diffusion tensor imaging to show how a brain can rewire itself even decades after an injury.
It is important too not to lose sight of the impact on the families. Take Jamel, a 41-year-old construction worker left unconscious after a cardiac arrest. His family became convinced he had a glimmer of awareness and, fighting against the doctor’s stark diagnosis, spent almost 14,000 euros transporting him to Liège and Steven Laureys’s team for a detailed diagnosis. Sadly, their scans revealed no signs of consciousness. The family took the news badly. His sister Leila insists that Jamel can hear what they are saying. He was tired out by travel and surgery before he had his scan, she explains. The family has vowed to gather video evidence to show Laureys.A patient’s story
Parashkev Nachev has not changed his view since he first criticised Owen’s work and has spelt out the basis of his unease in a more detailed paper published in 2010. “For every relative of a living PVS [persistent vegetative state] patient given (probably false) hope, another is burdened with the guilt of having acquiesced in the withdrawal of treatment from someone who - he has been led to believe - may have been more alive than it seemed,” he says. “There are moral costs to false positives as well as to false negatives.”
“I find the whole media circus surrounding the issue rather distasteful,” he told me. “The relatives of these patients are distressed enough as it is.”
Laureys, Owen and Schiff spend a great deal of time with the families and understand these sensitivities only too well. Owen counters that, from his years of experience dealing with the families, they are grateful that doctors and scientists take an interest and are doing everything that they can. “These patients have been shortchanged over the years,” he insists. A recent study showed that many people would grant more ‘moral rights’ to a corpse than to someone in a vegetative state. This surprising finding emerged when a team from the University of Maryland and Harvard University asked 201 people to read accounts of a car accident in which the protagonist lived, died or sank into a persistent vegetative state. The latter was regarded as worse than death.
Owen is adamant that doctors have a moral duty to provide a correct diagnosis, even if the results do cause guilt, unease or distress. “We must give every patient the best chance of an accurate diagnosis, so we can give them the appropriate care that goes along with that diagnosis.”
Under the umbrella classification of ‘vegetative’ lies a vast array of different brain injuries and, as a result, even some of the most vocal critics accept that some vegetative patients are not as diminished as traditional measures suggest. Lynne Turner-Stokes chairs a group for the Royal College of Physicians that is revising UK guidelines on ‘Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness’. She remains unconvinced that the exceptional cases identified by Owen, Laureys and Schiff are particularly common or that enough has been done to establish brain scanners as a standard tool for routine diagnosis, particularly when the cost and convenience of these methods are taken into account. When it comes to extending these tests to all patients in a vegetative states as standard practice, “the evidence is just not there yet,” she says.
Despite all the hard work done since the pioneering research of Plum and Jennett, there’s still a need for basic spadework to harmonise standards, tools and timescales of assessment for these patients, says Turner-Stokes. More has to be done to ensure that a vegetative patient in, say, the UK is assessed in the same way as one in the USA, and to close gaps in understanding of this very complex group of patients, notably how their brains can change and heal over time. But she stresses that she is simply being cautious, not sceptical, describing the work of Owen, Laureys and Schiff as “important and exciting”.
“We are only just beginning to scratch the surface,” she says. “But I have no doubt [these techniques] will have a place, eventually, in the evaluation of patients.”
§
The art of mind reading is constantly being refined. Owen and Lorina Naci have come up with a more reliable way to communicate with patients by getting them to focus their attention while in the scanner. First, a yes/no question is asked, and then a recording is played of the word ‘yes’ repeated several times interspersed with distracting, random numbers, and a similar recording with ‘no’. The participant has to count how many of the correct answer they hear and ignore the incorrect answer. This mental effort (‘selective auditory attention’) shows up distinctively when Naci and Owen examine the brain scans, so they can decode the responses correctly based on activity changes within the attention network of the brain.
In follow-up studies using this method, Scott Routley showed he knew his own name, as distinct from another, and that he was in a hospital rather than elsewhere, indicating he possessed a higher level of self-awareness. “This not only further corroborated that he was, indeed, consciously aware but also revealed that he had far richer cognitive reserves than could be assumed based on his diagnosis as being vegetative,” says Owen. “He had autobiographical knowledge and awareness of his location in time and space.”
Yet there are many issues left to resolve. After the initial diagnosis, relatively little effort is made to systematically explore brain function in these patients, says Schiff. There are also minimally conscious patients who may not be able to imagine tennis and so on, when a few exceptional vegetative patients can. Schiff’s team has encountered a patient who had remained vegetative, or in a very low-level minimally conscious state, for more than one year, who had not responded to fMRI, but later regained the ability to make conversation (though, of course, whether they had truly been vegetative is another question). And a 2014 study by Laureys’s group suggests that PET could be better than fMRI at predicting the likelihood that a patient may wake up. It also estimates that the standard diagnostic procedure misses signs of responsiveness in around a third of patients classed as minimally conscious - which Owen notes is consistent with his and Schiff’s findings.
Indeed, other limitations are caused by the use of medication during trials or the huge diversity of the patients that are usually collapsed into groups (to spare doctors from carrying out the same procedures on the same patient again and again). When it comes to younger patients, there is a limit to the number of PET scans they can have in a given period because a radioactive tracer has to be injected into the body. fMRI is also hindered by the fact that huge, multimillion-dollar imaging machines - confining and magnetic - are unsuitable for patients whose bodies are affected by spasticity or have been rebuilt with screws, plates, pins and other metal.
But more convenient alternatives are in development. Laureys is studying pupil dilation, which is linked with thought (the wider the pupil, the higher a patient’s emotional arousal, while more subtle dilations have been linked to mental functions such as decision making). Another method implants fine electrodes in the hand of a patient to measure ‘sub-threshold’ muscle activity triggered when they are asked to move.
Perhaps the most promising alternative is electroencephalography (EEG), which detects crackles of electrical activity in the brain through electrodes attached to the scalp. This is cheap, relatively portable and fast (with milliseconds of lag, compared with 8 seconds for fMRI), meaning that a research team can ask up to 200 questions in 30 minutes. This method can also cope with patients who twitch and move, or who have been reconstructed with implants. “This is a vulnerable patient population, and moving them is never easy,” says Owen, whose team have equipped a jeep. “We pack our gear in our ‘EEJeep’ and visit them instead.”
A bedside EEG consciousness detector has been tested in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, and in the University Hospital of Liège. It looks promising but doubts remain, even among the believers, with Schiff’s team sceptical whether one particular EEG methodology used with the detector really works. “One has to be careful of the dead salmon effect,” admits Laureys, referring to an apparently frivolous study of a deceased fish that made a serious point about the limitations of fMRI. The methodology struggled to distinguish real brain activity from background ‘noise’, suggesting that the dead Atlantic salmon that had been put in the scanner was actually thinking. “We don’t want to get excited about dead fish,” says Laureys, “but, on other hand, we do not want to be so conservative and demanding of statistics that we miss things.” The dispute has caused some tensions - though united against their critics, the groups are still competitive - but Schiff stresses that it is all for the greater good: “We are all funded on [a] multinational grant to cross-validate and share methods and agree that they work. That is why we pushed our criticisms hard and in the end it was better for everybody.”
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Today it is normal to think of the transition between life and death as a question of ‘how the brain is’ rather than ‘how the heart is’. A patient in a persistent vegetative state still has a functioning brain stem and can breathe unaided. They may possess some degree of consciousness and have a slim chance of recovering. By comparison, a PET scan of a brain-dead person reveals a black void within the skull, a barren neural landscape with no chance of sparking back into activity again: their body cannot survive without artificial help.
Though they are becoming rarer, there are still chilling stories that apparently blur the boundaries between life and death. In October 2009, Colleen Burns was admitted to St Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in New York after a drug overdose. Doctors pronounced the 39-year-old dead while she was in a drug-induced coma. Fortunately for Burns, she woke minutes before the first incision was to be made to harvest her organs. “Remember that not a single patient who showed clinical criteria of brain death has ever recovered consciousness,” says Laureys. “Whenever a brain-dead patient does manage this feat, it turns out they were not properly examined and the criteria for brain death not properly applied.”
Schiff believes that a combination of devices, drugs and cell therapies, laying the foundations for a new generation of diagnostics and treatments, will illuminate the penumbra between conscious and unconscious. “We’re not quite there yet,” he stresses. Much of the work to date has demonstrated the value of brain scans on populations of patients but, ultimately, they need dependable methods that will work on a patient-by-patient basis, which means precise definitions and standards. They need ways to deal with false positives and false negatives, and to make sense of the impact of a bewildering array of brain injuries, from oxygen starvation to blows and bullet wounds. “We are going to have to do some amazing small-scale studies to show what is possible in one or two subjects before everyone gets simple things done that can help them today,” Schiff says. Eventually, he believes there will be a “cultural shift”. Laureys thinks we may need to start with the language used to describe these patients - he wants replace the loaded term ‘vegetative’ with the neutral ‘unresponsive wakefulness’.
Despite the scepticism, the difficulties in dealing with such diverse groups of patients, and the challenges of standardising diagnosis, the research is moving forward. It is already making a difference, enabling a few patients to tell their doctors whether they need pain relief.
Back on Skype, Owen smiles, considering whether to tell me what he is planning next. Owen’s partner, Jessica Grahn, also a neuroscientist, became pregnant at the start of 2013. What happens when consciousness winks on in the developing brain?
He emails me a video of their unborn child, a montage of fMRI slices through their baby’s head, as it twists and turns in Jessica’s womb. “My colleagues have been doing fMRI on my wife’s tummy every week for a few weeks now to see if we can activate the fetus’s brain,” he writes. “It is AMAZING.”
Scott Routley died in September 2013 with his family by his side.
Adrian Owen’s friend Anne remains in a vegetative state.
Adrian Owen and Jessica Grahn’s baby boy, Jackson, was born on 9 October 2013.
* Some names have been changed to protect identities.
This article was commissioned by Mosaic, a new digital publication from the Wellcome Trust dedicated to exploring all strands of the science of life. It is reproduced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.We all know the usual consequences of drinking and driving (see: Death), but the Department of Public Safety in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul wants to add another one — shame. They’re stepping up enforcement of drunk driving laws this weekend, and they’ll be tweeting out the names of all the people they arrest for driving while intoxicated.
Friday night 150 patrol cars will be out looking to bust people for driving while intoxicated, and when they do they’re going to post the names of the perps on Twitter, presumably from the @MnDPS_DPS Twitter account. If they really want to drive the point home, they should get everyone’s Twitter handles when they’re arrested and @mention them.
Has Twitter just become to the modern version of throwing someone in the stocks to be publicly shamed. Will fear of digital embarrassment actually cut back the number of drunk drivers on the road? We’ll have to wait and see, but as far as ideas for using social media go, we’ve certainly heard worse ones than this.
It should go without saying, but don’t drink and drive — but especially not Friday night if you live in the Twin Cities.
(via KSTP, image via Todd Sanders)
Relevant to your interestsUCF starting quarterback Jeff Godfrey's father confirms he is transferring
Family says UCF granted Godfrey's release, but he is prohibited from enrolling at a Big East or Conference USA school
Jeff Godfrey Sr. said Monday Knights' head coach George O'Leary granted his son a release from UCF. The school is blocking the quarterback from transferring to any Conference USA or Big East schools. He will have to sit out one season under NCAA transfer rules and will have two years of college eligibility remaining.
UCF sophomore starting quarterback Jeff Godfrey is transferring after two seasons leading the Knights' offense, his father confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel.
Jeff Godfrey Sr., the player's father, said the quarterback hasn't selected a new school yet.
"It was the right time to go when he started to have lack of playing time," Jeff Godfrey Sr. said. "He never had any problem with competing for the starting job. It was just a question of whether he would get a fair chance to compete."
O'Leary is out of town recruiting and UCF officials said they could not confirm Godfrey's departure Monday afternoon.
However, UCF released a news release Monday night stating "Jeff Godfrey has been declared ineligible for the spring semester, per university policy." The news release goes on to state the school cannot elaborate on why Godfrey was declared ineligible, but it is not related to the ongoing NCAA investigation into football and men's basketball recruiting practices.
Godfrey's father insisted the quarterback did not have academic problems and is carrying a 3.2 Grade Point Average. He also said the desire to be closer to his family wasn't a factor in his decision.
Godfrey helped lead the Knights to the 2010 Conference USA championship and a win over Georgia in the 2010 Liberty Bowl, the first bowl victory in school history. The dual-threat quarterback, who was lauded for managing to make good plays when the offense broke down, earned Conference USA Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-America honors following a strong performance during his rookie season.
However, Godfrey struggled through a rough sophomore slump during the 2011 season. UCF posted a 5-7 record, falling well short of the team's goal of repeating as Conference USA champions.
During the 2011 season, Godfrey was asked to stay in the pocket and step up as more of a passer instead of immediately scrambling under pressure. He was inconsistent leading the offense, but he started all 12 games for the Knights.
His father began questioning UCF's play calling during the Knights' 17-10 loss at FIU.
"Jeff told me he couldn't check out plays and they kept wanting him to run play action," Jeff Godfrey Sr. said. "He'd snap the ball and two seconds later he was running for his life. The offensive line wasn't protecting him and the coaches weren't doing enough, calling the right plays, to help him win."
Redshirt freshman pro style quarterback Blake Bortles played during critical stretches of the final three Conference USA games of the season.
Jeff Godfrey Sr. said the tone changed dramatically after wide receivers coach David Kelly was forced to resign because of his ties to the NCAA investigation into UCF football recruiting. Kelly first began recruiting Jeff Godfrey when he was in the eighth grade and they had a close bond.Because the primary input method of the iPad is a single piece of multitouch glass, developers have incredible flexibility to design unique user interfaces. It’s hard to appreciate the variety of UIs though, since turning the screen off removes virtually all evidence of them. To spotlight these differences, I looked at the only fragments that remain from using an app: fingerprints.
My method involved cleaning the iPad’s surface with a microfiber cloth, using an app for a short amount of time, then turning the screen off. Next, I photographed the iPad, positioning a light source and some black matte board to limit distracting reflections. I then brought the photographs into Adobe Illustrator, and created vectors of the iPad and the fingerprints to emphasize the data.
Click the image for a closeup:
Notes:
In Safari, I tended to hold the iPad with my left hand and scroll with my right index finger towards the center of the screen. I realized this allowed for close proximity when clicking on links. When reading something of greater length, I usually held the the iPad with both hands and scrolled with my thumbs.
In Mail, I typically held the iPad with both hands in order to thumb-scroll both the email list and the content.
In Fruit Ninja, there were few, if any, static prints. Even the menu items are selected by slashing your finger across them.
The bottom menu is essential to Fieldrunners; most actions start from there.
If you know of other iPad apps with unique interfaces, please let me know.Lately I have been spotting more and more cargo bikes and trikes "in the wild" in the Boston Metro area. Bakfiets, Christiania, Nihola, Xtracycle, Yuba Mundo, Gazelle, all sorts of neat models. Interestingly, almost none of them could have been purchased locally, because no local bike shops carry them. This seems to be based on the bizarre notion held by local bike stores and importers/distributors, that Boston would not make a good market for cargo bikes. I have personally heard this rhetoric many times from various members of the bicycle industry: Cargo bikes in Boston? Oh no, there is no market. Terrible place for cycling. Awful drivers, dense car traffic, narrow streets with no room for bike lanes, rude people. It's a good place for fixies and such, but cargo bikes? No way.
No market for them, eh? I must have seen half a dozen over the past week alone. And since local shops won't sell them, the cargo-bike-starved population of Boston is forced to travel to Portland ME or NYC to shop for them, or else order online, or else attempt to get them direct from the distributor with lots of behind the scenes begging. Odd really.
Larry vs Harry Bullitt, At this point you might be wondering why I care. In fact, why do I have reviews of cargo bikes here at all (see my test ride reports of the Bakfiets Christiania and the Maderna Cycle Truck )? I don't have children and I don't really have enough stuff to transport on a regular basis to need a dedicated cargo bike. So why the interest?
I think cargo bikes are important in that they indicate how far a city has come in embracing and normalising transportational cycling. They equate cycling with safety and comfort, as opposed to danger and athletic skill. The mere sight of cargo bikes suggests:
"Look, people here must feel comfortable carting around their children by bike!"
"Look, there are people here who even replace their trucks with bikes!"
"Look, it must be okay here for bicycles to take up lots of room on the road!"
And of course when people see signs that something is okay to do because it looks like others do it, they are more likely to consider doing it themselves. So even if they do not need or want a cargo bike per se, they may be more likely to look into cycling with their children, cycling with baggage, cycling on the road, and other aspects of transportational cycling because these ideas are suggested by the mere existence of cargo bikes.
I suppose a simpler way of saying what I am trying to say might be that cargo bikes are symbolic of a strong, healthy "bike culture." Going with this premise, I am pleased that more of them are popping up in Boston and wish the industry would take note. What about your city?
But clearly there is a lag between how Boston is perceived by the bicycle industry and what is actually happening here - especially in the lively suburbs (more like boroughs) of Cambridge and Somerville. Beacon Street - a main road that acts as a border between the two - features parade-like processions of cyclists during morning and evening rush hour of almost Copenhagenesque proportions. Women in skirts, men in smart blazers, child seats strapped to rear racks, baskets on the handlebars, enormous panniers, and even - that's right - cargo bikes.In a way, the not-guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman for his killing of Trayvon Martin was more powerful than a guilty verdict could ever have been. It was the perfect wrenching coda to a story that illustrates just how utterly and completely our system of justice — both moral and legal — failed Martin and his family.
This is not to dispute the jury’s finding — one can intellectually rationalize the decision — as much as it is to howl at the moon, to yearn for a brighter reality for the politics around dark bodies, to raise a voice and say, this case is a rallying call, not a death dirge.
The system began to fail Martin long before that night.
The system failed him when Florida’s self-defense laws were written, allowing an aggressor to claim self-defense in the middle of an altercation — and to use deadly force in that defense — with no culpability for his role in the events that led to that point.
The system failed him because of the disproportionate force that he and the neighborhood watchman could legally bring to the altercation — Zimmerman could legally carry a concealed firearm, while Martin, who was only 17, could not.Kansas Jayhawks guard Josh Jackson leaves the court against the TCU on Feb. 22, 2017. (Photo: Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports)
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas star freshman Josh Jackson (Detroit) has been charged with misdemeanor criminal damage after allegedly vandalizing a woman’s car outside a Lawrence bar.
A news release from the district attorney’s office says police responded to a report Dec. 9. The case against Jackson was filed in Douglas County District Court today.
The release says witnesses told investigators that Jackson had kicked a door and rear taillight during an argument with the owner of the car.
About $1,200 of damage was done to the door and taillight. Damage exceeding $1,000 can be charged as a felony, but the release says Jackson was charged with a misdemeanor because the state couldn’t prove that he was responsible for all of the damage.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Get ready to pay more for beer and tomatoes if Donald Trump gets elected president.
Trump revived his promise to levy a 35% tariff on goods imported from Mexico on Thursday. He unleashed a tirade against Ford Motor Company (F) on Fox, saying he would make the automaker pay if it shifts jobs south of the border.
There's no question America imports a lot of cars and car parts from Mexico. The U.S. brought in $24 billion worth of motor vehicles from Mexico last year, making it the top product and accounting for 8% of total imports from Mexico, according to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database. The broader category of vehicles, parts and accessories totaled $75 billion, or 25% of all products from Mexico.
Related: Trump's 35% Mexico tax would cost Ford billions and hurt Americans
But the U.S. gets a whole lot more than just cars from its southern neighbor. It is our third largest supplier of goods overall, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
The imports include finished items that can hit store shelves or showrooms and parts that American manufacturers use to produce other goods, said Robert Lawrence, a professor of international trade and investment at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. We also import a lot of oil from Mexico.
It's not clear just how extensive Trump's tariffs would be. But even the threat of an additional levy on products can send shivers through American firms. And it would interfere with the vast supply network between the two countries, Lawrence said.
American companies import a lot of computer and electronic equipment, from monitors to telephones to insulated wires to electric generators. These are among the top 30 products brought in from Mexico, according to the UN database.
Also popular are appliances, including refrigerators, air conditioners and centrifuges. Trump has lashed out at Carrier Corp., the air conditioning manufacturer which announced in February that it was moving its furnace operations in Indianapolis to Mexico by 2018.
"Here's what's going to happen," Trump said in April. "I'll get a call from the head of Carrier and he'll say, 'Mr. President, we've decided to stay in the United States. That's what's going to happen -- 100%."
Related: Yes, 'President Trump' really could kill NAFTA - but it wouldn't be pretty
Mexico also grew $21 billion of agricultural products shipped and eaten in the U.S. in 2015, making it our second largest supplier.
Among the most popular are avocados, tomatoes and berries. We bring in $4.8 billion of fresh vegetables, as well as $1.7 billion in snack foods and $1.4 billion in processed fruit and vegetables, according to the nation's trade representative.
And then there's that Mexican beer that Americans love so much. Corona. Modelo Especial. Dos Equis. The U.S. imported $2.8 billion of beer last year, according to the U.N. database, making it the 15th most popular import.
This vast array of items could be subject to a 35% levy if Trump makes good on his threat.
"If you had a blanket 35% tariff, you'd hit a lot of things you don't hear about in the campaign," said Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.It seems each time the rumor mill starts spinning, the Flyers just have to get their fingers on the handle for some extra inertia.
This time, those fingers find a familiar niche, simultaneously torquing the lever for trade rumors while sending the goaltending carousel into a nauseating whirlwind that can only end up with someone barfing and getting it all over everyone else. In this case, that barfing will be from about half of the world’s Flyers fans.
This time, the maelstrom centers on Jonathan Bernier, the young, talented, unproven backup (he’s never played more than 25 games) for the impressive Los Angeles Kings. According to various sources, anyone from the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, Minnesota Wild, and Florida Panthers are interested in his services in varying degrees, so by the time whichever deal goes down, it seems there will be a team in every division vying for his services. Which is bad news.
The Flyers don’t need a goaltender. How could that even be up for debate? Blaming Ilya Bryzgalov for the Flyers’ woes is like blaming your left arm for giving you a heart attack. The brilliant acquisition of Steve Mason gives the team the best tandem it has ever had; there is no denying that both tenders have troubled pasts, but they also have a psychotic level of talent and will push each other for starts. Lest we forget (and Philly fans make a case for a collective conscious marked by selective amnesia), Bryzgalov put the team on his back to start the season, and when both backups got lit up he started the rest of the games until Mason arrived, either in front of a team that couldn’t score, a defense that turned pucks over constantly, or both at the same time.
Bryzgalov isn’t without fault, but everyone on the team struggled at one point last season, and scapegoating a goalie in Philadelphia, at this point, is embarrassingly short-sighted. Worse than that, pedantically acquiring a new one hasn’t fixed anything. Ask Sergei Bobrovsky, Michael Leighton, Brian Boucher, Ray Emery, Martin Biron, Antero Niittymaki, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, and Roman Cechmanek. All of them had promising starts, and none of them were the answer.
In contrast, look at any other team who is cozy with their starting goaltender: Henrik Lundqvist, Martin Brodeur, Jonathan Quick, Tuukka Rask, Corey Crawford, and Ryan Miller were groomed from within their own organizations. It didn’t matter if their results didn’t equal a playoff berth instantly. They don’t have to worry about whether or not they’ll get played again if they’re pulled after a bad game. Their organizations have confidence in them, and thus they have confidence, which is the one intangible for goaltending that you will not find in Philadelphia. No other player in the sport requires confidence like a goalie, and in this down if he shows up confident you can be sure that he’ll be ruined by the time he’s run out of town, and that’s not on the fans and the media alone. The GMs and coaches of this team have had a tendency to panic and replace a talented but faltering goalie with another talented goalie. They then ride the hot hand. What happens when the hot hand cools off? You switch back to the one who faltered? Get a new goalie and wait for him to befall the same fate? Does this thought train have a logical conclusion? Could this experiment be brought to bear in a realistic environment so we can study the results?
Oh, right, it was: the Flyers have been riding the hot hand since Ron Hextall, and it has led to zero championships since 1975.
What does this have to do with Bernier? For starters, he’s the most coveted goaltender on the market right now, which means if the Flyers want to get him, they’ll have to overpay with assets. Like they do with defensemen. Then they have to negotiate a contract, since he’s an RFA. With the Flyers’ history of overpaying to fix problems already in Bernier’s agent’s back pocket, he can milk the Flyers for all they’re worth, and his cap hit would rival Bryzgalov’s. But throwing money at a problem rarely fixes it in sports. Just ask Glen Sather.
In any case, they’ll then have to buy out Bryzgalov, who will find another team, play for a smaller cap hit, and become a success. Then, two things happen. First, the goaltender carousel spins again, and by buying out Bryzgalov, the Flyers set a standard that if you don’t deliver to their lofty expectations within two seasons, you can expect to be cut loose. Who wants to play in that atmosphere? The Flyers are great at attracting free agents (Roenick, Forsberg, Briere, Weber, etcetera), but that trend will reverse if they keep dumping players.
Second, Bernier becomes just the next guy. Could he be the missing piece for a Stanley Cup championship? Doubtful, if you look at the team’s track record; the excitement over his acquisition will disappear and be wiped from history when he has a few bad games, and whomever the backup is will seem to be a tantalizing, unrecognized hero. News flash: Boucher, Cechmanek, Esche, Niitymaki, Leighton, and Bobrovsky were all backups who became starters.
The log line here is that a new goalie is not the answer in Philadelphia. Hasn’t been for more than a decade. The one thing that hasn’t been tried is hanging on to a goaltender even through a rough patch; what a novel idea! Teams that retain the services of the same core of players have the benefit of familiarity. They learn each other’s tendencies and how to compensate for mistakes. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself why the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks are both poised to get a healthy number of names repeated on the greatest trophy in professional sports. Or how the Red Wings always seem to make the playoffs. But don’t ask yourself if a new goalie is worth the risk.Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Car Group, introduces the XC90 at the North American International Auto Show on Jan. 12, 2015 in Detroit. Sound engineers working on the “semi-driverless” crossover SUV measured drivers’ reaction times and |
your app and so much more. When you create that million dollar idea, don’t forget about me 🙂
Additional Resources
Comprehensive guide to Continuous Integration with Cordova apps https://github.com/Microsoft/cordova-docs/blob/master/articles/tutorial-team-build/General.md
Use the Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova with Visual Studio Online or Team Foundation Services 2015
http://taco.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/tfs2015/
About the author
Mike is a Solution Consultant at Deliveron Consulting Services. He specializes in working with development teams to implement Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solutions to eliminate traditional silos between development, testing, and project management to establish cohesive processes with the Visual Studio ALM tools. Follow him @mikedouglasdev.Four Dutch tourists have been jailed under Russia's "gay propaganda" law after they were suspected of promoting homosexuality to children.
Russian LGBT Network was the first to report the tourists had been jailed Sunday. Russia's Gazeta later reported the four suspects were with the LGBT-Groningen organization.
According to a Huffington Post translation of the report, the tourists arrived in Murmansk in mid-July to make a film about the city and the life of gay community there. While conducting a seminar with local LGBT group Center Maximum on Sunday, the police came in and arrested group chairman Kris van der Veen, as well as a camerawoman, a sound technician and a female student. Members of Center Maximum were also arrested.
The police were reportedly looking for minors at the meeting, according to Gazeta, but found none. They did, however, discover a 17-year-old in the film footage. The teen had told the crew he was 18 years old at the time of his interview, according to the report. Police were able to keep the Dutch tourists under the "homosexual propaganda" law.
The anti-gay legislation, which was signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 30, stigmatizes gay people and bans anyone from giving children information on homosexuality. Earlier this month, it was announced tourists would be subjected to the same fines and sentences as residents if found in violation of the "gay propaganda" law. Foreigners can be jailed up to 14 days.
The is the first time tourists are known to have been arrested under the anti-gay law, Gay Star News notes.
A hearing scheduled for Monday was later postponed, Russian LGBT Network reports.
Brodway star Harvey Fierstein recently penned an op-ed in the New York Times over Russia's anti-gay legislation, comparing such laws to those present in Nazi Germany.
"Mr. Putin’s campaign against lesbian, gay and bisexual people is one of distraction, a strategy of demonizing a minority for political gain taken straight from the Nazi playbook," Fierstein wrote. "Can we allow this war against human rights to go unanswered? Although Mr. Putin may think he can control his creation, history proves he cannot: his condemnations are permission to commit violence against gays and lesbians. Last week a young gay man was murdered in the city of Volgograd. He was beaten, his body violated with beer bottles, his clothing set on fire, his head crushed with a rock. This is most likely just the beginning."Trump greets former President Barack Obama during the presidential inauguration. | Getty Trump accuses Obama of ‘wire tapping’ Trump Tower phones Battling allegations of ties between his campaign and Russia officials, Trump tries to turn scrutiny to Obama without citing any evidence. By POLITICO Staff | 03/04/17 07:45 AM EST | Updated 03/04/17 08:06 AM EST
President Donald Trump, under siege for alleged ties between his campaign and Russia, on Saturday morning sought to deflect attention by accusing former president Barack Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election.
“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump tweeted, as part of a six-tweet screed.
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He went on to ask, “Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!”
“I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” Trump continued, also tweeting, “How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
Obama's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear what specifically prompted the accusations, but conservative radio host Mark Levin on Thursday evening tried to make a case for the idea that Obama used “police state” tactics to undermine Trump in the last months of his presidential campaign.
Levin’s argument was then picked up by Levin’s argument was then picked up by Breitbart in an article published by senior editor Joel Pollak.
It appears that the crux of the argument comes from reporting that U.S. officials secretly monitored a computer server in Trump Tower to determine if there were links to Russian banks. A New York Times It appears that the crux of the argument comes from reporting that U.S. officials secretly monitored a computer server in Trump Tower to determine if there were links to Russian banks. A New York Times article published on Jan. 19 – just one day before Trump’s inauguration – reported that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies had intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a probe of links between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.
There has been no definitive reporting, however, that any phone lines belonging to the Trump campaign were tapped.
Trump and his team have been dogged by allegations of communications between his campaign and Russian intelligence officials that occurred as Russians were allegedly attempting to tilt the election in Trump’s favor by hacking Democratic targets.
The scandal flared up this week when it was revealed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with the Russian ambassador twice last year despite telling senators during his confirmation hearing that he had no communication with the Russians during the campaign. Sessions was a key adviser to Trump’s campaign.
On Saturday morning, Trump attempted to turn the scrutiny to the Obama administration.
“The first meeting Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Amb was set up by the Obama Administration under education program for 100 Ambs......” Trump tweeted, adding, “Just out: The same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, and 4 times last year alone.”
Trump's aggressive accusations comes as his team has tried to battle numerous leaks regarding law enforcement and intelligence agency investigations into not only allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election but also potential ties between his campaign and the Kremlin.
Trump has denied that his people were in regular contact with Russian officials, but the controversy has spawned multiple congressional investigations and has fueled calls for a special prosecutor.Ever so slowly, and not so fast as to give competitor Intel too much information about what it is up to, but just fast enough to build interest in the years of engineering smarts that has gone into its forthcoming “Naples” X86 server processor, AMD is lifting the veil on the product that will bring it back into the datacenter and that will bring direct competition to the Xeon platform that dominates modern computing infrastructure.
It has been a bit of a rolling thunder revelation of information about the Zen core used in the “Naples” server chip, the brand of which has not been released as yet and which will probably not be Opteron as past server chips have been, and in the “Summit Ridge” Ryzen desktop processors. AMD talked quite a bit about the Zen architecture at last year’s Hot Chips conference, and showed a demo of the Ryzen desktop part coincident with Intel Developer Forum. Now, as the Open Compute Project Summit spearheaded by Facebook is underway in Silicon Valley, AMD is telling us a little more about the Naples chip, which is the first server processor based on the Zen architecture and the first real server chip we have seen out of AMD since the sixteen core “Abu Dhabi” Opteron 6300s came out in November 2012. (We might call the follow-on to the Opterons “Zazen,” in honor of Zen meditation and because it is very likely impossible to fight a trademark on this term, but no one knows what it will be called outside of AMD as yet.)
We talked about the market opportunity for the Naples server chips already, and now we get into the weeds with the feeds and the speeds.
Like other processor makers, AMD has been creating multichip modules (MCMs) that put multiple processors in a single socket to create a bigger unit of compute, cache, and I/O for many years. That Opteron 6300 was originally supposed to have two ten-core chips in a single package based on the “Bulldozer” cores, but instead AMD decided to keep the core count per socket constant with the “Interlagos” Opteron 6200 and the move to the “Piledriver” core it was using in desktop processors.
In the intervening years, AMD put out its “Steamroller” and “Excavator” cores, but they never made it into an Opteron 4000 or 6000 series processor for servers. AMD has arguably not been competitive with Intel Xeons since 2009, when the four-core “Nehalem” Xeon 5500s debuted, but to be sure there has not been much effort on the part of AMD in servers since those Opteron 6300s except for microservers.
And we all know how that turned out.
With the Zen cores, AMD had the ambitious goal of keeping the energy efficiency per clock cycle the same as with the Excavator cores, but to boost the amount of work done per cycle by 40 percent or more. AMD also wanted to do a few other things, such as adding simultaneous multithreading (SMT) to its cores to compete with Intel’s HyperThreading, both of which provide two virtual instruction pipelines per core to operating systems, allowing them to interleave more instructions and data and get more work through the chip in a set amount of time provided that the workloads running on the machine are reasonably heavy threaded. There are a lot of architectural changes with the Zen core design, but many of the main ones that server makers and buyers are worried about were confirmed this week by AMD.
First, as we had heard last summer, Naples does indeed have a total of 32 cores per socket. This is not a monolithic chip that has 32 cores etched on it, but rather is comprised of multiple chips, each with one or possibly more of the compute complexes, or CCXs in the AMD lingo, assembled edge to edge and linked as if they were one big chip. The benefit of using this multichip module approach is economic. The yields on a small chip are much higher than on a larger one because the odds of a failure grow with the size of the chip. By ganging up multiple chips in a single socket, vendors such as AMD, IBM, HPE, and even sometimes Intel have been able to boost the performance per socket and lower the cost per socket than it might otherwise be. Here is what the die shot of the Ryzen desktop processor announced last week by AMD looks like:
This die shot shows an eight core desktop chip that is comprised of two of the CCX structures, stacked on top of each other, with the areas in blue each having two Zen cores. As you move in towards the center away from the cores, you go through the L2 cache controllers, the L2 cache at 512 KB per core, the L3 cache blocks at two per core of 1 MB each, with a stripe of L3 cache controller circuits through the center of the L3 cache segments and linking them together. AMD could be making each CCX individually for all we know, and putting multiples into each processor socket, but we think it is using an eight-core chunk as its basic building block. That means the Naples chip has four of these in a single socket, yielding 32 cores and 64 threads. In other documentation we have seen, AMD calls this approach “die-NUMA” and says further that Naples scales its performance in this fashion:
The notes that Mark Papermaster, AMD’s CTO, had in his Ryzen presentation last week at the desktop launch sort of give away that Naples has four chips per socket in addition to talking about the linear scaling of integer performance using this approach: “Naples with its die-NUMA should scale near perfect when you go from 1-Die to 4-Die in a 1P system and then from 1P –> 2P. We are still validating these expectations with our B1 silicon but the results thus far are tracking well. These are estimates on how SPEC_int_rate would scale with core count. Not reported directly from a test but rather derived from test results that are reported from runs at each core count. We do not yet have silicon measurements to confirm these.”
As we previously reported in discussing the prospects for Naples with Forrest Norrod, senior vice president and general manager of the Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom group at AMD. Norrod tells us that AMD expects that its SPEC_int_rate integer performance of a 32-core Naples processor to be on par with the 28-core top bin “Skylake” Xeon part coming from Intel around mid-year. We have no idea what the clock speed on the Zen chips will be, but if history is any guide, then a good guess is that a 28-core Skylake Xeon chip will run at around 1.8 GHz, considerably slower than the top bin 22-core “Broadwell” Xeon that is etched in the same 14 nanometer processes by Intel. Generally, you trade off higher core count with lower clock speeds and get a net gain in performance within the same power envelope. The only reason X86 chips don’t have hundreds of cores is because certain single-threaded applications still need relatively high clock speeds–something approaching 3 GHz if possible, and 4 GHz would have been better and remember 10 GHz was the goal a long time ago. If Intel and AMD had any sense, there would be two different types of Opteron and Xeon chips: Ones etched with high core counts and a completely different, very specialized design with high clock speeds that was optimized for that. (They both sort of do this, but not really.) But that is a topic for another day….
We have detailed the specs of the Zen core already, but it bears some updating. With the Hammer and Dozer cores, AMD worked on frequency and it worked on core scalability, and with the Dozer design it made some compromises in the two-core compute block where not all elements could be used simultaneously and that made it look more like one and a half cores sometimes – and that is another reason why Intel’s Xeons got an edge over the Opteron 6200 and 6300 and most likely why AMD did not even bother pushing hard with an Opteron 6400 and 6500 using the Steamroller and Excavator cores in recent years. With the Zen design, not only can the core do multiple things at once, but it has SMT to fill in the gaps and it was designed to be power efficient from the ground up. The Zen core has a wider and deeper pipeline, has a much improved cache hierarchy, and much better branch prediction, resulting in a much smoother experience.
The Zen core has four integer units (ALUs) and two address generation units (AGUs), plus two load/store units and two floating point units. The core can dispatch six micro-ops per clock instead of four with the Excavator core that never made it into a true serve chip, which might have been called the Opteron 6500 had it come out in 2014 or 2015 or so. The bandwidth on the L1 and L2 caches is double that of the L1 and L2 caches on the Excavator cores, and L3 bandwidth was pumped up by a factor of more than 5X. The Zen core has 64 KB of L1 instruction cache and 32 KB of L1 data cache. Each core also has a 512 KB L2 cache that can store either instructions or data, and each core has a port into a 2 MB segment of a unified 8 MB L3 cache. All the caches are linked by 32 byte ports to the L3 cache and all cores can see all elements of the L3 cache with about the same average latency, which means for all intents and purposes it looks like one big L3 cache. This is why the L3 caches are in the inside of the chip, all close to each other, and the cores are all on the outside – a so-called “cores out” layout.
In addition to these basic functions, the Zen core has some new goodies, which AMD calls its SenseMI features, and the MI stands for “machine intelligence.”
The Pure Power feature monitors the temperature, clock speed, and voltage of cores and other components and figures out how to optimize them for a given set of performance and the lowest possible thermal footprint, and it does so in conjunction with the Infinity fabric interconnect that is used by AMD to link cores to each other on a die, sockets to each other within a system, and CPUs to GPU accelerators over PCI-Express links now and maybe a point-to-point link sometime in the future. (Why not get PCI-Express out of there?)
The Precision Boost feature in the Zen cores allows for more than an order of magnitude higher level of CPU clock speed granularity, with 25 MHz stepping, compared to the Excavator cores, and importantly it allows for on-the-fly clock adjustments up and down without halts or queue drains.
The Neural Net Prediction, which AMD says is “scary smart,” is literally a baby neural network running inside of the Zen core that builds a model of branch predictions based on actual running code and anticipates what future code will need and then pre-loads data and determines the best path through the Zen processors for the data and instructions to most efficiently get the work done.
Smart Prefetch watches data access paths into and out of the processor and anticipates what will be needed to be pulled into the L3 cache ahead of time based on the applications that are running.
What is the effect of all of these changes to the microarchitecture? We have to infer them from the Ryzen desktop chip, but they will apply equally well to the Naples server chip. Here is how they all stack up:
These IPC and energy efficiency improvements are measured using the Ryzen R7 1700 processor, which has eight cores and a thermal design point of 65 watts and is gauged using the Cinebench nT benchmark test, which is really aimed at desktop workloads not servers, but it gives us an idea. The architectural and IPC changes yield the best jump in performance per watt compared to the Excavator core – 129 percent in total, with 52 percent coming from IPC alone and better than the 40 percent target of the Zen core design – and the shift to 14 nanometer processes yielded another 70 percent boost over the Excavator. Another 40 percent comes from Pure Power microfine clock scaling, and another 31 percent from the physical design (we think cores out layout of the chip block and changes in the cache hierarchy are a big part of this), and when you add it all up, you get a 270 percent improvement in performance per watt of a Zen core compared to an Excavator core. Granted, this is over a many-year period. But it is still impressive.
Weaving It All Together
The other important new feature is that Infinity fabric interconnect, which is a kind of HyperTransport on steroids and one that will, we presume, be more easily extended out to other CPUs, GPUs, and possibly FPGA accelerators in the future. Infinity fabric is for what happens inside of the box, not between boxes, although InfiniBand and Ethernet fabrics, as well as PCI-Express switches, can be used to lash boxes together, and AMD is involved with both the CCIX interconnect, Gen Z interconnect, and OpenCAPI interconnect efforts, so all kinds of interesting things are possible in the future.
The details on this fabric are not being divulged at this time, but the same circuits that are used to create PCI-Express lanes are being used to implement this fabric to link two Naples sockets together. Papermaster says that Infinity is a coherent HyperTransport interconnect plus enhancements, which has low latency and bandwidth and power consumption that are malleable, scaling up and down as needed, rather than being static. The feeds and speeds have not been divulged, but we can infer some things.
The Naples chip is a true system on chip, Dan Bounds, senior director of enterprise products at AMD, tells The Next Platform. That means, among other things, that it does not require a southbridge chipset, as Xeons do, to talk to external I/O devices. This streamlines the server design and cuts costs; Skylake Xeons are socket compatible with Broadwell Xeons, so they will not be an SoC design. Yet another advantage that AMD will have as the Naples chip comes to market, adding to the ones we have already discussed in our previous story.
As you can see in the Naples platform diagram above, a two-socket Naples system has 64 lanes of PCI-Express I/O coming off each socket. As it turns out, each Naples chip has a total of 128 PCI-Express lanes, and in a single-socket system all of them can be dedicated to running traditional I/O devices. In a two-socket setup, half of the lanes are used to cross-link the sockets to each other so they can provide a single computational substrate and a unified memory address space using NUMA techniques. On single socket machines, all of those 128 I/O lanes can be used to hook to external I/O. Bounds tells us that the Naples chips were optimized for systems with one or two sockets only, and further that the company has no plans to support four-socket or larger systems. And it is immediately obvious why this is the case. If AMD wanted to make a four-socket machine, it would have to use all 128 lanes to crosslink the sockets, and to do it right with all processors being only one hop away from each other, it would need 192 lanes for a four socket with one hop between processors, and an eight-way would require at least 256 lanes and would still have some sockets two hops away from each other.
This doesn’t matter much, since machines with one or two sockets address all but the very high end of the market, where the shipment volumes are low even if the profits are very much higher than in the two-socket space. AMD has to pick its targets, and if need be, it can create a server chip with more I/O and an extended Infinity fabric to go after this high-end NUMA market if it needs to.
As you can see in the chart above, the Naples processor has a total of eight memory channels (one per Zen CCX unit, we think), and each channel support two DDR4 memory sticks. So that is up to 16 memory sticks for a single socket machine and up to 32 sticks for a two-socket box. Here is how the Naples system will stack up to a current Broadwell Xeon system using the top-bin 22-core E5-2699A v4 processor:
As you can see, AMD will have the advantage in terms of cores and threads, and with twice as many memory channels it will also have a memory bandwidth advantage. On Naples machines it has tested, AMD can push 170.7 GB/sec of memory bandwidth, compared to Intel’s 76.8 GB/sec on its own tests using a Broadwell system with the top bin parts. Intel Broadwells can have up to three memory sticks per channel, compared to two for Naples, so the Naples chip tops out at 512 GB using very cheap 16 GB sticks compared to 384 GB for the Broadwells. So that is a 122 percent memory bandwidth and a 33 percent memory capacity advantage to AMD. (The Naples chip can also run the memory at 2.4 GHz compared to 1.87 GHz for the Broadwells, and that 29 percent speed bump is why it has higher bandwidth than the memory subsystem on the Xeon chip.) If you need to maximize memory in either a Naples or Broadwell system, the former tops out at 2 TB while the latter maxes at 1.5 TB in two-socket machines.
AMD also has the advantage when it comes to I/O, with 128 lanes of traffic for either single socket or dual socket machines, compared to 40 lanes per socket for Haswells and Broadwells. The Naples chip is sticking with PCI-Express 3.0 lanes, which deliver 985 MB/sec of bandwidth per lane in each direction, rather than moving up to PCI-Express 4.0 lanes, which will double that up to 1.97 GB/sec of bandwidth. The Broadwell chips support the same PCI-Express speeds. As far as we knew back in May 2015, when we revealed the specifications of the future Skylake Xeons, Intel was sticking with PCI-Express 3.0 for these chips, but with IBM supporting PCI-Express 4.0 with the Power9 chips and it needing an advantage of some sort over Naples, Intel might have gone back and added PCI-Express 4.0 support to the Skylakes.
Here is the issue: You can’t drive a dual-port 100 Gb/sec Ethernet or InfiniBand card from a single PCI-Express 3.0 x8 slot on a server. You need a PCI-Express 4.0 x8 slot. For many hyperscale and HPC shops, this will be important. For most enterprises, not so much. It might be more important to be able to connect lots of PCI-Express devices directly to one or two sockets and eliminate the need for a PCI-Express switch, and this is the tradeoff that Bounds tells us that AMD made.
In terms of performance, AMD gave us a taste of how the Naples server will compare to a current Broadwell server using a seismic analysis workload from the oil and gas industry that does a bunch of Laplacian transforms of 3D wave equations to try to figure out where oil might be lurking in the ground using echoes bouncing off the rocks. This particular workload, says Bounds, stresses the cores, the memory, and the I/O subsystem alike and is representative of many workloads that are running in enterprises. “We wanted to create a scenario where cores matter, but what really matters is the memory, both the bandwidth and the capacity,” explains Bounds.
In the first test that AMD did, it had a 1 billion cell sample grid of data and ran ten iterations of the simulation. It only activated 44 cores on the Naples machine and geared back the main memory to run at 1.87 GHz, just like the two-socket Broadwell Xeon system. It took the Intel box 35 seconds to run the simulation at a rate of 286 computations per second, but the AMD machine could do the simulation in 18 seconds, or just about twice as fast, at a rate of 527 computations per second. In a second run, using the same sample size of 1 billion data points and ten iterations, but with all 64 cores turned on and with the memory boosted up to the full 2.4 GHz speed, the Naples machine was able to do 713 transactions per second on the seismic simulation, and that meant it finished in 14 seconds and was 2.5X faster than the Broadwell machine. (We asked Bounds if this incremental performance boost was helped by the CPUs, and he said that nearly all of it was due to the increased memory speed.) Just for fun, AMD did a third test, quadrupling the dataset size to a 4 billion sample grid, and it could run that in 54 seconds on the Naples box, but it would not even load the data on the Broadwell box.
When it comes to all of the feeds and speeds, AMD is not delusional about how Naples will stack up against the future Skylakes. “We fully realize that Skylake will close this gap, but the gap is still going to exist and it is going to be material. These are still the kinds of numbers we get excited about, especially if you start to think about the implications of having to process big and fast data.”
So here is how the gaps could close. Skylake is expected to top out at 28 cores, so AMD will only have a four core advantage there. It is hard to say what the clock speeds will be, but AMD has told us that integer throughput should be about the same for each socket.
Skylake is expected to have six channels of memory per socket, compared to eight channels for Naples. The Skylake memory controller will allow one stick per channel running at 2.67 GHz and two sticks per channel running at 2.13 GHz or 2.4 GHz. So Naples will have the capacity and bandwidth advantage to the tune of 33 percent on a Skylake socket with twelve sticks. As for I/O, Skylakes will offer up to 48 lanes of traffic per socket and support the PCI-Express 3.0 protocol, up by 20 percent compared to the Broadwell Xeons, but Naples will still have a 33 percent I/O lane and bandwidth advantage – unless Intel switches to PCI-Express 4.0 and/or adds more lanes. Neither is easy, but neither is impossible, either.Relaxnews
Respected futurologist Ian Pearson has forecast 2026 as the year in which the electric car will overtake its gasoline-powered counterparts in terms of sales.
His prediction is based on new research, published this week by Go Ultra Low, a U.K. government-funded organization for promoting greener motoring. It finds that today's 14-to-17-year-olds are already fantasizing about owning their first car, and that it is going to be of the electric, rather than the gas-powered variety.
When asked, 81 per cent of British 14-year-olds said that their first car would be electric. What's more, 88 per cent of all respondents said they believed more people should already be driving a hybrid or plug-in electric car in order to protect the environment.
"Young people are very aware of environmental issues and it is great that they also notice that electric cars will be cheaper to run, so it is a clear win-win," said Pearson. "Battery technology continues to improve, and the amount of resources needed to make an electric car will continue to fall. These technology developments will all add up, greatly reducing the environmental impact of cars while making them safer and cheaper. If current trends towards electric cars continue this means that, by 2026, demand for electric cars will almost certainly outweigh demand for 'traditionally fuelled' cars."
Presenting a "future technology" as a concrete reality
Although the environmental and financial benefits of an electric car are clear, presenting that message to the current generation of drivers is challenging, meaning that car companies need to go to great lengths to promote their greener offerings.
For example, on Wednesday, British luxury marque Aston Martin used a Chinese presidential visit to the U.K. in order to draw attention to its first plug-in electric car, the RapidE.
Across the Atlantic, Toyota went even bigger. As part of Back to the Future Day -- October 21, 2015 -- it hosted a special event where it unveiled an equally special version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. It had been heavily customized to resemble the time-traveling DeLorean, made famous by the film, complete with gullwing doors.
"A piece of the future is now a reality with the Toyota Mirai," said Christopher Lloyd, the actor who played Doc Brown in the trilogy and who attended the event in California. "Compared to some other technologies predicted in the film, like rehydrated pizza or self-tying shoes, this technology has the real potential to change the world."
But if Pearson's forecast is accurate, such events will soon be consigned to the history books, and maybe with them, the internal combustion engine itself.A crime of passion (French: crime passionnel), in popular usage, refers to a violent crime, especially homicide, in which the perpetrator commits the act against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as sudden rage rather than as a premeditated crime.[1]
Description [ edit ]
The 'crime of passion' defense challenges the mens rea element by suggesting that there was no malice aforethought, and instead the crime was committed in the "heat of passion." In some jurisdictions, a successful 'crime of passion' defense may result in a conviction for manslaughter or second degree murder instead of first degree murder, because a defendant cannot ordinarily be convicted of first degree murder unless the crime was premeditated. A classic example of a crime of passion involves a spouse who, upon finding his or her partner in bed with another, kills the romantic interloper.
In the United States, claims of "crimes of passion" have been traditionally associated with the defenses of temporary insanity or provocation. This defense was first used by U.S. Congressman Daniel Sickles of New York in 1859 after he had killed his wife's lover, Philip Barton Key II. It was used as a defense in murder cases during the 1940s and 1950s. Historically, such defenses were used as complete defenses for various violent crimes, but gradually they became used primarily as a partial defense to a charge of murder; if the court accepts temporary insanity, a murder charge may be reduced to manslaughter.
In some countries, notably France, crime passionnel (or crime of passion) was a valid defense to murder charges. During the 19th century, some such cases resulted in a custodial sentence for the murderer of two years. After the Napoleonic code was updated in the 1970s, paternal authority over the members of the family was ended, thus reducing the occasions for which crime passionnel could be claimed.[citation needed] The Canadian Department of Justice, has described crimes of passion as "abrupt, impulsive, and unpremeditated acts of violence committed by persons, who have come face to face with an incident unacceptable to them, and who are rendered, incapable of self-control for the duration of the act."[2][full citation needed]
Advocacy [ edit ]
In recent decades, feminists and women's rights organizations have worked to change laws and social norms which tolerate crimes of passion against women. UN Women has urged states to review legal defenses of passion and provocation, and other similar laws, to ensure that such laws do not lead to impunity in regard to violence against women, stating that "laws should clearly state that these defenses do not include or apply to crimes of “honour”, adultery, or domestic assault or murder."[3]
There are differences between crimes of passion (which are generally impulsive and committed by and against both genders) and honour killings, as "while crimes of passion may be seen as somewhat premeditated to a certain extent, honour killings are usually deliberate, well planned and premeditated acts when a person kills a female relative ostensibly to uphold his honour."[2] However, Widney Brown, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, argued that "crimes of passion have a similar dynamic in that the women are killed by male family members and the crimes are perceived as excusable or understandable". Some human rights advocates say that the crimes of passion in Latin America are treated leniently.[4]
The Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence[5] states that member states should "preclude adultery as an excuse for violence within the family".
By country [ edit ]
Australia [ edit ]
In Australia, as in other common law jurisdictions, crimes of passion have traditionally been subjected to the partial defense of provocation, which converts what would have been murder into manslaughter. In recent years, the defense of provocation has come under increased criticism,[6][7] and, as a result, legal changes have abolished or restricted its application: in 2003, Tasmania became the first state to abolish the partial defense of provocation; the next state to abolish it was Victoria, in 2005; followed by Western Australia in 2008.[6] ACT and Northern Territory have amended the laws to exclude non-violent homosexual sexual advances, in 2004 and 2006, respectively.[6] In Queensland the partial defense of provocation in section 304(1) of the Criminal Code was amended in 2011, in order to "reduce the scope of the defense being available to those who kill out of sexual possessiveness or jealousy".[6] In 2014, the New South Wales law on provocation was amended to provide that the provocative conduct of the deceased must also have constituted a serious indictable offense.[8]
Brazil [ edit ]
Killing of wives due to adultery has been traditionally treated very leniently in Brazil, in court cases where husbands claimed the "legitimate defense of their honor" (legitima defesa da honra) as justification for the killing. Although this defense was not explicitly stipulated in the 20th-century Criminal Code, it has been successfully pleaded by lawyers throughout the 20th century, in particular in the interior of the country, though less so in the coastal big cities. In 1991 Brazil’s Supreme Court explicitly rejected the "honor defense" as having no basis in Brazilian law.[9][10][11]
France [ edit ]
Prior to 1975, the French Penal Code of 1810 allowed lighter sentences for crimes of passion.[12] Article 324 permitted the murders of an unfaithful wife and her lover at the hand of her husband,[13] though only "at the moment" when the wife and her lover were "[caught] in the fact" by the husband in the matrimonial home.[14] On November 7, 1975, Law no. 617/75 Article 17 repealed Article 324. Many countries, including some western countries like Belgium, were legally influenced by the Article 324. Prior to 1997, Belgian law provided for mitigating circumstances in the case of a killing or assault against a spouse caught in the act of adultery.[15][16][need quotation to verify] In Luxembourg, Article 413 (repealed in 2003) provided mitigating circumstances for murder, assault and injury of an adulterous spouse.[17][18]
Article 324 of the French penal code was copied by Middle Eastern Arab countries. According to the Honour Based Violence Awareness Network, the penal codes that were enacted under the Napoleonic Empire influenced the development of laws in North Africa and the Middle East. These laws permit reduced sentences for murders that are "related to honour".[19] The French Article 324 inspired Jordan's Article 340 and Article 98.[20][21] The 1858 Ottoman Penal Code's Article 188 was also inspired by Article 324. Both the French Article 324 and Ottoman article 188 were drawn on to create Jordan's Article 340, which was retained after a 1944 revision of laws, and still applies to this |
floods an entire city and no one is there to blame it on sluts and gays, did it even really happen?
Now, with Pat Robertson -- whose job it traditionally is to place such blame -- in the hospital after having fallen from a horse recently (get well soon, Pat!), and Tony Perkins likely keeping his mouth shut given that own house was destroyed by floods in Louisiana last year, someone had to pick up the slack. And that person, we are thrilled to report, is "Coach" Dave Daubenmire
Yes. According to the "Coach," this giant flood is Houston's punishment for abortion and having previously elected a lesbian mayor. The current mayor is a heterosexual black man, but apparently god works on tape delay.
Daubenmire ranted:
“Houston, we got a problem here. Could some of the problems be the result of the judgment of God coming your way because of the slaughter of unborn children? You had a lesbian mayor who wanted to look at the prayers of pastors in their churches. What? It’s a debaucherous! “People tell me that, that Houston, Texas, is one of the darkest cities in America. Isn’t it amazing? Katrina slammed New Orleans — we know about voodoo and the darkness in New Orleans. Then it moved right down the coast to Houston, Texas, which isn't far away, five hours right down the Gulf of Mexico. Boom, here it comes, now it’s underwater. Water is a sign of judgment and cleansing. Is now not the time for the voice of the church to rise up and declare, ‘Let’s stop killing the babies!'” Now I'm taking you on a different angle, and I don’t want this to appear to be judgmental, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO! I don't know what else to do.”
Oh yes. He certainly wouldn't want to appear judgmental! Godforbid! But also this natural disaster was definitely caused by women having abortions and gay people existing and, um, "darkness." What else could it possibly be? Climate change? Well, that would just be silly!
Just ask noted climate scientist Ann Coulter!
Not everyone is convinced, however, that this is all the fault of sluts and gays. Some think it is the fault of the POWER ELITE, who control our weather for, um, reasons?
That's the tack they're taking over at The Liberty Beacon, where they believe that "weather manipulation has been and is currently Weaponized by the Power Elite for use against Humanity":
“As I said in the video, as soon as this storm reaches the shore, On-Land Water Vapor Generation from Texas, Louisiana, etc., will take over fueling this storm, and that process has already begun. Already the tell-tale On-Land Bursts have begun in Texas and Louisiana, and it’s going to get much, much worse. When this storm is fully over land, all of these sources will be running, and massive flooding is guaranteed. It’s also no coincidence that Hurricane Harvey is hitting the United States, 25 years to the day after Hurricane Andrew hit Florida. Since all of these storms are very clearly and very obviously deliberated manufactured, this “Anniversary Hurricane” was clearly intentional."
SEEMS LEGIT! Also, anyone who disagrees with you about this online is either a paid shill or a robot.
They are stepping up the programs of distraction and misinformation on all levels, including the formation of “groups” on Facebook loaded with Paid Shills and Trolls to keep you arguing with each other and fomenting discord in the narrative wherever and whenever they can. Some comments back to you are AI generated by computer, with no real human involved. Remember your best defense is to “stick to the truth and facts.” One last thing… keep an open mind to your “legit” fellow activists as they bring new information into the GeoEngineering Arena of Discussion and Disclosure. To think the Power Elites only use one form of GeoEngineering and one form of techknowledgey, is indeed short sighted.
Oh, those wacky power elites! Always trying to convince people they're not purposely creating hurricanes for no particular reason, except to celebrate the anniversary of another hurricane. Which makes all of the sense when you do not really think about it.
Now, we're not quite sure who Alex Jones is blaming for the hurricane -- could be gays, could be the power elite, could be aliens trying to build landing strips for gay martians, so they can come collect child slaves to work on Mars -- but he does have a theory about why Houston was not evacuated.
Obviously, it was to make Donald Trump "look bad." You know, because we need help with that when he keeps tweeting things like this:
Here he goes...
Jones is, of course, just asking questions. Like whether Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is “just completely negligent, insane" OR if he is "conscious of what he’s doing and they’re wanting to blame Trump so they want to make the disaster as bad as possible?”
Actually, the reason they chose not to evacuate the city is because the last time that was done, during Hurricane Rita, there were at least 155 deaths that occurred as a direct result of said evacuation. Far more than would have been caused by the storm alone. Or, sure, it could be a completely absurd ploy to make Trump look bad.
Jones knows not to put this past us, what with our desire to just destroy the country and make it so blue collar workers cannot have jobs:
“The same way they sabotage culture, the same way they admit with Cloward and Piven they want to bankrupt the nation, the same way it came out in lawsuits this year that they want to bankrupt Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so that small business owners and blue collar workers can’t have a home and have the American dream.”
Ugh. He totally has us figured out!
There were also some real good theories on YouTube about how how the illuminati have something to do with Harvey. I didn't even watch this one, tbh, but holy crap that title.
I, for one, had no idea that Glen Campbell was murdered by the Illuminati. Super weird that they let him live all the way to 81, suffering terrible Alzheimer's for a very long time, before they offed him, sadface :(.
Also Katy Perry is somehow involved, because OF COURSE she is.
Oh, also Harvey is a message from Jesus, along with the eclipse that the rapture is coming, according to this lady wearing a sunhat indoors:
So, in summation, Hurricane Harvey was caused by the power elite for reasons, after they murdered Glen Campbell, but also by god to punish Houston for having once elected a lesbian mayor and women for having abortions, and also Katy Perry, then the city refused to evacuate hoping that people would die and make Donald Trump look bad, but none of that really matters anyway because the rapture is coming.
But it definitely has nothing to do with climate change!
[RightWingWatch 1 | RightWingWatch 2]
Wonkette is ad-free, and paid to watch these idiots by SMART people, like YOU. Money please!The 28th of November 2016, we received information from trusted sources[1] inside Azerbaijan that at least two independent news sites were loading poorly, namely Azadliq and Voice of America.
Although some web requests seemed to arrive to azadliq.info and no obvious full blocking was talking place, we concluded that the only possible reason that the website was not loading properly was a consequence of packets being discarded inside of Azerbaijan.
During the last two weeks we have conducted a set of tests to identify the root cause of the poor performance of the websites inside the country. This report summarizes some of our technical findings.
[1] Tweet from MeydanTV (a Berlin-based Azerbaijani non-profit media organization. Founded by dissident blogger and former political prisoner Emin Milli in 2013).
First blocking attempt
Monday, 28th November 13.35 PM UTC
As a hosting provider of Azadliq’s website, we are monitoring nearly hundred different parameters that can impact the performance of their website. We keep historical data of such indicators, which allow us to spot changes in latency, jitter or traffic behaviour.
Once we concluded that the website was not affected by a general routing or network outage, we looked closely into three parameters: (1) TCP retransmissions, (2) Duplicate ACK packets and (3) TCP Segments Lost. These three parameters alone gave us a good fingerprint of what looked like artificially engineered bandwidth throttling and network congestion.
Table 1 shows the distribution of HTTP requests arriving to the Azadliq website from Azerbaijani ASNs that seem problematic.
After eight hours of testing, we decided to enforce HTTPS on all content of the website as traffic throttling was only affecting port 80 (HTTP). Moving the website to HTTPS, unblocked the artificially created congestion and the website was fully reachable from Azerbaijan.
Second blocking attempt
Wednesday, 7th December 15.15 PM UTC
Ten days after identifying the network congestion, we witnessed again TCP retransmissions. After a new round of tests, we concluded that the problem was caused by the same technique used the 28th of November 2016.
The graph shows the increase of TCP retransmissions and duplicate packets and how such retransmissions stop at soon as we move the website to another IP location.
Graph 4 shows congestion by looking into the performance indicators of TCP Reno, an algorithm used to handle congested links. The graph plots the “ACK Recoveries”, that helps us to match the time when the congestion start and to check if our countermeasures are effective.
Third blocking attempt
Saturday, 10th December 09.15 PM UTC
A new throttling is implemented the Saturday morning, our graphs shows immediately the increase of TCP retransmissions in the sever side.
According to the data showed in Graph 5, we can see that duplicate ACKs from inside Azerbaijan arrive to our server that indicate that traffic is dropped from the server to client direction (downstreams).
Forth Blocking Attempt
Thursday, 15th December 2016
Around 7:30 AM UTC, azadliq.info was fully unreachable from inside Azerbaijan until 12 PM (UTC), then congestion started again until we decided to move the website one more time at 15.00 PM UTC.
The following graphs shows the period where full block was effective against the site.
Around 12 PM UTC, the heavy blocking was released and a new “artificial congestion” was in place. During this three hours period, we recorded the values of TCP retransmissions in one minute periods. This indicators are currently used to trigger alarms in our system so we can promptly detect new attempts.
After collecting enough information, we re-allocated the site for the forth time.
Fifth-Sixth Blocking Attempt
Saturday, 24th December 2016 (00:00 Baku time) 27th Anniversary of Azadliq Newspaper
The fifth attempt to block the site started on Friday, 23rd December 20 PM UTC.
The following providers were having issues reaching the site
34 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS28787 Baktelekom
26 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS34170 Azerbaijan Telecomunication ISP
20 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS31721 Azercell Telecom AS
16 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS29049 Delta Telecom LTD.
10 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS57293 AG Telecom LTD.
10 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS15723 Azeronline Information Services
9 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS41997 Stellford LLC
5 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS39280 Ultel LLC
4 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS59523 CNC.AZ MMC
4 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS50274 Alfanet LLC
4 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS44725 AZQTEL
4 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS29584 AZEDUNET LLC
4 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS197830 Baksell LTD LLC
3 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS39397 Az.StarNet LLC
3 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS13099 AzEuroTel J.V.
2 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS199987 AvirTel LLC
1 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS61304 Connect LLC
1 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS42779 Azerfon AS
1 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS34876 SMART SISTEMZ TECHNOLOJI MMM
1 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS198448 MEQA-TELEKOM LTD
1 AZ, Azerbaijan – AS196821 ICC of Ministry of ICT of Azerbaijan
During the 24th of December, two blocking attempts took place. The first one started the 23rd of December (20 PM UTC – 24 PM in Baku), the second attempt in the same day started 7.30 AM UTC, 11.30 AM in Baku)
The impact of congestion-blocking
We have also collected Google Analytics for the past days to see the impact of the blocking-congestion and to have a third party organization recording such effects.
The graph shows Google Analytics for the 14th and 15th of December (Baku local time). As in our own monitoring system, the impact of the full-blocking is noticeable between 11.40 – 16.00 PM (Baku local time), the congestion is in place between (16.00 PM and 18 PM).
The following graph marks more clearly the two different periods (blocked traffic 1-2), and congested traffic (2-3).
Summary of the re-allocation of the website.
The 28th of November 2016 at 11PM, we enforced HTTPS as we could verify that traffic congestion was only taken place in port 80.
The 8th of December 2016 at 17PM, after more than 24h monitoring the congestion, we moved the site to yet another location. Moving the site to a new location automatically brought the traffic back to normal behavior.
The 11th of December 2016 at 18PM, we moved the site once again to a new location. Moving the site to a new location automatically brought the traffic back to normal behavior.
The 15th of December 2016 at 15 PM, we moved the site one more time after seven hours of different congestion filters implemented in Azerbaijan. The first five hours resulted in a full block of the website
The 24th of December 2016 at 2 AM, we moved the site to a new location. The blocking started the 24th December at 00:00 Baku time.
More technical Details about the blocking are available hereA burn ban has been issued for Bastrop County beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, according to the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management.
County Judge Paul Pape has issued a declaration of disaster with a threat of wildfires and an emergency order prohibiting outdoor burning, the OEM said. The order also applies to the unincorporated areas of Bastrop County.
Hot, dry conditions have led to an elevated fire risk in the region. On Wednesday, firefighters battled three fires along FM 535 near the Bastrop-Travis county line. Bastrop County ESD1 Assistant Fire Chief George Priest said a lack of rainfall throughout portions of Central Texas in recent weeks had made conditions prime for fire.
On Thursday, temperatures are expected to rise to a high around 96 with a heat index of 103, according to the National Weather Service.
A burn ban has also been issued for Travis County.
A burn ban violation is a Class C misdemeanor that carries up to a $500 fine. Residents are asked to report any violations to the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, officials said.Image copyright PA
Anas Sarwar has formally launched his Scottish Labour leadership campaign bid by claiming the contest was about "electing the next first minister".
Mr Sarwar, who was previously the party's deputy leader, said he wanted to "deliver equality" rather than simply talking about fighting for it.
And he warned the SNP that Labour was "parking our tanks on Nicola Sturgeon's lawn".
Fellow MSP Richard Leonard is also standing in the leadership contest.
Mr Leonard, who will launch his campaign on Saturday, is on the left of the party, while Mr Sarwar is seen as being more centrist.
The leadership contest was sparked by Kezia Dugdale quitting last month. The winner will be announced on 18 November.
Speaking at an event in Ms Sturgeon's Glasgow Southside constituency, Mr Sarwar said voters in the Labour contest had a "choice of just protesting about the ills in our country, or choosing a leader who can defeat inequality as the next first minister."
Image copyright PA Image caption Mr Leonard and Mr Sarwar are expected to be the only candidates standing in the leadership race
The former MP added: "We have a choice to continue to divide, or to bring our party and our country together.
"I don't want to be a Scottish Labour who just talks about fighting inequality, creating opportunity and building a fairer society. I want to deliver that equality, opportunity and fairness as the next first minister of Scotland.
"That is why here in the Gorbals, at the start of this campaign, we are parking our tanks on Nicola Sturgeon's lawn. This campaign is not just about electing a Labour leader, it's about electing the next Labour first minister."
Labour is currently the third largest party at Holyrood behind the SNP and Conservatives.
Mr Sarwar also set out a series of policies he would pursue as leader, including:
An action plan to rescue the NHS on day one of a Labour government, including more training places and a clampdown on agency spend
A commission to end the gender pay gap in society
Topping up child benefit to lift thousands of children out of poverty
Mr Sarwar previously signed a letter opposing Jeremy Corbyn's bid for re-election as Labour leader, but is expected to pick up the backing of many Scottish Labour MSPs, MPs and MEPs.
Mr Leonard, meanwhile, is the favoured candidate of Mr Corbyn's supporters - with the former GMB official expected to be backed by all of the major trade unions.
Mr Sarwar has faced criticism over his children attending a fee-paying school in Glasgow, with questions also being raised over his family's cash-and-carry firm advertising jobs that paid less than the "real" living wage of £8.45 an hour.
Regional hustings
He said at the time that he is a minority shareholder in United Wholesale Scotland, and does not play an active part in the running of the company.
He added: "I strongly believe all companies should pay the real living wage, and have received assurances that UWS has an ambition and desire to pay it."
Party members and affiliated supporters and registered supporters will be able to take part in the leadership election.
People can register as supporters following the payment of a one-off fee of £12.
The process will also include eight regional hustings, as well as a Women's and a Young Persons' hustings.ADVERTISEMENT
The fate of mankind's future in space may hinge on microscopic worms. The tiny creatures, known as Caenorhabditis elegans, were recently blasted into space on the shuttle Discovery and studied aboard the International Space Station by British scientists. The results of the research were published this week in the Royal Society journal, and yield clues about humans' ability to colonize other planets. Here's what you should know:
What do we need these worms for?
They'll be guinea pigs, essentially. Regular space travel is "no easy amble," says Jennifer Carpenter at BBC News. "Humans must first learn to cheaply and safely propel themselves into space," where the body is subjected to high levels of radiation and anti-gravity. "Without the gravitational pull of Earth," important muscles — including the heart — can deteriorate. Enter the space worms.
How were these worms studied?
C. elegan shares half of its genes with humans, says Jennifer Viegas at Discovery, making the worms ideal test subjects. In this study, 4,000 of the worms were left alone for six months in space, "with no one even touching the organisms." Even though life aboard the space station has one tenth the gravity of Earth and receives 10 times the radiation exposure, the worms were able to do "just fine," spawning 12 generations of offspring.
What does this mean for us?
Scientists want to send worm colonies into deep space for long periods of time, beaming data back to Earth to determine if a region is potentially habitable by humans. "We would love to send worms to places like Mars and/or other planets," says the study's co-author, Nathaniel Szewczyk. "The key challenge, and a major goal of this publication, is to convince governments and/or funding agencies that this can and should be done."
Sources: BBC News, Discovery, PBS NewsBarack Obama’s campaign must have felt it was Christmas in July when they heard about the Phil Gramm "mental recession/nation of whiners" gaffe that Christy wrote about this morning. Given the large number of low-information voters in the U.S., our presidential elections frequently turn not on policy details but rather the broad question of which candidate symbolically represents the "ordinary American" — and not only did Gramm’s remarks give Obama an opening in that regard, but they happened on a day when he was campaigning with Hillary Clinton specifically to shore up his working-class-hero credentials.
Here’s the text of Obama’s remarks:
... when you look at our records and plans on the economic issues that matter most for women, it becomes very clear that [Sen. McCain] won’t bring the change we need – while I will. That starts with acknowledging the economic difficulties so many women are facing right now. Senator McCain, however, has said that we’ve made "great progress" on the economy. And Senator Phil Gramm, a top economic advisor to Senator McCain, just recently said that this is merely "a mental recession." Senator Gramm then deemed the United States – and I quote – "a nation of whiners." This comes after Senator McCain recently admitted that his energy proposals will have mainly "psychological" benefits. Well, you know, America already has one Dr. Phil. When it comes to the economy, we don’t need another. Let’s be clear, when people are struggling with the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, when we’ve lost 438,000 jobs over the past six months, when typical families have seen their incomes fall nearly $1,000 since 2000, this economic downturn isn’t in our heads. It isn’t whining to ask for more than just psychological relief. And I think it’s time we had a President who doesn’t deny our problems – or blame the American people for them – but takes responsibility and provides the leadership to solve them. That’s the kind of President I will be.
But you really need to watch the video above to see how Obama milked the opportunity for all it was worth, talking in his best casual, regular-guy style — complete with impromptu "Whoa!" to underscore the ridiculousness of Gramm’s comments.
I guess Gramm was demonstrating the keen political instincts and timing that fueled his own run for the White House a dozen years ago (he dropped out early in the primaries, having spent $20 million and earning only 8 — count ’em, 8 — delegates). Of course, McCain was familiar with Gramm’s past, since he was a chairman of the campaign. Can’t see why you’d want to break up a winning team like that…
(Video via TPM.)A Valley psychic is thankful to be alive after being robbed inside her home.
Earlier this month, Aracely Rios was doing what she does every day, predicting the future of people desperately searching for answers.
But when a man showed up with his friend, she had a feeling something was wrong.
He said, “They came here to read cards,” says Rios.
But the second they came into her card reading room, Rios says Ariel Acedo pointed a semi-automatic handgun to her head and demanded money.
She says she was scared, so she gave him what he wanted and asked him not to hurt her.
When her tiny dog distracted the accused robbers, she made a run for it.
She tells ABC15 she ran outside and saw a car and what she thought was a former client inside, so she reached out for help.
But Rios says the woman in the car just laughed. She says that’s when she remembered doing readings for both Acedo and his getaway driver, telling them both a light skinned woman would be pressing charges against them.
What she didn’t know at the time, was the victim was her.
Rios also says she remembers doing a reading on herself. Her cards predicted she’d lose money, but it wasn’t until she was robbed, she knew it would be in an armed robbery.
Acedo denies ever being at Rios’ house, but surveillance video proves otherwise.Israeli society is heading for civil war and the country must take steps to counter it, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo warned Tuesday in his first public remarks since stepping down as the spy agency director in January.
“The internal threat must worry us more than the external threat,” he told a press conference in the northern Druze town of Daliyat al-Carmel.
“If a divided society goes beyond a certain point, you can end up, in extreme circumstances, with phenomena like civil war. To my regret, the distance [until we reach that point] is shrinking. I fear that we are going in that direction,” Pardo said.
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There was more to unite than divide, Pardo told reporters, as he promoted an event next month to commemorate fallen soldiers from the Druze community. But, he added, some people in Israel sought the intensity that came with division, and “there are some for whom it’s comfortable to emphasize that which divides and not that which unites. I can’t put my finger on a group or a leader. It exists within all the country’s groups.”
Some wished to impose their own ways upon others, he added, and this was doomed to fail.
Asked whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was solvable, Pardo replied in the affirmative, adding that a two-state solution would ultimately be implemented.
Pardo said the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is crucial to region-wide peace in the Middle East, joining the ranks of retired security men to urge the government to seek a two-state solution.
With peace efforts with the Palestinians stalled for more than two years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instead sought to cultivate alliances across the Arab world. In addition to the decades-old peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, Netanyahu frequently boasts of what he calls strong behind-the-scenes contacts with moderate Sunni countries, presumably Saudi Arabia and smaller Gulf states.
But Pardo said these ties cannot develop further without progress with the Palestinians.
“In my opinion, we won’t be able to reach any agreement with any country beyond what we have now if we don’t solve the Palestinian issue,” he said.
He noted that Netanyahu has endorsed the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. “I think he is right and I think he needs to follow that path,” Pardo said.
Although Netanyahu says he supports a two-state solution, he has given few details on where the Palestinian state would be formed. The Palestinians accuse Israel of sabotaging peace hopes by expanding settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — captured territories where they hope to establish their state. Netanyahu has demanded the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Dozens of former Israeli commanders have urged Netanyahu to push harder to resolve the Palestinian issue, saying the continued occupation of millions of Palestinians endangers the country’s democracy.
Many have accused him of mishandling the matter, though Pardo’s vague comments stopped short of doing so.
Netanyahu’s office declined comment.
Pardo also criticized the Avigdor Liberman-led Defense Ministry for comparing last year’s nuclear deal with Iran with the Munich Agreement signed by the European powers with Nazi Germany in 1938. History did not repeat itself, he said, adding that it was wrong to compare events that had taken place at such different times.MIAMI—Emphasizing that he didn’t want to be out of the loop for even a second, local 26-year-old Jason Dawles told reporters Friday that he wishes Live Nation would email him whenever any band was playing anywhere. “If a band is headed to my neighborhood for a show next weekend, or if they’re playing 500 miles away six months from now, I absolutely want to know as soon as Live Nation can alert me,” said Dawles, adding that the degree to which he knows about or enjoys the artist in question should have no bearing on the volume of email notifications he receives. “There is not a minute in the day when I don’t want to be notified about where Beck, Sia, Halsey, Imagine Dragons, Alabama Shakes, Paramore, Paul McCartney, and Papa Roach are performing—doesn’t matter what venue, or what country, or whether I can get there, or whether I want to. I’d love if Live Nation could just keep me updated about everything, without pause. Maybe they could use push notifications, too?” At press time, Dawles was reportedly too busy to attend any of this weekend’s concerts in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Kansas City, St. Louis, Berlin, Barcelona, Seoul, and Vancouver, but he was thrilled that the mobile entertainment service had given him a heads-up.
AdvertisementKiller Mike: 'Rap Has Given Me Voice'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist
Michael Render, more commonly known as the rapper Killer Mike, has had a long career. He debuted on "Snappin' And Trappin,'" a track by fellow Atlantans OutKast. Since then, he's released several solo albums and mixtapes, most recently 2012's R.A.P. Music, an album-length collaboration with producer, rapper and Def Jux Records founder Jaime Meline, who records as El-P.
That album saw the beginnings of what would soon become the rap duo Run The Jewels. Render and Meline released their second album, Run The Jewels 2, this year.
Rap, Render says, has given him something vital.
"I'm a black man who grew up in America," Render says. "I'm a father of four children. They don't all have the same mother. I own a business. I see the societal ills and woes on the news everyday just like you. And rap has given me voice to talk about all these things in a very honest, simplistically complex way."
YouTube
Instead of rapping about grandiose topics, like contemporaries Jay-Z and Kanye West, Render says he writes his music for ordinary people.
"My music is just for that guy that comes home, pours a shot of whiskey, reflects on it all," Render says. "I think that there is a narrative that's been lost in American culture, but definitely in rap music. It's very consumer-based. It's very narcissistic in a way. But I just want to talk about practical stuff, about regular people, because I think our regular lives are amazing, beautiful things."
Regular life is not always beautiful, however. Many of Render's lyrics paint painful pictures drawn from his own life. On "Crown," from Run The Jewels 2, Render reflects on his experience as a young father, selling drugs to make money.
Still, Render says he's frustrated that listeners are more likely to assume that his songs about selling drugs or violence are autobiographical, rather than based on a fictional character, because he's a black man.
"I'm not going to stop being who I am," he says. "I'm not going to restrict myself as an artist. My simple argument is this: If you're not intelligent enough to understand that this is a character within a record — the same way Bob Marley didn't shoot a sheriff, the same way Johnny Cash didn't shoot a man in Reno to watch him die — then you're not intelligent enough to communicate in discourse with me. I don't wanna get pulled into defending the black male image because of the art I make, but I understand that that comes with it. 'Cause really they're not afraid of a rapper. What they're really saying is: I believe this about black men."
Render — 39 years old, married, with kids — is in a very different place now than he was when he was going through the experiences that informed "Crown." The perspective, he says, allows him to give these songs a sense of empathy that comes with age.
"Early," a story-song on Run The Jewels 2 that follows a young father who is arrested for weed possession and witnesses the police shoot his wife in the ensuing scene, is a song Render says he couldn't have written when he was in his 20s.
"In my 20s, I was just angry," he says. "It probably would've just been an 'eff the police' song. But having a retrospective look at it now, understanding life from a policeman's standpoint, from a young father's standpoint, from a husband's standpoint, I just wanted to add a sense of empathy to it."
Render is a vocal speaker on the subject of police violence. In "Early," he says, he wrote the mother's death to provide a pointed insight.
"It's almost hurtful and shameful to say in my country, they're used to black men being killed by the police, and even black children," he says. "But to remove a mother from a family crushes a family in a much different way. I needed people to understand the severity from the dire, dire consequence of bad policing in our community."
At the same time, Render is the son of a policeman and the barbershop he runs with his wife is frequented by police officers.
"It's my responsibility to be a voice of reason of some type," he says. "You know, I have to have empathy. Because I have to understand that these people have a job that, although considered deplorable by the general public sometimes, is necessary to keep people safe. But with that said, you have the responsibility and accountability of doing your job in an honorable way or you should be punished even more harshly than people who aren't. Because if I trust you with the power of human life, your standard has to be much higher."This post is part of the Learning GUI Toolmaking Series, here on FoxDeploy. Click the banner to return to the series jump page!
“I’ll never do it the old way again. EVER. ”
-me
If you’ve been following my blog for any time, you’ll know that I love making tools using PowerShell.
I’ve written on the topic previously, and the approach I took then were based off of using the.net System.Windows.Forms class which really meant that you had to painfully, agonizingly create a GUI one element at a time. I knew there were other methods, using something scary called XAML, and I’d even seen other’s tutorials, but frankly thought it looked too hard.
So I stuck with the pulling teeth method for years. Until one day, I had some spare time and thought I’d take a look at the other GUI design method again…
I wish I had sooner, because it is so EASY!
What You’ll Need:
Visual Studio. I’m using Community Tech Preview 2015, but you can do this with Visual Studio Express too. Get it here
A bit of helper PowerShell code, inspired by the awesome Chris Conte in this guest post on The Scripting Guy blog. I’ll provide the snippet we need, when we need it.
Getting Visual Studio is easy, just download either the CTP edition or the trial of Ultimate. There are ways of getting it for free too, via DreamSpark, MSDN, MVP Access or you can always use Express. Assuming you’ve been able to install Visual Studio…
How this is going to work
A bit of history first on how this differs from what we did before.
Released with.net 3.0 back in 2006, Windows Presentation Foundation sought to rearchitect the way Windows Developers wrote their programs. Instead of WinForm and the incredibly verbose style of configuring each element line by line, Microsoft brought a more civilized, CSS inspired design pattern to the world of Windows UX Design.
C# could be used as the code-behind (the actual payload of making things work), while the UI could be designed and themed in XAML, Microsoft’s new Extensible Application Markup Language format (inspired by XML), and the whole thing could easily be themed much like a website with CSS.
Since PowerShell is also based on.net, we can use Visual Studio to draw and design a GUI, then easily import it into PowerShell to use to make our own GUIS, but with our favorite scripting language used as the engine (instead of C#). And the cool part is that anywhere that PowerShell runs and a GUI is available, our code will work there too!
(Sorry Server Core users of the World, Server Core does not have the WPF assemblies needed to run GUIs)
Interested? Let’s begin!
Preparing Visual Studio
Start by launching Visual Studio
Not a Monster Hunter fan? Ok…moving on
You’ll want to click New Project on the left side of your screen
Next, follow the numbers in the image below as you will 1. type WPF in the search box 2. click WPF Application in the main window, and then 3. customize the project name (if you’d like) and click OK.
This is what you’ll see, the fully blown Visual Studio UI.
There is a lot of cruft we can disable though, so lets hide some elements. For now, we don’t need Solution Explorer, which holds all of the files related to our project (since we won’t actually be publishing this project, just building its UI here) and we won’t need Properties until we add some items.
Now, we will want to display and then pin the toolbox on the left side, to give us our goods we can drag and move around.
Alright, there we go, much less noise, and now we’re able to get started.
Making a GUI in Visual Studio
The center area now holds our form. You’re looking at what the GUI will be for your script or tool. You can resize the window, or drag and drop items into our form.
Two Tool making tips to remember
Before we dig in deeper, you should remember these tennants:
Give it a name – Every good tool needs a name, without a name, it’s harder to understand what something is for non-enthusiasts and you might end up with something being called ‘the Dan Script’ or ‘The Stephen Tool’
Every good tool needs a name, without a name, it’s harder to understand what something is for non-enthusiasts and you might end up with something being called ‘the Dan Script’ or ‘The Stephen Tool’ Wait till its ready – Always add an image and put a small amount of polish on your tools before you release them, or you’ll never get over that first bad impression
Let’s name this bad boy: click the title bar of your GUI, then hit F4 to show Properties
Let’s start with our GUI by adding an image first, then some text. The elements we want to grab from the tool box are Image, and a TextBlock object.
In the Toolbox, click Image, |
Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Bob Gibson, Ferdie Schupp, Dutch Leonard, Walter Johnson and Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown. They are the only starting pitchers in history to finish a season with at least 138 innings pitched and an adjusted ERA of over 250. That means his ERA, when factored for the stadiums' dimensions, was more than 2 ½ times better than the league average. In the last 96 years, the list is Medlen, Pedro, Maddux and Gibson.
[Related: Giants' Sergio Romo can't get enough of his final pitch in World Series]
Though Medlen started only 12 of his 50 games last year, it doesn't lessen the impressiveness of his season. In those dozen starts, he pitched 83 2/3 innings, struck out 84, walked 10, allowed 57 hits and went 9-0 with a 0.97 ERA. At 26, Medlen made a maneuver last seen from Johan Santana: bullpen to ace, changeup artist who prompts his teammates to speak in onomatopoeia.
"I sat in one of his bullpens last year," Braves reliever Jonny Venters said. "Both sides of the plate, every pitch, pop, pop, pop. Change-ups going vvvvvvooooo-pop."
Venters reveres Medlen for another reason, too. They share the elbow scar of all Tommy John survivors. While Venters took years to find himself after his surgery, Medlen was sliced Aug. 18, 2010, and by the same day two years later in the midst of an unprecedented run that would see the Braves win 25 of his last 26 starts.
How Medlen grew into this – the guy whom the Braves are building their rotation around as they settle in to an extended run at a World Series title – may be the result of a procedure so commonplace it almost has been perfected. When the anesthesiologist gassed Medlen so Dr. James Andrews could cut out a piece of his hamstring and fashion a new elbow ligament, the 90-minute procedure was simply the start of a 12-month process that now spits out returnees at greater than a 90 percent clip.
The rehab is boring as hell, reps of exercises that get tiresome after a day or two, strengthening of muscles that most TJ survivors didn't realize they had. The difficulty is almost entirely mental. And that is one of the reasons Kris Medlen came out of it so well. A 5-foot-10, right-handed starting pitcher needs fortitude to make it to college, let alone the major leagues.
So he tried to learn. Medlen's memory is generally awful. His wife, Nicole, chides him for it. Baseball is different, though. Medlen remembers at-bats, pitches, sequences, swing paths. He immersed himself in the game even if he couldn't be in it, because if he couldn't improve on the field, he'd do so off it.
"Just because I was hurt and sitting in the dugout didn't mean I wasn't growing as a player," he said. "I picked guys' brains. I watched every at-bat. I wasn't allowed to travel on the road trips, so I would sit in the house like a regular fan and have a beer and watch the game."
[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports: Join a league today!]
Coors Light in one hand, remote in the other, Medlen embraced his inner baseball fiend. He played shortstop in junior college and prided himself on thinking like an everyday player. It made the grind of rehab more palatable. Cardio, strengthening exercises. More cardio, more exercises. The first time he threw, it was like he had never thrown before. He worked for months, tossing, then throwing, then off a mound. And finally, on the last pitch before his first rehab assignment in Triple-A, in July 2011, he threw a curve ball.
"I heard a pop," Medlen said. "It felt the same."
No. Not again.
"If it was, I would've quit," he said. "Be a coach or something. You start questioning your career. All that work. And gone. Again."
Turns out the pop was scar tissue. It hurt. The Braves shut him down for six weeks and loaded his elbow with platelet-rich plasma. That stuff burned like hell, but if it got him back, doctors could've done anything short of set his arm aflame.
He returned for a pair of appearances at the end of the 2011 season. Come 2012, the Braves understood Medlen's importance – how the 13 wins in 14 starts before his surgery were no fluke. They also knew they wanted to limit his innings for fear of pushing him too much upon his return. Gonzalez and Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell discussed their options. Gonzalez wondered if they could start him at the beginning of the season, like the Nationals planned to with Strasburg, and taper him down as the season waned. McDowell shook his head.
"Once you put Medlen in the rotation," McDowell said, "he'll never leave it."
Nearly 50 players underwent Tommy John surgery last year, believed to be a record, ignominious though it may be. From Neftali Feliz to Cory Luebke to Daniel Hudson to Danny Duffy to Kyle Drabek to Scott Baker to Ryan Madson to Joakim Soria to Brian Wilson, they came young and old, fledgling and established, and very, very talented.
And all of them now can look at Stephen Strasburg and Brett Anderson and Kris Medlen and know what is capable.
"It's the best-case scenario, and I watched him do it," said Brandon Beachy, the Braves' best pitcher last year before he underwent Tommy John on June 21. "I remember sitting in on a couple of his bullpens. To see him come back and his stuff to be better than before, it's very comforting to me on days when I feel like I've never thrown a ball before. He went through it, too. Now I know I can do it."
Beachy is following the exact same protocol as Medlen. Every team has its variations on the standard program. Whether last year presented three particularly talented pitchers who happened to thrive upon their return from Tommy John or three pitchers whose success upon their returns from Tommy John was a direct result of better surgical and rehabilitative techniques is not a question anyone can answer yet, mostly because of sample size.
Still, surgeons, team doctors and trainers today believe pitchers are coming back from Tommy John better than they have, and that the old norms – it takes at least a year to regain command – may no longer apply. Strasburg (2.7 walks per nine), Anderson (1.8) and Medlen (1.5) each possessed brilliant control before surgery and moved their pitches with similar aplomb after.
Of course, plenty cases exist in contrast. St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright spent the first half of 2012 leaving balls up in the strike zone before rediscovering the bottom half after the All-Star break and slicing his ERA by more than a run and a quarter. He was also four years older than Medlen and more than a half-decade older than Anderson and Strasburg, which, along with Jarrod Parker's stellar rookie season a year removed from TJ, has doctors asking whether it's not such a terrible thing to blow out young.
[Related: Adam Jones gives Orioles teammate 1,700 mini-doughnuts]
As baseball collects more data and monitors injuries even more closely in an effort to solve them, the league hopes to stumble upon answers. For now, success like Medlen's is encouraging. He's set for a full season in the rotation for the first time, and Gonzalez could even consider him on opening day after his season-long jag earned him the start in the Braves' one-game wild-card playoff last season.
"That's a hell of a three-month spurt," Gonzalez said. "Are we looking for that? I would like to have that again. But that's tough to do."
Pedro and Maddux and Gibson aren't exactly bedfellows with Medlen. And that's fine with him. In the middle of his rehab, during those days when all the pitchers on typical programs wonder what they're doing sticking their hands in a bucket of rice and squeezing, Medlen thought to himself how he just wants to get back. Just make it.
He's back, all right. More than back. And Tommy John isn't nearly as scary because of it.
Fantasy baseball video from Yahoo! Sports:
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• Rafael Nadal gets upgrade on $525K watchSenators Cory Booker (D – NJ), Mark Warner (D – VA), and Heidi Heitkamp (D – ND) have all come out in favor of the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, bringing the number of senators in favor of the deal to 37. 7 more, all Democrats, remain undecided.
This comes a day after they reached the 34 supporters number needed to uphold a presidential veto of a bill attempting to block the deal, but now the focus is on trying to get the 41 votes needed to support a filibuster of the bill, saving the president from having to veto it at all.
Heavy lobbying from AIPAC was expected to make this a much closer vote than it turned out to be, and not getting a vote at all would be a real blow to the group’s much-vaunted influence. former Sen. Joe Lieberman (D – CT), who is among those leading AIPAC’s campaign, called the defeat “unfair.”
Even if the promised veto means the bill just isn’t going to pass, the filibuster seems to have both sides still campaigning hard on those last seven undecided senators, and is likely to remain the public focus even as both the Republican leadership and AIPAC look to offer new bills that will undermine the nuclear deal.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzThis article is over 2 years old
Man believed to be shooter who killed nine people in Bavarian capital was filmed during angry exchange with witness on balcony
'I am German': Munich gunman in furious exchange with bystander
Video has emerged appearing to show the gunman who shot dead at least nine people in Munich involved a furious argument with a witness, shouting “I am German!” and complaining of being bullied.
Munich shooting: Merkel set for emergency talks after gunman kills nine – live Read more
The shooter, who was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was identified by German police as an 18-year-old with dual German and Iranian nationality. He had no criminal record.
In the footage, which was posted on Twitter, an unseen man on a balcony can be heard shouting abuse at another man, who is clad all in black and pacing on the top floor of an empty car park.
The unseen man can be heard apparently telling the people filming that the man in the car park has a gun, and a third man, or possibly the shooter, shouting: “Fucking Turks.”
An English transcript of the exchange has been posted online, in which the unseen man reportedly shouts “Fucking foreigners” and then tells those near him: “He has loaded his gun. Get the cops here”. The man presumed to be the shooter shouts back: “I am German!”
The tense exchange continued, with the unseen man, who was standing on the balcony of a building next to a car park, shouting back: “You’re a asshole is what you are.”
The shooter then demanded that the man stop filming the exchange. Instead, the man shouted back: “A asshole is what you are, what the fuck are you doing?” The shooter replied: “Yeah what, I was born here,” and said he grew up in Germany.
The man then started shooting, forcing the witness on the balcony to take cover; the video ends seconds later. The footage has not been publicly verified by the authorities but it is understood police are considering its contents in their investigation.
Police in Munich have said that the gunman’s motive was “completely unclear” and would be the focus of their investigation.
A full transcript of the filmed exchange:
Man on the balcony: “You fucking asshole you.”
Alleged shooter: “Because of you I was bullied for seven years …”
Man: “You asshole you. You’re a asshole.”
Shooter: “… And now I have to buy a gun to shoot you.”
Man: “A gun? Fuck off your head isn’t on right.”
Shooter and man on balcony shouting at each other, inaudible
Man apparently to people filming: “He’s got a gun, here, the guy has one.”
Unknown speaker: “Shit/fucking Turks!”
Man: “Shit/fucking foreigners!”
Man to someone else: “He’s got a gun. He has loaded his gun. Get the cops here.”
Shooter: “I am German.”
Man: “You’re a asshole is what you are.”
Shooter: “Stop filming.”
Man: “A asshole is what you are, what the fuck are you doing?”
Shooter: “Yeah what, I was born here.”
Man: “Yeah and what the fuck you think you’re doing?”
Shooter: “I grew up here in the Hartz 4 (unemployment benefits in Germany) area.”
Man and shooter talk at same time, inaudible
Shooter: “I haven’t done anything here for [inaudible].
Just shut your fucking face man”
Man: “You asshole you.”
Man away from shooter: “Hey, he’s on the upper floor here, [inaudible]”
Man goes into cover, shooter starts firing and man shouts something at him about “shooting here”
Shooter: “Yeah, that’s where you’re right. Yeah you’re right with that. Yeah you’re right.”Greece’s Thanasis Antetokounmpo will be able to show his skills when the Knicks open their Las Vegas Summer League schedule Friday, but The Post has learned it is expected to be the last American venue for their second-round selection for a while.
According to an NBA source, the Knicks drafted him with plans of stashing him in Europe for one season, even if he has a solid summer league showing. Antetokounmpo could have other ideas, and the Knicks claim officially no decision has been made yet. The Knicks have their first summer-league practice Tuesday in Las Vegas. Antetokounmpo was selected by the Knicks with the 51st pick, which they acquired as part of the Mavericks trade that sent Tyson Chandler to Dallas.
The Post reported last week a Greek team was interested in signing the 21-year-old brother of Bucks rookie revelation Giannis Antetokounmpo, known as “The Greek Freak.”
Thanasis played last season in the D-League with the Delaware franchise, averaging 12 points and four rebounds. But the 6-foot-7 guard needs more seasoning in team president Phil Jackson’s eyes, though the organization loves his tenacity. Jackson also doesn’t want to use one of his 15 roster spots. It is unclear which team Antetokounmpo will play for in Europe.
The summer league will be highlighted by second-round pick Cleanthony Early of Wichita State, who the Knicks thought would go in the mid- to late first round. He has been called the steal of the second round by many experts, and the Knicks believe he’ll thrive in the triangle offense.
Knicks officials have not commented yet on their draft picks.Thank you to Colimaçon & Cie for providing me with product, free of charge, in exchange for this honest blog review. All opinions are 100% my own.
Today, I want to share the French wrap company Colimaçon Cie Ring Sling with you. I know there are lots of choices when it comes to carriers available but the Ring Sling is one of my favorites. It’s truly my #1 recommendation for newborns (baby #5 practically lived in one for the first 3 months!) as well as my go-to when I’m wearing my toddler on a quick errand.
Whether you have one children or five, I think every parent wishes they had more hands! I recall back when we had our first baby almost 11 years ago, I desperately wanted to shower and almost broke down in tears when my husband agreed to take her with in the truck to haul some cows to the sales barn so I could. So while she was out experiencing her first true “farm life event” at the age of 1 week, I was enjoying a 15 minute shower in her absence. Unfortunately, I didn’t just need extra help when I wanted to shower. All day long I really could have used an extra hand. Thankfully, by baby number two, I had discovered baby-wearing and it literally changed my life.
I started wearing our second from the day we came home from the hospital. This became extremely helpful while also caring for our older daughter, who had just turned 2 at the time. I was able to do so many things that I had struggled with when I only had one child. I was now able to cook, clean, hike around the farm, read a book, and even go to the bathroom while wearing our son and having my hands free! Once our son was old enough to be worn in a back-carry position, the kiddos and I even went on 4-wheeler rides together. Baby-wearing gave me the freedom I needed to be a great mom to all of my kiddos while tending to the baby’s need to be held, snuggled, and close to mom. Now that we have 5 kids, baby wearing is even more important than ever for me.
The Colimaçon Cie Ring Slings are available in several colors and crafted from 100 % pure organic cotton broken twill. I chose the beautiful Lime Green Color because it looked like a really fun color and it’s even cuter in person! The sling itself is very soft to the touch which makes it comfortable for both our daughter and myself. (She even grabbed it and snuggled up on the floor with it!) Some of the great features include the ease of use, adjust-ability for a variety of different size wearers & babies, and the fact that it takes up very little space so it tucks easily into my diaper bag. I really like that this is slightly thinner than other slings I’ve seen so it adjusts much easier and I’m able to get a tight fit quickly. Overall, the Colimaçon Cie Ring Sling is a great choice and I highly recommend their slings!
Buy It: Head over to Colimaçon Cie to learn more about their Wraps and Ring Slings.
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Win It: Colimaçon Cie is generously offering one of our lucky readers their very own C&C Ring Sling! The giveaway is open to everyone will end March 16th, 2016. For your chance to win, enter the Giveaway Tools below. Good luck!
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I’m a city girl turned country by my awesome husband and we have three busy boys and two darling daughters. I love spending time with my family, reading Karen Kingsbury novels, and catching up with friends while our kiddos have play dates. I’m blessed beyond measure and can’t wait to see what God has in store.
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Related posts we've written:“What Okinawa needs now is not demonstrations by thousands of people or rallies by tens of thousands, but the death of one American child.”
So declares the unnamed narrator of “Hope” 「希望」, a 1999 short story by Okinawan author and critic Medoruma Shun (目取真俊, b. 1960). The story describes the narrator’s murderous revenge for the 1995 Okinawa Rape Incident, in which a 12 year-old Okinawan schoolgirl was kidnaped and raped by three US servicemen, and which subsequently became the cause of mass protest in Okinawa. Published in the Asahi Shimbun as part of a series called Stories from the streets of Koza 『街の物語：コザ』, Hope is in many ways characteristic of Medoruma’s writing — discontent, angry, and refusing to offer simple answers.
Central to Medoruma’s work is the idea, outlined in his non-fiction book, Okinawa, ‘Postwar’ Year Zero 『沖縄「戦後」ゼロ年』 (2005) that the War is not yet over in Okinawa. The U.S. military is ever-present: Okinawa was controlled by American forces until 1972, and the prefecture, which is 0.6% of the total land mass of Japan, continues to house over 75% of U.S. military facilities in the country. The military presence, as well as causing often violent crime and environmental problems, also serves as a reminder of the Battle of Okinawa, in which over a third of the local population was killed by both American and Japanese troops. The War gets constantly repeated and replayed. For the sake of mainland Japan’s peace, Okinawa must suffer the continuation of war.
Medoruma’s work is not one-sided, however. He does not play the role of the innocent victim. He first came to widespread public attention in Japan when his story “Droplets” 「水滴」 (1997) won the 117th Akutagawa Prize. Its humorous depiction of a rural Okinawan village, shot through with elements of magical realism and dialogue written in Uchināguchi (Okinawan language) was attractive to readers. But “Droplets” is no exotic, light-hearted fantasy. The protagonist Tokushō is a survivor of the Battle of Okinawa and makes a nice living for himself by relating his war experiences to groups of school children. One day, however, his leg swells to the size and shape of a winter melon (冬瓜、subui in Uchināguchi) and then splits, leaking liquid. He is visited by the thirsty ghosts of the soldiers who died in battle — including his best friend, Ishimine — who drink from his leg, and Tokushō is forced to deal with the way in which he has been profiting from his dead comrades. Droplets thus questions the way in which the memories of the Battle of Okinawa are told and re-told, and undercuts the idea of a pure and noble victimhood with heavy doses of both irony and homoeroticism.
Much of Medoruma’s subsequent work, including Mabuigumi (『魂込め』 (1999) and Tree of Butterflies (『群蝶の木』, 2001), has continued to deal with the memories of the War and the violence of everyday life in Okinawa. His most recent publications are the full-length novels, The Rainbow Bird 『虹の鳥』 (2006), and The Forest at the Back of My Eye 『眼の奥の森』 (2009), which, while less magical realist than his previous work, continue to explore social themes, including the rape incident and issues of gender. The Forest at the Back of My Eye is particularly interesting for its two chapters written in rambling, stream-of-conciousness Japanese, glossed in furigana with Uchināguchi pronunciation. The effect is unsettling and slippery; reading it, there are two voices in your head at once, both saying the same thing in different tongues.
Always wearing a pair of sunglasses, refusing TV interviews, and insisting that the media use only his pen name, Medoruma cuts an odd figure. He plays the recluse but is also an angry writer, powerful and loquacious. His work is at times beautiful, and at others horrifying, often in quick succession: a quiet morning cup of tea is interrupted by a hermit crab crawling into someone’s mouth; magic water invigorates the living who drink it, but brings forth the restless, unhappy spirits of the dead; dreams of the past bring an old woman back to her home island, but the memories she uncovers are of suffering and pain. As he continues to write, no doubt Medoruma will continue to shock and question his readers, even as he delights and moves them.
Works of Medoruma Shun available in English
“Droplets,” translated by Michael Molasky, in Michael Molasky and Steve Rabson (eds) Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa, University of Hawai’i Press, 2000.
, University of Hawai’i Press, 2000. Mabuigumi, translated by Kyle Ikeda, in Frank Stewart and Katsunori Yamazato (eds) Living Spirit: Literature and Resurgence in Okinawa, University of Hawai’i Press, 2011. (Also available as “Mabuigumi (Spirit Stuffing)”, Fiction International, no. 40, 2007)
, translated by Kyle Ikeda, in Frank Stewart and Katsunori Yamazato (eds), University of Hawai’i Press, 2011. (Also available as “Mabuigumi (Spirit Stuffing)”,, no. 40, 2007) “Hope,” translated by Steve Rabson, in JPRI Critique Vol. VI No. 12 (December 1999) (http://www.jpri.org/publications/critiques/critique_VI_12.html)
Stories From the Streets of Koza: Flowers, Park, and Cat, translated by Sam Malissa, in Words Without Border, July 2012: New Writing from Japan (http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/three-stories-from-the-streets-of-koza)
Further ReadingAn active member of the Krausen Commandos, a homebrewing club in northwestern Connecticut, Mike Eyre is always looking for a new challenge. Like most brewers, when Eyre started 10 years ago, he used extract kits. “I thought it was cheating,” he says. “It’s homebrewing with training wheels.” Eyre quickly moved on to all-grain brewing and six years ago, he began growing hops in his backyard in Barkhamsted. He and a buddy used homegrown hops in their Scattered Showers Dunkel, which won second place in the 2008 New England Regional Homebrew Competition. Though hops are hearty plants that don’t require a ton of maintenance, the vines still require work to plant, train and pick, says Eyre. But it’s one of the only ways to get fresh or “wet” hop brews, which use hops picked within 24 hours of the fall harvest. The result is a more pungent flavor and aroma that makes all the time spent in the garden worthwhile, says Eyre. “Like anything else, it’s better when you make it yourself.” —Emily Haile
Select a variety: This is the fun part, says Eyre. He suggests sampling a bunch of craft beers and discovering which hops are brewed into your favorites. Hop uses fall into three categories: Some are best for aroma, others for flavor and bittering, while many are dual-purpose and can be used for both. Eyre calls the vigorous Cascade variety the “VW or Chevy of hops,” with its popular aromas of citrus and grapefruit. His preferred bittering varieties are Columbus or Nugget, while Centennial, known as “super Cascade,” makes for a nice dual-purpose hop. Root cuttings, called rhizomes, are available each spring for planting. Eyre first ordered rhizomes through his local florist; now, he buys through Hops Direct, which sells more than two dozen varieties grown on a family farm in Washington’s Yakima Valley.
Plant and care: Hops thrive in temperate climates with plenty of sun, good soil and water. Hops Direct recommends planting two to three rhizomes per variety in spring. Eyre’s yard had poor soil, so he dug a 3-foot-square hole and filled it with compost and organic fertilizer (he swears by llama manure). If you have limited yard space, plant the vines in large pots. Eyre’s seen his hops grow up to a foot a day, adding, “T hey can take over your yard if you’re not careful.” The vines can easily grow 30 feet up a pole or the side of a house, but Eyre came up with a unique way to hand-train them around a wooden pyramid structure he built. He trains the vines around an 8-foot teepee wrapped in twine, creating the effect of a tree.
Harvest: The hop harvest will be small in the first season as the roots are still establishing themselves. After a year, you can expect peak yield, though Eyre says that in a good year, a single Cascade plant can produce one to two pounds of hops—enough for up to four 5-gallon batches of IPA. Hop cones are ready for picking in late August and early September when they turn dry, sticky and produce a visible yellow substance called lupulin. Home growers have an advantage over commercial farms since they can hand-pick the hops at their peak. After harvest, there are several options: Dry them in a food dehydrator (Eyre has also successfully dried hops on a window screen in the attic), age them in a paper bag for at least a year to use for bittering sour beers, or use them right after the harvest in a wet-hopped beer. After harvest, prune each plant down to the roots.Patent trolls, which has helped to keep the United States in the economic doldrums, are finally being brought to heel by anti-patent groups and court cases.
First, the Open Invention Network (OIN), whose members include Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Red Hat, and Sony, now has more than a thousand licensees in its Linux and open-source, defensive patent pool. In an e-mail, Keith Bergelt, OIN's CEO said, "The OIN license is becoming part of a broader set of community norms and is increasingly being integrated into the culture of open source/Linux-centric companies. It is for many the foundation around which their IP [intellectual property] strategy is built and a critical enabler of patent non-aggression and freedom to operate."
Under the OIN license, community members cross-license Linux patents to one another on a royalty-free basis. OIN-owned patents are similarly licensed royalty-free to any organization that agrees not to assert its patents against Linux.
While the OIN licensee community becoming the largest patent non-aggression community in the history of technology helps Linux, it doesn't help those outside the open-source world. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has finally started ruling against bad patents.
In Nautilus v. Biosig, the Court ruled that for a patent to be valid, an expert in in the field had to be able to understand it with "reasonable certainty." In Limelight v. Akamai, the Court ruled that a patent that covered a series of steps was not infringed if more than one person or business carried out the various steps. And, last but most important of all, in Alice v. CLS Bank, the Court ruled that an abstract idea is not patentable just because it's now being done on a computer.
Since then, nine patent cases, according to Lex Machina which tracks patent lawsuits, have gone to defeat. Most of these were nailed by the change in standards caused by Alice v. CLS Bank. This has resulted in what the Wall Street Journal called, " a worst-case scenario for … 'patent trolls.'"
So much for paying patent trolls for computer bingo games or the idea of using a computer to convert one vendor's reward points to another's!
In two much smaller patent cases that made it to the Supreme Court, Octane Fitness v. Icon Health and Fitness and Highmark v. Allcare, the Court ruled that prevailing parties can now much more easily recover their attorney fees in patent cases. Because defending against a bad patent can cost millions and a patent troll will often settle for tens of thousands, being able to recover your legal fees will encourage defendants to fight to the end and for trolls to be more wary of suing companies that show they won't put up with abuse.
Rackspace, the cloud company, which just knocked out Rotatable Technologies' rotating screen patent, pointed out that not only will Rackspace "not pay one penny to this troll, nor will Apple, Netflix, Electronic Arts, Target, Whole Foods or any of the other companies sued by Rotatable for how they use screen rotation technology in their apps." And, the company also observed that because it's now "much easier for those of us who are sued by a troll to recoup our fees from these extortion attempts," this validates the "business decision to pursue every case to the hilt."
None of this has amounted to the sweeping victory against IP patents many of us have hoped for, but it appears that patent trolls are finally in real trouble. Between defensive patent alliance, such as OIN, and victories in the courts, the end of patent trolls may finally be in sight. It can't come fast enough for many of us!
Related Stories:Fortnight lingerie "Super Sexy CPR" Red Urban, Toronto Click to view. We begin, logically enough, with lesbian CPR. This Canadian video from Fortnight lingerie is one of the racier first-aid demonstrations you'll ever see—and pretty salacious as lingerie ads go, too. Two Fortnight-clad ladies show proper CPR technique, including the firm but tender chest compressions and all-important mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Thankfully, the victim recovers from her life-threatening condition—had she perished, we'd be in a whole different kind of fetish video. The marketer did a followup, "Super Sexy Abdominal Thrusts," making its mark as the official lingerie of suggestive instructional videos.
A&E "Hasselhoff Baby" Digital Kitchen, New York Click to view. A&E created a reality series about David Hasselhoff and his two daughters, who are "aspiring singers." (Update: It was canceled after two episodes.) To promote it, the network rolled out this clip from Digital Kitchen showing a pint-size Hoff trucking down the beach, the ocean breeze gently caressing his toddler chest hair, as hot women look on. "Some people are born awesome," says the tagline. Those same people later drunkenly eat burgers off the floor, but that's OK. The Hoff is badly in need of mothering at every age, so this promo is right on. Watch out, Huggies jeans-diaper boy. There's a new kid in town.
Starburst "Zombie" TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York Click to view. Starburst is advertising itself lately as a contradiction—a solid candy that's also juicy, like a liquid. The idea was introduced in 2009 with a Scottish Korean father and son, who, like Starburst, "don't make a wee bit o' sense." The Scottish Koreans returned in 2010 in this ad from TBWA\Chiat\Day, in which they fend off a bus-riding zombie who thinks "living dead" is the most noteworthy contradiction of all. The earlier spot provoked some odd reactions around the Web (e.g., "I think Korea and Scotland have a lot in common. Both have been invaded repeatedly by their neighbors, both have a reputation for loving the drink a bit, and both have slightly feminine native attire"). Starburst was probably counting on the living dead not to complain this time. The zombie might look familiar—he's played by Zach Woods, aka Gabe from NBC's The Office.
Utah State Fair "Uncommonly Good Pigs" Director: Jared Hess, Salt Lake City Click to view. Has any human ever serenaded a pig so passionately? Doubtful. Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess went all out with a pair of spots for the Utah State Fair, getting actor Markus T. Boddie to voice his deepest feelings for a pig and a funnel cake (both well-loved Utah State Fair staples). The client wasn't feeling the love, though, and rejected the ads out of hand, saying they had "sexual undertones" and were "over the top." Hess believed it was because the actor, Boddie, is black. Boddie sided with Hess. "There are black people here in Utah that aren't related to Gladys Knight," he said. "If we embrace that, then I think that's the image of Utah we want to take forward." The sow had no comment.was
Just, hypothetically speaking... if I were a professional novelist, instead of a cartoonist, and I had the opportunity to do a Doctor Who book, I would really like to fool around with the "other" Ninth Doctors who popped up here and there while the show was in limbo. And if I did, this could be the front cover. And the back cover would read something like...For those of you who don't know what the Hell I'm on about, here's a little history. In 1989 the original series of Doctor Who ended (after a remarkable 26 year run), and remained ended for quite some time. In 1996, however, there was a brief attempt to revive the series with Paul McGann as the eighth actor to officially portray the title character, though unfortunately it didn't take flight. But the world moved on, and in 1999 a British charity aired a telethon which included a comical take on Doctor Who starring Rowan Atkinson as, apparently, the Ninth Doctor. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but for a starved fandom it was a breath of fresh air. Yet later still, in 2000, the BBC's online departments threw together something whichmeant to be taken seriously - an animated "webcast" of the Doctor's continuing adventures, this time with Richard E. Grant lending his voice and likeness to the character. Though in cartoon form, this was in fact intended to be the canonical Ninth Doctor... until Christopher Eccleston was announced as the star of the long-awaited live action revival! It seems that the BBC's left hand didn't know what its right was doing, and so the would-be cartoon Doctor was quietly shunted into the background as the new show went into production. The Doctor's now well into his tenth persona, but the curious circumstance of having had three Ninth Doctors has always intrigued me. So... I made this.The end.P.S. - please feel free to fullviewThe horses and riders went round and round on the King Arthur Carousel at Disneyland – not just for fun, but to raise money for charity.
The Festival of Children Foundation staged the unique event Thursday morning in Fantasyland, labeling it the “Carousel of Possilbe Dreams.”
Funds raised were based on how many times each charity’s members rode the |
. Picture credit: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
Crowley in action against Diarmuid Connolly
The path to another potential rematch with Dublin is guarded by Clare in Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final and Crowley is careful not to jump ahead of himself, citing Down's victory at the same stage in 2010 when they had eyes only for Cork later on that summer.
But inevitably the Dublin question is one every Kerry player will face after losing their last three meetings in Croke Park, an All-Ireland and league final, either side of a regular league meeting to start the season.
If the manner of the league final defeat to Dublin is a concern, he's doesn't wear it openly.
"April football and August/September football aren't first cousins of each other really. We tried out a few things.
"Up to the 60th minute we were doing alright. We didn't have enough possession, enough chances. If you don't have that you're not going to win a game.
"Despite that we still got a lot of turnovers which is something that we'd be looking for because we want to get the ball back as quick as we can. Turnovers are good quality possession that you get good shots off. It was positive that way.
"We finished bad. They did it in '13, they did it last year. I wouldn't say it's a trend. You take lessons from it. It's league football. If we win an All-Ireland in September it's going to be forgotten about."
Getting over the All-Ireland final was a quicker than expected process.
"Whenever you lose an All-Ireland final, it always sticks with you. I'm lucky that when I came in, the boys had All-Stars, multiple All-Irelands - they'd give you lessons.
"The ones you lose stick with you. That's human nature. When you get to the last day of the year and don't win? That's not ideal. But you learn from them. You park it quick enough."
That said the need for Kerry to reinforce their status as a really good team is apparent. Maybe only a second All-Ireland title can provide that.
"Good teams win one All-Ireland, great teams win two or multiple. We feel we can get there. We need to shore up where we fell short last year. The Dubs are leading the way at the moment, taking up from our team of the noughties and that's something we want to address.
"I think until you get your couple of All-Irelands that's when you really get to validate it. People might start arguing that maybe 2014 was a fluke if you only stay on one. You need to reinforce that you're a good team and move on."
A stellar career with UCC put him on a path to the Kerry senior team that he didn't always think himself was possible. It put him in the public eye. But fighting out of the Laune Rangers corner made him as a footballer.
"I would never have been tagged as a senior player," he admitted. "There was always fellas who I would have thought were higher up in the pecking order. Going to UCC was great. Just playing Sigerson football. You learn different cultures, a lot of Cork fellas there, learning from them. Learning from Billy (Morgan) and John (Corcoran) how to enjoy your football. Kerry moulded you and there's no doubt that UCC helped in that process.
"I've been lucky, any walk of life or culture shapes you. I've been lucky that with my own club at home we've had a history of championship wins," he recalls.
"For a long time in the county championship we punched above our weight. It's an attitude that has really helped me, the sheer stubbornness and headstrong nature of fellas like Liam Hassett, John Sheehan and even Mike Frank (Russell) in his own way, that kind of doggedness to win.
"And obviously being from Kerry as well is bred into you. You have to win All-Irelands. You are kind of naturally moulded like that and then the players that come in.
"I played with Dec (Declan O'Sullivan), I'm still playing with 'Gooch', 'Star' (Kieran Donaghy), Marc (ó Sé), then Tomás (ó Sé) and Gally (Paul Galvin).
"They instil value in the jersey and how important it is to treasure that and mind it as much as you can when you have it and make sure no one takes it off you."
Irish IndependentSloth's tragic real-life story
If you were an '80s kid and you didn't know about John "The Tooz" Matuszak — who was just as famous for his hard-partying, loud, larger-than-life persona as he was for his football game — you definitely knew about his alter-ego, the enormous, gentle, unconventionally-featured Sloth, who was the face of the 1985 classic Goonies. Sloth was a 1980s icon, as beloved as E.T. and as recognizable as Indiana Jones. But the man who played Sloth led a troubled life. Family tragedy followed by early fame set him on a course of self-destruction that ended in his sudden and unexpected death at the age of 38.
In a lot of ways, Sloth was not just the on-screen alter ego of the former football star, he was the actual manifestation of the person Matuszak was on the inside: a lovable giant who was also a generous friend. Unfortunately, though, for the real Sloth there was no happy ending.By moving their number one and their closer, the front office acquired five possible starters for 2017, while other arms came to the Philadelphia Phillies via additional trades.
The Final Decision:
If someone has three excellent choices or more, this good problem does not exclude challenging situations.
Keep in mind, plans require time and patience for completion, but annual improvement is a reasonable expectation. Rebuilding an entire 25-man roster is a major undertaking, which every organization views as a last resort. And the reason is financial: Attendance dictates the available resources to pick up and keep talent for the long haul. In other words, fans will come to see a gem from Cole Hamels or Ken Giles‘ 100-mph smoke, not Adam Morgan.
Between the deals for Hamels and Giles, the franchise acquired Vince Velasquez, Jerad Eickhoff, Jake Thompson, Alec Asher and Mark Appel. This group contains two studs: Velasquez and Appel. But if you expected an ace through a swap, realize no executive will part with a future Hamels. Injury-risk Velasquez and a former number-one overall draft pick like Appel are the closest options.
While manager Pete Mackanin and pitching coach Bob McClure are enjoying their time away from the grind, general manager Matt Klentak is reviewing the hurlers for his five-man staff. He jots down Jeremy Hellickson as the veteran leader from last summer and also pencils in Eickhoff because he earned his keep from April to season’s end. In other words, both moundsmen will give the team a chance to win on most nights.
In early December, as management strives to improve the club at the Winter Meetings, you can almost hear the first powwow in February between Mackanin and McClure. Who slots third? Well, Aaron Nola has worked some bullpen sessions and is healthy, while Velasquez might be a bit short of a 200-frame campaign. Third? Nola.
Besides good health, Velasquez must complement his heater by developing his secondary pitches to be a number one. On the other hand, Nola needs to reprise the consistency of his first 12 starts to front a rotation.
IN OTHER WORDS:
“The concentration and dedication: the intangibles are the deciding factors between who won and who lost.” – Tom SeaverCompared with the glistening two-story mansions that surrounded it, the house looked like something from another time. It was only 2,180 square feet. Its redbrick exterior was crumbling, and its gutters were clogged with leaves. Faded, paint-chipped blinds sagged behind the front windows. Next to the concrete steps leading to the front door, a scraggly banana plant clung to life.
Built in 1950, it was one of the last of the original single-story homes on Northport Drive, in Dallas’s Preston Hollow neighborhood. The newer residents, almost all of them affluent baby boomers, had no idea who lived there. Over the years, they’d see an ambulance pull up to the front of the house, and they’d watch as paramedics carried out someone covered in a blanket. A few days later, they’d see the paramedics return to carry that person back inside. But they’d never learned who it was or what had happened. Some of the local kids were convinced that the house was haunted. They’d ride their bikes by the lot at dusk, daring one another to ring the doorbell or run across the unwatered lawn.
None of the neighbors knew that mailmen once delivered boxes of letters to the front door and that strangers left plates of food or envelopes stuffed with money. They didn’t know that high school kids, whenever they drove past the house, blew their horns, over and over. They didn’t know that a church youth group had stood on that front yard one afternoon, faced the house, and sung a hymn.
In fact, it wasn’t until the spring of last year that they learned that the little house used to be one of Dallas’s most famous residences, known throughout the city as the McClamrock house. It was the home of Ann McClamrock and her son John, the boy who could not move.
On the morning of October 17, 1973, John McClamrock bounded out of bed; threw on bell-bottom jeans and a loud, patterned shirt with an oversized collar; jumped into his red El Camino with a vinyl roof; and raced off to Hillcrest High School, only six blocks away. He was seventeen years old, and according to one girl who had dated him, he was “the all-American boy, just heartbreakingly beautiful.” He had china-blue eyes and wavy black hair that fell over his forehead, and when he smiled, dimples creased his cheeks. Sometimes, when he sacked groceries at the neighborhood Tom Thumb, Hillcrest girls would show up to buy watermelons so that he’d carry them out to their cars. On weekend nights, they’d head for Forest Lane, the cruising spot for Dallas teenagers, hoping to get a look at him in his El Camino—or better yet, catch a ride. One cute Hillcrest blonde, Sara Ohl, had been lucky enough to go out with John on her first-ever car date, to play miniature golf. After he took her home, she called all her friends and told them she had had trouble breathing the entire time they were together.
That morning, John sat restlessly through his classes. When the lunch period bell rang, he drove to the nearest Burger King to grab a Whopper. He pushed buttons on the radio until he found the Allman Brothers’ “Ramblin’ Man,” turned up the volume, and pressed down on the gas pedal to get back to school. He walked past the auditorium, where the drama club was rehearsing Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite; made a left turn; and then walked on toward the boys’ locker room to put on his football uniform. John—or “Clam,” as he was known among his friends—had a game that afternoon.
Earlier that summer, John had quit playing for the Hillcrest Panthers so he could work extra hours at Tom Thumb to pay off his El Camino. When he tried to rejoin the team at the start of his junior year, the coaches had ordered him to spend a few weeks on the JV squad. He was five feet eleven inches tall and weighed 160 pounds. He played tackle on offense, linebacker on defense, and he was the wedge buster on the kickoffs, assigned the task of breaking up the other team’s front line of blockers. That afternoon, the junior varsity was playing Spruce High School, and John was determined to show the coaches what he could do. This was the week, he vowed to his buddies, that he would be promoted to varsity.
He lowered his head, and as the two collided, John’s chin caught the runner’s thigh. The sound, one teammate later said, was like “a tree trunk breaking in half.”
On Hillcrest’s opening kickoff, he burst through the Spruce blockers and zeroed in on the ball carrier. He lowered his head, and as the two collided, John’s chin caught the runner’s thigh. The sound, one teammate later said, was like “a tree trunk breaking in half.”
John’s head snapped back, and he fell face-first to the ground. For the next several seconds, another teammate recalled, “there was nothing but a terrible silence.” Because there were no cell phones in that era, a coach had one of the players run to the high school’s main office to call an ambulance. When it arrived fifteen minutes later, John was still on the ground, his body strangely still. “You’ve got some pinched nerves,” a referee told him, speaking into the ear hole of his helmet. “You’ll be up in no time.”
But as soon as he was wheeled into Presbyterian Hospital, doctors knew he was in trouble. They gave him a complete neurological exam, scraping a pencil across the bottoms of his feet and taking X-rays, then ordered that his head be shaved and two small holes be bored into the top of his skull. Large tongs, like the ones used to carry blocks of ice, were attached to the holes, and seventy pounds of weight was hung from the tongs in an attempt to realign his spine.
A Hillcrest administrator called John’s mother at her office at a local bank. Ann McClamrock was 54 years old, a striking woman, green-eyed with strawberry-blond hair. She was, as her niece liked to say, “perpetually good-natured.” She always had extra food in the refrigerator for the neighborhood kids who came running in and out of the house, and on weekends she loved to throw boisterous dinner parties, most of them ending with her exhorting everyone around the table to sing corny old songs like “Skinnamarink.” When she arrived at the hospital, a doctor took her aside and quietly asked if she had any religious preference.
“I’m Catholic,” Ann said, giving him a bewildered look.
“Maybe you should call your priest, in case you need to deliver your son his last rites,” the doctor said. “We’re not sure he’s going to make it through the night.”
The doctor told Ann that John had severely damaged his spinal cord and was paralyzed from his neck down. He was able to swivel his head from side to side, but because his circulatory system had been disrupted, causing his blood pressure to fluctuate wildly, he could not lift his head without blacking out. “It couldn’t be any worse,” the doctor said.
At least outwardly, Ann seemed to take the diagnosis rather calmly. Or maybe, she later told her friends, she had simply been unable to comprehend the full meaning of what the doctor was saying. She stood at her son’s bedside until her husband, Mac, who had been out of town that day—he worked for a company that insured eighteen-wheelers—arrived with the McClamrocks’ other child, Henry, a quiet boy who was a freshman at Hillcrest. It was right then, with the family all together, that Ann felt the tears coming.
She slowly turned to the doctor, her hands trembling. “My Johnny is not going to die,” she said. “You wait and see. He is going to have a good life.” And then, her voice choking, she fell into Mac’s arms.
John made it through the night and then through the next day. His friends flocked to the hospital, many of them dropped off at the front door by their parents. One night, nearly one hundred kids were in the ICU waiting room, all of them signing their names on a makeshift guest register—a legal pad—pinned to a wall. There were so many phone calls coming into the hospital about John that extra operators were brought in to work the switchboard.
The local newspapers jumped on the story, and soon just about everyone in Dallas was following John’s struggle to stay alive. Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry and star defensive back Charlie Waters came to see him. The owner of the local Bonanza steakhouse chain held a Johnny McClamrock Day, donating 10 percent of all the restaurants’ sales to a medical fund. “Buy a Drink for Johnny” booths were set up at shopping malls all over the city, with proceeds from the $1 soft drinks going to the family. And at Hillcrest alone, there was a bake sale, a benefit basketball game, a bowl-a-thon, a fifties dance, and even a paper drive conducted by the Ecology Club.
After one of the national wire services ran a story about John, letters began pouring in from all over the country. A group of North Carolina women who attended Sunday school together mailed John a card with an encouraging Bible verse. A faith healer from Michigan sent a note to let John know that “healing sensations” were coming his way (“You will begin to feel sensation... KNOW you are going to be UP and around very SOON”). John received hand-drawn get-well cards from Texas schoolchildren and sentimental notes from teenage girls who had never met him. (A girl named Patti wrote to let him know that she had played “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” on her record player in his honor.) Then, in November, a letter arrived at the hospital from the most unlikely place of all: the White House. President Richard Nixon, who was in the midst of his spectacular downfall from the Watergate scandal—he was only ten days away from delivering his “I am not a crook” speech—had read about John and stopped what he was doing to write him a sympathetic note.
“Mrs. Nixon and I were deeply saddened to learn of the tragic accident which you suffered,” he began, “but we understand that you are a very brave young man and that your courage at this difficult time inspires all who know you. You have a devoted family and many friends cheering for you, and we are proud to join them in sending warm wishes to you always.”
In December doctors suggested that John be moved to the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, in Houston, which specialized in spinal injuries. Maybe someone down there could figure out a way to get him to move, they said. When he left Presbyterian, there were nearly four thousand names listed on the guest register. Students stood by the hospital’s exit and held up signs that read “Good Luck, Clam!”
While Ann lived in an apartment near the rehabilitation center and Mac and Henry visited on weekends, John stayed in a ward with other paralyzed men, going through two hours of physical therapy every day. The following March, when forty of his high school friends showed up to surprise him on his eighteenth birthday—they gave him the new albums by Elton John and Chicago—he was too weak to blow out the candles on his cake. But he assured them that the therapy was working. Speaking into a telephone receiver held by his mother, he told a Dallas Morning News reporter that he would walk again and “probably” would go back to playing football. “I will never give up,” he said in as firm a voice as he could muster.
But late that spring, doctors met with Ann, Mac, and Henry in a conference room. Staring at their notes, they said that not a single muscle below John’s neck had shown any response. He still couldn’t raise his head without losing consciousness, they added, which meant there was almost no chance he would be able to sit in a wheelchair.
One of the staffers took a breath. “We’ve found that ninety-five percent of the families that try to take care of someone in this condition cannot handle it,” she said. “The families break up.” She handed them a sheet of paper. “These are the names of institutions and nursing homes that will take good care of him.”
Ann nodded, stood up, and said, “We will be taking Johnny home, thank you.” A relative arrived with a station wagon, John was loaded into the back, and the McClamrocks returned to Northport Drive, where a newspaper photographer and some friends were waiting. Mac, Henry, and a couple of others carried John, who was wearing his Hillcrest football jersey, into the house. They twisted him into a sort of L shape as they turned down the hall and turned again into the guest bedroom, where they laid him on a hospital bed with a laminate headboard.
To make everything look as normal as possible, Ann redecorated the bedroom, hanging photos on the wall of John in his uniform. On a set of shelves she displayed footballs that had been autographed by members of various NFL teams, and she also placed the football from the Spruce game, which had been signed by his teammates. Because she had heard John tell his friends that he was determined to go hunting again, she had Mac buy a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, which she hung on another wall. Then she told her son, “Here we are. Here is where you are going to get better.”
Every morning before sunrise, she got out of bed, did her makeup and hair, put on a nice dress or pantsuit, dabbed perfume on her neck, and walked into John’s room. She shaved him, clipped his nails, brushed his teeth, gave him a sponge bath, shampooed his hair, and scratched his nose when it itched. She fed him all his meals, serving him one bite of food after another, and she taped a straw to the side of his glass so that he could drink on his own. She changed his catheter and emptied the drainage bag when it filled up with urine, and she dutifully cleaned his bottom as if he were a newborn whenever he had a bowel movement. To prevent bedsores, she turned him constantly throughout the day, rolling him onto one side and holding him in place with pillows, then rolling him onto his back, then rolling him to his other side—over and over and over.
From Monday through Saturday, she almost never left the house. On Sunday mornings, she went to Mass at Christ the King Catholic Church, lit a candle for John, and put a $10 check in the collection box. Afterward, she drove to Tom Thumb, the same one where John used to work, to buy groceries. Once a month she’d treat herself to a permanent at the hair salon at JCPenney. But that was it: Every other minute was devoted to John.
Perhaps Ann kept up such a schedule because she thought he didn’t have long to live. Within weeks after their return from Houston, he developed a kidney infection so severe it caused blood poisoning. An ambulance pulled up to the house. Paramedics ran inside, picked up John from his bed, and drove him to Presbyterian Hospital. Somehow he recovered, and when the paramedics brought him home, Ann kissed him on the forehead and said, “I’m so proud of you.” A few weeks later, he developed pneumonia, which forced another trip to the hospital. Once again, he made a comeback, and once again, as he was returned home, Ann went through her ritual, kissing his forehead and saying how proud she was.
For the next few months, his friends constantly dropped in to visit. Driving past the house on their way to and from school, they always honked their horns. When John’s friend Jeff Brown bought a classic 1939 Chevy Coupe, he drove it onto the McClamrocks’ front yard so John could see it from his window. And because the newspapers in those days printed the home addresses of people they wrote about, strangers did indeed show up with food and gifts. At least five well-wishers gave him copies of Joni, the autobiography of a young woman who was paralyzed at the age of seventeen but became a skillful artist, using only her mouth to guide her brush.
One Saturday night in May 1975, Ann left home for a few hours with Mac so that they could accept John’s diploma at Hillcrest High School’s graduation ceremony. When his name was announced and Ann began to walk across the stage, the cheers were so loud that people put their hands to their ears. The reporters wrote about his graduation; “Gridder Scores” was the Dallas Times Herald’s headline. When one journalist came to see him, John remained upbeat, saying he might take business law courses and someday try to pass the bar exam. “I really appreciate all the help everyone has given me and my family,” he said. “Tell everyone thanks.” But when the reporter asked him about his dream of walking again, he simply said, “Oh, I don’t know.”
Later that summer, before heading off to college, John’s friends came over to say their goodbyes. In September the sound of the crowds cheering at the Hillcrest football games on Friday night began drifting across the neighborhood. Although John’s window was always shut—his mother didn’t want pollen coming into the house because it might congest his already weak lungs—the sound slipped in anyway. John would listen to the band play the school fight song, and he knew exactly the place in the song where the cheerleaders would kick their long, beautiful legs. “Right there,” he’d softly say. “Right there.”
“Come on, Johnny, we can get through this,” Ann would say when she saw that look of despair cross his face. She would often read to him her favorite lines from a Catholic book of devotions she owned: “You can find the good in what seems to be the most horrible thing in the world.... God tells us that in all misfortunes we must seek the good.... Acting hopeless is easy. The real challenge is to hope.”
She would also show him a small, well-worn card, titled “Prayer of Thanksgiving,” which she kept on her bedside table. The prayer ended with the lines “Lord Jesus, may I always trust in your generous mercy and love. I want to honor and praise you, now and forever. Amen.” She told John that she read that prayer every night. “We must pray for God’s mercy,” she said. “That’s all we can do.”
She drove home from the funeral, walked into John’s room, and put on her best smile for her son. “We’re going to keep fighting,” she said. “That’s all I ask—just keep fighting.”
But a lot of people who knew the McClamrocks could not help but wonder if God had abandoned them. In 1977, during Henry’s senior year at Hillcrest, doctors found cancerous lymph nodes in his neck. After removing them, the doctors told Ann and Mac that there was no guarantee the cancer was gone. A few months later, after paying his own visit to the doctor, Mac came home and told Ann that his nagging cough had been diagnosed as acute emphysema. Ann couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had been married once before, right out of high school, and she had given birth to a son named Cliff, who was now grown. But her first husband had died of liver disease before she turned thirty, and now here was Mac—“the genuine love of my life,” she liked to say—telling her he too was going to die.
As Mac’s breathing worsened, oxygen tanks piled up in their bedroom. In January 1978 he walked down the hall to sit with John. Wheezing, he patted his son on the shoulder and said he was going to need to spend a little time in the hospital. He walked out of the house and died four days later.
The funeral was held on a frigid afternoon. Ann dressed John in a suit he hadn’t worn in five years and had him driven in a van to Christ the King Catholic Church. Other than his emergency trips to the hospital, it was the only time he had been out of the house. As he was pulled from the van and placed onto a stretcher outside the church, he exhaled heavily. “I can see my breath,” he said, his eyes widening. “I can see my breath.” He was pushed to the front of the sanctuary, next to the family’s front-row pew, and he turned his head so that he could watch a priest swing a burner of incense over his father’s casket. When John started to sob, Henry wiped the tears from his eyes with a tissue.
Incredibly, just two years later, Cliff called to say he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in 1981, at the age of 39. At that funeral, people looked at Ann, convinced she was at the breaking point. Two husbands and one of her sons were dead. Another son was battling cancer. And, of course, there was John. Her niece, Frances Ann Giron, who always called her “Pretty Annie,” told her to take a vacation. “Go someplace you’ve always wanted to go, like New York City,” Frances Ann said. “I’ll take care of John. A long weekend. That’s all.”
But Ann shook her head. She drove home from the funeral, walked into John’s room, and put on her best smile for her son. “We’re going to keep fighting,” she said. “That’s all I ask—just keep fighting.”
They lived on Social Security disability benefits and a little insurance money. To help make ends meet, Ann, who had never gone back to her bank job after John’s injury, found part-time work with an answering service, taking after-hour phone calls for a Dallas heating and air-conditioning company that were forwarded to the McClamrock house. To save money, she ordered inexpensive clothes for herself from catalogs, and she continued to wear the same clip-on earrings she had bought when she first met Mac.
She and John developed a daily routine. In the mornings, either she read to him, mostly stories out of Reader’s Digest, or he read alone, using a page-turning device that he could operate with a nod of his head. They watched game shows and Guiding Light. They watched all the news broadcasts and movies on a VCR. Henry, who by then was living in his own apartment and working as a car salesman, would come over to sit with John on Sundays so that Ann could go to church and the grocery store. When she returned, she would fix a huge meal, usually chicken or pot roast with potatoes. Finally, at the end of each night, she would kiss John on the forehead and go off to her own bed, always reading her prayer of thanksgiving before falling asleep.
At least once a year, John came close to dying. He developed a urinary tract infection that nearly caused renal failure. Bladder stones clogged his catheter. His lungs filled with fluid, nearly drowning him. During his stays at the hospital, the doctors would say to Ann, “It’s touch and go.” But he always recovered, and as he was brought back into the house, Ann would always kiss him on the forehead and say, “I’m so proud of you.”
One afternoon, as paramedics carried him back into the home, he looked at his mom and Henry and said, “Here I am, still kicking.” He grinned and added, “Well, maybe not kicking.”
Ann was delighted. “That’s the spirit,” she said.
Although John had found it impossible to get through a college correspondence course because he couldn’t write anything down, he began watching all the history documentaries on PBS, he studied encyclopedia entries in hopes that someday he would be able to answer all the questions on Jeopardy, and he carefully read the newspaper (his mother folding the pages and putting them in front of him) so that he could have a better chance at guessing who would be the Person of the Week on ABC’s Friday-evening newscast.
But he always recovered, and as he was brought back into the house, Ann would always kiss him on the forehead and say, “I’m so proud of you.”
Sometimes, he’d blow into a specially designed tube that allowed him to turn off the radio or television, and he’d stare at the ceiling, letting his mind wander. He kept a mental list of places he wanted to see: Alaska, the Swiss Alps, and the Colosseum, in Rome. He imagined himself taking a trip down the Nile or exploring Yellowstone National Park in the winter. And he spent hours thinking back on his life before his injury: the street baseball games he played with neighborhood kids in the fourth grade, the time he put twenty pieces of bubble gum in his mouth in junior high school, the students who passed by him in the halls, the Saturday nights cruising in his El Camino. He seemed to remember some days at Hillcrest in their entirety, right down to the food he ate in the cafeteria. “It’s like everyone else has all these new memories filling up their brains,” he told one of his closest friends, Mike Haines, a former lineman on the football team who had become a lawyer. “All I’ve got are the ones before October 1973.”
In March 1986, to nearly everyone’s surprise, he made it to his thirtieth birthday. Ann threw one of her old-fashioned dinner parties, inviting relatives and friends. At the end of the meal she made everyone sing “Skinnamarink.” Then she sang the ballad “How Many Arms Have Held You?” The dining room got strangely quiet. Everyone stared at Ann, this woman in her sixties who refused to be broken. At the end of the song, they turned to look at the motionless John, who was smiling at his mother, cheerfully telling her she still sang off-key. “You simply could not fathom how they were able to do it, day after day,” Ann’s niece, Frances Ann, later said. “I’d say to Pretty Annie, ‘Don’t you ever feel overwhelmed? Aren’t you ever bitter at what has happened to you?’ And she’d say, ‘Frances Ann, we can either act hopeless or we can make the best out of the life we have been given.’ And she’d show me that prayer of thanksgiving card and she’d say, ‘God will provide. I know he will.’”
Another year passed and then another. Around the neighborhood, older residents began to sell off their little houses to a new generation of wealthy Dallasites, who would almost immediately tear them down to build mansions with high-ceilinged foyers and impressive “great rooms.” Ambitious young real estate agents would knock on the front door of the McClamrock home, and when Ann answered, they’d tell her that they could get her a large amount of money if she’d sell too. But she would quickly turn them away, their business cards still in their hands. “I’m sorry,” she’d say politely, “but this is our home.”
It was perfectly understandable that the new residents knew nothing about the McClamrocks. By then, John was no longer being written up in the newspapers: Reporters, predictably, had found other senseless tragedies to write about. In fact, by the time the nineties rolled around, a lot of people in Dallas who had once followed John’s struggles had forgotten all about him. Many of John’s classmates—the very ones who had flocked to the intensive-care waiting room so many years ago—had also lost touch with him. They’d certainly meant to visit, but one thing or another had gotten in the way, and now, after so many years, they were no longer sure how to restart the friendship they’d once had.
But in 1995, the organizers of the twentieth reunion festivities for Hillcrest’s class of ’75 put out the word that John, his mother, and Henry would be more than happy to entertain visitors. (Henry had moved back home after a divorce and undergone two more cancer surgeries on his already scarred neck.) During the reunion weekend, fifty or so classmates went by the house, and they were stunned at what they saw. Perhaps because he had not spent a day in the sun since 1973, John hardly seemed to have aged. His skin was perfectly smooth and his hair was still jet-black and long over the ears, exactly the way all the guys used to wear their hair in high school. And except for the shotgun—John had told Henry years earlier to take it down and give it to someone who could use it—nothing in his room had changed. The photos of John in his football uniform were still on the wall, and his clothes from high school, including his jersey, his bell-bottom jeans, and his loud, patterned shirts with oversized collars, were still in the closet. Even the same shag carpet covered the floor.
A couple women who had once dated him blinked back tears when they saw him. Another classmate, Sara Foxworth, a Dallas housewife and mother, gasped when she walked into his room and he called her name.
“But I thought you didn’t know who I was,” she exclaimed. “I was too shy to talk to you.”
“You sat three seats behind me in English,” he said. “And your locker was over by the cafeteria.” He gave her a gentle smile. “I remember,” he said.
Several of his old teammates, still muscular and narrow-waisted, had no idea what to say to him. They certainly didn’t want to make John feel worse about his plight by telling him about all the things they had done since high school. But John asked them about their careers, their wives and children, and where they went on vacations. He also assured them that he was doing just fine—that he even watched football on weekends and didn’t flinch when he saw a jarring tackle. “I’m the same person I’ve always been—only I don’t move,” he joked. And when each of his visitors told him goodbye, he said cheerfully, “Come on back, anytime you want. Believe me, I’m not going anywhere.”
Some of his classmates did come back around. A few of them brought along their children to meet John so they could learn about courage. (As soon as they got back to their homes, the kids would go lie in their beds, trying to see how long they could stay still.) Bill Allbright, a trainer on the junior varsity team who had become a successful financial adviser, found himself driving over to see the McClamrocks after he lost his wife to cancer, knowing they would understand his loss. And when Sara Foxworth was diagnosed with leukemia, she too showed up at the McClamrocks’. After she left, John asked his mother to come into his room with some stationery so that he could dictate a letter for Sara. He had his mom write the lines “You can find the good in what seems to be the most horrible thing in the world. Take good care of yourself. Sincerely, John McClamrock.”
Ann was then in her late seventies, and she was still maintaining her daily schedule, changing John’s catheter, cleaning his bottom, and turning him every |
inside St. Peter's Basilica with youths who came to Rome for a pilgrimage in August 2013. Hide Caption 37 of 44 Photos: Pope Francis During an impromptu news conference in July 2013, while on a plane from Brazil to Rome, the Pope said about gay priests, "Who am I to judge?" Many saw the move as the opening of a more tolerant era in the Catholic Church. Hide Caption 38 of 44 Photos: Pope Francis Crowds swarm the Pope as he makes his way through World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in July 2013. According to the Vatican, 1 million people turned out to see the Pope. Hide Caption 39 of 44 Photos: Pope Francis Francis frees a dove in May 2013 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. Hide Caption 40 of 44 Photos: Pope Francis Francis embraces a young boy with cerebral palsy in March 2013 -- a gesture that many took as a heartwarming token of the Pope's self-stated desire to "be close to the people." Hide Caption 41 of 44 Photos: Pope Francis The Pope washes the feet of juvenile offenders, including Muslim women, as part of Holy Thursday rituals in March 2013. The act commemorates Jesus' washing of the Apostles' feet during the Last Supper. Hide Caption 42 of 44 Photos: Pope Francis Francis stands at the reception desk of the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI residence on March 14, 2013, where he paid the bill for his stay during the conclave that would elect him leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. Hide Caption 43 of 44 Photos: Pope Francis Francis, formerly known as Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected the Roman Catholic Church's 266th Pope in March 2013. The first pontiff from Latin America was also the first to take the name Francis. Hide Caption 44 of 44
"I am pleased to be in this city which, although it has suffered so much in the bloody conflicts of the past century, has once again become a place of dialogue and peaceful coexistence," he said.
He highlighted the mix of distinct religious, ethnic and cultural groups that have led some to call Sarajevo "The Jerusalem of Europe," saying it "represents a crossroads of cultures, nations and religions, a status which requires the building of new bridges, while maintaining and restoring older ones."
And he said steps to extend peace and good relations among Croats, Serbs and Bosnians, as well as Muslims, Hebrews and Christians, took on a significance beyond the country's borders.
"These initiatives offer a witness to the entire world that such cooperation among varying ethnic groups and religions in view of the common good is possible; that a plurality of cultures and traditions can coexist and give rise to original and effective solutions to problems; that even the deepest wounds can be healed by purifying memories and firmly anchoring hopes in the future," he said.
Tight security
During his visit, the Pope will drive through a historic center that includes cemeteries for some of the victims of the conflict. He'll also meet youth from across all religions and leaders of Muslim, Christian Orthodox and Catholic faiths.
Pope Francis gives his blessing to thousands upon his arrival in Sarajevo.
Many will hope that in his meeting with political leaders, Francis was able to send the message that for the country to move forward, issues of corruption and high unemployment must be tackled.
Security was tight in Sarajevo ahead of his arrival, with a heightened police presence. Roads were closed and cars cleared from the streets along the pope's route.
The estimated tens of thousands who gathered for the Mass at the Kosevo Stadium also went through security screening including bag checks.
Security concerns have been heightened since a police officer was killed in April in the town of Zvornik, in what authorities said was a suspected terrorist attack
Following in John Paul II's footsteps
This is not the first time a head of the Roman Catholic Church has made a stop in Bosnia.
Pope John Paul II visited Sarajevo in 1997 in a trip that made headlines long before his plane landed.
Shortly before the Pope arrived, police found mines, plastic explosives and detonators under a bridge on which John Paul's motorcade was to pass on its way from the airport. Authorities removed them before his arrival.
He also traveled just over a year ago to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where he met with Israeli and Palestinian political leaders, as well as top religious figures.See, 2010 was a great year for burgers in Los Angeles. GQ named local talent Umami Burger as the best in the nation, while In-N-Out shook things up by announcing a stop outside Dallas, TX. Nancy Silverton started finalizing plans for the much-anticipated Market Burger. Those ghoulishly great Grill ‘Em All guys brought home gold in The Great Food Truck Race. Many new contenders opened ( Go Burger, Kalbi Burger, Burger Kitchen ), and a few notables shuttered ( Anisette Brasserie, Bastide ’s short-lived Monday burger nights). Now the scene is bigger and tastier than ever before, and burger correspondent Farley Elliott spent a calendar year taking it all in. Burgers, that is.
Last year, LAist did it. We took a stand. When other sites were making ‘feel good lists’ that gave everybody gold stars just for entering the race, we stood up and said, ‘No’. HERE are the best burgers in Los Angeles. And now, we’re about to do it again.
When our Best Burger list first emerged in 2010, we had been to roughly 45 of the most notable beef spots in town. For 2011, we doubled it. Now, with 90+ burgers under our suddenly tighter belts, we’re ready to show you just how right we are. These are The Best Burgers in Los Angeles.
But first: a recap of the classifications, lifted straight from last year’s listings.
Burger Classifications
Simply put, there are two elementally different types of burgers: the ‘basic’ and the ‘gourmet’. Pub burgers, sloppers, Jucy Lucy’s, smash burgers, broilers, and ad nauseum (literally) all essentially fit into one of these two burger categories, and what separates the two is equally as essential. Basic burgers are cheap, at least a little messy, usually a thinner patty on a no-frills bun. Now, don’t get your brioche in a bunch and start screaming that toasted or buttered or seasoned or grilled buns go beyond ‘no-frills’, because you’re wrong. For us, frills means brioche, french bakery, English muffin. That’s frills. A basic burger needs to be something you’d feel like eating standing up, with condiments dripping across a slice of tomato, oily cheese, and some 20 cent lettuce. And don’t forget the egg, please.
Gourmet burgers are a more subtle, refined beast - but don’t let the square plates and heavy silverware fool you, these things pack a gut punch. You’re likely to find a gourmet burger resting atop a fresh-made in-house flaky-crust bun with arugula and fontina cheese, caressed in some type of compote or aioli made from the sweat of the 10 foodservice engineers it took to broil this bad boy to perfection. Your thick-pattied gourmet burger is brimming with confidence about its beef blend or its aging or something, and even if you can’t see the hole yourself you know somebody stuck a thermometer in the middle to make sure it was just right. It’s a delicious beef monstrosity that will take a little bit of squeezing just to get it from top to bottom in one bite, but isn’t that the fun? Just imagine your new best burger buddy is Daniel Craig as Bond: dressed up nicely but a little too beefy to be contained in such a delicate package.
The Best Basic
Why mess with a good thing? After more than doubling our sample size, the top five basic burgers in Los Angeles remained almost entirely intact. That’s not to say we didn’t find any exciting new spots that are worth making the drive, though. Bill’s Hamburgers in Van Nuys is the type of old-school stand in a parking lot that you don’t see much of these days, where the seasoning pours freely from an unlabeled shaker, and Bill himself still flips patties. The Market Grill in Monrovia is changing the way we think about ‘fresh’ and ‘local’ when it comes to burgers, and who knew Yuca’s had a burger worth forgoing tacos for? But in the end, a great basic burger always shines through.
5. Apple Pan, 10801 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Apple Pan will forever be a polarizing force in the LA burger community, but the Love camp will always outweigh the Hate. Smoky-sweet hickory burgers are a revelation, while even mild-mannered thin patty cheeseburgers stand out.
4. Ercoles, 1101 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach. Ercoles serves up the absolute essence of a no-frills bar burger. The patties are coarse-ground and medium-thickness, with a great char from the small grilling station tucked behind the bar. The phenomenal beef blend itself comes from the butcher right next store, so don’t be surprised if your next burp comes out as more of a ‘moo’.
3. The Oinkster, 2005 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock. Stars continue to align for this Eagle Rock burger outpost, as their entire menu has been garnering more praise as of late. On any given night there could be a line out the door, and it’s not hard to see why: the well-salted medium patties, commercial sesame buns and gooey American cheese are out of this world.
2. Capitol Burger, 4301 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Not that we’re bragging, but Capitol’s stock seems to have risen precipitously in 2010, when we put them at this same spot on our list. A year later and a few more burger bloggers sniffing around, these guys haven’t changed. The buns are still white-and-squishy, the American cheese is still gooey, and the whole experience is, as always, a delight.
And the winner is
1. Hawkin’s House of Burgers, 11603 Slater Street, Watts. Hawkin’s deserves this spot for the second year in a row, but the sad truth is: people just don’t want to hear that the best basic burger is in Watts. Forget what you think you know, and make the drive for loose-packed, griddled, greasy, delicious burgers. You won’t regret it.
The Best Gourmet
For gourmet burgers, what a difference a year makes. This year’s top five looks markedly different from 2010’s list, albeit with a few familiar names. The biggest hurdle to compiling this portion of the list is the sheer numbers of it all. Every corner bistro with a griddle and a guy-who-knows-a-guy-who-knows-a-baker has thrown their chef’s hat into the ring, vying for LA burger supremacy. And with a full-court press on for hidden gems, a few local notables even started rising up the ranks. Simmzy’s in Manhattan Beach was a true surprise, even if the South Bay boys have known about it for a while. Bouchon even opened its heavy wooden doors to the lunchtime burger crowd, for those of us craving white linens and a see-and-be-seen crowd with our beef. And more than a few notable burgers from last year's Best Of list are nowhere to be found this time around. This time, it takes more than a star chef to earn the highest burger praise. And these top five burgers have what it takes.
5. Father’s Office, 3229 Helms Ave., Los Angeles. Last year’s #2 barely holds on after a year that brought intense competition to the forefront. F.O.’s burger has managed to remain among the elite, with their juicy and delicious patties (however unchangeable) a thing of beauty.
4. Susan Feniger’s STREET, 742 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles. Better known for her Mexican dishes and funky takes on global street food, Feniger has managed to create a masterful burger that flew under the radar most of year, despite how much we talked about it. The brioche cheeseburger comes standard with Vermont white cheddar, homemade pickles and a ‘yuzu kosho’ sauce that blows the doors off of any aioli or secret sauce you’ve had.
3. Umami Burger, 850 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles. Umami deserved to move up a spot from last year, as they have maintained a steady growth while not losing sight of the product. Burgers are still king here, as the unadorned plates and attention to detail shows well. Juicy and unique, with the savory umami sense we’re all still trying to define, these babies have long been meant for the spotlight.
2. CommeCa, 8479 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Maybe the New York Times was more right than we know. Last year, they not-so-quietly crowned CommeCa with the title of ‘perfection’, and upon a second (and third) visit here, we’re nearly inclined to agree. The beef itself remains unmatched in its preparation and flavor, while the bun and cole-slaw-ish toppings round out the burger with first-rate effect.
And the winner is
1. Rustic Canyon, 1119 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. When you name your standard burger the Niman Ranch burger, you have to assume it’s good. When you add a perfect slice of sharp white cheddar, onion fondue, and an exquisite crust on a juicy, medium-rare patty, you know the burger is something special. When they start sponsoring full-on burger nights (where they create unique burger concoctions) while still locally sourcing their produce? You know you’ve found the best burger in LA.
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With over 90 burger spots cataloged, we’re not sure what next year holds for these rankings. But the future is bright, and the emphasis on America’s favorite beef and bun combination isn’t leaving the Los Angeles culinary mindset any time soon. So keep on chowing down, and let us know in the comments if there’s some amazingly tasty place we just can’t live without.In this photo taken Wednesday, March 20, 2013 in Raeford, N.C., Tracy Dice Johnson holds a flag from a "widow's box" that platoon mates of her wife prepared during the service they had for their fallen comrade. When her wife was killed in Afghanistan last year, the North Carolina National Guardswoman heard about it from her sister-in-law. Although Sgt. Donna Johnson had listed Dice as her next-of-kin, Army casualty officers informed Johnsonâs mother of her death first because of a federal law that prohibits the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex unions. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tracy Dice Johnson, whose wife was killed fighting in Afghanistan, has received word from the Department of Veterans Affairs that she will receive the same survivor benefits that heterosexual married couples are entitled to.
Johnson's wife, 29-year-old Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson, was killed Oct. 1, 2012, by a suicide bomber. They are believed to be the first same-sex couple to suffer a casualty after the 2011 repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," the federal law that barred openly gay and lesbian individuals from serving in the military.
According to the Army Times, Johnson announced the VA's decision on Saturday at the American Military Partner Association's gala, where she received the organization’s 2014 Community Hero Award. She called the VA's announcement "an important step toward our end goal of achieving equal treatment for all military families."
Johnson was an outspoken advocate for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as being between one man and one woman for federal purposes. It therefore barred Johnson and other gay war widows from receiving equal benefits, including the return of the wedding ring recovered from the body and a monthly indemnity payment of $1,215.
Johnson didn't even hear directly from the military when her wife died. Although she was listed as next of kin, the military didn't recognize their marriage as being valid. Therefore, casualty officers notified Donna Johnson's mother first.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA in June 2013.“Political correctness” is the most maligned and attacked concept of our time.
It’s fair to say that since the 90s, multiple movements have sprung up making the anti-PC stance a core part of their platform. At the time of this writing, the major players include the alt-right, MRAs and other groups geared toward masculinity, Red State populists, cultural libertarians and the sort of liberals who talk about the “Regressive Left,” as well as European anti-EU, identitarian movements.
Donald Trump’s campaign is often described as the anti-PC bid for the White House. I sympathize with the aims of some of these movements and at least share the animosity of the rest towards the current ideological orthodoxy.
However, the anti-PC frame has a problem. Namely: which PC?
Political correctness has a specific meaning: an idea, statement, or action is politically correct if it is consistent with the stated orthodoxies of a group, institution, or ideology. The first discussions using this term were amongst various currents of radical leftists debating how closely to follow the Stalinist line taken by many Communist parties. Radical leftists who were less than enthusiastic about, say, the Ukrainian Holodomor, charged hard-line Communists with taking a stance which was politically correct but strategically bad or morally damning.
Now to emphasize the problem, imagine opposing Communists on the grounds of their political correctness. Of course, it’s a ridiculous notion. No anticommunist worth the name—from Joe McCarthy to Baron Roman “God of War” von Ungern-Sternberg—ever went head to head with the Reds over their political correctness. They fought Communism because it was subversive to their values, religion, people, and way of life. And they named the enemy bluntly.
The anti-PC frame’s problem is that it fails to do this. Moreover, it fails to realize that in terms of orthodoxies, every in-group has its own political correctness. Zionists don’t last long on the alt-right. Dismissing pot or free speech raises serious eyebrows among the libertarians. And as Trump supporters have realized, telling Red Tribe media that public health care might not be a bad idea or that Bush lied generates one hell of a triggering.
Each group has its orthodoxy. What unites the anti-PC factions is shared opposition to the ideological orthodoxies of the current nexus of power: the governments, media, and academia of America and its sphere of influence, supported by their allies in business and a legion of NGOs. That power structure is what Moldbug termed the Cathedral. And their doctrine is not “political correctness.” Their doctrine is liberal internationalism, secular humanism, militant globalism, and the Universalist narrative of Social Progress. If there are factions, we might call them Hard Globalists and Soft Globalists. The Red Empire pushes interventionism, the Blue Empire pushes diplomacy and international aid, and both push limitless Free Trade. Israel vs. UN. Global marketplace vs international community. You get the idea.
So the core problem with the anti-PC frame is simply that political correctness is not the problem. The doctrine about which the Cathedral structure is politically correct is the problem. There was a political correctness before the current one, and there will be a new political correctness that replaces it.
Failure to name the beast has consequences when it comes to presenting a truly sovereign alternative. This failure is what leads MRAs to adopt feminist language and stances for their own grievances. The concept of a Regressive Left suggests that the problem is insufficient commitment to Progress. The cultural libertarians demanding that global liberalism act more liberal have the same issue. The Red Tribe populists backing Trump (and the alt-right joining in) want him to name Islam, restore the border, and Make America Great Again. But at some point, they might need to notice that their Blue Tribe enemies are reading the same constitution they are (and vice-versa for the Blues backing Sanders).
Whoever actually wins the battle to “defeat political correctness” will be in fact winning the battle against the Cathedral structure’s ideological narrative and the enforcement of that narrative’s values.
The strategy of Moldbug and Carlyle consists of worthy powers displacing unworthy ones.
In light of this analysis, the chief goal is not the defeat of political correctness, or even of the particular doctrines themselves, but the displacement of the power structure which benefits from that doctrine. (Of course, any power which achieves this will have developed a doctrine—and a political correctness—of its own.)
Insofar as the Moldbuggian-Carlylean worldview is also opposed to the Cathedral ideology, this distinguishes it from the anti-PC coalition. Cultural libertarians, Trump supporters, and even the alt-right argue about how far Right or Left the Overton Window ought to go.
The legitimist path is unconcerned with the Overton Window. It asks where a person or institution worthy of loyalty can be found. If none exists, then one must be created.If you are planning on going on vacation in Europe sometime soon you should know- some locals are going to be hassling you. The fact is, that every country has it’s own way on how to scoop extra cash from tourists… In a lot of places the prices will mercilessly increase by 150% when you’ll address locals in English and give in the fact that you are here on vacation, other places you could just end up in a taxi that would take the longest way possible to get you to your destination… But these are things that we all know to expect, here are 8 things you might not have known:
The Flat Tire – Italy
Road-bandits in Italy have a “safe” way to make sure you will have to pull-over. While your car is parked these bandits will puncture one of your wheels and ride along after you when you leave the parking lot. Once you notice the flat and decide to stop the car, they will drive by and offer their help. While “helping” they will rob you and flee the scene.
This type of fraud is most common around Napoli, so try to see who’s offering you a hand, and prefer calling the rental company once this thing happens, instead of letting strangers pitch in and help.
Fake Charity – France
In France, like in many other countries, you will encounter baggers on the streets. But unlike most baggers and charity donation collectors, a group of local kids are pretending to be crippled while collecting money for a charity fund that is meant to support sick children. They would also ask you to sign a petition to help their cause.
The French government see these acts in a really bad eye, and the penalty for those who pretend to be asking for charity money is a Million Euros!!
Pay To Pass – Spain
Around the Gibraltar area, locals create fake check-up points that require a payment to pass. There is no entrance fee to Gibraltar, so if you run in to these villeins- don’t pay up, do not leave your car and keep your valuables in plain sight.
Fake Cops – Czech Republic
This type of fraud is done in groups. Robbers wearing police uniform will be asking you to pull over and once spotting that you are tourists, take advantage of the fact you are not aware of the local law and blame you for a bogus traffic violation. The way to spot these frauds from real cops blaming you for things you didn’t know was illegal is very simple:
These robbers will ask you for your passport and wallet, which is illegal for a cop to do in the Czech Republic. Once encountering these villeins simply ask to be taken to the local police station- they will normally let you go or flee the scene.
Fake Money – Hungary
In Hungary you need to be aware of taxi drivers offering to convert or change money for you. They will be using fake bills, some even not similar to the real ones, knowing you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Make sure to always change money at change stations or at the airport.
Restaurant Scandals – Holland
In Holland you need to watch your things if someone walks into the restaurant you are sitting in and start looking for his friend- very loud. These people, who work in pairs of groups, will be creating a distraction on purpose in order to lift your iPhones or bags from your table while you are looking at the very loud person.
When sitting in restaurants in Holland make sure to have your jacket close by and your phone and cash on you if possible. If you have your bag and jacket on the sit next to you and someone goes in the place starts making a scene- grab your things and stay alert.
Billing Extra – Croatia
In Croatia you might find yourself looking at a restaurant bill containing items you never ordered and don’t even understand what they are. In a lot of cases, even if you don’t have money to pay for the “Extra” service- the restaurant’s staff will escort you to the ATM in order for you to get the money you “owe” them.
There’s not much to be done in these cases other than to check restaurant reviews on social media before you go out.
That’s Not Even A Taxi Driver – Poland
Around tourist attractions and the airport you could find a lot of taxi drivers. Before getting into a taxi make sure that the meter works! There are fake taxi drivers there who claim that their meter “broke” and will drive you but charge you an obscene amount of money knowing you have no idea how much travel costs in Poland. Make sure to always have a meter in your taxi and check the name of the company in the logo to make sure it’s a real taxi company.
Got any warnings of your own? Add them here to the comment section!
And most important- stay safe!
These conclusions were drawn by the Israeli AIG insurance company, after studying numerous cases of tourists insurance claims in Europe. See original article in Hebrew.Dr. Jeffrey Meltzer, [left], and Dr. Jim Dahle, say physicians need to smarten up when it comes to business.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Doctors may be experts at treating patients. But when it comes to running their own businesses, many are making rookie mistakes.
And that's driving many private practices doctors to the brink.
Physicians are poor businesspeople, because they "tend to be so engrossed in the medical part," said Dr. Jeffrey Meltzer, 47, an OB/GYN with American Health Network in Carmel, Ind. "It's an all-encompassing job and takes a huge part of their time."
There are genuine business challenges, like shrinking reimbursements from both Medicare and private insurers and confusion from the new health reform legislation.
But many just make bad financial decisions.
Fresh out of residency, many young doctors have school debt averaging $130,000. Still, that doesn't stop them from spending lavishly, said Paul Keckley, executive director of Deloitte's Center for Health Solutions.
"I had one doctor client who bought a $60,000 BMW, and he doesn't even have a first job yet," said Katherine Vessenes, a certified financial planner, attorney and president of MD Financial, a consulting firm specializing in physicians' finances.
"Doctors in residency have been deprived for so long that some have this sense of entitlement," she said.
"Everyone assumes all doctors are rich," said Dr. Jim Dahle, an emergency physician in Utah. "When you start believing that, too, you start living beyond your means.
"Doctors should live by the one house, one spouse mantra," he said. "Most doctors have their earnings delayed by 10 to 15 years. The average physician can't [afford to] have two or three houses and then also save for retirement."
The biggest blunders. The list of doctors' mistakes is long -- one of the worse blunders being they tend not to ask for advice and when they do, they don't listen to it, experts said.
"Medicine is an insulated profession," said Keckley. "Doctors are reluctant to trust opinions of anyone other than their own."
"I had a physician who was making $300,000 a year. I took a lot of time and carefully thought out his retirement portfolio for him to invest in," said Vessenes. "He then goes and talks to his colleagues and asks me if he should instead invest in what they are suggesting."
Other bad moves include taking out loans to make payroll, said Meltzer.
Another is putting their money in risky investments, such as radiology centers, urgent care centers or even medical devices, said Dahle.
"These deals are structured so that doctors are taking the financial risks and these investors reap the rewards," he said. "Not all of these deals are bad, but doctors should at least have an attorney review the terms so that they're protected."
Doctors can also get burned by buying expensive equipment, said Meltzer. And being lax on collecting bills is yet another mistake, he added.
The tide is turning. More physicians are acknowledging their lack of business acumen and getting help, experts said.
When Dahle, 36, came out of residency five-and-a-half years ago, he didn't know anything about business management or personal finance in medical training.
Still, he had the foresight to seek out a financial adviser to help him manage his personal finances before his career kicked off.
But the adviser put him in high-load, high-expense ratio funds, as well as high-cost, high-commission insurance. "I realized later that this adviser was ripping me off," said Dahle.
So Dahle began educating himself about personal finance and business -- an effort that evolved into the whitecoatinvestor.com, an eight-month-old website that educates physicians about smart money management.
So far, the site averages 30,000 page views monthly, he said.
"I've made some financial mistakes like anyone else," said Dahle. "But through the website, I've been able to interact with hundreds of doctors who have made financial errors and are looking to correct them or at least not make any more."
Are you a doctor in private practice who has taken out an SBA loan to make ends meet? E-mail Parija Kavilanz and you could be part of an upcoming article. Click here for CNNMoney.com comment policy.With budgets slashed because of the financial crisis, EU leaders have agreed to work more closely on making defence spending go further.
At a summit in Brussels, they’ve called on member states to spread the cost of developing expensive military kit. Developing a European drone and air-to-air refueling capabilities are on the cards.
But Britain has urged caution. It welcomes increased cooperation, but draws the line at a European army.
“With around 1.5 million jobs and a turnover of 96 billion euros, this is a sector that’s very important for the European economy. But not only the European economy, as it’s very well said in the conclusion of the European Council, ‘Defence matters,’” said Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Commission President.
EU leaders also welcomed a new centralised institution – designed to deal with ailing banks.
French President Francois Hollande said the new mechanism for saving or shutting down troubled banks would help prevent new financial crises and spare governments from having to save those failing.
But back on defence, Hollande failed to win any funding promise for the country’s military operations in Africa.
Speaking from Brussels, Euronews correspondent Fariba Mavaddat said: “With contradictions in the interpretations of member states on how to contribute to European defence, it looks as if they have a long way to go before they reach a united front on a militarily stronger Europe.”Transformers: Age of Extinction Stumps For Best Picture Oscar Nomination - IGN News
Transformers: Age of Extinction Stumps For Best Picture Oscar Nomination - IGN News
Share. For your consideration... For your consideration...
It's awards season in Hollywood and the studio behind Transformers: Age Of Extinction is actively campaigning to get the Michael Bay-directed movie an Academy Award nomination as Best Picture.
Action a Go Go points out that Paramount Pictures has created an official "For Your Consideration" page for the blockbuster, 2014's biggest hit worldwide.
The above consideration page isn't just stumping for a Best Picture nomination, but also a Best Director nom for Bay, best adapted screenplay for Ehren Kruger, and numerous technical categories.
Exit Theatre Mode
What do you think? Does Transformers: Age of Extinction deserve to win any Oscars? Sound off in the Comments below!Keeping true to his schedule, comedian Jerry Seinfeld just dropped a new episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee earlier today with guest Fred Armisen. The Portlandia star showed the vet Seinfeld lead around the city he loves so dearly (so much so that he created a series about it with Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein, who will be heading out on tour soon), Portland. And as usual, it certainly didn't disappoint – especially because of that surprise bonus piece which included Michael Richards reprising his role as Crackle president Dick Corcoran.
Kicking off in his old-timey Saab, the comedian picked up Armisen and drove through out the city, discussing just what makes Portlandia so hilarious –– the fact that the material doesn't seem funny to anyone in the series. Which, we believe, Armisen took as a compliment. Right?
Afterwards, the two headed for... you guessed it, coffee!... and waited a hella long time, but apparently it was worth it.
Check out the new episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee below:
So, is Portland a little too hipster-y for Seinfeld? Doesn't seem so –– except for waiting nearly fifteen minutes for the coffee and then some food. Try that in New York City and you're likely to get your head ripped off. Or, at the very least, a kind "f**k off!"
Of course, we couldn't help but love watching Seinfeld and Armisen discuss random, meaningless topics. And Jerry's confidence in asking that hipster about his orange sunglasses was quite priceless. You know, those ones for digestion. Yeah...
Readers, what did you think of Seinfeld's newest Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee? Did it make you want to trek on out to Portland and get a sip of that ever so delicious-looking java?
Yeah... us too!
© 2019 Mstars News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
AdvertisementPressured to conform in the past, today’s middle-aged adults are looking to get high again.
Selflessly wading through an endless garden of agony, many of today’s middle-aged Americans born during the 60s & 70s, and raised during the turbulent 80s & 90s, used to enjoy smoking pot as a means of relaxing. Forced to conform during their march towards maturation, many quit “firing up” to relax – instead, turning to more socially acceptable (read: harmful) substances.
Addictive, deadly and done…
Now tired of slamming toxic pharmaceuticals sold as “antidepressants” or “mood enhancers” – and maintaining their façade of normality – ‘Boomers’ and Gen Xer’s are switching back to cannabis as their go-to source for washing away the day’s stress and anxiety. Putting down the alcohol and pills, and proving that you’re never too old to enjoy the right strain of weed, the below graph indicates middle-aged America is turning to the therapeutic applications of cannabis.
Marijuana for the 50 and over crowd
For those looking to help today’s middle-aged Americans navigate the psychoactive world of edibles, oils, concentrates, and flowers … here are a couple of helpful suggestions.
Start Slow
First and foremost, start slow and plan ahead. Those trying to help out mom and dad get high for the first time (in a long time) should remember that old-school tokers just “hittin it” for the first time will have a severely reduced tolerance level; in the day and age of high-octane marijuana products, low tolerance can be an issue.
Use Discretion
Since weed is still considered a Schedule 1 narcotic by the federal government, consuming it in mixed company can be a fast-track to unemployment. Though seeing your middle-aged mom and dad stoned is amusing for friends and family, and hopefully calming for your parents – the first few times they get high, they may well come across as being a tad bit paranoid. Isolated and in a secure location with plenty of munchies, those reentering the 420 world should turn off their cell phones as a means of ensuring the outside world remains clueless to their elevated condition.
Start with an Indica
Older smokers should avoid those thought-provoking day-time Sativas. Instead, select a high-THC Indica to avoid any paranoia caused by many potent Sativas. Getting high at the end of a busy workday allows our middle-aged adult Americans to fire any work-related stress.
Prepare for Enjoyment
After getting high, food tastes better, music sounds sweeter and interesting conversations flourish. Those re-entering the new hybrid world of today’s modern marijuana strains will discover that planning ahead creates an enhanced experience. Prep the fridge, get the classic playlist ready, and enjoy the experience of youth.
As our middle-aged parents continue to get older and the opportunity to have meaningful conversations with the people we love dissipates, we find the proverbial shoe on the other foot. No longer concerned with our youthful transgressions, now is the time they need our help. It’s our responsibility to have “the talk” with our parents to teach them about the beneficial nature of marijuana use.
(Photo courtesy of the Washington Post)Lars Morris talks about moving from Scranton, Pa., and being shocked by the industrial pollution in his Minneapolis neighborhood. He spoke during a listening session Wednesday about a proposed settlement between Northern Metal Recycling and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
An outline of a settlement that could keep Northern Metal Recycling open in north Minneapolis for more than two years — even after it was found in violation of its permit — angered some to the point of walking out of a meeting Wednesday with state and local officials.
State and city health officials say the ZIP code that covers much of north Minneapolis has the highest hospitalization rates for asthma in the state and the highest rates of lead poisoning among children in the city. The vast majority of people living in the area are people of color, and the median household income for the area is less than $35,000 a year.
Northern Metal Recycling, or Northern Metals as most call it, is far from the only polluter north Minneapolis residents have complained about over the years. There's the Hennepin County garbage burner, a plant that makes roof shingles, other metal recycling companies, and of course, |
damages – against any individual protester who causes injury to [police].”
Unfortunately most protesters don’t have the attorneys on retainer to harass the police who brutally assaulted them for no reason.
These are just a few examples of how crackdowns are occurring across the nation as those in power attempt to shut down the Occupy Wall Street movement which shows no signs of slowing down or giving up.
It appears that politicians, even ostensibly “liberal” ones like Democratic California Senator Dianne Feinstein, are becoming fed up with the Occupation movement.
Immediately following the disturbingly vicious attack on Occupy Oakland, Feinstein made a painfully ignorant statement that exposed her for what she truly is: yet another elitist, corrupt, freedom-hating politician.
American Natural Superfood - Free Sample Feinstein said she did not think that the “protesters have the right to occupy forever.” Sorry, Dianne, they have every right to occupy forever despite what you might hope. “I don’t think people, for example, can sleep in a square for weeks on end. You have to have some order to it,” she said. Again, sorry Dianne but you don’t get to decide when and where people can assemble and speak freely or for how long they do it, or in what manner. Feinstein parroted the typical ignorant objection to the Occupy Wall Street movement in saying, “There are all kinds of different agendas going on [and it is] hard to figure out what people want,” as if that is some kind of indictment of the movement. Feinstein doesn’t understand what people want because she is part of the 1% that is unconcerned with the economic situation in our country and the implications it has for average Americans. You can view Feinstein’s financial statements here which include a purchase of over $1,000,000 in JP Morgan Chase just last year. Obviously, despite her purported leftist leanings, she is just another Washington elite that seeks to profit at the expense of the American people. In 2009 Feinstein’s net worth was between $46,055,250 and $108,109,018. Can anyone expect someone of such massive wealth to understand the plight of most Americans? Interestingly, the 2009 report of the top 16 richest members of both the House and the Senate included five individuals from California. These include Darrell Issa with a maximum net worth of over $451 million, Jane Harman with a maximum net worth of over $435 million, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi with a maximum net worth of over $108 million and Gary Miller with a maximum net worth of over $84 million. Could this overrepresentation of multi-millionaires be related to the mistreatment of anti-corporatist demonstrators in California? While it is pure speculation, it seems to be a somewhat valid conclusion. Regardless, there is an irrefutable trend sweeping the nation encouraging the oppression and crackdown on peaceful protesters seeking a new direction for the hijacked American economy and government. Hopefully people will see this and it will encourage them to take action and fight back against the un-American restriction of free speech in any and every way possible. The last thing we need is to allow the Occupy Wall Street movement to either be co-opted by the Democratic party, unions, or any other group with an ulterior motive, or to be shut down through police force. Through bringing these issues to the forefront we can help keep the movement alive and kicking despite the many attempts to marginalize it and/or co-opt it for questionable ends. Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at [email protected] var linkwithin_site_id = 557381; linkwithin_text=’Related Articles:’CLOSE Anthem, the nation's second-largest health insurance company, is the latest target of a security breach. Eighty million customers, including the company's own CEO, are at risk of having their personal information stolen. VPC
The corporate headquarters of health insurer Anthem in Indianapolis is seen on Dec. 3. (Photo: Darron Cummings, AP)
SAN FRANCISCO - As many as 80 million customers of the nation's second-largest health insurance company, Anthem Inc., have had their account information stolen, the company said in a statement.
"Anthem was the target of a very sophisticated external cyber attack," Anthem president and CEO Joseph Swedish said in a statement posted on a website the company created for information about the incident.
The hackers gained access to Anthem's computer system and got information including names, birthdays, medical IDs, Social Security numbers, street addresses, e-mail addresses and employment information, including income data, Swedish said.
The affected database had records for approximately 80 million people in it, "but we are still investigating to determine how many were impacted. At this point we believe it was tens of millions," said Cindy Wakefield, an Anthem spokeswoman.
That would make it "the largest health care breach to date," said Vitor De Souza, a spokesman for Mandiant, the computer security company Anthem has hired to evaluate its systems.
Because no actual medical information appears to have been stolen, the breach would not come under HIPAA rules, the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which governs the confidentiality and security of medical information.
No credit card information was obtained, the company said in a statement e-mailed to USA TODAY.
The hackers were probably not interested in medical information about Anthem's customers, said Tim Eades, CEO of computer security firm vArmour in Mountain View, Calif.
"The personally identifiable information they got is a lot more valuable than the fact that I stubbed my toe yesterday and broke it," he said.
Both current and former customers were hit, Swedish said.
Anthem has established a website, www.anthemfacts.com, where members can access information about the breach. There is also a toll-free number for current and former members to call, 877-263-7995.
"Anthem's own associates' personal information -- including my own -- was accessed during this security breach. We join in your concern and frustration and I assure you that we are working around the clock to do everything we can to further secure your data," Swedish said.
Anthem discovered the breach itself last week. "That is very good news, as two-thirds of the time when we respond, the victim was notified by someone else," said Vitor De Souza, spokesman for FireEye, which owns Mandiant.
Anthem has contacted the FBI and is working with Mandiant, Swedish said.
"The FBI is aware of the Anthem intrusion and is investigating the matter," said FBI spokesman Joshua Campbell.
"Anthem's initial response in promptly notifying the FBI after observing suspicious network activity is a model for other companies and organizations facing similar circumstances. Speed matters when notifying law enforcement of an intrusion, as cyber criminals can quickly destroy critical evidence needed to identify those responsible," he said.
Customers whose information has been stolen should report any suspected instances of identity theft to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov, Campbell said.
"The Anthem insurance company breach is another in a long line of breaches that continue to have a deep and disheartening effect on consumer behavior and the smooth flow of commerce both here at home and worldwide," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security.
Anthem Inc. was previously known as WellPoint Inc. It was formed when Anthem Insurance Company bought WellPoint Health Networks in 2004.
Anthem has customers in 14 states.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1D0uR3lAlasdair MacIntyre argues for a single, shared view of the good life The man in a modest dark suit and grey shirt could be mistaken, save for the presence of his wife of 33 years, for an off-duty Benedictine abbot. We’re dining in the elegant ambience of the Cambridge Catholic university chaplaincy; the conversation is animated, but the man, an 81-year-old philosopher, contents himself with a glass of water, leaving the dishes and vintage claret untouched. Self-effacing, a trifle austere, he nevertheless exudes a benign humanity from the top of his monkish haircut to his scuffed toe-caps. Alasdair MacIntyre is one of the world’s most influential living moral philosophers. He has written 30 books on ethics and held a variety of professorial chairs over the past four decades in North America. Blending ideas from ancient Greece and medieval Christendom (with an admixture of Marxism), MacIntyre writes and lectures on the failings and discontents of “advanced modernity.” This summer he accepted an invitation from Prospect and Jesus College, Cambridge to talk to a group of academics on the economic disaster that capitalism has inflicted on itself and the world. MacIntyre has often given the impression of a robe-ripping Savonarola. He has lambasted the heirs to the principal western ethical schools: John Locke’s social contract, Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarian “the greatest happiness for the greatest number.” Yet his is not a lone voice in the wilderness. He can claim connections with a trio of 20th-century intellectual heavyweights: the late Elizabeth Anscombe, her surviving husband, Peter Geach, and the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, winner in 2007 of the Templeton prize. What all four have in common is their Catholic faith, enthusiasm for Aristotle’s telos (life goals), and promotion of Thomism, the philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas who married Christianity and Aristotle. Leo XIII (pope from 1878 to 1903), who revived Thomism while condemning communism and unfettered capitalism, is also an influence. MacIntyre’s key moral and political idea is that to be human is to be an Aristotelian goal-driven, social animal. Being good, according to Aristotle, consists in a creature (whether plant, animal, or human) acting according to its nature—its telos, or purpose. The telos for human beings is to generate a communal life with others; and the good society is composed of many independent, self-reliant groups. There are strong, albeit derivative, echoes of these ideas in the policies of Phillip Blond, David Cameron’s “Red Tory” guru. In the US, policy wonk Lew Daly pays tribute to MacIntyre and papal social teaching as he advises Barack Obama on how to create a national health service without state domination. MacIntyre differs from all these influences and alliances, from Leo XIII onwards, in his residual respect for Marx’s critique of capitalism. MacIntyre begins his Cambridge talk by asserting that the 2008 economic crisis was not due to a failure of business ethics. The opener is not a red herring. Ever since he published his key text After Virtue in 1981, he has argued that moral behaviour begins with the good practice of a profession, trade, or art: playing the violin, cutting hair, brick-laying, teaching philosophy. Through these everyday social practices, he maintains, people develop the appropriate virtues. In other words, the virtues necessary for human flourishing are not a result of the top-down application of abstract ethical principles, but the development of good character in everyday life. After Virtue, which is in essence an attack on the failings of the Enlightenment, has in its sights a catalogue of modern assumptions of beneficence: liberalism, humanism, individualism, capitalism. MacIntyre yearns for a single, shared view of the good life as opposed to modern pluralism’s assumption that there can be many competing views of how to live well. In philosophy he attacks consequentialism, the view that what matters about an action is its consequences, which is usually coupled with utilitarianism’s “greatest happiness” principle. He also rejects Kantianism—the identification of universal ethical maxims based on reason and applied to circumstances top down. MacIntyre’s critique routinely cites the contradictory moral principles adopted by the allies in the second world war. Britain invoked a Kantian reason for declaring war on Germany: that Hitler could not be allowed to invade his neighbours. But the bombing of Dresden (which for a Kantian involved the treatment of people as a means to an end, something that should never be countenanced) was justified under consequentialist or utilitarian arguments: to bring the war to a swift end. While utilitarianism flourished in Anglophone moral philosophy in the second half of the 20th century, there were doubts about its integrity—and the critique was led by the late Bernard Williams and MacIntyre. Williams attempted to expose utilitarianism’s limitations with a famous anecdote. A brilliant chemist is unemployed with five children to feed and an unpaid mortgage. There’s a job going at Porton Down, the British centre for chemical warfare. The chemist hates these weapons—but if he doesn’t take the job, another person will, who would pursue the research more ardently. Williams argues in his book Utilitarianism: For and Against (co-written with JJ Smart) that a utilitarian would say the man should definitely take the job. But, Williams argues, that does not take into account the man’s “whole life project”: in more popular terms, his ability to look at himself in the mirror. For MacIntyre, Williams’s “whole life project” is a thin and uncertain principle. MacIntyre seeks to oppose utilitarianism on the grounds that people are called on by their very nature to be good, not merely to perform acts that can be interpreted as good. The most damaging consequence of the Enlightenment, for MacIntyre, is the decline of the idea of a tradition within which an individual’s desires are disciplined by virtue. And that means being guided by internal rather than external “goods.” So the point of being a good footballer is the internal good of playing beautifully and scoring lots of goals, not the external good of earning a lot of money. The trend away from an Aristotelian perspective has been inexorable: from the empiricism of David Hume, to Darwin’s account of nature driven forward without a purpose, to the sterile analytical philosophy of AJ Ayer and the “demolition of metaphysics” in his 1936 book Language, Truth and Logic. ***** When it comes to the money-men, MacIntyre applies his metaphysical approach with unrelenting rigour. There are skills, he argues, like being a good burglar, that are inimical to the virtues. Those engaged in finance—particularly money trading—are, in MacIntyre’s view, like good burglars. Teaching ethics to traders is as pointless as reading Aristotle to your dog. The better the trader, the more morally despicable. At this point, MacIntyre appeals to the classical golden mean: “The courageous human being,” he cites Aristotle as saying, “strikes a mean between rashness and cowardice… and if things go wrong she or he will be among those who lose out.” But skilful money-men, MacIntyre argues, want to transfer as much risk as possible to others without informing them of its nature. This leads to a failure to “distinguish adequately between rashness, cowardice and courage.” Successful money-men do not—and cannot—take into account the human victims of the collateral damage resulting from market crises. Hence the financial sector is in essence an environment of “bad character” despite the fact that it appears to many a benevolent engine of growth. This rift between economics and ethics, says MacIntyre, stems from the failure of our culture “to think coherently about money.” Instead, we should think like Aristotle and Aquinas, who saw the value of money “to be no more, no less than the value of the goods which can be exchanged, so there’s no reason for anyone to want money other than for the goods they buy.” Money affords more choices and choice is good. But when they are imposed by others whose interest is in getting us to spend, then money becomes the sole measure of human flourishing. “Goods are to be made and supplied, insofar as they can be turned into money… ultimately, money becomes the measure of all things, including itself.” Money can now be made “from the exchange of money for money… and trading in derivatives and in derivatives of derivatives.” And so those who work in the financial sector have become dislocated from the uses of money in everyday life. One symptom of this, MacIntyre contends, is gross inequality. In 2009, for instance, the chief executives of Britain’s 100 largest companies earned on average 81 times more than the average pay of a full-time worker. ***** MacIntyre’s diagnosis of, and remedy for, the woes of “advanced modernity” invokes the history of his philosophical journey through six decades. Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre was born in 1929 in Glasgow, the only child of two doctors. “They left Scotland three weeks after I was born and went to work in the east end of London.” But his father died when he was still a boy, and his mother went to live in south Belfast, where he would spend his holidays from Epsom College, an independent secondary school mostly for sons of physicians. At 16 he enrolled at Queen Mary College in east London to specialise in classics. (Perhaps out of nostalgia for the east end he is now a senior research fellow at London Metropolitan University up the road.) He went on to Manchester University as a graduate student at the age of 21, and after three years was appointed to a lectureship in philosophy, followed by teaching stints at Leeds and Oxford. He was drawn early to Karl Marx and his first book was a defence of Marxism, although like many other intellectuals he changed his opinion of the Soviet Union after its suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. Through his twenties he probed mainstream philosophy in search of a life view: to find “something that he wanted to say.” He rejected utilitarianism and its greatest happiness calculation because it appeared to provide no place for genuinely unconditional commitments, and Kantianism because, while recognising that some actions are morally required or prohibited, it offers no motivation based on our desires. “The hard work of morality,” MacIntyre insists, “consists in the transformation of desires, so that we aim at the good and respect the precepts of the natural law.” Although baptised a Presbyterian, from his early twenties MacIntyre abandoned religion for a quarter of a century. He appears to have shared for a time AJ Ayer’s assertion that the only significant propositions are those that can be empirically or scientifically verified. MacIntyre’s conversion to Catholicism in his fifties, he tells me, occurred as a result of being convinced of Thomism while attempting to disabuse his students of its authenticity. Aquinas combined Aristotle’s account of a universe knowable through observation with Christian philosophy, arguing that such a world still required God’s existence as its sustaining creator. An Aristotelian-Thomistic view of society and the world, as set out in After Virtue, offered the best philosophical underpinning for human flourishing, and the only alternative to the fragmentation of modern moral philosophy. MacIntyre argues that those committed to the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of the common good must begin again. This involves “capturing the double aspect of the globalising economy and its financial sector, so that we understand it both as an engine of growth and as such a source of benefits, but equally as a perpetrator of great harms and continuing injustices.” Apologists for globalisation, he argues, treat it as a source of benefits, and only accidentally and incidentally a source of harms. Hence, the view that “to be for or against globalisation is in some ways like being for or against the weather.” MacIntyre maintains, however, that the system must be understood in terms of its vices—in particular debt. The owners and managers of capital always want to keep wages and other costs as low as possible. “But, insofar as they succeed, they create a recurrent problem for themselves. For workers are also consumers and capitalism requires consumers with the purchasing power to buy its products. So there is tension between the need to keep wages low and the need to keep consumption high.” Capitalism has solved this dilemma, MacIntyre says, by bringing future consumption into the present by dramatic extensions of credit. This expansion of credit, he goes on, has been accompanied by a distribution of risk that exposed to ruin millions of people who were unaware of their exposure. So when capitalism once again overextended itself, massive credit was transformed into even more massive debt, “into loss of jobs and loss of wages, into bankruptcies of firms and foreclosures of homes, into one sort of ruin for Ireland, another for Iceland, and a third for California and Illinois.” Not only does capitalism impose the costs of growth or lack of it on those least able to bear them, but much of that debt is unjust. And the “engineers of this debt,” who had already benefited disproportionately, “have been allowed to exempt themselves from the consequences of their delinquent actions.” The imposition of unjust debt is a symptom of the “moral condition of the economic system of advanced modernity, and is in its most basic forms an expression of the vices of intemperateness, and injustice, and imprudence.” So what is his answer? His principles involve “issues of deserving,” “responsible risk-taking,” and “setting limits to the burdens of debt.” Deserving is an issue, he argues, when the consequences of debt are inflicted on those who played no part in incurring it, such as children. Those who expose others to risk in the financial markets must spell out in public and in advance the risks that they are distributing in intelligible terms. And when risk-taking goes wrong, the consequences for those who made the decisions must be made as bad as they are for their worst-off victims. Finally, he argues that limits should be set to the burdens imposed by debt on individual and family lives, so that they are not disproportionate—this may involve caps on interest rates, as in Germany, or even forgiving debt. Despite such principles, MacIntyre does not advocate bank nationalisation, preferring it seems a return to the paternalistic style of bank manager represented by Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army. ***** Yet there is evident creativity in finance through the role of maturity transformation—borrowing short, lending long. MacIntyre does not acknowledge this, nor is he prepared to accept accounts of the positive benefits of money creation, or the use of derivatives in offsetting risk. In the face of such points he tends to adopt the stance of the intransigent prophet. Moreover, he denies that regulation or breaking up the banks can resolve the problems of the finance sector, since regulations merely “have as their aim the prevention of further large-scale crises.” When asked, then, whether his perspective is a counsel of despair, he responds that there are evils in the world that one “simply has to live with for the time being.” It does not appear that he means by this an acceptance of original sin so much as a prelude to major change or revolution. But to what? MacIntyre appears to have entered an endgame position involving a hybrid of Marx and Aquinas, with Marx as the prime influence. His version of Aquinas, meanwhile, stresses the medieval Christian opposition to usury. John Milbank, founder of the Cambridge school of radical orthodoxy, which has influenced Blond’s Red Toryism, complains: “We are given an Aquinas that no historical scholar any longer believes in, an Aquinas without the theology. Where is Aquinas’s emphasis on the supernatural light of charity? For Aquinas there is no full justice without it, just as there is no genuinely good state without the church.” Blond echoes the objections: “It looks as if Aristotle and Aquinas have been made to conform to a Marxist materialism and collectivism. The Aristotelian virtues are simply posited as a kind of natural law.” Nevertheless, since the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, Blond has been seeking and finding connections between MacIntyre, Aquinas, GK Chesterton’s “distributism” of the 1920s, and Jo Grimond’s plea for civic groups in the 1950s. Are these not the antecedents of David Cameron’s big society? The link between Aquinas and the 20th century is distributism, a philosophy which repudiated usury, communism and capitalism in equal measure for an economy based on guilds, specialist associations, self-sufficiency and barter. MacIntyre made wistful reference in his Prospect talk to one of distributism’s principal architects—Father Vincent McNabb. Distributism as a political party collapsed in the 1930s, and Father McNabb was last heard from his soap box at Hyde Park Corner complaining of apartment blocks (which lack sufficient land to graze a cow) and advocating the use of one’s natural skin oils as a substitute for boot polish. Distributist and subsidiarist ideas, encouraging guilds and associations, flourished for a time in 1920s Italy in the form of Mussolini’s early corporatism. If MacIntyre’s ethics of finance raises more questions than it settles, he still beguiles with his illustrations from history. For example, he entertained his listeners with the story of the founding of a diesel engine factory in which an investor and engineer came together to create an ideal small-scale business for their mutual benefit and that of the local community. Later, demonstrating the ways in which globalised “bad character” can be resisted by “virtuous risk taking,” he cited four narratives: the 18th-century Guaraní Indians (depicted in the film The Mission) who chose a collectivised future under “proto-Leninist” Jesuits rather than slavery; the early founders of the kibbutzim at odds with competing visions of collectivisation; the Kerala leaders of the Marxist Communist party of India in 1957, who placated landowners and government while helping the poor; and the small farmers of Donegal in the 1960s who chose to establish a co-operative that sustained their Gaelic-speaking community rather than emigrate. Such stories are fascinating, but contribute little to the larger woes he had set out in his lecture, the solutions to which demand, as he acknowledges, “social structures of an economy… very different from those of either a wholly free market economy or the state-and-market economies of present-day Europe.” Other than telling us that “it would be an economy in which… deference to wealth would be recognised as a vice,” he does not enlarge. His micro-models of a proto-Leninist theocracy—a kibbutz, a Marxist Indian state, and an Irish farming co-operative—do not lead one to believe that his ideal replacement for western-style democracy and the global economy would be realistic let alone desirable. At the end of After Virtue, however, he argues that we have already entered a new age of “darkness and barbarism” similar to the decline of the Roman empire. “This time, however, the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time. And it is our lack of consciousness of this that constitutes part of our predicament.” The survival of virtuous civilisation may depend, he implies, not on a world revolution but on the persistence of isolated communities similar to the monasteries that withstood the depredations of the dark ages. “We are waiting not for a Godot,” he concludes in After Virtue, “but for another—doubtless very different—St Benedict.” But who or what would that look like? He does not, as yet, say.
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Club legend Stiliyan Petrov says young Aston Villa striker Rushian Hepburn-Murphy should join Rangers for the sake of his career.
Hepburn-Murphy has been offered a new contract by Villa amid interest from Ibrox and he featured in the defeat at Cardiff City because boss Steve Bruce was told he was close to signing a huge new bumper deal.
But there has still been no breakthrough and Bruce has decided to withdraw the 18-year-old from the group ahead of the FA Cup third round trip to Tottenham on Sunday.
Petrov believes Rangers boss Mark Warburton should sign the youngster to help progress his career.
“Rushian is a very exciting young striker,” Petrov said. “He’s very quick and he would make a difference for Rangers.
“He’s one of those players that you love to have in the team but you hate to play against.
“He’s a very exciting young prospect and I would like to see Rushian moving away from Villa and having a chance somewhere to progress because he’s got tons of ability.
“He hasn’t asked me about Scotland, but I’m going in next week so we’ll probably have a conversation if he wants to know anything about it.”Image caption Silvio Berlusconi called the Milan election a referendum on his leadership
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition has lost control of Milan and Naples in local elections.
The run-off polls are seen as a key test of Mr Berlusconi's popularity, as he faces multiple corruption trials and sex scandals.
Centre-left candidate Giuliano Pisapia won in Milan with about 55% of the vote over Mayor Letizia Moratti.
Milan, Mr Berlusconi's power base, has been run by conservatives for 18 years.
The city, Italy's financial capital, is Mr Berlusconi's birthplace and where he got his start in business and politics.
Some six million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in 90 towns and six provinces, but the results in Milan and Naples are seen as most important.
Ms Moratti got 45% of the vote in Milan.
In Naples, Luigi de Magistris of the Italy of Values party won 65% of the vote in a landslide victory over Mr Berlusconi's candidate, Gianni Lettieri.
Mr Lettieri had been seen as the favourite, but failed to win an outright majority in the first round of voting earlier in May.
'Hold our nerve'
Analysis Losing Milan will hurt Silvio Berlusconi hard in his heart - but is unlikely to lead to any early earthquake on the Italian political landscape. It is his hometown and his political heartland: the place where his political project came to life in the early 1990s. Losing Milan also matters because it is Italy's business capital - the second most important city in the land. The defeat suggests that the dour Milanese may have had enough of their prime minister's alleged shenanigans - especially if they suspect that he has taken his eye off most Italians' top priority: sorting out the country's somnolent economy. There is little immediate likelihood of a challenge to Silvio Berlusconi, either from his political opponents or friends. He has already said he would see his government programme through to 2013 regardless of the outcome. There is no obvious successor in his own coalition ranks and the left is still wandering the political wilderness looking for a leader who can offer voters a credible alternative.
Analysts say the loss in Milan could threaten the coalition of Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL) with the Northern League, which has become increasingly disenchanted with the prime minister.
"It's clear we have lost. The only thing to do is to hold our nerve and carry on," Mr Berlusconi told journalists with him on a trip to Romania.
He said he had spoken to Northern League leader Umberto Bossi, who told him the government would stand and carry on with plans to the government's budget deficit.
The prime minister said before the vote that to lose in Milan was "unthinkable" and called the city election a referendum on his leadership.
Campaigning became increasingly vicious before the vote, with Mr Berlusconi warning that Milan would be turned into "Gypsytown" if Ms Moratti was defeated.
Ms Moratti, a former minister for Mr Berlusconi, spent an average of US$400 (280 euros, £240) for every vote she obtained - 100 times more than her opponent.
Earlier in May, five TV stations - including several owned by Mr Berlusconi's Mediaset - were fined by Italian regulators for giving Mr Berlusconi more coverage than his opponents.
The elections are the first big test he has faced since the start of several corruption trials and scandals - including allegations of having had sex with an underage prostitute.The Pac-Man Watch was a piece of Pac-Man merchandise that was originally owned by Tycho Brahe. He showed it off to Johnathan Gabriel as a way of bragging, only to be brutally tortured for it.
Canon Edit
According to canon, Tycho bought the Pac-Man watch and was forced to give it to Gabe after hideous torture that involved a lot of blood and gore.
Tycho once found Gabe's body in a pile of rubble. Rather than help him, he stole his watch back.
When Tycho started to insult Gabe about his frequent playing of Super Smash Brothers Melee, Gabe stabbed him in the eye with a bottle opener. He dumped the body in the garbage and took his watch.
As Gabe proclaimed that he was the Soul Calibur champion and is the greatest, Tycho hit him in the back of the head with a spade several times. He then placed Gabe's body on the couch and wore his watch once more.
Later, Gabe became friends with a group of murderous Pikmin and convinced Tycho to help him stop these Pikmin. Unfortunately for Tycho, the Pikmin were covered with tiny barbs and soon his arm was ripped off. The Pikmin handed Gabe the watch.
Tycho set a dog on Gabe as an example of what the only good thing Dead To Rights has. Gabe began to get attacked and his watch suddenly became visible. Canon states that Tycho has stolen his watch back.
Strangely, long after the Dead To Rights incident, Tycho attempted to acquire Gabe's stake in the company via a hostile takeover involving punching Gabe's head clear off of his neck. During this incident, Gabe's now headless corpse was still in control of the watch.
In part III of The Woods, a dead Tycho (presumably shot by Gabe) lay in the background with the watch visible as Gabe and the hunter discussed disposal of the body.
After insulting Gabe's inability to see 3D using the Nintendo 3DS, Gabe steals Tycho's eyes and the watch. The "Ballin'" comic was drawn live at PAX East 2011 duiring the Make a Strip Panel and the watch was retconned in at the request of the audience.
At Pax East 2012, Gabe is seen wearing the watch upon his death in the strip "Hermetically Yours". This suggests that Tycho is again in possession of the watch.
During a visit to Australia, Tycho is killed by a dropbear, which takes the watch. The dropbear is later shown following Gabe and Tycho on a flight, appearing outside the plane window still wearing the watch. However, Gabe retrieves the watch at some point, because he is wearing it while playing a VR horror game as Tycho prepares to stab him.
In "Canis Lupus", Gabe has again won the watch when Tycho attacks him with the aid of several wolves. Tycho claims the watch by rending Gabe's hand off with his teeth.
Trivia Edit
If you beat Tycho when he brings in his special item (this very watch) in Poker Night at the Inventory, you unlock the Pac-Man Watch for use with the Spy in Team Fortress 2. Here, it is called the "Enthusiast's Timepiece". Interestingly, its appearance in Poker Night is depicted with the face covered in blood, whereas the Team Fortress 2 version is not.
, you unlock the Pac-Man Watch for use with the Spy in. Here, it is called the "Enthusiast's Timepiece".Last week we posted a small selection of tantalizing HD preview stills from the upcoming release of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 on Blu-ray. With the July 30 release date fast approaching, we’re once again putting the spotlight on the gorgeous remastering of Star Trek: The Next Generation with another collection of high definition images from the 4th Season set for our readers to enjoy.
The selection showcases a variety of shots from a number of different episodes, including “Family“, “Reunion” and “Galaxy’s Child“. As usual, we have a full breakdown of the new shots, side-by-side comparisons with the SD DVD and extended analysis on the remastering. Enjoy!
Original SD (DVD) Remastered HD (Blu-Ray) Many episodes in Season 4 suffered from washed out color due to the limitations of the videotape resolution. The rescanned 35mm camera negative looks vibrant and fresh after being color timed by CBS Digital’s Colorist Marvin Hildebrandt. There’s some nice bluescreen compositing on display in this shot from “Family“, with care taken to reproduce the reflections of Earth in the observation lounge table. Fans can also relax as there’s a healthy amount of grain present with little DNR visible. The iconic matte painting of the Picard Family Vineyard in La Barre, France by Illusion Arts’ Syd Dutton always managed to amaze me when watching the series on TV and DVD, but remastered in high definition it simply blows me away. The improved color timing of the lush green vineyard and the blue skies gives the painting such a boost in realism. Tiny buildings in the background all of a sudden resolve into an ancient French chateau surrounded by 24th century architecture. Truly breathtaking! (“Family“) Certainly the shot which we’ve received most questions about, the Enterprise docked at McKinley Station in Earth orbit from “Family” has always been overly bright and toy-like in appearance. Modern Video‘s HD remaster certainly improves over the standard definition copy, retaining the original NASA photography of Earth that was used back in 1990 and giving us some wonderful detail in the model of McKinley Station. However, to my eyes the ship is still a touch too bright and could have really benefited from some more shading and blending to better integrate the Enterprise into the shot and give the shot a greater sense of realism. The trio of Talarian ships from “Suddenly Human” look fantastic composited into this shot. The detailing visible on the models is terrific – tiny little windows can now be distinguished, giving us a better reference to determine a scale for the ships. The vessels’ hulls now have a clear texture and configuration which was totally obscured in standard definition. Great work on display here – as well as the other shots of the Talarian ships we’ve shown (in our previous S4 images article) This shot of Starbase 133 from “Remember Me” was originally reused from Starbase 74 in the first season episode “11001001“. Modern Video have taken the original assets from CBS Digital (who remastered Season 1) and thrown |
divide largely fell between countries in favor of shifting to a “humane approach” that deals with drug use as primarily a public health issue, versus those nations still favoring a strict law and order approach.
As expected, Latin American countries took the lead in advocating serious drug reform, reflecting frustration over the violence and corruption that the drug trade has caused wherever it has taken root in the region.
Latin America Leads the Charge
Numerous Latin America presidents addressed the assembly with urgent calls for reform, with the leaders of Mexico and Colombia, the two countries that have historically suffered the most from the drug trade, taking center stage.
In an April 19 speech, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto told delegates, “We should be flexible to change that which has not yielded results, the paradigm based essentially in prohibitionism, the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ … has not been able to limit production, trafficking or the global consumption of drugs.”
Peña Nieto also declared Mexico would be taking steps toward reform, telling the assembly: “I am giving voice to those who have expressed the necessity of changing the regulatory framework to authorize the use of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes.”
To that end, Peña Nieto introduced a 10-point proposal for classifying drug use as a public health issue and moving away from the criminalization of users. The following day he announced he would send to Mexico’s Congress a proposal to legalize marijuana-based medicines and increase the amount of marijuana decriminalized for personal use from 5 to 28 grams.
Peña Nieto’s sentiments were echoed by his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos, who also called for a move away from repressive and punitive drug policies to alternative approaches focused on human rights and public health.
“After so many lives that have been destroyed, after so much corruption and so much violence, after so many young people being marched off to jail, can we say that we have won the war (on drugs) or at least that we are winning it?” Santos said. “Unfortunately the answer is ‘no.'”
Support for drug policy reform also came from other leaders from around the region.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, for instance, called for a more humane approach to drug control based on public health, saying “people, not substances” should be at the center of global drug policy.
“In this so-called war on drugs, countries like Guatemala have carried the worst burden, having suffered the injustice of lost human life,” Morales said as he denounced the ill effects the drug trade has had for countries located along major trafficking routes.
Morales, however, did not go as far as his predecessor Otto Pérez Molina, who had surprised the international community by advocating the decriminalization of drugs after taking office in 2012.
Speaking on April 21, Bolivian President Evo Morales added to calls for more humanistic drug policies while lambasting the “failed” anti-drug strategies promoted by the United States. He even went as far as advocating the dismantling of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), an agency Morales expelled from Bolivia in 2008.
Morales defended Bolivia’s traditional use of the coca leaf, the main ingredient in cocaine, and criticized the militarized approach to coca eradication. However, he added that Bolivia has no intention of legalizing drugs.
Among Caribbean nations at the UNGASS, Jamaica questioned why international law still classifies marijuana as if it were as dangerous as heroin. Jamaica decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2015, and created provisions for its medical, therapeutic, and religious use.
Consensus Sinks Outcome
Despite the impassioned pleas of Latin American leaders’ for a move away from the existing UN drug conventions’ emphasis on prohibition, those hoping for meaningful drug reform came away from the UNGASS frustrated.
On the special session’s opening day, member states adopted an “outcome document,” entitled “Our joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem” (pdf). The document, the result of months of advance negotiation in Vienna, Austria — home of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) — does not break with the framework of the UN’s current prohibitionist policies. Instead, it reaffirms a commitment to “promote a society free of drug abuse,” and recognized the three UN drug control treaties as “the cornerstone of the international drug control system.”
While the statement does acknowledge public health concerns and recognizes “alternative or additional measures with regard to conviction or punishment,” it does not discuss drug decriminalization or harm reduction, two central aspects of calls for reform. As a result, the “outcome document” has come under heavy criticism from drug policy advocates who say it amounts to little more than minor tweaks to the UN’s existing conventions.
A statement released by drug reform campaigners the Global Commission on Drug Policy (pdf) said: “The document does not acknowledge the comprehensive failure of the current drug control regime to reduce drug supply and demand. Nor does [it] account for the damaging effects of outdated policies on violence and corruption as well as on population health, human rights and well-being.”
Former presidents turned drug policy critics also condemned the results of the assembly. Ex-Colombian President César Gaviria Trujillo said the UN’s aim of a drug-free society is “unrealistic, totally naïve, almost stupid,” while ex-Swiss premier Ruth Dreifuss said “the world community is not ready, is not willing, to have the change of politic that is absolutely necessary,” reported the Guardian.
The reason for the outcome document’s boilerplate wording and lack of meaningful reform reflects how UN drug policies are formed: consensus.
Beyond Latin America, many nations continue to push for punitive, even draconian, anti-drug policies. Chief among these is Russia, which VICE News reports took an extremely intransigent stance during negotiations over the document’s text in Vienna. In addition to Russia, other drug hardliners include Indonesia, China, and Iran, all of which routinely execute drug offenders.
What Comes Next?
Ultimately, the UNGASS’ failure to make meaningful changes to existing international drug control conventions means it is likely nations will continue to diverge and experiment with drug policy at the national level, particularly with marijuana and particularly in the Americas.
This is most immediately apparent in the case of Mexico and Peña Nieto using the UNGASS to announce changes to marijuana laws. In this, Mexico is joining a host of countries around the region in liberalizing marijuana laws, not least Uruguay, which is set to soon begin implementing the state regulated legal sale of marijuana for recreational use, becoming the first nation worldwide to do so.
Further to the north, the United States looks set to maintain its role at the forefront of marijuana legalization, albeit despite, not because of the national government. Four US states, including Colorado and Washington, now allow the sale of marijuana for recreational use, while another 24 have legalized medical marijuana. Canada’s health minister, meanwhile, announced during the UNGASS that legislation to legalize marijuana would be introduced in 2017. Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a promise to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana, saying it would fix a “failed system.”
In addition to marijuana laws, reformist states are also likely to explore further policies with a focus on public health rather than law and order, as has already been seen — with varying levels of success — in countries across the region.
Given the powerful defenders of the status quo and glacial pace of building international consensus, national experiments are likely to represent the future of drug policy reform for the foreseeable future. What remains to be seen is whether prohibitionist international conventions will continue to dominate in the face of this challenge, or whether their global influence will be eroded by localized attempts to change the paradigm.Quick TB Test Builds Up Arsenal Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images
The people on the front lines of tuberculosis control have their hands full, but their biggest challenge for the moment may be containing strains of the disease that are resistant to drugs.
Worldwide the number of TB cases is going down. The bad news is that the number of drug-resistant cases is going up. The World Health Organization estimates that the number of reported TB cases that were multi, extremely- or totally-drug resistant doubled between 2009 and 2011.
Until recently, it was extremely difficult to even diagnose drug-resistant TB, particularly in developing countries where the disease is most prevalent. Tests had to be sent to fancy labs and could take up to three months to process.
But hope arrived a few years ago, in the form of a new screening tool called Xpert. It was designed to identify TB bacteria and the most common form of drug resistance in only two hours. But as a new technology, no one was quite sure how effective it was.
Now, a comprehensive analysis of Xpert's performance, published Thursday in the influential Cochrane Library, validates the test as an accurate tool for detecting resistance to one of the leading TB drugs, rifampicin.
At $17,000 for the machine and $9.98 for each test, Xpert is pricey. But this stamp of approval could encourage more health departments in TB endemic countries to spend the dough on this new method of testing.
In the study, researchers at the University of Washington and McGill University analyzed 18 previously published studies involving almost 8,000 TB patients.
They found that, compared to the conventional methods, Xpert could accurately detect a TB infection 88 percent of the time and rifampicin resistance 94 percent of time.
Health workers in the field are a fan of it, too. Doctors in Cape Town, South Africa working with Doctors Without Borders tell Shots the Xpert is a "game changer" in TB control.
They say that by identifying drug-resistant TB earlier, these highly dangerous strains of the air-borne bacteria can be contained and kept from spreading.
The Xpert machine examines the nucleic acid in a patient's sputum – the mucus coughed up from the upper respiratory tract. The spit is put in a cartridge, which is then stuck into the Xpert machine. Within two hours, a doctor will know if the patient has TB and if that form of TB is resistant to rifampicin.
In the conventional TB test, still widely used today, a medical worker looks for the bacteria under the microscope.
If there are signs of an infection, the sample is then sent out for confirmation by culturing the bacteria in a laboratory. This can take up to six weeks to get results, and testing for drug-resistant strains of the bacteria takes even longer.
TB is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease after HIV, killing an estimated 1.4 million people around the globe in 2011.WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 11: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), speaks at the 2013 Values Voter Summit, held by the Family Research Council, on October 11, 2013 in Washington, DC. The summit, which goes for three days, is attended by a number of Republican senators and high profile conservative voices in American politics. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
Though he thinks the project has been wasteful and inefficient, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Monday that he did not object to a provision in the government shutdown deal that allocated billions more to dam construction in his home state of Kentucky.
Speaking at a restaurant in western Kentucky, Paul was asked about the Olmsted Locks and Dam project, which received heightened scrutiny after lawmakers tucked funding for it into their shutdown solution. The senator, who is known for being fiscally conservative, notably didn't criticize the inclusion.
“It’s one of these things where we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t -- no pun intended,” Paul said. “Because we’ve gotten halfway into this thing, and it’s extraordinarily expensive and it’s a boondoggle, but we can’t stop, because we need the dam.”
The project, which began in 1988, focuses on creating a new lock and dam on the Ohio River between Kentucky and Illinois. Originally allotted $775 million, the venture received $2.918 billion -- a hefty boost -- under the shutdown agreement. The Senate Conservatives Fund criticized Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for the deal, calling it a "Kentucky kickback." McConnell responded, defending the Olmstead project, saying it actually saves taxpayer money.
“The Army Corps of Engineers requested the Olmsted Lock funding; both House and Senate passed an authorization for it. Every single member of the Senate had a chance to review it and none asked for it to be taken out. And the committee points out that this authorization actually saves $160 million for taxpayers and it’s pretty rare when you’re able to save money in a spending bill,” McConnell said.Louis Riddick details the many playmakers the Chiefs have and how the coaches have put the players in situations to succeed. (0:52)
So, you're saying there's a chance?
Thanks to ESPN's Football Power Index, we have an (early) look at every team's chances of making the playoffs, based on the first five weeks. Here's a rundown of the Week 6 Power Rankings as voted on by our power panel -- a group of more than 80 writers, editors and TV personalities -- with a special focus on those postseason odds.
ESPN Stats & Information's John McTigue contributed the following information.
Note: The Rams lost to the Seahawks, but Los Angeles jumped a few spots because these rankings are based on which teams voters think would win head-to-head matchups. So the Rams would be favored against lower-ranked teams. With our methodology, coming off a win doesn't guarantee a jump just as a loss doesn't guarantee a fall.
Previous rankings: Week 5 | Week 4 | Week 3 | Week 2 | Preseason
2017 record: 5-0
Week 5 ranking: No. 1
99.4 percent chance. No team is ever a lock to make the playoffs after five games, but the Chiefs are pretty close right now. They are undefeated, lead the NFL in scoring and haven't committed a turnover since the very first snap of the season. They have the best chances in the NFL through Week 5.
2017 record: 4-1
Week 5 ranking: No. 2
84.1 percent chance. Where would the Packers be without Aaron Rodgers? He has thrown an NFL-best six touchdowns in the fourth quarter this season, and four of the six TDs have come with his team trailing. Green Bay has the fifth-best overall chances of making the playoffs.
2017 record: 3-1
Week 5 ranking: No. 3
65.6 percent chance. The Falcons have a strong chance of making the playoffs as is, but they need to take advantage of a struggling Dolphins team at home this week. Why? Because after that, they play four of the next five on the road, with trips to New England, Carolina and Seattle.
2017 record: 4-1
Week 5 ranking: No. 8
86.0 percent chance. The Eagles have the best playoff chances in the NFC by a nose (one-tenth of a percent). What has the Eagles soaring? Ball control. They've converted a league-best 53 percent of third downs, and they've averaged a league-best 35 minutes, 32 seconds of possession this season.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 7
91.9 percent chance. Even with a below-average defense and two early losses, the Patriots' offense has been so good that New England has the second-best overall chance of making the playoffs. The Bills and Jets also are 3-2, but the Patriots are still the team to beat in the AFC East.
2017 record: 4-1
Week 5 ranking: No. 13
67.4 percent chance. Cam Newton is completing 68 percent of his passes this season, and he has thrown for 300 yards and three touchdowns in consecutive games for the first time in his career. His performance has the Panthers with the fourth-best chances of making the playoffs in the NFC.
2017 record: 3-1
Week 5 ranking: No. 4
57.7 percent chance. Denver's defense is the most efficient unit in the NFL, according to FPI, making up for any deficiencies from their 21st-ranked offense. The Broncos' next two games are against the Giants and Chargers, so their chances of making the playoffs could be on the rise.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 6
85.9 percent chance. The Seahawks have the second-best chances of making the playoffs in the NFC, and that's mostly thanks to their division rivals. Every other team in the NFC West ranks 25th or worse in efficiency this season.
2017 record: 2-3
Week 5 ranking: No. 12
16.9 percent chance. The Cowboys peaked at a 71.5 percent chance of making the playoffs following their Week 1 win. There's still plenty of season left for Dallas, which will regroup during its Week 6 bye.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 5
70.9 percent chance. Ben Roethlisberger's five interceptions at home were shocking, and the blowout loss to the Jaguars dropped the Steelers' playoff chances from 92.9 to 70.9 percent. It's a big drop, but they still have the fourth-best chances in the AFC.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 16
16.2 percent chance. That percentage might seem low for a 3-2 Rams team, but keep in mind that they currently rank 25th in efficiency, according to FPI. And despite his improvements, Jared Goff ranks just 15th in Total QBR through five weeks.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 24
82.2 percent chance. The Jaguars have the best point differential and best turnover differential so far this season, which is a big reason why they have the sixth-best overall chance of making the playoffs through Week 5 (third best in the AFC). But the Jags also have the easiest remaining schedule. That plays a big part, too.
2017 record: 2-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 14
27.0 percent chance. Washington's two losses this season have come against teams that are a combined 9-1, so its.500 record shouldn't look that bad. The Redskins have the second-easiest remaining schedule, so their record (and playoff chances) could improve.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 9
34.6 percent chance. The Lions have the eighth-best playoff chances in the NFC. Matthew Stafford has been sacked 18 times this season (tied for third most), however, and if the Lions continue to struggle protecting him, their chances might continue to slip.
2017 record: 2-3
Week 5 ranking: No. 11
12.3 percent chance. If the Raiders played in any other division, their outlook might be better than it is in the AFC West. But with Derek Carr injured and with the Chiefs and Broncos a combined 8-1, Oakland's chances have dipped to 12.3 percent after starting the season over 50 percent.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 16
36.8 percent chance. The Bills weren't given much of a shot by FPI at the start of the season (11.6 percent), but their chances have tripled since then, thanks to a three-win start. The Bills get some rest this week, before they play three at home in a four-game stretch afterward.
2017 record: 2-3
Week 5 ranking: No. 10
36.5 percent chance. Deshaun Watson has been exciting and currently leads the NFL in Total QBR, but his big numbers have still only translated to a 2-3 start for Houston. There's reason for optimism though, and the Texans' chances of making the playoffs are the highest for any team under.500.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 22
52.0 percent chance. The Ravens have two ugly losses, but their three wins have been by an average of 15.7 points. Two of their next three games are against the Bears and Dolphins, which is a big reason why Baltimore currently has a 52 percent chance of making the playoffs.
2017 record: 2-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 18
20.9 percent chance. The schedule is not a friend of the Buccaneers right now. Not only do they have the second-most difficult remaining strength of schedule, they have to play six of their next eight on the road.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 17
51.5 percent chance. Sam Bradford's health is a concern, but Case Keenum has more than held his own, keeping the Vikings' playoff chances over 50 percent. How good has Keenum been? Only Drew Brees and Alex Smith have thrown more passes without a pick this season.
2017 record: 2-3
Week 5 ranking: No. 23
17.5 percent chance. The Bengals head into their bye coming off back-to-back wins. Their chances of making the playoffs still aren't great, but considering that they dropped to 2.2 percent following their 0-3 start, 17.5 percent doesn't look too bad.
2017 record: 2-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 20
36.4 percent chance. The Saints' chances of making the playoffs dipped to 5.1 percent after an 0-2 start, but two straight wins in which the defense allowed a combined 13 points has those chances back up to 36.4 percent. If the defense can continue to limit opponents, their chances of making the playoffs could improve.
2017 record: 2-3
Week 5 ranking: No. 19
31.8 percent chance. The Titans were the favorite in the AFC South, according to FPI before the season, but because of Marcus Mariota's injury, they now own the third-best chances in division. With upcoming games against the Colts and Browns, however, the Titans could be back in the driver's seat soon.
2017 record: 2-3
Week 5 ranking: No. 21
6.9 percent chance. The Cardinals have had one of the biggest falls this season, opening the year with a 44.3 percent chance of making the playoffs. If they can't beat the Buccaneers at home this week, their chances could be all but nothing.
2017 record: 3-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 26
1.3 percent chance. The Jets have three wins! The unexpected start has nearly doubled the Jets' chances of making the playoffs. But don't get too excited. FPI gives still gives them the sixth-lowest chances in the NFL, but that's still up from 0.6 percent at the start of the season.
2017 record: 2-2
Week 5 ranking: No. 27
4.9 percent chance. Jay Cutler has the second-worst Total QBR in the NFL through Week 5, and the Dolphins are last in the league in scoring. If that's not bad enough, they also have the hardest remaining strength of schedule and no bye week to look forward to. Their low chances of making the playoff almost seem high.
2017 record: 2-3
Week 5 ranking: No. 31
0.8 percent chance. The Colts still have every division game remaining, and if Andrew Luck returns soon, the AFC South could look a lot different. But for now, with Jacoby Brissett and a league-worst minus-62 point differential, their chances of making the playoffs are just below 1 percent.
2017 record: 1-4
Week 5 ranking: No. 25
3.9 percent chance. This past Sunday against the Giants, the Chargers ended a nine-game losing streak stretching back to last season. That's the good news. The bad news is that the Chargers have only a 3.8 percent chance of making the playoffs, and with a three-game stretch against the Raiders, Broncos and Patriots coming up, that might have been their high point of the 2017 season.
2017 record: 0-5
Week 5 ranking: No. 29
<0.1 percent chance. The 49ers have virtually no shot at making the playoffs following a five-loss start. To their credit, four of their five losses have been by exactly three points, so at least they've been in most of their games.
2017 record: 1-4
Week 5 ranking: No. 28
<0.1 percent chance. Mitchell Trubisky had his growing pains in his regular-season debut (especially late in the game), but his performance on Monday gives Bears fans something to look forward to. One thing Chicago fans won't be looking forward to, though? The playoffs. The Bears have less than a 1 percent chance of making it.
2017 record: 0-5
Week 5 ranking: No. 30
0.5 percent chance. An 0-5 start has dropped the Giants to a less than 1 percent chance of making the playoffs. If you think the offense has been bad so far, just wait to see what we'll be saying after they play back-to-back games against the Broncos and Seahawks without Odell Beckham Jr.
2017 record: 0-5
Week 5 ranking: No. 32
<0.1 percent chance. It took the Browns five games just to take a lead in a game. Technically, they have some chance of making the playoffs, but according to FPI, that chance is below 0.1 percent. At least the Indians are still looking good.Share 0 SHARES
IT was a busy day yesterday for Britain’s Prince George as he began his first day at preschool, marked by a carefully choreographed photograph which made its way around the world.
His parents Prince William and Kate Middleton have said in the past that they hoped to ensure their children have a normal upbringing, and interacting with other young members of the public was set to serve that purpose.
However, if media reports are to be believed the future king grew immediately tired of his loyal toddler subjects as some had the audacity to answer questions posed by his teacher before he was allowed to answer.
“He’s sort of used to being the centre of attention, and being told he’ll rule over all these little shits one day, so I think he got quite cranky early on,” a Buckingham Palace insider explained to WWN.
“He started shouting ‘I want to go home’ but when a classmate of his said ‘we don’t go home until 2pm’ he completely lost his shit, and ordered the execution of everyone in the room,” the insider added.
The execution of 16 of George’s fellow pupils has been described as ‘regretful’ by the royal family as William and Kate had struggled to find a decent pre-school in their locality and with no more classmates left alive.
The search for a new school begins again.Publication date: 13-Sep-2012
In an alternative London, ruled by the young Queen Victoria, an enterprising lad can find adventure and opportunity - if he is very smart, and very, very lucky. Dodger has the brains, the luck - and the cheek - to scrape by on his own.
Everyone knows Dodger, and everyone likes Dodger. Which is a good thing, because life for a boy on the streets is anything but easy. And it's about to get seriously complicated as a simple haircut turns momentous when Dodger unknowingly puts a stop to the murderous barber Sweeney Todd.
From Dodger's encounters with fictional villains to his meetings with Darwin, Disraeli, and Dickens, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking tale of adventure and mystery, unexpected coming-of-age, and one remarkable boy's rise in a complex and fascinating world.
Beloved and bestselling author Terry Pratchett writes at the height of his powers, combining high comedy with deep wisdom, to the delight of fans old and new.How would life be different if your basic needs were met, regardless of what kind of work you did – or whether you worked at all?
That’s the provocative question posed by the Universal Income Project, whose founders spoke Wednesday afternoon at SXSW Eco. Jim Pugh and Sandhya Anantharaman, both of the San Francisco Bay Area, asked their audience to imagine what could happen if the U.S. government began cutting everyone a check each month, no strings attached.
The idea of universal income, also called basic income, isn’t new. Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for it in the Sixties as part of his anti-poverty campaign. It’s also been proposed by conservative economists Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. In the late Seventies the Canadian government tested the idea in the small agricultural community of Dauphin, Manitoba, with encouraging results. In June, Swiss voters considered, but ultimately rejected, a referendum that would have instituted a universal income. This year the Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator announced it will run a pilot study in which 100 families in Oakland will receive basic income for six months to a year.
Most of the participants in Wednesday’s session were already familiar with the idea of basic income and weren’t troubled by the biggest question that loomed for newcomers: Who pays for this? Pugh and Anantharaman’s strategy is to get people thinking about the possibilities first and hammer out the practical details later. When pressed, they suggested that one way to fund universal income would be to replace all other social welfare programs: take the money that currently goes to SNAP, public housing, Medicaid, even Social Security (already a basic income of sorts), and instead cut everyone a check. Another strategy is to increase taxes on … someone, presumably at the top of the financial ladder.
How much money are we talking about? Universal income should be enough to cover a person’s basic needs, but that’s a slippery concept. Is a cell phone a basic need? Is a car? And would the amount vary by location? Surely it takes more money to get by in Los Angeles than rural Wisconsin, one attendee pointed out. Plus, don’t we need work to give us a sense of purpose?
Skepticism aside, it’s easy to imagine the bright possibilities of a nation with basic income. For those struggling to get by, it could offer a cushion against chronic stress. It would provide at least a temporary safety net for people whose jobs are displaced by automation or shifts away from industries like manufacturing or coal. The policy might allow more new parents, or caregivers for elderly relatives, to take time off from work to focus on family. College students might feel freer to study a liberal arts field or go into teaching, rather than earn a degree in something perceived as more “practical.” Artists and musicians could focus on their craft instead of cobbling together part-time jobs. People who are already doing OK could use their basic income to invest in starting a business.
Of course, all this assumes that humans are rational actors, and that we wouldn’t simply revert to old habits despite being $1,000 or $2,000 richer each month. Various studies have shown that lottery winners’ lives don’t always improve after their windfall; that most people have a “happiness set point” they return to after events both good or bad; and that regardless of how much money we make, we tend to think it takes more to be happy. A world with basic income is still a world with human nature.Image caption Some Kansas residents are already using the service
Google has begun to connect US homes in Kansas City to super-fast broadband, offering residents speeds of up to 1Gbps (gigabit per second).
People living in the "fibrehood" area of Hanover Heights are among the first to use the service.
They are reporting speeds of about 700Mbps (megabits per second).
The product poses a challenge to established cable companies which typically charge more money with slower connections.
Google says it hopes its package will persuade people to spend longer on the web and try out new services.
However, it will need to convince consumers that they would benefit from access to such fast speeds.
In a blog post, Google Fiber's director of service delivery Alana Karen promised a "great service" for residents in Kansas City - which straddles the border between the states of Kansas and Missouri.
Curiosity project
Google is able to make the foray into broadband installation because it has been buying up so-called dark fibre from telecoms firms in the US in order to link up its data centres which are dotted around the US.
Image caption The service will be delivered mainly by overhead cables
It has also been investing in cheap fibre that has been laid by companies that have subsequently gone bankrupt before completing rollouts.
The service offers Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and is delivered via overhead cables on the poles that also bring power to homes.
Most analysts agree that the service has been competitively priced. The gigabit service is being offered at $70 (£44) per month with no installation charge. This package also comes with 1TB (terabyte) of storage on Google Drive.
Alternatively subscribers can opt for a broadband plus TV service at a price of $120 (£75).
The third option is to pay a one-off $300 (£189) installation fee in return for free broadband at speeds of 5Mbps.
"One could be unkind and suggest that the TV side of Google Fiber shows that TV over broadband is the rather mundane killer app, when for over decade we have had IPTV in the UK," said Andrew Ferguson, founder of news site ThinkBroadband.
As well as offering residents fast speeds, Google is also hoping to score points for excellent customer service.
"We'll show up when we're supposed to... we'll clean up any mess; each installer carries a vacuum clean. And we'll answer your questions and teach you about your devices - don't be afraid to ask us questions, or ask us to explain something again in simple language," said Ms Karen, in a blog post.
Sci-fi future
Some have questioned whether the project represents a serious commitment to broadband infrastructure.
There are probably people who would sell their soul to be living in a neighbourhood of Kansas City that has access to the service Andrew Ferguson, ThinkBroadband
"If Google Fiber has an ambition to roll out its fibre and TV services to more cities across the US then the project becomes much more than a curiosity, but with Google so far not connecting businesses it has the hallmarks of a grand experiment," said Mr Ferguson.
Steven Hartley, an analyst with research firm Ovum, thinks it is most likely that Google will use the city as a test-bed.
"This isn't the start of Google launching fibre networks all around the world. But it can use it to test how people use these networks," he said.
The project was first announced in 2010. Interest in the idea was huge with more than 1,000 towns and cities applying to be part of it.
Since Kansas City was selected, web and digital entrepreneur have moved into the city in the hope of benefiting from the new super-fast speeds.
"There are probably people who would sell their soul to be living in a neighbourhood of Kansas City that has access to the service, as they see fibre connectivity as part of the sci-fi future," said Mr Ferguson.
But whether such a project can be repeated in other cities around the globe remains to be seen.
"Fibre to the Home is certainly the gold-plated standard that to the best of our current knowledge is future proof, the problem being that unless every city in the world can find another 'Google' sitting on mountains of cash we will have to wait a few more years," he said.President Donald Trump directed the U.S.D.A. to open up lands restricted by the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in three states that lost millions of acres and thousands of head of livestock from wildfires.
“After touring a family ranch in Ashland, Kan., reporter Jack Healy wrote in the New York Times: ‘Dozens of their Angus cows lay dead on the blackened ground, hooves jutting in the air. Others staggered around like broken toys, unable to see or breathe, their black fur and dark eyes burned, plastic identification tags melted to their ears. Young calves lay dying,’” the In These Times website posted in a report on the wildfires.
“In cases such as this, the mortally injured animals are shot,” In These Times reported. “Ranchers are then tasked with burying or otherwise removing the carcasses strewn across the landscape.
“Depending on the size of the herd lost, this grizzly chore can take weeks,” In These Times reported.
“Ranchers are facing devastating conditions and economic calamity because of these wildfires and they need some relief, or else they face the total loss of their herds in many cases,” Acting Deputy Secretary Michael Young said in a press release announcing the action.
The agency has to get direction from the president to lift the restrictions, said to be to in place to “improve wildlife resources.”
The press release said:
The USDA action is required to direct the Farm Service Agency to permit the grazing on lands covered by the CRP, which exists to conserve and improve wildlife resources. In this case, the grazing will overlap with the primary nesting season of the lesser prairie chicken. CRP has procedures in place, already developed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to permit emergency grazing on protected lands during nesting season.
The governors of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico sent a letter last month to Young asking that restrictions to the CRP be lifted to provide more land for grazing, the Cattle Network reported. The governors wrote:
These fires have also devastated critical infrastructure, including fencing, on farms and ranches in our states. The Emergency Conservation Program provides critical financial resources to affected farmers and ranchers to rebuild fences. We urge the Farm Service Agency to expedite the implementation of the Emergency Conservation program in our states.
U.S.D.A. lifted the restrictions for three states — Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.
Losses in Kansas include 630,000 acres, 3,000 to 9,000 head of cattle, and $36 million in fencing. Oklahoma suffered the loss of 389,533 acres, 3,000 head of cattle, $2 million in lost structures, and $22 million in fencing. In Texas, 555,000 acres were burned, affecting 346 farms and ranches; 3,000 cattle and 1,900 swine were lost and owners are still unable to access the damage done to thousands of miles of fencing.
In 2012 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a two-month extension for emergency grazing “to provide assistance to producers impacted by the drought, which has included opening CRP and other conservation acres to emergency haying and grazing, lowering the interest rate for emergency loans, and working with crop insurance companies |
and more recently a heart attack. His wife is disabled and the pair's benefit income is less than £600 a month.
Mallet said he was "concerned about having to use the internet in order to set up and get benefits. I have never been on a computer." Citizens Advice said this unpreparedness was "widespread across people of all backgrounds and ages".
Gillian Guy, Citizens Advice chief executive, said: "Our report shows that an overwhelming majority of people do not feel ready to deal with universal credit. Our findings must act as a wake-up call for government.
"The results demonstrate yet again how vital it is that implementing universal credit is not left to chance. There is clearly a breakdown in the system if 90% of potential claimants are not ready to deal with this major change to their payments, and ministers must act urgently to address this problem."
She called on the government to allow claimants to request fortnightly rather than monthly benefit payments, and for recipients to ask that their rent continues to be paid directly to their landlord for the first year of the new system.
Labour said universal credit "is clearly in deep trouble". The party's work and pensions spokesman, Liam Byrne, said: "Universal credit is now in real danger of becoming universal chaos. This flagship programme is supposed to be ready in just months, but every aspect of the scheme still seems woefully under-cooked."
A Department of Work and Pensions spokesperson said the government was working with "councils, social landlords and community groups, including Citizens Advice, to offer support" to claimants.
"We have always been clear some claimants will need extra support ahead of universal credit. The four-year rollout of the new benefit will give us time to prepare people and give them the right help."Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney who was fired by President Trump, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post Sunday evening that lays out three ways to “restore faith in the rule of law.”
“First, we need a truly bipartisan investigation in Congress,” he wrote. “That means no partisan nonsense — just a commitment to finding the facts, whatever they may be, proving (or disproving) Russian interference in our election and anything related."
“Congress is a check and a balance, and never more important than when a bullying chief executive used to his own way seems not to remember the co-equal status of the other two branches,” he added.
“Second, the new FBI director must be apolitical and sensitive to the law-enforcement mission,” he continued.
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“Finally, I join in the common-sense call for an independent and uncompromised special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation,” he added.
Bharara was responding in part to Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey last week.
Trump fired Comey on Tuesday, saying in a letter that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended the action.
Although officials originally claimed Comey was fired for his handling of the Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE email investigation, Trump has linked the decision to the bureau’s probe into Russian meddling in the election.
“Jim Comey was once my boss and remains my friend,” Bharara wrote in the Post.
“I know that many people are mad at him. He has at different times become a cause for people’s frustration and anger on both sides of the aisle. Some of those people may have a point.”
But, he added, “I am proud to know a man who had the courage to say no to a president.”
“And in the tumult of this time,” he continued, many should be asking, “Are there still public servants who are prepared to say no to the president?"Two Asian American group of lawyers are opposing a band’s fight to call themselves The Slants, reports The Recorder.
The Asian American rockers from Portland, Oregon applied to trademark their name, but the Patent and Trademark Office denied it on the grounds the name is a racial slur.
The Slants lead my musician Simon Tam, say they are trying to reclaim a stereotype and turn it into an affirmation of their ethnic pride.
Both AAPI legal organizations, The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, D.C., have filed briefs opposing an appeal of the PTO decision. They say the PTO should not be required to “aid and abet [Tam] in imbuing the racial slur he chose as his mark with commercial value.”
The groups say if the trademark is approved, there would be no way for the PTO to disapprove names with a more malignant intent.
Tam responded on Twitter.
My email inbox is full of @NAPABA lawyers now asking “What Happened?!” since they thought the organization was supporting us — Simon (Young) Tam (@SimonTheTam) July 28, 2015
The case is expected to be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeal October 2.
Native American groups are also weighing in on this issue. You can read about that in reports The Recorder..
(Note from the editor: Previous versions of this story incorrectly called this a patent fight. The Slants have applied for a trademark)Note from the author: The following is an 8 part series examining Republican Mitt Romney like you’ve never seen him before. His family founded the Mormon religion on the shores of America and he’s a royal figure in this specifically political church. While some have been misled it’s just another form of Christianity or that Mitt is merely a volunteer, may this serve as an eye opener and I highly recommend sitting firmly before reading. Latter Day Saints are a powerful business empire and professional lobby in pursuit of theocratic control. Written in their tenets is the goal of becoming President and it’s one they’ve long sought after, to rule the people in a literal “government of (their) God”. It’s a long read yes, but it’s the only way to look at all the issues that range from blatant racism to anti-Semitism and nuclear warheads championed by the Church that have implications in today’s conflict with Iran. Bank fraud, anti-trust lawsuits, gay rights and control of the food industry are a few more surprises you’ll find along the way. Please be patient as the facts unfold, but if you’re anxious to see where it’s heading – links to parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 can be found at the bottom. In the final entry you’ll see disturbing references to the Holocaust and I forewarn my Jewish friends with heartfelt caution… it will not be easy to absorb. Same with my Indian and African American friends as you’ll observe throughout the entire series. It’s fraught with white supremacy that I do not support or condone. If we don’t speak up about this hatred though, no one will ever know to stop it. Moreover you’ll see how these beliefs translate to Mitt’s policies and that includes the strategy to deny minorities the right to vote. If you thought Republicans had strong support for Israel then you need to read this more than anyone. Once these issues are addressed you’ll observe a pattern of socialism for CEOs. When Mr. Romney was speaking about the 47 percent it was coming straight from a Mormon playbook and his duty to represent their interests is a priority far above the country. I can only summarize so much in a prologue and I hope you’ll stick with it to learn the truth beyond excessive spin in the headlines. If you’re hesitant to believe, then wait till you see what really happened to PBS and other things we never could have imagined. ***Please accept these are rough notes for a greater project and there may be language errors.
We’re about to embark on a journey to discover the makings of Mitt Romney, unlike any opportunity presented to us before. This is a backstage pass to view the presidential hopeful; unscripted, unedited and intimate as the utterings one might only whisper to the family dog. To facilitate the explanation of a tremendously complex businessman, this process must be patient and broken into segments.
Some material you may have seen before but most has managed to thrive in obscurity and few have sought to connect the myriad of loose ends with Mitt’s unwavering “no comment”. You’ll have to trust it’s all relevant until the eureka moments have a chance to percolate and by the end, no one can say this is simply a critique of faith.
The legend of Mitt is steeped in polygamy, misogyny, racism, anti-Semitism, corporatocracy, government and war. It is no easy task to explain these things and I caution against making assumptions until the repercussions can make themselves fully known.
To begin we must accept the arduous task of illuminating Mitt’s religious royalty. While constitutional rights ensure freedom of religion that is not the issue, nor would I try to make it one. What’s at stake is a conflict of interest between corporate tables of a global nature, a caveat regarding theo-democracy and the public’s equal right to be separated between church and state.
Republicans will accuse, “Oppression! Discrimination!” but I assure you this is not. The term religious royalty is just a good publicist’s way of cleansing plenty the campaign couldn’t otherwise dilute. If the Pope, Muhammad or Jesus was running to be the President of America, it would surely present an ethical conundrum. Therefore when the equivalent of a Mormon faith attempts the same, we’re tasked with answering a slew of questions they would rather pay millions to suppress.
In a calculated act of deceit, the prodigy downplayed his place in the church as simple and kind-hearted volunteerism. Upon examining the Romney legacy as Prophets, Apostles and founders of this religion though, it becomes clear Mitt the King-God is ascending exactly as the family instructed.
It may not be common knowledge but both his maternal and paternal makers partnered as architects of the new religion. It was the first unique doctrine to be patented in America or the western hemisphere for that matter; throughout the 1830’s between New York, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and finally Utah. It has no ancient roots and although any campaigner will tell you it’s Christian oriented, there is no religion like it and Christians who understand the tenets are some of the most vocal dissenters of Mormonism.
Recognized churches have denounced the practice as blasphemy and others teach it is a cult. That kind of in-depth knowledge is only shared by worshipers who attend Bible study and may explain why Republicans have been successful in equating Mormonism with Christianity. (Even if you’re not religious, the importance of this information will become apparent as the series transitions to business deals.)
With that said, Mormon creation begins with a fellow by the name of Joseph Smith Jr receiving a vision in the burnt out boroughs of New York at the age of seventeen. It was a time of religious excitement where revivals were commonplace and so was the practice of religious folk magic. In that regard Joseph earned extra income as a treasure hunter, by divining with seer stones he claimed to be sacred and powerful. The skill in using them comes from placing the stone in a top hat, sticking your face inside and waiting to receive the rock’s prophecy. Don’t forget this is the early days of pioneers and his whole family was employed by the same craft.
Among the fervor Smith claimed to receive a revelation from an angel named Moroni, to unearth a set of golden plates that had long been hidden near his home in Cumorah, NY. In September 1827 at the age of twenty-one, he reported to finally locate these relics along with a pair of holy seer stones that were needed to decode the inscriptions. In official Mormon collections, it is also said he employed a necromancer to aid in pinpointing the treasure’s location. (LDS Journal of Discourses by Brigham Young 1855, The Priesthood and Satan, pgs. 180-181, includes access to the church’s original scanned document). Necromancers are known today by those who play video games as the undead, those who talk to the dead and that hasn’t changed much since the time of Joseph Smith.
In any event these plates would become what is known as the Book of Mormon and young Joseph was directed as God’s newest Prophet to translate and deliver this substantially amended update to the more commonly accepted Bible. Although Latter Day Saints (LDS) still support his assertion the plates were written in Reformed Egyptian, there are no scholars in the world who will confirm the existence of what has become a Mormon concocted language. It was only known to Smith and is believed only by Mormon followers. According to the Bible it is also sacrilege to add new pages, but Mormons claim they’re the chosen few with divinity enough to change it. Right or wrong, here or there; this presents a sticking point in identifying oneself as Christian.
Despite popular resistance, Mr. Smith would continue translating the plates by harnessing magical stones left behind by the angels. As he would see the words they would immediately disappear, so no one could steal or share in the gift of prophecy. He kept the project secret and only business colleagues like the necromancer would provide testament to the plates’ existence. Nevertheless this work would be promoted as a sister to the Bible and depicted brave new examples like setting the real Garden of Eden in the heart of Jackson County, Missouri.
Signing on early was Mitt’s great-great grandfather Parley P. Pratt, as the founder and first editor of the faith’s official newspaper, Millennial Star. In this position he would devise marketing and communications to establish the new church in both England and America. Parley was quickly endowed as one of the first twelve Apostles and wrote many of the hymns still sung by congregations today.
Mitt’s great-great uncle Orson Pratt would also take the helm of communications. His most celebrated contributions came from editing the Book of Mormon and as a settler of the State of Utah. He created what became the modern day odometer, to measure wagon wheel revolutions upon mapping the Mormon Trail. His plotting was integral to avoid the army’s Oregon path, since this family of Mormon was attempting to flee the country.
The United States was only partially settled and mostly to the east. Both men on the Romney maternal side would play leading roles in the Vanguard Company, which was known to most as a Mormon militia intent on claiming new lands, so they could be left alone to rule their own theocracy. The only problem was they believed in violence to overthrow rules of the federal government and forced their beliefs on inhabitants whether they liked it or not.
First these Saints along with young Joseph Smith, settled in Kirtland, Ohio to colonize new towns for Mormon followers and their special beliefs. One of the greatest bones of contention with neighbours that drove the founding group from New York, was the doctrine of polygamy dearly held as a condition of reaching God-dom. Great-great grandpa Parley kept 12 wives and great-great uncle Orson kept 10 wives, as leaders within the church and affirmation of their Apostle duties. According to the University of Utah, it was Orson who promoted the practice so vigorously that he took to editing polygamy into sermons and the official covenant.
Amid the early hubbub, Mitt’s maternal ancestors visited England and converted great-great grandpa Miles Romney on the paternal side as well. Orson was the mission president, Parley fulfilled a similar calling and they found value in Romney’s devout skills as a carpenter. He was quickly absorbed into the hierarchy and brought to America with the other half of the family, where he would go on to build the first Mormon temples and a sacred residence for the church president.
What the founding family taught defies all logical explanation. Controversial highlights from Latter Day Saints include revelations that hinge on establishing America as a parallel Holy Land to that of Israel. Independence, Missouri is considered the new Jerusalem and if Bishop Mitt Romney was your teacher, you’d learn that Jesus is the brother of Satan (second entry, official LDS church) and the Archangel Michael is really Adam, the creator of all Christian humans. Adam and Eve were sent by Elohim from the planet Kolob to purposely eat the forbidden fruit, so they could transform into humans and give birth to men-Gods of which the Romney family occupies the upper echelon.
They believe Jews murdered Jesus rather than the Romans and not only that, but Jews are condemned to Lucifer’s minions if they don’t convert to Mormonism to repent for the greatest sin. (LDS Journal of Discourses by Brigham Young 1854, Spiritual Gifts & Hell, pgs. 142-143, includes access to church’s original scanned document.) Furthermore Jews are considered so vile, they’re believed to shed their sinfully marked colour to become “a white and delightsome people” if successfully rescued from Judaism.
Should they not accept Joseph Smith as the Prophet and fully absorb his American scripture, Mormons continue to preach that non converted Jews will receive the harshest punishment come the day of reckoning. At that time Saints in the Romney clan will build the new temple for Christ’s Second Coming, at the contested Temple Mount in Jerusalem while usurping it from both Jews and Muslims to become the righteous rulers.
Mitt’s founding Apostle/Uncle Orson elaborates more in a famous sermon that became part of the church’s official study guide to support the cornerstones of scripture. He prophesized Mormons will build that temple as the pure seed of God and inherit their desert Eden back from the evil rulers of Israel. This will complement the more bountiful Eden already bestowed to them in America, which they also address as their gift of milk and honey meted straight from the hand of Jesus. Essentially all the world will belong to Mormons as the only ones worthy of wielding God’s power. (Journal of Discourses by Uncle Orson Pratt 1877, pgs. 18-20, Revelation Gradual, Volume 19.)
I can safely say no other religion believes these things and my confusion was warranted when Netanyahu endorsed his modern day Mormon ruler for President of America.
In the second installment we’ll look at the founding of a truly theo-democratic state and why so many Mormons are compelled to seek this office, as ingrained by certified doctrine and the example set by Joseph Smith. The tenets of Mormon theocracy will be explored and how far the Romneys would go to protect their place will reveal itself throughout history.
In the meantime great strides were made in linguistics and this award winning documentary that debunks the translation of Mormon, took number one at a great many film festivals. Behold, the Lost Book of Abraham:This is the first installment in a three-part series on Reverend Barber and the Forward Together movement in North Carolina.
On Feb. 14, roughly 30,000 people got up early on a cold Saturday morning to march on the North Carolina state house in Raleigh to demand anti-poverty legislation, voting rights, healthcare access, LGBT rights, environmental justice, criminal justice reform, and reproductive rights. #MoralMarch, the official hashtag of the protest, was a top national trend on Twitter, and an image of the march posted on the US Uncut Facebook page was shared over 12,000 times and reached almost 1.5 million people. (Full disclosure: I'm one of the admins for US Uncut.)
Meanwhile, the lead story in the next day's Raleigh News & Observer, complete with a spread of 97 photos, was about a five-mile run in which participants ate a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts halfway through. Anchors of corporate-owned local TV news stations each spent 40 seconds talking over video of the march, briefly mentioning that it happened, and the News & Observer later gave the march a brief two-sentence summary on its website. So what is it about the Forward Together movement the media is so scared to talk about?
As Reverend Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and voice of the Forward Together movement, calls it a "deeply constitutional, deeply moral" battle against the worst forms of injustice, led by young people, minorities, and people of multiple faiths - the exact groups the current political regime is working to disenfranchise.
"The attacks are happening out of fear. They're not attacking us because we're weak," Barber said during an extensive interview at his hotel. "They're attacking us because when that demographic forms, we can fulfill the hope of Dr. King and form that demographic bloc that can shift the politics in the South. And if you can shift the South, you can shift the whole nation. After the election of Barack Obama, that demographic formed in places like North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and South Carolina. And the extremists saw that, and they said, 'we've gotta stop this.'"
The Forward Together movement is officially known as the Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) coalition, made up of 170 member organizations spanning multiple issues. HKonJ unites these groups under a 14-point agenda emphasizing an intersectional approach including: high-quality public education, living wages, healthcare for all, racial justice, voting rights, affordable higher education, fairness for state contracting, affordable housing, criminal justice reform, environmental justice, collective bargaining and worker safety, immigrants' rights, a new civil rights act, and bringing the troops home. Rev. Barber encourages other movements to adopt a similar approach and focus on pressuring state legislatures and governors, not Washington politicians.
"Most of the threats in this country are coming from the statehouses. It isn't coming from Congress. Congress isn't passing anything," Rev. Barber said.
With the financing of billionaire retail emperor Art Pope, extreme right-wing Republican politicians took a majority in the legislature in 2010 - the first post-Citizens United election in which multiple campaign finance laws were eradicated. In 2012, Pope funded Pat McCrory's successful campaign for governor, cementing the first Republican supermajority in North Carolina in over a century.
"I call them extremists, I don't call them Republicans," Rev. Barber said. "I know good Republicans, and these people aren't it... This extremist, Koch brother, tea party ideology is dangerous for the future."
McCrory reciprocated by making Pope his administration's budget director, and not long after, budgets for schools, healthcare, housing, environmental regulation, unemployment compensation, and social safety nets for the impoverished were slashed in favor of generous new corporate tax breaks for big businesses like Pope's. Governor McCrory refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which effectively signed the death warrants of anywhere between 400 to 1,100 North Carolinians, according to a Harvard study.
North Carolina also passed one of the nation's most draconian voter suppression laws, which limited early voting, ended same-day voter registration, and included strict requirements on what kind of photo ID is acceptable for voter registration (student photo ID is not accepted). The North Carolina NAACP has since filed a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina in federal court challenging the restrictions on voting. The group won an injunction in the 4th circuit and is taking the case to trial on July 6.
"Extremists, in their hubris, they won't back off. They keep making mistakes. They're trying to stop a future from coming that they cannot stop," Barber said.
"You're attacking the dreams of these children's grandparents, and they understand that. When you roll back voting rights, you're telling these children, 'We're gonna dishonor your grandmama and your mama,' and you just don't do that."
In comment threads on News & Observer articles, the Forward Together movement's detractors claim that despite constant protests, Republicans won the U.S. Senate election in North Carolina last November. However, Rev. Barber pointed out that despite all of the restrictions on voting, two traditionally red counties - Hyde County and Jackson County - turned blue last election for the first time since 2008, and that Republican Thom Tillis only beat Democrat Kay Hagan by 1.7 percent.
"We're changing the politics of the state," Barber continued. "We're challenging our legislators and governor to be true to the constitution and true moral values - not to put their hand on the bible, swear to uphold the constitution, then violate the basic principles of both."
The facts back up Rev. Barber's case. Multiple surveys conducted by Public Policy Polling found that a majority of North Carolinians (54 percent) think giving teachers a raise should be a bigger priority than cutting taxes. Fifty-five percent of North Carolinians thought that those teacher raises should come from increasing taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year as opposed to the state senate's proposal of cutting teachers' assistants. Gov. McCrory's approval rating was once at 50 percent, but dipped as low as 39 percent. The Republican legislature had polled as high as 40 percent, but after the consistent protests at the capitol, they polled as low as 18 percent.
"It wasn't that way when we started. But the movement has shifted the culture. And we hope that more of those who are against us will continue to turn," Rev. Barber said. "Lyndon Baines Johnson didn't want to pass the Voting Rights Act, but Dr. King and the NAACP shifted the consciousness of the nation and made him do it."
Stay tuned for part II of this series, which compares the organizing efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s to the organizing efforts of Reverend Barber and the Forward Together movement today.By Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News
An eye stamp: the equivalent of the modern medicine label
But they were also pioneers in the health arena - particularly in the area of eye care, with remedies for various eye conditions such as short-sightedness and conjunctivitis.
Perhaps most surprisingly of all is that the Romans - and others from ancient times, including the Chinese, Indians and Greeks - were also able also to carry out cataract operations.
The Romans were almost certainly the first to do this in Britain.
Surgical skills
Nowadays the procedure can be carried out with the help of ultrasound, but in Roman times technology was rather more basic - needles were inserted into the eye.
The sharp end of the needle was used for surgery and the blunt end heated to cauterise the wound.
A needle is to be taken, pointed enough to penetrate, yet not too fine, and this is to be inserted straight through the two outer tunics
Celsus, Roman author
Blows to the head were sometimes used to try and dislodge the cataract.
Dr Nick Summerton, GP and advisor to the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has written a book "Medicine and Health in Roman Britain".
In it, he details how various medical instruments found in Britain indicate that the Romans carried out other advanced procedures, such as head surgery and induced abortions.
"Archaeological finds of eye medicine stamps, representations of eyes together with a sickness report from the Roman fort at Vindolanda suggest that eye diseases were a particular concern within Roman Britain," said Dr Summerton.
"Interestingly the Roman author Celsus described cataract extraction surgery using a specially pointed needle - and possible cataract needles (specilla) have been found in Britain as well as elsewhere in the Roman Empire."
Detailing the procedure Celsus said: "A needle is to be taken, pointed enough to penetrate, yet not too fine, and this is to be inserted straight through the two outer tunics.
"When the (correct) spot is reached, the needle is to be sloped.........and should gently rotate there and little by little."
The Romans were famed for their public baths
Dr Summerton explained how eye doctors (oculists) manufactured ointment sticks (collyria) stamped with the ingredients and the name of the eye specialist.
These were used to treat a range of eye problems such as conjunctivitis and other inflammatory or infectious eye condition in addition to short-sightedness.
A large number of the eye remedies contained antiseptics in one form or another.
"The vinegar lotion of Gaius Valerius Amandus (from a stamp found at Biggleswade) or the copper oxide of Aurelius Polychronius (from a stamp found at Kenchester) would have been very effective antiseptics either in treating conjunctivitis or in preventing any scar on the eye becoming infected while it healed."
Excavations provide clues
Dr Summerton has also discovered that religion played an important role in eye care.
"It may be somewhat artificial to seek to rigidly separate out the spiritual from the physical aspects of Romano-British health care," he said.
"At Wroxeter in Shropshire there may have been a particular focus on eye care with the discovery of two collyrium stamps in the names of Tiberius Claudius and Lucillianus together with a case of probable surgical instruments including an eye needle for cataract extraction.
"However, this evidence of 'physical medicine' is complemented by the presence of eye votives (offerings to the Gods).
"In 1967 a piece of sheet-gold in the shape of a pair of eyes was found at the north-west corner of the Baths-Basilica.
"In the same area bronze eyes have been unearthed in addition to numerous eyes carved from wall plaster.
"Wroxeter has also yielded an altar to Apollo who was considered to have a particular association with eyes."
Dr Alex Ionides, eye surgeon at Moorfield eye hospital said an ancient method for treating cataracts was referred to as "couching".
"A cataract is a clouding of the lens, which loses its transparency and becomes misty and foggy and white," he said.
"The lens is held in place within the eye by multiple radial'strings' called zonules. These become weaker with age and with cataract formation.
"'Couching' breaks these weakened strings so that the lens is no longer suspended in the correct position and falls away from the pupil, dropping into the back of the eye, allowing light into the eye once more.
"There are different ways of performing couching, one is with a blunt stick to 'knock' the eye hard from the outside, thus dislodging the lens from the zonules by sheer blunt force.
"Another form of 'couching' was with a sharp metal probe that would be inserted, without anaesthetic through the edge of the iris, into the eye, and wiggled around to dislodge the cataract from the pupil.
"It wasn't until the 18th century that Daviel in France suggested opening up the eye and removing the cataract.
"This technique met with various success and blinded many people including Handel, who as a result of his cataract surgery, was blind for the last few years of his London life."
Cataract surgery is now the commonest operation performed on the NHS with vastly superior techniques and generally excellent visual outcomes - although no surgery is without some risk.After seven seasons, Game of Thrones has reached the point where dragons are burning people to crisps on one hand and the army of the dead is marching south on the other, making it hard to tell which way this epic battle between fire and ice will ultimately tip.
But in terms of its color, at least, Game of Thrones is more fire than ice — for now.
We analyzed the series’ use of color in all 67 episodes so far, capturing the screen every 10 seconds and averaging the colors in each image. We found that scenes where the average color is warm — that is, closer to red than blue — outnumber the ones with cold colors.
Westeros’s long summer, scenes from tropical-looking Essos, and occasional bursts of dragon fire have accounted for much of the series’ warm scenes. But as Game of Thrones’ main action shifts to the North and beyond the Wall, things have started to cool considerably. Season seven — which alternated between extremes of dragon fire and the icy North — was more cool than hot.
Hue is only one part of the Game of Thrones color story, though. The series has also seen a steady decline in its overall warmth and saturation, a seeming portent of the long winter the series has been promising since the beginning.
To illustrate these trends, we’ve generated an annotated, interactive color spectrum for each episode for you to explore. But first, some key data points.
The darkest and brightest episodes
The darkest episode of the series to date is “Blackwater,” the penultimate episode of season two.
The Battle of Blackwater Bay, between Stannis Baratheon’s fleet and the Lannisters’ King’s Landing army, is fought at night, which accounts for the episode’s permeating darkness. The entire episode stays in King’s Landing — with a brief cutaway to show Stannis’s ships making their way across the Narrow Sea — so there are no scenes from other locations to break up the color pattern. The only flash of color in this episode comes from the fluorescent green of the wildfire blaze that destroys Stannis’s fleet.
“Watchers on the Wall,” the ninth episode of season four, is almost as dark as “Blackwater.” Like “Blackwater,” this episode also centers on a nighttime battle, when Mance Rayder’s army of wildlings clashes with the Night’s Watch at Castle Black.
In contrast, the brightest Game of Thrones episode was the very first one of the series.
This makes sense: When the series opens, it’s still summer, and there are a lot of outdoor daytime scenes that contribute to the episode’s overall brightness. Scenes from the bright, warm Pentos, where Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen are living in exile, are a big contributing factor.
Explore the color spectrums of all 67 episodes
There’s a lot of episode-to-episode variation in colors throughout the series. So with that in mind, we’ve stitched together the average colors in every single one of Game of Thrones’s 67 episodes so far. The result is an annotated, interactive color spectrum for each episode that you can explore.
What is color anyway?
There are some loose trends we can pull out of Game of Thrones’ overall color story. But before going any deeper into the analysis, let’s back up a bit: To fully understand what’s going on here, it’s helpful to know how color is represented.
One of the ways to convey color in a digital image is by breaking it into its three properties: hue, saturation, and lightness. This is called the HSL color space.
When we name colors, we are usually referring to their hue. Red, blue, orange, pink, etc. are hues. Hue is measured in degrees, starting with red at 0 degrees, transitioning to cyan at 180 degrees, and then coming back full circle to red at 360 degrees. Colors in the top half of the circle are considered warm colors, and those in the bottom half are cool colors.
The second property, saturation, reflects the purity of the color by measuring how much gray is mixed in. Saturation of 0 percent is entirely gray, while 100 percent is the purest version of the color.
Lightness is the amount of white in the color. When lightness is at 0 percent the color is black, and when lightness is at 100 percent the color is white.
The human eye is not very adept at perceiving these properties independently. For instance, it’s easier to discern which color is lighter between two shades of red than it is to discern which color is lighter between different colors.
But we can examine subtle shifts in each property independently by ignoring the other two properties.
Here are three colors with their hue, saturation, and lightness values. All of them look muddy and not drastically different from one another:
But if we ignore changes in saturation and lightness by setting them to the same value across the board, we can see the hues more clearly:
And here is what saturation looks like if we ignore hue and lightness:
The color patterns of Game of Thrones season seven came down to dragons versus Night King
Using the methods outlined above, we analyzed the average hues and saturation for each episode and each season of Game of Thrones.
As Daenerys made her way toward Westeros over the first six seasons of the series, the show’s average hue shifted toward cooler colors. The saturation also dropped, resulting in bleaker tones as the main characters spent time in the dreary North, imprisoned in poorly lit dungeons, or battling in the dark.
Season seven’s hue was all over the place, oscillating between extremes as ice and fire clashed against each other. Whenever dragon blaze pushed up the warmth, the snow and ice of the North was there to counteract it.
As the season concluded, cooler colors took the upper hand.
While hue fluctuated from one episode to the next, however, saturation largely stayed put. The colors looked muted in a majority of scenes.
And one aspect of Game of Thrones’ color has remained consistent throughout the entire series: It has always been incredibly dark.
Game of Thrones’ seventh season was the series’ coldest so far, as well as one of the bleakest. It remains to be seen whether season eight will bring more fire or ice.Days after President Trump signed an executive order on refugees and immigration, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted that she’s thinking about Khizr Khan and “a vet who fought with those now excluded.”
What I'm thinking about today:
Khizr Khan:https://t.co/wrHK7IkBrG
And a vet who fought with those now excluded:https://t.co/4LhNIT8xVo — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 31, 2017
Trump signed an executive order Friday that barred citizens from seven countries in the Middle East and Africa known to be terror hot spots from traveling to the U.S. for 90 days. It also imposed a 120-ban on the refugee program.
The Khans are from Pakistan, however, which is not one of the seven countries included on Trump’s list.
The link referencing Khan was to an interview with him in the New Yorker about the executive order, which he said was "un-American."
“It’s against the safety of my country. I say to President Trump and his security advisers, the drafters of these executive orders, to get out of the White House and go to Arlington Cemetery and stand in front of all the tombstones and learn from observation that Muslims, and people from all other faiths, have given their lives to protect the Constitution and values of pluralism and equal protection,” he said.
She also linked to an op-ed in The New York Times about an Iraqi interpreter who, after helping the Marines, will no longer be able to come to the U.S. after a six-year vetting process.A game update for Hitman planned to roll out on January 31 will introduce support for High Dynamic Range for those with supported displays, Io-Interactive has announced.
"As an example, think of 47 in a dark room looking out a bright window. Without HDR you would not be able make out what's outside, whereas with HDR you can simultaneously see details inside the room and outside the window," explained IOI Programmer Anders Wang Kristensen.
"Another extreme example is the sun. Without HDR we could not render the sun brighter than a white piece of paper, so we had to ‘simulate’ the sun being blinding. With HDR we can draw the sun several times brighter, so that |
(R-Texas), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, which oversees payday lenders, led congressional recipients by collecting $210,500 from the industry.
Payday lending has been the subject of controversy, as lawmakers and regulators grapple with how to deal with the industry.
Critics say the short-term loans target cash-strapped consumers and charge them exorbitant fees if they can't repay, dragging them into endless cycles of debt.
Many Democrats and consumer advocates complain that payday lenders prey on desperate borrowers, but Republicans say they provide low-income people with access to much-needed cash they otherwise would not qualify for at a traditional bank.
According to the report, payday and other types of predatory lending companies spent more than $15 million trying to influence lawmakers during the 2013-14 election cycle, including $11 million in lobbying and $4 million in campaign contributions.
The biggest spenders included the Online Lenders Alliance ($2.1 million), Cash America International ($1.8 million), Community Financial Services Association ($1.7 million), American Financial Services Association ($1.3 million) and JLL Partners ($1 million).
These included not only payday lenders, but also other types of lenders that the report considered "predatory."
Republicans were the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from payday lenders.
Rounding out the top 10 congressional recipients, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) received $105,300; Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) received $95,600; Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) received $85,757; Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) received $80,700; Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) received $76,630; Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) received $75,350; Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) received $62,800; and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) received $57,870.
The report noted that some of the donations mentioned above may have been given to independent political committees supporting these candidates, rather than directly to the candidates' campaigns.After Led Zepplin, Take That and Kate Bush, it’s now the turn of the Artist Formally Known As The Flying Tomato; Shaun White appears set to launch a dramatic (and no doubt lucrative) comeback.
Just a few days ago, Shaun shocked the snowboard community with an announcement on Facebook that he was taking time out from the sport to concentrate on his music interests:
“It’s a huge career change for me to be doing music but I think my roots will still remain in the sports side of things.”
Guess who’s back, back again… Photo: Adam Moran
While some expected this move following the disappointment of missing the medals in Sochi and a recent movie in which it was clear Shaun’s passion now lay with his band Bad Things, the sudden U-turn just three days later has surprised everyone – and must be the quickest comeback since Floyd Mayweather’s last false retirement.
What’s more, he’s done it in style, unveiling a trick which he had presumably been planning to launch in the Olympic finals but which – according to sources in the States – he’d been unable to try thanks to a controversially soft pipe in Sochi.
The latest insane move is a frontside triple 1440, captured here during training at a private pipe prior to the Games. And the name? The YOLT Flip – or “You Only Live Twice” – a direct poke at iPod, the man who dethroned him in Sochi with his signature YOLO flip.
Unfortunately there is no video footage of the trick as of yet, but for now we have this sequence shot. Stay tuned for the inevitable GoPro edit.
The You-Only-Live-Twice Flip. Photo: Adam Moran
“Make no mistake, Shaun’s hungrier than ever,” claimed Shaun White Enterprise’s Asian market co-ordinator Fu Lin. “The trick took weeks to perfect – we built the pipe on a volcano in Kamchatka, which was close to the conditions we expected to meet in Sochi but far from prying eyes. The walls were actually bigger than a standard superpipe and we had to trigger an avalanche to get enough snow.”
Presumably he felt taking some time off before unveiling the YOLT would make it more dramatic, although we can’t help but think it’d have hit home harder if he’d waited more than three days. Still, if it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for El Blanco.
What do you think? Is the ginger top back on top? Or will iPod live thrice? Let us know in the comments below.It’s only been 2.5 months since Angular 1.5 came out, introducing components. Most companies haven’t even had the chance to upgrade yet. Yet, in the mean time, the Angular team released 3 more releases.
With 1.5.3 components have become a bit smarter and a bit more compatible with Angular 2. This new version introduced some new and useful lifecycle hooks to directive/component controllers. Let’s take a deeper look at how these can help you write cleaner code!
Recap: $onInit
I’ve previously written on $onInit, the first lifecycle hook introduced with version 1.5.
It provides you with a nice and clean place to initialize your component after all of its bindings have been set.
This roughly maps to Angular 2’s ngOnInit.
New: $onChanges
This new hook is similar to ng2’s ngOnChanges. It is called whenever one way bindings are updated, with a hash containing the changes objects.
Prior to this hook you sometimes had to use a $watch in order to do some work whenever a value you’re bound to changes. Using this hook makes things clearer and removes the need to introduce a watch and a dependency on $scope.
New: $onDestroy
A hook that gets called whenever the controller’s scope is being destroyed.
Whenever you used external resources, or add DOM listeners, in your component you’d (hopefully) use $scope.$on('$destroy',...) in order to clean up when your component would get destroyed.
This hook, similarly to $onChanges, makes things simpler and saves us a dependency on $scope.
Unsurprisingly, this is equivalent to ng2’s ngOnDestroy.
New: $postLink
This isn’t something that comes up often, but maybe you got bitten in the past by the difference between a directive’s link function and the directive controller’s function.
These two do not run at the same time: the former runs after the DOM is ready while the latter isn’t.
This means that for some DOM manipulation and operations you had to work harder in order to perform it in a component (or maybe you had to use a directive).
Now we can use $postLink and know that all of our child components are ready. This, together with the $element injectable we have in components makes it even less likely that you’ll need to write an old-style directive. w00t!Kellie Leitch is quite pleased about her appearance on the front cover of the latest issue of Maclean’s, and the reaction it’s provoked among “elites”.
In a new fundraising email pitch to supporters, which landed in inboxes late Saturday evening, the Conservative leadership candidate lambastes “the media and glitterati” who’ve been blowing one gasket after another since she proposed screening immigrants for Canadian values.
“Now they’ve blown another gasket because I am on the front cover of Maclean’s,” she says in the email.
The front cover she’s referring to, if you haven’t seen it, features Leitch holding a Canadian flag with the provocative question: “Are you Canadian enough?”
What a plan to screen immigrants says about the country—and the leadership hopeful who suggested it https://t.co/Dy5RV8TyuR pic.twitter.com/msg1CmizlJ — Maclean’s Magazine (@MacleansMag) September 25, 2016
“Do you know what has them so upset? It is because I’m proudly holding a Canadian flag! That’s right, the self-hating Canadian elites can’t stand the idea of a proud conservative standing up for Canada and Canadian values,” she says.
“First of all, because they don’t believe there are such things as Canadian values, and secondly because they don’t think our values are best in the world. Well I think that’s nonsense.”
The email ends with her asking supporters to help her become prime minister so she can defend Canadian values, which include tolerance and pluralism.Tonight is the Night!
Join us tonight at 8pm EST for the release of the Preliminary Subdivision Assignments and Match Schedules on First Updates Now! Just as the show is getting started, Preliminary Assignments will be available here and the Preliminary Match Schedules will be available at the links below:
Archimedes
Carson
Carver
Curie
Galileo
Hopper
Newton
Tesla
Please keep in mind that these Subdivision Assignments and Match Schedules are preliminary. Occasionally, not all the teams we expect to be at Championship are actually able to make it, and this would lead to new Match Schedules being generated and sometimes Subdivision changes. For this reason, please do not re-host or otherwise pass along these documents, other than providing the links above, until they become official. Official Match Schedules will be published here sometime on Wednesday (4/27), once all the teams have checked in.
Einstein Playoff Matches
We have made a change to the setup of the Einstein Playoff Matches for 2016. During lunchtime on Saturday, the Hopper field will be converted into the Energy field, and the Newton field will be converted into the Mass field. This will allow for the Einstein Playoffs to be played on the same side of the Dome as the Closing Ceremonies. Final Einstein Matches will be held on a single field, which will be the Mass field.
Social Media Toolkit
Join the conversation and help us #makeitLOUD! The Social Media Toolkit provides you with thought-starters, daily themes, ready-to-share content, and quick-links to our official pages. Even if you aren’t attending the FIRST Championship in St. Louis, you can participate in the conversation with us! Send shout-outs to your favorite teams competing! Share your favorite stories and memories from the 2016 season! Help us #makeitLOUD during the #FIRSTChamp event!Greens' Sydney office attacked by vandals
Updated
The New South Wales Greens say their state office in Sydney has been damaged by vandals.
Police have been called to investigate the attack in which excrement was smeared on the building and the locks vandalised.
Greens MP David Shoebridge has released a statement saying there are rising levels of vitriol and anger within the public debate in New South Wales.
"This attack is not just an attack on the Greens, it is an attack on the way we conduct our public debate," he said.
"We are building to what will be a hard fought State election campaign in March 2011.
"I am hopeful that this kind of attack will be broadly condemned and we spend the next five months debating principal and policy, not heat and light."
The MP says the attack will not impact on the Greens' work.
Topics: vandalism, government-and-politics, political-parties, greens, law-crime-and-justice, crime, sydney-2000, australia, nsw
First postedDr. Joe Paul Returns to Southern Miss Staff in New Advancement Role
University of Southern Mississippi Vice President Emeritus for Student Affairs Joe Paul will return to Southern Miss to assist in raising funds and strengthen support of the University, effective Monday, Oct. 5.
Paul will collaborate with The University of Southern Mississippi Foundation and the Southern Miss Athletic Foundation to focus on cultivating existing relationships and developing new partnerships that will help expand the University’s reach. Paul will be a key component of the External Affairs division – which also includes the USM Foundation, Southern Miss Alumni Association, Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship, and Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families.
“Joe Paul brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team. The ties that bind him to our institution will be a valuable part of establishing stronger connections with our alumni base,” said Chad Driskell, vice president for external affairs. “He is a valuable resource that will play an instrumental part in our efforts at the USM Foundation and Alumni Association.”
Paul will work closely with Southern Miss Athletic Director Bill McGillis, Senior Associate Athletic Director Brian Morrison and the Athletic Foundation’s development team in growing Eagle Club memberships and raising funds to support the athletics program.
“I may be the luckiest athletic director in America today to have Joe return to the University and play a key role in raising funds for the intercollegiate athletics program,” said Bill McGillis, Southern Miss athletic director. “Joe will be a tremendous addition to our team and a great asset.”
After 39 years of building relationships, influencing students and remaining dedicated to Southern Miss, Paul retired from the vice president for student affairs’ position on June 30, 2015. During his tenure, Paul was responsible for significant achievements, including the creation of the Luckyday Citizenship Scholars program and construction of more than $100 million in student-dedicated facilities, such as The Payne Student Recreation Center, The Sorority Village, Century Park North and South, and Moffitt Student Health Center, among others.
“I am excited about returning to my alma mater to assist with university advancement,” said Paul. “I am confident I can leverage 40 years of great relationships with our alums and friends to increase investments in our University’s bright future.”
A Bay St. Louis native, Paul earned two degrees from Southern Miss, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science in 1975 and a master’s in communication and management in 1978. In 1986, he earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Alabama. His many honors include induction into the Southern Miss Alumni Hall of Fame in 2000.
Before becoming vice president for student affairs in February 1993, Paul held a variety of positions on campus, including assistant director of student activities, assistant vice president and dean of student development. He also holds faculty rank in USM’s College of Education and Psychology, teaching in the graduate program in educational leadership.uab football 1.JPG
UAB hasn't made a formal decision yet, but athletic director Mark Ingram believes football returning in 2017 makes more sense than 2016.
"It's more ideal if we tried to do it in (2017), so we didn't do it so rushed," Ingram said. "Let's do it right rather than fast so that we keep all these things at the forefront - the safety (of players) and the respect of our peers. But if we found out through various channels that playing in (2016) was our only option, that's what we'll do."
Ingram has been in frequent contact with Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky about the timeline for football's return since Monday's decision to reinstate football, bowling and rifle. UAB disbanded its program last December and lost at least 56 players from its 2014 team though no one seems to know the exact number of players still on campus.
UAB has no intentions of spending time in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level and plans to stay at Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), according to Ingram, but will need to decide when it wants to return to that level. Once UAB chooses its return date, it will be able to determine its strategies for recruiting, staffing, scheduling and everything else that comes with the rebuilding process. In order to stay at the FBS-level, UAB will need 76 scholarship players on its roster based on a two-year rolling average.
The school could also apply for NCAA waivers to sign more recruits and get extra years of eligibility for players that stayed on campus, among other options. The Associated Press reported earlier this week that players who remained on campus would lose a year of eligibility in 2015.
One option that could be at UAB's disposal is to sign 25 junior college recruits and early enrollees in December, plus another 25 recruits in February. Ingram doesn't view that as a viable option, though. He fears that pushing a team with too many young players back to action could create health risks.
He stressed the need to do this the right way rather than rushing to get back. Banowsky made a similar point in an interview with AL.com after UAB announced it was reinstating its football program.
"If we tried to sign 50 players in the upcoming signing class, that's going to give heartburn to our peers in the league," Ingram said. "Whether it should or it shouldn't, the reality is it does and we respect that. They've been very generous to us and supportive of us as wanting us to stay in the league, so we want to do all this respectfully to them, too."
Conference USA said in a statement Thursday that it wasn't taking any action regarding the school's membership. If UAB hadn't reinstated football, it would have needed to find a new conference home in 2016-17.
Ingram will work with head coach Bill Clark, who has been in regular contact with the school, about the best course of action. The UAB athletic director thinks the likely model will be to "sign a normal-sized class two years in a row, get a few junior college guys, a few fifth-year guys who want to play a bit and get a few transfers."Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Commander Chris Hadfield has opened the wonders of space travel to a new generation (footage courtesy of Chris Hadfield, Nasa and CSA)
Space station commander Chris Hadfield has told BBC News that those calling for a quick return of manned missions to the Moon are seeking "titillation".
His comments were in response to suggestions that the International Space Station (ISS) served little purpose.
Commander Hadfield has been a Twitter sensation with his feed of comments, photos and videos showing what life is like in space.
He is due to return to Earth on Tuesday.
"We will go to the Moon and we will go to Mars; we will go and see what asteroids and comets are made of," he told BBC News.
We will go to the Moon and we will go to Mars. But we're not going to do it tomorrow and we're not going to do it because it titillates the nerve endings Chris Hadfield, Commander, ISS
"But we're not going to do it tomorrow and we're not going to do it because it titillates the nerve endings. We're going to do it because it's a natural human progression."
I met Chris Hadfield in his native Canada last year before he went into space. At the time, morale was running low within Nasa following the scrapping of the shuttle programme, the cancellation of the previous administration's plans to go back to the Moon and Mars and mounting criticism of the quality and quantity of research on the ISS.
But every inch the archetypal, twinkly-eyed, optimistic astronaut, he was having none of it.
"It's a process - we're not trying to make a front page every day and we're not planning on planting a flag every time we launch. That's just a false expectation of low-attention-span consumerism".
Those growing up in the 1960s were inspired by views of the Earth from space and the Moon landing. A new generation has become enthralled by commander Hadfield's frequent tweets on what it is like to live in space.
He has shown his nearly 750,000 followers how astronauts brush their teeth and how to eat a tortilla in zero gravity. Commander Hadfield has also sung along with schoolchildren from space and chatted with William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original series of Star Trek.
Cosmic superstar
He has probably become the most famous astronaut since the days of Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin.
And so many now want to know more about their new superstar. What, for example, does he think of the future of space travel? When I spoke to him in February 2012, I asked him whether he thought that astronauts would ever again leave low Earth orbit and go back to the Moon, or perhaps one day on to Mars, rather than simply ferrying back and forth to the space station.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Commander Chris Hadfield: 'We are slowly, incrementally, leaving our planet'
It was an honest enough question, but I realised as soon as he began to answer that it was a tactless one, because it implied what he and his fellow astronauts were doing was pointless.
"That's a really self-defeating way of posing the question because you say 'get back to' and 'ferrying back and forth'," he said, clearly irked.
I felt bad that I had irritated such a nice man, but my question had spurred him to deliver a passionate and articulate case for the ISS.
"We are leaving Earth permanently," he said with zeal. "It is a huge historic step and we are trying to do it right and it takes time, it takes patience and it takes tenacity - and we're going to do it."
His argument is that the construction and utilisation of the ISS will lead to the development of technologies that will eventually enable humanity to leave Earth and settle on other worlds. But that process will be a slow and incremental one.
And he has this to say to those who want things to move much faster: "It's just an uninformed lack of patience and lack of understanding of complexity and a desire to be amused and entertained that builds a false set of expectations."
One of the key technologies that is needed is a means to recycle water from astronauts back into a drinkable form, along with radiation shielding and developing ways of working and living in space for prolonged periods.
Commander Hadfield believes that the ISS provides the perfect test bed for developing deep space travel capabilities.
Selling points
"We are slowly leaving our planet and it happens in little, [difficult-to-execute] and hard-earned steps and it makes huge sense to understand how to do it when we are only 400km (250 miles) away.
"Because we can at any moment, when we have made a stupid mistake with a design, or an emergency that we hadn't recognised or because of human health, get in our spaceship and come home."
That is a view backed by Dr Simon Evetts of the UK Space Biomedical Association.
"The operational experience is significantly important because we are learning how to live in space and so I think that the ISS probably will be a stepping stone to Mars."
Image caption The AMS experiment on the ISS cost more than $1bn. Some argue it was not money well spent
But what about the science? One of the space station's key selling points was that it would be an orbiting laboratory where scientists from across the world would work in space to roll back the frontiers of knowledge.
Critics such as the UK's Astronomer Royal, Prof Lord Rees, have questioned whether the hefty £65bn ($100bn) it cost to build the ISS would be value for money.
We are learning how to live in space and so the ISS probably will be a stepping stone to Mars Dr Simon Evetts, UK Space Biomedical Association
"No one would regard the science on the space station as being able to justify more than a fraction of its overall cost," he said.
'Not justified'
"I recall in the early days there were some proposals for experiments and the [UK] research councils would not even pay for the modest, marginal cost for them so we have to ask whether people would be prepared to pay for [the experiments on the ISS] had they to be financed in competition with other work on the ground".
Lord Rees cites a $1.5bn cosmic ray experiment bolted on to the ISS as an example of money which could be better spent.
"The results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) are still rather ambiguous and the general opinion is that the experiment has not justified its cost and would not have been flown had there not been lobbying which put it ahead of competing projects."
One of the main areas of research on the ISS is to see how materials and biological systems behave in the microgravity of space. But project proposals have been slow to emerge.
A report by the US National Research Council in 2011 highlighted that Nasa's efforts to maintain its human spaceflight programme had led to a decline in life and physical science research - "leaving it in a poor position to take advantage of the fully equipped ISS".
Would research funders be prepared to pay for the experiments on the ISS if they had to be financed in competition with other work on the ground Prof Lord Rees, Astronomer Royal
Faced with the embarrassing prospect of an underused multi-billion dollar space station, Congress created an independent, non-profit organisation, the Centre for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis), later that year.
It was tasked with bringing in research projects from the US research community while Nasa concentrated its research efforts on developing technologies for long term space travel of the sort that Cmdr Hadfield describes.
But projects were slow to emerge and within a few months the organisation's director resigned abruptly citing "unrealistic expectations" by Nasa and congressional officials.
Evidence matters
A large part of the problem is that there is currently no evidence that studies on topics such as bone thinning, growing stem cells or proteins in microgravity will lead to any useful new treatments. Without this, many in the research community can't see the virtue in such research.
But Casis's upbeat new chief executive, Duane Ratliff, told BBC News that he believed that once there was evidence that these research areas might be fruitful, scientists would be falling over themselves to book a research slot on the ISS.
"You then have a compelling research pathway, [so] if we can demonstrate the significance of the ISS as an R&D platform, there will be specific industries that will want to take advantage of that."
Image caption Critics say that the ISS is not a cost-effective way of doing science
In Europe, by contrast, there is no shortage of research ideas, many of which will be discussed at a space environments conference at the UK's National Space Centre in Leicester in November. Dr Evetts says that researchers putting proposals to the European Space Agency are aware that microgravity research is a long haul.
"We can't really assess the importance of what we are getting out of the ISS now. We'll probably understand that in the decades ahead so we should not be too quick to judge," he said.
Lord Rees, however, believes that the ISS is not a cost-effective way to do science.
"Its main [purpose] was to keep the manned space programme alive and to learn how humans can live and work in space. And here again the most positive development in this area has been the advent of private companies which can develop technology and rockets more cheaply than Nasa and its traditional contractors have done".
So the ISS's value for science and even as a staging post for deep space travel is not clear-cut.
But as Chris Hadfield has shown, its ability to inspire is undisputed and perhaps deserves the patience that he has called for to inspire a generation to learn about science and space travel.
Follow Pallab on Twitter @bbcpallabConfusion was king after commentators portrayed Gov. Scott Walker’s recent remarks on illegal immigration as a "mess" or a "flip flop" or a "self -created political predicament."
Walker denied he had shifted positions on the issue. Media reports contradicted each other -- and parsed his position based on second-hand reports from a private meeting with Republicans at a New Hampshire restaurant.
Now that a week has passed, what do we know for sure about the views of Walker, a 2016 presidential hopeful?
Let’s put Walker’s remarks In Context, a periodic feature that allows us to examine statements that have generated controversy confusion.
While initial reports suggested Walker had moved left on the issue, his subsequent clarifications point the other direction.
Sort of.
At the same time, Walker appears to be holding back just enough detail to give himself room to embrace some form of immigration reform if elected.
Maybe.
Let’s review.
In February, Walker began edging away from previous support for a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants who came to the United States illegally, circumventing the waiting periods in the legal immigration system. We gave him a Half Flip for his shifting views.
In March, he said he’d "absolutely" changed his mind, and that after talking to border-state governors he backed off his support for such a path. That earned him a Full Flop on our Flip-O-Meter.
The reversal also earned Walker extra media scrutiny -- especially after the March 13, 2015 closed-door dinner in New Hampshire.
Citing three sources who were at the event, the Wall Street Journal reported Walker had backed a path to citizenship for those here illegally. That could have amounted to, well, a Full-Flop-Flip.
Team Walker immediately pushed back, saying the governor "does not support citizenship for illegal immigrants."
But even if Walker didn’t change his views on citizenship, is it possible he supported a pathway to legal residency status for those already here illegally? (As Milwaukee County executive in 2002, Walker signed a resolution favoring legal status).
That’s what the GOP organizer of the New Hampshire event told The New York Times -- that Walker had stated support for a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
Such a position would amount to "amnesty" in the eyes of some conservatives.
So we listened with interest to Walker’s March 2015 comments in Texas.
Here is a look at what he said to reporters in Harris County, Texas, based on a March 29, 2015 posting on the Washington Post website:
"If someone wants to have citizenship they ultimately need to go to the country of origin and then get in line just like anybody else would. There’s benefits when it comes to voting, and other benefits that come with that. In terms of things beyond that, that’s again where we gotta tackle these other issues first and then have a president who’s willing to work with the Congress to figure out a reasonable way going forward..."
Walker said doesn’t believe in amnesty "in the sense of citizenship."
"I believe if someone wants to be a legal citizen of the United States, there is a legal path by which to do that going forward. I think we need to address the issues with the border, the security of the border for the safety reasons we mentioned. We need to re-establish the fact that this president has overstepped his bounds..."
So Walker clearly rules out granting citizenship to those here illegally, unless they want to return home and wait to get back in.
Nowhere in those comments does Walker directly address giving legal status for those here illegally. But he did not rule it out, and talks about finding a "reasonable" way going forward.
Walker has previously said he doesn’t want to deport those living here illegally.
So his Texas comments appear to add a few details, in that he advocates people leaving the country on their own in order to get right with the immigration laws before returning.
Criticism from both sides
How did the two sides in the debate view Walker’s latest comments?
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a leading critic of legalizing the status of people who jumped the line to get in, said Walker is being somewhat naive or disingenuous.
"He needs to be honest," said spokesman Ira Mehlman. "For many people, there is no line to get into, nor can there be. There are 7 billion people on this planet who are not citizens of the United States. It is simply not possible to provide everyone a legal avenue to immigrate."
Mehlman said he needs more details to pass final judgment on whether Walker is advocating "amnesty" in FAIR’s view.
Meanwhile, an advocate with America’s Voice, a group that backs a path to citizenship, said Walker appeared to be offering neither a path to citizenship nor a path to legal status.
"The only pathway he’s offering is to return to your country of origin, and hope that you can get a visa or a green card from there," said Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of the group. "He’s not addressing the parts of the law that prevent people from getting papers in the first place."
Tramonte said Walker’s voluntary departure language echoes the "report to deport" concept that has popped up in recent years, most notably by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) a decade ago.
It’s related to "the self-deportation" idea from 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Tramonte said -- though Walker reportedly mocked Romney’s concept at the New Hampshire event.
"Candidates are tying themselves in knots trying to appeal to both the hardline anti-immigrant voters overrepresented in Republican primary season, while hoping to avoid the Romney mistakes of having anti-immigrant primary stances destroy their competitiveness with Latino, Asian-American, and other pro-reform voters in the general election," an America’s Voice blog post said.This is not an official Lego site.
These castles have all been built by Bob Carney using standard Lego bricks and other elements. Each castle is a scale model of a real European or Middle Eastern medieval castle. The first phase of each new project begins with in depth research, originally in libraries and now mostly on the internet, and then drawing the plans to "Lego scale", typically using 1/8" graph paper for plans, and elevations as well. Once I'm reasonably sure I've got enough of each kind of Lego brick needed to complete the project, I'm ready to build. The castles each take unique elements, so I'm often ordering some parts.
My current project, my 172nd castle, is the fortress/palace at Manzanares el Real near Madrid, Spain. I plan to drive the Castillo de los Mendoza to Brickworld Chicago over Father's Day weekend. I hope you'll be able to visit - it's quite a show! My 171st castle, is a lighted model of the Nehaj Fortress, located on a hill above the city of Senj on Croatia's Adriatic coast. I have just completed a rebuild of King Edward I's famous Harlech Castle [#170] on Wales' northwestern coast - an awesome castle in an awesome setting! The first half of 2018 was occupied by a more or less chronological progression of Scottish tower castles for a pair of exhibitions, first March 10-11, 2018 at the Decatur Home, Lawn and Garden Show at our Civic Center in Decatur, IL, and then at Brickworld 2018 in Schaumberg, near Chicago, over Father's Day weekend in June. The Scottish Castles Project, as I'm calling it, will feature 8 Scottish castles, from a simple tower to an elaborate Z-plan. The "progression" will be 1) a plain Scottish tower called Corgarff Castle [#166], famed now for its 18th century star-shaped barmkin; 2) a 15th century Scottish tower on Little Cumbrae [#164] Island in the middle of the Firth of Clyde, ruinous since the English Civil War; 3) a large tower with unusual parallel roofed garrets called Spedlins Tower [#165], restored on the west bank of the River Annan in Dumfriesshire; 4) an early L-plan called the Castle of Fiddes [#160], located about 4 miles SW of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire; 5) a very cute Scottish castle called Abbot's Tower [#163], located near the ruin of Sweetheart Abbey in Dumfriesshire; 6) an elaborate L-plan called Crathes Castle [#162], located near Aberdeen and one of the most visited and photographed in Scotland; 7) Castle Gogar [#168], a beautiful, white Y-plan tower just seven miles from Edinburgh Castle; and finally 8) an equally entrancing Z-plan on the Black Isle near Inverness called Kilcoy Castle [#167], restored in 1891 by famed architects, Ross and McBeth. I've added a 9th castle for Brickworld: Castle Tioram [#169], on a small tidal island in the Scottish Highlands.
I've also recently completed construction of the awesome fortress in Soncino, Italy, the Castillo di Rocca Sforzesca [#161]. Like La Mota in Spain, Soncino doesn't look too intimidating until you get up close and peer down into the 32' deep ditch, in this instance floodable on demand! It's my first southern European castle using dark orange Lego to mimic clay tile roofs -- and it took awhile to accumulate enough to finish the project! My 159th castle, the royal castle called Guimarães, is located in northern Portugal. The first castle on the site was built half a century before the millennium, and the current castle has survived almost 900 years, with a few repairs along the way. My 158th castle, the unique toll castle called Pfalzgrafenstein, which is nestled on a tiny island in the middle of the Rhine River in western Germany, was transported safely to Brickworld 2017 in Schaumburg, Illinois in mid-June. Otherwise, I've arranged the castles I've built by their country of origin. Just click on any of the castle names that interest you (or all of them if you like) and you'll be treated to several photographs and a plan of the real castle, a brief history (possibly with personal notes) and pictures of my Lego model. There's also a Build Your Own section with my working Lego plans (when not too large) and several URLs referring you to related castle sites on the World Wide Web.
You can also click on the name of the country where the castles are located (or the small picture) to link to a Castle Locator Map, with castles listed in the order I built them [these maps are several years out of date. A project for the future!] Also, after countless emails, I've decided to include a FAQ section which will hopefully answer most general questions. I'd still like to hear your comments! An updated castle lineage is now available -- it shows the order in which the castles were built and in which country the castle is located. The castle currently under construction is also noted, as applicable.
I have also added a page for novice but enthusiastic castle builders which is basically made up of several of my early castles which have largely been ignored on this Main Page due to the larger later edition. Pictures of the smaller castles plus available plans and elevations can be found at Early Castles and should be more rewarding for the beginner. There is also a Castle Builders' Page where you can enjoy the efforts of some your colleagues! I will update it as regularly as I receive input from various Lego friends.
While researching and modeling castles is my love, occasionally I use my Lego to build other things. If you look at my Wartburg Castle page, you'll find links to my Reformation projects both in 2001 and 2017, the 500th Anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation! There's some more of my favorite non-castle projects on a page entitled Trains, Ships and Other Stuff, including |
horizon. They face four days of suffering there, with three tough mountain stages divided by a visit to Pau and a chance for the sprinters.
Stage 16 to Bagneres-du-Luchon is 218km long and includes three major climbs in the last 80km. In 2015, Froome attacked alone on the descent of the Col du Portillon, using a tucked pedalling style to distance his rivals and take the yellow jersey.
Stage 17 is one of the shortest road stages of the last 30 years at 65km, but some 38km of the stage are uphill and the finish is atop the Col de Portet (16km at 8.7 per cent). The stage perfectly represents Prudhomme’s desire for shorter stages and as a consequence more intense racing.
Stage 19, after the flat finish in Pau, heads back into the high Pyrenees for 200km of racing. The Col du Tourmalet is a mere warm-up, coming after 108km of racing, with the steps up via the Col des Bordères, the Col du Soulor and the Col d’Aubisque will hurt before the descent to the finish in Laruns. The 2018 Tour de France will be about descending as well as climbing.
The final overall winner will be decided by a 31km time trial on the final Saturday, with the rolling roads between Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle and Espelette in the French Basque Country also worthy of a stage profile.
Technique and bike skills will be as important as power and aerodynamics. The Côte de Pinodieta comes after 28km and climbs for 900 metres at 10.2 per cent. It is no ordinary time trial but will decide the final overall winner and who gets to ride into Paris in the yellow jersey.
“It is a time trial for puncheurs,” Prudhomme said concluding the route presentation. “We all dream of a spicy finish in Espelette, the world capital of chilli peppers.”
Chris Froome could celebrate his fifth victory in 2018 and join the greats of the sport. However this technical, ever-testing course also suits Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), Richie Porte (BMC) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).
The team time trial and the cobbles will be a handicap for Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Simon and Adam Yates (Orica-Scott), and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) but the mountain finishes and steep gradients give them a chance to fight back and stay in the battle for overall victory in Paris.
The 2018 Tour de France stages:
Stage 1, July 7: Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile – Fontenay-le-Comte, 189km
Stage 2, July 8: Mouilleron-Saint-Germain – La Roche-sur-Yon, 183km
Stage 3, July 9: Cholet – Cholet (TTT), 35km
Stage 4, July 10: La Baule – Sarzeau, 192km
Stage 5, July 11: Lorient – Quimper, 203km
Stage 6, July 12: Brest – Mûr de Bretagne Guerlédan, 181km
Stage 7, July 13: Fougères – Chartres, 231km
Stage 8, July 14: Dreux – Amiens Métropole, 181km
Stage 9, July 15: Arras Citadelle – Roubaix, 154km
Rest day, July 16: Annecy
Stage 10, July 17: Annecy – Le Grand Bornand, 159km
Stage 11, July 18: Albertville – La Rosière, 108km
Stage 12, July 19: Bourg-Saint-Maurice Les Arcs – Alpe d’Huez, 175km
Stage 13, July 20: Bourg d’Oisans – Valence, 169km
Stage 14, July 21: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Mende, 187km
Stage 15, July 22: Millau – Carcassonne, 181km
Rest day, July 23: Carcassonne
Stage 16, July 24: Carcassonne – Bagnères-de-Luchon, 218km
Stage 17, July 25: Bagnères-de-Luchon – Saint-Lary-Soulan (Col de Portet), 65km
Stage 18, July 26: Trie-sur-Baïse – Pau, 172km
Stage 19, July 27: Lourdes – Laruns, 200km
Stage 20, July 28: Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle – Espelette (ITT), 31km
Stage 21, July 29: Houilles – Paris Champs Elysées, 115kmAs we're rounding off what has been a very exciting year for LEGO Ideas, we'd like to take a moment to reflect on what this year has given.
Amongst the thousands of projects that have been submitted to LEGO Ideas, we are privileged to have launched 3 amazing LEGO Ideas sets in 2016 - 21305 Maze, 21306 Yellow Submarine as well as the slick 21307 Caterham Seven 620R racer. But that's far from all. We've also been able to push the boundaries of LEGO Ideas with the announcements of the approval of two additional LEGO Ideas sets that are scheduled for release in 2017, namely the Apollo 11 Saturn V as well as the Old Fishing Store. Don't forget about 21308 Adventure Time either!
2016 has also been a year of change and progress for the LEGO Ideas platform in our attempt to create the best digital LEGO experience for you! This has covered improvements to our site functionality as well as changes to our guidelines, and we're very passionate to carry the momentum of these improvements and updates into 2017, where we have big plans.
We know you're excited to hear more about the projects that are currently in production and we've been looking forward to share a Christmas update with you all. So read on!
Adventure Time
Finn, Marceline and the rest of the gang are ready to rock ‘n’ roll! The LEGO 21308 Adventure Time set is coming to a store near you in just a few short days!
Launch: We’re pushing the launch date from the 1st of January, 2017 to the 26th of December, 2016. Hurray!
Apollo 11 Saturn V
LEGO designers, Carl and Mike, have been hard at work on what is the most complex LEGO Ideas set we've ever approved! We’ve finalised the model design but there’s still plenty to do before this rocket is ready for lift-off!
Launch: Expected mid-2017
Old Fishing Store
LEGO designer, Adam, is putting the last touches on the beautifully crafted Old Fishing Store before finalising the design. It's a fitting place for anyone looking to stock up on gear for their next big fishing trip!
Launch: Expected Fall 2017
Thank you for continuing to be engaging and supportive fans of LEGO Ideas. It truly drives us to look forward to next year.
Happy holidays from The LEGO Ideas TeamIn part 2, I covered how to get a GitHub project set up in Travis CI that automatically builds pull requests and changes to the master branch. But just validating that your project builds successfully doesn’t mean it actually works as expected when it’s run. We want to add more value to this process by implementing and unit testing to validate the business logic inside the app. After all, our goal is to have continuous delivery to build in which we have a reasonably high level of confidence actually works.
For the purposes of this post, let’s define unit tests as automated tests that:
are fairly limited in scope do not rely on disk or network i/o do not test the UI
IMHO, “unit tests” that attempt to test things close to the UI are often of high cost, low value and fragile. With this in mind, we will put all the interesting domain logic inside POJO models instead of in Activities and Fragments that are closely coupled to the UI. In a later post, we will cover using Espresso to perform integration tests that drive the UI from a virtual users perspective.
Let’s get started
Luckily for us, better unit testing support was recently added to Android Studio in release 1.1, making things much easier to set up than before. Go ahead and follow the steps here to get your initial project set up. No need to re-hash everything in this post, just come back here when you’re done.
Once you’ve completed those steps:
Create a run configuration that you can use to run all the unit tests in your project. To do this, click the drop-down in the top bar that by default says ‘app’ and select ‘Edit Configurations…’. Click the ‘+’ button to add a new JUnit run configuration as seen here.
Set up this new run configuration to run all tests in the test/java folder:
a. Open the “Test kind” drop-down and choose “All in directory”
b. Browse to the test/java directory that you created previously
c. Select your application module for classpath resolution
d. Verify that your ‘Before launch’ is set up with ‘Gradle-aware
e. Make’ instead of the default ‘Make’ to speed up our build times.
Adding tests
After you have your project set up to run all unit testing, it’s time to add the first test. I like to add a Hello World style test just to make sure everything is hooked up correctly before continuing with the real tests. So add a file called HelloWorldTest in your newly created test/java/[package-name] folder that contains this code:
public class HelloWorldTest { @Test public void trueShouldBeTrue() { Assert.assertTrue(true); } }
Simple enough. Now, in the top bar, select the new JUnit test configuration you just created and press run. You should see a window pop up at the bottom that looks something like this:
Green is good! You have successfully run your first unit test inside Android Studio.
Now let’s add a more realistic test. To do that we will start evolving our sample project to something real. We like to play darts at our office, so let’s build a cricket game scoring engine. Building a scoring engine lends itself quite nicely to a TDD workflow and we will go forward in that manner.
First, create a test that will validate that:
Given a new cricket game
When no players have thrown yet
Then both players should have a score of zero
public class CricketGameTest { @Test public void newGameHasScoresOfZero() { CricketGame cricketGame = new CricketGame(); assertEquals(0, cricketGame.getPlayer1().getScore()); assertEquals(0, cricketGame.getPlayer2().getScore()); } }
Since this code will be mostly red, we will need to create the following CricketGame and CricketPlayer classes in the main directory so the test will compile and run.
public class CricketGame { private CricketPlayer player1; private CricketPlayer player2; public CricketGame() { this.player1 = new CricketPlayer(); this.player2 = new CricketPlayer(); } public CricketPlayer getPlayer1() { return player1; } public CricketPlayer getPlayer2() { return player2; } } public class CricketPlayer { private int score; public int getScore() { return score; } }
Run all tests again and you will see an additional passing test result. Normally, we would make sure our tests are failing first but, since the scores are ints and initialize to zero, it will pass.
Now take it a step further and add a new test that ensures that:
Given a new cricket game
When a player throws two triple twenties and a single eleven
Then the first player should have closed out the twenties bracket
And the second player should have a score of 60.
Note: Since we will have many tests starting with a fresh game, I moved the game creation out to a @Before setup method.
@Before public void setUp() { cricketGame = new CricketGame(); } @Test public void player1StartsWithTwoTripleTwenties() { CricketPlayer player1 = cricketGame.getPlayer1(); player1.add(new Throw(TRIPLE, TWENTY)); player1.add(new Throw(TRIPLE, TWENTY)); player1.add(new Throw(ELEVEN, SINGLE)); assertEquals(60, cricketGame.getPlayer2().getScore()); assertEquals(3, player1.getHitCount(TWENTY)); assertEquals(0, player1.getScore()); }
Implement just enough to get the project to build and the test to run without any exceptions. When you do, you will see the following results. Android studio calls out failing tests on the left with an orangish color and on the right shows you the expected vs. actual results of the failing test.
Now, reference the cut-throat style cricket rules and add just enough code to make this test pass. I won’t bother walking through this in detail here, but you can look at the latest branch of our previous GitHub project to see a working version of this.
Red -> Green -> Refactor
Once you’ve implemented the code that gets your test to pass and run green, it might feel like you’re done, but don’t stop there. There is a flow known as Red, Green, Refactor that says: Once you’ve created a failing test and got it to pass by implementing some code, you should then take some time to see if there are any opportunities to refactor the code to clean it up. Maybe you’ve created some duplication as part of this implementation, or the code isn’t as readable as it should be, or there’s a code smell of some variety. This is your opportunity to improve the code while remaining confident that the code still works after you’ve made some changes. All you have to do is kick off the test suite and make sure all the tests are still green.
Integrating with the CI server
We now have some level of test coverage that increases our confidence that our application is actually shippable, let’s integrate that into the build process. Actually, just kidding, we’re done. The Gradle build task that we are using to build the project already includes the test task. So there’s nothing additional to do here other than commit the code and push it up to GitHub.
Unit Testing Takeaway
Now that we’ve added automated unit tests to our project, we are protecting the most important business logic in our application from accidental regressions when things start changing down the road. And if when at a future point, you or someone else on your team makes a change that breaks the tests, the build will fail and the team will be notified. This allows us to continuously evolve and refactor the code base while maintaining a high level of confidence that nothing broke along the way.
To take this a step further, in a future post we will add automated UI tests that drive the UI as an actual user would. This will give us added confidence that our continuously delivered app works as expected. Until then…It's been a good year for climate skeptics. Not, mind you, because they've been vindicated at all on the merits. Quite the opposite: 2010 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record, Arctic sea ice continues to thin out, heat waves have been torching Russia, and nearly one-fifth of Pakistan has been submerged underwater. The science on global warming is still overwhelming. But politically, skepticism is at its zenith.
Consider: During the sweatiest U.S. summer in recorded history, and in the midst of a major oil catastrophe in the Gulf, the Senate didn't even bother to take a vote on a bill to limit carbon emissions. Skeptics managed to inflate the Climategate non-scandal into a breathless media event and launched a high-profile attack on the IPCC over—what was it again?—a minor misstatement about Himalayan glaciers. Republicans and coal-state Democrats are now trying to chip away at the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases, and in California, coal and gas companies are making a major push to repeal the state's sweeping climate law, AB32.
And here's the punch line. Next year, opponents of doing anything about global warming are likely to have a stronger hand still. The GOP will likely take the House and make substantial gains in the Senate, and these aren't green, cuddly Republicans. According to Think Progress, only one of the 37 Republican candidates for Senate supports climate action—Mike Castle in Delaware (and there's a non-trivial chance he could lose his primary today). The skeptic pressure on Republicans is immense: In Illinois, Mark Kirk previously voted for the Waxman-Markey climate bill in the House, but he now says he opposes cap-and-trade. Here's a sampling of what to expect from the new class:
Kentucky's Rand Paul: "Now Osama bin Laden had a quote yesterday. He’s says he’s after the climate change as well. It’s a bigger issue, we need to watch ‘em. Not only because it may or may not be true, but they’re making up their facts to fit their conclusions. They’ve already caught ‘em doing this.” Missouri's Roy Blunt: "There isn’t any real science to say we are altering the climate path of the earth." Nevada's Sharron Angle: "I don’t, however, buy into the whole … man-caused global warming, man-caused climate change mantra of the left. I believe that there’s not sound science to back that up."
It's no different in the House. Over at Daily Kos, RLMiller has been keeping tabs on the GOP's fresh crop of "climate zombies." In Arizona, for instance, Ruth McClung, who's running for Arizona's seventh congressional district, claims to have conducted her own independent investigation into the matter: "After researching the causes of temperature fluctuations on earth, I found the largest factor to be the sun." (Tragically, her research doesn't seem to have included noting that solar activity has been decreasing over the past decade while temperatures have been rising.)Mats Johansson at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology says the work is about improving the mechanical properties of batteries so that it not only stores energy but is part of the design. For example, he suggests, the hood of the car could be part of the battery. The concept of such a multifunctional structural vehicle battery has attracted a great deal of other research interest, including:
Researchers in Sweden are exploring the use of carbon fiber as an active electrode in a multifunctional structural Li-ion battery in an electric car; i.e., electrical storage is incorporated into the body of the car. Carbon fiber material is a good candidate for structural electrodes since it has high specific tensile stiffness and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) as well as high lithium (Li)-intercalation capability.
A project by researchers from Imperial College London and their European partners, including Volvo Car Corporation, to develop a prototype multifunctional structural composite material composed of carbon fibers and a polymer resin which can store and discharge electrical energy and which is also strong and lightweight enough to be used for car parts. In this €3.4-million (US$4.7-million) project, the scientists are planning to develop the composite material so that it can be used to replace the metal flooring in wheel well, which holds the spare wheel. Volvo is investigating the possibility of fitting this wheel well component into prototype cars for testing purposes. (Earlier post.)
Volvo Car Group has also created two multifunctional components for the testing and further development of the technology. These are a trunk lid and a plenum cover, tested within the Volvo S80. (Earlier post.)
In 2013, the US Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) awarded a total of $8.75 million to four separate projects (led by Stanford University, UC San Diego, Arizona State University, and Penn State) to develop multifunctional structural batteries for vehicles as part of its RANGE program for transformative EV storage. (Earlier post.)
The potential for a multifunctional composite material which can simultaneously carry mechanical loads while storing and delivering electrical energy, said Dr. Emile Greenhalgh, project coordinator, at Imperial College London, was demonstrated by researchers at the US Army Research Lab in 2005.
In a paper presented at the Materials Research Society Symposium in 2005, South et al. provided three examples of multifunctional power-generating and energy-storing materials: structural lithium-ion batteries, structural proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, and structural capacitors. These systems were deliberately designed, the researchers wrote, so that material elements participating in power or energy processes are also carrying significant structural loads, a necessary condition for achieving mass savings through multifunctional design.
KTH. The Swedish project is run as a partnership between three professors at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology: Göran Lindbergh, Chemical Engineering; Mats Johansson, Fibre and Polymer Technology; and Dan Zenkert, Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering. The research is done in cooperation with Swerea SICOMP and Luleå Institute of Technology.
Eric Jacques, a researcher in vehicle and aerospace engineering at KTH (and whose doctoral thesis was on structural batteries), says carbon fiber can fill two functions in an electric car: as a lightweight composite reinforcement material for the car’s body, and as an active electrode in lithium ion batteries.
The objective of our research was to develop a structural battery consisting of multifunctional lightweight materials that simultaneously manage mechanical loads, and store electrical energy. This can result in a weight reduction for electric vehicles. —Eric Jacques
In a 2013 paper in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Jacques and his colleagues reported that at moderate lithiation rates, 100 mA g−1, several grades of commercially-available polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers displayed a reversible capacity close to or above 100 mAh g−1 after ten full cycles. The main factor affecting the measured capacity was the lithiation rate. Decreasing the current by a tenth yielded an increase of capacity of around 100% for all the tested grades. From the measurements performed in that study, they concluded that carbon fibers could be used as the active negative material and current collector in structural batteries.
In a paper published earlier this year in the journal Carbon, Jacques and his colleagues investigated the relationship between the amount of intercalated Li and the changes induced in the tensile stiffness and UTS of polyacrylonitrile-based CF tows. Among their findings:
After a few electrochemical cycles the stiffness of the CFs was not degraded and independent of the measured capacity.
A drop in the UTS of lithiated CFs was only partly recovered during delithiation and was larger at the highest measured capacities, but remained less than 40% at full charge.
The reversibility of this drop with the C-rate and measured capacity supports the conclusions that the fibers are not damaged, that some Li is irreversibly trapped in the delithiated CFs and that reversible strains develop in the fiber. However, the drop in the strength does not vary linearly with the measured capacity and the drop in the ultimate tensile strain remains lower than the CF longitudinal expansion at full charge.
These results suggest that the loss of strength might relate to the degree of lithiation of defectives areas which govern the tensile failure mode of the CFs.
The research project has demonstrated very good results, but we have some work to do before we can display finished batteries. —Eric Jacques
ResourcesChild sex offenders in NSW to face life imprisonment under new laws: Attorney-General
Updated
Child sex offenders could be jailed for life under new laws to be introduced into New South Wales State Parliament this week.
The NSW Government will honour it's election commitment to introduce legislation to increase the maximum sentence for sexual intercourse with a child under 10, from 25 years to life imprisonment.
NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton, said the new laws will be ushered in to better protect children in the community.
These are the worst crimes against the most vulnerable in our community, our children, our young people and too often sentences handed down don't align with community expectation. NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton
"These are the worst crimes against the most vulnerable in our community, our children, our young people and too often sentences handed down don't align with community expectation," she said.
"The New South Wales Government is delivering on our election commitment and changing that balance."
The Government also plans to add 13 child sexual assault offences to the Standard Non-Parole Period Scheme, which provides judiciary guidance with sentencing.
Ms Upton said the new standard non-parole periods will be significantly higher than the current average sentences for those offences.
"This means that there is better guidance to the court of what community expectation is around the non-parole period... and it sends a very clear message that the sentences that should guide judges when they are making decisions, are longer sentences," she said.
"That's responding to community expectation, that people who violate children, our most vulnerable members of our community should be punished and punished harshly."
The Government has also announced it will provide victims of child sexual assault with more support including a plan for specialist judges to hear child sexual assault cases across the state.
Leonie Sheedy from the Care Leavers Australia Network welcomed the legislation and said she hopes the changes encouraged more victims of child sexual abuse to come forward.
"It's never too late to report a crime that was committed against you even if the perpetrator is long dead, it's very important that people come forward to the Royal Commission and tell of their abuse story," she said.
Topics: child-abuse, sexual-offences, laws, state-parliament, nsw
First postedSACRAMENTO - The Army is spending $2.6 billion on hundreds of European-designed helicopters for homeland security and disaster relief that have a crucial flaw: They are not safe to fly on hot days, according to an internal report obtained by the Associated Press.
While the Army scrambles to fix the problem, potentially adding millions to the taxpayer cost, at least one high-ranking lawmaker is calling for the deal to be scrapped.
During flight tests in Southern California in mild 80-degree weather, cockpit temperatures in the UH-72A Lakota soared above 104 degrees, the point at which the Army says the communication, navigation, and flight-control systems can overheat and shut down.
No cockpit equipment failed during the nearly 23 hours of testing, according to the report, prepared for the Army in July. But it concluded that the aircraft "is not effective for use in hot environments."
The Army said that to fix the problem it will take the highly unusual step of adding air conditioners to many of the 322 helicopters ordered.
The retrofitting will cost at least $10 million and will come out of the Army's budget.
Kim Henry, a spokeswoman for US Army Aviation & Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, said that the Army began outfitting the helicopters with vents after the report was issued and that they have been effective at lowering temperatures.
The Army, however, decided it still needs to put air conditioning on many of the choppers, including all those configured for medical evacuations, said an Army spokesman, Major Tom McCuin..
Representative Duncan Hunter of California, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, contends that the lightweight helicopter will still have too many weaknesses.
"In my view, we would be well advised to terminate the planned buy of 322 Lakota helicopters and purchase instead additional Blackhawk helicopters," Hunter said in a letter this week to Army Secretary Pete Geren.
But McCuin said, "It's certainly a concern to people out there in the field now because it's hot in those cockpits, but it's being fixed."
The Army has received 12 of the Lakotas from American Eurocopter Corp., a North American division of Germany's European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. Testing on the first six by an independent arm of the Pentagon revealed the problems. The rest of the choppers are scheduled for delivery over the next eight years.
The Lakota represents the Army's first major effort to adapt commercially available helicopters for military use. Air conditioning is standard in commercial versions of the aircraft, which have not had overheating problems. But the military usually avoids air conditioning in military aircraft to reduce weight and increase performance.
"We don't need air conditioning in the Blackhawks, so we didn't think it would be an issue" in the Lakota, McCuin said. "But when we got the helicopter into the desert, we realized it was a problem."
The Army plans to use the Lakota for search-and-rescue missions in disaster areas, evacuations of injured people, reconnaissance, disaster relief, and VIP tours for members of Congress and Army brass. All of its missions will be in the United States or other noncombat zones.
Blackhawks, Chinooks, and other helicopters will still be available for more demanding duties, such as fighting wildfires.
Guy Hicks, a spokesman for European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., declined to comment directly on the criticism of the aircraft. "We're proud of our partnership with the Army and the UH-72A, but we defer on anything to do with aircraft requirements and performance. It's the Army's program and they should address that," he said.
The Lakota has another problem; testers said it fails to meet the Army's requirement that it be able to evacuate two critically injured patients at the same time. The Lakota can hold two patients, but the cabin is too cramped for medics to work on more than one at a time, the testers said.
The report by Dr. Charles McQueary, the Defense Department's director of operational testing, said that overall, the Lakota performs better than the Kiowa or Huey and that pilots found it easy to fly.
But the report said inadequate ventilation, heat emitted by aircraft electronics, and sunlight streaming through the large windows caused cockpit temperatures to reach 104.9 degrees during a simulated mission in California.
The aircraft's safe operating limit is 104 degrees, according to the Army.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.In what has to be one of the cutest travel snafus in New York City history, two rogue kittens shut down Brooklyn's B and Q subway lines for over an hour Thursday, as staff staged a successful rescue mission.
Almost certainly aware that kitten endangerment is the worst PR possible, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided to cut power to the entire B line and part of the Q line, so that workers could safely search for the cats near the dangerously electrified third rail.
Read more from GlobalPost: Happy International Cat Day!
The third rail packs a whopping 600 volts of electricity, wrote Pix11.com. “If you touch that third rail, you’re not going to make it — people and especially cats, anything that moves,” said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.
The kitten crisis appears to have begun early Thursday, after a woman reported that her kittens were loose in the subway system, reports the Associated Press.
Their adventure would last for seven hours, prompting many volunteers to help search for the adorable vagrants. Passengers were delayed, and a shuttle service was provided for points between the Q lines.
Two cops eventually were able to corral the kittens and whisk them to safety, reports the New York Daily News.
"The announcer said it had to stop to rescue some cats, subway rider Sandra Polel told the New York Daily News. "I didn't mind. I wanted to get home, but I also wanted the kittens to be safe."
More from GlobalPost: Hermes creates $13,000 basketball for LA store (VIDEO)Despite claims that gun shows facilitate easy access to guns, it’s impossible to purchase a firearm at a gun show or gun store without a background check, comedian and political commentator Steven Crowder proved in a recent stunt.
In an undercover video compilation produced for his web series Louder with Crowder, the prankster visited multiple gun stores and inquired about purchasing “automatic weapons,” which the media and politicians such as President Obama regularly confuse for semi-automatics.
“Fully automatic? Oh, no. I don’t have a class three license,” one gun store vendor tells Crowder.
Another vendor says he doesn’t sell automatic weapons because doing so would require a “super crazy license.”
When Crowder does find a vendor selling Title II weapons, the dealer tells him ATF regulations require “paperwork signed off by your chief local law enforcement officer,” as well as proper identification and a host of other documentation.
“You could come in with a million dollars cash and I still wouldn’t give it to you,” the vendor says.
Crowder also approaches several firearms dealers at various gun shows and stores inquiring about purchasing a gun without having to undergo an FBI National Instant Criminal Background check, to which all vendors refuse.
“I was told that I could go to a gun show and there would be no background check,” Crowder tells a vendor who proceeds to laugh at him.
“I was told by the president that I could go here,” Crowder tells the vendor.
“You believe him?” the man asks.
The stunt shows how politicians blatantly misconstrue the facts to manipulate the American public into supporting legislation and executive actions that will only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms.
“We’ve already covered how the gun show loophole was a giant myth and a distraction, but this realllly puts it into perspective,” notes Crowder. “Guns are not easy to buy. Guns are so difficult to buy, we nearly got arrested for trying to buy guns the way Obama says people by guns. Which means, Obama is, as we already knew, a giant liar. He hates your Second Amendment rights almost as much as he hates people who work for a living.”"Dune," climate fiction pioneer: The ecological lessons of Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece were ahead of its time The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel turns 50 this year
Frank Herbert's "Dune" turns 50 this year. Given the growing popularity of mainstream and science fiction concerned with climate change and other ecological issues, maybe it's time the epic space adventure novel received a renewed measure of respect.
Oh, "Dune" has received plenty of attention over the past five decades. It's been called the greatest science fiction novel of all time and won a Hugo and a Nebula, the top awards in its field. It may even be the best-selling novel in its genre. But still there's something about "Dune" and its major and minor sequels and prequels that has so far failed to capture the popular imagination as firmly as Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" or even Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia."
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That trend may shift, however, now that there is a renewed interest in literature – science fiction and otherwise – that explores the effects of a changing global climate. Every season in publishing seems to bring a new set of doomsdays, and dystopian/apocalyptic fiction has never been so plentiful. Much of it depends on familiar landscapes being ravaged by drought, rising seas and other environmental disasters, and "Dune" stands as an important early example of a novel that explored ecology and environmentalism and brought those ideas to a young and influential new audience.
"Dune" chronicles the coming-of-age of 15-year-old Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto, who has been sent by the Emperor of the universe to rule over the desert planet Arrakis. Arrakis is the only source of melange, the priceless spice/drug that not only prolongs life and expands human consciousness, but makes interstellar travel possible. It's the ultimate precious natural resource, a substance on which an entire empire depends.
Lady Jessica, Leto's concubine and Paul's mother, is a member of the Bene Gesserit, an ancient order of female psychics who seek to influence history through eugenics. Over the course of the book, it becomes clear that Paul is the "Kwisatz Haderach," a male offspring able to manipulate time and space with the powers of his mind. Betrayed by a close associate and left at the mercy of the Harkonnens, a rival family determined to rule Arrakis, Paul and Jessica flee to the desert, home to gigantic sandworms, where the tenacious Fremen eke out a hardscrabble existence among the dunes by worshiping water while wearing "stillsuits" that recycle all of their bodies' moisture. Paul, rechristened as Muad'Dib, seems fated to become a messianic figure, who may eventually lead the Fremen on a disastrous jihad.
What sets "Dune" apart from the space adventures of the time is the amount of meticulous detail Herbert brought to the task of world building, and how he managed to layer his saga with well-chosen elements of religion, politics, mythology and ecology. A reporter for the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the San Francisco Examiner and other West Coast papers, Herbert was inspired by a visit he made to Florence, Oregon, where sand dunes were creating havoc by drifting across roads and into buildings. The United States Department of Agriculture began planting European grasses on the dunes to stabilize them, and Herbert, planning to write an article titled, "They Stopped the Moving Sand," charted a plane to observe the projects progress. His research led him to consider why deserts were so often home to messianic figures.
After the novel appeared in serialized form in the science fiction magazine Analog, Herbert and his agent tried to interest publishers in producing it as a single, unified novel. More than 20 publishers turned it down, until Chilton, known for its car maintenance manuals and possessing an expertise is printing large books, took a chance on it.
"Dune" has all the accouterments that dyed-in-the-wool nerds adore: appendices with lengthy treatises on Arrakis' ecology and religion; mini profiles of various planetary royalty; a glossary; and, of course, a map. Its influences range from T.E. Lawrence to Carl Jung to Rachel Carson, author of the environmental wake-up call "Silent Spring."
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Gerry Canavan, assistant professor of English at Marquette University and co-author of "Green Planets: Science Fiction and Ecology," sums up the novel's legacy well when he writes in an email interview, "'Dune' is really a turning point for science fiction that takes ecology seriously as a concept."
Frank Herbert's son would be among the first to agree with that assessment. In "Dreamer of Dune," his 2003 biography of his father, Brian Herbert recounted many instances that demonstrated his father's interest in environmental issues, including his backyard experiments with solar and wind power.
In a telephone interview from his home near Seattle, the younger Herbert said, "In 1970, on the First Earth Day, Frank Herbert spoke to 30,000 people in Philadelphia and he told them, 'I don't want to be in the position of telling my grandchildren, 'I'm sorry, there's no more Earth left for you. We've used it all up.'"
With Kevin J. Anderson |
make for poor laboratory subjects. “It can take a month for the limb to regenerate,” says Ashley Seifert, who studies tissue and organ regeneration at the University of Florida. “That really slows down your experimental progress.”
Making things worse, salamander genomes are oddly bloated. They have ten times the amount of DNA as ours, and no one has ever fully sequenced them. And until very recently, scientists had no ways of adding foreign genes into a salamander, or knocking out one of its existing set. Without these powerful techniques, salamanders – and the science of regeneration – were left behind by the molecular biology revolution.
Healing acts
Despite these hurdles, we know the basic steps that a regenerating limb must go through. After an amputation, cells from the outermost layer of skin climb over to seal the wound. At this point, humans would lay down lots of scar tissue, and that would be that. But in salamanders, the new cells transform into a structure called the wound epidermis, which sends chemical instructions to those below it. In response, nerves in the stump to start to grow again, while mature cells such as muscles and connective tissues revert to an immature mass called a blastema. This is what restores the limb. Regeneration is about taking a few steps back to take many steps forward.
“Somehow, the cells know their positions, and they’ll only regenerate what’s missing,” says Enrique Amaya, developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. If the limb is amputated at the shoulder or hip, the blastema creates the full leg. If it’s amputated at the wrist, the blastema makes just a hand and digits. As they grow and divide, the cells take up specific positions, so they know up from down, or left from right. They fashion a miniature version of the full limb, which eventually grows to full size.
The basic outline is there, but the details have been hard to fill. Why does the wound epidermis form, and what does it do to the cells beneath it? The limb won’t regenerate if the nerves inside don’t start growing, but what exactly do the nerves do? When cells in the stump rewind their fates to become a blastema, how far back to they go?
Most importantly, how do the cells of the regrowing limb know where they are and how take on the right shape? How do they make a working limb and not a useless, deformed tube? Or even a tumour? “It’s such a difficult problem because you’re going from a complex stump into a mass of cells that all look and act the same, but that somehow recapitulate development,” says Monaghan. “People are just starting to figure these processes out, but we don’t understand how a cell at the end of a limb is different from one at the tip.”
Instead of asking how salamanders pull off their healing acts, one might equally ask why mammals like ourselves cannot. There are no solid answers, but several guesses. Perhaps cancers are more of a problem for mammals? The same checkpoints that stop our cells from growing uncontrollably into tumours might also stop a blastema from forming. Amaya wonders if it’s because we are warm-blooded. “If an amphibian chews off one of its arms, it could hide away for weeks without eating and regenerate,” he says. “That’s out of the question for an animal whose high metabolic rate requires it to feed constantly. It has to heal quickly and dirtily.”
Not all mammals flunk the regeneration test, though. Just last year, Seifert discovered that African spiny mice escape from predators by jettisoning huge chunks of their own skin. Miraculously, they can regenerate these flayed patches in record time. They even seem to form blastemas when wounds close up in their ears. This suggests that mammal regeneration may not be as distant a hope as many had feared.
Body patterns
But even if we could understand and replicate the mouse’s powers, Seifert doubts we will ever have an injectable cocktail of molecules that triggers regeneration. There’s too much complexity in the transition from wound to blastema to new limb, he says. It will also be a lengthy process. While the comic-book Lizard can regenerate a fresh limb in minutes, one of Seifert’s small salamanders took 400 days to grow back a leg that’s less than 4 millimetres across. The largest ones need more than a decade to finish the job. “Even if a human could grow a limb back, it might take 15-20 years,” says Seifert. A finger might be more realistic.
Would that be worth it? While the study of animal regeneration has been slow, other areas of medicine have sped ahead. Stem cell research and tissue engineering promise to make lab-grown organs from a patient’s cells, and both have attracted hordes of researchers with big budgets. With such breakneck progress, is it still relevant to chip away at the healing powers of salamanders and other animals?
Seifert thinks so. “For one thing, there are a lot of unintended benefits,” he says. Regeneration in salamanders has many similarities to wound healing in mammals. We may never be able to sprout new arms in comic book fashion, but we may learn how to close an injury more quickly. Doing so without scarring would also be a boon. Many nasty human diseases, from heart attacks to cirrhosis, involve some sort of fibrosis, where the body deals with injuries by laying down connective tissue. “Fibrosis is the antithesis of regeneration,” says Seifert. Understanding how animals avoid it could tell us how to stop scar tissue from building up on our vital organs.
And forget the science-fiction aspects. The study of regeneration is ultimately about how our bodies produce patterns – how our cells know where they are, and how they organise themselves to make organs. That knowledge will be invaluable, no matter what technique is used to produce new body parts. “I’d argue that stem cell researchers need the kind of work that we do,” says Amaya, “we’re still damn ignorant about how cells behave, and how to control their behaviour.”
If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.A man posted screenshots of a text conversation he had with a woman he reportedly met on a first date, who abusively demanded to know why he didn’t have sex with her.
The man posted the screenshots on Imgur, and they quickly went viral.
“Can I ask you something?” the unidentified woman asked.
“Yeah,” the man replied.
“Why didn’t we have sex last night…?” she asked.
“I’m not really sure. Just didn’t feel like it. That bad?” the man asked.
The woman then began getting angry, telling him she spent two hours getting ready, shaving her legs.
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“I’m actually super f------ p----- I wasted 2 hours of my time getting ready for nothing,” she said.
“‘Didn’t feel like it’? Um okay? Well I did so? I literally kept giving you hints and was trying all night????”
The man explained that he “just didn’t want to” and said it was “just sex.”
“The big f------ deal is I wanted to, and you should’ve had sex with me. Are you f------ gay or something? Is that the big deal you didn’t do it?” she replied. The man insisted that he wasn’t gay and that it was his choice to decide he didn’t want to sleep with her.
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“Like what’s the issue? Are [you] actually gay and lying?” she accused. “Am I that f------ hideous? Not that f------ hard to whip your d--- out???”
“No you’re attractive,” the man replied. “I just didn’t want to. I’m not gay, you need to calm down. What the hells your issue? I thought you were cool, I guess not. No means no. I don’t need a reason.”
The woman insisted that “no means no” when she says it but not when he does, then accused him of having a small penis.
“Give me actual reasons,” she said.
“Well I’m well endowed, not that it’s any of your business. Listen, I don’t need reasons. How hypocritical of you. Rape is only rape for women, got it,” the man replied.
The conversation quickly went viral, with many expressing their disgust for the woman's attitude.
“Just like women don't owe men sex, men don't owe women sex. Period. No exceptions,” one reader commented, the Daily Mail reported.
“No means no when I say it” what the f--- is wrong with people,” another added.
Sources: Daily Mail, Metro / Photo credit: Imgur via Daily Mail, Richard BH/FlickrOK, people have been asking me where I stand on the “currency war” issue. My answer is that it’s all a misconception, and it would be a very bad thing if policy makers take it seriously.
First of all, what people think they know about past currency wars isn’t actually true. Everyone uses some combination phrase like “protectionism and competitive devaluation” to describe the supposed vicious circle of the 1930s, but as Barry Eichengreen has pointed out many times, these really don’t go together. If country A and country B engage in a tit-for-tat of tariffs, the end result is restricted trade; if they each try to push their currency down, the end result is at worst to leave everyone back where they started.
And in reality the stuff that’s now being called “currency wars” is almost surely a net plus for the world economy. In the 1930s this was because countries threw off their golden fetters — they left the gold standard and this freed them to pursue expansionary monetary policies. Today that’s not the issue; but what Japan, the US, and the UK are doing is in fact trying to pursue expansionary monetary policy, with currency depreciation as a byproduct. Expansionary policy is what the world needs, so why is this a bad thing?
True, Europe may feel that it’s suffering a loss of competitiveness. But there’s an answer for that: emulate the other advanced countries, and have the ECB join in the expansion. Indeed, if fear of an overvalued euro finally undermines the ECB’s monetary hawks, that’s good for everyone.
When it comes to currency depreciation, right now the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.As many Torontonians already know, according to the most recent Nanos poll, Rob Ford has a substantial lead in Toronto's mayoral race. But living in the U.S. during the 2008 presidential race taught me that all is not always what it seems in the exciting world of polling. Nate Silver - my favourite living statistician cum political blogger - predicted the outcome of the primary races with accuracy that earned him a place on Time Magazine's list of The World's 100 Most Influential People. What's more, his predictions often beat pollsters to the punch. How'd he do it? He used the magic of statistics!
I don't claim to be Toronto's Nate Silver, but I can bring some perspective to poll results that may have many of my citizens-in-spirit feeling downtrodden.
Polls don't catch everyone. Of course they don't! Polls take a sample of people and ask them what they think. Then, inferring from the answers provided by sampled respondents, pollsters make conclusion about the population-at-large.
Looking at the numbers, at least one trend is obvious. Of Nanos's 1012 respondents, 558 were over 50 years old and 320 of those were over 60. Does this sample accurately represent the demographic makeup of Toronto's voters? Will half the voters in the election be over 50? It's difficult to provide an answer to this question with any certainty (Toronto doesn't seem to keep easy-to-access stats on the demographics of its municipal elections), but it does seem very unlikely seeing as only about one quarter of Canadians are over 50. For over-50's to constitute half the voting population, they would have to come out in droves compared to younger voters.
How else does the sample compare to real life Toronto? Well, 740 of the 1012 respondents own homes compared to 249 renters. Two hundred and ninety-seven have "no strong allegiance," politically speaking. And 360 live in Toronto-proper (compared to 136, 279 and 246 in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough, respectively). Again, I don't want to testify to how representative this sample is. But it is something to consider when pondering the fate of the city. If the sample tends to miss certain people systematically (i.e. young, renting, downtowners), and if those people will tend to vote for Not Rob Ford, then the poll numbers will miss the picture. Or at least draw it funny.
Now, don't get too excited, Ford-haters. The poll suggested that Ford has a solid 18 point lead over Smitherman; a lead that big probably can't be explained away on account of demographic imbalance. But under-sampling of Ford non-supporters may cause polls to vastly overestimate Ford's lead, meaning that all is not lost. Maybe someone will drop out of the race! Maybe Ford will make some political blunder, leaving his marginal supporters reeling in the wake of his buffoonery! Or maybe, at least, it won't be a landslide.
Writing by Lauren Jones.
Photo by Tomasz Bugajski.By Craig Elsten
It’s just about that time of year: the weather is warming across the country, winter is fading into spring and hockey fans are starting to get anxious. It’s the time when a daily check of the scores comes alongside an examination of the standings. It’s almost playoff time.
With the American Hockey League coming to San Diego for the first time, we are about to get our first taste of the pursuit of the Calder Cup in America’s Finest City. The AHL’s migration to the Golden State, however, has delivered a plot twist with ramifications from coast to coast. With an uneven schedule, segregated conference play and a brand new playoff format to handle it all, every AHL host city is taking a fresh look at what it takes to qualify for the playoffs and how to navigate the path to a championship.
As such, let’s lay it all out for you in black and white. Here’s what you need to know about the Calder Cup playoffs, and what it will take for the San Diego Gulls to punch their ticket to the tournament.
WHAT IS THE CALDER CUP?
Named after Frank Calder, the original president of the National Hockey League from 1917 to 1943, the Calder Cup is the perpetual trophy awarded to the annual champions of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Calder Cup trophy itself was first awarded in 1938 to the Providence Reds, for winning the second International-American Hockey League championship. A total of 31 cities have won a Calder Cup title, the latest being Manchester, New Hampshire in 2015. The Hershey Bears have won the most cups with 11, the latest in 2010.
WHAT IS THE CALDER CUP PLAYOFF FORMAT?
Sixteen of the 30 AHL teams will qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs at the conclusion of the 2015-16 regular season. With an important exception that we will explain further below, the playoffs are designed as a divisional breakout in the first two rounds, reducing travel impact across the league.
The top four teams in each division qualify (again, with a key exception we’ll address in a moment) for their divisional playoff bracket. The division champion and #1 seed will host the #4 team in a five-game opening round playoff series, with the #2 and #3 teams meeting in a five-game series as well. The winners will meet in a second round seven-game series, with the higher-ranked seed holding home-ice advantage.
A seven-game conference championship round, and a seven-game Calder Cup championship will follow to determine the league champion.
THE CROSSOVER RULE
Each AHL conference consists of 15 teams in two divisions. The disparate number of teams per division has led to an opportunity in each conference for a team in the more highly populated eight-team division to “cross over” and take a playoff spot away from a team within a seven-team division.
In the AHL Central Division of the Western Conference, and the AHL Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, the fifth place team has a chance to take the fourth playoff spot in the AHL Pacific and AHL North Divisions, respectively. If the fifth place team in the Central has a higher points percentage than the fourth place team in the Pacific, the Central team “crosses over” and joins the Pacific playoff bracket as the fourth place team. The same is true for the fifth place team in the Atlantic and the fourth place team in the North.
Ah, yes…points percentage. Let’s get there.
WHAT IS POINTS PERCENTAGE AND WHY IS IT USED TO DETERMINE THE STANDINGS?
Points percentage is a simple calculation: a team’s total points divided by the maximum number of points available to them. If a team has played 20 games, they have 40 maximum points available to them; if they have collected 20 points in those 20 games, they would have a points percentage of (20 divided by 40=).500.
The reason for using points percentage to determine the standings is more complex: when five AHL teams migrated to California to create the AHL Pacific Division (joining Texas teams San Antonio and Texas), they did so agreeing to play a shortened schedule of 68 games. The other 25 AHL teams remained on a 76-game schedule.
As such, with 16 fewer points available to the five California teams, using points to determine the standings was no longer possible. Points percentage was the decided upon even-ground upon which AHL teams could be compared.
WHAT IS PPI?
Points Percentage Impact (or PPI) is the amount a team’s point percentage can change with an individual game result. On the season’s opening night, a team will either have 2-of-2 points captured (1.000%), 1-of-2 (.500%) or 0-of-2 (0%). As such, the total impact of that very first game (the PPI) is 1.000. Each game adds more available points to the right side of the equation, forcing teams to keep up or see their point percentage decrease. Simultaneously, the individual impact of each game on a team’s overall point percentage decreases game by game, from 1.000 in Game 1 all the way down to.015 for Game 68 (and.013 for Game 76).
The result is an inverted pyramid of sorts, where each successive game is worth slightly less to a team’s hopes of building their point percentage than the one before.
WHAT ARE THE TIEBREAKERS?
Following are the tiebreaking procedures used in the event of a tie in points percentage in the standings, regardless of division, following the completion of the regular season. When a tie among three or more teams is broken resulting in a two-team tie, the original tiebreaking method is used.
Between two teams:
a) percentage of games won (excluding shootout wins)
b) points in season series between teams
c) goal differential
d) goals scored in season series between teams
e) intra-conference points percentage
Among three or more teams:
a) percentage of games won (excluding shootout wins)
b) points percentage in combined season series
c) goal differential
d) goal differential in combined season series
e) intra-conference points percentage
IN CONCLUSION: WHAT TO WATCH
You will want to keep yourself apprised of two key factors as the AHL regular season winds down:
Who are the top four teams in the AHL Pacific Division? Is the fifth-place team in the AHL Central Division ahead of or behind the fourth-place team in the Pacific for the crossover rule?
With these two factors in mind, here’s something else to watch: as much Gulls hockey as is physically possible! You’re not going to want to miss a minute of the chase for the Calder Cup.
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commentsMax is a powerful platform that accommodates and connects a wide variety of tools for sound, graphics, music and interactivity using a flexible patching and programming environment. Max allows most computer users to write a simple, meaningful program within a few minutes, even with limited programming knowledge. But to do something more substantial it's necessary to approach Max as an actual programming language, by taking advantage of its various mechanisms for abstracting program elements into scalable, reusable components that can be combined in increasingly powerful ways.
This class will not cover every single capability of the language, but instead will focus on key concepts and mechanisms that will allow for tremendous new freedom and possibilities in Max. The class will touch upon:
sound and movie playback
sound synthesis
sound and video effects processing
algorithmic composition
cross-modal mappings (e.g., video affecting audio and vice versa)
interactive control (e.g., from QWERTY keyboard, mouse, USB devices, Open Sound Control)
Max programming, like most interesting topics, has deep aspects and shallow aspects. This course will largely focus on the deep aspects: principles, concepts, techniques, and theory. If you understand these underlying aspects, your capacity to create in Max will deepen exponentially.
At the same time, this is not just a theory class. You will also create your own projects using Max. This course will teach the minimum you need to start working on assignments, but mostly I will teach you how to learn or look up the shallow knowledge on your own using Max’s built-in documentation, the Internet, and the Kadenze course forum, as well as how to program your own tests that answer specific questions or reveal potential bugs. Working in this way, you will also develop essential skills and habits that will develop confidence and self-sufficiency, and serve you in the future.Learn how to paint melamine wood – and turn any outdated piece of furniture from drab to fab!
Believe me when I say, I never intended for the story of ‘how I painted and wallpapered my extra large melamine wardrobe’ to ever hit the light of day, let alone this blog (hence the lack of progress pics).
After two full days of vigorous painting and an overuse of ‘colourful choice words’, I had just wanted to forget the whole thing had ever happened …
You know…just move on with life.
However, looking back, I realise there are a few things I can share about my wardrobe makeover that might be useful to you guys…
Because lets face it, I’m sure we can all recall a time in our life when we owned a melamine monstrosity and had persistent thoughts about painting it
So here goes.
A month ago, operation bedroom makeover commenced (update: the bedroom is done! Take the tour here)
First on the agenda…. find a way to update the look of this beast of a wardrobe.
And oh what a beast it was!
It had been built in by the previous tenants (god, what were they thinking??). Upon moving in, we had removed its even uglier outdated doors, leaving the very unattractive melamine wood exposed for all to see.
To put it bluntly, I hated it. The very sight of of the reddish fake grain burned my eyes.
What choice did I have? I had to paint it.
(Just a note: our landlord is quite chilled about us painting, but there are some who might not be, so always make sure you check first. Read more here)
MATERIALS NEEDED TO PAINT MELAMINE:
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience – please see full disclosure here
FOR PAINTING:
FOR DECORATING:
HOW TO PAINT MELAMINE WOOD:
Last year I wrote a post about how to paint IKEA furniture – and the same rules apply when painting melamine.
Melamine is similar to laminate in that it has no natural wood grain, making it hard to sand back, and even harder to get paint to stick!
Don’t despair though, it can be done. It just takes a little more time.
1. SAND
I used my palm sander to sand the inside of the wardrobe. I also used 150 grit sandpaper for some areas like the edges, bottoms and detailing to ensure I got into all the nooks and crannies.
Alternatively you can use a DE-GLOSSER to dull the shiny surface rather than sanding, but this is quite a strong chemical and needs to be applied in a well ventilated area.
I skipped this step, because I didn’t fancy getting high on even more fumes that day (not that there is ever a day that I want to of course)
2.CLEAN
I used an old rag to remove all the sanding dust, then TSP diluted in water for a more thorough clean.
Now might be a good time to add wood filler to any areas that might need a little TLC. You can read more about the repair process here
3.PRIME
The Wilko brand primer I used is actually targeted for melamine and laminate type wood. Consequently it was quite thick and bonded really well to the wood.
You can use other brands for this step, but I would suggest sticking with oil based ones like Zinsser or rustoleum spray paint
I initially applied the primer with a paint brush to all the edges and corners I knew the roller wouldn’t reach. Everything else was painted with the roller.
You then have to wait..for each coat to dry (sanding very lightly in between each one) – this is how it looked after the second coat of primer
I’m not gonna lie, watching the paint dry was the hardest part for me (impatience is my middle name). That and the multiple layers of primer I had to apply due to the sheer size and type of wood I was prepping.
As always, I took to facebook to moan all about it!
4 FINAL PAINT:
Once the primer had dried, I plastered on the final coat of paint. I chose to use Wilko furniture white paint but again you can use any brand, type or colour for your final coat.
It really depends on the type of look you are going for.
Notice the backing of the wardrobe still looked very patchy? I planned to cover it with wallpaper so I wasn’t too bothered about the coverage in this area
This is the wallpaper I chose..isn’t it gorgeous?? (you can also buy it from the US here) I used PVA glue and a foam bush to apply it to the back of the wardrobe.
5 SEALING
This was the final step! I used clear Ronseal varnish to seal the wardrobe (US version here).
AND THATS IT… seriously… everything you need to know about how to paint melamine
Transforming this melamine wardrobe took about two days to complete, but bear in mind, I spent a good portion of that time feeling a little sorry for myself at what seemed like an almost impossible task.
Turns out it was more possible than I thought, but would I do it again?
Most likely not.
The open closet concept was only meant to be a temporary idea while I figured out what to do in terms of wardrobe doors.
Ahem!….
MY WARDROBE TODAY
Clearly the open closet concept isn’t working for me..
Does an open closet work for you? Let me know in the comments below UPDATE: CHECK OUT MY NEW WARDROBE DOORS HERE!
We’ve got quite a few other on this blog.. check them out below!
HOW TO PAINT WITH A PAINT SPRAYER
MID CENTURY DRESSER MAKEOVER
HOW TO WALLPAPER A LAMINATE FLOOR
HOW PAINT AND STENCIL CONCRETE
HOW TO PAINT A PICTURE FRAME3.6k SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Reddit Tumblr Digg Linkedin Stumbleupon Mail Print
The for-profit probation company, Providence Community Corrections, is in the middle of a class action lawsuit after being accused of running an extortion scheme rigged against the poor in Rutherford County, TN.
According to the lawsuit, PCC has allegedly used tactics such as adding fees and violations arbitrarily to extend probation time and even using false-positive drug tests in order to maximize profits and incarceration at the expense of those who are unable to pay.
The federal lawsuit was filed against Rutherford County and PCC last month by Alec Karakatsanis, founder of Equal Justice Under the Law, and seven Rutherford County residents involved in misdemeanor cases.
One of the individuals victimized by PCC, Stephen Gibbs, a disabled man who has no choice now but to live in a motel room with his wife, told local News Channel 5 that his situation originally started out as a simple misdemeanor charge for driving on a suspended license.
When he wasn’t able to afford to pay his fine, he was put on supervised probation with PCC. Gibbs informed the local news outlet that he had brought money every week to the probation office in order to attempt to pay his fines but they told him it wasn’t enough.
“Because I didn’t have the money to pay, she said ‘I’m going to drug test you then.’ I said, ‘Go ahead. I ain’t done nothing,'” Gibbs stated.
Gibbs insisted he isn’t a drug user and had just undergone a drug test at his pain clinic which came back negative.
When the drug test results came back from PCC however, the paperwork showed that he tested positive for marijuana. His probation officer then promised him a warrant for his arrest.
Lawyers soon got in contact with Gibbs and immediately sent him to get another drug test from an independent company. When the test results came back the next day, they showed that Gibbs had tested negative on everything.
“It seems strange that he would have a clean test, then a failed test, and then a clean test. And the only one he fails is the one administered by PCC,” Attorney Jonathan Cole stated.
Cindy Rodriguez, another one of the victims involved in the lawsuit, showed local News Channel 5 several receipts for hundreds of dollars in payments made to PCC, which of course were pointless as the for-profit company kept adding on more fees.
She was finally served a warrant for her arrest after not being able to keep up with the additional fees that PCC was stacking on.
“I mean, it’s in black and white, I still owe what I started with a year later,” Rodriguez stated. “When you are trying to pay something off and they just keep stacking fees on you, it’s impossible.”
Following the allegations of corruption, PCC released this statement:
“Providence Community Corrections’ mission is to encourage people to complete their probation successfully per the terms set by the courts, and while we have not yet been formally notified nor had time to review this case, what we can say is that in each of the states we serve, we steadfastly comply with the laws governing the probation system.”
Anyone who has gone through the probation process in Rutherford County before or knows someone who has would recognize this statement as an obvious lie.
It is commonly known in Rutherford County that once people get stuck in the probation trap, they could be stuck in it for years, losing several thousand dollars and even their freedom in the process.
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EPN
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$695.0C.P. McDill kicks off 2008 with a new release from Akashic Crow's Nest. Drones, sparkles, shimmers, vague rhythms & melodies carry the listeners on a weird introspective trip. This is good headphone music.The recordings of Akashic Crow’s Nest are created by first making a very long thin picture file that functions much like a piano roll, which is then fed into a software synthesizer which reads the picture from left to right, pixel by pixel, and translates the values into tones, adding variables such as loudness and panning based on information in the picture. The output is then treated to various digital effects such as delays and compression to give the final pieces a warmer, ambient quality.Recorded & Producedby C.P. McDillJanuary 200800:52:4801 Humdinger (09:04)02 Pocketses (07:08)03 Slow Coach (08:10)04 Poste Restante (12:15)05 Rantipole (08:01)06 Subridiculum (08:10)Thank you for listening to this Webbed Hand Records release. Please visit the WHR homepage to explore our complete catalog of experimental and ambient recordings. All of our music is free to download, but we'd be very grateful if you could make a small donation (via Paypal) to help with the costs of maintaining a netlabel.The two largest trucking trade associations each have asked the Dept. of Transportation for more time to study the recently published truck speed limiter proposal, citing the rule’s complexity, changing industry dynamics, and the “significant” impact of such a regulation.
In Sept. 9 letters to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, the American Trucking Assns. (ATA) and the Owner-Operator Independent Driver Assn. (OOIDA) made their respective cases for an extended public comment period.
“The rule, as proposed, would have a significant impact on the whole of ATA’s membership and many more industry participants,” writes ATA, which had petitioned for a speed limiter mandate 10 years ago.
The organization and its state affiliates, along with the Truckload Carriers Assn. (TCA), note that “much has changed in vehicle and motor carrier safety” over the decade. The letter points to the development and adoption of safety technologies, the greater scrutiny of carriers under the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program, and electronic logs as examples.
“These developments, along with new state laws and speed limits, have changed the way motor carriers view and respond to safety concerns,” ATA says.
Additionally, ATA points to the proposed rule’s “dramatic departure” from the initial petition, in terms of tamper proofing protections, the lack of a retrofit requirement, and the DOT’s reluctance to specify a governed speed. ATA requests an additional 30 days “to reengage its membership” on the matter.
OOIDA, which represents small business truckers, asks for a 60-day extension of the comment period, citing the “wide range of issues” related to limiting truck speed and noting that the proposal is “based on complex research that in some instances is being used in an unconventional way.”
“This is one of the most significant NPRMs in decades as it relates to the safety of the traveling public, roadway efficiency, and the livelihood of our nation’s professional truck drivers,” OOIDA writes. “One way or another, the outcome of this NPRM will impact everyone.”
The comment period is currently scheduled to run through Nov. 7. Comments may be filed at regulations.gov.The media’s coverage of the February 4 debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham overshadowed another important issue Nye highlighted on January 30: global poverty. The 2 minute video features Bill Nye discussing commonly believed myths about poverty.
MYTH #1: The United States spends 25 percent of its budget each year on foreign aid.
Bill Nye compares the federal budget to a dollar bill. Though some people assume that the budget is a quarter, it is actually less than a penny. “You can’t even cut a coin small enough to represent how much money is spent on foreign aid. It’s not that much,” said Nye.
REALITY= The US spends 0.8 percent of its budget each year on foreign aid.
MYTH #2: Wars & natural disasters kill more people than anything else.
“This idea that wars or natural disasters, tsunamis, earthquakes, kill most of the people – that’s wrong. It pales, it’s dwarfed by the number of people killed by preventable diseases,” Bill Nye said.
Children are dying every day. Though progress has been made in global health, there are still deaths all over the world. Those in poverty are at an even higher risk of dying.
Health and economic advancements have allowed people to combat this risk. However, preventable diseases continue to represent 7 out of the 10 leading causes for child mortality. It accounts for 83 percent of child deaths, with non-communicable diseases at 11 percent and injuries at 6 percent. “This is where we can change the world,” said Bill Nye.
REALITY= The leading cause of death for children under the age of 5 is preventable disease (communicable diseases, birth problems, nutrition.)
MYTH #3: U.S. citizens give money to Africa and nothing changes.
“People think that we’ve been sending money to Africa for decades and nothing’s improved; things are as bad as they ever were.” Approximately 10.5 million children under the age of five die every year. In 1970, that number was 17 million.
The most impressive declines occurred in countries that showed considerable economic improvement, making our monetary contributions a positive piece of the puzzle. Foreign aid has helped these people.
REALITY= That money has been making positive changes, like cutting child mortality in half within the past few decades.
“We have a real opportunity to leave the world better than we found it, to dispel these myths and move on to improve the quality of life of people everywhere,” said Bill Nye. “So let’s prevent the diseases. Let’s address a preventable disaster.”
– Samantha Davis
Sources: NPR, YouTube, World Health Organization
Photo: Brandon Hill PhotosThe New York Giants will retain Jerry Reese as general manager, according to NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala.
New York parted ways with head coach Tom Coughlin on Monday. Coughlin spent the past 12 seasons with the club, winning two Super Bowls.
Reese has served as the team's general manager since 2007 and was instrumental in building the rosters of both Super Bowl-winning clubs. Prior to becoming GM, Reese worked as the director of player personnel from 2004-2007.
New York missed the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons, and many pointed to the team's lack of success as an indictment of Reese's ability to accrue personnel, in spite of the two Super Bowl victories.
It's likely Reese will be paramount in hiring the new head coach.
The Giants will hold a press conference Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.Samsung has entered the mobile payments fray with its acquisition of LoopPay, giving it the technology to turn its smartphones into wireless credit |
this piece was probably used for some mockup to show how the final product may look.
Here are some single sided color proofs. They are printed on a slick card stock.
Here is a box proof.
Here are five different blank back, cardboard stock, box color separation proofs. Each measures 11" X 17". Included are the Black and White, Blue/Yellow/Red, Yellow/Red, Yellow/Blue and Yellow proofs. Color separations are created during the final proofing stages of the set.
Here are a few pictures of the 2017 Topps Sugar Free commemorative set box.Ubuntu MATE Beta1 is released and represents a big step forward compared to Alpha2, not least because Ubuntu MATE is now sporting new themes and artwork to give it a distinctive look. A number of bugs have also been fixed along the way and a few new ones have been introduced, so make sure you read the release notes below.
What changed since Alpha2?
Mostly Beta1 has been focused on adding artwork to give Ubuntu MATE its own identity but improvements have been made and some bugs have been fixed too.
Added community contributed wallpapers from Goce Mitevski and Ivan Pejić.
Added community contributed Plymouth theme from Jack Mohegan.
Added community contributed SYSLINUX theme contributed from Ivan Pejić.
Added community contributed Ubiquity slides from Jack Mohegan.
Added Ambiant-MATE and Radiant-MATE desktop and icon themes.
Added Ubuntu MATE LightDM theme.
Added OpenDyslexic a font created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia.
Added a screen magnifier for individuals with low vision.
Added patent-free S3TC compatible implementation that provides texture compression to Mesa.
Added service discovery on a local network via the mDNS/DNS-SD protocol suite.
Added colord to manage, install and generate accurate colour profiles.
to manage, install and generate accurate colour profiles. Added ntp time synchronisation daemon.
time synchronisation daemon. Added policykit-desktop-privileges which fixes, among other things, auto mounting of disks without requiring a password.
which fixes, among other things, auto mounting of disks without requiring a password. Added a PAM module that will automatically unlock the keyrings using your login password, making gnome-keyring usage transparent without losing its security benefits.
Added GVFS backend (FTP, SSH, WebDAV, Samba) to Déjà Dup.
Added GStreamer backend to LibreOffice.
Fixed hiding the im-config icon from MATE.
icon from MATE. Improved support for 3G/4G USB dongles.
Improved support for iPods and MTP devices.
Improved on-demand codec installation.
Improved hardware detection and support.
Improved.iso image mastering to ensure consistency with official Ubuntu flavours.
Improved meta packages and added ubuntu-mate-live for handling packages that are only required in the Live CD.
for handling packages that are only required in the Live CD. Updated the default Qt4 style to match the Ambiant-MATE theme.
Updated the language packs in the Live CD based on the Top 10 countries that visit https://ubuntu-mate.org.
Updated ubuntu-mate.org website content and improved the screenshot slideshow.
Updated ubuntu-mate.org webserver to deliver all content over SSL/TLS using HSTS, PFS and (when possible) SPDY.
Removed ffmpegthumbnailer, light-themes and ubuntu-artwork.
Ubuntu MATE Beta1 Download Join the fun and experience a retrospective future. Download
Upgrading from Alpha2
Some of the package selections and default settings have changed since Alpha2. If you have Alpha2 installed, here is how to upgrade to Beta1.
Start a shell and upgrade.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Remove some obsolete packages.
sudo apt-get remove adium-theme-ubuntu light-themes ubuntu-wallpapers
Overlay some Ubuntu MATE configuration files.
rsync -av /etc/skel/.config/ ~/.config/ rsync -av /etc/skel/.local/ ~/.local/
Reboot, login, start a shell and clean up.
sudo apt-get autoremove sudo apt-get autoclean
Finally set up the default Ubuntu MATE appearance.
Go to System -> Preferences -> Appearance and select the ‘Ambiant-MATE’ theme. Click the Backgrounds tab and select the ‘Ubuntu MATE Cold’ wallpaper.
Known Issues
Ubuntu MATE 14.10 is currently in beta and we are aware of the following issues.
Full disk encryption may not work. This is an upstream bug in Plymouth that can prevent your passphrase from being accepted. Home directory encryption does work.
Plymouth does not display the boot time splash screens. This is an upstream bug. LP #1343841
Currently the Try Ubuntu MATE without installing option does not work due to an upstream bug. LP #1355966
option does not work due to an upstream bug. LP #1355966 EFI computers may encounter a black screen during boot up and the system will not be usable. This is an upstream bug. LP #1353989
You may experience some video corruption when running in a VirtualBox guest. See below for a workaround.
Reporting issues
If you spot any other issues please report them on the project’s bug tracker.
Testing
Ubuntu MATE Beta2 will be released at the end of September therefore we need people installing, using Ubuntu MATE and reporting any issues you may find on the project’s bug tracker.
Is there anything you can help with or want to be involved in? Maybe you just want to discuss your experiences or ask the maintainers some questions. Please come and talk to us.Oh no… what did I do?
That was my first thought as Dave Manson slammed my 19-year-old body into the glass with his forearm.
Now mind you, we were on the same team.
This was at a practice in ’95 when the franchise was still in Winnipeg. I had just disrespected Terry Simpson, our head coach. I had screwed up during some drill, so Terry starting chewing me out in front of the team. Once he was done, I kind of rolled my eyes at him as I skated away. Like a 19-year-old punk might be prone to do.
Manso was our assistant captain and had been in the league for a decade. I’ll never forget him looking me in the eye and growling, “Don’t you ever roll your eyes at the coach again! I don’t care how good you are or what you go on to do in your career, don’t you ever disrespect your coach like that again!”
Here’s the thing: Manso wasn’t a guy anyone would expect to suck up to the coach. He wasn’t even a particularly vocal person in general. And I think that’s why his message got through to me so clearly. He didn’t do this for himself; he did it because it was right.
It’s easy for an organization to go downhill if even tiny stuff like eye-rolling goes unchecked. I’ll always respect Manso for putting me in line like that, because he was doing it for my benefit. You can agree with the coach or you can disagree with the coach, but everyone has to be on the same page. This game is just too difficult to win with a group of individuals.
I’ll never forget the first time we got flown down to Phoenix from Winnipeg to check out our new city. We’d all heard rumors that the team was going to move to Minnesota, which seemed to make enough sense. But I can’t say Arizona was really on our radar. It was -30 degrees when the plane took off from Manitoba and it was a balmy 70 when we landed in Phoenix. It was like we had landed on a foreign planet.
There were some interesting challenges early on, given that we were playing in a new hockey market and all. The arena we played in was designed for basketball, so there were a few thousand obstructed-view seats. There wasn’t even any netting right behind one of the goals for the first two exhibition games. It was like a shooting gallery in those seats. We’d be hammering pucks that would get deflected, and these poor people watching the dance cam would have no idea what was coming.
But yeah, they fixed that.
The fans were just awesome. That building had a great atmosphere, especially during the WhiteOuts.
That was in 1996, and now nearly 20 years later, I’m still with the same organization. Of course, some people are amazed that I’ve stayed with the franchise this long, but to be honest, I’m much more amazed that they’ve kept me around.
See, my only goal growing up was to play in the NHL for as long as I could. Hopefully that was going to be more than just a cup of coffee, but if it just was a cup of coffee, I’d have been satisfied all the same.
I’m from a town in Alberta of only 70 people. My dad and several of my relatives were drafted to play in the NHL. A decent percentage of the adults I knew growing up played professional hockey in some capacity. So I was under the general impression that you play when you’re little, then you get drafted and play in the NHL for a bit — seems like the thing to do, y’know? It wasn’t until I laced up my skates in Juniors that I realized exactly how good hockey players can be. There are absolutely no guarantees in this sport, and that’s especially true when it comes to making it in the NHL. There are just too many talented and passionate players, and too few spots.
For my first four years in the show, honestly, I wasn’t a great player. I mean, if you look up my point totals early on, they don’t really paint a picture of a guy that would end up having a long career in this league. I was averaging just about 15 points per season.
But for one reason or another, this organization showed faith in me. They could have easily gotten rid of me at any point, and nobody would have had a second thought about it. That’s the business, and you either learn to understand that or it’s forcefully taught to you. But somehow, throughout the years, I avoided the cycle of getting moved from team to team.
And that’s really how it works in this profession, unfortunately: If you get moved one time, it generally happens again and again. And at that point, even if you’re a high-caliber player, it can be difficult to stick because you don’t get to establish yourself in any one place. When you watch the really great teams, you notice a certain flow and grace in their play. You’ll see a special chemistry on their best lines. That takes time to develop.
My story could have been drastically different if not for this organization’s patience during my development.
During those first four years, we changed coaches every single season. I was always the youngest guy on the roster, so it felt like I was starting my rookie year over from scratch each time. But that fourth season, I happened to have a good performance in the playoffs. Well, good is a relative term. I scored two goals, but they were both game-winners. One was in overtime when I tapped a puck just over the line, and the other was an empty-netter. So neither of them were highlights, exactly, but I think just seeing the puck go into the net in those big moments made something click in me.
The following year, Bobby Francis came in as our new head coach and he put me on a line with two Finnish guys, Juha Ylonen and Mika Alatalo, who didn’t speak much English but … it just worked. It’s one of the fascinating things about this sport, how you can pair people from completely different places but they’ll share this special chemistry when they’re on the ice together. We played on the same line the entire season, and everything kind of fell in place. I had 22 goals in my first four seasons in the NHL. But I scored 26 in that fifth season alone.
I became captain of the Coyotes in 2003.
I view wearing the C for this organization as a privilege, but also a tremendous responsibility. We all get told to keep our chin up from time to time, but I think it means a little more to a young guy when it comes from someone who has really been in the same position. A lot of times, being a good captain means being part hockey player, part human resources rep, part therapist.
I couldn’t have had better teachers to prepare me for this job. The three captains I had coming up were Kris King, Keith Tkachuk and Teppo Numminen — absolute class acts by every measure.
When you get brought up by great guys like that, you feel a responsibility to pass on their message. So much of this game is about respect, and when I tell a young guy something to improve, I’m paying my respects to Kris, Keith, Teppo and the other veterans who had an impact on my career. If I didn’t pass on that knowledge to the young guys, I would be ignoring a big part of my obligation as a veteran of this league. I’ve never seen it as a chore, but as a way to make my team better. That’s all I ever really want.
Even after 20 years, it’s easy for me to come to work with a smile on my face because it always feels like I’m visiting my extended family when I come to the rink. Good people work here. You cherish those relationships you develop with your teammates, but there are also a lot of memories I share with the trainers and team staff — relationships that stretch back to when we were still in Winnipeg.
I feel like I’ve already had way more than one career’s worth of life experiences at this point. I mean, I even got to play for Wayne freaking Gretzky for a few years. I was impressed with him for many reasons, not the least of which being how much he improved as a coach year after year. Every veteran in the league thinks they can make it is as a coach, but I think you only grasp the challenges of the job once you take it on.
When Wayne took over, he’d only been out of the league seven or eight years and was talking to a locker room full of guys who completely worshipped him growing up. That in itself caused some complications. I mean, imagine getting yelled at by your childhood hero every time you screwed up at work …
I’ll never forget one time when Wayne got pissed at Steven Reinprecht for something. Afterwards, it was like Reino was in shock. “I wore Wayne Gretzky pajamas as a kid and had Wayne Gretzky posters all over my walls growing up! I can’t believe he just screamed at me!” It was like Santa Claus coming down the chimney and leaving a note saying he was disappointed in you.
Over the years, the greatest gift that our franchise has given me is stability. That’s a very rare thing to find in a profession like this. My wife and I have raised a family and created a life for ourselves out here. My kids have never had to move cities. My daughter is a junior in high school now and she’s been friends with the same kids since she was two. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for that. None of this would have been possible without the tremendous commitment my wife has made to our family.
I’ve had some interest from other teams over the years, but there’s always been too much pulling me back to Phoenix. I believe in this organization and I have so much respect for the fans who have stuck with us all of this time.
I’ve been in a lot of cities where things aren’t going well and the franchise is struggling. You look up in the stands, and it’s pretty much a ghost town. There’s no energy or passion in the building.
In Phoenix, there have been long stretches when it’s been bad — really bad. But the fans still showed up. We’d be surrounded by rumors that we were going to relocate, and I’d look up in the stands and see familiar faces wearing my jersey and pounding on the glass. Who wouldn’t skate through a brick wall for them?
I respect those Coyotes fans who have stuck with us all these years most because they’ve been given plenty of reasons not to. But fortunately for them, I think there are a lot of reasons to be excited about what we’re creating here. All you have to do is take a glance at our roster.
We have a talented squad here. These kids — Domi, Ekman-Larsson, Boedker, Rieder, Duclair, Dahlbeck, Stone, Murphy, to name a few — can really play, and I can tell that all of them are still getting better. What’s more, they’re going to be joined by some dynamite talent that we have in the minors like Dylan Strome, Christian Dvorak, Brendan Perlini, Henrik Samuelsson, Christian Fischer, Nick Merkley and Laurent Dauphin. We have such a bright future ahead, and the possibilities seem endless. I can say this for certain: If we keep this team growing together, there’s going to be some serious top-level hockey played in the desert for a long time.
I get asked often about the loyalty I feel towards this organization. I get asked why I’ve turned down other opportunities so that I can keep playing hockey in what some people characterize as not an ideal situation. I’ve already given plenty of examples of why I love it here, but on a basic level, my biggest reason for wanting to stick around all these years is simple: This organization drafted me to win a Stanley Cup, and I still plan to deliver on my end of the bargain.Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa speaks during an interview in Veracruz, Mexico, in December 2014. (Photo11: Ulises RuizBasurto, European Pressphoto Agency)
LIMA, Peru — You might think that using United States laws to shut up social media opponents would be the last thing Rafael Correa would do.
A vocal adversary of Washington, Ecuador's leftist president has also made a name for sheltering WikiLeaks' Julian Assange in his country's London Embassy, and briefly offering asylum to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.
So, it might come as a surprise to learn that Ecuadoreans who dare to post content critical of Correa and his government on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook say they are finding their images and videos systematically targeted and taken down.
Even more unexpected is the justification being given time and again: the supposed violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed by Congress in 1998.
The law, intended to combat online piracy, holds Internet companies liable for copyright violations they host, however unwittingly. It also establishes a fast track "notice and takedown" process for rights holders to inform social networks and search engines when copyright is being breached.
As a result, those websites now automatically remove the content, and even close down repeat violators' accounts. In practice, democracy activists say, that's allowing a repressive government to shut down many of its online critics.
Human Rights Watch says this would be the latest move in Ecuador's "deplorable free speech record."
Account users can appeal, and often have their posts reinstated. But the process typically takes a couple of weeks — an eon for journalists, bloggers, cartoonists or anyone else wishing to respond to fast-moving news events.
"This is an attempt to control anything that is uncomfortable for the government. Correa can't tolerate criticism," said Pocho Alvarez, a filmmaker. His short video, "Acoso a Intag" ("Harassment of Intag"), showing the government's allegedly heavy-handed treatment of a village opposed to a copper mining plan, was temporarily removed by YouTube.
"Correa likes to sell himself as a progressive, a leftist, but his behavior could hardly be more reactionary," he added.
Alvarez's supposed copyright breach was the inclusion of a few seconds of a televised Correa speech in his work. The DMCA actually allows that kind of "fair use" of even copyrighted information as part of the cut-and-thrust of debate in any free society.
And as Cesar Ricaurte, director of Fundamedios, a Quito-based media freedom non-profit, emphasizes: "In any democratic country in the world, the president's speeches are public material and can be used in commentary."
Carlos Jijon, editor of Guayaquil news website La Republica, which was taken down by its U.S. server for several hours after publishing a photo of a check allegedly proving official corruption, said the bogus copyright complaints were an attempt to intimidate critical voices.
"We are an independent outlet that, in a professional way, simply tries to report what opponents of the government — and the government — are saying," he told GlobalPost.
In his case, the complaint alleged that the rights to the photo belonged to a police officer, when really it belonged to another Ecuadorean newspaper, according to Fundamedios.
Jijon added that Correa had singled him out in televised speeches as an example of supposedly dishonest journalists trying to confuse the Ecuadorean people. "He attacks us in very personal ways and there is no right of reply," Jijon said of the president.
The copyright complaints against Ecuadorean Web users are being filed by a secretive Spanish firm, Ares Rights. That's according to interviews with several of the social media users and takedown notices from YouTube and Twitter viewed by GlobalPost that cite Ares Rights as the complainant.
In one case, the complaint also named the copyright holder as Correa's Alianza Pais party.
Ares Rights has a single-page website with a brief video offering services to monitor web content and take down pirated material that breaches clients' copyright.
The website provides no contact details. Ares Rights' Facebook account can't be messaged. The company also has a Twitter account, with fewer than 100 followers and no posts since November.
The company did not respond to GlobalPost's tweets requesting comment, or to an e-mail sent to an address the company filed in one of its copyright complaints. A Spanish phone number given in that same complaint was out of service.
In Ecuador, the government has been largely silent about Ares Rights, other than the former head of state-run Ecuador TV denying it had hired the company.
"It is really striking that no other official or member of the government or Alianza Pais has publicly come out and said there is no connection with Ares Rights," said Diana Amores, a 34-year-old Quito-based English teacher and translator whose Twitter account, often poking fun at the government, was blocked twice last year.
Twitter and YouTube told GlobalPost their actions are in compliance with the law. Facebook would not comment.
The U.S.-based Electronic Freedom Foundation has also called on the Correa administration to come clean about its relationship with the company.
"If the Ecuadorean government really is not involved with Ares Rights, then it should denounce the firm and demand that they stop sending DMCA notices in the government's name," it urged. "Bogus copyright complaints like these threaten free expression on the internet."
GlobalPost attempted to get a response from the Ecuadorean government.
The Communications Ministry referred us to the state-run Ecuadorean Institute of Intellectual Property. In an e-mail, it said it would respond to GlobalPost's request for an interview but failed to do so before publication.
Although Fundamedios has documented several complaints for supposed copyright breaches against Ecuadorean government critics filed by Ares Rights, it is unclear how many others have been silenced by the company.
"It is not an easy process to get your account reinstated. It is burdensome," Amores said. "I wonder how many other people have received similar copyright notices but have not fought it or gone public?"
This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.
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A DRUNK has been jailed after she stole a 100-seat ferry and smashed into boats, yelling, “I’m Jack Sparrow! I’m a pirate!”
Alison Whelan, 51, boarded the 45ft Dart Princess with a friend after a two-day bender, where she got drunk on Lambrini and ate poisonous deadly nightshade, which causes hallucinations.
She undid the mooring ropes in the early hours and drifted up a river on the tide, bashing into other boats “like a pinball machine”.
Whelan taunted police, shouting: “What are you going to do now?” and “I believe this is out of your jurisdiction!”
Thirty police, a lifeboat crew, Coastguards and paramedics had to be called.
And when the cops finally arrested her after an hour when the ferry came to rest in calm water, she told them: “We’d have ended up in St Tropez if we hadn’t been caught.”
Magistrates jailed her for 122 days for aggravated vehicle taking. She had denied the charge.
Whelan, of Paignton, Devon, stole the double-decker ferry in nearby Dartmouth a year ago.
She had called an ambulance, claiming to have had a seizure. Medics found her drunk and rambling, and one of them was pushed over by her friend, Tristam Locke.
The medics called police and went to their vehicle to wait, then looked in their mirror and saw the ferry drifting away from shore.
Whelan told police she untied “two or three” of the mooring ropes because she kept tripping over them.
She said she then felt the boat moving and “noticed the hotels getting a long way away”.
The ferry suffered £1500 of damage when it hit two other boats, which were also damaged. Torquay magistrates heard Whelan and Locke could have been killed on rocks if the tide on the River Dart had been going out at the time.
Locke was fined £100 last year for assaulting an ambulance technician.One company: 262 bugs, 100% acceptance, 2.57 priority, millions of user details saved.
Sean Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 24, 2017
Welcome all! Firstly, let me introduce myself. I’m known as @zseano and i’m known for being mostly active on BugCrowd. One thing most people don’t know is that all of my bug bounty time is dedicated to one company. That’s right, 99.9% of my bugs have been to one company in the hope I am securing them from the bad guys and helping them learn security. Ive really enjoyed getting to know some of their security team, as well as getting an understanding as to how they work. (perfect for when discovering vulns, seriously! :D)
I’ve risen in the ranks and i’m currently ranked #6, although I have quite a few bugs in the NEW state so hoping to hit #2 soon. The top 10 is very active, and you quickly go up and down the ranks. (bugcrowd analysts: pls validate all my new bugs :P). In my time of reporting I have received great feedback from this program.
Even though their payouts aren’t anywhere near $xx,xxx for criticals I still really enjoy running in their bounty program. I also like to think my reports are helping their devs think before pushing vuln code (bad for me as no bugs, but good for them). I’ll revisit this post in a year and see how many new bugs I find. ;)
With all that out of the way, it’s time to recap the last 6months of reporting bugs and to tally up just how much data i’ve saved from criminal hands and outline some interesting facts..
8 IDOR which resulted in me being able to gain access to MILLIONS of users’ personals details. (Saved you some work Troy Hunt!) This ranged from emails, phone numbers, sessions, and even plaintext passwords. My latest IDOR finding allowed me to input ANY users “id” and it would auto log me into their account.
IDOR which resulted in me being able to gain access to users’ personals details. (Saved you some work Troy Hunt!) This ranged from emails, phone numbers, sessions, and even plaintext passwords. My latest IDOR finding allowed me to input ANY users “id” and it would auto log me into their account. 19 IDOR which allowed me to modify users content. For example users’ photos, comments, or bio. These types of IDOR did not leak any personal data as such, they simply allowed me to manipulate and change it. A rough figure of how much data I could of manipulated: millions.
IDOR which allowed me to modify users content. For example users’ photos, comments, or bio. These types of IDOR did not leak any personal data as such, they simply allowed me to manipulate and change it. A rough figure of how much data I could of manipulated:. 62 Stored XSS. A lot of my stored xss was discovered in sensitive areas, and by sensitive areas I mean areas of a website that a mod/admin would visit (and did infact on one of my tests) and I could potentially hijack their session, phish them, etc. I like to show a company that XSS isn’t just “woah you can pop 0”. For example whilst playing around with stored xss it actually fired on the admin backend accidently. Double win.
Stored XSS. A lot of my stored xss was discovered in sensitive areas, and by sensitive areas I mean areas of a website that a mod/admin would visit (and did infact on one of my tests) and I could potentially hijack their session, phish them, etc. I like to show a company that XSS isn’t just “woah you can pop 0”. For example whilst playing around with stored xss it actually fired on the admin backend accidently. Double win. 8 account takeovers via mis-configured facebook applications chained with open url redirects. Not only this, but we could of quite easily stolen users’ facebook access tokens as well. I released a blog post on this and I highly recommend taking my advice and trying it on sites. Turn those open url redirects into $ bounties $!
account takeovers via mis-configured facebook applications chained with open url redirects. Not only this, but we could of quite easily stolen users’ facebook access tokens as well. I released a blog post on this and I highly recommend taking my advice and trying it on sites. Turn those open url redirects into $ $! Too many CSRF. I rarely report CSRF unless the action has some sort of impact (such as updating their email), but one noteable experience is worth going into more detail about which should help you when researching. One website had CSRF tokens etc on every post, but if you simply removed the token, it would reflect the changes you wanted to make but display an error, “invalid csrf token”. Since they reflected the changes I want to make (imagine i’m updating your email) and they also didn’t have X-FRAME-OPTIONS:SAMEORIGIN this created a perfect opportunity to take over users’ accounts via clickjack. This issue was site-wide. Even if a site has csrf tokens, I highly recommend playing with it more to see what you can do.. you’d be surprised.
What i’ve learnt
Mobile apps are usually always vulnerable. I’ve outlined this again in my blog post, but i’ll stress it here again: mobile apps are usually always vulnerable to IDOR! Due to poor design, they normally just ping example.com/api/user/1, and changing 1 to any id you want will reveal that users data (and sometines in my case, their sessiontoken which allowed me into their account).
. I’ve outlined this again in my blog post, but i’ll stress it here again: mobile apps are usually always vulnerable to IDOR! Due to poor design, they normally just ping example.com/api/user/1, and changing 1 to any id you want will reveal that users data (and sometines in my case, their sessiontoken which allowed me into their account). Scrape data from everywhere. Look in all js files, look on waybackmachine for old files (especially robots.txt) that aren’t on their current site, but are still on the server. Look on shodan, crt.sh, dnsdumpster, google dorking etc. Meeting the extremely talented Nathaniel Wakelam (@nnwakelam) and seeing how much of a recon god he is made me step my game up with scraping.
. Look in all js files, look on waybackmachine for old files (especially robots.txt) that aren’t on their current site, but are still on the server. Look on shodan, crt.sh, dnsdumpster, google dorking etc. Meeting the extremely talented Nathaniel Wakelam (@nnwakelam) and seeing how much of a recon god he is made me step my game up with scraping. Check for use of third-party apps. If they have a FB app chances are it’s mis-configured to allow for *.theirsite.com/*. Go get that open url redirect and achieve account takeover.
. If they have a FB app chances are it’s mis-configured to allow for *.theirsite.com/*. Go get that open url redirect and achieve account takeover. Inject blind XSS everywhere you can, and use XSSHunter to do this. I had the privledge of meeting @IAmMandatory (and even hacking next to him) and his service is amazing for blind XSS. If you use it, give him a little thanks and donate, after all, he gives us access for free.
, and use XSSHunter to do this. I had the privledge of meeting @IAmMandatory (and even hacking next to him) and his service is amazing for blind XSS. If you use it, give him a little thanks and donate, after all, he gives us access for free. Be professional. If you don’t agree with a payout or a decision, explain why. I’ll admit sometimes I have been hasty, but we all have bad days right? From my experience being professional and showing them you’re taking their program seriously will get you further.
. If you don’t agree with a payout or a decision, explain why. I’ll admit sometimes I have been hasty, but we all have bad days right? From my experience being professional and showing them you’re taking their program seriously will get you further. Read. Read. Read. HackerOne disclosures, blog posts, even just random tweets. Find as much reading material as possible and see what everyone else is doing, then apply that knowledge to the program you’re working on. Who knows, one day that RCE might appear when you least expect it.
. HackerOne disclosures, blog posts, even just random tweets. Find as much reading material as possible and see what everyone else is doing, then apply that knowledge to the program you’re working on. Who knows, one day that RCE might appear when you least expect it. Note down vulnerable params somewhere. Companies like to re-use code so perhaps that reflective XSS you got on one endpoint might be vulnerable on another. Moar bounties pls sir.
. Companies like to re-use code so perhaps that reflective XSS you got on one endpoint might be vulnerable on another. Moar bounties pls sir. Have fun. Doing security research isn’t all about the money, it’s about having fun. Enjoy what you do, and the bugs will follow. Get involved with people, share some cool bugs (if you’re allowed) and help others where you can. We’re a community, and as HackerOne says: Together we hit harder.
And my last peice of advice: Set yourself a goal. Don’t just go running into a site blindly not knowing what your actual aim is. Think in your head, “what is this company about?”, “what do they care about most?”, and work towards it. For example, I like to go for the critical bugs first.. and if I stumple upon smaller bugs (such as XSS.. they’re everywhere), then great.
All in all, i’ve really enjoyed my time reporting bugs on bugcrowd to this 1 company and I hope the success continues. Bugcrowd anaylsts have been great lately and i’ve been happy with how my reports are handled. If there are two things I want on bugcrowd though.. search and inline images. *hint hint*
— zseanoAfter a day of rain, meetings, classes, and heavy fever I was fortunate enough to receive my amazing Reddit Secret Santa package. I dug through the first layer of stuffing, only... to strike gold.
Inside was nothing more than 30 decks of premium Bicycle Playing Cards. 14 of which are custom collector design decks, each with different theme and artwork!! The other 16, standard Bicycle Playing Cards!!
To fill you all in, I am a practicing magician. I've been one for the past 8 years. I've been doing everything from close-up card magic, stage magic, and even parlor. So to me, these decks of cards are more than just decks of cards. They're what I've been using to keep others entertained, and myself busy. In a sense, you can think of it as the equivalent of getting a painter a set of his/her favorite brushes, or even a pianist a brand new piano. And I've already written to my SS about all of this, so this is just for the rest of you guys!
I will say that this is by far one of THE BEST gifts I've ever received, Reddit Secret Santa or not, so I'd also like to take the time to thank Reddit for setting all of this up! The little magical child I am has never felt happier.
I look forward to the day I can make my SS proud by becoming a famous magician, and then I can say it was all thanks to his beautiful cards!!Just announced today: Avatar will be publishing a series of ten extra variant covers for Providence #11. This new limited edition set are “Century” variant covers drawn by Raulo Caceres, artist of Moore-curated anthology Cinema Purgatorio‘s Code Pru. Each cover depicts a scene from Lovecraft fiction. Each Century issue retails for a whopping $39.99, with the set of ten retailing for just $285. While supplies last, purchase Century variants at Comics Cavalcade.
Facts Providence has a new page specifically for annotations of these Century covers.
These Century variants are the only Providence artwork so far that is not the product of Providence’s hard-working artist Jacen Burrows. Though perhaps Mitch Jenkin’s photograph at the end of Providence #7 also counts in this category.
The Century covers bring the expected total of Providence covers to 99. There are twelve issues with seven regular variations (regular, Dreamscape, Pantheon, Portrait, Weird Pulp, Women, and Ancient Tome) plus four ghoul covers for issue #7. That is not counting collected editions.
What is also somewhat interesting is the release date. According to Comics Cavalcade, Century orders ship on Monday December 12. It is speculative (these release dates move around sometimes), but according to CC, and other sources, Providence # |
the helm although her presence isn't welcomed by all.
On the flip side, the Romulans are being aided by their own "Future Guy" in the effort to win the war but this time it's not a big help as the coalition fleet manages to save the day and destroy the weapon. Problem is that in the process the Discovery's brand spanking new tricobalt torpedoes set off a reaction which throws the ship out of time and into a distant galaxy where they arrive at Horizon.
Without giving too much away, the movie tells the story of that mission and the need to stop the Elway weapon from being used plus some hallmark Enterprise Temporal Cold War elements mixed in for good effect.
So let's get into the movie a bit more. For one thing the acting on all accounts is damn fine and spot on. Paul Lang as Captain Hawke provides a solid element of control as the commanding officer of the NX-04 and manages to sprinkle his performance with some more "human" touches than you might expect from a character who has been relentlessly experiencing the horrors of the Romulan War. Marc Bowers as First Officer and Science Officer Jackson Gates is a more calming influence within the crew and steps up to the plate when required.
Ryan Webber perhaps has the most interesting role to play within Horizon providing the foil to Callie Bussell's altered Romulan T'Mar.
Their relationship develops from hostility to a mutual "cease fire" but not friendship across the course of the movie and I think that's a good choice should this ever be expanded into other episodes.
It is a cast which is fully utilised and everyone gets their moment in the limelight and for that Tommy and the production team must be congratulated. No-one hugs the camera and there is a use and purpose for every character. I actually expected Ensign Sutherland (Ashley Croft) to be a bit of a side character but she's well included during the away mission to Horizon plus she helps open up some more to T'Mar's character during an early interaction.
As for the Romulans, there are two key players. Firstly in the early events of the story, Admiral Verak, ably portrayed by Ryan Husk and latterly Daekon played by Rocco Guirlanda. The two "villains" of the piece do split the narrative with Verak being the main opponent when the coalition fleet attacks the hidden Romulan weapon and Daekon holds his own in the events surrounding Horizon.
They are pretty standard Romulan characters although Daekon is perhaps provided more breathing space in terms of development moreso because of his role in the conclusion of the story.
There is a little bit of moustache-twirling villainy in the air with Guirlanda's character but it does help up the ante.
Also significant to the story of Horizon, Daekon and the Temporal Cold War is Amelia Yarris. Seemingly killed off in the opening few minutes of Horizon during the Romulan battle, she flits in and out of the show through Hawke's dreams and actually has a decent part to play when all the different strands are brought together. Her path is a little forecast and won't take a great amount of thinking to work out where it's heading by the halfway point but the payoff, at the least, makes sense and actress Jeannine Thompson carries the part off very well and makes it believable.
The story itself is very clearly set out as I've noted. It is quite simple, easy to follow and well explained from the start. The hectic battle which introduces us to the Discovery and her crew is excellently executed and for a one-off production I was blown away. Kraft and the production team have utterly amazed me with their attention to detail in every way. The phasers, uniforms, tricorders, consoles and overall environments are just as you would expect and have seen during the four years Enterprise was on our screens.
A lot of the production does use green screens/backdrops to create the full environment but the way in which it's filmed draws your eyes away from the backgrounds and onto the main characters. Their performances do make you forget that a lot of what you're seeing is all being created inside a computer and really helps you invest in the story.
I actually think this way of producing, as opposed to the standing sets of Continues or New Voyages means that Kraft and co have been able to be a lot more expressive in their artform and do a lot more than you might chance with "real" props. Certainly the pounding the Discovery gets in its first appearance is testimony to that in the least. It also means that we are granted some stunning vistas and alien environments and technology when we are taken to Horizon.
There are definitely a few sequences I can immediately think of which would otherwise not have been possible if not for the use of CGI.
Saying that about the internal visuals it also has to be said for the space battles and realisations of the Earth, Vulcan and Romulan ships that appear throughout. The texturing, the lighting, the finished article is just beautiful to watch and I think it's actually an improvement on some of the visuals even CG Enterprise gave us 15 years ago.
The space-bourne sequences are in the minority and act as an accompaniment rather than a major part of the story. They are important but are used effectively with the narrative rather than being a good excuse to have some stuff blowing up. What CG has done for Horizon is allow it to really embrace the universe and do whatever it wants. Bridge of a starship? Check. Alien world complete with killer drones? Check.
Horizon is unique in the fact it has avoided doing the "inexpensive" classic 60's Star Trek and has broken the boundaries to passionately embrace the prequel era and the technical wizardry that those later produced episodes brought viewers. It's a brave move that could have easily looked cheap and nasty but the commitment of the actors plus the brilliance of the digital recreations on screen had me captivated and enthralled from the first scene.
If you've yet to see Horizon you are missing a true diamond from the fan film community. I fear we may never see a sequel but this rally does go to show what a limited budget and total belief from all involved can produce.
Tommy Kraft should be proud of this achievement and I'm sure that his skills will be in great demand particularly from other fan productions in the future.
Horizon is a great action adventure story which sits perfectly in the Star Trek universe. It has heart, it has a soul and it has dared to explore something and somewhere different, drawing on elements from the franchise's past but yet successfully adding to it and remaining faithful to the core material. At an hour and a half this is perfectly paced and totally enjoyable. Get yourself a brew, get comfy and watch it. This could well be the film future productions use as their benchmark and could well be a turning point in how fan movies look for the next fifty years.
Were you impressed with Horizon? Will it have an impact on future fan productions? Let me know your thoughts below!
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Join the conversation on Star Trek: RisaMan freed early from life sentence by Obama back in jail
Robert Gill spends time at his sister's home for lunch and laundry in San Antonio on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. After months in a halfway house, then living in a warehouse at his brother's business, Gill had settled into his own place. He had seen his life prison sentence for drug distribution conspiracy commuted by President Obama, but on Friday, he was back before a federal judge on another drug charge. less Robert Gill spends time at his sister's home for lunch and laundry in San Antonio on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. After months in a halfway house, then living in a warehouse at his brother's business, Gill had... more Photo: Lisa Krantz, San Antonio Express-News / San Antonio Express-News Photo: Lisa Krantz, San Antonio Express-News / San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Man freed early from life sentence by Obama back in jail 1 / 12 Back to Gallery
A San Antonio man who was freed from life in prison by President Barack Obama is back behind bars after allegedly crashing his vehicle into another motorist and undercover police cars while fleeing from a drug deal Thursday.
Robert M. Gill, 68, whose life sentence for cocaine and heroin distribution conspiracy was commuted by Obama and expired in 2015, was profiled last year in the Express-News about his readjustment to life on the outside.
Jailed from the time of his arrest in 1990, Gill earned a legal education inside prison libraries and successfully petitioned the then-president for a second chance after his court appeals were exhausted.
He was taken to federal court Friday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad ordered him held without bond pending a bail hearing on Feb. 16. Gill is charged with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.
He again faces a potential sentence with a mandatory minimum, five years, and could get up to 40.
Gill was one of about 1,700 federal inmates whose sentences Obama commuted as part of a broader campaign to give relief to nonviolent offenders serving long prison terms that dated to a frenzied period in the nation’s war on drugs.
Obama wrote in a signed notification that he granted Gill’s application “because you have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around. … Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity.”
In interviews last year, Gill said he sustained hope even as his three co-defendants died behind bars.
“I believed there were people in government with rational minds who sooner or later would realize that the sentence wasn’t fair,” Gill said last year. “Yes, you have the thought that you’re going to die in prison — that’s a human reaction. But there’s always the possibility that they’ll acknowledge the injustice.”
Gill was employed as a paralegal for local criminal defense law firm LaHood & Calfas.
Read the whole story at ExpressNews.com or in Saturday’s Express-News.
[email protected] you’re one of those people who considers a 31-24 loss no better than getting blasted 38-0, it could have been worse.
The Raiders gave the smallest non-strike home crowd (32,218) since 1967 a reason to stay interested until the game’s final moments.
When the Houston Texans run up yardage figures like they did Sunday at the Coliseum, it wouldn’t have been unusual to see the Raiders go into one of their patented tortoise shells and simply absorb the beating.
The biggest problem the Raiders had with the way they lost to the Texans isn’t that they’d seen it all before in past years, it was that they’d seen it all before during the week of practice.
They watched the Texans run their zone blocking, stretch-and-cut running game time after time, with quarterback Matt Schaub then operating with bootlegs to either side and play-action passing.
Then the Raiders went out and played as if they’d never seen it before.
“I thought they came in and did exactly what they’ve tried to do all year and that’s establish their run game and they did a good job of it,’’ Raiders coach Tom Cable said. “We never seemed to get a handle on it, or slow it down. I thought offensively (the problem was) our inability to have some consistent pass protection.
“We got whipped on both sides of the line of scrimmage. That’s the bottom line.’’
That whole offseason of making personnel moves and creating a sense of urgency to stop the run?
The Texans benched the NFL’s leading rusher, Arian Foster, for the first quarter for disciplinary reasons and he still rushed for 131 yards on 16 carries, including a 74-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Houston had 249 yards on 36 carries. If Gary Kubiak had wanted to really punish Foster for his tardiness to meetings and practice, he should have let backup Derrick Ward (80 yards, 12 carries) stay in the game and go for 175.
The play of the Raiders offensive line had Bruce Gradkowski playing under duress for most of the game. He completed 24 of 39 passes for 278 yards but fumbled twice, losing one, and also had a pair of interceptions.
The last one came when a protection breakdown on a blitz forced an intentional grounding call, which eventually brought up fourth-and-16. Gradkowski got off what should have been a first-down pass to Louis Murphy, only to have it bounce off his body and into the hands of Troy Nolan for a diving interception with less than two minutes to play.
News, notes and quotes as the 1-3 Raiders pick themselves off the deck and look down the barrel of a 13-game losing streak to the San Diego Chargers next Sunday at the Coliseum:
— At least the Raiders kept the crowd entertained. They deserved it for bothering to come out at all. The 32,218 count was the smallest in a non-strike year since Dec. 24, 1967, when the Raiders beat the Buffalo Bills 28-21 in the regular-season finale.
No paid attendance figure was ever lower in Los Angeles.
Keep in mind it’s a tickets sold figure. No way there was 30,000 people at the stadium. It looked like a preseason game.
— There were some blunt assessments of the whipping they got from the Texans.
“We didn’t stop the run,’’ defensive tackle Richard Seymour said. “I’m not a big stat guy, but the stats tell the story. It’s demoralizing when a team can run the ball at will. We didn’t stop the run and there is no excuse for that.’’
Said defensive tackle Tommy Kelly: “It’s a (bleeping) shock to me. I thought we would handle it better. As a defense, we’ve got to play better, I’ve got to play better. Can’t nobody go out there and say nothing after they run for 200 yards in your house without their best player, basically.’’
Kelly says he’s as comfortable as a nose tackle as he is in the three-technique spot, but when John Henderson is out, he’s almost always on the nose.
The plan all week was for the Raiders defensive line to disrupt the Texans offensive line, break up their zone schemes, or break the momentum of the rope, as Cable put it. Instead of breaking up the rope, the Raiders were hung by it.
“We knew what we were getting ready to go against,’’ cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. “ It was stressed the whole week, about the zone blocking scheme, a great running scheme. And they have the boot off of that. And they came in and did exactly what it was. It was just a matter of us being able to stop in more consistently.
“We didn’t do that. We played well in spurts today. The rest of the time, they had their way with us.’’
— Middle linebacker Rolando McClain is fond of downplaying anything he’s seen in the NFL as having already seen it at Alabama in the SEC. He wasn’t saying anything Sunday, brushing off the only reporter who approached him with a brusque no comment and heading for the door.
No reason to explain why he was walled off by tight end Joel Dreesen on Ward’s game-opening 33-yard scoring run, or how Foster beat him for an 11-yard touchdown pass to make the score 31-21.
That stuff did happen all the time in the SEC. Except it happened to Vanderbilt.
— We’ll have a better idea Wednesday when Darren McFadden does or does not practice, but it appears his run of good health ended on a 23-yard run when he pulled up and reached for his right hamstring, left the game, and did not return.
McFadden said his training camp injury was to his left hamstring, not the one he hurt Sunday.
“I was just trying to go for another gear and I just pulled up,’’ McFadden said. “I’m going to go to the trainers and see what they have me doing. I’ll take it day to day.’’
McFadden had 12 rushes for 47 yards and caught six passes for 82 more, a nice bit of strategy considering the hard-charging Houston front seven.
— McFadden will likely hand the baton this week to Michael Bush, who looks up to the task with seven rushes for 40 yards, a 2-yard touchdown run and two receptions for 16 yards.
— It looked for a moment as if Jason Campbell would get back in the lineup when Gradkowski took a second wallop from Bernard Pollard in the right shoulder area on a third-down play. The Raiders punted, and Gradkowski went to the locker room for a minute.
Gradkowski insisted he was fine, threw a few balls on the sideline and returned.
— The Raiders had 20 or more first downs (24) in four straight games since 2002, when they had a seven-game streak and a five-game streak.
— Langston Walker and Asomugha, both of whom have seen Raiders seasons go south in a hurry after a poor start, insist opening 1-3 will not factor in to practice and preparation.
“This is the 2010 version of the Raiders,’’ Walker said. “We’re not worried about what we would have done last year, two years ago or whatever. We’re playing for right now and those types of things, for me personally, don’t enter into my head.
“I can vouch for the 53 other guys on this team that we’re not thinking about that. We’re thinking about going out there and winning and whipping somebody’s ass.”
Walker found himself with the unenviable task of blocking end Mario Williams, who the Texans flopped to the left side with good results.
“I’m confident because we’re in games more than we were in the past,’’ Asomugha said. “Plus, there are so many new players that they don’t know what `Here we go again’ means. I think we’ll be fine.’’
— Louis Murphy (clavicle) and Darrius Heyward-Bey (groin) weren’t deemed ready to play until pregame warm-ups, with the team poised to activate Shaun Bodiford from the practice squad if necessary.
By game’s end, Murphy had one catch (he was targeted seven times) and Heyward Bey one (he was targeted five times). That’s 2-for-12 for seven yards to the two starting wide outs.
Murphy conceded he didn’t know if he’d be able to play with his clavicle injury and was limited all week. It’s clear he wasn’t himself, although he declined to blame his game-ending bobble and interception from Gradkowski on the injury.
Moments before Heyward-Bey was late to look and adjust to another Gradkowski pass and the ball hit off one hand and fell incomplete. He had another very difficult chance near the end zone on a leap bounce free.
Neither were easy plays or even plays he should be expected to make. Both were at least a possibility for an upper tier receiver.
— Some nice offensive adjustments by the Raiders in getting Miller involved in the outside game (often in conjunction with a Heyward-Bey deeper route on the same side). He caught a career-high 11 receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown in 13 targets.
That gives Gradkowski a 131.4 passer rating going to Miller and 16.6 to his starting wide receivers.
— The Raiders were 3-for-3 scoring touchdowns in the red zone after being 3-for-13 coming in. Hue Jackson made the best call of his tenure as offensive coordinator on a 13-yard touchown pass from Gradkowski to Marcel Reece on third and goal from the 2. Virtually the entire Houston defense bit on the McFadden run, with Reece drifting uncovered into the end zone.
— Remember coach Cable’s 24-point plan? The Raiders would be in good shape if they scored 24 points per game. Since then, they scored 23 against Arizona and lost by a point. Then they scored 24 and still lost.
As for penalties, the Raiders didn’t have their first one until deep into the second half (an illegal block on a return by Brandon Myers) and later added an intentional grounding call on Gradkowski which preceded the final interception.
— Other players who didn’t finish the game were linebacker Thomas Howard (knee strain) and running back Michael Bennett (hamstring, of course).X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/L.Lopez et al; Infrared: Palomar; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA
Black holes are created when a supernova explosion destroys a massive star. Scientists have discovered dozens of black holes, but all of them are already formed. So, when scientists recently saw different distorted remains of a supernova, they knew it something special.
What the scientists believe they observed was the infant phases of a black hole, or the youngest black hole ever recorded in the Milky Way galaxy.
Caught on film by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the "remnant," or W49B, is seen as a vibrant swirl of blues, greens, yellows, and pinks. As seen from Earth, it is about 1,000-years-old and is located roughly 26,000 light years away. A typical black hole, like SS433, is thought to be between 17,000- and 21,000-years-old, as seen from Earth.
"W49B is the first of its kind to be discovered in the galaxy," Laura Lopez, who led a study on the remnant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a statement. "It appears its parent star ended its life in a way that most others don't."
Although black holes are invisible, they can be found by watching their effect on nearby gas and stars. And, not all stars that die in supernova explosions end up as black holes -- often times they become neutron stars. However, W49B is not a neutron star, the scientists said.
Apparently, what led to the scientists seeing the supernova's distorted remains was a rare type of explosion that propelled matter at breakneck speeds along the poles of the dying star. Typically supernova explosions are symmetrical -- ejecting matter equally -- rather than oblong, as was the case with W49B.
"It's a bit circumstantial, but we have intriguing evidence the W49B supernova also created a black hole," said study co-author Daniel Castro, also of MIT. "If that is the case, we have a rare opportunity to study a supernova responsible for creating a young black hole."Despite plenty of tension and confusing numbers being thrown around, Saskatoon City council has approved its multi-unit recycling plan.
City councillors voted seven to four in favour of awarding Cosmopolitan Industries the contract for recycling services in mult-unit dwellings.
Kenneth Homenick, a member of Cosmo's board of directors, is happy with the decision.
"It provides meaningful activity for our participants, plus it's jobs for our paid employees," Homenick said. "We've had a stake for 34 years in recycling. We know we've provided the city of Saskatoon with an environmental benefit."
This is the so-called “Cosmo compromise,” after Loraas Disposal won the single family contract.
I don't believe it is the best use of $17 million over nine years - Darren Hill
People in multi-unit homes will not pay enough to cover the cost of recycling, and so the program will have to be subsidized.
The deal with Cosmo is a controversial one, with some city councillors wondering if it makes financial sense.
Darren Hill, Ward 1 city councillor, voted against the deal. However, he says it isn't a vote against supporting Cosmo.
"I voted against this program because I don't believe it is the best use of $17 million over nine years," Hill said. "We can create a multi-unit program for about $32,000 a year."
Councillors re-opened debate on how much users should pay for recycling services. At one point, council voted in favour of increasing the price from $2.50 per dwelling to $4.66 per dwelling.
However, it was eventually bumped back down to $2.51, which doesn't cover the entire cost of the plan.
Some of the shortfall may be recovered through a new program that is being set up under the provincial government's Multi-Material Recycling Program. But tax payers may also be on the hook.
Cosmopolitan Industries supports people in the community with intellectual disabilities by providing meaningful work to build self-esteem.Don’t you hate when you learn that your mother has been secretly running the evil organization you’ve been fighting against for the past year? That was what we learned last week in the pages of Green Arrow. It wasn’t enough that Moira Queen wasn’t actually dead, as Ollie had believed, but she was one of the elites calling the shots within the powerful, evil cabal of financiers known as the Ninth Circle. Now, in GREEN ARROW #34, she’s reaching out to her son for help. But can she be trusted?
The Ninth Circle has taken Ollie’s inheritance away from him. It’s destroyed his home base and his home city. It’s framed him for a murder that he didn’t commit. With a name like the Ninth Circle, perhaps it’s only appropriate that it’s made things for Ollie a living hell. But is it possible things aren’t so black and white? In this exclusive first look at the second chapter in the “Trial of Two Cities” storyline, Moira tells her side of the story. It’s certainly compelling…but is any of it true?
GREEN ARROW #34 by Benjamin Percy and Stephen Byrne is in stores this Wednesday.By Cherri Gregg
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth was on the witness stand today, during day five of the court hearing on Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law.
And her testimony just added to the confusion over exactly how many voters need ID.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Carole Aichele is the top state official in charge of implementing the voter ID. But when she took the stand she was cagey, even making jokes in some instances in her response to plaintiffs’ attorneys.
At one point, when lawyers asked her about the details of the voter ID law, Aichele responded, “I don’t know what the law says.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney David Gersch (of Arnold and Porter) says the secretary is not the only one confused about what the law requires.
“The law is very technical — that’s another problem with it,” he tells KYW Newsraadio. “Earlier in the trial we had testimony from lawyers who are advocates for poor people and homeless people trying to get identification, and those lawyers said they didn’t understand all apects of the law!”
When lawyers questioned Aichele today about the number of Pennsylvanians who need ID, Aichele was adamant that 99 percent of voters had valid ID.
When plaintiffs’ attorneys cited earlier Department of State testimony that the number is likely inaccurate, Aichele said simply, “I disagree.”
She later admitted that the state does not know the real number of voters who need ID.
Recent Pennsylvania Department of State figures estimate that possibly three-quarters of a million voters may not have the needed ID and another half-million have ID that will be expired by November.
Aichele also testified about the state’s efforts to educate voters on the law. She conceded that the state has repeatedly advised eligible voters to get a secure Penndot ID, which requires a raised-seal birth certificate and other documentation.
Gersch says that’s part of the problem.
“No one really believes that you need all of that documentation in order to vote,” he says. He says you only need to be over 18, a US citizen, and a resident of the state, so requiring additional documentation is unlawful.
“There is really no need to be putting people through all the hurdles involved with getting a Penndot ID,” he says.
Aichele (whose husband, Stephen, is Gov. Corbett’s chief of staff) testified that Penndot IDs are useful for many functions but the new, free state voter ID that will launch next month (see related story) lowers the standard to comply with the new voter registration requirements.Joris Hoefnagel (1542–1601) was a pivotal figure in the history of Dutch art, playing an important role both in the latter stages of the Flemish illumination tradition and the birth of the new genre of still life. In the last decade of his life Hoefnagel was appointed court artist to Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, and it was in this time that he appended Georg Bocskay’s Model Book of Calligraphy, of thirty years previous, with his own beautifully exquisite Guide to the Construction of Letters, examples from which are shown below. In each he surrounds the typographic diagram with a colourful array of symbolically charged motifs and, for some, an excerpt from the Bible which begins with the letter of focus. See the each image’s description on the Getty site for further commentary.
A few images from the series are also available to buy as prints from our online shop.
< A few images from the series are also available to buy as prints from our online shop.LLVM Weekly - #120, Apr 18th 2016
Welcome to the one hundred and twentieth issue of LLVM Weekly, a weekly newsletter (published every Monday) covering developments in LLVM, Clang, and related projects. LLVM Weekly is brought to you by Alex Bradbury. Subscribe to future issues at http://llvmweekly.org and pass it on to anyone else you think may be interested. Please send any tips or feedback to [email protected], or @llvmweekly or @asbradbury on Twitter.
News and articles from around the web
This week has seen not one, but two articles about LLVM and profile-guided optimisation. Dig in John Engelen's article about optimising D's virtual function calls with PGO, then read Geoffroy Couprie's article about PGO with Rust.
The next Cambridge (UK) social will be at 7.30pm on April 20th, at the Cambridge Blue.
Alex Denisov has written a blog post around the idea of building a mutation testing system using LLVM.
On the mailing lists
LLVM commits
AtomicExpandPass learned to lower various atomic operations to __atomic_* library calls. The eventual aim is to move all atomic lowering from Clang to LLVM. r266115.
Targets can now define an inlining threshold multiplier, to e.g. increase the likelihood of inlining on platforms where calls are very expensive. r266405.
The ownership between DICompileUnit and DISubprogram has been reversed. This may break tests for your out-of-tree backend, but the commit has a link to a Python script to update your testcases. r266446.
llvm-readobj learned to print a histogram of an input ELF file's.gnu.hash. r265967.
More target-specific support for the Swift calling convention (on ARM, AARch64, and X86) has landed. Also, a callee save register is used for the swiftself parameter. r265997, r266251.
A new allocsize attribute has been introduced. This indicates the given function is an allocation function. r266032.
analyzeSiblingValues has been replaced with a new lower-complexity implementation in order to reduce compile times. r266162.
The AMDGPU backend gained a skeleton GlobalISel implementation. r266356.
Every use of getGlobalContext other than the C API has been removed. r266379.
Clang commits
Clang gained support for the GCC ifunc attribute. r265917.
The __unaligned type qualifier was implemented for MSVC compatibility. r266415.
Support for C++ core guideline Type.6: always initialize a member variable was completed in clang-tidy. r266191.
A new clang-tidy checker for suspicious sizeof expressions was added. r266451.
Other project commitsAll the expected team changes and injury rumours heading into the 22nd round of the 2017 Telstra Premiership season.
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 22: Dragons vs Rabbitohs
Dragons: Russell Packer is out with a knee injury, with he and Luciano Leilua dropping out of the game-day squad. Tyson Frizell is likely to play despite an ankle complaint.
Rabbitohs: Skipper Sam Burgess is set to play despite a ribs injury, and fellow injury concerns Angus Crichton and Adam Reynolds are right to go. Jack Gosiewski and Campbell Graham drop out of the 19-man squad.
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 22: Cowboys vs Storm
Cowboys: Expected to be 1-17, with Shaun Fensom returning from injury and Javid Bowen and Kalyn Ponga dropping out of the initial 21-man squad.
Storm: Billy Slater will play after being rested last week following a head knock. Jahrome Hughes is a chance of grabbing the five-eighth role ahead of Ryley Jacks after impressing at fullback last week.
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 22: Knights vs Warriors
Knights: No changes expected for Newcastle after last week's win over the Dragons.
Warriors: Expected to be 1-17, with Bodene Thompson sidelined with a pectoral injury.
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 22: Titans vs Broncos
Titans: Expected to run out as named, with Jarryd Hayne to start at fullback and Tyrone Roberts coming off the bench.
Broncos: Corey Oates is expected to makes his return from a staph infection on the wing in place of David Mead. Ben Hunt is set to start at hooker in place of the injured Andrew McCullough, but could share the role with Kodi Nikorima.
asda
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 22: Sharks vs Raiders
Sharks: Fa'amanu Brown is set to play as named in the halves after passing his concussion test. Jack Bird has recovered from a sternum injury.
Raiders: No changes expected, witih Josh Papalii and Jordan Rapana returning from suspension.
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 22: Sea Eagles vs Roosters
Sea Eagles: Dylan Walker is good to go despite an ankle injury. Lewis Brown could start in the second row as he did last week, with Shaun Lane to drop back to the bench.
Roosters: Jake Friend is a chance of making his return from a broken hand and starting at hooker in place of Victor Radley.
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 22: Panthers vs Wests Tigers
Panthers: Matt Moylan is some chance of making his return from his hamstring injury at five-eighth, but with Penrith playing well without him in recent weeks they're unlikely to risk their skipper.
Wests Tigers: No changes expected.
Scout Report: Round 22 Fantasy Q&A
Live Fantasy blog: Round 22
NRL Fantasy Podcast: Round 22
NRL Fantasy winners & losers: Round 21
Verizon Tests Net Neutrality With 'FreeBee' Zero Rating Service Verizon today unveiled its take on "zero rating," or the controversial practice of exempting some data from customer usage caps. Verizon's new "FreeBee" sponsored data service closely mirrors AT&T's own efforts on this front, in that it lets companies pay a telco to have their content specifically exempted from usage caps. According to a Verizon press release, content companies have two options when it comes to paying Verizon for preferential treatment:
Under FreeBee Data 360, content companies can foot the per gigabyte, per user bill for their entire websites or apps, giving them a leg up against competitors. But content companies can also pay Verizon just to exempt specific actions (like a single video clip, a single audio file, or an app download) from user caps as well. Verizon's notes the project is currently only in beta, and has already signed up three partners in Hearst Magazines, AOL (which Verizon owns) and GAMEDAY. While such services are pitched to consumers as the same thing as "free shipping" or a "1-800 number for data," the practice has been controversial for its ability to distort the level playing field and violate net neutrality. If company A can afford to pay to have its content cap exempt, critics argue, then company B with less money to throw Verizon's way suddenly finds itself at a competitive disadvantage. Of course if you ask Verizon, this is solely about improving the "consumer experience." "In today's digital economy, FreeBee Data is a departure from the one size fits all approach to marketing," says the company. "The opportunity to add value and utility to consumers' everyday experiences will fundamentally transform how brands and businesses connect with their customers." You can find more details on Verizon's new FreeBee zero rating program You can find more details on Verizon's new FreeBee zero rating program here, though the company isn't publicly detailing how much it will cost content companies to participate.
News Jump Tuesday Morning Links Monday Morning Links TGI Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links - Valentines Edition Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links ---------------------- this week last week most discussed
Most recommended from 58 comments
buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Biddeford, ME 414.2 22.8
·Charter
(Software) Sophos UTM Home Edition
Ruckus R310
24 recommendations buzz_4_20 Member Free* This is what's going to kill the internet.
Caps will keep falling until it's impossible to use a service that isn't zero rated. This will stall innovation in all directions. The barrier to enter a new service will be to high/risky, why would people use their precious "anytime gigabytes" when they have unlimited service to those blessed by the carrier.
The carrier won't have incentive to better their network, as the caps will stop data usage from increasing.
ctaranto
join:2011-12-14
MA 19 recommendations ctaranto Member *Paid* zero-rating Booo!
Zenit
The system is the solution
Premium Member
join:2012-05-07
Purcellville, VA 12 recommendations Zenit Premium Member Verizon FreeBee ain't free buzzing VZ of course finds a new profit center in charging others for zero rating. T-Mobile does it for zero dollars.
VZ only knows the $. shmerl
join:2013-10-21 10 recommendations shmerl Member So they admit it Caps are simply the [not so] sneaky rip off scheme and they have nothing to do with congestion even in |
dorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and numerous specialty stores. Michael Kors Collection is also carried at the brand's stores in London, Paris, Cannes, Milan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul. The year 2016 marked the 35th anniversary of Kors' business.
A dress by Michael Kors, 2010
Among the celebrities who have dressed in Kors' designs are Olivia Wilde, Dakota Johnson, Blake Lively, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Swift, Kate Middleton, Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Heidi Klum, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Michelle Obama wore a black sleeveless dress from the designer for her first term official portrait as First Lady and later sported Kors again at the 2015 State of the Union address.[21] Viola Davis wore a custom Michael Kors Collection gown when accepting a Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a motion picture for her role in Fences. Kate Hudson and Olivia Wilde both wore gowns by the designer to the 2016 Golden Globes, and Emily Blunt, nominated for her role in Into The Woods, wore a white custom gown by the designer in 2015. Joan Allen wore his gown when she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Contender. As creative director of Celine, Kors designed many outfits for actresses to wear on screen, including Gwyneth Paltrow in Possession;[22] and Rene Russo in The Thomas Crown Affair.[23] One of his gowns was worn by Alicia Keys for her performance at Barack Obama's inaugural ball on January 21, 2013.[24]
The ad campaigns for Kors often reflect the jet-set lifestyle that his fans know and love. Michael Kors Collection campaigns have most recently been shot by photographers Inez and Vinoodh[25], and prior to that, Mario Testino. Previous campaigns include the model Carmen Kass on a safari in Africa and relaxing on a yacht. More recent campaigns feature model Binx Walton living the jet-set lifestyle. The latest MICHAEL Michael Kors campaign features jet-setter Bella Hadid shot by photographer David Sims.* [26]
Kors was a judge on the Emmy-nominated reality television program Project Runway, which aired on Bravo for five seasons; subsequent seasons aired on Lifetime. On December 18, 2012, it was announced that Kors would be leaving Project Runway, to be replaced by fellow designer Zac Posen.[27] Kors returned to Project Runway in 2016 as a guest judge on the season 15 finale. [28]
In January 2014, Forbes reported that Kors reached a personal fortune in excess of $1 billion. Michael Kors Holdings had already "minted two billionaires": Silas Chou and Lawrence Stroll.[29]
Other honors [ edit ]
Michael Kors at the conclusion of his Spring/Summer 2014 show at New York Fashion Week, September 2013.
2016: The World Food Program USA honored Kors with the McGovern-Dole Leadership award, presented by Vice President Joe Biden.
2015: Named a Global Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme.
2015: God's Love We Deliver dedicated the Michael Kors Building at the non-profit's new SoHo headquarters in honor of Kors' ongoing support.
2013: Selected for The Time 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He also made the New York Observer's list of the 100 Most Influential New Yorkers, under the fashion category, and was named to Out magazine's 2014 Power 50 List.
2013: Honored with the 2013 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion by The Couture Council of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
2013: Kors presented Hillary Rodham Clinton with the first-ever Michael Kors Award for Outstanding Community service.
2012: Honored with the Golden Heart Lifetime Achievement Award by God's Love We Deliver, a non-profit organization that distributes fresh meals to people living with HIV/AIDS and other diagnoses, which he has been involved with for over 20 years.
2010: Received the Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research, an annual honor bestowed by the Cancer Research Institute, a U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing immune system-based treatments for cancer.
2010: Kors was the youngest recipient ever of the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and received the Fragrance Foundation's FiFi Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Legal issues [ edit ]
In January 2009, the estate of the artist-designer Tony Duquette sued Kors for trademark infringement after Kors allegedly used Duquette's name and images in promoting Kors' 2009 resortwear collection.[30]
In July 2013, he became the second luxury brand, after Tiffany & Co, to sue Costco for falsely claiming in advertisements that they sold his product.[31][32]
In popular culture [ edit ]
Kors was referenced in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada by Meryl Streep's character, Miranda Priestly. In the scene, Priestly sweeps into her office and gives a list of instructions to her personal assistant (Emily Blunt). Priestly says, "RSVP 'yes' to Michael Kors' party and I want the driver to drop me off at 9:30 and pick me up at 9:45 sharp".[33]
Nicki Minaj also mentions Kors in Big Sean's song "Dance". Drake also mentions Michael Kors in his song "From Time", and rapper Pusha T in his song "Numbers on the Boards". Additionally, Kors guest starred as himself in a Fashion Week themed episode of the hit teen show Gossip Girl; the same show that repeatedly showcases several pieces from his collections.
See also [ edit ]The next time Rick Nash tells you this is the way he played last year, nod politely, move on to another subject and thank him for his time.
Because Nash, as self-effacing as he has been dominant through the season’s first 40 games, not only didn’t play this way last season, few forwards in the NHL reached the consistent level of excellence the winger has displayed on a night-in, night-out basis … last year or any year.
The 30-year-old is the NHL’s best player, a breathtaking blend of speed, power and creativity who has been worth every dime of his $7.8 million cap charge. He and Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne are the front-runners for the Hart Trophy.
Hands please, if you’d vote for sending Nash to the Blue Jackets for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, a first-rounder and the equivalent of Tim Erixon.
Hands please, if you believe general manager Glen Sather got it wrong.
Don’t get me wrong: Dubinsky brings a valuable element to the ice, Anisimov when healthy is a useful player and that first-rounder, well, you never know. But Nash has elevated his game to rare heights, a go-to player at both ends of the ice and on both specialty units.
Jaromir Jagr had a spectacular 2005-06 season in which he carried a projected Rangers’ lottery team to the playoffs while recording a franchise record 54 goals. But as exceptional as Jagr was in earning the NHLPA’s Player of the Year Award, he did all of his damage in the offensive zone.
The fact is, no Ranger has had a season like this since Mark Messier tore his way through the league on his way to the Hart in No. 11’s first year on Broadway in 1991-92.
It isn’t only that Nash is tied for the NHL lead with 26 goals, isn’t only that he has been as dangerous on the penalty-kill as he has been on the power play (maybe more so), that has so impressed. Rather, it is his relentless work ethic that stands out, though there isn’t a single lazy player on the Rangers, isn’t a single guy on this team who doesn’t leave it all on the ice.
Look, I know. The Rangers don’t even reach the midway point of the season until Tuesday night’s Main Event at the Garden against the Islanders. No one is giving the team a parade for its stunning 13-1 run that commenced Dec. 8. After the Islanders, there’s another immediate tough trip up ahead, with three games in four days in Boston, Columbus and Pittsburgh.
There is plenty of time for rain in the forecast.
The Rangers know it too.
“There’s no room to take a step back,” said Henrik Lundqvist, unaccountably and foolishly overlooked for the Jan. 25 Some Stars Game in Columbus for which Nash will be the only Rangers’ representative. “We’re only right in [a playoff spot].
“But we’re having fun right now. We’re enjoying the atmosphere with this group. Winning is the easiest way to have fun. We have a great group of guys here who want to help and support each other.”
“That [camaraderie] helps you win tight games.”
The Rangers became the second Eastern team ever to sweep six games in California and Western Canada by winning in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose. The only other team to accomplish that feat? The 1997-98 Canadiens, coached by Alain Vigneault.
Vigneault has the Blueshirts playing an electric and entertaining brand of hockey. They play at breakneck speed and with rare creativity. Even while still perhaps undersized, they compete and they win battles because they get there first. They appear to be in exceptional physical condition. The Rangers take care of the details.
Nash is a man on a mission, finally clear of mind after suffering concussions in each of his first two seasons as a Ranger. He is as confident in high-traffic areas as he is in open ice. He wants the puck. He wants the responsibility. He never has quite said so, but it looks as if he is driven to atone for coming up empty in the Cup final against L.A.
His 26th goal was the empty-netter that sealed Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the Sharks. But in order to score it, Nash had to win a race for the puck in the neutral zone and then fend off a pair of hectoring Sharks as he protected the puck with that big bodied long reach and cut left across the neutral zone before slipping it through a sliding defender.
Not your routine empty-netter.
Not your routine player having your routine season, either.
No matter what he says.City planners in Los Angeles who think (albeit very incorrectly) that they have control over how residents live are famously pushing for general plan to "get people out of their cars" in this massive city and onto bikes or into mass transit and creating communities nestled around transit hubs. It's called their Mobility Plan 2035. It would recast the city with a heavy emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle traffic, possibly at the expense of supporting motor vehicles.
There's a slight problem with such a plan: This does not appear to be how the citizens of Los Angeles actually want to live. Use of mass transit in Los Angeles and Orange County continues to decline even as more and more money is thrown at it. To the extent that residents rely on mass transit, they seem to prefer buses to light rail, and when the costs of riding buses goes up and the availability or quality of service goes down, riders take a hike. From the Los Angeles Times:
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the region's largest carrier, lost more than 10% of its boardings from 2006 to 2015, a decline that appears to be accelerating. Despite a $9-billion investment in new light rail and subway lines, Metro now has fewer boardings than it did three decades ago, when buses were the county's only transit option. Most other agencies fare no better. In Orange County, bus ridership plummeted 30% in the last seven years, while some smaller bus operators across the region have experienced declines approaching 25%. In the last two years alone, a Metro study found that 16 transit providers in Los Angeles County saw average quarterly declines of 4% to 5%.
Officials say they think ridership will improve once everybody starts living according to their master plan of "walkable neighborhoods near transit stops." Mind you, "walkable neighborhoods near transit stops" has been the urban design holy grail since forever, but this time they really mean it! Others have doubts:
[S]ome experts say the downturn could represent a permanent shift in how people get around, propelled by a changing job market, falling gas prices, fare increases, declining immigration and the growing popularity of other transportation options, including bicycling and ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft. "I don't know if this is long-term, but it doesn't feel like it's temporary when we've been dealing with 36 straight months of declining ridership," said Darrell Johnson, chief executive of the Orange County Transportation Authority.
Call it the "libertarian moment" of transportation. People are choosing transportation models that work for them, not because it's what city planners would like for them to use. Light rail is one of the least flexible manifestations of mass transit, but look at the priorities of Los Angeles:
Although buses account for about 75% of Metro's ridership, rail operations and construction receive more money than buses do from Measure R, the county's most recent half-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects. Metro has worked to speed up some bus routes, including giving buses their own lanes during rush hour on Wilshire Boulevard, the most traveled corridor in the county. The majority of buses, however, crawl through the streets at rush hour, and passengers often complain about long travel times. "There's been lots of focus by transit agencies on shiny new things, sometimes at the expense of bus routes which serve the primary constituencies of transit agencies: low-wage workers," said Brian Taylor, the director of UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies. "Lots of resources are being put into a few high-profile lines that often carry a smaller number of riders compared to bus routes."
Even poorer immigrants rely on mass transportation less and less the longer they live in the Los Angeles area. In addition, Metro has cut bus service by hundreds of thousands of hours and raised rates. Transit services in the region are now trying to figure out how to reverse this behavior and improve bus service, lower costs, and maybe even partner with ride-sharing services to bridge gaps in physical distance.
And of course, we love our cars. The amount of miles being driven in the area has returned to pre-recession levels. The Times story ends on the anecdote of a woman who moved to Los Angeles, used light rail for a few years, got robbed recently outside the city's newest light rail station in Culver City, got a car, and is much happier.
The aspiring actor said that getting a car resulted in "opening up her experiences in L.A." which must feel like a kick in the crotch of Los Angeles city planners. The demographics of their mobility plan start off by stating the exact opposite of what this trend is showing, stating that more people are looking for alternatives to driving.
The numbers the report show to justify this emphasis on walking and biking are kind of hilarious. They note that 64,000 people walk to work and 16,000 people bicycle to work. That's a 56 percent increase between 2000 and 2010. But the population of city of Los Angeles (just the city, not the surrounding county) is close to 4 million. Work commutes only account for 5 percent of all walking trips and 16 percent of all biking trips. But that means the city calculates about 100,000 people biking, less than one three percent of the city's population, over which they're considering making massive changes to streets.
There's one statistic reference in the plan that's particularly worth highlighting, because it demonstrates a particular mindset that shows the gap between planners and citizens. The report notes that 47 percent of all trips in greater Los Angeles are less than three miles, which they classify as "within walking/biking distance." It notes that 84 percent of these trips are currently made by car. This is clearly data being used to push the "get them out of the cars" mentality forward.
Let's talk about the privilege of the well-heeled urban elite for a moment. Time is a cost. These planners absolutely know that. They actually hope that traffic congestion will prompt more people to seek alternatives to driving because of how it affects their time. They recognize that losing time can be a significant inconvenience.
But when you're poor, unskilled labor, your time is almost all you have as a bargaining tool. Succeeding in low-level service jobs is often dependent on reliability, availability, and punctuality. Your time is what your employer needs from you and it is generally what he or she is paying you for. "Time is money" is not a metaphor.
The idea that people can just substitute a five-minute drive to travel three miles with a much longer bicycle ride or an extremely long walk is an example of privilege in action. Those who have to turn to mass transit as a necessity already lose a significant amount of time out of their "budget" waiting and transferring and dealing with the inconveniences. There is a sort of willfully blind absurdity in the idea that a significant number of Angelinos can just throw away an hour or so of their time for a three-mile trip. Maybe the type of people who come up with these goals can, but they seem fairly removed from the considerations of the average citizenry.
As for the city's efforts to force development over to planned transit hubs, they've hit a bit of a snag: Existing residents don't like the idea of giant, dense projects bulking up their neighborhoods. And in Los Angeles in particular (and California in general), NIMBY types (often wealthy urbanites) are able to use the courts to block projects. Right now there's an effort to put a measure on the ballot to force a moratorium on large new development projects that bypass existing zoning rules. It recently got the support of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
For a transportation plan that accommodates both drivers and the more popular bus transit for the needy in Los Angeles, check out the Reason Foundation's Increasing Mobility in Southern California: A New Approach. And watch below for an explanation why Los Angeles should stop trying to be like New York when it comes to transportation planning:
Oh, and one last thing to point out: The buses in Los Angeles operate on compressed natural gas (CNG), which burns more cleanly than gasoline. So when Los Angeles spends all its money on trains and cuts back on buses, prompting citizens to turn back to cars for transportation, this actually increases air pollution in the city. Something to keep in mind.Landsat image showing the Anomaly, cross is at the centre of it. Shows the terrain only, not the magnetic deviations of the area.
The Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, also called the Temagami Anomaly or the Wanapitei Anomaly, is a magnetic anomaly resulting from a large buried geologic structure in the Canadian Shield in the Temagami region of northeastern Ontario, Canada. It stretches from Lake Wanapitei in the west to Bear Island in Lake Temagami.
The Aboriginal community of Teme-Augama Anishnabai lies partly within the Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, including the Temagami First Nation on Bear Island which is a portion of the Aboriginal community. Located nearby are a number of other geological structures including the Sudbury Basin, the Lake Wanapitei impact crater, and the Temagami Greenstone Belt, although none of the structures are directly related to each other in the sense of resulting from the same geophysical processes.
Discovery and structure [ edit ]
The Temagami Magnetic Anomaly is egg-shaped, 58 km (36 mi) long and 19 km (12 mi) wide. The central section has the greatest amplitude and an east-west strike.
The western portion appears smoother in character while the eastern section is long and narrow. With an areal extent of 50 x 15 km, the Temagami Magnetic Anomaly reaches a magnitude of approximately 10,000 nanoteslas making it one of the largest positive anomalies in North America.[1] The eastern section of the magnetic anomaly coincides with a small positive gravity anomaly, indicating the presence of dense rocks at depth.[2] The anomaly was discovered by a magnetic survey and a gravity survey.
The Temagami Magnetic Anomaly has striking similarities to the nearby Sudbury Basin, which is one of the richest mining areas in the world. Its magnetic anomalies are very similar to the Sudbury Basin and so it could be a second metal-rich impact crater.[3]
References [ edit ]
Coordinates:A South Carolina town passed an ordinance Tuesday that bans pants that are worn low enough to "intentionally" show underwear. (Photo: Thomas Northcut, Getty Images)
Better pull those breeches up!
A South Carolina town passed an ordinance on Tuesday banning saggy pants that "intentionally" display undergarments, according to local reports.
The Timmonsville Town Council approved the new rules on Tuesday night in a 5-1 vote, WBTW-TV reported.
The ordinance bans people from being naked in public, showing pornographic material and from wearing pants that show their underwear.
Under the new ordinance, law enforcement will give first offenders a verbal warning, and second-time offenders may be placed in a registry of repeat offenders. For those who break the ordinance up to three times, a $100 to $600 fine may be issued, according to WMBF-TV.
Timmonsville Mayor Pro Tem William James, Jr., said the ordinance is about self-respect, WMBF-TV reported.
On the Timmonsville town Facebook page some commented that the ordinance was long overdue.
"It's about time that someone does something," April McKee Biddle said in a comment. "It is indecent. My 8-year-olds have pointed out to me men with their belt buckles right over their privates. That, in my eyes, is very near exposure."
And while the measure may seem extreme, Townville isn't the first town to pass dress code measures targeting saggy pants. Laws banning saggy pants kept popping up in the news several years ago, though the measures weren't all well received.
A Florida town repealed its saggy pants law shortly after is passed in 2014 when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People threatened to sue, WKMG-TV reported.
Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/29hhb8YThe Animal Rescue Site
Any cat owner will tell you that having a cat reduces their stress level – it’s just a no brainer!
Living in a world full of stress coming from every direction can be pretty overwhelming. Thanks to the clever minds of SoulPancake, they have devised a calming exercise that was not only a head turning attraction, but more importantly an effective form of therapy!
Volunteers were asked to talk about what stresses them out in everyday-life, many of which were relatable to anything you or I would experience: traffic, work, family, etc. Once their interview was over, they were given headphones to listen to a voice direct them into the glass box for further instruction.
What happened next was a complete surprise to both the volunteer, and bystanders who could see into the box! Some of the reactions were priceless!
As the voice in the volunteers’ headphones told them to open their eyes, they were greeted by a kitten and a bucket of toys to interact with their new cuddly companion. It wasn’t long before each volunteer was met with even more furry friends to help ease their stresses.
I mean,
JUST LOOK HOW CUTE!
Don’t you wish this form of “kitten therapy” existed in your town? It seemed to have worked with everyone who volunteered, but would it work for you? Check out the video below to watch how it all happened and what each person had to say after they experienced playing with their playful, purring pals.TRENTON -- As an early supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, Gov. Chris Christie has hammered Democratic 2016 rival Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
But a lawyer working on behalf of a New Jersey newspaper seeking public records from the governor recently argued Christie engaged in somewhat similar behavior.
Samuel Samaro, who represented North Jersey Media Group in a Open Public Records Act lawsuit, invoked criticism against Clinton in court arguments over whether Christie's personal email is off limits to the public.
Clinton cancels California trip
"It's national news. It's what Hillary Clinton is beaten up about every day -- same thing and, by the way, same motive, as far as I can tell. It's not national implications but it's the same thing," Samaro told a Superior Court judge, according to The Record, the newspaper seeking the records.
"(It's) fair game because he used it for public business," Samaro said.
And the court agreed.
Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ruled Friday that Christie's office must search his personal email account or prove that it already has for the requested documents.
The ruling comes after months of Christie attacking Clinton for using a private server and private email when she was secretary of state.
The attacks hit fever pitch when Christie, a former federal prosecutor, mock prosecuted Clinton at the Republican National Convention in July.
"Let's face the facts: Hillary Clinton cared more about protecting her own secrets than she cared about protecting America's secrets," Christie said at the time.
North Jersey Media Group, the publisher of The Record, pushed the issue of Christie's personal emails when it didn't get what it believes to be the complete response to its request under the state's public record act.
It was seeking correspondence among Christie and his aides pertaining to a 2013 meeting between Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Matt Arco may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.The CFL Players Poll results were released today, with the league-wide survey answering questions such as who is the league’s toughest player? It’s hardest hitter? And of course it’s best Tweeter?
2015 CFL Players Poll Category Player Most Underrated Player Brad Sinopoli Hardest Hitter Adam Bighill Best Hands S.J. Green* Most Electrifying Player Brandon Banks Most Accurate Passer Henry Burris Nastiest Player Dominic Picard Biggest Trash Talker Simoni Lawrence* Toughest Player Mike Reilly Most Challenging to Take Down Jerome Messam Fastest Player Brandon Banks* First Year Player Destined to be a Star Derel Walker Best Tweeter Ricky Foley
* Repeat Winner
There were only four repeat winners from last year’s survey, down from six a year ago. Edmonton Eskimos QB Mike Reilly was once again named Toughest Player while Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ kick returner Brandon Banks took home Fastest Player for the second straight year and his Ticats teammate Simoni Lawrence won Biggest Trash Talker once again.
TSN's Matthew Scianitti caught up with the trash talker and experienced some of the wit that helped him top the category when he was asked which four categories he thought he was a finalist in.
Trash talking, I’m definitely going to be in there. Hardest Hitter, I have to be in there. You know, with my picks, you have to give me some hands. I have hands! You have to put me Top 10 at least (Best Hands). I know there are a lot of Adarius Bowman’s and Fred Stamps and SJ Green but I’m coming for you guys, Lawrence said, laughing.
Alouettes WR SJ Green was of course once again awarded ‘Best Hands.’
Lawrence also shared some of his secrets that got him voted the Biggest Trash Talker in the league.
"Usually I go after the real sentimental guys. Guys that you know you can get under their skin; guys that are really going to get upset."
When asked who that list might include, Lawrence offered up a timely example.
"Henry Burris. You can get under his skin pretty easy."
Lawrence was also voted the league's fourth hardest hitter. He had some fun with the player he just beat on the list.
"A slotback?! If it is a slotback, Nik Lewis."
"He’s the same size as my defensive tackles and he can run like a linebacker so it’s like big ball, little ball," Lawrence laughed.
The seven newcomers voted atop a category this year include Brad Sinopoli, taking over for Kevin Glenn as the Most Underrated; Adam Bighill, beating out teammate Solomon Elimimian as the Hardest Hitter; Henry Burris as the new Most Accurate Passer over Ricky Ray; Dominic Picard, beating Shea Emry in the Nastiest Player category; Jerome Messam replacing Jon Cornish as the Toughest to Bring Down; Derel Walker the new First Year Player Destined for Stardom; and last but not least, Ricky Foley subbing in for Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson as the Best Tweeter.
Full results:
Most Underrated Player:
Brad Sinopoli – 10
Luke Tasker – 7
Brian Ramsay – 7
Marquay McDaniel – 7
Chris Rainey – 4
Hardest Hitter:
Adam Bighill – 34
Winston Venable – 25
Tyron Brackenridge – 18
Simoni Lawrence – 12
Nik Lewis – 10
Solomon Elimimian - 10
Best Hands:
S.J. Green – 54
Eric Rogers – 23
Luke Tasker – 18
Brad Sinopoli – 12
Marquay McDaniel – 10
Most Electrifying Player:
Brandon Banks – 74
Stefan Logan – 33
Henry Burris – 5
Chris Williams – 5
Chris Rainey – 5
Eric Rogers – 5
Chad Owens – 5
Most Accurate Passer:
Henry Burris – 53
Zach Collaros – 40
Trevor Harris – 33
Bo-Levi Mitchell – 26
Ricky Ray – 13
Nastiest Player:
Dominic Picard – 47
Cleyon Laing – 15
Kyries Hebert – 9
Simoni Lawrence – 6
John Chick – 5
Biggest Trash Talker:
Simoni Lawrence – 48
Charleston Hughes – 14
Odell Willis – 13
Vidal Hazelton – 12
Nik Lewis – 8
Toughest Player:
Mike Reilly – 34
Drew Willy – 16
Adam Bighill – 11
Henry Burris – 9
Almondo Sewell – 6
Most Challenging Player to Take Down:
Jerome Messam – 41
Nik Lewis – 42 (3)
Jon Cornish – 31
Henry Burris – 7
Tyrell Sutton – 7
Fastest Player:
Brandon Banks – 74
Chris Williams – 38
Chris Rainey – 15
Stefan Logan – 10
Terrell Sinkfield jr. – 5
2015 First Year Player destined to be a Star:
Derel Walker – 37
Nic Demski – 26
Jonathan Jennings - 11
Chris Ackie – 8
Khalil Bass – 6
CFL’s Best Tweeter:
Ricky Foley – 10
Simoni Lawrence – 9
SirVincent Rogers – 7
Andre Durie – 4
Nik Lewis – 3Tuesday was check-in day for Canadian Football League rookies.
For the Windsor AKO Fratmen, it was a day of celebration.
The three-time defending Ontario Football Conference champion Fratmen have three players in camps and another three players still in talks with teams.
“I’ve been called and e-mailed more the last two seasons by CFL scouts than at any other time coaching the Fratmen,” said AKO head coach Mike LaChance, who started coaching with the team in 1996 and took over as head coach in 2003.
The Toronto Argonauts made receiver Llevi Noel the first AKO player drafted in decades when the club selected him in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Linebacker Dillon Grondin has signed a two-year deal with a club option for a third season as a free agent with the Saskatchewan Roughriders while safety Tyler Storie is in camp with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Offensive lineman Josh DaSilva and Ahmad Abusafeyeh, who is recovering from knee surgery, have both worked out for the Roughriders while LaChance said teams continue to talk with defensive back Josh Wright.
“I was never the best high school player,” the 24-year-old Grondin said. “I was never an all-star, but after high school I started taking it seriously.
“I’ve kind of been pushing towards this dream for probably five years now, ever since I came to AKO. My passion for football is so strong, it changed my dream to try and play professional football.”
Grondin was one of several Fratmen to benefit from the OFC increasing the playing age from 22 to 24 and allowing them more opportunity to develop. The OFC will reduce the age to 23 this season and back to 22 next in a year when it rejoins the Canadian Junior Football League. It’s a change all OFC teams voted in favour of, but not one every squad likes.
“The overage rule was huge for that aspect,” said LaChance, who noted it also gave teams a bigger pool to draw players. “I’m very disappointed to see how shortsighted the CJFL is on this. I thought that developing players to move on to the next level was a big part of junior football. I guess they don’t see it like that.”
Noel was an all-star receiver at the University of Toronto, but credits his year with AKO for getting him drafted after he left school.
“If you sit out for a year and don’t show you’re playing, you don’t get exposure,” the 24-year-old said. “I feel for the people in my position this year and moving forward. Luckily, I got there just before they installed the rule. It’s unfortunate for other guys. I wish they extended that or got rid of it because it’s going to hurt people’s chances (to go pro) or make it harder.”
Storie was a standout basketball player at Herman high school and that was his focus before finally settling in on football with the Fratmen last season.
“Last year was the first time since 2013, when we won OFSAA, that I focused on football,” said the 22-year-old, who could still return to AKO this season for one more year of development. “Even when I played, half of the year was dedicated to basketball because that was my passion.
“I wasn’t a football player, but this makes me want to work a lot harder and makes me think I can surpass (basketball dreams). I’m beyond excited.”
Windsor Lancers fullback Nate O’Halloran, who is 24, got the benefit of extra time at the university level to develop. He was switched from linebacker to fullback and was taken in the seventh round by the British Columbia Lions. He’s in rookie camp now along with Lancers offensive tackle Randy Beardy, who was a fifth-round pick by the Ottawa Redblacks, and linebacker Frank Renaud, who was an eighth-round selection by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Essex’s Brandon Revenberg, who was Hamilton’s first-round pick, has also checked in for rookie camp. Main camp opens this weekend.
“We had a lot of studs turning 24,” Grondin said of the AKO roster. “After winning three championships, they put the limit down to 23 and I really don’t understand why they did that.
“That last season, I was very fortunate to play. I wish could play one more, but think I’m ready to (play at the) next level. I’ve given everything I have to this dream. It just goes to show anything is possible.”
[email protected]
twitter.com/winstarparkerAngela Merkel has topped Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 most powerful women for the fourth year in row, with the Queen and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour the only Brits in the ranking.
The head of the world’s most powerful central bank, Janet Yellen (right), takes the No. 2 slot. It is the first time the US Federal Reserve chief has made the list, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Melinda Gates, co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, retains third position. Dilma Rouseff, President of Brazil, drops two spots to No. 4 and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, moves up two places to fifth. US First Lady Michelle Obama has slipped to eighth from fourth, pipped by Hillary Clinton, the presidential hopeful and former US Secretary of State, who fell one place to sixth.
There are three business executive in the top ten. Mary Barra, the new General Motors chief who is fighting to restore the giant carmaker’s reputation following a series of safety recalls, takes the No. 7 slot, alongside Sheryl Sandberg (9), the chief operating officer of Facebook, and Virginia Romett y (10), chief executive of IBM.
The Queen is one of two Brits in the list
The Queen has risen five places to 35 and Ms Wintour two places to 39. The Queen is one of eight women who appeared in the inaugural list in 2004. The others are Ms Gates, Ms Lagarde, Ms Clinton, PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi, Oprah Winfrey and Ho Ching, who heads Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who was 93rd last year, has been pushed out of the rankings by newcomers, including 43-year-old Sara Blakely (pictured), the undergarment entrepreneur who founded Spanx and is the youngest self-made billionaire on the list.
In all there were 18 newcomers. Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina (72) and Arundhati Bhattacharya (36), the chairman of the State Bank of India were among them and is Chinese actress Yao Chen.
It is the ninth time the German Chancellor has made the list which features nine heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of $11.1 trillion (£6.6 trillion). This year there are 28 chief executives who control $1.7 trillion in annual revenues, 18 who has founder their own companies or foundations, and 13 billionaires.
<noframes>Datatable: Forbes top 20 most powerful women</nof |
colleagues to look into a third suggestion: that the crucial difference is agricultural. The West’s staple is wheat; the East’s, rice (see article). Before the mechanisation of agriculture a farmer who grew rice had to expend twice as many hours doing so as one who grew wheat. To deploy labour efficiently, especially at times of planting and harvesting, rice-growing societies as far apart as India, Malaysia and Japan all developed co-operative labour exchanges which let neighbours stagger their farms’ schedules in order to assist each other during these crucial periods. Since, until recently, almost everyone alive was a farmer, it is a reasonable hypothesis that such a collective outlook would dominate a society’s culture and behaviour, and might prove so deep-rooted that even now, when most people earn their living in other ways, it helps to define their lives.
Mr Talhelm realised that this idea is testable. Large swathes of China, particularly in the north, depend not on rice, but on wheat. That, as he explains in a paper in Science, let him and his team put some flesh on this theory’s bones.
The team gathered almost 1,200 volunteers from all over China and asked them questions to assess their individualism or collectivism. The answers bore little relation to the wealth of a volunteer’s place of origin, which Mr Talhelm saw as a proxy for how modern it was, or to its level of public health. There was a striking correlation, though, with whether it was a rice-growing or a wheat-growing area. This difference was marked even between people from neighbouring counties with different agricultural traditions. His hypothesis that the different psychologies of East and West are, at least in part, a consequence of their agriculture thus looks worth further exploration. And such exploration is possible—for India, too, has rice-growing and wheat-growing regions.
How resilient Asia’s collectivist cultures will be as they lose their rural roots remains to be seen. But the message from Japan, and also from more recently modernised places such as Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, seems to be “quite resilient”. For some, Asian values—with their tenets of solidarity and collective action—are cause for celebration. For others, they are stifling and a barrier to social progress. But whichever side you take, if Mr Talhelm is correct they are only “Asian” because, back in the neolithic, farmers in many parts of that continent found Oryza a more congenial crop to grow than Triticum.FILE - Congressman Steve Stockman on a recent trip to Ukraine.
Washington - A congressman from Texas is seeking to reform the International Religious Act of 1998 in response to the increase of assaults on religious freedom in the European Union.
Congressman Steve Stockman (R-Texas) introduced H.R. 4650, the European Union Religious Freedom Act to the Foreign Affairs Committee last week according to a press release from Stockman’s office.
The bill would modify the International Religious Freedom Act to include violations against religious freedom including homeschooling, Jewish and Islamic religious rituals regarding meat production, circumcision and religious clothing.
“In countries like Bulgaria and Lithuania, parents can’t homeschool their children. In Sweden and Denmark, Jews and Muslims can’t prepare meat according to their religious beliefs. In Sweden alone, they face legal restrictions on circumcision. In France, citizens cannot wear religious garb in public schools,” said Congressman Stockman.
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“These laws are unjust towards these Europeans. The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 needs to be updated with provisions protecting their freedoms on these religious issues. My bill would do just that,” he continued.
Legislation would go into effect immediately if passed.US warplanes are heading to Kunduz tonight as the Taliban offensive against the major northern province continues, and is adding to the reality that, despite administration claims the war “ended” in December, the US is very much still in combat in Afghanistan.
Officially, of course, US troops are just in Afghanistan for “training,” but in practice, US airstrikes are still as regular a part of the Afghan War as ever, and special operations forces continue to carry out ground combat operations.
It was easy for the administration to claim a “winding down” in December. After all, operations always calm down in the winter as many Taliban factions simply winter over in rural camps.
Now, with the Taliban launching a new spring offensive, the US is as usual ratcheting up its own operations, and the claims of training are ringing hollow indeed.
Indeed, in many cases the special forces are fuel for the airstrikes, as the administration can put a handful of them into a combat zone, nominally to “advise” the Afghan military, then launch airstrikes in the name of trying to protect them.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzVirtual reality teeters on the edge of becoming mainstream, with software development outstripping the hardware and memory storage needed. In this article, a librarian and an art historian discuss the many ways that VR may transform learning and student experiences.
Photo by Jennifer Jones, Georgia State University, CC BY-SA 2.0
Not that long ago students and scholars could access only the libraries and museums available to them on their home campus — or perhaps in their city or region — because only a select few had the credentials to access materials from other institutions or the means to travel to distant places for their research. The Internet changed everything, of course, with the corpus of human knowledge now at everyone's fingertips. Just as hypertext, digital publishing, and other digital media have transformed the ways in which we engage with documents and collections, the technologies surrounding virtual reality (VR) may ultimately transform the ways in which we teach, learn, engage with each other, and experience the world writ large. In a not-too-distant future, as VR technologies advance at a steady pace and become embedded in our lives, we may one day look back with a sense of amazement at students once bound to a physical classroom, campus setting, locale, or even place in time.
VR may be seen as the next logical extension of cyberspace. While scientists and programmers have explored the possibilities of VR since the 1960s,1 last year marked the first time that VR hit the mainstream, when many of us from a broad range of disciplines began to first see its possibilities. With freely available apps, one can journey through our solar system with Titans of Space or experience firsthand what it is like for a young refugee uprooted by war through The Displaced, an immersive video documentary produced by The New York Times, both available for Google Cardboard. One can now experience a Roman gladiator battle with Colosseum VR or take a 360-degree tour of world cities with StreetView VR for the Oculus DK2, and begin to feel like you're actually there.
Photos by Jennifer Jones, Georgia State University, CC BY-SA 2.0
Glenn Gunhouse, standing, takes a group of students, faculty, and staff on a virtual field trip of Rome using StreetView VR and the Oculus DK2.
What follows is a conversation between Georgia State University library administrator and coauthor Bryan Sinclair and art history instructor and coauthor Glenn Gunhouse on the possibilities of VR and how it might transform learning as we know it.
Bryan Sinclair: Before we begin, it might be a good idea to clarify exactly what we are talking about. The term "virtual reality" seems to be used to describe a lot of different things these days. What do you mean when you speak of "VR?"
Glenn Gunhouse: I used to apply the term to interactive scenes in which the user's viewpoint could be moved around in a virtual three-dimensional space, and presented as a 2D image on a standard computer screen. I've been making such "virtual spaces" for many years (examples can be found at my Virtual Worlds for Art History Teaching page), but I no longer use the term "virtual reality" to describe those earlier projects. They didn't give users the impression of being physically present inside an actual three-dimensional reality, the way you might imagine it would feel to use the "holodeck" on Star Trek, for example, or to inhabit the "metaverse" of Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash. I'd reserve the term "VR" for projects that aim in that direction — virtual spaces that you can feel inside of, and can interact with, that you view with stereoscopic vision and spatialized sound, and in which you can move around freely, looking wherever you please.
Sinclair: The sort of virtual reality that used to be found only in science fiction, or in research labs, but is now becoming available to consumers and educators.
Gunhouse: Right. The kind of virtual reality I am speaking of can be experienced using one of the new head-mounted displays, or HMDs, now coming to market such as the Oculus Rift, HTC VIVE, PlayStation VR, etc.
From the Virtual Egyptian Tomb (Tomb of Menna), by Glenn Gunhouse and Melinda Hartwig, Georgia State University, using images provided by the American Research Center in Egypt, with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development
Sinclair: So, what does VR ultimately offer to students? How will it change the way that you teach in the future?
Gunhouse: What VR offers to my students is an increasingly true-to-life way of visiting places that we otherwise could not visit, either because they are very far away, or because they no longer exist. I'm hopeful that, in the future, I will be able to bring entire classes into a common virtual space with me, so that, for example, I can teach my class on the Roman house inside a virtual Roman house. That's technically possible now, using VR social-networking apps like VRChat. The only thing preventing me from conducting such a virtual field trip today is the lack of a classroom equipped with the necessary hardware.
Sinclair: What sites do you look to as models of the technology?
Gunhouse: I'm very impressed by the various virtual Rome projects — for example, the University of Virginia's Rome Reborn [https://romereborn.squarespace.com/]. Though the city in Rome Reborn can't currently be accessed directly, some of it has been incorporated into Google Earth, so that it can be explored using the same interface as Google Street View. A number of excellent examples can be found at the Zamani Project site developed at the University of Cape Town. None of those examples are yet available as true VR experiences, but it's easy to imagine how they soon could be. One of the most impressive examples that is currently available is an architectural reconstruction of the pre-WWII town of Arnswalde, Germany (now Choszczno, Poland), which can be downloaded and viewed on the Oculus DK2 (Development Kit 2, currently available).
The ancient site at Petra, Jordan, now a web-accessible "virtual world" from the Zamani Project
Sinclair: Tell me more about your own current VR projects.
Gunhouse: I'm in the process of converting my various screen-based virtual spaces to VR-ready versions, in the hope that VR technology like the Oculus Rift will soon become widely available and affordable. I teach courses that deal with city spaces and architecture, and with paintings on the walls of churches. It would help me to have as many such spaces available as possible, so I can send students to visit them. I'm gradually building what I can.
Multiple views and options: (top) Sample model of a gothic chapter house viewed in the Unity workspace, and (bottom) that same virtual space rendered in VRChat, allowing for social interaction with multiple avatars (students and instructor); created by Glenn Gunhouse, Georgia State University.
Sinclair: What basic hardware and software do instructors need? What about their students?
Gunhouse: Developing the sort of virtual-reality products that I'm interested in requires a high-end desktop computer with fast processors and a good GPU. The software required includes a 3D modeler of some sort (for example, 3DS Max, with free download for students and educators), an image processor (for example, Photoshop), and a game engine or scene assembler (for example, Unreal Engine or Unity). The requirements for student machines depend on whether the models are to be viewed on a regular computer screen, or on a head-mounted display like the Oculus Rift. Just about any recent desktop can display my screen-based models without any problems, but the requirements for using the Rift are more demanding and more expensive.
An imaginary forum modeled on the forum of Pompeii in Virtual Roman City (requires Unity Web Player plugin); created by Glenn Gunhouse, Georgia State University
Sinclair: I'm concerned with the potential financial barriers that the Rift may create for learning, for both the student and IT department, at least for now. With the latest Rift, a user will need a fairly powerful PC with sufficient RAM and an advanced GPU and processor or better to power it, according to the Oculus specs.
Gunhouse: It's true that higher-end HMDs like the Oculus Rift or the HTC VIVE, both of which will be launched in 2016, do require more computing power than can be found in most desktops. In fact, NVidia (which manufactures graphics cards) recently estimated that less than one percent of all personal computers in the world right now are capable of running VR applications. The cost of upgrading computer hardware will be significant, I think (and that's on top of the cost of the VR headsets). Such costs will present an economic barrier that I expect will limit the full VR experience to wealthier students, or to those at schools with funds to outfit learning spaces and classrooms designed for VR.
Sinclair: There are already lower cost alternatives, however. As you know, I am a big fan of Google Cardboard and the whole affordable DIY VR movement. (Cardboard is the least expensive and most accessible of VR devices currently on the market that work in tandem with existing smartphones.) With little or no investment, this small corrugated box with a couple of plastic lenses and Velcro fasteners is all one needs to start experiencing VR now. Even news organizations like The New York Times have gotten on board with the potential impact of VR storytelling. They recently included a Cardboard set in the newspaper for all Sunday print subscribers with accompanying content designed specifically for the device.
Photos by Jennifer Jones, Georgia State University, CC BY-SA 2.0
Testing a virtual museum exhibit with Google Cardboard; prototype by Glenn Gunhouse
Gunhouse: I've experimented with Google Cardboard, too, and I've been impressed with how well it works. It does require, though, that you have a suitable smartphone to drive the experience. I know that most of my students already have good smartphones, but many will need to upgrade to models with more advanced graphics performance and CPU power to take advantage of the Cardboard viewer.
Sinclair: We've spoken of technical and financial barriers. What about barriers resulting from disabilities? I know you've been concerned about accessibility.
Gunhouse: Yes, I think it's important to consider accessibility issues as this technology develops, instead of waiting until it's already become established. There has already been a lot of research into the use of virtual reality technology by the physically disabled, since it provides them a means of walking around in spaces that would otherwise be inaccessible to them (see NPR story, "Affordable Virtual Reality Opens New Worlds for People with Disabilities"). My own interest in teaching students about architectural spaces has led me to consider how they might be made accessible not only to the sighted, but also to the blind. Perhaps the most obvious thing that could be done (as is done now for 2D images) is to attach audio labels to the objects in virtual spaces, but more interesting possibilities are opened up by the spatialized-sound technology being developed for the Oculus Rift and other HMDs. Sound-spatializing software, together with head-tracking, make it relatively easy for users to locate sound sources in a 3D virtual space, and thus make it possible for such spaces to become accessible to the blind through their sense of hearing. Sonar-like probes can also be constructed in the virtual world (analogous to accessibility aids in the real world) that should make it possible for the blind to scan virtual architectural spaces and determine the size, location, and distance of their various component parts. I'm just beginning a study of my own to see how such techniques might be applied to the teaching of Roman architecture and city planning.
Sinclair: That's really a fascinating concept. In his book You Are Not a Gadget, author and futurist Jaron Lanier, who did pioneering work with VR in the 1980s, talks optimistically about the potential here to enhance the human experience. While VR has been primarily concerned with creating an immersive visual experience, he imagines a virtual experience incorporating with the other senses as well, involving the whole body, touch, and even smell.2
(Switching gears) I am intrigued by the fact that Facebook purchased Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion. Up until then the company had primarily been of interest to gamers, hobbyists, and a few academics like yourself who were experimenting with the Oculus development kits. Facebook's interest in Oculus suggests to me not only that they believe the barriers we've mentioned might soon be overcome, and that VR might become a mass-market phenomenon, but also that VR is going social, in which case it will no longer be just a solitary experience for a small number of enthusiasts.3
Gunhouse: While I can't speak to Facebook's goals here, it does seem to me that VR is developing in a way that promotes social interactions, rather than social isolation. There are already several VR chat projects underway, but I expect that multiplayer gaming will be more important. The Unity game engine that I use can be used to create networked VR spaces, which is something that I hope to exploit for teaching. The virtual field trips that I imagine for the future would be group experiences.
Sinclair: What about embedding content, text, images, etc. that are already freely available on the web? For example, when we took a virtual tour of Paris in StreetView VR [http://www.streetviewvr.net] app shortly after the terrorist attacks there in November 2015, we were able to view a particular landmark or building and access the Wikipedia article that floated in context within the space. Are there other examples?
Gunhouse: It seems that embedding articles at appropriate locations in VR spaces would be useful, but I don't know of many other examples yet. There are a number of projects that explore new ways of incorporating photographs, videos, and texts into 3D spaces. The VSim project at UCLA is a good example of that approach. One of the most amazing examples that I've seen of the way that information can be incorporated into virtual spaces is a demonstration made by David Finsterwalder using Unreal Engine for the HTC VIVE. It's a 3D scan of an archaeological site (a cave) that can be filled with images representing the objects found within it, drawn from a separate database, and located at the spatial coordinates of their find-spots.
Screenshot from Finsterwalder's demo in YouTube," Archaeological Data visualized with HTC VIVE Development Kit in Unreal Engine 4"; more examples at realities.io
Sinclair: Talk a bit about partnerships with the gaming and hacking communities. A lot of what I've seen is being developed in the Unity game engine.
Gunhouse: I work a lot with Unity myself, although I am working to produce instructional tools, not games per se. By piggybacking on existing gaming software, I've effectively employed a team of professional programmers to develop the tools I need for my own projects, in a way that I could never have afforded to do on my own. I've also benefitted from the help of the game-developer community, which is eager to help with technical issues, coding problems, user experience issues, etc. One of the useful things about Unity is that it can export its "games" to a variety of platforms (Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, Gear VR, Microsoft HoloLens, and several others), though distribution to those platforms is often controlled by the app stores that serve the various brands.
Sinclair: VR seems to bring together students, faculty, developers, and even gamers from a wide array of fields. There is a real interdisciplinary aspect to all this, involving techies and nontechies alike. I'm thinking about ways that VR has inspired new connections at our own university between art and anthropology, history and computer science.
Gunhouse: The production of educational VR requires an interdisciplinary approach, I think. I like to do everything myself, but I'm not as good a coder as other people, or as good an artist, designer, or 3D modeler. To do something really great, I'd have to work with others in a team. The best examples of educational and scholarly virtual reality are the products of large interdisciplinary teams of artists, scholars, programmers, and technicians. As you said, we've developed quite a network of connections here among people with different interests and skill sets, all of whom share a common interest in developing VR applications for teaching and research.
Conclusion
Realizing the promise of VR requires overcoming technical and accessibility obstacles and, with them, significant financial concerns. High-end computers with the latest GPUs and processors can today create amazingly lifelike worlds for devices such as the Oculus Rift, but most of us do not have access to such advanced hardware in our classrooms, labs, or residence halls — at least not presently. At Georgia State University, we have already begun to see a grassroots coming together of computer science students, gamers, hackers, IT professionals, librarians, and digital scholars in art history, English, and anthropology around this promising new technology. We see great potential here in bringing diverse people and disciplines together, expanding our collective frames of reference.
When combined with social media, VR has the potential to connect us with the world and each other in ways never before realized. Our classroom buildings, libraries, and shared academic spaces may someday provide physical grids or open sound stages designed for virtual interaction (think "holodeck"), where groups of students may take guided field trips to remote sites, interface with other cultures, or travel in time. And the instructor will be there as well, acting as the avatar-on-the-side, guiding the conversation, pointing out important concepts and features, and posing questions. Students with physical disabilities or financial disadvantages might have access to places and experiences like never before. Students may also be able to experience things that can only be theorized about, such as journeying into a black hole or flying through a strand of DNA. While VR may be a solitary experience for some, the real promise of VR for educators and academics lies in its capacity for community building and interactive learning.
Notes
In 1968, computer scientist Ivan Sutherland and student Bob Sproull constructed with is perhaps the first VR head-mounted display (HMD) dubbed the "Sword of Damocles," which was a breakthrough in motion sensing. Objects in space adjusted or remained stationary taking into account the user's point of view and head movements. Later in the 1980s, programmer Jaron Lanier and his company VPL Research advanced the VR experience through their EyePhone, which linked the users' hands to the HMD using DataGloves in order to manipulate the environment. For more on the history of VR, see Steven M. LaValle, Virtual Reality, 2015; and this Scientific American video featuring VR pioneer Kern Perlin at New York University. Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget (New York: Vintage, 2011): 161–63, 184–86. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that "Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate" in a press release on the company's acquisition by Facebook.
Bryan Sinclair is associate dean at Georgia State University Library, providing leadership for the library's on-site and virtual research support, research data services, instruction, access services, and technology support. His research interests are in collaborative research and discovery spaces, data services, digital scholarship, and exploring new roles for librarians. See EDUCAUSE profile.
Glenn Gunhouse is a senior lecturer in the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University. He teaches courses on the art of ancient Rome and medieval Europe, with a special emphasis on art in architectural spaces. Since 2001, he has devoted much of his attention to adapting new technologies to the needs of teachers and researchers in the field of art history.Xbox One owners can now register for a chance to be picked for the "Big Alpha" test for Evolve, the highly anticipated sci-fi first person shooter from developer Turtle Rock Studios and publisher 2K Games.
The multiplayer test of the game will begin for the Xbox One gamers who get picked on October 30, one day before PC and PS4 testers join in. The test will end on November 2. Evolve's basic premise is that four players control human hunters who are going after another player who controls an alien that can "evolve" into bigger and more powerful forms. The four hunter players obviously will be trying to keep that from happening.
Xbox One owners can go to the game's official website and register for the "Big Alpha" test. People who have already pre-ordered Evolve from GameStop, Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart are guaranteed access to the multiplayer test?
Will you be registering your interest in playing in the Evolve "Big Alpha" test?
Source: EvolveA D R E N A L {A SciFi RP}
By Cenn51903
(My first rp book!) The year is 2199. At around 2069, people with powers started to pop up around the world, at a very low rate. These people were a minority amongst the population, maybe ten or fifteen percent of the world. Most of them, however, could not control their power, and have to be kept in containment facilities around the world. Even now, after 130 years of existing, these people are still considered dangerous and must be contained. *Powerful Story* You are a Powerful, a person with a power. You have recently been captured, and you are in a containment facility in an unknown location in the United States. There is another kid there. He's a little weird, but he's alright. He's always saying his name at the beginning of his sentences. Magnus. He says he's going to lead a rebellion against the people who think that the Powerful can't control their powers, and prove them wrong. Sounds like a good plan, other than the fact that most of them CAN'T control their powers. But he says we can learn. I guess we should join. *Officer Story* You are an officer in an unknown location in the US, the same one as the one where the rebellion is starting to arise. You must try your best to keep the Powerful contained, all under the command under the Warden and his second in command, the General. It is your choice what to do when you hear about the rebellion.Always bear in mind that your own resolution to
succeed is more important than any other.
– Abraham Lincoln
Cheers to the year ahead and another chance to get it right.
Still deciding on your resolutions and goals? Need a few words of wisdom? Below you will find 12 powerful resolutions to follow this year and every year going forward.
So open the new chapter in front of you and appreciate it’s clean white space. This chapter is called Opportunity and it starts today…
1. Begin.
Remember the feeling you get from taking the first step is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around thinking about it. So get up and get moving. Take the first step this year – just one small step forward.
The greatest miracle of your success will not be that you finished, it will be that you had the courage to begin. Read Getting Things Done.
2. Work hard on the essential.
Don’t be busy, be productive. Don’t track your time, track your results. Put first things first and get them done.
And don’t expect your goal to be easy; it’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard you would already have it completed, and so would everyone else. The hard part is what makes it worthwhile. In life there are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
3. Stay true to your path.
A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the dreams of others.
You have to do what’s right for you; no one else walks in your shoes. Keep moving forward, beyond the negative rhetoric echoing from the peanut gallery. Do what you have to do, for you. Live a life you are proud of. And the moment you realize you’re not, find the strength to start over again on a new path.
4. Nurture your self-confidence.
You have everything you need within you to become the best possible version of YOU.
Believe that you CAN. Believe that you’re capable of pushing harder and farther than you have before. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, smart enough and strong enough to achieve your goals. Don’t let false beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself. And certainly don’t get sidetracked by the people around you who are not on track. Read Learned Optimism.
5. Focus on solutions.
Life gets better when you choose to make it so. Negative people make lots of noise about how bad things are, while positive people quietly and steadily improve things.
There are always problems, there are always challenges, and there are always people willing to transform those problems and challenges into great opportunities. Those who have the courage, commitment and discipline to do so, create a better life for everyone. Be one of these people. Focus on solutions and work your way eagerly toward a brighter future.
6. Accept the things you can’t change.
What you resist, persists. If you are resisting something, you are feeding it. Any energy you actively fight, you are feeding. If you are using negative energy to push something away, you are inviting it to stay.
Choose to accept what is, be positive and proactive, let go of the need to control every tiny detail, and embrace peace in the process.
7. Leave the past where it belongs.
Don’t stumble over something behind you. Don’t use the past as an excuse to miss out on today. You do not heal the wounds of the past by digging deeper into them.
Acceptance truly is the bitter pill you have to bravely swallow to move beyond yesterday’s sorrows. It’s a choice you must make. Because the truth of the matter is that history only dictates the future if you allow it. In other words, you only have to relive it if you choose to. Read The Power of Now.
8. Balance work with necessary rest.
Sometimes it’s best to rest so you can put a fresh set of eyes on your work. When you’re overworked or burnt out on a project, you become accident prone, and when that happens you’re increasing the chances of turning out suboptimal work.
Novelist Zadie Smith once said, “When you finish your novel, if money is not a desperate priority, if you do not need to sell it at once or be published that very second, put it in a drawer for as long as you can manage. Step away from it all. The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer.” Even though Smith talks about doing this with a novel, it’s a piece of advice we can all use for just about anything we work on.
9. Set a good example.
It’s not about what you say; it’s about how you live your life every day. The people who look up to you are watching you all the time. These people are like sponges – what they see or feel you do, they will imitate. So remember that your words mean a lot less than what you’re doing. Choose to believe that you can and will change lives with what you do each day, and you will.
Let your actions speak for themselves.
10. Be sincerely kind to everyone around you.
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates positivity. Kindness in giving creates love.
Through kindness you have the ability to make a profound difference in every life you touch, including your own. When you guide someone who is lost and confused, when you hold someone who is sad and grieving, when you hug someone who has lost all their hope, you too will feel yourself healing and growing stronger.
11. Show your love.
You don’t need to be perfect to be a perfect friend or lover, but the commitment to your relationship is a precious responsibility. Relationships last a lifetime only when two people make a choice to keep it, fight for it, and work for it. These acts of love don’t need to be extravagant either; they just need to be true. And true love is always shown in deeds, not words. Read The 5 Love Languages.
12. Help change one life.
No matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, or how small you feel at times, YOU can make a difference in the world. What you do truly matters. In fact, the vast majority of positive changes come about in someone’s life simply because one other person cares for them, believes in them, and motivates them.
So be that one person, even if it’s to only one other person.In addition to providing clean clothes, linen could also be employed to cleanse the body actively. In Sir Thomas Elyot’s book The Castel of Helth (1534), he recommends that the morning routine should include a session whereby a man was to ‘rubbe the body with a course lynnen clothe, first softely and easilye, and after to increase more and more, to a harde and swyfte rubbynge, untyll the fleshe do swelle, and be somewhat ruddy, and that not only downe ryghte, but also overthwart and round’. This would ensure that ‘his body is clensed’. This vigorous rubbing, especially if done after exercise, was intended to help draw out the body’s toxins through the open pores, with the unwanted bodily matter then being carried away by the coarse linen cloth. ‘Rubbing cloths’ or ‘body cloths’, despite their very low financial value, occasionally turn up in inventories of people’s goods.
Most people seem to have owned only two or three sets of underwear. Many people bequeathed some of their clothes in their wills, and others turn up in probate inventories. Charitable institutions also found it necessary to provide underwear for their inmates. St Bartholomew’s Hospital in Smithfield, London, provided shirts for men and smocks for women when it was ‘needful either at their coming in or departure’, highlighting perhaps the woeful state, or even complete lack, of decent underwear among some of the poor and sick who sought out their help. Since St Bartholomew’s was a medical hospital treating the sick, the perceived therapeutic effects of clean linen may well have been a major motivation for the governors of the hospital to provide the incoming patients with underwear. Providing patients with underwear when they were discharged, however, would have been more to do with the social propriety of clean linens.
The picture that we can put together is one in which linen underwear was an essential part of cleanliness and respectability, but was not always achievable. All clothing was expensive, and while shirts and hose were generally cheaper than doublets and gowns, they still represented a significant investment. Towards the end of the sixteenth century a basic canvas shirt suitable for a poor person cost around two shillings new. A second-hand shirt with plenty of wear still left in it could be valued at one shilling and six pence, while an old worn-out shirt fit for turning into dishcloths could be worth only two pence. Meanwhile, bread—the cheapest of all food—cost a penny a loaf, and just six pence a day was considered to be a working man’s wage.
So even if you do have the requisite clothing, does this system actually work? Did people in the Tudor era stink to high heaven? Were they endangering their health as they tried paradoxically to preserve it from evil miasmas or foul air?
I have twice followed the regime. The first time was for a period of just over three months, while living in modern society. No one noticed! It helps, of course, if you wear natural-fibre clothes over the top of your linen underwear. I used a fine linen smock, over which I could wear a modern skirt and top without looking odd, and I wore a pair of fine linen hose beneath a nice thick pair of woollen opaque tights (these, of course, did contain a little elastane). I changed the smock and hose daily and rubbed myself down with a linen cloth in the evening before bed, and I took neither shower nor bath for the entire period. I remained remarkably smell-free—even my feet. My skin also stayed in good condition—better than usual, in fact. This, then, was the level of hygiene that a wealthy person could achieve if they wished: one that could pass unnoticed in modern society. While we know that some people did follow the full regime outlined above, we have no way of knowing how many. Several advice books that include some form of early-morning hygiene regime don’t mention the rubbing cloth at all, stopping short after telling young men to wash their hands and face and comb their hair.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
NEW YORK (PIX11) -- A Times Square Spider-Man was arrested after cursing at a police officer and punching him in the face on Saturday.
According to police, an officer witnessed a man and woman taking a picture with the superhero around 2 p.m.
The woman attempted to donate a dollar to Spider-Man who refused it.
Spider-Man then told the woman that he only accepted fives, tens and twenties.
SEE IT: MORE STORIES ABOUT CHARACTERS BEHAVING BADLY
When the police officer approached them, he told the woman it was okay to tip Spider-Man whatever she wanted.
It was then that Spider-Man cursed at the officer, telling him to "mind his own ****ing business."
The officer told Spider-Man that he cannot request money and can only accept tips.
The officer's comments continue to anger the super hero, who screamed and cursed.
Eventually the cop asked Spider-Man for is ID and that the hero would be placed under arrest.
As Spider-Man is about to be arrested, he breaks free from the officer and sucker punches him.
Additional police officers were able to contain Spider-Man.
Spider-Man's identity was later revealed as 25-year-old Junior Bishop of Brooklyn.
He was charged with assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
The NYPD officer was taken to NYU Langone Medical Center where he was treated for his injuries.
“This incident is yet another reminder that many -- though certainly not all -- of these so-called friendly characters are actually violent and aggressive and have troubling criminal records," President of the Times Square Alliance Time Tompkins said in a release. " A rigorous licensing scheme would address this and must be implemented."For many, religious tolerance has become a business currency -- a way to promote tourism, improve relations with other countries, elevate Tunisia's image and benefit from the aid of rich countries. But that |
ocesan and regional events, both sacred and secular. To hand cathedrals over to a single church constituency would immediately rob them of their broad appeal and drive away those who love the beauty of the English choral tradition, who provide the high numbers of visitors and worshippers (‘up to 40,000 a week’) and are hailed as the great success of an institution not often dripping in good news stories.
All of which explains why a recent report of a lecture by Sir Simon Jenkins (Daily Telegraph, 5 June) caught many an ecclesiastical eye. He suggests that the cathedrals are doing so much better than the parish churches because they don’t ‘bang on about God’ all the time, but ‘bang on about beauty instead’.
This is, of course, arrant nonsense. Cathedrals ‘bang on about God’ ceaselessly. Their very architecture is a massive theological statement; their extensive programme of daily worship is as abundant a theological proclamation as you will encounter, all of it either directly scriptural or based on scripture; and even the driest, most fact-laden spiel to the weary tourist will include something on the religious significance of the artefacts they are duly admiring. So cathedrals certainly do do God, and do God extravagantly, but with dignity, discretion and reserve, and in beautiful 17th century language set to sublime music, expertly performed.
What makes cathedrals different is that the congregation is under no obligation to do God back. Sitting behind the proverbial pillar, a person may be tourist, visitor, enquirer or believer: no one can tell, and no one will much care. The worship rolls on through the days and centuries, more than willing to draw you Godwards in its wake, but not at all offended if you’d rather just sit quietly and wonder. Evensong, the weekday service that pulls the biggest crowds in most cathedrals, is best suited to this sort of gentle undemanding invitation. Simply by virtue of offering everything but requiring nothing from those who attend, it provides people with the ‘social, spiritual and moral goods’ which even Linda Woodhead’s ‘nones’ desire, but in which ‘the religion on offer in late modern Britain’ is sadly deficient (Woodhead, op. cit.). Whereas much of today’s worship expects a wordy and animated splashing around (having fun and being seen to be having fun), Evensong by contrast is the liturgical equivalent of floating on your back and soaking up the sun’s rays. Your mind is free to think; perhaps your heart will be moved. Conceivably, you will utter silent, half-formed snatches of what might well be prayer. But no-one’s checking. Unlike the ubiquitous Parish Eucharist or Family Service, Cathedral Evensong makes it easy to exercise the right to silence. But be clear that something will surely be happening, even slowly, in heart and mind. The excellent Theos report of 2012 —Spiritual Capital: The Present and Future of English Cathedrals— showed that of those who visited a cathedral mainly for historic or cultural reasons (‘secular tourists’), 84% then found that a sense of the sacred had been communicated through the building, or by the cathedral’s music (79%) or through the peace and quiet of the place (56%). Clearly, whatever it is that cathedrals do, they do exceptionally well, and the Church risks much by changing it significantly.
So let’s hear it for the slack chaps. As the C of E loses 12 members for every single convert, it becomes clear that the future may well lie not with the beaming and the bold who sign up, show up and pay up. It might rather be that the mystery of God is pursued, and the concerns of the Kingdom eventually transmitted by the much broader base of those more modest men and women who jump up and down neither literally nor figuratively, but who sit quietly wondering in quire or nave, disinclined to dogma but moved by the beauty of a Gothic arch or Tudor motet. We cannot know what will develop from this slow propagation of the Word within them. But the keen chaps should know that the Spirit works wonderfully well in all ways and types and times.
Let them be patient, and let hands that would meddle be folded in prayer.
AdvertisementsNow that the first phase of the line that time forgot is getting real, those keeping the faith may be rewarded. To quantify that value, Jonathan Miller, president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, examined rentals and sales along Second Avenue (and a block east and west) since 2009, when the subway line started to seem viable. (A word about methodology: He excluded sales of new buildings, which tend to skew numbers.)
How much have prices risen so far? Real-estate values along the avenue have been, by his account, remarkably stable since 2011there was a dip from 2009 to 2011, which was partly attributable to a market teeming with inventory, plus an economy still in recovery. Since then, though, there’s been an ascent. From 2012 to 2013, for instance, median rents rose by 50 percent, sales prices by 27.8 percent. Even after drilling had begun in earnest and unsightly muck houses (so named because they stored debris) began to rise on some blocks, obstructing sidewalks, windows, and entire buildings, prices still inched upward. (In comparison, during the same period, the Upper East Side saw median rents dip by nearly 3 percent and sales prices flatline.)
So is it too late to make a move? No. Miller thinks you’ll see continued growth over the next couple of years, and it might outpace the overall market because you’re getting closer to this transportation hub going in. For better deals and a bigger payoff, consider going east of Second Avenue. The eastern half of the East Side has potentially more upside over the next five to ten years than the balance of the neighborhood, simply because it’s currently that much more inconvenient, he explains.
But what about those recent funding rumors? As for news earlier this month that the money allotted for the rest of the T line below 63rd Street may be in jeopardy, Miller says it won’t likely dissuade buyers, who would still benefit from new stations connecting them to other lines. As for renters, unless they’re planning to stay for the long haul and get a good deal in the meantime, they may decide the construction headache is not worth it.A massive memory leak from web services and security company Cloudflare may have exposed user data for thousands of sites. In other words: it’s time to change your passwords.
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There’s lots left to discover about the impact of the leakage—which is being called Cloudbleed, similar to the Heartbleed bug back in 2014. What we do know that makes this so worrisome is that some of the memory leaks, which may have included user data, was able to be cached by search engines. Once indexed, nefarious types may have scraped and stored that data.
Cloudbleed was discovered by Tavis Ormandy of Google’s security analysist team Project Zero on February 18th. How it was found and patched, and what exactly was causing these leaks is exhaustively detailed by Cloudflare in a blog post. According to Cloudflare, “the greatest period of impact was from February 13 and February 18 with around 1 in every 3,300,000 HTTP requests through Cloudflare potentially resulting in memory leakage.”
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So far there is no official list of affected sites, though many services are asking users to change their passwords regardless. A Github user has posted a list of sites they believe have been compromised, along with the caveat that “just because a domain is on the list does not mean the site is compromised, and sites may be compromised that do not appear on this list.” According to this user—who scraped a variety of sites—up to 4,287,625 may be at risk. Cloudflare itself admitted to over 1,000 compromised domains.
Worryingly, Authy makes the list—meaning even accounts protected by 2-factor authentication may still be at risk (and requiring a password change.) “We have also not discovered any evidence of malicious exploits of the bug,” the Cloudflare post notes, though that seems a lot like something a company which was just implicated in a gigantic leak would say.
Below are some of the notable sites believed to be at risk. You can read them now, but we’d really recommend changing your passwords first.
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Update 2/24/17 2:56pm EST: A representative from Crunchyroll told Gizmodo “we do not use any of the services associated with the leaks. All Crunchyroll user data remains safe.” It’s been removed from the list of sites, which we’ll continue to update as information becomes available.(Namkota / Wikicommons)
A Yale University dean who once penned an article championing cultural sensitivity has come under fire for publishing some decidedly insensitive Yelp reviews of New Haven establishments, with criticisms including describing food fit only for "white trash" and calling employees "barely educated morons." Reminder: Yelpers are bad.
Over the weekend, the Yale Daily News published screenshots of Pierson College Dean June Chu's Yelp reviews, noting that in recent months students had complained Chu used "demeaning and offensive" language to describe locals and employees. In a review of a Japanese restaurant, for instance, Chu wrote, "To put it quite simply: if you are white trash, this is the perfect night out for you!" and called the food "perfect for those low-class folks who believe this is a real night out."
In another review, this one of a local movie theater, Chu called the employees, "barely educated morons trying to manage snack orders for the obese," and lauded a different movie theater, in a separate review, for its lack of "sketchy crowds (despite it being in new haven)." She also wrote, of an employee at a fitness center, "seriously I don’t care if you would ‘lose your job’ (I am sure McDonalds would hire you)."
Students told the Yale paper they were concerned by Chu's apparent lack of respect for the University's home city. "These reviews make it clear how Dean Chu thinks about people who are different from her, and how she feels about New Haven, the city all of us call home for a few years," one student said, calling her language "demeaning and offensive."
Chu has since deactivated her Yelp account, but students say it was her very dedication to the site that enabled the current uproar. Apparently, she sent an email in January informing students that she had earned the website's coveted "Yelp Elite" badge, one doled out only to the most dedicated and active users (again, Yelping is bad). After perusing her reviews, students started to complain, and eventually the Yale College Dean, Jonathan Holloway, told her to email students and apologize.
"I have learned a lot this semester about the power of words and about the accountability that we owe one another,” Chu wrote in the email. “My remarks were wrong. There are no two ways about it. Not only were they insensitive in matters related to class and race; they demean the values to which I hold myself and which I offer as a member of this community." Holloway says he will not ask her to resign.
It's not uncommon for there to be some tension between universities and their host towns and cities, and certainly it doesn't behoove students or university employees to criticize or ridicule residents. And though Chu did apologize to the Yale community, some pointed out on social media that she did not reach out to the very folks she offended in her reviews:
Screenshots of insensitive Yelp reviews by Yale dean--she apologizes to Yalies, not to those insulted? @SorryWatch https://t.co/n5G4o9rQHy — Mark Oppenheimer (@markopp1) May 15, 2017
It's also noteworthy that in October, Chu published an article in Inside Higher Ed that espoused academics' need to be culturally sensitive when advising students.
Yale has not responded to request for comment.Eve Online is an ever changing, morphing blob of an MMO, and it’s on a very rare occasion that I’ll glance over my shoulder in the direction of media content that “no longer applies”. Ship fittings change, mechanics change, priorities change, and as the lifecycle of Eve Online plods onward, the media of New Eden either stays abreast of the change, or sinks into the depths of outdated irrelevance. Podcasts are extremely susceptible to this phenomena. On High Drag for instance, I don’t think we’ll see anyone listening to episode 3 for a pre crucible ship fitting or going back to an ancient Fly Reckless episode to track down the “then” upcoming changes to walking in stations. Most Podcasts tip their hats to a certain topic then move on, like strangers passing in an alley, and in the same aspect, Podcast listeners do the same.
Like the English language, there are of course, exceptions to the rule. Bringing Solo back is that exception.
I originally stumbled upon Kil2’s foray into Podcasting after he announced it on one of his youtube videos. During that time, the notion of PvP entertained me through countless hours of not knowing any better… and mining asteroids. For those of you who are unaware, Kil2 is now known as CCP Rise and coupled with CCP Fozzie, make up a voltron like team of spaceship saviors. All gushing aside, Kil2s Podcast: Bringing Solo Back is absolutely timeless, and worthy of entry into the Eve Online Hall of Fame. (Well now, that is an interesting idea isn’t it. We have monuments in game and out, so, hows about an in game New Eden Hall of Fame?) The Moniker of timeless sticks to Bringing Back Solo particularly well because the cast focuses on decisions that are made during stressful times…
And making decisions under stress, is what EvE PVP is all about. Fittings change, but the ability to make a decision while hands are shaking, and a solo ship is hopelessly outnumbered in space, remains constant.
While digging into the Bringing Solo Back archives, I noticed that the majority of fights that Kil2 talked about centered around the Battle Cruiser class of ships. Up until recently, battle cruisers were a bit of a specter to me. They have a horrendous align time, the DPS can be outdone by T1 cruisers, and they would surely not last long in W-space, Nullsec, or Lowsec. Everything about this bloated, slow class, screamed to me “move along, nothing to see here.” But listening to Kil2 talk about some decisions in a solo Drake fight sparked something in my imagination. Maybe it was time to change.
I had been in a bit of a rut. I managed to kill Zao Amadues’ Wolf with a mere T1 Incursus, and while riding high, managed to lose quite a bit of assets to some careless pod piloting. Lowsec was becoming tedious and I had begun bouncing between Aideron Robotics and Fintarues’ own Rifterlings. (Both are fantastic organizations). Good fights were few and far between, attitudes were grating my nerves, and my decisions in frigate combat were reduced to “do I take that fight, or not”. On the verge of moving on (again) from Eve Online, I sold everything I owned, and bought a series of myrmidons.
After fitting the ships, balancing tank, bolstering capacitor, and undocking, I set course for Syndicate. (Syndicate is a null region in space prowled by Serpentis, home to Brave Newbies, and is now one of the most crowded areas of Nullsec). If I was going to find a fight, it would be there.
Holding my breath, I came to PF-346, and jumped. I knew what was coming, but even so, Battle Cruiser combat is fundamentally different than frigate / cruiser combat. Without fail, I jumped right into a gate camp.
Next up. Part Two.3.3k SHARES Facebook Twitter
Is the Obama administration at least partially responsible for turning the George Zimmerman trial into such a huge national spectacle? Judicial Watch has obtained documents which prove that the Community Relations Service, a division of the Department of Justice, was sent to Sanford, Florida in late March 2012 “to help organize and manage rallies and protests against George Zimmerman“. This included spending quite a bit of money, arranging meetings between the NAACP and local leaders, and providing police escorts for protesters. Someone needs to ask Obama why the federal government was doing this. A story that should have never made national headlines now threatens to unleash a firestorm of racial fury unlike anything we have seen since the Rodney King verdict. One young man, a neighborhood watch captain, shot and killed another young man. This kind of thing happens in American cities every single night. George Zimmerman says that he did it in self-defense. He should be allowed to have his day in court and that should be the end of the matter. But instead, this thing has been hyped into a massive national spectacle and it is being used to divide us along racial lines. And it appears that we have clear evidence that the Obama administration was involved in doing the hyping.
The documents that Judicial Watch was able to obtain contain some absolutely startling information. Apparently the role of the Obama administration in these protests was quite substantial…
*****
JW filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the DOJ on April 24, 2012; 125 pages were received on May 30, 2012. JW administratively appealed the request on June 5, 2012, and received 222 pages more on March 6, 2013. According to the documents:
March 25 – 27, 2012, CRS spent $674.14 upon being “deployed to Sanford, FL, to work marches, demonstrations, and rallies related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen by a neighborhood watch captain.”
March 25 – 28, 2012, CRS spent $1,142.84 “in Sanford, FL to work marches, demonstrations, and rallies related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen by a neighborhood watch captain.
March 30 – April 1, 2012, CRS spent $892.55 in Sanford, FL “to provide support for protest deployment in Florida.”
March 30 – April 1, 2012, CRS spent an additional $751.60 in Sanford, FL “to provide technical assistance to the City of Sanford, event organizers, and law enforcement agencies for the march and rally on March 31.”
April 3 – 12, 2012, CRS spent $1,307.40 in Sanford, FL “to provide technical assistance, conciliation, and onsite mediation during demonstrations planned in Sanford.”
April 11 – 12, 2012, CRS spent $552.35 in Sanford, FL “to provide technical assistance for the preparation of possible marches and rallies related to the fatal shooting of a 17 year old African American male.”
*****
But the involvement of the Department of Justice went far beyond just spending money and helping to organize and manage the protests.
Apparently, the Department of Justice was involved in setting up meetings between the NAACP and local officials, and the Department of Justice even arranged police escorts for protesters…
On April 15, 2012, during the height of the protests, the Orlando Sentinel reported, “They [the CRS] helped set up a meeting between the local NAACP and elected officials that led to the temporary resignation of police Chief Bill Lee according to Turner Clayton, Seminole County chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” The paper quoted the Rev. Valarie Houston, pastor of Allen Chapel AME Church, a focal point for protestors, as saying “They were there for us,” after a March 20 meeting with CRS agents. Separately, in response to a Florida Sunshine Law request to the City of Sanford, Judicial Watch also obtained an audio recording of a “community meeting” held at Second Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford on April 19, 2012. The meeting, which led to the ouster of Sanford’s Police Chief Bill Lee, was scheduled after a group of college students calling themselves the “Dream Defenders” barricaded the entrance to the police department demanding Lee be fired. According to the Orlando Sentinel, DOJ employees with the CRS had arranged a 40-mile police escort for the students from Daytona Beach to Sanford.
Under what conditions is it ever acceptable for the federal government to arrange police escorts for protesters?
And why did the Obama administration want to help them?
What was the goal?
As a result of all of the hype that this case has been given, we now have more racial tension in the United States than we have had in a very, very long time.
And it is becoming apparent to everyone what could potentially happen if George Zimmerman is acquitted. In fact, law enforcement officials are so concerned about violence in the aftermath of the verdict that they have released a video encouraging young people not to commit violent acts…
On Monday, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office released a video calling on the public not to riot in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, expected this week or next in Florida. The Sheriff’s Office released a statement explaining that it was “working closely with the Sanford Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies” to coordinate “a response plan in anticipation of the verdict.” The video, titled “Raise Your Voice, Not Your Hands,” focuses on attempting to channel reaction into non-violent response. It depicts two youngsters, one black teenage boy, one Hispanic teenage girl. “Raise your voice!” says the girl. “And not your hands!” says the boy. “We need to stand together as one, no cuffs, no guns,” says the girl. “Let’s give violence a rest, because we can easily end up arrested,” says the boy. “I know your patience will be tested,” says the girl, and then both conclude, “but law enforcement has your back!”
This never should have happened.
This case should never have been hyped like this.
Instead of being encouraged to look at each other as individuals and fellow American citizens, our politicians and the media continue to hype racial division and strife.
Are we ever going to learn how to love one another?Newly released video of George Zimmerman at the Sanford Police Department the night he shot Trayvon Martin to death show the neighborhood watch volunteer without blood on his clothing or bruises on his face or head. His clean-shaven picture seems to contrast with the violent beating he told police he endured at the hands of Martin, 17, who Zimmerman said attacked him from behind.
The video, obtained by ABC News, appears inconsistent with Zimmerman’s recently leaked statement to police that he was in a death struggle with Martin before Zimmerman shot him in the chest in self-defense. Zimmerman told investigators that Martin jumped him from behind, punched him in the nose and pounded his head into a sidewalk, according to a police report first described by the Orlando Sentinal.
In the video, apparently taken by surveillance cameras outside and inside the police station, Zimmerman’s face and head are clearly visible and show no injuries consistent with the kind of fight Zimmerman's statement described.
Zimmerman, 28, the neighborhood watch captain at the Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community, is seen arriving in a police cruiser. He gets out of the car with his hands cuffed behind his back. Zimmerman is clean-shaven and appears several pounds lighter than in ubiquitous mug shot of him taken in 2005 when he was arrested on a charge of assaulting a police officer.
The video’s release comes amid shifting public perception of Martin, whose baby-faced image has become the face of the so-called “Trayvon Martin movement for Justice” that has captivated much of the U.S. Earlier this week, school officials in Miami released Martin’s disciplinary record, showing that he had been on a 10-day suspension when he was killed. According to reports, school officials found an empty baggy that contained marijuana residue. Meanwhile, some websites have replaced widely circulated family photos of Martin with pictures of him sporting removable gold tooth caps. Other websites have picked seemingly random photos of other youth in questionable or offensive poses and claimed that they are of Martin.
Martin’s family has called the counter-offensive an assault on Martin’s character and a “smear campaign.” Tracy Martin, the teen's father, told HuffPost earlier this week, “I refuse to let them assassinate my son’s character." He added: "The question should not be why was he suspended from school, it should be why did this man kill him in cold blood."
Zimmerman shot Martin to death the night of Feb. 26. Martin had been walking toward his father's girlfriend's house shortly after 7 p.m. and Zimmerman spotted him and called 911 to report a "suspicious" person. Zimmerman followed Martin, disregarding a police dispatcher who told him "we don't need you to do that." Police said early in the investigation that Martin noticed he was being followed, asked Zimmerman what he wanted, and a physical encounter ensued.
In the recently released police reports, Zimmerman told police he got out of his vehicle to follow Martin, but lost sight of him. As he walked back to his vehicle, Martin attacked him from behind, punched him in the nose, knocked him down and began smashing the back of his head into the sidewalk, police reports say Zimmerman told officers. During the tussle, Zimmerman pulled the 9 mm handgun he carried and shot Martin in the chest, he told police.
Lawyers for the Martin family said Zimmerman was the aggressor. The lawyers said Martin's girlfriend in Miami was on the phone with him just moments before he was killed. The girlfriend has told ABC News and family lawyers that Martin told her someone was following him. She said she heard someone ask Martin something, then what sounded like someone pushing him. The phone sounded like it was then knocked to the ground and went dead, the girl said.
The funeral director who handled Martin's funeral said there were no cuts or bruises on the teen's hands that would suggest a violent struggle or fight.
“I didn’t see any evidence he had been fighting anybody,” Richard Kurtz of Roy Mizell and Kurtz Funeral Home in Fort Lauderdale, told television talk show host Nancy Grace.Looking for news you can trust?
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The courtship has already begun. A select few politicians are traveling the country, schmoozing with 1-percenters, attending the odd fundraiser, and quietly laying groundwork for—yes, that’s right—a 2016 presidential campaign. Mere days after the November 2012 elections, for instance, several Republican governors met with casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who reportedly gave $150 million to GOP causes last election cycle. On the Democratic side, Governors Martin O’Malley of Maryland and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts are getting friendly with big left-leaning funders and building up their name recognition at invite-only meet-and-greets and out-of-state Jefferson-Jackson dinners.
But there’s a striking dynamic at play in the donor world that is apparently unique to the Democratic side. Call it the Hillary Clinton Cash Freeze. According to Clinton’s friends, fundraisers, and former campaign staffers, big Democratic money isn’t going anywhere until she makes up her mind about launching a second presidential campaign.
That’s problematic for the likes of O’Malley, Patrick, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and other possible contenders. More than ever, presidential hopefuls need big bankrollers; after all, they now operate in the era of the $1 billion campaign. With public financing of campaigns a bygone relic, a successful presidential candidate needs a super-PAC or two in his or her camp with millionaires and billionaires bankrolling it. And with Clinton in the wings, her allies say, those on the roster of funders and bundlers needed to win an election in the post-Citizens United world aren’t committing to any particular candidate.
Mike Stratton, a Denver-based political strategist and an onetime adviser to O’Malley, says the governor and other Democratic presidential hopefuls are spending more time “prospecting” potential donors at events than they are directly asking them for money. “The prohibitive force on the Democratic side, the 800-pound gorilla,” says Stratton, “is Hillary.”
Harold Ickes, a former aide to Bill and Hillary Clinton and a prolific Democratic fundraiser, says Clinton-mania is at full throttle despite how far off the 2016 vote remains. “The most asked question of me is: What do you think she’s gonna do? Is she gonna run? Do you think she should run?” Ickes says. “It’s just phenomenal, and you hear this from all over the country.”
Another thing Ickes says he hears a lot: Donors are feeling burned out—from the constant pleas for money from Obama’s reelection campaign, from Democratic candidates for Senate, from the 2013 inauguration, and most recently, from Organizing for Action, the nonprofit hoping to raise $50 million to bolster Obama’s second-term policy agenda. “People don’t want to give right now,” he says. “They’re tired.”
Yet, even without a clear idea of Clinton’s plans, three super-PACs have already been created to raise and spend unlimited money if she decides to run. As donors grip their checkbooks tightly, they sure are riveted by Clinton’s prospects. “A lot of the people I know, a lot of them are Hillary people to begin with, but boy, they’re not about to part with a dollar till they see what she’s going to do,” Ickes says of the 2016 race.
“If they start to support somebody before she makes her decision, particularly the former president would take that very personally.”
Few politicians enjoy the kind of donor loyalty that the Clintons do. Some of those relationships date back to the early 1990s, when then-Gov. Bill Clinton chaired the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the nonprofit group created to steer the beleaguered Democratic Party toward the center. The DLC gave Clinton entrée to wealthy East Coast donors, relationships that he banked on to win the White House.
“Anybody who was with [Bill] from the DLC days, we made this long march from the wilderness to the White House,” says Al From, who founded the DLC in 1985. Along the way, he adds, the Clintons “were meticulous in taking care of their donors, always treating them well, so I would assume that loyalty continues.” (The Clinton administration in fact treated its donors so well—the White House sleepovers, coffee klatches, and rides on Air Force One—that a scandal erupted when details of it appeared in the press.)
Hillary Clinton put the donor network to good use during her two Senate runs in New York in 2000 and 2006. For her second campaign, she raised $51 million and spent $41 million, the most of any Congressional candidate in the 2006 election cycle. And for her failed presidential run, she raised $222 million, the bulk of it from the East and West coasts, out-raising Obama for much of the presidential primary season.
Donors who might commit to another candidate at this juncture risk running afoul of the Clintons’ powerful allies. “If they start to support somebody before she makes her decision, particularly the former president would take that very personally,” a Democratic fundraiser with ties to the Clintons says. “Anyone in their circle waits until they see what happens.”
Major money in Hollywood is watching, too. Despite a split in 2007 with mega-donor David Geffen and Hollywood producer and fundraiser Jeffrey Katzenberg—both men backed Obama early in the 2008 race, after supporting Bill in the 1990s—Hillary Clinton’s California ties remain strong, says Mike Medavoy, a Hollywood producer and major Democratic fundraiser. “If she decides to run, will there be a response out here to raise money and all the other things she needs? Yes,” he says. “She has a huge base here. She’s not going to have any problem [raising money]. None.”
More than anything, the Clinton cash freeze speaks to her first-choice status among the elites of the party. The other candidates are left to jockey for the best position they can should Clinton decide not to run. “Right now, for O’Malley and Patrick,” Stratton says, “the best thing they could do is be everybody’s second choice.”More accurately the Pokémon Mega Construx are coming, as Nintendo’s pocket monsters become the latest license to join Mattel’s recently re-branded line of construction toy sets. Anything is better than Ionix.
Pokémon is one of the most desirable toy licenses out there, and now Mattel has the construction toy segment of that license locked up. Mega Construx Pokémon sets will start hitting North American stores this summer, featuring battle-ready figures of Pikachu, Charizard and others from the Kanto region.
Mega Brands recently split their Mega Bloks line in two, leaving the Bloks label on toys aimed at small children and swapping Contrux in for its preteen to adult collector line. The Pokémon should come as no surprise to toy collectors following the Japanese scene, where Bandai has been releasing Pokémon Mega Bloks sets since last year.
“Mega Construx brings the engaging world of Pokémon to life in one of the most popular play expressions for kids today,” said Colin Palmer, VP of marketing at The Pokémon Company International via press release. “We bring only the highest quality Pokémon experiences to our fans around the world and Mega Brands’ attention to detail and thoughtful creativity with Mega Construx is sure to delight kids as well as the most passionate Pokémon trainers.”
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Pokémon Mega Construx sets will be on display at Toy Fair 2017 in New York starting this weekend, as will I, so be on the lookout for more on the line soon.If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably seen a ton of headlines over the past few days referencing Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin’s comments about rape. Akin’s remarks were asinine on multiple levels because not only is it patently offensive to suggest that some rapes are “legitimate” while others are not, but there is absolutely nothing to back up his provocative claim that women’s bodies have mechanisms in place to prevent rape-related pregnancies from occurring. In fact, research has actually found the opposite of what Akin suggested: specifically, the per-incident pregnancy rate is higher for rapes than it is for consensual sex [1].
Although the Akin controversy has stoked a lot of public anger, the silver lining is that his remarks have prompted a public dialogue about sexual assault that we desperately need to have. I have read so many excellent articles this week that are providing some much-needed attention to this important issue. If I may add one small bit to this, I would like to talk briefly about the definition of rape and how the wide variability in legal definitions of this crime may be contributing to confusion about what rape is and distracting us from the bigger issues at stake here.
Every state in the U.S. has its own legal definition of rape. For instance, let’s consider two states (Indiana and Massachusetts) where I have previously taught Human Sexuality courses and have read up on their sex laws (although please note that I am not a lawyer and do not know the legal code inside and out). In Indiana, rape is defined as occurring “when a person knowingly or intentionally has sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex” either through force or threat of force, or when the other person is unaware that it is happening. Thus, in Indiana, rape is defined very narrowly such that it is restricted only to penile-vaginal penetration of someone of the other sex. This means that a man cannot technically rape another man in this state. It also means that non-consensual sexual penetration of parts of the female body other than the vagina are not technically rape. Of course, non-consensual sex acts are still illegal in Indiana and are punishable under the law—they are just given different labels (e.g., sexual battery or deviate sexual conduct).
In contrast, in Massachusetts, rape is defined as occurring when someone “has sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse with a person” through the use of force or threat of force. This definition is much broader than Indiana’s in the sense that it covers non-consensual oral, anal, and vaginal penetration of anyone, regardless of their gender (i.e., it is not limited to heterosexuals like it is in Indiana). On a side note, the Massachusetts law is rather puritanical in the sense that it refers to anything other than penile-vaginal penetration as an “unnatural” sexual activity, but that’s a whole other discussion we could have about sex laws. One other place where these laws differ is that Massachusetts has a separate “date rape” law that covers cases where someone is furnished with a drug intended to “stupefy or overpower” them, whereas this same activity would fall under the Indiana’s general rape law.
As you can see, definitions and terminology for sex crimes vary considerably at the state level. How about the definition of rape at the federal level? Until earlier this year, rape was defined by the FBI as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” Thus, the old federal definition (which had been in place for nearly a century) was not gender-neutral like Indiana and Massachusetts. Moreover, the old federal law specified that rape could only involve penile-vaginal penetration. However, this definition was revised in January 2012 to read: “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” Thus, the new federal definition is much broader and covers a very wide range of sexual activities and victims. In my book, this change was long overdue because it will ensure more accurate reporting of rape statistics at the national level and help us to best direct funding to prevention efforts and victim assistance.
Given that the federal government has recently changed its definition of rape and that state laws do not define it consistently, it is understandable that some people might be confused about what actually “counts” as rape from a legal standpoint. However, it is important to keep in mind that even though legal definitions of rape can vary, any form of non-consensual sexual activity is a crime that no one should ever have to endure. And just because a specific non-consensual act doesn’t happen to be classified as rape in a given jurisdiction does not make it any less “legitimate” of a crime.
The fact of the matter is that sexual violence is not just one thing that affects one kind of person in one kind of situation. Sexual violence happens to people of all genders and sexual orientations, and it can involve a number of different non-consensual activities that may or may not include sexual penetration. It can occur in a bedroom, in a school, in a prison, or any other location. Sexual violence is something that can be perpetrated by strangers or by intimate partners, and it is something that can be achieved through physical assault, through alcohol and drugs, or through psychological |
with the phrase "On my honour" because of the Islamic proscription of swearing oaths, are able to say "In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful…" instead if they prefer. Also, "...duty to Allah and to the Queen" may be used. Hindus and Buddhists may promise "...duty to my Dharma".[91]
Foreign nationals resident in the United Kingdom are able to promise to do their "...duty to God and to the country in which I am now living", although British subjects must include the Queen in their promise.[91]
In 2012 the association reviewed its fundamentals and launched a consultation to ask its members whether an alternative version of the Scout Promise should be developed for atheists and those unable to make the existing commitment.[92] In 2013 it was announced that the consultation had led to the addition of an alternative promise for humanists and atheists.[93] Taking effect on 1 January 2014, members can choose to replace "duty to God" with "to uphold our Scout values". The change has been welcomed by representatives of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Free Churches Group and the British Humanist Association.[94] The alternative promise takes the following form:
On my honour, I promise that I will do my best,
To uphold our Scout values, to do my duty to the Queen,
To help other people,
And to keep the Scout Law.
Uniform [ edit ]
Scouting for Boys published in 1908, showing his original concept for the Scout uniform One of Baden-Powell's drawings forpublished in 1908, showing his original concept for the Scout uniform
History of uniform [ edit ]
In Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell recommended a distinctive and practical uniform that was "very like the uniform worn by my men when I commanded the South African Constabulary".[95] This in turn, seems to have been derived from the dress adopted by Baden-Powell in the Second Matabele War of 1896, influenced by his friend and colleague, Frederick Russell Burnham.[96] The original Boy Scout uniform consisted of a khaki shirt and shorts, a neckerchief or "scarf", campaign hat and a Scout staff. At the formation of the Wolf Cub section in 1916, Baden-Powell wanted to make the younger boys totally distinct from the older Boy Scouts; the result was a green woollen jersey, shorts, neckerchief and a green cricket cap with gold piping.[80] In 1946, the new Senior Scout section were allowed to wear a maroon beret instead of the hat; a green beret became an option for the Boy Scout section in 1954.[28]
Wolf Cub uniform in 1960
In 1966, the Advance Party Report recommended a total redesign and modernisation of the uniform, commenting that there had been much criticism of "the Boer War appearance of our uniforms" and that the "wearing of shorts by members of the Movement is one of the most damaging aspects of our present public image".[97] Although the Cub uniform barely changed, retaining short trousers, the Scout section were to wear a long sleeved dark green shirt and long trousers in a brownish colour described as "mushroom". Venture Scouts and male Scouters had identical khaki shirts and mushroom trousers, but the neckerchief was replaced by a tie, brown for Venture Scouts and green for Scouters. Female Scouters had a dark green dress and a cap similar to those worn by airline flight attendants at the time.[98] These recommendations were accepted and implemented from October 1967.[99] Later amendments included khaki shirts for female Venture Scouts and Scouters, the abolition of all uniform headgear except Sea Scout caps and Air Scout berets, and black long trousers for Cubs as an option to shorts. A grey sweatshirt was introduced for the new Beaver Scout section and a dark green sweatshirt replaced the Cubs' knitted jersey. In 2001, following a consultation process within the association, a new range of uniforms designed by Meg Andrews was launched on Founder's Day, 22 February.[100]
Current uniforms [ edit ]
Beaver Scouts [ edit ]
Beaver Scout uniform consists of a turquoise sweatshirt, a neckerchief and woggle. Uniform options decided on at the group level include navy blue shorts, a grey fleece jacket and a navy blue baseball cap. A navy blue skirt may be worn as a personal choice. Navy blue combat trousers (known officially as "activity trousers") and a turquoise polo shirt may be worn as activity dress.[41]
Cub Scouts [ edit ]
Cub Scout uniform consists of a dark green sweatshirt, a neckerchief and a woggle identifying the cub's six (sub division of a pack). Uniform options decided on at the group level include navy blue shorts, a grey fleece jacket, a navy blue jacket and a navy blue baseball cap. A navy blue skirt may be worn as a personal choice. Navy blue combat trousers and a dark green polo shirt may be worn as activity dress.[41]
Scouts [ edit ]
Scout uniform consists of a teal green long sleeved shirt or blouse, navy blue combat trousers (or navy blue skirt), group neckerchief, woggle and a scout belt. Uniform options decided on at the group level include navy blue shorts, a grey fleece jacket, a navy blue jacket and a navy blue baseball cap. Navy blue combat trousers and a teal green polo shirt may be worn as activity dress.[41]
Sea scout uniform is the same as the main scout uniform except a dark blue jersey and/or a light blue shirt or blouse are worn. Sea scouts wear a round seaman's cap with "sea scout" a "Sea Scout" tally band. An additional group option is for a lanyard with a bosun's call.[41]
Air Scout uniform is the same as the main scout uniform except that the shirt/blouse is light blue and a blue-grey beret is worn.[41]
Explorer Scouts [ edit ]
As for Scouts, but with a beige shirt or blouse and the explorer scout belt may be worn. The optional activity uniform polo shirt is beige.[41]
Explorer Sea Scouts wear similar uniforms except that a light blue shirt or blouse, smart navy blue trousers and a round seamans cap with "Explorer Sea Scout" tallyband or a white-topped officer's peaked cap (depending on group). The lanyard and bosun's call is an option decided at group level. Explorer Air Scouts wear the light blue shirt or blouse, smart navy blue trousers and a blue-grey beret. Explorer Sea Scouts and Air Scouts may wear a blue tie instead of the neckerchief, an additional activity uniform top option for both units is a navy blue sweatshirt.[41]
Adult members (including Network) [ edit ]
As for Explorer Scouts, but with a shirt of a light khaki colour, described as "stone" which may be short sleeved. A tie may be worn by all adult members and smart trousers may be worn instead of combat trousers. The activity uniform top is a navy blue polo shirt, an optional navy blue sweatshirt or stone-coloured polo shirt may be worn instead.[41]
Adult members in sea scout units wear uniforms similar to sea scout explorers except that the only headgear is the officers hat and an option of a tricorne hat for women. Adult members in air scout groups wear uniform identical to air scout explorers.[41]
Kilts [ edit ]
All members in Scotland or entitled to do so by descent may wear a tartan kilt or skirt. This can be either their own tartan or the scout tartan pattern; to be worn with a plain leather sporran, green knee-length socks and gartar tabs and black shoes. Members in Northern Ireland or those entitled to do so by descent may wear a saffron kilt or skirt. This should be worn with a plain leather sporran; traditional coloured plain socks; black or brown shoes (all members in a section should wear the same coloured socks and shoes). A tailored outer jacket may be worn with either kilt.[41]
Finances [ edit ]
The association is a Registered Charity.[101] The association's finances are collected through a variety of ways. Members pay for association programmes through an annual capitation and subs, paid termly, monthly or weekly depending on local preference. Capitation pays for member insurance and for the services and leader support provided by their district, country (or equivalent) and headquarters. Subs is instead used to pay for the day-to-day running of activities, pay for materials and to finance to section's meeting place.
To lessen the burden on members, many Groups undertake local fundraising and utilise additional methods of funding, such as Gift Aid. In addition, headquarters operates several other ventures open to those outside of the association, the profits of which are returned to the association.
Scout Community Week [ edit ]
Scout Community Week is a current campaign of the association and its biggest national fundraising event. It is a revival and updated version of the earlier "Bob-a-Job" Week (started in 1949) and later "Scout Job Week" in which Scouts were paid small sums of money for completing usually domestic tasks for local residents.[102] The modern Scout Community Week involves Scouts from all sections of the association taking part in community work in exchange for a donation to the group. Re-introduced in 2012, the event has attracted media attention.[103]
Commercial ventures [ edit ]
The association operates several ventures that offer an enhancement to its programmes but also services consumers outside its programmes. These are:
Scout Shops Ltd – sells Association uniforms, equipment and gifts online and on the high street. In 2012, it had a turnover of £7.2 million, of which their taxable profits of £2.2 million was distributed to the association. [71] The association also has a related subsidiary, World Scout Shop Ltd, which sells similar merchandise to a global market as well as world Scouting specific items. It was created in 2011 at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden and had a turnover of £0.285 million and a taxable profit of £0.164 million which was distributed to the association. [71]
The association also has a related subsidiary, World Scout Shop Ltd, which sells similar merchandise to a global market as well as world Scouting specific items. It was created in 2011 at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden and had a turnover of £0.285 million and a taxable profit of £0.164 million which was distributed to the association. Scout Insurance Services Ltd trading as Unity – offers insurance solutions bespoke for the requirements of Association activities. In 2012 it had a turnover of £1.2 million and a profit after tax of £0.4 million which was donated to the association. [71] There is also a similarly aimed and named subsidiary in Guernsey which contributed £600,000 in 2012. [71]
There is also a similarly aimed and named subsidiary in Guernsey which contributed £600,000 in 2012. Scout Activity Centres – operates a national network of camp sites and activity centres. The association also runs the conference centres at Gilwell Park and at Baden-Powell House. [104]
Scout Holiday Homes Trust – operates ten properties across the UK catering for those with disabilities, or those whose income usually prohibits a holiday. [104] [105]
Scouting Magazine – sells advertising space in its free bi-monthly magazine.[106] The publication had a circulation in 2013 of 116,707.[107]
Campsites [ edit ]
Gilwell Park's White House, the centre of the Scout Activity Centre and UK Headquarters of the association
Across the country, over 900 campsites are owned by the association; usually they are owned and operated by a Scout District or County.[108] These campsites are also used by others outside the association to gain additional income for the Scout county or district. Ten sites are run directly from the national level of the association.
Seven sites are branded and operated as Scout Activity Centres, providing camping sites and adventurous activities alongside. These seven are Gilwell Park on the London/Essex border, Crawfordsburn in County Down, Downe in Kent, Ferny Crofts in the New Forest, Great Tower in the Lake District, Hawkhirst in Northumberland, Woodhouse Park in Gloucestershire, Youlbury in Oxfordshire and Yr Hafod in Snowdonia.
In addition to these sites, the association runs two conference centres, one within Gilwell Park, and another at a separate site in central London, Baden-Powell House. Baden-Powell House is an Association hostel, providing cheap accommodation for central London trips.[109]
Youth Commissioner [ edit ]
In 2014, the association created the role of Youth Commissioner and Deputy Youth Commissioner.[110] The Youth Commissioner works with the national leadership team, to advocate on behalf of youth members.[110] Hannah Kentish was appointed as UK Youth Commissioner and Jagz Bharth and Jay Thompson were appointed as deputies.[110][111]
Relations with other organisations [ edit ]
Girlguiding UK [ edit ]
The Scout Association and Girlguiding UK are separate organisations, but were both founded by Robert Baden-Powell and share similar aims and methods. Co-operation between the association and GirlGuiding UK is encouraged at all levels.[112] "Joint Groups" of Scout and Guide units meeting separately in the same headquarters and operating under the same support structure are recognized and encouraged by both associations. It is also possible to have a "Joint Unit", which may consist of Rainbow Guides and Beaver Scouts, or Brownie Guides and Cub Scouts, or Guides and Scouts. They meet together as a single unit, sharing leadership and facilities but individual members wear the uniform and follow the training programme of the association that they belong to.[113] Members of Girlguiding UK are invited to join the United Kingdom Scout Contingent to participate in the World Scout Jamborees every four years.[114]
The Scout Association in Ireland [ edit ]
The Scout Association of Northern Ireland co-exists in the province with Scouting Ireland which is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognized association for the Republic of Ireland. The two associations have been increasingly working in partnership; they jointly run a project called "Scoutlink" which delivers citizenship and peace building programmes with a range of groups in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic.[115]
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award [ edit ]
The Scout Association is one of more than 2,600 "Licensed Organisations" that operate the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.[116] Scout participation in the scheme started in February 1959, having been unable to join the 1956 experimental launch due to the 1957 Golden Jubilee of Scouting events and the 1958 revision of the Scout badge programme.[117]
Notable former Scouts [ edit ]
The association has had many notable past members, with the following selection being the best known:
The Scout Association overseas [ edit ]
The 1st/4th Gibraltar Scout Group, an Overseas Branch of The Scout Association
History [ edit ]
Following the origin of Scouting, Scout organisations formed in many parts of the British Empire. Some of these organisations later became branches of The Boy Scouts Association after its formation. In other cases, The Boy Scouts Association started branches itself in parts of British Empire. The Boy Scouts Association's "Headquarters" in London was renamed "Imperial Headquarters" (IHQ).[124] The Boy Scouts International Bureau was formed in 1920 and became fully functional under the International Conference of the Boy Scout Movement in 1922. Subsequently, The Boy Scouts Association branches in the Dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and South Africa were given the option of being "separately represented" with the Boy Scouts International Bureau, but chose instead to remain under IHQ control. Over time, many of the branches of The Scout Association became direct members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement; for instance, Scouts Canada in 1946[125] and The Scout Association of Hong Kong in 1977.[126]
Current overseas branches [ edit ]
The association currently has branches in the British overseas territories and Crown Dependencies, as well as some small independent nations.[127] Non-sovereign territories in which the association operates programmes include:
Sovereign countries in which the association operates programmes, as they are without independent Scouting organisations, include:
British Scouting Overseas [ edit ]
The UK Scout programme is also offered to British citizens living outside of the United Kingdom via the British Scouting Overseas (BSO) Area. BSO has 4 Scout "Districts" in France & Iberia, Middle East, Northern Europe and Rest of the World, and a total of 55 Scout Groups, in 26 countries. [128]
British Scouting Overseas was formed, on the 1st April 2012, from an amalgamation of the British Groups Abroad and British Scouts in Western Europe Scout "Areas". At that point, there were 5 districts in France & Iberia, Middle East, Benelux & Scandinavia, Germany and Rest of the World. Since that point, Benelux & Scandinavia has merged with Germany, to create the Northern Europe district.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]So this is definitely one of the stranger things that we were never expecting to happen today. Earlier today, the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account shared a picture that looked eerily familiar…
The key lies with @madeon. Good luck. pic.twitter.com/iwpkUhXGp9 — Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) February 9, 2016
Yes, that’s the cover for Madeon’s debut album Adventure, and yes, that’s Sonic’s head and background in the overlay. The message goes deeper, however, when you notice that the image also has Madeon’s trademark cryptic language. It reads:
Hello Hugo
The secret is inside the empire
We can get it back
The fated son of Daedalus
Add the numbers
With some help from reddit, we get “Pixel Empire” the 11th track, “Technicolor” the 17th track, and “Icarus” the 13th track. Added together, it makes 41.
What that means… we’re not sure. There’s a good chance that Madeon could be producing music for the next Sonic game, which has apparently already been hinted at. If there’s a secret thread between Madeon and Sonic that we’re not aware of, let us know.
UPDATE: Madeon has no idea what this is about either! The plot thickens…A jailed cyber-hacker has revealed how he allegedly accessed hidden messages on Hillary Clinton's private phone.
Marcel Lehel Lazar, a hacker from Romania who also goes by the name of "Guccifer" said he easily and repeatedly gained access to Clinton's server while she was serving as secretary of state, in 2013.
"It was like an open orchid on the internet," said Lazar, according to NBC News.
Lazar gave the first clues that Hillary Clinton conducted her work as US secretary of state through a private email server, leading to an official probe initiated by the FBI and an 11-hour public testimony by Clinton on the subject.
How he allegedly hacked Clinton's email
Lazar was recently extradited to the US for hacking the email accounts of high profile US Government officials, including former presidents George Bush and George W Bush, and former secretary of state Colin Powell.
From a jail cell in Virginia, US, where he is awaiting trial, Lazar told Fox News that he gained access to Clinton's server through the AOL account of Sidney Blumenthal, her long-time confidant.
Lazar extensively researched Blumenthal online and was able to guess his security question. Once inside the account, he was able to find the IP addresses for Clinton and Powell's emails through the incoming messages.
This allegedly led him to the location of Clinton's private server at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
The scandal that ensued has added to Clinton's reputation as someone who shies away from transparency and accountability.Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
For many Germans, deployment in Afghanistan meant delivering aid and reconstruction to the country’s relatively peaceful north. But now the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous. And Germany seems to have found itself unwillingly dragged into a war.
Berlin has just changed the rules of military engagement for troops abroad, giving soldiers more leeway to use lethal force. This is seen as important in northern Afghanistan, where attacks by Taliban insurgents are becoming more frequent…
In a joint action with Afghan forces, 300 German soldiers used heavy firepower for the first time in a bid to flush out Taliban insurgents who are moving into the region.
Back home, meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel last month awarded four soldiers the Bundeswehr’s new cross of honour.
It was the first time since the end of World War II that Germany had awarded medals for bravery – a remarkable change in attitude considering post-war Germany’s traditional wariness of military symbols.
But although the German government looks set to get tough on the battlefield, popular opinion is heading in the opposite direction…
“The war is so unpopular that politicians won’t even call it a war,” said Alan Posener, political correspondent for the German daily newspaper Die Welt.
“We are now using armoured personnel carriers and light tanks to fight the Taliban. But politicians are saying, no, it’s not a war, it’s a peace mission. If they didn’t say that, they would get flayed alive by their voters.”
RTFA. It’s longish – and not conclusive. It could be four times as long – to wander through the complexities of German history and politics.
This generation has more than enough reason to be contemptuous of warhawk politicians. They live every day with the heritage of their grandparents who voted “Yes” to shock and awe. But, a significant chunk of the 9/11 terror plot was drafted in Germany. Just because Al Qaeda felt safe enough to attack America from Hanover isn’t reason enough to expect neutrality to be respected by religious maniacs. Next month or the month after may be their turn.
There are alternatives to exclusively military solutions just as there are dynamic changes in analyzing how to fight a war in the 21st Century. The Germans have the right – and responsibility – to choose how they proceed with any of this. Without “leadership” from American and British politicians.This was a big weekend for the Hamilton Bulldogs. Desperate to make up ground in the race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference the Bulldogs had three home games. Unfortunately a 2-1 loss to the Oklahoma City Barons, followed by a 4-2 loss to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and a 4-1 loss to the Lake Erie Monsters meant that the team did not gain a single point on the weekend and lost yet more ground.
The team sits 11 points out of the Playoffs with only 18 games left in the season. To compound the problem, 13 of the remaining 18 games are on the road. Goal scoring continues to be a problem for the club, as it seems that no matter how much pressure they put on the opposition, they just cant seem to get the puck to find the back of the net. Playing a full sixty minutes has also been a challenge of late, as the team seems to start games strong (scoring the first goal in all three), have a lull in the second period where they lose the lead, and make a furious third period push that comes up short.
That said, not all is lost. Watching the game on Sunday there were some good individual performances. Nathan Beaulieu continues to be at another level in terms of his ability to generate offence from the back-end. His skating and puck handling appear effortless at the AHL level, and I fully expect to see him to make the NHL out of training camp next year. Greg Pateryn continues to be the Bulldogs most steady and reliable defenceman in his own zone. Sven Andrighetto has immense natural talents and continues a strong rookie campaign, setting up the only goal on Sunday. Last but not least is Christian Thomas, who broke a long scoring slump by one-timing Andrighetto’s pass into the top corner of the net. The line of Andrighetto, Thomas, and Maxime Macenauer was easily the Dogs best on the afternoon, but the team needs other lines to generate more chances if they want to get back into the playoff chase.
One last issue of concern is team-wide and that is discipline. The Bulldogs continue to take too many bad penalties. That could be seen in not only the number of powerplays given up, but also the fact that down two goals with about nine minutes left, Andrighetto said something he shouldn’t have to the referee and was given a ten minute misconduct. With the Bulldogs best forward on the night (and on the season) out of the game, and down two goals, it was the final nail in the coffin of this game.
After the game, Christian Thomas spoke to LWOS about the game and the team’s recent struggles.
Speaking about the lost weekend for the Bulldogs, Thomas did not down-play the situation. “It was huge for us, coming into this game and obviously three losses in a row is not good as we are racing for a playoff spot, especially against these guys,” Thomas said. “Its been a tough weekend, but we still have 18 games left.”
However he was unable to come up with reasons for the Team’s struggles, “It’s hard to say why (we are struggling so much). We seem to be able to get the lead early, but in the last two games we have lost the lead within a few minutes (with a lapse). We are getting into penalty trouble, and other teams are capitalizing. Thats our biggest thing (to fix) right now.”
Thomas doesn’t believe that a lack of confidence in the dressing room is the issue. When asked about the team’s mental state, he said, “The team wants to bounce back after a goal scored against, but when we keep taking penalties its tough to get a good rhythm out there.”
Asked about his long slump finally coming to an end, Thomas admitted that it was a relief to finally get back on the score sheet. “It was definitely big, I haven’t scored in a while. Its been a slow season so far, but I hope this can give me more confidence to continue scoring going through the last stretch of the season.”
Thomas also spoke about the fact that the team played Sunday’s game without captain, and team leading scorer, Martin St. Pierre, who was a healthy scratch. He said, “It was tough. He is a presence in the room. He is a good leader, and as an older guy, he brings a veteran presence out there on the ice. We come to the rink and whatever the lines are, we can’t change them, we have to do our thing. That said he definetely helps. I’m not going to blame the loss on him not being out there, as we should have shown up more.”
Thomas also spoke about the playoff chase. “With 18 games left there are some huge points left. Other teams could go on a losing streak and we could go on a big winning streak here. We just have to stay positive and see some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Thomas also talked about the effect of the recent trade for Devan Dubnyk and the addition of an NHL level defender in Davis Drewiskie from the injury list. “Getting him in net, and having Davis Drewiskie join the team on the back end gives us a lot of confidence in our defence. Tonight though, we didn’t give him much help. I felt bad, and its been happening to us lately and we have to stop standing around.”
I also had the opportunity to speak with Bulldogs head coach Sylvain Lefebvre to get his thoughts on the team’s performance in Sunday’s game. Needless to say, he wasn’t pleased with the weekend.
Lefebvre acknowledged that a lack of offence continues to be the Bulldogs biggest issues. “Its something that we have worked on all year and I think its better than last year,” he said. “But tonight our powerplay didn’t come up big. And if Andrighetto scored on his penalty shot (in the second period) it could have been 2-0. They came back and tied it up on the powerplay and then they scored another goal.”
“Our second periods have been nowhere to be found this year. We gave it our all in the first period, and then we came out in the second and we were totally flat. I don’t know what it is. We work on scoring every day, and I wish we could score more goals. We have to play well defensively (to stay in games). I think last night the empty-net goal was the 13th we’ve given up this season, so it just goes to show we’re in games but we just can’t find a way to win games when we have to come from behind and scoring is a part of it.”
Lefebvre also acknowledged that effort has been an issue this weekend. When asked if he felt satisfied in the team’s effort this weekend, he replied, “not for the whole time. We obviously need to play for 60 minutes every game. We had three games in three nights and that’s tough, but Lake Erie was in the same situation, as they had two hard fought battles against Toronto. Maybe we thought they were out of gas, out of juice when we took the lead 1-0. We have to find a way to win hockey games.”
Lefebvre was also asked about the team’s confidence, and how things seem to spiral out of control after the first goal against lately. He replied, “I don’t know if its confidence. At this point in the year if you don’t battle, you don’t compete, and if you don’t do it with desperate energy, then you don’t deserve to make the playoffs. We’ve dug ourselves a big hole. If we stop believing and we quit then no one is going to benefit from that.”
“Its our job as coaches and our job as players not to quit and to battle ’til the end. The players are playing for their livelihoods and playing for their jobs, and its the plain and simple truth. Its not a threat, but that’s the way it is; that’s the reality.”
Lefebvre spoke about the tough road schedule ahead and took it as a positive due to the fact that the team seems to play better away from home this season. “Its not just a matter of effort, but it seems that we play better on the road this season. Maybe its a good thing that we are going on the road right now. We are not going to quit. I’m not going to allow that to happen and we’re going to battle til the end. If you put your arms down, and put your head down you are in trouble. Times like this builds character for everyone involved and builds character for the team.”
Lefebvre was also asked about the fact that captain and leading scorer Martin St. Pierre was scratched for Sunday’s game. He indicated that St. Pierre was a healthy scratch, and that the issue was performance related despite St. Pierre’s two assists in Saturday night’s game.
“He was a healthy scratch tonight. I’m not happy with his game. I’ve been talking with him a few times, sending him messages here and there. Sometimes as a coach you have ways to get guys going. Hopefully he will rebound to play the way he can play. He’s our captain, he’s the guy that sets the tone, and that is what we are looking for.”
He also indicated that the rest of the team should look at the scratch. When asked if this was a statement to the rest of the team that no one was safe, Lefebvre answered, “Its a statement that you have to come here and compete every night, and not just when you feel like it.”
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @lastwordBkerr. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter –@LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Interested in writing for LWOS? We are looking for enthusiastic, talented writers to join our Hockey writing team. Visit our “Write for Us” page for very easy details in how you can get started today!So the majority of girls aren’t whizzes when it comes to technology. If you are, all the power to ya.
Can you fix my iPod?
But no matter if we are clueless (“which end of the charger goes into the wall?”) or tech savvy, we all have one thing in common: we’re girls. And with that comes the need to accessorize, decorate and carry around gadgets that match our outfits.
So instead of running around campus with boring gray accessories, why not add some excitement to the tech side of your life with cute, girly gadgets? Hey, it might even help you down the road. When your computer crashes, the fact that it’s pink may just stop you from throwing it out the window. And if it doesn’t, well at least you’ll have a cute padded case to cushion the fall.
Flash Drive:
I can barely remember a pen when I roll out of bed in the morning, let alone the flash drive that has my essay saved on it. Now there’s no need to place Post-its everywhere I may happen to look (my shower caddy, my makeup bag, you get the deal), because you can’t miss this sparkling bracelet hanging in your jewelry box. Add flair to an outfit and bring your documents with you wherever you may go? Done and done.
Keyboard:
Okay perhaps it’s a little gaudy, but in the privacy of your dorm room, why can’t you indulge your inner girly girl? Staring at a word document for 6 hours will have you passed out on top of your keyboard, squares imprinted on your cheek, drooling onto the space bar. It’s just messy. A flashy keyboard will put a little excitement back into your homework (Okay, excitement may be a bit much, but the light from your lamp bouncing off the rhinestones will at least keep your eyes open) so you can get ‘er done.
Mouse:
After awhile the touch-pad on my MacBook really starts to bother me. You bump it, it clicks off the page. You have to hold down control to right click. You have to use two hands to do anything because you’re too challenged to maneuver this thing with just one. It’s annoying. And don’t even get me started on the little ball. How does anyone ever use that!? I’ve had enough and I’m ready for a real mouse. But, I don’t want just any mouse to plug in, I want a cute one. That sparkles. Yeah, it’s pricey, but it’s also the coolest thing to happen to my computer since, well, I got my computer.
Laptop Sleeves:
Lugging your laptop around campus sucks, but it sucks less if you do it in style. These sleeves are super cute, come in a variety of colors and are padded to protect your laptop from damage. (“Dad, I don’t know why it won’t turn on! It’s not like I accidentally drop-kicked it down the stairs or anything…”)
iPhone and Blackberry cases:
Pretty much everyone has a Blackberry or iPhone these days, and I refuse to be one of the automatons with my handheld glued to my hip. But I’m also not willing to give up BBM, so I’m going to make mine prettier so it stands out from the rest. Good plan, right? These cases are so adorable your phone will be more like an accessory than the addiction it currently is.
Earphones:
How freakin’ cute are these? I’ll take any opportunity I can to spruce up an outfit, and these headphones are like adorable earring! Plus I’m hoping the opportunity to sport these on an elliptical will get my ass off the couch. (Especially when my mom starts sending her fall treats my way.)By Lee Gall-Hye, Cub Reporter, iScot magazine
Fans of the UK are furious as they fear they will be targeted by a new financial levy expected to be included in the SNP manifesto for May’s Holyrood election.
The new charge, which will be called the Offensive Internet Behaviour And Mendacity Surcharge (OI-BAMS), will be applied to users of social media who abuse other individuals or post wildly inaccurate information online, particularly in the form of misleading graphs.
Under the new law, colloquially known as the Troll Tax, anyone commenting on the online version of the Hootsmon newspaper or linking to a story in the Daily Record or Daily Mail, could find themselves facing penalties of many thousands of pounds.
Children’s author Jakey Rowling tweeted, “I didn’t spend 3 years at Yooniversity to have my opinions taxed by the SNP. My 10 bn followers love my idiotic views and abusive Twittermates. Expect to hear from my island of lawyers..@ME”.
While top UKOK zoomer Mr B Spanner, who tweets under the nom de plooms; ‘You & My Comb’, replied to Ms Rowling saying, “I and all the other tools in the Scotch MSM are very upset. How are we to campaign against Indy2 if we are forced to stick to the facts? #Madness”
Prominent lawyer and SLab spokesnob on vile internet abuse, E N Smart, filed for bankruptcy after tweeting, “F##king Nazi SNP bastards! They should all be taken out and shot. Especially the ones with their pathetic flags. Hanging’s too good for fascist scum like them!!!!”
Later (much later) peer of the realm and amateur dancing instructor Lord Ffoulkes of Laphroaig tweeted, “Just like the Nats. They think they’re in North Korea. Shit, that’s this week’s 1,500 tax-free smackers down the drain! Open another bottle, will you Smarty dear?”
A spokesnat for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told us, “In Better Together’s strange yooniverse all the internet abuse comes from cybernats, but we all know this to be wholly untrue.
“With this new Troll Tax we will finally put a stop to online abuse by British Nationalists while raking in a wheen of cash which can be used to make life better for millions of ordinary Scots.
“We’ll show the Yoons what a real £10 bn black hole looks like.”
Comments
Due to the huge number of complaints, comments are no longer banned on BBC Scotlandshire News pages.Why Sealion is not an option for Hitler to win the war
One of the more common suggestions that crop up at all-too regular intervals goes along the lines of: "If Hitler hadn't switched from bombing airfields to bombing cities, then Operation Sealion would have worked."
Unfortunately for these suggestions, the plan for Sealion was perhaps the most flawed plan in the history of modern warfare. Getting it to a workable state requires so many changes that an author's artistic license would be revoked.
What follows is an analysis of Sealion in OTL.
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When France collapsed, in mid-June 1940, the German staff had not even considered, |
their own devices, create grotesque inequality, ruin the environment and ruin the economy. And we’re seeing that unfold.
AMY GOODMAN: And what could the Democrats do right now as an opposition party?
ROBERT KUTTNER: Well, I think there are three things they ought to be doing. First of all, there’s the housing mess. We need something like the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation of the 1930s, where a government agency, financed by government bonds, would buy these bonds back from Citigroup and Merrill and whoever at a steep discount, maybe thirty or forty cents on the dollar — they’ve already been written down to zero, because nobody wants to buy them — and turn them back into affordable mortgages, turn them into mortgages that would have a rate below market instead of the kind of predatory rate that subprime mortgages had. And you could then repopulate these houses. People on the brink of foreclosure would be able to keep their houses. Other people could become homeowners. So you need a much bolder approach to the housing crisis.
Secondly, I don’t even think “stimulus” is a good word. You need a recovery program. And a recovery program means not just a quick shot in the arm, it means reversing all of the things that make it harder to be middle class in this country. It means everything from a massive program of infrastructure repair to energy independence to good jobs in the service sector, reversing the whole thirty-year trajectory of ordinary people finding that their personal economic situation is insecure, they can’t keep up with the cost of living. And a “stimulus” implies a kind of a quick jolt to get us out of a temporary problem. This is not a temporary problem, this is a long-term problem. It’s going to require long-term solutions. And that doesn’t even get at some of the harder stuff, like the dependency on foreign borrowing that was caused by chronic trade deficits that in turn were the result of bad trade policies.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to turn to an excerpt of the Democratic debate now that took place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards sparred over the economy. This was the first question put on the issue of the economy, put by CNN moderator Joe Johns.
JOE JOHNS: Senator Clinton, good evening. The number one issue for Americans of both parties is the economy, and today the news is simply not good. Markets around the world are in a tailspin because of fears of a US recession. So far this year, the Dow has lost nearly nine percent. How much money would your stimulus plan put in the pockets of the average South Carolinian?
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON: Well, Joe, I’m glad you started with the economy, because that is the number one issue: what’s been happening in the markets, what’s been happening with the home mortgage crisis, $100-a-barrel oil, so many of the issues that are really at the kitchen tables of Americans today and what they’re talking to me about.
We have to stimulate the economy. I began calling for some kind of economic action plan back at the beginning of December. I have a package of $110 billion. $70 billion of that would go toward dealing with the mortgage crisis, which, unfortunately, I don’t think that President Bush has really taken seriously enough.
I would have a moratorium on home foreclosures for ninety days to try to help families work it out so that they don’t lose their homes. We’re in danger of seeing millions of Americans become basically, you know, homeless and losing the American dream.
I want to have an interest rate freeze for five years, because these adjustable-rate mortgages, if they keep going up, the problem will just get compounded. And we need more transparency in the market. Then, I think we need to give people about $650, if they qualify, which will be millions of people, to help pay their energy bills this winter.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA: It is absolutely critical right now to give a stimulus to the economy. And Senator Clinton mentioned tax rebates. That wasn’t the original focus of her plan. I think recently she has caught up with what I had originally said, which is we’ve got to get taxes into the — tax cuts into the pockets of hard-working Americans right away. And it is important for us to make sure that they are not just going to the wealthy. They should be going to folks who are making $75,000 a year or less, and they should be going to folks who only pay payroll tax, but typically are not paying income tax. If we do that, then not only can we stimulate the economy, those are the folks who are most likely to spend money right away.
WOLF BLITZER: Do you agree with her, $650 is a good number for a tax rebate?
SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well, I think that we are going to have to get some immediate money. What I do is I say, for a typical family, $500 for a tax rebate per family. But also, for senior citizens, get a supplement to their Social Security check, because they get that every month. We know exactly how to do it. And that would provide seniors all across the country right away some money to help pay for their heating bills and other expenses that they’ve got right now.
JOHN EDWARDS: Now, one difference between what I have proposed and what my two colleagues have proposed is I have done something that not only stimulates the economy, but creates long-term benefits: investment in green infrastructure, which creates jobs. Instead of just getting money out in the short term, this will actually create jobs over the long term, create green infrastructure. Yes, we need to do something about the mortgage crisis.
I want to mention one last thing. There is one other issue that was mentioned in passing by the two of them, which is the issue of jobs. And there is a difference between myself and my colleagues on this issue of jobs, because they both supported the Peru trade deal. My view is the Peru trade deal was similar to NAFTA. And this is crucial to the state of South Carolina and —
WOLF BLITZER: But —
JOHN EDWARDS: No, no — crucial to the state of the South Carolina and jobs in South Carolina. South Carolina has been devastated by NAFTA and trade deals like NAFTA.
WOLF BLITZER: But I just want to be precise. What you’re proposing are really long-term objectives. In terms of a short-term stimulus package, you disagree with them on an immediate tax rebate.
JOHN EDWARDS: No, no. What I’m saying is, if we do what we should do to green the economy, if we change our unemployment insurance laws, modernize them to make them available to more people, to more Americans, if we in fact get help to the states, which gets money straight into the economy, and we deal with the mortgage crisis in a serious way with a home rescue fund to provide transitional financing for those people who are about to lose their homes, all those things will stimulate the economy.
AMY GOODMAN: Former Senator Edwards, Senator Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton debating in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Robert Weissman, your assessment? Did they satisfactorily come up with proposals that will resolve this crisis?
ROBERT WEISSMAN: Well, everything they say isn’t bad, but of course the answer is no. And also, it’s interesting to hear the questioner, Wolf Blitzer, impose the conventional wisdom on presidential candidates. There is a need to take immediate action. And while I — my guess — and I don’t claim to be an expert in this area — is that Bob’s sense of how deep this problem is is right. There is a possibility that a short-term fix will paper it over for a while. We shouldn’t underestimate the adaptability of the global capitalist and financial capitalist system. It’s proven itself quite resilient in a lot of ways.
A huge danger is that a short-term response — and I think these are inadequate, but not trivial — will enable policymakers and the public to look away from the much deeper problems that Bob is talking about and that must be addressed, which include the excessive financialization of the economy, not just the deregulation, but the capture of political and economic power by Wall Street over the rest of the economy, its major control over what we do.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me put that question to Bob, to Robert Kuttner, editor of the American Prospect, author of Squandering of America. Do you think their answers were satisfactory?
ROBERT KUTTNER: I think Edwards came closest, because, first of all, what he was proposing was bolder and bigger, but also he was tying the need for short-term medicine to the need for longer-term structural change. And I liked the idea of putting money into green infrastructure that would promote energy independence, promote a cleaner economy and also create some good jobs. I think Rob Weissman is right that the conventional wisdom, as enforced by the usual media suspects, keeps this narrowly focused as a stimulus. And it’s really a down payment on a longer-term recovery strategy. So Edwards comes closest.
And I think even Edwards doesn’t go far enough, because if you think about 600 bucks a year, that’s twelve bucks a week, you know, in the face of a ten percent increase in health insurance premiums and a ten percent increase in gas at the pump and tuition costs. And now you’ve got rising food prices because of all the mistaken use of food production for energy and the assault on the environment. So you’re going to have a kind of ’70s stagflation on top of everything else, where you’ve got declining purchasing power and rising inflation. What even the Democrats are proposing doesn’t begin to come to terms with that. And they need to be saying so.
And finally, they need to hang this around the necks, not just of the Republican Party, not just around George W. Bush, but around the whole conservative ideology, because this economic mess is the gift that’s going to keep on giving, unfortunately, for years to come, of rightwing ideology put into practice in its most extreme form since Reagan. And that message, I think, has to keep getting out. This did not come out of thin air. This was not like a comet striking the earth. This was the result of rightwing ideology and the political power of Wall Street taking over the economy.
AMY GOODMAN: You’ve talked about a crash, like 1929. Is that what you see?
ROBERT KUTTNER: I think the Fed has some powers now that it didn’t have in 1929. The Fed is determined to try and get out ahead of this. Mercifully, all of the stabilizers of the New Deal were not repealed, even though a lot of Republicans wanted to. We still have unemployment comp, although it’s too weak. We still have Social Security; the Republicans didn’t manage to privatize that. We still have Federal Deposit Insurance, or we’d have runs on banks. So they didn’t repeal the entire New Deal, thank God.
On the other hand, the similarities — the weakness in credit markets, the assault on financial institutions, the hit that purchasing power has taken, the speculation with other people’s money and these pyramiding schemes — are all too familiar. So I can say flatly, this is the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression, and we’ve only begun to see how bad it is.
AMY GOODMAN: What about specifically the role of the banks on Wall Street? You had Jesse Jackson leading a march on Wall Street with the subprime crimes, as he called them, the subprime crisis —-
ROBERT KUTTNER: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: —- saying that they should give back their bonuses at Christmas to deal with this crisis.
ROBERT KUTTNER: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you name the names of these companies and what they should be doing right now, or what should be done to them? And again the role of the opposition party here — we’re in an election year — they could be making a statement or join with the ruling party, with the Republicans, and support President Bush right now.
ROBERT KUTTNER: Well, you know, some people have this picture of subprime lenders as these neighborhood predators. They were put in business by Citigroup. They were put in business by Merrill Lynch. They were put in business by the bluest chip names on Wall Street.
The prime enabler under Clinton of deregulation was Robert Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury. And Rubin comes out of Goldman Sachs, then he goes to work as one of Clinton’s top guys. He presides over the repeal of the key piece of New Deal legislation designed to prevent conflicts of interest, the Glass-Steagall Act. And then he lets a short interval go by, and then he becomes chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup, which was only able to become the kind of conglomerate it did because of the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Now, that’s a flat-out conflict of interest.
And so, what should the big banks do? Well, they should hang their heads in shame. But they’re not going to become converts to our view of the economy. We have to impose that on them as citizens through the democratic process of legislation and regulation. We have to fight the battle that we fought in the 1930s and onward and win it all over again, because, otherwise, if we don’t, the power of speculative finance is going to just wreck the economy for the rest of us.
AMY GOODMAN: And the stimulus package, who exactly does it help?
ROBERT KUTTNER: Well, it will put a little bit of money, hopefully, into the pockets of ordinary people rather than business, which is what Bush wants to use it for. I would like to see a much bigger program of aid to the states, because, you know, the states are required to have a balanced budget. So when a recession strikes, tax receipts to the states go down. States have to cut back services at exactly the moment when they should be increasing services. One way of making sure that the money is going to get spent is to prevent the states from cutting back services. You need to have a much stronger program of unemployment insurance. Most Americans aren’t even covered by unemployment insurance, because there are so many temp jobs and contract jobs now. That would help, but it would be like taking aspirin; it would be symptomatic relief; it will not cure the deeper problems of the economy.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you, Robert Kuttner, for joining us, as well as Robert Weissman. Robert Kuttner, author of The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity. Robert Weissman is editor of Multinational Monitor magazine in Washington, D.C., and co-director of Essential Action.Lagunitas Brewing Company now 5th largest craft brewer in U.S. (w/video)
This year's craft brewer list includes three other North Coast breweries: Bear Republic, which fell two spots to 36; Lost Coast, which rose one spot to 37; and North Coast, which fell three to 45.
As with last year, the top spot was held by Boston Beer Company, maker of the Sam Adams line. California's Sierra Nevada remained at number two, while Colorado's New Belgium and Texas-based Gambrinus held steady at three and four.
The exploding volume at Lagunitas has Magee thinking even bigger. He said he is already contemplating a third brewery somewhere in the U.S., possibly as soon as 2017, and eventually building or acquiring a brewery in Europe to meet burgeoning demand for American beers.
Lagunitas beer is distributed in 36 states, with 10 more ready to join once Chicago production ramps up, he said. Magee is also in discussions with a number of chain stores that he previously was unable to supply because the Petaluma plant didn't have room to expand.
The expansion plans "can seem like real, crazy ambitious," he said, "but there is a real linearity to it," given the growth of the company and craft brewing in general.
At the same time sales of major brands such as Budweiser and Coors are stagnating or falling, flavorful brews from smaller producers are surging. Beer sales volume nationally grew only 1 percent last year overall, but the craft segment grew 18 percent. It now accounts for 7.8 percent of all beer sold in the U.S., up from 6.5 percent the previous year.
Lagunitas' growth, even as it expands production elsewhere, is good news for Sonoma County, said Ben Stone, director of the county Economic Development Board.
"Traditionally wine has been our calling card," he said. "Now we're seeing, with Lagunitas in the forefront, craft beer be a calling card."Rated R for crude and sexual content and language throughout, and brief graphic nudity
Hoping to bring his family closer together and to recreate his childhood vacation for his own kids, an adult Rusty Griswold takes his wife and two sons on a cross-country road trip to Walley World. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.
Did You Know?
Goofs Rusty describes the type of plane he flies regularly as an Airbus A318, but the exterior shot of his plane seen after the opening credits looks more like a Boeing 767 or 777. The interior shots of the plane show a single-aisle configuration, which IS similar to the typical configuration of an Airbus A318. Rusty describes the type of plane he flies regularly as an Airbus A318, but the exterior shot of his plane seen after the opening credits looks more like a Boeing 767 or 777. The interior shots of the plane show a single-aisle configuration, which IS similar to the typical configuration of an Airbus A318. See more
Crazy Credits In both the opening and closing credits, vacation photos are showed that are partially obscured. Whatever is covering part of the photo is moved away, usually revealing a humorous twist. In both the opening and closing credits, vacation photos are showed that are partially obscured. Whatever is covering part of the photo is moved away, usually revealing a humorous twist. See moreWhich is why she woke up early, put on a flowered top and arrived at this parking lot in Baltimore, eager to meet someone who might hire her.
“I’ve got three kids to feed,” said Pendry, 44, who most recently worked as an administrative assistant for Allstate Insurance. “It doesn’t matter what it is anymore. I just need a job.”
The possibility of an hourly position drew thousands of people to Amazon’s warehouse here Wednesday morning, where they started lining up at 4 a.m. and waited hours in rows that snaked through the sprawling parking lot on a blistering hot day.
The on-site interviews were part of a one-day effort by Amazon to fill 50,000 jobs across the country that it says are necessary to fuel an ever-growing expansion. The e-commerce giant says it made scores of job offers on the spot at a dozen locations from Buffalo, N.Y., to Oklahoma City. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)
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The online retailer held jobs events 12 locations nationwide on Aug. 2 for positions at its warehouses and sortation centers. (Amazon founder and CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post). (Reuters)
In Baltimore, Amazon planned to add 1,200 people to its current lineup of 4,200. The jobs, which pay more than Maryland’s $9.25 minimum wage, come with health and disability insurance, as well as a retirement savings plan and stock awards. It was enough to draw a huge crowd on a blistering hot August day, and Amazon recruiters were ready with bottled water and snow cones to cool people down.
“We are excited to be creating great jobs that offer highly competitive wages, benefits starting on day one and the choice for employees to go back to school,” John Olsen, a human resources vice president at Amazon, said in a statement. “These are great opportunities with runway for advancement.”
As Amazon hires at a furious pace, many longtime retailers are scaling back by closing hundreds of stores and doing away with coveted commission-earning positions. Retail jobs — which for years have been stepping stones into the workforce — have increasingly shifted from America’s shopping malls to warehouses on the outskirts of town.
“Retail employment has traditionally been face-to-face, but technology is changing that,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist for the jobs site Indeed. “That has an impact on the number of jobs that are created and destroyed, but also on where those jobs are and who gets them.”
Women hold the majority of retail jobs, he said, but a study of Census data shows that men account for 73 percent of warehousing and storage workers. To add to that: Jobs are increasingly moving from city centers and suburbs to rural areas where companies can find cheap land for massive facilities. It’s too soon to tell, he said, how those changes will affect the broader economy.
Fry Dekowski says he’s hopeful about the new opportunities. The 25-year-old, who makes about $10 an hour as an electronics associate at Walmart, said he was looking for higher pay and better benefits. Driving a forklift, he said, would be a bonus.
“I’m waiting here so I can get a better life opportunity,” he said. “Working retail for the last five years has been kind of a nightmare. I need a job with benefits, the kind I can start a family with.”
Warehouse jobs typically pay about 31 percent more than retail jobs in the same county, and are more likely to hire black and Hispanic workers, according to Michael Mandel, chief economic strategist at the liberal-leaning Progressive Policy Institute. In many parts of the country, he said, new warehouse positions have more than made up for lost brick-and-mortar jobs, where wages have been stagnating for years.
“I see this as a period of turmoil and upgrading,” he said. “Fulfillment center jobs are hard work — they’re physically taxing, but they pay well. This could actually be a real positive for income equality.”
The promise of $14 an hour is what drew Rebecca Dorman, 25, to the hiring fair. She has two jobs — at McDonald’s and Save A Lot — but it’s still difficult to make ends meet, she said.
“I’ve got a boy, he’s 2, and I’ve got to do something better than McDonald’s,” she said. “I’ll take any job.”
A few yards away, Albert Wellons, 48, of Baltimore agreed. “There’s just no jobs out there,” he said.
“Especially nowadays,” added Lamont Hale, 22, who stood next to him in line wearing an Orioles cap. “Nobody is hiring.”
If Amazon does hire 50,000 people this month, labor economists say that could be enough to make a meaningful impact on the country’s August employment numbers. The U.S. economy has been adding 100,000 to 200,000 jobs each month.
“Fifty thousand jobs is a really big number, and it could absolutely move the needle for August,” said Andrew McAfee, co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. “It shows that a technology-focused company like Amazon still needs a lot of good old-fashioned human labor to get their work done.”
As for Pendry, though, she left without a job offer. After five hours of waiting in the sun, it just got to be too much, she said.
“It would’ve been another three or four hours before we got anywhere,” she said. “That line of thousands of people waiting around all day without food — that tells you everything you need to know about the job market.”
“It’s a struggle,” she added. “But I’m going to keep on looking.”
Watch more!
Amazon has acquired Whole Foods in a record-setting $13.7 billion deal. In its review of the deal, the FTC is looking into allegations against Amazon of tampering with comparison prices. (Amazon founder and CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post). (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)
Read more:
Retailers have fought Amazon for years. Now they’re giving it a shot.
Amazon says it is under investigation for selling goods to Iranian embassy, others
Grocery stores are adapting to more male shoppers — whom they treat like knuckleheads
Birkenstock CEO accuses Amazon of ‘modern-day piracy’
Abha Bhattarai is the national retail reporter for The Washington Post. She has previously written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and the St. Petersburg Times.
Post RecommendsThe Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) denounced the World Bank (WB) on its “16th Conference on Land and Poverty” that brings together corporations, governments and some civil society groups. The conference [was] taking place at Washington D.C. from March 23 to 27.
“Under the guise of the need to feed 9 billion people by 2050, the FAO and WB reported that the world needs to increase investment in agriculture, coming from the public and private sectors. The FAO estimates that private sector agricultural investment alone, including foreign direct investment, must rise from some $142 billion per year to $209 billion in order to feed a growing population. In 2013 alone, WB investment to agriculture and agriculture-related projects was over $8 billion. But for whom are these investments?” questioned Rahmat Ajiguna, APC deputy secretary general, also the secretary general of the Indonesia based Aliansi Gerakan Reforma Agraria (AGRA).
“We strongly condemn the WB for its role in global land grabs. In 1970s, the WB actually promoted its own brand of ‘market-assisted land reform’, ” stated Ajiguna adding that “according to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), after President Ferdinand Marcos’ ouster in 1986 in the Philippines, the Corazon Aquino government was compelled by the strength of both the armed and legal movement for genuine land reform to come up with its own agrarian reform program. But Aquino’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which ironically was also implemented by her son, President Benigno Aquino III, was never meant to distribute land to the poor and landless peasants. CARP clearly echoed many of the recommendations of the WB’s 1975 Land Reform Policy Paper. Worst of all, the WB land reform concept is indeed distributing land — from the poor to the rich.”
“How market-assisted land reform works in practice can be seen in the Philippines, with the most unequal land distributions in the world. The WB project undermines agrarian reform in the Philippines which actually increases concentration of land in the hands of the landed elite,” remarked Ajiguna adding that “KMP reports that after 27 years of the bogus CARP, the land grabbing spree of Gregorio “Greggy” Araneta III, common relative of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas and Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, in a more than 3,000-hectare agricultural land in the City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan continues. To protect their interests, Araneta terrorizes the farmers thru his more than 200 security guards that served as his private army. Farmers are prohibited from planting and harvesting their produce.” Araneta is the brother-in-law of Marcos. On the other hand, Roxas’ mother, Judy Araneta belongs to the landlord Araneta clan.
“The same is happening in other countries in Asia. In Indonesia, the WBs land grabbing works through the government’s agricultural and land policies. The recent law on industrial agriculture which gives agri-industry companies the right to invest more in agriculture is one of the examples how this WB works. This is concrete in the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate in Papua, where the Indonesian government uses the new law (Law No. 2 2012) to provide so-called land for development and public interest on agriculture to develop 1.6 million hectares of primary forest to be converted into the integrated agro fuels and food estate,” Ajiguna explained adding that “ this law and other agrarian scheme is being used by President Jokowi in the coming celebration of the 60th Asia Africa Conference (popularly known as Bandung Conference) on April 19 to 24 to invite more investors, in infrastructure and food, which will worsen the implementation of Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the country.”
“In Sri Lanka, WB invested $18 million in a so-called ‘Sustainable Tourism Development Project’ signed in January 2010 which is the reason for the conversion of the ancestral lands in Panama into a tourism zone. This was disclosed after the International Fact Finding Mission (IFFM) organized by APC in 2013 where we found out that the WB in collaboration with the Sri Lankan government is to blame for the impacts of Arugam Bay Tourism Promotion Zone in Panama in Southeast Sri Lanka. The Arugam Bay has more than 20,000 people,” stated Zenaida Soriano, APC Southeast Asia coordinator also the chairperson of the Philippine-based National Federation of Peasant Women (AMIHAN).
“What the WB is doing is global land grabbing at the highest level. The WB further destroys the livelihood of small farmers and landless peasants. Therefore, the people especially the food producers and landless peasants have to resist this phenomenon of global land grabbing,” added Soriano.
“On March 23-24, at least 200 farmers led by the KMP and the Alliance of Farmers in Bulacan –San Jose Del Monte camped out in front of the DILG office calling on Secretary Roxas and Senator Marcos to immediately stop the land grabbing of agricultural lands in the City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan and to pull out Araneta’s private army. On March 24, farmers and their allies marched to Mendiola to call for the ouster of the landlord President Aquino”, ended Soriano.
The APC calls on all stakeholders to reject the WB’s Conference on Land and Poverty because it will further strengthen the collaboration of the imperialist countries and their puppet governments under the guise of investment and development but in reality it will only advance its role in global land grabbing.
“Genuine land reform will only be realized through resolute and militant struggle of the organized peasantry who will exact a just distribution of land. It is therefore crucial to strengthen the peasant movement at the local and international level. The peasant movement should likewise be integrated with the overall people’s movement against the reactionary forces of imperialism,” ended Ajiguna.The principle is always and everywhere the same: when you’re in a Muslim country, you should conform your behavior to suit Muslim sensibilities. And when you’re in a non-Muslim country, you should conform your behavior to suit Muslim sensibilities.
“Jerusalem Wine Festival – ‘An affront to Islam,'” by Dalit Halevy, Arutz Sheva, August 31, 2016:
Murad Al-Sudani, the Registrar for the National Palestinian Committee for Education, Culture and Science, lashed out at the upcoming annual Jerusalem Wine Festival, which is set to have a branch at the upscale Mamilla (Alrov) open-air mall near the Old City.
Since the mall rests partly on an old Muslim cemetery called “Maman Allah;” Al-Sudani claims that the festival manifests an affront to Islam.
Al-Sudani emphasized, the festival is “a dangerous escalating step” on the part of Israel in Jerusalem in its continual damage to historically and religiously significant Muslim holy sites.
He accused Israel of trying to “bury” the Arab and Muslim history of Jerusalem, asserting that the relevant Muslim cemetery is a historically significant Muslim site that spans the largest Waqf-controlled area in Jerusalem, and that the remains of Mohammad’s comrades are said to be buried there.
The wine festival, according to Al-Sudani, violates the cemetery and manifests a provocation against the feelings of the Arab Palestinians and Muslims world-wide….On Dec. 29, the UK's Daily Telegraph published a highly inaccurate article on the potential dangers of e-cigarettes. As of Jan. 9, it remains uncorrected.
Complaints from vapers and academics about the article's inaccuracies have apparently made no difference to the Telegraph, and the article's author, science editor Sarah Knapton.
Even indisputable errors such as giving the wrong journal reference for the study it was allegedly based on, and a typo in the lead, remain in place.
And of course untouched is the erroneous headline, "E-cigarettes are no safer than smoking tobacco, scientists warn."
No. One scientist offered that personal opinion in a press release. It's not in the study.
That study didn't claim to find evidence of harm in people, just evidence of harm in cell cultures strongly suggestive that vaping hurts people. This demands further research to confirm or falsify the evidence, a point made in the study itself.
Of course, to understand that point, it helps to have the study before writing the story, as well as interviewing the researcher. The incorrect journal reference raises the question of whether Knapton did. The story uses quotes copied from the press release without disclosing the source, giving the false impression they were obtained by interviewing the researcher.
This toxic mixture of dodgy practices bears no relation to the honest practice of science journalism; it is more akin to politics. And whenever one mixes science or journalism with politics, politics wins.
There is also the question of whether governments should even be involved in attempts to persuade or coerce people about vaping and smoking. That is a legitimate political issue, and respectable arguments can be made on both sides. What's illegitimate is abusing science in support of a political agenda.
We can see that science abuse taking place in Chicago, where that city's public health department has launched an inflammatory and misleading campaign against vaping, calling it, among other things, "liquid poison."
The ham-handed campaign was accompanied by the ill-advised launch of a Twitter hashtag, #vapingtruth, which was promptly overtaken by vaping advocates.
More important than the clumsy PR, that claim is simply not proven in the scientific literature.
There's substantial evidence vaping is far less harmful than smoking. To be fair, there's also evidence that vaping isn't totally benign, and also that that risk may vary with vaping liquids. That's why we need more research.
It's also worth keeping in mind that any substance becomes dangerous if ingested in large enough quantities.
In the face of all these uncertainties, why should Chicago's public health department launch such a hyberbolic campaign? It was ordered by the city's scandal-plagued mayor, Rahm Emanuel, currently fighting for his political life for his role in covering up the shooting video of Laquan McDonald.
In addition, Chicago's health commissioner was appointed by the mayor with City Council confirmation. Inevitably, public health officials in Chicago are not free to go where the evidence leads, but are mandated to follow a party line.
So what should be a science-based effort to improve public health has been degraded into politics, with its casual disregard for accuracy. Likewise, the important fact-checking role of science journalism has been debased to the level of political journalism.
This 21st century version of "Reefer Madness" imperils honest scientific investigation into how much risk vaping actually represents -- and its potential benefits as a means of getting smokers to quit.
And even worse, politically driven attacks on vaping draws attention away from the solidly established dangers of cigarette smoking.PIVOT, the program verification system written in BBN-Lisp by L. Peter Deutsch and described in his PhD thesis, “An interactive program verifier” is a recent addition to the Software Preservation Group web site.
Deutsch is a computer scientist who made important contributions to interactive implementations of Lisp and Smalltalk. While he was in high school, he implemented the first interactive Lisp interpreter, running on a DEC PDP-1 computer. While still in high school, he worked with Calvin Mooers on the design of TRAC, and implemented the language on a PDP-1 at BBN. Then Deutsch enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where he soon joined Project Genie, one of the earliest timesharing systems. Meanwhile, at BBN, Deutsch’s original PDP-1 Lisp became the “conceptual predecessor” of BBN-Lisp, running first on the PDP-1, then the SDS-940 (running the Project Genie timesharing system), and finally the PDP-10 running BBN’s own TENEX. After several of the BBN-Lisp creators, including Deutsch, moved to Xerox PARC, BBN-Lisp became INTERLISP. By this time, Deutsch had received his bachelor’s degree at Berkeley, and with other Project Genie alumni had co-founded Berkeley Computer Corporation, which built a large timeshared computer (the BCC-500) but then went bankrupt. While working at PARC, Deutsch also attended graduate school at Berkeley, carrying out the research on program verification that produced the PIVOT system.
Deutsch was kind enough to donate his only source listing of PIVOT to the Computer History Museum (Lot number X7485.2015), and to allow scans of the listing and his thesis to be posted on the SPG web site.Dead trees not suitable for big furniture manufacturers and leftovers from the wood industry turn into these amazing pieces of art at Brazilian artist Lara Donatoni Matana's workshop.
The artist started her career painting in 1992, and between 1996 and 1997 she lived in Curitiba, Brazil's greenest city. It was living in Belo Horizonte during 2000 to 2002, however, that she found interest in wood and was attracted to its beauty.
Keep reading and see many more pics in the extended!
Via Planeta Sustentavel.From then on, Donatoni Matana developed an intense relationship with wood and started to work with this material. Not in a light way though: "there's an existential relationship between the artist and the wood, which drives her to mysterious places. This matter belonged to a living tree for hundreds of years and the artist has to understand it in order to conduct it to its next life," describes her website.
A great respect for trees lives is what drove Donatoni Matana to work with pieces of wood found in the surroundings of Cuiaba (state of Mato Grosso), dead trees or remaining of burned trees.
The artist has had exhibitions in Cuiaba and Sao Paulo, and also has participated in shaping the awards for the Brazilian Environmental Cinema Festival. Her work is also featured in Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' (City of god) next film, called Blindness and based on Jose Saramago's novel from the same title.
Donatoni Matana's work is on sale in some galleries and via her website. Prices are displayed for each piece, and start at around 900 Reais (450 USD).
::Lara Donatoni Matana (site in Portuguese)
A picture by Lara Donatoni Matana, made from wood leftovers.Another picture from wood leftovers.Sculpture carved in a piece |
arrakhan Day,” and to “the Harlem Dome,” a giant protective shield; in Neonomicon, we discover the existence of city-spanning domes, and Providence explains why they were originally built.) The Courtyard also revisits topics and themes common in Moore: Aklo is another instance, however dark and creepy, of Moore’s belief in the ability of language to shape perception and consciousness.
Despite links like these to Moore's preoccupations, I find The Courtyard disappointing. Burrows improves as an artist, especially between Neonomicon and Providence, but in the earlier Courtyard his bodies are oddly elongated, his faces are inexpressive, and his depiction of Sax’s Aklo-fueled visions aren’t as disturbing as they need to be. Antony Johnston’s “sequential adaptation” is faithful to Moore’s prose, but in both versions of the story, Moore’s fusion of Lovecraft references and a punk/goth counter-culture comes off as corny and forced. In an episode of the podcast Comic Books are Burning in Hell on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century (2009-2012), Matt Seneca comments that when Moore’s characters burst into song (think of V’s “vicious cabaret,” or “Song of the Terraces” [1990], the musical episode of The Bojeffries Saga), the results are “the worst ever,” and that Moore’s depiction of contemporary underground music in Century’s third chapter is wholly inauthentic. The situation’s no better in The Courtyard, where Randolph Carter and the Ulthar Cats sing “Zann Variations”—which includes the lyrics “Where a smoke-river, factory black, crawls below the stone bridges, old violins play / And the crippled dogs whine in their sleep all along Rue d’Auseil.” (I do like Moore's "Miskasonic" pun, though.) I didn’t read the two issues of The Courtyard when they were originally published, but if I had, I probably would’ve stuffed them in a file drawer with other unsorted comics and forgotten about them. I would not have predicted that Moore would get very serious about writing in the Cthulhu Mythos, although from Miracleman to Swamp Thing to the Charlton Action Heroes to Superman, the spine of Moore’s career is his skill at extracting art from fictional characters and worlds created by someone else.
Alfred Hitchcock: "Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints."
Moore and Burrows’ Neonomicon (2010) is a sequel that takes place a few years after the events of The Courtyard, as two new characters, F.B.I. agents Merrill Brears and Gordon Lamper, visit a high-security insane asylum to speak to prisoner Aldo Sax. (This scene is a high-key variation on the meetings between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in the Silence of the Lambs film [1991].) After committing murder at the conclusion of The Courtyard, Sax took more lives before he was caught; he decapitated all his victims, cut off their hands, and carved their torsos into flower-like shapes, a technique now emulated by a copycat killer. Sax refuses to help Brears and Lamper—he speaks in unintelligible Aklo for most of their visit, until a mention of Club Zothique makes him quiet and sullen—so the F.B.I. raids the Club (and, subsequently, Johnny Carcosa’s apartment) to bring the Lovecraftian underground to light.
Carcosa escapes, but one clue emerges from the raid: Carcosa ordered “weird starfish dildos and shit” from Whispers in Darkness, a New Age supply store in Salem, Massachusetts. In disguise, Brears and Lamper visit the shop, and chat with owner Leonard Beeks, who ushers the agents into a room of Cthulhu sex paraphernalia and invites them to a get-together “for genuine devotees” later that night. The party turns out to be a descent into a sub-basement with Beeks, his wife, and a handful of followers, leading to an orgy in a brackish pool, where Lamper is killed and Brears is raped by Beeks’ gang. (In its juxtaposition of hidden underground secrets and blunt violence, Neonomicon’s pool scene reminds me of the second half of Pascal Laugier’s torture porn film Martyrs [2008].) Then a fish-man, one of the Deep Ones from Lovecraft’s story “The Shadow over Innsmouth” (1931), swims into the pool, and throughout most of Neonomicon #3 repeatedly rapes Brears, except for the time she jerks off the creature instead.
If this isn’t offensive enough, Moore defines his characters in ways that allow him to both critique and wallow in Lovecraft’s prejudices. Lovecraft was racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic: as a young man, he wrote a poem titled “On the Creation of Niggers” (1912), which is as horrible as it sounds, and Lovecraft’s estranged wife claimed that his virulent anti-Semitism destroyed their relationship. (In November 2015, the World Fantasy Awards dropped the look of their trophy, a Gahan Wilson-designed bust of Lovecraft, over increasing complaints about Lovecraft’s xenophobia.) As Moore himself writes in his introduction to The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (2014): “Far from outlandish eccentricities, the fears that generated Lovecraft’s stories and opinions were precisely those of the white, middle-class, heterosexual, Protestant-descended males who were most threatened by the shifting power relationships and values of the modern world” (xiii). Lovecraft expressed his prejudices most directly, however, in the nearly one hundred thousand letters he wrote to friends and fellow writers; in his published fiction, it’s mostly hints and metaphors, as in the miscegenation terrors of “The Shadow over Innsmouth” and the latent homophobia / homoeroticism of “Herbert West: Reanimator” (1922), which Noah Berlatsky traces in his review of a volume of earlier comics adaptations of Lovecraft.
In an early promotional interview about Neonomicon, Moore described his method as bringing all of Lovecraft’s repressed “stuff”—“the racism, the anti-Semitism, the sexism, the sexual phobias which are kind of apparent in all of Lovecraft’s slimy phallic or vaginal monsters”—up to the surface of the text. Just as troubling, however, is how Moore positions his characters in these Lovecraftian pathologies. Gordon Lamper is African-American, so when Brears and Lamper descend into the sub-basement, Beeks and his group toss off racist comments like “Do you know you’re our first Black boy?” and “Show us some of that Black power.” After Mrs. Beeks shoots Lamper in the forehead, the racist epithets intensify as the cultists carry Lamper’s body out of the pool area and half-bury it in a mud room. (In Neonomicon #4, F.B.I. agents raiding the basement find Lamper’s rotting corpse.) The Lovecraftian elements of Neonomicon are unsettling, but I find the casual, tossed-off death of Lamper even more disturbing, perhaps because it reminds me of the 1964 chain-whipping, murder, and burial of James Chaney.
Lamper is a non-complicit victim in the atrocities of Neonomicon, but what about Brears? On the third page of Neonomicon #1, as she and Lamper arrive at the asylum to see Aldo Sax, Brears refers to her “breakdown,” and subsequent dialogue clarifies that she just returned to the F.B.I. after medical leave and therapy for sex-addiction, alcoholism, and low self-esteem. In a later scene in the first issue, Brears and Lamper’s boss, the considerably older Carl Perlman, takes Brears aside and tells her, “You ever want to go back to how things were, you let me know, huh?” Clearly Perlman, Brears’ boss, had sex with her when she was ill and vulnerable, and here he volunteers to continue his exploitation the minute she’s out of the hospital. (This is another similarity that Neonomicon has to The Silence of the Lambs, where Clarice Starling is surrounded by alpha male F.B.I. agents who display sexism is ways only slightly less obvious than Perlman’s lechery.) Perlman’s behavior is Moore’s way of letting us know that the fish-man isn’t the only rapist in Neonomicon. After Perlman’s offer to return to “how things were,” we see Brears standing isolated from the male agents, a sad, pained look on her face:
Brears’ slumped shoulders and slightly bowed head (nicely captured by Burrows) convey defeat. She knows she’s returned to a job where she will be defined by her sex addiction, by the men who took advantage of her or wish they’d done so. Brears’ situation is “a particularly lucid exposé of the predicaments and contradictions of women’s existence under patriarchy,” and our sympathies lie with the vulnerable woman trapped in the torturous environment.
When Brears’ situation becomes even more horrible in the Beeks’ torture pool, Moore makes provocative creative choices when representing her victimization. As she is raped, Brears passes out, but even her dreams have been colonized: she envisions herself naked in a Lovecraftian city, as Johnny Carcosa strolls into her subconscious, speaks with her, and kisses her. In a curiously affectless tone, Brears seems to eroticize the rape as she describes her plight to Carcosa:
One aspect of The Courtyard and Neonomicon that annoys me is Carcosa’s lisp, created by the thin membrane of flesh across his mouth. During their conversation, he notes that he and Brears are dreaming of the sunken city of R’lyeh (“Thith ith R’lyeh. R’lyeh ith in you”), where the cosmic entity Cthulhu is imprisoned, and he also calls Brears “a nun, thee, athian merry,” a phrase she eventually realizes is “Annunciation Mary.” The kicker of Neonomicon is that the fish-man impregnates Brears with Cthulhu. She is the not-so-virginal Mary of a new Dark Age that will wipe humanity off the earth. In keeping with Moore’s desire to expose the sexual connotations of Lovecraft’s images, R’lyeh, the city at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, is a metaphor for Brears’ womb.
How does Brears feel about being the apocalyptic “Annunciation Mary”? In the last chapter of Neonomicon, Brears explains her experiences to Aldo Sax, the one person “who might understand,” and reveals that she is pregnant with Cthulhu. Then this page, the second-to-last page of the story:
“Although, y’know, I imagine my mind’s being influenced”: Brears has been mentally, as well as physically, raped. (I’m old enough to remember how Marcus used the “subtle manipulation” of brainwashing machines to rape Ms. Marvel in Avengers #200 [October 1980].) Brears’ personality undergoes a wrenching shift. Previously, she was a law enforcement agent, but she now considers our entire species “vermin” and our civilization “bullshit,” even as her self-esteem problems are cured. As Annunciation Mary, she is reduced to nothing more than a vessel for Cthulhu. Sax calls her a “goddess,” but that kind of worship is just another refusal to treat her as an autonomous person, another form of rape. (I’m reminded of a gag from one of Steve Martin’s early Saturday Night Live appearances: “I believe you should put a woman on a pedestal…high enough so you can look up her dress.”) Brears is both Annunciation Mary and a "dirty fucking whore," a piece of meat to be indiscriminately fucked and brainwashed: she is trapped in a monstrous literalization of the Madonna/whore complex. Even if we stripped the narrative of supernatural elements like the fish-man and Cthulhu, Brears would still be victimized by the all-too-mortal misogyny of Perlman and the Beeks, and that is the true horror of Neonomicon.
Alfred Hitchcock: "I'm a writer and, therefore, automatically a suspicious character."
And so we arrive at Providence, which is, at least so far, a prequel to The Courtyard and Neonomicon, set in the same fictional world. There are numerous connections between all three works. The domed cities of The Courtyard and Neonomicon, for instance, are explained in Providence as a defense against dangerous meteorites, following an 1882 crash in Manchester, New Hampshire that brought a pestilence to the land. Moore and Burrows’ meteorite is borrowed directly from Lovecraft’s short story “The Colour Out of Space” (1927), and in Providence Moore assembles the major Lovecraft characters, locales, and plots into a single coherent narrative. By re-envisioning both Lovecraft and his own earlier contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos, Moore creates a network of allusions that supports all the events of Providence’s plot. It’s possible to read and understand Providence without a familiarity with Lovecraft, The Courtyard, and Neonomicon, but I wouldn’t want to.
Providence is set in 1919, immediately after World War I (or what a group of fish-human hybrids calls “the Great Dry Cull”), and tells the story of Robert Black, a reporter for the New York Herald who is galvanized by an encounter with a scientist named Dr. Alvarez. In Providence #1, Black and Alvarez have a long talk about, in Black’s words, “a buried or concealed America composed of everybody’s secret lives. I could imagine a whole hidden world of individuals trading occult or exotic science lore and information, a society of characters as striking as Alvarez that conducts itself unseen below the daily fabric of America.” Hints of this occult underworld inspire Black to resign from the Herald, and travel to Massachusetts and New Hampshire to conduct research about this “hidden world” for a book (Marblehead: An American Undertow) he wants to write. The first four issues of Providence feature Black interviewing eccentric characters associated with the occult underground—Alvarez, book seller Robert Suydam (#2), trader Tobit Boggs (#3), and Garland Wheatley and his reclusive family (#4)—but Black is skeptical of the power of this underground until, in Providence #5-6, he is victimized by indisputably uncanny mystical forces.
Black is no stranger to secrets. In early 20th-century New York, he is Jewish and gay, and hides both from many of the people in his life, such as his co-workers at the Herald. (He is, however, well connected to the New York gay underground, and actively pursues liaisons with men of a “kindred spirit” during his research trip.) Moore has noted that he’d made Black gay and Jewish to explore what it means to be an “outsider,” but not in a way that emphasizes Black’s involvement with some sort of proto-identity politics. Rather, Black is a meta-commentary on Lovecraft’s own personal (and perhaps unwarranted) sense of alienation. As Moore points out, Lovecraft “saw himself as a stranger in the 20th century, as an outsider,” but he also shared, and expressed in virulent terms, the anti-Semitic and anti-African prejudices of dominant WASP society. Moore again: “In Providence, we kind of examine the idea of the outsider. Who is the real outsider? Is it Robert Black? Is it any of the characters we meet during the course of Providence where their outsider status might perhaps be more profound? Providence gives us a chance to look at that and Robert Black seemed like an interesting character for it.” Like Lovecraft, Black is much less of an outsider, and much more of a mouthpiece for "normal" society, than he thinks he is.
Because he has this inflated sense of himself as an “outsider,” even while he espouses and practices the same conservatism as Lovecraft, Black is often unsympathetic and unlikable. In Providence #1, Black has fallen in love with Jonathan “Lillian” Russell, an effeminate member of the Manhattan gay demimonde, but ends their affair when he discovers that Lillian is an acquaintance of his New York Herald employer and editor. A flashback portrays the moment when Black abandons Lillian:
This panel is clever, since Providence #1 riffs on the Lovecraft story “Cool Air” (1928)—about a scientist who prolongs his life by living in a chilled apartment—even while Lillian realizes Black is emotionally “cold.” (Ironically, Moore’s scientist, Dr. Alvarez, is a frozen zombie who has a more loving relationship with his landlady than the biologically-alive Black can sustain with Lillian.) For Black, his hypocritical façade of normalcy is more important than the man he loves.
Black’s hypocrisy and cowardice are emphasized by the passages we read from his personal diary. Moore and Burrows include excerpts from prose texts in the final pages of each issue of Providence—just as Moore and Gibbons do at the end of each chapter of Watchmen—and almost all of these appendices are from Black’s “Commonplace Book,” a diary of his travels and research. These Commonplace Book passages combine with Providence’s dominant story to illuminate Black’s personality and states of mind, and not usually to his credit. At the conclusion of the words-and-pictures section of Providence #1, for instance, Black discovers that Lillian, driven by heartbreak, has committed suicide, and the prose diary excerpt that follows is mournful: Black begins by writing that he’ll never “stroke that hair” and “cup that chin” again, and ends with “My Lily’s dead, because I am a coward and because I keep pretending. I’m not any kind of writer.” Black then scratches out these words, and spends the rest of Providence’s six issues running away from his guilt and pain over Lillian’s death. In subsequent diary passages, Lillian is barely mentioned, as Black chronicles in detail his short-lived crushes and affairs with men he meets during his travels: detective Tom Malone, an Irish laborer named Brendan he picks up around Times Square, and an unnamed “flame” he meets in Athol, Massachusetts.
Tom Malone comes off best in Black’s diary—perhaps because they spend very little time together and never consummate their attraction—but Black is snobby and judgmental about his actual lovers. He describes Brendan as a “bore” who ruined their encounter by “opening his mouth,” and speculates that “if an uncommon thought or word had ever resonated in that vaguely ox-like skull it would have thrown him into seizure.” The Athol flame is derided for his “ridiculous and vacuous attempts at conversation.” Similar rhetoric is used to describe other people in Black’s life, particularly his New York Herald co-workers. His editor Ephraim Posey is a pompous martinet (“Our Lords & Masters”), his fellow reporter Freddy Dix is “hopeless,” and secretary Prissy Turner commits the sin of her own crush on Black: she is described as “making googy eyes” at him, before she “started squeaking in her usual empty-headed fashion.” Later, in the mid-August diary excerpts in the back of Providence #4, Black refers to Prissy as a “scatterbrain,” yet still compares her “favorably” to his Athol lover: “Beside my current very temporary romantic interest, Prissy is Sir Isaac Newton.” Then Black schemes to check out of his hotel and continue his research trip without saying goodbye to his “temporary romantic interest.” The Robert Black in the comic-book Providence story is cultured, mild-mannered, and unfailingly polite, but the diaries show that he’s secretly a gossipy jerk, a character in desperate need of a comeuppance.
Alfred Hitchcock: "I have a feeling that inside you somewhere, there's somebody nobody knows about."
Even as Black hides his true feelings (and disdainful judgments) from his lovers and interview subjects, Moore’s plot leaves Black ignorant of the power of the occult societies he investigates. Black is the center of our attention—most of the story information is filtered through his encounters and perceptions—but flashbacks and contemporary scenes unmoored (pun intended) from Black’s perspective give us a fuller picture of Moore’s Lovecraftian conspiracies. The first two panels of Providence #4, for instance, are blurry and unreadable:
Later in the story, Moore replays this scene, revealing through narrative context that the earlier images are from the point-of-view of an invisible, misshapen offspring of the Wheatley family:
The tragic secret at the center of Providence #4 is that renegade magician Garland Wheatley has impregnated his own daughter in an attempt to create a prophesized herald for the Cthulhu world to come. A flashback depicts Garland Wheatley mounting his daughter Leticia, and the result is John-Divine, a creature whose existence remains hidden to Black. One irony is that Providence #4 (and specifically the observations of another uncanny Wheatley sibling, Willard) make it clear that Black is some kind of harbinger of the dark era, but Black misunderstands: he thinks that every time someone calls him “herald” or “herald-man,” they’re only referring to his previous job as a reporter at the New York Herald. Like so much of Providence, this dual discourse originates with Lovecraft. In an introduction to an anthology of the canonical Cthulhu stories, Robert Bloch credits Lovecraft with the ability to create intelligent, credible narrators whose monologues nevertheless reveal “to the reader more than the narrator himself is aware of” (The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, 1987, xxi). Across the first six issues of Providence, as Black interviews what he considers an eccentric, harmless group of would-be magicians and occult scholars, we increasingly understand the depths of the monsters and secrets he’s stirring up.
The cause of the cosmic horror in Providence is an elaborate occult history, heavily borrowed from Lovecraft, which Moore reveals to the reader through fragmentary clues. As hinted at in Providence’s main comic-book narrative, and more fully and directly described in the prose appendices, the “buried or concealed America” that Black investigates is based on the Kitab Al-Hikman Al-Najmiyya (Moore’s cognate for Lovecraft’s Necronomicon), a book of forbidden knowledge written by Khalid ibn Yazid in 703 A.D. The Kitab is revised five centuries later by an alchemist named Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf Al-Buni, and then translated into Latin and English in the 16th and 17th centuries. The English version of the Kitab is Hali’s Book of The Wisdom of The Stars, and one of the hallucinogenic climaxes of Providence #6 is Black’s first experience reading Hali’s Book in the library at St. Anselm’s, Moore’s counterpart for Miskatonic University. Hali’s Book is then brought to the New World by “fleeing Huguenot” Etienne Roulet, who, along with fellow occultists Hekeziah Massey and Japheth Colwin, establishes a secret organization based on Hali’s Book called the Stella Sapiente, which continues into the early 20th century.
This history directly impacts Black’s investigation and the structure of Providence as a whole. Hali’s Book includes instructions on four ways to prolong human life beyond a normal lifespan: through cannibalism, through temperature, through “the revival of the flesh with philtres and decanted fluids,” and through body swapping, “the eviction of a soul so that a new inhabitant might occupy the emptied vessel, with its former occupant alike interred within the sorcerer’s unwanted former residence.” Throughout the first six issues of Providence, Black meets characters who, under the influence or inspiration of Hali’s Book, have tried to cheat death. In issue #1, Dr. Alvarez lives in freezing temperatures to stay alive, while in issues #5 and #6, Black meets Dr. Hector North, a scientist who, like Lovecraft’s Herbert West, experiments with serums and fluids to revive corpses. Further, the success of some of these life-prolonging methods is proven when an uncomprehending Black meets some of the figures associated with the Stella Sapiente, who have by 1919 lived for centuries. Shadrach Annesley, the captain of the ship that brought Etienne Roulet and his wife Mathilde to America, follows a cannibalistic diet, and compares Black to a tasty salad:
Cluelessly but predictably, Black misreads Annesley’s attention as a gay cruise, writing in his Commonplace Book that “the way he looked at me it was as if he’d like to just gobble me up—and who’s to say that I’d have minded?” Later in the series, in Providence #5, Black briefly rents an attic from Hekeziah Massey, who stays alive through a method not covered in Hali’s Book: inhabitation in those non-Euclidean dimensions outlined in Lovecraft’s “The Dreams in the Witch House” (1932).
In Providence #5-6, during his visit to Manchester, New Hampshire and St. Anselm, Black meets one final original member of the Stella Sapiente, Etienne Roulet, leading to a scene that returns us to the issues of sexual violence discussed at the beginning of this essay. Soon after arriving in town, Black meets a precocious thirteen-year-old girl named Elspeth Wade, who turns out to be Roulet, perpetuating his life though a centuries-long chain of body swaps. To prove his mastery of “the eviction of a soul” technique, Elspeth/Roulet lures Black to her/his home, where s/he inhabits Black’s body, forcing Black to become the thirteen-year-old girl. Then Roulet (in Black’s body) rapes Black (in Elspeth’s body), and soon after returns to Elspeth’s body. Here are two panels from the disturbing scene:
Again there’s a Lovecraft cognate: “The Thing on the Doorstep” (1933), where a mad sorcerer named Ephraim Waite first swaps bodies with his daughter Asenath, and then transfers his consciousness into Asenath’s husband Edward Derby. In the above panels, Roulet/Black mentions how he similarly invaded Elspeth’s father’s body—and left Elspeth to die as an old man—as part of a self-preservation method he’s practiced with dozens of bodies (including, initially, his wife’s) over nearly four centuries. Slightly earlier in the scene (and immediately after the body swap), Roulet responds to Black’s shock by noting that body transference “is a strange experience, is it not? One comes at last to question even the existence of identity as a phenomenon…” These are outrageously ironic words, since Roulet’s “eviction of a soul” method privileges his needs, desires, and selfhood above all others; exhibiting his selfishness, Roulet’s first act as Black is to whip out his penis (drawn by Burrows in the most matter-of-fact, explicit way possible) and rape a thirteen-year-old girl.
At the beginning of this essay, I argued that the instances of sexual violence in Moore’s work should be read in their specific narrative contexts, and this is also true of the rape of Black/Elspeth. One purpose of the scene is closure: the first six issues of Providence have been structured around Hali’s Book—the half-veiled rumors Black hears about the text, and the information readers piece together about the life-prolonging methods explained in its pages—so it seems fitting that in the same issue Black finally reads Hali’s Book, he is also confronted with the most horrible manifestation of its lore. (It’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen in the last six issues of Providence: now that Black realizes that the Cthulhuian magic of the Stella Sapiente is real, the dynamic of the series will change.) More importantly, the rape is Black’s “punishment” for his lack of empathy. He’s a character who relentlessly judges and privately insults (in his Commonplace book) most of the people in his life, and considers himself a sexual and intellectual “outsider” even while he constantly passes as a straight man to avoid the difficulties that a true outsider would endure in early twentieth-century American society. The migration of souls puts Black in the literal body of the Other.
Of course, this rape, and Moore and Burrows’ portrayal of the act, are complicated. As Tania Modleski argues about the role of sexual violence in Hitchcock, some portrayals of rape dramatize “the predicaments and contradictions of women’s existence under patriarchy” are enacted and exposed. This process works best if readers/viewers from a spectrum of genders identify with the victim. But can Black embody the “women’s existence under patriarchy” when he is only temporarily a woman? Do Black’s unlikable qualities, so much on display in the first five issue of Providence, limit or blur our sympathy for him? Is Moore’s use of rape to stage Black’s comeuppance troubling? Does it trivialize rape? Does Black deserve such a devastating punishment? His most egregious sin is ending his relationship with Lillian, which contributes to Lillian’s subsequent suicide: does this narratively “justify” the rape? And does it need to? Horror’s great theme is the manifest unfairness of life, where the innocent are raped and murdered for no reason at all—why should Black be spared the arbitrary pain and unfairness of the genre? Moore’s Providence body-shift rape is a provocation, a nest of questions without easy answers.
I can understand that a rape survivor—or someone connected to a rape survivor, or a sensitive reader—might prefer to avoid Providence, or might criticize Moore for the frequency of sexual violence in his scripts. I’d argue, though—just as Modleski argues about Hitchcock—that Moore is almost never simply titillating or exploitative, and that Providence is an example of his thoughtful story-driven treatment of such material. The rape of Black/Elspeth brings the “four methods of prolonging life” narrative arc to completion, gives readers a unique moment of horror, and most importantly forces Black to experience life (and abuse) as a woman, as one of the Others he’d been belittling in his Commonplace Book. Perhaps his experience as Elspeth will teach Black greater empathy, and provoke him to grow past knee-jerk Lovecraftian prejudices.
This moment of sexual violence also challenges Moore’s previous cosmic worldview. A deeply optimistic work in Moore's oeuvre is Promethea (1999-2006), the story of a mystical heroine who, in the middle of the series, takes a vision quest that reveals the Kabbalic structure of the universe. The end of Promethea’s journey comes in issue #23, where she and friend (and previous Promethea) Barbara Shelley reach the Godhead, the top sphere of the Kabbalah, and dissolve into the Oneness of all creation, represented in J.H. Williams and Mick Gray’ art as a circle of radiant white and golden light:
At its most basic, the “vision quest” story in Promethea implicitly asserts two metaphysical truths: that the universe is, at its core, a beautiful and good place, and that exploring this universe can lead to ultimate knowledge and peace. After these revelations, Promethea has one more arc to go—a more traditional narrative about a battle between two Prometheas and the end of the world—but these issues are a little dull: it’s hard to build suspense when we already know, on the macro-Heavenly level, that we are all redeemed.
Providence is the antithesis of Promethea's redemption. The body-swap between Black and Roulet, an event that blurs the boundaries between identities, is sudden and wrenching even before the rape, and not an angelic transformation into Oneness. Promethea’s paradise, the site of the dissolution of the ego, is located in Keter, the highest sphere of the Kabbalic sefirot, the lattice of divine order that structures the universe, but Providence shows the power of the sefirot turned into a source of perverse and corrupted power too. In the scene in Providence #4 where Garland Wheatley impregnates his daughter Leticia in an outsider attempt to create the “herald-man,” his head is framed by the lowest sphere of the sefirot, Malkuth, the realm of the physical:
Leticia is another rape victim—she "don't remember" much about sex with her father until Garland Wheatley is possessed by some malevolent, Kabbalah-derived spirit. Perhaps this power is from Malkuth, the corrupted physical sphere, the one furthest away from Keter and true transcendence. Yet Kabbalah scholarship has long asserted the interconnectedness of the spheres, pointing out that “Kether is in Malkuth, and Malkuth is in Kether”: Wheatley’s rape of his daughter is still a manifestation of the divine. Providence’s mysticism is the dark, hidden side of Promethea’s redemption, the site where love of celestial knowledge rubs up against the fear and celebration of ignorance in the famous opening paragraph of Lovecraft's story "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928):
The more merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The science, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
Leticia's rape, and the rape scene in Providence #6, illuminates a tension in Moore's work between freedom of expression and the potency of language. On the one hand, Moore agrees with the Crumbian argument that comics are just “lines on paper, folks,” inherently distant from the real world and thus free to tell disturbing, immoral stories; this is his defense for the pederasty and bestiality of the final volume of Lost Girls (2006). On the other hand, Moore believes that language (and, by extension, media like comics that include words) can magically transform human consciousness and influence the world. Do words matter? Do lines matter? Do comics matter? Should artists follow their inspirations, no matter how perverse or taboo, or should they be aware of the real-life ramifications of their dreams made manifest?
Alfred Hitchcock: "Self-plagiarism is style."
These questions and controversies are expressed, of course, through aesthetic form. As I’ve talked up Providence among other comics fans, their opinions of Jacen Burrows have been wildly different, with some liking his cool, architectural approach, and others sorry that his art lacks gonzo energy. (One friend wishes that the splash page of Leticia’s rape had looked more “like a mind-blowing combo of Steve Ditko, Rory Hayes, and Henry Darger” and less like an airline safety brochure.) Perhaps one reason that Burrows’ art feels sterile is Moore’s decision to establish four long vertical pages—like the shape of a Cinemascope screen—as Neonomicon’s and Providence’s page grid norm. As Fritz Lang once famously said of Cinemascope, long horizontal frames are good only for “funerals and snakes"-- horizontal panels go against the verticality of the human figure, even when people are placed at the panel’s center or in symmetrical multi-person configurations. People are smaller and more fractured in a horizontal shape, and architectural and natural details fill up the fringes, creating a layout in sync with Lovecraft’s themes of the insignificance of mankind and the horrors at the periphery of perception. And Burrows’ sedate, photo-based imagery fits Providence’s slow progress towards Black’s sudden (and, through the rape, brutal) awareness of the ferocious veracity of Hali’s Book and the Stella Sapiente.
Given the thoroughness of Moore's scripts, however, Providence is very much his show, aesthetic and otherwise. After reading Moore for over three decades, I'm familiar with both the innovations he brought to the comics medium and the devices he re-uses in various works. One example of Moore repeating a technique is the hidden face of Lillian/Jonathan in the first issue of Providence. In the panel I presented earlier, as Lillian calling Black “cold,” we only see Lillian’s well-manicured hands, and this is true of every flashback of Black and Lillian alone. An earlier, happier moment of erotic intimacy, for instance, features Lillian’s hand and forearm in the right side of the panel, his wrist bent in a fey position:
During the present-day scenes of Lillian, dressed in male clothes, committing suicide at a death-assistance facility called an "exit garden" (a fixture in Moore's Lovecraftian alternate world), Moore resorts to other strategies to hide Lillian's face from us. The first page is a POV shot through Lillian’s point-of-view as he rips up love letters from Black and drops the scraps of paper into the reservoir. Lillian is shown from behind as he enters the exit garden in Bryant Park, and in extreme long shot—his face a Scott McCloudian smiley-face abstraction—as he sits in the suicide chamber, waiting for poisonous gas to kill him. All this tricky framing is Moore’s way of keeping Black’s homosexuality a surprise until the end of Providence #1.
This strategy is borrowed directly from From Hell (1999), where Moore and Eddie Campbell use hide-a-face staging in two instances: to delay our view of Sir William Gull until he becomes the monster who damages Annie Crook’s brain (at the end of chapter two, “A State of Darkness”), and to hide from us the identity of Mary Kelly, one of Gull’s would-be victims, as she escapes from Whitechapel, London, and Victorian patriarchal mysticism (as revealed at the end of chapter fourteen, “Gull, Ascending”). In all three examples—Gull and Mary Kelly in From Hell, and Lillian in Providence #1—Moore hides faces because each character needs to keep their true identity a secret. In particular, Mary Kelly and Lillian adopt camouflage to keep themselves safe in hostile, male-dominated societies, though Lillian is willing to give up the safety of his straight-man |
had inspected the scene an March 11. What was most awful, my witness told me, was having to get off his bicycle every couple of feet to pass over the countless bodies strewn through the streets. There was still a light wind blowing and some of the bodies, reduced to ashes, were simply scattering like sand. In many sectors, passage was blocked by whole incinerated crowds." References:
Guillain, Robert, I Saw Tokyo Burning (1981); Werrell, Kenneth, Blankets of Fire: US. Bombers over Japan During World War II (1996). How To Cite This Article:
"The Incendiary Bombing Raids on Tokyo, 1945," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2004).The City Council on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to approve Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandatory inclusionary housing program.
“You demanded the strongest affordable housing requirements in the nation,” de Blasio tweeted Tuesday. “Working with @NYCCouncil, that’s what we delivered.”
The plan, which received 42 votes for and five against, requires developers who have received a residential rezoning to set aside a certain number of units for below-market rate rents. The legislation will also mandate affordable housing construction in areas that undergo district-wide rezoning, with East New York the first such area likely to be impacted by the law.
Its passage was praised by the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, which represents affordable housing developers, as well as the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.
Other developers, however, have said that without 421a or a similar affordable housing incentive in place, the plan will have little impact.
The Council also approved Zoning for Quality and Affordability, which seeks to raise building heights and relax parking requirements for certain projects in an effort to spur the construction of more affordable housing. That proposal passed 40-6. — Hiten SamtaniOne of the biggest administrative hurdles facing Obamacare was the ambitious plan to verify the income and insurance status of applicants for federal health coverage subsidies. In theory, on Oct. 1 of this year, a prospective beneficiary of Obamacare was supposed to be able to visit a website like Orbitz, enter basic information, and wait as multiple state and federal government databases communicated with one another to confirm in real time the applicant’s income level, and then display the level of subsidy to which the applicant was entitled, if any. It was a level of technological sophistication unlike anything ever attempted by the government. Now, with less than three months to go before Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges are set to begin enrolling applicants, Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services is throwing up its hands. Just as it did with the employer mandate, the administration has announced it would delay the implementation of these anti-fraud procedures due to the administrative difficulty.
In a regulation released Friday and flagged by Washington Post reporters Sarah Kliff and Sandhya Somashekhar, the administration will now rely on self-reported data. You read that correctly. A man who earns $50,000 per year and gets insurance through his employer could log on to the new government website and say he earns $20,000 and gets no insurance through his employer, and the government would not even attempt to confirm that the information is accurate before forking over generous taxpayer subsidies. It’s a recipe for rampant fraud, which is already widespread in Medicare and Medicaid.
According to the rule as reported by Kliff and Somashekhar, “The exchange may accept the applicant’s attestation regarding enrollment in eligible employer-sponsored plan... without further verification” and “the Exchange may accept the attestation of projected annual household income without further verification.”
The authors’ note that if anybody is caught lying, that they would be subject to a $25,000 fine and forced to repay any excess subsidies they received. But just like a waiter who under-reports cash tips, it likely won’t be very hard to get away with lying on Obamacare forms.
With this news coming after the employer mandate delay announcement, the Obama administration has now openly conceded that it is in way over its head when it comes to implementing this unworkable law. Thus, the new strategy is to simply set up a mechanism to feed taxpayer subsidies to as many Americans as possible so that even if Obamacare is a complete train wreck, it will make enough people dependent on government to make repeal politically impossible. Republicans should seize on this immediately, and force the administration to defend a policy that would open the floodgates to fraud.Is it possible to appreciate the fighters that comprise a great rivalry as actual individuals?
Regardless of how Pacquiao-Mayweather ends (should the fight ever be made), the outcome would have little impact on Pacquiao’s overall legacy…
Since his untimely death, reflections on Joe Frazier have emphasized, correctly, that his boxing legacy is not exclusively about his rivalry with Muhammad Ali. The death of Joe Frazier provides fertile ground to ask a basic question about rivalries in boxing: is it possible to appreciate the fighters that comprise a great rivalry as individuals?
On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, Manny Pacquiao takes on Juan Manuel Marquez in the third installment of a trilogy that dates back to 2004. True fans of the sport are curious to see if Marquez can utilize his great ring generalship to outbox Pacquiao. Marquez is, after all, the last fighter to give Pacquiao a competitive fight. Most fans, however, will be watching Pacquiao-Marquez III with their mind on what Pacquiao’s performance tells us about how he might fare against Floyd “Money” Mayweather. While Pacquiao and Mayweather cannot be considered rivals in the classic sense, the fact that they haven’t fought doesn’t mean their modern legacies aren’t attached at the hip.
That their legacies are so linked is unfortunate because many of the events that define their respective greatness aren’t recent and have little to do with each other. Because Mayweather’s enigmatic career has been examined recently, we’ll focus on the exploits of Manny Pacquiao. We will do so in three different areas: technical skills, boxing accomplishments (emphasis on the pre-welterweight era) and overall legacy.
Technical Skills
Pacquiao is most often described as a “pressure fighter.” Because pressure is a nebulous concept in boxing and applies to a widely divergent set of approaches, it is mostly unhelpful in any detailed discussion of fighting styles. Pacquiao’s success, for example, is not solely about a random, non-specific pressure, but rather, how he applies a very specific kind of pressure.
Pacquiao has evolved into a devastating puncher because his physical tools and footwork facilitate forceful combination punching from any angle, with little recoil, regardless of how his body is contorted or where he is the ring. To use a basketball analogy, Pacquiao seems to always be in “triple-threat-position,” ready to throw any punch with either hand. Unlike most fighters, he doesn’t need full body extension to generate power. He doesn’t forecast his punches, doesn’t telegraph his movements and is, consequently, almost impossible to time and predict.
In addition, Pacquiao has magically turned counterpunching on its head, mastering the art of the second-order counterpunch: he uses offense to bait an opponent to counterpunch, only to exploit their counterpunching to launch an assault. It’s as if Manny Pacquiao takes advantage of fighters who think they are smarter than they are—fighters think that patience and timing can disarm Pacquiao, when Pacquiao’s barrage is actually the more calculated approach.
Boxing Accomplishments
Manny Pacquiao became well known in boxing circles after his 2003 TKO victory over Marco Antonio Barrera. At the time, Barrera sat very high on boxing’s pound-for-pound lists after a great run of victories: a clinical deconstruction of “Prince” Naseem Hamed (2001), a decision win against Erik Morales (2002, avenging a 2000 loss) and victories over Johnny Tapia (2002) and Kevin Kelley (2003, by TKO).
On the night of Nov. 15, 2003 Barrera was expected to outclass Pacquiao, who had recently moved up from the super bantamweight division and figured to be in over his head. Instead, Barrera ran into an offensive buzzsaw, suffering a TKO loss in round 11.
This was no random TKO—Barrera was thoroughly dominated and was behind on every scorecard by a wide margin at the time of the TKO. A star was born in Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s only loss since defeating Barrera in 2003 is a decision loss to Erik Morales in 2005, which he convincingly avenged twice in 2006 (first by TKO then by KO). He then knocked out an undefeated Jorge Solis (2007) and defeated Barrera again by decision (2008) before facing Juan Manuel Marquez again in 2008 (a controversial split-decision victory for Pacquiao).
To put his accomplishments in perspective: between 1998 and 2008, Pacquiao effectively defeated most of the elite fighters in the flyweight, super bantamweight, featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight divisions, none of which could be called talent-poor by any standards.
Boxing Legacy
What strikes us about Pacquiao’s decade-long run is his lack of regard for odds or expectations: he has never been shy about moving up in weight and immediately challenging the best at higher weight classes. In addition, when fighting opponents for a second or third time, Pacquiao always learns from his past experiences and comes back better prepared. He is one of the great sponges for boxing knowledge that the sport has ever seen: even after he was a world champion and among the ten best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Pacquiao continued to improve as a pure boxer.
Were Pacquiao’s career to have ended before his move to welterweight, he would have been considered a shoe-in Hall of Famer and one of the five best southpaws to ever live. His dominance at the welterweight division, however, has been so thorough, complete and awe-inspiring that it’s forced us to reconsider his boxing legacy in its entirety. Pacquiao is no longer merely a Hall of Famer, but must soon be considered among the all-time pound-for-pound greats.
Make no mistake, however—we want to see Manny Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather for all the reasons that it would be a dream matchup: the clash of styles, the drama and the inevitable trash talk from all sides. The truth, however, is that regardless of how Pacquiao-Mayweather ends (should the fight ever be made), the outcome would have little impact on Pacquiao’s overall legacy—he’s an all-time great (the same can probably be said for Mayweather).
It is for this reason that we should be careful about how much we allow talk of Pacquiao-Mayweather to dictate how we think about Manny Pacquiao. Instead, let’s appreciate greatness for what it is, while it exists. Boxing is, after all, the “hurt business,” a dangerous game where nothing, and no one, should be taken for granted.West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday warned the Democratic Party not to engage in payback when it comes to President-elect Trump's nomination to the Supreme Court or they will continue to lose a significant portion of the electorate in rural states like his who helped hand Trump the presidency.
"We have to be careful how we go down this road," Manchin said during a panel discussion at a centrist "No Labels" conference in Washington.
Manchin was referring to Senate Democrats' willingness to use the filibuster to try to block Trump's high court pick and cautioned against doing so.
"If my Democrat friends just hunker down and say, 'No, no, and hell no'…I can understand that [Republicans] are gong to say, 'Wait a minute, we have a pretty good person here. We need to give him a fair shot,'" he said. "Those types of things, I hope we're going to avoid before we get into this dysfunction that we've been in."
Manchin, a conservative-leaning Democrat who has always played an outsized role in the Republican Senate majority, is under consideration for energy secretary in the Trump administration.
After the election, Senate Democrats realized they had lost voters in states like West Virginia and the so-called Rust Belt and appointed Manchin to a leadership role in response.
On the leadership team, Manchin has said he's going to work to try to bring his party "back to the middle."
"I look at all of this … this is big change," he said. "We have big change in our country right now, and with every big change, comes opportunity."
On the flip side, he also warned Republicans not to repeal Obamacare while waiting two-to-three years to pass a replacement.
"It would be much easier," if Republicans didn't wait, he argued.
"If you say we're gong to do this and we're going to take a two- to three-year period to work out the differences, then some of my colleagues are going to say, 'Wait a minute, you've had six years and 60 votes to repeal it, and you haven't give us any alternative," he said.
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said the problems with Obamacare date back to its creation when it passed with "zero bipartisan support," which he credited with causing a lot of the "blowback" on the legislation.
Because Republicans are set to have only a 52 to 53 seat advantage in the Senate, they will be forced to use the budget reconciliation bill as a vehicle to repeal the law because it only requires a simple majority of 51 votes to pass.
"But the replacement will have to be bipartisan because we would face, perhaps at our peril, a different political landscape that will blow back because I think the American people say something very, very strongly … 'We want results moving forward,'" Daines said.
"We're going to need Sen. Manchin's to get to 60 votes [for a replacement]," he said. "And if we do that, we'll have a replacement that will stand the test of time."
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., predicted that it will be easier to get 60 votes on separate, incremental bills to replace it because "there's an understanding that where we are now has gotta change … everybody knows the system isn't working."
He suggested that the replacements could take place incrementally in separate pieces of legislation that come over the next two to three year period, including his portion of the health care bill he authored that required children of 26 years or younger to continue on their parents' insurance plans.
"We don't need to do all that in [one huge bill]," Blunt said. "There won't be a 1,500-page Republican bill that replaced the 2,700 page bill that we're moving away from. I really see that coming a piece at a time."My inbox started twitching on Friday with some “have you heard?” and “what do you know?” messages from my solid sources. So I reached out to the necessary people, which largely met with a brick wall. But now the word is slowly leaking out, and an official press release has arrived from Rane. So as much as it pains me to write this, it seems that the iconic and genuinely amazing Seattle-based Rane has been sold to inMusic.
UPDATE: NOW WITH INMUSIC PR
INMUSIC SET TO ACQUIRE RENOWNED AUDIO MANUFACTURER RANE CORPORATION Highly-regarded maker of innovative audio products and solutions for the DJ and the professional sound markets to join inMusic’s award-winning lineup of companies Cumberland, RI USA (July 6, 2015)—inMusic, Inc. (inMusic), the corporate owner of 13 premiere companies that deliver groundbreaking hardware and software solutions to the music, professional sound and consumer electronics industries, today announced that co-founders Linda Arink and Dennis Bohn have agreed to sell Rane Corporation to inMusic LLC. The transaction is set to be completed this summer. After the sale, Ms. Arink and Mr. Bohn plan to step down and retire. Rane Corporation is well-known for its cutting-edge audio products for the DJ and professional sound markets. Founded and incorporated in 1981, Rane quickly established itself as a valuable supplier to the professional sound market, with products that introduced new and innovative features, with an emphasis on performance, value and reliability. Today, Rane’s reputation for engineering excellence extends to a wide range of products, including DJ mixers, amplifiers, equalizers, networking products and crossovers. The inMusic roster of companies spans the range from keyboards, electronic percussion, recording hardware and software, loudspeakers/headphones, amplifiers/media players/signal distribution, lighting and consumer electronics. Rane’s product offerings fit perfectly within this marketing approach, significantly strengthening and broadening inMusic’s reach into several key market segments. “Rane Corporation is a great addition to inMusic,” said Jack O’Donnell, CEO of inMusic. “Rane is a dynamic, esteemed audio brand focused on enhancing DJ performance and professional sound.” “I am proud Rane is going to become a member of the inMusic family,” said Linda Arink, Finance Director for Rane. “This is the perfect new home for our company, one that will embrace the legacy of our products and grow our business to its maximum potential.” The transaction is expected to take place in summer 2016. ### About inMusic InMusic (inMusic) is a family of premier brands that includes AIR Music Technology, Akai Professional, Alesis, Alto Professional, Denon DJ, Denon Professional, ION Audio, Marantz Professional, Marq Lighting, M-Audio, MixMeister and Numark. Committed to pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo, each of inMusic’s brands is a leader in its field, providing cutting-edge products that incorporate and build upon the latest in engineering, design, and technology. About Rane Corporation Rane Corporation is an established innovator in problem-solving audio tools, professionally engineered with a focus on science, price/performance, and not frills and hype. Designed and manufactured exclusively in the United States, Rane’s product distribution is worldwide. Marketplaces are DJ (performance, club, mobile & recording), Live Sound (FOH and monitoring) and Commercial (music & paging, networked systems) featuring innovative analog and digital audio products for each category. For more information, visit www.rane.com
Details are slim, but here is what Rane has to say:
Rane Corporation is pleased to announce that cofounders Linda Arink and Dennis Bohn have agreed to sell Rane Corporation to InMusic LLC. The transaction is set to be completed this summer. After the sale Ms. Arink and Mr. Bohn plan to step down and retire. Rane is one of the most admired companies within the DJ and commercial sound industry. “Rane will continue some operations out of the Mukilteo, Washington headquarters,” says Ms. Arink. Ms. Arink feels that with the added resources, engineering talent, and additional IP, InMusic is an ideal buyer for Rane Corporation and will help it grow now and in the future.
So there you have it. And of course we’ve dug a little deeper and this is what we have gleaned from sources so far:
The owners of Rane were looking for a buyer, and inMusic clearly made the most attractive offer.
The majority of the 60+ workforce will be “permanently displaced” at the end of July.
Some engineers will remain (from the HAL/install side) in Seattle.
The DJ side of Rane will be absorbed into the Numark/Denon team at inMusic HQ.
Manufacturing will be moved to inMusic’s contractors in the far east.
UPDATE 2: The Rane DJ engineers have received written job offers from inMusic to stay in Seattle. So should they not be snapped up by other companies, there’s hope that at least some of what makes up Rane’s DNA will still be present even if manufactured outside of Seattle.
Obviously, this is breaking as we speak, and is a little light on details. I’ll fill in these gaps as and when more information arrives.
I’ve contacted inMusic looking for some official comment, and have been told that official inMusic details will be released “shortly”. Seeing as that’s an indeterminate length of time, I’ll leave you with the official Rane word along with the info we’ve received, and will have more when it’s available. But its past midnight here and this old man is off to bed.
UPDATE: inMusic press release added above
Rest assured that we’ll have a lot of comment and opinion to add, as I’m sure will you.Some seekers of voiceover talent may say they’re looking for a voice-over actor. But what they really need or expect may be someone who is much more than just a voice-over actor. It’s someone who can do double or even triple duty. In addition to playing a variety of roles in front of the microphone, professional voice-over actors often have plenty of opportunities to don a number of hats behind the scenes as well.
No, we don’t usually wash windows. But we do take on the roles of director, editor, writer, consultant – and in some cases I can even start to feel like an English teacher fixing up grammar and smoothing out vocabulary.
While these duties may not be part of a particular voice over acting job description per se, they tend to come with the territory when you’ve worked in the business long enough, especially when running your own business as a voice-over actor / entrepreneur. And they’re particularly common when you’re working with clients who are new to the scene or inexperienced with live recording sessions and the full scope of what voice-over work entails.
Many clients won’t even realize they need more than just a voice over actor for their project when contacting me for assistance. An experienced professional VO actor will be able to understand some things the client does not know, and will ask questions and offer solutions to situations that the client may be oblivious to until partway down the road of hiring talent. It’s definitely something clients should keep in mind when they’re seeking out talent; being careful to choose someone with experience who can handle all the extras the job may entail.
Your Voice-Over Actor May Also Need to Be a Director
In a voice-over session, the director is responsible for ensuring the session goes smoothly and the results mesh with the perfect sound the client is looking for. Even when I’m connecting my studio to another professional recording studio somewhere on the planet, (via ISDN, Skype, phone patch, Source Connect, ipDTL) and collaborating with the “creative team” on the line, (which could include the audio engineer, production personnel, writers, and the end client, among others) the studio engineer may act mostly as a conduit, leaving the creative team to perform the duty of directing the talent.
And at other times during a live phone patch session, I’m dealing with just one person, maybe the business owner, end client, or even video production manager, who may not be exactly sure what sound they want, and is expecting me to put on my director hat, and use my professional VO experience to interpret the copy as I see best. A voiceover actor can step in here, and I frequently do, by self-directing my own read and delivering a number of options that could work for the audience and script. After asking the client what they desire for the read during the session, I will parrot back to them what I’m hearing in their direction, and I may offer several different takes, each with a slightly different tone and feel.
This kind of self-direction always happens when we haven’t scheduled a live phone patch or ISDN session, and I am just emailed a script and expected to deliver final audio. In this instance, I use my best judgement in understanding what is needed for the vocal tone of the script, and may offer a couple of options as a sample for audio approval before proceeding with recording and editing the entire script.
In some cases, clients not only need help with the overall sound of the voice, but with the entire structure of the recording session. Do they want to record the whole script in one full take, record it in steps, or record a series of lines a few different ways (ABC series) and then review and adjust? It’s not all that uncommon to have to walk some clients through the entire process.
On the flipside, clients who conduct sessions all the time have the process down pat. They detail exactly what they want, how they want it, and provide helpful direction along the way.
Directing skills definitely come from experience in the industry, as evidenced by long-time VO talent and clients who have directed sessions numerous times and know how to get the best results out of each and every one of them.
Editor or Writer
A voice over actor’s editing duties include putting any final touches on the recording before delivery. But they sometimes start way before that point by editing or rewriting portions of the script.
Sometimes a piece of commercial voiceover copy just doesn’t fit, requiring words or entire sentences to be taken out and reworked into the script. And sometimes this needs to happen when the recording is already in session, with edits and reworking happening on the fly. You’d think copy writers and directors would time their copy, either with a stopwatch, or even by word count, to understand what can fit in 30 or 60 seconds, but often, this is not the case. Enough practice at this dilemma has given me a good handle on the word-editing process, ensuring we don’t have to cancel the session and re-book, just for copy changes to the script.
Another time editing and writing skills come into play is when the script is written by someone whose first language is not English. Certain words, incorrect verb tenses or other issues will be apparent in the script, and is something that’s usually fairly straightforward to fix while we’re moving through it. This is definitely where the English teacher part comes in.
While I haven’t been trained as an English teacher, my acting and communication experience has played a huge role in helping me with the editing and writing duties that come up. Strong writing and language skills likewise help me communicate with people not only during a live recording session, but also through email or over the telephone.
Communication skills are essential for running any business in general, and for the VO industry in particular.
An Experienced Consultant
Consultants get to provide insight, input and guidance about the voice-over project at hand, and there can be several areas that could use a little guidance. One area is the audio format type for the final recording; a question that can leave some clients baffled. If I can’t determine what audio format they need, (wav, mp3, ulaw, personal specs) I send them over to the company’s in-house production team or IT or IP person for guidance within their system.
Consulting on scripts is often related to the length, especially with outbound messages for phone scripts or short commercial spots. Some clients may not realize there is only so much copy that can fit into a 30-second spot – and the ear and mind can only take in so much information before the listener shuts down and simply won’t remember any of it.
Instead of outlining every single detail about a product, I can help clients boil it down to the most important points to mention during that 30-second ad or outbound phone message.
One more essential role voice over actors are always playing is that of student. New things pop up all the time, especially in the realm of technology. Experienced VO talent will not be afraid to learn new things – even when those things can initially seem like a real pain – as technology is constantly evolving to ultimately make our lives easier (so they say).
Making the clients’ life easier is the overall aim of any seasoned voice over actor, and most of us will have no problem playing the roles of director, editor, writer and consultant to ensure exactly that. If you’d like me to help you with one of your upcoming projects, please contact me for a voice-over services quote, custom audition or to discuss what you need.
You may also like to read the following related articles:
“A Client’s Guide to Selecting the Right Voice-Over Talent”
“6 Reasons People Trust a Female Voice Over Male Voices”
“Are You Getting Remarkable Voice-Over Service?”The CW’s Arrow is getting another classic DC Comics character — and Stephen Amell’s vigilante is getting a potential love interest.
The highly anticipated fall action-drama series is adding The Huntress for a multi-episode arc. Not only is the character coming to the show, but EW.com has also learned the role has just been filled: The Huntress will be played by Aussie TV actress Jessica De Gouw (pic below).
Introduced in 1947, The Huntress is the star of her own DC Comics series and there’s been a few iterations the character over the years. Arrow will feature the modern-era version whose alias is Helena Bertinelli. She’s the daughter of a mafia boss who vows revenge after her family is murdered. The comics had The Huntress prowling Batman’s backyard of Gotham, but we expect Arrow to keep Bertinelli close to Oliver Queen’s Starling City.
Here’s the official character description: “Helena is a potential love interest for Oliver Queen; a fellow vigilante, set on destroying her father’s organized crime empire. But Helena’s blind pursuit of revenge will put her on a collision course with the Arrow.” Expect The Huntress to show up around episode six.
The casting comes on the heels of Arrow adding Torchwood star John Barrowman in a mysterious recurring role. More on Barrowman’s casting here.
And if you haven’t seen Arrow star Stephen Amell’s shirtless The Passion of the Bowflex poster, you should take a gander here.
Oh, and here’s how the Arrow pilot was received at Comic-Con.
Last, but not least, here’s De Gouw:
Arrow premieres Wednesday, Oct. 10.Photo by Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports
(Editor's note: Welcome to Sean McIndoe's Friday grab bag, where he writes on a variety of NHL topics. You can follow him on Twitter.)
Three stars of comedy
The third star: Matt Bartkowski's mom—Normally we have a strict "No mom jokes" rule around these parts, but that doesn't apply here because this is no joke: Bartkowski's mom is the greatest:
"My boy scores!" That's flat-out awesome. And it's nice to see a Canuck mom step up and fill the void left by the Eddie Lack trade.
READ MORE: Shanahan's Latest Gut Job Sets Leafs up for Jackpot
The second star: Zenon Konopka's rabbit, Hoppy—Former NHL tough guy and current bunny enthusiast Konopka chose this week to go on a weird Twitter campaign against Wild coach Mike Yeo. Normally that would be the kind of thing you could just shrug off, but then Konopka dropped the hammer:
I'm not saying Mike Yeo is a bad coach but change is due in Minny — Zenon Konopka (@ZenonKonopka)February 10, 2016
See, you can tell Hoppy wrote that himself because of the paw print signature.
Bonus points for Yeo having to respond to the opinion of a rabbit, leading to one of the greatest NHL coach quotes of all time.
The first star: D-Boss—Earlier in the week, the internet unearthed a 2012 video of Red Wings phenom Dylan "D-Boss" Larkin and his boy-ee E-Slayer. After some initial attempts to destroy the evidence, Larkin has now owned up to his shady past.
I'd have some jokes here, but I'm too busy thanking every deity known to man that there was no YouTube back when I was a teenager, because otherwise there'd be dozens of videos of "S-Mac" sniping goals and wrecking 'tenders, by which I mean printing out Hockey League Simulator lineups on my dot matrix printer.
Outrage of the week
The issue: The Toronto Maple Leafs will celebrate their centennial season next year, and had bid for all three of the league's marquee events—the Winter Classic, the All-Star Game, and the NHL draft. But with yesterday's announcement that the draft will be in Chicago, the Leafs have officially gone 0-for-3.
The outrage: One of the league's oldest and most important franchises has been snubbed!
Is it justified: This is the perfect hockey outrage story. It's about something vaguely meaningful, but not actually important in any significant way. It involves several franchises, ensuring lots of cross-market media sniping. And it's generated just enough mild complaining that everyone else gets to be outraged about the inappropriate levels of outrage.
The reality is that the Maple Leafs were never going to get all three events. Sure, go ahead and swing for the fences, but Brian Burke's "everything to Toronto" proposal never really made sense. The Winter Classic wouldn't work, because that's an event that needs a great venue that's either huge or visually stunning (or both), and Toronto doesn't have one. The league's biggest single event of the regular season, coming to you from picturesque BMO Field? Pass.
Besides, the Leafs aren't the only team marking a milestone next year. It's also the 50-year anniversary of the 1967 expansion that welcomed the Flyers, Penguins, Blues and Kings (among other, more forgettable efforts), and those teams have as much right to celebrate as the Leafs do. Awarding the Winter Classic to St. Louis, as has been reported, would make perfect sense and be the right call by the league. And while handing the All-Star Game to the Kings was perhaps a bit puzzling given that they'd already hosted relatively recently (in 2002), the Leafs hosted in 2000, so no complaints there.
If there's one event where the Leafs really did have a strong case, it was the draft. That's an event that makes sense for a team in the middle of a rebuild. And it's not like the Blackhawks needed yet another turn in the spotlight, given that they've become the mandatory opponent in every outdoor game the league holds. But Chicago has never held the draft before, so it was due.
Add it all up, and this isn't really much of a snub, which is perhaps why so few Maple Leaf fans seem genuinely upset about it. Besides, it's not like Toronto has fallen off the NHL's map. The city will host the World Cup this summer, and is rumoured to be a lock for an outdoor game, perhaps even on Jan. 1. It won't be the Winter Classic, but it's more than most teams get. Mix in a new logo, new uniforms and (no doubt) plenty of nostalgic pregame ceremonies, and Toronto hockey fans will be just fine.
And besides, it's hard for any Maple Leaf fan to get too upset in a week where the team went out and did this. A few more years of smart moves like that, and the city may someday have a chance to reacquaint itself with the only kind of NHL celebration that really matters.
Obscure former player coach of the week
On Tuesday, Flames coach Bob Hartley sent a strong message to his team by banishing Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Lance Bouma to the pressbox for a game against Toronto.
There hasn't been much to smile about in Calgary this season. —Photo by Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports
Harley's not the first coach to use ice time to send a message to a franchise player or two, and he's not even the first to do it against the Maple Leafs. So this week, let's go back 20 years and recall a gutsy decision by our obscure player coach of the week, Steve Kasper.
Kasper was a feisty defensive forward who played for four teams over a 13-year career, one highlighted by a Selke win in 1982. He spent his first nine seasons with the Bruins, then returned to Boston as an assistant coach after his playing career was done. After a quick stint in the AHL, he was named the Bruins' head coach during the 1995 offseason at the young age of 34.
His most memorable coaching moment came three months into the first season, on Jan. 3, 1996 in a game at Maple Leaf Gardens. Unhappy with the team's effort in a 5-2 loss to the Hawks the night before, Kasper decided to send a message to two of the team's best players, Cam Neely and Kevin Stevens. Both players were dressed, and neither was told to expect anything unusual. But once the action started, Kasper kept both stars on the bench, and ended up leaving them there for the entire game. Neither player saw even one second of ice time.
Where some saw a young coach staking out his turf, others saw two proud veterans being unnecessarily humiliated on one of hockey's biggest stages. Neely in particular was both embarrassed and furious. Stevens was traded to the Kings a few weeks later, and the season would end up being Neely's last; he was forced into early retirement due to injury during the offseason.
Kasper lasted one more year in Boston, but was fired after a 61-point campaign that saw the Bruins finish dead last and snapped the team's record 29-year streak of making the playoffs. (Speaking of stars falling out of favour in Boston, that disappointing season also earned the Bruins a first overall pick that they used on a kid named Joe Thornton.)
While he and Neely never did patch things up, Kasper would go on to a long coaching and front office career at various levels, most recently with the Maple Leafs as director of pro scouting. So far, he's yet to get another shot at an NHL head coaching job.
New entries for the hockey dictionary
Prebuilding (verb)—Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts column in one of the most indispensable hockey reads of the week, and the most recent edition contained an interesting aside about the Winnipeg Jets. In discussing the recent Dustin Byfuglien extension, Friedman makes the point that the Jets "are supposed to be building, not re-building."
That's a relatively new distinction, but it's one that you're hearing more of these days. The ideas is pretty straightforward. A team that's rebuilding is stripping down and taking a step back, while a team that's building is still trying to win as much as possible today, even as it remakes a roster with a window that may not fully open until further down the road. The Sabres are rebuilding, in the traditional burn-it-to-the-ground sense, while a team like the Bruins is merely building. It makes sense.
But if we're going to break it down like that, then we really need a third category: the prebuild. A prebuilding team is one that should be rebuilding, but can't admit it yet. The team is absolutely no threat to ever win anything until it faces reality, but for whatever reason it can't. The Flames were prebuilding for the last several years of the Jarome Iginla era. The Maple Leafs were pre |
. As statesman & patriot, he was not less distinguished. He was well instructed in science of politics; had extensive knowledge of rights of his country, & proved himself, through longer life than falls to lot of most men, unshaken friend of his country, & enemy to civil & religious intolerance. He went to his grave honored as skillful legislator, righteous judge, able representative, ignited & upright governor. Charity was an inmate of his habitation. To the cry of suffering his ear was ever open, & in relief of affliction he ever delighted.
In 1763, The Reverend James Manning, a Baptist minister and an alumnus of the College of New Jersey (predecessor to today's Princeton University), was sent to Rhode Island by the Philadelphia Association of Baptist Churches in order to found a college.[1] Providence Plantations, having been the colony founded by Baptist exile and church founder, Roger Williams in the 1630s. At the same time, local Congregationalists, led by future Yale College president Ezra Stiles, were working toward a similar end. The inaugural board meeting of the Corporation of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations was held in the Old Colony House in Newport, Rhode Island. Former Royal Governors of Rhode Island under King George III Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward as well as leading Baptists the Reverend Isaac Backus and the Reverend Samuel Stillman were among those who played an instrumental role in Brown's foundation and later became American revolutionaries.
Link:
Find A Grave Memorial for Stephen Hopkins - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=502&ref=wvr
Stephen Hopkins (March 7, 1707 – July 13, 1785) was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. From a prominent Rhode Island family, Hopkins was a grandson of William Hopkins who served the colony for 40 years as Deputy, Assistant, Speaker of the House of Deputies, and Major. His great grandfather, Thomas Hopkins, was an original settler of Providence, sailing from England in 1635 with his first cousin, Benedict Arnold, who became the first governor of the Rhode Island colony under the Royal Charter of 1663.
Source: ancestry.com:
Stephen Hopkins Found 10 Records, 7 Photos and 2,568,965 Family Trees Born in Scitute R I Mar on 9 Mar 1707 to William Hopkins and Abigail Whipple.
Stephen married Sara Scott.
He passed away on 13 Jul 1785.
Family Members
Parents William Hopkins 1649-1723
Abigail Whipple 1662-1725
Spouse(s) Sara ScottNintendo of America’s Bill Trinen has hinted that Nintendo could produce Mario Maker style games for their existing franchises providing that the original game is a success when it launches sometime this year. Trinen says that Mr Tezuka is busy on the development side of things but the team at Nintendo are excited to see what the users create once the game is released.
We have nothing to announce on that now. Mr. (Takashi) Tezuka is working hard on Mario Maker and the game is progressing really nicely. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing what people are able to do with the game when it comes out. During E3, we had everyone from moms and kids to longtime Nintendo fans and newer folks who just got into gaming lately just having tons of fun with the way they’re able to create stages. Depending on how people react, we’ll see if the teams take a similar approach with other franchises.Former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been appointed special counsel to oversee the investigation into the Trump administration's alleged ties with Russia and interference in the presidential election. Many people use the term "special prosecutor", or "independent counsel". Here's what you need to know about the terms.
Who was calling for a special prosecutor, and why?
Congressional Democrats, mostly. They wanted one because they don't think the Trump administration is capable of investigating itself impartially when it comes to President Trump's ties to Russia. Those fears were exacerbated when President Trump fired the FBI director, James Comey, and further exacerbated when the existence of a memo written by Mr Comey came to light, in which he detailed how Mr Trump asked him to back off the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to recuse himself from the investigation after it was revealed that Sessions had an undisclosed meeting with the Russian ambassador before the election. "We need a real, bipartisan, transparent investigation into Russia," said Senator Elizabeth Warren at the time.
Senate Democrats call for special prosecutor as Comey's replacement still unclear
Special prosecutor or special counsel?
The formal name for a special prosecutor, in this sense, is a "special counsel." With the title come broad investigatory powers, allowing Former Director Mueller to look into the Russia matter with limited oversight. Special counsels tend to come from within the Justice Department itself -- many are U.S. Attorneys, or assistant U.S. Attorneys, but in cases where there is deemed to be potential for a conflict of interest, someone from outside the Justice Department may be appointed.
Who's a famous special counsel from the past?
When most people think of the position, they probably think of Ken Starr and his long investigation into President Clinton, which eventually resulted in a Congressional impeachment trial.
Here's the rub, though: Starr's investigation was conducted through the Office of Independent Counsel, which no longer exists, since the law establishing it expired in 1999.
That law, passed in 1978, was a response to Watergate and created a separate prosecutor office to avoid conflicts-of-interest questions by having an independent counsel appointed by a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. But again, it has expired.
Why is Robert Mueller called a "special counsel"?
It's largely terminology. The new regulations under special counsels are currently appointed refer to the position as a "special counsel." When the function was created, in response to the Watergate investigation, it was known as "special prosecutor", and the individual was appointed by a judicial panel. The only person with the power to appoint an individual in these circumstances is the Attorney General, or in this case, the Deputy Attorney General, because of Jeff Sessions' recusal.
Got it. So, who's Sessions deputy?
Rod Rosenstein. He was appointed to replace Dana Boente, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. You may remember Boente as the guy who replaced Sally Yates as acting attorney general when Yates refused to defend Trump's original travel ban in court. You may remember Rod Rosenstein as the guy whose memo was the basis for FBI Director James Comey's dismissal.
John Dickerson on Justice Department official's role in Comey firing
What are the limitations of the Special Counsel?
Peter Zeidenberg, who served as the assistant special counsel in the investigation of former White House aide Scooter Libby, argued in the Washington Post that appointing one would be a mistake.
"Prosecutors are not journalists, and their job is not to inform the public of the results of their investigations," Zeidenberg wrote. "Rather, their mission is to gather all of the relevant facts and determine whether a crime was committed and, if so, whether it can be proved in court beyond a reasonable doubt. Their work, when done properly, is done in secret."
That means that if critical evidence was found in the case but it was in, say, Russia and therefore unobtainable, "then it would be improper to seek an indictment. Critically, the entire investigation would then remain secret. It would be a violation of law for a prosecutor to make public the results of a grand jury investigation that did not result in an indictment."
So a special counsel could find incriminating information and keep it secret forever. Alternatively, a special counsel, in an effort to justify its efforts and expenditures, would have a tremendous incentive to get a prosecution even if it's unnecessary or unwarranted.
CBS News' Major Garrett, Emily Schultheis, Ellen Uchimiya, Will Rahn and Markham Nolan contributed to this story.Comedy Toknight: A Galavant Recommendation
I don’t understand why more people don’t watch Galavant.
I mean, I guess I do. Folks hear “musical” and they have already made up their mind about what kind of entertainment it is. They hear “musical television” and they get uncomfortable flashbacks of Glee and the Buffy special. They hear “musical television set in a medieval/fantasy setting” and maybe they perk back up again, until you call it a “silly, self aware mutligenre satire” and they realize it’s not Game of Thrones set to music.
They are missing out because Galavant is a delight. A laugh out loud, eminently rewatchable, well-constructed and excellently-cast experience. It’s also eight to ten episodes a season (thirty minutes an episode, two seasons so far), so it is quick and easy to consume.
Galavant tells the story of the titular knight (Joshua Sasse) and his companions. The plot isn’t all that important, as it is just there to set up the tropes Galavant eventually knocks down, but the set up is: Galavant’s lady love Madalena (Mallory Jansen) is forced into marriage by King Richard (Timothy Omundsmon). Galavant wallows until Princess Isabella (Karen David) convinces him along with his squire, Sid (Luke Youngblood) to try and rescue Madalena from Richard’s clutches, and reclaim the throne Richard has taken from Isabella’s parents.
Pretty much everyone will find Galavant funny, if they can get past the fact that it’s musical theater. The jokes are saturated into every layer of Galavant, which is why it has high rewatch value. Even the episode titles are great, including some A+ puns: “Joust Friends,” “About Last Knight,” and “Aw, Hell, The King.” My personal favorite is the season two opener: “A New Season aka Suck It Cancellation Bear.”
I would hazard that Galavant prioritizes comedic ability over singing talent, but that’s just fine for the brand it has cultivated. It’s not as if they don’t take the musical theater aspect seriously–the score is by the famed broadway duo Glenn Slater and Alan Menken. It’s moreso that they don’t take themselves too seriously. After the final epic notes of “A Hero’s Journey” near the start of season one, Galavant begins to wheeze. “Oh, holy s***, I’m out of shape. My tummy hurts. That was a long song.”
Although the entire main cast is wonderful, Omundsmon’s King Richard seems to be the fan favorite. With lines like: “sure I’ll kidnap a woman and force her to marry me. But after that, I’m all about a woman’s rights. I’m a modern 13th century man,” it isn’t hard to see why.
“I think we’ve got something really good going on here,” Galavant, the dashing white male lead, says to his companions in the fourth episode of season one. “We’re gorgeous, very diverse.” “We are diverse,” Isabella replies (Karen David is of Asian descent). “Super diverse” says Sid, the Black Jewish squire. This is an example of the kind of breaking-the-fourth-wall brand of humor that is a constant presence in Galavant. Unfortunately, I would say it’s not strictly true–while it’s marvelous those two characters are of color, (especially the romantic female lead) the representation train stops there. All other main characters are white, and skew male. The queer presence is next to nil, except in mild punchline form in season two. If (and this is an unfortunately large if) Galavant gets a third season, I would like to see the show take steps to diversify their characters and cast.
Sometimes celebrity guest stars can be aggravating; not so with Galavant. These include John Stamos, Weird Al Yankovic, Ricky Gervais, and Kylie Minogue. This is another instance where the musical theater format is a huge boon for the show. These celebs can deliver single serving songs and scenes and then be on their merry way, and no one has to wonder why or where they went; it’s just a normal part of the genre.
Galavant might not get another shot at being on television, and while that would be a shame, at least they took the time to tie up their main storyline at the end of the second season. If all of Galavant ends up being eighteen stellar episodes, that’s still a net positive for television entertainment.
If you’d rather read this recommendation in the style of Galavant’s theme, here you go:
This year on ABC,
A show was filled with glee
But no, it wasn’t Glee, it’s Galavant!
This one has singing too
Guest stars out the wazoo
It also starts with G, it’s Galavant!
Please! if you’ve a mind you have to try it
Self-aware and a laugh riot
Phew! I hope it gets renewed!
And not just on hulu!
Because it’s truly Gaaaaa-laaaaa-vaaaant!
Author: K-K Bracken K-K Bracken grew up overseas and in the Washington, DC area, went to the Ohio State University to get her BA in English, and has been in Columbus, Ohio ever since. She is currently querying her first novel ORCHESTRATION under the name Bracken Beveridge. She is the founder and organizer for the first Steven Universe exclusive fan convention, Beach City Con. Twitter
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Like this: Like Loading...A top State Department spokesman on Thursday boasted that his department is open and transparent, but could hardly finish the sentence before erupting in laughter.
"Welcome to the State Department," spokesman Mark Toner said. "I think we have some interns in the back. Welcome. Good to see you in this exercise in transparency and democracy."
Toner then burst out laughing at his own comments as reporters in the room laughed with him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to break out laughing there," he said. The incident prompted Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee to say, "I thought it was an exercise in spin and obfuscation."
Toner proceeded to give a live example of why he was laughing at the idea that State is open and transparent. Toner was asked if he could share more details about the controversial $400 million cash payment to Iran, just as Iran was releasing four U.S. hostages.
When asked Thursday if he could shed any more light on the controversial payment, Toner said he couldn't be any more transparent.
"We generally make a practice of not commenting publicly on the details of these kinds of transactions, such as settlement payments," he said. "We don't normally identify the parties involved, and that's just due to the confidential nature of these transactions."
He also said he couldn't even confirm the details of the cash payment as reported by the Wall Street Journal. "Not prepared to confirm them."
When it was pointed out that his answers weren't very transparent, Toner said, "your point is well taken."
The State Department has come under fire for years for failing to be as transparent as it claims. For example, it took several months for it to finally release the emails it had from former Secretary Hillary Clinton, which it only did pursuant to a court order.
Then, State learned that thousands of additional emails that Clinton erased had been captured by the FBI. State has said it would release those as well, but has not given a timeline.
This year, after it was discovered that one of its press briefing videos was altered, State Department spokespeople said immediately that it was just a "glitch." Three weeks later, State finally admitted the video was altered intentionally, but it then said it had no further ideas on how to investigate how this happened.
Only after Secretary of State John Kerry demanded a more thorough investigation did officials agree to look again, but eight weeks later, no progress has been made.White-nationalist protesters march through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville on Aug. 11. (Mykal McEldowney/The Indianapolis Star via Associated Press)
Casey Michel is a journalist based in New York.
America’s white nationalists may bear swastikas, raise Nazi salutes and cheer for the protection of “Blut und Boden” (blood and soil) for all to see. They may say “Heil Trump!” and laud the legacy of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell.
But for these American white supremacists, it’s not Nazi Germany to which they look.
It’s Russia.
It doesn’t take much to gather white nationalists’ affections for modern Moscow — a regime whose model they want to bring to bear in the United States. For David Duke, who has seen his books sold in the Russian Duma, Moscow remains the “key to white survival.” For Richard Spencer, a founding member of the alt-right’s rogues’ gallery — and someone married to the translator of Alexander Dugin, Russia’s illiberal polemicist extraordinaire — the Kremlin stands as the “most powerful white power in the world.” For Matthew Heimbach, who has said he would like to see the United States fracture on ethnic lines, Vladimir Putin has transformed into the “leader of the free world.”
Ignore the multi-confessional, multiethnic nature of the Russian state. Ignore the fact that Moscow maintains the largest mosque in Europe, or that Putin’s Russia contains one of the largest swaths of immigrants outside of the United States. These alt-right actors have proved to be more than capable of disregarding these base realities. For the white supremacists who brought bloodshed to Charlottesville, Russia remains the last, best hope for the world they would wish in Washington.
And Russia has proved to be only too willing to cater to these groups. While Moscow’s relations with neo-fascist contingents across Europe — in France, in Hungary — are well-known, less has been said about its extensive efforts to cultivate like-minded actors in the United States.
In 2015, for instance, St. Petersburg hosted one of the most outspoken gatherings of far-right ideologues Europe has seen in years. With speakers rotating across the dais, a pair of Americans — Jared Taylor and Sam Dickson — railed against Washington’s turn toward civil rights and racial equality. Taylor, a man Spencer himself has cited as inspiration for his political baptism into white nationalism, and a man who recorded robocalls on behalf of Trump during the campaign, joined Dickson, erstwhile lawyer for the Ku Klux Klan, as the latter praised Putin for encouraging high birthrates among white Russians. The organization pulling the Americans to the conference was itself an outgrowth of a Russian party founded by Dmitry Rogozin, Moscow’s deputy prime minister.
And Moscow’s government mouthpieces have enthusiastically promoted the views of American neo-Nazis and white nationalists. Not only have Spencer and his wife been welcomed as geopolitical analysts on Kremlin-funded outposts such as RT and Sputnik, but these outlets have also proved eager to flame far-right fringe theory. During the 2015 Jade Helm controversy — when armed, hard-right U.S. militias became convinced that President Barack Obama was set to “invade” Texas, among other states — one of RT’s hosts wailed that there was little doubt Jade Helm’s planning had “started some kind of war … between America and itself.”
This screeching came as the FBI picked up a trio of North Carolinians who were planning a series of bomb attacks in apparent retaliation for Jade Helm’s supposed plans. One of the people behind the attempted car-bombings in Kansas last year, which would have slaughtered dozens of members of a local refugee population, had also posted material both from RT and praising Putin. And, to be sure, Russia doesn’t just back far-right fringe voices in the United States: RT even hosted the U.S. Green Party’s 2016 debate — and went above and beyond any other media outlet in pushing the candidacy of Jill Stein, catering equally to far-left cohorts.
None of this, of course, is to say that the recent carnage in Charlottesville is directly attributable to Moscow, or that James Alex Fields Jr., the alleged domestic terrorist behind the attack, worked as some part of a broader slate of Russian active measures. We have not yet learned of evidence that Fields espoused pro-Putin, pro-Kremlin views.
But you can’t separate Fields’s presence in Virginia from the faces, the figures and the fascists running the “Unite the Right” rally, including Spencer, Heimbach and Duke. After all, the purpose of the Kremlin’s campaign of interference in the recent presidential election wasn’t solely to stack the White House with friendly faces. It wasn’t simply to lift a raft of oil and gas sanctions, or to regain access to Western credit markets.
It was, instead, a campaign predicated on turning the United States against itself. Of cultivating, encouraging and goading groups that would create internal disruption and prevent the United States from promoting a liberal, international order.
An America rending itself apart is a fervent dream for those cloaked in power in Moscow. After Charlottesville — and after Trump revealed that he has little capacity for condemning white nationalists — the United States is one step closer to granting the Kremlin’s wish.
Little surprise, then, that over the past year Russia has also cultivated American secessionists from Texas, Puerto Rico and California. These are, after all, the ideological descendants of the Confederates whose vestiges continue to bring wrack and ruin upon the country. And they are, like the white nationalists currently leading a campaign of domestic terrorism, witting agents in Moscow’s efforts to implode Trump’s America.Accused: Louis Richardson, the Durham history student who was accused of rape, said he suffered '15 months of absolute hell'
A woman who claimed she was raped by a high-flying university student made a bombshell request to drop her allegations before the controversial case came to trial.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal the female student told police she wanted to withdraw her claims against fellow undergraduate Louis Richardson, 21, in the summer of 2014.
But she was told it was ‘out of her hands’ and she proceeded to give evidence against the innocent history student, who said he had suffered ‘15 months of absolute hell’ after a jury took just three hours to acquit him last week.
The astonishing revelation heaps further pressure on police and prosecutors who have come under fire over their handling of the case, which has sparked nationwide calls to protect the identity of rape defendants until they are found guilty.
Mr Richardson, of St Helier, Jersey, resigned as secretary of Durham University’s prestigious debating society and was suspended from his studies after the woman alleged he had raped her in his bedroom in March 2014 when she was ‘crazy drunk’, and had sexually assaulted her at a party two months later.
But as he tries to rebuild his shattered life, Durham Police and the Crown Prosecution Service last night refused to answer why his 20-year-old accuser – who has been granted lifelong anonymity – was persuaded to change her mind and give evidence at Durham Crown Court via video link. Jurors heard claims that the young woman – branded ‘highly manipulative, dishonest and dangerous’ by Mr Richardson’s barrister – had continued to have consensual casual sex with him for weeks after the night of the alleged rape.
The law student, who has a history of depression and self-harm, also sent Mr Richardson flirtatious Facebook messages, including a photo of her cleavage, despite being in a relationship with another man at the time.
She made the rape allegation in June 2014 when she confessed to the affair while on holiday with her then-boyfriend, who urged her to contact police.
In previously unreported comments, defence barrister Philippa McAtasney QC told the jury the woman tried to retract her accusations, which she had invented to salve her cheating conscience. She said: ‘She told her boyfriend she had been raped, in wholly different circumstances to what happened. She had no alternative, if she was going to stay with her boyfriend, but to follow through with that complaint.
False claims: It has emerged that the fellow student who accused him - who cannot be identified - tried to drop her allegations in the summer of 2014, before the case came to court, but she was told it was out of her hands
‘She told a police officer she was still seeing her boyfriend. You know he dumped her shortly after. She told her counsellor they split in the summer. After being dumped she did try to withdraw the allegations but it was, in effect, out of her hands by then. Once she has reported it she has started a process she could not halt. Although she tried to drop the charges, she couldn’t realistically.’
During cross-examination, the woman admitted she had wanted to withdraw her allegations with the police but that she had then decided to go through with it. Asked why, she claimed: ‘I didn’t want anyone else to go through that [rape].’
A legal source said the woman may have felt pressure to take her allegations to court because of procedures that are in place to protect victims from witness intimidation. It is possible that at one stage she had been worried about the ordeal of a trial.
She told her boyfriend she had been raped, in wholly different circumstances to what happened. She had no alternative, if she was going to stay with her boyfriend, but to follow through with that complaint… After being dumped she did try to withdraw the allegations but it was, in effect, out of her hands by then… Defence barrister Philippa McAtasney QC
CPS guidelines state that police officers must investigate why a rape complainant wants to drop the case, and that it does not automatically halt criminal proceedings.
The rule says prosecutors ‘will ask the police to give their views about the evidence in the case and how they think the victim might react if they are compelled to attend court’. James Conte, from the campaign group Accused.Me.UK, said: ‘This is not an uncommon story. The police are under so much pressure to investigate these cases that it has been known that women have been threatened with wasting police time or perverting the course of justice.
‘They are in a difficult position, so just go through with it. The way the system works is a gross failure.’
The Mail on Sunday asked Durham Police and CPS North East to clarify whether the woman was pressured into giving evidence. Both declined to answer.
In a prepared statement, a CPS spokesman said: ‘Taking all the evidence into consideration and in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, it was decided that there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that it was in the public interest to prosecute this case. We respect the decision of the court.’
A Durham Police spokesman said: ‘Every criminal case of rape or serious sexual assault is considered on its evidential merits.’CARSON >> It has been an emotional week for the Galaxy and there is still one more game to go.
The Galaxy had to rally from a two-goal deficit for a 2-2 draw against New York on Sunday, then the club had a berth in the U.S. Open Cup final snatched away in the final minutes Wednesday against FC Dallas.
Saturday’s challenge is trying to bounce back against the Colorado Rapids (11-3-8, 41 points) in a key Western Conference match at StubHub Center (7:30 p.m.; TWCS).
“We’re playing a team that’s ahead of us in the standings, so it won’t be too hard to forget about (Wednesday),” Galaxy forward Mike Magee said. “But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sting.”
As the MLS playoff race starts to take shape, games like this are crucial for the Galaxy. The club is currently four points behind Colorado in the Western Conference and it is a home game, where the Galaxy are 6-0-5 in league competition, while Colorado is 2-3-5 on the road.
The concern facing the Galaxy will be breaking down the Colorado defense. The Rapids have allowed just 19 goals. The Galaxy have allowed the second fewest with 22.
It might have to do so without Robbie Keane. Keane was involved in a collision with New York goalkeeper Luis Robles in the first half of Sunday’s game. He came up bloodied and but eventually stayed in the game.
Galaxy coach Bruce Arena didn’t offer much of an update on Keane’s status, only to say he was hopeful that Keane would play tonight. Keane was on the training field Friday.
It was already going to be difficult to score with Keane. If he’s unavailable, then the situation really gets tough for the Galaxy. Keane, along with Giovani dos Santos, leads the team with seven goals this season.
Ten of the Rapids’ 22 games have ended either in scoreless draws or 1-0 and 14 of their games have ended with the Rapids scoring one goal or being shutout.
“One would expect a game that would be a 1-0 game,” Arena said, “since 90 percent of the games they play in are basically that score line. They work real hard as a group defensively, they haven’t scored a lot of goals, but they have capable players for sure.”
The first two meetings with the Galaxy are included in the mix. Colorado needed a 95th-minute goal to defeat the Galaxy 1-0 in their first meeting (Mar. 12). The teams met at StubHub Center, June 22 and ended in a scoreless draw.
“They work their butts off, they run a ton and they added a couple of players, Tim Howard and Jermaine Jones, since the last time we played them,” Magee said. “They’re a great team and it is going to be a great test.
“The way they’re playing is really effective. They have a group of guys that battles for each other and fight and they don’t mind defending, they don’t concede goals, which obviously makes it easier to win. They’re really hard to play against.”
COLORADO RAPIDS at GALAXY
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. at StubHub Center
TV/Radio: Time Warner Cable SportsNet; KTMZ.1220
Update: The Rapids (11-3-8, 41) are in second place in the Western Conference. This is the third meeting of the season between the teams. Colorado has a different look since the last meeting with U.S. national team goalkeeper Tim Howard joined the club. Howard has started the last six games, posting a 2-1-3 record. Colorado also picked up midfielder Sebastien LeToux from Philadelphia before the close of the transfer window. The Galaxy will be without midfielder Jeff Larentowicz, who will be serving a one-game suspension for a foul against the New York Red Bulls last Sunday.New Zealand Prime Minister John Key (pic) says that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has given his ‘absolute commitment’ on the return of the Malaysian diplomat accused of sexual assault. ― Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 ― New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said today that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has offered his “absolute commitment” to ensure that the Malaysian diplomat accused of sexual assault will return to the island country to face justice for his alleged crime.
Key told TVNZ’s Breakfast show today, as reported by The New Zealand Herald, that the process to extradite Muhammad Rizalman Ismail was “progressing”.
“He will be back in New Zealand, that's an absolute commitment I've had from the prime minister of Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib,” Key was quoted as saying.
“I have absolutely no doubt they will follow through with that and he'll be back here and he'll go through [the court] process,” he added.
The New Zealand Herald reported yesterday New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as saying that it has begun the process to extradite Muhammad Rizalman, who was accused of trying to rape a 21-year-old Kiwi woman almost five months ago.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman reportedly said government officials had formally applied in July for Muhammad Rizalman’s extradition.
“Lawyers from both governments have been sharing documents and working through technically complex legal arrangements,” the spokesman was quoted as saying, noting that the process was complicated as there is no extradition treaty between New Zealand and Malaysia.
Muhammad Rizalman was arrested by Kiwi police on May 9 and charged a day later with alleged burglary and assault with intent to commit rape on 21-year-old Tania Billingsley, with both charges carrying the maximum penalty of a 10-year jail term.
The junior envoy’s subsequent invocation of diplomatic immunity and return home sparked an embarrassing public spat between New Zealand and Malaysia, following allegations that he had abused diplomatic privilege to escape punishment.
Muhammad Rizalman had been scheduled to be sent back to New Zealand in July, but this was delayed after a psychiatric examination found him to be depressed and withdrawn; a second round of tests was then called to determine his fitness to travel.Poster Portraits - Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon! By The Senate on 2016-02-16 18:30:00 Straight from your wall to your digital card shelf: Our new Poster Portrait series! Featuring close-up portraits of your favorite characters blended into wide shots from the films. Collect Yoda on Dagobah, overseeing Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training. Or Princess Leia, hosting the Royal Award Ceremony after the destruction of the Death Star!
Set Information:
19 card set with the 20th being the award. Today's card is Han Solo - Millennium Falcon!
Odds and Card Counts:
B&W - available for 48-hours in Regular and Master Packs - 1:20
Sepia - 1,000 - Master Pack - 1:85
Color - 150
The Color variant will be given to the top 150 fans who have the most points from pulling the B&W and Sepia Variants in a 48-hour period. Here is how points are calculated:
1 point for each B&W card you pull.
10 points for each Sepia card you pull.
Picking up "Poster Portraits B&W Bundle" from the "Credits & Special Offers" tab will give you a pack with a guaranteed B&W variant!
In addition, picking up a "Poster Portraits Sepia Bundle" will give you a pack with a guaranteed Sepia variant, a guaranteed B&W variant, and THREE Orange Base Series 3/The Force Awakens Base Series 1 cards!
NOTE: B&W and Sepia cards will be excluded from trading for 48-hours after their release. Also, in the event of a tie with points, the first tie-breaker will be the amount of Sepia cards. The next tiebreaker will be given to earlier pulls.
These posters may have adorned your bedroom wall at some point, but in Star Wars Card Trader, now you can take them with you anywhere! Head to the Cantina!Please enable Javascript to watch this video
ST. LOUIS – Rob Girardier is the beer baron of his south St. Louis home.
'This is where we eat food but it`s still packed full of Stag stuff so the whole thing is like a shrine to Stag.
This gateway city resident has a garage that will catch your eye and wet your taste buds.
And a mahogany front door that makes it clear he`s a Stag man.
This is an old Griesedieck Brothers in the black and red. Anything in the black and red is before 1957 and the bottoms are pre-1957.
From rare Mr. Magoo storyboards for Stag beer to lots and lots of neon lager signs, Rob is a fan of all things Stag related.
'It`s delicious,' says Girardier. 'I like it, its good it`s just fun and then it got to be fun they have so many cool collectable things you can get.
The Stag beer brand dates back to 1851.
The Western brewery of Belleville, Illinois produced Stag and a collection of memorabilia that is simply intoxicating for Girardier.
Although, he hasn`t been collecting his entire life.
'Seven years,' says Girardier. 'Just when AB and Inbev merged is when I started collecting.'
After abandoning other St. Louis beers, Girardier spent a few bucks on the male deer beer brand.
A fan of the malty character of the beer and the advertising and signage that came with it, Rob is showing no signs of slowing his skills of acquiring ale accessories.
'People leave stuff on my porch all the time,' says Girardier. 'I`ve had hats left on my truck and antlers left on my truck.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW8f6Er_ZO4
https://www.instagram.com/stagbobio/Senators unwilling or unable to provide documented proof of their residence are being called on the carpet and forced to explain themselves in a series of meetings with members of the Senate's internal economy committee, CBC News has learned.
Those meetings begin today. It's unclear how many or which senators will be called.
Conservative senators David Tkachuk and Carolyn Stewart Olsen will play the role of interrogator, along with Liberal Percy Downe, the CBC's James Cudmore reported.
The internal economy committee asked all senators last December to prove where they live through drivers licences, health cards and tax filings. The committee is in charge of senators' budgets and administrative matters.
The audit was ordered following media reports suggesting some senators were claiming a living allowance despite having lived in the Ottawa area for years. The allowance is intended to cover senators who have to keep a second home in Ottawa after they are appointed. MPs receive a similar allowance.
The results of the audit are expected by the end of the week.
Government Senate Leader Marjory LeBreton and Liberal Senate Leader James Cowan have asked that the results of the audit be made public. In a letter to the committee, they also said any expenses that can't be backed up should be repaid.
Nothing to be shortcircuited
Senator Mike Duffy said Friday he would repay expenses claimed for his home in Ottawa, explaining he made a mistake in declaring that his primary residence was in Prince Edward Island. Other senators, including Pamela Wallin, Mac Harb, Dennis Patterson and Patrick Brazeau, have faced questions about their expense claims and residency declarations.
Cowan said Monday that paying back the expenses may not be enough, depending on the results of the audit.
"That's not necessarily the end of it, absolutely not. It may be, but it depends on what the audit report says," Cowan said.
Emphasizing that he can't speak for any senator but himself, Cowan said he finds the form filled out by senators to be perfectly clear. If there is something confusing about a form he's filling out, he says, "You |
next day, a rerun package premiered in papers that had elected to pick it up (see below). Although Schulz did not draw any daily strips that ran past January 3, he had drawn five Sunday strips that had yet to run. The first of these appeared six days after the last daily, on January 9.
On February 13, 2000, the day after Schulz's death, the last-ever new Peanuts strip ran in papers. Three panels long, it began with Charlie Brown answering the phone with someone on the other end presumably asking for Snoopy. Charlie Brown responded with "No, I think he's writing." The next panel shows Snoopy sitting at his typewriter with the opening to a letter addressed to "Dear Friends". The final panel features a large blue sky background over which several drawings from past strips are placed. Underneath those drawings is a colorized version of Schulz's January 3 strip, with almost the same note he wrote to fans, which reads as follows:
Dear Friends,
I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost fifty years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition.
Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain the schedule demanded by a daily comic strip. My family does not wish "Peanuts" to be continued by anyone else, therefore I am announcing my retirement.
I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip.
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy... how can I ever forget them...
— Charles M. Schulz
Many other cartoonists paid tribute to Peanuts and Schulz by homages in their own strips, appearing on February 13, 2000, or in the week beforehand.[32] The comic was reprinted the day after that, but only had the farewell letter. After Peanuts ended, United Feature Syndicate began offering the newspapers that ran it a package of reprinted strips under the title Classic Peanuts. The syndicate limited the choices to either strips from the 1960s or from the 1990s, although a newspaper was also given the option to carry both reprint packages if it desired. All Sunday strips in the package, however, come from the 1960s.
Peanuts continues to be prevalent in multiple media through widespread syndication, the publication of The Complete Peanuts, the release of several new television specials (all of which Schulz had worked on, but had not finished, before his death), and Peanuts Motion Comics. Additionally, BOOM! Studios has published a series of comic books that feature new material by new writers and artists, although some of it is based on classic Schulz stories from decades past, as well as including some classic strips by Schulz, mostly Sunday color strips.
Universal Uclick's website, GoComics.com, announced on January 5, 2015, that they would be launching "Peanuts Begins", a feature rerunning the entire history of the strip from the beginning in colorized form. This was done to honor the 65th anniversary of the strip's debut.[33]
Peanuts Worldwide, LLC [ edit ]
On June 3, 2010, United Media sold all its Peanuts-related assets, including its strips and branding, to a new company, Peanuts Worldwide, LLC, a joint venture of the Iconix Brand Group (which owned 80 percent) and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates (20 percent). In addition, United Media sold its United Media Licensing arm, which represents licensing for its other properties, to Peanuts Worldwide.[34][35] United Feature Syndicate continued to syndicate the strip, until February 27, 2011, when Universal Uclick took over syndication, ending United Media's 60-plus-years stewardship of Peanuts.[36]
In May 2017, DHX Media announced that it would acquire Iconix's entertainment brands, including the 80% stake of Peanuts Worldwide and full rights to the Strawberry Shortcake brand, for $345 million.[37] DHX officially took control of the properties on June 30, 2017.[38]
On May 13, 2018, DHX announced it had reached a strategic agreement for Sony Music Entertainment Japan to acquire 49% of its 80% stake in Peanuts Worldwide for $185 million, with DHX holding a 41% stake and SMEJ owning 39%. (SMEJ's consumer products division has been a licensing agent for the Peanuts brand since 2010.)[39] The transaction was completed on July 23.[40] Two months after the sale's completion, DHX eliminated the rest of its debt by signing a five-year, multi-million dollar agency agreement with CAA-GBG Global Brand Management Group (a brand management joint venture between Creative Artists Agency and Hong Kong-based Global Brands Group) to represent the Peanuts brand in China and the rest of Asia excluding Japan.[41][42][43]
Characters [ edit ]
Peanuts Charlie Brown, the star of
The initial cast of Peanuts was small, featuring only Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty (not to be confused with Peppermint Patty) and (two days after the release of the first strip) a beagle, Snoopy. The first addition, Violet, was made on February 7, 1951. Other character introductions that soon followed were Schroeder, on May 30, 1951, as a baby; Lucy, on March 3, 1952; Lucy's baby brother Linus, on September 19, 1952 (after his existence was first mentioned on July 14); and Pig-Pen, on July 13, 1954.
Though the strip did not have a lead character at first, it soon began to focus on Charlie Brown, a character developed from some of the painful experiences of Schulz's formative years. In early strips, Charlie Brown was depicted as distinctly younger than his cohorts Patty and Shermy. His main characteristic is either self-defeating stubbornness or admirably determined persistence to try his best against all odds: he can never win a ballgame but continues playing baseball; he can never fly a kite successfully but continues to try. Though his inferiority complex was evident from the start, in the earlier strips he also got in his own jabs when verbally sparring with Patty and Shermy. Some early strips also involved romantic attractions between Charlie Brown and Patty or Violet. On September 1, 1958, Charlie Brown's father was formally revealed to be a barber (after earlier hints). In 1960, Hallmark Cards introduced the now popular line of Charlie Brown greeting cards. Charlie Brown and Snoopy reached new heights on May 18, 1969, as they became the names of the command module and lunar module, respectively, for Apollo 10.
As the years went by, Shermy, Patty, and Violet appeared less often and were demoted to supporting roles (eventually disappearing from the strip in 1969, 1976, and 1984 respectively, although Patty and Violet were still seen as late as November 27, 1997), while new major characters were introduced. Schroeder, Lucy van Pelt, and her brother Linus debuted as very young children—with Schroeder and Linus both in diapers and pre-verbal. Snoopy also started to verbalize his thoughts via thought bubbles.
One recurring theme in the strip is Charlie Brown's neighborhood baseball team. Charlie Brown is the team's player–manager and, usually, its pitcher, and Schroeder is the catcher. The other characters make up the rest of the team, including Linus as second baseman and Lucy as right fielder. Charlie Brown is a terrible pitcher, often giving up tremendous hits that either knock him off the mound or disrobe him, leaving only his shorts. The team itself is also poor, with only Snoopy, at shortstop, showing competence. The team consistently loses, but while it is often called "winless", it does win several games over the course of the strip's run, mostly when Charlie Brown is not playing, a fact he finds highly dispiriting.[44]
In the late 1950s, Snoopy, previously a minor character, began to appear more often, and in the 1960s he became a major character. The naming of Apollo 10's command module and lunar module for Charlie Brown and Snoopy respectively attests to the character's prominence at that time. Many of the strips from the 1960s onward revolve around Snoopy's active, Walter Mitty–like fantasy life, in which he imagines himself in various roles, including a World War I Flying Ace, a World Famous Author, and a college student named Joe Cool. Despite these roles' impressive names, Snoopy usually fails in his fantasies.
Schulz continued to introduce new characters, notably Peppermint Patty, a tomboyish, assertive, athletic, freckle-faced, shorts-and-sandals-wearing girl. Peppermint Patty shakes up Charlie Brown's world by calling him "Chuck", flirting with him and giving him compliments he is not sure he deserves. She also brings in a new group of friends (and heads a rival baseball team), including the strip's first black character, Franklin; a Mexican–Swedish kid named José Peterson; and Peppermint Patty's bookish sidekick Marcie, who calls Peppermint Patty "Sir" and Charlie Brown "Charles" and sometimes "Chuck" (most characters only call him "Charlie Brown", though he was known as "Charles" to Eudora, "big brother" to his sister Sally Brown, "that round-headed kid" to Snoopy, and "Brownie Charles" to Peggy Jean after misspeaking his name out of nervousness).
Several additional family members of the characters were also introduced: Charlie Brown's younger sister Sally, who became fixated on Linus; Linus and Lucy van Pelt's younger brother Rerun, who for a time almost always appeared on the back of his mother's bike; and Spike, Snoopy's desert-dwelling brother from Needles, California, who was apparently named for Schulz's own childhood dog. Snoopy also had six other siblings, and four of them made appearances in the strip (his brothers Andy, Olaf, and Marbles, and his sister Belle).
Other notable characters include Snoopy's friend Woodstock, a bird whose chirping is represented in print as hash marks but is nevertheless clearly understood by Snoopy; three of Woodstock's friends who usually appeared when on a scouting trip with Snoopy as their scout leader; Pig-Pen, the perpetually dirty boy who could raise a cloud of dust on a clean sidewalk, in a snowstorm, or inside a building; and Frieda, a girl proud of her "naturally curly hair", who owned a cat named Faron, much to Snoopy's chagrin.
Peanuts also had several recurring characters who were never seen. Some, such as the Great Pumpkin or Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), were merely figments of the cast's imaginations. Others were not imaginary, such as the Little Red-Haired Girl (Charlie Brown's perennial dream girl who finally appeared in 1998, but only in silhouette), Joe Shlabotnik (Charlie Brown's baseball hero), World War II (the vicious cat who lives next door to Snoopy—not to be confused with Frieda's cat, Faron), and Charlie Brown's unnamed pen pal, known as his "pencil-pal" after Charlie Brown fails to master the fountain pen. Adult figures appeared in the strip only once, during a four-week Sunday-comic sequence in 1954 in which Lucy plays in an amateur golf tournament, with Charlie Brown "coaching" her. At no time, however, were any adult faces seen (it was also in this sequence that Lucy's family name, van Pelt, was first revealed). There are adult voices in a few of the early strips.
Schulz also added some fantastical characters, sometimes imbuing inanimate objects with life. Charlie Brown's nemesis, the Kite-Eating Tree, is one example. Sally Brown's school building expresses thoughts and feelings about the students and the general business of being a brick building. Linus's security blanket also occasionally displays signs of anthropomorphism. Charlie Brown's pitching mound also sometimes expresses thoughts and opinions ("Why don't you learn how to pitch, you stupid kid?").
Critical reception and legacy [ edit ]
Schulz received the National Cartoonist Society Humor Comic Strip Award for Peanuts in 1962, the Reuben Award in 1955 and 1964 (the first cartoonist to receive the honor twice), the Elzie Segar Award in 1980, and the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. A Charlie Brown Christmas won a Peabody Award and an Emmy; Peanuts cartoon specials have received a total of two Peabody Awards and four Emmys. For his work on the strip, Schulz has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (as does Snoopy) and a place in the William Randolph Hearst Cartoon Hall of Fame. Peanuts was featured on the cover of Time on April 9, 1965, with the accompanying article calling it "the leader of a refreshing new breed that takes an unprecedented interest in the basics of life."[45]
The strip was declared second in a list of the "greatest comics of the 20th century" commissioned by The Comics Journal in 1999.[46] The top ranked comic was George Herriman's Krazy Kat, a strip Schulz admired (and in fact was among his biggest inspirations), and he accepted the ranking in good grace, to the point of agreeing with it.[47] In 2002 TV Guide declared Snoopy and Charlie Brown tied for 8th[48] in its list of the "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time",[49] published to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
Cartoon tributes have appeared in other comic strips since Schulz's death in 2000 and are now displayed at the Charles Schulz Museum.[50] In May 2000, many cartoonists included a reference to Peanuts in their strips. Originally planned as a tribute to Schulz's retirement, after his death that February it became a tribute to his life and career. Similarly, on October 30, 2005, several comic strips again included references to Peanuts and specifically the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown television special.
The December 1997 issue of The Comics Journal featured an extensive collection of testimonials to Peanuts. Over 40 cartoonists, from mainstream newspaper cartoonists to underground, independent comic artists, shared reflections on the power and influence of Schulz's art. Gilbert Hernandez wrote, "Peanuts was and still is for me a revelation. It's mostly from Peanuts where I was inspired to create the village of Palomar in Love and Rockets. Schulz's characters, the humor, the insight... gush, gush, gush, bow, bow, bow, grovel, grovel, grovel..." Tom Batiuk wrote: "The influence of Charles Schulz on the craft of cartooning is so pervasive it is almost taken for granted." Batiuk also described the depth of emotion in Peanuts: "Just beneath the cheerful surface were vulnerabilities and anxieties that we all experienced, but were reluctant to acknowledge. By sharing those feelings with us, Schulz showed us a vital aspect of our common humanity, which is, it seems to me, the ultimate goal of great art."[51]
In 2001, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors renamed the Sonoma County Airport, located a few miles northwest of Santa Rosa, California, the Charles M. Schulz Airport in his honor. The airport's logo features Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace (goggles/scarf), taking to the skies on top of his red doghouse (the Sopwith Camel). A bronze statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy stands in Depot Park in downtown Santa Rosa.[52]
Schulz was included in the touring exhibition "Masters of American Comics". His work was described as "psychologically complex," and his style as "perfectly in keeping with the style of its times."[15]
Despite the widespread acclaim Peanuts has received, some critics have alleged a decline in quality in the later years of its run, as Schulz frequently digressed from the more cerebral socio-psychological themes that characterized his earlier work in favor of lighter, more whimsical fare. For example, in an essay published in the New York Press at the time of the final daily strip in January 2000, "Against Snoopy," Christopher Caldwell argued that Snoopy, and the strip's increased focus on him in the 1970s, "went from being the strip's besetting artistic weakness to ruining it altogether".[17]
Television and film productions [ edit ]
Video rights to all the films and TV specials were licensed by Media Home Entertainment and Kartes Video Communications in the 1980s. In the early 1990s, the rights were acquired by Paramount Pictures and the company released all of the TV specials under their Paramount Home Video label. The distribution rights to the TV specials are now with Warner Bros. Television and Warner Home Video, who purchased the rights from Paramount in 2007 and managed by its classic animation division. Paramount holds the home media rights to all four theatrical releases, having acquired the rights to A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home following the merger of its parent Viacom with CBS; CBS' former subsidiary Cinema Center Films released the first two films in theaters and CBS/Fox Video released them on home video while Paramount handled production and home video distribution Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!). The two companies do not share distribution of the films on television; CBS Television Distribution handles the first two films while Trifecta Entertainment and Media handles the later two.
1959–1965: Beginnings [ edit ]
In addition to the strip and numerous books, the Peanuts characters have appeared in animated form on television numerous times. This started when the Ford Motor Company licensed the characters in early 1959 for a series of color television commercials for its automobiles and intros for The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show which they sponsored. While the show ended in 1961, the deal lasted another three years. The ads were animated by Bill Meléndez for Playhouse Pictures, a cartoon studio that had Ford as a client. Schulz and Meléndez became friends, and when producer Lee Mendelson decided to make a two-minute animated sequence for a TV documentary called A Boy Named Charlie Brown in 1963, he brought on Meléndez for the project.
1965–1971: Television specials and theatrical films [ edit ]
Before the documentary was completed, the three of them (with help from their sponsor, the Coca-Cola Company) produced their first half-hour animated special, the Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning A Charlie Brown Christmas, which was first aired on the CBS network on December 9, 1965. This episode is undoubtedly the most widely recognized of all Peanuts TV specials. This came after Coca-Cola asked Mendelson if he had a Christmas special. He said "yes." The next day he called Schulz up and said they were making A Charlie Brown Christmas.[citation needed]
The animated version of Peanuts differs in some aspects from the strip. In the strip, adult voices are heard, though conversations are usually only depicted from the children's end. To translate this aspect to the animated medium, the sound of a trombone with a solotone mute (created by Vince Guaraldi[citation needed] played by Dean Hubbard[53][54]) was used to simulate adult "voices." A more significant deviation from the strip was the treatment of Snoopy. In the strip, the dog's thoughts are verbalized in thought balloons; in animation, he is typically mute, his thoughts communicated through growls or laughs (voiced by Bill Meléndez), and pantomime, or by having human characters verbalizing his thoughts for him. These treatments have both been abandoned temporarily in the past. For example, they experimented with teacher dialogue in She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown. The elimination of Snoopy's "voice" is probably the most controversial aspect of the adaptations, but Schulz apparently approved of the treatment.[citation needed]
The success of A Charlie Brown Christmas was the impetus for CBS to air many more prime-time Peanuts specials over the years, beginning with Charlie Brown's All-Stars and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in 1966. In total, more than thirty animated specials were produced. Until his death in 1976, jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi composed musical scores for the specials, in particular, the piece "Linus and Lucy" which has become popularly known as the signature theme song of the Peanuts franchise. Schulz, Mendelson and Meléndez also collaborated on four theatrical feature films starring the characters, the first of which was A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969). Most of these made use of material from Schulz' strips, which were then adapted, although in other cases plots were developed in subject areas where there were minimal strips to reference.
1971–1976: Final golden years [ edit ]
The 1971 TV special Play It Again, Charlie Brown was the first time that someone other than Peter Robbins voiced Charlie Brown which in this case was Chris Inglis. The characters voices were slightly deeper than usual. It would be like that for the rest of the TV specials. In 1972, the second feature film Snoopy, Come Home was released. This was the first time that Snoopy's thoughts were communicated to the audiences. The film's theme of loss made it have as much sadness as any animation centering on Charlie Brown. Snoopy and Charlie Brown's parting, Charlie Brown's inability to cope without his friend, and Snoopy's farewell to his former owner Lila are often pointed out as poignant moments in the history of Peanuts.[by whom?] Starting with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Phil Roman would direct the specials. It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown was the last special produced during Vince Guaraldi's lifetime as he died two months before this special aired. It was dedicated to him.
1977–1981: Post-Guaraldi era [ edit ]
Ed Bogas composed the musical scores of Peanuts television specials 1977 until 1989. Judy Munsen composed the musical scores alongside Ed Bogas from 1977 until 1992. Desirée Goyette briefly composed the musical scores on and off during the 1980s. Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown was the first project done after Guaraldi's death. It used the same voice cast as You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown. It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown and What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! featured Linus & Lucy arrangement's Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen.
1982–1990: Vignettes and musicals [ edit ]
Starting with A Charlie Brown Celebration, Bill Melendez would direct the specials again. A Charlie Brown Celebration, It's an Adventure, Charlie Brown, and The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show all had vignettes while It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Snoopy!!! The Musical were musicals though there were two songs in Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!. It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown was the only special during this period in which Ed Bogas, Judy Munsen, or Desiree Goyette were not involved in music production with Paul Rodriquez as the composer. The former and latter would stop scoring the specials in 1990.
1990–2000: Charles M. Schulz's final years [ edit ]
David Benoit redid Vince Guaraldi's musical scores from 1992 until 2006. Since then, various composers have composed the musical scores in more recent productions.[citation needed] By the mid-1990s, the specials' popularity had begun to wane, and CBS showed disinterest in new specials, even rejecting It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown completely. An eight-episode TV miniseries called This is America, Charlie Brown, for instance, was released during a writer's strike. Also, NBC aired You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown in 1994 (the first special not to air on CBS) ten days before Super Bowl XXVIII. Eventually, the last Peanuts specials made during Schulz' lifetime were released direct-to-video, and no new ones were created until after the year 2000 when ABC obtained the rights to the three fall holiday specials. The Nickelodeon cable network re-aired a package of most of the specials produced before 1992, as well as The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show and This Is America, Charlie Brown, under the umbrella title You're on Nickelodeon, Charlie Brown between 1997 and 2001.
2000–present: new specials [ edit ]
Eight Peanuts-based specials have been made posthumously. Of these, three are tributes to Peanuts or other Peanuts specials, and five are completely new specials based on dialogue from the strips and ideas given to ABC by Schulz before his death. He's a Bully, Charlie Brown, was telecast on ABC on November 20, 2006, following a repeat broadcast of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Airing 43 years after the first special, the premiere of He's a Bully, Charlie Brown was watched by nearly 10 million viewers, winning its time slot and beating a Madonna concert special.[55] In the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, it was announced that a new Peanuts animated special, Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, would debut in 2011. The special was released on DVD first, on March 29, 2011, and later premiered on Fox, on November 24, 2011.
Many of the specials and feature films have also been released on various home video formats over the years. To date, 20 of the specials, the two films A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home, and the miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown have all been released to DVD.
In October 2007, Warner Bros. acquired the Peanuts catalog from Paramount for an undisclosed amount of money. As aforementioned, they now hold the worldwide distribution rights for all Peanuts properties including over 50 television specials—these are originally managed by Warner Bros. Television and Warner Bros. Television Animation. Warner has made plans to develop new specials for television as well as the direct to video market, as well as short subjects for digital distribution, and some of these have in fact already been released via Warner Premiere.[56] Paramount retains the rights to the theatrical releases, as the first two movies (A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home) are owned by CBS and distributed for home video through Paramount while CTD distributes for television, and the other two (Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)) were handled in-house by Paramount, with Trifecta holding TV distribution rights.
Peanuts Worldwide has partnered with Normaal Animation and France Télévisions to produce 500 90-second animated short films, adapted from the strip Peanuts, which aired in fall 2014, including on French television station France 3.[57]
The Peanuts Movie (2015) [ edit ]
The Peanuts Movie main characters as seen in the picture (L to R): Franklin, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Linus, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Woodstock, Sally, Schroeder, and Pig-Pen. main characters as seen in the picture (L to R): Franklin, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Linus, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Woodstock, Sally, Schroeder, and Pig-Pen.
In October 2012, it was announced that a 3D computer-animated[58] feature film titled The Peanuts Movie would be released on November 6, 2015, coinciding with the 65th anniversary of the debut of the comic strip and the 50th anniversary of the television special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Written by Charles Schulz's son, Craig, his grandson, Bryan, and Cornelius Uliano—who are also producing the film alongside Paul Feig[59]—it was animated by 20th Century Fox's Blue Sky Studios, and directed by Steve Martino, the director of Horton Hears a Who! and Ice Age: Continental Drift.[60][61] A trailer for the film was released on March 18, 2014. That same day, it was also announced that archive recordings of Bill Meléndez would be used to make up Snoopy and Woodstock's dialogue.[62]
With an opening North-American weekend of $44 million, The Peanuts Movie went on to earn over $130 million in the North-American markets, and a total of $246 million worldwide.[63]
Books [ edit ]
The Peanuts characters have been featured in many books over the years.[64] Some represented chronological reprints of the newspaper strip, while others were thematic collections such as Snoopy's Tennis Book, or collections of inspirational adages such as Happiness Is a Warm Puppy. Some single-story books were produced, such as Snoopy and the Red Baron. In addition, many of the animated television specials and feature films were adapted into book form.
The primary series of reprints was published by Rinehart & Company (later Holt, Rinehart and Winston) beginning in 1952, with the release of a collection simply titled Peanuts. This series, which presented the strips in rough chronological order (albeit with many strips omitted from each year) continued through the 1980s, after which reprint rights were handed off to various other publishers. Ballantine Books published the last original series of Peanuts reprints, including Peanuts 2000, which collected the final year of the strip's run.
Coinciding with these reprints were smaller paperback collections published by Fawcett Publications. Drawing material from the main reprints, this paperback series began with The Wonderful World of Peanuts in 1962 and continued through Lead On, Snoopy in 1992.
Charles Schulz had always resisted republication of the earliest Peanuts strips, as they did not reflect the characters as he eventually developed them. However, in 1997 he began talks with Fantagraphics Books to have the entire run of the strip, which would end up with 17,897 strips total, published chronologically in book form.[65] In addition to the post-millennium Peanuts publications are BOOM! Studios restyling of the comics and activity books, and "First Appearances" series. Its content is produced by Peanuts Studio, subsequently an arm of Peanuts Worldwide LLC.
The Complete Peanuts [ edit ]
The entire run of Peanuts, covering nearly 50 years of comic strips, was reprinted in Fantagraphics' The Complete Peanuts, a 26-volume set published over a 12-year period, consisting of two volumes per year published every May and October. The first volume (collecting strips from 1950 to 1952) was published in May 2004; the volume containing the final newspaper strips (including all the strips from 1999 and seven strips from 2000, along with the complete run of Lil' Folks[66]) was published in May 2016,[67] with a twenty-sixth volume containing outside-the-daily-strip Peanuts material by Schulz appeared in the fall of that year. A companion series, titled Peanuts Every Sunday and presenting the complete Sunday strips in color (as the main Complete Peanuts books reproduce them in black and white only), was launched in December 2013; this series will run ten volumes, with the last expected to be published in 2022.
In addition, almost all Peanuts strips are now also legally available online at GoComics.com (there are some strips missing from the digital archive). Peanuts strips were previously featured on Comics.com.
Anniversary books [ edit ]
Several books have been released to commemorate key anniversaries of Peanuts:
20th (1970) – Charlie Brown & Charlie Schulz — a tie-in with the TV documentary Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz that had aired May 22, 1969
— a tie-in with the TV documentary that had aired May 22, 1969 25th (1975) – Peanuts Jubilee
30th (1980) – Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown
35th (1985) – You Don't Look 35, Charlie Brown
40th (1990) – Charles Schulz: 40 Years of Life & Art
45th (1995) – Around the World in 45 Years
50th (2000) – Peanuts: A Golden Celebration
50th (2000) – 50 Years of Happiness: A Tribute to Charles Schulz
60th (2009) – Celebrating Peanuts[68]
Theatrical productions [ edit ]
Peanuts characters even found their way to the live stage, appearing in the musicals You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Snoopy!!! — The Musical, and in "Snoopy on Ice", a live Ice Capades-style show aimed primarily at young children, all of which have had several touring productions over the years.[69] You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown was originally a successful Off-Broadway musical that ran for four years (1967–1971) in New York City and on tour, with Gary Burghoff as the original Charlie Brown. An updated revival opened on Broadway in 1999, and by 2002 it had become the most frequently produced musical in American theatre history.[4] It was also adapted for television twice, as a live-action NBC special and an animated CBS special. Snoopy!!! The Musical was a musical comedy based on the Peanuts comic strip, originally performed at Lamb's Theatre Off-Broadway in 1982. In its 1983 run in London's West End, it won an Olivier Award. In 1988, it was adapted into an animated TV special. The New Players Theatre in London staged a revival in 2004 to honor its 21st anniversary, but some reviewers noted that its "feel good" sentiments had not aged well.[citation needed] A Charlie Brown Christmas has also been adapted to the stage, and an official stage version of the production written by Eric Schaeffer in 2013 is available from Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc.[70] The Off-Broadway drama Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead centers on the Peanuts characters becoming teenagers, though it is an unauthorized parody.[71]
Sound recordings [ edit ]
In 1962 Columbia Records issued an album titled Peanuts, with Kaye Ballard and Arthur Siegel performing (as Lucy and Charlie Brown, respectively) to music composed by Fred Karlin.
Fantasy Records issued several albums featuring Vince Guaraldi's jazz scores from the animated specials, including Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), Oh, Good Grief! (1968), Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits (1998), and Peanuts Portraits (2010). All were later reissued on CD.
Columbia Records released soundtrack albums for the films A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) and Snoopy, Come Home (1972), although neither has been reissued on CD.
Other jazz artists have recorded Peanuts-themed albums, often featuring cover versions of Guaraldi's compositions. These include Ellis Marsalis, Jr. and Wynton Marsalis (Joe Cool's Blues, 1995); George Winston (Linus & Lucy, 1996); David Benoit (Here's to You, Charlie Brown!, 2000, and Jazz for Peanuts, 2008); and Cyrus Chestnut (A Charlie Brown Christmas, 2000). The 1989 GRP Records release Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown! and the 2005 Peak Records release 40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas also include interpretations of Guaraldi's themes by various smooth jazz and blues artists.
The 1960s American rock band The Royal Guardsmen recorded several songs about Snoopy's fantasies of flying against the Red Baron in World War I, including the hit singles "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" and "Snoopy's Christmas." The first song was released without Schulz's consent, and he and UFS sued successfully for royalties but allowed the group to make future songs and even contributed album artwork for such releases as Snoopy and His Friends.
Cast recordings (in both original and revival productions) of the stage musicals You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Snoopy!!! The Musical have been released over the years.
Numerous animated Peanuts specials were adapted into book-and-record sets, issued on the "Charlie Brown Records" imprint by Disney Read-Along in the 1970s and '80s. Also issued on Charlie Brown Records, via Disneyland Records, was the soundtrack to Flashbeagle in 1984, which featured Desiree Goyette and Joey Scarbury (of "Theme from the Greatest American Hero" fame) on the title track and other songs written by Ed Bogas and Goyette.
In 1992, RCA Victor released an album of classical piano music ostensibly performed by Schroeder himself. Titled Schroeder's Greatest Hits, the album contains solo piano works by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, and others, performed by John Miller, Ronnie Zito, Ken Bichel, and Nelly Kokinos.
Amusement parks [ edit ]
In 1983, Knott's Berry Farm, in Southern California, was the first theme park to license the Peanuts characters, creating the first Camp Snoopy area and making Snoopy the park's mascot. Knott's expanded its operation in 1992 by building an indoor amusement park in the Mall of America, called Knott's Camp Snoopy. The Knott's theme parks were acquired by the national amusement park chain Cedar Fair Entertainment Company in 1997, which continued to operate Knott's Camp Snoopy park until the mall took over its operation in March 2005.[72] Cedar Fair had already licensed the Peanuts characters for use in 1992 as atmosphere,[73] so its acquisition of Knott's Berry Farm did not alter the use of those characters.
Snoopy is currently the official mascot of all the Cedar Fair parks. It was previously used in all of the park logos but it has since been removed. Cedar Fair also operated a Camp Snoopy area at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, Worlds of Fun, and Valleyfair featuring various Peanuts-themed attractions until 2011. There is still a Camp Snoopy area at Cedar Point and Knott's Berry Farm.
In 2008, Cedar Point introduced Planet Snoopy, a children's area where Peanuts Playground used to be. This area consists of family and children's rides relocated from Cedar Point's sister park Geauga Lake after its closing. The rides are inspired |
5.80 56.98 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 194 C- Not Available
Carlo Rossi - Cabernet Sauvignon
11.80 74.96 Obtained directly from Carlo Rossi Consumer Information Center $9.99 for 4L jug 5.0 125 B- 5.00
Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark
4.90 54.93 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 170 D+ 16.80
Leinenkugel's Fireside Nut Brown
4.90 60.25 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 155 C 13.40
Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss
4.90 62.67 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 149 C 12.00
Leinenkugel's Light
4.20 73.43 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 109 B- Not Available
Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest Lager
5.10 57.17 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 170 C- Not Available
Leinenkugel's Original Lager
4.70 58.93 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 152 C- 13.90
Leinenkugel's Red Lager
4.90 56.25 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 166 C- 16.20
Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy
4.20 61.57 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 130 C Not Available
Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat
4.90 56.59 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 165 C- 16.00
Foster's
5.00 65.71 Obtained directly from Miller Coors $9.99 for 12 pack 12.0 145 C+ 11.20
Fosters Premium Ale
5.50 65.51 Obtained directly from Miller Coors $1.99 for 25.4oz can 12.0 160 C+ 12.50
Sharp's
0.40 13.14 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 58 F- 12.10
Sparks 6.00 45.74 Obtained directly from Miller Coors $1.89 for 16oz 12.0 250 D 33.90
Sparks Plus 6% 6.00 44.32 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 258 D- Not Available
Sparks Plus 7% 7.00 46.32 Obtained directly from Miller Coors 12.0 288 D Not Available
Carlo Rossi - Burgundy
12.50 73.52 Obtained directly from Carlo Rossi Consumer Information Center $9.99 for 4L jug 5.0 135 B- 5.50
Wild Turkey 101 50.50 97.02 Obtained directly from [email protected] $20.99 for 750ml 1.5 124 A+ Not Available
Gin and Tonic 10.00 74.88 3 parts Schweppes tonic 1 part Tanqueray Gin 12.0 255 B- Not Available
Boddingtons Pub Ale
4.60 59.23 $6.99 per 4 pack of 16.9 oz cans 12.0 148 C- Not Available
Tecate
4.25 58.69 12.0 138 C- Not Available
Molson Canadian 67
3.00 85.33 Verified at 12.0 67 A- Not Available
Pastis pure 45.00 74.38 $24.99 per 1L 1.5 144 B- Not Available
Four Loko (all flavors)
12.00 67.86 Carbohydrates: 33.9 (12oz) - Price 2 for $5 12.0 337 C+ Not Available
Jose Cuervo Especial (Gold)
40.00 99.26 Calorie info directly from a Jose Cuervo Consumer Representative
$22.99 for 1.75L 1.5 96 A+ 0.00
Jose Cuervo Especial (Silver)
40.00 99.26 Calorie info directly from a Jose Cuervo Consumer Representative
$22.99 for 1.75L 1.5 96 A+ 0.00
Becks Pilsner
5.00 69.05 Obtained directly from Beck's Customer Service $11.99 per 12 pack 12.0 138 C+ Not Available
Beck's Dark
5.00 67.10 Obtained directly from Beck's Customer Service $7.49 per 6 pack 12.0 142 C+ Not Available
Beck's Octoberfest
5.20 73.41 Obtained directly from Beck's Customer Service $7.49 for 6 pack 12.0 135 B- Not Available
Tyskie 5.60 69.75 Calorie and carb info directly from www.millercoors.com/Our-Beers/Nutrition-Facts-codes.aspx"> Miller Coors 12.0 153 C+ 10.60
Bloody Mary 8.00 63.74 Mr & Mrs T 32 Bold & Spicy Bloody Mary Mix mixed 4 parts mix to 1 part 80 proof vodka 12.0 239 C Not Available
Margarita 10.00 45.70 3 Parts Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix, 1 part Jose Cuervo Gold 12.0 417 D Not Available
Natural Light
4.20 84.25 Obtained directly from Anheuser Busch $18.69 for 30 pack 12.0 95 B+ 3.20
Natural Ice
5.90 86.49 Lowest calorie beer with the most alcohol! Beer calories and ABV directly from Anheuser Busch
$15.99 for 30 pack 12.0 130 A- 4.00
Hurricane High Gravity
8.10 72.81 Obtained directly from Anheuser Busch $1.89 for 24oz 12.0 212 B- 13.30
Tilt Green 10% 10.00 44.63 Nutritional information obtained from: Anheuser Busch 12.0 427 D- Not Available
Champagne - Moet Imperial (White Star)
12.50 87.26 Obtained directly from [email protected] $29.99 per 750ml 5.0 114 A- Not Available
Champagne - Dom Perignon (Year 2000)
12.50 90.58 Obtained directly from [email protected] $144.99 for 750ml 5.0 110 A Not Available
Mike's "The Classic Margarita" 5.50 41.59 Obtained directly from 12.0 252 D- 35.35
Patron Anejo Tequila
40.00 97.60 Obtained directly from [email protected] $46.99 for 750ml 1.5 98 A+ 0.00
Patron Silver Tequila
40.00 95.89 Patron calories directly from [email protected] $39.99 for 750ml 1.5 99 A+ 0.00
Bass
5.10 62.30 Obtained directly from [email protected]: Bass is 5.1 percent alcohol by volume and contains 156 calories and 12.9 grams of carbs in each 12-ounce serving. $8.49 per 6 pack 12.0 156 C 12.90
Wild Turkey 80 40.00 97.23 Obtained directly from [email protected] $15.99 for 750ml 1.5 98 A+ Not Available
Twisted Tea Light - Hard Iced Tea 4.00 66.29 Obtained from 12.0 115 C+ 8.80
Bacardi 151 Rum
75.50 98.28 Obtained directly from [email protected] 23.99 for 750ml 1.5 183 A+ 0.00
Bacardi Gold Rum
40.00 97.73 Obtained directly from [email protected] $17.99 for 1.75L 1.5 98 A+ 0.00
Jack Daniels Whiskey
40.00 97.73 Obtained directly from: 1.5 98 A+ 0.00
Pig's Eye Lean Light
4.20 84.70 Obtained directly from brewery website: www.pigseyebeer.com 12.0 95 B+ 2.60
Pig's Eye Ice Beer
5.90 83.91 Obtained directly from brewery website: www.pigseyebeer.com 12.0 134 B+ 4.10
Sambuca Romana 42.00 58.17 An Italian Liqueur $25.99 for 750ml 1.5 172 C- Not Available
Franzia Crisp White Wine 9.00 68.06 Obtained directly from Franzia customer service $8.99 for 5L 5.0 105 C+ Not Available
Chianti - Davinci
13.00 82.58 $9.99 per 750ml 5.0 125 B+ Not Available
Tilt Purple 12% 12.00 43.48 Nutritional information obtained from: Anheuser Busch 12.0 526 D- Not Available
Tilt Red 12% 12.00 53.68 Nutritional information obtained from: Anheuser Busch 12.0 426 D+ 46.80
Smirnoff Twist of Green Apple Vodka 35.00 89.65 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink $12.99 for 750ml 1.5 93 A- Not Available
Johnnie Walker - Red Label 43% 43.00 97.56 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink $26.98 for 1.75L 1.5 105 A+ Not Available
Sauvingnon Blanc
13.30 73.85 Beaulieu Vineyard - 04 Coastal Estates Sauvignon Blanc 5.0 143 B- 2.50
Rumple Minze - Peppermint 50.00 72.63 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink 16.99 for 750ml 1.5 164 B- 10.00
Crown Royal - Special Reserve
40.00 99.26 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink $22.49 for 750ml 1.5 96 A+ 0.00
Smithwicks Draught
4.50 67.00 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink 12.0 128 C+ 7.10
Smirnoff Ice Light 3.20 61.60 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink $15.49 for 12 pack of 11.2 oz bottles 12.0 99 C 8.50
Captain Morgan - Private Stock 40% 40.00 93.42 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink/en-row/Pages/SearchResults.aspx?BrandId=5035&VariantId=23976 $24.99 for 750ml 1.5 102 A 1.80
Mojito
6.30 56.63 1.5 oz BACARDI Rum, 12 fresh spearmint leaves
1/2 lime, 7 oz club soda, 4 tsp. sugar
1.26 multiplier to get to 12 oz 12.0 212 C- Not Available
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
9.60 55.44 Sierra Nevada 12.0 330 C- 32.10
Seagrams 7
40.00 92.06 $20.99 1.75L bottle 1.5 104 A Not Available
Franzia Chillable Red 9.00 68.06 Obtained directly from Franzia customer service $9.99 for 5 liter box 5.0 105 C+ Not Available
Franzia Cabernet Sauvingon
12.00 90.75 Wine calories directly from Franzia customer service $9.99 for 5 liter box 5.0 105 A Not Available
Franzia Merlot Wine 12.50 94.53 Obtained directly from Franzia customer service $9.99 for 5 liter box 5.0 105 A Not Available
Franzia Shiraz Wine 13.00 93.84 Obtained directly from Franzia customer service $9.99 for 5 liter box 5.0 110 A Not Available
Captain Morgan - Long Island Iced Tea 17.00 60.44 Obtained directly from Diageo Drink $20.99 for 1.75L 1.5 67 C 6.70
Charles Shaw - Cabernet Sauvignon 12.50 83.41 $1.99 per 750ml 5.0 119 B+ Not Available
Michelob ULTRA Pomegranate Raspberry 4.00 80.24 Obtained directly from Anheuser Busch 12.0 95 B+ 5.50
Karl Strauss - Red Trolley Ale
5.80 54.72 Calorie and ABV obtained directly from Karl Strauss
$19.29 per 12 pack 12.0 202 D+ Not Available
Karl Strauss - Amber Lager
4.20 49.71 Calorie and ABV obtained directly from Karl Strauss$19.29 per 12 pack 12.0 161 D Not Available
Carlsberg Export
5.00 62.69 189 calories for 440ml 12.0 152 C Not Available
Hakutsuru Premium Sake 15.50 74.97 Info directly from representative at hakutsuru.co.jp 5.0 164 B- Not Available
Tuaca Liqueur 35.00 75.80 Info directly from Tuaca Customer Service: 1.5 fluid ounce of Tuaca contains 110 calories and 6.3 grams of carbohydrates.
$19.99 per 750ml 1.5 110 B Not Available
Disaronno - Amaretto Di Saronno 28.00 52.94 17.99 per 750ml
Calorie and ABV information confirmed by Disarrono Amaretto Consumer Services 1.5 126 D+ 13.50
Courvoisier XO Cognac 40.00 92.06 $109.99 per 750ml 1.5 104 A Not Available
Patron Gran Patron Burdeos Anejo 40.00 97.60 $387.59 for 750ml 1.5 98 A+ Not Available
Bushmills Irish Whiskey 40.00 97.23 Calorie info from Diageo Drink
$36.99 for 1.75L 1.5 98 A+ 0.00
TGIF - On The Rocks Mudslide 10.00 26.07 Calorie info directly from www.knowyourdiageodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 5.0 305 F- 26.00
Godiva - Chocolate Cream Liqueur 15.00 28.59 Calorie info from knowyourdiageodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 1.5 125 F- 2.60
Labatt Sterling
4.00 82.86 Beer calorie information directly from: 12.0 92 B+ Not Available
Sailor Jerry Spiced Navy Rum 46.00 93.26 Waiting on email back from Sailor Jerry to confirm calorie information. It is not possible that a 46% ABV drink only has 69 calories per 1oz as many other sites have listed 1.5 118 A Not Available
Duvel
8.50 76.05 330ml/198 calorie
$3.69 for 11.2oz at BevMo 12.0 213 B Not Available
Three Olives Naked Vodka 40.00 96.25 Calorie and ABV info obtained from FAQ on Three Olives/
$29.99 per 1.75L 1.5 99 A+ Not Available
Cointreau Triple Sec 40.00 66.87 Calories and ABV from: 1.5 143 C+ 11.10
Hpnotiq 17.00 36.48 Calorie information obtained directly from the manufacturer Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. (most calorie sites have the wrong info for this)
$20.99 per 750ml 1.5 111 F+ Not Available
Absinthe 50.00 77.09 1.5 155 B 0.00
Vermouth - Martini Rosso Vermouth
16.00 57.75 Calorie information directly from MARTINI & ROSSI Consumer Services 1.5 66 C- 6.00
MARTINI & ROSSI Asti 7.00 46.32 Calorie information directly from: MARTINI & ROSSI Consumer Services 5.0 120 D 15.00
MARTINI & ROSSI Extra Dry 18.00 89.33 Calorie information directly from MARTINI & ROSSI Consumer Services 5.0 160 A- 5.00
Malibu Rum
21.00 61.76 Info directly from Consumer contacts at The Absolut Company 1.5 81 C 7.50
Bulmers Light Irish Cider 4.50 86.62 Information obtained from Bulmers
330ml = 11oz 355ml = 12oz 12.0 99 A- Not Available
Wyder's Apple Cider 5.00 63.52 Nutritional info directly from the bottle
$8.99 per 6 pack 12.0 150 C 21.00
Wyder's Raspberry Cider 4.00 63.52 Nutritional info directly from the bottle
$8.99 per 6 pack 12.0 120 C 17.00
Wyder's Pear Cider 4.00 54.45 Nutritional info directly from the bottle
$8.99 per 6 pack 12.0 140 D+ 22.00
Dos Equis Amber
4.60 59.88 Obtained directly from [email protected] 12.0 146 C- Not Available
Dos Equis Lager
4.60 61.87 Obtained directly from [email protected] 12.0 142 C Not Available
Newcastle Brown Ale
4.70 64.69 Calorie and ABV obtained directly from [email protected] 12.0 138 C 9.60
Strongbow Dry Cider 5.00 67.10 Calorie info directly off 16.9oz can from BevMo 12.0 142 C+ Not Available
Asahi Super Dry
4.90 62.67 Calorie info directly from Asahi 12.0 149 C Not Available
Asahi Black
5.30 60.48 Info directly from Asahi 12.0 167 C Not Available
Bowman's Vodka 40.00 98.23 $9.69/1.75 ltr at Goody Goody Liquor 1.5 97 A+ 0.00
Hoegaarden White
4.90 58.73 Calorie info directly from info.belgium(at)inbev.com
$6.99/6-Pack 12.0 159 C- Not Available
Screwdriver
13.30 68.69 8oz orange juice / 4oz 80 proof vodka 12.0 369 C+ 24.00
Vodka and Diet Coke
13.30 98.24 4oz 80 proof Smirnoff Vodka / 8oz Diet Coke 12.0 258 A+ 0.00
Chivas Regal Premium Scotch Whisky
40.00 92.06 $46.00/1.75L 1.5 104 A 0.00
Glenfiddich Scotch Whisky 40.00 97.60 100ml = 220kcal. Calorie information from Glen Fiddich 1.5 98 A+ 0.00
Jim Beam Kentuckty Straight Bourbon Whiskey 40.00 95.29 Calorie information directly from: customercare(at)jimbeam.onlineecare.com
$11.99 for 750ml 1.5 100 A+ 0.00
Jeremiah Weed Bourbon 50.00 79.41 Calorie information directly from knowyourdiageodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 1.5 150 B Not Available
Jeremiah Weed - Spiked Cola 5.80 48.91 Calorie info directly from knowyourdiageodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 12.0 226 D Not Available
Jeremiah Weed - Roadhouse Tea 5.80 32.80 Calorie info directly from knowyourdiegodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 12.0 337 F 56.80
Jeremiah Weed - Lightning Lemonade 5.80 45.86 Calorie info directly from knowyourdiegodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 12.0 241 D Not Available
Gordons - Dry Gin 40.00 99.26 Info directly from knowyourdiegodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink
$14.99 per 1.75L at BevMo 1.5 96 A+ 0.00
Yukon Jack 50.00 73.07 Calorie info directly from knowyourdiegodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 1.5 163 B- 10.40
TGIF - On The Rocks White Russian
12.50 32.72 Calorie info directly from knowyourdiegodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 5.0 303 F 13.60
Shiner Light Blonde
4.20 80.85 Info directly from 12.0 99 B+ Not Available
Shiner Bock
4.40 59.05 Calorie info directly from Shiner 12.0 142 C- Not Available
Shiner Blonde
4.40 59.89 Calorie info directly from Shiner 12.0 140 C- Not Available
Shiner Light
4.00 63.52 Calorie info from Shiner 12.0 120 C Not Available
Shiner Hefeweizen
5.40 59.14 Calorie info from Shiner 12.0 174 C- Not Available
Labatt Blue
5.00 70.58 Calore info directly from consumeraffairs(at)nabreweries.com 12.0 135 B- Not Available
Labatt Blue Light
4.00 70.58 Calore info directly from consumeraffairs(at)nabreweries.com 12.0 108 B- Not Available
Imperial
4.60 58.44 Calore info directly from consumeraffairs(at)nabreweries.com 12.0 150 C- Not Available
Jameson Irish Whiskey 40.00 92.06 1.5 104 A Not Available
Dogfish Head 60min IPA
6.00 54.71 12.0 209 D+ Not Available
Irish Car Bomb
6.90 58.97 12 oz Guinness (4.2% ABV)
0.75 oz Baily's Irish Cream (17% ABV)
0.75 oz Jameson Whiskey (40% ABV)
.888 multipier (to get down to 12 oz.) 12.0 223 C- Not Available
Jager Bomb
8.75 38.78 4.5 oz Red Bull
1.5 oz shot of Jager
6.0 215 F+ Not Available
Long Island Iced Tea 23.80 85.74 1 oz Smirnoff Vodka, 1 oz Jose Cuervo Tequila
1 oz Captain Morgan Rum, 1 oz Gordons Gin
1.5 oz Sweet and Sour Mix, 1 oz Coke
Totals 6.5 oz - 1.84 multiplier to get to 12 oz 12.0 529 A- 32.50
New Belgium Sunshine Wheat
4.80 63.09 Info from www.newbelgium.com 12.0 145 C Not Available
Modelo Especial
4.40 57.83 Obtained from crownimportsllc.com 12.0 145 C- Not Available
Tsingtao
4.80 58.26 Calorie info from crownimportsllc.com 12.0 157 C- Not Available
Negra Modelo
5.40 60.54 Calorie info from crownimportsllc.com 12.0 170 C Not Available
Pacifico
4.40 57.83 Calorie info from crownimportsllc.com 12.0 145 C- Not Available
St. Pauli Girl - Lager
4.90 63.10 Calorie info from crownimportsllc.com 12.0 148 C Not Available
Shock Top Belgian White
5.20 59.34 Calories from Anheuser Buschcontactus/ContactUs2010/nutrition.asp 12.0 167 C- 14.60
1554 Enlightened Black Ale
5.60 53.90 Info from www.newbelgium.com 12.0 198 D+ Not Available
Skinny Girl Margarita
12.70 80.68 Calorie info from12.0 300 B+ 11.00
Knob Creek Bourbon 50.00 99.26 Calorie info from Knob Creek website, smallbatch.com 1.5 120 A+ 0.00
Smirnoff Twist of Raspberry Vodka 35.00 91.62 Info from knowyourdiageodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 1.5 91 A 1.60
Don Julio Blanco Tequila 40.00 99.26 Info from knowyourdiageodrink.com/en-row/Pages/Homepage.aspx"> Diageo Drink 1.5 96 A+ 0.00
Sayuri Nigori Sake 12.50 70.69 Info directly from representative at hakutsuru.co.jp 5.0 140 B- Not Available
Hakutsuru Superior Sake 14.50 79.41 Info directly from representative at hakutsuru.co.jp 5.0 145 B Not Available
Hakutsuru Draft Sake 14.00 76.67 Info directly from representative at hakutsuru.co.jp 12.0 348 B Not Available
Hakutsuru Plum Wine 12.50 52.82 Info directly from representative at hakutsuru.co.jp 5.0 188 D+ Not Available
Hakutsuru Plum Wine Slim 10.50 52.66 Info directly from representative at hakutsuru.co.jp 5.0 158 D+ Not Available
Belle-Vue Selection Lambic
6.00 70.58 Calorie info directly from info.belgium(at)inbev.com 12.0 162 B- Not Available
Leffe Tripel
8.50 65.32 Calorie info directly from info.belgium(at)inbev.com 12.0 248 C+ Not Available
Ozeki Sake (Regular Type) 16.00 83.08 Calorie info directly from question(at)ozekisake.com 5.0 153 B+ 5.39
Yuengling Lager
4.60 61.74 Calorie info directly from Marketing Manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Carbs 12 12.0 142 C 12.00
Yuengling Light Lager
3.50 67.37 Calorie info directly from Marketing Manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Carbs 8.8 12.0 99 C+ 8.80
Yuengling Premium
4.60 61.74 Calorie info directly from Marketing Manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Carbs 12 12.0 142 C 12.00
Yuengling Premium Light
3.30 64.17 Calorie info directly from Marketing Manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Carbs 6.8 12.0 98 C Not Available
Yuengling Black & Tan
4.80 57.90 Calorie info directly from Marketing Manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Carbs 15 12.0 158 C- 15.00
Yuengling Porter
4.80 56.47 Calorie info directly from Marketing Manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Carbs 15 12.0 162 C- 15.00
Yuengling Chesterfield Ale
5.20 53.57 Calorie info directly from Marketing Manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.
Carbs 10.5 12.0 185 D+ 10.50
Midori 20.00 47.76 Calorie info directly from Suntory International Corp. 1.5 100 D Not Available
Jose Cuervo Light Margarita 9.95 69.71 12.0 272 C+ Not Available
Harp Lager
4.70 58.54 12.0 153 C- Not Available
Ketel One Vodka
40.00 99.26 Calorie info from: Diageo Drink 1.5 96 A+ 0.00
E & J Brandy VSOP 40.00 96.40 65.9 calories per ounce,.3 gm carbs per oz. Info directly from ConsumerRelations(at)ejgallo.com 1.5 99 A+ 0.45
E&J Brandy 40.00 98.03 Calorie info directly from ConsumerRelations(at)ejgallo.com 1.5 97 A+ Not Available
E&J Cognac 40.00 96.40 Calorie info directly from ConsumerRelations(at)ejgallo.com 1.5 99 A+ Not Available
E&J XO Brandy 40.00 96.40 Calorie info directly from ConsumerRelations(at)ejgallo.com 1.5 99 A+ Not Available
MGD 64 Lemonade
2.80 83.38 Alcohol and calorie info directly from the bottle. 2.4 carbs 12.0 64 B+ 2.40
Beefeater Gin 47.00 97.36 Calorie info directly from BeefeaterGin(at)pernod-ricard.com 0 carbs 1.5 115 A+ Not Available
Coronado Brewing Orange Ave Wit
5.20 65.20 Calorie info directly from Coronado Brewing Company representative 12.0 152 C+ Not Available
Coronado Golden - Coronado Brewing Co.
5.40 68.61 Calorie info directly from Coronado Brewing Company representative 12.0 150 C+ Not Available
Coronado Idiot IPA
8.50 67.21 Calorie info directly from Coronado Brewing Company representative 12.0 241 C+ Not Available
Mike's Lite Hard Lemonade
3.20 52.22 mike's lite hard lemonade is made with 100 percent natural sweeteners, real, fresh lemon juice and our patented neutral malt base to offer a light, crisp and refreshing change of taste from the everyday light beer. 12.0 117 D+ 15.00
Bud Ice
5.50 77.07 Source Anheuser Busch 12.0 136 B 4.00
Hurricane Ice
7.50 81.67 Obtained directly from Anheuser Busch 12.0 175 B+ Not Available
Fireball Whisky 33.00 72.79 Calorie and ABV directly from Consumer Affairs Associate Buffalo Trace Distillery 1.5 108 B- Not Available
Natty Daddy
8.00 84.23 Obtained directly from Anheuser Busch
$1.29/24-ounce can 12.0 181 B+ 5.00
Mimosa
6.25 55.66 1 part champagne, 1 part orange juice. 5.0 89 C- Not Available
Cranberry Vodka (Cape Cod)
10.91 60.62 1.5 parts vodka to 4 parts cranberry juice 12.0 343 C Not Available
Alaskan Amber
5.30 57.72 Info directly from Alaskan Brewing Co Brew Crew 12.0 175 C- Not Available
Alaskan IPA
6.20 66.38 Info directly from Alaskan Brewing Co Brew Crew 12.0 178 C+ Not Available
Alaskan Pale
5.20 66.07 Info directly from Alaskan Brewing Co Brew Crew 12.0 150 C+ Not Available
Bud Light Platinum
6.00 83.46 Calorie info directly from the bottle. 4.4g Carbs 12.0 137 B+ 4.40
Grahams 2007 Vintage Port 20.00 69.43 Calorie and alcohol information directly from Premium Port Wines, Inc. 5.0 229 C+ Not Available
Alexander Keiths Pale Ale
5.40 64.72 Calorie info directly from Anheuser Busch 12.0 159 C 11.70
Sparks Lemonade
8.00 58.19 Calorie info directly from www.millercoors.com/our-beers/nutrition-facts-codes.aspx"> Miller Coors 12.0 262 C- 26.60
Greens Tripel Blonde Ale
8.50 78.63 Info directly from the bottle. 9 carbs per 12 oz 12.0 206 B 9.00
Tooheys Old
4.40 64.01 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 131 C Not Available
Tooheys New
4.60 64.94 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 135 C Not Available
Hahn Premium
5.00 65.26 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 146 C+ Not Available
Hahn Premium Light
2.60 51.61 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 96 D+ Not Available
James Boags Premium Light
2.90 60.07 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 92 C Not Available
James Boags Premium
5.00 67.10 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 142 C+ Not Available
West End Draught
4.50 65.46 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 131 C+ Not Available
Emu Draft
3.00 53.94 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 106 D+ Not Available
Boags XXX Ale
4.80 66.29 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 138 C+ Not Available
Boags Draught
4.60 66.92 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 131 C+ Not Available
XXXX Bitter
4.60 66.92 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 131 C+ Not Available
Emu Bitter
4.00 53.68 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 142 D+ Not Available
Swan Draught
4.50 67.00 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 128 C+ Not Available
Steinlager Classic
5.00 65.26 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 146 C+ Not Available
Southwark Bitter
4.50 63.52 Calorie info directly from Lion 12.0 135 C Not Available
Victoria Bitter
4.60 64.94 Info directly from Fosters 12.0 135 C Not Available
Carlsberg Elephant
7.20 64.42 Info directly from Fosters 12.0 213 C Not Available
Valima Lager
4.90 65.76 Info directly from Fosters 12.0 142 C+ Not Available
Cascade Lager
4.80 67.76 Info directly from Fosters 12.0 135 C+ Not Available
Cascade Premium Light
2.60 51.61 Info directly from Fosters 12.0 96 D+ Not Available
Crown Gold
3.50 57.01 Info directly from Fosters 12.0 117 C- Not |
23%] | 51 60.3 | 39.5 79.2 | 53.1 With 64-bit integer workload we see a similar story – Ryzen is 23% faster than even HSW-E. If only RyuJit SIMD would fix integer workloads too..Net Float/FP32 Vectorised/Multi-Media (MPix/s) 272.7 [-4%] | 156 AVX 12.9 | 6.74 284.2 | 187.1 Here we make use of RyuJit’s support for SIMD vectors thus running AVX/FMA code; Intel strikes back through its SIMD units with Ryzen 4% slower than SNB-E. Still Intel usually wins these kinds of tests..Net Double/FP64 Vectorised/Multi-Media (MPix/s) 149 [-15%] | 85 AVX 38.7 | 21.38 176.1 | 103.3 Switching to FP64 SIMD vector code – still running AVX/FMA – Ryzen loses again, this time by 15% against SNB-E. The only tests Intel’s CPUs can win are vectorised ones using RyuJit’s support for SIMD (aka SSE2, AVX/FMA) and thus allowing Intel’s SIMD units to shine; otherwise Ryzen dominates absolutely everything without fail. Java Dhrystone Integer (GIPS) 513 [+29%] | 311 313 | 289 395 | 321 We start JVM integer performance with an even bigger gain, Ryzen is ~30% faster than HSW-E and 60% faster than SKL. Java Dhrystone Long (GIPS) 514 [+28%] | 311 332 | 299 399 | 367 Nothing much changes with 64-bit integer workload, we have Ryzen 28% faster than HSW-E. Java Whetstone float/FP32 (GFLOPS) 117 [+31%] | 66 62.8 | 34.6 89 | 49 With a floating-point workload Ryzen continues its lead over both Intel’s CPUs. Native or CLR or JVM code works just great on Ryzen. Java Whetstone double/FP64 (GFLOPS) 128 [+40%] | 63 64.6 | 36 91 | 53 With FP64 workload the gap increases even further to 40% over HSW-E and an incredible 2x over SKL! Ryzen is the JVM king. Java performance is even more incredible than what we’ve seen in.Net; server people rejoice, if you have Java workloads Ryzen is the CPU for you! 40% better performance than Intel’s 2011 platform for much lower cost? Yes please! Java Integer Vectorised/Multi-Media (MPix/s) 99 [+20%] | 52.6 59.5 | 36.5 82 | 49 Oracle’s JVM does not yet support native vector to SIMD translation like.Net’s CLR but here Ryzen manages a 20% lead over HSW-E but is almost 2x faster than SKL. Java Long Vectorised/Multi-Media (MPix/s) 93 [+17%] | 51 60.6 | 37.7 79 | 53 With 64-bit vectorised workload Ryzen maintains its lead of about 20%. Java Float/FP32 Vectorised/Multi-Media (MPix/s) 86 [+40%] | 42.3 40.6 | 22.1 61 | 32 Just as we’ve seen with Whetstone, Ryzen is about 40% faster than HSW-E and over 2x faster than SKL! It does not get a lot better than this. Intel better hope Oracle will add vector primitives allowing SIMD code to use the power of its CPU’s SIMD units. Java Double/FP64 Vectorised/Multi-Media (MPix/s) 82 [+30%] | 42 40.9 | 22.1 63 | 32 With FP64 workload Ryzen’s lead somewhat unexplicably drops to ‘just’ 30% but remains over 2x faster than SKL. Nothing to grumble about really. Java’s lack of vectorised primitives to allow the JVM to use SIMD instruction sets (aka SSE2, AVX/FMA) gives Ryzen free reign to dominate all the tests, be they integer or floating-point. It is pretty incredible that neither Intel CPU can come close to its performance.
Ryzen absolutely dominates.Net and Java benchmarks with CLR and JVM code running much faster than on Intel’s (ex)-top-of-the-range Haswell-E – thus current and future applications running under CLR (WPF/Metro/UWP/etc.) as well as server JVM workloads run great on Ryzen. For.Net and Java code, Ryzen is the CPU to get!
SiSoftware Official Ranker Scores
Final Thoughts / Conclusions
What a return of fortune from AMD! Despite a hurried launch and inevitable issues which will be fixed in time (e.g. Windows scheduler), Ryzen puts a strong performance beating Intel’s previous top-of-the-range Skylake 6700K and Haswell-E 6820K into dust in most tests at a much cheaper price.
Of course there are setbacks, highly vectorised AVX2/FMA code greatly favour Intel’s SIMD units and here Ryzen falls behind a bit; streaming algorithms can overload the 2 memory channels but then again Intel’s mainstream platform has only 2 also. Still if you were replacing a 2011 4-channel platform with Ryzen then very high-speed memory may be required to sustain performance.
It’s dual-CCX design may also affect non-symmetrical workloads where different threads execute different code with thread data-sharing across CCX naturally slower. Clever thread assignment to the ‘right’ CCX should fix those issues but that is down to each application with Windows (or other OSes) may not be able to fix. Considering we have SMP and NUMA systems out there – it is not a new problem but perhaps one not usually seen on normal desktop systems due to the high-cost of SMP/NUMA systems.
All in all Ryzen is a solid CPU which should worry Intel at the high-end, we shall have to see how the lower-end 4-core and even 2-core versions perform.A few weeks ago, we were staying at one of those brilliant French campsites. It had fantastic facilities, including a "balneo" - a kind of walled garden, laid out in classical Roman style. It was stone-tiled, with columns, hot tubs, cool pools and nice planting. It was for over-16s only and, until one o'clock each day, clothes were banned. As soon as I saw the sign, I knew it would be professionally remiss of me not to see what the nudists were up to. For the purposes of journalistic enquiry, I'd have to strip.
A few weeks ago, we were staying at one of those brilliant French campsites. It had fantastic facilities, including a "balneo" - a kind of walled garden, laid out in classical Roman style. It was stone-tiled, with columns, hot tubs, cool pools and nice planting. It was for over-16s only and, until one o'clock each day, clothes were banned. As soon as I saw the sign, I knew it would be professionally remiss of me not to see what the nudists were up to. For the purposes of journalistic enquiry, I'd have to strip.
Needless to say, I was struck with anxiety about getting naked. No surgery or endless Pilates will disguise the damage done to my tummy which, on my tiny frame, has borne three eight-and-a-half-pound babies.
There was also the question of shrubbery. I have political issues with the fashion for excessive grooming of female herbaceous borders, but that's a policy one is never required to advertise publicly. My high-waisted, low-cut, M&S bikini bottoms hadn't necessitated any pre-holiday depilation and it was too late to perform any topiary now. I'd have to put my principles on show. Eeek.
I was nervous, but determined, when I entered the balneo and quickly stripped off. Noting I was almost alone in possessing pubic hair, which seemed at odds with the naturist philosophy, I carried my towel in a manner that provided some modesty, and found a sunbed in a quiet corner. Then I got down to some serious spying. It was fascinating. So fascinating that I went back the next day, and the next, and the next. I couldn't wait to get my kit off. In fairness, this may have had something to do with the absence of children, but I loved the politics.
The overwhelming majority of the naturists were pensioners. They'd clearly been at it a long time, as you could upholster furniture with their over-tanned skin. These bodies had lived well. The thighs were wide. The willies, every shape and size: and since there's nothing less erotic than a flaccid penis, nakedness was entirely desexualised. There were lumps and bumps and scars. Outside, we're worn out trying to cling to youth. Here, pensioners and imperfections ruled.
The biggest revelation were the female bottoms. Freed of ungainly clothes, pear-shaped behinds reigned supreme. There were some skinny examples on show, but they looked pathetic compared to the magnificence of a rotund rear end.
In the clothed world, we're crushed by the tyranny of a physical ideal that is unachievable and unhealthy. In here, perfection was freakish.
I watched one man - possibly around 40 - who was beautifully toned and handsome. But in this context, I didn't find him attractive. Instead, I immediately classified him as "vain". Which was entirely unfair and showed how we stigmatise anything non-conformist.
Sometimes, we look at big people and presume they are lazy, greedy or lacking self-control. I realised how easy it is to create a norm - in the case of body shape, entirely artificially - and make everyone who doesn't conform feel bad about themselves. If the advertising industry decided to recruit only redheads, within a short space of time, we'd all be dyeing our hair ginger and wondering why we were so unfortunate to be born brunette. 1960s hippy trends aside, I decided that this is why my generation were in the minority here. We've been crushed by bodily shame and anxiety.
Chatting about it later with my husband and a lovely Dutch couple, the man, who had dancing eyes and an engaging smile, said: "But I don't need to take my clothes off to feel free." That, I thought to myself, is because you already are free. I'm a woman, and for all my legal freedoms, I live in a prison, where every aspect of my life is controlled by men and judged by women. Using clothes to make the best of myself was just a form of self-loathing. Taking them off was the only way to liberate myself.
Sunday Indo Life MagazineScarlett Johansson is ready to play the most iconic naked murder victim ever.
The actress, 27, has signed on to play actress Janet Leigh in Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, about master director Hitchcock's horror classic, in which Leigh is memorably butchered in the buff while taking a shower at the Bates Motel.
PHOTOS: Scarlett Johansson's love life
Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Stephen Rebello, the prestige pic will also star Anthony Hopkins as the auteur himself, and Helen Mirren as Alma Reville, Hitchcock's wife; British actor James D'Arcy will play Anthony Perkins, who portrayed serial killer Norman Bates.
PHOTOS: Stars' horror movie pasts
As suggested by the title, the film centers on Hitchcock's then-risky decision to make (and finance himself) a seemingly lowbrow horror flick at the height of his legendary career.
The screenplay will be written by John J. McLaughlin, who penned Natalie Portman's psychological thriller Black Swan, with director Sacha Gervasi at the helm.
PHOTOS: Scarlett's nude photo scandal
Tell Us: Is Johansson a good choice to play Leigh?
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Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!The following piece was condensed from an article in the Polish news portal Dziennik.pl. It describes the experience of a Polish couple who purchased a hotel in Bavaria, only to be forced to sell it to the German government as “refugee” housing.
The most fascinating piece of information in this story is that the governmental order to acquire mass housing for migrants was given three or four years BEFORE Chancellor Angela Merkel invited in the entire Third World during the hysteria over Dead Baby Porn. What did she and the rest of the EU apparatchiks know back in 2011 that the lumpenproletariat didn’t?
Many thanks to Ava Lon for reading the original and then writing this précis:
“It used to be paradise, it is a dump today.” What a Germany colonized by refugees really looks like A fine for hate speech is €1200. This is why Germans are very cautious. They say nothing and watch chaos and trash and the open doors and windows in the refugee centers, while they have to be frugal and heat their homes sparingly. A year ago there was a map on the internet showing where the shelters are. It was removed. Allegedly it was helpful to PEGIDA. This is the story of a Polish family who bought a hotel in Bavaria, only to be forced to sell it in order for it to be transformed into a refugee shelter. In June 2016 there were still no refugees in their former hotel, but it was being watched by an armed guard, after would-be arson attempts. Just like 600 others. It’ll burn like the others and the government knew it ahead of time, and forced the owners to follow very strict anti-fire construction rules (while renovation was underway). Rumor says PEGIDA people are the ones setting fire to the shelters. Why? Because Bavaria is the most conservative part of Germany. The new Polish owners of the hotel were accepted as the culturally and ethnically close to Germans, but not 100%, because they spoke German with an accent. So they switched to English. But pressure to use German exclusively was strong from Germans towards foreigners (the “fair game” foreigners that is, the “fair” ones). When they bought the 200-year-old house in an idyllic Bavarian village, they thought they had found themselves in a paradise. They wanted to turn the house into a hotel, with its own bakery, coffee shop, and a restaurant. It was in a village that was extremely popular with tourists. Now nobody goes there any longer. All the hotels and most large houses were turned into refugees shelters, and arson became a common occurrence. The media don’t mention it, however. Before their very eyes Germany was turning into a Muslim country: thefts, vandalism, and rubbish everywhere became the norm. When they first began renovation of the largest house in town, they thought it would prosper, but around 2011 Angela Merkel changed her policies. In 2009 she won the election. In 2010 she said that multi-culti had failed, and in 2011 the German government started actively looking for large houses for immigrants. At first people didn’t understand what was going on, because there were no refugees. The Arab spring was just starting. Nobody had heard anything about any refugees or asylum seekers, and yet the pressure from the government to find and buy real estate for those shelters was enormous. People were wondering what refugees the government even had in mind. In 2013 protests began in Ukraine, and in 2014 Putin annexed Crimea, so everyone thought Ukrainians might be those famous refugees. Then suddenly the media started broadcasting Merkel’s invitation to literally every single Syrian to come to Germany. At first people didn’t know that it would result in hundreds of thousands of Middle Easterners and Africans (and others) crossing the Mediterranean and arriving via land routes, but then the obvious question arose: how could the German government have known so far in advance about this wave of immigration? That’s when the propaganda started: telling people how wonderful those newcomers were for the people and for the German economy.The 14-year-old Palestinian refugee who hit the headlines after breaking down when German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her that she could not stop her family’s possible deportation has said she hopes that one day Israel will cease to exist.
In an interview Sunday with the German weekly Die Welt, Reem Sahwil said she hoped to return to live in her ancestral homeland — free of Israel.
“My hope is that one day it [Israel] won’t be there anymore, but only Palestine,” she said.
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Reem, who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon and currently lives in the eastern German city of Rostock, said she does not consider Germany to be her home.
“No, Palestine is my home,” she said.
Although she had never visited, she said, she intended to live there “one day.”
When asked what she considered to be Palestine, Reem answered “everything.”
“The country should not be called Israel, but Palestine,” she said.
The interviewer asked her if she was aware of the special relationship between Israel and Germany, and the strict laws against anti-Semitism in her adopted home.
“Yes, but there is freedom of speech here, and I am allowed to say that,” Reem answered. “My parents tell me that Israel expelled us from Palestine. That’s true, isn’t it?”
Reem garnered international media attention earlier this month after an awkward encounter with the German leader, during a televised discussion of the country’s asylum policies, left the teenager in tears.
After telling the Reem that she could not stop her family’s possible deportation, a video clip of Merkel attempting to comfort the sobbing 14-year-old went viral.
In a government-initiated discussion called “Living Well in Germany,” Reem told Merkel that her family had been informed they would have to return to a camp in Lebanon imminently, only to receive a last-minute, temporary residency permit for Germany.
Merkel expressed sympathy before defending her government’s asylum policies. “Politics can be tough,” she said.
“You are an extremely nice person but you also know that there are thousands and thousands of people in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon,” she said.
She added that Germany would be unable to shoulder the burden of all the people fleeing war and poverty who would like to move to Europe’s top economy seeking a better life.
Germany took in 200,000 asylum seekers last year and expects as many as 450,000 this year.This brand-new version of Ahab is based on his appearance in the Dark Horse comics. We’ve given our SDCC 2014 exclusive a massive upgrade, equipping it with the all new “Ultimate” Predator body which has added articulation in the biceps (bicep swivels), elbows (double elbow joints) and torso, plus an opening gauntlet.
The figure also features new loin armor and skirt, new right gauntlet, new knee armor, fabric cape and all new deco. He’s equipped with brand new accessories too, including an Engineer Gun, Spear, Gauntlet with both 2- and 3-blade configurations, alternate hands, Engineer skull trophy and more!
The Engineer Gun can be held or clipped to the figure’s back. Stands approximately 8″ tall and comes in collector-friendly deluxe window box packaging with opening flap.
Item Number: 51569
UPC: 6-34482-51569-3
Release Date: September 2018
Related Productssigned an agreement +
defence ties +
logistical support +
WASHINGTON: The United States and Indiaon Monday governing the use of each other's land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply, a step toward buildingas they seek to counter the growing maritime assertiveness of China.Welcoming the signing of the bilateral 'Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement' ( LEMOA ), defence minister Manohar Parrikar and US defence secretary Ashton Carter said the pact will facilitate opportunities for "practical engagement and exchange".LEMOA facilitates the provision of, supplies, and services between the US and Indian militaries on a reimbursable basis, and provides a framework to govern them."They agreed on the importance (that) this framework will provide to facilitate innovative and advanced opportunities in defence technology and trade cooperation. To this end, the US has agreed to elevate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with its closest allies and partners," said a joint statement after the pact was signed.According to the statement, the defence ties between the two countries is based on their "shared values and interests," and their "abiding commitment to global peace and security."During their meeting, Parrikar and Carter discussed the "wealth of progress" in bilateral cooperation and deepening strategic partnership between the United States and India.The US has agreed to elevate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with its closest allies and partners.The agreement, a relatively mundane one concerning day-to-day military logistics, is nonetheless a milestone in the US-India defence relationship because of the outsized political importance it had taken on in India, where it had touched on domestic sensitivities, experts said.The signing of the agreement will "make the logistics of joint operations so much easier and so much more efficient," US defence secretary Ash Carter said in a news briefing with defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday.The agreement will allow the Indian and US navies to have an easier time supporting each other in joint operations and exercises and when providing humanitarian assistance, Parrikar said.Washington's desire for deeper security cooperation with India had been complicated without the signing of the logistics agreement as well as two other pacts that would allow for secure communications and the exchange of nautical and other data. The agreements are considered routine between the United States and its other defence partners.But India has had concerns such an agreement would commit it to hosting US troops at its bases, or draw it into a military alliance with the United States and undermine its traditional autonomy. Carter and Parrikar reached an agreement "in principle" in April, but had yet to finalize the details.Carter has made closer military ties with India a priority, and established a special unit within the Pentagon last year to promote cooperation with that country. Parrikar's visit to Washington this week marks the sixth interaction between the two top defence officials.The signing of the logistics agreement indicates the priority the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi places on a closer defence relationship with the United States, said Benjamin Schwartz, until last year the India country director at the Pentagon."For years, there has been tremendous misinformation put out into the Indian press about these agreements," said Schwartz, now with the US-India Business Council, which promotes trade ties between the two countries."What the signing of this shows is that the Modi government is willing to take and suffer the short-term political criticism of signing these things for the longer-term benefit of building the defence relationship with the United States."Both Carter and Parrikar went to pains on Monday to make clear that the logistics agreement did not allow for basing of US troops in India."It's not a basing agreement of any kind," Carter said.The debate over the logistics agreement had served as a vehicle for the distrust some of India's political class has towards the United States, said Shane Mason, a research associate at the Stimson Center. The United States had previously imposed sanctions on India related to its 1998 nuclear test, although the sanctions were eased later."From the US perspective this was kind of a low hanging fruit," Mason said. "We have logistic support agreements with many, many other countries and in most cases it's a relatively uncontroversial thing."The US military has made clear it wants to do more with India, especially in countering China, which US officials say is risking stoking conflict through its claims in the South China Sea, a vital trade waterway.Without naming China, both Carter and Parrikar mentioned the importance of the free flow of trade to both countries."India and the United States have a shared interest in freedom of navigation and overflight and unimpeded commerce as part of rule-based order in (the) Indo-Pacific," Parrikar said.Since the start of fiscal year 2011, President Barack Obama has signed into law approximately $2.4 trillion of deficit reduction for the years 2013 through 2022. Nearly three-quarters of that deficit reduction is in the form of spending cuts, while the remaining one-quarter comes from revenue increases. (see Figure 1) As a result of that deficit reduction, the projected rise in debt levels from today through 2022 has decreased by nearly 10 full percentage points of gross domestic product. In fact, under today’s policies, debt levels in 2022—as a share of GDP—will be only slightly higher than they are expected to be by the end of next year. That doesn’t mean there is no more work to be done, but it does show we’ve come a long way already.
Congress has enacted several major pieces of legislation since the start of the 2011 fiscal year that will reduce future budget deficits relative to what they would have been had we continued forward under the policies in place before the enactment of those bills. The first of these deficit-reducing bills were the continuing resolutions passed between September 30 and December 21, 2010. Those bills provided temporary funding for a wide swath of government services and programs, but they did so at a lower level than funding had been for the previous year, after adjusting for inflation. Because the Congressional Budget Office assumes that this type of spending—known as discretionary spending—will increase each year with inflation, those first temporary appropriations bills in 2011 cut the Congressional Budget Office’s projection of discretionary spending from 2013 through 2022 by more than $400 billion.
The last temporary appropriations bill passed in December 2010 ran out on March 4, 2011. The new Congress then enacted several more temporary bills, and finally, on April 15, 2011, passed a full appropriations bill for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. This second half of the appropriations process also cut a substantial amount of spending. Each new appropriations bill passed by the new Congress cut funding even more than the first set had. The result was another approximately $180 billion in spending reductions over the 10-year period. Altogether, the fiscal year 2011 appropriations process reduced future discretionary spending by $585 billion, or about 4.3 percent.
Over the subsequent several months, Congress engaged in a protracted debate over the looming debt limit. The result of that debate was a bill titled the Budget Control Act. The act—also known as the debt-limit deal—reduced spending again. It did so mainly by setting caps on the overall amount of discretionary resources that Congress could allocate each year for the next decade. These caps were set even lower than the just-enacted, inflation-adjusted 2011 levels. So after already cutting spending several times to the tune of more than $500 billion, the Budget Control Act cut spending again—this time by approximately $860 billion. Together, the fiscal year 2011 appropriations process and the Budget Control Act are responsible for nearly $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending cuts. This is a whopping 10.6 percent reduction from inflation-adjusted 2010 spending levels.
All these direct programmatic spending cuts also have a secondary spending effect on the budget deficit. Reducing the deficit—either through spending cuts or revenue increases—allows the federal government to incur less debt, which in turn means that there will be less interest to pay back to lenders. In this case, that $1.5 trillion in spending cuts will also result in about $200 billion in reduced spending on interest payments.
In addition to the discretionary spending caps, the Budget Control Act set up a second process whereby a special congressional committee, known as the “super committee,” was tasked with finding an additional $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. If this “super committee” failed—which it ultimately did—a set of deliberately draconian spending cuts totaling approximately $1.2 trillion would be automatically triggered. Known as the “sequester,” those cuts were intended to be so damaging that Congress would work together to find a better way to reduce the deficit. Because Congress didn’t do that, however, the sequester was triggered and was set to kick in at the beginning of 2013.
The beginning of 2013 also happened to be the deadline for dealing with the expiring Bush tax cuts, as well as a number of other expiring tax and spending provisions. The combination of all these fiscal deadlines became known as the “fiscal cliff.” And the resolution of the fiscal cliff resulted in yet more deficit reduction.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act—the bill passed by Congress and signed by the president to avoid much of the fiscal cliff—extended most of the Bush tax cuts but allowed those that affected only households with incomes of more than $450,000 to expire, resulting in a 10-year revenue increase of a little more than $600 billion.
The bill also included a number of other deficit-reducing measures. It paid, with offsetting spending reductions, for a one-year patch of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate—a formula that, if left unfixed, results in very large cuts to Medicare doctors’ pay. Since most projections of the future budget deficit assume that Congress will continue to patch the Sustainable Growth Rate without paying for it, the American Taxpayer Relief Act reduces those future deficits by actually offsetting the cost this time.
Similarly, the fiscal cliff deal temporarily postponed the sequester, paying for it with offsetting spending cuts and revenue increases. As with the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate, projections of future deficits assume that the sequester will not go into effect. Postponing the sequester without paying for it, therefore, wouldn’t increase the future deficit since projections already assume Congress will postpone it. But by paying for the delay, the future deficit actually becomes smaller than we expected.
Several questions remain regarding the rest of the sequester, however: Will it eventually go into effect? If not, will its repeal be paid for? If so, how will it be paid for? These questions will determine if even more deficit reduction ultimately comes out of the Budget Control Act and the American Taxpayer Relief Act. Since those questions are as yet unanswered, the effects of the remaining sequester are not included in this analysis.
Altogether, the American Taxpayer Relief Act will reduce deficits over the next 10 years by about $750 billion. Of that deficit reduction, approximately $630 billion comes from revenue increases, approximately $30 billion comes from programmatic spending cuts, and the rest comes from interest savings resulting from lower deficits. (see Figure 3)
So where does all this deficit reduction leave us? Since the start of fiscal year 2011, Congress and the president have cut about $1.5 trillion in programmatic spending, raised about $630 billion in new revenue, and generated about $300 billion in interest savings, for a combined total of more than $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction. The result is a substantial cut in how much publicly held debt the country is expected to hold 10 years from now. Instead of reaching nearly 93 percent of GDP, debt is now projected to total about 83 percent of GDP—fully 10 points lower. And while that won’t be enough to finally put the budget onto sustainable footing, it is a massive improvement. In fact, it’s about two-thirds of the way toward stabilizing the debt-to-GDP ratio.
It’s been a bumpy few fiscal years. But don’t let all the twists and turns obscure the simple fact that we actually have accomplished a significant amount of deficit reduction along the way. Three-quarters of that deficit reduction has been achieved through spending cuts totaling $1.8 trillion, with only one-quarter coming from revenue increases.
Michael Linden is the Director for Tax and Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress. Michael Ettlinger is the Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center.The International Olympic Committee’s promise from Russia appears to be a shambles. Russia will arrest LGBT athletes at Sochi 2014
Russia’s Sports Minister has confirmed LGBT athletes are not exempt from draconian anti-gay laws at the Sochi Winter Olympics – despite claims to the contrary.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) claims the government had promised them the laws wouldn’t be used during the 2014 games.
But Gay Star News warned on Tuesday (30 July) that Russian lawmakers were saying the legislation would still be applied.
Now the comments from Vitaly Mutko, released today to the country’s R-Sport agency, confirm the IOCs promise is worthless.
The IOC had said the Russian government had ‘assured’ them all athletes and spectators will be safe from arrest.
In the first government reaction after that claim, Mutko told R-Sport: ‘No one is forbidding an athlete with non-traditional sexual orientation from coming to Sochi, but if he goes onto the street and starts propagandizing it, then of course he will be held accountable.’
LGBT activists in Russia say the nationwide law, which bans the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality to children, is really a crackdown on all gay people in the country.
Individuals breaching the law will carry a fine of up to 5,000 rubles ($166 €124).
Organizations found guilty will be fined up to 1 million rubles ($30,790 €23,215) and may be suspended for 90 days, which, in practice, may mean some LGBT organizations find it impossible to operate.A reader chided me for not making note of the truly dreadful factory output figures released last Thursday, which showed a fall of 9.6%.
I have to confess that I have fallen into “Japan bad news” syndrome, in that I expect bad news out of Japan and therefore did not focus enough on the details. And while I do not aspire to covering every financial news story (that’s what the MSM is for), the latest figures paint a grim picture, even by our new, desensitized standards.
It wasn’t simply that December was truly awful, but it came on top of a nearly-as-bad November. From Bloomberg:
Japanese manufacturers cut production an unprecedented 9.6 percent last month, deepening a recession that’s expected to be the worst in the postwar era. The drop eclipsed the previous record of 8.5 percent decline set in November, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. Economists predicted a month-on-month decrease of 8.9 percent…. The International Monetary Fund said this week that Japan’s gross domestic product will shrink 2.6 percent this year, the bleakest projection for any Group of Seven economy except the U.K. That contraction would be Japan’s worst since World War II.
Yes, the Baltic Dry Index, which some see as a proxy for international trade, picked up a bit from its near-death level in January, but that may be due to Chinese New Year-related spending.
A hedge fund correspondent sent Frank Veneroso”s ;latest piece, “The Yen: Will The Traders Push The Land Of The Rising Sun Off The Face Of The Earth?” which gives a sense of how bad things could get. Some excerpts:
1)The Japanese industrial production data and METI forecast was bad beyond all imagining. Industrial production might fall by 1/3 in the 12 months ending in January. It could fall in a mere four months between November and February by more than half the U.S. Great Depression decline which took almost four years. 2) Nothing like this has ever happened to a major industrial nation to my knowledge – not even during the 1929 – 1933 Great Contraction. 3) The trade weighted yen is by far the strongest currency in the world. Japan is losing competitiveness fast. Given the lags in trade matters will get worse. 4) The insane trader community continues to push the yen up as a safe haven. It is all so detached from reality I suppose they could take it higher.
Yves here. I only get the privilege of reading Veneroso now and again, but I cannot recall him taking a tone remotely like what follows:
I have been writing about an Asian black hole for almost two months now. I have been crying from the rooftops about an emerging depression in Japan. It has been as though a neutron bomb had gone off in the world. There was no one who seemed to notice, no one who seemed to listen. Every week it gets worse and worse and worse. Today it was Japan…. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN DATA THIS BAD FOR ANY MAJOR ECONOMY – EVEN IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION. December industrial production came in down 9.6%, worse than the METI forecast. It is now down almost 21% year over year. METI forecasts a further 4.7% decline in February. The inventory to production ratio soared again. Maybe METI will be correct. If it is, Japan industrial production will have fallen 28% (non annualized) in four months. It will have fallen by a third in about a year. Nothing in the history of major nations compares. A 28% decline in four months would be more than half of the entire decline in U.S. industrial production over the 3 years and nine months of the U.S. Great Depression. It would be a greater decline in four months than in any 12 month period in the Great Depression in the U.S. We are literally looking at the unimaginable. (I am attaching the U.S. industrial production index from the Great Depression for comparison). IT’S A DEPRESSION IN JAPAN – ALREADY – PURE AND SIMPLE.
Veneroso later turns to how markets are making matters far worse by pushing the yen to an unwarranted high level:
Financial markets have only one rationale in economic theory: to sift through all of the fundamental information that has a bearing on prospective returns to investments and thereby establish the set of “right” prices that will lead to an optimal allocation of real resources. Because of uncertainty and imperfect information, an optimum allocation will never be reached, but a second best allocation can. There is no other “social” rationale for financial markets. When financial markets become nothing other than a casino, as they had during the bubble period, and market participants flee fundamentals for the witchcraft of technical analysis and other divinings of market dynamics, market participants will send prices flying about in ways that have nothing to do with prospective returns to real investments. The result will be a serious misallocation of real resources. When bubblized markets go from a mere speculative casino to a casino in which pivotal players are driven only by the pursuit of short-run fee income by hook or by crook, you can get a more willful proliferation of “false” prices and an even worse misallocation of resources. This is what has happened over the last ten years. The result is what economic theory says it should be: |
James Rhodes/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Jason ReedThe mayor of Turkey’s capital city, Ibrahim Melih Gokcek, has announced he will submit his resignation on Saturday.
Ibrahim Melih Gokcek had won five consecutive elections to serve the Turkish capital as mayor for a period of 23 years. (AA)
Ankara’s long-serving mayor Ibrahim Melih Gokcek has declared his intention to resign from his post at the end of this week, marking the end to his 23 years in office.
His resignation was announced after he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential complex on Monday.
“God willing, I will gather the Ankara Municipal Council for an emergency meeting on Saturday and bid farewell to our council members, submit my resignation," Gokcek tweeted after the meeting.
Following his meeting with Gokcek, Erdogan stressed his confidence in Turkey’s youth, a theme he has recently been pushing in moves to freshen the ranks of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.
"In due course our young people will take over the significant duties of this nation," the Turkish president wrote on his Twitter account.
What matters is the "love of service," not love of one’s post, Erdogan added.
Four other mayors from the ruling party have already stepped down in recent weeks, including Istanbul's Mayor Kadir Topbas.
“Three mayors from our party have handed in their resignations so far, and there are three more. I believe they will hand theirs in as soon as possible,” Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara last week before Gokcek and one other mayor resigned.
Source: TRTWorld and agenciesRandom Trivia
So I was thinking to myself tonight, that we do not have enough Supernatural Quizzes in the World. So this is a totally Random Trivia quiz I created just to see how well you remember some of the random ass crap that happens on the show. If you guys like this, I will do more, and have a theme going for each one. So Take, critique and drop me a line let me know how you like it.
Sam had a dream during "Baby" and had a conversation with someone who told him only Sam and Dean could stop "the Darkness" and "God helps those who helps themselves." Who was the person who delivered that message? John Winchester Mary Winchester Young John Winchester Lucifer Continue >> In "Devil May Care", what aliases did Sam and Dean use? Agents Bonham and Burkowitz Agents Stark and Banner Agents Moore and Ranaldo Agents Collins and Gabriel Continue >> When was the original colt built? 1835 1838 1833 1845 Continue >> Advertisement Continue >> What color was Sam's rental car in Long Distance Call? Black Red Gray Silver Continue >> In 'Wishful Thinking', what was the name of the girl who wished for a supersized toy? Brenda Susan Lindsay Audrey Continue >> Who Says: The human soul is not a rubber ball. It's vulnerable, impermanent, but stronger than you know. And more valuable than you can imagine Balthazar Crowley Castiel Death Continue >> Advertisement Continue >> How many Vengeful Spirits have Sam and Dean vanquished? 50 58 60 53 Continue >> What is Charlie's Real Name? Carrie Heinlein Celeste Middleton Charlene Bradbury Susan Asimov Continue >> Name the episode: 'You fudgin' touch me again, I'll fudgin kill you' Scarecrow A Very Supernatural Christmas The Benders Nightshifter Continue >> Advertisement Continue >> How do you kill a Ghoul? Head Shot Silver Bullets Silver Knife to the Heart Copper KNife Dipped in lamb's blood Continue >> What episode did Rowena make her debut? Soul Survivor Girls Girls Girls Paper Moon The Things we Left Behind Continue >> What Episode was titled the same as the song that played at the end? Out With the Old Bad Moon Rising Goodbye Stranger Girls Girls Girls Continue >> Advertisement Continue >> How many vessels was Meg portrayed by? 2 3 1 4 Continue >> Who says: They say you can’t protect your loved ones forever. Well, I say screw that. What else is family for? Dean Jody Ellen Bobby Continue >> What were the boys hunting in "Baby?" Nachzehrer Amara Were-pyre Whispers Continue >> Advertisement Continue >> Who was Sam dating in What is and What never Should be? Madison Jessica Sarah Ruby Continue >> What magician's name is featured in an episode title? Criss Angel David Blaine David Copperfield Harry Houdini Continue >> What license plate number appears during the beginning seasons? KAZ 2Y5 CNK 80Q3 WIN 8084 KAN 666 Continue >> Advertisement Continue >> In "Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire," what song was playing during the "road so far" segment? Time has Come Today by The Chamber Brothers Run Through the Jungle" by Creedence Clearwater Revival Back in Blach by ACDC Who Do You Love? by George Thorogood & The Destroyers Continue >> What song came at the end of Nightshifter? The best of Times Styx Walk the Line Johnny Cash Another One Bites the Dust Queen Renegade Styx Continue >> Supernatural Random Trivia Round 1 Have you seen the Show? You are clearly in need of a series rewatch. Don't lose heart though, maybe you were hexed by a Witch and lost your memory. Share your Results : Facebook Google+ Supernatural Random Trivia Round 1 Noob Level Hi, you must be new here! Welcome to the Supernatural Fandom! Share your Results : Facebook Google+ Supernatural Random Trivia Round 1 Getting Better It's clear you have seen the show, Now you just need to notice the Details to get to the elite levels. Share your Results : Facebook Google+ Supernatural Random Trivia Round 1 So Close You clearly know this Show. You are so close to being the Supernatural Master. Share your Results : Facebook Google+ Supernatural Random Trivia Round 1 Genius You are clearly the Supernatural Master. I have no more to teach You. Share your Results : Facebook Google+ Just tell us who you are to view your results! Your first name : Your email address : Show my results >> Please share this quiz to view your results. Facebook Toggle embed code PLAY AGAIN!The growth in smartphones and tablets is radically changing the face of military technology. As in civilian life, the power of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) handheld devices is enabling fast, frontline access to systems that previously required larger, bulkier computers. For example, ruggedized phones and tablets now have the processing power to access mission-critical command and control and communication systems, while being portable enough to fit into a pocket. In these systems the original operating system (OS) and consumer-oriented applications are replaced by customized versions that include domain-specific software using proprietary and/or confidential algorithms.
However, as with every new technology introduced into the military, handheld devices need to meet stringent security and reliability requirements, and, in an era of straitened budgets, have to re-use existing software and skills as much as possible.
Ada on the frontline
As a language originally sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD), Ada has always been heavily used within the military and aerospace domains. Designed for long-lived applications, its combination of safety, security, and reliability make it a natural choice for mission-critical systems. However, in the past Ada programming has tended to focus on large software systems, with thousands or millions of lines of code. In a changing world, how can the benefits of Ada be brought to handheld devices, without compromising safety, security, or reliability?
At AdaCore we recently had the chance to find out. We were approached by the U.S. Army, which was looking to take existing Ada applications that were run on larger systems and deploy them on ruggedized Android tablets that could be used on the battlefield. We provided our GNAT Pro 7.2 cross-development environment for ARM Cortex processors running Android as the tool to port the software.
Bringing Ada and Java together
Hosted on Windows and Linux, this GNAT Pro release is an Ada toolsuite for developing and maintaining Android applications using a mixture of Ada and Java. Developers can leverage the benefits of the Ada language, while also taking advantage of the Java libraries and services provided by the Android platform for implementing the user interface. Applications can also be written solely in Ada, or in a combination of Ada and other native languages.
For this application, developers could therefore take advantage of Ada and its safety-critical properties and high performance, while using a GUI written in Java for ease of use in the field. Portions of the existing Ada application were ported to Android with minimal modifications.
GNAT Pro 7.2 includes a new version of GNATbench, the AdaCore plug-in extending Eclipse into an Ada IDE. Along with general enhancements, this new version includes a dedicated plug-in providing end-to-end support for mixed Ada-Java development on Android. Starting with a specific wizard that handles all the project setup details, users need only specify the Ada packages to be called from the Java application.
Building the project automatically invokes AJIS (the Ada-Java Interfacing Suite) to generate all Java code required to call the Ada code, compiles the Ada code into a shared library referenced from the Java side, and makes both available to the Java project. Any changes to the set of Ada interface packages, or to the Ada code in those packages, are automatically detected and handled by the builder. To improve performance, the tool doesn’t regenerate Java code if it is already present. The generated Java is high-level and thus avoids the error-prone direct use of JNI. Furthermore, the Ada and Java code are fully integrated within the IDE, allowing – for example – navigation within the editors. Finally, debugging the Ada code is supported via the normal Eclipse/CDT debugger GUI.
The development of the handheld application is ongoing, but the team is already seeing real benefits from this best-of-both-worlds approach. From a business case they can re-use existing Ada applications and components, and development and training costs are minimized, reducing the investment needed while maximizing the results.
With the cost of handheld COTS hardware falling and its processing power increasing rapidly, the military world is looking at how handheld devices can improve operations. As our experience shows, the combination of Ada for creating safety-critical, reliable code and Java for graphical functionality provides the opportunity to extend existing systems to the frontline on smaller, more portable devices – without compromising security or usability.Ah, the transfer window is closed. Time to reminisce about those sunny summer days when reputable media outlets would tell you the honest truth and nothing but the truth. Maybe not…
Fernando Torres
Apparently, Liverpool offered Torres a five year contract to return to Anfield and were close to completing a £20m move for their former forward. I kid you not. The source? Oh, you know, Caught Offside.
The Metro – nameless reporter credited on the article – claimed Portuguese media were the ones reporting it (see, making it up).
David Villa
Not a transfer window has been and gone since 2006 without David Villa being linked with a move to Liverpool and why should this have been any different. I mean, it’s not like he is on huge wages, over 30 years old and the complete opposite of what FSG and Liverpool are looking to sign…
The Mirror were so confident Villa would be heading to England, they wrote:
David Villa is definitely coming to the Premier League this summer, and Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool are all in for the Barcelona striker.
Villa signed for Atletico Madrid shortly after.
Carlos Tevez
#LFC want Carlos Tevez as a replacement of Suarez. [ via Mirror] Mirror back page: pic.twitter.com/7wColpDs9j — Liverpool Family (@lfc_family) June 6, 2013
This is surely the best / worst of them all. It started with either TalkSport or The Mirror, can’t be sure as the former’s article has since been removed. The Mirror “reported”:
The biggest stumbling block would be the 29-year-old’s huge wages, said to be around £200,000-a-week.
No way.
TalkSport then claimed another exclusive, saying that they understand “Carlos Tevez’s proposed move to Liverpool is highly unlikely.”
That, you will find is pure superb journalism. Make a rumour up – one that makes not an iota of sense – claim an exclusive on it, then a few days later claim an exclusive scuppering the original report.
It was also reported by Goal.com.
Goal, TalkSport and The Mirror… I think that’s what you call a hat-trick?
Alex Pearce
When Reading defender Alex Pearce, who was linked with a move to Liverpool back in January, was photographed with managing director Ian Ayre (below), two plus two really did equal five.
The image prompted one “website” to proclaim “Photo Proof: LFC hold talks with ‘outstanding’ £4m star” – yes, they also referred to a player with 1 international cap as “outstanding” and a “star”.
After all, aren’t all transfer deals sorted over a beer on a night out?
The Daily Mail have since pulled their article on the image. While TalkSport claimed it was “blow” for Liverpool when he signed a new deal at the Championship side.
Arjen Robben
On massive wages? Check. Around age 30? Check. No chance of joining Liverpool? Check.
It didn’t put TalkSport off reporting it. They even made an infographic.
Suarez to Spurs
This gives the aforementioned Tevez story a run for it’s money. Shortly after Luis Suarez had listed his two major reasons for wanting out at Liverpool; 1) the English media, and 2) lack of Champions League football – The Metro forgot their calculator and added two plus two to make six.
Yep, that’s right, Suarez could be off to Tottenham – that other club in England who aren’t in the Champions League either.
Expertly explained here.
Honourable mention here must go to John Cross of The Mirror who was(n’t) always on the money with his Suarez to Arsenal stories (the same journo who wrote of Villa to the Premier League above)…
BOOM! I can almost feel all of my foul mouthed abusers apologise and say we got it 100 per cent right on Luis Suarez. #lfc #afc — John Cross (@johncrossmirror) August 6, 2013
See also: The story of ‘Luis Muriel to LFC’ and how media wrongly copied one tweetA milkshake with a slice of apple pie blended right in. A 3,000-calorie plate of pasta. A breakfast that includes deep-fried steak and pancakes (and hash browns and eggs and gravy and syrup). Obesity rates may show signs of leveling off, but it looks like America’s major restaurant chains are doing everything possible to reverse the trend, according to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group unveils the latest "winners" of its Xtreme Eating Awards in the current issue of its Nutrition Action Healthletter.
"It's as if IHOP, The Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano's Little Italy, and other major restaurant chains are scientifically engineering these extreme meals with the express purpose of promoting obesity, diabetes, and heart disease," said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "You'd think that the size of their profits depended on their increasing the size of your pants."
Most people wouldn't sit down to eat a 12-piece bucket of Original Recipe KFC all by themselves, says CSPI. Yet The Cheesecake Factory somehow crams about that many calories into a single serving of its Crispy Chicken Costoletta—though the bucket of KFC has less than half the saturated fat, "only" two days' worth as opposed to the four-and-a-half days' worth in the costoletta. In fact, the Crispy Chicken Costoletta has more calories (2,610) than any steak, chop, or burger meal on The Cheesecake Factory's famously oversized menu.
To put these numbers into context, a typical adult should consume about 2,000 calories and no more than 20 grams of saturated fat and 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming no more than six teaspoons of added sugars for women and nine teaspoons for men. The Xtreme Eating dis-honorees include:
IHOP serves a breakfast consisting of deep-fried steak with gravy, two fried eggs, deep-fried potatoes, and two buttermilk pancakes. The Country Fried Steak & Eggs combo has 1,760 calories, 23 grams of saturated fat, 3,720 mg of sodium, and 11 teaspoons of added sugar. CSPI says that's like having five McDonald's Egg McMuffins sprinkled with 10 packets of sugar.
serves a breakfast consisting of deep-fried steak with gravy, two fried eggs, deep-fried potatoes, and two buttermilk pancakes. The combo has 1,760 calories, 23 grams of saturated fat, 3,720 mg of sodium, and 11 teaspoons of added sugar. CSPI says that's like having five McDonald's Egg McMuffins sprinkled with 10 packets of sugar. Johnny Rockets' Bacon Cheddar Double burger has 1,770 calories, 50 grams of saturated fat, and 2,380 milligrams of sodium. An order of the chain's Sweet Potato Fries adds another 590 calories and 800 mg of sodium. The chain's Big Apple Shake —a milkshake that actually contains a slice of apple pie—has 1,140 calories, 37 grams of saturated fat, and about 13 teaspoons of added sugar. That meal delivers a total of 3,500 calories (nearly two days' worth), 88 grams of saturated fat (four-and-a-half days' worth) and 3,720 mg of sodium (two-and-a-half days' worth. It's like eating 3 McDonald's Quarter Pounders with Cheese, a large Fries, a medium McCafé Vanilla Shake, and 2 Baked Apple Pies.
burger has 1,770 calories, 50 grams of saturated fat, and 2,380 milligrams of sodium. An order of the chain's adds another 590 calories and 800 mg of sodium. The chain's —a milkshake that actually contains a slice of apple pie—has 1,140 calories, 37 grams of saturated fat, and about 13 teaspoons of added sugar. That meal delivers a total of 3,500 calories (nearly two days' worth), 88 grams of saturated fat (four-and-a-half days' worth) and 3,720 mg of sodium (two-and-a-half days' worth. It's like eating 3 McDonald's Quarter Pounders with Cheese, a large Fries, a medium McCafé Vanilla Shake, and 2 Baked Apple Pies. The Deep Dish Macaroni & 3-Cheese at Uno Chicago Grill has four cups of pasta; Cheddar, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses; an Alfredo sauce made from heavy cream, cheese, rendered chicken fat, and butter; and a crushed Ritz Cracker topping. With a day's worth of calories (1,980), three-and-a-half days' worth of saturated fat (71 grams), and two days' worth of sodium (3,110 mg), eating this entrée is like eating a whole Family Size box of Stouffer's Macaroni & Cheese—with half a stick of butter melted on top.
at has four cups of pasta; Cheddar, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses; an Alfredo sauce made from heavy cream, cheese, rendered chicken fat, and butter; and a crushed Ritz Cracker topping. With a day's worth of calories (1,980), three-and-a-half days' worth of saturated fat (71 grams), and two days' worth of sodium (3,110 mg), eating this entrée is like eating a whole Family Size box of Stouffer's Macaroni & Cheese—with half a stick of butter melted on top. One might think that the Bistro Shrimp Pasta from The Cheesecake Factory is one of the less fattening things on the menu, what with its shrimp, mushrooms, tomato, and arugula. It actually has more calories than any other entrée (at 3,120), along with 89 grams of saturated fat (enough to keep your arteries busy from Monday morning to noon on Friday, says CSPI). It's the nutritional equivalent of three orders of Olive Garden's Lasagna Classico plus an order of Tiramisu.
from is one of the less fattening things on the menu, what with its shrimp, mushrooms, tomato, and arugula. It actually has more calories than any other entrée (at 3,120), along with 89 grams of saturated fat (enough to keep your arteries busy from Monday morning to noon on Friday, says CSPI). It's the nutritional equivalent of three orders of Olive Garden's Lasagna Classico plus an order of Tiramisu. Smoothie King combines peanut butter, banana, sugar, and grape juice in its Peanut Power Plus Grape Smoothie. Some may think that sounds healthy, but a 40-oz. large size has 1,460 calories and three- and-a-half days' worth of added sugar (22 teaspoons). Make that six-and-a-half days' worth, since the 17 teaspoons of naturally occurring sugar in the grape juice aren't any healthier than added sugar. There's an additional 12 teaspoons of sugar coming from the banana and nonfat milk.
The full list of winners is available here.
Calorie counts will soon be required on chain restaurant menus, thanks to the landmark health care reform legislation signed by President Obama in March 2010 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. Draft regulations that implement the calorie-labeling provisions have been released by the Food and Drug Administration, though final regulations have been stalled for months, according to CSPI.
"I hope the Obama Administration promptly finalizes overdue calorie labeling rules for chain restaurants," Jacobson said. "Not only do Americans deserve to know what they're eating, but, as our Xtreme Eating "winners" clearly indicate, lives are at stake. And perhaps when calories become mandatory on menus, chains will begin innovating in a healthier direction, instead of competing with each other to make Americans heavier and sicker."
CSPI's Nutrition Action Healthletter is published 10 times a year, has 850,000 subscribers, and accepts no advertising.Defending free speech in the modern age.
Dear Reader,
You have likely stumbled across this article among the chaos of news reports and social media from all sides expressing extremely strong views regarding the interpretation of free speech. While the roads that the public choose to take in response are much divided, one thing is very clear; we all envision the same goals for a meaningful society. That is we want to live in a society in which all people are free to express their ideas and feel safe doing so, no matter how unpopular or marginalized that they are. To ensure that we as a society take the most appropriate path to this honorable destination of retaining global liberty and freedom of thought, it is crucial to keep an open mind to discussion during this pivotal moment in history. The future of our beliefs and our ability to express them relies heavily on this moment. You are a part of history, and your actions now will decide the future fate of humanity.
In light of these recent events we have seen the level of power that large corporations have to not only regulate, but censor the content that we read and see on the internet. This in itself is a very important idea to be aware of despite your stance in regards to my decision. You must ask yourself; to what extent do we as a society want to enable such power within large corporations? With the evolution of technology; who can speak and what can be said is determined less by states, but rather more by the executives behind corporations that operate our global technological infrastructure. Therefore as the power of communication and knowledge shifts, the responsibility to defend the rights within our constitution also moves from governments to that of corporations. Just as our founding members of America fought with our government to defend their beliefs, it is important that we as a people stand with corporations that reflect these beliefs as well.
Built on a foundation of core values proven through the creation of America, BitMitigate was created to take on such responsibility and defend it in the modern age - even at the cost of much controversy. Consistent with these values of freedom of expression, BitMitigate has decided to continue offering DDoS protection to The Daily Stormer despite our extremely contrasting beliefs in regards to the content that they produce. It is important to keep in mind that we do not endorse, create, or even host the content at The Daily Stormer but rather protect their website from being taken offline in protest via methods such as DDoS attacks. The question isn’t whether or not the content at The Daily Stormer should exist, but rather whether or not it is the responsibility of technology companies to be consistent in defending the right to freedom of expression enshrined within our constitution. My answer to this question is clear: when the power of thought and communication lies in your hands it is your responsibility to defend it.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Lim
This article can be downloaded by clicking here.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his administration is "committed" to cutting the water supply to Pakistan amid an escalation of tensions between the two nuclear neighbors.
Modi said at the inauguration of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the city of Bathinda on Friday that the government was "committed" to getting "farmers their rights."
"Now every drop of this water will be stopped and I will give that to … Indian farmers. I am committed to this," Modi stated.
He said a task force had been set up to cut "each drop of water" from reaching Pakistan.
On November 23, Indian media speculated Modi's decision to cut the water supply to Pakistan.
Under an internationally mediated agreement between India and Pakistan signed in 1960, named the Indus Waters Treaty, the water of six rivers, namely Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum, are to be shared between the two countries.
On November 24, Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan’s adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs, said in response to Modi’s decision that revocation of the treaty by India "can be taken as an act of war."
Islamabad will "react befittingly" if Modi attempts to violate the Indus Waters Treaty, Aziz warned.
Tensions have intensified between the two arch-rivals in the past months over cross-border military attacks and diplomatic spat.
Analysts believe Modi’s provocative remarks against Pakistan aim to further escalate tensions for two purposes. First, in the domestic sphere, escalating the conflict into an all-out war between the two nations would distract the public from economic hardships already awaiting them due to the Indian rupee’s devaluation. Second, New Delhi thinks further aggravating the situation would make the international community disregard its heavy-handed crackdown on the restive Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Pakistan, however, says it will not accept any pressure from India and will continue to support freedom fighters in Kashmir.
The Kashmir issue is an "unfinished agenda of the partition," Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (Photo by AFP)
Islamabad will never stop supporting the "freedom struggle of Kashmiris," the Pakistani premier said.
Pakistan and India have already fought three wars since their partition in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.Some have recently called our editorial process, honesty, and ability to obtain quotes from companies into question.
I wanted to take a few minutes and share how Coin Fire goes about gathering facts and information, verifying the information, and creating features for our site.
Coin Fire has always stood for factual, verified, and honest pieces. We strive to make sure that each thing we report is verified.
Today, I want to share with our readers what this process looks like and what our very own internal guidebooks and guidelines say regarding fact-checking, sources, editorial content, and approvals.
When we receive information from someone about a story, we immediately begin following our own internal guidelines.
Coin Fire Contributor’s Bible – November 2014 Edition
Each month, we publish an internal guide called The Contributor’s Bible. Inside this document, we address a range of issues including current editorial rules and policies.
Our first step of each story is to begin a basic verification of where the information is coming from. Our internal guide defines this as a basic search: Google for the source’s name, check LinkedIn profiles, verify the email address of the person sending a tip or information, etc.. This serves as a basic spot check and is not a confirmation in any way, shape, or form.
Only after a basic spot check returns some valid results can a contributor approach the editorial team and seek permission to run a story. The editorial team does not serve to squash stories against advertisers, pump pieces, or even steer the direction of the site in a way that benefits or hurts anyone. The editorial team decides what will be relevant to our audience, what is news versus opinion, and which pieces might need more contributors or researchers.
Coin Fire reports news, not opinions. The editorial team helps make sure that this is always the case.
If the basic source checks can be verified, the contributor begins to write the piece. If a quote needs to be obtained from a source who wishes to remain anonymous or with a source that has not yet been verified and vetted previously, we will send a contributor to meet with this person via Skype or in-person to further understand the situation regarding the story.
During the writing of this piece, we follow our editorial protocol. We verify employment of the source or if the company is real and exists. We check with all references when possible, verify public records, and review all relevant information. We want to make sure we are getting things right.
Vetting sources and waiting for three confirmations per piece–which oftentimes takes weeks–is what has helped Coin Fire keep up such a high level of commitment to delivering the most honest pieces.
As a story is being written, we are constantly checking the facts. We receive new information each day via email, our contact form, and even via text messages. Very few pieces will actually be published however. Many pieces may be drafted, but are not published due to our own internal guidelines and processes for publishing pieces.
As an author is writing a piece, he/she is instructed to do so via an internal system that allows our editors the ability to see what is being written and provide notes. This also allows for additional fact-checking. If at any point an editor can’t be provided with a relevant, factual piece of information backing a statement, we kill the feature.
This fact-checking system has prevented false stories concerning insured exchanges from being reported and allowed us to post relevant information regarding the BFL raid while it was taking place. This system also allowed Coin Fire to publish SEC documents as they were being delivered, and it even helped validate information regarding a recent story with GAW Miners.
Our editorial team has connections in the mainstream media, multiple government organizations, and several startups and venture capital firms. We can bring factual, and sometimes even leaked information, because of our connections. That being said, we still vet and verify every single source. No one receives preferential treatment simply because they know our editorial team. We still verify employment, documents, and other relevant information each time. As a result, Coin Fire may publish a story later than our peers.
We’ve enclosed some of our editorial processes below.
[table id=4 /]
Coin Fire does not make it a habit to publish press releases without accurately verifying the information presented. If a company says XYZ is involved, we verify that information before publishing. If a claim is made regarding the legal status of an item, we have attorneys review the statements made. If a claim is made in a press release regarding quotes, we verify with the sources.
We are currently working to make our Contributor’s Bible public in the near future. We want our reporting and that of our peers to be fair, honest, and balanced. Our hope is that we can help elevate the ecosystem with these materials. We are preparing this bible for public consumption by removing some of our proprietary source information and some of the information specific to our own internal systems. We are also working to improve the overall flow of this document.
If you are interested in being notified upon this document’s release, please send an email to [email protected] I’ll be sure to send you a message letting you know when it has been made public via our website and GitHub.Several days ago PageFair (the industry leading anti-adblocking authority and solutions provider) issued a traditional report on ad blocking. The presentation is very interesting, although we must say that we do not agree with all the data and conclusions provided. Anyway, from this report you will find out how people get to know about ad blockers, how many women/men there are among ad blocker users and much more.
Mobile situation
In December 2016 there were more than 600M devices blocking ads, 62% of which were mobile devices (380M). 94% of mobile blockers users are in the Asia-Pacific region.
Adguard comments: We need to say that the "380 million mobile blockers users" figure is quite questionable. It mostly presents ad blocking browsers users, UC browser in particular. This browser is very popular in China and India, mainly through contracts with manufacturers of mobile devices. However, the quality of ad blocking (in our opinion) is far from perfect. For mobile devices it would be correct to split blockers into "browsers with an ad blocking feature" (such as UC), and "ad blocking apps." The share of applications worldwide is very low thanks to the efforts of Google. Whereas the share of browsers is huge only in China and India and is unlikely to show any similar dynamics in the "Western" world.
Fun facts
But let's get back to the PageFair report. We have found some intriguing facts there:
1) Adblock demography
2) Ad blocking map
3) How do people know about ad blockers?
The power of "word of mouth". Recommendations by friends, colleagues, family members are the best marketing for ad blockers :) This is how users learn about us. Secondly, from the Internet, news, media. 23% of respondents don't remember how exactly did they find their ad blockers. 10% got acquainted with ad blockers while searching for other browsers extensions:
Interestingly, men learned about ad blockers from the internet, news, or media twice as frequently as did women. And the most common way that women learned about adblock software was from a family member.
4)Why do people use ad blockers?
Firstly, users are concerned about security. Almost the same number of respondents said "Interruption," meaning irritation by intervention in their web surfing. 16% installed ad blockers for speed (banners slow down page loading). 14% of surveyed answered that there are simply "too many ads." And others mentioned privacy and poor frequency capping.
5) Ad blockers users are more educated
45 in 100 American adblock users surveyed have a bachelor’s degree or higher. "Adblock users in the US are 1.5x as likely to have a bachelor’s degree than the average American adult, increasing to 3x as likely among 18-24-year-olds. Pronounced adblock usage among college-age respondents points to campuses as a major vector for adblock adoption".
6)Irritating ad formats
7)"Disable adblock"
Also, look at the 'age' distinctions. 18-34-year-olds are less tolerant towards sites with adblock blocking.
What do you think about this report? What do you agree/disagree with? Share with us in comments.Paul Matthews, IITP Chief Executive. 30 December 2013, 10:24 pm
I wouldn't normally comment on issues such as the safety or otherwise of wifi gear, however I have to make an exception in light of the latest round of well-intentioned paranoia around the use of wifi in schools, especially given how it's been reported.
This is not a new issue: whether low level electromagnetic fields (EMFs) such as those emitted by wifi, cellphones, lightbulbs, TV, FM radio, power lines and more or less any other electrical appliances - as well as nature - are harmful to humans. So does the science suggest that prolonged exposure to very low levels of EMFs is harmful? And should schools get rid of wifi around kids as Te Horo School on the Kapiti Coast has just done?
Electromagnetic strength in wifi
In terms of Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), the debate is actually around intensity; the evidence is clear that high strength EMFs - massively higher than wifi signal strength - can be harmful to people. But what is high and low, and can prolonged exposure to very low levels of EMFs also be harmful?
This low vs high intensity question is the same in many other radiation contexts as well. For example, exposure to sunlight in moderation is not considered harmful, however too much of it can cause burning and lead to skin cancer. So where does wifi sit on that spectrum?
Let's first consider just how strong a signal we're talking about here. Jonathan Brewer's Inside Telecommunications blog has a great summary of EMFs and electromagnetic radiation, including the following table (Hat tip @shiftygeek):
Type of Radiation Power Level Potential to be Harmful (heat can be felt) 200W/kg Maximum Permitted in New Zealand 4.00W/kg Highest Radiation Cell Phones (Avg of 20) 1.43W/kg 50 Watt Cell Phone Transmitter at 10m distance 0.365W/kg Lowest Radiation Cell Phones (Avg of 20) 0.32W/kg Wi-Fi Device Average between 0.5 and 2m distance 0.0057W/kg
So going by this table, wifi would have to be 35,000x as strong as its current average to be potentially harmful to humans.
Interestingly, Jonathan also makes the point that banning wifi actually increases electromagnetic radiation, given the vast number of devices that would thus drop back to 3G (which emits considerably greater levels of radiation - although still well under the level considered harmful).
Recent developments
The issue of wifi and cellphone fields has reared its head again this month with the news that a parent has successfully convinced a school community to deny their kids the educational benefits of technology by turning off wifi in their junior school, amid concerns about EMFs from wifi.
Interestingly, the school's Board of Trustees apparently made it clear that they agreed with the evidence that wifi wasn't harmful to kids but were buckling to the pressure and canning it anyway, which is a little odd. They've also retained wifi throughout much of the rest of the school.
Adding to the increased noise recently is the fact that the National Environmental Society Incorporated, a mostly inactive non-profit (with total revenue of $186 in 2012 according to Societies Register records) changed its name to "Safer Wireless Technology NZ Inc" in September 2013. Those behind this group (a board of four individuals who NBR |
have accepted an invite to compete at EPICENTER 2017, the event's organisers have announced.
The DreamHack Masters Malmö champions join SK, Astralis, Gambit, Virtus.pro and North, who were all previously invited to the event.
G2 were in attendance at least year's EPICENTER event, where they finished 5th-6th following a 2-1 defeat at the hands of SK in the first round of the playoffs.
G2 secure EPICENTER invite
Richard "shox" Papillon's men have received the final invite to the $500,000 tournament, which will have just eight teams and not ten as originally announced by Epic Esports Events. The final two participants will be determined by a wildcard stage, held on site and featuring the winners of regional qualifiers held in Europe, the CIS, the Americas and China.
EPICENTER 2017 will run from October 23 to 29, with the playoffs being held at the Yubileyny Sports Palace, an indoor sports arena. The current list of participants for the event looks as follows:
SK Astralis Gambit Virtus.pro North G2 Wildcard #1 Wildcard #1 Wildcard #2
This weekend, the final open qualifiers will be held in Europe, the CIS and the Americas, with spots in the respective regions' closed stage up for grabs. Teams can sign up for these open qualifiers by clicking on the links below:
Europe - Register
CIS - Register
Americas - RegisterWhy Young People are Drifting from the Church
In our society’s almost dictatorial focus on the individual have we forgotten how to receive and how to be grateful?
A realization that I have arrived at through my prayer with the Community of Sant’Egidio is that our Lord was neither as influenced by nor as burdened by individualism as we are. It can easily be demonstrated that individualism is a cherished notion in the modern American cultural landscape if not, in fact, the highest virtue we subscribe to. We exalt the positives of individualism (and they are there certainly) but do we also recognize as readily the negatives? I would contend that one negative derived from an uncritical adoption of the tenets of individualism is being obliged throughout life to carry the weight of the presumption that if something does not originate from me exclusively then it is not really all that worthwhile.
I remember in a previous assignment as a college chaplain how I would visit the art museum on campus once a week where the work of art majors would be on exhibit. For many of the students this showing was their senior thesis. Much of the work of these students was engaging, creative and very thought-provoking. But a good amount of it was not and one would leave the exhibit with the perception and hunch that the student was almost straining under the compulsion to have to present his or her own unique perception of reality, particular viewpoint or feelings to the world. Frankly, in this forced condition, their viewpoint was not all that interesting and often it was clichéd and just plain boring. At these moments I would exit the exhibit with the words of a wise, old Benedictine monk friend ringing in my ears, “Get over yourself!”
This weight can work in a subtle way but it is there – the weight to always have to be unique, always original and to have to prove it! This is quite crushing and just not humanly possible. Christ did not seem to be burdened by this though. Our Lord demonstrates his freedom (as well as his oneness with the Father) when he responds to Philip’s request of showing the disciples the Father in the fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel,
He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. (Jn. 14:9-11)
Our Lord is quite comfortable in sharing that what he has to give comes both from the Father and out of his relationship with the Father. He does not seem constrained by the presumption that everything has to be a totally original and unique thought originating from within himself alone in order for it to be authentic and worthwhile. This freedom that our Lord demonstrates is in fact shared with the Spirit also.
I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (Jn. 16:12-15)
These gospel passages lead the reader into the mystery of the Trinity but they also witness to the depth of freedom that our Lord enjoyed in his person with one such ingredient of this freedom being the ability to freely acknowledge what he has received from the Father. Our Lord is the “free-est” person who ever walked the face of the earth - even being free of the negative weight of individualism. Because of this our Lord could fully receive from the Father and he could fully live in gratitude. We, on the other hand, not so much.
Recently, I have noticed a string of articles in response to a recent Pew survey on why younger people are no longer practicing their faith and leaving the Church. I am not proposing this as the definitive answer but I do think a contributing factor in this trend is this negative weight of individualism and specifically how it limits our ability to recognize what we have received and to be grateful for that. Many people will say that the Church needs to get better at reaching out to young people, preaching needs to be better and more engaging, we need to return to a sense of traditional Catholic identity or be more involved in pressing social issues that are of concern to younger generations … the list can go on and on. I agree with these points and believe there is validity to them. Yes, there is more that the Church needs to do and should do but I think there is another aspect to this equation and I offer this with the greatest pastoral sensitivity having worked many years with younger generations. I think a number of younger people (as the wise monk would say) need to get over themselves and, frankly, just need to grow some backbone when it comes to their faith.
A number of times now I have had a young couple approach me for marriage preparation with one of the two being Catholic and the other one from a different Christian faith tradition only to hear them say that they plan to attend a different church once married, almost as if it is no big deal. This then leads generally into a full discussion where I ask them if they are able to recognize how their faith tradition (Catholic or not) has helped to shape who they are. What I have come to realize is that more often than not they do not recognize this. This is quite damning but, I hold, not so much for the couple themselves (as I have come to see them more as victims in this equation, although some as willing victims) but rather the milieu in which they have grown up and live in. We focus so much on the individual in our society that we fail to help people learn how to recognize what we have received and how we have been formed through outside influences including our faith. We fail in helping one another realize that we are more than just ourselves. I encourage the couple to realize that part of what they love and are attracted to in their fiancée is how his or her faith tradition has helped to shape who he or she is. To summarily toss aside one’s faith tradition or ask the other person to do so or to plan to do so later as a married couple as if it does not really matter is a profound disservice and demonstrates a sad lack of awareness.
Many people suffer from this lack this awareness. We focus so much on the individual and the illusion of how we are self-made that we forget how much we have, in fact, received, we forget how to receive and we lose the ability to be grateful. It is a sad state of affairs really.
Yes, the Church needs to do its part but the young people also have a role to play. They have choices to make. I do not believe that the younger people choosing to leave the Church are necessarily innocents lacking responsibility in this whole regard. Maybe their choice reflects how much they themselves have bought into the illusion of individualism where they cannot recognize nor be grateful for what they have received just as much as it might demonstrate certain lacks on the Church’s part.
In all times and seasons the Church must look to the Lord for wisdom, grace and insight. The Lord’s willingness to acknowledge his reliance on the Father and the joy he found in that is a salvific corrective to the illusions of individualism with its crushing burdens. Christ knew what he received from the Father, he knew how to receive and he knew how to be grateful. Christ was neither as influenced by nor burdened by individualism as we are.
The words of my Benedictine monk friend are not meant to be hurtful and are actually quite pastoral if understood in a slightly different nuance, “For the sake of yourself, get over yourself and, yes, grow some backbone in regards to your faith!”A neighbor recently asked if I would be attending an upcoming Walnut Creek city council meeting. She wanted to join other residents in expressing anger about all the construction of apartment buildings downtown.
Related Articles In costly Bay Area, even six-figure salaries are considered ‘low income’ “I’m so sick about all the overdevelopment in Walnut Creek,” she explained.
I replied that I had something else to do that night. But I wanted to say much more, and not just as someone who agrees with planning experts that the Bay Area’s serious housing shortage poses a dire threat to our region’s economy, socio-economic diversity and long-term quality of life.
I wanted to tell her that I’m not all that angry about the construction — not if it helps alleviate this city’s housing shortage and, in turn, provides more places to live that are affordable to people like me and my husband, who aren’t rich or near rich.
I’m a reporter, and my husband works for a nonprofit that serves homeless people in West Oakland — not the most lucrative professions. Our combined income puts us in the “moderate” income category for Walnut Creek. Others in this category include elementary school teachers, mental health counselors, social workers, plumbers, transportation workers and legal secretaries. It could also include the children of long-time residents who are starting their careers or families and want to continue to make this city home.
But guess what? There aren’t many apartment or single-family home options available to us moderate types in Walnut Creek, according to a presentation at that city council meeting I didn’t attend, but later watched on video.
Right now, my husband and I are not looking because we’re fortunate enough to live in my late parents’ home in an old neighborhood near downtown. But who knows? Perhaps we’ll decide that we can’t handle the upkeep for this 65-year-old structure and its quarter-acre yard. Maybe my siblings and I will decide it’s best to sell.
Then what? The prospect leaves me feeling sad and anxious. I never imagined I would be at a point in my life where I wouldn’t be able to afford to live in Walnut Creek, my hometown.
And when I say “home,” I mean it. I was born here, at the Kaiser medical center in downtown. A few days later, I was carried into my parent’s house a half-mile away. I went to local schools and hung out with friends at the old Festival movie theater, swam at the city pools and, on weekends and in the summer, explored local creeks and open spaces.
I confess I didn’t always see myself as staying here, especially after I went away to college and got married. In our 20s and early 30s, my husband and I lived in other places that seemed more cosmopolitan, like San Francisco or even Thailand.
But a few months before 9/11, family circumstances brought us back to Walnut Creek, and I became one of those odd ducks living in the house in which I grew up. I raised my son in this house and in this town. He attended the same elementary school I did and likewise enjoyed movies downtown or playing in local pools and parks while I re-established ties to old friends. I also reestablished my career as a journalist and fell in love with writing about a place I’ve come to realize has always been fundamental to who I am.
And now, this housing crisis is telling me that maybe I don’t belong here after all — that maybe I don’t deserve to call Walnut Creek and the Bay Area home because I didn’t have the foresight to buy a home before the market went nuts, or because I don’t make enough money now, or because I didn’t make other life choices — like going into corporate PR or marrying a more prosperous partner.
According to that city council presentation, a “moderate” income for a three-person household is between $67,650 and $101,050. But the median rental price is no longer affordable to low- or moderate-income households that don’t want to spend more than 30 percent of annual incomes on housing, said Margot Ernst, the city’s housing program manager. Rents for two bedrooms in March ranged from $1,800 to $5,500, with many of the available units being on the pricier end. Ernst added that around 70 percent of people who work in Walnut Creek belong in the very low- to moderate-income categories.
And that brings me back to my friends and neighbors who complain about the city allowing more apartments to be built.
I certainly share their frustration with the traffic and parking headaches — a situation that’s replicated in gentrifying neighborhoods and towns across the Bay Area as they enjoy a post-recession boom in high tech and other industries.
I, too, get annoyed when it seems like the city council is letting developers slide on their responsibility to do more to ease the parking, traffic and infrastructure problems they contribute to.
But I find myself growing impatient with the anti-growth sentiment. That’s because it’s almost always expressed by people who already own their homes and aren’t terrified that they could be displaced by sudden rent hikes that are becoming all too common these days.
Moreover, this sentiment is often accompanied by complaints about the denigration of the city’s “quality of life.” People lament how Walnut Creek is losing its quiet, small-town feel to urbanization — as if that ship didn’t sail years ago.
Some also claim that potential new apartment dwellers will ruin our wonderful schools with their kids crowding into classrooms — a claim that has been characterized as overblown by school officials. And some go so far as to paint future apartment dwellers — a sizeable number of whom would qualify for affordable housing — as “undesirables” who might bring in crime.
Wow! As someone who might qualify for affordable housing, I guess that makes me undesirable.
Of course, the situation is much worse in other towns and for other people. In Palo Alto, people who earn up to $250,000 a year can qualify for affordable housing — as if it were plentiful in a place that’s become home to mega-rich Silicon Valley elites.
Meanwhile, the people who are truly suffering in this crisis are the elderly and disabled living on fixed incomes or on Social Security, or the poor, working class and minorities who can’t afford so-called market rate housing. For many people to keep their Bay Area jobs, they must relocate to exurbs in the Central Valley and face long daily commutes that can erode their mental and physical health and family life. So much for their quality of life.
Talk to any city planner or affordable housing expert, and they will explain the complex economic, social and land-use reasons the Bay Area is now mired in this crisis. One important factor they also cite is community resistance to new housing. These experts say hard-core resistance won’t preserve anyone’s quality of life. Rather, it will keep out the people who make our communities function and who make them more interesting, diverse and well-rounded places to live.
Walnut Creek has always been pretty welcoming to different kinds of people, including rich and poor, and it’s doing more than most Bay Area cities to address our housing crisis. In any case, I can’t see that my hometown’s quality of life will fare well in the long term if doesn’t continue to make itself home to all sorts of people, even natives like me.Eminem announced today (March 4) that he is planning to re-release The Slim Shady LP in cassette format.
The Detroit rapper made the announcement on Twitter and shared a link where people can sign up for more information.
“#SSLP Cassette re-issue coming soon http://shady.sr/SSLP” Eminem writes for the caption of an image of a tape.
The website offers for people to sign up for a newsletter and says that there will also be merchandise based on The Slim Shady LP available.
The Slim Shady LP was first released in 1999 on Aftermath Entertainment through Interscope Records. It features the songs “My Name Is,” “Just Don’t Give A Fuck” and “Guilty Conscience.”
View Eminem’s announcement that The Slim Shady LP will be released as a cassette below:
For additional Eminem coverage, watch the following DX Daily:Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
A US radio host has weighed in on the media attention surrounding the Supreme Court ruling on DOMA last week, to say that the New Yorker magazine “promoted child abuse”, by featuring Sesame Street characters embracing at the news on its cover.
This week’s cover over the magazine features Bert and Ernie embracing on a sofa, while an image of the US Supreme Court Justices appears on their television screen.
Bryan Fischer, a Christian radio host, made the comments whilst speaking on his Focal Point programme, saying the pair were engaged in a “homosexual clinch”.
“I don’t know which is which”, he said, continuing: “This is grossly irresponsible for The New Yorker to promote this, they really are promoting child endangerment and they are promoting child abuse.”
Fischer also quoted figures from the heavily criticised Regnerus Study, published in July 2012, which was titled “How Different Are The Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-sex Relationships? Findings from the New Family Structures Study”. Its findings were refuted by many and deemed “flawed and misleading”.
The Sesame Street characters have been widely assumed to be a couple, despite denials by producers of the long-running children’s television programme.
Back in 2011, a Change.org petition signed by more than 10,000 people called for the characters to get married.
At the time, a Sesame workshop statement said: “Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.
“Even though the Sesame Street Muppets … possess many human traits and characteristics, they have no sexual orientation.”
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which federally defined marrage as between one man and one woman.
In the second case, around California’s Proposition 8, the Supreme Court ruled that such a ruling was not in its jurisdiction, nor was it in the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court, which previously ruled, therefore deferring the decision to a previous ruling by a district court which decided the ban was unconstitutional.
These cases were seen as key in the campaign for equality in the US, and have been widely reported.GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization is forming an emergency committee of international experts to prepare for a possible worsening of the Middle East coronavirus (MERS), which has killed 40 people, WHO flu expert Keiji Fukuda said on Friday.
Fukuda said there was currently no emergency or pandemic but the experts would advise on how to tackle the disease if the number of cases suddenly grows. Most of the cases of MERS so far have been in Saudi Arabia, which hosts millions of Muslim visitors every year for the annual haj pilgrimage.
“We want to make sure we can move as quickly as possible if we need to,” Fukuda told a news conference.
“If in the future we do see some kind of explosion or if there is some big outbreak or we think the situation has really changed, we will already have a group of emergency committee experts who are already up to speed so we don’t have to go through a steep learning curve.”
The emergency committee is the second to be set up under WHO rules that came into force in 2007, years after the 2002 SARS outbreak. The previous emergency committee was set up to respond to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
Fukuda said MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) remained a patchwork of infections that had not yet swept through countries or communities as influenza can. The committee was partly being formed to consider big gaps in knowledge about the disease, he added.At Huntley Outlet Center, it's about time for the last one out to turn off the lights.
Only seven stores at the 279,000-square-foot outlet mall in Huntley, about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, remain open. A Banana Republic Factory Store and Darna Furniture have not announced closing dates but five others are promoting steep discounts and preparing to shut for good by early March.
"It's closing when the last store closes," said Michael Reschke, founder of The Prime Group. Chicago-based Prime Group, Elgin's Capital Cos. and California-based Craig Realty Group partnered to buy the property from mall operator Simon Property Group in April 2016.
Dolores Matousek, owner of Huntley Antique & Jewelry Mall, said the mall still draws shoppers, especially on weekends. She's closing her store by mid-February and moving to Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee this spring.
James C. Svehla / Chicago Tribune Huntley Antique & Jewelry Mall in Huntley Outlet Center in Huntley, Ill. Thursday, February 2, 2017. Huntley Antique & Jewelry Mall in Huntley Outlet Center in Huntley, Ill. Thursday, February 2, 2017. (James C. Svehla / Chicago Tribune) (James C. Svehla / Chicago Tribune)
Many of those shoppers are there for the closing sales, like Kathryn Deithloff, 34, of Marengo, who hoped to score discounted jeans at Guess on a recent day but arrived too late. The door was locked and windows were covered in paper, except where an employee had peeled it back to begin scraping Guess' logo off the glass.
Huntley Village Manager David Johnson remembers seeing buses in the mall's parking lot after it opened in 1994, bringing in shoppers from around the Chicago area. It saw double-digit sales growth in 1996 and 1997, and occupancy hit about 92 percent in 1999.
But by 2011, only about 76 percent of the outlet center's space was occupied, according to regulatory filings by Simon Property Group, which bought the mall in 2010. Huntley pushed to complete a new tollway interchange at Interstate 90 and Route 47 to make it easier to access the mall. The $59 million project, which cost Huntley $6 million, was completed in 2013.
It didn't work. By the end of 2015, about half the center was empty.
"The other outlet centers that have been successful in Chicago, Rosemont and Aurora took all the wind out of its sails," Reschke said.
The recently expanded Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora and Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont are both among the 30 largest U.S. outlet malls, according to Value Retail News. Even Fashion Outlets, the smaller of the two, is nearly twice Huntley's size, with higher-end shops.
James C. Svehla / Chicago Tribune Huntley Antique & Jewelry Mall in Huntley Outlet Center in Huntley, Ill. Thursday, February 2, 2017. The outlet mall will close for good in March. Huntley Antique & Jewelry Mall in Huntley Outlet Center in Huntley, Ill. Thursday, February 2, 2017. The outlet mall will close for good in March. (James C. Svehla / Chicago Tribune) (James C. Svehla / Chicago Tribune)
Shoppers are still willing to drive an hour or more to visit a destination mall, said Gabriella Santaniello, president and founder of retail research firm A-Line Partners. But many would rather travel farther for one with more interesting shops and better entertainment and dining options, she said.
What's next for the property hasn't been decided, but its days as a shopping center are likely done. The new owners looked for a large retailer that would be enough of a destination to draw customers but there weren't any takers, Reschke said.
Instead, Reschke said, they'd like to change the property's zoning to allow office, research and industrial uses.
Huntley is hoping the property will combine a mix of businesses to make it less vulnerable to the industry changes that took a toll on the outlet mall, Johnson said.
"The last thing we want is another situation...where in 20 years we're talking about having to raze it and start over," Johnson said.
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Twitter @laurenzumbachTragic mask on the façade of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden.
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense,[1] may be an experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual.[2] Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of affective phenomena. The opposite of suffering is pleasure or happiness.
Suffering is often categorized as physical[3] or mental.[4] It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of occurrence usually compound that of intensity. Attitudes toward suffering may vary widely, in the sufferer or other people, according to how much it is regarded as avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved.
Suffering occurs in the lives of sentient beings in numerous manners, often dramatically. As a result, many fields of human activity are concerned with some aspects of suffering. These aspects may include the nature of suffering, its processes, its origin and causes, its meaning and significance, its related personal, social, and cultural behaviors, its remedies, management, and uses.
Terminology [ edit ]
The word suffering is sometimes used in the narrow sense of physical pain, but more often it refers to mental pain, or more often yet it refers to pain in the broad sense, i.e. to any unpleasant feeling, emotion or sensation. The word pain usually refers to physical pain, but it is also a common synonym of suffering. The words pain and suffering are often used both together in different ways. For instance, they may be used as interchangeable synonyms. Or they may be used in 'contradistinction' to one another, as in "pain is physical, suffering is mental", or "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional". Or they may be used to define each other, as in "pain is physical suffering", or "suffering is severe physical or mental pain".
Qualifiers, such as physical, mental, emotional, and psychological, are often used to refer to certain types of pain or suffering. In particular, mental pain (or suffering) may be used in relationship with physical pain (or suffering) for distinguishing between two wide categories of pain or suffering. A first caveat concerning such a distinction is that it uses physical pain in a sense that normally includes not only the 'typical sensory experience of physical pain' but also other unpleasant bodily experiences including air hunger, hunger, vestibular suffering, nausea, sleep deprivation, and itching. A second caveat is that the terms physical or mental should not be taken too literally: physical pain or suffering, as a matter of fact, happens through conscious minds and involves emotional aspects, while mental pain or suffering happens through physical brains and, being an emotion, involves important physiological aspects.
The word unpleasantness, which some people use as a synonym of suffering or pain in the broad sense, may be used to refer to the basic affective dimension of pain (its suffering aspect), usually in contrast with the sensory dimension, as for instance in this sentence: "Pain-unpleasantness is often, though not always, closely linked to both the intensity and unique qualities of the painful sensation."[5] Other current words that have a definition with some similarity to suffering include distress, unhappiness, misery, affliction, woe, ill, discomfort, displeasure, disagreeableness.
Philosophy [ edit ]
Hedonism, as an ethical theory, claims that good and bad consist ultimately in pleasure and pain. Many hedonists, in accordance with Epicurus and contrarily to popular perception of his doctrine, advocate that we should first seek to avoid suffering and that the greatest pleasure lies in a robust state of profound tranquility (ataraxia) that is free from the worrisome pursuit or the unwelcome consequences of ephemeral pleasures.
For Stoicism, the greatest good lies in reason and virtue, but the soul best reaches it through a kind of indifference (apatheia) to pleasure and pain: as a consequence, this doctrine has become identified with stern self-control in regard to suffering.
Jeremy Bentham developed hedonistic utilitarianism, a popular doctrine in ethics, politics, and economics. Bentham argued that the right act or policy was that which would cause "the greatest happiness of the greatest number". He suggested a procedure called hedonic or felicific calculus, for determining how much pleasure and pain would result from any action. John Stuart Mill improved and promoted the doctrine of hedonistic utilitarianism. Karl Popper, in The Open Society and Its Enemies, proposed a negative utilitarianism, which prioritizes the reduction of suffering over the enhancement of happiness when speaking of utility: "I believe that there is, from the ethical point of view, no symmetry between suffering and happiness, or between pain and pleasure. (...) human suffering makes a direct moral appeal for help, while there is no similar call to increase the happiness of a man who is doing well anyway." David Pearce, for his part, advocates a utilitarianism that aims straightforwardly at the abolition of suffering through the use of biotechnology (see more details below in section Biology, neurology, psychology). Another aspect worthy of mention here is that many utilitarians since Bentham hold that the moral status of a being comes from its ability to feel pleasure and pain: therefore, moral agents should consider not only the interests of human beings but also those of (other) animals. Richard Ryder came to the same conclusion in his concepts of'speciesism' and 'painism'. Peter Singer's writings, especially the book Animal Liberation, represent the leading edge of this kind of utilitarianism for animals as well as for people.
Another doctrine related to the relief of suffering is humanitarianism (see also humanitarian principles, humanitarian aid, and humane society). "Where humanitarian efforts seek a positive addition to the happiness of sentient beings, it is to make the unhappy happy rather than the happy happier. (...) [Humanitarianism] is an ingredient in many social attitudes; in the modern world it has so penetrated into diverse movements (...) that it can hardly be said to exist in itself."[6]
Pessimists hold this world to be mainly bad, or even the worst possible, plagued with, among other things, unbearable and unstoppable suffering. Some identify suffering as the nature of the world, and conclude that it would be better if life did not exist at all. Arthur Schopenhauer recommends us to take refuge in things like art, philosophy, loss of the will to live, and tolerance toward 'fellow-sufferers'.
Friedrich Nietzsche, first influenced by Schopenhauer, developed afterward quite another attitude, arguing that the suffering of life is productive, exalting the will to power, despising weak compassion or pity, and recommending us to embrace willfully the 'eternal return' of the greatest sufferings.[citation needed]
Philosophy of pain is a philosophical specialty that focuses on physical pain and is, through that, relevant to suffering in general.
Religion [ edit ]
Suffering plays an important role in a number of religions, regarding matters such as the following: consolation or relief; moral conduct (do no harm, help the afflicted, show compassion); spiritual advancement through life hardships or through self-imposed trials (mortification of the flesh, penance, ascetism); ultimate destiny (salvation, damnation, hell). Theodicy deals with the problem of evil, which is the difficulty of reconciling the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent god with the existence of evil: a quintessential form of evil, for many people, is extreme suffering, especially in innocent children, or in creatures destined to an eternity of torments (see problem of hell).
The 'Four Noble Truths' of Buddhism are about dukkha, a term often translated as suffering. They state the nature of suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation, the Noble Eightfold Path. Buddhism considers liberation from dukkha and the practice of compassion (karuna) as basic for leading a holy life and attaining nirvana.
Hinduism holds that suffering follows naturally from personal negative behaviors in one’s current life or in a past life (see karma in Hinduism).[7] One must accept suffering as a just consequence and as an opportunity for spiritual progress. Thus the soul or true self, which is eternally free of any suffering, may come to manifest itself in the person, who then achieves liberation (moksha). Abstinence from causing pain or harm to other beings, called ahimsa, is a central tenet of Hinduism, and even more so of another Indian religion, Jainism.
Christianity also believes that human suffering plays an important role in religion. Suffering is only to be thought of as a positive experience in the case of achieving a higher meaning of life, such as Jesus suffering for the lives of other people as was the case during the atonement. Suffering is the time to find God and value faith while doing so. This allows Christians to face reality of human experience with suffering and find an understanding in the divine.
Hinduism and Christianity embrace similar aspects in suffering. Both religions realize the need for God as well as the moral significance for God that suffering provides. This allows enlightenment to be reached and suffering to be seen in the conditions that faith entails rather than an issue. These human experiences with suffering in both Hinduism and Christianity help educators to emphasize the need for dialogue and religious education in schools.[8]
In Islam, the faithful must endure suffering with hope and faith, not resist or ask why, accept it as Allah's will and submit to it as a test of faith (Allah never asks more than can be endured). One must also work to alleviate suffering of others, as well as one's own. Suffering is also seen as a blessing in Islam for the mankind. Through the gift of suffering the Veil of Forgetfulness is torn apart and the sufferer remembers God and connects with him. When people suffer God makes them think of him. Several Islamic Prophet Muhammad's traditions state that, suffering expunges the sins of mankind and cleanses their soul for the immense reward in afterlife.[9]
The Bible's Book of Job reflects on the nature and meaning of suffering. It is supplemented in the Hebrew bible by the passages found in the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Jeremiah which elaborate the emotional and physical suffering of a conquered nation with its vanquished inhabitants forced into the suffering of exile and captivity in a foreign land.[10]
In the New Testament, suffering is portrayed both in the life of Jesus portrayed in the Synoptics, which narrate the suffering of the crucifixion, and in the post-Easter narratives. The suffering associated with punishment is further portrayed in the Apocalypse of John where suffering at the scene of the Last Judgment is depicted as the just recompense for sin and wrongdoing. Pope John Paul II wrote "On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering".[11] This meaning revolves around the notion of redemptive suffering.
According to the Bahá'í Faith, all suffering is a brief and temporary manifestation of physical life, whose source is the material aspects of physical existence, and often attachment to them, whereas only joy exists in the spiritual worlds. In the words of `Abdu'l-Bahá, "All these examples are to show you that the trials which beset our every step, all our sorrow, pain, shame and grief, are born in the world of matter; whereas the spiritual Kingdom never causes sadness. A man living with his thoughts in this Kingdom knows perpetual joy. The ills all flesh is heir to do not pass him by, but they only touch the surface of his life, the depths are calm and serene." (Paris Talks, p. 110).
Arts and literature [ edit ]
Artistic and literary works often engage with suffering, sometimes at great cost to their creators or performers. The Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database offers a list of such works under the categories art, film, literature, and theater. Be it in the tragic, comic or other genres, art and literature offer means to alleviate (and perhaps also exacerbate) suffering, as argued for instance in Harold Schweizer's Suffering and the remedy of art.[12]
This Brueghel painting is among those that inspired W. H. Auden's poem Musée des Beaux Arts :
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
(...)
In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; (...) [13]
Social sciences [ edit ]
Social suffering, according to Arthur Kleinman and others, describes "collective and individual human suffering associated with life conditions shaped by powerful social forces".[14] Such suffering is an increasing concern in medical anthropology, ethnography, mass media analysis, and Holocaust studies, says Iain Wilkinson,[15] who is developing a sociology of suffering.[16]
The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is a work by the Union of International Associations. Its main databases are about world problems (56,564 profiles), global strategies and solutions (32,547 profiles), human values (3,257 profiles), and human development (4,817 profiles). It states that "the most fundamental entry common to the core parts is that of pain (or suffering)" and "common to the core parts is the learning dimension of new understanding or insight in response to suffering".[17]
Ralph G.H. Siu, an American |
been honing their ideas since they met as students at Israel’s Technion University in the late 1990s. The Israeli government began building the controversial security barrier separating Israel from the West Bank in 2002, during their senior year, and talk of dividing Jerusalem was in the air.
Greenfield-Gilat and Bar-Sinai, joined by a close friend named Aya Shapira, began thinking about practical ways that the city could be partitioned without turning it into a modern version of Cold War Berlin. (Shapira was killed in the 2004 South Asian tsunami, and the name of their design studio, Saya, is short for “Studio Aya” in honor of their friend and colleague).
The three architects eventually settled on the idea of building parallel light rail systems in East and West Jerusalem that would come together outside the Damascus Gate of the Old City, turning it into a main transportation hub for the divided city. Their plan also called for turning the Damascus Gate rail station into a primary border crossing between the two states, making it, in Greenfield-Gilat’s words, a “separation barrier that was political but also highly functional.”
Part of their proposal was ahead of its time – Jerusalem has since built a light rail system with a stop outside of the Damascus Gate, something that wasn’t even under consideration in 2003 – but a peace deal dividing the city looks further apart than ever. There hasn’t been a successful Palestinian terror attack from the West Bank in more than a year, and Israelis feel little urgency about striking a deal with Abbas. The Palestinian leadership, for its part, distrusts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and doesn’t believe he would be willing to make the territorial concessions they have demanded for decades as part of a comprehensive accord.
In the middle of a trendy duplex gallery near the Tel Aviv harbor, an exhibition showcases Greenfield-Gilat and Bar-Sinai’s plans and includes a vivid illustration of just how difficult it will be to actually bring about a deal. The architects installed a table-sized map of Israel and the occupied territories It is built like a puzzle, with visitors encouraged to experiment by picking up light-green pieces in the shapes and sizes of existing Jewish settlements and then comparing them to blue pieces corresponding to the swaths of land that would need to be given to a new state of Palestine in a peace agreement. (Greenfield-Gilat and Bar-Sinai have also developed an online interactive map that offers a similar experience.)
Two things become clear almost immediately. First, Israel would only need to annex a small amount of land to bring the vast bulk of settlers within the Jewish state’s new borders. Second, that annexation would still require the forced evacuations of dozens of settlements, including several with populations of close to 10,000. Some of the larger settlements are so far from Israel’s pre-1967 borders– and would require Israel to relinquish such an enormous amount of territory in exchange – that they can’t even be picked up off the puzzle board. Those towns house the most extreme settlers, so any real-life move to clear them out would hold the real potential for violence.
Greenfield-Gilat and Bar-Sinai are open about their belief that Israel will need to find a way of relinquishing broad swaths of the West Bank. Greenfield-Gilat spent a year studying in a religious school in the West Bank before entering college and describes himself as a proud Zionist. Still, he says that many settlements – including the Israeli community in Hebron, the ancient city that contains many of Judaism’s most holy sites – will need to be evacuated as part of any peace deal. “The deep West Bank won’t be part of Israel,” he says. “The map is meant to show what’s on the table, what is in the zone of the possible agreements between the two sides, and what the cost would be.”
In the meantime, he’s is trying to find other ways of putting Saya’s ideas into practice. Greenfield-Gilat has worked as an advisor to Tzipi Livni, now Netanyahu’s chief peace negotiator, and ran unsuccessfully for the Israeli parliament as part of her political party. He’s now running for a seat on Jerusalem’s city council. “Our mission is to prove that these are not issues that should be put aside because they’re intractable,” he says. “Dealing with them is just a matter of political will.”
This project was supported with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Editor's note: This story originally mispelled Yehuda Greenfield-Gilat's name as Yehuda Greefield-Galit. We regret the error.× Expand Charles and Julie Seabury and their children, Alex and Amelia, who attend Albert Hill as sixth and eighth graders, respectively. (Photo by Jay Paul)
In the spring of 2013, Julie Seabury, a physical therapist, and her husband, Charles, a urologist, had a choice to make: Where would they enroll their rising sixth-grader in the fall? The family didn’t want to bus their daughter across the river to Lucille Brown Middle School’s International Baccalaureate program. They enjoy living in the Near West End, so moving to Henrico or Chesterfield counties was out of the question. Aside from the price tag, private schools were too “homogenous,” Julie Seabury says.
In the end, their decision was made easier by what she estimates were 30 to 40 families banding together and enrolling en masse at Albert Hill Middle School in the Museum District. The school had a strong principal, reputable teachers and state accreditation. “We all kind of wanted to do it together and make sure our kids had a support system there and were comfortable with the school itself,” Seabury says.
The city is seeing a slow — if tentative — return of middle-class families, black and white, who are investing in public schools that have long been considered second-rate. It’s a limited phenomenon, largely isolated to more economically stable neighborhoods. And in some of those neighborhoods, it is has been a process at least a decade in the making. But the signs of gaining momentum are there.
Between the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, the number of economically disadvantaged Hill students fell from 56 percent to 45 percent, according to data reported by RPS to the Virginia Department of Education. In 2004-05, that number was 69 percent. In-zone students, meaning those who live in the neighborhood, made up more than half of Hill’s enrollment during that same period, and one in four Hill students was white, more than at any time in at least 15 years, according to the state Department of Education.
Parents say improved quality of life in the city, a desire for diverse neighborhood schools, and Superintendent Dana Bedden’s leadership are changing attitudes.
“We’re a completely different town than we were 10 years ago — five years ago. We’re this younger, more energetic, more creative town. We’re invested in this town. We want to make it succeed and be a part of it,” says Scott Garnett, a local real-estate agent whose children attend Fox Elementary.
“Schools were always the part that was missing,” he says. “People are now getting involved. We’ve got a new administration... They’re going to change the perception — you don’t have to move and you don’t have to send your kids private.”
Still, even the most conservative measure shows the district had 5,700 empty seats last school year. Annual budgeting woes, decrepit school buildings, lackluster athletic facilities, teacher turnover and state accreditation shortcomings, especially among middle and high schools, make Richmond Public Schools a less attractive destination for parents with choice.
RPS’ grade-by-grade enrollment shows a sharp drop-off between fifth and sixth grade, signifying what has long been known: Elementary school is a much easier sell than the system’s struggling secondary schools. That may explain why parents who choose to stay in the district these days are doing so en masse. There is power in numbers.
In July, 140 parents showed up at a meeting in Hill’s auditorium after learning some electives were on the chopping block. They peppered Bedden and the school’s administration with complaints about communication during the scheduling process. The superintendent agreed on the spot to re-poll parents at the school about their students’ preferred electives and shuffle course offerings for the upcoming school year.
At the start of last school year, enrollment at Binford Middle in the Fan dipped below 60 percent of its building’s capacity. In December, the School Board, responding to community pressure, approved wholesale changes at the school, which now boasts the only combination fine-arts academy, college readiness program in the state. The new program has drawn strong interest from families whose children attend Fox, Garnett says. About 60 families who did not send their students to city schools last year applied to Binford during the district’s open enrollment period, Bedden says.
Parent Adria Scharf says it’s too soon to draw any solid conclusions about what is happening at schools such as Hill. She and her husband decided to enroll their child in an RPS elementary school, which has since seen a boundary change and constant turnover in leadership, among other issues. But, she says, a group of parents has committed to seeing the challenges through.
“I do sense that there’s a growing consensus among parents that we need more socioeconomically mixed schools in our district,” says Scharf, who is also executive director of the Richmond Peace Education Center.
The key is maintaining a socio-economic mix once it is reached, so that a school doesn’t then “tip,” losing the integrated student body that drew parents in the first place. A decade ago, African-American students accounted for 90 percent of district enrollment. Now, they make up 76 percent. Hispanic enrollment has grown to 11.5 percent. White enrollment has hovered around 9.5 percent for the last five years. In the wake of the Great Recession, poverty has grown in the district. Today, three of four students qualify for government-subsidized lunches.
Families who have the means to choose schools outside RPS come in with leverage — they can leave — and thus can exert system-wide pressure on the bureaucracy, says Kimberly Gray, whose School Board district includes Fox.
“All ships rise with the tide,” Gray says. “Keeping in mind that we need to remember the voiceless in our system, the parents who are more sensitive and vocal improve the system as a whole for everyone.”
This year, the Seaburys enrolled their second child at Hill. Julie Seabury estimates as many as 100 families whose students went to Mary Munford and Fox elementary schools did the same.Story highlights Work of Love puts ramps and boardwalks across the sand for easy wheelchair access
Volunteers from the Italian Paralympic Swimming Federation help people in water
Rome (CNN) Pope Francis is paying a year's rent for a private beach near Rome so a charity can help people with disabilities enjoy the sea and sun, according to the group that manages the program.
The group Work of Love has rented a portion of the Little Madonna beach since 2012 and outfitted it with boardwalks, ramps and water vehicles to provide access to people in wheelchairs and those with other issues that make a day at the beach difficult.
Monseigneur Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, told CNN that Francis gave the charity an undisclosed sum to "support the project that helps disabled youth and in particular to cover the cost of the annual rent for the beach known as the Little Madonna."
Work of Love said in a statement on its website it received the news of the donation with "enthusiasm and astonishment."
The Rev. Massimo Consolaro, the priest in charge of the group, told CNN that hundreds of people with disabilities use the beach every year, and the numbers are rising.
Read MoreAfter being denied a speaking slot last year at the largest annual gathering of conservatives, New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie has accepted an invitation to speak at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference next month, Yahoo News has learned.
“We are very excited to announce that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will speak at CPAC 2014," American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas told Yahoo News. "At this year's CPAC — and through our theme 'ACU's Golden Anniversary: Getting It Right for 50 Years' — we will celebrate how conservatism has shaped our past and look to the future with excitement. This will be the year that conservatives begin pulling the nation back from the brink of Barack Obama's disaster with a movement that inspires, unites and discovers new solutions to our current challenges.”
An invitation to speak at the conference, held near Washington each spring, is traditionally a prime opportunity for aspiring Republican presidential candidates to make an impression on some of the party’s most active supporters, as well as the national media.
Last year, the ACU, which organizes the three-day confab, made the controversial decision not to invite the rising GOP star. The group withheld its invitation as punishment for what some in the movement viewed as Christie’s insufficiently conservative record the year prior, Cardenas said. Christie lost favor with some Republicans when he gushed over President Barack Obama’s response to Superstorm Sandy just weeks before the November presidential election. His sharp criticism of House Republican leaders who delayed recovery funding after the storm also created tension at the time.
The ACU’s snub was particularly jarring because the group had warmly welcomed Christie, one of the most popular national Republicans, as a speaker at a regional CPAC gathering in Chicago in June 2012.
But while Christie may be back in the good graces of the ACU, at home, he’s struggling to escape a cloud of scandal.
Last month, emails surfaced between top Christie aides revealing that his administration had intentionally manufactured a costly and unnecessary traffic crisis on the George Washington Bridge — the busiest bridge in the world — as an act of apparently political retribution against a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse Christie during his re-election campaign. The move delayed thousands of commuters, emergency vehicles attempting to respond to 911 calls and school children traveling to the first day of school. The delays unleashed a firestorm of criticism against the governor.
Christie fired an aide, deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, and David Wildstein, a Port Authority appointee, resigned in the wake of the scandal. During a nearly two-hour press conference following the release of the emails, Christie denied having knowledge of the plan that brought traffic entering the bridge from the city of Fort Lee to a standstill.
In an interview with Yahoo News after he publicly addressed the scandal, Christie said he was still gathering information about the incident that has wreaked havoc on his administration and cast doubts about his presidential prospects in 2016.
“I’m going to learn from this,” Christie told Yahoo News’ Matt Bai. “I can’t tell you yet what it is I’m going to learn. But I am intent on learning from this.”
The bridge scandal, however, continues to haunt Christie and threatens to severely tarnish his presidential ambitions.
On Friday, the New York Times released a letter from an attorney representing Wildstein, the Port Authority appointee, claiming “evidence exists” that the governor knew about the lane closures earlier than he originally said he did. Wildstein has not yet released the evidence cited in the letter but contends that it contradicts Christie’s insistence that he first learned of the lane closure effort “after it was over.”
Christie’s administration responded to Wildstein’s accusation by denying wrongdoing. Over the weekend, Politico reported that Christie’s staff had circulated a memo attempting to undermine Wildstein’s credibility and downplay his attorney’s promise of “evidence.” On Sunday, the Associated Press reported that another Christie aide, Christina Genovese Renna, who reported to Kelly, had resigned.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied above the 23,000-mark on Wednesday, propelled by IBM's 9 percent surge after the computing giant hinted a return to revenue growth.
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IBM shares were on course to record their biggest percentage gain in more than eight years and accounted for nearly 95 points of the 148 point-gain for the blue-chip index.
The Dow had briefly surpassed the all-time peak on Tuesday but closed 3 points short of it. The latest 1,000-point increase was covered in roughly half the time it took the index to move from 21,000 to 22,000.
Solid earnings, stable economic growth and hopes that President Donald Trump may be able to make progress on tax cuts have helped the market rally this year.
"We continue to see solid numbers above expectations, stability in terms of economic growth and global growth," said Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer for equities at Charles Schwab Investment Management.
"Announcements by the ECB next week and decision by the Fed in December will probably have a higher impact on whether or not we continue this rally."
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The dollar climbed higher, tracking higher U.S. Treasury yields, while news on a potential new hawkish Federal Reserve chair and the slow progress of U.S. tax reforms also supported the greenback.
Investors are also awaiting the Fed's issue of the Beige Book, a periodic snapshot on the health of the U.S. economy. The report, due at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT), will likely show if inflation pressures are accelerating.
At 12:39 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 147.24 points, or 0.64 percent, at 23,144.68, the S&P 500 was up 3.07 points, or 0.12 percent, at 2,562.43 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 8.21 points, or 0.12 percent, at 6,631.87.
The S&P and the tech-heavy Nasdaq also hit record highs on Wednesday but traded in narrow ranges. Six of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, led by 1.32 percent drop in the telecom services index.
Energy stocks also took a beating, led by a 1.7 percent decline in Chevron.
The financial index jumped 0.65 percent, led by bank stocks, which gained from a surge in treasury yields and bullish calls by brokerages.
Shares of Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs rose between 1.2 percent and 2.2 percent.
Abbott rose 1.90 percent after the company's profit beat estimates on strong sales in its medical devices business.
Anthem gained more than 3 percent after the health insurer said it signed an agreement with CVS Health to support the company's new pharmacy benefit management business.
Chipotle Mexican Grill slipped 2.7 percent after Bank of America Merrill downgraded the company's stock to "underperform" and slashed its price target by $105 to $285.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,434 to 1,358. On the Nasdaq, 1,699 issues rose and 1,115 fell. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Arun Koyyur)Can you plan the rest of your life in three minutes?
Stockflare Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 31, 2017
That would be something to talk about? And at Stockflare, we are working to help anyone plan their financial future in just a few minutes.
Paint drying
Face it, you’d rather watch the football or hangout with friends that write a financial plan. Looking at your finances, let alone planning for your golden years, is as appealing as watching paint dry.
But:
Interest rates have been touching zero for years, and
Few governments look like they’ll be able to pay us a decent retirement cheque, so
Even the least cynical of us, has to wonder what the future holds, financially.
Ignoring the complexity
But when we take the time to look at our savings or investments, the text and disclaimer heavy documents usually confuse us more than they inform us.
As Warren Buffett points out about financial information, we should be suspicious of anyone telling us finance is complicated:
When I take a look at a company’s annual report, if I don’t understand it, they don’t want me to understand it.
So, how do you cut through the complexity? Where can you get good advice?
Abused or abandoned
You can’t. At least not for free, not easily.
Turning to Google search for advice, often returns a mixed bag. Sometimes the products are genuinely helpful. But more often they are not, tempting us into the juiciest of speculations. To their benefit and our loss.
If we try calling a financial advisor, one of the first things we have to do, is pitch ourselves to the financial firm, as they rarely want to help anyone with less than a million to invest. Or worse, they tell us they don’t give advice and proceed to ask us a long list of questions to “protect” themselves, legally.
It’s time for DIY
Too often the rules of thumb we hear are borderline insulting or fatuous:
Spend less than you earn!
And even if we have a banker or accountant in the family, there’s rarely a good time to take out a laptop and spill out our finances, in front of them.
So when we’ve been abandoned by the finance industry as being too small or are too embarrassed to ask our uncles to help, well, we are on our own.
Rightly so! No one has a greater interest in our financial health, than we have.
Three basics & three baskets
At Stockflare we distil financial planning into two parts:
Three simple basic targets to aim for, and
Three savings baskets to fill
Surprisingly for finance, it is all intuitive and simple to understand.
We’ve built a little tool to help anyone anywhere. It’s a simple concept: rating any financial plan on a scale of zero to five!
The basics
The basic targets are obvious, but hard for most us to achieve. After all, we are only human!
Insurance. Have it! Health, life, home, car, etc. You know what you need. Get it. Debts. Pay ’em off. Investing in yourself, or your home, does make sense! But the investment has to pay off and be paid off. And we hardly need to mention credit cards and overdrafts! Tax-efficient. Be so. We all feel like we pay a lot of taxes already. So why would we pay more than we have to? If there are tax efficient savings and investments options, we’ve got to consider them.
If we are honest with ourselves, are we really doing these basic tasks? Or are we postponing doing them?
The baskets
The finance industry likes to talk about “asset allocation”, but it’s hard to map their jargon to our lives.
Instead we like to think of what we are saving for, and we think of three baskets:
A Safety Net Big Purchases, and Retirement
When we start saving, we all recognise the benefit of a rainy day fund. What prudent person doesn’t want to stash some cash for emergencies. We call this basket the “safety net”. And cash is the optimal word. This basket should be safe, low risk, and accessible within days.
Beyond the unknown, we all have some dreams. The bigger ones aren’t going to pay for themselves. Perhaps it’s hosting our wedding, owning our own home, funding our kids’ education. Saving for these “big purchases” is critical, if they are ever going to be realised.
This basket is rarely money we need tomorrow. So probably, we don’t have to keep it in cash. In fact, with inflation eating away at cash balances year in year out, accepting a little risk is probably the right approach.
The final basket to fill, is for our “retirement”. And if we are less than 50 years old, the money we put in this basket, is squirrelled away for the long term. We aren’t hiding the money under a mattress, so why would we put this in cash? We want to invest it, grow it, prudently.
And if we execute our plan well, we’ll see our baskets grow over time.
Dealing with Risk
The most misleading question we see in finance relates to risk. Typically you get asked questions like:
Do you want to maximise returns? Or minimise losses?
If the stock market fell 10% would you buy more? Sell? Do nothing?
What’s your priority? Avoiding losses? Willing to lose some to make some? Risk large losses for higher gains?
Financial markets can be volatile. What size of loss would make you nervous?
But no one likes to lose money, even if it’s a paper loss and “temporary”. Following the financial markets on a daily basis isn’t good for anyone’s nerves. Worse, the psychology of this question could lead you to make a very bad decision.
Isn’t there a different risk question to ask? Why are we focusing on perception of risk not the reality of retirement? Isn’t a better question:
Do you want to have an uncomfortable retirement?
The sooner we all start saving, and the longer those savings grow, the larger our retirement funds should be.
Sure when the next bear market comes, it will hurt to watch financial markets crash and our investments with them. But excessive market swings are often short lived. So if our time horizon is more than ten years, why act like a lemming. Anyway, what’s the alternative?
With that in mind, we like to invert the risk question. Are we taking sufficient risk? Will we have enough in the retirement basket to live comfortably into our golden years?
Looking at the big picture
At Stockflare our “three minute financial planner” is still in testing, but our aim is to help anyone see the big picture. With a little honesty about our current situation, we can all forecast the potential outcome.
It’s a mental framework. And we need to adapt it to our own situation. It will never replace or replicate a financial planner spending time on building a bespoke plan.
But at the very least, we hope to show everyone that financial planning isn’t complex but intuitive. It doesn’t take hours or much financial expertise. It’s really just a matter of common sense.
So don’t be an ostrich. Take three minutes to rate yourself. Hopefully our tool will help you sleep easy.Rockies reliever Jason Motte is dealing with a shoulder strain that will likely cause him to miss the start of the season, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. That seems to line up lefty Jake McGee to take the closing duties to start the year.
Any significant time missed by Motte would represent a big blow to the Rockies. He signed a two-year, $10MM deal over the winter to provide a stabilizing late-inning presence. And the club’s staff is already dealing with an injury to Jon Gray, which has pushed Christian Bergman from the pen to the rotation.
While McGee is more than capable — preferable, really — in the ninth inning, the overall pen situation obviously will suffer without Motte. Presumably, Justin Miller and Chad Qualls will function as the two late-inning righties.
Then, there’s the question of the long-term effects of fighting through a shoulder injury. Motte was coming off of a somewhat less-than-stellar 2015 — though he did bring his velocity up to a 95 mph average fastball. And he gave up six earned runs in 5 2/3 spring innings — though that was largely due to two well-timed home runs, as Motte struck out four without surrendering a walk.ALEXANDRIA, VA.--October 8, 2015--An overwhelming majority of Americans (87%) say it is important that candidates for President and Congress have a basic understanding of the science informing public policy issues, including majorities across the political spectrum (92% of Democrats, 90% of Republicans and 79% of Independents). Americans also say the presidential candidates should participate in a debate to discuss key science-based challenges facing the United States, such as healthcare, climate change, energy, education, innovation and the economy, with 91% of Democrats, 88% of Republicans and 78% of Independents agreeing.
The public opinion poll of U.S. adults commissioned by Research!America and ScienceDebate.org, conducted by Zogby Analytics, found that less than half (45%) of Americans say they are well-informed about the positions of the current candidates for President about public policies and public funding for science and innovation (49% of Democrats, 48% of Republicans, and 37% of Independents), and 77% said that journalists should ask candidates about their views on scientific issues (82% of Democrats, 76% of Republicans and 72% of Independents).
"With Nobel Prize announcements in the news this week, science is in the public consciousness but is it top of mind for the candidates?" said Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America. "This new poll shows how important science is to Americans and their quality of life. It is time for candidates to articulate their vision for maintaining America's leadership in science."
A majority of Americans (77%) say that public policies should be based on the best available science (82% of Republicans, 81% of Democrats, and 68% of Independents), while 84% of Americans agree that science should not be partisan, that is, not the sole business of one political party or another (87% of Republicans, 83% of Independents and 82% of Democrats).
"Evidence from science is the great equalizer in a democracy," said Shawn Otto, chair of ScienceDebate.org, an organization pushing for a science-themed U.S. presidential debate. "We are living in a new age when science affects every aspect of public policy, and voters want candidates to give science issues like climate change, healthcare, GMO foods, and jobs in the new tech economy a higher priority."
Other poll highlights:
A majority of Americans (87%) say scientific innovations are improving our standard of living. That sentiment is shared by Republicans (92%), Democrats (88%), and Independents (80%) alike.
When asked "in which areas in your life do you think scientific research has played an important role," "health care" and "energy" were the top two responses across party lines, followed by "protecting the environment" among Democrats, and the "communication and the Internet" among Republicans and Independents.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents (61%) say "economy and jobs" is the most serious long-term issue facing the country, followed by "health care costs" (55%), "healthcare" (48%), "national security" (47%) and "international terrorism" (42%). One in three Americans indicated "climate change" (33%) and "income inequality" (33%). Other issues of concern: "environmental degradation" (28%); clean water (27%); mental health (25%); "nuclear war" (22%); Alzheimer's and other dread diseases (20%). Respondents were able to choose more than one issue.
84% of Americans say it is important for scientists to inform elected officials and the public about their research and its impact on society. -- 88% of Democrats, 83% of Republicans and 79% of Independents.
This nationwide online survey was conducted by Zogby Analytics on behalf of Research!America and ScienceDebate.org during September 2015, among 1,002 adults ages 18+. This survey has a theoretical sampling error of +/- 3.2 percentage points. For complete methodology and to learn more about the poll, visit http://www. researchamerica. org or http://www. sciencedebate. org.
To view the poll, click here.
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About Research America
Research!America is the nation's largest nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Founded in 1989, Research!America is supported by member organizations representing 125 million Americans. Visit http://www. researchamerica. org.
About ScienceDebate.org
ScienceDebate.org is a grassroots, volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to elevating the role of science and evidence in our public dialogue and policymaking process. In 2008 and 2012, it conducted online debates of the top 14 science questions facing America between the candidates for president, making nearly 2 billion media impressions. Learn more at sciencedebate.org.Appeals panel overturns Medina Valley graduation prayer ban
Medina Valley High School valedictorian Angela Hildenbrand (left) with Erin Leu, an attorney from the Liberty Institute, in front of the Alamo. Medina Valley High School valedictorian Angela Hildenbrand (left) with Erin Leu, an attorney from the Liberty Institute, in front of the Alamo. Photo: Bob Owen/Express-News Photo: Bob Owen/Express-News Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Appeals panel overturns Medina Valley graduation prayer ban 1 / 9 Back to Gallery
A federal appeals panel ruled Friday that a judge here was wrong to bar public prayers from today's graduation ceremony at Medina Valley High School.
All week, the furor over the issue had attracted activists and political players who criticized the decision and supported valedictorian Angela Hildenbrand, who wants to pray during her commencement speech.
The AGAPE Movement, a Christian group based in Wichita Falls, announced Friday it would make buses available to transport people to the school in Castroville for a “peaceful disagreement” with this week's ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio.
Hildenbrand said she was pleased and “so blessed that God has provided me with the opportunity to be a part of this case, and to be able to share with all my heart tomorrow night.... Everything can go on as planned Saturday, and I'm free to pray as I feel appropriate.”
Kelly Shackelford, president/CEO of the Liberty Institute, a conservative nonprofit that advocates for churches caught up in legal tangles and which represented Hildenbrand, called the ruling “a complete victory for religious freedom and for Angela.”
The Institute said Friday that someone had called the high school and told a secretary that “Angela Hildenbrand better watch herself or she will get hurt” and said the Medina Valley Independent School District had reported it to Castroville police.
Chris Martinez, the district's assistant superintendent, wouldn't comment on it but said the district planned to beef up security at the graduation.
Federal courthouse sources in San Antonio, meanwhile, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Biery and the court got more than 500 calls from people all over the country, demanding he change his ruling. Some callers said they would “kick his ass” or made similar threats.
Biery's order had said the school district must tell its graduation speakers that they can talk about religion and their personal beliefs but can't pray or call on the audience to pray.
He was responding to a lawsuit filed last week by the parents of Corwyn Schultz, an agnostic member of Medina Valley's Class of 2011, that said the district regularly allowed prayers at graduations and other school events, which violated his constitutional rights.
“We are not persuaded that plaintiffs have shown that they are substantially likely to prevail on the merits (of their lawsuit), particularly on the issue that the individual prayers or other remarks to be given by students at graduation are, in fact, school-sponsored,” a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling Friday afternoon.
The plaintiffs' arguments are rooted in circumstances that no longer exist, the ruling stated, offering as an example that the school has “apparently abandoned” use of the terms “invocation” and “benediction” in the graduation program.
Schultz and his parents declined comment and said through their lawyers at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State that they would not attend the graduation.
“We are, of course, deeply disappointed in this ruling. We remain convinced that the school district's promotion of religion at the graduation ceremony violates the Constitution, and the rights of families who do not share that perspective,” said Ayesha Khan, the Washington-based group's legal director, adding that the lawsuit would continue but would be too late to affect today's graduation.
The appeals panel denied Hildenbrand's motion to intervene as a party to the suit, finding her arguments moot after siding with the district. The Institute had sought that status for her, using arguments that overlapped with the school district's appeal.
“It should not be illegal for students to say a prayer at a graduation ceremony. Now, the federal court of appeals agrees,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a prepared statement. His office's “amicus” brief supporting the district had said the terms “invocation” and “benediction” should not be removed from the graduation program.
But they already had. Martinez, the assistant superintendent, said the lawsuit prompted the district to scrutinize its policies and “we did come to the consensus that ‘invocation' and ‘benediction' could be misinterpreted.... We have already changed them to ‘opening remarks' and ‘closing remarks.'”
Social media sites burst this week with comments from former students who planned to pray themselves if the graduating class was not allowed to.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn had blasted Biery's order, saying it was hostile to “all things religious in public life.” Gov. Rick Perry called it “reprehensible.”
An AGAPE Movement news release said it was preparing to bus people to Castroville to “take a stand for these graduating students,” and that a rally near the graduation site had been “preapproved” by the district. Martinez said the district wasn't taking a position on the rally — the graduation is open to the public but he had asked rally organizers to keep a discrete distance from it.
“While we are very appreciative of all the support we have received, at the same time, this ceremony is about our students,” Martinez said. “We want to make sure students and families can relax and enjoy the graduation.”
He said educators at the district “continue to be amazed at how well (students) have handled the situation. Even today with this order, they have still continued to be mature, compassionate and understanding.”
Asked if she had any thoughts about Schultz and his parents, Hildenbrand said she wished them the best, “both tomorrow night and in their futures.”
As originally published, this story contained an error.Joshua Abraham Norton became a prominent name in San Francisco, proclaiming himself Emperor of the United States in 1859. He was born in England, spent his early life in South Africa, and emigrated to the United States with an inheritance worth a little over a million dollars in inflation adjusted value. He lost most of his fortune in a bad investment in Peruvian rice that he overestimated the value.
Disenfranchised with the state of things, he sent a decree to a San Francisco newspaper with a decree making himself the top imperial authority in a new monarchy. The newspaper went on to humor him, reprinting dozens of imperial decrees over the years. The most written about concerning his legacy have been his declarations, his decrees concerning abolishing congress, as well as political parties, banning the use of the word “Frisco”, and demanding a bridge be |
Asia, Germany divided and Moscow controlling half of Europe, and the UN Security Council blocked by the Soviet nyet. The Foreign Office was split between Atlanticists and Europeans, with EEC expertise largely confined to specialists in economic relations, then seen as a second class cadre. The separate Commonwealth Office felt slighted and unloved.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office I left, 15 years ago, had learned that being influential in the EU strengthened our voice in Washington, in the UN and in the Commonwealth. The split in the Service between economic and foreign policy specialisms had healed; my predecessor and successor in Washington had, like me, worked on European economic issues. The British at last felt at home in a Brussels where English had become the common language, where the Brittans, Kinnocks and Pattens held the key portfolios, where we had more senior jobs in the institutions than any other member-state, where Margaret Thatcher’s single market concept was slowly but steadily becoming reality, and where British and French foreign policy expertise was seen as an EU asset. In Washington we were regarded as good guides to EU outcomes, and capable of delivering on our predictions: our access to top US policy-makers reflected respect for our leading role on EU external issues.
Some of this has since gone. Disasters in the Middle East, together with cuts in defence and diplomacy, have weakened our capacity to lead. In Europe, we have chosen a certain self-isolation. The euro, Schengen, bail-outs, banking union, refugee resettlement: while boasting of non-involvement and having the best of both worlds may work well at home, greater sympathy and solidarity with the rest of Europe would have better underpinned a leadership role in Brussels. But much more is now at risk. We are at a watershed moment, and would do well to stand back and assess the referendum’s possible fallout on Britain’s foreign policy, which rests on four pillars.
We are at a watershed moment & need to assess the #EUref's possible fallout on UK's foreign policy
The link with Washington is fundamental. The values set out at Philadelphia in 1787 were those of the English and Scottish Enlightenment: Benjamin Franklin lived in Samuel Johnson's London and knew David Hume's Edinburgh. Britain at its best is in step with America at its best. That would not change if Britain leaves the EU, despite current trumpery on both sides. But influence on American policy is a function, not of sentiment, but of perceived power. We are useful to the Americans to the extent that we can convince or cajole our other friends to adopt common or at least congruent policy. We cut ice in Washington when we are seen to cut ice over here; to cut ourselves off from our continent would see us cut down to size – 60 million, not 500 million – in the US. No wonder the transatlantic foreign policy community overwhelmingly hopes we will vote to stay.
The second pillar is NATO, the common defence structure to which we would commit all our forces, pooling all our sovereignty, in time of war. The alliance is now thinly stretched, with a revanchist Russia occupying Crimea and the Donbass, and threatening the Baltic States. Our defence cuts have gone deep, and lower economic growth post-Brexit could mean their going deeper still. Effective Western soft power would certainly be damaged. German reticence about armed deployment, and French unease about US-led command structures, have meant that it has often fallen to Britain to forge the link between NATO and soft power decision-taking in the EU’s Council of Ministers, delivering EU influence, aid and diplomacy to support common Western aims. The key multilateral actors have often been British; Peter Carrington, George Robertson, David Owen, Paddy Ashdown, Chris Patten and Cathy Ashton. In the Council of Ministers that I knew best it was to Douglas Hurd that the Juppés and the Genschers turned at key moments; it was John Major who in a morning swung the whole EU behind his 1991 initiative to provide a safe haven for the Kurds. If the British weren't there that couldn't happen, and the North Atlantic Council and European Council would drift further apart. Of course the EU would still talk to us, but their decisions would be taken in an EU formation, with us excluded. No wonder the defence establishments on both sides of the Atlantic hope we will stay. Our leaving would hurt NATO and Europe’s security.
Pillar three is built on the lessons of history. Chamberlain was wrong to accept the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938; it is not in our interests to regard our neighbours as far off countries, of whom we know nothing. Distracted by Suez, we did nothing to help the Hungarian rising against Soviet rule in 1956. I was in Moscow in 1968 when, tacitly accepting the Brezhnev doctrine that Soviet rule was irreversible, we did nothing to help Czech reformers. That's why I was proud to serve later governments, of both parties, who successfully championed EU enlargement, delivering on Thatcher’s 1988 Bruges speech, with its call for an opening to the East.
In the year of the centenary of the Battle of Somme, some seem to have forgotten that stability and prosperity in Central Europe is a vital UK interest. And a few days ago, a British defence minister, Penny Mordaunt, insulted a key ally, Turkey, claiming that unless we leave the EU Britain will be over-run by Turks, and Turkish criminals, by 2020. Surely she must know – everyone else does – that Turkish accession to the EU is (sadly) many decades away; it depends on Turkey solving myriad internal problems; and it can be vetoed by any single member-state? Surely she must know – everyone else does – that the only question for now is whether Turkey should join the list of countries with visa-free access for short-term visits to the Schengen area, with no right to work or stay; and that, since we are not in Schengen, we are in no way affected? Lies like these demean the debate and damage the UK’s interests. But the key point is that an EU without us, or at least without a Britain true to itself, would be less open, less liberal, less secure, less aligned with British values and interests, properly defined. No wonder our true friends in Europe hope we will stay.
An EU after #Brexit would be less open, less liberal, less secure & less aligned with UK interests
Pillar four is the belief that a rules-based multilateral order serves our interests and should be sustained. That order is built on the rule of law, the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and on aid and trade structures optimised to support economic development. If we left the EU, its aid programmes would be smaller, and probably less focussed on our friends. More important, developing countries' access to EU markets would probably develop more slowly, particularly for those with the closest ties to us. In his eccentric recent intervention on bananas, Boris Johnson clearly forgot that the origin of the Brussels banana wars was a successful UK drive to maintain Caribbean countries' preferential access to the EU market. The 1999 EU trade agreement with South Africa was negotiated by a British Commission official, backed by London, and resisted by much of southern Europe.
Looking beyond trade, our ability to help defuse threats of conflict – whether on Iran's nuclear programmes, Indus waters or the South China Sea – would decline. Why should Iran, India, China or the Security Council listen to us if our influence in Europe and hence on America has shrunk? No wonder our Asian friends, and our Commonwealth friends – most recently Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau – have said they hope we stay.
My thesis is that the four pillars of our foreign policy are mutually reinforcing. If one goes, all are weakened. That is why next month's vote is so crucial, and not just for our prosperity. Our influence across the world would shrink and our friends and allies believe that their interests would suffer, if we were to find ourselves outside, with, in Stephen Wall's phrase "our noses pressed to the European glass, gesticulating, unheard, to those inside".
As Boris Johnson said, in 2012, "supposing Britain opted to come out, what would actually happen? You would still have huge numbers of staff trying to monitor what was going on in the (European) community, only we wouldn't have any vote at all. Now I don't think that's a prospect that's likely to appeal." For foreign policy and other reasons, I sincerely hope his prediction proves right, and I'm sorry his own views have changed. Even Macbeth, contemplating regicide, knew that vaulting ambition can o'erleap itself.
Lord Kerr is a former British Ambassador to the EU and to the US. He is the chairman of the Centre for European Reform.It’s a time-honored tradition: Superstar Athlete’s contract is up. Superstar Athlete considers joining a new team. Prospective fans promise Superstar Athlete everything they have to offer. Some of those fans own restaurants, and lately many of them have offered a lifetime of free meals to athletes if they would please, please, please sign a contract.
On Wednesday, Boston’s Legal Sea Foods offered soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant unlimited crab legs if he signs with the Celtics. We got to thinking: What other lifetime offers have been extended to athletes? And how many athletes have successfully been wooed by the promise of untold wings/pies/hoagies?
The answer: not many. Offering athletes unlimited food, in fact, just might be a curse. In all the cases we could find, whether to encourage free agents to sign or inspire a victory, a single food-baited outcome came to pass: Chris Davis sticking with the Orioles in January 2016.
Below, a selection of some of the morsels and other worldly delights recently promised to athletes, listed in the order the offers were made. Has Legal Sea Foods doomed Boston in the KD lottery? If history is any indication, they might have.
LeBron James (2010)
The offers: LeBron was offered steak (specifically, steak from a strip club) and My Chemical Romance tickets to sign with the Knicks in 2010; he was offered Iron Chef catering services if he re-signed with the Cavs.
Did these offers work? No.
Possible explanation: “I would pay money to not have to see a My Chemical Romance concert.” — LeBron James, probably. Having the Iron Chef as your private chef, on the other hand, actually seems like a pretty good offer! I have no explanation.
Peyton Manning (2012)
The offers: Manning was promised unlimited MoonPies and daily pancakes if he signed with the Titans in 2012.
Did these offers work? No.
Possible explanation: Not to be like, MoonPie definitely has a smaller advertising budget than Papa John’s, but…
Colin Kaepernick (2013)
The offer: Noted Red Robin fan Kaepernick was promised unlimited eats by the chain if he could just win Super Bowl XLVII.
Did this offer work? No.
Possible explanation: I don’t know for a fact that Kaepernick hasn’t set foot in a Red Robin since that loss to the Ravens, but he definitely hasn’t.
Dwight Howard (2013)
The offer: Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers offered Howard — you guessed it — a lifetime of chicken fingers if he would sign with the Mavericks.
Did this offer work? No.
Possible explanation: America’s finest food though it may be, it’s probably best to offer something not already sitting in every freezer in the country.
Manny Pacquiao (2015)
The offer: A Filipino restaurant in California offered Pacquiao free food for life if he beat Floyd Mayweather in what was billed as the “Fight of the Century” in May 2015.
Did this offer work? No.
Possible explanation: It was not exactly the “Fight of the Century,” in the end.
Paul Pierce (2015)
The offer: Taking a page out of the Iron Chef’s (failed) book, Washington, D.C., restaurant baron José Andrés offered to cook for Pierce once a month if he re-signed with the Wizards.
Did this offer work? No.
Possible explanation: “Is The Era Of Celebrity Chefs Over? My Column”
LaMarcus Aldridge (2015)
The offers: A Portland microbrewery offered LaMarcus Aldridge free beer for life if he re-signed with the Blazers. The Arizona Diamondbacks dangled game tickets and their signature Churro Dog to try to convince him to sign with the Suns.
Did these offers work? No.
Possible explanation: A Churro Dog comes in at 1,117 calories. You could eat, like, ten of these in a year and not die of starvation. You would die of something else, sure — a heart attack? scurvy? sadness? — but from a sociogourmand perspective, this is an impressive food. Anyway, it did not sway Aldridge. As for Portland … it’s full of boring Californians now, right?
Zack Greinke (2015)
The offer: LA Metro offered Greinke free bus rides for life if he re-signed with the Dodgers.
Did this offer work? No.
Possible explanation: Los Angeles’s public transit system drives a hard bargahahahahahhahahaaha no.
Yoenis Céspedes (2016)
The offer: Baltimore restaurant Jimmy’s Seafood offered Céspedes free crab cakes for life to abandon the Mets for the Orioles.
Did this offer work? No.
Possible explanation: I can never tell if crab cakes are good or not. On the one hand, crab; on the other, deep-fried mush balls. I don’t know. I support Céspedes’s wariness.
Chris Davis (2016)
The offer: Spurned by Céspedes, Jimmy’s Seafood turned to first baseman Chris Davis offering him, his kids, and their kids unlimited crab cakes for life if he would re-sign with the Orioles.
Did this offer work? Yes!
Possible explanation: Got to think it was the multigenerational offer that pushed Davis over the edge. The future belongs to our children. And especially to Davis’s crab cake-bloated children.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2016)
The offer: The city of Oberhausen, Germany, home to club team Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, offered to institute a monarchy and appoint Zlatan king if he would join the team.
Did this offer work? No.
Possible explanation: Blah blah blah, democracy is soooo great, death to tyrants, yada yada. ALL HAIL KING ZLATAN! (He should reconsider.)
Which brings us back to Durant, and the crab legs promised to him in Boston.
Other athletes have been offered unlimited foodstuffs for their, uh, accomplishments. This week Orioles star Manny Machado was promised free crab cakes for life after charging Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura on the mound; Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor was wooed with free barbecue after punching Blue Jays outfielder José Bautista. (This restaurant’s owner subsequently received death threats and angry online reviews from aggrieved Toronto fans, which is the meanest thing any Canadian has ever done.) Richard Berman, the New York judge who overturned Tom Brady’s four-game suspension in September, was offered free coffee for life at a Maine Dunkin’ Donuts. These offers work as rewards; as incentives, they may be hexed.
As for why the curse might exist, it could be that the likelihood of a food offer goes up as the probability of a sports outcome goes down. Why offer unlimited crab products if something is going to happen anyway?
Or — sorry, Boston — it might just be a curse.Portugal boss Fernando Santos has dismissed Guy Roux's suggestion that Renato Sanches is five or six years older than he claims.
Former Auxerre boss Roux had told Romanian broadcaster Dolce Sport that he believed new Bayern Munich midfielder Sanches, 18, had misrepresented his age.
"Yes, he says he is 18 years old but he must look at his past," he said. "His date of birth was declared a few years later. The date is not true. I believe he is 23 or 24 years old -- but he is a very good player."
The issue is reported to have arisen as a result of Sanches' parents separating and only registering the birth several years later.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of Portugal's Euro 2016 semifinal with Wales, Santos dismissed the questions over Sanches, who made his Benfica B debut in October 2014.
"Everyone knows Renato Sanches," Santos said. "He was born in Portugal like I was, and registered like I was. He is 18, I am 61. This is a joke."
Sanches, who agreed a move to Bayern from Benfica before Euro 2016, has made a positive impression this summer and says he is excited about the switch to the Allianz Arena.
"I am looking forward to Bayern, and Bayern can look forward to me," he told Sport Bild. "I have great ambitions -- I want to win titles with Bayern.
"I want to continue at Bayern where I left off at Benfica, I was a key player there. I want to help my team to have success as soon as possible. It makes me proud to play for Bayern in the future, a club with a great tradition in Europe."
He will play under Carlo Ancelotti at Bayern and said: "I will hopefully get even better under him."
Follow @ESPNFC on Twitter to keep up with the latest football updates.I was recently asked to analyze a study looking at electroencephalogram (EEG) tracings for people separated in two different and shielded rooms and claiming to show correlations between the two – the suggestion being that some sort of unusual communication (anomalous cognition) was taking place.
This study was from 2003, so it’s not exactly news, but this line of research is worthy of a skeptical analysis. Using EEG to look for ESP effects goes back to the 1960s. Like all of ESP research, this paradigm produced some anomalies but not a consistent and replicated effect, Every now and then someone tries to replicate it, with varying results.
As a research tool using EEG can be very problematic – or useful, depending on your perspective. EEGs work by placing electrodes (called leads) in a specific pattern along the scalp. An EEG channel – one tracing of squiggly lines – is produced by recording the difference in electrical potential between two adjacent leads. An EEG montage (the French pioneered much of EEG technology and so EEG jargon is largely French) is a particular pattern of channels covering the available leads.
The challenge in using EEG for research purposes is that you have many channels (13 or 21 are common) producing lots of data with lots of noise. EEGs are noisy, with many sources of artifact: eye blinking, movement of facial muscles, heart beat, and ambient electrical noise. The underlying brain activity itself can be noisy, changing with sensory stimulation, level of consciousness, and eyes open or closed.
This is an ideal situation if your goal is to pull spurious signals out of all this noise. There is a lot of raw material to work with, and it does not take much creativity to squeeze an apparent effect from the background. Just keep torturing the data until it confesses.
It is also a setup for Simmons et al’s “researcher degrees of freedom.”
Let’s take a look at this 2003 study. The researchers claim:
” Significant departures of Q ratios from reference distributions, based on baseline EEG in non-stimulation periods, were found in most non-stimulated subjects. The results indicate that correlations between brain activities of two separated subjects may occur, although no biophysical mechanism is known.”
But, in the discussion the admit:
“We did not see any VEP-like wave-forms in the averaged EEG of the non-stimulated subjects: a more sophisticated data-analytic technique was necessary to detect an effect opposing the null hypothesis. There was no preferred direction of the effect; both increasing (Q>Ṽmax) and decreasing (Q<Ṽmin) effective EEG voltages were observed in non-stimulated subjects. Neither was there any ‘locus of maximal effect’; the outliers occurred not only at occipital locations, i.e. homotopic to the areas primarily affected in the stimulated subject, but also in parietal and central regions.”
So – there were random fluctuations from random noise, sometimes down, sometimes up, and in various regions of the brain, not in any way (except temporally) correlating with the EEG changes in the subject. There were also such departures, but not as big, in the control samples, when the subject was not being stimulated. This sounds like random noise, requiring a “sophisticated data-analytic technique” – for which you can read, “torturing the data.”
Looking at the data itself (graph above) there does not appear to be any effect. It just looks like random noise to me. The effect size claimed here is also very tiny – a tiny variable effect indistinguishable from noise. I doubt the researchers could have looked at the tracing for subject B and determined from that when A experienced the stimulus.
An attempted replication of the study in 2008 by a different researcher was also completely negative.
Dean Radin performed a similar experiment in 2004 and found correlations in 3 of 13 pairs of subjects. He declared this a positive result “in certain circumstances” – also known as cherry picking. This is also a good example, common in dubious ESP research, of overpowering a study so that tiny random fluctuations can be made to have very small p-values (statistical significance).
Conclusion
Once again we have an ESP research paradigm with the following features:
– Tiny and inconsistent effect sizes
– Overpowered studies and creative statistical analysis in order to create false positive results with impressive p-values
– Lack of independent replication
– The usual suspects showing positive (but not compelling) results.
What we never seem to get with such ESP research are clear results, with significant effect sizes in a consistent pattern, and independently replicated – also known as the standard threshold for scientific acceptance.
The pattern of results we do see are consistent with the null hypothesis – no actual real effect at work. What we do end up with is documentation of how noisy systems and motivated researchers can use creative statistical analysis to create false positive results.THE head of property developer Stockland says there is no housing price bubble and Australia remains a cheap place to achieve the dream of home ownership.
Despite first home buyers being outnumbered by investors in the housing market, and falling consumer confidence, Stockland chief executive Mark Steinert predicts a jump in new buyers.
He is also optimistic about the economy, saying the benefits of a lower dollar would offset the impact on sentiment of large job losses, such as those ahead in the car manufacturing sector.
Stockland swung back into the black in the first half of the 2013/14 financial year with a $298 million net profit, up from its $147 million half year loss a year earlier.
Stockland's profit growth was underpinned by a 39 per cent jump in the performance of its residential property business.
It builds developments in new growth areas, but there are concerns the overall housing market it out of reach of first home buyers.
Mr Steinert said housing affordability was in line with other countries on a house price to income ratio.
"If you really genuinely look at comparable markets any other city you want to name in the world, Australia is cheap," he told reporters.
He said he was seeing a proactive approach from governments in addressing an under-supply of land, which would improve affordability and bring first home buyers back into the market.
"I think that buyer group has a high degree of pent up demand," he said.
Mr Steinert said he was conservative about the second half of the financial year, due to uncertain economic conditions and the negative effect that has had on its retail developments.
"In the short to medium term this will constrain our earnings," he said.
But he hoped as the economy transitioned away from being driven by resources, a weaker Australian dollar would help states such as Victoria, and the tourism, health services, education and agriculture sectors.
Stockland shares gained 18 cents, or 4.8 per cent, to $3.90.Installing swings in public spaces like on Billy Goat Hill is a time-honored San Francisco pastime. Ironically, the emblem for the SF Rec and Parks Department is a child on just such a tree swing, though that agency appears bent on removing exactly these unsanctioned park improvements. In that spirit — adding wonderment to unexpected places, public agencies be damned — artist Hunter Franks has put a swing in the aisle of BART cars, reprising a similar and well documented scene from 2009. Curbed took note of the underground playground, which Franks posted to Instagram.
Franks writes on his website that he recently declared himself BART's "Artist-In-Residence," an unofficial, self-appointed position that's relatively humble in comparison to, I don't know, declaring oneself an emperor. Anyway, congratulations on the job to Franks, who also installed hopscotch lines in front of ticket machines and a "missed connections" board.
"I threw on a yellow construction vest to look more official and carried out a week of unsanctioned creative interventions to insert joy, spontaneity, and connection into the drab world of the BART system," Franks explains.
It remains to be seen if BART will actually try to punish him for this.
A video posted by Hunter Franks (@whatcould.be) on Sep 2, 2016 at 4:03pm PDT
A video posted by Hunter Franks (@whatcould.be) on Sep 2, 2016 at 4:03pm PDT
Craigslist Missed Connections are acts in the pursuit of connection, of magic, of love. For this work, a Missed Connection sourced from Craigslist is elevated to a 60 inch by 46 inch visual in a space usually reserved for advertisements. #noBARTwithoutART A photo posted by Hunter Franks (@whatcould.be) on Aug 29, 2016 at 2:15pm PDT
"Swings are childhood, freedom, air, fun," Franks writes, "So there can't be any better place for a swing than a subway train where hordes of adults commute to and from work stuck in a small screeching steel box. I made a simple swing with some rope, a drill, and wood and hung it on the BART train. People were thrilled and the number of smiles on the train increased 100%. One rider remarked that BART should turn all the seats into swings." Add that to the list of BART demands.
This is all, the "Artist-in-Residence" explains, a gentle reminder that we're lucky to be here — even if "here" is on BART.
Craigslist Missed Connections are acts in the pursuit of connection, of magic, of love. For this work, a Missed Connection sourced from Craigslist is elevated to a 60 inch by 46 inch visual in a space usually reserved for advertisements. #noBARTwithoutART A photo posted by Hunter Franks (@whatcould.be) on Aug 29, 2016 at 2:15pm PDT
Related: Local Artist Puts A Bunch Of Bart Simpsons On BART Because Why NotIf you were one of those business users counting on being able to circumvent the new tiled Windows 8 start menu, you may be disappointed.
The final release-to-manufacturing (RTM) builds of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 have been leaking to the Web for last few days. Those with access to the final builds are discovering the final tweaks Microsoft made to the product since the last public test build, Windows 8 Release Preview, was delivered.
One of those tweaks is the decision to block users from setting up their Windows 8 machines to boot straight to the Desktop, circumventing the tiled Start screen, formerly known as the Metro screen. (There's still no external word as to how Microsoft is planning to rebrand "Metro." It seems the Softies are backing away from the Metro terminology due to pressure of some kind from Metro AG, one of its European retail partners.)
Rafael Rivera, coauthor of the forthcoming Windows 8 Secrets, said he has verified that users cannot boot straight to the Desktop in Windows 8. With Windows 8 test builds, users could create shortcut that switches to the Windows 8 Desktop. Those who didn't want to boot to the tiled Start screen could schedule this shortcut to be activated immediately after a user logged onto Windows 8.
Some other users were holding out hope that Microsoft would allow administrators to use Group Policy to allow users to circumvent the Metro startup screen. But Rivera told me he believes this also is blocked.
It's worth noting there are a number of keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8 designed to help users who want to minimize their interactions with the tiled interface to boot into and out of the Desktop more quickly and easily. (See the Windows + D, Windows + B and Windows + M ones, particularly.)
(I've asked Microsoft to comment as to whether this is the case. No word back so far.)
Update: A Microsoft spokesperson said the company declined to comment.
While many like the tiled Metro start screen and are looking forward to using it on touch tablets and PCs, many others aren't keen on it -- especially business users who are convinced that Metro will be a nuisance, especially on non-touch-enabled hardware, especially given they plan to live primaril in the Desktop app on Windows 8.
Speaking of what business users like and don't about Windows 8, sister site TechRepublic has posted results of its survey of 3,000-plus IT pros about Windows 8. They've published an interesting list of the top Windows 8 pros and cons, based on results of those they surveyed. Not too surprisingly, the amount of required training -- in spite of the inclusion into the startup sequence of animations demonstrating some of the new Windows navigation techniques.
For those still lamenting Microsoft's decision to do away with the Start button on Windows 8, there's always Stardock's Start8. One of my readers, David Nation, says Start8 still works on the Windows 8 RTM build.
And before a bunch of my readers complain that folks wanting to boot to Desktop or keep the Start Button are a bunch of whiners, I'd point out -- as noted in the TechRepublic IT pro survey mentioned above -- that many business users are fearful of the time and money they are going to need to spend to retrain Windows users with Windows 8. That's a legitimate concern, in my opinion.Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
A Polish ad campaign challenging hate speech sees a girl spouting homophobia turn into Adolf Hitler.
The ad, released by Polish Batory Foundation, sees a gay couple walking through a train station late at night.
However, they are spotted by a group of teens – one of whom begins spouting anti-gay abuse.
The initially blonde girl tells her friends: “Did you see them? Pansies or what?”
As she continues to rant, her clothes fly off, to be replaced by a brown shirt, her hair darkens, and she grows a moustache – morphing into the Nazi leader.
She shouts: “They can do whatever they want at home, but walking together like that is too much! I see faggots everywhere! I want to puke when I look at them!”
Her friends then question: “Really, you want to look like that?!”
The ad has received a mixed reaction online, receiving nearly twice as many dislikes as likes on YouTube.
However, speaking to CNN Batory Foundation spokeswoman Agata Szypulska said the campaign was trying to tackle the extremes of hate speech among Polish teens.
She said: “We’re targeting young people aged 15-18, and the reason we did that is because last year, we published the first nationwide report, called ‘Hate Speech in Poland’ which indicated that young people are more likely to accept hate speech to specific minority groups than adults.”
“We also wanted to use a person and symbol that would be recognizable. We wanted to show that hate speech is not just words — that words can lead to actions.”
“I think in the Polish context, it’s pretty obvious that Hitler harassed and murdered people because of ethnicity and because of things you cannot change.”This is definitely the sort of story which will bring many people to their feet with a rousing cry of, “wait… you mean it wasn’t already legal to smoke pot in Vermont?”
Apparently it wasn’t. And even after a new law signed by the governor on Thursday, it’s still not legal legal. But it has been decriminalized. (Hat tip to Doug over at OTB.)
Vermont has become the 17th state to get rid of criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a measure into law Thursday. The law replaces criminal penalties with civil fines similar to a traffic ticket for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana or five grams of hashish.
So it’s still against the law to smoke or have in your possession small amounts (under an ounce) of weed. But instead of the 6 to 24 months at the Crowbar Motel which you could previously get for it, you’ll be slapped with the equivalent of a traffic ticket, pay a fine, and not wind up with a felony on your record. This is in contrast to certain places in the northwest which have moved (or are moving) to make it strictly legal for recreational use. Another possible example of the latter case may be coming in Pennsylvania.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) – Add Pennsylvania to the list of states where residents could be allowed to possess and smoke marijuana legally. Democrat State Sen. Daylin Leach, who represents Montgomery and Delaware counties, announced plans to introduce legislation that would legalize marijuana in Pennsylvania. The bill would legalize marijuana for adults over the age of 21, and regulated just like alcohol is. It would still be illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana, behave badly while publicly intoxicated, or sell pot to minors.
I know there’s still a lot of resistance to this in conservative circles, but I’ve long since stopped seeing any net benefit in harsh marijuana laws, and this is looking more and more like one of those societal shifts which has pretty much reached the tipping point of inevitability. Locking up millions of people for pot possession is massively expensive in both direct and indirect costs, and it’s rather hypocritical to treat it that much differently than alcohol. If we’re willing to give people leave to take responsibility for the consequences of their own actions when it comes to drinking, it just doesn’t look like that much of a stretch to say the same thing about weed.
(Does anyone still call it weed? I was just informed the other day that nobody says “joint” any more either. I’ve fallen behind the times on drug terminology over the last few decades.)
If people are going to sell it anyway, we may as well tax it an pay off a couple of other bills. But maybe that’s just me. The “war on drugs” was a losing proposition from the beginning, it seems. And if we can reduce the incentive for cartels to crash over the borders to supply a population of currently criminal customers, it may deliver some other benefits as well.
The only minor bone I have to pick with this – and hence the title – is the way we use the word decriminalize in such contexts. A while back I looked up the definition of the word in one of those online legal dictionaries and it seems to mean just what it sounds like.
decriminalization n. the repeal or amendment (undoing) of statutes which made certain acts criminal, so that those acts no longer are crimes or subject to prosecution.
What they did in Vermont, as well as New York and other places, isn’t really decriminalization as such, at least to my way of thinking. It’s still illegal. It’s just been moved down to a low rent class of crime without such stiff penalties. Of course, I’m not sure if there’s a better word available for that. Your thoughts?Was U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens engaged in arming militant Islamic jihadists when the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked on September 11? Ambassador Stevens was one of four Americans killed in the September 11 terrorist attack, along with embassy information officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty.
The deadly attack, and the Obama administration’s handling of the hours-long event, have left a multitude of burning, unanswered questions, among which are:
• Did Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama ignore Ambassador Stevens' pleas for additional security in the ultra-dangerous Benghazi environment?
• Did Obama watch the attack in “real time” video feeds from drones circling the area?
• Were former Navy SEALs Woods and Doherty ordered to “stand down” and not assist the besieged compound, as claimed by Woods’ father and others? If so, who gave the orders? Woods and Doherty reportedly disobeyed those orders and put their careers and their lives on the line to rescue Americans and other nationals trapped in the attack.
• Did the Obama administration repeatedly deny aid to Woods and Doherty over the course of nearly seven hours while they were under attack, as critics have charged? If not, then why was aid never sent? Many military experts (including retired Adm. James A. Lyons, former commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet) have pointed out that adequate military assets were available and within striking distance, including our Special Forces units in Sigonella, Sicily.
Perhaps one of the most important questions that President Obama should be required to answer is, “What was Ambassador Stevens doing in Benghazi when our 'consulate' was attacked?” And a follow-up question: “Was Ambassador Stevens helping to arm militant anti-American jihadists, including Syrian and Libyan al-Qaeda elements?” Investigative reporter/bestselling author/radio talk-show host Aaron Klein has reported (see here and here) that according to his Middle East sources, that is precisely what Ambassador Stevens was doing.
This reporter interviewed Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily, in Appleton, Wisconsin, on October 22 (see video below), where he appeared at a joint speaking engagement with New Zealand author/researcher Trevor Loudon, author of Barack Obama and the Enemies Within.
Klein emphatically took issue with the numerous media reports that referred to the U.S. compound that was attacked on September 11 as a “U.S. consulate,” and he explained why that distinction is important.
“It was not a consulate,” Aaron Klein told The New American. “According to Middle East security officials I talked to, this was a major meeting point — I would say the central meeting point — for the American diplomats, including Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador who was killed, to meet with officials of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, about supplying the opposition in Syria and Libya. Well, who is the opposition? In Libya, |
. … Rabbi Joachim Prinz was born in Germany, expelled by the Nazis and found refuge in America, and he built support for the new State of Israel. And on that August day in 1963, he joined Dr. King at the March on Washington.
These 10 principles have guided Obama in his relations with Jews, including the disagreements of the past year. Some of these guidelines may irk you. If you’re accustomed to being in the dominant group on racial, ethnic, sexual, or religious issues—white, male, straight, Christian—you might prefer to wipe the slate of history clean and tell everybody else to get over it. If you’re in a group that often feels vulnerable—black, Latino, Muslim, female, gay—you might feel threatened by, and resent, open criticism. Part of the reason to study Obama’s example is that with the colors reversed, you can get out of your skin, if only briefly, and see how it feels to be on the other side. And that, in turn, might make these conversations a little bit easier to have.Exclusive First Read: 'Hallucinations,' By Oliver Sacks
Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks Paperback, 326 pages | purchase close overlay Buy Featured Book Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?
Hallucinations can be terrifying, enlightening, amusing or just plain strange. They're thought to be at the root of fairy tales, religious experiences and some kinds of art. Neurologist Oliver Sacks has been mapping the oddities of the human brain for decades, and his latest book, Hallucinations, is a thoughtful and compassionate look at the phantoms our brains can produce — which he calls "an essential part of the human condition." In this chapter, Sacks examines auditory hallucinations. "Hearing voices" has long been the classic signifier of mental illness, but many otherwise healthy people just happen to have hallucinatory voices in their heads, according to Sacks. Hallucinations will be published Nov. 6.
Chapter 4:
Hearing Things
In 1973 the journal Science published an article that caused an immediate furor. It was entitled "On Being Sane in Insane Places," and it described how, as an experiment, eight "pseudopatients" with no history of mental illness presented themselves at a variety of hospitals across the United States. Their single complaint was that they "heard voices." They told hospital staff that they could not really make out what the voices said but that they heard the words "empty," "hollow," and "thud." Apart from this fabrication, they behaved normally and recounted their own (normal) past experiences and medical histories. Nonetheless, all of them were diagnosed as schizophrenic (except one, who was diagnosed with "manic-depressive psychosis"), hospitalized for up to two months, and prescribed antipsychotic medications (which they did not swallow). Once admitted to the mental wards, they continued to speak and behave normally; they reported to the medical staff that their hallucinated voices had disappeared and that they felt fine. They even kept notes on their experiment, quite openly (this was registered in the nursing notes for one pseudopatient as "writing behavior"), but none of the pseudopatients were identified as such by the staff. This experiment, designed by David Rosenhan, a Stanford psychologist (and himself a pseudopatient), emphasized, among other things, that the single symptom of "hearing voices" could suffice for an immediate, categorical diagnosis of schizophrenia even in the absence of any other symptoms or abnormalities of behavior. Psychiatry, and society in general, had been subverted by the almost axiomatic belief that "hearing voices" spelled madness and never occurred except in the context of severe mental disturbance.
This belief is a fairly recent one, as the careful and humane reservations of early researchers on schizophrenia made clear. But by the 1970s, antipsychotic drugs and tranquilizers had begun to replace other treatments, and careful history taking, looking at the whole life of the patient, had largely been replaced by the use of DSM criteria to make snap diagnoses.
Eugen Bleuler, who directed the huge Burghölzli asylum near Zurich from 1898 to 1927, paid close and sympathetic attention to the many hundreds of schizophrenic people under his care. He recognized that the "voices" his patients heard, however outlandish they might seem, were closely associated with their mental states and delusions. The voices, he wrote, embodied "all their strivings and fears... their entire transformed relationship to the external world... above all... [to] the pathological or hostile powers" that beset them. He described these in vivid detail in his great 1911 monograph, Dementia Praecox; or, The Group of Schizophrenias:
Enlarge this image toggle caption Elena Seibert Elena Seibert
The voices not only speak to the patient, but they pass electricity through the body, beat him, paralyse him, take his thoughts away. They are often hypostasized as people, or in other very bizarre ways. For example, a patient claims that a "voice" is perched above each of his ears. One voice is a little larger than the other but both are about the size of a walnut, and they consist of nothing but a large ugly mouth.
Threats or curses form the main and most common content of the "voices." Day and night they come from everywhere, from the walls, from above and below, from the cellar and the roof, from heaven and from hell, from near and far... When the patient is eating, he hears a voice saying, "Each mouthful is stolen." If he drops something, he hears, "If only your foot had been chopped off."
The voices are often very contradictory. At one time they may be against the patient... then they may contradict themselves... The roles of pro and con are often taken over by voices of different people... The voice of a daughter tells a patient: "He is going to be burned alive," while his mother's voice says, "He will not be burned." Besides their persecutors the patients often hear the voice of some protector.
The voices are often localized in the body... A polyp may be the occasion for localizing the voices in the nose. An intestinal disturbance brings them into connection with the abdomen... In cases of sexual complexes, the penis, the urine in the bladder, or the nose utter obscene words... A really or imaginarily gravid patient will hear her child or children speaking inside her womb...
Inanimate objects may speak. The lemonade speaks, the patient's name is heard to be coming from a glass of milk. The furniture speaks to him.
Bleuler wrote, "Almost every schizophrenic who is hospitalized hears 'voices.'" But he emphasized that the reverse did not hold — that hearing voices did not necessarily denote schizophrenia. In the popular imagination, though, hallucinatory voices are almost synonymous with schizophrenia — a great misconception, for most people who do hear voices are not schizophrenic.
Many people report hearing voices which are not particularly directed at them, as Nancy C. wrote:
I hallucinate conversations on a regular basis, often as I am falling asleep at night. It seems to me that these conversations are real and are actually taking place between real people, at the very time I'm hearing them, but are occurring somewhere else. I hear couples arguing, all kinds of things. They are not voices I can identify, they are not people I know. I feel like I'm a radio, tuned into someone else's world. (Though always an American-English-speaking world.) I can't think of any way to regard these experiences except as hallucinations. I am never a participant; I am never addressed. I am just listening in.
"Hallucinations in the sane" were well recognized in the nineteenth century, and with the rise of neurology, people sought to understand more clearly what caused them. In England in the 1880s, the Society for Psychical Research was founded to collect and investigate reports of apparitions or hallucinations, especially those of the bereaved, and many eminent scientists — physicists as well as physiologists and psychologists — joined the society (William James was active in the American branch). Telepathy, clairvoyance, communication with the dead, and the nature of a spirit world became the subjects of systematic investigation.
These early researchers found that hallucinations were not uncommon in the general population. Their 1894 "International Census of Waking Hallucinations in the Sane" examined the occurrence and nature of hallucinations experienced by normal people in normal circumstances (they took care to exclude anyone with obvious medical or psychiatric problems). Seventeen thousand people were sent a single question:
Have you ever, when believing yourself to be completely awake, had a vivid impression of seeing or being touched by a living being or inanimate object, or of hearing a voice, which impression, as far as you could discover, was not due to an external physical cause?
More than 10 percent responded in the affirmative, and of those, more than a third heard voices. As John Watkins noted in his book Hearing Voices, hallucinated voices "having some kind of religious or supernatural content represented a small but significant minority of these reports." Most of the hallucinations, however, were of a more quotidian character.
Perhaps the commonest auditory hallucination is hearing one's own name spoken — either by a familiar voice or an anonymous one. Freud, writing in The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, remarked on this:
During the days when I was living alone in a foreign city — I was a young man at the time — I quite often heard my name suddenly called by an unmistakable and beloved voice; I then noted down the exact moment of the hallucination and made anxious enquiries of those at home about what had happened at that time. Nothing had happened.
The voices that are sometimes heard by people with schizophrenia tend to be accusing, threatening, jeering, or persecuting. By contrast, the voices hallucinated by the "normal" are often quite unremarkable, as Daniel Smith brings out in his book Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Hearing Voices and the Borders of Sanity. Smith's own father and grandfather heard such voices, and they had very different reactions. His father started hearing voices at the age of thirteen, Smith writes:
These voices weren't elaborate, and they weren't disturbing in content. They issued simple commands. They instructed him, for instance, to move a glass from one side of the table to another or to use a particular subway turnstile. Yet in listening to them and obeying them his interior life became, by all reports, unendurable.
Smith's grandfather, by contrast, was nonchalant, even playful, in regard to his hallucinatory voices. He described how he tried to use them in betting at the racetrack. ("It didn't work, my mind was clouded with voices telling me that this horse could win or maybe this one is ready to win.") It was much more successful when he played cards with his friends. Neither the grandfather or the father had strong supernatural inclinations; nor did they have any significant mental illness. They just heard unremarkable voices concerned with everyday things — as do millions of others.
Smith's father and grandfather rarely spoke of their voices. They listened to them in secrecy and silence, perhaps feeling that admitting to hearing voices would be seen as an indication of madness or at least serious psychiatric turmoil. Yet many recent studies confirm that it is not that uncommon to hear voices and that the majority of those who do are not schizophrenic; they are more like Smith's father and grandfather.
It is clear that attitudes to hearing voices are critically important. One can be tortured by voices, as Daniel Smith's father was, or accepting and easygoing, like his grandfather. Behind these personal attitudes are the attitudes of society, attitudes which have differed profoundly in different times and places.
Hearing voices occurs in every culture and has often been accorded great importance — the gods of Greek myth often spoke to mortals, and the gods of the great monotheistic traditions, too. Voices have been significant in this regard, perhaps more so than visions, for voices, language, can convey an explicit message or command as images alone cannot.
Until the eighteenth century, voices — like visions — were ascribed to supernatural agencies: gods or demons, angels or djinns. No doubt there was sometimes an overlap between such voices and those of psychosis or hysteria, but for the most part, voices were not regarded as pathological; if they stayed inconspicuous and private, they were simply accepted as part of human nature, part of the way it was with some people.
Around the middle of the eighteenth century, a new secular philosophy started to gain ground with the philosophers and scientists of the Enlightenment, and hallucinatory visions and voices came to be seen as having a physiological basis in the overactivity of certain centers in the brain.
But the romantic idea of "inspiration" still held, too — the artist, especially the writer, was seen or saw himself as the transcriber, the amanuensis, of a Voice, and sometimes had to wait years (as Rilke did) for the Voice to speak.
Talking to oneself is basic to human beings, for we are a linguistic species; the great Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky thought that "inner speech" was a prerequisite of all voluntary activity. I talk to myself, as many of us do, for much of the day — admonishing myself ("You fool! Where did you leave your glasses?"), encouraging myself ("You can do it!"), complaining ("Why is that car in my lane?"), and, more rarely, congratulating myself ("It's done!"). Those voices are not externalized; I would never mistake them for the voice of God, or anyone else.
But when I was in great danger once, trying to descend a mountain with a badly injured leg, I heard an inner voice that was wholly unlike my normal babble of inner speech. I had a great struggle crossing a stream with a buckled and dislocating knee. The effort left me stunned, motionless for a couple of minutes, and then a delicious languor came over me, and I thought to myself, Why not rest here? A nap maybe? This was immediately countered by a strong, clear, commanding voice, which said, "You can't rest here — you can't rest anywhere. You've got to go on. Find a pace you can keep up and go on steadily." This good voice, this Life voice, braced and resolved me. I stopped trembling and did not falter again.
Joe Simpson, climbing in the Andes, also had a catastrophic accident, falling off an ice ledge and ending up in a deep crevasse with a broken leg. He struggled to survive, as he recounted in Touching the Void — and a voice was crucial in encouraging and directing him:
There was silence, and snow, and a clear sky empty of life, and me, sitting there, taking it all in, accepting what I must try to achieve. There were no dark forces acting against me. A voice in my head told me that this was true, cutting through the jumble in my mind with its coldly rational sound.
It was as if there were two minds within me arguing the toss. The voice was clean and sharp and commanding. It was always right, and I listened to it when it spoke and acted on its decisions. The other mind rambled out a disconnected series of images, and memories and hopes, which I attended to in a daydream state as I set about obeying the orders of the voice. I had to get to the glacier... The voice told me exactly how to go about it, and I obeyed while my other mind jumped abstractly from one idea to another... The voice, and the watch, urged me into motion whenever the heat from the glacier halted me in a drowsy exhausted daze. It was three o'clock — only three and a half hours of daylight left. I kept moving but soon realized that I was making ponderously slow headway. It didn't seem to concern me that I was moving like a snail. So long as I obeyed the voice, then I would be all right.
Such voices may occur with anyone in situations of extreme threat or danger. Freud heard voices on two such occasions, as he mentioned in his book On Aphasia:
I remember having twice been in danger of my life, and each time the awareness of the danger occurred to me quite suddenly. On both occasions I felt "this was the end," and while otherwise my inner language proceeded with only indistinct sound images and slight lip movements, in these situations of danger I heard the words as if somebody was shouting them into my ear, and at the same time I saw them as if they were printed on a piece of paper floating in the air.
The threat to life may also come from within, and although we cannot know how many attempts at suicide have been prevented by a voice, I suspect this is not uncommon. My friend Liz, following the collapse of a love affair, found herself heartbroken and despondent. About to swallow a handful of sleeping tablets and wash them down with a tumbler of whiskey, she was startled to hear a voice say, "No. You don't want to do that," and then "Remember that what you are feeling now you will not be feeling later." The voice seemed to come from the outside; it was a man's voice, though whose she did not know. She said, faintly, "Who said that?" There was no answer, but a "granular" figure (as she put it) materialized in the chair opposite her — a young man in eighteenth-century dress who glimmered for a few seconds and then disappeared. A feeling of immense relief and joy came over her. Although Liz knew that the voice must have come from the deepest part of herself, she speaks of it, playfully, as her "guardian angel."
Various explanations have been offered for why people hear voices, and different ones may apply in different circumstances. It seems likely, for example, that the predominantly hostile or persecuting voices of psychosis have a very different basis from the hearing of one's own name called in an empty house; and that this again is different in origin from the voices which come in emergencies or desperate situations.
Auditory hallucinations may be associated with abnormal activation of the primary auditory cortex; this is a subject which needs much more investigation not only in those with psychosis but in the population at large — the vast majority of studies so far have examined only auditory hallucinations in psychiatric patients.
Some researchers have proposed that auditory hallucinations result from a failure to recognize internally generated speech as one's own (or perhaps it stems from a cross-activation with the auditory areas so that what most of us experience as our own thoughts becomes "voiced").
Perhaps there is some sort of physiological barrier or inhibition that normally prevents most of us from "hearing" such inner voices as external. Perhaps that barrier is somehow breached or undeveloped in those who do hear constant voices. Perhaps, however, one should invert the question — and ask why most of us do not hear voices. Julian Jaynes, in his influential 1976 book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, speculated that, not so long ago, all humans heard voices — generated internally, from the right hemisphere of the brain, but perceived (by the left hemisphere) as if external, and taken as direct communications from the gods. Sometime around 1000 B.C., Jaynes proposed, with the rise of modern consciousness, the voices became internalized and recognized as our own.
Others have proposed that auditory hallucinations may come from an abnormal attention to the subvocal stream which accompanies verbal thinking. It is clear that "hearing voices" and "auditory hallucinations" are terms that cover a variety of different phenomena.
While voices carry meaning — whether this is trivial or portentous — some auditory hallucinations consist of little more than odd noises. Probably the most common of these are classified as tinnitus, an almost nonstop hissing or ringing sound that often goes with hearing loss, and may be intolerably loud at times.
Hearing noises — hummings, mutterings, twitterings, rappings, rustlings, ringings, muffled voices — is commonly associated with hearing problems, and this may be aggravated by many factors, including delirium, dementia, toxins, or stress. When medical residents, for example, are on call for long periods, sleep deprivation may produce a variety of hallucinations involving any sensory modality. One young neurologist wrote to me that after being on call for more than thirty hours, he would hear the hospital's telemetry and ventilator alarms, and sometimes after arriving home he kept hallucinating the phone ringing.
Although musical phrases or songs may be heard along with voices or other noises, a great many people "hear" only music or musical phrases. Musical hallucinations may arise from a stroke, a tumor, an aneurysm, an infectious disease, a neurodegenerative process, or toxic or metabolic disturbances. Hallucinations in such situations usually disappear as soon as the provocative cause is treated or subsides.
Sometimes it is difficult to pinpoint a particular cause for musical hallucinations, but in the predominantly geriatric population I work with, by far the commonest cause of musical hallucination is hearing loss or deafness — and here the hallucinations may be stubbornly persistent, even if the hearing is improved by hearing aids or cochlear implants. Diane G. wrote to me:
I have had tinnitus as far back as I can remember. It is present almost 24/7 and is very high pitched. It sounds exactly like how cicadas sound when they come in droves back on Long Island in the summer. Sometime in the last year [I also became aware of] the music playing in my head. I kept hearing Bing Crosby, friends and orchestra singing "White Christmas" over and over. I thought it was coming from a radio playing in another room until I eliminated all possibilities of outside input. It went on for days, and I quickly discovered that I could not turn it off or vary the volume. But I could vary the lyrics, speed and harmonies with practice. Since that time I get the music almost daily, usually toward evenings and at times so loud that it interferes with my hearing conversations. The music is always melodies that I am familiar with such as hymns, favorites from years of piano playing and songs from early memories. They always have the lyrics....
To add to this cacophony, I now have started hearing a third level of sound at the same time that sounds like someone is listening to talk radio or TV in another room. I get a constant running of voices, male and female, complete with realistic pauses, inflections and increases and decreases in volume. I just can't understand their words.
Diane has had progressive hearing loss since childhood, and she is unusual in that she has hallucinations of both music and conversation.
There is a wide range in the quality of individual musical hallucinations — sometimes they are soft, sometimes disturbingly loud; sometimes simple, sometimes complex — but there are certain characteristics common to all of them. First and foremost, they are perceptual in quality and seem to emanate from an external source; in this way they are distinct from imagery (even "earworms," the often annoying, repetitious musical imagery that most of us are prone to from time to time). People with musical hallucinations will often search for an external cause — a radio, a neighbor's television, a band in the street — and only when they fail to find any such external source do they realize that the source must be in themselves. Thus they may liken it to a tape recorder or an iPod in the brain, something mechanical and autonomous, not a controllable, integral part of the self.
That there should be something like this in one's head arouses bewilderment and, not infrequently, fear — fear that one is going mad or that the phantom music may be a sign of a tumor, a stroke, or a dementia. Such fears often inhibit people from acknowledging that they have hallucinations; perhaps for this reason musical hallucinations have long been considered rare — but it is now realized that this is far from the case.
Musical hallucinations can intrude upon and even overwhelm perception; like tinnitus, they can be so loud as to make it impossible to hear someone speak (imagery never competes with perception in this way).
Musical hallucinations often appear suddenly, with no apparent trigger. Frequently, however, they follow a tinnitus or an external noise (like the drone of a plane engine or a lawn mower), the hearing of real music, or anything suggestive of a particular piece or style of music. Sometimes they are triggered by external associations, as with one patient of mine who, whenever she passed a French bakery, would hear the song "Alouette, gentille alouette."
Some people have musical hallucinations virtually nonstop, while others have them only intermittently. The hallucinated music is usually familiar (though not always liked; thus one of my patients hallucinated Nazi marching songs from his youth, which terrified him). It may be vocal or instrumental, classical or popular, but it is most often music heard in the patient's early years. Occasionally, patients may hear "meaningless phrases and patterns," as one of my correspondents, a gifted musician, put it.
Hallucinated music can be very detailed, so that every note in a piece, every instrument in an orchestra, is distinctly heard. Such detail and accuracy is often astonishing to the hallucinator, who may be scarcely able, normally, to hold a simple tune in his head, let alone an elaborate choral or instrumental composition. (Perhaps there is an analogy here to the extreme clarity and unusual detail which characterize many visual hallucinations.) Often a single theme, perhaps only a few bars, is hallucinated again and again, like a skipping record. One patient of mine heard part of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" nineteen and a half times in ten minutes (her husband timed this) and was tormented by never hearing the entire hymn. Hallucinatory music can wax slowly in intensity and then slowly wane, but it may also come on suddenly full blast in mid-bar and then stop with equal suddenness (like a switch turned on and off, patients often comment). Some patients may sing along with their musical hallucinations; others ignore them — it makes no difference. Musical hallucinations continue in their own way, irrespective of whether one attends to them or not. And they can continue, pursuing their own course, even if one is listening to or playing something else. Thus Gordon B., a violinist, sometimes hallucinated a piece of music while he was actually performing an entirely different piece at a concert.
Musical hallucinations tend to spread. A familiar tune, an old song, may start the process; this is likely to be joined, over a period of days or weeks, by another song, and then another, until a whole repertoire of hallucinatory music has been built up. And this repertoire itself tends to change — one tune will drop out, and another will replace it. One cannot voluntarily start or stop the hallucinations, though some people may be able, on occasion, to replace one piece of hallucinated music with another. Thus one man who said he had "an intracranial jukebox" found that he could switch at will from one "record" to another, provided there was some similarity of style or rhythm, though he could not turn on or turn off the "jukebox" as a whole.
Prolonged silence or auditory monotony may also cause auditory hallucinations; I have had patients report experiencing these while on meditation retreats or on a long sea voyage. Jessica K., a young woman with no hearing loss, wrote to me that her hallucinations come with auditory monotony:
In the presence of white noise such as running water or a central air conditioning system, I frequently hear music or voices. I hear it distinctly (and in the early days, often went searching for the radio that must have been left on in another room), but in the instance of music with lyrics or voices (which always sound like a talk radio program or something, not real conversation) I never hear it well enough to distinguish the words. I never hear these things unless they are "embedded," so to speak, in white noise, and only if there are not other competing sounds.
Musical hallucinations seem to be less common in children, but one boy I have seen, Michael, has had them since the age of five or six. His music is nonstop and overwhelming, and it often prevents him from focusing on anything else. Much more often, musical hallucinations are acquired at a later age — unlike hearing voices, which seems, in those who have it, to begin in early childhood and to last a lifetime.
Some people with persistent musical hallucinations find them tormenting, but most people accommodate and learn to live with the music forced on them, and a few even come to enjoy their internal music and may feel it as an enrichment of life.
Ivy L., a lively and articulate eighty-five-year-old, has had some visual hallucinations related to her macular degeneration, and some musical and auditory hallucinations stemming from her hearing impairment. Mrs. L. wrote to me:
In 2008 my doctor prescribed paroxetine for what she called depression and I called sadness. I had moved from St. Louis to Massachusetts after my husband died. A week after starting paroxetine, while watching the Olympics, I was surprised to hear languid music with the men's swim races. When I turned off the TV, the music continued and has been present virtually every waking minute since.
When the music began, a doctor gave me Zyprexa as a possible aid. That brought a visual hallucination of a murky, bubbling brown ceiling at night. A second prescription gave me hallucinations of lovely, transparent tropical plants growing in my bathroom. So I quit taking these prescriptions and the visual hallucinations ceased. The music continued.
I do not simply "recall" these songs. The music playing in the house is as loud and clear as any CD or concert. The volume increases in a large space such as a supermarket. The music has no singers or words. I have never heard "voices" but once heard my name called urgently, while I was dozing.
There was a short time when I "heard" doorbells, phones, and alarm clocks ring although none were ringing. I no longer experience these. In addition to music, at times I hear katydids, sparrows, or the sound of a large truck idling at my right side.
During all these experiences, I am fully aware that they are not real. I continue to function, managing my accounts and finances, moving my residence, taking care of my household. I speak coherently while experiencing these aural and visual disturbances. My memory is quite accurate, except for the occasional misplaced paper.
I can "enter" a melody I think of or have one triggered by a phrase, but I cannot stop the aural hallucinations. So I cannot stop the "piano" in the coat closet, the "clarinet" in the living room ceiling, the endless "God Bless America"s, or waking up to "Good Night, Irene." But I manage.
PET and fMRI scanning have shown that musical hallucination, like actual musical perception, is associated with the activation of an extensive network involving many areas of the brain — auditory areas, motor cortex, visual areas, basal ganglia, cerebellum, hippocampi, and amygdala. (Music calls upon many more areas of the brain than any other activity — one reason why music therapy is useful for such a wide variety of conditions.) This musical network can be stimulated directly, on occasion, as by a focal epilepsy, a fever, or delirium, but what seems to occur in most cases of musical hallucinations is a release of activity in the musical network when normally operative inhibitions or constraints are weakened. The commonest cause of such a release is auditory deprivation or deafness. In this way, the musical hallucinations of the elderly deaf are analogous to the visual hallucinations of Charles Bonnet syndrome.
But although the musical hallucinations of deafness and the visual hallucinations of CBS may be akin physiologically, they have great differences phenomenologically, and these reflect the very different nature of our visual worlds and our musical worlds — differences evident in the ways we perceive, recollect, or imagine them. We are not given an already made, preassembled visual world; we have to construct our own visual world as best we can. This construction entails analysis and synthesis at many functional levels in the brain, starting with perception of lines and angles and orientation in the occipital cortex. At higher levels, in the inferotemporal cortex, the "elements" of visual perception are of a more complex sort, appropriate for the analysis and recognition of natural scenes, objects, animal and plant forms, letters, and faces. Complex visual hallucinations entail the putting together of such elements, an act of assemblage, and these assemblages are continually permuted, disassembled, and reassembled.
Musical hallucinations are quite different. With music, although there are separate functional systems for perceiving pitch, timbre, rhythm, etc., the musical networks of the brain work together, and pieces cannot be significantly altered in melodic contour or tempo or rhythm without losing their musical identity. We apprehend a piece of music as a whole. Whatever the initial processes of musical perception and memory may be, once a piece of music is known, it is retained not as an assemblage of individual elements but as a completed procedure or performance; music is performed by the mind/brain whenever it is recollected; and this is also so when it erupts spontaneously, whether as an earworm or as a hallucination.
Excerpted from Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks (Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc). Copyright 2012 by Oliver Sacks. Excerpted by permission of the author. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the author.He will get no argument from Adam Fleischman, the owner of the expanding Umami Burger chain in Los Angeles. Even though his Earth Burger includes no meat, it offers the taste buds a gooey, decadent tradeoff by dandying up a mushroom-and-edamame patty with ricotta, truffle aioli and cipollini onions.
At Cru, a largely vegan and raw-food-focused cafe in that city’s Silver Lake neighborhood, the dietary and structural restrictions only seem to open up pathways of metamorphosis. Cru’s South American sliders are made of sprouted lentils and cooked garbanzo beans pulsed with garlic and spices. They’re deep-fried, dressed with a mojo sauce of blood orange and paprika and Peruvian aji amarillo chilies, and served on leaves of butter lettuce instead of a bread bun.
“We’re trying to stay away from that dry, tasteless veggie burger thing,” said Cru’s chef, Vincent Krimmel. “We have a lot more to play with now.”
Sometimes that sense of play leads to accidental discovery. The three Westville outposts around Manhattan serve a daily array of fresh vegetables. One day about four years ago, Sammy Victoria, a Westville chef, had an impulse to combine some of that garden produce into little cakes. “It went over amazingly well,” said Jay Strauss, an owner of Westville. “And Sammy said, ‘Let’s try this as a veggie burger — the exact same ingredients, just larger.’ ” Westville’s deep-fried blend of corn, cauliflower, broccoli, roasted red pepper and other ingredients now sells out on a regular basis.
Gone are the days, it seems, when the veggie burger was almost a source of shame. Sure, some restaurants fixed their own, from scratch, but many others served a dry mass-produced patty — one that might well have been made of natural ingredients like mushrooms and oats and black beans and brown rice, but which nevertheless had been gathering ice crystals in the freezer for an unknown period of time.
Tal Ronnen, 36, the author of the 2009 cookbook “The Conscious Cook,” has seen the frozen versions, too, gradually improve in the ensuing years. (Lately he has collaborated with Gardein in creating the food company’s new Ultimate Beefless Burger patties.) “When I first started eating this way, they came in a box,” said Mr. Ronnen, a chef who signed on this month to create vegan choices for the restaurants in all of the Wynn and Encore hotels in Las Vegas. “You had to add water to it. It was embarrassing to eat it around anyone. Imagine showing up to a backyard barbecue with a box and saying, ‘Hey, can I have a little bit of water to form a veggie burger?’ ”
If there is a primary reason they are improving, it comes back to the force that drives just about anything in the marketplace: demand. According to Mintel, a market research firm, there was a 26 percent increase in menu items labeled vegetarian or vegan between the last quarter of 2008 and the same quarter in 2010.
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With more and more people pledging themselves to vegan and vegetarian modes of dining, it seems self-defeating for restaurants to ignore them — or to pretend that those diners will be satisfied with yet another droopy grilled-vegetable platter. The signs are clear enough that two high priests of the global burger gospel, Burger King and McDonald’s, have for years given veggie burgers a run, although only Burger King currently has one on menus in the United States.
“It is really awesome to see a lot of places starting to make their own patties from scratch, instead of simply stockpiling premade ones in the freezer,” said Joni Newman, the author of a cookbook, “The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet,” which Fair Winds Press is to publish in May.
But with thousands of flora-based recipes in the world, why the compulsive return to the burger genre? “There’s something really satisfying about a hand-held food that’s served on a bun,” said Lukas Volger, the author of “Veggie Burgers Every Which Way,” a cookbook that was published last year. The patty-bun-condiments format of a burger holds sway over us the same way the dependable verse-chorus-bridge structure of a perfect three-minute pop song does.
That said, there is vigorous debate over how closely a veggie burger should ape the look and taste of beef.
“I never like to tell people that this is going to taste exactly like ground beef, because you’re setting yourself up,” Mr. Ronnen said. “It’s its own thing.”
Chefs might adhere to the architectural limitations of a burger, but within that framework, the challenge of trying to make a veggie burger that tastes good (and doesn’t fall apart) seems to free up their imaginations.
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to the quiet hilly neighbourhood to which Frank Mugisha, SMUG’s director, had told me to report. The last few kilometres I traversed by foot, along a red dirt road next to a hot, green gully. During my 10 days in Kampala, that empty road was the one place quiet enough for me to hear cicadas singing, and the rustle of vegetation in the September wind.
Frank Mugisha, director of SMUG, at his offices
Mugisha is Kato’s heir as the most prominent gay activist in Uganda. The small one-storey house across from the gully is mission control for SMUG and, by extension, much of the Ugandan gay rights movement. He has been ‘out’ for more than 10 years and, as Kato did before him, he faces frequent death threats. Unlike Longjones, nothing about Mugisha appears stereotypically gay — except perhaps the bright yellow T-shirt he wore when I met him in his office, with ‘SAY NO TO BAHATI’S BILL’ stencilled across the front. An IT specialist by training, Mugisha is as short as Longjones is tall, and impeccably mannered and dressed. The T-shirt was anomalous: he told me he has more than 20 suits. Like all the gay activists I met in Uganda, he is so attached to his smartphone that some form of surgical implantation might be a reasonable consideration.
Mugisha’s number is public, and the phone whistled and jingled constantly. Usually, it is gay people and gay activists who want a word with him, either to congratulate him or to ask advice. But there is an occasional menacing voice threatening to do to Mugisha what was done to Kato nearly two years ago. Harassment forced him to move out of his home a few years ago, and to another about an hour from SMUG. ‘I found my car tyres slashed many times,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t get surprised if you read in the news that I have been attacked along the road, or this place has been set on fire.’
But international interest in the gay rights movement has altered the equation of power and visibility significantly. Bahati’s bill, first submitted in 2009, took the anti-gay frenzy a step too far by seeking to enshrine bigotry in law. The US State Department under Barack Obama began treating the anti-homosexuality issue as one of the major sticking points in smooth relations between the countries. And the international outrage, Mugisha said, made Uganda irresistible for journalists wanting to write about social justice.
‘Now we are talking about social identity. We are talking about family. We are talking about what you can do to accept your child if he comes to you and says he’s gay.’
‘That’s why all these stories have come out. That’s why we are so famous!’ he told me, with admirable candour. ‘If I was leaving my house and broke my leg or got killed, it would be horrible for Uganda. The whole world would just say, “They killed another one! These Ugandans are horrible!”’ The New York Times and the BBC were among the major news outlets that reported on Kato’s death, and even more would note the slightest attack against Mugisha. Once, being an out, gay activist made one a magnet for attacks. Now it confers a measure of protection.
Cynics have wondered whether the activists are in it for the fame. ‘Organisations that support gay rights walk openly in this town,’ one Ugandan human rights worker told me, implying that foreign and Ugandan activists have overblown the threat of persecution. ‘If Bill Clinton comes here, he will meet you [meaning gay Ugandans]. You get to hang out with bazungu [white people], and they give you awards.’ The international activist community has certainly adopted Mugisha as a star; last year, the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights garlanded him with its Human Rights Award, and he now travels frequently for appearances and overseas work.
Mugisha said he has, in fact, declined the most valuable offers. ‘I have a really high profile, and I could snap my fingers and get a job with an NGO or get asylum in any country,’ he told me. ‘Ugandans think it’s about money. But when they see that you are doing hard work, and talking to them about challenges and discrimination, they start to understand that this is a real cause.’
Most remarkably, the Bahati bill itself has turned into a catalyst for exactly the conversations that Mugisha wanted Ugandans to have. There is a strong taboo in Uganda against talk about sex of any type, he told me. And the mere mention of homosexuality once forced unwanted images into their minds of two men having anal sex. ‘If you talked about homosexuality, they would ask, “Oh, so you want to talk about anal sex right now? Sorry, we won’t accept that,”’ Mugisha said. Now the ubiquitous talk of homosexuality has ground down the taboo, and allowed the discussion to move to more relevant areas. ‘Now we are talking about social identity. We are talking about family. We are talking about what you can do to accept your child if he comes to you and says he’s gay.’ When Mugisha shows someone his business card, the words on it no longer trigger a mental film-reel of gay porn, but an image of fully clothed legislators talking about the merits of their bill.
‘The bill has its pros and cons,’ Mugisha admitted. ‘It has created dialogue. People can actually talk about homosexuality. And its extremeness has made people question it. Even faithful Christians are asking why they are being told to report their own sons and daughters.’
So Kato’s death and the anti-homosexuality bill have, oddly, flipped the old status quo. Once gay activists congregated in the shadows and feared the anti-homosexuality bill, now they seek out sunlight and see unexpected advantages to it, vile though it is. Gay people face most danger when they are closeted, trying to stay invisible, and get unexpectedly outed.
Ironically, their tormentors are the ones who have been sent scurrying into the shade. I approached David Bahati — the Young Turk legislator who has led efforts to pass the anti-homosexuality bill — by email, phone, and in person in his office. He dodged me at every pass, perhaps because nearly every interview he has given to international media has made him appear fanatical and intolerant, and has shamed Ugandans sensitive to international human rights standards. More and more Ugandans have spent time abroad and been exposed to more tolerant cultures — even neighbouring Kenya is considerably more LGBTI-friendly — and few of them like seeing their home country associated in international headlines with intolerance and social norms that have been extinct in the West for decades.
And then there are people such as Martin Ssempa, the frothing-at-the-mouth pastor who showed gay porn to his congregation to whip up their anti-gay feelings. I wanted to meet him to find out about his current preoccupations, and how his position on the gay issue had evolved. ‘This may well be the most painful interview of your life,’ one human-rights worker advised me when I asked for his contact details.
Ssempa first demanded to know my purpose, and then asked for a few hours to decide whether to speak to me. Then he called me and invited me to come to the Buganda Road courthouse on Monday to observe him ‘stand up for the rights of those who have been sodomised,’ and he drew out that last word into three stressed syllables (what my Classics teacher would have called a ‘molossus’), savouring each one like a rich dessert melting on his tongue. It turned out that he had been named as a defendant in a lawsuit by another pastor, Robert Kayanja, brother of John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. Ssempa had accused Kayanja of ‘sodomising his flock,’ a charge that the Buganda Road court eventually ruled calumnious. Ssempa was ordered to pay a million Ugandan shillings (£240) and perform 100 hours of community service.
There are many who would prefer that the professional gay activists shut up while they get on with the complicated business of both hiding and expressing their sexuality
I tracked down Ssempa between court sessions, before the verdict was delivered. He wore academic regalia and surrounded himself with acolytes. When I finally caught him, he shook my hand gregariously and almost immediately excused himself. ‘I have an urgent need to go to the toilet,’ he said, promising to meet afterwards. He then slipped out of the building and did not return.
The arc of social justice has contorted itself in unexpected ways. Ssempa and Bahati surely consider this a sign of these benighted times. Even so, most Ugandans still support their efforts to criminalise and persecute homosexuals. Politicians fear the condemnation of the international community if they support Bahati’s bill, but they face domestic unpopularity if they don’t — probably the reason why the bill continues to be frozen in process. Both sides of the struggle seem to agree that most Ugandans abhor homosexuality — and for that reason there are many who would prefer that the professional gay activists shut up while they get on with the complicated business of both hiding and expressing their sexuality.
Pepe Julian Onziema, a transgender man working at SMUG, guessed that two in five LGBTI Ugandans prefer life in the closet. Consider that figure: nearly half the constituency that SMUG tries to represent would prefer not to be represented. They have families, they have affairs, and they stay as far from SMUG as possible. ‘I get threats from gay people, too,’ Mugisha says. When they call SMUG to berate them for raising a ruckus and potentially disrupting their closeted gay lives, Onziema, who received a Bill Clinton Global Citizen Award for his work, says he’s protecting the closeted gays of Uganda by personally assuming the burden of dealing with public questioning and intolerance. ‘They think we are really crazy, and we are blowing their cover,’ he says. ‘We tell them, “We are doing this for you”. But they say, “We did not ask you to do this.”’ Uganda has no radical gay group that outs closeted gays, like OutRage in the UK. Red Pepper does that well enough without their help.
Pepe Julian Onzeima
Geoffrey Ogwaro, a lawyer who coordinates a coalition of organisations opposing the Bahati bill, told me that there is a cohort of wealthy, well-educated gay people who disdain the politics of the movement, despite being potentially powerful allies for it. Often snobbish about their socialising, though less picky when looking for anonymous sex, they ‘want nothing to with the politicisation’, Ogwaro told me. ‘They will say, “We’ve lived our private lives, and we’ve had fun and had our parties and we have no issues with anyone. Suddenly, you guys are politicising this whole thing and ruining a good thing for us.”’
By staying closeted, of course, they enjoy none of the protections that high-profile activism confers. If outed, they can be hounded by mobs: if they are lucky, Mugisha will get their panicked phone calls at SMUG and send a rapid-response team to whisk them to safety before the crowd gets violent.
It seems the anti-homosexuality bill has poked a hornet’s nest of anti-gay sentiment and those who have benefited most are the radical activists on either side. Those caught in the middle are the closeted majority, trying to maintain a quiet sex life and keep out of the line of fire, reluctant to upset the mainstream.
I did meet gay Ugandans whose lives felt considerably more tense than those of Frank Mugisha, Longjones, or Pepe Julian Onziema. Stosh Mugisha, who also features in Call Me Kuchu, vetoed several lunch venues before I came up with one where he felt comfortable. No relation to Frank, Stosh is, like Onziema, a preoperative female-to-male transsexual, who at the time of filming self-identified as a lesbian. And over lunch, Stosh rehearsed a gripping and awful story of rape, attempted suicide, and contracting HIV, culminating in a jittery, paranoid life forced into the public eye by Red Pepper. ‘Do you know stuff about STOSH MUGISHA and where she lives? Call the editor on 0782025368’ the paper invited. Another female-to-male transsexual, Nikki Mawanda, described a narrowly circumscribed life. Only a few places in this large city were safe havens: ‘First, I go to Speke Hotel [for food or a drink], and then I go to the movies, or to a play. And then I go home.’
Stosh Mugisha
Once inside their safe havens, even Stosh and Nikki lived in a way that was somewhat open and unguarded: when we met at the Speke, Nikki was not merely comfortable but loud, proud, and uninhibited. And Stosh, like Longjones, wore gay pride jewellery and insignias that could, if he had wanted to, be left at home. They both relished their roles as activists. Stosh seemed excited to be flown to a Russian screening of Call Me Kuchu, and Nikki was happy to have found a way to make a living advocating a cause he believed in. Plenty of international donors wanted to throw money at this problem, he said. ‘If you make a proposal, you can get money for activist activity.’
Of course, they deserved to be proud of their bravery, and the knowledge that their work would probably save the next generation of gay Ugandans from the same tabloid treatment. But it did make me wonder about the role of victimhood here. The gay rights cause in Uganda started with violent persecution, which escalated with the Red Pepper and Rolling Stone outings, the ridiculous and self-defeating anti-homosexuality bill, and the murder of David Kato, however ambiguous the motive. That persecution was originally wholly terrible. Then it became terrible, but also useful. Once the persecution had provoked a certain level of outrage, especially internationally, the tide reversed dramatically. Now status as a public victim is a protective talisman as well as an income-generating activity, and there is a perverse incentive to revel in it for the cameras, or, when meeting with journalists like me, to report it as a perpetual crisis.
‘People ask me: “Do you even get out of your house?” They portray us as just victims. I don’t like to be portrayed as if we’re not even here.’
Radicalism still works — and it works best when there are radicals on both sides. Bahati and Ssempa pushed their agenda, and Kato and Mugisha pushed theirs, until the conflict reached a climax so atrocious that the world couldn’t ignore it. Now, NGOs such as SMUG could continue their work under international protection. But activism has to be vigilant about rhetoric and reality if it is to maintain credibility. Among Ugandans and foreigners focussed on human rights in Uganda, the success of the loud and smartly-executed gay-rights effort has drawn some exasperation, because Uganda has multitudes of social justice issues, and the prominence of LGBTI issues comes at the cost of crowding many others from the limelight. Indeed the only other issue in African to attract comparable attention recently was the Kony2012 film which contained its own striking, rhetorical excesses.
Jacqueline Kasha, a lesbian who heads Freedom and Roam Uganda, one of dozens of LGBTI NGOs, calls the anti-homosexuality bill ‘Uganda’s Nuremberg Law’ — a comparison that sits uneasily with many Ugandans, gay and straight, since persecution of gays in Uganda hasn’t reached (and isn’t likely to) anything like those in early Nazi Germany, gearing up towards the Holocaust. Frank Mugisha cringed when I mentioned it. ‘We lose legitimacy,’ he said. ‘Our government says we’re just being vocal.’ If there is a lesson from Kony2012 and the LGBTI struggle, it might be that the relationship between accuracy, honesty and succesful activism is a fraught, but important one.
Even Call Me Kuchu, Mugisha told me, struggled to resist the narrative of victimhood. ‘It made me sad,’ he said. ‘Some journalists come here and they ask, “Tell us about the threats!”’ The threats, he said, don’t ‘really represent the movement. People ask me: “Do you even get out of your house?” They portray us as just victims. I don’t like to be portrayed as if we’re not even here.’
In fact, he said, the pro-LGBTI organisations have strategies and tactics, and are proceeding successfully and by their own wits. Ugandan civil society and government are complex entities, and neither is simply at the mercy of unopposed reactionary forces: the trap of seeing things in binary terms has been sprung often enough by Western activists. African social-justice movements are just as byzantine in their webs of power and protest as Western ones, and therefore no victory is permanent and no setback final.
Even the passage of an anti-homosexuality bill would not be a doomsday scenario. Frank Mugisha, for one, seemed confident that even if Bahati’s bill was passed, ‘it couldn’t be implemented’. He pointed out that existing laws already criminalise ‘carnal knowledge against the order of nature’ (a colonial inheritance) yet this law is seldom enforced. ‘Who has ever been arrested, detained, and put to jail?’ he asked. ‘If the law is passed, are they going to put cameras in people’s bedrooms?’ Mugisha said he expected the Constitutional Court to strike it down, although human rights lawyers I spoke to were less certain. ‘Even the courts are part of society,’ said Nicholas Opiyo, a prominent human rights lawyer.
Before I left, I wanted to see the Ugandan gay community in a candid moment, outside the stilted atmosphere of formal interviews. By chance, my visit coincided with a ‘rainbow’ event — one of a series of queer-friendly spectacles, this one at a bar called the Tilapia Cultural Centre.
The owner, David Cecil, a friendly British expatriate, found himself unintentionally thrust into the activist crowd after he allowed a play to be staged there in the summer. The play, The River and the Mountain, had a gay character, and Cecil, who is straight, was accused of ‘disobeying lawful orders’ for staging it without authorisation. He spent four days in prison and was released on bail in September, but his passport was confiscated. When I met him at the Tilapia centre’s bar, it seemed that nearly all of Kampala’s out gays had convened there too, for a talent show and dance.
Openly gay Kampala isn’t a huge community, and I recognised many from my interviews. Longjones was MC. Stosh, looking very at ease, gave me a little hug and introduced me to a few lesbians. Frank Mugisha, a young godfather to the whole community, showed up around 11pm and was forced by an adoring crowd to give a few seconds’ worth of remarks.
That the talents failed to scandalise me was only because I had previously seen much more provocative queer spectacle in places such as London and San Francisco, not to mention Martin Ssempa’s YouTube videos. A few male performers donned skimpy, gold-trimmed drag outfits and pranced onstage, each trying to outdo the other’s arse-wiggling. Longjones called for the audience to scream out for their preferred wiggler, and in his gentle Muppet voice he pronounced the competition a tie.
The night ended early for me, which is to say not too far into the morning. When I emerged from Tilapia, I was slightly surprised to see that the place had no security at all, just an open-air staircase from the road, down which dozens and dozens of flamboyantly dressed homosexuals had descended for hours, without harassment. At the bottom of the steps, they were grinding with each other on the dance floor without fear.
At the top of the steps, some boda-boda drivers lingered, perhaps to wait for fares, to gawk at the flagrant sinning, or to indulge their bi-curiosity. I couldn’t tell which drivers came for which reason, but I knew none was there for killing. The gay rights movement in Uganda is still young, I thought, but that seemed like a good start.Pastor Maldonado has been reported as unhappy at the criticism he is receiving. He has said that the media are to blame for how he is perceived, and that his future in the sport is unclear because of this. He also states that if he were driving for a top team, like Mercedes, he would be fighting for race wins consistently. Are the media to blame for Pastor Maldonado’s image? Is he or is he not a bad driver, and what does his future in the sport hold?
Pastor came into F1 in 2011 on the back of winning the GP2 championship. He spent the first three seasons at Williams, and since then has been at Lotus. In his time in the sport he has been involved in several altercations. In Spa, of his rookie season, he appeared to intentionally hit into Lewis Hamilton coming out of turn 1. He did score his first and only point of that season in the race. In the penultimate race of that season, in Abu Dhabi, he was twice penalised for ignoring blue flags. He finished the season in 19th place, three points behind his team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
In the opening race of 2012, he was on for his best finish until he crashed out on the final lap. He scored an eighth place finish in China, and two races later went on to take his maiden victory in Barcelona. Starting off in pole position, after Hamilton had been demoted due to a fuel discrepancy, Maldonado impressively lead home under the pressure of crowd favourite, Fernando Alonso.
At qualifying in Monaco, he failed to make an attempt to avoid Sergio Perez and got a ten-place grid penalty as a result. In the race, he ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa which put them both out. In Valencia, whilst battling Hamilton for a podium position, Maldonado went off track and came back onto it, colliding with the British driver. The result led to Hamilton retiring and Maldonando getting a 20-second penalty. At Silverstone, another collision with Perez resulted in a fine and penalties. In Budapest, a collision with Paul di Resta gave him a drive-through penalty.
In Spa, he obtained three penalties. One for impeding Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying, and the other two in the race. The first was for a false start, and the second was for colliding with Timo Glock. He finished the season strongly by scoring three times out of the last six races. He finished 15th in the championship, with a points total of 45, 12 points ahead of his team-mate, Bruno Senna.
After the drama-filled season of 2012, 2013 was much calmer, if not as successful for the Venezuelan. For the third season running, he would be partnered by a new team-mate, this time in the shape of Finnish rookie Valtteri Bottas. Maldonado only claimed a single point, in Hungary, and ended up 18th in the championship standings, three points behind Bottas. It was announced before the United States Grand Prix that he wouldn’t be kept on at Williams. Near the end of November, it was announced that Maldonado had signed for Lotus, where his team-mate would be his former GP2 rival of Romain Grosjean.
Into the 2014 season and at Bahrain he crashed into Esteban Gutierrez, flipping over the Mexican’s car which resulted in a penalty and grid drop for the next race. In that next meeting, he crashed into a wall in the pit lane. In Spain, he crashed into Marcus Ericsson, resulting in a stop-go penalty. He crashed into Gutierrez again, this time at Silverstone, which launched the Venezuelans car. In Budapest, he lost control of his car heading to the grid, and then crashed into Jules Bianchi. In Austin, he was twice penalised for speeding. First behind the safety car, and then in the pit lane. His only points finish came in Austin, with a ninth place. He finished 16th in the championship, six points behind Grosjean.
This year as seen the continued run of penalties getting dished out to the Venezuelan. In Malaysia, he was speeding behind the safety car. In Bahrain, he placed his Lotus onto the wrong grid slot – and then collided into Felipe Massa. The last race before the summer break saw the Venezuelan at his worse. Maldonado ran into Perez at turn 1. He then got penalised again for speeding behind the safety car, and then again for speeding in the pit lane later in the race.
So is it really the media to blame for his reputation? Pastor says that there is not much news today in F1, like there was 10 or 15 years ago when there was more racing. Maldonado has a point, as in this new era of efficiently does bring a lot of conservative races with not many incidents. A crash now is deemed more rare than it was a number of years ago, as they not pushing as hard. He also notes the emphasis on the fact he is financially supported by the Venezuelan government. It true that he is not the only “pay driver” on the grid, but it does seem only him that it gets mentioned that he gets financial backing.
Both these arguments could be turned the other way too. In today’s F1, the sport is more professional, and the drivers are seen to and be expected to be near flawless. A driver who gets in multiple incidents nowadays is going to get more attention, as it simply not the way the drivers are expected to perform. Even when there is wheel to wheel racing, the battles are usually clean, and most of the time no incidents occur. This is the opposite for Pastor. In the incidents that are mentioned in this article, there are many more that could be highlighted. The media are only talking about him in this way, as he himself is giving them something to talk about. That is what brings to attention his financial backing also. With every incident that occurs, more and more gets said about his ability in a F1 car, and therefore the fact he gets healthy financial backing draws media scrutiny more than it does to other drivers on similar sponsorship.
Is Pastor a bad driver then? His GP2 championship, and that win in Spain points to that there is some talent there. He is also enjoying one of his most successful points scoring seasons to date, with already two seventh place finishes giving him 12 points. He could have even more points if it wasn’t for some bad luck in earlier races, which were not of his doing.
So where does his future lie in F1? This is Maldonado’s fifth season in the sport, and even though he is a race winner, and has some good moments, his form has been mostly poor compared to his team mate. With Lotus possibly preparing test driver Jolyon Palmer for a seat in 2016, the Venezuelan is under pressure to show in the second half of this season that his talent – and not his financial backing, merit him a place in the sport. He is the enigma of F1, and until he can be decoded, then he will never reach the heights that he thinks his talent merits.
Main image:Heath Ledger is Dead
Heath Ledger is Dead
TMZ has learned that 2006 Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger has died in NY.He was found dead in his bed in one of his residences in Soho by his housekeeper at 3:35 PM ET today. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ they believe it was not a crime, adding that prescription pills were found near his body.According to NYPD a masseuse arrived at Ledger's apartment and was let in by a housekeeper. When Ledger didn't answer his bedroom door, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened it and found him unconscious. They attempted to wake him; when they couldn't, they called 911.We're told when paramedics responded, the actor was in full cardiac arrest. They attempted to perform CPR on him, but were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at the scene.The 28-year-old actor has a two year old daughter with former fiancee Michelle Williams -- they separated in September, 2007. He plays The Joker in the upcoming Batman film, "The Dark Knight" and is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking role as Ennis in "Brokeback Mountain."We're told Heath had dinner last night with his model girlfriend Gemma Ward.At least 18 people were killed missing as torrential rains triggered flashfloods and landslides in Uttarahand, officials said on Friday, underlining the vulnerability of hill states to weather extremes.
While “18 to 20” people were killed in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli and Pithoragarh since Thursday.
In Uttarakhand, pounded by torrential rains since Thursday night, the toll is likely to increase, chief minister Harish Rawat said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives and hoped normalcy would return at the earliest.
I am grieved by the loss of lives caused due to cloudburst & heavy rain in parts of Uttarakhand. Condolences to bereaved families: PM — PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 1, 2016
My prayers are with those injured. I hope normalcy returns to the rain-affected areas at the earliest: PM @narendramodi — PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 1, 2016
The death and destruction in Chamoli and Pithoragarh came just over three years after more than 5,000 people were killed when the Kedar valley was hit by a similar cloudburst, a term used to describe highly concentrated rainfall over a small area and lasting for a few minutes to few hours.
In Dehradun, officials put the number of confirmed deaths at 11 based on the number of bodies recovered.
People stranded at Rishikesh - Badrinath national highway after heavy rainfall and cloudburst. (HT Photo)
Rawat announced Rs two lakh as ex-gratia to the next kin of each dead.
Rescue workers used helicopters to shift the injured to hospitals but were hampered due to poor visibility, officials said.
Large tracts of agriculture fields were destroyed in Suva village in Pithoragarh’s Dharchula area. (HT Photo)
A team of the Natural Disaster Response Force (NDRF) could not reach the disaster sites – around 180 kms apart – as choppers could not land due to bad weather.
“We have recorded 12 cm rain in the 24 hours in Kapkot (Pithoragarh),” said Vikram Singh, the state metrological department head. The met office also issued warning for heavy rains in some parts of the state in the next 48 hours.
(With inputs from HTC, New Delhi )
First Published: Jul 01, 2016 11:28 ISTHave you ever watched your puppy sneeze and found yourself wondering what he’s reacting to? Surprised to see your new puppy sneezing and sniffling while jumping around at their favorite toy? Wondering if you should take him in to see the vet? These are all common questions and unlike people, there are numerous reasons for your dog to sneeze. While obviously a cold or allergies can play a part in your dog’s nasal reactions, the underlying cause could also be behavioral in nature. Let’s check out what the nose knows.
Sneezing in Play
When discussing the behavioral side of your dog, a basic understanding of dog hierarchy is important. To a dog, being able to show that their intentions are not to challenge dominance is of supreme importance to a young pup or dog in a new environment. They must show that their actions are not a true threat to the local alpha.
To do that, there are many signals a dog will give another dog to show that they want to play and that they are submissive. Bowing with their hindquarters in the air and front end down is the most obvious but that is not the only display dogs can give.
When dogs are engaged in running and play, they may not have time to stop; therefore, to give a signal to their playmate, they may give their head a shake and a loud sneeze to indicate their playful nature. They may also sneeze when they want to indicate that they are excited.
If you have noticed your sneezes every time you bring out a favorite bag of treats, it may not be an allergy, they may just be excited. Other triggers, such as the word ‘walk’ or the act of bringing out the leash, a sneeze will most likely be to tell you that your dog is ready for whatever adventure may be coming their way and that they are looking forward to it.
Health Related Sneezing
Most owners come to recognize the difference between a “play” sneeze and a true sneeze with time. When your dog really sneezes, there can be a couple different causes. Most of the time it will be as simple as something tickled their nose. Concern comes when your dog continues sneezing or when other symptoms become involved. If you have noticed that both you and your dog develop the same sneeze in the Spring and Summer, do not be too surprised as, just like people, your pets can have allergies.
Your dog will often have a watery runny nose, runny eyes, and/or wheezing and continuous sneezing. Skin chewing and itching can also be a symptom, especially if the allergy is dermatological in nature. As an example, “Canine Atopy” or “Canine Atopic Dermatitis” is a hereditary and chronic allergic skin disease.
In general if the skin allergy is severe and remains untreated, the condition coupled with the chewing and biting that the dog is sure to employ in an attempt to alleviate the discomfort, may lead to hair loss, skin lesions, scabs, rashes and ear infections.
If your dog’s sneezing starts affecting its behavior, you may find that something has obstructed your dog’s nose. A partial or complete obstruction can lead to serious complications, so looking into it right away is very important. Often you will find that an obstruction will cause a discharge from one or both nostrils to attempt to clear the blockage. If the obstruction works its way into your dog’s nose you may find the discharge becoming bloody and more frequent. The most common obstructions tend to be found around the house and yard and substances such as grass seed, wood chips, and children’s toys are often the most likely culprits of nasal obstruction.
If you can easily see the object obstructing your dog’s nose you can attempt to remove it with your fingers or tweezers; however, the nose is the most sensitive part of your dog’s body therefore you should take your dog to the vet to have the offending object removed so they do not suffer any undue pain.
Sneezing accompanied by a lack of energy may indicate that your dog is sick. Lethargy is often the first sign of a dog’s illness and when it’s accompanied by sneezing and/or a fever, your dog may be fighting a virus or bacterial infection. As with children, if your dog doesn’t improve after a day or two, something more serious may be at work and it is important to seek medical attention promptly.
When to Take Your Dog to The Vet…
Questioning whether or not to go to the Vet? Here’s a simple list to help you make that determination.
Your dog probably does not need to see a vet if you can answer “yes” to the following:
Has your dog been playing with a new friend or toy and sneezing?
Is he showing signs that he wants to play?
Your dog should see a vet immediately if you can answer “yes” to these questions:
Has your dog been outside exploring and is now struggling to breathe?
Is he panting when the air temperature is still moderate without having had a lot of exercise?
If you can answer “yes” to any of the below, your dog may need to see the vet; yet as these are also signs of a cold unless you see further warning signs, keep an eye on them and see a vet if they persist for more than 3 days.
Is your dog sneezing while lying down?
Is he more lethargic than normal?
Does he feel warmer than normal?
Is he panting while laying down or wheezing with his mouth closed?
Conclusion
Sneezing can be a totally normal occurrence, it happens for both people and their pets. Combining additional symptoms with sneezing, may help you to evaluate your dog’s situation and determine if your pet requires the kind and loving care of a veterinarian. If you’re in doubt, it is always worthwhile to get advice from a professional.
*This article is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to replace the knowledge and experience of a trained veterinarian. We do not support the self-diagnosis and treatment of your pets without first seeking advice from a professional.The Toronto Raptors have jumped out to a quick 3-0 start and while there has been the typical early season sloppy play and rough edges, it has become apparent this team has been built to dominate on the glass. Last year head coach Dwane Casey was often frustrated by his team’s inability to finish off a strong defensive stand with the rebound, so president and general manager Masai Ujiri made the moves necessary to give his coach what he needed.
“Bismack (Biyombo) brings a lot. Jonas (Valanciunas) is doing a heck of a job on the boards. (Luis) Scola quietly is doing a heck of a job on the boards, he’s tough as nails in the paint and also DeMarre Carroll, he gets in there and bangs it up,” Casey explained. “We have added some good rebounders on our team.”
Good is something of an understatement, the Raptors have added superior rebounders at positions of need and they got a nice early season test of what to expect. Indiana, Boston and Milwaukee are supposed to be challenging for Toronto’s spot as a top four team in the Eastern Conference, but the Raptors handled them easily and dominated these early season challengers 49.7 to 37 on the glass.
Toronto has been undersized at starting small forward since the big Rudy Gay trade of two seasons ago and it was probably never completely fair to ask a very young and undersized Terrence Ross to try and keep the bevy of bigger and more experienced starting small forwards off the glass. The veteran presence of Carroll |
happy to boast its numbers today, what it should really be doing is working on its public perception. If you ask consumers Symbian either wouldn’t be mentioned, or would come up third behind iPhone and Android. With Nokia embracing MeeGo for smartphones it might even be running fourth soon.By mimicking the leaves of a carnivorous tropical plant, US scientists have developed a surface so slippery that everything slides off: water, oil, blood, ice, jam and even ants. This kind of ’omniphobic’ surface could be used to produce graffiti-repelling walls, self-cleaning windows and pipes that transport fluids easily and quickly.
Up to now, scientists developing highly slippery surfaces have mainly taken inspiration from the leaves of the lotus flower. The surface of these leaves are covered in microscopic ridges, coated in a water-repellent waxy substance, which traps a layer of air between the ridges. As a consequence, water falling onto the leaf doesn’t spread out, but rather forms individual droplets that simply roll off.
The reason for this is that between them the waxy substance and layer of trapped air prevent the droplets from flowing into the channels between the ridges, meaning they can only perch on top. This has been likened to an Indian fakir lying on top of a bed of nails.
Several research groups have managed to produce synthetic surfaces with similar structures and these have proven highly slippery, but only for water. The problem with this approach is that it only really works with liquids with a high surface tension like water. Liquids with a low surface tension, such as oil, can’t form stable droplets on the layer of air and so still flow between the ridges, staining the surface.
The Nepenthes pitcher plant, an insect-eating plant found throughout south-east Asia, takes a slightly different approach to the lotus plant. The surface of this plant’s leaves are also covered in microscopic ridges, but these ridges trap a layer of liquid nectar between them rather than a layer of air. The effect is much the same, though, and not just for water. Any insect that lands on the leaves can’t gain a purchase, quickly sliding off and falling into pitcher-shaped structures where it is digested.
A team of US chemists, led by Joanna Aizenberg at Harvard University in Cambridge, has now become the first to produce synthetic surfaces with a similar structure to the pitcher plant leaf, dubbed slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPs). ’This really is a new direction,’ says Steven Bell, director of innovative molecular materials at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. ’Many of us have been working on improving the durability of "lotus effect" materials but this now offers us an alternative way to try to reach the same objectives.’
Aizenberg and her team took two nanostructured materials - an array of 300nm-wide water-repellent nanoposts and a random network of Teflon-coated nanofibres - and then soaked them in a fluorine-rich liquid, which formed a layer between the nanostructures. Not only did this layer prevent water from flowing between the nanostructures, but it also stopped liquids with low surface tension, such as oil and blood. All these liquids formed droplets that slid off when the materials were tilted by just 5?.
And that’s just the start. Not only are sticky substances such as jam unable to adhere to the SLIPs, but ants also quickly slide off them. Another major advantage is that, unlike lotus leaf mimics, the SLIPs can withstand damage to their surfaces, remaining just as slippery. This is because the liquid layer simply flows over any physical damage covering it up.
Also, unlike lotus leaf mimics, SLIPs are optically transparent and can remain slippery even under the high pressures generated in pipes or during driving rain. This opens up a wide range of potential applications for the materials.
’We are exploring the use of SLIPs as energy-efficient materials for refrigeration and fuel transport; as stain-resistant coatings for optical devices and anti-graffiti surfaces; and as anti-fouling materials for medical devices and marine vessels,’ author Tak-Sing Wong at Harvard University told Chemistry World.
Jon EvansBy Andrew Walker
BBC News, Bida, Nigeria
Mr Bello Abubakar says he does not go and find women, they come to him Nigerian Mohammed Bello Abubakar, 84, has advised other men not to follow his example and marry 86 women. The former teacher and Muslim preacher, who lives in Niger State with his wives and at least 170 children, says he is able to cope only with the help of God. "A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them," he told the BBC. He says his wives have sought him out because of his reputation as a healer. "I don't go looking for them, they come to me. I will consider the fact that God has asked me to do it and I will just marry them." But such claims have alienated the Islamic authorities in Nigeria, who have branded his family a cult. When you marry a man with 86 wives you know he knows how to look after them
Wife Ganiat Bello Abubakar Most Muslim scholars agree that a man is allowed to have four wives, as long as he can treat them equally. But Mr Bello Abubakar says there is no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives. "To my understanding the Koran does not place a limit and it is up to what your own power, your own endowment and ability allows," he says. "God did not say what the punishment should be for a man who has more than four wives, but he was specific about the punishment for fornication and adultery." 'Order from God' As Mr Bello Abubakar emerged from his compound to speak to the BBC, his wives and children broke out into a praise song. Some of Mr Bello Abubakar's wives are younger than some of his children Most of his wives are less than a quarter of his age - and many are younger than some of his own children. The wives the BBC spoke to say they met Mr Bello Abubakar when they went to him to seek help for various illnesses, which they say he cured. "As soon as I met him the headache was gone," says Sharifat Bello Abubakar, who was 25 at the time and Mr Bello Abubakar 74. "God told me it was time to be his wife. Praise be to God I am his wife now." Ganiat Mohammed Bello has been married to the man everyone calls "Baba" for 20 years. When she was in secondary school her mother took her for a consultation with Mr Bello Abubakar and he proposed afterwards. "I said I couldn't marry an older man, but he said it was directly an order from God," she says. She married another man but they divorced and she returned to Mr Bello Abubakar. "I am now the happiest woman on earth. When you marry a man with 86 wives you know he knows how to look after them," she said. No work Mr Bello Abubakar and his wives do not work and he has no visible means of supporting such a large family. Many of the wives live three to a room, some have seven children He refuses to say how he makes enough money to pay for the huge cost of feeding and clothing so many people. Every mealtime they cook three 12kg bags of rice which all adds up to $915 (£457) every day. "It's all from God," he says. Other residents of Bida, the village where he lives in the northern Nigerian state, say they do not know how he supports the family. According to one of his wives, Mr Bello Abubakar sometimes asks his children to go and beg for 200 naira ($1.69, £0.87), which if they all did so would bring in about $290 (£149). Most of his wives live in a squalid, unfinished house in Bida; others live in his house in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital. He refuses to allow any of his family or other devotees to take medicine and says he does not believe that malaria exists. They were sick and we told God and God said their time has come
Wife Hafsat Bello Abubakar "As you sit here if you have any illness I can see it and just remove it," he says. But not everyone can be cured and one of his wives, Hafsat Bello Mohammed, says two of her children have died. "They were sick and we told God and God said their time has come." She says that most of the wives see Mr Bello Abubakar as next in line from the Prophet Muhammad. Indeed, he claims the Prophet Muhammad speaks to him personally and gives detailed descriptions of his experiences. It is a serious claim for a Muslim to make. "This is heresy, he is a heretic," says Ustaz Abubakar Siddique, an imam of Abuja's Central Mosque.
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StumbleUpon What are these?This sunflower wreath tutorial was submitted by Julie Oxendine from Julies Wreath Boutique. She is also a member of our Home Decorating, Upcycling and DIY Facebook group. If you would like to share your projects to be featured on this site, you can do so here
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DONT FORGET TO CLICK OVER TO PAGE 2 FOR THE VIDEO TUTORIAL
Materials Used:
This post contains affiliates for your convenience, see full disclosure here
How To make a Sunflower Wreath:
First cut out using your rotary cutter, (you can use scissors but the rotary cutter makes this process more precise and so much easier), 7 – 12″ pieces of green mesh for the leaves.
Take two opposite corners, fold them inward, and then gather in the middle until you form a bow tie looking leaf, flip over and attach to the outward layer of stems on your wreath form.
Once you attach your leaf, pull it together to the outside of the wreath to form it, and don’t be afraid to adjust it. Attach the remaining green leaves this way.
Second, cut 34 pieces of your yellow burlap into 10″ pieces, (I generally cut the whole roll). You will then repeat the process with folding inward the corners and bunching it up to make a bow tie looking petal
You will attach to the outside rim of the wreath over top of the green leaves. This process needs two leaves on top of each other, twisted together.
Continue this process until all of the stems are filled with a double layer of yellow petals.
At this point, look at the wreath and take some of the additional chenille stems to add into some of the bare spots in the wreath.
CLICK ON THE ARROW TO SEE PART 2 AND WATCH VIDEO TUTORIAL!The rising clout of independent political players such as super PACs, advocacy organizations and even for-profit corporations has led to what some describe as a shadow political system. Unencumbered by fundraising limits, these groups are increasingly taking on functions that traditionally were the domain of the political parties. Here are some of the most influential outside groups.
On the Democratic side:
Organizing for Action
Function: Grassroots organizing
Who is behind it:: Launched in January as an offshoot of President Obama's campaign organization, OFA is a nonprofit advocacy group ran by former top Obama advisers to promote his second-term agenda.
Patriot Majority USA & Senate Majority PAC
Function: Paid media on behalf of Democratic Senate candidates
Who is behind it: This nonprofit and super PAC, run by allies of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), often combine forces on TV campaigns taking on GOP senators.
House Majority PAC
Function: Paid media on behalf of Democratic House candidates
Who is behind it: This super PAC operates as the primary bulwark for Democratic House candidates, guided by a former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee strategist.
American Bridge 21st Century
Function: Opposition research and rapid response
Who is behind it: A super PAC with a nonprofit arm, it serves as a research clearinghouse for the congressional super PACs and other groups on the left. Launched by David Brock, who also started Media Matters for America, the liberal media watchdog group, it is run by Rodell Mollineau, a former Reid staffer.
On the Republican side:
American Crossroads & Crossroads GPS
Function: Paid media, voter outreach and research
Who is behind it: Co-founded by veteran party strategist Karl Rove and Steven Law, a former chief of staff to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Crossroads organizations were some of the biggest players in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
Americans for Prosperity
Function: Grassroots mobilization, paid media
Who is behind it: The nonprofit advocacy group, which has received backing from Charles and David Koch, has spent heavily on ads critical of the Obama administration.
Congressional Leadership Fund
Function: Paid media aimed at protecting the GOP's House majority
Who is behind it: House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) has helped raise money for this super PAC, run by veteran party strategists.
America Rising
Function: Opposition research and rapid response
Who is behind it: Launched this spring by former Mitt Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades, RNC research director Joe Pounder and RNC spokesman Tim Miller, this venture – set up as a LLC and a super PAC – plans to research and track Democratic candidates.Chapters until Kookie comes back to translation: 9
Chapter 164: Negligence
The first one to react to my words was Ren.
“Keep your hands off of Mein!” (Ren)
Ren brandishes his sword.
It lets out sparks as it collides with my arm.
Of course, I don’t take any damage. It’s not like he learned the other reinforcement methods in this short amount of time.
At this level, I don’t even need to use my shield.
“You know. If you call her that, her punishment will only increase.” (Naofumi)
“Shut it. Get away from Mein!” (Ren)
Witch is also struggling. It’s become difficult to hold her with one hand.
「Meteor Sword!」 (Ren)
Oh, a skill might be able to inflict some damage on me. I’m holding a relatively rare egg right now.
It will be a waste if it breaks, so I back off.
In exchange, Rafatalia and Firo step forward.
Even Motoyasu takes up a fighting stance.
We’re all prepared to capture Ren, Bitch and Woman 2.
“Ren, it’s better if you don’t trust that witch. She’s exactly as the Queen described.” (Naofumi)
She can put false crimes on people without remorse, and she loves watching others struggle.
Ren will probably be tricked and discarded sometime soon as well.
Just like Motoyasu.
“Look closely at Motoyasu’s face. Doesn’t he look pitiable? Is this the face of a person who would do such things?” (Naofumi)
“No, I heard Motoyasu was also coerced by the Queen! The Queen is the ringleader behind all of this.” (Ren)
“And isn’t that single woman the only one telling you that?” (Naofumi)
“Even so, I must fight for the people who believe in me!” (Ren)
“Calm down. Think Logically. The normal you would have figured it out by now.” (Naofumi)
“Shut up!” (Ren)
Ah… this is impossible. He seriously believes he is in the right.
I can’t really blame him here.
In my case, I had the slight feeling that something was off, but I never realized I had been deceived until the end.
And the current Ren is mentally unstable. He sides with Witch, who offered him plenty of soft words.
… Should I kill her?
I should have enough power now. Unlike before.
Wait, a Shadow should be somewhere around here.
If the Shadow utilizes the slave crest, I won’t have to fight Ren.
Perhaps I will be able to teach him proper reinforcement techniques and add him to my fighting force.
… Though earning his trust won’t be that easy.
As if responding to my thoughts, Bitch’s slave crest begins to glow.
“Ku…. Ren-sama! We should retreat for now.” (Bitch)
“Understood! 「Flashing Sword!」” (Ren)
On Witch’s words, Ren unleashes a skill.
And as before, his sword starts glowing.
“Damn! Rafatalia, Firo!” (Naofumi)
“Yes!” (Rafatalia)
“Yeah!” (Firo)
Right after I gave my warning, the sword releases a blinding light.
As if that will work forever!
“I, who has understood the origin of power commands you. I shall once again read forth the truth. Bind this foul light that clouds us from knowledge!” (Rafatalia)
「Al Anti-Shining!」 (Rafatalia)
Our eyes that were under the influence of Ren’s flashing sword start to clear up.
And Firo jumps into the air in preparation for a kick. But she is too late. Ren picks up Bitch and Woman 2, and brandishes his sword once more.
「Transfer Sword!」 (Ren)
Just like when Motoyasu disappeared, Ren’s image starts to fade.
And so does Witch’s.
“Witch, it seems you were able to escape this time. But remember this: I’ll chase you to the depths of hell. All you have to do is wait in a corner, cowering in fear.” (Naofumi)
“Hmph!” (Bitch)
I hear witch snorting at my proclamation before she completely disappears.
This skill truly is annoying.
I need to find some way to seal it.
“Dammit! She got away again! That damn Witch, I’ll definitely slaughter her later!” (Naofumi)
“Naofumi-sama, please calm down.” (Rafatalia)
“Aren’t you frustrated? Has she begun corrupting you as well!?” (Naofumi)
I’m madder then I’ve ever been in a long time.
What should I take my anger out on?
It’s immature, but I start to get angry at Rafatalia.
“… Naofumi-sama, your words are enough to keep me by your side.” (Rafatalia)
“I see…” (Naofumi)
If Rafatalia is okay with this, then I guess I should endure my rage for a little longer.
But I won’t forget this, Witch.
This rage greater than I can handle. Someday it will be embedded into your chest with a ten inch rusty nail.
As I slowly stomach my rage, Shadow appears.
“…She has escaped out of my range-gojaru. I can only send out fatal punishment, but I cannot track her.” (Shadow)
I don’t think killing her would be that bad, but Shadow also has orders. We can’t kill her without due process…
And I kinda want her to suffer 100x more. Am I a bad person?
“So it seems.” (Naofumi)
“I never thought the former princess would be able to seduce the Hero of the Sword so easily-gojaru.” (Shadow)
“Just when I was looking for them, they suddenly appeared. Perhaps my luck is better than I thought.” (Naofumi)
“I see-gojaru… anyways I’m off to give a report to the Queen-gojaru. By the way, what should we do with the Hero of the Spear-gojaru?” (Shadow)
“…If we try something, won’t he just run away?” (Naofumi)
If he has such a convenient skill, I don’t think we can apprehend him.
I can’t even begin to think of how convenient it would have been for me if I had it when I was on the lam.
“I don’t think it seems that way-gojaru.” (Shadow)
Motoyasu has dropped his stance and is staring at the ground sighing.
So his heart has already given up.
“What’s up? Won’t you run?” (Naofumi)
“It’s fine… I wanted to find everyone. I believed in them, but this is all I get… The townsfolk all treat me coldly… I’m tired…” (Motoyasu)
His eyes look cloudy. If he were a magical girl, this is where he would turn into a witch.
(TL: Madoka reference… Yes, I watched it. Didn’t enjoy it)
“So will you take him in?” (Naofumi)
“I don’t think he will be punished that badly-gojaru. The world still needs him to fight in the wave-gojaru.” (Shadow)
“Yeah, that’s true… We can’t really give him overly cruel penalties, and we can’t kill him…” (Naofumi)
If killing was all we had to do, then Rafatalia and Firo would be able to do it in one blow.
But then we wouldn’t have to capture him.
“For now, Motoyasu, you’re under arrest.” (Naofumi)
“… Yes, yes I understand. Take me wherever you will. Kill me if you want…” (Motoyasu)
Motoyasu seems to have given up all hope
But after what just happened it can’t be helped.
“Everyone asks me to save them, and if I make the slightest mistake they throw stones at me… The Bitch and Elena that I believed with all of my heart turned out to be bad people… I don’t even care anymore…” (Motoyasu)
He had believed in his comrades, and had thus tried to search the globe for them, but those very comrades abandoned him.
There must be a reason it turned out like this. I’m not at fault. He must be thinking things like that.
And the sun is already setting.
“Should I take him to the castle now?” (Naofumi)
“It seems to be an urgent matter, so I’ll leave it to you, Iwatani-dono-gojaru.” (Shadow)
“Got it. Oy, Motoyasu.” (Naofumi)
“It’s fine. Just say I caused this disaster already… Will that satisfy you?” (Motoyasu)
What the hell are you giving in to. You’re definitely a cause of this disaster.
Why are you acting like it’s someone else’s problem?
“… Can you use that Warp skill to go to the castle?” (Naofumi)
“That’s not its current registered destination, so it’s impossible.” (Motoyasu)
“So it’s no use here. What material did you absorb to get that spear?” (Naofumi)
Learning that skill will make transportation convenient.
It can be used for peddling, level grinding and many more.
I should probably have the ability to learn it.
“… It’s the Dragon Hourglass’s sand.” (Motoyasu)
“When were you able to take it-gojaru!?” (Shadow)
So that’s what it is. Isn’t that kinda illegal?
Ren and Itsuki probably already absorbed some as well.
Why didn’t I try it yet?
“I didn’t steal anything. The sisters gave it to me when I asked.” (Motoyasu)
Shadow glares at him.
“N-now that I think about it, there were some reports of that happening when the Three Hero church was in control… gojaru.” (Shadow)
“Say that ahead of time!” (Naofumi)
Now that I think about it, there are a mountain of materials I have yet to try. I haven’t been feeding the shield much lately.
The Yggdrasil medicine was too valuable so I didn’t feed it to the Shield.
I should start testing more things.
“What sort of skill is it?” (Naofumi)
“It lets you teleport to a preset location…” (Motoyasu)
“Are there any conditions?” (Naofumi)
“No idea… In my game you could use it in any area that didn’t prevent skills.” (Motoyasu)
I still have no idea how to prevent it.
Though there may have been areas that limited it while in the game, I have no idea if this world has such places.
Can you set to anywhere you’ve been before?
“What can you set the destination as?” (Naofumi)
“You can set up to Three locations. If you try to set another, the oldest one will be forgotten. The most people you can take with you is 6.” (Motoyasu.)
He’s being strangely compliant… Anyways, the castle is quite a distance away. If we can’t warp there directly, I guess we’ll have to stay the night in this town.
“Then we’ll find a place to stay the night here.” (Naofumi)
“Understood.” (Motoyasu)
“Understood-gojaru. I will depart to relay the situation to the Queen-gojaru.” (Shadow)
“How do you contact the Queen anyways?” (Naofumi)
“Secret-gojaru. I’ll only tell you that I can’t carry anyone with me-gojaru.” (Shadow)
Shadow disappears as she says this.
Her response somehow annoys me.
Firo begins poking the depressed Motoyasu.
Even after he saw what that women did to me, he’s still this depressed?
Perhaps he is finally feeling the fatigue of the lifestyle he has been living until now.
I don’t really care, and I kinda like seeing his depressed face, but I notice Rafatalia glaring at me.
“Naofumi-sama? What’s wrong? (Rafatalia)
“Nothing really. Let’s go find an inn.” (Naofumi)
“Yes.” (Rafatalia)
And that’s how we dragged Motoyasu with us, and found an Inn to stay at.Media playback is not supported on this device Fans' behaviour unacceptable - Bilic
Crowd trouble marred West Ham's EFL Cup fourth-round home win over Chelsea, with police making seven arrests.
Plastic bottles, seats and coins were thrown during the Hammers' 2-1 victory at London Stadium as hundreds of supporters clashed and riot police entered the concourse.
It is the latest outbreak of disorder at West Ham's new ground this season.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic called the behaviour "unacceptable", adding: "We are totally against it as a club."
The Premier League club says it will ban any fans involved for life and is confident it can identify those responsible via its high-definition CCTV system and through fans' ticket purchasing history.
The Football Association and EFL are also investigating. A league spokesman called the incidents "distasteful and unwelcome".
Security was boosted for the London derby and an alcohol ban imposed as part of a "robust policing plan" following crowd trouble at the stadium this season.
Stewards and riot police intervened when fans came together in the stadium
Until Wednesday's match, the Metropolitan Police have not deployed officers inside the stadium because the radio system emergency services use to communicate will not be operational until 2017.
This season, the Hammers' first at the former Olympic Stadium following their move from Upton Park, 23 fans have been banned from the ground.
Four people were arrested following disorder at the Premier League match against Middlesbrough on 1 October, while there were clashes in the stands during the defeat by Watford in September.
The Metropolitan Police, who made seven arrests for alleged public order offences, described Wednesday's incidents as "unacceptable" and said 30 people were prevented from attending the match.
'Someone will get killed there'
Media playback is not supported on this device West Ham v Chelsea: Eight-year-old caught up in football violence
Bilic added: "For those kind of things to happen, especially in England, is unacceptable."
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said: "I don't really like to see these situations."
One fan at the game told BBC Radio 5 live it "was an absolute nightmare", adding: "If they don't close that stadium someone will get killed there."
West Ham said in a statement they "unreservedly condemn" fans' behaviour and will work to identify those supporters involved, while Chelsea said they were "extremely disappointed to see disturbances".
Police commander BJ Harrington said: "There were a minority of people who attended the match that were clearly intent on being involved in confrontation and violence.
"Despite extensive work with both clubs and a large and robust policing operation, there were unacceptable incidents inside and outside the stadium, before, during and after the game."
Chelsea season ticket holders Paul Streeter and his eight-year-old daughter, Victoria, were sitting in the disabled section and got caught up in the violence.
"My daughter was hit with seven coins all over her body", said Mr Streeter. "We were watching the game in the front row near to the home fans - suddenly there's a whole load of coins coming over. Other kids were hit, it was not just my daughter.
"Victoria has been going to football since she was two, she's never experienced violence like this before or the aggression we have had to suffer. We want to take this matter further. It is disgusting.
"Stewards and police were not reacting. They should have dragged the crowd back and dealt with them."
'An agenda against West Ham'
West Ham fan and blogger Sean Whetstone told BBC Radio 5 live that coins were thrown by some Chelsea fans and some West Ham fans then retaliated.
He said: "Football has trouble, but it is not reported elsewhere. There is trouble at Stamford Bridge every season when West Ham play Chelsea. It feels like there is an agenda against West Ham.
"There is a limited amount of police inside the stadium. It is the stewards' job to sort that out inside the stadium. They have learned a lot already but there is much to do.
"It is a new stadium, an iconic stadium and I believe that a small amount of away fans come to prove a point. Are some West ham fans unhappy? Do they feel unsafe? Yes they do.
"West Ham are doing enough. They have the best CCTV available and they will look at all of the footage and anyone who threw anything will be banned for life. There is zero tolerance."
'Atmosphere turned toxic'
BBC's Richard Conway at London Stadium:
With West Ham cruising towards the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup their fans were taking great delight in taunting Chelsea's 5,000-strong support.
Then tension and vitriolic chanting turned into violence. Fans told me after the game how they and their children were pelted with coins.
The atmosphere turned toxic, with attention now focused not on the pitch but on events in the stand.
A Chelsea fan broke through a line of stewards into the area dividing supporters, balancing on the tops of seats covered in claret tarpaulin. He goaded his rivals before retreating.
Then the two sets of fans surged towards one another on the stadium concourse, which sits at the top of the lower section of the ground. It took a number of stewards, eventually backed up by riot police, to quell the standoff.
The final whistle came soon after and fans eventually left the stadium. But the damage by then had been done.
I started watching football as a kid in the mid-1980s, when fan violence was rife within the game. The end of this match made it feel like I had momentarily stepped back in time.
A fan gets past a cordon of stewards to approach West Ham fans
'Sad scenes'
BBC Radio 5 live presenter Jonathan Overend, commentating on the game, said: "This has been brewing all night.
"It's been hard to watch the match because of the flash points developing. The stewards have got a tough job here. Fans are trying to burst at each other.
"They've been hurling missiles at each other. It looks like plastic bottles and I've seen what looks like three or four plastic seats being thrown."Cinnamon takes down Pompompurin!
After a long and hard-fought ‘campaign,’ it was announced on Sunday (Jul. 2) that Cinnamon (sometimes also referred to as Cinnamoroll) beat out last year’s winner of the Sanrio Ranking Contest, Pompompurin to become 2017’s most popular Sanrio character.
Created in 2001, Cinnamon/Cinnamoroll is a cute puppy with ears so big they allow him to fly and a plump curled tail that is supposed to resemble a cinnamon roll. Although he is one of the more popular Sanrio characters Cinnamon had never won Sanriio’s annual character popularity poll. However, after coming in second place to Pompompurin, the golden retriever-themed beret wearing winner of both the 2015 and 2016 contests, Cinnamon has finally managed to become the new king.
This long-awaited victory was not easy though. In fact, in order to win Cinnamon recruited the help pf Jun Utahiroba, one of the members of the always irreverent Japanese rock band Golden Bomber (a.k.a. Kinbaku).
As part of this team-up with Jun Utahiroba, who has said he is a big fan of Cinnamon, the two released seven amusing videos via Sario Japan’s official YouTube channel in order to show how determined Cinnamon was to win this year’s ranking contest, and of course, to also get people to vote for the very driven puppy.
The first of these videos, which began being released in early May, was an entertaining music video which featured Cinnamon, his friends and the Golden Bomber member dancing and doing air guitar to the extremely popular Golden Bomber song “Memeshikute.”
This was followed by a video in which Cinnamon plays a super sentai (Power Rangers) type hero character called “Cinnamon White” and saves Utahiroba from some baddies.
Then came a video in which Cinnamon takes on Utahiroba in an intense soccer game, not unlike something you would see in a soccer anime like Captain Tsubasa. The video shows Cinnamon as the leader of the Cinnamon High School Soccer team in the last few moments of a tie game, in which he has to score against ace goalkeeper Jun Utahiroba.
Next came what was perhaps the most aggressive video. In this one, Cinnamon seemed to make a direct threat at last year’s winner Pompompurin. The premise for this video is that Cinnamon is going to eat an entire bucket of pudding. However, Cinnamon ends up refusing and so Utahiroba is forced to do his best and eat the mountain of pudding. Why is this a threat you say? Because Pompompurin is not only named after the Japanese word for pudding (purin), according to his backstory, he love his mother’s caramel pudding and lives near the front door of a girl’s house in a special “purin size” basket. So, in a sense, this was Cinnamon’s not so subtle way of saying “I’m going to tear you apart, eat you up, and turn you into cute puppy poop, Pompompurin!”
Cinnamon’s death threat video was followed by a quiz show style video in which Utahiroba has to answer whether he thinks that the Cinnamoroll Cafe has more than 20 items on its menu by either running through a big “X” if he thinks it doesn’t or a big “O” if he thinks that it doesn. The answer ends up being “yes” because the cafe has 37 items on its menu, but unfortunately for the J-rocker, he selects “X.”
In their second to last video, Utahiroba and Cinnamon engage in a variety of silly ‘athletic’ activities in order to keep showing how tough Cinnamon is.
And finally, in their last video Utahiroba and Cinnamon try their hand at some double dutch jump rope. Their goal? Ten complete consecutive jumps. See if they succeed below.
In the end, all of Cinnamon and Utahiroba’s hard work payed off by landing the flying plump pastry pup, 655,154 votes. Pompompurin on the other hand, finished in second place with 473,249 votes. So congratulations Cinnamon for winning the 32nd annual Sanrio Ranking Contest. Enjoy your victory, because now that you’re at the top, everyone will be trying to take you down in 2018. I’m looking at you Kirimi-chan, you anthropomorphic salmon fillet.
In the mood for more wacky Sanrio related content? Then check out the article below.
A Visit To Osaka’s Gudetama Cafe (Photos)
Source: Asahi Shinbun, Pouch
Image: かっこいい正義のヒーローになってみた編【シナモロールチャレンジ】 (Sanrio Japan Official YouTube Channel)“ Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything's possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all in one day at a time. ” –Day to June, Legend
Daniel "Day" Altan Wing is one of the main characters of the Legend Trilogy. He was born into the slums of the Republic's Lake Sector. He is led to believe that he failed his trial with a score of 674 (45%), but during the events of Legend, June discovers he had scored 1500 (100%). Day is the Republic's most-wanted criminal and was the prime suspect of the death of Metias Iparis, before June finds out the actual culprit. This one piece of knowledge is what leads them on their path together.
Contents show]
Physical Appearance
Day is described by June to be extremely attractive, with long shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. She once describes him as exotic. He can occasionally be wearing a newsboy cap. His main ethnicity is Mongolian but his second ethnicity is Caucasian (Russian, according to Marie Lu's Reddit). He is also very agile and athletic, despite his leg injuries, as it is stated that he can climb 5 stories in 8 seconds.
Personality
He is sarcastic, bold, romantic, and confident. His flirtatious attitude is very prominent throughout the series, especially around June. He can be oblivious to other's feelings, and sometimes lets anger or jealousy take hold of him. He is compassionate and protects those he cares about, and he is slow to trust. He is incredibly smart, always planning and calculating (though not as much as June), but in some cases is very rash. He tries to stay strong and because of that, he is very determined. He is very caring, and always tries to do what he thinks is best to his |
Pressing & Holding Volume Down + Home + Power.
. After Run Odin.exe Into The Extracted Folder
Into The Extracted Folder Then Connect Your Phone With PC
Your Phone With PC Odin Will Automatically Detect Your Device
Then click The Pit Option and select Pit file from the firmware folder.
Option and select Pit file from the firmware folder. Select BL, AP, CP, CSC from firmware folder.
,,, from firmware folder. Check Auto Reboot And F.Reset Time Options.
Time Options. See The Screenshot >
Then Click Start Button To Start The Installation Process.
Button To Start The Installation Process. After the process completes Finally, reboot your device and enjoy.
Read Full Odin Flash Guide From Here->.
Note: – First Time It Takes 5-10 Minutes To Boot.North Melbourne has made the difficult decision not to re-contract four of its most decorated players.
The club has advised Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Nick Dal Santo and Michael Firrito that 2016 would be their last season at Arden Street.
Harvey’s illustrious career in the royal blue and white has spanned an incredible 21-seasons.
Durable, reliable and elite in every category, ‘Boomer’ will leave a profound legacy.
Currently with a record 430 games under his belt and 516 goals, Harvey’s list of achievements also includes a premiership in 1999, an EJ Whitten Medal, five All-Australian team honours and captaincy in 2008, a record five Syd Barker medals, North Melbourne Team of the Century and Shinboner of the Era (2005-2015).
Since arriving at Arden Street via the 2000 Draft, Petrie has epitomised North’s famed Shinboner Spirit with his team first attitude and courage.
A versatile key position player and All-Australian in 2011, he was the club’s leading goal-kicker five times in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
Petrie became just the fifth North player to reach the 300-game milestone and represented Australia in the International Rules in 2008.
Firrito is a fierce competitor who never takes a backward step. Stoic in defence, he has been a galvanising force that held the club together in the toughest of times.
Often given roles on much larger opponents down back, ‘Spud’ has been a standout since being elevated off the club’s Rookie List in 2003 and is considered the ultimate club-man due to his unparalleled courage and bravery.
He won a Rising Star nomination in 2004 and represented Australia in the International Rules series in 2008.
After crossing to North from St Kilda, Dal Santo’s leadership, skill and class helped catapult the Roos into three consecutive finals campaigns including two preliminary finals in 2014 and 2015.
A smooth mover and elite ball user, he has played more than 300 games.
An All-Australian on three occasions, ‘Dal’ also featured in three Grand Finals and was runner-up for the Brownlow medal in 2011.
The club is indebted to these four individuals for their professionalism, leadership, attitude and competitiveness.By Terence Stone
Communication is paramount…duh
The third and final part of this article series has been a long time coming. In the second part, I promised to share my intimate experience of the hardships within my own relationship. Those of you who are frequent readers will know that I’ve done this already through a recent guest post on Tiny Buddha. The article received much broader exposure than it would have had I posted it here, and it was very well received.
I received over a hundred responses combined through Tiny Buddha, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and email. Readers thanked me for being so honest. Others shared their own hardships with me, and told me how helpful the article had been. The point is that those readers related on deeply personal levels, and of course…it got me thinking.
The point of the article I wrote for Tiny Buddha was that communication in relationships is paramount. Well, duh…we’ve all heard that before. So why did people respond so viscerally to my story? Well first and foremost, because it was so personal; but also because I wasn’t speaking about communication in any sort of tired or cliché way. Communication is not simply about listening, then speaking; speaking, then listening; rinse and repeat. Nor is it about fixing things.
Often we believe that when we get into a spat with our significant other that we simply must ‘communicate’ and the problem will be solved. That may suffice with trivial matters (though I’d argue that nothing is trivial), but the real issue is defining what communication means within the relationship.
Communicating without words
So here is the question this article series poses: Why does love hurt? In the previous two articles, the answer to that question is because many of us operate with a severe lack of presence, and as a result forget to attend to ourselves first and foremost (hence ‘being a wholesome half’). This may surprise you, but the answer is still the same for this article. However, let’s try to specify what that actually means through the lens of communication.
When there is turmoil in the relationship, there is inevitably sadness, anger, disappointment, fear…the list goes on. And how does all of that get communicated? Often, it occurs through body language and action. Verbal communication plays a very small role. For instance, if you take my story, my wife would spend late nights away from me, and I’d sit at home and mope. These were actions we employed to show each other that we were in pain.
Now, when our partners don’t acknowledge or seem to care about the signals we’re emitting, we feel hurt by them. When we feel hurt, the shields go up and the swords come out. Then verbal communication happens in the form of fits of rage and blame. Back to my story: because these communicative actions were going on unaddressed, we learned to be on the defensive at all times. So we fought and blamed each other any time we got the chance. It was all backwards.
It’s not that communication wasn’t happening; it’s that effective communication wasn’t happening. What we had to do was reorganize our concept of communication, and think about it consciously.
Translating action and body-language
It’s important to remember that our partners are not mind readers, and neither are we. Sure, we learn to pick up on the subtleties in behavior, but it will always remain vague if we don’t attempt to put words around it from the get-go. It is not easy, and it takes an enormous amount of self-awareness, but it has to be done.
The difference occurs when instead of simply sitting on the couch stewing in anger or moping; or spending long hours away from your partner, you stop and say, “OK, what am I doing and why?” Then, the communication channels are open. Maybe you realize in that moment that all you want is a sign that your significant other sees your pain and cares. Finally, you might come to the crazy conclusion that he/she may never truly understand unless you say something.
When we employ this process of conscious, introspective thought, we are stopping the vicious cycle of pain in its tracks. Then, we can go home to our lover and say, “You know, this isn’t easy for me to say, but I’m really angry/hurt/sad, and I think it has something to do with the way our relationship is being played out. Can we try to talk about this without devolving into accusations?”
It may not work the first time. It may not work the twentieth time. As in my relationship, there was unconscious resistance to this type of communication at first because it requires a certain amount of trust and vulnerability. If those things don’t come easy, it may take some time to work through on an individual level before you can come back and communicate in a conscious way.
The point is that if we make the attempt, whether we fail or not, the doors of effective communication have been thrown open. Only then can we begin to heal wounds and unearth the meaning of all that confusing body language and action.
Final thoughts
Finally, I’d like to add that (unless you are some kind of super-human) there will be pain in the relationship. Often, many people take a defeatist attitude and come to the conclusion that the relationship must be failing. So what? Are you going to let a little bit of failure run you down? Suffering is a part of life. The aim is to find a way to end it. And that can only be done by diving straight into it. When we do this, we often find that pain can be our greatest teacher.
Wishing you love that knows no bounds, and the courage to embrace it.
Read Part 1 and Part 2
Artwork by Unknown (Please let me know if anyone knows its origin.)
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Never miss a post! Join the Urban Spiritual list for a weekly kōan straight to your inbox.Kent C. Dodds — December 04, 2017
Two and a half hours of new beginner (free) and advanced React material are now available Egghead.io!
I couldn't be more excited to introduce you to what I can call my best work to date: Two new video courses available now on Egghead.io! The beginner material is free forever and the advanced stuff is worth a subscription so I encourage you to give them a look!
The [Introduction to The Beginner's Guide to ReactJS](https://egghead.io/lessons/react-introduction-to-the-beginner-s-guide-to-reactjs) video
This course is for React newbies and those looking to get a better understanding of React fundamentals. With a focus on React fundamentals, you'll come out of this course knowing what problems React can solve for you and how it goes about solving those problems. You will have a good grasp on what JSX is and how it translates to regular JavaScript function calls and objects.
Each lesson in this course is just a single index.html file which will help you keep your focus on learning React and not distracted by all the tools that make production applications work. The course wraps up with a lesson on how to move from these index.html files to a more production ready development environment and even how to deploy your app to a great service like Netlify.
Enjoy!
The [Introducing Advanced React Component Patterns](https://egghead.io/lessons/react-introducing-advanced-react-component-patterns) video
The goal of this course is to give you the knowledge of advanced patterns you can use to make React components that are more flexible, simpler, and more fun to build, use, and maintain. We'll start with a simple <Toggle /> component which we'll progressively refactor to each of the patterns so you can see the relative trade-offs of the patterns and how they can be used together to increase the usefulness of your component while at the same time simplifying things for everyone.
Having built and shipped components using each of these patterns, I'll help you understand and weigh the tradeoffs of each of them and you'll come to intuitively know where to apply each pattern in your own components. When you're finished with this course, hopefully you'll have a list of actionable things you can do to rework the components that you're building to make them more flexible, simpler, and more fun to build, use, and maintain.
Enjoy!
Free! 🤑
The Beginner's course is joining the ever growing Egghead.io "Community Resources" which means it will be free forever! I'm totally amazed by Egghead and all the free stuff they sponsor. Thank you Egghead!!
The Advanced course was free for a week but is now used to fund Egghead's community resources by converting to subscriber-only content. Now's the best time to get a pro account. Egghead very rarely does sales, but it's running one right now! For a limited time, you can get an Egghead subscription for 30% off. See egghead.io/gifts for more information.
Reactions
I've made a twitter moment with some reactions to the courses. Here are some of my personal favorites:
I just finished up @kentcdodds's `Advanced React Patterns` videos on @eggheadio. I'm pretty sure I learned something in every video. Thanks Kent!
Achievement Unlocked -- ⭐️ Super Duper https://t.co/H7XlAYljsq — ANDYREW (@AndrewDelPrete) December 4, 2017
If you want to learn @reactjs / improve your skills, you should check out the free @eggheadio courses by @kentcdodds - he's not only a nice guy but also a great teacher! 3 x more binge-worthy than Netflix 💪 https://t.co/qzVr7REjLz — Leo Ijebor (@leoijebor) December 4, 2017
Truly impressive how densely packed with real-world-usable insight this course by @kentcdodds is. https://t.co/PQKgmff4lC — ★★★★☆ (@dissimile) December 5, 2017
Really enjoying the way @kentcdodds explains things in "The Beginner's Guide to ReactJS" on @eggheadio. Definitely helping cement topics as I try to learn react quickly. Thanks for the awesome free course!https://t.co/xuyhIyaYJs — Michelle 🚀 (@MichelleJLevine) December 6, 2017
TFW you've been programming for two decades and think "yeah I probably know everything in @kentcdodds's advance react course already" then you watch it and go "shit... that's actually a really good tip" 🤔 #humbling #AlwaysBeLearning — rossipedia (@rossipedia) December 6, 2017
Why @kentcdodds ‘ recent videos are the best:
- Just react.
- No configuration. Just fire up an index.html with script tags just like the old days.
Go watch it people while you all can!https://t.co/cVYuqz7GBa — John Darryl Pelingo 🇵🇭🇬🇷🇩🇪 (@john_lyrrad) December 7, 2017
Great courses, Kent! Already justified my recent @eggheadio renewal. — Andrej Kyselica (@andrejpk) December 7, 2017
@kentcdodds I LOVE the pace of your videos. No fluff. Quickly teaches concepts so you can go figure them out yourselves. I wish everything was taught like this. https://t.co/BHoHfSghx3 — Tim Edwards (@tim_shane) December 7, 2017
my fav. video was about 'keys'
it was very thorough.At the end of the video, you showed the 'no-key', 'index', 'with-key' input focus examples on same page which cleared all doubts
This video :https://t.co/VM7BLUw0PF — Deen John (@deen_john) December 7, 2017
The react router source code I had been trying to wrap my head around just became clearer after watching @kentcdodds advanced react component patterns video. I just became smarter all of a sudden lol 🙏 — Tolulope (@afrocode_) December 7, 2017
I just finished @kentcdodds "Advanced React Component Patterns" course. I feel as if a wizard has shared all their sage battle proven techniques with me. You should definitely check it out: https://t.co/16qJ8wksM3 — Jonathan Spengeman (@jspengy) December 7, 2017
Just finshed The Beginner's Guide to ReactJS from @kentcdodds on @eggheadio https://t.co/CTAJMXnzhv and even though have been using react for more than a year, learnt something new!!! — Hozefa Jodiawalla (@HozefaJ) December 8, 2017
I'm really excited by all these positive responses! Thanks everyone!
Conclusion
I can't tell you how excited I am for you to watch these things! If you learn anything or enjoy the courses, I would ask you to do any of the following:
⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁
Here's my big announcement!
My @eggheadio courses have been published and are totally FREE!
“Learn React Fundamentals and Advanced Patterns”https://t.co/ZopBeSrFVu
⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁⚛️🎁 — Kent C. Dodds (@kentcdodds) December 4, 2017
Thanks everyone! And Merry Christmas! 🎁 🎄Series of quakes - including 6.9 temblor - hits off coast of Eureka
Photo: USGS Photo: USGS Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Series of quakes - including 6.9 temblor - hits off coast of Eureka 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
(03-09) 23:26 PDT -- A series of earthquakes, including a magnitude-6.9 quake, shook off the coast of Humboldt County on Sunday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's website.
A 3.3 quake shook about 40 miles west of Eureka (Humboldt County) at 10:04 p.m., followed 14 minutes by a 6.9 quake, which was centered around the same area at a depth of 4.3 miles, according to the USGS. Within 45 minutes, there were at least six aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 2.9 to 4.6.
The Associated Press reported that officials in Humboldt County said there have been no calls about damages or injuries.
The National Tsunami Warning Center said on its website there is no tsunami danger for the region.
For further updates, check www.sfgate.com.Police shoot teen after domestic call, boyfriend says it was unnecessary Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Police investigating an officer-involved shooting in the area of Oak Avenue and Carriage Road in Muskegon on Friday Aug. 12, 2016. [ + - ] Video
Barton Deiters -
MUSKEGON. Mich. (WOOD) -- Michigan State Police have taken over the investigation into a city police officer's shooting of a 15-year-old girl near Muskegon Township.
Police came to the Carriage House Hickory Village Apartments around 1:15 p.m. on a report of domestic disturbance. When they got here they allegedly saw a 15-year-old girl chasing a 16-year-old boy.
Police say the girl was acting aggressively while wielding the knife and possibly other objects. It led to a veteran office shooting the girl below the knee, according to Muskegon Department of Public Safety Director Jeffrey Lewis.
Lewis said the girl, identified only as a Muskegon Heights resident, suffered non-life threatening injuries and is at a local hospital.
The officer has not been named, but is on administrative leave as the incident is investigated.
Lewis said they have "very good" dash cam video and audio of the incident.
He made this request to the community:
"Obviously, I want the public to be patient to wait until we see, hear both sides of the story," Lewis said. "We try to explain as much as possible because as you see, there's a lot of fright around the country. People need to know what happened but it's hard to release information when this just happened a couple hours ago."
The teen whose 15-year-old girlfriend was shot by a Muskegon officer witnessed the shooting and he says police acted too hastily.
"I just can't see why he pulled that gun so quick on a little person like that. He could've pulled the taser," Duionte Johnson said.
In a release, police said the girl was armed with a knife and other sharp implement.
"No, she came with a fork, just a fork," Johnson said.
Johnson said it was a large-two-pronged grilling fork. He said he never felt he was in danger and points out it was his girlfriend who called police after the two argued.
Police say she aggressively continued the confrontation attempting to attack the male and was subsequently shot once in the lower leg by the officer.
"I hear him shoot one time and I turned around and started running, and he shoot again and I'm right by her a little bit while he shot I get right by her and I give her a kiss and she said it hurt," Johnson said.
Lewis said the officer who fired the shot is on administrative leave as Michigan State Police investigate the situation.
But Johnson has made up his mind.
"The way it was handled by the police, I don't think it was handled the right way, I think that was unprofessional how you pulled the gun out on a little kid like that," he said.
The 15-year-old is being treated at a local hospital for wounds that are described as non-life threatening.
Johnson has not been allowed to visit his girlfriend, but says he expects her to be just fine.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Muskegon Police Department at 231.724.6750 or Silent Observer at 231.722.7463.The Geelong Cats have submitted an application for one of the AFL’s women’s league licences.
Club’s had until 4.00pm on Friday to submit an application for a license and the Cats became one of 13 teams to do so.
The AFL will select eight teams to hold licenses when the new competition comes into effect in 2017. Of the eight teams, it is expected four will be in Victoria and one each in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.
Speaking to the Geelong Advertiser, Cats chief executive Brian Cook said the club was intent on winning a license for a women’s team as it aligns with the club’s culture.
“We have to build it. It’s about our essence, it’s our brand, it’s our values.” Cook said.
“Respect for diversity, respect for women and, in particular, allowing women and people to be the best they can possibly be.”
The AFL executive will assess the 13 bids before making a recommendation to the AFL commission.A Pakistani child digs a hole to be used as a toilet for her family
Photo by BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images
A new study in Environmental Science & Technology estimates six out of 10 people on planet Earth don’t have access to flush toilets or adequate water-related sanitation. In other words, 4.2 billion human beings desperately need a technology you use every day and couldn’t give less of a shit about.
Think about it. In your bathroom, you basically have a bucket full of water that can empty and refill itself. You only use it for one purpose—waste disposal—and yet it likely smells better than your garbage can or kitchen sink.
And that water? It’s magic. You can sit there and pour cup after cup of water (or, you know, whatever) and the water level will remain almost exactly the same. But if you dump a few gallons in at once, the siphon initiates and the whole mess disappears completely. You don’t even need electricity or gas to operate the underappreciated flush toilet.
Mainly, toilets dispose of urine and feces without us ever laying a finger on either. I know, this seems a silly thing to point out, but this advancement is more recent than you probably realize. As recently as the early 1900s, much of the American South was still pooping next to a favorite tree. In fact, it wasn’t until John D. Rockefeller set out to cure the “damned Southerners” of their laziness that outhouses were invented.
The cause of that malaise, which he thought was keeping Southerners from working productively, was hookworms—tiny, toothy parasitic larvae that hatch out of human feces and crawl around in search of another host’s bare feet. Researchers realized the little buggers could move about a foot a day for four days, so they prescribed outhouses with pits six feet deep. As this simple technology spread, it alleviated iron deficiency anemia, improved health, and boosted school attendance and literacy.
Which brings us back to the rest of the world—4.2 billion people without proper sanitation. Aside from hookworms, do you know what happens when humans don’t have toilets? Dysentery happens. Typhoid happens. Cholera, hepatitis A, and diarrhea happen. And real diarrhea isn’t like when your “stomach” hurts and you get to call in sick and spend the day watching Game of Thrones. In Third World countries, real diarrhea kills more people than AIDS.
Obviously, humans have been pooping under trees and into holes for a long time. (Though, some argue we no longer do it properly.) Evidence of waste removal technology may date back to about 3,000 B.C. It’s nothing brilliant—just some drains leading away from stone huts in a Neolithic settlement found in Scotland—but a little sanitation goes a long way.
This is why the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation held the Reinventing the Toilet Challenge last year. As so much of the world is without existing technology, the foundation hopes to dramatically improve developing-world sanitation by leapfrogging old technology, similar to the way cellphones are now prevalent in places formerly without so much as a landline. The winning team, from Caltech, built a solar-powered electrochemical reactor toilet. Water and waste gets broken down into fertilizer and hydrogen, the latter of which can be stored in fuel cells as energy. Treated water is recycled for further flushing or irrigation.
Other potential solutions abound, from the U.K. town powered by their own biomethane to the use of tiger worms and black soldier fly larvae. There are even crowd-sourced solutions like Who Gives a Crap Toilet Paper.
And then there’s the good old-fashioned celebrity charity. Matt Damon’s Water.org wins the award for advocacy advertising that doesn’t suck. In fact, it’s kind of hilarious. And though his numbers don’t match up with the new doom and gloom from Environmental Science & Technology, the message is the same: It’s time we get our shit together.Melbourne’s Boatrocker Brewery is set to open its new 300-barrel maturation facility and bar that was made possible by the investment of the founders of Little Creatures.
Through their investment vehicle Made By HAND, Howard Cearns, Adrian Fini, Nic Trimboli and David Martin purchased a 33 per cent shareholding in Boatrocker earlier this year.
The capital injection enabled Boatrocker to expand the capacity of its Braeside brewery and open the Boatrocker Barrel Room in a factory shed across the road.
Boatrocker already has 150 barrels at varying stages of maturation, comprising 500-litre puncheons, 225-litre barriques, 200-litre hogsheads and bourbon barrels, founder Matt Houghton told Australian Brews News.
“As we keep on brewing, we keep on buying more barrels. So we’ll be steadily acquiring over the next 12 months ago and should hopefully be close to 300 by then,” he said.
Houghton said barrels have proven difficult to come by, particularly those of a certain standard.
“We’re quite fussy about where they come from winery-wise as well as the quality of the barrel,” he said.
“Also this year it’s been a bumper season for wine so most winemakers have been refilling the barrels they were planning on getting rid of, so that’s slimmed down the quantity of available barrels.”
Temperature, humidity control
Boatrocker has also gone to great lengths to ensure that the room is the right temperature and humidity to aid slow, steady maturation.
“The roof has top-of-the-range insulation and we’ve got air conditioning with humidifiers to make sure it’s all the right moisture content,” Houghton said.
“We’ve really tried everything to keep it the best environment for the barrels, which is good for the punter as well when they come and drink, because it means it will be really nice and cool inside.”
The current inventory of barrels includes Sour Blondes, Tripels, Scotch Ales, Flemish Reds, Oud Bruins, Saisons and Berliner Weisse.
Starting this week, the bar will be open on weekends with barrel beers to be served on tap alongside Boatrocker’s core beer range.
Boatrocker’s distribution is otherwise limited to Victoria and a smattering of MBH-backed venues in Perth, such as Petition Beer Corner, but Houghton ultimately hopes to change that.
“Long term, I hope we can provide our beers – particularly our barrel beers – to a much wider audience. It really is about developing the distribution network for that to happen,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll just keep on buying lots more barrels and rent the factory next to us and put more barrels in there, and the next one and the next one,” he joked.
“Hopefully everyone gets into lovely sour beers – that’s my dream anyway.”
Creatures founders ‘hands off’
Boatrocker is MBH’s first investment in a drinks producer outside of its own Hippocampus distillery, but Howard Cearns hinted there may be similar investments on the horizon.
“We don’t want to go and start our own brewery up again, but we’re happy to be passive investors if you like, where we see people we like making good products and we like what they’re doing,” he said.
Cearns said he sits on the board of Boatrocker alongside Houghton, but otherwise MBH’s involvement is ‘hands off’ in nature.
“We’re there to help if needed. But other than that, day-to-day they look after it themselves,” he said.
Houghton said Boatrocker had benefited from its new investors’ expertise on the drinks industry.
“They’re very well regarded and connected as well. When we need advice or want to discuss certain things, they’re always available to chat with, which is fantastic,” he said.
Boatrocker Barrel Room will be open on Friday from 4-9pm and Saturday from 12-6pm. Food trucks will be in the vicinity.Watching TV shows on Hulu.com
For the past couple of years, TV and the Internet have existed in a pleasant state of harmony. If forced to watch live television (by breaking news, by sports), you could surf the Web during commercials and dull moments. The laptop-TV combo was ideal, enfolding you in a narcotic halo of constant information.
That ideal is becoming a memory, though. Web sites have sprouted video arrows where paragraphs once stood, and television is trying to figure out how to fit in online—where the kids hang out and the advertising dollars increasingly flow. Meanwhile, the people who run the television networks have had a chance to see what happened to the music labels. Because of MP3s, an entire generation expects to get songs for free. Television shows, which can be encoded into relatively small files, have long since fallen into the hands of peer-to-peer networks and the BitTorrent brigades. It’s only a matter of time before Average Joe Internet starts downloading his favorite shows commercial-free.
But just as the Internet is poised to destroy commercial television, it may also rescue it. The life raft is called Hulu, a site that debuted this month. It demonstrates how TV might thrive in the Web environment of comments, ratings, and the wisdom of the crowds.
Back when YouTube launched in 2005, the site became a playground of copyrighted content, one that spurred new viewing habits. Missed The Daily Show? You knew that Jon Stewart’s monologue would be on YouTube the next day. The site effectively functioned as a user-driven highlight reel of television, music videos, sports, and movies. It was on its way to becoming a vast content cloud of any visual moment that someone had a notion to upload. YouTube wasn’t TV—it required you to lean forward into the screen rather than lean back and vegetate—but it was a lot more fun, and there weren’t any commercials.
Enter the lawsuits. Viacom, et al., soon put the kibosh on most of the copyrighted content. If you wanted to watch the latest Andy Samberg SNL short, you had to go to NBC.com. Jon Stewart and Colbert moved to the Comedy Central site. The professional stuff was split up between places that often required registration and different kinds of players. Meanwhile, the loss of copyrighted content made YouTube seem more amateur and bizarre—the camgirls and the near-porn that had lurked on the margins were suddenly the main course. The site also lost its aura of totality. YouTube was no longer the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Video Universe.
Once the networks succeeded in getting their content pulled, they promised to launch a “YouTube killer.” That turned out be an empty and inexact threat. YouTube didn’t really need the “real” shows and movies to sustain itself. It soon developed its own freaky internal chemistry. (At this point, it’s probably best to think of YouTube as a genre unto itself.) What we the people and the networks really wanted was a YouTube Pro—a site that would aggregate television shows and movies in one place and stream them in high-quality video.
With Hulu, Fox and NBC (and their partners) have launched the best YouTube Pro yet. The site puts the shows and movies front and center. No registration, no special players. Click on The Simpsons. Get TheSimpsons. You can watch in full screen. Recently, I couched myself with my laptop for a few episodes of 30 Rock. Hulu placed two ads in each episode at appropriate times—standard 30-second spots for Priceline.com (starring William Shatner). It was a pleasant way to watch TV—almost Swiss in its subtle consumerism. There was also an efficiency aspect that appealed, as I powered through a half-hour episode in 22 minutes. But, for someone raised on the old tube, it’s somehow disconcerting to see TV on the computer screen. It’s as if you’re in college, and your friend who’s the biggest partier shows up for the 9 a.m. econ lecture.
Hulu has been available to knowledgeable Web users for a while (people figured out the URLs for all the shows). And most computer-literate folks can watch anything they want on the Web, anyway, whether through BitTorrent or some other means. Hulu is about putting TV on the Web for the so-called “silver surfers” (aka old people), the lazy, the clueless, and the lunchtime prime-time crowd. Both the site’s content and presentation are resolutely mainstream. The “price” you pay is that Hulu’s offerings are limited to Fox, NBC, and their partners, and that the site sneaks commercials into and around the shows in a modest way.
If Hulu catches on, there will be more ads and a less pleasant viewing experience—especially considering the trend that the more time you spend on the Internet, the less TV you watch. But what’s most tantalizing about Hulu is how it throws shows such as The Simpsons, House, and American Dad and movies such as The Big Lebowksi and Some Like It Hot into the wilderness of Web 2.0. Hulu users can rate the content and leave comments. Like YouTube, the shows are collected in lists of “Most Watched Today” and “Most Watched All-Time.” The movies are broken into clips that can also be rated and compiled into most-watched lists.
For Hulu to become a true YouTube Pro—a site with complete movie and television archives—would require a historic level of corporate cooperation. For now, the site reminds us of the joys of television as a communal experience—One Nation, Under Pop Culture. With TiVos and DVDs, everyone is time-shifted. You’ve got one friend who’s watching The Office Season 2 and another who’s savoring every season of Gilmore Girls. What Hulu could do is create a global top 10 list. Here are the shows and clips that everyone is watching. Discuss.
So far, the most popular episodes reflect the limited offerings and the geekiness/maleness of the early adopters: The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Girl Next Door. But when the voting and commenting crowds arrive, and more women show up, and more shows and movies get added, Hulu has the chance to be a fascinating microclimate. What’s the all-time best episode of The Simpsons? What’s the most exquisite moment in Bring It On? If I were to watch only one Facts of Life minisode, which should it be? No more will these questions trouble us in our sleep.IT'S hardly a new charge against atheists, but it has come up again several times recently in the blogosphere: that today's secularists, atheists, anti-theists and whatnot, including the publicly active ones, are "just as fundamentalist as the fundamentalists". It appears again and again in reader e-mails sent to Andrew Sullivan's blog (currently in the hands of guest-bloggers). This trope needs to be laughed out of existence, immediately.
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First and most salient, as Oxford's Tim Garton Ash writes, "there are no al-Darwinia brigades making bombs in secret laboratories in north Oxford." Yes, sigh, many atheists like Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennet are just as convinced that there is no God as Osama bin Laden is convinced that there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger. On one hand you have faith that makes people fly planes into buildings, genitally mutilate young girls, murder abortion doctors (in church), stone adultresses, outlaw certain forms of consensual sex or even just make it impossible to buy beer on Sunday in some states. On the other hand there is the atheist "faith" that makes people write smug op-eds, put ads on buses (see photo), file frivolous lawsuits against nativity scenes on public property, and the like. Show me what harm in the world a prominent atheist intellectual has done.
Ah, but Stalin and Hitler and Mao! Give me a break. Sure, they were atheists. But they did not kill because they were atheists. Hitler was a fanatical racist and Mao and Stalin fanatical communists, and they killed in the name of those fundamentalist philosophies. If atheism somehow correlated with fanaticism, Denmark would be the most violently |
“four-mile limit” helped develop a community in Evanston that valued temperance and considered itself a dry haven from wet Chicago. This set of values won out nationally in 1919; Prohibition forced drinkers underground; organized crime blossomed thanks to a black market for alcohol, and the rest is history: In 1933, America became wet again.
But not Evanston. Northwestern pledged it would try to enforce the four-mile limit, and in 1934, Evanston residents voted to keep the city dry. It wasn’t until the 1970s, when Holiday Inn threatened to nix plans for a proposed hotel unless it could have a bar, that Evanston became, as one professor described to me, “moist.” The hotel — and, later, other establishments — was permitted to sell alcohol, but only “with a meal.” (The professor said he once got into a spirited exchange with a waitress over whether nachos constituted a meal. He lost.) Evanston’s liquor ordinances began to ease up, but then, in the 80s, Illinois’ drinking age became 21. That basically leads us to today. Evanston is not the teetotalitarian city it once was, but it is far from a permissive college town with ample options for underage drinkers.
I don’t recommend that Evanston go the way of State College, Pennsylvania. Still, many college students want to drink alcohol, and they will seek out spaces in which to do so. Northwestern students have limited options. There’s no true “college bar” in Evanston where the underaged can get sloshed. (The closest is probably the Mark II Lounge, better known as The Deuce, a grimy bar a block south of Howard Street accessed by Uber and frequented by underclassmen. Its popularity has waned since the days of the Deuce Caboose eight years ago, but it remains a destination.) Many students in dorms fear being caught by their Resident Assistant and decide that to drink they must leave the relative safety of their own rooms. For these reasons, many freshmen venture off-campus or to North Campus. It is here, in these hazy and foreign basements, that we entrust the safety of 18-year-old drinkers to 19-year-old frat boys, most of whom are more interested in protecting their chapter than ensuring the immediate safety of their peers.
It’s worth remembering that SAE wasn’t suspended for alleged druggings at its house, but rather for “repeatedly hosting parties and providing alcohol to minors.” Of course, “repeatedly hosting parties and providing alcohol to minors” is a primary function of most IFC frats. It’s just that, in the course of a separate investigation, SAE got caught and suspended.
But Northwestern has turned its frat system into something of a Hydra. Decapitation is only temporary. Suspensions end. Frats are banished, then return, and nothing changes. We are four-year students up against 100-year-old institutions with brick houses and generous alumni. If SAE returns to campus, this cycle will begin again.
Little will change until students find more non-frat spaces to drink alcohol. That project will be difficult as long as frats dominate social life, allowed to regenerate year after year, above reproach and underground.
Shane McKeon is a Medill senior. He can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
CommentsOne of the big questions about Fitbit's upcoming smartwatch is what the app situation is going to be. Early reports said the app store wouldn't be ready in time for the smartwatch's fall launch, instead launching with custom-made apps. However, Fitbit CEO James Park has told The Verge that its app store will be ready in time.
When Fitbit's smartwatch launches, the company will be rolling out a software development kit based on technology it acquired from Pebble, which was working on a new Javascript-based SDK when it was purchased by Fitbit. The new SDK for Fitbit's smartwatch will, according to Park and Thomas Sarlandie, Fitbit's head of software, make it easy to build apps, which will be compatible with both iOS and Android.
Essential reading:The Fitbit smartwatch investigation
Like Pebble, Fitbit will take a lightweight approach to app reviewing, allowing developers to easily share custom-made versions of its apps with friends and family.
Rather than launch in an app store, Park says the apps will be featured in an "app gallery" within Fitbit's companion app. At launch, Fitbit's smartwatch will have a handful of third-party apps from select partners. Shortly after that, the SDK will roll out to every developer. So what apps can you expect at the launch of the smartwatch? Park declined to name specifics, but he did say there'll be some kind of music experience.
"All we can say at this point is that music is a really important part of the fitness experience, and you'll see functionality related to that," Park said. "When it comes to the music industry, it's not just technical. There are business issues as well when it comes to offline playback."
There's still no word on when Fitbit's smartwatch will launch, with Park not mentioning when the device will ship. He does, however, insist that Fitbit's smartwatch plans have "never changed."
Reports have indicated that Fitbit's smartwatch has been pushed back multiple times because of hardware and software issues, like the GPS antennae and waterproofing issues. However Park recently confirmed that the watch will be waterproof.Mind That Age! This blog post is 8 years old! Most likely, its content is outdated. Especially if it's technical.
On Kwissle I'm using Google Closure Compiler to minify all Javascript files. It's fine but because it's java and because I'm running this on a struggling EC2 micro instance the CPU goes up to 99% for about 10 seconds when it does the closure compilation. Sucks!
So, I threw UglifyJS into the mix and instead of replacing the Closure compiler I added it so it runs alongside but I obviously only keep one of the outputs.
Here is the log output when I run it on my MacbookPro:
MAKING./static/js/account.js UglifyJS took 0.0866 seconds to compress 3066 bytes into 1304 (42.5%) Closure took 1.2365 seconds to compress 3066 bytes into 1225 (40.0%) MAKING./static/js/ext/jquery.cookie.js UglifyJS took 0.0843 seconds to compress 3655 bytes into 3009 (82.3%) Closure took 1.3472 seconds to compress 3655 bytes into 4086 (111.8%) MAKING./static/js/ext/jquery.tipsy.js UglifyJS took 0.1029 seconds to compress 7527 bytes into 3581 (47.6%) Closure took 1.3062 seconds to compress 7527 bytes into 3425 (45.5%) MAKING./static/js/maxlength_countdown.js UglifyJS took 0.082 seconds to compress 1502 bytes into 1033 (68.8%) Closure took 1.2159 seconds to compress 1502 bytes into 853 (56.8%) MAKING./static/js/ext/socket.io-0.6.3.js UglifyJS took 0.299 seconds to compress 76870 bytes into 30787 (40.1%) Closure took 2.4817 seconds to compress 76870 bytes into 30628 (39.8%) MAKING./static/js/scoreboard.js UglifyJS took 0.084 seconds to compress 2768 bytes into 1239 (44.8%) Closure took 1.2512 seconds to compress 2768 bytes into 1167 (42.2%) MAKING./static/js/rumbler.js UglifyJS took 0.0872 seconds to compress 3087 bytes into 1384 (44.8%) Closure took 1.2587 seconds to compress 3087 bytes into 1235 (40.0%) MAKING./static/js/ext/shortcut.js UglifyJS took 0.0987 seconds to compress 5796 bytes into 2537 (43.8%) Closure took 1.3231 seconds to compress 5796 bytes into 2410 (41.6%) MAKING./static/js/play.js UglifyJS took 0.1483 seconds to compress 18473 bytes into 10592 (57.3%) Closure took 1.4497 seconds to compress 18473 bytes into 10703 (57.9%) MAKING./static/js/playsound.js UglifyJS took 0.0824 seconds to compress 1205 bytes into 869 (72.1%) Closure took 1.2335 seconds to compress 1205 bytes into 873 (72.4%)
(Note here that for the file./static/js/ext/jquery.cookie.js Closure failed and when it fails it leaves the code as is and prepends it with a copy about the error from the stdout. that's why it's greater than 100% on that file)
Here are the averages of those numbers:
AVERAGE TIME: (lower is better) * UglifyJS: 0.11554 seconds * Closure: 1.41037 seconds AVERAGE REDUCTION: (higher is better) * UglifyJS: 45.6% * Closure: 51.5%
(I'm skipping the file that Closure failed to minify)
So, what does that mean in bytes? These are the source Javascript files for two pages but the total is 123949.0 bytes. With Closure that saves me 63833.7 bytes (62 kbytes) whereas UglifyJS only saves me 57760.2 bytes (56 kbytes) of bandwidth.
Discussion...
The fact that Closure fails on one file is a real bummer. I'm not even using the advanced options here.
UglifyJS doesn't save as many bytes as Closure does. This is potentially important because after all, minification process happens only once per revision of the original file but might be served hundreds or millions of times.
Because I run my minifications on-the-fly it does matter to me that UglifyJS is 1220% faster.
It's rare but I have observed twice that the minified Javascript from Closure has actually broken my code. I default to suspect that's my fault for not making the code "minifyable" enough (e.g. too many global variables).
I've just noticed that I'm relying on files that almost never change (e.g. jquery.tipsy.js ). I might as well create a...min.js versions of them and add them to the repository.
In conclusion...
Because of the convenience of UglifyJS being so much faster and that it doesn't choke on that jquery.cookie.js file I'm going switch to UglifyJS for the moment. The remaining bytes that I don't save become insignificant if you add the gzip effect and compared to images the bandwidth total is quite insignificant.
UPDATE (JAN 2016)
I wrote a follow-up post comparing UglifyJS2 with Closure Compiler with the advanced option.
Comments
Related postsBlizzard Entertainment announced a new title at BlizzCon today, Overwatch, a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter and the developer's first new property in years, that focuses on an international team of soldiers — humans, humanoids and what appear to be mechs. And cyber-gorillas.
In a pre-rendered video, Blizzard showed Overwatch's characters and action, including stealth snipers, gorillas wearing armor and masked mercenaries engaging in firefights. Overwatch appears to be heavily focused on action and gunplay, with characters teleporting mid-gunfight and others using grappling guns to move quickly through a clean futuristic environment.
Blizzard's Chris Metzen says Overwatch — which is a game, he confirmed — is coming "sooner than you think."
"Our goal with Overwatch is to create an awesome FPS experience that's more accessible to a much wider audience while delivering the action and depth that shooter fans love," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, in a prepared statement. According to a press release from Blizzard, Overwatch takes place in a future where an "international task force" known as Overwatch had brought peace to a world in conflict, but had since broken apart; now, new heroes must arise.
Game director Jeff Kaplan said at BlizzCon that Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer shooter, "a game and genre" that Blizzard has been interested in exploring for a while. In Overwatch, which appears to feature Blizzard's signature chunky, slightly cartoonish style, players will have access to a variety of classes and characters. Some characters wear missile-firing mech suits, while others wield a bow and arrow, dual pistols, sniper rifles, hammers, or staffs.
Characters shown in a gameplay video of Overwatch include Hanzo, a bow-wielding ranger; Winston, the gorilla; Torbjorn, a dwarf engineer; Widowmaker, the sniper; and Bastion, the robot/turret.
Movement in Overwatch looks fast, with quick grappling mechanics, teleporting and flying, as well as ground traversal. The game appears to use a blend of magic and technology, with robots that transform into turrets fighting alongside spell-casting supporting heroes. Overwatch offers six-on-six play on maps inspired by real-world locales such as London and Egypt.
A beta for the game is coming in 2015, and Overwatch is available to play at BlizzCon this weekend. You can check out 38 screenshots above, then watch the cinematic trailer below and the gameplay video below that.Today, I would like to share my Easter bible journaling page...I took about an hour on it, but it turned out really well, so it was definitely worth it.So, I prepped my page with my gesso and used my Koi Watercolor set (24 colors). I used the yellow and yellow-red colors. I dried the watercolor with my heat gun, then drew a basic outline of the cross. Next, I filled in with lines, circles, and hearts to bring it to life. I did follow a pattern...you can find it here. After finishing the cross, I drew the lettering outline and darkened some lines. I used my 03 and 08 Pigma Micron pens when I drew everything. Finally, I used my gold Wink of Stella pen on my lettering and the cross in various places.This was so fun....hope you guys try this! It's so pretty and fun!A Texas burglary suspect dialed 911 early Tuesday morning to report that an armed homeowner was threatening to shoot him, MyFoxDFW.com reported.
James Gerow, the homeowner, told the station that he awoke and discovered a man wearing a dark hoodie inside his Springtown, Texas home. Springtown is a small city Northwest of Fort Worth.
Gerow grabbed his gun and followed the man out to a truck in his driveway.
With gun in hand, Gerow convinced the man to drop his keys. He told his wife to call 911 and waited for deputies to arrive.
"I pointed the gun at him and asked him who he is and what the hell he was doing in my house," Gerow said. "He said his name was Lance, and I said, 'Lance, what the hell are you doing in my house?'
"And he said, ‘unlucky.’ Just unlucky.”
Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said the suspect, later identified as 41-year-old Christopher Lance Moore, also called for help while sitting in his pickup truck.
"I'm out in the country somewhere and some guy's got a gun on me," he said on the call.
When deputies arrived they arrested Moore for burglary of habitation, a second-degree felony.
Gerow said while investigators questioned the suspect, Moore admitted he had "bad intentions."
"I gave him a chance," Gerow said. "Had he said he had bad intentions before that, he wouldn't have got his second chance. That's a different ballgame. You threaten me and my family, that's a different ballgame."
Click for more from MyFoxDFW.com[Photo: At the Jenner manse in Hidden Hills, California, as Kylie, left, and Kendall are being shot for the new season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.]
Published in the June/July 2012 issue
Fathers suffer a curse, and Bruce Jenner knows this curse better than most: The day you become a father, you stop being who you were. In the eyes of your children, your life began when theirs did.
The strange thing about Jenner, now that he's sixty-two years old: It's not just his glorious past that has disappeared. It's as though all of him, every previous incarnation of him, has been flooded out of view: by the fame of his adopted family — his third wife, the former-and-sometimes-still Kris Kardashian, her son, Rob, and her collection of daughters, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall, and Kylie, the last two also Jenner's — by the glib demands of reality-TV story lines, by dubious plastic surgery and eyebrows plucked to oblivion. Even in his own home, that familiar Spanish castle with the fountain splashing out front, you have to look hard to find those few traces of his existence. ("My mom's house," Kim calls it.) All of the photographs are of the children; all of the memorabilia and props are the product of their successes, not his. There is no red singlet in a frame; his gold medal is nowhere to be found. For the most part, Bruce Jenner, Olympian, has been banished to the garage.
Right now, that's where he is, cleaning some stray grass clippings off his Goblin 700, a fluorescent-green remote-control helicopter. He owns many remote-control helicopters, and they are on rows of shelves in a corner of the garage. Some of his other toys surround him: a Harley-Davidson, a Porsche kept under a black cover, his golf clubs, which he tries to swing every day. (Even here, however, he can't escape the influence of the hurricane women in his life, a pink Vespa scooter leaning nearby.) But it's the helicopters that receive the bulk of his attention. He has just been out flying the Goblin 700 in his pristine backyard, for the benefit of the ever-present camera crew that films Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which began its seventh season in May. (He's also dressed up for the occasion, sporting a flashy leather jacket.) They watched him fly the helicopter, and sixteen-year-old Kendall and fourteen-year-old Kylie did, too, for a few minutes — the episode currently being shot centers on them — until the sun grew too hot and they vanished back inside. Then the camera crew left as well. But there was Jenner, still in his backyard, flying his Goblin 700. And with it, he was doing magic tricks.
Flying these helicopters is not easy. "If you own one, you've crashed it," Jenner says with a smile, because he is almost always smiling. They're especially difficult because they require the operator to think from an unnatural perspective. Jenner has a flight simulator in his garage, a black computer perched on another shelf, and since he began flying these helicopters three years ago, he has spent hundreds of hours alone out here, on that simulator, training himself to see the world in all of its dimensions. Although he has been a real pilot for a very long time (and is a principal at Bruce Jenner Aviation, which sells corporate aircraft), he still had to adapt his brain to the peculiar demands of the Goblin 700. Depending on whether he has the helicopter's tail facing toward him or away from him, on whether he's flying the helicopter right side up or inverted, all the rules of flight change. Even something as simple as a gentle hover takes a delicate, practiced touch. Jenner still possesses an instinctive physical confidence, still moves with an athlete's grace. And there he was, just a few minutes ago, his helicopter fluorescent green against the bright blue sky, defying gravity and physics with every spin, stall, and roll. In that moment, Jenner was a man of nearly perfect competence.
Neither his children nor the cameras were there to see it. They were gathered in the driveway, toward the front of the house. They are still there. Either Kendall or Kylie, it's hard to tell which, is having some sort of animated disagreement with Kris. The cameras are there, in the girls' made-up faces, and a boom mic is raised over their shining heads, recording every word of their spirited discussion, to be edited into a cohesive narrative about the perils of being a teenage girl in modern celebrity America.
Jenner, meanwhile, has finished his unrecorded acrobatics and returned to his unlit garage. He picks the last blade of grass from the body of his helicopter, and he folds its propeller so that both rotors point toward the tail, and he gently slides a protective sleeve over them, and he puts his Goblin 700 back into place on the shelf, each step as meticulous and careful as the last. He stops for a moment to marvel at the tricks that more talented others can do with the same machine. "It's amazing to me that someone can even think that fast," he says. Then, because he knows the cameras are no doubt done with him for the day, he heads inside to take off his leather jacket and change out of his fancy clothes.
In the driveway, voices are rising.
The moment: Jenner crossing the finish line of the fifteen hundred meters to seal his Gold Medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Tony Duffy/Getty Images
This is who Bruce Jenner was: "I was a dyslexic kid," he says, now in his nylon pants and gray USA Track & Field T-shirt, sitting back by the pool, the cameras still occupied with his wife and daughters. He failed second grade in Yorktown Heights, New York, and was plagued by low self-esteem: "I always thought everybody else was better than me." Then in the fifth grade he had a race at school, and he won. Jenner was the fastest, and he held on to that feeling for dear life. Sports became his outlet, and because he was blessed before he was cursed, he was good at everything he tried. He was born limitless. Eventually, he found his way to the decathlon, a grueling series of ten track-and-field disciplines, including sprint and distance running, hurdles, discus, javelin, and pole vaulting. The decathlon was and remains the best measure of the greatest athlete on earth.
In 1972, Jenner went to Eugene, Oregon, to compete for a spot on the U. S. Olympic team. He was a long shot: Only the top three competitors made the team, and Jenner was not ranked even in the top ten. After the first five events, he was rooted firmly in eleventh place. After the sixth event, the 110-meter hurdles, he was still in eleventh. After the discus, he edged up to tenth, with just three events to go. After the pole vault, he jumped from tenth to seventh, and after the javelin, he climbed from seventh to fifth. (He recites each of these details from memory, forty years after the fact.) Then Jenner did the math: Given the decathlon's complicated system of points, in the last event, the fifteen hundred meters, he had to beat the man then occupying third place by eighteen seconds. Jenner ran, shaving eight seconds off his personal best time and eclipsing the formerly third-place competitor by twenty-one seconds. He had made the team and was off to Munich.
There, he finished tenth, well short of the podium. But Jenner watched the winner receive his gold medal, and he made up his mind.
A photographer had taken a black-and-white picture of Jenner crossing the final finish line in Munich: hair flowing, muscles rippling. Jenner had that photograph blown up, and he put it up on the wall in his austere apartment, over his couch. Except that he didn't center it. He pushed it off to the left, because he was saving a spot for the next photograph, the one that would be taken when he crossed the finish line in triumph in Montreal in 1976. He trained for eight hours a day, every day, for four years, and every night, Jenner came home and looked at that empty space on his wall. "I stared at that hole," he says, "and knew what was going to go there."
It takes an extraordinary man to bend such a grand reality to his will. "My greatest gift in life was being dyslexic," Jenner says. "It made me special. It made me different. If I had not been dyslexic, I wouldn't have needed sports. I would have been like every other kid. Instead, I found my one thing, and I was never going to let go of it. That little dyslexic kid is always in the back of your head."
There is a video of Jenner's Montreal triumph. Jim McKay narrates it. The video opens with film of Jenner running the final turn of the final event of the first day, the four hundred meters. He is wearing blue shorts and a red singlet, number 935. McKay's unmistakable voice begins: Strong though he is, just as lean and hard and well trained as he could possibly be, still, this is the face of a tired, breathless man, reaching for reserves not used until now. And that's the purpose of the decathlon: to test the total man, body and spirit, to the last ounce of energy. The video then freezes on Jenner's agonized face: his eyes blackened, his teeth biting into his bottom lip. It looks a lot like the photograph that was taken when he finally won the gold the following afternoon, shattering the world record, only in that photograph — in color this time, the photograph that Sports Illustrated put on its cover — his mouth is open, because he is screaming in victory. "I was as close to perfection as I could possibly get," he says today. "I got everything out of myself." Bruce Jenner was, indisputably, the greatest athlete on the planet. He was possibly the greatest in its history.
"It's about working when nobody's watching," he says.
Not long after he says that, some speakers fire up out by the pool. The theme song from Keeping Up With the Kardashians — finger snaps and that infuriatingly catchy whistle — rings out across the sparkling water.
"That's our doorbell," Jenner says, looking down at his chest. He looks up and starts to laugh, first a little, and soon a lot.
"It wasn't my idea!" he says, wiping his eyes. "It's not me! It's my wife!"
Jeff Minton
Kris Kardashian Jenner is striking, her huge, dark eyes are striking — looking at her, you can see exactly where Kim comes from — but they rarely settle on any one place for long. Her hectic days are scheduled to the minute. She sits behind the glass desk in her home office ("Well, it's technically hers," Jenner says, even though there isn't a single indication that it might ever be his), surrounded by countless photographs of her famous children and towering piles of mail, juggling her phone, tapping away at her computer. The family's publicist and "brand manager," Noelle Keshishian — yes — appears in Kris's door, just in case there is a short pause that might be more productively filled. "What makes me excited," Kris says, "you have to stop and think about... [She checks her e-mail.] Wait, who wants to get on the phone at two? [She looks at Noelle.] We should get on the phone with Kecia, too.... You have to stop... [She goes back to her e-mail.] Pearl wants to get on the phone.... [She looks back at Noelle.] Can you tell her yes? At 1:45? All right, cool. You have to stop and think..."
She never does finish the thought. Kris is the center of this operation, and it is an operation. Somewhere there must be a map with plastic artillery on it. "Being a celebrity is a business," Bruce Jenner says. "That's how you have to look at this, and by that measure, this is a very successful business." Today, Kim is on the covers of four of the five biggest gossip magazines; tomorrow, there will be panting speculation about her supposed hookup with Kanye West, because she will be seen wearing the same leather pants on consecutive days; a few days later, it will be Khloé's turn, after her husband, basketball star Lamar Odom, will be put on the inactive list by the Dallas Mavericks. "You see them everywhere, all the time," Jenner says. "There's a reason for that."
Jenner knows fame. Olympic fame, in particular, is intense but almost always temporary. Jenner had dedicated his life to this one thing, and he had done it, and now it was over. "My best friend, gone," he says. It was the most final of breakups. He never did put up that photograph in the empty space on his apartment wall. He never ran competitively again; he even left his vaulting poles at Olympic Stadium. (He still doesn't know their whereabouts. The last he heard, they had been shipped to a young athlete in San Jose, circa 1977.) He enjoyed some lucrative endorsements, appearing on the Wheaties box; General Mills recently reissued it, just ahead of the 2012 Summer Games. "I guess I haven't done anything too wrong," Jenner says, smiling some more. He gave acting a try, but that was an honest mistake. (His single theatrical release, a Village People/Steve Guttenberg vehicle called Can't Stop the Music, will haunt him more than any single frame of Keeping Up With the Kardashians ever could: supershort jorts.)
He also got married, twice, and divorced, twice. Each marriage produced two children: Burt and Cassandra, and then Brandon and Brody, those princes of Malibu. His children lived with their mothers, and he didn't see them often, because everything in his life had gone ugly. Khloé, the Kardashian daughter to whom he is perhaps the closest, phrases it gently but clearly: "He maybe wasn't able to give his children what they needed."
Then in 1990, he met Kris. She was newly separated from her husband, Robert Kardashian, a lawyer who later became famous for his role as one of O. J. Simpson's defenders. Jenner and Kris didn't have much in common, except that they independently liked to give their same-sex offspring names that started with the first letter of their own name. Seven months later, they were married, and they had two more children, two more daughters with names beginning with K.
"We're exact opposites," Kris says, "in that he's more stern and serious, he's kind of the voice of reason, and I am..." And here she really does stop and think. "You've got to remember that this is my second life," she finally continues. "I was a housewife and a mother; that was my priority for the first half of my life. Now, after my first litter grew up, I had two more kids with Bruce, and he wanted to be really involved, and I went to work. He made that decision, because with his first kids, he maybe wasn't the best father. With us, he got a second chance."
On the show, Jenner can seem emasculated, as though his testicles are in a jar somewhere, along with the rest of his former presence, this once-proud man drowning in a sea of estrogen and petty humiliations. He can seem that way because that's essentially what he is. Bruce Jenner has suffered the curse of fathers everywhere, but he has suffered it more dramatically and more publicly than perhaps any other American dad. There are entire generations who have no idea that he did what he did, that this man once flew through the air on the end of a fiberglass pole, that he was once just as lean and hard and well trained as he could possibly be. They don't know that because his framed singlet is in storage somewhere, it turns out, and his gold medal is locked away in a safe. He's asked whether he might retrieve it. He just shakes his head.
Instead, he's been doing quiet, invisible things, like mastering the always-changing rules of flight or playing golf or driving his kids to school — or at least that was something he also once did until Kendall recently turned sixteen. "He's heartbroken that he can't drive the car pool anymore," Kourtney says. "He really looked forward to that."
But if there is a moral center in this crazy house, he is still that. "He's just such a good person with such a good heart," Khloé says. "He's such a strong man," Kim says. They all talk about him with surprising warmth; the Kardashian girls were young when he married their mother. Kourtney, the eldest, was twelve, and she resented her new stepfather at first. "But he didn't give up on me," she says. "He never gave up."
What those people who hate this family from afar can't see is the very particular love that stamps it. Bruce Jenner has taken it upon himself to rescue his ridiculous extended clan by doing what none of its other members will ever do: He has elected to lose. The person in the house who has most earned his fame has chosen to accept the least of it. "I'm done with competition," he says. He says that in response to a question about his helicopters, whether he might fly them in the professional events that have been cropping up around the country, but he means it about everything. Jenner has made decisions, now, here, during his own second life. He has made up his mind once again. His singlet is in storage because he wants it to be. He's the one who locked his medal away in the safe.
"Going through what I went through," he says, "being that obsessed, is not what I would consider a good, well-rounded life. You're selfish with your time. You're selfish with your thoughts. You don't have to grow up. All you're concerned with is scoring points."
Jenner has learned that perfection comes in many forms. He has learned that a private mastery is just as satisfying as a public one. He has learned that a curse isn't a curse if it's a choice. And he has learned that there may be no greater love a father can give his children than to accept that his life really didn't begin until theirs did.
On that photograph on his apartment wall — the first one, the black-and-white one, the losing one — Jenner had printed a quote. He had found it in a book by Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile. That feat was considered impossible: If a man ran that fast, for that long, his heart might explode.
Today, Jenner closes his eyes and recites the quote that he read every night, all those years ago. He doesn't get the words exactly right, but he gets them mostly right. In the book, this is how they read: Only in something like running can finality be achieved, the sort of finality that is almost perfection. But it is not the kind of perfection that leaves you with nothing to live for. You are not your own executioner, because sport is not the main aim in life. Yet to achieve perfection in one thing, however small, makes it possible to face uncertainty in the more difficult problems in life.
"I love that," Jenner says, his eyes opening again. The part he left out was the part about not being his own executioner.The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto a cybersecurity bill the House will vote on this week, citing concerns it lacks vital privacy protections.
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In a statement of administration policy, the White House said it seeks additional improvements to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA. And it adds, "if the bill, as currently crafted, were presented to the president, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill."
CISPA aims to encourage industry and the government to share information about malicious source code and other cyber threats with each other in real time so firms can thwart cyberattacks.
But the White House listed a set of outstanding privacy concerns it has with the bill, many which have been voiced by privacy advocates in recent weeks.
Among them, the White House noted that the bill does not include a measure that would require companies to take "reasonable steps to remove irrelevant personal information" from cyber threat data prior to sharing it with the government and other peers in the private sector.
In recent weeks, privacy groups have argued that companies could share people's personal information — including their email and IP addresses —inadvertently with the government when passing cyber threat data to the government.
"Citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held accountable – and not granted immunity – for failing to safeguard personal information adequately," the administration's statement reads. "Moreover, the administration is confident that such measures can be crafted in a way that is not overly onerous or cost prohibitive on the businesses sending the information."
Similar to privacy groups, the White House also argued that "newly authorized information sharing for cybersecurity purposes from the private sector to the government should enter the government through a civilian agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."
The White House issued the veto threat as the House Rules Committee is meeting to discuss which amendments will be voted on the House floor for CISPA. The administration issued a veto threat against the bill by House Intelligence Committee leaders Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) last year due in part to privacy concerns.
Rogers said he is "disappointed" with the administration's veto threat, but said he will continue to push for bill's passage in the House this week.
"We are going to continue to move forward," Rogers said when testifying before the Rules Committee.
Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House, said in a statement that the administration commends the two House Intelligence leaders for "working to find a common ground on a bill that would strengthen our cybersecurity efforts." Still, CISPA as written does not address the administration's privacy concerns with the bill, Hayden added.
"We have long said that information sharing improvements are essential to effective legislation, but they must include proper privacy and civil liberties protections, reinforce the appropriate roles of civilian and intelligence agencies, and include targeted liability protections," Hayden said.
The administration said it "stands ready" to work with the House Intelligence Committee and other lawmakers to "incorporate our core priorities" into cybersecurity legislation that addresses its concerns.
"The administration recognizes and appreciates that the House Permanent Select |
red sweatpants, a white sweatshirt with the word "Aspen" on it, a gold Rolex watch and a black Sony Walkman. She was 5'3" and weighed 125 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has blonde hair and brown eyes.
All About Missing Persons • Nancy GraceInappropriate cardiac stress tests may cost the US healthcare system as much as half a billion dollars each year, according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medcine.
Joseph Ladapo and colleagues set out to analyze long-term trends in the use of cardiac stress testing in the US. Using data from national surveys they found that from the years 1993-1995 to 2008-2010 the use of cardiac stress tests more than doubled, from 1.6 million to 3.8 million procedures each year. This represented an increase in the rate of procedures from 28 to 45 per 10,000 visits to the doctor.
The overall growth in these tests was largely explained by changes in the patient population. But the growth in cardiac stress tests with imaging-- far more expensive than a simple treadmill test-- was not explained by these changes. Use of these imaging tests-- most often a nuclear stress test, which involves exposure to radiation-- have exploded in popularity and are far more expensive than the much simpler treadmill test.
The investigators calculated that from 2005-2010 30% of imaging stress tests were performed without an appropriate reason and that these tests cost $494 million annually. The radiation received by patients during these inappropriate procedures could lead to 491 patients developing cancer later in life. By contrast, inappropriate stress testing without imaging cost only $7.7 million each year.
In recent years there has been a slight decrease in the use of these tests as medical guidelines have stated emphatically that these procedures are inappropriate in patients without chest pain or other significant symptoms.
The cost of inappropriate testing "reduces society’s ability to provide other health services or expand access to care for uninsured and underserved populations." the authors write. "Our results therefore support and further refine concerns voiced by professional societies and insurers about use."An Australian athlete was brutally murdered by three boys who were “bored.” It turns out that at least one of the boys had animus against White people and a desire for revenge against… George Zimmerman.
Jesse Jackson, who is most famous for standing besides Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was shot, tweeted that this hate crime ought to be “frowned upon.”
Praying for the family of Chris Lane. This senseless violence is frowned upon and the justice system must prevail. — Rev Jesse Jackson Sr (@RevJJackson) August 21, 2013
Really?
Jesse Jackson spouted absolute vitriolic hate when he condemned George Zimmerman’s act of self-defense against a gay-bashing druggie thug.
So, a Hispanic man who was Blacker than Plessy defending himself against a gay-basher is “apartheid” while an innocent man (who happens to be White) being slaughtered is merely “frowned upon”???
Jesse Jackson does not care about justice or racial equality. He only seems saddened that hate crime committing thugs didn’t commit their crime in a more appropriate way.
.@RevJJackson #FrownedUpon??? It's like you're suggesting that they just didn't use the *socially acceptable* murder weapon on crackers! — The Political Hat (@ThePoliticalHat) August 22, 2013
Tweetthis is very much a work in progress but i read another entry that did basically the same things that i liked about this one so i don't know if i'm going to continue it
Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is housed in a standard humanoid containment cell located at Site-17. In addition to standard non-hostile humanoid containment protocol, caution must be taken to ensure that SCP-XXXX is not made aware of its containment. In particular, no personnel may refer to SCP-XXXX by its item number or the pronoun "it" in any context where it may be aware. Instead, it must be referred to by some variation of the name it uses for itself, "Elliot Sterling", and the pronoun "they".
SCP-XXXX must be provided printed copies of at least 5 documents in the style of standard Foundation Special Containment Procedures for study, detailing nonexistant anomalous objects and containment procedures. These objects should have antimemetic properties that would need to be accounted for in the event of a containment breach, while not having any properties that would make containment exceptionally difficult.
Once per month, SCP-XXXX is to join Mobile Task Force Epsilon-7 ("Forget Me Nots") for a brief meeting regarding the status of each object the task force is involved with containing, as well as those in the fabricated documents.
Description: SCP-XXXX is a 25 year old human of European descent. Prior to Foundation aquisition, it lived in ██████████, West Virginia, and was present on ██/██/2000 when a containment breach at a nearby Foundation Site necessitated widespread administration of amnestics. This was when SCP-XXXX became aware of its anomalous property.
Via currently unknown means, SCP-XXXX's body produces a natural mnestic, hampering the effect of general purpose amnestics. SCP-XXXX claims to have a perfect eidetic memory and has scored multiple standard deviations higher than average on psychological tests focusing on recall, both short- and long-term.
Since 2012, SCP-XXXX has approached 6 different Foundation Sites in the United States, each time being delivered amnestics and turned away by personnel unaware of its anomalous property or previous encounters with the Foundation. It has also been found at the location of at least 10 immobile anomalies by undercover Foundation staff with similar results. The Foundation became aware of SCP-XXXX on ██/██/2018, when it witnessed another containment breach in ██████████ and was again delivered amnestics. SCP-XXXX was found attempting to follow the deployed Foundation agents back to the Site, detained, and assigned a containment cell when its anomalous property was discovered.
Addendum XXXX-1: Interview Log 017-XXXX-01, dated ██/██/2018
Foreword: Interview was conducted shortly after SCP-XXXX was detained, prior to being identified as an anomalous object and active security risk. Interviewed: Elliot Sterling Interviewer: Dr. J███ R██████ <Begin Log> Dr. R██████: Elliot Sterling, correct? Mx. Sterling: Yes, ma'am. Dr. R██████: I'm sure you're confused, but we only have a few questions to ask you before [Dr. R██████ is cut off] Mx. Sterling: Oh, I know. Dr. R██████: You do? Mx. Sterling: Sure. This wasn't how I hoped to introduce myself, but I'm no less happy to be here. I'm a huge fan of your work. [Several seconds pass before Dr. R██████ clears her throat and responds.] Dr. R██████: I represent the S[Dr. R██████ is cut off] Mx. Sterling: The SCP Foundation! You want to know how I managed to follow you here, right? Dr. R██████: [Dr. R██████ is heard shuffling papers] I'm actually more interested in what exactly you know about the Foundation. Mx. Sterling: Oh, man, where to start? Uh, the SCP Foundation is an organization dedicated to maintaining normalcy by containing paranormal… Excuse me, "anomalous", right? Dr. R██████: And surely you're aware that part of that mission statement involves secrecy. Mx. Sterling: Right. Dr. R██████: You understand that even passing knowledge of us constitutes a serious security breach and the failure of any number of coverups and disinformation campaigns? Mx. Sterling: Pobody's nerfect[sic]. If you know what you're looking for there are scraps of evidence lying around. I've got a corkboard back at my apartment with some photos pinned up. [Mx. Sterling chuckles to themself.] Splurged for the nice red yarn and everything. <End Log> Closing Statement: After another failed attempt at administering amnestics, Mx. Sterling was placed in a holding cell and eventually classified as SCP-XXXX.
Addendum XXXX-2: Interview Log 017-XXXX-02, dated ██/██/2018
Foreword: Interview was conducted after SCP-XXXX briefly breached containment following two failed attempts earlier in the week. Interviewed: SCP-XXXX Interviewer: Dr. D█████ C████, researcher assigned to SCP-XXXX <Begin Log> Dr. C████: Good morning, XXXX. SCP-XXXX: Morning, D██. Dr. C████: I understand you managed to get out today? [SCP-XXXX is visibly embarassed.] SCP-XXXX: Yeah. Third time's the charm, right? Dr. C████: You were warned that additional attempts at containment breaches would be met with disciplinary action. Do you understand? [SCP-XXXX nods. Dr. C████ sighs before responding.]] Dr. C████: For someone who claimed to be a fan of the Foundation, you sure seem intent on causing trouble. SCP-XXXX: It just seems like a waste, don't you think? Dr. C████: Excuse me? SCP-XXXX: Cooping me up in a box like this. I know that's your whole… thing. It's important. Dr. C████: But? SCP-XXXX: But how many people do you know who can handle class X mnestics being pumped into their blood every day? [Dr. C████ begins to respond but is cut off by SCP-XXXX.] SCP-XXXX: None. I bet the nice folks down in Antimemetics would love stronger mnestics and here I am, useless. Dr. C████: What exactly are you getting at? SCP-XXXX: I want a job. <End Log> Closing Statement: A falsified job offer was extended to SCP-XXXX later that week, along with the development of its current containment procedures. No attempts to breach containment have followed.Cloud Girlfriend, service that created a lot of buzz by promising users that it could create the illusion of perfect girlfriend by setting up dummy profiles that would write on your Facebook wall and fool your friends into thinking you had a social life, has launched to the public today. However the site as is is not what it was originally conceived to be, unsurprisingly.
Described by founder David Fuhriman as a combination of Match.com and Second Life, the new Cloud Girlfriends lets you flirt as a fantasy character setting up Chat Dates with others who also are role playing. “We allow people to define their ideal self, find their perfect girlfriend or boyfriend and connect and interact as if that person existed. It can help in learning how to manage a real relationship, and they then take it into the real world,” says Fuhriman.
Fair enough. Fuhriman’s original idea of creating fake Facebook profiles would have rubbed many people the wrong way as personal Facebook accounts have to belong to an actual person according to the TOS. As it stands now the service uses Facebook Connect to verify the gender and language of its role players which Fuhriman thinks is a safety precaution. Fuhriman also thinks that people will eventually choose to interact as themselves with their Cloud Partners and eventually reveal themselves through their actual social profiles.
Fuhriman plans on monetizing the site by selling virtual goods, users can send each other Cloud Flowers, Cloud Diamonds or go on a Cloud Vacation. While the idea is admittedly far-fetched, I’ve been on the site for five minutes and already have a date.
Male TechCrunch readers interested in checking it out can use the code “techcrunch” up to the first 500. Women do not need a code. Unfair, I know.Chewy homemade chocolate Nutella rice crispy treats!
Yesterday, I met a boy who said he hated chocolate.
It made me sad. I went home and ate two nutella rice krispy treats.
After that, I felt much better 😉
Do you know anyone who doesn’t like chocolate?
Although I don’t understand them, I love finding people who don’t like chocolate… it just means there is more for me.
These ultra chocolatey Nutella crispy treats could not be easier to make. Simply combine everything together, and press into an 8×8 pan. There’s no baking required, and you only need 6-7 ingredients!
Nutella Rice Krispy Treats
Nutella Rice Crispy Treats Total Time: 10m Print This Recipe 5/5 5 / 5 3 Ingredients 3 cups rice crispies, gf if desired
2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Healthy Nutella OR chocolate spread of choice
1/2 cup agave or honey
1/4 cup cocoa powder OR chocolate protein powder
optional melted chocolate for dipping Instructions Recipe: In a large bowl, mix all ingredients but the rice crispies. Melt to a stir-able consistency (either in the microwave or on the stove), then pour over the cereal and stir very well, making sure to coat all the crispies. Line an 8×8 pan with wax or parchment paper and spread the mixture evenly into the pan. Place a sheet of wax or parchment paper on top, then press down as firmly as you can. Really press it down! Freeze for at least a half hour before slicing, and store the homemade bars in the fridge or freezer. Dip bottoms in melted chocolate if desired. View Nutrition Facts
More Healthy Chocolate Recipes:
Ryan Reynolds Blondies
Keto Dessert Recipes That Are Vegan
Healthy Chocolate Recipes
Tagalongs Peanut Butter Donuts
5/5 (3) 5 / 5 3ALQOSH, Iraq,— A large demonstration was held on Thursday in the Assyrian town of Alqosh, situated in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains, to protest the ouster of the Assyrian mayor, Fayez Abed Jawahreh, who was voted into office in 2014.
Mayor Jawahreh has faced several Kurdish-led attempts to unseat him. The decision to depose him was taken on July 16 by Bashar Al Kekee, the head of the Nineveh Province Council and a member of the Kurdish KDP party, led by Massoud Barzani. Alqosh will now be administered by a Kurd, Adel Amin Omar, who is a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Al Kekee accused Jawahreh of corruption and misusing the public office but did not present any evidence to support his claim. Furthermore, he took the decision without consulting the rest of the provincial council, according to sources on the ground. The decision has been appealed to a federal Iraqi judge on the basis of violation of council procedures.
Many see the move as part of a Kurdish plan to include areas outside of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the independence referendum announced by Kurdish political parties, scheduled for September 25.
The district of Alqosh borders the Kurdish region but is under the jurisdiction of the central government of Iraq. Most of its inhabitants are Assyrians, with a smaller percentage of Yazidis.
The district forms the northern part of the wider Nineveh Plains region, which Kurdish leaders openly seek to annex to the the Kurdish region.
After the news of the removal of the Assyrian mayor spread on social media Assyrians held simultaneous protests in Alqosh and outside the KRG office in Stockholm.
The Kurdistan Region’s political parties, not including the second biggest party of Change (Gorran) Movement and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), came to an agreement on June 7 to hold a referendum on the region’s independence on September 25, 2017.
The decision was slammed by Iraq, US, UK, EU, Russia, Germany, Turkey and Iran.
Read more about Independent Kurdistan state
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, aina.org | Ekurd.net
Comments
CommentsAntibiotics have been battling bacteria and saving lives since the 1940's. Fast forward several decades, however, and the war is changing.
"Superbugs" are strains of bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics, and they have been gaining strength and shifting the tide in their favor.
"This is really a frightening situation," Dr. Beth Bell of the CDC told CNBC's "On The Money" in a recent interview, "and really one of the most serious infectious disease threats of our time. "
CDC data show superbugs cause infections in at least two million people in the U.S. each year, and kill 23,000. Barely a week ago, in a landmark meeting, the United Nations General Assembly voted to take a coordinated approach to antibiotic resistance as a global health crisis.
By 2050, superbugs could kill 10 million people, according to the Review of Antimicrobial Resistance.
Bell, who oversees the CDC's emerging infectious disease programs, told CNBC that "in other parts of world, there are bacteria that are resistant to all known antibiotics."
If current antibiotics become ineffective, doctors will be unable to stop infections, she added.
"Antibiotic resistance and the rise of superbugs really [do] put modern medicine at risk," Bell explained.
"If you think about some of the main advances in medicine over the last number of decades, for example, cancer chemotherapy, organ transplantation, joint replacements, the success of all these innovations is really based on our ability to treat infections," she added.Muslim woman to be flogged for drinking beer in nightclub
Consuming alcohol is a religious offence for Muslims in Malaysia, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population (file pic)
An Islamic court in Malaysia has sentenced a Muslim woman to be flogged for having a beer in a nightclub, a court official said today.
It is rare for a woman in Malaysia to be sentenced to caning - a punishment usually reserved for men.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced yesterday to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) for consuming alcohol, said a Shariah High Court official who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to make public statements.
Shukarno, a 32-year-old model, pleaded guilty in the court in eastern Pahang state to a charge of drinking beer when Islamic authorities raided a hotel nightclub in August 2008.
Consuming alcohol is a religious offence in Malaysia but only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population.
Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases mainly related to family and moral issues.
Most offenders are fined, but the law also provides for a three-year prison term and caning. Shukarno was the only Muslim caught in the raid at the Pahang nightclub.
Malaysian clubs and lounges typically serve alcohol but are not legally required to check if customers are Muslim before serving them.
The hotel nightclub operators were not charged with any offence.
Shukarno plans to appeal the sentence, the New Straits Times daily reported.
The punishment 'is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims', the newspaper quoted Judge Abdul Rahman Yunus as saying.
The judge did not elaborate on why he imposed a relatively severe sentence, but local media noted that he had a history of being tough on alcohol offenders.
Rattan canes used in the punishment are made from palm plants common in tropical parts of Asia. They have been used for decades for corporal punishments in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
The caning sentence is generally carried out by specially trained officials at prisons.The Swiss might have been slightly late in giving women the vote (1971 was the year), but they still believe in certain progressive forms of democracy.
One of these seems to be helping a fascinating political party in its quest to have PowerPoint banned from the country.
The party is called the APPP. Yes, the Anti-PowerPoint Party. It's an organization that has, at its core, the firm belief that the Microsoft presentation software is a waste of fine Swiss resources.
Indeed, it believes that PowerPoint costs Switzerland 2.1 billion Swiss Francs (about $2.5 billion) every year. You will, no doubt, be desperate to learn of its mathematical model. Well, it says 11 percent of Swiss people have to attend PowerPoint presentations on average twice a week. At each of these presentations is a minimum of 10 people.
It then makes an estimation that some might find conservative, some not. It says 85 percent of people are demotivated by these presentations, from which number it leaps to the billions of francs in lost productivity.
Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
You will be stunned into singing Depeche Mode's "Everything Counts in Large Amounts" when I tell you the party only needs to get 100,000 signatures in order to hold a national referendum on banning PowerPoint and other similar software.
In a statement, the APPP's founder, Matthias Poehm, says solemnly: "I have an operating principle that always helps me: I don't want to be right, I only want the best result. [In] over 14 years of public-speaking training, I have noticed that the use of [a] flip chart beats PowerPoint in 95 [out] of 100 cases. This is not wishful thinking on my part but proven experience."
Let's hear it for the flip chart. And while we're hearing it, we might smile at the knowledge imparted by PCWorld that Poehm is trying to sell a book called "The PowerPoint Fallacy." (If you join the party, you get a 10 euro discount off the book.)
Poehm explained to PCWorld that this really is an important issue: "This issue will be raised in the awareness of the all people who still don't know that there is an alternative to PowerPoint, and with this alternative, you, probably, achieve three to five times more effect and excitement with the audience than with the PowerPoint."
Microsoft, PowerPoint's maker, has reportedly refused to comment so far (I have contacted the company too) on this political threat to its fine software.
Perhaps 11 percent of you will be sitting in a PowerPoint presentation this week. Please examine carefully whether it motivates you or does the reverse. Then consider whether your life will be improved by turning the APPP's manifesto into a global movement.Microsoft is hoping to set the stage for E3 by hosting the first press conference of the show, and while the company kept the majority of its presentation dedicated to games, it's clear that Microsoft wants to turn your 360 into a full-fledged entertainment hub. Last.fm is coming to your console, free with your Gold Xbox Live Subscription. The console's video service is being relaunched as Zune Video, and it will feature 1080p content that you don't have to load—you just choose your video and watch. Facebook is coming to the service, with integration for your Xbox Live avatar and even some games, such as the upcoming Tiger Woods. Twitter is also heading to Xbox Live. The motion-sensing camera, called Natal, is real, and Microsoft showed off how it is used to control the UI for the system, explaining that now anyone can play a game. Welcome to the social.
The motion-camera, which in fact does look functionally identical to the 3DV demo we previously wrote about, allows you to control games, try on virtual clothes using your own image, and even use hand-motions to buzz in while playing game shows. Voice commands? They'll be in there. Microsoft brought Steven Spielberg onto the stage to demo the technology, and his avatar moved in real time as he controled the UI. While many called this technology a gimmick before E3, everyone seems completely impressed by what's being shown here today. This isn't waving your hands around like the Wii, this is a very immersive technology tied to a very powerful console. The game demos look promising, including the ability to simply paint on a virtual canvas with your hands and voice commands. The sense of play is very Nintendo, and that's a high compliment for Microsoft.
In a slightly creepy twist, you'll no longer have to sign into your Live account; the system will know who is playing it by your face. Peter Molyneux showed off a game called Milo, where an animated character talks to you and you can talk back. Water shows your own reflection. You can draw a picture and show it to the television, "giving it" to a character who then interacts with the image. The level of interaction looks amazing.
The show also hyped a number of games, including The Beatles: Rock Band, which confirmed three-part harmonies and the ability to download entire albums as DLC. The songs "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "I Feel Fine," "Day Tripper," "Tax Man," "I am the Walrus," "Back in the USSR," "Octopus's Garden," "Here Comes the Sun," and "Get Back" are all confirmed. In a heart-warming twist, "All You Need is Love" will only be available via Xbox Live, and the proceeds from the song's sales will go to Doctors without Borders. All the hate from Sony fans will go directly to the comments.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr of course made a quick appearance, collected their paychecks, waved, and away they went. The star factor at this event is amazingly high.
Next up? Tony Hawk... well, hawked the new Tony Hawk: Ride, saying that it's going to feel just like riding a real skateboard; something that is sure to enrage the "why don't you just play a real guitar" set that's so vocal online. Until we have a chance to play for ourselves—and that's coming—it's easy to be skeptical about the board hardware that will come with the game. Modern Warfare 2 of course looks great and intense, as does Final Fantasy XIII, but that has as much to do with the sound system and theater as it does the games. We do know two maps for Modern Warfare 2 will hit Xbox Live first, as it seems like Microsoft getting the checkbook out was a theme of today's briefing.
Shadow Complex, an action/exploration title from Epic that's reminiscent of Metroid and Castlevania, was also shown, as was a cartoony racer called JoyRide. After that, the crowd finally got what it had been waiting for: the first details of Crackdown 2. Dead Rising 2 is exclusive to Xbox 360 and PC. Left 4 Dead 2 is likewise coming to Xbox 360 and PC. Splinter Cell Conviction? Yeah, that's exclusive to the 360, and it looks like it will feature some terrifically brutal context-sensitive kills. Forza 3 is coming in October, and if nothing else it looks like a car title that you'll want to play from the cockpit view; it's a stunning-looking game. Turn 10 makes some bold claims, as they talk about wanting to "win" the racing genre. They're clearly gunning for Gran Turismo 5 with this presentation, and the team unveiled an impressive high-definition video editor to show off your exploits on Xbox Live.
This was also the first time that footage from Halo: ODST had been shown, and it looks like the story will be told through the eyes of multiple soldiers, which seems like a smart bet. You'll be able to play the standalone expansion on September 22. That's not the end of Halo, as Halo Reach is coming in fall 2010. Of course, if you buy ODST you'll get an invite to the Halo Reach beta.
Alan Wake was shown in detail, and it looks absolutely amazing, with a heavy emphasis on using light to stay safe in the game. While sequels and more Halo may be exciting, this is what people came here for: to be turned-on by something that feels new. The game is coming in spring 2010, and is also exclusive to the Xbox 360.
While not an exclusive, Hideo Kojima revealed that Metal Gear Solid Rising is coming to the Xbox 360. This is Microsoft chipping away at the empire that was Sony, bringing yet another title that used to be known only on PlayStation platforms to the Xbox.
The conclusion? Microsoft has set the bar amazingly high for everyone else. Natal looks incredible, although it will take some real-world experience before we can completely believe the claims made by the presentation. The number of exclusives and well-loved properties is likewise impressive, although gamers are already voicing their anger at a sequel to Left 4 Dead being released so soon after the first game. In one swoop, however, Microsoft has revealed exciting exclusives, hyped games with exclusive or timed content on its system, given Xbox Live new life, and has perhaps even put the Wii on the technological defensive. That's from a stage show, however, and the question remains: how much of this will feel this real—and this good—once we get our hands on it?After having the privilege of spending some time listening to Henrique Capriles in Chile (more on that in future posts), I have a better understanding of what the strategy is. Or, at least, for what he thinks the strategy should be – whether or not he leads it is still very much up in the air.
Capriles was crystal clear in that the strategy requires patience – lots of it.
He believes the TSJ will rule against him, and will validate last April’s election. He also thinks the case will inevitably end up in multilateral institutions such as the Interamerican Court of Human Rights and the United Nations.
But he harbors little hope that this will be the solution. Venezuela’s enchufados will not leave via court order.
Capriles talked and talked about “growing the majority.” He obviously believes that, in order to change Venezuela, the opposition will have to continue growing – in popularity, and in elected positions. In his mind, continued participation in elections in order to consolidate growth is the only way to go. Presumably, the crumbling economy will be one of the ways in which the opposition will continue growing.
The end result of all of this … is a Constituent Assembly, but a particular kind of one.
He is gearing up for a Constituent Assembly that represents the newly consolidated majority in the country and removes all of the country’s institutions, presumably including the President. While he thinks it would be a mistake for a circumstantial majority to impose its Constitution on a minority, he is fine with the belief that the only way to change Venezuela is by changing its judges, electoral arbiters, comptrollers, and other elected officials.
In other words, we’re going to have to govern … like it’s nineteen ninety-nine.
Only then, he thinks, will we have a level playing field. Only then will we be able to put this nightmare behind us.
As for shortcuts, he clearly stated that “a military coup would be a tragedy, the worst thing that could happen to Venezuela.” “Look at Egypt,” he warned, “a lot of people were saying that we should hit the streets just like the Egyptians did, and look at the place now. Is Egypt a model?”
“Brazil,” he also said, “is not a good example either. In Brazil, the authorities listen to the people on the streets.” He stressed the case that while marching in Brazil leads to dialogue, in Venezuela it leads to target practice for government thugs.
Capriles is right in that street protests are not the way to change governments, but a means to an end. Street protests are a tactic, a way of forcing a change via other mechanisms. None of those mechanisms are called for in Venezuela.
No, the streets are not the goal. The Constitutional Assembly is.
Caracas Chronicles is 100% reader-supported. Support independent Venezuelan journalism by making a donation.TOPEKA, KS—Fred Phelps Sr., the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church and the man who is widely credited with forever ending the gay rights movement in America, died today at age 84.
According to biographers and historians, many of the facets of modern-day society that we now take for granted—such as the ban on gay marriage in all 50 states and the inability of homosexuals to serve in the military—can be traced back to Phelps’ vocal public crusades against the unholy practice of homosexuality, which he began in 1991 and which quickly succeeded in bringing efforts to expand LGBT rights to a spectacular and abrupt halt.
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“What Fred Phelps accomplished over the past 30 years—from a federal constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman, to nationwide laws allowing businesses to turn away gay customers—makes him easily one of the most successful and monumental figures of the past century,” said biographer Michael Ammons, noting that depictions of gays and lesbians began to disappear from popular culture and the media as soon as Phelps began taking his powerful rallies against homosexuality from state to state. “Fred Phelps devoted his life to one goal, and he triumphed. This was an incredibly influential man who deserved all the attention he received. Think of the legacy he leaves behind: In the past three decades, homosexuality has become practically nonexistent in society.”
“And his record goes on and on,” Ammons continued. “Just take a look around today: Nowhere in this country can same-sex partners enter into domestic partnerships, file joint tax returns, or adopt children. The unmitigated failure of the gay rights movement is something that can be singlehandedly attributed to Fred Phelps and his tireless efforts to show us that this was an unholy behavior.”
In addition to his enduring legislative legacy, experts agree that Phelps’ religious rallies also had an indelible impact on the American social landscape. Many have pointed to Phelps’ preaching against the sin of homosexuality as the overwhelming reason why all homosexual advocacy groups died out entirely in the early 1990s; why nobody in entertainment, politics, or professional sports has ever come out as gay or lesbian; and why citizens who do venture out of the closet feel nothing but ridicule and shame, knowing they are perversions who don’t deserve to exist.
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Many historians also noted that Phelps was an outspoken voice on pro-life and pro-marriage matters, and that the current zero-percent rates of divorce and abortion in the United States can be entirely attributed to his powerful message.
“It’s sickening to think what would have happened to our country if Fred Phelps hadn’t succeeded. Just imagining the sin and depravity that would exist all around us if people went out in public with their same-sex partners, or publicly celebrated that perverse aspect of who they are—it’s disgusting, and I’m glad that’s not the world we live in,” said Seattle resident Christine Smith, one of hundreds of millions of Americans who was touched by Phelps’ charisma and was won over by the influential worldview of his Westboro Baptist Church. “But thankfully, Fred Phelps opened everyone’s eyes to the truth that homosexuality is a sin that God will vengefully punish, and we no longer have to deal with any of those vile people enjoying the same rights as you or me.”
“Fred Phelps may be gone, but he will long be remembered for the countless accomplishments and successes he achieved in his lifetime,” she added. “I can safely say that the name Fred Phelps will never, ever be forgotten, and that his entire life’s efforts—his very existence—was most certainly not in vain.”We’ve concentrated on stories that take us into the extremes of life and the extreme parts of one of the world’s great cities."
Continuing his diverse exploration of life in America, Louis looks at LA’s problem with neglected and feral dogs; the experiences of patients with life-threatening conditions at the city’s most famous hospital; and examines how California deals with sex offenders after they are released from prison.
“I’ve been living in Los Angeles with my family for the past year or so. It seemed a chance to explore different sides of a single place, by spending longer immersed in stories and going deeper with the subjects,” said Louis Theroux. “I have a love hate relationship with the city. It embodies the best and worst of America. It combines wealth and glamour with social breakdown and deep neglect. We’ve concentrated on stories that take us into the extremes of life and the extreme parts of one of the world’s great cities.”
Emma Willis, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries for BBC One, Two and Four, says: “Louis is one of Britain’s most iconic interviewers and we’re delighted that he’s returning to the BBC to explore three diverse subjects in his own idiosyncratic style. In the 16 years that Louis has been making films for the BBC, he has produced some of our most challenging documentaries on a range of topics and we’re fascinated to see where he’ll take us next.”
The three films offer a unique insight into LA:
In City Of Dogs (w/t), Louis heads to one of the toughest neighbourhoods in the south of the city to investigate how hundreds of neglected and often dangerous dogs roam the streets or suffer mistreatment in chaotic homes. Louis joins dog catchers from the city’s biggest pound as they enter some of the roughest districts to capture or seize dogs. Thousands are euthanized in LA each year, while others are put up for rescue or adoption. In some of LA’s more affluent neighbourhoods, Louis meets the dog-lovers and trainers trying to rehabilitate troubled dogs, while back in south LA we also meet a former gang member who helps turn dogs into weapons.
In Life And Death (w/t) Louis heads to West Hollywood’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to experience the American way of death. A huge amount of money is spent on treatment during the last year of life and Louis follows the stories of three patients as they grapple with their seemingly terminal conditions. Should they accept the odds are against them and try and pass away in as comfortable a way as possible? Or should they go down fighting, trying every last treatment no matter how unlikely it is to succeed or how bad the side effects may be? In America – a country that leads the world in spending on end-of-life care - it is often the latter. With extraordinary access to families and patients in deep crisis, Louis will ask difficult questions about health care for terminal patients in the US.
In Sex Offenders (w/t), Louis looks at how California deals with sex offenders after release from prison. Under strict parole conditions, they are tagged with GPS devices and kept under constant watch. Under Megan’s Law, they are placed on a register for life, and anyone can find out their identity and learn about their past crimes, while under Jessica’s Law, they cannot live near parks or schools and many are separated from their families. Louis enters the twilight world of hostels and homelessness and talks with extraordinary openness to convicted sex offenders and those charged with monitoring them to ask questions about the purpose and effects of these laws.
The films were commissioned by Janice Hadlow, Controller of BBC Two, and Emma Willis, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries for BBC One, Two and Four. They are Exec Produced by Sam Bagnall for the BBC.
SS2Well, the time has finally arrived. Click on the album artwork below to be one |
USA Freedom Act on Monday afternoon.
Lawmakers have debated the possibility of extending the authority of Section 215, that authorizes bulk data collection, and other provisions in the extraordinary Sunday afternoon session. The debate started at 4:00 pm local time, eight hours before the expiration deadline.
The Senate has now officially adjourned. At midnight tonight, three major sections of the Patriot Act will no longer be part of US law. — Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) June 1, 2015
The National Security Agency used Section 215 of the Patriot Act as the basis for collecting phone records of Americans who were not necessarily under official investigation. It was also used to track financial data and to obtain companies' internet business records. The extent of the mass surveillance program was revealed nearly two years ago by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Two other sections that were not extended included the "lone wolf" provision that allowed targeted surveillance of people suspected to be terrorists, but not part of any group. The "roving wiretap" provision allowed the monitoring of a specific person, irrespective of the devices used.
Letting the provisions “sunset” is regarded as victory by those who were against government surveillance programs. Supporters of the Patriot Act, however, said that the programs were of vital importance to US national security.
READ RT'S LIVE UPDATES FROM THE SENATE DEBATE
Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) called the conundrum a “manufactured crisis” and urged the chamber to pass the House-approved USA Freedom Act.
Republican Senators Dan Coats (R-Indiana) and John McCain (R-Arizona) rejected “rubber-stamping” the House act, however, advocating an outright extension of the existing provisions. Coats argued that the public was “misinformed” about the surveillance, that there had never been any abuses if it, and that losing it would be unimaginable at the time when America's enemies were more dangerous than ever, and wish to “kill us all.”
Coats claimed the terrorists were just waiting for a nuclear 9/11, while McCain argued the surveillance had to stay because the “Middle East is literally on fire and we're losing everywhere.”
Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) asked for five minutes to speak, and overcame McCain's objections to do so.
“We're not collecting the information of spies. We're not collecting the information of terrorists. We're collecting the information of Americans, all of the time,” Paul argued, reminding the Senators that Section 215 was ruled illegal by a federal court, and therefore extending it would be wrong.
Paul blocked an effort by Majority Leader McConnell to vote on extending the two provisions of the Patriot Act unrelated to Section 215, the “lone wolf” surveillance and the “roving wiretaps.” That left McConnell with having to call for a cloture vote on passing the House's USA Freedom Act.
That vote succeeded, with 77 for and only 17 against. What followed was a re-run of Paul's May 20 filibuster, with the Kentucky senator speaking till almost 8 pm, then ceding the floor to two like-minded Democrats, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.
"Some people are secretly hoping for an attack, so they could blame it on me," Paul said, adding that he nonetheless believed one could oppose terrorism without violating the Constitution.
Wyden and Heinrich spoke until after 8:00pm, past the time the NSA said it would be possible to continue the surveillance without interruption if the Senate re-authorized it. At that point, the temporary shutdown of the surveillance became irreversible, at least until a new law is passed.
Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada) told reporters that Edward Snowden's revelations absolutely played a role in the debate.
“I think it played the same role for me as it did for most of the American people, who were surprised and stunned that the government had this sort of access to this kind of data,” Heller said.
The Senate adjourned at 9:45pm local time Sunday, and would reconvene on Monday afternoon to consider the USA Freedom Act. Until then, the NSA's metadata collection will be on hold.Darren Abate/Associated Press
Until proven otherwise, the Golden State Warriors deserve to be called the NBA champions. But after the San Antonio Spurs completed a flurry of offseason moves, Gregg Popovich's team presents the greatest immediate challenge to the Warriors' throne.
San Antonio will flash a couple of new weapons in the ever-growing Western Conference arms race, most notably power forwards LaMarcus Aldridge and David West.
Aldridge left the Portland Trail Blazers in favor of the Spurs, signing a max contract and bolstering a perennial contender's roster. West chose the pursuit of a ring over money and accepted a veteran's minimum deal to join the Spurs.
Plus, the band is back together. Kawhi Leonard inked a maximum agreement in restricted free agency. Danny Green, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili each returned on team-friendly deals, and Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills were under contract anyway.
Perhaps that's enough evidence to suggest San Antonio can again compete with Golden State for the Western Conference crown, but it wouldn't be a startling revelation. After all, the Spurs boast a 6-1 record against the Warriors since the 2013-14 campaign began.
However, Golden State unveiled an ace up its sleeve last season, one that helped change the course of the 2015 NBA Finals. San Antonio is now prepared to counter the trick.
Entering Game 4 of the Finals, the Warriors trailed 2-1 in the series. Steve Kerr inserted Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup and essentially benched center Andrew Bogut. Partially thanks to that adjustment, Golden State ripped off three consecutive victories and earned the league title over the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games.
The small-ball unit was so effective because containing Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green while stopping Harrison Barnes and Iguodala on both ends of the floor is tremendously difficult.
Opponents must possess a forward physical enough to create a mismatch in the post and quick enough to defend the perimeter, two players capable of guarding Curry and Thompson and a No. 4 scoring option to overcome the defensive abilities of Thompson, Green and Iguodala.
Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press
Yeah, that's all.
According to NBA.com, the Warriors' lineup of one point guard, two shooting guards and two small forwards posted a 113.6 offensive rating and 91.9 defensive clip last season.
That group was tremendously successful, absolutely. But it wasn't unstoppable.
Grant Cohn of the Press Democrat pointed out Green's struggles against Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies during the first five games of the second round of the playoffs:
As good as [Green] is at defending, we've seen him struggle against tall power forwards who can shoot. Who can shoot over him. Guys like Aldridge (6'11") and West (6'9"). Randolph shot 53 percent in those games. Green couldn’t get his hand up far enough to contest Randolph’s jump shot or his baby hook in the post. The Warriors had no answer for Randolph.
Neither Aldridge nor West is a terrific defender, but both can handle Green up front. Plus, Diaw could receive the minutes at the 4 opposite Barnes. Diaw can post up the small forward, roam the perimeter, rebound, play solid defense and find passing lanes from anywhere.
There aren't many perimeter duos capable of limiting Thompson and Curry throughout a seven-game series, but Danny Green and Leonard—the 2014-15 Defensive Player of the Year—are one.
Green and Thompson are arguably the best three-and-D weapons in the league, and each one could light up the other on a given night. Without a doubt, Thompson holds the upper hand, but Green would be welcomed by any NBA team as a top option to defend Klay.
Curry is ready to catch fire at any moment. The 2014-15 league MVP hoisted the trophy for a reason. However, Leonard's seven-steal performance against the Dubs in early April wasn't a fluke, either.
San Antonio certainly didn't neutralize Golden State as a threat simply by signing Aldridge and West, but minimizing the potential of a championship-changing lineup tweak is invaluable.
The Spurs roster is better built to overcome Kerr's craftiness, as long as Tony Parker shakes a late-season slump. If Golden State can hide Curry on Parker and send Iguodala on Leonard or Green, San Antonio could be in trouble.
Regardless, when the last two NBA champions meet, the unique lineup would run into a road block the Spurs never previously had.
Instead, both teams will likely turn to a defensive anchor at center, a dangerous power forward, a terrific perimeter defender and a three-point specialist. The Warriors will boast the MVP, and San Antonio will showcase the Defensive Player of the Year.
The Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets are poised to be great, but after the Spurs improved their rotation this offseason, San Antonio appears best prepared to challenge and ultimately dethrone Golden State.
Follow Bleacher Report NBA writer David Kenyon on Twitter: @Kenyon19_BR.Codi Wilson, CP24.com
A Brampton woman accused of performing botched Botox procedures has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
According to police, on July 7, the accused, who pretended to be a registered nurse with appropriate medical credentials, marketed her Botox injection services on Kijiji.
Police say she arranged to meet with clients at their home, their business or a hotel. The woman was also allegedly providing injection services at a business in the area of Kipling Avenue and The Queensway.
The clients would pay thousands in cash for the service, investigators say.
An investigation was launched after two people told police they had suffered an adverse reaction to the procedure, which police say could cause “long-term damaging effects.”
Shiva Ashkani, 30, of Brampton, was arrested on Sunday and charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Police say they believe there may be more victims and ask anyone who may have received this treatment from the accused to seek medical attention.Christopher Wray defended America's top law enforcement agency before lawmakers amid public attacks from President Trump on Capitol Hill. His testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on oversight of the FBI came just one week after Mr. Trump's weekend tweets calling the FBI biased, saying its reputation is "in Tatters — worst in History!" and urging Wray to "clean house."
"There is no shortage of opinions out there but what I can tell you is the FBI that I see is tens of thousands of agents and analysts and staff working their tails off keeping Americans safe," said Wray when asked about the president's tweets on Thursday.
Following Mr. Trump's public lambasting of the bureau, Wray sent an internal email to FBI employees amid concerns about morale.
Wray said he was, "inspired by example after example of professionalism and dedication to justice demonstrated around the Bureau." He told the staff, "It is truly an honor to represent you."
He did not acknowledge the president's criticism but he did write, "We find ourselves under the microscope each and every day -- and rightfully so. We do hard work for a living. We are entrusted with protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution and laws of the United States. Because of the importance of our mission, we are also entrusted with great power, and we should expect -- and welcome -- people asking tough questions about how we use that power. That goes with this job and always has."
Wray echoed that same sentiment at Thursday's hearing.
He called his staff "decent people committed to the highest principles of integrity and professionalism and respect."
"Do we make mistakes? You bet we make mistakes just like anybody who's human makes mistakes," said Wray, applauding the work of independent investigations to keep the FBI accountable.
He went on, saying that the staff of the FBI are "big boys and girls, we understand we'll take criticism from all corners and we're accustomed to that" but it was in his assessment that the FBI's reputation was "quite good."
Asked how exactly he can keep the FBI from ever being in "tatters" as the president claimed, Wray replied, "The best way that I can validate the trust of the American people and the FBI is to ensure we bring the same level of professionalism and integrity and objectivity and adherence to process in everything we do."
Meanwhile, Wray also took Thursday's hearing to provide his assessment on reports surrounding an FBI agent that was removed over allegations of anti-Trump text messages who was responsible for softening language about Secretary Hillary Clinton in the bureau's investigation into her private email server.
Wray told lawmakers that while he agreed with the investigation into the handling of the server as well as the removal of the FBI agent, he said it would not be "appropriate" for him to speculate on the investigation.
"These matters are being looked at as they should be, when those findings come to me I'll take the appropriate action necessary," said Wray. He added that he would "leave it to others to figure out if 'gross negligence' and 'extremely careless' is the same thing."
Here are some of the highlights from the hearing:
Wray on ousted FBI agent in Mueller investigation
At the outset of the hearing, Wray was asked about reports surrounding an FBI agent that was removed over allegations of anti-Trump text messages who was responsible for softening language about Secretary Hillary Clinton in the bureau's investigation into her private email server.
Peter Strzok, who led the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state, changed the language in former FBI Director James Comey's description of how Clinton handled classified information, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Strzok had changed Comey's earlier draft language describing Clinton's actions as "grossly negligent" to "extremely careless." That change in wording has significant legal implications, since "gross negligence" in handling classified information can carry criminal penalties.
Wray told lawmakers that while he agreed with the investigation into the handling of the server as well as the removal of the FBI agent, he said it would not be "appropriate" for him to speculate on the investigation.
"These matters are being looked at as they should be, when those findings come to me I'll take the appropriate action necessary," said Wray. He added that he would "leave it to others to figure out if 'gross negligence' and 'extremely careless' is the same thing."
In a back-and-forth with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, over the agent removed, Wray answered the Congressman's line of questions if the text messages exchanged were indeed a fireable action.
"Each question would have to be based on its own circumstances, I can imagine situations where it wouldn't be and situations where it might be," Wray said.
He explained however, that the "individual in question has not been dismissed", clarifying that Strzork had been "reassigned away from the special counsel investigation which is different than disciplinary action."
FBI Director on terrorism investigations
Wray told the panel in his opening remarks to lawmakers that there are about 1,000 open domestic terrorism investigations in the U.S. and also about 1,000 open cases related to ISIS.
Over the last year, there have been 176 arrests in domestic terrorism cases, Wray told the committee.
When pressed on domestic terrorism particularly as it relates to any federal investigations of "extremist" groups, Wray explained that the bureau will only investigate acts of terrorism if there is credible information of federal criminal activity, credible information suggesting an attempt of use of force or violence, and use of force or violence in the furtherance of a political goal.
Wray explained that currently the FBI has 50 percent more white supremacist investigations than "black identity extremist" probes at the moment, but "it doesn't matter if they're right wing, left wing or any other wing," said Wray of investigating extremist groups.
He added later that the FBI does not investigate specific "rhetoric or ideology or opinion" but only investigates when it takes that "next step" toward violence.
Wray on Trump's "tatters" Tweets
Meanwhile, on the topic of President Trump, when asked if Director Wray was ever given a "loyalty oath" similar to that of Former FBI Director James Comey or if he was ever asked to "side step the chain of command", the director replied, "no."
Wray also said Mr. Trump has not spoken to him about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential collusion or communications between Russia and the Trump campaign.
But when questioned on Mr. Trump's tweets denouncing the bureau he leads, Wray delivered an impassioned speech in defense of his staff.
"There is no shortage of opinions out there but what I can tell you is the FBI that I see is tens of thousands of agents and analysts and staff working their tails off keeping Americans safe," said Wray.
He called his staff "decent people committed to the highest principles of integrity and professionalism and respect."
"Do we make mistakes? You bet we make mistakes just like anybody who's human makes mistakes," said Wray, applauding the work of independent investigations to keep the FBI accountable.
He went on, saying that the staff of the FBI are "big boys and girls, we understand we'll take criticism from all corners and we're accustomed to that" but it was in his assessment that the FBI's reputation was "quite good."
Asked how exactly he can keep the FBI from ever being in "tatters", Wray replied, "The best way that I can validate the trust of the American people and the FBI is to ensure we bring the same level of professionalism and integrity and objectivity and adherence to process in everything we do."
Wray went into his opinions on the president's tweet, saying "I'm not really a Twitter guy" and that he has no plans to ever tweet or ever "engage in tweets."
Wray on Mueller and Comey
Director Wray called Former Director Comey a "smart lawyer" and a "dedicated public servant" when he worked with him in the early 2000's. He said he enjoyed working alongside Comey on anti-terrorism endeavors and said all experiences with comey were "positive" but has since lost touch with the former director.
On Special Counsel Robert Mueller, he sad in his experience, Mueller is "very well respected within the FBI."“As Mary Anne jets off to Los Angeles for more DJ tours, LA collective SMOG step in to showcase mixes from some of their top DJs. 12th Planet, Pawn & EMU, DLX and DJ Evol deliver exclusive mini mixes. Plus new music from Doom, Terror Danjah, Rudi Zygadlo and Thom Yorke.”
Check out my archives for other Mary Anne Hobbs radio shows and subscribe to the feed if you want to check out future shows. You can also follow Core News on Facebook and Twitter.
Mary Anne Hobbs Experimental 2009 11 19 12th Planet, Pawn & EMU, DLX and DJ Evol mixes [Hotfile download]
Tracklist:
Kazuhiro Okuda — Spiral Ramp (from the LP Saturation Point) – Skam
Vaccine — Electrolyte – Dubplate
Terror Danjah — Creepy Crawler (feat. Maxta. From Harddrive Vol 2) – Dubplate
Martyn — Mega Drive Generation (from the LP 5) Hyperdub
DOOM — Gazzillion Ear (Dr Who Dat? Remix from the Gazzillion Ear EP) – Run
Fantastic Mr. Fox — Sketches (Sbtrkt remix) – Black Acre
Space — Carry On Turn Me On (Architeq remix) – Tirk Dubplate
FaltyDL — I’m Gonna Show You Somthin – Dubplate
Rudi Zygadlo — Filthy Logic (from the LP Great Western Laymen) – Planet Mu
Kotchy — You Know (from the LP North/South/East/West) – Bleep
Headhunter — Collecting Butterflies (from the LP North/South/East/ West) – Bleep
Breakage & David Rodigan — Together – Digital Soundboy
12th Planet Mix
The Villains — Victims (12th Planet & Flinch Remix) – Dim Mak
12th Planet — 68 – Smog
12th Planet & Plastician — Plas12cian – Unsigned
12th Planet & Datsik (Smog)
Little Jinder — Youthblood (12th Planet & Flinch Remix) – Trouble & Bass
DJ Evol Mix
DJ Evol — The Congo – Dub
DJ Evol — Stand Up – Monster Musick
DJ Evol — Two Tone – Effect The Cause
DJ Evol — Murder Song – Dub
DJ Evol — Space Killer – Monster Musick 001
DJ Evol — Energy Ray – Dub
DJ Evol — Out Of Breathe – Dub
DJ Evol — Fd’up – Smog Dub
DJ Evol — No Mercy – Dub
DJ Evol — Bricktop – Dub
DJ Evol — Planet Cybotron – Monster Musick 002
DLX Mix
Dlx — Marooned (The Brain Surgery Ep) – Brainfeeder
Dlx — Bone Saw (The Cure Lp) – Smog
Dlx — Losing Her (The Cure Lp) – Smog
Dlx — Soul Infection (The Cure Lp) – Smog
Dlx — Sanctuary (The Brain Surgery Ep) – Brainfeeder
Pcm3 – Places (DlX Remix — Colors In The Air Lp) – Pocket Socket
Pawn & EMU Mix
Pawn and EMU — Know Yourself (Feat. Werd 2 Jah)
Makai — Beneath The Mask (Pawn Remix)
Kelly Dean & Steady — Teflon
EMU and Pawn — Headshot (Feat. Werd 2 Jah)
Dustmite — Gameover
EMU and Pawn — Periscope Dub – Darklord Rmx
Pawn and EMU — Crunch Time
JTreole — The Loot (Sully remix) – Keysound
Subeena — Solidify (feat. Jamie Woon) – Planet Mu
V.I.V.E.K — Meditation Rock – Deep Medi
Thom Yorke — The Hollow Earth – w.a.s.t.eA WSWS investigation into the social crisis in Australia’s Mount Druitt
“Where are we going to herd our poor?”
By our correspondents
3 June 2015
During its investigation into the social crisis in Mount Druitt, the WSWS spoke to Jon Owen, a community worker with the Urban Neighbours of Hope who has been in the area since 2007. Born in Malaysia, and raised in Melbourne, Owen has also been involved in advocacy and support for refugees locked-up in detention centres.
Jon Owen
Owen, along with his wife and children are based in Bidwill, a predominantly public housing suburb. Like Mount Druitt, Bidwill has been hard hit by decades of job destruction and cutbacks to essential government services. According to figures quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) last year, of the 2,500 people living in 800 public housing dwellings in the area, 93 percent subsist on some form of Centrelink (welfare) payments. By contrast, when Mount Druitt was established in the 1960s around 85 percent of residents living in public housing were employed.
In 2011, the median household income in these areas was just $689 per week, while the median individual income was $338, a little over half the median income for Greater Sydney. Single-parent families made up over 40 percent of the total of family households and over 7 percent of residents were living with a severe or profound disability.
With virtually no recreational facilities, children are often forced to play in car parks, on roads, and in nearby bushland. Youth unemployment in Bidwill was over 30 percent in 2011.
Asked about changes in the area since he has worked there, Owen said: “What we’ve seen is a huge government directive toward the selling off of public housing stock. At the same time, they’ve tightened up eligibility requirements. What you hear from people who were here 30 years ago is that the common thread was that ‘we’re all battlers, but we’ll make it if we stick together,’ and there’s still that camaraderie, it’s in the DNA of the place. But the criteria have been restricted—you can’t just be poor to get assistance anymore, you have to be poor with a problem. What we’ve seen is a decrease in housing, but an increase in social issues.
“Around 10-15 percent of public housing stocks have been sold off while I’ve been here,” he said. “The official reason is that they’re damaged and can’t be replaced. If you leave a property unattended for long enough it will be broken into or vandalised, burnt down and then the government goes, ‘see, we’ve got to sell them off.’ But usually they sell them off in bulk lots. Mount Druitt was the end of the world 30 years ago—now the government’s realised they’re sitting on millions of dollars of housing stock.
“It’s creating a crisis of overcrowding, so people just keep moving in to places. In the houses in the area, it would be common to have eight or nine people—starting to get crowded would be 18-plus.”
Owen, who provides services at a local high school, recalled: “We had two star students at this school, and then their attendance and attention span started slipping, and pretty soon they were truanting. Eventually one of them broke the law, and they started doing drugs. It was because there were 23 people in their house. One of the students said, ‘I can’t study when I want to study.’ He used to just come to our house, and sit quietly in the corner. I’d ask him if he wanted anything, and he’d say, ‘no I just want to sit and think.’ You have to take in family, but he just couldn’t cope, couldn’t sleep or do anything. There were always babies crying, or some other distraction.”
Owen pointed to the deepening social problems resulting from the housing and unemployment crisis, and the growing number of “disengaged youth” who are neither studying nor working. “The concentration of need that’s happening in the area has been compounded by the flooding of the streets with methamphetamine,” he said. “It intensifies the stress on family. Having just one member of a family on ice can have a devastating impact... And we’ve had families with two siblings on ice.”
Owen condemned the recent Special Broadcasting Services (SBS) television documentary, Struggle Street, which followed the lives of a number of individuals from the Mount Druitt area. The program provoked widespread opposition for failing to place their difficulties in any broader context, or to point to the culpability of government policy for the social crisis in working class communities. Owen wrote a piece for the Guardian critiquing the documentary, and has provided assistance to some of its participants.
Owen commented: “When you present someone’s lifestyle choices absent of the social, and economic context which they’re in, all you’re left with is a judgment on personal lifestyle choices and for me, that’s the definition of pornography. It’s poverty pornography.
“You’re left to watch it and think, ‘what a bizarre choice to smoke when you’re pregnant, or drink or buy junk food when you’ve got so many problems.’ It’s objectifying, not humanising people. Is this likely to create the scenario where we’re going to address social inequality, or reinforce it? I think we all know which it is. All we were presented with is the phrase ‘personal lifestyle choices.’ Whose agenda does that bolster at a political level?”
Owen was critical of SBS, a publicly-funded broadcaster that is often touted as “progressive” by virtue of its commitment to “multiculturalism” screening the program. He noted the other publicly-funded broadcaster, the ABC, played a similar role. “The last two hack jobs on this neighbourhood have been from the ABC and SBS,” he said.
“A ‘7:30’ report program [on the ABC] had Pru Goward, the [New South Wales state] government minister responsible for housing, frogmarch the ABC through some of our ugliest streets around here. And at the time Goward said, ‘we need to talk about the privilege of public housing.’”
Explaining the impact of government cuts to community organisations, Owen, whose organisation chooses not to receive state funding, said: “The way we place supports and structures around our most vulnerable people says more about our society and its priorities than what happens at the top end of town for me. What we’re seeing is a progressive set of cutbacks, taken from our community.
“We know that it’s a limited number of postcodes that produce the highest number of social issues. At a time when we should be getting a concentrated, collaborative focus to [deal with] those social problems, which includes people from the grassroots, we’re seeing those things being stripped away. We’re seeing government superstructures being built that do not service local specific needs. They just impose priorities and solutions that shift with the winds.
“From year to year, we’re eyeballing each other and thinking, ‘who’s going to drop next, who’s going to get funding?’ There was an excellent indigenous mentoring program called Excel that got dropped out of funding.”
Owen pointedly noted that Talisman Saber, military exercises involving Australia, the US and Japan off the coast of northern Australia, had not received a funding cut.
Asked about the prospects for the future, Owen commented: “Where are we going to herd our poor? If we look at it, probably all the public housing is going to be sold in the next 20-30 years. So what, are we going to shove our poor out of Sydney past the mountains or something, and relocate all the problems to regional areas, who are already suffering serious issues with drugs? No one can afford to live here. Are we going to have slaves? Who’s going to teach my kids? A basic worker can’t afford to live in Sydney... What are we doing for the next generation of the workforce?”
“We’re being primed for more cuts, less support and more demonisation of the working class and the underclass. It’s not the Australia I hope to be a part of.”
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.21 December 2016
Ulster University has taken another step forward in its commitment to developing a medical school in the North West, by submitting an application for accreditation to the General Medical Council (GMC).
Ulster University’s medical school proposal, which includes a graduate entry focus, is currently being considered by the Department of Health. It aims to provide broader access to medical training and address the skills and workforce challenges faced by the health care sector, mainly in the North West, but also across Northern Ireland as a whole.
The GMC is the body responsible for accreditation and educational standards for all UK doctors through undergraduate and postgraduate education and training.
Professor Hugh McKenna, Dean of Medical School Development, Ulster University said: “Doctors in Northern Ireland do an excellent job however we simply do not have enough of them. Working with our partners in the community, in health and social care trusts, in GP federations, and in the business sector, Ulster University’s medical school proposal will help to address a number of long term issues relating to population health and wellbeing.
“From the severe shortage of GP’s and the challenges of recruiting senior medical staff for hospitals in the North West and beyond, to the rising costs of locums and overtime, access to a new medical school will raise both the volume and quality of available knowledge and skills.
“The GMC accreditation process can be lengthy and it is important that we begin the process now so we can - subject to the necessary approvals along the way – be in a position to welcome the first intake of Ulster University medical students in 2019.
“With our longstanding history of world-leading medical and health related teaching and research in subjects including stratified medicine, allied health professionals, biomedical sciences and nursing, to pioneering new treatment options for conditions including diabetes, mental health, cancer and Alzheimer’s, a medical school is the natural next step for Ulster University.
“The major infrastructure and quality teaching we put in place in the North West will help to address the many health and wellbeing issues facing patients and communities across Northern Ireland for decades to come.”Teslas and other electric vehicles tend to be pretty pricey, and much of that cost comes from the price of the batteries. But that could change soon: A new report from the Stockholm Environment Institute suggests that the falling price of lithium-ion battery packs could usher in the age of affordable electric cars. In other green transportation news, a Danish engineer has created a solar-powered electric bicycle that can achieve a top speed of 30 MPH. And for the ultimate compact, eco-friendly transportation option, we bring you The Bolt, the world's smallest and lightest electric skateboard. The mini board weighs in at just nine pounds and measures 23 inches, and it can reach speeds of about 13 MPH.
On the science front, researchers at Harvard have successfully spliced woolly mammoth DNA into living cells collected from an elephant in hopes of eventually creating a mammoth clone. The next step is to convert the cells into an embryo and implant it into an artificial womb. A few years ago, "peak oil" was a hot topic in environmental circles -- but what about peak minerals? A group of Yale researchers created a Periodic Table of Risk to illustrate how modern mining has depleted rare elements from the Earth. It has been proven that plants can feel, and that they can communicate with one another, but do they have a sense of gravity? Scientists are studying plants in space to learn whether they have mechanisms that determine the direction of growth in the absence of gravity. Man-made technology will never match the genius of Mother Nature, but we can at least try to copy elements found in the natural world. The latest innovation to use biomimicry comes in the form of bulletproof armor inspired by fish scales. The flexible scale armor is 3D-printed, and it can be customized for different body types. And while 3D printing promises to revolutionize the way we produce things, for now, most 3D-printed pieces must be hand-assembled into functional objects. Buzz Technology is changing that with its Industrial Revolution III printer, which creates fully functional, sophisticated products in one streamlined process.
How long will it be before rising sea levels force us to build floating cities? That day could come sooner than we think, according to the Seasteading Institute. The organization recently launched the Floating City Project, an architectural design contest that seeks innovative designs for sustainable floating cities -- check out some of the futuristic designs here. In other green design and architecture news, Berkeley is building a pop-up library made from 50,000 books. The teepee-like structure will be part of the Bay Area Book Festival, and it will feature books donated by the Internet Archive. Los Angeles is home to a massive network of LED streetlights 7,500 miles long, and it's set to install a Philips CityTouch system that will control the network remotely using mobile and cloud-based technologies. Alaska is known for a lot of things -- cold weather, moose, salmon -- but architecture isn't usually at the top of the list. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that one of the country's great architectural feats is found outside of Anchorage, in Willow. The house, known widely as the Dr. Seuss House, looks like a typical house with a high-rise plunked on top of it. Needless to say, it has pretty amazing views of its surroundings.It won't win beauty prizes, but Mike Turner's modified 15 years old Civic beats the crap out of Honda's high-tech Civic hybrid when it comes to fuel efficiency. A member of EcoModder.com, "an automotive community where performance is judged by fuel economy rather than power and speed", Mike achieved his impressive results with some radical (as you can see) modifications and efficient driving. The 95 MPG figure is what he typically gets when "driving at a constant speed from 30 to 65 mph on a flat road in 80 degree F temperatures with well broken-in tires." So it's not the average for all kinds of driving conditions, but still an excellent demonstration of the gains possible with aerodynamics improvements (the Aerocivic has a drag coefficient of 0.17).
Kudos to Mike! More photos after the jump.
View from the back.
SuperMID computer.
Another view of the car.
::More about Basjoos’ 95 MPG Aerocivic, ::More picture of the Aerocivic, via ::EcoGeek, ::Eco-Driving — Unfeel the Need for SpeedThere’s a price for taking on Mayor Kevin Johnson in Sacramento, Calif., and the Sacramento News & Review is now paying it. The small weekly paper has consistently taken the lead in exposing Johnson’s abuses of the public trust—and now, for its troubles, finds itself in a bizarre racism controversy contrived by the mayor’s cronies.
Two weeks ago, Betty Williams, a vice-president of the Sacramento chapter of the NAACP, sent out a press release on the group’s letterhead blasting the News & Review for “racially biased news coverage” of Johnson. The statement, which you can read in full here, focused on a caricature the paper ran in which the former NBA star—now dealing with yet another in a long run of scandals involving a variety of sexual, financial, and ethical improprieties—reads critical N&R coverage. “The NAACP is outraged at the racist SN&R cartoon lampooning Mayor Johnson,” it read. (The cartoon in question can be seen at left.) “Caricaturing images of the Mayor with a crazed and violent look reinforces what many believe is the persona of many African American males.”
Williams, a former president of the NAACP’s Sacramento chapter, then fronted an anti-News & Review publicity campaign. “It’s almost like the blackface and the Sambo look,” Williams said on KFBK, a local news radio station. The group has since threatened a boycott of the paper.
All of this has, so far, worked out just fine for the mayor, who would surely much rather have people talking about cartoons than his legal issues. As is often the case when it comes to how Kevin Johnson is covered in Sacramento, the facts—that Williams is a Johnson agent in long standing; that her campaign is straight out of a playbook written up long ago by Johnson operatives; and that local activists are incredulous at the idea that the N&R did anything wrong—don’t seem to much matter at |
Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, but it is withholding the identities of the thieves, adding another twist to the largest property heist in U.S. history.
On Monday, the 23rd anniversary of the theft, authorities announced a new publicity campaign aimed at generating tips on what they still don't know: Where is the missing artwork? Their focus has shifted from catching the thieves to bringing home the precious artwork, including paintings by Rembrandt, Manet, Degas and Vermeer.
"The key goal here is to recover those paintings and bring them back," U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said at a news conference at the FBI's Boston headquarters.
Just after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men posing as police officers pulled off the heist, stealing 13 pieces of artwork in 81 minutes.
For more than two decades, the FBI has chased leads around the globe, finally making progress over the last few years so that they now believe they know the identity of the thieves.
The FBI's Richard DesLauriers says the agency believes the thieves belonged to a criminal organization based in New England and the mid-Atlantic states. He said authorities believe the art was taken to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region in the years after the theft, and offered for sale in Philadelphia about a decade ago.
After the attempted sale, the FBI does not know what happened to the artwork, DesLauriers said.
DesLauriers repeatedly rebuffed questions from reporters on the identities of the thieves, saying releasing their identities could hamper the continuing investigation. He refused to say whether the thieves are now in prison on other charges, and would not say whether they are dead or alive.
Last year, a federal prosecutor in Connecticut revealed that the FBI believed a reputed Connecticut mobster, Robert Gentile, had some involvement with stolen property related to the art heist.
Gentile, 76, of Manchester, Conn., was not charged in the heist, but pleaded guilty in November in a weapons and prescription drugs case. Gentile's lawyer, A. Ryan McGuigan, said at the time that Gentile testified before a grand jury investigating the heist. He said Gentile knows nothing about the heist, but was acquainted with people federal authorities believe may have been involved.
The FBI also searched the Worcester home of an ex-convict who has a history of art theft.
Ortiz said the investigation was "active and at times fast-moving" over the past few years.
In the meantime, empty frames hang on the walls of the museum, a reminder of the "enormous loss" and a symbol of hope that they will be recovered, said Ortiz. The stolen paintings include: "The Concert" by Johannes Vermeer; and three Rembrandts, "A Lady and Gentleman in Black," Self-Portrait," and "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," his only seascape.
Ortiz said the statute of limitations has expired on crimes associated with the actual theft. She said anyone who knowingly possesses or conceals the stolen art could still face charges, but said prosecutors are willing to discuss potential immunity deals to get the artwork back.
The new publicity campaign will include a dedicated FBI website on the theft, www.FBI.gov/gardner, video postings on FBI social media sites and digital billboards in Connecticut and Philadelphia.
DesLauriers said authorities believe someone not involved in the theft has seen the artwork without realizing it is stolen.
"It's likely over the years that someone — a friend, neighbor or relative — has seen the art hanging on a wall, placed above a mantle or stored in an attic. We want that person to call us," DesLauriers said.
The FBI said it is re-emphasizing a $5 million reward being offered by the museum for information that leads directly to the recovery of the art.While the Mavericks are cautious not to repeat the failings of last year's Rajon Rondo trade, they will be active at the trade deadline, team owner Mark Cuban said in an interview on The Musers of 1310 AM The Ticket on Tuesday morning.
"Yeah, we're trying to be!" Cuban said. "We're trying to be! I don't think there's going to be any swinging for the fences kind of deals. We think we have some room to maneuver to improve our bench, but I don't think there's going to be any blockbuster type deals or anything like that."
There has been a jumble of trade rumors and a couple trades so far this season, all of which you can catch up on right here. However, even if the Mavericks wanted to make a play for one of the larger names like Dwight Howard or Al Horford, they really don't have the assets to incentivize such a deal nor players with contracts that could match up to facilitate a larger move. Smaller, bench moves just make more sense.
"Mostly, 'this guy hasn't really performed to expectations on our bench, this guy hasn't really performed to expectations on yours,' maybe a change of scenery type thing," Cuban said. "We're not close (to anything), but we're certainly having conversations."
And sure, if the right trade offer came along, Cuban and Donnie Nelson are listening. But let's be honest: there's little to no chance of a truly blockbuster offer coming along.
"Maybe there's three or four guys in the league where the answer's 'yes,' no matter what they want, other than Dirk," Cuban said. "But we're not getting those offers."Lions Gate Hospital invokes unheard-of policy in the face of poor planning
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BCNU has learned of at least one hospital that has resorted to calling in nurses for mandatory overtime (OT), as they face the seasonal spike in patient volume levels. By the late evening of December 30, Lions Gate Hospital staff had called in at least four BCNU members to work mandatory OT; multiple wards were working a shift short, and an LPN was called in to work an RN shift in the ER.
By day's end, full-time stewards at Surrey Memorial Hospital had alerted BCNU to similar concerns over inadequate staffing in their ER, as they faced extremely high volumes of patients.
Members are reminded that they have the right to refuse unsafe patient care. Nurses have a duty to provide care; they are obligated to provide safe, competent and ethical care to clients, as set out in the CRNBC's Standards of Practice.
New language negotiated by BCNU into the collective agreement is designed to make employers more accountable for their staffing responsibilities, with a policy framework due March 2017. Meanwhile, the staffing situation at Lions Gate Hospital is a glaring example of a nursing shortage that continues to deteriorate, leaving nurses to bear the brunt of poorly planned staffing efforts.
BCNU is dedicated to its members and continues to fight for safe staffing levels that will result in the safe care of patients.We’ve told you before about cool SWTOR projects from myknocksden.com and now we have another one to share. This is a SWTOR Arcann mask cosplay/prop and it’s awesome, just like all of his work. The best part is, he will tell you exactly how he did it.
“Being the dedicated SWTOR fan that I am, the minute the new trailer “Sacrifice” was announced in June of 2015, I knew I had to make Arcann’s mask.
As with everything, it all began in the digital realm with some curves and plain surfaces, fuelled by a lot of energy drinks. The mask is quite complex, so even with great reference material, modelling in Rhino took close to 30 hours. ”
See all of the digital plans here, along with step-by-step directions on how he did it. Then he will move into explaining and showing you in pictures how he created the base for his mask and used 3D printing of his digital plans to get the pieces.
“Next, the parts needed to be smoothed to get rid of the striation which is an artifact of 3D printing. I poured some acetone into a pot, put this on an element, and used the acetone vapour (which starts to boil off at 56 degrees C) to coat the parts. For this step, all you have to do is hold the part over the boiling acetone for several seconds until the plastic starts to glisten Once the chemical starts boiling, the acetone produces a vapour that rises, quickly condenses and subsequently falls again, coating both sides of the part. If you attempt this method at home, you absolutely must wear a respirator, and have your fume hood on! Gloves are also a good idea.”
He goes on to explain the rest of the alterations he has to make using bondo, sanding the seams, using primer on the mask, and more putty where needed for filling in and smoothing everything out. There’s definitely an art to this and I imagine it gets easier with practice at projects like this.
With more pictures and more detailed instructions, he takes you through all of the final steps and I have to admit, at some points it doesn’t even slightly resemble what it’s supposed to be. But eventually, this:
Gets turned into this:
And there you have it! Despite his very detailed instructions with photos, I’m not sure I could pull of a mask as awesome as his.
(Visited 6,458 times, 3 visits today)Researchers at EPFL present new evidence for the crucial role of algae in the survival of their coral hosts. Ultra-high resolution images reveal that the algae temporarily store nutrients as crystals, building up reserves for when supplies run low
Researchers at EPFL present new evidence for the crucial role of algae in the survival of their coral hosts. Ultra-high resolution images reveal that the algae temporarily store nutrients as crystals, building up reserves for when supplies run low.
The relationship between corals and the microscopic algae they harbor is a classic example of biological symbiosis - the mutually beneficial interaction of two species. But crucial details regarding their relationship have remained elusive until now. Using state-of-the-art imaging techniques, Anders Meibom and his team of researchers in the Laboratory for Biological Geochemistry have found new evidence on the vital role algae play in helping corals survive in environments where nutrients are scarce. Their findings were published in the journal mBio on May 16, 2013.
"Coral reefs are the jungles of our oceans - hotspots of biodiversity that easily outcompete all other marine ecosystems," says Christophe Kopp, first-author of the publication. Coral bleaching occurs when the colorful algae abandon their coral host because of environmental strains like rising sea temperatures. On their own, corals struggle to survive in tropical waters where nutrients are scarce, and persistent starvation can have irreversible effects. While it is well known that algae help corals to assimilate certain nutrients, such as nitrogen from seawater, how this occurs, and to what extent the corals can get by on their own, are less clear.
To study how nitrogen-rich nutrients are taken up and processed by the corals and the algae that inhabit them, Meibom's research group teamed up with the Aquarium Tropicale Porte Dorée in Paris to run a series of experiments. There, they fed the corals nitrogen-rich compounds labeled with a heavy nitrogen isotope that they could later trace in the lab. Every few minutes, they extracted bits of coral, which they fixed and analyzed with a state-of-the-art isotopic imaging instrument, a so-called NanoSIMS.
Next, they assembled a timeline of how the nitrogen is processed by the corals and their resident algae by lining up the images of the samples extracted at different times. A combination of electron microscopy and mass spectrometry allowed them to study with unprecedented precision into which cellular compartments the heavier nitrogen isotopes had been incorporated.
Crystal food banks
The research revealed that the corals depend strongly on the algae to extract sufficient nutrients from the water. This was particularly true when the corals were exposed to nitrate, a compound that they are unable to process and assimilate on their own.
But most interestingly, the scientists observed that the algae act as tiny food banks. Their images revealed that the algae temporarily store the nitrogen in the form of uric acid crystals - a fact they later confirmed using crystallographic analysis. This way, the algae can stock up on nutrients when supply is abundant and draw on them when supply drops, leaching some out to their coral host.
Because coral reefs are at the foundation of immense economic activity, both as tourist magnets and as the habitats of some of the most productive fish populations, understanding their fate as the environment they inhabit changes is not only of ecological, but also of economic importance.
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The research was performed in close collaboration with EPFL's Interdisciplinary Centre For Electron Microscopy (CIME), the Institute of Earth Science at the University of Lausanne, as well as the Aquarium Tropicale Porte Dorée and the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. The work is funded by an ERC Advanced grant and by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation.There are two methods of hair removal that outshine the rest. It has been hotly debated for a long time which is better, though each come with their advantages and disadvantages. The epilator vs waxing.
What is an epilator?
An epilator is a device similar to an electric shaver. It consists of a rotating head of tweezers that traps hairs and pulls them from the root as it is run across the skin. It is a modern solution to an ancient problem. This epilator from Braun is the single most popular epilator among my readers!
To learn more or to find out which epilator is best for you, check out our comprehensive epilator guide!
What is waxing?
Waxing is a hair removal technique that has been used for centuries. Egyptians like Cleopatra started the trend as far back as 60 B.C. with oil and honey, and considered being hairless as proper hygiene. This was later mimicked by the Romans, where being hairless was a sign of wealth and class.
How does it work?
To get rid of unwanted hair, hot wax is spread across the skin. A cotton strip is placed on top of the wax pressing the cloth into the wax and the wax onto the skin. The cloth is then ripped off along with the wax, and the hair.
So which is better?
Instead of going through the advantages and disadvantages of each method we felt it would be better to look at all the characteristics that make a hair removal technique great and judge which is better, one by one.
Price
This is often the factor that is considered most important. It is also one of the problems that epilators solve.
With waxing you have 2 options: you can go to a salon for a professional wax, or you can do it yourself at home. A professional wax is not cheap, and even though it is something that only needs to be done once every few weeks, the costs add up. Waxing by yourself at home is cheaper (especially with Veet Wax Strips but again, is something you have to buy over and over).
An epilator might cost a bit more up front (around the price of a professional wax), but once you buy it you won’t be paying anything more for at least a year. Epilators can cost anywhere from $40-150, depending on the features you desire. Check the latest price on the top epilators here.
Epilator 1 – 0 Waxing
(Epilator wins!)
Skin Irritation
After epilating you are very likely to get a number of red bumps on your skin. This is normal and is because of the irritation of pulling hairs individually from their root. This redness usually subsides after an hour or two (so don’t epilate before going out!) and we recommend moisturizing right after.
Waxing actually serves more than one purpose. Not only does it pull your hairs out but it also removes dead skin cells from the surface of your skin like exfoliating does. This leaves your skin feeling silky and smooth as the fresh skin cells are revealed. It can also result in some irritation, especially if you have sensitive skin, but it ultimately happens less than with epilation. Using a wax warmer will help the process go more smoothly – pun intended.
Epilator 1 – 1 Waxing
(Waxing wins!)
Effectiveness
Waxing has been used for centuries due to its effectiveness. It pulls hairs from the root and takes dead skin with it, leaving your body nice and fresh (if a little sore!). The only downside is that the wax presses hairs down against the skin, making it more likely that they won’t be pulled. There is also more of a chance that hairs will be broken instead of pulled. This is normally remedied by tweezing those left-behind hairs.
Epilating takes this process and mechanizes it. Hairs are pulled directly from the root, leaving it damaged and causing the hair that grows back to be thinner and weaker. With epilating, you can easily go over a section where some hair was missed. Though when epilating wet, you may find you’ll be doing this often as wet hairs are also weighted down against the skin making them difficult to grasp.
Epilator 1 – 1 Waxing
(Draw!)
Time
How long each of these methods takes is ultimately up to you. A professional wax might be faster and more effective than what you can achieve at home, but you have to travel to get it done. Both waxing and epilating will take less time the more you do them and the better you get at doing them.
On average, waxing will take up to an hour or an hour and a half to do your legs and arms. Epilating will take under an hour and also doesn’t require any messy clean up time afterwards. Personally, I find using my Braun epilator in the shower to be much less time consuming than waxing.
Epilator 2 – 1 Waxing
(Epilator wins!)
Convenience
It’s hard to argue against the epilator for this one. Waxing requires preparation, whether it be heating up the wax or making an appointment. Cold wax is another option and while it is certainly convenient, it is far less effective and is more likely to result in ingrown hairs and irritation. With an epilator you can simply press a button and begin. Perfect if you don’t have time to book an appointment or wax yourself. Most modern epilators are cordless and so can be used anywhere. Make sure you have enough battery though!
Epilator 3 – 1 Waxing
(Epilator wins!)
Pain
Some say that epilation is more painful, some say waxing is. This category is very subjective. What we can say is that both methods get less painful as your skin gets used to the sensation.
It can be argued that waxing is able to cover a larger surface area at a time and so overall the pain is less. It can also be argued that epilators can be used wet, or at a lower speed setting to minimize pain. I personally use the Braun Silk Epil 9 Epilator. I use it in the shower, and find it painful only for the first few seconds each time.
See How To Reduce Epilation Pain for a more comfortable session.
Epilator 3 – 1 Waxing
(Draw!)
Frequency of Use
This was a difficult one to decide.
On the one hand: waxing can keep you smooth for up to 8 weeks, while epilators can usually give you around 2 weeks to 1 month of hairlessness.
On the other hand: you need to wait for hair to grow back to a certain length before you can wax again, which is a nightmare if you don’t time your waxing right. There’s nothing worse than having to get to a certain level of hairiness before you can rip it all out.
With an epilator you can literally use it whenever. See a couple of hairs peeking through?
Seek and epilate. These devices can pull hairs as small as 0.5mm in length.
Tip: Hair grows back at different rates. Use your epilator as soon as you see any hairs coming through to maintain smoothness at all times.
Additionally, hair growth is stunted when using an epilator so with continual use you will actually have to epilate less and less.
Epilator 4 – 1 Waxing
(Epilator wins!)
Skill
Epilating is pretty straightforward. There are a number of things to keep in mind when epilating to get the best results – see our Guide to Perfect Epilation here.
Waxing is a little more complicated. Cosmetics expert Paula Begoun recommends that you see an aesthetician before trying it out yourself. When waxing at home you have to wait for the wax to get to the correct temperature (be careful about burning your skin) and then make sure you’re spreading it properly without getting it everywhere! It will also leave a sticky residue, but this can be wiped away with a few drops of oil.
With this in mind, both of these methods require more skill than going to a salon 🙂
Epilator 5 – 1 Waxing
(Epilator wins!)
Final Score: Epilator 5 – 1 Waxing
Conclusion
The epilator was created to remedy some of the issues that waxing had, and to make the process simpler. We feel like it succeeded. Waxing is still widely used by women all around the world due to the fact that it has been a good solution to a problem for thousands of years. Epilators have become more and more popular over the years and may one day replace waxing as the dominant method of hair removal.
Still, every woman is different and everybody has their preferences. Waxing has been a popular hair removal method for so long for a very good reason. It works, well.
There is a huge variety of products catering to these 2 methods, which have a direct impact on the technique’s reputation. Epilators come in all shapes, sizes and prices. Some are designed for sensitive areas and for facial epilation, some for the whole body. Waxing can be done at home with hot wax or cold wax, or by a professional at a salon. All of these options will vary in quality.
For this reason the answer to the question of epilator vs waxing cannot be absolute. We can tell you that epilation is the modern solution to the problem of unwanted hair, but you might not get the results you wanted with an inexpensive epilator. Our advice to you is to read some reviews and decide on a balance between price and quality.
If you’re looking for a quick product recommendation, the most popular epilator among my readers is the Braun Silk Epil 9. And the most popular waxing kit is this Yeelen Wax Kit.
Safety Tips
Never wax within 24 hours before or after tanning. Sun exposure damages your skin and makes it easier to peel off layers of skin when you wax, it also increases the risk of bruising.
Try not to swim in public pools or get into hot tubs until a few hours after waxing. Your sensitive skin coming into contact with possibly unclean water could lead to infection.
Consult with your doctor about waxing if you have sensitive skin, a skin condition, or acne problems. Epilator is the ideal choice.
ResourcesWith Authority! was an online wrestling game created by Genetic Anomalies in conjunction with World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as it was known at the time, and THQ. It was the first WWF game released solely on home computers since 1992's WWF European Rampage Tour.
The game was released under its original title WWF With Authority! in 2001 on July 23. Later, in the summer of 2002, as a result of a lawsuit between the World Wrestling Federation (which was becoming the WWE) and the World Wildlife Fund, the game's official title became WWE With Authority!.
Gameplay [ edit ]
At its core, WWE With Authority! was a digital collectible card game in electronic form. Players could purchase virtual "Pages" and assemble them into a "Playbook." This playbook would represent the moves and abilities that your wrestler would be capable of pulling off in the ring.
WWE With Authority! was distributed as a downloadable freeware game and was available on CD in retail stores for US$5.00. The retail version came with a redemption code for a William Regal starter playbook. Players could purchase additional pre-constructed playbooks for superstars consisting of complete selections of plays for US$10.00. Booster packs were also available for US$3.00 that include an assortment of random individual pages to accentuate your existing playbooks. A certain amount of rarer cards were guaranteed in each booster.
There is a single player mode, which is intended as a tutorial. Only one opponent in the tutorial is truly playable. The game was primarily geared towards the online multiplayer game, where as many as 1,000 people were available at any given time during the game's height. The game kept track of the player's wins, losses and draws, as well as the number of times a player has been cut off in the middle of a match. This feature was to discourage players from terminating the program to avoid taking a loss.[1]
Expansion sets [ edit ]
There were seven sets put up for sale at various times during the tenure of the game.
Season One [ edit ]
First Edition, 196 cards (February 21, 2001)
This was the first set of the game. Established the framework and environment.
No Way Out, 145 cards (December 12, 2001)
This expansion rounded the game out to a complete play environment.
WrestleMania X8, 25 cards (late March, 2002)
This "mini-expansion" was on sale only for a month or two. It was developed during the show itself, with designers at the event taking notes then scrambling back to implement, code and test the set. The main theme was the inclusion of the NWO.
Season Two [ edit ]
TLC, 160 cards (May 16, 2002)
The "Tables, Ladders and Chairs" expansion greatly increased the number of hardcore and illegal moves and special cards available to players. Concurrent with this set was the release of the new "Ladder Match".
Second Edition, 250 cards (June 2002)
This set included 238 reprints from Season One and 12 Superstars. These Superstars were new versions of existing superstars, including new gameplay text. This update scheme received a mixed reaction.
SummerSlam 2002, 25 cards (August 2002)
Based on the results from the X8 mini-expansion, Genetic Anomalies released SummerSlam 2002. This set featured Shawn Michaels (returning from a four-year break from WWE) and Brock Lesnar (who captured his first WWE Championship).
Unforgiven, 200 cards (September 27, 2002)
This set marked the return to themes that were based more on card mechanics and less on storyline development.
"Expansion Eight", around 150 cards (unreleased)
Preview cards of this expansion set were released in October and November 2002. Rey Mysterio and Tajiri and their trademark moves were put on sale in Limited Edition form. This set was originally scheduled for a mid-December 2002 release.
Reception [ edit ]
Reception Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 53/100[2] Review scores Publication Score GameSpot 7.2/10[1] GameZone 2/10[3] IGN 6.8/10[4]
WWE With Authority! was one of the first online collectible card games, along with Chron X, also from Genetic Anomalies. While subsequent online collectible card games have enjoyed success, including Magic: The Gathering Online, Genetic Anomalies would not survive to see the genre flourish. The game itself was met with mixed reception, as Metacritic gave it 53 out of 100.[2]
There was also a WWF collectible card game released at about the same time entitled Raw Deal, which was considered to be a better alternative to the online version.[5]
Shutdown [ edit ]
In January 2003, THQ ceased production of the game. The server remained online for several months. The freeware client can still be downloaded from some freeware distribution sites, but the game is no longer officially supported.[citation needed]
In 2003, just weeks before support ceased, a peer-to-peer version of the game was released by THQ such that existing players could continue using the game with the pages they purchased. This way, players would connect though IP addresses. Now, there is With Authority! Peer-2-Peer. This version of the game uses mIRC for a chat room/server, and the original WA! client as before. There were also page changes in 2004.[citation needed]
Also in WA! P2P, there are six Guide sets (meaning each account has at least five of every page (excluding promotional pages). There are also eleven weekly events, two monthly events, totaling at least 45 official events a month. There are also title accounts which a current champion may use the belt if s/he wins the title, including: The World Heavyweight Title, Cruiserweight Title, Intercontinental Title, European Title, Hardcore Title, and Tsunami Cup.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ]The Bergmann MG 15 was the World War I production version of 1915 (MG 15 n.A.) light machine gun developed by Germany. It used 100/200 round belts and utilized a bipod, which allowed the weapon to mount on a surface for more accurate firing.
Design and Development [ edit ]
The Bergmann gun used a lock system patented by Theodor Bergmann in 1901 along with the short recoil principle of operation. The locking system, in which a cam moves a lock vertically in the weapon was not dissimilar to the Browning machine gun designs. The original design, borrowing from the 1910 pattern, was a heavy ground-based weapon fitted with a water-cooling jacket. The weapon was then lightened for both infantry and aircraft use. For aircraft usage, the bolt was lightened and the mechanism sped up from 500 rounds per minute to 800. For ground use, this weapon was adopted as the Bergmann MG 15. The receiver to the weapon was machined down and lightened, featured a butt stock fitted to the end of the weapon. It was given a pistol grip and trigger grouping instead of spade grips, the heavy cooling jacket was replaced with a thin perforated barrel shroud and an affixed bipod halfway down the barrel.
The major development of the weapon came early in 1916 when the Bergmann MG 15 was converted into a second variation to mirror the development of the Maxim MG 08/15. The bolt was slowed back down as the original had stoppage issues when used in the ground role. The bipod was removed from the flimsy barrel shroud and relocated to just forward of the pistol grip using a swivel-mount that accepted the bipod shared between the Bergmann and Maxim guns. A carry handle and new sights were also added. When this variation was adopted, it was called the Bergmann MG 15nA, the nA standing for neuer Art ("new Model"). The old pattern was then renamed the Bergmann MG 15aA from alter Art ("old Model"). The MG 15nA saw a much more frequent use amongst Imperial German forces than the MG 15aA.
Service use [ edit ]
Battlefield usage of the weapon was significant, but not to the extent of the Maxim weapons. The Bergmann MG 15nA was an important weapon in that it filled a gap in the German armory between the rifle and the heavy machine gun. The only other light machine gun the Imperial German Army fielded before the Bergmann was adopted were the various Madsen light machine guns used by the Musketen battalions. In the Battle of the Somme, the German Army found that they desperately needed a weapon to counter the British Army's Lewis Gun. The limited quantities of the Madsen gun (Germany did not produce any Madsens in the First World War and relied almost entirely on captured weaponry. Madsen machine guns were actually imported from Denmark, which was neutral.) only added to the need for a contemporary to the Lewis. The German Army, reeling from the Battle of the Somme, ordered some 6,000 MG 15nAs in November 1916. These weapons were distributed to Musketen and other infantry battalions before enough troops could be trained upon the new MG 08/15 in the winter/spring of 1917. The majority of MG 15nA weapons were actually delivered to the Eastern and Palestine fronts where the German Asia Korps made the most significant use of the gun. The German Leichtmaschinengewehr Truppen (referred to as LMGt for short) were formed specifically for the weapon. The MG 15Na was a generally reliable gun which served until the manufacture of automatic weaponry was ceased in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles, but the dominance of the Maxim '08 during the war meant it never acquired much enthusiasm from military officials. The weapon had faded into obscurity by the time the Second World War came about.The Danish parliament has scrapped a law requiring people to be sterilised as part of the sex change procedure before they could be legally recognised as another gender.
As of 1 September, all Danes over 18 will be able to apply for a legal gender change simply by stating that they belong to the other sex, after which they must complete a six-month "reflection period".
They would no longer have to undergo the physical sex change procedure before obtaining a new gender on their identification card.
"Today we have dropped the requirement of sterilisation when transgendered people need a new personal identification number as part of a legal sex change," Minister for Economics and the Interior Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
"It will make life easier and more dignified for the individual, for example when you are asked for ID in shops," she added.
The Danish government added that the move could be seen as part of an international trend towards "easing the conditions for legal sex change(s)."
Sweden last year scrappd a similar law and a group of Swedish transsexuals who were sterilised to complete their sex changes have since demanded compensation from the government.
Denmark's personal identification number is used to identify all residents in the country's Civil Registration System, and is needed for everything from salary payments to issuing a passport.
Amnesty International said in February that in many European countries people can change legal gender only if they are diagnosed with a mental disorder, undergo medical procedures such as hormone treatments and surgery resulting in sterilisation, and must prove that they are single.
In doing so, these countries were violating the rights of some 1.5 million transgender people estimated to be living across the continent, the organisation said.With the evidence being that the biggest Windows Phone sales are in the low-end and mid-range, the race is on to increase Windows Phone volume by rolling out more of these handsets.
Key to this is handsets by Chinese OEMs like Huawei and ZTE, and this list may soon be joined by another Chinese OEM Phicomm.
Phoneseven.de reports from CEBIT that the company is in negotiation with Microsoft to produce a Windows Phone handsets.
According to Phicomm Europe’s Martin Klinger both tablets and smartphones are planned, but as negotiations are in an early stage the devices may still take some time to reach the market.
Phicomm produced mainly low-end to mid-range devices, with their flagship being the Dual-SIM 1.2 Ghz Dual-core QUALCOMM-powered i813 (pictured right) with a 5.3 inch qHD display and 786 MB of RAM and 4GB internal storage, with microSD expansion. They also produce an NVidia Tegra powered tablet.
Phicomm do not expect to sell the handsets directly in Germany, but they may reach the market via distributors like Conrad Electronics. Either way we should expect handsets at the same affordable prices as the Hauwei Ascend W1.
Do our readers think Windows Phone can take market share from Android on the low-end? Let us know below.According to Logan, Utah police, a local trans* woman stepped into traffic and was hit by a dump truck on U.S. Hwy 89/91 south of town shortly after posting a suicide note on her Facebook wall.
“According to witnesses and information that we gathered on the scene, it appears that the pedestrian had jumped in front of that northbound vehicle,” Logan City Police Capt. Tyson Budge told the Cache Valley Daily. “We believe that the act was intentional.”
“Evidence at the scene gave every indication that the driver had attempted to swerve and brake, to avoid the collision but was unable to do so,” Budge further said.
Budge also said the department received reports of the suicide note and photo and were investigating in order to check on her welfare. They were unable to find the victim before the report of the auto-pedestrian incident.
“These are going to be my final words. I can’t stand to live another day, so I’m committing suicide,” 26-year-old Ashley Hallstrom wrote on her Facebook wall shortly after uploading a new profile photo. “The reason why I’ve decided to do this is because I’m transgender.”
“From a very young age I was told that people like me are freaks and abominations, that we are sick in the head and society hates us. This made me hate who I was. I tried so hard to be just like everyone else but this isn’t something you can change,” she continued. “It wasn’t until I was 20 that I found out I wasn’t alone. I had hope that I would finally be able to live as and love who I am. I finally came out as transgender and began transitioning. For the first time in my life I could say I was genuinely happy.”
She said that the happiness she felt was not enough to overcome years of depression brought on by societal hatred of trans* people.
“I had already been poisoned by a society that didn’t understand us and, even worse, didn’t want to even try. I saw the pain it caused to people like me and going though this same hurt myself it has just become to much for me to take anymore,” she wrote.
“I’m writing all of this because I’ve need[ed] my story to be shared. I don’t want to be just another number of a tragic statistic. People need to know that I’m not just another face of someone they never met. I was alive. I have a family and friends that I love very much and I’m so sorry to them for the hurt this will cause them,” she wrote. “I loved being around those that I love. I loved listening to music and singing. I loved going out to eat with friends and enjoying good food. I was a real person.”
“I still want to help people and I believe I still can. Please share my final words. I believe my last words can help make the change that society needs to make so that one day |
, but we're not there yet. Far from it
Two of the books on many of the best-of-2015 lists were written by women who died in virtual obscurity, Clarice Lispector in 1977 and Lucia Berlin in 2004. The republication of their stories was big news last year, bringing them to the mass audiences denied them in their lifetimes. Lit Hub even declared 2015 “The Year of Rediscovered Women Writers,” in its list of the top five literary stories of the year. How could these gifted writers have been erased from history, so many wondered? We shouldn’t be so surprised. There are many worthy writers languishing in moldy archives, and I would venture to say that the majority of them are women.
Feminist scholars spent much of the 1980s and 1990s recovering forgotten women writers, generations of Shakespeare’s and Melville’s sisters, as some called them. But virtually all of the dozens of writers they reclaimed, with the exception of Zora Neale Hurston and Kate Chopin, never made it out of academia’s cloistered walls and into the public consciousness. As a result, many of them are disappearing again.
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A case in point is the phenomenally talented American writer Constance Fenimore Woolson, one of the most highly regarded American writers of the 19th century. Critics hailed her as America’s “foremost novelist” and the only American woman writer in the same league as George Eliot. Her friend Henry James paid tribute to her in his collection "Partial Portraits" (1888), finding in her stories “a remarkable minuteness of observation and tenderness of feeling on the part of one who evidently did not glance and pass, but lingered and analyzed.” After Woolson’s death in 1894, her editor at Harper’s, which had an exclusive contract to publish all of her writings, called her “a true artist” whose writings possessed a “rare excellence, originality, and strength [that] were appreciated by the most fastidious critics.”
Yet, almost as soon as she died, Woolson faded from view, so much so that her closest successor, Edith Wharton, never acknowledged her existence, despite the fact that they shared a close friend (James) and Wharton must have been aware of Woolson’s work. But Wharton was keen to distance herself from other women writers, just as they were being relegated as a class to the dustbin of literary history. At the turn of the 20th century, the cadre of male critics and scholars busy forming the American literary canon decided to completely ignore all of the dozens of women writers who had made names for themselves since the Puritan Anne Bradstreet. Emily Dickinson and Wharton were let in later, although as anomalies. And for nearly a century, it appeared as if women writers simply didn’t exist, except perhaps as third-rate magazine writers who churned out sentimental drivel.
The writings of Woolson and many other significant American women writers of the 19th century were simply left to molder on library shelves for feminist scholars to discover them. As they brought these texts out of the mothballs, cries of “but are they any good?” echoed in the scholarship of the period. Some texts, particularly those by early American women writers, could only be reclaimed by reformulating literary value, privileging cultural work over time-bound aesthetic criteria. Others were considered worthy of comparison to canonical male writers such Emerson, Hawthorne or James. In this way, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Stoddard, Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Woolson and others were brought back into print in their own volumes or in anthologies. The reputations of Jewett and Freeman have been particularly well recuperated. But Fuller, Stoddard and Woolson, or many of the other extremely talented women writers rediscovered in the 1980s and '90s (such as Rose Terry Cooke, Frances Harper, Rebecca Harding Davis, Sui Sin Far or Zitkala-Sa), may go back into the black hole of unknown women writers once again.
In Woolson’s case, her story “Miss Grief,” a masterpiece about women’s thwarted literary ambitions, has gone into college anthologies only to be pulled out again by some of them. In addition, Woolson, who wrote five novels and four collections of short stories, has not had any work in print for many years. One difficulty is that she cannot be associated with one place, as she set her fiction in many different U.S. regions (all over the Great Lakes and Reconstruction South), as well as in Europe. Another major problem is that Woolson has been left out of the feminist reevaluation of regional literature, a so-called minor genre of primarily women writers, despite being a pioneer. Why? She was too “male-identified,” one prominent feminist scholar told an audience at a conference sponsored by the Constance Fenimore Woolson Society. Because she was very close to Henry James, courted the opinion of male critics, wrote many of her stories from a male point of view, and did not participate in female literary communities, Woolson has been left out of the feminist celebrations of regionalism that have brought renewed attention to so many important late-19th-century women writers. Her case makes clear that a writer’s lasting reputation does not rest solely on the so-called quality of her work.
As the cases of Lispector and Berlin show, however, the surest route to recuperating a writer’s reputation is not through academia. It wasn’t for Zora Neale Hurston, either, who was first rediscovered by Alice Walker and then picked up by scholars. Academia is fickle in its allegiances. The movement of feminist criticism that brought so many of Melville’s sisters back into the light had a profound impact on the way literature is read, but its legacy is unclear. Many English department faculties have simply left the teaching of women writers to the feminist faculty, who are retiring now in large numbers and are not necessarily being replaced.
Astonishingly, some of the literature professors who spearheaded such rediscovery work have said that their jobs are done, their goals accomplished, that we are in a “post-recovery” era. What they did not foresee is that their gains could be reversed. Until these women writers gain a wider readership of those interested in American literature, they might very well be lost again. A writer like Woolson, whom Colm Tóibín compares (in his foreword to "Miss Grief and Other Stories," the new collection of Woolson stories I have edited) to Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, could again fade into obscurity.
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As a result, today’s women writers will continue to feel that their literary foremothers are few. As Claire Vaye Watkins recently reminded us in her essay “On Pandering,” such a vacuum leaves women writing in a sea of maleness, as if literary greatness was the prerogative of the male gender and the gains made by Woolson and her peers never happened. Unfortunately, despite the hard work done to bring back important women writers, we are not there yet. Far from it.
Anne Boyd Rioux is the author of "Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist" and the editor of "Miss Grief and Other Stories," both out now from W. W. Norton. She is also a professor at the University of New Orleans and the recipient of two National Endowment for Humanities Fellowships, one for Public Scholarship. She can be found online at http://anneboydrioux.com/ and on Facebook and Twitter.The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is the most well-known among buildings that straddle the border.
A line house is a building deliberately located so that an international boundary passes through it.[1][2] One such building on the boundary between the United States and Canada is the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont. The border is marked on the floor in a reading room and an auditorium. A number of single-family residences and some industrial buildings straddle the boundary in those two towns.
The International Boundary Commission encourages line houses to be abandoned as part of its mandate to clearly demarcate the Canada–US border. The Haskell Free Library and most other line houses are on the Collins–Valentine line between Quebec and New York/Vermont.[3]Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Sep. 13, 2015, 4:24 PM GMT / Updated Sep. 14, 2015, 12:00 AM GMT By The Associated Press
BERLIN — Germany will introduce temporary border checks on the Austrian frontier in a bid to limit the influx of refugees, the interior minister said Sunday.
The measure might lead to disruption of railway services, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said without giving further details.
Germany and Austria agreed over a week ago to let in migrants who had gathered in Hungary, saying it was a one-time measure to ease an emergency. Still, the influx has continued and German officials have said over the weekend that the speed of the arrivals was straining the country's ability to provide accommodation.
Hungarian police say more than 186,000 people have passed through Hungary from Serbia this year en route to Austria and the migrants' major destination, Germany, which says it has taken in more than 50,000 newcomers in the past week alone.
About 450,000 migrants have arrived in Germany this year. The country is expecting at least 800,000 in 2015 — by far the most in the 28-nation EU.
Related: European Migrant Crisis — How You Can Help
In another tragedy on Sunday, at least 34 people seeking a better life in Europe drowned as they attempted a wind-swept crossing from Turkey to Greece, a journey often made more dangerous because smugglers require asylum seekers to pilot the overloaded craft themselves in choppy seas.
Greece's coast guard said the dead, including four infants and 11 older children, drowned when their wooden boat containing more than 130 people capsized near Farmakonissi. The island lies midway between Samos and Kos, two of the favored targets for smugglers sending thousands daily to Greek islands off Turkey's coast. Smugglers typically stay behind to avoid arrest in Greece.
Coast guard officials said the boat may have tipped over in part because of wind gusts exceeding 30 mph)
Rescue officials said 68 others were rescued from the sea while 30 more swam to the barely populated island. They said the survivors and the body of one child were taken to the nearby larger island of Leros. The other dead were taken aboard a Greek navy gunboat and a coast guard vessel bound for Rhodes, which has autopsy facilities.
On Saturday, two other boats carrying asylum seekers capsized in the Aegean and at least five people — four children and a 20-year-old man — were presumed drowned. The coast guard said they still were searching for those bodies.
Such risks have not deterred scores of boats to make the crossing daily to Greece's eastern islands, from where migrants pursue a more than 1,000-mile odyssey to the heart of the European Union via the Balkans and Hungary, where authorities have vowed to fortify their southern frontier and prosecute those who try to evade border police.During a recent interview with Collider, Chris Evans spoke about playing Captain America for Marvel and whether or not he would extended his contract with them if they wanted him to.
First of all, Evans confirmed that his current contract includes both Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1 and Part 2. So you can expect him to show up in those. After that, his contract needs to be renegotiated, and it doesn't seem like he'd have any problems re-upping his contract with them. When asked about it, he said:
“Listen, if Marvel wants me they got me. I’ve never had such a relationship where you have such—I mean look at my resume, I’m used to being on set being like, ‘Ah is this movie gonna be terrible?’ Marvel just can’t stop making great movies, they do it in their sleep. It’s wonderful directors and producers and actors and scripts, and it’s like a playground as an actor.”
The guy is obviously having a great time making these films, and he loves working with these people. There have been a lot of rumors that Captain America: Civil War could be Evans' last film as Captain America, but that obviously isn't the case at all, which is great news! Evans then talked about his initial reluctance to take on the role of Captain America, saying:
“It’s so mind-boggling that I was so tentative in the beginning to jump onboard. What an asshole I would be if I hadn’t done this. I mean can you imagine? Kicking myself—I’d never forgive myself!”
Luckily he took the job. He's been a perfect Captain America, and it's seriously hard to imagine anyone else in the role. That goes for any of the actors who are playing Avengers! It's going to be so strange when the day comes where these actors will start being replaced. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the entertainment that they offer.
If you want to catch up on all of our Captain America: Civil War news, click here.From A Scandinavian League, The Spectator, 19 December 1914:
THE meeting of the three Scandinavian Kings at Malmo is an event of more than momentary importance. According to the official statement, this meeting was arranged in order that the three Kings might confer upon the neutrality of their respective countries, especially in connexion with the interference with trade which results from the war. That such a Conference should take place on such a subject is eminently reasonable, and will certainly be welcomed. in this country, as it appears to have been throughout Scandinavia. As regards the interference with trade, of which all the three Scandinavian countries are reasonably complaining, our own view as a belligerent necessarily differs somewhat from their view as neutrals. That is inevitable, and is by no means a new fact. In every war the trading interests of neutrals are in conflict with the military interests of belligerents, and, no treaties or conventions can altogether get rid of this essential conflict of interest. Until this war broke out, the general assumption of Englishmen was that in any coming war Great Britain would probably be neutral, and this assumption considerably affected the attitude taken up by the British Government in regard to various proposals made and adopted at the Hague Conference of 1907. So little did our Government anticipate the necessity of having to take an active part in a great European war that they consented to many provisions with regard to maritime commerce in time of war which tend very greatly to hamper our activities and to diminish our power of bringing naval pressure to bear upon our enemies. Nevertheless, few Englishmen would care to see Great Britain going back at the present moment upon the principles she accepted at the Hague Conference. If the Conventions then agreed to are to be revised, and there is considerable ground for their revision, it must be done deliberately in time of peace, and not solely in our own interest in time of war.Speaking Mandarin might boost your LinkedIn profile but French will feed your soul
There's more to life than thinking ahead, or at least so I assured myself when I chose to study French at university.
It's now been two years since I fetched up in Paris and it's only now that I fully appreciate what I like most about the French and why I so relish living here.
I love the Haussmann architecture, Marion Cotillard, George Brassens, the hip-hop, the good food, the dodgy cars, Zinedine Zidane, parkour, Daft Punk, skiing in the Alps...you get the idea.
France is full of people famous for their arrogance, style, pride, impudence, wit and intolerance.
The French are a captivating bunch, in particular the jeunes (young people), a loud and brazen cohort, unashamedly forthcoming with their radical political views.
Despite Britain's longstanding historical and cultural rivalry with the French, I am proud to call myself an English Francophile.
Of course I know that student life isn't forever and I'll have to earn enough to buy my baguette in the not-too-distant future.
But while many uni applicants choose their course based on future career prospects, graduate employability and average starting salaries, these criteria never once crossed my mind.
All I wanted was to find a course that I would find intellectually stimulating and an environment within which I could thrive.
I'm not altogether convinced that many of my peers choose their university course the same way – if they did, I reckon the study of modern languages would be a far more popular option.
According to UCAS, French studies applicants represent just 0.1% of the total number of university hopefuls in 2011. This statistic saddens but doesn't surprise me — I've been told on more than one occasion that French is useless, redundant, spent.
"Mandarin, Arabic or Russian are more useful," declare the sages who can see into the future. "After all, economic power is shifting east."
They're probably right and within a few years the Chinese will be running the NHS, the Saudis will own every Premier League football club and the BBC will have moved to Moscow.
However, I fiercely reject the notion that learning one of these "languages of the future" rather than French, would ultimately determine an individual's career success in business or most other spheres.
The development of English as a lingua franca in virtually all international communication is now akin to the overwhelming predominance of the US dollar in international commerce.
As Lawrence H. Summers puts it in the New York Times: "English's emergence as the global language makes it less clear that the substantial investment necessary to speak a foreign tongue is universally worthwhile".
As far as I'm concerned, if you want to work internationally, speak English. If you want to work exclusively with local markets, learn the local language.
If you don't give a damn about either of the above and would rather be an interesting individual with more to talk about than your profile on LinkedIn, keep calm and study French.More than 600 Harvard University alumni have signed a letter calling to rescind fellowship invitations to Corey Lewandowski and Sean Spicer.
The letter claims giving fellowships to both former aides of President Trump provides “intellectual and moral legitimacy” to those who have “done much to degrade public discourse in this country, re-ignite white nationalism, and further reactionary policies that harm millions.”
Talia B. Lavin, a Harvard graduate and organizer of the petition, told the Harvard Crimson that inviting the former Trump aides reflect poorly on alumni.
“I think we should have a voice, and an extra responsibility to raise our voices and say, ‘You know, this is not an action that is fitting of the University that I got my degree from, and that I chose,’” she said. “Harvard’s motto is Veritas. You cannot hold that up and invite Sean Spicer, an incompetent liar.”
The call to drop both Spicer and Lewandowski comes following the controversy of inviting convicted leaker Chelsea Manning to become a visiting fellow at Harvard. The invitation was promptly rescinded last week after the complaints.
Former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell announced his resignation as a senior fellow at Harvard on Thursday in protest of inviting Manning to become a fellow, Fox News reported. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, cancelled his appearance, saying Manning is an “American traitor”.
Manning said on Sunday that the decision to cancel the invitation proves the U.S. is a “police state”, Fox News reported.
“I'm not ashamed of being disinvited,” she added. “I view that just as much of an honored distinction as the fellowship itself.”
The organizers of the petition to withdraw invitations to Spicer and Lewandowski cite Manning’s case as why the two aides should not be fellows at Harvard.
“When they rescinded Chelsea Manning’s fellowship they admitted that the title of visiting fellow conveys a certain imprimatur of legitimacy. So they’re tacitly granting the same imprimatur of legitimacy to Spicer and Lewandowski, and I just don’t think that’s acceptable,” Lavin told the Crimson.
Paul B. VanKoughnett, another organizer of the petition, said they fear the university will normalize “Trumpist ideas”.
“There’s this idea... that it’s just speech, just people talking, and they can disagree at the end of the day, and whatever. But it actually has a real-world effect, and that’s what we’re worried about,” he said, according to the student publication.
“We’re worried that the further normalization of these men and of Trumpist ideas are going to have awful material effects on people in the real world.”You've reached the end of this preview. Sign up to read more!
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. George Bernard Shaw
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of our own mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson
God is love, but get it in writing. Gypsy Rose Lee
Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Susan Ertz
Do not let yourself be deceived: great intellects are skeptical. Friedrich Nietzsche
There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer. Gertrude Stein
When I think of all the harm [the bible] has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it. Oscar Wilde
"All thinking men are atheists," Ernest Hemingway famously wrote. True? Here are quips, quotes, and questions from a distinguished assortment of geniuses and jokers, giving readers a chance to decide for themselves....
Publisher
INTRODUCTION
The world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments—of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue—are complete skeptics in religion.
—JOHN STUART MILL
The reason there are so many opinions is that no one knows the Truth.
—JOAN KONNER, editor
i
GENESIS
Perhaps our role on this planet is not to worship God—but to create Him.
—ARTHUR C. CLARKE
Epicurus’ old questions are yet unanswered. Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?
—DAVID HUME
Men…have had the vanity to pretend that the whole creation was made for them, whilst in reality the whole creation does not suspect their existence.
—CAMILLE FLAMMARION
Fear was the gods’ begetter in this world.
—PETRONIUS
We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a higher answer—but none exists.
—STEPHEN JAY GOULD
As for me, I’ve long resolved not to think whether man created God or God man.
-FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
Geology shows that fossils are of different ages. Paleontology shows a fossil sequence, the list of species representing changes through time. Taxonomy shows biological relationships among species. Evolution is the explanation that threads it all together. Creationism is the practice of squeezing one’s eyes shut and wailing Does not!
—ANONYMOUS
If you believe that there is a God, a God that made your body, and yet you think that you can do anything with that body that’s dirty, then the fault lies with the manufacturer.
—LENNY BRUCE
From the point of view of a tapeworm, man was created by God to serve the appetite of the tapeworm.
—EDWARD ABBEY
The idea of God is the sole wrong for which I cannot forgive mankind.
—MARQUIS DE SAD
Men create the gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.
—ARISTOTLE
We shall tell ourselves that it would be very nice if there were a God who created the world and was a benevolent Providence, and if there were a moral order in the universe and an after-life; but it is a very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish it to be.
—SIGMUND FREUD
Brute force crushes many plants. Yet the plants rise again. The Pyramids will not last a moment compared with the daisy. And before Buddha or Jesus spoke the nightingale sang, and long after the words of Jesus and Buddha are gone into oblivion the nightingale still will sing. Because it is neither preaching nor teaching nor commanding nor urging. It is just singing. And in the beginning was not a Word, but a chirrup.
—D. H. LAWRENCE
At the beginning there was the Word—at the end just the Cliché.
—STANISLAW JERZY LEC
ii
THE WORD
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
God is a word to express, not our ideas, but the want of them.
—JOHN STUART MILL
Atheists are often charged with blasphemy, but it is a crime they cannot commit…. When the Atheist examines, denounces, or satirizes the gods, he is not dealing with persons but with ideas. He is incapable of insulting God, for he does not admit the existence of any such being.
—G. W. FOOTE
I have too much respect for the idea of God to hold Him responsible for such an absurd world.
—GEORGES DUHAMEL
Man is, and always has been, a maker of gods.
—JOHN BURROUGHS
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a Lunatic Asylum.
—HAVELOCK ELLIS
Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues.
—EDWARD ABBEY
Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.
—CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.
—GRAHAM GREENE
Faith is doubt.
—EMILY DICKINSON
It is historically true that a large proportion of infidels in all ages have been persons of distinguished integrity and honour.
—JOHN STUART MILL
All thinking men are atheists.
—ERNEST HEMINGWAY
All children are atheists—they have no idea of God.
—BARON D’ HOLBACH
It is, I think, an error to believe that there is any need of religion to make life seem worth living.
—SINCLAIR LEWIS
I count religion but a childish toy,
And hold there is no sin but ignorance.
—CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
If there is a God, a caring God, then we have to figure he’s done an extraordinary job of making a very cruel world.
—DAVE MATTHEWS
THEOLOGY—An effort to explain the unknowable by putting it into terms of the not worth knowing.
—H. L. MENCKEN
The universe runs itself, and the eternal laws inherent in Nature suffice, without any first cause or prime mover.
—MARQUIS DE SADE
Martyrdom…is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.
—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
—STEPHEN HENRY ROBERTS
In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners.
—JONATHAN MILLER
iii
THE GOSPEL
For it is with the mysteries of our Religion, as with wholesome pills for the sick, which swallowed whole, have the virtue to cure, but chewed, are for the most part cast up again without effect.
—THOMAS HOBBES
Marx was wrong. Religion is not the opiate of the people. OpiumReader “Sasha” responding to Jeff Alberts in comments provided a large list that I thought was worth sharing.
Submitted on 2014/04/02 at 8:37 am
The question wasn’t “what do people think is caused by global warming”, but “what was predicted by scientists and activists 25 years ago that would be a result of global warming.” Big difference.
OK. Hang on to your hat!
The original post was asking for a list of failed climate predictions, so here are 107:
FAILED CLIMATE PREDICTIONS (and some related stupid sayings)
1. “Due to global warming, the coming winters in the local regions will become milder.”
Stefan Rahmstorf, Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, University of Potsdam, February 8, 2006
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2. “Milder winters, drier summers: Climate study shows a need to adapt in Saxony Anhalt.”
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Press Release, January 10, 2010.
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3. “More heat waves, no snow in the winter… Climate models… over 20 times more precise than the UN IPCC global models. In no other country do we have more precise calculations of climate consequences. They should form the basis for political planning… Temperatures in the wintertime will rise the most… there will be less cold air coming to Central Europe from the east…In the Alps winters will be 2°C warmer already between 2021 and 2050.”
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, September 2, 2008.
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4. “The new Germany will be characterized by dry-hot summers and warm-wet winters.”
Wilhelm Gerstengarbe and Peter Werner, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), March 2, 2007
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5. “Clear climate trends are seen from the computer simulations. Foremost the winter months will be warmer all over Germany. Depending of CO2 emissions, temperatures will rise by up to 4°C, in the Alps by up to 5°C.”
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, 7 Dec 2009.
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6. “In summer under certain conditions the scientists reckon with a complete melting of the Arctic sea ice. For Europe we expect an increase in drier and warmer summers. Winters on the other hand will be warmer and wetter.”
Erich Roeckner, Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, 29 Sept 2005.
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7. “The more than ‘unusually ‘warm January weather is yet ‘another extreme event’, ‘a harbinger of the winters that are ahead of us’. … The global temperature will ‘increase every year by 0.2°C’”
Michael Müller, Socialist, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Environment,
Die Zeit, 15 Jan 2007
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8. “Harsh winters likely will be more seldom and precipitation in the wintertime will be heavier everywhere. However, due to the milder temperatures, it’ll fall more often as rain than as snow.”
Online-Atlas of the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, 2010
9. “We’ve mostly had mild winters in which only a few cold months were scattered about, like January 2009. This winter is a cold outlier, but that doesn’t change the picture as a whole. Generally it’s going to get warmer, also in the wintertime.”
Gerhard Müller-Westermeier, German Weather Service (DWD), 26 Jan 2010
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10. “Winters with strong frost and lots of snow like we had 20 years ago will cease to exist at our latitudes.”
Mojib Latif, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, 1 April 2000
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11. “Good bye winter. Never again snow?”
Spiegel, 1 April 2000
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12. “In the northern part of the continent there likely will be some benefits in the form of reduced cold periods and higher agricultural yields. But the continued increase in temperatures will cancel off these benefits. In some regions up to 60% of the species could die off by 2080.”
3Sat, 26 June 2003
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13. “Although the magnitude of the trends shows large variation among different models, Miller et al. (2006) find that none of the 14 models exhibits a trend towards a lower NAM index and higher arctic SLP.”
IPCC 2007 4AR, (quoted by Georg Hoffmann)
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14. “Based on the rising temperature, less snow will be expected regionally. While currently 1/3 of the precipitation in the Alps falls as snow, the snow-share of precipitation by the end of the century could end up being just one sixth.”
Germanwatch, Page 7, Feb 2007
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15. “Assuming there will be a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere, as is projected by the year 2030. The consequences could be hotter and drier summers, and winters warmer and wetter. Such a warming will be proportionately higher at higher elevations – and especially will have a powerful impact on the glaciers of the Firn regions.”
and
“ The ski areas that reliably have snow will shift from 1200 meters to 1500 meters elevation by the year 2050; because of the climate prognoses warmer winters have to be anticipated.”
Scinexx Wissenschaft Magazin, 26 Mar 2002
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16. “Yesterday’s snow… Because temperatures in the Alps are rising quickly, there will be more precipitation in many places. But because it will rain more often than it snows, this will be bad news for tourists. For many ski lifts this means the end of business.”
Daniela Jacob, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, 8 Aug 2006
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17. “Spring will begin in January starting in 2030.”
Die Welt, 30 Sept 2010
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18. “Ice, snow, and frost will disappear, i.e. milder winters” … “Unusually warm winters without snow and ice are now being viewed by many as signs of climate change.”
Schleswig Holstein NABU, 10 Feb 2007
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19. “Good bye winter… In the northern hemisphere the deviations are much greater according to NOAA calculations, in some areas up to 5°C. That has consequences says DWD meteorologist Müller-Westermeier: When the snowline rises over large areas, the bare ground is warmed up even more by sunlight. This amplifies global warming. A process that is uncontrollable – and for this reason understandably arouses old childhood fears: First the snow disappears, and then winter.”
Die Zeit, 16 Mar 2007
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20. “Warm in the winter, dry in the summer … Long, hard winters in Germany remain rare: By 2085 large areas of the Alps and Central German Mountains will be almost free of snow. Because air temperatures in winter will rise more quickly than in summer, there will be more precipitation. ‘However, much of it will fall as rain,’ says Daniela Jacob of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology.”
FOCUS, 24 May 2006
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21. “Consequences and impacts for regional agriculture: Hotter summers, milder plus shorter winters (palm trees!). Agriculture: More CO2 in the air, higher temperatures, foremost in winter.”
Dr. Michael Schirmer, University of Bremen, presentation of 2 Feb 2007
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22. “Winters: wet and mild”
Bavarian State Ministry for Agriculture, presentation 23 Aug 2007
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23. “The climate model prognoses currently indicate that the following climate changes will occur: Increase in minimum temperatures in the winter.”
Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony Date: 6 July 2009
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24. “Both the prognoses for global climate development and the prognoses for the climatic development of the Fichtel Mountains clearly show a warming of the average temperature, whereby especially the winter months will be greatly impacted.”
Willi Seifert, University of Bayreuth, diploma thesis, p. 203, 7 July 2004
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25. “Already in the year 2025 the conditions for winter sports in the Fichtel Mountains will develop negatively, especially with regards to ‘natural’ snow conditions and for so-called snow-making potential. A financially viable ski business operation after about the year 2025 appears under these conditions to be extremely improbable (Seifert, 2004)”.
Andreas Matzarakis, University of Freiburg Meteorological Institute, 26 July 2006
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26. “Skiing among palm trees? … For this reason I would advise no one in the Berchtesgadener Land to invest in a ski-lift. The probability of earning money with the global warming is getting less and less.”
Hartmut Graßl, Director Emeritus,
Max Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, page 3, 4 Mar 2006
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27. “Climate warming leads to an increasingly higher snow line. The number of future ski resorts that can be expected to have snow is reducing. […] Climate change does not only lead to higher temperatures, but also to changes in the precipitation ratios in summer and winter. […] In the wintertime more precipitation is to be anticipated. However, it will fall more often as rain, and less often as snow, in the future.”
Hans Elsasser, Director of the Geographical Institute of the University of Zurich, 4 Mar 2006
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28. “All climate simulations – global and regional – were carried out at the Deutschen Klimarechenzentrum [German Climate Simulation Center]. […] In the winter months the temperature rise is from 1.5°C to 2°C and stretches from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean Sea. Only in regions that are directly influenced by the Atlantic (Great Britain, Portugal, parts of Spain) will the winter temperature increase be less (Fig. 1).”
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Press Release, Date: December 2007/January 2013.
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29. “By the year 2050 … temperatures will rise 1.5ºC to 2.5°C (summer) and 3°C (winter). … in the summer it will rain up to 40% less and in the |
. Now that Richter’s memo and related documents have been released, the debate has turned to what the State Department knew about Blackwater, and why it failed to respond before the fatal tragedy.
The enduring lesson, however, is about human nature. Blackwater was staffed by Americans. Many of them came from the U.S. armed forces. Nothing in their DNA or their military service guaranteed their virtue. Stripped of supervision and transplanted to Iraq—where, as Carroll put it, “no one cares”—some of them absorbed the nihilism of their environment. They cheated, stole, exploited, threatened, and killed. Their story is much like that of Abu Ghraib, where American discipline collapsed even in the uniformed military.
What makes America great isn’t something marvelous in our nature. It’s our rules and our mechanisms of accountability. If I were to shoot and kill you, someone would do something about it. That’s the way it is here. And that’s the way it has to be, wherever we go.Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani has called on Muslims to “get prepared, be ready … to make it a month of calamity everywhere for nonbelievers…especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America.”
This Muslim killed the policeman and his wife with a knife. Clearly we need knife control.
“Paris police killer ‘pledged allegiance to Islamic State,'” by David Chazan, Telegraph, June 14, 2016:
A policeman and his wife were killed in a frenzied knife attack at their home in a Paris suburb on Monday night by a man who reportedly shouted “Allahu Akhbar”.
French police sources said the unnamed killer had pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Isil claimed responsibility for the killings in a statement released by the Amaq news agency, the group’s propaganda outlet, which it also used to announce that the Orlando massacre was perpetrated by an Isil fighter.
The couple’s three-year-old son was rescued after police stormed the home in the north-western Paris suburb of Magnanville and shot dead the attacker.
He stabbed the 42-year-old officer, who held the rank of “commandant” (commander), nine times in the stomach at his front door. After stabbing the policeman, the attacker forced his way into the home.
It was unclear how the policeman’s wife was killed. She worked as a secretary at a local police station.
The child was rescued and was “shocked but unharmed”, Pierre-Henry Brandet, the interior ministry spokesman, said. Five detonations or shots were heard by millions on live television while Mr Brandet spoke to reporters as police stormed the home….Wiltshire force expect warm weather to draw large crowds and warns it will take tough stand on drink and drugs
A big police operation involving an unmanned drone, horses and drugs sniffer dogs will be launched at Stonehenge tomorrow as huge crowds descend on the ancient site for the summer solstice.
Because the celebrations fall over the weekend and fine weather is predicted, bigger crowds than usual are expected and Wiltshire police have said they will clamp down heavily on antisocial behaviour.
Restrictions are being placed on the amount of alcohol revellers can bring in and police have said they will not tolerate illegal drug taking or unlawful raves.
The force's no-nonsense approach, after a more relaxed feel in recent years, has raised fears that there could be clashes.
Some peace-loving druids have told the Guardian that they will be staying away because they fear the combination of large crowds - possibly more than 30,000 ‑ and the police's stance could lead to trouble.
Police have played down the idea that the event is the first big test of how police control large crowds since the violent G20 protests. They have denied that the presence of the drone and police horses shows they are taking a "zero-tolerance" approach to the event and say such measures are simply to make sure everyone is safe.
Andy Marsh, assistant chief constable of Wiltshire police, said: "The celebrations will be policed the same as any other public event. We want those attending to have a safe and enjoyable time but within the law.
"This year the event is over a weekend and more people than normal are likely to attend. The public have a right to expect that our planning takes account of the likely increased numbers and also that we will use public resources efficiently making best use of the latest technology."
Marsh warned people not to set up raves or free festivals before or after the solstice. He said the supply and use of illegal drugs greatly increased the danger to everyone and police would deal "firmly but proportionately with any such behaviour".
English Heritage, which manages the site, has stipulated that no more than four cans of beer or a bottle of wine per person will be allowed.
In its guidance English Heritage says: "Illegal drugs are still illegal at Stonehenge as they are anywhere else. The police will be on site during the access period and will take immediate action against anyone flouting the law."This article is over 4 years old
President says measures pave way for decentralisation while guaranteeing 'territorial integrity and independence' of Ukraine
Ukraine votes to give more power to east to end separatist fighting
Ukraine's parliament has voted to give the east of the country limited self-rule as part of proposals aimed at ending the deadly separatist insurgency.
Politicians also ratified an agreement to deeper economic and political ties with the European Union, drawing a line under the issue that last year sparked the political crisis that led to the overthrow of the president, Russia's annexation of Crimea, and a war with Russia-backed separatists that has killed more than 2,600 people.
President Petro Poroshenko says the proposals will pave the way for decentralisation while guaranteeing "the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence" of Ukraine.
The main points of the legislation, unveiled as part of a peace plan signed with pro-Russian insurgents and Moscow on 5 September are:
• The rebel-held Luhansk and Donetsk regions will be granted a "special status" giving them broader autonomy for a three-year period.
• Local elections will be held in some districts of the two mainly Russian-speaking regions on 7 December. The last local elections held nationwide were in October 2010.
• Use of the Russian language to be allowed in state institutions.
• Regional councils will have the power to appoint local judges and prosecutors.
• Local authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk can "strengthen good neighbourly relations" with their counterparts across the border in Russia.
• The legislation also promises to help restore damaged infrastructure and to provide social and economic assistance to particularly hard-hit areas.
• Another bill on amnesty protects from criminal prosecution "participants of events in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions" – appearing to apply to both the insurgents and Ukrainian government troops. Rights groups have accused fighters on both sides of abuses that might be classified as war crimes.
Donetsk and Luhansk, together known as the Donbass, have a combined population of nearly 7 million people, about one-sixth of the national total. But it is responsible for nearly a quarter of Ukraine's exports and is home to strategic military production facilities that supply engines and other vital parts to the Russian space and aviation industries.
The industrial region is dotted with coal mines and steelworks that have been the engine of Ukraine's economy since the 19th century.Same thing happened tonight. Hundreds of shitbirds were walking around throwing rocks at people and are then funneled into the State/Chicago redline and voila, problem solved right? Wrong. They started fighting on the trains and caused the redline to come to a complete standstill for about 20 minutes at State/Lake in 001. Then they were walking around in 001 spitting at people and throwing rocks at them.
Last year I was part of the summer bike detail early deployment in 018 before going to my summer detail in 004. They told us that that they want to keep the REPORTED incidents on the mag mile to a minimum as they give a bad impression of the safety of down town. Rahm TOTALLY controls what is reported from down town. Don’t believe what is spoon fed. The only reason last year had fewer incidents is because the red line was shut down for a period of time. I asked why doesn’t the city go after the parents of these “expressive youth” and only heard crickets. More is going on than what is reported!! Wake up Chicago!!!!!Week in Review:
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 vs. Portland Winterhawks – 4-1 Win
The Blazers were backed by 41 saves from goaltender Connor Ingram, while the offense came from four different goal scorers in a 4-1 win over the Portland Winterhawks. Mike Winther had a strong game with the game winner, while Cole Ully had a multi-point night with a goal and an assist. Click here for Highlights & Recap.
Friday, November 21, 2014 vs. Prince George Cougars – 5-2 Win
The Blazers scored three goals in the third period to earn a 5-2 win over the Prince George Cougars. Five different players scored as Deven Sideroff, Michael Fora, Logan McVeigh, Collin Shirley and Cole Ully had the goals. Connor Ingram was solid between the pipes with 23 saves. Josh Connolly picked up four assists, while Matt Needham had two helpers. Click here for Highlights & Recap.
Sunday, November 23, 2014 at Spokane – 2-1 Overtime Loss
Connor Ingram had a big night for the Blazers as he stopped 39 shots despite a 2-1 overtime loss in Spokane. The Blazers lone goal came from leading scorer Cole Ully. The Chiefs outshot the Blazers 41-19 and had six power plays in the game, while the Blazers did not get a chance on the power play. Click here for Highlights &Recap.
A pair of Weekend Home Games
The Kamloops Blazers host a pair of Friday and Saturday night games this weekend.
On Friday, the Regina Pats make their lone appearance at the Interior Savings Centre. Kamloops Ford Lincoln will be holding a puck toss.
On Saturday, the division rival Victoria Royals are back in town. It is also KIDS NIGHT! Purchase an Adult or Youth ticket and receive a Child ticket FREE.
To find out details on promotional events, follow this link.
Campese Acquired / Shynkaruk Dealt to Moose Jaw
The Kamloops Blazers acquired 17-year-old forward Matthew Campese from the Victoria Royals this past week. To find out more on Campese, follow this link.
With the acquisition of Campese, the Blazers dealt 18-year-old forward Jesse Shynkaruk to the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for a fourth round WHL Bantam Draft pick. To find out more, follow this link.
Prospect Update: Nolan Kneen
Defenseman Nolan Kneen (1st round, 2014) is playing this season with the Okanagan Rockets of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League.
The 15-year-old defenseman has six points this season including three goals and three assists in 18 games with the Rockets.
Kneen made his Blazers debut back on October 1st against the Swift Current Broncos. The North Vancouver, BC native picked up his first career WHL point in a 3-1 win over the Broncos.
Alumni Update: Austin Madaisky
Austin Madaisky (2010-2012) is playing his third season in pro hockey with the Columbus Blue Jackets top affiliate team, the Springfield Falcons of the AHL.
The 22-year-old has had a great start with eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in only 20 games this season. He is currently 4th in AHL scoring and 2nd among all defensemen.
Madaisky had a solid career with the Blazers after being acquired as a 17-year-old from the Calgary Hitmen. The 6’2” defenseman posted 86 career points in 151 games with the Blazers.
Store Feature Item of the Night
Each game night until Christmas, the Blazers team store will feature one item for that night only at a “sale” price – the item will be featured on the big screen each game night
Fans Donate to Kamloops Food Bank
The Kamloops Blazers and Kamloops Food Bank would like to thank the fans who generously donated $1500 and 3500 pounds of food this past Wednesday when the Blazers beat the Portland Winterhawks 4-1.
Tim Hortons TimBit Player of the Night
Do you want to be the next Tim Hortons TimBit Player of the Night? If you are between the ages of 6 and 9 you could join the Blazers on the ice for the start of the game!
For more details and to download the application form, follow this link.
Ticketing Information
For any information regarding tickets, including groups, flex packs or single game tickets; please contact Missy Cederholm by phone at 778-471-8068 or by email [email protected].
Community Service
Saturday, November 29th, Santa Claus Parade Participation, Bus & Players
Injury List
Brady Gaudet, Upper Body, Indefinite
Team Leaders:
Goals – Deven Sideroff, Cole Ully (12)
Assists – Cole Ully (21)
Points – Cole Ully (33)
+/- – Cole Ully (+18)
Rookies – Deven Sideroff (23)
PIM – Ryan Rehill (63)
GAA – Connor Ingram (2.73)
SV % – Connor Ingram (.912)
Schedule:
Monday, November 24 – No Practice
Tuesday, November 25 – Practice 2:00pm – 4:00pm, ISC
Wednesday, November 26 – Game at Everett, 7:05pm, Xfinity Arena
Thursday, November 27 – Practice 2:15pm – 4:00pm, ISC
Friday, November 28 – Game vs. Regina, 7:00pm, ISC
Saturday, November 29 – Game vs. Victoria, 7:00pm, ISC
Sunday, November 30 – Day of Rest
Monday, December 1 – Practice 2:00pm – 4:00pm, ISCA ballroom full of sequins, spandex, and semi stars… it must be Dancing with the Stars season! We’re watching and rooting for (for better or worse) two of our own, Braxton Family Values star Tamar Braxton (the better) and Don’t Be Tardy star Kim Zolciak (the worse).
When asked why she joined Dancing with the Stars, Tamar says, “After I had my baby, I kind of slowed down a bit and I just wanna put a pep in my step.” In rehearsal, Tamar and Val Chmerkovskiy are having fun together. Tamar says Val’s like an annoying little brother, adding, “Val and I are both outspoken <side eye>, but I’m happy to have the current champion as my partner.”
Tamar and Val dance the Quickstep to “Do Your Thing” by Basement Jaxx. The choreography is no joke – very courageous for week one – but Tamar nails it. So far, I think Tamar is the total package – spunky personality, good work ethic, and killer moves. Check out the video below.
CLICK CONTINUE READING FOR MORE – PLUS PICS!
Comments
Carrie Ann Inaba points out that the Quickstep is one of the hardest dances, says Tamar blew her away, and describes the dance as elegant and classy.
Julianne Hough, who has taken over Len Goodman‘s head judge/middle of the table role, mentions that Tamar needs to work on her frame while in hold, but she gives her props for taking on the Quickstep the first week. “You are a feisty, fierce woman, but there was an elegance and a femininity that was very smooth and graceful.”
Bruno Tonioli says Val and Tamar‘s Quickstep was high octane, high volume, and high class with an incredible amount of content. “Just keeping up the pace of that speed was unbelievable,” he adds. “Slight misplacement of the feet, but it’s week one. Brilliant beginning.”
Scores
8+7+8= 23
In rehearsal, Tony Dovolani pushes Kim, who is beyond uptight, to go out of her comfort zone. Kim starts to cry. “I’m in front of cameras for a living,” she says. “So, really what is my hang up, I’m still trying to make sure everything is perfect.”
Kim and Tony dance (and I use that word loosely) the Salsa to “Hey Mama” by David Guetta. There’s not much to say about Kim’s dancing ability. The video speaks for itself. The performance as a whole is a huge miss. There’s too much going on. Smoke, dance troupe, costumes, lame tricks, wig – it’s all too extra.
Tony says he’s ready to win again. He is. But, dude, better luck next season.
Comments
Carrie Ann says Kim held back too much and did the absolute bare minimum. “You are such a beautiful woman,” she adds. “When we watch you, we want to see you go for it. There’s no reason to hold back. There’s so much beauty. I felt that you held back so much. You can’t do that.”
Julianne says it looked like Salsa in slow motion.
Bruno blurts out, “This dance could be grounds for divorce,” explaining, “You got all of that on display and you can do nothing with it. You gotta deliver.”
Kim interrupts to say she is just excited she did it.
Bruno responds, “You got through it, which is good, but you have to perform it. You have to sell it.”
Kim‘s excuse: it’s weird to dance with a man who isn’t your husband.
Scores
4+4+4=12
Kim says Salsa the first week was tough, adding, “It’s one thing to do reality television, it’s another thing to shake it with another man. If it was Kroy, it’d be a whole different ball game.”
Leaderboard
Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough: 24
Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess: 24
Tamar Braxton and Val Chmerkovskiy: 23
Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson: 23
Alexa PenaVega and Mark Ballas: 22
Alek Skarlatos and Lindsay Arnold: 22
Hayes Grier and Emma Slater: 21
Andy Grammer and Allison Holker: 21
Victor Espinoza and Karina Smirnoff: 15
Paula Deen and Louis Van Amstel: 15
Gary Busey and Anna Trebunskaya: 15
Chaka Khan and Keo Motsepe: 13
Kim Zolciak and Tony Dovolani: 12
Random Thoughts
Hayes, Alek, and Bindi have infectious personalities. On the dance floor, I was impressed by Carlos and Alexa. Off the dance floor, I’m already over the wife versus husband shtick. Also, Paula‘s everything, Mark‘s ponytail, and Hayes‘s brother (and his stupid t-shirt) can all exit stage left at any time; the sooner, the better. When Gary freaking Busey scores more points than you (KIM!), it’s time to go home and take more thigh gap selfies care of your children. Suspiciously, there are no performance pictures for Tony and Kim to be found.
TELL US – YOUR THOUGHTS ON TAMAR AND KIM? THE PREMIERE AS A WHOLE? WHO ARE YOU ROOTING FOR? WHO WILL GO HOME FIRST?
Videos: YouTube Main Photo: ABC/Adam TaylorJohn Hackleman is a friend of Grapplearts and a very successful MMA coach. He runs The Pit Gym and guided Chuck Liddell to UFC Lightweight Champion status and has coached many other MMA fighters.
As an MMA trainer he is keenly aware of the importance of conditioning for fighters, but also for ‘regular’ people training martial arts for self defense.
Hackleman is also a very direct individual. You get a sense of this when he says, “The most frequently used bullshit excuse I hear from people that don’t work out is, ‘I don’t have the time.’ Nobody doesn’t have the time…”
Don’t tell him that you’re ‘too busy’ to do conditioning, because here are 11 workouts that average 11 minutes in length.
These are the very same workouts he gets his pro fighters to do, so now you can train like an elite fighter and still have time left over for all the things you need to do in a day.
You can watch Hackleman break down these 11 workouts in the video below, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to see each workout written down and explained further.
Here are the workouts in more detail…
Short Workout 1 – Tabatas x 4 minutes
A Tabata session is a 4 minute blitz workout in which you do 8 x 20 second sprint intervals interspersed with 10 second breaks.
So you’ll be doing the following eight times…
20 seconds of going all out
10 seconds of rest
You can use almost any taxing exercise for a Tabata workout. Hackleman suggests trying the following:
Jumping rope doing double unders for 20 seconds followed by regular rope jumps for 10 seconds Doing sprints on a treadmill set at 10 mph and a 10% incline (almost impossible except for elite athletes, so start at a lower speed and incline) Running on a track all out for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest
Here’s a video of what Tabata sprints might look like on the treadmill. The only difference is that you’d be doing this for 8 sets or 4 minutes in total…
Short Workout 2 – Man Makers x 5 minutes
This exercise is done for 5 minutes and is a whole body challenge. It’ll condition your muscles, your heart and your lungs.
At the Pit they do Manmakers with 45 lb dumbbells – you may need to start with lighter weight if you’re not used to these exercises.
Start standing, then place both dumbbells on the floor and jump you feet back
Do a pushup and when you come back up do a plank dumbell row on one side
Do another pushup followed by a plank dumbell row on the other side
Do one more pushup and then jump back up to your feet, ending up in a low squat with both dumbbells cleaned up to your shoulders
Thruster (double shoulder press using your legs to generate momentum)
Repeat for 5 minutes
Short Workout 3 – Burpees x 7 minutes
Hackleman calls this “One of the toughest workouts he’s ever done,” and it’s very, very simple, because it relies on just one bodyweight exercise – the Burpee.
A burpee consists of a sprawl, a pushup, and a jump into the air. Simple right?
Well just do Burpees back to back for 7 minutes straight, trying to do more burpees this time than the last time, and you should get a killer workout.
Short Workout 4 – Black Jack (12 – 15 minute workout)
Hackleman calls this combination workout ‘Blackjack’ because you’re always doing 21 reps of squats and pushups put together.
Start with 20 pushups and 1 squat…
Then go to 19 pushups and 2 squats…
One less pushup each set and one more squat until you get to…
1 pushup and 20 squats.
This is a full body workout in which you do 210 pushups and 210 squats. There is also a strong aerobic/anaerobic workout component too if you keep the pace up.
Short Workout 5 – 20 minutes of 10 pull ups, 21 pushups, 21 squats, 21 situps
See how many sets of the following circuit you can do in 20 minutes:
10 pullups
21 pushups
21 squats
21 situps
Keep track of how many circuits you can do and then try to do more circuits the next time.
Short Workout 6 – 3 mile (or 5 km) jog
This is the longest workout of the bunch: just go out and run three miles. This workout is great for the lungs and the legs.
Short Workout 7 – Annie (5 to 6 minutes)
This is a benchmark Crossfit workout named ‘Annie.’
It consists of 5 sets of decreasing numbers of these two exercises
Double unders on the jump rope Situps
You do 50, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10 reps of both exercises back to back, as fast as you can.
Short Workout 8 – One mile run for time
This is a very simple workout: go out and see how fast you can run 1 mile. This is 4 laps around the typical running track.
Keep a record of how long it takes you to run that one mile, and then try to improve on that that time the next time you do this workout!
Short Workout 9 – Fran
This is another classic Crossfit workout named after a girl, but don’t let that fool you – this one is deadly!
Hackleman describes doing the thruster exercise with 45 lb Dumbells in each hand. This is different form most Crossfit devotees who typically use a single 95 lb barbell. Try it both ways and see which works better for you.
It consists of the following
21 thrusters
21 pullups
15 thrusters
15 pullups
9 thrusters
9 pullups
Short Workout 10 – 4 Punches & Sprawl x 100 sets
Try doing 100 sets of a four punch combination followed by a sprawl. Hackleman likes to use straight punches (jab, cross, jab cross) and wants at least one knee to touch the ground during the sprawl.
Do this as fast as possible and then try to do it in even less time the next time. Or change it to be 4 punches and a pushup, or 4 punches and a burpee if you’re feeling masochistic.
Try to do this in under 5 minutes, but it will probably take you 10 minutes the first time you try it. It’ll get you in shape but also hone your punching and sprawling skills.
Short Workout 11 – 1000 Punches & 100 Kicks
Do a workout in which you do 1000 punches and 100 kicks.
Hackleman suggests that you break it up so that you do 100 punches followed by 10 kicks, and then repeat that 10 times.
For more information about John Hackleman check out The Pit’s Youtube Channel or visit The Pit Online Dojo.
Download Stephan Kesting’s free guide to learning BJJ as fast as possible by clicking here.
Comments ( )A plan to name a stretch of the 134 Freeway after former President Obama moved forward this week with approval from the California State Senate.
Naming L.A. freeways after living presidents is nothing new — but it sometimes comes with political blowback. And in one case, a correction.
So why Obama?
Obama is no stranger to the area, having attended Occidental College in Eagle Rock in 1979 before transferring to Columbia University in 1981. The roughly three-year stay in the area was enough for state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) to move forward with a dedication to the 44th president.
“California has a long history of designating our freeways as reminders of the accomplishments of important leaders who have shown character, strength and passion,” Portantino said in a statement. “President Obama is a laudable person to showcase and for Southern Californians to appreciate.”
The Obama freeway would run past Eagle Rock. (Los Angeles Times)
It’s scenic route — on a clear day
The Obama freeway would cover California 134 that runs between Interstate 210 and California 2. That covers parts of Glendale, Pasadena and Eagle Rock.
The 134 is not as iconic as L.A.’s busier freeways such as the 101 and 405. But this stretch runs in the hillside above Eagle Rock, offering dramatic views of downtown L.A. and the Pacific Ocean (on clear days). There are also views of Eagle Rock itself.
The L.A. Weekly once listed the 134 as one of L.A.’s more picturesque drives. “Getting stuck in traffic with such a vista wouldn’t be so bad — but for some reason, this westbound stretch of the 134 has the added benefit of rarely being congested.”
Nixon Freeway (LA Times)
Obama joins Nixon, Reagan on the Mt. Rushmore of roadways
Obama wouldn’t be the first living president to get a freeway named after him:
Richard Nixon Freeway
While Nixon was still in the White House, California 90, between the 405 Freeway and Marina del Rey, was named in his honor. In 1976, with Nixon's image tarnished by Watergate, lawmakers quietly responded to the request of local Chamber of Commerce officials and took his name off the 2.5-mile roadway. The Nixon Freeway became the Marina Freeway.
Richard M. Nixon Parkway
Officials agreed to name another small piece of what was once the 90 Freeway — this portion in Yorba Linda — after the former president. The road is near his presidential library.
President Nixon's farewell on Aug. 9, 1974, as he boards a helicopter at the White House. (Associated Press)
(Nixon indirectly had another Orange County street named in his honor, this one in San Clemente, home of the “Western White House.” City leaders renamed Via del Fronte, the street leading to the La Casa Pacifica mansion, Avenida del Presidente.)
Ronald Reagan Freeway
A 26-mile thoroughfare between the San Fernando Valley and Moorpark was renamed the Ronald Reagan Freeway. Legislators cited his years of public service and his decision that year to disclose his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Gerald Ford Drive
It’s not a freeway. But the former president and noted Coachella Valley resident had a road named after him in Cathedral City and Palm Desert.
President Obama's motorcade travels Hollywood Way after landing in Marine One at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank in February. (Raul Roa / Glendale News-Press)
Bipartisan support, but some jokes about Obamajam
The renaming has so far sailed through the Legislature. The State Senate approved it on a bipartisan vote of 34 to 1. it now heads to the Assembly. But some Republicans have rolled their eyes as the proposed honor, especially considering the traffic jams the former president’s visits to L.A. once generated.
https://twitter.com/GwilymMcGrew/status/864356590857605122
In California alone, several schools have been named after Obama. And in the Monterey Bay town of Seaside, city leaders designated a key street Obama Way.
A photo illustration shows the Pasadena apartment building where Barack Obama lived and a commemorative plaque. (John Antczak / Associated Press)
"I thought it was a good idea," Seaside Councilman Ian Oglesby told the Monterey Weekly. "It's important for our citizens to be able to look at our street signs and aspire to be all they can be."
Last year, Pasadena held a ceremony to commemorate a residence where Obama lived during his sophomore year at Occidental College. A small plaque was installed there.
Support our journalism Already a subscriber? Thank you for your support. If you are not, please consider subscribing today. Get full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks.
Landa writes for the Glendale News-Press.When Viola Davis walked onstage at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday to accept her award for Best Supporting Actress, she also vaulted herself into one of the most prestigious acting clubs in the world.
With the win for her work in the 2016 film “Fences,” Davis becomes the 23rd person to complete the so-called triple crown of acting, which is the term used to describe actors and actresses who have won at least one competitive acting award at the Oscars, the Emmys and the Tonys.
She is the first black woman to do so.
Prior to “Fences,” Davis had won an Emmy in 2015 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work on “How to Get Away with Murder” and two Tony Awards, first in 2001 for her work in “King Hedley II” and then again in 2010 for her work in the Broadway rendition of “Fences.”
Davis joins an acting group that includes acting legends like Jessica Lange, Helen Mirren, Al Pacino and Ingrid Bergman. But even some of the greatest actors and actresses in history, including one of Davis’ acting heroes, Meryl Streep, haven’t completed the triad like Davis did Sunday.Description
As skilled members of a disease-fighting team, you must keep four deadly diseases at bay while discovering their cures. Travel the world, treat infections, and find cures. You must work as a team to succeed. The clock is ticking as outbreaks and... Read More
As skilled members of a disease-fighting team, you must keep four deadly diseases at bay while discovering their cures. Travel the world, treat infections, and find cures.
You must work as a team to succeed. The clock is ticking as outbreaks and epidemics fuel the spreading plagues. Can you find all four cures in time? The fate of humanity is in your hands!
Pandemic: The Board Game is a family-friendly cooperative game. Simple to understand and lots of fun, Pandemic: The Board Game puts you in an apocalyptic situation where you must work as a team to save the world.
*How to play
In Pandemic: The Board Game each player has a unique role with different abilities. On a turn, players will have four actions in order to cure diseases and save the world. They can remove disease cubes from the board; fly to a city in need; trade cards with fellow players; and much more.
At the end of every player’s turn, new cities are infected with disease cubes and Epidemics may arise. You must fight to prevent the outbreaks before they spin out of control.
In Pandemic: The Board Game, there is only one way to win: cure all four diseases before you run out of time!
An award-wining board game and player favorite since its release in 2008, Pandemic: The Board Game is now available as a Universal iOS app.
*Features
-7 role cards with unique abilities
-Supports games for 2, 3, or 4 players, but can be played solo if you play multiple roles
-Pass-and-play multiplayer (2-4)
-Three difficulty settings make the game suitable for beginners, intermediate players, and experts
-Fully guided interactive tutorial; plus “Info Mode” for in-game reminders of the rules
-Full rulebook included for easy access and detailed reference at all times
-Animated interface gives clear indication of the game's progress and hotspots
-“Undo” system
-Adaptive soundtrack
-Complete implementation of the board game suitable for expert play
-Interface designed and tested for ease-of-use
-Supports landscape or portrait orientations (iPad only)
-Supports multitasking
*Expansions
-On the Brink expansion content available as in-app purchase
-6 new roles and 8 new events
-Play with 5 players
-Legendary difficulty setting for players with a deathwish
-2 events in player deck per player
To find more information about Asmodee Digital, please go to : https://asmodee.helpshift.com/a/pandemic/
Having an issue? Looking for support? Please contact us : https://asmodee.helpshift.com/a/pandemic/
You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asmodeedigital/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/asmodeedigital
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asmodeedigital/
You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/asmodeedigital
*Comments?
We want to know what you think. Please send your feedback, ideas, and comments about the Pandemic: The Board Game app to: [email protected]
*Find Pandemic: The Board Game on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/PandemicTheBoardGame CollapseWhile there's certainly no need to panic in Oklahoma City, the Thunder's last two losses have exposed a need for the Western Conference favorite: perimeter defense. Miami's Dwyane Wade and the Los Angeles Clippers' Jamal Crawford combined to score 60 points on 65 percent shooting from the floor in those games.
Granted, Wade and Crawford light up a lot of teams, but the fact is that, outside of starting 2-guard Thabo Sefolosha, Oklahoma City provides very little resistance in the backcourt. That's why the Thunder were hoping to land Iman Shumpert before last Thursday's trade deadline.
Even after Shumpert suffered a strained left MCL in a Knicks loss last Wednesday, Oklahoma City was willing to part with this season's first-round draft pick to land the Knicks shooting guard, according to sources with knowledge of the trade discussions. The Knicks, however, refused to do the deal because they weren't getting a current player in return who could help them make a push for this season's Eastern Conference playoffs. At the end of the day, they deemed Shumpert more valuable than the 28th pick (or whatever low pick OKC gets) of the draft, sources said.
The Knicks' priority all along in trading Shumpert was to attach Raymond Felton's contract to the deal and get a solid point guard in return. That nearly happened with the Clippers.
While Shumpert's injury did not deter the Thunder, it did kill the Knicks' hopes of sending him to Los Angeles. Clippers coach Doc Rivers really wanted Shumpert, sources say, and Rivers was willing to do a deal that would have sent Darren Collison, Matt Barnes, Byron Mullens and two second-round picks to New York for Shumpert, Felton and Beno Udrih. But Clippers owner Donald Sterling and others within the organization were hesitant to bet on Shumpert after seeing him go down in Wednesday's game at New Orleans, according to sources.
Shumpert's camp was hoping for a trade, but it can rest assured that he'll be back on the market around draft time.Renewable Energy Target: Cabinet agrees to cut target to compromise figure
Updated
The Federal Cabinet has agreed to cut the renewable energy target to a figure that Labor is agreeable to and will today try to finalise a deal, the ABC understands.
The target |
.35%
Uncommon
Combo Virtuoso
Land a 70+ AP Combo in Practice Mode
22.5%
Rare 37.69%
Uncommon
Ultimate Power
Perform a Level 3 Super Attack
89.3%
Common 93.32%
Common
Two for One
Earn a Double Kill with a Level 1 Super Attack
76.6%
Common 82.44%
Common
Three for One
Earn a Triple Kill with a Level 1 Super Attack
49.6%
Rare 61.33%
Common
Friendly Competition
Complete a Versus Match against an online player
10.1%
Very Rare 27.25%
Uncommon
Tournament Fighter
Complete an online Ranked Match
15.3%
Rare 35.20%
Uncommon
First Blood
Earn a Kill in a match-made online game
19.1%
Rare 39.76%
Uncommon
Victorious!
Win a match-made online game
14.0%
Very Rare 32.26%
Uncommon
The God of War
Complete Arcade Mode with Kratos
28.3%
Rare 40.35%
Uncommon
I Gotta Believe!
Complete Arcade Mode with PaRappa
11.0%
Very Rare 25.72%
Uncommon
Cake, please!
Complete Arcade Mode with Fat Princess
8.1%
Very Rare 22.49%
Uncommon
Oh Boys and Girls
Complete Arcade Mode with Sweet Tooth
11.1%
Very Rare 24.10%
Uncommon
Helghast Commander
Complete Arcade Mode with Radec
12.9%
Very Rare 25.50%
Uncommon
Thievius Raccoonus
Complete Arcade Mode with Sly Cooper
10.3%
Very Rare 23.49%
Uncommon
Treasure Hunter
Complete Arcade Mode with Nathan Drake
10.8%
Very Rare 25.43%
Uncommon
Greatest Conduit
Complete Arcade Mode with Cole
11.7%
Very Rare 24.82%
Uncommon
Friend of the People
Complete Arcade Mode with Toro
7.8%
Very Rare 20.19%
Uncommon
Monkey Catcher
Complete Arcade Mode with Spike
8.5%
Very Rare 20.77%
Uncommon
Intergalactic Heroes
Complete Arcade Mode with Ratchet
10.4%
Very Rare 23.25%
Uncommon
Eco Master
Complete Arcade Mode with Jak
9.4%
Very Rare 22.66%
Uncommon
Let's Make a Scene
Complete Arcade Mode with Sackboy
9.8%
Very Rare 22.18%
Uncommon
Revengeance
Complete Arcade Mode with Raiden
19.4%
Rare 32.84%
Uncommon
The Iron Fist
Complete Arcade Mode with Heihachi
10.3%
Very Rare 22.68%
Uncommon
Mr. Bubbles
Complete Arcade Mode with Big Daddy
11.3%
Very Rare 24.54%
Uncommon
Demon Hunter
Complete Arcade Mode with Dante
17.8%
Rare 30.61%
Uncommon
Demon of Empire City
Complete Arcade Mode with Evil Cole
11.7%
Very Rare 24.10%
Uncommon
Heavenly Warrior
Complete Arcade Mode with Nariko
10.2%
Very Rare 23.21%
Uncommon
Hero of Gallowmere
Complete Arcade Mode with Sir Daniel
7.7%
Very Rare 20.69%
Uncommon
This is Living
Win a match-made online game without dying
9.7%
Very Rare 25.01%
Uncommon
I Chose The Impossible
Perform a Level 3 Super with Big Daddy on 'Columbia'
12.8%
Very Rare 30.79%
Uncommon
Master of the Ray Sphere
Perform a Level 3 Super with Cole or Evil Cole on 'Alden's Tower'
12.7%
Very Rare 30.08%
Uncommon
Interpol HQ Break-In
Perform a Level 3 Super with Sly Cooper on 'Paris'
11.4%
Very Rare 28.97%
Uncommon
Kerwan’s Capital City
Perform a Level 3 Super with Ratchet on 'Metropolis'
10.5%
Very Rare 28.31%
Uncommon
Ally of Larry Da Vinci
Perform a Level 3 Super with Sackboy on 'Dreamscape'
10.7%
Very Rare 28.00%
Uncommon
Calypso’s Wishes
Perform a Level 3 Super with Sweet Tooth on 'Black Rock Stadium'
12.1%
Very Rare 29.49%
Uncommon
The Doctor Is In...
Perform a Level 3 Super with Ratchet on 'San Francisco'
8.5%
Very Rare 26.07%
Uncommon
Student Becomes the Master
Perform a Level 3 Super with PaRappa on 'Dojo'
16.5%
Rare 32.79%
Uncommon
REX versus RAY
Perform a Level 3 Super with Raiden on 'Franzea'
12.9%
Very Rare 30.02%
Uncommon
The Peak Point Helmet Blues
Perform a Level 3 Super with Spike on 'Time Station'
9.3%
Very Rare 26.71%
Uncommon
Samos’ Sacred Site
Perform a Level 3 Super with Jak on 'Sandover Village'
8.8%
Very Rare 26.77%
Uncommon
Sic Parvis Magna
Perform a Level 3 Super with Nathan Drake on 'Stowaways'
14.3%
Very Rare 31.84%
Uncommon
Autarch of Helghan
Perform a Level 3 Super with Radec on 'Invasion'
12.4%
Very Rare 29.43%
UncommonIf further proof were needed that, despite their pious words, our political leaders do not take climate change seriously, the recent population debate provides it.
The argument over whether we should aim for 36 million people by the middle of the century is conducted as if the world in 2050 were going to be a richer version of what we have now. This is the grand delusion of the climate change debate.
None of our political or business leaders is listening to what the scientists are saying. More surprisingly, nor are our leading demographers, economists and Treasury officials. All have joined the debate but seem oblivious to the sort of world the growing population is expected to inhabit.
In truth, Australians in 2050 will be living in a nation transformed by a changing climate, with widespread doubt over whether we will make it to the end of the century in a land that is recognisably Australian.
Over the next decades hundreds of thousands of Australians will try to escape those parts of the continent that have become too unpleasant or dangerous to live in and migrate to those that have better water supplies, fewer days of extreme heat and adequate protection from floods, fires and rising seas.A Wall Street Journal reporter was released by Turkish authorities on Friday after being detained for more than two days days, the newspaper reported Saturday.
The journalist, Dion Nissenbaum, was detained by local authorities without access to his lawyer or family since Tuesday, according to the report. Nissenbaum was also not allowed to contact his employer.
Turkish authorities accused the reporter of illegally publishing material from an Islamic State video, an activity that is prohibited in Turkey, a source familiar with the matter told the Journal.
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“While we are relieved that Dion was released unharmed after nearly three days, we remain outraged at his peremptory detention, without any contact with his family, legal counsel or colleagues,” Journal Editor in Chief Gerard Baker said. “While we are relieved that Dion was released unharmed after nearly three days, we remain outraged at his peremptory detention, without any contact with his family, legal counsel or colleagues,” Journal Editor in Chief Gerard Baker said.
Nissenbaum, who is a U.S. citizen, said Turkish authorities informed him that he was under investigation, but refused to specify details. He also said that his repeated calls for legal representation went unanswered.
Police tried to get Nissenbaum to get him to sign a document, part of which included his Twitter handle, during his detention. But the reporter refused, asking for an English translation.
Nissenbaum was released from the detention facility for foreigners near Istanbul on Friday, and is returning to the U.S., accompanied by his family, on Saturday.
Nissenbaum's arrest comes in the wake of a widespread crackdown on the media in Turkey, with dozens of Turkish journalists in prison. In recent months, the Turkish government has shut down numerous domestic media outlets.Did Stravinsky sleep with men? Does it matter?
Those questions have been percolating through the worlds of music and dance since the publication of a quietly inflammatory essay by the writer and musician Robert Craft in the June 21 issue of The Times Literary Supplement.
Mr. Craft, 89, was Stravinsky’s confidant and literary collaborator in his final decades and has for many years written his own accounts of the composer’s life and work. His essay appeared on the heels of his latest book, “Stravinsky: Discoveries and Memories” (Naxos), which repeats its most provocative assertions, blending the artistic, historical and personal.
Mr. Craft contends first that Stravinsky’s creative influence over the epochal 1913 ballet “The Rite of Spring,” particularly its choreography, was far greater than has been assumed. And then there’s the gay thing.
“It will come as a surprise to most people,” Mr. Craft writes in the book, “that in the early Diaghilev period” — the years following 1909, when Stravinsky began collaborating with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes — “Stravinsky was exclusively in an ambisexual phase while writing ‘Petrushka’ and ‘The Rite of Spring.’ ”Designer Chris Dimino astounded us all with his ability to turn useless old items into wacky, re-purposed inventions. We got to talk to Chris and pick his thoughts on his design process, where he gets inspiration, and new designs from his drawing board. [read our original post on the Waffle Iron Typewriter]
You created The Corona-matic for an exhibition years back. Where did the bolt of inspiration come from for the idea to make a waffle maker out of a typewriter?
I think it just came from a lot of doodling and putting my thoughts on paper as I tried to come up with ways to re-purpose a typewriter.
In the case of the Corona-Matic, I didn’t have the actual machine in front of me, so I just kept drawing typewriters over and over- breaking them down into their essential parts. Many hours and days later, in a quick sketch of a keyboard, I loosely made cris-crossing lines that kind of resembled a waffle, and that’s when it hit me.
Tell us about the design process involved in turning an old typewriter into something useful again?
For me, the process depends on the idea, but for the Corona-Matic, I had to sketch out what I wanted the final product to look like. This was a marriage between a 60’s Smith Corona typewriter, and an equally dated waffle iron.
They both had great visual elements to work with, so things came together pretty naturally when reassembling the two into one.
The mirror chrome lid of the waffle iron worked really well with the body of the Smith Corona, and the long handle and angled legs tied it all together. As a detail, I utilized the back or the typewriter where the roller once was as a place to put powdered sugar and jams, and of course, the waffle designed itself with the keyboard pattern.
How long did it take you to refurbish the typewriter?
From start to finish, it took me three weeks to create. The thing to keep in mind is that this was for an exhibit that had a due date, so I was simply working with the window of time I was given, though six weeks would’ve been nice, as the bulk of the work was done in the final week.
Was the typewriter just for the exhibit or did you actually take it home for everyday use?
It’s funny because I remember being so focused on the concept of the piece that the idea of it’s actual functionality wasn’t a priority at the time, especially given my three-week deadline.
I realize now how crazy that sounds especially since I love waffles, but at the time I was committed solely to making a great piece of concept art for the exhibition. The exhibition was a huge success thanks to Kevin O’Callaghan who conceived and curated the show for the School of Visual Arts.
What new design or projects are you currently working on?
Coincidentally, I’m working on making a functioning Keyboard waffle iron! A lot of time has passed since I made the Corona-Matic, yet the idea of making keyboard-shaped waffles still excites me. While I could make a handful of waffle irons from recycled typewriters, the notion of mass producing them is impractical, to say the least.
So I’m currently working a simple design that will let people make keyboard-shaped waffles to their heart’s content. I’m planning to create a limited set of Keyboard Waffle Irons by winter of 2014 and you will be able to check out the production status on my upcoming website at Keyboardwaffleiron.
Beyond that I have plans to develop and produce another conceptual design: The Shining Cuckoo Clock (image below).Larkin C. Hannah (Curt), Professor, Ph.D., Horticultural Sciences. (Courtesy Photo)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Field corn is one of the world’s most important cereal grains, and efforts to develop new heat-tolerant varieties of this crop have earned national recognition for a scientific team led by University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences molecular geneticist Curt Hannah.
On Thursday, Oct. 12, representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recognized the team at a Washington, D.C. event by presenting a NIFA Partnership Award to a member of the team, Mark Settles, a professor with the UF/IFAS horticultural sciences department. The team included faculty members with UF, Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin and involved more than 30 people altogether.
“Speaking for the team, I think we are all happy and humbled to receive this prestigious award,” Hannah said.
This is the fifth time in six years that UF/IFAS project teams have won NIFA Partnership Awards, a tribute to the high quality of UF/IFAS teaching, research and Extension initiatives, said Jack Payne, UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources.
“In the NIFA Partnership Awards Program, our projects are evaluated alongside submissions representing the best of the best from across the nation,” Payne said. “It’s thrilling to know that our people have been selected for these awards in five of the past six years. If this were baseball, we’d have an.833 batting average. That kind of consistency doesn’t happen through random chance; it’s proof that UF/IFAS personnel are doing amazing things.”
This year’s award was in the Multistate Efforts category, because the project involved research in Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin, and sought to boost future field corn yields across a dozen states. In the project, researchers located and developed heat-tolerant versions of enzymes involved in the chemical synthesis of starch, a process that occurs inside developing corn kernels.
Starch accounts for about 70 percent of the dry weight of a corn kernel and provides most of the food value in corn grain, Hannah said. In many current field corn varieties, starch production is negatively impacted when daytime temperatures exceed 33 degrees Celsius, or about 91 degrees Fahrenheit.
The project was another step toward safeguarding the world’s field corn supply from climate variability and future elevated temperatures, he said, adding that members of the team hope to secure additional funding to continue building on some of their early findings.
—Tom Nordlie
UF|IFAS
For more articles out of Florida, click here.
CommentsAppearing on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday, Patriots president Jonathan Kraft detailed some technology upgrades that will be coming to Gillette Stadium this season, as well as future plans on how to use the technology.
"We're going to announce on Monday that with a company called Enterasys, we have made a pretty substantial multimillion dollar investment for (Gillette) Stadium," Kraft said. "You're actually going to be able to have 70,000 people have WiFi access all at once, with almost half of them being able to stream rich media. This year we're going to give them the NFL Red Zone, so they can get at the stadium what they get at home."
Kraft also gave a preview of another possible use of the technology, which is similar to how driver radio is available to spectators in NASCAR.
"I think eventually you'll see us mic-up players and the audio being exclusively available to people in the building," Kraft hinted.ref wip - phoenix
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obliviousally phoenix phe fox vixen
I want to do simple ref things for my characters, which is probably something I’m never going to actually accomplish/finish. Heck, this one isn’t even done, but it’s a start. I just want to have refs/portraits of characters that kind of reflect their personalities and stuff? As well as a typical sort of outfit they’d wear or something. I dunno. I’m feeling ambitious right now, but I’m sure that will change.
I used a stock photo from DA for this, but I’ll have to link it later, because I don’t have the file with me to remember who it was from. Whoops!
Art and Phe © Alaina RoseownCloud is a free software alternative to some proprietary web services that includes music streaming, file management which supports sharing, calendar, contacts and more:
ownCloud offers the ease-of-use of Dropbox and box.net with a more secure, transparently managed offering. As an open source project ownCloud 3 offers innovative features, a flexible architecture and no vendor lock in.
- Built-in cloud text editor that supports 35 programming languages for syntax highlighting, keyboard shortcuts support, automatic indent and outdent, unstructured / user code folding and live syntax checker (for JavaScript, Coffee and CSS). Editing more advanced file types like.doc and.odt is planned for a future release:
ownCloud text editor
Application Store: support for installing third party applications and addons through a central repository, directly from the ownCloud interface
new calendar interface
various calendar and contacts improvements
A new "external" application that lets you integrate external applications (like an external webmail interface for instance) into the ownCloud interface
Unfortunately, this release doesn't bring encryption, a desktop sync client or versioning/recovery yet, features which many consider extremely important, but fortunately, all of these features are top priority so hopefully we'll see all of them in a future ownCloud release.
Download / try ownCloud
has been released recently with some cool new features, such as:with automatic album generation and dynamic covers:The complete list of new features and improvements can be found HERE ownCloud is available in the official Ubuntu repositories, but that's a very old version (pre version 2) so to install the latest ownCloud in Ubuntu, see our initial post about ownCloud: ownCloud: Your Personal Cloud Server Arch Linux users can install ownCloud via AUR, however, at the time I'm writing this post, the package hasn't been updated with the latest ownCloud 3. Download ownCloud | Update: the ownCloud website seems to be down for now, so here's an alternate download link (via ownCloud @ Twitter ).Abigail Wark wants to see your areolas.
But only if you are a participant in the Personal Genome Project, a research effort to find 100,000 volunteers as research subjects in the public domain — contributing data from their genomes, microbiomes, health records, tissues and more.
The project comprises 16 research groups that want to study different aspects of the data. Scientists from each group are meeting on Tuesday in Boston with a group of 150 volunteers whom the project’s executive director, Jason Bobe, calls “omic astronauts,” from the “ome” in words like genome. This is the fifth annual GET conference; the initials stand for genomes, environments and traits.
“We’re prototyping a legal and technical infrastructure for sharing data,” Mr. Bobe said.
The project started in 2005 with 10 volunteers, called the P.G.P. 10, including noted scientists like the psychologist Steven Pinker, the technology expert Esther Dyson, and the project’s founder, the geneticist George M. Church.
Since then more than 3,360 participants have enrolled and the genetic data for more than 600 have been posted online. Ultimately, the data could be used to answer countless questions about the body; the immediate goal is just to collect the data.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Red Bull Arena will look noticeably more red, white and blue this Saturday evening when the New York Red Bulls host the New England Revolution (7:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
Specifically, nearly 1,000 Revs fans will pour into the Harrison, New Jersey-based stadium as part of the club’s season membership program. In all, 17 buses head south down Interstate 95, then will occupy sections 219 through 221 of their Eastern Conference rival’s stomping ground.
For Brian Bilello, president of the Revolution, the club-sponsored and funded trip is a great source of pride.
“It’s very, very unique, and in talking with away fans about what gets them engaged and excited, the away trips are a big thing,” Bilello told MLSsoccer.com inside his office at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday. “We put our heads together and asked, ‘How can we help with that?’”
The solution, it turns out, is the gameday experience, and the match against the Red Bulls made sense geographically when front office members got to planning.
The genesis of this trip has roots in 2014, though, when the Revs faced New York in the Eastern Conference Championship. Bilello, through Twitter, offered fans free buses to that playoff match, and he estimates they sold out of spots in 15 minutes.
Then last year, the Revs organized a similar trip to Red Bull Arena, at which nearly 450 fans traveled. They’ll more than double their traveling support this go-around, and Bilello said the reason is they’ve expanded eligibility to all season members.
“When you go on an away trip and are in an arena with a big group of people, it’s a special feeling,” Bilello said. “It’s very different than any other sport in the world. You don’t do that in baseball or football or basketball.”
As special as the trip to Red Bull Arena will be for fans, Revs players said they’ll greatly appreciate the support. Juan Agudelo said it reminds him of his brief spell in Europe, when away fans in the hundreds or thousands is commonplace.
Chris Tierney, meanwhile, harked back on that 2014 matchup at New York, an instance he called one of the best memories of his career.
“There’s just something about going into a hostile game in a tough environment and having a group of fans that have your back,” Tierney told MLSsoccer.com. “I think our fans that day were as loud as the 20,000 Red Bull fans, and we had 1,500 people. It’s definitely something that gives us something to work extra hard for on the road.”
In sum, this Revs-funded trip isn’t MLS's largest ever – that distinction belongs to Toronto FC in 2013, when 4,200 fans traveled to Montreal's Olympic Stadium – but don’t expect it to go anywhere soon. After all, Biello said, there’s no real reason to stop.
“We’ll keep going with these trips until members don’t want to take them anymore,” Bilello said.We've discussed The Hawkeye Initiative before, a Tumblr where fans and artists recontextualize the costumes and poses of female characters in comic books by replacing the oft-ignored Avenger, Hawkeye. Yesterday, one employee of the videogame publisher Meteor Entertainment (who chose to remain anonymous) shared her own story, which is fantastic not only because it took an exercise intended to demonstrate double standards in entertainment and implemented it in real life at an actual company that creates entertainment, but also because it has a happy ending. As the Meteor employee explained:
I love my job. Our company in particular is great. Firstly, our game (HAWKEN) is beautiful and people love it. Secondly, half of our executive branch is female. Half of them are punk rock, and all of them are badassed. Our gender awareness standards, compared to the industry at large, are top shelf. We are talking Amelia Earhart in Atlantis, at a five star resort, getting a mani-pedi from Jensen Ackles. I have it good. For the last six months of my tenure at Meteor Entertainment, there has been only one thing I did not love about my job. This picture:
After seeing the pin-up pic day in and day out for six months, she had a revelation: what if she created the male equivalent of the sexy Hawken mechanic, Hawkeye Initiative style, and swapped the picture in her CEO's office with it as a prank? She enlisted the help of her co-worker Sam Kirk, an artist who illustrated an image of a similarly underdressed male mechanic that she titled "Bro-sie the Riveter."
After quietly swapping out the picture one morning, she watched with amusement as coworkers noticed the switch and reacted with surprise and guffaws. And then her CEO, Mark Long, came in.
We hear a loud: “What the hell is this?!” And then all goes quiet. Ten minutes pass. We panic. We are both suddenly and painfully aware that we have, in fact, just punked the CEO of our company. He is by all accounts an awesome dude. He is also a late-50s ex-army guy who happens to determine our employment futures in an at-will state. Meep.
After several nail-biting minutes, she says Long came by her desk and said, “That was a brilliant prank. You called me on exactly the bullshit I need to be called on. I put up pictures of half-naked girls around the office all the time and I never think about it. I’m taking you and Sam to lunch. And after that, we’re going to hang both prints, side by side.”
And that's exactly what they did.
As women make more and more in-roads into the videogame industry, it's a valuable and optimistic anecdote, and one that she says has taught her some important lessons. First, that a lot of men–like Kirk, her partner in gender-swapping art crime–are already sympathetic to the issues women face in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) industries.
Second, "many of the guys who are behind that stupid, constant crap are totally decent, open-minded human beings who just don’t realize they’re doing it. You know how sometimes you don’t realize how much you and your girlfriend are talking about shoes or menstruation until some dude walks into the room? Well sometimes guys don’t realize how much they’re talking about titties. We just haven’t been around enough for them to notice."
The Hawkeye Initiative is now asking people to share their "Brosie moments," when they moved beyond gender-swapping pictures on the internet to taking steps in real life–and in the industries they care about–to effect change.
Update 5/15/13 6 PM EST: Welovefine.com told Wired that it is now selling Kirk's Bro-sie the Riveter posters in their store starting today for $45. And for another $45 you can buy both and hang them side-by-side in your office or home to replicate Meteor's tableau of sexy, sexy equality.It’s 6:00 in the evening on a Friday, and I am walking through downtown with two friends. It is still light out, and the sun is setting over the new convention center. I am wearing a backwards baseball hat and jeans I spent too much money on. One friend is wearing jeans and cowboy boots. One is wearing black leggings and a green shirt. We are walking down a city street, and we are girls.
Apparently, that is all that matters.
Two men in front of us turn around—three, four, five times before they say something. I comment back, and they see this as an opportunity. They ask if they can join us. There are two of them, and there are three of us. It is daylight, still. We should be okay. Yet, we run across the one-way street, dodging oncoming traffic, and escape into the evening, where, oddly enough, we are headed to hear a handful of Christian musicians.
I am walking to a wedding in Cincinnati, wearing a dress and a jacket, and a man leans out his window and shouts something out to me about how I look. It is 4:00 in the afternoon, I am alone, and I throw up my hand in disgust. He makes a right turn, and I go into the nearest business.
I am everywhere, anywhere, nowhere: it doesn’t matter. I have a face, two arms, two legs and I am a girl and men think they can shout at me.
I did not ask for this. It is threatening. It is violating. It is sickening. It is harrowing.
Possibly, you don’t ever do this to women. Maybe you say things like, “I appreciate you!” or “It’s your inner beauty that counts!”
But maybe you’ve glanced down their shirt in the copy room on accident five too many times.
Or maybe you don’t say these things to girls while they walk down the street. Instead, you say them to your friends, inside the tiny cracking walls of your apartments. So no one hears; no one gets hurt. It’s a just between the guys.
And then, just like that, it becomes easier. The first time a comment slips out in a kitchen amongst a bunch of guys, it’s an accident. Then it becomes a joke. Then it becomes commonplace. Then it becomes real.
Suddenly, private conversations aren’t private anymore. The reticence becomes a whisper. And the whispered jokes become catcalls. And the catcalls become skin-crawling remarks and actions and movements and gestures that twist up our stomachs and force nervous lumps into our throats.
And we did not ask to be silent or fearful. Because the woman who says something back is causing a scene. The woman who is alone is dumb. The woman who says nothing is scared. The woman who runs is even more scared. The woman in too short a dress is “asking for it.”
I did not ask for this.
I did not ask to have people sling objectifying “compliments” at me as I’m walking down the street.
Just because I am a woman does not mean I want to be shouted at. Don’t I deserve better than that? Don’t we all?
It’s easy to argue that, as a country and a society, we have come an extraordinary way from the days of outward and blatant disrespect and disregard for women. Women can vote! Women can go to school! Women can work! Women get paid equally (sometimes)! We don’t make them cover their heads or their bodies or their faces. We don’t keep them from places or businesses or opportunities.
And yet, have we, as a society, made equality safe for women?
We think we are keeping women protected. We pride ourselves, in America, with our equality and our rights and our fierce working women. And yet, we still scare women with our eyes. With our indelible words. With our exploitation and our magazines and our catcalls.
Do men know what it feels like to be looked at like we are looked at? To have gawking, bugging eyes glancing over your skin and body like it isn’t even your own? Like it isn’t even a body? To feel someone’s gaze penetrate through your clothing like that?
Is it possible to consider what that does to a woman’s dignity? To her spirituality? To her emotional security and stability? Those kinds of feelings do not build up the strong, confident women our country boasts it has empowered. They do not help show women they are loved and valued by their Creator. They do not build up women of strength and independence; they create women who cower.
I am not a supermodel. I do not look like Naomi Campbell or Britney Spears circa 2001. I am a normal, 25-year-old girl. I have arms and legs and hair. And no matter what I look like or what I’m wearing or who I am, I did not ask for this.
But sometimes, sometimes, men can make me feel like I did.Abstract: The popular analysis (promulgated by Orientalists) on the rise and decline of scientific productivity in Islamic civilization dichotomizes the events of Islamic history as a conflict between religion and reason. This analysis has since come to be coined the ‘Classical Narrative,’ and suggests that the scientific successes of Muslims throughout history were based solely on foreign influences, whereas Islamic values and ideas were responsible for their decline. However, recent studies have shown this narrative to be invalid due to its inconsistent rendering of the historical data. On the contrary, a more coherent understanding of the data shows that scientific productivity among Muslims was both actively and passively bolstered by Islamic values through the rejection of Aristotelian natural philosophy. Despite these developments, the reasons behind the decline have yet to be fully ascertained. As such, this paper offers a summary and critique of the Classical Narrative, as well as revisionary constructs towards understanding the influences behind the rise and decline of scientific productivity in Islamic civilization.
Introduction
Three months after the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, the renowned Pakistani nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy penned an article for the Washington Post titled “How Islam Lost Its Way: Yesterday’s Achievements Were Golden,” attempting to explain the reasons behind the attacks on 9/11 as well as the downtrodden state of the Muslim world in the contemporary period. Throughout the article, he mentions the ‘Golden Age’ of Islamic civilization: a time when rationality and science triumphed over religious conservatism. He concludes his analysis by blaming religious orthodoxy for the end of this glorious era – more specifically, placing the burden on the 11th – 12th centuries C.E. theologian Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (d. 1111):
But in the 12th century, Muslim orthodoxy reawakened, spearheaded by the Arab cleric Imam Al-Ghazālī. Al-Ghazālī championed revelation over reason, predestination over free will. He damned mathematics as being against Islam, an intoxicant of the mind that weakened faith…Caught in the viselike grip of orthodoxy, Islam choked. No longer would Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars gather and work together in the royal courts. It was the end of tolerance, intellect and science in the Muslim world.[1]
Aside from the rather curious claim that Al-Ghazālī was an Arab (he was Persian), Hoodbhoy doesn’t explain how one man was capable of destroying an entire civilization – much less how said man’s supposed aversion to free will and mathematics had anything do with 9/11 – but it’s clear that he believes this illustrious scholar responsible for embedding a debilitating and everlasting irrationality into the Muslim world which has resulted in extremism, terrorism, political turmoil, and a lack of Nobel Prizes.
Over a decade later, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the American astrophysicist and popular science educator, Neil deGrasse Tyson, would repeat this same tragic story about Islamic civilization’s once enlightened past and its downfall by this Muslim version of Voldemort, who single-handedly vanquished rationality through his apparent disregard for the utility of mathematics and denial of the necessary relationship between cause and effect.[2]
But is it really the case that all of the problems facing the contemporary Muslim world are the result of some anti-rationalist and anti-scientific spirit emanating from the ideas of one man? And how is it that two scientists, from opposite sides of the world and cultures, are not only in agreement regarding the rise and decline of scientific productivity in Islamic civilization, but can air their opinions in such a way as to be taken as authorities on the matter? Because their opinions certainly have nothing to do with their credentials as historians of science. Rather, their opinions seem to reflect a popular and long-entrenched view that has remained unchallenged – at least until very recently.
For the past few decades, a number of historians of science have put this narrative under the microscope, scrutinizing its foundational assumptions and its incoherent rendering of the historical data: a projection inspired by the Occident’s own ideological history (i.e., the Enlightenment vs. the Church).[3]
That said, how did the rise of scientific productivity in Islamic civilization occur? What were its major influences? And was the subsequent decline a result of an overt religious conservatism? In order to answer these questions, we will need to analyze the historical data and the popular conceptions of those data, while surveying the most recent alternative theories. Prior to this, however, we should begin by defining many of the terms essential to this discourse so as to acquire a better grasp of this topic.
Defining Terms
The initial question that should be asked regarding the discourse behind ‘the rise and decline of scientific productivity in the Islamic civilization’ is how it should be conducted; meaning, what are the primary terms and concepts that need to be ascertained prior to examining the issue at hand? This same question applies to any and all intellectual inquiry, whether it regards science, theology, philosophy, law, or history.
Thus, the first term that needs to be defined is ‘science’ itself. However, despite what one might presume, this is not an easy feat given that the term can encompass a variety of different meanings depending on the contexts in which it is used. As a case in point, the philosopher of science, Osman Bakar states:
Science is not an entity that is obvious to everyone…To begin with, there are disagreements on terminological usage itself, whether the domain of knowledge to which the term ‘science’ is applied is to be confined to the natural sciences, or to be extended to cover the |
) ; return new Promise ( ( resolve, reject ) => { let loop = ( value ) => { let result ; try { result = iterator. next ( value ) ; } catch ( err ) { reject ( err ) ; } if ( result. done ) resolve ( result. value ) ; else if ( typeof result. value === "object" & & typeof result. value. then === " function " ) result. value. then ( ( value ) => { loop ( value ) ; }, ( err ) => { reject ( err ) ; } ) ; else loop ( result. value ) ; } loop ( ) ; } ) ; } function makeAsync ( text, after ) { return new Promise ( ( resolve, reject ) => { setTimeout ( ( ) => resolve ( text ), after ) ; } ) ; } async ( function * ( greeting ) { let foo = yield makeAsync ( "foo", 300 ) let bar = yield makeAsync ( "bar", 200 ) let baz = yield makeAsync ( "baz", 100 ) return `$ { greeting } $ { foo } $ { bar } $ { baz } ` }, "Hello" ). then ( ( msg ) => { console. log ( "RESULT:", msg ) ; } ) ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional
Generators Generator Methods Support for generator methods, i.e., methods in classes and on objects, based on generator functions. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional class Clz { * bar ( ) { … } } ; let Obj = { * foo ( ) { … } } ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional
Map/Set & WeakMap/WeakSet Set Data-Structure Cleaner data-structure for common algorithms based on sets. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional let s = new Set ( ) ; s. add ( "hello" ). add ( "goodbye" ). add ( "hello" ) ; s. size === 2 ; s. has ( "hello" ) === true ; for ( let key of s. values ( ) ) console. log ( key ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var s = { } ; s [ "hello" ] = true ; s [ "goodbye" ] = true ; s [ "hello" ] = true ; Object. keys ( s ). length === 2 ; s [ "hello" ] === true ; for ( var key in s ) if ( s. hasOwnProperty ( key ) ) console. log ( s [ key ] ) ;
Map/Set & WeakMap/WeakSet Map Data-Structure Cleaner data-structure for common algorithms based on maps. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional let m = new Map ( ) ; let s = Symbol ( ) ; m. set ( "hello", 42 ) ; m. set ( s, 34 ) ; m. get ( s ) === 34 ; m. size === 2 ; for ( let [ key, val ] of m. entries ( ) ) console. log ( key + " = " + val ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var m = { } ; m [ "hello" ] = 42 ; Object. keys ( m ). length === 2 ; for ( key in m ) { if ( m. hasOwnProperty ( key ) ) { var val = m [ key ] ; console. log ( key + " = " + val ) ; } }
Map/Set & WeakMap/WeakSet Weak-Link Data-Structures Memory-leak-free Object-key’d side-by-side data-structures. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional let isMarked = new WeakSet ( ) ; let attachedData = new WeakMap ( ) ; export class Node { constructor ( id ) { this. id = id ; } mark ( ) { isMarked. add ( this ) ; } unmark ( ) { isMarked. delete ( this ) ; } marked ( ) { return isMarked. has ( this ) ; } set data ( data ) { attachedData. set ( this, data ) ; } get data ( ) { return attachedData. get ( this ) ; } } let foo = new Node ( "foo" ) ; JSON. stringify ( foo ) ==='{ "id":"foo" }'; foo. mark ( ) ; foo. data = "bar" ; foo. data === "bar" ; JSON. stringify ( foo ) ==='{ "id":"foo" }'; isMarked. has ( foo ) === true attachedData. has ( foo ) === true foo = null / * remove only reference to foo * / attachedData. has ( foo ) === false isMarked. has ( foo ) === false ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional
Typed Arrays Typed Arrays Support for arbitrary byte-based data structures to implement network protocols, cryptography algorithms, file format manipulations, etc. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional class Example { constructor ( buffer = new ArrayBuffer ( 24 ) ) { this. buffer = buffer ; } set buffer ( buffer ) { this. _buffer = buffer ; this. _id = new Uint 32 Array ( this. _buffer, 0, 1 ) ; this. _username = new Uint 8 Array ( this. _buffer, 4, 16 ) ; this. _amountDue = new Float 32 Array ( this. _buffer, 20, 1 ) ; } get buffer ( ) { return this. _buffer ; } set id ( v ) { this. _id [ 0 ] = v ; } get id ( ) { return this. _id [ 0 ] ; } set username ( v ) { this. _username [ 0 ] = v ; } get username ( ) { return this. _username [ 0 ] ; } set amountDue ( v ) { this. _amountDue [ 0 ] = v ; } get amountDue ( ) { return this. _amountDue [ 0 ] ; } } let example = new Example ( ) example. id = 7 example. username = "John Doe" example. amountDue = 42. 0 ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional
New Built-In Methods Object Property Assignment New function for assigning enumerable properties of one or more source objects onto a destination object. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var dest = { quux: 0 } ; var src 1 = { foo: 1, bar: 2 } ; var src 2 = { foo: 3, baz: 4 } ; Object. assign ( dest, src 1, src 2 ) ; dest. quux === 0 ; dest. foo === 3 ; dest. bar === 2 ; dest. baz === 4 ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var dest = { quux: 0 } ; var src 1 = { foo: 1, bar: 2 } ; var src 2 = { foo: 3, baz: 4 } ; Object. keys ( src 1 ). forEach ( function ( k ) { dest [ k ] = src 1 [ k ] ; } ) ; Object. keys ( src 2 ). forEach ( function ( k ) { dest [ k ] = src 2 [ k ] ; } ) ; dest. quux === 0 ; dest. foo === 3 ; dest. bar === 2 ; dest. baz === 4 ;
New Built-In Methods Array Element Finding New function for finding an element in an array. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional [ 1, 3, 4, 2 ]. find ( x => x > 3 ) ; [ 1, 3, 4, 2 ]. findIndex ( x => x > 3 ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional [ 1, 3, 4, 2 ]. filter ( function ( x ) { return x > 3 ; } ) [ 0 ] ;
New Built-In Methods String Repeating New string repeating functionality. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional " ". repeat ( 4 * depth ) ; "foo". repeat ( 3 ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional Array ( ( 4 * depth ) + 1 ). join ( " " ) ; Array ( 3 + 1 ). join ( "foo" ) ;
New Built-In Methods String Searching New specific string functions to search for a sub-string. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional "hello". startsWith ( "ello", 1 ) ; "hello". endsWith ( "hell", 4 ) ; "hello". includes ( "ell" ) ; "hello". includes ( "ell", 1 ) ; "hello". includes ( "ell", 2 ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional "hello". indexOf ( "ello" ) === 1 ; "hello". indexOf ( "hell" ) === ( 4 - "hell". length ) ; "hello". indexOf ( "ell" )!== - 1 ; "hello". indexOf ( "ell", 1 )!== - 1 ; "hello". indexOf ( "ell", 2 )!== - 1 ;
New Built-In Methods Number Type Checking New functions for checking for non-numbers and finite numbers. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional Number. isNaN ( 42 ) === false ; Number. isNaN ( NaN ) === true ; Number. isFinite ( Infinity ) === false ; Number. isFinite ( - Infinity ) === false ; Number. isFinite ( NaN ) === false ; Number. isFinite ( 123 ) === true ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var isNaN = function ( n ) { return n!== n ; } ; var isFinite = function ( v ) { return ( typeof v === "number" & &!isNaN ( v ) & & v!== Infinity & & v!== - Infinity ) ; } ; isNaN ( 42 ) === false ; isNaN ( NaN ) === true ; isFinite ( Infinity ) === false ; isFinite ( - Infinity ) === false ; isFinite ( NaN ) === false ; isFinite ( 123 ) === true ;
New Built-In Methods Number Safety Checking Checking whether an integer number is in the safe range, i.e., it is correctly represented by JavaScript (where all numbers, including integer numbers, are technically floating point number). ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional Number. isSafeInteger ( 42 ) === true ; Number. isSafeInteger ( 9007199254740992 ) === false ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional function isSafeInteger ( n ) { return ( typeof n === 'number' & & Math. round ( n ) === n & & - ( Math. pow ( 2, 53 ) - 1 ) < = n & & n < = ( Math. pow ( 2, 53 ) - 1 ) ) ; } isSafeInteger ( 42 ) === true ; isSafeInteger ( 9007199254740992 ) === false ;
New Built-In Methods Number Comparison Availability of a standard Epsilon value for more precise comparison of floating point numbers. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional console. log ( 0. 1 + 0. 2 === 0. 3 ) ; console. log ( Math. abs ( ( 0. 1 + 0. 2 ) - 0. 3 ) < Number. EPSILON ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional console. log ( 0. 1 + 0. 2 === 0. 3 ) ; console. log ( Math. abs ( ( 0. 1 + 0. 2 ) - 0. 3 ) < 2. 220446049250313 e - 16 ) ;
New Built-In Methods Number Truncation Truncate a floating point number to its integral part, completely dropping the fractional part. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional console. log ( Math. trunc ( 42. 7 ) ) console. log ( Math. trunc ( 0. 1 ) ) console. log ( Math. trunc ( - 0. 1 ) ) ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional function mathTrunc ( x ) { return ( x < 0? Math. ceil ( x ) : Math. floor ( x ) ) ; } console. log ( mathTrunc ( 42. 7 ) ) console. log ( mathTrunc ( 0. 1 ) ) console. log ( mathTrunc ( - 0. 1 ) )
New Built-In Methods Number Sign Determination Determine the sign of a number, including special cases of signed zero and non-number. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional console. log ( Math. sign ( 7 ) ) console. log ( Math. sign ( 0 ) ) console. log ( Math. sign ( - 0 ) ) console. log ( Math. sign ( - 7 ) ) console. log ( Math. sign ( NaN ) ) ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional function mathSign ( x ) { return ( ( x === 0 || isNaN ( x ) )? x : ( x > 0? 1 : - 1 ) ) ; } console. log ( mathSign ( 7 ) ) console. log ( mathSign ( 0 ) ) console. log ( mathSign ( - 0 ) ) console. log ( mathSign ( - 7 ) ) console. log ( mathSign ( NaN ) )
Promises Promise Usage First class representation of a value that may be made asynchronously and be available in the future. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional function msgAfterTimeout ( msg, who, timeout ) { return new Promise ( ( resolve, reject ) => { setTimeout ( ( ) => resolve ( `$ { msg } Hello $ { who }!` ), timeout ) ; } ) ; } msgAfterTimeout ( "", "Foo", 100 ). then ( ( msg ) => msgAfterTimeout ( msg, "Bar", 200 ) ). then ( ( msg ) => { console. log ( `done after 300ms:$ { msg } ` ) ; } ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional function msgAfterTimeout ( msg, who, timeout, onDone ) { setTimeout ( function ( ) { onDone ( msg + " Hello " + who + "!" ) ; }, timeout ) ; } msgAfterTimeout ( "", "Foo", 100, function ( msg ) { msgAfterTimeout ( msg, "Bar", 200, function ( msg ) { console. log ( "done after 300ms:" + msg ) ; } ) ; } ) ;
Promises Promise Combination Combine one or more promises into new promises without having to take care of ordering of the underlying asynchronous operations yourself. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional function fetchAsync ( url, timeout, onData, onError ) { … } let fetchPromised = ( url, timeout ) => { return new Promise ( ( resolve, reject ) => { fetchAsync ( url, timeout, resolve, reject ) ; } ) ; } Promise. all ( [ fetchPromised ( "http://backend/foo. txt", 500 ), fetchPromised ( "http://backend/bar. txt", 500 ), fetchPromised ( "http://backend/baz. txt", 500 ) ] ). then ( ( data ) => { let [ foo, bar, baz ] = data ; console. log ( `success: foo=$ { foo } bar=$ { bar } baz=$ { baz } ` ) ; }, ( err ) => { console. log ( `error: $ { err } ` ) ; } ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional function fetchAsync ( url, timeout, onData, onError ) { … } function fetchAll ( request, onData, onError ) { var result = [ ], results = 0 ; for ( var i = 0 ; i < request. length ; i + + ) { result [ i ] = null ; ( function ( i ) { fetchAsync ( request [ i ]. url, request [ i ]. timeout, function ( data ) { result [ i ] = data ; if ( + + results === request. length ) onData ( result ) ; }, onError ) ; } ) ( i ) ; } } fetchAll ( [ { url: "http://backend/foo. txt", timeout: 500 }, { url: "http://backend/bar. txt", timeout: 500 }, { url: "http://backend/baz. txt", timeout: 500 } ], function ( data ) { var foo = data [ 0 ], bar = data [ 1 ], baz = data [ 2 ] ; console. log ( "success: foo=" + foo + " bar=" + bar + " baz=" + baz ) ; }, function ( err ) { console. log ( "error: " + err ) ; } ) ;
Meta-Programming Proxying Hooking into runtime-level object meta-operations. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional let target = { foo: "Welcome, foo" } ; let proxy = new Proxy ( target, { get ( receiver, name ) { return name in receiver? receiver [ name ] : `Hello, $ { name } ` ; } } ) ; proxy. foo === "Welcome, foo" ; proxy. world === "Hello, world " ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional
Meta-Programming Reflection Make calls corresponding to the object meta-operations. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional let obj = { a: 1 } ; Object. defineProperty ( obj, "b", { value: 2 } ) ; obj [ Symbol ( "c" ) ] = 3 ; Reflect. ownKeys ( obj ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var obj = { a: 1 } ; Object. defineProperty ( obj, "b", { value: 2 } ) ; Object. getOwnPropertyNames ( obj ) ;
Internationalization & Localization Collation Sorting a set of strings and searching within a set of strings. Collation is parameterized by locale and aware of Unicode. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var list = [ "ä", "a", "z" ] ; var l 10 nDE = new Intl. Collator ( "de" ) ; var l 10 nSV = new Intl. Collator ( "sv" ) ; l 10 nDE. compare ( "ä", "z" ) === - 1 ; l 10 nSV. compare ( "ä", "z" ) === + 1 ; console. log ( list. sort ( l 10 nDE. compare ) ) ; console. log ( list. sort ( l 10 nSV. compare ) ) ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional
Internationalization & Localization Number Formatting Format numbers with digit grouping and localized separators. ECMAScript 6 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditional var l 10 nEN = new Intl. NumberFormat ( "en - US" ) ; var l 10 nDE = new Intl. NumberFormat ( "de - DE" ) ; l 10 nEN. format ( 1234567. 89 ) === "1, 234, 567. 89" ; l 10 nDE. format ( 1234567. 89 ) === "1. 234. 567, 89" ; ECMAScript 5 — syntactic sugar: reduced | traditionalLooking for news you can trust?
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Jeet Heer investigates a burning question today: why are most libertarians men? He offers several plausible explanations, but I think he misses the real one, perhaps because it’s pretty unflattering to libertarians.
So here’s the quick answer: Hardcore libertarianism is a fantasy. It’s a fantasy where the strongest and most self-reliant folks end up at the top of the heap, and a fair number of men share the fantasy that they are these folks. They believe they’ve been held back by rules and regulations designed to help the weak, and in a libertarian culture their talents would be obvious and they’d naturally rise to positions of power and influence.
Most of them are wrong, of course. In a truly libertarian culture, nearly all of them would be squashed like ants—mostly by the same people who are squashing them now. But the fantasy lives on regardless.
Few women share this fantasy. I don’t know why, and I don’t really want to play amateur sociologist and guess. Perhaps it’s something as simple as the plain observation that in the more libertarian past, women were subjugated to men almost completely. Why would that seem like an appealing fantasy?
Anyway, this is obviously simplistic and unflattering, and libertarians are going to be offended by it. Sorry. But feel free to take some guesses in comments about why women don’t take to libertarianism as strongly as men.Need another Ghostbusters review? Didn’t think so. It was good. I dug it. Some good jokes right off the bat: “This is where the anti-Irish fence was installed,” “This is where P.T. Barnum came up with his ingenious idea of enslaving elephants,” “You’re acting like the mayor from Jaws!” But there are a couple documentaries showing at Baltimore’s Charles Theater now that are far more compelling than Paul Feig’s overly cautious paint-by-numbers reboot: Tickled and Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words. The former, heavily hyped and enhanced by its ongoing legal struggles with the guy it tries to expose, is disturbing, but it’s a straightforward documentary with the filmmaker as its star, traveling across the world to track down and confront corrupt people, much in the same vein as Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine.
But we’ve seen that movie before. Eat That Question dispenses with the standard documentary format and uses no talking head interviews. That can be great when you get primary sources—Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain documentary Montage of Heck, for example, featured Cobain’s mother, wife, ex-girlfriend, uncle, and best friend. Unauthorized and poorly sourced docs made for TV or discredited by the families and subjects abound on YouTube and in the annals of iTunes. It’s just not as exciting when you can only get David Crosby’s second cousin, or Bowie’s maid. I’ve never gotten into Frank Zappa: his rock records, experimental work, and classical compositions, it all leaves me cold. Except for "Catholic Girls." Listening to Zappa talk reminds me of the old go-to line about Marilyn Manson—“I didn’t know he was so articulate! I don’t care for his music, but he’s intelligent!” “Catholic Girls” and “The Dope Show”—great, I’m there. But these are two guys I’d rather watch talk about culture, “obscenity,” politics and theocracy than carry on with Uncle Meat or the alien cup-suit of ambiguous gender.
Eat That Question is remarkably graceful and reflective, and as the subtitle suggests, direct from the source. But to have absolutely nothing other than interviews and concert footage, the lack of a narrator, and the silence that looms on top of this movie gives it a heavier vibe than something like Montage of Heck. Zappa was flamboyant and provocative, but he was just a man, and the laser-focus of the movie’s conceit make it intimate, like we’re looking into a private photo album. Of course all these interviews are public domain and mostly widely available, but to have them presented in this way is compelling, because it’s just the story of one man—not the whole story, not some sweeping puff piece or exposé—just a man, explaining himself and his philosophy in his own words. Musician biopics like Walk the Line and I Saw the Light create such a distance between the subject and that person’s reality, and second-hand documentaries don’t fare much better. Whether it’s excessive animation, titling, narration, or predictable structure, many documentaries are sunk by the emotional restrictions of the format. Eat That Question just moves along, from early adulthood to early death at 52, like life moving ceaselessly forward and without any commentary.
—Follow Nicky Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER1992genderbitch:
lucypaw:
tonidorsay: does tony d’orsay not realize we all don’t care she’s a dude? gaynotqueer: bugbrennan: genderbitch: tonidorsay: bugbrennan: genderbitch: tonidorsay: Had to correct bug’s little tiny error. I mean, no fucking shit, sherlock. Its the whole bullshit thing about how guys grope trans women (that you literally do not understand) when they do so that’s the problem.
Of course, that we might be concerned with sexism’s abuse in that way doesn’t seem to occur to you, given that you think men *should* be groping us.
Rapey bullshit from you, Bug. With all the stalking rapey crap Bug does and says, I still maintain she secretly sexually fetishizes trans women and wants to bang all of us. Which is gross because bigots are just not attractive at all. Eww, gross. Kinsey, make a video of yourself so we can all see how female you are. I’ve met Tony in person, so I already know about that. PS - Tony, I actually *don’t* think that, along with many other things you attribute to me in your perverted little mind. It’s like you all have conversations with yourselves. Your language is what I use to establish that, Bug. It isn’t my perverted little mind (by the way, perverted, really? Me?), its decades of expereince and sociology that indicates such.
Some of your statements require presuppositions, and that’s ignoring the logical fallacies and the outright lies you use. Bug, I’m not gonna provide you with masturbation material. Just, no. Creepy old chaser cis lady. My girl cock is not yours for the taking and it never will be. Eww, please keep talking, all this rapey talk you guys do is helpful. Although nauseating. Gross. What a creep. I don’t know about that.
Bug’s no more creepy than the usual person. On the other hand, since you tagged this post as regarding me, personally, I am rather curious as to what basis you use for establishing creepiness and “perversion” (technically, it would inversion, but that’s a term that’s out of favor in common parlance today, so eh).
Mostly the creepiness.
After all, the sum total of my additions to the above are:
Had to correct bug’s little tiny error. I mean, no fucking shit, sherlock. Its the whole bullshit thing about how guys grope trans women (that you literally do not understand) when they do so that’s the problem.
Of course, that we might be concerned with sexism’s abuse in that way doesn’t seem to occur to you, given that you think men *should* be groping us.
Rapey bullshit from you, Bug. And Your language is what I use to establish that, Bug. It isn’t my perverted little mind (by the way, perverted, really? Me?), its decades of expereince and sociology that indicates such.
Some of your statements require presuppositions, and that’s ignoring the logical fallacies and the outright lies you use. Now, it might just be me, but I am very interested in what about either of those two things is “creepy” or “perverted”.
It is fine with me if you consider reasonable actions creepy and perverted — after all, your lack of familiarity with such might tend to create a sense of wrongness about people actually being upfront and direct.
Do be aware that I do know what I’m talking about, as its kinda sorta my field, and I kinda sorta spent a lot of years learning about it and I kinda sorta really can tell you are only partially and vaguely familiar with some of the stuff you include in your comments.
I’m still trying to work out how trans women complaining about how bugbrennan and others saying that trans women *should* be groped and raped by cis men (News Flash: It Happens Already All the Damn Time) is ‘rapey talk’. I mean, I could see it if they meant that it’s trans women talking about rape and sexual assault, but, no, they mean it’s about trans women wanting to rape people. Which is showed by… how they don’t want to be raped and sexually assaulted (again, like they already are). Uhm, what? (Actually, bugbrennan in this conversation reminds me of man I know who keeps going on about feminists hating on poly as they talk about how they’re poly. Including how he thinks it’s ‘helpful’ and showing how they hate poly. It’s the same wtf logic.)
Well considering they like to claim that our bodies themselves are rape and don’t actually understand what rape means, it’s probably pretty terrifying for them to be shown that we do know what it means, we’ve experienced it and their actions constitute those of a rape culture.
That puts them in the same zone as the douchebro MRAs, who’s apathy regarding women (cis or trans) being raped and their contributions to that rape culture is legendary. Likewise, what radscum really wants to deal with the fact that they are the same as their most hated enemies in the most hated of ways due to their apathy regarding trans women being raped (by cis women too, not just men) and their contributions to that rape culture.
And I do like to joke that Bug is attracted to me and a creeper stalker but really, regardless of the actual reasons for it (no doubt she just hates that she can’t dox me on her little hate site, it must be enraging to face off with someone who has insulated herself against that sort of violence mongering) she still is a creepy rapey stalker.
Just look at the utterly creepy obsession with our genitals, sexual practices and likewise. Amplified so much more in cisfuck radscum than in most cis people (with the exception of heterosexist, cissexist cisfuck men, especially MRAs who obsess over our genitals and sexual practices just as much as radscum). All of that represents a disturbing dehumanization with sexual undertones to it. The erogenous zones of our bodies, our bodies themselves and our sexual involvements are things she feels she deserves access to.
It doesn’t get more rapey than that. That sort of dominating need to control and gain access to bodies is pretty much the way rape culture works and the main justifications for rape. No doubt, many radscum and cisbian types (quite possibly even Bug, wouldn’t surprise me) have sexually assaulted trans women (the crotch grab, the breast squeeze). It doesn’t matter that their interest isn’t sexual because rapists often aren’t sexually interested either. After all, what you wear doesn’t change if you get raped. It’s about how our bodies are worth less than their need for access, control and their problems and issues.
Everything she says and does is rape culture in shitty butch haircut and pants suit lawyer form. And I think that deep down inside she recognizes that and that’s why she responds so violently to it being called out.
Similar for all other radscum and cisbians.The two Muslim converts who carried out attacks against Canadian soldiers in Quebec and Ottawa shared a common interest in radical British hate preacher Anjem Choudary, according to reports.
The Twitter profiles of Martin 'Ahmad' Couture-Rouleau, a 25-year-old Muslim convert who was shot dead by police after he killed a Canadian soldier and injured a second near Montreal, and Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who gunned down a soldier in Ottawa, showed they followed several Islamist preachers, including Choudary.
The preacher, who was recently arrested in London on suspicion of being member of British-based Islamic terrorist group Al-Muhajiroun, rejected any links with the Canadian assailants.
"I don't have any idea who the fellow was yesterday, and there were reports a few days ago the one who ran over a couple of army personnel was following me on Twitter as well," Choudary told Reuters. "The fact that someone follows you on Twitter does not mean you necessarily influenced him to do anything."
Both Couture-Rouleau and Zehaf-Bibeau had their passports seized after they reportedly tried to leave the country to head to the Middle East to join Isis (Islamic State) militants.
Zehaf-Bibeau, of Libyan descent, was designated as a high-risk traveller. Although he did not have extremist views, he showed a "disturbing side", according to friends. His obsession with a Shaytan (devil in Arabic) looking after him may suggest that he might have been mentally ill.
Couture-Rouleau, who went under the Twitter handle of Abu Ibrahim al-Canadi, had recently become influenced by radical Islam, with friends suggesting he acted in response to an appeal by the Islamic State group for jihadi sympathisers across the world to launch "lone wolf" attacks on Westerners "wherever they can be found".
Choudary, who has some 20,000 Twitter followers, denies any involvement in militant activity. "We're living in a global community and no doubt Muslims around the world who have their eye on what's happening in Syria and Iraq or want to know about the sharia will come across us at one point or another," he said. "That does not mean that we're encouraging people to carry out any acts of terrorism."
Then, he warned that the UK could see similar incidents to those that took place in Canada, as backlash for taking part in US-led air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq.
Reuters reports that following his arrest in September, Choudary has been released without charge.According to Buffalo Wild Wings, a rough third quarter can be blamed on the NFL schedule.
On Wednesday, the chicken-wings chain reported $455.5 million in sales, less than the $466.8 million expected by analysts. Shares were crashing by as much as 18% on the news.
While management cited food and labor costs as factors, it said much of the blame lay in a fall sports calendar that is less than ideal for selling wings. This year's NFL season opened a week later than last year's, on September 10 as opposed to September 4 in 2014.
"If you looked at September as a month, there were six days in which we didn't have college or pro football when we did last year, and then also a UFC fight and a boxing match," Buffalo Wild Wings COO James M. Schmidt said in an earnings call. "That really impacted both the month and the quarter as a whole."
Sporting events, especially football games, drive much of Buffalo Wild Wings' sales, as sports fans flock to locations to watch the game or order out for home viewing parties.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Buffalo Wild Wings executives are placing the blame not on the NFL, but on holiday festivities, forcing the company to revise its goal for 2015 net earnings growth to single-digits from 13%.
buffalo wild wings More
While the company expects fans to show up to root for their favorite NFL teams heading toward the Super Bowl and college teams reaching bowl games, inopportune timing of Halloween and Christmas are expected to induce a sales slump. This year, Halloween falls on a Saturday, while Christmas falls on a Friday, providing alternative activities on days customers would otherwise be watching sports and buying wings.
"Typically how Saturday is — especially during football — is a bigger day for us than a Friday is," CEO Sally Smith said of the impact of the holiday shifts in the earnings call. "So that's the nature of why we think it would be a negative. Similarly on the Christmas holiday, Friday night would be typically a bigger sales volume day than a Thursday."
NOW WATCH: The secret history of the NFL's mob and gambling ties
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This week we celebrate the life of the most published mathematician in history, Paul Erdős (AIR-dosh), who was born 100 years ago on March 26. Dr. Erdős, who has been called the world’s greatest problem poser and solver, collaborated with over 500 mathematicians before his death in 1996.
“There are still a lot of Erdős’s vibrations going around,” says Ronald L. Graham, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, San Diego, and longtime Erdős friend and collaborator. “His impact will be felt for a long time.”
We’ll get a sense of this impact soon — Dr. Graham has suggested a terrific bonus puzzle for the week: an unsolved problem related to the work of Dr. Erdős. But before jumping in, let’s learn a bit more about the remarkable mathematician as a person, as captured by “The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős,” a soon-to-be-released book by Deborah Heiligman and LeUyen Pham.
The Boy Who Loved Math
There once was a boy who loved math. He grew up to be one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived. He lived in Budapest, Hungary, with his mama.
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When Paul was 10, he fell in love. He fell in love with prime numbers. Prime numbers are special. They can’t be divided evenly. A prime number can be divided only by itself and 1.
Paul loved to think about prime numbers.
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Paul soon realized he didn’t fit into the world in a regular way. So he invented his own way to live. Paul would get on an airplane with everything he owned — a few clothes and some math notebooks. “I have no home,” he declared. “The world is my home.”
He helped |
not suitable, Sanders ruled, cannot be effective. To assess suitability, Sanders wrote, the review committee may ask the minister to answer the ordination questions again, starting with: Do you believe in God? Many see that question as uncomplicated, but not Vosper. The teaching in theological colleges, she argues, doesn’t lead prospective ministers toward a literal interpretation of the ordination questions. “It invites students to explore those concepts broadly and deeply,” Vosper says. “And very often, when people come out of the process of discovery, they no longer hold those as literal concepts.” When you answer the questions at ordination, Vosper says, you might not believe the concepts literally, but you’ve been given permission to answer affirmatively by a committee that guides you through the process. A review might not leave room for nuance.
Gretta Vosper and her husband, Scott Kearns, musical director at West Hill, in 2011. They have been married for 12 years.
Vosper has appealed Toronto Conference’sdecision to review her and the Sanders ruling on how the review should be conducted. If effectiveness is now tied to a minister’s doctrinal beliefs rather than his or her relationship with a congregation, Vosper fears her colleagues could be at risk. The review process, she argues, “redefines the nature of ministry in the United Church and reduces the diversity of beliefs that can be experienced across the church.” Toronto Conference has put the review on hold until a church committee decides whether it will hear Vosper’s appeal of the Sanders ruling. Kevin Flatt, a history professor at Hamilton’s Redeemer University College who has written a book about the United Church, said that as far as he is aware no one in the denomination has ever been disciplined for having liberal theological views. “Anecdotally my sense is there are a lot of ministers who maybe wouldn’t say it as forcefully as Gretta would, but at the end of the day they don’t really believe in anything resembling traditional Christianity.” There has been a slow but growing movement in the United Church toward downplaying Jesus and the Bible, and moving toward a more metaphorical interpretation of religious symbols and a greater emphasis on humanist, environmental and social justice causes. Some argue it will reinvent a struggling church with declining attendance. Others believe it will destroy it. Flatt said research supports the case for the more doctrinal, God-focused denominations outliving the Vosper-style ones. In taking a stand on Vosper, the church is now seeking to answer a question that it has never asked before: Is there a line? And has Vosper crossed it? In an open letter, Rev. John Shelby Spong, a retired American bishop in the Anglican Church and a leading voice in the progressive Christianity movement, criticized the United Church of Canada for trying to get rid of “one of its most creative, future-oriented pastors” and urged leaders to “call your church back from its precipice.” “Gretta has called herself ‘an atheist minister,’” wrote Spong, a mentor to Vosper. “While that language is startling to some, the Christian academy knows exactly what she is saying. To refer to oneself as an ‘atheist’ does not mean that one is asserting that there is no God; it means that the ‘theistic’ definition of God is no longer operative or believable.” Gretta and her flock They call her Gretta. Not Reverend. Not Pastor Vosper. Just Gretta. She doesn’t cloak herself in robes or preach from a pulpit. She wears long skirts and ballet flats and walks among them, sharing the microphone with those who wish to offer prayers. They gather here each Sunday morning beneath a cascading rainbow of streamers that hang from the vaulted church ceiling, obscuring a large steel cross that is one of the few surviving religious symbols. The debate swirling outside West Hill about what goes on inside West Hill frustrates and baffles church members. Critics have called their minister a bully, a provocateur, an ego-driven self-promoter, a heretic. West Hill attendees have a different view. “Gretta is one of the most courageous people I have ever met,” says Anne Jackson, 61, who joined the congregation a decade ago. “She’s full of humility and discloses her own personal faults. She’s very real and authentic and a seeker of truth.” They say she listens intently and anticipates need. She connects people who have common interests or goals. “When she sends us out the door, she speaks to us in a way that says, look, you have the ability to make things better — go out and do it,” says Babette Oliveira, 48, the church vocal director and a member for 15 years. Some West Hill members were disturbed when Vosper began calling herself an atheist, but they understand her motivation and see that she is the same person she was before she began using the word.
Gretta Vosper addresses congregants at West Hill United. Weekly attendance dropped after the church stopped using the Lord's Prayer, but now about 90 people attend each week. ( J.P. MOCZULSKI for the Toronto Star )
“She was trying to defuse the power of that word to hurt people,” says Scott Kearns, West Hill’s musical director and Vosper’s husband of 12 years. “And that is so Gretta, that sort of solidarity with people being treated unfairly, unfoundedly, being oppressed over a word, over a belief.” What most frustrates Randy Bowes, chair of the church board, is that Vosper isn’t saying anything now that she hasn’t been saying for more than a decade, with one exception: the word atheist. Bowes, 58, doesn’t see that as a big deal. Vosper has made it clear — to the congregation, if not to the world — that she doesn’t believe in a certain kind of God, but she isn’t denying the existence of God altogether. “If this Sunday every single congregation in the United Church was to have a conversation with their minister and say, ‘What do you mean by the word God?’ I wonder how many people would be surprised.” A lot, he guesses. The congregation is now in fight mode. “With the United Church coming after Gretta, West Hill’s basically saying no, you’re coming after West Hill,” Bowes says. “Because Gretta is a leader of West Hill, but she is a leader, not the only leader.” Vosper admits she could have continued to describe herself as a non-theist without compromising her beliefs, and maybe none of this would have happened. But she has no regrets. “I still think it was the right thing to do.” She argues the two words mean essentially the same thing, and says those who disagree are simply weary of the big-bad A-word. She expects to learn in the coming weeks whether a United Church judicial committee will hear her appeal. If the committee refuses, Toronto Conference could immediately begin the review. Some have accused Vosper of fighting to stay within the United Church to protect her income, though she keeps her pension whether she leaves the church or not. They argue she shouldn’t be on the United Church payroll, even though her salary is paid by the congregation, not the United Church. Vosper isn’t worried about losing her job or income. She has options. She could teach. She could write more books. But she is worried that her denomination is drifting away from what she has always hoped it would become. “The United Church is the only denomination in the world that could declare the Bible is not the authoritative word of God for all time.And that needs to be said by a major recognized denomination in order to undermine every single statement that is made by any religious extremist group — that their document, whether it’s the Bible, the Qur’an or the Bhagavad Gita, is not a divinely authored piece from some supernatural source.”
Vosper's supporters in the West Hill congregation are fighting to help her keep her job. ( J.P. MOCZULSKI FOR THE TORONTO STAR )
The United Church has been teaching this stuff in theological colleges for decades, she adds. “So is it not time to say it publicly? A lot of people would breathe a sigh of relief. And it may set humanity on a different course.” She remains determined to fight, in large part because the future of a strong and thriving congregation is at stake. “Now it’s not just about me,” she says. “Now it’s about me and my community.” “Clergy who don’t believe are a dime a dozen,” she says. “But congregations who let them actually be honest about that are extraordinary.” Revising the prayers From Prayers of the People... Then: Oh God, in your mercy, hear our prayer To: Sharing Time... Now: In this, our time of need, may love abound From Prayers of the People … Then: For this, O Gracious One, we give you thanks To Sharing Time … Now: In this abundant blessing, we share the joy Prayers after reading … Then: Reader: This is the witness of God’s people. Response: Thanks be to God Now: Reader: Offered as wisdom for the journey. Response: May we walk in its light From The Lord’s Prayer... Then: Our loving God, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses … To Words of Commitment... Now: As I live every day, I want to be a channel for peace. May I bring love where there is hatred and healing where there is hurt; joy where there is sadness, and hope where there is fear … Hymns From “How Great Art Thou Art …” Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! By Carl G. Boberg To “Then Sings My Soul …” Then sings my soul in wonder, full and free, amazed at all I hear and see! Then sings my soul in wonder, full and free, a sacred gift is life to me! By Gretta Vosper and Scott Kearns (2007)December 11, 2013
Barry Yeoman is a freelance journalist who often covers environmental issues. His recent work has appeared in Saturday Evening Post, Parade, OnEarth, and Audubon. Read more at is a freelance journalist who often covers environmental issues. His recent work has appeared in Saturday Evening Post, Parade, OnEarth, and Audubon. Read more at barryyeoman.com Follow @Barry_Yeoman
Six months before she helped organize the protest known as Hands Across Riverdale, the word “fracking” didn’t mean much to Deb Eck. “Not a damn thing,” says the 52-year-old dollar-store manager. A single mother of twins, she was putting in crushing hours to provide a decent life for her daughters, who are now 12. On good days, she arrived home from work in time to help the girls with their schoolwork, tuck them into bed, and spend the rest of the night cooking and cleaning. There was no time to read about the natural-gas boom unfolding in her backyard.
One consolation for Eck’s hard work was the tranquility of her home. Riverdale Mobile Home Park’s 32 trailers sat on a leafy bank of the Susquehanna River in Piatt Township, Pennsylvania, in the state’s mountainous center, three hours from any major city. “The kids would play with the ducks in the field and had all kinds of friends,” she says. “I never had to worry about them going outside.” Nor did she worry about rent: The $200 Eck paid for her lot was well within her monthly budget.
Building the new plant meant evicting Riverdale’s residents. Eck and her neighbors were offered $2,500 apiece—well below the cost of moving a trailer—if they agreed to leave two months before their June 1 deadline. That figure would taper down to zero if they delayed. Eck’s main worry was where she and her daughters were going to live. But then she went online and learned about the toxic chemicals used in fracking, which have been linked to water contamination. She read about how gas development destroys the integrity of forests, wreaking havoc with resident wildlife. “The more I found out, the worse it got,” she says. “They’re going to turn this peaceful, quiet community into an industrial area, suck water out of the Susquehanna, and ruin the habitat for how many different animals. It just made you sick to your stomach.”
As Eck kept reading, she learned about the political power of the natural-gas industry. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to fight this,” she concluded. But then one of her neighbors told her that he had been talking with some environmental activists who wanted to help Riverdale’s residents. “Help us do what?” she asked.
“They want to stop this because of the fracking,” she recalls him saying.
Hearing that, Eck felt a bit encouraged. “We’ve got to all stick together, though,” she told him. “If we stick together, we can fight this. Maybe we’ll beat them.”
Most of Riverdale’s residents, desperate for cash, took the buyout. Some abandoned their trailers altogether or salvaged them for scrap. But seven households, including Eck’s, decided to defy the eviction notice. News of their plans traveled through environmental, church, student, and other progressive networks. As eviction day approached, anti-fracking activists descended on the park.
Among the first was Leah Schade. The minister of a Lutheran church in the next county, Schade had founded the Interfaith Sacred Earth Coalition, a network of clergy committed to safeguarding God’s creation. She had been offering pastoral support to Riverdale residents facing eviction, including an elderly couple—the wife had breast cancer—who couldn’t move their trailer and faced losing their life savings. Schade had tried using her moral authority to approach the new landowners, she says, only to be told, “Your job is to help these people move.” (Aqua-PVR’s parent company, Aqua America, did not return calls seeking comment.)
About two dozen people had arrived by May 31, the night before the bulldozing was slated to begin: college kids, senior citizens, local and regional environmentalists, veterans of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Schade helped organize an ecumenical prayer service. Participants lit 32 candles, one for each displaced family. They blessed four wooden bowls of river water. They read religious texts and held hands in a circle. When it was over, they launched into civil-disobedience training.
Schade stayed nearby with a friend that night. Returning the next morning, she could hardly believe what the residents and visitors had done. “Overnight, they had taken all of the broken pieces of the discarded trailers, and old furniture and huge boards, and they built barriers across both roads and made signs,” she says. Tents had popped up; volunteers were making coffee; others were cleaning and patrolling the grounds. A full-scale occupation “was not something we had all planned,” she says. “I had expected to see simply a line of residents and activists with their arms linked, standing across the entrance to the park. Maybe a few signs and people chanting protests.” Surveying the riverside encampment, Schade turned to an acquaintance. “This is resurrection,” she said. “This is new life in the midst of death.”
Day after day, the protesters held off the bulldozers. Those who needed to leave for work, including Eck, did so. Others kept the encampment running: buying food, organizing security teams, caring for the children. The Occupy veterans built rocket stoves and composting toilets. “It was like a big family,” Eck says. “Lots of cooking. Lots of laughing. Even though we had lost so many members of our community, having the activists there made us feel like we weren’t alone. It actually made us think that maybe we stood a chance.”HealthKit Data
Kyle Gray Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 29, 2016
There’s an annoying issue on iOS.
iOS is strange in how it handles data. You’re encouraged to keep an iTunes or iCloud backup, and use that to transfer over from device to device for years.
Health data is the weird issue here.
Personally, I’ve had many encounters with Apple Support whenever I encounter a software bug or crash error. The first step always seems to be: restore your iPhone. Music problems? Restore your iPhone. Battery issues? Restore your iPhone.
And I would love to restore my phone and start with a clear iOS install.
Except I also want to keep my Health data.
The only (Apple) way to transfer over to a new device or new install of iOS while simultaneously keeping my Activity and Health data is to restore from a backup. And it seems like that is also what is causing my issues with iOS.
There needs to be a way to transfer and store HealthKit data without bringing over all the other iOS cruft I’ve gathered over the years.
And so I’ve filed a radar. Which turns out to be a duplicate of a radar that originated just a month after iOS 8, and therefore HealthKit, was released.
If you want to help, or if you’ve ever been in the situation where, like every, single, other, fitness, platform, you want to sync your data over to a new device seamlessly, this is where you can help.
Sign in to bugreport.apple.com Open a new issue Select iOS as the product, then HealthKit/Activity Either copy or summarize my radar here http://www.openradar.me/radar?id=5524165746491392 Submit the problem.
I am not sure how much including the original radar number (15339171) would help this, but if you want to include that as well that would rock.
I really just want to be able to transfer health data independently, and not worry about corrupt data, a crap iOS install, or other issues I can’t fix without a complete wipe. Being able to export your health data from the Health app, but not being able to transfer it either through iCloud or even get it on a new device is ridiculous, and should be changed.Instead of working on A Thousand Roses yesterday, I ended up reading a number of additional stories off of my high priority Read It Sooner list, as well as re-reading a couple of older stories that I read before I started doing reviews.
I really need to get to work on finishing up my story… but I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the experience of reading many of these works.
Today’s stories:
While Their Name’s Still Spoken by Estee
Infernal Machines by Skywriter
A Short Story by Twilight Sparkle by Skywriter
Reciprocity by Tumbleweed
Playing the Scales by King of Beggars
While Their Name’s Still Spoken
by Estee
Alternate Universe, Sad
7,218 words There are no ghosts in Equestria. Those in the shadowlands can be brought back in memory, in stories and songs and laughs shared once again. But they never come into the world of the living, or fail to leave it in the first place. Everypony knows that sort of thing never happens. Everypony except one.
Why I added it: Estee is a good writer.
Review
This story is about a ghost, or a spirit – something that a pony left behind. Something that is lingering in the world. She can’t effect the world in any way. She can’t do anything. All she can do is watch.
Everyone is ugly. Everything is hideous. The world is constantly dying around her, and no one else can see it. Why doesn’t anyone pay attention to her? Why doesn’t anyone talk about her? Was she not the most beautiful thing there was?
This story is something of a puzzle, and the character tags give away a big part of who it is about – not entirely, but enough that you will likely cotton on before the story truly gives it away.
The story is ostensibly about the ghost, but it is really about the effect she had on other ponies – what she did to them in life, a life that the ghost cannot remember, as well as the kind of person she was (given her outlook, as you might expect, it wasn’t a particularly good one), but also that even in all that, ponies did care, at least a little.
It is a melancholic story, but a good one. If something on the sad side is up your alley, this could be a good choice.
Recommendation: Worth Reading.
Infernal Machines
by Skywriter
Adventure, Comedy
8,104 words In a world where forest fires (well, a forest fire) run(s) rampant, the fate of Ponyville – this week, at least – lies in the capable hooves of the greatest scientific genius ever to walk the surface of Equestria......Pinkie Pie.
Why I added it: Skywriter is a good writer.
Review
A terrible fire is threatening to engulf Ponyville. Twilight and company have been battling it all day, but Twilight is on the verge of exhaustion after spending all day throwing up ice walls. Forced by Applejack to go back to town to recuperate and gather some morale-boosting sweets from Sugarcube Corner, Twilight discovers that Pinkie Pie is secretly a mechanical genius in contraptionology, which is how she built her party cannon. And numerous other things, while being dismissed as “just being Pinkie Pie”.
This might come in handy.
This is a silly story. It isn’t exactly the sort of thing that knocks it out of the park, but it is more of a line drive – something that is somewhat funny, and which makes use of the characters we know in order to overcome some obstacle. Pinkie Pie being a mechanical genius is always an idea I’ve been amused by, and while she is a bit over the top here in some ways, she’s still very much Pinkie Pie, and her solution is ultimately a Pinkie Pie solution.
Told from the point of view of Twilight Sparkle, we get to see the implications early on, then get hit with them more powerfully when she comes back to town. While the solution does in some ways feel a little too straightforward, given that we’re given both the real problem and the real solution in a pretty small space of time, ultimately the whole thing works reasonably well.
If a serious situation with a Pinkie Pie solution sounds like something that might be up your alley, this is worth a read.
Though now I’m going to have to read its sequel, Contraptionology...
Recommendation: Worth Reading
A Short Story by Twilight Sparkle
by Skywriter
Slice of Life
2,621 words Princess Celestia helps to banish a hoofful of inner demons lurking deep in the heart of a troubled author. Metafiction, again, ensues. Something of a coda to "Princess Celestia Hates Tea".
Why I added it: I read it a long time ago.
Review
Skywriter writes metafiction at times – stories about stories, as well as fanfiction about fanfiction. Heretical Fictions is an excellent piece of metafiction.
A Short Story by Twilight Sparkle is much more subdued.
In this world, Twilight Sparkle wrote Princess Celestia Hates Tea, a farce about Princess Celestia admitting to hating tea, causing a nationwide panic (and specifically, a panic with Twilight Sparkle). Twilight wrote the story pseudonymously in order to work out some of her own inner demons (namely, her fear that she understands Princess Celestia very poorly, and that Celestia keeps secrets from her about even basic little things, and that Twilight herself is a nervous, panic-prone wreck) but, alas, Princess Celestia not only has read the thing, but knows Twilight wrote it.
Misery – as well as a lesson from Princess Celestia – ensues.
This is a very subdued story – the story encompasses a single teatime, really just focusing on a conversation between Twilight and Princess Celestia, and how Twilight feels about the whole business. The first time I read this story, I was not terribly fond of it; re-reading it, I have a bit more fondness for it, but I can remember why I didn’t like it.
This story is interesting in that it is an examination of Twilight looking at herself and those around her, and how she writes them wrong, as well as her fears about the kind of person she really is – someone who Celestia knows to be better than that. The kindly, quiet friendship the pair share is nice.
But at the same time, some of the metafictional aspects – such as the fact that this story itself is written by Twilight Sparkle, about the very events therein – lends it a slightly unpleasant level of precision at times. Twilight panics over being imprecise in the story, and so her story itself shows her concern by going into detail about her surroundings, at times in ways that are slightly boring. The story is intentionally something that this Twilight Sparkle wrote, and as such, there are bits of Twilight Sparkle sprinkled in there, which enhances the metafictional aspect of it, but at times makes it slightly unpleasant to read.
The story is one of those things where I’m not sure if it is more interesting than it is clever – the conversation is pretty subdued, and not much really happens (a fact lampshaded by Twilight herself in the piece). But at the same time, it is a decent character piece about Twilight, which reflects on Twilight’s own image of herself. And in that, there is something interesting.
That being said, this piece is rather dry, and I can understand why Past TD wasn’t as fond of it as Present TD is. If metafiction interests you, if you like slice of life pieces (and I mean things which are a real slice of life, where not that much happens), and if you want to read about how Twilight thinks about herself, I think there’s something here for you. But if those things put you off, you may not find yourself appreciating this fully.
Recommendation: Worth Reading if you don’t mind the dryness.
Reciprocity
by Tumbleweed
Comedy, Romance
10,409 words It's a simple agreement: Rarity will take Applejack to a proper gallery opening, and in turn, Applejack gets to take Rarity to something called a 'hootenanny.' What could possibly go wrong?
Why I added it: I am a shameless RariJack shipper, and read this long ago and now have to write a review about it.
Review
While this story is set in the same continuity as Tumbleweed’s other stories (most notably I Am Trying to Break Your Heart), those other stories are not required reading to understand this one so long as you can accept the idea that Rarity and Applejack are together.
Rarity had the wonderful idea of taking Applejack out to an art gallery opening, in exchange for Applejack later taking her to a hootenanny (not a hoedown or a barnburner). So begins two Fish out of Water stories, one after the other. The first half of the story concerns Applejack at an art gallery opening, trying (and failing) to appreciate modern art. While Applejack is somewhat familiar with the idea of art (particularly classical stuff, like ponies rising out of the sea in clamshells and lying on couches with certain come-hither looks), the likes of the works of Magritte’s “This is not a pipe apple” and Andy Warhorse’s paintings of cans of soup eludes her.
Naturally, some of the more snooty ponies around (namely Upper Crust, everyone’s favorite upper-class bully) have to comment about Rarity’s… uncultured companion, resulting in Rarity lying to everyone about how Applejack is one of those VERY avant-garde artists. It would have been nice of her to tell Applejack, though…
The second half (or really, third, as dealing with the first scene consumes about 2/3rds of the story) is Rarity going to a very rustic concert with Applejack and getting to hear country music and get jostled by the unwashed masses.
I have to admit that the first half of the story – particularly the second half of the first half, when Applejack finds out just why everypony is staring at her – is my favorite part of it. Applejack is the worst avant-garde artiste possible, save for perhaps her “artistic temperament” (when pressed too far, of course), and the awkward situation Rarity made for her being turned back to be even more embarrassing for Rarity is just a thing of beauty. Rarity and Applejack are wonderful in the way that they bounce off of each other as well as go together, and Rarity and Applejack really try for each other… even though they’re both quite bad at it.
Rarity at the hootenanny is a bit more predictable at first, though it, too, veers off when Applejack gets drug on stage by her second cousin thrice removed to sing a song. It isn’t as funny as the first bit – Applejack being at a fancy art gallery and not getting it (and being thought to be an artist) is just a funnier mental image – but there’s still some fun to be had here, and the whole thing comes together nicely in the conclusion.
This story doesn’t take any major risks in what it is, but it is fun. Who doesn’t love watching Rarity squirm? Who doesn’t want high society ponies to try and get Applejack to paint something for them? If you like watching Applejack and Rarity cause trouble for each other, this story is likely to be up your alley, especially if you like RariJack as a pairing.
Recommendation: Worth Reading.
Playing the Scales
by King of Beggars
Romance
14,283 words Spike needs to get out of Ponyville, and when an advertisement for an affordable travel package finds its way into his mailbox, he jumps at the chance. Little does he know that he isn't the only one who took the offer. What will come of his chance meeting with this beautiful mare? Friendship, or something more?
Why I added it: I liked Lies and Lyres, written by the same author, which was about an equally unusual ship (Spike x Lyra), so I was curious as to what his Spike x Octavia fic would be like.
Review
Set about ten years after the present, Spike is a young adult (though still quite small). Rarity finally gave him a shot – perhaps as much out of guilt as anything else – but things went poorly, with Rarity finally ending things with him as it became clear that she didn’t love him, and never did. So Spike decided to take a vacation to clear his head.
Octavia, meanwhile, has problems of her own. Vinyl Scratch has finally made it big, and Octavia, after confessing her feelings for her friend (and being rejected), decided to take a vacation to clear her head.
As Spike sits around in his first-class cabin on the train, flexing at himself in the window, Octavia walks in on him – and can’t help but be amused. The two strike up a quick friendship – which is for the best, as apparently the hotel overbooked rooms, and Octavia doesn’t have anywhere to stay but in Spike’s first class suite…
Sadly, this story didn’t really feel as strong as Liars and Lyres. This story felt rather more contrived. The real problem here was Octavia – while I can buy Spike enjoying music, and the fact that he can play the piano is actually canon, Octavia herself felt like the sort of thing which is designed to appeal to a guy. She’s cute, vulnerable, playful, sexy, gets all over Spike when he’s drunk, and generally just seems very open to Spike, despite the two having been total strangers before the train ride. When Octavia shows her vulnerability, Spike is always there to be chivalrous to her, and clearly expects nothing in return (though he does swiftly take a liking to her).
Ultimately, Octavia feels like a fantasy or wish fulfillment in many ways, and unfortunately, because the story is almost entirely told from Spike’s point of view, she never really grows into a person to me. Octavia is the character we know the least about in this story, having very little canonical personality, and yet by the end of it I’m still not sure if I could really say who Octavia is as a person on any real level, despite the story being almost 14,000 words long.
There is definitely an audience for this sort of thing, and I can’t say that the story wasn’t reasonably written for what it is. But it is not the sort of story I find myself enjoying; Spike is intended as a self-insert for the audience, a chance to be wanted by a beautiful mare and to be gallant for her, while Octavia is the fantasy girlfriend, the wounded lady who gets comforted by a nice, kind of silly guy who isn’t too pushy about pursuing a relationship, but who is there for her in her time of need.
If that’s your sort of thing, then this might light your fires. But it’s not for me.
Recommendation: Not Recommended unless you like romance fantasies.
Summary
While Their Name’s Still Spoken by Estee
Worth Reading Infernal Machines by Skywriter
Worth Reading A Short Story by Twilight Sparkle by Skywriter
Worth Reading Reciprocity by Tumbleweed
Worth Reading Playing the Scales by King of Beggars
Not Recommended
And there we go!
I actually read even more stories than this, but those reviews will have to wait until another day.
Until then, I hope you all find something to enjoy.Cairo, Egypt - The Muslim Brotherhood continues to mobilise its supporters and call for mass protests against Egypt's military coup, less than a week after the Ministry of Social Solidarity decided to officially disband the Brotherhood as a group. The move did away with the last thread of the group's legal existence.
"What is the Muslim Brotherhood group under Egyptian law now? It doesn't exist," said Mahmoud Abdullah, a lawyer affiliated with the socialist al-Tagammu Party.
Abdullah had filed a lawsuit with the Court of Urgent Matters in Cairo to ban "all activities" of the Brotherhood and seize its members' funds, and the court ruled in his favour on September 23. The Ministry of Social Solidarity's subsequent decision was based on the court's verdict.
"We submitted evidence including pictures and testimonies of the group's members carrying weapons and resorting to violence," Abdullah said.
The statement issued by the Ministry of Social Solidarity said the violations committed by the Brotherhood include using its headquarters to store weapons, firing live ammunition from its headquarters and using violence against the public. The Brotherhood has reiterated in several statements that it is peaceful and will continue to fight peacefully against the coup.
Filing a complaint
According to its lawyers, the Brotherhood wasn't allowed to defend itself against the ban. "We were not even adversaries in this case," said Mamdouh Ahmed, a lawyer representing the Brotherhood. "That's why we're going to file a complaint to an administrative court after Eid, demanding that the verdict against us is not acknowledged."
Ahmed said the Ministry should have waited until October 22, when the court will issue a ruling on whether to implement the verdict to ban the Brotherhood's activities, before moving to dissolve the group.
However, the court's verdict is only temporary. Legal experts explain that the Court for Urgent Matters issues swift, temporary verdicts in cases in which citizens are deemed to be at danger, which are in effect until normal courts issue a verdict on the case, which usually takes much longer.
A separate court is also reviewing a case to dissolve the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), because of claims it is based on religious references and ideologies. No verdict has been issued in this case yet.
Ahmed speculated that the Brotherhood would lose both of these legal battles. "All the judiciary is politicised now, and it's leaning towards eliminating the Muslim Brotherhood," he said.
The Brotherhood's current position marks a stark reversal of fortunes: Just a few months ago, the group was the most powerful political organisation in Egypt, having won a string of elections, and was supported by the president himself.
But now, ousted President Mohamed Morsi is being held in an undisclosed location, and has been referred to trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and inciting violence during clashes at the presidential palace on December 5, 2012. Around 2,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested, and most of the group's leaders are either behind bars or on the run.
This isn't the first time the group has been shut down by the state. In 1954, the Brotherhood was banned after being blamed for a failed attempt to assassinate President Gamal Abdul Nasser. However, the Brotherhood continued to flourish underground.
During President Hosni Mubarak's reign, the Brotherhood was allowed to operate from its headquarters, and its members participated as independents in parliamentary elections, despite frequent crackdowns. In 2005, its candidates won 20 percent of the seats in parliament.
"We were a banned group before the January 25 revolution, yet we worked publicly and with the people," said Mohamed al-Sisi, a member of the FJP's legal committee. "They can call us a banned group again all they want … we gain our legitimacy from the streets and from integrating with the people."
The group has been involved in charity and social work for decades, helping create a base of supporters that backed it in several elections following the 2011 revolt.
In March 2013, the group formally registered itself as a non-governmental organisation to legalise its position for the first time.
Moving forward
Failed reconciliation attempts between the Brotherhood and the government made headlines this week, following a meeting on Friday between constitutional expert and former minister Ahmed Kamal Abul Magd, members of the Brotherhood, and the Anti-Coup Alliance - an umbrella group that opposes the Egyptian military's July 3 takeover and includes the Brotherhood, Morsi supporters, and self-defined Islamist groups like Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya.
Mohamed Ali Bishr, a leading Brotherhood member and a former minister of local development, attended the meeting and said in statements posted on the FJP's official website that the conditions of dialogue announced by Abul Magd, which include acknowledging the current government's legitimacy and ending media campaigns against the leaders of the coup, had not been discussed in the meeting.
He added that these points were "unacceptable" as the beginning of a real dialogue.
But Omar Ashour, the director of the University of Exeter's Middle East Graduate Studies programme, said the Brotherhood's leaders had few options, adding that they were willing to offer concessions in exchange for releasing their members and including them in the political process.
"However, the military generals are the ones who call the shots and |
. Abruptly you conclude this is a bad idea: you are in no condition to drive home.
For the past few decades, we've been rigorously educated about the risks of driving under the influence of alcohol. A drunk driver is thirteen times more likely to cause an accident than a sober one. And yet a lot of people still drive drunk. In the United States, more than 30 percent of all fatal crashes involve at least one driver who has been drinking. During the late-night hours, when alcohol use is greatest, that proportion rises to nearly 60 percent. Overall, 1 of every 140 miles is driving drunk, or 21 billion miles each year.
Why do so many people get behind the wheel after drinking? Maybe because--and this could be the most sobering statistic yet--drunk drivers are rarely caught. There is just one arrest for every 27,000 miles driven while drunk. That means you could expect to drive all the way across the country, and then back, and then back and forth three more times, chugging beers all the while, before you got pulled over. As with most bad behaviors, drunk driving could probably be wiped out entirely if a strong-enough incentive were instituted--random roadblocks, for instance, where drunk drivers are executed on the spot--but our society probably doesn't have the appetite for that.
Meanwhile, back at your friend's party, you have made what seems to be the easiest decision in history: instead of driving home, you're going to walk. After all, it's only a mile. You find your friend, thank him for the party, and tell him the plan. He heartily applauds your good judgment.
But should he? We all know that drunk driving is terribly risky, but what about drunk walking? Is the decision so easy?
Let's look at some numbers, Each year, more than 1,000 drunk pedestrians die in traffic accidents. They step off sidewalks into city streets; they lie down to rest on country roads; they make mad dashes across busy highways. Compared with the total number of people killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents each year--about 13,000--the number of drunk pedestrians is relatively small. But when you're choosing whether to walk or drive, the overall number isn't what counts. Here's the relevant question: on a per-mile basis, is it more dangerous to drive drunk or walk drunk?
The average American walks about a half-mile per day outside the home or workplace. There are some 237 million Americans sixteen and older; all told, that's 43 billion miles walked each year by people of driving age. If we assume that 1 of every 140 of those miles are walked drunk--the same proportion of miles that are driven drunk--then 307 million miles are walked drunk each year.
Doing the math, you find that on a per-mile basis, a drunk walker is eight times more likely to get killed than a drunk driver.
There's one important caveat: a drunk walker isn't likely to hurt or kill anyone other than her- or himself. That can't be said of a drunk driver. In fatal accidents involving alcohol, 36 percent of the victims are either passengers, pedestrians, or other drivers. Still, even after factoring in the deaths of those innocents, walking drunk leads to five times as many deaths per mile as driving drunk.
So as you leave your friend's party, the decision should be clear: driving is safer than walking. (It be even safer, obviously, to drink less, or to call a cab.) The next time you put away four glasses of wine at a party, maybe you'll think through your decision a bit differently. Or, if you're too far gone, maybe your friend will help sort things out. Because friends don't let friends walk drunk.Getting a boner.
As long as we are ignoring their last-second loss to the Falcons, the Seahawks ended last season on a very high note. For the first half of the year, they were the flawed team that most of us expected them to be, writhe rife (an emailer pointed out that they probably were not in pain) with potential but too young, inconsistent, and inexperienced to take it to "Super Bowl" levels. In the second half of the year, they were so good that I started to turn from heterosexual to whatever it is when you're attracted to Russell Wilson and only Russell Wilson.
Seattle went 8-2 over their final ten games, including playoffs, while averaging 32.4 points per game. Don't forget that in their first eight games, the Seahawks averaged 17.5 points per game with some people calling for Wilson to be benched in favor of a guy that is starting for the Raiders. The Raiders! (This is unfair to Matt Flynn and also just another pointless stab at the Oakland organization but haha.) Ending on this kind of high note left a lot of people feeling comfortable headed into free agency and the draft; If they stand pat with what they've got, Seattle is still one of the top five teams in the NFL. Which is true. The offense went off to new heights as soon as they started finding new ways to utilize Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, and creating a hard-to-beat running game similar to the style that the 49ers used to beat them in Week 7, and finally coupling the ability to score points with an elite secondary and solid defense meant that we finally had perhaps the best team in football.
But standing pat has been the furthest thing from what Pete Carroll and John Schneider have done over the last three months, and this draft enunciates their concerns with certain areas of the 53-man roster. Concerns? With this team? The "Channing Tatum" of the league? How could it be!
I was surprised by the pick of Christine Michael in the second round. Lynch is only 27, he doesn't appear to be running out of mileage, and he's got three years left on his contract. However, a little reflection started to make it quite obvious that even if it seemed like our biggest needs were at defensive tackle, linebacker, and along the offensive line, while having just drafted Robert Turbin a year earlier, this team knows that one of the most important parts of their functionality is a solid running game. And Michael is a much better prospect as a running back than Turbin is.
- When Seattle went 8-2 over their last ten, Lynch averaged at least 4.20 yards per carry in all but two of those games: 2.42 yards per carry in a loss to the Dolphins, and 2.88 yards per carry in a loss to the Falcons.
- Lynch has carried the ball 600 times in the last two years, and had 651 total touches.
- Lynch starts getting roster bonuses next year and starts becoming a cap casualty savings as well. He should still be effective after 27, but it's also quite likely that each season following will be less effective than the previous.
- It appears that Seattle views Michael as the next Lynch, and could view Turbin as the next Turbin, either by continuously utilizing him as a fresh set of legs as a backup or perhaps as a fullback. If not as a fullback, then Spencer Ware could take over that role, but Michael Robinson appears to be in a fight right now.
- The running game is too important to this football team to find themselves in Week 9 without Lynch for an extended period of time (hypothetical) and then turning to Turbin and Robinson. It's a matter of taking a player that could play a vital role, rather than taking a player that is a little more need-dependent. "We don't need a running back." "Well, not right now we don't." It's like packing a backpack for hiking and having room for one more thing and seeing that you could either put another bottle of water in there or a Highlights magazine.
"Well I have water already but I don't have a Highlights magazine just in case I get bored and want to find the differences."
"Well, we don't need water yet and it's much more vital."
Drafting a skill player should always be more exciting than drafting a defensive tackle or rotational linebacker, but it was almost anticlimactic based on the fact that he's certainly going to be blocked from heavy usage in 2013. However, that's what we should have been expecting all along since this team really didn't need anyone, unless unfortunate circumstances demand that they do need a running back, in which case Michael is going to turn out to be the most important pick of all.
Christine Michael, RB, Texas A&M, 62nd overall
Grade: Texas A&A
I must admit that for most of this draft, I am learning about these men along with most fans. I may write for Field Gulls, but I'm just a regular guy like any of you. *sits at a bar* *orders a Heineken* *wears a cowboy hat and boots* I focus my attention mostly on the NFL and not on college football because that's what I write about and because I went to Washington State University, where we stopped playing college football in 2004.
So these grades, like the one you've seen for Michael, are mainly based on what I know about the player currently as I read up on each of them, where they were drafted, and how they fit a need for Seattle. Just keep that in mind, because we've got a lot of great scouts on Field Gulls and I'm the best. Sorry I mean, I'm the best. Damn it. I mean to say that I am not the best, but I'll do my best. (Which is the best.)
Jordan Hill, DT, Penn State, 87th overall
Derek Stephens write-up on Hill highlights an aggressive player on the defensive line that could be a mess to handle over four quarters of football that could wear you down and create pressure on the quarterback, but also one that could struggle against the run. In this case it would appear that Hill would rotate in on apparent passing downs while working on his ability to not get burned on a run.
However another part of Hill's game and reason for a third round selection would seem to be character and leadership qualities. While some may disagree with his stance, part of Jordan Hill's legacy will be that he was one of the first players to support Joe Paterno. Assuming that there won't be any scandals of that magnitude at the VMAC, the coaches know that Hill will always stand by them no matter what the situation. And we mean always. He's also a leader, having been one of the captains during the most difficult season in Penn State history, and rallied the team together after an early defeat.
Jordan Hill the player fell to the third round because in a deep class of defensive tackles, his game has holes. But his character is strong and he should have no problem making the team and is perhaps someone that 2012 pick Jaye Howard should fear will win a job over him.
Grade: penn st-A-te
Chris Harper, WR, Kansas State, 123rd overall
There are usually a lot of intriguing receiver prospects in every draft, because big guys that can run that fast and move their bodies in the air like that are really interesting. Trust me, I did some experimentation in college. (What? It was like sports science, okay. That's what we called it at least.)
So that's why a guy as intriguing as Harper can be the 14th receiver off the board. Even players like Keenan Allen, Marquise Goodwin, and Ace Sanders, players that I knew of mostly because they had certain attributes that were "off the charts, yo" fell into the third and fourth rounds. Or a player like Ryan Swope going into the sixth. Harper is big, physical, fast, and could wrap up the fifth spot on the depth chart this summer with ease.
The fourth round of the draft has given the league several star receivers, like Charlie Joiner, Andre Reed, Yancey Thigpen, Cliff Branch, Brandon Marshall, Derrick Mason, Brandon Lloyd, and John Stallworth. Three of the best of these fourth receivers are in the Hall of Fame: Stallworth, Joiner, and one guy you might know of.
Steve Largent.
Chris Harper = Steve Largent?
Grade: Hall of A
Jesse Williams, DT, Alabama, 137th overall
Simply put, there was a time when Williams was considered for the Seahawks in the first round of the draft. His knee injury may be so serious that he never gets right and that's why he fell to the fifth round. If it's not a big deal though, he could be one of the main players in the defensive line rotation because all of the measurables are there. Also he grew up in Brisbane, Australia, where I have family ties so hell yeah.
Brisbane Homies 4 Life
Grade: Good "A" Mate
Tharold Simon, CB, LSU, 138th overall
Anyone that's ever been in a few fantasy leagues knows the fun of back-to-back picks.
We are deep into the players picked that have to fight for jobs and nothing is guaranteed. Same goes for even Chris Harper and Williams, even if it comes as a surprise. Simon was described by Derek Stephens as a Brandon Browner-type which makes sense, Seattle needs to plan for the future after Browner. If his character concerns become serious issues, then he won't last into the season. He's got to fight to get ahead of Jeremy Lane, Byron Maxwell, Walter Thurmond, and others. Cornerback is still stacked and with Antoine Winfield, there's not going to be competition for the top three spots.
If Simon does practice hard though, he's got a good chance to jump into the next level behind the top three and there is a need for depth and options after next season. How can you put a price on that?
Grade: A-bay-bay
Luke Willson, TE, Rice, 158th overall
I honestly thought that the Seahawks would take a tight end earlier than this, and even a tight end in a different mold than Willson, but I was just... wrong. So very wrong!
Willson is a physical freak that is 251 pounds and ran a faster 40 than players like Kenjon Barner and Tyrann Mathieu and many others. I think it could be an interesting competition between Willson and possibly Darren Fells to see what physical project could be the third tight end behind Zach Miller and Anthony McCoy, but you never know if they'll have a need at tight end higher than that.
He's a Canadian that also turned down an offer from Washington State. This next Super Bowl run is going to be an international affair! And for that
Grade: Eh?
Spencer Ware, RB, LSU, 194th overall
If Michael came as a surprise, Ware was like a second decoder ring in the Cracker Jack box. In reality though, Michael is going to be preparing for a lead back role in the future, while Ware will try and give the team a reason to save money by releasing Michael Robinson. The same could possibly even be said about Turbin.
We all love Michael Robinson and couldn't imagine not having The Real Rob Report, but this is the ugly side of sports: Giving players "the business."
Ware is a business move. I respect that.
Grade: Ä
Ryan Seymour, G, Vanderbilt, 220th
The Seahawks needed depth on the offensive line and Seymour could compete to be Max Unger's backup as well. That would be a hell of a get in the seventh round, and continue what they built last year by getting J.R. Sweezy and Greg Scruggs at 225 and 232 respectively. Seymour and Sweezy are now basically best friends and sworn enemies.
Nice.
Grade: @
Ty Powell, OLB, Harding, 231st
Just like we all predicted: Drafting an outside linebacker at 231!
Grade: å
Jared Smith, DT/G, New Hampshire, 241st
Maybe this is more of the Sweezy comp since Smith is making the same transition that Sweezy did. Even if Sweezy doesn't work out, he's gotten further than most seventh round picks. I have put a lot of faith into Tom Cable now because of how far Sweezy came last summer. Do it again!
Grade: Æ
Michael Bowie, OT, Northeastern State, 242nd
This is also a player that the Seahawks have drafted. I've spent every waking minute of my life following the career of Michael Bowie. Wait, no, that's David Bowie. I don't know much about Michael except for what Field Gulls and Derek told me!
But if he's anything like David Bowie, he's the steal of the draft. Like stealing babies from Jennifer Connelly's house.
Grade: He's A real steal. Let's dAnce! Dance, bAby, dance, bAby dance!
Let us also not forget that Seattle used their first round pick on one of the most dynamic players in football.
Percy Harvin, WR, Minnesota Vikings/Florida Gators, 25th + change
This is a good move.
Grade: When he comes to Seattle he better bring an umbrella, ella, ella, A A A A A A
Overall I give the Seahawks draft an incomplete. It hasn't even been three days yet. Geez!
Follow Kenny on TwitterStart10 Launches on Steam
Get the number one Windows 10 Start menu alternative now on the ultimate entertainment platform
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Customize your Windows experience with Start10! Return to the classic Windows 7 look or try out the new Modern style.
Change colors and apply textures, create filtered searches, and easily access Universal applications. All of this, plus integration
with Fences, makes Start10 your number one Start menu alternative.
With Start10, you can return to the classic Windows 7 style or activate a Modern design and use onboard configuration tools to make it even better.
The easy-to-navigate UI will let you enable taskbar transparency and shift the level of blur applied to your desktop background. If you want to clean
up your secondary displays, set your Start button to “hide”. Search filter options allow you to find what you need quickly in a Start menu Windows
or web search.
If you're a Fences user, Start10 is already fully integrated with the application! You can organize your favorite programs and most-used applications
right in your Start menu in an easy-to-find grid without having to minimize or move open windows out of the way.
Features:
Replaces the Windows 10 tile menu with a menu you are used to
Restores the quick links to core system functionality
Filter searches in the Start menu
Replaces the Start button and allows you to use your own
Integrates Stardock's "Fences" into the menu
Maintains "All Programs" folder metaphor
Apply texture to the Start10 background and taskbar
Technical Features:© Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports
The Winnipeg Jets are losing more games than they win. They sit third-last in standing’s points per game played. Some models show the Jets having a greater shot at first overall than making the playoffs. (Let’s ignore the models have Jets with a near 50 percent chance of neither playoffs nor top five pick)
Not everything is going as planned.
Just like one must know what broke before repairing a car, we must analytically dissect the Jets and see where the help is needed. Let’s look at the Jets’ holes and discuss some solutions on fixing the team, with keeping in mind the up coming trade deadline.
Current State
Using a similar method to last week, I combined the Jets’ defenders in XPM and their five-on-five weighted point production per minute pace. DTMAboutHeart‘s XPM is simply an expected goal model, that adjusts a player’s shot differentials for shot quality factors (shot distance, shot angle, rebound, etc.) and then adjusts a player’s performance due to usage factors (linemates, linematching, zone starts, etc.).
Combined, these two statistics should account for about ninety percent of the factors that go into a players overall on-ice value, or WAR. It won’t be their true ranking in WAR, but should get the general placement right.
I have ranked where each of the Jets defenders fit among the top 180 most used defenders. Optimally a team wishes to carry as many defenders as possible with as high as rankings as possible. I will note that the above rankings are relative to ice time. If we look at overall impact regardless of ice time, the players shift.
Dom Luszczyszyn developed an alternative holistic model to DTM’s WAR, called Game Score.
Game Score is more heavily weighted towards a player’s overall production. The statistic was initially developed to estimate who had the “best game” in terms of helping a team win. It is agnostic to usage, not as ice time sensitive, does not try to be predictive in the same sense as XPM, and lacks in properly evaluating defensive impact (note: defensive impact not defensive position).
While not completely the same statistic, Game Score does paint a fairly similar picture to XPM. It at least lends confidence that XPM is on the right track and being honest on the Jets performance depth.
The Problem
While most of the complaints are typically aimed at the third pairing, the Winnipeg Jets do not have a good enough top-four. I know there are many who like to feel better about their own players, but you don’t slide to near bottom of the standings merely for one or two holes in the roster.
Jacob Trouba has been developing into a legitimate elite defender. While Dustin Byfuglien has not been as dominant as historical norm, he is still performing like a legitmate number two defender.
Optimally one would not want Byfuglien taking as much ice time as he has done this year; he currently ranks third in the NHL in five-on-five ice time per game. Still, it is understandable given the struggles for the remaining non-Trouba Jet players. While Byfuglien is receiving more ice time, Trouba is still playing like a top defender, ranking eighth overall in five-on-five ice time per game.
Neither Toby Enstrom nor Josh Morrissey have been good enough.
One underperforming player in the top-four is non-optimal, but two is a severe issue. Morrissey is only a rookie; we expect that his performance will improve in time and he has been on an upward trend. Enstrom, though, is much older and at the age we should expect his performance to deteriorate over the years.
Paul Postma has been an above average third-pairing defender, but he may be gone next season. The above model does overly rate Postma, but only slightly due to his crazy high point production per minute of ice time right now. The right-shot defender is a Unrestricted Free Agent this summer and has been highly under utilized. He literally ranks lowest in five-on-five ice time for the 180 defenders with the most games played.
Finally we have Ben Chiarot and Mark Stuart. While Mark Stuart has been below replacement level over the past few seasons, Chiarot is almost the textbook definition of replacement level.
To be blunt, we could summarize the Jets problems being that the entire left side has not been good enough.
The Future
The Jets farm and prospects does not hold a lot of upside for the blue line.
Brian Strait was only a one-year NHL contract, will likely be seen somewhere else next season, and was no where near above NHL replacement level anyways. Brenden Kichton, while only a Restricted Free Agent, could potentially be headed to European leagues next year where his puck handling to skating skills difference is not viewed in the same manner.
Overall there is not much NHL hope in the Jets’ cupboards.
Tucker Poolman could be a NHL regular, but that would likely be as a Postma replacement. The possible marginal gains on the team in improving Postma is likely fairly low with the already high ice time taken by the Jets other right-side defenders. There is no guarantee Poolman signs or is NHL ready, nor is there a guarantee that Postma does not extend with the Jets.
Sami Niku could come over from Europe and have a Markus Nutivaara like impact, but he is more likely needing some AHL time than being the Jets solution in the top-four.
Logan Stanley meanwhile was shutdown not long after we talked about his season being an improvement over last year but not by much.
Required Solutions
We will ignore the possibility of Trouba leaving, as he would most likely garner a similar calibre defender in return if Kevin Cheveldayoff gets his price (and appropriately evaluates said defenders capabilities).
Josh Morrissey developing should hopefully solve one of the Jets two holes in the top-four. It’s possible he does not, but Morrissey has looked strong in his rookie season. He has the smarts and the skill to conceivably be a legitimate top-four defender.
While there is a chance that Enstrom rebounds, we do not know if it will be enough. More likely than not Enstrom should be the answer to Chiarot and Stuart not being strong enough NHL skaters than playing as the Jets number four defender.
There is the possibility of Tyler Myers returning to health, but Myers has never been a strong player in overall statistics like WAR or Game Score. He is more of a potential replacement for Postma than a filler for the top-four. Last season he ranked 124th in WAR and 121st the year before that.
So, the Jets need to add a legitimate top-four performing defender, preferably a left-handed shot. With already one of the higher defensive Cap Hits when looking at Byfuglien, Enstrom, Myers, and Trouba, they will need to be on a cheap contract.
Otpimally the player would preferably be expansion draft exempt as well, as the Jets are already forced to protect Byfuglien and Enstrom due to their Non-Movement Clauses.
Closing Thoughts
It is not surprising the Jets have struggled this season. Half of their top-six defenders have performed below average for their position in the depth charts.
The Jets need to shore up their entire left side. Morrissey should improve next year and I expect some slight bounce back from Enstrom. If they could just add one more piece, and if Postma leaves Myers comes back healthy, the team should be good to go.
Easier said than done…
MORE FROM GARRETDonald Trump, speaking at a rally in Salt Lake City on Friday.
According to a new Deseret News/KSL poll, if Donald Trump becomes the GOP nominee, the voters of Utah would opt for a Democratic candidate for the first time in over 50 years. Poll respondents said they would support either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders over Trump, though Clinton was only two points ahead of Trump in the poll, falling within the margin of error (as opposed to the 11 points Sanders has over Trump). As many as 16 percent of respondents said they would skip the election altogether if Trump was the nominee. The survey also indicated that either John Kasich or Ted Cruz would defeat the Democratic candidate if they were nominated.
It’s only one poll, but that didn’t prevent it from shocking Chris Karpowitz, the co-director of Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. Said Karpowitz to the News, “I know it is early and these things can change. But the fact that a Donald Trump matchup with either Clinton or Sanders is a competitive race is a canary in a coal mine for Republicans.”
Trump made news in heavily Mormon Utah on Friday by wondering aloud at a Salt Lake City rally whether former presidential candidate Mitt Romney was actually Mormon, though Trump would later suggest he was just implying that Romney wasn’t very smart, because “The Mormons are very smart people. I know many Mormons.” With Utah’s caucuses set for Tuesday, FiveThirtyEight’s current polling average has Cruz and Kasich way ahead of Trump, 52 and 28 percent, respectively, to Trump’s 10 percent.
BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins notes that “while Mormons make up the most reliably Republican religious group in the country, they differ from the party’s base in key ways that work against Trump”:
On immigration, for example, the hard-line proposals that have rallied Trump’s fans — like building a massive wall along the country’s southern border to keep immigrants out — are considerably less likely to fire up conservative Latter-day Saints. The LDS church has spent years lobbying for “compassionate” immigration reform. […] These pro-immigrant attitudes are common among rank-and-file believers, many of whom have served missions in Latin American countries. Mormons are more than twice as likely as evangelicals to say they support “more immigration” to the United States, according to Notre Dame political scientist David Campbell. And a 2012 Pew survey found Mormons were more likely to say immigrants “strengthen” the country than they were to call immigrants an overall “burden.”
Coppins also points out that Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric has angered many Mormons, who have traditionally been sensitive to issues related to religious freedom and persecution, and his comments after the San Bernardino terrorist attack even drew an official rebuke from the church itself. That’s not all:
Trump is off-putting to Mormons for more predictable reasons as well. His blatant religious illiteracy, his penchant for onstage cursing, his habit of flinging crude insults at women, his less-than-virtuous personal life and widely chronicled marital failures — all of this is anathema to the wholesome, family-first lifestyle that Mormonism promotes. And demographically speaking, Mormons tend to reside outside Trump’s base of support anyway. They have higher-than-average education levels, whereas Trump does best among voters without any college education; they are more likely to be weekly churchgoers, while Trump performs better with Christians who attend services infrequently.
This post was updated to include McKay Coppins’s analysis.The father accused of killing his 22-month-old son by leaving him in a hot SUV will spend at least the next month in the Cobb County jail.
Justin Ross Harris, 33, of Marietta, was silent and showed no outward emotions during his brief appearance Thursday night before a judge. Because he’s been charged with murder, Harris could not be granted bond, Magistrate Judge John Strauss said.
Harris’ attorney, Mattox Kilgore, confirmed he and his client understood he was not eligible for bond. Harris will remain in the Cobb jail until his next court appearance, scheduled for July 15 in Superior Court.
While the investigation into the toddler’s death continues, questions lingered regarding how it could have happened.
Investigators consulted with Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds before securing an arrest warrant for Harris. Reynolds said Thursday the investigation is “far, far from over.”
“I don’t know where this investigation will ultimately lead,” Reynolds said in a phone interview with AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB.
When a suspect is charged with a felony — such as cruelty to children in the first degree — which results in the loss of life, a murder charge is appropriate, Reynolds said.
“It’s just a terrible, God-awful situation,” Reynolds said. “I can’t imagine, I can’t fathom what any parent would be going through at this stage. It’s the type of case that affects the community.”
In addition to murder, Harris is charged with cruelty to children in the first degree, according to his arrest warrant.
“Said accused did leave a 22-month-old juvenile male unattended and strapped into a child car seat in a parked vehicle for approximately seven hours during daytime hours after which the child was found deceased,” the warrant states.
An autopsy will be conducted by the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death for the child, according to Sgt. Dana Pierce with Cobb police.
The child’s name was not released by police. But the Facebook page believed to belong to Harris shows several pictures of the boy, identified as Cooper.
Harris, who goes by Ross, is a Tuscaloosa, Ala., native who just passed the two-year mark of employment with Home Depot, according to his online profile. A Home Depot corporate office is located about two miles from the Akers Mill Road shopping center where Harris drove his son Wednesday afternoon. It was that parking lot where the boy was pronounced dead by emergency responders.
Harris graduated from the University of Alabama in 2012 with a degree in Management Information Systems, according to his LinkedIn page. His son was born in August of that year.
Harris, his wife and toddler were renting a condo off Terrell Mill Road, but hoped to buy a home, their landlord said Thursday.
Joe Saini, who rents the family their condo, said Harris and his wife are “very, very nice” people who were in love with their baby.
“Everything was going right for this couple,” Saini said. “They wanted to buy a house so they could have some space for their child to run around the backyard.”
Thursday afternoon, a handful of cars were parked outside the family’s condo. A man identifying himself as Justin Harris’ father, Reggie, came outside to walk the family dog.
“We have some pretty strong feelings but we can’t talk right now,” he said.
The investigation continues in the child’s death, according to police. Anyone with information that may assist detectives is asked to call 770-499-3945.
— Staff writer Craig Schneider contributed to this report.
EARLIER STORY: By the time a father realized he had left his toddler strapped in a carseat inside a steaming SUV all day Wednesday, it was too late. The 22-month-old was dead.
That father’s horrific realization turned into a frantic race to revive the child in the parking lot of a busy Cobb County shopping center Wednesday afternoon. The distraught man, whose name was not released, had to be handcuffed by arriving officers as witnesses and then paramedics administered CPR, according to Cobb County police.
“What have I done? What have I done?” witnesses heard the man scream. “I’ve killed our child.”
The toddler was supposed to have been dropped off at daycare Wednesday morning, sometime between 8:30 and 9, according to Sgt. Dana Pierce with Cobb police. Instead, the child was left in the backseat of a Hyundai Tucson, and the father went to work, Pierce said. The father told police he somehow forgot his child was in the backseat of the four-door SUV, but police released no explanation for how the toddler was overlooked. The child, whose name and gender were not released, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Wednesday’s death is the second in two days involving children left in cars, coming one day after a 9-month-old Florida girl died after being left in her father’s pickup truck, according to reports. The child in Cobb County is believed to be the 14th to die from heatstroke inside a vehicle this year in the United States, according to KidsAndCars.org, which tracks fatalities involving children and vehicles. Last year, 43 children died after being left in vehicles, according to the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences at San Francisco State University.
High temperatures Wednesday reached the low 90s, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brad Nitz. Within 10 minutes of being inside a closed vehicle, temperatures inside can rise an average of 19 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Shortly after 4 p.m., the man was leaving an office in the Cumberland Mall area when he realized his child was in medical distress, according to police. From U.S. 41, the man turned on to Akers Mill Road and into the Akers Mill Square shopping center, witnesses said.
Behind a strip row of small restaurants, the man screamed for help and called 911.
“Apparently he forgot the child was in the carseat,” Pierce said at the scene. “When the father discovered the 22-month-old in the backseat, he immediately got out of the car.”
Witnesses rushed to the SUV and began administering CPR, seconds before both police officers and firefighters arrived at the scene. Several officers were already patrolling the area at the time, Pierce said. One witness, Dale Hamilton, said he initially thought the child was choking, but quickly learned otherwise.
“He pulled him out, laid him on the ground, and tried to resuscitate him,” Hamilton said.
Restaurant patrons and others in the shopping center gathered on the sidewalks, hoping for the best. It didn’t happen.
“He was lifeless, he was in the same position as if he were sitting in the carseat,” Hamilton said. “It’s something that I’ll remember for a long time.”
While officers investigated the child’s death, the father was driven away from the shopping center in the back of a patrol car. He was taken to police headquarters for questioning, Pierce said. It was not known late Wednesday if any charges would be filed.
In a high-profile Atlanta case, the owner of a Jonesboro daycare and her daughter were convicted in the 2011 death of a 2-year-old Jazmin Green, who was left in a closed van for about three hours on a sweltering June afternoon.
— Staff writer Dan Klepal contributed to this report.In partnership with Bastei Lubbe, Big Finish revisit 2013 for a new take on their Doctor Who - Destiny of the Doctors...
In 2013, one of Big Finish's most popular celebrations of Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary was Doctor Who - Destiny of the Doctors, eleven single-disc releases, one from each incarnation of the Doctor's life read by actors associated with these evocative times for the series:
Hunters of Earth by Nigel Robinson, with Carole Ann Ford
Shadow of Death by Simon Guerrier, with Frazer Hines
Vengeance of the Stones by Andrew Smith, with Richard Franklin
Babblesphere by Jonathan Morris, with Lalla Ward
Smoke and Mirrors by Steve Lyons, with Janet Fielding
Trouble in Paradise by Nev Fountain, with Nicola Bryant
Shockwave by James Swallow, with Sophie Aldred
Enemy Aliens by Alan Barnes, with India Fisher
Night of the Whisper by Mark Wright & Cavan Scott, with Nicholas Briggs
Death's Deal by Darren Jones, with Catherine Tate
The Time Machine by Matt Fitton, with Jenna Coleman
Today we're delighted to announce that we've teamed up Bastei Lubbe for the immediate release of a new box set, collecting together all eleven tales in Doctor Who - Destiny of the Doctor: The Complete Adventure on Download and CD. Both formats come with the behind-the-scenes bonus documentary Meeting Destiny, which was only previously available in a now long-deleted Limited Edition.
Doctor Who - Destiny of the Doctor: The Complete Adventure can be bought for £25 on Download, or £30 for the 12-CD set (which also instantly unlocks a download).
Downloaders please be warned: these are very sizeable files which may incur data-charges on mobile phone networks.Andrew Hoyle/CNET
BlackBerry will shut down operations in Pakistan at year's end because demands from the country's Telecommunications Authority would result in a massive invasion of user privacy, the company said Monday.
BlackBerry refuses to agree to the Pakistani government's order to monitor BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES), including encrypted emails and BBM messages sent and received in the country. It is therefore withdrawing on December |
in Milwaukee. Additionally, the researchers are studying adult ADHD patients who have been seen since childhood at the Medical College.
Coauthor of the study with Drs. Rao and Harrington is Andrew R. Mayer, M.S., graduate student, department of neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the W.M. Keck Foundation to the Medical College, and the Department of Veterans Affairs and National Foundation for Functional Brain Imaging to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albuquerque. - By Toranj Marphetia
[Contact: Toranj Marphetia]This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: It won’t receive much attention in the corporate media, but today marks a four-decade milestone that critics see as a national shame. It’s been 40 years to the day, April 17th, 1972, or 14,600 days ago, that Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox have been held in solitary confinement in Louisiana. The state says they were guilty of murdering a guard at Angola Prison, but Wallace, Woodfox and their network of supporters say they were framed for their political activism as members of the Black Panthers.
Woodfox and Wallace founded the Angola chapter of the Black Panther Party in ’71. A third prisoner, Robert King, joined them a year later. The three campaigned for better working conditions and racial solidarity between inmates, as well as an end to rape and sexual slavery. But their organizing came to a halt after all three were charged and found guilty of committing murders inside the prison. King was held for 29 years in solitary confinement after prison officials framed him for a different murder. He was finally released in 2001 when his conviction was overturned. He pleaded guilty to a lesser offense. Woodfox and Wallace remain behind bars to this day, despite no physical evidence tying them to the crime scene and accusations that prison guards coerced incriminating testimony from other prisoners.
This is how Amnesty International describes their imprisonment in solitary confinement: quote, “23 hours a day isolated in a small cell, four steps long, three steps across. Three times a week for exercise in an outdoor cage, weather permitting. A few hours every week to shower or simply walk. Rare, fleeting human contact with prison guards, let alone with family. No human being deserves this,” Amnesty wrote.
In recent years, Woodfox has won appeals overturning his conviction, only to see those rulings reversed. But the struggle for justice in the Angola 3 case continues. Today, to mark this 40-year anniversary of their placement in solitary confinement, Amnesty International says it will deliver a petition to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal that bears the signatures of tens of thousands of people from 125 countries.
We’re going right now to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where we’re joined by two guests. Robert King, the only freed member of the Angola 3, he was released in 2001. He had spent 31 years in prison, 29 in solitary confinement. And we’re joined by Everette Thompson, Southern regional director with Amnesty International USA. They’re joining us from the studios of Louisiana Public Broadcasting in Baton Rouge.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Robert King, the significance of this day, in solitary for 40 years today?
ROBERT KING: Yes. Thank you, Amy. We’re proud to be here. Thanks for having us.
And, yes, this day, April the 17, mark 40 years in which Albert and Herman has been held in Louisiana State Prison at Angola in solitary confinement in a cell, six by nine by 12, for 40 years. And beyond today, we’ll be counting. And so, this day mark—it’s significant, because it’s 40 years, and we want the state of Louisiana and we want the world to know that we are still focusing on this case. This is a total violation of human rights and civil rights, and it is ongoing. And we are commemorating this, and we want to make sure that, again, that the public officials here understand that we’ll continue to make sure that this case stays out—
AMY GOODMAN: I want to—
ROBERT KING: —in front of the public, because public opinion matters.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to an excerpt of Herman Wallace speaking in a recording he made by telephone describing his prison cell.
HERMAN WALLACE: You know, where we stay, we’re usually in the cell for 23 hours, you know, and an hour out. I’m not “out.” I may come out of the hole here, but I’m still locked up on that unit. I’m locked up. I can’t get around that. Anywhere I go, I have to be in chains. I mean, chains has become a part of my—my existence. And that’s one of the things that, you know, I think people have to fully understand. But understanding it is one thing, but experiencing it is quite another.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Herman Wallace, in solitary confinement today for 40 years. Everette Thompson, why is Amnesty International involved with this case?
EVERETTE THOMPSON: Yeah, thank you again, Amy Goodman, for inviting us here, and it’s truly an honor to be here for Angola 3 to lift up human rights.
Amnesty International believes that solitary confinement should only be used in the most extreme cases. And when we look at Albert and Herman, they have spent over 14,500 days in solitary confinement—four decades. Truly, this is cruel, this is inhumane, and this is degrading. This is not uplifting human rights of any person. And we believe that human rights is—you know, is for everyone. It doesn’t end if you’re in prison. It doesn’t end if you’re on a playground. But everywhere you exist, your human rights should be carried with you. This is a true violation of their human rights.
AMY GOODMAN: Robert King, explain how you came to be known as the Angola 3. You’re the only one of the three who is out of prison right now.
ROBERT KING: Yes. Well, we became known as the Angola 3 actually because of a former comrade and friend, Malik Rahim. He was a former member of the Black Panther Party who remembered that, after three decades, we were still in prison. And so, what he did was form a group. He went to some former Panthers and activists and decided to form a support group. And from the support group, the name derived. We were connected, because we were all members of the Black Panther Party. We did not have the same charges. We went to prison on different charges.
And after we got the support and after, you know, people came on board, they decided that we would be known as the Angola 3, because it was designated by the state officials that we would be held in solitary confinement throughout our period in Angola. If that meant the rest of our life, so be it. And because of this and the group felt that Angola tabbed us—they dubbed us, because of our belief, because of our political belief. And as you pointed out, Herman and Albert and other folks recognized the violation of human rights in prison, and they were trying to achieve a better prison and living conditions. And as a result of that, they were targeted. But we became known as a result of—we didn’t name ourselves, and we did not have the—we weren’t charged, we did not go to court at the same time, but we were dubbed, you know, Angola 3. The name stuck, and—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Robert, while they are in solitary confinement now for 40 years, you were in solitary confinement for almost 30, for 29 years. Describe that experience. What does that mean?
ROBERT KING: Well, I can tell you, Amy, as I’ve described in former writings and—being in solitary confinement is not—is not easy. If the soul cry, if you could hear the soul cry, you know, if you’re in that type of condition, you can feel it. You can hear the soul cry, or know literal tears. You’re in a position and a condition, circumstances that you will never be released from. And like Herman described, everywhere you go, you’re bound, you’re in chains, you’re in a cell, six by nine by 12. There is not much—there’s not much room. You have to become acclimated to short distances. And, you know, there are lots of things, you know, thoughts that you can have, because you have lots of time. And I think your thoughts are the thoughts about your condition, about all that you have. They don’t have much other accommodation in prison, because the bare minimum, the necessities, you don’t have that.
AMY GOODMAN: Everette Thompson, does Amnesty International consider the Angola 2 now, because Robert King is out, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, political prisoners?
EVERETTE THOMPSON: We consider—we consider Angola 3 and Angola 2 as individual at risk. We are very—we’re deeply concerned with everything that is happening to them, particularly their violation of human rights and the use of solitary confinement in their case. We have continued to monitor this case for years. They have been a part of the Amnesty International case dossiers for a long time. And we are committed to fighting for justice in this case and to make sure that Albert and Herman are released from solitary confinement and that Governor Jindal continue to look at this and examine what is happening in their case and be on the right side of justice.
AMY GOODMAN: What is the rationale for them being in solitary confinement for 40 years?
ROBERT KING: Actually, Amy, there is really no rationale. I think the rationale comes with the attorney general, the state’s attorney general. As has been pointed out and you must know, that this case has been—Albert Woodfox’s case has been overturned twice. Herman Wallace’s case has been recommended to be overturned twice. There are judges that have—state judges that have overturned Herman’s case. There is no rationale for being held in solitary confinement. Of course, the warden of the state of Louisiana, Angola State Prison, has asserted on many occasions, in deposition, to quote, that Albert Woodfox is allegedly “one of the most dangerous men in the world.” Of course, Albert Woodfox has been in solitary confinement for 40 years now. The write-ups are minimum. The last time Albert Woodfox had a write-up probably was 25 years ago, if that. Or no disciplinary records at all, is exemplary. And yet and still, they’re still being held in solitary-like conditions in prison. And there is no rationale, no logical rationale, no logical or penological reason why they should be held in solitary confinement—or, for that matter, in prison. This is a double whammy. We are dealing with a double whammy here. We are not just focusing on Herman’s and Albert’s civil or human rights violation, but there is question also as to whether or not they committed this crime. All the evidence has been undermined in this case. And they are still being held, you know, irrationally, in solitary confinement.
AMY GOODMAN: To coincide—
EVERETTE THOMPSON: And I’d like to add, I mean, even—even with Herman and Albert, in 1996, Louisiana did prison policy reform, and it stated that there—that you can no longer use the original cause for lockdown as a way to keep people in solitary confinement. What we have noticed with Albert and in Herman’s case, that each time they come up for review to released from solitary confinement, they get stamped right back. They cannot be released from solitary confinement, because of original cause of lockdown. And that is a violation of their own policy that Louisiana has actually implemented, never mind the fact that this violates international covenant on civil and political rights as well as the U.N. Convention Against Torture. This is a clear, a grave abuse of human rights, and happening with Albert and Herman right now.
AMY GOODMAN: To coincide with the 40th anniversary, a new documentary is being released on the Angola 3 called Herman’s House. It’s based on phone conversations with Herman Wallace documenting and reflecting on his life in solitary confinement. In this clip, he works with [artist Jackie Sumell] to draw up plans for a house for him to live in, only in his mind. This is Herman Wallace describing that house.
HERMAN WALLACE: Jackie, in your letter, you asked me, what sort of house does a man who lives in a six-foot-by-nine-foot cell dream of? In the front of the house, I have three squares of gardens. The gardens are the easiest for me to imagine, and I can see they would be certain to be full of gardenias, carnations and tulips. This is of the utmost importance. I would like for guests to be able to smile and walk through flowers all year long. On the wall shared with the kitchen is the wall of revolutionary fame. I would like to see three to five portraits with these revolutionaries, such as Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, John Brown and, of course, Harriet Tubman. Into the upstairs master bedroom, there is a king-size bed, African art and mirrored ceilings. There is a door leading from the master bedroom to the master bathroom, with a six-foot-by-nine-foot hot tub. The cell I presently live in is but six feet by eight feet.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Herman Wallace, a new documentary about the Angola 3. I want to thank Everette Thompson of Amnesty International USA and Robert King for joining us from Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox have been in solitary confinement today, April 17th, for 40 years.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we will talk about the trial of the anti-Muslim extremist in Norway who killed 77 people last summer. We’ll speak with Norwegian peace activist, peace scholar, Johan Galtung. Stay with us.We regularly get asked for opinions on what product is “best” for a certain use case. Naturally, what makes a product perfect for one user may not matter much at all to someone else. Recently I was asked for advice on gaming laptops, and as this is a common question it seemed a perfect fit for another “best xyz” guide. The Haswell and Richland launches are now behind us, supply of the new processors is sufficient, and we’ve also got a variety of new GPUs to consider. What’s the best gaming laptop your money can buy today? First you’ll need to decide just how much of your stash you’re willing to part with, and then you need to weigh other factors like size, performance, and features. Here’s the short overview of where we see the market right now.
Budget Gaming Laptops
Defining “budget” for a gaming laptop can be tricky, but for our purposes we’re going to use a wider than normal range of $500 to $800. The reason for the gap is so that we can cover laptops that meet the bare minimum performance level we deem necessary for gaming, while at the same time giving us a chance to look at various higher performance alternatives. Compromise is going to be a major factor in selecting a budget gaming laptop, unfortunately – you’re just not going to find something with good performance and a good screen at this price point.
If you simply can’t afford to spend a lot of money, you’re going to be best served by an AMD Richland APU right now. Kaveri should provide a decent bump in performance when it ships later this year (possibly early next year), but for now the Richland (aka Trinity 2.0) APUs offer a reasonable balance of performance at very low prices. Newegg has two laptops right now with the A10 APU, the Lenovo G505s ($550) and the Acer V5-552-X418 ($540).
Specs are very close: both have 6GB RAM, 15.6” 1366x768 LCD, and Windows 8 64-bit; Acer doesn’t include an optical drive and uses the A10-5750M with a 500GB HDD while Lenovo includes a DVDRW and uses the A10-5757M with a 1TB HDD. Considering the Lenovo only costs $10 more, that might seem like an easy choice, but the Acer tips the scales at 4.4 pounds compared the Lenovo’s 5.3 pounds. Acer also includes Gigabit Ethernet and Lenovo goes with 100Mb Ethernet; battery life should be similar, though Lenovo rates the G505s at 5 hours vs. 4.5 hours on the Acer V5. You can get an idea of the level of performance offered by the Richland iGPU with our MSI GX60 numbers, but you should see better performance from these laptops as they have dual-channel RAM.
So what can you get for a bit more money? I’ll be frank: I’m simply not interested in dealing with AMD’s Enduro Technology on laptops right now; yes, it’s better than it was a year ago, but my experience is that Optimus is simply far more mature. That eliminates quite a few potential laptops when we look at the faster budget gaming laptops, but one laptop in particular is priced so competitively that it’s basically impossible to look at anything else. Toshiba’s Satellite L55-A5278 ($640) uses a last generation Ivy Bridge ULV processor, the i5-3337U, but performance is still acceptable.
The more important element is the GPU, and for that you get the GeForce GT 740M 2GB DDR3, basically a higher clocked version of the GT 640M/645M/650M from last year. That should be plenty fast for gaming at the native 1366x768 at Medium to High detail, though the 4GB system RAM is perhaps a bit limiting. Thankfully, there are two SO-DIMM slots, so you can upgrade pretty easily to 8GB or even 16GB RAM if needed. Don’t expect too much battery life from the 43Wh battery – around 3-5 hours of non-gaming use I’d estimate. As for performance, we haven’t personally benchmarked the GT 740M DDR3, but you can expect 25-75% better gaming performance than the AMD iGPU in most situations.
Midrange Gaming Laptops
For midrange gaming, our price target moves up to $1000-$1500; yes, that’s a large range again, but we’ve got a few options to cover and the only remaining category is the $2000+ laptops. For midrange gaming laptops, it really depends on what you’re after – do you want good performance at 1080p with High/Max settings, are you okay with Medium settings at 1080p, and are you willing to accept a lesser display if it means better performance? While there are several qualifying laptops for this category, I want a good display if I’m spending over $1000. Ultimately, in the midrange category there are two ways to go and three laptops I’d choose between. For size and battery life considerations I’d go with the Acer V7-482PG, but for pure performance I’d go for the Clevo W230ST or Alienware 14. Here’s the short overview.
I’m done with the review of Acer’s V7-482PG, and you can see the performance results in Mobile Bench already (the review should go live over the weekend). The use of a GT 750M DDR3 GPU makes it slower than the MSI GE40 and Razer Blade 14 (not that the Blade is even close to being in the “midrange” price target), but the V7 is built well and more importantly it has a good display. The result is a nice balance of portable and performant, but it might not be fast enough for some gamers. The Acer V7 also has a touchscreen (not that I care – fingerprints, yuck!), which certainly adds to the overall cost. Right now you can pick up the V7-482PG for $1300.
Personally, I usually want to hit NVIDIA’s GTX level of GPUs for gaming purposes, so I want a bit more oomph than the V7. As noted, the LCD issues remove the MSI GE40 and Blade 14 from contention, which leaves me with a few other choices. Clevo has their W230ST that’s a 13.3” laptop with GTX 765M with a good 1080p display, but I don’t know about battery life – often not a strong point for Clevo in my experience. Still, performance from the quad-core i7-4700MQ will certainly be a lot higher than the i7-4500U in the Acer V7, and likewise the GTX 765M will easily beat the GT 750M. Pricing is relatively close as well – I configured a system at AVADirect with a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD and 802.11ac WiFi for $1368, though there are plenty of other Clevo vendors out there (see the table below). It’s a thicker laptop and it weighs a bit more than the Acer (4.6 pounds compared to 4.3), and don’t be fooled by the “12-inch” classification either; it’s only 1cm narrower and shallower than the 14” V7. But the added thickness allows it to cool a lot more computer, which is a reasonable compromise.
Alienware’s 14 is another option, and pricing is also competitive (depending on specs); I’d start with the $1300 build with its 1080p display and then upgrade to the GTX 765M, bringing the total to $1450 – it’s more expensive, but there are those that prefer the Alienware styling. The Alienware 14 is also the heaviest of the three midrange laptops discussed so far, tipping the scales at 6.1 pounds, and it’s almost twice as thick as the Acer (but only slightly thicker than the Clevo). Also: colored backlighting on the keyboard, so you can add your own personal flare. I just wish the SSD upgrades at Dell were priced more reasonably, but you could definitely do worse than the Alienware 14.
But what about a larger, higher performance “midrange” gaming notebook? Looking around, the best balance of price, features, and performance right now looks to be the Toshiba Qosmio X75-A7295 ($1417). It’s a 17.3” screen and weighs 7.6 pounds (plus a 1.9 pound power brick), and the 47Wh battery is on the small side for such a large chassis. Despite the size, the i7-4700MQ and GTX 770M will provide a decent step up in gaming performance from laptops with the GTX 765M, as you increase the number of shaders as well as the width of the memory bus – on paper, the GTX 770M has about 20% more computational power than the 765M with 50% more memory bandwidth. If you want as much gaming performance as you can get for a reasonable price, the X75 gets our current recommendation. Some of the High-End notebooks we’ll get to next can also be equipped with a GTX 770M for under $1500, though, so if you’re not keen on Toshiba’s design take a look below.
Another option that's actually under $1000 is the Lenovo Y500, with SLI GT 650M. Like the Toshiba, this is a larger, heavier notebook, but it definitely packs a lot of hardware. I'm not really a fan of SLI on laptops, and battery life will take a major hit on the Y500 as it doesn't support Optimus, but for the price you get an awful lot of gaming performance. The newer model Y510p upgrades the CPU to an i7-4700MQ and gives you SLI GT 750M for $1050. Other than the size, battery life, and the vagaries of SLI, the Y500 series is a fine option for a gaming notebook, with performance that will generally rival the GTX 770M for less money. The Y410p is also worthy of a look; currently on sale for $829 with a 1600x900 LCD and GT 750M, it has faster than the V7 in a slightly heavier chassis.
High-End Gaming Notebooks
At the high-end of the mobile gaming market, I’m going to skip rehashing the upgraded AW14, and for $2000+ there’s really only one GPU I’m looking for: NVIDIA’s GTX 780M. I actually have some interesting data that I need to get out at some point regarding the 780M, but the short summary is that you can end up CPU limited by the i7-4700MQ in some games, so you might want to look at a faster CPU like the i7-4900MQ. There are several different notebooks that support the GTX 780M, and they’re all going to be very expensive as well as very fast. What makes one notebook better than another at this price is often highly subjective – some like Alienware’s 17 aesthetic, others prefer the MSI GT70, and still others are more concerned with getting a good keyboard layout (which is also highly subjective). Here’s a short (and probably very incomplete) list of the notebooks and resellers with the GTX 780M:
GeForce GTX 780M Notebooks Laptop Model Where to Buy? Price Range Alienware 17 Amazon, Dell $2150-$3700+ Alienware 18 Amazon, Dell $3364-$5150+ Clevo P150SM/P157SM AVADirect, CyberPowerPC, Eurocom, Mythlogic, Sager, XoticPC, etc. $1650-$5000+ Clevo P170SM/P177SM AVADirect, Eurocom, Mythlogic, Sager, XoticPC, etc. $1650-$5000+ Clevo P370SM/P375SM AVADirect, Eurocom, Mythlogic, Sager, XoticPC, etc. $2400-$6000+ Clevo P570WM AVADirect, Eurocom, Mythlogic, Sager, XoticPC, etc. $2800-$6000+ MSI GT60 Amazon, AVADirect, iBUYPOWER, Newegg $1650-$5000+ MSI GT70 Amazon, AVADirect, CyberPowerPC, iBUYPOWER, Newegg $1750-$5000+
I’ll cut straight to the chase and simply state that I’m not going to recommend the SLI/CrossFire notebooks; performance can be higher than a single GPU, sure, but the cost and size factors make these simply too unwieldy in my experience. I’d rather have a more moderate system and not have to deal with SLI/CF, not to mention getting at least reasonable battery life. That leaves basically five core notebooks, with the Clevo and MSI basically coming in Large and Extra Large sizes that are generally similar. Let’s first talk about component choices, though.
You can get a reasonable configuration from most of the Clevo/MSI resellers without spending too much money (relatively speaking); my general recommendation is i7-4800MQ (the 4700MQ is usually fast enough, but there are times where you’ll hit CPU bottlenecks in some games), GTX 780M of course, 8GB RAM (or 16GB if you want a bit more), and then either a single large 480/512GB SSD (mSATA if you want to keep the 2.5” slots available) or a smaller 120-256GB SSD for the OS and apps and a large HDD. Throw in 802.11ac when available and you’re usually looking at a final price of $2000-$2500, depending mostly on your choice of storage. On the other hand, if you want to max out the CPU with the i7-4930MX and include gobs of RAM and SSD storage, you can typically hit $4000 or more, but that’s mostly just being silly.
Starting with my overall pick of the group, I think Clevo is the most reasonable choice this round, at least for the price. The dual cooling fans are better at dealing with the heat of the 780M and Haswell CPUs, which is one of our concerns with the MSI notebooks. Make no mistake: these are big, bulky notebooks, and battery life isn’t going to be the greatest, but they’re built reasonably well. I’ve also got the Mythlogic Clevo P157SM (Pollux 1613) review nearly complete, and one of the nice options from Mythlogic is that if you don’t like the standard Clevo keyboard, they install essentially the MSI keyboard instead – neither keyboard is perfect, so you basically get to pick your poison. There is one major issue I have with the latest Clevo notebooks, however: the Sentelic touchpads are terrible. But since you’re gaming, you’ll be using a mouse, right? (Sadly, it’s still a pain for when you’re not gaming and just using the integrated touchpad.)
The next option is the Alienware 17, and in many ways this might be the better notebook, early issues with the GPU throttling at more than 77C in Optimus mode notwithstanding. It has all of the same general features that you’ll find on the Clevo and MSI notebooks, only it costs more. The lowest price for a GTX 780M build currently showing up at Dell is a rather insane $3700 – the other configurations currently max out at GTX 770M. Thankfully, you can find pre-built models at Amazon for far more reasonable prices; $2150 will get you i7-4700MQ, 16GB RAM, GTX 780M, and a 750GB HDD (so you’ll want to add your own SSD). A more expensive $2634 model will get you i7-4800MQ and a 120GB OS/boot SSD thrown into the mix, but I’d rather have a 256GB SSD so adding that on your own is the better way to go.
That leaves us with the MSI offerings, the GT60 and GT70. While the MSI GT70 is definitely in the hunt as far as performance goes, I wish it had a second fan/heatsink to help with cooling. NVIDIA sent us a couple loaner GT70 notebooks, one with i7-4700MQ and one with i7-4930MX, allowing us to investigate performance scaling in games with the GTX 780M. The short summary is that several of the games we benchmark in our notebook reviews show 10-20% performance increases with the faster CPU. The bad news is that I was able to replicate Dustin’s 95C+ load temperatures on both configurations, which is higher than I’m comfortable with. They’re not totally out of consideration, but at this price I wouldn’t want a new notebook already running that hot; add in some dust accumulation over the coming year and I am concerned about what might happen. (For comparison, the Clevo P157SM stayed under 80C in similar testing; a 15C difference is reason enough to go with Clevo over MSI this round.)
Of course, the GTX 780M isn’t actually required for a good gaming experience; the GTX 770M has fewer cores than the previous generation 680M, but it runs them at a higher clock; it’s generally going to be a step down from the 680M and yet still sufficient for 1080p gaming with most of the details cranked up. You can shave off more than $300 from the price of the above notebooks if you configure them with a GTX 770M, and if you’re sticking with the i7-4700MQ it may be a better fit overall. There are also several other laptops with the 770M that are worth considering, namely the ASUS G750JX and Toshiba Qosmio X75. Aesthetically I don’t know that they’re any better than the other options already discussed, but you can get the G750JW with a 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD for $1900, or the Qosmio X75-A7295 mentioned above.
Closing Thoughts
If you can’t tell, sorting through the currently available “gaming laptops”, there’s not a single one that stands clearly above the rest. All have potential things they do well, and all have potential concerns, be it thermal, aesthetic, performance, keyboard, screen, etc. It ends up being a question of choosing where you want to compromise, not to mention the price. I’ve tried to sort through the best currently available options, and quite possibly I missed one or two alternatives. If you’ve got a favorite I didn’t mention above (or if you know of a sale currently applicable to any gaming notebook that would make it a good option), let us know in the comments.Ahelvin Profile Blog Joined September 2010 France 1863 Posts Last Edited: 2012-07-26 12:15:06 #1
You may or may not be an avid reader of the Liquipedia and subsequently you may or may not have noticed that the Strategy Section is undergoing a transformation!
The first step toward a better Strategy Section was done by the sons of Aiur: on June 29th, they revealed the new
Up-to-date strategy articles, better readability, relevant VODs and replays, this new portal has it all and will continue to develop to become a real reference for any player looking for strategic advice.
Now what is this topic about? Well, inspired by the hard-work and success of the Protoss Liquipedian, the Zerg community has decided to start a similar portal. Let me introduce you with much fanfare the
It looks nice (hopefully!) but it is not quite done yet. In fact, this is just the beginning.
This is the
We have the layout of this new portal, now we need the content.
We need motivated people to transpose existing forum guides into the Liquipedia.
. We need people to review the existing strategy pages and make the required changes (since the metagame has changed so much over the past few months).
and make the required changes (since the metagame has changed so much over the past few months). We need avid SC2 players and viewers, able to dig for replays and VODs to illustrate the existing strategy pages.
We need you, your friends, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your parents, your pet, anyone who is willing to make the Zerg Strategy Section a better place, something we could be proud of.
How are we going to do this? Well, if you are motivated, you should read what is on this page and start working with us. You can also send me a PM, and I will discuss this with you. Or even better, you should join the Liquipedia IRC Channel, where a lot of cool and nice people hang out.
Zerg Strategy Portal: Yes, we can!
PS: Our Terran friends are highly encouraged to do something similar...
PS2: If you can't or do not want to help, but still believe this is important, please Good afternoon Teamliquid!You may or may not be an avid reader of the Liquipedia and subsequently you may or may not have noticed that the Strategy Section is undergoing a transformation!The first step toward a better Strategy Section was done by the sons of Aiur: on June 29th, they revealed the new Portal:Protoss Strategy which represents a significant improvement over the previous Strategy Page (to give you an idea, you can compare this page to the Terran Strategy ).Up-to-date strategy articles, better readability, relevant VODs and replays, this new portal has it all and will continue to develop to become a real reference for any player looking for strategic advice.Now what is this topic about? Well, inspired by the hard-work and success of the Protoss Liquipedian, the Zerg community has decided to start a similar portal. Let me introduce you with much fanfare the Zerg Strategy Portal It looks nice (hopefully!) but it is not quite done yet. In fact, this is just the beginning.This is the Zerg Strategy section as it is today.We have the layout of this new portal, now we need the content.We need you, your friends, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your parents, your pet, anyone who is willing to make the Zerg Strategy Section a better place, something we could be proud of.How are we going to do this? Well, if you are motivated, you should read what is onand start working with us. You can also send me a PM, and I will discuss this with you. Or even better, you should join the, where a lot of cool and nice people hang out.Zerg Strategy Portal: Yes, we can!PS: Our Terran friends are highly encouraged to do something similar...PS2: If you can't or do not want to help, but still believe this is important, please Upvote on Reddit! Join the Liquipedia Zerg Project! PM me for more information :).While it still doesn’t open for more than a month, Shanghai Disneyland has already become a top tourist destination in China, which means that it didn’t fair so well during the recent May Day mayhem.
Weibo is abuzz with about a dozen pictures demonstrating classic examples of the “uncivilized behavior” that has plagued Chinese tourists at home, abroad and now in the Magic Kingdom. It seems that Disneyland’s meticulous gardening got the worst of it, being trampled, trashed and, um, watered…
But lamp posts also were defaced by someone who claims he was here:
And signs telling people to stay on the path got stepped on:
Shanghai Disneyland opened its personal metro station last week, allowing thousands of visitors to ride over and stroll around outside the resort. Hopefully, they did this not just for the revenue, but so that when the big day finally comes, they’ll be at least somewhat prepared for what is sure to be an unforgettable day.
But really, in the end, what’s a mouse to do?
[Images via Weibo]
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PrintI'm not going to lie to you. I've said bad things about the tea party. Lots of bad things. I've been snide. I've been demeaning. It's hard not to be when the term "tea party" has most often been associated with the radical fringe of the Republican Party, with folks who seem more interested in attacking science than fixing the economy, with those who seem to believe that their taxes have been raised (they haven't) that there are thousands of new regulations burdening businesses (there aren't) and that President Obama is in some kind of anti-American radical (he's not) who wrecked the economy (check your calendar).
But several people have told me that those people, the ones sponsoring the rigidly ideological debates, the ones that cheered for a congressman shouting "you lie!" during the State of the Union address, the ones with the signs where Obama is |
recruiter for ISIS,” tweeted Blumenthal, and also likened him to “John Lee Malvo, another mass-murdering sniper.”
Blumenthal, freelance journalist Rania Khalek, and others have taken to labeling Kyle “#AmericanPsycho” on Twitter, alluding to the fictional serial killer who is the subject of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel of the same name.
In The New Republic, Dennis Jett contends that Kyle was clearly deranged: “His only regret is that he didn’t kill more. He laments that there were rules of engagement, or ROE, which he describes as being drafted by lawyers to protect generals from politicians. He argues instead for letting warriors loose to fight wars without their hands tied behind their backs. At another point, he boasts that the unofficial ROE were pretty simple: ‘If you see anyone from about sixteen to sixty-five and they’re male, shoot ’em. Kill every male you see.’”
And The Wrap quotes one member of the American Film Academy as saying, “He [Kyle] seems like he may be a sociopath.”
The way Kyle’s words have been distorted by these most vitriolic of his critics is astonishing. One can dwell on the details: As John Nolte points out at Breitbart, for instance, the apparently brutal ROEs Kyle mentions applied only to a very specific battlefield context; American soldiers were not simply gunning down Iraqi males on sight. But Kyle discussed at length in his own autobiography how careful he was about pulling the trigger:
You cannot be afraid to take your shot. When you see someone with an IED or a rifle maneuvering toward your men, you have clear reason to fire. (The fact that an Iraqi had a gun would not necessarily mean he could be shot.) The ROEs were specific, and in most cases the danger was obvious. But there were times when it wasn’t exactly clear, when a person almost surely was an insurgent, probably was doing evil, but there was still some doubt because of the circumstances or the surroundings — the way he moved, for example, wasn’t toward an area where troops were. A lot of times a guy seemed to be acting macho for friends, completely unaware that I was watching him, or that there were American troops nearby. Those shots I didn’t take. You couldn’t — you had to worry about your own ass. Make an unjustified shot and you could be charged with murder. I often would sit there and think, “I know this motherfucker is bad; I saw him doing such and such down the street the other day, but here he’s not doing anything, and if I shoot him, I won’t be able to justify it for the lawyers. I’ll fry.” Like I said, there is paperwork for everything. Every confirmed kill had documentation, supporting evidence, and a witness. So I wouldn’t shoot.
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Kyle understood the difference between murder and justifiable wartime killing. But his critics apparently can’t.
As for his sociopathy, which critics such as Jett base on his “boastfulness” about killing, here is Kyle “boasting”:
People ask me all the time, “How many people have you killed?” My standard response is, “Does the answer make me less, or more, of a man?” The number is not important to me. I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives. Everyone I shot in Iraq was trying to harm Americans or Iraqis loyal to the new government. I had a job to do as a SEAL. I killed the enemy — an enemy I saw day in and day out plotting to kill my fellow Americans.
In 2013, in an interview on Fox News, Kyle said, “The ideal thing would be if I knew the number of lives I saved.”
Kyle was not a serial-killing sociopath. It’s his critics who seem to be deranged.
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— Ian Tuttle is a William F. Buckley Jr. fellow at National Review.Howdy, folks! Here in the identity division at Microsoft, we don't like passwords any more than you do! So we've been hard at work creating a modern way to sign in that doesn't require upper and lowercase letters, numbers, a special character, and your favorite emoji. And after a soft launch last month, we're excited to announce the GA our newest sign-in feature: phone sign-in for Microsoft accounts! With phone sign-in, we're shifting the security burden from your memory to your device. Just add your account to the Android or iOS Microsoft Authenticator app, then enter your username as usual when signing in somewhere new. Instead of entering your password, you'll get a notification on your phone. Unlock your phone, tap "Approve", and you're in. This process is easier than standard two-step verification and significantly more secure than only a password, which can be forgotten, phished, or compromised. Using your phone to sign in with PIN or fingerprint is a seamless way to incorporate two account "proofs" in a way that feels natural and familiar.
If you already use the Microsoft Authenticator for your personal account, select the dropdown button on your account tile, and choose Enable phone sign-in.
. If you are adding a new account on an Android phone, we'll automatically prompt you to set it up.
If you are adding a new account on an iPhone, and we'll automatically set it up for you by default.
Here's how you set it up:Then just try it out! The next time you sign in, we'll send a notification to your phone. That's it!A link at the bottom of the confirmation page lets you choose to use a password instead if your phone isn't handy, or you can switch back from your password to the Microsoft Authenticator. Either way, we'll remember your preferences next time you sign in. Using a device to sign in is new to you, and it's new to us, too. We want to make sure we get it right, so we want to hear from you. Use the Microsoft Authenticator forum to offer suggestions, ask questions, and engage with our support team and other fans of account security. And as always, keep an eye on this blog for news about improvements and new features. We look forward to hearing from you! Best regards, Alex Simons (Twitter: @Alex_A_Simons ) Director of Program Management Microsoft Identity Division [Update 4/18/17 3:08pm Pacific: A few people have asked if this works with Windows Phone version Microsoft Authenticator. This app is designed for iOS and Android. We work directly with the Windows on native integration of rich authentication experiences within Windows and Windows roadmap is communicated separately.] [Update 4/10/2017 1:24pm Pacific: We've received quite a few questions about whether or not this approach qualifies as "two factor authentication". We believe it definitely is two factor, but there are quite a few different interpretations of what actually constitutes two factor authentication. We think of it like this: The mobile device is the first factor (something you have). The pin or fingerprint you create on the device is a second factor (something you know or are). Each sign-in session requires both of these. Thus we see this as two factor authentication.]by
Gaining Value from Conferences Beyond Education
This past weekend, approximately 650 people flocked to the Mises Institute “Circle” in Houston, Texas, and I was one of them. A further 1,200 watched online, to better understand the current economic crisis from an Austrian perspective.
The event included big names in Austrian economics, such as Joseph Salerno, Robert Murphy, Thomas Woods, Lew Rockwell, and Ron Paul—and I am willing to bet that Ron Paul drew a large portion of the audience. Their presentations focused on economic issues, often comparing and contrasting their views with Keynesian perspectives, as explained in this clip from Morning Joe.
Without doubt, most people at the event were already familiar with the case for free markets and had read books from the Austrian school. The people at the conference also have access to YouTube and can watch Ron Paul speeches and interviews. So, why did my friends and I drive 11 hours from El Paso, Texas, to attend the Mises Circle? What is the appeal of such an event?
I cannot speak for all the people at the conference, but I can share my own reasons for attending the event and those of the people traveling with me.
Ever since I attended the Young Americans for Liberty National Convention in Washington, D.C., in July of 2012, I have become an enthusiastic liberty networker. Libertarianism is on its way to becoming a mainstream ideology, but in the meantime there is nothing more exciting than meeting other libertarians. Who wouldn’t enjoy traveling to be surrounded with like-minded individuals?
Okay, maybe that’s just me—but let me attempt to persuade you. Imagine a scenario where you do not have to spend a large amount of time explaining how smaller government is ideal. Instead, you can spend time conversing the nuances of liberty face to face. It is a sobering experience. For instance, do public universities have the authority to ban co-ed dorms? Honestly, who cares?
But that’s the beauty of libertarian gatherings. You can care. You can discuss things you would never have the time or opportunity to discuss elsewhere, because you do not have to spend time explaining the basics. It may seem trivial but sometimes talking about the details helps us better understand the bigger picture. Anyway, it is this intellectual environment that draws me to travel miles and miles.
Many friendships developed from that first YAL National Convention, which opened up possibilities for further networking, internship, and job opportunities. Consider my two of my new friends, Noelle Mandell and Caitlyn Bates, both Texas state chairs and Students for Liberty campus coordinators. They strongly encouraged me to attend the Students for Liberty Austin Regional Conference in 2012 and offered free student lodging. This provided the YAL chapter at the University of Texas, El Paso, with an intellectual environment that replenished our enthusiasm—after a disheartening election cycle.
Soon afterwards, our chapter received an invitation to the Mises Circle in Houston. I did not have to ask fellow chapter members twice for this event, since Ron Paul—a hero to most 20-something libertarians—would be speaking at the event. We made preparations for the 11-hour drive, and the weekend in Houston proved to be a great time.
There was not too much networking during the Mises Circle proper, since the format lent itself to listening and partaking in the Q-and-A with the speakers. However, I did get my books signed by Lew Rockwell, Tom Woods, and Peter Klein. I also got to take a picture with Ron Paul, Tom Woods, and Bob Murphy.
The networking took place later, during the Freedom Forum, an open mic forum put together by Noelle Mandell (nominated for SFL Student of the Year). This event brought together the students from all across Texas to share experiences advancing liberty and to propose new projects. Afterwards, Houston’s Liberty on the Rocks hosted a social gathering which involved playing pool, enthusiastic karaoke singing, and conversations.
After all that, the best part about this particular trip was reconnecting with friends. My first libertarian convention was a bit nerve wrecking, because I did not know anyone who would be there, but the decision to fly out and make new friends was probably one of the best I have ever made. Starting conversations with complete strangers may have been difficult, but the advantage with such a libertarian gathering was that at least you knew you had shared goals and agreed about the scope of the federal government (with the exception of anarcho-capitalists).SPRINGFIELD --- Hundreds of thousands of poor Illinoisans would lose health coverage, prescription drug discounts for seniors would be dropped and dental care for adults would be greatly curtailed as part of $1.6 billion in budget cuts lawmakers approved yesterday.
The major Medicaid reductions ignited anger in some lawmakers who say the cutbacks will jeopardize the lives of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
“I don’t know where it’s written in the law that this has to be balanced on the backs of poor people, on the backs of seniors, on the backs of the aged, blind and disabled,” said Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago.
But supporters argued failure to approve the bill could lead to cuts throughout state government and result in collapse of the entire Medicaid system.
The House voted 94-22 to approve the measure, and the Senate approved it 44-13 late Thursday. But cuts are only part of the equation to fix Medicaid. Gov. Pat Quinn is seeking support for a $1-a-pack increase in the state’s cigarette tax to help fill an overall $2.7 billion gap in Medicaid funding for the budget year that starts in July.
Among the estimated big-ticket savings: $350 million through tighter screening that could remove hundreds of thousands of people from Medicaid coverage; $49.8 million by reducing the number of people eligible for Family Care; and $72.2 million from eliminating a state-paid pharmacy assistance program called Illinois Cares Rx, which provides discount drug coverage for 180,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
State and federal spending on Medicaid in Illinois is about $15 billion a year.
William McNary, co-director of Citizen Action/Illinois, urged lawmakers to keep the drug discount program intact. “We believe that these cuts are very damaging,” McNary said at a House hearing. “People will not get less sick.”
But Rep. Patti Bellock said the far-reaching cuts provided a path for “saving people’s lives.” Bellock, R-Hinsdale, said the top goal of she and other negotiators on the bill was to protect the “most fragile, vulnerable.”
In addition, nursing homes and hospitals are among providers that stand to see payment rates reduced to save about $240 million.
In addition, payment rates for nursing homes and hospitals are being reduced to save about $240 million.
“There is nothing in this bill that everyone is completely happy about,” said Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat sponsoring the proposal.
Negotiations also produced a separate bill that revived Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s desire for a waiver that will allow coverage of more patients into a county Medicaid network backers say will cost the state nothing.A group of House liberals is already pushing back after reports emerged Wednesday that fellow Democrats on the supercommittee have proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare benefit cuts.
"I don't want to hear Democrats suggesting that we have those types of cuts in Medicare," said Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. "I hope that's not true."
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D.Ill.), co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Seniors, echoed that warning.
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"The very idea of reducing benefits … is unacceptable," Schakowsky said. "I'm not against making Medicare more efficient [but] I am absolutely, unequivocally opposed to cutting benefits."
On Tuesday, Democrats on the 12-member budget committee presented Republicans with a sweeping proposal that includes hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare cuts and more than $1 trillion in new tax hikes, aides told The Hill. The plan was backed by a majority of the panel's Democrats, the aides said.
Although details remain vague, Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Democrats' plan includes about $400 billion in Medicare reductions, split roughly between senior benefit cuts and reductions in payments to healthcare providers.
Rangel said he heard Wednesday that "Democrats and the Republicans [on the supercommittee] were closer together."
"But reading that story," he added, "was very disappointing."
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), for his part, said he simply doesn't believe the report.
"That is not accurate – not accurate – because they can't say anything about it," Conyers said of the supercommittee members. "I just left [Rep.] Jim Clyburn [D-S.C.] going to a meeting. He can't talk about it, and neither can anybody else.
"That's my basis," he added, "for saying it's not true."
The remarks came following a rainy press conference outside the Capitol, where a number of liberal Democrats warned that they'll oppose any supercommittee proposal that cuts benefits under Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.
"We must not balance the budget on the backs of those who can least afford it," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). "Many of us will oppose any proposal that will come from the supercommittee that has any cuts in Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.
"The crisis is joblessness," Nadler added. "The debt is not as big a crisis."
Noting that Medicare seniors have a median annual income of roughly $21,000, Schakowsky said there are places other than benefits lawmakers should be looking to find deficit savings. Empowering the government to negotiate drug prices under Medicare's prescription drug benefit, she mentioned, would save the government billions of dollars without harming the seniors reliant on the program.
"This is not a welfare program," Schakowsky said. "This is a program that people have paid for all of their working life."A New Orleans City Council committee is recommending a ban on roping off areas of the neutral ground during parades be added to a list of changes to the city’s Mardi Gras laws, they said Tuesday morning.
During a hearing on the new laws before the City Council Economic Development and Special Projects committee on Tuesday, Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell said she would like to see language added to the ordinance prohibiting people from appropriating areas of the neutral ground during parades.
“It shall be prohibited to use ropes or other similar items to create a barricade or otherwise obstruct passage along public property, unless otherwise specifically authorized,” will be added to the new ordinance, based on a 3-0 vote by Cantrell and City Councilwomen Stacy Head and Jackie Clarkson.
The full ordinance will be discussed by the City Council on Jan. 23.
Other elements of the ordinance include a requirement that ladders be kept six feet back from the curb, and not fastened together in any way. No personal property can be in intersections, and no “snap pops” can be sold during parades.
The snap pops, city staffers said, startle and distract police officers who are specifically assigned to look for guns on the parade route.
One controversial provision — a ban on unwrapped toilet paper throws, most prominent during the Krewe of Tucks parade — has already been removed from the ordinance. Cantrell said it is still under consideration, however, because of the challenges that masses of it pose to the city sanitation workers — but she is holding off for this year because Tucks already bought their throws.
The council is also looking to place a limit on the weight and size of throws, to prevent dangerous objects from being thrown from floats, but they have yet to decide on an objective standard for that, said Natalie Mitchell of Clarkson’s office.
The New Orleans Fire Department also requested a formal ban on refueling float generators on the parade route. Chief Tim McConnell said this is already against the rules in practice, but that it should be codified into the law.
Too dark for parades?
Only one member of the public spoke during the hearing. John Martin, a St. Charles Avenue resident, praised the work that has gone into the new ordinance but said he is concerned about the lack of lighting on St. Charles. Thousands of people walk the length of St. Charles to get to and from parades at night, he said, but so many lights are currently out that they will have to walk through the dark.
“If we don’t have lighting, I don’t think we ought to have parades,” Martin said. “Not only do we have tripping and falling hazards, we have criminal hazards.”
Cantrell said she is currently working with city officials to ensure temporary lighting is installed along the route in time for parades, because current plans call for streetcar and utility construction to continue through 2016. Waiting that long to re-light St. Charles Avenue is “unacceptable,” Cantrell said.
Eric Granderson of Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office said officials are drafting a six-to-10-year, long-term plan to replace every streetlight in the city with a unit that will be under warranty for 10 years. Clarkson said she wants to ensure that plan has been brought to the City Council prior to Mardi Gras.
To read our live coverage of Tuesday’s meeting, see below.Dinosaur and Cave-boy's dreamy adventure (Shutterstock)
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is accusing an Oklahoma school district of repeatedly violating the separation of church and state since the beginning of the 2014 school year.
The most serious allegation was that students attending Skiatook public schools were taken on school-sanctioned field trips to the Safari Zoological Park in Caney, Kansas. Despite its innocuous name, the park’s mission “is to show the awesomeness of our God in the individual wonder and uniqueness of all His creation.”
It continues by claiming that God “has revealed to us through nature and creation that we are more than an evolved matter over millions of years, but made fearfully and wonderfully in His image, with an eternal soul. That through the will of free choice man brought sin into the world, but by the love of God he redeemed man back to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ.”
Despite this, the park is licensed with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and regularly hosts school field trips.
According to the FFRF’s complaint, park representatives taught the Skiatook students about “God’s miracles, about how perfect God is, about the Great Flood.”
In a letter to the school district, FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel wrote that “[t]eaching creationism to students is neither educational nor legal. Courts have routinely found that creationism is religion, not science, despite many new and imaginative labels” like “Intelligent Design.”
The FFRF also contends that the Marrs Elementary school teachers lead students in prayer, as at a Veteran’s Day assembly last school year, and that teachers routinely emphasize “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, with one teacher even boldfacing the words in the copy students as young as five used to memorize it.
Watch a report on the controversy via Fox 23 below.Donald Trump crashes Pope Francis' party in New York City
Presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowds waiting for Pope Francis to arrive on 5th Avenue on September 24, 2015 in New York City. The Pope will offer evening prayers tonight at St. Patrick's Cathedral. less Presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowds waiting for Pope Francis to arrive on 5th Avenue on September 24, 2015 in New York City. The Pope will offer evening prayers tonight at St. Patrick's... more Photo: Andrew Burton, Getty Images Photo: Andrew Burton, Getty Images Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Donald Trump crashes Pope Francis' party in New York City 1 / 10 Back to Gallery
The crowds lined Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan Thursday, hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis on his first-ever trip to the Big Apple.
With only a couple of hundred people invited inside St. Patrick's Cathedral for the evening vespers with the Pope, the thousands of faithful, well-wishers, tourists and the otherwise curious had a chance to at least see the papal motorcade.
For some a few blocks north of the cathedral, though, they had to settle for Donald Trump.
Not one to be upstaged, the Republican presidential candidate was seen waving from a balcony near the top of the 58-story Trump Tower.
In an unscripted move, Trump came down to earth to wave and thumbs-up a crowd that wasn't really there to see him.
But there was already a buzz surrounding Pope Francis and Donald Trump.
In addressing a joint meeting of Congress earlier in the day, the Pope challenged politicians to reject a "mind-set of hostility," saying "we, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants."
Trump has been outspoken on the issue of immigration, leading some pundits to claim the comments were a veiled shot a Trump:
The Pope is trolling all the right people: http://t.co/Yn7kVbFTLy pic.twitter.com/bVQrSM2zZh — Esquire Magazine (@esquire) September 25, 2015
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Sen. Chuck Schumer and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio greeted Pope Francis at the cathedral. Fellow candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Gov. Chris Christie and Ben Carson attended the joint meeting of congress where Pope Francis spoke earlier on Thursday.The idea would be that Universal Healthcare at point-of-use (similar to the British system, for example) would eliminate the fees that businesses often have to pay for their employees' healthcare, bringing down the cost and "Balancing the books", so to speak.
Increasing the minimum wage also increases spending (the people who used to wage-slave on $7-$10/hr can now afford to buy things!) which in turn increases revenue, balancing the cost of higher wages.
Workers who have to work two jobs to make that sort of money can also quit one job (as I suspect they would do) and continue to make the same or similar amount of money, which frees up a lot of job positions. A company could either just not advertise a new vacancy (saving them money, keeping prices low) workers in the job market can now find work a little easier without competition from people who used to have to work multiple jobs to survive.
Perhaps people are too critical because they're acting as if it would happen instantaneously. Her goal is $20/hr min. wage, or at least a wage which allows even entry-level jobs to provide for the most basic needs of a single person working a single job, but that doesn't mean the jump is necessary in one go. There are more policies other than min. wages which will impact how this particular policy would turn out.The new Pope, Francis: great guy. He loves the poor. He's cool with atheists. He's even pretty chill about gay marriage and abortions. Yesterday's photos of him embracing a severely disfigured man were genuinely touching. Still, the best thing that this nice Pope could do would be to dismantle the Catholic Church.
Many U.S. presidents have been charismatic guys. Some of them have been truly good guys. But most of those same guys presided over a massive and powerful entity that was doubtless committing some sort of atrocity, whether slavery, imperialistic conquest, or secret illegal assassination programs. The point is that we must not automatically project the goodness of a person onto the entire institution that that person controls. George W. Bush is probably a fun guy to go bowling with. Not so much a fun guy to have your country invaded by.
Pope Francis—by all accounts a truly humble man who has demonstrated real concern for the world's less fortunate—has done nothing so far to indicate that he is not, at heart, a good man. He is also the leader of the Catholic Church. The church is an institution which, as a policy, has sheltered priests guilty of child sexual abuse, fought against common sense family planning measures in the third world, and shamed gay people the world over. How many suicides have come about as a direct result of just these policies of the Catholic Church? Eh, who knows? We all have our flaws.
Perhaps more saliently: how much money does the Catholic Church have? No one outside the Vatican really knows, precisely. But it almost certainly has wealth that would rival that of many national governments. Last year, The Economist calculated that the Catholic church in America alone had a $170 billion annual operating budget. Globally, the figure is much larger. When you add up the value of the church's worldwide holdings—land, buildings, and treasures—it's reasonable to imagine a huge, huge number.
Is the Catholic church using its wealth in the best way possible? That is, is it using its resources in the way that most effectively embodies the Christian ideals that the church purportedly stand for? Leaving aside some of the church's odious political positions, is it even spreading the good kind of Christian Love For They Neighbor as Thyself very well? The Economist's estimates found only about $5 billion in annual charity spending out of that $170 billion total— less than 3%. Even if the actual charitable spending were triple that amount, it would still mean that the American Catholic church spends less than 10% of its budget on direct good works.
That's not even enough for a proper tithe.
Here is where we roll out some of those pesky Bible quotes, which can famously be used to justify anything. In this case we will use them to argue in favor of Jesus's fundamental concern for the poor. That is, we trust, not a controversial belief among the faithful.
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."
-1 Timothy 6:17-19
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
-Matthew 6:24
"Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'"
-Matthew 19:21
Etcetera.
It is nice that Pope Francis is a nice man. It is nice that he spends time making personal phone calls to sad people. It would be much nicer if he would fully leverage the power of his huge and powerful global institution to maximize the amount of good it could do for the world's neediest people (all of whom will be waltzing into heaven as the Vatican's accountants struggle to thread themselves through the eye of that needle). If the Catholic church wants to be the most Jesus-like institution it can be, it needs to first stop advocating hateful, divisive, and backwards political positions. Then, it needs to spend its wealth properly.
Pope Francis doesn't need to build any more churches. He needs to start selling churches. Let's imagine that, by liquidating some holdings of the Catholic church, he could cobble together $600 billion. (That seems like a number that is well below the church's total wealth.) What could be done with that money? Well, about a fifth of that cash could be used to fully eradicate malaria, a disease that kills almost a million people every year. Then, hell, you could take the rest of it and give a thousand bucks each to every single person in the bottom half of the wealth distribution in Africa, the world's poorest continent. Or, you could fully eradicate world hunger for a dozen years. Take your pick of causes, really You could do a lot of things, for the world's poorest people.
And if you sold off all of the Catholic church's holdings, you could do even more for the world's poorest people. This would also stop all the lobbying and proselytizing against them having access to birth control and abortion. Everyone wins. Poor people would see their lives materially improved. Denizens of the Catholic church, a wealthy institution, would greatly improve their chances of getting into heaven. Pope Francis could smile on his good works. And the faithful could spend their Sundays outside helping people, rather than sitting inside a stuffy old church. Because the church has been sold.
Total liquidation. It's what Jesus would want.
[Photo: AP]Revolutionary Raccoon: The Story Behind the Hudson Valley Renegades
If you were to get on a boat in New York City and travel north for about 75 miles along the Hudson River, you would arrive at a tiny town of Wappingers Falls, New York. On your way there, you would pass countless historical sites related to the American Revolutionary War. The Hudson Valley played a crucial role in the British goal to divide the New England states, and as a result, lots of important battles were fought there. So important to American history is the Hudson Valley that fortifications built there during the Revolutionary War have since become the United States Military Academy at West Point—just about 25 miles from Wappingers Falls.
So in 1994, when a short-season Single-A team called the Erie Sailors moved from Pennsylvania to Wappingers Falls, they adopted the name Renegades, which reflects the spirit of those plucky Revolutionary Americans, who, in the words of President Thomas Whitmore, declared in one voice, “We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!”
“We’re in the hotbed of the Revolutionary War, West Point, a lot of battles were fought here, and Washington’s encampment is in this area,” said the team’s vice president Rick Zolzer, who has been with the team since its inception. “There are so many things that we thought the name Renegades linked back to, that it just seemed like a natural.”
Of course, as with any team name, there were dissenters when the team was announced, but given that this was 1994, before the onslaught of wacky nicknames we see now, it wasn’t too bad.
“You’re never going to please everybody,” Zolzer said. “It’s just impossible. There’s always going to be somebody who wanted them to be called the Hudson River Sea Monsters.” (Hudson River Sea Monsters would have been cool, but if I had been around, I would have advocated for the name Wappingers Falls Honkers, an homage to the area’s onetime occupation by the Dutch, who call baseball “Honkbal.”)
“If there were naysayers,” Zolzer continued, “they shut up pretty quick, because I think after the sixth or seventh game that year, they started the sellout streak that went for like four or five years.”
All of that said, the Revolutionary inspiration for the team name has never been evident in the team’s visual identity. Instead, there have been several iterations of a raccoon-based logo. They debuted in green and burgundy, then switched to blue and red a few years later. (More on their current cyan brand below.)
“They thought that you could make a raccoon cute,” Zolzer said, “and doing an actual renegade, like a minuteman, just didn’t seem to have the same caché.”
Raccoons do seem to fit naturally with the term renegade—they’re smart and curious and they’re not afraid to eat your garbage if they have to. Not only that, the Hudson Valley is full of them.
“It is an animal that is all over this area,” Zolzer said. “You can’t go through Hudson Valley and not see raccoons on the side of the road. They’re everywhere.”
I asked Zolzer if he gets a lot of questions about the disparity between the origins of the team name and the raccoon-based visual identity.
“I don’t think anyone’s asked me other than you in the last ten years,” he said. (That’s why I’m here, folks!)
The original Renegades logo and updated versions a few years later were created by prolific designer Dan Simon of Studio Simon. While those logos were successful (and just the right amount of adorable for a short-season Single-A team), in 2013 the Renegades took the unusual step of having amateur designers on staff create an entirely new brand.
The current identity (above) was designed by Eben Yager, the team’s general manager, who is still with the team, and Corrine Adams, who was involved with the Renegades marketing at the time.
“They spent hours and hours and hours going over concepts and color schemes,” Zolzer said. “They got to it. Bunker mentality, and they got it done. I’m happy with it, and the fans are too. I think they caught lightning in a bottle, for sure.”
There are aspects of the new logo that a professional designer would have done differently (I’m pretty sure that the word “Renegades” is set in a free font called “Super Hero”), but the result has been popular with fans. In particular, a cap logo featuring the eyes of Rascal the raccoon has been the team’s best-selling merchandise item.
Every time I research a team for this series, I learn something unexpected. The Renegades are in their 24th season, and are one of the longer-tenured teams in the New York-Penn League. Having seen their logos for years, I never would have guessed that the inspiration for their team name was the Revolutionary War. It’s yet another example of what our team’s nicknames say about what matters to us about the places we live.
French-born philosopher Jacques Barzun famously wrote, “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.” I might be biased, but I’d argue that if you want to know North America even better, you’d better learn the stories behind minor league baseball nicknames.Man broke into neighbor's apartment through attic Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Video
KXAN News - AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Police charged a man with burglary after he climbed into the attic of his apartment and crawled over to the unit next door. The man living next door said Jeremy Mosley, 34, removed a ceiling tile in his apartment about 3 a.m. and started screaming, "come on, bring it on...shoot me," according to an arrest affidavit. Mosley pulled his head out of the open ceiling after making eye contact with his neighbor.
When police responded Monday to the building in the 2300 block of W. North Loop Blvd., they found the missing ceiling tile in Mosley's apartment.
Mosley's bond was set at $15,000 and he was ordered to stay 200 yards away from the building and have not contact with his neighbor.As you may have already heard, the Brothers Koch have mounted a campaign to take control of the Cato Institute, where I hang my hat. Now, I have a pretty fantastic day job, which basically consists of reading, writing, and speaking about whatever I find interesting in any given week. And I don’t generally subscribe to the popular caricature of the Kochs as supervillains. For a lot of progressives, the Kochs now serve the same function as the Liberal Media does for conservatives: The shadowy elite cabal whose pernicious influence explains why your own common sense views aren’t universally embraced, as they otherwise would be by all right-thinking Americans. Obviously, I don’t buy that, and in any event |
death," Mockabee's mother, Phyllis Carlock, said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Mockabee's family believes that the 2009 graduate of Lincoln-West High School was killed because of her identity as a transgender woman.
"Whoever did this was not comfortable with my baby being the way that (she) was," Carlock said. "They couldn't accept it."
Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said she could not confirm whether investigators think Mockabee's identity as a transgender woman is a motive in her death. The official cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.
Previous: Transgender woman found dead in Cleveland parking lot
Mockabee began hormone therapy at a clinic near her apartment. She also started saving money for a sex change operation to make her outward appearance match the person she was on the inside, her live-in boyfriend William Philpott said.
Carlock said she accepted Mockabee's new identity as a woman, but couldn't stop calling her her son. She said Mockabee was OK with the arrangement.
Both said Mockabee loved to please others and had a playful sense of humor.
"(She) wouldn't hurt nobody," Philpott said.
Skye Mockabee found dead n Cleveland 5 Gallery: Skye Mockabee found dead n Cleveland
Mockabee's easy demeanor makes her death seem all the more unbelievable to her family.
Philpott picked Mockabee up from the Greyhound Station in downtown Cleveland July 25 after she visited family out-of-town. The next morning she cooked him bacon and eggs, he said.
Mockabee had started working at a Chipotle off Broadview Road in Cleveland earlier this year. She also worked as an escort and advertised herself online, her mother said.
Mockabee told Philpott Thursday night that a man she had met online was going to come to their apartment near West 117th Street and Lorain Avenue and pick her up. She texted Philpott a picture of the man, who said he was coming from Lakewood.
The man showed up about 12:20 a.m. Friday, and Mockabee got into his silver minivan. She said she would be back in about an hour, Philpott said.
He texted her about 30 minutes later, asking if she was OK. She replied, "yes baby."
Philpott texted her about 1:30 a.m. and got no answer. He texted her a few minutes later. Still nothing. He started trying to call. After several rings, her phone went to voicemail.
Philpott kept calling and texting past 3 a.m., and never got an answer.
But her mother did. Mockabee texted Carlock about 3:45 a.m. and told her how much she loved her and appreciated her, and that the two would always be together, Carlock said.
Then, about 4 a.m., Mockabee's phone stopped ringing and went straight to voicemail, both Carlock and Philpott said.
Carlock said she thinks the person Mockabee was with let her say goodbye to her mother before they beat her and dropped her body off in the parking lot where she was found.
"Whoever did this knew the connection me and my baby had together," Carlock said. "I want to look him in his face, and ask him why. Why would you do somebody like that?
"That was my child," she said. "Whether (she) was gay or didn't fit your approval, (she) belongs to me. That was my child and you took (her) from me."
If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.Yeezy Boost 350 customs are nothing new, but this is by far the most shocking alteration we've seen yet.
A designer known as Stefan, who's a self-described "dealer of things," may have been a little too excited about Kanye West's announcement to run for president in 2020, because he absolutely trashed a pair of "Pirate Black" Boosts to get his point across.
From the Boost-encapsulated outsole to the Primeknit side panels, Stefan has painted "Kanye" on the right shoe and "2020" on the left to show his support. It's not all about Kanye, though, as these customs also double as shameless self-promotion thanks to the name of his website and phone number on the sole.
But instead of listing them on eBay or Instagram, Stefan has taken these to the streets, where they're currently hanging from a traffic light in an undisclosed NYC location. If you want to track them down, you'll have to follow the instructions on his website.The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) union is very suspicious of the BJP-led Centre's intention to redevelop the trust's land. They fear that the MbPT will be shut down, putting the livelihoods of 12,500 employees at stake.
KC Parekh, secretary and trustee of the MbPT union, told dna,"Our livelihood is totally dependent on the port's operation. Besides, 40,000 people also get their pensions from this port's activities. If it is shut down, it will be a huge financial blow to us."
He claimed that a false propaganda has been made that the MbPT's revenue is receding, due to which the Centre wants to shut it down. "That is not the case. Every year, we easily meet the target. Last year, the target was to handle 61 million tonnes of cargo. By the end of December we handled 59 million tonnes and with three months to go (March-end) we will go beyond the set target," Parekh added.
Sanjay Tatkare, ex-trustee of MbPT said, "We suspect that the government will close MbPT and shift its business to Gujarat. More than 60,000 people depend on this port. The proposed development should not be just for the affluent."
Tatkare also said that as per the Rani Jadhav committee report, houses in the redevelopment project will not be given free of cost. "How will a person working in MbPT at a lower level be able to buy the house at market rates?" he asked.
However, a trustee and member of the Rani Jadhav committee said that the government will rehabilitate the people properly. "No one will be displaced as per the report. Out of 1800 acres, only 1000 acres land of MbPT is going to be redeveloped. The plan will have ample open spaces to breath," he said.
Ravi Parmer, chairman of MbPT, who is also handling charge of the Kandla port, was not available for comment.During his 20 years as a criminal defence lawyer, Joseph Neuberger has defended more than 400 cases involving charges arising from domestic relationships. Many, he says, relate to separation and bitter family court battles.
‘The sad reality is that legitimate cases of abuse get tainted with the same incredulous brush,’ says Roots Gadhia. Photo: Robin Kuniski
“Over the past 10 years, I have noticed an increase in the prevalence of these types of offences with a disturbing trend to use the criminal process as a quick means to obtain exclusive possession of the matrimonial home and thwart custody and access to the children of the relationships,” says Neuberger.
“I have successfully established fabrication in at least 15 per cent of the cases with very clear contradictions in evidence, including differences in affidavit evidence tendered in the family court proceedings.
Yet not one case resulted in charges being laid against the complainant.”
The absence of witnesses makes prosecution of false allegations difficult. While Neuberger emphasizes the need to take legitimate cases seriously, he worries there isn’t much in place to prevent a spouse from fabricating an allegation.
It’s a trend Murray Maltz, who has been practising family law for 27 years, has also noticed. But there are no studies, no way to quantify the problem, and, most troubling, no solutions at hand.
When someone makes a complaint, police must lay charges.
In family litigation, a criminal charge is like a red flag even when the case is still before the court. Additionally, the introduction of the criminal process can throw a wrench into any friendly resolution of the matter.
“So if you want to play the game, ‘I want custody, I want to control the situation,’ often people will take the position, ‘I’m going to call the police,’” says Maltz.
Immediately, the accused leaves the home and can’t communicate with the spouse and the children or come within a certain distance of the house. That makes the issues of custody and access more difficult.
As a result, according to lawyers, the spouse making the allegation has an edge in the case. With exclusive access, the children themselves could become pawns in the case.
Delays in the criminal system complicate the situation as the charge can easily loom for a year. By the time it’s over, says Maltz, the damage is done.
“How do you combat that?” he asks.
Domestic violence continues to be a concern in Canada. Statistics Canada reported last week that about 99,000 Canadians were victims of police-reported domestic violence in 2010. It also noted that more children reported witnessing domestic violence in 2009 than in 2004.
Clearly, the issue of domestic violence continues to be a serious societal concern. But complications arise from false allegations.
“The sad reality is that legitimate cases of abuse get tainted with the same incredulous brush,” says criminal defence lawyer Roots Gadhia.
Ontario introduced a new integrated domestic violence court last June to deal with people who had cases before both the family and criminal justice systems.
The pilot project is running in one Toronto location. Gadhia is hopeful this new court will be able to deal with the inconsistencies that she says are sometimes very apparent in the family and criminal court files.
The aim of the integrated domestic violence court is to improve the communication and co-ordination between the criminal and family courts, said Jason Gennaro, spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.
“The court provides a single judge to hear criminal and family law cases relating to one family where domestic violence is an issue,” he says. “This will support the judge in more fully understanding the family and its ongoing needs.”
In 2009 and 2010, the government introduced legislative reforms to strengthen the family justice system and make judges more aware of violence that may have occurred in the family. Anyone applying for child custody or access must now complete a sworn statement.
Lawyer Esther Daniel points out that Form 35.1, an affidavit required for custody or access applications, requires those seeking custody to indicate if the applicant faces any criminal charges.
As a result, the family and criminal matters intersect when it comes to disputes over custody of the children and the matrimonial home.
As both a criminal and family law practitioner, Daniel worries the situation could lead to further abuse of the criminal justice system.
“It usually comes about when there’s a matrimonial breakdown and then police are called,” she says. “I’ve had a lot of criminal clients that have had proceedings against them... and family court proceedings follow.”
It’s difficult, she adds, to discern fact from fiction. Clearly, the issue of abuse between couples is one the courts take very seriously. But it’s also clear to many lawyers that some people use the process to further their own family law case.
“Unless you personally are witness to what the situation was... you don’t know 100 per cent,” says Daniel. “However, you can assess the situation and have a good judgment.”
At the end of the day, it’s the subjects of many of those disputes who suffer the greatest impacts, says family lawyer Kristy Maurina.
“We are dealing with real lives and the interests of children,” she says. “It can have a detrimental impact on the children who are already dealing with the pain of separation and are now faced with a loving and involved parent who is suddenly not allowed to see them anymore.”
For those involved in a marital dispute, the damage is immediate once someone levies a criminal charge.
“All the stakeholders in the justice system... need to use their discretion,” said Daniel.
“Domestic violence is something that needs to be taken seriously. But at the same time, you do have to uphold the integrity of the justice system.
The persons in the justice system should be
supported when they use their discretion not to lay a charge or not to proceed with a matter and should do so free from the pressure that there may be professional consequences when doing so.”
Maltz foresees some practical approaches to the issue. Expediting the criminal matters, for example, is important, he notes.
The family courts, according to Maltz, have made great strides and become much less combative over the years while the criminal courts remain adversarial. In situations where there’s overlap or crossover between the two, they should work on the same level, he suggests.
“I’d like to see the courts somehow combine themselves and actually deal with the charges together."Is Another Shutdown Showdown Looming In Washington?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Less than two months after nearly shutting down the federal government as they argued over the best way to reduce the budget deficit, there's word that Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are again at odds and that another shutdown showdown is possible.
Politico reports that:
-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says he wants to "attach $6.9 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to a stopgap funding bill that must pass in order to keep the federal government running after Sept. 30."
-- And Reid's announcement has been "blasted" by top House Republicans, "who favor a lower, $3.65 billion level for disaster aid."
Republican leaders, says The Washington Post, maintain "that disaster-relief monies included in [the] government funding bill must be offset by additional cuts elsewhere in the budget" and say their plan does that.
And according to The Hill, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he thinks a deal can be worked out by this Thursday, Reid said "I'm not that sure" there won't be a shutdown.
"We're not going to cave on this," Reid added, according to The Hill.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says Reid is to blame for this latest tempest. "He's the one playing politics," Cantor said today.
Reid cited the "bipartisan" support for the larger figure in the Senate and said it was a sign that Republicans and Democrats in that chamber "agreed that helping communities destroyed by natural disasters was too important to let politics get in the way."
Complicating things further: While the federal fiscal year doesn't end until Sept. 30 (a week from Friday), "both the House and Senate are scheduled to be out next week for Rosh Hashanah, which means they need to wrap up work by the end of this week," Politico says.
FEMA's budget has been stretched thin this year by multiple natural catastrophes — from tornadoes in the spring to hurricanes and wildfires this summer.Human rights activist Malala Yousafzai has some impressive credentials for her college applications. After surviving a 2012 Taliban attack, she became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She also wrote a best-selling book and the audio version won a Grammy award.
She continues advocating education for women and girls worldwide, but the 19-year-old is still working to change the lives of others as she figures out her college plans for the fall.
The U.N. rarely shuts down the General Assembly Hall for a television interview, but for Yousafzai, the World Body made an exception. Yousafzai has demonstrated comfort on the global stage, addressing the most complex issues.
“President Trump twice tried to issue an immigration ban or a travel ban on refugees from majority Muslim countries. What message do you think that sent?” asked “CBS This Morning” co-host Norah O’Donnell.
Malala Yousafzai was "deeply hurt" by Trump's travel ban
“Well, when the president banned Muslim-majority countries, that was really disappointing. And I was deeply hurt because I’m a Muslim,” Yousafzai said. “And to me, it just seemed like directly blaming Muslims, and that is not a solution. That is just making an excuse and hiding from the real problems. I think he needs to understand that you need to meet the people. You need to see the refugee people.”
Yousafzai has done just that. She spent her 19th birthday with Somalian refugees in Kenya. She’s also visited a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan.
“They’re dying, whether they’re in Syria or any other country. They’re dying. They are being killed. And if you don’t open the doors, if you don’t welcome them, they will be killed,” Yousafzai said. “So it’s important that [Mr. Trump] understand that these people are in need. And I have seen them. I have went to refugee camp. And I think he needs to go to these refugee camps.”
“You think President Trump needs to go to a refugee camp?” O’Donnell asked.
Malala Yousafzai says Trump should visit refugee camps
“I definitely agree with that. President Donald Trump needs to go and see refugee children. He needs to go and visit the refugee camps. He needs to know what real life is like in a refugee camp,” Yousafzai said.
Yousafzai said the recent chemical attack in Syria is “shocking,” but “we need to remember that this happens each and every day, whether that’s through chemical weapon or any other weapon.”
“The number of people who have been killed is in hundreds and thousands. And it has been happening for more than five to six years. And the world is being-- is being silent. And I think we need to remind our leaders that this is a serious issue,” Yousafzai said. “We need to think ahead. We need to think about preventing wars from starting as well. And I think for that, investment in education is the key, investing especially in the education of women and girls.”
“There’s a direct relationship between illiteracy and terrorism,” O’Donnell said.
“With education comes questioning, with education comes critical thinking. With education comes more opportunities. People go forward. People-- people see and-- the world from a different perspective,” Yousafzai said.
But she said 130 million girls still do not have access to school.
“When we talk about going forward and achieving, like, developments, it is not possible without empowering these 130 million girls,” Yousafzai said. “But I just wonder, like, why do these leaders not see this?”
Yousafzai’s advocacy started with a blog for the BBC. She spoke out about the Taliban’s suppression of girls in Pakistan. It made her a target four and a half years ago when Taliban militants shot her in the head on her school bus. We first spoke with her a year later in 2013.
“The man who targeted you is now the head of the Taliban. Does that scare you?” O’Donnell had asked.
“I’m not scared of the Taliban at all. I might be afraid of ghosts and like dragons and those things, but I’m not afraid of the Taliban,” Yousafzai responded at the time.
Her bravery not only earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, but earlier this week, the United Nations’ secretary-general bestowed his highest honor, designating Yousafzai as the youngest ever U.N. Messenger of Peace. It placed her among an elite group of public figures raising awareness on behalf of the U.N. For Yousafzai, it was an emotional return.
“I had a historic moment here when I spoke at the U.N. and I gave my speech after the attack. And it was my first kind of appearance,” Yousafzai said.
“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” she said in her 2013 speech.
She’s still working to change the world by leading the way.
On Tuesday, she spoke at a school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a farming community of 60,000 with an outsized population of resettled refugees.
“To the world sometimes, especially right now, due to the political situation, people have a different image of America right now – a bit unwelcoming image,” Yousafzai said.
But with some calling the town America’s refugee capital, Yousafzai said Lancaster is giving a positive message to the world about Americans.
“So I’m hopeful that people will follow the city,” Yousafzai said.
Back in her adopted home in the U.K., Yousafzai is finishing up her final exams. She said she’d like to attend University of Oxford, the alma mater of her hero, Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s first female prime minister.
“So I had an interview for Oxford, and it was the hardest interview. The hardest,” Yousafzai said.
“I find it hard to believe that anything’s hard for you, Malala,” O’Donnell said, smiling.
“No, but it’s different. It’s not a TV interview, it’s a different interview -- ask the hard questions,” Yousafzai said. “Academic questions.”
“You’ve said you would like to be prime minister one day,” O’Donnell said.
“I did say but I’m not sure. Let’s see,” Yousafzai said.
“You’re dialing back on that?” O’Donnell asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s just a bit too much,” Yousafzai said, adding, “I’m gonna be focused on my university now.”
Yousafzai is kicking off what she calls a “girl power” trip around the world. She said she wants to spend as much time as possible meeting with girls before college starts in the fall. In addition to North America, she’s planning visits to Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.OBJECTIVES:
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) and vitamin D signaling pathways regulate a multitude of genes involved in different physiological functions. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of vitamin D supplementation and aerobic training on metabolic syndrome and PPARγ expression.
METHODS:
Forty female ovariectomized rats were divided into five groups of aerobic training with high (OVX + Exe + HD), moderate (OVX + Exe + MD), and low dose of vitamin D (OVX + Exe + LD), aerobic training receving vehicle (sesame oil; OVX + Exe + oil), and sham-operated control (sham) groups. After 2 mo of treatment, serum insulin, vitamin D, glucose, lipid profile, visceral fat, and liver PPARγ gene expression were measured.
RESULTS:
The combination of exercise and high doses of vitamin D significantly reduced insulin (P = 0.039), blood glucose (P = 0.024), and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (P = 0.011), and elevated PPARγ gene expression (P = 0.032). Also, treatment with aerobic training and either high or moderate vitamin D, ameliorated overall metabolic syndrome Z scores (P = 0.001).
CONCLUSION:
Findings from the present study suggested that a sedentary lifestyle and vitamin D deficiency accelerated the occurrence of metabolic syndrome probably by decreasing the expression of nuclear receptor PPARγ. Additionally, adequate levels of plasma vitamin D are necessary to achieve the beneficial metabolic effects of physical activity.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.When I looked at this toward the end of August, a lot of baseball had happened. Enough baseball that I felt it worthwhile to take a look at this. Since that point, the rest of baseball happened, so now that we have season closure, it seems like it’s time for a second and final update. We can now officially answer the question: which individual pitch was the most unhittable during the 2013 regular season? Beyond that, which were the most unhittable pitches from relievers, and which were the most unhittable pitches from starters?
Of course, in updating the first post, I have to issue all the same caveats as in the first post. So in a sense I’m just writing the same thing again, with some different numbers and pictures. What this really is is a post containing contact-rate leaderboards. The pitches you’re going to see are the pitches that yielded the lowest rates of contact, getting therefore the highest rates of whiffs. That seems like a good way to explore unhittability, but as you understand, pitching is complex, and every pitch depends in some way on every other pitch.
I don’t know how one might test an unhittable pitch in a laboratory. Pitches work within a certain context. If you want to know about a certain pitch’s “true” unhittability, you have to strip it from the context. How unhittable is Matt Harvey’s fastball? Have Harvey throw only that fastball, hundreds or thousands of times, against generic competition. Then repeat with other pitchers throwing only fastballs. Whiff rates would plummet, because hitters would know what they were getting. You could get interesting information out of that experiment, but it’s an experiment that’ll never take place, and so much of being a good pitcher is keeping hitters guessing. Hitters are left guessing when they don’t know what’s coming. That’s a consequence of a pitcher throwing multiple pitches. If Koji Uehara follows a fastball with a splitter, and the splitter is swung on and missed, some of that credit goes to the splitter, but some of it also goes to the fastball.
Game theory gets in the way of conclusive results, of true unhittability results. Casey Fien‘s fastball yielded a contact rate similar to that of Aroldis Chapman’s fastball. You don’t need to be told that Chapman’s fastball is one of the best on the planet. You might need to be told that Fien is a pitcher in major-league baseball. But those fastballs are used differently, and the pitchers throw other pitches as well, the end result being that Fien’s heater was swung on and missed a lot even though it seems markedly more hittable in isolation than Chapman’s. In the numbers, there’s no such thing as a pitch in isolation. That’s something we understand, that’s something we have to deal with, and that’s something we’ll just choose to overlook today, from this point forward.
Even if this isn’t a post about “true-talent” unhittability, this is a post about pitches that were really hard to hit when they were thrown this season. There are still some things we can all learn from that, and it’s still a fun subject to explore. Are these pitches really as unhittable as they seem? Do they depend heavily on other stuff? That’s for you to consider and discuss. Read, consider, and discuss. Seems like a pretty good general policy.
All the data comes from the Baseball Prospectus PITCHf/x leaderboards and Brooks Baseball. We’ll begin with a combination of starters and relievers, but later I’ll break starters out separately. In August, I set a minimum of pitches that got at least 50 swing attempts. This time, I’m considering only pitches that got at least 100 swing attempts, which gave me a sample of 989. Just like 50, 100 is arbitrary, but it also feels to me like a good enough sample, so. Contact rate is calculated as non-whiffs over swings. The overall league-average contact rate was about 79%.
Just to throw it in there: Danny Farquhar’s curveball yielded a contact rate of 37.8%, getting 46 whiffs out of 74 swings. It didn’t meet the minimum threshold, but had I set the minimum at anything under 75, then Farquhar’s curve would be baseball’s most unhittable pitch, by a few percentage points. Instead, he just gets an honorable mention. Here now is the top ten of the most unhittable pitches of 2013, given at least 100 swings:
1. Pedro Strop slider, 43.8% contact
2. Cody Allen curveball, 44.0%
3. Craig Kimbrel curveball, 45.5%
4. Greg Holland slider, 47.0%
5t. Josh Outman slider, 47.1%
5t. A.J. Ramos changeup, 47.1%
7. Boone Logan slider, 47.3%
8. Patrick Corbin slider, 47.6%
9. Rex Brothers slider, 48.2%
10. Gonzalez Germen changeup, 48.5%
Obviously, there aren’t any fastballs, because fastballs usually aren’t a swing-and-miss weapon, and they’re thrown in all counts, very often, and sometimes they’re thrown trying to get contact. You don’t find any fastballs until you get into the 60% contact range. We’ve got here six sliders, two curves, and two changeups, one of the changeups coming from whoever Gonzalez Germen is. Also, one starter and nine relievers, because relievers more often try to get strikeouts since they don’t have to pace themselves for several innings at a time. This is a list of putaway pitches, and they’re all mighty fine putaway pitches.
Because I get paid first and foremost for my.gifs, here are.gifs of the top six. Would’ve been.gifs of the top five, but Outman and Ramos came out identical and I didn’t want to pick.
A.J. RAMOS CHANGEUP
102 swings
54 whiffs
JOSH OUTMAN SLIDER
136 swings
72 whiffs
GREG HOLLAND SLIDER
213 swings
113 whiffs
CRAIG KIMBREL CURVEBALL
110 swings
60 whiffs
CODY ALLEN CURVEBALL
125 swings
70 whiffs
PEDRO STROP SLIDER
153 swings
86 whiffs
I said earlier that I would break starters out separately, so now let’s look at another top-ten list, excluding relievers and also relief appearances in the cases of guys who filled multiple roles. The most unhittable pitches of 2013 thrown by starting pitchers:
1. Patrick Corbin slider, 47.6% contact
2. Tyson Ross slider, 49.6%
3. Jeff Samardzija splitter, 50.5%
4. Jarrod Parker changeup, 51.2%
5. Derek Holland slider, 52.2%
6. Stephen Strasburg changeup, 52.7%
7. Kris Medlen changeup, 53.0%
8. Yu Darvish curveball, 53.3%
9. Matt Garza slider, 54.2%
10. Ivan Nova curveball, 54.4%
Four sliders, two curveballs, three changeups, and a splitter, which moves a lot like a changeup. You see a couple sliders from lefty starters, where ordinarily the conventional wisdom is that those lefty starters need effective changeups. We have a lot of evidence that Corbin’s slider is something special against hitters on both sides, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the league responds to him in 2014, if it responds differently at all. I suppose he also pitched plenty in 2012. It’ll also be interesting to see if Tyson Ross maintains his unhittability in a starting role, since he blossomed almost out of nowhere.
Some.gifs now of the top five:
DEREK HOLLAND SLIDER
416 swings
199 whiffs
JARROD PARKER CHANGEUP
324 swings
158 whiffs
JEFF SAMARDZIJA SPLITTER
293 swings
145 whiffs
TYSON ROSS SLIDER
272 swings
137 whiffs
PATRICK CORBIN SLIDER
370 swings
194 whiffs
Two years ago, Corbin’s slider yielded a contact rate of 52.6%, so it’s pretty demonstrably elite. This year, lefties hit it 39% of the time, while righties hit it 52% of the time. In fairness, Corbin did show a wide platoon split, with a righty xFIP higher by almost two full runs, but the more important point here is that Corbin’s slider works against both sides, so he can start and start well without possessing an amazing changeup or splitter or curve. In this way, Corbin is somewhat unusual.
In closing, the highest pitch-type contact rate belonged to Aaron Harang’s changeup. Batters attempted 102 swings, and they missed three times. Here is one of those misses, which was actually a foul tip:
97.1% contact. A.327 batting average with a.146 ISO. Interestingly, over the rest of the PITCHf/x era, Harang’s changeup allowed a contact rate of 84.7%, but with worse in-play results. This post has now concluded with a brief discussion of Aaron Harang, just like you expected.As the TPP negotiations reached their conclusion in Atlanta last October, one outstanding issue stood above all others: protection for biologics. While not well understood by the public, at issue was billions of dollars and access to cutting edge medicines. The Trouble with the TPP series examines the outcome of the biologics issue and argues that even with less protection than the U.S. advocated, the TPP’s requirements still represent a significant problem for global health (prior posts include Day 1: US Blocks Balancing Provisions, Day 2: Locking in Digital Locks, Day 3: Copyright Term Extension, Day 4: Copyright Notice and Takedown Rules, Day 5: Rights Holders “Shall” vs. Users “May”, Day 6: Price of Entry, Day 7: Patent Term Extensions).
Biological drugs are pharmaceuticals involving complex molecules or mixtures of molecules that are made of biological sources manufactured within a living system. They differ from conventional drugs that are manufactured by combining chemical ingredients. Building on greater knowledge of genetics and cell processes, the area represents a major growth area for the pharmaceutical industry. With the complexity comes cost, however, with biological drugs far more expensive than conventional ones. Much like the generic pharmaceutical industry creates cheaper, generic versions of chemical drugs, companies have begun to create “biosimilars” as cheaper versions of biological drugs, relying on data from clinical trials to formulate the alternative. Pharmaceutical companies have therefore sought protection for the clinical data.
As a relatively new area with billions at stake, countries have adopted a wide range of approaches to the issue of data protection. The U.S. currently offers 12 years of data protection (which it wanted emulated within the TPP), though President Obama has seemingly recognized the mistake of offering such long protection (the term was part of the negotiation over health care reform) and recently sought to reduce the term to seven years, which would have yielded billions in health care savings. Other countries have taken different approaches: Australia and New Zealand offer five years of protection, Japan and Canada eight years, and some TPP countries such as Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have no protection at all.
The optimal term of protection remains a contentious issue. The Federal Trade Commission released a study in 2009 that raised doubts about the need for any biologics-specific protection, citing the protections offered by patents and the high costs of entry as evidence that biosimilar competition would be limited. Moreover, it noted that there were already sufficient market incentives to support biologic competition and innovation.
The TPP compromise remains contentious, as Article 18.52 provides for at least eight years of protection or five years of protection plus other measures to provide comparable outcome in the market. The ongoing dispute over what this provision means is the source of some of the opposition to the TPP in the United States (particularly since Australia maintains its current approach is compliant with the TPP). Canada currently meets the eight year standard, so no further legislative changes would be required.
Yet even the compromise represents a problem. As the FTC concluded, it is far from clear that any protection is needed given market incentives and the protections that may be granted through patents. Moreover, President Obama’s second thoughts on the term of protection in the U.S. points to both the enormous costs that come with each year of additional protection and the prospect that countries may wish to reduce protections in the future. The TPP locks-in protection, however, making it difficult for any TPP country to later amend its rules. That binding policy, which comes at a still early stage of new technological development, may create long term health costs to the detriment of patients, innovation, and marketplace competition.Last Sunday, Egypt’s Supreme Electoral Committee announced the results of the referendum on the new constitution: no less than 98.1% of Egyptian voters had cast a vote in favour of the new text. That Eastern Block-style result should, however, be placed in the context of a turnout of just 38.6% — surely a less resounding affirmation of the new regime than the army would have hoped. Turnout reached up to 51-53% in the governorates of Menofiya and Gharbiya, in the Nile Delta, and Port Said; but it stayed under 24% in the governorates of Matrouh, Fayoum, and upriver in Sohag and Qena.
How does this result compare with the turnout and “Yes” vote in 2012, when it was the Muslim Brotherhood government that was pushing through a constitutional referendum? In addition, what does the turnout map reveal about the political geography of Egypt? The current referendum was of course boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as by the most radical of the revolutionary groups, the April 6 Movement. The April 6 Movement is relatively small, however, and the constitution was supported by many other liberal and radical groups (and the extent of popular support for the liberal and leftist groups is in any case in doubt). So were the areas of low turnout correlated to areas of high support for the Muslim Brotherhood?
The trick in comparing the results of this year’s referendum with the one two years ago is that you’re dealing with two separate elements: the turnout, affected as it might be by boycotts and apathy, and the percentage of actual “Yes” voters. This year, turnout was low, at least by international standards, but almost everyone who went out to vote, voted “Yes”. (Considering the current climate of repression, opponents might also not have dared to come out to vote “No”). However, in the 2012 referendum turnout was even lower, at 32.9%, and in addition, there was a substantive number of people who came out only to vote against the Muslim Brotherhood’s constitution.
To take account of both elements, in the table below (click for full size), I’ve taken the turnout and “Yes” vote percentages in each referendum and calculated the number of |
the United States next season, possibly as an NBA rookie.The Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. -- KFC Corp. says it's investigating allegations that a restaurant employee in Jackson, Mississippi, asked a 3-year-old girl to leave because her facial injuries disturbed other patrons. The company is also giving $30,000 toward Victoria Wilcher's medical bills, a spokesman said Sunday.
The allegation about KFC was made Thursday on "Victoria's Victories," a Facebook page following Victoria Wilcher's recovery from a pit bull attack in April. The administrator posted a photo showing Victoria smiling shyly in spite of her facial scars and cartoon-decorated eye patch, and wrote, "Does this look scary to you? Last week at KFC in Jackson MS this precious face was asked to leave because her face scared the other diners."
KFC posted an apology the next morning, requesting details.
"As soon as we were notified of this report on Friday, we immediately began an investigation, as this kind of hurtful and disrespectful action would not be tolerated by KFC," spokesman Rick Maynard wrote Sunday in an email to The Associated Press. "Regardless of the outcome of our investigation, we have apologized to Victoria's family and are committed to assisting them. The company is making a $30,000 donation to assist with her medical bills. The entire KFC family is behind Victoria."
Her grandmother Kelly Mullins said Victoria had just been to a doctor's office when they stopped at the restaurant. She ordered mashed potatoes for Victoria because she thought the hungry child could swallow the soft food without chewing.
She says she was then approached by an employee. "They just told us, they said, 'We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,"' she told WAPT-TV.
Victoria wept all the way home and now is embarrassed by her appearance -- something that wasn't the case before, Mullins said.
"She won't even look in the mirror anymore," Mullins said. "When we go to a store, she doesn't even want to get out" of the car.
Victoria was attacked by pit bulls at her grandfather's home. The dogs broke her nose, both jaws, cheekbones and right eye socket; the right side of her face is paralyzed and she lost that eye, according to her Facebook site. Her bottom jaw was reconstructed but she needs a feeding tube and must grow more bone in her face before more surgery is possible, it states.
The page's administrator wrote Sunday that "Victoria's Victories" had gone from 250 people praying for Victoria to thousands.
The page had more than 32,500 "likes" on Sunday.
A message posted Friday evening by another Mississippi KFC franchisee, Dick West of West Quality Food Service in Laurel, offered "a big KFC picnic" for the child and her family.
West also wrote that he knows the Jackson restaurant owners "and they have never in the 50 years they have operated in Jackson allowed anyone coming into their restaurants to be treated with dis-respect."
In a message to the AP, he wrote, "I am sure KFC will make their finding public as soon as the facts are in. In the meantime, I offered to treat Victoria to a picnic because regardless of the outcome of the investigation, she has been thru more than any little girl should and I wanted to give her a special treat."No matter what bone President Obama throws to undocumented migrants in the form of administrative relief in upcoming weeks, our policies of border militarization and deportation will continue to kill.
If you weren’t feeling shameful already, anti-immigrant protests (basically anti-human protests) in the United States have, mind-bogglingly, somehow turned into anti-children protests. And though you might want to hang your head in disgust, be careful, because before you lift your gaze again the government might have already sent armed soldiers to the borderlands to bar more children from finding the safety they’re seeking.
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Meanwhile, Mexico, a country riddled with government-sponsored violence and anti-immigrant (again, anti-human) policies, recently announced, under certain pressure from the Obama administration, that they will prohibit undocumented Central American migrants from riding the train, commonly known as The Beast, north toward the United States. The move amounts to kicking the crutches away from an invalid trying to escape a rabid dog. I say invalid not because migrants escaping violence and abject poverty in Central America are weak, but because they are victimized 360 degrees by the vicious onslaught of neoliberal economic policies, brutal gangs, political corruption, failing justice systems and environmental destruction. And I say rabid dog because a foaming snarl is the kindest face either U.S. or Mexican governments are putting on for migrants these days. The New York Times editorial board recently asked what stance we should take concerning child migrants: “Do we spit on them, or give them blankets and beds?” Sadly, the question does not exaggerate the hostility with which a nation of 300 million is welcoming young children frightened for their lives.
These two political acts — the pending arrival of the National Guard to “protect” the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as the prohibition of migrants to board The Beast, amount not to bureaucratic ignorance or political hubris, but to crimes against humanity (technically defined as “particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation”) whose perpetrators, our supposed leaders, should be tried for in The Hague.
A recent headline in Mexico read: “The U.S. Has Great Compassion for Childhood Migrants; They Will Be Deported: Obama.”
A headline that would equally capture the hypocrisy of Mexico’s migration policy might read: “Mexico Seeks to Protect Central American Migrants: Rip Them Off the Back of One Beast and Feed Them Into the Jaws of Another.”
That second Beast is the hellish gauntlet of kidnapping, extortion, murder and rape that a poor undocumented migrant has to face to cross Mexico on the way to the U.S. Prohibiting migrants from riding on top of cargo trains, however dangerous they are, will leave them even more vulnerable than before, as well as have little effect, if any, in stopping migrants from fleeing the failing/conflagrating states of Central America.
The U.S. and Mexican governments have seemed to stop even bothering to posture toward compassionate migration policies, and have instead enacted anti-human legislation that is currently crushing the backs of tens of thousands of both children and adults alike. Last Friday night Congress doubled down their anti-human policy by voting to repeal the DACA program, which provided legal status and much-welcome/needed relief to young people who were brought to the country as children.
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I recently spent a few days at a migrant shelter in Ixtepec, Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, to get a better idea of who are the migrants continuing to push through these increasingly hostile obstacles.
Talking to a huddle of migrants slumped in a spot of shade in the shelter, waiting for their clothes laid out on a bush to dry, a series of explosions rang out. Ixtepec, these days, at least, is a relatively safe city. Though there are certainly still assaults, migrants can generally walk the streets without fear of immigration authorities hassling them. Not sure if the explosions came from gunshots or firecrackers, I asked one of the migrants, whom I’ll call Eduardo. He said, confidently, that they were firecrackers. How do you know they’re not gunshots? I asked. Because gunshots sound different than firecrackers, Eduardo explained. Gunshots are a lot deeper, cracking the air so you can feel them as much as hear them. With firecrackers, meanwhile, you hear their distance instead of feel their bang.
Eduardo knew what he was talking about. He was from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the city with the highest murder rate in the world. Living in San Pedro, Eduardo heard gunshots ring out almost every day. It was a city where, he explained to me, you get killed not for the money in your pocket, not even for offending a gang member, but merely for not being recognized. If you’re not from a neighborhood, he said, and the gangs don’t recognize you, they think you’re a threat, and they kill you. That’s why he was fleeing. He didn’t want to walk into the wrong part of town and get killed. He wanted a chance.
A Salvadoran man, Hector, who worked delivering eggs in San Salvador, told me that he wasn’t scared for his life in his hometown, but that it wasn’t much of a life to live. There the gangs had ground in the fear so deeply that they hardly needed to make a threat, collecting money extorting from anyone and everyone. From Hector’s meager paycheck, the gangs made him fork over 35 percent of his weekly earnings. He could afford food on the table for his wife and child, but there was no hope for sending his boy to school, and no hope for saving up to move out of his violent neighborhood where the gangs, like a nightmare version of the school bully, turned out his pockets every week. That was why he was migrating, he told me, for a better future for his young son.
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Another Honduran, whom I’ll call Josue, started telling me about his own history of violence: He was also from San Pedro Sula, the same city Eduardo was escaping from. Josue had a complicated story about his brother-in-law and his drug habit. When Josue’s sister decided she wanted to leave her husband, the husband threatened that if she did so he would kill her brother, Josue. The sister held out for a while, but finally unable to bear the abuse any longer, she left. The next time Josue came to the neighborhood, his ex-brother-in-law put a nine-millimeter pistol up to his head. Josue, who was walking with a group of friends, told him that he was making a big mistake, that he didn’t want to pull the trigger, and that if he didn’t change his ways, he himself was probably going to get killed. It wasn’t a direct threat that Josue had made, but a number of bystanders heard it. And the prediction, that his ex-brother-in-law would be killed, given the incredible violence in San Pedro, wasn’t improbable.
A few days later, in an unrelated incident, Josue’s ex-brother-in-law was shot point-blank range in the face by a 12-gauge shotgun. When they finally hauled his body away, it was riddled with bullets, barely holding together in one piece. Some neighborhood gang members remembered Josue’s prediction and figured that he had committed the murder, promising revenge not only on Josue, but on his sister and his father as well. There was nothing for Josue to do but flee. He was 20 years old, a young man with no option but to leave his country.
Obama’s requested $3.7 billion spending bill to try to “solve” the border crisis, though unlikely to pass, would primarily do one thing: make it harder and more dangerous for Eduardo, Héctor and Josue to live a dignified life. If any of them do get caught crossing the border, the bill would speed their deportations back to violence-wracked cities where heavily armed, ruthless gangs are looking to kill them, extort them or just drive a fear so deep into their hearts that they can hardly think of anything but trying the journey north again.
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A 15-year-old boy I met, whom I’ll call Miguel, escaped Honduras after he was raped by his stepfather. Traumatized, Miguel showed a marked nervousness around adult men, who make up the majority of migrants traveling by rail in Mexico. Not wanting to have to board the train anymore, but without money to pay a bus fare, Miguel went into town one night to try to prostitute himself to raise funds. Nobody at the shelter knows what happened to him that night. Nor has he opened up to the volunteers about his sexuality. Volunteers are currently trying to get him papers to travel safely through Mexico, and doing everything they can to keep him off the streets at night. If he ever does make it to the U.S. border, he might face a Border Patrol agent whose job it is to chase him through the desert and arrest him, or a screaming mob of Tea Partyers telling him he’s not welcomed to the country, or maybe even a soldier with a gun.
The numbers have proved that increased border militarization leads to more migrant deaths. When more children than ever are crossing the border in search of refuge and peace, sending troops to the border is effectively killing children. The governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, recently commented, “It is contrary to everything we stand for as a people to try to summarily send children back to death.” And yet that is exactly what we are doing with our politics, both in Mexico and in the U.S.
The first step in helping these people is to stop hurting them.
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We need to end the drug war, we need to help rebuild the Central American states we played large parts in breaking down, and, meanwhile, we need to provide a place of peace and refuge for those who are displaced, starting with the children.I can see how she would want to meet the former PM who had the honor of holding the lowest approval rating of any twentieth century British Prime Minister. Somehow people get the wrong impression about Thatcher and the UK because she consistently remained under 40% approval ratings. Her years in office said more about the system than it did about her popularity.
It sounds a bit odd that Palin would push so hard to meet Thatcher who is not in good mental or physical health. (It doesn’t say much about Thatcher’s family either.) Once again, it’s all about Sarah Palin and appearance. It’s odd to think that someone would be so aggressive with insisting on a face to face meeting with someone that they don’t know in such condition. The narcissistic Fox News contributor lives another day.• FAI chief executive says payment was made to avoid legal action • Fifa claim the $5m was a stadium loan that was written off
The Football Association of Ireland chief executive, John Delaney, has confirmed that the body accepted a payment from Fifa after Thierry Henry’s handball in the 2010 World Cup qualifying play-offs ended their hopes of qualifying for the tournament in South Africa. The FAI later confirmed that the payment amounted to €5m (£3.67m) and Delaney claimed it was made so the organisation would not pursue legal action against Fifa.
However, Fifa later released a statement stating that the money was in fact a loan in order to help construct a stadium that was later written off and actually amounted to $5m (£3.26m).
Speaking to RTE, Delaney claimed the payment was “a very good and legitimate deal” for the FAI but that it included a confidentiality agreement.
Fifa paid FAI after Thierry Henry handball, admits John Delaney – live Read more
“We felt we had a legal case against Fifa because of how the World Cup play-off hadn’t worked out for us with the Henry handball,” Delaney said. “Also the way [Sepp] Blatter behaved, if you remember on stage, having a snigger and having a laugh at us. That day when I went in, and I told him how I felt about him, there were some expletives used and we came to an agreement.
“That was a Thursday and on Monday the agreement was all signed and all done. It’s a very good agreement for the FAI and a very legitimate agreement for the FAI.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thierry Henry and his infamous handball at the Stade de France in 2009. Photograph: Philippe Lecoeur/MAXPPP/EPA
The Fifa statement appeared to contradict some of what Delaney said: “On 18 November 2009, there was play-off match between France and the Republic of Ireland for a place in the 2010 World Cup finals. During the match, a handball by France’s Thierry Henry led indirectly to a goal against the Irish team. Ireland did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals.
“While the referee’s decision is final, and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) ultimately accepted it as such, in January 2010 Fifa entered into an agreement with FAI in order to put an end to any claims against Fifa. Fifa granted FAI a loan of $5 million for the construction of a stadium in Ireland. At the same time, Uefa also granted the FAI funds for the same stadium.
“The terms agreed between Fifa and the FAI were that the loan would be imbursed if Ireland qualified for the 2014 Fifa World Cup. Ireland did not so qualify. Because of this, and in view of the FAI’s financial situation, Fifa decided to write off the loan as per 31 December 2014.”
The FAI later released a statement supporting Delaney’s claims, again citing the figure as €5m, rather than dollars.
“Further to Fifa’s statement this evening in relation to the €5m settlement with the FAI, the Association can now confirm that a legal settlement agreement was reached with Fifa following the threat of a legal case by the Association against world governing body in early 2010.
“The Association has, until now, abided by the confidentiality agreement required by Fifa as part of the settlement.
“The settlement was reached following strong legal advice given to the Association regarding the case against Fifa, and was a legitimate payment that enabled the Association to put €5m into the Aviva stadium project. This is fully reflected in our financial statements which are audited independently. The Association accepted Fifa’s settlement offer to avoid a long, costly and protracted legal case. The offer given to the Association was fully written off by Fifa in 2014.
“Fifa’s settlement with the Association has at no time influenced the FAI’s criticism of Fifa as demonstrated by our consistent criticisms of Sepp Blatter. Furthermore the settlement was made without any conditions other than confidentiality.”
The extraordinary move came after the Republic of Ireland were denied a place at the 2010 World Cup by William Gallas’s play-off equaliser for France, which included a crucial handball from Henry in its build-up. Following the match, the FAI requested to be added to the tournament as a 33rd team given they had been denied a place by the Frenchman’s misdemeanour. But the manner in which Blatter rejected the proposal irked Delaney. “They have asked, very humbly ‘Can’t we be team No33 at the World Cup?’ They have asked for that, really,” Blatter said at the time, sniggering.
“In 2009 I called him an embarrassment to Fifa and to himself,” Delaney added. “He called me over about that, across the table like I am talking to you, with one or two expletives. He said: ‘No-one speaks to me like that’, and I said, ‘well I do’ and that was it.”
Speaking to RTE, Delaney, who earns €360,00-a-year, also categorically denied he has ever accepted a bribe, adding while laughing: “Not on my salary.” The chief executive’s pay has long been questioned in Ireland, especially considering the domestic champions earn a mere €100,000. “Look, I am paid to do a job and I know I’m paid very well,” he added. “I’m very happy in the job, if anybody came up to me and offered me a bribe, I’d say, because you offered me a bribe, you’re not getting anything.”
Delaney also referred to a bizarre recent encounter between Blatter and his partner which ended with the FAI chief executive asking the Swiss to “move on” and stop staring. “He met Emma, my partner, in Vienna recently. He stared at her for seven or eight seconds and he said: ‘I approve of your new girlfriend’. I asked him to move on, move on please.
“It was an extraordinary moment. He stared at her and I said ‘move on’ and he did.”George Gojkovich/Getty Images
Frank Gore has a way of making you question football assumptions. He has a way of shrugging while shattering barriers. He has a way of turning the question of legacy around and making you think about the ending first instead of the beginning.
Because he's doing something so exceedingly rare for a running back. At 33 years old, the Indianapolis Colts backfield anchor keeps leaping age hurdles and pushing long past the usual expiry date for careers at his position.
He's doing it quietly, because away from the field, away from the gym and away from the boxing ring (yes, the boxing ring), that's the first impression you get of Gore.
He's quiet.
Which is partly why speaking with him feels like a quest to unlock a mystery that begins with large questions.
How is it possible he's on pace for his ninth 1,000-plus-yard rushing season at an age when most running backs have long eased into their post-career rocking chairs? How has he reached that plateau repeatedly while taking 250-plus carries in seven of his 11 NFL seasons? And most remarkably, how has he not crumbled yet and instead logged five straight 16-game years?
There's another automatic question you ask Gore in the search to find out exactly what's made his inner motor run so hot for so long. It's a question that spills out with his age looming large as you look at two lists.
The first one is the list of all-time rushing leaders. Gore currently sits ninth on that list, and he'll easily leap Tony Dorsett for eighth in 2016. He has one more year in 2017 left on his Colts contract, and if the kid from Coconut Grove, Florida, keeps breaking the laws of football, breaking the top five is within reach.
NFL Top 10 All-Time Rushing Leaders Running Back Rushing Yards Emmitt Smith 18,355 Walter Payton 16,726 Barry Sanders 15,269 Curtis Martin 14,101 LaDainian Tomlinson 13,684 Jerome Bettis 13,662 Eric Dickerson 13,259 Tony Dorsett 12,739 Frank Gore 12,682 Jim Brown 12,312 Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
The second list is the one to really focus on with Gore, as it zooms in on a specific period of time. It highlights the post-30 age period when running backs are either firmly in their decline phase or just gone entirely.
Gore's production after the age of 30 isn't just rare. No, it's borderline historic and something we've only seen several times before.
Most All-Time Post-30 Rushing Yards Running Back Rushing Yards Emmitt Smith 5,789 John Riggins 5,683 Walter Payton 5,101 Marcus Allen 4,968 Tony Dorsett 4,403 Thomas Jones 4,088 Warrick Dunn 4,062 Frank Gore 3,843 James Brooks 3,789 Curtis Martin 3,740 Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Barring injury, he should easily move up two spots on that list by the end of 2016, again putting the top five within reach there.
So you look at those two lists and then essentially ask Gore this question: What gives?
Those in his past—from his high school coach at Coral Gables, to his offensive coordinator with the Miami Hurricanes and an offensive lineman who blocked in front of him in San Francisco—all echoed the same tune. They said Gore's work ethic reached freak status long, long ago. He's always been that way.
"When I was in San Francisco, we had something called the breakfast club, and it was the guys who would come in and lift at 6 a.m.," said Alex Boone, a former 49ers guard who played with Gore for five seasons. "Probably about six or seven of us would come in every day, and Frank was just finishing his lift when we got in there at 6 a.m."
That's the only version of Gore anyone has ever known. What made him that way?
"A love of the game and the things I went through in life," Gore said.
The first part of that answer is obvious. The second part is where Gore's story begins.
Frank Gore Is a Determined Fighter
Gore's mother passed away in 2007 after a long battle with kidney disease.
It was her strength while also raising a family as a single mother that ignited the fire deep within Gore. She was the rock at the center of a crowded and small home.
"I saw my mom fight when she was on dialysis and had 11 or 12 kids in a one-bedroom apartment," he said. Of those kids, four were her own. But she also had the generosity and kindness to open her doors to other kids who needed a place to stay.
His mother was on dialysis throughout most of Gore's time at Coral Gables High School. He had to mature quickly to help his mom through those tough times. And he did.
"I had to be mature as a kid with my mom as a single parent and struggling to take care of her kids, and my dad wasn't in my life. I had to grow up fast," he said
Football then became a passion, a distraction and a way forward.
Gore developed a love for football at a young age, and that continues today. But there was an obstacle standing in the way of pursuing his gridiron dreams.
He had to adapt in the classroom at school because of a learning disability. Gore wasn't failing academically, but he was on track for a special diploma that wouldn't have qualified him for his dream of playing college football.
"He wasn't ready for the academic challenges at first," said Joe Montoya, Gore's high school football coach at Coral Gables. "Once I spoke to him and convinced him of what I can do to help him get into college, he just said, 'OK, Coach.'"
"So from there, with my coaching staff, the administration and the athletic director, we came up with a plan to get him out of the special diploma and into the regular diploma."
For two years, Gore then dug into his textbooks the same way he now devours playbooks. He logged extra tutoring time after school and even sacrificed some football practice time. Gore also did special one-on-one work for his SAT prep.
And he did it all while smashing Dade County records, rushing for an incredible 2,953 yards in 2000, his senior year.
Montoya now speaks glowingly about Gore, just as everyone does. But his reflections are a little different.
He thinks back to a time when the school would help Gore in every respect, including arranging rides to the hospital to see his mom. And he can recall a young man with a dream who Montoya now says was one of the most mature 16-year-olds he's ever met.
That maturity is clear to see in the video above. It shows a kid who has a goal and was aspiring to great football heights. That's ordinary for many high school stars.
But it also shows a teenager who was well aware of both the hurdle standing in front of him and the work he had to put in to overcome it. That's extraordinary.
"I told him I knew how to get him there as long as he did his part," Montoya said of Gore's classroom work. "He immediately said that wasn't a problem. He was ready."
The seeds for the Gore you see today—the running back who's quiet yet powerful, and feared but greatly respected—were planted in those days. His determination grew further when he tore both of his ACLs while playing for the Miami Hurricanes—injuries that would have crushed many young men both mentally and physically.
But Gore kept going. He pushed himself to recover and rise again.
We can point to the multiple lengthy knee recoveries he went through as the shining example of Gore's desire to outwork and outlast. Or we can do the same with his dedication in the classroom to even make college football possible.
Either works, but over the past few years, there's been another example of Gore's limitless work ethic to still keep chugging during what should be his running back golden years. He's a boxer now, too.
Frank Gore Is a Boxer
A hill sits about a half-hour drive south of San Francisco. It's in the Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve. You know, the one Jerry Rice made famous.
Gore didn't just run up and reach the mountaintop one day a few years ago during his offseason training. He did it with boxing gloves on, and every time he had to stop for a breather, his boxing trainer Brian Schwartz made him keep moving, hopping and boxing.
Then they hit the pads again at the top, with Gore letting loose a flurry of jabs before sprinting back down after several rounds.
"If you ask him now, he'll curse that hill," said Schwartz, the founder and owner of Undisputed Boxing Gym.
I did ask him, and Gore did laugh while also using some adult language. But he knows now what he maybe didn't at first: An unusual offseason training method has pushed his career that much further.
Gore has been training with Schwartz for five years, and that hill run took place during their first offseason together. It may have been among the most daunting tests Schwartz has put him through, but plenty of sweat has dripped to the floor of his gym.
Here's an example of a typical grueling offseason day for Gore when he was with the 49ers. He took part in the 49ers' weight training in the morning, then suited up for afternoon practice. After that, in the evening, he'd meet Schwartz at 8 p.m. in his gym, where he'd be put through boxing and agility workouts.
"He'd go practice with the team and then be with me that same night," Schwartz said. "And the workouts were hard. He didn't want to take any breaks. His work ethic is like nothing I've ever seen."
Gore started that routine during the 2012 offseason when he was 29 years old. That's the age when we assume a running back is wearing down or at best reaching the end of his peak.
Yet there was Gore running up hills in his boxing gear and logging two to three hours every day from June onward sparring under Schwartz's direction.
Gore said the quick but highly intense bursts of energy required in boxing have improved his cardio fitness and helped him to stay fresh in the fourth quarter when others might be gasping for air.
Mostly, though, boxing provides another outlet for him to silence outside voices—the ones that echo through his head, teasing and saying, "You can't do that, old man."
"It helps my mindset," Gore said. "Even though I try not to care or pay attention, I often hear that, 'Oh, he can't do this because he's old.' Well, I'm training and thinking about that, and it makes me go that much harder.
"I've been boxing for a while now, and I probably could fight a little bit if I wanted to."
Schwartz said there's another benefit to Gore's boxing workouts beyond the clear cardio element and the mental boost he gets from conquering the ring.
Boxing isn't nicknamed the sweet science because it's a cool, catchy title. The sport is rooted in angles and manipulating the opponent to find the right opening while also avoiding haymakers coming your way.
Which is why summer hours spent with gloves on have kept Gore's vision sharp, enhancing his ability to anticipate movement.
"Frank has incredible vision, and that's contributed to his longevity in football," Schwartz said. "He doesn't take many shots flush on. He's hitting those little tiny holes, and if you're getting him, you'll wrap up, but you'll rarely get a full lick on him. That's the same with good boxers. They're always moving and looking for those little holes. They have great vision.
"If you watch guys like Floyd Mayweather, they're masters of distance and angles. And that's the same approach Frank has with football. I kind of feel like he's the Floyd Mayweather of football."
We often concentrate solely on the physical aspects of football, which is understandable, because it's a brutal and punishing game. Gore has been blessed with plenty of physical gifts that he's worked tirelessly to maintain.
What truly sets him apart, though, can't be built up in any weight room or maintained through sweat equity. That's because Gore's greatest gift might be his football mind.
Frank Gore Is a Football Savant
During lunch hour, most high school kids in the 90s would be listening to jams on their wicked-awesome Discmans. Gore used another source of now-dated technology for his entertainment: the VCR, to watch game film with Montoya.
"We'd talk about the next game and what he needed to do," Montoya said. "He'd love to be in that office during coaches' meetings to listen and to watch what the blocking schemes would be for the next game. He was more into that than anything else."
"He'd spend more time in our office than out in the hallways with the kids."
A natural curiosity about the intricacies of football had the game hovering in Gore's young mind constantly then. That continued throughout his time with the Miami Hurricanes.
"On the field, we had a lot of different run checks I had to teach the quarterback, and he knew all of them," said Dan Werner, the offensive coordinator during most of Gore's time in Miami. "Usually a tailback just sort of stands back there, and the quarterback will say, 'Hey, we're checking to this.' But Frank knew every check and sometimes would even have to correct the quarterback."
Matt Maiocco, who has been covering the 49ers for 22 years and most recently for CSN Bay Area since 2010, called Gore a "football savant" because his knowledge goes so deep. He functions as a living and breathing playbook, and is capable of deciphering the game quickly.
He craves feedback, and heard plenty from his coaches and teammates. But oftentimes, he'd seek a different source.
"My favorite memories of him are when he's alone in a quiet locker room during the middle of the week, and he'd call me over," said Maiocco. "Then he'd say, 'Hey man, how do you think I'm playing? What do you think is wrong with the run game? What do we need to do to get better? What running backs around the league have you been impressed with?' It was always stuff like that, and he wanted to pick your brain.
"He was always curious about other people's views and wanted to spark a conversation. It was neat, because he's very inquisitive. He wanted to get the view of an outsider."
Gore takes everything he hears, watches and studies, and then translates it into a nearly unparalleled feel for space and the flow of a play. That football intellect has separated him over the years and led to his standing as a top-10 rusher.
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
"I remember a few times we were trying to reach guys and set up blocks, and he would make it look like we were doing it so well, and we really weren't," Boone said. "You'd watch the film after and think, 'Man, I had such a struggle with that guy,' but there comes Frank making me look just so good at what I'm doing. I don't know how he does it, but somehow I actually look like a real football player right there."
That high football IQ can't accurately be quantified to fit neatly into Gore's Hall of Fame resume. But let's be clear: Gore's career journey—whenever he finally stops beating time—needs to go from Coconut Grove to Canton.
Frank Gore Is a Hall of Famer
Nearly every running back who's recorded 12,000-plus rushing yards has been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Go ahead and take the wider view on the list highlighted above. If we make the safe assumption that LaDainian Tomlinson is set to be honored one day soon—and likely in August 2017—then only one other inactive player among the top 15 will be left excluded from Canton (Edgerrin James).
Maiocco was just placed on the 48-person Hall of Fame selection committee. He's already thinking about his speech advocating for Gore.
"In six or seven years, I'll have to give an argument for Frank Gore in front of that group, and believe me—that's something I'm really looking forward to doing," he said. "I can't give a higher recommendation for a guy to be a Hall of Famer than Frank Gore."
"He's been the absolute model of consistency even at a time when everyone would have expected him to fall off."
Gore's case is boosted by a vital but often overlooked skill every well-rounded running back needs. He's one of the most effective and willing pass-blockers you could ever ask for in the backfield.
"He's one of the best I've been around," said Shaun Hill, who Gore was tasked with protecting during the quarterback's three years in San Francisco. "He's very physical and plays with great leverage. More times than not, he won, and he won big. He'd put a lot of guys on their back. It was impressive to see and to play with him. Then you'd turn on the film and be amazed again."
Anthony Dixon agrees after being Gore's backfield teammate for four seasons. Or in this case, his younger pass-blocking student:
The only argument you could possibly make against Gore's Hall of Fame induction is a feeble one.
It would be centered around the reality that he hasn't had many truly booming seasons. During his second NFL season and first as the full-time starter, Gore exploded for 1,695 rushing yards and 2,180 yards from scrimmage. But he hasn't reached the 1,300-yard rushing or 1,600-yard total plateau since.
That argument fades quickly, though, when it's trumped by Gore's consistency, which in turn has been powered by his absurd durability. He's never been limited to a single-digit game total in any season. At the ages of 30 and 31, he posted two more 1,000-plus-yard years (1,128 in 2013 and 1,106 in 2014), giving him eight total in his career. Then he came just short during his age-32 year (967 yards in 2015).
Now, in 2016, Gore is still moving along just fine through 10 games at the age of 33. He has scored seven touchdowns and is averaging 84.3 yards from scrimmage per game. And he could be the first running back who's 33 or older to hit the 1,000-yard mark on the ground since 1984, according to Kevin Bowen from Colts.com.
He doesn't really acknowledge age. It's not as if he's hiding from the number of candles on his birthday cake. But in football terms, that number doesn't register mentally. And why would it? He's blinded by a deep passion, so Gore just keeps preparing, working, boxing, running and studying. Then he does it all again the next |
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