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Nine Inch Nails frontman lashed out at promoters and Biffy saying they 'fucked us'
Biffy Clyro have responded to comments made by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor after he insulted the band at Reading Festival, accusing the US frontman of having “basically spat his dummy out”.
Reznor lashed out at Reading Festival promoters and Biffy Clyro, saying they “fucked us” on the band’s production prior to their performance directly before the Scottish headliners. This afternoon before Nine Inch Nails were due to play, Reznor tweeted about the performance, writing “Should be an unusual show tonight at Reading…the lying promoter and the band following us (whoever the fuck they are) fucked us on our production.”
Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil has now responded to Reznor’s claims, stating that, “He basically spat his dummy out.” He added: “Nine Inch Nails are a huge band and they’ve been headlining loads of festivals everywhere and I think their manager or someone told him they weren’t headlining Reading and Leeds, God forbid, and he decided to take it out on us.”
Speaking to Faster Louder, Neil continued: “He played with us on the Friday night and there was no problem. He didn’t care about the Leeds bands obviously and he knew damn fine who we were, so I think he was just being obnoxious.”
Earlier this year, Reznor told NME that his band’s brand new stage show, inspired by Talking Heads‘ 1983 Stop Making Sense tour, was redesigned from scratch to work outdoors. “In terms of physical components, it’s actually low-tech,” he said.
Reading and Leeds Festival boss Melvin Benn also responded to Reznor’s tweets, saying: “The truth is there’s no truth in the statement. The contract hasn’t changed since they signed up to it.” Asked if Reznor was perhaps feeling a bit sore about playing before a band he hadn’t heard of, he said, “I couldn’t possibly comment.”
Check out our gallery of all the best photos from Reading and Leeds Festival 2013 |
According to the deal, anyone involved in the "crime of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity" was to be denied amnesty.
The top UN official in the country welcomed the agreement struck on Sunday (10.05.2015) between ten armed groups and the Defense Ministry during a peace forum in the capital, Bangui. "On the path towards peace, the step made today is a very important one," said Gen. Babacar Gaye, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Central African Republic.
Under the agreement, the militia groups committed to renounce "armed fighting as a means of making political claims and to enter into the process of Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reinsertion and Repatriation (DDRR)." Some members of armed factions are to be absorbed into the army, a process which will be supported by 10,000 UN peacekeepers.
Country's future at stake
The agreement came at the end of a week-long peace and reconciliation forum in Bangui, where about 700 politicians, representatives of civil society groups and others came together to discuss the country's future.
Among the recommendations adopted at the conference was the extension of the mandate of the transitional government.
The demobilization process will be supported by UN peacekeepers
The forum called for the transitional authorities to delay planned elections amid concerns the country would be unable to prepare for them on time.
The peace forum had been convened to help end the country's two-year conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced nearly a million people in the impoverished country.
Challenge of implementation
While the top UN representative in CAR believes a new page has now been turned, Roland Marchal, a senior research fellow at the Centre for International Studies and Research in Paris, remains skeptical. He argues that the nature of the groups made any agreement signed by their presumed leaders very difficult to implement at the grassroots level.
Marchal estimates that the political leaders of the anti-balaka groups may represent only half of them, while Seleka was a movement that had been split from the very beginning. So it is unclear whether people will obey their leaders.
Armed factions have agreed to release all child soldiers
He was also worried that while most fighters wanted to enter the DDRR process, the international community may only be willing to fund a much cheaper process that would not include many of those fighters. "Therefore it would create a lot of bitterness among those who are left out," Marchal told DW.
The expert on CAR said because the groups behaved like thugs, people tended to overlook a number of social grievances reflected by the groups. "I'm not sure those grievances are being addressed in any decent manner by the so-called Bangui forum," he said.
Social grievances not fully addressed
"Sociologically, those armed groups are quite different, and you have to assess those differences in order to make any disarmament and demobilization plan work," Marchal said. "You need some kind of a political process to make people believe that there is an option for a better CAR." Unfortunately this was left to the elections, he said, while a number of grievances concerning citizenship, the national languages, the question of reparations for the victims as well as the status of migrants who have settled in CAR for a long time were not being resolved.
Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza has been given more time
A transitional government led by Catherine Samba-Panza has been charged with organizing elections and restoring democratic rule, and some order has returned to the country, although there are still sporadic killings.
But Roland Marchal thinks the government is very much centered around Bangui and the social and political elites. "The sense that they will have to reach out to populations far away and that they will have to share the national cake with the poorer section of the population is absolutely not in the minds of those in government," he said.
Political process requires leadership
"I believe the government has no interest in going to elections and addressing and shaping the political process of national reconciliation and disarmament," Marchal said. "It will just move as far as the foreigners and donors are asking it to move."
For Marchal the only discernible message of hope was that in many parts of the country people were taking the initiative to calm the situation and repair the social fabric of the country. But this was not due to government action; it was being done by the people themselves.
"We are still very early in a peace settlement, and my concern is that through this forum the government just gets the ability to be extended at least for six months," Marchal said. He said he could not see who was going to lead the reconciliation and the political process. |
AFP/Getty Images
People who spoke up about their concerns over privacy suddenly found key private details, including their email and sometimes even home addresses, released by none other than President Donald Trump’s administration. The presidential commission charged with investigating alleged fraud that has been plagued by controversy from the start published a 112-page document of unredacted emails of public comment on its work, which to no surprise are largely negative of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. When it published the comments, the White House didn’t remove any of the personal information, meaning many of the comments are accompanied by personal details of the person who wrote it.
“This cavalier attitude toward the public's personal information is especially concerning given the commission's request for sensitive data on every registered voter in the country,” Theresa Lee, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, said. Lee was referring to the way the commission sent a letter to all the states requesting lots of personal information about voters. At least 45 states refused to hand over all the requested data.
buried lede:
the white house just doxxed a bunch of citizens to suppress dissent
phone numbers and addresses are intentionally not censored https://t.co/pjv07M8IxA — ｄｒｅｗ⎝(´•ω•)⎠🌹 (@EvenWeirderMove) July 14, 2017
Ironically enough, most of those who wrote in to the White House expressed concern about their personal information being made public. One person whose name and email address were published by the commission, for example, wrote: “DO NOT RELEASE ANY OF MY VOTER DATA PERIOD.” |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Federal Reserve approved a merger Friday between Jacksonville-based EverBank Financial Corp. and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, better known as TIAA.
TIAA will acquire EverBank for $2.5 billion. The two companies will form a merged bank with headquarters remaining in Jacksonville.
News4Jax is still waiting to learn what the merger means for EverBank’s 30-story downtown building, its headquarters in the Brooklyn neighborhood and the Jaguars’ stadium, EverBank Field.
The details of the EverBank, TIAA merger are still scarce, and a lot of people have questions about what exactly is going to happen. People also expressed concern about the future of jobs in the River City.
News4Jax spoke with the president of the JaxUSA Partnership, Jerry Mallot, who said people should not worry the merger, saying he believes it will be a good thing for the community.
"We're always concerned about whether you might lose a headquarters, so we became involved early on saying, ‘How can we help? Is there anything we can do?’ and had several opportunities to actually meet with TIAA executives, encouraging them, which they were planning to do already -- to keep things here, grow the bank here and make a real positive difference in Jacksonville in our region,” Mallot said.
EverBank officials called the merger exciting and said they’re committed to the local community. They wouldn’t comment what the merger means for the names of the buildings and the stadium, or for jobs, but Mallot believes current employees should feel safe.
"The system is headquartered here today, and it’s just going to grow from there, so we're not anticipating any layoffs," Mallot said. "Jacksonville wins. EverBank wins. It’s just a good deal for everybody."
A spokesperson with EverBank said more details will be released Monday.
Copyright 2017 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved. |
It sounds crazy, but 2.1 million people in the United States still use AOL dial-up to connect to the Internet.
Beep-beep-beep. Chcck. Eeeerrrhhrr. Bhrrrh. Hccccchhh-ZZzzZZzzz. That. They hear that.
That number was in AOL's quarterly earnings report Friday.
It's shocking, given that 70% of Americans connect to the Internet over much faster broadband. The average U.S. broadband speed is 11.4 Megabits per second. That's 200 times faster than dial-up's 56 Kilobits per second.
Even smartphones are more than 100 times faster than that.
That 56k modem connection essentially means 2.1 million people experience the Web like it's 1995, with simple pictures slowly downloading top-to-bottom. Remember that?
Except it's actually worse. Nowadays, the most popular websites are layered with data-gobbling software add-ons that slow down your experience.
Facebook (FB) has videos that automatically play themselves. YouTube displays interactive advertisements with buttons. Twitter (TWTR) is full of GIFs -- moving images that are a few seconds long and repeat endlessly.
On broadband, these extra lines of computer code add to the data we download.
And get ready for this. Some of these AOL customers are still paying for this. The average AOL dial-up user is paying $20 a month -- a dollar more than last year.
AOL (AOL) says its 2.1 million dial-up customers include some subscribers who are paying "reduced monthly fees." There are some who aren't paying at all, because they threatened to leave AOL, so the company gave them a discount. (This is an old trick to reducing your bill.) It also includes people on free trials. (Who just joined this club?).
But if you crunch the numbers, that means some people are actually paying more than $20 a month to get dial-up Internet from AOL. And it would take these people about four minutes to download this popular GIF of an old man dancing at a party.
So, who are these people? A 2009 study from the Pew Research Center sheds some insight: 32% of dial-up users said they couldn't afford to upgrade. Most of the rest said broadband either wasn't available -- or they just didn't care to change.
The numbers from AOL show these people are stubborn. The number of dial-up subscribers plummeted in the mid-2000s, but since then the decline has been pretty slow. AOL counted 4.6 million dial-up users in 2010, and only 500,000 people or so leave every year.
At this rate, there will still be dial-up users out there in 2019.
Keep in mind, this comes at a time when the Federal Communications Commission says staying connected is so important, it's regulating high-speed Internet as a public utility. That's why the FCC adopted historic Internet rules in February.
But if you're reading this on AOL dial-up, don't bother to click that last link. There's an autoplaying video. We at CNNMoney don't want to blow up your desktop computer. |
Bruce Springsteen is extending his River Tour 2016 – reportedly, adding more than a dozen shows. The formal announcement is expected to come some time this week.
The Las Vegas show, which was to take place at The Joint at the Hard Rock Casino & Hotel, has been scrapped as has the HBO broadcast of the concert. The cancellation is possibly due to the inability of management on both sides – the Hard Rock and Springsteen – to come to terms on ticket prices. Instead of Vegas, a third Los Angeles show has been added for March 19th (see full extended schedule below); it is very unlikely that HBO will be involved.
Springsteen and The E Street Band will extend their River Tour 2016 into the Northwest and Midwest as well as hitting the South (North Carolina) before heading back to Bruce's home base in the Northeast.
There's more good news. European dates are expected to be added for the early summer, and there is also talk of a possible U.S. stadium tour later this summer.
Here are the tour stops that are expected to be released later this week. All cities and dates are tentative so proceed with caution. The on-sale date remains unknown.
Los Angeles, CA – March 19 (third show)
Portland, OR – March 22
Seattle, WA – March 24
San Jose, CA – March 29
Denver, CO – March 31
Oklahoma City, OK – TBD
Auburn Hills, MI – TBD
Dallas, TX – TBD
Kansas City, MO – TBD
Greensboro, NC – April 10
Columbus, OH – TDB
Penn State, University Park, PA – April 18
Baltimore, MD – April 20
Brooklyn, NY – April 22
Brooklyn, NY – April 24 |
The R32 has some common faults, one of which being the windows not rolling up or down after some period of time. The typical cause of the problem is the black relay box located inside the window, although there are a few places to test first.
- Confirm your fuse is in good shape. There is a fuse under the hood that helps power the window movement - check your fusebox to see if it's blown. If you're lazy and don't want to pop your hood, you can confirm it's still working if the opposite window still works. For example, if your driver window won't roll down, but your passenger window will, your fuse is fine.
- Make sure your window motor still works. I am yet to see a window motor that has broken, but to test it you can hotwire it using a drill battery. Use bullet style connectors on two lengths of wire, and put them in the harness. Connect the open ends to the leads of the drill battery. If your motor doesn't move it is blown.
- Test your window switch. A schematic for testing can be located by clicking here. |
It may be widely regarded as the universal book of wisdom, but there’s one truth even its strongest proponents, the RSS, can’t seem to fathom: When was the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s holiest books, composed?
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat attended a meeting organised by the Jiyo Gita Parivar and other Hindu religious groups last week that said the Gita was composed 5,151 years ago, but the history wing of the RSS pegs the age of the sacred text two years later at 5,153 years. Swaraj attended the closing session on Sunday and called for the Gita to be named the national book.
“We do not want to dispute them as they are a cultural body but if they consult us we will tell them that our calculations based on historical facts show the Gita to be 5,153 years old,” Bal Mukund, national organising secretary of the Itihas Sankalan Yojana, the history wing of the RSS, told HT.
How did the Itihas Sankalan Yojana arrive at that date? Simple, it based its calculation on the wheel of time.
“Kalyuga began on February 18, 3102 BC,” says Mukund. “The Mahabharat began 36 years before Kalyuga near the end of Dwapar, meaning 3139 BC. The sources we have used are the Mahabharat, the Brahmavarta Purana and others. These texts also show the position of the stars (grah-dashaa) and we have been able to locate the exact dates based on these.”
The Itihas Sankalan Yojana says it is a professional historical body. Its website says it was registered in 1994 -- “5,096 years” into Kalyuga -- though its work began in 1978. Kalyuga is the last of four yugas in the Hindu concept of cyclical time.
Other Hindu groups have a more bizarre explanation. Former Bajrang Dal convenor Prakash Sharma elaborates on the yugas. “One human year equals one day of the gods. One year of the gods is 360 human years. One cycle of four yugas – Sat, treta, Dwapar and Kalyuga – is 12000 years of the gods or 43,20,000 human years,” he says. “Satyuga is 17,28,000 years long, treta 12,96,000 years long, dwapar 8,64,000 years long and Kalyuga 4,32,000 years long.”
Veteran historian DN Jha, however, disagrees with both dates, saying the Gita cannot be dated in this manner. According to him, the Gita is an interpolation within the Mahabharat, which itself developed over centuries and while some historians place the Mahabharat at around 900 BC, it is difficult to place a precise date.
However, Sharma has a different take: “Why should Western chronology be followed to date the Gita? Our own systems have to be used to date our texts.”
First Published: Dec 10, 2014 22:10 IST |
Detroit first-grader takes six bullets to save mom Detroit girl, 7, takes six bullets to save mom
DETROIT — A 7-year-old-girl is being hailed as an "angel from heaven" and a hero for jumping in front of an enraged gunman, who pumped six bullets into the child as she used her body as a shield to save her mother's life.
Alexis Goggins, a first-grader at Campbell Elementary School, is at Children's Hospital in Detroit recovering from gunshot wounds to the eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm.
"She is an angel from heaven," said Aisha Ford, a family friend for 15 years who also was caught up in the evening of terror.
The girl's mother, Selietha Parker, 30, was shot in the left side of her head and her bicep by a former boyfriend, who police said was trying to kill Parker. The gunman was disarmed by police and arrested at the scene of the shooting. Police identified him as Calvin Tillie, 29, a four-time convicted felon who Parker had dated for six months before breaking off the relationship.
Parker, who was treated at Detroit Receiving Hospital and released, is at her daughter's bedside. She declined to comment Tuesday.
The drama began to unfold just before midnight Saturday, when Parker called Ford and asked if she and Alexis could spend the night at Ford's home.
"She said she had no heat and they were very cold, and I said, sure I'll come and get you," Ford said.
Ford said she drove her burgundy 1998 Ford Expedition to Parker's home on Dwyer. She said as Parker and Alexis walked up to her vehicle she saw a man on the porch, who she assumed was a furnace repairman. She said Alexis, who walks with a limp, slipped momentarily on the icy sidewalk and as she helped the girl up, she saw the man and recognized him as Tillie. He was holding a gun.
Tillie ordered them into the vehicle, cursed at the women and angrily told Ford to drive him to Six Mile Road, she said.
"He looked like he was enraged and didn't care what he did. I knew if we went to Six Mile, he would kill us," Ford said. Instead, she told him she needed gas and drove to the Fast Stop Gas station in the 5000 block of East Seven Mile Road, a station that requires customers to pay the attendant inside.
"I figured if he got out to pump the gas, I was going to take off," Ford said.
Instead, Tillie gave her $10 and told her put in $5 worth of gas.
Ford said she dialed 911 on her cell phone as she walked into the station.
"The first operator clicked off and I dialed again and told that operator a guy with a gun was holding me hostage with a mother and baby and threatening to kill us. I told her the name of the gas station and then she said they didn't have a unit to send."
Ford said she paid for $5 of gas and slowly returned to the vehicle, stalling for time as she handed Tillie the change. She said she kept stopping and starting the pump, hoping the police would show up.
"I told him I needed more gas and took money out of my purse and went back into the station," she said. The attendant, Mohammad Alghazali, 30, said he noticed Ford was crying and she told him what was happening. He called 911 as he heard shots coming from the vehicle.
"It was very scary. She (Ford) was scared and screaming when the guy was shooting. I was scared, too. I was on the phone talking to the police when he started shooting," he said
Parker told police that Tillie said Ford was taking too long
She said she pleaded with him but he pointed the gun at her and shot her in the side of the head. She told police she was shot in the arm as she lunged at Tillie.
Before Tillie could fire again, Alexis jumped over the seat between her mother and the gunman and begged him not to shoot her mother.
The police report said Tillie "without hesitation" pumped six shots into the child.
As police arrived, they saw Parker, covered in blood, running from the truck, screaming, "He just shot my baby."
The officers said Tillie came out to the vehicle holding a blue steel 9mm semi automatic and dropped the weapon when ordered to do so. Officers said they found Alexis huddled on the floor under the steering wheel, covered in blood, surrounded by spent cartridge casings, a spent bullet on the floor and teeth on the seat. There were bullet holes in the windshield and blood inside.
Alghazali said a police car on a street nearby arrived in less than a minute after his call.
Marvin Bodley, a Detroit Public Schools attendance agent, spent two days at Alexis' hospital bedside and said it's miraculous that she's alive.
"What a courageous, courageous little girl," he said. "You see more bandages than child," he said. "It's a horrific sight."
Bodley said Alexis receives special education services at school, in part because of a weak left eye, which is the result of a massive stroke she suffered as an infant.
Ford said doctors at the time had predicted that when Alexis got older she would have trouble with tasks such as writing, but she is now able to write her name.
"She is a good little girl who is very protective of her mother," said Tonya Colbert, Parker's cousin.
Tillie is being held in the Wayne County Jail facing kidnapping, assault with intent to murder, child abuse, felony firearms and habitual criminal charges.
A preliminary examination is scheduled for Dec. 13. |
MUMBAI: According to a report by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), India will need around 28.4 million strong workforce in India’s booming Transportation, Logistics, Warehousing and Packaging sector. The sector, which currently employs over 16.74 million employees, is slated to employ more than 28.4 million employees by 2022. Hence, this sector will have one of the highest incremental human resource requirement of 11.7 million from 2013-2022, across the 24 sectors that have been mapped for assessing incremental human resource requirement in the country.According to the report, rising investment, rapidly evolving regulatory policies, mega infrastructure projects and several other developments in recent times have driven the Indian logistics market, simultaneously, also overcoming infrastructure-related constraints and logistics-centric inefficiency.The report further states that key growth drivers are the logistics activities which are currently outsourced and growing rapidly at a rate of 52%. Thrust on marquee projects — dedicated freight corridors, DMIC, JNPT container terminal, inland waterways. Rapid growth in organised retail, e-commerce, QSR, containerisation, etc. 100 percent FDI through automatic route. FMCG expected to grow at over 12 percent CAGR during 2010– 2020. Also, the increasing income levels among consumers makes product affordable and hence, provides scope for innovative packaging to attract consumers to purchase the product. And food and beverage, which contributes 85 percent of total packaging user segments, is one of the biggest driving force.Commenting on the report, Dilip Chenoy , MD & CEO, NSDC said, “The biggest challenge for the sector is to attract talent. The sector clearly sees poor working conditions and low pay scales in comparison to other career options because of poor or non-existent manpower policies. The industry is expected to give a push to Indian economy with emergence of e-commerce, organised retail & Quick Service Restaurants (QSR).”“With more organised approach towards transport and logistics activities due to emergence of global third-party logistics (3PL) players, the demand for trained employees with specific skill sets is expected to further increase,” he further added.As per National Sample Survey (NSS) 68th round survey, the districts with maximum employment in the transportation and logistics sector are Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi and Ahmedabad. The high growth clusters as identified by NSDC incremental human resource requirement studies are Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bangalore, Surat and Indore. |
Trump seemed to relish the opportunity to hit her back just as hard. Some of the biggest applause lines came when he called Clinton out for the same character traits that she accused him of having.
Trump was originally scheduled to deliver the speech on June 13, but decided to postpone it after the Orlando mass shooting on June 12. Yesterday, Clinton gave her own speech attacking Trump on his business record, foreign policy ideas, and personal conduct. She repeatedly stressed how dangerous it would be if he were president, calling him "reckless and careless."
She is also, he said, "a world-class liar."
"Her decisions spread death, destruction, and terrorism everywhere she touched," Trump said, reading from a teleprompter during the 45-minute speech. "Hillary Clinton has perfected the politics of personal profit and theft."
Speaking from the Trump SoHo hotel in downtown Manhattan Wednesday morning, Donald Trump laid out all the ways that Hillary Clinton would destroy the country — and possibly the world — if she were to become president.
Read more
Speaking from the Trump SoHo hotel in downtown Manhattan Wednesday morning, Donald Trump laid out all the ways that Hillary Clinton would destroy the country — and possibly the world — if she were to become president.
"Her decisions spread death, destruction, and terrorism everywhere she touched," Trump said, reading from a teleprompter during the 45-minute speech. "Hillary Clinton has perfected the politics of personal profit and theft."
She is also, he said, "a world-class liar."
Trump was originally scheduled to deliver the speech on June 13, but decided to postpone it after the Orlando mass shooting on June 12. Yesterday, Clinton gave her own speech attacking Trump on his business record, foreign policy ideas, and personal conduct. She repeatedly stressed how dangerous it would be if he were president, calling him "reckless and careless."
Trump seemed to relish the opportunity to hit her back just as hard. Some of the biggest applause lines came when he called Clinton out for the same character traits that she accused him of having.
"She lacks the temperament, the judgment, and the competence to lead," Trump said. "She simply lacks the integrity and temperament to serve."
Trump took pains to differentiate himself from his rival but did not offer much in the way of specifics. On immigration, Trump said, "I only want to admit people who share our values and love our people. Hillary Clinton wants to bring in people who believe women should be enslaved and gays put to death."
Trump did not elaborate on how he would distinguish immigrants who "share our values" and "love our people" from those who don't.
The presumptive Republican nominee described Clinton's many perceived failings when she was Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, starting with Benghazi.
Ambassador Chris Stevens "was left helpless to die as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed," Trump said, describing the night when militants attacked the US diplomatic compound in Libya and killed the Stevens, along with two American servicemen.
"She started the war that put him in Libya, denied him the security he asked for, then left him there to die," Trump added as he gripped the podium.
Trump's claim that Clinton was asleep and missed the 3am call from Stevens has been debunked, both by Clinton and others who were involved in the immediate response to the Benghazi attack. Trump himself supported US intervention in Libya before he ran for president.
During his speech, Trump repeatedly cited the book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, by Peter Schweizer, while describing how Clinton was the "most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency."
"She gets rich making you poor," Trump said, attacking her for supporting international trade deals with China. "She sold out our workers, and our country, for Beijing."
He also blamed Clinton for the creation of the Islamic State, the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the rise of Islamic terrorism around the world, and Iran's rise to become the "dominant power in the Middle East and on the road to nuclear weapons."
"In 2009, before Hillary Clinton was sworn in, it was a different world," Trump noted.
His campaign has endured a bad couple of days. On Monday, he fired his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, in the latest of a series of staff shakeups. In addition, campaign finance filings released earlier this week also revealed that the Trump campaign is severely cash-strapped and struggling to raise enough funds to keep it afloat.
Hours after Trump's speech, Clinton's camp sent out an email response, calling it a "litany of hypocritical attacks, nutty conspiracy theories, and outright lies."
Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @oliviaLbecker |
Your survey has 231 responses because someone posted it to /r/fatlogic, which they should have because it was filled with leading questions. If you're gonna do a survey at least make the questions unbiased.
Answer:
I’ve just visited that page and it further proves the point of why highlighting the issue of fat shaming through journalism is necessary. I’m very sorry that there is a space on the internet in which fat women can speak about their experiences. I’m sorry your delightful pals felt it necessary to invade it. We all know fat women just get a lot of representation.
All the negative comments from the trolls who took that survey and comments on that super cute reddit will be featured in the article so you’ve done me a favour. I can expect a great mark for this project. Thank you! |
The US played better in Saturday's third-place game, which first presented and then crystalized as a 1-0 loss to Colombia, than they did in the tournament-opening 2-0 loss. And they certainly played better than in the 4-0 semifinal humiliation at the feet of Argentina, which was the most comprehensive beat-down I've ever seen the US take in an official competition.
In between there were three other games: A 4-0 demolition of Costa Rica; a 1-0 win over Paraguay; and an engaging, hard-fought and gratifying 2-1 win over a very good Ecuador team. By any measure, I really do think that this was the finest month of Jurgen Klinsmann's nearly five-year tenure -- memories of last summer's failure at the Gold Cup, and the subsequent 3-2 loss to Mexico in the CONCACAF Cup are long gone for most fans.
The US squad, which played a flat 4-4-2 against Colombia in this one, no longer seems like it's on the verge of collapsing in upon itself as they did last summer, and as they did in March at Guatemala in a World Cup qualifier. At the same time, however, this tournament only reaffirmed the gap between the US and the world's best teams, rather than going any distance toward closing it.
Expected goals totals for Copa América Centenario:
- #USMNT: 5.25
- Opponents: 8.28 https://t.co/aHtuqFZYLE — Paul Carr (@PCarrESPN) June 26, 2016
To that point: Under Klinsmann the US are now 0-5-1 in official competitions (non-friendlies) against teams ranked in the top 10 of the Elo Ratings. Under the previous three coaches combined, the US were 5-15-2, including wins over the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Given the sample sizes, this could be just a run of bad luck. But I don't think it is, and the underlying numbers explain why:
Steve Sampson’s teams played 450 minutes vs. teams in the Elo top 10, held the lead for 21.1% of the time
Bruce Arena’s teams played 810 minutes vs. teams in the Elo top 10, held the led for 22.2% of the time
Bob Bradley’s teams played 720 minutes vs. teams in the Elo top 10, held the lead for 25.5% of the time
Jurgen Klinsmann’s teams have played 570 mins vs. teams in the Elo top 10, and have held the lead for 1.6% of the time
That translates to holding the lead for nine minutes of action, which came from minutes 81-90 in the World Cup group stage against Portugal. Since that game -- which ended in a 2-2 draw -- the US have scored one goal (Julian Green's volley) in 480 minutes of action against Elo top 10 squads.
So it's not just that they're getting beat, it's that they're not as competitive as they used to be.
It extends out past the Elo top 10 to the Elo top 20 as well. Sampson took nine of the 33 points available to his team against top 20 squads in official competitions; Arena 17 of 45; Bradley 10 of 36. Klinsmann is now at 8 out of 30 points, which is the lowest percentage of the group despite fully 60% of his team's games against Elo top 20 squads coming at home -- most out of any coach in modern US history.
The good news? Six of Klinsmann's eight points vs. top 20 teams came in this tournament when they smashed Costa Rica (ranked 20th at the time, now 33rd), and then the win over Ecuador (14th, now 15th). By any measure, those were good wins. Performances and results like what the US got in those two games will be enough to get them into the 2018 World Cup.
But it's fair to question whether the US have gained any ground against Klinsmann's stated goal: Making the group compete "eye to eye" with the world's elite.
Under each of the previous three coaches, doing so was a regular occurrence. For the current regime, it seems only like a talking point. |
Twitter has just rolled out a new service for developers to integrate into their apps called Digits, which should make it more secure for consumers to sign into apps and services. Rather than complex usernames and passwords, Digits hopes to simplify the sign in process by using your phone number and an SMS verification to allow you to log in.
Announced at Twitter's Flight developer conference, Digits could be a good tool in the developing market where many don't possess a computer nor have an email address for a username to log in to services and apps. These people do have a mobile phone and a phone number, and Digits will tap that to make logins more secure. In a way, it's similar to two-step authentication.
TechCrunch says of the service: |
The new federal Environment Minister has granted Montreal permission to dump billions of litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River so the city can make critical repairs to its waste-water system.
Catherine McKenna, who is in Paris preparing for the United Nations climate-change summit that begins at the end of the month, broke from her mission to give the green light on what she admitted was a "far from ideal" decision on her sixth day in office.
Ms. McKenna imposed a handful of conditions on the sewage spill, including that the city improve water-quality monitoring, as well as cleanup and emergency response plans, and consult more with First Nations communities along the riverbank. The work, which involves pouring a billion litres of sewage into the river a day, is expected to last a week and must be completed by Dec. 5.
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"I wish there were a magic bullet here, I wish there were other options," Ms. McKenna said in a conference call from Paris. "This release is far from ideal, but it is needed for the city of Montreal to perform critical maintenance on their infrastructure before winter.
"If we do not allow this to go ahead and there was an unplanned discharge, the long-term impact to flora and fauna could be significantly more."
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said Monday night the city will go ahead with its plan as soon as possible. It will outline the next steps on Tuesday.
The mayor welcomed the decision, calling it "science-based" and saying it was unlike the political manoeuvring of the previous federal government. "I have no problem with the conditions, and I have no problem with a postmortem," Mr. Coderre said. "It's positive and constructive."
The file, which had been before the federal government for 18 months, landed in Ms. McKenna's lap after it emerged as an issue in the recent election campaign. The former Conservative government suddenly put Montreal's plan on hold, citing concerns about fish habitat. It also named a panel to review the plan.
The burst of publicity caught the attention of First Nations groups and other communities along the river, who objected. While some environmentalists did, too, many experts in water and wildlife management said damage would be limited because of the immense water flow of the St. Lawrence. Most experts also said the city seemed to have no other choice.
Ottawa's report, released Friday, said the planned dump could cause harm, but an unplanned release triggered by a possible system failure if the sewage system breaks down would be more harmful. This dump will be the third time in eight years that Montreal has poured billions of litres of sewage into the river. The report suggested future mitigation efforts, and Ms. McKenna said the city will participate in an Environment Canada review to find better ways to handle future repairs.
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"All I can say is I inherited this file on the first day. Things were not conducted in the way I would have hoped for," Ms. McKenna said. "We can do better and we will do better." |
The Lonely Planet called it a ‘symphony of elements’ and that it is. It’s the land of fire and ice; of volcanoes, waterfalls, geothermal baths, abnormal rock formations – it is otherworldly. It is raw, it is unspoiled and many have called it a Nordic Nirvana. The transfixing splendour found in every corner of the landscapes is enough to remind you of your insignificance in the great manner of things. You’ll forget about the meaningless technologies at home and the chaos of everyday life in this magical place. There are so many reasons why you should visit Iceland- you won’t just fall in love with the country, you will also fall in love with Mother Nature.
1) Visit Thingvellir National Park
It has been named Iceland’s national shrine and a place of both historical and geographical significance. The park is the oldest existing parliament in the world, first assembled in 930 AD and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Being geographically unique, it is the place where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart at a rate of a few centimetres per year. Almannagjá is a canyon formed between the two tectonic plates and a visual representation of continental drift.
In spring and summer, you can go diving in the Silfra fissure, in the crack between the two tectonic plates. You can also dive in Lake Þingvallavatn and witness for yourself, the product of over 10,000 years of evolution. The brown trout, Arctic charr and the three-spine stickleback are said to have became isolated in the lake in the wake of the last ice age. In winter, brave the icy temperatures and go on the golden circle tour to watch this breath-taking spectacle of the frozen Lake Þingvallavatn at sunrise. You’ll hear nothing but silence as you look in awe over the snow-engulfed mountains- it is a truly majestic vision.
2) See the impressive Gulfoss Waterfall
Gulfoss, meaning Golden Waterfall, is just one of over a hundred waterfalls that can be found in Iceland. It is located in South on the Hvítá (White) river, which is fed by Iceland´s second biggest glacier, the Langjökull. In Spring and Summer, the waterfall sits amongst green pastures and during a sunny day, a shimmering rainbow can be seen over the falls. In winter, it is even more impressive as snow-covered fields surround the fast plummeting water. Standing on the same level as the waterfall allows you to watch the water flow at a powerful rate of 109 cubic metres per second.
Gulfoss isn’t just a beautiful waterfall either, it also tells of a very powerful story. An early 20th century a woman named Sigriður disapproved of her fathers agreement to lease the waterfall, so she hired a lawyer to defend her case. Although her attempts failed, Sigriður’s struggles to preserve the waterfall brought attention to the importance of preserving nature. She is often called Iceland’s first environmentalist and her actions lead to the permanent protection of the waterfall in 1979.
3) Watch Geysers explode
There are over 50 Geysers in Iceland, situated in a geothermic field to the east of a small mountain called Laugafell. You can visit the Geysers on the Golden Circle tour and watch water being shot up to 40 metres at a rate of 2.5 l/s. The biggest and most impressive Geyser is called Strokkur and explodes water approximately every 4-6 minutes. This thrilling display of natural forces is the aftermath of earthquakes dating back to the 13th century. Watching the Geysers is an invigorating and mesmerising experience, another of the many impressive natural occurrences you will see in Iceland. The areas surrounding the Geysers are also incredibly beautiful and when it snows, you’ll feel like you could be on the moon as the smoking and bubbling craters are almost otherworldly.
4) Explore the underground Ice Caves
Adventure into the crystal caves of Iceland and explore the world inside a glacier. You can witness 2500 years of ice sculpted by nature and walk around dramatic landscapes of blue tinted ice. These visual wonders can be seen inside the Vatnajökull Glacier, located in the South-East of Iceland. Covering an area of roughly 8,000 sq. km and having a thickness of almost 1000m at its deepest point, Vatnajökull Glacier has the largest glacier mass in Europe.
In the South-West of Iceland, you’ll find Langjokull Glacier which has an area of about 950km² and is the second biggest in the country. Enter into the heart of the remote glacier ice cap and become enchanted by the glistening spectacle that is buried deep beneath the surface. Make sure you get yourself a tour guide and spend a couple of days lost in these underground, ice kingdoms.
5) Venture into Volcanoes
Iceland isn’t all about water and ice, the country is also home to over 130 active and inactive volcanoes. There are a number of different volcanic experiences that you can do. Drive across desolate black deserts, past frozen lakes and trail between glaciers to view the glowing lava lake of Bardarbunga volcano. Bardarbunga is one of the biggest in Iceland, with an an impressive 10km calder under ice.
In Iceland, you can also quest to the middle of the earth by delving into a dormant volcano. Descend yourself 120 metres to the empty chamber of Thrihnukagigur volcano that was once filled with lava and let your jaw drop as you view the breathtaking multi-hued volcanic rocks. Alternatively, if you fancy walking on warm lava then you can at Fimmvorduhals volcano, near Eyjafjallajökull. There, you can feel the heat rising from the lava field and hike between two glaciers to the beautiful Thorsmork National Park.
6) Discover Reynisfjara Beach
Like everything you’ll see in Iceland, the black beach Reynisfjara, is an extraordinary natural occurrence. It is an incredibly beautiful place, where frothy white waves crash onto pitch black sand. The beach is set underneath the Reynisfjall mountains, which houses puffins that nest high in the cliffs. It also features an amazing cliff of basalt columns called Gardar, which resemble a rocky step pyramid and spectacularly shaped basalt sea stacks, Reynisdrangar which can be found out in the sea. According to folklore, the stacks were formed when two trolls attempted to drag a ship to land but were turned to stone as daylight broke. The beach is both striking and mystical and the dramatic scenery is bound to leave you speechless. If you do visit, make sure you take care as the waves are particularly strong and unpredictable.
7) Gaze at the Northern Lights
Because of it’s geographical positioning and low light pollution, Iceland is one of the best places to view the Northern Lights. Stand in the confines of a national park and let yourself become hypnotised by the dreamy blue and green lights that dance for you. Be lost for words as you stare up at the star studded spectacle and reflect on the beauty of the display .
As Northern Light sightings are popular during Winter months (November – February), you won’t have only one chance to watch them. Tour operators often rebook you for the next evening if you can’t seem them that night. So make sure your first attempt at viewing the lights is on the first day of your trip. The lights are definitely one of the biggest reasons why you should visit Iceland, watching them is a once in a lifetime, pinch yourself moment- an evening you will never forget.
8) Swim in the Hot Springs
The geothermic springs in Iceland have become a haven for travellers. With temperatures of between 37 to 39 celsius throughout the year you can see why. The Blue Lagoon is the most famous geothermic spring and was formed in 1976 during operation at a nearby geothermal power plant. Over the years, visitors have enjoyed bathing in the unique water and applying natural silica mud to their skin. Sit in the crystal blue water and sip a refreshing beverage while you view spectacular snow covered lava rocks in all directions.
Since geothermal energy was first harvested in Iceland, the tradition of public bathing has become rooted in the local culture. Geothermal energy is now used all over the country. Although the Blue Lagoon is the most popular, there are many other geothermic lagoons all over Iceland such as Reykjadalur and Grjótagjá- which featured in Game of Thrones.
9) Experience the Icelandic Wildlife
The fields of Iceland, whether covered in grass or snow are littered with roaming herds of beautifully coloured horses. Characteristically identified by their thick haired manes, tails and fury hooves, they have become iconic to Iceland’s trademark. You can find them almost everywhere and if you’re lucky enough to embrace one, they are also the most gentle of creatures.
Iceland is also the best place in Europe to watch over 20 species of whales during their migration. It is best to do the whale watching tour during the summer months (from April to September) but you can watch them from either side of the Island, in both the North Atlantic and Artic oceans. Watch in awe as these majestic giants play in their natural habitat alongside dolphins, porpoises, seals and basking sharks.
Often referred to as a bird watchers paradise, Iceland is also home to indigenous colonies of seabirds and waterfowl. The Laxa River is particularly famous for having the most varied populations of ducks in Europe and some species such as the Harlequin duck and the Barrow’s Goldeneye can be found nowhere else in the continent. Prime bird watching season in Iceland is from the end of April to the beginning of June, although tours are offered year-round.
10) Adventure around Reykjavik
Seen from almost everywhere in the city, Hallgrímskirkja church is set upon a hill in Reykjavik main town and is one of the city’s greatest landmarks. This beautiful church resembles the basalt lava flows found in Iceland’s landscape and features a 15 meter gargantuan pipe organ. It also has an observation tower where you can view all of Reykjavik town and it’s surrounding mountains. Reykjavik town itself is also beautiful. Littered with lots of national and saga museums, you can spend the afternoon tracing Iceland’s Viking history. Make sure you also walk along the frozen lakes in winter and watch as the Canadian geese fly in to gather at sunset.When you wonder down the main street at night, you’ll feel like you’re in a Christmas village. There are many Icelandic restaurants to choose from and if you fancy a tankard of beer, step into one of the many cosy pubs the city has to offer.
It’s a country of new and unique experiences. Whether you go in Spring or Summer, you’ll fall in love with Iceland’s stunning landscapes. So, what are you waiting for? |
T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) has been hunting for yet more 700 MHz spectrum to augment its LTE coverage and capacity, with the carrier quietly making several deals for airwaves with small license holders over the past several weeks.
Click here for a larger version of this image from AllNet Labs, which shows T-Mobile's recent and pending 700 MHz A-Block spectrum purchases across the country.
According to filings made with the FCC, over the past several weeks T-Mobile has struck spectrum-acquisition deals with BEK Communications Cooperative, Dakota Central Telecommunications Cooperative, Big Wave Ventures and Vulcan Wireless.
Over the summer and through the early fall, T-Mobile disclosed deals with smaller A-Block spectrum license holders that cover a little under 18 million POPs. T-Mobile is using the spectrum as one of three bands it is deploying for LTE, along with 1700 MHz AWS spectrum and 1900 MHz PCS airwaves. Through the end of September, T-Mobile had revealed A-Block deals that covered around 15.88 million POPs.
In all of the filings, T-Mobile argues that the deals are in the public interest because they will enable it to expand capacity and mobile broadband services. T-Mobile also argues there will be no loss of an existing service providers in any of the market areas because the entities it is buying the spectrum from are not providing service to customers.
In the case of the BEK deal, T-Mobile is not actually buying 700 MHz A-Block spectrum but rather an assortment of licenses, all covering either Bismark or Kidder, N.D. T-Mobile is looking to buy from BEK two 700 MHz C-Block licenses, one 700 MHz B-Block licenses, two AWS licenses and one PCS license. AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) has been using a mixture of B- and C-Block licenses for its main LTE deployment. In a related move, the Dakota Central deal involves a single AWS license covering Kidder, N.D.
The deal with Big Wave, which is backed by Phoenix-based Smartcomm, covers two A-Block licenses, one in Wheeling, W.Va., and one in Lubbock, Texas. Smartcomm holds 700 MHz and 800 MHz licenses in Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
The transaction with Vulcan likely covers larger population centers and includes a license covering the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton area in Washington and the Portland-Salem area in Oregon. Vulcan is a 700 MHz licensee owned by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen.
As of the end of the third quarter, T-Mobile owned or had agreements to own 700 MHz A-Block spectrum covering 176 million POPs, or around 55 percent of the U.S. population. The spectrum covers more than 70 percent of the company's existing customer base.
T-Mobile's first 700 MHz sites are already on air, and several Band Class 12-capable handsets are available in the market, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. T-Mobile said it will continue to aggressively deploy 700 MHz sites and that more Band 12-capable handsets will become available in the rest of 2014 and first half of 2015. More than half of the markets covered by the company's A-Block spectrum are free and clear and ready to be deployed, though the remaining markets are encumbered by Channel 51 broadcasts, generally limiting T-Mobile's ability to use the spectrum until after the incumbent broadcasters are relocated. However, the company has already entered into agreements to relocate broadcasters to new frequencies in six markets covering more than 17 million POPs, making those markets available for launch in 2015.
For more:
- see this T-Mobile/BEK filing
- see this T-Mobile/Dakota Central filing
- see this T-Mobile/Big Wave filing
- see this T-Mobile/Vulcan filing
Related Articles:
T-Mobile looks to scoop up more 700 MHz spectrum from Triad
T-Mobile looking to get more 700 MHz licenses in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Texas
T-Mobile looks to score 700 MHz spectrum from Frontier, Kurian
T-Mobile's Carter promises 20x20 MHz LTE 'in all of our major metropolitan areas' - at some point
T-Mobile scores more 700 MHz A-Block spectrum from CenturyLink unit |
The Annotated Book of Mormon
being a skeptical look at Joseph Smith's opus
Version 2.1 dated 9/4/98
This commentary and cross-reference (see below) should be considered as a continuous "work in progress". Comments will be added and updated from time to time. Some material is arranged in a topical form. These threads are brought together under the "Topics" heading. Within the text itself, click on the to go to the next reference in the topic chain.
Topics
I Nephi
II Nephi
Jacob
Enos
Jarom
Omni
Words of Mormon
Mosiah
Alma
Helaman
III Nephi
IV Nephi
Mormon
Ether
Moroni
Most of the New Testament quotations are cross-referenced. If you click on the hyperlinked note number next to the Bible quotation, you will be able to see other places in the Book of Mormon where the same verse or Bible book is used. For example, the verse below is from I Nephi. If you click on the note number ([1]) next to Revelation 7:9, you will get a list of all other places in the Book of Mormon where Revelation 7:9 is quoted.
5:18 That these plates of brass should go forth unto all 1 nations, kindreds, tongues, and people who were of his seed. [1] Revelation 7:9: ...all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues... |
We don't want to be naff, but this is definitely the second summer of grime. "That's Not Me", "German Whip", Dizzee's back not being shit, Toddla went down to Jammer's basement and now Lethal's back with this silly season workout anthem.
But this might be the one top them all. Last night, Dizzee, JME, Lethal, Skepta, Footsie, Fekky and Jammer squeezed into the 1Xtra studio to take 32 bars a piece. And even then, they all got shown up by General Levy who showed up at the end, parred them all by pointing out that "Incredible" is two decades old: "We don't need three summer tunes, this one lasts for 20 years".
It's Friday afternoon, so this would be a great time to stop what you're doing and just watch this: |
The top business manager for the East Baton Rouge Parish school system fell for an unsophisticated con, wiring $46,500 to someone who claimed via email to be Superintendent Warren Drake, even though the man himself was working in an office next door.
The school system on Thursday disclosed the fraud known as “phishing,” which occurred twice in May. The details are outlined in a special audit, received late Thursday from the auditing firm Postlethwaite & Netterville, that examines what happened and suggests ways to prevent it from happening again. The audit cost about $10,000.
Freddy Smith, an auditor with Postlethwaite & Netterville, told the School Board on Thursday that the firm was unable to find evidence that any current school system employees either initiated or received money through the fraud; his staff also found no evidence of fraud from employees who’d left the school system during the year preceding the incident. But Smith acknowledged that its inquiry went only so far.
The school system was able to recoup much of its money. The bank where the money was wired returned $22,261. Insurance covered another $14,238. That left $10,000 out of pocket, an amount too small to “materially affect the school system’s financial position,” Smith said.
Board member Vereta Lee said the $10,000 loss will still have an impact.
“Ten thousand dollars can buy books, paper, pencils, computers. It is a loss,” she said. “Or pay for our employees who are crying at our doorsteps and asking for a little more money. “
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office was notified of the fraud the day it was discovered, and quickly enlisted the help of the New York Police Department; the criminal act appears to have occurred there and authorities think that’s most likely where whoever did it lives. No one has as yet been charged in the fraud.
Drake said he needs to re-read the new audit before deciding whether any disciplinary action is warranted.
“It’s a serious event no doubt, and I need to take a look at the details of it before I make a decision,” he said.
Catherine Fletcher, chief business operations officer, approved both of the fraudulent wire transfers on May 5 and 6.
Reached Sunday, Fletcher declined to comment.
“I’ll trust the superintendent to handle it appropriately,” Fletcher said.
School system policy calls for two people to sign “non-purchase order payments” like wire transfers and for documentation to be obtained prior to payment. Chief Financial Officer James Crochet, who normally cosigns such payments with Fletcher, was out of town attending a conference, so Fletcher signed both by herself. Nor did she request any backup documentation, according to the audit.
When Crochet returned to the office May 9, he flagged a third phishing attempt and alerted Drake. That afternoon, Fletcher called the Sheriff’s Office to report the wire fraud, revealing that she’d been the “victim of a scam.”
The school system on Friday released copies of the email exchanges between May 5 and May 9. They include a number of suspicious details.
The first email from the fake Warren Drake arrived the morning of May 5: “Are you in the office? I’ll be busy. Email Me. Regards.” Fletcher quickly replied, “Yes, I am in the office.” At no point in the emails does Fletcher betray any doubt about what’s happening, nor does she request additional information about the requests.
She also made no attempt to call or talk in person with Drake, whose office is adjacent to hers at the School Board Office on South Foster Drive. The fake Warren Drake says at different points that he’s busy or in a meeting, which appears to have dissuaded her from trying to talk to him directly.
The “From” line of these emails says “Warren Drake” but the actual email address was [email protected], not an address used by the superintendent. The official email address is not immediately visible in many emails. The subject line for the first two wire transfer requests are “Catherine Fletcher” while the third is “Urgent, Catherine Fletcher.”
The fake Warren Drake requested the first wire transfer of $22,500 go to the account of “Rosa a oboadey” in the Bronx, and that the second of $24,000 go to “Johnson Chepkwony” of Brooklyn. The third wire request, which was halted, was for $25,000 for “Sylvester Namutedi,” also from Brooklyn.
The fake Warren Drake is terse, but his punctuation is often incorrect or missing and his English is stilted.
The real Drake told The Advocate he’s still surprised it was not caught earlier, noting that the fake Warren Drake sounded nothing like him.
“No one called me and no one walked over to my office and that is disturbing to me,” Drake said.
After learning of the fraud, Drake said he quickly authorized the audit.
“I just thought this was such a bizarre event that I had to get to the bottom of it,” he said.
In its six-page report, Postlethwaite & Netterville explains it compared the employee bank accounts where paychecks are sent with the accounts where the $46,500 was transferred, reviewed electronic logs and activity history, but also interviewed several school employees.
The auditing firm also recommends several new procedures to help prevent future phishing.
Smith noted the school system has had only a few wire transfers in recent years.
“Wire transfers are very infrequent,” he told the board. “That’s one of the reasons there weren’t tight controls over that process.” |
A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong, June 22, 2013. (Kin Cheung/AP)
Obama administration officials Saturday publicly increased pressure on Hong Kong to move quickly to arrest Edward Snowden, a week after U.S. officials asked its government to detain the admitted leaker of documents about top-secret surveillance programs.
White House national security adviser Thomas E. Donilon said U.S. officials “are in conversation” with Hong Kong authorities and have asked the special administrative region of China not only to arrest the former National Security Agency contractor but also to extradite him to the United States to stand trial on criminal charges.
“If Hong Kong doesn’t act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong’s commitment to the rule of law,” said another senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation.
The U.S. government, which has made the Snowden case a top priority and has devoted significant resources to prosecuting him, asked Hong Kong on June 14 to detain Snowden on a provisional arrest warrant. That same day, federal prosecutors filed sealed criminal charges against him, including theft, “unauthorized communication of national defense information” and “willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person.”
The fact that the U.S. government asked Hong Kong to detain Snowden emerged Friday when The Washington Post disclosed the contents of the sealed criminal complaint.
The White House referred all questions to Justice Department officials, who declined to comment.
The reasons for the apparent lack of action by Hong Kong are unclear. Officials might still be looking for Snowden. The South China Morning Post reported Saturday that Snowden is not under police protection but is in a “safe place” in Hong Kong. The newspaper also reported that Snowden had revealed more details about U.S. surveillance of Hong Kong and China.
Under the extradition treaty between Hong Kong and the United States, a provisional warrant, as opposed to a regular one, is a faster way to detain suspected criminals because it does not require the initial approval of Hong Kong’s chief executive, currently Leung Chun-ying.
Instead, a judge can issue the warrant immediately. Simon Young, a legal professor at the University of Hong Kong, said a warrant for Snowden’s arrest could have been issued as early as June 14.
Leung’s office declined to comment on Snowden’s case Saturday. The police department did not respond to calls and e-mails.
Douglas McNabb, a criminal defense lawyer who specializes in international extradition cases, said that if authorities know Snowden’s location, he may already have asked for asylum, a complicated process that might have to be worked out before Hong Kong authorities could arrest him.
“If he applied for asylum, that process may trump being arrested on a provisional arrest warrant,” McNabb said.
Snowden, who turned 30 on Friday, revealed himself June 9 as the anonymous source for articles in the British newspaper the Guardian and The Post about the NSA surveillance of telephone calls and Internet communications. He was staying in an upscale hotel in Hong Kong, a city he said he had chosen because he felt he might win asylum there.
Snowden subsequently left the hotel, and it is unclear where he went. In a live Web chat Monday, he said he sees no possibility of a fair trial in the United States and suggested that he would try to elude authorities as long as possible.
Meanwhile, plans to protect Snowden appeared to be unfolding. Olafur Sigurvinsson, an Icelandic businessman, told reporters Thursday that he has a private jet ready to take Snowden to Iceland, which Snowden named in interviews as a potential haven.
KK Yuen, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Aviation Center, which handles private jet flights out of Hong Kong, declined to comment on whether Snowden or anyone on his behalf had made plans for him to fly out.
Snowden could have trouble leaving on a private jet without tipping off authorities. Yuen said that all passengers must go through immigration and customs checks.
If Snowden is arrested, he must be brought “as soon as practicable” before a Hong Kong judge, according to the extradition treaty. The judge would decide whether he should be removed from Hong Kong under the treaty terms.
Donilon said in an interview with CBS News that U.S. officials believe the charges against Snowden “present a good case for extradition” under the U.S. and Hong Kong Agreement for the Surrender of Fugitive Offenders.
“Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case,” Donilon said.
But Snowden can challenge any initial ruling to extradite him all the way to Hong Kong’s highest court, a process that could take months to run its course.
To fight extradition, Snowden could invoke Article 6 of the 1997 treaty, which states that a suspect will not be surrendered to face criminal prosecution for an offense of a “political character.”
Another unusual exception in the treaty could provide a defense for Snowden, according to extradition experts: Hong Kong authorities can refuse to surrender a suspect if extradition “implicates the defense, foreign affairs or essential public interest” of Hong Kong.
Regina Ip, a Hong Kong legislator and former security secretary, said Snowden will have plenty of defenders if he is arrested.
“I think if he stays in Hong Kong, there will be no lack of human rights lawyers who are happy to help him,” she said Saturday.
Last weekend, 200 to 300 protesters marched past the U.S. Consulate to support Snowden, applauding his release of the documents.
Hong Kong is in an unusual position in the matter because it has an independent legal system but must ultimately answer to the Chinese leadership in Beijing.
Yang reported from Hong Kong. Philip Rucker in Washington and Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report. |
(Please note: this feature originally appeared in the February 2016 issue of FourFourTwo magazine. Subscribe!)
“He’s a little t***, that Totti. I can’t see what all the fuss is about.” It’s certainly not the worst thing Ron Atkinson ever said, but it must be the most vacuous. Still, Big Ron’s mind was probably elsewhere, as he followed this priceless morsel at the 2002 World Cup – his last tournament as an ITV pundit – with the words: “Are there any sandwiches? I’m starving.”
Yet the former Manchester United and Aston Villa manager is far from alone in English football’s mistrust of Francesco Totti. Fast-forward almost a decade and Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle and Graeme Souness – who displays his anti-Totti badge with the unflinching pride of a Victoria Cross recipient – combined to damn the Roma forward with the faintest of praise after scoring the winner in a 2010 Champions League group game against Bayern Munich. “He’s never been accused of being a workaholic,” smirked Souness. “Yeah, he’s got talent, but you know my thoughts on him.”
Hoddle took up the baton. “No, he’s not top drawer. He’d have moved on if he was. Someone would’ve come and got him.”
“Glenn’s right,” concluded Venables. “He has been a luxury.”
Embedded video for Long read: Francesco Totti – Rome's greatest son who never got the love he deserved
The wider British football public has long made snap judgements on Totti, largely based on little more than a handful of performances – a Champions League quarter-final here, a World Cup game there. He is a riddle we can’t be bothered to untangle, with four major honours (a Serie A title, two Coppas Italia and one World Cup) at which we scoff.
It comes down to a lack of knowledge. All most Brits know about the 39-year-old is his extreme longevity and unbroken 26 years at Roma since joining as a 13-year-old in 1989. He has never left his boyhood club – we’re talking about a seventh generation Roman here – and, therefore, never got beyond the last eight of the Champions League or finished higher than fifth in the Ballon d’Or voting.
On the continent, he’s revered as a paragon of loyalty. When Roma played Barcelona in a pre-season friendly, Lionel Messi demanded both Totti’s shirt and a picture, uploading the snap to Instagram with the caption: “A great! What a phenomenon!!” It got 1.8 million likes.
Cold, hard statistics back up the continental belief over the British one. Only Silvio Piola, in a bygone goal-hanging era, has scored more Serie A goals than Totti. He’s a five-time Italian footballer of the year. He won the European Golden Boot in 2007. And, of course, he won the World Cup in 2006.
Totti will be nearly 40 at the end of the season. As Il Re di Roma (‘The King of Rome’) approaches what may be his curtain call, FourFourTwo asks the coaches, former team-mates and fans why this gladiator of European football is so revered abroad, yet so mistrusted and misunderstood here.
Why does Francesco Totti matter? What makes him tick? How has he endured so long in the Eternal City? And can he score the 30 goals he requires to overhaul Silvio Piola’s all-time Serie A goalscoring record?
“I only touched the ball a couple of times – I was too excited and too happy”
Totti Sr insisted and the tiny four-year-old, wearing red shorts and a white shirt with the No.4 on the back, danced around children twice his age, leaving them open-mouthed
“Go on, put the boy on.” Vujadin Boskov turned his gaze from Sinisa Mihajlovic, the busy midfielder offering his coach advice about substitutes, to a blond 16-year-old sat wide-eyed on the Roma bench a few seats away. The Giallorossi were 2-0 up with five minutes to go against Brescia, a disappointing season all but over in late March 1993.
“Warm up so you can go on straight away,” said Boskov to the boy, who was sat next to promising 22-year-old striker Roberto Muzzi. Yet he did nothing.
“Look,” huffed Muzzi, “he’s talking to you. Off you go.”
Later, the youngster recalled what happened next: “I went out, warmed up for 10 seconds and went on. I only touched the ball a couple of times – I was too excited and too happy.”
Francesco Totti had achieved a childhood dream, something he’s gone on to do more than 750 times since: play for Roma’s first team.
Imagining that moment a decade earlier, Totti perfected his dribbling up and down the Via Vetulonia, a tight street due south of the basilicas, coliseums and theatres that litter Rome’s ancient city centre. It’s a curious working-class mixture of Latin-red walls and post-war yellowish apartment blocks; a place nicknamed ‘tower-block Rome’, where everyone knows everyone.
Born to bank clerk father Lorenzo and housewife Fiorella, Totti always stood out. At nine months, he could walk. By four, after watching countless matches on the television in the family’s cramped apartment, his talent was already prodigious.
Once, on a family holiday to coastal seaside town Torvaianica, half an hour or so from central Rome, the infant Totti strolled down the beach with his father. Enzo asked a group of eight-year-olds if his son could join in. “He’s too small,” they insisted. “He might hurt himself.” Totti Sr insisted and the tiny four-year-old, wearing red shorts and a white shirt with the No.4 on the back, danced around children twice his age, leaving them open-mouthed.
Nobody has shaped Totti’s life quite like mum Fiorella, whose motto is: “You have to be serene and clean on the inside.” Often compared to the working-class characters portrayed by noted Italian stage actress Anna Magnani, she raised Francesco and his older brother Riccardo with a strong Catholic ethos. At one point she even took in Francesco’s future Roma team-mate and Italy international Antonio Cassano, in an effort to temper the playboy striker’s famously errant ways.
“I was also a bit of a crook,” recalled Totti. “I used to steal footballs. In the summer we would play all afternoon until sunset. Often, before going home, I took the ball, played it cool, and took off. I had a real collection. I gave them all back in the end. I wasn’t the best at school but I always paid attention and was well behaved, because of Mama.”
This is a character whose career feels predestined. The imposing Fiorella watched over her son’s studies, took him to training – at first Fortitudo, then Smit Trastevere and finally Lodigiani from 10 until 13 – and kept him on the straight and narrow. Sundays were spent going to mass, looking after ailing grandparents and playing cards around the dining table with the extended family.
“His family was a determining factor,” said Totti’s Lodigiani coach Emidio Neroni. “Enzo and Fiorella were there, but discreet, transmitting fundamental humility and seriousness. At 10, Francesco was tiny and fast. You could tell he was a natural talent. The challenge was not to hone his gifts, but to guide him in the right way. He had football in his DNA. He played dumb: he seemed to go missing. Then suddenly he would score.”
Soon, tongues were wagging about Rome’s brightest prospect in generations. Milan were interested, so were Juventus and, impossibly, so were Lazio. The Tottis, Giallorossi for decades, were having none of it and Fiorella marched into Lodigiani’s Trigoria training ground.
“Lodigiani,” remembers Gildo Giannini, who was then in charge of the Giallorosso youth system, “had already promised Totti to Lazio, but his mum Fiorella came to me demanding that Roma took him. I didn’t need much convincing – we already knew about him – and I got Lodigiani to sell him to us.”
Within a month, Totti was playing (illegally) two age groups above for the under-15s. He dedicated himself to being a Roma footballer, acting as a ball boy during the second leg of the 1991 UEFA Cup Final against Inter.
I had never seen a 16-year-old like this. He made my job easier - Luciano Spinosi
Still existing on a diet of bread, Nutella, margherita pizza and chips (hence the Rome dialect nickname Er Pupone – ‘the Big Baby’), the 15-year-old helped the under-17 side win a Scudetto later that year.
“I only had him for a month before he went to play for the U20s,” coach Ezio Sella tells FFT. “He immediately got my attention. You never see a player this young able to do such special things. From his first training session, I knew I had a legend in the making. He created things out of nothing. I just told him to never feel as if he’s made it, because everyone kept lauding him. Over time he’s proven this over and over again.”
Sella recalls that U17 title victory over Milan in 1991 like it was yesterday: “He hurdled every bad tackle, no matter how much they tried to stop him. Remember this is a team who had tried to sign him on more than one occasion. I played him as both a central midfielder and a forward, and he created both of the goals in a 2-0 win.
“He was the best player I’ve ever coached. He needed no technical coaching – that would’ve been a waste of time.”
Totti’s under-20s coach, Luciano Spinosi, will never forget the first time he saw his protégé play during pre-season. “After 10 minutes, I called Roma’s sporting director Giorgio Perinetti, telling him to never let this champion leave the club,” Spinosi tells FFT. “The way he hit the ball was like no one else. I’ve seen lots of young footballers, but he was special. He dragged the whole team with him. I just had to tell him to play. I had never seen a 16-year-old like this. He made my job easier.”
It was during an under-20 game in March 1993 against Ascoli that Totti’s world changed. With the first team about to depart for Brescia, head coach Boskov made the late decision to bring a 16-year-old Totti along for the ride. Fresh from scoring twice, he was substituted at half-time and got on the coach.
Vujadin Boskov
The following day came Mihajlovic, Boskov and the debut. He replaced Ruggiero Rizzitelli, an Italian international and Roma legend nicknamed ‘Rizzi-gol’ by the Giallorossi.
“We all expected his debut that day,” Rizzitelli tells FFT. “Many youngsters trained with the first team, but Totti was different. You don’t see many kids nutmeg a first-team player in training. But he had a huge personality to go with his talent. I told him to be calm and enjoy [his debut]. It’s only football. In a funny way, I’m proud that I was the guy who let Totti play for the first time. Every year someone calls me just to talk about that Brescia vs Roma game!” |
CLEAN AS A WHISTLE -
"One possibility is that the old simile describes the whistling sound of a sword as it swishes through the air to decapitate someone, and an early 19th century quotation does suggest this connection: 'A first rate shot.(his) head taken off as clean as a whistle.' The expression is proverbial, at least since the 18th century, when Robert Burns used a variation on it. More likely the basic idea suggests the clear, pure sound a whistle makes, or the slippery smooth surface of a willow stick debarked to make a whistle. But there is also a chance that the phrase may have originally been 'as clean as a whittle,' referring to a piece of smooth wood after it is whittled."
(From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997.)
Another source states:
"Robert Burns, in his poem, 'Earnest Cry,' used 'toom' ('empty') rather than 'clean' - 'Paint Scotland greetan owre her thrissle; Her mutchkin stoup as toom's a whissle' - and other writers have had the whistle clear, dry, pure or other adjective. The basic intent, however, is to indicate that, for a sweet, pure sound from a whistle or reed, the tube must be clean and dry."
(From "Heavens to Betsy & Other Curious Sayings" by Charles Earle Funk, Harper & Row, New York, 1955.)
And a third:
"As every old-timer can tell you, a good whistle made from a reed or a piece of wood emits a clear tone - but it is easily damaged. Even small particles of debris, or a few drops of moisture will change the sound of a handmade instrument. In order to emit the pure notes intended by its maker, a whistle has to be absolutely clean. Anything or anyone as clean as a brand-new whistle or as clear as its sound is bound to be good. All of which means that an organization or person called as 'clean as a whistle' has been judged to be guiltless or flawless."
(From "Why You Say It" by Webb Garrison, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1992.)
Alternatively the origin may be the clean appearance of a just carved wooden whistle. Personally, I think it may well relate to locomotives where the brass, especially the whistle was always bright and gleaming.
found the preceding info here:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/33/messages/522.html
Aditionally...
According to Oxford English Dictionary, the first occurrence of this phrase was in 1828:
1828 Craven glossary Carr, William
The dialect of Craven, in the West-Riding of the County of York (anon.) 1824, 1828. s.v., ‘As clean as a whistle’, a proverbial simile, signifying completely, entirely. 1842 J. WILSON Chr. North I. 84 By the time we reach the manse we are as dry as a whistle. 1849 W. S. MAYO Kaloolah v. (1850) 41 A first rate shot;..head taken off as clean as a whistle. 1865 DICKENS Mut. Fr. I. xv, You're as clean as a whistle. 1880 A. GRAY Lett. (1893) II. 710 My throat was as clear as a whistle. |
This image was lost some time after publication.
Prodigy, the Mobb Deep rapper currently taking advantage of his incarceration to hone his blogging skills, is concerned about quite a few things: ritualistic murders, the 9/11 conspiracy, secret societies, missing children, and "NATURAL ENERGY LINES THAT CRISS-CROSS THE ENTIRE PLANET." How do these things all tie together? Allow Prodigy explain at length [Vibe], like a man with plenty of time to type and type and type and go crazier and crazier and crazier:
On 9/11:
W.T.C. 9-11- IT AMAZES ME HOW THE FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THIS BUILDING ON SEPTERMBER 11, 2001, ARE NOT RAISING HELL OVER THIS BULLSHIT. THE PRESIDENT (BUSH), THE F.B.I., THE FEMA AND EVERY OTHER GOV. AGENCY ARE LYING TO THEM AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ABOUT THE FACTS OF THIS CASE. THERE WERE BOMBS GOING OFF ON JUST ABOUT EVERY FLOOR AND THAT'S THE ONLY THING THAT CAUSED THE TOWERS TO COLLAPSE SO PERFECTLY IN DEMOLITION FORMATION. THE STEEL BEAMS THAT HELD THOSE BUILDINGS UP WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO DESTROY WITH FIRE FROM JET FUEL. THIS WAS CONFIRMED BY NUMEROUS EXPERTS IN THE FIELD OF FIRE, STEEL, AND JET FUEL.
On "THE WORLD GRID":
ALSO, THE PENTAGON AND THE W.T.C. ARE STRATEGICALLY BUILT ON NATURAL ENERGY LINES THAT CRISS-CROSS THE ENTIRE PLANET. IT'S CALLED "THE WORLD GRID" OR "PLANETARY GRIDLINES." WHEREVER THESE LINES CROSS, THE EARTH PRODUCES NATURAL ENERGY THAT SHOOTS UP AND DOWN IN A VORTEX OR DOUBLE HELIX SHAPE. JUST LIKE THE SHAPE OF DNA. (PEOPLE IF YOU RESEARCH YOU WILL LEARN.) THIS VORTEX OF ENERGY IS NATURAL AND CAN BE USED FOR POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE; DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU'RE DOING WITH IT. MANY IMPORTANT STRUCTURES ARE BUILT ON THESE CROSSING GRID LINES. THIS NATURAL SOURCE OF ENERGY CAN ALSO BE USED TO POWER THE WORLD WITHOUT ELECTRICITY, NUCLEAR ENERGY, GAS, FUEL OR ANYTHING ELSE THEY'VE GOT TO ENSLAVE, POISON, AND OR MAKE PROFIT OFF US ALL. BUT THAT IS A TOPIC FOR ANOTHER DAY.
On milk cartons:
MISSING CHILDREN- FOR YEARS CHILDREN HAVE BEEN DISAPPEARING AT AN ALARMING RATE. WE'VE ALL SEEN THEM ON THE BACK OF MILK CARTONS AND THE NEWS. BUT SINCE AROUND 1999, FEDS MAGAZINE HAS BEEN DEDICATING 2 PAGES OF EVERY ISSUE TO MISSING CHILDREN. MILLIONS OF CHILDREN ARE MISSING AND NOBODY SEEMS TO BE STRESSING THE QUESTION TO WHY. WHERE ARE ALL THESE CHILDREN GOING? HOW CAN YOU HAVE SO MANY MISSING CHILDREN AND NOT HAVE IT DECLARED AS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY? I CAN TELL YOU WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, BUT THE ANSWER IS VERY DISTURBING AND DOWN RIGHT DISGUSTING
And finally: |
The Global Association of International Sports Federations have denied Rugby League is a sport in its own right. Please voice your objection to this by signing the petition.
Many players and fans enjoy playing both Rugby League and Rugby Union and it is unjustifiable to not recognise this fact. They are separate sports just like Ice Hockey and Field Hockey. Millions of fans watch Rugby League world wide with teams across the globe.
We want all fans, players and clubs of all codes to sign this petition demanding that the Global Association of International Sports Federations formally recognise Rugby League as a sport and the RLIF as the governing body.
It would add a great deal of weight if World Rugby made public their stance by signing up to object to this oversight. |
A Muslim woman said Sunday that her viral article explaining why she voted for Donald Trump has angered her liberal pals as well as other Muslims.
Asra Nomani declared herself one of President-elect Donald Trump’s silent supporters in an opinion piece she wrote in the Washington Post Thursday called "I'm a Muslim, a woman and an immigrant. I voted for Trump."
“As you can tell I don’t have horns on my head, right, but nonetheless I am now being [characterized] as a traitor, to my own liberals as an idiot, names that I can’t even repeat on air,” she told "Fox & Friends."
The former Wall Street Journal reporter also said fellow Muslims have told her they hope Allah sends her “to the gates of hell.”
“But you know none of that matters to me because I’m getting more responses than in my 30 years in journalism from people who are saying, ‘Thank you,’ because they too are fed up with the polarization,” she said.
The 51-year-old woman wrote in the Post that she voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, but she became a Trump voter over the issue of Islamic terrorism.
“As a liberal Muslim who has experienced, first-hand Islamic extremism in this world, I have been opposed to the decision by President Obama and the Democratic Party to tap dance around the ‘Islam’ in Islamic State,” she wrote.
Nomani told "Fox & Friends" she knows Trump is not an Islamaphobic or a racist or a bigot.
“He is insensitive at times with what he says and his proposals are tough, but they reflect a reality of concern people have about an issue that’s killing people from Orlando to Paris,” she said. |
An ambitious new specialty market is coming to the ground floor of the former Sears building in Uptown Oakland.
Newberry Market & Deli is being billed as the anchor tenant for the ground floor of the Uptown Station project at 20th Street and Broadway. The 400,000 square foot mixed retail and office building is being redeveloped by Lane Partners, along with architecture firm Gensler, in the hopes of luring San Francisco and Silicon Valley-style tech companies and becoming an economic base for the area.
Named after the old Newberry’s department store that operated next door decades ago, the market is the brainchild of Oakland residents Ann Thai and Loren Goodwin, two veterans of the Bay Area food and hospitality scene.
Their vision for the project, which will occupy around 20,000 of Uptown Station’s 50,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, is a multi-purpose food hub in the mold of San Francisco’s Bi-Rite or Oakland’s Market Hall. They plan to offer organic produce, household goods, and grocery staples (milk, eggs, etc.), as well as hot and cold pre-prepared items such as sandwiches, salads, rotisserie meats, and soups. There will also be a full-service butcher shop, charcuterie and cheese counter, a café, flower shop, and grab-and-go pizza by the slice.
The idea, says Thai, is to provide a locally focused—but still affordable and accessible—grocery option during the daytime in a neighborhood saturated with bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues that come alive in the evening.
“We love going to Uptown; there’s really great restaurants. There’s Xolo, there’s Flora, there’s Rudy’s, but during the day, we always wished there was something that we could just grab quickly and go eat,” she says.
“And talking to the community of people that live there and work there, I think they see the same thing … Activating the daytime traffic will really be the key to getting more people to the Uptown area, which where this whole Uptown Station project can really change the game.”
The neighborhood’s potential is indeed tantalizing. In addition to residents in existing condo/apartment complexes and foot traffic lured by the thriving nightlife scene, several large new condo complexes have recently been proposed for the surrounding area (see here, here, and here). And besides the promise of luring a young daytime tech workforce flush with disposable income, Uptown Station’s ground floor is linked directly to public transportation via the soon-to-be-upgraded 19th Street BART station below.
“Our market is supposed to be for the community that we’re watching grow around us in the Uptown area, as well as, we’re hoping, the people that are traveling through,” Goodwin says. “We’re really excited about possibility of how many people could be coming through, and especially the mixture of Bay Area traffic that comes through the BART station. If we can potentially get people to just jump off the train really quickly and come shop for 10 minutes and then hop on the next train. How exciting would that be to be a way stop along the route home?”
While both partners have decades of experience in food and hospitality—Thai owns her own event planning business and helped open Lake Chalet restaurant and ERA art bar, while Goodwin is a professionally-trained private chef who cooked at Chez Panisse—this is their first market concept. Which is why they’ve brought in as the project’s consulting GM, Allison Ball, who helped manage and grow San Francisco popular Bi-Rite stores in the Mission and now Divisadero Street.
“What I love about Bi-Rite is that they’re interested in the stories of farmers, and people that are actually growing food in market,” Thai says. “That’s what we want to do, to tell stories of the people that we’re working with. This is a community with so many small, artisan producers, and we want this to be a platform to showcase their products.”
The two plan to eventually hire an executive chef to be in charge of the market’s rotating menu of freshly-prepared and grab-and-go items. They’re also toying with the idea of hosting periodic pop-up dinners, and will likely install a service window selling pizza by the slice on Telegraph Ave.
As for timing, project is set to come online in fall of 2016, when there will be hopefully be additional tenants opening up around them. Uptown Station’s ground floor, designed with an Ferry Building–style interior atrium with a “Paseo” main corridor, still has an additional 30,000 square feet of available retail space. That will be filled with a mix of restaurants and stores, according to leasing agent Laura Sagues of CBRE, who says they are “working with a growing number of very exciting potential groups.”
In the meantime, Thai and Goodwin will be working hard to create an anchor market within a project that has the potential to be an economic hub for a burgeoning Oakland neighborhood.
“We realize that we’ve been handed an amazing opportunity,” Thai says. “This is a legacy project for us … We want to leave the city better than when we found it, and to be able to be a part of this is really, really a cool thing.”
Newberry Market: 1954 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. For more information and news, go to newberrymarket.com. |
With free agency set to begin on March 1, the Baltimore Ravens have a lot of work to do with the $14.8 million they currently have in cap space. Baltimore still has to decide who, if anyone, they will be able to re-sign from their own pending free agents while also looking at others on the market to bolster their roster.
A big part of the Ravens’ offseason will likely include trimming down their roster to free up salary cap room in order to make some much-needed moves. But who do you cut first if you are general manager Ozzie Newsome. We look at a few options that could have their pink slip already filled out.
Shareece Wright – CB:
Baltimore cornerback Shareece Wright is likely to get cut first with his salary cap hit being $5.8 million in 2017 while having limited production. The move would free up a little less than $3.2 million for the Ravens, enough to likely make a move elsewhere or help or assist in re-signing DT Brandon Williams.
It is unlikely that Wright returns for another season with the Ravens despite signing a three-year deal worth $13 million during the 2016 offseason. Wright was re-signed last season because he made strides towards the end of the 2015 season in being a stable and quality cornerback. That certainly wasn’t the case in 2016 and with the play of Tavon Young, Wright simply has too high of a salary for what he brings to the table.
Jeremy Zuttah – C
Center Jeremy Zuttah has to be feeling the heat. With Ryan Jensen and John Urschel both sitting behind him waiting, Zuttah fits the type of player that gets cut first. The Ravens will get back just under $2.4 million of his $4.6 million 2017 salary while having his replacement likely already on the roster.
It doesn’t help that Baltimore got to test out options in 2015 with Zuttah on injured reserve and a 2016 season that wasn’t exactly masterful. All of that points to Zuttah being the odd-man out.
Mike Wallace – WR
Despite a fantastic 2016 campaign in which he accounted for 1,017 receiving yards, Mike Wallace has a heavy cap hit in 2017 with little dead money. That makes it far easier to cut him if the Ravens need some more money to make moves this offseason. If cut, Wallace would free up $5.75 million in cap space for 2017.
Still, it’s difficult to cut the best receiver on the team and certainly even harder to make him first. While it’s likely that Baltimore works with Wallace to either get his cap number down or cuts him outright, it probably won’t be until after the draft when they hopefully have more depth on the roster.
Benjamin Watson – TE
With five other tight ends already on the roster and Benjamin Watson missing 2016 due to injury, it could be as simple as shedding dead weight. But Watson has the added bonus of getting $3 million back from his $4 million 2017 salary if cut.
It already looks as though Watson will be gone, but will he be first is the biggest question. With the amount of cap space the Ravens would get and the depth at tight end, it seems like an obvious choice to get the axe first. |
Masked Scheduler's Ratings Smackdown
Starting to see some cracks in Shondaland.
To finish up on why the networks will survive well into the future, I want to add three more factors to yesterday’s discussion of retransmission fees and ownership of programming by the sibling studios attached to the networks.
A lot of network audience erosion is a result of the untethering of shows from the linear schedule. Whether it's DVR playback, VOD, or Hulu et al, combined with mobile devices, as this viewing is captured and monetized the networks will offset the traditional ratings declines.
For quite a while the dance was, as ratings declined, the CPMs (cost per thousands) for ads would go up. It was the classic law of supply and demand. That is no longer the case, so capturing all viewing to a show will offset a flattening of CPMs.
The network syndication goal used to be to get to 100 episodes of a show and sell it to stations or station groups. Basic cable offered another platform, and now we have streaming services. As a result of all this, the old "wait for 100" model has given way to more immediate repurposing of product. Of all the networks The CW exists because of the new rules.
There are other changes that will insure the continued existence, but I think the next step will be for the networks to offer what I call "App Suites" of their channels and sell them for a monthly fee. This is what CBS All Access is. Expect to see something similar from the other networks.
21st Century Fox, for example, could sell a suite of FOX, FX, FXX, FXM, NatGeo and NatGeoWILD and offer an "indie" channel of shows not on any of these platforms.
Finally, in the case of VOD and streaming one cannot fast-forward through the commercials.
The point of all this is that the broadcast networks are run by a lot of smart people who have always been ahead of the changes and have adapted. Don't get me wrong -- you can still learn a lot from the initial fast nationals and L+3 ratings, but to point to them as an indication that the networks are dinosaurs is misguided.
Comments? @maskedscheduler on Twitter and [email protected] works.
Last night's schedule was Sweet 16 basketball. Rock Chalk Jayhawk. I did finish "Fleabag" on Amazon. Might not be for everyone, but I would recommend checking it out, and there is a powerful payoff at the end. |
North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx questioned the Education Department's overreach when it comes to campus sexual assault during a hearing on Wednesday.
The congresswoman directed her question to Dr. John King, the acting secretary of the Education Department, who is currently going through the confirmation process to officially become head of the department.
"I'm very concerned about what's happening within your department's Office for Civil Rights and its impact on college campuses across the country," Foxx said. "For too long the OCR has gone around Congress by legislating a new mission and I'm deeply concerned about the office's legitimacy and effectiveness on these issues and the potential negative impact on students and institutions."
Foxx accused OCR of using its "Dear Colleague" letter process and an "implied threat" of investigations and loss of federal funding as a weapon against schools to require them to handle allegations of campus sexual assault. These threats from OCR have incentivized schools to abandon due process and the truth in order to prove to the department that they take sexual assault seriously.
Foxx said that anything that requires an expensive investigation by law should not "encroach" on Congress's constitutional duty to make laws.
"The office should follow the regulatory process that provides ample time for notice and comment," Foxx said. "There are significant issues that should be addressed by stakeholders before the department makes a unilateral decision on how to address certain issues, and again, individual circumstances matter greatly."
Foxx then asked King how many of the "Dear Colleague" letters issued over the past six years have gone through the proper notice-and-comment process (the one issued in 2011 that began the campus mess we see today did not). She also asked who is responsible for determining whether the letters should go through the notice-and-comment period and what King would do ensure the process is reformed to ensure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to comment.
Foxx also noted that OCR is "touting" how many investigations it has opened regarding claims that schools have not properly handled accusations of sexual assault. Foxx said that the number of investigations matters less than the actual justice of each individual case.
"Many are concerned that the office's current approach is counterproductive to reaching a just resolution, as well as being costly [and] inefficient," Foxx said.
She also asked how many investigations have been closed by OCR, how long it took to investigate the schools and whether all of that information is publicly published along with the findings of each investigation.
King responded by claiming that OCR's goal "is to ensure that the rights of students are protected and that our campuses — whether it's our K-12 schools or our higher education campuses — are safe and supportive environments for all students."
He added: "We think protecting students, both female and male students, against sexual assault has to be a part of how we ensure that our campuses are safe and supportive environments." Notice how he does not mention protecting students from false accusations, further showing how the office does not seem to consider the possibility that accused students could be innocent.
King said that the "Dear Colleague" letters the office issues "do not have the force of law," a sentiment echoed by other officials in the department.
Foxx wasn't buying his response. "Is it not true though that the campuses feel they have the force of law and that there is the strong intimidation [and] tone to those letters that you're issuing?" the congresswoman asked.
King again tried to explain that "guidance" that threatens a loss of federal funding isn't actually intimidation. He claimed that the letters provided "clarity" to questions the department is asked and explain to schools how the department "interprets" existing law. He said that regulations follow the notice-and-comment period.
This is a similar response to the one the department gave to questions raised by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. Despite previous "Dear Colleague" letters going through the proper notice-and-comment period, the 2011 letter did not, and the department has since been claiming that it did not issue any new regulations.
But the 2011 letter broadened the definition of harassment, required schools to use a lower standard of proof when determining the credibility of sexual assault accusations and backed it all up with the threat of investigations and a loss of federal funding. It placed a significant burden on schools to use their funds to set up pseudo-court systems to try accused students (and find them responsible or else face an investigation).
Foxx requested written responses to her other questions by March 1, as her time to ask questions was limited.
It's good to have yet another legislator asking tough questions about how OCR has been allowed to create such a toxic environment on college campuses across the country. If only she had also been able to bring up the lack of due process rights afforded to accused students.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. |
Javascript React Get Started with redux-form
The redux-form library bills itself as the best way to manage your form state in Redux. It provides a higher-order form component and a collection of container components for dealing with forms in a React and Redux powered application. Most importantly, it makes it easy to get a form up and running with state management and validations baked in.
To get a feel for what redux-form can do for us, let's build a simple Sign In form. You can follow along below or check out the resulting source code directly.
Start with React
We are going to start by getting the React portion of this application setup. The easiest way to spin up a React app is with create-react-app . Install it with npm or yarn if you don't already have it globally available.
$ yarn global add create-react-app
Let's generate our project.
$ create-react-app redux-form-sign-in
The create-react-app binary that is now available on our machine can be used to bootstrap a React app with all kinds of goodies -- live code reloading in development and production bundle building -- ready to go.
Let's jump into our project and kick off a live reloading development server.
$ cd redux-form-sign-in $ yarn start
At this point you should see your browser pointed to localhost:3000 with a page reading Welcome to React.
Is This Thing Plugged In?
We can see the live-reload in action by altering src/App.js .
return ( < div className = "App" > < div className = "App-header" > < img src = { logo } className = "App-logo" alt = "logo" /> < h2 > Redux Form Sign In App < /h2 > < /div > < p className = "App-intro" > To get started , edit < code > src / App . js < /code> and save to reload . < /p > < /div > );
Change the text in the h2 , save the file, and then switch back to the browser to see the changes almost instantly.
create-react-app made it really easy to get to a point where we can just iterate on our app. We didn't have to fiddle with Webpack configurations or any other project setup.
Next, let's change the prompt in the app intro.
< p className = "App-intro" > Sign in here if you already have an account < /p >
Our app is now begging for a form which brings us to redux-form , the focus of this post.
Satisfying Some Dependencies
Let's add the redux-form dependency to our project.
$ yarn add redux-form
It is now available to our app, so we can import the reduxForm function at the top of src/App.js right after the react import.
import React , { Component } from 'react' ; import { reduxForm } from 'redux-form' ;
If we save the file, our development server will have a complaint for us regarding an unmet dependency.
Module not found: Can't resolve 'react-redux' in '/Users/dev/hashrocket/redux-form-sign-in/node_modules/redux-form/es'
The same issue will arise for the dependency on redux itself. So, you'll want to add both to the project.
$ yarn add react-redux redux
Trigger a reload by saving and you'll see that the code is successfully compiling again. Not without warnings though. reduxForm is never being used, so let's use it.
A Basic Form
The reduxForm function is the higher-order component (HOC) that creates our super-charged form component. In particular, it wires this component up to redux for management of our form's state.
First, let's add an empty form in a presentational component.
// src/App.js let SignInForm = props => { return < form /> ; };
Then, let's transform it into a redux-connected form using the reduxForm HOC.
// src/App.js SignInForm = reduxForm ({ form : 'signIn' , })( SignInForm );
The only required configuration property is form which specifies a unique name for the form component. If you wanted to create multiple instances of the same form on a page, each would need a separate name in order to manage their separate form states.
Let's render our new form component into our existing React app.
// src/App.js return ( < div className = "App" > < div className = "App-header" > < img src = { logo } className = "App-logo" alt = "logo" /> < h2 > Redux Form Sign In App < /h2 > < /div > < p className = "App-intro" > Sign in here if you already have an account < /p > < SignInForm /> < /div > );
Saving results in successful compilation, but there is a runtime error. The details of which are displayed in your browser.
A Redux Store
The first part of the error reads:
Could not find "store" in either the context or props of "Connect(Form(SignInForm))".
We are missing a redux store to which reduxForm can connect our form component. The store is the place where redux will manage our form's state. The error helpfully suggests two ways to address this problem. Let's do the first and add a provider to src/index.js .
// src/index.js // ... leave existing import statements intact import { Provider } from 'react-redux' ; import { createStore , combineReducers } from 'redux' ; import { reducer as formReducer } from 'redux-form' ; const rootReducer = combineReducers ({ form : formReducer , }); const store = createStore ( rootReducer ); ReactDOM . render ( < Provider store = { store } > < App /> < /Provider> , document . getElementById ( 'root' ) ); // ...
The Provider is a component from react-redux that makes our store available to child components. The exact details are abstracted away by redux-form . The react-redux docs have more details if you are interested.
The Provider requires one prop, the store . We set up our store with createStore from redux. createStore is given a top-level reducer that it can use to update any of our state in response to actions, such as changes to the form. We construct this top-level reducer, rootReducer , using combineReducers . Don't worry if you are not familiar with Redux's core concepts, that is the extent of what we need to know for this post. If you want to know more I do highly recommend Dan Abramov's course, 'Getting Started with Redux'.
Save these changes and our form will render successfully. Because we didn't add any form elements yet, you'll have to inspect the DOM with dev tools to confirm that.
A Form with Fields
A form without any fields isn't much of a form. So, let's add some with the Field component provided by redux-form . Because this is a Sign In form, we'll need an Email field, a Password field, and a submit button to sign in.
// src/App.js let SignInForm = props => { return ( < form > < label > Email < /label > < div > < Field type = "text" name = "email" component = "input" /> < /div > < label > Password < /label > < div > < Field type = "password" name = "password" component = "input" /> < /div > < button type = "submit" > Sign in < /button > < /form > ); };
The label and button parts of the above JSX are pretty standard parts of a form. The interesting bit is the Field component. For each we specify the component prop as input because these, for the time being, are both simply input tags. The type prop gets passed down to each of the inputs specifying one as a standard text input and the other as a password input. The name is important because it will be used to identify the state of the fields in the redux store.
Our app won't recognize the Field component until we import it, so let's update this statement at the top of the same file.
// src/App.js import { reduxForm , Field } from 'redux-form' ;
If we save our file and check out the re-rendered page, we'll see our form. Go ahead and inspect the DOM to see how the Field components were translated to <input> tags.
Unfortunately, this form isn't much to look at right now. I'll leave styling it as an exercise for the reader.
Form State
Clicking our Sign in button at this point isn't all that satisfying. We want to know that the values that have been entered into our form fields are being managed by redux. Let's pass down a callback function that our form can call when it is submitted.
// src/App.js handleSignIn = values => { console . log ( 'Submitting the following values:' ); console . log ( `Email: ${ values . email } ` ); console . log ( `Password: ${ values . password } ` ); };
This function will simply spit out the form values with console.log . This is more or less where you'd want to integrate the app to some backend system. We won't deal with a backend in this post.
If we give this handler function to our redux form, SignInForm , via the onSubmit prop, it will be available to us in the props of our form component.
// src/App.js render () { return ( < div className = "App" > < div className = "App-header" > < img src = { logo } className = "App-logo" alt = "logo" /> < h2 > Redux Form Sign In App < /h2 > < /div > < p className = "App-intro" > Sign in here if you already have an account < /p > < SignInForm onSubmit = { this . handleSignIn } / > < /div > ); }
The callback function that we passed in to our form is wrapped in the handleSubmit function. This can be destructured from our form's props and passed in to the onSubmit of our <form> .
// src/App.js const { handleSubmit } = props ; return ( < form onSubmit = { handleSubmit } > // ... < /form > );
Enter in a value for Email and Password and hit submit. You should see those values in the console output. Awesome!
We don't want our form to allow just any values though.
redux-form comes with built-in support for both synchronous and asynchronous validations. To start, let's add synchronous validations to require both the email and password; that is, we won't allow blank values. This can be done by defining a validate function.
// src/App.js const validate = values => { const errors = {}; if ( ! values . email ) { console . log ( 'email is required' ); errors . email = 'Required' ; } if ( ! values . password ) { console . log ( 'password is required' ); errors . password = 'Required' ; } return errors ; };
This function starts with errors as an empty object. If the function ultimately returns an empty object, then there were no errors and the form is valid. In fact, if you don't define the validate function, it defaults to (values, props) => ({}) -- always valid.
The conditional logic in the middle of our function is what decides whether to flag any validation errors. Our current implementation checks for the presence of each field. Additionally, we console.log every time a validation check fails so that we can see it working as we develop.
To override the default implementation, we have to tell SignInForm to use our implementation. This is done in the form constructor using es6's object literal property shorthand.
// src/App.js SignInForm = reduxForm ({ form : 'signIn' , validate , })( SignInForm );
If you open up the dev tools console and then try typing into the fields, you'll notice that every single change to the form triggers the validate function. This ensures that we always have fresh information about the validity of our form. It also means that our form defaults to invalid. As such, we need to be discerning in how and when we display those validation errors. Metadata provided to our Field component allows us to do that as we'll see in the next section.
Additionally, we may want a validation that ensures the value entered into the email field looks like an email address. To achieve that, we can update our validate function like so.
if ( ! values . email ) { console . log ( 'email is required' ); errors . email = 'Required' ; } else if ( ! /^.+@.+$/i . test ( values . email )) { console . log ( 'email is invalid' ); errors . email = 'Invalid email address' ; }
It is a rather crude check of the email address field, but it will suffice for this post. Our validate function will now ensure that even if the email is present that it still conforms to the email address regex we've laid out.
As long as there are validation errors on the errors object, we will not be able to submit the form. That is, our handleSignIn function will not be triggered. But beyond that and our console.log statements, there is no outward expression of the validation errors.
Displaying Errors
Earlier on I hinted that using input as the component for Field was only temporary. Let's extract a functional component with logic for displaying our errors. We can use that custom component, instead of input , with Field .
// src/App.js const InputField = ({ input , label , type , meta : { touched , error , warning }, }) => < div > < label > { label } < /label > < div > < input {... input } type = { type } / > < /div > < /div> ;
The props passed into InputField include the input object, a label which we will need to specify, the type of input it is (e.g. password ), and some redux-form specific metadata.
Using InputField , we are able to greatly simplify and dry up the JSX in SignUpForm .
// src/App.js return ( < form onSubmit = { handleSubmit } > < Field type = "text" name = "email" component = { InputField } label = "Email" /> < Field type = "password" name = "password" component = { InputField } label = "Password" /> < button type = "submit" > Sign in < /button > < /form > );
We are now in a position to decide how we want to render our errors. Better yet, the JSX for it only needs to be defined in one place, inside the InputField component.
// src/App.js const InputField = ({ input , label , type , meta : { touched , error , warning }, }) => < div > < label > { label } < /label > < div > < input {... input } type = { type } / > < /div > { touched && error && < div > { error } < /div> } < /div> ;
We can render a div with the error message when there is an error. That isn't quite good enough though. Remember when I mentioned being discerning about when to render errors. The user experience of seeing an error the second the page loads is not great. Fortunately, redux-form lets us know through the touched flag in the metadata if a particular field has been focused and then blurred. By combining touched and the presence of an error we are able to display an error message only when necessary.
Check it out in the browser to see the various validation messages we programmed into our form.
Conclusion and Next Steps
That's it. We made it. A lot was covered in this post. Having gone all the way through, you should now have a solid foundation for getting redux-form set up with create-react-app , building out a simple form, adding validations, and responding to a form submission.
redux-form is capable of a lot more than what we have explored in this post. There are a number of examples on their site that I'd recommend checking out to see what is available.
Looking for a next step? Try connecting the form to a backend system. Then, see if you can get Async Form Validation working.
Cover image by Steinar Engeland on Unsplash. |
Arsenal have reportedly contacted Celta Vigo to inquire about the availability of Spain international Nolito. Mundo Deportivo have reported that the Premier League club are willing to offer 19 million euros for the Celta forward, a figure that exceeds his current release clause of 18 million, as well as tempting Nolito to London with a salary three times higher than he currently earns in Galicia. Arsène Wenger sees Nolito as a viable replacement for Danny Welbeck, who has a knee injury that will keep him on the sidelines until March at least.
Nolito has scored eight goals in 14 league matches this season and supplied five assists. Last season, he hit 13 in 37 games and his name began to be touted for a move to a heavyweight, with former employers Barcelona said to be at the head of the queue. However, the Camp Nou board is not keen on sanctioning a move for Nolito unless his release clause can be negotiated; something that Celta will be understandably unwilling to contemplate.
Nolito himself said last summer that he would only leave Celta for Barcelona, where he came through the ranks of La Masia. However, the Premier League's much heavier financial clout may yet change his mind. |
No actor could act – and no writer could script – the charming but poignant scene when two 17-year-olds from either side of divided County Derry in Northern Ireland switch school uniforms and behold themselves, and each other, in a mirror.
The gesture is simple and effervescent, but utterly subversive. Courtney Cooke is from Lisneal college, in the loyalist Waterside, on the Protestant east bank of the river Foyle; Yvonne Weir attends Catholic St Cecilia’s college across the river in Creggan, fortress estate of republican Bogside, once the IRA-controlled “Free Derry”.
The defiance was the schoolgirls’ own idea for a short film, In Peace Apart, in which, having changed uniforms, they walk through the city and demonstrate how their lives hitherto have been almost entirely segregated. In a small place, they have never set eyes on each other’s schools, or barely crossed the river Foyle, which in the film is described as the walled city’s “biggest wall”.
The film has been entered for a competition next year in Boston. Whether it wins or not, their idea could – and certainly should – go viral. Already, a group from Derry plans to challenge Palestinian and Israeli children to do the equivalent – swap a hijab for a skullcap – at an international schools encounter in Genoa.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest In Peace Apart’s stars Yvonne Weir, left, and Courtney Cooke. Photograph: The Nerve Centre
The film forms part of the work by a project that has done more than anything politicians could ever devise to sow peace in Northern Ireland. Teaching Divided Histories was born out of an arts hub, the Nerve Centre, which came to the fore during Derry’s year as UK city of culture in 2013.
The Nerve Centre opened in 1990, before the Good Friday agreement, the brainchild of Martin Melarkey and John Peto, who then launched the teaching project, setting out to “end the taboo”, as Melarkey puts it, “and help teachers in our schools educate children about what happened here, rather than sweep it all under the carpet. We see it as the only way to end the segregation that still persists, despite the peace process.”
Modules were developed, using digital technology, to teach the civil rights movement and the Troubles, as well as the 1916 Easter Rising, the battle of the Somme and international conflict, with the intent of forging a common, agreed, factual story.
On the 20th anniversary of the IRA ceasefire in August, a 16-year-old girl from Belfast, Aobh Sharvin, said it herself: “Peace is here. You can’t compare the situation now with what was happening then, but teachers are still trained separately, and that has an impact on people of my age. Education has a lot to do with keeping sectarian stuff going. I suppose people do need to talk about the Troubles, but they don’t need to do it in such a hushed manner. I think we need to find a more open way to speak about that time.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yvonne Weir, left, and Courtney Cooke after they had swapped uniforms. The Nerve Centre
Classroom sessions were devised on South Africa, Lebanon and wars in West Africa. “This is raw stuff, we’re trying to do,” says Peto. “There are all sorts of barriers, and sometimes it can be easier to start by teaching conflict that is distant, geographically and in time, before getting to our own.” The project bloomed, going international itself. Teachers were brought to Derry from Kashmir, Lebanon, South Africa and Sierra Leone for an extraordinary conference in Derry as part of the city of culture. This year, teaming up with the British Council, Teaching Divided Histories sent its own training staff to those countries, to install its ideas, materials and initiatives. Incredibly, for all its endeavour and efficacy, the project is currently fighting proposed government funding cuts.
During the city of culture year, the film director Paul Greengrass spent time at the Nerve Centre watching Teaching Divided Histories at work – a visit of which he says: “It was fantastic. They were showing photographic exhibitions and films that reflected the Troubles back at all of us. News reports, documentaries and photographs, which have embedded those images of the city among its youth. But now the young people themselves are manipulating those images and playing with sound in a very sophisticated way.
“And they’re not just trying to make films about the Troubles: one kid showed me a remake he’d done of The Bourne Supremacy [a Greengrass film about a CIA assassin] lasting 60 seconds. It was a piss-take of course, but very clever, very skilful.” |
The combined company will be called Sound United and continue to market each brand separately. Apart from speakers and receivers, there's a fair amount of product overlap -- both Denon (via its HEOS brand) and Polk Audio make Sonos-like wireless multi-room speakers, for instance. Denon and Marantz also sell turntables, and virtually all the brands make headphones and earphones.
None of the company's products are what you might call cheap, but Denon and Marantz aren't as expensive as you might remember from their 1970s and '80s heydays. It'll be interesting to see, nonetheless, if the consolidation causes the prices to go down. There's increased interest in old-school Hi-Fi, in part because of the resurgence of vinyl. That said, most new receivers and other audio products need to handle 4K video, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth and other new technology. |
Cyber attacks that hit 74 countries across Europe and Asia Friday, impacting the public health system in Britain, apparently involved a leaked hacking tool from the National Security Agency.
The attack used ransomware, which is malware that encrypts data and locks a user from their data until they pay a ransom. The tool, which was leaked by a group known as Shadow Brokers, had been stolen from the N.S.A. as part of a wide swath of tools illegally released in 2016.
TRUMP CAN WIN THE CYBER WAR (BY FOLLOWING CHURCHILL'S APPROACH)
The Department of Homeland Security released a statement late Friday that read, in part:
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users’ access to it until a ransom is paid to unlock it. ... Individual users are often the first line of defense against this and other threats, and we encourage all Americans to update your operating systems and implement vigorous cybersecurity practices at home, work, and school. These practices include:
Update your systems to include the latest patches and software updates. Do not click on or download unfamiliar links or files in emails. Back up your data to prevent possible loss, whether you are at a home, work, or school computer.
Microsoft said that they had rolled out a patch to fix the issue, but certain targets, including the hospitals in Britain, had not yet updated their systems.
The malware was sent via email with a file attached to it. From there, it subsequently spread.
Tom Donnelly, a spokesman for N.H.S. Digital, said the attack was still "ongoing" and that that the organization was "made aware of it this afternoon," according to an interview in The New York Times.
The impact of the attacks caused phone lines to go down, appointments to be canceled and patients to be turned away, but there has been no reported evidence of patient data being breached.
"It's one of the widest sperad attacks we've ever seen," said Michael Balboni, President of Redland Strategies, a consulting firm that specializes in cybersecurity. Balboni, who is also a former homeland security advisor for the state of New York, said that the possiblity of another attack this size is possible.
"We're entering an age known as cyber-insecurity," Balboni added. "There's going to be a huge response from the public now that doctors and hospitals are being affected, there is going to be a huge shift in how people think about this."
There were a number of pictures posted to social media highlighting the ransomware, which asked for $300 in Bitcoin.
NHS Digital, which oversees cybersecurity in Britain, said the attack did not specifically target the NHS and "is affecting organizations from across a range of sectors." In total, 16 NHS organizations said they were affected.
British Prime Minister Theresa May addressed the hacks, saying it's not just targeted at the NHS.
"This is not targeted at the NHS, it’s an international attack and a number of countries and organisations have been affected," May said in a statement. "The National Cyber Security Centre is working closely with NHS digital to ensure that they support the organisations concerned and that they protect patient safety."
May added that though she was not aware of any leaked data, vigilance must be taken.
"Of course, it is important that we have set up the National Cyber Security Centre and they are able to work with the NHS organisations concerned and to ensure that they are supported and patient safety is protected," May said.
In addition, several Spanish companies had also been affected via a ransomware attack. Spain did not say which companies were affected, but Telefonica, a telecom giant said it had detected an incident which affected some of its employees.
UK HOSPITALS TURN AWAY PATIENTS AFTER RANSOMWARE ATTACK
Hospital operator NHS Merseyside tweeted "following a suspected national cyberattack, we are taking all precautionary measures possible to protect our local NHS systems and services."
Bart's Health, which also operates a number of London-based hospitals, activated its major incident plan, which included canceling routine appointments and diverting ambulances to different hospitals. |
Posted by Ben Gooden on Mon, Jul 10, 2017 @ 5:05 AM
All city councils have an asset register detailing the value of assets like roads, parks, street furniture, and so on. Increasingly – and rightly so – trees are being included as quantifiable assets. In the past, it has been hard to quantify the value of trees, but today there are a number of methodologies for doing so. One such method, the Burnley Method – developed by Dr Greg Moore at the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture Limited, Burnley Campus – is now being widely used and accepted. Available for download here http://croydonconservation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Burnley-method-Tree-value-pdf..pdf
The City of Melbourne are pioneers in valuing their trees and looking after them accordingly. In fact, residents can even email local trees to raise concerns about their health or express their appreciation and affection for the tree. By putting a value on trees, councils are able to protect them in new and quantifiable ways. For example, if a developer is building near a valuable tree, the council may require them to pay a bond – refunded provided the tree is unharmed post construction. If a developer destroys or removes a tree without permission, the council is able to sue that developer for the value of the tree per their register. All of this is effective and much-needed motivation to keep our valuable urban trees safe.
A council’s asset register forms a key part of their balance sheet. As the assets degrade over time, there is depreciation. Spend money on their assets, and there is growth. Naturally, councils want to spend money wisely in order to generate the greatest return on investment.
Internationally, providing enough shade in carparks is a big issue. Not only does shade drastically improve the shopping experience, it also prolongs the life of the pavement. In the City of Belmont, Perth, Citygreen’s Stratacell system had a massive impact on the council’s bottom line. In an asphalt carpark next to an oval, five London Plane trees were planted in quite narrow islands, with adequate space and soil volume provided using the Stratacell system beneath the carpark pavement. The cost for the five trees (including the Stratacell system) was $50,000.
Four years later, as reported by Council, the trees have grown at an unprecedented rate – from a 75mm/3” trunk diameter at time of planting, to 250mm/10”. Today, according to the Burnley method, these trees are valued by Council at $17,500 each – an amazing return on investment in just four years, with so much growth (literally and financially) still to come.
As a comparison, the same council has the same species growing in a nearby carpark using the conventional method. The carpark was laid, a square cut in the pavement, some curbing placed around the edges, roadbase dug out, and a soil loaded into the hole. Planted 15 years ago (versus only four), these trees are valued at only $510 each. Of course, the initial outlay was much less ($250 per tree), but the return on investment does not compare.
Essentially, using the Citygreen soil vault system, this innovative Council was able to grow trees worth 34 times as much – in one quarter of the time!. As more emphasis is placed on generating ROI in relation to the value of trees, adopting innovative technology which enables trees to thrive in urban environments must be a priority. Of course, this is not just about improving councils’ bottom lines, but also improving the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve. |
by Luca Imbimbo
A romantic trip to Paris. A summer spent in Saint Barth. A long weekend of skiing in Aspen… Tom Ford’s 2013 S/S Collection makes us relive the glories of ’50s Hollywood!
His man is a budding movie-star… Sophisticated, glamorous… He has recently signed a contract with one of the great American Majors. He’s happy! He will be the protagonist of the first color film in the history of cinema: a global success! That’s why he chooses bright colors: red, orange, purple, pink, yellow… in a technicolor style!
The white doesn’t lack: pure and flawless! In the daytime he wears either leather jackets or long Prince of Wales trenches. In the evening he is formal but without taking himself too seriously… A slim- fit cut suits and tuxedos … Incredible jackets in silk and lightweight clutches! The shirts’ tiny squares – of course tailored – play an interesting optical effect (must-haves of the season!)… The polka dots and flowery fantasies of scarves and ties are proposed again in the costumes: essential for the pool-party that cannot be renounced! As shoes, the most classic of the moccasins, in suede or brushed calfskin… And to protect themselves from the California sun? The Brand’s ubiquitous-symbol-glasses… “Lights, camera, action!”.
The lookbook features Lucho Jacob and Simon Van Meervenne. |
For two years, Canonical Ltd., the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu Linux, has been deeply involved in the Moblin mobile Linux project from its start.
Last week, Canonical took another step forward in its commitment to Moblin by announcing plans to develop a new Ubuntu product that's built atop the latest Moblin v2 beta code. Moblin v2 is the latest incarnation of the project's mobile Netbook- and Mobile Internet Device-focused operating system.
Yet this won't be the first time Ubuntu has built an operating system for this segment. Last June, Ubuntu unveiled Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR), a slimmed-down version of Ubuntu's desktop Linux version, aimed straight at Netbooks. Three weeks later, Ubuntu announced its own Mobile Internet Device (MID) edition 8.04, which was slated for use on handheld mobile Internet devices that use Intel Corp.'s Atom processors.
So why all the different Ubuntu options and what do they mean for users and OEMs that are building Netbooks and MIDs?
The idea, said Gerry Carr, Canonical's marketing manager, is that it will allow Ubuntu to ensure compatibility between its existing Remix version with the fledgling Moblin v2 beta code by placing the Remix version atop the Moblin v2 beta framework, while maintaining separate products. OEM device manufacturers will be able to decide what operating systems to use on their devices, giving them choice in applications.
This latest Moblin v2 beta is an optimized and standardized product that includes a common core of application and user interface services and APIs, according to Moblin organizers.
'Moblin v2 is much more advanced' than the earlier version, Carr said, which is a prime reason for Canonical's latest adaptation of the product. 'We're being consistent to our commitment to Intel around Moblin. We want to make sure that when OEMs engage with us ' that they have the choice of [Ubuntu-enabled] Moblin, rather than go somewhere else.'
And that marketplace is beginning to get crowded lately.
Last month, Novell Inc. announced that it, too, will create a Moblin-based product for Netbooks, adding to the list of options for OEMs. Google Inc. also offers its Android operating system, while Microsoft Corp. will have its own version based on the upcoming Windows 7 operating system.
'Competition will allow OEMs to have differentiation in the market with different features, but similar look and feel, and they will share many features,' Carr said. 'That's what I expect to happen.'
No devices have yet been released for sale featuring Moblin because it's still in beta, he said. It will be ready later this year and there shouldn't be a long ramp-up between Moblin going to a general release and it showing up on new devices, according to Carr. 'By the end of the year, I expect to see Moblin-enabled products in the marketplace,' he said.
'For people inside the industry, we've been talking about this for a long time,' he said. 'Now others see it's really happening. I think up until this week, it's been a little low visibility ' we've been working more on the plumbing. Now it's a beautiful fountain that the world can see,' he said of Moblin.
'We've been hearing about the dominance of Microsoft,' he said. 'This will bring a lot more energy to the Linux side. I think that's exciting for handset manufacturers. I don't think anyone relishes the monopoly of Microsoft. An open platform is good for everybody.'
By integrating its Ubuntu Netbook Remix version with the Moblin v2 beta, Canonical will be committing engineering staff time and money to the project, Carr said.
So will there will a market for all of these competitors in the space?
'It depends on how you look at it,' he said. 'It's unclear where Google will want to go with Android, whether they want it on Netbooks or handsets. There's a difference between the Netbook and handset markets. So yes, I think there's room.'
Analyst Michael E. Dortch of DortchOnIT.com in Santa Rosa, CA, called the pending Ubuntu/Moblin mash-up 'a great thing for Linux and a great thing for netbook users, even those who never notice or pay attention.'
'For Linux, it's another demonstration of the power and flexibility of that operating environment and the people and companies supporting and developing it,' he said. 'And it's another brand-building step for Ubuntu, giving the company more opportunities as well as more responsibilities to deliver "business-class" and "enterprise-class" solutions and support.'
Meanwhile, for Netbook users this collaboration and 'any other credible alternatives to Windows will broaden choice, help to keep costs and prices down, and push developers supporting Moblin, Ubuntu and Windows just that much harder to deliver features that provide meaningful user benefits, Dortch said. Users want these kinds of devices to be more comparable to mobile telephones than to full-blown computers in terms of reliability and ease of use, he said, so developers need tools and platforms that are simultaneously robust, stable, flexible, well-supported and aggressively inexpensive to deliver what users want. 'Moblin may deliver some of these characteristics, but serious vendor support and commitment is required to complete the picture. Ultimately, Ubuntu Netbook Remix may become for Moblin the conceptual analog to what Sun's StarOffice is to OpenOffice.org--fundamentally the same offering, made more immediately usable to developers and users and supported by services and vendors at least comparable to their traditional commercial cousins.'
Bill Weinberg, principal analyst with Linux Pundit in Aptos, CA, said those continuing dynamics are what make this landscape uncertain.
One lesson to be learned, Weinberg said, comes from the failed UnitedLinux venture that began in 2002, when four Linux companies joined forces to create a standardized, certified and robust enterprise-focused version of the open-source operating system. Instead of combining forces, the partners were soon torn apart by a series of major legal and marketing problems.
The worry he has with Moblin, Weinberg said, is that while end users don't necessarily care about what operating systems runs these kinds of devices, if they see a Windows option ' even for a higher price--they'll likely choose it because it's what they are used to at home and work.
'So as much as I like, personally and technically, what Canonical/Ubuntu are doing, it won't make a dent in the re-established dominance of [Microsoft] on that class of mobile devices,' Weinberg said. 'Moblin has the additional challenge of building its user interface on Clutter, which is visually attractive and compelling, but also more demanding, video hardware-wise.'
Instead of trying to compete with Microsoft in the growing but low-margin Netbook market, Weinberg said Moblin and its backers should concentrate on the more lucrative smartphone market, where Windows isn't as huge a competitor.
'The problem is, if Moblin comes out as this de facto standard like UnitedLinux did, then you'll have the same problem you had with UnitedLinux' coming apart at the seams, Weinberg said. Initially, Netbooks running Linux were first on the scene, so they were bought up, he said. But once Microsoft starting getting into it with Windows, consumers shifted their allegiances, even though the devices cost a little more.
'The vision for Netbooks was they were going to be light devices that could access the cloud,' he said. 'But one of the first things people are doing with Windows Netbooks is to make sure Microsoft Office is on them, not accessing the cloud.'
Consumers are trained to buy higher specifications than what they currently need in their new hardware, and this pattern continues with Netbooks, he said. 'So the whole system is stacked against' the idea of Moblin. 'That means that in order to gain traction in mobile computing, the idea is that the place to go is from Netbooks to the phone ecosystem where you're partnering with phone makers.'
For Linux and Moblin, the future is in markets where Microsoft is not strong and hasn't succeeded, he said. |
With the increase in population in recent years, the average consumption of energy has increased manifold. So, it’s our responsibility to devise and practice energy efficient ways of living. Mobile phones, beyond a doubt, have become an inseparable part of modern lifestyle and they require energy for allowing users to stay connected always. So we should look forward to unconventional ways of charging our gadgets (include cellphones too). Here we’ve listed certain unconventional ways of charging phones without traditional chargers. Read on to know more:
Orange Power Wellies
These willies were designed for people who were going to Glastonbury Festival. Orange in collaboration with GotWind designed these willies with power generating sole. This sole uses the heat from your feet to converts it into electricity. They call this “Welectricity” and can be used to charge mobile phone or any other portable gadget. Twelve hours of stomping on these shoes would charge your mobile phone for an hour. This charger uses a thermocouple to generate electricity with the help of heat.
Nokia concept carbohydrate charger
Designed by Daizi Zheng, the Nokia concept carbohydrate charger provides much cleaner energy as compared to Li-ion batteries. This charger has a fuel cell which utilizes carbohydrates (abundantly present in cold drinks) to produce energy. This carbohydrate fuel cell is three times more powerful than a standard Li-ion battery.
Human dynamo
With resources running out, humans have to think of unconventional ways to generate electricity. Human dynamo captures the movements from your knee and sends it to rotate a dynamo. This dynamo generates usable electricity. Right now the prototype is a bit bulky, but the design can be improved to make a lighter and smaller version. This bio-mechanical energy harvesting device can power-up your phones, iPods and mp3 players.
PowerTrekk
PowerTrekk is an innovative charger made by a Swedish Company, myFC. This pocket sized charger consists of a tray and an eyeglass style cover. If you spend a lot of time away from electricity grid, this gadget can help you out. It would also be great if you are trekking out on a weekend with friends. The container has sodium silicide which, when combines with water, produces hydrogen. So, after pouring one tablespoon of water, you get usable electricity for your cellphone.
Twirling Battery
Twirling battery is another interesting design. It has a slot where you can put in your finger. After inserting a finger, you just have to spin it like car keys. This battery is designed by Song Teaho & Hyejin Lee. Approximately 130 spins would generate enough stand-by for 25 minutes. This battery had also won Greener Gadgets Design Competition in 2010.
Nanogenerator in shoes
Designed by some Argentine designer, this unique charger sits on your shoes. This charger has nano-generator which utilizes kinetic energy in a skater to transform it into electricity. Apart from skateboarding, this device can utilize kinetic energy generated while running and walking. It has a USB port where you can hook up your phone’s cable to start charging.
Charger Bra
A Japanese lingerie maker, Triumph, has made this solar charging bra. This bra has a solar panel which is worn around the waist. This solar panel converts solar energy into electricity, which can be utilized by cellphone and portable devices. You can carry it while going on a beach or where there is a lot of sun. This might have some design issues but it still works. |
Here Phil Elverum is again, two and a half years after we left him on Clear Moon and Ocean Roar, and he's still, essentially, in the same spot. As he put it on Clear Moon's "Through the Trees Pt. 2": "I go on describing this place, and the way it feels to live and die." The line was a clear mission statement, and the "go on" in this formulation seems as important as the "describing". On Sauna’s title track, he says he writes "to prove I don't exist/ To show that I am beyond this animal form and this lost mind." Existence, for Elverum, is conditional, not to be trusted, something that might disappear the second you take it for granted. Mount Eerie releases feel like an act of philosophical tax-paying, Elverum’s way of reasserting that he still exists, at least for a moment or two longer.
Like Clear Moon and Ocean Roar, Sauna is a careful cataloging of a single mind state. In some ways, it is an unacknowledged part three of that two-part series: hushed and patient, a processional of wispy, anxious sounds paired with Elverum’s calm, soothing voice. The album opens with a monumental whoosh of an organ, accompanied by crackling fire and the hiss of water hitting hot coals. The setting is pretty obvious, given the record’s title, but Elverum makes it explicit immediately: "I don’t think the world still exists/ Only this room in the snow, and the light from the coals." The song rolls on for 10 minutes, a luxurious stretch of drone rock as thick and murky as the lyrics are clear: "My life is a small fire I carry around," he sings, echoing, maybe, the "carrying the fire" line from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
Elverum has never been artful or coy about his music: If you listen to a few minutes of one of his records, he will probably spell out for you exactly what he is exploring on them, and he will probably even tell you how he intends to do it. There is an admirable transparency to him, a sense that he has nothing to hide and would like for you to venture into the mysteriousness of his records armed with exactly as much information as he has. His lyrics are riddled with everyday actions: "I walked to the bookstore in the rain that silently filled the air/ All the lights were off or dim/ And there was nothing to do but walk to town and back," he sings on "Pumpkin". There is something almost aggressively quotidian about the scenarios he paints, like an indie film that aims to test your patience for how little action constitutes a "motion picture." Coffee is poured, windows are gazed at pensively, tractors idle.
As always, that mystery resides in the sounds he manipulates. No one else sounds like Phil Elverum. The amount of mood, texture, and feeling he can communicate with a single guitar drone is uncanny. His sounds feel soft and pliable, like they've had a portion of their middle frequencies carefully ladled out, yielding only boom at the bottom and wisp at the top. The only frequency in between is Elverum, his conversational voice sailing out of the murk like a paper airplane hitting your bedroom window. The arrangement serves as a neat metaphor for Elverum’s relationship to the world: His voice, small as it may be, is the only thing he can be sure of.
Musically, Sauna represents a thawing, the point when the icy chill of black metal, which has gripped Elverum for years, passes. Instead of snow imagery, we get rivers, and the blotted, heavy guitars and humid organ act out the thaw the lyrics describe. Piano and violins share a plucked major-key figure on "Books", which speckle the surface of the song like little orange and red paint daubs blobbed onto grey. Folky 12-string guitars ring out on "Pumpkin", a song on which Elverum clambers over damp rocks to observe a split-open pumpkin sitting on a river bed. The pumpkin, bright and fat, feels like a fertility symbol, and his fascination with it in the song stands in for the album’s preoccupations. On "Spring", the 13-minute climax of the record, the mood darkens, as the organ blasts out hair-raising dissonances and the thaw turns into a deluge: "Nothing is impermeable/ The basement’s flooded," he intones. Even in a season of rebirth and fertility, Elverum sees the possibility for oblivion.
Weather—specifically, crappy weather—has always been an inspiration for Elverum, something he discussed last July on the podcast Song Exploder. Deconstructing his beloved "I Want Wind to Blow", from the Microphones’ The Glow, Pt. 2, he called the weather "a metaphor for my emotions. That was kind of what all of my songs were about then and, arguably, still are." On Sauna, the weather has shifted, but Elverum’s mind state has not. "As long as I am drawing breath, the world still exists/ But when I die, everything will vanish," he sings on "Planets". |
Dear psychill lovers,
as promised we present you an interview with Androcell, the enveloping, electronic dub infused music project of producer and artist, Tyler Smith. For almost two decades he has been at the controls of music production, experimenting with different styles and emotions in sonic art form. After four full-length albums plus various compilations, EPs, and remixes to the name, the Androcell project will soon release the 4th Androcell studio album entitled Imbue. This release will be free (pay what you want) for download through the Androcell Bandcamp page and for purchase in limited edition collector’s CD format directly through the project and Altar Records.
This interview was taken by Gagarin Project in september 2014 in awaiting the fresh release. Enjoy!
Hi Tyler, i am very happy to be able to chat with you and to ask this questions!
Hello and thank your for your interest in the project. :)
:) It looks like an important event is happening in the life of Androcell project. You are releasing “Imbue”, your fourth full length album, on October 17th, 2014. I would like to ask you some question about it. How long did it take you to write it and which was the oldest track from it written and which track was it ?
Overall, it took me roughly 2 years to finally get what it is on the record. The oldest track is Root Of Pharmacology. I think I started it in August 2011 but I spent at least 9 months or more aside from this album working on the Entheomythic Remixed EP release in the time between then and now.
And how can you describe the sound of new Androcell release, in comparison with your previous works ?
The sound of the new release is what I was feeling over the course of the past few years. I wouldn’t attempt to describe the sound but I can compare it with previous works in that it has a lot of diversity of style, bass, and feelings.
How would you say your music has evolved over the years? Your first album was released in 2004, how can you compare your first production with the latest ones, are they more complex, are they more or less organic, etc?
My production quality and song structures have been up and down over the 10 years span as Androcell. I just write what I feel so anything that seems more or less complex wouldn’t be apparent to me. Music is mostly about feeling to me which is why sometimes my work doesn’t always sound the best, but it hopefully is conveying a feeling I was feeling at the time or hoped others would feel. Maintaining a suitable balance of organic and inorganic is what I seem to be always trying desperately to achieve.
Tell us, what was your inspiration to write this album?
This album is about my personal life’s evolution. During the creation of it was a time of immense inner reflection to understand who I am now and what I have grown from.
We’ll change the subject a bit. What do you think about the piracy ?
In one way, it is free promotion as I know of people who downloaded pirated copies of my music first and then bought it directly from me later. Or they at least donated to me directly. I have a donation system set up at my website and people who download my music through free pirate websites can actually be cool and kick me some coin. But when I have found my music for sale through pirated websites, it has been a bit disconcerting. What does one do? Waste time merely “trying” to stop piracy and be angry or be happy, smile on, and keep writing new music that they do not have access to yet? The choice is simple for me.
Positive approach) What would you like to say to your listeners who would like to buy the album ?
When released on October 17th, 2014, you will be able to get the new album on CD from both the record label and directly from myself.
It will feature original cover art by artist Jack Shure:
www.jhsart.com
Quality mastering by Colin Bennun @ Stooodio Mastering, UK:
www.oood.net/mastering
CD will be available direct from the artist at:
www.androcell.com
The CD will also be available for purchase from Altar Records Bandcamp webpage:
www.altar.bandcamp.com
What would you like to say to your listeners that would like to download the album for free?
A free (pay what you want) digital download will only be available through my Androcell Bandcamp webpage:
www.androcell.com
How did you find your way to Altar Records ?
If I recall correctly, in the summer of 2013, label owner Gabriel (DJ Zen) and I were at a festival in Quebec and discussed the possibility of Altar Records releasing my next album on CD. I either pitched him the idea or vice versa, but either way we quickly became on the same page, so to speak, about releasing a full-length in alliance. Being friends already and having released Androcell and Distant System songs on his label in the past, I knew Gabriel would be a trusted and quality source for presenting this album on CD. Gab is a great guy and I really appreciate his label’s support with this release!
Cool! Since how long the album is ready? Did you have to wait to be able to release it or the september date was “reserved” before the album was finished?
It was just wrapped up in the second week of September and sent off to the manufacturers so everything will hopefully be in order for a mid-October release date.
Who did the mastering ? Was it an easy process or there was several iteration on sound?
Colin Bennun @ Stooodio Mastering in Bristol, UK did the mastering for this release.
www.oood.net/mastering
Sure, there were iterations but only due to minor, subjective elements. Colin knows what he is doing with his gear and that was clearly evident. Any changes were due in part to my personal sonic taste and nothing more. I had some personal preferences and Colin did an outstanding job working with those parameters while still using his professional judgment to achieve maximum sonic potential with my provided mixes.
We would like to hear your opinion on what you think about modern psychedelic downtempo music?!
The sound design and sound quality is pretty amazing sometimes. I feel pretty disconnected from what is modern but some tunes out there occasionally pass by my ears that just seem so absolutely top-notch it is ridiculous.
Do you listen to any of psy downtempo music ? If yes what are your recent favourite artists or albums ?
I feel I am too out of the loop with what is “recent” to be able to answer. But I am constantly hearing amazing ideas and production / engineering from people all across the planet. A lot of people are finally finding an affordable approach to their creativity and so we are living in times of abundant musical output.
Right! What about the trance or techno music ? Do you like it ?
They are music styles that have their time and place for people wanting that vibe. I don’t really listen to either anymore but that is not to say I do not like it.
Fair enough. What music do you listen in the car?
Whatever CD I happened to remember to grab. If I forget one, then road noise becomes my driving soundtrack.
What kind of music do you listen at home ?
If I am not working in the studio, I generally am not listening to music as my ears generally get enough action in there during the days. If listening at home, the ipod is usually on random with stuff from my older music collection. If I really get in the mood for something specific I will put on the CD and lounge back with eyes closed to give it my full attention.
Nice) CDs , digital or streaming?
I prefer CDs but I am from an outmoded generation.
What do you enjoy in life apart from music ?
Aside from music I enjoy family and friends, good food, chilling out, being outdoors, and gardening to name a few.
Great! TV or books?
If I had to choose one over the other I would take books.
Alright, sound production or internet?
If you are asking would I rather be on the internet or creating music the answer is sound production. My studio machine is not connected to the internet for a reason. ;)
Perfect idea) What is Saiko Sounds ?
Saiko Sounds was a music distributor and music retail website based out of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, they are no longer in business.
What are your favourites sites in internet?
www.synthtopia.com
www.soundonsound.com
www.synthmuseum.com
Where do you get your music news from ?
Artist websites and facebook pages.
We are curious if you visit psybient.org?! What do you think about this project and our current interface ?
I do not but I really appreciate the support and awareness that you are helping to generate for artists. Thank you!
You are more than welcome, Tyler! We are working on the web forum project now, do you think that it is something that will be popular and in need?
I wouldn’t know as I haven’t spent any time in a forum in years.
Got you! Do you have any musical education? If no, have you ever felt a lack of it?
I don’t know if I would call my background “musical education”. I rejected a lot of the formality of reading music and played by ear most of the time. I definitely feel a lack of musicianship and ability when it comes to playing stringed instruments and as I fumble around on the keys. I also feel a severe lack of training in sound engineering as I struggle on my own to learn how to make things sound better.
To go deeper into the music creation, tell me about your production tools, what DAW do you use now? What are your favourite VSTs ?
I currently use Ableton Live 8 and Apple Logic 8. I really like the Urs Heckmann stuff. That guy is a REAL wizard.
www.u-he.com
I know you have some analog gear in your studio, what did you use for this album ?
Access Virus Indigo B keyboard
Korg MS-20mini
Roland HPD-10
Moog MF-101
Boss SX-700
What are the monitors and sound card that you use in production?
I have a few different monitor setups depending on the referencing situation.
Mackie HR-624mkII
Blueroom Minipods (original)
Boston MicroMedia 2.1
Alesis Elevate3
In the studio, my soundcard is a MOTU 24i unit which connects via a firewire cable to a dedicated MOTU PCI card in a MacPro Quad Core.
Tell us, what other musical projects are you invloved in? What are their styles?
I create music also as Distant System. It has been described as “Ambient Trance” but some of it also has slow break beat type rhythms as well. It is a great outlet for exploring a purely electronic sound scheme and the science fiction / space motif.
– Many of your listeners and readers of thie interview would like to start producing, what would you recommend them to to start with? Did you learn sound production with somebody or are you a self-taught artist ?
I am 100% self taught. There are probably many shortcomings to my work with this approach. But I will always say to anyone interested that they should just a get a decent laptop running Logic or Live along with a decent keyboard controller with knobs and teach their self if they are passionate enough. That is enough stuff to try and learn the ropes and keep a novice busy for a few years. If you lose interest, then you didn’t break the bank. If you gain interest, just move on to what naturally feels is the next evolution in your process, like possibly buying a nice outboard synthesizer. I originally taught myself Digital Performer 2.7 and wrote the first two Androcell albums in DP on a G4 powerpc tower by sequencing and recording a lot of outboard gear I had in my studio at that time. Today the processing power for music applications seems light years beyond what I was dealing with then and virtual instruments are sounding so much better and reliable. It seems if you keep fun at the center what you are doing instead of frustration then good things naturally seem to kind of start making sense.
Agree! What about live shows, did you play at any recently ? Do you have any dates planned to promote your new album ?
I have not played for a couple months now. Nothing is currently locked down as of now. I hope to be able to expose the new material as much as possible.
Yes, we sincerely wish you that! How do you usually play your live sets: which soft do you use? any analogue equipment? In your setup, how easy is it for you to change the order of the tracks? Can you remix a track on the fly or the main structure is “fixed” ?
I use Ableton Live 8. It depends on the set construction as to whether I can change up a song order or not. Sometimes the main structure is generally fixed with additional sequenced elements that can be manipulated along with additional real-time live improvisation. Other times I create a set where I can randomly choose the song and manipulate mapped parameters on an external controller.
What are your future plans related to music?
Most likely I will just keep trying to focus on getting better at the craft.
Good) What will be the next Androcell or Distant System?
The next Androcell music will probably be a follow up EP down the road. I am planning to get back to work on the second Distant System album later this fall and through winter.
Thanks for your time, Tyler! This was a very interesting interview. We, at psybient.org, wish you much more inspiration for your next project and we hope that many people will buy the album!
Thank you for your support and exposure of my work! I really appreciate all you are doing for underground artists. Cheers! ;)
We love what you are doing and beautiful psychedelic downtempo, cheers! Any last words for our readers?
Peace and dub! ;)
SOME USEFUL LINKS
FB PAGE: www.facebook.com/androcell
WEB PAGE: www.androcell.com
SC: www.soundcloud.com/androcell
also have a look at some selected altar releases referenced at www.psybient.org:
www.psybient.org/love/label/altar |
CLOSE Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump's take on rigged elections 'horrifying.' USA TODAY
Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally on Oct. 20, 2016, in Delaware, Ohio. (Photo11: Evan Vucci, AP)
LAS VEGAS — The presidential candidates ended their series of three debates with one candidate questioning the very legitimacy of the election should he lose.
Donald Trump on Thursday mocked critics of his refusal during the debate to commit to honoring the election outcome, joking to supporters in Ohio that he will "totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win."
Maintaining his claims that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the "dishonest media" are conspiring to "rig" the election against him through vote fraud and biased reporting, Trump told supporters in Delaware, Ohio, that "we want fairness in the election. ... Don't be naïve, folks. Don't be naïve."
Similar comments by Trump during Wednesday's debate drew criticism from members of both political parties, who noted that the Republican nominee has no evidence to back his claims of voter fraud, especially before Election Day on Nov. 8.
"That was the big shocker of the evening," Clinton's running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, told CBS This Morning the day after the candidates faced off in their third and final debate in Las Vegas.
Trump is claiming a rigged election because "he knows that he's losing," Kaine said, and "he just doesn't know how to take responsibility."
Trump aides said he was referring to real concerns about voter fraud as well as what they called biased news coverage against the New York businessman.
"He’s saying that until the results are actually known, certified and verified, he’s not going to concede an election," Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on ABC's Good Morning America. "He just doesn’t know what will happen."
In Ohio, Trump told supporters that "the bottom line is we're going to win." Trump also said that he would "accept a clear election result," but he would also "reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result."
The key moment in Wednesday's debate came when moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump about his rigging allegations, and whether he would accept the results of the election.
"I will look at it at the time," Trump replied, citing the "corrupt media," claims — without evidence — that millions of people are registered to vote who shouldn't be, and his contention that Clinton "shouldn't be allowed to run" for president "based on what she did with emails and so many other things."
Asked again about the American tradition in which the loser of an election concedes to the winner in order to effect a peaceful transfer of power, Trump said: "What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense. OK?"
Clinton called Trump's answer "horrifying" and added that "every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is, is rigged against him."
Several sharp personal exchanges punctuated a debate otherwise devoted to issues like the Supreme Court, immigration and foreign policy.
When Clinton knocked Trump's efforts to avoid paying federal income tax, the Republican nominee interjected with the comment "such a nasty woman."
Trump also called his Democratic rival a "liar," while Clinton accused him of being a potential "puppet" for Russian President Vladimir Putin; she approvingly cited her former primary rival Bernie Sanders' claim that Trump is "the most dangerous person to run for president in the modern history of America."
In the wake of the last debate of this cycle, a number of Republicans also criticized Trump's lack of commitment to respect the election. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a frequent critic of Trump, tweeted that the GOP nominee "saying that he might not accept election results is beyond the pale."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the party's 2008 presidential nominee, did not mention Trump by name, but he made his point clear in a statement saying that all Americans "should be confident" in the integrity of U.S. elections. While noting that he did not like losing the 2008 election to Barack Obama, McCain said he had a duty and responsibility to concede the election to the new president and did so.
"I don’t know who’s going to win the presidential election," McCain said. "I do know that in every previous election, the loser congratulates the winner and calls them, 'my president.' That’s not just the Republican way or the Democratic way. It’s the American way."
Democratic strategist Lis Smith said Trump blew whatever chance he had to change the trajectory of the race by offering "a really dark and dystopian view of America" during the debate.
Hillary Clinton participates in the final presidential debate in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 2016. (Photo11: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY)
Clinton had her best debate performance yet, Smith said, and landed "some real punches — calling Trump Putin's puppet, noting his 'beautiful hotel' (in Las Vegas) was constructed with Chinese steel, and contrasting how she was in the Situation Room during the bin Laden raid while he was judging Celebrity Apprentice."
Clinton's performance in all three debates got a social media shout-out from President Obama, who tweeted: "Outstanding 3 for 3 debate sweep for @HillaryClinton! Nobody has ever been more prepared to be @POTUS."
The former secretary of State entered the debate with leads over Trump in polls, both nationally and in the states likely to decide who wins the Electoral College.
Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who conducted a focus group during the debate, said "it's hard to see that either candidate was able to win voters leaning to their opponent." Luntz also said Trump's implicit threat to protest the election was a turn-off.
"Voters resented his refusal to accept their verdict," Luntz said. "Frankly, voters want this election over, and anything that draws it out will be rejected."
Many Republicans doubt that Trump can rally in the last 19 days of the election.
Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant based in Texas, said Trump's answer to the election acceptance question "is overwhelming what would have been a clear debate victory for him."
Sarah Isgur Flores, another GOP strategist based in Texas, said the Republican nominee "once again gave away the game by refusing to say he would accept the results of the election," and that Clinton will win the election.
Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, said Trump's refusal to commit to accepting the election's outcome is likely to undermine his debate performance overall.
"This major error will dominate the news cycle for the next several days," Kall said, "while continuing to expose the divide that exists between the Trump campaign and Republican establishment."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2ew8U44 |
Former Wisconsin state prosecutor Ken Kratz says Netflix’s Making a Murderer left out some key pieces of evidence against Steven Avery in its 10-part docu-series.
“You don’t want to muddy up a perfectly good conspiracy movie with what actually happened,” Kratz tells PEOPLE by email, “and certainly not provide the audience with the evidence the jury considered to reject that claim.”
Filmed and produced over ten years, Making a Murderer examines the twist-filled case of Avery, a Wisconsin man who was released from prison after being exonerated for sexual assault only to be arrested again and convicted for the murder of a young photographer, Teresa Halbach.
Avery is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. But he maintains his innocence and believes he was framed in retribution for filing a $36 million lawsuit against the county and authorities. (Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, was also convicted for her murder and will be eligible for parole in 2048.)
A ‘Targeted’ Crime?
Kratz, who says he was contacted by filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos but declined to be interviewed for the series, believes Avery “targeted” Halbach.
He cites Halbach’s Oct. 10, 2005 visit to the property owned by Avery’s family for a photo shoot for AutoTrader magazine: According to Kratz, Avery allegedly opened his door “just wearing a towel.”
“She was creeped out [by him],” Kratz says by phone, later adding by email: “She [went to her employer and] said she would not go back because she was scared of him.”
At 8:12 a.m. on Oct. 31, the day Halbach was killed, Kratz says Avery called AutoTrader magazine and asked them to send “that same girl who was here last time.” He says that Avery knew Halbach was leery of him, so he allegedly gave his sister’s name and number to “trick” Halbach into coming.
“Phone records show three calls from Avery to Teresa’s cell phone on Oct. 31,” says Kratz. “One at 2:24 [p.m.], and one at 2:35 – both calls Avery uses the *67 feature so Teresa doesn’t know it him…both placed before she arrives.
“Then one last call at 4:35 p.m., without the *67 feature. Avery first believes he can simply say she never showed up so tries to establish the alibi call after she’s already been there, hence the 4:35 call. She will never answer of course, so he doesn’t need the *67 feature for that last call.”
Steven Avery Dan Powers/Post-Cresent/AP
Kratz Claims Further Evidence Against Avery
During his time in prison for a rape he was later cleared of, Kratz says Avery allegedly “told another inmate of his intent to build a ‘torture chamber’ so he could rape, torture and kill young women when he was released.” Kratz adds, “He even drew a diagram.”
Kratz also claims that “another inmate was told by Avery that the way to get rid of a body is to ‘burn it.’ ” Halbach’s bones were discovered in the fire pit behind Avery’s house. He says “were ‘intertwined’ with the steel belts, left over from the car tires Avery threw on the fire to burn,” says Kratz, disputing the defense’s allegation that Halbach was burned elsewhere and her bones were later moved.
“Suggesting that some human bones found elsewhere – never identified as Teresa’s – were from this murder was never established,” he adds.
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According to Kratz, Avery’s DNA, which he says was not taken from his blood, was also found under the hood of Halbach’s car, a Toyota RAV4. “How did his DNA get under the hood if Avery never touched her car? Do the cops have a vial of Avery’s sweat?” asks Kratz. Defense attorneys alleged that Avery’s blood, which was found in Halbach’s car, may have been planted, taken from a vial of Avery’s blood that was 11 years old.
Kratz also claims that a bullet, recovered from Avery’s garage, couldn’t possibly have been planted by police, as the defense also alleged. “Ballistics said the bullet found in the garage was fired by Avery’s rifle, which was in a police evidence locker since Nov. 6, 2005,” says Kratz. “If the cops planted the bullet, how did they get one fired from [Avery’s] gun? This rifle, hanging over Avery’s bed, is the source of the bullet found in the garage, with Teresa’s DNA on it. The bullet had to be fired before Nov. 5.”
Kratz, who resigned from his position as Calumet County District Attorney in 2010 following a sexting scandal, admitted that he sent suggestive messages to a crime victim and described his behavior as “deplorable” in an email. He says he had a prescription drug problem at the time. He believes, however, that “it’s exceedingly unfair to use that to characterize me as morally unfit” in Making a Murderer and says his later behavior shouldn’t have any bearing on the case.
“[Halbach’s murder] was planned weeks ahead of time,” says Kratz. “[Avery] asked for that same girl to be sent. He was ready for her.” |
Camera Mount Common Sense
When I was at the Pipistrel factory in Slovenia last April, the techs were patiently amused while I wrapped a wing-mounted GoPro camera with a safety layer of duct tape. I'd stuck the thing under the wing with the standard GoPro 3M pressure sensitive base. "You know," one of them said, "we never do that. The adhesive holds them fine. They never come off." They were right, but when it comes to crap falling off airplanes, I go the belt-and-suspenders route.
This came to mind recently when we published an action cam review in Aviation Consumer and a couple of readers asked about the legalities of externally mounted cameras. It surfaced again this week when our video comparing cameras appeared. I figured that when I revealed how I mount these cameras, it would stir up some trouble. I was right.
I'll get to the legalities in a moment; first the mechanics. Action cams like the GoPro and Garmin's VIRB are usually equipped with footpads that will attach in various ways, including 3M pressure adhesive, suction cups and clamps. If you want it attached to the outside of the airplane, there's always a way. My way, as shown in the video, is to use the pressure-sensitive adhesive. When possible, clean the area first with alcohol, set the pad, and let it cure overnight. Then it's ready for the camera.
To the amusement of my Solvenian friends, I backstop the pad with tape. First, I lay down a layer of painter's tape to protect the paint. Then I wrap the duct tape entirely around the surface and join it to itself, top end facing downstream. I fashion a small tether out of tape and wrap it around the base of the camera mount. The end of the tether's flat section of tape goes under the wrapped layer. This lash-up is hell for strong. It's simply not going to break under the normal loads conceivably imposed on the camera. It's also overkill. But I don't want to lose a $300 camera or dent someone's noggin or windshield.
There are all kinds of commercial mounts for GoPros. Sporty's has one that attaches anywhere there's a number 6, 8 or 10 screw on the airframe. They say it's for experimental aircraft only signaling, at least for public consumption, that they believe such mounts are of questionable legality on certified aircraft. Here's another mount for a strutted aircraft. I haven't tried it, but it looks well designed for a reasonable price.
Among the many mounts used for action cams are suction cups. Lots of people use these on the outside of the airplane, but I wouldn't consider it. A slight leak in the seal or a good shake or oil-caning and the cup can part company with the surface. In that case, a strong, but short tether of some kind is a must. The tether shouldn't allow the camera to flop around, but merely to tip over.
When I use a suction cup inside the airplane, usually stuck to the glass, I try to tether it even then. I've had them pop loose more than once. I made myself a selection of bungee tethers with snaps on both ends, so I can wrap them around available attachment points. GoPro sells its own small adhesive tethers, but I haven't found a use for them yet. I also tether the cameras when I use them on motorcycles.
Now the legalities. My general response to this has been don't ask, don't tell. But our hand got forced when a couple of readers asked about the legalities. The operator of a skydiving aircraft was about to be violated for some claimed infraction related to an external camera mount. So we asked the FAA at the local and national level. My colleague Larry Anglisano, editor of Aviation Consumer, got this internal guidance memo from the FAA: Here's the PDF. It's short and to the point, so I suggest reading it.
Basically, the memo says camera mounts aren't major alterations since they don't appreciably change flight characteristics, performance, weight and balance or basic airworthiness. They also don't represent changes to the aircraft's basic type certification, so no STC is necessary. The memo suggests reviewing them on a "case-by-case" basis. In the reality of the modern regulatory world, that means one FSDO inspector might have no problem with a temporary camera mount installed using no tools, while another may clearly see a violation of some FAR he would have to cite. Which inspector you get is the luck of the draw, but I think the FAA's memo gets it right: case by case and use common sense.
The memo further says the FAA doesn't support such attachments and should one come loose, the ever-present FAR 91.13 cudgelcareless or reckless operationis available for use. And that's as it should be. The act of mounting the camera is not, of itself, careless or reckless; losing it because you didn't do it right might be. Again, case by case.
Without looking too hard, you can find language in the regulations that might define one of these mounts as illegal on a certified airplane. If that's your wont, have at it. But my view is just the reverse; I'm looking for a way to get it done with reasonable safety and practicality without spending a fortune to film a lousy three-minute video. I think it's a paranoid absurdity to argue that a GoPro taped to a strut will alter the flight characteristics of an airplane in any way, much less meaningfully. (Then again, that's not true of everywhere you could put a camera. See this discussion.)
On the other hand, if you mount the camera to a control surface or where a detachment could jam a control or damage the aircraft, you're not using good judgment. Anyone who's really nervous about this either shouldn't do it or should take the trouble to have an A&P do an inspection and a logbook entry. Otherwise, just mount the camera, do your flight, and remove it when you land. Keep it simple. This is supposed to be fun and recreational, remember? And be mindful of speed. Strut mounts on a 172 are one thing, the top of a turboprop wing something else. (Pipistrel had cameras all over the Panthera, which cruises at 180 knots.)
If you're anticipating doing a lot of video work or doing it professionally, check out this product, the Eagle 360. It's a nicely made camera belly pod and is fully STCd and approved for at least 50 airplanes and will accommodate up to five cameras. If you want to do serious aerial video right, that's how.
Wednesday P.M. update: I've been getting calls and emails on this subject in the background. One reader, with extensive experience in mounting GoPros on wings and other structures, had two suggestions I hadn't considered. One, the 3M patch will degrade with time. So it shouldn't be left to weather on the wing for more than a few days. Just use a fresh one. They're cheap. But do let it cure overnight.
Second, use so-called high speed tape--this stuff--to protect the paint under the 3M pad. You can use another wrap across the top of the camera for extra security. Polyken tape is actually intended as an aviation product, albeit no specifically for this purpose.
Join the conversation.
Read others' comments and add your own. |
Rafael da Silva is out of Manchester United 's Champions League clash with Real Sociedad and facing a battle to be fit for Sunday's Old Trafford encounter with Arsenal after suffering ankle ligament damage.
The Brazilian full-back sustained the injury during United's 3-1 victory at Fulham on Saturday before being substituted at half-time by manager David Moyes.
Rafael reported for training at Carrington this morning wearing a protective boot and will miss the trip to Spain.
But Moyes may now be forced to face Premier League leaders Arsenal without a specialist right back if the youngster fails to respond to treatment this week.
United's medical staff have yet to rule Rafael out of the Arsenal game, but he is understood to be 'touch and go' for the clash with Arsene Wenger's team, who could move 11 points clear of United with a win on Sunday.
If Rafael fails to prove his fitness, Moyes will turn to either Phil Jones or Chris Smalling to fill the gap.
Meanwhile, Michael Carrick and Jonny Evans are both doubts for the Sociedad game after missing training today. |
By Peter Hizalev
Peter is the co-founder of Sameroom and its chief technical officer. This is a re-post of a 2012 paper.
I still remember vividly my first encounter with a SMP computer. This was around 1996 and it was a dual-socket Pentium Pro monster. It blew my mind.
Growing up with the x86 [r]evolution, I was always curious about the innerworkings of computer hardware. My first 8088 board was simple enough that I could understand every signal line in it. Now, this Pentium Pro machine before me had two processors and two sets of L1 and L2 caches, with RAM shared between them. And I was wondering—how was it possible to keep caches and RAM in sync? How would someone actually write software for this incredible beast?
Fast-forward to 2012. Two things happened: the internet and the power wall.
The internet ignited the renaissance of distributed computing. We often cite operations of a scale unprecedented in pre-internet information systems. But this is actually true for just a handful of companies. What really undid traditional information systems is how quickly the capacity requirements grow once а product hits the hockey stick. This made old systems terribly uneconomical. Seemingly overnight, the scale-up approach of expensive, proprietary systems was replaced by scaling-out generic, consumer-level kits.
The power wall killed the great hope that we can keep scaling single-threaded performance forever. While superscalar improvements were still there, CPU designers finally took the SMP revolution to the streets in the mid 1990s, when we witnessed the emergence of multi-socket PC servers. By the 2010s, multiple core CPUs became commonplace, all the way from laptops to smartphones.
A seemingly independent development was the idea of connecting multiple computers with a network and no shared memory. It was years in the making: core theoretical concepts behind distributed computing were developed in the 1970s, with continued research and some commercial applications emerging in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the quickly-evolving Ethernet made local computer networks ubiquitous and "client-server architecture" became the buzzword of the day.
In a distributed system, we have two or more processes talking to each other over a network. They do this by sending each other messages.
A message from process A to process B is copied from the memory of process A, travels over the network wire, and into to the memory of process B.
Now, it seems that in a SMP computer we don’t have the problem with copying data between memories of processes running on different CPUs, since we can share a memory block between threads. Wrong! In a SMP system, when process B reads a memory block written by process A, there is still actual copying going on: from process A’s CPU cache over the interconnect, to process B’s CPU cache.
Cache coherence is the under-the-hood copying mechanism that tries to pretend the copying is not happening, and that memory is really shared.
This copying can get pretty involved if you're running a NUMA system, where a message from process A to B travels over multiple hops in the interconnect—much like a network packet would in a switched data center. The more CPU cores we place on the interconnect, the less it looks like shared memory and more like separate networked computers—cache coherence does not scale.
So here we are, with these awesome systems built out of different flavors of processes talking over the network and pretending to share memory. Hardware threads are used when communication is more frequent or the amount of shared data is substantial. Networked processes are used when scaling requirements are less predictable, or fault tolerance is required.
Some applications exhibit embarrassing parallelism, where we can nicely package computation to saturate a given SMP computer and scale out—and speed up—by adding more computers.
Unfortunately, such applications are rare. Most interactive applications can be represented as graphs of interdependent processes waiting for I/O to complete. This makes it really hard to nicely saturate today’s entry-level SMP computer.
Enter another renaissance: virtualization.
Economical efficiency in mind, we would love to co-locate multiple parts of an application on the same physical computer. The caveat is that these applications may have different, or even conflicting dependencies within an operating system. Virtualization offers full isolation by running many instances of an operating system on a single physical computer. I mention renaissance, because the utility of virtualization was well known before today. Mainframes used virtualization extensively for decades. They simply became way too powerful to run anyone’s single application and it made sense economically to start virtualizing.
Mainframes still exist, but they were largely disrupted by minicomputers in the 1970s and then minicomputers were further disrupted by PC servers in the 1990s.
We can argue that PC servers are becoming too powerful to run distributed systems economically. Much like in the advent of the PC server era, when the economy of scale in personal computers made them superior to the previous generation of computers, today’s smartphones will do the same to the ARM-based servers of tomorrow. At the same time, the speed of local networking will be approaching the speed of CPU interconnect, while the complexity of CPU interconnect will be approaching that of a switched packet network. In the end, this new type of computer will bring about data-centers-on-a-chip or high-density computing, whichever way we look.
What abstractions do we have today to deal with these type of a computer? Processes over a TCP/IP network and threads over shared memory seem like two very different ways of dealing with one problem—communication between concurrent workflows. Both are arguably antiquated for this new computer. TCP/IP was designed for unreliable global networks and carries significant overhead for fast local interconnects. Shared memory does not scale to a large number of CPU cores. But all we really want is to send a message from workflow A to workflow B.
Enter Erlang.
Erlang was designed in the 1980s by group of engineers at Ericsson. They specifically were trying to address the shortcomings of existing languages with respect to handling highly-concurrent telephony applications with extreme reliability requirements. Concurrency meant handling millions of small processes that would occasionally communicate with each other. Reliability meant guarding against hardware failure and, more importantly, against bugs in the program. Erlang designers made a great tradeoff from the outset: immutability and single assignment (very uncommon in conventional programming languages), enforced by the VM.
On top of immutability, the Erlang VM defines lightweight processes that can send and receive messages. This enables the level of isolation for much nicer garbage collection—processes can be garbage collected independently, eliminating the need for a stop-the-world model. Further, Erlang promotes the least amount of error handling in favor of quickly crashing processes. To address error recovery, Erlang defines the concept a supervision tree—a hierarchy of watchdog processes whose only responsibility is to restart failed worker processes. Another key built-in construct is the ability to send and receive messages between processes on VMs running on connected computers, and yet another is the ability to hot-load code without stopping the VM, or any running process.
I would argue that the Erlang execution model is very well suited to run directly on a future data-center-on-a-chip computer without an operating system and virtualization. Immutability removes the need for cache coherence (although signaling inside the VM may need one, or some sort of specialized hardware). The Erlang VM already maps one process scheduler to one hardware thread. Processes are load-balanced to evenly saturate the available CPU cores and maintain cache locality. Messages are precisely what they are—immutable memory blocks shuttled between caches over a switched interconnect. Supervision trees can span a hardware topology and handle both hardware failures and software bugs for great fault tolerance.
It would likely take a very evolved Erlang to run on this computer of the future. It may well be the Erlang VM that hosts other—non Prolog-based—languages on top of it, while enforcing all the important semantics (Elixir is a good candidate). Or, it may be some new software altogether.
Erlang matters today because it demonstrates how these semantics can be elegantly packaged in one language, execution model, and virtual machine.
Comments on Hacker News |
Dunkin' Donuts slips after scorching debut
Shares of Dunkin' Brands fell 5 cents on Thursday after jumping 47% on Wednesday, causing some to wonder if investors are setting themselves up to get soaked.
The parent of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors found a strong reception as investors pushed shares to $27.85, up from the $19 initial price.
Such a strong welcome for Dunkin' Brands' initial public offering sets the tone for the rest of the week, a robust one for deals. Nine companies plan to go public this week, making it the busiest week since Dec. 13, says John Fitzgibbon of IPO Scoop.
Yet, such a rabid response to Dunkin' is potentially positioning investors for disappointment, because of the:
•Record of another high-profile doughnut chain. Dunkin's debut hearkens back to the 2000 IPO of Krispy Kreme. Shares jumped 76% its first day.
Like Dunkin', Krispy Kreme was heralded for its loyal customer base and great opportunity to expand beyond the East Coast. But too-fast expansion, aggressive accounting practices and other problems turned Krispy Kreme into a textbook debacle for investors who bought the hype. Shares are down 14% from their first-day closing price and off 83% from their all-time high of $49.37 in August 2003. "People's memories are short," says Fitzgibbon.
•Recent struggles of high-profile restaurants. Given the uncertainty of the economy, restaurants continue to show their struggles. Two other popular restaurants, pizza chain Sbarro and casual dining chains Perkins & Marie Callender's have filed for bankruptcy protection this year, says BankruptcyData.com.
Big year for big debuts Big year for big debuts ?
•Poor showings by some recent IPOs with big first days. Chinese IPOs E-commerce China Dangdang and Renren soared 87% and 27% on their first days, only to fall 60% and 42% since.
Investors are so hungry for companies that can grow amid the sluggish economy, they're making a big leap as to how successfully Dunkin' can expand into the Western U.S., says Francis Gaskins of IPOdesktop.com. "I'm skeptical," he says, adding that the company keeps just 5 cents of every dollar in profit and has high interest expense.
Investors are focusing on the company's bright spots, including relatively untapped markets in the West and internationally, says Linda Killian of Renaissance Capital.
IPOs of other popular retailers are also faring well, she says. Investors are eager to buy into companies "that offer consumers the satisfaction of buying what they want," she says.
Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to For more information about reprints & permissions , visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to [email protected] . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com |
What better way to review 2017 than a two-minute time-lapse video of carbon intensity?
Energy for Humanity collaborated with ElectricityMap creators, Tomorrow, to track climate leadership in Europe and publish our European Climate Leadership Report at the COP23 Climate Conference in Bonn. We love their Electricitymap Pro Version as a tool to better understand the different carbon intensities of the electricity generation systems of European countries, and the impact of of cross border electricity flows.
Watch this custom-made timelapse video above showing the electricitymap for the period of October 2016 to September 2017. In high speed it reveals interesting details on European climate performance:
France, Norway and Sweden have constantly low emissions per kWh over the whole year
Norway is constantly green since its citizens consume practically only hydropower. This is thanks to the topography that allows large volumes of hydro power generation. No “tough decision” had to be made by the past governments or the people.
France and Sweden remain green all year round too. What do they have in common? They both decided some decades ago after the oil crisis in the 1970’s and also for environmental reasons not to burn fossil fuels for electricity generation, but rather use nuclear power.
For other countries, their carbon intensity fluctuates depending mostly on weather and the increasing use of variable renewables, leading to less use of lignite, coal or natural gas firing for electricity generation.
Switzerland changes colour from bright green (showing below 100 gCO2eq/kWh) to sometimes “brownish” color (up to 500 gCO2eq/kWh), depending on how much electricity is imported from its “dirty” neighbour in the north, Germany.
Notice the seasonal changes as northern European countries use more power, and have less sunshine.
See the wind dragons!
Will 2018 be the year that we get serious about tackling climate change?
From a climate perspective, 2017 has been a carbon intense year. In November we learned that global carbon emissions are on the rise again in 2017 after three years of little-to-no growth, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia and the Global Carbon Project.
Something needs to change. Our European Climate Leadership Report shows that away from the political hot air, those countries with the cheapest and cleanest electricity grids use a combination of nuclear, hydro and wind.
However, few European leaders have had the courage to take climate seriously enough to say that nuclear is needed as well as renewables.
At the end of 2017, President Macron broke the taboo about nuclear as a climate solution. Speaking at the One Planet Summit in December he said:
“I don’t idolize nuclear energy at all. But I think you have to pick your battle. My priority in France, Europe and internationally is CO2 emissions and (global) warming”
President Macron announced that he would not follow Germany’s example by phasing out nuclear energy in France because his priority was to cut carbon emissions and shut down polluting coal-fired production.
Bravo! Our open letter to him in July, signed by 45 eminent environmentalists and scientists, expressed alarm at his now-thankfully-reversed decision to move France away from clean nuclear power. Few nations have done more than France to demonstrate the humanitarian and environmental benefits of creating a high-energy, nuclear-powered, electrified society.
By choosing the new battle against climate change over the old battle against nuclear, President Macron has shown real climate leadership. It took courage to break the nuclear taboo. Why does it matter? Because to solve climate we need more climate realism.
Here’s hoping for more rational climate policy in 2018.
We wish all our followers and friends Happy Holidays and all the best for the new year.
Your Energy for Humanity Team |
If you are running Windows 10 Home you have no option to turn off Automatic Updates for the operating system. If you choose to use Windows 10 Professional there are options to Defer Updates but it is not a process that allows you to avoid updates forever - it actually gives you about four months.
Microsoft has released a tool that will allow you to hide some of the updates and drivers from Windows Update if they are causing you issues after their installation. This troubleshooter will walk you through hiding those updates and prevent them from reinstalling automatically. You can use this same tool to unhide those patches once they have been updated by Microsoft.
The information page for the download does not contain any information about how long the patches will remain hidden but I suspect it is not a tool to hide them forever. I also suspect this troubleshooter is not going to allow every patch for Windows 10 to be blocked as that would be counter to Microsoft's automatic updates for Windows 10 Home users.
Ultimately, this is meant as a troubleshooter for temporary issues and you should unhide updates once Microsoft remedies the issue with them.
This gallery will give you an idea of what the troubleshooting wizard looks like when it is in use. |
U.S. President Barack Obama handed the torch of progressive politics to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday in a warm, rousing speech to Parliament, in which he also bluntly urged Canada to spend more on defence to meet its international obligations.
He praised the extraordinary alliance and deep friendship between Canada and the United States.
"We see ourselves in each other and our lives are richer for it," Obama said.
"The enduring partnership between Canada and the United States is as strong as it has ever been and we are more closely aligned than ever before."
The American president reserved heartfelt mention for Trudeau, who he said has brought "new energy and hope" to the cross-border relationship.
"My time in office may be nearing an end, but I know that Canada and the world will benefit from your leadership in the years to come."
But he also included pointed comments on a perennial sore spot, one that has taken fresh urgency in the face of a resurgent Russia and rising Islamic extremism.
"As your NATO ally and your friend, let me say, we'll be more secure when every NATO member, including Canada, contributes its full share to our common security," Obama said to sustained applause from both Liberals and Conservative MPs and senators, who returned from summer break for the historic event.
U.S. President Barack Obama is greeted by a standing ovation in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Wednesday. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
"Because the Canadian Armed Forces are really good. And if I can borrow a phrase, the world needs more Canada. NATO needs more Canada. We need you."
Washington has been ratcheting up the pressure on Ottawa to spend more for two years, ever since Russia annexed Crimea and set off a shadow war in eastern Ukraine.
At the moment, Canada spends just under $20 billion on defence — or 1 per cent of its gross domestic product, which is half the NATO standard.
Obama: 'The world needs more Canada' 1:21
The Trudeau government has also waffled on a call by NATO to contribute to a high-mobility brigade destined for eastern Europe as a deterrence measure.
Although the federal government has privately expressed interest, it has yet to formally declare this publicly.
Obama's remarks will put more pressure on the Liberal government for a public pronouncement.
His appearance on the floor of the House of Commons, alongside Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau,was greeted with a thunderous ovation.
"It tempts me to shut up and leave. It can't get any better than this," he said, as usual decorum was abandoned and MPs snapped photos with their phones.
But the American leader, noted for his eloquence, did not disappoint.
Obama on the values of great countries 1:24
"From this vibrant capital we can look upon a world that has benefited enormously from the international order that we helped build together. But we can see that order increasingly strained by the accelerating forces of change," he said.
But the economic values of market-based liberal economies are stronger than one event, such as the exit of Britain from the European Union.
The world is more prosperous than ever before, but Obama said it's witnessing a troubling rise in wage stagnation and inequality.
"If the benefits of globalization accrue only to those at the very top, if our democracies seem incapable of assuring broad-based growth and opportunity for everyone, then people will push back out of anger or out of fear," he said.
His progressive message of racial tolerance, social equality and justice, which is routinely and often vehemently challenged in his own his country, was embraced enthusiastically.
Trudeau, in his opening remarks, left no doubt he looked up to Obama.
"History books will record the signature policies. What I will remember; what I hope we all will remember are the lessons you taught us, not by executive order, but by example," he said.
Obama and Trudeau greet kids on Parliament Hill 2:13
Provinces in the House
The speech was watched closely by Canada's resident political and even entertainment establishment.
MPs, senators and even singer Nelly Furtado were among the invited guests.
Premiers from Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories were there.
That's not surprising, since those provinces and the territory are likely among the most affected by Obama's signature environmental initiative.
There were light-hearted moments earlier in the day as two leaders met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The president gave a discreet thumbs-up to reporters at the closing news conference when Trudeau ribbed Obama about repeated references to his impending "retirement" from public office.
Before that, as photographers snapped the family photo-op outside the National Gallery, the trio turned an awkward three-way handshake into a light and breezy moment.
.<a href="https://twitter.com/CanadianPM">@CanadianPM</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS">@POTUS</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/EPN">@EPN</a> take a break during <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NALS2016?src=hash">#NALS2016</a> for a quick photo-op in front of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Parliament?src=hash">#Parliament</a> Hill <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpoli?src=hash">#cdnpoli</a> <a href="https://t.co/ck3g5U0Tpt">pic.twitter.com/ck3g5U0Tpt</a> —@CPAC_TV
Rich tradition
Friendships between leaders may come and go, but speeches to Parliament by American leaders have, over the decades, developed their own groove.
Former U.S. president John F. Kennedy addressed Parliament in 1961. (Ted Grant)
They hit all of the important symbolic points in the relationship between the two countries and may never have been as elegantly expressed as they were in John F. Kennedy's May 17, 1961, address.
"Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man tear asunder."
It was a theme that Justin Trudeau's father picked up 20 years later when he introduced the newly elected Ronald Reagan to the House of Commons.
"Our being neighbours is not simply a matter of geography, it is a state of mind," said Pierre Trudeau on March 11, 1981. |
SOFTWARE HOUSE Microsoft has started rolling out Windows Phone 8.1 to developers, and they have been quick to reveal what we can expect from the update.
Windows Phone developers have flocked to Reddit to detail the update within an inch of its life, revealing about all there is to know about the next software iteration before a beta version is released to developers in April.
Chief among Windows Phone 8.1's features is support for Windows RT apps, with the SDK offering "Universal App" support with templates to build both Windows Store and Windows Phone Store apps from the same shared HTML and Javascript code.
A loose-lipped developer who claims to create "high profile" apps for the mobile operating system explained on Reddit that this likely points towards Microsoft merging Windows Phone and Windows RT, with apps now easy to create for both.
Developers have noted that Windows Phone 8.1 now includes an iCloud option in Settings, which means it likely will support iCloud accounts to further lure customers away from iOS. VPN support is also included and Microsoft's rebrand of Skydrive to Onedrive is obvious in the SDK, while a new feature has been introduced that likely will allow Windows Phone users to change the default messaging app.
Developers have also revealed that Windows Phone 8.1 will be available to all Windows Phone 8 devices, but there's no word yet on a release date.
That's not all that's new. According to the lengthy Reddit thread, multitasking has been tweaked to look more like that in Windows RT, there's support to install apps to an SD card, and there are three new camera modes and a Battery Power Sense app that shows which apps are using the most battery life.
Perhaps most interestingly, developers have noted that Facebook integration seems to have been removed in the update, and there's no sign of Microsoft's mooted Cortana voice assistant.
Microsoft has yet to comment on the rumours. µ |
The U.S. Navy/Northrop Grumman Corporation X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration aircraft reached a major milestone Sept. 30 when it retracted its landing gear and flew in its cruise configuration for the first time.
The flight, conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, also helped validate precision navigation hardware and software that will allow the X-47B to land with precision on the moving deck of an aircraft carrier.
“Last week’s flight gave us our first clean look at the aerodynamic cruise performance of the X-47B air system…and it is proving out all of our predictions,” said Janis Pamiljans, vice president and Navy UCAS program manager for Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector. “Reaching this critical test point demonstrates the growing maturity of the air system, and its readiness to move to the next phase of flight testing.”
The recent flight was part of an on-going “envelope expansion” program for the first of two X-47B aircraft produced by Northrop Grumman for the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. Envelope expansion flights are used to demonstrate aircraft performance under a variety of altitude, speed and fuel load conditions.
The UCAS-D program plans to begin transitioning aircraft to Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md. in late 2011 to begin shore-based carrier suitability testing in 2012. The focal point of the program is to demonstrate in 2013 the first aircraft carrier launches and recoveries by a tailless, low-observable-relevant unmanned system. |
Should a 400 lb man advise us on the evils of over-consumption?
Should the resident of a million-dollar apartment claim to be a poster boy of the working class?
Should a person who thought that Enron was a great investment, that Ralph Nader, Wesley Clark and John Kerry would win, and that North Korea's Kim Jong was changing for the better, advise us on ANYTHING?
Michael Moore is a paradox. A millionaire who boasts of wealth as proving his value -- "I'm a millionaire, I'm a multi-millionaire. I'm filthy rich. You know why I'm a multi-millionaire? 'Cause multi-millions like what I do. That's pretty good, isn't it?"
He lives in a million-dollar apartment, and boasts of that as well. "I walk among them. I live on the island of Manhattan, a three-mile-wide strip of land that is luxury home and corporate suite to America's elite..... Those who run your life live in my neighborhood. I walk in the streets with them each day" (Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, p. 51). For vacations, he keeps another million-dollar beachfront house in Michigan.
"You would think that he's the ultimate common man. But he's money-obsessed," said one associate.
He sends his child to a private school -- no sense associating with the working class -- and has some trouble associating with them himself. The New York Post reported on a tantrum he threw in London: "Then, on his second-to-last night, [Michael Moore] raged against everyone connected with the Roundhouse and complained that he was being paid a measly $750 a night. 'He completely lost the plot,' a member of the stage crew told the London Evening Standard. 'He stormed around all day screaming at everyone, even the 5 pound-an-hour bar staff, telling them how we were all con men and useless. Then he went on stage and did it in public.' At his last appearance, staffers refused to work or even open the theater's doors." NY Post, Jan. 8, 2003.
He supplements his meager income with speaking tours. No more $750 gigs; on his 2004 pre-election tour he charged Utah Valley State College $40,000, Xavier $25,000, and University of New Mexico $35,000. Not bad for an hour or two's work.
Ah, the joys of capitalism....
One of his former associates summed him up: " You would think that he's the ultimate common man. But he's money-obsessed."
And ....
His major themes are his status as the spokesman of the working class, the evils of capitalism, and the selfishness of (all other) Americans.
It would be easy to denounce Moore as a hypocrite. Many conservatives denounce him as a leftist, when in fact the serious left, the thinking left, generally finds him appalling. He is the latest in the modern breed of Limosine Leftists -- individuals who, while personally they share the values of 19th century robber barons, find it flattering to adopt a thin veneer of leftism as a pose, in the same manner they pick a flattering hair style or gown. (A left-leaning critic of Moore summed up the situation very nicely: Moore's appeal lies in his giving wealthy, over-educated, whites an opportunity to laugh at working-class whites.)
But enough on Michael Moore as a person. Let's examine his output.
A consistent theme can be found throughout his work, and that is a theme of deception any time it is useful. Moore fixes upon a conclusion and, when the data do not exist, simply invents them.
Bowling for Columbine
A look at Bowling for Columbine (my main analysis to date). In producing his Oscar-winner, Moore altered history, misled his viewers, and edited the footage and audio in such a way as to reverse the meaning. In one case, he took a speech of a person he desired to target; the problem was that the speech was in fact conciliatory and mild. So he spliced in footage from another speech, cut out paragraphs, and spliced the beginning of one sentence to the ending of another. In another, when he wanted to criticize a political advertisement, but it wasn't as pointed as he wanted, he spliced together two different political ads, then added titling which was in neither.
Stupid White Men
A short review of his perhaps autobiographical Stupid White Men. Here we learn such shocking things as -- 200,000 Americans are dying of Mad Cow Disease and no one knows it; Bush secretly stole the election by having Florida bar convicted felons (which Moore maintains were great Gore supporters) from voting; Nader did the Demos a big favor by running in 2000; Enron is a great investment. Okay, Mike.
Dude, Where's My Country?
Another of his books --Dude, Where's My Country, (page still under construction.) In this tome we learn "There is no terrorist threat," (p. 95) and Richard Nixon was the last liberal President, (p. 193). (Even more amusingly, in chapter 8 Moore pledges to contribute the limit to whichever Democrat has the best chance of winning (p. 162) and then in chapter 11 tells the reader that the Democrats are "professional losers," that "Democratic Party leaders have told me something they will not admit in public -- that they have basically written off 2004; that they see little chance of defeating George W. Bush" (p. 204) and that they might as well run Oprah Winfrey. (p. 206).)
Fahrenheit 911
A page on Moore's planned Fahrenheit 911 (in preparation).
Musings on the Cult of Moore
A very deep question: Moore is unquestionably popular. Is this a clue as to an interesting but dangerous cultural/emotional development?
Some Notes on Moore's resume' -- a native of Flint? Not quite....
Does Moore have a few fan -- Osama bin Laden?
Second Amendment Documentary
Not really on-theme -- but I'm working on my own documentary, an honest treatment of the Second Amendment and the American right to arms. It will show details many do not dream exist. For example, the fact that the 14th Amendment (perhaps the most important Amendment of them all -- without it, States would be free to violate any provision of the Federal bill of rights) arose directly out of post-1865 State attempts to disarm the returning black Union veterans. Click here for details.
Hits on this (and its predecessor) since April 2003: |
Fepic Ale was first brewed by a gnomish bard with a penchant for alcohol and pranks. His intent was to brew an unassuming alcohol that would reduce the stoutest of men into gibbering idiots. He used it to great effect in performances, daring anyone in his audience to take a pint and remain standing. If nobody took the dare, he would bring out his lovely assistant, who would offer to spend the evening with anyone who could take the pint and still talk intelligibly.Some took the dare, but many jumped at the opportunity to prove themselves to the lovely assistant. For many years, nobody beat the drink.However, one day the bard was introducing his new, beautiful and youthful--but legal--assistant to the crowd. Every man in town wanted to try for the young lady. The bard, making eight silver on every pint--and more than a little greedy--modified the wager. If, after two pints, the man was still standing, he would be allowed to spend the whole night with the assistant.Well, if you flip a coin enough times, it will eventually stop on its edge.Out of the hundred men who drank Fepic Ale that night, twelve died, eight-seven passed out--and one bear of a man remained standing. True to his word, the bard left his assistant in the hands of the man, who enjoyed himself to no end that night. Meanwhile, the bard, being responsible for the poisoning death of twelve men, fled town.The next day, the assistant, sore in many ways, but mostly sore at the bard, was arrested by the town's sherrif. In exchange for her freedom, she offered to lead a group of deputies to the bard who concocted Fepic Ale.They traveled for several days, and eventually caught up with the bard. The young woman was bound to a tree while the deputies confronted the bard. The bard resisted, and was killed in the struggle. The deputies freed the young woman before returning to their own town, leaving her all of the bard's posessions, sans one piece of parchment that had a recipe for an ale on it, which they had burned on the spot.While she said nothing at the time, the young woman recognized that what they burned wasn't the recipe for Fepic Ale, but for a milder drink the bard had picked up in another town. After searching her new posessions, she discovered the true recipe, hidden in a pouch in the dead bard's clothing.While the deputies swear they killed the bard and destroyed the recipe, there are occasional rumors of a performer daring and teasing audiences with Fepic Ale in towns small and large alike.FEPIC ALE: Alcoholic beverege. Fort save DC 25 or be intoxicated.Fort save DC 16 or take 2d4 INT and 2d4 WIS damage. |
Christian leaders in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, captured by an organization formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda, have signed a submission document this week banning them from practicing Christianity in public in return for protection by their Islamist rulers.
The document, dated Sunday and disseminated through Islamist Twitter accounts, states that the Christian community in the province of Raqqa, captured last March by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), was recently given three options: to convert to Islam; to remain Christian but pledge submission to Islam; or to “face the sword.” They opted for the second of those choices, known as dhimmitude.
Earlier this month, al-Qaeda’s central command distanced itself from ISIS, saying it was “not a branch of al-Qaeda.”
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The authenticity of the document, displaying the stamp of al-Qaeda, could not be independently verified. The signatures of 20 Christian leaders at the bottom of the document said to have been party to the agreement were blotted out, ostensibly at their own request.
According to classic Islamic law, Christians and Jews living under Muslim sovereignty must pay a tax known as jizya in return for the Muslim ruler’s protection, known as dhimma.
The Christians of Raqqa chose to sign the dhimma treaty over war, the document stated, receiving a commitment by local ISIS commander Ibrahim Al-Badri, also known as Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, not to be subjected to physical harm or religious targeting.
In return, the Christians agreed to a list of conditions: to abstain from renovating churches or monasteries in Raqqa; not to display crosses or religious symbols in public or use loudspeakers in prayer; not to read scripture indoors loud enough for Muslims standing outside to hear; not to undertake subversive actions against Muslims; not to carry out any religious ceremonies outside the church; not to prevent any Christian wishing to convert to Islam from doing so; to respect Islam and Muslims and say nothing offensive about them; to pay the jizya tax worth four golden dinars for the rich, two for the average, and one for the poor, twice annually, for each adult Christian; to refrain from drinking alcohol in public; and to dress modestly.
“If they adhere to these conditions, they will be close to God and receive the protection of Mohammed his prophet … none of their religious rights will be detracted nor will a priest or monk be wronged,” the document ended. “But if they disobey any of the conditions, they are no longer protected and ISIS can treat them in a hostile and warlike fashion.”
ISIS has previously banned the sale of cigarettes in Raqqa and enforced the veil for women in public. Last week, the Daily Star Lebanon reported, it changed the official weekend in the province to Thursday and Friday from Friday and Saturday, as practiced in “faithless countries.” |
Tokyo Toward 2020
Shibuya is undergoing a major transformation ahead of the Olympic Games to be hosted in Tokyo in 2020. The huge redevelopment project will reshape the area around Shibuya Station, known to many as a cultural hub and home to the famed scramble crossing and Hachikō statue, giving it a brand-new feel.
Bringing A New Look to Shibuya
Tokyo’s bustling neighborhood of Shibuya has a reputation as a fashion and pop-culture hub, drawing hordes of visitors from around Japan and further afield. Easily recognized for its lively and much-photographed scramble crossing, the area around Shibuya Station is undergoing a massive makeover ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020 that will reshape the look and feel of one of the metropolis’s most popular cultural and consumer enclaves.
The long-term project has already been underway for some time, and once complete it will provide Shibuya with a new skyline of high-rise buildings and also significantly bolster the area’s infrastructure. Heralded as a once-a-century undertaking, the renovation is scheduled to be mostly completed in time to greet the influx of tourists and other visitors expected to descend on Tokyo for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2020.
Shibuya Station, a pulsing commuter hub housing a complex tangle of nine train and subway lines, is set to undergo a major revamp that will make it easier for travelers to navigate the sprawling terminal. As one of the first steps, in 2013 the Tōkyū Tōyoko Line was moved from the second floor to the fifth underground level, where it now connects to the Tokyo Metro’s Fukutoshin Line.
Heading the relocation were line operator Tōkyū Corporation and its affiliate, Tōkyu Land Corporation. The Shibuya-based firms are key players in the redevelopment, overseeing a grand total of seven projects in the overhaul that aims to transform the station area into a hub of business and entertainment. Progress was already evident in 2012, when the tape was cut on the 43-story Shibuya Hikarie, a multipurpose high-rise on the east side of the station whose facilities include offices and a multiuse theater.
The redevelopment of the station district involves top Japanese architectural firms Kengo Kuma & Associates, Nikken Sekkei, and Sanaa. Along with overhauls to the aging terminal, the project will include as a centerpiece a new multipurpose skyscraper adjacent to Shibuya Station. Set for completion in 2019, the 230-meter structure will extend 46 floors above ground and 7 below and will dominate the east side of the station, towering over the adjacent Shibuya Hikarie by nearly 50 meters. It will be joined by several low-rise commercial buildings above and to the west of the station that will be part of the second phase of construction scheduled for completion in 2027.
The station high-rise will be topped with one of Japan’s largest observation decks. Hovering 230 meters in the air, the expansive rooftop space is almost guaranteed to become a tourist attraction, offering a panoramic view of Tokyo, including the scramble crossing and surrounding Shibuya area, Yoyogi Park and the Shinjuku skyline to the north, and Roppongi and the central business area to the east, not to mention Mount Fuji to the west on clear days.
A Hub for Train and Bus Travel
The redevelopment of the station area will improve how people get in and out of Shibuya. One of the most notable changes will be to Hachikō Square, with the famed meeting spot near the west exit expanding by roughly half its current size. To accommodate the extension, the terminal taxi stand will move underground.
The gently rising Dōgenzaka 1-chōme area near the station, also on the west side, will be the site of a new low-rise building featuring a ground-floor bus terminal offering coach service to and from Haneda and Narita Airports. It will be located closer to the station than the current terminal, significantly improving access between rail and road transport. The building will have a variety of services aimed at travelers, including an area to store and deliver luggage, a money exchange counter, and a tourism office.
Shibuya Station is also getting a makeover that will bolster safety and improve convenience. As part of remodeling, the Saikyō Line will be moved north 350 meters so it lies parallel to the Yamanote Line, while the currently separate platforms of the latter will be rebuilt as an island with the north- and south-bound trains arriving on either side. The Tokyo Metro Ginza Line will also shift 130 meters east from its current location above the JR lines, bringing it closer to Shibuya Hikarie, and ending the sight of the line’s yellow subway carriages plying the rails above congested Meiji-dōri.
This shuffling of rail lines will be carried out together with the construction of a new underground plaza at the east exit of the station. Once completed, commuters will be able to swiftly transfer between the raised JR, Ginza, and Keiō Inokashira Lines and the Tōkyū Tōyoko, Den’entoshi, Hanzōmon, and Fukutoshin Lines lower down.
The smooth flow of people will be made possible by an array of escalators and elevators at the east exit. The Shibuya River, now little more than a concrete-encased chute, will be redirected through the area, and a large catchment will be built to protect the low-lying station area from heavy rainfall.
Reviving the Shibuya River
Amid the flurry of construction, concerns remain that Shibuya may become overly organized and lose the energetic jumble that is its trademark today. Such worries may be premature, though, as planners of the project have been careful to keep the chaotic scramble crossing intact and have avoided cookie-cutter design aspects for new buildings.
As an example, Shibuya Stream, a new building in the Shibuya Station South area scheduled to open in autumn 2018, will be flanked by a 600-meter walkway along the banks of the unenclosed Shibuya River. There will be trees along the entire length of the footpath, creating a unique greenspace among the high-rise buildings.
Such developments represent a turnaround from the dominant tone when Tokyo last hosted the Olympic Games in 1964. At that time Japan was in the middle of a period of high economic growth that saw the metropolis entomb its rivers in concrete as it rushed to build roads and highways. Aware of this history, the planners of the redevelopment project have begun to reverse the damage and return a water environment to the city.
Attracting Creative Talent
During the IT bubble in the latter half of the 1990s, Shibuya built a reputation as Japan’s answer to Silicon Valley, attracting venture firms that were drawn by the area’s free and easy atmosphere. By the mid-2000s, however, leading IT companies had migrated from Shibuya’s “Bit Valley”—a play on the technical term as well as on “bitter,” one meaning of the shibu character in the area’s name—to other areas around Tokyo.
A primary cause of this exodus was Shibuya’s scant office space. Listings tended to be small and lacked the sprawling infrastructure standard in larger office buildings, making them unattractive to startups looking to take off. To woo back major market players and cutting-edge tech firms, planners aim to construct a whopping 260,000 square meters of new office space, including 73,000 square meters in the Shibuya Station area alone.
Special attention has been given to including design aspects that reflect Shibuya’s distinct feel while also appealing to creative workers. As an illustration, Shibuya Stream will offer more than 20 floors of spacious offices that can easily be adapted to the needs of tenants, and its fifth-floor lobby will include a ceiling arch designed after the iconic wave-shaped patterns of the Tōyoko Line’s old roof. There will also be an atrium-style area on the fourth floor with shared work spaces and compact offices for incubating startups.
Along with the redevelopment project, the Parco building, a long-time epicenter of fashion and youth culture, is set to be reborn in 2019. The 19-story commercial building will feature floors of retail space, a multipurpose theater, and facilities for nurturing the next generation of creators and entrepreneurs.
There is also Shibuya Cast, a newly opened complex next to Miyashita Park north of Shibuya Station that is designed with creative workers in mind. Along with shops and offices, the first and second floors of the building are occupied by Co-lab, a co-working space with location around the Tokyo area, and its upper stories have shared living spaces and serviced apartments. Symbolic of its creative ethos, the building sits at the head of Cat Street, a narrow lane that winds northward through the subculture and street fashion center of Harajuku.
As Shibuya Cast illustrates, the area around Shibuya Station is undergoing a transformation that will remake it into a hub for tourism, business, and innovation. However, while the redevelopment project will give Shibuya a new look, these changes will only serve to enhance the area’s existing uniqueness.
(Originally written in Japanese by Katō Jun and published on May 30, 2017.) |
Apparently, a lot of Kickstarter supporters for the Friday The 13th game are about to go all Jason on the developers at Gun Media for sending out copies of the game to people before they got theirs. Back when the game was nothing more than a dream, thousands of people backed the project and blew the top off their $700k goal. Now with the game set to come out today, many of those people are outraged that game reviewers, media reps, streamers and content creators got a copy of the game before they did.
Now we here at Bleeding Cool haven’t received a review copy ourselves, but we know friends and colleagues at other websites who have and are doing their proper reviews because that’s part of the language of hyping a game. If you want something to reach a wider audience, you have to let media and influential people try it out to get the word going to average fans who may not know it exists. Kind of like what this story is doing. Which is what Wes Keltner tried to explain to the backers on their forums. The part that makes all of this nerve-wracking for Gun Media, however, is that products are usually promised to the backers in advance of an official release.
As press/media/reviewers we understand what he’s talking about, but we also feel for the Kickstarter backers having backed some campaigns ourselves and been on both sides of getting it early and getting it late. By giving others who didn’t spend a dime on the Kickstarter access to the game before they shipped out copies to fans, Gun Media may have just killed whatever goodwill they had with their fanbase and may never see that kind of loyalty again. Only time will tell as DLC and updates come out how people will react to them going down the road, not to mention if they decide to do a second game in the same fashion.
About Gavin Sheehan Gavin has been a lifelong geek who can chat with you about comics, television, video games, and even pro wrestling. He can also teach you how to play Star Trek chess, be your Mercy on Overwatch, recommend random cool music, and goes rogue in D&D. He also enjoys standup comedy, Let's Play videos and trying new games, along with hundreds of other geeky things that can't be covered in a single paragraph. Follow @TheGavinSheehan on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Vero, for random pictures and musings.
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The fabled marshes of southern Iraq are drying up (Image: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)
The “Garden of Eden” is drying up this summer. Water levels in the fabled Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq have reached their lowest levels since Saddam Hussein substantially drained them in the 1990s to starve their inhabitants.
The reason is that the Euphrates, one of two rivers that flow through the marshes, has been reduced to a trickle.
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The falling water levels have triggered a crisis. “It’s tragic,” says Hassan Janabi, Iraq’s chief water diplomat. “It happened unexpectedly, and because our focus was on combating terrorism, it went unnoticed.”
Last week, water levels in the marsh town of Al Chabaish were half the normal levels for the time of year, according to Jassim Al-Asadi of Nature Iraq, a conservation NGO. “The amount of water from the Euphrates reaching the marshes is less than a tenth of what is needed,” he says. This is happening despite near-normal rainfall.
Suzanne Alwash of Mt San Antonio College in Walnut, California, a wetlands ecologist who knows the marshes well, says: “Salinity has doubled, water buffalo can no longer drink from the marshes, and fish [deaths] are common.”
Blame game
In June, the Iraqi parliament’s agriculture and water committee blamed the crisis on Turkey, where hydroelectric dams block the river’s upper reaches. It accused Turkey of breaching a deal to deliver 500 cubic metres of water per second out of the country down the Euphrates. The head of Turkey’s directorate of state hydraulic works did not respond to questions on this, though New Scientist has been told that flow has resumed in recent days.
Iraq’s parliamentarians also blame ISIS, which in May captured the river’s Ramadi dam. The group has reportedly cut supplies to government-controlled areas further downstream – including the marshes – by using the dam to divert water into nearby Lake Habbaniyah, which is intended to take wet-season floodwaters. In addition, it may be on the verge of taking over the Haditha dam upstream, which would give ISIS total control of the Euphrates in Iraq.
But a third culprit may be the Iraqi government, which is anxious to exploit the river’s waters in a hearts-and-minds battle to hold back ISIS.
Azzam Alwash, head of Nature Iraq, says that three-quarters of the water reaching the edge of the marshes at the city of Najaf has recently been diverted to irrigate the fields of the area’s rice farmers, who back the government. To protect the marshes, “the government’s own stated policy is not to allow rice growth in years of little water”, he says.
Saddam constructed huge engineering works in the 1990s to divert the Euphrates and Tigris rivers away from the marshes – which once covered 10,000 square kilometres of southern Iraq – to force out rebels who lived there. After his downfall, Azzam Alwash returned from exile in the US and spent more than a decade masterminding a plan to reflood the marshes, as well as persuading the Iraqi government to create a national park there.
But recent events have put his plan into reverse. More than half the area is now desiccated once again. |
About the Scoping Study
In late 2015, the Australian and NSW governments announced the joint
Western Sydney Rail Needs Scoping Study (the Scoping Study) to
determine the long-term need, timing and service options for passenger
rail to service both Western Sydney and Western Sydney Airport.
The purpose of the Scoping Study was to investigate options for passenger rail connections across the region.
A key component of the Scoping Study has been engagement through community consultation, industry engagement and stakeholder meetings.
The Outcomes Report has now been released
Western Sydney Rail Outcomes Report
The joint Scoping Study Outcomes Report outlines the long-term need, timing and service options for passenger rail to service both Western Sydney and Western Sydney Airport.
The Scoping Study addressed two separate but inter-connected questions:
What are the rail needs for Western Sydney as a whole, including connectivity within Western Sydney and connectivity from Western Sydney to the rest of the city, and
What are the best options for providing rail network connectivity to Western Sydney Airport?
The Scoping Study Outcomes Report provides background and answers to these questions through a number of recommendations, including the development of a long-term Preferred Network for Western Sydney.
Scoping Study – Discussion Paper
Community consultation was undertaken during late 2016 and was supported by a discussion paper, a dedicated website and local events.
More than 1,000 responses were received through the public consultation process, which helped inform the Outcomes Report.
A high-level summary of the feedback received from the community is provided within the Outcomes Report.
Further information about planning for the Western Sydney Airport is available at westernsydneyairport.gov.au |
Arizona Coyotes Attorney Nicholas Wood, left and President Anthony LeBlanc speak of legal action against the city of Glendale after the council voted to back out of their agreement with the NHL team during a special council meeting Wednesday, June 10, 2015 in Glendale, Ariz. (Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic) Story Highlights Four Glendale City Council members have been targeted for recall
The four voted to terminate a 15-year, $225 million agreement with the Arizona Coyotes
The council will meet today in a closed-door session to discuss legal options on the Coyotes deal
Four Glendale City Council members who voted last week to rescind the city's $225 million agreement with the Arizona Coyotes are being targeted for recall.
Glendale real-estate agent Larry Feiner on Monday requested documents to begin recall efforts against Vice Mayor Ian Hugh and City Council members Jamie Aldama, Lauren Tolmachoff and Bart Turner. All four voted last week with Mayor Jerry Weiers to terminate the Coyotes' lease and management contract for Gila River Arena.
Weiers is not being targeted because it would require roughly 18,000 signatures on petitions to recall the mayor, while it takes only about 1,000 signatures for each of the council members, Feiner said.
ROBERTS: Coyotes mess is just the tip of the ice(berg) for Glendale
RELATED: Barroway to step down from Coyotes majority role
"The council members are acting so irresponsibly with trying to hardball the team into renegotiating a 15-year deal that is not even 2 years old," Feiner said. "My city is going to be irreparably harmed by the horrible decision to cancel the contract."
The recall effort is the latest fallout from the 5-2 vote Wednesday to instruct the city attorney and city manager to cancel the Coyotes agreement.
On Friday, Coyotes attorneys obtained a temporary injunction in Maricopa County Superior Court to keep Glendale from killing the arena deal. The legal team also said in its complaint that the Coyotes would eventually seek damages that already exceed $200 million.
A successful recall effort would force the council members to either resign or run in an election Nov. 3.
RELATED: Candidate emerges to challenge Sherwood in Glendale recall election
Feiner, a Glendale resident since 2004, has not yet filed political-committee documents that would be required for each of the recall efforts. He did meet with the city clerk and requested the paperwork to start the process.
Aldama said, "Individuals have the right to recall their leaders ... but I don't know if it is merited."
Hugh had no comment on the potential recall effort, and Turner was unavailable for comment.
Tolmachoff said she stands behind her decision and is "still hopeful we can come to a solution on the arena-management agreement."
The City Council is scheduled to meet in a closed-door session at 1 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to consult with the city attorney and consider its position on agreements for the arena and with the Coyotes.
Weiers did not return calls seeking comment on any negotiations with the Coyotes before Tuesday's meeting. Glendale announced last week that acting City Manager Dick Bowers was planning to set up a meeting with the Coyotes.
City Attorney Michael Bailey said late Tuesday that the city was not going to "litigate in the press" but it will be releasing more information to bolster its conflict-of-interest allegations.
RELATED: Glendale's sports dream sours amid Coyotes deal conflict
At Tuesday's meeting, the council could either proceed with sending a letter to the Coyotes to terminate its agreement or back off of its decision, perhaps saying it got bad legal advice or had learned new information, said Councilman Gary Sherwood, who voted with Councilman Samuel Chavira to oppose terminating the contract.
"I don't know how much we'll be able to say after the meeting," but Glendale will probably issue a statement, Sherwood said.
Glendale has refused to disclose details of its legal reasons for ending the deal.
SAGA OF COYOTES ARENA DEAL
Bailey at the council meeting cited a state conflict-of-interest law as its legal justification without explaining which former employees it alleges violated the statute.
"The facts support a conclusion ... this statute was violated when former employees who now work for the Coyotes heavily influenced and quietly assisted in the final negotiations of the (Coyotes) contract," Bailey told the council. "You have the right to terminate this contract if you believe the former employees violated the public trust."
The state law is intended to prevent a city employee from a creating or negotiating a heavily favorable contract for a company that subsequently hires him or her.
In Maricopa County Superior Court on Friday, Bailey said former City Attorney Craig Tindall and former Assistant City Manager Julie Frisoni had conflicts of interest involving the Coyotes.
The Coyotes' attorneys in their complaint disputed any conflict of interest because Tindall and Frisoni were not involved in the Coyotes deal. They said the city has not presented any evidence to prove its claim of a conflict of interest.
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Glendale hired Tindall in August 2001, and his termination date was Oct. 2, 2013, according to city records.
He was promoted to city attorney in 2005. Glendale approved a separation agreement with Tindall in April 2013, three months before the City Council approved its agreement with the Coyotes.
Tindall stayed on the city payroll through October and was available to work up to five hours every two weeks, according to his separation agreement. His salary was $174,296 annually.
Arizona Coyotes fans Chris Webb and Andrew Hill show their support for their team as the as the Glendale Council votes to back out of their agreement with the NHL team during a special council meeting Wednesday, June 10, 2015 in Glendale, Ariz. (Photo: David Kadlubowski/The Republic, David Kadlubowski/The Republic)
He went to work for the Phoenix law office of Fennemore Craig in July 2013, and the Coyotes hired him a little more than a month later as their general counsel, the Coyotes complaint said. Tindall is still the team's general counsel.
Frisoni, who was communications director when the city approved the Coyotes deal in July 2013, said last week she had no involvement in the pact.
Frisoni resigned from Glendale in March and left the city April 22 to start a public-relations company.
The Coyotes hired her as a consultant to work on a bid to bring the 2018 World Junior Championship hockey tournament to Gila River Arena, she said.
That bid has been dropped because of the legal dispute with Glendale, according to the Coyotes.
"It's amazing to me that this would come up working on an event that would have brought millions of dollars to Glendale," Frisoni said.
Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1MHaz1m |
Live in relationship and having a child will come under bigamy act? I had a live in relationship with a girl and we had intention to marry after sometime. In between, I met a girl in office who fell in love with me and I was kind of attracted to her. At one point of time, I told the second girl that I already have s*xual contacts with another women(I never had any s*xual contact with the second girl). The second girl said that she can't live without me and demanded to marry her. I told this to the first girl and we three had a long discussions regarding that and finally we planned that I should marry the second girl so that my job will not be lost and continue to have live in relationship with first girl and we three should live in a same house. . Once the register marriage is over, she started acting against our agreement and she threatened me that I should not have any contact with the first girl. I had to leave the first girl because of the threaten by second girl as she said she will file police case against me. . After 6 months of marrying second girl, I once called first girl and understood that she is 7 months pregnant and she is carrying my child. Then I had to fight with the second girl and somehow managed to stay with the first girl during her delivery with the consent of second girl. . Then I rented a house for the first girl during delivery and I got introduced to the neighbors as her husband and I was only providing maintenance to the first girl. Visiting weekly once for some hours to spend time with child and providing meager money for expenses. . Second girl didn't even permit for this and we always had fight regarding this. I couldn't leave the first girl at any cause as she is mother of my child. . Now the second girl with whom I got married under special marriage act has filled a compliant against me under bigamy and cheating. She said in the compliant that she was unaware of the relationship with the first girl and she came to know about it recently. . Now there is a FIR against me in the police station. I never legally married the first. But the second girl has got the birth certificate of my child where it mentions myself as father and first girl as mother. . Please provide legal opinion that what will happen to me now? I am an Indian.
At present I lost my job since there is a FIR in my name, I was working in a private company and they suspended me becacuse of FIR..
Second girl is demanding 15 lakhs money from me or she will sue me in the court. Please advice me |
By Rachel Blevins
The State Department has released a trove of documents that give insight into the CIA’s role in the 1953 coup d’état that led to the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq.
The newly declassified documents, titled “Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, Iran, 1951–1954,” provide a notable difference from the State Department’s 1989 version of the coup, which left out any involvement from American and British intelligence.
A memorandum from Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles to President Eisenhower, dated March 1, 1953, serves as a reminder that internally, “the elimination of Mossadeq by assassination or otherwise,” was used as a method in repairing ties with Iran, restoring oil negotiations, and stopping a “Communist takeover.”
Ever since the assassination of General Razmara in March 1951, and the subsequent impasse and diplomatic break with Britain over the oil negotiations, the Iranian situation has been slowly disintegrating. The result has been a steady decrease in the power and influence of the Western democracies and the building up of a situation where a Communist takeover is becoming more and more of a possibility. However, even the present crisis is likely to be unsatisfactorily compromised without a Communist Tudeh victory. Of course, the elimination of Mossadeq by assassination or otherwise might precipitate decisive events except in the unlikely alternative that the Shah should regain courage and decisiveness.
Another memorandum from the CIA, dated March 3, 1953, detailed the “Capabilities of CIA clandestine services in Iran,” which could be used to “prevent the assumption of power by Tudeh,” Iran’s Communist party.
The list included mass propaganda means; personal denunciations and rumor spreading; street riots, demonstrations, and mobs; and providing assistance in Iran “After Tudeh Take-Over.”
Mass propaganda means (press, etc.): CIA controls a network with numerous press, political, and clerical contacts which has proven itself capable of disseminating large-scale anti-Tudeh propaganda.
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While the conversations initially supported Mossadeq as Iran’s prime minister, the tone soon changed, and a memorandum from the CIA, dated March 18, 1953, noted that top State Department officials had begun discussing “The general subject of Mossadeq’s continuance in office.”
Gist of discussion was to effect that situation has materially altered since December. While there is no obvious choice in sight to replace Mossadeq it is felt that any assets which could be rallied to support a replacement should, if at all possible, he preserved for at least a few months more until the course of events may be clarified.
In addition to its array of “services” listed above, that were used to control the situation in Iran, the CIA also advised the soon-to-be leaders. In a memorandum, dated August 14, 1953, the CIA detailed a meeting with Fazlollah Zahedi, the Iranian general who would become Mossadeq’s replacement.
Earlier meeting with Zahedi showed him firm of purpose but inhabiting dream world so far as his subsequent program concerned. Spoke of free medical care for the third class citizens, mechanizing agriculture and growing vast crops of cotton on Moghan Steppes, equalizing wealth by income taxes, etc. Time [is] not right for us to argue issue but we [are] warning strongly against making impossible promises in early speeches. It [is] clear Zahedi will need firm, realistic guidance.
Survival Solar Battery Charger - Free Today! In a memorandum, dated August 17, 1953, the CIA revealed its attempts to control public opinion after the coup, by telling Kermit Roosevelt, the director of the operation, that the State advised its “press relations people” to stay away from terms such as “coup d’état” and “plot,” while working to convince the public that if there was a coup, it was on behalf of Mossadeq—not Zahedi. Roosevelt should be advised that State has passed the word to VOA and instructed its own press relations people to avoid any such terminology as ‘coup d’état,’ ‘plot,’ etc., and that while playing the story ‘straight’ they should play up the fact that there is another version of the story supported by both Zahedi and now the Shah which indicates that if there was any coup d’état it was that of Mossadegh and not of Zahedi. The archive includes nearly 1,000 pages of documents, and while it is significant in framing the stage for today’s relations between the United States and Iran, it also important based on the fact that it is information the U.S. has attempted to bury. The idea that the CIA would meddle in a sovereign nation, work to overthrow its government, and then influence public perception, is nothing new in 2017. And yet, despite years of revelations, regime-change wars and failed proxy governments, there is still a perception among the American people that the government interfering with countries that have done nothing to the U.S. is all in the name of “freedom.” Rachel Blevins is a Texas-based journalist who aspires to break the left/right paradigm in media and politics by pursuing truth and questioning existing narratives. This article first appeared here at The Free Thought Project. |
Git Common-Flow 1.0.0-rc.5
Introduction
Common-Flow is an attempt to gather a sensible selection of the most common usage patterns of git into a single and concise specification. It is based on the original variant of GitHub Flow, while taking into account how a lot of open source projects most commonly use git.
In short, Common-Flow is essentially GitHub Flow with the addition of versioned releases, optional release branches, and without the requirement to deploy to production all the time.
Summary
The "master" branch is the mainline branch with latest changes, and must not be broken.
Changes (features, bugfixes, etc.) are done on "change branches" created from the master branch.
Rebase change branches early and often.
When a change branch is stable and ready, it is merged back in to master.
A release is just a git tag who's name is the exact release version string (e.g. "2.11.4").
Release branches can be used to avoid change freezes on master. They are not required, instead they are available if you need them.
Terminology
Master Branch - Must be named "master", must always have passing tests, and is not guaranteed to always work in production environments.
- Must be named "master", must always have passing tests, and is not guaranteed to always work in production environments. Change Branches - Any branch that introduces changes like a new feature, a bug fix, etc.
- Any branch that introduces changes like a new feature, a bug fix, etc. Source Branch - The branch that a change branch was created from. New changes in the source branch should be incorporated into the change branch via rebasing.
- The branch that a change branch was created from. New changes in the source branch should be incorporated into the change branch via rebasing. Merge Target - A branch that is the intended merge target for a change branch. Typically the merge target branch will be the same as the source branch.
- A branch that is the intended merge target for a change branch. Typically the merge target branch will be the same as the source branch. Pull Request - A means of requesting that a change branch is merged in to its merge target, allowing others to review, discuss and approve the changes.
- A means of requesting that a change branch is merged in to its merge target, allowing others to review, discuss and approve the changes. Release - May be considered safe to use in production environments. Is effectively just a git tag named after the version of the release.
- May be considered safe to use in production environments. Is effectively just a git tag named after the version of the release. Release Branches - Used both for short-term preparations of a release, and also for long-term maintenance of older version.
Git Common-Flow Specification (Common-Flow)
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
TL;DR Do not break the master branch. A release is a git tag. The Master Branch A branch named "master" MUST exist and it MUST be referred to as the "master branch". The master branch MUST always be in a non-broken state with its test suite passing. The master branch IS NOT guaranteed to always work in production environments. Despite test suites passing it may at times contain unfinished work. Only releases may be considered safe for production use. The master branch SHOULD always be in a "as near as possibly ready for release/production" state to reduce any friction with creating a new release. Change Branches Each change (feature, bugfix, etc.) MUST be performed on separate branches that SHOULD be referred to as "change branches". All change branches MUST have descriptive names. It is RECOMMENDED that you commit often locally, and that you try and keep the commits reasonably structured to avoid a messy and confusing git history. You SHOULD regularly push your work to the same named branch on the remote server. You SHOULD create separate change branches for each distinctly different change. You SHOULD NOT include multiple unrelated changes into a single change branch. When a change branch is created, the branch that it is created from SHOULD be referred to as the "source branch". Each change branch also needs a designated "merge target" branch, typically this will be the same as the source branch. Change branches MUST be regularly updated with any changes from their source branch. This MUST be done by rebasing the change branch on top of the source branch. After updating a change branch from its source branch you MUST push the change branch to the remote server. Due to the nature of rebasing, you will be required to do a force push, and you MUST use the "--force-with-lease" git push option when doing so instead of the regular "--force". If there is a truly valid technical reason to not use rebase when updating change branches, then you can update change branches via merge instead of rebase. The decision to use merge MUST only be taken after all possible options to use rebase have been tried and failed. People not understanding how to use rebase is NOT a valid reason to use merge. If you do decide to use merge instead of rebase, you MUST NOT use a mixture of both methods, pick one and stick to it. Pull Requests To merge a change branch into its merge target, you MUST open a "pull request" (or equivalent). The purpose of a pull request is to allow others to review your changes and give feedback. You can then fix any issues, complaints, and more that might arise, and then let people review again. Before creating a pull request, it is RECOMMENDED that you consider the state of your change branch's commit history. If it is messy and confusing, it might be a good idea to rebase your branch with "git rebase -i" to present a cleaner and easier to follow commit history for your reviewers. A pull request MUST only be merged when the change branch is up-to-date with its source branch, the test suite is passing, and you and others are happy with the change. This is especially important if the merge target is the master branch. To get feedback, help, or generally just discuss a change branch with others, it is RECOMMENDED you create a pull request and discuss the changes with others there. This leaves a clear and visible history of how, when, and why the code looks and behaves the way it does. Versioning A "version string" is a typically mostly numeric string that identifies a specific version of a project. The version string itself MUST NOT have a "v" prefix, but the version string can be displayed with a "v" prefix to indicate it is a version that is being referred to. The source of truth for a project's version MUST be a git tag with a name based on the version string. This kind of tag MUST be referred to as a "release tag". It is OPTIONAL, but RECOMMENDED to also keep the version string hard-coded somewhere in the project code-base. If you hard-code the version string into the code-base, it is RECOMMENDED that you do so in a file called "VERSION" located in the root of the project. But be mindful of the conventions of your programming language and community when choosing if, where and how to hard-code the version string. If you are using a "VERSION" file in the root of the project, this file MUST only contain the exact version string, meaning it MUST NOT have a "v" prefix. For example "v2.11.4" is bad, and "2.11.4" is good. It is OPTIONAL, but RECOMMENDED that that the version string follows Semantic Versioning (http://semver.org/). Releases To create a new release, you MUST create a git tag named as the exact version string of the release. This kind of tag MUST be referred to as a "release tag". The release tag name can OPTIONALLY be prefixed with "v". For example the tag name can be either "2.11.4" or "v2.11.4". It is however RECOMMENDED that you do not use a "v" prefix. You MUST NOT use a mixture of "v" prefixed and non-prefixed tags. Pick one form and stick to it. If the version string is hard-coded into the code-base, you MUST create a "version bump" commit which changes the hard-coded version string of the project. When using version bump commits, the release tag MUST be placed on the version bump commit. If you are not using a release branch, then the release tag, and if relevant the version bump commit, MUST be created directly on the master branch. The version bump commit SHOULD have a commit message title of "Bump version to VERSION". For example, if the new version string is "2.11.4", the first line of the commit message SHOULD read: "Bump version to 2.11.4" It is RECOMMENDED that release tags are lightweight tags, but you can OPTIONALLY use annotated tags if you want to include changelog information in the release tag itself. If you use annotated release tags, the first line of the annotation SHOULD read "Release VERSION". For example for version "2.11.4" the first line of the tag annotation SHOULD read "Release 2.11.4". The second line MUST be blank, and the changelog MUST start on the third line. Short-Term Release Branches Any branch that has a name starting with "release-" SHOULD be referred to as a "release branch". Any release branch which has a name ending with a specific version string, MUST be referred to as a "short-term release branch". Use of short-term release branches are OPTIONAL, and intended to be used to create a specific versioned release. A short-term release branch is RECOMMENDED if there is a lengthy pre-release verification process to avoid a code freeze on the master branch. Short-term release branches MUST have a name of "release-VERSION". For example for version "2.11.4" the release branch name MUST be "release-2.11.4". When using a short-term release branch to create a release, the release tag and if used, version bump commit, MUST be placed directly on the short-term release branch itself. Only very minor changes should be performed on a short-term release branch directly. Any larger changes SHOULD be done in the master branch, and SHOULD be pulled into the release branch by rebasing it on top of the master branch the same way a change branch pulls in updates from its source branch. After a release tag has been created, the release branch MUST be merged back into its source branch and then deleted. Typically the source branch will be the master branch. Long-term Release Branches Any release branch which has a name ending with a non-specific version string, MUST be referred to as a "long-term release branch". For example "release-2.11" is a long-term release branch, while "release-2.11.4" is a short-term release branch. Use of long-term release branches are OPTIONAL, and intended for work on versions which are not currently part of the master branch. Typically this is useful when you need to create a new maintenance release for a older version. A long-term release branch MUST have a name with a non-specific version number. For example a long-term release branch for creating new 2.9.x releases MUST be named "release-2.9". Long-term release branches for maintenance releases of older versions MUST be created from the relevant release tag. For example if the master branch is on version 2.11.4 and there is a security fix for all 2.9.x releases, the latest of which is "2.9.7". Create a new branch called "release-2.9" from the "2.9.7" release tag. The security fix release will then end up being version "2.9.8". To create a new release from a long-term release branch, you MUST follow the same process as a release from the master branch, except the long-term release branch takes the place of the master branch. A long-term release branch should be treated with the same respect as the master branch. It is effectively the master branch for the release series in question. Meaning it MUST always be in a non-broken state, MUST NOT be force pushed to, etc. Bug Fixes & Rollback You MUST NOT under any circumstances force push to the master branch or to long-term release branches. If a change branch which has been merged into the master branch is found to have a bug in it, the bug fix work MUST be done as a new separate change branch and MUST follow the same workflow as any other change branch. If a change branch is wrongfully merged into master, or for any other reason the merge must be undone, you MUST undo the merge by reverting the merge commit itself. Effectively creating a new commit that reverses all the relevant changes. Git Best Practices All commit messages SHOULD follow the Commit Guidelines and format from the official git documentation: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Distributed-Git-Contributing-to-a-Project#_commit_guidelines You SHOULD never blindly commit all changes with "git commit -a". It is RECOMMENDED you use "git add -i" or "git add -p" to add individual changes to the staging area so you are fully aware of what you are committing. You SHOULD always use "--force-with-lease" when doing a force push. The regular "--force" option is dangerous and destructive. More information: https://developer.atlassian.com/blog/2015/04/force-with-lease/ You SHOULD understand and be comfortable with rebasing: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Branching-Rebasing It is RECOMMENDED that you always do "git pull --rebase" instead of "git pull" to avoid unnecessary merge commits. You can make this the default behavior of "git pull" with "git config --global pull.rebase true". It is RECOMMENDED that all branches be merged using "git merge --no-ff". This makes sure the reference to the original branch is kept in the commits, allows one to revert a merge by reverting a single merge commit, and creates a merge commit to mark the integration of the branch with master.
FAQ
Why use Common-Flow instead of Git Flow, and how does it differ?
Common-Flow tries to be a lot less complicated than Git Flow by having fewer types of branches, and simpler rules. Normal day to day development doesn't really change much:
You create change branches instead of feature branches, without the need of a "feature/" or "change/" prefix in the branch name.
Change branches are typically created from and merged back into "master" instead of "develop".
Creating a release is done by simply creating a git tag, typically on the master branch.
In detail, the main differences between Git Flow and Common-Flow are:
There is no "develop" branch, there is only a "master" branch which contains the latest work. In Git Flow the master branch effectively ends up just being a pointer to the latest release, despite the fact that Git Flow includes release tags too. In Common-Flow you just look at the tags to find the latest release.
There are no "feature" or "hotfix" branches, there's only "change" branches. Any branch that is not master and introduces changes is a change branch. Change branches also don't have a enforced naming convention, they just have to have a "descriptive name". This makes things simpler and allows more flexibility.
Release branches are available, but optional. Instead of enforcing the use of release branches like Git Flow, Common-Flow only recommends the use of release branches when it makes things easier. If creating a new release by tagging "master" works for you, great, do that.
Why use Common-Flow instead of GitHub Flow, and how does it differ?
Common-Flow is essentially GitHub Flow with the addition of a "Release" concept that uses tags. It also attempts to define how certain common tasks are done, like updating change/feature branches from their source branches for example. This is to help end arguments about how such things are done.
If a deployment/release for you is just getting the latest code in the master branch out, without caring about bumping version numbers or anything, then GitHub Flow is a good fit for you, and you probably don't need the extras of Common-Flow.
However if your deployments/releases have specific version numbers, then Common-Flow gives you a simple set of rules of how to create and manage releases, on top of what GitHub Flow already does.
What does "descriptive name" mean for change branches?
It means what it sounds like. The name should be descriptive, as in by just reading the name of the branch you should understand what the branch's purpose is and what it does. Here's a few examples:
add-2fa-support
fix-login-issue
remove-sort-by-middle-name-functionality
update-font-awesome
change-search-behavior
improve-pagination-performance
tweak-footer-style
Notice how none of these have any prefixes like "feature/" or "hotfix/", they're not needed when branch names are properly descriptive. However there's nothing to say you can't use such prefixes if you want.
You can also add ticket numbers to the branch name if your team/org has that as part of it's process. But it is recommended that ticket numbers are added to the end of the branch name. The ticket number is essentially metadata, so put it at the end and out of the way of humans trying to read the descriptive name from left to right.
How do we release an emergency hotfix when the master branch is broken?
This should ideally never happen, however if it does you can do one of the following:
Review why the master branch is broken and revert the changes that caused the issues. Then apply the hotfix and release.
Or use a short-term release branch created from the latest release tag instead of the master branch. Apply the hotfix to the release branch, create a release tag on the release branch, and then merge it back into master.
In this situation, it is recommended you try to revert the offending changes that's preventing a new release from master. But if that proves to be a complicated task and you're short on time, a short-term release branch gives you a instant fix to the situation at hand, and let's you resolve the issues with the master branch when you have more time on your hands.
About
The Git Common-Flow specification is authored by Jim Myhrberg.
If you'd like to leave feedback, please open an issue on GitHub.
License
Creative Commons - CC BY 4.0 |
When the College Football Playoff was first announced, many believed that the use of a committee would help foster a host of high profile non-conference matchups in the sport. If you buy into that line of thinking, consider the 2016 college football season the fruit of that labor.
Opening week is loaded with blockbuster games and the state of Texas alone may play host to the biggest weekend of college football games ever — and that’s not really over-the-top hyperbole either given some of the names involved. You want blue bloods playing other blue bloods? You got it. Looking for Playoff contenders facing off against other final four-caliber teams? Check and check. In short, the 2016 season is a bit of nirvana for the college football fan looking for some great games outside of the conference schedule.
With that in mind, here is a list of the top 25 non-conference games of the season across the country.
1. Ohio State at Oklahoma (Sept. 17)
These two schools claim 15 national titles between them and feature two of the greatest coaches in the sport in Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops. From a historical perspective, this meeting of blue bloods is about as good as they come but it’s made even juicier by the fact that each is a top-six team in 2016 and favorites to make it into the College Football Playoff. Don’t forget about the significant Heisman Trophy implications in this one either with quarterbacks J.T. Barrett and Baker Mayfield.
Podcast: Official 2016 Big 12 Preview
Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher
2. Florida State vs. Ole Miss (Orlando, Fla, — Sept. 5)
Florida State has become a trendy national champion pick over the summer and the Seminoles will be put to the test right away in this meeting of top-10 teams in Orlando. Jimbo Fisher’s squad has the talent advantage given all the young players they return but are breaking in a new quarterback. Hugh Freeze gets the benefit of having veteran signal-caller Chad Kelly lead the Rebels onto the field but has his hands full when it comes to a thin linebacker corps trying to contain Heisman contender Dalvin Cook.
3. UCLA at Texas A&M (Sept. 3)
Call it a battle of sleeping giants under the warm Texas sun in what might be Week 1’s most intriguing non-conference matchup. UCLA was picked by the media to win the Pac-12 South this season and have been undergoing an offensive transformation to suit the talents of star quarterback Josh Rosen. The Aggies are entering a new era with former Bruins offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone and transfer QB Trevor Knight but they might have a trump card on defense in the potential No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick next year, Myles Garrett.
4. Oklahoma vs. Houston (Houston — Sept. 3)
Can a non-Power Five program ever crash the College Football Playoff? We asked a similar question with Boise State for years but Houston might have the best shot of any outsider in 2016 thanks to a strong non-conference slate. It won’t be easy for head coach Tom Herman and star quarterback Greg Ward Jr. however, with a top-six team to open the year in Oklahoma. Get past the Sooners however, and the hype train for the Cougars will be stratospheric.
5. Florida at Florida State (Nov. 26)
One of the few late-season matchups on this list could have significant postseason stakes for both teams. This could be the final major hurdle for a Playoff spot for Florida State and Florida head coach Jim McElwain is hoping that things go much better in this rivalry game than they did last year. The fact that the Seminoles had state champion rings made last year will no doubt be brought up in the lead up to this game.
Podcast: Official 2016 ACC Preview
Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher
6. Alabama vs. USC (Arlington, Texas — Sept. 3)
When it comes to a meeting of all-time historical powers in the sport — 24 national titles between the two — it will be hard to top the eighth meeting between Alabama and USC. Nick Saban is obviously coming off another national championship and will be back in the familiar confines of AT&T Stadium looking to show once again that the Tide are contenders for another in 2016. USC has some talented players like JuJu Smith-Schuster and Adoree’ Jackson but face a tough road to another Pac-12 title and their early schedule does new head coach Clay Helton no favors.
7. Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee (Bristol, Tenn. — Sept. 10)
Butch Jones has steadily re-built Tennessee to the point where expectations are sky high around Knoxville and anything less than an SEC East title in 2016 will be a disappointment. There’s a reason for that but quarterback Joshusa Dobbs and end Derek Barnett shouldn’t expect an easy first game at all against the Hokies with new head coach Justin Fuente sporting a solid group of returnees and veteran defensive coordinator Bud Foster. The fact that this game is at Bristol Motor Speedway and could be in front of as many as 160,000 fans should make for a bonkers atmosphere and unique setup.
8. Wisconsin vs. LSU (Green Bay, Wis. — Sept. 3)
Few programs went through as much drama last season as LSU did and off-the-field events have drawn plenty of attention to the football team’s place in the Baton Rouge community. All those headlines obscure the fact that the Tigers are loaded with talent though and could be primed to dethrone Alabama in the SEC and make a run at the Playoff. This will be the first tough test Wisconsin has in a brutal schedule as the Badgers face an uphill climb in 2016 but they should be able to draw on a bit of magic that will likely come from playing in the storied venue of Lambeau Field.
Podcast: SEC Media Days Jam Session
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9. Stanford at Notre Dame (Oct. 15)
This has been one of the most competitive rivalry games in the country over the past five years and has delivered some classics as a result. The two have annually faced off with huge postseason implications at stake and the past four meetings have all come down to a one score. Expect much of the same again this year when the two meet in South Bend in what should be a big game for Cardinal all-purpose dynamo Christian McCaffrey’s Heisman hopes.
10. Louisville at Houston (Nov. 17)
If you like high-flying offenses and dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks, this game is for you. Louisville’s Lamar Jackson was a big part of the Cardinals’ strong close to 2015 when they won six of their final seven and has enough talent to develop into one of the ACC’s best behind center. Houston’s Greg Ward Jr. is a big reason why the Cougars are being talked about as a team that could crash the final four and, at the minimum, this game could have big implications for the team making a New Year’s Six bowl.
11. Clemson at Auburn (Sept. 3)
If this were on another weekend, it would probably get more attention but a host of other high-profile matchups have pushed this down the list a bit. Still, it’s hard to argue with watching a loaded Clemson squad looking to get back to the national title game and a showcase for the arm (and legs) of terrific quarterback Deshuan Watson. There’s plenty of intrigue on the other side too, even if Auburn isn’t a top-25 team to begin the season as Gus Malzhan looks to bounce back from a very disappointing 2015. Keep an eye out for defensive end Carl Lawson in particular as he faces off against top tackles Mitch Hyatt and Jake Fruhmorgen.
12. Notre Dame at Texas (Sept. 4)
Two of the top three winningest programs of all time will hook up once again in Austin for yet another incredible opening weekend contest. Last year, Notre Dame thoroughly embarrassed Texas and helped set the tone for another disappointing season under Charlie Strong. The Longhorns’ head coach seems to be firmly on the hot seat and a big win in the opener would no doubt cool things off considerably, especially when you consider Notre Dame will start the year off in the top 10 and has two very good quarterbacks to flummox the Horns with.
13. Washington State at Boise State (Sept. 3)
This Pacific Northwest special has the potential to be the most entertaining game of the year. Boise State sports the productive backfield of Brett Rypien and Jeremy McNichols and will no doubt have a full bag of trick plays at the ready. Mike Leach’s Cougars love to throw it around and why wouldn’t they with a quarterback like Luke Falk posting video game numbers every week. The Broncos could run the table if they can capture a win in this big-time home game while Wazzu has an early chance to show the nation that last year’s nine-win outing was no fluke.
14. Notre Dame at USC (Nov. 26)
The greatest intersectional rivalry in the country checks in a little lower on this list in 2016 than in past years but that’s more about other matchups being so good as opposed to this one slacking off. Both squads are top 25-caliber and the special nature of this game always adds to the atmosphere in the air at the Coliseum. Given the stakes that usually accompany this meeting, don’t be surprised if a potential New Year’s Six bowl bid is on the line either.
15. Oregon at Nebraska (Sept. 17)
Oregon is plenty familiar with Mike Riley dating back to the head coach’s days at Civil War rival Oregon State but the two will face off in a new locale for this non-conference matchup. The Ducks are fairly overshadowed in the Pac-12 this season for once but they still have plenty of talent on offense and recently brought in former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke to re-tool the defense. Nebraska had about as unlucky a year as one could have in 2015 and are hoping to reverse fortunes in a big way with a statement in this game from Tommy Armstrong and company.
16. Michigan State at Notre Dame (Sep. 17)
There’s a little luster lost in this rivalry game with Michigan State having to replace so many starters from last year’s Big Ten title team but this still figures to be an incredible matchup in a series that has given everybody some memorable moments. Notre Dame harbors Playoff hopes once again and has a ton of skill position talent that the Spartans must contain while also figuring out their own quarterback situation moving forward.
17. Arkansas at TCU (Sept. 10)
This non-conference game is going a bit under the radar given all of the other great ones going on in the state of Texas during September but it shouldn’t. Both of the former Southwest Conference teams will find themselves in the top 25 polls during the year and both are hoping they have an answer at quarterback that can handle this kind of test early on. Arkansas’ run game against Gary Patterson’s tough Horned Frogs defense should be reason enough to tune in.
18. BYU at Utah (Sept. 10)
The Holy War between Utah and BYU is among the most hotly contested rivalries in the country and the regular season version of the game returns for the first time in three years. The two are very familiar with each other having just played in a Las Vegas Bowl that was as wild as one can imagine given the locale. New Cougars head coach Kalani Sitake will have his hands full in the first big test of his career as BYU looks to put an end to Utah’s five-game winning streak.
19. Miami at Notre Dame (Oct. 29)
Those of a certain age remember fondly when these two powerhouses waged for a few seasons what was mockingly described as a battle between “Catholics and Convicts.” While no national titles will be on the line when the pair hooks up again, the trip to South Bend will nevertheless be fascinating to watch for Hurricanes fans pining to take a step forward with a big win under new head coach Mark Richt. Quarterback Brad Kaaya will be a handful for a young Irish defense to contain, while an aggressive Hurricanes squad will look to slow down a high-powered Fighting Irish offense led by RB Tarean Folston and WR Torii Hunter Jr on its home turf. Don’t be surprised if a shootout develops under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus.
20. Georgia vs. North Carolina (Atlanta — Sept. 3)
Normally, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game is the must-watch contest of Week 1. This year’s matchup at the Georgia Dome doesn’t quite rise to that level but it still should be as entertaining and interesting as it has been in years past. Many local fans are no doubt going to turn out to see the start of the Kirby Smart era at Georgia but the new head coach won’t have an easy opener with questions all over his two-deep. On the opposite sideline, the Tar Heels’ Larry Fedora is hoping to continue the momentum from last year’s 11-win campaign and would love for nothing more than to spoil Smart’s debut.
21. Penn State at Pitt (Sept. 10)
Penn State is finally at a full 85 scholarships in 2016 and has high expectations going into James Franklin’s third season in Happy Valley. The team will be breaking in a new quarterback after Christian Hackenberg’s departure to the NFL but luckily they’ll be able to lean on the terrific Saquon Barkley in the backfield. A hard-nosed Pitt team returns 16 starters, however, and gets back former ACC Player of the Year James Conner after he battled cancer over the past year.
22. Kansas State at Stanford (Sept. 2)
Two of the most respected head coaches in the game will square off in Palo Alto, Calif., to open the year in a matchup that should give us a glimpse at what we can expect from both teams in 2016. Bill Snyder battled a ton of injuries last year and still managed to make it to a bowl game but nothing will be as difficult for the savvy old veteran as containing dynamite Heisman runner-up Christian McCaffrey. It’s a good thing David Shaw’s Cardinal team has the impressive young tailback too considering the team is breaking in a new quarterback against an underrated Wildcats defense.
23. Texas Tech at Arizona State (Sept. 10)
Do you like shootouts? If so, this game might be one for you. Kliff Kingsbury’s Red Raiders have one of the best quarterbacks in the country in the dynamic Patrick Mahomes but a victory in this contest might have to come down to if Tech’s defense can show improvement from last season. Todd Graham will no doubt be excited for this non-conference game in order to feature his typical blitz-happy defense and a slightly new look to his “high-octane” offense.
24. Texas at Cal (Sept. 17)
While the opener against Notre Dame likely won’t cause anybody to change their minds about Texas should the Longhorns lose, this game against Cal could be described as a bit of a referendum on Charlie Strong and whether he can win a big non-conference game while in Austin. UT will be sporting a new-look spread offense to go along with a defense that has some impressive playmakers like linebacker Malik Jefferson. Cal surprised last year behind No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Jared Goff and his replacement is somebody who knows the burnt orange quite well in former Texas Tech signal-caller Davis Webb.
25. UCLA at BYU (Sept. 17)
UCLA fans would rather forget what happened the last time they traveled to Provo (a 59-0 shellacking in favor of BYU) but things are quite different this time around starting with the coaches on the sideline. This will be new head coach Kalani Sitake’s second straight game against a Pac-12 opponent and he will no doubt be hoping that the home opener will be a bit of a house of horrors for the Bruins like it once was. If nothing else, this should be a terrific matchup between quarterbacks, with Josh Rosen in the powder blues and either Tanner Mangum or Taysom Hill under center for the Cougars.
— Written by Bryan Fischer, an award-winning college football columnist and member of the Athlon Contributor Network. You can follow him from coast-to-coast on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat at @BryanDFischer.
(Top photo courtesy of Getty Images) |
ADN TWITTER RECAP Oct 28, 2017
In Case You Missed These Interesting Tweets
US Navy 22 Years/ Served1970-1972 SS 1972-1975 US Consulate/ Calgary Canada # MAGA # Military Vet # SS Vet
Doug also shared that Paul Singer also funded Marc Rubio and “No damn wonder this congress gets nothing done. Ryan & McCain were trying to set themselves up as they thought Hillary was going to win.” He also shared “Rod Rosenstein threatened the FBI informant. Told his lawyer not to speak to congress about Uraniun deal or Rosenstein will ruin him. >WTF”
***
Historian & Freelance History Writer featured in Fox Sports, Buzzfeed, Yahoo & more.
AMAZING work on the JFK files! The most important is first identifying TWO shooters and Hoover worried public wouldn’t believe Oswald was the true assassin.
Soviets felt a coup was planned and a British reporter had knowledge of the assassination 25 minutes before it occurred.
CIA exerting influence in media and more.
Was their follow-up on the son of Admiral George King? And CIA as the assassin.
Was officer Tippit one of the shooters? And CIA conspiring to kill Castro.
And more than one document points to Texas politicians and LBJ.
***
Investigative Reporter
And we have the Uranium1-Clinton-Manafort scandal with Mueller “leak” of first indictment
And the Uranium1 PLAYERS are under the microscope
Oh, let’s connect a few more dots….
And you brought tears to eyes with this one 0hour…
And as an added bonus, information Hitler was alive and US Intelligence was AWARE.
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/HITLER%2C%20ADOLF_0003.pdf |
Tesla Model S’s are stunning. Instant torque and acceleration, quality interior materials, the bleeding edge of automotive technology, no more fill-ups at the gas station and gorgeous lines make Model S’s desirable to many car enthusiasts. But, like all automobiles, they are also prone to elements that would have TMS’s looking rough and feeling aged in short order. Swirl marks and rock chips plague stock Tesla Model S owners. What Detailed Designs Auto Spa is offering Tesla Model S owners in Atlanta is an opportunity to have their cars as well protected as possible. By providing Atlanta with quality professional car detailing, paint correction, clear bra installation and coating systems, we are offering a one-stop solution for car care and protection for new and used cars.
Today we will be taking a look at a Tesla Model S owner who faced a difficult scenario. While I know the story inside and out, I really wanted the readers to be able to hear it in his own words. Here is the story as he tells it:
My obsession with Tesla started from the moment I saw the first concept drawings of the roadster. In fact, I bought shares of their stock pretty early on. I spent almost a year pricing out the same Model S over and over and driving my friends and family crazy talking about this car. At some point I realized that the money I had made from my early investment in their stock would make a very nice down payment on the car of my dreams. I finally bit the bullet and decided to arrange for a test drive. After a couple test drives I started getting more serious about my Model S purchase.
Working with the friendly staff at the Marietta service center I quickly realized that buying a service loaner would not only get me behind the wheel of my dream car months more quickly, but would also allow me to upgrade from the standard Model S to the Performance version without breaking my budget. I was elated. After a couple weeks of searching, a service loaner became available that was an incredible deal. The sales associate was able to get a few pictures of the car to me. Unfortunately, they were low resolution and not particularly helpful. One was of the exterior front, one was of the interior, and there were two pictures of two wheels that had curb rash. Since it was a service loaner, it was understood that I would be required to fix the wheels. Even though the car wasn’t my first color choice (pearl white), I couldn’t pass it up. Before I knew it, I had given the green light to have Tesla ship a black P85 with tan leather from California to Georgia. My dream car was now just weeks away. I quickly applied for a car loan and worked with Tesla’s preferred trade-in company AutoNation. Since I only had one car, I arranged to trade in my vehicle the day I was scheduled to pick-up my Model S.
This is when the trouble started…
Not only did Tesla request to delay my pickup date, which caused me to have to rearrange my plans with the insurance company and Auto Nation, but they also tried to cancel the 2nd date they arranged. This time the reason was because they weren’t able to give it a full detail. Apparently, on my new pick-up date, their only “master detailer” had an emergency and couldn’t finish my car. Unfortunately I was stuck with no options, my car trade-in was set in stone and I had no other car to drive. In addition to that, I was going out of town and needed the car. I pleaded with Tesla and told them I didn’t mind picking up a dirty car, but they were somewhat uncooperative. Their policy was not to let anyone take delivery of a car that hadn’t been detailed. I asked why I couldn’t just bring the car back and have it detailed when I got back in town, but they told me if I did that I would have to pay for a detailing. At that point, I was upset and told them that I was picking up the car no matter what on the scheduled date with or without the detail. They relented and agreed that I could come pick the car up that evening – just a little later. This turned into much later. When they finally told me to come get the car, by then it was dark outside and all of their staff were leaving for the night. Many of them were still there because their time clocking system was having problems despite it being well after 8pm.
I was given a tour of my car in a dark, poorly lit parking lot. I tried my best to inspect the car and was mainly focused on the interior B-pillar wear, rear tire tread, and other minor things I had read about on the forums. My car did have some minor B-pillar wear but wasn’t nearly as some of the pictures I had seen online. The tires looked fine. I was not able to inspect the paint due to the darkness and even if I had a flashlight that would’ve made this possible, I didn’t yet know the paint was problematic on dark-colored Teslas. After I returned from my vacation, I drove the car for a few days. It was poor weather and I wasn’t able to wash it right away. On the first clear weekend I had, I did my best to wash it the best I could. During that process I noticed a few deep scratches that I was hoping I could polish out with a good wax job. Since I didn’t have any good quality wax, I decided to pay a premium mobile detailer to come out and wash and wax my car. I had never paid for this type of service before and was shocked to find out how much they cost. I bit my tongue and paid for the service. I watched the two men spent almost 3hrs on my car between the washing and waxing, which made me feel somewhat better about the price. Before they started the first coat of wax, I showed them the deepest scratches I hoped could be remedied. They paid special attention to those areas, applying multiple coats; their efforts did improve things slightly, but the scratches were still visible.
Disappointed by the lack of success I searched the forums for other Tesla owners with paint problems. I was shocked to discover that not only had other owners noticed that the paint was extremely easy to scratch, they also were complaining that brand new cars were arriving with marring and swirling. Basically this was clear coat damage most likely caused by either improper detailing or drying. I felt sick to my stomach. I had noticed some of the deeper scratches on my car, but now that I had seen good pictures of the swirling and marring, I immediately took my car and parked it in the direct sunlight. I leaned in close to the paint, now empowered with the knowledge of what to look for. My car was covered in swirls and marring – it was worse than any pictures I had seen online. Not only had I picked the car up in the dark, but it had also now been over a month since I took delivery. There’s no way they would do anything to fix this I thought, especially on a service loaner. I was having some sporadic problems with a door handle not opening on the front passenger door, so I called to make an appointment with Tesla. During the call I mentioned the paint problems, and the service manager basically reminded me that I had taken delivery and that service loaners were as-is. Unfortunately, this was the reaction I expected based off of how Tesla was responding to other owners with this same problem. Even new owners who had taken delivery and not noticed the problems right away were getting this same response. You took delivery, how do we know you didn’t do this to the paint?
At this point I set out researching paint correction, sealants, and transparent film “clear-bras.” I found two individuals in the metro Atlanta area, and settled on Jean-Claude at Detailed Designs Auto Spa because he could do both the paint correction and clear bra install back to back. Not only did Jean-Claude spend many hours with me on the phone explaining the pros and cons of different approaches, he also educated me on what these options meant long-term. I appreciated his efforts to answer all my questions, no matter uninformed; he was patient and very helpful. After having him perform his top of the line “gold level” paint correction, I decided to go with an almost full Suntek clear bra installation on the entire car. The only part we didn’t wrap was the rear lift gate. The whole job was more money than I had originally planned to spend but I was afraid that if I didn’t, I might end up with more swirling, marring, or deep scratches later that would need to be fixed again. So I bit the bullet and went with an almost full clear bra wrap. Before having this work done, I always had this nagging feeling that my car was damaged goods. It was still enjoyable to drive, but I always had this lingering dread in the back of my mind that the car was imperfect and flawed. After Jean-Claude was done with his magic my car now feels like the beautiful machine it was always supposed to be. I highly recommend his work. He truly made my car enjoyable again and it looks absolutely stunning when full detailed.
As for Tesla, I still love and believe in the company. However, everyone who has approached me about my car has asked me if there was anything I didn’t like about the car. It’s safe to say every single one of those people now knows they should try to buy a lighter color. I have emphasized to all of them that if they do go with a dark colored paint to know what to look for and be sure to go over the paint with a fine-toothed comb before accepting delivery. I also advise anyone who is seriously considering a Tesla to at least get a clear bra on the front of the car to save themselves headaches down the road. Most of them are shocked to hear that such a beautifully designed machine could come with so many problems on the exterior. I do not think all owners suffer this problem, but it is definitely not uncommon. Buyer beware! |
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28 October, 2012 Theodore Roosevelt on African Americans From his State of the Union Message, 1906 In connection with the delays of the law, I call your attention and the attention of the Nation to the prevalence of crime among us, and above all to the epidemic of lynching and mob violence that springs up, now in one part of our country, now in another. Each section, North, South, East, or West, has its own faults; no section can with wisdom spend its time jeering at the faults of another section; it should be busy trying to amend its own shortcomings. To deal with the crime of corruption It is necessary to have an awakened public conscience, and to supplement this by whatever legislation will add speed and certainty in the execution of the law. When we deal with lynching even mote is necessary. A great many white men are lynched, but the crime is peculiarly frequent in respect to black men. The greatest existing cause of lynching is the perpetration, especially by black men, of the hideous crime of rape--the most abominable in all the category of crimes, even worse than murder. Mobs frequently avenge the commission of this crime by themselves torturing to death the man committing it; thus avenging in bestial fashion a bestial deed, and reducing themselves to a level with the criminal.
Lawlessness grows by what it feeds upon; and when mobs begin to lynch for rape they speedily extend the sphere of their operations and lynch for many other kinds of crimes, so that two-thirds of the lynchings are not for rape at all; while a considerable proportion of the individuals lynched are innocent of all crime. Governor Candler, of Georgia, stated on one occasion some years ago: "I can say of a verity that I have, within the last month, saved the lives of half a dozen innocent Negroes who were pursued by the mob, and brought them to trial in a court of law in which they were acquitted." As Bishop Galloway, of Mississippi, has finely said: "When the rule of a mob obtains, that which distinguishes a high civilization is surrendered. The mob which lynches a negro charged with rape will in a little while lynch a white man suspected of crime. Every Christian patriot in America needs to lift up his voice in loud and eternal protest against the mob spirit that is threatening the integrity of this Republic." Governor Jelks, of Alabama, has recently spoken as follows: "The lynching of any person for whatever crime is inexcusable anywhere--it is a defiance of orderly government; but the killing of innocent people under any provocation is infinitely more horrible; and yet innocent people are likely to die when a mob's terrible lust is once aroused. The lesson is this: No good citizen can afford to countenance a defiance of the statutes, no matter what the provocation. The innocent frequently suffer, and, it is my observation, more usually suffer than the guilty. The white people of the South indict the whole colored race on the ground that even the better elements lend no assistance whatever in ferreting out criminals of their own color. The respectable colored people must learn not to harbor their criminals, but to assist the officers in bringing them to justice. This is the larger crime, and it provokes such atrocious offenses as the one at Atlanta. The two races can never get on until there is an understanding on the part of both to make common cause with the law-abiding against criminals of any color."
Moreover, where any crime committed by a member of one race against a member of another race is avenged in such fashion that it seems as if not the individual criminal, but the whole race, is attacked, the result is to exasperate to the highest degree race feeling. There is but one safe rule in dealing with black men as with white men; it is the same rule that must be applied in dealing with rich men and poor men; that is, to treat each man, whatever his color, his creed, or his social position, with even-handed justice on his real worth as a man. White people owe it quite as much to themselves as to the colored race to treat well the colored man who shows by his life that he deserves such treatment; for it is surely the highest wisdom to encourage in the colored race all those individuals who are honest, industrious, law-abiding, and who therefore make good and safe neighbors and citizens. Reward or punish the individual on his merits as an individual. Evil will surely come in the end to both races if we substitute for this just rule the habit of treating all the members of the race, good and bad, alike. There is no question of "social equality" or "negro domination" involved; only the question of relentlessly punishing bad men, and of securing to the good man the right to his life, his liberty, and the pursuit of his happiness as his own qualities of heart, head, and hand enable him to achieve it.
Every colored man should realize that the worst enemy of his race is the negro criminal, and above all the negro criminal who commits the dreadful crime of rape; and it should be felt as in the highest degree an offense against the whole country, and against the colored race in particular, for a colored man to fail to help the officers of the law in hunting down with all possible earnestness and zeal every such infamous offender. Moreover, in my judgment, the crime of rape should always be punished with death, as is the case with murder; assault with intent to commit rape should be made a capital crime, at least in the discretion of the court; and provision should be made by which the punishment may follow immediately upon the heels of the offense; while the trial should be so conducted that the victim need not be wantonly shamed while giving testimony, and that the least possible publicity shall be given to the details.
The members of the white race on the other hand should understand that every lynching represents by just so much a loosening of the bands of civilization; that the spirit of lynching inevitably throws into prominence in the community all the foul and evil creatures who dwell therein. No man can take part in the torture of a human being without having his own moral nature permanently lowered. Every lynching means just so much moral deterioration in all the children who have any knowledge of it, and therefore just so much additional trouble for the next generation of Americans. Let justice be both sure and swift; but let it be justice under the law, and not the wild and crooked savagery of a mob.
There is another matter which has a direct bearing upon this matter of lynching and of the brutal crime which sometimes calls it forth and at other times merely furnishes the excuse for its existence. It is out of the question for our people as a whole permanently to rise by treading down any of their own number. Even those who themselves for the moment profit by such maltreatment of their fellows will in the long run also suffer. No more shortsighted policy can be imagined than, in the fancied interest of one class, to prevent the education of another class. The free public school, the chance for each boy or girl to get a good elementary education, lies at the foundation of our whole political situation. In every community the poorest citizens, those who need the schools most, would be deprived of them if they only received school facilities proportioned to the taxes they paid. This is as true of one portion of our country as of another. It is as true for the negro as for the white man. The white man, if he is wise, will decline to allow the Negroes in a mass to grow to manhood and womanhood without education. Unquestionably education such as is obtained in our public schools does not do everything towards making a man a good citizen; but it does much. The lowest and most brutal criminals, those for instance who commit the crime of rape, are in the great majority men who have had either no education or very little; just as they are almost invariably men who own no property; for the man who puts money by out of his earnings, like the man who acquires education, is usually lifted above mere brutal criminality. Of course the best type of education for the colored man, taken as a whole, is such education as is conferred in schools like Hampton and Tuskegee; where the boys and girls, the young men and young women, are trained industrially as well as in the ordinary public school branches. The graduates of these schools turn out well in the great majority of cases, and hardly any of them become criminals, while what little criminality there is never takes the form of that brutal violence which invites lynch law. Every graduate of these schools--and for the matter of that every other colored man or woman--who leads a life so useful and honorable as to win the good will and respect of those whites whose neighbor he or she is, thereby helps the whole colored race as it can be helped in no other way; for next to the negro himself, the man who can do most to help the negro is his white neighbor who lives near him; and our steady effort should be to better the relations between the two. Great tho the benefit of these schools has been to their colored pupils and to the colored people, it may well be questioned whether the benefit, has not been at least as great to the white people among whom these colored pupils live after they graduate.
Be it remembered, furthermore, that the individuals who, whether from folly, from evil temper, from greed for office, or in a spirit of mere base demagogy, indulge in the inflammatory and incendiary speeches and writings which tend to arouse mobs and to bring about lynching, not only thus excite the mob, but also tend by what criminologists call "suggestion," greatly to increase the likelihood of a repetition of the very crime against which they are inveighing. When the mob is composed of the people of one race and the man lynched is of another race, the men who in their speeches and writings either excite or justify the action tend, of course, to excite a bitter race feeling and to cause the people of the opposite race to lose sight of the abominable act of the criminal himself; and in addition, by the prominence they give to the hideous deed they undoubtedly tend to excite in other brutal and depraved natures thoughts of committing it. Swift, relentless, and orderly punishment under the law is the only way by which criminality of this type can permanently be supprest.
From "How Not To Help Our Poorer Brother", an article in the Review of Reviews, January, 1897
The difference between what can and what cannot be done by law is well exemplified by our experience with the negro problem, an experience of which Mr. Watson must have ample practical knowledge. The negroes were formerly held in slavery. This was a wrong which legislation could remedy, and which could not be remedied except by legislation. Accordingly they were set free by law. This having been done, many of their friends believed that in some way, by additional legislation, we could at once put them on an intellectual, social, and business equality with the whites. The effort has failed completely. In large sections of the country the negroes are not treated as they should be treated, and politically in particular the frauds upon them have been so gross aud shameful as to awaken not merely indignation but bitter wrath; yet the best friends of the negro admit that his hope lies, not in legislation, but in the constant working of those often unseen forces of the national life which are greater than all legislation. Contributed by Gifford, Katya
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The IDF has removed an officer from his position after investigations found that he had acted wrongly when a force under his commander broke the cameras of foreign journalists in the West Bank last week.
On September 25, Givati Brigade soldiers at Bet Furik smashed the cameras of two Agence France-Presse reporters who had arrived to film a Palestinian demonstration.
In a story it wrote about the incident, AFP said the IDF threw Italian video journalist Andrea Bernardi to the ground, jabbed him with a weapon and held him down until he produced a press card and that soldiers took away the camera of Palestinian photographer Abbas Momani.Following that incident “in which a force commander behaved in a manner that is incompatible with expectations of an IDF commander, an operational investigation was launched by the head of the sector, and an additional investigation was launched by the commander of the Givati Brigade, Col. Yaron Finkelman,” the IDF said.On Thursday, the Southern Command Headquarters chief, Brig.-Gen. Udi Ben Mohad, accepted Finkelman’s position that the officer had failed in his duties, and should be ejected from his position.“We will examine the continuation of the officer’s service,” the military source added.Last week, MK Nachman Shai wrote a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon demanding that he instruct the IDF to investigate the incident and make it clear that such behavior must change.“It cannot be that IDF soldiers harm and attack members of the press,” Shai said. “The job of the press is to be everywhere all the time. It is an inseparable part of reality. Breaking cameras and exercising violence teaches the journalists that the soldiers and their commanders do not understand the basic values of democracy – first and foremost, freedom of expression.”In edited video from the incident, two men are wearing helmets and flak jackets marked “Press,” and a soldier can be seen throwing one of their cameras to the ground, breaking it.The two photographers then walk away, but a soldier runs after them. A jeep pulls up and other soldiers come out. Again, the soldiers take one of their cameras and break it.The Foreign Press Association issued a statement denouncing the conduct of the soldiers.Tovah Lazaroff and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
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The trade deadline is Tuesday in the NFL and it appears the 49ers are going to stay pat.
But that didn’t prevent Trent Baalke from adding another player to the practice squad, and yep, this player has torn his ACL before.
The 49ers added safety Vinnie Sunseri to the practice squad Tuesday. A fifth-round pick out of Alabama from the 2014 draft class, Suneri has spent time with the Saints and Patriots. He replaces DuJuan Harris’s spot on the practice squad. Once considered one of the better safety prospects, Sunseri tore his ACL his senior year at Alabama and was a medical exclusion from the NFL combine.
We’ve been down this road before.
KNBR’s John Lund put together this extensive list on all the players Baalke has acquired who have had an ACL history. His compilation is below.
Tank Carradine (2013- 2nd round, pick 40): Suffered a right knee ACL tear at Florida State in November 2012. One career start, 39 tackles, four sacks. Moved to outside linebacker this season after dropping significant weight and should be a factor with Aaron Lynch missing the first four games.
Marcus Lattimore (2013- 4th round, pick 131): After an injury in which Lattimore tore all his knee ligaments, dislocated his kneecap and suffered nerve damage, the 49ers still drafted the former South Carolina star. He never played in a regular season game and is now retired from football.
Brandon Thomas (2014- 3rd round, pick 100): Suffered an ACL tear in a pre-draft workout with the New Orleans Saints. Never played a game in the regular season for the 49ers. Traded to Lions for WR Jeremy Kerley. Cut by Lions, added to their practice squad.
Keith Reaser (2014- 5th round, pick 170): Torn ACL in 2013 and also had a surgery in February of 2014. Played in 13 games last season, zero starts. Made 49ers’ initial 53 man roster this season. Listed as a back up to Jimmie Ward at right cornerback.
DeAndre Smelter (2015- 4th round, pick 133): Torn ACL at Georgia Tech. Was going to be raw anyway coming from a run dominant offense. Missed 2015 season rehabbing the knee, missed 2016 preseason with a hamstring injury. Waived with an injury settlement on the cut down to 53. Never played a preseason, let alone regular season, down for the 49ers.
Will Redmond (2016- 3rd round, pick 68): After playing in the 49ers’ final two preseason games, Redmond was placed on injured reserve. Each team can designate one player to return per season from IR, so Redmond could play this season after Week 8. |
Cut or uncut?
For those of us who feasted—or starved—on a diet of circumcised penises, the first taste of uncut dick could be, well, quite a mouthful. And depending on your own personal appetite for flesh, that extra bit could either horrible or heavenly.
All dicks are not created equal. Actually, discounting the obvious factors as length and girth, all dicks are, in fact, created equal. Some just choose to slice the foreskin off, as dictated by religion, culture or personal choice.
Muslims and Jews are almost always circumcised, as are many Africans, with the procedure often performed as a ritual. Among the Zulus and the Xhosas of South Africa, for instance, circumcision was traditionally a rite of passage lasting as long as three months, something young males had to go through in order to become men, emerging from the bushes foreskin-free and often scarred, physically and psychologically.
Americans—and Filipinos by extension—snip that bit of skin with clinical precision at the hospital soon after childbirth. None of that “this will turn you into a man” nonsense—they have guns for that. Instead, it’s all about hygiene, ostensibly because the foreskin, the loose fold of skin that covers the head of the penis, also called the prepuce, has no real purpose, harbors all sorts of bacteria (smegma alert!) and is aesthetically unappealing.
That last point is debatable, of course.
Once upon a puritanical and catastrophically ignorant time, circumcision in America was touted as a way to prevent masturbation because masturbation led to insanity. As if a flap of skin or the specter of lunacy ever stopped a man from spanking the monkey. Fortunately, as science has proven, masturbation does not lead to insanity. But it could be argued that prolonged abstinence from wanking could be detrimental to a man’s health, unless he was a star football player or a boxing champion, in which case it is believed that, um, preserving the fluids could lead to enhanced physical performance on the field or in the boxing ring.
Now it’s believed that a cut penis is less likely to transmit HIV/AIDS, which is why the practice of ritual male circumcision being encouraged once again among the Xhosa and Zulu communities, notwithstanding the fact an improperly performed circumcisions by a “traditional surgeon.” In reality, he is a village elder with perceived shamanistic qualities and real rustic and rusting implements—have led to truly horrific side effects such “as rotting penises, septicemia and inadvertent castrations,” according to a South African health spokesperson quoted by The Guardian. And ironically, HIV can be transmitted during the circumcision ritual itself, since the same knife is used to a large group of boys.
Moral of the story: Get it cut in the hospital, as soon as possible after birth, by a proper doctor. While I know women (and men) who are virulently opposed to sleeping with uncut men, there are those who love the sensation of an uncut penis inside them. Smegma, they claim, is a matter of hygiene. An uncut man who keeps his privates clean won’t have any of that icky, smelly white stuff buried in his foreskin (news flash—smegma can also appear around the clitoris). The prepuce is said to be extremely sensitive, so the pleasure is apparently heightened for both parties.
Europeans tend to be uncut, as a friend of mine recently discovered when she traded in her Chinese husband for a strapping specimen of Anglo-Saxon hotness, blue eyes, blond hair and prime uncut dick.
She swears there is a difference, apart from the obvious, in the way sex feels when enhanced by foreskin. She also believes she has definitely traded up and is now a convert to the pleasures of the uncircumcised penis.
Another girlfriend went Italian Catholic for her first husband, uncut, naturally. She divorced him and married an American Jew, cut by a rabbi no less, the same day he was born. She is adamant that there is a difference, and cut feels infinitely better.
So can you really feel the difference between cut or uncut once it’s inside you?
There is a short story in Bernard Schlink’s book, Flights of Love, that features a Jewish girl and her German (Gentile) boyfriend. She tells him how much she would love it if he converted to Judaism. He is not quite ready to take that step but nevertheless secretly undergoes circumcision, hoping to surprise and impress her with the seriousness of his commitment to her.
Alas, she doesn’t even notice there’s a flap of skin missing from his member.
Moral of the story: It doesn’t matter if he’s cut or uncut. If a man knows what he’s doing, you’ll love the dick that’s in.
B. Wiser is the author of Making Love in Spanish, a novel published earlier this year by Anvil Publishing and available in National Bookstore and Powerbooks, as well as online. When not assuming her Sasha Fierce alter-ego, she takes on the role of serious journalist and media consultant. She will be speaking at the Philippine Literary Festival which takes place from Aug. 28 to 30 at the Raffles Hotel in Makati.
For comments and questions, e-mail [email protected].
Art by Dorothy Guya |
WARNING: THIS POST IS PICTURE HEAVY. Seriously, it has a ton of pictures of this amazing mani.
We took so many pictures of this mani featuring Girly Bits Blue Eyed Beer Drinking Music Loving Lawyer and Colors by Llarowe Come Dance the Hora because these polishes are both so intense and complex.
The Girly Bits polish is kind of like a glistening pool of deep blue ocean water. It's so intense and sparkly and complex, you need to see it in person to fully appreciate it's beauty. It's a stunner!
As for Come Dance the Hora by Llarowe, I knew I had to have it the first time I saw it: a linear holographic base with blue glitter dispersed throughout? Amazing! It applies so well and looks stunning as well.
Now both Colors by Llarowe and Girly Bits make fantastic polishes - long wearing, tip-wear resistant, AMAZING payoff, and unique colors. I am so in love with both of these brands. I should mention I used 2 coats of each polish in this mani.
Okay, here's one more picture for good measure. |
Season Of Mist has announced the signing of legendary death metal band HATE ETERNAL.
Helmed by founder, guitarist and vocalist, primary songwriter as well as acclaimed producer Erik Rutan, HATE ETERNAL has been one of the leading death metal acts worldwide for over eighteen years. The band's five full-length albums are considered crucial genre touchstones, and HATE ETERNAL is a proven headliner across five continents.
Erik Rutan and bassist/vocalist J.J. Hrubovcak are currently holed up in the bandleader's Mana Recording Studio (CANNIBAL CORPSE, MOUNTAIN GOATS, GOATWHORE) and hard at work at the new HATE ETERNAL album, which is tentatively scheduled for early 2015.
Regarding the recording and the signing, Rutan comments: "We are ecstatic about how the recording for our new album has been coming out so far, and our new label and home Season Of Mist.
"We've worked very hard on crafting these songs to reflect our path, from our past to the present, and the journey of HATE ETERNAL and its members.
"Writing this album was a long and arduous process. It took a tremendous amount of determination, blood, and sweat to bring this all to fruition.
"We're super proud of what we've accomplished creatively, and excited at the prospect of releasing what we feel is our most powerful HATE ETERNAL material to date."
Rutan continues, "Now it is time to bring this all to life!
"The recording process so far has been fantastic. I've never felt so focused and determined on a HATE ETERNAL record, and I know that this will be an album our listeners and supporters will truly appreciate. It represents an important milestone for me personally since 15 years ago both HATE ETERNAL began recording its first album and Mana Recording Studios was born.
"We have so much more news to share with you over the coming months.
"We cannot wait for you to hear this album!" |
by Brett Stevens on June 9, 2009
European voters swing to the right, and American voters are now contemplating the end of the lifestyle they inaugurated in the 1960s and reinforced in the 1990s.
In Europe, an out-of-the-closet far-right party, the British NationalParty, found success in recent elections:
The British National Party secured its biggest mainstream electoral victory yesterday after Nick Griffin, the far right-wing party’s chairman, became the second BNP member to be elected to the European parliament. Hours earlier, 61-year-old Andrew Brons, a former chairman of the National Front who has a long history of far right politics, became the BNP’s first MEP after winning almost 10% of the vote in Yorkshire and the Humber. The Belfast Telegraph
This is perceived mainly as a backlash toward Europe importing foreign populations, most notably Muslims, who are not only failing to integrate but are implicated in riots in England, France and Germany. In addition, voters are lashing out at the dual welfare state and nanny state which has come about thanks to post-1960s liberal policies.
Leaving aside politics for a minute, let’s look at this in terms of the average voter. They are saying: let’s take care of our own, as we have traditionally seen them, and support traditional living and healthy normal people instead of worrying about subsidizing an unending stream of people with problems and bureaucratic programs with problems.
With the welfare state comes taking care of citizens who cannot take care of themselves, including those prone to crime, and with that comes the nanny state: endless rules to protect the clueless, and increasingly powerful political lobbies for every group of clueless both indigenous and not.
And from over in the United States:
In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton announced a historic shift in government support for the poor. By requiring parents to work instead of merely handing them checks, Clinton vowed to “end welfare as we know it.” This week, California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking that goal quite literally, proposing to eliminate cash assistance for the state’s poorest families altogether. Legislators, poverty researchers and poor parents alike greeted with astonishment his unprecedented call to drop the state’s welfare-to-work program, known as CalWORKs. The governor’s proposal would make California the only state in the nation to reject Temporary Assistance to Needy Families block grants, the federal program that allows states to draw funds as long as they impose strict time limits and work requirements on recipients. … By week’s end, the governor says, he will unveil another $3 billion in cuts. He has said he knows there are faces behind all the dollars disappearing but that he has no other choice. The Mercury News
I have a feeling that the old standby of the right, job insurance, will replace these troubled welfare programs.
Despite the positive bloviation in newspapers, welfare programs “help” many but the effects of that help seem to deviate little from where they already were. In addition, these programs both federal and local subsidize people for being out of work and having large families, which in turn encourages them to be out of work and have more kids.
Again, looking at this as the regular voter sees it: we all have to go to work. There is always work to be found. Let’s take care of the people who are responsible, and stop paying for the irresponsible — especially as we make more of them, and demographically, they will soon outnumber us and so have political power over us.
This is nothing more than a middle-class revolution on both continents. Marginalized by the 1960s, in which any sense of inequality among people was attacked, the middle class were seen as fortunate brats who rose above laborer status by cheating, stealing, lying, etc.
This view ignores the fact that middle class families create growth in cities and industry, as well as culture. They are the mainstay of all of these things and yet are a favorite target of both radical egalitarian activists and government nanny state programs that are designed to protect the irresponsible and incompetent from consequences of their actions.
It’s a mistake to view this issue as right or left. The original liberals had no bones of equality in them; they wanted to escape incompetent government that had become too powerful, and so emphasized individual “liberty” (an ill-defined word) through “freedom” (another vague term) using the device of “rights,” or absolute obligations to the individual by the state.
As we see how this vision has expanded from protecting people from government to creating more government that’s more intrusive, and has blurred from keeping good people safe to focusing on those who are in the most trouble and probably have arrived at that state by their own irresponsibility or incompetence, we’re seeing that liberalism and rightism have both been corrupted by this notion. It’s against natural selection. Even more, its fundamental rule seems to be taking from the responsible to compensate the irresponsible.
Not every poor person is irresponsible, but as history shows us, most societies remain poor not because of oppression, but because of lack of ability by their population, lack of political organization, and the corruption and incompetence that doom human endeavors. Most poor people are that way because of their own incompetence; when a friend of mine who grew up in a trailer park told me this, I almost vomited. But the more life stories and statistics I have seen, the more I realize it’s true.
Yet our government has, in the name of helping the most incompetent (sorry, “victimized” or “oppressed”), grown in size and started using that size to squeeze those who are generating wealth, knowledge, and culture for our society.
Those are the people we least want to squeeze.
Think about it this way: every society has had an impoverished class. Yet the societies that have risen have done so by encouraging their best to do their best. We’re doing the opposite: encouraging our least successful at the expense of our most successful.
We’re told by media that these plans are revenge against the super-rich, which sounds good because many people with absurd amounts of money got it by being in the right place at the right time. But they were also competent, even airheads like Madonna or George Soros, even if they were rewarded disproportionately. What bothers us most about them is that they’re competent at what they do, but not much else, and with their wealth they influence other areas of society with insane ideas. But these people are a tiny fraction.
The real target of this type of legislation is the middle class, and they are slowly turning away from their comfortable distractions, televisions and movies and vacations in the Hamptons, to see that they are the new endangered species — in the name of helping people we consider so helpless and oppressed that it seems cruel, corrupt, punitive and mean not to help them.
Yet these people exist in every society, and in societies that have failed, they are the vast majority.
History teaches us this lesson: support your worst, and end up being a third world kleptocracy. And history is on people’s minds quite a bit these days. Not just the recession; that passes. The vast political changes, the vast social changes, and the continuing misery of it all — the ugly cities dominated by commercial interests, the ongoing ecocide which global warming does not encompass, the boring jobs and many rules, the corrupt politicians, the bad culture, the dumb people everywhere acting like they deserve whatever their arrogant behavior leads them toward because they’re equal — this is what worries the middle class.
“My mate Penny likes to rant about standards of living and argues that we in the west have a rather low standard of living. Stressed out, working our asses off to buy low quality food and having no time for our families or communities. Living in fear of poverty, terrorism, governments and police and seeking meaning in purchases an possessions” Forum Topic: The BNP — How worried should we be?
Realism and discontent at society failing is causing a backlash. People want to raise their kids free from propaganda for non-procreative and family-destructive sex, drug use, anti-family lifestyles, weird politics and cults that mislead for two decades and then leave burnt-out lonely single people, etc.
They’re not Conservative, but lower-case-c conservative: they know that what works biologically, including natural selection, will always work, and no amount of technology or government can change that. There is an eternal wisdom to living sanely, chastely, without a need for distraction or weirdness. A calm in the soul. A clear role. A culture that forms out of this and protects against the gross excesses of commerce and government alike.
Normal, functional middle-class families don’t want to raise their kids to inherit a huge national debt. They don’t want to raise them in a society of incompetents, or a society that subsidizes incompetents. They don’t want to raise them in a surveillance state, a nanny state or a total state — but as incompetence rises, they see how that’s going to be inevitable. More individuals doing stupid or criminal acts requires more cops and more powerful cops.
Families of the middle class are what keeps America and Europe afloat, economically, demographically, politically and socially.
The middle class is sensing that it’s about to be destroyed by family-incompetent urbanites, various people who find it impossible to succeed in this society, and other revengeful people who hate the traditional, lower-case-c conservative lifestyle.
It’s fighting back through its proxies.
And some of this is just common sense: every society in debt, spending more on newcomers who don’t fit in than on its best hopes, etc.
The people who aren’t self-destructive don’t want to get dragged down by the irresponsibility of those who are self-destructive. Their law is one of the able: life does not make it hard to succeed enough to have a good life, and you don’t need great wealth, but you do need self-discipline, moral awareness, self control and a sense of reality.
They’re seeing how compensating those who deny reality to avoid facing the bad consequences of their own behavior is creating a society which marginalizes the competent. That means their children will inherit a nightmare. And so, they’re fighting back — on both continents.
Tags: cognitive dissonance, crowdism
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So about a month ago, I got the bright idea to pitch a story featuring Barry Switzer telling old-school recruiting stories. The plan was to have the story run on National Signing Day. I emailed Coach Switzer, never heard anything back from him, and National Signing Day came and went.
No story for me.
But then I got an email two days after Signing Day …
Richard just saw this email! Sorry for my poor response. Would have love to been involved.
Coach
Coach?
Is this some kind of joke? I mean, it was a Hail Mary when I requested an interview with Switzer through his contact page at switzerfamilyvineyards.com. Was this really the King returning my email? But wait. It had to be Coach Switzer; it was an AOL address.
GAME ON.
Signing Day had passed. I had no idea what the hell we were going to talk about. Then I realized we weren’t going to talk about anything. He was going to talk, and I was going to listen to one of the greatest football storytellers alive. And for 32 minutes and 42 seconds, that’s what happened.
How it was recruiting Marcus Dupree?
[Laughs.] The world was recruiting Marcus Dupree.
I sent Billy Sims on a big private jet to Philadelphia, Mississippi, to bring Marcus to Oklahoma before National Signing Day. Billy Sims comes off the jet in his cowboy hat, blue jeans, big belt buckle, Rolex, and his national championship ring. Here he is, Billy Sims, NFL Rookie of the Year, and Marcus is surprised to see Billy get off the jet to pick him up. Marcus takes Billy back to school and introduces him to everyone in Philadelphia, Mississippi, before they get back on the plane to come back to Oklahoma. Marcus was sold after that.
It was different from any other experience. He was the best that never was, without a doubt. When I saw him in high school, he was better than anyone I’d ever seen, and I’ve seen ’em all. I’d seen the Bo Jacksons, the Herschel Walkers, the Eric Dickersons, Earl Campbells. I recruited them all. I saw ’em play live, I’ve seen the tape on ’em out of high school.
Marcus was as good as there was and ever had been. What he had was a physical maturity as a senior in high school, being 6-foot-2, 230 pounds that could run a 9.5 100-yard dash. He was the fastest on the field and the strongest without a doubt. I saw him bench press in high school, in their weight room, 400 pounds.
The first time we put him in a game to return a punt, we didn’t worry about putting him back there because he had great hands. He returned the punt 83 yards against Colorado, he just runs right through ’em, they just can’t touch him. He takes it to the house as a freshman, first time he touches it.
I look back on it, and what makes him unique when I was recruiting him, he’s the only guy that came with an agent. He called himself a counselor, minster, his preacher. His name was Ken Fairley. You saw the damn 30 for 30. The only thing that upset me about the 30 for 30 is, by God, that they did not say in there that Marcus Dupree ended up suing Ken Fairley for $5 million dollars. He took everything Marcus had. He’s a crook, he’s a thief, and all you have to do is ask Marcus about him. It’s on public record. You saw it in there. Marcus was 19 years old and [Fairley] had him sign a power of attorney to get all his money turned over to him. [Fairley] took his check away from him when he was in New Orleans.
Think about that, you’re 19 years old, and there’s this guy that’s not even a family member and he’s your agent. Someone who’s never been an agent in his life, he’s not an attorney, all he’s ever been is a Baptist minister in Jackson, Mississippi, and Marcus trusted him, and [Fairley] ended up screwing him. That’s the thing that really upset me. I had to try and get a piece of Marcus’s ear and ended up competing with everyone else tugging trying to get a piece of him.
If Marcus had stayed with me and listened to me, he’d probably would have won the Heisman and couple of national championships. His senior year, we won the national championship without him; we beat an 11-0 Penn State team. He would have been in the backfield with Jamelle Holieway and all those guys, Spencer Tillman, and been surrounded by Brian Bosworth, and that defense led the nation in ’85, ’86, and ’87. In ’84 the defense was second.
I wish I would have handled him different, but that’s history and I look back on that and think about how good he was and could have been. He was special.
I heard about the time you recruited somebody — it might have been Billy Sims — and there was a rumor you hid him in a basement?
I told Billy to hide out for two days. I wanted to sign Kenny King — hell, I wanted to sign every player in Texas, which I damn near did. I signed 13 of the 19 blue-chip list that year. Kenny King, Daryl Hunt, the Tabor twins, Greg Roberts, Thomas Lott, Billy Sims, and several others. But I can’t be everywhere, and Kenny wanted me to sign him at 8 a.m. Once I told Billy to hide out, he went to Houston with his dad for two days.
I sold him on it when I told him that once the smoke clears, everyone is going to be wondering where’d Billy sign? And then you’re going to get all of the attention and all the press when you sign. He kind of liked that idea. Two days later, he surfaces in Hooks, Texas, and all the attention and media in the country is given to him.
The no. 1 player in Texas disappears for two days and resurfaces in west Texas after National Signing Day to sign his letter of intent. Could you imagine that happening today?
It’s a different deal today, they commit so soon; they put hats on, on television at All-Star Games. This is a different day. We didn’t have television media. We didn’t have social media.
What would do today if you were recruiting players?
I would probably do pretty good, I’d be busting my rear end like everybody else. [But] it was a different era. I could see a kid as many times as I wanted to, talk to him as many times as I wanted to.
What made you better recruiter than other coaches?
I don’t say that I’m a better recruiter than other coaches. Only thing I can say is that Keith Jackson’s mother, Gladys, said it better than I can say it. When I was recruiting Keith Jackson — you know who he is, obviously …
Out of Little Rock, Arkansas. No. 1 tight end in the country. Two-time All-American. The Philadelphia Eagles’ first pick in the draft. He played eight years in the NFL. He won a Super Bowl with Green Bay. He caught 82 passes his first year in the NFL — he only caught 62 his whole career at Oklahoma running the wishbone, but he caught 82 his first year at Philadelphia. He was NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, and that was a record for about 15 years in the NFL.
But what did his mom say about you?
Well, Keith told me this later. Gladys remarked to Keith, she says, “You know, he’s the only head coach that has ever been in my home who’s ever made me feel comfortable in my home.”
So Keith told me that and I sat and reflected on that comment, and I said you know, maybe that’s why I had the ability in recruiting. I can’t elevate them; they always elevate me when I walk into a home. Put me on a pedestal. [The families] are scared to death in the beginning. They want to make a good presentation, they hustle around and clean their home, do everything proper. And you know, having her make that comment made me understand my success was my ability to make people feel comfortable around me and at ease. I had the ability to be very candid, honest, and trustworthy in the way I came across.
And I’m sure a lot of coaches are that way, but I came in a different era. There was no quota system in at OU. I was playing a black quarterback before anyone was recruiting a black quarterback in the Southwest Conference in 1972. I was recruiting Tony Dungy and guys like that.
Wait — Tony Dungy, how was that?
Well, he was out of Jackson, Michigan. He was a hell of a quarterback. I busted my ass recruiting him, and then all of a sudden, we got a 30-scholarship limit that year, then all of a sudden we had to back off. Chuck Fairbanks was the head coach at the time, and I was the assistant head coach in charge of the offense. I said to Chuck, “There is a hell of quarterback, Tony Dungy, that I want out of Jackson, Michigan.” Chuck calls me when I’m in Detroit and he tells me to come on home, the NCAA just passed a 30-scholarship limit. We’ve already got our 30. We’ve got more than 30 committed out of Oklahoma and Texas.
So next thing I know, Tony doesn’t even get to come visit. Tony and I have laughed about that. We’ve been around each other several times since. We always laughed about that. He ended up having a great career, played quarterback at Minnesota, and played pro football because he was a good athlete in the secondary.
We didn’t have a quota system back then. People were recruiting the black athletes because of the quota. That’s bullshit. I was doing it because it was the right thing to do and I wanted to recruit whoever gave us the best chance to win. I wanted to recruit every player based on his talent and ability to play the game and what kind of person he is. And nothing else matters. And all my coaches, thank goodness, all believed the same thing or else they were going to be coaching with the wrong guy if they didn’t. People recognized that immediately. That that’s the way we were, and that’s the way Oklahoma was.
We were playing Texas when there wasn’t a black player on their team. I had guys like our running back Greg Pruitt and Joe Washington put a couple hundred yards on their ass and puttin’ half a hundred on ’em. So, because of my reputation, all those things helped me tremendously.
Pete Carroll joined you and Jimmy Johnson as the only coaches to win a college national championship and a Super Bowl. How hard was that?
Well, all of three of us inherited a great [college] program. When Jimmy went to Miami, they had just won a national championship. He went there, had a chance to win two or three, and he won one in his short span there. So we had great programs. I inherited a great program at Oklahoma. Bud Wilkinson created a great monster here, and I had something to sell. And we did a good job of selling it, and we won greatly, and we were the best in college football for that period of time, 16 years, still today.
So then Pete Carroll gets to USC. He was on Lou Holtz’s (Arkansas) staff as an assistant when they beat our ass in the Orange Bowl 1977; he didn’t stay there long. He was a graduate assistant there. I don’t know where Pete went from there. He was a young kid then just starting out, and then he ends up getting the Southern Cal program, a great program with great tradition and something to sell.
So we all three had to have that. Let me say this: If we had all been at a lot of other schools with lesser pedigrees and lesser tradition, I don’t think any of us would have won a national championship. You know what I mean? I don’t care how good of a coach we are. There are a lot of good coaches coaching those schools, you understand? [Coaches] that don’t have what Pete had, what I had, and what Jimmy had. So that was the first reason we were successful, all three of us. OK? We could get good players.
At the Cowboys, Jimmy was able to build a great program, him and Jerry. You’ve got to throw in Jerry in this. Jerry was a part. Jerry and Jimmy built a great program at Dallas with the Herschel Walker trade. In fact, having one of my ex-players, [Troy] Aikman, sitting at the top of the draft, a franchise player sitting there at the top of the draft out of UCLA who played for me at Oklahoma, who I recruited out of high school, in Henryetta, Oklahoma. He was already there for Jimmy. Then obviously, they were able to trade Herschel and get a lot of picks, and they built and evaluated the talent and were able to get a team in there with Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith, and get “the Triplets,” and built a team around those guys and, obviously more importantly, Troy Aikman.
When I went there, I inherited a great team. I could have lost, but I didn’t.
I won a Super Bowl. I could have won two. Shit, I came up within one game of winning two. They destructed in the championship game, you’re too young to remember.
My first year there we played …
San Francisco! I remember. I was a huge fan. Whenever San Francisco and Dallas played, that was the real Super Bowl.
Right, both [teams] know we’re gone hang half a hundred on San Diego in the Super Bowl. [Then] we go out and self-destruct. The first pass we throw is intercepted by Eric Davis and returned for a touchdown. Our next possession, Michael Irvin fumbles the ball and Ricky Watters scores a touchdown on the next play. We’re down 14-0 and our defense has barely been on the field. Then on the next possession, Kevin Williams fumbles the kickoff return in front of our bench. They go on a 35-yard drive, score again, and we’re down 21-0. Only five minutes had gone off the damn clock. [Laughs.] You know, what the hell does coaching got to do with it? You throw interceptions, you fumble, you put the ball on the ground, and make mistakes, we’ll get our ass beat — that’s what we did the first five minutes.
We fought back and Jerry Rice makes a great play right over Larry Brown as I remember. My biggest mistake in the first half was not running the ball. I told Ernie Zampese, our offensive coordinator, let’s run the ball and go in at halftime. He says, “We just went right down the field and scored, we got momentum, let’s go.” I let Ernie talk me into it. I knew in my gut we needed to run the ball and run out the clock, kick or punt it away and don’t give them no time left. We have three incomplete passes, give them the ball with a minute to go in the damn half, and they scored with it. I’m sick. I’m cursing myself out at the half, because I should have just said: Ernie, run the damn ball. But that was my coaching mistake right there.
Was the relationship between you and Troy Aikman as bad as the media made it out to be?
It wasn’t bad as media made it out to be. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be.
Why wasn’t it good?
You have to ask Troy, I can’t tell you. I can only give it to you from my perspective. I just coached the team a different way than what Jimmy did. I’m a different type of guy. Most of the guys liked the way I coached the Cowboys, the defensive guys especially. I was the only coach that was able to handle Charles Haley. Now think about that. Everyone else tried to run his ass off and he’s won five Super Bowls. I had a great relationship with 99 percent of the team. A couple of them maybe not so much. But you know Troy is a competitor, and maybe he wanted to do it his way or what he had been used to with Jimmy. We’re all different, and we’ve all been successful doing it out our own ways.
OK, two more questions. What are you thoughts on Michael Sam announcing that he’s gay?
First of all, that to me is irrelevant. I’d rather have a gay guy that’s got game than a straight guy that ain’t got game. It all comes down to the ability to play the game.
Would you have recruited him?
Why, hell yes! I don’t have a problem with that.
If you had to start a team with one player, who would it be?
Well, Peyton is at the twilight of his career … This might surprise you, but I think the most dynamic player…
I’ve seen Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson. I’ve seen Oscar Robertson play live. I saw him against my college team as a sophomore for Cincinnati. With three minutes left to go in the game, my team had 54 points and Oscar had 56, so he’s outscoring my team. He’s the only player, and then Michael Jordan comes along, but [Robertson’s] the only player that can take control of a game and win a game by himself.
Well, let me tell you, Johnny Manziel is the first football player I’ve ever seen that can control the game like those guys did basketball. It’s unbelievable the numbers that he can put up against the competition game after game after game.
I don’t like some of his antics. I’m sure Kevin Sumlin didn’t either. That all aside, let me tell you, he is a great, great football player. And I predict he’ll be drafted within the first five picks if he’s not the first pick overall. I bet he’ll be no. 1 on a lot of people’s board. |
The GNU Wget is a free utility for non-interactive download of files from the Web. It supports HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP protocols, as well as retrieval through HTTP proxies. Recently, I was downloading a Ubuntu Linux ISO (618 MB) file for testing purpose at my home PC. My Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) unit was not working. I started download with the following wget command:
$ wget http://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/linux/ubuntu-releases/5.10/ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso
However, due to power supply problem, my computer rebooted at 98% download. Again, after reboot I typed wget at a shell prompt:
$ wget http://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/linux/ubuntu-releases/5.10/ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso
However, wget restarted to download ISO image from scratch again. I thought wget should resume partially downloaded ISO file.
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wget resume download
After reading wget(1), I found the -c or --continue option to continue getting a partially downloaded file. This is useful when you want to finish a download started by a previous instance of wget, or by another program. The syntax is:
wget -c url wget --continue url wget --continue [ options ] url wget -c url wget --continue url wget --continue [options] url
So I decided to continue getting a partially-downloaded ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso file using the following command:
$ wget -c http://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/linux/ubuntu-releases/5.10/ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso
OR
$ wget --continue http://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/linux/ubuntu-releases/5.10/ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso
Sample session:
Make sure your run wget command in the same directory where the first download started. If there is a file named ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso in the current directory, Wget will assume that it is the first portion of the remote file, and will ask the server to continue the retrieval from an offset equal to the length of the local file. Thus, it will result in saving both time and bandwidth.
For more information about the wget, read man pages:
$ man wget
$ wget --help
See also:
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SANTA FE, N.M., Oct. 20, 2016 -- Sigma Labs, Inc. (OTCQB:SGLB) (“Sigma Labs” or the “Company”), a provider of quality assurance software under the Company's PrintRite3D® brand, today announced that it has closed a private placement by the Company of Secured Convertible Notes in the aggregate principal amount of $1,000,000 (the "Notes") and three-year warrants to purchase up to 160,000 shares of the Company's common stock, under a Securities Purchase Agreement with certain accredited investors (the “Investors”). Aggregate gross proceeds, before expenses, to the Company were $900,000. The Notes are secured by the assets of the Company pursuant to a Security Agreement. Additional information regarding the financing is included in the Company's Form 8-K filed on October 20, 2016 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“I am very pleased to announce the closing of this financing transaction,” said Mark Cola, President and CEO of Sigma Labs. “As the Company continues to aggressively pursue new contracts and licenses of our PrintRite3D® software, this capital will help strengthen our R&D efforts as well as support new business development initiatives. We appreciate the confidence that the investors have shown in Sigma Labs’ future and the increasing role we will play in the additive manufacturing applications of tomorrow.”
About Sigma Labs, Inc.
Sigma Labs, Inc. is a provider of quality assurance software under the PrintRite3D® brand and a developer of advanced, in-process, non-destructive quality assurance software for commercial firms worldwide seeking productive solutions for advanced manufacturing. For more information please visit us at www.sigmalabsinc.com.
Investor Relations Contact: Chris Witty [email protected] 646-438-9385 |
One Phone Call
Dr. Joel Breman, an epidemic intelligence officer, had just left the frigid air of a Michigan autopsy room in October 1976 when the phone rang. It was Lyle Conrad, supervisor of CDC’s field officers. “There’s a very unusual outbreak in Africa,” the director said. “We want to you to go there.”
Less than eight months earlier, Breman thought he had left West Africa after spending almost a decade fighting smallpox, measles, and other diseases in Guinea, Burkina Faso and elsewhere in West Africa accompanied by his wife, a nurse. With two small kids, the couple had decided to settle in Michigan for two years, where they could work at a quiet state outpost of the CDC and let their children grow up in the suburbs. But with one phone call, Breman knew he had to go back. He was well suited for the task: he spoke fluent French, knew many greetings in local languages, and had a disposition that made people feel at ease.
“Just for a few days,” Conrad urged. “Find out what’s going on and then come back, we’ll take care of the rest.”
An unusually lethal hemorrhagic fever was sweeping through the region. The virus—which caused fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, and rash—resembled malaria, typhoid, Lassa fever, and influenza. Its mortality rate did not. “All the villages are infected,” the director warned Breman. “Virtually all those who have gotten it have died.” So far, the infection was confined to Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), by chance a place Breman had been earlier in the year as a member of a WHO international team to certify Central Africa smallpox-free.
In the days leading up to his departure for Africa, the California native searched for clues that might unlock the identity of the mystery virus. He spent days and nights pouring over scientific journals. “It was so lethal and dramatic,” he says. “There was no disease I knew that could be so deadly.” Breman also reached out to others for help. Bob Kaiser, chief of tropical diseases at the CDC, was stumped by the descriptions of the fever. So was Thomas Monath, the doctor who had just unraveled the natural history of Lassa fever. Breman kept calling doctors and academics, but there were no answers to be found.
The reality of Breman’s situation was starting to sink in. He was flying to a foreign country to visit gravely ill patients suffering from a disease he could no more diagnose than treat. In some ways, it was an impossible mission. “I had a brief conversation with my wife and two small children,” he says. “We didn’t know what was going to happen. It was extremely difficult.” Breman kept repeating the phrase, “just a few days.” He packed only two pairs of pants, three shirts, and one toothbrush, then set out for Africa with Karl Johnson.
Journey to Zaire
The head of the CDC’s Special Pathogens lab, a brilliant virologist by the name of Karl Johnson, had been chosen as Breman’s companion by the CDC director. Together, they’d be the first Americans on an international commission, formed to investigate the hemorrhagic fever. On departure, Johnson informed Breman that his lab had just discovered the cause of the outbreak—a new virus—and showed him a picture of the spaghetti-shaped microbe. It was crucial news, but only one piece of the puzzle. A magnified image of a microbe didn’t tell the story. “We had to find out what it caused … how it manifested,” says Breman. “Then our work began.”
When they also learned just before departure that a concurrent outbreak had just begun in south Sudan—this one in an isolated area, virtually impossible to reach—their bewilderment deepened. Was it the same virus? Were the outbreaks related? To break up the trip to Zaire, the two stopped in Geneva to meet with leaders at the World Health Organization.
Unable to sleep on the more than 12-hour flight from Geneva to Zaire, Breman and Johnson ran through various clinical and epidemiologic scenarios. Sitting next to the doctors, eavesdropping on their conversation, was an American surgeon named William T. Close—whose daughter, Glenn, was a 29-year-old rising star in Hollywood.
Bill Close, as his friends called him, was the personal physician to President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire. President Mobutu was rumored to have recently fled to France with his family to protect them from the virus. Close decided to return to Africa from his home in the U.S. He knew the virus was spreading, but he hadn’t grasped the gravity of the situation until overhearing the CDC scientists.
Close was one of the most authoritative people in Zaire. Along with his post as Mobutu’s personal physician, he was director of the biggest and best hospital in the country; it was named “Mama Yemo” after the President’s mother. This post granted him unrestricted access to government medical and laboratory supplies. Along with colleagues from Zaire and other countries, Breman and Johnson had the brainpower to fight the virus; Close had the resources they needed to do it. “If we hadn’t met [Bill], if he hadn’t welcomed us with open arms, I don’t know how it would have gone,” says Breman.
By the time the plane landed in Kinshasa, Zaire’s capital city, the men had a game plan. It was late October, six weeks after the initial outbreak, and the virus was rumored to be spreading like wildfire. Once they arrived in Zaire, Breman was appointed the commission’s Chief of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Control; Johnson was named Scientific Director. Containment was top priority. Close sent medical scrubs from his storehouse, ordered the chief electrician to wire the Yambuku hospital, and galvanized the country’s reluctant air force to offer support. When the Minister of Health asked five commission members to go to the site of infection hours after the group arrived, Close ordered a large military plane to fly them there. Breman was among those chosen for the flight. Their mission was four-fold: map the extent of the outbreak, track down active cases, find possible survivors, and assess needs for clinical care and further research and control. The five men, their Land Rover, and their supplies were loaded into the gigantic military aircraft. As the pilots prepared for takeoff, Breman sensed their unease. “They were not happy to take us,” he says. The village and surrounding area they were traveling to was quarantined, and had been for weeks. It was here, a small village in the Mongala District of northern Zaire, where it all began. Yambuku.
Yambuku
Breman peered out at the huge Congo River system as the flight took off. Small slips of road peaked out from under the dense canopy, exposing tiny villages scattered throughout the jungle. Below, the thick marshland and dim lights created a scene that Breman describes as “Joseph Conrad territory.” “You’re flying into the unknown,” he says. “Pretty terrifying.” Minutes after landing in Bumba and unloading the cargo, the pilots and their plane vanished. “You realize, they’re gone and we are here. We’re totally isolated across the river.” The hunt for the virus had begun.
Not far from the drop-off point, the team ran into their first roadblock. The villagers, who had been under quarantine for weeks, had been told by their governor not to let strangers in—under any conditions. With man-made barriers they fought to keep the doctors out. “People were panicking, they didn’t know what was going on,” Breman remembers. “They thought we were bringing the disease.”
After making it through a dozen roadblocks with the help of a translator, the group’s next obstacle appeared. Sheets of torrential rains pouring down over the Land Rover sent its four wheels plunging into the mud. Each time the car got stuck, Breman and the others got out to push—a move that instantly drenched the paper gowns and masks they'd worn as protection. Knee deep in mud, sweat mixing with rain, they forced the Land Rover through the jungle. “I was absolutely terrified,” says Breman. “You’re soaked. Afraid. Just trying to do your work.”
The first stop in the jungle was the Yambuku mission, where three “angelic-looking” nuns were huddled near makeshift crime-scene tape that they’d strung around the local hospital.
It was here, six weeks earlier, that the virus had emerged. The mission’s 44-year-old school headmaster had come down sick with a fever after traveling north for vacation. Everyone assumed he’d contracted malaria. Inside the hospital, he was injected with malaria medication using unsterilized needles. When the medicine didn’t help, and his condition deteriorated, the staff began to worry. Less than two weeks later, he was dead. The women who prepared his contagious body for burial were soon infected, as were the clinicians and family members who had treated him, and the dozens who had come in contact with the needles. Of the hospital’s 17 staff members, 13 became sick and 11 died. By the time Breman arrived, the three nuns and one old priest were all that remained of the mission.
In the weeks since the headmaster’s bizarre illness, the nuns had done their best to record the disease’s symptoms. But there were hundreds of victims and keeping track of each death grew difficult. Making village visits shortly after arrival, Breman saw his first Ebola victim.
The Virus
The man was young, in his 20s or 30s, “good looking,” and visibly afraid. Surrounded by family and friends, he sat shirtless and motionless leaning forward in a chair on the dirt in front of his hut. When Breman asked to examine him, he was too sick to answer. “Tell me what’s going on,” Breman said. The pain was so excruciating that talking was difficult for the man. Severe belly pains, a headache, and fever were the only conclusions Breman could draw. There was little more the doctor could do. “I gave him all the medicine we had to keep him comfortable, told his family to keep him in the house,” but not to let others have contact except one person to bring him food and water. Two days later, he was dead. “You just keep going on,” Breman says with a sigh. “Try to figure out how far the disease had spread.”
Seventy-two hours into his trip, and Breman had already stared the virus in the face. The CDC’s “just a few days” window was fast closing. But his work was far from finished. The days would soon turn into months.
There wasn’t much time to rest or think. Breman tasked 10 four-person teams with visiting all 550 villages in the Bumba Zone twice. The 55 villages with confirmed infections were visited an additional time, to be safe. “People along the road from the main town …were relieved when we said we’d come to stop the disease’s spread, treat patients, and meet their families,” Breman wrote in a recent New England Journal of Medicine paper.
In many places, it was custom to place huts outside the villages for smallpox victims. Breman encouraged families to use this practice for the new virus, and designate just one person (preferably someone who had already survived the virus) to deliver food and water. Dead bodies were to be covered in bleach, and typical burial rites of kissing and touching ignored. A burning hut meant it was contaminated with the virus. A shaved head meant the microbe had stolen a loved one.
On every trip to a village, a hospital, a hut, Breman and the others carried an invisible burden: they could be next. “We didn’t know how it would spread,” says Breman. “So we started monitoring ourselves.” Breman instructed the group to take their temperatures twice a day and report immediately if it spiked. “You’re absolutely terrified that you will get this because, at this time, we didn’t how patients got it,” says Breman. With sweltering hot temperatures, constant sweat was normal. “We were careful with how we dealt with suspected patients and what we did with our primitive coverings, it was steamy.” Sometimes, when perspiring heavily and feeling warm Breman would fear the worst. When his fever came back to normal, he’d find himself fixating on sand-fly bites instead. “You wonder, is this a rash? What does this mean?” Long days of hiking from village to village exhausted the group; a lack of clarity regarding the virus’s origins and how it spread almost sent them over the edge.
In all, the 1976 outbreak saw 318 cases in Zaire, 280 of which ended in death. The epidemic had peaked before Breman’s arrival. The majority of the early cases were traced back to unsanitary needles. Towards the conclusion of the trip, Breman discussed the new virus with Johnson. At that time, all new viruses were being named after the region in which they occurred. But this virus, so graphic and deadly, would lay a severe stigma on whatever village, land, or country shared its name. So Johnson thought of something else. “He said, ‘Why don’t we not stigmatize Yambuku,’” Breman remembers. “Why not name it after a geographical area instead?” The name, taken from a small river in Northern Zaire, is more famous now than Breman ever imagined it would be: Ebola. |
Will there be more ‘Planet of the Apes’ movies? by Sandy C.
The Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi, finished his final days of filming only for it to be overshadowed by an extreme group of ‘Doctor Who’ “fans.”
Peter Capaldi wrapped up his final days as the Time Lord in Cardiff, Wales, on Monday, July 10. The twelfth Doctor Who star was filming this year’s Christmas special, which is to be his final appearance as Twelve.
However, this monumental occasion appears to have been overshadowed by a select group who trend under the #DWSR, leaving many other fans sadly disappointed and some extremely angry.
What is #DWSR?
#DWSR is a Twitter hashtag that is dedicated to the latest news in Doctor Who filming. It stands for Doctor Who Set Report, although other names like Doctor Who Spoiler Report are also known. It can, in a way, be compared to the Game of Thrones bloggers Watchers on the Wall, which is also dedicated to reporting breaking news on filming, casting and commentary.
Any member of the public can use #DWSR, but a dedicated few have used it so much that they have grown a significant following. Many of their followers rely on their tweets and reports to find out the latest in filming locations, spoilers and more.
So what happened?
Well, as many have learned now, the final days of filming took place on Monday in Cardiff. What appears to have happened is a select few of what some are describing as the “elite” #DWSR decided to either not inform their followers of this or purposely gave people a different filming date.
This led to many fans being left disappointed that they missed out on the opportunity of seeing Capaldi’s final moments, with some being extremely angry.
Now a lot are upset & PCap deserved a better send off. One #dwsr tweet to let people know the change of plans, that's all was needed 2/2 — Nia Stormborn (@WelshTargaryen) July 12, 2017
Curious why #dwsr were milling about on the Monday and were around to be surpised by PC. Sorry but I was lied to in a DM message — Neety Pajdowska (@Neetypadjo) July 12, 2017
I heard thru the grapevine that Peter, Rachel, and crew know about the sleazy trick the stalker people did. Made fools of themselves. #dwsr — PygMousian (@PygMousian) July 12, 2017
Those who were there and had the good fortune to meet some of the cast and crew shared this experience on Twitter to then receive a wave of backlash from those who were either misinformed or not informed at all.
What does this mean for the future?
What this will mean for the future of #DWSR remains unclear, but it may be the beginning of the end. With a new Doctor coming and a new showrunner for Season 11 change is certainly coming and it could also mean change for how fans get their Doctor Who news.
#DWSR is finished. The cast/crew are aware of the situation that occurred & this will be sorted for Series 11. No elite, no spoilers. — Trev (@SomeVFXGuy) July 11, 2017
Spoilers and leaks could now be a thing of the past, and fans will have to wait for the episode to air to find out what will happen next. This will, of course, be good news for those who don’t want any spoilers, but not so good news for others.
Are we all just overreacting?
No.
A rather simple answer I know. If this is indeed exactly what happened, it was mean and selfish. Purposely misleading fans to get Capaldi’s final Doctor Who moments to yourself is wrong.
Nevermind the fact it hurt the fans, but it was a sad way to end Capaldi’s moments as Twelve. It was also a sad way to end Moffat’s Doctor Who era and disrespectful of everyone involved.
When it comes to potential plot leaks and spoilers, it would be a shame if they did put a stop to that. Personally, if you don’t want to see spoilers then don’t read or following people or sites that report them. Most sites are good enough now warn you beforehand anyway.
But, going back to the original point, the reaction to overshadowing the end of a fantastic era of Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who was not an overreaction at all.
The final episode of Peter Capaldi in Doctor Who will air later this year in the Christmas special where the next Doctor will hopefully be revealed. Unless it’s leaked or shared beforehand. |
Team Legends: A Challenger Approaches
Team Legends: A Challenger Approaches
Most competitors earn their stripes and status in the arena but this man was a legend far before he even stepped foot in his first competitive game. David “Moonmeander” Tan rose to fame with his crazy stream antics, constant big plays, and the infamous “Neva Eva” dance.
Moon’s big splash onto the competitive scene was at NASL when one of Trademark eSports members couldn’t make it and he was flown in at the last minute. Moon played his infamous Tundra mid, beat Notail, and made a name for himself as competitive player and not just an entertainer. Moon is no stranger in the 1v1 tournament having played against Trademark eSports when he was a part of Complexity Gaming. Last time we saw him play in the 1v1 tournament he had the win under his belt but because he decided to taunt first he ended up losing the match and eventually the series.Moon joins Zai, Swindle, and Era on team Legends in the upcoming HoNiversary 1v1 Showdown. The HoNiversary 1v1 Showdown takes place on May 12th at 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET. For more information on the 1v1 Showdown visit http://hontour.com/news/view/460/ |
It has been described as the best Scotland squad since 1999 and there is an unfamiliar surge of optimism heading into this year’s Six Nations but backs coach Jason O’Halloran reckons the team is still two years away from fulfilling its potential.
The Kiwi is blessed with the best collection of attacking backs since that Five Nations-winning group from 18 years ago and there are likely to be some difficult selection meetings this week – particularly in choosing the centre pairing to face Ireland at BT Murrayfield on Saturday – and O’Halloran agrees the future is bright.
Jim Telfer is on record as saying Vern Cotter’s current crop is the most accomplished since the team that won the last-ever Five Nations but O’Halloran, pictured right, cautioned: “Ultimately this team will be at its best in a couple of years’ time when you get more guys around that 50-cap mark and we continue to grow our leadership.
“It’s a flattering comment but it doesn’t give us any points when we start against Ireland. But what it does give us is combinations and a bit more confidence, which you need in big games, but it doesn’t give us a five-point start against Ireland or anything like that so it’s of no tangible benefit.”
With a 60 per cent win rate in 2016, there is tangible confidence ahead of this year’s tournament but that is tempered by the fact that the first game is against a team Scotland have struggled to beat in the years that have followed that gilded couple of months in 1999.
“It is without a doubt as tough an opening match as you could have,” said O’Halloran. “I mean Ireland away would probably have been the most difficult potentially, along with England away which will come up later in the campaign.
“But look, Ireland are an outstanding team, beating the All Blacks [last November] as comfortably as they did in Chicago just tells you what a complete football team they are and they’ve got an outstanding coaching group as well.” Scotland coach Cotter brought O’Halloran on board from Manawatu after the World Cup and the progress of the Scottish backline clearly caught the eye of the Lions management group, who offered the Kiwi a spot on this summer’s tour back to his homeland.
O’Halloran is moving to Glasgow Warriors in the summer as part of the coaching changes that come into effect when Cotter departs for Montpellier and Gregor Townsend takes the Scotland job.
The backs coach declined the Lions’ invitation, opting to get up and running with his new role at Scotstoun, with Dave Rennie not due to arrive in Glasgow until his Super Rugby commitments with Waikato come to an end.
O’Halloran explained: “I was flattered to be asked but, ultimately, I had a responsibility to Glasgow. Dave’s not going to be here for the early part of the pre-season. So, rather than leave Humph [forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys] in charge of the backs, I thought it was important that I be there.
“I wasn’t under any pressure not to go with the Lions. It was completely in my hands. If I had pushed to go, I’m sure the SRU would have supported me all the way. But with a lot of the Glasgow squad away with Gregor in Australia, I felt it was important that the next group of players come through.”
O’Halloran admits a sense of disappointment that his time working with Scotland will be cut short at the end of this Six Nations but insisted his overriding feeling was one excitement at working with players day to day and reuniting with Rennie, who he played for and coached alongside at Manawatu.
“A bit, I suppose,” he said when asked if he will be sad to leave the Test arena. “But it’s remedied by the fact that, at Glasgow, we will have a big say in how the national team improves. Because I think a lot of the skills that need improving in this Scotland squad, really the development gets done with the Pro12 sides, on a day-to-day basis.
“The international season is about player monitoring, fitness and game planning. There’s not a lot of time to work on individual skills.
“If Scotland go on and become as good as I think they can be in the next 24 months, it’s important that Duncan Hodge at Edinburgh or myself at Glasgow, we improve the skills of our players.
“I’m looking forward to helping Scotland’s players grow over that time.”
Right now, however, it’s all about preparing for Saturday’s huge clash with the Irish. Midfield competiton is fierce and O’Halloran said Stormers centre Huw Jones is fully recovered from injury but hinted it could be too soon for Duncan Taylor of Saracens.
“I think we’ve still to decide on Duncan’s availability but Huw is ready to play,” said O’Halloran. “Midfield and the loose forwards are the areas where selection is toughest.” |
AMD roadmaps detail Raven Ridge APUs and Pinnacle Ridge CPUs
AMD roadmaps detail Raven Ridge APUs and Pinnacle Ridge CPUs
| Source: Video Author: Mark Campbell
AMD roadmaps detail Raven Ridge APUs and Pinnacle Ridge CPUs
AMD roadmaps detail Raven Ridge APUs and Pinnacle Ridge CPUs, listing both with a release in 2018 on desktop platforms. Both of these new CPUs will come with "Zen" CPU cores, though at this time it expected that AMD are already fine tuning their Ryzen design for improved performance.
According to this Roadmap, Raven Ridge APUs will release first on mobile platforms on 2017, coming with 4 "Zen" CPU cores and in a BGA configuration, releasing on desktops later on the AM4 socket.
Pinnacle Ridge is AMD's Ryzen/Summit Ridge replacement, coming with up to eight Zen+/Zen2 cores and will use the same AM4 socket as Ryzen.
Raven Ridge APUs are detailed as having 4 Zen CPU cores and 11 Vega GPU cores, giving the APU a total of 704 GPU cores (Each CU has 64 stream processors). This is only 192 fewer GPU cores than AMD's RX 460, which will make for a powerful APU given Vega's architectural improvements over Polaris.
Raven Ridge will be a perfect solution for those that want an affordable gaming notebook, which will easily be able to play most modern titles with respectable framerates on mobile platforms.
You can join the discussion on AMD's Raven Ridge APUs and Pinnacle Ridge CPUs on the OC3D Forums.
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Bright and early Wednesday morning, a lively band of Wisconsinites arrived at Rep. Paul Ryan’s Kenosha constituent-services office for a fifth straight day of protests and sit-ins. The protesters were demanding face time with the Republican, who has scheduled no public town hall meetings in his district during Congress’ August recess. This time, however, a police officer was waiting for the protesters at Ryan’s front door with a message from the congressman: Get lost.
Over the past week, hundreds of people, a mix of constituents and other angry Wisconsinites, have marched outside Ryan’s Kenosha and Racine offices, angry over what they see as Ryan’s inaccessibility and refusal to face his constituents in a free, public, in-person town hall. For four days, they also held sit-ins inside Ryan’s Kenosha office—until police kicked them out. The only in-person event on Ryan’s recess calendar is an appearance at a Rotary hall outside his district with a $15 entrance fee; by contrast, Ryan held more than a dozen town halls in 2009. “This is a jobs crisis in his congressional district, an emergency,” says Scott Page, 37, an unemployed Kenosha resident. “Yet he’s not even listening to his own constituents.”
In an August 18 statement, Ryan said, “I pride myself on being accessible to those I represent.” Conor Sweeney, a spokesman for the House budget committee, which Ryan chairs, wrote in an email that the Kenosha protesters had been offered a chance to participate in a conference call with Ryan, and that their actions “were preventing Congressman Ryan’s staff from serving other constituents.” Claims that Ryan was inaccessible or avoiding angry constituents were “inaccurate,” Sweeney said.
Ryan isn’t the first lawmaker to face blowback from voters during the August recess. Freshman Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) was bashed by a newspaper in his district for refusing to schedule public town halls despite bashing his opponent in the 2010 campaign for doing the same thing. (Barletta denied avoiding his constituents.) Amidst a wave of public pressure, including from an angry crowd outside a private event he attended, another GOP freshman, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), finally agreed to host a public town hall in Duluth, the biggest city in his district, after planning not to do so.
Republican lawmakers who have held public town halls have found themselves at times on the receiving end of heated criticism. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.) faced a charged crowd at a town hall and dodged a question about the effectiveness of the Bush tax cuts. Citizens protested at a town hall hosted by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) because Chabot’s staff insisted on reviewing audience questions in writing and then selecting the ones that the congressman would answer. And on August 15, protesters chanted and shouted their way through a town hall hosted by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chair of the House energy and commerce committee.
But the protests targeting Ryan throughout the August recess are among the most heated. Many of the protesters, organized in part by the progressive advocacy group Wisconsin Jobs Now!, have tried on multiple occasions to schedule a meeting with Ryan but have received generic responses saying his schedule is full. It was the frustration at not getting face time with Ryan, combined with his decision not to host any public town halls, that sparked the protests, says Janet Veum, a spokeswoman for the group. Veum says protesters don’t want a telephone conference call with Ryan. “What they want is a face-to-face meeting with their congressman,” she says. “And a telephone conference call is not even close to that.”
Ryan has felt this kind of constituent anger before. In April, he asked police to eject a man at a public town hall in Racine who repeatedly yelled at Ryan about his much-debated plan to gut Medicare by turning it into a voucher program, jacking up costs for seniors. Discussion of that plan, which would also transform Medicaid into a block-grant program at the state level, was met with both cheers and boos during a series of spring town halls.
This time around, Ryan’s protesters have no intention of giving up. Maria Morales, a 67-year-old Racine resident, says she, too, has tried unsuccessfully to schedule a meeting with the Wisconsin Republican. Morales, who lost her part-time job earlier this month, says she first protested outside Ryan’s Kenosha office but has since taken her agitating to the Racine office. She has no plans of leaving. “We’ll just stay around till he sees us,” she says. “It’s not like I have a job to go to.” |
Everyone seems so quick to annoint a savior coming out of the AFC West. First, it was the Raiders. Most recently, it was the Chargers. In both cases, you had a red hot team winning two to four games in very impressive fashion and, subsequently, the national media began to fawn all over each city like they were suddenly Super Bowl contenders. Now? Both of those teams sit at .500. So much for the Super Bowl.
Perhaps you'll remember the circumstances well. Just a month ago, the Raiders were flying high with consecutive wins over the Broncos, Seahawks, and Chiefs -- including a 59 point shellacking of Denver at Mile High. The national media hailed the team as a major force, and cooed over the return of the Raiders to the national stage. Experts praised Jason Campbell as a difference maker and chastised Mike Shanahan for running him out of Washington. Needless to say, for those few weeks, they were the darlings of the AFC West.
A bye week and two straight losses later, the Chargers took over for the Raiders atop the media's love list. The Chargers were the realistic choice given their penchant to make a late run every single season and previous dominance atop the AFC West the last few years. Four straight victories over the Titans, Texans, Broncos and Colts placed Phil Rivers and company on the national radar again. However, this last Sunday's loss to the Raiders places even such a hot team like the Chargers two games behind the division leading Chiefs and at .500 overall.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs have never been out of first place all season. Despite the media fanning the flames of Oakland and San Diego, the Chiefs continue to hone their craft, do what they need to do to win and get right back to focusing on who is next. It hasn't always been pretty. There are still holes to fill and room to grow. But it's the final standings that determine who was, in fact, the best within a division.
And so far this season, despite the glowing reports of other teams, it's been the Chiefs for the entire way. |
Yeezus. Kanye West flew to NYC to visit Donald Trump at Trump Tower in NYC on Tuesday, December 13, Us Weekly can confirm.
In a video obtained by C-SPAN, the rapper, 39, is seen smiling as he walks with his entourage into the building in midtown Manhattan. He's wearing a black sweatshirt, sweatpants and is rocking his new blond hair.
After their meeting, the two posed together for photos. "We've been friends for a long time," Trump, 70, told reporters. "Life, we discuss life." West, meanwhile, refused to answer questions. "I just want to take a picture right now," he said, laughing.
The two then shook hands and hugged. "You take care of yourself, I'll see you soon," Trump told West. Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, also took part in the meeting.
Contrary to reports, a source tells Us that West is not being considered for a role to work with Trump. Trump and West spoke about life and exchanged ideas. The musician is in NYC to take meetings and to look at new apartments.
Per TMZ, the Secret Service weren't worried about their interaction. "Personal problems that Mr. West is working through does not establish him as a security threat to President-elect Trump," a Secret Service official told the site. Trump's team also gave the go ahead and the two chatted for 15 minutes.
The meeting takes place nearly two weeks after West was released from the UCLA Medical Center after a nine-day stay for extreme exhaustion. As previously reported, a source told Us Weekly that his workload, stress over wife Kim Kardashian's Paris robbery and the anniversary of the death of his mother, Donda, death led to his breakdown.
Last month, West revealed during his Saint Pablo tour that he didn't vote in the presidential election. However, if he did, he would have voted for the business mogul — one of the celebs depicted lying in a giant bed, nude, with the likes of Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, West and others in his "Famous" music video.
WATCH: Donald Trump and Kanye West appear together at Trump Tower https://t.co/Qld6MSme9j — NBC News (@NBCNews) December 13, 2016
"I told y’all I didn’t vote, right? What I didn’t tell you … if I were to have voted I would have voted on Trump," he said during his rant on November 17. He added that he "loved" Trump and described him as a "f‑‑king genius."
Watch West's arrival to Trump Tower in the video above.
Story is still developing. Check back for updates.
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Theodor Adorno, 1968
Late Capitalism or Industrial Society?
Opening Address to the 16th German Sociological Congress
Source: http://www.efn.org/~dredmond/AdornoSocAddr.html;
Translation: © 2001 Dennis Redmond;
CopyLeft: translation used with permission, Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike);
Original German: from Suhrkamp Verlag as: Theodor W. Adorno. Collected Works, Volume 4;
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.
It has become customary for the outgoing chair of the German Society for Sociology to say a few words of their own. In this case, his own position and the meaning of the problems being posed are not to be strictly separated: each is unavoidably conjoined to the other. On the other hand he can hardly present definitive solutions, which is the whole point of discussion by the Congress. This theme was originally suggested by Otto Stammer. In the meeting of the Executive Committee charged with arranging the conference, it was gradually transformed; the present title crystallized out through “teamwork” [in English]. Those who are unfamiliar with the state of current debate in the social sciences can be forgiven for suspecting that this is a question of mere nomenclature; that experts have the idle luxury of pondering whether the contemporary era is to be named late capitalism or industrial society. In truth, it is not a question of mere termini but something absolutely fundamental. The presentations and discussions will be assisting us to ascertain whether the capitalist system continues to rule, albeit in a modified form, or whether industrial development has made the concept of capitalism itself, the difference between capitalist and non-capitalist states, and indeed the critique of capitalism, outmoded. In other words, as to whether the currently popular thesis in sociology, that Marx is obsolete, is correct. According to this thesis, the world has been so thoroughly determined by an unimaginably-extended technology [Technik: technics], that the corresponding social relations which once defined capitalism, the transformation of living labor into commodities and therein the contradiction of classes, is becoming irrelevant, insofar as it has not become an archaic superstition. All this can be related to the unmistakable convergence between the technically most advanced countries, the United States and the Soviet Union. In terms of living-standards and consciousness, class differences have become on the whole far less visible in the Western states in question than in the decades during and after the industrial revolution. The prognoses of class-theory such as immiseration and economic crisis have not been so drastically realized, as one must understand them, if they are not to be completely robbed of their content; one can speak of relative immiseration only in a comic sense. Even if Marx’s by no means one-sided law of sinking profit-rate has not been borne out on a system-immanent level, one must concede that capitalism has discovered resources within itself, which have permitted the postponing of economic collapse ad Kalendas Graecus - resources which include the immense increase of the technical potential of society and therein also the consumer goods available to the members of the highly industrialized countries. At the same time the relations of production have shown themselves to be, in view of such technological developments, far more elastic than Marx had suspected.
The criterion of class relations, which empirical research is fond of referring to as “social stratification” [in English], strata divided according to income, life-style, education, are generalizations of the findings of specific individuals. To that extent they may be called subjective. In contrast to this, the more traditional concept of class was objective, meant to be independent of indices, which are garnered out of the immediate life of subjects, however much, by the way, that these express social objectivities. Marxist theory rests on the position of entrepreneurs and workers in the production-process, and ultimately of their control over the means of production. In the predominant contemporary strains of sociology this conclusion has for the most part been rejected as dogmatic. The controversy needs to be sorted out theoretically, not simply through the presentation of facts, which indeed for their part make numerous contributions to the critique, but which in light of critical theory can also conceal the structure. Even the opponents of dialectics have no wish to delay a theory, which serves to account for sociology’s own interests. The controversy is essentially one concerning interpretation - even if it were only the attempt to banish the demand for such in the purgatory of that which is extra-scientific.
A dialectical theory of society concerns itself with structural laws, which condition the facts, in which it manifests itself and from which it is modified. By structural laws we mean tendencies, which more or less stringently follow the historical constitution of the total system. The Marxist models for this were the law of value, the law of accumulation, the law of economic crisis. Dialectical theory did not intend to turn structures into ordered schematas, which could be applied to sociological findings as completely, continually and non-contradictorily as possible; nor systemizations, but rather the procedures and data of scientific cognition of the already-organized system of society. Such a theory ought least of all to withhold facts from itself, to twist them around according to a thema probandum. Otherwise it would in fact fall right back into dogmatism and would repeat conceptually what the entrenched authorities of the Eastern bloc have already perpetrated through the instrument of Diamat: freezing into place what, according to its own concept, cannot be otherwise thought than as something which moves. The fetishism of the facts corresponds to one of the objective laws. Dialectics, which has had its fill of the painful experience of such hegemony, does not hegemonize in turn, but criticizes this just as much as the appearance, that the individuated and the concrete already determine the course of the world hic et nunc [Latin: here and now]. It’s very likely that under the spell of the latter the individuated and the concrete do not even exist yet. Through the word pluralism, utopia is suppressed, as if it were already here; it serves as consolation. That is why however dialectical theory, which critically reflects on itself, may not for its part install itself domestic-style in the medium of the generality. Its intention is precisely to break out of this medium. It too is not immune before the false division of reflective thinking and empirical research. Some time ago a Russian intellectual of considerable influence told me that sociology is a new science in the Soviet Union. He meant of course the empirical kind; that this might have something to do with what in his country is a doctrine of society raised to a state religion was no more apparent to him, than the fact that Marx conducted empirical inquests. Reified consciousness does not end where the concept of reification has a place of honor. The inflated bluster over concepts such as “imperialism” or “monopoly,” without taking into consideration what these words factually entail [Sachverhalten], and to what extent they are relevant, is as wrong, that is to say irrational, as a mode of conduct which, thanks to its blindly nominalistic conception of the matter at hand [Sachverhalten], refuses to consider that concepts such as exchange-society might have their objectivity, revealing a compulsion of the generality behind the matter at hand [Sachverhalten], which is by no means always adequately translated into the operational field of the facts of the matter [Sachverhalte]. Both are to be opposed; to this extent the theme of the Congress, late capitalism or industrial society, testifies to the methodological intent of self-critique out of freedom.
A simple answer to the question which lies in that thematic, is neither to be expected nor really to be sought after. Alternatives which compel one to opt for one or the other determination, even if only theoretically, are already mandatory situations, modeled after an unfree society and transposed onto the Mind [Geist], towards which the latter ought to do what it can to break unfreedom through its tenacious reflection. As completely as the dialectician may refuse to draw a defining line between late capitalism and industrial society, the less can he indulge in the pleasure of a non-committal on-the-one-hand-but-on-the-other-hand. He must guard against simplification, contrary to Brecht’s suggestion, precisely because the well-worn commonplace suggests the well-worn response, just as the opposite answer falls so easily from the lips from his opponents.
Whoever does not wish to be hoodwinked by the experience of the preponderance of the structure over the matter at hand [Sachverhalten], will not, unlike most of his opponents, devalue contradictions in advance to methodology, to mere conceptual errors and attempt to stamp them out through the harmony of scientific systematics. Instead he will trace them back into the structure, which was antagonistic ever since organized society first emerged, and which remains so, just as the extra-political conflicts and the permanent possibility of a catastrophic war, most recently also the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, crassly demonstrate. This glosses over an alternative thinking, to that unbroken formal-logical non-contradictoriness which projects itself onto that which is to be thought. It is not a question of choosing between either form, according to one’s scientific viewpoint or taste, but rather their relationship expresses for its part the contradiction which characterizes the current era, and it befits sociology to articulate this theoretically.
Many prognoses of dialectical theory have a contradictory relationship to one another. Some simply did not fulfill themselves; certain theoretical-analytical categories have lead meanwhile to aporias, which can only be thought out of the world with the utmost artifice. Other predictions, originally closely associated with the former, have been resoundingly confirmed. Even those who do not reduce the meaning of a theory to its prognoses, would not hesitate to ascribe the claim of the dialectical one as partly true and partly false. These divergences require for their part theoretical explanation. That one cannot speak of a proletarian class-consciousness in the leading industrial countries does not necessarily refute, in contrast to the communis opinio [prevailing opinion], the existence of classes: class was determined by the position to the means of production, not by the consciousness of its members. There are no lack of plausible reasons for the lack of class-consciousness: that workers are no longer being immiserated, that they were increasing integrated into bourgeois society and its world-views, as compared to the period during and immediately after the industrial revolution, when the industrial proletariat was being recruited from paupers and stood half-extraterritorial to society, could not have been foreseen. Social being does not immediately produce class consciousness. Without the masses, and indeed precisely because of their social integration, having any more control over their social destiny than 120 years ago, they lack not only class solidarity, but also the full consciousness of this, that they are objects and not subjects of social processes, which nevertheless animate them as subjects. Class- consciousness, on which according to Marxist theory the qualitative leap forwards depended, was consequently and at the same time an epiphenomenon. If however no class consciousness emerges over long periods in countries supposedly determined by class relations, for example North America, insofar as it had ever been present there; if the question of the proletariat becomes a puzzle-picture, then quantity rebounds into quality, and the suspicion of a conceptual mythology can only be suppressed by decree, not assuaged by thought. This development is difficult to separate from the central plank of Marxist theory, namely the doctrine of surplus value. This was supposed to explain the relationship of classes and the increase of class antagonisms as something objectively economic. But if the share of living labor, from which all surplus value accordingly flows, sinks, thanks to the extension of technological progress, to a tendential limit-point, then this affects the central plank, the theory of surplus value. The current lack of an objective theory of value is conditioned not merely by what the academy narrowly defines as scholastic economics. It also refers back to the prohibitive difficulty of objectively grounding the construction of classes without the theory of surplus value. Non-economists may find it illuminating, that even the so-called neo-Marxist theories attempt to stop the holes in their treatment of constitutive problems with scraps of subjective economics. The responsibility for this is certainly not merely the weakness of theoretical capability. It’s conceivable that contemporary society cannot be contained within a coherent theory. By comparison, Marx had it much easier, when he laid out the fully-fledged system of liberalism as a science. He only needed to ask whether capitalism corresponded in its own dynamic categories to this model, in order to produce, out of the determinate negation of the preexisting theoretical system, a system-like theory in its own right. Meanwhile the market economy has become so honeycombed, that it mocks any such confrontation. The irrationality of the contemporary social structure hinders its rational development in theory. The perspective that the direction of economic processes is passing into the hands of political power, though it follows from the logical dynamic of the system, is at the same time also one of objective irrationality. This, and not simply the sterile dogmatism of its followers, should help to explain why for a long time no really convincing objective theory of society emerged. Under this aspect the renunciation of such would be no critical advance of the scientific spirit, but an expression of compulsory resignation. The regression of society runs parallel to that of its thinking.
In the meantime we are faced with no less drastic facts, which for their part can be interpreted without [Adorno's emphasis] the usage of hte key concepts of capitalism only with th eutmost violence and caprice. The economic process continues to perpetuate domination over human beings. The objects of such are no longer merely the masses, but also the administrators and their hangers-on. In terms of the traditional theory, they have become largely functions of their own production-apparatus. The much-belabored question of the “managerial revolution” [in English], concerning the supposed transition of domination from the juridical owners to the bureaucracy is correspondingly secondary. then as now, this process produces and reproduces classes which, though not necessarily in the form of Zola’s Germinal, at the very least a structure which the anti-socialist Nietzsche anticipated with the expression, all herd and no shepherd. In this, however, was concealed what he did not want to see: the same odl social oppression, only now become anonymous. If the theory of immiseration was not borne out of à la lettre [to the letter], then it certainly has in the no less frightening sense, that unfreedom, one’s dependence on the consciousness of those who serve an uncontrollable apparatus, is spreading universally over humanity. The much-maligned immaturity of the masses is only the reflex of this, this they are as little as ever autonomous masters of their lives; like in mythology, it confronts them as a doom [Schicksal: fate, destiny]. Empirical investigations show by the way that even subjectively, according to their reality-principle [Realitaetsbewusstsein], classes are by no means so leveled out as one at times presumes. Even the theories of imperialism do not become obsolete due to the forcible withdrawal of the great powers from their colonies. The process which they referred to continues in the antagonism of both monstrous power-blocs. The supposedly outmoded doctrine of social antagonisms, including the telos of the final crisis, is being immeasurably trumped by manifestly political ones. Whether and to what extent class relations have been relocated onto those between the leading industrial nations and the much courted-after developing countries, remains to be seen.
In the categories of critical-dialectical theory I would like to suggest as a first and necessarily abstract answer, that contemporary society is above all an industrial society according to the level of its productive forces [Adorno’s emphasis]. Industrial labor has become the model pattern of society everywhere and across all borders of political systems. It developed itself into a totality due to the fact that modes of procedure, which resemble the industrial ones, are extending by economic necessity into the realms of material production, into administration, the distribution-sphere and that which we call culture. Conversely, society is capitalism in terms of its relations of production [Adorno’s emphasis]. Human beings are still what they were according to the Marxist analysis of the middle of the 19th century: appendages of machines, not merely in the literal sense as workers, who have to adapt themselves to the constitution of the machines which they serve, but far beyond this and metaphorically, compelled to assume the roles of the social mechanism and to model themselves on such, without reservation, on the level of their most intimate impulses. Production goes on today just as it did before, for the sake of profits. Needs have gone beyond anything Marx could have foreseen in his time, completely becoming the function of the production-apparatus, which they potentially were all along, instead of the reverse. They are totally governed [gesteuert: mechanically steered, governed]. To be sure, even within this transformation, as pinned-down and adapted to the interests of the apparatus as it is, the needs of human beings are smuggled in, something which the apparatus never fails to direct popular attention to. But the use-value side of commodities has in the meantime been shorn of their last “naturally-grown” or self-apparent truth [Selbstverstaendlichkeit: casualness, self-evidence]. Not only are needs satisfied purely indirectly, by means of exchange-values, but within the relevant economic sectors produced by the profit-motive, and thus at the cost of the objective needs of the consumers, namely those for adequate housing, and completely so in terms of the education and information over the processes which most affect them. In the realm of necessities not directly connected with basic living standards, use-values as such are tending to dissolve or be exhausted; a phenomenon which appears in empirical sociology under termini such as status symbols and prestige, without really being objectively grasped by such. The highly industrialized countries of the Earth, so long as, in spite of Keynes, some renewed economic natural catastrophe does not occur, have learned to conceal the more visible forms of poverty, albeit not to the extent that the thesis of the “affluent society” [in English] would have it. The bane, however, which the system exerts over human beings, has only become stronger due to this integration, insofar as such comparisons can be reasonably made. It is undeniable that the increasing satisfaction of material needs, in spite of their distortion by the apparatus, hints incomparably more concretely to the possibility of a life without necessity. Even in the poorest countries, no-one need hunger anymore. That the envelope before the consciousness of the possible has nonetheless become thin indeed, is supported by the panic-stricken fright created by any sort of social enlightenment which is not broadcast by the official communication systems. What Marx and Engels, who strove for a truly humane organization of society, denounced as utopian for merely sabotaging such an organization, has become a palpable reality. Nowadays the critique of utopia has sunk into the common ideological stockpile, while at the same time the triumph of technical productivity strives to maintain the illusion that utopia, incompatible with the relations of production, has already been realized within its realm. But the contradictions in their new, international-political quality - the arms race of East and West - make that which is possible at the same time impossible.
To see through all this demands, indeed, that one does not cast the blame on what critique has time and again been side-tracked by, namely technics, that is to say the productive-forces, thereby indulging in a kind of theoretical machine-breaking on an expanded level. Technics is not the disaster, but rather its intertwining with the social relations, in which it is entangled. One need only recall how the conscious application of the profit-motive and power-motive [Herrschaftsinteresse: “power-interest,” used here in the sense of factory discipline] canalizes technical development: they fatally harmonize, in the meantime, with the necessity of supervision. It is not for nothing that the invention of means of destruction has become the prototype of the new quality of technics. By contrast, the potential of those which distance themselves from domination, centralization, and violence against nature, and which would also probably permit the healing of much of what is literally and figuratively is damaged by technics, is left to die on the vine.
Contemporary society exhibits, in spite of all assertions to the contrary, as its dynamism and increase of production, static aspects. These include the relations of production. These are no longer merely the property of the owner, but of the administration, all the way to the role of the state as total capitalist. To the extent that its rationalization converges with technical rationality, a.k.a. the productive forces, they've undeniably become more flexible. This has created the illusion that the universal interest has its ideal as the status quo and universal employment, not the liberation of heteronomous work. But this condition, from an external political position quite labile, is a merely temporary balance, the result of forces, whose tension threatens to disrupt it. Inside the dominant relations of production, humanity is virtually its own reserve army of labor and is fed through as such. Marx’s expectation, that the primacy of the productive forces was certain to explode the relations of production, was all too optimistic. To that extent Marx remained, as the sworn enemy of German idealism, true to its affirmative construction of history. Trusting in the world-spirit benefited the justification of later versions of that world-order which, according to the eleventh thesis on Feuerbach, was to have been changed. The relations of production have out of sheer self-preservation continued to subjugate the unbound forces of production, through piecework and particular measures. The signature of the epoch is the preponderance of the relations of production over the productive forces, which have nonetheless mocked these relations for some time. That the extended arm of humanity can reach to distant and empty planets, but that it cannot create peace on Earth, highlights the absurdity, towards which the social dialectic is moving. That things happened otherwise than was hoped for is not least due to the fact that the society has ingested what Veblen called the “underlying population.” But the only ones who could wish that this be undone, are those who put the happiness of the abstract totality over that of living individual beings. This development depends for its part once again on that of the productive forces. It was never identical, though, with its primacy over the relations of production. This was never imagined as something mechanical. Its realization had for its precondition the spontaneity of those who were interested in the transformation of the relations, and their number has surpassed the actual industrial proletariat several times over. Objective interest and subjective spontaneity yawn wide from each other; these wither under the disproportionate hegemony of the existent. The sentence of Marx, that theory, too, becomes a genuine force as soon as it seizes the masses, has been turned flagrantly upside down by the course of the world. If the constitution of the world, through planned measures or automatically, hinders the simplest cognition and experience of the most threatening events and indispensable critical ideas and theorems by means of the culture- and consciousness-industries; if it hamstrings, far beyond this, even the basic capacity to imagine the world differently than it overwhelmingly appears to be to those who constitute this world, then these locked-up and manipulated intellectual and spiritual conditions become indeed a genuine power, that of repression, just what its opposite, the emancipated Mind [Geist: mind, spirit, intellect], once wished to combat.
By contrast, the terminus industrial society suggests, to a certain degree, that it’s a question of the technocratic moment in Marx, which this term would like to show the way out of the world, immediately in itself; as if the essence of society followed the level of the productive forces in lockstep, independent of its social conditions. It’s astonishing, how rarely the sociological establishment actually considers this, how rarely it is analyzed. The best part, which by no means needs to be the best, is forgotten, namely the totality, or in Hegel’s words the all-penetrating ether of society. This however is anything but ethereal, but on the contrary an ens realissimum [Latin: that which is real, materially existent]. Insofar as it is abstractly veiled, the fault of its abstraction is not to be blamed on a solipsistic and reality-distant thinking, but on the exchange-relationships, the objective abstractions, which belongs to the social life-process. The power of that abstraction over humanity is far more corporeal than that of any single institution, which silently constitutes itself in advance according to the scheme of things and beats itself into human beings. The powerlessness which the individual experiences in the face of the totality is the most drastic expression of this. Admittedly in sociology the leading social relations realize themselves in the social conditions of production, in accordance with their logical-extensive classificatory nature, far less palpably than in that concrete generality. They become neutralized into concepts of power or social control. In such categories, the point of the spike vanishes and thereby, one would like to say, that which is actually social in society, its structure. It is one of the tasks of today’s sociological congress, to work towards changing this.
It is least of all permissible for dialectical theory to simply set up the productive forces and relations of production as polar opposites. They are delimited by each another, each contains the other in itself. Exactly this leads to the bland recurrence of the productive forces, where the relations of production have the upper hand. The productive forces are, more than ever before, mediated through the relations of production; so completely perhaps, that these appear exactly for that reason as their essence; they have completely become a second nature. Their responsibility lies in this, that in an insane contradiction to what is possible, human beings across great stretches of the Earth live in misery. Even where an abundance of goods is the norm, this stands as if under a curse. The necessity which extends deep into the illusionary appearance [Schein], infects goods with its illusionary character. Objectively true and false needs can indeed be differentiated, though nowhere in the world ought to be signed over to bureaucratic regimentation for this reason. In needs exist always what is good and what is bad in the entire society; they may be the next best thing to market surveys, but they are not in the administered world in themselves the first thing. To judge between true and false consciousness would, according to the insight into the structure of society, require that of all its mediations. That which is fictitious, which distorts all satiation of necessities nowadays, is undoubtedly perceived unconsciously; this contributes significantly to the contemporary discontent in culture. More important than even the almost impenetrable quid pro quo of need, satisfaction and profit- or power-motive is the unrelieved and continuing threat of one need, on which all others depend on, the motive of simple survival. Delimited to a horizon in which at any moment the bomb can fall, even the most riotous display of consumer goods contains an element of self-mockery. The international antagonisms which, however, for the first time are building to a truly total war, stand in flagrant context with the relations of production, in the most literal sense imaginable. The threat of one catastrophe is displaced by the catastrophe of the other. The relations of production could scarcely maintain themselves without the apocalyptic earthquake of renewed economic crises as tenaciously as they do, if an inordinate share of the social product, which would otherwise be unsaleable, were not dedicated to the production of the means of destruction. In the Soviet Union something similar is at work, despite the removal of the market economy. The economic reasons for this are obvious: the requirement for speedy increases in production in the underdeveloped lands necessitates tight, dictatorial administration. Out of the unfettering of the forces of production emerged renewed fetters, those of the relations of production: production became its own end and hindered the purpose of such, i.e. undiminished and fully-realized freedom. Under both systems, the capitalist concept of socially essential work is reduced to a satanic parody: in the marketplace it is based on profit, never on self-evident utility for human beings themselves or their happiness. Such domination of the relations of production over human beings requires above all the fully-matured state of development of the forces of production. While both need to be differentiated, those who wish to grasp the merest part of the baleful spell cast on the situation must constantly use one as a means of understanding the other. The overproduction which drives that expansion, through which the apparently subjective need is received and substituted for, is spit out from a technical apparatus which has come so far towards realizing itself, that it has become, under a certain volume of production, irrational - that is, unprofitable; it is necessarily realized by the relations of production. It is solely from the viewpoint of total annihilation that the relations of production have not fettered the forces of production. The dirigiste methods, however, with which in spite of everything the masses are kept in line, presuppose a kind of concentration and centralization which has not only an economic side but also a technological one, as the mass-media go to show; i.e. that it has become possible to homogenize the consciousness of countless individuals from just a few points, through the selection and presentation of news and commentary.
The power of the relations of production, which were not overthrown, is greater than ever, and yet at the same time they are, as objectively anachronistic, everywhere diseased, damaged, riddled with holes. They do not function by themselves. Economic interventionism is not, as the older liberal school thought, something cobbled together from outside the system, but is rather system-immanent, the embodiment of self-defense; nothing could illuminate the category of dialectics with greater clarity. This is analogous to what became of the erstwhile Hegelian philosophy of law, wherein bourgeois ideology and the dialectic of bourgeois society are so deeply interwoven, in that the state, presumably intervening from beyond the reach of society’s power-struggles, had to be conjured up out of the immanent dialectic of society in order to damper and police the antagonisms of such, lest society, following Hegel’s insight, disintegrate. The invasion of that which is not system-immanent is at the same time also a piece of immanent dialectics, just as, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Marx thought of the overthrow of the relations of production as something compelled by the course of history, and nevertheless as something to be realized outside the closure of the system, as a qualitatively different action. If one argued, on the grounds of interventionism and from the standpoint of large-scale planning, that late capitalism [consumer capitalism] has moved beyond the anarchy of commodity production and is therefore no longer really capitalism, the response must be that the social destiny of the particular within this latter is more contingent than ever before. The model of capitalism never applied so purely as its liberal apologists wished to think. It was already in Marx’s day a critique of ideology, which was supposed to reveal how little the concept which capitalist society had of itself had to do with reality. Not the least of the ironies of this critical motif is that liberalism, which even in its heyday was nothing of the sort, has today been refunctioned in support of the thesis that capitalism is actually not what it is. This, too, points to a transformation. What since time immemorial in capitalist society was, in relation to free and fair exchange, and indeed by consequence of its own implications, irrational (that is to say, unfree and unjust) has increased to the point that its model has collapsed. Exactly this has become a condition, whose integration has turned into the prototype of disintegration, which is appraised as an asset. That which is alien to the system reveals itself to be the inner essence of the system, all the way into its political tendencies. In interventionism the power of resistance of the system has confirmed itself, indirectly in the theory of economic crisis; the transition to domination independent of market forces is its telos. The catchphrase of the “prefab society” is unwitting testament to this. Such a reconfiguration of liberal capitalism has its correlate in the reconfiguration of consciousness, a regression of human beings behind the objective possibility, which today would be open to them. Human beings are sacrificing the characteristics which they no longer need and which only hinder them; the kernel of individuation is beginning to come apart. It’s only in recent times that signs of a counter-tendency are becoming visible in various groups of young people: resistance against blind adjustment, freedom for rationally chosen goals, disgust before the world of swindles and illusions, meditations on the possibility of transformation. Whether the socially ever-increasing drive towards destruction triumphs in spite of this, only time will tell. Subjective regression favors once again the regression of the system. To borrow a phrase which Merton employed in a somewhat different context, because it became dysfunctional, the consciousness of the masses flattened out the system, such that it increasingly divested itself [sich entaeussern: to relinquish, divest oneself of; also to conceptually disclose, to realize] of that rationality of the fixed, identical ego, which was still implicit in the idea of a functional society.
That the forces of production and the relations of production are one nowadays, and that one could immediately construe society from the standpoint of the productive forces alone, says that the current society is socially necessary appearance. It is socially necessary because in fact previously separated moments of the social process, which living human beings incarnate, are being brought into a kind of overall equivalence. Material production, distribution, consumption are administered in common. Their borders, which once separated from inside the total process of externally separated spheres, and thereby respected that which was qualitatively different, are melting away. Everything is one. The totality of the process of mediation, in truth that of the exchange-principle, produces a second and deceptive immediacy. It makes it possible for that which is separate and antagonistic to be, against its own appearance, forgotten or to be repressed from consciousness. This consciousness of society is however an illusion, because it represents the consequences of technological and organizational homogenization, but nonetheless fails to see that this homogenization is not truly rational, but remains itself subordinated itself to a blind, irrational nomothetism [Gesetzmaessigkeit: lawfulness, juridicality]. No truly total subject of society yet exists. The mere appearance ought to be formulated as follows, that everything socially existent today is so thoroughly mediated, that even the moment of mediation is itself distorted by the totality. There is no standpoint outside of the whole affair which can be referred to, from which the ghost could be called by its name; the lever can be deployed only by means of its own incoherence. That is what Horkheimer and I described decades ago as the concept of the technological veil. The false identity between the constitution of the world and its inhabitants through the total expansion of technics is leading in the direction of the confirmation of the relations of production, whose true beneficiaries one searches for in vain, just as proletarians have become invisible. The self-realization of the system in relation to everyone, even functionaries, has reached a limit. It has turned into that fatality, which finds its expression in the current situation, to use Freud’s words, in free-floating angst; free-floating, because it can no longer be fixed on living beings, people or classes. The only relationships ultimately realized between people, however, are those buried under the relations of production. This is why the overwhelming organization of things remains at the same time its own ideology, virtually powerless. As impenetrable as the bane [Bann] is, it’s only a spell [Bann]. If sociology is to do more than just furnish welcome information to agents and interests, by fulfilling those tasks for which it was once conceived, then it is up to it, with means which do not themselves fall prey to the universal character of the fetish, to ensure, be it to ever so modest an extent, that the spell dissolves itself. |
ALTHOUGH NOT traditionally on many people’s list of most feared animals, one persistent otter made a brave attempt to change all that yesterday in a Co Clare town.
The battle between the otter and the town of Tulla began at approximately 12.30pm when Joe Burke – a farmer from nearby Broadford – entered Littleton Animal Feeds.
“I turned to Mike Hogan [owner of the store] and just said: ‘Is that an otter outside?’”
The two men left the shop to discover that an otter was indeed making its way down the street.
“It turned into a courtyard and we decided to trap it. We had three pallets for fertiliser with us so we blocked off the exit,” said Mr Burke.
The otter soon became aggressive as a large crowd gathered around.
“People were afraid to go near it – they were intimidated by him. There was a Tayto bag lying there and it had gotten its head into it and some people were saying he would choke so I decided I’d have to do something,” said Mr Burke
Using a thick bag made to hold animal feed, he eventually captured the otter, which he described as “quite vicious” before putting it into the back of his SUV to release it in a nearby lake.
However, not content to be defeated, the otter chewed through the bag, initiating round two.
“There was a small window broken in the back and he jumped out. Now he was out in the open country,” Mr Burke added. “He had the upper hand on us. He was well able to duck us.”
After a prolonged chase, the two men eventually threw a traffic cone over the animal.
“He was very strong and was trying to escape so I had to stand on the cone and Mike got a board and slipped it underneath. There was an air hole at the top so he was okay.”
When they arrived at the lake, almost an hour into the rescue, Mr Burke and Mr Hogan could have been forgiven for thinking their task was complete.
Unfortunately, the exhausted otter needed help one more time as he quickly sank with exhaustion when freed into the water. “We stayed with him there for another 15 minutes and then released him again,” said Mr Burke. |
An important step for the cryptocurrency market is the one that Dash (Digital Cash) has achieved in the last days. It is the first cryptocurrency, other than Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, to reach the $1,000 dollars’ goal.
On November the 6th, this cryptocurrency was traded around $275 dollars. Since then it keeps growing. The first days of December, it seemed to be stabilized between $650 and $800 dollars but in the last hours Dash has reach $1,250 dollars, arriving at new all time highs.
At the beginning of the year, one DASH was worth $11 dollars. It has grown more than 10,000 percent in just one year. Bitcoin has grown more than 2,000 percent and Litecoin more than 4,000 percent. It was an incredible year for the cryptocurrency market as a whole.
Dash Masternodes and Scalability
The owners of 1,000 DASH have the possibility to create a masternode. These users that have masternodes are able to vote on the allocation of Dash’s monthly budget and decide the future of the currency. Dash masternode network has a budget for different projects that helps to improve the DASH network. The funds for these project comes form block rewards. Ten percent of the reward goes for these projects which are decided by the masternodes.
According to the price that Dash accounts at the moment, it has $8 million dollars per month. That means that it has a bigger budget than other important cryptocurrencies.
Some time ago, we have covered at UseTheBitcoin why Dash upgraded its software in order to provide the network with cheaper transactions. It has activated 2 MB blocks allowing the network to scale smoothly and with less problems as possible. That was achievable because of the masternodes. DASH masternodes get rewarded with 45 percent of the block reward.
Evan Duffield, Dash founder, has commented about on-chain scaling solutions:
“Even Satoshi Nakamoto, founder of Bitcoin seems to have simply assumed that advances in hardware and networking would solve the scalability problem for him. Dash is the first digital currency to come up with an answer to scalability that’s not based on technology that doesn’t yet, and might never exist. Dash will be able to rival the likes of PayPal and VISA simply by using its existing infrastructure.” |
4K video recording is appearing on many new digital cameras these days, but it appears Panasonic is itching to take the industry to the next level. A new report says the company is planning to launch a new 6K mirrorless camera during its fiscal year 2016 (a period that ends March 2017). This would likely be the world’s first 6K-capable consumer-oriented camera.
The news was published by the Japanese publication Nikkan, which says the camera will be able to recording 6K at 30 frames per second and 4K at 60 frames per second. Photographers will also reportedly be able to obtain 18-megapixel still photographs by extracting single frames from the 6K footage.
If this report turns out to be true, then it seems likely that the camera may be a GH5 that’s unveiled at Photokina 2016 this September in Cologne, Germany. Not much else is known about this upcoming camera, so we’ll just have to wait and see what develops. Stay tuned.
(via Nikkan via Digicame-info via 43 Rumors) |
Moreover, Alibaba has also been pouring cash into other logistics ventures. Earlier this year it pumped $4.6 billion into Suning, an electronics retailer that owns 65 national and regional distribution centers. It has invested in Singapore Post and YTO Express, a delivery company that is part of Cainiao’s network. And last year it bought stakes in Chinese electronics group Haier and its logistics subsidiary, as well as in a department store operator whose parent is Cainiao’s second-largest shareholder. In total Alibaba has spent at least $6.3 billion, according to Breakingviews calculations.
This matters, because the company founded by Jack Ma has made a virtue of its asset-light business model. Not holding inventory and outsourcing delivery to other providers has proved lucrative. Alibaba’s adjusted net profit margin in the quarter ending June was 47 percent. Contrast that with its Chinese rival JD.com, which has adopted an Amazon-like model that requires it to maintain a large inventory and build up its own delivery network. The $36 billion group has yet to turn a profit.
Yet there are signs that getting packages to consumers quickly and reliably is an increasingly important battleground. JD.com offers same-day and next-day services for over 80 percent of orders it delivers while Alibaba aims to have next-day delivery available in 50 cities by the end of the year. Cainiao has said it plans to spend 100 billion renminbi over the next few years and wants to quintuple its warehouse space to five million square meters next year.
Meanwhile, Alibaba and JD.com are battling it out in time-sensitive products like fresh groceries: Earlier this year, Cainiao started offering same-day food delivery in Beijing and Shanghai for Alibaba’s online supermarket. JD.com announced a $700 million investment in a supermarket operator in August. The latest e-commerce buzzword – “online to offline” – also hinges on speedy and reliable deliveries.
Because it is a minority investor, Alibaba doesn’t have to break out financial results for its logistics ventures. It is not clear from the company’s financial statements whether Cainiao is generating any significant revenue or making a profit. |
I started off with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff. This is a beautiful cream/off white. I love the way this polish looks and its a good alternative from stark white.
Using acrylic paints and a tiny paint brush I freehanded this plaid look. About halfway through I decided trying to freehand a geometric look was not the best decision I've ever made. However, I rather like what I ended up with, so I'm calling it a success.
An InLinkz Link-up
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all products featured in this post were purchased by me Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
The Lacquer Ring is back for its final prompt in July. Jessica of Once Upon a Polish picked geometric for our art theme this month. I really wanted to free hand a design this time around since my freehanding failed in June. |
Delia Ann Derbyshire (5 May 1937 – 3 July 2001[1]) was an English musician and composer of electronic music.[2] She is best known for her pioneering work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, particularly her popular electronic arrangement of the theme music to the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who.[3][4] She has been referred to as "the unsung heroine of British electronic music."[3]
Biography [ edit ]
Early life [ edit ]
Derbyshire was born in Coventry, daughter of Emma (née Dawson) and Edward Derbyshire.[5] of Cedars Avenue, Coundon, Coventry.[6] Her father was a sheet-metal worker.[7] She had one sibling, a sister, who died young.[5] Her father died in 1965 and her mother in 1994.[8]
During the Second World War, immediately after the Coventry Blitz in 1940, she was moved to Preston, Lancashire for safety. Her parents had moved from there originally[5] and most of her surviving relatives still live in the area.[8] She was very bright and, by the age of four, was teaching others in her class to read and write in primary school,[5] but said "The radio was my education".[9] Her parents bought her a piano when she was eight years old. Educated at Barr's Hill Grammar School[10] from 1948 to 1956, she was accepted at both Oxford and Cambridge, "quite something for a working class girl in the 'fifties, where only one in 10 [students] were female",[5] winning a scholarship to study mathematics at Girton College, Cambridge but, apart from some success in the mathematical theory of electricity, she claims she did badly.[5] After one year at Cambridge she switched to music, graduating in 1959 with a BA in mathematics and music, having specialised in medieval and modern music history.[5] Her other principal qualification was LRAM in pianoforte.[8]
She approached the careers office at the university and told them she was interested in "sound, music and acoustics, to which they recommended a career in either deaf aids or depth sounding".[5] Then she applied for a position at Decca Records, only to be told that the company did not employ women in their recording studios.[11][12] Instead, she took positions at the UN in Geneva,[1] from June to September, teaching piano to the children of the British Consul-General and mathematics to the children of Canadian and South American diplomats.[5] Then from September to December, she worked as an assistant to Gerald G. Gross,[5] Head of Plenipotentiary and General Administrative Radio Conferences at the International Telecommunications Union. She returned to Coventry and from January to April 1960 taught general subjects in a primary school there. Then she went to London where from May to October she was an assistant in the promotion department of music publishers Boosey & Hawkes.[8]
BBC Radiophonic Workshop [ edit ]
In November 1960, she joined the BBC as a trainee assistant studio manager[5] and worked on Record Review, a magazine programme where critics reviewed classical music recordings. She said: "Some people thought I had a kind of second sight. One of the music critics would say, "I don't know where it is, but it's where the trombones come in" and I'd hold it up to the light and see the trombones and put the needle down exactly where it was. And they thought it was magic."[5] She then heard about the Radiophonic Workshop and decided that was where she wanted to work. This was received with some puzzlement by the heads in Central Programme Operation because people were usually "assigned" to the Radiophonic Workshop. But in April 1962 she was indeed assigned there[8] in Maida Vale, where for eleven years she would create music and sound for almost 200 radio and television programmes.[13]
In August 1962 she assisted composer Luciano Berio at a two-week summer school at Dartington Hall, for which she borrowed several dozen items of equipment from the BBC.[14] One of her first works, and the most widely known, was her 1963 electronic realization of a score by Ron Grainer for the theme tune of the Doctor Who series,[15] one of the first television themes to be created and produced by entirely electronic means.
Doctor Who theme excerpt An excerpt from the theme music to Doctor Who Problems playing this file? See media help.
When Grainer first heard it, he was so amazed by her rendering of his theme that he asked "Did I really write this?" to which Derbyshire replied "Most of it".[16] Grainer attempted to get her a co-composer credit, but the attempt was prevented by the BBC bureaucracy, which then preferred to keep the members of the workshop anonymous.[17] She would not be credited on-screen for her work until Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor. Derbyshire's original arrangement served as Doctor Who's main theme for its first seventeen seasons, from 1963-80. The theme was reworked over the years, to her horror, and the version that had her "stamp of approval" is her original one.[18] Delia also composed some of the incidental music used in the show, including Blue Veils and Golden Sands and The Delian Mode.[19]
In 1964–65 she collaborated with the British artist and playwright Barry Bermange for the BBC's Third Programme to produce four Inventions for Radio, a collage of people describing their dreams, set to a background of electronic sound.[20][21]
Unit Delta Plus [ edit ]
In 1966, while still working at the BBC, Derbyshire with fellow Radiophonic Workshop member Brian Hodgson and EMS founder Peter Zinovieff set up Unit Delta Plus,[1] an organisation which they intended to use to create and promote electronic music. Based in a studio in Zinovieff's townhouse at 49 Deodar Road in Putney, they exhibited their music at a few experimental and electronic music festivals, including the 1966 The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave at which The Beatles' "Carnival of Light" had its only public playing.
In 1966, she recorded a demo with Anthony Newley entitled Moogies Bloogies, although as Newley moved to the United States, the song was never released. After a troubled performance at the Royal College of Art, in 1967, the unit disbanded.[22]
Kaleidophon and Electrophon years [ edit ]
In the late sixties, she again worked with Hodgson in setting up the Kaleidophon studio at 281–283 Camden High Street in Camden Town with fellow electronic musician David Vorhaus.[1] The studio produced electronic music for various London theatres and in 1968 the three used it to produce their first album as the band White Noise.[23] Their debut, An Electric Storm, is now considered an important and influential album in the development of electronic music.[24] Derbyshire and Hodgson left the group subsequently, and future White Noise albums were solo Vorhaus projects.
The trio, using pseudonyms, also contributed to the Standard Music Library.[25] Many of these recordings, including compositions by Derbyshire using the name "Li De la Russe" (from an anagram-esque use of the letters in "Delia" and a reference to her auburn hair) were later used on the seventies ITV science fiction rivals to Doctor Who: The Tomorrow People[26] and Timeslip.[27]
In 1967, she assisted Guy Woolfenden with his electronic score for Peter Hall's production of Macbeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company.[1] The two composers also contributed the music to Hall's film Work Is a Four-Letter Word (1968).[28] Her other work during this period included taking part in a performance of electronic music at The Roundhouse,[1] which also featured work by Paul McCartney, the score for an ICI-sponsored student fashion show[1] and the sounds for Anthony Roland's award-winning film of Pamela Bone's photography, entitled Circle of Light.[29] She composed a score for Yoko Ono's short film Wrapping Event, but no known copy of the film with the soundtrack is known to exist.[30]
In 1973, she left the BBC and worked a brief stint at Hodgson's Electrophon studio[1] during which time she contributed to the soundtrack to the film The Legend of Hell House.[28]
The studios Electrophon and Kaleidophon were named after early electrical musical instruments made by Jörg Mager in pre-war Germany.
In 1975 she stopped producing music. Her final works were two soundtracks for video pioneers Madelon Hooykaas and Elsa Stansfield on their short films Een Van Die Dagen ("One Of These Days") in 1973 and Overbruggen ("About Bridges") in 1975.[31]
Later years [ edit ]
After her music career, Derbyshire worked as a radio operator for the laying of a British Gas pipeline, in an art gallery and in a bookshop.[1] In late 1974 she married David Hunter[32] from Haltwhistle in Northumberland, the labourer son of a miner[33] in an attempt to gain local acceptance; the relationship was brief and disastrous although she never divorced. She also frequented the gallery space of Chinese artist Li Yuan-chia at his stone farmhouse in Cumbria. In 1978 she returned to London[8] and met Clive Blackburn. In January 1980 she bought a house in Northampton where, four months later, Blackburn joined her. He remained her partner for the rest of her life, though at one point they lived separately. According to Blackburn, "in private, she never stopped writing music either. She simply refused to compromise her integrity in any way. And ultimately, she couldn't cope. She just burnt herself out. An obsessive need for perfection destroyed her."[33]
In 2001 she returned to music, providing sounds used as source material by Pete Kember on Sychrondipity Machine (Taken from an Unfinished Dream), a 55-second track for the compilation Grain: A Compilation of 99 Short Tracks, released by Dot Dot Dot Music in 2001. In the liner notes, she is credited with "liquid paper sounds generated using fourier synthesis of sound based on photo/pixel info (B2wav - bitmap to sound programme)."[34] The track was released posthumously and dedicated to her.
Derbyshire's later life was chaotic due to chronic alcoholism; she died of renal failure, aged 64, in July 2001.[1][35]
Archive [ edit ]
After Derbyshire's death, 267 reel-to-reel tapes and a box of a thousand papers were found in her attic. These were entrusted to Mark Ayres of the BBC and in 2007 were given on permanent loan to the University of Manchester. Almost all the tapes were digitised in 2007 by Louis Niebur and David Butler, but none of the music has been published due to copyright complications.[36] In 2010, the University acquired Derbyshire's childhood collection of papers and artefacts from Andi Wolf. This collection is accessible at the John Rylands Library in Manchester.[37]
Dramatic and documentary portrayals [ edit ]
In 2002, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio play entitled Blue Veils and Golden Sands as part of its Afternoon Play strand, telling the story of Derbyshire and her pioneering musical work.[38] The play starred actress Sophie Thompson as Derbyshire[39] and was written by Martyn Wade.[38]
In October 2004, the Tron Theatre, Glasgow hosted Standing Wave, a play written by Nicola McCartney, score by Pippa Murphy. This was produced by Reeling and Writhing, directed by Katherine Morley.[40]
In 2009, Canadian filmmaker Kara Blake released The Delian Mode, a short documentary film about Derbyshire.[41] The film won the Genie Award for Best Short Documentary Film in 2010.
In 2013, the BBC showed a television docudrama depicting the creation and early days of Doctor Who in 1963, called An Adventure in Space and Time, as part of the celebrations for the programme's fiftieth anniversary. Derbyshire appeared as a character in it, portrayed by actress Sarah Winter.[42]
Episode 5 "Derbyshire" of the BBC children's science TV programme Absolute Genius with Dick & Dom is an exploration of Derbyshire's creation of the Doctor Who theme recording using her techniques on equipment archived from the Radiophonic Workshop.[43]
Coventry-based theatre company Noctium Theatre produced a play named Hymns for Robots about Derbyshire's working life,[44] which played at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe festival.
Honours [ edit ]
Her hometown Coventry named a street after her in November 2016, the 'Derbyshire Way'.[15]
A blue plaque was unveiled at Derbyshire's former home of 104 Cedars Avenue, Coventry, on 15 June 2017 as part of a BBC initiative celebrating important musicians and venues.[45] The ceremony was performed by former Doctor Who actors Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant along with BBC Coventry & Warwickshire presenter Vic Minett.[46]
On 20 November 2017 Derbyshire was awarded a posthumous honorary doctorate for her pioneering contributions to electronic music.[47]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading and documentaries [ edit ] |
Cleveland Playhouse, which is heading into its 100th season in 2015-16, will take home the 2015 Regional Theater Tony Award.
The regional Tony, presented every year during the Tony Awards, have long honored theater companies outside of New York whose work isn’t regularly eligible for the Broadway-centric competitive awards. Recently the Tony organizers decided to consider Off Broadway eligible for the trophy, too; last year it went to Signature Theater.
Cleveland Playhouse prides itself on being a longtime champion for new work, having presented Tennesee Williams before “The Glass Menagerie” and, more recently, premiering titles by Ken Ludwig, Lee Blessing and Deborah Zoe Laufer. Pulitzer winner Quiara Alegria Hudes is working on a commission for the company that will bow next season.
The regional theater Tony winner was named hot on the heels of the Tony administration committee’s decisions on category eligibility for the season’s potential nominees. The rulings to come out of that meeting, the fourth and final such meeting held during the season, held few surprises.
Among the more noteworthy rulings: Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel, on whose novels “Wolf Hall” is based, will be eligible for the best play Tony alongside adaptor Mike Poulton; and Beth Malone, one of the three actresses to play the protagonist of “Fun Home” at different stages of the characters’ life, will be eligible as a lead actress while the two younger actresses in the role will be considered featured. (So will Judy Kuhn, who portrays the character’s mother in the show.)
Nominations for the 2015 Tony Awards will be announced April 28 by Mary-Louise Parker and Bruce Willis, both of whom are on tap to appear in the New York theater productions next year. |
To many people, James Niggemeyer is a hero -- the man who stopped the murderer whose rampage ended the life of former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell on Dec. 8, 2004. But as he admitted during a recent interview with the Columbus Dispatch , the 10 years since that fateful night haven't been easy for him.
"I found out real quickly that you don’t have any control over your brain -- it’s going to do what it’s going to do," said Niggemeyer, who told the newspaper he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and severe anxiety disorder after the shooting. "Cops are regular human beings. Things affect us the same way they affect everyday citizens. We relive it and have to deal with the aftermath."
After arriving at the nightclub where the shooting took place -- and where the gunman remained onstage, firing into the crowd with a hostage in a headlock -- Niggemeyer entered through a back door and slowly approached the killer as he lined up his shot. The first one on the scene, he walked into the club without backup, and did the best anyone could have hoped under the circumstances -- but the incident also spelled the eventual end of his career on the police force.
Saying it "changed my career path -- not for the better, certainly," Niggemeyer added, "I’m happy to have been able to end the situation with no further tragedies after I arrived, but it certainly hasn’t made my life any better." The Dispatch's article emphasizes the silver lining to the tragedy, exploring the friendship that developed between Niggemeyer, club owner Rick Cautela and Andy Halk, brother of Erin Halk, a security guard killed in the act of trying to stop the gunman. As Halk put it, "We went through hell together. You develop a bond."
And for Niggemeyer, it's Halk and the others who jumped in before he arrived on the scene that truly deserve to be honored. "When tragedy strikes, there are people in this world who will step up and try to stop it. There are people who will stand up in the face of death and give their life to try to save others," he pointed out. "They did that with no police there, with no guns. Those are the true heroes to me." |
The 1944 Bretton Woods international monetary system as it has developed to the present is become, honestly said, the greatest hindrance to world peace and prosperity. Now China, increasingly backed by Russia—the two great Eurasian nations—are taking decisive steps to create a very viable alternative to the tyranny of the US dollar over the world trade and finance. Wall Street and Washington are not amused, but they are powerless to stop it.
Shortly before the end of the Second World War, the US Government, advised by the major international banks of Wall Street, drafted what many mistakenly believe was a new gold standard. In truth, it was a dollar standard in which every other member currency of the International Monetary Fund countries fixed the value of their currency to the dollar. In turn, the US dollar was fixed then to gold at a value equal to 1/35th of an ounce of gold. At the time Washington and Wall Street could impose such a system as the Federal Reserve held some 75% of all world monetary gold as a consequence of the war and related developments. Bretton Woods established the dollar which then became the reserve currency of world trade held by central banks.
Death Agony of a Defective Dollar Standard
By the end of the 1960’s with soaring US Federal budget deficits from costs of the Vietnam War and other foolish spending, the dollar standard began to show its deep structural flaws. A recovered Western Europe and Japan no longer needed billions of US dollars for financing reconstruction. Germany and Japan had become world class export economies with higher efficiency than US manufacturing owing to a growing obsolescence of US basic industry from steel to autos and basic infrastructure. Washington should then have significantly devalued the dollar against gold in order to correct the growing world trade imbalance. Such a dollar devaluation would have boosted US manufacturing export earnings and reduced the trade imbalances. It would have been a huge pus for the real US economy. However for Wall Street banks it spelled huge losses. So instead, the Johnson and then Nixon administrations printed more dollars and in effect exported inflation to the world.
The central banks of especially France and Germany reacted to the deafness in Washington by demanding US Federal Reserve gold for their US dollar reserves at $35 per unce s in the Bretton Woods 1944 agreement. By August 1971 the redemption of gold for inflated US dollars had reached a crisis point where Nixon was advised by a senior Treasury official, Paul Volcker, to rip up the Bretton Woods system.
By 1973 gold was allowed by Washington to trade freely and was no longer the backing of a sound US dollar. Instead, an engineered oil price shock in October 1973 that sent the dollar price of oil higher by 400% in a matter of months, created what Henry Kissinger then called the petrodollar.
The world needed oil for the economy. Washington, in a 1975 deal with the Saudi monarchy, insured that Arab OPEC would refuse to sell one drop of their oil to the world for any currency other than US dollars. The value of the dollar soared against other currencies such as the German Mark or Japanese Yen. Wall Street banks were awash in petrodollar deposits. The dollar casino was open and running, and the rest of the world was being fleeced by it.
In my book, Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death of the American Century, I detail how the major New York international banks such as Chase, Citibank and Bank of America used the petrodollars then to recycle Arab oil profits to oil-importing countries in the developing world during the 1970’s, laying the seeds for the so-called Third World Debt Crisis. Curiously, it was the same Paul Volcker, a protégé of David Rockefeller and Rockefeller’s Chase Manhattan Bank, who this time, in October, 1979 as Chairman of the Fed, triggered the 1980s debt crisis by pushing Fed interest rates through the roof. He lied and claimed it was to nip inflation. It was to save the dollar and the Wall Street banks.
Today, the dollar is a strange phenomenon to put it mildly. The United States since 1971 has gone from being a premier industrial nation to a giant debt-bloated casino of speculation.
With Fed Funds interest rates between zero and one percent the past nine years—unprecedented in modern history—the major banks of Wall Street, the ones whose financial malfeasance and murderous greed created the 2007 Subprime crisis and its 2008 global financial Tsunami, set about to build a new speculative bubble. Rather than lend to debt-bloated cities for urgently-needed infrastructure or other productive avenues of the real economy, instead they created another colossal bubble in the stock market. Major companies used cheap credit to buy their own stocks back, thereby spurring the stock prices on Wall Street exchanges, a rise fed by hype and myths about “economic recovery.” The S&P-500 stock index rose by 320% since the end of 2008. I can assure you those paper stock rises are not because the real US economy has grown 320%.
American households earn less in real terms each year over decades. Since 1988 median household income has been stagnant amid steadily rising inflation, a declining real income. They must borrow more than ever in history. Federal Government debt is at an unmanageable $20 trillion with no end in sight. American industry has been closed and production shipped offshore, “outsourced” is the euphemism. Left behind is a high-debt, rotted out “service economy” where millions work two even three part-time jobs just to keep afloat.
The only factor keeping the dollar from total collapse is the US military and Washington’s deployment of deceptive NGOs around the world to facilitate plundering of the world economy.
So long as Washington dirty tricks and Wall Street machinations were able to create a crisis such as they did in the Eurozone in 2010 through Greece, world trading surplus countries like China, Japan and then Russia, had no practical alternative but to buy more US Government debt—Treasury securities—with the bulk of their surplus trade dollars. Washington and Wall Street smiled. They could print endless volumes of dollars backed by nothing more valuable than F-16s and Abrams tanks. China, Russia and other dollar bond holders in truth financed the US wars that were aimed at them, by buying US debt. Then they had few viable alternative options.
Viable Alternative Emerges
Now, ironically, two of the foreign economies that allowed the dollar an artificial life extension beyond 1989—Russia and China—are carefully unveiling that most feared alternative, a viable, gold-backed international currency and potentially, several similar currencies that can displace the unjust hegemonic role of the dollar today.
For several years both the Russian Federation and the Peoples’ Republic of China have been buying huge volumes of gold, largely to add to their central bank currency reserves which otherwise are typically in dollars or euro currencies. Until recently it was not clear quite why.
For several years it’s been known in gold markets that the largest buyers of physical gold were the central banks of China and of Russia. What was not so clear was how deep a strategy they had beyond simply creating trust in the currencies amid increasing economic sanctions and bellicose words of trade war out of Washington.
Now it’s clear why.
China and Russia, joined most likely by their major trading partner countries in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), as well as by their Eurasian partner countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are about to complete the working architecture of a new monetary alternative to a dollar world.
Currently, in addition to founding members China and Russia, the SCO full members include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and most recently India and Pakistan. This is a population of well over 3 billion people, some 42% of the entire world population, coming together in a coherent, planned, peaceful economic and political cooperation.
If we add to the SCO member countries the official Observer States—Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia, states with expressed wish to formally join as full members, a glance at the world map will show the impressive potentials of the emerging SCO. Turkey is a formal Dialogue Partner exploring possible SCO membership application, as are Sri Lanka, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Nepal. This, simply said, is enormous.
BRI and a Gold-Backed Silk Road
Until recently Washington think tanks and the Government have sneered at the emerging Eurasian institutions such as SCO. Unlike BRICS which is not made up of contiguous countries in a vast land-mass, the SCO group forms a geographic entity called Eurasia. When Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the creation of what then was called the New Economic Silk Road at a meeting in Kazakhstan in 2013, few in the West took it seriously. The name officially today is the Belt, Road Initiative (BRI). Today, the world is beginning to take serious note of the scope of the BRI.
It’s clear that the economic diplomacy of China, as of Russia and her Eurasian Economic Union group of countries, is very much about realization of advanced high-speed rail, ports, energy infrastructure weaving together a vast new market that, within less than a decade at present pace, will overshadow any economic potentials in the debt-bloated economically stagnant OECD countries of the EU and North America.
What until now was vitally needed, but not clear, was a strategy to get the nations of Eurasia free from the dollar and from their vulnerability to further US Treasury sanctions and financial warfare based on their dollar dependence. This is now about to happen.
At the September 5 annual BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China, Russian President Putin made a simple and very clear statement of the Russian view of the present economic world. He stated,
“Russia shares the BRICS countries’ concerns over the unfairness of the global financial and economic architecture, which does not give due regard to the growing weight of the emerging economies. We are ready to work together with our partners to promote international financial regulation reforms and to overcome the excessive domination of the limited number of reserve currencies.”
To my knowledge he has never been so explicit about currencies. Put this in context of the latest financial architecture unveiled by Beijing, and it becomes clear the world is about to enjoy new degrees of economic freedom.
China Yuan Oil Futures
According to a report in the Japan Nikkei Asian Review, China is about to launch a crude oil futures contract denominated in Chinese yuan that will be convertible into gold. This, when coupled with other moves over the past two years by China to become a viable alternative to London and New York to Shanghai, becomes really interesting.
China is the world’s largest importer of oil, the vast majority of it still paid in US dollars. If the new Yuan oil futures contract gains wide acceptance, it could become the most important Asia-based crude oil benchmark, given that China is the world’s biggest oil importer. That would challenge the two Wall Street-dominated oil benchmark contracts in North Sea Brent and West Texas Intermediate oil futures that until now has given Wall Street huge hidden advantages.
That would be one more huge manipulation lever eliminated by China and its oil partners, including very specially Russia. Introduction of an oil futures contract traded in Shanghai in Yuan, which recently gained membership in the select IMF SDR group of currencies, oil futures especially when convertible into gold, could change the geopolitical balance of power dramatically away from the Atlantic world to Eurasia.
In April 2016 China made a major move to become the new center for gold exchange and the world center of gold trade, physical gold. China today is the world’s largest gold producer, far ahead of fellow BRICS member South Africa, with Russia number two.
China has now established a vast storage center in the Chinese Qianhai Free Trade Zone next to Shenzhen, the city of some 18 million immediately north of Hong Kong on the Pearl River Delta. Now China is completing construction of a permanent gold vault facility, including a bonded warehouse, trading floor and related offices areas. The 105-year-old Hong Kong-based Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society is in a joint project with ICBC, China’s largest state bank and its largest gold importing bank, to create the Qianhai Storage Center. It begins to become clear why Washington deceptive NGOs such as the National Endowment for Democracy tried, unsuccessfully, to create an anti-Beijing Color Revolution, the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong in late 2014.
Now to add the new oil futures contract traded in China in Yuan with the gold backing will lead to a dramatic shift by key OPEC members, even in the Middle East, to prefer gold-backed Yuan for their oil over inflated US dollars that carry a geopolitical risk as Qatar experienced following the Trump visit to Riyadh some months ago. Notably, Russian state oil giant, Rosneft just announced that Chinese state oil company, CEFC China Energy Company Ltd. Just bought a 14% share of Rosneft from Qatar. It’s all beginning to fit together into a very coherent strategy.
The dollar imperium is in its painful death agony and its patriarchs are in reality denial otherwise known as the Trump presidency. Meanwhile the saner elements of this world are about building constructive, peaceful alternatives. They are even open to admit Washington, under honest rules, to join them. That’s remarkably generous isn’t it?
F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
Featured image is from the author. |
LOS ANGELES — Miracles for sale. Price: $15,000 and likely climbing.
Demand for the Grateful Dead's July 3-5 farewell shows at Chicago's Soldier Field has been so staggering that by the time the public Ticketmaster deal went down on Saturday morning, secondary market sites like StubHub were offering single tickets for $1,000 and up, with some three-day packages going for as much as $15,000.
SEE ALSO: Grammys prove Rock 'n' Roll isn't dead — but it's sure getting old
It wasn't supposed to be this way, but hey, capitalism always finds new ways to skin the goat.
When the surviving members of the band announced the shows last month, Deadheads were cheered to hear that the old-fashioned mail-order system was back, too: Byzantine instructions, meant to separate 'heads from scalpers with No. 10 envelopes and index cards and postal money orders, were supposedly designed to gave fans a reasonable shot at a face-value ticket.
But after the ticketing team reported receiving nearly 400,000 pre-order requests via some 60,000 envelopes, the Ticketmaster date was pushed two weeks from Feb. 14 to give them time to sort through the crush. As Saturday's online sale approached, thousands of Deadheads who mail-ordered had received rejection letters, while others were still in the dark.
But a lucky few were notified before the weekend sale via email that their orders had been accepted:
Image: Screen shot courtesy of Megan Mulry.
What many didn't know was that Chicago Bears season-ticket holders, as part of their contract with the team and Soldier Field, had first dibs on seats — meaning thousands of well-to-do Chicagoans had the option of either seeing the historic shows for face value, or turning their hundreds of dollars into several thousands of dollars.
Like, several thousand:
And it's never been easier, with sites like StubHub, the largest secondary-market ticket seller, which charges a flat fee to the seller — who can list their tickets at whatever price they like. One StubHub agent, who declined to give his full name because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the company, told Mashable that he'd never seen higher prices for a show.
"I’ve been doing this nine years, and I would say this is going to be the biggest one I’ve seen," he said. "The Super Bowl is always going to be bigger than anything. But this is definitely the biggest concert. By far. By far."
And with good reason.
"These will be the last shows with the four of us together," founding guitarist Bob Weir told Billboard when the band announced the shows that would include him and surviving members Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.
Standing in for Jerry Garcia, whose last show was at Soldier Field in 1995 a month before his death, will be Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. Pianist Bruce Hornsby, who played with the Grateful Dead in the '90s, and Jeff Chimenti, who plays keyboard with Weir's side project RatDog, are also on board.
It is as enticing a lineup as the band has put out since Garcia's death — they've toured in a few different iterations as The Other Ones, Phil and Friends, Furthur, and just The Dead over the past 20 years — and combined with the declared finality, it's no wonder that some fans would be willing to spend several months' wages to be a part of it.
Even passes to the Soldier Field parking lot, where you can hear the music and enjoy the festive party scene (if not see anything), were being sold on StubHub for $200.
Other options include travel packages from companies like CID Entertainment, which was offering two different "experiences," including general admission tickets, ranging in price from $519 to $2,198.
And of course, as touring vets know, there's one final option — and it's been known to work: |
Switch to an FFG design would add area air defense capability
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is taking a hard look at upgrading its future frigates to protect other ships from anti-air threats in addition to defending against undersea and surface enemies. The move would be a significant enhancement in the effort to develop a frigate from existing littoral combat ship designs.
A study group called the Requirement Evaluation Team, or RET, has been formed to examine how to add a local air defense capability to the frigates to protect Combat Logistics Force ships — the supply and support ships that bring fuel, ammunition, spare parts and food to warships at sea. The frigate design as currently envisioned is armed with anti-missile and anti-aircraft missiles, but only to protect itself.
The goal, according to a draft document, is — at a minimum — to double the load out of Block 2 Evolved Seasparrow Missiles from eight to 16, or incorporate a Mark 41 vertical launch system with at least eight Standard Missile-2s. The SM-2 is one of the primary anti-air weapons carried by the fleet’s Aegis destroyers and cruises.
SM-2 would require a more capable command and control system, and the RET is considering the addition of a variant of the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar under development by Raytheon for Ford-class aircraft carriers and big-deck amphibious ships. The ship would also have the Cooperative Engagement Capability, a high-quality networking system that ties together sensors and weapons carried on multiple ships, aircraft or shore installations into an integrated fire control system.
Taken together, the enhanced anti-air capabilities would change the Navy designation for the ships from FF, meaning frigate, to FFG — guided missile frigates able to provide area air defense.
"We see an opportunity to increase our AAW [anti-air warfare] capability — which falls under the category of lethality — within a reasonable trade space for our future frigate," Sean Stackley, acting secretary of the Navy, told Defense News on April 5.
"We think we have a good, solid baseline in the requirements document" developed for the frigate, he said, "but we are looking at that lethality aspect, which is the AAW component. We’re looking at further increases to survivability, and we’re looking at endurance, pushing the envelope. And as always we’re going to balance that against technical risk and cost. We’re going to do this in a competitive environment."
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Both builders of the littoral combat ship — Lockheed Martin and Austal USA — have developed frigate variants of their LCS designs in anticipation of the Navy issuing a formal request for proposals, which had been expected in the fall. The switch from an FF to an FFG design would likely involve significant redesign of each company’s frigate proposal, which could push back the RFP.
"I don’t want to get pinned down on a date" to issue the RFP, Stackley said. "Obviously we want to get through the requirements first. But we want to get it out this fiscal year," which ends Sept. 30.
The FFG, according to the draft document, would also have enhanced survivability characteristics "to a level commensurate with the FFG 7 class" — referring to the Oliver Hazard Perry guided-missile frigates developed in the 1970s that joined the fleet throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The last of those ships was decommissioned in 2015.
A number of naval strategists, particularly a group of Republican navalists associated with the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, have urged the construction of a new class of frigates based on the FFG 7 design.
Enhanced survivability features of the FFG, Navy officials said, include improved shock hardening, plus propulsion separation — presumably meaning separating propulsion machinery spaces, which are next to each other in current designs. Separating the compartments improves survivability — a single hit is unlikely to disable both compartment if another compartment is between them — but also adds length and, hence, cost.
Other survivability improvements could include deckhouse armor, armor for vital spaces and full propulsion-shock protection features.
The proposed way ahead for the FFG, according to the draft Navy document, would be to "update existing analyses to investigate the feasibility of adding these additional capabilities into the current LCS designs, as well as explore whether other existing hull forms and design concepts might provide a better balance of capabilities at competitive cost points."
The RET, which in addition to several Navy offices and commands includes the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon’s Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, is on a fast track to provide FFG recommendations, with a target date of the end of May. As a result of the work, the date to acquire the first frigate would be pushed back from 2019 to 2020 to "allow adequate time to mature the design and thoroughly evaluate design alternatives," according to the draft document.
The Navy, according to the draft plan, would aim for a "competitive contract award no later than fiscal 2020," after a "full and open competition … using modifications to existing ship designs, including designs beyond the two current LCS variants."
With the delay to 2020, another two LCSs would be procured in 2019, according to the draft document.
Stackley sought to put the effort into perspective.
"We’re looking at several things in the context of the Force Structure Assessment," he said April 5. "What has changed over time is the threat has changed. … So we’re taking a hard look at certain capabilities and characteristics to determine whether we need to increase aspects of lethality, survivability and endurance for the frigate."
The anti-air warfare capability, Stackley said, falls under increased lethality over the previous baseline frigate requirements for a multimission ship with anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare capability.
He harkened to the report of the Small Surface Combatant Task Force, a 2014 effort that studied multiple concepts to produce a frigate rather than continue LCS production.
"At the point in time, we were going through the Small Surface Combatant Task Force study, looking at all the existing frigate designs and what the trade-offs would be associated with going beyond self-defense AAW capability, the deltas were pretty significant in terms of impact on hull, impact on costs," Stackley said. "We’re revisiting that with a better base of knowledge because we’ve gone through a cycle of frigate design."
And the Navy continues to look to its LCS shipbuilders for ways to enhance the frigate. Lockheed and Austal have each conducted numerous studies to upgrade their LCS and frigate designs with more lethality and survivability. |
Planning a first date isn't easy, especially when you’re stumped on where to go. You want to find a neutral environment, where you and your date both feel comfortable and on equal footing. (In other words, don’t take him or her to a local bar where you’re a regular ― and don’t even think about suggesting “Netflix and chill,” even ironically.)
What other locations and activities are best avoided on the first date? Below, dating experts share 10 common first date plans that are either painfully uncreative or simply a bad idea.
“This says to your date that your level of investment in them is basically worth $7.50. Obviously you want to meet someone who is happy to chow down on some delicious Chipotle grub but that will be later on. First dates are a chance for you to say, ‘Hey, I want you to feel amazing when you are with me and take you somewhere special.’ Give them something to remember, not a barbacoa burrito bowl.” ― Jenny Apple, matchmaker in Los Angeles, California
“People want to go somewhere fast casual so they have an ‘escape’ if the date doesn’t go well while also filling up their bellies. The thing is, you don’t have to make every second of your life so efficient, especially when you’re looking for love.” ―Katie Chen, co-founder of Catch Matchmaking in Southern California
“This is not a date ― this is a booty call. You can always tell how a relationship is going to end by the way that it starts in the beginning. In this case, there would probably be no real respect or courtship throughout the relationship since there was not even an effort to make a real first date.” ― Lori Zaslow, co-founder of Project Soulmate, a matchmaking service in New York City
“’Netflix and chill’ is among the worst on this list, as it insinuates that you’re simply lazy, cheap or lack creativity. It also suggests you’re looking for an easy hookup. Any chivalry and courtship is completely thrown out the window here!” ― Amy Andersen, founder and CEO of Linx Dating in San Francisco
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“A dive bar where ‘everybody knows your name’ suggests you’re the type of person who needs to stay in your comfort zone. Plus, everyone is going to be in your business because you’re a regular there.” ― Jacqueline Nichols, a matchmaker in Portland, Oregon
“This is a bad idea for two reasons: First, your date doesn’t need to know you are a regular at a bar. And second, your potential drunken shenanigans are not likely to leave the greatest first impression.” ― Ashley Arn, a matchmaker and dating coach based in Santa Monica, California
“Family gatherings are a bad idea. No one wants to get grilled by your aunt about when the two of you will be having kids on a first date.” ― Francesca Hogi, a matchmaker and love coach based in New York City
“I’m not sure why anyone with their brain intact would want to spend time having their family judge their new date. That’s torture. First dates are for you two to get to know each other free from any distraction. Your date will not be able to be themselves if they see you trying to do a family intro too soon.” ― Jenny Apple
“Some people consider certain exercise classes part of their lifestyle. With that in mind, heading to a class on a first date may seem like the best way for their dates to get acquainted with it. But you can get to know each other’s lifestyles without having to gasp for air and drip sweat. Resist the urge to do cardio on the first date.” ― May Hui, co-founder of Catch Matchmaking in Southern California
“While some men and women might get excited that you are into the same fitness cult class as them, most people want to present their best looking (and smelling!) self on a date, not a sweaty version. Once you find out what kind of workout your date is into, then you can suggest going out for a class followed by froyo or a healthy dinner.” ― Jenny Apple
“You’ll have way too many friends at your birthday who’ll want to spend quality time with you. When everyone is focusing on you, the last thing you’ll want to do is babysit a person you barely know.” ― Jennifer Zucher, co-founder of Project Soulmate, a matchmaking service in New York City
“So inappropriate. You’re putting the new person on the spot. This also seems a little desperate, like you’re trying to fill the boyfriend or girlfriend slot for the party. Friends will speculate about your relationship and you won’t have time to give attention and interact with your date throughout the night.” ― Fay Goldman, a matchmaker in New York City
“The ‘happily ever after’ subtext here is a lot to handle on a first date. And the time commitment of an entire wedding is also asking too much.” ― Francesca Hogi
“A wedding sends very awkward, very confusing signals about your intentions for the future. Plus, your date might need to be cropped out of all the family and friends pictures if it doesn’t work out!.” ― Jacqueline Nichols
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“A night out with your friends puts a lot of pressure on your date to not only impress you, but your entire social circle. ― Samantha Burns, a dating coach in the Boston area
“Group outings can be tempting because it does take the pressure off. I’m not entirely against it, especially because it’s considered a norm for younger generations, but really, a first date should be one-on-one time. This is an opportunity to ask yourself: ‘Do I really want to see this person again?’ It’s hard to ascertain that when you’re being distracted by the group.” ― Neely Steinberg, a dating coach and image consultant in the Boston area
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“This is opposite of someone who plans a first date with an easy escape plan, like Chipotle. A date on this scale is bound to be awkward and make you both feel trapped if you are meeting for the first time and don’t hit it off. It’s best to keep first dates to about an hour to hour and a half. Even if it’s great, leave them wanting more.” ― Katie Chen
“Though traveling together is a great way to determine whether someone is a strong match, this should be saved for at least a month into the new relationship. Plus, research shows that the chance of getting asked out on a second date decreases when your first date lasts longer than 2.5 hours.” ― Samantha Burns
“Unless you’re Beyonce or Usher, your dance moves might be a turnoff. Moreover, you probably won’t be able to hear each other over the yells of ‘shots, shots, shots’ and thumping house music.” ― Ashley Arn |
The baseball crazy youngsters who pestered smokers and caused a major uproar in 1909 upon the release of the American Tobacco Company’s trading cards knew it.
Honus Wagner was a huge star but finding his picture was a pain in the Heinie.
Little did they know their desires had been trumped by the Pittsburgh Pirates star’s insistence on being left out of what would become known as the T206 set. Now one of the most important original T206 Wagners is going on the auction block. It’s part of a valua ble group of items consigned to SCP Auctions by J. Ross Greene, a long-time collector from Georgia.
Fewer than 75 Wagner cards are believed to exist but what makes this one special is its chain of ownership. The card can almost certainly be traced back to the time when it was new. It’s also the first to have been featured in a newspaper story proclaiming its scarcity, an article that was published in 1930, just 21 years after those precious few made it into packs of cigarettes. Now graded PSA 1 (poor-fair), it could sell for $500,000 or more.
The History
In November of 1930, Newark Evening News writer Fred J. Bendel wrote about his colleague, Willie Ratner, a boxing writer who became a collector in his youth, acquiring cards from the T205 and T206 sets, including Wagner. The newspaper feature on Ratner carries an illustration of some of the baseball greats Ratner’s collection including the Wagner with text indicating “Old Honus was the hardest” to get.
Eventually, Ratner sold the card to a fellow sports writer, Wirt Gammon, also a noted collector. In 1970, Bill Haber, a Topps employee bought the card from Gammon. Haber died unexpectedly in 1995 and the card was sold at auction through Pat Quinn’s Sports Collectors Store, a Chicago area shop, in March of 1996. The buyer remained a mystery—until now.
The Owner and the Auction
Greene, 76, is a financial consultant and author who purchased the card for nearly $48,500. It has remained in his collection since that time. The card will have its fifth owner when SCP’s catalog auction takes place next month.
“I originally started collecting cards in 1951 and did so through 1955,” Greene recalled to Sports Collectors Daily. “Then I went on to other pursuits. I started back up again when I bought a box of cards in 1970 from a friend who needed some money. The box he had was a mish-mash of baseball cards from ’51 Bowman up to ‘59 Topps and the preponderance of cards was from the late ‘50s. He wanted $500 because he was going back to school to become a preacher. I said, ‘Okay,’ and I gave him the $500. He didn’t know what they were worth and neither did I. Then I put them in my closet and didn’t touch them for years. When card collecting started coming back into the fray in 1990-91, I discovered that $500 had turned into about $10,000.
“One day I was looking through an SCD [Sports Collectors Digest] and saw this ad that had the Wagner card going up for sale. It was a phone auction. I said to myself, ‘This might be my only shot at getting a Wagner.’ All I knew was that the guy who had it [Bill Haber] passed away and now his wife was selling the card.
“I figured it might go for a price that I could afford. I really wanted to own a Wagner but I wasn’t going to put the kind of money into it that [Bruce] McNall and [Wayne] Gretzky had put into getting theirs [$451,000]. Here I was building a house, my daughter’s getting married, and my wife’s out hunting for furniture for the new house. I told my wife [Lynne] that I can either get a [Sherry] Magie, [Eddie] Plank or [Honus] Wagner card. She said, ‘Which one do you really want?’ And I said, ‘the Wagner.’ She said, ‘Go ahead.’
“So I called in and was told by Pat Quinn that the bidding was already at $37,500. He told me that the guy who placed the bid was sitting next to him. I bid $48,500 and the other guy dropped out. The next thing I know is he said, ‘You got it!’ He Fed Ex’ed me the card and I put it a sock drawer. It was March of 1996. It stayed in that drawer for 20 years. The only time it came out was when I hand-carried it to PSA and walked it through with Joe Orlando. That was in 1999. As far as I could tell, not that many people knew about it.”
The Decision to Sell
Greene says he’s enjoyed owning the Wagner card but after discussing matters of estate planning, the time seemed right to let someone else take possession.
“I was prompted first by the desire to protect my family from the often difficult process of selling inherited assets,” he said. “I have eight grandchildren and I couldn’t exactly cut the card up into eight pieces. It was also my belief that returning this card – which has been the focal point of the card collecting hobby for over a century – to its rightful place, in the public discourse, was of utmost importance. That’s why I enlisted SCP Auctions to handle the transfer of ownership.”
J. Ross Greene Collection
Greene also turned over several other items that will generate significant interest, including collections of cards from the early-to-mid-1950s he pieced together as an adult. His 1952 Bowman Large football set is ranked seventh on PSA’s Set Registry and he also consigned full sets of 1951 Bowman baseball and 1953 Topps as well as a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle.
“That’s because my initial collecting years were 1951 to 1955 and then again when the ’65 Topps reprint set came out in the early ‘70s,” he recalled. “Around that time I went back to my home to get my original cards and I knew I had two shoeboxes full of ‘em. I didn’t use rubber bands, I didn’t put them in bicycle spokes and I never flipped them. When I got home I asked my mom where my cards were and she said, ‘Daddy threw them out.’ It was easily 10 or 12 years’ worth.”
That parental error earned a reprieve with his decision to make a bid on the T206 Wagner 21 years ago. Its value grew—then exploded. A ten fold increase in value would have been hard to predict, though.
“It’s probably a bit of a surprise but when you have prices go up based on scarcity, provenance and the history of such an iconic thing, nothing surprises me in terms of value anymore. It all comes down to how much somebody wants to spend on a Wagner. And there will never be another Wagner like this one.”
There is a tale behind many of the Wagner cards that have been sold and countless stories written about them. However, there will always be something special about the one that was first showcased to the public at large, even if the provenance wasn’t entirely known at the time Greene purchased it.
“It’s very important. When I learned of the history of the card, it really made it more iconic in my mind. And I viewed myself as a steward or a caretaker at that point,” he stated.
“I am honored to have been the fourth caretaker and protector of this iconic piece of Americana and the National Pastime. Willie Ratner, Wirt Gammon and Bill Haber were truly keepers of the flame of sports card collecting as each passed the Wagner baton, respectively. I am thrilled to be considered as part of the foursome and again pass it along. I hope the fortunate buyer cherishes their position as the latest steward of the Ratner/Gammon/Haber/Greene 1909-11 T206, otherwise known as ‘The Original Wagner’.”
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In one of today’s top news stories, TMZ has published new and alarming video from the incident in which Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punched his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, in an elevator of an Atlantic City hotel. The footage shows Rice striking Palmer, at which point she falls against the elevator’s handrail and then appears to pass out. When the elevator opens, Rice makes a half-hearted effort to clear her from the elevator.
That’s a new angle on this story: Prior to the emergence of the new video, there was less detailed footage from outside the elevator; it showed Rice attempting to drag Palmer from the elevator. Palmer later married Rice.
For his actions, Rice was suspended by the NFL for two weeks. After a grand uproar about mild punishment, the league subsequently upped penalties for domestic violence.
Whatever the appropriateness of Rice’s penalties, the video itself is disturbing in the extreme. It brings domestic violence graphically right onto your computer screen. It shows a woman assaulted, unconscious, defenseless and degraded, lying motionless on a hotel floor while her fiance appears to be little concerned about the situation.
But at least the folks at “Fox & Friends,” easily cable news’s most idiotic program, can mine it for a laugh or two. After running through the details of the assault this morning, co-host Brian Kilmeade joked, “I think the message is, take the stairs.”
Here’s a screengrab that captures the response to Kilmeade’s quip:
Unwilling to be outdone when it comes to laughing about graphic images of domestic violence, co-host Steve Doocy responded, “The message is when you’re in an elevator, there’s a camera.”
Update 2:30 p.m.: The Baltimore Ravens have made an announcement.
The #Ravens have terminated RB Ray Rice’s contract this afternoon. — Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 8, 2014
(H/T Mediaite and SportsGrid) |
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: With the Obama administration asking Congress to increase funding for charter schools by almost 50 percent, we turn to a major new report that claims charter schools are already spending billions of dollars of federal money with nearly no oversight, regulation or accountability. The report was released by the Center for Media and Democracy, and it’s called “New Documents Show How Taxpayer Money Is Wasted by Charter Schools.” According to the report, the federal government has spent more than $3 billion over the past two decades on the charter school industry, but there is no comprehensive database showing how those funds are spent and what results they produce.
AMY GOODMAN: The new report analyzes materials obtained from open records requests regarding independent audits of how states interact with charter schools and their authorizers. It concludes that the anti-regulatory environment around charter schools, coupled with their lack of financial transparency, warrants a moratorium rather than increased charter funding.
Well, for more, we go to Denver, Colorado, to Denver Open Media, where we’re joined by Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. Their new report is called “New Documents Show How Taxpayer Money Is Wasted by Charter Schools.”
Lisa, welcome to Democracy Now! Lay out the key findings of your report.
LISA GRAVES: Thank you so much. We spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how much money has even been spent by the federal government fueling this industry. And it turned out the sum is $3.3 billion. And so, we thought, with that much money at stake, there would be tremendous controls on that spending. But our open records requests showed time after time in which the federal government and the state governments have no idea how that money is being spent. And that, in part, is due to the—pardon me—design of those schools. The design at the state level, driven by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council’s policies and a number of sort of extreme policies represent a real hostility to government schools, to the idea of public schools and government oversight. And so, what we saw in our records requests was time after time in which no one really knew how much money was being spent by the schools, how much of those tax dollars was being spent on executive pay, how much money was being outsourced to for-profit corporations.
But we know that this $3.3 billion have fueled an industry that now devotes millions of dollars each year to lobbying for more charter schools, and devotes millions of dollars advertising on public airways for people to send their kids to charter schools, things that public schools don’t have a chance to do. Public schools don’t have the budget to advertise their benefits. Even though these things are called public charter schools, in many respects these operate, in many instances, for the private sector, for the benefit of CEOs and Wall Street.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Lisa, one of the things that your report highlights is this black hole of accountability when it comes to charter schools, that the federal government is not holding the states responsible for the money it gives to the states for charter schools. The states are not holding their own charter authorizing agencies or even the individual charter schools accountable. And you conclude that this was not by accident.
LISA GRAVES: That’s right. You know, one of the things we’ve seen over and over again are promises by the Department of Education to do more to hold charter schools accountable. But what you see on the ground, based on the audits, based on the inspector general’s report, is a real lack of controls. You basically have the Department of Education’s charter operation sort of encouraging the states to do more. Meanwhile, you have audits that show that in many instances the states have no idea where the money was spent once it went into the charter school system. They don’t know how many kids were really served. They don’t know what happened to assets that were purchased through our tax dollars. And there’s a recent report last week from the Center for Popular Democracy that shows, through looking through federal and state criminal fraud indictments, that there have been more than $200 million worth of fraud in the charter school industry. And so, this sort of circumstance calls for much greater control, much greater restraint, rather than the 50 percent increase that the administration has called for for charter school funding.
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa, I wanted to turn to a mother featured in an ad released by Charterswork.org.
MOTHER: I had the potential to be great, but no one helped me to identify that. I was not letting that happen to my kids. Public charter schools provide a high-quality education right in our community. I have a daughter that attends Achievement First Apollo, and there’s no limits for her now. I voted for de Blasio, but I didn’t vote for you to take my child’s future.
AMY GOODMAN: So there you have it, and, of course, they’re talking about de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio. But, Lisa Graves, what about this? And what about the success of or failure of charter schools overall?
LISA GRAVES: Well, you know, the studies that we’ve looked at—and we’ve looked at a huge range of them—show that overall the charter schools don’t perform better than the public schools, the traditional public schools. And, in fact, in the worst circumstances, the charter schools perform far worse. You also can see circumstances in which in the so-called virtual public schools, where the dropout rates are higher, the failure rates, in essence, are higher. And so, while people can point to examples here and there of success or innovations, the overall studies seem to indicate that we’re siphoning a lot of money out of our public school system to these charters, and some people are getting really rich off of it. Some of these for-profit corporations are making millions—in fact, hundreds of millions—of dollars out of our tax dollars, and turning around and spending that money to lobby for more tax dollars, and spending that money to advertise for more kids to come through these systems, even though they’ve had record after record after record of failure, in many instances, by these charter schools.
What we’ve also seen, in one of the biggest studies, was that more money goes to so-called administration in charter schools than to students directly. And that’s not a surprise when you see how these things are structured. Some of these charter schools basically outsource everything to the private sector. And then the private sector is not accountable to open records requests in Ohio, Indiana, other states, where people have tried to figure out where the money went. How much money went to executive pay, how much money went to these for-profit operations, you can’t even tell.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Lisa, I want to play for you a comment by Reed Hastings, who is the CEO of Netflix. He’s a supporter and an investor in the Rocketship Education charter school network. Last year, at a meeting of the California Charter Schools Association, he called for the abolition of local school boards. His speech was posted on YouTube. The audio is not great, but if you listen carefully, you can hear his words.
REED HASTINGS: And so, the fundamental problem with school districts is not their fault. The fundamental problem is they don’t get to control their board. And the importance of the charter school movement is to evolve America from a system where governance is constantly changing and you can’t do long-term planning, to a system of large nonprofits. Now, if we go to the general public and we say, “Here’s an argument why you should get rid of school boards,” of course no one’s going to go for that. School boards have been an iconic part of America for 200 years. And so, what we have to do is to work with school districts to grow steadily. And the work ahead is really hard, because we’re at 8 percent of students in California, whereas in New Orleans they’re at 90 percent. So we have a lot of catch-up to do.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix and a big supporter and investor in the charter school industry, last year at a meeting of the California Charter Schools Association. Lisa Graves, your reaction, and also this whole issue of the long-term goal of eliminating any kind of democratic process for parents and communities in their school boards?
LISA GRAVES: Well, if you listen closely to what he said, what he said was we need to abolish the school districts; we need to abolish the school boards, basically. School boards are really the only way that we have democratic control, direct democracy, over our schools. For ordinary public schools, if they want to build a new gym or a new stadium, they have to often go to taxpayers to get permission to expand the school system, to get taxes to expand. And also, people can elect who’s on that school board. What we see through charters and through the American Legislative Exchange Council’s agenda is an effort to circumvent local democratic control, to basically remove control of these schools, these charter schools, these often for-profit enterprises that are related to them, and that’s part of the design of them. When you look back at the history of this, what you see is the year after Brown v. Board of Education, when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the schools had to desegregate, Milton Friedman, sort of the godfather of the right on the economics, someone who has fueled and supported the American Legislative Exchange Council before he passed away—Milton Friedman suggested that the solution to segregation was that there ought to be just purely private schools. They ought to abolish public schools, and people could choose all-white schools, all-colored schools and mixed schools.
AMY GOODMAN: Actually—
LISA GRAVES: And Milton Friedman, you know—
AMY GOODMAN: Actually, we have a clip of the late economist Milton Friedman back in 2006 talking about the public school system should be eliminated.
MILTON FRIEDMAN: How do we get from where we are to where we want to be, to a system in which parents control the education of their children? Of course, the ideal way would be to abolish the school—the public school system and eliminate all the taxes that pay for it. Then parents would have enough money to pay for private schools. But you’re not going to do that. And so, you have to ask: What are politically feasible ways of solving the problem? And the answer is, in my opinion, choice, that you have to change the way government money is directed. Instead of its being used to finance schools and buildings, you should decide how much money you’re willing to spend on each child, and give that money to the—provide that money in the form of a voucher to the parents of the children, so that the parents can choose a school that they regard as best for their child.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s the late Milton Friedman, the economist Milton Friedman, speaking in 2006. And behind him is the banner of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. So if you can talk about the significance of this, Lisa, and also, you referred to ALEC, but explain exactly its role in all of this, as well as the Koch brothers?
LISA GRAVES: So, you know, that was a speech to ALEC, as you point out. And what Milton Friedman was saying was basically the goal is to abolish the public schools. This is a radical, extreme goal, and it had been his goal since at least 1955. That goal has been joined by numerous billionaire families in this country, including the Koch brothers. When David Koch ran for vice president in 1980, one of his platforms was to abolish, privatize the public schools. You heard it in the last presidential cycle, in which the Republican candidates were competing for which agencies to abolish. They wanted to do abolish the Department of Education. I’ve heard Grover Norquist and others joke about the need to get rid of public education. This is part of that agenda. It’s also fueled by the DeVos family from the Amway fortune, by the Wal-Mart family, the Wal-Mart Foundation. All of them have basically wrapped their agenda in these words of “choice” that Milton Friedman suggested, that this is about choice, when, in fact, the agenda is hostile to the idea that there should be public schools. The radicals, basically, in the country, for a long time, including Fred Koch, who was David and Charles Koch’s father, believed that the idea of public schools was basically communist or socialist, which is really ridiculous. Public schools are one of the basic innovations of America that has made our country strong and great, to have universal public education for all kids.
But what we’ve seen through ALEC is this combination of ideological right-wingers and for-profit entities and their trade groups coming together to actually vote as equals, behind closed doors, with legislators from across the country in this effort to privatize our schools, through vouchers, through expanded charters, through charters with very few controls, charters exempted from state and federal regulations, charters exempted from local regulations, charters exempted from control by local school boards. What happens at ALEC Education Task Force meetings—and that task force has been co-chaired in the past by for-profit corporations that benefit from this agenda, as well as nonprofits that outsource money to for-profits—those task force meetings, unbelievably, legislators actually vote as equals on those model bills with these special interest groups, before those bills are introduced in our state houses and state legislatures across the country.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Lisa—
LISA GRAVES: And that’s one of the reasons why we work to expose ALEC.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, Lisa, I wanted to ask you, particularly, the mention of Friedman about having the money in the form of vouchers per child, rather than for schools itself. You’ve talked about how in Wisconsin and other states now, you’re getting online private schools. And we’re talking not just in colleges. We’re talking in—at public school levels, charging, getting the same per-child fee as a normal public school would get. Could you talk about that?
LISA GRAVES: Yes, one of the most amazing bills I read, after the whistleblower gave me the bills in 2011 that were approved through this corporate voting process of ALEC with legislators, was a bill called the Virtual Public Schools Act. It and other ALEC bills basically require that these so-called virtual schools, that would get vouchers or tax dollars, would be paid basically the same per-pupil amount as schools with bricks and mortar and air conditioning, blackboards, you know, lunch ladies, school buses, etc. The difference is profit. And so, you have a situation in which some of these vouchers are going to support operations that have far fewer costs, in part because some of these vouchers, at least in the virtual arena, are supporting schools or classrooms where there’s one teacher for 50, 60 or hundreds of students. And in some states, like Arizona, where they, through ALEC measures and related measures, have basically stripped down teacher certification rules so that you don’t have to have the traditional teacher certification, you can have uncertified teachers teaching, in so-called virtual classrooms, hundreds of students, getting thousands per pupil, and meanwhile, the corporations that are involved, like K12, are making millions of dollars. K12 has gone from a Wall Street firm that was created in part by the junk bond—Michael Milken, you know, his—that felon who was convicted for those junk bond schemes. He invested in K12. It’s gone from about $200 million in revenue to nearly a billion dollars in revenue. That’s almost entirely supported by federal and state tax dollars. And so, there’s enormous profit to be made through these vouchers.
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa, we have to leave it there. I thank you for being with us, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. And we will link to your report at democracynow.org. As well, Juan, we’ll link to your piece in the New York Daily News called “Feds Failed to Keep Tabs on $3 Billion in Aid Doled Out to Charter Schools.” |
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