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Meerkat baby boom takes hold at Taronga Zoo in Sydney with this year's second litter Posted There is definitely something in the water at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, with the birth of the second litter of meerkat pups this year. The two yet-to-be-named pups were born to parents Nairobi and Maputo, who also welcomed pups Lwazi and Serati in January. Although the new pups were born on August 18, they have just started venturing outside their nest box. "They were eager to investigate their new surroundings. These pups are more confident and adventurous than the previous litter and I think that's because they have mum, dad and two siblings to support and protect them," zookeeper Courtney Mahony said. "They are fantastic and attentive parents, but it's also been wonderful to watch big sister Serati play a role in caring for the pups." The keepers said Serati was always grooming, babysitting and checking up on the pups. "It's incredible to see such a young meerkat stepping up and taking on that responsibility," Ms Mahoney said. The sex of the pups will be confirmed at their first veterinary examination next month, but keepers suspect they are both female. They are growing quickly and despite only weighing a few grams when they were born, they now both tip the scales at more than 150 grams and have begun to try solids including mealworms and vegetables. Keen visitors will be able to see the little ones for short periods each day as the pups are slowly introduced to the outside world. Topics: animals, zoos, animal-science, sydney-2000
Customer Reviews The well-written, well-read, and inspiring true-life story of Brother Andrew. Overall A classic book well read. Overall Living by faith...that's all. Overall Awesome book of how God led brave men and woman behind the "iron curtain" to do His will Overall I enjoyed this biography very much. The narrator was excellent and had been engaged the entire time. Brother Andrew's story is one of faithfulness. His faithfulness to what God had called him to do and God's faithfulness to provide for him all along the way. Your faith will be encouraged after listening to this! Overall I didn't want it to end. Wow. What a great testimony of the work God does through his children. This man's obedience and faith is something I strive for. Overall A great example of Revelation 22:17 "and all who hear say come." Overall Excellent and exciting story to listen to. This story inspired me to share the gospel more. Overall The voice of the narrator is very good, and the story was already excellent. We have listened to this over and over with my teenagers and even younger kids. Overall Great reminder of God's faithfulness to His promises. Matthew 6:33-34 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." The LORD's ways work! This is something the current day "church" at large has forgotten. Overall Very encouraging and challenging! Overall Wonderful book and challenging! A must read for any Christian. Overall Renews faith in God who answers prayer. Overall Exceptional Overall I cannot believe that I was not required to read this in an undergraduate or graduate level Bible course. It was captivating and motivating. I was skeptical before I purchased it. I had heard a bit about it, but now I am going to make sure my sons who are going into ministry listen to it Overall Loved this book! Overall Well written, believable, applicable, and powerful. Few dry spots. Overall Thanks to those who put this together so that I could benefit from the work God is doing through the faithful. It truely was a great book to listen to! Overall This is an excellent recording of a well written book chronicling the story God has written in the life of Brother Andrew. Andrew's inability and God's ability are shown over and over in the stories of taking love, encouragement, and Bibles to places where they were not allowed. The ending challenge to look toward those behind the "curtain" of Islam is convicting. Overall Brother Andrew talks about his stories of smuggling Bibles into Communist nations in the 50s and 60s. It is a story of dares, adventures, and most of all, God's miraculous providence as he would minister behind the Iron Curtain. As he would cross the borders in his car, guards would either miraculously ignore his car that was loaded with Bibles, or sometimes they would stare at the Bibles right in front of them and then inexplicably let him pass. That's just a teaser, read the book if possible. Overall Great audio presentation of this book, love it! Overall These old stories are so good. encouraging! Overall AMAZING GRACE!!!!!!! Overall Compelling and exhorting story. Well read. A must "listen to." Overall This audiobook was excellent! Several times it had me laughing out loud at both God's and Brother Andrew's audacity! I especially enjoyed the epilogue, which I hadn't read before (I first read the book about ten years ago). Overall Our family has absolutely LOVED this audio book. The reading is clear and pleasant to listen to, as well as a well written, true and captivating story. God's testimony really of GOD WORKING through His Holy Spirit in encouraging those in His family isolated from the rest of the world by their governments. Nothing can stop God, He is faithful and all of our faith is strengthened in listening to this beautiful story. Highly recommended for almost all ages, my 7 yr old even got something out , when he listened :-) Overall I loved listening, It teaches alot about having faith in god for every day things. Overall I read this book the first time at about age 13, which was in 1968! I remember how it impacted my faith. I decided to listen to it recently, and am so glad I did! I hope many receive the faith boost that I did! Overall This book has been an inspiration, encouragement and it challenged us with the power of prayer, trust & sacrifice. Overall I remember reading this book when I was in third grade, and it was a God-themed spy thriller to me. Now, as I listen to it again, I see it in such a larger, richer context. What a wonderful, beautiful example Brother Andrew is to me and to us. I thank God for him and the inspiration this book gives me for my life today. Overall Enjoyed, great book. Overall This book is an absolute must read for all Christians. As a family, we love this audiobook. Brother Andrew is a modern-day hero of the faith, and his stories are so amazing and compelling. It inspires your faith to realize that God uses real people in such extraordinary ways. I have had the blessing of hearing Brother Andrew speak in person and he is truly an amazing man of God. Do yourself a favor and buy this audiobook! Overall This was written several years ago, but is still a great testimony of God's grace and this brother & his wife's faithfulness. It is inspiring even after reading this so many years ago and having served on the mission field. Brother Andrew and his team were true pioneers and people of faith. This is well worth a listen or read! Overall The most encouraging,uplifting and challenging biography l have heard to date. The dramatization is captivating. Overall The first book I've read about Brother Andrew was "God's Call', which as the book jokingly describes as God's Smuggler 2. I enjoyed that book so when I saw this on christianaudio, I immediately grabbed it. I just finished listening to it and I'm blown away by Brother Andrew's story. Somehow I could relate to him having being a God-hating atheist to a Christian. It's amazing how God works in people's lives. The narrator for this audiobook is amazing. It's easy to fall into the story with how he narrates it. This is an amazing book and how the audiobook is read is perfect. I'm sure I'll be listening to this again and again. And buy the Kindle version. :) Overall Hott Synopsis Defiant. Belligerent. Reckless. All of those words describe Andrew. From the time he was a child he pushed the lines. He did exactly what he knew he shouldn’t. Did Christ change him? Not really. He pushed the lines for the rest of his life – but he did it God’s way. Don’t miss this – it’s life changing! Hott Review I’m not big on audiobooks. Audio-dramas I love but no so much audiobooks. Yet, from the time the first words were spoken I was enthralled. I listened to this several times before I felt like I was finished. There was so very much. Not only was it an absolutely awesome story but there was so much to learn and feel it’s almost indescribable. More… Author: Brother Andrew, John Sherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill, Simon Vance (Narrator) Source: I purchased this audiobook for my hubby and after listening to less than 10 minutes of it needed it for myself, as well. Luckily, it was ChristianAudio.com’s Free Audio for February 2013 & I didn’t need to buy another copy! Grade: A+ Ages: There are some scenes that may not be appropriate for all ages. Overall This is an incredible story of great faith and awesome grace... if only I had the strength of Brother Andrew! Overall Short Review: this is a classic 20th century missionary story. I first read the comic version of the book in the late 1970s as a child. I am not sure if I have read the full thing before or not. This is worth reading but I read it in tension with The God of the Mundane because I also agree with the concept of that book that most of our lives as Christians deal with the day to day and not the miraculous. The difficulty is holding up not normal examples of Christian faith like this, while trying to value the every day faith of the majority of Christians that will be never known. I did appreciate the focus of this book on trying to serve Christians in more difficult situations than what most of us in the West have to deal with. This review also appears at http://bookwi.se/gods-smuggler/ Overall What a great example of the power of Jesus Christ to transform life! This is a captivating story, well written and well narrated. Overall Loved to hear about God's faithfulness in Brother Andrew's life! Overall Very well done. I was fascinated by the story and didn't want to take breaks from listening! I recommend this book, especially to those seeking to trust God more. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a fascinating and compelling story from beginning to end, and I highly recommend it. The devotion and tenacity of purpose displayed by "God's smuggler" are amazing and inspiring. Overall A very moving account of an extraordinary life well lived. Overall So good, so inspiring! Time just flies by whilst listening to this book! Overall read it years ago, what faith this man had in God, how he was provided for is such an inspiration Overall This book is really uplifting! I read it years ago, but my family & I enjoyed listening to it and being reminded of God's mercy & faithfulness & provision. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this biography and would recommend it. The only issue I had was, toward the end (Epilogue) where Brother Andrew's activities among the Orthodox and Catholics was highlighted. I disagree that Protestants and Catholics can work together in the work of the gospel as they come from fundamentally different views as to the path that leads to salvation. But in all other respects - fascinating and insightful (especially as my family and I are missionaries). Overall Great book. Enjoyed the updates at the end. Overall This book is wonderful. An amazing story of God's grace calling a sinner unto Himself. It is an inspiring story! Overall This book is very interesting and inspiring. Overall I loved God's Smuggler and was inspired by the way God protected and enabled this man to serve the Body of Christ in Bible deprived areas of the world. Overall Inspiring true story of God at work in every day people, who are amazing behind the iron curtain in the 1950's and a1960's Overall Amazing testimony. Easy writing style & a very good reader. Overall Very good. Entertaining and informative. Overall WOW! - Can't say much more than that. This book really demonstrates what God can do for those who are faithful. Overall This book had me hooked from the beginning. It was amazing how God "closed" the eyes of so many to protect people in this ministry. Brother Andrew believed God for big things & God showed Himself in awesome ways. Overall A must read for every Christian. Overall What a great story of God's word going forth. It made me really search my own heart and challenged my faith. Overall Brother Andrew's story reads like a story that belongs in the Bible. He was the most unlikely person to become a Christian but God in His mercy never abandoned him. As radical as he was as a sinner he was just as radical and passionate as a saint. His story inspires us to obey God's voice, believe God for miracles, to have passion for the lost, and encouragement for the saints. I cannot begin to tell you how much my whole family loves this book. We're going through it again with the help of this audiobook. Overall Real faith Real service Real people Real christianity Real God Overall The church I belong to in Dusseldorf - (Christ Church Anglican.de) supports the work of Open Doors International, this link in mission prompted me to listen to (and recommend) Brother Andrew's story - God's Smuggler. I had known something of Brother Andrew and his work behind the Iron Curtain, but no real details. I love this book for the way his story is told giving depth to why we should support the work of Open Doors International. Thank you. Overall Great story of a man who has been transformed by God and how God uses an ordinary man to do great work in His ministry. Giving all of us hope. Overall A great example of listening to God and doing what He wants, no matter what the risk nor the cost. Overall I could not stop listening to this book! The reader was pleasant to listen to and easy to understand. The story could bring you to tears or great joy. I felt like I was part of the story and found myself thanking God for people like this! Thank you for placing this book on the Free monthly download. My God bless you. Overall This is an awesome story of God's unfailing provision. I've not completed it yet and already I've been praying for the faith of Brother Andrew! This book will inspire and encourage you to trust God and know that He is faithful. Overall Thanks to christianaudio, I had the chance to listen to this audiobook for free. Though I enjoyed the fiction audiobooks which were distributed with no charge, it was a great pleasure to hear a REAL story, REAL acts of God. I constantly gasped when brother Andrew was in trouble, and was astonished how God worked in a 'King's way'. I think this book shows a good example of how someone could walk in step with the Spirit :) Overall God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew and John & Elizabeth Sherrill was narrated by Simon Vance who did an excellent job of reading the book. As a young boy, Brother Andrew had daydreams of becoming a spy and working undercover behind enemy lines. When he grew up and became a Christian, he became an undercover agent for God by delivering Bibles to Communist countries. Brother Andrew found himself in many situations where he seriously wondered if he would end up in prison or worse, but every time God came through in a miraculous way. There were several times when his car was searched from bumper to bumper yet the guards did not seem to notice the Bibles in plain view on the seat beside Brother Andrew. At one time he was talking with a Russian guard and commented that the Russians seemed to know all about him. The guard told him that God's Smuggler was required reading for the Russian police. I learned so much listening to this book and one of the things that really stuck in my mind was the fact that in Bulgaria there are churches that do not have even one Bible. At least this was true when the book was written in the sixties. Brother Andrew was so successful because he trusted God, prayed to God for help, and believed that God was with him and would answer his prayer. I would recommend this book to every Christian, possibly even consider it required reading. Even non-Christians might enjoy reading the book. I received this audiobook free from christianaudio's Reviewers Program in exchange for posting a review. Overall What an inspiring and challenging story. After listening to this book I am re-motivated to draw close to God so that I will know where and how He wants me to serve. I highly recommend it. Overall "Page turner," "Couldn't put it down," "Exciting," "Well worth the money," "100% satisfaction guaranteed" etc. etc. This book lives up to all those cliches! It was absolutely fantastic and my family didn't want it to end. From the story itself to the narrator it was wonderful. We listened to this on our vacation as we were traveling. It even kept our 8 year old's attention! This book was faith building! God' use me like "Andy":)) Overall I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the God’s Smuggler Audio book, written by Brother Andrew and John and Elizabeth Sherrill. It’s the kind of book you can’t put down, or stop listening to if you have the audio version. This is a true story about a young Dutch man named, Andrew who enlists in the military and finds it is not the adventure he originally thought it would be. He spent endless hours drinking, partying, and living with the guilt of killing people in war. God saved him and he began a real adventure of smuggling bibles into communist countries. I was inspired by Andrew’s life and mission to spread God’s word in some of the most difficult and dangerous places. I was awed by how many times he was able to get across the border with a van full of bibles, undetected. There were even times that his car was searched from trunk, to motor, to glove compartment, and officers did not see the bibles that were in plain sight. This was truly a testimony of God’s miraculous power and ability to do above what we ask for or think. I learned that my faith needs to be stronger. Andrew defied odds so many times because he trusted God, prayed and believed that God was with him. He was able to get into China when everyone told him it was impossible. Nothing is impossible with God! Andrew's heart for evangelism is truly inspirational and made me examine my own commitment to sharing the gospel. I was also convicted by Andrew’s self sacrifice. He and his wife were willing to sell their house so that they would have enough money to print bibles. I won’t tell you what happened, but God blessed their willingness to give up everything. The narrator of this audio book did a good job. At first I found it difficult to understand his English accent, but once I adjusted I thought he did a wonderful job. I recommend this book to everyone. This is a review for christianaudio. I was not required to give a good review. You can find more audio books on Christianaudio.com Overall
We would like to thank everyone for participating in our 2017 M&S fitness survey. As you know we conducted this research to get to know our readers a little bit better. After closing the survey, we started analyzing the data and pulled some of the more interesting data points out to share with the M&S faithful. Listed below are the results from the major questions we asked you. We’ve included several pie and bar graphs to make the data a bit easier to digest. Feel free to browse through the results and compare them to your own workout experiences. You may be shocked by how you and your friends stack up to the numbers. Biggest challenges when working out Let’s kick things off by discussing the biggest challenges you all face when it comes to working out. This question was an open ended question and we received thousands of replies. From there, we categorized them into the following: As you can see, the number one challenge of those who took our survey was maintaining a diet that helped them reach their goals. We found this interesting. Further down in this results article, you will learn that nearly 71% of people who took our survey create their own diet plans. So, if 71% of people are creating their own diets and another 43% are finding it difficult to maintain a proper diet, the fitness industry (ourselves included) must find a way to make it easier for you guys to adopt and maintain a diet so you can better reach your goals. The next biggest challenge was finding time to workout. We all have busy schedules (which include social, familial, and work obligations). Finding time to exercise can be difficult. Luckily, we’ve got a step by step guide on how to build a workout program around a busy schedule which can be found here. The final major limitation our entrants had was the challenges faced when building muscle mass and finding the perfect workouts to help them do so. This problem is more difficult to resolve than others, as a number of factors can affect one's ability to build muscle. With that said, as we explore the results and draw some assumptions, I think we’ll be able to discover where things are going wrong in some of your muscle building attempts. Activity & Health Level of Our Respondents In this section we asked several questions about workout frequency, workout experience, and how healthy our participants consider themselves to be. Needless to say, some of the data from this portion of the survey was very surprising. How Many Days Per Week Do You Work out? We were pretty surprised to find out how active our entry pool was. We thought the majority of entrants would workout three or four times during the week. Clearly we were wrong with the majority of you all working out 5 to 6 times a week. 35% of our participants claimed to work out 5 days a week and another 31% works out 6 days a week. We think this has a lot to do with how the fitness industry perceives training. Most fitness outlets showcase training as the most important factor in building muscle mass (the biggest goal of our pool as you will see below). While exercise is important to build muscle, so is recovery. This information doesn’t give insight to the forms of exercise our entries were participating in, but if you’re hitting 5, 6, or even 7 heavy weight lifting sessions a week, you’re not giving yourself an opportunity to recover and grow. Maybe trainees are participating in 3-4 heavy weightlifting days, with 2-3 light active-recovery days, but we’d put our money on the former before the latter. How Long Have You Been Working Out? Along with workout frequency, we asked how long each participant had been working out. 34.4% of participants have been working out between 1-3 years. About 10% of the responses stated they were just starting out having worked out for less than one full year. Another 23% of participants answered that they’ve been working out between 3-5 years. 17% of responses came from veteran lifters of 5-10 year. Finally, another 10% of you guys have been working hard in the gym for 10-20 years. The big takeaway from this question was the fact that many of our trainees have a beginner-intermediate experience level. Yet, they train with a training frequency reserved for those who have a more advanced or athletic training experience level. As always, it’s important to remember building muscle (and fitness in general) is a marathon, not a race. Biting off more than you can chew early on in your fitness journey can lead to injury. Or worse, it could lead you to burning yourself out and quitting all together so you never make it into that 20+ category. How Healthy Do You Consider Yourself? The vast majority of all participants classified themselves as healthy. Nearly 93% of participants answered within the 6-10 range on a scale of 10 when asked how healthy they considered themselves. Only about 2.6% would say they are unhealthy answering with either a 2, 3, or 4. Another interesting fact is the heavy drop off in those who answer 9 or higher. You’d think someone who exercises as frequently as 5-7 times a week would be in extraordinary health. All About Working Out In the next series of questions, we asked you more specific questions pertaining to your workout habits. The goal here was to get to know more about your goals and workout strategies. What is your goal for working out? The results from this question were exactly what we had expected them to be. The big 3 goals reigned supreme here. Of those of you who answered, 84% of you said your goal for working out was to build muscle. Another 57% of you are trying to increase strength. 49% are hoping to lose fat. The shocking takeaway from this question is that only 20% of entrants exercise for fun. Enjoyment is the name of the long-term-success game. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, it’s not very likely you’ll be able to answer in the “20+ years” column if we ask “How Long Have You Been Working Out?” on a survey a couple of decades from now. What Kind of Training do you do? The kind of training programs performed by 81% of our entrants fall within the bodybuilding category. This isn’t much of a surprise considering the body composition goals outlined above. If your goal is to build muscle, performing a hypertrophic bodybuilding split is definitely the way to go. What was shocking was the low turnout for Crossfit and Combat Sports. Both seem to be on the rise within the media, but still not a lot of people are participating in them as their preferred form of exercise. Where do you work out? 86% of participants working out in a gym comes as no surprise. However, we were quite impressed to find out that 33% of people workout at home and another 21% find a way to workout outside. We also thought that only 7% of people working out at a workplace wellness center was quite low. A lot of workplaces (in corporate settings at least) are beginning to offer this perk to more and more of their workforce. If we had to guess, we’d say that this number will likely trend upwards in the upcoming years. Usage of Supplements The next couple of questions were in regards to our participant pool’s supplementation habits. We wanted to get to know who was taking supplements and what supplements they were taking. Do You Take Supplements? Nearly 96% of our participants take supplements and as you’ll see below, nearly all of those who answered yes to this question take some sort of whey protein powder. There’s quite a bit of a drop off between protein powder and the next most used supplements of amino acids and preworkouts. What Kind of Supplements do you take? As mentioned, the most popular supplement taken by our participants is whey protein. The next top choices are amino acids and preworkouts. What is surprising is that only 64% of people utilize the benefits of creatine monohydrate supplements. Especially considering that 84% of people have the goal to build muscle mass. The lack of people supplementing with creatine probably has a lot to do with the numerous myths that continue to surround one of the highest researched and science-backed muscle building supplements on the market. Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that only 46% of people answered that they eat some sort of protein bars. In the past year or so, many of the top supplement companies have released protein bars to the market. Most of which are delicious, each is unique, and they are changing the supplement market. We think this number will trend upwards in the coming years. Everything About Your Diets The following questions in this section were asked to better understand the diet habits of our survey’s participants. The goal was to better understand how they eat and how it might be affecting their goals. Do You Follow A Diet? While 96% of entrants take supplements, only 71% follow a diet. This finding is of critical importance, because with a goal as difficult as building lean muscle mass, you have to make sure you’re doing all the right things. Supplements can help you with your goals, but their effects are amplified when used in accordance with a proper balanced diet. What Kind of Diet Do You Follow? Out of the 71% of the entries who follow a diet, nearly 64% of them classify themselves as following a clean eating diet type. If you’re involved on social media, this statistic might surprise you. We know we found it shocking. In recent years, IIFYM has made a strong push in mainstream media as young ripped dudes and fit chicks have showcased their daily dose of brownies and donuts paired with their 6-pack abs across the web. We thought for sure their diet type would take the cake in this diet breakdown. But as this information goes to show you, clean eating remains the king diet type in the fitness realm. Who Created Your Diet? 70% of those following a diet created their diet themselves. This is important, because 43% of the same entry pool stated that diet was the number one reason holding them back from accomplishing their goals. And as you will see in the remaining questions in this section, the macronutrients and calorie intake information gathered by our participants are far from likely to promote muscle growth. The remainder of entries got their diet plan from a website (13%) or a personal trainer (9%), How Many Calories Do You Consume Daily? The average calories consumed per day by our participants was quite low considering the overwhelming majority have a goal to build muscle and the average weight of our entrants was ~185lbs. All things considered, to build lean muscle mass you have to be in a slight caloric surplus. Sure, it’s possible for the 23.8% who answered that they eat 2500-3000 calories daily to be in that caloric surplus. However, it’s not very likely for the 47% who fell in the 1500-2500 calorie range to be in a surplus. Let’s plug in the information to our BMR calculator, utilizing some averages from other data points within the survey. As mentioned, the average weight of entries was about 185lbs. The majority of our data was collected from those who live in the US and we had a participant pool of mostly males. The average height for males in the US is about 5’10’’. The majority of those who entered fell in the 18-25 age range, so we’ll go with the high end (25 yrs old) for this demonstration. Finally, we know our activity level was between 5-7 days of working out. After entering in all of this information, the BMR calculator tells us our maintenance calorie level is 3003 calories per day. That is, your body needs a minimum of 3003 calories daily to maintain your weight under your current living circumstance (25y/o, 5’10’’, 185lb, male, who exercises 5 days a week). Add another 250-500 calories to create a caloric surplus which allows you to build lean muscle mass, and we now have a calorie range of 3250-3553 calories per day to build muscle. Of course, if your goal is fat loss, you’d need to subtract -250-500 calories per day from your maintenance level. This would put your caloric range in the 2503-2753 calories per day to achieve fat loss. How Many Grams of Protein Do You Eat Per Day? 33% of you indicated that you consume between 151-200 grams of protein per day, while another 23% of you stated you consume 101-150g of protein per day. About 19% of people consume between 201-250g of protein per day. All in all, this data is aligned with what we would expect considering the goals of our participants and the fact that it satisfies the recommended 0.8-1.2g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. What was interesting is out of the 3 macronutrients, our participants knew how much protein they were eating each day the most out of any macronutrient. Only 2% of people didn’t know their daily protein intake. Of course, the fact that we’ve been preached to about the recommended ranges of protein to eat for the past couple of decades helps. How Many Grams of Fat Do You Eat Per Day? Fat was the least known macronutrient of our participant pool with 13% of people not knowing their daily fat intake. Also, for a trainee looking to add muscle mass, fat intake was rather low across the board. The recommended fat intake range for muscle building is about 0.4-0.45g per pound of bodyweight. Let’s go back to our BMR example, a 185lb male would need to eat about 74g-83g of fat per day to accomplish their muscle building goal. Judging by these numbers, more than half of trainees are falling short of this fat intake goal. We could also see an underreporting of fat intake occurring here as well. A lot of trainees (especially those who are beginner-intermediate level) simply don’t know their food sources are indeed fatty. They may think protein sources are leaner than they actually are, or sugary carb sources don’t have as high of a fat content as they actually do. For example, they may think that pizza is a high carb meal, and while it can be, it can also be a high fat meal. Whatever the case, this macronutrient isn’t counted as heavily or goes unnoticed by those who aren’t sticklers for counting calories and macros. By becoming more knowledgeable about your fat intake, you could see better gains in the long run. How Many Grams of Carbs Do You Eat Per Day? The answers on the amount of carbohydrates people consume in our survey was diverse. Based on the feedback the vast majority of entrants have a moderate-low carb intake. This information is shocking due to the fact that carbs are necessary to fuel performance in the gym. Better performance leads to better muscle growth potential. Given the BMR example we’ve outlined above, combined with the goal most people have is to build muscle, we thought carb intake would’ve been in the higher ranges provided. If you need 0.8-1.2g of protein and 0.4-0.45g of fat per body weight, then the rest of your daily calories need to be filled by carbohydrates. Circling back to the BMR example, let’s say you need 3253 calories to build muscle. Now we can calculate your muscle building macros: 185g of protein x 4 calories per gram of protein = 740 calories 83g of fat x 9 calories per gram of fat = 747 calories 3253 - 740 - 747 = 1,766 calories 1,766 calories / 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates = ~442g of carbs So, if you are our lean muscle mass seeking, 25yr old, 5’10’’, 185lb, male who works out 5 times a week, you need about 442g of carbs per day to fuel your workouts. Yet, not enough people indicated they ate within that range for it to even draw a percentage in our pie chart breakdown. So, what’s up with the low carb intake? We believe a lot of this has to do with the fact carbs have been perceived as the “bad guy” macro within the health and fitness realm for the past several decades. For that reason, it’s typically the first nutrient cut from diet plans for those with the goal of fat loss. However, if your goal is to build muscle, why wouldn’t you have a higher intake of your body’s favorite source of energy? Summary/Takeaway We would like to thank you once again for the participation in our fitness survey and we hope that you find the data as valuable as we do. If there is anything unclear or if you have a question, feel free to leave a comment. We’d gladly help you out!
A House bill that would fundamentally disassemble the Patriot Act has begun its course through the House, thanks to a bipartisan duo calling for an end to “dragnet surveillance” in the United States. Introduced Tuesday by Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), the Surveillance State Repeal Act would, as its name suggests, repeal the Patriot Act along with the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The bill would also prohibit the government from compelling Internet service providers to secretly permit access to their data streams through the issuance of secret warrants, a practice currently enabled by 2008 revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. “The warrantless collection of millions of personal communications from innocent Americans is a direct violation of our constitutional right to privacy,” Pocan said via a release on his congressional website. “Revelations about the NSA’s programs reveal the extraordinary extent to which the program has invaded Americans’ privacy. I reject the notion that we must sacrifice liberty for security- we can live in a secure nation which also upholds a strong commitment to civil liberties. This legislation ends the NSA’s dragnet surveillance practices, while putting provisions in place to protect the privacy of American citizens through real and lasting change.” While the bill has little chance of making it to President Obama’s desk so he can veto it, its several features may serve as a parts bin for reform efforts as the Patriot Act comes due for another round of reauthorizations in June. “[A]dvocates might be hoping that their firm opposition to government spying will seem more attractive in coming weeks, as lawmakers race to beat a June 1 deadline for reauthorizing portions of the Patriot Act,” The Hill reported Tuesday. “Reformers have eyed that deadline as their last best chance for reforming some controversial NSA programs, after an effort failed in the Senate last year.”
May 16, 2011 Doug Singsen and Rebecca Sun report on the energetic and angry teacher-led protests against budget cuts in New York and Los Angeles. LARGE AND lively teacher-led protests on Wall Street in New York and in downtown Los Angeles on successive days highlighted the growing anger over how budget cuts and layoffs are decimating public education. The spirit of the two protests recalled the February mass labor mobilization in Wisconsin over union-busting legislation. Though far smaller, the LA and New York demonstrations tapped into the same widespread anger at politicians for bailing out banks and the rest of Corporate America during the financial crisis--and making school kids and teachers, and all working people, pay the price. On Thursday, May 12, close to 20,000 people invaded the financial district of downtown New York as part of a protest organized by unions and activist groups. The demonstration incorporated the demands of public-sector workers, students, immigrants and the homeless around the central demand: "Make big banks and millionaires pay." The protest also targeted the city's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, whose recently announced budget includes plans to fire 4,200 teachers, and close 20 fire stations and dozens of senior centers, among other cuts. Tens of thousands descended on Wall Street for a labor demonstration against budget cuts and layoffs (Alexander Super \| SW) Antonia, a high school student in Manhattan, said, "I organized students from my high school to attend the rally, because at our school, we're already hurting. I don't know how future students will be able to succeed when we were already barely scraping by." May 12 was a major step forward for the anti-budget cuts movement in New York and brought together dozens of unions and activist groups, including the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), Transport Workers Union Local 100, Communication Workers of America (CWA) 1080, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, the health care union 1199SEIU, New York Communities for Change, Picture the Homeless, Make the Road-New York, VOCAL-NY, Community Voices Heard, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, Citizen Action, New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts and dozens more. The protest began at 4 p.m. at eight different assembly sites dedicated to teachers, students, transit/energy, peace, immigration, jobs, social services and housing. These feeder marches were originally supposed to converge on Wall Street at 5 p.m., where protesters would break up into 100 small teach-ins, before concluding with a closing rally. The convergence point was later moved to Water Street after the police learned of the plans and promised to blockade Wall Street in violation of our right to protest in a public space. The initial marches inundated the downtown area with protesters converging from multiple directions, many of them taking over and marching through the streets, waving signs and chanting vigorously, creating a festive atmosphere throughout the area. As one participant noted, "People felt like the streets belonged to them." As protesters marched by the headquarters of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, they directed their anger not only at the banks, but at a mayor they viewed as acting in the interests of the rich at everyone else's expense. "[Bloomberg] was elected by a constituency, and he's doing what they wanted him to do," said Jane, an elementary school teacher from Brooklyn. "Meanwhile, people are scared, they're not sure what's going to happen [with the proposed layoffs]." A spirit of solidarity and mutual struggle was visible everywhere you looked. For example, as the large UFT contingent joined the concluding march, CWA members nearby began chanting, "UFT, UFT"--and UFT members responded by chanting, "CWA, CWA," which CWA members responded back to with chants of "We Are One, We Are One." The Wisconsin protests were clearly a reference point. THE MARCH was not only the largest labor protest in recent years, but also the most militant. Yet while the protest demonstrated the potential for mass direct action against budget cuts, it also showed the limitations of a set of organizing strategies that have to be overcome in order to make that potential a reality. One area in which these limitations were evident was in the retreat from the initial plans for a direct action. Although the plans for the protest had originated with the idea of occupying a public street without police permission, during the march, the organizers sent marshals to direct protesters to stay on the sidewalk rather than try to take over the street. When the feeder marches reached the convergence point at Water Street, not far from Wall Street, it would have been easy for the protesters to simply walk into the street as thousands more continued to pour in behind them. But marshals nevertheless directed all protesters onto the sidewalks. In fact, as few as 50 to 100 protesters were able to challenge the police several times, pushing at barricades to try and gain access to the street. Finally, the police themselves blocked off the street. After about half an hour, people began marching to the closing rally at Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. On arriving there, however, protesters found organizers from some unions and liberal groups who were directing their members to go home rather than to the rally. Staffers from the UFT even had printed signs telling members to get on the subway, indicating that they had planned on doing so long before the protest. In the end, there was no closing rally, although as many as 2,000 people who weren't ready to go home remained in the park, discussing the protest and the next steps for the struggle against budget cuts. The gap between the initial plans for a direct action and what actually took place reflects the conflicting pressure that budget cuts and anti-labor attacks have put on the city's unions, especially the UFT, the largest union in the city and the driving force behind May 12. The UFT leadership stayed neutral in the 2009 mayoral election in an attempt to curry favor with Bloomberg. Nevertheless, Bloomberg has hammered teachers with school closings, charter school expansion and a campaign to get the state legislature to end teacher seniority. In response to these attacks, opposition groups within the UFT have taken the initiative when the union failed to do so. For example, although several unions separately called small protests against Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget cuts, the UFT did not. However, a number of activist groups and a few unions did organize a series of militant protests in Albany and New York City, including two small civil disobedience actions in Albany in mid-March, plus the larger Day of Rage Against the Cuts on March 24 and a protest/occupation of the State Capitol building in Albany on March 30. APPARENTLY, THE initial anti-cuts protests helped to push larger forces into action. By endorsing the May 12 protest and its main demand--make the banks and the wealthy pay for the crisis--the UFT and other unions gave new momentum to the anti-cuts movement. However, the leadership of the UFT and other city unions retain their overall framework of partnership with employers. Thus, union leaders saw May 12 not as the beginning of a campaign to mobilize labor resistance, but as a one-time-only show of force that, they hoped, would bring the mayor to the negotiating table. The union's strategy, therefore, was to keep the protest within pre-determined limits. That proved to be no easy task, since thousands of workers and students felt the exhilaration of finally having sufficient numbers to directly confront banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. Similarly, the organizing for May 12, while a major step forward in the number of groups it brought together, was impaired by retreats and compromises on the part of the UFT and lapses in the democratic process of the organizing committee. The first public organizing meeting for the protest unanimously embraced the idea of organizing a Wall Street protest without a permit and the inevitable metal police pens. UFT President Michael Mulgrew even visited the meeting and gave his endorsement to the plans. However, as the date of the protest neared, the UFT backtracked, entering into negotiations with police for a permit, which also resulted in the location of the protest being moved away from Wall Street. The UFT also backed out of participation in the teach-ins, instead holding a rally on their own at City Hall before marching to the closing rally. A second problem was that, until the final week before the protest, all organizing meetings were scheduled during daytime weekday hours, shutting out rank-and-file workers. Meanwhile, decisions made at public meetings were often altered or reversed behind closed doors, with only inadequate or vague explanations provided for why this had been done. Another blow to the democratic process was that some groups were excluded for being "too radical" and for having socialists within their ranks. Among those left out were the United National Antiwar Committee and the May 1st Coalition, which organizes New York's annual immigrants rights march. One result of the unions' strategy of using May 12 merely as a tool for negotiation is that no next steps in the fight against budget cuts are currently being planned. This represents a missed opportunity to begin building on the demonstration's successes. By contrast, the grassroots group New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts already has public forums on the budget planned in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, and a direct action planned for late June, shortly before the city budget deadline. Still, the May 12 demonstration was a major step forward in the struggle against budget cuts. Thousands of ordinary people showed that they're ready and willing to participate in protests to demand that banks, corporations and the rich pay the full cost of the recession. IN LOS Angeles, a demonstration held the following day, Friday, May 13, was one of six teachers' protests in California cities as a culmination of a statewide week of action called by the California Teachers Association (CTA). For the CTA, the goal of the actions--which included protests at the state Capitol building in Sacramento--was to pressure state legislators to vote for tax extensions to provide continued funding for public education. But because of the regressive character of those taxes, many union members and supporters believe that the focus of the struggle should be higher taxes on the wealthy. The protest in LA reflected that more militant mood. With the backing of United Teachers Los Angeles, more than 5,000 teachers, parents, students and union members rallied at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles May 13. At many schools throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), teachers, parents and students rallied outside their respective schools before joining the rally at Pershing Square. At Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles, 50 to 60 teachers, students and parents picketed in front of their school and marched to the nearby Metro station for a speakout and mini-rally, before heading on the train together to Pershing Square. Once at the square, students from Roosevelt rallied together with other East LA high schools, including Garfield and Mendez, to show their unity. Schools in the LAUSD district were given a shortened day to increase participation in the rally. However, in return, LA School Superintendent John Deasy asked that the demonstration focus solely on issues in Sacramento and not LAUSD, where more than 5,000 LAUSD teachers, counselors, librarians and nurses currently face layoff notices sent out by his office. In fact, Deasy has accelerated LAUSD's union-busting and privatizing attacks on UTLA. He has invited every teacher and school to join a pilot program for the district's new "teacher effectiveness" plan, sweetening the deal with more than $1,000 for every teacher who participates and an extra $5,000 for every school, even as layoffs loon. Deasy has also proposed sweeping changes to LAUSD's Public School Choice program, including the elimination of parent/community advisory votes and a requirement that all internal school design teams submit "thin contract" proposals to weaken union power. Moreover, reconstitutions of "failing" schools are multiplying. After Fremont High was reconstituted last year, now several middle and high schools, almost exclusively in South Central, face the same fate. Jordan High School, for example, is slated to be divided into three pieces, one of which will be given to charter operator Green Dot. Deasy and the school board are also trying to hand over the entire Clay Middle School campus to Green Dot via the Public School Choice process. UTLA has filed suit challenging both the Clay and Jordan moves as illegal and has also filed an unfair labor practice charge with the California Public Employment Relations Board to try to block LAUSD from imposing a teacher evaluation plan without negotiating it first. The union is also challenging LAUSD's budget numbers, including a $150 million discrepancy the district has failed to explain. Mounting teacher anger over all these issues--as well as the threat of a new round of state budget cuts--gave momentum to the demonstration on the busy streets of downtown LA. Hundreds of people from all parts of Los Angeles produced a constant stream of red union t-shirts and picket signs from the adjacent Metro station into Pershing Square all afternoon as people carried signs and chanted along the perimeter of the square. In addition, teachers, nurses, public workers and union members from Montebello, Riverside and other surrounding cities also came out in support. Contingents of parents, students and teachers carried banners of pictures and names of teachers at their schools who have received reduction in force (RIF, or layoff) notices. As art and music programs have been decimated in the past few years, art teachers carried signs stating, "85 percent cut, 85 percent gone." California Federation of Teachers (CFT) President-elect Josh Pechthalt spoke about the unfair tax structure in California, where the richest 1 percent in California has been paying less in taxes over the recent years, while workers have been paying more. His message resonated: People carried signs stating "Tax the Rich" and "Tax Corporations to Fund Education" and chanted, "Furloughs, hell no!" (LA teachers who have kept their jobs have had their paychecks slashed as the result of unpaid furlough days.) The successful rally brought teachers, parents, students and community members together to show that this is not the end, but a hopeful start to fighting for more funding for education and a call for a more progressive tax structure in California.
We all know a guy like this. He spends his day on the internet telling and re-telling stories about how his martial ancestors were the toughest fighters in the world. We hear a bunch of stories about the ancestors and they all seem to imply or outright assert that their awesomeness gives the lineage snob the right to talk trash about other arts. These guys are universally despised and, as a general rule, suck at martial arts. Too much time on the keyboard and not enough training. But what if we understood that, while those guys suck, the need for lineage is real and can provide fantastic yardstick to gauge a school or martial artist? There are going to be 2 basic responses to that statement. The first usually comes from people who have created their own arts or know that their teachers weren't totally legit. Their response goes something like, "All you do is talk about lineage! Why are you judging me?? Bruce Lee said to follow your own path!!" Etc. The other response is "I told you so!!!" and is almost as obnoxious as the first. This response usually comes from the lineage snobs I mentioned before and, remember, we all hate those guys. But both of those people are wrong and both know it deep down inside. Lineage in martial arts has existed for a thousand years for very good reasons. It's a solid gauge of the effectiveness of the art itself and also proof that there is a complete method for teaching and transmitting the art. Effectiveness in usage and proof that the method can produce a strong next generation are vital, obviously and those are two really powerful reasons to care about lineage and they are also more laid back than a lot of people realize. Let's use medical care as a simile here. If you had a terrible disease and you had to pick a doctor for treatment, would you care where that doctor's education came from? If your options were a Harvard graduate who has done extensive post-grad education in an effort to be on the forefront of medicine, or someone who took some courses at the community college and then spent some time surfing WebMD, which would you pick? More than likely, you would pick the doctor most prepared and able to save your life. He would know the latest treatments and the best medicines to use. A doctor that provides a cure for disease is in some ways similar to a martial arts teacher who provides a way for you to protect yourself and your family - you want to choose the best, either way (well, if you have any common sense that is). Why is the Harvard doctor the wiser choice? It has to do with his knowledge, the work he put in to gain that knowledge, and his ability to apply that knowledge to saving your life. To obtain that piece of paper on his wall, doctors who graduate from Harvard have to complete years of incredibly intense education, a program that is so tough that only 3.3% of applicants are even accepted. Graduates go through long, sleepless nights where they work alone or with their classmates trying to understand important ideas and learn how to apply them. They make massive sacrifices, both in time and money, and understand that they will be responsible for other lives as a result of earning their degree. This makes the guy that took a few classes at community college and surfed WebMD look like a ridiculous choice. His education is directed by what disease catches his eye, not a master instructor who has spent years honing his ability to communicate important ideas and practices. Because of this lack of focused instruction he is often unable to help at all, he just doesn't have the basic tools needed to begin. Let's use another example from the internal martial arts to see if we can clarify even further. Everyone who has read any sort of IMA text knows about the Kua, right? The Kua is also called the inguinal crease, the section of the torso between the lower abdomen and the thigh. All IMA teachers talk about the Kua but the self-taught teachers don't know that they show their lack of knowledge as they do. Teachers without a good lineage will talk about how it's the source of power in Gong Fu but can't explain how or why it works, or even what muscles are involved in using the Kua. Meanwhile, properly taught teachers can explain exactly how the kua works and why. They know that the muscles that run through the Kua tie directly to the lower spine and pelvis, providing a strong path for force generated from the core to travel to the ground and back. They can also provide a plethora of smaller exercises to develop this area and can easily explain the concept without using a slew of esoteric terms that the student doesn't understand. I could go on and on with different examples of how lineage provides a great indicator of the quality of both the art and the teacher but, instead, I would like to provide some thoughts or ideas from other teachers. Here is what Byron Jacobs has to share, Byron is the top tudi for Master Di Guoyong in Beijing.
This beautiful apartment is located in Berlin and it belongs to Eva-Maria Steidel. The building where the apartment is located is named Hauselmann Tower after Mr Hauselmann who designed it and it was completed in 1953. Mr Steidel managed to buy the same apartment where MR Hauselmann himself once lived. She bought the place for 3,700 euros per square meter, or about 550,000 euros (about $780,000). Located at the seventh floor of the building, this apartment is filled with history. It has varying ceiling height and an overall continuous design. The two main living spaces are connected, creating a very spacious room. The apartment also features what once was Mr Hauselmann’s office, currently Ms Steidel’s workspace. She renovated the apartment but tried to preserve the original look as much as possible, She used some pictures as reference. Since she’s an extreme minimalist, the apartment is extremely simple. The large built-in cabinets from the living room are empty and most of the furniture is transparent. The living room features transparent inflatable furniture and in the kitchen there are several translucent shelves and chairs, as well as simple stainless steel kitchen table. Overall, this is a unique apartment, with a lot of historic value that the new owners is obviously trying to preserve. The simplicity and the minimalism highlight that fact.{found on nytimes}
Robin Williams To Return As Teddy Roosevelt In Night At The Museum 3 By Nick Venable Random Article Blend He portrayed Roosevelt in both of the previous Even though I really like a relatively subdued Williams for his roles in One Hour Photo and World’s Greatest Dad, he kind of makes me uncomfortable in this role. It’s like seeing a grandparent on pain medication for the first time. That’s just me, I guess. Robin Williams is coming back in a big way here lately, with the CBS sitcom Louie, taking part in a strip club scene that begged for tissues. He was widely seen in a portrayal of another president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, and has a wide upcoming slate that includes the Phil Alden Robinson comedic drama The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, the Dito Montiel drama opposite with Bob Odenkirk, the ensemble comedy Merry Friggin’ Christmas, and in Terry Jones’ sci-fi comedy So Robin has enough going on that taking on the obvious role reprisal makes sense, even though his talents are barely utilized. It’s only a matter of time before more actors start signing up, as production is set to begin in February. Below you’ll see Williams’ appearance a few weeks ago on David Letterman, where he’s just as high-energy as he’s always been. For some, that may not be a good thing. Perhaps because I wasn’t that impressed with the franchise’s second film, or perhaps due to bad eyesight, but I’ve been completely clueless when it came to the upcoming Night at the Museum 3 from director Shawn Levy, with Ben Stiller reprising his increasingly more unbelievable role of security guard Larry Daley. Whatever. You make two movies that gross almost a billion dollars and I don’t expect anything different. The first of the film’s many historical character to come back will be Robin Williams, who is currently in negotiations to reprise his role of Teddy Roosevelt, according to THR He portrayed Roosevelt in both of the previous Night at the Museum films, serving as Larry’s informational guidance counselor. The only thing that’s known, I suppose, is that the setting will be moved to one of the many museums in London. Which means that there must be some kind of a touring exhibit or a similar event, if Roosevelt is going to have a part to play here, and what kind of a lame exhibit brings along a Roosevelt piece that looks nothing like Roosevelt?Even though I really like a relatively subdued Williams for his roles inand, he kind of makes me uncomfortable in this role. It’s like seeing a grandparent on pain medication for the first time. That’s just me, I guess.Robin Williams is coming back in a big way here lately, with the CBS sitcom The Crazy Ones , which just received a full season order. His last appearance on TV before that was in an excellent episode of FX’s, taking part in a strip club scene that begged for tissues. He was widely seen in a portrayal of another president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in, and has a wide upcoming slate that includes the Phil Alden Robinson comedic drama, the Dito Montiel drama opposite with Bob Odenkirk, the ensemble comedy, and in Terry Jones’ sci-fi comedy Absolutely Anything , which will reunite all five surviving member s of Monty Python. That’s assuming that film should that film ever get started.So Robin has enough going on that taking on the obvious role reprisal makes sense, even though his talents are barely utilized. It’s only a matter of time before more actors start signing up, as production is set to begin in February.Below you’ll see Williams’ appearance a few weeks ago on David Letterman, where he’s just as high-energy as he’s always been. For some, that may not be a good thing. Blended From Around The Web Facebook Back to top
Two Democratic lawmakers called for President Donald Trump to be removed from office after his remarks Tuesday defending some protesters at a white nationalist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend. Trump said there was “blame on both sides” at a news conference on Tuesday and there were some “very fine people” protesting on the same side as the white supremacists. California Democrat Jackie Speier, who replaced Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos in the House in 2008, tweeted that the president was “showing signs of erratic behavior,” in her call to invoke the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, which says that if a majority of Cabinet officers and the vice president say the president is unable to serve, he may be removed from office. POTUS is showing signs of erratic behavior and mental instability that place the country in grave danger. Time to invoke the 25th Amendment. — Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) August 16, 2017 Speier also tweeted a quoted from the French philosopher Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." -Voltaire — Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) August 16, 2017 Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore “implored” Republicans to work with Democrats to remove Trump from office. “For the sake and the soul of our country, we must come together to restore our national dignity that has been robbed by Donald Trump’s presence,” she said. Republicans, including some longtime Trump allies, swiftly condemned white supremacy — and some even condemned the president — after his news conference Tuesday. Democratic Reps. Brad Sherman of California and Al Green of Texas have pushed a bill to impeach Trump for obstruction of justice over the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election.
Image caption State politicians were among those leading the march in Rio de Janeiro Some 200,000 people have protested in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro against a bill they say will deprive Rio state of much of its oil revenue. They are asking President Dilma Rousseff to veto the bill, which has been approved by Brazil's Congress. The bill proposes sharing oil revenues more evenly between oil-producing states like Rio and other states. Local politicians are fiercely opposed to the move, saying it could cost the state $1.7bn (£1.06bn) next year. They say that the changes would affect Rio's ability to host the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The bill would lower the level of royalties collected by oil-producing states from 26% to 20%. 'Our heritage' The BBC's Julia Carneiro reports from Rio that state authorities released employees from work and invited musicians and celebrities in order to entice people to attend the demonstration. The protest ended up looking more like a big street party, with people dancing and drinking, she says. Police said about 200,000 people took part. "We cannot redistribute the royalties with other states," Isabel Johnson, a 24-year-old nurse, told the AFP news agency. "It is our heritage and our chance to climb on the international stage," she said. Brazil is expected to be able to produce tens of billions of barrels of crude oil over the coming decades from discoveries of offshore deposits of oil made in recent years. Ms Rousseff has until Friday to approve or reject the bill. State governor Sergio Cabral and Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes were among those on the march. In recent days, state officials have put up banners around the city addressed to Ms Rousseff, bearing the words "Veto, Dilma". Many of the protesters had been bussed in from other parts of the state.
Watch: President Trump sings along to “Star-Spangled Banner” at Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington Nat’l Cemetery https://t.co/bUoHsX8HJf — NBC News (@NBCNews) May 29, 2017 In the next edition of Donald Trump can do nothing right ever, we give you the National Anthem. Shortly before delivering Memorial Day remarks Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, President Trump joined with the audience in the traditional signing of America’s national song. Unlike a lot in Trumpland, it all went off smoothly — but that still didn’t stop a certain class of Twitter liberal from taking exception. The crime this time was Trump’s personal rendition of the anthem, which trolls online apparently deemed insufficiently respectful — or something. Here’s a snapshot of the miasma of faux outrage. Our sick demented president @realDonaldTrump just sang and danced to the National Anthem at our most solemn event. #MemorialDay — Hannitys Head (@HannitysHead) May 29, 2017 What a fucking clown. It’s Arlington cemetery and he acts like it’s opening day. pic.twitter.com/MMXwvthYlS — Ally Maynard (@missmayn) May 29, 2017 It is like whenever the national anthem is playing, Trump hears “happy birthday to me.” — drstef (@drstef) May 29, 2017 Trump belted the National Anthem at Arlington like he was singing a Cher tune in the shower. #MemorialDay — Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) May 29, 2017 Jesus Fucking Christ! Watch Trump belt out the National Anthem at Arlington like he’s at a goddamn baseball game! END THIS MADNESS NOW!!!!!! https://t.co/X1DhVDnExP — LardOfDorkness (@LardFDorkness) May 29, 2017 @BrienneKaye I’m sure it will be all over Twitter soon! It was goofy, crazy awkward and (to me) disresepctful! — Christy (@beachbumdoll) May 29, 2017 … Get a life people. It’s Memorial Day. Follow Jon Levine on Twitter / Facebook. Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
So now we move on to installing the flight controller onto the frame. Now, all flight controllers have an orientation and so it is important that you secure it to your frame facing the correct way (this saves a lot of a hassle later). Specifically for the Flip32+ board that we used here, the USB port is the back of the board and the opposite side is subsequently the forward facing side. You therefore have to place the flight controller so that the forward facing side is pointing in the same direction as the front of the quadcopter (for the Silver Blade #37 there is no specific 'front' so you can choose). We secured the Flip32+ here with 3M mounting foam to the middle of the quadcopter (facing the correct way) and then we proceeded to plugging in the ESCs. We use the servo cables to plug the ESCs in (the black, red and white cable) and these plug into the output pins of the flight controller. This is because the flight controller outputs information to the ESCs to control the speed of the motor. According to which flight controller you're using, each motor is numbered 1 to 4 in a specific order (as mentioned above). You need to plug the ESC connected to motor 1 into the output pin labeled 1 on the flight controller, the ESC connected to motor 2 into the pin labeled 2 etc. You also need to plug the servo cables into the pins in the correct orientation. The three coloured wires in the cable (black, red and white) correspond to ground, voltage and signal wires respectively. You therefore need to ensure that the ground wires are connected to the ground pins, the voltage wires are connected to the voltage pins and the signal wires are connected to the signal pins. You can see this demonstrated in the pictures above. Most flight controllers will have the pins labeled with which pin is ground, which pin is voltage and which pin is signal. For example, in our Flip32+ guide, you can see that the pins are labeled with G, V and 6 (the 6 is for motor 6 but this is the signal pin).
Diary of the damned: Never seen before, a lost diary of the Great War so brutally vivid you'll feel YOU are there in the trenches Harry Drinkwater joined a 'Pals Battalion' when the war began in 1914 He was sent to the front lines and suffered the grueling realities of war His diary entries, never before published, tell of his hellish existence caked in mud, deprived of sleep and endlessly confronted by the deaths of his friends Volunteer: Harry Drinkwater, pictured, recorded the horrors of the First World War in vivid diary entries After volunteering as an Army private following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, former grammar-school boy Harry Drinkwater, 25, joined a ‘Pals battalion’ — so-called because the men were encouraged to join up with local friends and work colleagues. A few months later, his conversion from Stratford-upon-Avon shop assistant to soldier was complete. In this extract from his remarkable diary - which it was strictly against the rules to keep and which has been published for the first time - Harry writes about his brutal introduction to the trenches at the Somme in Picardie, Northern France... Thursday, December 16, 1915 Arrived in [the hamlet of] Suzanne today, after a very hard march. We’re billeted in tents, 12 men in each, encamped between the enemy and our own heavy guns. At night-time, one sees little slits of light shining from the tents on the puddles of water outside, which give the impression of a fairy land. Rolling into our blankets, we occasionally hear the ‘splash, splash’ as some fellow moves from one tent to another, or the plod of the sentry. Plus the continual shriek of shells. Tomorrow we go into the trenches. I wonder what sort of a show we will make. Sunday, December 19 No words can adequately describe the conditions. It’s not the Germans we’re fighting, but the weather. Within an hour of moving off, we were up to our knees in mud and water. The mud gradually got deeper as we advanced along the trench. We hadn’t gone far before we had to duck; the enemy were sending over their evening salute of shells. Pals battalion: Harry (centre left, marked in blue ink) joined the Second Birmingham Battalion alongside friends from home. Most of them died by the end of the war To move forward, I had to use both elbows for leverage, one each side of the trench. After about one and a half hours of this, we reached the firing line. Later, I groped my way to our dugout. What a sight. Imagine a room underneath the ground, whose walls are slimy with moisture. The floor is a foot or more deep in rancid-smelling mud. Monday, December 20 The trenches are in a terrible condition — anything up to 4ft deep in mud and water. We’re plastered in mud up to our faces. Our food - cold bacon, bread and jam - is slung together in a sack that hangs from the dripping dugout roof. Consequently, we eat and drink mud. Tuesday, December 21 Heavy bombardment at about 11am. Heard a fearful crash. The next dugout to ours blown to blazes, and our physical drill instructor Sergeant Horton with it. I helped dig him out. But before we could get him anywhere, he’d departed this life - our first experience of death. I’m tired out, sick of everything. Saturday, December 25 After five days in the trenches, we’re thankful we can still walk. I’ve had approximately an hour’s sleep a day - always standing up. Often, when from sheer exhaustion I doze off, I’m awakened by a fat squeaking rat on my shoulder or feel it running over my head. Most of the rations fail to arrive - because the communication trenches are water-logged and being continually shelled. We eat with hands caked in mud, which has caused many cases of acute dysentery. Deluged: Three members of Harry's company can be seen here posing in a trench flooded with mud almost to waist height In common with others, I’ve done regular turns at the firing line. It’s a very creepy business looking over the top, imagining every noise is a German. A rat skirmishing among empty tins in no-man’s land is sufficient to attract all our attention. Each morning, one hour before daybreak, every man stands in the trench until daylight. This is in case the Germans follow the old custom of attacking just before dawn. The same happens an hour before sunset. Last night, I had a narrow squeak. I was wedged in the mud when I heard a shell coming. Unable to move quickly, I crouched when it burst on the parapet and got covered in dirt. Later, we marched to our billets [for rest days]. This morning, Christmas Day, I took my shirt off - thick with dried mud - and had a wash. We had one tub and no soap between about 50 fellows. Friday, December 31 Back on the firing line, and nearly up to our waists in mud. We’ve found a new diversion — at dusk, we put a small piece of cheese on the end of a bayonet, wait for a rat to have a nibble, and then pull the trigger. Saturday, January 8, 1916 Raffle prize: Harry won this German scabbard in a raffle and sent it home At about 3.30am, I heard noises that sounded like wires scraping together. Half an hour later, a sentry spotted two men rising from the ground about 30 yards in front of our trench. We all opened rapid fire. At daybreak, we saw the result: a dead German lay about 20 yards in front. Scattered around were about a dozen hand-grenades. Given another five minutes, our trench would have been blown to bits. The victim had got partly through our barbed wire — which is probably what I heard. Later, we raffled his bayonet scabbard. I was the winner and sent it home as a souvenir. Harry’s next posting was to the front line near Arras in the region of Artois. Saturday, March 4 Nothing here but trench after trench and, in places, the ground blown into heaps of dirt. The trees have been hacked to pieces — only black stumps remain. Nothing grows. Utter desolation. Tuesday, March 7 Worked at a feverish pace, digging and strengthening trenches all through last night. Then through the day, I have to do an hour’s sentry duty every third hour. This is followed by an hour as the relief man, when I’m able to sit down. For the third hour, I can sleep. I’m feeling like most of the other fellows - half dead. Wednesday, March 8 Snowed all night. Had a hard job to keep awake. One or two fellows - of whom I was one - were found to be fast asleep at the end of their sentry. We’d gone to sleep standing up - and the relief man was also asleep. Under military law, this is a crime of the first water [punishable by execution]. So, as a preventative, we’ve arranged between ourselves that each sentry along the trench will fire his rifle at intervals. At dusk, I put my head over the top to have a look around and stopped a bullet on the side of my steel hat. The vibration made my head ache. Thursday, March 9 Owing to food transports going astray, we have one loaf between five of us, a few biscuits and half a tin of marmalade each per day. Have just heard we have a ten-mile march before we can be billeted [for rest]. Jolly hard lines. Rest: This annotated photograph shows the 'billets' where Harry and his comrades were taken for rest Friday, March 10 It was snowing as we set out at 11.15 last night. I saw two fellows - fast asleep as they walked along - walk out of the ranks and fall into the ditch at the side of the road. We halted for ten minutes’ rest and I dropped down into a puddle and went to sleep. Was unable to get up without help, and ended up hanging on to Lieutenant Davis on one side and a stretcher-bearer the other. Tried to pull myself together and went headlong on the road. They got me to my feet again but I was helpless. Have a vague idea that I was laid on some straw. Then oblivion. Casualty: Harry's diary described bringing wounded men back from the frontlines. The men pictured were fighting in the Battle of the Somme, where Harry also fought Sunday, April 23 Easter Sunday. A beautifully sunny [rest] day. I’m writing in a field beside a brook — I can easily imagine myself back in England. We’re all struck with the strangeness of things; one week in Hell and the next in comparative bliss. Harry was also helping to dig deep shafts that branched out towards the enemy lines. The idea was to lay explosive charges beneath German trenches - but as the Germans were doing likewise, the mining teams often tried to blow each other up halfway across. Sunday, May 7 Working in the mines - an awful strain mentally. We’re some three-parts of a mile under the ground. Air is got down by means of a large pair of blacksmith’s bellows, connected to a long pipe. But it’s very stuffy, and we work with backs bent for eight hours. Monday, May 8 Mines again. Feeling very fed up. No one jokes: we all have it in the back of our minds that the Germans’ mines will go up while we’re down one of ours - and it’s not a pleasant reflection. Friday, May 19 The Germans forestalled us this morning by about three hours. After three months of hard work, our K14 mine, timed to go up at 8am, was blown in by the Germans at 4.30am. There was a terrific explosion. The ground for yards around was lifted skywards, leaving a huge crater in the ground. Hellish fields: An aerial photograph of the trenches where Harry served Captain Edwards, our company captain, crept out over my parapet to investigate the damage and was met by a fusillade of bullets. He stopped one through the shoulder and one in the head. The moment after he was hit, an engineer sprang on to the parapet and, crawling on his stomach, dragged him back. It’s worth noting that the German sentry who shot Edwards could also have shot his rescuer. If he refrained from humane motives, he was a sportsman. Saturday, May 20 One of our fellows put his head and shoulders over the top and was immediately sniped through the head. Sunday, May 21 After sentry duty, we passed Major Jones, second-in-command of the battalion, as we crept back to the dugout. Ten minutes later, he was being dug out of about 3ft of earth. He’d gone out to the mine crater after passing us. Death was instant. We’d barely arrived at our dugout when a runner came along and gave the gas alarm. At the same time, shells were raining down. Brothers: William Hundy (far left) was killed by German fire, and was so badly disfigured that his own brother, Herbert Hundy (second left, standing with a pipe), did not realise who he was. Harry is second from the right in this photograph I helped to carry an NCO to the dressing station. His features were blown away but I recognised him by his identity disk as one of my pals. He was one of two brothers. The other, a stretcher-bearer unconscious of his identity, was the one who dug him out. Arrived back at the dugout feeling very sick. Monday May 22 At 11pm, our fellows, not sure of their ground in the dark, started slinging bombs in among themselves. Quite a usual occurrence. Wednesday, May 24 Today, D Company, on our left, went over the top. They’d got about 100 yards when they were met by a cross-fire of machine guns and rifle fire. But they still advanced. Some got to the German lines and were killed on the parapet; some got entangled in the barbed wire and riddled with bullets. Casualties: 33. Orders were now given to erect barbed wire defences in the crater left by the exploded mine. Tuesday, May 30 At 3am, we crawled into the crater and carried on wiring - just 15 yards from the German listening post. This crater alone has cost us 20 casualties so far. Wednesday, May 31 Six of us relieved the sentries in the crater. It was an uncanny night: raw, cold and a thick mist. We lay on the inside lip and hardly moved. At the first twinge of dawn, one of the fellows peeped over the top and saw four Germans digging like blazes within 12 yards of where we were lying. Diaries: Harry's remarkable diary is being published for the first time, 35 years after he died For some reason, we’d been told that under no circumstances were we to fire; so we withdrew. It’s never been very clear to me why we should risk so much life just to put barbed wire entanglements in the bottom of a crater. Today, it’s been strafed all day long. The Germans are very restless over this crater. They can’t quite make out what we’re doing with it and what we want it for. Thursday, June 1 The crater has been completely transformed. We’ve now built a little shack on the near side, protected by sandbags. Tuesday, June 6 At 4pm on Sunday, a shell landed in front of me and another behind, blowing in the rear of the trench and smothering me with dirt. Casualties were occurring rapidly. I’d barely bandaged Jones, who was badly hit, when Eastwood came rushing in to say the shelter in the crater had been blown in and the sentry group buried. A day sooner, and I’d have been one of them. Jinks and I gathered picks and shovels and made for the crater. We’d crawled about 15 yards when a shell landed immediately on top of the trench, partly burying us with earth. I felt the force of the explosion force my head into my body and it was some seconds before I was able to see. By this time, it was impossible to go on. The ground vibrated with explosions and the air was thick with sulphurous fumes. Buried alive: Sergeant Ashby (pictured far left before leaving to fight) was buried in the mine crater mentioned in Harry's 6 June entry I didn’t for a moment think we’d get out of this alive. But, after three hours, everything ceased as suddenly as it started. Later, I found an unexploded shell within a couple of feet of where Jinks and I had been lying. The gods had been good. We made our way back to the front line, dazed. It was unrecognisable: a series of holes, no real trench remaining. Some fellows were lying about dead, some wounded and some alive - one of whom inquired about the fellows in the crater. Then I remembered why I’d left the line. Gathering up what picks we could find, a sergeant and I crawled back over the top and into the crater. A wretched sight. Young Cooper was wedged in the doorway dead, the remainder buried under the shack. We dug like fury for two hours, impelled by the fact that we could hear someone faintly groaning - and that at any moment, the Germans would be coming over. Only Sergeant Ashby had some signs of life. Leaving those we couldn’t help, we carried him down to what remained of the front line. At 9.30pm, Raper and Middleton - close friends - went down, killed by a rifle grenade. Then Jinks was hit by another as we lay next to each other. His legs had been blown off and he was going fast. I could do little else than kneel by his side. He asked me not to leave him and recognised me almost to the last moment. I saw him go West. It was quickly over. Harry Drinkwater, 25, joined a ‘Pals battalion’ — so-called because the men were encouraged to join up with local friends and work colleagues Meanwhile, the Germans were coming in. Only a few got out of our trench again; the rest of the Germans were either bayoneted or bombed, and we buried them later. Wednesday, June 7 Total battalion casualties for Sunday: 120. The roll-call this morning was somewhat pathetic. Each time a name was called out and no one answered, we had to say if we’d seen the fellow killed or knew if he was wounded. There are now very few of the original men I joined with. The idea under which the battalion was formed, that of friends serving together, has long since passed. Thursday, June 15 This afternoon we lost four more. But we’re quite resigned nowadays to losing old originals. It seems as if the fates have decreed that they’ve had a good run and it’s time they went. Kilby asks: ‘Whose turn next?’ We all wonder... Kilby is last mentioned in a diary entry dated January 23, 1917. He and Harry are at a rest camp in Boulogne and Harry is leaving for Blighty. By the end of the war, Harry had served on the Somme, at Ypres and in Italy and had received the Military Cross for bravery. After being demobbed, he worked as a civil servant. He never married and died in 1978.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are expected to spend time evaluating the partnership with coach Scott Brooks before committing to bring him back for the final year on his contract, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Brooks is guaranteed for the 2015-16 season on his deal, with the Thunder holding a team option for 2016-17, sources told Yahoo Sports. Scott Brooks guided the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals. (Getty Images) Scroll to continue with content Ad Oklahoma City missed the playoffs for the first time in six years on Wednesday, finishing 45-37 with superstar Kevin Durant lost for most of the year. Thunder general manager Sam Presti has to decide an organizational direction for the final year of Durant's contract, and that will include a decision about whether Brooks is ultimately the coach most capable of delivering a healthy Thunder roster to a championship. Brooks is well liked within the organization and has forged close relationships with management and players in his seven years as head coach. Several league sources close to Brooks have doubts about his job security. If a change comes, University of Florida coach Billy Donovan could emerge as a serious candidate to coach Oklahoma City, league sources said. Presti has a longstanding friendship with Donovan, a two-time national championship coach who has been open about his interest in moving to the NBA. Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie would be a candidate for the Thunder's coaching job if it opens, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Ollie was a teammate with Durant and Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City and he's an individual whom Presti holds in high esteem. Story continues Two years ago, Presti and Brooks' representative had a difficult negotiation process on an eventual four-year contract extension, and several teams with openings, including Portland, were interested in hiring Brooks. If Brooks were to become available this spring, Orlando and Denver would have significant interest in hiring him, league sources said. Brooks was the NBA coach of the year in 2010 and led the Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2012. More NBA coverage:
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. In an interview with the German "Bild", President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said there was no solidarity within the international community during the Azerbaijani attacks against Nagorno Karabakh. Referring to the current situation in the region, the President said: “The situation is currently calm, there is no gunfire. However, when Azerbaijan unleashed a military attack, the international community did not show solidarity. We would like the international community to stress that it was Azerbaijan who started the attack”. To the question what will be the President’s call to the international community, Serzh Sargsyan stated: “Armenia is a small country. We understand that we present less economic interest for others. Our concern is for the injustice to be called accordingly. For us, first of all, it would be sufficient to hear the calls of Europe condemning the Azerbaijani actions. If it would not have been sufficient enough, the next step could be the sanctions”.
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My interview series continues. I recently met up with my friend Gilmar Santos, a Brazilian guy whom I’ve known for some time. I’ve learned a great deal about social dynamics in Brazil from listening to his incredibly detailed breakdowns of the dating scenes in different parts of the country. Gilmar is also a man of broad knowledge and deep introspection, a combination that is becoming unfortunately all too rare these days. His insights on the impact of social media on the dating scene in his country, on physical fitness, and on spiritual development are valuable, and worth our careful attention. During our last meeting, I asked him if he would be interested in sharing his observations on Brazilian game and other topics with the Return of Kings readership. What follows are the highlights of our conversation. Quintus: Glad you could join us here at ROK, today, cara. I know things are busy for you these days in Parana state. Gilmar: No problems, Quintus. Thanks for having me here. You guys at ROK have been on a roll lately [laughs]. Quintus: But all fortune is fleeting, right? [laughs]. So, you’re living in the city of Cascavel now, right? Give our readers a little information about your background. The city of Cascavel Gilmar: I was born in Sao Paulo and spent most of my childhood there. I lived in Portugal for a few years in my teens before returning to SP for college. My current job gives me plenty of mobility inside the country, so every 2 or 3 years I am given an opportunity to relocate. This was, in fact, one of the reasons I took the job, and because of this I got to live in the Amazon region for a couple of years, and am now in Parana, a state in southern Brazil. If all goes as planned, my next stop will be Minas Gerais. Quintus: I remember being really impressed with your English abilities when we first talked. You probably speak it better than most natives. Gilmar: [laughs]. Well, I have my moments. There is no such thing as an easy language. Quintus: How does your current city where you live compare with other Brazilian cities you’ve lived at in the past? Gilmar: Brazil is a big country, so there are a lot of cultural and racial differences according to region. Broadly speaking, the further north you go, the more African and Indian blood will you find. On the other hand, the population in the southern states descend from European immigrants (Italian, German and Polish, mostly). The city I’m currently living in is a medium sized one in Parana. Lots of blondes and redheads. Blue and green eyes are common. If you like European type girls, you’re in the right place, but you won´t find the postcard Brazilian morena. Another view of Cascavel A suggestion I would like to make for foreign guys going to Brazil is to get off the beaten path and skip big cities like Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Florianopolis and such. Try going to second and third tier cities, and even small towns. You will probably have a better time with the women and will get to know the real Brazil. Quintus: Absolutely. That’s been my experience not just in Brazil but in other countries as well. One of the topics we’ve really mulled over is the impact of social media on game in Brazil. I remember only five years ago in Brazil, a regular cell phone was good enough. Now it’s all about Tinder and smartphones. What changes have you seen in the male-female dynamic recently? Gilmar: The relation between the sexes is clearly becoming more westernized at a rapid pace. As a matter of fact, I look to the USA as a sample of things to come in this arena. I’ve observed that the media is pushing the same feminist, girl power agenda, and it looks like this is happening on a global scale, the same strategies being used everywhere. Social media such as Facebook and Instagram have given women a lot more power when it comes to dating up and having a wide range of choices in men with minimum effort, or no effort at all. Here in Brazil people started using Facebook in 2010, which was when I noticed girls had suddenly become a lot pickier and flakier, their attitudes also having changed for the worse. I guess the best way to describe it is that there is now a big push for both girls and guys to construct this whole fake (or quasi-fake) identity revolving around social media. Guys are relying more and more on these “virtual identities” they’ve created for themselves, rather than putting in the real work of self-improvement. It sometimes feels like all my hard work on self-improvement and personal knowledge has become obsolete with the rise of fake social media, smartphones, and online dating. It’s hurting the old-school game severely. For me this is the key point: the mania to create this false social media “identity” that has no bearing on reality. And for some reason, the girls are just oblivious to it. It seems like the fakers are able to get by on their faking. I’m seeing a lot of guys with no game posturing on social media. Women, they’re just not that self-aware. But I have to say that most guys are as much to blame as well. Too much bad game out there, too much kissing ass. As you know, I put a lot of effort into my appearance and I’ve been lifting for many years. I’ve also experimented with many different approach styles. But it seems like girls are becoming more and more fixated on the electronic game than anything. Guys with bad game are now able to flood the market and bring down the general level of game for everyone. Heck, when I was in college I used to ride a bicycle to class and there was no shortage of cute girls to pick up. Quintus: I suppose I should tell readers here that you are an impressive physical specimen…[laughs]. Very muscular dude, good job, and good appearance. Gilmar: Flattery will get you nowhere, QC [laughs]. Quintus: So, how have you had to adjust your game to deal with these changes? Gilmar: Well, most guys in Brazil are playing the social media game, which is basically posing as if they were rich and famous in their online profiles, as well as taking loans to buy luxury cars and status items to impress girls. I am not liking it. I’ve tried to talk to some of these guys, but I’m at the point now of just letting them go. Either they get it or they don’t. I get the sense Roosh has reached this point too. But I am doing the opposite of what the trends are here. I think game should be genuine and come from within, so my choice has always been to focus lately on holistic self improvement, which is basically cultivating mind and body, as well financial independence and internal values such as confidence, masculinity, and things like that. Your writings reflect a lot of the same values I have. I don’t consider myself a master of game and my goal isn’t to bed as many women as possible, but to enjoy good relationships with quality women as part of a meaningful life. The older I get, the more I see that the ultra-player lifestyle is part of a man’s sexual adolescence, and that a mature man is naturally inclined to start a family and become a patriarch on one way or another. But it does take two to tango. The fact is that there is a shortage of women who are relationship material, so guys are forced to choose between celibacy and pumping and dumping. Quintus: I agree with that, and it’s a difficult issue to deal with. Our natural instincts are being distorted by social trends. How do you see feminism on the rise in Brazil? Gilmar: Of course, it definitely is. A few years ago, girls with tattoos were rare. Now they’re becoming more mainstream. We’re seeing more deliberate uglification. Luckily our culture emphasizes personal appearance more than, say, the US or England, but the general trend has been a relaxing of female standards. Which always hurts men. The current party in government, called “PT” (“Workers Party”, of Marxist ideology) has been pushing this feminist agenda since they rose to power. Many feminist laws were passed, abortion is now practically legal in Brazil. A woman has only to fill in a form stating she was abused in order to get an abortion… no further questions asked. Lately the government has been financing a “rape awareness” campaign, just like the one in the States. Like I said, the same strategies are being used everywhere. And of course, men just sit there and do nothing. Loading... There are still interesting girls, though, although rare. I’ve come across blogs and internet groups created by Brazilian women who are promoting traditional values. If you think about it, this is crucial for them too. Like us, they have no healthy role models to look up to nowadays, so they must look back to the past if they want to remain feminine and become worthy of a relationship. Quintus: And that’s the paradox, isn’t it? Their blind rush to embrace feminism contains the seeds of their own disintegration as women. They’re being seduced by liars, frauds, and social misfits. But I am doubtful that most of them really understand this. Gilmar: Isso, cara. I can’t disagree with that. Quintus: How old are you now, and what aspects of your game have you been working on lately? Gilmar: I’m 32 years old. Weight lifting and healthy nutrition have been a part of my life for a long time now. I try to surround myself with positive influences not only through friends and acquaintances, but also by reading good books and listening to quality music. Travelling is also very important to me, as it opens the mind to different ways of living and helps overcome negative patterns of thinking. I rarely watch TV and have recently deleted my Facebook profile. As you know more than anyone, the cultivation of spirituality is an essential part and perhaps the basis for all self-improvement. As strange as it seems, I’m also working on developing a genuine connection with women nowadays, and also trying to look at them with compassion. This of course doesn’t imply being a simp or a lackey. The truth is that the relationship between the sexes has turned sour, so we’re all prisoners of angst and hatred from time to time. I find that these emotions are ultimately destructive and it is necessary to maintain good spirits even in our current social climate, and that’s where spirituality has its importance. Quintus: I know. It’s like this transition period we’re in between the collapse of one moral system, and the congealing of another. What other self-improvement moves have you made recently? Gilmar: Well, my latest was deleting my Facebook profile [laughs]. Perhaps a small thing, but it has freed up a lot of time that was wasted in a non-productive activity. Facebook is like a virtual drug. It’s simply a bad influence to have on your mind. There’s no point in having a profile unless you’re famous or have a business you want to promote. I’m also switching my focus to day game, as I think it gives access to women of better quality both in terms of looks and personality, and you also get to engage them without their façade of arrogance. You’ve always been a big fan of Japan day game. The fact is nightclubs are becoming bad places to pick up women in most cases. I’ve noticed that they are going there more for social validation, not to meet guys (unless you’re the DJ or the owner). Also, as a guy who has a lot of diurnal activities, focusing on night game is too much of an energy drain for me. This is not to say I don’t go out at night, obviously. I just don’t put all my energy in it. Quintus: Yeah, I’ve been seeing this more and more in Rio. We both share an interest in physical fitness and spiritual questions. Do you find that these opposite interests complement each other, and help your overall game? Gilmar: I do. In my view, physical fitness serves to care for the body through exercise and diet, while spirituality and philosophy focuses on the care of the mind through the cultivation of beneficient internal values, while also structuring one’s priorities in life. I see MikeCF as a big proponent of this. Nowadays it’s easy to fall prey to nihilism and depression, which are in the end very self-destructive. That’s when you drop your standards for women and start banging anything that moves. That’s when you bang just for the sake of banging. Wrong. You’ve ripped into other guys for doing this, and rightly so. These periods have never been fulfilling and have instead led to depressing experiences and a lot of wasted time. Behaving like an animal has never been the answer for me, but I’m no saint either [laughs]. I guess I’m trying to find a middle ground. Quintus: We’ve had some great talks about how to deal with life’s big questions. Have you been getting more into philosophy lately? What explorations have you made into the country of the mind? Ayahuasca in the Amazon Gilmar: I’m a big fan of ancient philosophy, particularly that of the school of Platonism. I’ve also recently started studying Vedic philosophy [from India] and was surprised by how similar it is to the teachings of the Platonic school. It’s like they’re saying the same things with different words. I don’t agree with the modern materialistic worldview, and I think it inevitably leads to nihilism. Quintus: I agree with this, of course. There has been a lot of cross-cultural influences over the centuries. It’s not easy to say who influenced who. Now, what is theurgy? Gilmar: That’s a question that begs further explanation. As you know, I lived in the Amazon for a while in close contact with native tribes. The real treasure I gained from my time living in the Amazon were my experiences with the substance called ayahuasca. And by the way, ROK writer Runsonmagic wrote an article on this as well. To cut to the chase, ayahuasca is a shamanic brew that enhances perception and serves, according to Amazonian Indians, to purify and align body and mind. When ingested in a proper ritual setting, with prior individual preparation, following a traditional shamanic ceremony it will lead to the perception of higher worlds or spheres of reality. My initial skepticism was eroded by numerous such experiences. And what’s more: ayahuasca is one of the many doors to these mysteries. I’ve found, after study, that these higher spiritual worlds are known by different cultures, although the names used to describe them differ from place to place. Theurgy is the work accomplished by accessing these divine realities and progressively setting one’s life priorities straight. Quintus: I’ve roughly familiar with these doctrines. Theurgy is touched on in writers of late Neoplatonism, in the late classical period, such as Iamblichus, Porphyry, and Proclus. They’re not well known outside of specialist fields, unfortunately. How have these studies helped you personally? Gilmar: They have granted me a deeper insight into my own nature, as well as that of different aspects of reality and life, such as the roots of philosophy, the original meaning and intent of medicine and health, the natural roles of men and women, the importance of carrying oneself with dignity and humility. They gave me a clear sense of right and wrong, so that I now know when I have to change my attitude and thus have more responsibility for my actions. Although these studies give you a more profound view of things, they also make you humble, because they show how small and shallow our knowledge of the world is. Your mind is really blown away when you start experiencing these things instead of just reading about them. Quintus: Absolutely. I’m glad you’ve shared these experiences with us, Gilmar. I hope other guys can get a taste for what is really out there. How can you be contacted? Gilmar: I am a member of the RooshVForum, although not as active as I’d like to be these days. My username is “Brazilianguy.” Anyone wanting to contact me can find me there. Quintus: Brazilianguy. Well, that’s original… Gilmar: Behave yourself, QC. Quintus: You’re going to join us again soon, right? We want to hear how the next Amazonian trip goes. Gilmar: Of course. Thanks for having me, man. Read More: The Life Of A Location Independent Traveler
The Covert Origins Of ISIS Above: A file image uploaded on June 14, 2014 on the jihadist website Welayat Salahuddin allegedly shows militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province (AFP Photo / HO) Evidence exposing who put ISIS in power, and how it was done. The Islamic militant group ISIS, formerly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and recently rebranded as the so called Islamic State, is the stuff of nightmares. They are ruthless, fanatical, killers, on a mission, and that mission is to wipe out anyone and everyone, from any religion or belief system and to impose Shari’ah law. The mass executions, beheadings and even crucifixions that they are committing as they work towards this goal are flaunted like badges of pride, video taped and uploaded for the whole world to see. This is the new face of evil. Would it interest you to know who helped these psychopaths rise to power? Would it interest you to know who armed them, funded them and trained them? Would it interest you to know why? This story makes more sense if we start in the middle, so we’ll begin with the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Libyan revolution was Obama’s first major foreign intervention. It was portrayed as an extension of the Arab Spring, and NATO involvement was framed in humanitarian terms. The fact that the CIA was actively working to help the Libyan rebels topple Gaddafi was no secret, nor were the airstrikes that Obama ordered against the Libyan government.However, little was said about the identity or the ideological leanings of these Libyan rebels. Not surprising, considering the fact that the leader of the Libyan rebels later admitted that his fighters included Al-Qaeda linked jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq. These jihadist militants from Iraq were part of what national security analysts commonly referred to as Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Remember Al-Qaeda in Iraq was ISIS before it was rebranded. With the assistance of U.S. and NATO intelligence and air support, the Libyan rebels captured Gaddafi and summarily executed him in the street, all the while enthusiastically chanting “Allah Akbar”. For many of those who had bought the official line about how these rebels were freedom fighters aiming to establish a liberal democracy in Libya, this was the beginning of the end of their illusions. Prior to the U.S. and NATO backed intervention, Libya had the highest standard of living of any country in Africa. This according to the U.N.’s Human Development Index rankings for 2010.However in the years following the coup, the country descended into chaos, with extremism and violence running rampant. Libya is now widely regarded as failed state (of course those who were naive enough to buy into the propaganda leading up to the war get defensive when this is said). Now after Gaddafi was overthrown, the Libyan armories were looted, and massive quantities of weapons were sent by the Libyan rebels to Syria. The weapons, which included anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles were smuggled into Syria through Turkey, a NATO ally. The times of Londonreported on the arrival of the shipment on September 14th, 2012. (Secondary confirmation in this NYT article) This was just three days after Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed by the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi. Chris Stevens had served as the U.S. government’s liaison to the Libyan rebels since April of 2011. While a great deal media attention has focused on the fact that the State Department did not provide adequate security at the consulate, and was slow to send assistance when the attack started, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh released an article in April of 2014 which exposed a classified agreement between the CIA, Turkey and the Syrian rebels to create what was referred to as a “rat line”. The “rat line” was covert network used to channel weapons and ammunition from Libya, through southern turkey and across the Syrian border. Funding was provided by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. With Stevens dead any direct U.S. involvement in that arms shipment was buried, and Washington would continue to claim that they had not sent heavy weaponry into Syria. It was at this time that jihadist fighters from Libya began flooding into Syria as well. And not just low level militants. Many were experienced commanders who had fought in multiple theaters. The U.S. and its allies were now fully focused on taking down Assad’s government in Syria. As in Libya this regime change was to be framed in terms of human rights, and now overt support began to supplement the backdoor channels. The growing jihadist presence was swept under the rug and covered up. However as the rebels gained strength, the reports of war crimes and atrocities that they were committing began to create a bit of a public relations problem for Washington. It then became standard policy to insist that U.S. support was only being given to what they referred to as“moderate” rebel forces. This distinction, however, had no basis in reality. In an interview given in April of 2014, FSA commander Jamal Maarouf admitted that his fighters regularly conduct joint operations with Al-Nusra. Al-Nusra is the official Al-Qa’ida branch in Syria. This statement is further validated by an interview given in June of 2013 by Colonel Abdel Basset Al-Tawil, commander of the FSA’s Northern Front. In this interview he openly discusses his ties with Al-Nusra, and expresses his desire to see Syria ruled by sharia law. (You can verify the identities of these two commanders here in this document from The Institute for the Study of War) Moderate rebels? Well it’s complicated. Not that this should really come as any surprise. Reuters had reported in 2012 that the FSA’s command was dominated by Islamic extremists, and the New York Times had reported that same year that the majority of the weapons that Washington were sending into Syria was ending up in the hands Jihadists. For two years the U.S. government knew that this was happening, but they kept doing it. And the FSA’s ties to Al-Nusra are just the beginning. In June of 2014 Al-Nusra merged with ISIS at the border between Iraq and Syria. So to review, the FSA is working with Al-Nusra, Al-Nusra is working with ISIS, and the U.S. has been sending money and weapons to the FSA even though they’ve known since 2012 that most of these weapons were ending up in the hands of extremists. You do the math. In that context, the sarin gas attacks of 2013 which turned out to have been committed by the Syrian rebels, makes a lot more sense doesn’t it? If it wasn’t enough that U.N. investigators, Russian investigators, and Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh all pinned that crime on Washington’s proxies, the rebels themselves threatened the West that they would expose what really happened if they were not given more advanced weaponry within one month. By the way, this also explains why Washington then decided to target Russia next. This threat was made on June 10th, 2013. In what can only be described as an amazing coincidence, just nine days later, the rebels received their first official shipment of heavy weapons in Aleppo. After the second sarin gas fiasco, which was also exposed and therefore failed to garner public support for airstrikes, the U.S. continued to increase its the training and support for the rebels. In February of 2014, Haaretz reported that the U.S. and its allies in the region, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, were in the process of helping the Syrian rebels plan and prepare for a massive attack in the south. According to Haaretz Israel had also provided direct assistance in military operations against Assad four months prior (you can access a free cached version of the page here). Then in May of 2014 PBS ran a report in which they interviewed rebels who were trained by the U.S. in Qatar. According to those rebels they were being trained to finish off soldiers who survived attacks. “They trained us to ambush regime or enemy vehicles and cut off the road,” said the fighter, who is identified only as “Hussein.” “They also trained us on how to attack a vehicle, raid it, retrieve information or weapons and munitions, and how to finish off soldiers still alive after an ambush.” This is a blatant violation of the Geneva conventions. It also runs contrary to conventional military strategy. In conventional military strategy soldiers are better off left wounded, because this ends up costing the enemy more resources. Executing captured enemy soldiers is the kind of tactic used when you want to strike terror in the hearts of the enemy. It also just happens to be standard operating procedure for ISIS. One month after this report, in June of 2014, ISIS made its dramatic entry, crossing over the Syrian border into Iraq, capturing Mosul, Baiji and almost reaching Baghdad. The internet was suddenly flooded with footage of drive by shootings, large scale death marches, and mass graves. And of course any Iraqi soldier that was captured was executed. Massive quantities of American military equipment were seized during that operation. ISIS took entire truckloads of humvees, they took helicopters, tanks, and artillery. They photographed and video taped themselves and advertised what they were doing on social media, and yet for some reason Washington didn’t even TRY to stop them. U.S. military doctrine clearly calls for the destruction of military equipment and supplies when friendly forces cannot prevent them from falling into enemy hands, but that didn’t happen here. ISIS was allowed to carry this equipment out of Iraq and into Syria unimpeded. The U.S. military had the means to strike these convoys, but they didn’t lift a finger, even though they had been launching drone strikes in Pakistan that same week. Why would they do that? Though Obama plays the role of a weak, indecisive, liberal president, and while pundits from the right have had a lot of fun with that image, this is just a facade. Some presidents, like George W. Bush, rely primarily on overt military aggression. Obama gets the same job done, but he prefers covert means. Not really surprising considering the fact that Zbigniew Brzezinski was his mentor. Those who know their history will remember that Zbigniew Brzezinski was directly involved in the funding and arming the Islamic extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to weaken the Soviets. By the way Osama bin Laden was one of these anti-Soviet “freedom fighters” the U.S. was funding and arming. This operation is no secret at this point, nor are the unintended side effects. Officially the U.S. government’s arming and funding of the Mujahideen was a response to the Soviet invasion in December of 1979, however in his memoir entitled “From the Shadows” Robert Gates, director of the CIA under Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior, and Secretary of Defense under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, revealed that the U.S. actually began the covert operation 6 months prior, with the express intention of luring the Soviets into a quagmire. (You can preview the relevant text here on google books) The strategy worked. The Soviets invaded, and the ten years of war that followed are considered by many historians as being one of the primary causes of the fall of the USSR. This example doesn’t just establish precedent, what we’re seeing happen in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria right now is actually a continuation of a old story. Al-Nusra and ISIS are ideological and organizational decedents of these extremist elements that the U.S. government made use of thirty years ago. The U.S. the went on to create a breeding ground for these extremists by invading Iraq in 2003. Had it not been for the vacuum of power left by the removal and execution of Saddam, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, aka ISIS, would not exist. And had it not been for Washington’s attempt at toppling Assad by arming, funding and training shadowy militant groups in Syria, there is no way that ISIS would have been capable of storming into Iraq in June of 2014. On every level, no matter how you cut it, ISIS is a product of U.S. government’s twisted and decrepit foreign policy. Now all of this may seem contradictory to you as you watch the drums of war against ISIS begin to beat louder and the air strikes against them are gradually widenedhttp://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/08/president-obama-considers-possible-…). Why would the U.S. help a terrorist organization get established, only to attack them later? Well why did the CIA put Saddam Hussein in power in 1963?, Why did the U.S. government back Saddam in 1980 when he launched a war of aggression against Iran, even though they knew that he was using chemical weapons? Why did the U.S. fund and arm Islamic extremists in Afghanistan against the Soviets? There’s a pattern here if you look closely. This is a tried and true geopolitical strategy. Step 1: Build up a dictator or extremist group which can then be used to wage proxy wars against opponents. During this stage any crimes committed by these proxies are swept under the rug. [Problem] Step 2: When these nasty characters have outlived their usefulness, that’s when it’s time to pull out all that dirt from under the rug and start publicizing it 24/7. This obviously works best when the public has no idea how these bad guys came to power.[Reaction] Step 3: Finally, when the public practically begging for the government to do something, a solution is proposed. Usually the solution involves military intervention, the loss of certain liberties, or both. [Solution] ISIS is extremely useful. They have essentially done Washington dirty work by weakening Assad. In 2014, while the news cycle has focused almost exclusively on Ukraine and Russia, ISIS made major headway in Syria, and as of August they already controlled 35% of the country. Since ISIS largely based in Syria, this gives the U.S. a pretext to move into Syria. Sooner or later the U.S. will extend the airstrikes into Assad’s backyard, and when they do U.S. officials are already making it clear that both ISIS and the Syrian government will be targeted. That, after all, is the whole point. Washington may allow ISIS to capture a bit more territory first, but the writing is on the wall, and has been for some time now. The Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that this will never lead to boots on the ground, however, the truth of the matter is that anyone who understands anything about military tactics knows full well that ISIS cannot be defeated by airstrikes alone. In response to airstrikes ISIS will merely disperse and conceal their forces. ISIS isn’t an established state power which can be destroyed by knocking out key government buildings and infrastructure. These are guerrilla fighters who cut their teeth in urban warfare. To significantly weaken them, the war will have to involve ground troops, but even this is a lost cause. U.S. troops could certainly route ISIS in street to street battles for some time, and they might even succeed in fully occupying Syria and Iraq for a number of years, but eventually they will have to leave, and when they do, it should be obvious what will come next. The puppets that the U.S. government has installed in the various countries that they have brought down in recent years have without exception proven to be utterly incompetent and corrupt. No one that Washington places in power will be capable of maintaining stability in Syria. Period. Right now, Assad is the last bastion of stability in the region. He is the last chance they have for a moderate non-sectarian government and he is the only hope of anything even remotely resembling democracy for the foreseeable future. If Assad falls, Islamic extremist will take the helm, they will impose shari’ah law, and they will do everything in their power to continue spreading their ideology as far and wide as they can. If the world truly wants to stop ISIS, there is only one way to do it: 1. First and foremost, the U.S. government and its allies must be heavily pressured to cut all support to the rebels who are attempting to topple Assad. Even if these rebels that the U.S. is arming and funding were moderate, and they’re not, the fact that they are forcing Assad to fight a war on multiple fronts, only strengthens ISIS. This is lunacy. 2. The Syrian government should be provided with financial support, equipment, training and intelligence to enable them to turn the tide against ISIS. This is their territory, they should be the ones to reclaim it. Now obviously this support isn’t going to come from the U.S. or any NATO country, but there are a number of nations who have a strategic interest in preventing another regime change and chaotic aftermath. If these countries respond promptly, as in right now, they could preempt a U.S. intervention, and as long this support does not include the presence of foreign troops, doing so will greatly reduce the likelihood of a major confrontation down the road. 3. The U.S. government and its allies should should be aggressively condemned for their failed regime change policies and the individuals behind these decisions should be charged for war crimes. This would have to be done on an nation by nation level since the U.N. has done nothing but enable NATO aggression. While this may not immediately result in these criminals being arrested, it would send a message. This can be done. Malaysia has already proven this by convicting the Bush administration of war crimes in abstentia. Now you might be thinking: “This all sounds fine and good, but what does this have to do with me? I can’t influence this situation.” That perspective is quite common, and for most people, it’s paralyzing, but the truth of the matter is that we can influence this. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again. I’ll be honest with you though, this isn’t going to be easy. To succeed we have to start thinking strategically. Like it or not, this is a chess game. If we really want to rock the boat, we have to start reaching out to people in positions of influence. This can mean talking to broadcasters at your local radio station, news paper, or t.v. station, or it can mean contacting influential bloggers, celebrities, business figures or government officials. Reaching out to current serving military and young people who may be considering joining up is also important. But even if it’s just your neighbor, or your coworker, every single person we can reach brings us closer to critical mass. The most important step is to start trying. If you are confused about why this is all happening, watch this video we put out on September 11th, 2012 If this message resonates with you then spread it. If you want to see the BIG picture, and trust me we’ve got some very interesting reports coming, subscribe to StormCloudsGathering on Youtube, and follow us on Facebook, twitter and Google plus. BONUS ARTICLE (an interesting tangent): Were the Libyan rebels being led by a CIA plant?
by In today’s post we are goint to talk about a somewhat old technique (although programs like Signal have recently started using it) that I have always found to be a really clever hack: domain fronting. For example, let’s take the IP address of the frontal that serves www.google.es: $ host www.google.es www.google.es has address 216.58.210.227 If we take a look at the Common Name (CN) field of the TLS certificate returned by the server: $ echo \| openssl s_client -CApath /usr/lib/ssl -connect 216.58.210.227:443 \| openssl x509 -subject depth=3 C = US, O = Equifax, OU = Equifax Secure Certificate Authority verify return:1 depth=2 C = US, O = GeoTrust Inc., CN = GeoTrust Global CA verify return:1 depth=1 C = US, O = Google Inc, CN = Google Internet Authority G2 verify return:1 depth=0 C = US, ST = California, L = Mountain View, O = Google Inc, CN = google.com verify return:1 DONE subject= /C=US/ST=California/L=Mountain View/O=Google Inc/CN=google.com -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIgWjCCH0KgAwIBAgIIHcanliJsJ+UwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQAwSTELMAkGA1UE BhMCVVMxEzARBgNVBAoTCkdvb2dsZSBJbmMxJTAjBgNVBAMTHEdvb2dsZSBJbnRl [...] We see that it’s not www.google.es. This certificate is authenticating a name that is not present in its CN. The subcommand x509 (with which we can get more info about the cert) has the answer: $ echo \| openssl s_client -CApath /usr/lib/ssl -connect 216.58.210.227:443 \| openssl x509 -text [...] X509v3 extensions: X509v3 Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication, TLS Web Client Authentication X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: DNS:google.com, DNS:.2mdn.net, DNS:.android.com, DNS:.appengine.google.com, DNS:.au.doubleclick.net, DNS:.cc-dt.com, DNS:.cloud.google.com, DNS:.de.doubleclick.net, DNS:.doubleclick.com [...] The HTTPS server is using the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension, that makes it possible to serve more than one HTTPS website from the same IP address using just one X.509 certificate. We can also use (HTTPS client side) another more recent TLS protocol extension called Server Name Indication (SNI) to request any of the virtual hosts available from the same IP address. We can invoke the s_client subcommand with the -servername modifier to request any of the other vhosts available; for example, mail.google.com: $ echo \| openssl s_client -CApath /usr/lib/ssl \ -connect 216.58.210.227:443 -servername mail.google.com \| openssl x509 -subject depth=3 C = US, O = Equifax, OU = Equifax Secure Certificate Authority verify return:1 depth=2 C = US, O = GeoTrust Inc., CN = GeoTrust Global CA verify return:1 depth=1 C = US, O = Google Inc, CN = Google Internet Authority G2 verify return:1 depth=0 C = US, ST = California, L = Mountain View, O = Google Inc, CN = mail.google.com verify return:1 DONE subject= /C=US/ST=California/L=Mountain View/O=Google Inc/CN=mail.google.com -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIID1jCCAr6gAwIBAgIIGOTyaAwrvk4wDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQAwSTELMAkGA1UE BhMCVVMxEzARBgNVBAoTCkdvb2dsZSBJbmMxJTAjBgNVBAMTHEdvb2dsZSBJbnRl [...] If we look at a capture of the previous interaction with Wireshark, we can clearly see the field of the SNI extension; the TLS client has told the server (in the ClientHello message of the TLS handshake) that it wants the virtual host of the GMail service: In fact, in the case of Google (and this also happens with many other CDN networks and frontal servers, hence the name of the technique: domain fronting), it’s not even necessary to use the TLS SNI extension; it’s enough to point against the same IP address, but specifying the desired virtual host using the Host HTTP header: $ wget -q -S --max-redirect=1 --header 'Host: mail.google.com' www.google.es HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently Location: /mail/ Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 [...] Thus, as a result of the command above, someone who is monitoring the network just gets to see a request to www.google.es: the traffic of the interactions with mail.google.com stays inside, camouflaged in the TLS layer unless we break that layer with dynamic cert generation from a certification authority present in all workstations (even in this case, the MitM is going to have trouble with things like certificate pinning). So, what’s the advantage? Yes, we all know that Google uses the same frontals for everything, so what? What we get by hiding GMail traffic inside generic Google searches? Well, if we base our command & control or exfiltration server on GMail, we have a direct advantage, but the thing goes beyond: Google App Engine (GAE) apps, hosted (among others) on *.appspot.com domains, are also served from the same frontals. So in this particular case, it’s not only that we could deploy our C&C server on GMail web services (or Google Drive, or Google Docs…): it’s that we can hack it directly as a GAE app in myc2server.appspot.com, and network monitoring will not even see the DNS requests against that domain (the only registered traffic will be DNS requests for www.google.es and apparently legitimate, generic, boring Google search traffic). And what is better: to dismantle our stuff, or Google detects somehow that we have an ilegitimate C&C server hosted on myc2server.appspot.com, or the network monitoring staff has to “break” HTTPS (or block all HTTPS traffic in general, or HTTPS access to all Google frontal servers in particular). This is not going to be good news for the company: no Google web search available? What!? :-) And this is the reason that this technique is so powerful: if you block the frontals, you block a lot of other useful services, and this has high collateral damage. It’s because of this that the technique is widely used for content filter and DPI bypass, and it’s used in Internet censorship circumvention tools such as Lantern, Psiphon, now Signal, and Tor pluggable transports such as Meek. Without having to search too much :-) we can find numerous gadgets that people have deployed on The Internets… For example, here we have a Twitter reflector: $ wget -qO- https://3benben.appspot.com <html> <head> <title>GAE Twitter API Proxy</title> <link href='https://appengine.google.com/favicon.ico' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/x-icon' /> <style>body { padding: 20px 40px; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Sans-Serif; font-size: medium; }</style> </head> <body><h2>GTAP v0.4.2 is running!</h2></p> <p><a href='/oauth/session'><img src='/static/sign-in-with-twitter.png' border='0'></a> <== Need Fuck GFW First!! or <a href='/oauth/change'>change your key here</a></p> <p>This is a simple solution on Google App Engine which can proxy the HTTP request to twitter's official REST API url.</p> <p><font color='red'><b>Don't forget the "/" at the end of your api proxy address!!!.</b></font></p> </body></html> With it we can visit the SecurityArtWork Twitter account :-) without even touching directly Twitter servers (obviously, the reflector gets all your requests, so be careful): $ wget -O- --header='Host: 3benben.appspot.com' \ https://www.google.es/securityartwork \| fgrep description \| head -1 [...] <meta name="description" content="The latest Tweets from Security Art Work (@Securityartwork). Information Security Blog #infosec #cybersecurity #hacking #intelligence S2Grupo Company @s2grupo · s2grupo.es. España, Mexico, Colombia"> [...] This will work from countries or networks in which Twitter is blocked, as long as Google HTTPS frontal servers are not blocked ;-) There are a lot of CDN networks that can be (ab)used in this way; for example, Meek supports the usage of a reflector hosted in Amazon CloudFront. This reflector proxies to a Tor network bridge: $ wget -qO- https://a0.awsstatic.com/ --header 'Host: d2zfqthxsdq309.cloudfront.net' I’m just a happy little web server. In this way, it’s possible to use the Tor network, and from the outside network monitoring will only get to see HTTPS accesses to the front domain a0.awsstatic.com, used for a bunch of stuff. The same happens with the Microsoft Azure CDN network: $ wget -qO- https://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ --header 'Host: az786092.vo.msecnd.net' I’m just a happy little web server. In the same way that we could host our C2/exfiltration server on Google App Engine, the above examples show how to make the same thing with a VPS hosted on CloudFront or Azure. This technique can be used to mask any type of network traffic; from outside it will seem like usual access to the corresponding frontal server. So be careful with contacts with CDN networks and frontal server: they are not always what they seem! :-) From the ignorance of the one who writes (any info is welcome! Feel free to comment!), there are no published reports of APT groups that use this technique directly, but it would not be really surprising that it’s in active usage as a common practice to circumvent egress controls and monitoring (there is information about some cases in which services like Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Apps Script, and so on have been used for C&C or exfiltration, but as far as we know by now, they didn’t use domain fronting: they didn’t hide the access to domains like docs.google.com, which would be a step beyond). Of course, this is a technique relatively easy to detect by using traffic analysis (because although the domain that we see is only the frontal server domain, in reality the traffic corresponds to that of the embedded service, and that’s going to produce a more or less distinguishable fingerprint, size and timing of network packets, and so on), or anomaly detection (for an easy one, if the HTTPS/TLS client fingerprint it’s not hidden properly, we’ll detect the malware), but that’s another story… ;-) Best regards! @pmarinram Really cool stuff
Nerve cells that self-select to become sensory organ precursors (SOPs) are identified by arrows in this microscope image. The cells send chemical signals to neighboring cells, blocking them from becoming SOPs and causing them to fluoresce red. The burgeoning neural networks of fruit fly pupae solve a distributed computing problem, arranging sensory bristles in a very efficient, effective manner. Scientists who monitored the bristles' growth say they can mimic the flies' method to build more effective communications networks. It's not the first time we've seen an insect solve a problem that plagues computer scientists — bees can do it, too — but the fruit fly discovery does one better, leading to an algorithm that can be used to develop more efficient computer and wireless networks. Distributed computing involves several processors working in concert to solve a problem. Some are chosen as leaders, collecting data from the other processors and passing it along. Organizing these networks into efficient processor-leader groups is one of the biggest challenges in computing — but millions of cells in a fly's nervous system do it automatically, organizing themselves so that a small number of cells serve as leaders. It is much better than anything humans have come up with, scientists say: "It is such a simple and intuitive solution, I can't believe we did not think of this 25 years ago," according to co-author Noga Alon, a mathematician and computer scientist at Tel Aviv University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Fruit fly bristles, which are used for feeling and hearing, develop as nerve cells self-select to become leaders. The cells send chemical signals to their neighboring cells, ensuring that those cells cannot become leaders, too. Using fluorescence microscopy, the researchers watched an entire network form in about three hours. They developed an algorithm based on the cells' self-selection approach, and say it's particularly effective for adaptive networks where the number and position of each node is not certain, according to Carnegie Mellon University. That could include environmental monitoring sensors, robot swarms and more. The research is published today in the journal Science. Eurekalert
This article is about a prefix notation in mathematics and computer sciences. For the similarly named logic, see Łukasiewicz logic Polish notation (PN), also known as normal Polish notation (NPN),[1] Łukasiewicz notation, Warsaw notation, Polish prefix notation or simply prefix notation, is a mathematical notation in which operators precede their operands, in contrast to (the more common) infix notation (in which operators are placed between operands), as well as to reverse Polish notation (RPN, in which operators follow their operands). It does not need any parentheses as long as each operator has a fixed number of operands. The description "Polish" refers to the nationality of logician Jan Łukasiewicz,[2] who invented Polish notation in 1924.[3][4] The term Polish notation is sometimes taken (as the opposite of infix notation) to also include reverse Polish notation.[5] When Polish notation is used as a syntax for mathematical expressions by programming language interpreters, it is readily parsed into abstract syntax trees and can, in fact, define a one-to-one representation for the same. Because of this, Lisp (see below) and related programming languages define their entire syntax in prefix notation (and others use postfix notation). A quotation from a paper by Jan Łukasiewicz, Remarks on Nicod's Axiom and on "Generalizing Deduction", page 180, states how the notation was invented: I came upon the idea of a parenthesis-free notation in 1924. I used that notation for the first time in my article Łukasiewicz(1), p. 610, footnote. The reference cited by Łukasiewicz is apparently a lithographed report in Polish. The referring paper by Łukasiewicz Remarks on Nicod's Axiom and on "Generalizing Deduction" was reviewed by Henry A. Pogorzelski in the Journal of Symbolic Logic in 1965.[6] Heinrich Behmann, editor in 1924 of the article of Moses Schönfinkel[7] already had the idea of eliminating parentheses in logic formulas. Alonzo Church mentions this notation in his classic book on mathematical logic as worthy of remark in notational systems even contrasted to Alfred Whitehead and Bertrand Russell's logical notational exposition and work in Principia Mathematica.[8] In Łukasiewicz's 1951 book, Aristotle's Syllogistic from the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic, he mentions that the principle of his notation was to write the functors before the arguments to avoid brackets and that he had employed his notation in his logical papers since 1929.[9] He then goes on to cite, as an example, a 1930 paper he wrote with Alfred Tarski on the sentential calculus.[10] While no longer used much in logic,[11] Polish notation has since found a place in computer science. Explanation [ edit ] The expression for adding the numbers 1 and 2 is written in Polish notation as + 1 2 (pre-fix), rather than as 1 + 2 (in-fix). In more complex expressions, the operators still precede their operands, but the operands may themselves be expressions including again operators and their operands. For instance, the expression that would be written in conventional infix notation as (5 − 6) × 7 can be written in Polish notation as × (− 5 6) 7 Assuming a given arity of all involved operators (here the "−" denotes the binary operation of subtraction, not the unary function of sign-change), any well formed prefix representation thereof is unambiguous, and brackets within the prefix expression are unnecessary. As such, the above expression can be further simplified to × − 5 6 7 The processing of the product is deferred until its two operands are available (i.e., 5 minus 6, and 7). As with any notation, the innermost expressions are evaluated first, but in Polish notation this "innermost-ness" can be conveyed by the sequence of operators and operands rather than by bracketing. In the conventional infix notation parentheses are required to override the standard precedence rules, since, referring to the above example, moving them 5 − (6 × 7) or removing them 5 − 6 × 7 changes the meaning and the result of the expression. This version is written in Polish notation as − 5 × 6 7 . When dealing with non-commutative operations, like division or subtraction, it is necessary to coordinate the sequential arrangement of the operands with the definition of how the operator takes its arguments, i.e., from left to right. For example, ÷ 10 5, with 10 left to 5, has the meaning of 10 ÷ 5 (read as "divide 10 by 5"), or - 7 6, with 7 left to 6, has the meaning of 7 - 6 (read as "subtract from 7 the operand 6"). Evaluation algorithm [ edit ] Prefix/postfix notation is especially popular for its innate ability to express the intended order of operations without the need for parentheses and other precedence rules, as are usually employed with infix notation. Instead, the notation uniquely indicates which operator to evaluate first. The operators are assumed to have a fixed arity each, and all necessary operands are assumed to be explicitly given. A valid prefix expression always starts with an operator and ends with an operand. Evaluation can either proceed from left to right, or in the opposite direction. Starting at the left, the input string, consisting of tokens denoting operators or operands, is pushed token for token on a stack, until the top entries of the stack contain the number of operands that fits to the top most operator (immediately beneath). This group of tokens at the stacktop (the last stacked operator and the according number of operands) is replaced by the result of executing the operator on these/this operand(s). Then the processing of the input continues in this manner. The rightmost operand in a valid prefix expression thus empties the stack, except for the result of evaluating the whole expression. When starting at the right, the pushing of tokens is performed similarly, just the evaluation is triggered by an operator, finding the appropriate number of operands that fits its arity already at the stacktop. Now the leftmost token of a valid prefix expression must be an operator, fitting to the number of operands in the stack, which again yields the result. As can be seen from the description, a push-down store with no capability of arbitrary stack inspection suffices to implement this parsing. The above sketched stack manipulation works –with mirrored input– also for expressions in reverse Polish notation. Polish notation for logic [ edit ] The table below shows the core of Jan Łukasiewicz's notation for sentential logic.[12] Some letters in the Polish notation table stand for particular words in Polish, as shown: Concept Conventional notation Polish notation Polish term Negation ¬ φ {\displaystyle eg \varphi } N φ {\displaystyle \mathrm {N} \varphi } negacja Conjunction φ ∧ ψ {\displaystyle \varphi \land \psi } K φ ψ {\displaystyle \mathrm {K} \varphi \psi } koniunkcja Disjunction φ ∨ ψ {\displaystyle \varphi \lor \psi } A φ ψ {\displaystyle \mathrm {A} \varphi \psi } alternatywa Material conditional φ → ψ {\displaystyle \varphi \to \psi } C φ ψ {\displaystyle \mathrm {C} \varphi \psi } implikacja Biconditional φ ↔ ψ {\displaystyle \varphi \leftrightarrow \psi } E φ ψ {\displaystyle \mathrm {E} \varphi \psi } ekwiwalencja Falsum ⊥ {\displaystyle \bot } O {\displaystyle \mathrm {O} } fałsz Sheffer stroke φ ∣ ψ {\displaystyle \varphi \mid \psi } D φ ψ {\displaystyle \mathrm {D} \varphi \psi } dysjunkcja Possibility ◊ φ {\displaystyle \Diamond \varphi } M φ {\displaystyle \mathrm {M} \varphi } możliwość Necessity ◻ φ {\displaystyle \Box \varphi } L φ {\displaystyle \mathrm {L} \varphi } konieczność Universal quantifier ∀ p φ {\displaystyle \forall p\,\varphi } Π p φ {\displaystyle \Pi p\,\varphi } kwantyfikator ogólny Existential quantifier ∃ p φ {\displaystyle \exists p\,\varphi } Σ p φ {\displaystyle \Sigma p\,\varphi } kwantyfikator szczegółowy Note that the quantifiers ranged over propositional values in Łukasiewicz's work on many-valued logics. Bocheński introduced a system of Polish notation that names all 16 binary connectives of classical propositional logic. For classical propositional logic, it is a compatible extension of the notation of Łukasiewicz. But the notations are incompatible in the sense that Bocheński uses L and M (for nonimplication and converse nonimplication) in propositional logic and Łukasiewicz uses L and M in modal logic.[13] Implementations [ edit ] Prefix notation has seen wide application in Lisp s-expressions, where the brackets are required since the operators in the language are themselves data (first-class functions). Lisp functions may also be variadic. The Tcl programming language, much like Lisp also uses Polish notation through the mathop library. The Ambi[14] programming language uses Polish notation for arithmetic operations and program construction. Postfix notation is used in many stack-oriented programming languages like PostScript and Forth. CoffeeScript syntax also allows functions to be called using prefix notation, while still supporting the unary postfix syntax common in other languages. The number of return values of an expression equals the difference between the number of operands in an expression and the total arity of the operators minus the total number of return values of the operators. Polish notation, usually in postfix form, is the chosen notation of certain calculators, notably from Hewlett-Packard.[15] At a lower level, postfix operators are used by some stack machines such as the Burroughs large systems. See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ]
In reality, it's a stretch to try to make Krugman into some kind of Friedman-like apologist for QE. But then, you'd have to have actually know something about Friedman to know that. Look, this isn't hard. We can use the Internet find out what Friedman actually thought about QE. And what he thought was that QE could cure a depression (not that the depression itself was the cure, like Paul does). Indeed, here's what Friedman and co-author Anna Schwartz wrote about the Great Depression in their opus, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960: Measures that might have been adequate to cope with the earlier [crises] would have been inadequate for the later ones. On the other hand, as we shall see, the bond purchases actually made in the spring and summer of 1932, which did halt the decline in the stock of money but were inadequate to prevent a substantial relapse some months after, would have been more than adequate to cope with the earlier crises. In other words, Friedman thought the Fed could have kept the Great Depression from being quite so great if it had tried QE sooner. This gets at Friedman's two, related critiques of the 1930s-era Fed: it let the banks fail, and it let the money supply fall. Now, it is true, as Paul points out, that Friedman argued that the pre-Fed bank clearinghouses did a better job managing crises than the Fed did during the depression. (A low bar, to be sure). But Friedman was a pragmatist who recognized that you fight panics with the financial system you have -- so the question was what the Fed could have done. Plenty, Friedman answered. For one, it could have taken its lender-of-last-resort responsibilities seriously, and stopped runs from forcing otherwise healthy banks into collapse. (But that would have been a bit tricky politically, since half of all banks weren't part of the Federal Reserve System back then). For another, it could have bought bonds, and kept buying them, until the money supply started increasing again. It's mostly forgotten now, but the Fed did half-heartedly try this -- that is, QE -- in 1932 to try to preempt Congress from making it do more. That bond-buying is what Friedman was talking about above, and, as you can see, his only problem with it was that it wasn't tried earlier. And then there's Japan. As I pointed out before, Friedman thought QE was the answer to its lost decade, too. That's what he said in 1998, and what he repeated in 2000, as you can see below: Now, the Bank of Japan's argument is, "Oh well, we've got the interest rate down to zero; what more can we do?" It's very simple. They can buy long-term government securities, and they can keep buying them and providing high-powered money until the high-powered money starts getting the economy in an expansion. Now, in retrospect, Friedman was too sanguine about what QE could do. It's not enough to just increase the money supply. The increase has to be permanent. Nor is it enough to just say it will be permanent. People have to believe it will be permanent. And that's not easy for an independent central bank to do. As Paul Krugman put it back in 1998, a central bank has to "credibly promise to be irresponsible" if it wants to increase inflation. But central banks are nothing if not responsible nowadays, and have trouble convincing us otherwise. They -- and we -- have become the victims of their inflation-fighting success now that a little more inflation is what we need.
Team including ASU researchers develop paper-based virus diagnostic that can be easily administered around the world Editor's note: This story is being highlighted in ASU Now's year in review. To read more top stories from 2016, click here. Fear of the Zika virus is spreading as images of afflicted infants fill the news. Hoping to foil Zika’s rapid advance, researchers from the Wyss Institute in Boston, along with colleagues from Arizona State University, have developed a low-cost ($1 per test), practical diagnostic that can be easily administered, even in areas where resources and medical expertise are scarce. Alexander Green, an ASU professor at the Biodesign Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics and the School of Molecular Sciences, is a co-author of the new study. “My lab is focused on developing molecular tools to detect diseases,” he said. “… We can take our tools, put them on pieces of paper in a very stable and low-cost format, and they can be deployed around the world.” With the recent confirmation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the virus can cause serious brain abnormalities in infants born to Zika-infected mothers, the previously obscure virus has assumed center stage. Biodesign researchers and their colleagues report their findings in the advance online issue of the journal Cell. The platform they describe — which uses a small strip of paper imprinted with a testing array — holds the potential for diagnosing a broad range of infectious diseases. The growing need for accurate diagnosis Among infectious diseases, Zika is the great deceiver. Unlike its close cousin dengue — which produces symptoms of such excruciating severity it is often referred to as breakbone fever — a Zika infection, delivered through the bite from an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, often passes without notice. When symptoms do appear, they are typically mild, including fever and joint pain. For pregnant women who may have been exposed, uncertainty over the fate of their offspring can be a source of acute anxiety. Recent evidence indicates that the disease is also transmissible through sexual intercourse. Accurate diagnosis of Zika infection is challenging, but critical to public health. With an eventual vaccine against the virus likely years away, a widely available diagnostic test to confirm Zika infection and monitor the geographic range of the disease is an essential step in limiting the rising tide of infections. ZikaZika is named for a forest in Uganda, where it was accidentally discovered in 1947 by researchers studying yellow fever. Most of the Zika infections at the time were in monkeys, and human infections were mild in nature. It is believed that subsequent mutations of the virus may be responsible for the more serious effects now associated with Zika. was first recognized as a significant public health menace in May 2015, when a sudden spike in cases of microcephaly in newborns occurred around the seaside community of Recife, Brazil. Infants born with microcephaly — a condition that has become a hallmark of Zika infection — have abnormally shaped heads of reduced size. The affliction is often accompanied by pronounced brain deformities. It is now believed that more than 2 million people have been infected in Brazil, the leading crest of Zika’s advancing wave, where several thousand cases of microcephaly have been linked with the Zika epidemic. The virus has since spread rapidly through Latin America and the Caribbean. Aedes mosquitos are present in 30 U.S. states, and the eventual scope of infections remains a matter of conjecture. Of several hundred Zika cases in the U.S.In March, a traveler returning from abroad to Maricopa County brought the first case of Zika to Arizona., none to date have been locally acquired and all are the result of travel outside the U.S. Although symptoms in those bitten by Zika-carrying mosquitos tend to be mild, the virus has been linked with an otherwise rare, neurological disorder known as Guillain-Barré, which can cause temporary paralysis in patients of all ages. Medical experts worry that the most pronounced effects of Zika, such as microcephaly, may be only the tip of an iceberg of symptoms yet to be detected and properly studied. Reading the paper Existing tools for diagnosing Zika virus are often cumbersome and prohibitively expensive for widespread use in the field. The recent Brazilian Zika crisis and brisk advance of the virus across the globe have energized the public health community to search for better approaches. In earlier research, Green and his colleagues demonstrated that a simple, innovative strategy could be applied to detect infectious agents. The technique harnesses some of the machinery used by living cells to carry out precise sensing activities of their environment. After a small quantity of blood or saliva is collected, RNA is extracted from the sample. It is the specificity of this RNA sequence that essentially acts as the telltale indicator of the pathogen — in this case, the Zika virus. The RNA is then amplified to significantly improve the limits of detection. (Green discusses how the test works in a Q&A here.) “Typically, if you're infected with a virus, you’ll have very low concentrations in your saliva or bloodstream. By using amplification techniques, we can basically increase the number of RNA signature molecules we can detect,” Green said. Once the RNA has been sufficiently amplified, the sample is applied to a small paper strip, where the actual virus detection is indicated by a color change on an array of spots. Following amplification, readout on the paper strip can be done in just 30 minutes. The researchers hope refinements to the process will allow the entire test to be carried out in under an hour. “Initially, we had shown that our sensing technology could be used for detecting RNA molecules from the Ebola virus,” Green said. “The crucial step now is that we’ve been able to use amplification techniques to extend the detection limits of our assay.” Gaining a toehold on Zika At the heart of this paper-based diagnostic is a carefully engineered structure known as a toehold switch invented by Green (left) and colleagues. This switch is composed of a gene that carries the code to make a particular protein through a process known as translation. During translation from gene to protein, a ribosome moves sequentially along the RNA strand, creating the amino acids that will eventually make up the resulting protein. A hairpin structure of the toehold switch, however, hides the ribosome binding site needed for translation of the gene into protein, blocking translation. Only when a complimentary RNA sequence — present in the blood sample containing Zika — recognizes and binds with the toehold’s starting sequence does the hairpin open, allowing access of the ribosome and translation of the gene. The result is the production of a reporter protein that identifies the presence of Zika viral RNA through a color change on the paper strip. The test is highly accurate at identifying Zika, distinguishing the virus from closely related dengue. A further step, using the breakthrough gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9, can improve sensing resolution, allowing Zika strains from Africa and the Americas to be distinguished, with accuracy down to single-base changes in the RNA sequences. Apprehension and hope Many questions about the cryptic virus remain. Scientists still don't know what proportion of pregnant women will give birth to infants with microcephaly or what co-factors (such as previous exposure to related viruses) may influence the risk of brain abnormalities. It’s still unclear whether exposure to the Zika virus will confer long-lasting immunity. A rapid, ubiquitous test for the virus is an essential step. Green stresses that the collaborative science undertaken by the five institutions involved in the study allowed researchers to move with remarkable speed, advancing from basic idea to sophisticated prototype and publication of laboratory results in just six weeks. “I’m very excited about this technology. The end game is to be able to confront health crises no matter where they are in a way that is accessible to everyone on the planet.”
As millions celebrate Easter, I need to ask my fellow Christians to wake up to the terrible fact that far too many LGBT youth are being abused and rejected in Christian homes. Many conservative Christians are increasingly preoccupied with fighting against the equal treatment of LGBT people in our society. And no one suffers more harm from this fight and the intolerant climate it creates than the LGBT children of too many of these Christians. As the director of the Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest organization providing housing and support to homeless LGBT youths, I see the reality of this harm in the faces of the thousands of desperate and frightened teens who turn to us for help after being driven from their homes and reduced to homelessness. The stories these youth tell us about the religion-based abuse they endure from their parents are heartbreaking and deeply disturbing. I think about the 15-year-old boy from rural Delaware whose father, a minister in the Church of the Nazarene, attacked him when told his son was gay, tried to strangle him, and then immediately banished him from their home. Or the 17-year-old girl whose Pentecostal parents drove her out into the back woods of New Jersey and tossed her out of the car. I think of the 16-year-old boy from Connecticut whose Catholic mother, upon learning he was gay, called a priest who made him lay the floor and attempted to "drive the demons out of him."Or the boy from New Hampshire whose Baptist parents told him that God is so disgusted by homosexuals that he "vomits them out." Again and again we hear young people tell us tales of torment and abuse in their homes. Told that they are disgusting, that they are sinners, that they are abominations. Made to hate themselves. Made to wish that they were dead. In recent weeks, I have filmed several of the young people who receive care at the Ali Forney Center talking about the religious abuse and family rejection they endured in their Christian homes. The stories they tell of physical and verbal abuse and the destructive toll taken on their young selves are very hard to hear, but it is important that we listen. A recent study by the Family Acceptance Project on the impact of family rejection of LGBT youth found that parents who identify as "strongly religious" were significantly more likely to reject their children. According to research by the Center for American Progress, there are an estimated 300,000 homeless LGBT youth in our country, and the leading cause of their homelessness is family rejection. It doesn't have to be like this. Jesus Christ never spoke a word of condemnation against homosexuals. Churches don't have any need to condemn LGBT people, or fight against our equal treatment in our country. A growing number of church communities have chosen to be affirming and supportive of LGBT people. I have the joy of experiencing this directly in the numerous church groups who send volunteers to cook in our shelters and collect clothing and even Christmas gifts for our young people. A healthy society prioritizes the safety of children. Decent people do not stand by in silence when children are being abused. We need to recognize that the condemnation of LGBT people in churches leads to the abuse and rejection of LGBT children in far too many Christian homes. As Christians, commanded to love one another, we need to demand that this climate of rejection stops. We need to educate our communities and our religious leaders about the terrible harm being done to LGBT youth in the name of God. I ask you to pray for the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youths suffering the terror and degradation of homelessness on the streets of our nation. And I ask you to pray for the even greater number of LGBT teens battling despair and hopelessness as they suffer abuse and rejection in their homes.
For better or worse, things want to work. Consider driving at night on unlit, curvy mountain roads, at a speed about twice the limit, zigzagging between cars, including oncoming ones. Obviously dangerous, and yet many do this, and survive. How? Roads and cars are built with big safety margins Other drivers don't want to die and help you get through Practice makes perfect, so you get good at this bad thing The road, the car, you, other drivers, and their cars all want this to work. So for a long while, it does, until it finally doesn't. I know 3-4 people who drive like this habitually. At least 2 of them totaled cars. All think they're excellent drivers. All have high IQs, making you wonder just what this renowned benchmark of human brains really tells us. Now consider a terribly managed project with an insane deadline, and a team and budget too small. All too often, this too works out. How? Unless it physically cannot exist, a solution wants you to find it. You carve out a piece and the next piece suggests itself. Even if management fails to think how the pieces fit together, the pieces often come out such that they can be made to fit with modest extra effort. you to find it. You carve out a piece and the next piece suggests itself. Even if management fails to think how the pieces fit together, the pieces often come out such that they can be made to fit with modest extra effort. And then the people who make the pieces want them to fit. Even if the process is totally mismanaged, many people will talk to each other and find out what to do to make parts work together. them to fit. Even if the process is totally mismanaged, many people will talk to each other and find out what to do to make parts work together. The project was approved because a customer was persuaded. At this point, the customer wants the project to succeed. A little bit of schedule slippage will not make them change their minds, nor will a somewhat less impressive result. More slack for you. the project to succeed. A little bit of schedule slippage will not make them change their minds, nor will a somewhat less impressive result. More slack for you. The vendor, too wants the project to succeed, and will tolerate a little bit of budget overrun. More slack. the project to succeed, and will tolerate a little bit of budget overrun. More slack. Most often, when things fail, they fail visibly. It's as if things wanted you to see that they fail, so that you fix them. The fact is that by cutting features, having a few non-terminal bugs, and being somewhat late and over budget, most projects can be salvaged. In fact, when they say that "most projects fail," the PMI () defines "failure" as being a bit late or over budget. If "failure" is defined as outright cancellation, I conjecture that most projects "succeed." Which projects are least likely to be canceled? In other words, where is being late, over budget and off the original spec most tolerable? Obviously, when the overall delivered value is the highest, both in absolute terms and relatively to the cost. In other words, reality punishes bad management the least in the most impactful cases. What is the biggest problem with bad management? Same as crazy driving: risk. The problem in both cases is you risk high-cost, low-probability events. It's terrible things that tend not to happen. And people are pretty bad at learning from mistakes they never had to pay for. Wannabe racecar drivers fail to learn from driving into risky situations which their own eyes tell them are risky. For managers, learning is harder – the risks accumulated through bad management are abstract, instead of viscerally scary. In fact, a lot of the risks are never understood by management, or even fully reported. There's just too much risk to sweep under various rugs to make it all ingrained in institutional memory. In fact, it's even worse, because risk-taking is actually rewarding as long as the downside doesn't materialize. The crazy driver gets there 10 minutes earlier. Similarly, non-obviously hazardous management often delivers at an obviously small cost. And while driving is not actually competitive, except in the inflamed minds of the zigzagging few, most projects are delivered in very competitive environments indeed. And competition can make even small rewards for risk decisive – as it can with any other smallish factor large enough to make a difference between victory and defeat. Things want to work more than they want to punish us for our errors. The punishment may be very cruel and unusual alright, but it's rare. It seems that the universe, at least The Universe of Deliverables, is Beckerian. It delivers optimal punishment for rational agents correctly estimating probabilities. Sadly, humans are bad at probability. And thus crazy drivers and bad managers alike (often the same people, BTW) march from one insane adventure to the next, gaining more and more confidence in their brilliance. () PMI (The Project Management Institute) is a con, where they sell you "PMBOK" (Project Management Body of Knowledge, a thick book you can use as a monitor stand) and "PMP" (Project Management Professional, a certification required by PMI's conscious or unwitting accomplices in dark corners of the industry.) A variety of more elaborate cons targeted at narrower audiences incorporate PMI's core body of cargo cult practices.
Sports Illustrated is releasing its annual list of the Top 100 players in the NBA and three Bucks appear on the list. Greg Monroe (63), Giannis Antetokounmpo (48) and Khris Middleton (39) all made the cut for the Top 100 this season, with two of them improving upon their ranking compared to last season. Antetokounmpo made a huge jump from No. 100 last season to No. 48 in this year’s rankings. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as the Greek Freak set career highs in nearly every offensive category during the 2015-16 season while breaking through for five triple-doubles. Ben Golliver, who helped ranked the players for SI, said this about Giannis: “The individual results, as irrelevant to the standings as they might have been, were stunning: the 21-year-old Antetokounmpo averaged 19/9/7 after the break, monster numbers that bring to mind elite producers like LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. Viewed as a raw prospect when he was taken in the 2013 lottery, Antetokounmpo showed improvement as a pick-and-roll initiator and converted transition opportunities into points like a seasoned pro.” Middleton also rose in the rankings this year, moving up six spots from No. 45 to No. 39. Middleton averaged a career-high, and team-high, 18.2 points per game last season in addition to career highs in assists (4.7), steals (1.7) and minutes per game (36.1). Here’s what Rob Mahoney of Sports Illustrated had to say about Middleton: “The relatively anonymous Middleton scored in isolation at a volume and efficiency similar to Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry, and Isaiah Thomas last season, according to Synergy Sports. He did so while doubling as just the kind of unassuming floor spacer Milwaukee needed to flank Giannis Antetokounmpo and balance its most effective lineups. Middleton ranks this high on our list because he makes that balance look easy. Rare are the wings who can take over when called, step back when needed, and defend effectively throughout. Middleton qualifies, and the proportional dimensions of his game render the 25-year-old as one of the most universal players on our list.” Monroe was the final Buck to appear on the list, coming in at No. 63. In his first season with the Bucks, Monroe continued to be a double-double machine, hauling in a team-high 32 double-doubles while averaging 15.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game for the season. The write-up on Monroe notes that he’s behind only DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond in offensive rebounds since 2011 and points to Monroe’s dependency as he’s appeared in 96 percent of his team’s games during his career. One player not on the list is Jabari Parker, who Sports Illustrated filed under the “biggest snubs” from the Top 100 list. Parker finished the 2015-16 season on a tear, posting averages of 18.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game after the All-Star Break. The 21-year-old certainly has plenty of promise going forward and could very well find himself on the Top 100 list with a solid third NBA season. Despite being a snub this year, Golliver said this about Parker: “Given his spot on the age curve, his physical tools, and his central role on a young Bucks team, Parker looks like an obvious breakout candidate.”
A Staten Island grand jury today declined to indict New York City Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo in connection with the chokehold death of an unarmed man earlier this year. Eric Garner, a black, 43-year-old Staten Island man who was stopped on suspicion of selling loose cigarettes, died as a result of the July 17 encounter. Michael Brown's Stepfather Could Be Charged for Inciting Riots "My thoughts are this ought to have been an indictment and there ought to have been some sort of indictment for manslaughter ... because of the excessive use of deadly force on a person who posed no serious or material threat to the police," Judge Andrew Napolitano said on "Shepard Smith Reporting" this afternoon. Judge Nap noted he has not seen all the evidence that the grand jury saw, so that could change his opinion, but on the basis of what he saw in the video of the incident, he said he believes it is a case of an individual doing nothing more than selling untaxed cigarettes, and as a result of government interaction, he's dead. "This is not a fair application of the law," Judge Nap said. He explained that the grand jury will not have the final word, and federal prosecutors will have to decide if the government wants to seek an indictment of Officer Pantaleo for a violation of civil rights that resulted in death. FoxNews.com reported: The grand jury of 15 whites and 8 minorities concluded there was not enough evidence to charge the officer with a crime, although he could still face departmental charges. New York City's Police Commissioner William Bratton was asked Sunday if what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, could happen in New York. He said the NYPD has been preparing for months "in multiple ways," including community meetings. Bratton says he's more concerned with outside agitators and looking at what tactics they might employ. Garner's family has filed a notice that it plans to sue the city for $75 million on the grounds of wrongful death, pre-death pain and suffering and civil rights violation, The New York Post reported. Rev. Al Sharpton, who is an advisor for the family, has called on a federal probe. Watch more above and see Arthur Aidala react on "The Real Story" below.
Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting is a post-apocalyptic fantasy horror RPG based on Earth, twenty-five years after the fall of society, in an event known as the Rise; when demons rose to power and the Risen dead first appeared. This game is being offered in both Dungeon and Dragons 5th Edition and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatible system formats. Apocalypse the Risen thrusts you into the role of a resolute survivor, forging through the ashes of humanity on an Earth besieged by demons and the dead—known as Risen. Twenty-five years after the collapse of society, humankind and their new allies now fight back. You are a survivor of the Light battling the forces of Darkness. Players in this world take on the role of a hunter relied upon by your colony for resources and protection. You may be human or one of three other races new to Earth. Your colony is your home and responsibility, but soon you may discover the world smaller and filled with even more wonder than you could imagine. Channels cut through the ether quickly spanning great distances, shortening travel and adding to discovery. Darklands form in places of great sorrow or suffering. Supernatural energy and radiation twist and collide in great storms sweeping across the landscape. You stand against demons, Risen, mutated beasts, and desperate people who look to destroy those you love. Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting will be printed as a full color hardback book including detailed page layout and spot finish touches on the cover. Cover examples and spread layout mock-ups below: Cover Mock-up Option (Logo Placeholder) Cover Mock-up Option (Logo Placeholder) Leather Cover Mock-up 5E Maverick Layout - Click for Full Character Class! PF Maverick Layout - Click for Full Character Class! Click the links below for an in-depth look at the Apocalypse the Risen: “Campaign” Stretch Goals – Increased book content! Like a horde of Risen feeding on the living, the content within the Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting grows as these stretch goals are unlocked! Backers with this stretch goal category will receive all unlocked campaign setting content including in the book. “Adventure” Stretch Goals – From the Journal of Dr. Dobrin, from adventure hooks and places of interest, to short stories from the point of view from our iconic heroes. All unlocked stretch goals will be included in PDF layout, written from the viewpoint of renowned archeologist Dr. Nicholas Dobrin. Backers with this stretch goal category will also receive all unlocked “Social Media” Stretch Goals. “War Chest” Stretch Goals – More materials for your game session! You need every tool you can muster to help stalwart hunters battle back against the Darkness! As each stretch goal is met, backers with the “War Chest” stretch goal category will receive all unlocked scavenge maps, adventures, and more! “Social Media” Campaign: Backers with the “ Adventure ” stretch goal category gain access to the social media campaign ” stretch goal category gain access to the social media campaign Receive all unlocked “Truth Transmissions”, professionally recorded in character by post-Rise ham radio operator, “Truth.” Help grow the Rusted Portal Colony! Stretch Goals! Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting AtR Campaign Setting PDF (PF) - $25 AtR Campaign Setting PDF (5E) - $25 AtR Campaign Setting Print (PF) - $45 AtR Campaign Setting Print (5E) - $45 DESIGNER! Build Your Colony (5E & PF) - $50 RETAILER AtR Hardback Book x3 (5E or PF) - $90 AtR Character Sheet Pad (25 count) (PF) - $15 AtR Character Sheet Pad (25 count) (5E) - $15 AtR GM Screen - $15 Iconics - Character Builds (PF) - $15 Iconics - Character Builds (5E) - $15 Unlocked Stretch Goals 1st Level Adventure (PF or 5E) (PDF) - $10 Scavenge Map 1 (PDF) - $5 2nd Level Adventure (PF or 5E) (PDF) - $10 Scavenge Map 2 (PDF) - $5 3rd Level Adventure (PF or 5E) (PDF) - $10 Scavenge Map 3 (PDF) - $5 Journal of Nicholas Dobrin (PDF) - $15 Impact of the Rise – The events of the Rise happened suddenly. The Risen crawled from their graves all at once, millions of hungry dead seeking to feed on the living. The immediate threat forced humanity to abandon their homes and seek refuge away from population centers. Cities and communities filled with resources touched only by time. Colonies – The era of the metropolis is no more. Colonies speckle the landscape, groups fighting for survival. Some try to hide and protect what is theirs, others take what weaker colonies cannot defend, but most seek other like-minded colonies for trade and support. Resources – Earth after the Rise has no need for cash, jewels, or precious metals. In Apocalypse the Risen, the people of Earth have identified three primary forms of currency: Combustible, Consumable, and Mechanical resources. These resources are used in trade and used in the building and fueling of the limited technology of the world. Post-Rise Lifestyle – Technology is not what it used to be and pre-Rise gear is tough to acquire. For most of the last twenty-five years humanity has been fighting for survival, carving out a new place in the hierarchy of the world. Weapons, armor, and a variety of equipment comes with modification options. Special Materials – Influenced by Supernatural energy, ancient metallurgy, post-Rise ingenuity, or otherworldly sources, below are some examples of Apocalypse the Risen materials. Some examples below. Meteoric Iron – Iron from meteors collected Supernatural energy when outside the magically suppressed Earth. Since the Seals were broken, this energy has awoken making an extremely hard and durable metal for weapons and armor. Dark Steel – Metal deposits mined in Supernatural infused Darklands has taken on near magical properties with dangers. Diamond Steel – Taking a page from modern drilling techniques and an abundance of diamonds with little post-Rise value, Diamond Steel makes for extremely sharp blades. Antiquity Bronze – Relics and Artifacts from ancient times, antiquity bronze weapons and armor provide unique properties since the breaking of the Seals. Humans - Humanities ability to adapt and overcome is at the forefront of the design. Traits: Skilled and Stalwart Descended - Fallen angels hailing from one of three separate angelic banners, each providing different physical traits and abilities as they advance in level. Banners: Serephim (halo and wings of fire) Cherubim (halo of light and feathered wings) Throne (halo and wings of gold) Progeny - Half-demons from one of seven unique sin nature sub-types, each providing different abilities and hindrances. Additionally, the race selects from a variety of physical characteristics. Sin nature traits: Lust: Pheromones & Erratic Gluttony: Binge & Compulsive Greed: Drain & Treacherous Sloth: Good Enough & Procrastinating Wrath: Vengeful Strike & Vindictive Envy: Covet & Shrewd/Malicious Pride: Hubris & Arrogant Lazarus - Free spirits escaped from Purgatory and taken physical form on Earth. This race holds distant memories and a connection to the supernatural. Traits: Tortured Souls, Distant Memories, Supernatural Bonds, Spell Selection Arbiter – The Arbiter is the ultimate warrior of faith and unquestioned hand of justice in a world with no clear right and wrong. They stand alone as judge, jury, and frequently executioner both within the colony and abroad. The Arbiter is driven by an inner sense of justice and a burning faith to eradicate undead and demonic entities. Conservator – Sacred Earth protector, the Conservator is dedicated to setting straight the natural order in a world gone wrong. By tapping into natural pathways of power, the Conservator becomes a conduit for energies flowing through ley lines. Nature’s hidden powerlines, ley lines connect nodes sites such as cairns, standing stones, and megalithic circles. As the Conservator becomes more skilled they learn to create their own powerful site in this energy network. They believes that the the hordes of undead are an affront to nature's order and that Darklands disrupt the natural flow of energies. The Conservator is more wasteland environmentalist than traditional druid. Enforcer – The Enforcer is a hardened killer, forged in the madness of the world after the rise and molded from a keen sense of survival. Enforcers are skilled in the most immediate implement of death at hand. Where other warriors have refined combat skills or enhanced reactions, the Enforcer simply does whatever it takes in battle. Their tactics are often brutal and inherently violent, but in the end their goal is singular. Survive at all costs. Harbinger – A mystic of body and mind, the Harbinger is a practitioner of intense mental discipline, striving to balance logic and emotion. By opening their mind’s eye through a process known as a Mystic Slip, the Harbinger wields turbulent raw Supernatural energy. Channeling these tainted powers is only limited by the time allotted with a Mystic Slip, though casting individual spells beyond the limits of their mind risks insanity. This class is also a practitioner of other mental disciplines. Harbingers are often viewed as strange, frequently misunderstood even among friends. Regardless, the Harbinger is respected for their heightened awareness and unique powers. Hound – The ultimate self-reliant survivor, experienced in living off the land. The Hound hails from military stock, outdoor enthusiasts, hunters, and those regarding nature as something to be understood and respected. They are skilled in stealth, stalking, movement in combat, and survival. The Hound becomes a very versatile combat class. Jackal – Jackals are the ultimate scroungers. Not only are they able to quickly and quietly move in and out of locations, but they have a keen understanding of where resources can be discovered. Resources are vital to colony survival. Combustible, Consumable, and Mechanical resources are not just post-Risen currency, they are the lifeblood of maintaining and improving living conditions. This represents the food you eat and the materials that maintain and improve the quality of life for the colony. Nobody sniffs out resources like the Jackal. The Jackal selects from two career paths: Finders and Keepers. Finders are those that aspire to be an adventuring archaeologist. Keepers embrace the Supernatural, gaining powers of concealment either outright hide things or magically disguising places. Maverick – The ultimately lone wolf and consummate gunslinger, the Maverick is a wasteland icon relied upon for their quick reaction and incredible sharpshooting talent. The world outside a colony is a dangerous place, filled with fierce and cunning dead, damned, and worse. Few individuals can survive alone in such a dangerous world, and of that small lot you are likely to find a fair share of Mavericks. The Maverick is a separatist in spirit, though in practice they are some of the most valued members of a colony. Training themselves in mental focus a Maverick has honed their shooter reflexes to a razor’s edge and can anticipate the pitch of battle. Shepherd – Representing a colonies spiritual leadership, the Shepherd looks after their flock while dedicating themselves to eradicating demon kind. The Shepherd feels the call of faith to serve and preserve humanity. They focus their efforts in one of three paths, each providing different powers. While exemplifying some classic healer characteristics, the Shepherd gains spells and abilities outside that norm. This class commands powers of persuasion, influence, and inspiration in addition to their Otherworldly magic. Splicer – Splicers are tinkers, mechanics, engineers, scientists, and inventors, offering colonies and hunting parties innovative solutions and powerful magic. Preferring to avoid directly channeling the foul supernatural energy, they have learned to use technology to store the energy and fire those spells through their Caster. Spells require an attack roll, and “memorizing” these spells require creating a “fuse” that stores the spell and requires a combination of combustible and mechanical resources. The Caster takes up a single hand and must have some way of pointing and firing a spell. More details about the classes can be found in the free downloads near the top of this campaign. Since the breaking of the Seals, the poor souls passing into the afterlife are no longer able to cross into Purgatory. The alternatives are equally tragic and varied. The following is a recap of the known consequences of death. Risen – These creatures are the zombies of Apocalypse the Risen. Most mindlessly feed on the living while some rare Risen are sentient. As these creatures feed on the essence of the living they evolve into increasingly dangerous creatures. With numerous types of Risen and custom templates, customizing encounters is a snap. PCs and others that perish are most likely to come back as some form of Risen… unless one takes the necessary steps. Included Risen: Hungry, Famished, and Ravenous Risen to Unlock: Devourer, Depraved, and Horde Templates to Unlock: Starved, Bloated, Mutated, and Infested Ghosts – Souls and fragments of raw emotions trapped and twisted with no path to Purgatory seek to punish and kill the living. These souls were so tormented in life, or died so tragically, that at the time of death they formed a new being entirely. These creatures exist on both Earth and in Paradox simultaneously. Did we not mention Paradox? Included Ghosts: (Emotes) Rage, Loathing, Terror, Grief, and (True Ghost) Apparition Ghosts to Unlock: Shade, Shadow, and Poltergeist Demons – Demons are creations of the Darkness, fractured by the Light into their very sin nature and now taking a variety of forms on Earth. In addition to separation by sin nature, demons vary by many different criteria, powers, and physical appearances. Demons have a hierarchy among each other and the Seven leaders, topped by Pride. Each faction maintains a tenuous agreement mostly based on fear, scheming and vying for power. Demons fall into one of two types: Shunned and Embraced, all still within one of the seven sin natures. Included Shunned: Fire Urchin (Sloth), Shyft (Gluttony) Shunned to Unlock: Dredge (Lust), Corrode (Envy), Locustus (Greed), Angler (Wrath), and Eyrachnid (Pride) Embraced to Unlock: Jobber (Greed), Lunatic (Envy), and Purifier (Pride) Devils – These creatures were once angels with dominion over various aspects of Earth and humanity before giving in to the Darkness. Many of these creatures hid on Earth when the Seals were closed, avoiding being imprisoned in the Lower Realm. Devils are a perverse and altered variant of their once angelic form. Devils to Unlock: Eclipse These areas are infused with Supernatural energy through tragedy or sorrow, now twisted and dangerous. Darklands vary widely in size and appearance. While all Darklands cause mutations, each have vastly different features often based on the events causing their change. Darklands produce terrible mutated flora and fauna, creating very dangerous beasts. Perhaps worse, some colonies make their homes in Darklands, embracing the mutations and even worshiping the Darkness. The twisted Supernatural energy of Darklands do create some very interesting materials including: Dark Steel, Dark Bone, and Dark Glass. Darkland Beasts – Dangerous flora and fauna mutated by the corrupting Supernatural forces within Darklands. These once mundane creatures were already adapting to the new harsh reality of survival in post-apocalyptic Earth. Combined with horrifying mutations the once familiar animals are anything but familiar now. Darkland Beasts to Unlock: A variety of beasts and mutations added with Expanded Environmental Hazards. Rusted Portal Games Donaven Brines - Game Design Chad Matson - Lead Developer, Pathfinder Jason Stolberg - Lead Developer, Fifth Edition Reid Finucan - Game Developer Jeff Carter - Logistics Alison Hinch - Art Director Apocalypse the Risen Contributing Artists Raven Mimura - Iconics Rodrigo Vega - Races Preston Stone - Ghosts, Demons, and Devil Vincent Coviello - Risen Christopher Onciu - Demons Apocalypse the Risen Contributing Writers Amy DuBoff - North/South America Region Ant Tessitore - US Mid-Atlantic/Southest Region Jacob Huebsch - US Mid-West Region Robert Hazelton - US Northeast Region James Pianka - US West Region Craig Guarisco - US Northwest Region Jenna Pitman - US Southwest Region RISEN You didn't make it but we greatly appreciate your sacrifice! Track the campaign and receive access to backer-exclusive updates. SURVIVOR Congrats, you made it this far. Thank you for your support and good luck out there. AtR Wallpaper Pack: Receive a range of emotions in a four pack of digital wallpaper. MARAUDER Successful raid on the Rusted Portal colony! You’ve acquired something valuable without losing anyone in the effort. Well done. (Choose Either PF or 5E) AtR Campaign Setting (PDF): Receive the heavily linked complete PDF of the Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting for either Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Receive the heavily linked complete PDF of the Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting for either Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. “Campaign” Stretch Goals: Your selected copy of the game (5E or PF) (PDF and/or Print) will include all “Campaign” Stretch Goals unlocked throughout the course of this campaign. These stretch goals add a sizable amount of content into the final book. Your selected copy of the game (5E or PF) (PDF and/or Print) will include all “Campaign” Stretch Goals unlocked throughout the course of this campaign. These stretch goals add a sizable amount of content into the final book. All Rewards from SURVIVOR REPORTER You are accustomed to traveling light on your route between colonies. You trade in knowledge, rumor, and good will. “Adventure” Stretch Goals: Receive all unlocked content from the Social Media “Truth Transmissions” and all unlocked “Adventure” Stretch Goals for entries into the Journal of Dr. Dobrin. Receive all unlocked content from the Social Media “Truth Transmissions” and all unlocked “Adventure” Stretch Goals for entries into the Journal of Dr. Dobrin. “War Chest” Stretch Goals: Receive all “War Chest” Stretch Goals in PDF unlocked throughout the course of this campaign for the selected system (PF or 5E). Receive all “War Chest” Stretch Goals in PDF unlocked throughout the course of this campaign for the selected system (PF or 5E). All Rewards from MARAUDER (All PDF Material for either Pathfinder or Fifth Edition) COLONIST Finally, a place you can call home in this world gone mad. You have shelter, friends, people that look after you and rely on you. Colonies are the first step from surviving toward thriving. (Choose Either PF or 5E) AtR Campaign Setting (PRINT): Receive the full color hardback print of the Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting. Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Receive the full color hardback print of the Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting. Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. “Adventure” Stretch Goals: Receive all unlocked content from the Social Media “Truth Transmissions” and all unlocked “Adventure” Stretch Goals for adventure entries into the Journal of Dr. Dobrin. Receive all unlocked content from the Social Media “Truth Transmissions” and all unlocked “Adventure” Stretch Goals for adventure entries into the Journal of Dr. Dobrin. All Rewards & Stretch Goals from MARAUDER SCAVENGER You have made your way in this world by finding valuable assets in unlikely places. Overlooked resource hiding placings are no match for your skilled eye. (BOTH PF & 5E) AtR Campaign Setting (PDF): Receive the heavily linked complete PDF of the Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting including “Easter Egg” watermark for both Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Receive the heavily linked complete PDF of the Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting including “Easter Egg” watermark for both Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Rewards as per REPORTER but with all PDF content for BOTH Pathfinder and Fifth Edition GOODSMAN Trade is vital to the health of a colony and you have found a niche delivering the goods. Life on the road is always an adventure, but the colonies you trade with are happy to see you... usually. (Choose Either PF or 5E) Character Pad (25ct each) (PRINT): Receive a pad each of Apocalypse the Risen 5E and PF character sheets. Two-sided print job on high quality paper with a tear away glued top on a cardboard backer. Great for campaign build sessions! Receive a pad each of Apocalypse the Risen 5E and PF character sheets. Two-sided print job on high quality paper with a tear away glued top on a cardboard backer. Great for campaign build sessions! “War Chest” Stretch Goals: Receive all “War Chest” Stretch Goals unlocked throughout the course of this campaign. Receive all “War Chest” Stretch Goals unlocked throughout the course of this campaign. All Rewards & Stretch Goals from COLONIST HUNTER You put your safety on the line every day. If a hero exists on post-Rise Earth, the colony hunters would receive that honor. You are a warrior, through blades, guns or magic, scavenging post-Rise Earth and battling hordes of Risen and the Darkness for the betterment of your colony. (Choose Either PF or 5E) AtR Campaign Setting (Leather): Kickstarter Exclusive! Receive the full color Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting bound in leather (undoubtedly demon hide). Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Kickstarter Exclusive! Receive the full color Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting bound in leather (undoubtedly demon hide). Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. All Rewards & Stretch Goals from GOODSMAN LEGEND Word of your exploits extends throughout the region. Marauders avoid your colony for fear of retribution. (BOTH PF & 5E) AtR Campaign Setting (PDF): Receive the heavily linked complete PDF of the Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting including “Easter Egg” watermark for both Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Receive the heavily linked complete PDF of the Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting including “Easter Egg” watermark for both Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. (BOTH PF & 5E) AtR Campaign Setting (PRINT): Receive the full color hardback print of the Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting. Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Receive the full color hardback print of the Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting. Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. (BOTH PF & 5E) Character Pad (25ct each) (PRINT): Receive a pad each of Apocalypse the Risen 5E and PF character sheets. Two-sided print job on high quality paper with a tear away glued top on a cardboard backer. Receive a pad each of Apocalypse the Risen 5E and PF character sheets. Two-sided print job on high quality paper with a tear away glued top on a cardboard backer. “Handle” Inscription: Your handle (post-Rise name) will be added to the book as part of the Rusted Portal Colony. Your place of honor will go down in Apocalypse the Risen history! Your handle (post-Rise name) will be added to the book as part of the Rusted Portal Colony. Your place of honor will go down in Apocalypse the Risen history! GM Screen: Receive a full color GM screen including incredible Apocalypse the Risen art and valuable in-game tools. Receive a full color GM screen including incredible Apocalypse the Risen art and valuable in-game tools. All Other Rewards & Stretch Goals from GOODSMAN ANTIQUITY You are a world traveler, running channels from one corner of post-Rise Earth to another uncovering ancient relics to battle the Darkness. Demons know you by name and actively hunt you. (BOTH PF & 5E) AtR Campaign Setting (Leather): Kickstarter Exclusive! Receive the full color Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting bound in leather (undoubtedly demon hide). Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Kickstarter Exclusive! Receive the full color Apocalypse the Risen campaign setting bound in leather (undoubtedly demon hide). Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Compatible. Iconics Character Builds (PDF): Receive the character sheets for all nine class iconics for both systems (5E and Pathfinder Compatible). Iconics average 14th level and include unique gear, magic items, and story hooks. Receive the character sheets for all nine class iconics for both systems (5E and Pathfinder Compatible). Iconics average 14th level and include unique gear, magic items, and story hooks. All Other Rewards & Stretch Goals from LEGEND. Printed books are leather bound. DEMONOLOGIST You have met many agents of the Darkness and survived. Your knowledge of demons is unsurpassed, having developed strategies and tactics against even the most indoctrinated Embraced. You have documented a new demon and determined its name. Demon Designer! Work directly with the Rusted Portal team to design a unique demon for Apocalypse the Risen (Shunned or Embraced) in both 5E and Pathfinder. Your demon design will be professionally illustrated by artist Preston Stone. You will receive a PDF of the completed design with stat block and your demon will be added to a future publication where you will receive game designer credit. Work directly with the Rusted Portal team to design a unique demon for Apocalypse the Risen (Shunned or Embraced) in both 5E and Pathfinder. Your demon design will be professionally illustrated by artist Preston Stone. You will receive a PDF of the completed design with stat block and your demon will be added to a future publication where you will receive game designer credit. All Rewards & Stretch Goals from ANTIQUITY DIRECTOR Your colony is a hub for trade and you its respected leader. Your knowledge spurs hunters to adventure around the globe. You are the sage explorers seek for artifacts of the Before and you even know the demon guarding them. Adventure Designer! Work directly with the Rusted Portal team to design a one-shot adventure of up to 9th level, created in both 5E and Pathfinder. Your design will include creating an important colony added to the Apocalypse the Risen canon where the adventure will originate. Your design will include creation of the NPC leader of the colony which we will have illustrated to fulfill your concept. The adventure will include creation of a unique magical relic and a newly discovered demon, both of which we will work with you to design. That demon will be illustrated by artist Preston Stone. You receive a PDF of the completed adventure layout with illustrations which will also be published where you will receive game designer credit. Work directly with the Rusted Portal team to design a one-shot adventure of up to 9th level, created in both 5E and Pathfinder. Your design will include creating an important colony added to the Apocalypse the Risen canon where the adventure will originate. Your design will include creation of the NPC leader of the colony which we will have illustrated to fulfill your concept. The adventure will include creation of a unique magical relic and a newly discovered demon, both of which we will work with you to design. That demon will be illustrated by artist Preston Stone. You receive a PDF of the completed adventure layout with illustrations which will also be published where you will receive game designer credit. All Rewards & Stretch Goals from ANTIQUITY ICONIC No other has come before you on post-Rise Earth. You wield new and strange powers in an already abnormal world. You are iconic! Class Designer! Work directly with the Rusted Portal team to design a tenth character class for Apocalypse the Risen in both 5E and Pathfinder. You will gain insider access to the larger Worlds of the Portal setting, including Paradox, Purgatory, and the Void. Your class design will be professionally illustrated and you receive PDFs of the completed design. The new class will be included in future publications where you will receive game designer credit. Work directly with the Rusted Portal team to design a tenth character class for Apocalypse the Risen in both 5E and Pathfinder. You will gain insider access to the larger Worlds of the Portal setting, including Paradox, Purgatory, and the Void. Your class design will be professionally illustrated and you receive PDFs of the completed design. The new class will be included in future publications where you will receive game designer credit. All Rewards & Stretch Goals from ANTIQUITY DOMESTIC SHIPPING Domestic shipping in the US will be added to your pledge. The price represents the estimated USPS shipping costs for the content included for that pledge. The versions with two books require more shipping than the single book levels. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING International shipping is NOT included with your pledge. Shipping internationally is unfortunately very expensive and the rate fluctuations make it difficult to predict. Shipping outside the US varies depending on your country and which rewards you receive. You’ll pay the shipping costs at the time of fulfillment. We encourage International backers to visit the USPS website for an estimate on shipping costs. We cannot guarantee the final weight of our books, but estimate each will weigh about 2 pounds (0.9kg). However, this estimate is subject to stretch goal upgrades, spec changes, and the weight of packaging. Note that you are responsible for import duties, taxes, vat fees, etc. We comply with international law. Shipments will likely originate from near Kirkland, Washington.
The use of matte finishes on structural surfaces and objects makes the whole space feel soft and welcoming, despite the cold colours and in contrast to the vast sea of grey skyscrapers that stretches beyond the windows. As a way to excite the children’s curiosity and help them cultivate their creativity, special features have been added all around the house, including little niches that serve as hide-outs, a Lego-brick “painting” in the lobby which can be dismantled and recreated in limitless combinations, and of course a blackboard wall for drawing. In the children’s room, the closets were given a playful configuration to further excite the young ones' imagination, designed in such a way so that it can be adapted later on to suit the children's taste as they grow older.
Concepcion, Chile (CNN) -- You couldn't see the sun rise in Concepcion because the cloud cover was so thick. You couldn't hear a sound because a curfew had silenced the streets. The only activity was the occasional rumble of the Earth. And, after each rumble, a little more brick and roof gave way in this shattered little city. Concepcion feels like it's falling to pieces. It's not just pieces of homes vulnerable to the earthquakes -- most have stood up well. It's falling apart from the aftereffects that have plagued this city since that awful morning: the looting, the lack of fuel, food and water and a burning frustration that not enough is being done for people with high expectations of their government. A fire at a clothing store seems on the verge of reigniting. Piles of newly fallen bricks and glass block streets, products of a night of persistent shaking. The military seems to have invaded, firing into the air to deter looting and rolling large military equipment through empty communities. Full coverage of the Chilean earthquake All this carries on while a rescue operation seems to be wrapping up. Manuel Mendoza, a firefighter, told a crowd gathered around a collapsed 15-story building that the searchers didn't have the right type of equipment to pick through the rubble. It wasn't long before an aftershock drove his men from even their limited search. They haven't heard sounds of life since early Monday morning. A police unit has shown up to sift through personal belongings recovered inside and marked them according to floor. They wanted something to give to relatives, even if just an unusable laptop. O'Brien: Looters are leaving the biggest aftershocks A woman showed up to marvel at how she and her husband and two kids emerged alive from the 12th floor. It's so low now that her daughter's bedroom window is a foot from the ground. We could poke our heads in and see it was crushed, yet here she was with a soft neck brace. She was ready to leave, and so seemed much of Concepcion. The curfew ran from 6 p.m. to noon, stalling people eager to go out in search of water or fuel. So when it lifted, the town seemed to erupt with activity. After more than three days of looting and aftershocks, people headed to the airport by the hundreds. iReport: Are you there? \| In Spanish Among those were vacationers who had been enjoying the last week of summer vacation on the coast. As they boarded a Chilean military flight out of Concepcion, some of the women kissed the soldiers assisting them. Gen. Leopoldo Moya told us the military had taken over the commercial airport and was taking out anyone who wanted to escape the chaos in Concepcion. The passengers clapped as they took off on a big gray air force plane headed for the capital, Santiago, which has troubles of its own. But there was relief. Camilo Barrios, a Mexican on vacation, had not spoken to his family since the earthquake. He knew they'd be worried and asked me to e-mail them. His face softened into a gigantic smile when they responded "Gracias a Dios." He was out. He was OK. He was on his way home.
Salim Abu al-Qi’an’s family live in Israel’s Negev desert in the “unrecognized” Bedouin village of Umm al-Hieran, 9km from the nearest source of clean water. “There is no water in the village. We truck it in. It costs about 50 shekels [US$13.4] per cubic metre of water,” explained the 53-year-old village leader. “There is a pipe that’s about 8km long, but it’s too old, and the planning authorities don’t allow us to put a new one under the ground. We are asking for better access to water, a new pipe that should be close to the village.” The Israeli authorities forced Umm al-Hieran residents to move to the area where the village now sits in 1956, shortly after the military had evicted them from their original homes in the Wadi Zuballa area of the Negev desert. In 2004, the villagers faced a new threat of expulsion, as the Southern District Planning Committee unveiled a master plan which involves once again displacing Umm al-Hieran, and building the Jewish community of Hiran in its place. According to the Israeli government, the 500 residents of Umm al-Hieran are trespassers who are illegally squatting on state land. Some 80-90,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel live in unrecognized villages in the southern Negev, according to a report by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. As a result of their unrecognized status, nearly every structure in these communities can be demolished at any time, and residents do not receive basic services from the state, including electricity, paved roads, healthcare facilities, schools, and water. Constitutional right In June 2011, however, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the right to water was a constitutional right, and that the state must guarantee a “minimum access to water” for the residents of the unrecognized villages. Still, the court did not specify what constituted a fair minimum. Shortly thereafter, a Haifa court, acting as a water tribunal, rejected Umm al-Hieran’s application to be connected to the local water network. The court argued that the villagers had minimum access to water, and suggested they buy water from private citizens in towns connected to the water network, or move into nearby government-planned Bedouin townships. According to Sawsan Zaher, an attorney at Adalah, the Legal Center from Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which has represented al-Qi’an’s family and the residents of Umm al-Hieran in their legal struggle, the water tribunal’s decision means that “a constitutional right, which is the right to water as part of the right to a minimal standard of living, [will] be provided by private actors and not by the state. This is in contradiction to constitutional law. The duty is on the state to fulfil this right and protect it even.” Adalah has filed an appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court, asking that “minimum access to water” be explicitly defined, and challenging the constitutionality of forcing Umm al-Hieran residents to purchase water from non-state actors. “Despite the fact that they are citizens, they are not entitled to the same level of rights as other citizens of Israel. Why? Because they are living in unrecognized villages,” Zaher told IRIN. “We want you to move out” “The purpose is not hidden any more. It is revealed and it’s very official: we are not connecting you to water because we want you to move out. This is the policy. It’s a kind of punishment. This is in huge contradiction with human rights and logic and humanity - to come and punish people by not giving them water for political purposes,” Zaher said. In a 9 March report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination raised concerns about Bedouin communities in Israel, particularly with regard to Bedouin home demolitions, and inequalities between Bedouin and Jewish citizens’ access to land, housing, education, employment and public health. Israel’s proposed Law for the Regulation of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev, which would forcibly displace 30,000-60,000 of the 80,000-90,000 Bedouins living in unrecognized villages, should be shelved, the UN Committee found, since it legalizes “the ongoing policy of home demolitions and forced displacement of the indigenous Bedouin communities”. According to Salim Abu al-Qi'an, forcibly displacing residents of Umm al-Hieran to the nearby government-planned Bedouin township of Hura is indeed the motivation behind denying them direct access to high-quality water. “They want to push us to leave the village and to displace us,” he told IRIN. “Even though we are an unrecognized village, this is nicer than to live in Hura. There are no services there. Sewage and garbage is in the street. There’s not enough space. It’s another refugee camp.” jkd/eo/cb
Demolitions crews in Albuquerque, New Mexico just discovered a time capsule from 1968 near a former elementary school. And based on the messages discovered inside, some kids of the late 1960s had a pretty creepy vision for the future. Or, perhaps, a creepy vision of their present. Some of the letters discovered in the 1968 capsule are, of course, from kids who wrote about their favorite TV shows (Lost in Space) and their favorite bands (The Monkees). But one kid named Greg Lee Youngman wrote about how he’s actually dead. He signed the letter with, “See you later savages.” It reads: I am dead. I go to Montgomery School. That is the olden school name. I was born 1900. You auto now I dead. My favorite subject is spooking the police. I play the guitar. In case you don’t know what it is, it is board with strings on then. I am 10 years old. See you later savages. Advertisement It could not be confirmed by press time whether Greg Lee Youngman was now, in fact, dead. And I suppose it also couldn’t be confirmed by press time whether Youngman was also a ghost who liked playing guitar in 1968. Whenever kids make time capsules, they’re often told to write messages to the future. This usually gives us a pretty unvarnished perspective on tomorrow in the way that only kids can. Even when kids of the 1960s and 70s predicted a world of flying cars and jetpacks, they also predicted dystopian governments and not being able to breathe the polluted air. Other times, the kids pretend to be ghosts who were born in 1900 and enjoy “spooking the police.” Advertisement The building where crews found the time capsule, Montgomery Elementary School, was built in 1955 but became a school district administration building by the 1980s. A number of people, now in their 50s and 60s, showed up yesterday, believing that this might be their class time capsule. But lots of people left disappointed that it wasn’t the capsule they created—showing just how many time capsules are buried every year on school grounds all across the country. Albuquerque Public Schools is currently scanning all the time capsule letters and plans to publish them on their website. If you’re Greg Lee Youngman (ghost or otherwise) we’d love to talk with you. [Albuquerque Journal and KQRE]
Life is about to become more difficult for countries trying to censor access to foreign websites. A system dubbed Collage will allow users in these countries to download stories from blocked sites while visiting seemingly uncontroversial sites such as Flickr. Collage relies on a well-established technique known as digital steganography, in which an image file is changed to encode the hidden message without obviously affecting the appearance of the image. A prototype version is due to be unveiled on Friday, 13 August. Steganography normally requires specialist software, but Collage is designed so that anti-censorship activists and readers can publish and download the hidden stories without any specialist skills. A publisher or activist can, for example, use Collage to copy news stories from a website and embed the articles into Flickr images in a process that is almost entirely automated. In the prototype, stories from the BBC news site are used, but in principle any web content could be hidden. Collage can hide as many as 15 news articles in just seven medium-sized Flickr images. Advertisement News feeds Once the material is embedded in a Flickr image, anyone with Collage can download it and extract the stories. A censor attempting to monitor traffic from a prohibited site would only see the reader visiting Flickr, which is not generally blocked by web censors. Collage is able to identify which images have been used to hide material. All the would-be reader has to do is click on the date they are interested in; the stories appear a few minutes later. “It all happens in the background,” says Sam Burnett at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, part of the team behind Collage. Burnett has designed a Flickr upload tool that links with Collage and embeds content that publishers or activists want to make available. Collage can also be easily extended so that stories are embedded in other photo-sharing sites. The idea is to spread material across numerous sites that host user-generated content so that the activity of someone running Collage appears much like that of any internet user and the censors cannot just block access to Flickr. Collage does, however, rely on the goodwill of Flickr users, who will have to provide access to the images where the articles are to be hidden. Burnett is relying on opposition to censorship to motivate people to use Collage. “We’re betting on people getting a warm fuzzy feeling because they are beating censorship,” he says. To coincide with the launch of the prototype, Burnett will present a paper on the system at the USENIX Security Symposium in Washington DC.
We grabbed an Uber and headed up to UC early again to have a couple of pre-game happy hour beers at The St. Clair. What a difference a week makes with the weather. The area was absolutely buzzing with activity in a sea of blue and orange… After a couple of beers, we made the short walk over to Nippert Stadium… FC Cincinnati was playing host to Louisville City FC in what has been dubbed the River Cities Cup. But a lot of the fans have started calling it The Dirty River Derby, which I really like a whole better. With Louisville being just a hop-ship-and-a-jump down I-71, it makes sense that a rivalry has already started to form. Here we go… GOAL FC\|C! 1-0! Louisville City was awarded what I thought was a pretty cheap penalty when the ball bounced up and brushed an FC\|C defender’s hand in the box… 1-1. And it all kind of went downhill from there pretty quickly… Louisville City were reduced to 10 men just before the end of the half on a second bookable offense… It was just a gorgeous night for football… And there was such an incredible atmosphere at tonight’s match. Nippert was rocking all evening despite FC\|C playing from behind for most of the match… FC Cincinnati managed to pull a goal back in just before the 90th minute. We headed out just before the end of injury time. And the match ended 3-2 to Louisville City… But FC Cincinnati set a new USL regular season attendance record at tonight’s match!! I think that Cincinnati is definitely embracing their new sports team! FC Cincinnati’s next home match is against Wilmington on April 30th, which happens to be the five-year anniversary of our very first date. See you at Nippert! 🙂
Summary As circuits and electronic components become more complex, visual circuit building tools are more difficult to use effectively. If you wish that you could just write your circuits in Python then you’re in luck! Dave Vandenbout created a library called SKIDL that brings the power and flexibility of Python to the realm of Electrical Engineering and he tells us all about it in this weeks show. Do you want to try out some of the tools and applications that you heard about on Podcast.__init__? Do you have a side project that you want to share with the world? Check out Linode at linode.com/podcastinit or use the code podcastinit2018 and get a $20 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers. They’ve got lightning fast networking and SSD servers with plenty of power and storage to run whatever you want to experiment on. Preamble Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great. I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. When you’re ready to launch your next project you’ll need somewhere to deploy it. Check out Linode at linode.com/podcastinit and get a $20 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers for running your awesome app. Visit our site to subscribe to our show, sign up for our newsletter, read the show notes, and get in touch. To help other people find the show you can leave a review on iTunes, or Google Play Music, and tell your friends and co-workers Join our community! Visit discourse.pythonpodcast.com for your opportunity to find out about upcoming guests, suggest questions, and propose show ideas. Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Dave Vandenbout about SKIDL, a library for designing and validating circuit layouts. Interview Introductions How did you get introduced to Python? Can you describe what SKIDL is and the problem that you were trying to solve when you first started it? Most of my experience designing circuits has been done using a graphical tool. If you are using Python for the entire layout does it become difficult to understand the overall circuit without the visual representation? Is there a way to generate a circuit diagram from the SKIDL code for a visual reference? It seems that there is a substantial amount of electrical knowledge required to be able to design and build schematics in code. For someone who is more of a hobbyist or is just starting to work with circuit design are there any facilities of SKIDL to assist with that understanding? What does the testing and validation process of a generated circuit look like? What does the internal architecture of SKIDL look like and what are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced while building it? For the generated netlist does SKIDL take into account voltage losses due to the lengths of the traces in the final PCB and does it have any facilities to optimize the overall layout for space and efficiency? Sometimes a circuit board is meant to be accessible for maintenance or even display purposes. Is it possible to specify the arrangement of components to make them more aesthetically pleasing or to space them so that they are easier to access physical interface ports (e.g. GPIO pins or I2C buses)? What are some of the most interesting or surprising uses of SKIDL that you have seen? Keep In Touch Picks Tobias Samsonite Tectonic Backpack Dave Ball 4 by Jim Bouton Links The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA
Santa Monica does not have a housing crisis. The Southern Counties Association of Governments (SCAG) target for our City is 239 new units per year. This is a fair number that reflects our percentage of growth for the Southern California region. In the last three years we have approved an average of 253 new units per year. In addition we have another 1929 units (not counting 679 units in withdrawn projects) in the pipeline at various stages of approval processing. If only half of those projects go to term over the next three years we would have approved an average of another 321 units in the next three years or 1/3 more than our SCAG requirement. Simply stated we are already meeting more than our fair share of the region’s housing demand in addition to all the other benefits our small city provides to the region. In fact, Santa Monica’s population increase (2000-2010), which we can see everyday in our traffic overload, was over twice that of Los Angeles County (6.7% vs 3.1%). While housing is very expensive in Santa Monica, as it is in all beach communities, our median incomes are 20-25% higher than LA County’s. Because of that, our city is actually more affordable to its residents than to the average citizen in LA County. For example, 56% of our property owners (1/4 of our population) pay more than 30% of their income for their housing, while 67% of the average Angelo homeowners pay that burden. Likewise 67% of our renters (3/4 of our population) pay that unreasonable burden, while 85% of Los Angeles County renters are similarly encumbered. Even though rent control is slowly being weakened, thanks primarily to our robust affordable housing program, which maintains 10-20% of the new units as deed restricted affordable units, affordability is still substantially protected in the future. In a relatively wealthy city, we have made Santa Monica comparatively more affordable than Los Angeles County. And remember, this was done in the depths of a recession on some of the most expensive land on the Westside. The ability to maintain affordability of our housing stock through the combined efforts of the City Council and staff, of the Rent Control Board and of affordable housing providers like Community Corp and of affordability advocates like SMRR to name just a few, is an incredible achievement. We can all be proud of this achievement. In short we can stop beating ourselves up about needing more and more housing and focus instead on the consequences of this abundant housing production, particularly as its burden escalates in the future. It is already colliding with our sustainability goals. We simply do not have the water for the 8,000 new residents who are to join us in the next 20 years. In fact we do not have enough water for our current homes and businesses since we import about a third of our water from collapsing sources such as the Sierra snow pack (the expected El Nino this year will not undo four years of drought). Most of the new housing is headed toward Downtown, which does not even have an elementary school, so those students will need to go across half the town to possibly McKinley. Only one in nine of our workers live and work in the City so we cannot substantially reduce our job/housing imbalance by building more housing, since 9 of the 10 new workers will still work outside of the City adding to our peak hour traffic crushes. And there is no certainty this ratio will likely improve with the advent of the light rail next year. It may actually get worse. This housing production is not free. New residents require more schools, water, power, traffic upgrades, fire and police services. In countless ways this growth burdens our infrastructure which is already compromised and has limited expansion capability in a built out city. For example, where would you amass enough land for the next elementary school? Where would you build the desalinization plant when desalinization becomes a cost competitive (and ecologically sound) water source? Where would you move the City yards to when Memorial Park is expanded? These are not trivial problems when you consider, for example, that we have the least amount of open park space and are the second densest city in California for coastal cities of our comparable size. The limitations of space in our impacted City means that infrastructure upgrades become much more expensive and increase faster than the tax base to support them. Whenever our growth expands beyond our infrastructure’s capacity, in all senses of the word, all the residents end up paying a horrible civic price in cost (have you looked at your water bill lately), in time and in quality of life. Unfortunately the trumped-up housing supply crisis in our City has become a Trojan horse to try to drive more unsustainable development into our City. The poster boy for this is the recently approved Santa Monica Plaza project which the City Council green lighted to the next approval level with an astonishing 12 stories and a pitiful fig leaf of only 48 affordable units. The evolving Downtown Specific Plan is also freighted with an unsustainable amount of development. Cities cannot and should not expand infinitely. Only so much land, sunlight and water is available to our City. For example cities actually do run out of water: even big ones like Sao Paolo, Brazil. So in our built-out beachside City we cannot sustainably produce all the housing there is demand for in our region, nor should we try, since we are already providing more than our fair share of housing AND other vital regional services: recreation (beaches), job creation (silicone beach), transportation (airport and light rail), entertainment (3rd Street Promenade, the pier), health (two regional hospitals), education (Santa Monica College) and tourism (hotel industry). Those other regional services are as equally regionally important as the housing we provide. However our most significant regional contribution is to be a low rise city where residents, visitors and tourists can relax and get relief from the urban pandemonium all around us. Relaxed living that’s our real mission statement in this region and this aligns with the interests of our residents. When we compare ourselves to other beachside Cities we do more than our share in many categories. How many regional hospitals does does Malibu have? Does Redondo Beach have a 30,000 student junior college? Does Manhattan Beach have an airport? We do housing very well, but it is just a small part of our metropolitan role. Sustainability of all our regional contributions without burdening our residents should be our major focus, not any one at the expense of the others. SMa.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) Advertisements
Weather! Here is a very early first peek at our new weather system. Pictured here it is drizzling freezing rain after snowfall in the wasteland. Snow realistically piles on top of surfaces exposed to the weather. Things under cover or interiors do not get rain or snow in them. We plan on adding cold and hot survival to accompany the new beautiful weather effects. We’ll have rain and snow, plus dust storms, and hopefully even lightning. What is really cool is the old trampled snow we have in the snow biome gets fresh snow on top of it and windows and nooks and crannies just get some snow in them. It accumulates over time and changes appearance it looks awesome. I’ll post a video once we get everything polished.
The Tablet Longform newsletter highlights the best longform pieces from Tablet magazine. Sign up here to receive bulletins every Thursday afternoon about fiction, features, profiles, and more. 1. After a few years in Jaffa and her settlements and in Jerusalem and her study halls I decided to go and see the Land—the Kinneret and Deganya kibbutzim and their inhabitants, who have added two settlements to the existing thirty-seven. I had too little money to hire a donkey to ride on or a wagon to travel in, but I had plenty of time, so I decided to make my way by foot. I timed the trip to celebrate Lag Ba’Omer in Meron, because I still remembered something of what I had heard in my childhood about the spectacles and wonders witnessed on Lag Ba’Omer night at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. I placed a loaf of bread and some olives in my pack, took my walking stick, and locked my door. I placed the key on the windowsill behind the blinds, so if a friend came to visit and found me away he could still find the key, open my room, and find himself a place to rest. It was the custom in the Land in those days that a person could always find lodging with a friend—if not a proper bed, then at least a floor to sleep on and a roof above his head. I departed Jaffa and walked nine hours to Hadera. Arriving at night, I found a place to sleep at a roadside inn leased by an Arab. I bathed my feet in hot water, rubbed them with olive oil, ate some of my bread and olives, spread myself out on the straw up in the loft, and slept soundly until morning when I was woken by the shouts of the Arabs and the screeching of their camels. I wanted to climb down from the loft but I could not find the ladder, which the innkeeper, fearing I would skip out on the bill, had removed. I called out for him with seventy different names used by Arabs, until I hit upon his name. He brought the ladder and I climbed down. I went out to the courtyard and washed my hands and face, drank two or three mugs of black coffee, and paid the lodging bill, hot water bill, and coffee bill, then headed off to synagogue. As they say in the Land of Israel: If you wish to meet the founders of any settlement go to its synagogue. I took my staff and pack and I walked to Zichron Yaakov, arriving toward the end of the day. While looking for a boarding house I found my hand grasped by that of Reb Chaim Dov, who said, “I just mentioned you and here you are!” I asked him how this came about and what he was referring to. He said, “I saw a man walking, and I said: There’s a Jew afoot. Come on home with me and we’ll have a hot drink, and if you don’t object to praying in Sephardic Hebrew, we can go to synagogue for the afternoon prayers.” I went home with him. He set the table and served me a few cups of tea, fig jam, and a slice of cake left over from the Sabbath. To arouse my affection he reminded me of things I had told him when he had visited the Hovevei Zion office in Jaffa, where I served as secretary. He also told me of the things he had seen in Jerusalem, during the time when all of Jerusalem was still contained within the Old City walls. On the way to synagogue I had wanted to find a place to lodge. Reb Chaim Dov asked, “Is the lodging you’ve found so disagreeable?”—Which lodging is that?, I asked him.—“The one where we drank tea.” I told him I feared that the geese would poke me with their feathers in the pillows, for surely they were cross at having been slaughtered, and their feathers plucked to fill pillows and quilts. Reb Chaim Dov, aside from being the town’s rabbi, was also its kosher slaughterer. He replied, “My friend, if had I a feather pillow it would already have been hocked at the pawn shop.”—“Do we have pawn shops here in the Land of Israel?”—“Neither pawn shops nor geese to make pillows of their feathers. But as for the mitzvah of welcoming guests, don’t fear that I’ll place rocks under your head. In any case, it’s already time for the evening meal. Come and we’ll eat.” We sat and ate the food brought by the mistress of the house, and we spoke of all the things that occupied Jewish life in those days. Those things that are known are known, and those that are unknown are best left secret so as not to arouse Satan’s interest. After breakfast I took my staff and pack and rose to set off on my way. Reb Chaim Dov, who had thought he had arranged to host his guest for the Sabbath, discovered that the guest was abandoning him and he would have to spend the Sabbath without hosting guests. He also regretted being unable to escort me on my way, as he had to remain at home to answer the many questions of Jewish law that present themselves on the Sabbath eve. 2. I left Reb Chaim Dov and Zichron Yaakov and set out on my way. Because it was erev Shabbat, and I was hurrying to reach Haifa before sunset, I lacked the time to visit those surrounding, modest villages of Shfeya and Em HaGamal (that is, Umm el-Jimal, which is Bat Shlomo). Yet Shabbat reached me as I reached Haifa. I was told of an appropriate inn, went there, and asked if there was room for me. “For you and another twenty just like you.” I laid down my pack and my staff and entered a large hall marked “Dining Room.” Although the Sabbath had already begun, there was no sign of the holy day in the hotel. I hadn’t brought Sabbath clothes with me, so I dusted off what I was wearing and paced about the room thinking, “So here I’ll spend the Sabbath.” The room was long and high-ceilinged. The windows were opened but covered by iron bars with flakes of rust on account of the humid Haifa air. By the light of the recently set sun they glowed bronze. There was no breeze. The innkeeper’s wife spread a cloth on the table and set down two tin candlesticks. She kindled and recited the blessing over two candles, then recited many prayers and petitions. I wished her Shabbat Shalom, she wiped her eyes, blessed me in return, and left. I was left alone in the room. The Sabbath candles barely lit the large room. I took out my small siddur and welcomed the Sabbath in prayer. Hunger began to press at me. Since breakfast I hadn’t really eaten much. Looking out the windows I saw it was already night, yet looking at the door I saw no one arrive to set the table. I got up and went into the kitchen. I found an Arab woman and asked her when dinner would be served. She looked at me as one who hears but doesn’t understand. I asked where the innkeeper’s wife was and the servant said, “Here she comes.” The hostess entered, saying to the servant, “This traveler wants to eat.” She then asked me, “What, for example, would you care to eat?” I told her, for example, a Sabbath meal, with wine for Kiddush and two loaves of challah. “Wine I can provide, but not challah.” Why not? “Why not? Because not even one slice remains from last week, and I didn’t manage to do any baking for this Shabbat. But if you wait until my husband arrives, perhaps he found some at the baker’s. In the meantime, if you’re hungry, I can give you sardines and plain bread.” I remained silent, saying not a word. The hostess said, “When I was a girl, Sabbath in Father’s home boasted more guests than we now host in an entire week. And each guest would find meat and fish and all types of tasty treats. Afterwards father would pay them for having allowed him to perform the mitzvah of welcoming guests. And now his daughter receives payment from her guests for each and every slice of bread they eat under her roof. A person moves to the Land of Israel to increase his mitzvot, and in the end he cannot keep even those mitzvot he would have fulfilled in Exile. I saw you looking at my tin candlesticks. Those aren’t the same candlesticks I brought from my father’s home. Those were made of silver but were sold off the first year we arrived here in the Land of Israel. The ones I lit tonight were purchased from a woman who returned abroad last year. In the meantime what did I use as candlesticks? Don’t ask, my friend, don’t ask. If my heart didn’t break from embarrassment, the earthenware candlesticks I used at that time broke on account of my anguish. Now, thank God, we live like most of those in the Land of Israel—neither with comfort and wealth, nor with paucity and poverty.” I forgot my hunger and listened to the words of the innkeeper’s wife, who spoke with me and with herself. She went on, “We don’t live in riches and honor, but you can understand from what I’m saying that I do not seek riches and honor. I’ve left those desires behind in the Exile. Yet I do have one regret. Back then I would awake each morning to the tune of the Talmud page my husband would study, as he sat learning from a large volume of Talmud. And now, oy, if only … Here he comes.” A tall, thin man with sunken cheeks and a trim beard entered. He greeted his wife with “Shabbat Shalom” and took out three or four large loaves of bread. She set aside two and placed another two loaves under an embroidered cover, which barely covered them. The innkeeper noticed me and said, “A Sabbath guest! We must greet him with ‘Shalom’—but first we must give ‘Shalom’ to the heavenly angels,” and he began pacing back and forth as he sang “Shalom aleichem malachei ha-shalom…,” to welcome the Sabbath angels into his home. When he finished singing he welcomed me as well, saying, “I will bring the wine right away so we may recite Kiddush and eat. Surely you’re hungry. I tarried too long in synagogue and then afterwards at the baker. And both for the same reason. There was a disagreement between the shul-goers and the baker—their wives complain that the baker’s bread is crumbly, and he says they get what they pay for.” He took a ring of keys and opened a cupboard, removing a bottle of red wine. Raising the bottle to the light he filled a large cup, stood, recited Kiddush, drank, and gave his wife to drink, after which she set the cup on the table. “I’ll pour for you as well,” said the innkeeper. “You needn’t fear, there’s no one here to catch you performing a Jewish custom.” After the blessing over the bread the hostess went out to the kitchen and returned with the servant and whatever it was that they brought with them. She said, “Here in Haifa we have the Sea, which certainly contains fish, yet fish for Shabbat—we have none. What did I make? A certain dish that, if you wish, tastes like fish—even though there are none.” The innkeeper added, “There’s a certain guest here at the inn who really knows how to sing. If he would eat with us he’d enhance our meal with delightful Sabbath hymns and melodies. However sitting with a man who lights up a cigarette between courses on Shabbat—well, even an innkeeper dependent on paying guests can’t tolerate that! Back in the old country, where he was a cantor, he would never have dared to smoke in public on Shabbat, but here he acts wantonly since he isn’t under the watchful eye of his townsfolk. A person can do whatever he wants in his own room, and I’ll turn a blind eye, as long as the police don’t get involved, but at my Shabbat table I want Shabbat to be Shabbat.” Another man entered and said with a pleasant voice and smiling face, “Shabbat Shalom!” Noticing me he added, “I see you’ve found a Sabbath guest. Have others come with you? Are you angry with me? Is that why you don’t answer? Wait and I’ll make it up to you with a good cigarette.” The innkeeper said, “Isn’t it enough, Reb Velvel, that you desecrate the Sabbath yourself? Why lead others into sin? Take something to eat and we’ll have you join us as the third man for Grace after the Meal.” Velvel answered and said, “Whoever has filled his belly with Haifa’s tasteless bread, and the other food Haifa fills guests’ stomachs with, couldn’t possibly eat even one more bite. But if you’d like I’ll sing Shir HaMa’alot, the opening psalm to the Grace.” The hostess asked, “Sing for us the tune you sang for the Rebbe from Galicia.” Velvel answered, “Let me first tune up my voice with a cup of wine.” He drank and said, “You can’t say that the wine of the Land of Israel isn’t actually wine, but I’m uncertain if the food of Israel is actually edible. Madam, tell this good gentleman what the Rebbe said about my tune for Shir HaMa’alot. Rebbes are used to the presence of angels, so when a rebbe says that even the angels enjoy my singing it surely must be the case. The men sent by Moses to spy out the Land were fools not to bring back foods from the meal prepared for me by your Arab woman. Even Caleb couldn’t have argued with them when they criticized the food of the Land of Israel.” The innkeeper washed his hands before reciting Grace, and the cantor sang the psalm. His voice was lovely. He neither cut short nor repeated a single word. His voice matched the lyrics perfectly. The hostess said, “I could sit here listening all night long.” Velvel asked, “Even before the meal had been served?” The innkeeper said, “Forgive me, Reb Velvel, but it’s a shame that such a lovely voice is found in a throat such as yours.” Velvel replied, “Silence, Reb Dov, silence. If God has given a Jew such a nice singing voice, all of Israel should rejoice in it.” After the Grace the hostess brought tea and jam. We sat drinking and talking about the affairs of the Land, the weather, and the like. The room was hot, and the air was stifling. Velvel stood up to open a window, only to discover that it was already open. He went to the next window, and found it was open as well, along with all the windows. “It’s amazing that the emissaries of the Land don’t mention among the praises of our country that the wind never once extinguished the Shabbat candles! Now, my friends, I’ll go up to my room and get into bed to enjoy a good Sabbath sleep. Too bad that the mosquitoes and flies don’t know the importance of Shabbat rest, for they act on the holy day as if it were no different from the six workdays. By the way, my dear guest, have others arrived with you on the boat?” The innkeeper answered, “The ship from Jaffa is delayed but we expect her at any moment now.” 3. That night I awoke to discover another man sleeping in my bed. I jumped up with alarm, asking him what he wanted! He answered, “To go back to sleep is what I want.” The innkeeper entered and said, “What should you care if another Jew should have a rest? He’s tired from his journey and wants to sleep.” I replied that he should rest in peace on the bed. “What about you?” “I’ll stretch out on the floor,” I replied. The innkeeper said, “The floor is made of stone and gets chilly at night, you could catch cold. Doesn’t the Talmud state that one should never sleep on the floor? Also, you should be careful of scorpions, which crawl out of their holes at night with their deadly stings. But if you insist on sleeping on the floor I’ll bring you a pillow and blanket. See, the guest is already asleep—he was very tired from the trip. The ships that bring people to the Land are like the Land itself: They wear out their passengers.” 4. In the morning I walked to a small synagogue in the lower city. Haifa was then still a small town with a small population, mostly Sephardic Jews. All of the other worshippers, except me, were Sephardim. There was one fellow—perhaps he was Sephardic, perhaps Ashkenazic, but in all cases he wore an Ashkenazic-style tallit. 5. On my way back to the hotel from synagogue I met a certain man. He extended his hand, greeted me, and asked, “Aren’t you embarrassed that you’re in Haifa and haven’t come to visit me?!” I explained that I had arrived in town right at the onset of Shabbat. “Where did you spend the night?” I told him on the floor of a certain hotel, to which he said, “You could have found a floor at my place, but with fewer mosquitoes than in that hotel. My room is small, but there’s enough space for a man and his friend. I’d be glad to show you some hospitality and repay the favor you showed me when I stayed with you in Jaffa at the annual conference of Poel HaTzair. Let’s go eat and drink a bit, then we can take a walk and see the city and all our friends here in Haifa. It’s true, I’ve since left the party, but I haven’t left my friends. A person can change his political positions, but never his friends! I still subscribe to the Poel HaTzair newspaper. Whether I agree or disagree with what’s published in it I still read the whole thing. Either out of habit or because there’s no newspaper in this country that isn’t a mouthpiece for one political party or another. Oh my, you must be hungry and here I am going on and on about philosophy and sociology. Let’s go eat before the olives and cucumbers get cold!” We ascended and descended the ups and downs of Haifa until we came to a row of old houses. My friend took out a big key and opened a door that wasn’t readily opened. “This isn’t Jaffa,” he said, explaining, “Here you have to keep your door locked against thieves. Unfortunately the key is iron and it rusts. I’ve thought of having a brass key made, but all week long I’m busy earning a living, and on Shabbat when I’m free from work I cannot work because I swore to my mother on her deathbed not to desecrate Shabbat. She derived little pleasure from me in her life; I can at least make it up to her after she’s gone. I don’t know if there’s another world called the ‘World to Come,’ but when I saw her face shine when I promised her I’d keep Shabbat, it seemed to me that I saw a reflection of that World to Come.” We entered a room with a table, chair, stool, and upturned crate covered with a colorful oilcloth, on which were piled some clothes. He moved the clothes and said, “We’ll clear a place here for the master of the house and seat our guest in the master’s place of honor. Now let me show you the grandeur and splendor of my palace.” He drew aside a curtain, made out of old burlap sacks, and showed me a room full of junk, work tools, a long table, and cookware. He looked at me and said, “Go ahead, stand in awe! I’m the only one of our friends in Haifa, surely also those in Jaffa and Jerusalem, who can boast of having an apartment with two rooms. Now let’s take out all the hidden goodies in store for us and enjoy the Sabbath meal.” He bent down and removed wine and almonds and placed them before me on the table, and then brought cups and two brass weights to crack the nuts. We drank wine and ate almonds, sitting and talking about our friends in Merhavia, Kinneret, and Deganya, who have expanded our borders with land and Jewish labor. We had seen some of them in Jaffa the previous Sukkot at the Poel HaTzair conference, and others we’d seen through their work in the kibbutzim they had founded. (If “all the children of Israel are friends,” how much more so all those in the Land of Israel are friends, whether from Poel HaTzair or Poelei Zion. When you start talking about any one person you discover how he is unique in his own special way. One idea, one thought, brought each of them to the Land, although each came to that idea or thought in his own way, and each came by his own path to the Land.) Suddenly my friend jumped up with alarm and said, “I forgot that you must eat! I’ll bring our lunch right away, but I must first let you know that you won’t find any of the ‘geese, quail, and fish’ mentioned in the Sabbath song. In fact you won’t find any hot food here because of my promise to my mother not to light fire on Shabbat. If you want to know what we do have to eat, I can open a can of sardines, or we can start with salad, and then move on to the main course, rice with sugar, raisins, and cinnamon, which I made before Shabbat. Don’t worry that there won’t be enough for both of us, since I made enough to last me a few days.” He went out to the next room and returned with olives, cucumbers, oil, and a dish. He chopped the vegetables and mixed them together with olive oil, then garnished the salad with the large Zichron Yaakov olives, and fetched a big serving spoon, plates, and forks. We sat eating and talking about the Land and its produce, the orange farmers dependent on the overseas markets, and the vegetable merchants who import from the Arab growers. But we also made favorable mention of Hana Meisel, who, with her six daughters, established a farm for growing vegetables. It’s doubtful that she’ll be able to compete in the produce market, but it’s still a good sign of a new initiative here in the Land. We hadn’t finished the salad before he brought the rice and cold cocoa. While we were eating and drinking he said, “If there really is a World to Come and a Garden of Eden and all those good things that believers believe in, my mother must be sitting there, smiling down at her only son, gladdened that he has kept the promise he swore to her and does not violate the Sabbath. Let’s give her a bit of happiness and sing some Sabbath songs.” He began singing, “If I guard the Sabbath, God will guard me…,” and one song after another. After all the songs were sung he added “Master of all worlds…” in a tune he had heard in Syria. This friend was a sewing-machine repairman and would travel throughout Lebanon and Syria, and all the little villages cut off from the world. Time stood still as he told me fabulous things about those parts of the world and the people who live there. After a few hours I told him how wonderful it was to sit and listen to all he has to tell, but that the time had come to return to my hotel. He said, “All this food is still here and you’re already looking for another place? Even if they had prepared a big meal for you at the hotel others have surely come and eaten it already, for a boatload of Jews docked just last night. Ships come and ships go, these bring Jews to the Land and those ferry Jews away. If only 1 percent of those who arrived were to remain the Land would be overflowing with Jews. Maybe you met a certain Jew at the inn named Velvel Shumer? He was the cantor in our town. On account of disagreements between him and the synagogue leaders he left his position and came to the Land of Israel. Tomorrow or the next day he’ll be returning to the old country and thus add one more set of lips defaming the Land, since he didn’t find what he was looking for here. And what did he want? A pair of hands that never did a day’s labor aren’t suited to hold a hoe. And our synagogues aren’t looking to hire cantors, since all Jews here are presumed to know how to lead the services. Tell me, what did you think of our meal? Wasn’t it better than anything one can expect to eat at one of the hotels around here? Not out of commitment to Tolstoyism do I prepare my own food with my own two hands, but because of my desire to settle the Land. Many of our friends have left because of the food in the local eateries, which causes all types of stomach illness. Now let’s rest a bit, then we can walk about and see the town and her people, the Hadar neighborhood and the Technion, and if you have enough energy we can climb up Mount Carmel.” Having been invited to stay I asked, What about you?—“What about me?”—Where will you sleep?, I inquired.—“Me? Oh don’t worry, it’s the nature of one’s own home that he can always find a spot of floor between its walls. No matter how small my home may be it’s enough for a man like myself. My friend, someone who’s traveled to every spot in this land, and around foreign parts as well, is well trained to lay his bones down on any spot big enough to fit them. Anyone else would be glad to trade places with me, Shmarya Bengis.” We hadn’t a chance to even stretch out before he said, “Oy, what a shame, two friends meet and they waste their time sleeping. Let’s drink a cup or two of cold cocoa, and by then it will have cooled off enough outside and we can set out to see the town.” He filled the cups and began singing the praises of Haifa, nestled between the sea and Mount Carmel, and told me of the new neighborhood of Hadar, under construction. Six small, handsome homes had already been built, and six more were planned. Imaginative folks in Haifa foresee Jewish homes being built all the way up Mount Carmel. I can only wish it to be so. “The hottest part of the day has passed,” he said. “If you’d like, let’s go and see Haifa.” The hottest part of the day had passed, and a gentle breeze blew in from the sea. We strolled along the ascents and descents, one leading into the next throughout Haifa. From one point we spotted the sea in all its glory, and from another point we eyed Mount Carmel, covered in green bushes and crowned with a royal blue sky. Between the sound of the crashing waves and the noises of the city, the boats in the harbor called forth as well. We passed the homes of the city, and through the Hadar neighborhood, the Technion, and the German Colony. Afterwards we ascended the mount by a path unknown even to the eagles. That evening he brought me to the inn, where I gathered my belongings, paid my bill, and followed him back to his room. We were both exhausted from trekking up and down the town and mountain. After our supper we went to sleep, the guest on the host’s bed and the host stretched out on the floor. 6. As I was about to blow out the candle Shmarya turned to me and asked, “Are you tired? Do you want to go to sleep?” I asked if he wasn’t tired and ready to sleep. He replied, “Dead tired, but I can’t fall asleep.” Why? He told me, “Let me sit next to you and I’ll explain.” I cleared my clothes off the chair next to the bed and told him to have a seat. Shmarya said, “No need, there’s another chair.” I laughed and told him not to embarrass my chair by looking for somewhere else to sit. He sat and said, “You mentioned that the innkeeper’s wife had said that a person moves to the Land of Israel to increase his mitzvot and good deeds, and in the end cannot keep even those he was accustomed to perform in Exile. Isn’t that what she said?” I told him that was it, more or less. Shmarya said, “It’s the truth.” I told him that from what I knew of his life I hadn’t thought he had moved here on account of mitzvot and good deeds. Shmarya said, “Not on account of mitzvot and good deeds, but in order to work the Land of Israel. Maybe I mentioned to you that I was a villager back home, and I grew up working the land. Both my father’s and mother’s families as well. We had heard tales of Jews living off the land here. From that point on father would say, ‘If only most of my days weren’t behind me, I would sell my house and fields and take my wife and son up to the Land of Israel and buy myself a colony.’ He became sick and died, but I have done what he did not live to do. I sold off my share of the inheritance and came up to the Land, but before I could purchase a plot of land I lost all my money. If you want to know how—some of the money at the hands of honest folks, and most of it at the hands of swindlers. I was suddenly left empty-handed and did as most of our friends have done, hiring myself out for work. The condition of our friends is well-known to you. So as not to discourage the Zionists abroad I never even hinted what’s happened to me in letters to my mother or to my relatives. One day a letter arrived from mother, telling me that since my younger sister had wed and gone off to live in the city with her husband, there’s no reason for her to remain behind with the goyim in the village. She asked me to purchase a small plot of land for her next to my colony, and build her a small dwelling where she could live out the remainder of her days, and at the end of a long life be buried in the Holy Land. So as not to delay her arrival, she asked that I begin construction right away, and she sent money to get started on building her a place with a bedroom and separate kitchen. I wanted to write to her and let her know all that has befallen me here, and how I’ve lost my money, but I didn’t have the heart to disappoint her, so I told her I would do as she asked. One day a notice arrived from the bank that a sum of money had arrived for me and was awaiting my withdrawal to put to use. I told myself that it would be best to let mother’s money sit in the bank. I won’t lay a finger on it.” “One night I entered one of the regular restaurants where I take my once-daily light meal. While I was dipping my bread in sweetened tea a certain man sat down across from me and struck up a conversation.” What did he have to say? I’ll tell you briefly. He believes it’s a mistake for young men to run around looking for farming work. Not by farming alone is the Land sustained. We need craftsmen, and construction workers, and artisans, and metal workers. For example, he himself had arrived in the country to work in metal.” 7. On Sunday morning Shmarya and I went out to the market to find me a wagon ride to Tiberias. I had walked the whole way from Jaffa to Haifa. If I had found a companion we walked together, if not I walked alone. Before the war a man could walk alone in the Land of Israel with no fear, certainly if he were near to the Jewish settlements. However, from Haifa to Tiberias there are no Jewish settlements except for Merhavia, and if you walk to Merhavia there’s no chance you’ll find someone to travel with from there to Tiberias. We found one man who asked if we were looking for a wagon to Tiberias and told us he was at our disposal. I asked him how much it would cost. Shmarya cut in and told the wagoner, “Name your price for one passenger only.” He said, “I don’t ask for a thing, and my oxen can’t tell one coin from another. Get ready, we leave in one hour.” He went to wherever he went, and Shmarya and I went to collect my belongings. I mentioned to Shmarya that I noticed the wagoner failed to name a price. He replied, “If he asks for too much at the end it’s up to you to bargain with him. You’ll offer less, he’ll ask for more, in the end you’ll reach a compromise and part in peace.” In less than an hour we’d returned to the market. The driver arrived with his wagon hitched to two oxen and told me to hop aboard. I said goodbye to my friend and got on the wagon with the wagoner. I no longer remember if he held the reins in his hands or not. As the wagon set off he handed me a small siddur and said that he’d already recited the Traveler’s Prayer that morning, but that since I hadn’t yet said it I should do so now. “The oxen know the power of the prayer, and accordingly do their share of the journey’s work.” When I returned the siddur to him I sat looking around. The Land is beautiful in every direction, and a man can’t decide where to gaze first. The oxen trod with ease and the wagon traveled lightly. I told the wagoner that if we kept up this pace we’d make it to Tiberias in time to recite the afternoon prayers. He explained that he lived in Mitzpa, but if I wanted he could bring me all the way to Tiberias. However, if I wanted to spend the night with him in Mitzpa, there was a bed for me and he could take me the rest of the way in the morning. “One shouldn’t say such things out loud, but were it not for the holiness of Tiberias I would tell all our Jewish brothers there to leave the fleas behind and join us in Mitzpa.” While he was speaking the oxen stood still, not budging, while he continued to talk. I pointed out that the wagon had come to a halt. He nodded his head and said, “The wagon isn’t moving because the oxen have stopped.” I suggested he show them the whip. He said, “The animal knows its master’s soul, which is accustomed to recite the afternoon prayer at the earliest possible time, so they’ve come to a halt. Do you think that they think I’ve forgotten the time? No, indeed, but they’ve stopped a bit early to give me a moment to prepare myself before I pray.” He got off the wagon, went to the oxen, patted their heads and horns, and spoke something to each of them. Since his words were spoken in a whisper I could not hear what he said. He took a pitcher of water from the wagon, washed his hands, and said to me, “A pitcher like this is usually used to hold brandy. Since I don’t drink anything except water that’s what I fill it with—for drinking as well as washing my hands before and after meals, and before prayer. If you’d like, have a drink, if you’d like, wash your hands and pray. Most people recite the afternoon prayer right before sunset, some on time, others a drop late. I have a strict custom to pray at the first opportunity once the afternoon begins, which I learned from our forefather Isaac, who was the first to pray in the afternoon, as it says, ‘And Isaac went forth to pray in the fields in the afternoon.’ Now obviously, since his prayer was answered, and Rebecca his bride arrived, and there was time for him to bring her home to his mother’s tent, and marry her—all before sunset— clearly he must have been praying early in the afternoon. Now, my friend, that we’ve shared some words of Torah, let’s stand and pray.” He wrapped a sash about his waist and prayed. When he finished he gave some food to the oxen. While they ate he stood by and said to me, “You see, my friend, they chew their cud like the kosher animals described in the Torah. Now, since they’ve eaten, let us eat something as well.” He opened a satchel, turned down its edges, and said, “Let’s sit on this rock and eat. Take a look in the bag and you’ll find some almonds, nuts, dried fruit, and seeds. Tonight at home we’ll have bread. It is written in the Torah, ‘Eat meat in the evening,’ but what shall I do, being a vegetarian? Moses loved all Jews and he’ll forgive me for transgressing his command. I see you’ve brought bread and olives. Have bread if you wish, but I only eat it once a day on weekdays.” At one o’clock in the morning we reached Mitzpa. After bringing the oxen into the barn and giving them their feed, he brought me to his own shack of a house, prayed the evening service, and then served us supper. In the morning he brought me to Tiberias, where he was headed to fetch his wife who was being treated at the hot springs there. As we parted company I asked how much I owed him for the ride. He looked at me kindly and said, “My friend, you want to give me money and I don’t wish to accept it. If you want to sue me over this disagreement in the rabbinical court they’ll find you in contempt, so let’s just call it even—you won’t pay me money and I won’t accept any money.” 8. A year later I traveled once again to Tiberias. I strayed from the path to go to Mitzpa and visit my friend. I arrived in Mitzpa but could not find his shack. When I tried to ask about him I discovered that I did not know his name. Either he had never told me his name, or he had told me and I had forgotten it. We remember the names of all types of people for no reason at all, but we can’t remember the name of a man such as this?! My daughter, from my earliest memory I recall each and every person who ever did me a favor, and as I remember each person I remember his name. But it’s astounding that this man, who brought me to Tiberias, and with whom I traveled for a day and night, whose bread I ate, and whose water I drank, who gave me a bed to sleep in, and in whose home I was a guest for the night, and his image stands before me in my mind’s eye—he’s the one whose name I can’t remember? One night around Lag Ba’Omer I sat in the study hall in Peki’in, resting my head against the wall out of sheer exhaustion, hoping to sleep. Suddenly I heard people entering the building. I realized that it would be impossible to sleep here, since they were coming to recite the midnight prayers in mourning for Jerusalem and in hope for Redemption. I thought I could walk to my friend in Mitzpa, and he would offer me a bed to sleep in. I rose and left, but had no strength to move. I stretched out on the ground, placed my head upon a rock, and was overcome by sleep. I said to myself that if I lay down for too long I’d never reach Mitzpa, but even if I did get going I still didn’t know the name of the one to whom I was walking, and could not inquire where to find him. I washed my hands in order to inquire of Heaven what this dream meant. Before I could receive an answer I woke up and realized it had all been a dream. *** Translated from Hebrew by Jeffrey Saks. For more on this story, click here. Saks is the founding director of ATID. This original translation is forthcoming in a new anthology of Agnon’s short stories, Forevermore: Stories of the Old World and the New, edited by Jeffrey Saks, to be published by the Toby Press in 2016 as part of its S.Y. Agnon Library, featuring the writing of the Nobel laureate in new and revised English translations. Saks’ courses given at the Agnon House in Jerusalem are broadcast at WebYeshiva.org/Agnon. Shmuel Yosef Agnon shared the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature.
BENGALURU: In a windfall to legislators and ministers, both Houses of Karnataka legislature passed a bill on Monday gifting themselves a hike of roughly 75 per cent in their salaries and emoluments; which is reportedly the highest in the country till now.The exorbitant hike has been necessitated with the inclusion of some new categories of reimbursements. These include Rs 5,000 per night for each day of stay in a hotel with no fixed limits on the number of days as an allowance. In addition, they are also entitled for local transport of Rs 1,500 per day.The legislators only need to produce bills and make a claim.According to the Karnataka Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the cost to the exchequer from the hikes is about Rs 44 crore.The chief minister leads the race by hiking his salary from Rs 30,000 per month to Rs 50,000, while his cabinet ministers get a hike from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000. Their sumptuary allowance (regulated personal expenditure) has been doubled from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. A minister of state gets Rs 35,000 as salary against Rs 16,000, while the sumptuary allowance has been hiked from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2 lakh.Besides this, the CM and his ministers get hikes in the amount they spend on house rent, maintenance and travel allowances. The cost to exchequer for the CM and his ministers will be Rs 3.5 crore per annum. All these bills were passed without any discussion.Law minister T B Jayachandra, who piloted the bill, pegged the approximate additional expense to the state exchequer as Rs 44 crore per annum. The justification given in the bills for the increase in the salaries and reimbursements of the legislators is that 'there is a considerable increase in the cost of living.'The MLAs and MLCs have hiked their basic salary from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000, telephone allowance from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, constituency allowance from Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000, constituency travel allowance from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000, signifying a total increase of Rs 50,000 per month in the amount that they get directly.In reimbursements, they get Rs 25 per km as travel allowance, with a daily per diem within the state of Rs 2,500. In addition to this, they get hotel stay and local travel expenses.The legislators have also made their future positions secure by giving themselves a pension of Rs 40,000 per month, against the existing pension of Rs 15,000.Salaries, allowances and reimbursements of the presideing officers of both Houses (speaker and chairman) are on par with the CM, while travel costs and hotel stay are along the lines of what is applicable to all legislators. The leaders of opposition have not been given any special position in this regard.The monthly pension of former legislators has also been hiked from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 besides Rs 1,000 towards every year of additional service
MSU target Josh Jackson, right, playing for the West team, blocks the shot of East forward Jayson Tatum during Wednesday night's McDonald's All-American game in Chicago. (Photo: Matt Marton / AP) CHICAGO – Miles Bridges definitely paused when speaking about Josh Jackson. Perhaps he caught himself. Maybe it was nothing. Probably nothing. It might have been something. Welcome to “Josh Jackson Decision 2016.” This is what it’s coming to — analyzing the verbal pauses of Michigan State’s other incoming recruits for clues as to what Jackson might decide. Check that: has decided. He knows where he's going to college. Bridges knows, too. Neither is saying. Likely not for a few more weeks, Jackson said after Wednesday night’s McDonald’s All-American game. He’s got a busy schedule and wants to do it when life slows and he can be around family and friends. There is something ridiculous, almost demeaning about hanging on every word of a 19-year-old. Even if it’s part of the job. Even if he's the nation's top-ranked recruit. I’d like to tell Jackson to get over himself and share his decision. Spit it out. So the rest of us can get on with our lives that will or won’t involve him. The thing is, he’s worth the fuss. He’s that good. Against the best high school basketball players in the country — probably a dozen other future pros — Jackson stood out. He plays above the rim and beyond the arc. He can handle the basketball and finish on the drive. And he can pass. And defend. And at 6-foot-7 and a shade under 200 pounds, he can play three positions, including point guard. He scored 19 points in 17 minutes Wednesday, winning co-MVP. He would have scored two more, but his first emphatic put-back dunk was over the back of a teammate, who got credit for the bucket. Jackson is as close to a complete player as you’ll find between high school and the NBA. He’s finishing the former, soon to be in the latter. In-between he’ll play for … That brings us back to Bridges’ pause — either the most interesting or least interesting moment of the night. Of the many inquiries this week about Jackson’s whereabouts next season — MSU, Kansas or Arizona — this was not one of them. The question to Bridges was about how much he’d played and worked out with his future teammates. Not specifically the other incoming freshmen, but that’s the way Bridges took it. MSU signee Joshua Langford, playing for the West team, shoots against East forward VJ King during Wednesday night's McDonald's All-American game. Langford finished with 12 points. (Photo: Matt Marton / AP) “I play with them every all-star event, because we’re just trying to get to know each other,” Bridges began. “I play with Cassius (Winston) all the time. I try to work out with him when I’m at home. And Josh Jackson, too. Like I try to get him to …(pause) … come to Michigan State.” His cadence changed. He was rolling along, lumping Jackson in with Winston as a future teammate before realizing he was close to giving away a secret. Or that’s not at all what happened, and he was simply distracted or naturally speaks with odd pauses. Until Jackson shares his decision or Bridges accidentally does it for him, part of MSU’s basketball world stands still. And the imagination of MSU fans runs wild. It should. You ought to be able enjoy even the possibility of Jackson, Bridges, Winston, Joshua Langford and Nick Ward as an incoming class. Wednesday night was another metaphorical coat of Neosporin over still-healing wounds from March Madness. Four days after future point guard Winston dazzled in leading U-D Jesuit to a state championship, Bridges and Langford — and perhaps Jackson — offered another glimpse of MSU’s future. With or without Jackson, it’ll be fascinating to see how it all fits next season. At 6-7, 225 pounds, Bridges is a one-and-done talent who appears to have the potential to be a cross between Morris Peterson and Branden Dawson. Langford might have more years to give MSU. In a game full of highlight-reel athletes, though, the 6-5 Langford added a crafty and smooth element to Wednesday night. Players like him are often overshadowed in games like this. The old-man game, beautiful as it is, doesn’t translate in run-and-gun all-star games. Langford wasn’t outdone, finishing with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting, including a one-foot baseline jumper, a 3-pointer and Euro-step for a layup. If he’s not starting for MSU next season, it’s probably because Josh Jackson is on the roster. Langford has already begun thinking about how it’ll all come together. “I think about it a lot,” he said. “I’m just excited to get out there. Coach (Tom) Izzo, I know he’s going to do a great job with us. (As a team) we’re in a group (text) message. We talk about goals for next year. It’s winning a national championship. We know it’s going to take everybody in a cohesive group playing together and working hard.” The only question is, who’s everybody? Graham Couch can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
In the wake of legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado, VICE went to Canada's pot capital to get a glimpse of the current state of the industry in this country. If you like to get high, there's a good chance you've heard of BC Bud. Back in the '70s, draft dodgers brought their seeds to British Columbia, which happened to have a perfect climate for cultivation. The development of stronger strains higher in THC, an unprotected border with the US, and lax Canadian laws enabled the industry to generate revenues today estimated at close to $7 billion a year in British Columbia alone. This is a province with a population of only 4.5 million accounting for over 40% of Canada's marijuana industry. Everything is set to change since Prime Minister Stephen Harper instated Bill C-10, the new tough on crime legislation. Now the government is armed with mandatory minimum sentences and super-prisons to fill, helping to ramp up Canada's war on drugs. VICE went west to talk to the people directly affected by these recent events: from the legalization activists and the large and small scale growers, to the illegal traffickers and law enforcement.
Rancher Cliven Bundy displays a bouquet of desert foliage that his cattle grazes on during a news conference at an event near his ranch in Bunkerville on Saturday, April 11, 2015. (David Becker/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Art Bundy, left, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, stands while his mother Carol Bundy talk to attorneys Joel Hansen and Larry Klaymam, right, in front of Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @jlscheid Conservative radio host Pete Santilli, right, follows Ammon Bundy, left, at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Ore. on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @csstevensphoto Ryan Bundy takes a phone call by the entrance of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Ore. on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @csstevensphoto Terry Noonkester, right, and Jane Doherty, second right, protest outside Lloyd George Federal Building on Thursday, March 10, 2016, in Las Vegas. Cliven Bundy appears in court this afternoon. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @bizutesfaye Cliven Bundy speaks at a protest camp near Bunkerville on Friday, April 18, 2014. John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal Ammon Bundy, right, motions to Arizona Rancher LaVoy Finicum, left, while speaking with reporters at a news conference by the entrance of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Ore. on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @csstevensphoto A Bundy Ranch sign near Bunkerville, Nev. greets visitors on Thursday, May 19, 2016. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @jlscheid A sign is posted on a fence line is seen near the Bundy Ranch near Bunkerville, Nev. on Thursday, May 19, 2016. Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @jlscheid Federal employees talked about the “crazies” from across the United States who were coming to Bunkerville to support rancher Cliven Bundy. After corralling Bundy’s free-roaming “trespass” cattle from the Gold Butte range in 2014, agents were bracing for a violent confrontation. Some employees feared for their lives as suggestive threats surfaced and were circulated among Interior Department and law enforcement officials, according to emails obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal through a Freedom of Information Act request. After more than two years of gathering, redacting and delaying release of the documents, the Bureau of Land Management this week provided the newspaper with more than 400 pages of blacked-out emails and reports. The newspaper contends so much requested information is missing that the BLM response lacks the transparency required by the act. “ ‘Better late than never’ doesn’t cut it when it comes to the release of public records,” Review-Journal Editor Keith Moyer said. “But it’s especially intolerable when the government takes years to provide documents that can’t be read because they’re so heavily redacted. The Interior Department’s response in no way satisfies our FOIA request and leaves far too many questions about the 2014 Bunkerville standoff unanswered.” Review-Journal attorney Maggie McLetchie said, “FOIA was designed to ensure openness in government. We are studying the BLM’s response and considering future options.” The documents show the BLM was not only worried about 2,000 self-styled militia descending on a corral near Bunkerville, where about 350 head of Bundy’s cattle were impounded along the Virgin River, but bureau and National Park Service public affairs staff also were preparing now-censored scripts to deal with the media if something tragic happened. The emails say that federal agents overheard at a Wal-Mart in nearby Mesquite, 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas, that a protest by 2,000 people was mounting. ROUNDUP’S COST The newspaper sought emails that were copied to BLM District Manager Tim Smith, BLM Director Neil Kornze and then-Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie. The FOIA request, which consolidated two previous requests received by the BLM on April 13, 2014, hours after the standoff ended, also sought documents about the cost of the failed $1 million effort to remove Bundy’s cattle from the range and sell them at auction. Those documents show the BLM reduced a fraction of the $966,000 contract for a helicopter-roundup outfit because the detail to impound and truck the Gold Butte range cattle north to Utah had been cut short “for safety reasons.” Not counting personnel costs or costs racked up by the FBI and other participating federal agencies, nearly $1 million was spent on the helicopter roundup and impoundment of Bundy’s cattle, including an invoice for more than $16,000 for command post trailers provided by Modular Space Corp. in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. The newspaper had sought credit card records, money transfer records and other charges that were paid through BLM and Interior Department accounts, but none were provided in the documents released by the BLM. An order for a helicopter company was placed Feb. 7, 2014, by the BLM’s Las Vegas Field Office. It called for a cost that “shall not exceed $966,000” based on a rate of $700 per head, or $770,000 for a possible 1,100 head; feed and care at $8 per head for $44,000; and transportation at $4.50 per mile. After the armed standoff ended April 12, 2014, when BLM agents allowed Bundy’s supporters to release all the cattle from the corral, the contract was partially terminated “for convenience … due to unsafe site conditions and …” The end of that sentence was blacked out. As a result, the order’s amount was reduced by about $126,767 to $839,233. The contractor’s name and address were redacted under Freedom of Information Act exemptions that protect unwarranted invasion of personal privacy in law enforcement records and a determination by BLM FOIA Officer Ryan Witt that releasing the information “could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual,” according to the BLM’s May 12 letter that accompanied the redacted documents. THREATS TO BLM EMPLOYEES BLM officials were leery of threats of physical harm to employees, according to some emails. One handwritten note that begins, “Dear Feds,” was faxed among Interior Department officials. “I’m angry that you feel you can steal a ranch that has been this man’s family since the 1800s,” the letter reads. “Stop Now! before there is blood shed! “How dare you! think you can do this because you have badges + guns does not give you the right to behave unconstitutionally …. We the People have had enough of the Government gangs and their Brutal actions against the public,” reads the letter that was forwarded April 10, 2014, two days before the standoff ended, to undisclosed recipients in the Interior Department. Then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in one staff memo, offered “congrats” to the BLM’s Bundy detail team. But for what and to whom is unclear because most of the email and purchase documents the BLM provided are either blacked out entirely or heavily redacted. Twenty-two pages out of 442 “were withheld in full,” and 359 pages were withheld “in part.” Many of those pages, however, show only a date, a few words and an agency logo. Five days after the standoff ended, Reid publicly described Bundy’s supporters as “nothing more than domestic terrorists.” One memo said, “Several crazies are arriving daily from out of state to support the Bundys, and he is afraid these actions by the government will incite violence from one of the aforementioned crazies. “He would like reporters or representatives of the government to be alongside BLM and their subcontractors to witness the round-up and provide in-partial 3rd party verification of what is happening. — April 8,” reads the memo that doesn’t identify who “he” is. Another BLM email spells out the dangers of the roundup. “I have hoped for a peaceful operation, however it appears that isn’t happening,” reads the email written on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at 7:30 a.m. “I’m not feeling good about the protests planned partly because of the compound 1st amendment area. Imagine the pickets on the LV Strip on hwy 170,” the email reads. “The BLM failure to attend a scheduled Bunkerville Town Board meeting has set the tone. That and a couple reported incidents (alleged guns drawn) have escalated this beyond what should be occurring,” it says. Before the standoff ended, Bundy supporters had pointed rifles at the contingent of law enforcement personnel from an array of federal agents who were prepared to fire their weapons. Little did BLM officials know at the time that this would be a prelude to the January 2016 occupation of a wildlife refuge in east Oregon that ended after a militia spokesman and Bundy’s friend, LaVoy Finicum, was shot dead by troopers after he tried to evade a roadblock. On Feb. 10, five days after Bundy led a horseback procession at Finicum’s funeral in Kanab, Utah, he was arrested in Oregon on his way to support the wildlife refuge protest. He was returned to Las Vegas and jailed to face federal charges in connection with the April 2014 standoff in Bunkerville. In all, 19 defendants, including Bundy and four of his sons, face felony charges including conspiracy, obstruction, extortion and assault in connection with the April 2014 standoff with law enforcement. They are all in federal custody with a trial set to start on Feb. 6. In an interview six months after the standoff, Bundy told the Review-Journal, “One backfire of a vehicle, one firecracker, one somebody makes a crazy gunshot. It was that close, and it could have been either side’s fault. … It could have been We-The-People’s fault, or it could have been the government agency’s fault.” Contact Keith Rogers at [email protected] or 702-383-0308. Find @KeithRogers2 on Twitter.
The DZero collaboration at Fermilab on Thursday announced the discovery of a new particle whose quark content appears to be qualitatively different from normal. An ordinary meson is composed of a quark and an antiquark, whereas an ordinary baryon is made from three quarks. Physicists have long conjectured that exotic particles containing an additional quark-antiquark pair could exist, and a handful of candidates have been seen. Such particles, called tetraquarks, or their close relatives, the pentaquarks, would be exotic states forming a new particle species paralleling the ordinary mesons and baryons. DZero searched for new exotic states decaying into a B s meson and a pi meson. Both of these are well-known mesons, which travel finite distances before decaying via the weak nuclear interaction. The B s meson is composed of a quark and an antiquark of bottom and strange types, and the pi meson has an up and down quark and antiquark. The study, using the full data set acquired at the Tevatron collider from 2002 to 2011 totaling 10 inverse femtobarns, identified the B s meson through its decay into intermediate J/psi and phi mesons, which subsequently decayed into a pair of oppositely charged muons and a pair of oppositely charged K mesons respectively (see diagram). The plot of the mass distribution of the B s and pi meson combination (see the mass plot) shows an excess of 133 ± 31 events over the estimated background, with a mass of 5,568 MeV. The mass peak of the new state, called X(5568), is relatively broad (22 MeV) indicating that the particle decays via the strong interaction. The probability that previously known processes could have fluctuated to give a signal as strong as that seen is only 1 in about 6 million (5.1 standard deviation significance), after taking into account the estimated uncertainties in the analysis and the possibility that such a fluctuation could have occurred anywhere within the search window. The fact that the new X(5568) particle decays via the strong interaction into a B s and pi mesons tells us that it contains four distinct flavors of quarks and antiquarks – bottom, strange, up and down. Several other previously observed particles are good candidates to be tetraquark or pentaquark states, but all of these have a quark and antiquark of the same flavor, and thus their character as an exotic particle is less certain. The detailed internal structure of the new X(5568) particle, or the other tetraquark candidates, is not yet understood; they could be a relatively tightly bound combination of all four quarks and antiquarks, or they could be a structures in which two tightly bound quark-antiquark states revolve around each other (see figure). Measuring the properties of the new X(5568) particle and other tetraquark candidates – their masses, lifetimes, spins and parities, as well as the probabilities for them to decay into various final particle combinations – will give valuable new information about how the strong force binds quarks (and antiquarks) into observable particles. Dmitri Denisov and Paul Grannis are the co-spokespersons for the DZero experiment.
Tottenham Hotspur have been transformed in the last 5 years from a struggling mid-table team with a successful history into a top-four superpower. 1) The Manager Back in October 2008, Harry Redknapp took over from Juande Ramos at Tottenham Hotspur who were stuck in a relegation fight at the bottom of the Premier League. Under Redknapp, Spurs finished out that season inside the bottom half of the table in 11th place. After marching up the table (via 8th place in 2008/09) they have now become a top-four regular fixture and this season is currently following suit as they sit 4 points clear of North London rivals Arsenal in four position, just one point behind Chelsea in 3rd. Since sacking Redknapp, new manager Andre Villas-Boas has proven himself arguably the most ‘progressive’ manager in the league. His style of management, as much as his mode and style of play, are every bit as continental as he is. Unlike Redknapp who deserves credit for Spurs’ progression every bit as much as his replacement, Villas-Boas is a cultured and composed figure – he handles himself with diplomacy and decorum that surpasses that of many of his seniors at other Premier League clubs. Redknapp got Spurs playing very good football and they were effective but they lacked the verve and versatility they now have under the Portuguese boss. They adapt their shape so fluently and their formation so confidently that oftentimes one would, from watching them, assume they were playing in La Liga or Ligue 1. 2) Speed of ascendance Their ascendance to the top has been done so masterfully (again Redknapp deserves the credit, here) that it hasn’t felt even remotely surprising – it’s been an organic process by which, unlike their super-rich counterparts Chelsea and Manchester City, has felt like consistent growth and development, rather than instant impact from overnight overhauls. They’ve made a gradual ascent from 11th to 8th to 4th to 5th to 4th – other than the 2010/11 season, they’ve made continual progress and their team improvements have followed suit. 3) Transfer business Which brings me to their dealings in the transfer market. Although Redknapp earned himself a reputation as a wheeler-dealer he actually made very reasonable and sensible purchases whilst in charge at White Hart Lane. If you look at the ‘silly money’ spent by City and the Blues, not to mention the catastrophic purchases made by Liverpool in recent seasons, Spurs have faired very well in the transfer market. They’ve not only bought well but sold well too – who would pay £33 million for Luka Modric now? In 2007 Spurs bought Gareth Bale for £2 million – he’s got to be worth more than 30 times figure that now. The likes of Rafael van der Vaart, Jermaine Defoe, Sandro, Lewis Holtby, Hugo Lloris, Moussa Dembele, Clint Dempsey and Jan Vertonghen represent quality for the right price. You look at the £500 million City have spent in a similar period or the £1 billion Chelsea have spent on transfers and wages in the last decade and yet Spurs are right up there with them season after season. Had it not been for one night in Munich, Spurs would have beaten Chelsea to Champion’s League football last year and they look likely to knock Arsenal out of next year’s contention for it this time around. Yet they’ve done it all within a modest budget (as far as Premier League spending goes). 4) Philosophy Daniel Levy has done a fantastic job season after season of securing the very best for nothing more nothing less than they’re worth and he’s given his managers what they want without compromising his own standing or bowing to external pressures. They don’t take on the economic policy of Arsenal but borrow from the same socialist principles that the Gunners do. However, as is clear more than ever this season, their implementation of this philosophy is far more effective than their neighbours. Levy ensures the club operates within it’s means and expands at the same rate of its’ growth – a simple but intelligent business management plan. The next step may be a new stadium or expansion of White Hart Lane but, either way, this club is growing in terms of its appeal worldwide – in terms of sponsorship, revenue, commercial appeal, and fan-base and that is what will drive these impending adaptations. 5) The Table Doesn’t Lie It’s a football cliché but it’s apt in this instance – the table and, synonymously, the results don’t lie. Tottenham currently sit 4th just one point behind Chelsea. I may be a little premature but I firmly believe they can (and will) finish 3rd this season and I certainly can’t see them falling away as spectacularly as they did last time around. Champion’s League qualification will only re-enforce their ambitions and development as a club – they will remain, if they continue to operate in the manner they have been, a staple of the top-four big clubs in English football. They've beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford this season and managed to hold them to a draw at White Hart Lane. There is no co-incidence or luck in that. The results simply reflect their ability and application. The extra income generated by the continent’s most elite competition will only enhance their ability to grow their brand and prosper long into future and, as it stands, no other club in the league can claim to be even half as progressive as Tottenham Hotspur FC. images: © Zweifüssler, © firepower23
VR took another big Jump forward (sorry, had to) with their announcement at Google IO yesterday. The Jump platform promises to completely reshape the VR content production landscape, from capture to display. Understanding how and why requires really grokking Jump itself. So based on screenshots and published specs, we’ll do our best. First, Jump is a physical platform. It’s a GoPro array, like you might get from 360 Heroes or any one of a dozen other GoPro-holder companies. Google VP of Product Management and head of VR/AR Clay Bavor claimed the rig works with ‘off the shelf cameras,’ and the presentation implied it was camera agnostic, but practically speaking it’s a GoPro rig. Google isn’t selling it, but they are releasing the CAD drawings so anyone can manufacture them. Here’s a rendering, but they also had photos, so this isn’t vaporware: And yes, they even made one out of cardboard ($8,000 worth of camera and 8 cents worth of cardboard, like a Ferrari engine in, well, a car like mine). But before you go start a company manufacturing these things, know that GoPro is also going to sell this Jump array, supposedly by ‘this summer.’ GoPro has been pretty good at hitting published delivery dates, if not speculated ones, so this is probably accurate. But you can still make your own if you want it in a different color, say, or a different material. I can almost guarantee there will be a half-dozen carbon fiber versions available right away, for example, and plastic ones will be on Alibaba pretty much instantly. Just keep in mind: any rig probably has to be built to tight tolerances, because the camera positions are important. See below, where we discuss ‘calibrated camera arrays.’ At first glance, the rig is a little bigger than equivalent GoPro holders. It holds 16 cameras, and there are no up-facing or down-facing cameras at all. Based on the GoPro 4 Black’s specs, the rig captures a full 360 laterally, but just over 120 degrees vertically. So it will be missing about 30 degrees around each pole, directly above your head and at your feet. (Probably not a big deal, I think — but maybe a small differentiator for one of the existing companies? Like Mao’s Great Leap, Google’s is going to create a few casualties.) Also, Jump is arranged like a mono rig, where each camera is pointed in a different direction. Most 3D GoPro rigs have two cameras pointed in each direction like this: By having two cameras pointed in each direction, you get a different view for each eye, which gives you parallax and your 3D effect. You also get seams, because the ‘left’ camera pointing in one direction is pretty far from the ‘left’ camera facing another direction. There’s an entire micro industry built around painting together the seams left by that arrangement (and the smaller seams in mono 360, though that’s usually more tractable). But this is where Google blows everything else out of the water: their rig is a 3D rig. But the cameras aren’t dedicated left eye or right eye; each camera captures pixels that are used for both eyes. Google gets their 3D effect the same way Jaunt does, by using machine vision to infer 3D positions, then remapping those 3D positions so there is no seam. None. (In theory.) That’s a big deal, because now with $10k in semi-professional gear you can produce flawless 360 3D VR. That’s amazing. (It’s also not the whole story — I’ll discuss limitations shortly.) Here’s how it works: because their software knows exactly where each camera is relative to the other, if they can find a patch of pixels that matches between two cameras, they can figure out where that point must be in 3D space in the real world. Using that 3D data, they can bend and warp the footage to give you what’s known as a ‘stereo-orthogonal’ view: basically, each vertical strip of footage has exactly the correct parallax. For normal rigs, that’s only the case with subject matter directly between two of the taking lenses, and it falls off with the cosine of the angle that the subject matter makes with the lens axis. (In other words, the further you are off to the side, the less stereo depth you normally have.) Now, this requires a ton of computation, but Google can do this pretty fast — probably faster than existing off-the-shelf stitchers — because they are dictating how and where you put the cameras. Here’s the deal, in depth (sorry again): when you shift from one camera in the array to another, the perspective shifts by a little bit. To stitch the images (or build a 3D model), you find matching regions in the image from adjacent cameras. These are called ‘point correspondences.’ So if you start with a few pixels from camera A, and you’re looking in camera B’s footage for a similar patch of pixels, you actually know where to start and which direction to start looking in. This speeds up the search process massively, compared to an uncalibrated rig. To be fair, existing stitching software like Videostitch or Kolor (conveniently part of GoPro now) probably make some pretty good algorithmic assumptions about your camera rig — but the pure mathematical advantage of a calibrated rig is huge. So, once you find the matching patches, and you know how far you had to ‘travel’ in the source image to find them, you can compute the distance to the camera array for that region. If the object is at infinity, it will be some small distance away in the two images (it’s not in the same region of the images because the cameras are pointed in slightly different directions). As the subject moves closer to the camera, that distance will drop to zero and then start to get larger as the subject approaches the rig. The exact distance in the images is fully dictated by the distance of the subject, so you can compute 3D positions with scary accuracy. To be totally precise, you’re searching along epipolar lines in the second image. (Because GoPro lenses distort heavily, the lines are actually arcs, unless they’re remapped in memory… but that diagram would totally break my head.) Note that the hyper-efficient algorithms behind this are only a few years old; those interested in geeking out heavily should consider reading “Multiple View Geometry,” which covers both the specific case here and the general case of uncalibrated camera rigs. Available here; full disclosure, I’ve only read the first couple hundred pages, but I probably read each page ten times. It’s dense, and you’ll spend some time trying to visualize things like ‘planes at infinity.’ Plus it’s heavy on linear algebra; enjoy. More about what this all means after the jump…. Continued on page 2… Tagged with: 360 video, cardboard, google, google cardboard, Jump, live action, virtual reality, Youtube
The Pee Without Noise Stool is one of those ideas that's so cool we're embarrassed we didn't think of it before. We've all been there: it's 2am in a sleeping house, your mother-in-law is right behind you in line for the potty, or you don't want to broadcast the fact that you downed six glasses of beer over the course of your date. As great as it is to be able to pee standing up, there are some situations where you just want to do your business discreetly, and having the outlet several feet above the bowl makes it hard to keep the volume down. You could sit, but not only is that unbecoming a man, you also risk splashing the rim. Enter the Pee Without Noise stool. Kneeling on its soft cushions positions you at the exact right height to land your stream in the bowl at a much-reduced velocity and volume level. This simple, elegant tool could save your dignity, your relationship, or even your life (if there's a robber in the house but you just have to go)! The Pee Without Noise stool features:
In a jolt to Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh, his loyalist and former Samana legislator Jagtar Singh Rajla has quit the party and prepared to join the AAP during Shaheedi Jor Mela on Sunday in Fatehgarh Sahib. Rajla had joined the Congress in 2009 by moving over from the Shiromani Akali Dal, which he had represented in the assembly from 1997 to 2002. He claims that Amarinder, for whom he had joined the Congress, had ignored him. After Sukhpal Singh Khaira, he is the second prominent leader this week to desert the Congress for the Aam Aadmi Party. Rajla told HT that: “My biggest mistake was to trust Amarinder and join him. Captain is surrounded by a corrupt coterie and only people with deep pockets can meet him. I have no deep pockets, so I am an ‘aam aadmi (common man).” “Before the AAP, disgruntled leaders had no option but to move to the SAD. Had the AAP been formed in 2009, I would not have joined the Congress, since its leadership is corrupt. An honest leader such as Gurcharan Singh Tohra has been my mentor, so now when I see a party with honest credentials, I am going to join it without precondition; to work as a volunteer,” he added. On hearing that Rajla might quit the party, Amarinder contacted him. But Rajla said when he had driven to Captain’s house in Chandigarh, his coterie had not allowed him in. “They said Captain didn’t want to meet me. Now, they have messaged me that please come and meet Captain Saab. This time, I have refused.” said Rajla. In 2009, when his wife, Preneet Kaur, faced anti-incumbency, Amarinder had roped in Tohra loyalist Rajla with a promise of election ticket in 2012. Rajla ensured lead for Preneet from Samana, but in 2012, Captain fielded his son, Raninder Singh, who eventfully lost from Samana. “Amarinder didn’t keep his promise and favoured own family over party workers,” said Rajla. “I am not going to the AAP for a ticket or to contest an election. I am going to teach a lesson to the corrupt politicians who have ruined Punjab,” he said. In spite of several attempts to contact him, Amarinder was unavailable for comments. First Published: Dec 26, 2015 23:50 IST
Teen visionary Willow Smith has been dropping allusions to December 11 on Twitter, and now it’s clear why. This morning, the singer releases her debut album Ardipithecus, available on U.S. iTunes here. She is credited as sole songwriter on 14 of the 15 tracks, and sole producer on 10 of them. Other credits include Willow’s older brother AcE (aka Trey Smith) on three tracks, and frequent collaborator JABS on two of them. Speaking to The FADER via email, Willow explained the album’s title and concept as follows: ADVERTISEMENT "Ardipithecus Ramidus is the scientific name of the first hominid bones found on earth. I wanted to name my musical compilation after it because, while I was making these songs I was in such a transitional state. Digging deep in the soil of my heart and finding bits and pieces of my ancient self that tell stories, which end up being the lyrics to the songs. Ardipithecus is my first album in my entire career and it makes me feel so blessed to be able to share my evolution with the LightEaters as I continue excavating my inner worlds…" You can also stream album track "F Q-C #8" below. "I have an ongoing list of F Q-C songs," Willow said. "These songs were created through characters I have developed within my mind."
The University of Sheffield Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (SASH) has turned down a suggestion by a student to invite Maryam Namazie to speak at the university. The reason? Her ‘hard anti-Islamist approach’ is not ‘conducive’ to the direction that the society wishes to go in. This isn’t a wind-up. Not only is the suggestion that you can be ‘too hard’ on Islamism baffling, but the fact that this statement came from an atheist, secularist and humanist society is almost beyond parody. To clarify, this is a society which aims to defend human rights and promote secularism declining to invite a renowned and influential ex-Muslim, secularist and human-rights campaigner. (Namazie has done extensive work supporting refugees, and has tackled both religious fundamentalism and far-right bigotry.) In its response to the inquiring student, SASH said that it would like to concentrate on ‘interfaith’ activities instead, stating that ‘interfaith between faith societies is vital’. Apparently, inviting Namazie, which may not be welcomed by some members of Sheffield’s Islamic Society (ISoc), would be antithetical to their objectives. I’ve always found the idea of atheist societies bizarre. After all, these are groups forged from a shared lack of belief in something. But the idea of an atheist society working its agenda and events around an Islamic society, a religious organisation, is absurd. It seems that SASH has shifted its focus to humanism rather than atheism – only here ‘humanism’ means pandering to Islamists. SASH stated that Namazie’s recent podcast with Sam Harris demonstrated her ‘often divisive approach’. This is the podcast in which Namazie opposes Harris’ views on the profiling of Muslim immigrants and defends open borders for those fleeing persecution. Pretty divisive, huh? SASH was particularly concerned that there would be a repeat of ‘what happened at Goldsmiths’, when Islamist students disrupted a talk being given by Namazie. But this only projects a pretty dim view of Sheffield ISoc. As a Sheffield student myself, I’d like to think that ISoc members would be up for the debate, and would not act at all like those thugs at Goldsmiths. Not all Muslims resent apostates. What’s more, the subtext here is that Namazie was in some way to blame for the Goldsmiths incident. Though SASH insists it does not condone Goldsmiths ISoc’s actions, it is nevertheless siding with Islamists at Namazie’s expense. This is cowardly and pathetic.
Women Earn 16% Less Than Men in Management Positions in Europe A new report by Eustat reveals some interesting details about the state of the genders within the European Union. Women are more educated, more active, and healthier than men, all the while receiving smaller salaries. Quality and trajectory of the lives of both sexes On average, women leave the family home at age 25, while men do it two years later. The average European of the fairer sex lives to the age of 83, 6 years longer than men. Women are also 7 times likely to be single parents than men. That could be attributed to the European custody laws that favor women and the higher mortality rate of men. Despite that, males are more likely to be satisfied with their own health. The two genders at work On paper, women should be more qualified to hold higher professional positions, as 33% of them have higher education in comparison to 29% of men. However, males in management get 16% more money than their female counterparts and double them in quantity. Latvia has the largest percentage of female managers, at 47%, while Luxemburg has the lowest at 17% Relaxation on Mars vs. Socializing on Venus Women spend more time and money on more social leisure, like going to the theatre, the cinema, or to cultural sites. Women are also more likely to read books – 42% compared to men’s 31%. Men will use the Internet more, with 81% of them using it at least once a week compared to 77% in females. Unsurprisingly, women are more likely to do house chores and care for children. 91% of females age 25-49 watched over their kids in comparison to 68% of males in the same age group.
Australia has had an active civil space program since 1947 but has much to learn if it is to capture a bigger share of growing billion dollar global space industry. The potential size and scope of the Australian space sector compares well against several other space nations, notably the United Kingdom and Canada. But both those nations have more effective space sectors that are centrally administered by a single government body, whereas Australia space activities are not strategically managed by a central entity. In particular the UK has recently adopted an agency approach to managing civil space activities, after decades of committee administration. There are lessons for Australia in the approach that the UK took in creating its agency. Australia’s space exploits Australian civil space activities are currently overseen by the Department of Industry’s Space Coordination Office (SCO), which last year replaced the Space Policy Unit. The SCO is tasked with coordinating all of Australia’s national and international civil space activities. Working in conjunction with the SCO is the Space Licensing and Safety Office (SLASO) which implements regulatory and safety regimes for space activities within Australia or involving Australian contributions in international programs. The SCO drafted the Satellite Utilisation Policy, Australia’s most recent space-focused government policy. Its original intent was to develop a policy that will: […] articulate a comprehensive national space strategy and facilitate better coordination of space activities across Government. But the realised policy falls short of being a space policy, as it considers only the use of space-derived data in the Australian context. It does however highlight Australia’s dependency on internationally provided space data (for weather forecasting, land management and position and navigation services). It also hints at Australia’s vulnerability in securing the continuation of these services, as most are provided free through time-limited international agreements. These government bodies exist to facilitate the activities in space of outside parties. They do not initiate or manage space programs in their own right, and have no capacity to sponsor such programs. Our failings in space Australia’s approach to space activities is passive and regulatory. It does nothing to create or grow them to take advantage of new opportunities. In fact, this passive strategy may even put off Australian efforts to keep up with international competition. There are two basic areas of the space sector where Australia is failing: strategic oversight and development of nationally important space services strategic investment to exploit a growing multi-billion dollar space market To support the first, Australia needs a space agency, and for the second it needs a space program. To see how this might be implemented, the recent UK experience provides a good case study. Lessons from the UK Prior to 2010, the British National Space Centre (BNSC) was responsible for coordinating the UK’s civil space activities, serving a similar role to Australia’s SCO. Towards the end of its life the BNSC was beginning to show several failings in approach and operation. Notably it lacked a unified view and approach, coordination across its remit, and the independence to make strategic policy. Collectively it managed a budget for space activities, but the application of this budget was decided through consensus across its partners. This resulted in a splintered set of supported programs and a series of lost opportunities for the UK and its domestic activities. Within the UK there had been increasing pressure from space industry leaders for better government support. To support their cause the domestic space industry collectively set up and funded the Case for Space, an economic study that demonstrated the value of the space industry to the UK economy. This set in motion a government-led investigation called the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy (Space IGS). This studied in more detail the size and health of the domestic space industry, identified the civil space stakeholders and investigated areas in most need of support and growth. A share of the space market Core to the findings of the Space IGS was that UK needed a space program with the one primary goal – to capture 10% of the global space market and have a centralised government agency to deliver it. The 10% goal is an important stake in the ground. It sets out a requirement for growth and forces the government to approach the industry as an economic asset. Shortly after, the UK Space Agency (UKSA) was formed. The agency was set up very quickly to precede the 2010 general election. Its initial funding and responsibilities were transferred directly from the BNSC, allowing the transition to take place with little to no extra spending. The agency has been much more effective than the BNSC. In the last four years there has been more support for industry, more technology development, and simplified and expanded access to satellite data. The UKSA has also allowed more strategic participation in larger international (mainly European Space Agency (ESA)) programs. Most importantly, in working towards growing the UK civil space market the UKSA has helped set up programmes that are assisting established space businesses, aiding the establishment of new ones and helping the agency meet the targeted 10% market share. What should Australia do? Looking at the performance of the UKSA in its first few years, and considering the similarities of the BNSC and the SCO, it is clear Australia could be getting much more out of its space industry. The space industry is a rapidly growing market averaging a yearly growth rate of 7.5%. It is expected to grow from a A$322 billion to A$722 billion industry over the next 20 years. Australia has so far captured only about A$1.2 billion or just 0.37% of the existing market. Of this potential extra A$400 billion future market it is expected that new activities will make up a significant portion. This future market is likely to comprise downstream use of new satellite data (positioning, navigation, earth imaging) along with upstream opportunities in the area of small satellites, consumer electronics in space and space tourism. This is to the advantage of high tech countries with less of an established space industry, as this market will depend less on established infrastructure and businesses, and more on innovation and technology transfer. But failure to engage with this now will lose Australia the ability to compete in this market in the future. Learning from the UK process, the key steps to consider for a centralised civil space agency in Australia would be: carry out a government initiated Space IGS-style report on Australian space activities, built on the studies already performed under the Australian Space Research Program define a clear vision and set achievable goals for the industry review agency models for the best fit for the Australian situation act on it – consolidate space budgets and assign appropriate authority to the agency (additional government funding is not a prerequisite) develop a space policy to support the goals of the agency In the UK, the space industry pushed for the formation of the UKSA mostly as a reaction against the inadequacies of the BNSC and lost commercial opportunities. The end result was a more efficient and more decisive agency with far reaching benefits across the industry, academia and government. In Australia, the space industry is showing a growing appetite for this. The Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) is preparing a strategic document examining its vision for the Australian space industry in the near future. Additionally there are a growing number of start-ups (Sabre Astronautics, LaunchBox, etc) and support networks (DeltaV) targeting space opportunities. This could all be done in a more proactive manner. The opportunity exists to see the benefits of a strategic agency promoting a consistent agenda, to best take advantage of the changing nature of the space industry.
Autodesk (S ADSK) has invested $10 million in the Los Angeles-based digital art community Deviantart. Word about the investment first got out in September, but an SEC filing now adds further details, showing that Autodesk invested a total of $10.04 million in the company. The amount was confirmed by an Autodesk spokesperson Wednesday. The investment makes Autodesk the biggest investor in Deviantart. Advertisement Deviantart is one of the oldest communities of its kind on the web. The site, which was founded all the way back in 2000, is offering users a space to upload and showcase photos, drawings and other types of digital art. The site attracts 65 million unique visitors per month and has a total of 29 million registered users, which upload over 160,000 pieces of art every day.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A safety project to revamp the Atlantic Boulevard/Arlington Expressway interchange near Regency Square Mall is scheduled to begin Jan. 4, according to Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). The project is designed to improve traffic movements in and around Regency Square Mall and will include reconstructing the eastbound Arlington Expressway; reconstructing Atlantic Boulevard from the west entrance road to Regency Square Mall and Monument Road and providing additional turn lanes. The majority of the work will be done at night and lane closures will only be allowed generally between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The same number of traffic lanes that are currently open are required to be open during daytime hours. Most work will be completed behind barrier wall. The contractor will build temporary pavement to shift traffic away from construction activities. The $7 million contract was awarded to Hubbard Construction of Winter Park. Construction is expected to last about a year. FDOT will have a construction open house on the project Jan. 21 at Regency Square Library, 9900 Regency Square Blvd, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. FDOT project staff will be on hand to answer questions from the community. Though primarily a safety project, the improvements will aid businesses in and around the Regency Square Mall by improving traffic flow. Copyright 2015 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.
Roma have confirmed they have accepted the resignation of Claudio Ranieri as the club's coach. Ranieri offered to stand down last night after his side surrendered a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 at Genoa – their fourth straight defeat in all competitions. Vincenzo Montella, the former Italy striker who scored more than 100 goals for Roma during his playing career, has been promoted from his role as youth-team coach to take charge until the end of the season. The team trained without Ranieri this morning, the coach turning up at the Trigoria training ground to meet club officials and players before leaving 50 minutes later. The club then issued a statement confirming they had parted company with the 59-year-old. Roma said in a statement: "AS Roma announces it received yesterday evening the resignation of Claudio Ranieri as coach of the first team. "Following this move, the financial contract with Ranieri, whose deal was coming to an end on 30 June 2011, has ended by mutual consent. Roma wishes to thank Claudio Ranieri for the professionalism shown and the work done [during his time at the club]." Ranieri enjoyed a successful first season with Roma after replacing Luciano Spalletti in September 2009. The club had endured an horrendous start to the campaign and Ranieri, who had been fired by Juventus months earlier, rescued the team and nearly led them to the scudetto. Roma ultimately finished runners-up in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia to Internazionale.
The New York Times and Gaza: Justifying genocide 31 December 2008 On the fourth day of the Israeli aerial blitz against the population of Gaza, the New York Times, the mouthpiece of US establishment liberalism, weighed in on the subject for the first time on its editorial pages. In a lead editorial, the Times made its position clear in short order. "Israel must defend itself," it began. "And Hamas must bear responsibility for ending a six-month cease-fire this month with a barrage of rocket attacks into Israeli territory." There is little to distinguish the "newspaper of record's" version of events from the mendacious account being peddled by the American media in general: the Palestinians are the aggressors and Israel the victim. Never mind the grim and unequal equation of the conflict: roughly 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. The Times' potted explanation of the war, presented as though it were common knowledge and irrefutable fact, conveniently ignores that it was the Israeli military which broke the cease-fire with a provocative cross-border raid into the Gaza Strip in which six members of the Hamas security force were killed. The date of the raid was November 4, not by coincidence Election Day in America. The timing is an indication that the attack was a politically calculated provocation by the Israeli regime, which it held in abeyance until after the electoral contest in the US, its indispensable patron, had been concluded. Press reports in Israel indicate that the attack on Gaza had been actively prepared for six months, with the Zionist regime agreeing to the cease-fire only to give its military the time it needed. One of the principal aims of the operation was to reestablish the credibility of Israel's military after the humiliating defeat it suffered in Lebanon two-and-a-half years ago and to thereby intimidate all others in the region. The present military operation has been launched by Israel not as an act of self-defense but in pursuit of definite geopolitical aims and in response to its own internal political and social contradictions. The Times editorial engages in a bit of hand-wringing over whether the slaughter in Gaza is good for Israel—not a word of sympathy for the dead and maimed Palestinian men, women and children—and issues a hypocritical appeal for the Israeli regime to "limit civilian casualties." Passed over in silence is the brutal Israeli blockade which has left Gaza's population impoverished and hungry, without adequate food, medical supplies, electricity, potable water or other basic necessities of life. The cease-fire was supposed to alleviate these desperate conditions, but Israel merely tightened the noose around Gaza. Nor is there any mention of how 1.5 million people came to be trapped in these desperate conditions and on this narrow strip of land as a result 60 years of Israeli expulsions and occupations. If the Times editorial is merely cynical, the opinion piece which the newspaper chose to publish on the opposite page of its Tuesday edition is colored by outright criminality. The author is Benny Morris, a prominent Israeli historian, whose views were formerly identified with the Israeli left, but who in the past several years has swung decisively over to the extreme right. "Why Israel Feels Threatened" is the title of Morris's piece, which provides a more lengthy and sophisticated justification of the slaughter in Gaza and a sinister warning of greater crimes still to come. He presents a portrait of Israel surrounded by increasingly dangerous enemies, while confronted with dwindling support from its allies in the West. "To the east, Iran... to the north, the Lebanese fundamentalist organization Hezbollah... To the south, Israel faces the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip." As a result of these "dire threats," Morris insists, "Israelis feel that the walls—and history—are closing in on their 60-year-old state." Who is threatening whom? Israel is the one state in the world that recognizes no permanent boundaries. In the north, it has repeatedly invaded Lebanon, on the last occasion in July 2006, carrying out massive bombings of the country's south and Beirut's suburbs and killing thousands of civilians. In the east, it has imposed unbearable conditions of life on West Bank Palestinians, sealing them behind an apartheid wall and subjecting them to restrictions, roadblocks and repression. And in the south, it is now pounding Gaza's teeming neighborhoods with high explosives, while preparing for a ground invasion. As for Iran, Morris spoke for the bullying state that he represents in an op-ed piece that the Times published in July, essentially threatening the Iranian people with nuclear annihilation. Urging a conventional bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, Morris wrote then that the operation would result in "thousands of Iranian casualties and international humiliation" for Iran. He added that, if this attack failed to halt Iran's nuclear program, "The alternative is an Iran turned into a nuclear wasteland." In his latest piece, Morris reserves what he perceives as the darkest threat for last: demography. The very existence of 1.3 million Arab citizens inside Israel's pre-1967 borders, he warns, "offers the recipe" for the "dissolution of the Jewish state." These Arab-Israelis, he states, have become "radicalized" and are "embracing Palestinian national aims." Moreover, higher birthrates among Arab-Israelis, if the trend continues, mean that they would constitute the majority of Israel's citizens by as early as 2040. Within as little as five years, Arabs could become the majority within the borders of pre-1948 Palestine (including Israel, the West Bank and Gaza). "Most Jews," Morris asserts, "see the Arab minority as a potential fifth column." He concludes that the threats facing Israel are "difficult to counter" because of Israel's commitment to "Western democratic and liberal norms." He adds darkly that the sense of danger from these developments "has this past week led to one violent reaction. Given the new realities, it would not be surprising if more powerful explosions were to follow." For the casual reader of the Times, this piece by Morris is clearly meant to inculcate a weary acceptance of still greater atrocities in the name of Israeli "self defense." The politics of Benny Morris But, as the Times is well aware, Morris is a fervent and public advocate of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. For those more familiar with his political record, the genocidal conclusions that flow from his arguments are clear. Morris first gained a name for himself as one of Israel's so-called "new historians," who in the 1980s exposed the founding myths of the Zionist state and provided documentary evidence that Israel was established only through the violent and forced expulsion of up to three-quarters of a million Palestinians from their land. This population of stateless refugees has now swelled to nearly 4 million. While he was then considered a man of the left, beginning in 2000, with the onset of the second Intifada and the collapse of the Camp David "final status" talks, he turned sharply to the right. He upheld his earlier findings—and produced new ones showing that Israeli military forces were responsible for a deliberate campaign of massacres and rapes aimed at driving out the Palestinians—but then defended these crimes as necessary and justifiable. In a January 2004 interview with Ha'aretz Magazine, Morris spelled out his position: "Under some circumstances expulsion is not a war crime. I don't think that the expulsions of 1948 were war crimes. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. You have to dirty your hands." Morris went further, declaring that Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion, "should have done a complete job" and "cleaned the whole country" of Arabs. As historical justification, he added, "Even the great American democracy could not have been created without the annihilation of the Indians." "There are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing," he continued. "I know that this term is completely negative in the discourse of the 21st century, but when the choice is between ethnic cleansing and genocide—the annihilation of your people—I prefer ethnic cleansing." Morris was not merely offering his opinions on history. He insisted in his 2004 interview that under "other circumstances... which are likely to be realized in five or ten years," characterized by war and crisis, "acts of expulsion will be entirely reasonable. They may even be essential." Elsewhere in the Ha'aretz interview, he described the Palestinian people as "a wild animal that has to be locked up in one way or another," and he concluded, "When the choice is between destroying or being destroyed, it's better to destroy." This is the language of fascism. It offers a pseudo-intellectual justification of the policy known in Israel as "transfer"—that is, the forced expulsion of the remaining Arab population from Israeli territory, and potentially from the West Bank and Gaza as well. Initially championed by such fascistic elements as the late Meir Kahane, it has been increasingly embraced by Israel's main parties and leaders. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a leading candidate for prime minister, expressed this policy somewhat delicately recently, declaring that as Israel's leader she would "approach the Palestinian residents of Israel ... and tell them: ‘Your national aspirations lie elsewhere.'" The distinction that Morris makes between ethnic cleansing and genocide is a false one. One practice leads to the other. The Nazis' "final solution" initially called for forced emigration, the expulsion of Jews from Germany. Then came the death camps. The Times' publication of Morris's column only underscores its own opportunistic and cynical attitude towards ethnic cleansing and genocide. Whether it opposes these practices or tacitly accepts them is entirely dependent on who is carrying them out and whose interests are served. Thus, on Sunday it published a piece by its columnist Nicholas Kristof urging Obama to take military action against Sudan over what he described as genocide in Darfur. Similarly, the newspaper was a major proponent of US intervention in the former Yugoslavia in response to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and charges of the same in Kosovo. When opposing ethnic cleansing serves to further US consolidation of its control over oil-rich countries in Africa or to expand eastward the domination of NATO, it becomes a moral imperative. When it is practiced by US allies, it is quietly supported. The slaughter in Gaza and the more horrific crimes being suggested by the likes of Morris are a telling indication of the political, social and moral blind alley reached by the nationalist project initiated under the banner of Zionism. In 1938, Leon Trotsky stated that the "attempt to solve the Jewish question through the migration of Jews to Palestine" represented a "tragic mockery of the Jewish people." He issued a prescient warning that "The future development of military events may well transform Palestine into a bloody trap" and insisted that "the salvation of the Jewish people is bound up inseparably with the overthrow of the capitalist system." Seventy years on, the Zionist project threatens to become a "bloody trap" not only for working people in Israel, but for the entire region. The only alternative remains the struggle to unite the working class, Jewish and Arab alike, in a common fight against capitalism and for the creation of a socialist federation of the Middle East. Bill Van Auken
This article is over 7 years old TV presenter handed over £378,000 in exchange for spells said to involve animal sacrifice Two self-professed witches have been detained in Romania on blackmail and extortion charges in a high-profile case involving a TV star and reportedly other public figures. A police spokesman, Christian Ciocan, said the two women – who go by the single names of Melissa and Vanessa – approached public figures promising to help them overcome work or love difficulties, and break curses. He said the women initially charged very little, but then, as their victims became hooked on their services, increased their prices. Ciocan cited one case where the victim – who later publicly identified herself as actor, singer and TV presenter Oana Zavoranu – handed over €450,000 (£378,000) in cash and property in exchange for spells. He said the witches practised black magic, and sacrificed animals in graveyards and near rivers, claiming this would protect Zavoranu from her mother and in-laws who had put a curse on her. The witches, however, claim Zavoranu is being vengeful because she asked them to cast a spell that would kill her mother, but the mother is still alive. The ex-wife of businessman Cristi Borcea, one of two owners of Romanian football team Dinamo Bucharest, was also cited as a victim, but she has neither confirmed or denied the case. Ciocan said if the victims tried to cease payment, the two women would threaten to put a spell on them, or disclose details of their personal lives. A court ruled on WednesdayMelissa and Vanessa would be released later the same day, awaiting trial. Many people believe in witchcraft in Romania. President Traian Basescu and his aides have been known to wear purple on certain days, supposedly to ward off evil. Romania has recently been trying to introduce legislation to limit witchcraft. This month, Nicolae Paun, who represents the Roma in parliament, said legislation must be enacted to stop what he called "backward practices". Most self-professed witches in Romania are Roma.
"The applications for this vulnerability are seemingly limitless, from criminals monitoring individual targets to foreign entities conducting economic espionage on American companies to nation states monitoring US government officials," Lieu wrote in a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Curiously, Lieu didn't raise the possibility of governments quietly eavesdropping on its own citizens -- maybe that was already a given. In case you missed it, Lieu was given an off-the-shelf iPhone by the 60 Minutes crew, and then proceeded to use it for work calls... with the express understanding that it might be hacked. Not long after, Security Research Labs' Karsten Nohl -- who brought the SS7 flaw to prominence about two years ago -- was able to access the congressman's privileged information. Lieu was right to have been concerned: because the SS7 protocols dictate how networks deal with routing text messages, roaming and more, the flaw can leave phones open to snooping regardless of what operating system they run. For now, the only real way to keep your dispatches safe is to use apps -- like Signal and now WhatsApp -- that encrypt your communications end-to-end.
The Toronto Transit Commission might be "The Better Way," but is it the safer way? TTC property is fitted with numerous safety features--CCTV, security mirrors, public telephones, intercoms, and designated waiting areas--and the new streetcars, which begin rolling out this weekend, will come with the same yellow Passenger Assistance Alarms found on the subway. Despite the security, crime still occurs, but how safe is the TTC compared to other transit systems? The TTC keeps a record of offences against customers and staff--assaults, thefts, sexual assaults that involved police attention--and publishes the numbers in the monthly CEO's report. Over the last 12 months, there were 413 recorded offences against customers and 398 against TTC staff, a total of 811 incidents in roughly 528 million trips. The odds of experiencing a crime on the TTC were about 667,000 to 1. The numbers average out to about 2.22 incidents a day, about evenly split between riders and workers. Customer incidents peaked at 42 in July 2014, 43 for staff in Oct. 2013, but the numbers remained relatively stable throughout the year. Compare those numbers with the Montreal transit system, where, in 2013, there were a total of 754 criminal code infractions from 412.6 million trips reported to transit police, an average of 2.07 incidents a day, odds of about 476,000 to 1. Another report, released April, showed an overall 20 percent decrease in criminal activity on the Metro, but singled out one hub, Berri-UQAM, as the most dangerous. Crimes against people: assault, robbery, sexual assault were most common (303 incidents,) edging out property crimes, like theft and robbery (279.) Other criminal code infractions, including prostitution, accounted for the remainder. On the Calgary C-Train, there were a total of 856 person, property, and other criminal code infractions in 2013 from 107.5 million rides, an average of 2.34 incidents a day. Like in Montreal, person crimes were the most common (259,) but property crimes (221) saw the biggest increase--up 31.5 percent from 2012. Odds of a crime occurring in 2013 were 12,500 to 1. Cops on Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority recorded a total of 718 criminal incidents on the city's various transit lines in 2013 from 352.6 million rides. Compared to the first six months of 2014, there was a 28 percent decrease in robberies, but a 38 percent increase in aggravated assault. Larceny accounted for the majority of police activity. Across the year, there was an average of 1.97 incidents a day in 2013. The odds of encountering a crime were about 50,000 to 1. In this small sample group, Toronto's transit system ranked 3rd in terms of criminal activity. Calgary's transit police reported the most incidents, followed by Toronto, Montreal, and Boston, but it's worth noting that each jurisdiction calculated its figures differently. Boston, for example, included only "selected" offences in its report. For Montreal and Calgary, I excluded by-law infractions, because the TTC does the same for its figures. Crime is rare on the TTC--it was the safest of the four systems. Surprisingly, Calgary Transit was the most dangerous from the group in 2013, beating out Boston. Montreal was closer to Toronto in terms of safety. Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman. Image: Bill Wu / blogTO Flickr pool.
Up to 8.3bn barrels of oil could be up for grabs, ramping up tensions as the 30th anniversary of the war between the UK and Argentina approaches Tensions are rising in the Falkland Islands as the 30th anniversary of the war between Argentina and the UK approaches. Even Sean Penn has waded into the simmering row over sovereignty of the islands, calling Britain's presence in the Falklands "colonialist, ludicrous and archaic" as he criticised Prince William's deployment there. Growing talk about an oil boom in the contested islands doesn't help. Some 8.3bn barrels of oil are thought to be up for grabs in the waters around the Falklands. That compares with UK proven reserves of 5.6bn. However, some believe the prize could be much bigger: some estimates put it at up to 60bn barrels. That dwarfs the 21bn barrels thought to be remaining in the UK sector of the North Sea. Edison Investment Research analysts said: "None of these figures have of course been proven, although we do know that Sea Lion is already approaching the size of the single largest field discovered in the UK North Sea this century, namely the Buzzard field where total recoverable reserves of more than 550m barrels have been estimated." Sea Lion, estimated at just shy of 450m barrels, is the largest oil discovery in the Falklands so far, and is owned by UK-listed explorer Rockhopper. An oil boom is set to transform the Falklands. A report by Edison, Kicking up a Storm in the South Atlantic, says the islands could reap up to $180bn (£115bn) in royalties and tax as oil companies get drilling. Falklands assembly member Gavin Short said if the oil started flowing the islands would contribute to their defence costs, currently paid entirely by Britain. "We have always said once we have found out what we have got and it started flowing, then it would be our intention to make contributions [to Britain]," he said. So good news for the UK government. Argentina's president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, must be fuming. This year oil companies start drilling in the southern basin of the Falklands. Ian McLelland, one of the Edison analysts, told the Guardian that the total 60bn barrel estimate for the region "doesn't seem like an unreasonable estimate" given that four wells in the south alone are expected to yield 7.8bn barrels and "there are dozens of fields". Every time drilling results from the four wells are released – they will come 45 to 60 days apart – tensions are bound to rise. The first results are expected in mid-March. "The potential prize from tax revenues could weigh heavily on [UK-Argentina] relations if 2012 exploration is successful," the Edison report says.In the Falklands drilling race, Rockhopper has been leading the way in recent years, undaunted by initial setbacks. But this is just the start. The southern basin could prove much more lucrative. The Edison analysts say the largest prospect in the southern basin, Loligo, contains estimated resources of 4.7bn barrels, making it the largest drill target anywhere in the world in 2012, and over 10 times more than Rockhopper's Sea Lion. The report concludes: "In 2012 the focus shifts firmly to the southern basin explorers, where success for Falkland Oil and Gas Limited or Borders & Southern Petroleum will be a game changer for the region. Rockhopper and Falkland Oil and Gas offer the most compelling upside for investors. The biggest winner, however, could be the Falklands itself, with a near $180bn potential prize in royalties and tax on the horizon if 2012 drilling proves successful."
Piers Morgan was questioned under caution by police investigating Mirror phone hacking allegations Morgan, 48, interviewed by Metropolitan Police 'in connection with suspected conspiracy to intercept telephone voicemails' He was editor of News of the World and then the Daily Mirror CNN presenter denies any knowledge of phone hacking Piers Morgan has been interviewed under caution by police investigating allegations of phone-hacking at Mirror newspapers, it emerged today. The CNN presenter was questioned by Operation Golding police in December last year, and has also provided a witness statement to the investigation. Morgan, 48, has always denied any knowledge of phone hacking at either the News of the World or the Daily Mirror, both of which he has edited. Questioning: Piers Morgan has been interviewed under caution by police investigating allegations of phone-hacking He told the Guardian today: 'In early November I was asked to attend an interview by officers from Operation Weeting when I was next in the UK. 'This was further to a full witness statement I had already freely provided. I attended that interview as requested on 6 December 2013.' A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: 'A 48-year-old man who is a journalist was interviewed under caution on December 6 2013 by officers from Operation Golding in connection with suspected conspiracy to intercept telephone voicemails. 'He was interviewed by appointment at a south London police station. He was not arrested. 'Operation Golding is a strand of Operation Weeting and is specifically investigating allegations of phone interception at Mirror Group Newspapers.' Editor: Morgan pictured in 2004, during his time as editor of the Daily Mirror Morgan, 48, was appointed as editor of News of the World in 1994, and moved to the Daily Mirror two years later. He resigned from the Mirror in 2004 when it emerged that the paper had published fake photographs supposedly showing British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Morgan has since moved into the world of TV, presenting a nightly news programme on CNN in the U.S. as well as an interview show for ITV. The ex-editor gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in which he said that phone hacking had not taken place at the Mirror and denied any knowledge of the practice within the newspaper industry. However, Jeremy Paxman told the inquiry that Morgan had told him how to hack a phone during lunch at the Mirror's offices in 2002. Evidence: Morgan appeared at the Leveson Inquiry via video link and denied knowledge of hacking And in 2006, Morgan wrote about listening to a voicemail message left by Paul McCartney on the phone of then wife Heather Mills. Sir Brian Leveson's report on the inquiry's findings said that there was no evidence that the editor authorised phone hacking. Operation Weeting was launched in January 2011, since when 37 people have been arrested and questioned over allegations of hacking at the News of the World and elsewhere.
CHICAGO (AP) — Gun violence has marked the unofficial start of summer in Chicago, where dozens have been shot and six have been killed over Memorial Day weekend. The Chicago Tribune reports a total of 15 people were shot overnight into Tuesday, two fatally. The newspaper says those shootings bring the total number shot since Friday to 68. –Attorney General Announces Official Investigation into Chicago Police Department –Bernie Sanders Calls Out Chicago Officials over Handling of Laquan McDonald Case Chicago police say final numbers will be released later Tuesday. Police had announced plans to step up patrols throughout the city in an effort to prevent violence that occurred during Memorial Day weekend last year, when a dozen people were killed and 44 more were hurt. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa (Krakatau) in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) began in the afternoon of Sunday, 26 August 1883 (with origins as early as May of that year), and peaked in the late morning of Monday, 27 August 1883, when over 70% of the island and its surrounding archipelago were destroyed as it collapsed into a caldera. Additional seismic activity was reported to have continued until February 1884, though reports of seismic activity after October 1883 were later dismissed by Rogier Verbeek's investigation into the eruption. The 1883 eruption was one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history. At least 36,417 deaths are attributed to the eruption and the tsunamis it created. Significant additional effects were also felt around the world in the days and weeks after the volcano's eruption. Early phase [ edit ] In the years before the 1883 eruption, seismic activity around the Krakatoa volcano was intense, with earthquakes felt as far away as Australia. Beginning 20 May 1883, steam venting began to occur regularly from Perboewatan, the northernmost of the island's three cones. Eruptions of ash reached an estimated altitude of 6 km (20,000 ft) and explosions could be heard in New Batavia (Jakarta) 160 km (99 mi) away. Activity died down by the end of May, and there was no further recorded activity for several weeks. Eruptions at Krakatoa started again around 16 June, with loud explosions and a thick black cloud covering the islands for five days. On 24 June, a prevailing east wind cleared the cloud, and two ash columns could be seen issuing from Krakatoa. The seat of the eruption is believed to have been a new vent or vents that formed between Perboewatan and Danan. The violence of the ongoing eruptions caused tides in the vicinity to be unusually high, and ships at anchor had to be moored with chains. Earthquakes were felt at Anyer, Banten, and ships began to report large pumice masses to the west in the Indian Ocean.[citation needed] On 11 August, a Dutch topographical engineer, Captain H. J. G. Ferzenaar, investigated the Krakatoa islands.[1] He noted three major ash columns (the newer from Danan), which obscured the western part of the island, and steam plumes from at least eleven other vents, mostly between Danan and Rakata. When he landed, he noted an ash layer about 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) thick, and the destruction of all vegetation, leaving only tree stumps. He advised against any further landings. The next day, a ship passing to the north reported a new vent "only a few meters above sea level"; this may be the most northerly spot indicated on Ferzenaar's map. Activity continued through mid-August.[citation needed] Climactic phase [ edit ] By August 25, the Krakatoa eruptions intensified. At about 13:00 (local time) on 26 August, the volcano went into its paroxysmal phase. By 14:00, a black cloud of ash could be seen 27 km (17 mi) high. At this point, the eruption was virtually continuous and explosions could be heard every ten minutes or so. Ships within 20 km (12 mi) of the volcano reported heavy ash fall, with pieces of hot pumice up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter landing on their decks. Between 18:00 and 19:00 hours, a small tsunami hit the shores of Java and Sumatra, some 40 km (25 mi) away. On August 27, four enormous explosions occurred. At 5:30 am, the first explosion was at Perboewatan, triggering a tsunami heading straight to Telok Betong, now known as Bandar Lampung. At 6:44 am, Krakatoa exploded again at Danan, with the resulting tsunami stretching eastward and westward. The largest explosion, at 10:02 am, was so violent that it was heard 3,110 km (1,930 mi) away in Perth, Western Australia, and the Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, 4,800 km (3,000 mi) away, where they were thought to be cannon fire from a nearby ship. The third explosion has been reported as the loudest sound heard in historic times.[2][3][4]:79 The loudness of the blast heard 160 km (100 mi) from the volcano has been calculated to have been 180 dB.[5] Each explosion was accompanied by tsunamis estimated to have been over 30 meters (98 feet) high in places. A large area of the Sunda Strait and a number of places on the Sumatran coast were affected by pyroclastic flows from the volcano. The energy released from the explosion has been estimated to be equal to about 200 megatons of TNT,[6] roughly four times as powerful as the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever detonated. At 10:41 am, a landslide tore off half of Rakata volcano, along with the remainder of the island to the north of Rakata, causing the final explosion.[2] Pressure wave [ edit ] The pressure wave generated by the colossal third explosion radiated out from Krakatoa at 1,086 km/h (675 mph). The eruption is estimated to have reached 310 dB, loud enough to be heard clearly 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) away.[7]:248 It was so powerful that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors 64 km (40 miles) away on ships in the Sunda Strait,[7]:235 and caused a spike of more than 8.5 kilopascals (2.5 inHg) in pressure gauges 160 km (100 miles) away, attached to gasometers in the Batavia gasworks, sending them off the scale.[note 1] The pressure wave was recorded on barographs all over the world. Several barographs recorded the wave seven times over the course of five days: four times with the wave travelling away from the volcano to its antipodal point, and three times travelling back to the volcano.[4]:63 Hence, the wave rounded the globe three and a half times. Ash was propelled to an estimated height of 80 km (50 mi). The eruptions diminished rapidly after that point, and by the morning of 28 August, Krakatoa was silent. Small eruptions, mostly of mud, continued into October 1883. By then, less than 30% of the original island remained. Effects [ edit ] Coral block thrown onto the shore of Java Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait The combination of pyroclastic flows, volcanic ash, and tsunamis associated with the Krakatoa eruptions had disastrous regional consequences. Some land in Banten, approximately 90 km south, was never repopulated; it reverted to jungle and is now the Ujung Kulon National Park. The official death toll recorded by the Dutch authorities was 36,417.[8] "The Burning Ashes of Ketimbang" [ edit ] Verbeek and others believe that the final major Krakatoa eruption was a lateral blast, or pyroclastic surge (similar to the catastrophic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens). Around noon on 27 August 1883, a rain of hot ash fell around Ketimbang (now Katibung in Lampung Province) in Sumatra. Approximately 1,000 people were killed in Sumatra;[7] there were no survivors from the 3,000 people located on the island of Sebesi. There are numerous documented reports of groups of human skeletons floating across the Indian Ocean on rafts of volcanic pumice and washing up on the east coast of Africa, up to a year after the eruption.[7]:297–298 Tsunamis and distant effects [ edit ] Ships as far away as South Africa rocked as tsunamis hit them, and the bodies of victims were found floating in the ocean for months after the event. The tsunamis which accompanied the eruption were believed to have been caused by gigantic pyroclastic flows entering the sea; each of the four great explosions was accompanied by massive pyroclastic flows resulting from the gravitational collapse of the eruption columns.[citation needed] This caused several cubic kilometers of material to enter the sea, displacing an equally huge volume of seawater. The town of Merak was destroyed by a tsunami 46 m (151 ft) high. Some of the pyroclastic flows reached the Sumatran coast as much as 40 km (25 mi) away, having apparently moved across the water on a cushion of superheated steam.[note 2] There are also indications of submarine pyroclastic flows reaching 15 km (9.3 mi) from the volcano.[9] Smaller waves were recorded on tidal gauges as far away as the English Channel.[10] These occurred too soon to be remnants of the initial tsunamis and may have been caused by concussive air waves from the eruption. These air waves circled the globe several times and were still detectable on barographs five days later.[11] Geographic effects [ edit ] Evolution of the islands around Krakatoa In the aftermath of the eruption, it was found that the island of Krakatoa had almost entirely disappeared, except for the southern third. The Rakata cone was cut off along a vertical cliff, leaving behind a 250-metre (820 ft) cliff. Of the northern two-thirds of the island, only a rocky islet named Bootsmansrots ('Bosun's Rock'), a fragment of Danan, was left; Poolsche Hoed had totally disappeared. The huge amount of material deposited by the volcano drastically altered the surrounding ocean floor. It is estimated that as much as 18–21 km3 (4.3–5.0 cu mi) of ignimbrite were deposited over 1,100,000 km2 (420,000 sq mi), largely filling the 30–40 m (98–131 ft) deep basin around the mountain. The land masses of Verlaten and Lang islands were increased, as was the western part of the remnant of Rakata. Much of this gained material quickly eroded away, but volcanic ash continues to be a significant part of the geological composition of these islands. Two nearby sandbanks (called Steers and Calmeyer after the two naval officers who investigated them) were built up into islands by ashfall, but the sea later washed them away. Seawater on hot volcanic deposits on Steers and Calmeyer had caused steam to rise, which some mistook for a continued eruption. Global climate [ edit ] In the year following the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, average Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 °C (2.2 °F).[12] Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years, and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.[12] The record rainfall that hit Southern California during the water year from July 1883 to June 1884 – Los Angeles received 38.18 inches (969.8 mm) and San Diego 25.97 inches (659.6 mm)[13] – has been attributed to the Krakatoa eruption.[14] There was no El Niño during that period as is normal when heavy rain occurs in Southern California,[15] but many scientists doubt that there was a causal relationship.[16] The Krakatoa eruption injected an unusually large amount of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) gas high into the stratosphere, which was subsequently transported by high-level winds all over the planet. This led to a global increase in sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) concentration in high-level cirrus clouds. The resulting increase in cloud reflectivity (or albedo) reflected more incoming light from the sun than usual, and cooled the entire planet until the suspended sulfur fell to the ground as acid precipitation.[17] Global optical effects [ edit ] 1888 paintings, showcasing the optical effects of the eruption on the sky over time The 1883 Krakatoa eruption darkened the sky worldwide for years afterwards and produced spectacular sunsets throughout the world for many months. British artist William Ashcroft made thousands of colour sketches of the red sunsets halfway around the world from Krakatoa in the years after the eruption. The ash caused "such vivid red sunsets that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration."[18] This eruption also produced a Bishop's Ring around the sun by day, and a volcanic purple light at twilight. In 2004, an astronomer proposed the idea that the red sky shown in Edvard Munch's famous 1893 painting The Scream is also an accurate depiction of the sky over Norway after the eruption.[19] Weather watchers of the time tracked and mapped the effects on the sky. They labeled the phenomenon the "equatorial smoke stream".[20] This was the first identification of what is known today as the jet stream.[21] For several years following the eruption, it was reported that the moon appeared to be blue and sometimes green. This was because some of the ash clouds were filled with particles about 1 µm wide – the right size to strongly scatter red light, while allowing other colors to pass. White moonbeams shining through the clouds emerged blue, and sometimes green. People also saw lavender suns and, for the first time, recorded noctilucent clouds.[18] Possible causes [ edit ] The fate of northern Krakatoa has been the subject of some dispute among geologists. It was originally proposed that the island had been blown apart by the force of the eruption. However, most of the material deposited by the volcano is clearly magmatic in origin, and the caldera formed by the eruption is not extensively filled with deposits from the 1883 eruption. This indicates that the island subsided into an empty magma chamber at the end of the eruption sequence, rather than having been destroyed during the eruptions. The established hypotheses – based on the findings of contemporary investigators – assume that part of the island subsided before the first explosions on the morning of August 27. This forced the volcano's vents to be below sea level, causing: massive flooding which created a series of phreatic explosions (interaction of ground water and magma). seawater to cool the magma enough for it to crust over and produce a "pressure cooker" effect that was relieved only when explosive pressures were reached. However, there is geological evidence which does not support the assumption that only subsidence before the explosion was the cause. For instance, the pumice and ignimbrite deposits are not of a kind consistent with a magma-seawater interaction. These findings have led to other hypotheses: a massive underwater land slump or partial subsidence suddenly exposed the highly pressurized magma chamber, opening a pathway for seawater to enter the magma chamber and setting the stage for a magma-seawater interaction. the final explosions may have been caused by magma mixing: a sudden infusion of hot basaltic magma into the cooler and lighter magma in the chamber below the volcano. This would have resulted in a rapid and unsustainable increase in pressure, leading to a cataclysmic explosion. Evidence for this theory is the existence of pumice consisting of light and dark material, the dark material being of much hotter origin. However, such material reportedly is less than five per cent of the content of the Krakatoa ignimbrite and some investigators have rejected this as a prime cause of the 27 August explosions. Numerical model of hydrovolcanic explosion of Krakatoa and Tsunami generation. A numerical model for a Krakatoa hydrovolcanic explosion and the resulting tsunami was described by (Mader & Gittings, 2006).[22] A high wall of water is formed that is initially higher than 100 meters driven by the shocked water, basalt and air. Verbeek investigation [ edit ] Although the violent phase of the 1883 eruption was over by late afternoon of 27 August, after light returned by 29 August, reports continued for months that Krakatoa was still in eruption. One of the earliest duties of Verbeek's committee was to determine if this was true and also verify reports of other volcanoes erupting on Java and Sumatra. In general, these were found to be false, and Verbeek discounted any claims of Krakatoa still erupting after mid-October as due to steaming of hot material, landslides due to heavy monsoon rains that season, and "hallucinations due to electrical activity" seen from a distance.[citation needed] No signs of further activity were seen until 1913, when an eruption was reported. Investigation could find no evidence the volcano was awakening, and it was determined that what had been mistaken for renewed activity had actually been a major landslide (possibly the one which formed the second arc to Rakata's cliff). Examinations after 1930 of bathymetric charts made in 1919 show evidence of a bulge indicative of magma near the surface at the site that became Anak Krakatau. Comparison of selected volcanic eruptions [ edit ] Vesuvius is estimated to have killed thousands, but no figure has been guessed at: so far, evidence of fewer than 2,000 human deaths has been identified. [23] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] Bibliography [ edit ]
Trading standards are investigating after a couple who stayed at a hotel claimed to have been “fined” £100 by a hotel which they described as a “rotten stinking hovel” on TripAdvisor. Tony and Jan Jenkinson, from Whitehaven in Cumbria, posted a review on the website after staying at the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool. However, the couple later found that £100 charged to their credit card, which the BBC reported was the result of a hotel policy in the case of “bad” reviews. The manager of the hotel was not available for comment last night. The Jenkinsons, who were on the way to Oxford and had decided to stay overnight in Blackpool, were said to have been shown terms and conditions on their booking form, which stated: “Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love our hotel, your friends and family may not. For every bad review left on any website, the group organiser will be charged a maximum £100 per review.” The review, posted on 30 August by Tony Jenkinson, said that the couple could not believe the state of their room, claiming that the hot tap and kettle wasn’t working and that the front part of a chest of drawers fell off then they opened it. It added: “There were instructions on how to make a phone call, we would have had a job as there was no phone!! The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, the carpet was thin, dirty and stained. The bed was something else, it must have come out of the ark, the base was all scuffed and dirty and the springs in the mattress attacked you in the night.” After describing the breakfast as a “joke”, he concluded: “This place should be shut down, I don’t know if they are ever inspected, but if so, I don’t know how this place has passed!! If you are offered this place to stay for a fortnight for 10p, you are being robbed!! STAY AWAY!!!” A description of the hotel on Booking.com described it as having “cosy bedrooms” which were traditionally decorated. On the LateRooms website, the hotel was said to be “famous for live entertainment and excellent cuisine.” It added: “We are located on the edge of Blackpool’s newly developed South beach Promenade. Perfectly situated for the Pleasure Beach, Sandcastle Water Park, the Grosvenor Casino and just a short walk away from the center of Blackpool. Whether you want a fun filled holiday or just a relaxing break, our Blackpool Hotel can cater for both.”
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed techniques that can be used to create ideal geometric phase holograms for any kind of optical pattern -- a significant advance over the limitations of previous techniques. The holograms can be used to create new types of displays, imaging systems, telecommunications technology and astronomical instruments. A geometric phase hologram is a thin film that manipulates light. Light moves as a wave, with peaks and troughs. When the light passes through a geometric phase hologram, the relationship between those peaks and troughs is changed. By controlling those changes, the hologram can focus, disperse, reorient or otherwise modify the light. An ideal geometric phase hologram modifies the light very efficiently, meaning that little of the light is wasted. But ideal geometric phase holograms can also produce three different, well-defined "wavefronts" -- or transformed versions of the light that passes through the thin film. "We can direct light into any one or more of those three wavefronts, which allows us to use a single ideal geometric phase hologram in many different ways," says Michael Escuti, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and corresponding author of a paper on the work. Previously, researchers were only able to make ideal geometric phase holograms in a limited set of simple patterns, curtailing their usefulness for new applications. This is because making these holograms involves orienting molecules or structures at a scale smaller than the wavelength of light. "We've come up with two ways of making ideal geometric phase holograms that are relatively simple but allow us to control the orientation of the molecules that ultimately manipulate the light," Escuti says. First, the researchers use lasers to create a high-fidelity light pattern, either by taking advantage of how waves of light interfere with each other, or by using a tightly focused laser to scan through a pattern -- much like a laser printer. A photoreactive substrate records the light pattern, with each molecule in the substrate orienting itself depending on the polarization of the light it was exposed to. To understand this, think of a beam of light as a wavy string, traveling from left to right. That string is also vibrating up and down -- creating wiggles are that are perpendicular to the direction the string is traveling. Controlling the orientation angle of the light's linear polarization just means controlling the direction that the wave is wiggling. The pattern that is recorded on the substrate then serves as a template for a liquid crystal layer that forms the finished hologram. "Using these techniques, we're able to create ideal geometric phase holograms in nearly any pattern," Escuti says. "Theoretically, there are patterns that are too small for us to make, but we've been able to make patterns for every practical application we've addressed so far -- from astronomical instruments to art installations. "This work gave us a great deal of insight into controlling the spatial properties of light waves," Escuti says. "We're now exploring how we can better manipulate the spectrum of light waves. For example, we're determining how we can handle visible light and infrared light differently within a single hologram." Escuti is also working with his company, ImagineOptix Corporation, to develop new applications and improve existing technologies that may benefit from higher efficiency thin-films. The paper, "Fabrication of ideal geometric-phase holograms with arbitrary wavefronts," was published online Nov. 4 in the journal Optica. Lead author of the paper is Jihwan Kim, a research assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State. Co-authors include Michael Kudenov of NC State; Yanming Li, a former Ph.D. student at NC State who is now at Apple Inc.; Matthew Miskiewicz, a former Ph.D. student at NC State who has founded his own company in the Raleigh area; and Chulwoo Oh, a former Ph.D. student at NC State who is now at Magic Leap. The work was done with support from the National Science Foundation, under grant number ECCS-0955127, and from ImagineOptix.
Germany plans to use speech analysis technology to help determine asylum seekers’ countries of origin, according to a report from Die Welt. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) will begin testing the software within the next two weeks, the paper reports, with an eye toward deploying it more widely in 2018. The hope is that the software will be able to analyze and identify the dialects of people seeking asylum in Germany, based on recorded speech samples. That information could then be used as one of several “indicators” that migration officers consider when reviewing asylum applications. The technology is based on voice authentication software used by banks and insurance companies, and will be modified to analyze dialects, according to Die Welt. BAMF has previously estimated that around 60 percent of people who sought asylum in 2016 did not have identification papers when they arrived in Germany. In February, the German Interior Ministry presented a draft law that would allow migration officers to seize smartphone and laptop data to help determine asylum seekers’ identities, in a move that raised concerns among some privacy advocates. “Creating a perfect dataset is virtually impossible.” Germany has been using linguistic experts to analyze dialects and determine countries of origin since 1998, according to Deutsche Welle. But experts have expressed doubts over whether computers would be able to reliably perform such analysis. Monika Schmid, a linguistics professor at the University of Essex, tells Deutsche Welle that speech analysts “must have a solid background in linguistic analysis and be able to take into account a wide range of factors” when determining someone’s country of origin, including changes in the ways they speak around different people. “I don't see how automated software can distinguish whether a person uses a certain word or pronounces it in a particular way because this is part of their own repertoire or because they were primed to do so by the interviewer or interpreter," Schmid told Deutsche Welle. Dirk Hovy, a computer scientist at the University of Copenhagen, tells Die Welt that BAMF’s system would need to incorporate speech data that is demographically representative of asylum seekers, which would involve the creation of a broad database. “Creating a perfect dataset is virtually impossible,” Hovy said, “because language is constantly changing.”
Saturday, October 18 By Nancy Hylton of Seattle, Washington, USA You are called to create pathways in the world for peace in Christ to be relationally and culturally incarnate. The hope of Zion is realized when the vision of Christ is embodied in communities of generosity, justice, and peacefulness. —Doctrine and Covenants 163:3a It started as a dream to serve families with disabled children closer to their homes near Seattle, Washington. It started with the weekday use of a church nursery room by five families and two physical therapists. It started in August 1979 as a nonprofit neurodevelopmental center to help young children and infants with movement and learning problems. From the start, the center took on a life of its own. Families and staff members built on the strengths others. Soon we needed a larger space. A doctor offered an extra two rooms behind his laboratory. We often used the carpeted hallway for therapy and communication groups as we overflowed the space. Then we moved to a three-story house. We renovated the entry level as our primary therapy space. We used the stairs to teach kids to climb. Soon we outgrew this space, too. With the help from donations, we tripled our space in a former day-care facility. To reduce the stress of travel on families, we started satellite locations. Our service expanded to include water therapy, hippo-therapy, and a fitness center. Our clientele expanded to include preteens and young adults. It is a privilege to be part of this program, from the start—more than 30 years ago. I am convinced God not only struck the spark for our beginning, but God blessed us with the right people and skills. Supportive parents, who continue the work after their children complete the program, continue to bless us. Generous responses from businesses and foundations helped from the start. God’s blessing on this zionic work is clear to me. Starting from a dream, it developed into a vibrant, life-enhancing program. Prayer for Peace Generous God, we thank you for the dreams you plant in our hearts—dreams to serve those in need. We thank you for our dreams and plans to end suffering. Thank you for giving us a spark to fan into light and peace for the world. Spiritual Practice: Abolish Poverty, End Suffering Read and reflect on John 21:15–17 as a meditation. Let your mind go to places where people have no homes. Think of refugees with homes destroyed by war or natural disaster. Be aware of the hungry and homeless, who wander the streets or live in shelters. Let the images fill your mind. Offer a prayer for those who suffer. Imagine Christ tending those sheep. Think of ways you might end their suffering as part of your mission. Throughout the day, carry in your mind the voice of Christ saying, “Feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep.” Peace Covenant Today, God, I will create a pathway for peace, with faith in your blessing. Advertisements
(Ottawa, November 9, 2015) – The Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) denounces the criminal prosecution of Mr. Arthur Topham taking place in Quesnel, BC. Mr. Topham is on trial for charges under the “hate speech” provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code (s. 319(2)). The Crown is expected to make its closing statements today. These provisions criminalize belief, opinion, and expression of one’s beliefs and opinions, and are incompatible with the universal principle of free debate in a democracy. No person should ever be subjected to a criminal prosecution without the state having the onus to show actual harm to a person and intent to produce the actual harm, beyond a reasonable doubt. The “crime” in essence is in the abstract, regarding production of an emotional response “at large”. No actual effect or imminent danger need be demonstrated by the Crown. The Crown will not rely on showing actual harm or intent to harm. Canada’s “hate crime” provisions require specific consent from the province’s Attorney General for a prosecution to proceed. This feature makes the state’s decision about whether or not to prosecute alleged “hate crimes” particularly susceptible to political influences. In the present political climate in Canada, cases where the expression can negatively impact public opinion about Canada’s diplomatic and military support for US and Israel policy and actions in the Middle East, or where state suppression of targeted expression supports the geopolitical goals of the US and Israel in the Middle East, are among those which are most at risk from being attacked using disproportionate means wielded by the state. In September 2014, the OCLA launched a petition to the Attorney General of BC asking that she retract her consent for the criminal proceedings against Mr. Topham. The petition, which gathered over 1,400 signatures, can be viewed online at the following link: https://www.change.org/p/hon-suzanne-anton-attorney-general-of-bc-jag-minister-gov-bc-ca-hon-suzanne-anton-retract-your-consent-for-the-criminal-proceedings-against-mr-arthur-topham All expression stems from the individual’s experience and perception, and is therefore of value to society, in that it reveals points of view for evaluation. Any individual’s expression of any view is needed content in the struggle for greater democracy and understanding. The OCLA defends Mr. Topham’s expression of his views, along with any other person’s expression of any view. The health of our democracy depends on freedom of speech. The “hate speech” provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada are irreconcilable with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and should be repealed. They are an offence against decency and human rights. About the Ontario Civil Liberties Association The OCLA vigorously advocates for authentic and unqualified freedom of expression of individuals, on all topics and in every form, in accordance with the right to free expression enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The OCLA also advocates for unimpeded civil liberties and civil rights of all persons, in dealings with public and private institutions and corporations. Contact: Joseph Hickey Executive Director Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) http://ocla.ca 613-252-6148 (c) [email protected]
By Stephanie McMillan (July 2012; last edited 3/30/2013) Individualism is the ideology of competition, of capitalism. It consists of prioritizing one’s perceived immediate personal interests above collective interests, and being blind to the fact that one’s long-term personal interests actually correspond to the interests of the whole. This leads people to behave in ways that are detrimental to the collective, and ultimately to each individual as well. Under capitalism, society does not meet the needs of the people, and we are structurally prevented from meeting our needs collectively. Capitalism’s engine is competition. There is competition between classes as well as within classes. Within the working class, the capitalist system pits each person (or family) against all others in a struggle for survival. Humans are social animals who, before agriculture arose and society was divided into classes, lived in bands. Our species evolved with a natural tendency to cooperate. But when people living under capitalism attempt to express this tendency, they are sharply discouraged. For example, when strangers spontaneously assist one another after a disaster, they are quickly dispersed and ordered to leave this task to the state. The capitalist class holds ideological hegemony (dominance and control) over the whole society. They exert constant pressure to shape our ideas, thoughts, and emotions in ways that serve them. Therefore, unless we make a conscious contrary effort, the ideologies that serve this dominant class are spontaneously felt as “normal” or “natural.” Individualism is a powerful ideological weapon that the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) uses to crush the subjectivity of the working class (the proletariat), and thus to prevent the potential liberation of the world from capitalist rule. Individualism is promoted and fortified by every possible cultural and economic means. We are indoctrinated from birth. Parents are compelled to teach their children to survive in the competitive framework (which they have no choice about living in) by “getting ahead,” to “look out for number one,” to put oneself in the best position possible (i.e., through education, or seeking a rich mate) to accumulate wealth for personal security. Individualism is the ideology of the petit bourgeoisie (those who circulate capital by selling either services or goods, who tend to aspire to belong to the ruling class). It manifests itself as the striving for market power, for personal advancement, for comforts, for security and stability within the framework of the system. In contrast, proletarian ideology seeks to overturn the capitalist system and meet our needs collectively. But capitalism has been able to indoctrinate even members of the working class in petit bourgeois ways of thinking, to manipulate them into acting against their own interests, in ways that benefit capitalists instead. As proletarian militants, we are no less subject to ideological domination than anyone else. The difference is that we are consciously aware of it, to varying degrees, and thus we are able to combat it. In order to fight the system, we must fight its dominant ideologies at every level: in society as a whole, in our organizations, and in our own individual hearts and minds. This is an active and constant process of struggle. It will continue even after the ruling class has been defeated politically— we are so deeply conditioned that it may take generations to uproot their poisonous ideas. Ultimately, it will require that we construct a society (an economy, in particular) that retains no structural or social mechanism for rewarding individualism. We should not be ashamed to discover individualism in our own hearts, or shame others for manifesting it— it is inevitable in capitalist society. Instead, the way to fight it is to bring it to light, examine it in relation to our overall political goals, and then consciously reject it (over and over again, as it will constantly re-arise). Ideological strength requires an underpinning of political unity; these advance together. The motive for struggle on the ideological front is not to serve some abstract morality, but to achieve a specific political goal. Individualism is not the same as individuality. Combatting individualism does not mean that everyone must be identical (which is impossible anyway) or that anyone should suppress their own thoughts, desires, or particular characteristics. On the contrary, we must recognize the value of each individual as inherent, and at the same time as it relates to the collective. Each person has specific strengths to contribute to our common work, and these should be enhanced and supported. Our weaknesses should be shared so we can help each other overcome them. We appreciate diversity and differences among us, which contribute to a dynamic social/political life, increasing our range of possibilities in action and thought. (In fact, for any motion to occur at all, in a dialectical process, differences are required, by definition). In groups, as in any aspect of the natural world, diversity ensures resilience, flexibility, adaptability, and evolution. In order to struggle against individualism, we must recognize its manifestations. In political organizations, there are many ways that this destructive ideology materializes. They include (not exclusively) these 12 common types: 1) Misplaced priorities. Nothing is as important and urgent as crushing capitalism. Nothing. Countless lives will continue to be destroyed until we accomplish this task. The future existence of all life on Earth is at risk as long as this system exists. Everything we do should be, in some way, in service to our cause. Of course our basic needs must be met, which beyond self-reproduction (subsisting) also include maintaining one’s health and balance (mental, emotional, physical, social and cultural). These should support and renew our capacity to contribute to revolution. Even if we eliminate frivolous activities from our lives, we still have to make difficult choices about how we spend our time, because the system keeps us very busy in our effort to survive and meet our responsibilities. (This overload is intentionally devised so we are too overwhelmed to resist). Therefore we have to constantly evaluate how much energy we give to particular activities, make correct choices even when they are painful, and order our lives in favor of the revolutionary struggle. 2) Competition among ourselves. This can involve using one’s experience, knowledge, accomplishments, abilities or personality to gain personal power or prestige, and to repress the collective will. Instead, we should all strive to strengthen our collective democratic functioning by assisting each comrade to express her/himself, to overcome weaknesses, build strength, and maximize participation. We should struggle among ourselves within a framework of overall unity, in order to discover the truth together, and not attempt to impose one’s own will over others (whether their disagreements are verbalized or silent), or monopolize any aspect of work. Individual power without collective power is useless and can never defeat our enemy. 3) A lack of commitment. In order to increase consumption of commodities, capitalist society obsessively pushes self-indulgence as an ideal. (“Because you’re worth it.”) It has created concepts of “comfort,” “fun” and “satisfaction” that correspond to their economic need for us to buy things. Whatever doesn’t please us in the moment, we are encouraged to abandon and replace. This leads to a market-based approach to life, including toward nature, love, spirituality, political work, and everything else. Unfortunately, political work is not comfortable, fun, and instantly gratifying in the ways that we are conditioned to desire. Instead it is challenging, complex, and requires immense persistence. When this fact is discovered, a common response is to abandon it. 4) Laziness. Some people believe they’ve performed a great deed by joining an organization and declaring support for the cause. They stop here, congratulating themselves and posting revolutionary quotations all over Facebook. But this is like confusing the starting point in a marathon with the finish line. We can’t stand on unearned laurels, but have to run the full distance: to do the hard work of constructing theory, defining a political line, and building organizations—pushing ourselves through to victory and beyond. 5) Passivity. Letting others always take the lead, and refusing to take initiative (once a collective approach has been decided) is an avoidance of responsibility. Each person should strive to participate and contribute to the maximum of her/his potential, to express ideas without fear, and be willing to do whatever work is necessary. 6) Hero/martyr complex. While it’s essential to work to one’s maximum capacity and strive to increase it, it can be tempting to overestimate what one’s capacity actually is. A juggler with too many eggs will drop some of them. Similarly, taking on too many tasks and making too many commitments will result in failure to carry all of them out. Unreliability leads to uncertainty and paralysis for the other members of an organization, who have interconnected tasks that depend on one another for success. In addition, it could cause the person to burn out, rendering them totally ineffective. Instead of attempting personally to handle every task, we should help others share responsibilities. We have to accept that some tasks will not be accomplished (as well or at all) until sufficient collective capacity is built. 7) Defensive/aggressive ego. In a collective endeavor, criticism should never be personal; thus there is no reason to be personally offended by it. We should not only be willing to listen to criticism with an open mind, but to welcome constructive criticism, and learn to evaluate our own work in the spirit of understanding our weaknesses in order to overcome them. Criticism of the work of a comrade or ally should always be offered in a constructive manner, with the intention of assisting their work. An alternative should be suggested along with it. We should not pick each other apart for every small mistake (which can be very demoralizing), but focus on fundamental issues. Self-expression. Intellectuals (especially in academia) attempt to generate novel ideas for professional or “personal branding” purposes, rather than focusing on constructing theory to concretely assist class struggle. This is theory for theory’s sake, or intellectualism. This practice converts theory into just another commodity, a gift to our enemy. The way to combat this is to produce our ideas (in whatever form) collectively. For artists, the concept of “art for art’s sake” is a way to justify creating work without political or social content. This means squandering one’s creativity and skills by offering them for the benefit of the ruling class, instead of for the working class. Intellectuals and artists should participate in other areas of political work, or they won’t fully understand their subjects. 9) Self-esteem. Working hard is good, but not so good if there is an underlying motive of elevating one’s own social position or being the center of attention. We do not need to build our self-esteem by seeking admiration, praise and flattery. Our self-respect and sense of connection should come from being an effective social agent for our class, connected to countless others within a historical process. We should appreciate one another as comrades, and let each other know when we’re doing good work, but not be motivated by a desire for public recognition. 10) Friend sourcing. Because of the atomization of our society, and consequent feelings of isolation, sometimes people join and use organizations as a means to alleviate loneliness, to make friends or develop relationships, whereas it should be the other way around: allowing friendships to arise from a foundation of political unity. If the personal aspect of a relationship is made primary over the political aspect, this can interfere with political functioning. Political agreement or disagreement can be falsely based on emotion. Underlying conflicts can manifest as personal attacks hidden under the guise of political disagreements, picking quarrels, harassment, or avoidance of common work because of discomfort. This creates a negative atmosphere which can sidetrack people’s attention and undermine group cohesion. There is no room for drama in political organizations. We should focus on our overall goal, and be good comrades first, friends second. 11) Liberalism. Tolerating destructive behavior because one doesn’t like conflict or want to “rock the boat,” allows that behavior to continue and increase. Manifestations of liberalism include gossiping behind people’s backs instead of bringing up problems collectively, failing to take opportunities to assert revolutionary ideas in appropriate situations, witnessing (or being subject to) oppressive acts or speech without saying anything, failing to hold comrades accountable, supporting or attacking views based on feelings about the person expressing them, and tolerating mediocrity in our work. These all result in an unprincipled peace that can lead to group apathy. 12) Going off the rails. The members of a revolutionary organization act only within the framework of political unity. Strength comes from disciplined collectivity, and individual initiative must be based on this foundation. Taking action as an individual in ways that have no relationship to collectively agreed-upon strategy or goals can be dangerous. For example, committing an illegal act (impulsively or from a concealed plan) without the knowledge and agreement of the collective, puts others at risk, damages collective work, and destroys mutual trust. Failing to take the safety of the organization seriously and to abide by its security protocols is inexcusable. Everything in capitalist society is geared to stop us from organizing to fight for revolution. We feel constant pressure to cave in to individualism. We are tempted with possibilities for self-advancement if we abandon the struggle, or are threatened with the opposite if we don’t fall in line. If we insist on rejecting individualism, this can cost us our jobs. Friends may tell us we’re crazy, boring, or depressing to talk to. Our family members might tell us that we are failing in our responsibilities to them when we devote time to political work. On TV and in movies, we are given poisonous models of human behavior. Resisting all these influences is class struggle on the ideological front. We have to keep our bearings, pick our battles wisely, and refuse to kneel down under pressure. In our organizations, we must assist one another to overcome individualism and all enemy influences.
Capitalism no longer delivers a rising standard of living in the regions where it began and developed first: Western Europe, North America and Japan, says Richard Wolff. (Image via Shutterstock)Wage growth in the world slowed to an average of 2 percent in 2013. That was less than in 2012 and far less than the pre-crisis rate of 3 percent. Starker still were the differences between wage growth in the “developed world” (chiefly Western Europe, North America and Japan) and wage growth in the major “emerging growth” countries, chiefly China. In the “developed world” wage growth in 2012 was 0.1 percent, and in 2013 it was 0.2 percent. Far from portending any economic “recovery,” that level of wage “growth” is rather called “wage stagnation.” In stunning contrast, wage growth in the major emerging growth economies was much better: 6.7 percent in 2012 and 5.9 percent in 2013. These remarkable statistics come from the Global Wage Report 2014/15 released on December 5, 2014, by its author, the International Labor Organization (ILO). This report clearly exposes the immense costs of a globalizing capitalism for the wage-earning majorities in Western Europe, North America and Japan. Allowing their leading capitalists to maximize profits by relocating production out of those regions is deeply and increasingly destructive to them. The ILO report’s chart below summarizes the key wage results of the last decade’s capitalism. Economic growth, rising real wages and rising standards of living are economic realities in China and other emerging growth countries. Economic crisis, stagnant wages and declining working and living standards are the economic realities for Western Europe, the United States and Japan. Capitalist enterprises keep moving their operations (first manufacturing, now also many services) from high to low-wage regions of the world to raise their profits. Departing capitalists leave their former host communities with unemployment and all its social costs. Such conditions force desperate competition for jobs that drives down wages and guts job benefits. Public services decline as government budgets suffer. Capitalism no longer delivers a rising standard of living in the regions where it began and developed first: Western Europe, North America and Japan. Instead of goods, capitalism delivers the bads. A second key insight emerges from another chart (below) in the ILO report. In the developed countries, while real wages stagnated throughout the crisis since 2007, the productivity of workers continued to rise. That explains the deepening inequalities of income and wealth in those countries. Productivity measures the quantity of goods and services that workers’ labor provides to their bosses. The chart shows how labor productivity has kept rising (because of computers, more equipment, better training, speed-up of work etc.). The chart also shows how much less wages have risen. Wages are what capitalists pay workers for their labor. There is thus a growing gap between what workers give capitalists (productivity) and what capitalists give workers (wages). That gap measures profits. They have grown the fastest of all. Major capitalist corporations gather those exploding profits into their hands. They pay their top executives huge salaries and bonuses, pay rich dividends and deliver huge capital gains to their shareholders. Those top executives and major shareholders are most of the super-rich who have taken so much of the nation’s wealth. European, US and Japanese politicians, controlled by their major capitalists, do little to stop the relocation of production that generates the results seen in the charts above. Labor and anti-capitalist movements are still too weak, too divided or too poorly informed to stop the long-term decline underway. The real question of the day underscored by the ILO report is this: Will Western European, North American and Japanese working people consent to the further undermining of their well-being that follows as capitalists leave for higher profits? That is the question even though mainstream politicians, media and academics cannot see it or refuse to discuss it. The answer to that question can still be “no.” The labor, anti-capitalist and social movements can understand this situation. They could ally politically to stop paying the horrendous costs of globalizing capitalism while a tiny minority grabs its ballooning profits. A final note: Real wages are still three times higher in developed countries than in economically emerging regions. Thus, capitalists keep getting the higher profits that motivate their relocation out of Western Europe, North America and Japan. They share some of those higher profits (via mergers, acquisitions, bribes etc.) with major local capitalist corporations inside the regions to which they relocate. Relocating capitalists offer such payoffs to facilitate their success in these new centers of capitalism’s growth. Those payoffs help explain the gross inequalities of income and wealth deepening in the emerging economies, too. Globalizing capitalism thus imposes on most countries the worsening inequalities that bring ever closer the validity of that old slogan (premature when first articulated): “Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.”
The CZ 75 is a semi-automatic pistol made by Czech firearm manufacturer ČZUB. First introduced in 1975, it is one of the original "wonder nines" featuring a staggered-column magazine, all-steel construction, and a hammer forged barrel. It is widely distributed throughout the world and is the most common handgun in the Czech Republic. History [ edit ] Development of CZ 75 [ edit ] The armament industry was an important part of the interwar Czechoslovak economy and made up a large part of the country's exports (see, for example, Bren light machine gun, which was a modified version of the Czechoslovak ZB vz. 26). However following the 1948 communist coup d'état, all heavy industry was nationalized and was (at least officially) cut off from its Western export market behind the Iron Curtain. While most other Warsaw Pact countries became dependent on armaments imports from the Soviet Union, most of the Czechoslovak weaponry remained domestic (for example, the Czechoslovak army used the Vz. 58 assault rifle, while other communist bloc countries used variants of the AK-47). Following the Second World War, brothers Josef and František Koucký became the most important engineers of the CZUB. They participated to some extent on designing all the company's post-war weapons. Kouckýs signed their designs together, using only the surname, making it impossible to determine which one of them developed particular ideas.[2] By 1969, František Koucký was freshly retired, however the company offered him a job on designing a new 9×19mm Parabellum pistol. Unlike during his previous work, this time he had a complete freedom in designing the whole gun from scratch. The design he developed was in many ways new and innovative (see Design details).[2] Although the model was developed for export purposes (the standard pistol cartridge of the Czechoslovak armed forces was the Soviet 7.62×25mm Tokarev, which was later replaced with the Warsaw Pact standard 9mm Makarov pistol cartridge), Koucký's domestic patents regarding the design were classified as "secret patents". Effectively, nobody could learn about their existence, but also nobody could register the same design in Czechoslovakia. At the same time Koucký as well as the company were prohibited from filing for patent protection abroad. Consequently, a large number of other manufacturers began offering pistols based on CZ 75 design (see Clones, copies, and variants by other manufacturers).[2] The pistol was not sold in Czechoslovakia until 1985, when it became popular among sport shooters (sport shooting is the third most widespread sport in the Czech Republic, after football and ice hockey[3]). It was adopted by the Czech armed forces only after the Velvet Revolution in 1989.[2] Development of sport variants of CZ 75 [ edit ] The increasing popularity of the IPSC competitions in the Czech Republic led to inception of CZUB's factory team in 1992. Initially, the sport shooters were using CZ 75s and CZ 85s. Stanislav Křižík designed a new version called CZ 75 Champion already in 1992. This version had a SA trigger, a muzzle brake and adjustable weights. 150 firearms were initially made in 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W and 9×21mm. The design was further modified (i.e. the adjustable weights were eliminated, a new compensator was developed), however its main shortcoming of the same capacity as the standard CZ 75 magazines (15/16 in 9mm, 12 in .40 S&W) remained.[4] The CZ 75 ST (Standard) and CZ 75 M (Modified) were introduced in 1998. These had a different frame from standard versions allowing for more modifications. While the ST had become very successful, M was not initially designed for use with collimator, the use of which led to limited lifespan of its frame.[4] The popular ST version was further developed mostly with aim of prolonging its lifespan, which led to introduction of CZ 75 TS (Tactical Sports) in 2005. It uses a longer barrel (132 mm) and has also a higher weight (1,285 g) compared to the standard model. High-capacity magazines may use either 20 of the 9mm rounds or 17 of the .40 rounds. As of 2013, the model is used by the CZUB's factory shooters in the IPSC Standard division, with a custom-made version CZ 75 Tactical Sports Open being also available.[4] In 2009, the sale of CZ 75 TS Czechmate began. The model is a development of the CZ 75 TS Open, available in 9×19mm Parabellum and 9×21mm with magazine capacity of 20 or 26 rounds. As standard, the gun is sold with US made C-More Systems' collimator. CZUB claims that its factory shooter Martin Kameníček had shot 150,000 rounds through the gun in five years, in which time he only needed to change the barrel once in order to maintain precision.[4] Design details [ edit ] The CZ 75 is a short recoil operated, locked breech pistol. It uses the Browning linkless cam locking system similar to that used in the Browning Hi-Power pistol, where the barrel and slide are locked together on firing, using locking lugs milled into the barrel mating with recesses in the roof of the slide. An enclosed cam track integral with the barrel is actuated by the slide release lever's transverse pin. After the first few millimetres of the recoil stroke, the barrel is cammed downwards at the rear, enabling the slide to continue the recoil stroke and eject the spent cartridge. Most models have the capability of being fired in both single and double-action modes, and feature a frame-mounted manual safety. Some recent models have a decocking lever that doubles as a manual safety. Starting in the early 1990s, all CZ 75s have been made with firing pin blocks, designated by the letter B (as in CZ 75B). The CZ 75 was one of the first high-capacity 9mm pistols with a manual safety similar to that of the Browning Hi-Power. This allows the CZ 75 to be carried with the hammer cocked with safety applied and a round chambered, ready for use simply by switching the safety off, a configuration known as condition 1. It is somewhat unusual for double-action pistols to have this "cocked and locked" type of safety; most such as the Walther P38 and the Beretta 92F have a combination safety/decocking lever (as do some later versions of the CZ 75). The trade-off of this configuration is that to uncock the hammer for a double-action first shot, the hammer must be dropped manually by pulling the trigger while lowering the hammer with the firer's thumb under control. Once lowered in this manner, a double-action first shot can be achieved in a similar manner to other double-action pistols without actuating any controls. Subsequent shots will be single-action unless the hammer is again manually lowered. All non-double-action only CZ-75 variants feature a "half-cock" notch. This is not a safety position, but rather an operator aid to provide a safe place to manually decock the pistol. All of the "decocker" models decock to this position, and the manual advises not to attempt to place the hammer further on any model. Unlike most other semi-auto pistols, the slide rides inside the frame rails, similar to the SIG P210, rather than outside. This provides a tight slide-to-frame fit and a very efficient barrel lock-up, both of which contribute to its accuracy. On current models, frames are cast and slides are machined from forgings, though forged frames have been used in very early production models. The six-groove barrel has traditional land-and-groove rifling with a higher-than-standard rate of twist (1 in 9.7). Variants and derivatives [ edit ] CZ variants of the CZ 75 include: 75 Steel Full Size [ edit ] CZ 75 The original CZ 75, easily identified by the heavily stepped slide and short slide rails CZ 75 Late version, easily identified by longer slide rails and shorter slide-step CZ 75 B Second-generation CZ 75, upgraded with an internal firing pin safety, squared and serrated trigger guard, and ring hammer CZ 75 BD A variant of the now-common CZ 75 B (B standing for firing pin block) with a decocker replacing the traditional manual safety. (D stands for decocker.) This variant is quickly becoming the most common of the CZ 75B models, due to the additional safety the decocker safety provides. CZ 75 BD Police Variant of the CZ 75 BD equipped with loaded chamber indicator, reversible magazine catch, lanyard ring, checkered front and back strap of the grip and serrated trigger as standard. Most Police models have "Police" stamped on the slide. A smaller amount exclude "Police" but have front slide serrations. CZ 75 B Stainless Stainless steel version of the CZ 75 B. Available in a high gloss and matte stainless finish. Also available in the new/limited edition (sand blasted finish with sides of the slide and frame decoratively ground). All stainless models feature ambidextrous safeties. CZ 75 B Omega (2009-2015) A version of the CZ 75 B with a factory-reworked trigger group, the "Omega" system, introduced with the P-07. It is available chambered for 9 mm or .40 S&W. It has a manual safety that is not ambidextrous. CZ 75 B Omega Convertible (2016-) An updated version of the previous CZ 75 B Omega. It comes with a decocker that can be easily swapped to a manual safety, with the included kit. The decocker or the safety are ambidextrous. It also has the hammer and the sights updated. CZ 75 B SA A CZ 75 which has a single-action trigger mechanism and a drop-free magazine. It is available chambered for 9 mm or .40 S&W. CZ 75 B DAO (discontinued) A CZ 75 that has a longer and heavier, constant trigger pull (double-action only). Chambered for 9mm and .40 S&W. Featuring no external safety or decocker as well as a bobbed hammer. 75 Compact [ edit ] CZ 75 Compact A standard CZ 75 with a slightly shortened grip and 3.9-inch barrel. There is a version available chambered for the .40 S&W. CZ 75 D PČR Compact Very compact – similar to the P-01 in size, with an aluminum alloy frame also but lacks an M3 rail frame and features a smaller muzzle point and snag free sights. A popular choice for a carry weapon, known for its inherent accuracy and weight distribution. CZ 75 SemiCompact Combines the frame, grip and capacity of the full size CZ 75 with the shortened (by 20mm) barrel and slide of the CZ 75 Compact. CZ P-01 A CZ 75 Compact variant intended for law enforcement use, with an aluminum alloy frame, decocker and under-barrel accessory rail. It is the new weapon of choice for the Czech National Police since 2001. It received NATO certification after undergoing extensive testing. Its NATO Stock Number (NSN) is 1005-16-000-8619.[5] CZ P-01 Omega Convertible A version of the CZ P-01 with the new Omega trigger system. It comes with a decocker that can be easily swapped to a manual safety, with the included kit. The decocker or the safety are ambidextrous. It also has the hammer and the sights updated. CZ P-06 Same as the P-01 but in .40 S&W Sub Compact [ edit ] The CZ 2075 RAMI subcompact variant designed for concealed carry Field stripped CZ 75 CZ 2075 RAMI A subcompact version of the CZ 75 intended for concealed carry. Features a 3-inch barrel, aluminum frame and low-profile sights. Available in 9×19mm or .40 S&W, with standard magazine capacities of 10 (9×19mm) and 8 (.40 S&W) rounds, respectively. An optional 14-round magazine is available for the 9 mm version. CZ 2075 RAMI BD Same as the 2075 RAMI but includes a decocker and tritium sights CZ 2075 RAMI P Polymer framed version Competition [ edit ] CZ-75 SP-01 with extended-capacity magazine CZ 75 SP-01/SP-01 Tactical Similar to the P-01 with accessory rail, but with all-steel construction and utilizing the full-size frame and slide as well as incorporating extended-capacity 18-round magazines. It is available with an ambidextrous manual safety (SP-01) or with an ambidextrous decocker (SP-01 Tactical). The CZ 75 (SP-01) was designed for multiple purposes including but not limited to: a military/law enforcement duty sidearm, sidearm for counter-terrorism forces, and field/target shooting.[6] Used in the 2005 IPSC World Shoot XIV by World Champions Adam Tyc and Angus Hobdell (1st and 3rd place respectively in the production division).[7] CZ 75 SP-01 Shadow New generation of CZ 75 SP-01 pistol especially adapted according to suggestions as proposed by users from communities worldwide, with an additional input from the Team CZ shooters Angus Hobdell and Adam Tyc. Based on the SP-01, it has no firing pin block resulting in improved trigger travel. It also features a slightly reshaped grip and safety, a “weaker” recoil spring for easier loading, and fiber optic front sight and tactical “Novak style” rear sight.[8] CZ 75 Shadow 2 In 2016, with the cooperation of the elite IPSC shooters of the Česká zbrojovka team, an improved version of the Shadow was released, called the Shadow 2. It included a longer barrel, a reshaped, lighter-weight slide, more aggressive slide serrations, improved grip ergonomics, aggressive grip checkering, and a smaller fiber optic in the front sight. CZ 75 SP-01 Shadow Line – a competition-centric variant of the CZ-75 model CZ 75 SP-01 Phantom The CZ 75 Phantom has a polymer frame, is 33% lighter than steel frame models, with accessory rail and a forged steel slide with a weight saving scalloped profile. Two Interchangeable grip rear strap inserts are included with the Phantom to accommodate users with different sized hands. The pistol is further outfitted with a decocking lever. Czech Army Paratroopers of the 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade are fully equipped with this pistol from January 2012. CZ 75 Standard IPSC A CZ 75 variant designed specifically for IPSC competition with extended grip, single-action trigger, heavy-duty free-falling magazines, and an enlarged magazine well. CZ 75 Tactical Sports Replacing the ST IPSC was the tactical sports model, which featured minor improvements over its very similar predecessor. Available in 9×19mm (20 rounds) or .40 S&W (17 rounds). CZ 75 Champion A competition version designed for Open Division IPSC competition, with three port compensator, adjustable trigger, extended magazine release, ambidextrous safeties, fully adjustable sights and two-tone finish, with blued slide and satin nickel frame. CZ 75 TS Czechmate A competition variant based on the Tactical Sports model, equipped with a compensator and electronic red-dot sight on a frame mount. Designed especially for IPSC Open Division (and replacing the older Champion model), the Czechmate presents a turnkey solution for the sport, offering a complete competitive package including additional magazines and spare parts. CZ 75 Kadet/Kadet 2 A .22 LR caliber slide/ barrel assembly and magazine kit to fit onto most standard CZ 75B frames (except the Tactical Sport and SP-01 Phantom). The Kadet also used to be sold as a complete pistol (slide assembly and frame), but is now only sold as a slide assembly to be mounted on existing frames. The 2nd generation conversion kit currently being sold is called the "Kadet 2", and includes a dedicated .22 slide stop that locks the slide back on an empty magazine. Night sights are optional. Polymer [ edit ] CZ P-07 Duty The CZ P-07 Duty is a compact, polymer-framed CZ 75 variant notable for having a redesigned trigger mechanism. The redesign has reduced the number of parts as well as improved the trigger pull. The exterior restyling was greatly influenced by the SPHINX 3000 design (itself being an enhanced Swiss CZ 75 clone). Chambered in 9mm Luger and .40 S&W, the CZ P-07 DUTY also includes the ability to change the manual safety to a decocking lever and vice versa through an exchange of parts. Introduced in 2009. CZ P-09 Duty Full-size version of the P-07, boasting 19 round capacity in 9mm. Introduced in 2013. CZ P-09 Kadet A .22 LR caliber slide/barrel assembly and magazine kit to fit onto standard CZ P-09 frames, similar to the CZ 75 Kadet/Kadet 2. The Kadet is sold as a complete pistol (slide assembly with frame) or a standalone slide assembly to be mounted on existing frames, and can be used as a training gun for the standard P-09. The frame is made from mechanically and thermally stable polymer reinforced with glass fibre, equipped with an underside MIL-STD-1913 rail for accessories. The slide has two pairs of cocking grooves for comfortable handling, and adjustable iron sights with three luminescent dots. The gun has easy-to-change manual safety and decocking controls, with three interchangeable grip backstraps in small, medium and large sizes. 85 [ edit ] CZ 85 An updated version of the CZ 75 that is also ambidextrous CZ 85B A CZ 85 with a firing pin block CZ 85BD A CZ 85 B with a decocking lever, instead of a safety CZ 85 Compact A limited production compact CZ 85 with under-barrel accessory rail and chambered in .40 S&W. Identical to the current CZ 75 compact in .40 S&W. CZ 85 Combat adds an adjustable rear sight, extended magazine release, drop-free magazine and overtravel adjustment on the trigger. Lacks a firing pin safety so that firing pins can be replaced without special fitting. 97 (.45 ACP) [ edit ] CZ 97B .45 ACP version of the CZ 75 B CZ 97 BD .45 ACP version of the CZ 75 BD Others [ edit ] CZ 75 Automatic A selective-fire variant introduced in 1992 intended for law enforcement and military use. One distinguishing characteristic of earlier models is its longer compensated barrel although later models may have a standard barrel. An extra magazine can be attached to the front to act as a makeshift foregrip. Clones, copies, and variants by other manufacturers [ edit ] Today the CZ factory is located in the Czech Republic (EU) and the handgun is offered worldwide. However, during the Cold War, Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact and thoroughly communist in its political outlook. The CZ 75 was the first 9mm semi-auto pistol developed expressly for sale to the West and it offered new ideas in auto-pistol manual safety design, being a dual mode design. It could be carried in the conventional double-action/single-action mode of operation, or it could be carried "cocked and locked" like the 1911 pistol.[9] Due to a 60 percent duty on Czech-made products at the time and because CZ failed to secure world patent protection for their design, CZ could not market their pistol in the United States when it debuted. Instead, the Italian firm Fratelli Tanfoglio made and marketed the pistol to the West. Two shooters, American Doug Koenig and Frenchman Eric Grauffel, won the IPSC World Championship using pistols based on the CZ 75 design (all other World Champions up to the time had used pistols based on the John Browning 1911 format).[9] Other notable copies/clones are those of Sphinx Systems.[10] The clones, copies and variants by other manufacturers include: Users [ edit ] Many countries use copies and clones produced by local manufacturers (see above). This incomplete list only includes users of the original Czech-made CZ 75 and its variations. See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Bibliography [ edit ]
Air Commodore Joseph Aidan MacCarthy, OBE, GM (1914 – 11 October 1995) was an Irish doctor of the Royal Air Force and a prisoner of war to the Japanese during the Second World War. Early life [ edit ] MacCarthy was born in 1914 in the town of Castletownbere, Beara Peninsula County Cork, Ireland. His parents owned land and businesses in the area. He attended Clongowes Wood School and University College Cork. He graduated with a medical degree in 1938. Lacking family connections, he was unable to obtain employment as a doctor in Ireland so he moved to the United Kingdom, working first in Wales, then in London. There, he met two former classmates from his medical school and, after a night of drinking with them, decided to join the British armed forces as a medical officer. Which service (the Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force) was decided for him by a coin toss made by a nightclub hostess in the early hours of the morning.[1] RAF career [ edit ] In 1940, he was posted to France and was evacuated from Dunkirk where he attended wounded Allied soldiers while under fire from German aircraft. In September 1940, he was promoted to flight lieutenant.[2] The following year he was awarded the George Medal for his part in the rescue of the crew of a crashed and burning Wellington bomber at RAF Honington.[3] The aircraft had crash landed after its undercarriage had failed to lower and it came to rest on the airfields bomb dump, where it caught fire. Together with Group Captain John Astley Gray, MacCarthy entered the burning wreck and rescued two crewmen, but were unable to save the pilot.[1] Gray was badly burned during the rescue; MacCarthy was also burned, but less seriously.[3] Posted to the Far East in 1941, MacCarthy was captured by the Japanese in Sumatra. The prison ship transporting Allied prisoners to Japan was sunk by a US submarine. MacCarthy had to do the best he could for his patients whilst splashing around in the South China Sea. After being initial rescued by a Japanese Destroyer the crew then started to throw rescued prisoners overboard and the remaining prisoners on the destroyer jumped back into the ocean and clambered back on the wreckage. A Japanese fishing boat pulled him out of the ocean and transported him to Japan. There, he cared for Allied prisoners of war who were forced to work in horrific conditions. To the Japanese ear 'MacCarthy' and 'MacArthur' were indistinguishable. The Japanese assumed that MacCarthy must be a close blood relative of the American commander. Therefore, whenever MacCarthy answered his name, he was struck on the forehead. This may have contributed to his developing a brain clot in later life. He was in charge of a working party in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped on that city on 9 August 1945. The prisoners had previously been warned, by secret radio, to take cover at a particular time of day without being given any further details. When the war ended, when some Australian ex-prisoners were attempting to lynch their Japanese captors, MacCarthy locked the Japanese guards in a cell and threw the key into the sea. MacCarthy was the senior Allied serviceman in Japan at the Japanese surrender. In 1946, MacCarthy was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[4] In 1948, he was promoted to substantive rank of squadron leader,[5] having held the rank of acting squadron leader since 1940. Later years [ edit ] MacCarthy later practiced medicine in southern England. In 1979 he published an account of his wartime ordeal, titled A Doctor's War. He died in Northwood, London on 11 October 1995. In July 2017, Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Harry will formally name a new RAF medical centre at RAF Honington in his honour.[6]
A group of feminist academics have rallied against plans to make street harassment illegal in France, on the grounds that new laws could “stigmatise” men with migrant backgrounds. “It is well known that racialised young men from the working classes already suffer more than other people from police violence and oppression,” assert the academics, in a letter opposing equality minister Marlène Schiappa’s announcement that MPs are working on legislation to reduce street harassment. “It would be enough to train the perpetrators on the ground to change their behaviour,” write the 15 signatories, stating: “Creating a new offence will only strengthen the repression and control of men in disadvantaged groups.” In the letter, which was published by newspaper Libération, the academics also complain that plans to penalise harassment will be restricted to the street, when women can be subject to abuse at home and at their place of work. Stating that criminalising street harassment “will serve to identify what forms of sexism are illegitimate”, the letter warns it will “keep the abuse committed in high-end districts of town and in the offices of large corporations hidden in the shadows”. Can you blame them? https://t.co/mk6sRCbJhI — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 20, 2017 Speaking in September on what would be covered by the new legislation, the equality minister said: “You are a woman in an underground train. I am a man. I follow you. You get off the train. I get off. You get on another train. I get on too. I ask you for your telephone number. I ask again. I ask a third time. You feel oppressed. That is street harassment.” The crackdown followed the publication of a number of surveys which outlined the prevalence of street harassment in some parts of France. A 2015 study conducted in migrant-heavy French districts Seine-Saint-Denis and Essonne, carried out by the High Council for Equality between Women and Men (HCEfh) – concluded that 100 per cent of women had been subjected at least once in their lives to sexual harassment or sexual assault. In May, Breitbart London reported how some areas of Paris have become virtual “no-go” zones for women, who reported no longer being able to leave their homes without migrants subjecting them to verbal abuse. Local media described how, over the previous 12 months — as immigrants and drug dealers flooded the east Paris district of Chapelle-Pajol — the streets became crowded with dozens of groups of young men harassing and sometimes even assaulting women who walked by.
In my next blog I will continue with how I applied the practical steps of walking through anxiety, and how I was able to successfully avoid an anxiety reaction in one of the circumstances . This experience has changed my entire self-experience, opened up a new understanding of how things can be different, and showed me that it IS possible to learn how to become the master of one’s emotions, and no longer remain the slave." I , sporadic, chaotic and intense. This detail is important to remark because we can use this information to see, realize and understand the best way to approach ourselves when we are in these situations (beginning an anxiety reaction). If, for example, we are too hard on ourselves, the anxiety energy can and will use this approach to further intensify itself. If we panic, it can also serve to fuel the anxiety. If we become mad or frustrated, it can perpetuate the anxiety. f you can recall and bring up the experience of anxiety within self, you can probably relate to that fact that the energy experience is, as the interview describes, sporadic, chaotic and intense. This detail is important to remark because we can use this information to see, realize and understand the best way to approach ourselves when we are in these situations (beginning an anxiety reaction). If, for example, we are too hard on ourselves, the anxiety energy can and will use this approach to further intensify itself. If we panic, it can also serve to fuel the anxiety. If we become mad or frustrated, it can perpetuate the anxiety. It’s as if a child is throwing a tantrum and the parent screams at the child in an attempt to subdue or control him to make it stop. This can further upset the child and fuel/perpetuate the tantrum. Now compare this to speaking in a calm and stable manner to the child, this may not be an instant blanket solution, but it will not further aggravate the situation, and the child can be talked down slowly, and the tantrum can not last forever. Anxiety within self functions in the same way. This example demonstrates how our self-approach can either assist and support ourselves to walk through and out of the anxiety in a calm and stable manner, or conversely, how it can further perpetuate the experience if we do not take the wheel, gain control and direct ourselves. Within this understanding, one can keep in mind that any self-judgment, guilt, anger, shame, or any other emotion can and will be exaggerated when in an anxiety reaction, and therefore serves only to aggravate the situation, whereas being calm, stable and gentle can dissipate the chaotic, sporadic and intense experience going on within us. This is the difference between getting caught up in the anxiety and believing it is necessary, believing that there is no way out, and this is 'who I am', instead of understanding it as a reaction that has been triggered and will now play out, but that we can remain standing within the understanding that we can choose not to play into it. The goal here is to eventually prevent the reaction from occurring in the first place, but we must first deal with what is already here, which is the existence of anxiety reactions and generalized anxiety which we see as beyond our control. It is not. In order to see the control one truly do have, it is important to understand what s going on within self. Within this we are practicing how to look at everything to do with anxiety completely objectively; to see anxiety as a reaction, a substance or an entity that is triggered by thoughts/memories, to recognize that this simply requires to be managed by oneself, and to understand that anxiety is not simply an inevitable part of self that one must learn to live with and constantly react to. To illustrate, h ere is a practical example from my life where I was able to recognize the anxiety quickly and dissipate the reaction: Last week, I was about to start cooking (which, in my previous blog I had mentioned as one example of when my anxiety is triggered). I had just had a very busy day and when I got home I could feel I was high strung. I felt a stress and a buzzing sensation in my body, and instead of calming myself down, I immediately moved myself to begin the next task, which was to prepare dinner. Within this internal energetic experience of 'stress', ‘rushed’ and ‘buzzing’, it feels like there is a pressure to do everything quickly and hurriedly, everything is rushed and there is no time for rest. This set of circumstances set me up for falling into the anxiety reaction I described in my first example from my previous blog, where my anxiety connects to a sense of overwhelming-ness. I was alone at home at that moment so I was able to speak to myself out loud. First I used the breathing techniques, and then I used the voice tonality described in the interview (calm, stable, directive to offset the intense, chaotic and sporadic energy of anxiety) and spoke my self-forgiveness. In the same calm, directed and stable voice, I talked to myself about what I was doing, how I was making things more difficult for myself and that it wasn’t necessary, and how I could proceed calmly and in an organized way. I was able to slow down and create steps for myself, and eventually I put together a meal while remaining as present and aware as possible. When my partner came home I recognized the fact that my mood was light, I was able to have fun and communicate easily and enjoy the moment, which then allowed him to be light and open, even after a long day at work. If I had accepted and allowed the anxiety reaction, I would have instead experienced what I had become so used to, which was feelings of varying degrees of irritation, impatience, or no desire to communicate. When another person is subjected to this the mood feels heavy and tense. If ones' partner comes home after a long day at work and is met with someone that is overwhelmed/stressed causing irritability, impatience and being non-communicative due to anxiety, it affects the relationship negatively. This can contribute to creating a toxic home environment, especially when repeated daily over many years. This is one of the consequences of accepting and allowing oneself to live with generalized anxiety, it doesn't just affect self, so the responsibility to face and manage one's anxiety disorder is a self-responsibility which extends beyond self. Within my own self-treatment, what I’ve learned over the past few weeks has been that it is of utmost importance that one recognize the brief moment where anxiety first starts – before it is able to connect to and amplify other emotions, memories, personalities and patterns. This is because in that small moment, when I look at it and recognize it, and can say to myself “oh, this is just anxiety sneaking in because of the particular circumstances I am in,” and the anxiety feels small, insubstantial and powerless. But when I miss this moment, the anxiety is able to connect itself to the emotions, memories and thoughts, then an anxiety reaction has been triggered and it must now be navigated through. Once an anxiety reaction is triggered, it must now be walked through. Walking through an anxiety reaction: Being within an anxiety reaction feels so real, and the anxiety feels so much a part of me that to deny it would be to deny myself. I try saying to myself “it’s just anxiety, it’s just anxiety,” but part of me fights back, proving to myself it is real and valid, and I experience rushes of emotional energy, and I am flooded by negative thoughts, fantasies and future projections. In these moments, when I’ve missed the opportunity – I direct myself to breathe, I feel the waves of anxiety pass over me. It feels extremely uncomfortable and unbearable, but I tell myself it will end, it can't last forever, it has to end eventually. I speak self-forgiveness to understand where the reaction came from in order to trace it back to the thoughts or memories that triggered it. This is what the tool of self-forgiveness allows one to do. I have to continuously pull myself back into my body, even f it feels exceptionally uncomfortable in there. I pull myself out of my mind, because I understand that is where it is all taking place. I try to keep myself as physical as possible, feeling my body and focusing on what I’m doing. Continue to do these steps, to focus on breathing and self-acceptance. Embrace and accept self within the reaction - do not perpetuate it by judging self or becoming angry or upset. Watch for the thoughts/emotions/memories/fantasies that will come to fuel the anxiety. Gently but firmly direct oneself to stop thinking about them, and focus on the moment Here. The anxiety will end, and things will go back to normal in a matter of time. It's just a matter of time. Prevention is the Best Cure The best solution is to keep practicing being able to recognize the moment anxiety first starts, because that is where it can be stopped. The goal is to prevent the reactions from taking place at all. This requires a slowing down within self, and a self-awareness perhaps not previously developed. I will work on these aspects over the next weeks, by studying my examples of ‘anxiety-triggering situations’ I wrote about in my last blog . I will ‘study’ them by walking through them one by one, doing self-forgiveness on all the points so that I reveal to myself any hidden self-sabotage and to see what exactly is going on that leads me to create an anxiety reaction within myself. This will be the topic for my next blog.
A man accused of murdering his girlfriend in her bedroom is now saying she accidentally choked to death while performing oral sex. He wants a judge’s permission to show the jury his penis to prove it. Richard Henry Patterson, 65, of Margate, admitted from the start that he choked his girlfriend, Francisca Marquinez, 60, on Oct. 28, 2015. But he never said how. And while his request is unusual, Patterson’s attorney Ken Padowitz said it is key to his argument, which he called a variation on the “rough sex” defense that has been used in numerous trials across the country over the years. The heart of the argument, which is not often successful, is similar in each case: The victim died by accident while engaged in consensual sexual activity. “Dr. [Ronald] Wright, an expert witness and former Broward County medical examiner, will testify that … her death is consistent with being accidentally sexually asphyxiated during oral sex,” Padowitz wrote in the motion. “It is material and relevant. The view by the jury is essential for them to fully understand Dr. Wright’s testimony and the defense in this case.” Wright was Broward’s chief medical examiner from 1980 until 1994. Since then he has testified in hundreds of cases, usually for the defense in criminal cases. He declined to comment Friday. If the disrobing were to take place, Padowitz requested that it happen outside of public view, with only Broward Circuit Judge Michael Ian Rothschild, lawyers, a bailiff, the jury and the defendant present, according to the motion filed May 1. The victim’s son criticized the defense strategy. “It’s a desperate man trying a desperate tactic," said Marquinez’s son, Omar Andrade, 41, who lives in New York. “He’s just trying to get off the hook.” He described his mother as kind, friendly and independent. Andrade said he met Patterson only once or twice, shortly after Marquinez began dating him in the summer of 2015. “I didn’t think anything of him in particular,” he said. His mother’s death and Patterson’s murder charge were a shock, he said. She never gave Andrade any indication that there was something dangerously amiss. Marquinez’s neighbors in Margate’s Royal Palm Garden community, Eddie and Christianne Pathik, said Marquinez was unhappy in her relationship with Patterson. “Two days before she died, they were arguing, shouting at each other,” Eddie Pathik said, translating for his Portuguese-speaking wife. “She was trying to break off the relationship.” No hearing date has been set for the motion, and the Broward State Attorney’s Office has declined to comment about the case. Patterson is charged with second-degree murder, with jury selection scheduled to begin May 15. Brooklyn defense lawyer Joyce David, who has used another variation of the rough sex defense, said the challenge lies in handling the probable backlash, both in public opinion and, more importantly, from the jury. “The backlash is something you need to get in front of during the jury selection process,” she said. David’s client in a 2009 case was accused of raping a woman and killing her. The defense was that the woman died during rough sex play with someone else — that her client had nothing to do with it. The jury rejected her argument. Told about Patterson’s defense, David said the idea of having a client disrobe in front of a jury is probably unnecessary. “Really, couldn’t they just make a mold or something?” Padowitz said he’s considering that approach if the judge turns down his request. According to arrest records, Patterson called Padowitz before police discovered the victim’s body. Padowitz contacted police and told them to search the victim’s apartment. Once inside, police found the body. Marquinez had already been dead between eight and 24 hours. According to the autopsy, Marquinez showed no signs of trauma — there were no bruises on her neck. But the autopsy also notes that the body was in an early stage of decomposition, making some bruising more difficult to detect with certainty. The medical examiner was unable to reach a definitive conclusion about the cause and manner of death. “It is rare in a murder case that the medical examiner can’t say the manner of death is a homicide,” Padowitz said. Without Patterson’s statements to a daughter and a friend, Padowitz said, prosecutors wouldn’t have a case. Patterson told his daughter in a text message that he “did something bad.” He later told a friend, “I choked her. I choked Francisca.” “He said he choked her,” said Padowitz. “He never said he strangled her.” A British man, Philip Martins, attempted an identical defense in a 2011 murder case. He’s now serving a life sentence. [email protected], 954-356-4457, Twitter @SSCourts and @rolmeda
The killer whales trapped in the ice in northern Quebec appear to have left the area, but they may not be out of harm's way yet. Lyne Morissette, a marine researcher with the St. Lawrence Global Observatory, said the ice can move quickly, and while a split in the ice opened a pathway for the whales, the orcas are still inside the ice-covered Hudson Bay. "This is not a victory yet," she said. Marine mammal researcher Lyne Morrisette said warmer than usual sea temperatures probably confused the orcas into thinking it was safe to stay in Hudson Bay. According to Morissette, the whales still have over 100 kilometres to travel before they are in the open waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. She said they may be able to survive in Hudson Bay for the winter, but it won't be easy. If the whale pod doesn't make it, she said it would be a significant loss for the northern whale population. On Wednesday, residents of an Inuit village called for the government's help to save a dozen killer whales trapped in the ice about 30 kilometres off the coast of Inukjuak, Que. The orcas were spotted Tuesday, 30 kms from Inukjuak, Que. The orcas were spotted at a breathing hole at the eastern top of Hudson Bay. When two hunters, Jobie Epoo and Jamisee Weetaluktuk, went to check the ice before 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, they discovered the whales were gone. They called the local radio station to let them know the orcas were out of sight. A group of 22 local men had been getting ready to go out to the site and see what they could do to help the whales reach open water. Epoo said the plan was to make that hole larger and create another hole about 45 metres away, by sawing and drilling in the ice. "It was a very dangerous area," Epoo said. "We're talking about flowing ice, moving ice — continuously, constantly moving ice — and depending on the time of the month, you never know when the ice is going to decide to go." Inuit elders credit new moon Inukjuak Mayor Peter Inukpuk said elders in the community credit the new moon for current changes that split the ice and opened a pathway for the whales. The patch of water in the ice on Hudson Bay, where a pod of killer whales was first spotted Tuesday about 30 kms off the coast of Inukjuak, Que. (Tommy Palliser) Two Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists are still heading to the remote community to gather scientific information and consult with community members. The mayor said the community has been overwhelmed with calls from people around the world wanting to help with donations of money and equipment. He said people were willing to send ice augers and chainsaws to help make more breathing space for the whales that were trapped. Inukpuk said he is thankful to all those who offered to assist his community and help free the killer whales.
Confronting ads target obesity rates in Canberra Updated A new television campaign targeting obesity in the ACT has kicked off with a series of confronting advertisements. The LiveLighter project is backed by the Heart Foundation and the ACT Government. Heart Foundation ACT chief executive officer Tony Stubbs said 63 per cent of adults in Canberra were overweight or obese. "In fact seven out of 10 males are overweight or obese," he said. "It is a major problem and the way we're communicating to people around this issue and the way we're supporting people is clearly not working. "The issue is large and what we're doing is not working, so we need to do something that's actually going to start the conversation with people." Mr Stubbs said the ads would bring people face-to-face with the health impacts of "toxic fat". "There are good and bad fats, but there's really strong evidence now that fat around your waist - or toxic fat - actually releases chemicals which are doing you harm," he said. "We also know from research that if you do have fat around your waist you're at a higher risk of getting heart disease, diabetes and cancer in the future." Consultant cardiologist at Canberra Hospital Walter Abhayaratna said helping Canberrans reach a healthy weight was a priority. "Obesity is a significant public health challenge because it is one of the leading causes of preventable death and disease in our community," he said. "People know it's important to eat a balanced diet and be active, but many of us struggle to make healthy choices. "The reality is that small, easy changes really do make a positive difference to your health." The LiveLighter campaign is part of the wider ACT Government Healthy Weight Initiative which also includes consultation with doctors and schools. Topics: obesity, states-and-territories, act, canberra-2600 First posted
MINGORA: The second-century double-dome vihara, a Buddhist monastery, at Balokaley in Kandak valley, Barikot, is attracting a large number of tourists, architecture students and archaeology researches. Located 8.1km from Barikot, the archaeological site, a masterpiece of ancient architecture, is located high on the mountain and is visible from a long distance. According to archaeologists, the site was first visited by a Hungarian-British archeologist, Sir Aurel Stein, in 1926 and then hastily excavated by Burger and Wright in 1938. Now protected, the site has been looted by vandals and smugglers for almost a century. Restored and partially excavated, the site, which was acquired by the KP government of late, provides visitors with a clear understanding of the original layout featuring a tripartite monumental terrace with the shrine flanked by two stupas in ruins, supported by a walled terrace as well with the amazing hospitality of local community. “The site is featured by the landmark monument of the Great Shrine, the oldest example of double-dome Gandharan architecture. Chronology of the site is supported by radiocarbon dating one wooden beam of the shrine (palosa wood or acacia modesta) back to the end of first century or the middle of second century CE). The shrine with its cella, corridor and double dome is astonishingly well preserved for the standards of Gandharan architecture,” said Dr Luca Maria Olivieri, head of the visiting Italian Archaeological Mission. He added that it was the only double-dome structure of the ancient Buddhist era left in South Asia. Carla Biagioli, an Italian architect and heritage specialist, who visited Balokaley Gumbat of late, said she was happy to see the site well preserved and protected. “Protection and conservation of the monuments is a very important step to promote the cultural values. The restoration of Balokaley Buddhist shrine has demonstrated the potentiality of attractiveness of the area from cultural and natural point of view,” she told Dawn. She said the venue of the Buddhist shrine was really amazing and scenic, while the area presented a specific living cultural landscape including traditional settlements and typical wood-stone-mud habitat, botanic interests and rock art elements. “The eye-catching site having rich culture and religious heritage is attractive for international tourists if durable peace prevailed in the area,” she said. Tourists and architecture students visit the site not only to have a look at the architectural landmark but also to enjoy the breathtaking view of the monument. “On one hand, the double-dome structure constructed with stone masonry left me amazed and on the other, the view of the area was so beautiful that it gave me inner peace,” said tourist Iftikhar Ali. The archaeological area, which is just five kilometers from Bazira site, is part of a 12 km light tourist trail network marked and provided with safe water points and shelters. The trail crosses two valleys and touches several rock painting and carving sites in the pristine breathtaking environment. Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2016
AT&T is offering two new data plans for smartphone users as the price war in the wireless industry heats up. Its part of a growing trend in which wireless providers give consumers more gigabytes of data without having to pay more. As mobile devices become more sophisticated, consumers are demanding more data to send photos, watch videos and download music. Beginning Sunday, AT&T (T) customers will be able to get 3GB of data for $40 a month or 6GB for $70 a month. Previously, the deal was 2GB for $40 a month and 4GB for $70 a month. In addition to the data charges, AT&T charges what it calls a monthly "smartphone access charge" of $40 for customers who sign a standard two year contract. With AT&T Next, a program where customers get a new smartphone every year, the monthly access fee is $25 per line. The company says all of its value plans include unlimited talk and text. Related: Government accuses AT&T of misleading 'unlimited data' customers AT&T says the plans offer a better value because customers get more data for the same price as they currently pay. Verizon (VZ) made a similar move earlier this month, announcing plans to double the amount of data it offers under certain plans. Sprint (S) got the ball rolling in August when it announced an unlimited data plan for just $60 a month.
Woohoo, it’s hacking time again! This day, we’ve put a whole day aside and you’re invited! Join us in Bristol (venue tbc) on Saturday 24th September and prototype some apps – techies and non techies welcome! The challenge will be to create working prototypes or concepts for apps in the area of chat, automation, AI and community. Great apps aren’t just about tech, so as well as developers, we’re inviting all creative, business-minded and ideas people to get involved. No experience needed! Whatever your area of expertise, everyone is welcome to help us visualise the future of chat. Chat, Automation, AI and Community The aim of the day is to prototype apps that revolutionise chat. There’s no limit to what you can create, be it pen and paper sketches of the next beautiful chat app or functioning apps, bots, hardware hacks etc. The only criteria is that your project takes chat to the next level. The Rules No coding or creating mockups before the day! – preparation is good, and you’re welcome to a bit of research beforehand, but to keep things fair you can’t have started on the code or mockups for your project until the day. You can work alone or in teams of up to 3 people. We recommend gathering your team beforehand. Who Can Come? Everyone is welcome – no experience necessary! Not a developer? We recommend using Sketch or Marvel (both have free trials!) to prototype your idea. The Prizes Prizes will be awarded across a number of techie and non-techie categories so everyone has a fair shot at winning. Food and Drink Homemade food, beer, cider and soft drinks will be on hand throughout the day courtesy of GeekFeeder and our fabulous sponsors. Please let us know if you have any dietary requirements. More details (including venue and afterparty!) to follow…
The Khronos Group’s WebGL technology is a cross-platform, low-level 3D graphics API for the web. Recently, Context Information Security published two reports critical of the WebGL technology, WebGL – A New Dimension for Browser Exploitation and WebGL – More WebGL Security Flaws. One of the functions of MSRC Engineering is to analyze various technologies in order to understand how they can potentially affect Microsoft products and customers. As part of this charter, we recently took a look at WebGL. Our analysis has led us to conclude that Microsoft products supporting WebGL would have difficulty passing Microsoft’s Security Development Lifecycle requirements. Some key concerns include: Browser support for WebGL directly exposes hardware functionality to the web in a way that we consider to be overly permissive The security of WebGL as a whole depends on lower levels of the system, including OEM drivers, upholding security guarantees they never really need to worry about before. Attacks that may have previously resulted only in local elevation of privilege may now result in remote compromise. While it may be possible to mitigate these risks to some extent, the large attack surface exposed by WebGL remains a concern. We expect to see bugs that exist only on certain platforms or with certain video cards, potentially facilitating targeted attacks. Browser support for WebGL security servicing responsibility relies too heavily on third parties to secure the web experience As WebGL vulnerabilities are uncovered, they will not always manifest in the WebGL API itself. The problems may exist in the various OEM and system components delivered by IHV’s. While it has been suggested that WebGL implementations may block the use of affected hardware configurations, this strategy does not seem to have been successfully put into use to address existing vulnerabilities. It is our belief that as configurations are blocked, increasing levels of customer disruption may occur. Without an efficient security servicing model for video card drivers (eg: Windows Update), users may either choose to override the protection in order to use WebGL on their hardware, or remain insecure if a vulnerable configuration is not properly disabled. Users are not accustomed to ensuring they are up-to-date on the latest graphics card drivers, as would be required for them to have a secure web experience. In some cases where OEM graphics products are included with PCs, retail drivers are blocked from installing. OEMs often only update their drivers once per year, a reality that is just not compatible with the needs of a security update process. Problematic system DoS scenarios Modern operating systems and graphics infrastructure were never designed to fully defend against attacker-supplied shaders and geometry. Although mitigations such as ARB_robustness and the forthcoming ARB_robustness_2 may help, they have not proven themselves capable of comprehensively addressing the DoS threat. While traditionally client-side DoS is not a high severity threat, if this problem is not addressed holistically it will be possible for any web site to freeze or reboot systems at will. This is an issue for some important usage scenarios such as in critical infrastructure. We believe that WebGL will likely become an ongoing source of hard-to-fix vulnerabilities. In its current form, WebGL is not a technology Microsoft can endorse from a security perspective. We recognize the need to provide solutions in this space however it is our goal that all such solutions are secure by design, secure by default, and secure in deployment. - MSRC Engineering
'I think it’s sad to watch the establishment grow hysterical,' Gingrich said. Gingrich: I'm on Team Paul-Cruz Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are among the few members of the Republican Party courageous enough to ask important questions, and that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie represents an establishment growing “hysterical” over their strength. “I consistently have been on the side of having the courage that Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have, and I think it’s sad to watch the establishment grow hysterical, but frankly they’re hysterical because they have no answers,” Gingrich said Thursday morning on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” Story Continued Below Gingrich was weighing in on an escalating war of words between Christie and Paul that was set off over their differing views on NSA surveillance of Americans. Gingrich told Ingraham that the party needs to admit that its national security strategy of the last decade was a failure, and Cruz (R-Texas) and Paul (R-Ky.) are leading the way. Gingrich said though he supported both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, he has to “say the way that they were executed failed, and maybe we should have known better, those of us that supported them. … Republicans have a real obligation to ask themselves the question: Aren’t there some pretty painful lessons to learn from the last 10 or 12 years? Don’t we have to confront the reality that this didn’t work as a strategy?” The intraparty squabbles popping up now are evidence of the discomfort, Gingrich said. “Trust me, Chris Christie is only the first sign, the establishment will grow more and more hysterical the more powerful Rand Paul and Ted Cruz become. They will gain strength as it’s obvious that they are among the few people willing to raise the right questions,” he said. Gingrich also said he wasn’t sure how much Christie knew about the issues, taking a shot at the man who has called Gingrich an embarrassment to the party. “I think Christie is a very good governor of New Jersey, and I think that he is a very strong personality, and apparently in New Jersey tradition, he thinks bluster and strong language without facts can carry you a long way,” Gingrich said.
Pastor Maldonado's victory in yesterday's Spanish Grand Prix as well as strong showings from Grosjean in the last two races and from Sergio Perez in Malaysia is highighting an important point about F1 and the relative state of the drivers. Do we often not give enough credit to the drivers in midfield cars? For years F1 races have been won by an elite of drivers from top teams with perhaps only 7 drivers managing to visit the F1 podium in the course of an entire season. In five races this season, we've already had 9 drivers on the podium and five different winners. But this year with the performance of a number of cars so close and with the way the Pirelli tyres work, it is offering an opportunity for more drivers to shine. Traditionally when drivers arrive in F1 they have usually won races and championships in junior categories, but then they find that in midfield teams they struggle to shine. Fans dismiss them because they aren't able to fully evaluate what they are able to do, as they are lost in the soup of midfield. However in 2012 we've seen some stunning drives from the likes of Perez and particularly Maldonado yesterday, which makes everyone realise that success has been more about opportunity and car pace rather than elite driver ability. Of course the cream rises to the top and the leading drivers are in top teams with big salaries for a reason. They become the elite because of the consistently high peaks of performance from Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and other top stars. They have always won because their teams build them fast cars, get them set up to maximise the tyres and then take advantage of the car pace to get the strategy right. That has always been the way of F1. But the positive thing about the racing this year is that it shows that given a chance with a car which can use the tyres well, a wider range of drivers can shine. It was a similar story in 2009 when Jenson Button showed that his poor results with Honda were to do with the car, not him and that he was capable of winning a championship. Perez and Maldonado were dismissed as 'pay drivers' because they have strong sponsor backing from their home countries. But after Malaysia everyone was talking about Perez getting a Ferrari seat and Maldonado impressed even the most hardened F1 insider yesterday. Others like Di Resta and Kobayashi are surely capable of doing the same, given the opportunity. The championship will be won by one of the elite, but it's refreshing for the drivers deeper down the field to show that they should not be underestimated.
If you are a user of the messaging software Skype, you know that you can see the location of your contacts in the Skype interface. What you probably do not know is that there is currently a way to display a Skype user's remote and local IP address as well. A script has been uploaded to Github that offers these options. According to the page, it can be used to lookup IP addresses of online Skype accounts, and return both the remote and the local IP of that account on a website. This blog post reveals how the script works. It basically starts an add a Skype contact request but does not complete it. The log file will display the local and remote IP of that Skype user, even if the user is not added to the list of contacts in Skype. Update: The script is no longer available. The script is for instance available on this site. Just enter the user name of a Skype user, fill out the captcha, and click the search button to initiate the lookup. You will receive the user's remote IP and port, as well as the local IP and port. This works only if the Skype user is online at the time of the lookup, and not if the user is offline. The IP address can reveal the user's country of origin, and maybe even the town or district. This can be done with the help of tools such as this one. Just enter a public IP address in the form, and you will receive information about the provider of the IP address. You can also use a tool like IP on Map to display the real world location of an IP address on a map. Some Skype users may not see this as a problem at all, as the IP address does not reveal a user's name or street address for instance. The IP address can however lead to those information, for instance in a lawsuit. There is currently no way of protecting yourself against the lookup of the IP address, other than not logging in to Skype when the software is not needed. The only other option would be the use of a virtual private network or proxy to hide the IP address from users who look it up. (via Hacker News) What's your take on this? Do you think Microsoft / Skype should fix the issue, for instance by revealing IP addresses only after confirmation by the new contact in Skype? Update: Here is a statement from a Skype spokesperson: “We are investigating reports of a new tool that allegedly captures a Skype user’s last known IP address. This is an ongoing, industry-wide issue faced by all peer-to-peer software companies. We are committed to the safety and security of our customers and we are takings measures to help protect them.” Advertisement
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict may change rules governing the conclave that will secretly elect his successor, a move that could move up the global meeting of cardinals who are already in touch about who could best lead Catholics through a period of crisis. The Vatican emblem is seen from inside the Vatican state February 20, 2013. Pope Benedict's shock resignation has robbed Italians of the one element of certainty in a time of deep doubt, with the country beset by graft scandals and heading for an election that will not bring the radical change so many crave. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected and then formally installed before Palm Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services leading to Easter. The rule changes could mean that the conclave in the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals will choose the next leader of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church, might be able to start before March 15, which is currently the earliest it can begin. Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said on Wednesday that Benedict, who will lose all power when he abdicates on February 28, was considering issuing a “Motu Proprio,” a personal document which has the force of Church law and addresses a specific need. A 1996 apostolic constitution by Pope John Paul stipulates that a conclave must start between 15 and 20 days after the papacy becomes vacant, meaning it cannot begin before March 15 under the current rules given Benedict’s date to step down. Some cardinals believe a conclave should start sooner than March 15 in order to reduce the time in which the Roman Catholic Church will be without a leader at a time of crisis. Benedict’s papacy was rocked by scandals over the sex abuse of children by priests in Europe and the United States, most of which preceded his time in office but came to light during it. His reign also saw Muslim anger after he compared Islam to violence. Jews were upset over his rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier. During a scandal over the Church’s business dealings, his butler was convicted of leaking his private papers. Benedict and his predecessor made sure any man awarded a cardinal’s red hat was firmly in line with key Catholic doctrine supporting priestly celibacy and Vatican authority and opposing abortion, women priests, gay marriage and other liberal reforms. Cardinals worldwide have begun informal consultations by phone and email to build a profile of the man they think would be best suited to lead the Church through rough seas. Some 117 cardinals under age of 80 will be eligible for the conclave. CONCERNS ABOUT EARLY CONCLAVE But some in the Church believe that an early conclave would give an unfair advantage to cardinals already in Rome and working in the Curia, the Vatican’s central administration. “A short period before a conclave helps the curial cardinals in Rome operating on their home turf,” said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and author of several books on the Vatican. “The curial cardinals are the ones that cardinals from outside Rome turn to for opinions about the other cardinals. The longer the pre-conclave period, the more time non-curial cardinals have to talk to each other and to get to know each other. The longer the period prior to the conclave, the less dependent outside cardinals are on the curial cardinals.” There is speculation in the Vatican that, if the rules are amended, the conclave could start on March 10, lasting a few days, and the new pope could be installed on March 17, both Sundays. But much would depend on the length of the conclave. During the conclave, cardinals live in a residence inside the Vatican and vote twice in the Sistine Chapel. They are not allowed to communicate in any way with the outside world, nor are they allowed to listen to radio, watch television, make phone calls or use the internet. Benedict has hand-picked more than half the men who will elect his successor. The rest were chosen by the late Pope John Paul, a Pole with whom the German pope shared a determination to reassert a more orthodox Catholicism in the new millennium. A number of cardinals have said they would be open to the possibility of a pope from the developing world, be it Latin America, Africa or Asia, as opposed to another from Europe, where the Church has lost credibility and is polarized. “I can imagine taking a step towards a black pope, an African pope or a Latin American pope,” Cardinal Kurt Koch, a Swiss Vatican official who will enter the conclave to choose the next pope, told Reuters in an interview last week. Of the 117 electors, a slim majority of 61 are from Europe, compared to 58 in 2005. Italy, the largest national group, will have 28 this time, up from 20 at the last conclave in 2005. HARMONISING CONSTITUTION, RITES Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said Pope Benedict was considering making changes that would “harmonize” two documents approved by his predecessor. One, the 1996 apostolic constitution called “Universi Dominici Gregis,” governs the entire period while the papacy is vacant, known as the “Sede Vacante”. That constitution, which consists of an introduction and 92 articles, details everything about the running of the Church in the absence of a pope, including the preparatory meetings for the conclave, the start of the conclave, the oaths of secrecy and the election procedure. Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to lead the Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square, at the Vatican October 24, 2012. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito (VATICAN - Tags: RELIGION) - RTR39IDW The other main document, “Ordo Rituum Conclavis,” or Rites of the Conclave, is a 350-page book in Latin and Italian that details the rituals, prayers and chants inside the secret conclave. That book, which was last updated in 1998, includes the Mass in which the cardinals pray at the start of the conclave, the ritual of the election and even the precise Latin formula with which the new pope accepts his election and chooses his name. It was not immediately clear how the two documents could be “harmonized” because one is a detailed, legalistic document and the other is more of a ceremonial handbook, similar to a missal.
Ryan Johansen (born July 31, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre, an alternate captain for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Growing up, he played minor hockey in the Greater Vancouver area until joining the junior ranks with the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) for one season. In 2009–10, he moved to the major junior level with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL). After his first WHL season, he was selected fourth overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Internationally, he has competed for the Canadian national junior team at the 2011 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, where he earned a silver medal and was named to the Tournament All-Star Team. In 2015, he participated in the 2015 NHL Skills Competition and was named the 2015 NHL All-Star Game MVP. Playing career [ edit ] Amateur [ edit ] Johansen was drafted into the Western Hockey League (WHL) 150th overall by the Portland Winterhawks in the 2007 Bantam Draft. Having been offered an athletic scholarship to play with Northeastern University, he opted to play for the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) in 2008–09 to protect his eligibility for the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).[notes 1][1][2] He appeared in 42 games for the Vees as a 16-year-old, scoring 5 goals and 12 assists.[2] Convinced of his ability, the Winterhawks persuaded Johansen to forego university and join their club for the 2009–10 WHL season.[1] In Portland, he joined a line with fellow 2010 NHL Entry Draft prospects Nino Niederreiter and Brad Ross.[3] He finished the year with 25 goals and 69 points in 71 games, second among league rookies behind Kevin Connauton and second in team scoring, behind Chris Francis.[4][5] Helping the Winterhawks make the playoffs one year after finishing last in the WHL,[3] they advanced to the second round. Johansen added 18 points in 13 games, ninth in league scoring and first among rookies,[6][7] despite playing in only two of four playoff rounds. Johansen rapidly climbed prospect charts for the 2010 NHL Draft, starting the year as a potential second round selection,[8] before rising to 16th among North American skaters when the NHL Central Scouting Bureau (CSB) released its mid-season ranking.[3] Johansen's coach with Penticton noted that, as one of the younger players of his draft class, his skill was often overlooked.[8] NHL scouts praised his speed, playmaking ability and vision on the ice but believed he needed to show more consistency and physicality.[2][9] He had been compared to Ottawa Senators centre Jason Spezza,[9] while Johansen had said he tried to model his game after San Jose Sharks centre Joe Thornton.[3] He finished the season as the tenth ranked skater according to Central Scouting and was projected to be a top 20 pick, perhaps as high as top 10.[1] With the fourth overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, Johansen was chosen by the Columbus Blue Jackets. A couple of months after his draft, Johansen signed with Columbus to a three-year, entry-level contract on September 9, 2010.[10] With a base salary of $900,000, the deal could have reached $1.975 million per year if he achieved all his bonus incentives.[10] Attending his first NHL training camp that month, he did not make the Blue Jackets roster and was returned to Portland on October 2 for another year of junior hockey.[11] Back in the WHL, Johansen was chosen to represent the league at the 2010 Subway Super Series,[12] a six-game exhibition tournament featuring all-stars from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) against Russian junior players. He completed the 2010–11 season improving to 92 points (40 goals and 52 assists) in 63 games, ranking seventh among league scorers.[13] Professional [ edit ] Johansen in 2011 Columbus Blue Jackets (2011-2016) [ edit ] Joining the Blue Jackets' training camp for a second year, Johansen made the opening line-up for the 2011–12 season. He made his NHL debut on October 7, 2011, registering 8 minutes and 46 seconds of ice time in a 3–2 loss to the Nashville Predators.[14][15] He registered his first NHL point, an assist on a Kris Russell goal, in a 4–3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on October 22.[16] Three days later, he scored his first NHL goal against Ty Conklin of the Detroit Red Wings. Banking the puck off of Conklin's skate from behind the goal line, the milestone came on the power play and was the game-winner. He also added an assist to help Columbus to their first win of the season, a 4–1 victory.[17] After playing in his ninth game of the season, having recorded two goals and two assists in that span, Johansen was notified by Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel that he would remain with the team and not be returned to junior.[notes 2][18] Due to the NHL's decision to lock out the players at the start of the 2012–13 season until a new collective bargaining agreement could be reached, Johansen was reassigned to the Blue Jackets' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.[19][20] On February 24, 2013, Johansen was re-called by the Blue Jackets for the remainder of the season, which began on January 19 after an agreement was reached. In the 2013–14 season, Johansen had a break-out year, scoring 33 goals and 30 assists for a total of 63 points, a career high. He was the third Blue Jacket in franchise history to post 30 goals or more in one season. Nashville Predators (2016–present) [ edit ] During the 2015–16 season, on January 6, 2016, Johansen was traded by the Blue Jackets to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Seth Jones.[21] Johansen finished the season with 60 points in 80 games. During Johansen's first full season with the Predators, he recorded 61 points in 82 games. During the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, Johansen suffered an acute compartment syndrome in his left thigh in the Western Conference Finals against the Anaheim Ducks. Emergency surgery was required, and Johansen was forced to miss the remainder of the post-season.[22] The Predators reached the Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, falling in six games to the defending champions. On July 28, 2017, the Predators re-signed Johansen to an eight-year, $64 million contract worth $8 million annually. The deal was the biggest signed in Predators' history.[23] International play [ edit ] Johansen was invited to take part in the Canadian national junior team's selection camp in August and December 2011.[12][24] He was later named to the squad, competing in the 2011 IIHF World U20 Championship, held in Buffalo, New York.[25] Making his international debut against Russia, he scored his first goal for Canada in a 5–3 win.[26] In the quarterfinal against Switzerland, he was named the player of the game,[27] having scored his second goal of the tournament.[28] He scored again in the semifinal against the United States to help Canada advance to the gold medal game,[29] where they were defeated 5–3 by Russia.[30] Johansen finished with three goals and nine points, third in team scoring behind Brayden Schenn and Ryan Ellis,[31] and was named to the Tournament All-Star Team.[32] Personal life [ edit ] Johansen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Randall and Rosalind Johansen.[33] He has a younger brother, Lucas, who currently plays for the Hershey Bears in the AHL after being drafted by the Washington Capitals in 2016.[34] Johansen played his first years of minor hockey with the Vancouver Thunderbirds organization until his family moved to the suburb of Port Moody.[1] [notes 3] He played in Port Moody at the double-A level through to bantam (age 13–14 level),[33] including a peewee (age 11–12) provincial championship.[12] In 2007–08, he played with the Vancouver North East Chiefs of the British Columbia Major Midget League.[notes 4][12] Career statistics [ edit ] Regular season and playoffs [ edit ] International [ edit ] Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2011 Canada WJC 7 3 6 9 2 Junior totals 7 3 6 9 2 Awards [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] ^ Playing major junior hockey in Canada makes one ineligible for college hockey in the United States. ^ A junior-eligible player's NHL contract does not take into effect until he plays at least 10 NHL games in one season. ^ Triple-A competition represents the highest level of play within an age group, while double-A indicates the second-highest. ^ "Midget" refers to the minor hockey level for age 15 to 17.
An NBC Bay Area Investigation into the number of police officer deaths at the hands of suspects wielding knives or other sharp objects is raising serious questions about police training. Critics say a training drill, called the “21-Foot Rule,” resulted in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of citizens in confrontations with law enforcement. Investigative reporter Stephen Stock reports on a story that first aired Oct. 26, 2017. (Published Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017) An NBC Bay Area Investigation into the number of police officer deaths at the hands of suspects wielding knives or other sharp objects is raising serious questions about police training. Critics say a training drill, called the “21-Foot Rule,” resulted in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of citizens in confrontations with law enforcement. The “21-Foot Rule” is meant to deal with the perceived threat of suspects with knives. It’s based on police training drills that were run in the early 1980s by the Salt Lake City Police Department. Officers there found that a suspect could cover 21 feet in the same time it takes a police officer to draw and fire a holstered weapon. But that so-called “rule” has not been tested scientifically - until recently. At an outdoor firing range in Corona, California, Dr. Ron Martinelli and his team scientifically study what happens when suspects with knives threaten police. “I study officer involved cases every single day,” said Martinelli. “I actually get notations all around the United States whenever an officer goes down or a suspect goes down.” A former San Jose police officer, now a criminologist, Dr. Martinelli has run hundreds of these drills over the past year, testing a wide variety of officer skill sets, from rookie cops all the way police veterans. He’s even measured the reaction time of US Navy Seals. Martinelli’s research shows how quickly a suspect with a knife can close the gap on an officer. “While a Navy Seal might be able to shoot somebody who is charging from 8 feet away,” he said, “a rookie cop might need 65 feet.” In fact, for more than a year now, Martinelli has written about his research, calling the “21-Foot Rule” a myth. Dr. Ron Martinelli has been testing the 21-Foot Rule for the past year. Photo credit: NBC Bay Area (August 2017) “It is. And I wrote about that and that was my theory over a year ago,” Martinelli said. “As long as the research is practically based, then we can take those numbers and we can put context to it and turn it into good training methodology. That’s the type of research that we need to have with law enforcement in the United States.” Instead of following the 21-foot rule, Martinelli says police officers should slow down and stay further away from some suspects. He also warns that shooting an attacker, even in the chest, may not stop him. “Unless that suspect bleeds out or unless that suspect is hit directly in the brain,” said Martinelli, “that person can continue to attack you for two or three minutes and kill you.” That might be true in theory. But in reality — on the streets across America, where FBI statistics show an average of 56,274 assaults on police officers every year, the numbers show that fatal knife attacks in which suspects charge police from a distance of 20 feet or more, just do not happen. “The 21 foot rule exists only as an urban legend,” said Dr. Franklin Zimring, a UC Berkeley Law School Professor. Dr. Zimring has reviewed thousands of encounters between police officers and suspects, including 275 specific cases involving knives or sharp weapons. Dr. Franklin Zimring, author of "When Police Kill," believes police training could save lives, and make policing safer, by doing away with the 21-foot rule. Photo credit: NBC Bay Area (October 2017) “The threat that the police officer faces (when a suspect has an edged weapon) is not a threat to the police officer's life,” said Zimring. His research into this phenomenon resulted in a book he published in 2017, “When Police Kill.” Zimring found similar results for police officers working in Europe. “The number of cases we found...of somebody with a visible weapon charging at a police officer actually killing the police officer in the United States was zero.” Zimring said. FBI data backs him up. According to the FBI’s LEOKA, or the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted program, two police officers died from knife attacks in hundreds of assaults over ten years. Those deaths resulted from attacks in close quarters. The suspect who killed the officers was not 10, 20 or 30 feet away. Other data – after close examination – shows similar statistics. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund data reports that in those same ten years, 12 officers died from knife attacks. But after eliminating attacks which took place in U.S. prisons or jails, which are very different scenarios than policing on the streets – the data looks very close to the FBI’s LEOKA statistics: two deaths of officers. Lieutenant Joseph Szczerba was stabbed while apprehending a suspect in New Castle, Delaware. Officer Steven Green was fatally stabbed in Mobile, Alabama when a suspect escaped from his handcuffs and stabbed him with a knife. Those cases underscore the dangers of apprehending suspects, but neither of them involves a suspect charging at an officer with a knife. In data covering more than a decade, there is not a single case of a knife-wielding attacker rushing and killing an officer from a distance in the United States. Based on those numbers, Dr. Zimring is convinced that any mention of the 21-foot rule should disappear from police departments across the country. “If I were a police chief I would erase it from the weapons training manual today,” he said. While that is happening in many police departments, it’s not happening everywhere. NBC Bay Area surveyed 50 different police agencies in the Bay Area. Three agencies told us they continue to teach the 21-foot rule in their training.Nine others teach it as a concept only. A majority no longer teach it. Several law enforcement agencies told NBC Bay Area unprompted that the 21 Foot Rule was outdated, unreliable and not based on science. “We do teach it as a concept,” says Sergeant Steven Pomatto, training director at San Francisco’s police academy. While many other factors are considered at SFPD, he says the 21-foot rule is used as a guideline or concept for training officers how to approach a situation dealing with subjects holding knives and other sharp weapons. “This is the safe distance that you need under a certain skill set to be able to discharge a firearm in a certain scenario at a distance.” said Sgt. Pomatto. Sergeant Steve Pomatto teaches Use-of-Force Policy at the San Francisco Police Academy Photo credit: NBC Bay Area (August 2017) Even after learning about the new data Sgt. Pomatto insisted suspects with knives could still pose a real threat to officers. “Do I want to take that chance to be those two guys?” Pomatto asked, referring to the two cases in FBI data in which officers were killed in close quarters by knives. “I don't know. In defense (of San Francisco’s training), we are definitely going in that direction. We’re taking those steps.” Those steps include teaching the principles from Ron Martinelli’s research. Those include remind officers to slow down, create distance and find cover when dealing with armed suspects. “We need to constantly retrain officers on field craft such as this,” said Martinelli. “Teach them how not to get so captured by the moment. You don't always have to make an arrest you don't always have to put your hands on people.” Martinelli has been sounding the alarm that police academies need to change the focus of their training. “If we can teach officers new skills by this research...we can save some lives,” he said. The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit’s data shows 30 people wielding knives or other sharp objects have been killed by officers in the bay area since 2001. Dr. Zimring says it’s up to police chiefs to change the training and dispel what he and others call “the myth” of the 21-Foot Rule.
It has been said that the running back position has been dying in the NFL for the last several seasons and it appears that theory has come to fruition for the New York Giants as of late. The New York Giants 2016 running back depth chart has some question marks with four contributors last season. The G-men will be searching for some answers in 2016 as a result. Orleans Darkwa, Rashad Jennings, Shane Vereen, and Andre Williams each had their opportunities in 2015 to take full reins of the top spot, yet none of them were able to stand out, hence the new additions. General manager Jerry Reese and first year head coach Ben McAdoo both thought it best to bring in some competition and weed out the weak. Veteran Bobby Rainey as well as rookies Marshaun Coprich and Paul Perkins were added to the roster via free agency and the 2016 NFL Draft, respectively. The hope is that more competition at the position will force someone to rise to the occasion. So who, if anyone, will emerge as the lead back in Big Blue? New York Giants 2016 Running Back Depth Chart Projection Rashad Jennings – Although missing some opportunities as a Giant these past two seasons, Rashad Jennings is still the guy… for now. After missing five games in 2014, Jennings got off to a poor start in 2015. Averaging only 11 carries per game in September, Jennings scored one rushing touchdown and only managed to pull in five receptions without a score. The majority of his season was a mixture of inconsistent play, partially due to inconsistent touches. Not having topped 63 rushing yards in a game until Week 14, Jennings was not cutting it for coaches Tom Coughlin and then offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo. As a result, he was sharing carries as one part of a four-way tandem in the Giants backfield. Luckily for Jennings, he finished the season extremely well by running hard, fast, making great cuts, and taking advantage of his opportunities. Amassing nearly half of his total yardage and scoring two of his three rushing touchdowns, the last four weeks showed the Giants’ coaching staff that Jennings can handle the load and deserves to get the bulk of the opportunities early on in 2016. Paul Perkins – By Week 7 you will agree with this decision… trust me (82 yard TD run). Perkins has incredible talent and the ability to make defenders miss. He has what starts out as a one-cut style rushing attack but that soon becomes two, three and four cuts when he hits the second and third levels of the defense. Although not the ideal pass blocker, Perkins can catch when needed and runs screens extremely well, which is something the Giants desperately need to get back to. He will need some time to get bigger and stronger so that he can gain more “tough” yards, but will give an immediate boost to an average backfield. Totaling over 2,900 rushing yards, 23 rushing touchdowns, while adding 56 receptions that led to over 440 receiving yards for three scores during his final two years at UCLA, Perkins can and will be a success story and a late-round steal. Shane Vereen – Shane Vereen is the “jack of all trades” running back that is good across the board in terms of skillset, yet is not great at anything. Generating over 750 total yards in 2015, Vereen still has skill and can contribute on a weekly basis, but is not nearly explosive enough to warrant a starting or true backup role. As a clearly established third down back, Vereen became a matchup problem several times throughout the season, hauling in at least six receptions five different times. He will not have a problem getting on the field because of his pass-catching and pass-protection abilities, but the new additions of Perkins and wide receiver Sterling Shepard will likely cut into his targets.
It’s now possible to withdraw funds directly to your credit card on CEX.IO Announced today on the CEX.IO blog, users of the bitcoin exchange can now make withdrawals of fiat currencies directly to their payment cards; Visa and Mastercard are currently accepted on their site. With this new feature, CEX.IO has successfully completed the full circle of fiat money flows to and from Visa and MasterCard, meaning that you can deposit and withdraw funds in just a few clicks, once payment card is linked to your profile. CEX.IO is a bitcoin exchange based in London, where users can buy and sell bitcoins using their online platform. Purchasing bitcoin with a payment card has been available already on their exchange for some time, but now being able to withdraw back to your payment card is a big step toward user adoption with the best and easiest user experience possible. This is the way the process will work as outlined in their update: Withdrawal requests are processed automatically, right after their placement, and you do not need to log in to third party services. In most cases, withdrawals are processed instantly, and this will enable you to gain convenient access to withdrawn funds on your Visa/MasterCard right away. To make a withdrawal, follow these steps: Go to your CEX.IO wallet and click “withdraw”. Specify the amount to withdraw and the card to credit. Confirm withdrawal with 2FA. Enjoy using your withdrawn funds! In an interview with Bitcoin.com, CEX.IO CEO Oleksandr Lutskevych said the key advantages of this new feature are, […] speed of payment processing and low commissions compared to withdrawals via bank transfer, which was the only withdrawal option available on our exchange so far. Moreover, card withdrawals are possible without user’s full identity verification, meaning that user needs to prove ownership of the card only. All in all, it is faster, cheaper, and simpler. Staying competitive with other exchanges has become a top priority for many bitcoin companies. Recently other exchanges have been adding new features as well, such as Coinmotion adding SOFORT payments and announcing a new vault wallet feature, Bitso raising $1.8m to tackle remittances to Mexico, and even Coinbase adding instant card buying features.
I recently filed House Bill 396 to illustrate the absurdity of government encroachment into women's personal and medical decisions currently running amok in the Kentucky General Assembly and Bevin Administration. A rash of anti-abortion bills have been filed, and one is now law that places extreme hardship and emotional stress upon women and strips away their rights to make choices about their health, future and wellbeing. Advertisement: With just a few exceptions, these efforts are being perpetrated upon Kentucky women by white men, under the guise of religious rants and false facts, but in reality their crusade is for political gain and reelection purposes. The conservative movement sweeping Kentucky has put women in the cross hairs of its battle to take over government at all levels, and it's time we recognize this hypocrisy for what it is. As these legislators and our governor increase efforts to mandate their presence in our doctor's examining rooms I believe it is time we regulate men's reproductive choices. House Bill 396 would allow for that fair play by having a man visit his doctor twice and have a signed permission slip from his spouse to obtain a prescription for erectile dysfunction. He would also be required to swear on a Bible that his prescription would only be used when having sexual relations with his current spouse. That may sound like salacious, outrageous or even comical measures, but I assure you women in Kentucky aren't laughing as they struggle with gut wrenching decisions about unintended pregnancies now made more complicated and burdensome by legislative intrusion. Under House Bill 396, prescriptions like Viagra that promote sexual performance could protect unmarried women from becoming pregnant by philandering men, thus reducing the number of abortions from unwanted pregnancies. Advertisement: It would seem that the anti-abortion proponents — who espouse family values — should applaud House Bill 396 especially when given the opportunity to declare their honest intentions upon the Holy Bible. And that these same concerned folks would champion sex education and birth control access to enlighten their constituents about unintended consequences including sexually transmitted diseases. However, my decades-long advocacy for women's rights tells me that House Bill 396, a true leveling of the reproductive rights playing field, will not see the light of day in a legislative committee meeting any time soon. The stranglehold male lawmakers have on legislating private medical issues applies solely to Kentucky women and that should outrage every one of us. Advertisement: The best I can hope is that House Bill 396 will galvanize women into saying "enough is enough" to their governor, senator and state representative with phone calls, emails and protests to end this untenable legislative assault on women's bodies and minds.
Claudio Sanchez is a dangerous man with a guitar. At last year’s Reading Festival he smashed his E2 Explorer and they shipped it to me to repair. This is the third time I have fixed the headstock, I know Gibson repaired it once and I believe it had been repaired another time prior to me ever working with Claudio. There is a clip of the smashing on youtube somewhere. This time it took a pretty bad beating; the locking jack was destroyed, both strap buttons were smashed deep into the guitar, all three pots were pushed through the guitar top and the frets got dinged up and gouged. There was a lot of cleanup to do on the headstock and the neck to get it ready for clamping. I also used a heat lamp after I got everything clamped up to help the epoxy set and cure. I left the guitar clamped and under the lamp all night. I did the other repairs prior to stringing it. I finally strung it up to pitch, adjusted the neck and dressed the frets, touched up the finish on the back of the headstock and went to the beach. Advertisements
Differences between martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4000 million years ago – well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2500m years ago. Scientists from Oxford University investigated the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA’s ‘Spirit’ rover that examined surface rocks in the Gusev crater on Mars. The fact that the surface rocks are five times richer in nickel than the meteorites was puzzling and had cast doubt on whether the meteorites are typical volcanic products of the red planet. ‘What we have shown is that both meteorites and surface volcanic rocks are consistent with similar origins in the deep interior of Mars but that the surface rocks come from a more oxygen-rich environment, probably caused by recycling of oxygen-rich materials into the interior,’ said Professor Bernard Wood, of Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences, who led the research reported in this week’s Nature. ‘This result is surprising because while the meteorites are geologically ‘young’, around 180 million to 1400 million years old, the Spirit rover was analysing a very old part of Mars, more than 3700 million years old.’ Whilst it is possible that the geological composition of Mars varies immensely from region to region the researchers believe that it is more likely that the differences arise through a process known as subduction – in which material is recycled into the interior. They suggest that the Martian surface was oxidised very early in the history of the planet and that, through subduction, this oxygen-rich material was drawn into the shallow interior and recycled back to the surface during eruptions 4000 million years ago. The meteorites, by contrast, are much younger volcanic rocks that emerged from deeper within the planet and so were less influenced by this process. Professor Wood said: ‘The implication is that Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere at a time, about 4000 million years ago, well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on earth around 2500 million years ago. As oxidation is what gives Mars its distinctive colour it is likely that the ‘red planet’ was wet, warm and rusty billions of years before Earth’s atmosphere became oxygen rich.’ A report of the research, entitled ‘Volcanism on Mars controlled by early oxidation of the upper mantle’, is published in the journal Nature. The research was carried out by James Tuff, Dr Jon Wade, and Professor Bernard Wood at Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences and was supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the European Research Council. Publication of press-releases or other out-sourced content does not signify endorsement or affiliation of any kind.
Jon Huntsman speaks at commencement for University of South Carolina on Saturday. \| AP Photo Huntsman: Why I served Obama COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jon Huntsman marked his return from China to the United States with a sweeping address calling young Americans to serve their country — even if it's by working for the president of a different political party. "Serve [America], if asked. I was, by a president of a different political party. But in the end, while we might not all be of one party, we are all part of one nation," Huntsman, who was named ambassador by President Obama, told the 2011 graduating class of the University of South Carolina's College of the Arts and Sciences on Saturday. Story Continued Below The speech was Huntsman's first public appearance since returning from abroad — and his comments are his first attempt to neutralize potential attacks on his service to a Democratic president loathed by the Republican base he'll have to win over if he's going to win the 2012 Republican presidential primary. Huntsman, 51, was introduced to the students in the program as a "respected public servant, business executive, governor and ambassador" — a list of credentials that put Huntsman's resume near the top of the prospective Republican 2012 pile. Huntsman was governor of Utah and also served as ambassador to Singapore during the first Bush administration before being appointed as Obama's ambassador to China. But the credentials Huntsman offered to his young audience had more to do with rock and roll than with China. "My initial passion in life was to be a rock and roll musician," he said, explaining that he dropped out of high school a few months before graduation to play with a band called Wizard. "My hair was Rod Stewart shaggy. ... I wouldn't wear anything but super skinny jeans." "We crawled in the ugliest green Econoline van you could ever imagine, with fold-up chairs in the back," he said. Wizard didn't work out, and Huntsman has since graduated to traveling in rented cars with the pack of aides that have been building a campaign-in-waiting that is preparing to launch a presidential bid for Huntsman early this summer. Those staffers — including top strategist John Weaver, communications guru Matt David, ad man Fred Davis and consultant Lanny Wiles — accompanied Huntsman to the commencement speech here. It's just the latest stop on the busy political schedule Huntsman has kept in the week since he officially resigned on April 30. While in South Carolina, Huntsman also met with Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, who will be a key endorser in South Carolina's early primary, and with other local Republican leaders. After he gave the commencement address, he was heading to Charleston for additional meetings. In his address, Huntsman drew heavily on his experience in China. "I know there are many in China who think their time has come, that America's best days are over. And, there are probably some in this country who have lost confidence and think that China is the next big thing," Huntsman said. "But these people aren't seeing things from my earlier vantage point of 10,000 miles away. The way I saw it from overseas, America's passion remains as strong today as ever." Huntsman said that America remains the world standard. "When the oppressed are fighting autocratic regimes, they look to America for inspiration. When overseas entrepreneurs build companies, they still look to U.S. practices as the gold standard," he said. But Huntsman spent more time talking about his favorite song lyric, from a song by Ben Folds Five; how he met his wife — working at Marie's pie shop in Utah, where he was a dishwasher and she the salad girl; and praising the South Carolina Gamecocks. "You may have to help me on this," he said after he finished the traditional Gamecocks cheer in Mandarin Chinese, a language he speaks fluently. "Go, fight, win?" he said in English. "Kick ass!" the audience shouted in response.
File photo of ex-policemen Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar (heads covered). Sirul claims he was abandoned by his superiors after obeying orders to kill Altantuya Shaariibuu. — Reuters pic KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar has claimed he was abandoned by his superiors after obeying orders to kill Altantuya Shaariibuu, as he considers revealing the details of the Mongolian’s mysterious murder. In a telephone interview with online portal Malaysiakini, the convicted killer said he was merely performing his duty to safeguard the country’s interests, a decision that landed him with a death sentence for murder. “If I die today, I would not find peace as I did what I was told and this is what I get in return,” he said in the report. On January 13, the Federal Court reversed the acquittal of Sirul, 43, and former Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 39, of the murder of the Mongolian model and restored the mandatory death sentence handed by the High Court in 2009. Sirul was sentenced in absentia, however, as he was believed to have already left the country at the time. The decision came just over a year after the Court of Appeal ruled on August 23, 2013 that the High Court trial judge had misdirected proceedings and rendered their initial conviction and sentence unsafe. Sirul, now detained by Australian immigration authorities, claimed that the apex court should have called his then-superior, deputy superintendent Musa Safri, to the stand to help his case. “The court also ignored the questionable DNA evidence on the bloodstain found on a shoe placed in my car as well as my own DNA sample. “The court ignored this despite the strong submissions made by my lawyers,” Sirul said. In its written judgment, the Federal Court ruled out the need to hear the testimony of Musa, a former aide of then deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, saying it would not have any consequence to the case. Sirul had previously claimed that he was made a “scapegoat” in Altantuya’s murder, and that he was distressed by political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda’s claim in an interview last month that “rogue policemen” were responsible for the model’s death in 2006. Malaysian police have put in a formal request for Sirul’s deportation to Malaysia but Australia’s extradition legislation prohibits an individual from being sent back to another country for an offence punishable by death, unless that country pledges not to carry out a death sentence.
Hello and welcome to the 144th instalment of the SWD . Military events/news are listed below by the governorates: To begin with, the different de-escalation zones have so far achieved its objectives with no major fighting taking place in most of the different frontlines. Raqqa: Early this morning FSA units within the SDF fled from Raqqa Old city after heavy clashes and some unknown casualties. During the day YPG forces pushed into the Old districts and made advances towards the Old Mosque. An ISIS SVBIED hit SDF after reaching the Old Mosque, Hisham Abdulmalik district. Aleppo: Some protests against corruption, the checkpoints and calling for reforms. Apparently, the protests took place without incidents. Homs: ISIS Amaq News published a video showing an ISIS SVBIED against SAA forces near Araq, in East Palmyra. Hama: The SAA launched new attacks toward ISIS forces in East Hama. Initial reports suggested that the Governmental forces are advancing against ISIS. The possible objectives of this offensive are the strongholds of Uqayribat and Tall Sanimah. The SAA and Palestinian Liwa Al Quds captured Tal Tabarah Al Deeb in the countryside from ISIS forces. At the same time, Desert Hawks captured multiple positions, including the Al-Maksar area and Tal Huway’at east to Salamiyah. An explosion hit a bus station in the centre of Masyaf town in Western Hama, the SVBIED killed 3 people. Damascus: Faylaq Al-Rahman damaged a government’s BMP with a direct hit on Ain Terma front. At the same time, the SAA advanced towards Ain Terma and captured an unknown number of buildings between Zamalka bridge and Ahl al-Safa mosque. Government forces also captured the Shamini Land complex. Daraa: The Syrian Government extended the cessation of hostilities in the whole southern region, which includes Daraa, Kenitra and Swaida, until the end of 07/08/2017. Meanwhile, the newly started rebel offensive against ISIS southern pocket has been reported to have failed. Iraq Nineveh: Iraqi forces made considerable advances against the Islamic State forces in several areas of the Old Mosul district. Preliminary reports inform that ISIS lines had collapsed and the remaining ISIS troops inside the Old city are trapped in small pockets of 500 meters or less. As this article is being written, some reports are announcing the full liberation of Mosul city, although, it is better for all to wait until the Iraqi government confirms the rumours. If true, the Iraqi government would have taken back one of its most relevant cities. Latest map of the Old Mosul. Source: Nineveh Media Center Salah al-Din: Islamic State forces began an offensive against Iraqi forces from Hawija Pocket. The group’s offensive targeted positions south of Qaraya and north of Sharqat. Amaq News reported huge advances on the Qarayaa – Sharqat road. CJTF-OIR : On the 5th of July 2017 CJTF-OIR has conducted 29 strikes in Syria. CJTF-OIR ‘s main focus in Syria at the moment is Raqqa region where they did 21 strikes supporting SDF ‘s operations against IS destroying 15 ISIS tactical units, 13 fighting positions, two vehicles, two heavy machine guns, a front-end loader, a UAV site, and a sniper position. Other areas where airstrikes took place are: six airstrikes in Deir al-Zur destroying 34 ISIS oil barrels, eight oil stills, five construction items, five oil trucks, four front-end loaders, three oil storage tanks, an oil distillation tank and a well-head. Near Al Shadaddi, two strikes destroyed five ISIS-held buildings, a command and control node and a SVBIED facility. The full report on CJTF-OIR strikes conducted in both Syria & Iraq can be found here. Other: Intellectual credited property used may vary from an edition to edition. Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section below, constructive criticism is welcomed. For those of you interested, you can follow me on my personal, controversial twitter @alextorrell where I constantly tweet about different issues and conflicts. Advertisements
I. Introduction In the midst of working on this paper, I learned that a friend of ours, an extraordinarily beautiful woman in all senses of the word, found that her equally beautiful nine-month old boy has a virulent strain of muscular dystrophy. For that bright-eyed and laughing little boy with a genetic time bomb, the future points to progressive wasting, immobility, and death before adulthood. It is easy to see in this little boy the transformations already affecting his body and to feel the sharp sting of how things will unroll in time. There is a clear sense of inevitability, of time being "a river which sweeps him along." Although just as true for ourselves, we easily see in him that time is a devouring tiger and a consuming fire. Ill show that understanding something about time in Buddhism and modern physics deepens our sense of how "Time is the substance I am made of." Such understanding also helps us appreciate how we are the devouring tiger and the consuming fire. Beyond its inevitability and destruction, time has other crucial features. We can reflect on past events and learn from them, but we cannot influence them. The past has a fixity that contrasts sharply with the more malleable future, where we make choices and influence events. Therefore, we experience a directionality to time, expressed by a metaphorical arrow pointing from the past, through the present, and into the indefinite future. In contrast, the fundamental equations of physics are all time symmetric, meaning that they have no directionality in time. All the fundamental interactions can proceed in the reverse direction without violating any laws of physics. For a simple example, bounce a ball off the floor and take a movie of it. If you run the movie backwards, nothing looks strange because the time-reversed motion violates no laws of physics. Or, take a movie of our solar system from a distant star and play it backwards. All the rotations and revolutions of the sun and planets will be reversed, but no laws of physics are violated and nothing looks strange. The same is true for quantum mechanical examples. Let an excited atom decay and emit a photon. Run the process backwards and you have an atom absorbing light and ending in an excited state. Yet, many complex processes do display clear temporal directionality. The ruptured balloon, dangling from the tearful childs hand never spontaneously reassembles itself back into its inflated condition. Such irreversible processes like the rotting of food and the decay of teeth are in sharp contrast to the time reversible laws of physics. Our little sick friends inevitable ride down the river of time, along with our own, is full of irreversible transformations, leading to death, the one we most fear. Therefore, despite the symmetry of the fundamental interactions, nature clearly has many asymmetric and irreversible processes. As we will see below, the physicists explanation for this asymmetry, within symmetric underlying laws, can help us understand some of the deepest lessons from Middle Way Buddhism. The two decades that this little boy can look forward to seem criminally short from here, yet time may seem to crawl unendurably in his final days. However, in this digital age most believe that, despite such subjective experiences, time is absolute. Two decades is a well-defined interval that all observers can agree on, despite their subjective biases. Again, appreciating how physics destroys this apparent absoluteness can also deepen our understanding of Middle Way Buddhism. I hope to show that understanding a little about time in modern physics helps us more deeply appreciate some of the most profound ideas in Buddhism. Furthermore, I will also suggest that some appreciation of Middle Way Buddhist ideas could aid in the development of physics. Thus a nontrivial synergy between these two very different disciplines is possible, one that results in deeper understanding and more compassionate action. While time may be a devouring tiger, appreciating these ideas might help us attain equanimity and encourage us to act more compassionately toward each other and the planet. II. Carrots and Emptiness in the Middle Way Ill review the principle of emptiness within the Middle Way Consequence School (Prasangika Madhyamika, which I abbreviate by Middle Way) through a little story. Nearly thirty years ago a very holy man gave me some fresh carrot juice to drink. What a tasty elixir! I returned home determined to grow some fresh carrots of my own on our little farm. (Actually, I was determined to get my wife to grow them.) However, the soil in my part of the world is heavy and stony, and the carrots that first year were stubby and misshapen. I thought, "If only I had a garden tiller, I could whip that heavy soil into the most beautiful carrot bed." I could not afford one of those fancy tillers that a delicate ten-year-old girl can operate with one hand. My rototiller is a test of my manhood, a bucking bronco requiring strength and stamina. Of course, time destroys both people and equipment, and my tiller soon suffered from a long list of woes. It requires the patience of an advanced Bodhisattva to start, it only works at the deepest setting, it no longer has a reverse, and it cannot run in place and so bolts ahead . . . when you can manage to start it. However, I only use it a few hours a year, so I suffer with it and consider it a perverse sort of challenge. One beautiful spring day a few years ago the rototiller was taking me for my annual ride while it bathed me in the blue smoke of burning oil. I was musing on carrots and rototillers and suddenly had a tiny enlightenment. The second of Buddhas Four Noble Truths tells us that suffering is caused by desire. My desire for that delicious carrot juice had chained me to this rototiller for a quarter of a century! A desire for fresh, sweet carrot juice initially seemed innocent and "spiritually correct," in that good health is an aid to practicing dharma, but look where it led. Desire does generate suffering. However, those blue clouds bellowing from the burned out muffler along with that shattering noise and vibration urged me to deeper reflection. Upon what is that carrot-desire based? The Middle Way clearly answers that desires and aversions are based upon the false belief in independent existence, the idea that beyond my personal associations, relationship, and names for carrots, there is a real, substantial, inherently existent entity. This substantially existent object, that entity that "exists from its own side," is the basis upon which we project all our desires and aversions, all our craving for and fleeing from objects. This innate and unreflective belief in inherent existence divides into two pieces. First, that phenomena exist independent of mind or knowing. That "underneath" or "behind" the psychological associations, names, and linguistic conventions we apply to objects like carrot or rototiller, something objective and substantial exists fully and independently from its own side. Such independent objects appear to provide the objective basis for our shared world. Second, we falsely believe these objects to be self-contained and independent of each other.[2] Each object being fundamentally nonrelational, it exists on its own right without essential dependence upon other objects or phenomena. In other words, the essential nature of these objects is their nonrelational unity and completeness in themselves. Since it is so critical to identify inherent existence carefully, let me say it in other words. Consider the carrot stripped of its sense qualities, history, location, and relation to its surroundings. All but an advanced practitioner of the Middle Way believes that this denuded carrot has some unique essence, some concrete existence that provides the foundation for all its other qualities. This core of its being, this independent or inherent existence, is what the Middle Way denies. The carrot surely has conventional existence; it attracts rodents and makes great juice. It functions as a food. However, it totally lacks independent or inherent existence, what we falsely believe is the core of its being. In other words, the object or subject we falsely believe independently exists is not actually "finable upon analysis." When we search diligently for that entity we believe inherently exists, we cannot actually find it. Its independent being does not become clearer and more definite upon searching. Instead, phenomena exist in the middle way because they lack inherent existence, but do have conventional existence. While reifying carrots, I simultaneously reify the one who desires carrots and consider him as inherently existent too. Out of the seamless flux of experience, I falsely impute or attribute inherent existence to both the subject and its object of desire and thereby spin the wheel of samsara. In this way, perception is a double act that simultaneously generates a false belief in inherently existent subjects and objects, gentleman farmers and their carrots. Then our time is occupied with cherishing our personal ego, putting its desires before all else, pushing others aside to satisfy those desires, and running after objects we falsely believe inherently exist. We think those objects will make us happy, but in fact they can never satisfy us. Perhaps time "is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire." Was not this the point of the Buddhas fire sermon? According to the Middle Way, we can put out the fire by deeply appreciating the doctrine of emptiness, the lack of inherent existence in all subjects and objects, in all phenomena. This requires not only an intellectual formulation as given here, but a profound transformation of our whole being at many levelsa process that usually takes many life times. Just so that you will have the whole story, I recently bought a new tractor to replace my 1934 hand-cranking model (also the source of many deep lessons). With the new tractor, I bought a huge rototiller that attaches to it and makes garden preparation a breeze. However, I have given the old rototiller, now called the dharma-tiller, to my son hoping that he will grow good vegetables and a deeper understanding of emptiness. The description of emptiness given so far is negative, a thoroughgoing denial of what we wrongly believe is the core of existence. Next, let me turn to a more positive description of phenomena, including carrots. If phenomena dont independently exist than how do they exist? The Middle Way tells us that they dependently exist in three fundamental ways. First, phenomena exist dependent upon causes and conditions. For example, carrots depend upon soil, sunlight, moisture, freedom from rodents, and so forth. Second, phenomena depend upon the whole and its parts. Carrots depend upon its greens, stem, root hairs, and so on and the totality of all these parts. Third, and most profoundly, phenomena depend upon mental imputation, attribution, or designation. From the rich panoply of experience, I collect the sense qualities, personal associations, and psychological reactions to carrots together, and name them or designate them as "carrot." The minds proper functioning is to construct its world, the only world we can know. The error enters because along with naming comes the false attribution of inherent existence, that foundation for desire and aversion. For the Middle Way, dependent arising is a complementary way of describing emptiness. We can understand them as two different views of the same truth. Therefore, contrary to our untutored beliefs, the ultimate nature of phenomena is its dependency and relatedness, not isolated existence and independence. One of the difficulties in understanding emptiness is that we can easily assent to the importance of relatedness, while falling prey to the unconscious assumption that relations are superimposed upon independently existent terms in the relation. In fact, it is the relationships, the interdependencies that are the reality, since objects or subjects are nothing but their connections to other objects and subjects. We might ask what would phenomena be like if they did in fact inherently or independently exist. The Middle Way explains that inherently existent objects would be immutable, since in their essence they are independent of other phenomena and so uninfluenced by any interactions. Conversely, independently existent objects would also be unable to influence other phenomena, since they are complete and self-contained. In short, independently existent objects would be immutable and impotent. Of course, experience denies this since our world is of continuously interacting phenomena, from the growth of carrots nourished by sun, rain, and soil, to their destruction by rodents. From the subjective side, that we do not independently exist implies that it is possible to transform ourselves into Buddhas, exemplars of infinite wisdom and compassion. Critics of the Middle Way often say that if objects did not inherently exist, they could not function to produce help and harm. Carrots lacking independent existence could not give sweet juice or make soup. The Middle Way turns this around 180 degrees, and answers that it is precisely because objects and subjects lack independent existence that they are capable of functioning. So the very attribute that we falsely believe is at the core of phenomena would, if present, actually prevent them from functioning. Now how does all this relate to the Middle Way notion of time? As I mentioned above, if phenomena inherently existed then they would of necessity be immutable and impotent, unable to act on us or we on them. Since, in truth, phenomena are fundamentally a shifting set of dependency relations, impermanence and change are built into them at the most fundamental level. That the carrot exists in dependence upon causes and conditions, its whole and parts, and on our attribution or naming is what makes it edible, allows me to experience it and be nourished by it. More important for impermanence, these defining relations and co-dependencies and their continuously shifting connections with each other guarantee that all objects and subjects are impermanent, ceaselessly evolving, maturing, and decaying. In short, emptiness and impermanence are two sides of the coin of existence and therefore transformation and change are built into the core of all entities, both subjective and objective. In this way, the doctrine of impermanence is a direct expression of emptiness/dependent arising. Because I lack inherent existence and am most fundamentally a kinetic set of shifting experiences, with no eternal soul, as we normally understand it, then "Time is the substance I am made of." Borges compact sentence seems like a Middle Way aphorism. Being substantially of time guarantees my continuous transformation and death. Indeed, time "is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire." These philosophic truths of emptiness and impermanence are central to Buddhist practice, and I return to them later. Now let us turn to physics and its view of time. III. Time in Modern Physics As mentioned in the introduction, we all have a natural belief in the absoluteness of time, meaning that, for example, one minute is the same for all observers. Let me again proceed by way of example. My carrots take 70 days to harvest time. Our belief in the absoluteness of time or its independent existence appears in the view that this time is something intrinsic to the carrot. As long as the growing conditions are normal, it does not matter how this time is measured or who measures it. It has an independent or absolute nature. However, let an astronaut take the same seeds and grow them in a space ship traveling at 90 percent the speed of light relative to the Earth. Then relativity theory tells us that the days to harvest (as measured by an Earth-based observer) would be 161 days.[3] Figure 1 shows the days to harvest, as observed on Earth, plotted against the velocity of the space ship, relative to Earth, divided by the speed of light, c. So for example when v/c = .9 then we move straight upward from that point on the horizontal axis and intersect the curve at 161 days. Only in a reference frame at rest with respect to the observer (the rest frame) is the days to harvest 70 days. ------------------- Figure 1-------------------- Relativity emphatically states that no value of the days to harvest time is any more real or intrinsic than any other. For example, if the astronaut looked back at my garden she would correctly measure my time to harvest as 161 days. Since time intervals depend directly upon the relationship between the object and the observer, they are essentially relational. We cannot consider time independent of a particular reference frame. In Middle Way language, it lacks independent existence. If the seed manufacturers were devotees of relativity they would state on the package, "The time to harvest is 70 day only in the rest frame. For other reference frames consult the graph on the back." That graph would be Figure 1. We can attempt to evade this relational nature of time by saying that humans never travel at any significant fraction of the speed of light, and so this is just an academic consideration. This move denies the conceptual import of relativitys view of time and the thousands of experiments done all over the planet every day that rely on it. If we clarify the idea of the present moment, the essentially relational nature of time intervals, whether decades or microseconds, is complemented by a thoroughgoing relativity of the present. Take the reasonable definition that all the simultaneous events that take place for an observer at one time defines the present moment. Lets say I plant my carrots at exactly 9:00 AM on a given day and at that moment a friend in New Deli boards a plane, while my son enters a classroom in a distant city. Relativity teaches that those simultaneous events defining the moment of carrot planting are only simultaneous in my gardens reference frame. If our farmer-astronaut, moving at 90 percent the speed of light, passes directly over my garden at 9:00 AM he observers a different set of simultaneous events and thus his present moment differs from mine. While a second astronaut, traveling at a different speed over my garden at 9:00 AM, finds yet a third set of simultaneous events and thus a different present from mine or the first astronaut. Therefore, relativity makes both time intervals and individual moments relative to a given reference frame, leaving our old absolute view of time far behind. There are similar things to say about other primary qualities of objects, but these points about time are enough for the present. A more interesting and profound quality of time comes from understanding how it has an arrow. We store our carrots in the cellar where there is a cool, even temperature. However, even there, they rot after four to six months. We have never seen rotten food return to its fresh state. Rotting, whether of vegetables, teeth, or our entire bodies, is an irreversible process. Given that the quantum mechanical laws, which govern the chemical changes of rotting, are time symmetric, this is mysterious. The great Austrian physicist, Ludwig Boltzmann, made the first significant progress in understanding this mystery. He realized that irreversibility comes from reversible underlying laws only when you have large numbers of particles in the system. Boltzmann started by considering a simple box containing many gas particles governed by Newtons laws. In analyzing this system, he assumed that it was totally isolated from the rest of the universe. There were no influences of the universe on the box and its contents or vice versa. Now this should give anybody influenced by the Middle Way philosophy some real discomfort, since he is assuming that the system independently exists. More about that later. Boltzmann then imagined a partition in the middle of the box with all the particles in just one half of the box. The other half is totally empty. To proceed further we need to understand the concept of entropy, or measure of disorder. The more disorder, the less knowledge we have about the details of the system, the higher the entropy. When the partition is removed, the overwhelmingly most probable configurations of the new equilibrium condition involve the gas spreading evenly throughout the box. In principle, it is possible for the gas to bunch up in only one quarter of the box. However, it is overwhelmingly more probable that it will attain a new equilibrium configuration diffused throughout the box. Such equilibrium states have maximum entropy. Through this reasoning, Boltzmann proved the famous Second Law of Thermodynamics, which says that any isolated systems entropy must either stay the same or increase. Therefore, when the egg hits the floor it is overwhelmingly likely to go to a state of greater entropy. What is more, the increase in entropy defines the direction of the arrow of time. Time advances in the same direction in which entropy increaseswhat we call the future. This does not deny that there are local decreases in entropy, like the growth of a child, but the global entropy relentlessly increases with time. For several years, I taught our junior-senior level course on statistical physics. We used the standard textbook and followed Boltzmanns derivation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, with the appropriate level of mathematical sophistication. In the last few years, I found that there were arguments as far back as 1877 that showed Boltzmann was deeply wrong. I review some of these problems elsewhere in nontechnical language..[4] Here, I take a different approach and follow an elegant and simple argument by P.C.W. Davies.[5] As we will shortly see, entropy increases, but not the way Boltzmann thought. Why several revisions of this famous text persist in the error is a mystery. ------------- Figure 2 --------------- The basic difficulty, which can be seen in several independent ways, is that completely isolated systems, like the box of gas, can generate no directionality to time because of the time-symmetric laws governing the system. Figure 2 displays the entropy, S, of an isolated box of gas plotted versus time, t. We see that the random gas motions give occasional deviations below the maximum. Although it is unlikely, the random motions spontaneously generate states of greater order or lower entropy, which are then brought back to maximum disorder by the same randomization. This is like the shuffling of playing cards that, on rare occasions, puts them into states of greater order, with continued shuffling returning them to disorder. ---------------- Figure 3 ---------------- Now imagine the following experiment illustrated in Figure 3. We just patiently monitor the system until its entropy spontaneously drops to the value S 1 or below at a time t 1 . If we choose S 1 low enough, this could take a long time. The virtue of choosing a small value of S 1 is that once it occurs, we know we are very likely to be near the bottom of a dip in the entropy curve, rather then part way down a larger dip. This is simply because the even larger dips are so much less likely. At t 1, when the low entropy, S 1 , occurs, since we are very likely at the minimum of a dip, an increase in entropy with time happens in either direction. At time t 1 + e , where e is some small time interval, the entropy increases. We consider this the future. However, the entropy also increases in the past at t 1 - e . Therefore, the symmetry of the underlying laws of physics gives no directionality to entropy increase or time. Even before I began getting instruction from my rototiller 25 years ago, the problem of the arrow of time had largely been resolved, although there are still technical subtleties. Much to the delight of the Middle Way, the main problem lies in assuming we have a totally isolated system independent of interaction with its environment. We now understand that we must account for how Boltzmanns box got into the low entropy state of all particles in just one half. This did not result from just waiting a long time for random motions to throw the gas all to one side, but from Boltzmann evacuating one half and placing gas in the other. Preparing the box in a low entropy state must generate more entropy elsewhere in the universe. For example, Boltzmann consumed calories from lunch and radiated energy from himself and his equipment that eventually went into deep space. In other words, the box had its entropy put into a low condition by processes outside itself, but at the expense of a much greater entropy increase elsewhere in the universe. Let me give an example closer to the garden. I walk in the garden to check on whether the mice have eaten the carrots. My footprint in the soft soil gives it more order and structure, thus lowering its entropy. However, this lower entropy comes from a much greater generation of entropy from my metabolic processes, which eventually degrade to heat radiated to the universe. As we have long known, the energy emitted into deep space from our activities can only radiate into space because the universe is expanding. If the universe were not expanding then it is so large that any line of sight from the Earth, when extended far enough, would land on a star surface. Then the effective temperature of deep space would be that of the surface of stars, which is typically 6000 °K, rather than the 3 °K it actually has. Since entropy can only increase when energy moves from high to low temperature regions, the simple process of radiating our body's energy into space would be blocked in a static universe. Thus, there would be neither a Boltzmann nor the ability to reduce entropy locally in the box by generating more entropy elsewhere in the universe. All systems organizing themselves or decreasing their entropy, whether the growing of a carrot, a snowflake, or a child, are decreasing entropy in one location that must be accompanied by a greater entropy generation in another. Not only is the energy from Boltzmanns food and his equipment eventually traced back to our sun, but the suns low entropy is critical. Energy generation processes, whether the digestion of our food or the workings of a nuclear power plant, are totally dependent upon our solar system being in a low entropy condition. What causes the sun and other stars to be in a low entropy condition? This occurs because the expansion of the universe was faster than the nuclear generation rates in the first three minutes of the big bang. Then, when nearly all the helium (about 25% of the total mass of the universe) was formed, the universe expanded so quickly that after three minutes it was too cool for nuclear reactions to occur. If the expansion and associated cooling were much slower, then all the matter in the universe would form into a very stable isotope of iron, an inert and high entropy condition. Then the stars would not shine, there would be no great entropy gradients in the universe, no time asymmetry, and, of course, no life. Local time-asymmetry, such as the decay of any biological system, from carrots to our own bodies, must be accounted for by connecting it to the expansion of the universe and its earliest evolution. This extraordinary beautiful result has many technical twists and turns, but the central idea is clear: increasing entropy and time-asymmetry owe their existence to the largest and earliest processes in the universe and its continued expansion. This is a long way from the notion of an isolated and noninteracting system, so abhorrent to the Middle Way. In this way, when you put cold milk into your coffee and the mixture comes to the same temperature and a higher entropy than when the fluids were separated, you are profiting from the universes expanding and cooling before iron-56 could form. Similarly, that we must all face the irreversible process of death, with its massive entropy increase, is traceable to the earliest and largest processes in the universe. In other words, the impermanence and decay found all around us is due to the earliest and most distance process in the universe and its continued expansion. On a more positive note, irreversible processes are also essential to life. If metabolic processes did not irreversibly transform my lunch, not only would I get indigestion, I would not live. That which sustains me also destroys me. Indeed, time "is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire." IV. Comparisons and Connections As I have said in my recent ruminations[6] about the relationship between physics and Buddhism, it is a mistake to connect any Buddhist principle too closely with any particular phenomena from physics. Physical theories are prime examples of impermanence. What happens if I make an argument that some physical effect verifies some great principle of Buddhism and then the physics is replaced by a new theory? Does that damage Buddhism? Are the foundations of Buddhism to tremble at every scientific revolution? A more fruitful dialogue between Buddhism and science can occur when comparisons and connections are done at a more philosophic level. For example, here I have tried to focus on emptiness, the philosophic heart of Buddhism, and make connections with questions of comparable philosophic significance in physics. If the connections mutually illuminate both the physics and the Buddhism, without trying to reduce one to the other, then our understanding of both disciplines deepens. In the present example, the erroneous assumption of a thermodynamic system being completely isolated from any form of external interaction was a critical error. This error could have been avoided if the philosophic principle of emptiness were more widely understood and appreciated in the scientific community. Physics is always done in a philosophic context. In the case of classical statistical physics and thermodynamics, it was done within Cartesian dualism. Although Descartes vision helped both physics and western philosophy, it has also hindered us in more ways than we can count. I suggest that the principle of emptiness, if more fully appreciated within science, could actually further the scientific enterprise. What does Buddhism gain from such connections and comparisons as attempted here? I see at least two benefits. First, understanding such things as the relativity of time (the 70 days to harvest example) and the relativity of the present moment helps us appreciate the closely parallel arguments made in the Middle Way about times lack of inherent existence. There is a well-known and difficult section in Nagarjunas Mulamadhyamakakarika that analyzes time and leads to the modern interpretation, "Time is thus merely a dependent set of relations, not an entity in its own right, and certainly not the inherently existent vessel of existence it might appear to be."[7] Such critical, but difficult, points are illuminated by understanding Einsteins relativity of time. In short, science can help us understand ancient, but pivotal, philosophic aspects of Buddhism. Second, Buddhism is a portable religion that has wandered far from the home of the original Prince. In each movement, whether to China, Japan, or Cambodia, it takes on the hues of the local culture without losing its original spiritual impulse. Science is clearly a cultural dominant in the West. Therefore, if Buddhism is to come to the West, in the best and fullest sense of the term, then interaction with science is both inevitable and necessary for a real transplant to take place. The present effort at understanding some common ground and even synergy between Buddhism and science can be part of the effort to translate Buddhism into terms that are easier for a Westerner to assimilate. V. Summary and Conclusions Reflecting on the relativity of time and how the irreversible nature of my little friends disease connects to the first few minutes of the universe and its continued expansion gives me little comfort. Yes, intellectually these ideas strongly support the principle of emptiness, that both the mother and the little boy along with the one who writes these words lack independent existence. Yes, we are all a system of interdependent relations and thereby subject to the law of impermanence. Nevertheless, the heartache remains. That little boy will be consumed by the "fire of time" before he reaches the age of my two sons. According to the Middle Way, my inveterate projection of that false quality of independent existence is the foundation for my attachment and consequent suffering. It all comes back to my inability to put these ideas fully into practice. This is often the plight of those who can articulate ideas but not fully live them. Or being kinder to myself, perhaps I have assimilated just enough of the principle of emptiness to give me a deep appreciation of the mothers sorrow, but not enough to dispassionately see it all as an embodiment of the First Noble Truth, that all experience is suffused with suffering. What then do we do? The Middle Way advises us to take refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha or fully enlightened One, the Buddhas teaching, and the community of those seeking enlightenment. The Buddha shows that we can do it. We suffering humans, nurtured and destroyed by time, can become full embodiments of wisdom and compassion and break free from the suffering of samsara, the endless torment of repeated death and rebirth. The Buddhas teaching, which includes emptiness and much more, is the work at hand among those who support our efforts at realizing these great truthsincluding the mother and her sick child. If I could reflect deeply enough on the relativity of the twenty years as the maximum allotted to this child and that the very irreversibility of his condition, and my own, is due to deep cosmological connections, then perhaps my sense of connectedness to others and the cosmos could increase. Could I realize more deeply that my ego and yours are dependent, not inherently existent, but fundamentally co-dependent systems of relationships? Could I profoundly appreciate that there is no speaker without a listener, no griever without a dependently related object of grief? If I could, then the centrality of my own ego and my self-cherishing would surely diminish. Such a realization of my egos emptiness and our mutual co-dependency must result in compassion, not just for this little boy and his mother, but for all sentient beings. Assimilating these great truths and shifting my ego off center stage is surely not easy, but the promised increase in understanding and compassion keeps me trying. If I could deeply appreciate that any irreversible process, whether the rotting of carrots or my body, is due to the earliest and largest scale structure of the cosmos, then how much easier it would be to appreciate that my neighbors loss or gain is not separate from mine. Then the suffering in one cell of the body of humanity is truly the suffering of all. Perhaps, we could even realize that compassion is actually in our own enlightened self-interest and that the survival of our very planet requires a profound understanding of our co-dependence. In contrast, we could ask what happens when our philosophic view embraces the false notion of independent existence. The late David Bohm, known for both the depths of his physics and philosophy, said it very directly when he wrote: It is proposed that the widespread and pervasive distinctions between people (race, nation, family, profession, etc., etc.), which are now preventing mankind from working together for the common good, and indeed, even for survival, have one of the key factors of their origin in a kind of thought that treats things as inherently divided, disconnected, and "broken up" into yet smaller constituent parts. Each part is considered to be essentially independent and self-existent.[8] According to Bohm, many of the evils of our modern world are traceable to a view where "Each part is considered to be essentially independent and self-existent." In other words, one in which things inherently exist. I tried to show above that, although we commonly assume for simplicity that a system, such as Boltzmanns box, is independent from its surroundings, such a view misleads us. This is bad enough in physics, but when a race, nation, or person views themselves as fundamentally independent, then the stage is set for calamitythe stuff of our daily headlines. As we stand on the threshold of ever more powerful theories in science, it is more urgent then ever that we find a coherent world view that can guide our science as well as our moral actions. Consider how the advent of quantum mechanics and relativity brought about the wonders of the information age, along with our horrendous weapons of mass destruction. Then imagine what wonders and horrors might be released by a grand unified theory or "theory of everything" that today occupies some of the best minds in physics. What benefits and horrors can we expect from the revolution already underway to understand the complete genetic code? Ill conclude with one small example. Despite it not being "spiritually correct," I enjoy watching professional football on TV. I usually hope for a close game with plenty of action. Occasionally, I find myself rooting for one team. I urge them on to victory, and even try to exert mental influence through my TV set. I catch myself and wonder what I am doing. "Hey, these guys are getting millions of dollars to beat each other up, what do I care who wins?" After a little reflection, I realize that "my teams" are those I have some connection with, even it if is only because they are from the State of New York or I go through the Pittsburgh airport on most of my flights. These flimsiest of connections give me affection and concern for those gladiators. What would happen if I could more deeply appreciate the profound interdependence implied by the Middle Way? What would happen if I could more deeply appreciate, as more than interesting physics, how the irreversible processes that sustain and destroy my life occur because of my connection to the first few minutes of the big bang and the continuing expansion of the universe? Then how much do my loyalties expand? If I could appreciate that the relativity of time is logically extended to all my subjectivity, then how could I rationally support my selfishness and self-cherishing? It is overwhelming to think about extending my loyalties beyond a small circle of family and friends to the cosmos. Now that we know of more planets outside our solar system than within, does the Bodhisattva vow of working for the liberation of all sentient beings, embrace even those beyond our solar systems? Surely, experiencing the sadness of more parents and their mortally sick children would crush me. How then can I possibly cultivate compassion on a cosmological scale? Perhaps the ecological activists can offer guidance. In the face of daunting global ecological problems, they advise us to "think globally and act locally." Following their counsel, I try to keep the cosmological picture in mind and simultaneously act in the present with the person in front of me. Then it seems small ripples of compassionate action gradually flood beyond my little circle of family and close friends. The ideal is to extend our concern out in ever widening radii, until it encompasses more and more of the great suffering body of humanity. If in fact, I lack inherent existence then my present limitations are not fixed, in place for eternity, and I can work toward this ideal. Let us begin to widen the circle of concern beyond the narrow confines of "our team" and "our friends." How else can we live with that devouring tiger of time, that inexorably includes our final irreversible process? Acknowledgments It is a pleasure to thank Professor B. Alan Wallace of the University of California at Santa Barbara for inviting me to present these ideas. As always, I offer special thanks to my consort, wife, and best friend, Elaine Mansfield, for her careful reading and suggestions for improvement on an earlier version of this manuscript. I warmly thank Devon Cottrell and Andrew Holmes of Carmel, CA for several useful comments and encouragement on an earlier version of this paper. I offer my deep gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for encouraging the dialogue between Buddhism and Science and showing the power of wisdom and compassion in action. Finally, I offer my deepest gratitude to the late Anthony Damiani, founder of Wisdoms Goldenrod and great exponent of dharma in many forms, who ignited our desire for some personal realization of wisdom and compassion. Borges, Jorge Luis, Labyrinths, selected stories and other writings, "A New Refutation of Time," Eds. D.A. Yates and J.E. Irby, New Directions Books, New York, 1964, p. 234. Gyatso, Kelsang, Heart of Wisdom, Tharpa Publications, London, 1986, p. 29. The time interval , where D t 0 is the rest frame value (70 days in our example) and v/c is the relative velocity between the system and the observer divided by the speed of light, c. Mansfield, Victor, "Time in Madhyamika Buddhism and Modern Physics," The Pacific World Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Volumes 11 & 12, 1995 & 1996, p. 10. Available at http://www.lightlink.com/vic/time.html Davies, P.C.W., "Stirring up Trouble," in Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1994, pp. 119-130. Mansfield, Victor, Synchronicity, Science, and Soul-Making, Open Court Publishing, Chicago, 1995 and "Time in Madhyamika Buddhism and Modern Physics," see reference 4. Garfield, Jay, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995, p. 257. Bohm, David, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, Routledge, & Kegan Paul, London, 1983, p. xi.
Black Lives Matter. All Lives Matter. Two phrases that are supposed to go hand in hand but have somehow evolved into polar opposites. As I was walking through the town of Bethlehem, headed back to my room, I spotted a white man walking toward me, donning a shirt with three words: All Lives Matter. I grinned as he walked by, looking him straight in the eye. He quickly turned away as if he was uncomfortable. Uncomfortable. “All Lives Matter” is a phrase that makes my blood boil. Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with the statement itself, but the basis of its creation and why people use it is downright disrespectful. Just to clarify, I’m not an activist, nor do I like to indulge in political conversations pertaining to racial conflicts. Don’t expect me to entertain your personal hot takes and refutes. I’m truly proud to be African-American. I take pride in being a part of the 4 percent of African-American students at Lehigh. I take pride in defying stereotypes by being somewhere that “my type” is not supposed be. I take pride in seeing the astonishment on someone’s face when I utter the words, “I go to Lehigh University.” So why does the saying “All Lives Matter” irritate me? Well, the entire movement was created in response to Black Lives Matter. Let’s be real, there would be no All Lives Matter if there was no Black Lives Matter. It’s based on misconceptions of the true meaning of Black Lives Matter and simply some of society being uncomfortable with black people speaking out. Uncomfortable. Black Lives Matter is not a movement stating that blacks are superior to everyone else or blacks are the only ones experiencing struggle in this country. It’s a movement that is meant to shed light on the area of violence and systemic racism toward black people. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll, 82 percent of black voters think most black Americans receive unfair treatment from the police and just 19 percent of black voters think the justice system is fair to blacks and Hispanics. It’s not irrational to think this way after all the recent events that have happened involving unjustified killings of blacks by police officers. In 2014, Arthur Chu, an American columnist, tweeted “Do people who change #BlackLivesMatter to #AllLivesMatter run thru a cancer fundraiser going ‘THERE ARE OTHER DISEASES TOO.'” When you say All Lives Matter, you are blindly undermining something that is meant to improve society. There’s a major issue to address in this country, and if you’re unaware, then your ignorance is disturbing. This country still tends to struggle with change. All Lives Matter fits the comfort zone of some people because it ignores race. You can’t progress as a society if people refuse to step out of their comfort zones. Of course all lives matter. No one is disputing that, but black lives are being undervalued in this country and this must change. To those who believe the Black Live Matters movement is causing segregation all over again, you’re missing the point. In fact, you’re way off. This isn’t a war against other races — this is a war against injustice and a corrupt judicial system. But why should it be the All Lives Matter supporters that are uncomfortable after what has gone on in this country? I know I’m uncomfortable with watching a video showing Terrance Crutcher lay motionless in a puddle of his own blood because he was shot with his hands up immediately after being tased. I’m uncomfortable with a fan at a Chicago Bears game running onto the field during a television timeout dressed in a monkey costume, wearing a shirt that read “All Lives Matter” on the front. I’m uncomfortable that a few weeks ago, the Philadelphia Sixers organization told singer Sevyn Streeter that she couldn’t perform the national anthem because she was wearing a “We Matter” jersey. I’m uncomfortable with All Lives Matter. _ Zion Olojede, ’18, is the deputy sports editor for The Brown and White. He can be reached at [email protected]
United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), an organization packed to the gills with a bipartisan who’s who of hawkish figures, held an event on the “Future of Iran Policy” in Washington DC. Unsurprising, given the list of attendees, the future they envision is war, and lots of it. The event headlined by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R – FL) and former Sen. Joe Lieberman saw calls to “restore coercion” against Iran, with several figures advocating that the US accept the limits of sanctions alone by sinking Iranian naval vessels in the Persian Gulf. This call, pushed by Lieberman and Foundation for Defense of Democracies head Mark Dubowitz, who sought to parlay those intermittent events in which the US warships parked off Iran’s coast complain Iran’s boats, inside Iran’s territorial waters, are “too close” by simply attacking and sinking those boats at every opportunity. It’s not restricted just to Iran’s Navy, however, as Dubowitz also noted that Israel is able to attack Syrian military targets within Syria with relative impunity, and that therefore the US could just as easily start unilaterally attacking Iranian military forces who are in the country to fight ISIS. Ros-Lehtinen suggested that while the US is carrying out this overt war against Iran, they could also dramatically escalate sanctions against them, targeting entire sectors of the Iranian economy and reimposing the sanctions the US lifted under the P5+1 nuclear deal as soon as President-elect Donald Trump gets into office UANI first made a name for itself pressuring US corporations to sign a pledge to never do business with Iran, and since the P5+1 deal lifted international sanctions has been inundating companies in nations like France with threats of an American boycott if they sign contracts with Iran. The group has been described as primarily funded by Sheldon Adelson and Thomas Kaplan, and has also received legal support from the Obama Administration, as in 2014 when the Justice Department ordered a judge to cancel a defamation suit by a Greek shipper against UANI on “state secrets” grounds. This was the first time in history that a case not directly involving the US government or a defense contractor was ended because of the state secrets privilege. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
[tor-relays] Towards a Tor Node Best Best Practices Document It's occurred to me that we have yet to provide any official recommendations with respect to best practices for operating Tor relays. This post is my attempt to define a reasonable threat model and use it to develop some recommendations. My plan is to post it here first, to subject it to review by the relay operator community. After operators have a chance to comment, the plan is to relocate the document to the Tor Wiki and/or a blog post. As always, to focus our thoughts, we start with the adversary's goals. Adversary Goals There is a significant difference between adversaries that can see inside of router-to-router TLS vs those that cannot. I believe this capability distinction governs the adversary goals in terms of compromising relays as opposed to merely externally observing them. Adversaries that can unwrap router TLS can perform every attack that an actual node can perform, at any location between the user and the node, and/or between the node and other nodes. In particular, adversaries that can see inside router TLS can perform tagging attacks (see https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2012-March/003361.html) as well as perform circuit-specific active and passive timing analysis. These attacks can be quite severe. An adversary that is able to obtain Guard identity keys is free to perform a tagging attack anywhere on the Internet. In other words, if the adversary is interested in monitoring a particular user, the adversary need only obtain the identity keys for that user's 3 guard nodes, and from that point on, the adversary will be able to transparently monitor everything that user does by way of using tagging to bias the users paths to connect only to surveilled exit nodes who also have had their identity keys compromised. Based on this distinction, it seems that some simple best practices can increase the costs of an adversary that wishes to compromise tor traffic. Let's now consider how the adversary goes about compromising router TLS. Attack Vectors There are two high-level vectors towards seeing inside node-to-node TLS (which uses ephemeral keys that are rotated daily and authenticated via the node's identity key). Both high-level vectors therefore revolve around node identity key theft. Attack Vector #1: One-Time Key Theft The one-time adversary is interested in performing a grab of keys and then operating transparently upstream afterwords. This adversary will take the form of a coercive request at a datacenter/ISP to extract identity node key material and from then on, operate externally as a transparent upstream MITM, creating fake ephemeral TLS keys authenticated with the stolen identity key. Tor nodes that encounter this adversary will likely see it in the form of unexplained reboots/mysterious downtime, which are inevitable in the lifespan of any Tor node. Attack Vector #2: Advanced Persistent Threat Key Theft If one-time methods fail or are beyond reach, the adversary has to resort to persistent machine compromise to retain access to node key material. The APT attacker can use the same vector as #1 or perhaps an external vector such as daemon compromise, but they then must also plant a backdoor that would do something like trawl through the RAM of a machine, sniff out the keys (perhaps even grabbing the ephemeral TLS keys directly), and transmit them offsite for collection. This is a significantly more expensive position for the adversary to maintain, because it is possible to notice upon a thorough forensic investigation during a perhaps unrelated incident, and it may trigger firewall warnings or other common least privilege defense alarms inadvertently. Unfortunately, it is also a more expensive attack to defend against, because it requires extensive auditing and assurance mechanisms on the part of the relay operator. Defenses It seems clear that the above indicates that at minimum relays should protect against one-time key compromise. Some further thought shows that it is possible to make the APT adversary's task harder as well, albeit with significantly more effort. Let's deal with defending against each vector in turn. Prevent Vector #1 (One-Time Key Theft): Deploy Ephemeral Identity Keys The simplest way to defend against the adversary who attempts to extract relay keys through a reboot is to take advantage of the fact that even node identity keys can be ephemeral, and do not need to persist long term (certainly not past a reboot). This can be achieved with a boot script that wipes your keys (they live in /var/lib/tor/keys) at startup, or by using a ramdisk: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-create-linux-ram-disk-filesystem/ Of the two, the ramdisk option is superior, since it will prevent the adversary from easily re-using your old keys after you begin using the new ones. Additionally, ssh server key theft is another one-time vector that can be used to quickly bootstrap into node key theft. For this reason, node admins should always use ssh key auth for tor node administration accounts, since it prevents ssh server key theft from implying continuous server compromise: http://www.gremwell.com/ssh-mitm-public-key-authentication Issues With Ephemeral Identity Keys There are a few issues with deploying ephemeral identity keys. Issues With Ephemeral Identity Keys: Client guard node loss The primary issue with ephemeral identity keys is client Guard node loss. If your relay obtains the Guard flag, you should endeavor to keep it. If you have planned maintenance and controlled reboots, you should copy your identity keys to a safe location prior to reboot so that clients aren't forced to rotate their guards prematurely due to unnecessary rekeying. Issues With Ephemeral Identity Keys: MyFamily The next issue is that identity key rotation makes the use of MyFamily very complicated. For large families, it's nearly impossible to update the MyFamily line of each node instance after every unexpected reboot. We've filed a bug to see if we can find a more convenient way to provide the same feature, but it's not clear that MyFamily is worth maintaining: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/5565 It is very likely that the security benefit from maintaining MyFamily pales in comparison the gain from deploying ephemeral identity keys, and MyFamily should be abandoned entirely. Issues With Ephemeral Identity Keys: Tor Weather The final issue with ephemeral identity keys is that node monitoring mechanisms such as Tor Weather become difficult to use in the face of rotating keys. We've filed this bug to improve Weather's subscription mechanisms: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/5564 Preventing Vector #2: Isolation Hardening and Readonly Runtime Once one-time key theft has been dealt with, you can begin to consider how to deal with the Advanced Persistent Threat. The effort required to defend against this adversary is considerable, and it is not expected that all operators will devote the effort to do so. To limit scope, we are not going to deal with the daemon compromise vector; for that see your OS least-privilege mechanisms (such as SElinux, AppArmor, Grsec RBAC, Seatbelt, etc). Instead, we will deal with how you can attempt to protect your identity keys once an adversary already has root access. If you are serious about defending against this adversary, the first thing you will want to do is disable access to the 'ptrace' system call from userland, which allows easy key theft using debugging tools. Note that all current built-in kernel mechanisms to do this still allow root users to use ptrace on arbitrary processes. In order to disable ptrace for root users, you need to load a kernel module to patch the syscall table to remove access to the syscall itself. Two options for this are: https://gist.github.com/1216637 http://people.baicom.com/~agramajo/misc/no-ptrace.c Once access to the ptrace system call is removed, you need to disable module loading to prevent it from being restored. On Linux, this is accomplished via 'sysctl kernel.modules_disabled=1'. You should perform this operation as early in the boot process as possible. One technique that works on Redhat-based systems is to place a shell script in /etc/rc.modules to load the modules you need for operation, insert the ptrace module, and then issue the sysctl to disable further module loading. Redhat-derivatives launch /etc/rc.modules first thing at the top of /etc/rc.sysinit. After that comes ensuring runtime integrity. There are several ways to achieve this, but most are easily subverted by an attacker with direct access to the hardware. The most robust approach seems to be to create a small encrypted loopback filesystem that contains all of the libraries required to run the 'tor' process as well as all of the requisite configuration files. Requisite libraries can be determined via 'ldd /usr/bin/tor'. The encrypted loopback filesystem doesn't need to be more than ~25M in size, but you will also need an auxillary var loopback that needs to be a hundred megs or so. Here are the commands for creating the root loopback filesystem: dd if=/dev/urandom of=./tor-root.img bs=1k count=25k losetup /dev/loop1 ./tor-root.img cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/loop1 cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/loop1 tor-root mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/tor-root Once this encrypted loop is created such that it can run your relay's Tor processes, you should take the sha1sum of the file and store it offsite. When you use this loopback, you will mount it readonly, and mount an unencrypted var directory inside of it, and a ramdisk for your keys inside of that: dd if=/dev/urandom of=./tor-var.img bs=1k count=200k losetup /dev/loop2 ./tor-var.img mkfs.ext4 /dev/loop2 mount /dev/mapper/tor-root /mnt/tor-root -o ro mount /dev/loop2 /mnt/tor-root/var mkfs -q /dev/ram1 128 mount /dev/ram1 /mnt/tor-root/var/lib/tor/keys cd /mnt/tor-root/ chroot . start_tor.sh Once you start your tor process(es), you will want to copy your identity key offsite, and then remove it. Tor does not need it to remain on disk after startup, and removing it ensures that an attacker must deploy a kernel exploit to obtain it from memory. While you should not re-use the identity key after unexplained reboots, you may want to retain a copy for planned reboots and tor maintenance. scp /mnt/tor-root/var/lib/tor/keys/secret_id_key offsite_backup:/mnt/usb/tor_key rm /mnt/tor-root/var/lib/tor/keys/secret_id_key Upon suspicious reboots, you can verify the integrity of your tor image by simply calculating the sha1sum (perhaps copying the image offsite first). You do not need to do anything special with the var loopback. These steps should prevent even adversaries who compromise the root account on your system (by rebooting it, for example) from obtaining your identity keys directly, forcing them to resort to kernel exploits and memory gymnastics in order to do so. Don't forget to periodically update the libraries stored on your loopback root using a trusted offsite source, as they won't receive security updates from your distribution. One alternative to make your loopback fs creation, tor startup, and maintenance process simpler is to statically compile your image's tor binary on an offsite, trusted computer. If you do this, you should no longer need to bother with chrooting your tor processes or copying libraries around. However, it still does not save you from the need to recompile that binary whenever there is a security update to the underlying libraries, and it may come at a cost of exploit resistance due to the loss of per-library ASLR. Ok, that's it. What do people think? Personally, I think that if we can require a kernel exploit and/or weird memory gymnastics for key compromise, that would be a huge improvement. Do the above recommendations actually accomplish that? If so, should we work on providing scripts to make the loopback filesystem creation process easier, and/or provide loopback images themselves? Even the APT defenses end up not working out, I would sleep a lot better at night if most relays deployed only the defenses to one-time key theft... Thoughts on that? -- Mike Perry -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 198 bytes Desc: Digital signature URL: <http://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/attachments/20120412/017592d9/attachment.pgp>
Get the biggest Aston Villa FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Coach Shay Given has tipped Jack Grealish for a bright future – but warned Villa and Ireland not to demand too much too soon from the teenage rookie. Grealish made his senior debut in the claret and blues’ penultimate match of last season and hopes to be a regular member in the first-team squad next term. Given believes Grealish has the potential to star for club and country, providing there are realistic expectations of what he is initially capable of. The 18-year-old winger helped keep Notts County in League One during an encouraging season-long loan before making his Villa bow with a two-minute cameo in the 4-0 defeat at Manchester City last month. Ireland manager Martin O’Neill has already watched Grealish in action with a view to possibly promoting the under-21 star to the senior squad for his first full cap. And Roy Keane’s imminent arrival as Villa’s assistant manager will give Grealish an opportunity to regularly impress the international coach at Bodymoor Heath each day. Given, whose future at Villa remains uncertain, reckons Grealish is ready for more action with Villa next season, but is concerned the start of Ireland’s Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in September could come too soon for him. “Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane have been going to the games, but they haven’t found too many new players,” said Given. “They have a real talent in Jack Grealish. He was in our last couple of squads for the end of the season at Villa and he never looked out of place. “But he is still very young and you wouldn’t want to be pinning your hopes for the European Championships on a teenager. He has a big future and hopefully he will get more games at Villa next season. “He is one for the future, but September is too soon for him.” Given, who was promoted to a coaching role in Paul Lambert’s backroom team towards the end of last season, is keeping his options open about his future at the club. With Keane expected to be confirmed as Lambert’s assistant manager this week, Given, who has two years left on his contract, could be free to concentrate on reviving his playing career, at Villa or elsewhere. Given has repeatedly expressed his desire to play again and with Lambert giving Villa’s previously surplus players a clean slate, the 37-year-old goalkeeper must decide whether to stay and challenge Brad Guzan for the No.1 shirt or pursue a move to be a first choice at another club.
The Democratic Party is suffering a nervous breakdown. An entitled cast of urban liberals is taking to the streets protesting the free and fair defeat of a candidate for whom they couldn’t be bothered to volunteer. Twentysomething Democratic staffers are reportedly offering their resignations in the form of screaming meltdowns, blaming acting Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile for their inevitable death due to catastrophic climate change. Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has implied that, having won the presidency as a result of a campaign of hate aided by the less-than-covert works of Russian intelligence, Donald Trump lacks legitimacy. This liberal pain is real, but also projection. The party has been decimated at every level, and is now entering a rebuilding period. How it rebuilds is the question. The first choice the party will have to make is who is going to right the ship at the DNC, and the choices before the party perfectly reflect their conundrum in the post-Obama era. The two most viable candidates who appear interested in leading the DNC through this grim valley are indicative of the Democratic Party’s addiction to radicalism. Howard Dean—a former DNC chair, presidential candidate, and Vermont governor—has thrown his hat in the ring. On first glance, an intemperate absolutist who earnestly accused the teetotaler president-elect of nursing a cocaine habit would seem to be a perfect fit for America’s post-rational moment. There is, however, a candidate even better suited to channel the unrestrained Democratic id in our self-indulgent age: Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison. Under Barack Obama, the Democratic Party has been reduced to a modest faction representing the interests of urban, progressive America. Who else is a better fit to epitomize the party than an urban progressive? Ellison represents the most liberal district in a liberal state, just outside central St. Paul. He is an African-American Muslim convert, thereby appealing to the party’s self-conception as a champion of the rights of ethnic minorities, which they perceive to be particularly vulnerable in the coming Trump era. Because he is a solid fit for the DNC on paper, Ellison has won the support of the most important voices in his party. According to reports, Ellison has the outright backing of incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and Senator Bernie Sanders. He has been praised by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has emerged as a power broker in the new Progressive Era. In extending to Ellison their endorsement, though, the Democrats are making a big bet on fanaticism. Ellison, a former disciple of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, has compared the 9/11 attacks to the Reichstag fire, implying that its effects—the empowering of the Bush administration to prosecute the Global War on Terror—was the attack’s design. Though he had since denounced Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism, Ellison has kept the torch of antipathy for Israel burning. He has accused Israel of being an apartheid state and advocated that Israel provide security concessions to Hamas, the terrorist organization that uses the Gaza Strip and its people as leverage in a perpetual war against Israel. Ellison has also voted against funding Israel’s Iron Dome, which has saved countless lives from the perpetual threat of rocket assault from Gaza. He contended that Israel’s ability to shield its civilians from Hamas terror prevents dialogue and, in the case of the Gaza War of 2014, a swift ceasefire. For someone like Schumer, who fancies himself a Democratic champion of Israel, to support Ellison for DNC chair exposes the extent to which the Democratic Party has drifted toward revisionism and radicalism. Ellison is also the perfect embodiment of the sentiment within the Democratic Party that the tired status quo liberalism of Hillary Clinton is what lost in 2016. Ellison has one of the most liberal voting records in Congress. He was the second sitting lawmaker to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary race. He was a member of the committee that drafted the Democratic Party’s 2016 platform, which endorsed the most progressive agenda in the party’s history. Tuition-free college at state universities, a $15 federal minimum wage, 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all Americans, a public option in ObamaCare, expanded Social Security, and an end to privately-operated prisons; all these provisions and more found their way into this list of Democratic aspirations. There are more centrist challengers to Ellison, but these Democrats fail to channel the Democratic Party’s fierce desire for revisionism. The Minnesota Democrat embodies his party’s abject refusal to diagnose the conditions that led to its rejection in two consecutive midterm elections and, now, a presidential cycle. If the Democratic Party is inclined to reject voters’ criticisms and wallow in radicalism, there is really only one man for the job.

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