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Since this is the first “live” review I’ve done on other people’s homebrew, I’m going to give you a slight intro on what goes through my mind:
I love trying other people’s beer. It allows a glimpse into another brewers world and methods. I’m really excited to try out Brulosopher’s beers he sent me this past week. He and I go way back (ha) to several months ago when we were selected to beta test for The Yeast Bay. Since starting the Yeast Bay testing, I joined reddit and started reading his blog as well as Ales of the Riverwards (the other beta tester, Ed.) I mention this because it’s even more fun to try beer from people you read about or quasi- work with (even if it is on separate coasts.) That being said, I did try to take an objective view on these beers. I always remind myself that the point is to provide insightful feedback rather than patting each other on the back all the time. Lets face it, we aren’t all producing the Plinys or Rose de Gambrinus’.
It’s hard to judge other people’s beer. Personally, I do as much of an impartial stance and pretend I’m judging a beer I bought off the shelf. I know it takes time to make these brews – especially one that ages as long as these styles do. Nevertheless, I think it is important to be critical and brutally honest, its the only way we push the hobby further.
My grading scale tries to describe the brew, and then give you a rating based on something we can all understand. I rate based upon How far I’d drive for this beer & What I’d pay for this beer. Rather than a bunch of stupid numbers that try to quantify feelings, tastes, and urges to get more, I try to put a personal value on the beer. How much of my time/energy it’s worth and what I’d shell out for it. There isn’t a specific scale, but you’ll get the idea.
Here we go!
Flanders Red w/ Roselare
In a nutshell, I found this beer to be a one dimensional sour explosion [I don’t sugar coat things.] It was interesting to try another homebrewers take on the Flanders Red style. This particular beer was very tart and I really had a hard time getting past how tart it really was. The complexity and fruit/esters you would expect to find in this style weren’t present. My pointers would be a more complex malt bill. If that wasn’t the case, then I’d check sparge temps, fermentation temps and/or methods. Hard to tell since I wasn’t aware of the exact methodology. Higher temps tend to result in more bacteria being present.
After speaking with Marshall, he said he tossed in some dregs from the Bruery around 6-8 months. I’m guessing these dregs dominated whatever else was going on and produced the insane citric taste this beer provides. Roselare is a foul mistress and doesn’t sour as fast as some other strains, if at all. Think Rodenbach – it’s got some acidity, but for the most part is quite balanced with its malt character.
Aroma – acidity, some vanilla, very light plum, very light toasty maltiness
Flavor – A slight plum flavor, but not much other fruit. A good deal of acidity going on in this beer, slightly harsh if I was going to say anything critical about it. Acidity seems citric or lactic in nature, somewhat one dimensional. Similar to the acidity of a lemon. Not a lemon flavor, but the acid level reminds me of sipping lemon juice. Not much malt/fruit flavor going on. No hop flavors. In the last sip I thought I perceived a hint of diacetyl.
Mouthfeel – Definitely sour with a dry finish. Good carbonation. Medium to low body. Somewhat astringent.
Overall Impressions – Somewhat of a one dimensional Flanders red. Too much acidity for easy drinking. I can tell it’s a good attempt at the style, but I would be curious as to what the malt bill was, there should be much more fruitiness and complexity to the final product. Would blend well with a less sour Flanders.
How far I’d drive for this beer: Local Beer Store, while running another errand.
What I’d pay for this beer: I’d drink it if I found it in someone’s cooler at a party.
Flanders Red w/WL655
A well balanced beer overall. Much better than the other half with balanced acidy with some malt sweetness. Fruitiness is moderately present and pleasant on the palate. Not much to troubleshoot on this one, I’d just change the malt bill to increase those classic flavors. I personally enjoy a more velvety smooth/richness (found in Rodenbach Grand Cru) and I think with more caramel & wheat malts this could be achieved. Just personal preference. I also think it could easily bump another percent ABV and have a little more punch.
Aroma – Very slight fruit flavors -Tart cherry, plum, figs. Moderate acidity. No hop aroma.
Flavor – moderate sourness. light fruit notes, again – cherry, plum, fig. well balanced between the malt and hops. no hop flavors.
Mouthfeel – warm carbonation. moderately dry finish. medium body. low astringency.
Overall Impressions – Much, much smoother than the Roselare blend.
How far I’d drive for this beer: A ‘special trip’ Local Beer Store (but wouldn’t wait in line for it.)
What I’d pay for this beer: $10/6pack
The Sour Blonde
This beer was fun to try – I really didn’t know what to expect as the interpretation of a sour blond is totally up the brewer and varies wildly (wildly…haha…) This beer did not dissapoint.
It wasn’t as sour as I originally anticipated (since the previous bottle marked “roselare” was a sour patch kid on crack), but really had a nice balance of malt, funk, and acidity. It was easy drinking with minimal hop flavors and a smooth malt bill. The part I enjoyed the most was that as the beer warmed there were some neat belgian estery flavors – caramel, clove and even a hint of banana. I chose to wait even longer and sipped this slowly over the next 45 minutes. Well done.
Aroma -plums, caramelized apricots, slight fig. As it warms some nice belgian style esters – slight banana, clove,
Flavor – light sourness, medium funk.
Mouthfeel – warm carbonation. smooth creamy feel.
Overall Impressions – A fun beer. I started out cool around 42F and it was a neutral sour beer. As it warmed it started to remind me of a belgian ale, with warm esters on the nose and tongue. really a cool brew.
How far I’d drive for this beer: A ‘special trip’ to the Local Beer Store. I’d even make a second trip and try again if they were out of it.
What I’d pay for this beer: $12/6pack
Want your beer reviewed with blunt honesty and brevity? Email me directly, comment, or contact however else you can! |
Google’s secretive Google X laboratory is where some of the company’s brightest minds go to work so-called “moonshot” projects such as Google Glass and self-driving cars. A new Businessweek profile on Google X makes it clear that there are limits to what the lab will put resources into researching, however. For example, Businessweek reveals that Google engineers gave serious thought to starting a research project on teleportation but ultimately decided to nix it “in part because any unique item that you would want to teleport… would have to be completely destroyed before it could be reconstituted on the other end.” But just because Google has for now given up on studying teleportation that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have other bizarre projects in the works. Among other things, Businessweek says that Google is pondering research on levitation and “inflatable robots” and wind-powered aerial drones. |
That’s Philly Mag business editor Jared Shelly and 97.5 Morning Show producer Jamie Lynch both predicting that the HitchBOT thing – which has jumped the shark faster than an asshole dentist with a new harpoon who kills for sport – is an elaborate prank carried out by YouTuber and Philly guy Jesse Wellens, who’s known for… wait for it… playing elaborate pranks.
Wellens was the last known person to see HitchBOT alive, and then all of a sudden the thing turns up destroyed, its untimely death caught on video in surveillance footage that WELLENS OBTAINED and posted to his Snapchat which shows someone in what looks to be a Randall Cunningham jersey kicking it like Michael Bolton kicked the copier in Office Space? Hmm indeed.
It’s all too perfect. Give Shelly and Lynch credit when it proves to be a hoax.
UPDATE: Mmm hmm:
UPDATE 2: Reader Vincent checks in:
You’re definitely right about this being a hoax. I posted this on Reddit Philadelphia comment section that links to your article. There is no security camera where that footage is from. They stood on the pedestal and took the “surveillance” footage themselves. Here’s the Google street view. You can see there is a bench there too. I guess that’s what the Ed Bassmaster (or whoever else pretended to do this) is actually stomping. Additionally, I took a screenshot of the “surveillance” video that you can see in the background he was importing photos from a camera, further suggesting he uploaded that video, edited it in surveillance camera effects and then took a snapchat of it. Ed Bassmaster has a new hoax show on CMT in November…all publicity is good publicity I guess.
Spot the security camera: |
The OLPC deployment in Antitourna, Nosy Komba is located in the island of Nosy Komba, between the island of Nosybé and the « great island » of Madagascar. The OLPC deployment done by OLPC France consists of 160 XOs + 1 XS installed in the primary school of the village of Antitourna. This village is located one-hour away (by boat) from the city of Hell-Ville in Nosybé.
The GPS coordinates of the Antitourne school is : 13°27'03.50'' S, 48°21'34'' E and the the GoogleEarth KMZ file can be found here. Pictures of the deployment are available in this and that blog post and on OLPC France's Flickr page.
Architecture of the long distance wifi deployment
After the deployment of the XS server at the Antitourna school, OLPC France decided to find a way to connect the school to Internet with an affordable and reliable solution operated by a local team in Nosybé / Nosy Komba area.
Internet connexions in the island of Nosy Komba are currently (Sept 2011) only wireless solutions (VSAT-IP, WiMAX, 2.5/3G usb dongle) that either are costly and latency intensive (vsat, wimax) or non-reliable in terms of bit rate (2.5/3g).
However Madgascar has a pretty good DSL coverage through the national ISP Telma and proposed a DSL subscription (512k or 1M downlink) in Hell-Ville (on the island of Nosybé) with a reliable throughput due the optical fiber connecting Madagascar to the African optical loop (sometimes hybrided with long distance wireless connexions in the 21GHz band).
The targetted architecture was then to connect the Antitourna school to a DSL wired connexion in Hell-Ville even if the GPS coordinates from the school indicates no direct line-of-sight with Hell-Ville (cf the KMZ file indicating the 2 points of connexion).
The island of Nosy Komba is like a mountain in the sea with a stip up-hill path to the top. A point of relaying for the wireless signal was then identified with 2 direct lines-of-sight to Hell-Ville and to Antitourna primary school. Below is the global architecture of the Internet connexion:
On the school, a normal Internet access architecture was configured with a switch connected to the receiving UBNT Airgrid5 and to the XS server as Internet Gateway for the local wireless network and the local services for the XOs. The XS has 2 network interfaces (one for Internet and one to the local wireless router in bridge mode to serve connectivity to the XOs).
The main devices used to set-up the long shot wifi in the 5GHz band was Ubiquity Airgrid5, below is a picture with the 27dBi antenna and the active head with the router inside, powered by PoE (Power over Ethernet).
Technical details of the deployment
Location Hardware Power supply Hell-Ville high point DSL router (Zyxel)
UBNT Airgrid5 220V/50Hz
PoE (UBNT passive injector 220-to-5V)
1 UBNT requires less than 5W under Nosy Komba wireless relay 2 x UBNT Airgrid5
DIY-made RJ45 female-to-female connector between the 2 UBNT 50W/12V solar panel (Femtoni SS50 2.78A )
Solar charge controller (Steca Solsum 6.6F 12/24V, 6A)
3 x 12v batteries (intact block-power BP 12-7.0, 7.0Ah, 1.75V/[email protected] 20°)
12V/5V DC-DC converter (for the UBNT passive PoE injector)
crepuscular relay for night power switching Antitourna school 1 UBNT Airgrid5
1 Switch
1 FON 2200 (main)
1 wireless router (back-up) 250W solar panel (used for XOs also)
12V/220V DC-AC converter
APC for the technical room (XS, wireless router)
The final pole installation at Nosy Komba Relay.
The video-conf with the Antitourna school during Sugar Camp #2 in Paris.
Note: You can also download this report as in a PDF version.
Xavier Carcelle is OLPC France's wireless networking guru. |
The Detroit Tigers have made their fair share of deals to address pitching this winter. After trading starter Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals, inking closer Joe Nathan to a two-year deal, adding former Yankees right-hander Joba Chamberlain, the Tigers also made sure other teams knew that 2013 AL Cy Young winner Max Scherzer was available for the right deal, in one of this winters biggest head scratchers.
All those moves notwithstanding we need only to look the 2013 MLB Draft to see that the Tigers may have had a plan all along.
The Tigers have always been keen on pitchers with big arms and they stayed true to form in the 2013 MLB Draft, selecting Florida flamethrower Jonathon Crawford with their first overall pick. Detroit would utilize their following five selections on pitching talent, nabbing Texas reliever Corey Knebel, Vanderbilt standout Kevin Ziomek, and Louisville ace Jeff Thompson within the first three rounds.
Austin Kubitza (Friday starter for Rice) and Buck Farmer (Friday starter for Georgia Tech) would follow in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively. Also noteworthy are Louisville’s Chad Green (11th round) and Virginia Tech’s Joe Mantiply, who was arguably one of the bigger steals in the draft, as the crafty southpaw fell to the 27th round.
The following is an analysis of each of the above-mentioned prospects selected by Detroit in this year’s draft, wherein a scouting report of their respective skills and weaknesses along with a brief analysis of their first stints in professional ball and future progression within the organization. |
Just months before the carbon tax is introduced, an auditor's report has found that more than one in six major polluters has made ''significant errors'' when reporting its greenhouse emissions and energy use to the government.
The report comes as the government suffered a blow to its clean energy efforts, saying it was rethinking its $300 million support for a massive solar power station that is struggling with financing.
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the government would look at the audit of polluters emissions. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen / Fairfax
Also yesterday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott made clear on the opening day of Parliament he would continue his 2011 strategy of hammering the government over the carbon tax, due to take effect in July.
Yesterday's report by the Australian National Audit Office said that in 2009-10, three-quarters of major polluters' self-assessments - on which the government will depend for calculating how much carbon tax they owe - had errors and 17 per cent had ''significant errors''. |
For the first time, Starz will air all 29 episodes of SPARTACUS in chronological order, beginning with "Gods of the Arena," then "Blood and Sand," and concluding with "Vengeance," Friday nights from 9pm - 11pm ET/PT, beginning June 8th.
"Spartacus: Gods of the Arena"
Episodes to air June 8 & 15
June 8 9pm Past Transgressions
10pm Missio
11pm Paterfamilias
June 15 9pm Beneath The Mask
10pm Reckoning
11pm The Bitter End (Series Finale)
The House of Batiatus is on the rise, basking in the glow of its infamous champion Gannicus (Dustin Clare), whose skill with a sword is matched only by his thirst for wine and women. These are the times a young Batiatus has been waiting for. Poised to overthrow his father and take control; he'll freely betray anyone to ensure his gladiators are in the highest demand. And he'll have his loyal and calculating wife Lucretia by his side for every underhanded scheme, drawing on the brazen talents of her seductive friend Gaia when it counts. Together, they will stop at nothing to deceive the masses, seize power, and bleed Capua dry.
"Spartacus: Blood and Sand"
Episodes to air June 22, 29 and July 6, 13, 20
June 22 9pm The Red Serpent
10pm Sacramentum Gladiatorum
11pm Legends
June 29 9pm The Thing In The Pit
10pm Shadow Games
11pm Delicate Things
July 6 9pm Great And Unfortunate Things
10pm Mark Of The Brotherhood
11pm Whore
July 13 9pm Party Favors
10pm Old Wounds
11pm Revelations
July 20 9pm Kill Them All (Series Finale)
Betrayed by the Romans. Forced into slavery. Reborn as a Gladiator. Torn from his homeland and the woman he loves, Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) is condemned to the brutal world of the arena where blood and death are primetime entertainment. But not all battles are fought upon the sands. Treachery, corruption, and the allure of sensual pleasures will constantly test Spartacus. To survive, he must become more than a man. More than a gladiator. He must become a legend.
"Spartacus: Vengeance"
Episodes to air July 20, 27 and August 3, 10
July 20 10pm Fugitivus
11pm A Place In This World
July 27 9pm The Greater Good
10pm Empty Hands
11pm Libertus
August 3 9pm Chosen Path
10pm Sacramentum
11pm Balance
August 10 9pm Monsters
10pm Wrath Of The Gods (Series Finale)
On the heels of the bloody escape from the House of Batiatus, the gladiator rebellion continues and begins to strike fear into the heart of the Roman Republic. Gaius Claudius Glaber and his Roman troops are sent to Capua to crush the growing band of freed slaves that Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) leads before it can inflict further damage. Spartacus is presented the choice of satisfying his personal need for vengeance against the man that condemned his wife to slavery and eventual death, or making the larger sacrifices necessary to keep his budding army from breaking apart.
The "Spartacus" series is executive produced by Rob Tapert (The Grudge, "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"), Steven S. DeKnight ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Sam Raimi (Spider-Man and The Evil Dead), and Joshua Donen (The Quick and the Dead).
About Starz Entertainment
Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ(R) and ENCORE(R) brands with approximately 20.1 million and 33.6 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LMCA).
Related Articles View More TV Stories |
Cross-posted from Burningbird
Update
I weep for humanity, I really do.
Now Snopes has a long posting on this story, as if it's all something so incredibly profound.
The Hill has decided to double-down on it, like it's discovered the holy grail.
And the House Oversight Committee has ordered Reddit to preserve the posts, even though every single one is already preserved on the Wayback Machine.
Every member of these organization's IT departments is laughing their heads off right now. Why?
Because all it was, was a simple question asking how to delete an email address in meta data. The only component of Hillary Clinton's emails that wasn't relevant then, and isn't relevant now.
Earlier
An anonymous Twitter user has cracked a new Clinton email scandal.
Not.
A new story in The Hill about the Clinton emails appeared on my radar today. Evidently the House Oversight Committee is, in all seriousness, investigating a Reddit post.
A deleted Reddit post.
This post was dug up out of the archives by an anonymous Twitter account.
Yeah, a deleted, anonymous Reddit account, dug up by an anonymous Twitter Account. What passes for Deep Throat in the social media age.
The Reddit post is from a person with a handle of stonetear. Our intrepid reporters at The Hill and their little pundit minions have loosely connected the stonetear handle to Paul Combetta.
Paul Who?
Paul Combetta is an IT specialist currently employed by Platte River Networks. He was involved in the maintenance of the Clinton email server when it moved to PRN. He's the guy who told the FBI, "Oh sh.." because he didn't establish a new protocol to only save emails for 60 days, and when he realized it later, deleted the emails.
Remember BleachBit and Trump's acid wash? Yeah, that IT guy.
Anyway, the recovered Reddit post is asking for tech help:
↓ Story continues below ↓ “Hello all- I may be facing a very interesting situation where I need to strip out a VIP’s (VERY VIP) email address from a bunch of archived email that I have both in a live Exchange mailbox, as well as a PST file,” stonetear wrote. “Basically, they don’t want the VIP’s email address exposed to anyone, and want to be able to either strip out or replace the email address in the to/from fields in all of the emails we want to send out. I am not sure if something like this is possible with PowerShell, or exporting all of the emails to MSG and doing find/replaces with a batch processing program of some sort. Does anyone have experience with something like this, and/or suggestions on how this might be accomplished?”
The date on the post is July 23, 2014, the day after the House Benghazi Committee and State reached an agreement on producing Clinton's emails.
All the little tin hats are just having a field day with this. So much so that I hate to burst their bubble.
But I'm going to burst their bubble.
Whether stonetear is Combetta or not, all this post tells us is that an IT person was trying to strip out an email address from a bunch of emails.
Were they Clinton emails? Probably not, but it doesn't matter. I can say this because a) Hillary Clinton was no longer using the email address at the time the emails were turned over, b) Clinton's email address was already known at the time, and c) the Clinton emails published by State all display Clinton's old email address. The email address wasn't stripped.
You strip out an email address because you don't want the public to get access to it. Other than that, there's no reason to do so.
It made absolutely no difference in the Clinton emails.
That isn't to say that our friends at Judicial Watch didn't do their usual misrepresentation of the non-story. Notice the reference to Delete ‘Very VIP’ Emails. No longer deleting email address...emails.
Hillary Clinton’s Network Host Asked Reddit How to Delete ‘Very VIP’ Emails https://t.co/qvvqLgI0gO — Judicial Watch (@JudicialWatch) September 20, 2016
Don't these people have a life? |
EDMONTON – One person is dead and another is in critical condition following an explosion at an oilsands site in northern Alberta Friday.
The explosion happened inside a building in the compressed gas area at the Nexen Long Lake facility at around 3:20 p.m. as workers were changing out valves on a compressor.
“A hydrocracker on site may have caused the explosion. That’s early indications, of course,” Acting Staff Sgt. Jeremie Landry said Friday night.
RCMP were called to the site, which is about 80 km south of Fort McMurrary, just before 5 p.m.
“Our emergency response plan has been activated and response personnel, including first responders from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, are on site,” Nexen Energy said in a statement Friday evening.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm one fatality and a second person is at (the) hospital. All other personnel are accounted for.”
Brad Grainger, deputy chief of operations with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, said the person sent to hospital suffered severe burns. That person was transferred to the burn centre at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. He’s in critical condition. His identity isn’t known.
The other person was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nexen said it’s one of the darkest days in its history.
“Every day we strive to send our employees home safe to their families, and yesterday we did not live up to that,” Ron Bailey, Nexen senior vice-president of Canadian operations, said.
From above the site, a section of the building appeared to be extensively damaged because of the blast.
Here is the explosion site at Nexen's Long Lake facility. Half of a building's roof and wall blown off. #ymm pic.twitter.com/7gaGu7HY1S — Reid Fiest (@ReidFiest) January 16, 2016
A large portion of the plant was already not in operation because of a pipeline rupture last July, which resulted in about five million litres of bitumen, sand and produced water being leaked. The break occurred about one kilometre from the Long Lake plant.
Nexen had still been making repairs under the watch of the Alberta energy regulator.
The AER ordered Nexen to suspend operations at 95 of its pipelines, due to “noncompliant activities at Long Lake oilsands operations” to do with pipeline maintenance and monitoring.
In September 2015, the AER allowed Nexen Energy to partially resume operations.
After Friday’s fatal explosion, the Nexen facility was shut down. There is no immediate danger to the neighbouring communities or anyone on site, the company said. Occupational Health and Safety said operations will remain suspended “until it is safe to return to work.”
AER said Monday it was still working to safely shut down the plant, but the cold weather was presenting a challenge since the pipes cannot freeze. AER is working to ensure all regulatory and safety requirements are met. OHS has control of the site.
Landry said at this point there is no reason to believe the explosion was a criminal act.
READ MORE: Nexen’s Fort McMurray pipeline spill one of Canada’s biggest ever
Calgary-based Nexen Energy ULC was acquired by China’s state-owned CNOOC Ltd. more than two years ago.
Long Lake is designed to produce up to 72,000 barrels of bitumen per day.
With files from The Canadian Press. |
By Marc Morano – Climate Depot Former Vice President Al Gore sounded a defeated tone and lamented the utter failure of the man-made global warming movement during a speech to the Aspen Institute in Colorado on August 4, 2011. Gore used multiple curse words in an emotional speech that revealed his deep frustration and all but conceded defeat to global warming skeptics.
Defeated Gore unleashes: ‘It’s no longer acceptable in mixed company, meaning bipartisan company, to use the goddamn word ‘climate’...we cannot possibly come to an agreement on it’ - August 5, 2011
As Climate Depot has noted, a movement that had Al Gore – one of the most divisive political figures -– as the face of the movement, was bound to fail. And a movement that utilized the scandal ridden United Nations – which is massively distrusted by the American people—as the repository of science, was doomed to fail. The movement Gore helped found, is dying scientifically, politically and economically. |
For those worried about an increasingly intrusive state, Canada’s Supreme Court has served notice — in one key area at least — that it has no further plans to clip the government’s wings. The top court ruled Wednesday that the so-called security certificate system, under which Ottawa can detain non-citizens and determine their fate before a secret tribunal, is legal and constitutional.
Mohamed Harkat and his wife, Sophie Lamarche Harkat, are escorted by RCMP as they leave the Supreme Court of Canada after it delivered its decision on his case Wednesday. ( Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS )
Since, through an earlier ruling, the Supreme Court had more or less designed the current security certificate system, the 8-0 decision was not surprising. Yet for Mohamed Harkat, an Algerian refugee who has been under some form of detention for 12 of his 19 years in Canada, it was a bitter blow. The justices ruled that a lower court judge acted properly when he found that Harkat is a terrorist sleeper agent who should be deported.
Article Continued Below
The only hope left for the former pizza delivery man is an oblique reference in Wednesday’s decision suggesting that he might be able to challenge any deportation order on the grounds that he faces torture or death in Algeria. “The constitutionality of his deportation in such circumstances is not before us in the present appeal,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote. Canada has long had in place a mechanism by which the government can deport foreigners deemed security risks. In the Cold War, it was used against suspected Communist spies. But after 9/11, the system of detaining non-citizens was expanded to give the federal government more leeway. This was part of the dramatic growth in Western countries of what has been called the surveillance state.
Convinced that enemies lurked everywhere, nervous politicians expanded the powers of the country’s security services in order to prevent terror attacks. And indeed, there were plots — including one to set off bombs in downtown Toronto.
Article Continued Below
Interestingly, that so-called Toronto 18 plot was stymied through standard intelligence and police work. Still, the pressure to give the state more surveillance and detention powers continued. Most Canadians didn’t care when these special powers were levelled at non-citizens such as Harkat. There was more dismay when it was revealed that the RCMP had wrongly targeted Canadian citizen Maher Arar, an operation that resulted in his imprisonment and torture in Syria. But now Ottawa is targeting almost everyone. A new bill before the Commons would give telecom and Internet companies carte blanche to voluntarily turn over subscriber information requested by the government for any purpose. Under Bill C-13, the companies would be relieved of any legal or financial liability. The bill is ostensibly aimed at cyberbullying. It comes in the wake of federal privacy commissioner Chantal Bernier’s revelation that federal authorities already routinely ask for — and receive — user data from telecom and Internet companies. In 2011 alone, there were 1.2 million data requests. Bernier has also revealed that federal agencies, including security services, routinely monitor social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s implausible explanation is that the government just wants to know how its programs are going over with the public. And we know, thanks to testimony before a Senate committee, that the Communications Security Establishment, which is mandated to eavesdrop on foreigners, routinely collects metadata about Canadians — all without judicial authorization. As Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian wrote last year, meta-data snooping is not minor. It can “facilitate the state’s power to instantaneously create a detailed digital profile of the life of anyone swept up.” What does all of this have to do with suspected terrorist Harkat? Think of it this way: The surveillance state always starts out small. It begins by targeting those who have the fewest allies, and then it expands its reach — slowly and carefully — for reasons that always sound plausible. For a while, the courts push back. But they too reach their limits. And then — bingo — suddenly you’re in place you’d never thought you’d be. Thomas Walkom’s column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Read more about: |
Frank Serpico was the New York Cop who blew the whistle on police corruption, survived an assassination attempt and was played by Al Pacino but whatever happened to the man who would only shoot straight?
#703139 / gettyimages.com
Frank Zinnemann’s 1952 western is rightfully regarded as one of the mightiest, if not the mightiest, of its genre. In the movie, for which he deservedly won an Oscar, Gary Cooper plays Marshal Will Kane, about-to-retire lawman of a drowsy Western town. He wakes up on the day he is due to marry a woman half his age, played by the impossibly beautiful Grace Kelly. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing. Waiting at the station are three outlaws, the sidekicks of convicted murderer Frank Miller. Fresh out of the slammer, Miller is due in on the noon train with only one thing in mind: to take revenge on Kane, the man who sent him to jail.
Kane hastily attempts to enlist the support of his neighbours in standing up to the imminent threat, but no-one wants to know. As the decisive hour approaches, Kane accepts that he has to act and act alone. Not that he doesn’t have his doubts. But overriding those doubts is the darkest understanding of that pre-Socratic maxim: character is destiny. Kane’s head tells him to flee town in the direction of a safe future with his new bride. His heart tells him that failure to act will consign him to a future without self-respect or peace of mind. Therefore he must face his enemies with moral courage his only defence.
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Like Marshal Will Kane, Frank Serpico was a man with an instinctive understanding of the relationship between character and destiny. In 1971, after a decade spent as a scrupulously honest New York cop, after ten years of refusing to go along with the bribes and shake-downs that went with the job, Serpico finally blew the whistle. Losing all patience with the police bureaucracy and political machinations that thwarted his anti-corruption efforts, putting aside all thoughts of personal safety, he became the first officer in the history of the NYPD to not only report entrenched corruption in its ranks but to voluntarily testify about it in court.
Al Pacino, who famously played Serpico in Sidney Lumet’s eponymous 1973 movie, once asked the film’s hero why he chose to go the way he did, why he didn’t just keep quiet or walk away rather than create a world of trouble for himself. “Because,” replied Serpico, if I had just walked away, then who would I be when I listened to Beethoven?” In other words, his character was his destiny. At the decisive moment, Serpico couldn’t get out of his own way. Blowing the whistle at considerable risk to himself was not a matter of choice. Self-interest was never an issue. The only motivating force was to be true to himself in order that he be carried forward independently and unequivocally to test the depth of his conviction and the quality of his moral will, to realise his own human potential, to meet his destiny. Simply, he did the right thing. To do the right thing he needed to keep his own promises.
Twelve months after breaking the so-called “blue wall of silence” and seeing his testimony bring down scores of plainclothes cops and high-ranking police officials, Serpico was shot point-blank in the face during a routine drug raid in a Brooklyn apartment building. The circumstances were ambiguous but it was widely believed that he’d been set up by fellow cops. Serpico recovered but his career as a cop was over. One of his last duties was to collect the gold shield awarded to him by the police commissioner as part of his belated promotion to third-grade detective. At the end of the movie High Noon, following the climactic showdown with the four gunmen, Gary Cooper’s character rides off into the sunset, bitterly throwing his badge into the dirt as he leaves town. Serpico simply threw his badge into a drawer and forgot all about it.
The threat of reprisals meant that he could never feel completely safe wherever he travelled. Occasionally he’d emerge from under the world’s radar to comment on law enforcement issues but, mostly, the second half of his life has been one of silence, exile and a fair amount of cunning. The more invisible he became, so the mythology surrounding him grew exponentially. But Serpico found no solace or rescue in myths, least of all his own. Serpico didn’t believe in personal glory. Serpico refused to buy into his own enigma. Only actions counted.
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As far back as he can remember, Frank Serpico wanted to be a cop. As a young kid growing up in Brooklyn, he was gripped by cop shows on the radio, imagining a future where he would be paid to fight the good fight and uphold the law. He often told the story of how a cop once wandered into his father’s shoe shop for a shine and left without paying. It is said that there is always a moment in someone’s childhood when a door opens and lets the future in. That sounds like Serpico’s door opening. “I didn’t know why it was wrong for the cop to leave without paying,” he’d say, “but I knew it wasn’t right. Something told me it was a dishonest thing to do. My idea of a cop was someone who was even more honest than the average Joe. I knew I was going to be a cop and I knew with equal certainty that I’d be a good, honest one.”
At eighteen he enlisted in the US Army and served two years in Korea. He then worked as a part-time private investigator and as a youth counsellor while attending Brooklyn College. He was sworn in as a NYPD probationary patrolman in September 1959 and started work in plainclothes the following March. From the very beginning he learned that not every cop believed it was incumbent to adhere to a strict code of conduct. Small-time graft was accepted practice. Early into his police career, a fellow cop stuffed an envelope containing $300 into his hand and wandered off. Serpico was faced with the choice of keeping the cash and becoming a part of a corrupt system, or reporting the incident to a superior officer. There was only one option. His sergeant kept the cash for himself. Word quickly got round that Serpico was not like other cops, was not to be trusted. Meanwhile he kept his head down, refusing even to accept the customary free meals offered to cops around Brooklyn. He further alienated his colleagues by growing his hair long, wearing a scruffy beard and dressing like a hippie.
In 1966 he requested a transfer to The Bronx where he was assigned to narcotics. Here, cop corruption was even more rampant. One particularly lucrative enterprise involved prostitutes and bookmakers contributing to the cops’ payroll to stay in business. Serpico’s refusal to accept the grease made him a despised and increasingly ostracised figure in the force.
Serpico was now ploughing a lonely furrow and the stress was beginning to affect his health. Having moved to a bohemian apartment in Greenwich Village with his pet cricket, he kept his occupation secret for fear that neighbours would think he was just another cop on the take. Becoming more and more isolated in the force he feared that he’d become a marked man. His girlfriend of the time later remarked, “The worst thing was watching him to go to work, dreading it. But he couldn’t let go of it either. I guess what he wanted more than anything else was just to be a good cop. You wouldn’t think that’d be so hard.”
He persevered, began to speak up, sharing his concerns with officials at police HQ and with bigwigs at City Hall, only to be bounced between departments, fobbed off with lame excuses. Realising he was getting nowhere fast he teamed up with fellow cop, David Durk, and together they took their story to the New York Times. The ensuing front-page headlines caused a sensation, forcing the resignation of the Police Commissioner and leading to Mayor John Lindsay appointing a special commission to probe police wrongdoing.
Throughout the force is was common knowledge that Serpico was due to testify before a Grand Jury about systematic corruption pay-offs amounting to millions of dollars. In speaking out against fellow police, he was about to violate the holiest of cop codes. If Serpico was expecting to be on the end of intimidation within the force he was not to be disappointed. Reporting for duty one morning, an Irish cop confronted him, pulled out a knife and chillingly remarked, “I ought to cut your tongue out.” Undaunted, Serpico pulled out his automatic, pushed the cop to the floor, pressed the gun to his head and screamed, “Move you motherfucker and I’ll blow your brains out.”
Long before his face got in the way of a bullet during the 1971 drug bust, Serpico must have known that his position in the force was untenable. The aftermath of the shooting simply confirmed it. In his 1973 biography Serpico, Peter Maas described the scenes in the Brooklyn precinct houses as news spread of Serpico’s shooting. “Crudely scrawled notices appeared on bulletin boards sardonically asking for contributions to hire a lawyer to defend ‘the guy who shot Serpico’ and to pay for lessons to teach him to shoot better.”
Serpico was permanently deafened in his left ear by the gunshot and suffered chronic pain from bullet fragments lodged in his brain. While recuperating in hospital he received a number of hostile messages. One note simply read, “Die You Scumbag”. He received a traditional condolence card, amended to read, “With sincere sympathy…that you didn’t get your brains blown out, you rat bastard.” A friendly colleague dropped round and, in attempting to lift Serpico’s spirits, told him that 35 cops had offered to donate blood the night he was shot. “Isn’t that great,” Serpico replied. “Out of 32,000 cops I’ve got a total of 32 friends.”
Questions continued to be asked about police involvement in the shooting of Serpico but no charges were brought and a police investigation found no evidence of a conspiracy. Meanwhile, rumours circulated that the Mafia had put out a contract on his life as a result of a wire tap on a Mob phone picking up the comment that, “the cop with the beard in The Village was gonna be hit.” After twelve years of service, it was time for Serpico to stop being a cop.
He officially retired on 15th June 1972 on a paltry pension of $12,000 and headed straight to Europe. If he had never been heard of again, his reputation might have been confined to New York where his was a household name, a by-word for honest policing. Then Hollywood came calling.
The lead role in Sidney Lumet’s Serpico movie was first offered to Robert Redford, who turned it down. It was next offered to Al Pacino, fresh off the back of The Godfather, who grabbed it and made it one of his most iconic roles. Serpico was lured back from his exile in Europe by the studio that warned him if he wasn’t around to supervise filming, then he wouldn’t be able to complain about the finished movie. Serpico’s stay on the set was brief. “They wanted me to act in the movie,” he later recalled. “They told me it would make things interesting. I said, ‘I’m already interesting. And I’m not an actor, I’m the real thing.’ Then I walked off the set because they were doing a scene I didn't recognise. I asked the director where they got it from and he said, 'It's real, it happened in my life'. I said 'Well, when you're making a movie about your life, you can put it in, but leave it out of mine!' That was it for me. I walked out and never went back.”
Upon release, the movie was an instant critical and commercial success. To his horror, Frank Serpico became an overnight celebrity.
“That side of things was unexpected,” he would say. “Suddenly, wherever I was, people wanted to buy me things. I was recognized all the time. I’d be sitting in a restaurant and strangers would invite me over to join them. But they were more interested in the image than they were in me. I found myself the unwitting victim of people’s fantasies. I'd be talking to someone for a while, when all of a sudden I’d realise they're not really speaking to me, they're speaking to Al Pacino.”
He quickly returned to Europe and remained there for the rest of the 1970s. A large chunk of time was spent in Holland where he settled on a remote farm with his fourth wife. Said to be suffering from post-traumatic stress, his soul disturbed but not destroyed, he lived quietly but comfortably off the royalties from the Serpico biography, movie and short-lived TV spin-off series. In 1974, a reporter chanced upon him in an Amsterdam café where he was sipping on gin. Asked how he passed his time Serpico claimed that his days were mostly spent contrasting animal and human behaviour. His principal concern appeared to be the health of swans in Holland’s polluted canals. For a period he moved to North Wales, founding a spiritual group called The Order Of The Star which reportedly took care of the bulk of his savings.
Following the death of his wife from cancer he returned to the US in 1980, optimistically resolving to live quietly and safely, away from the glare of newspaper headlines. Within the year his cover was broken during a well-publicised paternity battle in which he claimed he’d been used as a sperm-bank and tricked into making a flight attendant pregnant. The courts decided against him and he was ordered to pay child support out of his police pension.
For a number of years he traveled through the US, Canada and Mexico in a small camper van, with only a sheepdog and a pet mouse for company, detaching himself from ordinary life and from fame. Tracked down by one reporter he admitted that he’d sold all his possessions and was mainly interested in learning to play the harmonica and dance the cha-cha-cha. “People think I’m running away from life and that I’m bitter,” he said, “but maybe I have a right to all that.” Asked whether he still feared reprisals from other cops he was evasive, saying only that he was more scared of “being discovered” than “getting whacked”. On other occasions he has made veiled references to episodes of persecution, including being forced by the FBI to flee Switzerland naked in the snow.
In the mid-80s he settled into a small, solar-powered cabin in the woods of Albany, a hundred miles or so from Manhattan. Down the years his interests have grown ever more esoteric. He has dabbled in Eastern philosophy and widely studied alternative medical treatments. For a period he worked as a massage therapist. He’s a keen language student, claiming to be fluent in German, Spanish, French and Italian. He practices meditation and studies African drumming. Having taken lessons at an art school in Massachusetts he is said to be an enthusiastic sculptor. Occasionally he has acted on stage in local theatrical productions.
As the years have flown by, he claims to spend less and less time looking over his shoulder but maintains that his privacy is paramount. In terms of reclusiveness, he’s hardly in the JD Salinger league, even allowing a film crew into his home on one occasion. Then he’s known to make unannounced appearances at public events.
The first of these came in 1997 when he turned up at New York’s City Hall to lend his support for a new independent body that would investigate complaints made by police about corruption in the local department. Sporting a pony-tail and wearing a conservative business suit tucked into cowboy boots, he might have passed for a roadie with Willie Nelson’s touring band. As he began to speak, there was no mistaking that the fire within remained undimmed, that he still had a compulsive need to speak what he saw as the truth.
Sixteen years had passed since Serpico’s retirement and, while crime figures plummeted in New York, the general public perception was that the NYPD had meanwhile evolved into one of the country’s cleanest forces. Serpico had arrived back in town to remind anyone who would listen that police corruption in New York was not exactly a thing of the past. Citing the notorious cases of Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct in 1992 and the so-called “Harlem Dirty 30” in 1994 he argued that, “The mentality today is just the same. It’s OK to be corrupt. Just don’t get caught. We must create an atmosphere where the crooked cop fears the honest cop, and not the other way around. This is not the time to be complacent.”
His warning was nothing if not timely as a new wave of corruption scandals were about to break in the US. There was the late-90s Rampart Scandal in which more than seventy LAPD officers, some of them on the pay-roll of hip-hop mogul Suge Knight, were implicated in serious offences ranging from unprovoked beatings and framing of suspects to bank robbery. In 2003 federal law enforcers uncovered New York’s biggest corruption cases in years, involving a ring of rogue cops who had stolen more than $2m from drug dealers. In 2005, two NYPD detectives were charged with misusing the authority of their badges to become hit men for the mob.
In the past ten years Serpico has avoided the public glare, preferring to put the world to rights via his official blog. In January 2010 he was briefly lured out of the shadows, granting an interview with the New York Times during which he revealed that he had finally started work on his autobiography, provisionally entitled Before I Go. “It’s getting close to the line,” he says, referring to the fact he turns 74 in April, “so I figure I better get busy.” As much as his distant past defines him, it continues to haunt him. “I still have nightmares. I open a door a little bit and it explodes in my face. Or I’m in a jam and I call the police, and guess who shows up? My old cop buddies who hated me.”
To the dirty cops he brought down Serpico will always be a rat. To the rest of us, he’ll always be a hero albeit, like Gary Cooper’s High Noon lawman, a most reluctant sort of hero.
“The only thing I feel I ever accomplished,” Serpico has always maintained, “is that I did what I had to do. To improve the world, all of us must begin with ourselves.” |
The members of the 2014 Public Accounts Committee (PAC) are refusing to accept responsibility for the difficulties experienced by Angela Kerins.
The former CEO of the Rehab Group claims the line of questioning adopted by the committee during a hearing she attended was beyond its remit.
She wants any mention of her name to be removed from the public record and she’s also claiming damages for the effect it had on her health.
Ms Kerins waited outside the court room this morning as video footage from the PAC hearing on April 10th 2014 was played.
Rehab’s board of directors were asked if she was a “dominant” or “forceful” chief executive before the then Chairman John McGuinness brought proceedings to an end.
Ms Kerins was unable to attend that day because of poor health.
Mr McGuinness finished by declaring “this is taxpayer’s money” and rejecting her claims that a meeting she’d attended the previous month was a witchhunt and a smokescreen to allow members make judgemental statements about her €240,000 salary and other matters she considered to be “wholly private”.
John Rogers, who’s acting for Ms Kerins, said these parting words were delivered in the nature of a ruling and ignored the boundaries of the public spending watchdog.
Last week, the court heard that Ms Kerins was hospitalised following the seven-hour hearing she attended and tried to take her own life 15 days later because she felt it was the only way to end the controversy surrounding the charity group.
Paul Gallagher, senior counsel for the PAC members, began his defence of the action this morning.
He opened by saying his clients are “clearly conscious of and sympathetic to difficulties experienced by Angela Kerins”.
He said they did not intend to make things more difficult for her but added that they did not accept responsibility for her difficulties. |
CLOSE Pete Dougherty and Aaron Nagler discuss Tuesday's surprisingly long and arduous practice and the troubles at long snapper. USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Green Bay Packers strong safety Morgan Burnett (42) is shown during training camp Friday, August 4, 2017. (Photo: Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Thumbs up
There’s a pretty good chance veteran safety Morgan Burnett isn’t going to play much in the exhibition opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night at Lambeau Field. It would be pretty easy for him to throttle it down this week and get himself ready for a long week of practice that follows the Eagles game. But Burnett showed why he garners a lot of respect in the locker room when he drew gasps in the violent one-on-one blocking drill with the running backs. It’s a blitz drill in which the backs have to pick up a linebacker or safety charging through rushing lanes created with the strategic placement of blocking dummies. Burnett took several turns in the drill, but the one that caught everyone’s attention was when he came blasting up the middle and de-cleated running back Devante Mays. Burnett got under Mays’ pads and drove him back several yards, depositing him on his rear end on his way to the quarterback. Jamaal Williams stopped him on his second try, but he clearly set the tone for the rest of the drill.
Thumbs down
Rookie cornerbacks don’t usually have a lot of success in the NFL. There are so many good receivers in the league and the rules favor them so heavily, the transition from college to the NFL can be brutal for a corner. Second-round pick Kevin King is finding out how rough it can be. Since camp started, he has struggled mightily in the one-on-one drills and Tuesday was no different. First, Jeff Janis drove upfield with a quick burst, getting King to bail out quickly, then made a hard stop and caught the ball with a huge cushion between him and King. Next, Davante Adams drove upfield and then flattened inside for a big gain across the middle. King again gave up too much room and couldn’t recover. Randall Cobb followed and used a subtle push-off to gain space on an out route. Finally, Geronimo Allison did the same thing as Adams, breaking off a route into the middle and getting wide open as King failed to recover. “I’ll learn from it, and try not to make the same mistake twice,” King said.
Injury report
Tight end Richard Rodgers left with an unidentified injury and did not return. No other new injuries were reported.
Bits and pieces
» Undrafted rookie safety Aaron Taylor had a field day in the one-on-one pass-rush drills with the backs, destroying all three of his opponents, including one in which he made 231-pound running back William Stanback whiff.
» Wide receiver Michael Clark added to his impressive resume of leaping catches by jumping over the long-armed King for a 9-yard touchdown throw from Brett Hundley in the corner of the end zone.
» Receiver Trevor Davis had a big day, but most of it was when he was playing scout team with quarterback Aaron Rodgers against the No. 1 and No. 2 defense. Rodgers hit Davis on several slants and corner routes.
» Safety Kentrell Brice is playing fullback on the punt coverage team, meaning he calls out the signals and makes sure everyone is set.
» After hitting only 5 of 11 in the Saturday night practice at Lambeau Field, Mason Crosby hit all six of his kicks (33, 35, 36, 38, 38 and 40 yards). However, there was at least one bad snap from Derek Hart.
» Rookie offensive lineman Kofi Amichia got to line up in the backfield as a fullback on the scout team in a goal-line situation. The offense was mimicking a play the Eagles might run Thursday night.
Quote of the day
“I'm excited to see kind of the sleepers, the surprise guys, when the lights go on, who steps up and makes plays because there's a lot of jobs up for grabs and guys who can surprise in the preseason every year, make a lot of plays, who are just kind of those gamer players, I'm excited to see who those guys are.” -- Quarterback Aaron Rodgers on the preseason opener.
Practice schedule
The next practice open to the public is Tuesday at 12:15 p.m. at Ray Nitschke Field. |
A British company has developed a round-the-clock electronic monitoring system that could stop poachers from killing rhinos for their valuable horns. According to CNET News, the system, nicknamed RAPID (Real-time Anti Poaching Intelligence Device):
…combines a satellite GPS collar, heart-rate monitors embedded under the skin of the rhinos and a small camera placed in a hole drilled in the rhino’s horn. If a drastic change occurs in the rhino’s heart rate –– such as might occur if a rhino were shot –– the camera switches on and an alarm sounds. An anti-poaching team can be dispatched within minutes via truck or helicopter to try to catch the perpetrators, while footage captured may aid the prosecution.
Previous attempts to thwart poachers have included removing the rhinos’ horns, painting them with toxic pink dye and protecting the rhinos with 24-hour armed guards. However, none of these strategies have been very effective and the killing only seems to be ramping up. Last year, for example, South Africa saw the slaughter of a record 1,215 rhinos, a 21 percent increase over the previous year. Demand for the horn is fueled largely by the Asian black market where it can fetch up to $45,000 per pound.
Steve Piper, a director of Protect, the company that designed the system, told The Verge:
“RAPID provides a ‘missing link’…because it allows authorities at national parks and reserves to instantly pinpoint the location of a rhino under threat. The system’s three components communicate wirelessly, and the heart monitor’s battery would only have to be replaced a few times over the course of a rhino’s lifetime. The embedded camera also poses no risk to the rhino’s health, and can be implanted painlessly”
The system has already been tested in the field and the results published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Protect’s South African team hopes to roll out the first rhino prototypes within months and are also working on versions for tigers and elephants.
Watch a short video showing a field test of the RAPID system’s camera: |
Donald Trump is running on a plan to dramatically cut taxes for the ultra-rich while talking up his willingness to raise taxes on the same group. Sooner or later, it’s going to get him into trouble.
“Do you believe on raising taxes on the wealthy?” Trump was asked on the TODAY Show on Thursday morning.
“I do,” he said. “I do. Including myself, I do.”
This is in line with Trump’s rhetoric when he first started running for president, and he rankled conservative groups last summer by talking up his willingness to raise taxes at the top. Conservative activists, who have long been united in their demands for a lower tax burden at the top, reacted with horror.
RELATED: Cruz attacks Trump for transgender bathroom comments
But then Trump released his actual tax plan — one of the most detailed policy proposals he’s put out of any kind — and, instead, it was everything they wanted.
Trump’s proposal would cut taxes for everyone, but especially the richest of the rich. If enacted, the top income tax rate would drop from 39.6 percent to 25 percent. It would also create an even lower 15 percent rate for pass-through income that economists predicted rich individuals would rejigger their finances to qualify for instead. The corporate tax rate would drop from 35 percent to 15 percent. And wealthy individuals like Trump would be able to leave their fortunes to their kids without paying any estate tax at all, which only affects inheritances greater than $5.45 million in 2016 and tops out at 40 percent.
view photo essay Political Theatre: The presidential campaign of Donald Trump “Make America Great Again.” Tax Policy Center analyzed Trump’s proposal and, in addition to putting its price tag at $9.5 trillion over 10 years, found the biggest gains would go to taxpayers like Trump. For the top 1 percent of earners, the average reduction in their tax bill would be 11.8 percent, about $275,000, while for the top 0.1 percent it would be 12.5 percent and $1.3 million. For the bottom 20 percent of earners, their tax bill would be reduced by just 0.9 percent and $128 and 2.8 percent and $969 for the next highest 20 percent.
Trump tried to gloss over this by emphasizing select areas where he’d raise taxes on some wealthy investors — an example he cites often is his plan to end the carried interest loophole, which allows hedge fund managers to pay lower rates on their profits. But it’s small change compared to the net tax cuts elsewhere that would generate only around $17 billion in new revenue over the next decade with current tax rates and even less with Trump’s lowered rates.
Up until now, Trump has faced few challenges to his budget math on the tax end, however. That’s because top rivals all proposed similarly budget-busting tax cuts with big benefits for the top 1 percent. They also promise that they’ll unleash explosive growth to cover up the staggering cost. The same Tax Policy Center pegged the price tag of Sen. Ted Cruz’s plan to overhaul the tax code at $8.6 trillion and estimated it would give the top 0.1 percent of earners an average $2 million tax cut.
But that cone of silence gets removed as soon as the general election begins. Hillary Clinton is running on a plan to raise taxes for the top 1 percent by $78,000 per person for a total of $1.1 trillion, according to a Tax Policy Center analysis, and then use the money to finance benefits like paid leave for Americans further down the income ladder. Whoever wins the nomination will face regular attacks from Democrats over how to square their populist message with their plan to pad plutocrat bank accounts. In Trump’s case, his personal wealth would make the attacks more pointed, especially if he ever gets around to releasing his tax returns, which would allow budget wonks to measure exactly how much he’d personally gain from his proposals. That makes this issue one to watch closely, even if no one is talking about it in the GOP primary. |
CLEVELAND, Ohio – LeBron James said his 10-year-old son has "a chance" to perhaps play the in the NBA one day, speaking about LeBron Jr. one day after an online video of him dominating a youth tournament in Houston last weekend went viral.
"He's got a chance," James said Tuesday at The Q following the Cavaliers' morning shootaround in preparation for a game against Minnesota. "If he loves the game, and he works at it, he has a chance to be good. But he's still young, just play for the love of the game, don't worry about nothing else."
On Monday, James tweeted a YouTube video featuring his son playing for the Gulf Coast Blue Chips at a tournament in Houston. James said Tuesday that the team is a Houston-based travel team, but "we'll get the Akron team soon."
Proud of you son! Great job in Houston and congrats on bringing home 1st place. http://t.co/RuxSx4QMBY #JamesGang #StriveForGreatness #RWTW — LeBron James (@KingJames) December 22, 2014
Junior looked like his old man in the video, running the fastbreak, finishing on drives, knocking down floor shots, and drawing multiple defenders to him before throwing passes over his head to wide-open teammates.
As of Saturday, the video had been viewed more than 4.9 million million times. The video was produced by TakeMyTalent.com – it's not immediately clear how the website is connected to James.
On Tuesday, James said his son wasn't aware of the stir the video caused, and that's a good thing.
"He's got an iPad but I try to keep him away from it as much as possible," James said. "As far as what he's doing I don't want him to get involved in that stuff right now. Too young.
"His father knows exactly what could happen."
UPDATED DEC. 27 -- On Christmas Day, NBA fans were treated to another classic duel between James and his friend and former teammate Dwyane Wade. James scored 30 points in Cleveland's loss to Miami -- in James' first game there since he left the Heat to return to the Cavs -- and Wade scored 31 points. It was the seventh time the two had scored at least 30 points in games against each other.
Perhaps their sons will have a similar rivalry.
James also said Zaire Wade, sixth-grade son of James' close friend, the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade, "is pretty good too." Zaire Wade is one of the top-ranked youth players (yes, there is such a ranking) in the country.
"D-Wade's son could go as well," James said.
Wade said last week that "we're lucky we have kids that love the game we love it.
"At their age, right now, they're talented," Wade said. "You don't know what that's going to lead to, but it's fun for us to be able to share that with our kids. Right now I'm excited for him that his oldest son is taking after him in the sense of the way he plays the game, and my older son as well. It's fun times from the standpoint of being a dad, and the kids loving what you love."
James has a younger son, Bryce, 7, and newborn daughter, Zhuri.
This story was updated with additional information. |
Borussia Dortmund will be looking to go a full calendar year unbeaten at home for the first time since 1965 when they welcome Augsburg to Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday evening (kick-off 20:00 CET), in what will be their 25th and final home game of 2016 in all competitions. None of the previous 24 visiting teams have managed a victory in Dortmund.
1965 is the first and only year since the inception of the Bundesliga that Borussia Dortmund have remained unbeaten at home all season (15 victories, three draws). But 51 years after that feat was achieved at the Rote Erde stadium there will now be a repeat at the Westfalenstadion/Signal Iduna Park if Thomas Tuchel's team avoid defeat in their 25th home game of 2016. There have previously been 17 victories and seven draws (including the DFB Cup game that BVB won on penalties against Union Berlin).
"Now I'm suddenly getting superstitious," said Thomas Tuchel of the prospect, before continuing: "We will not achieve it by going on about it, but by once again holding firm and going to our limit in terms of performance."
The fact that their defensively-minded opponents will arrive in North Rhine-Westphalia with a new coach in tow does not make the preparations any easier. "We're expecting him to come up with a plan that neutralises our strengths," said Tuchel of counterpart Manuel Baum, adding: "We need to find solutions for ourselves."
Having seen his team fall behind in their last six games in all competitions, Tuchel has called upon them "to score the first goal" to lay the foundations for a victory "which we really need in the table" and which would see the Black and Yellows end the year unbeaten in front of their own fans...
Boris Rupert |
Image courtesy of The Folio Society
“The Sound And The Fury” is acknowledged as one of the masterpieces of 20th-century. It is also one of William Faulkner’s most difficult books. It is told from multiple points of view and the narrative jumps across multiple time frames with little indication of doing so. It is confusing enough that, according to the LA Times, Faulkner wanted to color code the book:
But when Faulkner was working on the book in the 1920s — “The Sound and the Fury” was published in 1929 — he imagined a way to make the section clearer to readers. “I wish publishing was advanced enough to use colored ink,” Faulkner wrote to his editor, “as I argued with you and Hal in the Speakeasy that day… I’ll just have to save the idea until publishing grows up,” he added, inadvertently launching a challenge to future publishers.
Today the Folio Society has published the book the way that Faulkner always wanted. Unfortunately, it is only a limited run of 1,480 copies that will cost you $345.00 a pop. |
Story highlights Louis C.K. will host "Saturday Night Live" on November 3
The group Fun. will join Louis C.K. as the musical guest
NBC announced the news during this weekend's broadcast
The comedian is currently in the midst of a national standup tour
Louis C.K. will host "Saturday Night Live" on November 3 along with musical guest Fun., NBC announced during the show's Saturday broadcast.
While the episode will mark C.K.'s debut as an "SNL" host, he's no stranger to the show, having worked as a writer for Robert Smigel's animated "Saturday TV Funhouse."
The comedian, who is currently in the midst of a national standup tour, recently announced that he will be taking an extended hiatus from "Louie," the award-winning show that he writes, directs, produces, edits and stars in.
He expects to resume shooting in October 2013 with a return to the air in May 2014. His "SNL" appearance will come just after the end of his standup tour's seven-night run in New York City. |
Allegri to leave Juve in summer?
By Football Italia staff
It is reported that Juventus and Coach Max Allegri could part ways in the summer, with Paulo Sousa a possible replacement.
Gazzetta Dello Sport claim that a number of factors are currently combining to create tension between the Serie A champions and their current boss, who is in his third season in charge in Turin.
These include the former Milan Coach’s anger at his team’s performance in their recent Supercoppa Italiana defeat, perceived disagreements between Allegri and certain member of his squad and the fact the 49-year-old is being linked with the Arsenal job.
The upcoming January transfer window, as well as the eventual outcome of Juventus’ Champions League campaign, are set to be decisive factors in determining whether or not Allegri remains at Juventus Stadium beyond next summer.
According to the Italian daily, Fiorentina Coach Sousa would be Juve’s preferred choice should Allegri depart.
Other names mentioned by the report include Sassuolo’s Eusebio Di Francesco and Monaco’s Leonardo Jardim.
Allegri has won the Italian League and Cup double in each of his two full seasons at the helm, while he also guided the Bianconeri to the 2015 Champions League final. |
Forrest Blue dies after years of dementia Center's brain to be donated to trauma study
Former 49ers center Forrest Blue, a first-round pick in the 1968 NFL draft who was a four-time Pro Bowl selection, died Saturday at 65 after spending the past decade-and-a-half with dementia believed to be connected to his playing career.
Brittney Blue said her father's brain will be sent to Boston University where researchers are studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative disease linked to those who have sustained repeated head trauma. CTE is tied to memory loss, depression and dementia, and has been found in the brains of more than 20 former NFL players, including Bears safety Dave Duerson, 50, who committed suicide in February.
The brains of former 49ers running backs Joe Perry and John Henry Johnson also have been sent to Boston University after their deaths this year. Perry, 84, and Johnson, 81, endured severe memory loss in the years prior to their deaths.
Brittney Blue said her father began having dementia-related hallucinations in the mid-'90s, and they became more frequent and elaborate about seven years ago. Mr. Blue, who worked as a general contractor in Rocklin (Placer County) after his playing career, spent the past 22 months at an assisted-living facility in Carmichael (Sacramento County), where he often talked about "little people that lived in the walls," Brittney Blue said.
She said he also became extremely paranoid and believed people were using his contracting license to perform illegal work at the assisted-living facility.
49ers center Forrest Blue, 1975. 49ers center Forrest Blue, 1975. Photo: Chronicle Staff Photo: Chronicle Staff Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Forrest Blue dies after years of dementia 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
The NFL's care for its retired players has been one of the issues discussed during the league's lockout. Ex-players have railed against inadequate pensions and medical benefits for years, and it appears their calls for reform were heard this week.
On Monday, NFL owners and the NFLPA reportedly agreed to add at least $900 million in benefits for retirees in the new collective-bargaining agreement. Of that total, $620 million is expected to be earmarked for the Legacy Fund, which benefits pre-1993 retirees.
Mr. Blue was covered under the 88 Plan, which provides up to $88,000 a year for ex-players dealing with dementia connected to their career. The plan was named in honor of Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey, 69, who died July 6 after being diagnosed with dementia in 2000.
Mr. Blue spent the first seven seasons of his 11-year career with the 49ers before playing with the Baltimore Colts from 1975 through '78. He was named to four straight Pro Bowls with the 49ers, 1971-74.
Mr. Blue, listed at 6-foot-6, 261 pounds by Pro Football Reference, thrived, in part, because of his size. Former 49ers tight end Ted Kwalick, who played six seasons (1969-74) with Blue, said his teammate was an imposing figure.
"Forrest was big back then, for that era," Kwalick said. "He was a big center and he did a great job. I think he was really dominant. You take a guy like Forrest Blue and John Matuszak, who I played with on the Raiders - and these guys were 270, 280 (pounds). But they didn't have bellies. That was unheard of back then."
Blue, who was married twice, is survived by two daughters, Brittney, 38, and Brandi, 40, and a grandchild, Micah, 16. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. July 30 in Sacramento. For more information, call (916) 812-1353 or e-mail [email protected]. |
James Mangold came to the aid of his old pal Hugh Jackman at a critical moment during the making of “The Greatest Showman.” The “Logan” director was enlisted to help oversee a week of reshoots on the lavish movie musical last fall after 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the film, became concerned that Michael Gracey was overwhelmed with the scope of the picture.
Gracey, who is making his feature film directorial debut with “The Greatest Showman,” had an extensive resume of commercials work, but struggled to adjust to the pressure of calling the shots on an $84 million film. It was also determined that he could use a veteran’s assistance with the post-production process.
To that end, Mangold helped edit the picture. He was given an executive producer credit for his work and was paid a seven-figure salary for his contributions.
A source close to the studio disputed any notion that Gracey had lost control of the picture. The source said that Gracey directed all of the principal photography and the re-shoots, noting that the filmmaker was on the set and in the editing bay throughout the production. Mangold’s input, though extensive, was likened to more of an advisory role.
Related Hugh Jackman to Open Brit Awards With 'Greatest Showman' Performance Meet the 'Masked Singer' Costume Designer Behind Those Elaborate Looks
Mangold’s selection made sense on several levels. He had handled musical numbers in 2005’s “Walk the Line” and enjoys a long association with Jackman. The two men have worked together on three films — “Logan,” “The Wolverine,” and “Kate & Leopold.”
The film’s testing improved after reshoots were incorporated.
“The Greatest Showman” opened Wednesday and is one of Fox’s big holiday season offerings. It centers on P.T. Barnum, the legendary circus promoter, and his rise from street urchin to society fixture. Along with Jackman, the cast includes Zac Efron, Zendaya, and Michelle Williams. Reviews for the film have been mixed, with some critics dinging the picture for its plotting and pacing, but it did pick up three Golden Globe nominations, including a nod for best musical or comedy. Audiences also seem to like the movie better than reviewers, having handed it an A CinemaScore.
Gracey worked on the picture for seven years, as “Greatest Showman” struggled to get a greenlight. He first met Jackman on the set of a 2010 Lipton Iced Tea commercial.
Mangold and Fox both declined to comment on this article.
Ramin Setoodeh contributed to this article. |
ANTWERP - Scientists found a deadly parasite with some of its chromosomes in duplicate, others in triplicate, while still others are present four or even five times. Moreover, the copy number varies between individuals. Such a bizarre occurrence has never before been found in nature, in any organism. As a rule, chromosomes should come in couples. The scientists, from the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITG) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, made the striking discovery while deciphering the genetic code of a series of Leishmania-parasites. Their findings are reported in the respected journal Genome Research.
Leishmania, a unicellular parasite of humans and animals, is reputed amongst biomedical scientists as a bit of a character, being an expert in adaptation to its environment and manipulation of its host cell, the macrophage. The micro-organism causes leishmaniasis, one of the most important parasitic diseases after malaria: transmitted by a mosquito bite, it affects about 2 millions of persons in 88 countries (including Southern European countries) and annually kills more than 50,000 people worldwide. The chromosome juggling should be weird enough for one organism, but ITG and Sanger scientists also discovered that individual parasites of Leishmania donovani (the species causing the deadly disease, visceral leishmaniasis) that are genetically very close, still react completely differently to the same medicine. The researchers studied parasites from Nepal and Bihar (India), all descending from a few survivors of the DDT-campaigns in the sixties and therefore having little genetic variation.
Taking advantage of the most recent developments in DNA sequencing technologies (also known as next generation sequencing), they deciphered the complete genome of 17 L. donovani strains that differed in their response to drugs. The investigators compared the 17 genomes, looking for mutations (termed single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, in biomedicine) that could explain why some strains were resistant to drugs, and others weren't. They found only a few.
But they did find two other things. They discovered circular pieces of DNA that had extricated themselves from the chromosomes and could correspond to 'first aid kits' allowing the parasite to adapt to the drug pressure. But most important: the chromosomes of the parasites did not occur as pairs, as is customary in nature. In laboratory strains under experimental conditions it was already demonstrated that Leishmania parasites can survive with 'unnatural' numbers of a few chromosomes, but the ITG and Sanger scientists now showed that the parasites do the same in real life - and to an unexpected extent.
Up to now, it was assumed that the cellular machinery of a cell could not function correctly with chromosomes that are present in a different number of copies. Chromosomes ought to occur in pairs, the sex chromosomes X and Y also forming a pair. Some plants have them in fours, but then all chromosomes appear in fourfold. In exceptional cases an organism survives with a single or a triplicate chromosome. As reminded by Dr Jean-Claude Dujardin, senior author from ITM, "most of the time abnormalities in chromosome number are problematic for the organism. For instance, people with Down's syndrome have three specimens of chromosome 21. More radical deviations are not viable.
Or at least this was the rule until now. Leishmania can live perfectly well with several chromosomes in triplicate, others in quadruplicate and even a few in fivefold. And with each of the 17 examined strains the numbers were different!"
It is not completely clear why this parasite behaves so differently from other living organisms, but investigators believe that juggling with the copy number of chromosomes could be a weapon in the unremittingly harsh battle of the parasite against the huge stresses imposed by drugs and the minefield of the human immune system.
"Our work highlights how genomic research changes our perspectives about these parasites," says Dr Matt Berriman, the senior author from the Sanger Institute. "We show that the evolution of these organisms is driven not only by single-letter changes in their genetic codes, but also by larger mutations in the copy numbers of genes and entire chromosomes. The findings have enabled us to discover more about its natural variation and genetic structure which is vital for the further development of effective treatments."
At the moment, clinicians in Nepal and India are isolating hundreds of new strains of the parasite which will ultimately be all sequenced for analysis of their chromosome content among others. This long-term multidisciplinary work is of uppermost importance for health professionals worldwide.
As highlighted by Dr Shyam Sundar (Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India), co-author of the study and authority in clinical research on visceral leishmaniasis in the Indian sub-continent: "genome sequence will lead to better understanding of drug targets and designing of new approaches to chemotherapy, it will help in identification of parasite genetic variations leading to drug resistance, ultimately leading to better control of the visceral leishmaniasis epidemic."
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Wisconsin, like the rest of the United States, has made great strides in soil conservation since the dust bowl years of the 1930s — when drought and poor farming practices led to the loss of millions of acres of topsoil.
But 80 years later, scientists say some of that progress is being reversed and threatened by climate change.
As Woody Guthrie was singing his dust bowl ballads and former President Franklin Roosevelt warned "a nation that destroys its soils, destroys itself," historian Jerry Apps was growing up on his parent’s farm in Wild Rose.
"I recall from my childhood the dust storms that visited this part of Wisconsin. They were fierce. They were terrible. They were dramatic, and they raised all kinds of havoc," Apps said.
The aftermath of those storms is still visible in the central sands region of the state in the form of pine tree rows planted north to south on the borders of farm fields.
"It was then that people saw the need to try and plant wind breaks, trying to stop the winds blowing from the west and tearing up the sandy soil and moving it east," Apps recalled.
Some scientists say climate change is bringing drought and dust storms back to the western states. In July, researchers at Princeton University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory published a report that predicts, "climate change will increase dust activity in the southern Great Plains from spring to fall in the late half of the 21st century."
But in Wisconsin, the warming climate is instead producing more frequent heavy rain, according to a 2011 report by the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts.
The study predicts, "soil erosion in Wisconsin could more than double by 2050 compared with the 1990s, as a result of predicted changes in hydro-climate."
Soil erosion is already a problem. According to the study, 31,574 tons of soil were estimated to have eroded from Wisconsin fields in 2003, amounting to an average for the entire state of more than 3 tons per acre.
The statistic alarms Don Radtke, farm operations manager, and Steve Krueger, crop science instructor at Northcentral Technical College’s Agriculture Center for Excellence.
Crop Science Instructor Steve Krueger, left, and Farm Operations Manager Don Radtke of Northcentral Technical College’s Agriculture Center for Excellence. Glen Moberg/WPR
"Three tons is a pretty big pile of soil, correct? It takes a long time to replace it," Krueger said. "So what we're really trying to do is not ship all of our dirt down the Mississippi River and put it in the delta, because that's where it ends up."
Radtke said he worries about the erosion caused when too much rain falls too quickly, regardless of the cause.
"When you have a 9 inch rain event in three hours, is that climate change or is that just the weather?" Radtke asked. "Once the soil is saturated, it's almost like falling on cement or blacktop, it's going to run off, and that's where the erosion starts."
The Agriculture Center for Excellence is a working farm and hands-on classroom north of Wausau. Glen Moberg/WPR
Students at the Agriculture Center for Excellence — a working farm and hands-on classroom north of Wausau — are learning about the benefits of stopping erosion. The working farm has joined the Soil Health Partnership, an initiative of the National Corn Growers Association, with the goal of preserving and improving topsoil.
"If you've got a handful of soil, you've got 10 billion creatures living in it," Krueger said. "So if we can put something in the soil, some kind of a root structure to keep it there, it just makes my 10 billion animals a lot happier, because they're the ones that break down the nutrients and make them available for the plants to grow."
To preserve root structure and stop erosion, the Agriculture Center is teaching the farmers of tomorrow about no-till and cover crop agriculture. With no-till farming, the soil isn’t plowed between harvests from year to year. Instead farmers use special tools to plant seeds each year without disturbing soil ecosystems.
"You don’t dig up the ground before you plant," Radtke said. "We have special planters that have a disc on the front that will open the soil, put the seed in place, and pack it in place without disturbing the rest of the soil."
In addition to no-till techniques, cover crops — usually planted after the fall harvest — also protect from erosion.
"When we take our corn off we usually put a cover crop of some type on just so there's something always growing in the soil. We try to plant winter wheat or winter rye that will survive over the winter," Radtke said.
On a demonstration field at the farm, even on a cold November day, tender green shoots of winter wheat could be seen poking up between the rows where corn had been harvested. The corn stalk stubble and plant residue remained in place.
Although only about 20 percent of the farms in Wisconsin use no-till and cover cropping techniques, the idea is beginning to catch on.
John Eron, who farms 800 acres in Portage County and leads the county’s farm bureau, said the practices are saving him money.
"We want to keep as much nutrients in soil on the land, where it's at. Obviously as a farmer we don't want to see runoff and see fertilizer that we've spent money to apply … leave our property," Eron said. "We're not digging up the soil in fall and we're not digging it up in spring."
Krueger believes that like the windbreaks that followed the dust bowl years, new planting and harvesting techniques can keep soil in place even if Wisconsin is heading toward a wetter climate.
"When we look back to the great dust bowls you'll see a lot of pine tree rows to try to keep the soil down," Krueger said. "What we're doing with this whole process is we're putting something on top of the soil to make sure it doesn't move."
Krueger said that makes sense regardless of what the future holds.
"I can't control climate change, but we can control erosion just through our farming practices," he said.
This story is part of a yearlong reporting project at WPR called State of Change: Water, Food, and the Future of Wisconsin. Find stories on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, The Ideas Network and online. |
Election 2015: Have liberal culture warriors met their waterloo?
Tammy and Jeff Brown cast their ballots at Henderson's Kavanaugh precincts Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 in Henderson, Ky. Voters head to the polls to cast ballots for statewide races including governor. Mike Lawrence | AP Photo
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Even the political party that was designed to protect the civil society and fight the pagan inquisition has no desire to fight or even win the culture war anymore. Yet, the people have had enough of the social and societal transformation without representation being foisted on them by unelected judges and bureaucrats at a state and federal level. And it showed last night.
Consider the following results:
Kentucky
Republican Matt Bevin defeated Jack Conway by a 9-point margin in the Kentucky Gubernatorial race, becoming the first Republican elected governor in the state in 40 years. Despite making some key campaign blunders and being down in the polls headed into the election, he won a stunning victory, causing down-ballot wipe-outs for the Democrats. He won 106 of 120 counties, even though he was grossly outspent statewide. While there are many factors involved in the victory, including the ubiquitous hatred for Obamacare (a hatred the GOP establishment refuses to see), local reporters are playing up “the Kim Davis effect.” Philip Baily of the Louisville Courier Journal said on a local radio program that a number of Democrats he spoke to in the state were drawn to Bevin on the issue of religious conscience. Kim Davis was making robo calls for Bevin. His Lt. Gov., Jenean Hampton is a strong conservative grassroots leader, as head of the Bowling Green Tea Party.
Ohio
In Ohio, the crony capitalist ballot measure to legalize pot and use the proceeds to grow government was defeated 2-1. This, despite the proponents of the measure outspending the opponents 32-1.
Texas
In Houston, the transgendered bathroom bill (known as the HERO Act) was defeated 61-38 despite having the support of the entire Hollywood community and vastly outspending opponents of the measure. It’s important to note that Houston itself is overwhelmingly Democrat.
Notice how when the people actually get to decide societal issues, and not the courts and unelected executive agencies, the results are far different.
It’s also important to observe last night’s results as part of the broader consequences of all the elections since 2008. Democrats have been wiped out in the House, state legislatures, governors, and are on the precipice of losing all their national talent across the country. If Republicans hadn’t nominated two duds against Obama himself, the results would have likely been different on the presidential side, especially in 2012.
Last night’s election results were also yet another repudiation of Obamacare. Kentucky was touted as the great Obamacare success. So much for that.
Now, imagine if we actually had a party willing to harness this opportunity and embrace the opportunity to fight the Democrat social agenda? Imagine if we had a party and a presidential nominee willing to run ads on religious liberty, the judicial tyranny, and the Democrat transgendered agenda? Republicans refused to fight similar homosexual agenda bills in D.C. and they have failed to markup a single piece of legislation protecting religious liberty or stripping the courts of their power following the judicial coup d’etat in June.
What we are witnessing is the Waterloo of the pagan Marxists. We have hit rock bottom and are now rebounding. We have reached ‘peak licentiousness’ and ‘peak political correctness.’ The people feel disenfranchised from the social transformation without representation. According to recent polling, voters overwhelmingly support religious liberty. Sixty-eight percent of Independents and even 43% of Democrats say they are uncomfortable with the societal transformations, according to a Washington Post poll.
The road to victory runs through a candidate who will revitalize the party to stand for Sovereignty, Security, and Society by making this election about immigration, religious liberty, Obamacare, Islamic terror, judicial reform, and law and order – all the silent majority issues. Republicans will not win enough Democrat cross-over voters with the establishment’s agenda of Democrat-lite, K Street’s priorities, and avoiding social issues. They will win by using Matt Bevin’s message to Kentucky Democrats: vote your values, not your party.
Now all we need is a party actually willing to go on offense. |
A Voice for Men (AVFM), founded by Paul Elam in the USA, is the worlds largest group dedicated to men’s rights, whereas the Canadian Association For Equality (CAFE) has quickly emerged as the leading men’s issues organization in Canada.
From CAFE’s website: “CAFE is a human rights group that advocates equality for all members of society. Our focus is currently on men and boys because that issue receives much less attention than equal rights for women.” http://equalitycanada.com/
AVfM’s website offers a detailed explanation of their views and goals (http://www.avoiceformen.com/ policies/mission-statement/), which include a radical disagreement with feminist theory and practice, and a belief that “gynocentrism” has been the dominant force in all cultures for millennia.
Please join our live Hangout with Iain Dwyer from CAFE and Paul Elam, founder of AVfM, hosted by Steve Brulé, while we discuss the highlights and achievements of the past year, and explore their different approaches to addressing men’s issues.
You will be able to view the discussion live here via streaming video, or directly on the Studio Brulé YouTube Channel here, on Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 5:00 PM EST, 4:00 Central and 2:00 Pacific.
Bring your insight, most challenging questions, or comments and we will do our best to address as many as we can during this session.
Publisher’s note: I encourage all those interested in men’s rights and issues to put this important discussion on your calendar. Not only will this be a very important exploration of the past year in activism, I will be making an announcement regarding a future event that is groundbreaking. PE |
Image copyright Getty Images
Facebook has been fined 110m euros (£95m) by the EU for providing "incorrect or misleading" information during its purchase of messaging service WhatsApp in 2014.
The European Commission said Facebook had said it could not automatically match user accounts on its own platform and WhatsApp.
But two years later it launched a service that did just that.
Facebook said the errors it had made were not intentional.
'Clear signal'
In a statement, the Commission said: "The Commission has found that, contrary to Facebook's statements in the 2014 merger review process, the technical possibility of automatically matching Facebook and WhatsApp users' identities already existed in 2014, and that Facebook staff were aware of such a possibility."
However, it added that the fine would not reverse its decision to clear the $19bn purchase of WhatsApp and was unrelated to separate investigations into data protection issues.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: "Today's decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct information.
"And it imposes a proportionate and deterrent fine on Facebook," she added.
Commission rules suggest the social network could have been fined up to 1% of its turnover - a figure that would have been at least twice the amount it has been told to pay.
"The Commission must be able to take decisions about mergers' effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts," said Ms Vestager.
In statement, Facebook said: "We've acted in good faith since our very first interactions with the Commission and we've sought to provide accurate information at every turn.
"The errors we made in our 2014 filings were not intentional and the Commission has confirmed that they did not impact the outcome of the merger review. Today's announcement brings this matter to a close."
New vigilance
Richard Craig, an IT, telecoms and competition expert from law firm Taylor Wessing, said the fine showed that companies had to be more open with regulators during mergers and acquisitions.
Mr Craig said that regulators were overcoming their usual reluctance to consider privacy when scrutinising competition cases.
"The direction of travel is clear that both competition and data protection regulators alike will be vigilant in ensuring that those with access to big data do not utilise it in a way that harms competitors or consumers."
The WhatsApp-Facebook merger has proved troubling elsewhere too.
Last week, Italian anti-trust regulators imposed a 3m-euro fine on WhatsApp for making users agree to share personal data with Facebook.
In addition, French data protection regulators also fined Facebook 150,000 euros for breaking rules on data sharing and user tracking. |
We are pleased to announce Reach Technology, Inc. is being acquired by Novanta, a leading global supplier of industrial and healthcare technology solutions.
Reach will continue to provide you with the highest quality products and customer support that continue to be the hallmarks of our business. Novanta shares our standards of service and operations. Our customers will benefit as we leverage their global resources.
Answers to common questions:
Why did Reach sell to Novanta? Reach has grown to the point where additional resources are needed to provide our high level of service to an expanding customer base. Reach management saw the opportunity to join forces with a company that shares the same customer-focused values. How do I place orders? Your ordering process won’t change. We still support phone, email, web shopping cart, and fax orders. All phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same. Will my sales contact change? No, we are not making any changes; you will continue to contact [email protected] to place orders. Will support change? No, Technical and Software Support will continue to be handled from our Oregon office. Are we still going to be able to get my product? Yes. No changes are being made to the Reach product line, or to our commitment to product longevity. Will lead times change? No. Will you still have the same long term support/availability? Yes. Will products change? All current products will continue to be produced, with new ones as they finish development.
About Novanta
Novanta (formerly GSI Group) is a leading global supplier of core technology solutions that give advanced industrial and healthcare OEMs a competitive advantage. Novanta combines deep expertise at the intersection of photonics and motion with a proven ability to solve complex technical challenges. This enables Novanta to engineer core components and sub-systems that deliver extreme precision and performance, tailored to our customers’ demanding applications. The company delivers highly engineered laser, vision and precision motion solutions to customers around the world. The driving force behind its growth is the team of innovative professionals who share a commitment to innovation and customer success. Novanta’s common shares are quoted on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “NOVT”. Novanta.com |
It's all about perception management. The media is trying to dig up as much dirt as they can on Dominique Strauss-Kahn so they can hang the man before he ever sees the inside of a courthouse. It reminds me of the Terry Schiavo case, where devoted-husband Michael was pegged as an insensitive slimeball for carrying out the explicit wishes of his brain-dead wife. Do you remember how the media conducted their disgraceful 24 hour-a-day Blitzkrieg with the endless coverage of weepy Christian fanatics on the front lawn of the hospital while Hannity, Limbaugh and O' Reilly filled the air waves with their sanctimonious claptrap?
And now you're telling me that that same media is just "doing their job?"
Give me a break.
Whoever wants to nail IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has really pulled out all the stops. Their agents have been rummaging through diaries, hotel registries, phone records, yearbooks, yada, yada, yada. The UK Telegraph even paid a visit to a high-priced DC knocking shop to get a little dirt from Madame Botox; whatever it takes to make a randy banker look like the South Hill rapist. And they're doing a pretty good job, too. The cops have made sure that the "Great Seducer" always appears handcuffed and dressed in a "pervie" raincoat with 3-days stubble before they parade him in front of the media. On Wednesday--more grist for the mill--they released his mug-shot, an unflattering, deadpan photo that makes him look like Jack-the-Ripper. Was that the intention?
And, that's not the half of it. The Big Money is exhuming every woman he's ever had contact with for the last 30 years hoping they can glean some damning tidbit of information that will convince the doubters that beneath that sophisticated manner and $25,000 suit lurks a closet Bluebeard ready to snap up your daughters and defile your wives. Next thing you know, they'll be trotting out Paula Jones and Tanya Harding claiming they spent a torrid night with the Marquis de Kahn in a trailerpark outside Winamuca.
Where does it stop? Or does it stop? Are we in for another year-long Clinton-Lewinski feeding frenzy where everyday we hear more lurid details about the sexploits of people who don't really interest us at all?
Aren't you at all curious about who's behind this "lynching by media" scam? This is an all-out, no-holds-barred, steel-cage, take-down. The big boys save that kind of action for the worst offenders, that is, for the insiders who have broken "Omerta" or wandered off the reservation. I mean, they locked him up on Riker's Island without bail, for Chrissake. What does that tell you? Even Bernie Madoff was allowed to stay in his $7 million Park Avenue penthouse while he waited for trial, but not Straus-Kahn. Oh, no. He get's the royal treatment, even though he has no criminal record and nothing but the sketchy accusations of a chambermaid against him, he's carted off to the state slammer where he can mingle with hardened criminals while dining on corn flakes and Wonder Bread.
You call this justice?
Can I tell you what this is all about? It's about the dollar. That's right. Strauss-Kahn was mounting an attack against the dollar and now the wrath of the Empire has descended on him like ton-of-bricks. Here's the scoop from the UK Telegraph:
"Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has called for a new world currency that would challenge the dominance of the dollar and protect against future financial instability.....
He suggested adding emerging market countries' currencies, such as the yuan, to a basket of currencies that the IMF administers could add stability to the global system....Strauss-Kahn saw a greater role for the IMF's Special Drawing Rights, (SDRs) which is currently composed of the dollar, sterling, euro and yen, over time but said it will take a great deal of international cooperation to make that work." ("International Monetary Fund director Dominique Strauss-Kahn calls for new world currency", UK Telegraph)
So, Strauss-Kahn finds himself in the same crowd as Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, right? You may recall that Saddam switched from dollars to euros about a year before the war. 12 months later Iraq was invaded, Saddam was hanged, and the dollar was restored to power. Gaddafi made a similar mistake when "he initiated a movement to refuse the dollar and the euro, and called on Arab and African nations to use a new currency instead, the gold dinar." ("Libya: All About Oil, or All About Central Banking?" Ellen Brown, Op-Ed News) Libya has since come under attack by US and NATO forces which have armed a motley group of dissidents, malcontents and terrorists to depose Gaddafi and reimpose dollar hegemony.
And now it's Strauss-Kahn's turn to get torn to shreds. And for good reason. After all, DSK actually poses a much greater threat to the dollar than either Saddam or Gaddafi because he's in the perfect position to shape policy and to persuade foreign heads of state that replacing the dollar is in their best interests. And that is precisely what he was doing; badmouthing the buck. Only he was too dense to figure out that the dollar is the US Mafia's mealticket, the main way that shifty banksters and corporate scalawags extort tribute from the poorest people on earth. Strauss-Kahn was rocking the boat, and now he's going to pay.
Here's a clip from CNN Money:
"The International Monetary Fund issued a report Thursday on a possible replacement for the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
The IMF said Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, could help stabilize the global financial system....SDRs represent potential claims on the currencies of IMF members.....The IMF typically lends countries funds denominated in SDRs. While they are not a tangible currency, some economists argue that SDRs could be used as a less volatile alternative to the U.S. dollar.
"Over time, there may also be a role for the SDR to contribute to a more stable international monetary system," he said.
The goal is to have a reserve asset for central banks that better reflects the global economy since the dollar is vulnerable to swings in the domestic economy and changes in U.S. policy.
In addition to serving as a reserve currency, the IMF also proposed creating SDR-denominated bonds, which could reduce central banks' dependence on U.S. Treasuries. The Fund also suggested that certain assets, such as oil and gold, which are traded in U.S. dollars, could be priced using SDRs." ("IMF discusses dollar alternative", CNN Money)
Wow. So DSK was zeroing in on US Treasuries as well as the dollar? That's the whole shooting match.
So, what type of progress was he making in converting USDs to SDRs? According to Reuters: "The IMF general resources credit outstanding increased to 65.5 billion Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, ($104 billion) on May 12 from 6.0 billion SDRs at December 2007. The so-called new arrangement to borrow, which came into effect on April 1, increased the IMF's available lending resources to 269 billion SDRs on May 12 from 120 billion SDRs on March 31." (http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/17/idINIndia-57083920110517?type=economicNews)
Not a bad start for such an ambitious project. It looks like DSK's dream of dethroning the dollar as the de facto "international currency" was beginning to gain momentum. (Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has said that the transition from dollars to SDRs "could be phased in within the next year.") But didn't he know that his actions would anger some very powerful and well-connected people?
Well, if he did; he never let on. In fact, he started mucking around in other stuff, too, like when he intervened on behalf of Irish taxpayers, trying to protect them at the expense of foreign bondholders. That's a big "No no" in banker's world. They keep a list of "people who count", and taxpayers are not on that list. Here's an excerpt from the Irish Times:
"Ireland’s Last Stand began less shambolically than you might expect. The IMF, which believes that lenders should pay for their stupidity before it has to reach into its pocket, presented the Irish with a plan to haircut €30 billion of unguaranteed bonds by two-thirds on average. (Irish finance minister) Lenihan was overjoyed, according to a source who was there, telling the IMF team: “You are Ireland’s salvation.”
The deal was torpedoed from an unexpected direction. At a conference call with the G7 finance ministers, the haircut was vetoed by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner who, as his payment of $13 billion from government-owned AIG to Goldman Sachs showed, believes that bankers take priority over taxpayers. The only one to speak up for the Irish was UK chancellor George Osborne, but Geithner, as always, got his way. An instructive, if painful, lesson in the extent of US soft power, and in who our friends really are.
The negotiations went downhill from there. On one side was the European Central Bank, unabashedly representing Ireland’s creditors and insisting on full repayment of bank bonds. On the other was the IMF, arguing that Irish taxpayers would be doing well to balance their government’s books, let alone repay the losses of private banks." ("Ireland's future depends on breaking free from bailout", Morgan Kelly, Irish Times)
So, Strauss-Kahn stuck up for Irish taxpayers over the banks, the bondholders, the ECB, and the US Treasury. Naturally, that made him persona non grata among the ruling throng.
And, there's more, too, because Strauss-Kahn's vision was not limited to currency alone, but involved broad structural changes to the IMF itself that would have reversed decades of neoliberal policies. DSK had settled on a new approach to policymaking; one that would abandon the worst elements of globalization and put greater emphasis on social cohesion, cooperation and multilateralism. Here's an excerpt from the speech titled "Human Development and Wealth Distribution" he gave in November 2010:
"....Adam Smith—one of the founders of modern economics—recognized clearly that a poor distribution of wealth could undermine the free market system, noting that: “The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful and…neglect persons of poor and mean condition…is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.”
This was over 250 years ago. In today’s world, these problems are magnified under the lens of globalization....globalization also had a dark side. Lurking behind it was a large and growing chasm between rich and poor—especially within countries. An inequitable distribution of wealth can wear down the social fabric. More unequal countries have worse social indicators, a poorer human development record, and higher degrees of economic insecurity and anxiety. In too many countries, inequality increased and real wages stagnated—failing to keep up with productivity—over the past few decades. Ominously, inequality in the United States was back at its pre-Great Depression levels on the eve of the crisis....
An immediate task is to end the scourge of unemployment....Progressive taxation can also promote equity through redistribution, and this should be encouraged....“Inequality is corrosive” ....“it rots societies from within…it illustrates and exacerbates the loss of social cohesion…the pathology of the age and the greatest threat to the health of any democracy.” ("Human Development and Wealth Distribution", Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF)
Can you believe it? DSK is lecturing bankers about redistribution? That's not what they want to hear. What they want to hear is why ripping off poor people actually makes the world a better place. DSK's speech just shows that he wasn't drinking the Koolaid anymore. He was becoming a nuisance and they needed to get rid of him.
Does that mean he didn't rape the woman who was in his hotel room?
Of course not. He could be guilty. But he deserves a fair trial, and someone's making damn sure he doesn't get one.
_______
plantman
About author Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Kindle edition . He can be reached at [email protected] |
No House Republican enrages the business-friendly wing of the GOP more than Justin Amash. But members and operatives who hoped to end his political career are running out of time and moxie before Michigan's Aug. 5 primary.
So far, many of Amash’s cash-flush critics have passed on investing substantial resources in his GOP rival, former East Grand Rapids School Trustee Brian Ellis. At the same time, Amash allies such as the Club for Growth and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have tangibly backed the libertarian sophomore's re-election in the 3rd District.
Amash rankles House GOP leadership and rank-and-file members over issues ranging from national security to parochial legislation. He's often at odds with much of his conference, and privately, many members and their aides say their capacity to govern would be easier if he was no longer in Congress.
But on Capitol Hill, it's still taboo to try to oust a fellow member — even someone who frustrates GOP Leadership as much as Amash. As a result, almost no one in Congress will publicly challenge his re-election.
For example, Ellis' sole donor in the Michigan delegation is House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers — and he's retiring this year.
"Brian will be an effective advocate in Washington, not an ineffective, celebrity politician who works against the Republican party at every turn," Rogers press secretary Kelsey Knight added in a statement.
Ellis' other congressional donor is Rep. Devin Nunes, a Republican who represents a district more than 2,000 miles away in California. Nunes is at odds with Amash in part because of Nunes' opposition to water legislation affecting his the Golden State district.
But at least 22 of Amash's allies in Congress have rallied behind him, including many of his 2010 classmates like Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona, Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho, and Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina.
He boasts additional conservative backers: Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling. Cruz also cut a radio ad that the campaign has used to swamp the airwaves.
The Michigan GOP delegation is sitting on its hands. In a state that boasts four committee chairman, Amash was kicked off the House Budget Committee in 2012.
“There’s not a concerted effort among the Michigan delegation to oust Amash, but there’s not a concerted effort to help him either,” said a Michigan Republican consultant, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about Amash.
What's more, members are reluctant to pick a fight with tea party groups by publicly donating to Ellis' campaign, multiple operatives on Capitol Hill told CQ Roll Call.
Even without congressional help and the traditional PAC donations bestowed on incumbents, Ellis could still spend more than Amash in the race by self-funding. Ellis loaned his campaign $1 million, according to his latest fundraising report , and raised a total of almost $1.7 million.
Ellis is running an organized campaign with a recognized team of consultants. State and national allies insist there is a path to victory — citing local support and low turnout.
The Michigan primary comes in early August, when many of the district's residence head north for vacation. As a result, Michigan operatives expect only the most passionate and organized to vote.
Ellis has no shortage of gold-standard Republican endorsements in Michigan. He also boasts support from Michigan Right to Life, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and, most notably, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
But as of Friday morning, none of those organizations made a serious financial investment in the race. Fundraising reports did show several pro-Israel groups made significant investments in Ellis' campaign.
Ellis has one other great hope: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce makes a substantial, last-minute television blitz. The group's perfect streak of spending in GOP primaries ended Tuesday, when Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., lost the runoff for Senate. The chamber had spent more on Kingston's bid than any other primary campaign this cycle.
Meanwhile, outside groups have come in big and early for Amash.
The Club for Growth's independent expenditure arm — which has a mixed record this cycle — is credited with recognizing the Ellis threat early and protecting Amash. They spent $368,000 on the airwaves and bundled $274,000 in contributions for Amash's campaign, according to spokesman Barney Keller.
"Club for Growth Action's most recent TV ad buy ended on Monday," Keller said via email. "We are confident that Congressman Amash is in a very strong position for reelection, but we continue to closely monitor the race, and we might or might not return to the TV airwaves prior to Election Day."
Americans for Prosperity also made a positive buy for Amash early this year, and Citizens United directly donated to his campaign.
But if Amash wins the GOP primary next week — as most Republicans expect — his Hill adversaries will watch his margin. If he wins by less than 10 percent, and he continues to aggravate his own conference, things might be different next cycle.
"It takes a long time to get people to focus and to be willing to take that plunge, because going against an incumbent is a risk,” the Republican said. "But given his voting record, in this case, there really is no risk."
Related Stories: U.S. Chamber Backs Justin Amash Primary Opponent Conservatives Regroup to Force Leadership to Change Kingston Counts on Hill Connections in Senate Runoff Club for Growth Stumbles With Mississippi Senate Loss (Video) Roll Call Election Map: Race Ratings for Every Seat Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call in your inbox or on your iPhone. |
North Korea has manufactured three solar powered leisure boats, according to images released by Korea Today, a monthly periodical published for foreign audiences.
The vessels were built by an unnamed company at the Ryongnam Shipyard on the DPRK’s east coast and were unveiled in a feature highlighting recent advances in the country’s civilian shipbuilding industry.
“(The North Korean company) built three sophisticated pleasure boats with intelligent functions in only a few months. The boats are driven by solar power under an automatic control system,” the article reads.
The accompanying images show three small craft lined up near a dock. Two small additional photographs of the interior show very minimal controls, and rows of seats indicating the vessels are intended to carry small groups.
Satellite imagery of the site taken in May this year shows two similar craft docked at the Ryongnam Shipyard. The satellite photos appear to show a matching green bow at the front of the ship, which juts out from the main body of the vessel.
The discrepancy indicates a further vessel was built in the intervening time period, or that one was added digitally. The image released by Korea Today appears to show some signs of tampering, though the extent and reasons for the editing are unclear.
But the design of the vessels matches a computer graphics render published by DRPK Today on June 13 this year. The article claims the solar boats use no fossil fuels and had successfully finished their testing phase.
Solar boats are not an especially new technology, but they are not widely used given the panels and all accompanying electrical infrastructure must be thoroughly waterproofed and regularly cleaned.
One expert expressed skepticism the vessels were fully powered by solar.
“I don’t think the boat is run only by solar panels. Maybe they are for the electricity supplies inside the boat,” Lee Seok-gi at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade told NK News. “But it wouldn’t be run entirely by the power.”
Korea Today claims the company that built the solar boats did so after finishing the Ja Ryok, one of the North’s relatively few domestically produced cargo ships.
Previous analysis by NK Pro indicated the Ja Ryok could be the only North Korean vessel made to sail in international waters this decade.
Examination of the build dates of the DPRK’s fleet built over the last 40 years indicates that domestically produced commercial ships are rare, with construction declining and commercial fleets comprised mainly of aging Japanese-built vessels.
While the North’s solar boats will do little to stem the decline, they are not the first type of solar vehicle highlighted by DPRK media. In June this year, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed that solar powered buses were operating in Nampho.
Additional reporting by JH Ahn
Edited by: Oliver Hotham
Featured image: Korea Today |
Sean Groubert, being led into custody, after pleading guilty in the shooting of unarmed Levar Jones in 2014.
Sean Groubert, a former South Carolina state trooper, has pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for the shooting of Levar Jones at a Columbia gas station in September of 2014. Video from Groubert’s patrol car went viral at a time of heightened scrutiny and anxiety of police executions of unarmed African Americans—immediately after the murders of Mike Brown in Ferguson, John Crawford in Ohio and Eric Garner in New York and just prior to the murder of Tamir Rice in Cleveland and the non-indictment of Darren Wilson for Brown’s murder. Groubert’s shooting of Jones occurred about seven months before another South Carolina law enforcement officer, Michael Slager, murdered an unarmed Walter Scott.
Groubert entered his plea on Monday of this week. Jones, who survived the ordeal, was present in the courtroom during the proceedings. Groubert followed Jones to initiate a traffic stop for a seatbelt violation. As Groubert exits his vehicle Jones is already standing at the driver side of his car. Groubert can be heard asking Jones for his license. In an effort to comply with the officer’s lawful request, Jones quickly turns around and reaches into his vehicle. At that point, Groubert began yelling at Jones to “get out of the car!” Once Jones turned around from being inside the vehicle, Groubert opens fire, shooting him three times. Jones is seen falling to the ground with both hands raised as Groubert continues to yell at him to get on the ground. Jones can be heard in the video asking why he was shot, saying “I just got my license, you said get my license. What did I do, sir?”
Did we mention Groubert fired his weapon three times at a gas station? Video of the incident is below the fold. |
You can’t swing a severed arm laced with adamantium these days without hitting someone who has a new podcast. Everyone’s gotten into the game these days and Marvel’s Wolverine is no exception. Beginning next year, Marvel will launch The Long Night, its first scripted podcast styled after WBEZ’s Serial. And it’ll star The Hobbit’s Richard Armitage.
Today, Marvel announced they’re partnering with Stitcher Audio to produce the scripted podcast writer Ben Percy described as a blend of programs like Serial, S-Town, True Detective, and Unforgiven. He said the show is meant specifically to pull audiences in as the characters slowly begin to piece together the elements of a larger mystery. Said Percy:
“If you look at the success of Serial and S-Town, it has everything to do I think with their investigative formats, the way the listeners become complicit in the narrative. They’re co-authors, they’re literary detectives, because they’re piecing together the clues alongside the reporters, and I wanted to take a similar approach to that.”
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So what’s the actual story about? The Long Night will find two special agents investigating a series of gruesome murders taking place in Burns, a fictional Alaskan town. An amnesiac Wolverine (Armitage) is the agents’ top suspect for the killings, but as they begin to dig into the town’s mysteries, they soon learn that all isn’t necessarily as it seems. According to Percy, The Long Night will borrow some narrative elements from popular murder mystery podcasts, but the story will also incorporate a number of themes more common to comic books to set itself apart. There will be murder, there will be cults, and there will be claws. Said Percy:
“I’m also drawing from the Native legends in the area and from cultish mythology. There is a compound set up outside of the town of Burns, Alaska, where the Aurora cult is located. And it’s unclear at first whether they are implicated in the murders that are occurring here and whether they might have powers, as they purport to — a connection to and a control over the fabric of light that plays over the winter skies.”
As it turns out, Armitage was in the studio working on this new project just a few days ago.
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Image copyright Getty Images
For six years, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria has been painstakingly gathering information about possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict.
The investigators have produced 13 reports, the evidence in each is harrowing. Villages destroyed, crops burnt, wells poisoned, torture, rape, starvation sieges, mass bombing of civilians, and what only a decade ago might have been unthinkable - chemical weapons.
There is no doubt that war crimes have been committed by all sides, the commission says. In each report there is a demand for "accountability" - that no-one should be allowed to commit such horrific acts and get away with it.
"This would be incredible, a scandal," says commission member Carla Del Ponte, who describes the violations in Syria as by far the worst she has ever come across. "But nothing happens, only words, words, and more words."
Ms Del Ponte, as a former prosecutor at the tribunal for Yugoslavia, and the woman who put Slobodan Milosevic in the dock, knows how to bring war criminals to book.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Carla Del Ponte says the violations of international law in the Syrian conflict are the worst she has encountered
While the Syria commission has no power to prosecute, what it does have is a vast amount of evidence, and a confidential list of names, thought to include figures at the very top of the Syrian government and military.
To bring those individuals (including, Ms Del Ponte thinks, President Assad) to court, the UN Security Council would have to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court. And throughout the Syria conflict, the Security Council has been divided, with Russia and China in particular resisting what they regard as unnecessary interference in Syria's problems.
Now, though, the United Nations, under new Secretary General Antonio Guterres, appears to be flexing its muscles.
A new body has been set up, called, rather dryly, the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism or IIIM, to sift the evidence, build cases, and pass them to any court that could have jurisdiction. Some European countries are already opening cases.
At its head is an experienced French judge, Catherine Marchi-Uhel, who has worked on the tribunal for former Yugoslavia, and the Extraordinary Courts of Cambodia, which prosecuted the Khmer Rouge.
"This gives me hope that something is moving," says Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima, a Swiss organisation that works to ensure justice for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"I didn't even think this body would be set up… this is proof [the UN] is serious."
Mr Werner's own organisation has already built cases against suspected war criminals from Sierra Leone and Liberia, and his work with victims has shown him, he says, that "the eagerness for justice is immense".
One of his colleagues, Antonya Tioulong, knows personally just how important this can be. Her sister and brother-in-law were tortured and murdered in Phnom Penh's notorious S-21 detention centre during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption In 1995, Srebrenica was the scene of the worst massacre of the Bosnian war
In the 1990s, almost two decades after her sister's death, Antonya was able to learn what had happened to her, and she tried to bring a case in the French courts against the Khmer Rouge officers who had run S-21. It was rejected.
"I felt powerless. There was no sign, either, of an international tribunal. I wondered, 'Were the two million victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide so unimportant in the eyes of the world that the criminals did not need to be judged?'"
Antonya had to wait until 2008, when an international tribunal was finally set up. The men who murdered her sister were at last convicted.
She was comforted not just by the verdict, but by the fact that the tribunal was public.
"Thousands of people came from all over the world to attend the hearings in person, showing their desire to understand what happened."
But many thousands of victims still wait. In the Swiss capital, Berne, the Red Cross Centre for Victims of Torture and War had more than 4,000 consultations in 2016 alone.
"Almost the most important thing is that they have the space and time to talk," says psychologist Carola Smolenski. "We have patients from former Yugoslavia who still suffer chronically from their experiences."
For many of these patients, however, there may never be a public tribunal where perpetrators are convicted, and the suffering of their victims formally recognised in a court of law.
Instead, the Red Cross Centre has included a form of "validation" process as part of the therapy.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many Syrians, millions of whom are in refugee camps, still await news of loved ones
"We will prepare [together with the patient] a detailed chronological report," says Carola Smolenski. "We recognise the experience together, and we sign it as witnesses."
"It is important that they can say, 'That is my story, and it is being taken seriously.'"
For the millions of Syrians waiting in refugee camps, or trapped in besieged cities, peace cannot come soon enough. But millions of Syrians, too, are waiting to know the fate of loved ones who disappeared into Syria's prisons, or vanished in the heat of battle.
In Geneva, the UN peace process is inching along. In the talks about Syria in the Kazakh capital, Astana, the Russians, Turks, and Iranians are working to negotiate "de-escalation zones" to reduce the violence.
But in neither the Geneva process nor Astana is there much talk of accountability for the undoubtedly massive number of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is unclear whether the newly formed IIIM has a role in the peace process at all.
Could this be because leaders, on all sides of Syria's conflict, might not be motivated to reach a peace deal if they thought a war crimes trial would be their reward?
"You might have put your finger on it," says one Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The idea that achieving peace, or at least an absence of war, should take priority over justice is often advanced during tricky diplomatic negotiations.
Some also suggest that war crimes tribunals can sow the seeds of future discord, particularly if victims are from one ethnic group and perpetrators from another.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Nuremburg war trials resulted in many convictions but little remorse, says UN human rights commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu famously did not want a tribunal for South Africa, pushing instead for a truth and reconciliation process, in which the accused would acknowledge their crimes but also be forgiven by their victims.
The UN's human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, agrees that creating sustainable peace is a complex process, but insists that the authors of Syria's suffering must be formally prosecuted.
"In Syria, there will never be peace if you don't put the victims at the centre of your effort," he says.
"You can have the most finely crafted agreement, but if victims don't feel justice, then it is worthless, a pointless exercise. There has to be an accounting, the central authors must be brought to book."
Nevertheless, he sees prosecutions as only part of the process.
"At a fundamental level, we will never have permanent peace if we don't deal with unresolved issues."
This means, he says, all sides in a conflict recognising their conduct, and showing "contrition".
And there, Mr Hussein says, society must play its role.
During the German trials after World War Two, he points out, there were 7,000 convictions, but few of those convicted showed any remorse.
The push for contrition and remorse came later, through work by German historians, school teachers, and post-War politicians.
Alain Werner agrees that, in view of the scale of the atrocities in Syria, "it is very difficult to think there will be no justice".
But, he adds, because the number of cases is "staggering", justice is unlikely to be swift. "Syria could take 40 years… even 100 years to investigate." |
Welcome to London, Jack Roslovic.
The Winnipeg Jets’ freshly-signed first-rounder stopped by Budweiser Gardens Wednesday for what his trusted advisor called more of an "acclimation visit" with the Knights rather than a formal recruiting pitch.
The defending Memorial Cup champions own the American star forwards’ OHL rights after acquiring them from the Flint Firebirds earlier this summer.
"I don’t know if we need to immediately sign on the dotted line, but things are moving in that direction," said Ken Robinson of New York-based Edge Sports, which handles the American star forward’s hockey affairs. "Should he land there (in London), I think he’ll do great.
"It’ll be a great fit."
The Knights organized a meet-and-greet for Roslovic with their hockey operations staff and showed off the club’s dressing room, weight room and the 9,000-seat building.
"I think (the rink) is phenomenal," Robinson said. "Jack’s going to love it. It’s a lot different than playing in a 16,000-seat arena where 3,000 of those seats are filled. Sometimes, that’s what college hockey is.
"Should he end up there (in London), he’s really going to enjoy that environment."
Roslovic has three options this fall. He can make the Jets out of training camp, play for their American league affiliate Manitoba Moose or be a top-line threat with the Knights.
Since signing with Winnipeg this week, he is ineligible to return to the University of Miami-Ohio. The 19-year-old from Columbus co-led the RedHawks in scoring as as freshman last season.
"Certainly, Winnipeg appreciated that (OHL) option for Jack," Robinson said. "We don’t know where Jack’s going to end up. That’s entirely up to the Jets organization. But he thought he was going back to college at the beginning of the summer.
"We weren’t expecting the Knights to obtain his rights. Nevertheless, that was what Basil (former London GM Basil McRae) thought was the thing to do."
The Knights struck out on offensively-talented American Sonny Milano after acquiring his major junior rights before the January trade deadline last season. The world junior bronze medalist stayed in Cleveland and won the American league’s Calder Cup with the Lake Erie Monsters.
Roslovic is, according to Robinson, a "very close comparison to Sonny at this point in terms of age and pedigree."
The Jets didn’t have much conversation with him about a contract until he shone at the NHL team’s recent development camp
"They liked what they saw," Robinson said. "College hockey did for Jack what he and Winnipeg wanted it to do. He gained 14 pounds of lean muscle and became a lot stronger. He became more physical and that was part of his game that needed some help."
He is a a favourite to crack the American world junior roster this year. Later this month, he will attend USA Hockey’s summer camp along with current Knights Matthew Tkachuk, Max Jones and goalie Tyler Parsons.
They could be teammates at Christmas in Toronto and Montreal and, if their NHL teams decide, all together in London for another title shot.
"Matthew Tkachuk is one’of Jack’s best friends and another of his (minor hockey) teammates is (current Knight) Kole Sherwood," Robinson said. "He certainly knows what’s going on and he was impressed with last season and the history of the London Knights.
"It (where he fits best) is a discussion we will have with the Jets and we’ll look very carefully after pre-season (NHL) camp and a game or two.
"No one’s rushing his development at this point."
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Twitter.com/RyanatLFPress
FUTURE IS NOW
(A look at 2016 Memorial Cup champion London Knights heading to pro camps this fall)
Maple Leafs: Mitch Marner, JJ Piccinich, Nicolas Mattinen
Ducks: Max Jones, Brandon Crawley
Flames: Matthew Tkachuk, Tyler Parsons
Blue Jackets: Jacob Graves, Kole Sherwood
Sabres: Cliff Pu
Canucks: Olli Juolevi
Coyotes: Christian Dvorak
Canadiens: Victor Mete
Hurricanes: Janne Kuokkanen
Stars: Chris Martenet
Penguins: CJ Yakimowicz
Blues: Owen MacDonald
Islanders: Aaron Berisha (signed by AHL affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers) |
The future, then, was often invoked by politicians. Gough Whitlam was not the only man suffering from visions, whose speeches sought to describe a future Australia and to talk of present policies as preparations for it. Whitlam made ample reference to the now, and to the hip pocket, but he was also selling hope as well as charity – to an extent mainstream Australian politicians since have not been able to match. The Whitlam Government transformed public health insurance, national primary and secondary school policy, access to universities, and a rethinking of the social welfare system. In effect, they doubled the public investment in it, even if their spending never reached 20 per cent of GNP, and involved no public debt. The future was also in the service of defence. One of the contentious phrases of the day, repeated in consecutive strategic assessments was that there was then no sign of a credible threat to Australian sovereignty over the next 10 years. Our military guardians had access to satellite and other intelligence technology which made it reasonably clear that no nation anywhere near – from China or India down – had the capacity – even the shipping – to invade Australia with a force they could sustain while we were fighting back. It would take a decade, at least, time to build such a fleet from scratch, longer to have the power to keep it afloat against our defences. Even if we were deceived about political signs of aggressive intent, we would know when attack was possible. Hence one could plan the nation's defence, including our alliances, not against immediate short-term contingencies, but in a slow and deliberate manner best designed to protect and advance our interests. The "no threat for 10 years" phrase was political trouble, no matter who said it. Defence lobbyists, colonels, and oppositions invariably said that it was all too complacent. A threat could arrive at any moment, leaving Australia naked and alone. The solution, inevitably, involved spending a lot more than whatever it was at the moment. And in distorting defence expenditure towards the here and now (particularly in toys and military salaries) and away from major long-term and integrated investment in defence capital, which might not be in service until after it was needed. As it happens, hardly any of the (now obsolete) defence capital, and even fewer of the defence personnel, of 1975 were ever to be in zones of war.
There were any number of sotto voce scenarios of impending military disaster, and a good many involved, (sotto voce) Indonesia. Or China. South Vietnam had just fallen to the North, and the other countries of Indochina came under communist control, but no one much was talking, any longer, about the domino theory, by which the nations of Asia were doomed, one by one, to fall into the thrall of Russia or China (or both – there were still some who believed that the Sino-Soviet Split, already 15 years old – was a feint designed to trick us). Indonesia has just invaded East Timor, after Australia had signalled that it would make only token protests. From either end of the 1975 telescope, no one foresaw the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (which has caused most of the national security trouble in which we are now embroiled). That happened within five years, though nothing Australia did as a result made much difference to anything. We did not foresee the collapse of the Soviet Union, the drifting of continent Australia into the East China Sea, or a further (post Vietnam) series of humiliating defeats of American, and western, arms and policies within 1000 miles of Jerusalem over the next 40 years, none directly involving the integrity of Israel itself. The Whitlam Government transformed public health insurance, national primary and secondary school policy, access to universities, and a rethinking of the social welfare system. In 1975, Australia, and its fiscal calculations, were reeling from the first oil shock of 1973. It was that, rather more than economic indiscipline under Whitlam, which was to have the biggest effect on political and economic ideas. It forced a long and painful economic restructuring. Australia could no longer have a future protected by some economic quarantine fence, not subject to the forces of world markets. But it was not something 1975 politicians, on either side of the fence, yet realised. 1975 had, like now, an army of lobbyists and urgers screaming for abolition of labour market controls, deregulation to save business from the dead hand of government, big cuts to government expenditure, and tax cuts, incentives and entitlements for distressed rich people. Without these we were on the road to hell. Just emerging was a concerted attack on a supposed outbreak of scrounging, fecklessness and unwillingness to work for whatever was offered, and a culture of distrust in what government, even with the best of intentions, could achieve. A good deal of politics began to appeal to mean spirits and resentment of allegedly privileged groupings of poorer people.
In the "real world," unskilled labourers were finding it harder to get jobs. But the electric typewriter, the photocopy machine and the facsimile machine were not yet in common use. Big businesses – The Canberra Times locally was one, then – had telex machines. Ordinary members of the public waited on average about three months to have a landline telephone connected (although the word "landline" was not, then, in use). Most white collar workers, other than those in shops, were engaged in what one would now call data processing work – work of a type that has now almost entirely disappeared. The personal computer was ages away, the mobile telephone even further; the internet and its potential and the whole array of modern social media had hardly been conceptualised, let alone invented. Now between a third and a half of the Australian population has no memory of a life before the mobile phone or Google. In 1975, the structure (and size) of the Australian family, were in a state of revolution. More clever, articulate, demanding and well-educated women were entering the workforce and were taking less shit. These were women who, on average, were marrying later than their mothers and older sisters, and who were to have fewer children. Whitlam had a Royal Commission into Relationships to examine the implications. The rate of family break-up was seeming to increase, but despite what some later said, the first big bulge of divorces and break-ups, regularised under the 1975 Family Law Act, were of the generation older than the Baby Boomers. The new citizenship for women saw demands for help with childcare, maternity leave, paid parental leave, equal pay, an end to discrimination and fair representation in the high councils of government and business. It became part of a wider social agenda: for justice for Aborigines, aged care, pre-schools, dignity for single parents, and equal rights for homosexuals. Hitherto these had been "single issue", "advocacy" politics; it moved into the mainstream, even of economistic talk. Verbal commonplaces of 1975 politicians, whether on the left or (particularly) on the right, now seem embarrassing, naive, reactionary or just plain silly. Likewise with the social attitudes of many representative Australians to the rights of blacks in South Africa (or Rhodesia) or Aboriginal land rights.
Whether from the beginning of 1975 (when Bill Hayden as Treasurer began winding back the economy) or at its end (after the adults had returned, thanks to Sir John Kerr) that period saw the beginning of a time when the state of the economy, and the level of government spending, dominated day to day political discourse. At all times over the next 40 years, the slashers and the cutters, the straighteners or, as some would insist, the economisers, were at all stages in the ascendancy. It is often forgotten that Australian government, under Whitlam, spent only two-thirds as much of the gross domestic product as national government does today. As it happened, Whitlam did produce intergenerational reports, such as Professor Borrie's inquiry into population, which still stands up fairly well, unlike a host of exercises in economic prognostication, from the 1967 Vernon Report of economic enquiry. No one in Treasury, for example, anticipated (or advocated) a floating exchange rate in 1983, or any number of other significant economic changes of that era – let alone that many of them would be implemented by Labor governments. The politicians of 1975 did make a difference, one that matters still. They redoubled 1960s efforts to increase numbers in universities, further education and training. They help stop most Australians leaving school at about age 15 and instead saw most go on, at least, to matriculation. The key to the transformation of the Australian economy over the past 40 years was the fresh investment and reinvestment in education four decades ago – spending regarded as excessive, reckless and unsustainable by the clerks of the day. The investment in pure education (and pure research) was as profitable and critical as the investment in directly preparing women and men for the labour market. Some of it, in retrospect, could have been managed better; anything at all was at the time fiercely resisted.
Why should it be different 40 years hence? Even in 1995, one could hardly have predicted much of the technology we take for granted today. We have learned little from a tedious, dismal economics, particularly of the directly political sort, dominated by dogma and unaffected by evidence or experience. The lesson from looking back is that the best investments one can make in the future, and in future generations, is by intelligent and thoughtful spending now. Investment in the health, education and happiness of the general population, not least the emerging one. And in the geographic cultural and social environment in which we live. It's the people and the land who are this nation's great capital asset, and they are assets we are letting depreciate. If we cannot afford our present (if needs be by richer and more benefited Australians reaching deeper into their wallets) we won't deserve our future. The biggest reproach on modern politicians is that there is a serious prospect that the younger generation of 2155 may be materially worse off than their parents and grandparents. |
Halifax's first residential care hospice will soon be nestled along a tree-lined street and among expensive homes near Point Pleasant Park in the city's south end.
Dr. Robert Horton, a palliative care doctor and board member of Hospice Halifax — the group behind the plans — says the facility should open in 2017.
"It means more than anything that people are going to have a choice other than resorting to going to the hospital at the end of their life when they can no longer manage their symptoms at home, in the community, with the supports that are currently in place," he said.
Hospice Halifax has secured two buildings, located at 618 and 620 Francklyn Street on the campus of the Atlantic School of Theology. The buildings will be extensively renovated and joined together to create a 10-bed, two-storey hospice that will also include family and children's rooms.
Horton says Halifax is one of the last major cities in Canada without a residential hospice.
A 'peaceful and tranquil' setting
Research indicates the majority of people would prefer to die at home. While resources are in place to help them do this, it may not be a possibility for some because of the level of care they require or changes in their medication.
"Eighty per cent of us want to die at home and only 20 per cent of us are actually able to," said Wendy Fraser, the CEO of Hospice Halifax.
She said most people would like to die somewhere that has a more home-like setting.
"This gives them the opportunity to be in a setting that is peaceful and tranquil and have all their needs met while they can really spend that precious time with their family," said Fraser.
Horton says hospitals are not the ideal environment for people to die.
"It can be noisy. It can be lacking in privacy," he said.
Hospice Halifax will soon launch a $4-million campaign to finance the renovations.
'They've been very receptive'
Once it's up and running, the plan is for the facility to split operating costs with the province. The hospice would raise money to pay for its half.
The hospice will renovate the buildings located at 618 and 620 Francklyn Street and join them together. (Google Maps)
Horton says talks with the province regarding the 50-50 funding model have been well received.
"They've been very receptive of that," he said.
Hospices, he says, make sense from both a financial and moral perspective. On the financial side, the cost to provide care in a hospice works out to about $475 per day, compared to more than $1,000 in an acute-care setting, he says.
"Regardless of the cost savings, this is actually more appropriate care and it's care that's more consistent with the kind of environment and kind of care that patients and families say that they want at the end of their life," said Horton. |
According to a report in Afrikaans weekly Rapport, the new approach to the controversial project of land reform in South Africa has been failing, and government is so concerned about new research findings that it allegedly tried to prevent the researchers from continuing with their work.
In a front-page article dealing with the work of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (Plaas), it was alleged that the expensive land reform programme has been resulting in farm workers losing their jobs and even their rights to accommodation.
The state’s programme of acquiring land for redistribution is allegedly also contributing in other ways to the increase of poverty in rural areas.
Plaas and international researchers have been doing the research for the Western Cape government and their findings have hitherto not been published. Rapport alleges that the “government was so upset about the damning findings that researchers were in the interim denied access to more farms and state data”.
As a result, researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada decided to make their findings public.
More than R2 billion is invested by government each year into land reform and redistribution. Since 2011, the land has remained state-owned and is redistributed through hire arrangements, but this approach appears to be creating problems
The first round of research looked at 11 farms in Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape. On three of the farms, workers were allegedly left without refuge.
On another farm, people who had been living on the land for generations were being made to pay hire to the state and had lost their income as labourers.
On another livestock farm, long-term contracts had still not been established despite three families being established on the land.
On at least one state-owned chicory farm being partly run by the University of Fort Hare – as well as several others – workers were being paid less than minimum wage.
Researcher Dr Ruth Hall was quoted as saying that although good intentions were being shown, the state would have to improve its capacity to manage land if it wished to continue with its current approach. She said that the rhetoric of “radical land reform” was being chanted while the state did not have the ability to administer agricultural land.
“This land reform is being done for people other than the poor,” she was quoted as saying.
“Each of these problems can be solved.” She charged that proper accountability and oversight were not being ensured to ensure effectiveness.
The department of rural development declined to comment to Rapport. |
Hugh Hewitt and Joan Walsh faced off on how Russian hacking may have affected the U.S. presidential election and Democrats are using it to "delegitimize" President-elect Trump. Hewitt accused Walsh of being in the "election-denier" camp.
Hewitt said it is not Donald Trump's fault that Clinton had a private server and the Obama administration conducted poor foreign policy.
"I want to take issue with something that Hugh said earlier," Walsh said. "Donald Trump did not merely said I don't believe that the Russians intervened on my side. He said he doesn't believe it plain and simple. It could be Russia, Hugh, it could be China, it could be somebody in their bed. I don't know where he gets these images from they're kind of creepy. But he absolutely denied what his friends in the Republican party and what you yourself, Hugh, have been saying. He refuses to accept the reality that this is the consensus of the intelligence agencies."
"Have you noticed in the way that Donald Trump is reacting to these revelations, to the news of at least what the CIA is claiming right now here? Does he seem too defensive? Does he seem too hostile to the apparent conclusions of the intelligence community?" MSNBC's Steve Kornacki asked Hugh Hewitt.
"No, I think he seems abrupt because it's silly," Hewitt responded. "I think the whole thing is silly.
"It's silly?" an incredulous Walsh reacted.
"What we face here, Steve, and Joan knows this too, is an attempt to delegitimize a Trump election by saying it's [FBI] Director Comey's fault," Hewitt said to a visually stunned Joan Walsh. "Secretary Clinton came out and said 'fake news' last week. This week their blaming the Russians when we all should be recognizing, and not being an election-denier, it sounds like Joan is going in the election-denier camp.
"No, I'm not," Walsh responded. "This is a really serious issue!"
"There was an election," Hewitt said. "Donald Trump won. I agree with Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan that the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee need to get the bottom to what the Russians did, if it was the Russians alone or through third-party actors. Find out and then take reprisals."
"None of this would have happened if the red-line had not been erased," Hewitt said of President Obama's infamous remarks on Syria, "if North Korea, when they hacked Sony, had felt sanctions."
"The fact is the weakness of the Obama years led to increasing amounts of cyber-attacks on America and now they are paying the piper," he said.
"Oh, come on," Walsh reacted.
"It's not Donald Trump's fault that Secretary Clinton had a server in her basement," Hewitt said.
"That's not the issue," Walsh responded.
"What the left is trying to do, and Joan is very good at it, is to progressively delegitimize Donald Trump's presidency. He won and fake news doesn't change it and Director Comey doesn't change it.
"He lost by almost 3 million votes," Walsh shot back.
"And the popular vote also doesn't matter because the constitutional majority is the electoral college and next week the electoral college makes him president for final and for good," Hewitt reminded her. |
President Trump announced 11 new appointments to high-profile courts on Wednesday, his fourth round of appointments to the judiciary during his young presidency. The nominations were met with conservative praise.
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The list sent to the Senate for confirmation includes the nomination of Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the post previously held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Eid held her position on Colorado’s Supreme Court since 2006, and was also included on the president’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees presented to voters prior to the 2016 election.
Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, complimented Trump’s latest round of judicial nominations, writing in the conservative National Review that “it’s a fantastic list, again drawing from his previous success from his Supreme Court list… many of the nominees are well known in the conservative legal movement…” Severino said that these nominations are a “major victory” for Americans concerned with constitutionalism in the judiciary.
Trump also nominated University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Stephanos Bibas for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The White House called Bibas “one of the nation’s leading experts in criminal law and procedure.” Also nominated is Ralph Erickson of North Dakota for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Eid and Bibas are both listed by the conservative Federalist Society as “legal experts.”
Jonathan Alder, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, stated “President Trump continues to put forward superlative judicial nominees with sterling credentials and impressive intellects.”
But Alliance For Justice, a liberal legal group, urged the Senate to scrutinize Trump’s latest nominees. "President Trump's judicial nominees thus far have had troubling records that raise serious concerns about their ability to act independently from the executive branch and to dispense equal justice to all, as well as whether they possess the requisite judicial temperament,” Nan Aron, the group’s president, said in a statement. “Like Trump's previous nominees, these nominees have the burden to show that they are qualified for lifetime appointments to the federal bench, especially since this White House continues to rely on ultraconservative special interest groups for its pool of judicial picks," she said. Because Eid was on Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court picks, Aron said she must have passed the litmus test regarding abortion rights and opposition to gun safety. |
Nebraska nuclear power plant still holding out against Midwest floods
Among the places surrounded by floodwaters in the American Midwest: Nebraska's Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station. And when I say "surrounded," I mean literally. The power plant is a berm- and sandbag-protected island in the middle of temporary lake. This has not ever happened to an American nuclear power plant before. So far, it sounds like things are going fine (though, of course, the power plant's owners are the primary source of information here, along with government regulators). Overall, there are some good reasons to be nervous, and some good reasons not to be too terrified.
First, on the positive side, the power plant's single reactor has been in cold shutdown since April for maintenance. But that's not a guarantee against problems. After all, Fukushima Daiichi's Reactor 4 was also down for maintenance, and the spent fuel in its cooling ponds still overheated and caused problems with hydrogen explosions and fires. That said, a reactor in cold shutdown is significantly less vulnerable than one that's operating.
Second, on the downside, the power plant got into trouble with federal regulators last year, because its flood defenses weren't up to standards. But, on the positive side, that's ended up meaning that the flood defenses that Fort Calhoun is currently dependent upon are newly improved and inspected—the results of mandated upgrades.
Floods also happen at a slower place than earthquakes and tsunamis, and Fort Calhoun has had time to really double down on preparedness. They've built dams around not only the plant itself, but also the electrical substations that supply its primary source of power. And they've stockpiled weeks worth of fuel for the backup generators, so that in case those power lines go down the fuel rods will continue to be cooled.
On the other hand, all that preparedness is kind of dependent on conditions. According to the Omaha World Herald, The Army Corps of Engineers expects the river to crest no higher than 1,008 feet elevation, and the flood barriers would protect the power plant to 1,010 feet. But that doesn't leave a lot of margin for error. If rainfall becomes extraordinarily heavy again, the river could crest higher. If that happened, Fort Calhoun would be at much greater risk. Hopefully, the container around its reactor would be as watertight as advertised, and the water wouldn't reach the spent fuel pool, which is on higher ground at 1,038.5 feet.
There've also been a couple of small accidents. On June 7th, the cooling pools lost power for an hour and a half because of an electrical fire. And, on the 26th, one segment of secondary flood berm collapsed. The berm was water-filled, and so its collapse caused some flooding in the plant, even though the floodwaters, proper, remained at bay. That accident forced a temporary switch to backup power.
Shorter version: From the information available, it sounds like things are currently under control and that the power plants owners are prepared for the situation they're dealing with. But it's also too soon to know how this will play out, or whether "prepared for the situation they're dealing with" is the same as "prepared for a worse-but-plausible scenario."
Image: Nati Harnik/AP |
BIDDEFORD — The pickup truck driver who allegedly hit a family of bicyclists in Biddeford last week had been drinking, police said Thursday, a day after the father struck by the truck died of his injuries.
An analysis of the driver’s blood taken at the hospital showed he had been drinking, despite being forbidden to have any trace of alcohol in his system while driving, police said.
Additional Photos Rescuers attend to one of the victims at the scene of the crash in Biddeford on Friday. Jamerico Elliott, 52, who was hit by a pickup truck while cycling with his family last Friday has died from his injuries. His 15-month-old son is still in critical condition. Victor Dorais photo Related Headlines Witness: Driver who hit Biddeford bicyclists appeared to be asleep
David Labonte, 56, who has not been charged, at first refused to let police administer a breath or blood test after the 6 p.m. crash Friday on Elm Street, said Police Chief Roger Beaupre. But an assistant York County district attorney drafted a search warrant showing probable cause that Labonte had been drinking, based on reports from rescue workers and other first responders at the scene, Beaupre said.
“We had probable cause (to believe) the person had been drinking prior to the accident,” Beaupre said. “We have a ballpark idea what his numbers are going to be.”
Beaupre noted that the hospital ran an analysis on a sample of Labonte’s blood, and a sample was also sent to the State Crime Lab in Augusta for testing. He said he has been asked by prosecutors not to release the actual blood-alcohol content in the sample analyzed by the hospital, but that it tested positive for the presence of alcohol.
Labonte has been staying with his parents in Biddeford. A man who identified himself as his brother answered the door at the home on Thursday. He said Labonte was not home and he declined to speak for his brother. He also said he did not know the name of his brother’s attorney. Labonte did not respond to a message left with his brother.
Meanwhile Thursday, family and friends mourned the death of Jamerico Elliott. The 52-year-old father had been listed in critical condition for five days and undergone multiple surgeries at Maine Medical Center in Portland, but succumbed to his injuries late Wednesday afternoon, police said. His son, Lavarice Elliott, 15 months old, remains in critical condition.
Lavarice’s mother, Melodie Brennan, 30, was treated and released the day of the crash and has been keeping a vigil at Maine Med.
Jamerico Elliott, known to his friends as “Rico,” was a kind-hearted friend and a dedicated father, recalled Lisa Allen, who has lived for several months in the same apartment building as the family.
“He played with him, he napped with him, he made sure the baby had everything he needed,” Allen said. “Lavarice always came first.”
Elliott would play blocks with his son, or with the boy’s favorite Elmo doll, she said.
Elliott also was helpful around the building, and looked after Allen after she burned her hand badly in a grease fire, she said.
The family was out for a bike ride, which they did regularly, when the truck driver apparently crossed three lanes of traffic and hit them, breaking Elliott’s bicycle in two and throwing the child from the child seat in which he was riding. Police found no skid marks at the scene that would indicate Labonte tried to brake.
Labonte initially told rescue workers that he had a heart attack, Beaupre said. He later told a reporter for the Portland Press Herald that he was returning from his job as a painter, had been coughing, had an asthma attack and fainted.
Police have subpoenaed Labonte’s medical records as part of the investigation. Officials have said he had a cooler in the truck with a small number of unopened beers.
An officer rode with Labonte in the ambulance to the hospital after the crash and stayed with him until about three hours later when the blood sample was taken, Beaupre said.
Labonte was not legally allowed to refuse a blood test. State law dictates that whenever a crash causes serious injury or death, drivers must consent to a blood test, Beaupre said.
The blood sample delivered to the State Crime Lab is not scheduled to be processed until Monday.
Results could be available late Monday or Tuesday, Beaupre said. The department has repeatedly requested the results, but because of staff vacations and blood samples from other cases that also need to be tested, the blood sample from Labonte was not processed this week, he said.
Once the results are released, Labonte would face charges if any alcohol was in his system at the time of the crash, since he has a conditional driver’s license prohibiting any level of alcohol. His license was restricted because he has four drunken driving convictions on his record dating back to the 1980s.
David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or:
[email protected]
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If you read my translation of the “Letter from Leningrad” written by Boris Tishenko in 1975 here, you will definitely be interested in this 1975 recording of Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata Op.147 dedicated to and performed by Fyodor Druzhinin (Read more about Fyodor Druzhinin [Фёдор Серафимович Дружинин] here), piano accompaniment by Mikhail Muntyan. Excerpt from B. Tishenko’s letter:
Shostakovich’s love was an important engine of his artistic might; artistic might was also the reason for his being loved. Proof of his love and his remarkable ability to listen and admire music of others is evident in his Viola Sonata. In it exists, thinned to the limits, music-associative series; Shostakovich in his late works used musical quotations. A smart and tactful quotation exists in the finale of the Viola Sonata: the characteristic point from Beethoven’s 1st movement of the “Mondschein” Sonata Op.27., No.2, only transcribed from triple into quadruple metre.
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Concert Premier Fyodor Druzhinin Fyodor Druzhinin Mikhail Muntyan 1975 Fyodor Druzhinin 1975
The complete LP catalog is: M. Glinka (1804-1857) – Sonata for alto and piano in d-moll; A. Rubinstein (1829-1894) – Sonata for alto and piano in f-moll, Op.49; D. Shostakovich (1906-1975) – Sonata for viola and piano, Op.147. Total time – 77.52; Shostakovich’s Sonata recorded in 1975; Glinka and Rubinstein recorded in 1979. Piano accompaniment by Larisa Panteleeva and Mikhail Muntyan. |
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., with his sister, Darline, on June 24, 2015, at a ceremony marking his retirement from the Air Force Reserve. (Photo11: Lindsey Graham 2016)
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham is using photos of himself in uniform to win votes in his presidential campaign, something he's free to do as long as he includes a disclaimer saying the photos don't mean the Pentagon endorses his candidacy.
Military regulations bar members of the armed forces, including retired members and reservists, from wearing their uniforms "during or in connection with furthering political activities ... when an inference of official sponsorship for the activity or interest may be drawn."
But there's an exception for non-active-duty service members who are candidates themselves. Images of those candidates in uniform must include a disclaimer and not be the "primary graphic representation" on a campaign billboard, brochure, website or ad.
"Sen. Graham's 33 years of service in the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Air Force Reserve are an important part of who he is as a person and shaped the fundamentals of how he would lead as our nation's commander-in-chief," said Brittany Bramell, spokeswoman for Graham's presidential campaign.
The Pentagon's rules, cited by Graham's campaign, say candidates can use or mention their military rank or affiliation in campaign materials as long as they clearly indicate their retired or reserve status. They also are allowed to use photos of themselves in uniform with the disclaimer.
Graham's disclaimer says, "Senator Lindsey Graham is a retired member of the Air Force Reserve. Use of Senator Graham's military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense."
Graham retired as a colonel from the Air Force Reserve, effective June 1, the same day he announced his campaign for president. A video biography on his campaign website includes several images of Graham on military duty. And his campaign sent out a press release on June 25 with a photo of him in uniform at his retirement ceremony in Washington.
The press release also quoted Air Force Judge Advocate General Christopher Burne commending Graham's service and integrity.
In addition to his time as a reservist, Graham was a military lawyer for six years of active duty with the Air Force, plus five years with the South Carolina Air National Guard.
He has been an elected official for 23 of his 33 years of military service, but this is his first campaign as a military retiree.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., greets supporters after announcing his presidential bid on June 1, 2015, in Central, S.C. (Photo11: Rainier Ehrhardt, AP)
Of the announced GOP presidential candidates, only Graham and former Texas governor Rick Perry have military experience, so it's not surprising Graham would highlight that experience on the campaign trail, said Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
"Graham will spend a lot of time in this campaign talking about the importance of having a strong military and a proactive foreign policy, and it probably helps his cause to emphasize his military background," Skelley said.
But service alone isn't enough to guarantee a candidate's popularity. Perry is polling nationally at about 3%, and Graham is just over 1%.
"A candidate's issue positions, ideology, past actions as an elected official, electability, and other factors will help determine voter support," Skelley said. "Military service is more of a 'cherry on top' reason to support a candidate than a critical determiner in how someone votes."
The Pentagon regularly issues election-year guidance on political activity for service members and civilians working in the military. Defense officials have noted that in 2012, an Army Reserve soldier improperly endorsed a political candidate in public while wearing his uniform. And in 2011, a retiree from the Army Reserves running for the Senate was criticized for wearing his uniform to a political fundraiser.
In June, a video promoting a book by an active-duty Army chaplain was taken down by the book's publisher because the author appeared in uniform without a disclaimer.
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You've heard the self-driving car is coming. Thirteen of the world's 14 largest automakers, including Audi, BMW, Ford, GM, and Tesla, have said they will bring autonomous vehicles to market within the next five or so years. Twelve of the 14 largest technology companies, such as Apple, Google, Intel, and Samsung, plan to build the technologies needed to support and operate autonomous vehicles.
Combined, they are spending billions to develop advanced sensor and battery technologies, futuristic human-machine interfaces, intelligent driving computers, and other technologies that are essential to removing the human element (you) from the driving equation in the name safety. Or so they'd like you to think.
"You have to also build one with clean IP. That is nearly be impossible."
These companies are not doing all this for purely altruistic reasons. Like any transformative technology, the revenue opportunities in the AV space are enormous. According to a recent study by Intel and research firm Strategy Analytics, AVs will be the backbone of a $7 trillion-dollar a year marketplace by 2050. "Once money is involved, as innovators transition into commercial enterprises, things get complicated," says Bryan Reimer, Research Scientist in the MIT's AgeLab and the Associate Director of The New England University Transportation Center at MIT.
One way things are starting to get complicated is that innovators seem to be more interested in protecting their inventions or innovations rather than transforming the future of mobility, the goal of all of the research and development. The fear is that courts will soon get clogged with patent lawsuits and innovation grinds to a halt. You've seen what patent wars have done in the smartphone sphere, as Apple and Samsung sued and countersued each other, which is why smartphones haven't evolved significantly in the past decade. What if the self-driving car gets stalled in the courtroom?
Can You Build an Autonomous Car Without Stepping on a Patent?
Ideally, there would be collaborative contractual development to further the AV cause. You've got chocolate. I have peanut butter. Let's work together for the betterment of humanity. Reimer says this type of concerted industry-wide effort is the only way mobility can really to be transformed, if indeed these vehicles are going to "communicate and work together over a standard network that has not yet been defined." In fact, some consolidation is appearing. Autoliv and Volvo have teamed up to form a new company Zenutity. Bosch and Daimler have a new co-development agreement. Others could follow. Even Google has patterned plenty with the big three automakers and said it now plans to partner with other companies rather than trying to build the self-driving car all by itself.
Unfortunately, all AV innovators aren't ready to play well together. "Instead, they are primed to vehemently protect their intellectual property, or more broadly, talent, as usual," says Reimer. "Look at the impending fireworks between Google and Uber, for instance."
John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo speaks at a press conference at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, January 8, 2017. Geoff Robins AP
Google's self-driving car project is widely considered to have kickstarted the autonomous evolution in 2009. Since its inception, Google has amassed hundreds of patents covering every aspect of software, hardware, and on-road behavior, especially in the vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure side. In 2016, Google's parent company Alphabet consolidated the company's self-driving car division under one banner, Waymo. Its primary mission is to commercialize Google's past and future efforts in the self-driving sector and protect the product it creates. Protect is the key word here.
One of Waymo's first acts was to file a lawsuit against ride-share giant Uber in federal court, accusing it of patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation. The suit claims that engineer Anthony Levandowski downloaded 14,000 technical documents from an internal Google server before resigning from the company to start his own, a self-driving truck company called Otto, in early 2016. Otto was then acquired by Uber a few months later for a reported $680 million. Waymo insists that Levandowski stole its technology with Uber's knowledge, and now as the Director of Uber's autonomous efforts, is currently using that ill-gotten research as the basis for Uber's driverless efforts. Uber and Levandowski deny the claims.
"Use it and we will crush you in court, too."
"This case is the first major battles over driverless car technology, and it promises to be a real nasty," says Jeanne Fromer, Professor of Law at New York University, co-director of the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU.
While filing such a suit might seem like business as usual, Fromer says it is a much bigger deal than one might think: "Innovation in such as environment is typically cumulative when there is an awful lot of companies or people working in the same space at the same time. One innovation builds on another, builds on another. The consequence is that everybody is going to be infringing everybody's patents eventually."
For example, say you were to get a patent for creating a chair. No one has ever made a chair before. Then, I come along with the idea for a rocking chair. I patent it. Unfortunately, I can't build it. To make a rocking chair, I would have to build a chair, for which you have the patent. The same goes for you; you can't make a rocking chair because I have the patent for the rocker.
"The implication, in this case, is that everybody will be blocked from building the best version of the product being developed unless all participants play well together," explains Fromer, "thus stifling innovation." Companies could have learned from the 2012 legal battle (and subsequent battles) between Apple and Samsung over alleged patent infringement, which has retarded innovation in the smartphone market. But they haven't.
"If Waymo wins, it could reach a settlement with Uber, agreeing to cross-license the technology in question," explains Fromer. "Each company would benefit from the sharing information and you get a great marketplace because everyone is offering the best of all technologies. It's good for the patent holders and for consumers." However, Waymo could use such a ruling to not only halt Uber's progress in AVs, but take away the fruits of its labors. "This would essentially be a warning to others thinking about using Google-based technology: "Use it and we will crush you in court too," says Fromer.
A Host of Players
Autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid test vehicle Ford
Is the fight for that intellectual property worth it, even if the resulting unpleasantries have the potential to slow innovation in the space down to a crawl? One has to wonder if the leaders in driverless car development seem to think so. It looks like the leaders in this space be are willing spend more time in court over the next five or so years protecting their self-driving patents than perfecting the driverless car the road.
The transition from driven to driverless have many socio-economic implications. And there are many big players involved. Beyond Uber, challengers to Waymo and its Google IP are mushrooming. Competition ranges from in-house programs at automakers Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen and Volvo, to GM's $581 million acquisition of Cruise Automation, Tesla's rapidly evolving Autopilot system and Ford's $1 billion backing of Argo AI, a Pittsburgh startup led by another former Google self-driving car engineer.
"The consequence is that everybody is going to be infringing everybody's patents eventually."
Patent disputes happen. It's a part of our system. They happen with plain old everyday human-driven cars, when automakers fight over intellectual property. These just get solved behind closed door. With so much money and the very future of mobility at stake with the rise of self-driving vehicles, things won't be so easy.
If one organization wins a key patent and doesn't want to share with others, or shares it at a price that makes it worthwhile difficult for others to continue development, then "no longer will it good enough to build an autonomous solution that can survive to become ubiquitous," says MIT's Reimer. "You have to also build one with clean IP. That is nearly be impossible, and will likely delay that the future of mobility promised by autonomy for decades." |
Tonight's blue moon will dazzle viewers all over the world. But for a truly unique experience, watch this live Slooh space camera show to get incredible telescopic close-ups of the lunar surface and a special tribute to Neil Armstrong starting at 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET).
The term blue moon comes with a fair amount of confusion – the moon will not actually be turning blue tonight. A blue moon occurs whenever there are two full moons in a single month, a relatively rare celestial event that happens on average every 2.7 years. (The first full moon in August took place the night of the 1st in the Americas, and on the 2nd in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.) The next blue moon won't happen until July 2015.
The origin of the modern version of this phrase dates to March 1946, when amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett made a calendar error in an article for Sky & Telescope magazine. Before then, the definition of a blue moon wasn't quite set in stone. It meant different things, including an obvious absurdity, a symbol for sadness and loneliness, a gin and curaçao cocktail, or a rare event. In some very unusual cases the moon will actually appear blue, generally because of dust resulting from a volcanic eruption, forest fire, or dust storm. The twice-in-one-month full moon definition has now become the standard.
In addition to doling out interesting facts such as the above, tonight's Slooh show will include zoomed-in, live feeds of the moon from their telescope in the Canary Islands as well as images of solar flares on the sun from Prescott observatory in Arizona. Because of their distant locations on Earth, the telescopes will be able to simultaneously show the moon and sun live in true color. Befitting this blue moon event, Slooh editor Bob Berman and documentary filmmaker Duncan Copp will also be on hand to talk about the legacy of the Apollo program and the late Neil Armstrong, who passed away on Aug. 25.
Video: Slooh space camera collaboration |
Air Traffic Control games are not new, as they first appeared on the iPhone, one of the first smartphones with a full touchscreen. The game rules are simple... There are certain runways on the map, and multiple types of planes (each of which can only land on certain runways). Usually, they are jets, small planes, and helicopters. Land as many of them as you can without them crashing into each other, by drawing them a route from where they are to runway's landing end. That's it, really. The original on the iPhone is by Firemint. Who has cloned the game since, and what other features have they introduced? We round up five of the current games available on Android OS and see who comes out on top.
REVIEW PLATFORM: Motorola Droid running Android OS 2.1-update1 or Android OS 2.2.
NOTE: Only the free versions were tested here. |
Tiny Deadpool and Cable clown around on the Deadpool 2 set
As Deadpool 2 location filming continues in Vancouver, star Ryan Reynolds has taken to social media to post a bizarre behind-the-scenes set pic featuring Josh Brolin’s Cable and… Tiny Deadpool? Is it a young fan visiting the set? Is it some wacky turn of events where Wade Wilson becomes a child again? Check out the full photo in the gallery below and speculate!
Here’ are some of Reynolds’ quotes about the photo:
The camera really does add 10 pounds.
Josh Brolin and I love to just hang out and chat between takes. He calls me his lil’ Shake Weight™.
Quick timeout with my man, Cable. He’s amazing. Even though sometimes it feel like he doesn’t know I exist. But I’m drinking MILK. Which means I’ll grow up someday and pull all the blood out of his f*cking body.
Ryan Reynolds is reprising his role as the Merc with a Mouth alongside Zazie Beetz as the luck-manipulating mutant Domino and Josh Brolin as Cable, the time-traveling son of the X-Men’s Cyclops. Jack Kesy (The Strain, Baywatch) is attached to play the film’s central villain, which, while unconfirmed, is rumored to be Irish mutant Black Tom Cassidy. Japanese actress Shioli Kutsuna and Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) have also joined the film in mystery roles.
Other stars returning from the first Deadpool include Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Stefan Kapicic as the voice of Colossus.
Deadpool 2 is set to debut in theaters on June 1, 2018.
What do you think of the Tiny Deadpool and Cable set photos from Deadpool 2 filming? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and check back for Deadpool 2 updates as they become available. |
The following very interesting memorandum was received on 5th April 2013 from Grant H. Palmer, and is shared here with his permission.
Grant is a renowned LDS historian, and is author of “An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins”, which is referred to in the following memorandum. Further details of that book may be found here:
http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/an-insiders-view-of-mormon-origins-2/
Three Meetings with a LDS General Authority, 2012- 2013
Grant H. Palmer
In mid-October 2012, a returned LDS Mission President contacted me to arrange a meeting. Several days later, he called again and said that a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy also wished to attend. He said the General Authority would attend on condition that I not name him or repeat any stories that would identify him. He explained that neither of them, including the GA’s wife, believed the founding claims of the restoration were true. He clarified that they had read my book, An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, and had concluded that the LDS Church was not true; was not what it claimed to be. The GA often went to the MormonThink.com website for information and there discovered my book. The Mission President said he received my book from the GA.
We have at this writing met three times. We first met on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 and again February 14, 2013 at my house. On March 26, 2013 we convened at the GAs house. Upon entering my home for the first meeting the GA said, “We are here to learn.” I recognized him. He has been a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy for a number of years. He has served in several high profile assignments during this period. The following are the more important statements made by the GA during our first three meetings. We now meet monthly.
He said that each new member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is given one million dollars to take care of any financial obligations they have. This money gift allows them to fully focus on the ministry. He said that the overriding consideration of who is chosen is whether they are “church broke,” meaning, will they do whatever they are told. He said the senior six apostles make the agenda and do most of the talking. The junior six are told to observe, listen and learn and really only comment if they are asked. He said that it takes about two to three years before the new apostle discovers that the church is not true. He said it took Dieter F. Uchtdorf a little longer because he was an outsider. He said they privately talk among themselves and know the foundational claims of the restoration are not true, but continue on boldly “because the people need it,” meaning the people need the church. When the Mission President voiced skepticism and named ___ as one who surely did believe, The GA said: “No, he doesn’t.” The one million dollar gift, plus their totally obedient attitude makes it easy for them to go along when they find out the church is not true. For these reasons and others, he doesn’t expect any apostle to ever expose the truth about the foundational claims.
When I asked the GA how he knew these things, he answered by saying that the Quorum of the Twelve today is more isolated from the Quorums of the Seventies now because there are several of them. When only one Quorum of the Seventy existed, there was more intimacy. During his one on one assignments with an apostle, conversations were more familiar. He said that none of the apostles ever said to him directly that they did not believe; but that it was his opinion based on “my interactions with them.” Also, that none of the Twelve want to discuss “truth issues,” meaning issues regarding the foundational claims of the church. He said that the apostle’s lives are so completely and entirely enmeshed in every detail of their lives in the church, that many of them would probably die defending the church rather than admit the truth about Joseph Smith and the foundations of the church.
The GA stated that my disciplinary action (which would have occurred on the final Sunday of October 2010 had I not resigned), was mandated/ordered/approved by the First Presidency of the Church. I said that if the apostles know the church is not true and yet order a disciplinary hearing for my writing a book that is almost certainly true regarding the foundational claims of the church, then they are corrupt even evil. He replied, “That’s right!”
The GA said the church is like a weakened dam. At first you don’t see cracks on the face; nevertheless, things are happening behind the scenes. Eventually, small cracks appear, and then the dam will “explode.” When it does, he said, the members are going to be “shocked” and will need scholars/historians like me to educate them regarding the Mormon past.
The Mission President and the GA both said they attend church every Sunday and feel like “a hypocrite and trapped.” The GA said his ward treats him like a king and when he gives firesides and speaks to LDS congregations they have high expectations of him. He would like to do more in getting the truth out besides raising a few questions when speaking and gifting my book to others when feeling comfortable. Perhaps this is why he has reached out to me. The GA is a man of integrity and very loving. Upon leaving each time, he always gives me a big hug.
Do the Following Statements Support the Disclosures of the GA?
Apostle Boyd K. Packer said to Michael Quinn when interviewing him for a history position at BYU in 1976, “I have a hard time with historians because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting, it destroys,” quoted in, Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History, editor, George D. Smith, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1992), 76n22.
Gregory Prince, who wrote a seminal biography of President David O. McKay, related to me that when he interviewed Hugh Nibley, a professor at BYU in 1995, that “At one point in the interview he [Nibley] asked that I turn off the tape recorder, which I did. He then related a curious anecdote relating to McKay and the Book of Mormon,” indicating that McKay did not believe in the historicity of the Book of Mormon (emails exchanged between me and Greg Prince on June 22, 2005. These documents are located in The Grant H. Palmer Papers, Accn 2071, Manuscripts Division, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah).
Thomas Stuart Ferguson, a California lawyer, church member and avid amateur archeologist, took the Egyptian papyri that was gifted to the church in 1967 to several Egyptologists at Berkeley, and as I recall Brown University and had them independently translated. All said the papyri were common funerary rites from the Book of the Dead. Ferguson then took their statements to apostle Hugh B. Brown, and after reviewing the evidence “with Brother Brown he said that Brother Brown agreed with him that it was not scripture …. that Hugh B. Brown did not believe the Book of Abraham was what the church said it was” (Journal entry of Ronald O. Barney concerning Thomas Stuart Ferguson on 19 April, 1984. Barney, now retired, worked at the LDS Library and Archives at Church headquarters, in Salt Lake City). Ferguson also said the same to Gerald and Sandra Tanner on December 2, 1970: “Mr. Ferguson had just visited with Mormon apostle Hugh B. Brown before coming to our house, and said that Brown has also come to the conclusion that the Book of Abraham was false” (Letter of Gerald Tanner to Dee Jay Nelson, December 10, 1970, published by Modern Microfilm Co., SLC, Utah).
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For the fourth year in a row, Scientology has aired one of its ads in some local markets during the Super Bowl. And, as usual, the ad has produced a lot of hilarity on Twitter as viewers around the country react in pretty much the same way: “Was that really a Scientology ad I just saw?” This year is no different, as you’ll see in the Twitter reactions below. But first, let’s review the ad itself first.
As in past years, Scientology saved money by only buying local-market spots in some areas, which we have been told adds up to about a $1 million cost, rather than airing a 30-second national ad, which this year ran about $5 million.
Which cities got the ad? We’ll have to judge from the Twitter reactions. But in the past, Scientology leader David Miscavige has aired the ads in cities where his local members have put up the cash to open an “Ideal Org” as a way to punish those cities that haven’t yet ponied up for a new church.
Do these ads actually help the church recruit new people? Probably not. They’re just too hilariously bizarre to rope in newbies. Our experts tell us the ad is really aimed at existing members, to convince them that their donations are being spent to propagate Scientology.
Advertisement
OK, so here’s the minute-long version of the 30-second ad you saw on television…
We live in an age of technological wonder
Extended life
Endless connections
Limitless possibilities
At the touch of a button
In a fraction of a second
The world’s knowledge at our fingertips
A seemingly infinite source of answers
To any question we might ask
Except for one
The one we thirst for
The one that leads to understanding
Our world
Our choices
Ourselves
The question that lies at the intersection of technology and spirituality
Advertisement Who am I?
And some reactions…
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on February 7, 2016 at 20:20
E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield |
Enlarge By Jacquelyn Martin, AP By cutting back on spending, the post office had a net operating income of $2.7B in '08, but still ended up in the red because of a costly health benefit fund for retirees. WASHINGTON (AP) The Postal Service ended its fiscal year $2.8 billion in the red, battered by a faltering economy that cut the amount of mail being sent. Postmaster General John Potter said the agency is making sharp cuts in hours and overtime, but added there are no plans for layoffs. The mail being sent dropped by 9.5 billion items. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: Year opens with $237.2B record deficit "We expect the new fiscal year to be another difficult one," Potter said, adding: "We're not panicking here." By cutting back on spending the post office had a net operating income of $2.7 billion in 2008, but still ended up in the red because of the requirement for a $5.6 billion payment to a health benefit fund for retirees. Even so, the $2.8 billion loss was well short of last year's $5.1 billion postal deficit. The Postal Service does not receive a tax subsidy for its operations Potter welcomed recent reductions in the cost of fuel — a major expense for the post office — and said his agency is continuing to cut overtime and working hours as it seeks to increase efficiency. He said the agency reduced working hours by 50 million in 2008 and hopes to double that to 100 million hours cut this year. "We are working hard to do everything that we possibly can to avoid layoffs," Potter added in an interview following the board meeting. The post office has been offering early retirement, which has been accepted by 3,685 workers. Asked about the possibility of cuts in service, Potter was emphatic in saying no: "When you're in tough economic times, the last thing you want to do is back away from your customers." The cost of First Class postage went up to 42 cents in May and Potter said the annual increases for letters will continue to occur in May, with the new price being announced 90 days in advance. The increase is based on the rate of inflation. For packages, however, rates will increase in January so the post office will be in step with its major competitors, which generally announce new rates in January, he said. Planned rate increases are Express Mail, 5.7%; Priority Mail, 3.9%; parcel select, 5.9%; parcel return service, 5.3% and international shipping, 8.5%. Potter said the agency plans to ask Congress to restructure the way it handles payments for retiree health care. A 2006 law requires the post office to create a fund to cover retiree health care, contributing several billion dollars annually for 10 years. At the same time the agency is paying about $2 billion annually for retiree health care. The postmaster general said the agency would like to start funding retiree health care from the new account, which it will continue to build up. But it would like to eliminate the need to pay the extra $2 billion for current costs. Standard mail, mostly advertising and the largest mail category at 99.1 billion items, was down 4.3% in 2008. First class mail dropped 4.8% to 91.7 billion cards and letters and periodicals fell 2.2% to 8.6 billion. Overall, the post office had revenue of $74.9 billion, operating expenses of $72.1 billion and a health benefit fund payment of $5.6 billion for a net loss of $2.8 billion. The fiscal year began Oct. 1. "This has been a very challenging year for the Postal Service," chief financial officer H. Glen Walker told the agency's governing board on Thursday. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more |
We're going to be seeing a new crop of high-end smartphones in early 2016, and while we don't know what they'll look like just yet, we are learning an awful lot about the chips that will power them. Qualcomm is ramping up its PR machine for the Snapdragon 820, and today Samsung has announced its next-generation Exynos 8 SoC, the Octa 8890.
Like the (generally excellent) Exynos 7 Octa 7420, the new 8890 is an eight-core design that combines four "little" ARM Cortex A53 CPU cores with four "big" high-performance cores. However, the new chip uses Samsung's first custom CPU architecture for the big cores, which Samsung says will improve performance by 30 percent while reducing power consumption by 10 percent. The Exynos 7 chips performed considerably better than contemporaneous Snapdragon 810 chips and were slower to heat up, so hopefully the Exynos 8 will be the same.
The second major change is that Samsung is integrating an LTE modem into the chip for the first time, which simplifies manufacturing for phone OEMs who only want to make room on a motherboard for one chip instead of a separate modem and SoC. The modem supports download speeds of up to 600Mbps and upload speeds of up to 150Mbps, putting it on the same footing as the Snapdragon X12 modem that will come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 SoC next year.
The GPU has improved too, though Samsung isn't really changing up its strategy here. The ARM Mali-T880 is a standard design from ARM, and ARM has said that it's around 1.8 times as fast as the Mali-T760 used in the Exynos 7420.
Like the 7420, the 8890 will be manufactured on Samsung's 14nm FinFET process. The company will begin mass-producing the chip by the end of 2015.
Samsung has been making Exynos chips for years, usually by combining off-the-shelf CPU core designs from ARM with GPUs from ARM or (more rarely) Imagination Technologies. But while those chips saw widespread usage in Samsung's tablets and some international variants of its flagship Galaxy phones, versions of those phones in the US and elsewhere all used Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs instead.
Starting with the Galaxy S6, that has changed, and now all versions of Samsung's phones use Samsung-made chips. Integrating a modem just means that Samsung is even less likely to backtrack and return to Qualcomm's SoCs for its flagship phones in 2016. And while Qualcomm's custom CPU architecture doesn't sound like a drastic departure from the ARM designs it was already using, it's interesting to see some Android OEMs like Samsung and Huawei go the Apple-esque route of designing their own chips rather than buying them from the likes of Qualcomm or Mediatek. |
We’ve got sad news to report to Avicii fans. It appears that the Swedish superstar producer and DJ will be cancelling all future shows, including his headlining performance at this year’s TomorrowWorld, due to health reasons. While the extent to which Avicii’s health is affected remains unclear, it appears that even his recent surgery during this year’s WMC and the resting time that followed was not sufficient for recovery from his ongoing health problems.
During this year’s Winter Music Conference, Avicii was urged to undergo an emergency surgery because of problems with his gall bladder, causing him to cancel his Ultra Music Festival performance, resulting in deadmau5’s substitution. It was later revealed that Avicii also had his appendix removed during that time. Following the surgery, Avicii took some time off to rest and recover from the strain of his surgeries. From the statement below, it does appear that Tim did not fully recuperate and needs more time to regain his health.
Here is the official statement:
At Night Management has tabled all touring and promotional activities for Avicii, aka Tim Bergling, until further notice so that he can fully recuperate from lingering health issues related to surgeries that removed his gall bladder and appendix earlier this year. The international superstar, who is the #1 Most Influential Artist Under 25 according to Spotify, is taking a break at home in Stockholm so he can regain his strength and physical well-being before the release of a new album project next year.
The news is all the more saddening considering that today happens to be Avicii’s 25th birthday. On behalf of the entire Your EDM team, I wish Avicii a speedy recovery so that he may further pursue his passion and rejoin fans at events around the world.
The performances Avicii had scheduled for the rest of the year can be viewed here: Avicii.com |
Hillary Clinton trolled Donald Trump after a federal appeals court rejected his travel ban. (File)
Highlights Hillary Clinton's tweet simply reads '3-0' It refers to the unanimous ruling by a 3-judge panel against travel ban Ban aims at stopping entry of citizens from 7 Muslim-majority countries
SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017
Hillary Clinton trolled US President Donald Trump after a federal appeals court rejected his bid to reinstate a temporary ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations, the media reported. Her tweet simply read, "3-0", a reference to the unanimous decision by the three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, San Francisco.The ruling came in a challenge to Mr Trump's order filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota. The US Supreme Court will likely determine the case's final outcome.Mr Trump's January 27 executive order barred entry for citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days and imposed a 120-day halt on all refugees, except refugees from Syria who are barred indefinitely.Shortly after the ruling, Mr Trump tweeted:Ms Clinton was not the only critic celebrating the decision, politicians, pundits and activists around the country celebrated the victory against the administration."President Trump ought to see the handwriting on the wall that his executive order is unconstitutional. He should abandon this proposal, roll up his sleeves and come up with a real, bipartisan plan to keep us safe," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.Senate House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, called the ruling "a victory for our Constitution and our fight against terrorism"."For the sake of our values and the security of America, Democrats will continue to press for President Trump's dangerous and unconstitutional ban to be withdrawn," Ms Pelosi said.Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) Immigrants' Rights Project, applauded the ruling. "The government's erratic and chaotic attempts to enforce this unconstitutional ban have taken a tremendous toll on innocent individuals, our country's values, and our standing in the world," he said in a statement."Today marks a victory for American freedom over Presidential tyranny," said Steven Goldstein, the executive director of the Anne Frank Centre for Mutual Respect.US District Judge James Robart suspended Mr Trump's order last Friday.The ruling from the 9th Circuit, which followed a hearing on the case on Tuesday, does not resolve the lawsuit, but relates instead to whether Mr Trump's order should be suspended while litigation proceeds. The government could ask the entire 9th Circuit court to review the decision "en banc" or appeal directly to the US Supreme Court.The three judges said the states had shown that even temporary reinstatement of the ban would cause harm.In the ruling, they said they acknowledged the competing public interests of national security and free flow of travel but that the US government had not offered "any evidence" of national security concerns to justify banning the seven countries. |
As announced on Toonami Preflight tonight, Viz Media is bringing their English dub premiere of Hunter X Hunter to Toonami on April 16th at 1 AM. Even though this has been one of the top 5 most requested shows before, no one thought Toonami would pull the trigger and get another long-running series. We will be posting up Viz Media’s press release here as well once we get it. What do you guys think of this big news? Like the show choice and does it matter that it’s a long-running series? Let us know by commenting below.
Update 4/2/16: Jason DeMarco answered a question on his Ask.fm about Hunter X Hunter and this is what he said:
Seems Hunter X Hunter will stay as long as ratings are good so it may not run 148 episodes if we don’t watch. Comment below and let us know what you think. |
From Business Insider:
‘Don’t put that guy in front of the cameras again’: Fox News host unloads on Stephen Miller after altercation with CNN reporter
Mark Abadi
Fox News commentator Eric Bolling harshly criticized White House adviser Stephen Miller for his altercation with a CNN reporter at Wednesday’s press briefing.
“Listen, he’s a brilliant guy, he’s a great policy adviser,” Bolling said on “The Fox News Specialists.”
“He is not a communications person. Don’t put that guy in front of the cameras again.”
At the briefing, Acosta questioned whether the White House’s new immigration policy, unveiled earlier on Wednesday, was “trying to change what it means to be an immigrant” by favoring immigrants who spoke English and had higher levels of education and job skills. In his question, Acosta cited an inscription on the Statue of Liberty that reads “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
“I don’t want to get off into a whole thing about history here, but the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty and lighting in the world, it’s a symbol of American liberty lighting the world,” Miller said. “The poem that you’re referring to was added later. It’s not actually part of the Statue of Liberty.” …
For Bolling, Miller’s spat was a distraction from an immigration policy he praised as “really, really important for the country.”
“The message gets stepped on because everyone is going to play that interchange with Acosta instead of talking about how great this immigration policy is,” Bolling said. |
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Shay Given is a doubt for the FA Cup Final after picking up a groin injury in training.
The veteran Irish stopper was ruled out of today’s 1-0 defeat to Burnley and now faces an anxious wait ahead of the Wembley clash with Arsenal on Saturday.
Boss Tim Sherwood opted to play Jed Steer ahead of Brad Guzan to see what the young stopper was made of.
However he confirmed Guzan will start in the national stadium showpiece if Given doesn’t make it.
“Brad will play (in the final if Given misses out)” he said.
“I have no idea what his chances are right now. We are assessing him each day. We are not ruling him out yet.
As for Steer’s chances in the final, Sherwood added:
“You wouldn’t want to throw Jed in, he’s not got a lot of experience in cup finals.
“The injury to Shay gave us an opportunity to look at Jed.
“If Shay wasn’t to make it and Brad was to get injured we would have a problem.” |
Wednesday 29 March 2006 @ 3:54 pm
The great irony of the “Clerks” theatrical release is that very little attention was given to Jay and Silent Bob in the profile pieces or reviews. Aside from identifying me as the director who also played a small role in the film, the arrival of the two characters – characters I’d not only forever be most closely identified by, but who’d go on to feature prominently in all my subsequent flicks, right up to the who’d've-thunk-it lengths of the pair actually headlining their own movie seven years later – went largely unheralded. To wit, the only notice Jason Mewes received for his performance in “Clerks” while the flick was still in theaters came from a small review in People magazine, in which the author wrote “You want to find the rock he crawled out from under and make sure there’s no more like him under it.”
So when I opted to include the stoner duo in “Mallrats” a year later, it wasn’t to capitalize on their insane popularity. For all we knew, there was none. Popping Jay and Silent Bob into “Rats” was simply a matter of sating my desire to put Jason on film again, and solely because he always made me laugh.
As far as the studio was concerned, however, I stood alone. The execs at Universal were dead set against giving Jason the part of Jay so much so that they insisted we bring alternate Jay choices to the final round of casting sessions. When both Seth Green and Breckin Myer asked me why they were being considered for the part at all when Jason Mewes was so, as they put it, “genius” in “Clerks”, I told them I was as puzzled as they were. Here was a role that wouldn’t have ever existed without Jason Mewes, and yet Jason Mewes was far from the frontrunner, inasmuch as the studio folks were concerned.
Still, Mewes worked his ass off throughout the auditioning process, and when I made the final, big push for him, Universal relented and said I could cast him with the following conditions:
1) Unlike the other cast members, he wouldn’t be flown out to Minnesota on the studio’s dime.
2) Unlike the other cast members, he wouldn’t be put up in his own hotel room during rehearsals. As a result, he would live in my room during his trial period.
3) Unlike the other cast members, he wouldn’t be paid for the month-long rehearsal run in Minnesota.
4) If after his first day of shooting’s dailies were reviewed by the studio and deemed unworthy of the film (a film, mind you, called fucking “Mallrats”), Jason was to be shit-canned and immediately replaced with Seth Green.
Never having made a studio feature before, I assumed this was somewhat normal. Mercifully, so did Mewes.
In one of the few turn-of-events that I can ever truly define as Poetic Justice, the same suits who were so down on Jason’s casting as Jay wound up being so over-the-top up with him after his first full week of dailies, that not only were they sending kudos back from L.A., they also began building the marketing plan around his character and the catch-phrase “Snootchie Bootchies.”
How Mewes arrived at “Snootchie Bootchies” a nonsensical utterance of which he is the sole author is a fascinating study in linguistics. Whenever Mewes used to say something borderline insulting that might warrant an ass-kicking from the short-fused or the ill-tempered, he would immediately follow it with the exclamation “NEH!” as if to quickly editorialize the objectionable declaration in question and render it null and void. For example “I felched your Mom’s ass last night after I cocked her in the doody-hole” when punctuated with “NEH!” became less inflammatory to the recipient, because the “NEH!” communicated the caveat “I’m kidding. Don’t hit me.” But as with all living things, only evolution would insure its survival over time, and “Neh” soon gave way to “Nootch” as in “I felched your Mom’s ass last night after I cocked her in the doody-hole. NOOTCH!” “Nootch” hung on as long as it could, until it gave way to “Snootch!” “Snootch” later birthed “Snootch to the Nootch” which then begat “Snootchie Nootchies”, which in turn led to the now-legendary-in-some-circles “Mallrats” exclamatory “SNOOTCHIE BOOTCHIES!” There’s nothing quite like watching language grow before your very eyes. An etymologist could have a field day with Mewesian Slang.
And Mewes had a field day on “Mallrats”. He very quickly became the most beloved (and most frequently fucked) person on set. About four weeks in on the shoot, Rolling Stone magazine finally gave Jason long-overdue “Clerks” props in an article entitled “Five Minute Oscars”, in which the author listed the best performances in movies that year by people with the least amount of screen time. Mewes’ Jay was among the honorees, and in an expression of cast and crew pride, the piece was hung on the back of the office door for all to see.
(Mewes and Rene Humphries, kidding around on set)
It was only at the single best theatrical screening “Mallrats” would ever boast the 1995 San Diego ComiCon screening that we learned how deep an impression Jay and Silent Bob had actually made in “Clerks”. A true art-house release, during the film’s theatrical life, it never played on much more than fifty screens at once which meant reviews in high-brow, big city papers and some national magazines only. And since, with the exception of the aforementioned People blurb, none of those reviews ever singled out Jay and Silent Bob not to mention the fact that the internet hadn’t taken off as it would two years later we all assumed that nobody gave two tin shits about the stoner duo.
However, our eyes were opened at that July screening in San Diego when, upon their first appearance on screen, the packed-house erupted in excited recognition so enthusiastically you would’ve thought Yoda had, instead, been standing in front of the pet store in the flick, in CGI form, shredding motherfuckers with dual lightsabers. “Clerks”, by this point, had found its way to home video, and it was in video stores across America where the film had been finally discovered by its true audience: people not much different than the filmmakers themselves. And if this reaction was any indication, said audience LOVED Jay and Silent Bob.
(Me and the boy, doing what we do)
The studio brass in attendance likened the flick’s reception in Diego to the “Animal House” test screening of lore. Dollar signs danced in their eyes, and Mewes was heralded as the Next Big Thing.
However, nobody took into consideration that the flick about a comic book geek playing to an audience full of comic book geeks at the world’s largest gathering of comic book geeks was perhaps a weighted exercise in self-selection, and hardly an indicator of how the movie would be embraced in the real world. When “Rats” was released a few months later, it opened to a paltry million and change on 800 screens. By the second weekend, it was out of theaters, damned to the video dustbin (where it, too, would find its eventual audience who’d, thankfully, turn it into a cult classic).
(Mewes at the “Build Me Up Buttercup” video shoot, circa ’95)
Mewes, meanwhile, had gone off to shoot a flick in Vancouver. Helmed by my friends Malcolm Ingram and Matt Gissing and entitled “Drawing Flies” the flick afforded Jason his first non-Jay role. It also afforded Jason his first taste of heroin courtesy of a girl whose name he doesn’t remember, on a jungle gym in a park lit by the Canadian moon.
By this point, Mewes had become something of a partier, keeping a ceiling on his activities that amounted to merely booze and weed. Had I been more educated on the subject of drug addiction and the genetically predisposed, I would’ve known that these were merely gateway drugs: brief stops on the road to something more harsh. Jason’s drug affinity wasn’t a worry in those days; hell, it was regarded as kinda cute. While in mid-”Rats” production, a bunch of us got together to record the commentary track for the “Clerks” laser disc (which would eventually become the original “Clerks” DVD), and on it, Mewes can be heard getting progressively more drunk over the ninety minute duration of the film. This wasn’t a big concern back then; he was just having a good time, I thought. Just because I’d never been a big fan of getting drunk or stoned didn’t mean I had to poo-poo everyone else’s parade. What, Me Worry?
Besides, the safeguard was in place already the roadblock we all assumed would keep Jason from ever progressing to harder drugs. Mewes’ Mother, released from jail around early ’95, was diagnosed as HIV Positive – a lifetime of shared needles the presumed culprit. Seeing his Mom drop unhealthy amounts of weight and suffer AIDS-related ailments was, at one point, enough to make Mewes swear off ever even trying heroin.
But alas, there was that park in Canada. And nobody ever caught AIDS because they SNORTED heroin, Mewes rationalized. As long as he never shot-up, he’d be okay.
By the tail-end of the “Rats” post-production, I’d gotten involved with the actress Joey Adams, and soon, I was spending much more time in Los Angeles than New Jersey. This meant much more time away from Mewes, which in turn meant much more time for Mewes to experiment further with drugs. The high was the lure, and the between-films downtime didn’t help matters much either. Post-”Rats” and “Flies”, having squandered most of his movie money, Jason was forced to go back to work in non-performance roles. Some days, he was a roofer. Some nights, he delivered pizza. When, mid-delivery, someone would ask him “Weren’t you in a movie?” even the level-headed, non-egocentric Mewes would succumb to slight bouts of depression. Movie-making is a rush that’s sometimes followed by a hard come-down. On a set, an actor’s catered too: dressed, fed, and waited on. When all that goes away, and you suddenly find yourself waiting on others (or at least dropping off their pizza and hoping for a two buck tip), even the least big-headed of actors can succumb to a “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?”-case of the blues.
So snorting heroin led to snorting coke. And snorting coke led to smoking coke and a one-time dalliance with a crack pipe as well. And I did nothing about it. It was Jason’s life, I figured. He was a big boy now, and he could handle himself.
“At least he’d never spike his veins,” I’d say. “Because of his Mom. Of that much, I’m sure.”
The next time we worked together was on “Chasing Amy”. Mewes, at this point, was living with his Mother in Keansburg. We’d still hang out when I was in town, and sometimes, he’d come out to L.A. But for the two year period I was involved with Joey, our one-on-one time was pretty limited. “Amy” didn’t change that, as the Jay and Silent Bob scene in the flick was shot over the course of one night at the Marina Diner in Belford. Mewes was on his game that evening, having memorized all of his dialogue, pulling it off without a hitch. As the night wore on, I’d get sluggish, but Mewes would never tire. Coke’ll do that to you.
“Amy” came out and put View Askew back on the map in a big way, with stellar reviews and awards to boot. The success of the film paved the way for “Dogma”, a flick I’d written prior to “Clerks” but stuck in drawer for when I had enough cash to pull it off. Thanks to the $12million theatrical gross of the $250,000 “Amy”, we were given $10million to make “Dogma” a film in which Jay and Silent Bob figured more prominently than they ever had in any previous flick.
By this point, my relationship with Joey had ended, and I was back in Jersey full time, moving out of my post-”Clerks” condo and into a lush apartment on Broad Street in Red Bank. I started seeing Jason more and more, and together, we took a trip back out to L.A. to empty my stuff out of the apartment I shared with Joey, but primarily, to convince “The X-Files” star Gillian Anderson to play the lead in “Dogma”. Harvey Weinstein, the chairman of Miramax, was co-sponsoring a charity fashion show to benefit AIDS, and he’d invited Scully to sit at his table. Our mission was to convince her that our angels-run-amuck picture was a worthy counterpart to the “Files”. So, in rented tuxes, Mewes and I spent the night wooing the little redhead, blissfully unaware that she’d later read the script and reportedly hate it.
Harvey gave us a lift back to the east coast on the Miramax jet. Over the course of the five hour and change flight, the three of us smoked (Harvey’s jet was dubbed “The Flying Ash Tray”) and chit-chatted, with Harvey getting to know Jason better than he’d had time to in the past. When Jason uncharacteristically told Harvey he was really happy with his involvement in the AIDS benefit, due largely to the fact that his Mother was HIV positive herself, the conversation got very serious, with Harvey insisting that he’d get Jason’s Mom to the best doctors in New York City a promise he’d later make good on multiple times over.
“We’re not gonna let your Mother die,” the chairman of Miramax told Mewes.
(Harvey and us, at said AIDS benefit)
It was around this time that I’d taken over a local comic book store on Monmouth Street that was going out of business and turned it into Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Mewes, a longtime comics enthusiast (Deadshot and Vigilante being his favorite characters), asked if he could work at the store full time. Charmed by this notion, I gave him the run of the joint.
Months in, when the shop would sometimes open two hours late, or I’d walk in to find a customer hanging out in front of the register, telling me “Jason said he’d be right back. He went to meet someone for a few minutes,” it dawned on me that entrusting Mewes with this much responsibility maybe wasn’t such a hot idea. More than that, it was a massive red flag that something was truly amiss.
When we recorded the “Chasing Amy” commentary track for the Criterion laser disc (which, later, became the DVD commentary track as well), Mewes was looking pretty bad. He was nodding out during the record so often, I said to Affleck “I think Mewes might be narcoleptic.” Affleck, a bit more learned on the subject of drugs and addicts, offered “Bro, that ain’t narcolepsy.” The cut scene intros on the “Amy” DVD offer a portrait of Mewes that ain’t pretty: thin, dirty, and barely conscious.
At this point, I sat Jason down and said “You’re doing more than snorting heroin from time to time, aren’t you?” After an hour of denial, Mewes finally copped to crossing the boundary he’d so long ago set for himself, upon seeing how HIV-ravaged his Mother had become: he was shooting up.
Almost immediately, I moved him out of his Mother’s house in Keansburg and into my Broad Street apartment, where I informed him he was gonna kick the brown, cold turkey. We looked into a methadone clinic in Asbury Park, but Mewes couldn’t start until the following Monday, two days away. After one day of withdrawls, Mewes became so violently ill, he begged for cash for a fix of heroin that would hold him over ’til the next day, when he’d begin the meth program in earnest. He promised he’d get and stay clean, but he needed this last hit to keep him from succumbing to the DT’s. Sweaty, convulsing, anxious and in tears, the boy pleading his case before me was a far cry from the offbeat soul I’d known for nearly a decade; he’d become a full-fledged junkie. Against all better judgment, I agreed to front him the money for the express purpose of scoring heroin, under the condition that he snort it, not shoot it.
One phone call and twenty minutes later, and I laid eyes, for the first time, on what would become the bane of my existence: heroin. As Mewes readied it for snorting on my living room table, he chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just weird. I mean, I know this ain’t right, and I’m glad you did this for me this one time, but”
“But what?”
“But it’s like you just shook hands with the devil. For me. I think that’s kinda cool. Not cool-cool, ’cause I know it ain’t right. But, y’know: nice.”
It was the only time I’d ever knowingly give Mewes money to buy any kind of drug. Even nine years later, he still refers to it as “That Day You Shook Hands With the Devil, Moves.”
For the next five months, Jason and I became inseparable again but this time around, I wasn’t as much his friend as his babysitter. Granted, we’d have good times and enjoy one another’s company; but not letting Mewes out of my sight became an every-waking-moment priority. The hours were organized around keeping Jay preoccupied and busy. Idle hands being the devil’s workshop, constant activity was the order of the day and our days went something like this:
1) Get woken up by Mewes around six a.m., as he was fiending for his methadone fix.
2) Drive over to Asbury Park to hit the meth clinic, where Mewes would throw back a shot of methadone that, over the following months, would shrink in dosage, until he was off it completely.
3) Hit Dunkin Donuts for Mewes’ favorite sugar fix, the “Manager’s Special” (a glazed donut covered in icing and sprinkles”).
4) Head to Toys ‘R Us and wait for the store to open, at which point we’d rush the “Star Wars” section to see if any 12 inch Greedo dolls were on the shelf (they were all the rage at that point; packed one-per-case, they were easy to re-sell at the Stash for a premium).
5) Head back to the apartment and shower.
6) Play video games.
7) Watch laser discs.
8) Head back out into the world to other toy stores to look for more 12 inch Greedo dolls.
9) Head to dinner, hit home and watch movies ’til it was time to go to sleep.
And so it went, for nearly half a year. Sometimes, we’d read the “Dogma” script, readying Mewes for his biggest role yet. Sometimes, we’d hang with Bry, Walt or Ed. When the local Toys ‘R Us started drying up for not just 12 inch Greedo dolls, but also 12 inch Hoth Luke on Tauntaun sets, Mewes who’d replaced the addiction to heroin with the addiction to finding 12 inch “Star Wars” dolls for the Stash to re-sell would suggest alternatives.
“Moves, we can try Toys ‘R Us’s outside of Monmouth County.”
“Like where?” I’d ask.
“I dunno. Ohio?”
(Mewes in recovery: the living room of the Broad Street apartment where he kicked)
We’d take long day trips, scouring the land for 12 inch Greedo dolls, bullshitting, laughing, talking about his attitude toward drugs that day. And slowly, as his meth dose lessened, the heroin-induced haze lifted, and the real Mewes began to emerge again.
The methadone clinic trips revealed quite a growing heroin problem in Monmouth County, as there was always a long line in front of the place when we pulled up every morning. Mewes would jump in line, and I’d sit in the car listening to Howard Stern. Invariably, someone in the line would look at Mewes, then look at me, then look back at Mewes wide-eyed, apparently thinking “Jesus Jay and Silent Bob have a real problem, man.” Stoners are cute; junkies are sad.
And I knew a thing or two about excess myself. By late ’97, my weight had ballooned to 270 pounds. During this time, I, too, took to self-improvement, jumping onto an all-liquid diet program called OptiFast, run out of the local hospital. Inspired by Mewes’ commitment to wrestling the monkey off his back, I battle my demons as well, dropping down to 230 pounds. We were healthier, happier and one of us was hungrier for pussy.
Mewes accompanied me to a Duquesne college gig in Pittsburgh, where, post-Q&A, we hit a comic book store called Eide’s. While I was looking for rarities and toys to bring back to the Stash, Mewes was chatting up a girl behind the counter named Stephanie. We were in the store a total of thirty minutes before Mewes pulled me aside.
“I like this girl, Moves.”
“Uh-huh,” I half-listened, as I flipped through a long-box full of comics.
“She wants to hang out with me. But I know I can’t stay here by myself because of the drugs and shit. So I was thinking about asking her to come home with us.”
This caught my attention. “What? You wanna ask that girl to come back to Jersey with us? Us two total strangers? Dude, she’ll never say yes.”
“She already did.”
“You already ASKED her?! You said you were THINKING about asking her!”
“I WAS thinking about asking her. So I ASKED her. She invited me to her place, but I told her I can’t stay here because I’m on a program. So she said she’d come home with us. So can she come home with us?”
He had me. He knew I wouldn’t leave him alone in Pittsburgh, and he knew I needed a break from spending every waking hour with him as well. Stephanie, he and I both knew, would afford me that break.
So Stephanie punched out of work and took the six hour trek back to Red Bank with us, staying at the apartment for a little over a week. During that time, I was able to go to the office, get some “Dogma” pre-pro and script revisions done, and concentrate on things that didn’t have to do with keeping Mewes clean all for the low, low price of letting a total stranger sleep in my apartment.
When, a month or so later, we settled on Pittsburgh as the location of the “Dogma” shoot, Mewes was ebullient. He’d taken a shine to Stephanie, so he suddenly couldn’t wait to get started making the flick, mostly so he could hang out with the girl in her home town.
But the work had to come first. For months, I’d impressed upon him the importance of learning all of his lines in advance, as this time around, we were gonna have real actors in the flick.
“What, like Ben?” Mewes asked.
“I said REAL actors,” I corrected. “Like Alan Rickman.”
“Who’s that?”
“The guy from ‘Die Hard’.”
“Bruce Willis?”
“No, man the other guy.”
“The ‘Yippie-kay-ay Motherfucker’ guy?”
“That’s Alan Rickman.”
“What’s so special about him??
“He’s British. And Brits invented acting. So he won’t put up with any of your ‘Snootchie Bootchies’ bullshit. He’ll tear you up if you’re not excellent, because he’s Alan fucking Rickman. So you’ve gotta know all your lines. We can’t be asking people to leave the set because you’re nervous, like we did on ‘Clerks’. This shit’s serious – because Rickman will go ballistic if he smells blood in the water. You’ve gotta come correct.”
So naturally, I was pretty nervous when Jason and I sat down for our first, Pittsburgh-based, one-on-one “Dogma” rehearsal, and the boy was script-less.
“Where’s your fucking script, asshole?” I sighed.
“I don’t need it.”
“You don’t need your script for rehearsals. Right. Take mine and let’s get going.”
“I’m telling you, I don’t need it. Go ahead. Try me.”
So I turned to the first Jay and Silent Bob scene and fed him Bethany’s lines, and without looking at my script, Mewes delivered Jay’s lines in a letter-perfect fashion.
“Alright, so you’ve got the first scene down,” I allowed. “Let’s mix it up and try a scene from later in the flick.”
So I fed him his lead-in lines from the church exterior scene, and Mewes spits out the Jay responses without hesitation.
“You memorized all your lines already?!” I demanded, shocked.
“Uh-huh.”
“All of ‘em?!”
“Yeah. Everyone else’s, too.”
“Yeah, right”
“Try me.”
I read him Loki’s lines from a Jay-less scene, and amazingly, he responded with Bartleby’s lines. I was dumbfounded, to say the least.
“You memorized ALL the lines in the script?!?!”
“Even the girl parts.”
“What’re you, fucking ‘Rain Man’?! Why’d you memorize the whole goddamn script?!”
“I don’t wanna piss off that Rickman dude.”
When Mewes wasn’t rehearsing, he was spending every waking moment with Stephanie, either at her apartment or in our shared hotel suite: two rooms adjoining a common living room, so I could keep my eye on the recovering boy. Uber-producer Scott Mosier and I told Jason early on that, for insurance purposes, he’d be subject to random piss tests to scan his urine for traces of dope, as a way to keep him on his toes. Mewes obliged, so we felt we had the situation under control but we wanted a little extra insurance.
“We’ve got money in the budget to give you an assistant,” Scott informed me, three weeks before principal photography commenced.
“I don’t need an assistant.”
“That’s what I figured. So I was thinking maybe we can hire Stephanie to be Mewes’ assistant.”
“What is she gonna assist him in, getting his cock in her mouth? That guy REALLY doesn’t need an assistant.”
“I know, but she might be useful in keeping an eye on him, y’know? Like, she could let us know if he’s sniffing around for heroin or anything. Kinda like our spy on the payroll.”
This was deemed a good idea, and we brought Stephanie into the office to explain the situation to her: Mewes was a recovering heroin addict, only seven months clean at this point, and we wanted to make sure he stayed clean. So we were opting to pay her three hundred bucks a week to be Jason’s assistant as far as he was concerned, but really, she’d be reporting back to production, alerting us to any suspicious activity, letting us know if he was backsliding into the brown.
Stephanie agreed, partly because it meant she could quit her job at Eide’s and be with Jason all the time, and partly, she said, because she cared about the boy and could see we cared about him too. The deal was struck, and Mosier and I felt like baby geniuses.
Little did I know that’d be the second time I’d shake hands with the devil as Stephanie became Jay’s Pittsburgh connection for heroin.
To Be Continued
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The new Chinese commerce minister would soon sign a set of guidelines that would further boost bilateral ties between China and the Philippines and even “stand the test of laws,” the Chinese envoy to Manila said yesterday.
Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua told businessmen and policymakers in an investment forum in Makati that the cooperation between the two countries must be corruption-free and mutually beneficial.
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“It is a very important part for the coming visit of the new commerce minister of China. He will sign together with his counterparts guidelines which would guarantee that proper and legal procedures to be followed,” he said in his speech.
Test of laws
He did not expound on the details of the guidelines but noted that the “cooperation between both sides would be rule-based, transparent and will stand the test of time, stand the test of laws.”
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said that this explained the last-minute postponement of Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng’s Manila visit, which was initially suspected to be due to rising tensions between the Asian powerhouse and the Philippines following recent comments by Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay.
Internal meetings
“That’s why the visit was postponed. They had those internal meetings that would decide on the new reassignments,” he said in a text message to reporters also yesterday.
According to Francis T. Chua, chair emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the new Chinese minister was named Zhong Shan.
Tourist arrivals
In his speech, the Chinese envoy said that tourist arrivals of Chinese nationals would hopefully reach close to a million this year from only 500,000 in the previous year—one of the lowest among Asian countries when compared to nearly 10 million Chinese tourists in Thailand and close to 6 million Chinese visitors in Japan.
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He also said that investments would soon be “balanced” as he noted that there were more Filipino investments in China instead of the other way around.
This comes as President Duterte signed agreements late last year that generated pledges for multibillion-dollar projects in the Philippines—signaling a change in foreign policy that previously favored the United States over the regional powerhouse.
Shan is expected to make his visit to the Philippines next month. —ROY STEPHEN C. CANIVEL
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Now in an era where the entire entertainment landscape is Choose Your Own Adventure, it’s tougher to argue for comic books—especially legacy ones that rely on years of history. But being the oldster that I am, I am going to make an argument for the ultimate oldster book:
In 1984, when Marvel premiered its mega-super-hero crossover, Secret Wars, I was lost. I didn’t know many of the heroes, and only knew half the villains. I read it because I had to. I was a child and my parents owned one TV and that TV had six channels. We had no VCR. (What you have heard is true—I am quite old.) Worrying about “continuity” and whether I would “understand” were rich people’s problems. Reading anything, for me meant getting lost. And so very often, I found myself taking on reading—including comics—that at didn’t understand. It was either be lost or be bored. And boredom was the enemy, and the enemy was always advancing.
Marvel’s ongoing Secret Wars series written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Esad Ribic. The basic premise finds Dr. Doom defeating a God-like enemy—the Beyonders--which has destroyed much of human existence. Doom then robs this enemy of its power, and restructures what remains of the multiverse into a world. Doom is the undisputed cosmic power in this world.
Everything I usually hate is here—specifically parallel worlds, and multiple versions of the same character. (There is an entire legion of “Thors.”) But Secret Wars is proof-positive that story does not make the writer, writer makes the story. Hickman’s Doom is a nod to the Doom of the original Secret Wars—a sensitive thug of galactic proportions.
“I can’t help but notice you’ve decided to put yourself on a throne,” Doom’s main antagonist, Reed Richards says.
“A throne?” Doom responds. “A throne was my birthright. I’ve placed myself a good bit higher than that.”
Indeed, he has. And so has Jonathan Hickman, who has been working to this end point, through various Marvel books, for years now. Read this series. Don’t fret about you don’t know. Get lost. Again. |
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]
Seoul, Korea – January 19 th, 2017 – WEBZEN, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play games, has announced the dates of the 2 nd closed beta phase for its upcoming action MMORPG MU Legend. The second closed beta will take place for a week, from February 21 st to February 28 th, 2017. This new closed beta will focus on localization implementation. It will be fully localized in 5 new languages in order to thoroughly cater to global fans of the MU franchise. Unlike the initial closed beta, people from all around the world will now be able to unravel the mysteries of the continent of MU in the following languages: French, German, Brazilian-Portuguese, Spanish and Polish MU Legend's first CBT received more than 200,000 pre-registrations, and WEBZEN warmly welcomes players that have not yet signed up to pre-register for the next one at http://mulegend.webzen.com. Richard Moon, Head of Global Business at WEBZEN, commented: "The first closed beta was a massive success, with great community engagement and the collection of precious game-related data." He continued: "It's now time to go one step further in the publishing of the global version of MU Legend and to please our fans worldwide with a multi-language CBT. This will allow both existing and new players to enjoy the MU Legend experience to its fullest! We highly encourage everybody who did not participate in first global test due to language limitation to sign up now! Last but not least, we are excited to exclusively announce additional media partner key-giveaways in early February in order to make our precious global fans happy!" WEBZEN also announced there would be no data-wipe of the first CBT in order to allow players from every level bracket to participate during the week. After this week of testing, the developers will work hand-in-hand with the localization department to make sure the highest level of quality is achieved and will continue to work on the content revealed during G-Star 2016 for the open beta release. Players are also invited to discuss the game and join the official Facebook community at: http://facebook.com/MuLegendGlobal. To learn more about MU Legend, the different classes and features of the game, or to pre-register for the second global beta test, visit the official website: http://mulegend.webzen.com. About MU Legend MU Legend is the highly anticipated action MMO and follow-up to MU Online. It features fluid and stunning hack 'n' slash combat, content that caters to both solo and party play, and a deep and intriguing world that will satisfy new players and fans alike. Players can choose from four distinct classes - Dark Lord, Whisperer, Blader, and War Mage - and engage in the endless battle between the world of MU and Pandemonium. MU Legend offers spectacular visuals that will run on lower-end systems and boasts detailed art design with stunning effects. About WEBZEN Webzen Inc. (KOSDAQ) is a global developer and publisher of MMORPGs MU ORIGIN, MU ONLINE, CONTINENT OF THE NINTH SEAL (C9), the METIN series and an array of exciting game titles slated for release in the global game market. WEBZEN has expanded its service to Europe, North and South America and other countries by operating its global game portal webzen.com with 60 million players from all over the world. WEBZEN is currently working on the releases of PC MMORPG MU Legend and mobile golf game SHOT ONLINE M, amongst other game titles. Further information on WEBZEN and its games can be found at www.webzen.com . |
Nine Palestinian militants have been killed in Israeli air raids on Gaza following rocket attacks on Israel.
Hamas said six members of its military wing died in a strike near Rafah, in the south. Three others died in separate air strikes in response to rocket and mortar fire on Israel.
Later, a rocket struck near the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Tensions in the region are high following the murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair last week.
On Sunday, police said they had arrested six Jewish suspects in connection with the killing. Police told the BBC the 16-year-old was apparently "murdered because of his nationality". Details have not been divulged because the case is subject to a gagging order.
Mohammed Abu Khdair's killing followed the murder of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, whose bodies were found a week ago.
Israel says two members of Hamas abducted and killed the youths, but it has denied any involvement.
Call for revenge
Emergency services in Gaza confirmed only two deaths from the air strike in Rafah but four others are believed to be buried under the collapsed site. A seventh victim was reported killed in another attack.
Earlier, two other Palestinian militants were killed in a separate air attack near a refugee camp in central Gaza.
The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to at least 25 rocket and mortar attacks on Israel on Sunday. It said the air raids targeted "terror" sites and concealed rocket launchers.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption These women in Gaza were mourning the deaths of two Palestinians killed in Sunday's air strike
Image copyright AP Image caption Sderot in Israel is on the front line of rocket fire from Gaza
But Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, vowed that Israel would pay "a tremendous price".
On Monday morning, the Israeli military said a rocket had struck the Beersheba area, 50km (31 miles) from Gaza.
An Israeli military patrol had also been attacked near the security fence along the border with Gaza, apparently with an anti-tank missile and fire-arms, it added.
The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says Israel has arrested hundreds of members of Hamas during its search for the kidnappers of the three Israeli teenagers.
That may help to explain the sudden intensification of rocket fire from Gaza, he says.
'Brutal behaviour'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to bring to justice the killers of Mohammed Abu Khdair.
Mr Netanyahu's office said on Monday that he had spoken with the teenager's father, Hussein, offering his condolences and expressing his outrage at "the reprehensible murder".
"We acted immediately to apprehend the murderers. We will bring them to trial and they will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law," it quoted him as telling Mr Abu Khdair.
"We denounce all brutal behaviour. The murder of your son is abhorrent and cannot be countenanced by any human being," Mr Netanyahu said.
Mohammed Abu Khdair was abducted on Wednesday morning and found dead hours later. He had reportedly been burnt to death.
His funeral in East Jerusalem on Friday triggered repeated clashes between police and Palestinian youths there and in Arab-Israeli towns in the north of Israel.
Earlier in the week, the three Israeli teenagers Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer - both 16 years old - and Eyal Yifrach, 19 were buried, their funerals attended by thousands of people, including Mr Netanyahu. They were abducted while hitch-hiking in the West Bank and their bodies were found last Monday.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Violent protests have broken out in northern Israel sparked by the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdair
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Israel has deployed more forces along the Gaza border as rocket strikes continue
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said her department was investigating some of the anti-Arab incitement seen on social media last week.
"These things need to be cut when they are small," she told Channel 2 TV. "At this moment, everybody's job should be to lower the flames."
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Tariq Khdair (right), cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdair (left), was allegedly beaten by Israeli police
Israeli officials said the six suspects remained in custody and were being interrogated.
They were described as young males, including some minors, all of whom live in the Jerusalem area.
About 50 people have been arrested in protests following Mohammed Abu Khdair's death, officials say.
Among them was the victim's 15-year-old cousin - a US citizen - whose family says he was beaten by Israeli security forces.
The boy, Tariq Khdair, who attends a school in Florida, was bailed after appearing in court on Sunday, accused of attacking police officers during the unrest. His parents deny that he was involved in the riots. |
After losing a leg in the 2013 attack, Roseann Sdoia is not allowing her disability to stop her from achieving her goal of running a 5K. (Published Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014)
Boston Marathon bombing survivor Roseann Sdoia is set to marry the firefighter who rescued her.
According to the New York Post, Sdoia and Mike Materia got engaged during a trip to Nantucket in December, according to the Associated Press, and are planning a fall wedding.
Sdoia was watching the marathon in April 2013 when a bomb went off just feet away from her, the explosion caused her to lose a part of her right leg. Materia, a Boston firefighter, came to her aid, stayed with her on the ride to the hospital, and visited Sdoia during her recovery. They became friends and began dating two months after the bombing.
"He's seen me on my worst day," Sdoia told the New York Post.
The couple is scheduled to be in New York on Wednesday night to participate in the 40th annual Empire State Building Run-Up to raise money for charity.
They plan to marry this fall and are releasing a book next month titled "Perfect Strangers," about four people affected by the bombing.
Top News Photos: R. Kelly Leaves Jail After Paying Bond
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Chicago |
Former CIA officer speaks out against new clandestine service chief
This week we learned that an undercover CIA officer who signed off on a controversial decision to destroy videotapes of prisoners being tortured in 2005 has ascended to the top job within the agency’s clandestine service. Now, a former senior CIA officer is speaking out against the newly promoted director for the first time.
"Appointing someone who directly supported the enhanced interrogation program — as opposed to having been part of the system that engaged in it — would be a mistake," Glenn Carle, the agency’s former deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats, told Foreign Policy. "We should repudiate these sorts of practices, whatever the pressures and judgments of the moment were."
The name of the newly promoted director remains a secret, but the contours of her career were made public by the Washington Post’s Greg Miller and Julie Tate in Wednesday’s paper. The report explained that in 2005 the new director signed off on the destruction of dozens of interrogation tapes of al Qaeda members including Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri — an incident that is still seen by some today as a concerted cover-up. In Thursday’s New York Times, the paper reported that the new director and her boss, former clandestine service chief Jose Rodriguez, "were the two main drivers for years for getting the tapes destroyed." The new director also helped run the CIA’s interrogation and detention program, and oversaw one of the agency’s secret prisons. In justifying her ascent to the top of the clandestine service, a former CIA official told the Post that having a female lead the male-dominated department "would be a home run from a diversity standpoint."
Carle rejected that rationale. "Being a ‘home run from a diversity standpoint’ is not a qualification for the job," he told FP.
Carle, who served 23 years in the clandestine service, dealt firsthand with the enhanced interrogation program in the aftermath of 9/11 and discussed it at length in his 2011 book The Interrogator. He is the first former CIA officer to speak out publicly about the promotion. "My understanding is that the United States prosecuted Japanese soldiers after World War II for having waterboarded Allied soldiers," he said. "Perhaps we should avoid raising to the highest position in the Clandestine Services someone so directly implicated in the same practice … this time engaged in by Americans."
Since the director in question remains undercover and cannot defend herself, we reached out to the CIA to speak on her behalf. Spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood told FP that the acting director "is one of the most senior and respected officers in the Agency and is, of course, a strong candidate for the job."
Currently, the woman in question is under consideration to retain the position of acting director permanently. The clandestine service is the most glamorized and, arguably, important part of the CIA. The acting director is in charge of deploying spies abroad and executing covert operations, which include the CIA’s drone program.
The decision to promote her is politically contentious for the CIA’s new director John Brennan, who faced uncomfortable questions about his own role in the enhanced interrogation program during his Senate confirmation. At the February hearing, Brennan denied playing a central role in the program. "I did not take steps to stop the CIA’s use of those techniques. I was not in the chain of command of that program," he said. Preempting a potential controversy, Brennan appointed a group of three former CIA officials (John McLaughlin, Stephen Kappes, and Mary Margaret Graham) to evaluate the list of top candidates to permanently lead the clandestine service.
When the Post noted that appointing a committee to vet potential candidates to lead the clandestine service was unorthodox and suggested that Brennan was seeking political cover, CIA officials rejected that characterization. "Given the importance of the position of the director of the National Clandestine Service, Director Brennan has asked a few highly respected former senior agency officers to review the candidates he’s considering for the job," said CIA spokesman Preston Golson. "Asking former senior agency officers to review the candidates will undoubtedly aid the selection process by making sure the director has the benefit of the additional perspectives from these highly experienced and respected intelligence officers." |
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En el piso 11 de la Torre de Tribunales de Guatemala, al comparecer frente a un trío de jueces que resolverá si es extraditado a México, Javier Duarte de Ochoa se identificó orgulloso como “doctor en Economía y ex funcionario público”.
En el sótano de la torre, al pasar frente a una tropa encarcelada de asesinos, mareros, pandilleros juveniles, narcotraficantes, ladrones, asaltantes, estafadores y de otros elementos de la población criminal guatemalteca, a Duarte se le calificó como “basura”.
En aquel piso en las alturas escuchó un detallado recuento de los presuntos cargos de delincuencia organizada y de operaciones con recursos de procedencia ilícita que habría cometido en su gestión como gobernador de Veracruz, de 2010 a 2016.
En la llanura oyó repetidamente a una enardecida jauría que, sin poder enfrentarle cara a cara, sólo pudo acercarse a las alambradas y barrotes para recibirle y despedirle de la torre con una andanada de ataques verbales con un coro de gritos. Allí, en los dos viajes por el sótano, al entrar y al salir de la torre, aquellos peligrosos personajes de la violencia criminal de Guatemala le catalogaron como “basura”.
Duarte cumplió una primera semana de haber finalizado una fuga que inició el 14 de octubre de 2016 y, según su relato ante el trío de jueces, con seis meses escondido en Guatemala. Pero el 19 de abril de 2017, al cumplir exactamente 43 años y siete meses de edad, el “doctor en Economía y ex funcionario” vivió una tarde para el olvido.
Tras su arresto el sábado 15 de abril, solamente hubo una aparición pública del ex gobernador de Veracruz y ocurrió el miércoles 19.
Caída. La secuencia cúspide de lo que hasta ahora ha sido la estadía de Duarte en Guatemala se registro desde que, a las 12:20, descendió de una patrulla con celda en una calle de acceso a la torre, hasta casi las 16:00, cuando cayó de espaldas—engrilletado de pies y manos a la espalda— en una lámina del piso de esa jaula móvil, al retornar al vehículo policial para regresar a Matamoros.
Antes y después de la audiencia, siempre guardó silencio. En público únicamente habló en el interrogatorio del juez César García, presidente del Tribunal Quinto de Sentencia Penal, Narcoactividad y Delitos contra el Ambiente, a cargo del caso, como cuando respondió primero sobre su identificación, las de sus parientes, domicilio y acerca de sus cargos y estudios.
Fue cuando el ex gobernador de Veracruz, de pie por orden de García, esposado y desatado momentáneamente de los pies por disposición del juez, con un chaleco antibalas, se mostró seguro y sereno tras un atribulado recorrido —rostro serio, molesto— de la calle de acceso al piso 11, con escala en el sótano y en un elevador saturado, y dijo: “Doctor en Economía y ex funcionario público”.
En un receso de la audiencia, Duarte salió de la sala con sus abogados defensores guatemaltecos —a su abogado mexicano, Pablo Monsanto de la Mora, sólo se le autorizó ser observador, sin voz ni voto— para deliberar a puertas cerradas en una oficina del mismo recinto del tribunal. En el trayecto pasó otra vez sonriente, como cuando entró a Matamoros.
De regreso, y otra vez serio, se instaló ante García y anunció la esperada noticia sobre su extradición. Allí se topó con las opciones de allanarse e insertarse en un proceso que, según el tribunal, estaría en México en un plazo “exagerado” de 10 días, u oponerse y pelear para evitar ser extraditado, por lo que siguió en un camino intermedio a esas alternativas.
Su declaración exacta fue: “En este momento no puedo allanarme, sino hasta que llegue la solicitud formal de extradición y sea evaluada por mi defensoría. Esto no quiere decir que no lo vaya a hacer, sino que me reservo ese derecho hasta que llegue la solicitud formal de extradición y una vez siendo evaluada la defensoría que está a cargo de este caso, pueda determinar el que me pueda allanar. Por lo cual, en este momento me reservo este derecho hasta que llegue la solicitud por parte del gobierno mexicano de la solicitud de extradición”.
Aparte de ordenar mantenerle en Matamoros y ejecutar otras acciones rutinarias de procedimiento, el tribunal informó sobre los acuerdos a la Secretaría de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Guatemala, que el viernes 21, a las 14:40, comunicó de lo ocurrido a la cancillería guatemalteca.
La ruta del proceso es de embajada a Cancillería, a Secretaría y a Tribunal, que deberá ponerle fecha a los siguientes pasos. |
Left to right: Ilya Drozdov, Sangjun Jeon, B. Andrei Bernevig, and Ali Yazdani with two-story-tall microscope. Denise Applewhite and Princeton University It's not everyday that scientists observe a brand new particle, but today is one of those rare breakthroughs in history.
A team of physicists at Princeton University and the University of Texas at Austin announced on October 2 that they have observed a new particle that has eluded detection for nearly 80 years! It only took scientists 48 years to detect the Higgs boson. No one really knew how they would go about searching for this particle until 2001, which is why it's taken the better half of a century to detect it.
Meet the Majorana fermion. This new particle was first predicted by Italian physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937, and is unique because it is the only particle in existence that can adopt both matter and antimatter characteristics simultaneously without annihilating itself in the process.
In fact, the Majorana fermion is surprisingly stable but also extremely elusive.
Normally when particles of matter come into contact with their antimatter counterparts, the result is an intense explosion of energy. Some think that these antimatter annihilations would be a good way to power rockets and spacecraft. So, a particle that can take on matter and antimatter properties simultaneously would, one might think, be incredibly unstable. But that's not the case with Majoranas.
Artist's conception of an antimatter rocket. TheDJ The conflicting qualities in Majorana fermions work in such a way that the particle rarely interacts with its environment. While this makes it difficult to detect it also means that this new particle could be the next major advance in the pursuit of quantum computing.
Quantum computers will transmit data through quantum bits, called qbits. Conventional computers use bits in the form of ones and zeros to send information back and forth. But qbits will take on a quantum state that allows them to be both a one and zero simultaneously. The problem is that it's difficult for scientists to find a particle that can act as a qbit without readily interacting with nearby material, which would destroy the quantum system. But the Majorana fermion could be the solution.
In order to finally observe these elusive particles, the team had to use a very large microscope — a two-story tall microscope to be exact — that is located at Princeton's Jadwin Hall.
"If you want to find this particle within a material you have to use such a microscope, which allows you to see where it actually is," Ali Yazdani, the team leader and a professor of physics at Princeton, said in a press release.
Yazdani and his team were interested in observing Majorana fermions within a material instead of in a particle accelerator, like how a Higgs was found, for an important reason.
"This is more exciting and can actually be practically beneficial," Yazdani said in the press release, "because it allows scientists to manipulate exotic particles for potential applications, such as quantum computing."
The image pinpoints the particle to the end of the wire. Yazdani Lab, Princeton University The material that the team used was an ultra pure crystal of lead. The crystal contained ridges that the scientists filled with iron atoms forming an iron wire within the lead. Under freezing conditions, -457 degrees Fahrenheit, the Majorana fermions begin to form at both ends of the wires, and Yazdani and the team were able to snap a picture of this in action, which is shown above.
Yazdani and the team new exactly where to look for Majorana fermions because many years of theoretical calculations had indicated that if these particles existed, then they would show up at opposite ends of a material. The paper describing their results was published October 2 in the journal Science. |
*Disclaimer: This is a post discussing a current rumor and will be filled with speculation and semi-hot takes. Take from it what you will*
The Rumor: Jay Gruden Has Talked to Michigan About HC Job Opening
Now another power play is in place, and it appears Griffin might actually win once again. As noted in the above Washington Post article and other outlets, Gruden could very well be a one-and-done coach in the nation's capital. If he is going to play the "it's him or me" card, he's losing that war with his four of clubs against Griffin's king of diamonds. One source I trust tipped me off to a potential landing spot for Gruden: The University of Michigan. This source, who is intimately familiar with the Wolverines' rapidly emerging coaching search, informed me on Thursday that initial contact has been made between the parties and that Gruden's representation was enthusiastically open to the potential. I can't put a figure on the likelihood of Gruden fleeing to Ann Arbor, and another UM source I trust refused to confirm anything I asked, but it's an interesting leverage point nonetheless.
On Gruden and UM: I can't tell you if it's going to happen, I can only verify the two sides have talked. UM has talked to others too. — Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) December 8, 2014
Why it Makes Sense:
Jay Gruden is 3-10 as a rookie head coach, and reportedly has major issues with Robert Griffin III. Gruden says that he is on the same page with Team President/General Manager Bruce Allen and Team Owner Daniel Snyder when it comes to the team's starting quarterback. If Gruden has truly seen all he needs to see from Robert Griffin III and has determined the team will be better off without him, the team has a major decision to make.
Bruce Allen was a key figure in acquiring both Robert Griffin III, and Jay Gruden. If it has become a true one or the other situation, there are three(probably more that I won't go into) ways for this to end for the Redskins.
The Redskins trade RGIII and Gruden continues to work with Bruce Allen
The Redskins "one and done" Gruden and RGIII continues to be developed by a 3rd Head Coach
Dan Snyder uses the nuclear option and fires Gruden and Allen
Damn that's 2 out of 3 options that say Gruden will be fired, by my scientific reasoning, this means that Gruden will be available for Michigan.
Michigan is also reportedly interested in getting Jim Harbaugh to be their next Head Coach . Several other names are being thrown out there.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh is the betting favorite to become Michigan's next head coach with 2/1 odds, according to Bovada via SI.
LSU head coach Les Miles is second at 5/2 odds, while Tennessee head coach Butch Jones and Oklahoma State head Mike Gundy both have 7/2 odds.
Former Buccaneers and Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano rounds out the group with 9/2 odds. No odds listed yet for Jay Gruden...
Why it Doesn't Make Sense:
Jay Gruden signed a 5 year contract with the Washington Redskins in January, reportedly worth more than $20 million guaranteed. That will leave 4 years and over $16 million left at the end of this season. Everyone claims that Dan Snyder spends his money liberally when it comes to the team, but that is generally when it comes to salary cap money. When it comes to other things like the field, the scouting department, and until Mike Shanahan came along, practice and workout facilities, the money does not flow as liberally.
Yes, Snyder did fire Mike Shanahan with 1 year left on his contract, letting him suntan at his leisure with $7 million in his pocket. But that was after 4 years with the Redskins, three 10+ loss season, and an obvious fracture between Shanahan and Griffin. Is Snyder willing to "Shoot and Hammer" Gruden out of Ashburn with that much money in his pocket. Does he need to re-establish his reputation as an impulsive owner who chooses players over coaches and quick fixes over long-term rebuilds? Will there be a coach willing to take control of the team next year if Griffin is fired? Obviously they will find someone, but how much does firing Gruden after one year limit the coaches available to Snyder?
Odds Jay Gruden is Coaching Michigan in 2015: 1/10
Three weeks ago when I was asked by a friend of mine in England if there was a chance that Jay Gruden gets fired at the end of the year, I said it wasn't going to happen. He was stunned by this based on his loose knowledge of Snyder's history, and also the ever growing number of losses for the Redskins. Three weeks later and I am not so resolute in my stance that Gruden will survive his rookie year. I still don't think Snyder will pull the trigger on Gruden after a year, but if he does, and brings in someone else just to work with Robert Griffin III, it's a bad sign for the future of the team. Now whether or not Michigan is serious about their interest, or if this rumor is even legit, I have no idea. I do know the Redskins though, and that means I don't actually know what Dan Snyder will do. For now I'm leaning towards Jay Gruden getting another year in Washington. Here is a look at what oddsmakers think of current coaches on the hot seat as of 12/3.
1. Tony Sparano - OAK 1/5
2. Rex Ryan - NYJ 2/9
3. Jim Harbaugh - SF 11/10
4. Ron Rivera - CAR 5/4
5. Mike Smith - ATL 5/4
6. Gus Bradley - JAC 5/3
7. Marc Trestman - CHI 7/4
8. Tom Coughlin - NYG 5/2
9. Lovie Smith - TB 7/2
10. Jay Gruden - WAS 7/2 |
INDIANAPOLIS — The Broncos combusted.
Then they were busted.
The roof at Lucas Oil Stadium didn’t fall on the Broncos. They fell on their own volition, and they didn’t raise high the roofbeams.
In an open-and-shut case, the retractable ceiling was not closed for the Sunday afternoon-evening game, despite temperatures that dipped into the mid-40s by the second half. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who makes the final decision on the roof, obviously was playing gamesmanship with his former quarterback. Irsay apparently believed the chill could affect Peyton Manning negatively.
The Broncos were cold enough on offense and defense without provocation.
They fell behind 17-0. And, even though the Broncos tied the Colts at 17 and 24, they would fail to tie again, or win — first on a Manning interception with 6:06 remaining and, finally, in an effort(less) attempt to get another chance.
Shoddy defense interspersed four penalties — two on Aqib Talib — allowing Indy to keep possession for the final six minutes and 16 plays.
And Andrew Luck, the successor, beat the predecessor for the third time in four matches with a clock-consuming kneel at the Broncos’ 1-yard line.
Manning — in, likely, his last game ever “Back Home In Indiana” — shrugged afterward.
“We obviously didn’t play well enough,” he said and walked from the locker room with head bowed. He stopped en route to the bus for a meet-and- greet with a U.S. Marine corps color guard. But his wish to set the NFL passing record fell short by 3 yards, and the NFL victory total remains shy by one. Those marks will have to wait until Sunday at home against Kansas City. But the undefeated streak falls, and the Broncos fall behind New England and Cincinnati in the game of AFC thrones.
When I asked Broncos coach Gary Kubiak if the Broncos lost their cool as they lost the game, he suggested the Broncos made a gallant gallop to come back but mistakes caused them to come undone. And as he does, Kubiak put the blame on himself. “Did we lose our cool?’ I thought we kept our composure in the second half . Did we do some not very smart things at the end? I agree with that. We just weren’t able to close the deal after battling our way back.”
Three Pro Bowlers in the Broncos’ secondary accepted the responsibility.
“We played awful,” cornerback Chris Harris said.
“We put ourselves in a hole, and we couldn’t dig out,” safety T.J. Ward said.
“We didn’t play well defensively, and we gave them too much. It was our fault,” cornerback Talib said.
Harris left the game at one point because of NFL concussion protocol, but returned. He wanted to cover Colts’ receiver T.Y. Hilton, but Hilton, questionable with a leg injury, caught like Ritz, and Luck threw like Carlton.
Ward, who had to sit briefly with a leg issue, drew a critical defensive holding flag on the Colts’ final possession.
And Talib was found guilty of unnecessary roughness during a dead ball when the Colts were in position to get a field goal with 2:35 to go. The personal foul, poking tight end Dwayne Allen in the face, gave Indianapolis a first down.
Talib was removed by the coaching staff to the sideline, then went back on the field after a timeout and drew another unsportsmanlike penalty and was ejected.
In the meantime, linebacker Danny Trevathan, who was credited with 19 tackles (seven solo), was called for defensive holding on a fourth-down field goal attempt, and the Colts got a first down and the victory.
Kubiak would not single out anyone on either side of the ball for the loss — Manning for the interception, the defense for not stopping the Colts or committing foolish penalties.
However, as impressive as the team triumph over Green Bay was a week ago, this defeat was just as unimpressive.
If the Colts hadn’t pulled off a stupid human trick and punted to Omar Bolden on the last play of the first half, they could have won in a walk. Instead, after Bolden’s touchdown sprint, the score was 17-7.
The Colts aren’t good. And the Packers don’t feel so fine, either, after a loss at Carolina.
“We’re all right,” Ward said. “We’ll get back to work on Monday, and start another streak.”
But, on Sunday, the Broncos were not all right, and they flamed out.
Woody Paige: [email protected] or @woodypaige |
Whatever happened to compassionate Conservatism? Banished to the outer fringes of David Cameron's universe, to judge from the Tory conference in Manchester. "Hug a hoodie" and "vote blue, go green" are distant memories. Ukip's Nigel Farage and Cameron's Australian lobbyist and chief dog-whistler Lynton Crosby are driving the Tories ever further to the right.
Five more years of austerity in the cause of a budget surplus; another fuel tax freeze; a marriage tax allowance that benefits less than a third of married couples; more failed US-style workfare for the long-term jobless, undercutting the employed with pay rates of £2 an hour; abolition of the Human Rights Act; and deportation of foreign criminals without appeal.
It's a package as retro as the tweeds, Thatcher memorabilia and "Beware the socialist serpent" postcards on sale in the conference exhibition hall. But with Farage's nationalists ("Give us back our country," he bellowed to a packed town hall on Monday) threatening to overrun the Conservative heartlands in next year's European elections, the "modernisers" have been dumped or marginalised.
Instead, Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, has been hailing the "advantages" of climate change. Cameron has made his peace with his rightwing rival Boris Johnson, paving the way for the London mayor's return to parliament. There are even some on the Tory right who say privately that they would prefer another coalition with the Liberal Democrats to outright victory, for fear of an untrammelled rightward lurch.
That is of course the mirror image of what the Tories and their media allies accused Ed Miliband of doing last week when he unveiled plans to freeze energy bills and bring in new compulsory purchase powers for speculators who refuse to release land for housebuilding.
"Red Ed" hadn't just lurched left, it was claimed, and abandoned the "centre ground". He was "reviving 1970s socialism", unleashing "class warfare" and a "Stalinist land grab" worthy of the war against the kulaks, even "hurtling in the direction of Marxist Robert Mugabe". The energy monopolies howled that investment would collapse and the lights go out if they weren't allowed to charge whatever they wanted, even for 20 months.
In the real world, Miliband's programme has more in common with US anti-trust progressivism of the early 20th century than 1970s socialism. But it's a measure of how narrow the terms of political trade have become. If the reaction to a historically modest social democratic package is as extreme as this, what would it be to the more far-reaching policies needed to rebuild Britain's economy and public realm?
In the event, the attacks came unstuck. Polling showed Miliband's policies had popular support across the board. In fact, the majority of voters want to go further than Labour and renationalise the energy giants, along with rail and the Royal Mail. Most people thought the companies were bluffing about power cuts and investment.
So the political and media attack switched to Miliband's dangerous "populism". The air in Manchester is still thick with talk of Marxism, but the penny has dropped that policies which break, even gingerly, with the 30-year political consensus and challenge corporate greed and immunity may attract mass support. Both Cameron and his education secretary, Michael Gove, have started to backpedal on the energy price freeze.
It's likely to be a temporary reprieve. The repulsive attack by the Daily Mail in recent days on the Labour leader's father, the socialist academic Ralph Miliband, as a "man who hated Britain" and had an "evil" legacy – this from a paper that supported the Nazis in the 1930s, about a Jewish refugee who fought them in the British navy – is surely a taste of poison to come.
Cameron and George Osborne have already been panicked on to Labour's territory, rustling up a fuel tax freeze and bringing forward their own sub-prime mortgage subsidy scheme. But whatever the prime minister says in his conference speech about "capitalist excess", there will be no challenge to the corporate interests that are the Tory bedrock.
As the reality of his government's policies are played out in growing hunger among schoolchildren, spreading cuts and charges in the health service, payday loans and food banks, it's hard to see how the promise of 10 years of austerity will propel the Tories back to power, even sweetened by bank-share-funded tax cuts and a pre-election housing bubble.
But whoever wins the next general election, it's now clear it won't be from the fabled "centre ground". For three decades politicians and pundits have decreed that electoral success can only be achieved on the basis of an establishment corporate orthodoxy they decreed to be "the centre".
Public opinion has long been well to the left of it on privatisation, taxation and regulation, and arguably to the right of it on immigration. But the crisis has cut the ground from beneath it. Miliband may not have lurched left, but he's begun to break with that failed consensus. Cameron is heading rightwards. Nick Clegg claims to be in the centre, but in terms of public opinion he's nowhere near it. Whatever the politicians say, the stampede for the centre ground is over – which can only be a boon for democracy.
Twitter: @SeumasMilne |
Pauly Comtois is the VP of DevOps at Hearst Business Media. Before that, he was Chef’s own VP of IT Operations. We recently caught up with Pauly and asked him about his time as Director of Operations and Application Support at a software company of about 200 people, where he introduced Chef and the DevOps culture. It’s a story that will be familiar to many who have made the journey away from manual processes and the negative effects of silos. Pauly’s DevOps story is below.
The Situation
Initially, I was responsible for only two teams. This grew to eight teams and a strong focus on DevOps.
One group was the sys admins, who were strictly about infrastructure. They handled the network and SANs, configured the hardware, went to the data center to rack and stack things, the usual stuff. This predates the cloud, or at least the cloud was in its infancy.
The other group was the app team, which was also part of operations. The team existed because the application developers didn’t want to be responsible for troubleshooting the application once it was deployed.
They said, “We’re not going to be on call, we’re not responsible for running the code. Once it’s in operations, it’s operations’ responsibility.” Of course, that completely contradicts one of the main tenets of DevOps– you’re responsible for what you create.
So, that’s why we created an app team in operations. They were former developers, support and systems administrators who were interested in operations. Their whole job was to maintain the application after it was deployed. They released the code, monitored the application and were on call for any application problem. This team operated alongside the other operations teams.
Later, we formed a third team, the release team. They took over the job of deployments. The release team was a cross-functional team. Their backgrounds were from varying disciplines; one developer, one QA person, some sys admins, and a project manager who made sure that the features that were in the roadmap were the ones that were in the pipeline.
When the release team first started we did everything manually and we used a package called ControlTier. There were six server pods, and it used to take about 12 hours on a weekend to deploy to one of them. It was miserable. Nine times out of ten, we ended up rolling back. I used to joke that operations’ job is rolling back code. The code wasn’t tested by the developers, the focus was on features and not bug fixes and QA had basically given up on the feedback loop. We would deploy it and roll it right back because it just didn’t work. The whole system was broken.
In the next part of this DevOps story, coming the week of 2/9, Pauly will reveal the proposed solution to his situation and how it was actually implemented. Stay tuned! |
Charles Barkley thinks the United States men's basketball team plays too much of an isolation style and management should consider constructing teams with more role players in the future. (1:17)
As the United States men's Olympic basketball team has struggled by its own lofty standards in Rio de Janeiro, former NBA player and current TNT analyst Charles Barkley said the team's woes are rooted in the construction of its roster.
"It's not a good team to put together," Barkley, 53, told Sports360AZ.com. "If you take away DeAndre Jordan, every guy on that team is a ball-dominant guy. You see them playing a lot of one-on-one basketball.
"That's the thing I've noticed more than anything. Like, you have to understand when you put a team together like that, you have to have some role players."
According to Charles Barkley, the U.S. roster features too many isolation scorers and could benefit from adding role players: "When they put that team together in the future, they have to realize we can't have just really, really great offensive players." Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images
Barkley, who played on the 1992 Dream Team and also won gold in 1996, said Team USA is too reliant on isolation scorers and could benefit from the addition of more role players.
"You take a guy like Kyle Lowry, who is a hell of a player, he wants to score. Kyrie [Irving] wants to score. Kevin [Durant] wants to score. DeMar [DeRozan] wants to score. So, I think they have been really stagnant offensively.
"When they put that team together in the future, they have to realize we can't have just really, really great offensive players. They gotta have players that if they don't get a shot, they're not just gonna stand around and mope."
While the U.S. is the only undefeated team left in the tournament at 5-0, its victories against Australia, Serbia and France in the previous three games have come by a mere 16 points combined.
Team USA faces Argentina on Wednesday in the quarterfinals, a rematch of last month's exhibition in Las Vegas. While the Americans throttled Argentina by 37 points in that July 18 tuneup, their road to the gold-medal game will force them to see off the most seasoned competition they could have drawn just for the chance to play for the championship in coach Mike Krzyzewski's farewell tournament.
Information from ESPN's Marc Stein was used in this report. |
Singer Halsey has always been open. She's open about her sexuality, her past struggles, and her emotions. She has said in the past, "I'm not always going to be calm...I'm entitled to my emotions."
Today, Halsey has spoken up regarding a recent Buzzfeed article penned about her. The article, titled "What Does A Queer Pop Star Look Like In 2016," is a lengthy essay that analyzes Halsey's sexuality in conjunction with her celeb status. Halsey, who is openly bisexual, has taken issue with the article, claiming that it plays into bi-erasure, or the minimizing of bisexuality in the queer narrative.
In a lengthy Twitter rant, Halsey has called out Buzzfeed for the article, saying, "Sorry I'm not gay enough for you." She went on to write, "tiresome analysis of my 1 year in the public eye and the ignorance of 8+ years of sexual discovery to determine if I'm truly queer. [And it] is part of a mentality so engrained in the erasure of bisexual 'credibility' even within the lgbt community."
The Buzzfeed article in question starts off by describing how Halsey has kissed women at her concerts and then segues into a commentary of her songs and music videos, particularly focusing on the lack of same-sex romance in each. The article discusses Halsey's recent VMA performance with Andrew Taggart of The Chainsmokers, saying, "Her VMAs outfit, however, was one of her most traditionally feminine picks: sparkly white bell bottoms and a tiny matching crop top showing a peek of underboob, the look topped off with a plain long brown wig. She and Taggart might have looked like an unremarkable straight couple to anyone who didn’t know better."
The essay goes on to dissect Halsey's social life, song lyrics, and Instagram presence, saying that they all raise "complicated questions about her constructed identity." The author poses the question, is Halsey a "one-of-the-boys kind of girl" or a "Lez Bro?" The article concludes in an open-ended manner, leaving the reader to ponder the future of Halsey's image. "Perhaps Halsey will avoid incorporating too much queerness into her image in the future.... Or perhaps she’ll prove that being an androgynous, bisexual pop star is a real possibility in the mainstream."
While the article might have had the intention of making us think about the spectrum of queerness, it's clear that Halsey has been deeply offended by the tone. Many of the comments also call the essay out for an overwhelming "she's not gay enough" message. Halsey ended her tweet storm by saying, "You've been an ally and this article just makes me sad. Even in its laughable self awareness of its own stereotyping."
Bi-erasure is a real thing that many bisexual women face and struggle with, every day. The notion that someone's sexuality is a phase, or not real, can be endlessly depressing and damaging to one's identity. Studies have shown that bisexual women are at a higher risk for depression and anxiety, and Halsey herself has opened up about dealing with depression in the past. Halsey's presence in pop culture is important for bisexual girls growing up today. Representation matters, and Halsey has proven that sexual identity doesn't have to take one particular form. Everyone's sexuality is different, and no one should ever tell you that you aren't "enough" of anything to fit into a pre-determined label.
Related: Halsey Opens Up About Having a Miscarriage
Check This Out: |
Reports: Missing Indian priest in Yemen may have been crucified on Good Friday
International
oi-Sandra
Sana'a/ Bengaluru, March 26: After Indian priest Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, 56 was believed to be abducted by ISIS militants from Aden, Yemen on March 4, a report in Dailymail stated that many religious groups fear that ISIS militants may have crucified the Indian priest on Good Friday.
Though there is no confirmation on the same, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday said: "Fr Tom Uzhunnallil - an Indian national from Kerala was abducted by a terror group in Yemen. We are making all efforts to secure his release."
Also read: Govt trying to release kidnapped Indian priest in Yemen: Sushma Swaraj
Earlier this week, a group of nuns posted on social media that they believe that Fr Uzhunnalil is being subjected to torture and may be crucified on Good Friday. However, members belonging to Uzhunnalil's order in Bengaluru have denied reports that he was due to be crucified.
On March 4, a group of terrorists stormed the Missionaries of Charity old age home in Aden and sprayed bullets on residents killing four including an Indian nurse, Cecilia Minz. Officials in Yemen believe that Uzhunnalil was abducted by these militants.
Swaraj on Saturday said that the government is making all efforts to secure the release of Uzhunnalil from his captors in Yemen.
Yemen is a conflict zone and hence there is no Indian Embassy there making it even more difficult for Uzhunnalil's release.
OneIndia News |
Annual leave
When even the word holiday is thought to sound too frivolous and hedonistic, so that people on their holidays set their out-of-office autoreply to announce grandly that they are instead on annual leave, then surely we have entered a hellishly self-parodic downward spiral of capitalist civilisation.
Backfill
After someone has been sacked – sorry, "transitioned" – they tend to leave a person-shaped hole in the landscape. What do you do with a hole, especially a person-shaped one that reminds you a bit of a hastily dug grave? You fill it in – in other words, you backfill (verb), or address the backfill (noun).
Originally, backfill was an engineering term, meaning to fill a hole or trench with excavated earth, gravel, sand or other material. Now it means "replacement" or "replace", eg: "We are recruiting for Tom's backfill" or "We will have to backfill Richard." Meanwhile, a job vacancy that exists to replace an ex-employee, as opposed to a newly created role, is called a backfill position, even if that sounds more like something an adventurous type might adopt at an S&M club.
Close of play
The curious strain of kiddy-talk in bureaucratese perhaps stems from a hope that infantilised workers are more docile. A manager who tells you to do something by end of play or by close of play – in other words, today – is trying to hypnotise you into thinking you are having fun. This is not a sodding game of cricket. Though, actually, it appears that the phrase originates from the genteel confines of the British civil service, when there might well have been cricket, or at least a very long lunch, on the day's agenda.
Synonymous with asking for something by close of play is requesting it by the end of the day. End of whose day, exactly? Perhaps the boss is swanning off at 3pm while everyone else will have to stay till 8pm in order to get it done. A day can be an awfully long time in office politics.
Drill down
Far be it from me to suggest that managers prefer metaphors that evoke huge pieces of phallic machinery, but why else say drill down if you just mean "look at in detail"? Like many examples of bureaucratese, drill down has a specific sense in information technology: to follow the hierarchical ladder of a data-analysis menu down through to the individual datum. In accounting software, not only can you drill down, drill up and drill in, but you can even drill around, much as a disturbingly incompetent dentist might, or as old-school Texas oil speculators used to do.
Expectations
Expectations are flexible things, and people will no doubt carry on having them even if the lingo surrounding them is logically complete nonsense. For example, one source reports: "In a team meeting a few months ago, the then-manager said: 'There's no reason that all of you shouldn't get a rating of Exceeds Expectations every review if you all work hard.' She didn't like it when I pointed out that if she expected us to exceed expectations, it was then literally impossible for us to do so." Touché!
It would be good if employees were able to manage the expectations of their managers, but managing expectations usually means something more outward-facing and defeatist: preparing your clients or customers psychologically for the inevitable fact that the "deliverables" will be rubbish.
Flagpole, run this up the
Let's run this up the flagpole! Using this exhortation to mean "give it a try" or "test it" came to prominence in the 1950s Madison Avenue advertising industry. It derived from a yarn that was doing the rounds about the first US president, George Washington. When Betsy Ross presented the new American flag to him, he was supposed to have quipped: "Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it."
The original sense was to test something (eg an ad campaign) in public, or at least in front of the clients, rather than just around the office: a nuance that has since been lost.
Later variations on the theme include: "Let's cross the sidewalk and see what the view looks like from over there", or "Let's put it on the radiator and see if it melts", or even (so I am assured) "Let's knife-and-fork it and see what comes out". (Comes out from where? That's disgusting.) There seems no end to the forced jollity (and despair-inducing implied exclamation mark) of such constructions.
Going forward
Top of many people's hate-list is this now-ubiquitous way of saying "from now on" or "in future". It has the added sly rhetorical aim of wiping clean the slate of the past; indeed, it is a kind of incantation or threat aimed at shutting down conversation about whatever bad thing has happened. This aspect of the phrase proves to be especially attractive to politicians, who like to accuse their critics of being mired in the past. The official pronouncements of Barack Obama's administration are littered with going forward, or its sibling moving forward, which at the time of writing have been deployed nearly 600 times in the past year in official White House transcripts and press releases.
Photograph: Getty Images/Vetta/Guardian montage
Heads-up
"I just wanted to give you a heads-up on …" is now the correctly breath-wasting way to say "I just wanted to tell you about …". Its origin, in American engineering and military circles of the early 20th century, is an exhortation for all the members of your squad or crew to pay attention because something potentially dangerous is about to happen. They should literally straighten their necks and raise their heads. So the call "Heads up!" means "Watch out!"
The 1970s saw the invention of the military technology called a heads-up display: crucial information from a fighter jet's instruments was projected on to the cockpit windshield. So heads-up originated in situations where something hairy was about to happen, or where life-or-death information was being provided to an elite warrior. Naturally, neither of those things is ever true when the noun phrase "a heads-up" is used in the modern office. Time, perhaps, for a heads-down, when everyone takes a quiet snooze at their desks.
Issues
To call something a "problem" is utterly verboten in the office: it's bound to a) scare the horses and b), even worse, focus responsibility on the bosses. So let us instead deploy the compassionate counselling-speak of "issues". The critic (and manager) Robert Potts translates "There are some issues around X" as: "There is a problem so big that we are scared to even talk about it directly."
What if something is more serious than an issue – an incipient catastrophe that might bring down the whole business? You still can't call it a "problem". But you can express the very deep way in which you personally care about it by referring to it as a concern.
Journey
There's something peculiarly horrible about the modern bureaucratic habit of turning everything into a journey, with its ersatz thrill of adventurous tourism and its therapeutic implications of personal growth. Sometimes the made-up journey is a group affair, like a school outing. So businesses infantilise their employees by saying they have all been on a fascinating voyage together, when in fact many of their colleagues have been brutally thrown from the bus. As one infuriated correspondent explains: "The 'journey we have been on' really refers to 'the ongoing cuts and redundancies in the organisation that I work for.'"
Software and web designers will often talk about the user journey, which at least correlates with the metaphor of webpage and interface "navigation". But the British government also explains the process of claiming disability benefit under the rubric "The Claimant Journey", which might be thought rather insensitive to those claimants actually unable to travel.
Key
With your key core competencies, you can no doubt achieve the key performance indicators, take on key challenges, and overcome key issues to meet key milestones and placate our key stakeholders, going forward. But why the hell is everything key? Is there some kind of subliminal phallic titillation to the image of key things penetrating the welcoming oiled openings of locks? You can even have key asks, which are not small free-standing shops that sell newspapers or develop film. I'm tempted to start up a locksmithing business that supplies key keys.
Once you start calling so many things key, of course, semantic inflation dissolves its sense almost entirely.
Leverage
The critic Robert Potts reports this parodic-sounding but deathly real example: "We need to leverage our synergies." Other things you can leverage, according to recent straightfaced news and business reports, are expertise, cloud infrastructure, "the federal data", training and "Hong Kong's advantages". To leverage, in such examples, usually means nothing more than "to use" or "exploit". Thus, "leverage support" means "ask Bob in IT"; and I suggest "leverage the drinkables infrastructure" as a stylish new way to say "make the coffee".
The appropriation of this financial metaphor doesn't quite seem to have been thought through. The verb "leverage" began to be used in the late 1960s specifically for a technique of speculating with borrowed money. So executives who dream of leveraging synergies seem to be unconsciously conveying the message that they are taking a huge gamble that might result in disaster. After all, since the crash, major financial institutions around the world have been carefully deleveraging in order to meet new capital requirements.
It's also, frankly, a bit foolish-sounding. Give me a place to stand and I will move the world, said Archimedes. He didn't say he would leverage the "deliverables matrix".
Matrix
The matrix is everywhere you look in the modern office. You can have an accountability matrix (AKA a responsibility assignment matrix), a functional matrix, a project matrix and so on ad nauseam. Of course, there is even a sub-species of management called – you guessed it – matrix management.
Are all these matrices separate universes of virtual reality in which workers are drugged and asleep in a post-apocalyptic world, with a virtual reconstruction of human civilisation beamed directly into their brains so the evil masters of each matrix can use their bodies as batteries? The truth is not so interesting. What is the matrix? Basically, it's a spreadsheet.
No-brainer
The phrase "a no-brainer" originated in sport, to describe a physical action in football or tennis that was so well-drilled it required no conscious thought. Its subsequent office adoption to mean "obviously a good idea", however, is both inverted boast and threat. "This is a no-brainer!" means not only "I did not engage my brain for a second in coming up with this idea", but also "You should not engage your brain in any attempt to argue with it". It is thus an announcement and a recommendation for perfect zombie-like stupidity.
Photograph: Rex Features/Guardian montage
Offline, take this
"Hey, can we take this offline?" This is a truly bizarre modern way to say: "Let's talk about it later or in private." Oh, I'm sorry! I thought we were human beings in the same room communicating with each other by making noises with our faces! I didn't realise we were online. Are we all living in the matrix now? And if we just go down the corridor to the coffee machine and talk in pairs, we'll suddenly be offline? The machines didn't really think this through, did they, if that's all you have to do to escape from your prison of virtual reality? It's a wonder they managed to take over the world in the first place.
Paradigm shift
The term paradigm shift was made famous by Thomas Kuhn's 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. There, a paradigm is a whole way of understanding the world, and a paradigm shift is a dramatic transfiguration in that understanding. Paradigm shifts are hugely important intellectual developments such as "the Copernican, Newtonian, chemical and Einsteinian revolutions". Sadly, owing to the widespread phenomenon of linguistic deflation, it has since become possible to call a much less world-shattering change a paradigm shift. One educational article in Forbes ambitiously begins by sketching historic paradigm shifts – the Copernican revolution, Mendelian genetics and the guy who discovered that peptic ulcers are caused by bacteria – and then gets down to business. Now, the author claims, "a discontinuous paradigm shift in management is happening. It's a shift from a firm-centric view of the world in which the firm's purpose is to make money for its shareholders, to a customer-centric view of the world in which the purpose of the firm is to add value for customers." It probably would be a paradigm shift (to an economic epic fail) if firms really were going to abandon all hope of making money, but that is not quite the claim here. Instead, firms are going to pretend that they are not completely self-interested and really care about their customers. In the service, of course, of making more money.
Quality
The ubiquitous business use of quality has become a kind of totem. Now it has been cut loose from having to be the quality of anything in particular, we can all sit around happily chanting that quality is our aim – or, in other words, that we want stuff to be … er, good? The hopeful invocation of quality is magical speech that hopes to conjure into being something that is indefinable but definitely better than flat-out rubbishness.
But the insertion of quality into a business slogan or mission statement is also sometimes camouflage for less sunny intentions. In 2011, the BBC grandly announced that its plan over the next six years would be called "Delivering Quality First". (Rather than delivering TV and radio programmes first? Or perhaps they meant delivering quality first and garbage later?) But this slogan was merely a cravenly euphemistic sticking-plaster for a programme of mass redundancies. Delivering Quality First actually meant sacking 2,000 workers.
Revert
"Let me revert …" is a common way now of promising to do something. Reply? Respond? Whatever was wrong with those? (To be fair, revert could mean "to return to a person" in medieval times, so it's not a wholly novel usage.)
While revert is less infuriatingly circuitous than "circle back", there is still something sonically rather unlovely about it. (Perhaps it is the echo of "pervert".) I do recommend that if anyone ever promises to revert back to you, you should shout as loudly as you can that this means "get back back", and then start doing a bad chimp dance with optional hooting noises.
Sunset
This is an imagistic verbing – "We're going to sunset that project/service/version" – that sounds more humane and poetic than "cancel" or "kill" or "stop supporting". When faced with the choice between calling a spade a spade or using a cloying euphemism, you know which the bosses will choose. Happily, sunsetting also sounds less smelly than the venerable old mothballing.
Thought shower
The term "brainstorm" is now discouraged, since some people think it's insensitive to people with epilepsy, on the dubious basis that an epileptic attack is like a storm in the brain. In fact, the National Society for Epilepsy surveyed its members in 2005 as to whether they found the term "brainstorming" offensive, and a large majority said no. Nevertheless, it is more common these days to be invited to a thought shower, which no doubt sounds like a naked romp among Bergman-loving Scandinavian intellectuals only to those with already irredeemably dirty minds.
The more serious problem with thought-showering is that it is rarely effective. According to the author and psychologist Keith Sawyer's account of brainstorming, "in most cases this popular technique is a waste of time". Unless thought showers are carefully planned and directed, they tend to encourage group conformity and repress individual creativity. That rather puts the dampeners on things, doesn't it?
Upskill
Have you been upskilled lately? It's an odd idea. To say that you will upskill a person seems to figure the subject as a kind of upgradeable cyborg assistant, into which new programs may, at any time, be uploaded so as to improve its contribution to profit. We are thus invited to imagine a glorious ascent of a virtual ladder of "competencies", the better to forget that upskilling usually means demanding more work for the same pay.
Vertical
Oh, right, the verticals. Yep, we need to "leverage" the "learnings" across all the verticals. I'm totally on board with that. Oh, we need to talk about "content strategy in a difficult vertical"? Sure, good idea! [Sotto voce] What the hell are verticals again?
According to Forbes, a vertical is: "A specific area of expertise. If you make project-management software for the manufacturing industry (as opposed to the retail industry), you might say: 'We serve the manufacturing vertical.' In so saying, you would make everyone around you flee the conversation."
In business, there is a distinction between horizontal and vertical organisation. Apple, for example, is sometimes thought of as a vertical company because it makes "the whole widget" – both hardware and software. Vertical integration can also be a matter of owning the factories that supply your components, and so forth. In consulting lingo, meanwhile, a vertical can just be a new industry that you want to move into, by setting up a separate business unit.
The upshot of all this is that vertical in ordinary office use can almost always be replaced with "market", which has the advantage of being a word that everyone understands, and the concomitant disadvantage (for the machiavellian jargon-wielder) that it won't serve to browbeat and intimidate workers.
Oh, you know what else is vertical right now? My middle finger.
Workshop
"We're going to have to workshop that issue." Really? Office types who use workshop as a verb probably imagine doing tough things with hammers and saws and vices in a sawdust-strewn shed, so picturing the frustrating immateriality of most modern work as something nostalgically physical and mechanical. But to workshop as a verb is actually a theatrical usage that dates from the 1970s; according to the OED, it means: "To present a workshop performance of (a dramatic work), esp. in order to explore aspects of the production before it is staged formally." So next time a boss suggests something needs workshopping, gird your loins for the solemn enactment of a brutal revenge tragedy.
X, theory
In the 1960s, the psychologist Douglas McGregor published The Human Side of Enterprise, which outlined two approaches to management. The first approach assumes that people hate working and crave security, and have to be forced with threats of punishment to do what you want. The second approach assumes that people like to make an effort, are better motivated by rewards and are naturally creative.
McGregor called these two approaches Theory X and Theory Y. To my ears, that X makes the nasty Theory X sound rather mysterious and magical, the arena of arcane experts in the fields of physics or vast alien conspiracies (x-rays, X-Files), and so it fits perfectly with the general self-glamorising tone of modern office jargon. But it is also, of course, a boon to compilers of lexicons who otherwise wouldn't have anything to put under X, so you won't hear me complaining any further about it.
Yield
Don't ever say that your plan will "give" or "cause" or "result in" great things; the only verb to use here is yield.
The word probably appeals to management types for two reasons. The first and more obvious is that yield is also a noun in finance meaning the expected income from a bond or other holding. The second reason, I suspect, is an obscurely martial or psychosexual one: because to yield also means to give way or to admit defeat, the thrusting manager who sees everything yielding before him is subconsciously picturing the ground strewn with defeated enemies or willingly passive sex-partners.
Zero cycles
Zero cycles is how many bicycles you have when you don't have any bicycles. Perhaps you are a sad clown whose entire clown act is about lamenting the lack of bicycles in your clown life. Alternatively, you can speak as though you were a computer that has a finite number of "cycles" of its internal clock to perform calculations within a given time. So you can say, in response to a request that you do some extra work: "Sorry, I have zero cycles for this." It's a splendidly polite and groovily technical way of saying: "Bugger off and don't ask me again."
Extracted from Who Touched Base In My Thought Shower?: A Treasury of Unbearable Office Jargon by Steven Poole, to be published by Sceptre at £9.99 on 31 October 2013. Order a copy for £7.99 with free UK p&p from guardianbookshop.co.uk |
Lasers are pretty darn cool. Kriston Capps
With state-of-the-art equipment and courses on 3-D printing and personal prototyping, TechShops could change the face of manufacturing.
Doug Donegan has been a TechShop member for about a month and a half—more or less ever since one opened in a nearby D.C. suburb. In that time, he's built an Adirondack chair from scratch, using the lab's advanced fabrication machinery and sophisticated design technology. "It took me about 50 hours to do it," he says. "I screwed up a lot." Donegan is one of about 300 veterans who have found their way to TechShop in Crystal City, Virginia. He says that the space has been a crucial transition point for a lot of veterans. (In fact, the Veterans Administration has partnered with several TechShop spaces to provide memberships for vets.) Donegan describes TechShop as an open space for projects, a place to be creative and to put some of his training to use. When I meet him, he's working on a bedside table. "I live in a 1,200-square-foot condo. There's no garage," Donegan says. "Even if I wanted to build something like this at home, I couldn't." "It's a lot of self-learning," says Isabella Musachio, general manager of the Crystal City location. The eighth and latest TechShop to open, the Crystal City studio is situated in a walkable part of the suburb, sandwiched between two popular locally owned eateries, We the Pizza and Good Stuff. The storefront space looks like it could fit on any city block. Yet at nearly 20,000 square feet, TechShop is deceptively large, with studios for textiles, metalworking, 3-D printing, electronics, design, and more. You could think of TechShop as a dream garage. You could also think of TechShop as the factory floor of the maker movement. At this point in time, the maker movement itself doesn't need much introduction, even if its implements—like computer numerically controlled (CNC) devices and 3-D printers—still require some unpacking. In June, President Barack Obama gave a talk about the future of manufacturing and innovation at Pittsburgh's TechShop. And he hosted the first-ever White House Maker Faire, where he messed with a 17-foot robot giraffe and a 3-D printer that produced pancakes, among other gizmos. While the endorsement of the president speaks to the promise of DIY digital manufacturing, for many people, the tools might as well belong to a wizard. People who have access to a 3-D printer—in Washington, D.C., that's actually anyone with a library card—may not have the software training or even a good reason to do much with it. So the conversation about making, at a national or economic level, is largely concerned with what comes next, once consumers catch up with the technology. And the competition to be there when they get there is fierce. Walmart may be printing its own supplies soon, cutting costs for inventory on things like auto parts or school supplies. For Amazon, 3-D printing will change its services (and its supply chain) every bit as much. Meanwhile, MakerBot seeks to turn 3-D printers into familiar at-home appliances, 21st-century versions of the microwave oven.
"The barrier for entry for someone to design, create, and manufacture a product that they want is the lowest in human history," says Mark Hatch, CEO of TechShop and author of The Maker Movement Manifesto. He describes the maker movement as the third industrial revolution—or the personal industrial revolution—and he's quick to describe DIY manufacturing successes that got their start at TechShop. Dodocase, for example: The President's preferred iPad case was made by a company that launched through TechShop. Within 90 days of joining TechShop, Hatch says, the founder of Dodocase, Patrick Buckley, had "sold a million in product." A CNC table router. What differentiates TechShop from other personal manufacturing services—and what makes it so useful for cities—is the emphasis on process, rather than on product. The 3-D printing studio is only one aspect of the services that TechShop offers. (Albeit a popular one, according to Musachio. The only thing that's more popular is the laser cutter. "You can laser-cut toast," she says. "You can laser-cut chocolate.) "It's really great for people looking to prototype," Musachio says, during our tour of the facility. "You can rent an office, use the space, and grow your business here." The world's fastest electric motorcycle was built, snout to tail, at a TechShop, an example boosters love to highlight. But the services are also designed for folks who want to build a bedside table, or don't necessarily know what they want to do.
TechShop offers both classes and memberships. Users need to take introductory classes before they can pursue specific courses in, say, CNC vinyl cutting. You don't need to be a member to take a class at TechShop, but you do need to be a member to make use of the equipment. So before you can carve through 8 inches of marble with the powerful TechShop waterjet, you'll go through basic safety training. A Turner's Cube two ways: machined and printed. At $125 to $175 per month, or $1,395 per year, membership at the D.C. TechShop is pricey. Hatch compares it to a "Frappuccino addiction" in scale. Membership does come with benefits: The workshop is open 9 a.m. to midnight every day of the week, and members can use the loading bay and forklift to transport materials. There's free popcorn and coffee at night. Plus, that waterjet. CNC mills in the metalworking studio. It's hard to tell which is the biggest draw for members: access to more than $1 million in equipment, instruction from people who can show you how to use it, or the space to do all these things. For some of the cities where TechShop operates, it might be that last one. The 38,000-square-foot TechShop in Detroit is sponsored in part by Ford, which provides incentives for employees to join and invent stuff—including automobile-scale stuff—through the space. That's not exactly "tinkering." The computer studio comes fully equipped with AutoDesk, Adobe, and other software suites, with professional licenses. An injection-molded doodad. The 3-D printing studio. This unit was busy printing an iPhone case. The instructors are there to teach people how to use the machines, at different skill levels—from light tinkering to full-scale inventing. TechShop also employs "dream consultants," mostly part-time technicians who work on the floor, answering people's questions about projects. (By the numbers: TechShop has 130 full-time employees and 250 part-time employees. The company expects to do $10 million in sales this year and open four new locations, including one in Los Angeles and one in St. Louis. The D.C. location has more than 550 members.) One dream consultant, Darcy Bender, tells me that TechShop is her dream job: She has a background in architecture, woodworking, and graphic design, and she uses the shop herself to make "full-on, sign-quality signs without having to invest in equipment." Bender helped me to laser-cut the CityLab sign below. The whole process, maybe 20 minutes all told, involved using a software program not much more complicated than Photoshop to capture the design, then hitting start on the laser to cut a few different logos on plywood. Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... "It's the same logic as an ink-jet printer," Bender tells me, explaining how the software converts a raster image into instructions for the laser. "But instead of dropping droplets of ink, it's dropping droplets of heat." If I sound bullish on TechShop, it's because something that Donegan said rings true to me: TechShop is the garage that I'll never have (and never knew I wanted). And while I don't need to vacuum-form a thingy that I designed and injection-molded myself—for about $50 in parts—there is a space in this city and others where that can happen. It's the concentration and communalization of equipment and services, and the prospect that these services could become even more localized and accessible as amenities, that marks TechShop as the future for cities. |
By Steve Kim
Promoter Bob Arum, who this past weekend staged a major pay-per-view fight featuring Manny Pacquiao without the help of HBO or Showtime, says that he has good relationships with both networks.
Given that he's done the bulk of his business with HBO throughout the years, that's no surprise. But it's been a long time since he's done anything with Showtime.
You could say that for the past five years or so that the relationship between Arum and Showtime was non-existent, if not downright hostile. Top Rank has been persona non grata on the network since 2012. But Arum says that efforts have been made to mend fences.
The CEO of Top Rank is confident that any animosity that may have existed is a thing of the past.
"I've had nice conversations with Stephen Espinoza (Showtime's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports and Event Programming) and Les Moonves (CEO of CBS Corporation). Actually I ran into [Moonves] at a party, it's very, very cordial," explained the veteran promoter.
"It does not mean we're going to do dates with Showtime, I don't know. They didn't mention that, but the animosity that existed no longer exists. And I feel Espinoza feels the same way."
Recently, there is a new-found detente between Arum and manager/adviser Al Haymon that could lead to more fights pitting boxers who are represented by both men. They recently finalized a match for December 10th on HBO, where Terence Crawford [of Top Rank] will defend his WBO/WBC junior welterweight titles against John Molina [represented by Haymon].
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com. |
Pesticides, which are well known to have caused spectacular declines the world over in bees, birds, and other wildlife, are also taking a heavy toll on the virility of men.
A new study found that the agricultural poisons are reducing the quality and quantity of sperm in men all over the globe, with farm workers bearing the brunt of the sexual desecration. George Washington University researchers pored over 17 scientific studies that were published between 2007 and 2012 and reported in the journal Toxicology that 15 of them found “significant associations between exposure to pesticides and semen quality indicators.”
From Beyond Pesticides’ blog:
In addition to the U.S. findings, studies conducted on French, New Zealander, Indian, Tunisian, and Israeli men have all found decline in sperm count. Some studies record a drop by approximately 50 percent between 1940 and 1990, no small amount. These results might not be surprising as sperm production is regulated by the endocrine system, a highly sensitive system of hormone regulators. A study on Mexican workers in the floral industry, where workers are routinely exposed to organophosphate, finds that workers not only have increased levels of testosterone, but also suppressed levels of follicle stimulating hormone and inhibin b, which are two sensitive markers for sperm production.
So go organic and save humankind’s ability to reproduce. |
He proclaims Ireland's most famous day "a great day for the Irish, and the English, the Vietnamese, the Cambodians and everyone who cares to come to a party". Taoiseach Enda Kenny says he doesn't agree with Tony Abbott's comments contained in his St Patrick's Day video message. Credit:Julien Behal Mr Abbott signs off his message with an apology that "I can't be there to share a Guinness or two or maybe even three". Mr Kenny said he had heard Mr Abbott's comments and he didn't agree with them. "I've heard the Prime Minister's comments. He made them. I don't agree with that," he was reported as saying in the Irish Independent.
"I think that it is perfectly in order for so many Irish people in Australia to have an enjoyable celebration of St Patrick's Day and St Patrick's week, and to do so in a thoroughly responsible fashion. "There has been a long-term view of a stage Irish perception. I reject that. I think it's really important that we understand that we have a national day that can be celebrated worldwide, St Patrick's Day." Defence Minister Kevin Andrews also drew a link between St Patrick's Day and alcohol consumption, tweeting a picture of himself holding a can of Guinness. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was asked about Mr Kenny's comments and whether Australia had received a complaint from the Irish ambassador on the video message.
Ms Bishop said: "I have not had the Irish ambassador complain about a conspicuous consumption of alcohol." Loading After the video was released last week, two St Patrick's Day events decided not to screen the message after it made headlines in Ireland, with critics describing it as "patronising". Follow us on Twitter |
People gather at the blast site in Alexandria, Egypt Source: SIPA USA/PA Images
Updated 19.31
THE ISLAMIC STATE group has claimed responsibility for bombing two Egyptian churches as worshippers gathered to mark Palm Sunday, killing at least 44 people in the deadliest attacks on the Coptic Christian minority in recent memory.
The attacks followed a Cairo church bombing in December and came weeks ahead of a planned visit by Catholic Pope Francis intended to show support for the country’s Christian minority.
The first bombing struck the Mar Girgis church in the city of Tanta north of Cairo, killing 27 people, the health ministry said.
“I just felt fire grabbing my face. I pushed my brother who was sitting next to me and then I heard people saying: ‘explosion’,” one of the wounded told state television.
Emergency services had scrambled to the scene when another bombing rocked the Saint Mark’s church in Alexandria where Coptic Pope Tawadros II had been leading a Palm Sunday service.
Seventeen people including at least four police officers were killed in that attack, which the interior ministry said was caused by a suicide bomber who blew himself up when prevented from entering the church.
The ministry said Tawadros was unharmed, and a church official said he had left the church before the bombing.
The scene outside the church in Tanta. Source: AP/PA Images
The private CBC Extra channel aired footage of the Alexandria blast, with CCTV showing what appeared to be the church entrance engulfed in flame and flying concrete moments after a guard turned away a man.
Eyewitnesses said a police officer detected the bomber before he blew himself up.
At least 78 people were wounded in Tanta and another 40 wounded in Alexandria, the health ministry said.
A UN Security Council statement condemned the bombings as “heinous” and “cowardly”.
Egyptian officials denounced the violence as an attempt to sow divisions in the country, while Francis sent his “deep condolences” to Tawadros.
Egyptian officials denounced the violence as an attempt to sow divisions, and Francis sent his “deep condolences” to Tawadros.
IS claimed two Egyptian suicide bombers carried out both attacks and threatened further attacks in a statement published on social media.
Relatives and onlookers gather outside the church in Tanta. Source: AP/PA Images
After the bombings, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered military deployments to guard “vital and important infrastructure”, his office said.
State television reported that the interior minister sacked the provincial head of security and replaced him after the attack.
On March 29, the Mar Girgis church’s Facebook page said a “suspicious” device had been found outside the building that security services removed.
“I heard the blast and came running. I found people torn up… some people, only half of their bodies remained,” Nabil Nader, who lives in front of the Tanta church, said Sunday.
Worshippers had been celebrating Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, marking Jesus’s triumphant entrance to Jerusalem.
Pope prays for victims
Pope Francis, who is due in Cairo on 28 April, offered prayers for the victims.
“Let us pray for the victims of the attack unfortunately carried out today,” he said.
May the Lord convert the heart of those who sow terror, violence and death and also the heart of those who make weapons and trade in them.
Copts, who make up about one tenth of Egypt’s population of more than 92 million and who celebrate Easter next weekend, have been targeted by several attacks in recent months.
Jihadists and Islamists accuse Copts of supporting the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which ushered in a deadly crackdown on his supporters.
In December, a suicide bombing claimed by IS killed 29 worshippers in a Cairo church.
The group later released a video threatening Egypt’s Christians with more attacks.
A spate of jihadist-linked attacks in the restive Sinai Peninsula, including the murder of a Copt in the city of El Arish, led some Coptic families to flee.
About 250 Christians took refuge in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya after IS in February called for attacks on the minority.
US President Donald Trump led international condemnation of today’s attacks.
“So sad to hear of the terrorist attack in Egypt. US strongly condemns. I have great confidence that President Al Sisi will handle situation properly,” he tweeted.
String of attacks
Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail stressed the authorities’ determination to “eliminate terrorism”.
The Cairo-based Al-Azhar, an influential Sunni Muslim authority, said the attacks aimed to “destabilise security and… the unity of Egyptians”.
Egypt’s Copts have endured successive attacks since Morsi’s ousting in July 2013.
More than 40 churches were targeted nationwide in the two weeks after the deadly dispersal by security forces of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo on August 14 that year, Human Rights Watch said.
Sisi, who as then army chief helped remove Morsi, has defended his security forces and accused jihadists of attacking Copts in order to divide the country.
In October 2011, almost 30 people – mostly Coptic Christians – were killed outside the state television building in Cairo after the army charged at protesters denouncing the torching of a church in southern Egypt.
A few months earlier, the unclaimed New Year’s Day bombing of a Coptic church killed more than 20 people in second city Alexandria.
© – AFP, 2017 |
The July issue of Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara Carat magazine will announce on Monday that the high school edition of kakifly's K-ON manga will end in the next issue in June. Since April of 2011, the high school edition has been following Azusa, Ui, Jun, and the other characters who are still in high school after the other characters graduated. The college edition will end in the July issue of the main Manga Time Kirara magazine on June 9.
Kakifly's original four-panel comedy manga follows a group of high school girls who form an afterschool rock band. The manga had ended its first run in September 2010. Yen Press began publishing the manga in North America in November 2010.
K-ON!!, the second television anime series based on the manga, ran in Japan in 2010, and the K-ON! film premiered last December. Bandai Entertainment released the anime's first season in North America in 2011 before it stopped releasing new titles this past February.
Sentai Filmworks licensed the 26-episode anime sequel and the accompanying OVA. The company will begin releasing the series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on June 19. The K-ON! film will ship on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in Japan on July 18.
[Via 0takomu] |
Robotics expert builds android twin to study the soul Nick Cargo and David Edwards
Published: Wednesday November 26, 2008
Print This Email This A Japanese inventor's latest creation is a robot double of himself.
Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro tells CNN's Tokyo correspondent Kyung Lah that he sees his creation, dubbed the Geminoid, partly as an opportunity to have a presence when not actually present, essentially being in two places at once, and also as a chance to study human behavior along with furthering his knowledge of androids.
"At first you may feel strange about the android," Ishiguro told Reuters. "However, once you are drawn into a conversation, you will forget every difference and feel totally comfortable to speak with it and look it in the eyes." The Geminoid, controlled remotely by Ishiguro with mouth sensors and a microphone, has over 50 sensors and motors concealed beneath its skin, with compressed air pumped through its body to simulate breathing.
Ishiguro, professor of robotics at Osaka University and director of its Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, unveiled an earlier model, known as Repliee Q1Expo, in 2005. "Repliee Q1Expo is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies," noted BBC News. Having come about during a partnership with Tokyo robotics and entertainment firm Kokoro, it was modeled after a Japanese newscaster. "I have developed many robots before," Ishiguro said, "but I soon realized the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence." In time, he added, the time it would take for a person to realize such a creation was a machine and not a human, could go from a few seconds to, perhaps, ten minutes. "Consciously, it is easy to see that she is an android, but unconsciously, we react to the android as if she were a woman."
"If I could have one at the university, and one at ATR," Ishiguro quipped, "I would just do all my work from a hot-springs resort."
The following video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast on November 26, 2008.
Download video via RawReplay.com |
Submitted by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com,
Little did I realize when creating the short video below how prescient it would quickly become in the wake of Friday's Brexit vote...
Its message is simple: there's a preponderance of data that shows the world's major asset markets are dangerously overvalued. And when these asset bubbles start to burst, the 'save haven' markets that investment capital will try to flee to are ridiculously small. Investors who do not start moving their capital in advance of crisis will be forced to pay much higher prices for safety -- or may find they can't get into these haven assets at any price...
The aftermath of Friday's Brexit vote is providing us with ample validation of the video's thesis.
Stock prices immediately plunged:
The US dollar surged:
Gold put in a $100/oz reversal (which has since moderated a bit):
And Bitcoin jumped:
And look at the capital fleeing derivatives like sovereign credit default swaps. Losses of over 30% in a matter of hours. Yikes!
Response To Reader Requests
Over the years of writing about the risks in markets so distorted as the ones live with today, many Peak Prosperity readers have often asked me how my personal portfolio is positioned. Am I loaded up on save haven assets, and if so, which ones? Do I have long positions in stocks and bonds? What sort of private investments do I own? What am I focused on most going forward?
In Part 2: How My Personal Portfolio Is Positioned Right Now, I've finally decided to openly answer that question. I realize that many people are wrestling with the difficult challenge of identifying and assessing opportunities for safety as well as for prudent return in a market where price signals are bastardized and market risks obfuscated. Hopefully by sharing my own positioning, these folks may find a few constructive ideas worth discussing with their own financial advisers.
Click here to read Part 2 of this report (free executive summary, enrollment required for full access) |
An extremely rare mineral has been found in a western Wisconsin meteorite crater, offering a new glimpse into an astronomical event that happened long before the age of the dinosaurs.
University of Puerto Rico geologist Aaron Cavosie discovered reidite in a rock sample taken from the Rock Elm meteorite impact structure in Pierce County, Wis., a find that makes the Rock Elm site one of only four places on Earth — all meteorite craters — where reidite has been discovered.
“It’s a significant find scientifically,” Cavosie said, adding that it tells scientists new things about the pressures the meteorite presented at impact. “When you find a mineral that has only been reported from three other localities on the entire planet of any age, it is a very rare occurrence.”
The reidite was not brought to the planet by the meteorite. Rather, it was formed during the impact, and it tells scientists new things about an ancient geological instant in the town of Rock Elm.
The meteorite, estimated to have been two football fields wide, struck the planet about 450 million years ago. The impact released the energy equivalent of 63,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs — an event that would have been felt regionally, said William Cordua, a retired University of Wisconsin-River Falls geology professor.
“If you take something of that size moving at supersonic speeds and it hits the Earth, which is (also) going through space at supersonic speeds, that energy gets released at once at one spot, and it’s pretty spectacular,” Cordua said.
It’s likely that the site was a shallow sea at the time, and the meteorite would have caused a tsunami. It also created pressures so intense that rock at the site was altered at the atomic level.
Much of that altered rock was swept away during hundreds of millions of years of erosion that left the Rock Elm site appearing unlike what most people think of as a meteorite crater.
“That’s what surprises people — they expect to see this huge smoking hole in the ground,” said Cordua. “It was initially, but it filled with sediment.”
The tides of time did not completely wipe away the geology created by the impact, however. The site already had been of interest to geologists when Cordua began mapping it in 1983, and a 2004 paper he co-wrote established the site as a meteorite crater.
Cavosie brought students from the University of Puerto Rico to the site in summer 2013 for NASA-funded astrobiology research. They took samples, and Cavosie was looking at the tiny minerals with a scanning electron microscope at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — where he earned his doctorate — when he found the reidite in December.
He sent the mineral to geologists Timmons Erickson and Nick Timms with Curtin University in Western Australia, and they confirmed that it was in fact reidite. The discovery was announced in October.
When he made the find, Cavosie, who called it “a classic case of an accidental discovery,” was looking for tiny fault-like features in the mineral zircon, a common mineral found in sandstone, which is widely exposed at the center of the Rock Elm site.
Those features form under extremely high pressures, but with high enough pressures the atoms are rearranged, changing zircon into a new, denser mineral — reidite.
“Rocks in Earth’s crust do not experience these kinds of pressures from any known process other than an extraterrestrial impact,” Cavosie said.
With reidite present at the Rock Elm site, scientists now know the pressures at impact were at least three times greater than what had been previously known.
While most of the reidite would have eroded away, Cavosie believes the tiny grains he discovered were pushed deep underground in cracks caused by the impact. Hundreds of millions of years and possibly hundreds of meters of erosion later, they were revealed.
The Rock Elm reidite — the oldest known reidite on Earth — is the first time the mineral has been found in sandstone, and Cavosie said it opens the door to investigating whether other sandstone-dominated impact craters also have the mineral.
“I think we just cracked the lid in being able to identify reidite in a much more common rock that occurs in many more impact craters,” he said.
Cordua said the find also means more recognition for the Rock Elm site and possibly more research there, such as searching for other strange minerals and surveys looking deep below the surface.
“There’s other work to do there,” he said, “and I’m hoping that this spurs it.”
Andy Rathbun can be reached at 651-228-2121. Follow him at twitter.com/andyrathbun. |
Visits to the prison by outside physicians have become routine over the past few months. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — The inmates of the detention center here were once considered the "worst of the worst" in the "war on terror." U.S. officials locked away hundreds of men picked up all over the world in a belief that they were all hardened enemies of America, ruthlessly committed to their cause.
But now, more than a decade later, many of the remaining detainees — the vast majority of whom have never been charged, and scores of whom have been cleared for release — are ailing as they get older behind bars. Their physical and mental health after years of captivity, often marked by hunger strikes, now requires frequent medical attention.
This week, an ophthalmologist was flown from the U.S. to the naval base to perform cataract surgery on two prisoners who have been held without trial for more than a decade. Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Greg, the officer in charge of the 15-bed detainee hospital, told Al Jazeera that visits to the prison by outside physicians have become routine over the past few months.
“As people age, there’s medical problems,” said Greg, a nurse who was deployed to Guantanamo two months ago. “For example, we just brought in a gastroenterologist to see our patients. We also just had a dermatologist here.”
There were no prisoners at the hospital when Al Jazeera toured the site. Greg said he does not see the most high-value prisoners — including Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks — who are held in a top-secret camp at an undisclosed location on the base.
Greg said he is not authorized to disclose the identities of the prisoners undergoing surgery, because of privacy concerns. But he said he and the staff of the Joint Medical Group at the base have been treating prisoners who are battling problems ranging from obesity and diabetes to depression.
In fact, at least one prisoner has become so concerned with his diabetic condition that he requested the book “Diabetes for Dummies” from the detainee library, according to a library technician, Milton (who, like numerous other contractors who support the prison operations, would not disclose his surname for security reasons). |
Income and fertility is the association between monetary gain on one hand, and the tendency to produce offspring on the other. There is generally an inverse correlation between income and the total fertility rate within and between nations. The higher the degree of education and GDP per capita of a human population, subpopulation or social stratum, the fewer children are born in any industrialized country.[3] In a 1974 UN population conference in Bucharest, Karan Singh, a former minister of population in India, illustrated this trend by stating "Development is the best contraceptive."[4]
Paradox [ edit ]
The inverse relationship between income and fertility has been termed a demographic-economic paradox. Thomas Malthus, in his book An Essay on the Principle of Population, proposed that greater means (higher income) would enable the production of more offspring (a higher fertility rate). However, roughly speaking, nations or subpopulations with higher GDP per capita are observed to have a lower fertility rate (see the chart). This is the paradox.[5]
Malthus held that in order to prevent widespread suffering, from famine for example, what he called "moral restraint" (which included abstinence) was required. The demographic-economic paradox suggests that reproductive restraint arises naturally as a consequence of economic progress.
Thomas Robert Malthus was born at Dorking, a place near London in the year of 1766. He was a student of the Enlightenment movement, who studied at Cambridge.[6]
Individual level observances [ edit ]
In the years after the revolutions of 1989 in Russia, people who were more affected by labour market crises seemed to have a higher probability of having another child than those who were less affected.[7]
Causes and related factors [ edit ]
Coale's Three Preconditions for Decline in Fertility comes from the saying ready, willing and able. Societal changes may induce fertility declines, but they will do so only if three preconditions are met: ready, willing and able. A person and the population must have a reason to want to limit fertility. If people have economic and social opportunities that make it advantageous to limit fertility they will be more willing to limit it. There must be economic and psychosocial costs involved such as the cost of birth control or abortions.[8]
It is hypothesized that the observed trend in many countries of having fewer children has come about as a response to increased life expectancy, reduced childhood mortality, improved female literacy and independence, and urbanization that all result from increased GDP per capita,[9] consistent with the demographic transition model. The increase in GDP in Eastern Europe after 1990 has been correlated with childbearing postponement and a sharp decline in fertility.[10]
In advanced countries where birth control is the norm, increased income is likewise associated with decreased fertility. Theories behind this include:
People earning more have a higher opportunity cost if they focus on childbirth and parenting rather than their continued career [10]
Women who can economically sustain themselves have less incentive to become married. [10]
Higher-income parents value quality over quantity and so spend their resources on fewer children.[10]
Religion sometimes modifies the effect; higher income is associated with slightly increased fertility among Catholic couples but associated with slightly decreased fertility among Protestant couples.[11]
Generally, a Developed country has a lower fertility rate while a less economically developed country has a higher fertility rate. For example, the total fertility rate for Japan, a more developed country, with per capita GDP of $32,600 in 2009, was 1.22 children born per woman. But total fertility rate in Ethiopia, with a per capita GDP of $900 in 2009, was 6.17 children born per woman.[12]
Consequences [ edit ]
Across countries, there is a strong negative correlation between Gross domestic product and fertility, and ultimately it is proven that a strong negative correlation between household income and fertility.
A reduction in fertility can lead to an aging population, which can lead to a variety of problems. See for example the Demographics of Japan.
A related concern is that high birth rates tend to place a greater burden of child rearing and education on populations already struggling with poverty. Consequently, inequality lowers average education and hampers economic growth.[13] Also, in countries with a high burden of this kind, a reduction in fertility can hamper economic growth as well as the other way around.[14] Richer countries have a lower fertility rate than poorer ones, and high income families have fewer kids than low-income ones.[15]
Contrary findings [ edit ]
A United Nations report in 2002 came to the conclusion that sharp declines in fertility rates in India, Nigeria, and Mexico occurred despite low levels of economic development.[16]
Every country could differ in their respective relationship between income and fertility. Some countries show that income and fertility are directly related but other countries show a directly inverse relationship.[17]
Increased unemployment is generally associated with lower fertility.[10] A study in France came to the result that employment instability has a strong and persistent negative effect on the final number of children for both men and women and contributes to fertility postponement for men. It also came to the result that employment instability has a negative influence on fertility among those with more egalitarian views about the division of labor but still a positive influence for women with more traditional views.[18]
Fertility declines have been seen during economic recessions. This phenomenon is seen as a result of pregnancy postponement, especially of first births. However, this effect can be short-term and largely compensated for during later times of economic prosperity.[10]
Two recent studies in the United States show, that in some circumstances, families whose income has increased will have more children.[19]
Fertility J-curve [ edit ]
Some scholars have recently questioned the assumption that economic development and fertility are correlated in a simple negative manner. A study published in Nature in 2009 found that when using the Human Development Index instead of the GDP as measure for economic development, fertility follows a J-shaped curve: with rising economic development, fertility rates indeed do drop at first but then begin to rise again as the level of social and economic development increases while still remaining below the replacement rate[5][20]
TFR vs HDI showing "J curve", from UN Human Development Report 2009
In an article published in Nature, Myrskylä et al. pointed out that “unprecedented increases” in social and economic development in the 20th century had been accompanied by considerable declines in population growth rates and fertility. This negative association between human fertility and socio-economic development has been “one of the most solidly established and generally accepted empirical regularities in the social sciences”.[20] The researchers used cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to examine the relationship between total fertility rate (TFR) and the human development index (HDI).
The main finding of the study was that, in highly developed countries with an HDI above 0.9, further development halts the declining fertility rates. This means that the previously negative development-fertility association is reversed; the graph becomes J-shaped. Myrskylä et al. contend that there has occurred “a fundamental change in the well-established negative relationship between fertility and development as the global population entered the twenty-first century”.[20]
Some researchers doubt J-shaped relationship fertility and socio-economic development (Luci and Thevenon, 2010;[21] Furuoka, 2009). For example, Fumitaka Furuoka (2009) employed a piecewise regression analysis to examine the relationship between total fertility rate and human development index. However, he found no empirical evidence to support the proposition that advances in development are able to reverse declining fertility rates.
More precisely, the empirical findings of Furuoka’s 2009 study indicate that in countries with a low human development index, higher levels of HDI tend to be associated with lower fertility rates. Likewise, in countries with a high human development index, higher levels of HDI are associated with lower fertility rates, although the relationship is weaker. Furuoka's findings support the "conventional wisdom" that higher development is consistently correlated with lower overall fertility.[22]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ] |
New Zealand government digs in after breakdown of US-led trade talks
By John Braddock
8 August 2015
Many in New Zealand’s ruling circles cautiously welcomed, at this stage, last week’s failure of the intensive negotiations in Hawaii to seal the US-driven Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade and investment pact. The reaction points to the broader fissures between countries involved in the talks.
Two of the main unresolved points were among those deemed most important to New Zealand: improved access for dairy products into the US, Canada and Japan, and the demands of US pharmaceutical firms for longer patent terms for new drug treatments.
While New Zealand accounts for just 3 percent of world dairy production, it is the largest global exporter. Dairy products account for over 20 percent of the country’s exports. Business and media outlets exerted considerable pressure on the government not to sign up to a deal unless it significantly opened dairy markets in competing countries.
New Zealand Herald columnist Fran O’Sullivan declared bluntly on August 1 that Trade Minister Tim Groser should “pack up and leave” the TPP without a good dairy deal. John Wilson, chairman of Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporting company, flew to Hawaii to personally lobby the closed-door talks.
Prime Minister John Key also came in for criticism for failing to give sufficient assurance over potential costs for drugs and medicines. Any increase in the current five-year life for drug patents—the US is demanding 12 years—would cause major problems for New Zealand’s drug-buying agency, Pharmac, which controls the purchase of pharmaceuticals for the public health system.
After the collapse of the talks, Key’s government adopted a nationalist posture as the defender of “New Zealand’s interests.” Groser told the final media conference he was “extremely confident” countries resisting opening their markets to competitive dairy trade would eventually be won over. Dairy Industry spokesman Andrew Hoggard commended him for holding out for “good trade liberalisation.”
Protectionist opponents of the TPP also declared their satisfaction over the breakdown of the negotiations. Robert Reid, head of the First Union, told TV3 News that the New Zealand negotiators adopted a “shambolic stance” throughout the talks, but he was glad that “we possibly do not now have a TPP.” Leader of the right-wing nationalist NZ First Party, Winston Peters, flatly declared the TPP a failure and said NZ should now look elsewhere for fresh deals.
Despite the fact that the talks broke down amid worsening global economic conditions, intensifying the conflicts between the governments involved, a prominent TPP critic, Auckland University’s Professor Jane Kelsey, claimed that the underlying reason for the gridlock was the domestic opposition in almost all the TPP countries.
In New Zealand, opposition to the TPP has seen repeated protests attracting many thousands, since 2012. The protests have tapped into growing concerns over the increasing powers that the TPP will give to global conglomerates, particularly those based in the US. However, the anti-TPP campaign organisers have sought to divert these concerns into reactionary nationalist channels, labeling the TPP a threat to New Zealand’s “sovereignty.”
The protests have been co-ordinated by an assortment of trade unions, academics, Greens, and the Maori nationalist Mana Party—all dedicated to the defence of New Zealand capitalism. They represent sections of business that fear that the TPP will cut across their own operations. Maori-owned companies, which have significant stakes in tourism, forestry, fishing and agriculture, are adamantly opposed to any “foreign” threats to their profits.
The Labour Party, which launched the TPP negotiations when in government in 2006, two years before the US moved into the trade pact, has hedged its bets over the agreement, saying it would not declare a final position until it saw the text. Last week, Labour leader Andrew Little suddenly announced TPP “red lines.” In particular, he demanded legislation to stop foreigners—particularly Chinese investors—buying New Zealand houses.
All these organisations have attempted to obscure the fundamental forces driving the TPP. Falsely presented as a “free trade” deal, the TPP is aimed at creating a vast US-dominated economic bloc. The Obama administration considers the TPP, which will involve 12 Pacific Rim nations but exclude China, to be the vital economic component of its “pivot” to Asia to counter China. Obama has insisted that if the US does not “write the rules” on trade for the twenty-first century, then they will be written by China. The TPP would require its members to scrap all legal, regulatory and government impediments to American investment and corporate operations.
Many governments in South East Asia, including New Zealand’s, confront a strategic dilemma. They have close security ties with the United States, but their major trading partner is China. The Beijing leadership has sought to utilise its economic influence to counter the diplomatic and military pressure it faces from Washington.
China has advanced, as an alternative to the TPP, the establishment of a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. It would comprise Australia, Japan, India, South Korea, China and New Zealand, as well as the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations. Trade Minister Groser warned in a television interview in June that if the TPP should stall until 2018, the “the rest of us will move on to other opportunities.”
This prospect has begun to alarm an increasingly bellicose and xenophobic layer around the Labour Party, unions and pseudo-left groups, who are ramping up anti-Chinese sentiment in order to divert blame for the soaring cost of housing and the deepening social crisis, while seeking to further integrate New Zealand into the war aims of US imperialism.
In a post on the trade union-funded The Daily Blog on July 29, prominent pro-Labour columnist Chris Trotter announced an about-turn on his previous anti-TPP stance. Two days later, he warned his friends on the “Left” to “be careful what you wish for.” Trotter noted a looming collapse of the Chinese economy, which, he claimed, threatens to “panic China’s leaders into a series of ultra-nationalist distractions in the South China Sea or along the Sino-Indian border.” He concluded: “Having all our economic (and most of our diplomatic) eggs in a single Chinese basket could prove to be very awkward.”
Trotter and others in this milieu are raising the spectre of the country being “colonised” by Chinese investors—absurd claims that dovetail with Pentagon propaganda about Chinese “expansionism”—in order to mobilise support for US war plans throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
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On Friday, actor Leonardo DiCaprio will join anti-beef Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the group’s 50th anniversary celebration in the United Kingdom. DiCaprio—along with Virgin Airlines owner Sir Richard Branson and English broadcaster Sir David Attenborough—has chosen to attend the event in hopes of using his star power to raise awareness of RSS’ proposed beef ban. While the motivation for the beef ban for the Hindu group is religious, DiCaprio joined the movement to connect beef consumption with environmental and ethical issues. The actor—who is rumored to be vegan—previously lent his fame to shed light on the horrors of animal poaching, arranged a vegan menu and dessert bar at this year’s official Oscar after-party, and executive produced vegan documentary Cowspiracy.
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Advertisement More than 88,000 drove without a license in Wisconsin in 2013 Driving with suspended license only carries $124 fine Share Shares Copy Link Copy
Tens of thousands of Wisconsin drivers continue to drive even though their licenses have been suspended or revoked.More than 74,000 people were convicted last year of driving with a suspended license, and another 14,000 people were convicted of driving with a revoked license, the Post-Crescent Media reported.For some drivers, having their licenses suspended or revoked doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent, said Jason Weber, a spokesman for the Town of Menasha police department."I don't know what the answer is, or how to send the message that you shouldn't drive," he said.He says people generally are caught only if they're involved in a collision or commit a traffic violation.Driver's licenses can be suspended or revoked for a variety of reasons, including failing to pay fines, being convicted of drunken driving and driving a car with canceled insurance.Driving with a suspended license isn't a criminal offense, but it carries a fine of $124, Town of Menasha Municipal Judge Len Kachinsky said."We see it in municipal court all the time," Kachinsky said.Driving with a revoked license is more serious, however. It's a criminal offense that typically arises from drunken-driving convictions and habitual traffic offenses, and the penalties can include fines up to $2,500 and jail time.Some drivers who lose their licenses continue to drive, taking their chances that they won't get caught, Appleton Police Capt. Todd Freeman said. He noted that operating while suspended "is a very common offense that officers run into daily."There might be some motorists who don't realize their licenses are suspended but far more know and choose to risk it anyway, he said."They're playing that game of whether they are going to get stopped," he said. "They need to work to pay their tickets, but they can't legally drive until they get their license back." |
Anime News Network's coverage of New York Comic-Con is sponsored by Tokyo Ghoul: The Movie Anime News Network's coverage of New York Comic-Con is sponsored by Tokyo Ghoul: The Movie
Funimation Entertainment announced at New York Comic Con on Thursday that it will provide an English dub for the Garo -Vanishing Line- anime during the fall 2017 season.
The series will premiere in Japan on Friday.
The anime's story is set in a prosperous city named Russell City. Even as the city celebrates its success, a conspiracy that threatens to shake its world has been set in motion. A man named Sword is the first to hear the earliest stirrings of the plot, and throws himself into a shadow war in order to expose it. His only clue is the keyword "El Dorado." He meets Sophie, a woman searching for her older brother who left her with only a message with the same word: "El Dorado." With Sword having also lost his younger sister in the past, both are drawn together by the word, and work together to find out its meaning.
Seong Ho Park ( Terror in Resonance , Yuri!!! on Ice key animator) is making his directorial debut at MAPPA. Kiyoko Yoshimura ( Dogs: Bullets & Carnage , Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing , Riddle Story of Devil ) is in charge of series scripts. Takashi Okazaki ( Afro Samurai , X-Men ) is designing the characters, and Tomohiro Kishi ( My Little Monster , 91 Days ) is designing those character for animation. Monaca ( Wake Up, Girls! , My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU ) is composing the music.
JAM Project are returning from previous Garo installments to perform the anime's opening theme song "EMG." JAM Project member Masami Okui is performing the ending theme song "Sophia."
The Garo the Animation and Garo: Crimson Moon television anime aired in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and Funimation Entertainment streamed both series. Funimation has also released both series on home video. Garo: Divine Flame, a film sequel to Garo the Animation, opened in Japan in May 2016.
Update: Crunchyroll also announced that it will stream the anime this fall. |
Giant $1.4 Billion Solar Project Will Almost Double Total U.S. Capacity from 2010
June 24th, 2011 by Tina Casey
Standalone Solar Energy and Land Use
One obstacle for large standalone solar projects is the disruption of land that could be used for other purposes including nature conservation and farming. The U.S. EPA’s RE-Powering America’s Land alternative energy program provides one solution, which is to use abandoned Superfund sites and other classified lands for solar and wind installations. The Nature Conservancy also recently commissioned a wind power land use study suggesting that ample pre-developed sites exist for alternative energy installations.
Distributed Solar Energy
At least one major U.S. utility, Duke Energy, is becoming a huge fan of distributed rooftop solar power. In this model, the electricity generated by the individual installation does not supply the building directly. Instead, it is networked into the grid. This is the model that Project Amp will follow. Among the advantages, the distributed/grid model offers building owners the potential for offsite energy storage (particularly useful for facilities that operate at night) along with reliability of supply if something goes haywire on the roof. The grid model also offers a more attractive degree of energy security compared to large centralized power plants, which are vulnerable to natural disasters and other catastrophic circumstances.
Project Amp
The Department of Energy is relying on some heavy hitters for Project Amp. The 750 rooftops are all on buildings managed by the global industrial real estate developer Prologis, the solar panels will be installed by the leading energy company NRG, and financing is through Bank of America Merrill Lynch (yes, that Bank of America) The two-phase project will start in California, then move on to about 28 states and the District of Columbia.
Image: Rooftop solar power by Pink Dispatcher on Flickr.com |
It’s Friday, friday, gotta get sales on friday! (I’m not sorry >:D) Yep! It’s Friday again, and that means it’s time for Fi*Fridays and Fifty Linden Fridays! I have some fantastic deals to tell you about today!
We all know and love Glam Affair skins, but sometimes a fancy brand-new GA skin can be a little out of our price range (especially for those of you who are new to SL) but it’s okay because this fierce skin I’m wearing is just 50L$ for FLF! This awesome rendition of the Mokatana skin comes in America tone and features artsy eyeliner and glossy red lips, but you’re not just getting one skin in a box! Mokatana Star comes with all the brow colour options you could possibly need, various eyebrow shapers to give different looks and two versions of beauty mark tattoos! All that for 50L$, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of this deal!
I mentioned Fi*fridays before but in case you’ve forgotten, it’s a big store full of a bunch of items from various designers, all priced at 55L$. There’s everything from skins, shoes, makeup, handbags, jewellery, clothing, menswear and even furniture! I nabbed this cute peplum blazer from InSight in both colours, the striped you see here and a plain black one. Rock it with a pencil skirt for business chic or a pair of jeans for something a little more casual.
And pair it with jeans I did because I found these amazing jeans on the marketplace for just 90L$. I know what you’re thinking ‘what’s so special about a pair of 90L$ jeans?’. Well maybe the fact that it comes with a colour change HUD with over 150 options? In fact, inventory management-lovers will be drooling over the entire store! Alyce makes some really nice clothing and even shoes for slink feet with a huge amount of colour options and for really really cheap. I don’t think I’ll ever have to buy another pair of jeans again.
Finally, these cute boots are Fri.day’s release for the Enchantment event coming tomorrow Unlike a lot of Fri.day’s new shoes, these ones don’t require you to have Slink feet! The hunter boots are available in a bunch of earthy colours during the event but like everything at Enchantment, will never be sold again after the event so best be on your toes!
*X*
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The number of people known to have attended the controversial June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower has grown to eight, including a Russian-American lobbyist who confirmed his attendance, and two more unnamed participants.
The meeting, which paired Donald Trump Jr. and Kremlin-linked attorney Natalia Veselnitska reportedly lasted just 20 minutes, but has caused massive headaches for the Trump White House by reigniting claims the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort were known to have attended the meeting with Veselnitskaya and music publicist Rob Goldstone, who brokered the get-together promising campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Rinat Akhmetshin, who NBC identified as a Russian-American lobbyist, confirmed his participation to the Associated Press. Akhmetshin denied reports he has ties to Russian intelligence agencies. He told the AP Trump Jr. asked Veselnitskaya for evidence of illicit money flowing to the Democratic National Committee, but Veselnitskaya said she did not have that information.
Akhmetshin also reportedly said that “they couldn’t wait for the meeting to end,” referring to Trump Jr., Manafort and Kushner.
Two more men are believed to have attended the meeting, including former State Department contractor Anatoli Samochornov, who has ties to Veselnitskaya, and another man. A State Department source said Samochornov was never an employee and that the department does not provide translators for non-government private meetings.
Trump Jr.’s attorney, Alan Futerfas, told Fox News he could not confirm Samochornov was at the meeting, but said one of the two other attendees was a U.S. citizen. Other reports characterized an unnamed attendee as a “former Russian counter-intelligence officer” and a friend of Russian singer and billionaire scion Emin Agalarov.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the growing and still mysterious meeting roster “adds another deeply disturbing fact about this secret meeting.”
“Whether the additional party or parties present during the meeting with these top Trump campaign personnel at the time Donald Trump had seized the nomination were connected directly with Russia intelligence or not, it is clear the Kremlin got the message that Donald Trump welcomed the help of the Russian government in providing dirt on Hillary Clinton,” Schiff said.
Neither Kushner's attorney nor spokesperson, have commented on this. Goldstone and Manafort did not respond to Fox News' request to comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
0 Cobb County police identify pilot in deadly plane crash
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - Cobb County police have identified the pilot who crashed into a house in Marietta as Robert Westlake, 78, of Atlanta.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived Saturday at the scene of a deadly plane crash in a Cobb County neighborhood.
Westlake was killed when the plane crashed into a home on Vistawood Lane in Marietta Friday night.
[THE LATEST: Police identify pilot in deadly plane crash]
Westlake was the only person on the plane and no one was in the house at the time of the crash.
Two NTSB investigators now on scene of jet plane crash in Cobb Co pic.twitter.com/QNgjkpP7yt — Steve Gehlbach (@SteveGWSB) March 25, 2017
The Federal Aviation Administration said a Cessna Citation I aircraft en route to the Fulton County Airport went down east of the Cobb County International Airport/McCollum Field around 7:20 p.m.
[DOWNLOAD the WSB-TV news app for breaking news alerts]
Fire officials said the plane landed in the home's front yard and sent the house up in flames.
"From what it looks like at this point, it came over from the top of the house and landed in the front yard," said Danell Boyd, with the Cobb County fire department.
The family was at church at the time of the crash.
Witnesses said the plane spun out and nose-dived to the ground. Channel 2 Action News viewers reported seeing smoke from the Kennesaw State University football stadium.
"I heard a swoosh and then a clap and an explosion and I pretty much knew before I looked outside that it was a plane crash," neighbor Joe Thomas said.
A few homes were evacuated while firefighters investigated. The neighborhood will be blocked off for a time as NTSB investigators look into the crash.
"Seeing that, seeing a plane on fire and a house starting to burn and wondering if your neighbors are OK, it's not just something you hear on the news," neighbor Samantha Strickland said.
The FAA will investigate and the NTSB will determine the cause of the crash.
@wsbtv plane just crashed into a home in Kennesaw 2 houses down from my brother. He just sent me this photo. Cops just arrived on the scene. pic.twitter.com/ckhcNfAJ60 — Amy Gravley (@amy_gravley) March 24, 2017
People say they watched in horror -- as the plane came crashing down. The story @ 11 @wsbtv. #developing pic.twitter.com/uSIzSStA6P — Nefertiti Jáquez (@NefertitiWSB) March 25, 2017
© 2019 Cox Media Group. |
Chief minister says it is important to be ‘vigilant’ when deciding who comes to Australia, and refugees from a non-Muslim background ‘couldn’t be radicalised’
The Northern Territory wants to ensure that the “wrong people” are not being let into Australia, and is happy to take “non-Muslim” Syrian refugees, the chief minister has said.
Adam Giles told Mix 104.9 FM in Darwin on Monday that last year the NT offered to take some of the 12,000 additional Syrian and Iraqi refugees coming to Australia as part of an increased humanitarian intake.
TV host Sonia Kruger calls for end to Muslim migration to Australia Read more
“I said we’d be happy to take some of those persecuted Syrian women and families who were from a non-Muslim background, people who couldn’t be radicalised, people who weren’t radicalised and people who had major security checks,” he said.
“We still take that position that we will support people from the right backgrounds to support them from a humanitarian point of view, but we’ve just got to be vigilant and make sure we’re not letting the wrong people in Australia, because there are people out there who are doing their best to harm our way of life in western society ... it’s not all Muslims, so I’m not saying that.” |
Throughout DAMN., Kendrick Lamar explores the constantly shifting relationships between pride and humility, love and lust, fear and faith. “DNA.” considers an even more delicate balance: how an impartial world views Kendrick’s blackness versus how he views his own. Produced by Mike WiLL Made-It, the song dissects the ways he has been shaped by these competing perceptions. “I know murder, conviction/Burners, boosters, burglars, ballers, dead, redemption/Scholars, fathers dead with kids,” he rattles off. “I wish I was fed forgiveness.”
More than an unflinching personal history, “DNA.” warps into a power play that takes American values to task. “This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years,” Geraldo Rivera interjects in a sample from a Fox News segment aimed at Kendrick, as the beat twists into menacing shapes around him.
The rapper responds with a verse that is as much a molotov aimed at bigoted punditry and the culture of fear it breeds as it is a powder-keg for its misinterpretation of rap music and the artists that made it. The lyrics are plainspoken parables on harsh realities stemming from decades of programming and rewiring—the systematic racism Geraldo so casually writes off. Here, rap is a vehicle through which Kendrick examines his blackness and how it functions in his community and the world at large: At first, he sees rap as a cure for the symptoms of oppression, as he revels in the spoils of his conquest, but in the end it feeds back into the same cycle of greed and influence that disenfranchises others. He doesn’t know how to rebalance the scales, but he won’t stop searching for answers. |
Let me rephrase, banana pancakes for unbelievably lazy people. Woo! I don’t know if I can even call this a recipe because they turn out different (differently?) every time, but they usually satisfy my bananary cravings. I have literally had them for breakfast before, cheekily doubled the recipe for dinner and they have definitely made me too full once or twice when I’ve eaten them for dessert and probably shouldn’t have had that earlier second helping of rice.
You can do whatever you like with these: I’ve had them with fresh or stewed berries before, added a bit of yoghurt or (impatiently) let a square of dark chocolate melt on top – err yum! You could totally throw in some toasted nuts, dessicated coconut, fro-yo! Aaaaanything.
Makes 3 small pancakes – suitable for a second breakfast or dessert after a light (or, in my case, any) dinner.
Ingredients
5 tbsp self-raising flour
4 tbsp milk
1 ripe banana (I like to keep it partially unmashed. I mean I would never say no to some caramelised banana chunks. Or sometimes, when I’m feeling really bananary, I mash about 3/4 and rip up the rest into the mixture.)
Method
Mash the banana. Mix in the milk. Fold in the flour. Fry, pressing down a little, a little oil (coconut oil is the best because I love the nutty fragrance it gives!)
Love a good healthy but actually nice tasting plate of food!
I know they don’t look like the fluffiest stack of pancakes with an action shot of maple syrup being drizzled over and the (in my opinion) not-always-called-for rashers of crispy bacon sat on top, but number 1: I don’t think they particularly need any sweetener if your bananas are ripe enough and you have some nice accompaniments with it. And number 2, you’re just gonna have to bear with me and my amateur picture-taking skills until I become a pro at using my currently under-achieving DLR, which isn’t fulfilling its full potential at the moment. |
In 2004 the Swedish inheritance tax and gift tax was abolished by a unanimous vote in the Riksdag. In a new book ”Ten years without the Swedish inheritance tax. Mourned by no one – missed by few”, by Amanda Wollstad and myself, we tell the history of the inheritance tax, its abolition and what consequences it had on Swedish business owners and tax revenues.
The Swedish inheritance tax has existed in various permutations since the 17th century. The tax was assessed against property acquired through inheritance, bequest and, in some cases, life insurance. The tax was calculated on the value of the heir’s share of the estate, was progressive and varied depending upon the tax class to which the heir belonged. The inheritance tax rate reached a record high in 1983, with a top rate of 70 percent applicable to spouses and children. The phase-out commenced a few years later. In 2004, the year when it was repealed, the tax rate was 30 percent. The gift tax was calculated likewise.
Inheritance and gift taxes were never a substantial source of income for the Swedish state. Revenue from inheritance and gift taxes reached its zenith in the 1930s at about 0.3 percent of GDP. When the inheritance tax was repealed, the income equaled about 0.15 percent of GDP. The main reasons have instead been based on notions of fairness and wealth redistribution, and to complement and legitimise other tax legislation, such as the wealth tax.
The classic example of the destructive impact of inheritance tax was the surviving spouse who could no longer afford to live in the heavily taxed family home because all assets were tied up in the property. Likewise, many families were forced to sell family homes and holiday cottages. Such cases were far from unusual and even relatively low sums of tax due could cause tremendous personal harm. This may partly be because Swedes are, by international comparison, considered as having little readily available capital. The household savings rate is also low, perhaps due to high trust in collective welfare systems and the social safety net.
The major problem with inheritance tax arose in family businesses in connection with intergenerational succession. These problems had much more profound consequences upon society in general and the Swedish economy. The basis for taxation, even with the relief rules introduced on several occasions specifically to lighten the burden on small and family businesses, often consisted of tied assets. Business owners were compelled to withdraw liquid assets from the business. The income, taxed as dividends, was then used to pay inheritance tax. Even if the company had prepared for the distribution of the estate, tax planning takes time, energy and sometimes money away from the core operations of the business. It was not unusual that inheritance tax drained companies of so much capital that their future development was endangered.
Families like the Wallenbergs changed their core business into a foundation to secure its future. Others simply left the country, taking their fortunes and businesses with them. Tetra Pak founder Ruben Rausing, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad and industrialist Fredrik Lundberg all chose to emigrate, mainly due to Swedish tax policy.
In 2002, the Social Democratic government appointed a parliamentary inquiry to review and evaluate taxes on ownership. There seems to have been growing understanding among Social Democrats of the problems related to these taxes. There was also rising concern about how Swedish taxes on capital worked in a globalised world.
The parliamentary inquiry suggested in June 2004 substantial reductions of the inheritance and gift tax. But this was certainly not enough. Protests from entrepreneurs were huge and the response to the proposal was very critical.
In September 2004 the Social Democrats, the Green Party and the Left Party presented the news about the budget bill for 2005. They had all agreed to repeal the inheritance and gift tax altogether. The government wrote, “For reasons including improving conditions for running a business, the inheritance and gift tax is repealed, which will facilitate generational succession.”
The ongoing attempts to craft exemptions and provide relief to small enterprises and family-owned businesses had proven inadequate. Politicians finally realised that it was not possible to exempt, in any simple or predictable way, certain companies from the destructive effects of the inheritance tax without simultaneously undermining the foundations of the tax as a whole. I think German politicians, after Karlsruhe’s verdict, now face the same challenge.
The abolition of inheritance and gift tax marked the start of a broader debate on ownership issues in Sweden, a debate that eventually led to the abolition of wealth tax in 2007 and a more reasonable taxation of owner-led corporations. These reforms were made by both a Social Democratic government led by Göran Persson, and followed up upon by Fredrik Reinfeldt’s centre-right government.
The repeal of these destructive taxes has given Sweden a smarter tax system and has brought entrepreneurs and investment capital back to the country. A smarter tax system generates higher economic growth and thus higher tax revenues. The tax ratio declined from 51% of GDP in 2000 to 44% in 2014, even as tax income increased by SEK 260bn, adjusted for inflation. This is the result of several measures including the repeal of gift, inheritance and net wealth taxes and the institution of the in-work tax credit, which has meant that more people have jobs to go to.
Today Ingvar Kamprad and other entrepreneurs have moved back to Sweden and Swedish family business owners do not need to worry any more about inheritance tax planning. The political support for these reforms is strong, only the Left Party has changed its policy since 2004. Sweden still has the highest marginal tax rate in the world and taxes savings at nearly double the rate in effect elsewhere. We still desperately need lower taxes. But foreign readers of our new book might find some interesting facts and experiences from the Swedish inheritance tax reform in 2004.
Anders Ydstedt is a partner at Scantech Strategy Advisors, which advises major Swedish industry and business organisations. In 2004, he worked as a campaign manager at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise against the inheritance tax. |
Does posture matter?
It turns out that people naturally avoid the most ineffective responses to most significant postural challenges, because homo sapiens is naturally allergic to physical stress. And although postural laziness might seem obviously evil,10 people also naturally tend to keep up their postural fitness for the things they care about (if you like playing sports, you play them).
So the “problem” of poor posture is mostly minor and self-limiting. The worst problems are avoided naturally, instinctively. The postural fitness that matters the most is taken care of almost automatically. What remains is usually fairly trivial.
Doing it the hard way! How long do you think you could work like this without regretting it?
That said, homo sapiens can also be surprisingly self-defeating! In fact, this seems to be a weird feature of “higher” intelligence.11 Human beings do not always avoid unnecessary stress. We can be surprisingly prone to doing things the hard way. So we probably do make some postural mistakes and develop bad habits, because we are careless, or our big brain is placing too much emphasis on another priority, or because don’t even know that we’re doing something wrong (like the knees-tucked-under-the-chair example). Fortunately, the scientific evidence strongly suggests that doing things the hard way, posturally speaking, is probably not all that harmful. Here are some interesting examples …
For instance, a leg length difference is portrayed by many therapists, especially chiropractors and massage therapists, as a serious postural problem that is pretty much guaranteed to cause pain. And yet it’s been proven that people with significant leg length differences suffer from no more back pain than anyone else.12 (Not that minor differences can even be reliably diagnosed in the first place.13)
And soccer athletes with large differences in the mass of their low back and hip muscles — exactly the kind of “imbalance” that is targeted for repair by therapists everywhere — don’t actually get hurt any more often than soccer players with more evenly distributed muscle mass.14
Or consider this study of coordination exercises for the neck: it showed that the exercises had exactly the intended effect on coordination and posture … but no effect on neck pain at all.15 What’s the point of posture exercise if it doesn’t actually help with pain problems? Maybe none! That’s the point.
All of this flies in the face of “posturology.” That’s the cheesy, popular term for the mostly made-up “discipline” of studying the relationship between posture and pain, and even between posture and diseases.16 Posturologists (I can barely type that word with a straight face) tend to assume their own conclusion: they assume that poor posture causes pain, and then look for confirmation of that. And so there are many, many scientific papers that seem to present evidence of a connection between posture and pain, but most of them suck — here’s a nice appalling example17 — and “posturology” is mostly a slummy pseudoscientific research backwater. If posturology research was of better quality, we might actually learn something from it. But most of it must be chucked or taken with a huge grain of salt, at best.
Posture is only one of many hypothetical factors that contribute to pain problems, but in many cases it probably isn’t contributing at all. This is obvious from a simple observation: there are a lot of people with nice posture who are in terrible pain, and also many people with lousy posture but no pain.
The most stereotypical poor posture of them all — a hunched upper back, with the shoulders rolled forward — is widely assumed to be a cause of shoulder and back pain … but the assumption is almost certainly wrong. This has been studied to death (for a posture problem). According the collective results of ten different experiments it is almost certainly not a cause of shoulder pain.18 A large 1994 study of kyphosis in older women found no connection either: not even the 10% with the worst kyphosis had “substantial chronic back pain, disability, or poor health.”19 There’s just nothing there. Hunchers are just not wrecking their shoulders and backs.
More exotically, I had a truly scoliotic patient, an elderly woman with a blatant S-curve in her spine that she has had since she was a child. Despite this obvious postural stress, she suffered nothing worse than annoying back stiffness in her whole life. Another much younger woman, but with extreme scoliosis, was also amazingly pain-free.20 Meanwhile, in my ten-year career as a massage therapist, I had a steady stream of people through my office with severe, debilitating back pain … and perfectly ordinary posture. What’s the difference between these patients?
Research has shown that abnormal curvature of the cervical spine is actually not closely associated with neck pain.
Another good example: a client with a pronounced torticollis (“wry neck”), and who was even little deformed by it.21 But, once again, this middle-aged patient suffers from no more than irritating chronic discomfort, while many people with much more normal head posture are just about driven nuts by neck pain (including yours truly, which is why I wrote a book about neck pain).
There are many better-documented stories like this, like the case of a serious traumatic cervical dislocation reported in New England Journal of Medicine in 2010, notable for being mostly asymptomatic: just torticollis and stiffness, but no pain, weakness, or altered sensation. That such a serious injury could ever have that little impact on a person is quite interesting, and it puts the hazard of “poor posture” in some perspective.22 Research has shown that abnormal curvature of the cervical spine is not closely associated with neck pain23 and is probably not clinically significant.24
A particularly larger 2016 study of 1100 Australian teenagers showed that there was no correlation — none at all — between their neck posture and neck pain, contrary to all the fear-mongering we’ve heard about “text neck” in the last couple years.25 A similar 2018 study of Brazilian youths came to the same conclusion.26
For balance, I’ll acknowledge there are studies that say otherwise27 … but mostly just crappy studies in my opinion,28 and regardless they do not remotely prove that abnormal curvature actually causes pain.29
There’s no correlation between this behaviour & neck pain or headaches in teenagers.
In general, the story is the same for the low back — the other posture hot spot. For instance, you could hardly ask for a more clichéd notion about posture than the idea that slouching is bad for your back. Teens slouch a lot, and they do get back pain (though much less than adults do), so if posture is an important factor in back pain, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a connection. But a biggish 2011 study did not: “a greater degree of slump in sitting was only weakly associated with adolescent back pain.”30 No smoking gun there!
Physical therapists tend to make too much fuss over extremely subtle postural “problems,” which match up even more poorly with pain than the obvious postural problems.31 The popularity of such theories generally suggests to me that posture is often a therapeutic red herring. Both its importance and its “fixability” are routinely overestimated by professionals in a self-serving way.
And yet that doesn’t mean there isn’t still something of interest going on. Health problems don’t have to be severe to be of interest. |
No nation is more keen to have the world adopt its tongue than China, which spends heavily to subsidize language studies and has pushed for international recognition of its "intangible cultural heritage."
But even government largesse from the world's second-largest economic power hasn't been enough to build global hunger for the language that has more native speakers than any others. In recent years, mainland Chinese language schools have shut their doors, Mandarin-studies entrepreneurs have sold their businesses and Western students have stayed away from China.
Faltering interest in Chinese offers a unique window into the ways China is struggling to make itself attractive, its image tarnished by rampant pollution, an authoritarian government and leaders who have adopted an increasingly aggressive and suspicious posture toward neighbours and rivals alike.
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"China still has not won the soft-power game and that's why the language is so fragile," said David Moser, a China commentator who is academic director at CET Chinese Studies at Beijing Capital Normal.
There's plenty of reason to study Chinese: Even at its more sluggish current growth rates, China remains a potent global economic power, a country reshaping international institutions and using its economic might to devour companies around the world. It is possessed of an extraordinary culinary culture and blessed with a remarkable literary endowment.
But U.S. interest in Chinese has fallen precipitously following a surge that preceded the Beijing Olympics. Nearly 50 per cent fewer U.S. university students enrolled in Mandarin classes in 2013 compared to 2009, according to the Modern Language Association. (South Korea's massively successful K-pop and soap operas have brought a rapid rise in the number of U.S. students studying Korean.)
In Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, which is administered by Beijing, aversion toward Mandarin – the language of the Communist Party-ruled mainland – has risen dramatically in the past decade, local polling shows.
Even inside China, those teaching Mandarin have fallen on hard times. Of 10 schools in Beijing and Shanghai called by The Globe and Mail, only four appeared to actually still be in business.
Chinese companies are hiring fewer expats. Heavy censorship means Chinese books, movies and TV shows – and the language in which they're created – often have less appeal to outsiders. And the strong yuan has chased away students from countries like Russia.
Several years ago, linguist John Pasden watched language entrepreneurs flood the market "because they heard Chinese was the next big thing. Now a lot of them are being driven out because they're realizing the market isn't as good as was promised, or it's not growing as promised."
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Fewer people are even interested in travelling to China. Last year, the number of foreign tourists coming to China fell, even as global international tourist arrivals rose 4 per cent. And in 2014, the latest year numbers are available, the number of American students in the country contracted for the first time in a decade, according to data from the Institute of International Education. Numbers of Japanese and South Korean students are down, too, according to China Scholarship Council figures. Indian, Indonesian and Russian students have filled the gap, and the overall number of foreign students in China continues to rise, although at its slowest pace in a decade.
One bank study even suggested fast-growing African countries could make French a more widely spoken language than Mandarin by 2050.
The problems inside China come as the country struggles to plant its flag abroad. Universities in Canada, the U.S., Sweden, Germany, France, the U.K. and Russia have kicked out Confucius Institutes, the language and culture centres built and funded by China as a way to spread global influence. Described by one official in Beijing as "part of China's foreign propaganda strategy," the institutes have drawn anger for interfering with academic freedoms.
And outside subsidized instruction, teaching Chinese has been a tough sell.
In 2012, Mandarin teacher Li Ye secured a teaching position at a Beijing college – only to have the entire department cut a year later. Then he took work at Beijing Language and Culture University Press, which publishes Chinese textbooks. But sales "were not good," he said, estimating a 10-per-cent drop in recent years.
Meanwhile, Chinese universities continue to pump out teachers. In Mr. Li's hometown of Daqing, a local university has roughly 100 students studying Mandarin instruction. But "I doubt there are more than 100 foreigners in total in Daqing," he said.
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Students once flew to China for a year of studies, but that is now "very, very unusual," said Mark Lenhart, executive director of CET Academic Programs, which organizes studies abroad in numerous countries, including China. Today, "they might go for two or three weeks and hit a few major cities and then come home."For a student contemplating a semester abroad, "a place like London or Paris or Florence sounds like a lot more fun," Mr. Lenhart said.
Mr. Pasden, the linguist, sees another reason: Too many Chinese teachers still teach like they were taught, demanding Westerners learn by gruelling rote. The founder of Shanghai-based AllSet Learning, he has put considerable effort into creating his own study materials. But "the field of teaching Chinese to foreigners is still at really early stages, and Chinese don't really know what to do," he said.
In 2005, Hank Horkoff launched ChinesePod, a popular tool offering downloadable audio lessons that is among the more accessible ways to learn Chinese. But he sold it in 2014. "The reality is the only language market that really matters is the ESL market," he said – teaching English to Chinese speakers, rather than the other way around.
It's partly a question of motivation, he said. Chinese is, simply, not an easy language for most outsiders.
For many, the question is: Why bother – particularly when so many young Chinese now speak English that it's easy to find others to bridge linguistic barriers.
"The thing about learning Chinese is that foreigners (and their families) don't have the commitment level that Chinese (and their families) have to their children becoming proficient in English," Mr. Horkoff said.
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With a report from Yu Mei |
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